ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Amid bipartisan backlash to President Donald Trump's stunning statement Tuesday on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, defending Saudi Arabia community and saying for him "it's all about America First" and maintaining the U.S.-Saudi relationship, one newly-emboldened Democrat is lashing out at the president via his favorite medium, Twitter. On Wednesday, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, launched a Twitter grenade at the president, saying "Hey, @realDonaldTrump: being Saudi Arabia's bitch is not "America First." On Tuesday, Trump issued a statement expressing uncertainty that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had any knowledge of Khashoggi's murder. "Maybe he did -- and maybe he didn't!," Trump said. While Trump acknowledged there is still an ongoing investigation, he appeared to signal he is not ready to hold the young prince, known colloquially as MBS, accountable. [W]e may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Trump noted. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran. The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region. It is our paramount goal to fully eliminate the threat of terrorism throughout the world! Gabbard, who just won re-election to her fourth term in the House of Representatives, has often clashed with Trumps foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East. Most notably, Gabbard has opposed U.S. efforts to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. In 2017, Gabbard, who served as a field medic with the Hawaii Army National Guard in Iraq, traveled to Damascus and met with Assad, expressing skepticism that the dictator attacked his own people with chemical weapons. After her tweet attacking the president, another veteran serving in Congress challenged Gabbard over her past support of Assad. Gabbard has recently trained her sights on ending U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia's war against Houthis in Yemen a civil war that has dragged on since 2015. Dont be fooled: If Congress and this Administration truly were concerned about the plight of the Yemeni people and peace, all U.S. support for Saudi Arabias atrocities would end now, Gabbard said during floor debate on the topic last week. It is long overdue that we end U.S. complicity in Saudi Arabias atrocities. We must end all U.S. support for Saudi Arabias genocidal war in Yemen now. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. By Jung Min-ho A church leader has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting his followers. The Seoul Central District Court convicted Lee Jae-rock, 75, the leader of the Manmin Central Church in Seoul, on Thursday of abusing his authority to rape eight women in their 20s over the past eight years. The court also ordered him to take an 80-hour therapy session and barred him from working at any institution related to children and adolescents for 10 years after his release. "The victims suffered enormously after being betrayed by the leader they once trusted," the court said. "Lee, however, has denied all his wrongdoings and inflicted more mental damage on the victims during the hearings by revealing the sensitive parts of their private lives." The court also said Lee tried to deify himself as a god through his sermons. The Manmin Central Church, which claims to be a Protestant Christian church, is believed to have 130,000 members. In this file photo taken on August 28, 2018, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis holds a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. - Peace talks aimed at ending the war in Yemen have been set for early December in Sweden, between Huthi rebels and the UN-recognized government, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on November 21, 2018. AFP-Yonhap South Korea and the United States will scale back a joint military exercise next spring to facilitate negotiations over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon that the Foal Eagle exercise will be "reduced in scope," the AFP reported. It will be the fifth joint exercise to be adjusted as a concession to the North following its promise to dismantle its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. "Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," the news agency quoted Mattis as saying. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed at their historic Singapore summit in June to work toward "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. South Korean marines run out from a LVT-7 during the U.S.-South Korea joint landing exercises called Ssangyong, part of the Foal Eagle military exercises, in Pohang, South Korea, Monday, March 31, 2014. Yonhap But negotiations between the sides have since stalled. Trump said after the summit that the "provocative" and "expensive" war games with South Korea would be stopped while negotiations were under way. North Korea regards the exercises as invasion rehearsals against the regime despite assurances from Seoul and Washington they are defensive in nature. Foal Exercise is a major joint exercise held every spring. The other two large-scale drills are the Ulchi Freedom Guardian and Key Resolve. Since the summer, the allies have suspended the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, two marine exercises and the Vigilant Ace air drills. U.S. army soldiers walk with a military robot during a joint military exercise in Daegu, south of Seoul, Sunday, March 20, 2005. Yonhap U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media in the briefing room at the Department of State, on November 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. Pompeo met with Turkish Foreign Minister Meylut Cavusglu after President Trump released a statement signaling that the United States will stand by Saudi Arabia after the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. AFP-Yonhap U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that he continues to hope for a second meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un early next year. Pompeo was scheduled to meet a senior North Korean official in New York earlier this month to plan the second summit and discuss details of the North's commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. The meeting was abruptly postponed a day before it was supposed to take place, with the U.S. attributing it to scheduling problems. People watch a TV screen showing file footage of U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 24, 2018. Yonhap U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, second from left, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, left, and South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, second from right, accompanied by South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon, right, meet together at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, July 8, 2018. Yonhap South Korea and the United States will hold bilateral "working group" consultations on North Korea as often as possible, either through face-to-face talks or videoconferencing, officials said Thursday. The allies launched the working group for more systemic and frequent discussions on ways to deal with Pyongyang amid concerns about a possible mismatch of progress in denuclearization talks and inter-Korean cooperation. The U.S. wants the two things to proceed in tandem, while South Korea says an improvement in its relations with North Korea will help move forward denuclearization. "We plan to hold a working group session twice a month if possible," a government official told reporters on the customary condition of anonymity. "There will be some flexibility." If there's no special issue to discuss, the two sides may skip a session, he added. Former senior executive of Ford Motor Company Stephen Biegun delivers remarks to members of the news media after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (not pictured) announced that Biegun will be special envoy for North Korea, at the State Department in Washington, DC, USA, 23 August 2018. Yonhap By Jung Da-min North Korea is strengthening ideological education, particularly for workers and students, in a move to promote the country's new economic strategy declared last April. Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party, on Thursday carried a front-page editorial emphasizing the three revolutions ideological, technical and cultural saying the socialistic ethics toward collective work, in particular, should be strengthened to implement the country's five-year strategic economic plans. "Our party initiated a new strategic route to concentrate our efforts on building a socialist economy last April," the editorial said, referring to the party plenum where North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un declared a new strategic line on the economy. "Every department and unit should carry out the three-revolution movement in close relation with the great march of building the economy." Rodong Sinmun has recently been publishing articles on strengthening ideological education at every production unit in the country. On Thursday, the paper's first page also carried an article about intensive lecture and promotion activities in Kangwon Province. According to the article, the propagandists encouraged workers through "incendiary" speech, as they received special education from the party's provincial committee. They also provided supporting goods to a construction site in Kosong County, Kangwon Province. North Korea's external propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri on Thursday also published an article emphasizing the "sensational leap" in the economy amid "tenacious" sanctions imposed on the regime by "hostile forces." "We never thought of building the economy with the help of others," it said. "Nothing has stopped us from advancing and our republic has turned into a strong, self-reliant country." By Kim Bo-eun Kang Kyung-wha South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, left, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during her courtesy call to his official residence in Tokyo, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017. Yonhap Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono speaks to reporters after South Korea decide to dissolve Japan-funded Reconciliation and Healing Foundation in Tokyo, Japan, 21 November 2018. Yonhap South Korea is considering various possibilities for how to handle the funds provided by Japan to establish a foundation on wartime sexual slavery, Seoul's top diplomat said Thursday. The government said a day earlier it would dissolve the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation. It was created in July 2016 to financially support Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II and families of deceased victims. There are 27 surviving victims registered with the South Korean authorities. Japan provided 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) for the nonprofit organization created as part of a 2015 agreement to settle the so-called comfort women issue between the neighboring countries. The government began legal and other procedures to close the organization. At issue is what to do with the funds Japan provided. According to the government, 5.8 billion won ($5.1 million) remains; the rest was disbursed, mostly to late comfort women's families, and used for the operation of the foundation. South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets one of the survivors of Japan's forced sexual slavery during the World War II at the National Cemetery for Overseas Koreans in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Aug. 14. Korea Times file Students prepare to take the College Scholastic Aptitude Test at Busan JungAng Girls' High School on Nov. 15. Yonhap By Jung Min-ho Robert Kluender By Kim Hyun-bin The Seoul Central District Court sentenced mega-church pastor Lee Jae-rock to 15 years in prison, Thursday, for raping and sexually harassing at least eight female congregants. It also ordered the 75-year-old pastor of Manmin Central Church to take 80 hours of therapy classes and banned him from working at youth-related institutions for 10 years after serving his prison term. However, the court rejected the prosecution's request for probation after release, saying Lee was unlikely to repeat the crime considering his age. Lee Jae-rock Chosun Ilbo's sign outside a hotel in central Seoul. Korea Times file By Park Si-soo Bang Jung-oh, president of TV Chosun. / Captured from TV Chosun By Kim Jae-heun A Korean women's community in London will hold a candlelit protest in Oxford Circus, Sunday, to urge the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation of a recent case of gang violence targeting a Korean student there and request preventive measures against such crimes. The community decided to stand up against the violence as this is not the first case; another Korean was similarly assaulted last year. "Korean residents here feel threatened by the case as there is the possibility similar crimes could continue to occur," a protest organizer told the local press on condition of anonymity. "We want social minorities such as children, women, the disabled and senior citizens to be protected and the English government to sternly punish hate crimes that come from discrimination against specific races and religions." She said the demonstrators will use LED candles as it is illegal in England to use actual candles for safety reasons. On Nov. 11, Korean student Mary Lee, studying at the University of Creative Arts in Canterbury, was attacked by about 10 people in London. Lee was reportedly walking in the street that night when the teenagers threw garbage at her. When she protested their bullying, they pushed her to the ground and assaulted her. A number of people were on the street watching her being attacked and shooting video with their mobile phones. Only two people help her by stopping the teenagers. She called the police but officers did not appear at the scene. In October last year, two British teenagers in Brighton assaulted a 20-year-old Korean student. By Lee Suh-yoon The Seoul Administrative Court has dismissed a request by Seoul Metro employees and job applicants to cancel the contracts of 1,285 irregular employees converted to permanent payroll in March. "The switch to hiring temporary workers on permanent contracts occurred through an agreement between the union and management," presiding judge Yoon Kyung-ah said, Thursday. "Even if some job applicants' interests were harmed, the cause is too indirect to recognize." Earlier this year, some 400 employees and 514 unsuccessful job applicants of Seoul Metro filed an administrative litigation against the city-owned subway operator for "violating their basic rights through unfair hiring." The job status change was spurred by the death of a 19-year-old subcontracted mechanic at Guui Station in 2016. The accident, which drew public outrage, prompted city authorities to directly hire employees in safety-related fields. The same plaintiffs have also filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, calling Seoul Metro's decision to upgrade temporary workers to permanent positions unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court has yet to make its ruling. The dismissal decision by the administrative court came amid nepotism allegations regarding the change. Company records show 108 out of the 1,285 temporary workers promoted to permanent positions were relatives of company employees who already held regular jobs. Last week, additional findings showed an additional seven employees upgraded to a permanent payroll were related to retired employees of Seoul Metro. The nepotism scandal erupted last month in the National Assembly audit of the city government. Opposition lawmakers accused Seoul Metro's union members of tipping off family members to sign up as temporary workers, knowing these positions would soon be switched to permanent contracts. They also accused the union of "stealing job opportunities" from applicants. The city government dismissed the allegations, calling it a "political attack" on Mayor Park Won-soon. It also said 34 of the suspected 108 were hired before the direct hiring decision was made. On Wednesday, lawmakers agreed to conduct a National Assembly-led special investigation into illicit hiring practices at public firms including Seoul Metro. By Park Si-soo Korea Times photographer Choi Won-suk won an award at a monthly news photography contest hosted by the Korea Press Photographers' Association (KPPA). He was awarded the best news photography prize for October in the portrait category for his photo titled "Mom, we will get together again, someday." The photo, taken on Oct. 18 on Gyodong Island, just a few kilometers from North Korea, and released on Oct. 25, shows farmer Hwang Rae-ha, 76, gazing emotionally toward the North. Hwang fled his hometown in Haeseong, Yeonbaek County (now Yonan County), in 1950 aged eight, in a wooden boat to escape North Korean soldiers during the Korean War. He said his only wish is to meet his mother again, even if that is in his sleep. Choi joined The Korea Times in 2014 after working at AFP, Getty Images and Arirang TV. He was among 11 awardees in the 190th KPPA "Photo of the Month" awards. By Kim Yoo-chul The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) is expected to regain its legal status next year. The previous Park Geun-hye administration outlawed the union in 2013, citing that it had nine laid-off teachers as members. A presidential aide, however, said Cheong Wa Dae will reconsider the decision in line with suggestions from international organizations, including the International Labor Organization (ILO). "The government submitted a revised plan to the National Assembly to legalize the KTU. Cheong Wa Dae is considering various options on the legal status of the KTU to comply with ILO standards," presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters, Thursday. "This issue is nothing new as President Moon Jae-in vowed to legalize the KTU during his presidential campaign. But because this issue is very complicated, the presidential office will handle the matter thoroughly but carefully." The spokesman added, the presidential office is aligned with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the government to complete the revision process by June. The ILO marks its 100th anniversary next year. Multiple commemorative events are planned for when its members meet in Geneva, Switzerland, in June next year. Cheong Wa Dae sources said working-level discussions with the ILO are underway for Moon to deliver a keynote address during the event. The remarks came two days after a committee appointed by a presidential advisory body recommended that laid-off workers, the unemployed, and senior civil servants at public firms be allowed to join unions. Basically, the recommendation would grant the right to almost all workers to join a union, which many believe is a controversial subject in South Korea. The core criteria that supports the recommendation is "ILO Convention No. 87," which guarantees freedom of association and protection of the right to organize. If the Assembly passes the revision, then the KTU would be legally considered a union. In 1996, South Korea joined the OECD, promising that the country would guarantee the freedom of association and union activities for teachers and government employees. Additionally, when South Korea separately joined the ILO back in 1991, it deferred certain labor conventions, which the ILO allowed. President Moon earlier said he would address the issue by improving regulations and relations between labor and business groups. President Moon Jae-in salutes the national flag along with members of the Economic, Social and Labor Council during its inaugural meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. From right are Korean Employers Federation Chairman Sohn Kyung-sik, Moon, Federation of Korean Trade Unions Chairman Kim Joo-young and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Park Yong-maan. Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul President Moon Jae-in called for "compromise" between labor groups and businesses to tackle urgent economic issues. "The Economic, Social and Labor Council has finally launched after tough discussions. The dialogue body will take a central role to lead changes and move forward with plans to fulfill the national agenda," Moon said in his opening remarks at the inaugural meeting of the council at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. "Union representatives and businesses are sincere partners for state affairs. This has been one of my core principles for decades on which I have never yielded." Moon added that improved relations between unions and businesses will clearly help the country see progress in societal and economic issues. Mentioning the government's ongoing drive to address structural issues such as the low birthrate and growing economic inequality, Moon is hoping to see a "greater social compromise" between them to encourage the collaborative process. "Once we reach a compromise on issues, then more jobs will be coming, companies will remain competitive and that will boost the domestic economy," Moon said. But Moon expressed regret about the absence from the meeting of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), a major umbrella group. "In terms of openness and engagement, I hope the KCTU will join the body as early as possible as it has shown its sincere willingness and commitment toward making progress on societal issues through social compromise." The council included representatives from the government, labor groups, management, women, merchants and small business owners. But the KCTU was protesting a new flexible workweek hour system, saying it counteracts the reduction of the workweek aimed at preventing overworking. "The council won't only handle societal issues as I want it to explore measures on how to reform the national pension system and others in terms of finding new growth engines," Moon said. In a separate briefing at Cheong Wa Dae, late Thursday, council chief Moon Sung-hyun said he will ask the KCTU to participate in the body and begin talks for a possible adjustment of the workweek system. Economists say the country's economic outlook could worsen due to external risks. The government vowed to apply all possible means to prop up investment and accelerate deregulation. It plans to invest up to 15 trillion won in financial support for small- and mid-sized enterprises in the form of credit from policy banks, and tax benefits to help them invest, and a temporary 15 percent fuel tax cut worth 2 trillion won lasting six months from Nov. 6. The uncertain economic outlook has also discouraged corporate investment, with the total in the second quarter down 5.7 percent from a year earlier, exacerbated by restructuring in the shipbuilding and carmaking sectors. The government plans to provide up to 1.3 trillion won of credit guarantees for struggling car parts makers and shipbuilding-related companies. Winners of the 7th Korea Multicultural Youth Awards, hosted by The Korea Times, and honored guests pose after the award ceremony at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Thursday. Ten students and two volunteer groups received the awards. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk By Kang Seung-woo Ten students and two volunteer groups were honored at the 7th Korea Multicultural Youth Awards, Thursday, for their achievements and exemplary deeds. The award ceremony was held at the Korea Press Center in Seoul and attended by some 100 people the award winners, their family members and dignitaries such as Gender Equality and Family Minister Jin Sun-mee, Rep. Lee Jong-kul of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and three foreign ambassadors to Korea The awards, organized by The Korea Times, aim to encourage biracial children living here who at times struggle due to cultural barriers and discrimination. The grand prize went to Choi Nyeong-ju from Buyeong Girls' High School in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. The 16-year-old, born to a Korean father and Japanese mother, was recognized for her personality and academic achievements. Gender Equality and Family Minister Jin Sun-mee stands with Choi Nyeong-ju, grand winner of the awards, after presenting her the prize at the award ceremony. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk "I hope that many other students from multicultural families will engage in volunteer programs and other outside activities, which I believe will break down stereotypes and prejudices that many have of multicultural families," Choi said in her acceptance speech. Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon sent a video message to congratulate the winners, promising to create a country, where everyone can live well together. "Korea is rapidly turning into a multicultural society. However, we are still not ready for these changes," Lee said. "The government will undertake meticulous preparations for this. We will not let a single child suffer from discrimination or prejudice." Minister Jin said, "I believe today's awards will encourage children to continue putting in the effort required to make their dreams come true." Students from the Jiguchon Part Child Center in Guro-gu, Seoul, perform a song at the ceremony. Jiguchon received the outstanding volunteer group award. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk She added that the ministry will help the children display their capabilities and develop their potential without facing discrimination or prejudice. "I highly praise the winners' efforts to overcome the difficulties they face in their life," Rep. Lee said. "I hope each of you will pursue your dreams." The Korea Times President-Publisher Lee Byeong-eon said the award winners will become great assets to society in the era of globalization. "All of you have the great potential to draw global attention someday with your own stories. I also believe you will grow into future leaders of Korean society," he said. Cha Yun-kyung, a professor of multicultural education at Hanyang University who was one of the judges, said, "What they have achieved does not end as individual glory; it is a signpost that suggests new directions for the people and society they represent." Fashion model Han Hyun-min, a member of a multicultural family who attended the awards as a special guest, gives a speech to the awardees. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk The awards for outstanding high school students went to Jung Da-eun from Geumnam High School in Hadong County, South Gyeongsang Province, and Na Ha-min from Munhyang High School in Jangseong County, South Jeolla Province. Kim Tae-hee from Buwon Girls' Middle School in Incheon and Jung Ji-yang from Seondeok Girls' Middle School in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, were awarded in the middle school category. Kim Ye-won from Jaeun Elementary School in Sinan, South Jeolla Province, and Lee Ji-eun from Hansan Elementary School in Seoul were the two winners in the elementary school division. Na Su-jin from Ansan International Business High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, won the Semoon Chang award for her linguistic talent in Russian. The award was named after Chang, an economics professor at the University of South Alabama who has written columns for The Korea Times for 18 years. Rep. Lee Jong-kul of the Democratic Party of Korea presents a plaque to Jung Da-eun, the outstanding high school student winner, during the award ceremony. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk The Korea Times President-Publisher Lee Byeong-eon, left, and former lawmaker Jasmine Lee, a Philippine-born naturalized Korean who is now a radio presenter, attended the seventh Korea Multicultural Youth Awards at Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, Thursday. Lee organized the annual awards. Korea Times photos by Choi Won-suk International police body Interpol elected Kim Jong-yang of South Korea as president on Wednesday (November 21), beating a Russian national whose candidacy had raised concerns in Europe and the United States about the risk of Kremlin interference. Interpol - the world largest international law enforcement organisation - has elected a new president. And it isn't the expected Russian candidate that was raising alarm in Europe and the U.S. over Kremlin interference, but instead a South Korean one. The surprise move came at an annual meeting in Dubai on Wednesday (November 21). Interpol's 194-member states appointed Kim Jong-yang, rejecting Russia's frontrunner Alexander Prokopchuk who had been widely tipped to win. He's currently one of four vice presidents but was facing strong opposition from Western lawmakers. They accuse Russia of already abusing Interpol to settle scores and harass dissidents. Other Kremlin critics say Prokopchuk - a former major general in Russia's interior ministry - takes orders directly from Putin. FUND MANAGER AND KREMLIN CRITIC, BILL BROWDER, SAYING: "If a Russian is in charge of Interpol then the West will have to look for a plan B." And earlier this week a group of U.S. senators had publicly opposed the candidacy of Prokopchuk. The election itself was an impromptu one after the former Chinese President Meng Hongwei disappeared in September. He'd been on a trip to China. Days after his wife reported him missing Chinese authorities said he was being investigated for taking bribes. He has not been seen since, but sent a letter to Interpol resigning. Kim takes over what would have been the final two years of his presidency. (Reuters) By Choe Chong-dae It is worthy of note that, contrary to other nations, the initial seeds of the Catholic faith were brought to Korea and developed by Koreans themselves before the arrival of foreign missionaries. Catholic texts were translated into Chinese and studied by Koreans. Despite a century of persecution, Korean Catholicism is deeply rooted, with an increasing number of believers. The prodigious growth of Korean Catholicism today is indebted to the thousands of martyrs who shed their blood for it. It is evident that they devoted themselves greatly to the modernization of Korean society by introducing significant aspects of Western culture, education, medical technology and democracy. Out of all the many Catholic churches I have visited in Korea, the Gongseri Catholic shrine in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, is most inspiring. Nestled on a hill, Gongseri Catholic Church overlooks the Asan Bay Breakwater running between Asan Bay and Pyeongtaek Lake. Along with the beautiful, exotic architecture, its romantic scenery surrounded by trees is also graced by a legally protected 330-year-old hackberry tree. This 13-decades-old church built in 1890 is designated as Cultural Heritage No.144 of South Chungcheong Province and has played a significant role as a starting point of the Korean Catholic church and its religious beliefs. The shrine is famously known for the 32 martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the Sinyu and Byeongin persecution periods in 1801 and 1873. It was first built by the French missionary priest Pasquier, in 1890. Five years later, another French missionary priest, Emilius Devise, rebuilt the church at its current location. Gongseri Catholic Church sits on a historical site that was used for over three centuries as a storage warehouse for collecting grain paid as tax, from the ninth year of King Seongjong (1478) to the 38th year of King Yeongjo (1762) during the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom. Blessed by its unique scenery, Gongseri Catholic Church with its fusion of Gothic and Byzantine architectural styles has been the setting for about 70 movies and TV dramas, such as "Taegukgi," "Love and Ambition" and "You're Handsome." Irrespective of faith and philosophy, a great number of people continue to visit to enjoy the holy scenery which changes with the four seasons. Gongseri Catholic Church is a special place for Koreans, because a salve known in Korea as "Lee-Myung-rae salve" was originally created here by a priest named Emilius Devise. He developed a special formula for the salve, which was distributed to Koreans free of charge. Devise handed down his extraordinary method of making the salve to Lee Myung-rae (John 1890-1952), who had been helping him at the church. Whether people had a stomachache, eye infection or any other disease, they visited Gongseri Catholic Church to consult the French priests. This salve was later distributed all over the nation, thus making the church the source of the salve. The translation of the name for this black ointment provides an interesting insight. Though goyak (which means "wretched" in Korean) does not have a pleasant smell to many, it was highly regarded as the most effective ointment for skin diseases, particularly for healing abscesses. This medication dispensed on a paper patch miraculously cured people up to the 1980s. Coincidentally, Lee was a brother of my wife's maternal grandfather. As I stood in front of the shrine on my recent visit, I felt as if I shared the spirit of the martyrs who shed their blood for Korean Catholicism. Transcending faith, Gongseri Catholic Church is an absolute gem that deserves a visit. Choe Chong-dae (choecd@naver.com) is a guest columnist of The Korea Times. He is president of Dae-kwang International Co., and director of the Korean-Swedish Association. By Robert Skidelsky LONDON Almost all liberals support globalization and oppose economic nationalism. They ignore the mounting evidence that, in its current form, globalization is dangerously incompatible with democracy. In his 2011 book "The Globalization Paradox", Harvard's Dani Rodrik says that the nation-state, democracy, and globalization are mutually irreconcilable: We can have any two, but not all three simultaneously (he calls this a "trilemma"). All over the world, the "nation" has been revolting against globalization in the name of democracy. That became clear this year when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed the first of a widening set of tariffs against Chinese goods, with China retaliating in kind. Trump has also torn up two major international trade treaties and threatened to withdraw from the World Trade Organization. The trigger for America's turn to economic nationalism is its widening trade deficit $566 billion in 2017, and growing as the U.S. economy recovers. But the deeper reason is the correct perception that the resulting current-account deficits are not "benign" when they are being financed by inflows of short-term capital, or "hot" money. A current-account deficit means that a country is importing more than it is exporting. And those excess imports can lead to a net loss of "good" jobs. Six million manufacturing jobs disappeared in the first decades of the 2000s. The Rust Belt made Trump president. "It's time to rebuild Michigan, and we are not letting them take your jobs out of Michigan any more," he told cheering crowds in Detroit in 2016. Trump's protectionism also has a geopolitical root. Metal imports have led to the closing of many enterprises that might be needed for defense. China's strategic "Made in China 2025" plan is a high-tech industrial policy aimed at transforming China into a dominant global leader in the industries of the future. It significantly relies on stealing advanced technologies from the United States. If MIC25 is successful, the U.S. will have a depleted economic and political future. In strictly economic terms, the political character of one's trading partners should not matter. However, in a world of strategic competition, international commerce can be, and usually is, an instrument of policy, and its use in that context should not be denied simply because it breaches the sacred principle of free trade. As Friedrich List, the 19th-century pioneer of economic nationalism, pointed out, free trade assumes a peaceful world. Selective tariffs can be useful for protecting defense-related industries or to prevent other countries from stealing cutting-edge technologies. But as an overall trade policy, tariffs are crude and inexact. The U.S. will incur high costs and might end up without a substantially lower trade deficit or other meaningful benefits. Is there a way to limit free trade that does not lead to trade wars? The economist Vladimir Masch has advocated an ingenious "compensated free trade" (CFT) plan as a way to achieve legitimate protectionist aims without disrupting the world economic system. Under this plan, policymakers would establish a ceiling for the trade deficit each year and impose limits on trading partners' surpluses. (Any products needed from a surplus partner would be exempted from the partner's export limit.) In the U.S. case, this ceiling would largely affect China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany, which contributed $375 billion, $71 billion, $69 billion, and $64 billion, respectively, to the overall trade deficit in 2017. Under CFT, a trade surplus country can reduce its exports to the set limit. But it could also exceed its export quota if its government paid the partner government a fine equal to the value of the excess exports, either collecting the necessary sum from its export producers or using its currency reserves. (The receiving government could use the fines to enlarge its own investment programs.) But if the surplus country tried to exceed its export limit without paying the fine, its surplus exports would be blocked. This "smart" protectionism has several advantages over crude tariffs. First and foremost, it would automatically prevent trade wars. Because CFT imposes limits just on the trader's surplus, any attempt by the surplus country to decrease the value of its imports from the U.S. would automatically decrease the value of its allowed exports. Second, CFT would confront, in one stroke for each partner, government subsidies, price and currency manipulations, and the other dirty tricks of international trade. In contrast to prolonged and often fruitless haggling over trade treaties, results would be obtained immediately. Third, by re-balancing the financial and trading arrangements of the global economy's participants, CFT would represent a step toward addressing its current dysfunction. CFT is not a complete solution, because it leaves open the question of who should adjust to whom. A reformed global payments system, which mandates symmetrical adjustment of global imbalances, would need to tackle this issue. Fourth, because of America's leverage, its adoption of CFT would "nudge" reluctant trade surplus countries to accept such a payments system. Global finance would have to operate within the limits that a balanced payments system establishes. Fifth, in terms of economic benefits to the U.S., implementing CFT would stimulate the return of off-shored enterprises and jobs, thus restoring the country's industrial potential and social balance. From a historical perspective, CFT essentially amounts to a unilateral activation of the scarce-currency clause (Article 7) of the Bretton Woods Agreement, which allowed the International Monetary Fund to declare "scarce" the currency of a country running a persistent trade surplus, permitting other members to discriminate against its goods. It is consistent with Article XII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the WTO's predecessor), which states that any country "in order to safeguard its external financial position and its balance of payments, may restrict the quantity or value of merchandise permitted to be imported." In short, CFT addresses trade deficits, overcomes the limitations of tariffs, fights trade manipulation, corrects current mainstream economic theory, and is a necessary step toward re-establishing a feasible global payments system. In a nutshell, it overcomes the Rodrik trilemma: One can have the nation-state, democracy, and globalization at the same time. But only one nation-state, the U.S., has the clout to deliver this. By doing so, it would stop the global stampede to a virulent form of economic nationalism. For that reason alone, the Masch plan deserves serious consideration. Robert Skidelsky, a member of the British House of Lords, is professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org). We often deliver frank advice to members of Congress. Today we deliver a frank alert: If companies that provide high-quality reporting and commentary can't freely bargain with the likes of Google and Facebook for a fair marketplace, then the news industry's downward financial spiral will only intensify. News staffs will continue to shrink, Americans will get less high-caliber journalism and the low-rent providers of skimpy, one-sided or manipulative information will happily fill that void. To be upfront up front: This editorial promotes our company's interest, but also the interest of Chicago Tribune readers everywhere. We're echoing an effort by the News Media Alliance, a group of 2,000 local and national news outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. These companies are asking Congress not for taxpayer money or regulation of the internet Goliaths of social media and search. Rather, they seek a temporary dispensation so they can, as a group, try to negotiate fair terms with companies that now freely capture and redistribute original journalism the instant it's published it online. As is, Google and Facebook extend the reach of news and commentary, but in essence they're freeloaders. They pay nothing for all the content they take; the best that a publisher such as the Tribune can hope for is a relatively small portion of the revenue from certain ads attached to our content. The internet companies also collect information about Tribune readers, the better for them to sell and target advertising. This playing field isn't even close to level. Google and Facebook not only take and redistribute the Tribune's journalism, they compete with the Tribune for the advertising dollars that help pay for it. These two internet companies now control the vast majority of all digital ad revenue. What's more, the companies' technical prowess and human decision-making give them unprecedented power: They can control whether consumers even see news and commentary generated by publications such as ours. Cue here the furor over internet algorithms determining what political content Americans saw before the 2016 election and about Google's and Facebook's ability to virtually censor information their employees may dislike. How to react? News publishers want to bargain as a group with companies such as Facebook and Google. But under federal antitrust law, news companies can't even talk among themselves about withholding or withdrawing from the internet platforms the journalism they produce. Their proposed solution, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, is now before Congress. It would create a 48-month "safe harbor" in which news organizations could negotiate as a group with the online platforms for a fair share of the revenue the publishers' content generates. This waiver is narrowly drawn. It wouldn't advantage large companies like our corporate parent Tribune Publishing over small ones, or favor legacy news outlets over digital upstarts. By allowing publishers to negotiate how Facebook and Google use locally created journalism, it would allow the news producers to seek compensation for their work. We can't improve on this what's-at-stake sentence from Susan Rowell, president of the National Newspaper Association: "We want our investment in our communities to come back to us in the form of just compensation so we can continue to cover the news." The bill before Congress comes at a make-or-break moment for U.S. news companies but also for their readers and viewers. If the unchallenged grip of companies such as Facebook and Google persists, quality journalism probably cannot. "An entity with the power to dictate the terms of distribution of news has the power to dictate the content of news," the act states, adding later, "A central purpose of the antitrust laws is to promote and protect open markets, including those for the free and diverse press." The Chicago Tribune is in its 172nd year of promoting free markets, asking government to do little but keep those markets fair. Once again, we rise to speak for ourselves this time, but also for our millions of readers. That said, no industry relishes seeking a temporary a safe harbor from Congress. This industry, pillaged by the likes of Facebook and Google, sees no choice. The above editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. By Donald Kirk NEW YORK Controversy surrounding President Donald Trump is so intense that you have to wonder whether he's going to want the job beyond his current four-year term. Surfing the morning news here, you get to listen to non-stop attacks from MSNBC on the left, equally hard-hitting defenses from Fox on the right and not that much in between. Trump goes on with barbs at "fake news" in the middle of a firestorm that's partly his own making. Sometimes you doubt he's thought through what he's saying, such as when he criticizes a Navy SEAL team for not having gotten Osama Bin Laden long before he was killed in a raid in the compound where he was staying not far from a Pakistani army base. And you find it hard to believe he could have been so hard on the late Senator John McCain, captured and imprisoned for years in North Vietnam after his plane was shot down during the Vietnam War. Nor can anyone see why Trump, so great at playing to his base red-blooded Americans unable to stand the media elitists who keep bashing him would not have visited the Marine cemetery during his recent trip to France. Or, for that matter, not have taken a bow at the Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans' Day this month. Yes, Trump has said he should have visited Arlington, so why doesn't he make the trek right now across the Potomac from the White House? The cemetery is open every day, not just Veterans' Day. The daily tirades, the sniping and the words of wisdom from panelists and analysts capture your attention in a drama that never gets boring, but they're also a massive distraction. Has Trump considered seriously what he's going to say to Kim Jong-un if they do meet again for that second summit? Vice President Mike Pence, in Singapore at the recent ASEAN conflab, spoke highly of Trump's success in getting Kim to stop threatening the U.S. with nukes and missiles, but he also raised a couple of issues that might not be to Kim's liking. For one thing, Pence stuck to the mantra of CVID complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization. While Kim might agree in an abstract sense on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as he did at his first summit with Trump in Singapore in June, it's inconceivable he's going to throw out all his nukes and missiles and the facilities for making them. In fact, there's little doubt that North Korean engineers now are making more of them, or at least working on the means to do so. For another, the North Koreans are not going to produce a list of everything to do with their nukes and missiles. A report released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, on the basis of commercial satellite imagery developed by Joseph Bermudez, suggested the scope of the ongoing program. No doubt the Pentagon knew about all that from its own spy satellites, but North Korea has a lot of other sites hidden away in nooks and crannies, caves and tunnels all over the country. The show that Kim has made of seeming to destroy a couple of them has fooled no one. Not that those realities would deter Trump from saying, fine, I'd be glad to talk to the man. He might even consider signing another joint statement with Kim as they did in Singapore. This time around, it would be a "peace declaration," committing both countries to formally "ending" the Korean War. But what if Kim avoided agreeing to a listing of anything or making a commitment, a real promise, of CVID? Trump has a lot of other stuff going on. Rather than answer such questions, he would prefer to leave North Korea to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, still looking for another meeting with his North Korean interlocutor, Kim Yong-chol, to talk about the timing and setting for a summit. No matter, National Security Adviser John Bolton will have trouble convincing his boss of the need to read up on what North Korea is doing. The President is too busy tweeting about political foes, playing games with the media that he loves to hate and making pronouncements about everyone else's mistakes. You think all that's a sideshow? For Trump, North Korea is the sideshow. Donald Kirk (www.donaldkirk.com) has been writing about crisis and conflict in Asia for decades. Linzi Boyd, right, and Darren Shirlaw, co-founders of Business of Brand (BoB) Group / Courtesy of Asiance By Baek Byung-yeul For entrepreneurs and startup founders, building their own brands has always been a huge challenge. To solve this issue, Linzi Boyd, a U.K-based businesswoman, founded the Business of Brand (BoB) Group with her partner Darren Shirlaw in 2013 and has been operating BoB Schools in the U.K., Singapore, Australia and Canada to teach entrepreneurs how to design, build and activate a brand led-growth plan. The BoB School is now expanding its reach into Korea as Boyd will open a business consulting school for businesspeople here. By participating with the BoB School, businesspeople can "understand how to build brand-led growth and create uplift for themselves and their organizations," Boyd said. "BoB is creating the face of modern business. It is to build brands, shift industries and make impact in the world," Boyd told The Korea Times during an interview at the headquarters of a digital marketing agency Asiance in Seoul, Wednesday. "BoB is an on- and offline platform. It is a school. In the school we teach business owners and we also have some celebrities, management teams of organizations coming to the sector. In the school, we have any industry sector coming into the school at the same time. So in the school, we can have an engineer sat next to a fashion designer sat next to a famous person," Boyd said. Boyd established herself as a successful businesswoman at an early age. At the age of 18, she set up her own store, selling premium clothes. At 20, she sold the business and established a footwear brand. Though the shoe brand was big enough with six global distribution channels, she sold it again and established a PR agency specializing in promoting fashion brands at the age of 25 in 1999. Boyd said she chose Korea for the school's first branch in East Asia as she was impressed by "the way Korean people think about technology in different ways." "I came to Seoul at the age of 21, in 1996 until 1999 to produce shoe soles for my shoes manufacturing business, which was a huge success," she said. "Seoul seems now ready, like Tokyo was several years ago. A huge energy, towards the future. Korea is now full of opportunities as there is a new generation of business leaders who are open to globalization." Explaining differences between MBA programs and BoB School, Boyd said participants can learn practical hands-on experience. "It is different from going for an MBA because in an MBA, you will learn from a textbook. It is theory-based. Our school is practical-based, so everything we've done is in the organization for the last 28 years," she said. "Very different types of students from very different backgrounds and industries will be attending the school. Globally, the BoB School has taught over 1,000 businesses and is excited to be expanding throughout Asia." Boyd joined forces with Asiance to run the BoB School programs in Seoul and Tokyo throughout 2019. Olivier Mouroux, a co-founder of Asiance, said he and another founder Kim Bo-sun took the BoB School classes and decided to introduce this program to Korean entrepreneurs. "Learning at the BoB School is completely different from taking MBA programs in schools. Participants can learn practical ways of establishing their brands as the teachers at the BoB School are all successful businesspeople full of experience while professors at MBA schools are specialized in business theory," Mouroux said. The BoB School is a six-day course, giving in-person lessons by Boyd and her team. The first Seoul class is scheduled to be held for two days on Nov. 22 and 23 at the Ferrum Tower in central Seoul. The class will be taught in person by Boyd and Shirlaw and other experts of her team. Boyd said she will organize the remaining four days of class in Seoul in early 2019. Boyd said the size of the Seoul class will be 13 and they represent mostly entrepreneurs and startup founders. While the two-day program will focus on building brand DNA, the four-day class will be about growth systems covering personal brand, product, channel and campaign. To attend the BoB School, Boyd said there's no particular educational background required. "As they have not necessarily studied business, the goal of BoB is to show them the face of modern business," she said. Rapper Microdot promotes Pizza Hut Korea's newly released Garlic Marble Steak Pizza in this ad posted on the pizza franchise's Facebook page, Nov. 15. / Courtesy of Pizza Hut Korea Pizza Hut Korea CEO Steven Lee Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Seemingly on the cusp of ousting incumbent L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, Alex Villanueva says he plans to eliminate the positions of two constitutional policing advisors who advise the sheriff and senior commanders on a variety of legally delicate matters, from enforcement of the department's use-of-force policy to the dispensing of discipline against deputies accused of misconduct. McDonnell created the two positions after he assumed office. They're designed to improve department policies, practices and procedures "by providing internal oversight of custody and patrol operations and improving adherence to best law enforcement practices," according to a department job posting published earlier this year. In an interview with LAist, Villanueva called the positions "a dog and pony show." The retired sheriff's lieutenant said they give "the appearance" of strong constitutional oversight, "but in actuality they never addressed the big systemic issues. They only addressed the low-hanging fruit." Villanueva said the advisors were too focused on misconduct of deputies, ignoring misconduct by command staff. He said the "systemic issues" include "racial profiling," and "you had a lot of issues of deputies involved in criminal misconduct that was concealed for a long time." Villanueva said he would use the money budgeted for the two advisors to fund a "truth and reconciliation commission" that would review potential wrongful convictions as well as possible wrongful terminations of deputies. The union representing deputy sheriffs has strongly opposed the constitutional advisors on the grounds that they have far too much power over the disposition of investigations into deputy shootings, alleged excessive use of force and other misconduct. The union was a key backer of Villanueva's campaign, spending more than $1.3 million on his behalf. Peter Bibring, director of police practices for the ACLU of Southern California, called the idea of eliminating the constitutional policing advisors "a troubling step in the wrong direction." While Villanueva said the advisors never addressed systemic issues, Bibring said they're needed to address those very issues. "Reform at the sheriff's department is far from complete," he said, "and there [are] still serious, persistent problems, not only issues in the jails, but racial profiling along the I-5 corridor, issues around deputy gangs, and the issue around transparency and due process with the Brady list." The Brady list refers to a list of 300 deputies whose credibility has been called into question because of past incidents of dishonesty. Sheriff McDonnell sought to turn the list over to the district attorney, a step one of the constitutional policing advisors had pushed him to take, according to a well-informed source in the sheriff's department. The deputies' union sued to block the move, an action Villanueva supported. The case is now pending before the California Supreme Court. The deputies union was particularly angered by McDonnell's creation of the shooting analysis review committee, which was based partly on the advice of the constitutional policing advisors, according to the sheriff's department source. The committee analyzes deputies with multiple shootings and makes risk management recommendations about removing deputies from patrol duties. Sergio Perez, who started his job as one of the two constitutional policing advisors just two weeks ago, said it doesn't make any sense to get rid of the positions. "The question I would ask is, what is so threatening about the position of constitutional policing advisor?" he asked. "Why wouldn't you want an informed participant in that conversation that is going to be happening every day here at the sheriff's department?" The National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement awarded the other advisor, Diana Teran, its 2018 Contribution to Oversight Award in October for her "courageous and skilled work," according to an email to Teran from Cameron McEllhiney, the association's director of training and education. "You have been fearless in bringing a civilian perspective into the inner workings of the Sheriff's Department, giving the organization opportunities to improve that are not always present when agencies react to external criticism with internal echo chambers of positive reinforcement," wrote McEllhiney. Villanueva currently leads McDonnell by nearly 87,000 votes, according to the latest update from the L.A. County Registrar. There are still about 260,000 votes left to count, but McDonnell would have to win about two-thirds of those votes to overtake Villanueva. The sheriff issued a statement Tuesday saying he won't concede "until the ballot count has been completed.'' Noting that the "statistics appear to favor my opponent,'' McDonnell said he is prepared to reach out to Villanueva "to discuss an orderly transition, should that be necessary.'' Villanueva ran as a reformer who would clean out corruption at the top of the department, winning him the endorsement of the L.A. County Democratic Party. Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Black Lives Matter endorsed Alex Villanueva. That is incorrect. LAist regrets the error. Hey, thanks. You read the entire story. And we love you for that. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you, not advertisers. We don't have paywalls, but we do have payments (aka bills). So if you love independent, local journalism, join us. Let's make the world a better place, together. Donate now. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe The number of people who had to cast provisional ballots in Los Angeles County is way up from the last midterm general election. Preliminary estimates show more than 400,000 voters submitted provisional ballots in the county -- nearly four times the number submitted in the 2014 general. Column Chart Infogram County election officials said the highest volume of provisional ballots came from voters who arrived at polling places and were listed as vote-by-mail voters but didn't have mail ballots with them to surrender. This is required to guard against voters casting two ballots. Some voters reported arriving to their polling location and being listed as vote-by-mail voters mistakenly when they had never signed up to vote by mail. Voters who went to the wrong polling place to cast ballots also accounted for the high number of provisional ballots. Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for the L.A. County Registrar's office, said officials also believe the spike in provisional ballots was related to Department of Motor Vehicles voter registrations. That issue is being looked at statewide. "The number of provisional ballots estimated by California county elections officials is consistent with a high turnout election," Sam Mahood, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Alex Padilla, said in an email. "Additionally, the complaints we received to our voter hotline did not indicate widespread issues due to Motor Voter." Automated voter registration at the DMV went into effect in California in April. Those applying or renewing licenses are automatically signed up to vote unless they opt out of registering. The program came under fire after errors were reported with tens of thousands of voter registrations earlier this year. The nonprofit California Common Cause ran an Election Day hotline for L.A. County voters, said Rey Lopez-Calderon, the group's incoming executive director. It received over 900 calls for help. "A large number of the calls were people who just were being told that they weren't on the rolls, they weren't on the rosters," he said. "People were getting angry." He said the issues varied, but a common complaint involved confusion over polling locations. In some cases, instead of directing voters to the correct location, poll workers handed out provisional ballots. "When the elections are very high stakes and we have higher than expected turnout, I think it puts a strain on the system, and people aren't quite ready to deal with that. And so the fallback on that is just to hand everybody a provisional ballot," Lopez-Calderon said. Among the top issues reported to California Common Cause were polling place problems, such as workers incorrectly asking for identification and voter rolls that didn't arrive until later in the morning. California does not generally require IDs to vote. In a press release, the organization reported that voters at Mark Twain Middle School in Los Angeles were unable to cast ballots until precinct rolls arrived at 11 a.m. -- four hours after polls opened statewide. Sanchez said via email that the number of provisional ballots represents those who could have been prevented from voting if not for the state's "voter-focused provisional ballot policies." These allow voters to ask for a provisional ballot if any issue arises at the polls. Lopez-Calderon said it's not yet clear if widespread problems led to the high number of provisional ballots. His organization plans to work with county election officials statewide so poll workers can better assist voters when they run into problems. I HAD TO CAST A PROVISIONAL BALLOT, WAS IT COUNTED? Statewide, officials say voters cast more than a million provisional ballots. California counts all of its provisional ballots after voters' eligibility is verified. L.A. County voters can check the status of their ballots starting on Dec. 6 on the county's website. The statewide voter status tool is also available to L.A. County voters or those in other California counties. KPCC/LAist will continue to track voting problems. Please feel free to submit any tips or concerns you had about voting via email to humanvoterguide@kpcc.org. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Richelle Huizar, the wife of Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, is ending her bid to take his seat two weeks after their Boyle Heights home and two of her husband's district offices were searched by the FBI. In a written statement, Richelle Huizar says she's withdrawing to focus on family. A consultant for her campaign confirmed the news to LAist. "I look forward to continuing to work on issues I'm passionate about and staying involved in improving our communities," she said in the statement. Jose Huizar was first elected to the City Council in 2005 and will be termed out in two years. His wife announced her candidacy to replace him in September. Now the future of District 14, which includes Eagle Rock, downtown LA and Boyle Heights, remains unclear. Councilman Huizar has faced several accusations of unethical behavior in recent years. In September, city officials reported receiving a complaint about Huizar through a site set up to report discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Then in October, his former executive assistant and scheduler filed a lawsuit against the councilman and the city, alleging retaliation and ethical violations. The former employee also believed Jose Huizar and others in his office "violated local, state, and federal law" on multiple occasions, including for planning the city council campaign for Richelle Huizar "on the City's time and dime," according to the lawsuit. View note Hey, thanks. You read the entire story. And we love you for that. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you, not advertisers. We don't have paywalls, but we do have payments (aka bills). So if you love independent, local journalism, join us. Let's make the world a better place, together. Donate now. Hey, thanks. You read the entire story. And we love you for that. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you, not advertisers. We don't have paywalls, but we do have payments (aka bills). So if you love independent, local journalism, join us. Let's make the world a better place, together. Donate now. Jose Jose Jose Jose Jose The FBI has not elaborated on the investigation into Huizar, citing a sealed affadavit, but said a total of seven warrants were executed as investigators looked for evidence based on allegations of criminal activity. No arrests have been made, according to authorities. Huizar was removed from council committees last week and had been absent from City Council meetings since FBI agents searched his offices and home, but returned to City Hall on Tuesday. Jose Huizar is among two sitting council members who've been involved in sexual harassment settlements in recent years. In Oct. 2013, his former deputy chief of staff sued him for sexual harassment and retaliation. Huizar then admitted to having an affair with the woman. The Los Angeles Times reported his case was settled privately back in 2014. Ryan Fonseca contributed to this story. Hey, thanks. You read the entire story. And we love you for that. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you, not advertisers. We don't have paywalls, but we do have payments (aka bills). So if you love independent, local journalism, join us. Let's make the world a better place, together. Donate now. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe As you prepare to digest an abundance of Thanksgiving food, we've got something else for you to digest -- the 2020 presidential campaign is already starting. And it's bringing songs with it. While he has yet to announce whether he'll run, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti's getting a song from boosters. It joins a long line of both official and unofficial anthems that have become bigger than ever thanks to the hope in every politics junkie's mind that viral success is just around the corner. Here's a look at both our mayor's new song and those that have come from overly enthusiastic political backers before. ERIC GARCETTI: ARE YOU READY... GARCETTI "Are You Ready... Garcetti" was commissioned by supporters of Mayor Garcetti to help generate buzz around him for a potential run at the presidency. It's not officially part of the campaign, but it's what backer Nathalie Rayes describes as an "urban Latino beat song" that's meant to introduce Garcetti across the country. The song mixes sound clips from Garcetti with Latin beats, with a YouTube video overlaid with photos of the mayor set in rhythm with the drums. The song is largely Spanish language, emphasizing his multicultural heritage. It tries to mix Garcetti's own story in with key campaign issues, such as the mayor's support for human rights. You'll see plenty of photos of Garcetti with children and working people, along with other images meant to sell him as the 2020 candidate of choice. BARACK OBAMA: YES WE CAN As enthusiasm for Barack Obama reached a fever pitch during the 2008 campaign, the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am decided to get together a bunch of celebrity fans to record a song filled with Obama quotes and built around Obama's campaign refrain of "Yes we can." The song has perhaps the best musical pedigree on this list, with great vocalists like John Legend lending their skills to the tune and Herbie Hancock offering some piano -- though the gaggle of celebrities also set it up as being ripe for parody. HERMAIN CAIN: THE HERMAN CAIN TRAIN The Godfather's Pizza CEO who made a run for the Republican nomination played to his party's base with a country song promoting his southern roots. It's also one of two songs on this list using the expression "raising Cain." It takes the train analogy and makes it literal with lots of train imagery, thanks to his nicely rhyme-able name. Cain also makes time to allude to the basics of his economic plan. Back when he still hosted The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert laid into the song and the video's low production values, but Cain showed he could take a joke by appearing on the show and even doing an event with him. HILLARY CLINTON: STAND WITH HILLARY Perhaps unexpectedly, it's a Democratic country song. The song feels like it was almost produced by a country music robot, hitting the notes of Clinton's life and putting it into a down-home narrative. JOHN MCCAIN: RAISIN' MCCAIN The other "raising Cain" song! This country tune has a rousing sound, but it doesn't avoid darker themes -- it spends a verse running through McCain's time as a P.O.W. in Vietnam, backed by guitar and fiddle. BARACK OBAMA: CRUSH ON OBAMA BY OBAMA GIRL In the early days of YouTube, this marks one of the first songs to be labeled a viral hit. "Obama Girl's" slightly off-tune vocals and her use of showing skin to promote her political message were questioned, but she left an impression with a tune that even spawned its own parodies. HILLARY CLINTON: HILLARY IN THE HOUSE So much earnestness. It was another early viral video, getting attention during the 2008 campaign -- before being resurrected (to less fanfare) going into the 2016 campaign with a fully produced techno remix: BOB DOLE: DOLE MAN Bob Dole embraced "Dole Man" on the campaign trail. It was a new version of the classic "Soul Man," reworked by Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, who popularized the original. But it turned out that Moore didn't have the rights to do so, and the new version of the song got shut down. Moore's gone on to support other Republicans over the years -- including performing at Donald Trump's inauguration. OLDER CAMPAIGN SONGS Most campaigns have used popular pop, rock, or country songs in recent decades, but either original or customized songs used to be more in vogue. Here's a list of more of those classics: George H.W. Bush: The George Bush Song Richard Nixon: Nixon's The One, and Nixon Now Barry Goldwater: Go with Goldwater Lyndon Johnson: Hello, Lyndon! John F. Kennedy: High Hopes (modified with Kennedy-specific lyrics) Dwight Eisenhower: I Like Ike Warren Harding: Harding, You're the Man for Us Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln and Liberty, and Battle Cry of Freedom William Henry Harrison: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Andrew Jackson: The Hunters of Kentucky James Madison: Huzzah for Madison, Huzzah John Adams: Adams and Liberty You made it! Congrats, you read the entire story, you gorgeous human. This story was made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism costs $$$$$. And now that LAist is part of KPCC, we rely on that support. So if you aren't already, be one of us! Help us help you live your best life in Southern California. Donate now. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe By John Horn with Darby Maloney Thanksgiving is the holiday where we come together to be grateful, share quality time with friends and family, struggle to take more than one bite of your mother-in-law's Jell-O Fluffy Cran-Raspberry Salad, and try to figure out what in the world everyone can do together once the food ends and before the political fights begin. (Leave, before it's too late!) If going to the multiplex is part of the plan, we have everything you need to know to make your decision. Avoid fighting with your relatives with the help of the movies. Remember, it's OK to divide and conquer. Sometimes the best idea is for one group to see one film, while another faction gets tickets for a different movie -- and maybe the third finds a nearby bar or coffee shop and settles down with a good mystery (like Tana French's The Witch Elm). IF YOU WANT A CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE AND DON'T MIND READING Roma, drama, rated R (2 hr, 15 min) In Spanish with English subtitles If you live in the Los Angeles area, that means you're lucky. For a lot of reasons, but they include the fact that you can actually find a movie theater that's showing"Roma. This Netflix film will be coming to the streaming service Dec. 14, but it's getting a rare-for-Netflix theatrical release starting today. We recommend seeing it on the big screen if you can. Roma is writer-director Alfonso Cuaron's (Gravity) deeply personal reminiscence of a year from his childhood in Mexico City during the early 1970s. It has a few very intense scenes, but its beauty balances its darkness. The movie unfolds almost like a dream. Cuaron told us that he wanted the camera to be "almost like a ghost that is observing, looking at the past. ... I want it to feel more as if it's haunting you." IF YOU WANT A MOVIE WITH STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS The Favourite, biographical dramedy, rated R (1 hr 59 min) The Favourite follows two women (Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz) as they compete for the affections of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) in the 18th century. This is the newest feature from filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) -- and it is definitely not The Crown. OR A Private War, biographical drama, rated R (1 hr, 50 min) In A Private War, directed by Matthew Heineman, Rosamund Pike plays celebrated war correspondent Marie Colvin. She was an American reporter for The Sunday Times of London who was killed while on assignment in Syria in 2012. Even before her death, Colvin was a bit of a legend among her colleagues. She'd reported from conflict zones in Kosovo, East Timor, Iraq, Libya, Chechnya -- and she even lost her left eye in a grenade attack in 2001 in Sri Lanka. That didn't hold her back. OR Can You Ever Forgive Me?, biographical drama, rated R (1 hr, 46 min) The lead character in Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a woman over 50 who's a hoarder, an alcoholic, a misanthrope, a failure in her career, and whose closest relationship is with a cat. Director Marielle Heller told us she was all in for that: "Hell yeah, give me that movie. I want it. I think there's something about a character like that that if it was a man we'd be like, that sounds interesting." Melissa McCarthy plays that lead character -- writer Lee Israel, who became known for being a successful literary forger. IF YOU WANT A FAMILY MOVIE THAT GROWN-UPS AND KIDS CAN ENJOY Ralph Breaks the Internet, comedy, rated PG (1 hr, 52 min) This animated film has some of the best reviews of any movie in theaters right now. A follow-up to Wreck-It Ralph, it's been singled out for making fun of its own makers -- the Walt Disney Company. It might not be as transgressive as Deadpool, but it's a start. And there's a scene in which Disney princesses appear fully conscious of the story tropes that have bound them for generations. Progress? IF YOU WANT SOMETHING VISUALLY STUNNING At Eternity's Gate, historical drama, rated PG-13 (1 hr, 50 min) At Eternity's Gate is a visually stunning movie where the light is almost like a character in the film. Willem Dafoe plays Vincent Van Gogh at the end of his life, when he was practically creating a painting a day. Directed by visual artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), the movie is less interested in Van Gogh's mental health than how he saw light and color and put that on canvas. Dafoe told us how he learned to paint to play the part. IF YOU'RE WITH PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE ABOUT PRESIDENT TRUMP BUT AGREE THAT BIGOTRY IS UGLY AND JAZZ IS LOVELY Green Book, historical dramedy, rated PG-13 (2 hr, 10 min) Director Peter Farrelly is best known for comedies like There's Something About Mary, bus his new movie Green Book is about race, class, and two men who find common ground despite their differences. The story, based on real events, follows African American pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and his Italian-American driver/bodyguard (Viggo Mortensen) as they tour the segregated south in the early 1960s. IF YOU WANT A MOVIE ABOUT POLITICS BUT NOT TRUMP The Front Runner, political drama, rated R (1 hr, 53 min) The new movie from Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) is about politics and the media that covers it. The Front Runner looks back at the rapid fall of presidential candidate Sen. Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman), when he was accused of an extramarital affair. People may misremember certain details about the 1987 story -- the Miami Herald actually started tailing Hart before he challenged the media to follow him around -- but what's hard to forget is how it changed political reporting forever. What does this story tell us about politics in 2018? Reitman told us, "This is a film that offers a prism of 1987 to look at today. ... I'm really just hoping that the movie offers one more angle so that we can have a rational conversation about a world that is very confusing right now." You made it! Congrats, you read the entire story, you gorgeous human. This story was made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism costs $$$$$. And now that LAist is part of KPCC, we rely on that support. So if you aren't already, be one of us! Help us help you live your best life in Southern California. Donate now. An application has been filed with the City of San Diego to develop six residential units on the corner of Westbourne Street at La Jolla Boulevard. There is currently an open lot and a small, single-family home on the property. The application was filed Sept. 4 and the project is undergoing environmental review. Jeff Lundstrom of Lundstrom Engineering & Survey is listed as the applicant, and did not return La Jolla Lights requests for additional information. The decision to approve or deny this application will be made at a public hearing and those that live in the area or otherwise express interest will receive another notice informing you of the date, time and location of the public hearing, according to the application. Development Services Department received an application for a Coastal Development Permit and Tentative Map for a property located on 460 Westbourne St., which proposes the construction of six residential condominium units, totaling approximately 8,505 square feet of new construction. The project is anticipated to be considered by the Citys Planning Commission next year, explained San Diego public information officer Scott Robinson. This project (and all discretionary projects) are provided to the local community planning group for its review and recommendation, prior to the public hearing before the decision-maker, which in this case is the Planning Commission. It is up to the applicant to contact the community planning group to schedule their project. IN GOOD TASTE: You might expect from the name that Isabels Cantina is just another Mexican restaurant in the beach area. But actually, youd be wrong. Isabels has been in business for 18 years, and through that time has evolved its menu into more of a California cuisine with some Asian influences, and a definite focus on healthy ingredients. According to owner Isabel Cruz: California is a melting pot with Latin and Asian influences being common. I like to serve food like I would at home simple and fresh, and using local ingredients. Located at 966 Felspar (on the spot of the old Devaneys Bakery for longtime Pacific Beach locals who might remember), Isabels is one of the top breakfast places in town, offering banana-blackberry pancakes, breakfast tamales, and lots of healthy scrambles. Restaurant owner Isabel says some of her greatest food influences came from her childhood in Los Angeles and is reflected in the menu at Isabels Cantina in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego. ( Courtesy ) Lunch and dinner options include Ahi Wontons, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and fire-roasted Chile Relleno with house-made salsas. The drink menu offers up libations such as Mexican Mochas, Turmeric Latte and Kale Mimosas. Isabel says some of her greatest food influences came from her childhood in Los Angeles. She remembers with fondness: It was a weekly thing. Everyone would come for dinner and there would be all the cooking going on in the kitchen black beans and rice, roasted chickens in a mojo sauce, and flan were some of my favorites. The kids would be running around, the salsa music would be blaring. The kids would eventually go to sleep and the adults would stay up dancing or playing cards and drinking rum. She says she still carries on this family-dinner tradition at her mothers house every week in a more toned-down, Americanized version. Carnitas on Blue Corn Tostadas at Isabels Cantina in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego ( Courtesy) Another childhood experience also influenced her culinary tastes. She said she had many Asian girlfriends in LA, and shed be invited to their homes for wonderful Asian dinners. Going to their homes was always great for me, she recalls, because just like my family, food was a focus in their families as well. She points out that Asian influences have been in Mexicos cuisine and culture since the 1500s, when the new trade route from Asia came through Mexico via the Panama Canal, Puerto Rico and Havana. Thats why you see so many Chinese cafes and coffee shops in Mexico, she explains. The flavors just work well together and both cuisines use many common ingredients such as chiles, cilantro, peanuts and more. Isabel notes that her place has always been a very neighborhood-focused restaurant. But lately, shes noticed a trend she wasnt expecting a more transient clientele due to the impact of short-term vacation rentals. She bridges that gap between the regulars and the out-of-towners by keeping the favorites on the menu while experimenting with other items. Soy Chorizo Scramble at Isabels Cantina in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego ( Courtesy ) Still, Isabel says she feels fortunate to retain her loyal clientele due to challenging business rules in California. California is a difficult state to be a small business in; costs have never been higher and labor laws make it extremely complicated. This leaves little room for employers to run a business the way they need to survive and thrive. But shes not stopping any time soon. Shes hoping to open another restaurant that her sons will manage, which she describes as their own version of my restaurant, simplified and updated. She says both her sons (Robbie, 31 and Ryan, 30) are drawn to restaurant life for the same reasons most people are: Its social, its creative, they love to eat, and they like being around people. If you have it in your blood, it is hard to get away from it. Whats the best advice she ever got? Keep it small and dont do business in California, she laughs. I didnt follow either. Isabels Cantina is open 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, and 5 p.m. to close Thursday-Saturday, at 966 Felspar St., in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego. Reservations required for parties of 6 or more. (858) 272-8400. isabelssd.com More than 200 people gathered to honor public safety workers who serve Pacific Beach at the PB Town Councils 38th annual PAESAN (Police And Emergency Services Appreciation Night) community picnic on Sept. 26 in Crown Point Park. The event also served as culmination of the Town Councils successful fundraiser (launched May 1) to collect $50,000 to supply Fire Station 21 at 750 Grand Ave., with equipment to reduce the risk of cancer among firefighters, who suffer a higher likelihood of the disease because of frequent contact with toxins associated with the job. Guests enjoyed the barbecue lunch and raffle games for prizes, as local elected representatives poured praises over organizers and first-responders during the civic-oriented proceedings. Referring to the public safety workers in attendance, Assemblyman Todd Gloria (District 78) said: Theyre often overlooked, but I hope that for those of you being honored tonight, you know that we dont forget. We may not say thank you enough, but all of us are grateful for what you do. Police volunteer Dawn Cox, Senator Toni Atkins and Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol members Bob Sgambelluri and Ronald Harris ( Carol Sonstein ) Added State Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (District 39): This event is the essence of a real community. These citizens want their public safety folks to know they support them and theyre willing to show them. I think thats why everybody comes to this. Its why the elected officials come, because they know theyre going to see the community out in force supporting these public servants. Other dignitaries giving remarks included local District 2 City Council member Lorie Zapf, City Attorney Mara Elliott, Police Chief David Nisleit, newly appointed Lifeguard Chief James Gartland, and Assistant Fire Chief Chris Webber, second in command in the department. San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit speaks about police-community relations. ( Carol Sonstein ) Stand-out shout-outs Awards were presented to individual officers selected by their department heads for superior service from four public safety departments police, fire, lifeguards and park rangers (Mission Bay Park). The honorees were Police Lt. Steven Waldheim, Police Officer Steven Woodrow, Fire Engineer Glen Nakamaru, Lifeguard Sgt. Kerry Brown and Senior Park Ranger Karolyn Estrada-Sparlin. While noting in his acceptance speech that public safety workers dont perform their duties to receive accolades, Nakamaru later observed that such public recognition goes a long way in tempering the hardships encountered on the job, such as deaths of victims and colleagues or unruly patients. PB Town Council president Greg Daunouras holds a donation check for $5,000 from Anne Evans (left). ( Carol Sonstein ) We always try to maintain a really good attitude, Nakamaru told the crowd. We go to a lot of things that sometimes bring you down in mood ... so to get something like this really reminds you theres a lot of positive people out there. According to Lt. Waldheim, who also received the 2018 PB Neighborhood Watch Award that evening, recognition is a two-way street and the awards remind recipients that none of them could achieve excellence without the cooperation of the public they serve. By no means is it one person doing anything, he said. Its a collaborative effort between everybody. There are so many community members I deal with on a weekly basis that are doing so much good by letting us know the issues and the problems. Honoree Police Lt. Steven Waldheim speaks about police-community relations. ( Carol Sonstein ) Remarkable community spirit Yet some recipients could barely recognize the communitys outpouring of goodwill because theyd never seen it before and were thus overwhelmed. As the focus of the fundraiser to help prevent job-related cancer, Fire Station 21 Capt. Rich Marcello wore his heart on his sleeve in proclaiming his astonishment. Ive worked in tons of districts throughout 20 years, Ive worked in Orange County and LA, and not one single community has been this active, Marcello said. Not one. At all. Im not trying to put anybody down by any means, but what Im trying to say is, this community; theres no explanation for it. Somebody might ask, why? he added. What is it that (they) get out of it? And the thing is, they dont want anything out of it but to help. Carlye Wund, Andy Thomas, Ilsa Butler ( Carol Sonstein ) Friends Sara Gallacher and Raelene Escriba from Clairemont attended the PAESAN picnic for the first time. From afar, they said, the communitys spirit is easy to recognize. Theyve been doing this for 38 years, Gallacher remarked. They always have support parties [to benefit others]. We love this area. With attendance surpassing last years PAESAN and top officials lining up to pay homage, PB Town Council vice president Brian White noted that the efforts of his organization were also being recognized: This event shows that the great work the PB Town Council does in the community is undeniable. Sandy Hilton ( Carol Sonstein ) Town Council member Denise Friedman led this years fundraising efforts for the $50,000 to assist Fire Station 21, her third year at the helm. Asked to explain the motivation for the communitys consistent support for its many members and institutions, Friedman pointed to three generations of the Wilding family who have always volunteered for PAESAN, starting with the late Mary Wilding, the events co-founder. Friedman argued that PB residents always answer the call of the community, once they recognize it as home. We dont move away, she said. We stay here. When someone stops doing something, someone else is there to fill the shoes to do it. When you have that kind of history, family history, it really carries on. Costner McIntosh, Justin McBride ( Carol Sonstein ) Malakhai Pulickal ( Carol Sonstein ) Richard Dhu, Sylvia Sowadski, David Paczoma ( Carol Sonstein ) Connor Sparlin ( Carol Sonstein ) Claire Nieddu ( Carol Sonstein ) Denise Friedman, Sal Giametta ( Carol Sonstein ) Manning the grill ( Carol Sonstein ) President pro tempore of the California State Senate Toni Atkins and PB Town Council president Greg Daunoras ( Carol Sonstein ) Kathy McDaniels, Annie McDaniels ( Carol Sonstein ) World renowned Ceylon Tea along with Ceylon Cinnamon based products and Sri Lanka's famed precious stones attracted a large number of visitors to the National Stall set by the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Geneva at the United Nations Womens Guild Bazaar on Tuesday, 20 November 2018. The Sri Lankan Food Stall run by the family members of the Mission's staff was a hot attraction providing the visitors opportunity to taste the famous Sri Lankan rice and curry. Organized by the United Nations Womens Guild and Permanent Missions accredited to the United Nations in Geneva, over the years the UNWG Bazaar has become a premier event in the UN calendar, with more than 150 countries' national stalls attracting close upon 6,000 visitors from all over Switzerland and neighboring cities. In addition to promoting and displaying cultural diversity of the membership of the United Nations, thus bringing them all on a unifying platform, the event provides a unique opportunity each year, for the visitors to buy handmade products and souvenirs from different countries and to experiment cuisines from around the world. Proceeds from the Permanent Missions National Stall are donated to the UN Womens Guild which supports charity projects for disadvantaged children around the world annually. Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Geneva 21 November 2018 "Sri Lanka attaches great importance to the CCW, as one of the key instruments advancing humanitarian disarmament, addressing the concerns on maintaining the balance on military necessity and mitigating humanitarian concerns arising from the use of certain conventional weapons or weapons systems". Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Ms. Shashika Somaratne remarked while delivering Sri Lanka's Statement during the general exchange of views at the Meeting of High Contracting Parties of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW), on 21 November 2018 at Palais des Nations in Geneva. Highlighting Sri Lanka's experience on the consequences of the use of landmines, it was noted Sri Lanka is on a firm path towards becoming landmine free by 2020, with the active support of stakeholders. While observing that Sri Lanka has made "considerable headway in determining the extent of contaminated area" as well as the mine risk education programme involving the affected community resulting in a drastic reduction of mine related casualty, Sri Lanka indicated that it will be in a position to share its experience in relation to mine action endeavours with interested parties. Commending the progress achieved by the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) resulting in identifying possible guiding principles and recommendations for further discussions it was recommended to continue with the Programme of Work to achieve concrete outcomes next year, including seeking agreement on a possible international regulatory framework on LAWS. Speaking on Mines other Than AntiPersonnel Mines (MOTAPM), Sri Lanka welcomed the objectives of the current discussion on reducing the indiscriminate and injurious impact of these weapons. Sri Lanka emphasized the need for further discussions on exchanging best practices on managing MOTAPM enabling developing countries to actively contribute towards this process. The Meeting of the High Contracting Parties, which meets annually will continue from 21-23 November under Presidency of Latvia. Full text of the Statement Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Geneva 21 November 2018 Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Wednesday restored federal recognition to an accrediting group that oversees dozens of for-profit colleges but was shut down by the Obama administration over allegations of lax supervision. DeVos decision says the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, or ACICS, was found to be substantially in compliance in 19 of 21 areas reviewed by the Education Department. She moved to reinstate the groups accrediting powers but said it must fix lingering problems within a year. Michelle Edwards, the groups president, applauded the decision and said she looks forward to reinvigorating the organization for a strong future. In the past two years, ACICS has implemented significant reforms designed to address concerns and enhance our ability to hold schools accountable for meaningful student outcomes, Edwards said in a statement. ACICS has set as a goal to become a leader among accreditors and I am looking forward focusing all of my energy on living up to that goal. Advertisement Some opponents said its a step backward. Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the top Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said DeVos decision ignores the groups poor track record at reining in profit-driven schools that prey on students. This decision will expose hardworking people across the country, including many service members and veterans, to schools that routinely leave students with crippling debt, non-transferrable credits and no degree, while leaving taxpayers to foot the bill, Scott said in a statement. Editorial: Betsy DeVos sides with predatory for-profit colleges over Americas students Instead of directly supervising schools on its own, the federal government appoints private accrediting groups to ensure colleges provide a quality education to students. Only with the blessing of an accreditor can schools become eligible to receive federal education funding. For years, ACICS served as the nations largest accreditor of for-profit colleges, overseeing more than 240 institutions that received a combined $4.76 billion in federal aid in 2015 and enrolled more than 600,000 students. Among those that received the groups stamp of approval were the Corinthian Colleges chain and ITT Technical Institute, which shut down amid widespread allegations that they misled students to get them to enroll. Following the collapse of those chains, the Education Department under President Obama reviewed ACICS and opted to cut ties in 2016, citing a profound lack of compliance with most of its basic responsibilities. A letter announcing the decision said the groups track record does not inspire confidence that it can address all of the problems effectively. The 2016 review found that ACICS failed to meet standards in all 21 criteria, including requirements that it monitor schools and penalize those that step out of line. The decision effectively shuttered the group and required schools under its purview to find other accreditors within 18 months or lose access to federal funding. But ACICS challenged the decision in court, arguing that the Obama administration failed to consider 36,000 pages of evidence the group had submitted in its defense. A federal judge in Washington sided with the group in March and ordered DeVos to reconsider the case and examine all evidence. A new review by the department found problems related to the groups training regimen for volunteers who visit campuses to review colleges, and it found that ACICS failed to provide documentation related to potential conflicts of interest with some of its reviewers. But DeVos concluded that the group has made significant improvements in both areas and said the problems werent severe enough to suspend recognition. In her report, DeVos criticized the previous administrations decision, saying that it ignored or mischaracterized significant evidence, and that it suffered from insufficient evidence, circular reasoning, and a desire to achieve a preordained result. By contrast, DeVos wrote that she was persuaded by the abundance of evidence in the records ACICS submitted to make its case. The decision means that schools under ACICS do not need to find other accreditors and are not at risk of losing federal funding. In a statement on its website, the group says it will achieve full compliance in the remaining two areas within the one-year deadline. One pair of glasses was crushed. A second pair lost their shape and kept slipping off his nose. The next four pairs met similar ends. In all, Lissa Levys 8-year-old son has broken six pairs of prescription glasses since April going through eyewear faster than most kids wear out a pair of pants. But the Skokie, Ill., resident isnt panicking. Advertisement Thats because she bought the glasses through online retailer Zenni Optical for about $25 a pair, frames and lenses included. Buying kids glasses online seems to make a lot more sense, especially since theyre going to grow, and theyre going to trash them, to go for the most cost-effective method, she said. Parents arent the only ones heading online to purchase prescription eyewear. Consumers are increasingly buying glasses online from retailers such as Warby Parker, Zenni and EyeBuyDirect for as little as $6 a pair. By comparison, people often shell out hundreds of dollars for prescription glasses at traditional optometrists offices and boutiques. The number of glasses bought online is still relatively small, only about 4% to 10% of prescription eyeglass sales, according to varying estimates. But sales are growing as awareness increases. The number of prescription glasses sold online grew almost 600% between 2007 and 2017, according to the Vision Council, an eyewear industry group. Consumers bought nearly $600 million worth of prescription glasses online last year, according to the group. Companies such as Zenni based in Novato, Calif. and Warby Parker are able to sell glasses at much lower prices than many eye doctors and boutiques partly because they sell only their own brands of eyewear. Most glasses in the U.S. are marked up 10 to 20 times what they cost to manufacture, said Dave Gilboa, Warby Parker co-founder and co-chief executive. That didnt make sense to us. Glasses frames on display. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) Chicago-area optometrists say online competitors arent yet putting much of a dent in their businesses. Eye doctors often get anywhere from about one-fourth to half of their revenue from eyewear sales. But they warn that online glasses arent for everyone and say consumers should be wary. Dr. Robert Steinmetz, owner of SoLo Eye Care & Eyewear Gallery in Chicago, has no problem with some patients buying their glasses online. I have a lot of contact lens patients that wear their lenses for 16 hours a day, and if they wish to get a pair of glasses that can get them from the bathroom to the bedroom or out of the house in a fire, I think thats fine, Steinmetz said. But for patients with more intense needs, eyewear bought online might not be appropriate, he said. Hes had patients who bought eyewear online visit him because the glasses needed an adjustment or didnt properly correct their vision. He also worries about children wearing glasses purchased online. Its especially important for childrens glasses to be accurate because so much of the way children learn is tied to their vision, he said. Plus, kids lenses should be made of material that resists breakage, such as polycarbonate, for safety reasons. Not all kids lenses sold online are made of those stronger materials. His concerns echo those of the American Optometric Assn., which warns that when glasses are bought online, accuracy, lens durability and fit might be questionable. Steinmetz is a member of the group. The safest and best way to obtain your eyewear is directly from the optical dispensary associated with your eye doctor, and if your eye doctor doesnt have a dispensary, then I think a bricks-and-mortar location with a good reputation is the next best option, said Samuel Pierce, association president. Some of the nations largest online retailers of prescription eyewear find those concerns overblown. Its certainly the case that there are websites that are selling low-quality glasses, just as its true that there are physical stores selling low-quality glasses, Warby Parkers Gilboa said. I dont think you can make a blanket statement that online is good or online is bad. Some online merchants send customers frames to try on at home before they buy a pair, or enable them to try frames on virtually by uploading pictures of themselves. The companies also differ in how they get prescription information. Some allow customers to enter their own prescription information; others require that information come directly from a doctor or require a photo of the physical prescription. Some of the companies accept vision insurance. Others dont. The companies also offer varying options when it comes to lenses and measurements. All of Warby Parkers glasses, for example, come standard with impact-resistant polycarbonate lenses. The company doesnt allow customers to measure the distance between their pupils themselves an important measurement for making accurate glasses. Instead, that measurement must come from an eye doctor, be taken in one of the companys physical stores or be measured by a staffer using a photo of the customer submitted online. Though Warby Parker is known for selling glasses online, it also has more than 80 physical stores, including five in Los Angeles County. Dr. Robert Steinmetz says its fine for some people to buy glasses online, but he has some concerns. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) Zenni offers shatter-resistant polycarbonate and trivex lenses at slightly higher prices than its lowest-priced glasses. The company allows people to measure the distance between their pupils themselves using a Zenni tool or submit measurements provided by their doctors. Zennis website can detect if someone enters a measurement that seems wrong, company spokesman Sean Pate said. Pate acknowledges, however, that nothing beats the precision of getting that measurement taken by an eye doctor and said Zenni isnt aiming to drive eye doctors out of business. Rather, it wants to be a complement to them. If youre getting your first pair of glasses, you need to be educated on what your eye issues are and understand what types of lenses work for you best, what frames fit on your face, Pate said. When a person loses that first pair of glasses, wants a second pair or fancies something to match his or her wardrobe, thats when Pate recommends they turn to Zenni. Otherwise, the cost of eyewear can be exorbitant if youre trying to put your whole family in glasses, Pate said. But price isnt the only thing that draws consumers to online eyewear companies. As with other forms of online shopping, theres the convenience factor. Shelley Housholder of Highland Park, Ill., said her husband began shopping for eyewear online after he broke his glasses late one night and didnt have time to visit an optometrist the next day. They fit well, the price was good, and he didnt have to take time off of work, Housholder said. He hasnt bought glasses from an optometrist since. In recent years, online sales have encroached on many traditional businesses, such as booksellers, department stores and clothing stores. The sale of online glasses is a threat to eye doctors, but its not likely to drive them out of business anytime soon, said Jack Curran, a senior industry analyst for the independent industry research firm IBISWorld. Even Levy, whose son broke so many pairs of glasses, said she doesnt buy her own eyewear online. Because Im much less hard on them, I dont mind spending the money and going myself to try on a whole bunch of pairs, she said. Schencker writes for the Chicago Tribune. In the early morning, before the sun can cast its warmth, Hilary Swank opens up with honesty in her voice that makes the 2,500 miles between us disappear. This is one of the times I felt the most vulnerable as an actor, the two-time Academy Award-winning actress says in a phone interview, referring to her role in What They Had, from first time writer-director Elizabeth Chomko. Theres a reason why we havent seen Swank on the silver screen the last three years. Her father underwent lung transplant surgery and she made the decision to be by his side. Now 44, Swanks latest explores family hardship and the painstaking decisions made to move forward. Playing Bridget a role the affable actor viscerally connected to immediately she finds herself in an unhappy marriage living in California and mother to a troubled teenage daughter, Emma (Taissa Farmiga). When Bridgets mom, Ruth (Blythe Danner), disappears in the middle of a Chicago winter night, she rushes home to discover her mother has entered the late stages of Alzheimers disease. Holding the power of attorney, a sympathetic Bridget must decide what transpires next. Her brother, Nick (Michael Shannon), who stayed in Chicago and looks after their parents, suggests specialty assisted living, while their fervent father, Burt (Robert Forster), fights to keep his wife at home under his own loving care. Advertisement Bridget is a woman trying to figure it out and trust her instincts and honor what she knows is right and be brave in all of that, says Swank, who served as an executive producer and further developed the character alongside the scribe. Elizabeth captured family dynamics and the love of family dysfunction so well. Chomko cherishes the fact that she and Swank shared a deep connection during their first meeting. I wrote this story from a very personal place inspired by my own family, says the director. Bridget is an extension of myself, and the more the character is like you, the harder it is to pinpoint. With Hilary, we were able to cultivate that narrative together and push each other to be unafraid. With the script ready, producers reached out to Shannon, someone Swank notes shes wanted to work with for over a decade. The two got together at a dinner the night before shooting. Hilary Swank as Bridget and Michael Shannon as Nick in What They Had. (Bleecker Street) I never met Hilary in my life. I was nervous cause I really respected the heck out of her. She came walking in and over to me like weve known each other since we were kids, says Shannon, who found his affinity for acting in the Windy City and still has roots there as a co-founder of A Red Orchid Theater in the Old Town district. As Bridgets often blunt but likable brother, the toll of caregiving weighs on his shoulders. Wrapped up in those problems are subplots of his own personal issues; a rocky relationship with a woman being one of them. Its very much like life, says Shannon. You see him so focused on his parents but he has his own problems. Its something that all the characters are dealing with in the movie; that they forget about themselves. Scenes between Bridget and Nick magnify the dichotomy of their personalities but with an energy only siblings share. One moment theyre calling out each others character flaws, the next theyre laughing at the absurdity of their moms slip-up when she hits on Nick, thinking hes a single stranger. Emotions enlarge further in scenes with their father scenes in which Forster gives his most bravado performance to date. In one candid conversation, they try to convince him assisted living is a solution worth considering, but he questions if theyre out of their minds and wants no part in it. Shannon says those confrontational yet heartfelt moments can come to life because there are no repercussions. When you argue with your real family, you have to deal with the terrible burden the next morning at the breakfast table trying to figure out if youre going to apologize. With the movie, you can have that juicy argument and then just walk away and not be overwhelmed with shame. With Robert, we love being around him. He has such a strong paternal energy about him. Swank shares a similar sentiment about the closeness on set: This movie is so beautiful and I think everyone will find something to relate to it. calendar@latimes.com Residents of Los Angeles and Ventura counties reeling from the 100,000-acre Woolsey fire can breathe easy for now the first post-fire rainfall came and went without significant mudslides or debris flow from fire-scarred hillsides. The Southland received a quarter of an inch to an inch of rain overnight. Authorities and emergency officials had braced for the possibility that the rainfall could trigger mudslides and flooding in burn areas, particularly in the steep canyons of Malibu. A flood advisory issued by the National Weather Service overnight remained in effect until 3 a.m. We were on alert, and we are still on alert for mudslides. At this point we havent received any news regarding mudslides, said Deputy Armando Viera of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department information bureau. Its good news for the people in Malibu. Theyve been through a lot. Advertisement Bonnie Bartling, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said no more rainfall was expected in the region over the weekend. Were pretty much done with it, she said. Its just going to dry out, warm up for the weekend. Experts have cautioned that residents will have to remain on alert for storms in the coming months that could send mud and debris coursing down the newly burned areas of the Santa Monica Mountains. The fear is that there could be a repeat of the sort of disaster that hit Montecito after last Decembers Thomas fire. In January, a devastating mudslide in the community killed at least 21 people and wrecked more than 100 homes. Fire-ravaged areas in Northern California affected by the Camp fire, which has burned through more than 150,000 acres, remain on edge. A winter storm warning and flash flood watch are in effect there through Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento. With 870 residents still unaccounted for in the fire that has already claimed at least 83 lives, authorities there were rushing to recover as many remains as possible before the storms. Thursday, November 22, 2018 at 07:36AM About 10 years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Siem Reap area for a few days. While the temples of Angkor Wat were as amazing as advertised, it was the friendship I formed with Mr. Hoy that I remember most fondly. His recommendation of a hotel, food, jokes, and personal guide service left great memories that those who travel by bus in large tour groups just don't get. For more details see - Cambodia - same, same only different. I attended a session at a local expo last Sunday about traveling solo. The presenter recounted the trips she had taken by herself, sharing some lessons learned and a few useful tips. But she also spent a great deal of time describing the psychological benefits of traveling alone. To me, she was preaching to the choir. My idea of the perfect travel year has always been three trips: one with my kids/grandkids, one with my significant other, and one all by my lonesome. Each has its own pleasures that cannot be replicated by the other two. While I sometimes joke that "family vacation" is an oxymoron, relationships with your kids and grandkids and seeing the delight of a new experience or new food on a kid's face cannot be surpassed. Discovering the exotic and beautiful with a lover imbues memories that are deep, significant, vivid, and forever. Traveling alone relieves the traveler of the responsibility for others' comforts and preferences and gives the lone traveler time to think, to observe, and to move at a personal pace - for introspection and curiosity. A big part of what makes travel engaging is uncertanity and problem-solving. That new trail, that interesting food, that new custom all come with both dread and delight. Canceled hotel reservations, injuries, closed sites, or weather conditions often call for impromptu decisions that are uncomfortable if not dangerous. Solo travel means getting the chance to trust one's own abilities - to navigate, to communicate, to stay safe. Dependence on oneself alone is both humbling and ego-building. Many of the intesting places I've visited have been happy extensions of speaking at conferences around the world. Trips to Laos and Cambodia were done a few days following conferences in Bangkok. My climb of Kilimanjaro was possible because I was speaking in Nairobi; going to Machu Picchu preceded a consulting job for a school in Lima. These solo tag-on adventures spent at my own pace have been a happy highlight of my life. As I look toward impending retirement, I am anticipating travel to play a bigger role in my life. I am planning a "senior gap year" in which I will have opportunities to take advantage of all three of my favorite kinds of travel. But it will largely be independent travel. I've always been envious of the college-age backpackers I've meet on my travels, lounging in hostels, trekking toward ancient ruins, dining on street food, exuding an air of total freedom, lacking time restrains and the hovering spectre of the return to a job "next Monday." So hostel owners, tuk-tuk drivers, and follow backpackers, beware. You may need to put up with an old guy who may be lost, but completely happy. A broken skull and other bone fragments found in the scorched hills of Latigo Canyon came from a person who died well before the Woolsey fire, Los Angeles County sheriffs investigators said Wednesday. A landowner spotted what appeared to be human bones last week as he was checking fire damage to his property off Latigo Canyon Road, about a mile north of Ocean View Road, Sgt. Marcelo Quintero said. The property owner didnt notify authorities about the bones until Saturday. Quintero said the skull was probably hidden by heavy brush until the Woolsey fire burned through the area. Advertisement Investigators believe the wildfire may have dislodged the remains from where they were stuck higher up the hilly terrain, and sent them tumbling down onto the pathway where they were found, on property owned by the Ava and Cole Weintraub Family Park conservancy group. The skull was broken into pieces but we were able to piece it somewhat together, Quintero said. The anthropologists at the coroners office believe [the remains] definitely predated the fire. Coroners investigators believe the remains could have been there between six months and 50 years, he said. They have some fire damage, he said, but no bite marks. We only have parts of a skull, parts of a jaw and possibly some cervical vertebra pieces, Quintero said. The Los Angeles County coroners Special Operations Response Team combed the area, hoping to find more remains. They did find additional bones, Quintero said, but they turned out to belong to animals. Were going to do our best to try to identify whoever this person was, he said. But its going to be a long shot, at best. Anyone with information should contact the sheriffs Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477. A Los Angeles County sheriffs sex-crimes investigator was charged Wednesday with raping and tying up a 14-year-old girl he met as part of his job. Neil David Kimball, appearing in a Ventura County courthouse, was also charged with dissuading a witness by force or threat. The deputy is accused of trying to intimidate the girl from reporting the crime, officials said. The charges include a special circumstance allegation that the victim was bound. Kimball pleaded not guilty. The alleged attack took place in November 2017 in Ventura County, prosecutors said. Kimball, 45, could face 19 years to life in prison if convicted of the crimes, said Ventura County Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Michael Schwartz. The 20-year department veteran was taken into custody Friday after a monthlong investigation, officials said. He was relieved of duty with pay on Saturday after the departments internal criminal investigations bureau began looking into a complaint about him by a member of the public. Advertisement Kimball had been at a medical facility, away from the special victims bureau, since August, said Sheriffs Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. A colleague at the unit who took over some of his criminal investigations learned of the accusation against Kimball on Oct. 10 after contacting people involved in the deputys cases. Benjamin Maserang, Kimballs public defender, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. News of Kimballs arrest prompted the Los Angeles County district attorneys office to launch a review of past criminal cases that may have relied on the deputys testimony. Kimball was listed as a potential witness in 977 criminal cases, said Shiara Davila-Morales, a spokeswoman for the office. It is unclear how many of those cases involved sex crimes. Kimballs arrest also raises questions about the selection process for detectives assigned to the Sheriffs Departments special victims bureau, which handles highly sensitive cases that can involve child victims. A few years before he joined the elite sex crimes unit in 2013, Kimball was investigated for sexual battery but was not charged with a crime. In the earlier case, a woman told the Sheriffs Department in February 2009 that Kimball, while on duty, had grabbed her hand several months before and tried to make her touch his genitals, according to a memo from the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. If there was a hint a hint of any type of sexual harassment or abuse, even if you may not have proof, why are you promoting that person to the sex-crimes unit? said Patti Giggans, the chair of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission. Giggans, who is also the executive director of Peace Over Violence, an organization that aids survivors of sexual abuse, said she plans to raise her concerns about the screening process for sex-crimes investigators at an upcoming meeting of the oversight body. The Sheriffs Department has said in a statement that it is investigating the process that led to Kimballs promotion, noting that prosecutors found insufficient evidence in the incident reported in 2009 and decided against charging him. Nishida said detectives normally go through a specialized testing procedure. Davila-Morales, of the district attorneys office, said prosecutors had not been disclosing the 2009 investigation to attorneys in cases in which Kimball was a potential witness. She said that under a new policy that the office recently adopted, information about the 2009 allegations could be considered for disclosure to defendants. Under the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brady vs. Maryland, prosecutors are obligated to alert defendants to evidence that could aid the defense, including information that could undermine an officers credibility. The deputy was moved from a downtown Los Angeles lockup to a Ventura County jail on Wednesday. His bail was set at $2 million. His next scheduled court date is Dec. 18. Times staff photographer Mel Melcon contributed to this report maya.lau@latimes.com Twitter: @mayalau UPDATES: 5:20 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the charges. This article was originally published at 3:55 p.m. Ray Chavez, widely recognized as the oldest surviving veteran of the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Wednesday at 106. Kathleen Chavez, who had been her fathers live-in caregiver for more than 20 years, said he passed away peacefully in his sleep early Wednesday. His health had declined in recent weeks, and he was on hospice care. Memorial services are pending, but Chavez said her father had asked to be buried at Miramar National Cemetery. Ray Chavez surged into national prominence three years ago when fellow Pearl Harbor veterans recognized him as the oldest survivor of the 1941 Japanese attack that ushered the U.S. into World War II. Advertisement Since 2015, hes been an invited guest at the White House, attended numerous commemorative events in California and Hawaii, and was a frequent parade grand marshal. Ray was the epitome of the Greatest Generation, said Richard Rovsek, a trustee of the nonprofit Spirit of Liberty Foundation in Rancho Santa Fe. He was always proud to be an American and proud of the military. Chavez was born in San Bernardino in 1911 and grew up in San Diegos Old Town and Logan Heights communities, where his large family ran a wholesale flower business. In his early 20s, he married and had a daughter. In 1938, at the age of 27, he joined the Navy and was assigned to the U.S. minesweeper Condor at Pearl Harbor. At 3:45 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941, Seaman 1st Class Chavezs crew was sweeping the east entrance to the harbor when they spotted the periscope of a Japanese midget submarine. After depth charges were dropped to sink the sub in 1,500 feet of water, the rest of the morning passed uneventfully. Chavez told the San Diego Union-Tribune that he was asleep at home in nearby Ewa Beach when the Japanese bombing raid began about 8 a.m. My wife ran in and said, Were being attacked, and I said, Whos going to attack us? Nobody. She said that the whole harbor was on fire, and when I got outside I saw that everything was black from all the burning oil. He spent the next nine days on continuous duty in and around Pearl Harbor and said the scenes he witnessed left deep emotional scars. Over the next four years he rose to the rank of chief petty officer, serving on transport ships that delivered tanks and Marines to shore in eight Pacific battles. Although he wasnt injured during the war, he retired from the Navy in 1945 with psychological wounds from the terrible things he witnessed. He said that after a couple of the battles he saw, he started to shake, Kathleen Chavez said. First it was his hands, then it was his arms, then it was his whole body. By the time the war was over, his whole body shook. During his Navy exit physical, a doctor wanted Ray Chavez to spend some time recovering in a mental health clinic, but he feared it would affect his job opportunities. He declined and moved back to San Diego, where he got a job at a nursery. After two years of working outdoors in the fresh air, he got better, Kathleen said. In the 1950s, he and his wife, Margaret, suffered an unimaginable tragedy when their daughter, son-in-law and 18-month-old granddaughter were killed in a car accident. To help mend their broken hearts, the Chavezes adopted 5-year-old Kathleen from a San Diego orphanage in 1957. She, too, served in the Navy, from 1974 to 1991, and was recognized as the Navys first female jet engine mechanic. She has lived with her father since her mothers death in the mid-1980s. Ray Chavez spent 30 years as a groundskeeper at UC San Diego, then ran his own landscaping and groundskeeping business in the Poway area until he finally retired at 96. He was an avid reader of nonfiction books and loved to travel. Kathleen said her father didnt speak about his Pearl Harbor experiences until 1991, when he was invited to attend the 50th anniversary memorial in Hawaii. It was such a moving experience for him that he and Kathleen went back to Hawaii for the 55th, 60th and 65th anniversaries. In recent years, theyd gone back every year as the number of survivors dwindled. We went last year, and if he was still alive, we were going back again next month, Kathleen said. I think he enjoyed the experience, but he never saw himself as any different from the other men he served with. Hed always say. Im no hero. I just did my job. Chavez was the child of Mexican immigrants, and Kathleen said he did experience some racism and discrimination as a high school student and in the Navy. But he remained a proud citizen. From the age of 21, he voted in every election. He told Rovsek that the only Republican he ever voted for was Dwight D. Eisenhower, an Army veteran. Chavezs political leanings caused a minor kerfuffle in May when he was invited to meet President Trump at the White House, Kathleen said. The night before his Oval Office visit, Chavez was interviewed at his hotel by a CNN reporter and said on video aired nationally, I didnt vote for that guy. Nonetheless, Chavez charmed Trump the next morning, and the president lavishly praised Chavez during a public Memorial Day service. The crowd just stood up and erupted, said Rovsek, who escorted the Chavezes to Washington on behalf of the Spirit of Liberty Foundation. Rovsek said he is planning a memorial wreath-laying ceremony in Chavezs honor at the next Pearl Harbor anniversary memorial Dec. 7 in Hawaii. Kragen writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com Asylum seekers funneled to bridge crossings at the Texas border are being blocked from approaching the U.S. side, forced onto waiting lists overseen by Mexican officials. The asylum seekers and immigrant-rights advocates say that has put them at risk of extortion, discrimination and deportation, with many telling of Mexican officials demanding money to let them pass and of watching others, further down the list, cross ahead of them. In Matamoros, a city across from Brownsville, Texas, the list is kept on a clipboard in an opaque blue plastic case on the newer of two border bridges. Though Mexican officials maintain the list, U.S. officers decide how many asylum seekers cross. An individual familiar with the Mexican immigration system who asked not to be identified for safety reasons said U.S. officials choose who crosses based on nationality and other characteristics. Last week, Mexican immigration officials notified four asylum seekers camped at the foot of the bridge for more than a month that it was their turn to cross. They had been near the top of the waiting list for days but had watched others jump ahead of them. Now they said teary goodbyes to about 20 migrants they had been staying with on cots under tarps. Advertisement Mexican officials escorted the four a pregnant woman, her boyfriend, a mother and her 16-year-old son to a U.S. customs officers station at the center of the covered bridge. How many are you, and from what countries? one of the U.S. officials asked in Spanish. The migrants identified themselves, and the U.S. officials counted aloud: two Cubans, two Guatemalans. Mexican officials nodded. Then they allowed the four to enter the U.S. U.S. law says immigrants can present themselves to request asylum at border crossings or inside the country after entering illegally. But as thousands of Central Americans approached the border this month, President Trump announced that those crossing illegally would be denied asylum. This week, a federal judge in San Francisco blocked that asylum ban. But the judges ruling didnt address the administrations efforts to stop asylum seekers at southern border bridges. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they have run out of space to process them at border holding areas, most of which they said house fewer than a hundred people. The agency has stationed officers at bridge midpoints to prevent asylum seekers from entering the U.S. The migrants must add their names to waiting lists in Mexico, a process U.S. officials call queue management. A list was first used two years ago in Tijuana, prompting immigrant advocates to sue in California federal court, arguing the process illegally blocked asylum seekers. With the lawsuit pending, U.S. immigration officials expanded the system to busy crossings in Arizona and Texas. As of last week, waiting lists were being used at all major crossings in Texas, said Rick Pauza, a Laredo, Texas-based spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Across the border from El Paso, Mexican officials in Ciudad Juarez cleared 300 migrants from border bridges last week, sent them to shelters and created a waiting list, said Shaw Drake, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. Asylum seekers numbers on the list were written in marker on their arms. Theyre creating the circumstances under which thats necessary, said Drake, adding that about 20 of the asylum seekers were being admitted to the U.S. daily from Juarez. Its illegal to be turning these people away and making them wait. To the east, where Texas Rio Grande Valley borders the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, U.S. and Mexican immigration officials launched a joint campaign in September against cartel violence and corruption. But U.S. authorities delegated management of asylum seeker waiting lists to Mexican counterparts. The lists are not made public, and they are not monitored by U.S. officials, Customs and Border Protection said. In Matamoros last week, officials from Grupos Beta, the humanitarian arm of Mexican immigration services, could be seen using the list to record the names of 80 asylum seekers. Two weeks before, the list contained 165 names, said migrants who saw it. It was unclear how many of those removed from the list had been allowed to cross. Mexican officials refused requests to review it. Officials at Mexicos National Institute of Migration office at the citys new bridge declined to comment, as did the institutes Grupos Beta Matamoros. Institute officials in Mexico City did not respond to requests for comment, including about extortion allegations. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it processes undocumented persons as expeditiously as possible, and denied it was involved in selecting who enters from the lists. Nationality has absolutely no bearing on the processing of asylum seekers, and those on the lists are processed on a first-come, first-serve basis, the agency said. The agency said it does take into consideration persons with medical emergencies, unaccompanied alien children, the disabled, and gives priority as we can, bearing in mind the day-to-day availability of resources, case complexity, holding space, port volume and enforcement actions. Jessica Zamora, 18, of Havana, who is pregnant and seeking political asylum, eats a meal while camping alongside other immigrants in Matamoros. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Jessica Zamora, an 18-year-old Cuban who is seven months pregnant, was still waiting at the foot of the Matamoros bridge last week, more than 25 days after U.S. officials allowed her mother and 13-year-old brother across. The officials didnt consider her part of the same family, Zamora said. Two other pregnant women were also waiting to cross. We wait here while others pass because we dont have money, Zamora said. Mexican immigration officials in Matamoros said they try to limit the number of asylum seekers waiting at the new bridge to 10, ferrying the rest to a shelter across town, but the number swelled recently as migrants refused to leave, afraid of missing a chance to cross. An additional 39 asylum seekers waited at the shelter, including some families stuck there for more than a month. Their temporary Mexican visas had expired, and they worried they could be deported. There are weeks they dont call anyone to cross, said asylum seeker Yoveni Torres, 37. His family left Nicaragua after being persecuted for joining the Catholic resistance to the countrys authoritarian government, he said. He was still waiting this week after a month at the shelter with his wife and three children. Two dozen migrants from Central America, Cuba, Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Mexico, Russia and Venezuela camped at the foot of the bridge last week without food, water or medical care beyond occasional visits by the Mexican Red Cross, even as temperatures dipped to freezing. They said immigration officials had failed to secure the bridges, leaving them vulnerable to extortion. When they complained, Mexican immigration officials threatened to force them to leave, including when they were being interviewed by The Times. See how they talk to us? Go like dogs, said Yaneisi Jinarte, a teacher from Cuba. Jinarte said she complained to U.S. immigration officials. Others said they had tried, but Mexican officials barred them from reaching the bridges midpoint. Two other Cuban asylum seekers said Mexican immigration officials demanded they pay to cross the citys older bridge this fall. They refused and were still waiting to cross last week. Their claims were being investigated, according to the Mexican individual who requested anonymity. He said that immigrants are not supposed to cross on the older bridge, where their names are not added to the list, and that U.S. officials should stop allowing them to sneak onto the bridge and cross. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it was up to Mexican officials to manage the flow of asylum seekers at the bridges. Cuban asylum seeker Elvis Gonzalez Rodriguez said that when he arrived at the old bridge last week, a uniformed Mexican immigration official demanded he pay $1,000 to cross. Gonzalez, 23, refused, and the official made him leave. At the newer bridge, a backpack containing his passport and cash was stolen, he said. He returned to the old bridge and was forced off by Mexican immigration officials three more times. Theres a lot of corruption here. Its the responsibility of Mexican officials to protect immigrants. I want to come the correct, legal way, the electrician from Havana said as he sat on the old bridge again on Nov. 14, a few feet from two U.S. customs officers. They need to help us. They need to know about the corruption, how its a business to pass here. Cuban asylum seeker Elvis Gonzalez Rodriguez He said the U.S. officials should help asylum seekers and investigate whats happening a few feet south of them on the bridge. They need to help us. They need to know about the corruption, how its a business to pass here. Another Cuban asylum seeker said a uniformed Mexican immigration official demanded $500 to get her across the old bridge after she arrived at Matamoros airport in mid-October. She said she gave the official her passport and $300 at the airport, then got nervous. He didnt seem trustworthy, so I left, said Rosa Maria, 50, who asked to be identified by first name because she feared for her safety. She said Cuban asylum seekers have called her cellphone after crossing the old bridge to say they paid Mexican officials $100 to $300 each to bypass the list. U.S. volunteers and immigrant advocacy groups alerted Mexican authorities that asylum seekers have been forced to pay to cross the bridge since June. They are. I know thats a fact, said Michael Seifert, an ACLU border advocacy strategist in Brownsville. Its only gotten worse. Its gotten more expensive. The Cubans are targeted because they have money. He said African immigrants are forced to wait weeks because they dont speak enough Spanish to understand the bribe. Asylum seekers from Cameroon said Mexican officials in Matamoros turned them away this month and told them the U.S. was not accepting more Africans. Michael Randy said he asked U.S. customs officers at the bridge, who rejected the claim and assured him African asylum seekers were still being accepted. Mexican officials are investigating, according to the individual who requested anonymity. Randy, 30, said he fled Cameroon after police fatally shot his younger brother, raped his wife in front of him and then burned the home they shared with their 2- and 3-year-old daughters. He hasnt heard from his family since. Randy said he was imprisoned and tortured for 77 days, then fled the country. In Matamoros, he said Mexican officials forced him off the old bridge, but not Cuban asylum seekers who were behind him on the list at the new bridge but managed to cross the old bridge before him. That shows there is something wrong, he said. Another Cameroon migrant suffered a tropical disease that can cause blindness but had to wait a month before U.S. volunteers interceded last week; he was then allowed to cross and receive treatment at a hospital. Its not fair, Randy said Nov. 12 as he stood at the new bridge eating a donated chicken dinner, wondering when he would cross. I could stay for a month theres no certain time. Cuban asylum seeker Leonardo Mederos, 30, said he paid a smuggler $4,000 to get him to a border bridge to the west in Reynosa, a Gulf cartel stronghold, where the smuggler assured him he would be able to cross and join relatives in Miami. He told me if I paid, nothing would happen, Mederos said at the Brownsville bus station last week. Mederos crossed Sept. 28 and was released from immigration detention this week with a notice to appear in immigration court. Christina Patino Houle of the nonprofit Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network said Mexican officials at times close the bridges with gates, shutting migrants out. These are incredibly dangerous areas where these individuals are waiting for days and weeks to enter the bridge. We sometimes have pregnant women, women with toddlers, who are sent back into territories that are managed openly by cartels, she said. It just does not reflect a genuine effort to allow people to come to the United States and seek asylum. In response to questions about whether Mexican officials were charging asylum seekers to cross bridges and turning African asylum seekers away, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said: Mexico is a sovereign nation, and our authorities do not cross international boundaries. Actions of Mexican officials, or people in Mexico, should be addressed to the government of Mexico including any actions taken on the Mexican side of bridges and in the border cities of Mexico. molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com @mollyhf Nearly six months after President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un embraced at a historic Singapore summit and made vague promises of peace and prosperity, talks have flatlined and Pyongyang has taken no significant steps to reduce its nuclear arsenal or production facilities. Fears of all-out war clearly have eased in Northeast Asia since the two leaders stopped trading crude insults and invective, as they had in the months before the June 12 summit. And U.S. officials point to confidence-building measures, including North Koreas suspension since last spring of additional nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests. But denuclearization, the primary U.S. goal, appears as distant as ever, analysts and diplomats say. The on-again, off-again diplomatic process appears to have foundered and experts say North Korea is secretly expanding its nuclear and missile capabilities, just as it has during previous U.S. attempts to negotiate with the regime since the mid-1990s. In the latest dust-up, on Nov. 7, North Korean officials abruptly called off a planned meeting in New York with Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and threatened to resume nuclear testing unless the Trump administration lifts sanctions. Working-level meetings also have ground to a halt, State Department officials said. Advertisement Kim may prefer to wait for a second summit with Trump, who told the United Nations on Sept. 24 that he would meet with the North Korean leader again very soon. The White House has not announced a date or location for that meeting. The North Koreans dont want to deal with bureaucrats. They think they can get the best deal possible directly from Trump, said Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst specializing in the Korean peninsula who now is at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington. Pyongyang has stepped up pressure in other ways. The state-run news agency reported this month that Kim personally oversaw the testing of what it called an ultra-modern, cutting-edge tactical weapon that took seven years to develop. The news agency provided no details of the alleged weapon. South Korean soldiers at Arrowhead Ridge, a site of Korean War battles, as a tactical road is built across the military demarcation line inside the DMZ. (Kim Min-nee / AFP/Getty Images) More significantly, in August, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that North Korea was taking action consistent with enrichment of uranium and construction at its main nuclear site. The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency called the further development of the nuclear program a cause for grave concern. A separate think tank report warned that commercial satellite photos had revealed 13 missile development bases that it said North Korea had concealed. Pyongyang had never agreed to dismantle infrastructure for its ballistic missiles, and the White House said that U.S. intelligence already knew about the sites. Still, in building up its missile facilities, North Korea is raising the price on any potential deal with the U.S. by expanding the list of items it could use to demand concessions from the Trump administration, said Bruce Klingner, a former CIA deputy division chief for Korea who is now a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. You dont build them up to turn around and abandon them, he said of the sites. Adding to the challenge, U.S. officials say, is that China has eased up its enforcement of U.N. economic sanctions on North Korea since the Singapore summit in part a reflection of Trumps acrimonious relations with Beijing. China is North Koreas largest trading partner, and Kim has repeatedly met with Chinese President Xi Jinping this year. North Korea has balked at handing over a detailed inventory of its nuclear arsenal and production facilities, a key U.S. demand, saying its enemies would simply use it as a targeting list. IAEA inspectors would require a detailed inventory to inspect and confirm any claims of denuclearization. Vice President Mike Pence recently said the U.S. goal in a second summit would be to develop a plan for a nuclear inventory and international inspections as a starting point for ultimately dismantling North Koreas nuclear weapons. I think it will be absolutely imperative in this next summit that we come away with a plan for identifying all of the weapons in question, identifying all the development sites, allowing for inspections of the sites, and the plan for dismantling nuclear weapons, Pence told NBC News on Nov. 15. Less clear is what concessions Trump may offer or agree to if a summit occurs. In addition to the lifting of U.S. sanctions, Kim wants a formal end to the Korean War, the early Cold War conflict that saw a U.S.-led U.N. force battle communist North Korea and its Chinese backers into a stalemate. Fighting was suspended in 1953 but the war never officially ended, and the Korean peninsula has been divided ever since. The Pentagon keeps about 28,000 troops in South Korea. Ending the war could increase pressure to withdraw those forces, and jeopardize the American military and diplomatic alliance with Seoul, one of the United States closest allies. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been a cheerleader for detente with North Korea. Thats raised concerns in Washington that in his eagerness to improve relations between the Koreas, Moon may allow Pyongyang to drive a wedge between the U.S. and South Korea. Washington is especially worried that Seoul may ease up on sanctions targeting the North. South Koreas unification minister, Cho Myoung-gyon, sought to allay those fears in a recent address at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington. He said South Korea has emphasized cultural exchanges and family reunifications, but economic sanctions would remain as long as the nuclear threat exists. Korea and the U.S. [are] on the same page to achieve the same goal, Cho said. Officials in Seoul said long-broken railway lines between the North and South should be reconnected by years end. A South Korean envoy told reporters that the Trump administration gave its blessing to the project. Cho said Kim may visit Seoul within the year as well, continuing a series of meetings hes had with Moon. Publicly, the Trump administration has remained optimistic about its dealings with North Korea and defended its pursuit of denuclearization. Pompeo said on Oct. 7, after a visit to Pyongyang, that Kim had agreed to allow U.N. inspectors into the country to inspect the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which North Korea claims it destroyed in May by blowing up several tunnels. No inspections have taken place. As soon as we get it logistically worked out, Chairman Kim said hes ready to allow them to come in, Pompeo said at the time. Theres a lot of logistics that will be required to execute that. Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, said that administration officials go into this with our eyes wide open and that although there is work thats left to be done, progress has been made. A lot of people like to pooh-pooh that idea, she said. But, she added, we have still come a long way from where we were in our relationship and our posture with North Korea in the past year. We see that as progress. tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter The House Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas for former FBI Director James B. Comey and former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch to appear for closed-door interviews in a probe of how federal law enforcement officials handled investigations of Hillary Clintons emails and the Trump campaigns alleged Russia ties. The orders direct Comey to appear Dec. 3, while Lynch is to appear Dec. 4, to speak with members of the House Judiciary, and Oversight and Government Reform Committees. Both have already spoken with other congressional panels looking into matters related to Russian interference in the 2016 election, and have indicated they are willing to speak to the joint inquiry as well. But Comey has already objected to the format of the interview, hinting that he may not show if the session remains closed. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion, he wrote in a Thanksgiving Day tweet, acknowledging he had received the subpoena. Advertisement Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see, he added. The panels inquiry has been driven by Republicans and decried by Democrats, who charge that the Republicans are using the investigation as an excuse to pillory law enforcement officials and cast doubt over the work that formed the basis of special counsel Robert Mueller probe. The joint investigation has drawn in senior members of the FBI and Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, whom several Republican lawmakers want to bring back to Capitol Hill before the year ends. The panels investigation is set to either end or dramatically change by the beginning of next year, when Democrats will hold the House majority, and assume charge with full subpoena power of all House committees. Last week, when Democrats were warned that Comey and Lynch would likely be subpoenaed, the judiciary panels ranking Democrat, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, admonished panel Republicans for taking such action out of the blue, with very little time left on the calendar. Witnesses have an obligation to comply with committee subpoenas, he said in a statement, but the committee has an obligation to issue those subpoenas with care. The Tongass National Forest, the worlds largest intact coastal temperate rain forest, covers some 17 million acres of southeast Alaska, where it provides near-pristine habitat to an astonishing range of wildlife. According to the National Audubon Society, loggers over the decades have felled more than 90% of the old-growth Hemlocks and other trees, many dating to before Europeans arrived in North America. Since 2001, the federal government has barred most new roads from being cut in more than 9 million acres of the Tongass under the roadless rule adopted to preserve specific forestlands from destructive human incursions and increased logging. But the Trump administration now is considering exempting the Tongass from the roadless designation. Why? Because Alaskan government officials asked for it. The answer to that request should be an emphatic, No. Similar to arguments by Republican officials in Utah and other Western states, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker argued in announcing the request this year that restrictions to access imposed by the roadless rule had harmed our ability to develop our resources. He added, Alaskans are the ones best positioned to determine responsible development. It makes no environmental sense to exacerbate the problem by logging more areas of the forest. Advertisement No, they are not best positioned when the land at issue is federal land held in trust for all of us, and it just happens to lie within the states boundaries. This principle isnt unique to Alaska. Californians should no more get to determine how federal lands are used here than Utah residents can decide how to manage federal lands there. State and local officials should be consulted in the drafting of management plans for federal lands, but ultimately the decisions must be based on what is in the best interests of the American people at large. As it is, the federal government manages its lands in a variety of ways, depending on how the land is categorized. National parks, which preserve some of our most spectacular natural areas, enjoy some of the most restrictive governance. Other federal lands can be designated for multiple uses, including leasing for cattle grazing, logging, mining and other extractive industries. National forests are managed lands that, depending on the details of their management plan, can be logged or mined in addition to supporting recreation and other non-extractive uses. But the Tongass is unique among them, and the areas of it under contention now should be left alone. The drive to open ever more federal lands for logging, mining and other uses that extend the footprint of human development into the natural world puts the profits of private logging and mining companies ahead of the interests of other economic sectors, particularly tourism, fishing and recreation. Headwaters Economics, a nonpartisan research organization based in Montana, reports that the Tongass regions salmon industry employs 4,300 people, compared with about 165 timber-related jobs, yet allowing new roads into the forest, and the tree-cutting that could follow, could endanger the salmon habitat and some of the jobs that it supports. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which manages the national forests, spends more than a third of its Tongass National Forest budget supporting the logging industry; from 2009-13 the government spent an average of $771,000 per year processing permits and other support efforts for an industry that only brought in $59,000 per year in federal revenue. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Beyond the bad economics of adding roads and expanding logging in the Tongass, scientists argue that the forest absorbs the equivalent of about 8% of the U.S. annual greenhouse gas emissions, and that cutting old growth also releases up to two-thirds of the trees stored carbon into the atmosphere. The Tongass already is suffering from the impacts of global warming as rain patterns change and glaciers recede. It makes no environmental sense to exacerbate the problem by logging more areas of the forest. This is not the first time Alaska has sought an exemption; an earlier one was shot down by the courts, and legislative efforts also have failed. Still, the proper fix here rests in Congress hands: It should begin the process of converting the Tongass National Forest into a national park, on footing with Yosemite, Yellowstone, Death Valley and other areas of natural wonder that have been set aside since 1872. At a minimum, the government ought to back off this latest effort to hand over our common heritage for exploitation by special interests, and work to increase protections for this embattled region. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook The U.K. is at a critical stage in Brexit, its departure from the European Union. For some, its not decisive or rapid enough. For many, its too much, too fast. The lack of consensus may pass or it may represent a larger crisis. Its not clear yet. What is clear is that for months and perhaps years, Britain will find it hard to define its role in the world, and this will make it tough for the United States and other allies to know how to work with London. Brexits reverberations, however distant they seem, will amount to one of the great watersheds of the post-World War II world. Prime Minister Theresa Mays transitional exit deal, unveiled last week, will hold from the time Britain formally leaves the EU in March 2019 until it concludes a formal trade agreement with the European bloc. Mays compromises keep Britain in the EUs customs union for the time being, preserving its trade access, but also subjecting Britain to EU rules and EU institutions, without British input. The stability of the U.K. matters much more to the United States than most Americans may realize. Advertisement Those who most ardently supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum are furious: They want to leave the EU as quickly as possible and slam the door on their way out. Those opposed are also furious: They want to prop the door open and perhaps not even step outside at all. May had to shoehorn the agreement through her Cabinet, and a clutch of the ministers have since resigned. Euroskeptics will vote against the agreement in Parliament; so will some pro-Europeans. Its possible May will lose her job. If the deal fails, Britain will have a shrinking window of time in which to negotiate a new one before it must leave in March. And the rest of the EU already feels the bloc has gone as far as it can to create a deal that works for both sides. The alternative for Britain is a no-deal Brexit: running out of the house without bothering to pack or leave a forwarding address. That risks more economic and political chaos, since its unclear how Britain would import, export or deal with the rest of the world in the short term. For all these reasons and others, Britains friends around the world are nervous. The United States should be nervous too. It may seem that the United States need not worry about Britain, especially when there are so many other problematic countries to grapple with: Russia, Saudi Arabia, China. Not to mention the division and tumult within the United States. Older Americans are liable to sigh when they see this psychodrama in London, this Downton Abbey with trade negotiators. Britain has gone through periods of drift and uncertainty before. Things will blow over, they may believe. Perhaps younger Americans assume that, in a Pacific era, talk of a special relationship between the two countries is sentimental and outdated. But the stability of the U.K. matters much more to the United States than most Americans may realize. If the U.K. slides into irrelevance, the United States will lose a critical foothold in Europe and beyond. In the meantime, if youre looking for insight into global challenges, you wont find it in London. Its impossible to hold a conversation with the British political class about anything other than Brexit. Britain isnt focusing on other foreign policy or even other domestic priorities, though ministers keep trying to reassure allies that, for example, they remain resolute on the threat from Russia. The countrys economy may be permanently damaged, or it may gain in the long term. But the present is a time of great confusion for those who have invested in the country investors who, its worth noting, have many other options. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion British officials have begun the task of trying to explain their position to the rest of the world, preparing the ground for whatever happens in March. Brexit is shaping up to be one of the great unforced errors of this century: a waste of time, money and political capital on an epic scale. America may be a spectator with little ability to affect domestic decisions in Britain, but America has a great national interest at stake. Indeed, many in Washington and in Britains American community feel they are watching a tragedy unfold, as a key player in the postwar era appears to be writing itself out of that role. At some point, as a friend, Washington should feel the need to tell London: This isnt working. Its time to draw stumps. Andrew Marshall is the vice president for communications at the Atlantic Council and a former foreign editor of the Independent. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook Lets be clear: I am not asking you to feel sorry for Kat Timpf. Yes, the 30-year-old television commentator and National Review writer was chased out of a Brooklyn bar a few weeks ago by a shouty woman enraged that Timpf works for Fox News Channel. Must have been unpleasant, especially considering it wasnt her first time being physically confronted by angry strangers. But you know what else is unpleasant? Being separated from your toddler at the U.S.-Mexico border. Watching your entire community burn to the ground. Living a life less luxe than a New York gal about town whose birthday parties make Page Six. Increasingly, Americans do not tolerate people who do not stay in identifiable political and even geographical lanes. Advertisement So lets not talk about Kat, lets talk about you. You who pivoted before I did to the whataboutism in the paragraph above. You who were already irritated at reading yet again about a non-Democrat being inconvenienced in public. You who are saying to yourself, Fox News is toxic. Its poisoning my dads brain. All collaborators are fair game to be shunned. Heres the question for you: Do you think this ends well? Because it doesnt. As it happens, Timpf is one of very few Trump-skeptical libertarians working at 1211 Avenue of the Americas. When we were both on the libertarian-leaning Kennedy program on Fox Business recently, she said stuff like, Oh, Im personally not scared of the [immigrant] caravan. I think that Trumps done an excellent job of making people scared. Hound her from the building, and thats one less non-#MAGA commentator on dads TV. Not that Timpfs views actually matter to her antagonists. None of these people have even been able to tell me what exactly I have said or done myself that they had a problem with, she told the Hill. The problem, one darkly suspects, is that she looks the part of Fox News villain blond, pretty, false eyelashes that she refuses to take off when carousing in Brooklyns massive bloc of precincts that voted over 90% for Hillary Clinton. Increasingly, Americans do not tolerate people who do not stay in identifiable political and even geographical lanes. There is probably no more hated politician right now than the temperamentally centrist lame-duck Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Acres of pixels are expended most every time a perceived center-right type is hired by a reliably left-leaning news outlet Kevin Williamson at the Atlantic, Bari Weiss at the New York Times, Hugh Hewitt at MSNBC. These are successful public figures, so again, shed no tears. Think instead, in this Thanksgiving season, about your family, which probably includes members of the opposing tribe. According to a Survey Monkey poll before the midterm election, 61% of Democrats think the phrase racist/sexist/bigoted applies generally to the Republican Party, while 54% of Republicans think the Democratic Party is spiteful. More than one in five members of each bloc think the other can be rightly described as evil. This is not a good place to be, America. We are careening dangerously from a high-trust to a low-trust society. We trust one another less, we trust government and other mediating institutions less. This trend, which like many of our pathologies predates and arguably helped give rise to the Trump presidency, has ominous consequences. High-trust societies have lower transaction costs, lower crime rates and less corruption. People are nicer and better behaved when theyre reasonably confident that the local grocer wont steal their credit card information and the IRS wont audit them based on their politics. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Low-trust countries are clannish, unable to develop the civil institutions of a free society, and those in power tend to use government authority like a club to punish political enemies. The resulting disorder builds demand for strongmen, for more centralized state power. None of this is good. When President Trump accuses Democrats, without evidence, of electoral corruption in the Arizona Senate race (even as the local Republican candidate handles her loss with dignity), he is behaving like a caudillo from a low-trust country. When Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) says Republicans cant win elections fairly; they win elections by redistricting and reapportionment and voter suppression, he too is contributing to the very dysfunction he claims to resist . Its damnably difficult to break out of this cycle, at least politically: As trust declines between the two main parties, untrustworthy behavior spikes. There are villains among us in politics, though thankfully some such as the odious voter-fraud fabulist Kris Kobach in Kansas get fired by voters. But we can start closer to home with the recognition that our friends and family arent evil just because some of them have different ideologies or political affiliations. In a country of pluralities and coalitions and minority rights instead of heavy-handed majoritarian rule, we are cursed and also blessed to live with one another. We might as well learn how to peaceably share a drink. Matt Welch is editor at large of Reason, a magazine published by the libertarian Reason Foundation, and a contributing writer to Opinion. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook Titos Handmade Vodka has launched in the Republic of Indonesia as it continues its global expansion. On the domestic front, Titos is working with distribution partner, Pantja Artha Niaga (Paniaga) and will be introduced in the on and off trade in Indonesias capital city, Jakarta. Outside Jakarta, Titos will be available in the main tourist destinations, in particular the resorts of Kuta and Seminyak on Bali. In travel retail, Titos was introduced in the spring at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Indonesia plays an important role in the development of Titos globally, said John McDonnell, Titos managing director international. Firstly, there is a huge opportunity to establish Titos amongst the Indonesian population who will welcome it as an American brand at an accessible price point. Secondly, Indonesia is unique on the tourist map, appreciated by visitors from around the world all year round. Titos will be established quickly within Balis world-renowned nightlife scene and whats more, we anticipate that once visitors have experienced Titos there, they will seek it out for themselves on their return home. To the editor: After a week of learning the heart-wrenching statistics of homes destroyed and lives lost in the Camp, Hill and Woolsey wildfires, your front-page coverage Saturday of yet another heartbreaking facet of these calamities gave me pause. The story of Sheila Craft of Paradise, Calif. and the bravery and dedication she showed in evacuating her nursing home residents was so compelling that I had to pause while reading the article. I was overwhelmed with emotion while following her roller coaster of challenges, and relieved and jubilant as she conquered each step of an unthinkable and impossible chain of events. To put her life at such clear risk while also knowing that her own family might never see her again is a true tale of leadership and heroism. Ive no doubt that if not for her decisiveness and selflessness, the 91 elderly and ill residents of the Cypress Meadows nursing home, as well as their many caretakers, would have perished. Thank you for making me and your readers aware of Sheila Craft and her strength and humanity. Advertisement Diane Graham, Santa Barbara .. To the editor: The dedicated, quick-witted, caring, selfless staff of Cypress Meadows performed a heroic feat. Under normal conditions, the daily nursing and custodial care that a residential facility must provide those no longer able to care for themselves requires vigilance, patience, energy and a wealth of kindness. The best nursing home caregivers in our communities are unsung heroes. But to mobilize the residents under these dire circumstances and successfully evacuate them is awe-inspiring. By executing their duties without regard to their own predicament and performing admirably, the Cypress Meadows staff became heroes. I know where I am heading if my own mountain-neighboring community is threatened by fire to our local assisted living facility to help the staff and residents evacuate. Sarah D. Moyed, Sisters, Ore. .. To the editor: The citizens of Paradise join the mounting number of climate refugees in our own country. Paradise is just the latest city flattened by fire, extreme weather or floods. As climate scientists urgently warned for decades, the most vulnerable and marginalized would experience the impacts of climate change first. The surreal images of sick and elderly people shivering in tents are beyond heartbreaking. The president, a climate change denialist, rambled about forest management and berated California in his first public statements on the fires. His visit to this state was not helpful. Wendy Blais, North Hills .. To the editor: While everyone is looking for the causes of the California wildfires, we should be looking to architects, developers and engineers to build houses that are much more fire-resistant than what we have now. Builders need to use more concrete, tiles and bricks. The Romans figured it out only a few thousand years ago after Emperor Neros fire. Since then, Europe has built almost everything out of stone, bricks, concrete and tiles. These materials are definitely not earthquake-proof, but since the Big One may not happen in our lifetime, it would be wise to recognize what the clear, imminent and constant danger really is. In a state where theres a rule for everything when building anything new, changing the guidelines for what materials are used is imperative. Michele Castagnetti, Venice Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Allies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration.... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause. #Georgia Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush. The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump as recently as Tuesday continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops You really are our heroes, he said as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see. James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes he last won reelection by a 14-point margin suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election again, in blowout fashion but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10. Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history. Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters... Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice. Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children the older ones are 5 and 2 about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican she the race felt m No governor in California history has given more former offenders a chance at redemption through a pardon or commuted sentence than Gov. Jerry Brown, who on Wednesday granted clemency to a group that included onetime drug offenders, immigrants facing deportation and a former state senator. Brown issued 38 pardons for people convicted of felonies who had completed their sentences and commuted the existing sentences of 70 more. Pardons given to three men may allow them to avoid deportation by federal immigration agents. As the Trump administration has ramped up its enforcement of immigration laws, Brown has increasingly turned his attention to the cases of immigrants at risk of deportation. On Wednesday, he granted clemency to three men facing federal removal orders from the country. Tung Nguyen arrived in the U.S. as a Vietnamese refugee. He was convicted of murder and robbery at age 16 in 1994 after a fight at a hotel that ended in the death of another man. While serving his life sentence, Nguyen would later risk his life to save 50 people in a prison riot. Brown granted him an early release in a 2011 executive order because of the act, saying Nguyen did not start the fight or participate in the stabbing that led to his conviction. Advertisement Nguyen has since become an advocate for changes to the juvenile justice system and helped start an Orange County organization to help Asian and Pacific Islander inmates reenter society after prison, according to his pardon. Hai Nguyen, who was also pardoned, is not related to Tung Nguyen, but he helped him found the reentry organization for inmates and has volunteered with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization started by Hollywood producer Scott Budnick to provide a support network for people who have been incarcerated. The former Vietnamese refugee arrived in the U.S. when he was 2 and was sentenced to 35 years in prison for robbery at age 16. He served nearly 16 years in prison and was released in 2015 under a state law meant to give young people a second chance. A third immigrant, Truong Jay Ly, has become a restaurateur since his release from prison in 2007. He said he was grateful for the second chance to repay society for his crime, and for the approach the state is now taking toward young people and immigrants caught in the criminal justice system. Their level of maturity, their cultural understanding is different from Americans, Ly said. Im glad the governor is understanding of that. Born in Vietnam, Ly settled in East Los Angeles with his family when he was 11 after spending several months in refugee camps. He affiliated with gangs through his middle school and high school years and served more than 10 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter after a passenger in his car shot and killed a person. He was 18 at the time of the crime. Ly now advocates for criminal justice policies, helps current and former inmates and owns Stinkin Crawfish, a chain of restaurants he started with friends. He plans to open another restaurant, Sushimi Rollin, in West Covina. One supporter wrote that Mr. Ly is the exact type of person who merits protection from deportation and should be allowed to remain in the country that he now gives back to in a meaningful way, Brown wrote in his pardon. Ly said it would help him become a green card holder again. The governor commuted the sentence of Earlonne Woods, a San Quentin State Prison inmate who has received national attention for a podcast he helps produce about life in prison, Ear Hustle. Woods, 47, has been serving a sentence of 31 years to life for his part in a 1997 armed robbery. Brown noted accolades from members of the correctional staff and many volunteers for Woods behavior and leadership in helping other inmates. The commutation makes Woods eligible for parole. I believe Earlonne will continue to educate, enlighten and enrich the lives of his peers at San Quentin and the many, many people who listen faithfully to Ear Hustle, Brown wrote. The governor also took swift action on the case of former state Sen. Roderick Wright, an Inglewood Democrat who was found guilty in 2014 of lying about living in his legislative district. His record also included an auto theft conviction from when he was 19 a second felony that as a result required the California Supreme Court to clear the way for a gubernatorial pardon. Just a day earlier, justices recommended that Brown pardon Wright. Wright, who spent 12 years serving in the Legislature, was barred for life from further service in elected office after being convicted of felony charges including perjury and voter fraud. Brown noted the former lawmakers long career in public service in the pardon decree. He has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law abiding citizen, the governor wrote. Wright said the action by Brown means he will no longer face the stigma of the felony convictions, which can include questions from prospective employers and limits on international travel. All of the benefits that go to a person not having a felony are huge, Wright said on Wednesday. The fact that he just looked at this objectively, I cant say thank you enough. Among the many drug offenders pardoned by Brown on Wednesday was Jason Burnett, a resident of Paradise who lost his home during the deadly Camp fire. Burnett completed his prison sentence in 2002 and has, the governor noted, lived within the law ever since a story similar to the dozens of others with drug crimes in their past who received pardons. Some four dozen of the commutations given by Brown were to prisoners convicted of murder. In each case, the governors action does not release the person from prison, but instead shortens the amount of time that must be served before the case can be considered by the state Board of Parole Hearings. A number of the crimes were subject to either life sentences without the possibility of parole or sentences that would have made it almost impossible for a person to be released before dying in prison. Since returning as governor in 2011, Brown has used the holidays to take executive action on 1,341 cases of men and women who were serving time in prison or already had completed their sentences. Only former Gov. Ronald Reagan came close on clemency requests, issuing 574 pardons and 17 commutations in his eight years. Most governors of the states modern era have intervened far more rarely. john.myers@latimes.com Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast UPDATES: 5:54 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about those pardoned. This article was originally published at 4:30 p.m. After working for 50 years in the restaurant-service industry, former Burbank council member and mayor Gary Bric has decided its time for last call. For just over 25 years, Bric has been owner of Gary Brics Ramp, a quirky steakhouse nestled next to the 5 Freeway at 7730 N. Hollywood Way. The restaurant has been at that location since 1962 and was purchased by the lifelong Burbank resident in 1993. However, with rising overhead costs and running a business for the last quarter of a century, Bric said it was just time for him to retire and enjoy his life. The last day patrons can dine at the restaurant will be Friday, Nov. 30. I get my Medicare, Ill be signing up for Social Security and Ill be 67 next April, he said. Ive paid my dues, and Ive been doing this day and night for a long time, so its time to hang it up and enjoy what years we have left. Bric was a bartender at the restaurant for more than five years, and, when he was given the opportunity to purchase the business, he said he didnt hesitate. It was his first time running his own restaurant, but he was confident about his new venture. But you think you know everything going in, Bric said. You dont know squat, but with everything you do in life, theres a learning curve and with experience comes the knowledge. Gary Bric outside his restaurant. Ive paid my dues, and Ive been doing this day and night for a long time, so its time to hang it up and enjoy what years we have left, he says. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) Like many businesses, Bric said his restaurant had its ups and downs. Many of his friends told him he was crazy to buy a restaurant, but he proved them wrong. He managed to stay afloat during the recession in 2008 and even after a car crashed into the restaurant in 2013 when he had to shut down the business for more than seven weeks. Bric eventually sold the property to an investor, and he said he thinks its days as a restaurant are numbered. Unfortunately, the profit margin in this business [is thin] and minimum wage [is] going up; its just so difficult, Bric said. Regardless of what was thrown his way, Bric said challenges did not stop him from enjoying his time at the restaurant. He enjoyed seeing the families of his customers grow up and was proud to see many of his employees move on to bigger and better jobs. The most rewarding things were the people that Ive met and customers that Ive served, Bric said. To watch a couple generations of people going through here, to see them grow and mature, has been rewarding. Thats what its all about. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio Linda Lin was excitedly showing off photos of her family to Anita Black the two women were smiling and laughing inside the Glendale Salvation Armys gym as they browsed through the images on Lins phone. It was the first time they had ever met. They struck up a conversation as they were waiting in line for food as part of the local Salvation Armys annual Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday night. It was the first time Lin had come to one of the organizations dinners, and she was asking Black about the food being served turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Lin said she emigrated from China to Vietnam before coming to the United States sometime after the Vietnam War and was a little unfamiliar with the free meal being given away by the Salvation Army. The conversation eventually shifted from food to Lins children as Black wanted to know more about them. Thats when the phone filled to the brim with family photos came out. Lins four children are all adults with children of their own and have scattered across the state. Thats the immigrant story, Black said. Thats the American dream, not a house in the Palisades but the success of our children. Black originally signed up to help pass out food during the dinner but had to back out because of an injured leg. Instead she came to the event to talk with people like Lin. Lin and Blacks interaction helped contribute to the overall familial tone the dinner had. Parents were talking to one another as their children played a short distance away, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was showing in the background. The tables were covered in orange butcher paper so people could doodle or write messages on them in crayon. Glendale Salvation Army Lt. Jennifer Shiflett said there was enough food on hand to help feed up to 400 people. All of the food was donated, and volunteers spent the better part of a day prepping 20 turkeys. Shiflett, who runs the Glendale Corps with her husband, Justin, said the dinner was originally held on Thanksgiving Day but was shifted to earlier in the week so it wouldnt conflict with other organizations that hosted their own holiday meals. It also allowed the Salvation Army to double the number of people it served. The majority of people that we see and serve are homeless or extremely low income, so this helps provide an extra meal for them during the week, she said. By the halfway point of the dinner, about 130 people had been served. Frances Harley said she was fortunate enough to have stumbled onto the event. She didnt know if she was going to even eat dinner that night and originally came to the Salvation Army for its community pantry, which was closed for the evening. Being there at the same time as the Thanksgiving meal was a sign from God, she said. His spirit brought me here God was really looking after me and for people who are not as fortunate, she said. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc In the early 1950s, the La Canada Valley Sun began challenging fifth-graders from all the towns elementary schools to put forth their best artistic rendering of Thanksgiving in America for an inaugural holiday-themed art contest. The idea was to reach out to students who were learning about early American history and reading accounts from participants in the first-ever Thanksgiving feast in 1621 and get them opining about what Thanksgiving means to them and their families today. Now, 68 years later, the Valley Sun is pleased to report fifth-graders are still taking up the challenge. This year, staff members pored through 194 entries submitted by students at Paradise Canyon, La Canada and Palm Crest elementary schools. Art pieces received generally fell into one of four main categories: general excellence, patriotic, humorous and best turkey. Phoebe Lee, a La Canada Elementary School fifth-grader from Lauren Schours class, received the top overall award this year for general excellence for her vivid portrayal of a harvest theme with reference to the first Thanksgiving celebration. Another standout submission came from Ophelia Larsen, an LCE student in Annette Fuellings class, whose depiction of the friendship between a girl and turkey earned her the distinction of the Most Unique art piece. Congratulations to Phoebe and Ophelia and all of this years artists for helping celebrate a community tradition! sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine Cruise lines add extra perks to sweeten their Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Thats good news for bargain hunters who may want free drinks or free specialty dining on their next sailing. Here are some of what some cruise lines are offering during the post-Thanksgiving shopping blitz. Celebrity Cruises With Celebritys Black Friday deal, a deposit of $25 saves you a spot. You can save up to $600 on selected sailings, choose one free perk, and pay half the cost of third and fourth passengers in a cabin. For example, an April 6 cruise to the Western Caribbean with stops in Mexico and Grand Cayman starts at $549 per person, double occupancy, for an inside cabin. The deal ends Friday. Info: Celebrity Cruises Advertisement Emerald Waterways Book any 2019 European river cruise by Nov. 27 and receive $170 onboard credit per cabin, a premium drinks package (valued at $220) and free or reduced round-trip airfare starting at $295. Travelers who prefer to purchase their own airfare will receive $750 off their cabin price on selected eight- to 14-day cruises, and $1,500 off sailings of 15 days or more. Also, passengers who book a 2019 Mekong River cruise and land tour will receive $150 credit and free round-trip airfare from the U.S. to the cruise start in Asia. Passengers who buy their own airfare save $1,250 off the cost of their cruise. Info: Emerald Waterways Black Friday Bonus MSC Cruises Passengers who book selected Caribbean sailings of seven nights or longer will receive unlimited drinks and $100 ship-board credit per cabin. The offer is good for balcony level cabins s on cruises through spring 2020. MSC estimates savings at $600 for two passengers. The offer is limited to cruises aboard MSC Seaside, Divina and Meraviglia. The deal is good through Nov. 27. Info: MSC Cruises Black Friday Sale Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line offers six perks to passengers who book at certain cabin levels by Friday: a drinks package, a specialty dining package, $50 per port toward shore excursions, 250 minutes of Wi-Fi, free third and fourth passengers in cabin, and free or reduced airfare. Reserve a studio or inside cabin, and you get to choose one perk. Ocean-view, balcony and mini-suite passengers may pick three, and concierge, suites and the Haven premium cabins receive all six. The deal is good on selected sailings of three nights or more. Info: Norwegian Cruise Lines Free at Sea Princess Cruises Princess offer guests up to $900 per stateroom, or $450 per guest, on cruises, including seven-day Eastern Caribbean cruises starting at $779 per person, double occupancy, and seven-day cruises from L.A. to the Mexican Riviera starting at $799 per person. For those who book summer 2019 through spring 2020 sailings, you can take advantage of a free stateroom location upgrade, free on-board gratuities (valued at $15.50 per day per guest) and up to $800 on-board credit. You can expect those perks on Princess seven-day Alaska Voyage of the Glaciers cruise from $699 per person, double occupancy, that starts in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Info: Book by 11:59 Pacific time Dec. 3 at Princess Cruises. Regent Seven Seas Cruises Regents Upgrade & Indulge offer gives passengers an upgrade of two or three categories on selected 2019 sailings to Europe, Alaska and the Caribbean. Use the promotion code Indulge, and book by Nov. 30. Info: Regent Seven Seas Cruises Upgrade & Indulge Viking River Cruises Viking reduces prices and offers airfare credits on some of its most popular river cruises. An eight-day Rhine Getaway to France, Germany and other European ports starts at $2,499 per person, double occupancy, plus $249 toward airfare. The 13-day Waterways of the Tsars to Moscow and other Russian ports starts at $5,799 plus free airfare from a number of U.S. cities. The offer expires Nov. 30. Info: Viking Cruises travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals have blurred together, making the entire post-Thanksgiving weekend an opportunity for travelers to save on their 2019 vacations. If you dont find your favorite hotel or resort on this list, search online. Every major travel vendor offers some kind of Black Friday-Cyber Monday savings. Heres what you need to know before you jump on these and any other limited-time travel offers. Deals are based on availability; theres no guarantee youll get a room at your desired hotel. Check the hour and minute when the deal ends. Dont forget to convert other time zones to Pacific time. You pay in full up front, and room deals often are nonrefundable and nonchangeable. Blackout dates may apply. Read the fine print and look for other rules and disclaimers, which would be listed on the site where you are booking the room. Auberge Resorts Collection Hotels under the Auberge Resorts Collection brand are having site-specific sales. Advertisement Calistoga Ranch in Calistoga, Calif., offers 40% off one- and two-bedroom lodges starting at $696. Info: Use code CYBER18 and book between now and Nov. 26 with travel between Nov. 23 and April 25. Book at Calistoga Ranch. Solage in Calistoga, Calif., offers half off a second-nights stay, if you book during its Cyber Monday promotion. (Solage) Solage, also in Calistoga, offers half off a second night on selected dates. Prices start at $390 for the first night and $195 for the second night. Info: Use code CYBER18 and book between Nov. 23 and 26 and travel Nov. 23 through April 25. Info: Book at Solage. Carmel Valley Ranch Carmel Valley Ranch in Carmel takes up to 40% off room prices with rooms starting at $250. Info: Must book, using promotion code CYBER18, by midnight Nov. 26. Book at Carmel Valley Ranch. Casa Madrona in Sausalito, Calif. The Victorian-style Casa Madrona, a wellness resort across the bay from San Francisco, offers 30% off best available room rates until Nov. 30. Prices start at $230 for stays through the end of March. Info: Book at Casa Madrona. Colony Palms Hotel, Palm Springs The Colony Palms Hotel in downtown Palm Springs offers a two-tier Cyber Monday deal: 30% off stays on Sundays through Thursdays, 20% off stays on Fridays and Saturdays. Prices start at $199 for travel through Feb. 28. Info: Use code CYBER18, and book starting Nov. 26; Sale ends Nov. 29. Reserve at Colony Palms Hotel. Destination Hotels Destination Hotels offers up to 40% off room prices at properties such as LAuberge Del Mar in Del Mar, Resort at Squaw Creek in Olympic Valley and Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes. The sale also applies to eight properties in Hawaii, including Wailea Beach Villas on Maui, and other sites nationwide. Check the sales website for a complete list of properties. Info: Use code CYBER when making a reservation. Book rooms now to Nov. 28, for stays through Dec. 1, 2019, at Destination Hotels. Dukes London Dukes London recently notched more than a century of operation in the Mayfair section of the British capital. You can receive 40% off stays between Nov. 23 and 26 for travel Nov. 24 to March 31. Prices start at $592. Book at Dukes London. Fairmont Hotels Individual properties in this luxury line are holding Black Friday-Cyber Monday sales. Bermuda: Fairmont Southampton offers travelers 40% off rooms starting at $173. Book Nov. 23 to 26 for stays Nov. 23 through April 30. Book at Fairmont Southampton. Charlevoix, Canada: Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu in Quebec offers a third night free when travelers pay the hotels daily rate. The sale is Nov. 26 only for stays from Nov. 26 through April 30. Book at Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu. Seattle: Fairmont Olympic Hotel offers 55% savings on rooms starting at $154. The sale is on now through Nov. 27, and its good for travel through July 10. Book at Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Fashion Island Hotel and Hotel Irvine, Orange County Save 30% on rooms at Fashion Island Hotel in Newport Beach and Hotel Irvine in Irvine if you book now through Nov. 27 for stays through March 31. At Fashion Island Hotel, you also receive a $25 daily food and beverage credit. Book at Fashion Island Hotel and Hotel Irvine. Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas The Black Friday sale at Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas takes room prices as low as $40. Use code HRBF18P and book by Nov. 25 for stays between now and March 31. The same deal holds for Cyber Monday sale except code changes to HRCM18P and booking deadline is Nov. 29. Info: Book at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas. Intercontinental Hotels You can save at least 25% on more than 5,000 InterContinental Hotel Group properties, which includes the brands InterContinental, Hotel Indigo and Even Hotels. You must be an IHG Rewards Club member (free to join) to take advantage of the discount. Info: Good for bookings made from Nov. 23 to 30 for travel between Nov. 26 and March 31. Book at IHG. Joie de Vivre Hotels Joie de Vivre Hotels is offering 40% off room prices during its Cyber Savings Sale thats on right now. Save on rooms at eight San Francisco hotels, including The Marker and The Galleria Park Hotel, as well as Hotel 50 Bowery and Park South Hotel in New York City, and other destinations. Info: Book through Nov. 28 for stays between now and Dec. 1, 2019. Book at Joie de Vivre Hotels. Kimpton Hotels Kimpton Hotels will take 25% off best flexible rate at hotels such as Hotel Palomar in Beverly Hills, Goodland in Goleta, Calif., Everly Hotel in Hollywood and Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara. The sale also is good on London and Amsterdam properties. In addition, the company will donate $5 per night to charities The Trevor Project and No Kid Hungry. You must be in the IHG Rewards Club (its free to sign up) to get the discounts. Info: Book between now and Nov. 30 for stays through March 31. Book at Kimpton. Logan Hotel, Philadelphia The Logan hotel in the downtown area of Philadelphia is part of the Curio Collection by Hilton. It offers rooms starting at $99 a night for travel through March 31. Use the promotion code CYBER when you book between Nov. 23 and Nov. 26. Info: Reserve at the Curio Collection website. Outrigger Hotels Outrigger hotels and resorts on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii Island as well as destinations in the Pacific are offering 50% off standard room prices. Use the promotion code CYBER18 when making a reservation. Starting nightly room prices are $151 for Oahu sites, $159 at Kauai locations and $140 for Hawaii Island sites. Info: Book now through Dec. 3 for travel from now through June 30. Reserve at Outrigger Hotels. Pacifica Hotels Take 40% off Pacifica Hotels room prices at 26 California coastal hotels, including The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, La Jolla Cove Hotel in La Jolla, Cambria Landing Inn & Suites in Cambria, and Spyglass Inn in Pismo Beach. Use code 404D. Info: Book between midnight Nov. 23 and 11:59 p.m. Nov. 26 for stays Nov. 23 through March 14. Book at Pacifica Hotels. Peninsula Hotels The Peninsula Hotels gives travelers up to 30% off room prices starting at $484 in Beverly Hills, $279 in Chicago, and $486 in New York. Spas will offer up to 25% off selected services. Info: Sale starts 9 p.m. Nov. 22 and ends 8:59 p.m. Nov. 26. Travel between Jan. 1 and March 31. Book at peninsula.com Sunrise Spring Spa Resort, Santa Fe, N.M. Crave some play time with a puppy or silkie chicken? Sunrise Spring Resort offers these activities plus a free Tarot reading, free breakfast for two and your choice of 60 activities in the area. The resorts Cyber Monday deal starts at $265 a night and requires a two-night minimum stay. Info: Book between Nov. 26 and Dec. 4, and stay Dec. 1 to March 1. Reserve at Sunrise Spring Spa Resort. Thompson Hotels The rooftop bar called the Nest at Thompson Seattle, which offers 30% off rooms during its sale. Thompson Hotels in New York City, Chicago, Playa del Carmen and Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, and other locations will take up to half off suite prices and up to 30% off rooms. Use code CYBER when making a reservation. Info: The sale is underway until Nov. 28 for stays now through Dec. 1, 2019. Book at Thompson Hotels. Ventana Big Sur Ventana Big Sur in Big Sur underwent a renovation after debris slides in 2017 shut parts of Highway 1 and left the coastal community temporarily cut off for months. The offer is good for up to 25% savings on all room levels, excluding the resorts new glamping sites. Info: Book before midnight Nov. 26 and use code CYBER. Travel is good from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30. Info: ventanabigsur.com Xanterra Resorts Xanterra Resorts, best known for operating lodges and attractions in U.S. national parks, is planning a 24-hour sale Nov. 26 for properties in and near Grand Canyon National Park, such as Maswik Lodge North, Thunderbird Lodge, Kachina Lodge, El Tovar Hotel and Bright Angel Lodge for stays now through the end of February. Its also offering half off train rides on the Grand Canyon Railway between December and April. The sale also offers 33% off rooms at the inn and the lodge at the Oasis at Death Valley (formerly Furnace Creek), and lodges in Zion and Yellowstone national parks. Info: Find the entire list of sale properties and reserve at Xanterra. travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. Thats how light gets in. Advertisement Leonard Cohens Anthem You may just be emerging from a food coma as you read this. The feast was plentiful, the dinner divine, the company exceptional. Then you remember: Ahead lies the forced march of holiday merriment. We are supposed to be happy, no matter where we are or what our life obstacles may be. Humbug. You dont have to be merry. You dont have to be bright. You just have to consider that these states of being may be possible. My name is Catharine Hamm, and Im the travel editor for the Los Angeles Times (and today, the founder of my own holiday feast). This newsletter is going to suggest some cracks of light: places you may want to go, strategies for travel you may want to embrace. We offer a Southern California festival of lights and a beach-side Baja town, both destinations that may help you find spirit. We give you a road map to sustenance that will fuel you for your flight from LAX, information on how to get to the city using public transportation from 34 airports; travel mistake avoidance skills, including how to find a parking space at LAX; and we suggest ways to make your kids happier when you travel. We bring news as well of the Disneyland of food emporiums opening in Las Vegas and the reopening of a much-loved memorial in Honolulu. Enjoy the family. Enjoy the friends. Maybe enjoy the frenzy. And anticipate with an open mind what lies ahead and hope that the heart will follow. Happy Thanksgiving. Its all light now Put aside, for the moment, the symbolic nature of light at the holidays and concentrate instead on the here and now at the Mission Inn in Riverside. Writer Dorothy ODonnell writes about her familys experience at the venerable hotel, where 5 million lights illuminate a holiday scene and fireworks provide the punctuation. The festival runs for six weeks. The Mission Inns light festival begins with a Switch-On followed by a fireworks display. (Peter Cooper / The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa) Could you use a little laid-back? San Felipe is the Baja town that overdevelopment forgot. Situated on the Gulf of California (about two hours south of Mexicali, six from L.A.), it is a beach town that wont break your budget. Plus, four blocks of shops and great fish tacos equals one quick and inexpensive getaway, Rosemary McClure writes. Escape the urban jungle and rest on the beach in San Felipe in Baja California. (Julius Reque / Getty Images) Eat your heart out? Remember the days when a tuna sandwich of questionable provenance was about your only choice at LAX? Besides all the other improvements at our enormous airport, the food options have improved immeasurably, writes Mary Forgione. Champagne and caviar? Check. Healthful food? Check again. Pizza and burgers? But of course. The story tells you how to terminal hop to find your favorite fare. Vino Volo caters to the traveling wine connoisseur at LAX. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) Going to town You land at an airport. Youre in a blur. You cant figure out how to use public transportation. Fear not. Writer Sara Cagle has a guide to public transport into the city from some of the most popular airports in the U.S. and abroad. This is one youre going to want to save for a long time. Public transportation can be an efficient and cost-effective way to get from an airport into downtown. (Emiliano Ponzi / For The Times) Youre in a spot when you have no spot If youre driving and parking at LAX, well, best of luck if youre doing so this weekend. But if you are looking ahead to Christmas and other busy holidays, take a look at Mary Forgiones article on how to secure a spot, even at the busiest times of year. Lighted pylons at the Century Boulevard entrance to Los Angeles International Airport, where parking may be tight. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press) Kid tips for holiday travel or really any time of year If youre off to visit the grandparents with the kids in tow, Shelly Rivoli, veteran mom, has some suggestions on how to make travel with kids easier not just at the holidays but any time. Consider the train for more moving around room than a plane or a car. Engage your kids by making them junior navigators. Or turn the tables on who the traveler is. Traveling by train gives kids a little more room to stretch out. If you can take the time, theyll enjoy the space. (Jekaterina Nikitina / Getty Images) What you dont know can hurt you (or waste your time) I am constantly amazed at how much I think I know about my car and dont. I thought you could eyeball radial tires and see whether theyre low. You cant. I never realized a tire gauge could be out of calibration. It can. And then theres airline travel. I just assumed when my stepdaughter told me their flight would land at 8:30 that this meant 8:30. It didnt. And I didnt bother to check. Reap the benefit of my dumbness and learn how to avoid the worst holiday travel mistakes. Traveling for Thanksgiving? (Ellen Surrey / For The Times) The festival that is Eataly It was just a matter of time until Eataly, a veritable amusement park of food and shopping for all things Italian, reached Las Vegas. L.A. has its own version in Century City, and its said to be the largest in the world. How could a Vegas version top that? By staying open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Thats the plan for the behemoth, which is scheduled to open in late December, Mary Forgione writes. Eataly Las Vegas will teach you how to cook pasta and/or serve it up for you too. (Eataly Las Vegas) Tours to the USS Arizona will return in March The beloved USS Arizona, which sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, will be reopened to visitors in March. The monument was closed in May because of damage to a loading dock, which has taken longer to repair than originally thought. Find out what you can see in the meantime at this part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. The USS Arizona Memorial at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument is to reopen in March. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) North to Alaska Love cruising to the 49th states Inside Passage but not the flight to the port of embarkation? Princess Cruises has just the ticket beginning in 2020, when it will launch cruises from the San Pedro port. Youll be aboard the 2,600-passenger Grand Princess. Skagway is among the ports Princess Cruises visits during two-week round-trip sailings from the Southland. (Princess Cruises) What were reading Talk about shooting oneself in the foot. CNN reported about 200 incidents of air marshal missteps, including one incident in which a marshal shot himself in the foot with his own weapon. Other incidents included a marshal who accidentally discharged his weapon in a hotel and ended up shooting a TV in the next room. Heres a beach that puts Californias to shame: Its Coxs Bazar Beach, Atlas Obscura reports, and it stretches for 75 miles. At low tide, its 1,300 feet wide (and you have to be careful of quicksand). If you want to enjoy its splendors, youll need to hop on a plane to Bangladesh. Take a delightful scroll through 10 U.S. Road Signs to See Before You Die on the Chicago Tribunes Travel website. Youll recognize at least two and wonder why youve never been on the Extra Terrestrial Highway. Recognize this? Its one of the signs youll want to see. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) How to reach us To subscribe to this newsletter, which comes out weekly, or its monthly Vegas cousin (which also comes out today) or dozens of other L.A. Times packaged-just-for-you mini-tomes, go to the Los Angeles Times Newsletter page Send us your thoughts, your concerns and, of course, compliments about this newsletter, along with your recommendations for great travel experiences, the best travel tip for the holidays and whether youre dreaming of a white Christmas and if so, where to travel@latimes.com. End paper As I walked into the grocery store Saturday to do my major Thanksgiving shopping, I was stopped in my tracks by the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and for a moment, I was transported to Northern Virginia on a snowy Thanksgiving morning when I was just a girl. That same heavenly smell was coming from what came to be known as the Kitchen of Greatness. The house provided the kitchen, and my mom provided the greatness. She taught me to cook, although I have yet to graduate beyond apprentice, but she also taught me something else: At my table there will be only family, even though only one of the guests is related to me by blood. We will talk about our traditions from Kansas, California and Connecticut, South Carolina and South Korea, from Indonesia and Indiana and Ireland and Italy as we recall our traditions and our roots. And we will remember that a Thanksgiving table like this brings the same kind of joy we find when we travel: Our differences which lie at the heart of our journeys are not a cause for alarm but an opportunity for appreciation and celebration. That is my greatest Thanksgiving blessing. Wherever you are today, I wish the same for you. Please travel safely and well, and as always well be here to welcome you home. Many immigrants entering the U.S. legally and illegally claim asylum. Advocates for greater limits on immigration, particularly chain migration based on family relationships rather than employment skills, have tried to restrict asylum seekers. This month, President Trump issued a proclamation preventing immigrants from claiming asylum if they crossed the border illegally. On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco blocked that asylum ban. But the judges ruling did not address another U.S. policy thats forcing asylum seekers to wait on the Mexican side of border bridges, adding their names to growing waiting lists maintained by Mexican officials. On Thursday, a small group of Central American migrants marched peacefully to a border crossing in Tijuana to demand better conditions and push to enter the U.S. We talked to migrants waiting to cross the border legally at a shelter and border bridge in Matamoros, Mexico, and those who had crossed illegally and were released by U.S. immigration officials in neighboring Brownsville, Texas, last week with notices to appear in immigration court about why and how they were seeking asylum. Why cross legally at a border bridge or illegally via the Rio Grande? Advertisement Most asylum seekers at the Matamoros bridge said they understood that by law, it was legal to enter the U.S. via the bridge. Some were aware of Trumps edict and feared that if they crossed the Rio Grande illegally, they could hurt their chances of being granted asylum. But with the Mexican list having grown last week to 80 names, they also worried about how long they would have to wait to cross. Some had already waited more than a month. Many of the migrants had been granted temporary visas in Mexico that had expired or were due to expire by months end, and they worried they could be deported. I came here because I thought it would be faster, said Cuban asylum seeker Ronald Padron, 37, who had waited 26 days at the Matamoros bridge. Ronald Padron, third from left, of Artemisa, Cuba, is seeking political asylum. I came here because I thought it would be faster, said the 37-year-old, who had waited 26 days at the Matamoros bridge in Mexicos Tamaulipas state. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Among migrants released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the bus station in Brownsville, most said they had crossed the Rio Grande illegally about 60 miles west near Reynosa, a Gulf cartel stronghold. They had been released after Trumps announcement because it was still up to asylum officers and immigration judges to decide the validity of their asylum claims. Many said they were unaware that there was a border bridge in Reynosa, or that it was possible to cross the bridge legally. Some who had seen the bridge said they were afraid to approach, because it was surrounded by Mexican drug cartel lookouts. They told me they would kidnap me if I went to the bridge its very difficult to decide how to cross the border, said Honduran migrant Wilmer Gamez, 37, who crossed the river near Reynosa. Other migrants said they crossed the river on foot or rafts because it was the most direct or cheapest route. They said they paid smugglers $1,000 to $2,400. Daimaris Gonzalez, 30, who is pregnant, and Jason, 22, center, both of Cienfuegos, Cuba, at the Gateway International Bridge, as they await being taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to seek political asylum. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Honduran migrant Jessica Morillo, 26, paid $2,400 to cross the river near Reynosa. She didnt know about Trumps action or that she could cross a nearby border bridge. She said she fled her home country because a drug trafficker had raped her, then threatened her with a gun. When she told her father she was pregnant in September, he threw her out, and she had been staying with a cousin. She hoped to join her sister in New Orleans. Do most asylum seekers have relatives in the U.S.? Almost all of the Central American asylum seekers at the bridge in Matamoros and at the bus station in Brownsville said they had relatives in the U.S. Most of the relatives, they said, were parents, siblings, uncles or cousins spread across the country, from Los Angeles to Miami, New York and Washington. Some at the bus station were seeking to join family working in rural areas of Nebraska and Mississippi. Most African migrants at the bridge said they did not have relatives in the U.S. and hoped to join friends instead. Tsenay Bogale, 48, of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, came with her aunt hoping to join friends in Washington. What did asylum seekers do for work in their home countries? Many of the Central American immigrants said they were farmers and store clerks. There was also a mechanic, nurse and teacher. All said they hoped to work in the U.S. None had advanced degrees. A few were elderly, joining younger relatives or friends. In the U.S., political asylum is provided to those fleeing persecution what are they fleeing? Some of the asylum seekers were unfamiliar with U.S. law, which holds that asylum seekers must have a credible fear of being persecuted in their home countries based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. In the past, that included victims of domestic and gang violence; this year, then-Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions issued a ruling saying such victims dont qualify. Norma Torres and her husband said they fled Nicaragua with their three children five weeks ago after they were threatened by soldiers for protesting and working with Catholic groups challenging the ruling government. No one can say anything against the government, she said. The couple knew it was illegal to cross between border bridges, had seen reports about Trumps asylum ban and chose to wait at the Matamoros shelter instead of crossing the river. Mexican officials had yet to issue them a number on the waiting list last week. No one is helping us, said Torres, 35. Rene Hormaza, 28, who ran a cafeteria in Cuba, said he fled with his wife and two children after being threatened by police in August. If you dont shut your mouth, they disappear you, he said of Cuban authorities as he waited at the border bridge. I have the hope that the U.S. will help us Cubans. Cuban asylum seeker Jessica Zamora, 18, of Havana, who is pregnant, eats a meal outside Mexicos National Institute of Migration office at the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Tamaulipas state. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Migrants from Guatemala in Matamoros and at the bus station said they fled a combination of economic and political hardships. Some from urban areas said they were unable to find work. Farmers said their coffee crops had suffered blight. At the same time, they said they had trouble moving or finding work because of political corruption and nepotism. It would be up to a U.S. asylum officer and immigration judge to decide if they qualified for asylum. African migrants in Matamoros described being threatened and attacked for speaking out and protesting against oppressive governments. Lynda Fotso, 24, a stock clerk from Cameroon, said she was detained for protesting against the government in 2015. An only child, she doesnt have friends or family in neighboring countries. She first fled to Nigeria, but didnt apply for asylum there because she knew the government had returned other migrants from Cameroon. She speaks French and some English but no Spanish, so once she landed in South America, she headed for the U.S., which she and other migrants from Cameroon called a bastion of human rights. I just want safety, Fotso said in French as she sat waiting in the dark with other asylum seekers at the foot of the border bridge. I can better adapt in the U.S. Farmer Collins Fondong, 33, also left Cameroon after being threatened by police for criticizing the government. He has lymphatic filariasis, a tropical disease, and ran out of medication after he arrived in Mexico in September. He was No. 29 on the list of asylum seekers waiting to cross at Matamoros last week. I pray it works, he said of the list. When youre running away from death, you will do anything. He was eventually allowed to cross and volunteers said he received treatment at a local hospital. Why didnt they seek asylum in Mexico, or one of the countries they crossed en route to Mexico? Advocates for greater limits on immigration have pushed for a safe third country agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, similar to the one the U.S. has with Canada, that would force migrants who arrive in Mexico to first seek asylum there. Immigrant advocates argue Mexico is too dangerous, its asylum processing too rudimentary, to be considered a safe refuge. Asylum seekers in Matamoros, including Fotso, said they feared for their safety in Mexico and did not consider seeking asylum there. Central American and Cuban migrants said their goal was to join relatives in the U.S. African migrants said they didnt speak Spanish and had a better chance of finding work and building new lives in the U.S. rather than in Mexico. Migrants from Cameroon mostly fled through Nigeria, flying to Ecuador, then traveling by bus and on foot through the perilous jungles of Central America. They had read reports of fellow migrants being detained and deported in Nigeria, and so didnt consider seeking asylum there. Michael Randy, 30, of Cameroon, is seeking political asylum. He camps outside Mexicos National Institute of Migration office at the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Michael Randy, 30, a businessman from Cameroon, said he fled to the U.S. because it was the only country in the world he trusted to respect human rights. He had read reports about fellow members of Cameroons Anglophone minority who fled to Nigeria and were returned by the government to Cameroonian authorities. Massacres are happening in my country, genocide. Just the fact that you speak English in my country is a problem, said Randy. I have to be somewhere I feel safe. molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com @mollyhf A car plowed into a crowd of children outside a primary school in northeastern China on Thursday, killing five people and injuring 18, a local government spokesman said. The driver was taken into custody after the crash around noon in the coastal city of Huludao in Liaoning province, said the spokesman for Jianchang county in the citys suburbs, who declined to give his name as is standard with Chinese bureaucrats. He described the crash as a major traffic accident and said the cause was under investigation. State broadcaster CCTV reported all five dead and said all but two of the injured were children. Advertisement Security camera footage showed a line of children crossing the street in front of their school when a car approaches, which then changes lanes and swerves into the crowd of children. It wasnt clear if the crash was a deliberate attack or whether the driver was swerving to avoid something else. Wang Mingkuan, a cook at a nearby noodle restaurant, said he was making meals when the crash occurred. I ran out and saw about a dozen children lying on the ground, some of them bleeding, all about 7 or 8 years old. Two or three showed no signs of life, Wang told the Associated Press by telephone. Wang said ambulances and police cars rushed to the scene and officers blocked off the area and prevented people from filming. Last month, a knife-wielding man drove a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians in the eastern city of Ningbo, killing two people and wounding 16. And in September, 11 people were killed and 44 hospitalized after a man drove an SUV deliberately into people at a plaza in the central province of Hunan, before jumping out and attacking victims with a dagger and shovel. Other deadly attacks have occurred at or just outside schools, including several in 2010 in which nearly 20 children were killed, prompting many schools to beef up security. In June, a man used a kitchen knife to attack three boys and a mother near a school in Shanghai, killing two of the children. Last year, police said a man set off an explosion at the front gate of a kindergarten in eastern China, which struck as relatives gathered to pick up their children at the end of the day, killing eight people. The attackers most common motivations are identified as mental illness or alienation from society and a desire to settle scores. Mainland media say five dead and 18 injured after a car smashed into a group of children in Huludao, Liaoning provincehttps://t.co/t2FNR7UGu0 pic.twitter.com/61KXU48NQ5 RTHK English News (@rthk_enews) November 22, 2018 UPDATES: 1:55 a.m.: Updated with a witness account. This article was first published at 12:35 a.m. A Polish nun who was believed to be the oldest nun in the world and was recognized as a rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust was laid to rest on Thursday after dying last week at the age of 110. Sister Cecylia Roszak was remembered as modest and merciful as nuns and other members of the church gathered in Krakow to bid her farewell. The mother superior of her convent, Stanislawa Chruscicka, recalled in a phone interview with the Associated Press that Sister Cecylia would often comment that life is very beautiful but too short. Born March 25, 1908, Roszak joined the convent at age 21. During the German occupation of Poland during World War II, when she was in her 30s, she was one of several nuns who set up a new convent near Vilnius, in what is now Lithuania, sheltering Jews who had escaped the ghetto there. Advertisement In 2009, when she was 101, Roszak and others from her convent were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Israels Yad Vashem Holocaust remembrance institute for saving several Jews, actions that put them at risk of being executed by the Germans. Chruscicka said a huge bouquet at Thursdays funeral was sent by a woman, Wanda Jerzyniec, who was sheltered along with her brother by Sister Cecylia after the Germans shot their parents in Vilnius in 1944. Chruscicka said the nuns learned about Jerzyniec earlier this year after Polish media wrote about Sister Cecylia on her 110th birthday. Jerzyniec was too frail to attend the funeral, she said. The funeral Mass was held at the Dominican nuns church in Krakow, and Roszak was buried at the historic Rakowicki cemetery. Father Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, spokesman for Polands Roman Catholic Church, described her as probably the oldest nun in the world, though Chruscicka said she was certain that Roszak was the oldest. Lincoln Falls to #1 Irwin (OCILLA, GA) The Red Devils were outscored 51-27 by #1 ranked Irwin County Friday night to end the season in the 2nd round of the... Last call for Pioneer Day participation Pioneer Day, Lincolntons largest attended event of the year, is this Saturday from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m, and all those with an interest in... Secret Santa application deadline is Friday Applications for the Secret Santa program should be turned in no later than this Friday, November 19 in order to register needy area children for... Board sets 2022-2023 school calendar, approves propane school bus, cameras The school calendar for 2022-23 was finalized by the Lincoln County Board of Education in their November 9 meeting, along with the purchase of a... Leisure Chicago Thanksgiving Parade 2019 live stream from State Street Chicago Thanksgiving parade live stream 22.11.2018 10:16:32 - Watch live streaming of the Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade. Find live stream and TV coverage schedule. (live-PR.com) - The Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade steps off at 8am on Thanksgiving morning, and is one of the biggest parades in the country, attracting huge crowds onto the city streets to watch the spectacle. You can watch the live stream of the parade online here: www.myworldevents.com/parade/chicago-thanksgiving-parade.html Chicago Thanksgiving parade The parade has been taking place in Chicago since way back in 1934, and has been - The Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade steps off at 8am on Thanksgiving morning, and is one of the biggest parades in the country, attracting huge crowds onto the city streets to watch the spectacle.You can watch the live stream of the parade online here:Chicago Thanksgiving paradeThe parade has been taking place in Chicago since way back in 1934, and has been supported in that time be a variety of sponsors. The most recent sponsorship was by fast food giants McDonalds, but that seems to have lapsed for this years event. The history of the Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade starts in 1934, at a time when the United States had been in the Great Depression for six years. Many leaders in Chicago searched for ways to boost the economy as well as public spirit. Walter Gregory, President of Chicago's State Street Council, proposed a Christmas parade to Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly in the hopes that it would improve the moods of Chicago residents. The Mayor agreed to the parade, being primarily interested in its potential to improve Chicago's economy. Chicago's first Christmas Parade was on State Street on December 7, 1934. Gregory and a costumed Santa Claus led the caravan, which was filled with toys and various merchandise from State Street businesses. As the city's government officials had hoped, the parade contributed to desirable growth in the local economy and 1934 held the city's largest holiday buying period since 1927. This was both exciting and surprising for the entire city. Not only was it the Depression, but that day held dangerously low temperatures throughout the entire state. Some areas of Illinois were as low as fourteen degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). In 1935, the city was in even worse financial status as a result of the Depression. The city could not afford the expensive floats that were used the year before. However, the event had been so successful in the previous year that The State Street Council and the City of Chicago agreed to use an old trolley to pull the floats, as there were trolley tracks on State Street at the time. The parade underwent a leadership change in 1968, when the Mayor's Office of Special Events took over the responsibility of producing the holiday parade when the State Street Council determined that it could no longer fund the parade. Mayor Richard J. Daley assures the children of Chicago that Santa Claus will still be coming to town as usual. In 1969, the Chicago Tribune reported that more than 1.5 million people lined the parade route. In 1981, Over 100 Santas hand out over 10,000 balloons as hundreds of thousands watch the parade. In 2007, WGN-TV and CFA announced that the station will broadcast the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade live and in high definition on WGN 9 Chicago. Available in 72 million homes at that time, Superstation WGN (now WGN America) will also air the parade live across the nation. This establishes the parade as one of three parades in the country to be covered live, in its entirety, on a national television broadcast. In 2008, the parade celebrated its 75th step-off with a three-hour live broadcast. The first hour of the parade features the best in local theatre and culture, with the rest of the parade featuring the traditional, forward motion parade. In 2010, the parade announced local-born actress Jennifer Beals as its Grand Marshal. The parade reached a record high 3.75 million viewers across the country. Over 350,000 spectators braved the elements and attended the parade in person on State Street. In 2011, the crowds enjoyed clear weather and a parade line-up consisting of Grand Marshal Holland Taylor, the Harlem Globetrotters, the Chicago cast of Million Dollar Quartet, the Eriam Sisters, Celeste Kellogg and more. In 2018, Chicago-area outdoor retailer Uncle Dan's became the headline sponsor. supported in that time be a variety of sponsors. The most recent sponsorship was by fast food giants McDonalds, but that seems to have lapsed for this years event.The history of the Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade starts in 1934, at a time when the United States had been in the Great Depression for six years. Many leaders in Chicago searched for ways to boost the economy as well as public spirit. Walter Gregory, President of Chicago's State Street Council, proposed a Christmas parade to Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly in the hopes that it would improve the moods of Chicago residents. The Mayor agreed to the parade, being primarily interested in its potential to improve Chicago's economy.Chicago's first Christmas Parade was on State Street on December 7, 1934. Gregory and a costumed Santa Claus led the caravan, which was filled with toys and various merchandise from State Street businesses. As the city's government officials had hoped, the parade contributed to desirable growth in the local economy and 1934 held the city's largest holiday buying period since 1927. This was both exciting and surprising for the entire city. Not only was it the Depression, but that day held dangerously low temperatures throughout the entire state. Some areas of Illinois were as low as fourteen degrees below zero (Fahrenheit).In 1935, the city was in even worse financial status as a result of the Depression. The city could not afford the expensive floats that were used the year before. However, the event had been so successful in the previous year that The State Street Council and the City of Chicago agreed to use an old trolley to pull the floats, as there were trolley tracks on State Street at the time.The parade underwent a leadership change in 1968, when the Mayor's Office of Special Events took over the responsibility of producing the holiday parade when the State Street Council determined that it could no longer fund the parade. Mayor Richard J. Daley assures the children of Chicago that Santa Claus will still be coming to town as usual.In 1969, the Chicago Tribune reported that more than 1.5 million people lined the parade route. In 1981, Over 100 Santas hand out over 10,000 balloons as hundreds of thousands watch the parade.In 2007, WGN-TV and CFA announced that the station will broadcast the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade live and in high definition on WGN 9 Chicago. Available in 72 million homes at that time, Superstation WGN (now WGN America) will also air the parade live across the nation. This establishes the parade as one of three parades in the country to be covered live, in its entirety, on a national television broadcast.In 2008, the parade celebrated its 75th step-off with a three-hour live broadcast. The first hour of the parade features the best in local theatre and culture, with the rest of the parade featuring the traditional, forward motion parade.In 2010, the parade announced local-born actress Jennifer Beals as its Grand Marshal. The parade reached a record high 3.75 million viewers across the country. Over 350,000 spectators braved the elements and attended the parade in person on State Street.In 2011, the crowds enjoyed clear weather and a parade line-up consisting of Grand Marshal Holland Taylor, the Harlem Globetrotters, the Chicago cast of Million Dollar Quartet, the Eriam Sisters, Celeste Kellogg and more.In 2018, Chicago-area outdoor retailer Uncle Dan's became the headline sponsor. Author: Martin Kerrigan e-mail Web: http://www.myworldevents.com Phone: 0035799813173 22.11.2018 10:16:32 - 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. Education & Career Engage in Learning helps Public Bodies to comply with Equality and Diversity duties Kate Carter, of Engage in Learning. 22.11.2018 10:41:25 - To help all UK public bodies comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the e-learning supplier, Engage in Learning, has released a new course. (live-PR.com) - To help all UK public bodies comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the e-learning supplier, Engage in Learning, has released a new course. The course Equality and Diversity in the Public Sector - offers a common-sense approach to how equality and diversity apply in everyday working life. It emphasises that behaviours that support equality and promote inclusion to - To help all UK public bodies comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the e-learning supplier, Engage in Learning, has released a new course.The course Equality and Diversity in the Public Sector - offers a common-sense approach to how equality and diversity apply in everyday working life. It emphasises that behaviours that support equality and promote inclusion to underpin successful performance. By law, all UK public bodies, such as councils and NHS Trusts, must comply with the PSED. Having been created by the Equality Act of 2010, the PSED replaced the previously existing race, disability and gender equality duties and came into force in April 2011. The equality duty covers the nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Public authorities must also eliminate unlawful discrimination against someone because of their marriage or civil partnership status. Under PSED, people must eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as other conduct prohibited by the Act, and advance equality of opportunity. They must also foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. For large public sector organisations, this may be a complex issue, explained Kate Carter, Engage in Learnings Operations and Marketing Manager. Training is required to ensure that all staff regardless of their roles within the organisation are aware of their responsibilities in terms of treating people fairly. Thats why Engage in Learning has developed its e-learning materials on Equality and Diversity in the Public Sector. With the public sector under intense scrutiny this training is essential in promoting diversity, she added. To work with others in a team means having respect for, and actively building trust with, colleagues - drawing out different perspectives, keeping an open mind and always looking for value in the different ideas and experience that each person brings to the table. Having the self-confidence to challenge non-inclusive behaviours means having the confidence to express your views assertively and in a non-confrontational way, said Kate. The Engage in Learning course addresses these issues and shows learners how to recognise peoples differences and get the best out of all of them by creating an inclusive workplace. The course aims to enable learners to understand: The meaning of equality, diversity and inclusion, The essentials of the Equality Act and The individual, team and organisational benefits that diversity can bring To make a positive contribution to the workplace means being able to recognise issues of equality and diversity and be confident that you can do the right thing, commented Chris Horseman, Engage in Learnings CEO. This course should enable this to be so. For further details about Engage in Learnings growing portfolio of e-learning materials, visit: About Engage in Learning A UK-based supplier of eLearning courses and solutions focusing on helping organisations improve their safety, compliance and performance, Engage in Learning provides engaging and affordable learning thats practical and effective in an organisational setting. Further information from: Chris Horseman, Engage in Learning, +44 (0)20 3758 9530, Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, +44 (0)1727 860405, underpin successful performance.By law, all UK public bodies, such as councils and NHS Trusts, must comply with the PSED. Having been created by the Equality Act of 2010, the PSED replaced the previously existing race, disability and gender equality duties and came into force in April 2011.The equality duty covers the nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Public authorities must also eliminate unlawful discrimination against someone because of their marriage or civil partnership status.Under PSED, people must eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as other conduct prohibited by the Act, and advance equality of opportunity. They must also foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.For large public sector organisations, this may be a complex issue, explained Kate Carter, Engage in Learnings Operations and Marketing Manager. Training is required to ensure that all staff regardless of their roles within the organisation are aware of their responsibilities in terms of treating people fairly.Thats why Engage in Learning has developed its e-learning materials on Equality and Diversity in the Public Sector.With the public sector under intense scrutiny this training is essential in promoting diversity, she added. To work with others in a team means having respect for, and actively building trust with, colleagues - drawing out different perspectives, keeping an open mind and always looking for value in the different ideas and experience that each person brings to the table.Having the self-confidence to challenge non-inclusive behaviours means having the confidence to express your views assertively and in a non-confrontational way, said Kate. The Engage in Learning course addresses these issues and shows learners how to recognise peoples differences and get the best out of all of them by creating an inclusive workplace.The course aims to enable learners to understand: The meaning of equality, diversity and inclusion, The essentials of the Equality Act and The individual, team and organisational benefits that diversity can bringTo make a positive contribution to the workplace means being able to recognise issues of equality and diversity and be confident that you can do the right thing, commented Chris Horseman, Engage in Learnings CEO. This course should enable this to be so.For further details about Engage in Learnings growing portfolio of e-learning materials, visit: www.engageinlearning.com/ About Engage in LearningA UK-based supplier of eLearning courses and solutions focusing on helping organisations improve their safety, compliance and performance, Engage in Learning provides engaging and affordable learning thats practical and effective in an organisational setting.Further information from:Chris Horseman, Engage in Learning, +44 (0)20 3758 9530, chrishorseman@engageinlearning.com Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, +44 (0)1727 860405, bob.little@boblittlepr.com Contact information: Engage in Learning Kestrel Court, Waterwells Drive, Quedgeley, Gloucester, GL2 2AT, UK Contact Person: Chris Horseman CEO Phone: +44 (0) 845 456 0465 eMail: eMail Web: http://https://www.engageinlearning.com Author: Bob Little e-mail Web: http://www.boblittlepr.com Phone: 00 44 (0) 1727 860405 22.11.2018 10:41:25 - 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. Ethiopia has chosen an opposition leader, who recently returned from exile, to head its election body part of the African countrys efforts to bring former rebels into the political mainstream. Birtukan Mideksa was named the head of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia on Thursday, weeks after she returned from the United States under an amnesty announced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The announcement came as the African country prepares for a free, fair and democratic election in 2020, as promised by the reformist prime minister. Stories Continues after ad We are appointing her considering her knowledge of the constitution and the law of the nation, Abiy told parliament. She might have her own opinions and sayings like anyone, but we believe she will act according to the constitution, he said after several MPs questioned her impartiality given her role in opposition politics. High-profile figure Birtukan, a former judge, is the most senior former opposition figure to assume a high government post in Ethiopias recent history. She is also the latest among several women appointed to high-profile posts in Abiys new administration. Navigating Ethiopias journey towards reconciliation and justice Birtukan rose to prominence in the wake of the disputed elections of 2005, which sparked protests that were brutally suppressed by soldiers, leaving 193 dead. She was jailed in the aftermath of the protests and spent time in and out of prison before fleeing into self-imposed exile in the US in 2010. Encouraged by the political reforms announced by Abiy since he took office in April, Birtukan returned earlier this month. The two also met in the US recently. My new job, in some sense, is similar to being a judge, Birtukan said after her appointment. What Ethiopians endured have prepared us to ask the right questions including through the ballot box, she told the state-affiliated Fana news agency. Under Abiy, Ethiopia has in recent weeks got a 50 percent female cabinet, with women also serving as president a ceremonial post and head of the Supreme Court. Abiys recent reforms also include dissidents released from jail, a peace deal with long-time foe Eritrea, the return home of armed opposition groups and the gradual loosening of the militarys grip on the country. Health monikit receives EUR 1.86 million funding for the further development of its mobile seizure-detector for epileptics 22.11.2018 10:25:37 - - Supported by Life Science Inkubator (LSI) Bonn - Novel system for the detection and documentation of epileptic seizures allows for personalized treatment (live-PR.com) - Tuebingen/Bonn (Germany), November 22, 2018 Tuebingen-based spin-out project monikit today announced the start of its incubation at Life Science Inkubator (LSI) Bonn. The incubation comes with a project funding of EUR 1.86 million and is supported by seasoned life science and medtech experts. monikit is developing a system for the sensitive and automatic detection and documentation of generalized and focal - Tuebingen/Bonn (Germany), November 22, 2018 Tuebingen-based spin-out project monikit today announced the start of its incubation at Life Science Inkubator (LSI) Bonn. The incubation comes with a project funding of EUR 1.86 million and is supported by seasoned life science and medtech experts.monikit is developing a system for the sensitive and automatic detection and documentation of generalized and focal seizures in everyday situations. The technology is based on a mobile sensor system and a proprietary algorithm. monikits product for the first time will enable the recording of unbiased information on occurrence and type of epileptic seizures during the everyday life of patients. For the patients physician it will be easier to individually adapt the medication towards faster and improved clinical results. In addition, monikits technology can be used to alert family members in case of a severe seizure. The monikit idea was developed by founders Florian Lutz and Kevin Klett during their Master studies. Prof. Dr. Yvonne Weber, scientific advisor of monikit and Senior Physician with focus on epileptology in the neurology department of University Hospital Tuebingen and the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH), immediately realized the potential of a mobile detector for seizures. At University Hospital Tuebingen, the project team successfully identified characteristic medical values that are changing during seizures. These values now constitute the basis of monikits algorithm for the detection of seizures. At LSI, monikit will receive approximately 1.86 million research and development funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) over the next three years. The team will use the proceeds to fund the next steps of its technology and product development. We identified a great demand for a mobile seizure-detector, both for personalized therapy and for the monitoring of outpatients with epilepsy, said Kevin Klett. Florian Lutz added: As a first step, we will use the funding to strengthen our team in computer and data science and to greatly extend our clinical data collection among epileptics. We are quite happy to not only provide this ambitious project and the highly committed project team with funding, but also with access to our huge medtech network and know-how, said Dr. Jorg Fregien, CEO of LSI. ### About epilepsy With more than 50 million patients, epilepsy is among the most common neurological disorders world-wide. The disease is characterized by repeated, non-provoked generalized or focal epileptic seizures. The latter are constrained to an area of the brain only and often visually unobtrusive for bystanders, while generalized seizures affect the entire cerebrum and usually are associated with stiffening of the body and rhythmic convulsions. Treatment of the condition initially is pharmacological. However, for a lasting success, therapy needs a precise diagnosis of the disease, based on documented and classified seizures both in the clinical and the outpatient setting. About monikit Since 2016, the monikit project group has been conducting research in collaboration with physicians and epileptologists Dr. Dr. Henner Koch and Prof. Dr. Yvonne Weber, neurology department of the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH), University Hospital Tuebingen. Initially, the project was funded by the EXIST Business Start-up Grant of the Federal Ministry of Economy (BMWi, 2016); subsequently it was funded by the Young Innovators program of the state of Baden-Wuerttembergs Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (2017/18). By joining LSI, monikit will receive EUR 1.86 million funding over three years. The University Hospital Tuebingen Founded in 1805, the University Hospital Tuebingen is one of the leading centres of German university medicine. As one of 33 University Hospitals in Germany, it contributes to a successful combination of top-level medicine, research, and teaching. More than 400,000 in- and outpatients from around the world benefit from this connection of science and practice each year, since the clinics, institutes, and centres unite specialists from all fields under one roof. Its experts collaborate across disciplines and offer state-of-the-art research-based treatment to all patients. The University Hospital does research to improve diagnostics, therapies, and healing processes. Many new cutting-edge treatments are clinically tested and applied in Tuebingen. Neurosciences, Oncology and Immunology, Infection Biology, Vascular Medicine and Diabetes are focus areas of research at the University Hospital Tuebingen. It is a reliable partner in four of the six German Centres for Health Research (DZG) created by the Federal Government. About the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH) Founded in 2001, the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH) was brought to life by an agreement between several entities: the non-profit Hertie Foundation, the State of Baden-Wurttemberg, the University of Tubingen and its Medical Faculty, and the University Hospital of Tubingen. The HIH deals with one of the most fascinating fields of todays research: the decoding of the human brain. The main question is how certain diseases affect brain functions. In its daily work, the HIH builds the bridge from basic research to clinical application. Its goal is to facilitate new and more effective strategies for diagnosis, therapy and prevention. At present, the HIH is home to a total of 21 professors and about 380 employees. About Life Science Inkubator GmbH (LSI) Life Science Inkubator GmbH (LSI) is located at the research hub caesar in Bonn, Germany, and offers potential entrepreneurs an incubation concept which is unique in Germany. Innovative projects in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medtech are evaluated at an early stage and advanced to financing and market stages in close collaboration with the respective project group. The incubation concept is based on five elements: evaluation, seed financing, project management, HR and industry transfer. After a successful spin-off, a fund dedicated to follow-on financing called LSI Pre-Seed-Fonds GmbH is available. Further information can be found at: Contacts Kevin Klett Project Group monikit Life Science Inkubator GmbH Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2 D-53175 Bonn, Germany Tel.: +49 228-227790-17 Fax: +49 228-227790-29 klett@life-science-inkubator.de Prof. Dr. Yvonne Weber Department Neurology and Epileptology Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research Universitatsklinikum Tubingen Hoppe-Seyler Strae 3 D-72076 Tubingen, Germany Tel.: +49 7071-29-80443 Fax: +49 7071-29-4488 yvonne.weber@uni-tuebingen.de Dr. Mareike Kardinal Director of Communications Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research Otfried-Muller-Str. 27 72076 Tubingen Tel: 07071 29-8 88 00 Fax: 07071 29-2 50 04 mareike.kardinal@medizin.uni-tuebingen.de Dr. Frank Striggow Chief Operating Officer (COO) Life Science Inkubator GmbH Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2 D-53175 Bonn, Germany Tel.: +49 228-227790-33 Fax: +49 228-227790-29 striggow@life-science-inkubator.de Media Inquiries: akampion Dr. Ludger We / Ines-Regina Buth Tel: +49 40 8816 5964 Tel: +49 30 2363 2768 info(at)akampion.com seizures in everyday situations. The technology is based on a mobile sensor system and a proprietary algorithm. monikits product for the first time will enable the recording of unbiased information on occurrence and type of epileptic seizures during the everyday life of patients. For the patients physician it will be easier to individually adapt the medication towards faster and improved clinical results. In addition, monikits technology can be used to alert family members in case of a severe seizure.The monikit idea was developed by founders Florian Lutz and Kevin Klett during their Master studies. Prof. Dr. Yvonne Weber, scientific advisor of monikit and Senior Physician with focus on epileptology in the neurology department of University Hospital Tuebingen and the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH), immediately realized the potential of a mobile detector for seizures. At University Hospital Tuebingen, the project team successfully identified characteristic medical values that are changing during seizures. These values now constitute the basis of monikits algorithm for the detection of seizures.At LSI, monikit will receive approximately 1.86 million research and development funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) over the next three years. The team will use the proceeds to fund the next steps of its technology and product development.We identified a great demand for a mobile seizure-detector, both for personalized therapy and for the monitoring of outpatients with epilepsy, said Kevin Klett. Florian Lutz added: As a first step, we will use the funding to strengthen our team in computer and data science and to greatly extend our clinical data collection among epileptics.We are quite happy to not only provide this ambitious project and the highly committed project team with funding, but also with access to our huge medtech network and know-how, said Dr. Jorg Fregien, CEO of LSI.###About epilepsyWith more than 50 million patients, epilepsy is among the most common neurological disorders world-wide. The disease is characterized by repeated, non-provoked generalized or focal epileptic seizures. The latter are constrained to an area of the brain only and often visually unobtrusive for bystanders, while generalized seizures affect the entire cerebrum and usually are associated with stiffening of the body and rhythmic convulsions. Treatment of the condition initially is pharmacological. However, for a lasting success, therapy needs a precise diagnosis of the disease, based on documented and classified seizures both in the clinical and the outpatient setting.About monikitSince 2016, the monikit project group has been conducting research in collaboration with physicians and epileptologists Dr. Dr. Henner Koch and Prof. Dr. Yvonne Weber, neurology department of the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH), University Hospital Tuebingen. Initially, the project was funded by the EXIST Business Start-up Grant of the Federal Ministry of Economy (BMWi, 2016); subsequently it was funded by the Young Innovators program of the state of Baden-Wuerttembergs Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (2017/18). By joining LSI, monikit will receive EUR 1.86 million funding over three years.The University Hospital TuebingenFounded in 1805, the University Hospital Tuebingen is one of the leading centres of German university medicine. As one of 33 University Hospitals in Germany, it contributes to a successful combination of top-level medicine, research, and teaching.More than 400,000 in- and outpatients from around the world benefit from this connection of science and practice each year, since the clinics, institutes, and centres unite specialists from all fields under one roof. Its experts collaborate across disciplines and offer state-of-the-art research-based treatment to all patients. The University Hospital does research to improve diagnostics, therapies, and healing processes. Many new cutting-edge treatments are clinically tested and applied in Tuebingen.Neurosciences, Oncology and Immunology, Infection Biology, Vascular Medicine and Diabetes are focus areas of research at the University Hospital Tuebingen. It is a reliable partner in four of the six German Centres for Health Research (DZG) created by the Federal Government. www.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/en/ About the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH)Founded in 2001, the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH) was brought to life by an agreement between several entities: the non-profit Hertie Foundation, the State of Baden-Wurttemberg, the University of Tubingen and its Medical Faculty, and the University Hospital of Tubingen. The HIH deals with one of the most fascinating fields of todays research: the decoding of the human brain. The main question is how certain diseases affect brain functions. In its daily work, the HIH builds the bridge from basic research to clinical application. Its goal is to facilitate new and more effective strategies for diagnosis, therapy and prevention. At present, the HIH is home to a total of 21 professors and about 380 employees.About Life Science Inkubator GmbH (LSI)Life Science Inkubator GmbH (LSI) is located at the research hub caesar in Bonn, Germany, and offers potential entrepreneurs an incubation concept which is unique in Germany. Innovative projects in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medtech are evaluated at an early stage and advanced to financing and market stages in close collaboration with the respective project group. The incubation concept is based on five elements: evaluation, seed financing, project management, HR and industry transfer. After a successful spin-off, a fund dedicated to follow-on financing called LSI Pre-Seed-Fonds GmbH is available.Further information can be found at: www.life-science-inkubator.de (German only)ContactsKevin KlettProject Group monikitLife Science Inkubator GmbHLudwig-Erhard-Allee 2D-53175 Bonn, GermanyTel.: +49 228-227790-17Fax: +49 228-227790-29Prof. Dr. Yvonne WeberDepartment Neurology and EpileptologyHertie Institute for Clinical Brain ResearchUniversitatsklinikum TubingenHoppe-Seyler Strae 3D-72076 Tubingen, GermanyTel.: +49 7071-29-80443Fax: +49 7071-29-4488Dr. Mareike KardinalDirector of CommunicationsHertie Institute for Clinical Brain ResearchOtfried-Muller-Str. 2772076 TubingenTel: 07071 29-8 88 00Fax: 07071 29-2 50 04Dr. Frank StriggowChief Operating Officer (COO)Life Science Inkubator GmbHLudwig-Erhard-Allee 2D-53175 Bonn, GermanyTel.: +49 228-227790-33Fax: +49 228-227790-29Media Inquiries:akampionDr. Ludger We / Ines-Regina ButhTel: +49 40 8816 5964Tel: +49 30 2363 2768info(at)akampion.com Contact information: LSI Bonn Contact Person: Author: Ines-Regina Buth e-mail Web: http://www.akampioneer.com Phone: 030-23632768 22.11.2018 10:25:37 - 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. Industries Swiftclean calls for safety over style in ceiling design 22.11.2018 19:38:26 - Swiftclean Building Services, expert provider of fire damper testing and maintenance, and ventilation cleaning in compliance with BESA TB001 & TR/19, has called for greater concern for safety over aesthetics when it comes to ceiling design in commercial and public buildings and multiple residence properties. We are well aware that access hatches are not the most attractive items, says Swiftclean Managing Director Gary Nicholls. However, they are absolutely vital for safety. (live-PR.com) - The company, which has won multiple awards for its expert air and water hygiene services, says that its technicians frequently encounter situations in which cosmetic features such as plasterboard ceilings have been added to improve aesthetics, but which inevitably hinder essential ongoing cleaning and maintenance. Compliance with TR/19, the leading guidance document on ventilation hygiene, issued by BESA, ensures - The company, which has won multiple awards for its expert air and water hygiene services, says that its technicians frequently encounter situations in which cosmetic features such as plasterboard ceilings have been added to improve aesthetics, but which inevitably hinder essential ongoing cleaning and maintenance. Compliance with TR/19, the leading guidance document on ventilation hygiene, issued by BESA, ensures legal compliance requirements are met in schools, hospitals hotels and a wide range of public and domestic buildings across the UK. The annual drop testing and maintenance of fire dampers in accordance with BS:9999 is also a legal requirement under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order for property owners and managers. Despite this long-term legal responsibility, in too many cases, says Swiftclean, additional bulkheads and false ceilings or other services are erected across installed ductwork, making it impossible for some buildings to comply with the law. There is already a potential tension between the ductwork construction standard, DW144 and the ventilation cleanliness guidelines TR/19 in that, in practice, ongoing compliance with TR/19 requires access at more frequent intervals than is stipulated in DW144. If some of the access hatches installed in compliance with DW144 are subsequently covered over or obstructed, this makes it even more difficult or, in some cases, impossible, to comply with TR/19, potentially throughout the lifecycle of the building. If the ductwork itself is visible, exposed or accessible through false ceilings, it is possible to retrofit additional access doors in order to achieve compliance with TR/19 and BS:9999. However, if, once the ductwork has been installed, it has been hidden behind fixed ceilings and walls, compliance can be highly problematic or prohibitively costly. In these cases, safety is definitely compromised, warns Swiftclean. Not only does compliance become difficult, but buildings insurance policies may be compromised and the responsible person for the building may be liable to prosecution for non-compliance, warns Nicholls. In the event of a fatality, there may be criminal proceedings against the maintenance company and individuals could face a custodial sentence. It seems to us imperative that safety should take precedence over aesthetics in many more situations. Swiftclean has been campaigning for several years for greater awareness of the need to comply with safety guidelines on the cleanliness and safe functioning of mechanical extract and ventilation systems. Gary Nicholls is a member of the steering committee which advised on the drafting of the TR/19 guidelines, the leading industry document on ventilation hygiene, issued by BESA, the Building Engineering Services Association. From time to time he is called on to serve as an expert consultant and witness in legal cases where non-compliance has been identified. About Company: Swiftclean is one of the largest independent companies operating in the Building Services hygiene sector working with building managers and FM companies offering high quality, expert advice and legally compliant services for legionella control and water storage cleaning, kitchen extract cleaning, duct & ventilation cleaning and sector specific solutions. Providing hygienic cleans to a range of business sectors including: Facilities Management, Social Housing, Pubs & Restaurants, Hotels & Stadiums, Food Production, Healthcare, Education and many more. legal compliance requirements are met in schools, hospitals hotels and a wide range of public and domestic buildings across the UK. The annual drop testing and maintenance of fire dampers in accordance with BS:9999 is also a legal requirement under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order for property owners and managers.Despite this long-term legal responsibility, in too many cases, says Swiftclean, additional bulkheads and false ceilings or other services are erected across installed ductwork, making it impossible for some buildings to comply with the law. There is already a potential tension between the ductwork construction standard, DW144 and the ventilation cleanliness guidelines TR/19 in that, in practice, ongoing compliance with TR/19 requires access at more frequent intervals than is stipulated in DW144. If some of the access hatches installed in compliance with DW144 are subsequently covered over or obstructed, this makes it even more difficult or, in some cases, impossible, to comply with TR/19, potentially throughout the lifecycle of the building.If the ductwork itself is visible, exposed or accessible through false ceilings, it is possible to retrofit additional access doors in order to achieve compliance with TR/19 and BS:9999. However, if, once the ductwork has been installed, it has been hidden behind fixed ceilings and walls, compliance can be highly problematic or prohibitively costly.In these cases, safety is definitely compromised, warns Swiftclean. Not only does compliance become difficult, but buildings insurance policies may be compromised and the responsible person for the building may be liable to prosecution for non-compliance, warns Nicholls. In the event of a fatality, there may be criminal proceedings against the maintenance company and individuals could face a custodial sentence. It seems to us imperative that safety should take precedence over aesthetics in many more situations.Swiftclean has been campaigning for several years for greater awareness of the need to comply with safety guidelines on the cleanliness and safe functioning of mechanical extract and ventilation systems. Gary Nicholls is a member of the steering committee which advised on the drafting of the TR/19 guidelines, the leading industry document on ventilation hygiene, issued by BESA, the Building Engineering Services Association. From time to time he is called on to serve as an expert consultant and witness in legal cases where non-compliance has been identified.About Company:Swiftclean is one of the largest independent companies operating in the Building Services hygiene sector working with building managers and FM companies offering high quality, expert advice and legally compliant services for legionella control and water storage cleaning, kitchen extract cleaning, duct & ventilation cleaning and sector specific solutions. Providing hygienic cleans to a range of business sectors including: Facilities Management, Social Housing, Pubs & Restaurants, Hotels & Stadiums, Food Production, Healthcare, Education and many more. Press Information: Swiftclean (UK) Ltd Contact Person: Web: http://https://www.swiftclean.co.uk/ 22.11.2018 19:38:26 - 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. Pampa : Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan and Kerala police engaged in a war of words after the cops blocked the Minister's vehicle convoy near Pampa KSRTC bus stand at around 1 AM. Initially, the reports suggested that the cops blocked the Union Minister's vehicle and they apologised to the minister over the matter. However, the CCTV footages showed that police only blocked the innova car, which was passed seven minutes later, which led to the suspicion. On knowing this, the minister returned to the Pampa and demanded an explanation from the SP Harisankar, who was in charge of Pampa.. As per the reports, the police team received an information that some of the protesters, involved in the Nilakkal and Pama protest was moving in a innova, which led to the whole scenario. Later the Pampa CI reportedly written a note stating that nobody was arrested from the vehicle, as they initially suspected The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration is closely monitoring awith an international name of Man-yi that is likely toduring the weekend. This coincided with reports that floodwaters entered homes in Mapanas, northern Samar following the onslaught of Samuel. Once the severe tropical storm enters the PAR, Man-yi would be named Tomas. It is forecast to further intensify into a typhoon. Man-yi was estimated at 1,645 kilometers east of the Visayas, or outside PAR. Packing maximum sustained winds of 105 kms per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 130 kph, it was moving west northwest at 45 kph. The severe tropical storm has no direct effect on any part of the country at the moment, Pagasa said. Reports on Man-yi were made as tropical depressionthe 19th to hit the Philippines this yearmade its sixth landfall in Palawan Thursday. It was moving westward over the West Philippine Sea and wasbefore the week would be over. As of 11 am Thursday,was spotted at 240 kms west-northwest of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan with maximum sustained winds of 55 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 65 kph. READ: Samuel weakens, veers toward Iloilo, Palawan Meanwhile, floodwaters caused bywreaked havoc in low-lying communities in three Samar provinces killing one person and forcing thousands of residents to move to higher grounds on Wednesday. Residents of Magsaysay village in Palapag, Northern Samar found the body of their neighbor Ronel Quibal, 23 past noon on Wednesday. He went missing late Tuesday afternoon when raging waters swept him away while passing a flooded road aboard a motorcycle. The Office of Civil Defense regional office received reports of massive evacuation in the towns of San Roque, Mapanas, Pambujan, Palapag, Gamay, Lope de Vega, and San Isidro in Northern Samar province. Floods also submerged some villages in Catubig town.In Eastern Samar, evacuations were reported in Taft, Can-avid, Oras, San Julian, and Hernani. Flooding also displaced thousands of families in the towns of Arteche, Guiuan, and Sulat though some families opted to stay in their homes. Other areas with evacuated families are Paranas and Calbayog City in Samar; Kawayan, Biliran; and Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte. Power supply is still down as of Wednesday noon in the towns of Catubig, Las Navas, and Lapinig, Northern Samar as well as in the island towns of Almagro, Tarangnan, and Zumarraga in Samar province. Clearing operations by maintenance personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways are still ongoing in landslide-hit road sections in Northern Samar and Eastern Samar. Mudslides have isolated the interior villages of Capacujan, Bangon, Bagay, and Osmena in Palapag, Northern Samar. Another landslide temporarily blocked traffic flow in Binaloan village, Taft, Eastern Samar. The road section is within the major road network that connects Samar province to Borongan City, the capital of Eastern Samar province. READ: Tomas in, Samuel out Landslide debris buried a makeshift house in San Pablo in Taft, Eastern Samar, but no one was hurt, according to reports reaching the OCD regional office. Soil erosion also damaged some classrooms in Catubig, Northern Samar. Damage assessment is still ongoing. The Philippine National Police reported that at least 1,868 Luzon-bound travelers were stranded in ports in Northern Samar province as the state weather bureau raised a storm warning signal in Leyte and Samar provinces. In Arteche, Eastern Samar, Mayor Roland Evardone said that as of Wednesday noon, nine villages located along river banks were still inundated. We had deployed rescue teams and assessment teams to update us on the situation and extent of damages, Evardone said in a phone interview. More than 1,000 families were displaced by flooding, prompting the local government to provide food packs to affected families. The Eastern Samar Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office also reported evacuations in Sulat, San Policarpo, and Llorente towns. PAGASA Depression Samuel made its first two landfalls on Wednesday in Borongan City around 2 am and Daram, Samar at 4 am. 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lost 30% since the start of 2018. The latest plan is that the two leaders US President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping would meet for dinner on December 1 immediately after the G20 meeting in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. Trump says US is doing extremely well with China but deal not done yet. Therefore the next meeting could be critical for this ongoing war trade talk and its result will have important effect around the market. At ElliottWave Forecast, we believe the market is ruled by technical aspect and the news is an after-fact event to drive the market into the pre-determined direction. Therefore, understanding the Nature of the Market is key for traders to stay in the right side and follow a clear path which have nothing to do with Fundamentals or events. For our technical explanation, well be using the largest China ETF iShares China Large-Cap ETF FXI which tracks an index of the 50 largest and most liquid Chinese stocks traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China Large-Cap ETF FXI Monthly Chart Since 2008 low, we can count 5 swings sequence (Red Color) to the upside until the recent 2018 peak which isnt an Elliott Wave count but a representation of the sequence. In this case, FXI has an incomplete bullish sequence and ideally after ending the 6th swing it will be heading higher in the 7th swings toward equal legs area $61.46 $69.38. There, the ETF can be ending a larger 3 swings (Blue color) followed by 3 waves pullback. After clarifying the bigger picture for FXI, we can switch to the daily time frame to understand the current structure: From January 2018 peak, FXI declined in a 3 waves Zigzag structure and reached the extreme blue box area $38.8 $35.76 which is a High-frequency area where the markets are likely to end cycles and make a turn. Up from there, the ETF is looking to resume the rally higher in an impulsive 5 waves structure or at least it will bounce in 3 waves to correct 2018 decline. Consequently, Chinas stock market will rally and drive the rest of global market with it in the coming few weeks based on the Monthly bullish sequence and the current daily structure. So deal or no deal between USA & China the result will be the same in favor of the Bulls. Get our latest updates for World Indices like SPX , DAX and NIKKEI by using our Black Friday promotion: 50% Off All Monthly Plans to learn how to trade our blue boxes using the 3, 7 or 11 swings sequence. You will get access to our 78 instruments updated in 4 different time frames, Live Trading & Analysis Session done by our Expert Analysts every day, 24-hour chat room support and much more. By Ayoub Ben Rejeb https://elliottwave-forecast.com ElliottWave-Forecast has built its reputation on accurate technical analysis and a winning attitude. By successfully incorporating the Elliott Wave Theory with Market Correlation, Cycles, Proprietary Pivot System, we provide precise forecasts with up-to-date analysis for 52 instruments including Forex majors & crosses, Commodities and a number of Equity Indices from around the World. Our clients also have immediate access to our proprietary Actionable Trade Setups, Market Overview, 1 Hour, 4 Hour, Daily & Weekly Wave Counts. Weekend Webinar, Live Screen Sharing Sessions, Daily Technical Videos, Elliott Wave Setup . Copyright 2018 ElliottWave-Forecast - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Over a 100 days have passed since the victory of right-wing reactionary Ivan Duque in the Colombian presidential elections. The appointment of Alberto Carrasquilla the countrys very own Chicago Boy as economics minister made it very clear from the outset that a battery of attacks was coming for the Colombian working class. After 20 years of attacks by right-wing governments, the situation in the public education system has reached a breaking point. In response, students have been organising mass mobilisations for the last two months, involving hundreds of thousands of people in the streets. It is estimated that the demonstration on 10 October involved 300,000 students nationally, with at least 100,000 marching in the capital Bogota. The protests have been met with increased police repression and brutality by the state. A massive media campaign has attempted to frame students as vandals, launching Molotov cocktails at the police. And while the capitalist press is busy defaming the students, social media is full of evidence of widespread violence from the anti-riot police, as well as of police infiltration in the student mobilisations to incite violence. Duque, meanwhile, isnt at all interested in meeting the demands of the students, refusing to even hold a meeting with them. Workers under attack At the same time, the right-wing government has announced a new tax plan that will hit the poor and the working class hardest. In order to cut the budget deficit and finance further tax cuts for big business, the government has announced an increase in VAT on necessary food products from 0 percent to 19 percent. This will put the food security of huge sections of the population at risk. Along with rising prices of gasoline, these measures have generated an enormous public outrage, propelling the organised working class into action. On 15 November, the largest trade union in the country the CUT, representing 700,000 workers joined students on their latest demonstration. And there have recently been talks between student organisations and the big trade unions (such as FECODE, representing 280,000 teachers, and the CUT) to organise a mass mobilisation on 28 November. More and more voices are calling for a 24-hour general strike on 13 December. At the moment, students and workers are fighting defensively, focussing on countering Duques attacks on education and the governments tax plan respectively. But even these limited defensive demands on education and tax have clashed head-on with the interests of the ruling class, who are hell-bent on driving down public services and living conditions in order to boost the profits of big business. Go on the offensive Students involved in the big student assemblies at the Universidad Nacional (the largest and most-prestigious public university in the country) have reported how the mood amongst workers and students is growing more and more militant by the day. Learning through struggle, ever-greater numbers of grassroots activists are seeing the need for a revolutionary alternative. The point must be made clearly and boldly: the fight for public education and a decent standard of living must be a fight against the capitalist system. Students and workers, unite and fight! / Image: fair use These latest events provide a tremendous opportunity. According to an Invamer poll, Duques approval rating is falling fast from 53 percent in September to 27 percent now. Now is the moment for workers and student to go on the offensive. In order to do this, the student movement must connect with the organised working class and link the student struggle with the fight against the VAT and gas price increases. The point must be made clearly and boldly: the fight for public education and a decent standard of living must be a fight against the capitalist system. This is what can unite the struggles of workers and students. Down with the Duque government! Students and workers: unite and fight! 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. Lameness prevention: it's all in the head An understanding of how cows think, how they see the world and how they move is essential for lameness prevention. The European Union took the first step on Wednesday toward fining Italy after ruling that the country's spending drive violates the bloc's fiscal rules. Brussels has rejected Rome's budget plan for 2019. The Commission confirms the existence of a particularly serious case of non-compliance, the EU said in its annual review of euro-area nations spending plans referring to Italys 2019 budget. With what the Italian government has put on the table, we see a risk of the country sleepwalking into instability. Brussels has repeatedly voiced concerns over Rome's borrow-and-spend plans, warning the Italian government that it could trigger another debt crisis that would hurt them all. According to EU regulations, a member countrys public debt cannot be higher than 60 percent of its gross domestic product, or if it is has to be falling towards 60 percent at a satisfactory pace. Rome has argued that boosting growth is the best way to bring down Italys debt-to-GDP ratio of over 130 percent. Italys Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said that he wont compromise on the budget plans core items like pension reform, citizens income, and lower taxes. He told reporters in Rome that he is, however, willing to make small changes in areas like investments, on which he is open to dialogue with everyone. Italy could now face penalties from the European Union if it does not adjust its budget. Member countries may be sanctioned for breaching EU spending rules. Sanctions could be a fine of up to 0.2 percent of a country's GDP and the suspension of commitments or payments from EU structural funds of up to 0.5 percent. According to Salvini, fines against Italy would be disrespectful. We are convinced about the numbers in our budget. We will talk about it in a year's time, he added. For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section The US Department of Justice is reportedly exploring the possibility of introducing antitrust legislation that will allow the White House to reduce the power of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The measure has been triggered by the oil cartels successful attempts to bring global prices for crude under control. OPEC members and their non-OPEC allies, led by Russia, managed to affect global oil prices by establishing production quotas. The step reportedly raised costs for US consumers, an unnamed department official told Bloomberg. Read more Thats traditionally the type of conduct the Justice Department would frown upon, the media quotes the source as saying. The anti-OPEC bills, reportedly backed by both Republicans and Democrats, were introduced in the House and Senate, but neither chamber has voted on the legislation yet. However, in June, the House Judiciary Committee approved the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act. The legislation, known as NOPEC bill, authorizes the US attorney general to sue the oil cartel over its efforts to put oil output and crude prices under control. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed OPEC for rising oil prices, demanding that participants of the organization should increase crude production. In late 2016, the member countries along with non-OPEC producers, including Russia, made a multinational pact aimed at curbing total oil output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in order to support sliding prices. Back then, Russia pledged to cut 300,000 bpd out of 560,000 for total non-OPEC cuts. The agreement came into effect in early 2017, and was later extended until the end of the current year. The recent collapse in oil prices has forced OPEC and its partners to summon another meeting which is scheduled for December. Participants may discuss further curbing of output for 2019. OPECs biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, has already backed potential production cuts. The oil-rich kingdom pledged to trim its shipments by 500,000 bpd starting next month. For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section Education Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu. Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu. Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events: International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu. EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu. Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets June Homecoming: Participant $18 per person; Sustainer $25 per person; Benefactor $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events: SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available for information call 610-275-1960 Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above) SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m. Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. 4 p.m. computers are available during those hours. Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m. Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863. Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376. Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com. The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes: Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020. CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313. The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events: Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m. Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m. Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m. Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30. Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m. The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301. For Kids & Families The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443. Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950. Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required. The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950. Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus. Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage. Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun. Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train. Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world! Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class. Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org. Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583. Community Events at the Ambler Y: -YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register. Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org. Health Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot. The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net. The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863. The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information. Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245. Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net. Spring Aquatic Programs UDHS Pool: -Summer is just around the corner Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required. Shallow Water Aerobics Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR. Adult Swim Instructions Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR -Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21. -Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m. -Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons. -Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates. Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994. SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com. Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org. Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs: FITNESS CLASSES Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month. Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30 9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly. SUPPORT GROUPS Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000. Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30 7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047. New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m. 12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30 4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931. Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325. Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes. Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com. Librarytalk Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744 www.upperdublinlibrary.org APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS: Storytimes: Please register in the library. o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m. o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m. o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6. APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS: North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS: NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org. One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register contact info above. Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744. o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register. Meetings: Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m. Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m. Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org. For children and teens at Blue Bell: * Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian. * Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages. * Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m. * May 14 Despicable Me * June 11 Alpha and Omega * Special Events * April watch for date of spring/Easter events * April 14 at 4:30 p.m. Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children. * April 14 at 7 p.m. Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided. * April 16 at 1 p.m. Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King. * April 16 at 1:30 p.m. Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes? * April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button. * April 30 through May 3 Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults. * May sign up for Science in the Summer * June sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children * June sign up for Summer Reading, all ages For adults at Blue Bell: * Daytime Book Discussion Group fourth Tuesday, Jan April at 1:30 p.m. * April 26 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester * Night-time Book Discussion Group third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. o April 19 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester * Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked? *Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs * Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class. * Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class. * Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m. * Giant Book Sale, April 29 May 3 o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults! o Held during library hours. o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m. o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join. * Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series o May 11 at 1 p.m. Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society * Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room. * Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read. * Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome. * Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome. *Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older. * Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours * Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours * Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday! Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library. * Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian. * Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages. * For adults: * Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn. * Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net * Special Events: * April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian. * April 19 at 7 p.m. Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m. * April 21 at 7 p.m. Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades. *May 2 at 6:30 p.m. Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time. *May 10 Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. *May 12 at 1:30p.m. Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. *May 17 Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. *June 13 at 6:30 p.m. Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time. Meetings and Lectures The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833. The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313. Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200. The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/. LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings. Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment. The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org. Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org. The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org) -Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them. The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter. For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps. Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin. Special Events The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County. The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065. Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org. The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org. The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members. Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex. The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com. The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348. The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org. Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163. The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu. The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com. The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net. Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd. The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages. 13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries. Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler. The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family. The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler. JPRN Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike. Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies. Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately. Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways. Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table. Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443. Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday Friday from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday Friday from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374 Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall: -Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store. Music and Theater The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html. Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free. The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org Religious News The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276. Reunions St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net. Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572. Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779. Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411. Support New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149. PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931. The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296. Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656. Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group every other Wednesday, 7 8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information. CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7 8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich, 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. Pennsylvania Horticulture Societys Harvest program ends season with almost 19,000 pounds of produce donated and $30K raised to fight food insecurity 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. Calendar Girls Women raising funds by raising eyebrows is the heartwarming thread binding the love, humor, bravery, and sass within Tim Firths 2008 British comedy Calendar Girls, pleasantly presented by the Young at Heart Players at the Dayton Playhouse. Firmly directed by Annie Pesch and expansively adapted from the 2003 film of the same name, Calendar Girls is based on the 1999 true story of a group of Yorkshire women who produced a cheeky nude calendar to raise money for leukemia research under the auspices of the Womens Institutes. In the play, which is often very funny although there are many sentimental scenes, sensitive Annie (Kerry Simpson in her finest role to date) and outspoken Chris (a vibrantly earthy Becky Howard) spearhead the calendar, a lighthearted tribute to Annies late husband John (an endearing Jim Spencer) with proceeds going toward purchasing a new couch for the WI waiting room. Annie and Chris friends are initially unsure about shedding their clothes, but ultimately all agree and the calendar becomes an enormous success, bolstering the Yorkshire village of Knapely to international notoriety. Along the way, feelings are bruised and friendships are tested, but positive public reaction to the cause, the sheer power of sisterhood, and the fond remembrance of Johns gentle spirit prevails. In fact, one of the plays best moments involves numerous letters descending from the sky serving as beautiful reminders of the ladies impact and influence. In addition to expertly staging the poignancy of the aforementioned scene as well as Johns heartbreaking exit, Pesch smoothly guides the playful frenzy of the Act 1 finale, the pivotal photo shoot overseen by Lawrence (a fittingly bashful Michael Plaugher). This delightful moment exemplifies how well Simpson and Howard are connected with and supported by principals Amy Askins (pianist Cora), Gayle Smith (amiable Jessie), Heather Martin (sophisticated Celia), and Fran Pesch (reticent Ruth). The appealing cast, one of the largest assembled by YAH, includes Cheryl Mellen (Marie), Kelli Locker (Brenda Hulse and Elaine), John Spitler (Rod), Jane E. McBride (Lady Cravenshire), and Brian Buttrey (Liam). Calendar Girls continues through Nov. 25 at the Dayton Playhouse, 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave., Dayton. Performances are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Act 1: 63 minutes; Act 2: 50 minutes. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors. Tickets may be purchased at the door. For reservations, call (937) 654-0400. For more information, visit youngatheartplayers.com. Patrons are advised the production contains adult language and partial nudity. The Man Who Killed the Cure Typically, Bravos The Real Housewives of Atlanta has absolutely nothing to do with the stage, but a notable storyline has brought a refreshing level of depth to the popular franchise. In the latest episode, NeNe Leakes husband Gregg, diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in May, visited his doctor for a checkup, anxiously awaiting the assessment. When told he should begin another round of chemotherapy for precautionary measures, Gregg asked his doctor about alternative treatments, an idea his doctor openly opposed. Weighing his options, he decided against chemotherapy. While watching this emotional exchange, I couldnt help but think of Luke Yankees controversial drama The Man Who Killed the Cure, a thought-provoking tale of family, friendship, betrayal, and hope commendably presented in its Midwestern premiere by the Dayton Theatre Guild under the fluidly character-conscious direction of Jeff Sams (also responsible for efficient scenic design). Set in Germany and New York in the 1930s and 1940s (sound designer K.L. Storer supplies a superb period soundtrack), Cure is based on the life of Max Gerson, one of the fathers of natural healing terrifically portrayed by J. Gary Thompson. The play examines how all hell broke loose within the medical community when Max discovered an all-natural cure for cancer in the late 1940s. Was Max merely a quack for suggesting treating ailing patients with apples? Some were intrigued by his forward-thinking findings, including prominent radio personalities such as Long John Nebel (an admirable Scott Madden), but the majority sought to bring him down personally and/or professionally, even to the point of poisoning. One of Maxs conspirators was his former partner Rudy Heller, the titular role, a self-described Judas and Brutus, portrayed by an equally winning David Williamson. Rudy saved Maxs life in Germany during World War II and was pleased to join forces with him as up-and-coming Manhattan doctors, but he chose to separate when Maxs reputation grew problematic despite only one patient dying under his care over a span of 10 years compared to Rudys 24. Rudys decision also stemmed from being blackmailed by powerful pharmaceutical companies, represented here in the form of Carmichael, portrayed by a charmingly cunning Ryan Shannon (a standout last season in the Guilds local premiere of Marjorie Prime). Yankee, providing fascinating projections, aspires to absolute balance in his perspectives, but Rudy just isnt as interesting or engaging as Max. Rudy is primarily written from a narrative focus, but I wonder how the play would evolve without the narration. Perhaps Yankee believed there could be some redemption in Rudy if he established a relationship with the audience at the outset. Even so, Rudy oddly becomes a nastier and more vindictive curmudgeon along the way, which doesnt necessarily help his case in the end. At the same rate, Im left a bit puzzled by meek Max, who seems too clear-cut and is often overshadowed by the flashier presence of Rudy. Did Max ever have serious doubts about his alternative methods? Did he battle any personal demons? In terms of dramatic structure, a more complex, multifaceted look at his life at home and in the midst of medicine would give this play significant bite. In addition, I find the inclusion of Rudys shrewd, sexual mistress Helga (Kristyna Zaharek in a breakthrough performance) forced, especially when situations turn and Helga suddenly falls for Max who has no idea shes working for and being abused by Rudy. Yankee could also do without his insertion of Hedda Gabler, spotlighting the progression of Rudy and Helgas relationship and featuring the versatile Melissa Kerr Ertsgaard. By and large, its an inconsequential scene unintentionally questioning Cures talky nature. No matter your opinion on the delicate subject of cancer treatment, youll be glad to know Yankee understands everyone must ask themselves what is best for the betterment of their body. Cure isnt as excellent as his Last Lifeboat, a hit for the Guild in 2016, but it celebrates a decent man nonetheless. The Man Who Killed the Cure continues through Nov. 25 at the Dayton Theatre Guild, 430 Wayne Ave., Dayton. Performances are 8 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Act 1: 60 minutes; Act 2: 65 minutes. Tickets are $15. For more information, call (937) 278-5993 or visit daytontheatreguild.org. Patrons are advised the production contains adult language. At the reception (Photo: baodanang.vn) According to Mr. Dung, Da Nang and French localities and businesses have also carried out specific cooperative activities in economics, culture, education and exchange of high quality human resources. He also appreciated the operations of the Institute of France in Da Nang, especially in co-organising events marking the 45anniversary of the Vietnam - France diplomatic relationship this year. Expressing his hope that the French Ambassador will continue to promote cooperation between Da Nang and French localities, especially in high quality human resources, culture, climate change, and French investment through FDI projects in hi-tech and industrial zone, Mr. Dung confirmed that the city had agreed to attend the 11th Decentralised Cooperation Conference held in Frances Toulouse in April 2019. Noting that the year 2018 is a special time in the Vietnam - France bilateral strategic cooperation, marking the 45th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship and the 5th year since the signing of the strategic partnership, Ambassador Berthand Lortholary said he hoped to seek new progress in the two countries relationship, especially in waste treatment, urban traffic systems, education and training, and information technology. He also suggested that Da Nang should open a direct flight to French localities, and work more closely with the French Agency for Development in carrying out projects, contributing to deepening the relationship between Vietnam and France and between Da Nang and French localities./. It took me 5 years to prepare ... One measure of the larger role Latinos are trying to play in Connecticut politics is the creation of a group announced Tuesday that will work with Gov.-elect Ned Lamont to ensure the representation of Latinos in the incoming administration. Eight years ago, Latinos made no similar effort as Dannel P. Malloy was assembling the first new Democratic administration in 24 years. The first appointment of a Latino as an agency head did not come until Malloy named Andres Ayala as commissioner of motor vehicles in December 2014, though he designated a health-care advisor, Jeannette DeJesus, as a cabinet-level appointee in his first year. Youre seeing the bench deepening with Latino leaders in our state, said Rep. Chris Soto, D-New London. The Connecticut Latino Gubernatorial Appointments Task Force is modeled after a similar effort organized in New Jersey last year by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, said Roberto Frugone, the groups northeast regional director. Latinos comprise 16 percent of the states 3.58 million residents, according to a 2017 estimate by the U.S. Census, and 7 percent of the Connecticut General Assembly. They are a young and growing population. Nationally, 11 percent of the voters in the mid-term elections were Latino, according to exit polls. About one quarter of all Hispanic voters were casting votes in a mid-term election for the first time, and a majority of those under age 30 were first-time voters, according to the Pew Research Center. A study by Secretary of the State Denise Merrills office in 2012 found 8 percent of registered voters in Connecticut were Latino, with 51.6 percent registered as Democrats, 39.4 percent unaffiliated and 8.2 percent Republican. By using Hispanic surnames, Merrills office identified 157,258 Hispanic voters, including more than 22,000 who registered in 2012. In 2018, the office estimated nearly 17,000 Latinos registered to vote. Connecticut did not elect its first Hispanic members of the state Senate until 2012, when Ayala, a Democrat, was elected from Bridgeport and Art Linares, a Republican of Cuban descent, was elected from Westbrook. The Lamont transition team has Latino representation. Elsa Nunez, the president of Eastern Connecticut State University, is one of four leaders of the Lamont transition committee. Its members include Jorge Perez, the state banking commissioner, and Rep. Chris Rosario, D-Bridgeport, the leader of the legislatures Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. We know that three people on a committee or a task force do not represent all Latinos in the state, Soto said. The new task force announced Tuesday is a network of Latinos involved in politics, law, business, non-profits and labor. Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, a labor organizer who challenged Lamonts choice of a running mate, Susan Bysiewicz, in a primary, is one of the participants. Zimmerman said the inclusion of Latinos in the new administration would lead to an increase in voter turnout by Latinos, who traditionally trail other racial and ethnic groups. In 2014, an estimated 27 percent of eligible Hispanic voters cast a ballot, far below the 41 percent turnout rate among black voters and 46 percent rate of white voters. Give us a reason, and well vote, said Zimmerman, who is of Puerto Rican descent. Marc Bradley, who was Lamonts campaign manager, said Latinos were an important part of the coalition that elected Lamont. During the course of that campaign, I feel like we started a relationship and a friendship thats going to carry on, not just though this transition period but forward in the administration and beyond, Bradley said. To submit a resume to the task force, email them at CTTaskforce@naleo.org. This story originally appeared on the website of The Connecticut Mirror, www.ctmirror.org. At the reception (Photo: CPV) He made the statement during his reception for a delegation of the Nur Otan Peoples Party led by K.B. Zhumasev, Secretary of the Partys Central Committee, who is on a visit to Vietnam, on November 21 During the reception, Secretary Hai stressed that Vietnam and Kazakhstan share long-term friendship, which is an invaluable asset of the two nations and must be reinforced and promoted. According to Secretary Hai, Hanoi and Astana have set up cooperation since 2012. Since then, the two capitals have exchanged delegations, shared experience, held businesses meetings and promoted tourism. However, the cooperation does not meet the potential, he said, urging Secretary of the Nur Otan Peoples Party, as well as the Party, to contribute to increase the cooperation. Congratulating the Nur Otan Peoples Party and Kazakhstan country and people on achievements gained, Secretary Hai expressed his belief that under the leadership of the Nur Otan Peoples Party, the unity in the political system and the determination of the whole people, Kazakhstan will become more and more prosperous. Agreeing with Secretary Hai, Secretary K.B. Zhumasev said that although much progress had been made in bilateral cooperation, especially in exchanges of high-ranking delegations, economics, energy and transport, it did not fit the potential. He added that in the countrys national development strategy, Kazakhstan leaders realize the significant cooperation potential with Vietnam and among the two countries localities, especially the two capitals, in terms of digital technology, electronics, urban development and foreign investment./. By PTI NEW DELHI: To check wilful defaulters and fraudsters from fleeing the country, the government has now authorised CEOs of public sector banks (PSBs) to make a request for issuance of look-out circulars (LOCs) against suspects. The move comes against the backdrop of defaults by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and thereafter, fleeing the country. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently made changes in the circular by including CEOs of PSBs in the list of officials who can make a request for issuance of LOCs to the ministry. The inclusion by MHA was done following the recommendation of an inter-ministerial panel under Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar that made a case for empowering the heads of PSBs to request for the opening of LOCs. When asked about the changes made in the circular of MHA, Kumar said it was a continuation of the government's clean-up drive of the banking sector. Soon after the emergence of the PNB fraud and perpetrator Nirav and his uncle Choksi fleeing the country, the Finance Ministry asked PSBs to collect passport details of all those borrowers, who have borrowed loans of more than Rs 50 crore. ALSO READ | Bombay High Court rejects Vijay Mallya's plea for stay on ED's request to declare him fugitive However, possession of mere passport detail was not enough but this circular has empowered banks to take a decisive action against wilful defaulters and fraudsters by requesting for issuance of LOC by the concerned authority, thereby thwarting any move by them to flee the country, Kumar said. "It will act as a big deterrent for wilful defaulters and also bring about a fundamental change in the creditor-debtor relationship," he said. The Department of Financial Services has also issued an advisory to heads of all PSBs to take note of the changes in the circular and act as and when required in a specified manner. Pursuant to the amendment of the MHA circular last month, the list now includes the chairman or managing director and CEO of all PSBs, the circular said. Thus, the heads of PSBs have now been empowered to issue requests of opening of LOCs for wilful defaulters as per the above-mentioned guidelines of MHA against whom an FIR is yet to be filed, it said. Earlier this year, the government formed an inter-ministerial panel to look into various issues, including how to put a check on wilful defaulters fleeing the country. Mallya had fled the country in March 2016 after defaulting on loans given to Kingfisher Airlines, which was promoted by his group. Moreover, Parliament passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018, giving authorities powers to attach and confiscate the proceeds of crime and properties of economic offenders, like bank fraudsters or loan defaulters fleeing the country. The law is aimed at quickly recovering losses to exchequer or PSBs in cases of frauds. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his Budget speech for 2018-19 said the government was considering bringing a new law to confiscate assets of such absconders. By Express News Service BENGALURU : Social media groups focused on Bengaluru often see posts from residents about whom to call to help an injured or trapped animal. While the name and numbers of bird/animal rescue specialists are shared by many, the sheer volume of calls often results in volunteers having to prioritise which calls to attend to. However, not many people know that 101, the emergency number for the Fire and Emergency Services (KSFES), could also provide assistance for animal/bird rescue. On Tuesday, the rescue team responded to a call about a bird caught in manja (sharpened thread used for flying kites) and helped rescue the animal after a 90-minute operation. In situations where animals are trapped, the fire prevention helpline is more than happy to lend its services to aid the rescue, officials said. According to MN Reddi, Director General of Police, KSFES, the 101 service is equipped to deal with animal rescue as well. We are a rescue service and they are not restricted to only humans. We respond to all calls, he said. The operation on Tuesday also earned the department, praise from Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who termed it a prompt act of duty and kindness. Fire rescue teams from across the city are also praised routinely by specialists who say that they provide assistance wherever possible to help them save a life. Ayu Lodha, a volunteer who helps with animal rescue in the city, said, I got a chance to work with them when a black kite was hanging from manja and we had to reach the bird. The team helped us get up there. I personally feel they are more responsive to rescue organisations than individual callers. They also forward calls at times. Narrating one of her experiences with the fire brigade, Lodha said, When they arrived, they were quite positive and willing to help. Later, while speaking to me, they promised to help animals in distress wherever possible and even said that they would call me the next time they found a similar case. By Express News Service BENGALURU: You could easily mistake this woman to be a child-loving person who just wanted to play with your kid. But shes a notorious chain snatcher who targeted children visiting temples with their parents or relatives. On Tuesday, luck ran out for Uma alias Durgi, who has snatched nearly 35 to 40 chains, when a few women constables of Kumaraswamy Layout police dressed in plainclothes arrived at a temple posing as devotees and nabbed her. It was a scene straight out of a movie on Tuesday morning at Banashankari temple when six women constables, including two who are pregnant, dressed in salwars went to the temple to nab the chain-snatcher. Durgi used to snatch chains only on Tuesdays and Fridays as she believed that those were her lucky days. The temple remains crowded on these days when devotees visit the temple to light diyas to the goddess. We had received many complaints from Banashankari temple authorities that there was an increase instances of people losing their gold chains, especially children. We went through their CCTV videos and found this woman repeatedly visiting the temple. She would play with the children roaming around or even being carried by their mothers, and subsequently, she would manage to take away their gold chains, said Deputy Commissioner of Police, South, K Annamalai. After this, police decided to send a few women constables in plainclothes and planned to trap her. The women cops watched her carefully and even before Durgi could lay her hands on any child, they nabbed her. It was later known that Durgi was earlier arrested in 2014 by Tyagarajnagar police when she had snatched chains from women in a few other temples. Later, she was released on bail. She started to snatch chains again. Her modus operandi was to identify women carrying children wearing gold chains. She would then follow them in the queue near the deity or even to the place where they are serving food. She would talk to children as if she is playing with them. She looks very motherly, so nobody doubted her intentions. She would first put her saree pallu on the childs face playfully, then snatch the chain and manage to escape from the temple, Annamalai explained. With her arrest, police have managed to solve more than 35 cases of chain-snatching in the city. Be cautious on temple premises In view of the increase in chain-snatching cases from women visiting temples, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Annamalai has asked residents to be watchful and not fall for tricks used by chain-snatchers. There has been an increase in the number of women chain-snatchers at temples, especially on crowded days and during festivals. When we visit temples, it is common that men/womens concentration is more on the deity. This is the time when chain snatchers can do their job easily, he said. B Anbuselvan By Express News Service CHENNAI: Four days after Food Safety officials seized 2,190 kg of unwholesome meat, which was suspected to be that of dog, from a train at Egmore station, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has formed a special team to inquire into the incident. Senior Divisional Security Commissioner Louis Amuthan on Wednesday said the meat was transported by train under the guise of fish, which is a punishable offence under section 163 of the Indian Railways Act. A special team headed by an Inspector has been formed to inquire into the matter. The team will travel to Jodhpur in a couple of days, he said, adding that the RPF will retrieve the consignors details from Jodhpur station, and accordingly action will be taken. READ | 2,190 kgs of suspected dog meat from Jodhpur seized at Chennai's Egmore railway station On November 17, Food Safety officials had seized 2,190 kg of meat from 20 thermocol ice boxes at Egmore station which was transported from Jodhpur by Bhagat Ki Kothi - Mannargudi weekly express. The preliminary probe into the parcel receipt revealed that, except for four boxes, all other consignments were transported in the name of fish. The parcels are booked by one Mohammed Umar in Jodhpur. The consignments did not have the seal of the slaughterhouse and also did not contain the required cold storage facility for transporting it for 2,500 km. Therefore, Food Safety officials seized the meat and subsequently destroyed it. However, samples of meat have been sent to Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Vepery, to examine whether it was the meat of dog since de-skinned bodies of meat in the boxes anatomically appeared to be that of dog. While the Food Safety officials are yet to ascertain the identity of the seized meat, a section of meat traders in the city have strongly opposed the officials for spreading rumours. K Naseer, a wholesale meat trader in Attu Thotti, Perambur, said thousands of people engaged in meat trade have been affected since November 17. Many who paid advance for supplying goat meat for marriages are now showing hesitation to proceed with the order. The Food Safety officials should immediately reveal the details of the meat seized at Egmore, he demanded. When contacted, officials of the department said they had asked the veterinary college to conduct the DNA test for the meat, the results of which are expected to be submitted in another four days. Based on the report, suitable action will be taken, added the officer. Officials spread rumours: Meat traders While the Food Safety officials are yet to ascertain the identity of the seized meat, a section of meat traders have strongly opposed the officials for spreading rumours. K Naseer, a wholesale meat trader in Perambur, said, Many who paid advance for supplying goat meat for marriages are now showing hesitation to proceed with the order. The Food Safety officials should immediately reveal the details of the meat. B Anbuselvan By Express News Service CHENNAI: The five-day controversy over the alleged sale of dog's meat in Chennai ended on Thursday with Chennai Collector announcing that meat samples seized by Food safety officials at Egmore station were that of goat/sheep. Quoting the report submitted by Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, A Shanmugasundaram, Chennai Collector said in a statement that the meat sample is that of the small ruminant carcass (goat/sheep). According to a report submitted by professor and head of the Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology of Madras Veterinary College, incomplete closure of growth plates indicated the pre-pubertal age of carcass, thereby proving that carcass was that of a goat. Further, results obtained from the molecular technique of carcass by Meat Science department and gross morphological inspections by Veterinary Autonomy departments of Madras Veterinary College also confirmed that samples were the meat of sheep. On November 17, food safety officials seized 2190 kgs of unwholesome meat at Egmore station transported from Jodhpur by Bhagat Ki Kothi - Mannargudi weekly express. Since the carcass appeared to that of a dog with long tails, video of meat seizure went viral on social media. Even as the wholesale meat traders insisted that the meat were that of goat, the samples were been sent to Veterinary college for examination. As food safety officials remained tight-lipped till Wednesday, an NGO filed a petition in Madras High Court seeking a directive to the government to make public the test results of meat. The meat was in unhygienic condition and did not have the seal of a slaughterhouse where the animals were killed. Besides, the Chennai collector justified food safety official's action stating that meat was transported in unhygienic condition violating the food safety guidelines. "The meat received at Egmore was not certified by a veterinarian and also transported without adequate cold chain mandated for meat transportation. Hence food safety officials seized the meat and subsequently destroyed it," explained the collector. R Kathiravan, Designated Officer, Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration, Chennai told Express that detailed guidelines to be followed for meat transportation within the city and from other states will be issued soon. S Nazer, a wholesale meat dealer, Perambur, who regularly receives meat from Andhra Pradesh charged that officials and a section of media have no knowledge on the different species of goat in the country. "Carcass of sheep with long tails (15 to 20 cm) is being transported from Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha for several years. The government must take action against those who spread rumours that it was dog's meat," he said. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Chennai on Wednesday woke up to a pleasant weather and the conditions were typical of a monsoon day. With chill in the air, the maximum temperature has plummeted six degrees below normal. However, the much needed rainfall has, once again, eluded the city. Tuesdays well-marked low pressure over the southwest Bay of Bengal adjoining northeast Sri Lanka had moved closer to the Tamil Nadu coast, but failed to intensify into a depression as anticipated by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The radar images on Wednesday morning showed massive cloud mass parked outside Chennai and neighbourhood, raising hope of heavy downpour, but it did not move into land, dumping all the rain offshore in the sea. This years northeast monsoon has been very indifferent, especially towards northern districts of Tamil Nadu. A whopping nine districts are currently staring at over 50 per cent deficit rainfall. Except for Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tiruvarur, Ramanathapuram, and Nagapattinam, which were bombarded with cyclone Gaja, all other districts are facing deficit rainfall. As a whole, Tamil Nadu is facing a deficit of 19 per cent. An elderly passenger getting down from an MTC bus at a water logged bus stop at Poonamalai High Road on Wednesday; (R) potholes on Ennore High Road in Korrukupaet | BOBBY DERIN, P Jawahar Can there be a turnaround? The weather models such as European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) and Global Forecast System (GFS) are predicting no big rain event till December second week, which means the hope of monsoon revival is slowly fading away. Chennai with 60 per cent deficit will not be able to bridge the gap, said weather blogger Pradeep John. S Balachandran, Deputy Director General, Regional Meteorological Centre, said Chennai would receive moderate rainfall for next two days. City will be generally cloudy with moderate rainfall. Other parts of Tamil Nadu would also experience similar weather owing to well-marked low pressure area over the southwest Bay of Bengal. Under its influence, fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy showers is likely over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during the next two days. The rainfall activity will decrease from November 24, he said. The Nungambakkam weather station in Chennai recorded 27 mm rainfall on Wednesday. Several suburbs such as Tambaram, Oragadam belt, ECR, OMR, Mahabalipuram and Kalpakkam got good rainfall. Karaikal and Tarangambadi in Nagapattinam received highest rainfall of 7 cm in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Wednesday. Schools to remain closed Chennai: All schools in Chennai will remain closed on Thursday anticipating heavy rain, according to a collectorate official. University of Madras also has announced that all exams scheduled for Thursday will be held later. Winds damage National flag Chennai: The National flag fluttering atop Fort St George was partially damaged due to strong winds on Wednesday. The flag was replaced by Corps of Military Police of Army. Ambassador Daniel J. Kritenbrink takes a photo with students and lecturers at Hanoi University. During his speech, Ambassador Kritenbrink discussed US policy in the Indo-Pacific region, US policy towards Vietnam, as well as ways to build a strong US - Vietnam Partnership in an uncertain world. Today, the US - Vietnam relationship is stronger than it has ever been. Our nations share a remarkable history: after years of war and hardship, together we have forged a Comprehensive Partnership that covers every aspect of our relationship, from defense, to trade, to health, to people-to-people ties, said Ambassador Kritenbrink. He went on to say that the United States continues to believe that Asia - the Indo-Pacific - is largely going to define Americas security and prosperity for the future. Our mission statement, our fundamental goal, is for the US to be a vital partner in supporting the development of a strong, prosperous and independent Vietnam, that contributes to international security and engages in free, fair and reciprocal trade, he added. Looking back at how far Vietnam and the US have come, Ambassador Kritenbrink concluded that he is incredibly optimistic about the two countries shared future. After the US Ambassadors speech, Hanoi University students and lecturers engaged in a dynamic question-and-answer session with the US Ambassador, showing their strong interest in the US - Vietnam relationship./. By Express News Service CHENNAI: A police team raided the rooms and cells of the Puzhal Central Prison on Wednesday and seized two mobile phones.Sources said the raid was conducted at all three premises of the prison that house around 1,000 inmates. The policemen found two abandoned mobile phones on the campus and seized them. Around 100 police personnel raided the prison in search of ganja and other banned items.Both the recovered mobile phones were suspected to be thrown away by the inmates fearing the raid. The police said such surprise raids would continue to curb the unlawful possession of goods.The raids follow after a series of pictures showing some inmates of the high security cell at Puzhal prison leading a luxurious life created a controversy.Following this, television and radio facilities were taken away from the prison. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Hundreds of students at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur campus, began an agitation on Thursday evening and continued it till around midnight, alleging that a male worker on campus had sexually harassed a female student in an elevator. The college authorities claimed the worker had been sacked. The incident is said to have taken place around 3 pm in one of the blocks in the girls' hostel. The victim got into the elevator to reach the sixth floor when the worker pressed the button to the top-most floor. WATCH: Students protest at SRM University "As soon as she walked into the lift, the worker unzipped his pants and stimulated himself in front of her. He blocked her way when she tried to get off on to the next floor. He let her go, only when she kept screaming," said a student, speaking to Express. The student added that college authorities had asked them to give it in writing and collect the CCTV footage near the entrance of the elevator. (Photo | Special arrangement) (Photo | Special arrangement) Students further alleged that the management tried to prevent them from launching the agitation. The Maraimalainagar police, who reached the spot, confirmed that protest was continuing almost till midnight. However, they said no complaint had been filed till 11 pm on Thursday. S Mythili, Director of Student Affairs, speaking to Express, said the management terminated the worker against whom the allegations had been made. "We have sent him out, but we can't take further action until there's more clarity over the issue," she said. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: I will fight for this country till my last breath, no matter who attacks me, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a defiant note on Wednesday, after he narrowly escaped an attack by an intruder inside the Delhi Secretariat. In the last two years, four attacks have happened on me. We have become an eye sore for them (opponents). They are trying to kill me. People are asking questions from these parties, about the work done by our government schools, hospitals, water and electricityThat why cant they do the same, the Delhi CM claimed. Kejriwals Aam Aadmi Party claimed that top leadership of the BJP knew about the pre-planned attack. Tuesdays incident, which raised questions about the safety of the chief minister, refused to die down as senior AAP leaders squarely blamed their BJP rivals for the attack and held a protest at the saffron partys headquarters. Scores of AAP volunteers and workers protested outside the BJP headquarters at Deendayal Updhyay Marg, where a heavy police presence stopped them a few meters away from the gate of the saffron partys office. The AAP workers raised slogans against the BJP and the Delhi Police. The BJP is losing all seven seats in Delhi. Therefore, they (BJP leaders) are resorting to this politics of intimidation. But, let me tell them that it is not going to work, as we are not scared, asserted AAP leader Dilip Pandey. I have requested the Delhi Police to show some selfrespect and stop acting like a Gunda wing of the BJP. In the past cases, when the chief minister came under attack, no charge sheet was filed. To the BJP, we make it clear that our party is not a gunda gang, said Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and number two in party, Manish Sisodia. The party also alleged Anil Kumar Sharma, who attacked the CM is a neighbour of former BJP MLA Karan Singh Tanwar, who was nominated by the BJP for the vice-chairman post of the New Delhi Municipal Council. On Tuesday, the attacker is reported to have pretended as falling at Kejriwals feet, before taking everyone by surprise when he lunged to smear chilli powder on the face of the AAP chief. Later, the ruling partys leaders claimed that the Delhi chief minister had a narrow escape as he was wearing glasses at the time of the attack. Attacker sent to 14-day judicial custody Meanwhile, a court sent Anil Kumar Sharma Sharma to 14-day judicial custody. The Naraina resident on Tuesday had targeted Kejriwal when the latter stepped out of his chamber inside the Delhi Secretariat. By PTI NEW DELHI The Delhi High Court Thursday sought responses from the city government, the police and then Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash on a plea by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia challenging a trial court order in the CS assault case. The two AAP leaders have challenged the trial court order that prosecution in the case be conducted by an officer of the Delhi Police not below the rank of Additional CP. The hearing also witnessed a verbal spat between the lawyers appearing for the AAP government and the Delhi Police over representing the police force in the matter. While AAP-appointed Delhi government standing counsel Rahul Mehra said only he has the right to appear for police in the case before the high court, Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi and Central government standing counsel Anil Soni contended that they have been authorised by the Deputy Secretary (Home) of Delhi government to represent the state in the matter. Mehra strongly objected to Lekhi's appearance in the matter, saying he has been duly appointed through a notification to represent the Delhi Police and no one, including even the Attorney General of India, can appear in a matter when the standing counsel is present there. Asking Mehra and Lekhi to bring down their pitch, Justice Najmi Waziri said the ASG will have to make out a case for himself to argue the matter and listed it for January 17. Kejriwal and Sisodia, who have been summoned as accused in the assault case, have also challenged the order permitting two other advocates to conduct the prosecution on behalf of the officer of the Delhi Police, instead of a regular public prosecutor attached to the court concerned. The trial court had on October 22 allowed the plea of Prakash seeking direction to conduct the prosecution through the counsel nominated by the Delhi Police and not through lawyers empanelled by the AAP government. Senior advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Kejriwal, said a special public prosecutor (SPP) can be appointed under Section 302 of CrPC but there has to be special circumstances for it and there was nothing special here. He said 10 other cases were pending against the chief minister before the same trial court judge and they were being tried by the regular cadre public prosecutor in which the complainant was either state or government officials. "There was no allegation of suspected bias in any of the cases. There was nothing special in this case," the senior counsel argued. When Lekhi sought to make a submission regarding the petition, Mehra objected and said he will not allow him to say anything and he has in his favour the order of the Delhi High Court according to which the LG has to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers while exercising the power to appoint a SPP for any case. This portion of the high court verdict was challenged by the Centre before the Supreme Court which has reserved its judgement on it. "Is aid and advice of council of ministers taken? It's a direct contempt of the orders of the Supreme Court and the high court," Mehra contended, adding that he would file a contempt case against the police officials who were briefing the ASG in the matter. The criminal case relates to an alleged assault on Prakash during a meeting at Kejriwal's official residence on February 19. Prakash was recently transferred and will now be the Additional Secretary in the Department of Telecom. The plea in the high court has sought setting aside of the order of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) and also requested that the prosecution in the case be conducted by the public prosecutor before the trial court. "The impugned order is otherwise based on conjunctures and surmises and is liable to be set aside," the petition claimed. The plea has arrayed as parties the Delhi government through standing counsel (the Delhi Police) and Anshu Prakash. In its October 22 order, the trial court had also asked the investigating agency to supply the copies of charge sheet and documents to the officer appointed so that he could conduct the prosecution. "Further, Siddharth Aggarwal and V Madhukar, advocates, are permitted to conduct the prosecution on behalf of the officer of Delhi Police so appointed in this regard," it had said. The ACMM had said let the Delhi Police Commissioner assign the prosecution of this case to some officer not below the rank of Additional Commissioner of Police. Prakash had told the trial court that the Delhi Police had nominated three well-reputed and experienced counsel for appointment as Special Public Prosecutors and their consents had also been obtained. Despite a recommendation by the officers of the Home Department, the request of the Delhi Police was rejected by the Delhi Home Minister on grounds that the case did not disclose any special features, he had said. The plea was opposed by the Delhi Police in the trial court claiming that the complainant (Prakash) has not shown any "actual bias" but only an unfounded apprehension of bias and the other cases of similar accused persons have been conducted regular prosecutors and no bias has been reported. On October 25, Kejriwal, Sisodia and nine other AAP MLAs were granted bail by the trial court in the assault case. The other two MLAs, Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, who are also accused were earlier arrested in the case and granted bail by the high court. The alleged assault had triggered a bitter tussle between the Delhi government and its bureaucrats. By PTI MUMBAI: Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Thursday with Opposition insisting that the government table the State Backward Class Commission's report on Maratha quota and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' (TISS) report on Dhangar reservation. The house had to be adjourned thrice; first till the end of Question Hour and then twice for ten minutes before it was adjourned for the day. The Speaker rushed through the day's business and passed a bill providing for life imprisonment for food adulteration and the Maharashtra Acupuncture Treatment Procedure bill. Throughout the proceedings, Opposition MLAs demanded tabling of the two reports and continuation of the Muslim reservation, granted earlier by the Congress-NCP regime. NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal asked the government to take steps to increase the ceiling on reservations to above 50 per cent. He said when Gowari and Koshti-Halba were given two per cent quota, the court struck it down as it breached the 50 per cent ceiling, and then the two communities were included in OBC category. Thus, the quota for others among OBCs came down from 19 per cent to 17 per cent, he pointed out. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Marathas will be provided reservations over and above the existing 52 per cent quota. Even the State Backward Class Commission (SBCC) has noted that including Marathas in the existing quota will have a catastrophic effect, he said. The chief minister pointed out that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have raised the quota beyond 50 per cent, and their petitions justifying it by citing extraordinary circumstances is before the constitution bench of the Supreme Court. The 50 per cent cap has been imposed by the apex court and not the Constitution, he said. An SC judgement says that in case of an extraordinary situation, the quota limit can be extended provided the SBCC makes such a recommendation, Fadnavis said. On media reports that the government told the Bombay High Court that it had accepted SBCC's recommendations and not the report, Fadnavis said as per the law, the government has to take a decision as per the recommendations. "The court accepted the stand and modified its order," he said. The chief minister also said the government is committed to provide reservations to the Dhangars. "I stand by our earlier promise of providing reservations to Dhangars. After taking over thereins of the state, I found the previous government had rejected Dhangars' quota demand. We set up a committee by TataInstitute of Social Sciences. Its report was received and cabinet sub-committee is scrutinising its recommendations." "The recommendations will be placed before the cabinet and then forwardedto the Centre," the chief minister said. "The process will be completed in a time-bound manner. Dhangars get 3.5 per cent reservations under VJNT category. But they want quota as a scheduled tribe," he said. As Speaker Haribhau Bagde called for Question Hour, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil demanded that other business should be set aside and the House should discuss Maratha,Dhangar and Muslim reservations issue and the long march to Mumbai undertaken by tribal farmers Thursday. He also demanded an aid of Rs 50,000 per hectare for farmers who grew Kharif crops and Rs 1 lakh per hectare for horticulture farmers in drought-affected areas of the state. Tribal farmers are demanding implementation of Forest Rights Act and Swaminathan Committee's report, and the government has not fulfilled the assurances given in March this year when they undertook a similar Long March from Nashik to Mumbai, he said. He also demanded that the Maratha quota report by SBCC and TISS' report on Dhangar quota be tabled. The demand was supported by NCP leader Ajit Pawar who said Opposition won't allow the House to function otherwise. Ashish Shelar of BJP accused Pawar of doing a U-turn, saying Pawar had earlier this week said there was no need to table the report without checking if it can be challenged in the court. AtulBhatkalkar, another BJP MLA, said Opposition was disrupting Question Hour when the first question that was to be discussed was about farmer suicides. Vikhe Patil said rather than holding a debate, the government should announce compensation for farmers in drought-affected areas. Fadnavissaid he had called representatives of the Adivasi Long March for talks. "It is wrong to say nothing has been done in the last six months. In one district, forest rights claims of 32,000 villages have been settled," he said. Ajit Pawar said there is unrest among Marathas over the delay in granting quota. There is unrest among the OBCs as well as they feel Maratha quota would eat into their reservation, he said. Differing stands by senior ministers on the issue are not helping, he said. By Express News Service BHOPAL: Are the Naxals planning major misadventure in Balaghat district of assembly poll-bound Madhya Pradesh? Affirmative could be the reply if the latest detection of two claymore mines is anything to go by. The two claymore mines were detected two days back by the Black Hawk Force of the state police engaged in anti-Naxal operations in the jungles of Balaghat district. The two mines were detected by the special force during the road opening and search operations in the jungles in Malajkhand police station area a few kilometres away from the Chhattisgarh border. According to the Balaghat district police superintendent Jayadevan A, the two claymore mine connected to white wire were wrapped in a transparent plastic and stashed in a dump in the dense forests. This the second time in eight months that claymore mines have been detected in Balaghat district, which shares its borders with both Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Earlier, two claymore mines were detected by security personnel in the same district in March this year. However, the timely detection of these mines two days back is being seen as an important development as it happened just a week before the assembly polls in the state. Importantly, heightened Naxal activity in form of ambushes and IED triggered landmine blasts, which claimed the lives of many security personnel, was reported over the last few weeks in neighbouring Chhattisgarh where assembly polls were held in two phases earlier this month. Meanwhile, two political developments were reported from Balaghat district on Wednesday. While Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Anubha Munjare was arrested by police in a 2013 case of poll code violation in Lalbarra area, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan managed to pacify rebel BJP candidate Gaurav Pardhi into backing party's official candidate from Waraseoni seat and sitting MLA Dr Yogendra Nirmal. Munjare who had lost from Balaghat seat to sitting MLA and state's agriculture minister Gourishankar Bisen by just over 2500 votes in 2013 was arrested just a few hours before SP national president and ex-UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav addressed a public rally in support in party candidates, including Anubha's husband Kankar Munjare (Paraswada seat) on Wednesday. "Arresting my party candidate just a week before the polls in a five-year-old case amply shows that the BJP government in MP is nervous and sensing a sure defeat in Balaghat and adjoining seats," Yadav said while addressing the public rally. Police sources in Balaghat, however, denied any political motive behind the arrest, saying that a local court had issued an arrest warrant against the SP candidate recently in the 2013 case. Meanwhile, in the adjoining Waraseoni constituency (also forming part of Balaghat district), a significant political development happened on Wednesday, as the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan suddenly arrived at the office of rebel BJP candidate Gaurav Pardhi, who later accompanied the CM to the party's rally. At the rally, the rebel BJP candidate announced to back party's official candidate and sitting MLA Dr Yogendra Nirmal. As a reciprocal gesture, the CM announced that Gaurav was like his younger brother, who will always be important for him. Gaurav's supporters, however, said that CM pressurized him to make the announcement and added that Gaurav will not back the BJP candidate in the November 28 poll. The Waraseoni seat was set to see a four-cornered contest between Congress candidate Sanjay Singh Masani (CM's brother-in-law), sitting BJP MLA Dr Yogendra Nirmal and BJP rebel Gaurav Pardi and Congress rebel, the three-time former Congress MLA Pradeep alias Gudda Jaiswal. By PTI AIZAWL: Mizo National Front (MNF) candidate Lalrinliana Sailo, who switched over from the Congress a month ago, has declared that his total assets ballooned by a whopping 797 per cent in the past five years, according to a report by two civil society organisations on Thursday. Analysing the assets of contesting candidates for the November 28 Mizoram Assembly election, the Mizoram Election Watch (MEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have found that Sailo has declared total assets of Rs 3,22,85,100 in his affidavit for the forthcoming elections. He had total assets of Rs 36,01,219 as per the affidavit filed by him during the 2013 Assembly polls. While the MNF leader has declared his source of income as "politician", that of his spouse is mentioned as "monthly salary from Government of Mizoram", the report said. Sailo, a former health minister, resigned from the state Assembly on October 3 this year and also stepped down as the member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), General Secretary of the Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee and quit the primary membership of the ruling party on the same day. He later joined the MNF and is contesting the Assembly poll from Chalfilh constituency. For the 40-member Mizoram Assembly, 32 candidates from 2013 elections are re-contesting in 2018 and during this period, their assets have seen an average rise of 11.56 per cent at Rs 3,57,61,158.90 as against Rs 3,20,55,193.51 five years ago. Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla's total assets have increased by 33.29 per cent to Rs 12,20,19,747 in 2018 from Rs 9,15,45,980 in 2013, the report said. Thanhawla said that his source of income is "salary and rental income", his wife's earnings are attributed to "licence from quarry at Sakawrtuichhun", it said. The report found that another Congress leader R Vanlalvena's assets jumped by 133.30 per cent to Rs 67,73,320 from Rs 29,03,257 during the comparable five-year period. As per the analysis, MNF candidate K Beichhua's income soared by 128.55 per cent to Rs 3,13,77,608 compared to Rs 1,37,29,000 five years ago. Congress candidate Lal Thanzara's assets, too, rose by 103.79 per cent to Rs 2,39,93,835 in 2018 from Rs 1,17,73,796 in 2013, the report said. The assets of four candidates, however, saw a decline in their total values between 2013 and 2018. Ruling Congress candidates Ngurdingliana and Zodintluanga Ralte's assets value dipped by 66.17 per cent and 7.72 per cent, respectively, in the last five years. Former Speaker Hiphei, who left the Congress and joined the BJP earlier this month, saw his assets falling by 52.32 per cent in the same period. The value of MNF's K Sangthuama's total assets have declined by 51.96 per cent, the report highlighted. The Congress has been in power in Mizoram since 2008 and is eyeing a third consecutive term. In the 2013 Assembly elections, the Congress won 34 seats, while the MNF had five and Mizoram People's Conference bagged one. The Congress and the MNF are contesting in all the 40 constituencies this time, while the BJP is fighting in 39 seats with an aim to open its account for the first time in Mizoram. VV Balakrishna By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Politics in the Telangana region has never seen a dull moment, enjoying a thriving dynamic existence stretching back to many many years before the creation of the State. Though several major changes have been witnessed since 1952 in terms of the representation of various castes and religions in the Assembly, privileged castes have forever ruled the roost in Telangana -- the once-dominant Brahmins fell from grace only to be replaced by the economically and socially powerful Reddys and Kammas. None of the politically dominant castes have, however, been numerically strong -- BCs, SCs, STs and minority communities combined make up for 90 per cent of Telanganas population. ALSO READ: Telangana elections: Sentimental KTR wants to repeat his GHMC success First among equals Though the number of persons from backward classes (BCs) was conspicuously low in the 50s, it has increased over the years owing to several factors including improved social awareness among the group. Nonetheless, only five of the 100-odd BC castes in the State have been able to make a significant mark in politics. The number of Muslim MLAs has hovered between eight and nine in Telangana and the number of Velama leaders in the Assembly too is usually between eight and twelve. Reddy is a political caste in Telangana. Reddys are economically and socially strong, which is why all political parties here give a major chunk of their seats to Reddys, political commentator and senior journalist Kommineni Srinivasa Rao told Express. The TRS too is populated mostly by wealthy Reddys. Though they have the numbers, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for backward classes to enjoy such clout as they are segregated. Bringing all 119 subcastes of the category under one roof will be an onerous task, he pointed out. The analyst, who has been researching Telanganas social equations for the past several years, opined that K Chandrasekhar Rao became Chief Minister not by virtue of his caste. He helms the State because of his ability to lead. He is a leader beyond caste, Srinivasa Rao said. It is relevant to note that though Velama leaders Rao and T Harish Rao have recorded victory after victory from Siddipet Assembly segment since the mid-80s, the total population of the caste in the area is very less. While the Velamas and Reddys hold fort in Telangana, the Kammas, Kapus and Reddys dominate politics in Andhra Pradesh. However, theres no rivalry between politically strong castes in Telangana as in its neighbour. How the mighty fall Immediately after Independence, Brahmins dominated the political landscape in the region 26 of the varna were elected MLAs in 1952. Many of the caste had participated in the freedom struggle and wielded control over the State, but their influence began declining in 1957. In 1957, the number of Brahmin MLAs in the Assembly slumped to 18; in 1962, their strength shrunk further to 12; in 1972, it was nine. From then on, their numbers in the Assembly has hardly exceeded three. GS Melkoti Vaidya Kasinatha Rao, Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, MS Rajalingam won on Congress ticket and Pendyala Raghava Rao, KL Narasimha Rao and other Brahmins won on PDF tickets. Burgula Ramakrishna Rao became the first Chief Minister of erstwhile Hyderabad in 1952. The Assembly formed in 2014 had just two Brahmins NVVS Prabhakar and Satish Kumar. Figures same, parties change The number of Muslim MLAs has since 1952 consistently been around 8. Before the AIMIM was founded, persons from the community were elected mostly from the Congress. Masuma Begum, who won from Shalibanda Assembly segment in 1952, became the first Minister from the minority community during Damodaram Sanjeevaiahs reign. The creation of the AIMIM didnt lead to any quantum jump in the communitys numbers in the Assembly. Amit bandre The Reddy wave Reddys are now identified as a strong political caste, but their position wasnt always the same. In 1952, leaders of the caste were 24 in number in the Assembly, including nine from Congress and ten from PDF. Prominent among them were Survaram Pratap Reddy, Marri Chenna Reddy and Paga Pullareddy. Over the years, the number of Reddys in the Assembly picked up there were 31 MLAs of the caste in 1957; 39, 1962; 36, 1967; 34 1983; 35, 1985; 40, 1989; 35, 1994; 31, 1999; 44, 2004; 40, 2009; and 42 in 2014. The caste enjoyed a significant presence in the party until its leadership was taken over by N Chandrababu Naidu. After Naidu became powerful in TDP, caste equations changed. The Reddys began working against the TDP and the Kammas against the Congress, Srinivasa Rao explained. Small in numbers, yet strong The Kamma population in Telangana is negligible, but their presence is not. The caste wins a few seats every election in 2014, 5 of Telanganas MLAs were Kammas and one Tummala Nageswara Rao was made minister. Disproportionate presence The representation of Backward Classes (BCs) in the Assembly has increased over a period of time, but it is not in accordance with their population. In 1952, the number of Backward Classes MLAs was just four or five. There was no major change in Backward Classes representation even in 1962. In 1972, the number of BC MLAs rose to 20 after then Congress supremo Indira Gandhi began focusing on social justice, pointed out Srinivasa Rao. The number of BC MLAs rose to 24 in 2009, but most were from socially strong subcastes ten from Munnuru Kapu, five from Gowda, three each from Mudiraj and Padmashali and one from Rajaka. Reserved seats Persons belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been getting due representation in the Assembly as per their population in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, but interestingly, though people from the communities used to win general seats earlier, the introduction of reserved seats has made it next to impossible for them to win general seats By PTI MUMBAI: 'Narcos' is not the first show to explore the world of drugs and it certainly won't be the last but Michael Pena, one of the stars of its new season, believes the show stands apart with the way it presents the story. Pena, who joined the fourth season of the Netflix show, titled 'Narcos: Mexico', as DEA agent Kiki Camarena, did not become a binge watcher until he was approached for the role. ALSO READ | Unfortunately, drug business unites us all: 'Narcos' producer Eric Newman The new show revolves around the rise and eventual fall of Guadalajara Cartel in Mexico while the first three seasons focused on Colombian drug players such as Medellin and Cali Cartels. "I was excited when Eric (Newman, showrunner) approached me but I had not watched any of it and did not know much about it. After meeting him, I thought 'this sounded really cool' so I watched two episodes and I was blown away. "They did a really good job with the show. I binge watched the two seasons and the third one before going to Mexico for the shooting. I like the way they tell the story. There are other shows about Narcos but the way they put it together, it goes by very fast," he told PTI in an interview. The 'Ant-Man' star, one of the most prominent Latin American actors in Hollywood, had a better understanding about what motivated Kiki to put his life in danger after he spoke to the slain agent's wife, Mika. He realised that Kiki was someone who could not stand injustice and had a strong sense of right and wrong. ALSO READ | It's a 'Sacred Games' and 'Narcos' crossover! Kiki, who was tortured and killed on the orders of drug lord Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, is considered a hero in America as someone who sacrificed his life for a drug-free world. "What happened with Kiki was that there was a lot of injustice that was happening around him. It is like somebody is getting run over and you are like 'Dude, what is happening here' and people say, 'Ah, don't worry about it. Don't pay attention to it'. Why not pay attention? "Finally, he says enough is enough. I am going to do something and make a difference. It can make anybody mad when you are not believed and you see people getting killed and bodies piling up," he said. On his part, Pena does not believe in judging a character because "there is a reason for everything". "This guy (Gallardo) grew up in a very poor area and you stay poor despite the best you can do. So some of them choose different paths like drugs. They do horrible stuff to make money." The fast-paced story, the often gory murder sequences and the unusual narrative has earned the show a dedicated audience, who do not mind that the series has more Spanish than English. The show is often presented as a template to its Hollywood counterparts for more inclusivity, diversity and authenticity at a time when there is a lot of debate around the issue of whitewashing but Pena has a slightly different outlook. "I understand that it needs to be specific. If I am playing an important Latin guy like (Hugo) Chavez, it should be a Latin actor. But if it is something that does not have anything to say and the character just happens to be a Latin guy, like a fireman and there is no real weight or context to it, choose the best guy, I think. "If it is great story, it does not matter whether the character is white, African-American or Latino. Who cares? Unless it is specific, it is fair play," he said. By PTI NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday claimed that demonetisation had "destroyed" the lives of farmers and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making "fun" of their plight during his poll campaigns. Taking to Twitter, he cited a media report that claimed the agriculture ministry has admitted that demonetisation has hit the farmers hard. "Note ban has destroyed the lives of farmers. Now they do not even have enough money to buy seeds and fertilizer," Gandhi tweeted in Hindi. "But, Modi ji is making fun of our farmers' plight. Now his Agriculture Ministry has also said that farmers were badly affected due to demonetisation decision," he said on Twitter referring to Modi's campaigns in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. While polling in Chhattisgarh was completed in two phases on November 12 and 20, elections in Madhya Pradesh will be held on November 28. On Saturday, the Congress chief tagged on Twitter a video of the prime minister's speech during the poll campaign in Chhattisgarh, where he alleged that people were hiding their black money under beds and in wheat stocks in their homes before the note ban. Gandhi had asked if absconders like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, who have allegedly committed bank frauds, have ever sown wheat. "Have you seen Mallya, Mehul bhai and Nirav Modi sow wheat. Modiji, don't insult the farmers. You first indulged in a scam by collecting farmers money by noteban and handed it over to your suit-boot friends. Now you are saying that farmers' money was black money. India will not tolerate this insult of farmers," Gandhi had tweeted in Hindi on Saturday. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has defended demonetisation, saying it was a "highly ethical" move and not merely a political one. Jaitley also said hard data showed an increase in tax base, greater formalisation of the economy and India retaining the fastest growing economy tag for the fifth year in a row. On November 8, 2016, the government had scrapped old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. It later issued the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 banknotes. The Congress is seeking to woo the farmers in Madhya Pradesh, which goes to polls on November 28, and has announced a farm loan waiver for them in the state, if it comes to power. Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang and General Director of Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI) Pascale Delcomminette at the signing ceremony. (Photo: VNA) Under the projects, the two sides will give priority to social cooperation, especially in human life, culture, applied research and industrial development. Accordingly, they will promote cooperation in agriculture, transport, the environment, the 4th Industrial Revolution, healthcare, education, tourism, culture and Francophone issues. Among the 25 projects are 13 new ones, including a project on enhancing professional and French language skills for journalists of the Vietnam News Agency, signed for the first time. Vietnam News Agency reported that the 10th meeting of the Vietnam - Wallonie-Bruxelles Joint Committee took place on November 20th-21st under the chair of Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang and General Director of Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI) Pascale Delcomminette. At the meeting, Pascale Delcomminette highlighted the close cooperation between Vietnam and Wallonie-Bruxelles over the past 25 years, with many useful projects. She stressed that Wallonie-Bruxelles has been determined to work closely with the Wallonie Export-Investment Agency (AWEX) in Vietnam and relevant agencies to seek cooperation opportunities, and to serve the implementation of joint projects. Praising the support of the international community, including the Belgian Government and people in general, and the Wallonie-Bruzelles region in particular, for Vietnams development, Deputy Minister Thang said that the support will continue to play an important role in helping Vietnam overcome challenges; and maintain achievements sustainably. According to Mr. Thang, the cooperation projects between Vietnam and the Wallonie-Bruxelles regional to be carried out will contribute to realizing commitments made by Governments of the two countries in the spirit of the Vietnam-Belgium joint statement issued during the official visit to Belgium by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last October. During the two-day meeting, the two sides reviewed the cooperation between Vietnam and Wallonie-Bruxelles in the 2016-2018 period, and discussed the building of action plans and cooperation programs for 2019-2021. Looking back on 2016-2018, the two sides said that the results were satisfactory, that a majority of projects brought about benefits to both sides, and agreed to pay more attention to applied research towards a cooperation program on industrial and economic development, especially when the Vietnamese Government is striving to turn the country into a startup nation./. By PTI PATNA: A Twitter war erupted Wednesday between RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav, serving sentences in fodder scam cases and lodged in a Ranchi hospital, and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. The spat was triggered by a post on Yadav's official Twitter handle, which is handled by his trusted aides, wherein the RJD supremo had shared an article that appeared in a Hindi news portal with the title "Why is the BJP so scared of Lalu". The article was shared with the remark: "Because I am not scared of the smear campaign, enticements, vindictiveness, harassments and blackmails (of the BJP). Because I am the most vocal opponent of their venomous politics based on whipping up hatred along the lines of religion and caste, which cares neither for the Constitution nor for humanity. Because I cannot compromise on principles, even if I am hanged." Irked over the remarks, Modi came out with the riposte: "For 30 years, Lalu has been involved in a false propaganda against BJP and Sangh Parivar. He has been using this strategy to get the votes of the minorities. So full of greed he is that his name figures in scam after scam, from fodder to hotel." "Which principles does he talk about. Hundreds lost their lives in retributive violence that marked his rule and Bihar was witness to kidnapping for ransom becoming an industry. He did not feel like hanging himself before reneging on the principles of JP and Lohia and making compromises for the sake of his own vested interests," the deputy CM added. Interestingly, Modi and Yadav had together taken part in the "JP Movement" of the 70s when the deputy CM was the general secretary of Patna University Students Union and Yadav was its president. However, in mainstream politics, both have remained staunchly opposed to each other. Meanwhile, RJD spokesman and MLA Bhai Virendra accused the Nitish Kumar government of capitulating before the BJPs communal agenda by allowing RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to tour the state. However, JD(U) spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar hit back quoting from a reported statement by Yadav in 1989, when the Janata Dal was sharing power with the BJP, alleging that the RSS was being wrongly blamed for the Bhagalpur communal riots. By PTI MUMBAI: Thousands of farmers demanding compensation for drought and transfer of forest rights to tribals Thursday reached Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, eight months after a similar protest was held at the venue. The farmers and tribals who began the two-day march from Thane to Mumbai on Wednesday had halted for the night at the Somaiyya Ground in Mumbai's Sion area, from where they began marching to Azad Maidan Thursday morning. Farmers march heading towards Azad maidan from Lalbaug area, demanding better compensation (Photo |EPS/Bhushan Koyande) The morcha traversed through Dadar and the JJ flyover before reaching the Maidan, adjacent to the Mumbai municipal corporation headquarters. Magsaysay award winner Dr Rajendra Singh, also known as Waterman of India, was among the marchers. He blamed the government for drought, which he termed as "man-made". Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has invited the morcha leaders for talks Thursday afternoon at the Vidhan Bhawan, where the winter session of the state legislature in underway, a leader of the march said. The participants are mostly from Thane, Bhusawal and Marathwada regions, he said. The farmers are demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, which suggested that farmers must have assured access and control over resources such as land and water. They are also demanding an increase in the minimum support price and a judicial system to ensure its implementation. The farmers, struggling to cope with the agrarian crisis, are demanding proper implementation of the loan waiver package announced by the BJP-led government in the state last year, land rights for farmers and compensation for farm labourers. "We have been consistently asking the state government to fulfil our long-standing demands, but the response has been lukewarm. We are forced to launch this agitation," said Pratibha Shinde, general secretary of Lok Sangharsh Morcha, which is organising the protest. In March, thousands of farmers, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, took out a 180-km long march from Nashik to Mumbai in March to press for their demands. That protest saw a sea of red, formed by farmers in red caps, converge in Mumbai from across Maharashtra. By ANI MUMBAI: Thousands of farmers under the aegis of Lok Sangharsh Morcha on Thursday marched towards Azad Maidan here to press for their demands, which include farm loan waiver and land ownership. Farmers from across Maharashtra, beginning their march on Tuesday, reached Byculla Bridge in the city on Thursday morning. They are also scheduled to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis later in the evening. They are also likely to take up the issue of the implementation of Forests Rights Act with the Chief Minister. READ: Debt-ridden Maharashtra farmer kills self by lighting his own pyre Speaking to ANI, general secretary of the Lok Sangharsh Morcha Pratibha Shinde said, "We will definitely meet the Chief Minister and put forward our demands. Only after the meeting, we will be able to decide whether the government and we are on the same page or not. In the last six months, the government has not even done even two per cent of the works they promised to us." Maharashtra farmers marching in Mumbai for loan waiver and other demands on 22 November 2018. (Photo | Bhusan/ EPS) On Wednesday evening, Maharashtra's Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan met the protesters and asked them to hold a meeting with Chief Minister Fadnavis to which the farmers agreed. Last night, farmers had stayed at Shivaji Maidan in Chunabhatti. ALSO READ: Modi making 'fun' of demonetisation-hit farmers, alleges Rahul Gandhi Maharashtra: Lok Sangharsh Morcha that comprises of tribals and farmers across the state reaches Dadar. The Morcha that has begun from Kalyan yesterday is marching towards Azad Maidan in Mumbai. The farmers are demanding loan waiver and drought compensation among others. pic.twitter.com/K6c3RHp4jb ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 This is the third mass protest of farmers in Maharashtra within a year. Earlier in March this year, around 25,000 farmers under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha carried out a protest march, demanding a complete farm loan waiver. In July, dairy farmers too protested, seeking a hike in milk prices. Richa Sharma By Express News Service NEW DELHI: India's fight against plastic pollution is set to get a tad tougher thanks to possible changes in the rules governing plastic waste disposal. A committee constituted by the Union Environment Ministry in 2017 has recommended that the onus of collecting and disposal of plastic waste should lie solely on municipal bodies, whose track record on this front is abysmal. The committee has suggested changes in the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. Under these rules, plastic manufacturers and the packaging industry were to take the help of NGOs to collect, recycle and dispose of plastic waste. These stringent rules were seen by green activists as a possible solution to the increasing environmental degradation caused by plastics in the country, especially in urban areas. Plastic waste collection and disposal pose a huge challenge globally. The US, which has the highest consumption of plastics at 109 kg per capita, has an efficient waste collection system which ensures that there is a little environmental impact. Nearly 10 per cent of the waste is recycled, another 15 per cent is burned in waste-to-energy facilities and the remaining goes to landfills. Europe and China recycle 39.1 per cent and 22 per cent of their waste. In contrast, Indias plastic consumption is only 11 kg per capita and it recycles 60 per cent of the waste but collection and disposal are a major issue. The change in rules has been recommended following several representations by the Rs 1,10,000 crore plastic industry over the waste collection. READ | Is Tamil Nadu ready to be plastic-free? Handing over this responsibility to the producers would be very impractical and inefficient. We would have a situation wherein there would be multiple channels for waste collection leading to large inefficiencies, the committee said in its report. The nine-member committee with members from the central government and municipal bodies has now said the responsibility of waste collection and segregation rests solely with the urban local bodies. The panel has instead recommended levying a suitable fee depending on the quantum of plastic production.This fee will get collected into a fund which would be used only for the purpose of plastic waste handling, collection, segregation, treatment and processing, the report said. By PTI NEW DELHI: India Thursday urged the Pakistan government to build a corridor to Katarpur Sahib to facilitate easy movement of Indian pilgrims to the shrine -- the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India has approached Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community and build the corridor, in keeping with the resolution adopted by the Cabinet Thursday to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year. Kartarpur Sahib is situated in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province and there have been demands to build a corridor linking it with Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. "India will build and develop a corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river in Pakistan, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Thursday. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to commemorate 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji. New Delhi will also request Islamabad to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory as well. The Kartarpur corridor will provide smooth & easy passage to pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib throughout the year. Government of Pakistan will be urged to reciprocate and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory: Rajnath Singh ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 "In a landmark decision, the Cabinet approves building and development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to International Border. Kartarpur corridor project with all modern amenities and facilities to be implemented with Central Government funding," he said in a series of tweets. By PTI SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik should have given a chance to the PDP-led alliance to prove its majority on the floor of the House as per constitutional mandate before dissolving the state assembly, legal experts said on Thursday. "The constitutional mandate and the Supreme Court guidelines were not followed while dissolving the assembly in the face of two persons staking claim for government formation," former advocate general of Jammu and Kashmir Mohammad Ishaq Qadri told PTI. Qadri said the Governor should have satisfied himself by seeking additional documentation in support of the claims made in letter for government formation. "Both PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and (People's Conference chairman) Sajad Gani Lone had sent letters. The Governor should have satisfied himself by seeking more documentary evidence in support of the respective claims and then given them a chance to prove their majority on the floor of the House," he added. Qadri said the assembly was kept in suspended animation for over five months with the aim of providing a chance for fresh government formation in the state. "There was a fractured mandate in the 2014 assembly election and only an alliance of two or more parties could have formed the government as was done in 2015. Just because political parties with divergent ideologies coming together cannot be a reason for not allowing them to prove their majority," he said. ALSO READ | Ram Madhav takes back his 'instruction from Pakistan' comment after Omar Abdullah's dare Qadri expressed surprise that the decision to dissolve the assembly was taken within 35 minutes of Mehbooba staking claim for government formation. "What material did the Governor get about horse-trading and use of money in government formation within 35 minutes that he decided to dissolve the assembly?" he asked. Another former advocate general, Altaf Hussain Naik, echoed Qadri's views. "Normally, he should have given a chance to the person staking claim for government formation to prove the majority in the House. The constitutional process should have been followed," Naik said. He said the Governor should have at least sought a list of MLAs from the rival alliances who supported their respective claims for government formation. Leading lawyer Zaffar Shah, though, offered a different opinion. ALSO READ | PDP hasn't decided yet whether to challenge decision to dissolve assembly in court: Party leader He said the decision of dissolution of the assembly was up to the Governor's satisfaction. "There is no question of the Governor being bound to or not bound to give an opportunity for floor test to prove majority. If he is satisfied about use of money and horse-trading, based on material before him, he can dissolve the assembly," he said. Shah said the decision of dissolving the assembly was, however, open to judicial review. "The court can be approached for a review of the material on the basis of which the decision to dissolve the assembly was made." In a surprise move, Governor Malik Wednesday night dissolved the state assembly, ending two days of hectic efforts by the PDP, Congress and the National Conference to put up an alliance for fresh government formation in the state. ALSO READ | We backed PDP to save Jammu and Kashmir from current mess: NC leader Omar Abdullah Lone, whose party has two members in the assembly, had also staked claim for government formation by claiming support of 45 MLAs, including 25 of the BJP and 18 other MLAs whose names he did not provide. By Online Desk One of the 30 passengers who suffered ear and nasal bleeding in a Jet Airways flight has been diagnosed with a permanent hearing loss. Mukesh Sharma, a PhD researcher from University of Aveiro, Portugal, took the Mumbai-Jaipur Jet Airways flight on September 20. The Boeing 9W 697 which carried 166 passengers on board and out of which, 30 suffered nasal, ear bleeding as the cabin crew forgot to maintain the cabin pressure. On November 12, Sharma underwent an audiometry test which revealed that he is suffering from moderately severe mixed hearing loss. It means there's damage in both outer or middle ear and the inner ear. The test's report is similar to that of the test done on the day of the incident. According to the Mumbai Mirror's report, Sharma can now only hear half of what he could earlier. The incident had already caused much damage to him as he had to quit his job as a professor, post the trauma. Speaking to Hindustan Times, Sharma said, "There were a number of soft sounds I wasnt able to detect and unless a person is standing face-to-face with me and speaking, I am not able to listen to the words. While speaking on phone, I use my left ear as the right one is most affected. He claimed that he will require Rs 5-6 lakh to undergo a surgery to repair the damage. The 31-year-old has decided to approach Jaipur's consumer court in the upcoming week to seek compensation from the airline. He has already spent over Rs 15,000 for his medical treatment and travel expenses. Jet Airways is yet to respond to his claims. At least 30 passengers of the Mumbai-Jaipur Jet Airways flight suffered nasal, ear bleeding and headache on September 20 due to the negligence of the cabin crew who forgot to maintain the cabin pressure. The injured passengers are yet to receive the compensation as the probe is still underway. By PTI NEW DELHI: Any suggestion that India cleared the Kartarpura corridor project as a response to a Pakistani proposal is not only preposterous but hurtful to the sentiments of the Sikh community, government sources said Thursday. They also said India favoured keeping the proposed Kartarpura corridor, linking a historic Sikh shrine in Pakistan with India's border district of Gurdaspur, open for pilgrims round-the-clock throughout the year. The sources said India was for facilitating easy movement of Indians to the shrine in Pakistan and that there must be no restrictions on the number of pilgrims. They also said there must be free and readily available consular access for Indian citizens on the Pakistani side. The sources said India's proposal for the corridor had been pending with Pakistan for more than 20 years. It was Pakistan that had refused to acknowledge the request, they said. ALSO READ | Indian officials barred from entering gurdwaras in Pakistan The response came after there was an indication from Pakistan that Islamabad was eager to build the corridor irrespective of India's stand. The Union Cabinet Thursday cleared the proposal to build a corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the international border as part of celebrations of Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary next year. Following the Cabinet decision, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson said India has urged Pakistan to build the corridor to Kartarpura Sahib on the Pakistani side to facilitate visit of Indian pilgrims to the shrine -- the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev. Hours later, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Islamabad has conveyed to India its decision to open the Kartarpura corridor. Kartarpur Sahib is situated in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province and there have been demands to build a corridor linking it with Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. The sources said India wants the corridor to be kept open for 24 hours on all days. They said despite the harassment that pilgrims face on the Pakistani side, with the display of Khalistani posters or through the lack of access to consular officials, Sikh pilgrims continue to make the difficult journey. "Our proposal is such that the burden of pilgrims can be eased significantly," said a source. The sources said India's intention is that the corridor must be a full-fledged one that allows for maximum movement and that it should be open not just on special occasions but throughout the year. They said the cabinet passed a resolution on the Kartarpur corridor project after many weeks of internal consultations and preparation within the government. The resolution is a comprehensive document that contains detailed information on the plans for the celebration of 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, not just on the corridor, the sources said. Earlier, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India has approached Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community and build the corridor, in keeping with the resolution adopted by the Cabinet to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year. "We have approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of Sikh community and build a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India to Kartarpur Sahib throughout the year," he said. By PTI SRINAGAR: NC leader Omar Abdullah Thursday asked the Jammu and Kashmir governor to make public reports about horse-trading in government formation in the state and demanded an apology from BJP's Ram Madhav for alleging that the alliance with the PDP was at Pakistan's behest. Defending his decision to dissolve the state assembly, Governor Satya Pal Malik claimed "extensive horse-trading" was going on and it would have been impossible for parties with "opposing political ideologies" to form a stable government. On Wednesday, PDP with the support of the National Conference (NC) and the Congress staked claim for forming government, but their efforts were cut short as Malik decided to dissolve the assembly, which was in suspended animation since June 19. "If the governor has himself accepted that MLAs were being bought over, money was changing hands, people should know who was doing it. If the governor has such reports, he should make them public. READ HERE: Omar retweets rival Mehbooba Mufti amid political turmoil in J&K "These are not our accusations. It was the governor who said horse-trading was happening and money was changing hands. We want to know where did this money come from? We want to know at whose behest this money was being given and who was being bought?" Abdullah told reporters here. He said allegations of use of money and horse-trading cannot apply to the NC-PDP-Congress grand alliance, Malik is referring to another letter in which Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone had staked claim for government formation. "The governor said horse-trading and use of money for engineering defections had to be stopped. In our case, three parties (PDP, Congress and NC) came together. This accusation does not stand against us that money was used here. Following our letter (PDP president Mehbooba Mufti's letter to governor), another letter was sent to the governor claiming support of 16 or 18 MLAs. The governor has said in this letter that this is horse-trading and money was changing hands. This cannot be ignored," he said without naming Lone. The Raj Bhawan had issued a statement Wednesday explaining why the governor had dissolved the assembly. On allegations by some BJP leaders that the alliance was formed at Pakistan's behest, he asked BJP national general secretary Madhav to produce evidence or apologise. "If you have the courage Ram Madhav, bring the proof of your accusation to the people's court. Let us see where you stand. Stop this politics of cowardice. READ: We backed PDP to save Jammu and Kashmir from current mess, says Omar "We have seen a lot of people like you who indulge in shoot and scoot politics. You level baseless allegations and then lie low. You should either give proof of allegations or apologise," he said. BJP leaders are disrespecting the sacrifice of nearly 3,000 NC workers, who were killed for refusing to do Pakistan's bidding, Abdullah said. "I am sorry Madhav, you are disrespecting sacrifices of my 3,000 colleagues who refused to dance to the tunes of Pakistan. They died because they did not take instructions from across the border. "More of my workers have died in these 30 years than your workers have ever died. You are asking us about sacrifices and what we have done for the country. What we have done we know it," he said. For the NC, power has never been its aim and it does not want to be part of the government, but lend outside support to safeguard Article 35A of the Constitution before the Supreme Court, the former chief minister said. "We weren't going to be part of this government. We wanted that Article 35A be defended in the Supreme Court to protect the state's special status. We want to bring the state out of the present mess, knowing fully well that the NC would have suffered the most politically. But we kept party interests on the back burner in the state's larger interest," he said. To a question on relevance of mainstream political parties in J-K when they could not form government even with the required numbers, he said the dissolution of the assembly showed the relevance of such parties. "Madhav is not unhappy over PDP, Congress and NC coming together. He is unhappy that his dream of forming government in the state remains unfulfilled. If anything, that shows our relevance," Abdullah said. The NC leader said, "The governor gave reasons for not accepting the claim by the PDP. He said parties were different political ideologies were coming together. Did you ask this question in 2015 when the BJP and the PDP tied up? That time it was dubbed as coming together of north pole and south pole, you had no problems then." "Today, you are telling other parties that you cannot come together even though the difference on some important issues between PDP, NC and Congress are small compared to BJP and PDP," Abdullah said. On if his party would challenge the assembly's dissolution in court, he said the NC did not have a reason. "We don't have any basis on which to challenge the governor's decision. The primary party that can challenge the decision is the party which had sent the letter (staking claim for government formation). The letter went from the PDP to the extent that the NC had verbally committed its support and we stand by that decision," he said. In a sarcastic remark over non-functioning of the Raj Bhawan's fax machine due to which Mehbooba's and Lone's letters could not be delivered to Malik, he said, "This is the first time that a fax machine has scuttled democracy." "Only outgoing fax, no incoming fax. This fax machine needs to be investigated", he said. By PTI NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha had to purchase food items on board an AirAsia flight this week after the carrier did not change pre-booked South Indian meals, with the airline thanking him for his "gracious response". An airline spokesperson said the minister did not have any issues with its services. The incident happened on a Delhi-Ranchi flight on November 20. A tweet by a passenger about the incident was retweeted by Sinha along with a 'winking face' smiley. The airline spokesperson said that all necessary protocol for the minister was followed and that its crew was aware of his presence. Speaking to PTI over the phone from Bengaluru, the spokesperson clarified that South Indian meals for the minister was pre-booked by his office and it was not changed by the airline. "The minister did not have any issue with our services. He bought a couple of items as well during the flight," she said. Later, AirAsia India MD and CEO Sunil Bhaskaran also spoke to the minister. "@jayantsinha thank you for flying with us and your gracious response to the incident," Bhaskaran said in a tweet. On November 20, a user tweeted saying that AirAsia's cabin crew needs to recognise the Minister of State for Civil Aviation. "Flew Delhi-Ranchi I5-545 today, with @jayantsinha in the adjacent seat. He asked for a specific food item but was told "you have booked a South Indian meal, which can't be changed now". So he paid for his snacks!," said the tweet. Two officers receive decisions on joining the peace-keeping mission in South Sudan. (Photo: VnExpress) On November 20, the Ministry of National Defence handed over the State Presidents decisions to two officers to assign them to take on duty at the United Nations peace-keeping mission in South Sudan. Under the decision, Major Tran Duc Huong and Captain Nguyen Phuc Dong will serve as military observers at the South Sudan mission, bringing the total number of Vietnamese officers at the mission to five. Handing the decision to the two officers, Senior Lieutenant General Pham Ngoc Minh, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam Peoples Army, expressed his belief that the two officers will unite and do their utmost to realize the missions. He also urged them to abide by the rules of the UN peace-keeping mission and local laws and customs. Receiving the decision, Major Tran Duc Huong shared his feeling that the duty is both an honour and a challenge. We are proud of directly participating in the UN humanitarian activities, contributing to bringing peace and stability in countries that still report conflicts, he said. According to Senior Lieutenant General Pham Ngoc Minh, over the past 4 years, the nation has dispatched 27 officers to UN peace-keeping missions in Central Africa and South Sudan. In October, Vietnam, for the first time, sent a level-2 field hospital to South Sudan./. By PTI AHMEDABAD: After the 182-meter tall `Statue of Unity' of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gujarat may get a gigantic Buddha statue. Sanghakaya Foundation, a non-profit Buddhist organisation, said Thursday that it has demanded land from the government for installing an 80-feet high statue of Lord Buddha in Gandhinagar district. It has roped in Ram Sutar, the sculptor behind the Statue of Unity, for the project, it said. "We are expecting to get land soon," president of the foundation Bhante Prashil Ratna told reporters here. The Statue of Unity, inaugurated in Narmada district of the state on October 31, is the tallest statue in the world. Bhante Prashil Ratna also said that the foundation is planning to set up a Buddhist University in Gujarat. "Contrary to the belief that ancient Buddhist sites exist only in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and further to the north, Gujarat too has been blessed with such sites," he said. "Like Nalanda and Takshashila, records of Chinese traveller Xuanzang mention that there was a big Buddhist university called Vallabhi at Bhavnagar in Gujarat," he said. "As (ancient) Nalanda university has been revived, we wish to revive Vallabhi university here," he said. "The state government has given us land in Gandhinagar where we are planning to start a university on Buddhism," he said. The foundation also plans to build a grand monument at Dev Ni Mori, a Buddhist archaeological site in Sabarkantha district of north Gujarat, he said. "During the excavation at Dev Ni Mori, two km from temple town of Shamlaji, they found ashes of Lord Buddha. The government has sanctioned the land and a monument will be built at the cost of Rs 1,200 crore," he said. A Buddhist monastery was also found during excavation in Vadnagar, the hometown of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said." By PTI LUCKNOW: Openly batting for the party he founded, Mulayam Singh Yadav Thursday asked Samajwadi Party workers to create a situation in which no government can be formed at the Centre without its support. The leader is often seen balancing his relations with son Akhilesh Yadav who now heads the SP and his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, who has floated a rival party. Both parties organised separate events Thursday to mark the patriarch's 80th birthday. "I ask you to fix my programmes at the commissionerate level, I will be there," he told SP office bearers, hinting at his willingness to campaign for the party. "I ask you all to take a pledge that in the days to come, besides forming the government in UP, we have to create such a situation in Delhi that no government can be formed without the SP. This is my request to you," he said at the SP headquarters where he also cut a cake. Asking SP workers to adopt the habit of reading and writing, he said, "There isa collection of my speeches in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and as a defence minister, and the workers should read them." He said when he was defence minister, we chased away China and Pakistan. "It needs courage," he said. "You all should follow the path of justice and stand up wherever there is injustice against anyone," he said. Party president Akhilesh Yadav was not present at the event as he is campaigning in the Madhya Pradesh elections, but he tweeted a photograph with father Mulayam Singh Yadav wishing him on his birthday. "I congratulate 'Netaji' on his birthday. He taught us all to follow Gandhiji's path of truth and non-violence, Lohiaji's ideology of identifying ills to remove them and also that trust is the biggest wealth in human relations," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister tweeted. Shivpal Yadav's newly formed Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) celebrated the birthday at its headquarter in Lucknow, and in the districts. PSPL workers organised blood donation, sweets distribution and other events, observing the day as "Dharma Nirpekshta Divas" (Secularism Day). The party also organised a wrestling 'dangal' in Mulayam Singh Yadav's native Saifai in Etawah district, honouring the leader as a former wrestler. Shivpal Yadav was there as a chief guest. While wishing his brother on his birthday, he reiterated that he had formed the new party with Mulayam Singh Yadav's blessings. Both factions have repeatedly claimed that Yadav's "blessings" are with them. Shivpal Yadav has announced that the PSPL will contest all Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, except Mainpuri from where his brother is likely to contest. By ANI PARRAMATTA: On the second day of this three-day visit to Australia, President Ram Nath Kovind unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Jubilee Park in the town of Parramatta, which is a bustling suburb of Sydney. The bronze statue designed by Indian sculptors Ram and Anil Sutar was presented to the Indian President by Andrew Wilson, the Mayor of Parramatta. Also present at the event was Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The unveiling of the statue is part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Father of the Nation, which is being observed in different parts of the world. The life-size statue, which is a gift from the Indian government, is identical to the one presented to the city of Brisbane in Australia in 2014. By Express News Service BHOPAL: At least seven children and a van driver were killed when a private school van collided with a tourist bus in Virsinghpur area of Satna district on Thursday morning. Six to seven kids are critically injured. According to reports from the spot of the mishap in Satna district (500 km from Bhopal), the mishap happened when a tourist bus from Rewa to Chitrakoot collided with the van carrying around 14 children at around 9.30 am under Sabhapur police station area of Chitrakoot assembly constituency. Seven children and bus driver was killed after a bus met with an accident in Satna,earlier today. #MadhyaPradesh pic.twitter.com/4xTyZJH74x ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 According to SP of Satna district SS Gaur, seven school children and the van driver were killed instantly on the spot, while other students on board the van were hurt. The deceased and injured children are aged between 7 and 14 years. Most of the critically injured children have been rushed to Satna district hospital, around 40 km from the accident site. According to latest reports, angry local residents are protesting at the spot due to which local administrative officials are finding it difficult to reach the accident spot. Ramananda Sengupta By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Days after an Indian peacekeeper was hurt in an attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), India protested against UN peacekeepers being asked to do more for less. Addressing a UN Security Council Open Debate on Strengthening Peacekeeping Operations in Africa on Tuesday, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said such a policy was setting us all up for a tragedy. On Friday, a CRPF trooper of the Indian Formed Police Unit of the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or MONUSCO, was lightly wounded in an attack by rebels. Earlier in the week, a peacekeeper from Tanzania and another from Malawi were killed. Akbaruddin listed some things that the UN should do to strengthen operations there. One, the prioritisation of mandates, which would help in judicious allocation of meagre resources available for implementing them. Two, given that the size and scale of UN deployment are insufficient for the tasks entrusted, the strategy of peacekeepers needing to do more with less is setting us all up for a tragedy, he said. Three, predictable and sustainable financing, and four, doing away with unfair troop distribution on the ground, due to the number of unfair caveats while deploying in Africa. And finally, longer-term efforts for expanding African capacities and enhancing collective cooperation. Know the mission The second UN mission was established to restore peace during the Second Congo War in 1999, and has been ongoing ever since. It is the largest and most expensive peacekeeping mission, with the deployment of 19,000 troops and over 1,000 police from more than 30 countries, with India being the largest contributor. The current budget is set at $7.9 billion. By PTI SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Thursday hit out at the BJP for alleging that regional parties were working at Pakistan's behest, saying credentials of the NC and the PDP were not questioned when they were in alliance with the saffron party. Mufti's remark came after BJP general secretary Ram Madhav alleged that the PDP and the NC had boycotted local body polls in the state earlier because of instructions from Pakistan. The BJP leader, however, withdrew his words following a dare by NC leader Omar Abdullah to prove his charge. "Shocked to see baseless allegations against mainstream parties in JK following dictates from Pakistan levelled by @rammadhavbjp ji," PDP chief Mufti said in a series of tweets. On Wednesday, PDP with the support of the National Conference (NC) and the Congress staked claim for forming government, but their efforts were cut short as Malik decided to dissolve the assembly, which was in suspended animation since June 19. Questioning the BJP over casting aspersions over a party's nationalistic credentials, Mufti expressed sadness over reducing the political discourse of the country. "Sad to see what the political discourse of our country has been reduced to. How does one define a party's nationalistic credentials? Nationalistic and patriotic only if you are with the Centre and Pakistan sponsored and anti-nationalistic otherwise?" she said. Mufti said all mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir have taken " grave risks" to bridge the "trust deficit that exists between people of the state vis a vis the country" and it was strange that their credentials were not questioned when the NC or the PDP was in alliance with the BJP. "Both PDP and NC have been allies of BJP at some point. Strange that our credentials werent (were not) questioned then. But just because our MLAs had enough integrity to stand up to your (BJP's) failed attempts of defection, they are now anti-nationalistic?" she tweeted. The former chief minister said India is a great country and democracy is a battle of ideas and "lets not make a mockery of those very institutions and people". "We had aligned with the BJP to change this pernicious mindset. Undoubtedly Pakistan has an impact on the situation in J&K. But its upto our country to change that from negative to positive and tread the path that was taken by (former prime minister A B) Vajpayee ji," she said. By Express News Service VISAKHAPATNAM: Responding to the SIT summons, YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy sent a single page letter to SIT chief ACP (North) BVS Nageswara Rao that recording of his statement be postponed until his petition was disposed of in High Court. Party leaders handed over the letter to the SIT chief on Wednesday. As per the letter, he urged the SIT chief to defer the statement recording activity till the HC disposed of his writ petition. Jagan Mohan Reddy said, As I have filed petition in the HC seeking direction that the probe into the attack on me be carried out by any appropriate independent agency not functioning under the control of Andhra Pradesh government. The HC posted the case for hearing on November 27. In view of the pendency of the petition, I request you to defer the recording of my statement till the disposal of the said petition. By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: Projecting himself as the next Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan opened a new front on Wednesday proposing to unite all regional parties of South India, to question the dominance of UP and other northern states in the national politics. Kalyans latest move is perhaps to throw the spanner in the efforts of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is trying to stitch an alliance of anti-BJP parties in the country. Addressing a media conference in Chennai, he said he initiated the process of reaching out to the other Southern States to bring together all regional parties on a single platform to project the issues of South, which was ignored for long. Voice of people from South needs to be heard, our issues need to be considered and our cultural identity needs to be understood at the national level. Till now it has not happened and it needs to be changed, he said and stressed the need for a second capital for the country in South India as envisioned by BR Ambedkar. Kalyans said, henceforth, he would be visiting all the Southern States to interact with people and familiarising them with his party and its ideologies. In due course, I will meet political leaders and form a coalition of regional parties, considered small players, hence ignored at the national level. Asked if he was promoting the concept of a separate country such as Dravida Nadu, the actor-turned-politician quickly denied it. I want to protect the national integrity by protecting the most important aspect of unity in diversity. There is no gap between people of different States, but a gap exists between political classes. Being large states, the political classes from UP and Bihar dominate national policies and decision-making process, which impact the country. Why it should be the case? Why should sensitivity and sentiments of people in the South be ignored, he questioned. However, his remarks against north Indian dominance and for larger say to Southern parties is being seen as an attempt to foil the plans of Naidu, who is meeting most of the north Indian parties to stitch together a political alliance against the BJP-led coalition government. Mahagathbandhan being formed by Naidu is bound to fail, as his dangerous nature will not allow it to sustain. No one knows when he will be your friend and when he will be your foe. In 2014, Jana Sena supported him and he became CM. All I asked him was to provide reasonable governance, but his government turned out to be corrupt. When questioned, we become his enemies, he said. Kalyan said that Naidu was on the verge of retirement and his son, Nara Lokesh, would not be able to lead the party. Hence in coming years Jana Sena will have the say in AP. In 2019 elections it will be a triangular contest. We will contest independently, he said, ruling out any alliance with YSRC and said they were ideologically different and could never be together. Given the alliances or understanding the regional parties in Southern States have and lack of his partys presence in Telangana, doubts are being raised over the possibility of regional parties in south India coming together. However, he said such an alliance was not for 2019 polls, but being contemplated on a long-term basis. We opted out of Telangana polls as they were advanced and we werent ready. We are contesting Lok Sabha elections, he clarified. By Express News Service BENGALURU: Barely five days after a couple was killed and their bodies thrown into the Cauvery river near Mandya over alleged opposition to their inter-caste marriage, a 27-year-old cab owner, Harish, was hacked to death allegedly for the same reason. Harish, who belonged to Nayaka caste had got married to his school heartthrob Meenakshi, who belongs to Thigala caste, eight months ago despite her familys opposition to their alliance. READ | Youths T-shirt led police to killers in Hosur honour killing case Police said, as per the complaint received, Harish had been reportedly warned by Meenakshis brother against marrying her. And when he did marry her against the familys wishes, Harish was allegedly told a few months ago that he would be killed. Meenakshi is expecting their first child.The body of Harish, a resident of Bidarahalli (Bidhanuru) near Devanahalli, was found on Wednesday near a farm in Nallur village, 16km from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) after he went missing the previous day. Meenakshi and Harish Villagers who found Harishs body alerted the jurisdictional Channarayapatna police on Wednesday morning, who have conducted preliminary investigations, a senior police officer said.After Harish went missing on Tuesday, his family and friends had launched a search for him. After the murder came to light, Harishs father Muni Anjanappa filed a police complaint, based on which the Channarayapatna police launched a probe. When the police learnt about the threats to Harish from Meenakshis family, she reportedly told the police that her brother had killed him. The police, on questioning her brother Naveen Kumar, were told that it was his elder brother Vinay Kumar (22) who had killed Harish as he was the one who had issued death threats. Vinay Kumar, an unemployed youth, has been taken into custody and has reportedly recorded his statement with the police. However, Naveen Kumars suspected role in the murder is yet to be ascertained. Ganesh Nayak, an uncle of Harish, said Naveen Kumar was with Harish on Tuesday when the couple had come to Nalluru to pay chit fund money. Harish also wanted to get his Aadhaar card. When Harish later went missing, his relatives searched for him in Devanahalli and nearby areas. It was then that Naveen Kumar allegedly started misleading Harishs family members saying he would return on his own and that there was no need to look for him. Harishs family members suspect it to be part of a well-planned murder. When Harish was targeted by Meenakshis family, he had approached the police and a police officer had warned her family to stay away from him. Harish and Meenakshi were in love since high school and got their marriage registered in March. According to Harishs family members, when Meenakshis family came to know of it, they told Harish they would arrange a function in a convention hall. Instead, they began forcing her to divorce Harish as they wanted to find another groom for her. By Express News Service KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday observed it is a sad state of affairs that around 110 pilgrims from Mumbai, including 33 Kanni Ayyappans (first-time pilgrims), had to return from Erumeli without visiting Sabarimala shrine. This may be because the police excess had created fear in the mind of the devotees. The court pointed out despite assurance from the top police officers they could proceed to Sabarimala and necessary assistance would be given to them, they decided to return home without darsan. The court did not intend to fix up the responsibilities on any particular persons. The court expressed its displeasure over the police not complying with its oral directives to ease the restrictions imposed on pilgrims. Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) meets with Philippines' House of Representatives Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (L) and President of the Senate Vicente Sotto III in Manila, the Philippines, Nov. 21, 2018.(Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) MANILA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Visiting President Xi Jinping has called on legislative bodies from China and the Philippines to further exchange experience in state governance and push forward multilevel, multiform cooperation for the development of the two nations' bilateral ties. Xi expressed the hope that the Philippines' top legislature will play a bigger role in promoting China-Philippines friendship, during a meeting with the Philippines' House of Representatives Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and President of the Senate Vicente Sotto III here on Wednesday. Friendly exchanges between legislative bodies of both sides form an important part of the China-Philippines relations, which now stand at a new historic starting point and thus possess broad development prospect, Xi said. In recent years, the China-Philippines relations have displayed new vitality and achieved leapfrog development, bringing benefits to the two peoples as well as encouraging regional peace and stability, according to the president. The upgrade of the China-Philippines relations to comprehensive strategic cooperation had been jointly announced by Xi and his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte here on Tuesday. "We must continue going on the right path, deepen practical cooperation, consolidate the material basis of the bilateral ties, expand people-to-people exchanges, cement public support, properly handle the South China Sea issue, stick to the right direction for the development of bilateral ties, and make good neighbors and partners that share the prosperity," Xi told Arroyo and Sotto. The president praised them for being good and old friends of the Chinese people and contributing to the China-Philippines friendship for a long time. He also called for more support from the legislative bodies on practical cooperation, especially in areas of education, culture and tourism. For their part, Arroyo and Sotto, while applauding the upgrade of the bilateral ties, both expressed their willingness to step up exchanges with Chinese legislative bodies and deepen practical cooperation in all fields, for the benefits of the two peoples and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. With all-round cooperation going well and China being one of the most important partners for the Philippines' economic development, the Philippines-China relations are now at the best period in history, said Arroyo and Sotto. The Philippines would like to learn from China's success in achieving rapid economic and social development, push for more cooperation in trade and infrastructure, strengthen people-to-people exchanges and better benefit the two peoples, they added. 2 1 [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] By Express News Service CHENNAI: The State government on Thursday sought Rs 14,910 crore as financial assistance from the Centre to undertake permanent restoration and mitigation works in the districts affected by Cyclone Gaja. It sought an immediate assistance of Rs 1,431 crore for the ongoing temporary restoration works. ALSO READ: Gaja rescue efforts fine, now focus on relief Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami submitted a detailed memorandum in this regard to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in New Delhi and explained that the cyclone had devastated 12 districts, including the delta districts which were worst affected. TN CM EPS handing over the memorandum on the cyclone Gaja to PM Modi @NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/1XJxzz39hb T Muruganandham (@muruga_TNIE) November 22, 2018 The meeting lasted about 30 minutes. Subsequently, a six member-Central team led by Daniel E Richard, Joint Secretary, Union Home Affairs, was deputed to assess the damage caused by the cyclone. Talking to reporters at New Delhi ahead of his departure to Chennai, the CM said the team would be in Tamil Nadu for three days. ALSO READ: Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami announces Rs 1,000 crore for relief work in affected areas Officials said the team will arrive in Chennai on Friday evening. According to the memorandum submitted by the CM, of the total assistance sought for permanent works, a whopping Rs 7,077 crore has been allocated for TANGEDCO, followed by Rs 6,000 crore for relief to be given to huts/house damaged and Rs 625 crore for agricultural and horticultural crops damaged. Of the immediate relief of Rs 1,431 crore sought, the CM has urged the Centre to give Rs 685 crore for TANGEDCO alone. Sector-wise financial assistance sought from Centre for temporary restoration and permanent restoration & mitigation in the areas affected by cyclone Gaja @NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/d7VhuZPa6t T Muruganandham (@muruga_TNIE) November 22, 2018 Financial assistance for permanent works was also sought with Rs 425 crore for Rural Development, Rs 378 crore for State highways, Rs150 crore for Animal Husbandry, Rs 120 crore for PWD - Water Resources, Rs 100 crore for Fisheries, Rs 30 crore for town panchayats and Rs 5 crore for municipalities. According to the CM, the death toll had risen to 63 people in 12 districts while 2,78, 824 huts, 62,996 tiled houses and 3,41,820 houses had been damaged. As many as 12,298 cattle, 92,507 birds had died and 11,32,686 trees had fallen. ALSO READ: Cyclone Gaja toll rises to 45 in Tamil Nadu, protests surface over relief efforts A staggering 1,03,508 electric poles, 181 substations and 886 transformers were damaged. While coconut trees in over 30,000 hectares and horticultural crops in 88.102 hectares were damaged, paddy in 32,706 hectares has been affected. While 40 per cent of the electric poles have been replaced, 147 substations have been repaired. Of the 53,21,506 power connections disconnected, the power supply to 40,04,452 has been restored. Water supply has been restored in 184 municipalities and 252 town panchayats. Of the 8,522 village panchayats where water supply was affected, it has been restored in 7,952 panchayats. MVK Sastry By Express News Service NIZAMABAD: A great politician once said that a difference in opinionbe it on politics, religion or philosophyshould never become the cause for withdrawing from a friend. This sentiment of former US President Thomas Jefferson seems to echo in the present-day politics of Telangana. An old friendship between TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao and a senior TDP leader who had announced his retirement from electoral politics is likely to get a bittersweet flavour this election season. Mandava Venkateshwara Raos friendship with KCR goes back to the time when the latter was also in the yellow party. For 25 long years, the duo shared their views with each other -- on politics, economics, development, and most importantly, Telangana movement. In the meantime, their political life took both of them in separate paths. Mandava retired from electoral politics but maintained his ties with TDP while KCR went on to lead an anti-TDP front which resulted in the birth of the new State. Things took a complete turn this week when Mandava announced his return to politics to fight KCRs political attitude that he claimed was unfit for democracy. The Dichpally constituency, now known as Nizamabad Rural, was Mandavas stronghold during his active political career. A true loyalist, Mandava also followed his party through all its alliance journeys -- whether it was with TRS in 2009, BJP in 2014 or now the Congress in 2018. Despite his Andhra origins, and being called a settler during the 2014 polls, Mandava was a supporter of the Telangana movement. After bifurcation in 2014, he announced retirement from politics to focus on social work. A few years back, Chandrababu Naidu formed separate committees for the Telugu States to formulate poll strategy, and Mandava was coerced into leading the Telangana unit. Although Mandava has never fought an election in a long time, and is neither planning to do so now, his speech at the meeting will change how TRS looks at him. When I was an MLA, even the radicals were not disrupted from giving an opinion. But now even the opposition parties do not have the permission to organise protests or raise their flags, he said. It was KCRs role in current politics that has forced Mandava to pick up the mic and rally for his party once again, he said.I believe politics and friendship should be separate, he said. Every election sees a new political rival but friendships continue forever, he added. By UNI STOCKHOLM: The Danish Foreign Ministry has taken a decision to terminate approval of arms and military equipment exports to Saudi Arabia amid ongoing Riyadh's role in Yemeni conflict, links to the killing of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi and amid recent discussions at EU ministerial level. "The Foreign Ministry suspends approval for arms exports to Saudi Arabia," the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The ministry noted that the decision covers not only weapons, but also dual-use products, "which can be used in violation of human rights." Denmark is already engaged in restrictive practices in the field of arms exports, but still hopes that the decision will be an additional impetus for other EU member states, the statement said. The press release also notes that in a number of cases related to issuing permissions to Danish companies to export weapons and dual-use products the Foreign Ministry acts only as a consultative side, because the Danish national police and the entrepreneurship agency are authorized to take decisions in this field. On October 25, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for all EU members to introduce an arms embargo on the kingdom in retaliation for Khashoggi's murder, noting that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was unlikely to have been unaware of the prepared crime. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, known for his criticism of Saudi policies, went missing on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Saudi Prosecutor General's Office said last week that the journalist had been killed inside the consulate by lethal injection, and that his body had been dismembered and removed from the building, adding that a total of 21 people had been detained in relation to the case. In the ongoing Yemeni war, the Saudi-led coalition supports the Yemeni government, fighting against the Houthi rebel movement. The conflict has resulted in a huge civilian death toll and led to an acute humanitarian disaster and the outbreaks of cholera across the country. The situation has provoked concerns and criticism of politicians, humanitarian organizations and rights groups from across the world. By Associated Press WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts clashed in an extraordinary public dispute over the independence of America's judiciary, with Roberts bluntly rebuking the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an "Obama judge." There's no such thing, Roberts declared Wednesday in a strongly worded statement contradicting Trump and defending judicial independence. Never silent for long, Trump defended his own comment, tweeting defiantly, "Sorry Justice Roberts." The pre-Thanksgiving dustup was the first time that Roberts, the Republican-appointed leader of the federal judiciary, has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who has several times blasted federal judges who have ruled against him. Before now, it has been highly unusual for a president to single out judges for personal criticism. And a chief justice's challenge to a president's comments is downright unprecedented in modern times. It seemed a fight that Trump would relish but one that Roberts has taken pains to avoid. But with Roberts' court feeling the heat over the president's appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Roberts and several of his colleagues have gone out of their way to rebut perceptions of the court as a political institution divided between five conservative Republicans and four liberal Democrats. Trump's appointments to the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have themselves spurred charges that the courts are becoming more politicized. As the justice widely seen as closest to the court's middle, Roberts could determine the outcome of high-profile cases that split the court. The new drama began with remarks Trump made Tuesday in which he went after a judge who ruled against his migrant asylum order. The president claimed, not for the first time, that the federal appeals court based in San Francisco was biased against him. Roberts had refused to comment on Trump's earlier attacks on judges, including the chief justice himself. But on Wednesday, after a query by The Associated Press, he spoke up for the independence of the federal judiciary and rejected the notion that judges are loyal to the presidents who appoint them. "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them," Roberts said. On the day before Thanksgiving, he concluded, "The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for." Trump hit back from his resort home in Florida, questioning the independence of federal judges appointed by his predecessor and confirmed by the US Senate. He especially criticized judges on California's 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," the president tweeted. If the 9th Circuit judges are independent, he said, "why are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. ... these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!" Trump has never been reticent about criticizing the judiciary. Last year, the president scorned the "so-called judge" who made the first federal ruling against his travel ban. During the presidential campaign, he criticized Roberts himself for the chief justice's decisive vote in 2012 to preserve President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Trump also referred to an Indiana-born judge of Mexican descent, who was presiding over a fraud lawsuit against Trump University, as a Mexican who would be unable to rule fairly because of Trump's proposal to build a wall along the US-Mexican border. The president's remarks on Tuesday came when a reporter asked for his reaction to a ruling by US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco that put the administration's asylum policy on hold. Under that new policy, Trump declared no one could apply for asylum except at an official border entry point. That tends to back migrants up for weeks if not months. A number of migrants remain in Tijuana after traveling in a caravan to reach the US Trump complained that his opponents file lawsuits in courts that are part of California's liberal-leaning 9th Circuit. It's not unusual for those challenging a president's policies to sue in courts they consider likely to back their claims. Conservative groups tended to bring challenges to Obama-era policies in Texas, part of the conservative-leaning 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. "Every case that gets filed in the 9th Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won," Trump said. The president went on to say about the asylum ruling: "This was an Obama judge. And I'll tell you what, it's not going to happen like this anymore. " The initial travel ban ruling in 2017 was issued by US District Judge James Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush in Washington state. Roberts, too, was appointed by Bush. It was unclear what Trump meant when he said things would change. The 9th Circuit is by far the largest of the federal appellate courts, covering Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Some Republicans in 9th Circuit states have proposed splitting the circuit in two, but legislation has not advanced. The court has long had a majority of judges appointed by Democratic presidents, with the current breakdown at 16-7. But Trump has the opportunity to narrow that edge significantly because there are six vacancies, and he already has nominated candidates for five of them. By AFP NIAMEY: Seven local employees of a French drilling firm and a government official were killed Thursday when suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed the compound where they were sleeping in southeastern Niger. The attack shattered months of relative calm in the Diffa region near the Lake Chad basin, a strategic area where the borders of four countries converge. The victims, all Nigerien, were shot dead at a site in Toumour, a village near the border with Nigeria where they had been drilling two deep-water wells to improve conditions for displaced people at a local refugee camp. Seven of them were employees of Foraco, a French firm which specialises in drilling for mining and water projects. The eighth victim was an official from Niger's ministry of hydraulics. ALSO READ | Nigeria appoints new commander to lead fight against Boko Haram "A group of terrorists attacked the building where a team of Foraco drillers and technicians were resting in the village of Toumour," a company statement said. "The assailants opened fire on the sleeping personnel and killed eight people." Another five people were wounded, two of them seriously, it said, indicating that the injured were being transported to hospital in Diffa, capital of the region of the same name which flanks both Nigeria and Chad. The location where they were staying had been chosen in agreement with the Nigerien army unit charged with protecting them, Foraco said. The attackers also made off with two of the company's pickup trucks. No specific threats "There were about 15 employees there who under the protection of about 15 soldiers who had just set off to patrol the area at the time of the attack," said Thierry Merle, head of Foraco's Europe and Middle East division. "We know that Boko Haram is active in the region but for now we've had no claim of responsibility, neither official nor unofficial," he told AFP. "We've been operating in Niger for 20 years, and at this site for a month," Merle said, indicating there had been no specific threats. ALSO READ | Candidates queue up to run Boko Haram-hit Nigerian state "We have never faced a problem like this before." But a local official in Diffa blamed the attack on Boko Haram militants and one local resident said the gunmen had "looted many shops" and carried off foodstuffs "in a Foraco vehicle". The attack shattered months of calm in Diffa, a region that first came under attack by Boko Haram militants in February 2015 although the violence eased off this year after a bloody start. Overshadowed by violence In mid-January, seven Niger soldiers were killed and 17 others wounded in another attack in Toumour. And two months later, suspected jihadists fired on civilians at the local marketplace, killing at least five people. UN figures show that between 2015 and 2017, suspected Boko Haram jihadists staged 244 raids on the region, killing 582 civilians. Boko Haram extremists who are based in neighbouring Nigeria first took the conflict across the border into Niger in 2015, with numerous raids around Diffa. As well as Niger, the Islamist violence has also spilled into Chad and Cameroon, with all three countries joining Nigeria in a military effort to crush the insurgency. Boko Haram first emerged in 2009 and its nine-year insurgency has killed more than 27,000 people in northeastern Nigeria and forced another 1.8 million people from their homes. By PTI PARIS: The French foreign ministry said Thursday that it would impose sanctions against 18 Saudi citizens over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last month. "These measures aim to prohibit these individuals from entering national territory and the entire Schengen area" of Europe, the ministry said in a statement. By PTI LAHORE: Noted India-born Pakistani poet and human rights activist Fahmida Riaz has passed away following a prolonged illness at the age of 73 here, media reports said. Riaz, who fled Pakistan during former military dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq's rule and lived in self-exile in India for nearly seven years, had been unwell for the past few months. Born into a literary family of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh in July 1945 and settled in Hyderabad following her father's transfer to Sindh province, always raised her voice for women rights and democracy in Pakistan, The News International reported. Riaz, a well-known progressive Urdu writer, poet, human rights activist and feminist, worked with Radio Pakistan and BBC Urdu service (Radio), the report said. Her Urdu publication Awaz grabbed the attention of Zia for its liberal and politically-charged content after which she and her second husband were charged with various cases and the magazine was shut down, it said. After her husband was arrested, she fled to India with her two children and sister, and got asylum. Her children went to school in India. Her husband later joined her in India after his release from jail, it said. The family spent almost seven years in exile in India before returning to Pakistan after Zia's death, the report said. Riaz had been a poet in residence for Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. She was a prominent voice in the feminist struggle in Pakistan, the report added. By PTI ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is creating legal channels for its overseas citizens to send their remittances home, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said as his cash-strapped government combats money laundering. Addressing the Pakistani diaspora here in the Malaysian capital on Thursday, Khan said his government has a strategy to pull the country out of its "quagmire of loans". He said the government wants to create legal channels for overseas Pakistanis to send their remittances through. He said that the finance minister Asad Umar was working on an incentive programme to make routing of remittances easier. "Currently, we receive USD 20 billion in remittances," he said. ALSO READ | PM Imran Khan leaves for Malaysia; likely to seek monetary aid "We (the government) think that if all the money sent in remittances [is sent via legal channels], then we will receive at least USD 10-12 billion n addition. "Right now, we are facing a shortfall of USD 12 billion. If we start receiving all our remittances [through legal channels] then this problem will be solved," Khan, who has got aid from close allies like Saudi Arabia and China to overcome the financial difficulties faced by his government. Khan said he was determined to drag the country out of the economic mess was ending the practice of money laundering. He said that Rs 10 billion was sent abroad through money laundering every year but assured that every agency in Pakistan is now working diligently to make it hard for people to move funds abroad illegally. "We have signed MoUs (Memorandums of Understanding) with different countries," he said. "And gradually, we are also getting details of the money that has been sent abroad illegally," he was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper. Khan, who met Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, during his two-day official visit, said his government was committed to uplift the living standard of the poor by improving governance and ending corruption. ALSO READ | Imran Khan says Pakistan elite transferred national wealth abroad through money laundering The first step towards ridding the country of its chronic loan dependency is to increase exports, said Khan. "If Malaysia, with a population of 30 million people, has exports worth USD 220 billion, and we, with a population of 201 million people have exports worth USD 24bn, then clearly we are doing something wrong," he said. Khan also emphasised the importance of attracting investments, particularly from foreign businesses. "We will continue to face a shortfall of dollars if we do not attract foreign investments," he warned. He vowed to facilitate investments from overseas Pakistanis by fixing the governance system in the country. He also promised to create an "ease of doing business" for investors both foreign and domestic. "There will be a designated office within the PM Office and its sole purpose will be to solve any problems being faced by investors," he said. Khan said that the recent aid packages secured by his government from "friendly countries" was just a temporary solution to Pakistan's economic woes. ALSO READ | Imran Khan says Pakistan got a 'big aid' deal from China; won't reveal quantum under President Xi's instructions "We have acquired loans from friendly countries in order to repay instalments of loans that were borrowed earlier," he said. "Even now we are trying that we have to borrow the least amount of money possible from the IMF (International Monetary Fund), with whom we are in negotiations right now. But this is temporary. This is like treating cancer with Disprin," Khan added. The IMF delegation, which concluded discussions with senior Pakistani officials on Tuesday said, "productive discussions" were held on economic policies and reforms that could be supported by a financial arrangement with the global lender. There has been broad agreement on the need for a comprehensive agenda of reforms and policy actions aimed at reducing the fiscal and current account deficits, bolstering international reserves, enhancing governance and transparency and laying the foundations for a sustainable job-creating growth path, it said. By UNI WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Wednesday that the joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea scheduled for next spring would be reorganized. Foal Eagle, the code name of the annual joint military drills, "is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis told reporters, indicating that the drills might be reduced in scope. "We continue to look at multiple aspects of future exercises to include their size and scope," Chris Logan, a Pentagon spokesperson, said in a statement released after Mattis' remarks. Logan also said Mattis and South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo agreed during talks last month to conduct military activities, including exercises, in a way that complemented diplomatic efforts on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and sustained the readiness of the allied forces. This initiative could be seen as an embodiment that Washington and Seoul seek to mitigate tension on the Korean Peninsula. By Online Desk The CIA is in possession of a phone recording of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman in which he gave orders to 'silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible', a report by Turkish news website Hurriyet Daily News says. During her trip to Ankara in October, CIA director Gina Haspel had hinted at the existence of a tapped phone call between Prince Mohammed and his brother Khaled bin Salman, the Saudi envoy to the United States, the report says. In the phone recording, the two could be heard discussing how they have been facing public criticism from Khashoggi over the country's governance. ALSO READ | Washington Post CEO trashes Donald Trump's response to Khashoggi murder Khashoggi was a contributor to the Washington Post and a critic of Prince Mohammed. He was killed on October 2 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia had denied any role in the murder for weeks, but finally admitted that Khashoggi had been murdered inside its Istanbul consulate. However, it continued claiming that the royal family had no role in the murder. Before he was killed, Khashoggi was forced by his killers, close aides of Prince Mohammed, to send a message to his son held in Saudi Arabia, failing which he "would be brought to that country". Khashoggi rejected the demand, ensuing in a quarrel and his subsequent killing. While charging 11 suspects, the public prosecutor of Saudi Arabia on November 15 had urged the death penalty for five Saudi officials. NAIROBI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- China has made significant contribution to help bridge skills gap in Kenya by offering training opportunities for the country's youth and civil servants, a Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday. Guo Ce, economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese embassy in Kenya, said that development of a highly trained workforce has been at the heart of cooperation between Beijing and the east Africa's largest economy. "As one of the most promising resources of Kenya, human resource has always been an important area of deepening practical cooperation between China and Kenya," said Guo. He spoke in Nairobi during an event to conduct an end of year evaluation of Chinese technical assistance in training and capacity development in Kenya. Senior Kenyan officials attended the ceremony to take stock of China funded technical training opportunities that has benefited public servants of all ranks, students and local staff employed by companies from the Asian country. Guo said that nearly 10,000 Kenyan government officials have visited China to participate in training seminars under the Foreign Aid Human Resources Training Program launched by the ministry of commerce in 2001. "After studying in China, many officials have been promoted or transferred to more important posts, and a lot of people hope to continue their studies in China," said Guo. He noted that China funded skills upgrade and vocational training programs have deepened friendship with Kenya while hastening the country's socio-economic transformation. "We are willing to continue to explore more convenient and efficient training platforms and strengthen human resources cooperation with Kenya," said Guo. Kenya is banking on closer cooperation with China in the area of human resources development to modernize the public sector and boost service delivery. Simon Angote, acting secretary of human resources division in the state department for public service, said that China funded skills upgrade for Kenyan civil servants has enhanced their competence in strategic areas like trade, energy, telecommunications, diplomacy and security. "It is worth noting that the 2019 proposed bilateral (Kenya specific) short-term training programs (to be offered alongside the multilateral programs) focuses on supporting the government's big four agenda," said Angote. He said that an evaluation undertaken by the government two years ago revealed a huge demand for Chinese scholarships by Kenyan public servants since they enhanced their performance. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] By Associated Press COLOMBO: Two men each claim to be the prime minister. Lawmakers are exchanging blows in Parliament. A former finance minister says the country is on the brink of an "economic anarchy." Welcome to Sri Lanka, where the political crisis is getting worse by the week. The trouble started when President Maithripala Sirisena, fed up with disagreements with his prime minister over money, an alleged conspiracy plot and unresolved issues of wartime crimes against civilians, fired Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet and replaced them with a government headed by a popular former strongman, Mahinda Rajapaksa. ALSO READ: Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena seeks talks to end power struggle But lawmakers balked and twice passed a no-confidence motion. Sirisena, however, refuses to accept that his choice of prime minister has been defeated. Jehan Perera, head of the local analyst group National Peace Council, said that the government appointed by the president can't be called legal because Sirisena had not sought a parliamentary vote when he dismissed Wickremesinghe. "It can be called illegitimate because provisions for a confidence vote in Parliament are being blocked by the president's own party through their riotous behaviour," Perera said, referring to a brawl last week that was followed by another pandemonium in the chamber when Rajapaksa loyalists refused to let the speaker conduct proceedings. Wickremesinghe says his dismissal is invalid because he still holds a majority in the 225-member Parliament. The dismissal is also disputed because of the latest constitutional change, which lawyers say has taken away presidential powers to dismiss the prime minister. Despite all the drama and two rival prime ministers, life hasn't collapsed thanks to the efficient bureaucracy that keeps the wheels of administration turning. Even though there is no Cabinet recognized by Parliament, and despite warnings by Wickremesinghe supporters that state officials should not take orders from an "illegal government" of Rajapaksa, bureaucrats continue to work with the president who is the chief executive and the ministers appointed by him, officials said on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media. However, decisions regarding new projects or purchases involving large sums of money are on hold. ALSO READ: 'Sri Lankan economy on brink of 'anarchy' due to President Srisena' The absence of a recognized government has delayed the budget for 2019. Mangala Samaraweera, who was finance minister in Wickremesinghe's Cabinet, said that there will be no legal way of spending money in the coming year without a parliament-approved budget. Sri Lanka's Constitution says that control over public finances lies with Parliament and no funds can be released without a warrant signed by the finance minister and approved by the legislature. That means all government payments starting from January can be deemed illegal, Samaraweera says. Sri Lanka is on the brink of an "economic anarchy and chaos as never experienced before." "The cavalier and irresponsible actions of the president ... based on personal animosities and precipitating a series of illegal acts, places at risk Sri Lanka's ability to meet its immediate debt obligations," he said. Sri Lanka has to repay $1 billion of its foreign loans in early January, which is also in the prerogative of Parliament to approve. Wickremesinghe's lawmakers have presented a motion to the speaker seeking to block funding to the prime minister's office, which if passed, would curtail Rajapaksa's functions. "As far as the people are concerned, they are witnessing the normal functioning of the country," insisted government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella. However, he conceded that Sri Lanka will have issues on accessing government money if the stalemate is not resolved by the end of the year. Sirisena called snap elections for Jan. 5, but the opposition challenged the decision, and the dispute is in court. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Cloudy and windy. High 54F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph.. Tonight Rain likely. Low 39F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. The statement was made by NA Vice Chairman Do Ba Ty at a reception for Secretary of the Nur Otan Party Central Committee K.B. Zhumasev in Hanoi on November 21. The Vietnamese official hailed the visit as an important contribution to developing the relations between the two countries political parties. He spoke highly of the role played by the Nur Otan Party in the political system of Kazakhstan and expressed his belief that under the leadership of the party, Kazakhstan will further prosper in the future. Ty stressed that the Party, State and people of Vietnam never forget the valuable support and assistance the former Soviet Union countries, including Kazakhstan, have given to Vietnam during its past struggle for national independence and unification as well as current national development. Vietnam attaches importance to fostering the traditional friendship with Kazakhstan, he added. According to the NA Vice Chairman, the cooperation between the Vietnamese and Kazakhstani parliaments has been continuously consolidated and developed, both bilaterally and multilaterally. The two sides have maintained the exchange of high-level delegations and those of the legislatures committees. He said he wishes that the Nur Otan Party leaders will support the promotion of collaboration between the two countries legislative bodies, making it closer and more effective. For his part, K.B. Zhumasev said Vietnam is an important partner of Kazakhstan in the Southeast Asian region in terms of economy and politics. As Vietnam and Kazakhstan share a lot of similarities, the two countries may enhance cooperation and sharing of experience in lawmaking, supervision and deciding on major national issues, he said. A FIRE razed a girls hostel at Mbuyazwe Secondary School in Umguza District, Matabeleland North yesterday amid calls for security services to investigate the alarming cases of infernos being experienced around the country. The hostel, which also houses teachers was destroyed with property worth thousands of dollars burnt at 7AM after pupils had left for their classes. The incident comes at the back of a series of suspicious fires since last Saturday. On the day, a number of Mpilo Central Hospital doctors in Bulawayo were left homeless after an inferno engulfed their living quarters, destroying property worth about $300 000. On Monday, three shops in Kadoma Edgars, Jet and Coloursel were also razed in a blaze causing the destruction of furniture and clothing items worth thousands of dollars. On the same day, two thirds of the Glen View Area 8 Home Industry Complex along Willowvale Road in Harare was destroyed by a fire that broke out in the afternoon, destroying property worth millions of dollars belonging to informal traders On Tuesday, an inferno reduced to shells six cars at a car workshop just outside Siya So SMEs complex in Mbare, Harare. Matabeleland North provincial affairs minister Richard Moyo expressed shock at the incident calling for investigations. We dont know if these fires are a result of the heat we have been experiencing lately. However, on the other hand the incidents are worrying because in the past few days we have been hearing about alarming incidents of fires around the country. I think it is important that these incidents are investigated by authorities to establish the real causes behind and determine whether they are natural cases or there is a hidden hand, said Minister Moyo. I say so because we have seen some elements engaging in violence and destruction of property to express disgruntlement for their loss in the July elections and we need to know what really is happening. Acting Bulawayo Deputy Provincial Education Director Mr Thabani Sibanda said the cause of the fire at Mbuyazwe, located in Umguza, Matabeleland North, but administered under his province, was not known. We initially thought that the fire could have been caused by pupils who would have left a charcoal iron recklessly. But all the pupils said no one used it this morning hence ruling out that aspect. Even the Bulawayo Fire Brigade which attended the scene could not determine what caused the fire. They just said the fire cause was still under investigations, said Mr Sibanda. He said the Ministry told the pupils to go back home as they had lost everything in the inferno. Mr Sibanda said the Ministry is still assessing the value of property lost as the whole roof was burnt. The schools headmaster Mr Gordin Sithole said the school will require donors to rebuild saying most of the children were from poverty stricken families. This is a low cost boarding school and the gutting down of the building will hit hard those children as most of them are coming from poor families. We had to source transport to take them home and we hope they can come back on Sunday as they lost everything in the fire except for the uniforms they were putting on, said Mr Sithole. He said the school would be forced to house the girls at Mbuyazwe Primary School until the end of term. On Tuesday, MDC-T spokesperson Ms Linda Masarira revealed that the MDC-Alliance sent some of its members for military training in some southern African countries ahead of the July 30 harmonised elections and the recent outbreak of fires in some cities could be the work of such forces. Posting on her Twitter handle @lilomatic in the wake of a fire outbreak at Siyaso market in Magaba, Harare, Ms Masarira said some unruly elements from MDC-Alliance were trained by Serbians in some unnamed southern African countries. Could this be the work of some unruly elements who went for training by the Serbians in neighbouring southern African countries during the election period, she posted. In another tweet, Ms Masarira said: Kadoma Edgars and surrounding buildings in Kadoma town gutted by fire a few minutes ago. Glen View house furniture industry was gutted by fire as well earlier today. The frequency of these fires is mind-boggling. It seems like there is a deliberate planned dilemma action going on, said Ms Masarira. Goodness and Mercy Ministries church leader Tapiwa Freddy, who stands accused of rape, allegedly had sex with his victim only during her men... Professor Tawana Kupe has been appointed vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Pretoria. The professor is currently the vice-principal of the University of the Witwatersrand. Kupes appointment follows the resignation of Professor Cheryl de la Rey who will now serve as the VC of New Zealands University of Canterbury. The announcement was made in a press release on Wednesday evening. University of Pretoria council chairperson Futhi Mtobe said Prof Kupe brings years of experience to the position and is expected to be an asset in his new role. In response to his appointment, Prof Kupe said universities have a responsibility to to develop educated, well-informed and professionally skilled people who can address local and global challenges and contribute towards creating successful and thriving societies. To be able to play these critically important roles, universities must enjoy academic freedom and institutional autonomy, allow for freedom of inquiry and be transparent, accountable and ethical in their practices in all respects, he added. Prof Kupe holds a BA honours degree and masters in English from the University of Zimbabwe. He received his DPhil in media studies from Norways University of Oslo. He has lectured at Rhodes University and acted as head of the universitys Journalism Department. A MAN suspected to be Zimbabwean was arrested in South Africa for reportedly killing seven members of a South African family after raping three of them. The man (27) allegedly introduced himself to the Khoza family based in Vlakfontein, south of Johannesburg via Facebook, by claiming that he was a long lost relative by the name of Sibusiso Khoza. Media reports in South Africa say after introducing himself to the family, Khoza raped three members of the family before murdering three women and four children with the aid of an accomplice, Fita Khupe (61). The family members were reportedly discovered buried under mounds of soil inside their home in Gauteng after neighbours complained of a stench. Reports said Khoza was arrested in Mpumalanga near the Lebombo border post where he was found in possession of bank cards belonging to two of the victims while Khupe was arrested in Dobsonville, Soweto. They are both facing seven charges of premeditated murder and the pair is expected to appear in the Lenasia Magistrates Court on Tuesday. According to the reports, the case was postponed from Monday last week after the lawyer representing Khoza, Makau Sekgatja, told the court that his client wanted to apply for bail. Khoza and his co-accused, Khupe, are being accused of killing seven family members, including three women and four children. A police representative in Gauteng province Captain Mavela Masondo told TimesLIVE confirming the arrest of the duo. Prosecutors say the murder was a well-orchestrated crime. TimesLIVE also reported that one of the murdered women Nomfundo Khoza had sent frantic WhatsApp messages to her family moments before she died but when they phoned back there was no answer. Police discovered the bodies on October 29 after neighbours reported a stench leading authorities to the bodies of the three women and four children. Zimbabwes Consul General to South Africa Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro yesterday said he could not comment on the issue since the case was before the courts. After New Probe, Same Conclusion Into Death of Heiress' Employee (Newser) The Italian luxury fashion house Dolce & Gabbana apologized Wednesday for insulting remarks about China made on its Instagram accounts, but it also said the accounts had been hacked. Chinese celebrities reacted angrily after screenshots of the conversations were posted on social media, and several said they would boycott a Dolce & Gabbana show scheduled for Wednesday night in Shanghai. The company later said the show, an extravaganza meant as a tribute to China with Asian stars invited to take front-row seats, had been called off. The screenshots appear to show co-founder Stefano Gabbana referring to China with crude terms and emoji as he defends promotional videos that had sparked controversy earlier. Separately, the Dolce & Gabbana Instagram account used offensive language in another exchange. story continues below Dolce & Gabbana apologized on Instagram and said the accounts had been hacked. "We are very sorry for any distress caused by these unauthorized posts," it said. "We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China." Zhang Ziyi, who starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, said on one of her social media accounts that the Italian brand had "disgraced itself." The studio for pop idol Karry Wang, an Asia-Pacific brand ambassador for Dolce & Gabbana, informed the fashion house that it would terminate all cooperation with the brand. Stefano Gabbana also wrote on his Instagram that his account had been hacked, adding, "I love China and Chinese culture. I'm sorry for what happened." The three promotional videos feature a Chinese woman using chopsticks to eat pizza and other Italian food. Chinese social media users called the videos racist. (Read more Dolce and Gabbana stories.) (Newser) A FedEx driver in Portland, Oregon, will not face charges after he landed a fatal punch against a man hurling racial slurs at him, reports the Oregonian. The unusual case involves Timothy Warren, a 41-year-old black FedEx driver, and Joseph Magnuson, a 55-year-old white man. Police say Warren was driving through a Portland neighborhood in September when Magnuson began screaming at him to slow down. However, three witnesses told officers that Warren was not speeding. After Warren stopped his vehicle and got out, Magnuson called him the n-word repeatedly, then took a swing at Warren that missed, say police. At that point, Warren landed a punch above Magnuson's eye that knocked him down. Magnuson lost consciousness briefly and died later in the evening, reports the Washington Post. story continues below Oregon law contains no duty to retreat and Mr. Warren was within his right to exit his vehicle and verbally challenge the manner in which Mr. Magnuson was addressing him, wrote Adam Gibbs, senior deputy district attorney in Multnomah County, explaining the decision not to prosecute. "Mr. Magnuson was the initial verbal aggressor; Mr. Warren responded in kind. Mr. Magnuson then escalated and became the initial physical aggressor; Mr. Warren again responded in kind. The DA's office acknowledges that Magnuson would likely be alive today had Warren not stopped his vehicle, but it says Warren's decision to answer the "racist vitriol" is "not of legal consequence." Also of note: The medical examiner said Magnuson had been in "extremely poor health." (This woman was arrested after a racist note to her neighbors.) (Newser) Investigators still haven't settled on the cause of the California wildfire that has killed more than 80 people so far, but another lawsuit is pinning the blame squarely on the utility Pacific Gas & Electric. The AP reports that Neva Rodrigues, whose 73-year-old father was killed in the fire, has sued the utility for negligence. At least two other lawsuits have been filed against PG&E by people who lost their homes. The suits hinge on a fact that could prove to be financially catastrophic to the utility: PG&E reported an outage on a transmission line in the same area and around the same time as the fire began. story continues below If investigators prove a link, the liability damages could be huge. An insurance risk consultant has estimated the total financial damage to be somewhere between $7 billion and $10 billion, reports the Sacramento Bee. Given the possibility that PG&E could be forced into bankruptcy, Democratic state lawmaker Chris Holden is preparing legislation that would give the utility stronger financial protections. A fellow Democrat, Jerry Hill, derided that as a "Thanksgiving gift for PG&E shareholders, directors and executives," while victims of the fire spend the holiday in tents, per the San Jose Mercury News. (President Trump's suggestion about raking the forest didn't go over well.) (Newser) Piers Morgan clashed with Ariana Grande and Ariana Grande's mother on Twitter Wednesdayand it did not go well for the British TV presenter. In what Cosmopolitan calls a "spectacular takedown," Grande stepped in after her mother criticized tweets from Morgan in which he accused the band Little Mix of plagiarizing a Dixie Chicks cover and said Ellen DeGeneres was a hypocrite for admiring men's bodies. Morgan slammed Little Mix for posing nude with insults written on them for a video. He also attacked member Jesy Nelson for posing in her underwear, saying she should "put some clothes on" because "she looks ridiculous," Variety reports. He told Joan Grande he would "prefer they use their talent to sell records rather than their nudity ... as your own daughter does!" Morgan is "known for being a provocateur" on these issues, the BBC notes. story continues below Ariana Grande then entered the fray, tweeting: "I use my talent AND my sexuality all the time because i choose to. women can be sexual AND talented. naked and dignified. its OUR choice." In a follow-up tweet, she told the 53-year-old Morgan she looks forward "to the day you realize there are other ways to go about making yourself relevant than to criticize young, beautiful, successful women for everything they do. i think thatll be a beautiful thing for you and your career or whats left of it." She also tweeted a photo of Morgan posing topless by a fire, saying: "When you do it, it's OK though, right?" Morgan later invited Grande to appear on his Good Morning Britain show and was rejected, USA Today reports. (Morgan also has beef with Chrissy Teigen.) (Newser) Forensic experts in Sri Lanka have been handed the awful task of tracing more than 230 bodies in the country's largest known mass grave. Uncovered in Mannar in March by workers digging a foundation for a building, the grave had produced 90 skeletons by August, though that number has since grown to 232, per ColomboPage. To be sent to Florida to undergo radiocarbon dating and other tests, the remains found at "a former co-operative depot near the main bus terminus" are believed to belong to victims of a 26-year civil war during which at least 100,000 people were killed, reports the BBC. Showcasing photos of several missing people, the Guardian reports another 65,000 disappeared between 1983 and 2009, when fighting ended between Sri Lankan security forces and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels. story continues below Locals say hundreds of people disappeared from Mannar specifically. The town dominated by ethnic minority Tamils was under government control for most of the war, with rebels occupying its surrounding areas, per the BBC, which adds that the remains of nearly 100 people were found in another mass grave in Mannar in 2014. It's still unclear who was placed there and by whom; the army denies solders were involved. With partial funding from the Office on Missing Persons, an independent body set up by the government this year, forensic experts now hope to unravel a second mystery hidden within the latest "chaotic" grave. It's "very difficult to trace the stature of the bodies" as bones are scattered or missing, lead archaeologist Raj Somadeva tells the BBC, noting porcelain, ceramic, metal objects, and jewelry were also found. (Thousands of bodies have been found in Iraq.) Politburo member Thuong made the statement while hosting a reception for a delegation of the Nur Otan Party, led by K.B. Zhumasev, Secretary of the partys Central Committee, in Hanoi on November 20. He expressed his belief that Kazakhstan will reap further success in its nation building and development under the leadership of the ruling Nur Otan Party and President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Thuong affirmed that the Nur Otan Party delegations visit and the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the CPV will help strengthen political ties between the two parties and create a significant foundation to bolster Vietnam-Kazakhstan cooperation in the time to come. For his part, Zhumasev briefed his host on the development of Kazakhstan and the Nur Otan Party in particular. He stressed that the country has paid heed to the acceleration of its traditional friendship and cooperation with Vietnam, voicing his hope that the MoU will further promote relations between the two parties and nations in the future. The same day, Zhumasev met with Hoang Binh Quan, member of the CPVCC and head of its Commission for External Relations. The two sides informed each other about the current situation in each party and country, as well as discussing global issues of concern and ways to extend ties between the two parties and countries, and the development of youths. Following the meeting, the two sides inked an MoU on cooperation between the two parties. On November 21, the delegation was welcomed by Hoang Trung Hai, Politburo member and Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee. The two sides exchanged views on cooperation between Hanoi and Astana, and discussed measures to enhance cooperation between the cities in the time ahead. (Newser) Another disturbing twist in the New Jersey mansion fire case: Authorities have confirmed that all four members of a family were murdered before their Colts Neck home was set on fire Tuesday. Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said Wednesday that the case had "transcended" from an arson investigation to a multiple homicide case. "Our investigation has revealed that unfortunately, sadly, each of these individuals were the victims of homicidal violence at some point prior to when the fire was set," he said, adding that investigators believe the family "in some form or fashion was targeted." An official tells ABC that the killer shot 50-year Keith Caneiro, whose body was found on the lawn. story continues below Caneiro's 45-year-old wife, Jennifer, and their children, 11-year-old son Jesse and 8-year-old daughter Sophia, were stabbed, the official says. Their badly burned bodies were found inside the mansion. Gramiccioni said he could not confirm or deny that Paul Caneiro, Keith Caneiro's 51-year-old brother, was a suspect in the killings, the AP reports. Paul Caneiro was arrested Wednesday and charged with setting his own home on fire while his wife and children were inside. That fire happened almost eight hours before his brother's home less than 15 miles away was set ablaze, though neighbors say Paul Caneiro remained on the scene for hours "with tears in his eyes," NJ.com reports. The brothers were business partners in the Square One technology firm. (Read more arson stories.) (Newser) Employees of Moorestown, NJ-based Bayada Home Health Care have an extra reason to be thankful this holiday. "I'm taking $20 million, dividing it up and giving it to everybody," Mark Baiada, chairman and founder of the $1.4 billion private nursing company, announced at a staff holiday luncheon Tuesday in Philadelphia, per CBS Philadelphia. Baiada tells Yahoo News the money was doled out to 32,000 employees, including some recent retirees, based on years of service. New hires received $50, while some long-term workers received five figures. Pediatric nurse Nicole Green, who's worked at the company for three years, tells Yahoo her payout will go toward her daughter's college tuition. "Everyone was in awe," the 48-year-old says. "Mark totally surprised us." story continues below "I wanted to show some gratitude to everybody for all the hard work you've done taking care of our clients," Baiada told the crowd at Philadelphia's Bellevue Hotel. "My wife Ann watches The Bachelor and said it was better than the most dramatic rose ceremony ever," the 71-year-old father of five jokes of his announcement, per Yahoo. The move comes ahead of Bayada's transition into a nonprofit early next year. "I don't really need the money, so we're going to turn [the company] over to a newly created nonprofit that's all mission-driven," Baiada previously told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Green expects to be around for the long haul. "He didn't have to do this," she says of Baiada. "I've only worked at Bayada a short time, but I'm a lifelong employee now." (In California, an example of "what Thanksgiving's about.") (Newser) Barack Obama paid a surprise visit to a Chicago food bank before Thanksgivingand stuck around to help volunteers bag potatoes. "Hey, how's it going?" the former president said, per the Chicago Sun-Times. "This is a spiffy-looking spot, right here." Children ran up for hugs in video tweeted by the food bank. Obama, who still lives in Washington, was in town for the Obama Foundation Summit before the Tuesday visit to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which provides around 160,000 meals daily, the Hill reports. "Thanks to the Chicago @FoodDepository team for all you do and to the volunteers who are doing great work and let me crash today," Obama tweeted. "Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!" (Two years ago, Obama marked his final Thanksgiving in the White House.) (Newser) What's one more murder when it might secure you a spot in a cushier prison? That was allegedly the thinking of a Brazilian cartel boss jailed in Paraguay, who authorities say killed a woman in his high-security cell in the hope that fresh charges would prevent him being extradited home, where guards aren't so easily bribed. Unfortunately for Marcelo Pinheiroa leader of the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) criminal group, wanted in Brazil since 2012 on murder, armed robbery, drug-trafficking, and other chargesonly the first part of the alleged scheme went to plan. Authorities say Pinheiro, also known as Marcelo Piloto, received an 18-year-old woman into his cell Saturday before knocking her unconscious and fatally stabbing her 16 times with a dessert knife, per the Guardian. story continues below Pinheiro's lawyer, who visited shortly before Lidia Meza came calling for unknown reasons, immediately called for murder charges to be laid in Paraguay. But Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez wasn't having it. He ordered Pinheiro's extradition to Brazil, where the cartel boss is now held in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison, per the Guardian. At the time of his arrest in Paraguay last December, Reuters referred to Pinheiro as "Brazil's most wanted arms trafficker," noting he'd allegedly funneled arms, ammunition, and drugs to Brazilian communities via Paraguay. Saturday's murder comes a little over a week after the targeted assassination of Pinheiro's former lawyer in a Paraguayan city near the Brazilian border, per the Buenos Aires Times. (El Chapo's trial is underway in New York.) (Newser) Nissan has followed up on its promise to remove Chairman Carlos Ghosn. The auto company's board voted Thursday to oust its arrested leader, accused of underreporting his income by more than $44 million, and senior executive Greg Kelly, who was allegedly involved in the scheme, per the BBC. The 64-year-old Ghosn, who headed a three-firm alliance, remains chairman and CEO of Renault, though Mitsubishi has asked its board to remove him. Per the New York Times, Nissan's move won't be official until a full shareholder vote, which is required for such a removal under Japanese corporate law. (More on Ghosn's alleged crimes here.) (Newser) "HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!" was President Trump's early morning Turkey Day tweet to America, sandwiched in between a post about the "mean & nasty world out there, the Middle East in particular" and a continuation of his public pushback against Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Trump earned a rare rebuke Wednesday from Roberts, who criticized the president for going after California federal Judge Jon Tigar, who didn't rule the way Trump wanted on his administration's asylum policy. Trump railed against that ruling, calling Tigar an "Obama judge." Roberts' retort to that, per the Hill: "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them." story continues below Trump hit back at Roberts on Wednesday, and then again Thursday morning. "Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster," he tweeted. "It is out of control, has a horrible reputation, is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country, 79%, & is used to get an almost guaranteed result." He continued: "Judges must not Legislate Security and Safety at the Border, or anywhere else. They know nothing about it and are making our Country unsafe. Our great Law Enforcement professionals MUST BE ALLOWED TO DO THEIR JOB! If not there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death. We want the Constitution as written!" Some have already started the fact-checking on the president's tweets, calling them misleading. Trump is spending the holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. (More on Trump's previous criticism of Roberts here.) (Newser) Delta confirmed that Atlanta police met a flight en route from Reagan Washington National Airport in DC on Wednesday "due to a customer's behavior on board the flight." A passenger who was reportedly on Flight 1822 provided a little more color on Twitter: "Today a man on my plane went on an anti-Semitic tirade and demanded 'all Jews raise their hands' so he could 'indentify [sic] them. Later, during the arrest he protested and resisted arrest.'" story continues below WXIA confirms that latter part to be the case by way of the Atlanta PD, which said the man, identified as David Toaff, "continued the disturbance" at the gate. It's captured on video, in which someone off-camera can be heard telling him, "You're a Nazi." Toaff was ultimately arrested and charged with obstruction and disorderly conduct. The AP reports Toaff, identified as being in his mid- to late-30s, was still jailed as of Thursday morning. (And now, a truly uplifting story involving a flight attendant.) (Newser) Around 40 Dallas residents are homeless for Thanksgiving but thankful to be alive after what the Dallas Morning News describes as a "brutal" fire at an apartment complex. Three people including a firefighter were injured Wednesday, per NBC DFW, though rescuers and residents likely prevented further calamity. They banged on doors around 7am as flames erupted from the upper floor of one of the three-story Meadows at Ferguson apartment buildings in Dallas' northeast. At one point, a 1-year-old girl was dropped out of a window, safely landing in the arms of passerby Byron Campbell. "The young mother was holding her baby and yelling, 'Can somebody catch my baby?'" he tells the Morning News. "I just said, 'Trust me, I'll catch her!'" story continues below "I didn't know if that was going to be the last time I was holding my child," mother Shuntara Thomas tells WFAA. She ended up jumping to safety along with the child's father, who needed 22 stitches after breaking their unit's windows. Three others also jumped, helped by first-floor residents who dragged out mattresses, per NBC DFW. "I had just got that big, thick mattress, but I was glad to get it used that way," says one such resident. He likely has little to his name now. The 24-unit complex was ruled structurally unsafe and turned to rubble, along with most of the residents' belongings, before the day was up. Thomas sees the bright side, however. "My child gets to live another day because of [Campbell]," she says. (Read more Dallas stories.) (Newser) President Trump on Thursday threatened to close the entire border with Mexico if the "bad situation" becomes "uncontrollable," reports the AP. He was referencing the migrant caravan located in Tijuana in his conversation with reporters, in which he said if it "gets to a level where were going to lose control or people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for period of time until we can get it under control. The whole border." Trump also said this has actually already happened, in what the Hill reports was an apparent reference to traffic lanes near a port of entry in San Diego being closed. story continues below "Two days ago, we closed the border. We actually just closed it. We said, 'Nobodys coming in.' Because its out of control." Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen earlier this week explained the closures by saying a group of migrants had intended to "rush the border." As for Trump's Thursday comments, he also added that he has authorized US troops to use force against migrants if needed. "I hope they don't have to," he says, but he "had no choice" because "you're dealing with rough people." (Read more President Trump stories.) (Newser) In a session with reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Thanksgiving, President Trump was pressed about Jamal Khashoggi's death and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's role in it, and the president didn't budge. The Washington Post reports he held his position of refusing to blame MBS. "He denies it vehemently," Trump said, declining to get more specific than "maybe he did, maybe he didn't [order it]." He continued, "I hate the crime, I hate the coverup. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, and they have vehemently denied it." As for the CIA's position, Trump said the agency had "feelings" but did not assign blame. "The CIA doesnt say [he] did it. They do point out certain things, and in pointing out those things, you can conclude that maybe he did or maybe he didnt." story continues below So who is to blame? "Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place," he said. Politico reports Trump was asked whether the CIA was in possession of a recording that would prove MBS was involved. "I dont want to talk about it. Youll have to ask them," he said. That question followed a Thursday report in Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News that claims the CIA has listened to a "smoking gun phone call" involving MBS. USA Today, which like other US media outlets could not verify the report, has a key line from it: "The crown prince gave an instruction to silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible and this instruction was captured during [a] CIA wiretapping." (Trump also discussed closing the whole border with Mexico.) Accordingly, the two sides will promote collaboration in industrial development, agriculture, transport, the environment, the fourth Industrial Revolution, healthcare, education, tourism, culture and Francophone issues. Among the 25 projects there are 13 new ones, including a project on enhancing professional and French language skills for journalists of the Vietnam News Agency. The 10th meeting of the Vietnam Wallonie-Bruxelles Joint Committee took place from November 20-21 under the chair of Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang and General Director of Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI) Pascale Delcomminette. At the meeting, Pascale Delcomminette highlighted the close cooperation between Vietnam and Wallonie-Bruxelles over the past 25 years with many useful projects. Wallonie-Bruxelles will coordinate with the Wallonie Export-Investment Agency (AWEX) in Vietnam and competent agencies to seek cooperation opportunities and to serve the implementation of joint projects. For his part, Thang applauded the support of the Belgian Government and people in general and the Wallonie-Bruzelles region in particular for Vietnams development. The freshly-inked projects will contribute to materialising commitments made by Governments of the two countries in the spirit of the Vietnam-Belgium joint statement issued during the official visit to Belgium by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last October, he said. During the two-day meeting, the two sides reviewed outcomes of cooperation between Vietnam and Wallonie-Bruxelles in the 2016-2018 period and also discussed the building of action plans and cooperation programmes over the next three years. They said projects deployed over the past three years have brought about benefits to both sides and agreed to pay more attention to applied research towards a cooperation programme on industrial and economic development, in the context of the Vietnamese Government striving to turn the country into a startup nation. 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe The Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat) has signed an agreement with the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA). Derasat Board of Trustees Chairman Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalid sealed the deal with GCCIA Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Al Ibrahim. GCCIA Power Trade Senior Executive Chief Dr Mohammed Al Hamad attended the signing ceremony. The agreement aims to bolster joint cooperation, exchange expertise, conduct studies and researches, particularly in the sectors of renewable energy and energy security. Dr Shaikh Abdulla welcomed cooperation with the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) towards achieving the desired goals in the framework of the 2030 Bahrain Economic Vision. He stressed the importance of promoting energy security as a vital cornerstone to strengthen sustainable development and bolster power interconnection. He stressed Derasat-led drive to give priority to promote energy-related issues, achieve sustainable development and promote renewable energy and energy security. He underlined Bahrains drive, led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to achieve the national goals related to sustainable development and renewable energy, said Dr Shaikh Abdulla. He briefed the GCCIA officials about the Derasat-led activities and functions, as well as efforts to promote the assessment of services, competence building and conduct researches and surveys. GCCIA Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Al-Ibrahim expressed at cooperating with the Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat), which is a considered as respectable think tank in the Middle East. Experts in ICT and the digital content sector gathered at an international seminar in Hanoi on November 22 to discuss practice guides for local digital content development and support in ASEAN countries. The event was held by the National Institute of Information and Communications Strategy (NIICS), under the Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC). Reports by NIICS at the seminar showed that the ASEAN community of more than 400 million people is a huge ecosystem for the development of digital content. The annual revenue of the ASEAN digital content industry currently stands at US$150 billion, of which US$5-7 billion is from copyright and US$55-65 billion from digital content services. Vietnam is not out of the trend as the country ranks first in the top 10 countries with e-learning growth, surpassing both Thailand and China. By the end of 2016 Vietnam had 309 projects investing in online education and training with a total registered capital of over US$767 million. By 2017, Vietnam had 32.8 million gamers, accounting for 35% the population. The gaming sectors revenue in 2018 is forecast to reach US$145 million and could be up US$208 million by 2022. The country also leads the region with 92% of online video watchers per week, followed by the Philippines (85%), Indonesia (81%), Thailand (76%) and Malaysia (74%). Meanwhile, mobile advertising revenue in 2017 reached US$78 million and the figure is forecast to reach more than US$200 million by 2020. However, challenges remain ahead as there are many ASEAN people who are still not connected to the network, said Trieu Minh Long, Deputy General Director of the MICs International Cooperation Department. In order to increase the number of people connecting to the network, one of the best solutions is to promote local digital content, but this work is still weak as a lack of local content is a challenge for increasing network connectivity, Long added. According to Assoc Prof., Dr. Tran Minh Tuan, Vice President of NIICS, in order to create a breakthrough in this area, it is necessary to address barriers to creativity, promote the development of mobile financial services and e-commerce, and build broadband networks, accompanied with increasing awareness on digital content services and promoting local digital ecosystems. Effective models in digital content development from the Republic of Korea and other ASEAN nations were shared at the event. (Photo: NDO/Trung Hung) Experts at the seminar discussed solutions for digital content development in ASEAN, especially in competition with data sources and digital content from tech giants such as Netflix, Spotify, Google and YouTube, as well as copyright and digital content management issues. They also surveyed effective models in promoting digital content in ASEAN countries for their digital content development strategy in each nation, in line with the traditional cultures, as well as towards new technologies around the world whilst still retaining the identity of ASEAN nations. For Vietnam, Dr. Tuan said that the MIC aims to secure the infrastructure, the internet and server systems to ensure that digital content is accessible to the public, while boosting the development of data centres in Vietnam to facilitate operators of digital content and suppliers in not having to store data outside of the country. In order to develop digital content in a healthy manner, the MIC is also aiming to build local social networks developed by Viettel and VCCorp, as well as continuing to promote social networks on the Zalo platform and facilitating development of search systems in Vietnam. A 17-year-old Bahraini student will spend the next years in prison for attacking an on-duty police officer. The defendant was held while trying to protect his girlfriend who was arrested for prostitution. I was assigned to arrest women working as prostitutes. We were on duty when a 17-year-old boy came to us and tried to obstruct our task. I asked his ID card and he said he doesnt have one, the victim said. Then, I directed him to leave because he was hindering our mission. However, he began shouting at me, pushed and punched me in my face and tore off my uniform. The defendant was arrested and was charged with attacking an on-duty police officer. The Bahrain Cinema Club will host its second edition of Bahrain Cinema Club Competition for filmmakers in Bahrain to provide them with a platform for showcasing their talent. The competition, which will be held under the patronage of Shaikha Hala bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, General Manager for Culture and Arts, Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, will begin on November 25 and will continue until November 29. Speaking to Tribune, Mohammed Ebrahim, Head of Film Showcasing Department, said, The Bahrain Cinema Club Competition 2018 is one of the important activities and programmes on the clubs agenda. The films will be professionally reviewed in terms of sound, image and relevance. We will leave the relevant committee to express their opinion and final evaluation on the last day of the festival. A top-level Bahraini delegation yesterday announced signing a deal with Hebei, an essential region of Chinas economy to explore opportunities to drive growth. The delegation led by Capital Governor Sheikh Hisham Bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa and organised by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) signed the deal with XU Qin, Governor of Hebei and a number of local government officials and business leaders in Shijiazhuang. The parties also attended the Bahrain Hebei Business Forum to discuss opportunities and strengthen cooperation. These come as part of the delegations nine-day visit to Chinas principal commercial centres as Bahrain continues to develop business relationships across China. The deals are in addition to the eight landmark agreement signed by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) delegation to deepen economic ties with Shenzhen last week. Bahraini delegation also signed four major deals with the Bahrain Zhejiang Business Forum in Hangzhou to explore cross-border commerce Capital Governor Sheikh Hisham Bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa said, As part of the Jing-Jin-Ji Economic Zone and the Bohai Bay Economic Region, Hebei plays a critical role in Chinas economic growth and development. The forum helps both Bahrain the Province of Hebei to better understand the business and regulatory environment, allowing for even further cooperation, said Liu Xiaojun, Director-general of Foreign Affairs Office of Hebei Province. He added: We would like to take this opportunity to enhance our partnership with Bahrain and look to build a new chapter to encourage mutual growth. Speaking on the occasion, Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of Bahrain EDB told conference participants that Bahrain is looking forward to working with the Hebei government to create a supportive environment that can facilitate and promote business partnerships between Bahrain and Hebei. The Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) has been awarded the Gold Medal for excellence in health, safety and environmental conservation. The recognition came on the sidelines of the International Fertilizer Associations (IFA) Strategic Forum hosted by the Chinese capital, Beijing, on November 13 and 14. In a statement, GPIC President Dr Abdulrahman Jawahery said the company is committed to the principles of health, safety and environmental protection for years and aware of all the risks and environmental threats resulting from Bahrains industrial boom. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Chinese and Indian Government and other top speakers. An overview of the rapid changes in Chinese and Indian political trends and the impact of these rapid transformations on the global fertilizer industry were discussed. Both India and China account for 42 per cent of world demand, while their share of production is about 38 per cent The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Bahrain (TRA) has been selected as the winner of the Regulatory Initiative of the Year Award for 2018 by CommsMEA. The recognition came during the 13th edition of the annual CommsMEA Awards held in Dubai last week. The award recognises the authoritys commitment to prioritizing the deployment of public radiocommunications stations and the recent issuance of the Public Radiocommunications Stations Regulation. This is an essential step towards enabling the deployment of future wireless technologies using state-of-the-art stations but at the same time considering public concerns and environmental impacts, the authority said. TRAs Acting General Director Shaikh Nasser Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa said, There is no doubt that this Regulation is placing the Authority in a pioneering position within the MENA region with respect to the effective deployment of wireless stations. The Regulation assigns TRA to deploy a fully automated permitting system that reduces the lead-time to market and encourages increased sharing practices of new and existing stations, Shaikh Nasser added. Deputy Premier and President of the Supreme Council for the Development of Education and Training, HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, patronised the ceremony held by the Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA), marking its 10th anniversary. Deputy Premier and first BQAs Board of Directors Chairman, Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, and ministers attended the event. In a statement, HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak said BQAs establishment represented a quantum leap in education in Bahrain, noting that it is among the initiatives launched by the Supreme Council for the Development of Education and Training for the aim of developing education and strengthening the kingdoms educational status at the regional and global levels. Thanks to the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, support of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and direct follow-up of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, efforts will continue to develop education and training in the kingdom. The deputy premier asserted that Bahrains educational renaissance which began in 1919 with the construction of the Al Hidaya Al Khalifya as the first official school in Bahrain, adding that Bahrain celebrate the centennial of official education in Bahrain next year. Transportation and Telecommunication Minister and Deputy BQAs Board of Directors Chairman, Kamal Ahmed, in his statement, expressed pride in BQA, describing it as a national monument that has been implemented by national competencies and gained the kingdom local, regional and international acclaim. He affirmed that BQA was launched in line with the belief of HRH the Crown Prince and the support of Deputy Premier, HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak within an integrated project to develop education and training. BQAs Chief Executive, Dr Jawaher Shaheen Al Mudhahki, gave a presentation about the Education and Training Development Project, and BQAs history since its establishment until 2008. The ceremony featured a presentation, themed External Quality Assurance - Towards a Knowledge-based Economy, by international expert, Peter Cheungi, who praised Bahrains experience in the field of education development and quality assurance practices within HM the Kings comprehensive Reform Project. The deputy premier also inaugurated BQAs book on BQA, entitled A Decade of Development, which highlights BQAs establishment by Bahraini competencies in 2008 and its achievements over the past decade. He also inaugurated BQAs new-look bilingual website, and presented the international speaker and BQAs board members with commemorative shields. BQAs deputy board chairman also honoured 32 BQAs staff who have served for ten years. Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 32-year-old man over the alleged taking of images deemed obscene of a sixth-year elementary school girl earlier this year, reports TV Asahi (Nov. 21). In June, Nobuyuki Metsugi, a part-time employee, allegedly used a smartphone to take photographs of the lower body of the girl, then 11, at a hotel in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture while knowing she was under the age of 18. Metsugi admits to the allegations, according to the Chofu Police Station. Metsugi go to know the girl through an introduction provided by an acquaintance. After the girl was taken into protective custody by police later in June, police examined her mobile telephone and discovered correspondence with the suspect. A search of the residence of Metsugi in Ebina City by police resulted in the discovery of nude images of other girls on a computer. Police are now investigating the suspect over possible involvement in other crimes. - tokyoreporter.com Ibaraki Prefecture is developing a series of new PR strategies after struggling for years to move up in a private think tank survey that ranks the appeal of all 47 prefectures. Ibaraki has ranked lowest in the survey for six years in a row despite various attempts to improve, in a situation that alarms Ibaraki Prefectural Government. "We are afraid that everyone will think Ibaraki's appeal is the worst in the country if the situation doesn't improve," prefectural officials said. "We are getting so much attention now as Ibaraki has been ranked at the bottom for six years in a row," Ibaraki Gov. Kazuhiko Oigawa said jokingly to reporters at an Oct. 25 event celebrating the interior remodeling of a prefecture-themed satellite shop in Tokyo's Ginza district. The satellite shop, called "IBARAKI sense," is aimed at promoting regional goods to attract visitors to the prefecture. But behind the joviality, prefectural officials are distressed. When the annual ranking was announced last month, they were again disappointed. "We honestly don't know what to do to move up the ranking," an official said. Since 2009 the Brand Research Institute, Inc., a Tokyo-based think tank, has annually released an appeal ranking based on criteria such as each prefecture's degree of recognition and visitors' experiences. In this year's ranking, Hokkaido was No. 1, earning 59.7 points, whereas Ibaraki only received 8 points. Apart from when it ranked second from last place in 2012, the prefecture has been at the bottom every year. - Japan Times Held under the theme "the transition to sustainable cities and territories: the role of Africa's local and regional governments," the Africities Summit aims at defining shared strategies in order to improve the living conditions of people. The participants will discuss alternative policies leading to environmental sustainability and social inclusion in Africa. The summit gathers ministers, officials, civil society organizations, associations and trade unions, economic operators, researchers and academics and international cooperation agencies. Africities Summit is the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa's flagship pan-African event that is held every three years in one of the five regions of Africa. The Nigerian Election Debate Group has fixed December 14, 2018 for a debate for presidential candidates of different political parties taking part in the 2019 elections.The vice presidential candidates are billed to have their debate on January 19, 2019.The groups chairman, Mr. John Momoh, disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.Momoh who is also the chairman of the Broadcasting Organisation added that the debates will hold at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja and will be broadcast live by all BON members.President Muhammadu Buhari is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate.The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar with Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate. Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday sealed six landed properties allegedly owned by Ayo Fayo... Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday sealed six landed properties allegedly owned by Ayo Fayose, former governor of Ekiti. NAN reports that the sealing may be connected to a court order which authorised the seizure of the property suspected to have been built with corrupt proceeds. The anti-graft had pressed charges against Fayose in a federal high court Lagos on allegations of fraud while serving as governor. Parts of the notice of seizure placed by the anti-graft body on the property in Ado Ekiti, read thus: EFCC, Keep-off, Property under Investigation among others. Fayose has accused the EFCC of sealing property owned by innocent individuals under the guise that they belong to him. The former governor said this in a statement signed by Lere Olayinka, his media assistant. Fayose said: I have just been informed that operatives of the EFCC are going about sealing houses of innocent people in the state, under the guise that the houses are linked to me This is another wild goose chase and the usual media campaign against my person. It is only in our country that an anti corruption agency will first go about sealing houses before determining the ownership, which can be done so easily by visiting relevant agencies. I am therefore, informing the public ahead of their usual blackmail and media trial. Please note that none of the property in question is owned by me and the records are there for anyone that is interested to see The EFCC is advised to stop going about looking for ways to malign my person just because of their hatred as a result of my uncompromising stands on national issues. A member of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Samuel Omotoso, has said that a two-storey commercial building located at Okesa Market and ... A member of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Samuel Omotoso, has said that a two-storey commercial building located at Okesa Market and sealed by the EFCC, belongs to him.Agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had sealed off a number of buildings in Ekiti State purportedly belonging to ex-Governor Ayo Fayose.Omotoso described the EFCC action as political infringement on my property and personal harassment.The lawmaker added that the EFCC action was as a result of his loyalty to Fayose, saying: This attempt to malign my name by EFCC by linking my family property to Dr. Ayo Fayose is political and was done in clear bad faith.A simple check at the land registry would have put paid to this unnecessary exercise and the accompanying media sensation, as all documents relating to the joint ownership of the said property by my family is in the public domain, Omotoso said.Fayose has since denied ownership of the buildings, as contained in a press release by his media aide, Mr. Lere Olayinka. The Presidency, yesterday, told the people of South-East zone of the country that their political investment in the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari in next years election will determine their fate in 2023.The Presidency also said the South-East people are integral part of the country and would be accorded appropriate place in the scheme of things.Speaking to newsmen after a meeting between President Buhari and the South-East governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said the visit was remarkable and had corrected the impression that the Federal Government was not doing anything for the people of the zone.According to him, we received a very high-powered delegation today (yesterday) and I think it is a remarkable visit because they came essentially to thank Mr. President over the major activities that have taken place in the South-East.On whether President Buhari solicited the votes of the South-East at the meeting, the SGF said: This obviously might not be the most appropriate time.You remember there was a programme in the South-East where Mr. President asked me to represent him and I threw the kite by telling the south-eastern states that their quickest and easiest means to the presidency is to support President Muhammadu Buharis second term.Meaning that they can short-circuit the period in terms of only having him there for another four years and whatever they do in 2019 will determine what will happen thereafter, because politics is a game of numbers and it is like a cooperative society.Meanwhile, Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, had led South-East governors to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.The delegation was on a thank-you visit to the President for the award of the second Niger Bridge and some other projects in the zone and also to complain about the award of the rail project in the zone while the rail project in the Western corridor had been awarded.But President Buhari promised that all the projects in the zone will be funded and that the seven months delay in the passage of the budget would not affect the projects. Some ministers who served under former president Goodluck Jonathan have angrily reacted to some of the claims by him in his book, My ... Some ministers who served under former president Goodluck Jonathan have angrily reacted to some of the claims by him in his book, My Transition Hours, released on Tuesday. Commenting on his acclaimed concession call to President Muhammadu Buhari while the final results of the 2015 presidential election were yet to be announced, Jonathan said he rebuffed advice from ministers and an aide not to concede. Those he named as having advised him are Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (then minister of finance), Mohammed Bello Adoke (attorney-general), Osita Chidoka (aviation), and Warpamowei Dudafa (senior special assistant on domestic affairs). Jonathan wrote: They were recommending sundry alternatives, but I was quiet in the midst of their discussions. I hugged my thought, figuring out how to do that which was best for the country. My personal interest was receding rapidly and the interest of Nigeria looming large. Let the country survive. Let democracy survive. My political ambition is not worth people being soaked in blood. I excused myself and left the sitting room. I walked into my study. Even there, my mantra was a strong circle around me, supporting and comforting me.Let the country survive. Let democracy survive. My political ambition is not worth people being soaked in blood. However, a former minister, who spoke with TheCable, has described Jonathans version of the events as a big lie. Let him enjoy the euphoria of his book launch first, but those he has defamed will surely respond in due course, the former minister said, adding that Jonathan, by his latest claims, may finally demystify himself over the concession speech which had elevated his status internationally. Another former minster who spoke with the online medium but also refused to be identified described Jonathans version of events as most unfair and petty. The impression the former president is trying to create is that the people came to tell him not to concede. In truth, Jonathan was being persuaded by a former south-south governor not to concede, so some ministers were quickly invited to come and counter the plot, the former minister said. What would Okonjo-Iweala, Adoke and Chidoka be doing at the villa at that time if not that something was going wrong? Is Jonathan trying to say he was not involved in Elder Godsday Orubebes attempt to disrupt the announcement of the results? Is Jonathan trying to claim innocence of a plot to secure a court injunction to stop INEC from further announcing the results? Jonathan needs to be a man of honour. Here are the other versions of the concession story as narrated in books by Okonjo-Iweala, who was a witness; Olusegun Adeniyi, celebrated journalist and author; and Bolaji Abdullahi, former minister of sport. OKONJO-IWEALAS VERSION Okonjo-Iweala said she whispered to Jonathan to concede Okonjo-Iweala wrote that when she got to the villa on March 31, she found a group of politicians urging Jonathan not to accept defeat and another group asking him to throw in the towel. At the Villa, I was met outside the residence by Osita Chidoka, who collected my input for the (concession) speech and told me the president was in the residence. When I entered the Villa, the president was in one of the living rooms with the Vice President, some advisers, and a group of politicians who were arguing passionately about the conduct of the elections and irregularities of which they said they had evidence, such as videos of underage voting in certain parts of the country. They were urging the president not to concede the election. More politicians came in and joined them. On the opposite side of the room were the Minister of Aviation Osita Chidoka; the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke; and the Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina. They were relaying a dissenting view, arguing that the president should concede. I was immediately drawn into the argument as everyone turned to hear my views. I said I thought the president should concede and do so before the announcement of the vote count was completed. The Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Affairs, Dr. Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, a politician, whom I expected to side with the politicians, also said he sided with those who thought the president should concede. A heated argument ensued. Throughout the discussion, the president said not a word. He kept his own counsel and just kept welcoming guests and party loyalists who were joining us at the Villa. I sat next to the president and whispered to him that if he was going to concede, he probably should do so before the announcement of election results ended. Suddenly, he got up and left the room. We all thought he had gone off for a few moments of quiet. He returned about twenty minutes later and sat down without saying a word. I decided to take a chance and press him again on a timely concession. As I whispered again for a second time, the president responded to me out loud, CME (Coordinating Minister of the Economy), it is done. I have called President-elect Buhari and conceded! OLUSEGUN ADENIYIS ACCOUNT Olusegun Adeniyi authored Against the Run of Play Adeniyi, in his book, Against the Run of Play, said Dudafa knelt and begged Jonathan to concede. He wrote: Kneeling in front of Jonathan were his Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN; Aviation Minister, Mr. Osita Chidoka and Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Affairs, Mr. Waripamo-Owei Dudafa. The mission of the three officials was to persuade Jonathan to call and congratulate his opponent, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), even as the final results were still being collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Seated a few metres away in the room were Vice-President Namadi Sambo; Akwa Ibom Governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio; Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, Mr. John Kennedy Opara and the Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Chidoka had co-opted Adoke and Dudafa to make the plea after a conversation he had with Jonathan the previous day. The President had acknowledged that the results were going against him and that he was going to concede. This was at a period when Nigerians were unsure who would win, with many politicians within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party still betting on Jonathan. He, meanwhile, had asked Chidoka and a few others, including his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, to give him a draft concession speech. BOLAJI ABDULLAHIS ACCOUNT Abdullahi wrote On a Platter of Gold Abdullahi wrote more comprehensively on the concession in On a Platter of Gold. He said Jonathan had told Chidoka earlier in the day that he was gong to accept defeat, but things began to change quickly. He wrote: By the time he returned later that day, the sombre atmosphere at the Presidential Villa had become somewhat charged. The presidents media adviser, Reuben Abati had also brought a draft speech. He was asked to go and work with Akinwumi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture, to reconcile the two speeches. Several other people had also arrived, and now sat around the presidential living room like a delegation of mourners, each trying his best to surpass the other in a show of grief .Among them was the Vice President, Namadi Sambo and the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio. Jonathan had by now given indication of his plan to accept defeat. What they probably did not realise, however, was that by asking him not to concede, they were presenting him with a dilemma. He had roundly promised the country a credible election. And if there was one legacy he would like to leave behind in office, it would be that he conducted the most credible election in the nations history. Therefore, to contend that the election has been anything but credible was to rob himself the chance to leave even this imprint on history. The alternative of course was for him to simply accept defeat and walk away. In the battle for the presidents mind, Chidoka could see that he was hopelessly outnumbered. Many had even started to accuse him openly of working for the former Minister of Federal Capital Territory and APC Governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai. Having taken in the atmosphere, the Aviation Minister quickly summoned two other people he knew could exert significant influence on the President: the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke; and the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. They soon arrived. A usually sedate President Jonathan, who appeared like he did not care only a while ago, was now fuming. He ranted about how the election was rigged. How children were used to vote. How Jega had compromised and betrayed his trust. Okonjo-Iweala, whose words normally carried weight with the President, was pleading with him, but he was not listening. Abati returned with an updated draft of the speech, which he had started by having the president congratulate the winner, Muhammadu Buhari. But the president said, no, he was not going to congratulate Buhari because he wasnt convinced that he had won the election fair and square. Chidoka turned to Jonathan and asked, Sir, but are you still going to give the address? President Jonathan said he was going to give the address, but he was not going to congratulate anyone. He would only appeal to Nigerians to remain calm and await the announcement of the final results. It was obvious that the rejecters had made an impact and were having the upper hand. And, sensing that they were winning, they pressed their advantage. They reminded President Jonathan of what Buhari was capable of doing to him,and argued that even if he was going to concede, the terms had to be negotiated.Vice President Sambo wanted Jonathan to wait until the full results were announced before he made a statement. Even then, he thought the statement should not be to congratulate Buhari but to say that the president had kept his promise to conduct the elections but the party would meet to review the results and then decide whether to accept the outcome or reject it. Some others argued that even if he must concede, the Peace Committee should be brought in to negotiate some kind of softlanding not only for him, but also his associates. No one gives away power so cheaply, they insisted. Okonjo-Iweala and Adoke however countered that if the president issued a statement conceding defeat as he had planned to do even before the final results were announced, he would be snatching a major victory out of the jaws of defeat. Sir, why dont you even call General Buhari to congratulate him? No one could recall who first made this suggestion. But this was a major tipping point that every one of the persuaders would be happy to claim. They all agreed that if the President called Buhari to congratulate him, that would settle the matter and turn him to an instant hero, even in defeat. You have lost the mortal game, this is the chance to claim immortality, one of them. One person who had been listening to all the arguments but contributing very little was Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, the Presidents long term aide. His only previous contribution to the debate was when he said to the president, Daddy, no matter what, we are leaving here May 29. He knew President Jonathan more than most. He knew that if all these people pressuring him to reject the outcome of the election had known him half as well, they would have realised the catastrophic implication of what they were advocating and would have known that this man did not have the stomach for carnage and blood. Dudafa knew that when President Jonathan said his ambition was not worth the blood of any Nigerian, he meant it. He also knew what the president meant when he once said, that he was no Nebuchadnezzar. Therefore, the moment the idea of a phone call to General Buhari was mentioned, he started working with some other domestic aides to get Buhari on the phone. He soon got through. Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Wednesday dismissed the book former President Goodluck Jonathan launched on Tuesday as an elementary book of fictions, that lacks courage.He said the book, My Transition Hours, by the former president was a clever attempt to sweep incontrovertible facts on the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls under the carpet.He also tongue-lashed the former president, who in the book among other allegations, says Shettima and the rest of the All Progressives Congress conspired in the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls.Shettima said it was clear to him after reading the former presidents book, that he still lives with poor understanding of issues under his presidency.Shettima, who said he read through the book Tuesdays night, argued that Jonathans claim on page 31 that Boko Haram wanted a Muslim president was laughable because the insurgents actually began their deadliest attacks in Borno under the regime of the late President Umaru Musa YarAdua, a Muslim from northern Nigeria.He said the former president deliberately omitted in chapter four of his book, an investigative report submitted to him in June 2014 by the presidential facts-finding committee he constituted in May 2014, which was mandated to gather evidence-based facts and circumstances on the abduction.Shettima, also in his reaction to the book, contained in a statement by his spokesman, Mallam Isa Gusau, criticised the allegations contained in chapter four titled The Chibok Schoolgirls Affair, adding that Jonathan was wrong to have indicated that the schoolgirls abduction was a product of conspiracy by the then opposition All Progressives Congress and the Borno State Government.He said that contrary to the claim by the former President that the Borno State Government and a former United States President Barack Obama undermined efforts to rescue the Chibok girls in 2014, the truth is that Jonathan never believed there was ever an abduction until rescue efforts were late.The former Presidents elementary book of tales fell short of the courage required of him to publish findings by his own panel in chapter four of his book.The whole of Tuesday night, I took the pains of reading His Excellency, former President Goodluck Jonathans book, My Transition Hours, from the first to the 177th page. I took particular interest in chapter four (the Chibok schoolgirls affair) which has 42 paragraphs written from pages 27 to 36. I was amused that despite admitting in paragraph 15 that he had (in May 2014) constituted a Presidential Fact-Finding Committee under Brigadier-General Ibrahim Sabo and many others to investigate the Chibok abduction, former President Jonathan refused to mention any part or whole of the findings by that panel which had submitted a highly investigative report to him on Friday, June 20, 2014, after the panel held investigative meetings with the then Chiefs of Defence Staff; Army Staff; Air Staff; the Director-General, Department of State Services and Inspector General of Police, met all security heads in Borno, visited Chibok, met with parents of abducted schoolgirls, met surviving students, interrogated officials of the school and the supervising ministry of education, interrogated officials of West African Examinations Council and analysed all correspondences.What has become very clear is that the former President decided to sit on facts in his custody while he published, in an elementary standard, a book of fictions designed to pass guilty verdicts to anyone but himself, with respect to the open failures of his administration to rescue our daughters and in tackling the Boko Haram challenges, Shettima was quoted by his spokesman.The governor declared that by refusing to publish any part of his own panels findings on the Chibok abduction, Jonathans book was nothing short of a presidential tale by midday.Shettima said, For the records, on Tuesday, the 6th of May, 2014, President Jonathan had inaugurated multi-agency/stakeholder fact-finding panel under the chairmanship of Brig.-General Ibrahim Sabo (retd), a one-time director of military intelligence and also appointed a secretary from the Niger Delta. President Jonathan single-handedly selected all members of that committee which included his trustees amongst serving and retired security officers from the army, DSS and police; representatives of the United Nations and Economic Community of West African states, representatives of the Chibok community, local and international civil rights organisations, representatives of the National Council on Women Societies, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, among other persons he trusted.For almost two months, the probe panel undertook forensic assessment of all documents on the entire issues, held investigative meetings with parents of the schoolgirls during a visit to Chibok. The panel held separate one-on-one investigative meetings with myself, the then Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chiefs of Air and Naval Staff, met the then Director General of the DSS and the Inspector General of Police, all of whom were appointees of President Jonathan.The panel interrogated officials of Borno State Government including the Commissioner of Education and the school principal. The panel also held investigative meetings with heads of all security agencies in Borno State including security formations in charge of Chibok. At the end, the panel submitted its report directly to President Jonathan on Friday, the 20th of June, 2014 in Abuja. President Jonathan has refused to make public the findings submitted to him. I was expecting the findings in his book but he has deliberately swept that report under the carpet.However, I remember that on June 24, 2014, the ThisDay Newspaper claimed to have obtained a copy of the panels report and published as its lead, that painstaking findings by the presidential panel had indicted the military under Jonathans watch and completely absolved the Borno State Government of any blame regarding the Chibok abduction. The newspaper went further to say that panel actually commended efforts of the Borno State Government in its commitment to the fight against Boko Haram as testified by heads of security establishments.Shettima added, We know for a fact that as vicious cycle of evil, Boko Haram fighters do not care about the religion of their targeted victims. They attack mosques and churches; they are lunatics who regard anyone who doesnt share their ideology as an infidel. So, I wonder how the former President didnt take time to understand the biggest challenge under his presidency.The governor advised Jonathan to write a second book on account of his presidency which should contain the facts as have been presented to him, regarding the Chibok abduction rather than the fiction he made public on Tuesday. The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, has written a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, asking him to order Federal High Court judge, Justice Binta Nyako, to stay off all EFCC cases henceforth.The EFCC said in a statement by its acting Spokesman, Mr. Tony Orilade, that the judge, who is the wife of former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, could not be trusted with EFCC cases since the anti-graft agency is currently prosecuting her husband.Recall that EFCC Prosecuting Counsel, Onjefu Obe, had told the court on November 21, 2018 during the trial of four alleged oil thieves that the concern of the commission to reassign all EFCC cases before Justice Nyako, borders on likely bias on part of the trial judge.The defendants: Umar Audu Bida, Truth Igogori, Ifenyinwa Nwankwesiri and Ogechukwu Obaji were accused of oil fraud to the tune of $1m.The EFCC had in 2017 arraigned the defendants before Justice Nyako on nine charges bordering on conspiracy, forgery and obtaining by false pretences to the tune of $1m.They allegedly defrauded Donald Latella of North Park LLC of the said sum in a business deal involving the supply of about two million barrels of Bonny Light Crude Oil.The offence contravenes Section 8 (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.They were arraigned alongside four companies: Universal Contractors, Lambda Energy Services Limited, Double Wonder Concept Limited, and ICS Energy Services Limited.They had pleaded not guilty to the charges.According to Obe, he had come to court fully prepared with the prosecution witnesses to proceed with the case. But very, unfortunately, the case (FHC/ABJ/C12/ 266/16), was not listed in the courts schedule for today as it is yet to be reassigned to another court.Counsel for the second defendant, Solomon Agada, also lamented that his client usually travels from Lagos to Abuja for the case. He, therefore, urged the court to intervene and called for the speedy reassignment of the case in order for the case to proceed.Both counsel, however, agreed to await the reassignment of the case and thereafter mutually agree on the next possible adjournment. Nigerians on social media have expressed their displeasure over American model, Blac Chynas upcoming bleaching cream sales in Lagos. Th... Senate President Bukola Saraki has called for an inquiry into the death of Michael Adikwu, the principal suspect in the Offa robbery i... Senate President Bukola Saraki has called for an inquiry into the death of Michael Adikwu, the principal suspect in the Offa robbery incident. We had reported that Adikwu may have died in police custody after his name was missing in the list of suspects. Kamaldeen Ajibade, Kwara commissioner of justice, confirmed his death on Wednesday. He made the disclosure during the arraignment of five suspects connected to the heist at a Kwara high court. Over 20 persons were killed in April when the robbers raided some banks in Offa. In a statement, Yusuph Olaniyonu, special adviser to the senate president, quoted Saraki as saying that the disclosure has vindicated his claim that Adikwu had been murdered. Saraki said the development explains why there had been inconsistencies in the various statements by the police. The statement read in part: It should be recalled that when we mentioned it that the principal suspect had been murdered and that investigation into the Offa robbery attack was politically motivated and targeted at implicating me and other individuals, the police public relations officer, Moshood Jimoh said: Michael Adikwu is in police custody. The fresh facts have now thrown more light into why there had been inconsistencies in the various statements by the police. The police initially told the attorney-general of Kwara state that the principal suspect was alive and they only later reluctantly disclosed that he died in the course of arrest. How can a suspect confirmed to be in custody now be said to have died in the course of arrest? This contradiction shows a deliberate attempt to cover up something. It is obvious that the police have orchestrated the information they give to the public on the Offa robbery only to tarnish the image of the Kwara state governor and myself. We are calling for a public inquiry to probe the issues of extra-judicial killing, the cover-up of this killing with the aim of framing up some individuals for political purpose and politicising of criminal investigations. The facts need to be laid bare. The inquiry may help to further document and define the terms of handling of suspects in police custody and how to prevent extra-judicial killing of suspects, for whatever purpose. With the facts on ground, the issues that should be unearthed by the inquiry include: When exactly did the suspect die? How did he die? Why was the police denying the facts of his death when they knew he had died? At what point did the Police leadership knew of the death? Why are the police covering up the facts? Saraki also called for a diligent and prompt prosecution of the suspects so that justice can be transparently done to both the victims of the Offa robbery and the accused persons. The south-east governors forum has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that the construction period of the Second Niger Bridge... The south-east governors forum has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that the construction period of the Second Niger Bridge is reduced from 42 months to 24 months. Dave Umahi, chairman of the forum, made the appeal when he spoke to state house correspondents after a closed-door meeting with the president. Umahi said members of the forum were at the villa on behalf south-east people to thank the president for the award of the N206 billion contract of the bridge. He said: We came to thank the president on behalf of south-east for the award of the second Niger Bridge to Julius Berger at the sum of N206 billion. We understand that N7 billion has been paid as mobilization. So, we came to ask the president if there is the possibility of paying up to 50 per cent of the sum and secure the other 50 per cent as bond. We also asked that the construction period be reduced from 42 months to 24 months. We made it clear to Julius Berger that it is achievable. We are also asking for economic free trade zone in Eyimba in Abia and he promised to come and commission it; the license has been given. The governor disclosed that the meeting also deliberated on the state of Enugu international airport, saying the president was urged to ensure the completion of the cargo section of the airport and extension of the runway. Umahi said: Of course, we talked about the geometric power plant in Aba and we asked him to assist in resolving whatever the issues are so that power will be deployed to the industrial clusters in Aba and environs. We reminded him that the Enugu state government has done quite a lot on the issue of relocating major infrastructure that has been obstructing smooth operations of lives. We requested that he should take over the compensations of the affected lands. On November 20 evening, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt at a wedding hall where scores of religious scholars and ordinary people were celebrating the birthday of Muslims Prophet Mohammad, killing over 60 and injuring more than 90 others, according to latest figures by the country's Ministry of Public Health. Special praying will be held at the mosques across the country and national flags will be half-hoisted at home and Afghan diplomatic missions abroad, the statement added. Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack in its strongest term. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident so far. The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba II, who lost to President Muhammadu Buhari, Thursday threw his weight behind the APC candidate and urged his supporters to do same.In a statement he disclosed to newsmen, Adamu reeled out his reasons for supporting Buharis re-election bid.According to him Atiku Abubakar of the peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would have been his preferred candidate but because his party has nothing to show for the sixteen years they spent he now backs buhari.Continuing, Adamu commended the incumbent President for been bold and daring to confront issues silently weighing Nigerian economy down, he also beckons on the citizens to be patient and give Muhammad Buharis regime another chance.For the first time since the early 90s, we have a government that dare to press a reset button on those institutions of drains, following through carefully, though strategically and silently, identifying these drains and sealing them one after another. This is the government of Muhammad Buhari, he said.Expressing his dissatisfaction in PDP rule, Adamu opined, We thought that we are better off from 1999-2015, but it was clear to me, after investigation, that we were living in a bubble as a nation.Unfortunately, when President Muhammad Buhari was sworn in as the new leader of Nigeria, his attempt to press a reset button busted the bubble and behold, we got into recession in 2016, that created an unbearable hardship to fellow citizens. The consequence we still feel today.Blocking of those drain pipes by creating a new path of transparency, probity, and accountability, to me is more important for the Nigerian Youth, than continuing the previous method of racketeering, secrete money diversions & rampant corruption that threatens to destroy our country.What I found out, was this is the reason why we fell into recession, have a lot of job losses and economic turmoil, but interestingly, the graph is turning to the positive slope and with infrastructure investment etc, the government is on the right track.We have already invested a priceless 3.5 years bearing the burden. It is only wise enough to bear a while and give the current administration our trust & confidence so that our country, Nigeria can be refreshed for us.Ill continue to love, respect & value Atiku for his astute desire to #GetNigeriaWorkingAgain. However, on the notes highlighted above, based on my findings after an investigation, I choose continuity, I go for APC Nigeria, I prefer the Next Level. I urge us all to consider that.To our supporters, our team members lets be patient and continue to support the President Muhammad Buhari Prof Osinbajo administration.In my state, Adamawa, I will support the government APC under Gov. Bindow Umaru Jibrilla. In all states, I will also support APC. As a youth, I believe our future is better Protected under the Presidency of Muhammad Buhari and Prof Osinbajo. MANILA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The following is the full text of a joint statement China and the Philippines issued Wednesday during a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Southeast Asian country. Joint Statement between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of the Philippines 21 November 2018, Manila 1.Upon the invitation of His Excellency Rodrigo Roa Duterte, President of the Republic of the Philippines, His Excellency Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, paid a State Visit to the Philippines on 20-21 November 2018. During the visit, the two Leaders held a bilateral meeting, wherein they recalled the history of friendly exchanges between China and the Philippines, charted the course for the future of China-Philippines bilateral relations, had in-depth exchange of views on regional and international issues of common interest, and reached important consensus. President Xi Jinping also had a joint meeting with the Honorable House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Honorable Senate President Vicente Castelo Sotto III. 2.The Philippines congratulates China for its impressive achievements over the past four decades of its reform and opening up, and wishes China well in realizing its Two Centenary Goals. China congratulates the Philippines on its outstanding progress in upholding national security as well as in promoting sustainable economic growth and social development under the leadership of President Duterte, and expresses best wishes for the greater development of the Philippines. 3.Both sides agree that the sound development of China-Philippines relations serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples. Both sides recognize that the bilateral relations have achieved a positive turnaround and a sound momentum of development through the joint efforts and mutual trust of both sides. Both sides acknowledge that intensified efforts are required in order to achieve meaningful gains from cooperation agreements that were initiated. 4.The two Leaders recognize that the elevation of China-Philippines relations to higher levels is in line with the fundamental interests and shared aspiration of the two countries and peoples. Thus, on the basis of mutual respect, sincerity, equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, the Leaders decided to establish the relationship of Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation. 5.Both sides reaffirm the importance of existing China-Philippines bilateral dialogue mechanisms such as the Foreign Ministry Consultations, Consular Consultations, Joint Commission on Economic and Trade Cooperation, Annual Defense Security Talks, Joint Committee on Agriculture, Joint Committee on Fisheries, and the Joint Commission Meeting on Science and Technology, among others, in enhancing understanding, broadening cooperation, and striving for a stronger partnership. 6.The two Leaders agree to maintain high-level communication through bilateral visits, phone calls, exchange of letters, and side meetings in multilateral fora, so as to strengthen the planning of bilateral relations, institute timely communication on major regional and international issues, and promote the sharing of experience in state governance. The Philippines reaffirmed its observance of the One-China principle. 7.Both sides welcome the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative. Both sides also welcome the contributions of similar connectivity initiatives in the region, including the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025. 8.The two countries recognize that defense and military cooperation is a significant component of bilateral relations and contributes to the peace and stability of the region. Both sides will jointly implement the MOU on Defense Cooperation through practical cooperation in the areas of counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance, disaster response and mitigation, and peacekeeping operations. 9.Both sides recognize the need to advance cooperation and collaboration in matters relating to health. The two Leaders agree to continue jointly promoting and developing cooperation in the fields of health through exchanges and cooperation in the fields of traditional medicine, human resource development for public health experts and medical scientists, public health, information and communications technology (ICT) application in health care, and health management. 10.China reiterates its firm support to the Philippine government's efforts in fighting against illicit drugs and drug-related crimes, and expresses willingness to strengthen cooperation in areas including combating the smuggling of illegal drugs and their precursor chemicals, intelligence sharing, joint investigation and operation as well as drug rehabilitation. The Philippines speaks highly of the completion of the drug rehabilitation center in Sarangani Province and the construction of the rehabilitation center in Agusan del Sur, both financed by China through grants, and conveys its appreciation to China for its assistance in personnel training and donation of drug detection, seizure, and testing equipment. 11.Both sides strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and commit to cooperate in the areas of information exchange, and capacity building, among others, to jointly prevent and address such threats. The Philippines expresses appreciation for China's support and assistance to the Philippines in counter-terrorism efforts and in the recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi City. 12.Both sides agree to strengthen law enforcement cooperation, and will enhance cooperation and communication to combat transnational crimes, including job-related crimes, telecommunications fraud, illegal on-line gambling, cybercrimes, human trafficking and illegal wildlife trade. Both sides agree to speed up the discussions with a view to signing a bilateral agreement on transfer of sentenced persons. 13.Both sides hail the progress in bilateral trade and economic cooperation, and will continue to actively implement the Six-Year Development Program for Trade and Economic Cooperation (2017-2022). The two sides agree to promote bilateral trade and investment settlements denominated in domestic currencies, and further strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the two customs, to further facilitate economic and trade activities. 14.China expressed its commitment to import more high-quality agricultural products including tropical fruits from the Philippines through expeditious completion of the accreditation process to enhance two-way trade balance. 15.The two sides will speed up the implementation of the China-Philippines Industrial Park Development Program, which was signed during this visit, and will continue to provide an enabling environment for their enterprises to invest in each other's country. 16.Both sides recognize that infrastructure cooperation has been a highlight of China-Philippines bilateral cooperation. The two sides will work for the timely completion of the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project and the Binondo-Intramuros and Estrella-Pantaleon Bridges, facilitate the implementation of projects such as the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project, the Safe Philippines Project Phase I and the Philippine National Railways South Long Haul Project, and other priority projects lined up for feasibility study support and implementation, and ensure effective implementation of ongoing projects. Both sides will work towards the formulation of relevant procedures and protocols for government concessional loan (Renminbi-denominated loan), and utilize preferential buyer's credit, commercial loans for development and co-financing arrangements between China and multilateral development banks, to provide financial support to key infrastructure projects. 17.Both sides will give full play to the role of the Sino-Philippine Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilSCAT) Technical Cooperation Phase (TCP) III, and promote cooperation in the fields of high quality seeds, agriculture infrastructure and machinery. Both sides will step up cooperation in fishery. The Philippines appreciates China's donation of the first batch of 100,000 grouper seeds in 2017 and assistance in relevant capacity building, and welcomes the upcoming donation of another 100,000 grouper seeds in November 2018 and 15,000 fresh water fish seeds for broodstock development early next year. Both sides will exchange best practices and cooperate in projects on poverty alleviation. 18.Both sides agree to promote cooperation in science and technology through exchange of experts and scientists, best practice sharing, joint researches, high tech park cooperation, joint organization of seminars, symposiums, and workshops, and other forms of cooperation mutually agreed upon under the framework of the Joint Commission Meeting on Science and Technology. Both sides agree to implement collaborative efforts on rice research, bamboo post-harvest and processing, renewable energy, green oil from cashew, traditional medicine, and technology transfer. The Ministry of Science and Technology of China also expresses readiness to host young Filipino scientists to China for the Talented Young Scientists Program (TYSP), so as to support the capacity building of the Philippines. Both sides welcome the adoption of the ASEAN-China Joint Statement on Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation during the 21st ASEAN-China Leaders' Meeting. 19.Both sides will encourage cooperation in the area of information and communications technology (ICT) to improve their respective technology and service capabilities. 20.Both sides recognize that the growing Chinese tourist arrivals in the Philippines over the past years have contributed to the economic growth of the Philippines. Both sides will encourage their citizens to travel to each other's country, strengthen cooperation in tourism infrastructure development and encourage airlines to open more direct flights between cities of the two countries, in order to further facilitate people-to-people exchanges. 21.The two sides fully recognize the importance of education exchanges including technical vocational education and training (TVET) and cooperation in enhancing the understanding and friendship between the two countries, and encourage relevant government agencies and educational institutions of various types and levels to engage in active cooperation. China will provide an additional 50 Chinese Government Scholarships Grants for Philippine students on an annual basis from 2019-2021. Both sides will implement the Executive Program of Cultural Agreement between China and the Philippines for 2019-2023 signed during the visit and encourage their cultural institutions and groups to increase exchange of visits. China will set up a Chinese Culture Center in the Philippines. Both sides support more twinning agreements between their cities and provinces. 22. Both sides agree to strengthen bilateral relations in the field of labor and employment and commit to implement the Memorandum of Understanding on the Employment of Filipino Teachers of English Language in China which was signed on 10 April 2018 in Boao, China, and welcome the implementation of arrangements for Filipino teachers of the English language working in China. The MOU signifies China's cognizance of the qualifications and competence of Filipino teachers to work in tertiary educational institutions as teachers of the English language. The MOU also endeavors for both countries to ensure the protection and promotion of the welfare of teachers while working onsite. 23.The Philippines welcomes the official launch of the Chinese Consulate-General in Davao City. Reciprocal arrangements for diplomatic premises in both countries will be made in the spirit of the 1975 Joint Communique, on the basis of international practice and reciprocity, with priority given to the most immediate concerns. 24.Both sides exchanged views on issues regarding the South China Sea, and reaffirmed that contentious issues are not the sum total of China-Philippines bilateral relations and should not exclude mutually beneficial cooperation in other fields. Both sides also reaffirm the importance of maintaining and promoting regional peace and stability, freedom of navigation in and over-flight above the South China Sea. Both sides stay committed to addressing disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned, and in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations and the 1982 UNCLOS. 25.Both sides note that the situation in the South China Sea has become generally more stable as a result of joint cooperative efforts between China, the Philippines, and other ASEAN Member States. Both sides, together with ASEAN Member States, will work for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in its entirety. Both sides agree to maintain the positive momentum of the negotiations on the Single Draft Code of Conduct (COC) Negotiating Text, with a view towards the early adoption of an effective COC, based on consensus. 26.Both sides agree to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities in the South China Sea that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability. Both sides also note the importance of confidence-building measures to increase mutual trust and confidence. In this regard, both sides affirm the importance of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea and the Joint Coast Guard Committee on Maritime Cooperation. The two sides agree to maximize and strengthen the on-going coast guard, defense and military dialogue and liaison mechanisms, with a view to facilitating quick responses to situations on the ground and contributing to the enhancement of mutual trust and confidence between their coast guards and defense agencies. 27.Both sides welcome the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development between the two governments, and agree to discuss maritime cooperation including maritime oil and gas exploration, sustainable use of mineral, energy and other marine resources. They also agree to strengthen existing cooperation mechanisms in other maritime-related areas. Both sides agree to cooperate in the implementation of relevant international maritime instruments to ensure the safety of life at sea, marine environmental protection, and human resources development. 28.The two sides speak positively of the development of China-ASEAN relations, and congratulate the 15th Anniversary of the China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership and the China-ASEAN Year of Innovation. Both sides welcome the adoption of the China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership Vision 2030 during the 21st China-ASEAN Leaders' Meeting. China supports the Philippines as the Country Coordinator of the China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations and the coordinator for cooperation between China and BIMP-EAGA. The Philippines welcomes and supports the enhancement of cooperation between China and BIMP-EAGA, which will contribute to ASEAN Community Building and China-ASEAN cooperation. 29.Both sides agree to promote international peace and security, a rules-based multilateral free trade regime, and development cooperation, as well as enhance cooperation within relevant multilateral frameworks including the United Nations (UN) system. 30.Both sides welcome the signing of various agreements and Memoranda of Understanding during the visit, as listed in the Annex. 31.The two sides agree that the milestone visit of President Xi Jinping has contributed to the advancement of friendship and cooperation between China and the Philippines. President Xi Jinping appreciated the warm and friendly hospitality accorded to him and his delegation by President Duterte and the Philippine government, and extended an invitation to President Duterte to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held in Beijing, China, in April 2019. President Duterte accepted the invitation with pleasure. Annex:List of agreements and MOUs 1.Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines on Cooperation within the Framework of the Belt and Road Initiative 2.MOU on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 3.Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 4.Infrastructure Cooperation Program between the Government of the People's Republic China and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 5.Program for Cooperation on Industrial Parks Development between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 6.The Exchange Letter on the Implementation of the Davao River Bridge Project between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 7.The Exchange Letter on the Implementation of the Road and Bridge Project in Marawi between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 8.Exchange of Letters on Project of Container Inspection Equipment between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 9.Handover Certificate of Emergency Humanitarian Cash Assistance between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 10.Executive Program of the Cultural Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of the Philippines for 2019-2023 11.Memorandum of Understanding on Basic Education between the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China and the Department of Education of the Republic of the Philippines 12.Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting Cooperation in Information and Communications Industry Between the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China and the Department of Information and Communications Technology of the Republic of the Philippines 13.Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China and the Cooperative Development Authority Office of the Republic of the Philippines on Strengthening the Building of Agricultural Cooperatives 14.Memorandum of Understanding on Jointly Promoting Cooperation in Key Infrastructure Projects in Davao Region between the Ministry of Commerce of the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Department of Finance of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 15.Implementation Agreement of the Feasibility Study of Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridge 16.Implementation Agreement of the Feasibility Study of Davao City Expressway Project 17.Memorandum of Understanding on Renminbi Clearing Arrangement 18.Protocol of Phytosanitary Requirements for Export of Fresh Young Coconuts from the Philippines to China between the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the Department of Agriculture of the Republic of the Philippines 19.Protocol of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Requirements for Export of Frozen Fruits from the Philippines to China between the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the Department of Agriculture of the Republic of the Philippines 20.Memorandum of Understanding on Supporting the Feasibility Study of Major Projects between the China International Development Cooperation Agency of the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Department of Finance of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 21.Memorandum of Understanding between China Foreign Affairs University of the People's Republic of China and the Foreign Service Institute of the Republic of the Philippines 22.Preferential Buyer's Credit Loan Agreement on the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project between the Export-Import Bank of China and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewage System (MWSS) 23.Memorandum of Understanding on Panda Bonds Issuance 24.Commercial Contract of Safe Philippines Project, Phase I 25.Contract Agreement of the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project between China Engineering Corporation and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewage System (MWSS) 26.MOA for the Development of a China-Philippines Mixed Use Industrial Park in the New Clark City 27.Project Management Consultancy Contract of the Philippine National Railway South Long Haul Project between the China Railway Design Corporation and the Department of Transportation of the Republic of the Philippines 28.Letter of No Objection to the Organization of the Renminbi-Philippine Peso Foreign Exchange Trading Market 29.Certificate of Authority to Operate for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Limited-Manila Branch Related: China, Philippines agree to step up legislative exchanges China, Philippines agree to upgrade ties, jointly build Belt and Road Italian fashion house Dolce &Gabbana has been accused of racism over its new promotional videos featuring an Asian woman eating Western food with chopsticks. In the videos posted on Weibo and other social media platforms, the woman is seen eating Italian food using chopsticks in odd and playful ways. The videos were part of a campaign named "DG Loves China" released ahead of the fashion house's big show in Shanghai. The videos sparked heated discussions on China's social media platforms, as well as criticism on Instagram and Facebook as some users found them racist, stereotypical and disrespectful toward Chinese culture and Chinese women. They've demanded an apology from the brand. The videos on D&G's official Weibo account have been deleted, while those on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are still there. Screenshot via Dolce &Gabbana official Twitter account [Screenshot: China Plus] A user posted a chat record showing a conversation allegedly with D&G designer director Stefano Gabbana on Instagram. In the chat the individual who is supposedly the designer first argued about D&G's previously released promotional video, which was allegedly insulting, before going on a rage and insulting China. Chat record released by Instagram user @michaelatranova. [Photo: Instagram] Both the designer and a D&G official later wrote on Instagram that the account was hacked and the dialogue posted on the Internet was not their intention. However, some rejected this explanation. D&G designer Stefano Gabbana claims on Instagram that his account was hacked and that he's sorry for what happened. [Photo:Instagram] Since the controversy started, Chinese stars and models pulled out from D&G's fashion show originally scheduled for Wednesday night in Shanghai. Chinese top celebrities including Zhang Ziyi, Li Bingbing, Chen Kun have confirmed their absence from the show. Zhang Ziyi even stated that she'll not buy or use D&G's products ever. Many Chinese models have also withdrawn from the D&G Shanghai show and launched the "Not Me" campaign on social media. The show was eventually canceled due to the collective boycott. The "Not Me" campaign on social media launched by Chinese models. [Photo: Weibo] In fact, this is not the first time that D&G's ads trigger controversy. Back to April 2017, D&G posted a series of marketing videos and photos labeled # D&G Love China# on Weibo. However, this group photos has caused uproar on Weibo and is considered to be deliberately demonizing the Chinese. China's National Health Commission has released a work plan for the nationwide promotion of pain relief methods during labor and delivery. The three-year plan aims to make fewer mothers turn to caesarean sections to escape unbearable labor pain, thus increasing rates of natural childbirth and lowering rates of cesarean delivery. Painless delivery is yet to become common in China due to several factors, including a shortage of anesthetists at hospitals and widespread myths surrounding labor pain relief methods. A number of pilot hospitals will be chosen around the country between 2018 and 2020 to normalize and improve labor pain relief, before it is widely promoted, according to the work plan. It demanded the hospitals to set up specialized teams for labor pain management, strengthen training for medical staff, as well as offer personnel, facilities and other necessary support for such pain relief services. The plan also called for improved education via books, media and internet for expectant mothers and their families so they can better understand and accept labor pain relief. The commission also released two norms attached to the work plan, one regarding labor pain relief operation procedures and the other in analgesia technical management. NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The New York-based China Institute will present next week its annual Blue Cloud Award to honor individuals who have promoted greater cross-cultural understanding between the United States and China. The annual Blue Cloud Gala, which is scheduled for Nov. 28 in Manhattan, New York City, will bring together leading figures in the arts, culture, business, philanthropy, and education of both countries, four of whom will be awarded. Under the name of "Blue Cloud," or "Qingyun" in Chinese, the award represents the traditional Chinese symbol of high virtue and status. Last year, Governor of the U.S. state of New York Andrew Cuomo and prominent wedding dress designer Vera Wang were among the recipients of the award. The China Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing understanding and deepening trust between the United States and China. The Blue Cloud Award was first introduced in 1984. 22/11/2018 - Greater efforts to promote mental health and improve early diagnosis and treatment of those with mental illness would improve the lives of millions of Europeans and contribute to stronger economic and employment conditions, according to a new joint OECD/European Commission report. Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 says that mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety disorders and alcohol and drug use disorders, affect more than one in six people across the European Union in any given year. Besides the impact on peoples well-being, the report estimates the total costs of mental ill-health at over EUR 600 billion or more than 4% of GDP across the 28 EU countries. A large part of these costs are due to lower employment rates and productivity of people with mental health issues (1.6% of GDP or EUR 260 billion) and greater spending on social security programmes (1.2% of GDP or EUR 170 billion), with the rest being direct spending on health care (1.3% of GDP or EUR 190 billion). The heavy burdens of mental illness on individuals and society are not inevitable, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. While many European countries have put in place policies and programmes to address mental illness, much more can be done to promote and better manage mental health. We look forward to continue working with the European Commission to measure the state of health in European economies and the specific challenges they confront to deliver better health policies for better lives. Launching the report in Brussels, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitisadded: "The Health at a Glance report provides useful information for Member States to put a greater priority on the too often neglected burden of mental health problems on peoples life and on the economy. It makes a strong case for more coordinated actions to promote better mental health in schools and workplaces, but also among more vulnerable groups like unemployed people and elderly people. Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 also notes a slowdown in life expectancy gains in recent years in many European countries, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom. A slowdown in reducing cardiovascular deaths is part of the explanation, possibly linked with rising levels of obesity and diabetes. There has also been an increase in the number of deaths among elderly people due partly to bad flu seasons in recent years in some countries. Large gaps in life expectancy persist across individuals with different socioeconomic background. At age 30, the life expectancy of poorly educated people is six years shorter than for the most educated. The gap is particularly large in Central and Eastern European countries, especially for men, because of more widespread unhealthy lifestyles and disparities in access to health care. Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 shows that health spending has grown in line with the economy in 2017, and accounts for 9.6% of EU GDP. France and Germany each spent more than 11% of their GDP on health care in 2017, followed by Sweden, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, with each spending over 10%. Countries in the Eastern part of the EU tend to spend much less, with shares ranging from 5% to 6% of GDP. Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 is the first step in the recurring State of Health in the EU cycle that the European Commission launched in 2016 to assist EU Member States in improving the health of their citizens and the performance of their health systems. The second step in the cycle is the Country Health Profiles for all EU countries that will be published in 2019. More information on Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 is available at: www.oecd.org/health/health-at-a-glance-europe-23056088.htm. For questions about the chapter on mental health, journalists are invited to contact Emily Hewlett (tel. 33 1 45 24 98 23). For other questions about the publication, please contact Francesca Colombo (tel. 33 1 45 24 93 60), Gaetan Lafortune (tel. 33 1 45 24 92 67) or the OECD Media Division (tel. + 33 1 45 24 97 00). Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Related Documents BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's National Healthcare Security Administration said Wednesday it will soon launch a nationwide campaign to combat medicare fund fraud. The administration said the campaign will target medical institutions, drugstores and the insured, focusing on violations including the fraudulent use of social security cards and falsification of medical documents. "The supervision and management of medicare funds still need to be enhanced," said Huang Huabo, an official with the administration, responding to two recently exposed cases of medicare fund fraud in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province. "The administration will comprehensively enhance its supervision on the funds," Huang said, adding it will improve the supervision mechanism and impose tougher punishments. The administration also encouraged the public to report illegal activities. BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to move forward with maritime cooperation with the Philippines in various fields to benefit the two countries, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday. Governments of the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development on Tuesday. "The two countries have taken a new step on exploration and development of oil and gas," spokesperson Geng Shuang told a daily press briefing, adding that the two sides would continue to discuss the related details. Geng said China also hoped to enhance communication with other countries along the South China Sea on such cooperation, to make the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation. BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on Wednesday after state visits to Papua New Guinea, Brunei, and the Philippines, and attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting at Papua New Guinea's capital city of Port Moresby. During his stay in Papua New Guinea, Xi also met with leaders from the Pacific island countries that have established diplomatic ties with China. Xi's entourage included Ding Xuexiang, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee; State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi; and He Lifeng, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and head of the National Development and Reform Commission. When Xi left Manila for Beijing Wednesday afternoon, senior Philippine officials saw him off at the airport. Before heading home, Xi also met with representatives of Chinese nationals and Chinese Filipinos living in the Philippines, encouraging them to make new contributions to the country's development and Sino-Philippine friendly cooperation. 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. China, India to hold meeting on boundary issues this week BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will travel to China to attend the 21st Special Representatives' Meeting on the China-India Boundary Question from Friday to Saturday. Doval will be visiting China at the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, announced Geng Shuang, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wednesday. You'd think in a post-Fyre world we'd all be more wary, but Nicki Minaj and her Chinese fans appear to have fallen victim to a textbook music festival scam. Page Six is reporting that the rapper refused to perform at a Shanghai-based event when she arrived and realized the organizers had misled her on a number of fronts. The Djakarta Warehouse Project China festival was supposedly an offshoot of an established music festival that happens each year in Bali, Indonesia. Organizers had reportedly promised Minaj $3 million in payment for a 90-minute set in front of a crowd of around 8,000 people. Unfortunately, it seems like it became clear to Minaj's team upon arrival that the festival had no affiliations to the Indonesian event, and had been poorly organized. Only around 1, 000 people turned up, and Minaj declined to perform for them, even after flying all the way to China specifically. Which kind of sucks, because reportedly some fans paid around $500 USD for tickets. Minaj hasn't said anything publicly about the incident, but told a group of fans at Shanghai airport that she'd return to China in future "with a better partner." News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. GLICO Group Ltd (GLICO), a well-known insurance company and brand in Ghana has been adjudged the Ghana Insurance Brand of the Year 2018 at the African Marketing Awards (AMA) 2018 held at Movenpick Hotel last week. The event saw various organizations and personalities being awarded for their outstanding deployment of various marketing strategies and tools. Remarkably, GLICO was the only insurance company and brand to be recognized at the awards and deservedly, as Ghanas Insurance Brand of the Year 2018. Significantly, the GLICO brand has seen a lot of revitalization this year with a series of online and offline activations executed to create a strong brand presence and command. Offline, GLICO has consistently created awareness of its products on radio stations. It also undertook market activations at selected markets to drive home the need for insurance and to educate the informal sector on reasons to take GLICO micro insurance products Anidaso (meaning hope) and Edwa Nkosuo (meaning business progression). Again, this year has seen a concerted and well-coordinated marketing promotion of the GLICO Home Owners products across multiple channels. Strongly also, Public Relations has been a cardinal tool of GLICO and key stakeholder engagements have also been deployed to sustain the GLICO brand likability. Notably among these are media relations including radio and television interviews, press releases and publications in the newspapers, customer engagements events as well as providing excellent customer services and its resultant surveys for continuous improvements. On the digital scope, GLICO is one of the vibrant and engaged brands on social media when it comes to insurance. This year saw the redevelopment of GLICO websites and the introduction of digital platforms such as the M-Agent for Micro insurance sales and the M-Proposal for GLICO LIFE personal lines sales. GLICO also signed on to the Starphone App making it the first insurance company for ease of contact using *GLICO. The GLICO Healthcare App available on Android and ISO was also re-tooled and updated to create convenience for healthcare clients. Adding on, the GLICO PENSIONS pensions software has also been redeveloped to make it easy for clients to check their pensions contributions and accumulation online for informed decisions. Remarkably though, GLICO has validated its brand activities and congeniality by offering value to its clients in the area of promises fulfilled. The true test of insurance is a claim paid and GLICO has left no stone unturned this year to pay all legitimate claims promptly and most often, same day across the GROUP. Commenting on this recognition, the Group Head, Corporate Affairs & Marketing, Nana Efua Rockson stated that, the GLICO brand is a leader in the insurance sector. Sustaining it has been an input of passion for the brand, commitment to the vision of the Executive Chairman Mr. Kwame Achampong Kyei to bring insurance to the doorstep of every Ghanaian household, consistency in communications, creating a unique value preposition of trust and transparency, constant exposure of what GLICO does and fair play competitiveness in a fierce competitive financial sector. All these has culminated in the award of GLICO as Ghanas Insurance Brand of the Year 2018. It is instructive to note that GLICO is in its thirty-first year of operations and has grown significantly into a well-known brand. It is currently a Group with six subsidiaries namely: GLICO LIFE, GLICO HEALTHCARE, GLICO PROPERTIES, GLICO CAPITAL, GLICO GENERAL and GLICO PENSIONS, all together providing innovative and quality insurance/ financial products and services for the Ghanaian people. 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 Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has described as shocking the demise of Ayawaso West Wuogon MP, Mr Emmanuel Kyeremateng. In a facebook post he wrote: "I have learnt with grief and shock, the sudden death of Hon. Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, popularly known as '3da ho plain.' Hon. Kyeremateng Agyarko was a true patriot, a friend and brother. He will forever be missed by me, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the entire nation. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Damirifa due, Hon. Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo says the sudden demise of Mr Agyarko is a big blow to the Elephant fraternity. Mr Agyarko died on Wednesday at the age of 61. Background Mr Agyarko was a former Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drugs Board now Authority (FDA). He hailed from Odumasi-Krobo in the Eastern Region. Born on December 10, 1957, the deceased was pharmacist, a medical doctor and a politician. He had a Bachelor in Pharmacy which he obtained at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in the year 1982. He was Chairperson of the Environment, Science and Technology Committee in Parliament. He also served on the Government Assurance and Health Committees. The late MP was a Fellow of the Ghana College of Pharmacists and was the brother of former Energy Minister, Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko. He was married with seven children. 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 A Ghanaian-owned Digital Transport Solutions company, Enshika has been launched in Ghana in Accra, kickstarting with notable innovation and mind-blowing services for both drivers (who are called Captains) and riders. Enshika, has announced a nationwide launch covering all 10 regions with first 6 being Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti, Western, Volta and Brong-Ahafo. It is shortly going to cover the remaining 4 regions including Eastern. Enshika seeks to transform the Ghanaian transport sector with special features and operates on an effective ecosystem where all stakeholders (Captains, Riders, and partners) will benefit from their engagement. Enshika makes it possible for Captains and riders to save more and have a very low cost of living while driving or enjoying their rides. Aside providing the usual short term and promotional benefits to drivers and riders, Enshika provides a futuristic benefit to make life easy and comfortable for its captains and riders. At the launch of the new transport service, the Group CEO of Enshika, Mr. Deepak Sachdeva, reiterated that Enshika is a 100%-Ghanaian brand and the first and possibly the only service in the Western Africa and Sub-Sahara to be also available through USSD for users who do not have access to smart phones. Our aim is to have the transport service available at door step of every Ghanaian regardless of their economical standing, social status or education level. Transport remains a basic need and the wider the spread, the easier it is for the end user to access it. According to him, Enshika has come to stay; Enshika has come to make captains take pride in their chosen profession; Enshika is giving passengers numerous reasons why they should patronize the brand; Enshika is surely taking Ghana across the shores of West & other parts of Africa whereit is shortly launching making Ghana really proud of our ability to be a Pan-African Brand He further revealed that Enshika is oriented not just to be a transportation app but a lifestyle app which covers a 360 - degree aspect of a persons daily life. This app also offers the convenience in paying your utility bills, school fees payments, catering for your security needs through the SOS button which can be used to alert the Law Enforcement Authorities including the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Fire Service. Mr. Sachdeva further indicated that We always believed that the traditional transport sector needed a level playing field to operate and compete amongst private players and not be left out. We didn't want to come in as another service into the market without being sensitive to the need of our own people, where they feel rewarded and are able to save more, and that is where Enshika has tied up with national associations like GPRTU, CTU and others to ensure that they can now equally get requests and drive to pick up a customer and take them safely to their destination. Enshika has many firsts to it, including USSD, Pass System, Enshika Points, SOS, Medical and Insurance Benefits, Payments etc. We are the first and the only service in the country which is going to do a real-time identification of the user (driver and customer) based on the IDs that they will use to onboard themselves on the app thus making it extremely secure. User can input their Voters ID, Driving License, SSNIT or Ghanaian Passport and we shall be able to extract the true identity thus ensuring that safety is paramount for users of Enshika Sharing the features of the new transport service, Country Manager for Enshika, Mr. Ebenezer Osei mentioned that, Enshika, customers have the choice of booking for a Mini, Sedan, Gh Taxi and SUVs, adding that its also possible for one to reserve a ride for that important meeting or gathering. We have a well trained and equipped drivers and comfortable cars to service our clients irrespective of their social and financial status, he said. He also stated that we have introduced a commission free system where fleet managers and captains of Enshika can now enjoy a 100% commission to themselves by purchasing the Enshika Pass. This allows you to purchase the pass for daily, weekly or monthly use and you don't pay any commissions for the said period, he added. He further explained that, customers who sign onto Enshika as captains will have an opportunity to enjoy fuel credit every morning, whiles riders stand the chance of earning points every time they take a ride. More, Mr. Osei noted that both captains and riders can also earn more points anytime their referred captains, friends and families signs up to drive or ride with Enshika, indicating that the points accumulated can be redeemed at about 15 outlets on board including some famous names from Hotels, Coffee Shops to Restaurants, Spa and Gyms, where customers can redeem their Enshika Points to get great discounts. This is what we call Ride & Redeem. He added. Mr. Ebenezer Osei concluded by saying Enshika offers a permanent discount to corporate and student riders, whiles allowing them to pay for their families and friends from the Enshika Wallet, and reiterated that it is also easy for patrons to transfer their Enshika credit to family and friends when needed by using their Enshika ID. The Guest Speaker for the launch, Honorable Ahmed Arthur, Chairman of Metro Mass Trasport commended management of Enshika saying transport plays a key role in our daily activities, be it travel for business or social activities, and Enshika is here to help to create an atmosphere of comfort and easy lifestyle for our cherished stakeholders. According to him, This is also in line with the directive and initiative by the Government of Ghana to move towards Digital Ghana. Therefore, Enshika is coming at a time when we need them most and I must say I am very happy and impressed about the features it has to offer. The Ghanaian economy is driven by such developments; therefore, it is important we support such projects. 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 Dr. Nii Adjei Kraku ll, the Industrial city King has proposed himself for an interesting role as an Ambassador of Ghanas main national emblem the National Flag. It has been said several times that low levels of patriotism and national love can best be seen in the long train of our youth who queue before embassies of foreign nations in our country ready to leave, but I disagree; I think that the pathetic levels of low patriotism can better be seen in the way we treat our national flag. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Ghana News Agency on Patriotism, the Tema Mantse said he had developed a strong sense of national duty to protect and sanitise the red, gold and green national colours because of wretched treatment that the emblem had come to suffer at the hands of fellow citizens. Just go around our public institutions, including those at Ministries and see how the National Flag is treatedit is very sad, Nii lamented. Among others, he said that worn out, torn and seriously disheveled pieces of the flag were a common sight around the country, a situation that he said did not augur well for the image of the country and lamented that the kind of shabby treatment being given the national flag was a recent phenomenon that had come to characterise the absolute lack of national love. During the days of our true national heroes, especially Kwame Nkrumah, we gave the flag the respect that it deserved, but unfortunately, those days seem to have now been lost on us, Nii lamented. He said if he was made a brand Ambassador of the flag, he would work to restore its dignity and make it a rallying point for the restoration of patriotism around the country. Look around at nations which have strong national cohesion and sense of nationality, like the USA and you would realise that their flag is a highly respected emblem that immediately evokes solemnness when it is raised. It used to be like that in Ghana as wellI want those days back. The Tema Mantse also congratulated the former first couple of the land, President Rawlings and Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings for being what he said, ambassadors of the sanctity of marriage. According to him, the love that was on display at the recent commemoration of the 70th birthday of Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings was heartwarming and exemplary. The former first gentleman and lady of the land had shown all of us that true love is still possible in these days of unfaithfulness. I will urge all of us, especially the youth to learn from the first couple and endeavour to improve the current situation where marriages collapse even just after weeks, Nii said. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Member of parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, died of maglinant gallbladder, simply referred to as gallbladder cancer, the family has revealed. The legislator who was taken ill four weeks, died Wednesday night in the United States of America where he was flown to by his family for medical care. His brother, former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko, told a parliamentary delegation Thursday that his late brother was initially given medical attention at the Ridge Hospital in Accra when he had acidic reflux. One night, we had to take him to the Ridge Hospital because it was a bit bad with reflux and pain so around 2:00am, he was rushed to the hospital, to control the reflux. There was a problem with his gallbladder he said noting that his condition was stabilized but on Sunday, he became very anxious. I spoke to the doctors, and we decided to have him treated outside the country. Boakye Agyarko suggested his brother was healthy when he emplaned. On his own feet, he boarded a flight to the US, was processed for admission at Yale University Hospital where my older sister works. One thing led to the other, and quickly the situation started unraveling, and within a matter of three minutes the healthy, bubbly individual has been reduced to a cold body, they tried as far as they could, and God knows how everybody tried, Mr. Agyarko narrated. He added that the situation escalated at midnight Tuesday, and suffered consistent decline on Wednesday dawn. Despite all efforts by doctors at the Yale University, including a Ghanaian doctor, to save the situation, he said, at exactly 13:23 US time thats 7:00pm in Ghana he died. He said together with his siblings, they have since informed the family as tradition demands, and authorization has been given for the funeral processes to begin. The parliamentary delegation led by first speaker of parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu visited the family to commiserate with them. 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 As the Belt and Road Initiative flourishes in and beyond neighboring countries of China, Cambodian entrepreneurs stand ready to embrace opportunities brought along by Chinese counterparts in the booming e-trade industry. On Nov 16, the Government of Cambodia, the UN Development Programme, potential investors, and private companies, including Shenzhen 4PX Express Co., Ltd., under the Alibaba Cainiao Logistics Group, gathered to discuss the potential for e-commerce and cross-border trade at the #ConnectCambodia Forum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. #ConnectCambodia links up with the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to showcase how regional integration, technologies, and innovations have created new development opportunities to advance cross-border trade in Cambodia. Proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, the BRI is an ambitious effort to improve regional cooperation and connectivity through trade, investment, and infrastructure. The BRIor the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Roadincludes more than 100 countries and international organizations, based on the ancient Silk Road land and maritime routes. Through the BRI, e-commerce and e-trade could support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, said Pauline Tamesis, Resident Representative for UNDP in Cambodia and Resident Coordinator for the entire United Nations system in the country, in her opening remarks at the forum. In fact, the Digital Belt and Road is an important component of Chinas strategy in BRI countries. According to the BRI Action Plan unveiled in March 2015, the digital component of the Initiative will focus on the construction of cross-border optical cables and mobile networks as well as the development of e-commerce between China and BRI countries, including Cambodia. (Photo courtesy of ShopRunBack) Sophie Meas, a Cambodian entrepreneur and co-founder of ShopRunBack, originally was based in France but has returned home. Meas sees rising opportunities, particularly with the BRI, not just for her company, but for consumers and entrepreneurs across Cambodia. "Cambodia today is developing rapidly. With our very eyes we can see change almost daily. Im very excited about bringing our company to Cambodia because we want to be a part of the countrys development story. Also, Cambodia is a prime location as its located in the middle of Southeast Asia, Meas told Peoples Daily overseas social media. The company Sophie co-founded, ShopRunBack, transforms the returns experience for both customer and retailer combining a strong reverse logistics network with next generation software. They help leading online retailers provide a seamless, customer-friendly returns solution, increasing customer satisfaction and boosting sales. Local entrepreneurs, like Meas, are extremely optimistic about the possibilities of the Belt and Road Initiative and hope to shake things up in Cambodia. "In Cambodia, online services have not quite taken off like neighboring countries. You know, in Cambodia, they do online business but only through Facebook or Instagram. Also, in Cambodia, they only use motorbikes for delivery. There are several barriers that restrict Cambodians from accessing the market: language, logistics, connections, and more. The Belt and Road Initiative helps us to connect to markets in China and all the way to Europe. Working with 4PX and other companies from China will help local people to buy, sell, and trade in a larger market Meas said. Meanwhile, Shenzhens 4PX Express, which was in cooperation with Meass company, is also looking to expand in the spirit of BRI, Steven Li, senior vice president of 4PX Express, noted at the forum. "We already ship around 200 thousand parcels a year from China to Cambodia. So, we are not starting from zero. However, we know currently the service level is not so good, user experience is also not good. So, we are here to help Cambodian buyers to have a better user and buying experience, Li told Peoples Daily overseas social media. We are also looking to collaborate with local partners. The Belt and Road Initiative and 4PX have big ambitions for Cambodia, not only as a corridor for trade, but as a potential market. The BRI provides new opportunities for Cambodia to leverage resources and international cooperation to support the development of the cross-border e-commerce sector. As a leading global force in the digital economy, China is an example of the value in investing in information and communications technology and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to grow through e-commerce. Li thinks the BRI presents an opportunity for all the countries across this road. He mentioned that China has developed a lot of infrastructure knowhow and has invested in major countries and regions including the United States, Europe, and Australia. "I think we can help the local customers to buy Chinese products easily, as well as I sell [Cambodian products] within China. I also believe we can generate jobs here, with One Belt and One Road initiative, Li concluded. (Photo courtesy of UN in Cambodia) Audio Attachment: Panel members of Peace FMs flagship programme 'Kokrokoo' have paid tribute to the late Ayawaso West Wuogon Member of Parliament of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Hon. Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko. Hon. Kyeremanteng Agyarko, 60, died on Wednesday, November 21, 2018 in the United States of America after a short illness. Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi Thursday morning, Dean of the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana, Professor Kofi Agyekum recounted the days of the late MP, touting his achievements and character as a leader. According to him, he knew the late MP from the period he became a Chief Executive of the Food and Drugs Board till he turned a Member of Parliament. Prof. Agyekum noted that the late Hon. Kyeremanteng Agyarko was an affable person who exhibited an excellent spirit of nationalism. He added that Mr. Agyarko was an epitome of humility despite his pedigree. Commiserating with the deceased family, NDC Stalwart Brogya Gyenfi also noted that the late MP lived an exemplary life of great leadership for all parties in the country. He stated that Mr. Agyarko was a nice person . . . He was not too partisan and antagonistic. No matter your background, he will relate with you well . . . He was very [very] good, down to earth. He liked everyone and it appears like indeed good people dont live long. Ayawaso West Wuogon constituents have lost a Member of Parliament. Ghanas Parliament has also lost a great person. NPP, as a political party, has also lost a great person. NDC has also lost a good comrade. I know Peace FM (Kokrokoo) and even the entire media in Ghana have lost a very solid resource person. The panel sent their deepest condolences to the family and friends of the late Hon. Kyeremateng Agyarko. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Member of Parliament for Kumbungu constituency in the Northern Region, Ras Mubarak, has urged all the political parties not to 'put up' a candidate for the Ayawaso Wuogon vacant seat following the death of the MP for the constituency, Mr Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko. I do not think the NDC or any other party should put up a candidate for Hon. Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarkos vacant seat. We should have a convention/agreement amongst ourselves that if a sitting MP dies, the party from which he was an MP should select a candidate to serve his remaining term. It saves the country and the parties resources. Democracy can be made less expensive. It all depends on us, Mubarak wrote on his facebook page, Thursday. Mr Kyeremanteng Agyarko, passed away at a hospital in the United States of America on Wednesday. Born 10 December 1957 at Odumase Krobo in the Eastern Region, Mr Agyarko was a former Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) now FDA. He had a Bachelor in Pharmacy which he obtained at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in the year 1982. He was Chairperson of the Environment, Science and Technology Committee in Parliament. He also served on the Government Assurance and Health Committees. The late MP was a Fellow of the Ghana College of Pharmacists and was the brother of former Energy Minister, Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko. He was married with seven children. 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 Member of Parliament for the Kwadaso Constituency, Dr Samiu Kwadwo Nuamah has urged Chiefs to refrain from politics in the country. Commenting on the Dagbon crises on Thursday's edition of Peace FM's 'kokrokoo', Dr. Kwadwo Nuamah told host Kwami Sefa Kayi that the involvement of Chiefs in politics has dire consequences and so in order to ensure peace, they should make sure they don't take sides by vouching for a particular candidate during campaign seasons. The Kwadaso MP commended the efforts taken by President Nana Akufo-Addo to bring a peaceful solution to the Dagbon crises, believing that the Mediation Committee led by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will facilitate the peace process between the factions. Touting some achievements of the Asantehene in enhancing peace, order and unity among Chiefs in the Ashanti Region, Hon. Nuamah was optimistic the agreement the Abudu and Andani feuding parties to perform the funerals of the late two Yaa-Naas of Dagbon will pave way for an amicable relationship between the two sides. "Chiefs should abstain from politics. Its very disturbing to see a Chief campaign for a particular candidate or be on a platform to campaign even though you will have some benefits as a candidate, he stressed. Dagbon Crisis: End Near The Committee of Eminent Chiefs who has been working on the Dagbon crises on Wednesday, November 21, 2018 presented their recommendations on solutions to the crises to President Nana Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House. The Otumfuo-led Mediation Committee on the Dagbon peace process has successfully facilitated an agreement between the Abudu and Andani feuding parties to perform the funerals of the late two Yaa-Naas of Dagbon to pave way for lasting peace. The mediation committee resolved that the Abudu Royal Family performs the funeral of the late Yaa-Naa Mahamadu Abdulai IV, beginning December 14 to 28, 2018 while the funeral of the late Yaa-Naa Yakubu Andani II be performed on January 4 to 18, 2019. The Abudus and Andanis have, over a decade, been looking for ways and means to resolve their long time feud. The President, after assuming office, has assisted by committing his time, resources and energies to eliminate suspicions that may affect the peaceful process to unifying the two parties. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The 4th edition of the National Students Awards which was held at Knutsford University saw the gallant NPP Youth Wing Patron Emmanuel Effah, popularly known as Chairman Effah receive the Noble Change Ambassador award for his passion and significant contribution to education and educational development in Ghana. His award was received on his behalf by a member of the ruling NPP communication team and a PhD candidate in Governance, Kwabena Berma Pobi. Chairman Effah is known to have championed educational welfare of the youth since 2012 till date; many of the youth within the Akuffo-Addo administration occupying various positions cannot count their success without attributing it to his enormous contributions. The awards which was themed One year of free SHS, A blessing or an albatross was held on Saturday, November 17, 2018 also had personalities such as: H.E Mohammed Farah at (Ambassador of Morocco), John Kwamena Essel ( Chancellor KNUTSFORD University) and Mrs. Nana Ama Twumasi receive awards for their various contributions to society Former Electoral Commissioner for Ghana, Dr. Afari Gyan received a noble ambassador award for change in our electoral commission and the developments in student elections and Minister for Eductaion, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh received same award for reforms in our educational system and contributing to the free senior high school and the double track system. The National Students Awards (NSA) ceremony is an initiative from the joint efforts of all National Student Groups in Ghana that covers from basic to tertiary education and it includes Ghanaian students abroad and foreign students in Ghana. Source: Benjamin Effah Amponsah/[email protected] 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 We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Xiaoxue or Minor Snow, the 20th of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese Lunar Calendar, falls on Thanksgiving this year, a national holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. The temperature begins to drop during Minor Snow, especially in the northern part of China. Minor Snow also, as the name suggests, stands for the time when it may start to snow lightly. As the weather gets colder, it is advised to stay warm and out of the plummeting temperatures. There is a big difference between the temperature indoors and outdoors, so dress accordingly to help avoid catching a cold. During Minor Snow, people from northern China like to eat hotpot, which is believed to be warm and nutritious. Moreover, sitting around a steaming hotpot with family and friends creates a warm atmosphere all on its own. In some southern provinces, people eat "Ci Ba," a dessert made from sticky rice. In the past, people used the dessert as an offering to the gods. In China, every solar term is linked to agricultural production, so during this period, people believe A timely snow promises a good harvest. This saying is scientifically based. Snow can reduce the occurrence of disease in the coming year by freezing germs and bacteria in the soil. Furthermore, snow actually has a warming effect, which is conducive to the decomposition of organic matter in the ground, which in turn enhances fertility. The traditional American holiday, Thanksgiving, is also linked to agricultural production. Thanksgiving began as a day of giving thanks for the preceding years harvest. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religion and culture, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well. In its beginning, there was no fixed date for Thanksgiving in America. In 1863, President Lincoln announced Thanksgiving as a national holiday. In 1941, the US Congress officially designated the fourth Thursday of November each year as "Thanksgiving Day." The date of Thanksgiving varies in different countries, for example, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada, while people in Egypt celebrate the holiday in the spring. Much like the Chinese New Year, people reunite with their families and enjoy a hearty holiday dinner together over the Thanksgiving period, and they often have turkey and pumpkin pie for lunch. Additionally, people may go to church if they are religious. Costume parades and performances are everywhere, and schools and shops also close for the day. The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday, a day when stores sell discounted products. In recent years, Black Friday has spread to other countries, with both online and offline deals sweeping the globe. So what will you do this weekend? We recommend you get together with friends or family for a dinner of hotpot, Ci Ba and turkey, and then get online to find some bargains! Perfect! KAMPALA The Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, has said that resistance to antibiotics is one of the worst emergencies facing the country. Speaking at the opening of the 3rd National Antimicrobial Resistance Conference in Kampala on Wednesday, Dr Aceng said. currently, Uganda spends an estimated USD 4,000 to treat a patient with resistant T.B as opposed to the cost of USD 250 for a patient with non-resistant T.B. Sophisticated medical interventions such as complicated surgery, intensive care and anticancer chemotherapy that we take for granted today would not be possible without effective antimicrobial agent which prevent or treat the infections that would inevitably follow. Unfortunately, man has not used this precious resource judiciously and we are now rapidly descending into the post-antibiotic era where no effective antibiotics shall be available for most infections, the minister said. In addition to causing death, antimicrobial resistance is threatening our economies especially those of developing countries. The second line antimicrobial medicines needed to treat resistant infections are not only toxic but also prohibitively expensive, she added. The minister said in many health care facilities, drug shops and homes, Ugandans continue to use antibiotics in an unregulated manner, offering a chance for resistant organisms to proliferate. The situation is probably worse in the animal production where antimicrobials are used as growth promoters, with the sector accounting for more than 80% of all antimicrobials used globally, she added. In response to the problem, Dr Aceng said the Ministry of Health in collaboration with partner Ministries of Agriculture, Water and Environment, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the National AMR Taskforce, WHO and the Uganda National Academy of Science has developed a National Action Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance, which is expected to be launched before the end of the conference. The World Bank estimates that antimicrobial resistance could drive up global healthcare costs by between 300 billion and 1 trillion dollars. Antibiotics are also crucial for animal production. The World Bank estimates that by 2050, antimicrobial resistance could lead to a decline in animal productions by up to 7.5% and increase extreme poverty by up to 28 million people by 2050. Related ISINGIRO Two years to the general elections 2021, battle lines in Isingiro particularly in Bukanga County have been drown to separate men from boys after the current LCV Chairman Jeremiah Kamurari officially declares his bid to contest against Stephen Kangwagye the current MP for Bukanga. Kamurari made this revelation in a press briefing on Today morning (Tuesday) while addressing journalists at Litle hoods Guesthouse in Mbarara town. Kamurari also known as Omugogozi argues that his current position there are certain issues that cannot be handled at his level of a chairman LCV like provision of electricity and tarmac roads, saying these are done by the central government. In Bukanga we have so many issues ranging from Tanzania-Uganda Border conflict, scarcity of water, land grabbing, elders money promised by Museveni all these to be lobbied require me to be an MP because at my current capacity am limited, for the last six years we have had Kangwagye, Bukanga has been a laughing stock because of lagging behind in service delivery, Kamurari confidently noted. He adds, when Kangwagye came in the by-election after losing our Mp Gregory Matovu in 2013, he promised heaven and earth, given the fact that he is from the first family, he assured us that he doesnt need to knock at the door of statehouse, that for him, in fact, uses the behind door to the bedroom of the statehouse while others keep in the sitting room, but from the look of things, it seems he has never been to state house to lobby Museveni for his people, he came under the guise of state house but he has not helped us in any way. Kamurari during the 2016 elections is the only NRM candidate in Ankole who was voted without any polling agents in the whole district and garnered the biggest percentage win of 98% within Ankole Sub-region. Since voted into power, he has been seen in most cases fighting for his people of Isingiro, he managed to forcefully opened livestock markets which had been closed for the last 10 years under the pretext of foot and mouth disease, he forcefully removed Matooke roadblocks on Isingiro -Mbarara road which he said they were exploiting his people, he staged numerous demonstrations against the refugees at Nakivale settlement camp who had encroached on nationals land which prompted the office of the prime Minister to take action and demarcate boundaries. However Bukanga County is a very complicated area since all President Musevenis young brothers and relatives Michael Toyota, Sodo, Nzaire shedrack have been instrumental in influencing election outcomes in Bukanga, In fact these are the people who fronted Kangwagye and played a salutary role is his first win in 2013 by-election and 2016 general election. On the above Kamurari noted that he cannot be threatened by the state machinery, we know what they are capable of doing, with the use of guns, intimidation, illegal arrests and vote rigging but all these I have ever tested them so I know the waters I have decided to bath, whether cold or hot let them face my wrath, am also a fighter we shall use all the revolutionary means to win this seat a confident Kamurari asserted. Why he decided to announce at this time, Kamurari revealed that he never wanted his people to remain confused on which seat he is coming through. I want to let my people that I am not coming as LCV chairman again, prepare your selves am coming as Bukanga county Mp, what I have done for the district are enough, it does not require any leader to stay in power for long in order to serve his/her people better not at all, I have managed to open 17 general merchandise markets forcefully, lobbied nine town councils and eight new sub-counties. Kamurari reveals that he came to Isingiro as LCV chairman knowing his future prospects and that he worked towards the same by being pro-people. Related Investigators and officers with the Oakley (CA) Police Departmentwith help from investigators and detectives from the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office, the Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office, the State Department of Justice, and the FBIhave made an arrest in a case that could have ended with an attack on Freedom High School in Oakley. In late August a person using the social media program Snapchat began sending threatening messages to a group of female students at the school, according to The Press. The same account holder then began to distribute more threatening messages first to a group of other students and then progressed to making threats to the entire campus and school staff. On Wednesday, investigators traveled to Austin (TX), where they received assistance from Austin PD in the apprehension and arrest of 19-year-old Tristan Amir Curl, who is from Oakley. Curl will be transported to California under escort by Oakley PD officers when his extradition has been approved through the courts. Berenice Zandonai in the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayan Pagoda), an ancient building and a holy place for Buddhists in Xian. (Photo/Xinhua) The extensive and profound Chinese culture, continuously optimized investment environment, ever-growing job opportunities; China has become increasingly attractive to foreigners with a Chinese dream, Xinhuanet.com reported on Nov. 20. With the countrys continuous efforts to open its market up to the world over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China has invited more and more foreigners to work, study and live in the country, providing those who come with great prospects. Berenice Zandonai is a French woman who fell in love with a Chinese man named Huang Zhen when he moved to Toulouse, France to study. Following Huang, Berenice Zandonai came to China soon after graduation, and got a job in a French apparel company in Shanghai, staying there for seven years between 2007 and 2014. In 2014, the couple returned to Huangs hometown Xian, capital of northwest Chinas Shaanxi province, and co-founded a studio to provide customers with creative cultural products. They use a variety of methods such as hand drawing, illustration, We Media, and the development of original cultural products. They are also focused on publicizing traditional Chinese culture and promoting cultural exchanges between China and France, launching a number of GIFs featuring the intangible cultural heritage projects of Shaanxi, publishing many bilingual audiobooks for children, and translating and editing French subtitles for many Chinese movies and stage plays. Embed from Getty Images The FBI on Wednesday announced that the official launch of the National Use-of-Force Data Collection will take place on January 1, 2019. At the request of major law enforcement organizations, the FBI established the National Use-of-Force Data Collection in an effort to promote more informed conversations regarding law enforcement use of force in the United States. The FBI says that the goal of the collection is not to provide insight into specific use-of-force incidents, but instead to offer a comprehensive view of the circumstances, subjects, and officers involved in such incidents nationwide. "Law enforcement officers across the country face complex and dangerous policing environments that may result in the use of force," the FBI said in a statement. "To date, there has been no mechanism for collecting nationwide statistics related to use-of-force incidents. While some law enforcement agencies and states have proactively developed their own use-of-force data collections for use at both the local and state level, there has yet to be a consistent, aggregated view of such data from a national perspective." The FBI is now asking law enforcement agencies to contribute their own data to the National Use-of-Force Collection via a web application in the FBIs Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP), which allows agencies to report incidents electronically, either individually or by bulk submission. As with all UCR Program data collections, participation is voluntary. Embed from Getty Images The so-called Mid-Market Corridor in San Francisco (CA) has long been a breeding ground for criminal activityhomelessness, aggressive panhandling, street fights, assaults, drug use, and other crimes were rampant. The city is trying to rejuvenate the area, inviting big-name tech companies and unknown start-up ventures to move into vacant buildings. In order to make that proposal more appealing, the San Francisco Police Department is stepping up foot patrols to enforce the law and form deeper bonds with the people who live and work in the area. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Mayor London Breed has directed the department to add as many as 10 new officers to patrol the area, working out of the Tenderloin Station. SFPD Chief Bill Scott said the officers who soon will be walking the Mid-Market and Civic Center beats will be working closely with the health and homelessness departments to provide aid to homeless people and addicts who assemble there. Dr. Billington served as the 13th Librarian of Congress after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, an appointment unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate. He retired as Librarian on September 30, 2015. Over a 28-year period, he founded the National Book Festival with First Lady Laura Bush, the John Kluge Center and Prize for the Study of Humanity, the Gershwin Prize, and The National Audio Visual Conservation Center. Throughout a life dedicated to scholarship and serviceduring which he served every President and Congress since the 1960s until his retirementDr. Billington played a unique role in preserving, promoting, and sharing America's rich cultural heritage. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1929, he was educated in Philadelphia-area public schools. Dr. Billington was valedictorian at Lower Merion High School and Princeton University, where he graduated with highest honors in 1950. In 1953, he earned a modern Russian history doctorate from Balliol College of the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Dr. Billington received 42 honorary degrees, as well as the US Presidential Citizen's Medal, the Russian Federation's Order of Friendship, and the French Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Following U.S. Army service in President Eisenhower's Office of National Estimates, he taught history at Harvard University from 1957 to 1962, and at Princeton University, where he was a popular professor from 1964 to 1974. From 1973 to 1987, Dr. Billington was director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he founded the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, seven other new programs, and the Wilson Quarterly. Dr. Billington authored nine books, including the classic Russian cultural history, The Icon and the Axe and The Face of Russia, a companion book to the PBS television series. Dr. Billington spent more than 50 years helping America's leaders and citizens better understand the former Soviet Union and its successor states, contributing to a greater appreciation of America's values and institutions in countries stretching across one-third of the globe. He first visited Russia in 1958, and accompanied the President and First Lady, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, to Moscow in 1988 for Reagan's summit meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev. During his 28-year tenure at the Library of Congress, Dr. Billington enlarged and technologically enhanced public spaces in the Thomas Jefferson Building, re-purposing it as a national exhibition venue that hosted over 100 exhibitions, many featuring materials never before publicly displayed in America. He doubled the size of the Library's traditional analog collections to more than 160 million items and oversaw innovative preservation initiatives. Dr. Billington pioneered the reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's original library, using private funds raised from the Library's James Madison Council, which he founded. Dr. Billington also founded the Open World Leadership Center, which enabled over 27,000 Eurasian leaders to engage and learn from the democratic process. Simultaneously, he created a massive new Library of Congress online presence and launched a series of innovative Library programs to share the educational riches of the Library with millions of Americans and the world. Dr. Billington is survived by his wife of 61 years, the former Marjorie Anne Brennan, whom he described as his "indispensable full partner in every way and at every stage of his adult life"; four children, Dr. Susan Billington Harper, Anne Billington Fischer, the Rev. James Hadley Billington, Jr., and Thomas Keator Billington; and 12 grandchildren. A high-res photo of Dr. Billington is available by clicking here. Statements and testimonials from Leading National and International figures who knew Dr. Billington well: Statement from Mrs. Laura W. Bush: "President Bush and I are saddened to learn that the United States has lost Dr. James Billington. Dr. Billington served as our nation's librarian for 28 years, leading the Library of Congress' transition into the digital age. In 2001, he was instrumental in the creation of the National Book Festival, which has welcomed hundreds of thousands of book lovers to the National Mall and to the Library of Congress. Dr. Billington's lifelong passion for research and for preserving history ensures that America's most prized literary treasures will be available to all for generations to come. President Bush and I send our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Billington's wife Marjorie, and to their four children. He will be missed." Statement from Nancy Pelosi, U.S. House Democratic Leader: "The passing of Dr. James Billington is a profound loss for his family and loved ones as well as for our nation. Over the course of his long and prolific career, Dr. Billington became a tireless steward for American history, helping protect and preserve our nation's most treasured past for generations of Americans. "Dr. Billington was a public servant of exceptional intelligence, dedication and vision. His tenure at the Library of Congress saw the doubling of the Library's collection and the beginning of its now vast online resources. Dr. Billington firmly believed that the treasures of American history in his care belonged to the people, and he worked passionately to ensure that Americans across the country could access these priceless collections. "Whether teaching at Harvard or Princeton, collaborating with experts and academics, or being a trusted teacher and advisor for countless Members of Congress, Dr. Billington was a committed educator. His dedication to expanding the Library's educational programing has allowed a generation of young Americans to discover their love of history and become inspired to engage in our great democratic experiment. "Our nation has lost a true patriot and one of its most relentless defenders. Dr. Billington's life and remarkable legacy have left an indelible mark on our unique American story, allowing generations of young people to see, experience and learn from the history he so passionately promoted. May it be a small comfort to his loving wife, Marjorie, their children, Susan, Anne, James Jr., and Thomas, and the entire Billington family that so many mourn with them at this difficult time." Statement from Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice: "I am deeply saddened by the news of Dr. Jim Billington's passing. He was an original -- brilliant, thoughtful and kind. He led the Library of Congress with skill and passion. On a personal note, he was a great role model for me as a scholar and a public servant. His timeless work, The Icon and the Axe is quite literally the book that drew this failed music major to the study of the Soviet Union. Such was the reach of his influence in the field. I join all of his friends and colleagues in sending my thoughts and prayers to Marjorie and the Billington family." Statement of Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs, The New School and the granddaughter of Leonid Khrushchev, the eldest son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev "Dr Billington was such a towering figure in the Russian studies and in the field of the US-Russian relations that he would be thoroughly missed for decades to come. In his work, either as a scholar or a librarian of Congress, he brilliantly merged art and politics, all for the purposes of the United States better understanding and appreciating other cultures around the globe. Russia, his area of expertise, was particularly lucky. James Billington's book, The Icon and the Axe, was itself an icon for the generations of both the Russians and the Russianists. In the dark days of the Soviet Union we, the Russians, tried to understand our own culture through Dr. Billington's critical, knowledgeable and kind eye. At the same time, his philosophical and historical approach to the complex country of bombs, ballet and Brothers Karamazov became a road map for the study of Russian culture and politics for many scholars following in his steps. May his soul rest in peace." Statement of David M. Rubenstein on the Passing of Dr. James Billington November 21, 2018: "Jim Billington was one of the finest public servants indeed one of the finest Americans I have ever been privileged to meet. His dedication to our country, and in the last three decades of his life to the Library of Congress, places all Americans his debt. Jim helped transform the Library of Congress into the library of the American people a national treasure available to and benefiting all Americans. Those of us who were fortunate to know and work with him will miss him dearly." Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788323/James_Hadley_Billington.jpg SOURCE The Family of James H. Billington MUMBAI, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The award was presented by the Association of National Board Accredited Institutions (ANBAI) Saifee Hospital was awarded for their excellence in teaching for their Diplomate in National Board programme at an event hosted by the Association of National Board Accredited Institutions (ANBAI) in Bangalore. The event was held to recognize the contribution of various medical institutes to the field of teaching. The award for 'Best Teaching Institute' for DNB programme was conferred by Shri VajubhaiVala, Governor of Karnataka and the event was attended by many dignitaries from the medicine field. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788519/Saifee_Hospital_Awarded.jpg ) Diploma of National Board (DNB) is a post graduate degree affiliated to National Board of Examinations. Saifee Hospital received the recognition to start this course in 2009 and 201 students have enrolled in the course till date, out of which 138 students have successfully completed the training. The DNB programme at Saifee is offered in 10 subjects, namely, general medicine, general surgery, anaesthesia, pathology, radiology, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, urology and FNB in critical care. The selection process for DNB programme is centralized by National Board of Examinations, Delhi. The selected students are allocated institutes based on their merit in the examination. Dr. Iqbal Bagasrawala, Associate Director, Medical Affairs, Saifee Hospital, expressed gratitude on being awarded as the best teaching institute, "We feel extremely honored and humbled to have received this award. Our stellar academic records, exceptional passing percentages and dedication of the faculty members have been pivotal factors for the success of this course. Our expertise in teaching combined with world-class facilities will further help us in achieving newer heights in imparting quality medical education and training." Saifee Hospital also offers many other diploma and fellowship courses in association with College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) and Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) respectively. DNB is a post-graduate degree provided by private medical colleges. Many DNB graduates from Saifee have joined the hospital as consultants, few are settled abroad and a few are successfully practising in India as well. About Saifee Hospital: Saifee Hospital under the aegis of Saifee Hospital Trust is a state-of-the-art 250 plus bedded hospital. It strives and aims to provide international world-class care to the people at large. In a short span of one decade, it has become a centre of excellence in several fields of medicine and healthcare and people from across the length and breadth of the country as well as 50 plus countries across the globe visit Saifee Hospital. The hospital aims to provide state-of-the-art technology for diagnostic and therapeutic services to patients in a world-class ambience with utmost efficiency and care. The hospital is already a well-recognized centre for minimal invasive surgery (key-hole surgery) and given the amount and variety of complex robotically assisted surgeries being carried out; Saifee Hospital is fast becoming a Centre of Advanced Robotic Surgery in South Mumbai. SOURCE Saifee Hospital 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 Bahamas Meets Tax Exchange Deadlines with Vizor AEOI Solution Vizor committed all of their resources to ensure we met the deadline, including sending technical advisors from Ireland to The Bahamas. Today, Vizor Software announced that the Government of The Bahamas met the September 30th deadline to begin automatic exchange of tax information (AEOI) with 35 partner jurisdictions, thus meeting the countys OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS) commitments for AEOI. The integrated reporting application from Vizor includes an online portal where Bahamian financial institutions (FIs) submit compliance data. We worked diligently with Vizor to iron out the various challenges, commented K. Peter Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister. "They committed all of their resources to ensure we met the deadline, including sending technical advisors from Ireland to The Bahamas. The co-operation of all our financial institutions is also commendable; their co-operation and commitment to fulfilling their reporting obligations speaks volumes about the high standards we maintain in the jurisdiction." The Ministry of Finance selected Vizor earlier this year for its CRS obligations and to replace its existing FATCA solution. The successful project has resulted in an integrated system to submit and process tax compliance data, supporting all of The Bahamas AEOI needs. We were delighted to work with the experienced exchange of information team in The Bahamas, commented Conor Crowley, CEO, Vizor. This successful project showcases the opportunity for Competent Authorities to deliver greater efficiency and customer satisfaction by upgrading to a Vizor solution. To learn more about Vizor AEOI and how this out-of-the-box solution can simplify FATCA, CRS and BEPS information exchange for Tax Authorities, please visit the Vizor website. For more information on the Ministry of Finance, Government of The Bahamas visit: http://www.taxreporting.finance.gov.bs/ About Vizor Vizor Software is the global leader in cross-border information exchange solutions for Tax Authorities with over 15 jurisdictions having already implemented our solution to facilitate either CRS and FATCA exchanges or both. With our expertise in AEOI standards, we ensure Tax Authorities can meet all their international commitments for CRS, FATCA and information sharing requirements under the BEPS package. Our proven software platform can be implemented in as little as five weeks and is continuously upgraded to ensure compliance with any future changes to the standards. The extensive validation of all submitted data greatly reduces the administrative burden and risk for the Competent Authority. You can learn more at vizorsoftware.com or by following Vizor on Twitter and LinkedIn. On 5 November, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church issued a statement claiming ownership of the disputed monastery and attacking the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church issued a statement Wednesday refusing to answer claims made in a statement by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on the disputed Deir Sultan Monastery in Jerusalem's Old City. "Concerning the statement of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church regarding Deir Sultan Monastery, which was issued on 5 November 2018, we distance ourselves from answering what came in it, including unjust accusations, offensive insults and historical inaccuracies about the ownership and possession of Coptic Deir Sultan," the statement read. The statement, however, listed the history of the dispute over the monastery in Israeli courts, referring to the Israeli Supreme Court's verdict on 16 March 1971 that was based on the Egyptian Orthodox Church's documents and concluded that Deir Sultan was owned by the Egyptian Orthodox Church. "We thank the Lord that the Israeli Magistrate Court ruled on 28 October 2018 that the restoration works will be limited to inside Angel Mikhail Church in the places that needed restoration under the supervision of an engineer appointed by the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church," the statement read. On 5 November, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church issued a statement claiming ownership of the disputed monastery and attacking the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church. "The Copts have unbecomingly used rights that do not pertain to them, and illegal, counterfeit documentation in order to undermine [these] long-standing historical facts," said the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church statement, adding that in addition to "scriptural evidence," Ethiopian holdings in Jerusalem are facts recorded in the tax annals and proclamation records of those who ruled Jerusalem. In late October, Israeli security forces assaulted Egyptian Coptic monks and arrested at least one during a protest against the restoration of Deir Sultan Monastery. The arrested monk was later released. The monks were protesting peacefully against restoration work planned by the Israeli government at the monastery without the consent of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Ownership of the 1,000-year-old monastery has been the source of a decades-long dispute. The monastery, where Ethiopians have lived for decades, had been owned by the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church since the 7th century, according to Antonious. Copts remained in control of the monastery until 1970 when Israeli authorities handed its control over to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church after police changed the monastery's locks and gave them the keys. Numerous Israeli court rulings ordering that the monastery be returned to the Copts have not been enforced. Search Keywords: Short link: Forbes, November 13, 2018 By Niall McCarthy 17 years after U.S. forces and the Northern Alliance captured Kabul, half of Afghanistan has been retaken by the Taliban and the war is dragging on. ISIS have also become increasingly active in the country and approximately 14,000 U.S. troops are still serving there in an attempt to contain a growing wave of extremism. Even though the conflict has been making fewer headlines in recent years, the U.S. has never dropped as many bombs on Afghanistan as it did this year. According to U.S. Air Forces Central Command data, manned and unmanned aircraft released 5,213 weapons between January and the end of September 2018. Previously, 2010 held the record for weapons dropped on Afghanistan with 5,101 releases recorded in total. That was a deadly year which saw 711 ISAF troops and 1,271 civilians killed. Towards the end of Obama's presidency, the number of bombs dropped declined with 947 instances in 2015 and 1,337 in 2016. Since President Trump announced a new Afghan strategy last August and committed more troops to the country, the number of bombs dropped by the U.S. coalition has surged dramatically. The increase is primarily due to a change in the rules of engagement which allows coalition forces to open fire on the enemy without being in contact with them. That change was orchestrated by Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis who wants to remove such restrictions to employ air power more effectively. Unfortunately, the change in the rules combined with a higher pace of airstrikes by the Afghan Air Force (not included on the following infographic) has also led to more civilian deaths. Last month, the UN announced that the number of civilian casualties in the first nine months of 2018 is higher than in any year since it started documenting them in 2009. Reuters, November 15, 2018 By Mustafa Andalib, Abdul Qadir Sediqi Thousands of members of Afghanistans mainly Shiite Hazara ethnic minority have fled their homes in the central province of Ghazni as the Taliban have pressed into two previously safe districts, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday. In heavy fighting over recent days, hundreds of Taliban fighters have seized large areas of Jaghori and Malistan districts, both heavily populated by Hazaras, a group that has long faced discrimination in Afghanistan. I saw Taliban burning the house of a local police commander, killing the commander and his son, said Mohammad Ali, who fled from his home in Jaghori to Ghazni city. The bazaar was closed, there was no food, no medicine and no power so we escaped. Afghan families fleeing from the districts of Malistan and Jaghori, because of the conflict between Taliban and Afghan forces, arrive in Ghazni, Afghanistan November 14, 2018. (Photo: Mustafa Andaleb/Reuters) Afghan families fleeing from the districts of Malistan and Jaghori, because of the conflict between Taliban and Afghan forces, arrive in Ghazni, Afghanistan November 14, 2018. (Photo: Mustafa Andaleb/Reuters) Roads into the area were closed and telecoms interrupted making it hard for aid groups and officials to assess the number of casualties, with problems facing those displaced made worse by plunging temperatures. Fighting between the Taliban, a mainly ethnic Pashtun Sunni Muslim movement, and a militia led by Hakim Shujayee, a local Hazara commander accused of abuses against Pashtuns, broke out in Uruzgan, a neighboring province to Ghazni in early November. It later spread to Jaghori and Malistan. The fighting has fueled fears over a possible upsurge in ethnic and sectarian violence. The Taliban say their fight is not against the Hazara population but against Shujayee, who has remained at liberty despite warrants for his arrest. He (Shujayee) receives government support, so our fight is against him and the government that provides support to him, we will punish him for his crimes, said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. One senior official said at least 35 civilians, mainly Hazaras, and over 50 members of the elite Special Forces had been killed in the clashes. He estimated that more than 7,000 people have fled from Jaghori and Malistan either to Ghazni or into neighboring Bamiyan and more than 3,000 homes had been razed. Abdul Rahman Ahmadi, spokesman for the governor of Bamiyan province, which is adjacent to Ghazni and has a large Hazara population, said more than 4,500 internally displaced people had sought shelter in schools, mosques and private homes there. We are doing everything to help the fleeing villagers, many are in a state of shock, he said. The United Nationss Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan said the situation within the affected districts was chaotic, leaving people trapped in the districts facing siege-like conditions. Large parts of Ghazni province are already under the control of the Taliban after the militants briefly overran the provincial capital, Ghazni city, in August before they were pushed back by Afghan forces backed by U.S. air strikes. Prior to the fighting, Jaghori was known as a relatively liberal enclave with high levels of education and womens rights. Jaghori was the only district where women could drive a car freely and pursue higher education without worrying about militant attacks. But now it will all change, said one foreign security expert. Earlier this week hundreds of people held demonstrations outside the presidential palace in Kabul. The protesters, mainly Hazaras, said President Ashraf Ghani had failed to address security challenges. Egypt denounced on Wednesday the terrorist attack that targeted a gathering of religious scholars in Afghanistan's Capital Kabul, killing at least people 55 people celebrating the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad on Tuesday, the Egyptian foreign ministry announced. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the foreign ministry expressed its full solidarity and support to Afghanistan offering condolences to the families of the victims and wishing a speedy recovery for the injured. Afghan authorities were struggling on Wednesday to identify the group behind a suicide bomb attack that killed at least 55 people and injured over 94 others attending a gathering of religious scholars in Kabul after the Taliban denied any responsibility. The victims included religious delegates from various parts of the country, invited by the Afghan Ulema Council to celebrate the religious gathering. Egypt's Al-Azhar and Dar Al-Ifta have also denounced the attack. Search Keywords: Short link: Oil prices resumed declines on Thursday, as signs of rising crude supplies combined with worries over slackening global growth overshadowed expectations that producer club OPEC will soon cut supply to prevent oversupply. Global benchmark Brent crude fell 1.1 percent to $62.80 a barrel in European trade, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were down 1 percent at $54.05 a barrel. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a weekly report on Wednesday that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose by 4.9 million barrels to 446.91 million barrels in the week ending Nov. 16, rising for the ninth straight week. That was the highest level since December 2017. Fearing a glut, OPEC and its allies are considering cutting or adjusting production as needed to balance the market. A consensus among the group members to restore stability in energy is likely when they meet in Vienna, Austria on December 6. However, Saudi Arabia may find it harder to act to support prices, after U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised the country for helping him keep oil prices down. Trump added that without those efforts, "oil prices would go through the roof". For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis Within 72 hours of the terror incident, the Punjab Police has arrested one person in connection with Sunday's grenade attack on the Nirankari Satsang Bhawan that killed three persons, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said here on Wednesday. Amarinder blamed Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and the Pakistan-based masterminds of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) for the terror attack. The arrested person has been identified as Bikramjit Singh, 26, a resident of Dhariwal village near Rajasansi area of Amritsar. he said. He was arrested early on Wednesday from near Loharka village in Amritsar district. The second person involved in the attack, identified as Avtar Singh, is still absconding. It was Avtar who threw the grenade at the Nirankari prayer meeting on Sunday, leaving three people dead and 15 others injured. Bikramjit had stood at the gate of the Nirankari bhawan premises, holding the gate attendants at gun-point. The Chief Minister said the grenade used in the blast was Pakistan made, and added that the motorcycle used in the crime has also been recovered. Amarinder said it was a "terror incident" and there was no religious link to it. "Bikram, a KLF operative, has given significant information indicating that the grenade was provided to the assailants by one Happy in Pakistan," Amarinder said. "Happy is suspected to be the Pakistan-based KLF chief...Harmeet Singh Happy @ Ph.D, who had earlier masterminded the conspiracy to carry out targeted killings of RSS/ Shiv Sena/ DSS leaders and workers (and a Christian Pastor) in Ludhiana and Jalandhar in 2016-2017, in active collaboration with Pakistani establishment and the ISI," he added. The Chief Minister categorically ruled out any religious motivation behind the attack and described Sunday's attack on Nirankari Bhawan as "yet another attempt by Pakistan's ISI and the Pakistan establishment to carry out terrorist actions in Punjab to disturb the peace in the state". "It was in ISI's interest to keep the border disturbed to ensure internal peace in Pakistan," Amarinder told media here. "Attempts by Pak ISI and Pak establishment to forge linkages between Punjabi and Kashmiri terrorist groups is a matter of serious security concern for Punjab," the Chief Minister said, adding that the Punjab Police was working closely with central agencies to check the spread of such forces. Amarinder said that his government was committed to ensuring that nobody was allowed to disturb the state's hard-earned peace and harmony. The Chief Minister pointed out that there had been only two terror attacks in the state in 2018, including the Maqsudan Police Station attack and Sunday's incident near Amritsar. "Both were successfully solved by the police, who had also cracked all the cases of targeted killings. The sacrilege cases that had taken place in the last 18 months were also solved," he said. Giving details, the Chief Minister said that preliminary investigations and CCTV footage of the incident had led to the arrest of Bikram, who has identified his accomplice as Avtar Singh Khalsa (32 years) of village Chak Mishri Khan, Lopoke (Ajnala) in Amritsar district. Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora said Bikramjit was riding a TVS motorbike (PB-18-M-7032) at the time of his arrest. Bikramjit's black Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle (PB-02-BF-9488), which he used in the attack, has also been recovered. "Bikramjit Singh has disclosed that Avtar Singh called him up late on November 3 and asked him to be ready for an assignment the next morning. Around 4.30 a.m that day, Avtar reached Bikram's house and both set out on Bikram's Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle to retrieve the hand grenade from an orchard located at a distance of about 1 km on Majitha-Hariyan link road. They retrieved the HE 84 hand grenade, which had been buried in a half feet deep pit under a Shisham tree," Arora pointed out. "According to Bikramjit's initial questioning, the recee of Nirankari Satsang Bhawan was carried out on the morning of November 13 when no one was present on the premises. During the recee, the two conspirators especially checked out the locations of CCTV cameras en route, the layout plan of the Bhawan and the distance from the main gate on the boundary wall of the Bhawan to the Satsang Bhawan building," Arora said. Bikramjit has further said that as decided, on November 16 Bikram reached the house of Avtar Singh at Chak Mishri Khan village on his black Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle at about 9 a.m, where they removed the number plate of the motorcycle. They started for village Adliwal at about 9.30 a.m and covered their faces on the way, near village Manawala. They waited in the area for the crowd to congregate at the Satsang Bhawan. Both of them were armed with pistols at that time, he added. Bikram told the police that Avtar entered the Satsang Bhawan complex through the open gate, along with the other followers while he himself managed to subdue and take control, at gunpoint, of the two "sewadars" (volunteers) who had been deployed at the two gate-posts of the Bhawan complex. "After hurling the grenade, both fled on Bikramjit's mobike and reached Avtar's village around 12 noon, where Avtar took back the pistol from Bikramjit. After changing his clothes and appearance, Bikramjit drove back to his village on his black Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle," the DGP said. According to Bikramjit, Avtar was in touch with one Happy in Pakistan, who had got the hand grenade dumped near the orchard near Majitha through some of his other associates. Bikramjit has revealed that the geo-location details as well as pictures of the dump location were sent to Avtar on his mobile to facilitate the retrieval of the hand grenade. "Harmeet Singh Happy had earlier come to notice for supply of a hand grenade (Arges Type HG-84) of the same specifications to Shabnamdeep Singh, r/o Samana (Patiala), a self-styled chief of Khalistan Gaddar Force (KGF), who was arrested by Punjab Police (Patiala) on October 31, 2018," the DGP said. The Punjab Police had earlier recovered five such hand grenades, as part of a huge consignment comprising AK-47 rifle, MP-9 rifle and seven pistols, which had been sent by terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and ISYF (International Sikh Youth Federation) (Rode faction) across the Indo-Pak border and recovered from the terrorist module of Sher Singh and Mann Singh on May 21, 2017. "It has been learnt that HG 84 hand grenade is produced by Arges of Austria, and also manufactured in Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) of Pakistan (as "84-P2A1"). Such grenades are commonly used by the armies of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Austria. HG 84 is a destructive type of grenade, which causes fragmentation after the explosion and has an effective range of 30-meter radius. These are mainly used to attack and kill a gathering of persons. Such grenades have been used in Jammu and Kashmir in the past," a Punjab Police spokesman said. Amarinder said that since March 2017, the Punjab Police has busted 17 terror modules and arrested 81 militants, thereby preventing a large number of terrorist actions in the state. "The Punjab Police has seized 77 weapons from these terrorists, including very sophisticated automatic weapons, RDX and other explosives, as well as 12 hand grenades," he added. "Since March 2017, at least 3 arms consignments, pushed into Punjab by Pak ISI in collaboration with chiefs of different Pak-based Sikh militant outfits, such as ISYF, Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and KLF, have been recovered by the Punjab Police. These consignments consisted of AK-47 Rifles (5), MP 9 Rifle (1), Pistols (10) and hand grenades (11)," he added. Bikramjit and Avtar have been booked for murder, attempt to murder and under other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. As the school examination period draws to a close to mark the end of another academic year, there was a mixed reaction from students on how they performed and the exams they sat for. Speaking to Samoa Observer after their exams, Seventh Day Adventist College year 13 student Daniel Koria said the exams were helpful in terms of assessment. So far, the national exams have been quite helpful, in terms of assessing what I have learnt as a student throughout the academic year, from my various subject teachers as well as my own time in study, he said. Emmanuel Neru of Samoa College said time management was important for him, as it enabled him to prioritise his studies in preparation for the exams. Others said the exam papers were relevant to what they were taught in school, although two expressed concern at how one exam question appeared new to them. Although it is one question, we fear that we may still lose marks which is not very fair, said Daniel Koria and Apollosio Alaalatoa. Another student Emmanuel Neru expressed similar sentiments but on the Samoan paper, as he claimed there were unfamiliar questions included in the exam. While distraction can be a challenge for students in the lead-up to the exams, different students experienced different forms of distraction. Melisha Toetu Sooaemalelagi of Maluafou College said her mobile phone is a distraction, but she ignored it in her preparations. For Samoa Colleges Millennium Simiti, it is movies that got him distracted while his school mates Kolokita Tiatia Eurnik Lee Hang had to put up with loud music from nearby residents during the exam week. Despite the challenges, everyone was happy that it is now over. With that chapter of their lives closed, it now becomes a waiting game as they await their exam results, which will determine where they go next year. Jacqueline Smith and Lani Musu of Samoa College are adherents of the popular phrase education can take you placeson the condition that you worked hard for it. Melisha Toetu Sooaemalelagi subscribes to the same school of thought, and wants to be able to provide for her family in the future. Twenty years. Thats how long Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi has steered Samoas ship as the Prime Minister and the leader for the ruling Human Rights Protection Party. Today, Tuilaepa has arguably become the longest serving Prime Minister in the Pacific, if not the world. Whichever way you look at it, this is a milestone for anyone, quite an endeavour. It is both impressive and rare. It calls for a time of celebration, reflection. Come to think of it, its certainly not a bad achievement for a boy from Lepa whose fight, determination and commitment to succeed against all odds has become the inspiration for any Samoan from a humble family, who wants to dream of making it big. If the boy from Lepa could make it, why couldnt another boy from another village do the same? Indeed, today marks the continuation of a fascinating journey that started from Lepa when Sailele as a young boy came to Apia determined to be educated. The first stop was Marist Brothers, Mulivai, St. Josephs College, Lotopa where he won a scholarship to study at St. Pauls College in Auckland New Zealand. He continued on to Auckland University. Armed with a Masters and Bachelor of Commerce degrees, he did not become a politician right away. He had to learn the ropes, understand the system so that in the 1970s, he was employed at the Treasury Department where he later became Deputy Director of the Economics Department. Between 1973 and 1978, he was Deputy Financial Secretary of the Government until 1978, he and his Gillian moved to Brussels where he worked until the 1980s when they returned to Samoa. It was while he was a working for the Coopers & Lybrand accounting firm when he entered politics in 1981. On this day 20 years ago, after 17 years as a politician, Tuilaepa as the Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for Lepa then, was sworn in as Prime Minister. He is only the sixth person to have held the role since Samoa became independent in 1962. The day was even more significant as it was when he stepped up to replace his mentor for many years, former Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana, who has since passed away. The rest as they say is history. Love him or hate him, there is one thing that cannot be denied. Tuilaepa is a hard worker who has done a lot of good for this country. He has seen the worst and the best of times, having played a critical role in the policymaking, and governance of this nation, longer than anyone else. He has survived the harsh realities of developing a nation with no money and few natural resources. He has had to learn the ropes of party politics, where Samoa has experienced many extremesincluding a public servants strike, a political assassination, public sector reforms, a struggling economy and countless other challenges. How has he managed all this? Its quite simple. While everyone talks about his other attributes as a leader, what we dont often hear is his work ethic, which is unrivalled. People who know him close enough will testify to this. Tuilaepa is undoubtedly the hardest working politician in Samoa today. From a public observation perspective, all you have to do is look at the way he carries out his role in public. On any given day, Prime Minister Tuilaepa would have so many speaking engagements. They start from the morning and they go right into the night. He never says no to anyone, regardless of what the occasion is. Some people often joke that Tuilaepa could even rock up to open a small kitchen if you invited him to. But that is the nature of the man. He is approachable, hard working and Samoa today simply would not be the same without him. Does he have faults? Of course he does. Plenty. Tuilaepa is human after all and as long as we are human, we are prone to faults and mistakes. The Prime Minister is no exception. As he marks this milestone today, one of the biggest criticisms of his leadership is the number of things he has changed. From butchering the Constitution blue, to moving the dateline forward, switching from right-hand to left-hand drive and countless other changesthere are grounds for people who say Tuilaepa is only interested in legacy projects, where he would be remembered. But this moment is not the time to talk about those things. Today is a time to rejoice and be thankful. We acknowledge God for the leader he has given Samoa. We are grateful to Prime Minister Tuilaepa for his unwavering commitment, dedication and all the hard work he puts in for the betterment of this country. Twenty years is a long time, a mighty wonderful milestone. The only question is, how much longer can he continue? Congratulations Prime Minister Tuilaepa! And have a great Friday Samoa, God bless! Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed Wednesday that Egypt supports all efforts aimed at bringing about integration in Africa. El-Sisis remarks came while meeting former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the presence of Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates' Affairs Nabila Makram and the Liberian ambassador to Egypt, said presidential spokesman Bassam Rady. El-Sisi highlighted the importance of linking African countries with developed railways and road networks, to support economic and social integration in the continent. He urged intra-African trade, not only by making deals but implementing such deals. Their talks also touched on the crisis of illegal immigration from the African continent, Rady added. Ellen praised Egypt's constructive efforts aimed at tackling existing challenges in Africa, especially illegal immigration. Search Keywords: Short link: Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaois vision in the development of Samoa has been hailed by Cabinet Ministers. Speaking to Samoa Observer yesterday, the Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, congratulated Tuilaepa on the milestone of his 20th year as the Prime Minister. He is a fearless leader, Sili said. I want to congratulate him for his 20 years and wish for another 20 years with the Prime Minister. The sentiments are echoed in congratulatory messages from other Cabinet Ministers. Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, congratulated the Prime Minister in an advertisement published in the Samoa Observer today. He thanked the Prime Minister for his vision and leadership steering Samoas ship for the last 20 years. Minister for Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, offered profound congratulatory remarks. Thank you for your valuable contributions and extraordinary leadership. Minister of Justice and Courts Administration, Faaolesa Katopau Ainuu, agrees. Twenty years is a milestone and we congratulate you. Minister of Health, Tuitama Dr Leao Tuitama also congratulated the Prime Minister. Thank you for everything that you have done for Samoa. For Sili, who had worked with Prime Minister Tuilaepa for many years prior to becoming a politician, he said Samoa today would not be where it is without Tuilaepas vision and drive. Investing in infrastructure, roads, plantation access roads, water, electricity, technology, education and health care services; Samoa is in a much better situation now compared to the past, he said. This was everything he put in place from those years when he was Minister of Finance more than 20 years ago. Looking back, we can confidently say that Samoa today is doing well. Tuilaepa is a man with a vision and he works hard for it. We are seeing the fruits of his labour. Yesterday, Sili took a journey down memory lane, when he was working with Tuilaepa while he was the Minister of Finance. He was very clear as to what his expectation of me and the Ministry was and what our role was when he was Minister of Finance. Sili was fond of the fact the Ministry of Finance then was tasked to give the best possible advice on the financial status of the Government for submissions to Cabinet. He always said dont worry about Cabinet, leave politics to the politicians, you just work on the best advice and I will do the work. Sili said Tuilaepa loves engaging with the community. He cares especially about the social and economic wellbeing of our people, providing health care and educational services in the rural areas. The Minister of Finance said that Samoa, despite being small and having limited resources, has done extremely well under Tuilaepas leadership. We have also engaged with developing partners to support the plans for the future. Looking back compared to where we are today, I can confidently say that we have done well. But there is always room to improve and innovate. Its evident that there is a lot more that we need to do to improve the quality of health care and education services. The Minister said working with Tuilaepa at the Ministry of Finance, and in the private sector has helped pave the way for him into Parliament. I am blessed to have him as my Prime Minister and working with him has been fulfilling. A very bold leader and well respected not only in Samoa, (but) the regional and globally. Sili also highlighted Tuilaepas ability to unite the Pacific islands. He also shares a unique relationship with the media, which is something very unusual for world leaders. He faces issues head on and does not shy or hide from it. I admire that and it reflects democracy. There will be three reasons to celebrate Pacific writers and literacy this evening at the Sheraton Samoa Aggie Greys Hotel in Apia. A Chinese translation of the book of short stories from the annual 2016 Samoa Observer Tusitala Short Story Competition and compiled in the publication, Only the Word Survives, will be launched. The stories, from writers throughout the Pacific have been translated by Samoas Chinese Ambassador Wang Xuefeng and Madam Tong Xin. Last year Our Heritage, the Ocean, the publication from the 2015 competition, was also translated by the couple while the books cover design was the work of their son. Distributed in China at universities and the Foreign Affairs department, the first translation has reportedly been instrumental in providing an authentic glimpse of life in the Pacific to Chinese readers. In a second book launch tonight, stories from the 2017 short story competition have been compiled under the title, The Pacific is Rising. This book includes local author, Jenny Bennetts acclaimed story, Matalasi which subsequently was a winner in the prestigious Commonwealth Short Story Competition. This book will be available from S.S.A.B. outlets and the Samoa Observer Office in Apia And in the third cause for celebration, Regional Winners and the Overall Winner of the 2018 story competition will be announced. Committee Member, Marj Moore said it doesnt stop there. There will be a 2019 competition and the stories of this years winners as well as those that were Highly Commended, will again be compiled and published in a book in the new year. Moore said that the original idea of a competition came from Samoa Observers Editor in Chief, Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa. As a writer and poet, he has always been generous about sharing opportunities for other writers to have their work read by more than just a few. It was at his insistence, that the stories be published in a book; for writers to become authors. Moore said that initially, publishing a book, was only made possible by extra financial support from the New Zealand High Commission and the business community. However in the past few years, it has been the Chinese Embassy that has supported the competition and expanded its reach with the translated editions. The competition, begun in 2015, is organised for writers to enter their stories in one of three Pacific areas: Australia and New Zealand; the rest of the Pacific Islands and Samoa. The Overall Winner is then chosen from the three winners from those three regions. In addition, Highly Commended stories from the regions are also published in the book to follow, providing a wonderful opportunity for writers. Learn more at www.tusitalacompetition.com VIENNA (AP) The head of the U.N.'s atomic watchdog has called on North Korea to allow inspectors back in to monitor its nuclear program. Speaking at a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency Thursday, Director General Yukiya Amano noted that Pyongyang had in September talked about denuclearization measures including the "permanent dismantlement of the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon" a reactor where it produces plutonium. Amano said there has been activity observed at Yongbyon, but "without access the agency cannot confirm the nature and purpose of these activities." At a news conference later Thursday, he said he couldn't elaborate on when exactly the activity was observed. IAEA inspectors were expelled from North Korea in 2009 but Amano said the agency continues to prepare for their possible re-admittance. "The agency continues to enhance its readiness to play an essential role in verifying (North Korea's) nuclear program if a political agreement is reached among countries concerned," he said. "I again call upon (North Korea) to comply fully with its obligations under relevant resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and of the IAEA board, to cooperate promptly with the agency and to resolve all outstanding issues." On the other hand, Amano told board members that Iran continues to abide by the deal reached in 2015 with major world powers that aimed at preventing Tehran from building atomic weapons in exchange for economic incentives. He reiterated the agency's findings in a report distributed to member states earlier this month that "Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action." The issue has grown more complicated since the U.S. withdrew unilaterally in May from the deal and then re-imposed sanctions. Iran's economy has been struggling ever since and its currency has plummeted in value. The other signatories to the deal Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China are continuing to try to make it work. Amano stressed that "it is essential that Iran continues to fully implement" its commitments. In its full report, the IAEA said its inspectors continue to have access to all sites in Iran that it needs to visit and that inspectors confirmed Iran has kept within limits of heavy water and low-enriched uranium stockpiles. "The agency continues to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material declared by Iran under its safeguards agreement," Amano said. "Evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran continue." BANGKOK (AP) All the usual rituals of international summits were there: the group photos, the gala dinners, the noticeably vibrant shirts leaders force themselves into. But eclipsing all of that at Asia's two big meetings was some unusually forthright criticism that exposed deepening divisions rattling the region. Front and center was the rivalry between the U.S. and China. The two countries are locked in a widening trade war and their representatives used the summits to exchange barbs and maneuver to expand their influence. Competition between the great powers is not new to the region. But over decades of war, financial crises and other setbacks, countries across Asia and the Pacific Rim have used these annual meetings to talk through such problems, usually opting to sideline disagreements in a show of unity. Consensus, not conflict, is typically the norm. This year is different. The clash between the world's two biggest economies is shaking the bedrock of regional amity and leaving some countries worried they will be forced to choose between Beijing and Washington. It also may bode poorly for compromise between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping when they meet this month at the Group of 20 gathering in Argentina. The antagonisms kicked off last week at a Southeast Asian summit in Singapore, where U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, standing in for Trump, declared that "empire and aggression have no place" in the region, a clear reference to Chinese expansion in the disputed South China Sea. The discord carried over to the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Papua New Guinea, where leaders failed for the first time in nearly 30 years of such gatherings to endorse a final joint statement. China apparently pushed back hard against U.S. demands for strong language against unfair trade practices. Pence and Chinese leaders sparred at both summits, with the vice president describing China's militarization and expansion in the South China Sea as "illegal and dangerous." He accused Beijing of threatening the sovereignty of many nations and said it "endangers the prosperity of the world." Chinese Premier Li Keqiang smacked back, urging fellow leaders to send a positive message to markets ruffled by the trade war, which has seen both sides imposing punitive tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's exports and has the potential to unravel supply chains across the globe. The acrimony may be somewhat less apparent at the G-20 gathering in Buenos Aeries, which will include leaders from across the globe and the focus will be global, not regional. But the strains between the U.S. and China were painful enough in Singapore that the gathering's urbane host, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, appealed for a bit less candor and greater camaraderie, saying it would be easier if everybody was "on the same side." Across Asia, countries worry they will have to "choose one or the other," he said. "I hope it does not happen soon." Most Asian nations are loath to make such a choice because they benefit from the rivalry, whether economically, militarily or both. For most, China is their largest trading partner. But they are wary of China's military might and see the U.S. and its presence in the region as a welcome counterbalance. China's footprint was everywhere in the Papuan capital, Port Moresby, from a showpiece boulevard and international convention center built with Chinese help to bus stop shelters sporting "China Aid" plaques. A huge billboard showed Xi gazing beneficently beside Papua New Guinea's leader. At that meeting, Pence took aim at China's global infrastructure drive, known as the "Belt and Road Initiative," suggesting that Beijing was drowning its partners in debt and infringing on their sovereignty. He also announced the U.S. would join ally Australia's plan to develop a naval base in Papua New Guinea. That followed a hush-hush working level meeting in Singapore of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which involves the U.S., Japan, Australia and India and is viewed as a challenge to China's expanding military reach. Xi, the Chinese president, suggested the U.S. was bending the rules of global institutions set up after World War II, such as the World Trade Organization, and using them for "selfish agendas." This year's friction wasn't confined to jousting between the U.S. and China. In Singapore, Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who usually is not put on the spot by the other leaders, appeared grim and weary after she was sharply criticized by Pence and by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed over the Buddhist majority-nation's treatment of ethnic Muslim Rohingya. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled killings and other violence in Myanmar and are crowded in dire conditions in camps in Bangladesh. True to form, China saw an opportunity and responded to the criticism by having Li reach out and reaffirm Beijing's support for Myanmar's efforts to maintain domestic stability. As China and the U.S. maneuver for influence across a region stretching from India to the tip of South America, the biggest worry is that the jousting could escalate into a full-blown confrontation as Chinese and U.S. warships and aircraft prowl the region. A near collision of a Chinese destroyer and the USS Decatur near a disputed reef in the South China Sea in late September added to those concerns. Still, the jostling for supremacy comes with mixed signals. The regional summitry over, two U.S. B-52 bombers on Monday flew over the South China Sea in what U.S. Pacific Air Forces said was a "routine training mission." But on Wednesday, the aircraft carrier USS Reagan docked in Hong Kong in what was viewed as a friendly gesture it required Beijing's approval. Facing a 94-pound swordfish, chef Rob Ruiz explored the question of sustainability in the kitchen, and in the ocean. At his Carlsbad Village restaurant Land & Water Company, Ruiz used a pair of Japanese knives to carve the freshly caught fish. Carefully removing sections, Ruiz explained their different flavors and values. Meat near the bone has the highest nutritional value, he said, while marrow makes delicious fish stock. The cheeks of the swordfish, he said, have a sweet, tender flavor like a scallop blown up to the size of a pancake. And a portion of the neck called the comma, he said, contains the most succulent meat on the fish. Ruiz, who has been honored for his marine conservation efforts as well as his cuisine, said his preparation methods reflect our ethos of always honoring the creature, not wasting any of it and always trying to do the right thing. Advertisement The swordfish was caught the same day through an emerging technique known as deep-set buoy fishing. Just as the chefs knives are designed specifically for seafood, the new gear promises to allow fishermen to target swordfish without entangling other sensitive species. In September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that will phase out swordfish catch through drift gillnet fishing in which large mesh nets are dragged through the water column and encourage the use of the cleaner fishing gear to reduce unwanted catch of marine wildlife, known as bycatch. In June, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, the regulatory body for West Coast fisheries, will vote on a plan for permitting the deep-set buoy gear. Ruiz demonstration, and a subsequent sampling of the seafood it produced, were part of a recent event marking that process, and celebrating the role San Diego plays in pioneering seafood solutions for consumers, fishermen and ocean ecosystems. The fisherman is an endangered species in San Diego, too, Ruiz said. We have the opportunity for San Diego to become the most sustainable port in the country. Deep-set buoy gear is the result of a years-long effort to find alternatives to drift gillnets. The vast sheets of netting are the method of choice for most swordfish fishermen, but have the unwanted consequence of entangling endangered leatherback sea turtles, whales, sea lions, sharks and other species. To prevent that, federal regulators close a large swath of the Pacific from Central California to Oregon for three months a year, and introduced gear regulations to protect the animals. That precaution has substantially reduced accidental catch of turtles and other protected species. But the closures and other restrictions have made it hard for boats to turn a profit. The swordfish fleet, with nearly 200 vessels off the West Coast in the 1980s and 1990s, has dwindled to about 20 boats, said Tara Brock, a policy analyst with The Pew Charitable Trusts. Most are based in San Diego and operate in the Southern California Bight, south of Point Conception, the only part of the coast not restricted by the closures. As fishermen struggled with restrictions on swordfish, scientists sought alternatives. What if there were a way to catch swordfish when they were apart from protected marine life? Heidi Dewar, a fisheries research biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, started tagging swordfish to track their movements.. Drift gillnets operate at night, but Dewar and colleagues found that swordfish descend to deeper waters during the day, hunting in colder layers where air-breathing animals dont travel. If researchers could develop fishing gear to target them in those depths, they could avoid harming other marine life. Chugey Sepulveda, director and senior scientists with the Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research in Oceanside, known as PIER, took up that task. With a doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a passion for fishing, he was eager to find other methods for swordfish fishermen. Swordfish: my favorite fish in the ocean, he said at the event. My favorite fish on a plate. Sepulveda worked with other researchers and colleagues to drop long lines into the deeper waters where swordfish swim. When a fish hits, a buoy alerts fishermen that they have a strike. They can reel it in immediately, and bring in fresher catch with far less bycatch. About 80 percent of the catch from the method is swordfish, and another 18 percent is other market fish, such as opah. Less than 2 percent is bycatch. Through the new legislation, fishermen can receive a payout for turning in their drift gillnets and, in turn, invest in deep-set buoy gear. Under the proposed rules that the fisheries council will consider next year, 50 fishermen could receive deep-set buoy permits, with 25 more added each year as the council evaluates the results, Brock said. Some fishermen arent convinced that the drift gillnet ban is the best idea. Lance Rinehart is now a deep set buoy fisherman, but said others who have built careers on gillnets should be able to retire with them. Those people who fished really hard with drift gillnets, they should be allowed to keep their gillnets, he said. Its a closed fishery. Its already regulated. They should just let it be. Sepulveda can relate to those concerns, but said hes confident that fishermen will be successful with deep set buoy gear. We are talking about providing our fishermen with a better option, Sepulveda said. Its the evolution of the gear. deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan CARLSBAD New Sprouts coming to Gateway Road Sprouts Farmers Market has announced it will open seven new stores in the first quarter of 2019, including two in California. One is planned for 2634 Gateway Road in Carlsbad; another will open in Fontana. Sprouts plans to open roughly 30 stores next year. For a list of stores by region or to see locations coming soon, visit sprouts.com/stores. Each new store will bring about 140 new career opportunities to its local neighborhood. Sprouts offers competitive pay, team member discounts, a rewarding culture, and numerous career advancement opportunities. To learn more, visit about.sprouts.com/careers. Tax seminar offered by chamber Advertisement The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce hosts In the Loop: A Tax Workshop with Rachel Ivanovich of Easy Life Management Inc. from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday at 5934 Priestly Drive. Learn about the changes in tax policy that will affect businesses and individuals; hear about steps you can take before the years end. Cost is $30 members, $60 nonmembers. Reserve to www.carlsbad.org/event/in-the-loop-a-tax-workshop; call (760) 931-8400. NORTH COUNTY Excellence awards luncheon on Dec. 7 More than 300 North County leaders will gather Dec. 7 at Cal State San Marcos for the 2018 North County Excellence in Economic Development Awards, presented by SDG&E. Registration is at 11:30 a.m.; luncheon starts at noon. Projects, business expansions and relocations, infrastructure improvements and higher-education investments will be recognized. Register at northcountywater.eventbrite.com. Tickets start at $75 for members and $90 for nonmembers. Sale ends Nov. 30. For sponsorships, contact W. Erik Bruvold of the San Diego North Economic Development Council at ebruvold@sdnedc.org or (760) 510-5919. OCEANSIDE Company donates grills to fire houses Oceanside Ace Hardware has teamed with Traeger Grills and the Oceanside Firefighters Association to honor the citys firefighters by donating eight Traeger Select wood pellet grills to local fire houses. The opportunity to donate the grills was part of the stores celebration of its second anniversary at 263 S. Pacific Coast Highway and its recent Customer Appreciation Days. SCRIPPS RANCH $20K donation made for fire safety The Glen at Scripps Ranch recently made a $20,000 donation to the Scripps Ranch Fire Safe Council to help provide 10 special fire equipment boxes to be placed around the fire district for first responders. Equipment includes emergency vests, traffic cones, signs and flares, among other things. Rick Aschenbrenner, marketing director for The Glen at Scripps Ranch, presented a check to Kristin Young Rayder, founding member and president of the Scripps Ranch Fire Safe Council, on the 15th anniversary of the Cedar fire. Fire response personnel from San Diegos Fire Station 37, which oversees the Scripps Ranch fire district, were also there for the presentation. The Glen at Scripps Ranch is a continuing care retirement community under construction for occupancy in 2019. Visit theglenatscrippsranch.com. Please send items to laura.groch@sduniontribune.com at least 10 days before events. laura.groch@sduniontribune.com San Marcos is seeking applicants for city advisory bodies that help shape policy on land-use planning, traffic, finances and other matters. San Marcos residents who are interested in serving on those bodies must submit applications by Friday, Dec. 13, at 5 p.m. The San Marcos City Council will conduct public interviews for the appointments during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 8, at 6 p.m. Candidates should provide brief presentations on their background and qualifications for positions that theyre seeking. The Planning Commission has three regular and one alternate position open for individuals interested in shaping land use in San Marcos. The commission holds public hearings on planning, zoning and land subdivision proposals, including specific plans, subdivision maps, conditional-use permits and rezones. Two regular positions are open on the Parks & Recreation Commission, which advises the council on the creation, operation, maintenance and management of the communitys recreation programs, activities and facilities. Advertisement Four regular positions are open on the San Marcos Community Foundation, which enhances the quality of life for the community by providing grants to nonprofits in areas including arts and culture, civic life, health and well-being, children, seniors, wildlife and education. The Traffic Commission has two regular and one alternate position available for residents interested in improving traffic conditions, operations and safety, and overseeing traffic enforcement. The Budget Review Commission has one regular and one alternate position open for residents and/or business owners who help review the citys budget and make recommendations to the finance director and City Council. Three positions are open on the San Marcos Creek Specific Plan Oversight Committee, which reviews and monitors progress on the San Marcos Creek Specific Plan. Eligibility requirements, application instructions and interview requirements are available online at www.san-marcos.net/commissions or at 1 Civic Center Drive. Additional information is available through the city clerk at (760) 744-1050, Ext. 3145 or cityclerk@san-marcos.net, and at www.san-marcos.net/your-government/commissions-boards-committees. deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan CARLSBAD Students celebrate Red Ribbon Week Carlsbad Unified School District students, staff and families were among districts marking Red Ribbon Week across the community recently by making healthy choices and participating in planned activities. The week is celebrated yearly nationwide to recognize undercover DEA agent Enrique Camarena, who was killed in the line of duty in 1985. The Carlsbad mayor and City Council as well as the school superintendent, school board members and principals supported these young people by proclaiming the week with a ceremony at City Hall. Kind Cards sought for fire-struck community Advertisement Students in the Carlsbad Unified School District are encouraged to donate gift cards (Visa, Mastercard, Target, Walmart or Home Depot are preferred) to the Paradise Unified School District students and families. The Paradise Elementary School, a longtime participant of The Great Kindness Challenge, burned to the ground. To be part of the Kind Cards Response for the Paradise school community, send your gift cards to Kids for Peace at 1302 Pine Ave., Carlsbad 92008 by Dec. 1. Kids for Peace, with the support of Carlsbads Youth Enrichment Services, will collect the cards and hand-deliver them to the Paradise Unified School District, which will distribute them to those in need. Contact Rosemary Eshelman at reshelman@carlsbadusd.net. San Dieguito Academy girls volleyball and boys water polo teams participated in the Surfrider Foundation Beach Cleanup at Moonlight Beach recently. Pictured: Moya Caulfield, Kaiden Edelbrock, Izzy Edelbrock, Riley Lievers, Conrad Nielson, Blake Brandley, Alex Glenn. (Courtesy photo) ENCINITAS SDA teams dive into community service Members of both the San Dieguito High School Academy Girls Volleyball Team and Boys Water Polo Team joined forces recently to take part in a recent Surfrider Foundation Beach Cleanup at Moonlight Beach. Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the worlds oceans, waves and beaches. Visit www.surfrider.org. Grauer School hosts talk by chef Carlsbad native Candice Kumai, a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef and wellness author, will speak at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday at The Grauer School, 1500 S. El Camino Real. Kumai is also a Top Chef alumna (and the daughter of the schools Japanese teacher). She will speak about her new book, Kintsugi Wellness: The Japanese Art of Nourishing Mind, Body and Spirit. Visit candicekumai.com. Call (760) 944-6777. ESCONDIDO Art scholarship program announced The Escondido Art Association has opened its Art Scholarship Program for 2019, sponsored through Design Moe Kitchen & Bath of Escondido. Graduating seniors enrolled in any Escondido-based high school may apply. Scholarships will be awarded as follows: $500 for first place, $300 for second place, and $200 for third place. Students must fill out a Scholarship Application/Entry Form; get a letter of recommendation from their scholarship coordinator/art teacher; write an essay about their interest in art; and submit three pieces of art (at least one original). Scholarship materials are available from school scholarship coordinators, as well as at www.escondidoartassociation.com. Completed packages must be submitted to the Artists Gallery at 121 W. Grand Ave. from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. March 2 or from 4-6 p.m. March 4. Winners will be notified by March 6. Contact Rosemarie Woldin, (760) 743-6634 or Carol Crisci, (760) 745-3585. NORTH COUNTY Local students graduate Graduating from St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.: Peyton Wallace of Oceanside, Bachelor of Arts, education studies; Danielle Isbell of Ramona, Bachelor of Arts, English. of Oceanside, Bachelor of Arts, education studies; of Ramona, Bachelor of Arts, English. Graduating from Wichita State University, Wichita, Kan.: Joseph W. Shepard of Oceanside, Masters of Public Administration. of Oceanside, Masters of Public Administration. Graduating from Grantham University online: Jose Ortega of Escondido, Bachelor of Science, multidisciplinary studies. OCEANSIDE High school homework help offered at library Oceanside Public Library has begun offering tutoring to high school students at 330 N. Coast Highway. This drop-in homework help takes place in the Teen Zone from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Mondays when Oceanside Unified School District is in session, and is provided by library volunteers. If you need homework help at home, the library also offers Brainfuse HelpNow on-demand eLearning for all ages and levels. Students communicate with live online tutors using an interactive, virtual whiteboard to chat, write, draw, copy/paste text or images and graph homework problems. HelpNow offers help in core subjects, including SAT preparation, to all library patrons and can be accessed with the public computers at the local library or from any computer with Internet connection. HelpNow also offers skills building, test preparation and a Writing Lab. Visit www.oceansidepubliclibrary.org or call (760) 435-5600. SAN MARCOS Palomar refits center for accessibility Palomar College recently opened a renovated testing center for students with disabilities that features a reduced-distraction environment and other accommodations. Students registered with the Disability Resource Center can book appointments to take their tests in the new space, and they receive extra time to complete exams in a quieter, less busy setting. The Testing Center also features specialized equipment to serve those with specific disabilities. Center Director Shauna Moriarty said that students with disabilities make up more than 10 percent of the student body. Moriarty said many DRC students will only take their tests in the center because its so quiet and calm compared with a standard classroom. DRC staff administered more than 4,000 tests with accommodations last year. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Friday. SOLANA BEACH Solana Ranch holds Chipotle fundraiser The Solana Ranch PTO hosts a dinner fundraiser from 5-9 p.m. Tuesday at the Chipotle at 3881 Valley Centre Drive in San Diego. Bring in a flyer (available at the school), show it on your smartphone or tell the cashier youre supporting the cause to make sure that 33 percent of the proceeds will be donated to Solana Ranch School. VISTA Mission Vista holds dance showcase Mission Vista High School hosts Fusion, A Student Choreography Showcase, at 4 and 7 p.m. Nov. 29 and 30. Tickets are $7 presale, $8 at door for students ($1 discount with ASB sticker), and $9 presale, $10 at door for adults. Presale tickets available starting Monday. Please send items to laura.groch@sduniontribune.com at least 10 days before events. laura.groch@sduniontribune.com Whats happening Polite Provisions will become a winter oasis in preparation for Miracle, the holiday-themed pop-up bar that launched in 2014 in New York City. The San Diego event, titled Miracle on 30th Street, will have the neighborhood apothecary-esque bar adorned with colorful lights, garland and vintage decor alongside kitschy glassware and mugs. Seasonal cocktails inspired by classic Christmas movies and songs will be served, including returning favorites Run Run Rudolph and Snowball Old Fashioned, as well as new creations like And A Partridge in a Pear Tree and the Christmas Carol Barrel. Each cocktail will be served in custom glassware, which will be available for purchase. Ten percent of all glassware sold will be donated to Action Against Hunger. Friday through Dec. 25. 4696 30th St., San Diego. (619) 269-4701. politeprovisions.com Kettner Exchange chef Brian Redzikowski, You & Yours Distilling Co. and Catalina Offshore Products have collaborated to present a one-of-a-kind pop-up night of cuisine and paired cocktails in celebration of San Diego seafood. The five-course menu includes a Rubios-style grouper bao bun; ahi tuna ribbons with radish, chive, avocado and soy kaffir (lime sauce); shrimp and grits with celery and Tabasco; a savory miso-glazed black cod with roasted root vegetables and a confetti tres leche cake with caramel and creme fraiche. Catalina Offshore fish expert Tommy Gomes will discuss the importance of using locally caught seafood, and he will perform a live filet demonstration. 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Nov. 29. You & Yours Distilling Co., 1495 G St., San Diego. Seating is limited. $90 per person. Tickets: bit.ly/2OJyBjr New on the menu The Smoking Gun has extended its existing menu with more 70s- and 80s-inspired dishes, like the farmers market veggie pasta, a bowl of mixed vegetables, garlic, white wine, elbow pasta and fresh basil; and a handful of new sandwiches, including the San Diego cheesesteak on a house-baked bagel roll and the buffalo chicken on herb focaccia bread. Dessert offerings include a giant fried chocolate chip funnel cookie with vanilla ice cream and berry coulis and a chocolate brownie with bananas, vanilla ice cream, salted caramel, fresh strawberries and nuts. 555 Market St., San Diego. (619) 233-3836. thesmokinggunsd.com Death By Tequila is serving a Baja-inspired brunch and cocktails menu, with items ranging from huevos rancheros and eggs Benedicto to chilaquiles carnitas and French toast. In the bar, youll find specialty cocktails like DxT Sunrise, Mexican bullet coffee, Smokin Bloody Maria and Mexicali Mimosa. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 569 S. Coast Highway 101, Encinitas. (760) 230-6108. deathbytequila.com Advertisement Craftsman Tavern is serving Weekend Bottomless Brunch. Late-morning eaters will find eggs Benedict, biscuits and gravy, German apple pancake, vanilla brioche French toast, breakfast burrito, chorizo scramble and huevos rancheros, and mimosas and Bloody Marys. 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 267 N. El Camino Real, Encinitas. (760) 452-2000. craftsmantavern.com 20/Twenty Grill has launched a fall cocktail, Bour-bin For Apples, made with Makers Mark bourbon, a homemade apple-spiced shrub, club soda, cinnamon and apple garnish. The cocktail is priced at $11 or $9 during happy hour daily from 4 to 6 p.m. 5480 Grand Pacific Drive, Carlsbad. (760) 827-2500. 20twentygrill.com Eureka! has added new cocktails and menu items to its lineup. Spirited drinks include Your Highness, (only available at UTC Westfield), a mix of gin, rosemary, grapefruit, aperitivo, Grand Hops amaro topped with smoked Citra hops; Atta Boy, a tiki-inspired bourbon cocktail with cold brew coffee, pineapple, cinnamon, lemon and mint; and The Healer, made with vodka, GTs Trilogy kombucha, Grand Poppy amaro and yuzu. Pair your cocktail with mushroom toast, an exotic mushroom medley with goat cheese, lemon zest, arugula and balsamic glaze; or the hemp bowl, a mix of quinoa black rice medley, spicy chickpeas, exotic mushroom medley, sweet potatoes, braised kale and broccolini, avocado, pickled onions, almonds, hemp seeds and sunflower crema topped with a fried egg. Two San Diego locations: UTC Westfield, 4354 La Jolla Village Drive and San Diego State, 5140 College Ave. eurekarestaurantgroup.com Breakfast Republic will offer seasonal food and drinks through the end of November. Brimming with rich gingerbread and cinnamon is the Ginger Spice Latte, a double-shot of espresso and milk topped with whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon; and the Blueberry Lavender Mimosa, an effervescent mix of blueberry and lavender garnished with fresh blueberries. The turkey butternut hash is made with roasted butternut squash, turkey, spinach, warm bechamel (white) sauce, candied pepitas and three poached eggs; and the peanut butter chocolate pancakes are plated with peanut butter and chocolate sauces topped with peanut butter chips. Seven locations: North Park, Liberty Station, Pacific Beach, East Village, Ocean Beach, Carmel Valley and Encinitas. breakfastrepublic.com Sweetfin Poke has launched its newest collaboration bowl for the months of November and December with Los Angeles-based chefs Dakota Weiss and the godfather of Peruvian cuisine, Ricardo Zarate. The Zarate Bowl, is a salmon ceviche poke with aji Leche de Tigre sauce, choclo corn, pickled ginger, cucumber, avocado, wakame (edible seaweed) and crispy onions topped with crispy quinoa and served over sweet soy quinoa and rice. Westfield UTC, 4301 La Jolla Village Drive, Suite 2035, San Diego. (858) 251-4840. sweetfin.com Chart House has crafted an ice cream trio dessert with fall flavorings of maple and candied pepper bacon, peanut butter chocolate swirl and pomegranate ganache. Its available through Dec. 4. 2588 S. Coast Highway 101, Cardiff. (760) 436-4044. Monkey King has unveiled new food and drink specials available Sunday through Thursday. They include Sunday Funday: Half-priced appetizers and select beers, such as Vietnamese spring rolls and pot stickers paired with a Kirin beer or Kona Hanalei IPA; All-Day Happy Hour on Mondays: Happy hour prices for appetizers, beer and cocktails like the Jungle Bird, a mix of hibiscus-infused rum, Campari, pineapple juice, lime juice and demerara; How Bao Dat? Taco Tuesday: Half-priced Vietnamese tacos, made with braised beef, carrots, daikon radish, cilantro and eel sauce folded inside a steamed sticky bun; Bone-In Wednesdays: Half off orange wings, hoisin BBQ ribs, Korean sliced short ribs and select beers; and Sake and Sushi Thursdays: Its all about sake, sushi rolls and punch bowls, all of which are half off. 467 Fifth Ave., San Diego. (619) 359-8897. monkeykingsd.com Curadero debuted a fresh, new, seasonal cocktail menu with just under a dozen sippers. The Verdita Fizz is a frothy vegan drink made with Casa Noble Blanco tequila, lime, agave, house verdita, aquafaba (chickpea juice) and seltzer; La Lechedora includes Sotol Por Siempre (similar in taste to mezcal and tequila), dry curacao, milk and orange bitters; Que Pasa Calabaza is an ode to pumpkin with Brugal 1888, roasted pumpkin-spice orgeat, lime, curacao and bitters; the Jubilee Cup mixes Hangar One vodka, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, lemon, cranberry cordial, autumn herbs and Brut Rose; and the Forty Four Buck, made with Spring 44 gin, lemon, roasted pasilla chili, grenadine and ginger beer. 1047 Fifth Ave., San Diego. (619) 515-3003. curadero.com Openings Realm of the 52 Remedies, a new speakeasy with a hidden entrance inside Common Theory Public House, will be unveiled in the Convoy District in early December. It will pay homage to the Chinese and Korean cultures past to future and will include an eclectic cocktail menu and Asian-inspired shared bites. When entering, guests are transported from the present into the realm, a streamlined and futuristic apothecary with displays of exotic herbs and tonics. Guests are ultimately led back in time to a 1920s main bar designed with private group seating resembling a giant lotus flower, as well as elevated private booths constructed from rustic timbers decorated with silk lanterns. Large cloud sculptures will hang suspended from the ceiling over the central seating area, and a textured mountainscape will be placed right behind the backlit bright green jade bar. Open daily from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. 4805 Convoy St., San Diego. (619) 535-0118. 52remedies.com carolina.gusman@sduniontribune.com When the Broadway stars Matthew Morrison and Kelli OHara reunite for a concert with the San Diego Symphony next week, you can count on hearing their voices soar. Theres also a slight possibility youll also see OHara soar at least if history is any guide. It seems that a couple of hours before her last performance here a 2016 concert with the symphony at the Salk Institute she found a surprising way to loosen up: I went hang-gliding off a cliff nearby along the coastline. Seriously. Advertisement It was, OHara adds, a rush. My cousin talked me into it. She was in the audience that night, and it was our little secret. Its hard to know what OHara might do for an encore when she and Morrison get together next Tuesday skydive onto the Copley Symphony Hall stage, maybe? But even sans any airborne adventures, the show is guaranteed to be a rare happening. Thats because, as Morrison explains, this is actually the first time weve headlined a concert together. Weve performed together at various concerts, singing a couple of songs. But this is a special moment for us its kind of encapsulating our career, in a way. And hopefully the start of a new kind of show for us. The bond between Morrison and OHara stretches back to 2005, when they were cast as the leads in the Broadway premiere of The Light in the Piazza, the bittersweet and exquisitely romantic musical about a young American woman who falls for a dashing Italian while on vacation with her mom in Florence. Kelli OHara and Matthew Morrison in the 2005 Broadway production of The Light in the Piazza. (Joan Marcus / U-T file) The two appeared together again in the 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific, directed by the former San Diego theater dynamo Bartlett Sher, for whom OHara has become something of an artistic muse. After that, the pair mostly went their separate ways professionally OHara to such subsequent Broadway shows as the Sher-directed The Bridges of Madison County and The King and I (for which she won her first Tony Award, in 2015); Morrison to major TV stardom in a six-year run on the series Glee, plus a return to Broadway in the lead role of Finding Neverland. But the two remained tight in their personal lives, and when they talk about each other now (in separate interviews) its with a clear sense of warmth and admiration. I adore him, and we have often said we are more like brother and sister than anything else, OHara says of Morrison. I think we protect and respect each other. That sort of safety and trust in this business is a wonderful thing. We are both pretty goofy but also a little introverted. I know it doesnt seem like that, but its the truth. We have a deep need for family, we love being parents and we love our work. I think we are quite different vocally, which I think made Fabrizio and Clara (their characters in Piazza) interesting, and hopefully makes Kelli and Matt interesting, too. For his part, Morrison says OHara just has this playful energy. The thing I love about her is shes just so easy to fall in love with. That was so easy for me to do every night onstage in The Light in the Piazza. They became so close in that show, Morrison adds, that when OHaras character was in love with someone else in South Pacific three years later, it was kind of a weird transition for me, to be honest I felt betrayed almost. But offstage, he says, we love being together, and our families love each other. In fact, Morrison adds with a laugh that the idea of joining forces for the San Diego Symphony performance was really a selfish thing, to be honest to be able to see each other and hang out. And while they dont want to give away too much about what audiences can expect, we would be silly not to visit that long-lost piazza, OHara says. We will also venture into our own career music, and come back together with some nice classics. Morrison is slightly more expansive on the topic. Of the Piazza selections, he says: Well, were going to do a duet, which we dont have many of in the show, so Ill let you do the math on that. (Best bet: The gorgeous Say It Somehow.) And then Ill probably be singing in Italian. (That sounds like Fabrizios lovestruck ode to Clara, Il Mondo Era Vuoto.) Plus, Were definitely going to touch upon South Pacific, he says. Its a very classically Broadway (program). And there are things that Kelli and I have done separately The King and I. And Ill probably do some standards from my previous album. But its going to be a beautiful night of Broadways best, doing Broadways best music. And OHaras airborne adventures aside hardly winging it. An Evening With Kelli OHara and Matthew Morrison When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27 Where: Copley Symphony Hall, Jacobs Music Center, 750 B St., downtown Tickets: $40-$115 Phone: (619) 235-0804 Online: sandiegosymphony.org Matthew Morrison (Courtesy San Diego Symphony) Catching up with Matthew If youre wondering where Matthew Morrison has been lately, he has a good answer for you: I took this past year off because I just had a child, the actor says of a hiatus inspired by the birth of his son, Revel, in October 2017. I wanted to just be really present and proactive. Ive never seen the father I wanted to be kind of represented in the media or in my own personal life, so Im excited for this journey. Its honestly the most important role Ill ever play in my entire life, so Im putting the work in and taking it seriously. Still: Once my son turned 1, I was like, All right, time to get back to work! Heres what the Emmy and Tony nominee has cooking: While he cant offer many details, Morrison who says hes now focusing on trying to mount his own productions of shows is working on a project for which were looking to do an out-of-town tryout in early 2020 at La Jolla Playhouse. The unnamed show is a revival that hasnt been around for 30 years. Its a fun show that needs a revival, and needs kind of a fresh take on it, so Im excited to bring that show next. He adds: No more questions thats all Im saying! Morrison and his friend Zach McDuffie have launched Sherpapa Supply Co., which focuses on gear and gifts for cool dads. Morrison says its all about curating really great stuff and basically I didnt want to carry around a diaper bag with a big pink elephant on it. So I created my own. And besides working on a new album, Morrison also is involved in founding an interactive Museum of Dance in New York City. He calls it kind of like an immersive theater experience that takes you through different decades of dance history. The project is inspired in part by the early-morning dance experience called Daybreaker that Morrison and his wife, Renee, have been involved in with the entrepreneur Radha Agrawal. jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @jimhebert Egypt's security forces killed 12 terrorists in an exchange of fire on Thursday in North Sinai, the ministry of interior said. The National Security Agency had received information that a group of terrorist suspects was using an abandoned yard in El-Arish city as a hideout, and a shootout broke out when security forces attempted to conduct a raid on the hideout. Seven suspects were killed in the raid while five others who were attempting to flee on the ring road highway were killed in a shootout with security forces. Weapons, ammunition and improvised explosive devices were found at the scene. The raids are part of the comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018, a counter-terrorism campaign that involves the army, navy, air force and police. The operation was launched in February to target terrorist and criminal elements and organisations in north and central Sinai, parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert. Search Keywords: Short link: November 22, 1963 Evening Tribune The San Diego Union-Tribune will mark its 150th anniversary in 2018 by presenting a significant front page from the archives each day throughout the year. Friday, November 22, 1963 In 1963 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, was shot to death in Dallas. Here are the first few paragraphs of the story: KENNEDY DEAD SHOT AT DALLAS Johnson Takes Over Presidency Texas Governor Hit By Sniper; 1st Lady Safe BULLETIN DALLAS (UPI)Police said today Lee H. Oswald, seized in a theater shortly after President Kennedy was assassinated, is a prime suspect and is chairman of a Dallas Fair Play For Cuba Committee and an employe in the building where a rifle was found. DALLAS (AP)President John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, was shot to death today by a hidden assassin armed with a high-powered rifle. Less than two hours later Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn in as 36th President of the United States by U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes in the front compartment of Air Force 1, the presidential jetliner. Johnson, a native Texan, immediately left for Washington to take over the government. The assistant presidential press secretary, Malcolm Kilduff, said Johnson was not hit. The new President previously had been reported wounded. Texas Gov. John Connally was shot down with him and is in critical condition. Kennedy, 46, lived about 30 minutes after a sniper cut him down as his limousine left downtown Dallas. Newsmen said the shot that hit him was fired about 10:30 a.m. San Diego time. A hospital announcement said he died at approximately 11 a.m. of a bullet wound in the head. Automatically, the mantle of the presidency of the presidency fell to Vice President Johnson, a native Texan who had been riding two cars behind the chief executive. Kennedy died at Parkland Hospital, where his bullet-pierced body had been taken in a frantic but futile effort to save his life. Lying wounded at the same hospital was Connally, cut down by the same fusillade that ended the life of the youngest man ever elected President. Connally and his wife had been riding with the President and Mrs. Kennedy. First Lady Weeps The First Lady, Jacqueline, cradled her dying husbands bloodsmeared head in her arms as the presidential limousine raced to the hospital. Oh, no, she kept crying. She was not injured. Connally slumped in his seat beside the President. Police ordered an unprecedented dragnet of the city, hunting for the assassin. View anniversary front pages online at sandiegouniontribune.com/150-years. For more from the Union-Tribune digital archives, go to newslibrary.com/sites/sdub. Searching is free, with registration. A fee is required to view full stories. Thanksgiving has always been an important day for Mary Foster, and this year will be no different. Im thankful to be alive, to be spending Thanksgiving with friends, she said. Im thankful for my grandkids. Thankful for my daughter because she gave me a place to stay. Foster, 61, had been homeless and living on the streets of San Diego until July, when she moved into a large tented shelter for homeless people operated downtown by the Alpha Project. She said she is thankful for the help she has received from the staff in the shelter, one of three city-run tents that serve almost 700 people. Thanksgiving is a day for reunions and feasts for many Americans, and its also a time of reflection and gratitude. For people in shelters, the day can be especially profound. Advertisement It means the world to me, Gregory Azevedo, 38, said about spending Thanksgiving with his parents and siblings in Fallbrook for the first time in years. I spent all of my Thanksgivings and all of my Christmases at a hotel or someone elses house. This will be the first major holiday that my parents and siblings have seen me sober since I can remember. Azevedo, who served in the Navy until 1997 and holds a masters degree in business, moved into a residential recovery program at Veterans Village of San Diego nine months ago for help with his drug use. When I got here, I didnt want any of this, Azevedo said, admitting he at first thought of the facility as just a place to stay for a while. I didnt want any of the classes, the 12-step programs. But I stayed, and little by little, it caught on. No longer estranged from his family, Azevedo said he was looking forward to Thanksgiving and is most thankful for things that are not materialistic or tangible. For the first time in a long time, I look in the mirror and I see more things I like than things I dont, he said. The fact that my family does trust me and love me and the fact that Im surrounded by people who love me and support me is what Im thankful for. On Wednesday, Father Joes Villages served about 1,000 Thanksgiving meals for lunch and about the same number at dinnertime. Father Joe Carroll himself appeared briefly at lunch, rolling through the dining hall in a wheelchair after losing both feet to diabetes. His was one of at least two dozen wheelchairs and walkers in the room. Marvin Cooper, 55, was sitting in one. Im thankful to have my foot, said Cooper, who has diabetes. I lost my toes, but I still have my legs and feet. Cooper described life on the street as horrible, and he was especially bothered by homeless people who steal from one another. But he was quick with a joke and all smiles when he talked about life overall. Im Christian, and I believe in the Lord, he said. He protects me every day. Material stuff doesnt matter. Its all good, as they say. Im thankful for quite a few things. 1 / 15 Marvin Cooper, who lives on the streets, eats his Thanksgiving meal at Father Joes Villages. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 2 / 15 Marvin Cooper who lives on the streets, places his hand on his bible sitting next to his Thanksgiving meal at Father Joes Villages. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 3 / 15 Mr. Bean relaxes while his owner, Stephan Seefried, who has been living on the streets for about the last 10-years, gets his Thanksgiving meal at Father Joes Villages. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 4 / 15 William Hamilton Garfield eats his Thanksgiving meal at Father Joes Villages. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 5 / 15 Gilbert Torres plays with his one-year-old daughter Bella, Torres, as her mom and his girlfriend, Cassandra Barreraz, and her son, Isaiah Diaz, 11, look on, after finishing their Thanksgiving meal at Father Joes Villages. Theyve been living on the streets since arriving in San Diego three months ago. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 6 / 15 People who live on the streets, and clients at Father Joes, wait in line for the Thanksgiving meal. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 7 / 15 Kathryn Foster, a client at Father Joes Villages lowers her head in prayer as Deacon Jim Vargas, president of Father Joes, delivers the blessing during the Thanksgiving meal. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 8 / 15 Stephan Seefried, who has been living on the streets for about the last 10-years, feeds his dog, Mr. Bean some of his Thanksgiving meal at Father Joes Villages. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 9 / 15 Marvin Cooper, who lives on the streets, receives his Thanksgiving meal from Oscar Fitch, a volunteer serving the homeless at Father Joes Villages. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 10 / 15 Stephan Seefried, who has been living on the streets for about the last 10-years, eats his Thanksgiving meal at Father Joes Villages. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 11 / 15 Maria Amore, a client at Father Joes Villages feeds her dog, Rory, some of her Thanksgiving meal at Father Joes Villages. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 12 / 15 Zhuskhra Leda, a client at Father Joes Villages wears a ring in the form of a cross. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 13 / 15 William Hamilton Garfield is served a Thanksgiving meal by volunteer Oscar Fitch at Father Joes Villages where he is a client. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 14 / 15 Father Joe Carroll, the namesake of Father Joes Villages, made a visit while the Thanksgiving lunch meal was being served. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 15 / 15 Kathryn Foster, and Zhuskhra Leda, clients at Father Joes Villages, lower their heads in prayer, as Deacon Jim Vargas, president of Father Joes delivers the blessing during the Thanksgiving meal. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) At another table, Gilbert Torres, 30, sat with his girlfriend, Cassandra Barreraz, her son Isaiah Diaz, 11, and the couples 1-year-old daughter, Bella Faith Torres. I am thankful were all together, Gilbert Torres said. We experience all the hardships together. Father Joes operates a tented shelter with 150 beds for families, but theres a waiting list to get in. Torres, his girlfriend and the two children sleep in a tent he sets up in downtown San Diego each night. Its hard, but Im blessed to have family around, he said. Thats what keeps me optimistic. At the Alpha Project tent, Javier Pina, 44, was thankful and optimistic for the first time since his wife and two children were killed in a car crash 10 years ago. Its hard to think about it, he said, struggling to share his story. Its hard to talk about it. Pina had been working for a solar panel company in Santa Cruz when the accident happened. Unable to focus at work, he lost his job and then his home. Counselors and psychiatrists couldnt help clear his head. Earlier this year, Pina traveled to Mexico to visit his mother and grandmother for the first time since the accident. It was a long overdue first step. I hadnt been able to talk to anybody about my loss and really grieve, he said. I actually cried a lot. I felt like I was ready to move on. That healing continued with counselors at the Alpha Project shelter, where he has been staying while attending classes at City College to earn a certificate in heating, ventilation and air conditioning repair. He just received a job offer from Caltrans and is trying to find a way to travel to San Mateo County next week to begin work in the city of Foster. But first, hes having his first true Thanksgiving in a decade. Holidays used to be just another day, he said. It was just a blur. I never called my family, I never got a call or looked for anybody. This Thanksgiving also will be special for Alicia Mercado. Since 2015, the single mother of four had been living in a car with her two youngest children after losing one of her two jobs. She found an apartment in Vista through Interfaith Community Services, which launched a campaign to house people by working with landlords and pay the first months rent and deposit. Interfaith has helped me more than just getting a place, she said, adding that she might have had to ask her mother to take her children if things didnt improve. I got my life back. Even when she and her children were living in a car, however, Mercado said they still gave thanks each Thanksgiving. I can honestly remember us sharing what we were thankful for, she said. You may not have a home, but you had your health. Id say, Im thankful that were all together and have something to eat. Heather Andrews, 37, arrived at Veterans Village of San Diego two months ago after serving three months in jail for drug possession. Its changed my life, she said. Andrews said she turned to drugs after being assaulted in the Navy. After serving 11 years, she was court marshaled and left on an other-than-honorable discharge. Her marriage fell apart, and a restraining order kept her away from her home and children. Ive been sober for like five months, she said. Its the hardest thing Ive done. Its an uncomfortable spot for me. The rewards have been worth it so far. On Thanksgiving, my ex-husband will bring the kids here, she said. Last year, I was in my apartment, probably passed out for half the day with my cat, drinking and doing nothing good by myself. Fellow Navy veteran Kevin Blackwell, 34, has been at Veterans Village for just a week. He said Wednesday that he had isolated himself during his years of drug use before realizing he had to change. I know Im in the right place, he said, adding that he wants to help out the community and Veterans Village any way he can. Im thankful I have an opportunity to be here. Navy veteran Marc Paquette, 49. said he began using drugs to deal with anxiety and PTSD after being in Iraq for six months. Over the past few years, hes lost jobs and experienced homelessness, but he said life is better now, and he is looking forward to Thanksgiving with his family. Its great to have them back in my life, he said. At the Wednesday lunch at Father Joes, Stephan Seefried, 34, shared scraps of turkey with his dog, Mr. Bean, a red heeler/blue nose pitbull mix wearing sunglasses. Its just me and my dog, he said. I love my dog. Describing himself as schizoprehenic and bipolar, Seefried said his mental condition prevents him from holding a job and makes him uncomfortable around people in shelters, so he sleeps outdoors. Im thankful, he said. Im homeless but still alive. My hearts good. I have a great dog. Im going home for Christmas for a month to see my mom and dad in Arizona. In a blessing delivered before the lunch on Wednesday, Deacon Jim Vargas, president and CEO of Father Joes Village, recognized that homeless people may be both thankful and desperate. We are a blessed people for many reasons, he said. Not that we dont have our challenges, because we do. Homeless Playlist On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services gary.warth@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @GaryWarthUT 760-529-4939 The house at the end of Davidson Street in Chula Vista has changed only because it hasnt changed much at all. Once, 34 Davidson was a landmark. Now it is a secret. I visited the home recently as part of a quest to understand how California housing has changed. We Californians have long defined our dreams through our houses, but on my quest, I came to wonder: do we still own our houses and the dreams they embody? Advertisement Or do they now own us? The house in Chula Vista is central to the story of the Boltz family, a branch of cousins on my dads side. Nineteen-twenties aerial photos show it as the only house nearby, sitting at a high point in a large lemon ranch in the self-proclaimed Lemon Capital of the World. You could see it for miles. Today, Chula Vista, between downtown San Diego and the border, is one of Californias most economically and culturally diverse places. Its also been among the fastest-growing now with 270,000 residents, its the states 14th most populous city. So when I met my cousin Carol Boltz Paschoal at the house, I struggled to find it. Carols great-grandfather, Charlie Boltz, originally from Illinois, bought the ranch in 1908, quickly prospered, and was elected to the first Chula Vista City Council in 1911. The first ranch house was moved into town (it stands on Second Avenue). Around 1923, a new larger ranch house was built. It belonged to Carols grandparents, Oswald (who was Charlies son) and Mary Boltz, who were married under a pepper tree on the property, which was lit by Japanese lanterns for the occasion. Oswald and Mary lived there into their 90s; he played his Steinway piano every day, and even composed his own waltzes. In the 1930s, they added a sunroom and later a pool, but the house would stay basically the same: 1,880 square feet, with three bedrooms and two baths. It was the neighborhood, not the house, that would change. The lands of the old Boltz lemon ranch were subdivided for houses in the 1940s, when Chula Vista, having attracted veterans and aviation workers, became a much bigger place. The ranch house remained as it was, with a circular driveway connected to two different streets. But it was soon hidden by all the houses around it, including the neighboring homes of Boltz relatives. Carol still owns and rents out the place next door. This house left the family when two of Oswald and Marys three sons died of cancer in middle age, and the youngest moved to Oregon. It was sold for $178,000 to the Pilchen family in 1986. Marvin Pilchen, a lawyer and real estate developer, was originally attracted by the potential to subdivide the nearly one-acre lot, but the ranch house had a special charm and the subdivision never happened. His wife Atsuko Pilchen especially loved the country style of the house, and her ability to create a beautiful new landscape on the large plot. (She even cultivated lemon trees in a nod to history.) The place reminded her of the lush mountainside where she grew up in Japan. She and her husband have spent time in other homes, including a high-rise condo in San Diegos downtown. But Davidson has been the familys anchor. Still, despite the extensive grounds, the house itself feels small and cramped. The electricity and the swimming pool all have required expensive fixes. Repairing the gas and water lines proved difficult because they were installed so long ago that the blueprints werent accurate. This is just one story of how Californias older houses can pull us into the past. Our housing stock is now similar in age to that of the Rust Belt states and twice as old as in Arizona and Nevada. This is an underappreciated reason why younger families have lately left California at such a high rate. Elsewhere in the West, they can find houses that are not just cheaper but also younger and stronger, the kind of places you can build a solid future upon. Of course, for those who remain, our older houses provide meaning via their connections to the past. Atsuko remains friendly with Carol, and she even wallpapered the house hallway to match Carols house. Atsuko says she might want to sell; part of the land is entitled for three more houses to be built. But she feels like an extension of the Boltz family. And she would love to sell to someone who can appreciate the homes history and maintain what both families have nurtured. She asks me: Do you think your family would want to buy it back one day? Mathews writes for Zocalo Public Square. For more related housing essays by Mathews, please go to www.zocalopublicsquare.org With the Camp and Woolsey fires collectively killing dozens of people, destroying more than 20,000 structures and burning more than 250,000 acres in Butte County and northwest of Los Angeles, Californians may consider this historic devastation and think its as bad as wildfires can get. Sadly, its not. In 2016, scientists from Cornell University, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies released a study predicting that the U.S. Southwest has a 99 percent chance of seeing a megadrought lasting decades. In August, the California Natural Resources Agency issued a report based on more than 40 peer-reviewed studies that was no less gloomy, warning that the state faces decades of hotter, deadlier weather. This months damage could easily be eclipsed. That is why there is an urgent need for a comprehensive local, state and federal response to the wildfire threat one that reconsiders previous assumptions and starts from scratch in evaluating all that can be done to minimize the loss of life and property. This has already sunk in to some degree in Sacramento. Since 2008, the state has mandated that any structure built in very high fire risk areas must feature specific fire-resistant designs and materials that protect against flying embers. This year, lawmakers expanded those restrictions to cover more land and funded more forest management. But a new CALmatters report makes it very clear that politicians focus on how homes are built misses the crucial importance of where they are built. Advertisement Between 1990 and 2010, an estimated 45 percent of all new housing units built in California were constructed in what experts refer to as the wildland-urban interface where the states cul-de-sacd suburban subdivisions and rural communities meet its flammable forests and shrub fields, CALmatters reported. This is an invitation to disaster. Local and state authorities need to be far more cautious about approving subdivisions in these areas. This will complicate the response to Californias housing shortage, but it is the only prudent approach. And while President Donald Trumps comments about raking forests led to ridicule, its true that forest management has been a neglected tool. After a severe wildfire in 2003, Deschutes County in dry eastern Oregon adopted what The New York Times called a cohesive strategy involving public education, community outreach, landscape restoration and robust emergency response that built off the idea that flammable material must be continuously removed and that enough space must be maintained between housing and fire-risk areas. The county subsequently enjoyed a 14-year stretch without losing a home in a wildfire. Theres also room for improvement on the bureaucratic front. While local agencies do a better job than they once did in coordinating with the state, they need to constantly re-examine how they work together. The Camp fire was a tiny brush fire that turned into a catastrophe because of an arguably tardy response by local and state authorities. The National Conference of State Legislatures also warned in 2017 that failing to budget enough money for responding to wildfires was common. Californias wildfire threat wont ever be erased. But it can be greatly reduced with vigorous enforcement of smart rules, more vigilance by homeowners and the use of constantly updated best practices by local, state and federal authorities. What Gov. Jerry Brown calls the new abnormal of extreme fire risks demands a commensurate response. Let that be the sad, lasting legacy of this months wildfire victims. Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion The San Diego County Regional Airport Authoritys plan to rebuild Lindbergh Fields Terminal 1 at a cost of up to $3 billion is the focus of a pitched battle with many players, including the city, the county, the Port of San Diego, the San Diego Association of Governments and the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. A multi-agency summit arranged Tuesday by Mayor Kevin Faulconer to address neglected transit options and concerns the project could worsen traffic was welcome and encouraging. But heres what would be most encouraging: The authority firmly embracing the idea that any terminal makeover should be accompanied by construction of a transit center north of the airport providing access to trolleys, buses and Amtrak and Coaster trains. If this forces a rewrite of the projects environmental impact report and causes delays, so be it. The authority is skeptical the Federal Aviation Administration will allow the use of any FAA grants or airport revenue for off-airport improvements. But even if thats true, a transit hub by the airport is essential and overdue however it gets funded. Twitter: @sdutIdeas Advertisement Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Wednesday in Sofia, Bulgaria ways to boost bilateral relations with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement. Shoukry stressed Egypt's keenness to enhance relations with Bulgaria on all levels, especially in light of the successful visit by the Bulgarian prime minister to Cairo in October. The visit witnessed an agreement to form a joint committee under the foreign ministers of both countries. During his meeting with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, Shoukry praised the historical ties between Egypt and Bulgaria. Shoukry and Radev highlighted the importance of boosting joint economic cooperation in light of the trade exchange between the two countries, which has exceeded 1 billion euros. The two sides agreed on the need to activate the joint business council and bolster cooperation in the energy field as Egypt is poised to become a regional hub for this sector in the Middle East, the spokesman said. The meeting also covered countering terrorism, where Shoukry discussed Egypt's efforts to fight this phenomenon and the role played by Al-Azhar as a beacon of moderation. The foreign minister apprised Radev about Egypt's achievements in curbing the flow of irregular migrants to Europe. Search Keywords: Short link: Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The decision would allow the program, which was Launched in 2015 to support impoverished families with school-aged children, the elderly and people with special needs, to reach a larger number of families Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on Thursday that starting 2019 cash aid from the Takaful and Karama programme will be disbursed for two children in each family enrolled in the programme instead of three, which should allow a larger number of families to benefit from the programme. Launched in 2015, Takaful and Karama aims to support impoverished families with school-aged children, the elderly and people with special needs, mainly in Upper Egypt. The prime minister made the announcement on Thursday during a conference organised by the social solidarity ministry to mark the third anniversary of the Takaful and Karama programme. The move aims to allow more households to benefit from the cash support programme, Madbouly said, pointing out that more scenarios are being considered to rationalise in-kind support. "We are currently studying more than one scenario to make sure that subsidies reach those who deserve them," he said. Madbouly also said that the government does not consider social protection programmes like Takaful and Karama to be charity, but rather as a social contract between the citizen and the government. During his speech, the prime minister expressed his appreciation for Takaful and Karama and its impact on health and education in rural villages and towns. Madbouly also indicated that the increase in population in Egypt is a problem that depletes resources and lowers the GDP. The PM added that Egypt has the highest economic growth rate in the region, but that the state's current resources are not enough to achieve the required development due to the rapidly increasing population. Madbouly explained that the state has also launched several social protection initiatives such as a minimum for pensions, working to implement the country's new health insurance law, ending waiting lists at hospitals, expanding reproductive health services, expanding Hepatitis C treatment, and controlling the prices of food commodities. 'Takaful and Karama programme has encouraged families to keep their children in school' Meanwhile, Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali stressed that Takaful and Karama has encouraged families to keep their children in school and undergo regular checkups. To receive the monthly money transfer, households must meet clearly defined requirements, including an 80 percent school attendance record and three visits per year to health clinics by mothers. As a result, the school attendance rate of children from beneficiary families has reached 100 percent, the minister said. She said that her ministry, in cooperation with the health ministry, has computerised the medical reports of beneficiaries with disabilities to ensure that no fraud takes place and that financial support reaches those who need it. The minister said that 2.213 million households currently benefit from the programme. The amount of cash provided to households depends on the number of children and their school level. The Karama programme provides a set amount per individual. In order to reach the poorest households, participants are selected using a proxy means test. In the Takaful programme, 89 percent of recipients are women. Search Keywords: Short link: An international team of entomologists has found that numerous termite mounds in Brazil are between 690 to 3,820 years old. The vast array of termite mounds covers an estimated 230,000 km2 (roughly the size of Great Britain) of seasonally dry tropical forest in a relatively undisturbed region of northeastern Brazil. It includes approximately 200 million cone-shaped soil mounds that are 2.5 m tall and approximately 9 m in diameter. These mounds are not nests, but rather they are generated by the excavation of vast inter-connecting tunnel networks. These mounds were formed by a single termite species known as Syntermes dirus that excavated a massive network of tunnels to allow them to access dead leaves to eat safely and directly from the forest floor, said study lead author Professor Stephen Martin, a researcher at the University of Salford, UK. The amount of soil excavated is over 10 km3, equivalent to 4,000 great pyramids of Giza. This is apparently the worlds most extensive bioengineering effort by a single insect species, added co-author Dr. Roy Funch, from the Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Brazil. Perhaps most exciting of all the mounds are extremely old up to 4,000 years, similar to the ages of the pyramids. Soil samples collected from the centers of 11 mounds and dated indicated that the mounds were filled 690 to 3,820 years ago. That makes them about as old as the worlds oldest known termite mounds in Africa. The researchers investigated whether the strangely regular spatial pattern of the mounds was driven by competition amongst termites in neighboring mounds. Their behavioral tests found little aggression at the mound level. Thats compared to obvious aggression amongst termites collected at greater distances from one another. The findings led the team to suggest that the over-dispersed spatial mound pattern isnt generated by aggressive interactions. Instead, the pattern arose through self-organizational processes facilitated by the increased connectivity of the tunnel network and driven by episodic leaf-fall in the dry forest. A pheromone map might allow the termites to minimize their travel time from any location in the colony to the nearest waste mound, the scientists said. The vast tunnel network apparently allows safe access to a sporadic food supply, similar to whats been seen in naked mole-rats, which also live in arid regions and construct very extensive burrow networks to obtain food. Its incredible that, in this day and age, you can find an unknown biological wonder of this sheer size and age still existing, with the occupants still present, Professor Martin said. There are many questions still to pursue. For instance, no one knows how these termite colonies are physically structured because a queen chamber of the species has never been found, the entomologists said. The research is published in the journal Current Biology. _____ Stephen J. Martin et al. 2018. A vast 4,000-year-old spatial pattern of termite mounds. Current Biology 28 (22): 1292-1293; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.061 The first edition of the Arab Shield military manoeuvres rounded up activities late last week.The joint exercises brought together forces from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait and were attended by Lebanon and Morocco as observers. The final stage, in which all participant forces took part, featured live ammunition targeting and a simulated attack by special marine forces on a strategic island held by terrorists. Lieutenant General Mohamed Farid, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces; General Hamad Thani Al-Rumaithi, Chief of Staff of the UAE Armed Forces; and General Fahad Abdullah Al-Mutair, commander of Saudi Ground Forces were among those watching the main stage of Arab Shield 1 at the Mohamed Naguib military base. In a speech underscoring the importance of the joint Arab drills, the commander of Egypt's Northern Military Region stressed how they contributed to the transfer and exchange of expertise between participant forces and the unifying of concepts involved in addressing the challenges confronting the region. Lieutenant General Mohamed Farid praised the excellent coordination and collaboration between the participant Arab forces. He said the drills strengthened cooperative military relations and reaffirmed the participants commitment to confronting the threats and challenges facing the Arab nation. Farid explained that Arab Shield 1 aimed to unify Arab military concepts, the main purpose of the training being to enhance the ability to preserve peace in the Arab region in the face of regional and international threats, including terrorism. He also lauded the outstanding strength and efficacy of the Egyptian participants and the outstanding professionalism with which they carried out the training drills. Farid also took the opportunity to hail the progress made by Comprehensive Operation Sinai (COS) 2018 in Central and North Sinai. Egypt, he said, will remain safe and secure as long as it has a strong army with the combat capacities and skills to safeguard security, peace and stability. COS 2018 was continuing successfully and the operation would end only when the whole of the Sinai is free of terrorism, he said. Farid also noted in his speech that the Arab Shield 1 drills were an extension of the Gulf Shield 1 drills in which Egyptian forces took part. Arab Shield 1 offered five basic practical training programmes. The first, a tactical targeting project using live ammunition, engaged all branches of the Armed Forces and was attended by military officials from the participant countries. Multipurpose fighter jets performed reconnaissance and aerial bombardment missions against terrorist holdout centres and mobile terrorist convoys, while antitank helicopters shelled and destroyed hostile targets. Artillery forces responded to fire from terrorist clusters, and mechanised and armoured artillery units, backed by antitank missile units and air cover, were deployed to engage with aerial targets. In the course of the drills, participant forces demonstrated a high degree of precision and manoeuvrability and the ability to collaborate fully in order to realise the designated training aims. The second programme was designed for naval forces and included simulations involving unconventional threats to which naval units might be exposed at sea. Participants carried out artillery fire against surface targets, helicopter take-offs and landings on ships, and defence manoeuvres to intercept a hostile aerial assault in cooperation with Air Force units. Participant naval forces also received training in visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) manoeuvres, medical support and the evacuation of the wounded at sea. Thirdly came a programme devised for participant air forces which entailed joint sorties and various offensive and defensive aerial combat manoeuvres as well as training in providing aerial backup to ground forces. The fourth training programme, in detecting and defusing explosive devices, was designed for the military engineering corps of participant countries. The theoretical part of the exercise aimed to familiarise participants with the nature and types of explosives, the latest detection equipment and the methods used in searching for explosives planted in buildings and on streets. A final session was held on laser operated target designation and steering technology which makes it possible to pinpoint and destroy terrorist targets in inhabited areas with pinpoint accuracy. This component of the joint Arab drills was a manifestation of one of the most important tenets of the creed of the Egyptian Armed Forces in its fight against terrorism to safeguard the lives of civilian populations. * A version of this article appears in print in the 22 November, 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Always ready Search Keywords: Short link: Magdi Allam, head of the Arab Environmental Experts Federation, explains to Mahmoud Bakr the hazards facing Egypt, and Africa in general, if biodiversity is further endangered Biological diversity is the cornerstone of sustaining life on the planet. Biodiversity, by nature, is renewable, unless man interferes in its composition to achieve short-term interests. After Egypt lost 1.2 million feddans of agricultural lands, it started suffering a food crisis. Efforts are currently underway to build 200,000 greenhouses to make up for the production of 600,000 feddans. Egypt is also working on preparing 1.5 million feddans for agricultural purposes, part of the national project adopted by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. Moreover, some 485 million people in Africa are on the verge of famine as a result of losing 50 per cent of agricultural lands on the continent. Magdi Allam, head of the Arab Environmental Experts Federation (AEEF), told Al-Ahram Weekly that signatories to three agreements are meeting in Egypt this month for the UN Biodiversity Conference taking place in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh. These are the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the UN biodiversity agreement; the ninth meeting of the parties signatory to the 2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, a supplement to the Convention on Biological Diversity effective since 2003. The protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by genetically modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. The third is the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation to the Convention on Biological Diversity, also known as the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing, a 2010 supplementary agreement to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. The latter agreement seeks to utilise strains available in countries such as Egypt and Algeria. Each of these agreements is a source of conflict between developed industrial countries and developing states that suffer from the pollution emanating from industrial countries and that led to the elimination of 50 per cent of Africa and Asias biodiversity, Allam said. Biosafety concerns human beings, explained Allam, because, for example, hybrid seeds of strawberries, tomatoes and green peppers weakened the natural qualities of fruits and vegetables, resulting in the creation of tasteless and useless foods. Conflict concerning the Nagoya Protocol revolves around medicinal and aromatic plants, local wormwood, mint and marjoram, for example, Allam clarified. COP 14 is titled Investing in Biodiversity for People and Planet to highlight the importance of preserving natures creations. Mans prosperity depends on conserving what we have, regaining what we have lost and preventing further deterioration. Three sectors are endangering biological diversity, the gravest of which is the energy and industry sector because of the resulting pollution. The second is mining. Owners of quarries and companies invade nature reserves, such as Wadi Degla, to mine for marble to sell at the Shaq Al-Thoeban market. Sands are stolen at night from the Petrified Forest, and Snour Cave suffers from mining that will eventually lead to its collapse. The health sector endangers biodiversity in the sense that to protect himself, man consumes, for example, wormwood, the price of which increases according to demand. When demand is high the lands cultivated with wormwood decrease, or its genetic qualities change, losing its therapeutic effect. Allam cites another example, that of local green peppers that have mutated into bell peppers of bigger sizes and different colours, resulting in the appearance of other forms of diseases. Protecting nature reserves infrastructure means making available all the basic elements to preserve biodiversity wherever it is located through connecting services to biodiverse areas without affecting the general infrastructure network of roads, water and sewage pipes, electricity lines, or fuel and gas pipelines. A draft biodiversity declaration is currently being discussed to achieve these goals. Allam told the Weekly that three conditions should be taken into consideration if applying the title Investing in Biodiversity for People and Planet is to succeed. These are preserving human health and that of all living creatures; ensuring that biodiversity continues growing for the welfare of man by conserving the quality of soil, air and water; and making available food and medicine. The safety of the planet is guaranteed by investing in activities that achieve zero pollution, he noted. He said the disappearance of the marine turtle from the Mediterranean Sea and kites and the extensive existence of crows are affecting the health and prosperity of man. Egypt launched an initiative to merge the agreements on biodiversity, desertification and climate change. This is a good initiative but I hope it will surpass the UNs bureaucracy when it comes to conflicts over specialisations. For each agreement, there is a regional manager and a crew that have to deal with crises that usually take some time to be administratively sorted out because of the lack of financial resources. Allam said what concerns Africa concerns Egypt. The environmental systems are the same. We share the same seas, rivers and deserts. The Red Sea stretches from Egypt all the way to Mauritius. The River Nile runs from Egypt to Ethiopia through nine countries the Nile Basin states. The same goes for the Great Sand Sea. This is how Egypt is connected to Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Chad and Sudan. As much as Africa, Egypt is affected by climate change. Egypt suffers from further desertification if it increases in Africa, and the same goes for heat and winds. The Nile Basin and Ethiopian Highlands have been deeply affected by climate change," Allam explained. "The levels of rain water in Victoria Lake decreased, consequently affecting the River Nile.The Ethiopian Highlands suffered from the lack of rain throughout the past three years, affecting countries in the south of Africa, one of whose cities reached zero water levels. Scientists warned about this years ago but nobody believed it until it happened. Egypt and Africa were affected by excessive hunting, such as that of the ostrich, the Egyptian hyena and the Fennec fox, Allam laments. In Africa, elephants are hunted for ivory and alligators for leather. African forests have shrunk to a third of their size, consequently leading to the vanishing of a third of the creatures that inhabit forests. It is an intertwining cycle, he concluded. It eventually leads to negative effects on the GDP of countries, delayed tourism growth and decreasing peoples incomes. * A version of this article appears in print in the 22 November, 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Biodiversity on the precipice of danger Search Keywords: Short link: Denmark has suspended future approvals of weapons and military equipment exports to Saudi Arabia in response to the killing of a dissident Saudi journalist and the kingdoms role in the conflict in Yemen, the Danish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. With the continued deterioration of the already terrible situation in Yemen and the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, we are now in a new situation, said Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen in a statement. Denmark issued ten such approvals last year, according to the ministry. Already given approvals will not be suspended, a spokesman said. Germany has already suspended issuing future weapons export licenses and has moved to halt all arms sales, while France said on Monday said it will decide soon on sanctions over Khashoggis killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month. Saudi Arabia is one of the worlds biggest weapons importers. It heads a military coalition fighting in Yemen. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised Saudi Arabia for helping to lower oil prices but pressure intensified for the United States to impose tougher sanctions on its Middle East ally over Khashoggis murder. *The story was edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: Eagle LNG said the draft puts it on a clear path to a final investment decision on the Jacksonville Export Project and to continue its success in using small-scale LNG to supply bunkering, as well as providing small-scale LNG cargoes to markets in the Caribbean. The FERC was released ahead of schedule to Eagle LNG. It moves us considerably closer to meeting our goal of expanding clean burning, domestic, and affordable LNG supply for marine bunkering and for small-scale LNG projects in the Caribbean. Once completed, the Jacksonville Export Facility will be the lowest cost source of small-scale LNG available for our marine bunkering and power generation clients, said Sean Lalani, president of Eagle LNG. This project will inject approximately $500m of infrastructure investment plus provide numerous well-paying direct and indirect jobs in Florida. Once completed, the Jacksonville Export Project will contribute to improving air quality in Florida, the east coast and the Caribbean as our clients transition to the use of natural gas from heavy fuel oil and diesel, he added. In late-July this year, Eagle LNG opened the Maxville LNG Facility to support its marine fuel depot located in the port of Jacksonville. The marine fuel depot offers LNG bunkering to both domestic and international marine trade routes. Eagle LNG said the Maxville LNG Facility and the marine fuel depot represent the start of the companys plans to build LNG infrastructure across the nation. The company notes that since early October this year and up to current date, the VLCC sector is experiencing a strong up-going market, Brightoil stated. It mentioned that the Baltic Tanker Index from Arabian Gulf to China has reached $4.26m equivalent to TCE $54,000 per day, compared to that of the first quarter of 2018 with an average of TCE $18,294 per day and the second quarter with an average of TCE $14,354 per day. The group believes that the strong market trend will continue in 2019 and wants to continue pursuing the shipping business and maintains stable cash income for the group, Brightoil said. Read more: Petrolimex seeks to wind up Brightoils Singapore unit Hong Kong-listed Brightoil, whose shares have been suspended from trading since October last year, announced in July this year a plan to sell its Zhoushan Oil Storage and Terminal Facilities and 15 tankers including VLCC, aframax and bunker tanker. These intended sales were meant to bolster its financial strength. At present, privately-owned Brightoil is working with a Chinese bank to formulate a package of financing and debt optimisation adjustment plans for the company to optimise its debt structure and enhance liquidity. The facility is an extension of Pacific Basins existing term loan with Danish Ship Finance and is secured by the same 19 vessels currently secured under the original financing. We are very pleased with the terms of this additional new tranche to our existing term loan facility which further consolidates our funding flexibility with access to long term committed funding for the next seven years at an attractive cost which contributes to our competitive vessel P&L breakeven levels, said Peter Schulz, cfo of Pacific Basin. Borrowings under the new facility will carry interest cost of Libor plus 1.5%, extend the companys overall amortisation profile and enhance its financial flexibility, Pacific Basin stated. Read more: Pacific Basin closes new $325m financing deal In June, Pacific Basin announced it closed a $325m facility supported by a syndicate of eight international banks secured over 50 vessels. The United States and South Korea have scaled down an annual joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on late Wednesday. "Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis said, adding that it would be "reduced in scope." Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies, and has always infuriated Pyongyang, which condemned it as preparations for invasion. But the drill -- one of the world's largest field exercises involving 200,000 South Korean and some 30,000 US soldiers -- was delayed and scaled down last year as diplomatic detente took hold on the peninsula. And following a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would stop holding joint exercises with the South, calling them expensive and "very provocative". Since then the two allies have suspended most of their major joint exercises including the Ulchi Freedom Guardian in August and Vigilant Ace, slated for next month. But more recently progress in talks with the North has stalled, with the US pushing to maintain sanctions against it until its "final, fully verified denuclearization" and Pyongyang condemning US demands as "gangster-like." Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South to defend it from its nuclear-armed neighbor, which invaded in 1950. 'Fait Accompli' But differences are beginning to emerge between Seoul and Washington. The South's dovish president Moon Jae-in has long favored engagement with the North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. He has dangled large investment and joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearization, while the US has been adamant pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programs. Seoul's defence ministry said Mattis' comments were in line with their shared view on the need to back diplomacy -- but a spokeswoman added that the question of whether the exercises will take place at all was "still under discussion." Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the South's state-run Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said reducing the exercise was largely expected. "The Trump administration claims Pyongyang's suspension of nuclear and missile tests as the key achievement of its North Korea policy and the joint drills have been postponed as a kind of corresponding measure," Kim told AFP. "As long as talks continue, postponing or reducing major US-South Korea joint exercises has become a fait accompli," he said. 'No Rush' Earlier this month Pyongyang threatened to "seriously" consider returning to its weapons drive if Washington did not end its tough economic sanctions. And last month, the North's state media carried a near 1,700-word commentary accusing the US of playing a "double game", implicitly criticizing Trump for comments aimed at barring Seoul from lifting sanctions against Pyongyang. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday defended Washington's strategy on the peninsula, noting that North Korea had halted missile launches and had not conducted a nuclear test in over a year. "And I do hope there'll be a summit between the two leaders early in 2019," he said in an interview with KCMO radio. Pyongyang has declared its nuclear and missile development complete, saying it has no further need for testing. Trump has also said he hopes to have a second meeting with Kim early next year, but talks between Pompeo and a top North Korean official, partly to prepare for the meeting, were cancelled. The US said the North axed the talks because they weren't ready, and Trump insisted he was in "no rush." Search Keywords: Short link: Press Release November 22, 2018 Drilon urges scrutiny of 29 deals with China, says Northrail Project, NBN-ZTE deal too recent to be forgotten The Northrail Project and NBN-ZTE deal are too recent to be forgotten, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said on Thursday, as he emphasized the need to scrutinize the 29 deals and bilateral agreements the government signed with Chinese government. "The controversies involving these two multi-million dollar Philippine government undertakings with China are too recent to be forgotten," Drilon said. "Taking into account the grossly disadvantageous contracts that the government had previously signed with China, it is imperative that we scrutinize these new deals to assess whether the agreements are consistent with the constitution and our laws," Drilon stressed. The aborted North Rail project ($421 million), which Drilon fiercely opposed for being grossly overpriced, and the controversial NBN-ZTE deal ($329 million) were two of the biggest deals the country signed with China. The minority leader also called for absolute transparency, most particularly with regard to the exploration of the country's natural resources. Drilon said that consistent with the Constitution, the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State. He cited Section 2 of the Constitution which states that "All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State." The minority leader also stressed that "all agreements that may involve exploration of natural resources should comply with the nationality requirement of the constitution." He said Section 2 of the Constitution is clear in that regard, which further states that "the State may directly undertake activites, or it may enter into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing agreements with Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations at least 60 per centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens." "We will be vigilant in scrutinizing these agreements," said Drilon, adding, "We are prepared to go to court on this." Press Release November 22, 2018 Legarda on 2018 Climate Change Consciousness Week: Climate Action is Local In observance of the 2018 Global Warming and Climate Change Consciousness Week, Senator Loren Legarda emphasized the importance of inciting and sustaining local climate action. "At the global stage, we are forging a bold, strategic vision for adaptation. But we must then contextualize our discussions on our efforts on the ground: climate action is local. For us in the Philippines, adaptation is a matter of survival. We have been urging both our public and private sectors to embrace adaptation and to work together for a secure and resilient future," Legarda said. As organized by the Climate Change Commission, this year's celebration, which will run from November 19 to 23, 2018, underscores the whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach to climate action towards a low carbon and climate-resilient economy, informed by the latest climate science, technology, knowledge and best practices on climate change adaptation and mitigation. With the theme: "The 1.5C Climate Change: Survive and Thrive Together," the first day commenced with opening plenary sessions and a forum on the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP). The National Water Security Conference and the Climate Science Youth Congress, which launched the search for Young Outstanding Climate Scientists, were held the following day. On day three, November 21, the National Business Climate Action Summit was held, carrying a theme of "Transforming Industries and Sectors towards Carbon Neutrality." The fourth and fifth days of the CCC Week will be entirely devoted to the conduct of the 2nd National Convention on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction, which will serve as a collaborative multi-stakeholder platform for knowledge exchange on climate change and disaster risk reduction policies, programs, innovation, best practices, and resources to pave the way for increased national and community resilience. "This December, there is a tall order from all countries to finalize the work programme of the Paris Agreement in COP24 in Katowice, Poland. I hope that through these activities we also amplify our call for scaled up climate finance and inspire greater climate action from all nations," Legarda concluded. Press Release November 22, 2018 Recto: Cabinet men face grilling on 29 PH-China deals during budget debates If the Senate will start floor debates on the 2019 national budget next month, then the particulars of any or all of the 29 Philippine -China deals signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit may be asked of the Cabinet member who signed the deal, or whose agency is responsible for implementing the agreement. This is to serve notice to department secretaries that the issue of the 29 agreements may crop up in the course of the plenary examination of their budget. So be prepared for queries. More so if the agreement binds us to a project which will be financed by loans, enlarges the national debt, or requires large budgetary counterpart requiring yearly appropriations. Is the project really needed by the people? Or is it supplier driven? The price tag of these commitments must be explained, as well as the benefits to the public. If these are grants and interest-free loans, then the Senate will be advised as well so that we can convey our thanks. A senator during the budget debate can focus a powerful spotlight on these agreements. Villanueva condoles with kin of slain teacher in Bulacan; calls for tighter security in schools Senator Joel Villanueva on Thursday extended his condolences to the family of a teacher who was shot to death while holding class at Tambubong Elementary School in Bocaue, Bulacan. The victim has been identified as Melody Esber, 33, a Grade 4 teacher. While the suspect, who took his life after shooting Esber, was identified as Ruperto Datwin, 40, an active member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) prior to his death. "We express our deepest condolences to the family of Melody who was killed in a shooting incident inside a public school," said Villanueva who hails from Bocaue. "Melody's death is truly heartbreaking. She was young and could have contributed more in the field of education," the senator added. One of the students was also hit on the shoulder by a stray bullet and is now in stable condition. Villanueva further called on the Department of Education (DepEd) and authorities to tighten the security in schools following the shooting incident. "We urge the DepEd and the authorities to tighten the security in schools to ensure the safety of our students and teachers so that similar incident that happened to Melody will not be repeated," Villanueva stressed. Ryman Healthcare is forecasting at least 9 percent full-year earnings growth as it expands its retirement village operations on both sides of the Tasman. The company is projecting underlying profit of $223 million to $238 million for the year through March, up from $203.5 million in the prior period. Ryman today reported that first-half underlying profit, which strips out changes in property valuations, rose almost 14 percent to $97.1 million. Net profit for the six months through September fell 16.3 percent to $169.5 million, reflecting a year-earlier boost to the value of its retirement villages. Ryman says the value of its properties were little changed in the latest six months from a year earlier. Ryman operates 33 properties in New Zealand, including two in Melbourne. It is building another nine in New Zealand and seven in Victoria. The company said the underlying result was driven by strong development margins, particularly from its second village in Melbourne. Weve had another solid first-half result as new villages have come on stream and we have a great pipeline of villages to develop, chair David Kerr said in a statement. Demand for our new villages is strong with the highest ever value of contracts for new units sold off plan going into the second half, Kerr says. Were in a strong financial position to support our care ambitions; net assets passed the $2 billion mark and we invested a record $304 million in new and existing villages in the first half. The firm's latest site in Victoria, the 3.7 hectare Ocean Grove site is on the Bellarine Peninsula overlooking Bass Strait. It is a popular holiday destination and a half-hour drive from Geelong where Ryman is also planning to build a new village. Ryman has lifted its first-half dividend by 13.7 percent to 10.8 cents per share. Its shares closed at $11.50 on Thursday. They are up about 25 percent in the past 12 months but down from the record $14.09 reached earlier this year. (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. 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Related News: The a2 Milk Company Limited (NZX: ATM) to Defend Second Class Action 24th November 2021 Morning Report Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) launches NZ$85 million capital raise Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) FY21 Half-Year Results Announcement Tower Limited (NZX: TWR) FY21 Results Announcement to Market & Capital Return ArborGen Holdings Limited (NZX: ARB) Announces Interim Result Rua Bioscience Limited (NZX: RUA) Awarded Callaghan Innovation Funding Arvida Group Limited (NZX: ARV) Reports Steady First Half Progress 23rd November 2021 Morning Report Argosy Property Limited (NZX: ARG) FY22 Interim Result market release Members of the Auckland District Law Society are angry the organisation has accepted an offer for the sale of its historic Chancery Chambers building, just three months after they voted against any such sale. In a close-run vote in July, the societys 3,500 members rejected a resolution put to them by the ADLS Council, the societys eight-person ruling body: that the council be authorised to explore the possibility of the sale of Chancery Chambers. The ADSL was firmly in favour of the sale, but told members in writing that if they voted against the proposal, the building will not be sold by this Council. Just four months later the societys president, Joanna Pidgeon, has signed a $14.9 million deal to sell the building. Yesterday Pidgeon met with tenants and told them the ADSL had accepted an offer for Chancery Chambers, conditional only on members voting again. Pidgeon told BusinessDesk the proposed price was a good deal for the society, as it was above a $13.9 million valuation the ADLS had received before the July vote. She said the society was particularly keen to sell the building because the proposed purchaser had done desktop analysis of seismic risk, which suggested Chancery Chambers was below the 34 percent of the current standard for new buildings cut-off level for a building to be considered earthquake-prone. Council assessments had put the building at 37 percent and the society had not done its own evaluation, Pidgeon said. It had also not investigated other potential purchasers for Chancery Chambers which might be able to offer more. Chancery Chambers is a 1924 heritage building in the heart of Auckland CBDs legal district, on the corner of Chancery and OConnell Streets, according to the companys website. Many of Aucklands well-known identities have worked in the building, which for a time housed a tea room in the sixth-floor tower and a Turkish bath complex in the basement, the site says. The ADLS bought and renovated the building as its headquarters in 1989. It was listed on its 2017 accounts as being worth just under $11 million. Members have until Dec. 10 to vote on the proposed deal, and if they vote Yes the sale becomes unconditional on Dec. 12 - less than three weeks away. Barrister Helen White, who is a Chancery Chambers tenant, ADLS member and opponent of the sale, was angry after the revelations yesterday. Meeting with BusinessDesk and fellow lawyers Jim Thompson and Will McKenzie, White said the ADLS had no right showing potential purchasers around and allowing them to do seismic testing, when members had explicitly told the law society at the vote in July they didnt want it to look at a sale. How could she sign [the unconditional agreement] having made those representations? White says the members need much more information than the society has given them in order to be able to make a decision on whether to keep or sell the building. These include detailed and independent engineering evaluations of earthquake risk and how much any remediation might cost. Pidgeon says the current proposal is a good deal and members will have the chance to ask questions at an information evening on Nov. 28. However, she accepts the society hasnt got any new details about earthquake risk other than those from the potential purchaser, and those wont be made public. We havent had a detailed seismic assessment and we havent had a detailed cost proposal, but our indications are that it will cost some millions if it is below 34 percent to bring the building to 37 percent, and more millions to get it above that. She says the society risks having to go into debt, or raise member levies if it doesnt sell the building. The accounts for the year to Sept. 30, 2017, the most recent ones available, show the society in a good financial position. Total revenue was $6.15 million, including $655,000 received in rent from Chancery Chambers tenants. The only building-related expense listed in the accounts is $30,600 in depreciation. The ADLS paid just over $2 million in salaries to its 25 staff, an almost 70 percent increase in salary costs from 2011 levels. It made a net surplus after tax of $426,000. White says she is disappointed by a lack of good faith from the ADLS board. She says she isnt necessarily against a sale, but the lack of detailed evaluation means members cant make an informed decision. She is calling for members to say No until they know more. [Joanna Pidgeon] has signed us up to sell the building and shes entirely in control of the information. Before they say Yes to the sale, the membership needs to be sure they arent missing an opportunity to go to market and get the best possible price. Meanwhile, there are other ructions facing the ruling body of the Auckland District Law Society. A group of lawyers, spearheaded by Russian-born Serge Roud of law firm Loughlin McGuire, are pushing for rule changes they say will bring the ADLS framework more in line with the incorporated society-type organisation it is now, rather than the regulatory body it was until 2009. At that time, all statutory powers for district law societies were transferred to the New Zealand Law Society and the ADLS became what Roud calls a union of like-minded lawyers. Its roles include professional development, organising events, liaison with government and the media, and selling a WebForms service to lawyers. Roud says his rule change will give members more power to have a say in their organisation. His proposals include: - getting rid of unelected members of council, so all councillors are elected by members; - clarifying the objectives of the organisation; - making membership lists public so members can contact each other; - having the chief executive role be replaced by a secretary of the society role, accountable to members; - removing all secrecy from council meetings, including allowing members to attend meetings and see agendas and minutes. Roud says during the past two years, he and the other lawyers supporting the rule changes have been blocked from presenting them to members, a claim Pidgeon rejects. She says Roud and other members didnt initially follow the correct procedures to put a vote to other members, and a special general meeting has now been called for Dec. 17. Roud was earlier this year thrown out of the ADLS and his tenancy in the Chancery Chambers building was not renewed. He says he was expelled because the law society didnt like him challenging the rules and the leadership; Pidgeon says his conduct amounted to bullying, a charge Roud denies. Roud, who has the required 24 members supporting his rule change proposal, says the vote on the building should be delayed until after the special general meeting. While members could challenge the ADLS Councils decision to sell the building after saying it wouldnt, he says that would require opposing lawyer members going to the High Court and asking for an injunction. That would be both difficult and time-consuming, particularly in the busy run-up to Christmas. Whos going to do that? He believes the ADLS operates more like a listed company than a members organisation or incorporated society, and he questions whether the leadership has too much power. This situation is more common for countries like Russia or China, where the administration has more power. I came across these situations in my life in Russia, and I believe the council is not acting in the best interests of the membership of the society. (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: The a2 Milk Company Limited (NZX: ATM) to Defend Second Class Action 24th November 2021 Morning Report Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) launches NZ$85 million capital raise Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) FY21 Half-Year Results Announcement Tower Limited (NZX: TWR) FY21 Results Announcement to Market & Capital Return ArborGen Holdings Limited (NZX: ARB) Announces Interim Result Rua Bioscience Limited (NZX: RUA) Awarded Callaghan Innovation Funding Arvida Group Limited (NZX: ARV) Reports Steady First Half Progress 23rd November 2021 Morning Report Argosy Property Limited (NZX: ARG) FY22 Interim Result market release Cooperative Bank posted a 2.4 percent decline in first-half profit as lower banking fees and increased spending on staff and new technology dented earnings. Net profit fell to $5.6 million in the six months ended Sept. 30 from $5.8 million a year earlier. Net interest income rose 15 percent to $31.1 million as the bank expanded its loan book. However, that wasn't enough to offset a 34 percent decline in fees and other income to $4.6 million and a 5.6 percent increase in operating costs to $30.4 million. The bank's insurance division outperformed with a 34 percent increase in earnings to $2 million on a 13 percent increase in operating income to $4.2 million. "The decline in profit was due to fee reductions of several million dollars offset by benefits of continued customer and balance sheet growth," chair Brendon O'Donovan said. "Expenses were up 5.6 percent, due to increased technology spend and higher staff costs." The former PSIS refreshed its strategy in the March 2018 financial year, embracing new technology as the majority of its customers interact with the bank through digital channels. The lender added $3.5 million to its software assets in the year through March, taking the total spend to $36.7 million as at March 31. After accumulated amortisation, the book value of the bank's intangible assets was $14.1 million at that date, shrinking to $13.1 million as at Sept. 30. O'Donovan said the bank has kept investing in online and mobile products and noted a material increase in customers using digital channels for services such as signing up and new sales. That strategy review affirmed the bank's cooperative structure in being customer-owned, which it says underscores its client focus. New Zealand's smaller banks scored well in maintaining customer trust in a survey by the Reserve Bank and Financial Markets Authority for its conduct review. However, the minnows were seen as lagging behind their larger peers in considering conduct risks. O'Donovan said the Cooperative Bank welcomed the review and will implement any relevant recommendations, without being specific. Cooperative Bank's gross loans grew to $2.39 billion as at Sept. 30, up 4 percent from a year earlier. Of that, residential mortgages were $2.21 billion, up from $2.12 billion, while non-residential loans rose to $184.2 million from $177 million. Its provisioning for bad debt grew to $5.9 million from $4.8 million, although past-due but unimpaired loans declined to $48.2 million from $53 million. Impairment charges rose to $1.8 million in the half from $1.2 million. The bank's customer deposits expanded to $2.25 billion from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Cooperative Bank has $15 million of 10-year subordinated notes paying annual interest of 6 percent listed on the NZX's debt market. The notes last traded at $102.845 per $100 face value, or a yield of 5.05 percent. (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. 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Related News: The a2 Milk Company Limited (NZX: ATM) to Defend Second Class Action 24th November 2021 Morning Report Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) launches NZ$85 million capital raise Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) FY21 Half-Year Results Announcement Tower Limited (NZX: TWR) FY21 Results Announcement to Market & Capital Return ArborGen Holdings Limited (NZX: ARB) Announces Interim Result Rua Bioscience Limited (NZX: RUA) Awarded Callaghan Innovation Funding Arvida Group Limited (NZX: ARV) Reports Steady First Half Progress 23rd November 2021 Morning Report Argosy Property Limited (NZX: ARG) FY22 Interim Result market release China's Huawei is demonstrating its willingness to stay away from the central elements of New Zealand's soon-to-arrive 5G mobile network. It has announced a world-first trial, in conjunction with Spark New Zealand, that separates access to the network from its core. The launch comes amid a combination of spy agency and competitor pressure to exclude Huawei from the rollout of 5G. The technology will make fast internet ubiquitous and will be key to the rise of services such as self-driving cars and the so-called Internet of Things in which digital technology controls a vast array of day-to-day services and interactions. A key part of the concern is that 5G's core services will be more vulnerable than the current 4G network. But Huawei's deputy managing director for New Zealand, Andrew Bowater, said the company was determined to show it could be a player without being part of the 5G core. "The Auckland live multi-vendor 5G trial emphatically proves it is possible to retain the critical access-core network separation," Bowater said in a statement. That separation "enables operators such as Spark to operate in a multi-vendor network environment and retains the ability of governments to regulate vendor technology mix while maintaining a competitive market." Australia, the United States and Britain - all partners in the global 'Five Eyes' Anglo-speaking telecommunications intelligence-gathering alliance - have banned Huawei from their mobile networks. They fear its Chinese ownership makes it susceptible to requests for assistance with spying from Beijing. German officials were reported last weekend by Thomson Reuters also to be trying to convince their government that Huawei should be excluded from German 5G infrastructure for the same reasons. However, Spark chief executive Simon Moutter said at the company's annual meeting on Nov. 2 that Huawei was a competitive, world-class vendor that should be allowed to participate in the 5G roll-out unless the government had "incontrovertible evidence" that Huawei's gear poses a national security threat. Asked by BusinessDesk whether the trial network announced today indicated Huawei's acceptance that it could not expect to be part of the 5G core but should be allowed to offer the services around it, Bowater said: "Yes. That's exactly our argument." The trial network effectively replicated the 4G network's provider arrangements, with US-based provider Cisco supplying the core and Huawei supplying Radio Access Network gear. Competitors had claimed such a separation would not be possible in a 5G network, but the trial by Huawei and Spark proved otherwise, said Bowater. "From a risk point of view, the architecture is very similar to a 4G network," he said. The trial also demonstrated a path to 5G implementation that would be familiar to Spark, which will be racing against the clock to install 5G services in 2020, in time for the America's Cup. Moutter announced a Team New Zealand collaboration on 5G last week, despite the government having yet to even confirm the timetable to auction off the radio spectrum required for 5G to exist at all. The trial network now operating in Auckland is functioning on "loaned" spectrum for the purposes of the test exercise, said Bowater. (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: The a2 Milk Company Limited (NZX: ATM) to Defend Second Class Action 24th November 2021 Morning Report Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) launches NZ$85 million capital raise Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) FY21 Half-Year Results Announcement Tower Limited (NZX: TWR) FY21 Results Announcement to Market & Capital Return ArborGen Holdings Limited (NZX: ARB) Announces Interim Result Rua Bioscience Limited (NZX: RUA) Awarded Callaghan Innovation Funding Arvida Group Limited (NZX: ARV) Reports Steady First Half Progress 23rd November 2021 Morning Report Argosy Property Limited (NZX: ARG) FY22 Interim Result market release Observers of recent rights issues may wonder why such heavily discounted share sales need to be underwritten. The bog standard reason or excuse? is that companies, or their bankers, want certainty that theyll get the money they need. But a number of recent outcomes raise questions about whether there was much uncertainty to start with. Take Fletcher Buildings $750 million one-for-4.46 rights issue announced in April; the new shares were priced at $4.80 when the day before the shares ended trading at $6.27, so a 23.4 percent discount. Institutional investors opted to take up about 98 percent of their entitlements and the remaining 2.2 million were auctioned for $6.15 each. A month later, the 20.2 million entitlements shortfall from the retail offer were successfully auctioned at an even more handsome $6.45 apiece. The offer document shows Fletcher paid a 2 percent fee for having the issue underwritten, a cool $15 million that merchant bank Macquarie pocketed for what looks like little risk. It also charged another 0.6 percent in other fees in case that doesnt look like much, thats another $4.5 million. Or take Steel & Tubes $80.9 million placement and rights issue. The one-for-1.9 rights issue was priced at $1.05 a share while institutions had to pay a higher $1.15 per share to participate in the $20 million placement. In both cases, that was a discount of well over 20 percent to the $1.46 price the shares traded at ahead of the announcement. Steel & Tube says it paid First NZ Capital 1.25 percent all up for the underwriting fee and 2 percent in total, or $1.6 million. Both companies were raising capital to shore up their balance sheets after periods of poor to abysmal performance, but alongside the Fletcher issue, and taking into account its much larger size, Steel & Tube could be thought to have got a bargain basement price. But there seems to be no such thing as a going rate for underwriting, although most will entail similar amounts of work, regardless of size. Obviously, larger companies such as Fletcher will require more work because of their international shareholder base. But TeamTalk was charged the same 2 percent underwriting fee for its very tiny recent $8.7 million capital raising although it was also charged another 3 percent to cover Forsyth Barrs other work in managing it, so $435,000 in total. That raising was another instance of differential pricing as institutions paid 75 cents per share for the $2 million placement, just a 6.3 percent discount to the last on-market price, and shareholders were offered their new shares at 65 cents, an 18.8 percent discount, in the one-for-three rights issue. And it looks like Forsyth Barr earned its money in that case: shareholders took up 81 percent of the rights issue and the underwriter had to pick up the 1.9 million shares they didn't subscribe for. Then theres Seekas $50 million one-for-1.5 rights issue to shore up its balance sheet and to provide funds to pursue its ambition to become New Zealands leading orchard-to-market business. That was priced at $2.45 per share, a 25 percent discount to the previous closing price. First NZ Capital charged 1 percent to underwrite the issue and another 1.75 percent for arranging it, so $1.38 million all up. Geos $2 million placement and $1.63 million rights issue was the only recent capital raising that wasnt underwritten. Chair Roger Sharp says he couldnt find a broker to manage it so his own firm, North Ridge Partners, which owns 33.2 percent of Geo, had to do it and charged 6 percent, or $217,800. The CEO Kylie OReilly - and I went on a pre-funding roadshow to tell our story and about the plan to turn around Geos fortunes. They were then pleasantly surprised by willing investors urging the company to do a placement, he says. The subsequent one-for-four rights issue was keenly sought. Both the placement and rights issue were done at 15 cents per share, a 22.1 percent discount to the 30-day volume weighted average ahead of the placement. The lack of underwriting didnt prevent the company from raising all the money sought the 1.2 million shortfall of the 10.6 million shares sold in the rights issue were all mopped up by a shortfall facility, similar to what most issues have these days, at a premium of 18 cents per share. No one will underwrite these days until they have demand lined up, Sharp says, confirming the impression that merchant bankers are taking little risk. So how exactly do merchant bankers arrive at their charges? More than one company says off the record, of course that theyre price-takers and that their arranger will quote them an all up fee that theyll have to pay regardless of whether their capital raisings are underwritten. So they might as well have the underwriting. The merchant bankers themselves are coy on the subject. Its not something we talk about, Im afraid. Its a private matter between us and our clients, says one, adding that every deal is different. Another says that what the money is being raised for is a key factor shoring up a damaged balance sheet, as in the cases of Fletcher and Steel & Tube, is clearly a rescue mission, not a way to fund growth or an acquisition, as in the case of utilities software company Gentrack. Gentracks $90 million rights issue was to fund its purchase of the Evolve business. Deutsche Craigs and UBS charged it 2.25 percent, or just over $2 million, for the underwriting. The company wont say how much the other arranging charges were, even though it will be obliged to disclose that information when it releases its annual results in a week or so. Gentracks one-for-5.77 rights issue was priced at $6.19 per share, an 11.6 percent discount to the $7 share price the day before the announcement. The institutional shortfall of Gentracks offer was auctioned for $6.69 per share and the retail shortfall at $6.84. Clearly, Gentrack didnt need to discount its offer as much as Fletcher and Steel & Tube had to, but did it need the underwriting? Heartland Group is another example of raising capital to fund growth; its $59.2 million one-for-15 rights issue in December last year, unusually, wasnt underwritten. Given its size and use of the proceeds, Heartland didnt consider underwriting provided value for shareholders, the bank told investors. It was sure of getting at least 15 percent of the new funding sought because its directors and related parties owning that amount of shares committed to take up their rights in full. But its discount to where the existing shares were trading was skinnier than any of the other examples, at 10.1 percent. In the event, 82 percent of the rights to buy shares at $1.70 each were taken up and the company auctioned the shortfall and got $2.02 per share, demonstrating there was no lack of demand. But it also seems to give the lie to suggestions merchant banking fees will be the same, regardless of whether an issue is underwritten. The cost of the issue was $910,000, and presuming all of that was paid to First NZ Capital, that would amount to 1.75 percent of the funds raised. (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: The a2 Milk Company Limited (NZX: ATM) to Defend Second Class Action 24th November 2021 Morning Report Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) launches NZ$85 million capital raise Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) FY21 Half-Year Results Announcement Tower Limited (NZX: TWR) FY21 Results Announcement to Market & Capital Return ArborGen Holdings Limited (NZX: ARB) Announces Interim Result Rua Bioscience Limited (NZX: RUA) Awarded Callaghan Innovation Funding Arvida Group Limited (NZX: ARV) Reports Steady First Half Progress 23rd November 2021 Morning Report Argosy Property Limited (NZX: ARG) FY22 Interim Result market release The New Zealand dollar stuck to a tight range as markets continue to fret about a possible global economic slowdown. The kiwi traded at 68.11 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 68.36 US cents at 8am and from 67.96 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index was at 74.34 from 74.28. Markets are increasingly jittery about a negative impact on global growth while the US-China trade dispute remains unresolved. Overnight the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development revised down growth forecasts for most of the world's major economies and said global growth is now expected to expand by 3.5 percent in 2019, down from its prior forecast of 3.7 percent. Trade conflicts and political uncertainty are adding to the difficulties governments face in ensuring that economic growth remains strong, sustainable and inclusive," said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria in a statement presenting the outlook. The kiwi was "reasonably becalmed today" but sentiment is fragile, said Martin Rudings, senior foreign exchange dealer at OMF. He noted markets are quiet ahead of the US Thanksgiving Day Holiday and "chances are it should probably be reasonably subdued overnight," he said. However, volatility will likely increase ahead of the G20 meeting in Argentina at the end of the month where President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to sit down. If there is no resolution, Rudings said he would expect further US dollar strength, which will weigh on the kiwi. The kiwi traded at 59.76 euro cents from 59.73 cents yesterday and increased to 53.28 British pence from 53.12 pence yesterday. It traded at 93.92 Australian cents from 93.94 cents, rose to 76.93 yen from 76.60 yen yesterday and eased to 4.7182 Chinese yuan from 4.7198 yuan. New Zealand's two-year swap rate fell 1 basis point to 2.13 percent; the 10-year swaps were down 2 basis points at 2.98 percent. (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: The a2 Milk Company Limited (NZX: ATM) to Defend Second Class Action 24th November 2021 Morning Report Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) launches NZ$85 million capital raise Serko Limited (NZX: SKO) FY21 Half-Year Results Announcement Tower Limited (NZX: TWR) FY21 Results Announcement to Market & Capital Return ArborGen Holdings Limited (NZX: ARB) Announces Interim Result Rua Bioscience Limited (NZX: RUA) Awarded Callaghan Innovation Funding Arvida Group Limited (NZX: ARV) Reports Steady First Half Progress 23rd November 2021 Morning Report Argosy Property Limited (NZX: ARG) FY22 Interim Result market release Police in northeastern China have detained a driver who plowed a car into a group of children outside a primary school, causing at least five deaths and 18 injuries, state media said on Thursday. China Central Television said police were investigating the cause of the incident, which happened around noon in the city of Huludao in Liaoning province. Reuters could not immediately reach police or local authorities to seek comment, and it was not immediately clear what prompted the drivers action. In graphic footage purporting to show the crash and circulated by media, a group of a few dozen young children cross the road before a dark-colored sedan swerves into the wrong side of traffic and crashes into them. Reuters could not independently verify the images, which swiftly went viral on social media. Search Keywords: Short link: A transparent and credible investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has not yet been completed, Federica Mogherini, the European Unions foreign affairs chief, said on Thursday, after talks with Turkeys foreign minister. Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdoms Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Riyadh has said it was seeking the death penalty for five suspects in the case. Speaking at a joint news conference with EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Mogherini said she was completely against any application of the death penalty. Search Keywords: Short link: Related Nissan to oust Ghosn after arrest for alleged financial misconduct Nissans board ousted Chairman Carlos Ghosn on Thursday after the shock arrest of the industry heavyweight, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported without citing sources, ushering in a period of uncertainty for its 19-year alliance with Renault. The Franco-Japanese alliance, enlarged in 2016 to include Japans Mitsubishi Motors, has been rattled to its core by Ghosns arrest in Japan on Monday, with the 64-year-old group chairman accused of financial misconduct. Ghosn had shaped the alliance and was pushing for a deeper tie-up, including potentially a full Renault-Nissan merger at the French governments urging, despite strong reservations at the Japanese firm. Japanese prosecutors said Ghosn and Representative Director Greg Kelly, who has also been arrested, conspired to understate Ghosns compensation at Nissan over five years from 2010, saying it was about half the actual 10 billion yen ($88 million). Shin Kukimoto, deputy public prosecutor at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, said on Thursday that court approval was received a day earlier to detain Ghosn for 10 days but he could not comment on whether he had admitted to the allegations. Nissan executives have five seats on the nine-member board, Renault loyalists have two seats and the remaining two are held by unaffiliated outside directors, a former bureaucrat and a race driver. With Ghosn and Kelly still in detention, neither of the men were able to vote or defend themselves at the meeting. Renault has refrained from firing Ghosn as chairman and CEO, although he remains in detention along with Kelly, whom Nissan also accuses of financial misconduct. But Mitsubishi Motors plans to remove Ghosn from his post of chairman at a board meeting next week. Amid growing uncertainty over the future of the alliance, Japans industry minister and Frances finance minister are due to meet in Paris on Thursday to seek ways to stabilise it. For me, the future of the alliance is the bigger deal, a senior Nissan official told reporters on Wednesday, when asked about Ghosns arrest. Its obvious that in this age, we need to do things together. To part would be impossible. Search Keywords: Short link: System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28: 29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe0494d78)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe048a000)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe0494d78)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe048a000)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe04d0c00)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe048a000)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe048a000)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdfe87508)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe044a630)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe044a630)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
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Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdfedc090)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdfe74fd0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdfedc090)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdfe74fd0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdfec49a8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdfe74fd0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdfe74fd0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdfc78ae8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdfb52988)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdfb52988)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 The coming days will tell whether British Prime Minister Theresa May can get her draft withdrawal deal with the European Union through the countrys parliament, writes Manal Lotfy in London In just a matter of days, the British public will know if UK Prime Minister Theresa May has managed to convince her divided cabinet and party to support the draft Brexit deal on leaving the European Union that she has reached after almost two years of negotiations. It is crunch time and the moment of truth for all the parties involved in this difficult and unprecedented process of disentangling more than 40 years of economic, political, cultural, trade and military relationships. According to the timetable, European leaders are set to sign off the draft Withdrawal Agreement and framework for the UKs future relations with the EU in Brussels on Sunday. May will then submit the draft deal to the UK parliament to ratify in a process that may be unlikely to succeed. Although May has managed to get her cabinet to support the draft deal, she is not out of the woods yet. The 585-page draft Withdrawal Agreement, published last week alongside a shorter statement setting out what the UK and EUs future relations will look like, is still problematic for many UK politicians. Many of them have declared they would rather bring the government down, call for early elections, or support a second referendum than pass the draft agreement. The ratification process is also proving to be anything but straightforward in London and Brussels. In a sign of tension on the EU side, Spain said it would not agree to the draft deal without clarity over how talks on the future status of Gibraltar will be handled. In London, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey were among seven ministers to resign in protest at the deal, saying it had failed to honour the result of the earlier referendum and had crossed Mays red lines for leaving the EU. Other ministers such as International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom, Secretary for International Trade Liam Fox, Secretary for the Environment Michael Gove and Secretary for Transport Chris Grayling are pressing May to re-negotiate the most problematic parts of the deal, especially those related to the Irish border and the back-stop scenario that is without a timetable or expiry date. If May fails to convince them to back her deal, she will struggle to get her plans through the House of Commons. The most controversial part of the deal is about Northern Ireland, starting on page 302 of the draft agreement. This addresses the Northern Ireland back-stop or the insurance arrangement that aims to guarantee that physical checks will not be reintroduced at the border with the Irish Republic in the event of the EU and the UK failing to agree a deal on future trading relations after December 2020. EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier has said agreement on the back-stop will protect the Good Friday Agreement that ended the violence in Northern Ireland and at the same time respect the integrity of the UK. He has stressed that the back-stop is not meant to be used and would only kick in if there was no better solution by the end of the transition period. The back-stop within the agreed draft would avoid a return to a hard border with the Republic of Ireland by keeping the UK as a whole aligned with the EU customs union, but without any timetable for withdrawal. This means that the UK will continue to be in the EU customs union until a solution is found to the Irish border problem. Any solution could take months or decades, to find. UK hard Brexiteers are furious at the proposed solution, but it has also proven to be the most contentious part of the withdrawal negotiations, with concerns being raised by Brexiteer MPs, Labour Party MPs and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) over how it will work. Instead of consolidating her power after reaching a compromise deal, May has found herself in a weaker position after revealing her plans, and she is under pressure from the right wing in her own Party, the Labour Party, the DUP, the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats. The DUP has made it clear it cannot support the agreement as it stands. In a clear warning to May, the Partys 10 MPs withheld their support on votes on budget measures in the UK this week, calling it a message over Mays plan to separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the country. The DUP has warned May to keep her side of the bargain on Brexit, which means it will not support the final deal in parliament. Labour has called the deal the worst of both worlds, while the Brexiteers in the Conservative Party have labelled it a betrayal of voters and appear intent on forcing a confidence vote in Mays leadership. There are already more than 20 letters of no confidence in the British PM with the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative Party MPs. If he receives letters from 15 per cent of the Partys MPs, or 48 MPs, a secret ballot on Mays leadership will be triggered. May is adamant that her draft withdrawal deal, which MPs will vote on next month, is the right one. However, the gulf between her and the hard Brexiteers within her Party is widening, and the threat of the Conservative Party splitting is becoming very real. If the PM ignores the Brexiteerss voices and relies on the remainers to pass her deal in parliament, she will risk the most profound split in the Party, one party member, who voted leave, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Instead of settling the European question in the party once and for all, we will face an open civil war, worse than anything we have seen so far, she added. In Brussels, European leaders are set to sign the draft agreement and the framework of future relations on Sunday. They will also start to work on the declaration setting out the EUs future relationship with the UK. Officially the Brexit process is moving forward, but this could be deceptive. With the endgame approaching, reluctant voices will get louder and could derail the whole process. The Spanish reaction to the draft deal has also been alarming. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said Spain will reject the draft withdrawal deal if it does not receive clarification on future talks on Gibraltar. As things stand today if there are no changes regarding Gibraltar, Spain will vote no on Brexit, Sanchez said. Mays position is delicate, as she could lose both her Brexit deal and her job. Only the coming days will tell. * A version of this article appears in print in the 22 November, 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Moment of truth for Brexit Search Keywords: Short link: US, South Korea scale back military exercise Washington, Nov 22 (AFP) Nov 22, 2018 The United States and South Korea have scaled down an annual joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. "Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis said, adding that it would be "reduced in scope." Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies, and has always infuriated Pyongyang, which condemned it as preparations for invasion. But the drill -- one of the world's largest field exercises involving 200,000 South Korean and some 30,000 US soldiers -- was delayed and scaled down last year as diplomatic detente took hold on the peninsula. And following a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would stop holding joint exercises with the South, calling them expensive and "very provocative". Since then the two allies have suspended most of their major joint exercises including the Ulchi Freedom Guardian in August and Vigilant Ace, slated for next month. But more recently progress in talks with the North has stalled, with the US pushing to maintain sanctions against it until its "final, fully verified denuclearization" and Pyongyang condemning US demands as "gangster-like." Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South to defend it from its nuclear-armed neighbor, which invaded in 1950. - 'Fait accompli' - But differences are beginning to emerge between Seoul and Washington. The South's dovish president Moon Jae-in has long favored engagement with the North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. He has dangled large investment and joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearization, while the US has been adamant pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programs. Seoul's defence ministry said Mattis' comments were in line with their shared view on the need to back diplomacy -- but a spokeswoman added that the question of whether the exercises will take place at all was "still under discussion." Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the South's state-run Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said reducing the exercise was largely expected. "The Trump administration claims Pyongyang's suspension of nuclear and missile tests as the key achievement of its North Korea policy and the joint drills have been postponed as a kind of corresponding measure," Kim told AFP. "As long as talks continue, postponing or reducing major US-South Korea joint exercises has become a fait accompli," he said. - 'No rush' - Earlier this month Pyongyang threatened to "seriously" consider returning to its weapons drive if Washington did not end its tough economic sanctions. And last month, the North's state media carried a near 1,700-word commentary accusing the US of playing a "double game", implicitly criticizing Trump for comments aimed at barring Seoul from lifting sanctions against Pyongyang. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday defended Washington's strategy on the peninsula, noting that North Korea had halted missile launches and had not conducted a nuclear test in over a year. "And I do hope there'll be a summit between the two leaders early in 2019," he said in an interview with KCMO radio. Pyongyang has declared its nuclear and missile development complete, saying it has no further need for testing. Trump has also said he hopes to have a second meeting with Kim early next year, but talks between Pompeo and a top North Korean official, partly to prepare for the meeting, were cancelled. The US said the North axed the talks because they weren't ready, and Trump insisted he was in "no rush." Texas shelter helps asylum seekers as Trump clamps down Laredo, United States, Nov 22 (AFP) Nov 22, 2018 It's busy, as usual, at the Holding Institute migrant shelter in the southwestern Texan border city of Laredo. Young African kids tear around the courtyard as their exhausted parents look on. The 34 people staying here have made it to the United States after journeys from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. "It was very dangerous," one man tells AFP in halting French as he outlines his travels from Angola to Cuba, on to Brazil, then up through Central America and towards the US. The journey took many weeks. "Very hard," he says. This group says they are fleeing violence and political oppression at home -- but now face an uncertain future in the US where critics accuse the Trump administration of creating an increasingly hostile environment for refugees. On November 9, Trump issued a proclamation saying only those who enter the US at official checkpoints -- as opposed to sneaking across the border -- can apply for asylum. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the order, but Trump has vowed to take the matter to the Supreme Court, even though US law states anyone arriving in America may seek asylum regardless of where they entered. The president believes migrants are exploiting America's asylum laws and using them to emigrate to the US illegally. He cited a "massive increase in fear-of-persecution or torture claims" among immigrants as leading to a backlog of asylum cases, which can take years to fully adjudicate. "During that time, many released aliens fail to appear for hearings, do not comply with subsequent orders of removal, or are difficult to locate and remove," Trump said in his proclamation. - 'Political gesture' - Though the people at the Holding Institute all claimed asylum at the point of entry at Laredo, Mike Smith, a Methodist pastor who runs the shelter, said he frequently helps asylum seekers who have crossed illegally. One of the justifications the Trump administration has used for putting up miles of barbed- and concertina-wire fences in places like Laredo is to corral migrants towards legal points of entry. Hundreds of people try to cross into the area around Laredo each day, and Smith sees no let up in the numbers. If anything, they are increasing. Trump's order is "purely a political gesture with no real teeth," he told AFP in an interview at the shelter this week. The fence and Trump's asylum order won't make a difference to the numbers of migrants, Smith said. They are "more of an emotional red flag to people who would want to cross legally or illegally, asylum seekers, refugees to show that this place is not welcoming." Human rights campaigners and other critics of the Trump crackdown say that by restricting asylum seekers to border crossing points -- which are already under enormous pressure -- the government is effectively shutting the door on people who may truly be fleeing for their lives. In 2018, border patrols registered more than 400,000 illegal border crossers, according to the Department of Homeland Security. And in the last five years, the number of those requesting asylum has increased by 2,000 percent, it said. Less than 10 percent of cases result in asylum being granted, the government says. - Donations - For the asylum seekers from Africa, the Holding Institute offers a welcome resting place, safety, shelter and warmth as cold weather sets in. The facility relies entirely on donations and, even though it is the only such shelter in the city providing housing, gets no money from the government. It has three staff workers and six volunteers, with a total annual operating budget of $140,000. One volunteer could be seen helping a young Angolan man look for a cheap bus fare to Portland, Maine, where he will head for his initial asylum hearing. Smith says he relies on community support and is always looking for donations of diapers, hygiene products such as soap and shampoo and wipes. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) launched in Cairo on Thursday a 3.2 billion-euro programme with the European Union to bolster financial inclusion and banking supervision. The programme will be in the form of technical assistance for three years to support efforts to promote financial inclusion and strengthen banking monitoring frameworks. Financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance delivered in a responsible and sustainable way. Representatives from 100 government bodies, business organisations and embassies attended the launching ceremony. Deputy governors of the CBE Lobna Helal and Gamal Negm were also present at the event. The Ambassador of the EU in Egypt Ivan Surkos expressed appreciation for efforts exerted by the CBE to achieve economic reforms. Financial inclusion can contribute to economic growth, financial stability and poverty alleviation, Surkos said. The EU-funded programme will boost the CBE's efforts in setting up a comprehensive database covering all banking sectors in addition to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Search Keywords: Short link: Denmark suspends arms sales to Saudi over Khashoggi murder Copenhagen, Nov 22 (AFP) Nov 22, 2018 Denmark on Thursday suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the second country to do so after Germany. "The foreign ministry is suspending all sales of weapons and military equipment to Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said. "I hope that the Danish decision can create additional momentum," he added. A foreign ministry spokesman said Copenhagen was not considering other sanctions for the moment. On Monday, Germany decided to bar 18 Saudis from entering its territory and Europe's Schengen passport-free zone over their alleged links to the murder. In October, Berlin called for EU countries to follow its lead and suspend arms sales to Saudi Araiba for the time being, prompting a dismissive response from French President Emmanuel Macron. Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Wednesday said criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a "red line", and that calls for him to be held accountable for the grisly killing would not be tolerated. Iraq removes blast walls around Green Zone for partial reopening Baghdad, Nov 22 (AFP) Nov 22, 2018 Iraqi authorities began removing cement walls surrounding Baghdad's Green Zone on Thursday in preparation for a partial reopening of the high-security enclave, an Iraqi official and AFP correspondents said. The Green Zone became home to Iraq's parliament and other government offices, United Nations agencies and western embassies after the US-led invasion of 2003. The area on the west bank of the Tigris River is ringed by blast walls topped with barbed wire and guarded by Iraqi security forces, but inaccessible for most Iraqi citizens. On Thursday, AFP reporters saw some walls had been removed. "Work is ongoing to lift the cement blocks, and a main road will be opened provisionally on Saturday and officially on Sunday," an Iraqi official told AFP. The official said three entrances into the 10-square kilometre (3.8-square mile) zone would be opened to allow access to a key thoroughfare and therefore relieve traffic clogging other parts of Baghdad. "The reopening of the road that cuts through the centre of the Green Zone came after directions from the prime minister," the official added. When Adel Abdel Mahdi was appointed premier last month, he called on parliament to open up the area to all as a way to break down barriers between Iraq's citizens. Abdel Mahdi also moved his government's headquarters outside the Green Zone, in a first since 2003. Previous prime minister Haidar al-Abadi had also ordered the zone reopened during his reign, but it was sealed off again after only a few days. It was rumoured at the time that objections by the US embassy -- which has the tightest security regulations of all bodies present in the Green Zone -- were the reason. Dozen herders killed in clashes with hunters in Mali: mayor Bamako, Nov 22 (AFP) Nov 22, 2018 About a dozen Fulani herders have been killed in the town of Ouenkoro in Mali in recent days, local authorities said Thursday, accusing members of the Dogon hunter community. The claims come a day after a Dogon-linked armed group pulled out of a month-old ceasefire with the Fulani, saying it needed to protect its own. Since the 2015 emergence of a jihadist movement led by Fulani preacher Amadou Koufa in central Mali, disputes have regularly turned violent between the nomadic herders and Dogon farmers. The violence is often sparked by accusations of Fulani grazing cattle on Dogon land, and disputes over access to land and water. "In my town of Ouenkoro, yesterday (Wednesday), nine Fulani civilians were killed by Dogon hunters who said they had broken the ceasefire," said Cheick Harouna Sankare, the mayor of the town near the border with Burkina Faso to the south. "The day before yesterday, another three Fulani civilians were killed," he told AFP. Another local representative, who did not wish to be named, confirmed the deaths of nine civilians in Ouenkoro. On Thursday, a spokesman for the Dogon-linked group Dan Nan Ambassagou accused "Fulani terrorists" of "slaughtering our unarmed Dogon relatives." "It's over, we are resuming our protection of the population," Moussa Togoun told AFP, announcing the ceasefire had been broken several days earlier. A bit further north, attacks attributed to Dogon hunters have targeted the Fulani-majority town of Djabel in recent days, with the village chief killed at a fair on Tuesday, a town official said. English21/11/2018 RUSSIA CONSTANTLY PROTECTING DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENT ISTOCNO SARAJEVO, November 21 /SRNA/ - The Russian Ambassador to BiH, Petr Ivantsov, has told SRNA that Russia is constantly protecting the Dayton Peace Agreement since it protects the integrity of BiH, both of its Entities and the three constituent peoples. He has said that it is not a surprise that the anniversary of the signing of this Agreement is celebrated as a holiday in Republika Srpska. The Dayton Peace Agreement has not only ended the war in BiH, it laid foundations for contemporary relations and systems in BiH, Ivantsov has said. According to him, this is particularly important for Republika Srpska since the Dayton Peace Agreement protects the security and development of Srpska. The Republika Srpska leadership, particularly Milorad Dodik, a new member and the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, gives special support to this subject, the Russian Ambassador has said. Today is the 23rd anniversary of the signing of the General Framework Peace Agreement and its 12 annexes at the US Wright-Patterson Base in Dayton, Ohio, which ended the war in BiH and established its constitutional order. The state of BiH, composed of the two Entities Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH, which are signatories to the annexes was created by this Agreement. /end/sg Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has approved a loan agreement between the Egyptian government and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development worth KD 60 million ($20 million) to establish the Sharm El-Sheikh Tunnel Road. The president also approved a KD 100,000 loan agreement to finance technical and economic feasibility studies for date palm cultivation and dates' processing. The agreements were inked in Cairo in March 2018. The fund is a Kuwaiti public institution that relies entirely on its own resources for the provision of loans and other kinds of development assistance, according to the fund's website. Search Keywords: Short link: 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. The cast of Henry V, with Nathan Hamilton, right. Photo: Mark Williamson Did you see Peter Jackons film They Shall Not Grow Old? In it The Lord of the Rings director colourised old film footage from World War I the outcome was startling. Suddenly history seemed brought to life. Viewers were amazed how suddenly relatable the images of the young soldiers became. One commented: The faces of the teenage soldiers... could be those of their great grandsons shopping for trainers today. How to make war relateable, to really understand the suffering of the participants and raw grief felt by the bereaved, seems to grow more beyond us the further away we are from those historic events. What this tremendous version of Henry V by theatre company Antic Disposition does, however, is to ace that most tricky of time-conquering tasks. Directed by Ben Horslen and John Risebero it tells the story of Henry V as a play within the play. The drama opens in France, 1915, presumably not too far from the frontline trenches. A French soldier helps a young English private, who has been gassed, bringing him to the female nurses to look after him. As a thank you the Englishman gives the Frenchman his most treasured possession a copy of Henry V. After a bit of misunderstanding (at Henry Vs setting of the Battle Agincourt, 1415, the now allies were of course then enemies). The patients decide to perform Shakespeares great war tale. The private is crowned as the young King Henry, and the Bards tale commences. What follows is the most impressive, gut-wrenching, sob-inducing production of Henry V imaginable. Performed in the traverse; with ambient lighting and the acoustics of the church making the verse positively sing, the atmosphere is further conjured by the authenticity of the costumes and props. The words of poet AE Housman are set to music by various composers and, most notably, music director Christopher Peake, and are used to punctuate Shakespeares plot. At various dramatic points the cast perform choral counterpoints, given the sometimes clunky military tale fresh life, emotion and poetic beauty. Not only do the WWI actor soldiers seem colourised, but their forebears, from 500 years ago, also come to life. When Mistress Quickly says goodbye to Pistol, Nim and Bardolph as they head off to war it becomes as relatable as a mother waving off her lad in 1914. Its all overwhelming emotional, a stab in the heart felt through centuries. The audience is literally inches from the actors throughout the action is real in-your-face stuff, and not for one second is not entirely believeable. It is unflinching in its delivery, the clarity sublime. The standard of the acting was easily every bit as good if not better than one might see at the RSC. There was heart and soul in every actors performance. Nathan Hamilton as Henry V bowled me over the tears and the grit so real I imagine this is how seeing Kenneth Branagh in his pomp over the road was like. In particular the love scene between him and Katherine (a sublime Aude Le Pape) was utterly mesmerizing. Corny to say, but surely Shakespeare would have approved In fact there was one particularly arresting bit when the great playwright seemed involved. As the opposing forces clash they turn and face the nave, where his grave is, a trick of lighting flash and canon booms make it seem like that is where the warring enemy is located. Clever technology and smoke and mirrors may be involved, but this felt real and profound. Do go. Nine bloggers on a mission to explore the truth about Egypt As their plane took off from the US nine US bloggers, on their first visit to Egypt, were worried about their safety. International media outlets regularly paint a picture of Egypt as an unsafe country. Yet the bloggers departed Egypt eight days later with a totally different mindset. I never guessed Egypt was so safe, or Egyptians so welcoming and hospitable. Eight days completely changed the image I had of the country. Now I know that Egypt is totally wrongly presented in the news, Ovec Reyes, one of the bloggers, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Reyes and eight other bloggers were invited to Egypt by the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypts (AmCham) Travel and Tourism Committee and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. From 11 November the nine bloggers roamed different cities and historic sites, in what Reyes said was a heart-captivating trip. The visit was an attempt to promote tourism to Egypt by providing social media bloggers with a chance to visit historic sites such as the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Red Sea resorts like El Gouna, and roam Cairos historic streets. The bloggers also visited the Giza Plateau and had a private tour of the Grand Egyptian Museum. For Reyes, Cairo was the place where he was most fascinated and had my mind blown away. No country in the world has such beautiful places for worshiping three religions, all next to each other, like Old Cairo, he said. And it is only in a city like Cairo that you find organised chaos like Khan Al-Khalili offers. Egypt is more than just the Pyramids. I dont think people know about all the good things Egypt offers tourists, they are not showcased in the global media. Karim Al-Manabawi, co-chair of AmChams Travel and Tourism Committee, says the bloggers itinerary focused on highlighting little known aspects of Egypt as a tourist destination. We wanted to show our visitors that Egypt is a place where they can find everything they want, said Al-Manabawi. They can chill on the beach and in less than an hour be camping in pristine desert wilderness, surrounded by mountains, and eating dinner over a fire with Bedouins. The bloggers also enjoyed free time in which they were able to roam unaccompanied. We wanted them to see what Egypt is really like for tourists, to experience local transport, shopping and everyday life. None of them complained about being harassed, said Al-Manabawi. Taking photographs, experiencing new food and exploring history; having all of these things in one place makes Egypt the perfect destination for people who want to explore new aspects in life, says Reyes. He identified the local food as one of the highlights of the trip. Even the simplest thing like the balady bread is unbelievable. You never read about any of this in media outlets, he said. The bloggers included professional landscape and architectural photographers, and their posts have opened a window for their followers to see a new side to Egypt which will hopefully encourage them to visit. We chose bloggers with many followers since the aim was to enable as many people as possible to explore Egypt through the photographs of these influencers, said Al-Manabawi. After posting images on his Instagram account Reyes says he was showered with questions about Egypt. After posting just two pictures and a few stories on Instagram I received messages from amazed people saying they found the scenes amazing and asking if the city was safe enough. * A version of this article appears in print in the 22 November, 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Batting for Egypt Search Keywords: Short link: The documentary commissioners from the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5 gave their take on what innovation in documentary means for their channel at todays Televisual Factual Festival. Channel 5s Guy Davies said that although completely new forms of doc were hard for the channel due to expense, live events were just one way the broadcaster was being innovative with its output. He pointed to the recent Operation Live that went out for two hours a night. It felt like a space at 10pm that we could inhabit. It was hard to pull off but felt like an event. Therell be more live programming in the same vein, he said. ITVs factual controller Jo Clinton-Davis said she had innovate in the mainstream. You can innovate with shape an elongated start on one night or in terms of form. She said that for ITV, the trick is to approach tough subjects in clever, inventive, fun way and picked out the upcoming Slimming For England as a way you can innovate by creating something bigger. Channel 4s Alisa Pomeroy said the channel was open to the ludicrous and preposterous mentioning an upcoming game show/doc hybrid pilot. She also picked out the recent Married to a Paedophile that used actors to re enact a pre shot doc to disguise the identities of the participants. Its a new form to tell an inaccessible story. It demonstrates Channel 4s willingness to make big expensive plays and experiment. The BBCs Clare Sillery said there was innovation in everything the channel does mentioning Hospital and the way it approaches storytelling and Marigold Hotel as a new way to take on the top line of ageing. Every commission is looking for something a bit different. Share this story Request for revision of next year "Reduction of medical fees" to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare such as the Health Insurance Federation if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi... Historic Eutawville Part 2: Historic Village When I was a child, my parents often took me to Eutawville to visit my great aunt, a grizzled old woman my mother held in great esteem. Momma told me... Historic EutawvillePart 1: Indians & Marions Earliest historical data locates the Cherokees in a vast area of what is now the southeastern United States, with about 200 towns scattered throughout the present states of Alabama, Georgia,... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Endy Bayuni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 09:09 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d30b3b 1 Opinion #commentary,ASEAN,Indo-Pacific,US-China,Cold-War,economy,trade-war Free A cold war between the United States and China is looking more and more inevitable, and the Indo-Pacific region could well turn into the main theater where the emerging contest between the two superpowers will be played out. While attention has focused mainly on the tariff wars between the two largest economies in the world, the two countries are slowly if not quietly building their military presence and widening their spheres of influence through the Indian and Pacific oceans. As might be expected, China is doing this more subtly by channeling massive infrastructure investment into dozens of countries through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The port developments in the Indian Ocean and structural developments on the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea are the clearest indication of Chinas intention to build its maritime strength. The BRI also stretches aggressively into the West Pacific. The US, on the other hand, is doing it more openly by building alliances to contain Chinese expansion and by pushing its concept of a US-led regional architecture for the Indo-Pacific. US Vice President Mike Pence revealed this latest maneuver last week by announcing that the US would build a naval base in Papua New Guinea. Speaking on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in Port Moresby, Pence said that the US would partner with Australia in developing the Lombrum naval base on Manus Island to protect sovereignty and maritime rights in the Pacific islands. Indonesia and the other member states of ASEAN have the misfortune of being right in the middle of this new cold war, as the region straddles the two oceans. The 10-member ASEAN will have to muster all its diplomatic skills to ensure that the region is spared the impacts of the emerging contest between the two behemoths. On this, ASEAN has an effective instrument at its disposal that helped it survive the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union: the Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) agreement, which the groupings five original members Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand hammered out and signed in Kuala Lumpur in 1971. The others that joined ASEAN later Brunei, Myanmar and the three communist states Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam acceded to the agreement automatically. ZOPFAN has since been buried in the deepening tureen of alphabet soup that ASEAN is famous for; so much so that its relevance has been grossly underestimated. One really needs to look at the region before ASEAN came into being in 1967 to be reminded that this was once a Cold War theater of the West and the Communist bloc. ZOPFAN not only helped guide the region in sailing through the turbulent waters of that era, but it also became the main reference for future treaties and agreements to promote regional security and stability, including the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) signed in Bangkok and the 1995 Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon Free Zone (SEA-NWFZ) treaty, also signed in Bangkok. ASEAN diplomacy ensured that the TAC peace instrument bore the signatures of more than 30 countries, including China in 2003 and the US in 2009. One of the points in ZOPFAN was phasing out foreign military bases in the region, in particular the US Subic and Clarke bases in the Philippines, and the Cam Ranh base in Vietnam that hosted the Soviet fleet. Admittedly, it took many years after the signing before the closure of these foreign bases. ZOPFAN does not extend beyond Southeast Asian borders, so ASEAN has no say in Papua New Guineas decision to invite the US to develop Lumbrum base, just as it had no say when Australia offered Darwin in 2011 to host a US military base. The growing build-up of strongholds the US bases in Darwin and eventually Papua New Guinea, and the Chinese construction on the Spratly Islands are right at ASEANs back door and too close for comfort. ASEAN needs to respond not only to secure its own borders, but also to ensure peace and stability in the entire Indo-Pacific region. It already has several initiatives on the table, including ongoing negotiations with China on a code of conduct for dealing with territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and the Indonesian initiative for a more inclusive Indo-Pacific regional architecture that involves China compared to the more exclusive American concept. And there is the longstanding Indonesian proposal for an Indo-Pacific treaty of amity and cooperation. No one can accuse ASEAN of a shortage of initiatives. But recent regional developments call for a more rigorous ASEAN approach to diplomacy. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 08:51 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d306f0 4 Editorial #Editorial,exports,business,economic-reform,economic-package,Foreign-exchange Free The government finally issued last week a ruling requiring natural-resource based companies in Indonesia to repatriate export earnings and put them into the domestic financial system with the main objective of helping the domestic foreign exchange (forex) market cope with highly volatile capital flows. The regulation, which has been on and off since 2011, is part of the 16th economic reform package (the 17th according to The Jakarta Post file). The rule may only be fully effective early next year, given the time needed to design its implementation directives to minimize loopholes and prevent excessive red tape. We fully agree with the governments affirmation that the new forex regulation does not breach the fundamentals of Indonesias open capital-account regime, which has so far been one of the main attractions for foreign investment. Exporters are required only to repatriate their export earnings and put them into special accounts at domestic banks. They are not obliged to convert their export earnings into rupiah and they are still free to use their forex earnings for foreign borrowings, imports and other business activities in line with the Investment Law. The government sweetens the rule with fiscal incentives. While interest income on deposits is subject to the final income tax of 20 percent, the interest income from export earnings that are converted into one-month rupiah deposits are subject only to a 7.5 percent tax and those in three-month deposits to a 5 percent tax. Forex earnings that are converted into rupiah time deposits of six months or longer are exempted from tax. Interest income on export earnings that are not converted into rupiah (held in US dollars) are subject to taxes of 10 percent for one-month deposits, 7.5 percent for three-month deposits and 2.5 percent for six-month deposits. Interest income on forex deposits of six months or longer is exempted from tax. The beauty of the forex ruling is the fact that the requirement to repatriate export earnings is imposed only on exporting companies operating in mining, forestry, plantations or fisheries. Manufacturing exporters depend a lot on imported materials and components and are often net importers themselves. But exporters of natural-resource based products, which account for more than 50 percent of total export earnings, are net exporters. The regulation, if properly enforced, will not only strengthen the base of the domestic forex market, thereby preventing high volatility in the rupiah exchange rate, but also will help the government clamp down on undeclared offshore profits and tax evasion. Two days before the announcement of the new forex ruling, Bank Indonesia decided to raise again its policy rate by 25 basis points to 6 percent. Back in September, the government launched a set of measures to restrict imports of tertiary consumer goods and fuel imports (the main driver of the trade deficit) by using more palm oil-based biodiesel. We hope all these measures will help the country cope with the monetary tightening policy of the US Federal Reserve, which plans to raise its policy rate three more times next year. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anand Grover (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 15:49 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d4b617 3 Opinion medicine,health,#health,trade-agreement,global-economy,international-trade,pharmaceutical-industry Free Globally spiraling prices of medicines and vaccines continue to present a major barrier to treatment. However, this concern is not reflected in trade negotiations. A crucial example of this rift between harsh reality and a stopgap trade deal that masks itself as a solution is the EFTA states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and Indonesia trade agreement that has wrapped up negotiationsin principleon a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Yet, hidden in the intellectual property chapter are clauses that could prevent millions of people in Indonesia from gaining access to necessary, life-saving medicines. Today, treatment providers across Asia, such as the government of Indonesia, depend on an uninterrupted supply of affordable generic medicines to treat communicable and non-communicable diseases. Robust competition among producers and original companies can drive prices down by 99%, making it viable for public health programmes to scale up treatment for life-threatening and chronic diseases. Indonesias ability to provide low-cost generic medicines is predominately due to its pro-public health policies and laws that it has adopted. Specifically, its successful implementation of health safeguards available under the World Trade Organizations TRIPS agreement, such as compulsory licenses to authorize low-cost generics, has saved countless lives of people living with HIV who are now receiving antiretroviral (ARVs) medicines. However, some aspects of the trade agreement between Indonesia and the EFTA states threaten this very system. This is in large part due to Swiss trade negotiators, who, on behalf of its pharmaceutical corporations, demand extended and new forms of monopolies that are aimed at undermining price-lowering generic competition. Among the intellectual property provisions usually tabled by Swiss negotiators, which jeopardize affordable medication supplies, includes data exclusivity. Data exclusivity provisions prevent the drug regulatory authority of countries from relying on test data submitted by a first entrant to help approve subsequent generic versions of the medicine for a specified time. The introduction of data exclusivity in other countries has been shown to delay and restrict market entry of generic medicines and, as a result, increase prices and reduce access to crucial medicines. In Jordan, for example, where data exclusivity was introduced as part of the US-Jordan Free Trade Agreement, a study found that between 2002-2006, 81 of the 103 medicines registered and launched since 2001 had no generic competition as a consequence of data exclusivity, and that prices for these medicines were up to 800% higher than in neighboring Egypt. Moreover, Swiss trade negotiators also tend to pressure developing countries to grant extended patent monopolies to pharma giants and makes the drug regulatory authority not approve medicines during the subsistence of the patent (patent linkage) contrary to the TRIPS Agreement. The TRIPS Agreement does not want any patent monopoly to subsist more than the patent period. Thus it allows generic producers to do testing and applying for approval during the subsistence of the patent. This facilitates the generic producers to come into the market immediately on the expiry of the patent. Patent linkage, on the other hand prevents the testing and approval during the subsistence of the patent. The generic can do that only after the patent has expired, thus prolonging the monopoly of the patent and unaffordable drugs. Such provisions in the EFTA-Indonesia trade deal are not only in violation of the TRIPS agreement but would obviously undermine TRIPS-flexibilities to increase access to medicines. Notably, although this agreement has taken shape over the course of many years, the process has suffered from lack of transparency and lack of consultation and participation. At no point has either party voluntarily opened negotiations to the public or made available official draft texts for consultation. The only people who are in the know, apart from the Government officials, are the pharma giants, whose only interest is to increase their profits. This ignores the right to information and to participation in the conduct of public affairs, which are essential dimensions of the right to health, as well as self-standing rights. Indonesia must ensure it takes steps to that international agreements do not infringe or adversely impact upon the right to health. The EFTA-Indonesia FTA, as it stands, places trade interests over human rights and, in effect, may not comply with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international instruments concerning the right to health. Provisions pertaining to intellectual property in the EFTA-Indonesia trade agreement should be urgently reconsidered by the Indonesian government. Millions of lives depend on it. *** Anand Grover is a designated Senior Advocate, practicing in the Supreme Court of India, and the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (20082014). He has worked extensively in the field of patent law and public health. He successfully argued for safeguarding the right to health on behalf of the Cancer Patient Aid Association in Novartis v Union of India and Bayer v Union of India and successfully defended against a challenge to the compulsory license issued for the manufacture of a kidney-cancer drug in Bayer v. Natco. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Majuro, Marshall Islands Thu, November 22, 2018 07:06 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d2d635 2 Environment summit,climate,Internet,climate-change,carbon-neutral Free World leaders will participate in an innovative climate change summit on Thursday that will take place entirely online so it is carbon neutral. The eco-friendly event stands in stark contrast to many other international political summits, which involve thousands of delegates jetting across the world to a venue where they stay in air-conditioned comfort. The Virtual Climate Summit is the brainchild of Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, whose low-lying Pacific island nation will drown beneath rising seas if global warming continues unabated. Heine said the event -- with participants including French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- will be the first global political meeting to be held online. It will consist of a rolling, 24-hour livestream that will begin in the Marshalls' capital Majuro, then include addresses from leaders and panel discussions before delivering a declaration. Heine said the cutting-edge setup was designed to show that even small nations such as the Marshalls could make a big difference on the world stage using creative, climate-friendly solutions. "If we can act, so can any nation," she said in a statement ahead of the summit, which is being held by the 48-nation Climate Vulnerable Forum, headed by Heine. Read also: Key points in the UN report on climate change The virtual summit's main aim is to encourage the international community to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. A UN report warned last month that threshold could be reached as early as 2030 unless there was unprecedented global action to rein in emissions. The latest round of UN climate talks, COP24, will open in the southern Polish city of Katowice on December 2 with the aim of reinvigorating the Paris agreement reached three years ago. Heine said the virtual summit was a chance for those on the front line of climate change to make their voices heard. "We don't stand alone, people everywhere have awoken to climate perils," she said. "Everyone's way of life is under threat." By contrast, organizers of the UN's COP21 climate talks in Paris in 2015 estimated it generated 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, although much of this was later offset through carbon-credit schemes. The summit can be viewed at www.virtualclimatesummit.org from 8:00 am Thursday Marshall Islands time (20.00 GMT Wednesday). Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Paris, France Fri, November 23, 2018 03:05 1097 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d5d981 2 Art & Culture France,Africa,art,Museum,Germany,Belgium,Britain Free The return of art and treasures taken from African countries during their colonization by European powers is a recurring and controversial debate. A UNESCO convention against the export of illicit cultural goods adopted in 1970 called for the return of cultural property taken from a country but it did not address historic cases, including from the colonial era. With museums fearing they could be forced to return artifacts, former colonial powers have been slow to ratify the convention: France only did so 1997, Britain in 2002, Germany in 2007 and Belgium in 2009. As experts advise France to return thousands of African artworks held in its museums, here is an overview of plans and disputes over artifacts in Europe looted from former African colonies. Read also: France weighs how to return Africa's plundered art - France - In 2016 Benin demanded the repatriation of a part of its treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey. They include totems, sceptres and sacred doors from the Royal Palaces of Aboma, which French troops took between 1892 and 1894 and are exhibited in the Quai Branly museum in Paris. While that request was initially denied, it has since found a more sympathetic hearing from French President Emmanuel Macron. In November 2016 Macron promised to "return African heritage to Africa" in a speech in Burkina Faso. He tasked French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese writer Felwine Sarr to draw up the conditions. Their report, to be presented to Macron on Friday and of which AFP has seen a copy, proposes modifying France's heritage law to allow the restitution of cultural works if bilateral accords are struck between France and African states. - Germany - Germany is also considering what to do with the items stolen from its colonial-era African empire, which ran from 1884 to the end of the First World War. It included countries such as Cameroon and Namibia. In September 2017, minister of culture Monika Gruetters suggested a model similar to that used by the German Centre for Lost Cultural Property. The center seeks out owners of art plundered by Nazis in order to return the items. The debate could ignite again in 2019 when a major new ethnological museum, the Humboldt Forum, opens its doors. Its collection includes artifacts taken from former German colonies. - Britain - The British Museum holds a major collection of bronzes from the African Kingdom of Benin that were seized by the British army in 1897. Nigeria, which today covers the ancient territory, wants them returned. The museum says it is ready to send them back but only on loan. London's Victoria and Albert Museum has also said it is open to the long-term loan to Ethiopia of jewelry and manuscripts looted by British soldiers in 1868 when they stormed the Fortress of Magdala during the reign of Emperor Tewodros II. Ethiopia is demanding the return some of the most significant "treasures of Magdala", including a royal crown. Leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has promised to return stolen art to its countries of origin should he become prime minister. Read also: King Leopold's ghost: Belgium's Africa museum to reopen - Belgium - Belgium's debates over its colonial past have coalesced around the vast transformation of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, near Brussels. It was built in the 19th century under King Leopold II to showcase Belgium's presence in the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. The renovated museum will reopen in December after five years and promises to offer a "critical view" on colonialism. But in September a collective of associations, universities and Congolese personalities published an open letter demanding the restitution of its works of art. "We can not base intercultural dialogue on former pillaging by colonial murderers: stolen cultural goods must be repatriated," they said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 10:35 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d3f20c 1 Art & Culture dance,tradition,culture,Didik-Nini-Thowok Free Didik Nini Thowok showcased his expertise as a cross-gender dancer to audiences in Jakarta over the weekend, as the 64-year-old maestro strives to preserve the tradition of the performing arts genre. For an hour, Didik donned traditional Indonesian costumes and delivered movements commonly designated to characters of the opposite sex, wearing a kebaya, sanggul (traditional hair up-do) and full face make-up, along with changing masks and headdresses. His performance, titled "Dua Wajah: Tradisi Peran di Istana dan Masyarakat" (Two Faces: Role of Traditions in the Palace and Society), is among a list of performances scheduled during the month-long theme of dance at the Indonesia Kaya Gallery (GIK) in Central Jakarta's Grand Indonesia shopping center. Speaking to journalists at the end of his performance, Didik explained the roots of cross-gender dancing. Across various regions throughout the country, he said, the cross-gender tradition was an established dance genre on its own, which can be seen from Pawestren in East Java, Bebancihan Dance in Bali and Bissu in South Sulawesi to Randai in Padang, West Sumatra. Wayang Wong, or Wayang Orang (human puppet dance theater) in Yogyakarta during the reign of Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono VII-VIII, explained Didik, were all played by men. The reason, he said, was due to religious values, as the Sultanate of Yogyakarta had embraced Islam. "In the dance there are scenes where the characters would hug and touch. Well, if it is played by women, then it's not allowed, because touching [someone of] the opposite sex that is not a family member is not allowed. So then it is played by men," said Didik. Read also: Five Cirebon mask dances on the brink of extinction In addition, safety and security are among the reasons for the palace not to display their daughters in dances whenever they would entertain Dutch guests during the colonial era as it would sometimes take place late at night. Cross-gender dances, in various forms, continue to be staged across the country, but its popularity is waning. "Dancing is one of the efforts that I make to preserve the traditions of our ancestors. This dance tradition has been around for a long time, but not many young people are interested in learning it," Didik said. He expressed hope that the performance would spark interest in learning about the history of this dance tradition and preserving the culture. Born in Central Java, in Temanggung district, Didik has gone on to travel the world in the name of his art, including study trips to gain global knowledge about the culture and traditions of other regions, as well as introducing Indonesian cross-gender dance to audiences worldwide. Most recently, Didik said he had performed at Yale University in Connecticut, a prestigious Ivy League university in the United States, upon invitation. Next month, he is also slated to travel to Japan to perform. (mut) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin A. Kurniawan Ulung (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 08:59 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d30835 4 Art & Culture dance,disability-equality,people-with-disabilities,Bebas-Batas-Festival,jakarta,performing-arts Free Arif Setyo Budi thought that being a b-boy or breakdancer was cool. His interest in breakdancing grew stronger after he watched the street dance-themed movie You Got Served, which eventually led him to join a breakdance community in Malang, East Java, in 2005. His b-boying days seemed to be over in 2007 after an accident at a plastic factory, where he worked as a machine operator. Arifs right leg got caught in one of the machines and a metal component crushed it. The accident took his leg away, but his passion for dancing lives on. With a crutch under his right arm, Arif made a surprise comeback at his breakdance community in 2008. Knowing that he was still eager to dance, his friends helped him practice with one leg. In Indonesia, I am the first and only one-legged breakdancer, the 31-year-old said. I believe that nothing can limit us. If there is a limit, it is actually created by ourselves, added Arif who has won several regional breakdancing competitions. He recently showed off his cool moves at the Bebas Batas Festival (Borderless Festival), the countrys first arts festival for disabled artists, which was held at the National Gallery in Jakarta from Oct. 12 to 29. The festival aims to promote disability rights as well as highlight the work of artists with special needs. Strutting their stuff: The CANdoDANCE group, comprising disabled and non-disabled dancers, performs a modern dance at the Bebas Batas Festival, held at the National Gallery in Jakarta last month. (The Jakarta Post/A. Kurniawan Ulung) Arif is part of the CANdoDANCE dance group, which also includes four deaf and seven able-bodied dancers. The group performed a modern dance choreographed by Susanna Recchia who is no stranger to such collaborations. She is the rehearsal director of the Candoco Dance Company, a London-based group of disabled and able-bodied dancers that was founded in 1991. During its performance, CANdoDANCE danced to Rapsodia Nusantara No. 15 by renowned composer Ananda Sukarlan. Like some of the dancers, Ananda lives with a disability. He was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a type of autism spectrum disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication. Ananda only used his left hand when playing Rapsodia Nusantara No. 15 not to impress the audience, but simply to prove that the piano is accessible to all, including those with disabilities. In music, if you have one hand only, it does not mean that you cannot play a piano, the maestro said. If you close your eyes and listen to this, you will not realize that [Rapsodia Nusantara No. 15] is played using only my left hand. Just the two of us: Dancers from the London-based Candoco Dance Company present romantic duet You and I Know at the Bebas Batas Festival in Jakarta. (The Jakarta Post/A. Kurniawan Ulung) The festival was jointly organized by British Council Indonesia, the Art Brut Indonesia Foundation and Ballet Indonesia Foundation (Ballet ID). We believe that dance is for everyone and we want it to be more accessible, said Ballet ID cofounder Mariska Febriyani. British Council Indonesia director of arts Adam Pushkin sees the festival as a creative platform for disabled artists to offer a new perspective to Indonesians that the disabled can do what the able-bodied can also do. CANdoDANCE dancer Marta Hardy, who is deaf, hoped that festival would make people realize that impaired hearing does not prevent the afflicted from hitting the dance floor. I once tried to join a hip-hop dance community in Jakarta, but I got rejected. The teacher told me that I would never be able to dance due to my hearing impairment, the 26-year-university student recalled. I cannot hear music at all. But, when I am wearing a hearing device, I can feel the musics rhythm and vibration. Therefore, [listening to] music has never been a problem for me she added. Marta, who started dancing at the age of 5, said CANdoDANCE was a perfect platform for able-bodied and disabled individuals not only to dance together, but also to understand each other. Toke Broni Strandby, a Candoco dancer who is missing the lower part of his left arm, hoped that Candocos presence at the festival inspired people to reach their potential. We are trying to open up an environment where everybody should be who they are and be the best version of themselves with or without disabilities. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) Moscow, Russia Thu, November 22, 2018 18:04 1097 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d51d28 2 Environment Moscow,zoo,gorilla,animals,lowland-gorilla,Russia Free Moscow zoo has welcomed its latest tiny inhabitant, a rare baby lowland gorilla who spends her days nestled in her mother's arms, feeding and sleeping. The baby was born to 23-year-old Kira and 20-year-old Vizuri, weighs 1.5 kilograms and at just 40 centimeters tall is barely bigger than her parent's hands. "She (the baby) is now ten days old. The female gorilla is quite experienced, it's her fourth child," said zookeeper Natalia Astakhova. "She raised and fed them all herself. We had no problems with her, so we don't expect any difficulties." The endangered western lowland gorilla is named in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Read also: Famed sign-language gorilla Koko dies in California Poaching, deforestation and outbreaks of the Ebola virus in its natural African habitats have seen the gorilla's numbers decline, by more than 60 percent over the last 20 to 25 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund. "(Gorillas) are animals which are found less and less in nature, they are disappearing. In general, zoos are meant to preserve their population and to deal with their reintroduction and release into the wild," Astakhova said. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums estimates there are currently around 125,000 western lowland gorillas, with 550 of them living in zoos. Mother Kira and father Vizuri are both settled in Moscow, having come from the British Krefeld Zoo and Switzerland's Basel zoo. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Risma Yunita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 15:27 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d4a29f 3 Environment whale,ocean-environment,plastic,plastic-waste,ocean-pollution,animals,#environment,pollution Free On Sunday, a sperm whale was found dead floating along the shore of Kapota Island, Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi. The news shocked both Indonesians and the international community. A team comprising researchers from the Academy of Marine and Fisheries Community in Wakatobi, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and locals found 115 plastic cups, 19 hard plastic pieces, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, six wood splinters, two rubber sandals, one nylon sack, and more than 1,000 pieces of plastic rope inside the animals stomach. The total weight of the garbage was 5.9 kilograms. Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful, said Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation coordinator at WWF Indonesia. Similar incidents have occurred throughout the region. In June, a pilot whale was found dead in Thailand with 80 pieces of plastic garbage in its stomach. A documentary film by Craig Leeson, A Plastic Ocean (2016), reveals more heart-breaking truths. A Brydes whale was found dead with 6 square meters of plastic sheeting inside it. The plastic blocked its digestive system, making the whale unable to eat. It died of malnourishment; a terrible, painful death. The film also shows tragic scenes of a dolphin trapped in a plastic bag, a seals neck tied in plastic rope and a seal trapped in a plastic net. Every incident involved plastic. Plastic is especially harmful to whales due to their way of eating. Whales eat by opening their mouth and sucking in the water in their path, which usually contains krill and tiny fish. However, whales cant tell the difference between krill and plastic. This is probably what happened to the poor sperm whale in Wakatobi. And this probably happens to many other whales and sea creatures in the ocean: mistaking plastic as their food if they dont get trapped by plastic waste altogether. Read also: Whale dies in Thailand after swallowing 80 plastic bags Plastic, obviously, should not belong in the oceans. More than 80 percent of ocean plastic leaks from land-based sources. The majority comes from just six countries: China, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Even if you dont live near the ocean, chances are your plastic garbage has found its way to the sea. Imagine if each plastic waste is labeled with our names the ones who consume plastic: Would we be so reckless in throwing our garbage away? If only we could find the names of people whose plastic was inside the poor sperm whale in Wakatobi, it would be much easier to blame the ones who caused its death. What if it were my name or your name that appeared on the plastic garbage inside its stomach? What an immoral act we have done. Fortunately, there are many people who have already started their journey of zero-waste living. Of course, those people were not born heroes. They gradually improved their awareness and took small but consistent steps until they reached a point where they no longer depended on plastic. We can join them. Here are small steps to begin: 1. Refuse plastic straws Avoiding plastic straws is a cheap yet impactful way to reduce waste. Be brave and remind the waiter/waitress that you dont need a plastic straw with your beverage. I also do this when I order drinks from app-based delivery services. It is also better if you start using alternatives, such as glass straws, stainless steel straws or bamboo straws. You can buy them online and they are pretty good as they are washable. 2. Bring your own cutlery You can also put a fork, spoon, knife and also chopsticks in one pouch and bring them everywhere you go to avoid using plastic utensils. 3. Bring your own reusable bags You can fold and put a reusable bag into your bags whenever you are going out. So, whether you shop in supermarkets, minimarkets or warung (roadside stall), you can avoid using plastic bags. 4. Bring your own tumbler If you are a fan of es dawet (iced beverage with rice flour jelly, palm sugar and coconut milk), sup buah (fruit soup), es kelapa muda (iced young coconut) and the likes, you still can avoid plastic packaging by bringing your own tumbler. Tell sellers that you have brought your own tumbler and ask them politely to pour your order into it. 5. Bring your own food container If you are a fan of street food, bring your container and ask the sellers to put your cilok (skewered aci), cireng (fried aci), batagor (fried fish dumpling), siomay (steamed wonton), and the likes inside. Its worth a try. Read also: Recovery of endangered whales hampered by humans long after hunting 6. Learn from those who are ahead You can also learn from those who have already started their zero-waste journey by vowing to reduce, reuse and recycle. Here are some accounts that I follow to learn about zero waste: @atiit (Asri Puji Lestari), @dkwardhani (DK Wardhani, writer of Menuju Rumah Minim Sampah), @zerowasteadventure (Siska Nirmala, writer of Zero Waste Adventure), @lesswastehousewife (Icha) and @emakzerowaste (Sylvia Sourice). Remember, your journey starts wherever it starts. First, just focus on the small and consistent actions you can do. If you want to be consistent in reducing plastic straws, do that. If you want to focus on reducing plastic bags, start with that. You dont need to push yourself too hard in starting this journey. If you dont have the budget to buy new zero-waste products, thats fine. Remember that all the heroes you look to also started with small and mindful things. The most important thing is that you are aware of this issue and you are taking action. (dev/kes) *** Risma Yunita is a freelance teacher who is currently working with the Abhiseva Community that focuses on preventing child sexual abuse. She also loves reading books and craft-making. Check out her Instagram account @rismayw. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. The final quarter of 2021 is on its way and theres so much positivity about the rapid growth of the... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 09:37 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d31387 1 Art & Culture Teater-Koma,performing-arts,theatrical-play,Mahabarata Free Inspired by legendary Hindu epic Mahabarata, Teater Komas 154th production, Mahabarata: The Love Story of the King of the Gods, is currently being staged at Taman Ismail Marzukis Graha Bakti Budaya in Central Jakarta from Nov. 16 to 25. The epic itself tells of the creation of the universe, exploring gods and humans and everything that comes between them. Performed as a whimsical musical, Teater Komas Mahabarata play, set in ancient times, is an epic tale about wars taking place between worlds. It is a tale of civil wars that involve sibling rivalries, desires of conquest and maintaining the balance of peace between and within worlds. The concept of duality is a major theme in the play. The world below, called the Madyapada, presents itself as a dark world ruled by demons as the harbingers of sin. The middle world represents the mortal Earth or Marcapada, where beings such as animals and wayang reside. The heavens are called Mayapada and represent the pinnacle of spiritual achievement as the home of the gods and the angels. However, the main story focuses on the Rajadewa or the King of God himself, Batara Guru, as he is the key to keeping the peace between the three worlds and central force in stopping any aggression from the dark world from seeping into the other worlds. Center stage: Actors perform during Teater Koma's production of Mahabarata at Graha Bhakti Budaya in the Taman Ismail Marzuki cultural center, Central Jakarta. The show started on Nov. 16 and will run through Nov. 25. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana) This is an ancient play, but one that still grips; a tale about the gods as well as the creation of mankind [...] Genesis, Teater Koma scriptwriter and director Nobertus Riantiarno said. Nobertus added that elements of the story were derived from multiple local cultures, such as those of the Batak, the Bugis, the Toraja and the Balinese, as well as foreign cultures of Mesopotamia, Greece and Africa. These differences are reflected on stage, with the musical plays backdrop harkening to Ancient Egypt and dresses reflecting ancient Mahabarata style. Mahabarata the epic was thought to be written as far back as 500 BC by revered Hindu figure Vyasa and countless variations of the epic have been performed worldwide since then, including many that depicted Indonesias era of Hindu kingdoms. Another prominent feature of this play is the use of visual projections and video narration, which is a step forward for the usually traditionalist Teater Koma. Indeed, scenes in the dark world, for example, are enhanced by dark and fiery visuals that are shot onto the stage, creating a captivating atmosphere. But what makes the performance truly great, as is Teater Komas usual strength, are the actors themselves. The performances of seasoned Koma actors Alex Fatahillah, Sari Madjid, Idries Pulungan, Ratna Ully, Aditya Pradipta, Daisy Lantang and Dorias Prabadi, among many others, make their interpretation of Mahabarata a critical delight they are a consistent source of praise for the 41-year-old theater company. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 18:35 1097 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d53eea 1 Science & Tech WeChat,Mini-Games,Wegoing,Tencent-Billiards,Wechat-Mini-Games Free Mobile messaging app WeChat held on Sunday the WeChat Mini Games Developers Conference in San Francisco, the United States. Mini Games is WeChats gaming platform that has garnered more than 300 million users since its release in April. According to a release received by The Jakarta Post, WeChat showcased at the conference two of its most successful games, Wegoing and Tencent Billiards. Wegoing boasts more than 100 million registered users, while Tencent Billiards has a 30-day user retention rate of 40 percent and daily transaction volume of over 10 million yuan (US$ 1.44 million). WeChat also detailed how it provides traffic monetization through in-game item purchases and advertising. Game developers receive 100 percent of monthly in-game transaction volumes worth up to 500,000 yuan and 60 percent of any following transactions. They also receive up to 50 percent of in-game advertising revenue. Read also: Online payment platform WeChat Pay now available at Changi Airport The Mini Games ecosystem has attracted the attention of global industry giants Google and Game Closure. Google has joined Guess My Sketch, a simple game that boasts a creative gameplay, while Game Closures entry Linsane Hoops has gained popularity through its friends-versus feature. WeChat Mini Games is targeting to draw more international developers. With more than 1 billion active users, WeChat has immense potential in social media commercialization. (iru/mut) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Momoi Island, Riau Islands Thu, November 22, 2018 09:12 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d30cbe 1 National illegal-fishing,sinking,poaching,Batam,Riau-Islands Free The Riau Islands Prosecutor's Office, along with the Batam High Court, on Wednesday scuttled five Vietnamese boats that were found guilty of being used for illegal fishing in Batam waters. However, unlike previous sinkings, the law enforcement bodies used weights to submerge them to avoid environmental damage. The head of the Batam High Prosecutors Office, Dedie Tri Hariyadi, said all of the cases of illegal fishing involving the boats had been concluded at the Supreme Court level within two months to one year. We no longer sink boats with explosives, but by creating a hole in a boats hull and filling it with weights, so we dont destroy the environment, said Dedie. In Indonesia, violations involving fishing boats are covered under Law No. 45/2009 on fisheries. Article 69 even stipulates that a boat may be sunk or destroyed by government patrol vessels on the spot without due process involving courts. The law had allowed authorities to sink a number of vessels using explosives, a method that had been criticized for violating international law and damaging the marine ecosystem. Fishing boats are scuttled by creating a hole in a boat's hull and filling it with weights. (The Jakarta Post/Fadli) Dedie said previously that when the authorities sank boats using explosives they caused damage to coral reefs with fuel spills and with the boatwreck itself. I hope that the boats can become new habitat for fish and other marine life around Momoi Island, said Dedie. With the new method, it took an hour for each boat to disappear beneath the waves on Wednesday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sita W. Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 07:07 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d2d6fc 1 National child-marriage,Indramayu,Indramayu-West-Java,KPAI,domestic-abuse Free A teenage girl in Indramayu, West Java, has died after allegedly being a victim of domestic abuse in what appears to be a court-approved child marriage, a local advocacy group reports. Yeni (not her real name) died of her injuries at Indramayu Public Hospital on Sept. 21, said the Indonesia Women Coalitions (KPI) Indramayu chapter, adding that she had multiple head injuries and wounds all over her body. The post-mortem results have not yet been released. The coalition alleged that the girls husband, identified as D, was responsible for the injuries that led to her death. [The post-mortem examination report] isnt out yet. Well continue to check the progress of the case with the police, KPI Indramayu secretary Yuyun Khoerunisa told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. [The husband] was held in police custody for 24 hours but was released due to a lack of evidence, she said. A 2012 national survey showed that more than 220,000 girls aged between 15 and 19 had been married at least once in West Java. The number was the second highest after East Java, which had more than 236,000. In 2011, Plan Indonesia and Gadjah Mada University researched early marriages in eight areas including Indramayu and found that 44 percent of child brides were subjected to frequent abuses in their marriage. Early marriage to avoid zina Yeni was only 15, while D was 16, when their families decided to marry them off out of concern that the lovebirds might commit zina (extramarital sex), which is deemed sinful in Islam. Their families proceeded with the plan by requesting a marriage dispensation from the Indramayu Religious Court in 2016. The 1974 Marriage Law sets 16 and 19 as the minimum age for females and males to marry, respectively. The panel of judges approved the request. The newly married couple subsequently lived with the grooms family. Yeni had lived with her grandmother since she was seven months old. Her father was dead while her mother worked overseas as a migrant worker. Five months into the marriage, Yeni found out that she was pregnant. In the seventh month, she had to have a caesarian section, but the baby died less than a month after the procedure was performed. Over the past two years, Yeni often complained to her grandmother about the alleged domestic violence she had suffered throughout her marriage. Domestic violence often occurred throughout their marriage but they somehow made up, Yuyun claimed. On the the ill-fated day, her grandmother was informed by relatives and neighbors about Ds latest Facebook post, which showed a battered and bruised Yeni. Do you want to check it out? Its really bad! D said in the post as quoted by KPI Indramayu. Yenis grandmother rushed to her in-laws house, only to find that her granddaughter had been taken to Indramayu Public Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 8 p.m. Her body was immediately taken to her grandmothers house, where village officials and local police officers waited to take it to the Indramayu Police Hospital for an autopsy. Yeni was laid to rest the next morning. Indramayu Resort Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yoris Maulana Marzuki said the police were still investigating the case. We will provide an update as soon as we have one. The state failed her The KPI lamented what appeared to be a systemic failure to protect Yeni from violence that allegedly resulted in her death. She could have been saved if she was sent to school and got to play with her friends instead. Not only did the adults fail her, the state also failed her, KPI West Java chapter secretary Darwinih told the Post. Child marriage rates in Indramayu remain high. The Indramayu Court granted 287 marriage dispensations last year and 354 in 2016. Most families used religious concerns to justify early marriages. In child marriages, the girls are prone to suffer from domestic violence, particularly when they are uneducated and lack knowledge about gender equality, Yuyun said. Advocacy groups have called for the revision of the minimum age to marry that was stipulated in the outdated marriage law, believing that child marriages might potentially lead to more complicated issues, including domestic violence. The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) recorded 95 cases of violence related to child marriages in the past eight years, but believed that the reported cases were merely the tip of the iceberg. The government should protect our children. We urge the President [Joko Jokowi Widodo] to speed up the discussion of Perppu [government regulation in lieu of law] on child marriages, Darwinih said. This article was originally published in The Jakarta Post's print edition on Nov. 22, 2018, with the title "In West Java, child marriage turns fatal". Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 12:10 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d42b40 1 National Supersemar,Yayasan-Supersemar,Soeharto,Cendana-family,Tommy-Soeharto,Hutomo-Mandala-Putra,Berkarya-Party,AGO,NasDem-Party Free The Attorney General's Office (AGO) will continue to track down assets owned by the now-defunct Supersemar Foundation, which was set up by former president Soeharto, to ensure it will fulfill its obligation to pay trillions of rupiah in penalties to the state in relation to a misuse of funds. Yogi Hasibuan, director of legal counsel at the Deputy Attorney General for Civil and State Administrative Court Affairs (Jamdatun), said his office would track down all assets, including those overseas until it collects the Rp 4.4 trillion (US$320 million) in fines the foundation is required to pay. To date, the government has only been able to confiscate around Rp 242 billion from 113 bank accounts owned by the foundation, Yogi said. "We will seek other [assets] to [collect] the penalty as stipulated in the court's verdict," Yogi said on Wednesday. "We also involved the AGO's Assets Recovery Center to find the assets." The case dates back to 2008, when the AGO filed a lawsuit at the South Jakarta District Court accusing the Soeharto clan also known as the Cendana family in reference to their home address and the foundation of misusing scholarship funds by diverting them to family-owned companies, including Bank Duta in 1990 and airline PT Sempati Air from 1989 to 1997. The court found only the foundation guilty and ordered it to pay a penalty. The Supreme Court upheld the decision in 2010 and demanded that the foundation pay $315 million and Rp 139.2 billion, which had a combined value of Rp 4.4 trillion at that time. The South Jakarta District Court, which is authorized to seize the foundations assets if it failed to pay the fine, recently seized the Granadi Building in South Jakarta following the confiscation of an 8,120-square-meter plot of land in Megamendung, Bogor, West Java, both in relation to the case. Anton Arifullah, the AGO prosecutor who handled the Supersemar Foundation case, said the office was currently awaiting an assessment on the value of the building and the land on which it stands by a team of independent appraisals. The AGO has also requested the South Jakarta District Court to seize six cars owned by the foundation. "It's the court's authority to decide on which assets to be confiscated, as it has its own procedures. The AGO only tracks down and proposes the assets to be seized," Anton said. The Granadi Building is reportedly being used as the office of shipping firm PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi, a company owned by Soehartos youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra, popularly known as Tommy Soeharto, who is also chairman of the Berkarya Party. Soeharto, the country's longest-serving president who ruled Indonesia for more than three decades, stepped down amid riots in 1998 and accusations of vast corruption and nepotism benefiting his cronies and family. Tommy's lawyer, Erwin Kallo, defended his client, saying that Tommy did not have any involvement with the foundation case and thus the confiscation did not affect him at all. "Pak Tommy's status is that of a renter [of office space at the building] and the Berkarya Party does not have its headquarters in the building," Erwin said, "Even if the building got confiscated, it has nothing to do with [Tommy]." Members of the Cendana family, particularly Soeharto's children, are not obliged to fulfill Supersemars obligation, because the court only named the foundation in its verdict, he added. Erwin also questioned the court's decision to confiscate the building, because it had several owners in which the Supersemar Foundation has about 20 percent ownership and there might be a legal problem if the court decided to auction the building. "I suspect that this case is politicized," Erwin said, pointing out to the fact that critics had linked the Supersemar Foundation's case to Tommy and the Berkarya Party, while the AGO is led by HM Prasetyo, a politician from the NasDem Party. NasDem is a member of the ruling coalition backing the current administration and reelection of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the 2019 presidential election, where the incumbent will face rival Prabowo Subianto, whose election bid is supported by the Berkarya Party. Yogi has denied the accusation. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 12:31 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d434bf 1 Politics andika-perkasa,KSAD,military,Joko-Widodo Free President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has inaugurated former Presidential Security Detail (Paspampres) commander Gen. Andika Perkasa as the new Army chief of staff ahead of the 2019 presidential and legislative election. Andika, formerly the Army Strategic Reserves commander (Pangkostrad), was sworn in during a ceremony at the State Palace on Thursday. He was also promoted to the rank of four-star general so the 53-year-old would be eligible for the post. The son-in-law of former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Hendropriyono, a close aide to Jokowi, has replaced Gen. Mulyono, who is retiring in January next year. "We acknowledge [Andika's] track record in the military," Jokowi told reporters after the inauguration. "His career [in the military] is sufficient [for him to become Army chief of staff]." A 1987 Army Academy graduate, Andika was among four candidates Hadi had proposed to the President, Jokowi said. Andika served as Paspampres commander right after Jokowi took office in 2014. He was promoted to a three-star general and appointed to lead the Military Education and Training Command in Bandung (Kodiklat) earlier this year, only to serve for a few months until he was appointed as Pangkostrad in July. Critics, however, have attributed his rapid rise in the military to Hendropriyonos position in Jokowi's inner circle. Hendropriyono was the confidant of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri. His son, Diaz, currently leads the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), a supporting political party to the government. The PDI-P and PKPI are among the political parties backing Jokowi's reelection bid next year. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam Thu, November 22, 2018 20:16 1097 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d57573 1 National Batam,HangFM Free A co-founder of Batam-based radio station Hang FM, Zein Alatas, has been denied entry to Singapore because of his alleged affiliations with the Salafi group, an ultra-conservative movement within Sunni Islam. Zein had to undergo questioning for six hours at the Immigration Checkpoint Authority (ICA) at HarbourFront Port, Singapore on Tuesday before immigration officers denied him entry and deported him back to Batam. His wife and six radio staff members who had joined him for the trip left the country voluntarily. He told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that he went to Singapore to attend the wedding of his best friend. He arrived at HarbourFront at 10 a.m. local time. My wife and my colleagues were able to pass the immigration check. However, when my turn came, the officer asked me to enter the interrogation room and interrogated me for six hours before denying my entry and sending me back to Batam, he said. According to Zein, the immigration officers questioned him about his radio station, such as its activities and its affiliation with Radio Rodja, Indonesias leading Salafi station. I was really disappointed by this kind of treatment. Why do they conduct the interrogation in the interrogation room? And the officers did not even ask me about the purpose of my trip to Singapore. This is very disappointing, Zein said. Previously, in 2017, the station was scrutinized by Singaporean authorities after two of its listeners, Rosli Hamzah and Mohamed Omar Mahadi, were detained under the Internal Security Act for planning to travel to the Middle East and fight for the Islamic State (IS) movement in Iraq and Syria. Rosli and Hamzah, both residents of Singapore, were avid listeners of Radio Hang FM. Singaporean authorities deemed the station to be a religious station that preaches extreme views. However, an investigation conducted by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) concluded that the station no longer promotes radical teachings in its broadcasts. Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore I Gede Ngurah Swajaya would not comment on the matter. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 15:02 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d4826a 4 National komodo,NTT Free The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) administration is reportedly planning to raise the Komodo National Parks entrance fee to at least US$500 as part of efforts to boost the conservation areas prestige. East Nusa Tenggara Governor Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat recently warned that tourists must pay a lot more to see Komodo dragons. He added that the park had to maintain a certain degree of prestige as it was the only place in the world where people can see the endangered species in their natural habitat. [Komodo dragons] are highly unique, but sadly they come cheap; I will discuss the matter with the central government. We expect to issue a strict rule setting the parks minimum entrance fee for tourists to $500, Viktor said as quoted by kompas.com in Kupang, NTT, on Wednesday. He further claimed that the additional income the NTT administration received from the park was not significant, because the world-famous tourist destination was managed by the central government. Viktor also expected to set a different rate starting from $50,000 for recreational ships entering Komodo National Park. Only people with deep pockets are allowed to [see the komodo dragons]. Those who dont have the money shouldnt visit the park since it specifically caters to extraordinary people, he said. Previously, the government planned to limit the number of visitors to Komodo National Park in a bid to maintain the ecosystems stability following a fire in August, which razed hectares of grasslands. The park, an official UNESCO World Heritage site, has welcomed a growing number of tourists both from Indonesia and overseas. However, the influx has triggered a number of environmental problems, including fires, that have affected the parks landscape, according to the Environment and Forestry Ministrys director general for natural resources and ecosystems, Wiratno. (rfa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Thu, November 22 2018 I simply love Xi Jinping, visiting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said in describing his feelings about the Chinese president during his trip to Beijing in April. He understands my problem and is willing to help, so I would say, Thank you, China. China responded positively and pledged to help its Southeast Asian neighbor. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described Duterte as the most respected and most important friend for President Xi Jinping and the Chinese people. President Xi was no less poetic, saying, Our relations have now seen a rainbow after the rain during his two-day state visit to Manila this week. Realizing that the verdict of The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 was only a victory on paper for the Philippines in South China Sea territorial disputes, Duterte has defied his peoples general sentiment. The eccentric president played down the international courts conclusion that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the Nine-Dash Line. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 13:49 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d4567b 1 City ERP,motorcycle,regulation,jakarta Free The Jakarta administration is set to include motorcycles in the electronic road pricing (ERP) regulation, thereby requiring motorcyclists to pay a fee when passing roads where the ERP system is installed. Gubernatorial Regulation No. 25/2017 on the ERP will undergo a revision to include motorcycles. Acting head of the Jakarta Transportation Agency, Sigit Wijatmoko, said the administration would regulate the operation of the ERP and its fees in the revised regulation. Fees for motorcycles will be different from that imposed on cars, Sigit said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com. Three companies that have passed the prequalification round for the tender have included motorcyclists in their systems. They are set to demonstrate their proposed systems on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta by engaging 205 vehicles, comprising cars, motorcycles, buses and trucks. (cal) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 16:26 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d4d76f 4 Business FreeportIndonesia,antitrust-permits,Inalum,investment Free Gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) has obtained antitrust permits from Japan and South Korea required for the entry of state mining holding company PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), which will control a major stake in PTFI. Inalum president director Budi Gunadi Sadikin said PTFI was still waiting for antitrust permits from Indonesia, the Philippines and China. The Philippines and China have yet to issue the [import] permits. The longest process is usually in obtaining an antitrust permit from China, he said in Jakarta on Thursday. But, this morning, I just came back from a meeting with the Chinese antitrust institution so that the permit could be issued soon. The institution gave a positive signal. The three permits are expected to be issued before the payment of US$3.85 billion from Inalum to PTFIs parent company US-mining giant Freeport-McMoran (FCX) and the Rio Tinto Group. When the deal is complete, Inalum will increase its PTFI ownership from 9.36 to 51.23 percent. Previously, FCX CEO Richard Adkerson said obtaining approval from antitrust organizations from around the globe was part of the procedure in every major merger. It is just a procedural thing, but that will take time, but it's not a risk to the transaction. [] Now we go forward and have to close this transaction as soon as we can, but the timing is gonna be driven by these antitrust filings, he said last September during the last agreement on the divestment deal. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Japan News/ANN) Tokyo, Japan Thu, November 22, 2018 10:01 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d3e116 2 Business #Japan,#automotive,Nissan,Carlos-Ghosn,fraud-cases Free Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn gave instructions for his stated remuneration in annual securities reports to be kept at around 1 billion (US$8.8 million), The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office believes that Ghosn played a leading role in falsifying Nissans securities reports. Ghosn was arrested on Monday on suspicion of violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law. Ghosn allegedly conspired with Nissan Representative Director Greg Kelly to have his stated remuneration in the securities reports total about 4.987 billion over five years starting in fiscal 2010 about 5 billion lower than the actual figure. It has also been discovered that Ghosn is suspected of having understated his remuneration by a total of about 3 billion from fiscal 2015 to fiscal 2017. Since fiscal 2009, executives of listed companies who receive an annual remuneration of 100 million or more have been obliged to state their name, compensation amount and other data in securities reports. Around that time, Ghosn gave instructions for the remuneration figure stated in securities reports not to exceed the 1 billion level, according to sources. It is believed that the instruction was given to executive officers in charge of compiling securities reports via his closest aide, Kelly. Ghosns stated remuneration in the reports over five years until fiscal 2014 was around 1 billion annually, ranging from 982 million to 1.035 billion. His annual compensation over three years from fiscal 2015 was also understated to around the 1 billion level. In reality, however, his remuneration was nearly double the amount stated in the reports in some years, the sources said. The total amount paid to Nissans directors, including Ghosn, and other executives, was approved at a shareholders meeting every year, with the upper limit set at 2.99 billion. Since fiscal 2009, however, the total annual remuneration paid to directors was between about 1.4 billion and 1.8 billion about 1.2 billion to 1.6 billion lower than the approved upper limit. At Nissan, Ghosn had the authority to decide the remuneration packages of directors. The special investigation squad, therefore, is investigating the possibility that Ghosn may have received income that could have been paid to other directors. Speech Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 16:19 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d4c901 4 Business negative-investment-list,businesspeople,protest,meeting Free Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto has said the government would go ahead with its plan to launch a new negative investment list (DNI) policy on Nov. 26, despite protests from the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin). Previously, Kadin chairman Rosan P. Roeslani said the government did speak to businesspeople before introducing the new DNI policy. He said Kadin particularly questioned the decision to allow foreign investors to own 100 percent shares in 25 business units in the country. Airlangga denied that the government had not consulted businesspeople about the policy, which is part of the 16th economic policy package announced by Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution on Monday. On Thursday, Darmin and Airlangga met with Rosan, who sought an explanation about the policy. Previously, Rosan also called on the government to delay the implementation of the policy, because Kadin would meet with businesspeople to discuss the issue. We have disseminated the policy; [they] only want an explanation, Airlangga said after Thursdays meeting as quoted by kompas.com. He did not explain to journalists what was questioned by Kadin during the meeting. Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) deputy chairman Shinta Widjaja Kamdani also expressed concern about the withdrawal of 54 business units from the negative investment list, saying that it would negatively affect small and medium enterprises. She said the government had made a unilateral decision. The governments mistake was that it did not communicate with Kadin and Apindo, so that the policy wouldnt trigger a debate, Shinta added. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22 2018 Police have arrested two people in Merangin, Jambi, on suspicion of killing a woman, identified only as CLP, whose body was found in a cupboard at her home on Jl. Mampang Prapatan in South Jakarta on Tuesday. South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Indra Jafar alleged the suspects, identified only as YAP and R, had fled to Jambi after the killing, the motive for which is still unclear. We havent interrogated them yet, but they did intend to flee, Indra said on Tuesday, kompas.com reported. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Momoi Thu, November 22 2018 The Riau Islands Prosecutors Office, along with the Batam High Court, on Wednesday scuttled five Vietnamese boats that were found guilty of being used for illegal fishing in Batam waters. However, unlike previous sinkings, the law enforcement bodies used weights to submerge them to avoid environmental damage. The head of the Batam Prosecutors Office, Dedie Tri Hariyadi, said all of the cases of illegal fishing involving the boats had been concluded at the Supreme Court level within two months to one year. We no longer sink boats with explosives, but by creating a hole in a boats hull and filling it with weights, so we dont destroy the environment, said Dedie. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 11:02 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d3f550 4 Business Kadin,negative-investment-list,delay,regulation,issuance Free The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has called on the government to delay the issuance of a regulation that would allow foreign investors to own 100 percent shares of their business units in the country. There are some points that should be the governments attention, particularly those related to the negative investment list [DNI] in 2018, Kadin chairman Rosan P. Roeslani said in Jakarta on Wednesday as quoted by kontan.co.id. The investment policy closely relates to the business world and Kadin is an institution for businesspeople. Therefore, the policy needs input from the business world. Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution announced on Monday that the government would allow foreign investors to have full ownership in 25 business units, among the 54 that were removed from the Negative Investment List (DNI), a stipulated in the 16th economic policy package. Rosan said Kadin understood the urgency to relax the negative investment list as part of efforts to boost direct foreign inflow amid the countrys widening current account deficit and the failure to boost exports. However, in response to the governments policy, Kadin would hold a meeting with representatives of 124 business associations on Thursday to discuss businesspeople aspirations on the policies scheduled to be issued this week. The detail of our input would be conveyed [to the government] after we discuss them with the associations. Therefore, we call on the government to delay the DNI announcement, he said, adding that usually, businesspeople were not invited to discuss the new economic package. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 17:04 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d4fba7 4 Business LRT,suspended-project,traffic-congestion,Luhut-Binsar-Pandjaitan,comments Free Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has criticized state-owned construction company PT Adhi Karya for reluctantly following the governments decision to temporarily stop the construction of the light rail transit (LRT) project that, together with two other infrastructure projects, has worsened traffic jams. We can move the work to other areas. There is no problem, said Luhut as quoted by kontan.co.id. in response to a comment made by PT Adhi Karya president director Budi Harto, who said the LRT project's contributions to causing traffic jams was insignificant. Previously, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi announced that the government had decided to suspend construction of some sections of the LRT and the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway to ease worsening traffic on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road. Budi said the work on the elevated toll road would be allowed to continue, although he admitted that its construction also contributed to the heavy traffic along the toll road. The minister argued that the project should go ahead because it was part of the trans-Java toll road that should be open as soon as possible. However, Budi Harto said he would meet with Minister Budi Karya to discuss whether the construction of the LRT should continue. Luhut, however, stressed that the work suspension would not significantly affect the whole project because the contractor could still work in other places. There are many complaints that the projects have caused serious traffic congestion, the minister added. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hiroshi Hiyama (Agence France-Presse) Tokyo, Japan Thu, November 22, 2018 12:34 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d444a6 2 Business #Japan,#Nissan,Carlos-Ghosn,succession,Hiroto-Saikawa Free Hiroto Saikawa, tipped to replace disgraced Carlos Ghosn as Nissan chairman, was long considered one of "Ghosn's children", a loyalist to the powerful tycoon who owed him everything -- but then oversaw his downfall. The mild-mannered 65-year-old bespectacled Nissan lifer stunned observers when he unleashed a string of harsh charges against his mentor following Ghosn's arrest on suspicion of "serious" financial misconduct. Lashing out at the "dark side" of the Ghosn era, Saikawa appeared to be affected personally by the alleged corruption of a man who had overseen his career. "It's way beyond being sorry. I feel, I don't know, big disappointment and frustration and despair. Indignation and resentment," said Saikawa. A year older than Ghosn, Saikawa joined Nissan in 1977 directly from the prestigious University of Tokyo where he studied economics. He took several brief postings in Europe but his big break came in 2000 when Ghosn officially took the helm of Nissan and embarked on his aggressive campaign to turn the company around. Under Ghosn's wing, Saikawa rose steadily through the ranks as a procurement specialist, impressing other executives with his zeal to drive down parts and material costs. Saikawa's career developed quickly as he held various senior positions, ranging from head of the management committee in the Americas and Europe to executive vice-president of purchasing. As a key member of the auto alliance that combines Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, Saikawa also sat on the French firm's board of directors between 2006 and 2016. In this role, he won praise from Ghosn for his dealings with French officials as he defended Nissan's autonomy from Renault, which holds a 43-percent stake in the Japanese brand. A private man, little is known about his personal life, with Nissan insiders telling local media he is a serious businessman with an eye for detail. "His way of thinking is more business-oriented than French people," the head of a parts maker told industry website Newswitch in 2016, in an apparent comparison to other Japanese business people who prize relationships over profits. Outside Nissan, Saikawa has also served as chairman of the powerful industry body, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). Finally, Ghosn appointed his right-hand man as co-CEO in 2016 and a year later stepped aside to leave Saikawa in sole charge. At that time, the two heaped praise on each other, with Ghosn saying "the time is right" for Saikawa to step out from his shadow. At his news conference following Ghosn's arrest, Saikawa vowed the company would learn from the mistake of placing too much power in the hands of one executive. "Ghosn-dependent Nissan makes a clean break," said a headline in the Asahi Shimbun after Saikawa's comments. The ultimate company man, Saikawa is now expected to take the reins as chairman following Ghosn's expected ouster at a board meeting on Thursday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 12:28 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d42d70 1 City vegetable,price,market,rainy-season Free The rainy season has caused prices of vegetables to increase in markets. At Cisalak Market in Depok, West Java, the price of cauliflower, cucumbers, carrots, long beans, broccoli, pumpkin and several other vegetables have increased. Its been a week since prices have doubled, a merchant named Anis said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com. According to Anis, a kilogram of cauliflower had increase from Rp 6,000 (41 US cents) to Rp 12,000, while a kilogram of carrots had increased from Rp 7,000 to Rp 15,000. The price of a kilogram of cucumbers has also surged from Rp 600 to Rp 1,000, while lettuce from Rp 4,500 to Rp 12,000. Tomatoes, which had been sold for Rp 8,000 per kg previously, were now priced at Rp 12,000 per kg. The price of shallots had also increased from Rp 26,000 per kg to Rp 30,000 per kg. The high prices have caused customers to hesitate from coming to my shop. My shop was usually packed with buyers in the morning. But today, Ive only been visited by three buyers, she said that afternoon. Another vegetable seller, Fadli, said the rainy season had not only affected prices but also the quality of vegetables. Sometimes its sunny, and then suddenly its rainy. This creates many holes in lettuce leaves and spots on cucumbers, he said. Merchant Siti Aishyah said the increasing prices along with lower quality had resulted in fewer purchases. People who usually buy a kilogram of chili now only buy half a kilogram. Some have even stopped buying raw vegetables in the market and opted for eating cooked food at stalls, she said. (vla) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fachrul Sidiq (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 11:23 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d4038b 1 City LGBT,anti-LGBT,minority-groups,minority-rights,waria,transgender,jakarta,human-rights Free Nirmala, not her real name, recalled how easy it was to mingle with people of the community she was living in despite being a waria (transgender woman). The 23-year-old used to casually talk with her neighbors in Jakarta, where she has been living since migrating from her hometown in Wonogiri, Central Java, five years ago. But she feels the growing prejudice against her and has become more isolated. They dont even accept our monthly garbage fees now, so I just give them directly to the garbage collector on duty, she said. The rejection and hostility against members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community are worsening in the Muslim-majority country, where they often become objects of persecution and state-sponsored raids, though no laws have been made against them. A survey commissioned by Jakarta-based pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) revealed in January that 87.6 percent of more than 1,200 respondents consider the LGBT community a threat, while 81.5 percent believe it goes against their religion. Regional administrations and government officials often issue regulations and statements that strip LGBT people of their rights. The Depok administration in West Java, for instance, has issued an anti-LGBT task force in what they claim to be an attempt to cure the minority group. In Jakarta, seven transgender people in Sumur Utara, Klender, East Jakarta, have been told by residents to leave a boarding house they have lived in for years. We, Kampung Sumur residents, reject the presence of LGBT groups, reads a banner raised in front of the boarding house. Similar signs can be found in other parts of the area. Some 200 residents from four neighborhood units (RT) have signed a petition to support their expulsion. The signatures have been submitted to the subdistrict head and residents are demanding that the official take action. RT 13 head Mamat said the protest had been initiated by officials from a nearby Mosque Welfare Council (DKM) in an attempt to prevent residents from resorting to vigilantism. The transgender women have been accused of prostitution, he added. This is our attempt to settle the issue. We take this step because we want to do things legally, he told The Jakarta Post. A resident of RT 13 who accompanied Mamat during his interview with the Post on Sunday, added: If I was younger, I would have suggested to just burn the house down. But because Im older now, such an idea didnt cross my mind. The area is known as a strong base of the hardline Islam Defenders Front (FPI). A transgender woman residing in the boarding house, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, denied accusations that the women were prostitutes. We have not broken any rules. We always abide by regulations set in the neighborhood, including not receiving any guests, she said, adding that her landlady, who defended them, had been called an atheist and blamed for stirring up tension. She has lived in the boarding house for five years; some of her friends have lived in the area for 10 years or longer and have never been threatened until now. We have not been physically abused so far, but we do not know what will happen, she said. The landlady, who also requested anonymity and is known as a devout Muslim, said she defended them because she knew they would be rejected elsewhere. What am I supposed to do? People say that my reputation is ruined, but I feel the need to protect them because they will not be welcomed anywhere else. Its not about money. They are not punctual when it comes to paying their rent anyway, she said, adding that she had developed a strong bond with them and considered them her own family. I know how hard their lives are and one things for sure: they never forget to send money to their family, she added. Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono said the residents could not trespass onto the womens private lives, as long as the landlady did not mind their presence. Yulianus Rettoblaut, a well-known rights activist who leads the Indonesian Waria Communication Forum (FKWI), attributed the threats to rising anti-LGBT sentiment in the country, particularly ahead of the presidential and legislative elections next year, as anti-LGBT statements have been employed by politicians to get votes. Our [state ideology of] Pancasila guarantees equal justice for all, but we all know transgender people always face discrimination, she said. Transgenders are the most vulnerable of the [LGBT] group as our physical appearance makes us easily noticeable. She said that when caught in raids, they were often treated harshly and even had to pay money to be freed from detention. Growing anti-LGBT sentiment has also forced the annual Miss Waria beauty pageant to be conducted in secret, when it used to be held out in the open. This article was originally published in The Jakarta Post's print edition on Nov. 19, 2018, with the title "Waria ostracized amid growing anti-LGBT sentiment". Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, November 23 2018 The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) is to have an intensive discussion with the government over the removal of several more business sectors from the negative investment list (DNI) to ensure everyone has the same level of comprehension. The session is scheduled to take place on Nov. 27 in Surakarta, Central Java, during Kadins national leadership meeting, said Kadin chairman Rosan P. Roeslani after a meeting with Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution at the latters office in Jakarta on Thursday. The deal [with Darmin on Thursday] was that there would be a publication [of the new DNI rule], he said, adding that the members of the chamber would collect input from the upcoming session in Surakarta before delivering it to the government for further assessment. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, November 23 2018 The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) administration is reportedly planning to raise the Komodo National Parks entrance fee to at least US$500 as part of efforts to boost the conservation areas prestige. NTT Governor Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat recently warned that tourists must pay a lot more to see Komodo dragons. He added that the park had to maintain a certain degree of prestige as it was the only place in the world where people can see the endangered species in their natural habitat. [Komodo dragons] are highly unique, but sadly they dont come cheap; I will discuss the matter with the central government. We expect to issue a strict rule setting the parks minimum entrance fee for tourists at $500, Viktor said as quoted by kompas.com in Kupang, NTT, on Wednesday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Kyodo News) Tokyo Thu, November 22, 2018 14:39 1098 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d480ba 2 News tourism,Japan,foreign-tourists,Tourist,travel Free Tourism in Japan bounced back in October after the number of foreign visitors dropped the previous month for the first time since 2013 following major natural disasters, government data showed Wednesday. The estimated number of visitors from overseas rose 1.8 percent from a year earlier to 2,640,600 in October, according to the Japan Tourism Agency, while the pace of the increase has not returned to double-digit levels seen before the disasters such as strong earthquakes and a typhoon. By country and region, the biggest number of tourists came from China in October at 715,300, up 7.8 percent, followed by South Korea at 571,200, down 8.0 percent for the fourth consecutive month of decline, Taiwan at 379,600, down 9.9 percent, and Hong Kong at 169,500, down 0.9 percent. The total number of foreign travelers to Japan in the January to October period reached 26,109,300, up 9.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data. If foreigners keep visiting the country through the end of the year on a pace equivalent to that of November and December last year, the figure would for the first time eclipse the 30 million milestone for annual visitors. Japan aims to welcome 40 million foreign visitors by 2020. Read also: Tourist industry worries as Osaka hit hard by typhoon In September, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake rocked Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, killing more than 40 people and triggering an island-wide blackout, and a typhoon forced the temporary closure of Kansai International Airport in Osaka, the main international gateway by air to the western Japan region. Earlier this year, a major earthquake jolted Osaka and torrential rains devastated wide areas of western Japan, killing about 230 people. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Muthi Achadiat Kautsar (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 21:33 1097 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d5a8ef 1 News Visa,visa-application,UK-visa Free UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) together with the British Embassy in Jakarta announced the launch of a new initiative regarding visa and immigration services on Thursday at the residence of the British Ambassador to Indonesia. The new initiative, called "Select Business Scheme", will be available to employees of eligible companies whose representatives were present at the launch. "Select Business Scheme" itself is a streamlined and tailored visa application process that reduces documentary requirements. Employees of member companies are only required to submit a valid passport and official employment letter alongside their application. Dominique Hardy, UKVI's regional director for Asia Pacific said that with 55,000 visas issued in the past year, Indonesia was one of the United Kingdom's largest and fastest growing visa markets in Asia-Pacific. 'We hope the scheme will demonstrate our own swerving commitment in providing world class visa services to match," said Dominique. As per the initiative launch, the scheme is open to companies who have been invited by UKVI or the Department for International Trade. Moazzam Malik, the British ambassador to Indonesia, said he was delighted to launch the Select Business Scheme in Indonesia. "The 23 companies that are represented today, are the companies who either have an existing relationship between the UK and Indonesia, or companies for whom we believe there is a strong future in building ties between the UK and Indonesia. So we've taken all the care for choosing 23 partners for this. Some of these are British companies who have a local presence and are being active in business for a long time in Indonesia, companies like Prudential or WPP or BP, but there are also a whole range of Indonesian companies that are big names in Indonesia, or businesses that are becoming regional and global businesses, and these are the companies that are going to lead Indonesia into the economic success that it is destined for in the 21st century," said Malik. Read also: UK visa requirements relaxed for Indonesian students Among the Indonesian companies on the list are PT Unilever Indonesia, PT Kereta Api Indonesia and PT Santosa Jaya Abadi (Kapal Api Group). Employees of companies eligible for the Select Business Scheme are also welcome to apply for a two-, five- or ten-year long-term visitor visa without previous travel required. They would be able to use the visa for multiple entries and different purposes, such as business trips, seminars, training and even holidays. According to Hardy, Indonesia was the third country in Asia-Pacific to have been granted the Select Business Scheme, following China and India. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, November 22, 2018 19:33 1097 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877d55e12 4 News Wonderful-Indonesia,Australia,Sydney,Tourism-Ministry,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,travel Free The Wonderful Indonesia logo has been featured on public double-decker buses along the Sydney City-Mona Vale route in Australia, kompas.com reported. I Ni Wayan Giri Adnyani, the Tourism Ministrys acting deputy minister of marketing development, said in a written statement on Tuesday that in an effort to promote Indonesia to the world, the buses will also feature pictures of Indonesia's popular destinations. We previously conducted the campaign in London. The response was quite good and so we're bringing it to Sydney, she said. Read also: Wonderful Indonesia promoted on London buses, taxis The Wonderful Indonesia campaign has also appeared on a digital billboard located at the entrance of Sydney Domestic Airport, featuring images of Central Java's Borobudur temple and East Nusa Tenggara's Pink Beach. Sydney was chosen as a promotional target as it is the largest city in Australia. "[We hope] Sydney residents will be interested in seeing first-hand the natural beauty of Indonesia, she said. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the program was in line with Indonesias target of attracting 17 million foreign tourists in 2018. The United Kingdom and Australia are two countries with huge potential in term of tourism. Hence, we will continue to make every effort in these two markets, Arief added. (iru/wng) The mental image evoked by Estonian capital Tallinn is of the winding, fairytale streets of the old town a medieval wonder straight out of the storybooks. But its story is also one on the fault line of the nations turbulent, oppressed past as well as its golden, innovation-led future. Innovation and culture were at the forefront of my time in the city for Tallinn Music Week, one of the most exciting and diverse cultural showcases in Europe. During my stay, two places embodied the nations past, and its future, in profound ways. Sat just outside the Old Town, the Hotel Viru looks like any other tower-block, any old cosmopolitan hotel - but it holds a dark secret and history. Viru has a secret floor from which Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, ran surveillance operations in the hotel itself and on neighbouring areas, including close Scandinavian countries. The lift of the hotel goes up to the 22nd floor, but the hotel itself has 23 floors (largely a secret to the public), from the top of which the KGB did its work. Clearly, under Soviet rule any hotel suitable for foreign visitors also had to be suitable for the KGB. KGB Museum // Credit: James Thornhill Today, this hidden floor is a museum which can be accessed via organised tours lasting one hour. The knowledgeable guides, in my case a stereotypically austere Eastern European lady with a dry sense of humour , direct you through the history of Soviet surveillance in Estonia. The stories from within the hotel itself are astounding. Tales of every room being wired for surveillance, of foreign dignitaries being placed in certain rooms for better snooping, and of prostitute honey traps laid for blackmail purposes. Staff were monitored, visitors were monitored, and the whole fabric of the hotel was a machine of control. The museum also acts as a monument to the wider nature of the regime. In amongst the artefacts sit two newspapers about two separate dead officials - two different newspapers, with the exact same story. Such was the control in Soviet Estonia that it was deemed easier to simply replicate an accepted story and change the names than bother trying to get the go-ahead on a new one. Credit: James Thornhill No accidents were ever recorded by the Communists, to maintain the veneer of perfection. Stood by an image of the hotel on fire during construction, our guide, completely deadpan said, Of course there were never any accidents on Soviet places, so this did not happen! As you stand in the untouched room, left in exactly the same condition as the day the KGB suddenly left, you get a sense of strange unease. The tense nature of the room is somewhat offset the sign, which translates, apparently, to There is nothing behind this door. The KGB Museum is a fascinating window into an oppressive past and is well worth an hour of your trip to Tallinn. The lofty balcony views across the city are worth it alone, giving an eerie sense of the KGBs watchful eye. Credit: James Thornhill But the place doesnt represent the Estonia , or the Tallinn, of today. This is a nation at the forefront of technological advancement, a place where all public transport is free and Wi-Fi is freely available wherever you go. Few places in the city show this fact better than the Telliskivi Creative City. Built on the site of a secretive, former industrial complex bordering the Old Town and Pelgulinna and Kalamaja districts, it embodies the burst of free-thought and creativity that has blossomed since independence 30 years ago. A wander round the complex introduces you to independent stores, restaurants, cool bars, galleries and exceptional street art. On Tuesdays the area welcomes a dance night, and Saturdays a brilliant flea-market. Credit: James Thornhill Unlike other areas being gentrified by creative communities, Telliskivi comes with a commendable ethos. CEO and Founder Jaanus Juss explains how, despite interest and a waiting list, they have eschewed offers from big business in favour of those that fit their creative and forward-thinking identity. The creative companies that call the area their home, right down to the eateries, are all selected specifically for what they will bring to the area. The complex is rough and ready, but the air of optimism as the crumbling industrial past gives way to creativity is infectious. During Tallinn Music Week, Telliskivi buzzed with some of the best live performances of the festival - just a small fraction of the complexs 600 cultural events each year. Telliskivi Street Food Festival // Credit: Visit Estonia Whatever you are looking for Telliskivi will undoubtedly provide it. And after the buzz have a drink and some Nordic cuisine under a shimmering tree at Karbes Kitchen & Bar - its a wonderful, relaxed spot. On a visit to Tallinn make sure you leave the Old Town and embrace the wonders of its recent history - and its brilliant future. Article continues below... More stories you may like... Experiencing the real South Africa as a volunteer in the township communities And something else worth checking out in Estonia... Off the back of the brilliant Tallinn Music Week, this September saw the launch of Station Narva, a new festival in Narva, north eastern Estonia, on the border between the EU and Russia. The main venue, occupying what was once the worlds largest cotton spinning mill, Kreenholm, places the festival at the fault line between East and West: industrial-past and creative-future. The incredible first line-up placed indie-legends Echo and the Bunnymen alongside electronic-mavericks Actress and Gazelle Twin, and a fine array of Estonian and Russian acts including odd-ball pop auteur Mart Avi. Its one to watch for future festival trips. Find out more at: www.stationnarva.ee This article was originally published in our Freshers 2018 print magazine. You can read the magazine here. Verdict: a predictable but nonetheless magical Christmas adventure The Christmas Chronicles (2018) is a heartwarming film about two siblings who accidentally jump into Santa Claus sleigh and embark on a surreal adventure to save Christmas. Directed by Clay Kaytis, the person behind The Angry Birds Movie (2016), this family/adventure film is all about the power of magic and belief during one of the most celebrated and adored seasons of the year: Christmas. What starts off as an enchanting collection of videos of the cheerful Pierce family celebrating Christmas each year, ends in the loss of a dad and the feeling of mourning present in Claire and her two childrens day-to-day life. An emergency call from the hospital where Claire (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) works leads to an unplanned and lonely Christmas Eve, shared only by Kate (Darby Camp) and Teddy (Judah Lewis), the two siblings who are constantly fighting: Kate dreams of seeing Santa Claus, and Teddy has no time for her or her dreams. The profound grief for their father's loss brings the two of them together. The desolation in Kates eyes, who, like every child, is full of expectations of the perfect celebration, is heart-breaking, but doesn't last for long: she and her brother plan to catch Santa coming to their home. Beyond their wildest dreams, they end up jumping into Santas sleigh and start on an adventure that would make the little kid inside anyone jealous. This dreamy experience includes scaring Santa, losing the reindeers, and going from Massachusetts, where the Pierce family live, to Chicago, where they are chased by the police. Their main mission is classic: to give every child their present and save Christmas before the night turns into day. While Santa Claus (Kurt Russell) is convincing policemen and other inmates that he's real, Kate is communicating with a crowd of gnomes in Santa Claus sumptuous offices. Summed up, this story immerses the audience in a marvellous and very fun-to-watch world of fantasy where everything is possible if you believe. Believe, is Santas most frequent advice that Kate readily follows and Teddy, the only non-believer in the family, must slowly learn to follow through their adventures. There are also moments of humour, jokes about current news or sudden sarcastic comments for both children and adults, very well integrated in the film. On the other hand, emotional and truly saddening scenes moved the whole audience. Despite the great performances and cast, including the renowned American actress Goldie Hawn, Darby Camp stands out. The 11-year-old actress, most known for her role as Chloe in Big Little Lies, delivered Kate's impressively mature behaviour and resilience perfectly. The Christmas Chronicles is a quite irreverent film, surely more engaging than would be expected considering the vast variety of Christmas films available. There is a slight lack of originality, possibly due to an obligation to follow the tradition: Santa Claus, the excited kid, and the disaster that is fixed in the end. It's a film for children, so the predictably happy ending is understandable. Nevertheless, it glues all eyes to the screen and makes the audience fall in love with this powerful and emotional festive film, including those who arent particularly excited about Christmas! The Christmas Chronicles is streaming on Netflix now. Alex Aldridge, Royal Holloway and Adam Winstock, UCL Sexual consent is an important, complex and often awkward topic to talk about. And when people have been consuming alcohol or other drugs, it makes negotiating sexual consent even more complicated. Indeed, drawing the line between consensual sex and assault when a complainant is heavily intoxicated is a particularly difficult area of law. High time to talk about consent. Shutterstock. judgements 1980s, Context and consent organised is behaviour same sex recognised chemsex chemsex chemsex A worldwide survey race relationship behaviours minimise maximise assault, responsible PhD and Two young children transformed from foster to parental care Tuesday during an adoption hearing made public to encourage people to consider adopting a child. Genevieve Lukasiewicz of Southgate adopted a 5-year-old boy, Aedon, and a Macomb Township couple who did not want their name used adopted a 10-month-old baby girl, in a hearing presided by Judge Matthew Switalski of Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens. The event was held on Michigan Adoption Day, on and around which adoptions are held throughout the state. State Supreme Court Justice David Viviano, a former Macomb County judge who attended the ceremonial hearing, said the day promotes foster-care adoption. Adoption Day is to raise awareness and to really encourage people to open their hearts and home open to adoption to give young people a safe and loving home to grow and mature, Viviano said. Theres a great need for adoption. Were hoping more people will consider it, particularly as our young people in foster care start to age out. As they grow older their chance of adoption decrease. We want to people consider adoption at any age. Switalski, a family judge, said presiding over adoptions is a bright spot in his docket. Its the best of the day at the court, he said. There is no conflict, no dispute to resolve, just happy people doing the Lords work providing a family for someone who didnt get what the rest of us have. Its a great day for everybody. There are currently 323 foster children available for adoption. In fiscal year 2018, 1,931 children were adopted from the Michigan foster care system, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. It is important for all children to have a loving home that they can call their own, said HHS Director Nick Lyon. While our priority is to safely reunify children in foster care with their parents, we rely on adoptive parents when its determined that a child cannot safely return to his or her home. Children in the foster care system become eligible for adoption following termination of parental rights due to abuse or neglect, HHS officials said. There were 13,710 children in the foster care system as of Sept. 30; the goal in most cases is family reunification, officials said. Those who wish to adopt a foster child do not have to be a foster parent, although the two adoptions that took place Tuesday were by foster parents who had cared for the child for some time, said Macomb County Adoption Supervisor Mark Pellecchia. People can adopt whether theyre single or married. They dont have to be wealthy or own their own home but must have adequate financial resources to provide for a family, officials said. Switalski, who is parent of three children, commended those who adopt. Thats the greatest gift on behalf of the community, Switalski said. Its actually harder than having your own child. You dont have them from Day One. Youre coming out of the bullpen replacing someone who was never there or didnt do a good job. So youre dealing with issues that a lot times the natural parents are not having to deal with. Its takes a special person, a special commitment. We salute them. We are so grateful for them. Anyone interested in adopting from foster care can contact the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange at 800-589-6273. People also can learn more and view a photo of available children at www.mare.org. Other types of adoption include direct placement through a private agency, a relative or a foreign country. For more information about adoption in Michigan, visit michigan.gov/adoption. It is surmounting difficulties that makes heroes. Louis Pasteur, French chemist Hello Downriver, It may have been a sunny day, but the air was cold. Fortunately, the wind was light, or else it could have been brutal. Brutal for those waiting patiently for the next bus on Eureka Road. For many of us, we spend our lives with blinders on; were aware only of whats in front of us, seldom seeing let alone thinking about the greater world around us. But on this bright day, as traffic rolled ever so slowly from light to light from the I-75 exit down to Biddle Avenue I had a chance to see, speculate, appreciate and wonder about a world that exists in parallel with my own. I dont know any of the people who were waiting for the eastbound SMART bus; I could only guess about their lives, the purpose of their trips. How long theyd been waiting. What I could see, though, was that they were tired of waiting: almost every person along the route periodically stepped to the curb to crane their necks in the direction of oncoming traffic. Is that the bus in the distance? Was it coming? When would it get here? I couldnt tell in my rearview mirror, but by their reactions, it was clear: no, it wasnt coming, yet. Moving from observation to speculation, I started wondering about the stories surrounding each of the people waiting some out in the open, braving a cold sunshine; others in shelters scattered up and down Eureka. What first got my attention was what I assumed was a young mother and her little girl both bundled up against the cold. Where were they going? Shopping? To visit family? Because we were crawling along in traffic, I could see the little ones eyes the rest of her face was covered by a scarf. In those eyes were a little bit of excitement: a bus ride must be a wee bit magical. For the mother, though whose face was uncovered there was no excitement, just tedium; an acceptance of the difficulty and inconvenience of having to wait for a ride. How many times has she had to wait at this same stop? Out in the elements? I wanted to stop and pick them up and get them where they were going, but traffic wouldnt allow it. Our mechanized world requires compliance: stop and go with the traffic, stay in your lane, dont muck up the system, live in your world, ignore the one next to you. A little farther ahead, my attention moved across the road to a westbound bus. As I watched, a man in baggy jeans and heavy jacket took his bicycle off the rack attached to the bus front bumper. After setting it on the ground, he picked up an orange Home Depot 5-gallon bucket and swung it over the right handlebar. The entire time this was going on, the bus driver sat there, waiting patiently for his patron to safely leave the area even though cars were backing up into the Dix-Toledo intersection. And for that brief moment, his world told mine to stop, to make way, to allow for his world to take care of business. Instead of the other way around. As the bus pulled away, the man made his way to the nearby parking lot, walking his bike and bucket to parts unknown. Were his life possessions in that bucket? Was it empty? I have no idea, but the way he handled it, it was more than just a bucket. Eventually, the light turned green and our line of lemmings moved forward to the next control light. For the several miles, I saw one person after another performing the same ritual along the bus route: move to the curb (dont get too close to oncoming traffic), crane your neck, look for a moment, drop your head and move back to the shelter or at least to the other side of the SMART sign. In one shelter, however, I could see the silhouette of a figure it looked like a man sitting on the bench, hunched over in the shape of someone checking out a cellphone. Rather than get up and walk to the curb and check on a bus update like his fellow commuters, he just casually almost carelessly glanced up for a moment, realized the bus wasnt in front of him, and resumed his cell relationship. There didnt seem be any urgency involved, just resignation to the reality of a system that has its own rhythm. A rhythm I dont understand or use. That doesnt mean Ive never been on a bus, but the exceptions prove my point: When I was in high school, we used to head over to Fort Street to ride the bus down to the foot of Trumbull and walk up to Tiger Stadium. Only a couple of years later, I took a bus ride from the AFEES station in Detroit to Fort Knox and basic training. In both instances, these were one-of-a-kind destination trips, not daily commutes. So, being the impatient person I am, I dont know how Id handle riding a bus on a tight schedule on a daily basis. Which is what millions of riders do each year: According to SMART, nearly 10 million people including seniors, students and professionals use SMART to travel to work, school, doctors offices and shopping centers. Im not one of those people, but that doesnt mean I dont get it; it doesnt mean Im not aware of this parallel world thats not centered on a personal vehicle. These commuters may not have to negotiate lane jumpers, tailgaters and distracted drivers but they also dont have the freedom to turn into Tim Hortons for a coffee. And while our cars are traveling extensions of our lives complete with a half box of Kleenex, candy between the seats, jammed cup holders, extra clothes in the back and a trunk full of even more those who ride the bus need to carry everything they need attached to their bodies throughout their day. Its a life many of us have never and will never know, but its a life we should see, understand and appreciate. Not from a judgment perspective; like I said, I dont know them, I dont know their lives and situations. I just know they live in a world parallel to my own and that we are lessened by not actually seeing them, not trying to understand them. So this Thanksgiving, take a moment to remember those who live in these parallel worlds worlds filled with fellow travelers on this third rock from the sun. Craig Farrand is a former managing editor of The News-Herald Newspapers. He can be reached at c_farrand@yahoo.com. I wasnt sure what questions I would ask Brian Wilson, but then he wasnt available for the interview which somehow only seemed appropriate and so I spoke with fellow Beach Boy founder Al Jardine instead about collaborating with the famously eccentric musician over all these years. Its great, says Jardine. Hes an enigma to the public and even to me sometimes. He has a unique perspective. Hes a pure musician and songwriter. He basically just lives for the music. Most of the rest of us have other hobbies, ya know? Jardine, along with former Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin, will join Wilson on stage Thursday, Nov. 22 at Theatre St. Denis for an evening of their greatest hits. We sync beautifully on stage because were both in the same range, he says. We can interchange any time. We sound best when were singing together. Of course, Wilsons relationship with Jardine and the Beach Boys as a whole would become infamously complicated from the mid 1960s onwards, owing largely to the front mans mental health and substance abuse issues. But decades later, Jardine says he was ready to join forces with Wilson once more when the time was right. Hes been on tour since 1998, says Jardine. I joined him around 2006. Then we did a reunion with the Beach Boys in 2012 and then again in 2014. Its kind of a continuum. Its been pretty natural. Im there to support him. When they needed me, they called me and Ive been there ever since. Were all supporting the music, really. Its just outstanding work. Although the current tour is very much focused on the hits, Wilson and Jardine nevertheless explore some less obvious musical territory from their respective careers. There is one cut that Brian likes me to do. He almost insists on it. He just likes the lyrics and enjoys singing it. Its called A California Saga that we did on our Holland album years ago. I think it takes him home. Its all about the beauty and the landscape of California so it appeals to him. We have a lot of other deep cuts that we do that we wrote together. Weve explored a lot of different musical genres. The concert embodies all of it. We take stuff from the very early era and go right through to one of Brians signature songs right at the end of the show. We do Fun, Fun, Fun and you think the show is over but then Brian does a solo song called Love and Mercy. Coincidentally, Jardines own solo album, A Postcard from California, will be reissued on blue vinyl this Friday, Nov. 23. It celebrates more of a northern feeling of California as opposed to the early years where I celebrated surf and the great Pacific. I guess I like the colder climates, kind of like you guys up there. Its basically a tribute album to the state of California. Unfortunately were going through those terrible fires. Thank goodness were not affected by it where we are because were more on the central coast, but we have been affected in the past. This year were fortunate. We have a lot of great volunteer firefighters in our neighbourhood. Hugely influential during their heyday, The Beach Boys have had a lasting impact on the recording industry to this day and Jardine can pinpoint current bands who have been inspired. Theres a band out in Seattle called Fleet Foxes that I know are very influenced by us. Theres also the Wondermints, who are now incorporated into the Brian Wilson band. Theres so many, its hard to name them all. I think Brians influence has been pretty much projected. Even Paul McCartney said that God Only Knows is one of the best songs ever written. I couldnt agree more. The Beatles were continually pushing the envelope and Brian pushed back. It was a friendly competition. While much of The Beach Boys post-60s existence did not include Wilson, Jardine says there is plenty to be proud of from this period as well. I think the body of work that we created went through phases. We all contributed to the second phase, which was the post-Capitol Records years. All the hits pretty much came during those first seven years. After that, we took over production responsibilities and Brian took a little hiatus and the rest of us pitched in and produced some pretty good music, I think, throughout the 70s and 80s. Theres as much unreleased material as there is released, almost. But some things you finish and some you dont. But probably everythings been heard by now. Theres some stuff in the vaults were not really interested in sharing. You try something and it either works or it doesnt work and then you put it on the shelf and forget about it. Even casual fans of The Beach Boys should be in for a night of fun nostalgia on November 22. Because beyond the controversies and dramas is simply great and timeless music that almost everyone can identify with in some way or another. Hes one of the great songwriters of the last century, says Jardine of Wilson. And thats all that matters. Its all that matters to him and all that matters to me. For more information and tickets, visit www.evenko.ca/en/events/14255/brian-wilson 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. MBABANE The town was abuzz with jingling bells and flamboyant displays of discounted prices. The festive season has already kicked off in the right direction as Black Friday will be celebrated in stores across the country. According to www.consumerassociation.com, Black Friday is the day after thanksgiving, regarded as the first day of the traditional Christmas shopping season on which retailers offer special reduced prices. This was the case in most of the retail stores in the capital city, as they offered tempting discounts which were impossible to ignore. Lojaf Pick n Pay was among the big retail stores which offered discounted prices on food, home essentials and alcohol. affordable The stores manager, Richard Jarvis mentioned that they were giving good prices. Black Friday is a chance to give back basic needs to customers at affordable prices, and we are not just running this for this Friday (today) but the entire weekend, said Jarvis. He further mentioned that their anticipation as a store was good sales. Jarvis said it was unfortunate that the prices would prevail while stocks lasted, but advised people not to miss the weekends special. One of the glaring items that were discounted at the store was 1.5 litres of cooking oil, which was reduced from a whopping E42 to E28.50. The normal price for a 2kg washing powder is E49 but was reduced to E42. Spar Superstores also had discounted prices on most of the items in store. Prices were discounted up to 50 per cent off on Meanwhile, hardware stores were not left behind on the Black Friday hype. The Swaziland Supply Centre Store Manager, Kingdom Mlotshwa, said it was their first time hosting the sales and they hoped it would turn out successfully. Mlotshwa reiterated that Black Friday was a form of giving customers high quality merchandise at reasonable prices. He said they would go all out as a store and prices would be reduced to 50 per cent off. Hi-Fi Corp also reduced its prices to surprisingly low prices on laptops, television sets, refrigerators and household items. The stores manager, Bonginkhosi Ndzimandze, said they would be availing opportunities for their customers by giving them superior products which were reasonably priced. Crazy He also stated that some of the items were not advertised. There will be selected prices for customers, some of which have not been shown on the adverts we published, so customers should come to see for themselves the crazy deals we have in store for them, said Ndzimandze. Meanwhile, Consumer Association Chairman Bongani Mdluli advised consumers against reckless spending during the Black Friday excitement and festive hype. Before one makes a decision to purchase goods, it is imperative that they think carefully about the products they want to buy and plan for them prior, said Mdluli. He further stated that some goods may be priced at their normal prices, but because there is the frenzy that products would be sold cheaply, people may find that they had spent irresponsibly. He also warned consumers against carrying large sums of cash with them. Mdluli said people should be mindful that the discounted prices would only last for a few weeks, but if people were not careful, they could be left bankrupt. He said this led to desperate situations where people then resorted to borrowing money from moneylenders. SIDVOKODVO - Nomsa Sigudla has proven that age is just a number by scooping the 2018 Woman Farmer of the year Competition (WOFACO) first prize of E190 000. The 60-year-old farmer won prizes which included E20 000 cash, a tractor, tank, fertilisers and irrigation pipes among other farming materials. Meanwhile, Philile Dlamini of Nkhaba was named the winner under the youth category and went home with prizes amounting to E36 310. Sigudla of Nsingweni under Maphalaleni constituency in the Hhohho Region, said she started farming a while ago and joined the WOFACO four years ago and had been improving over the years. When she joined for the first time in 2015, she was position nine while in her second year (2016) in the competition, she scooped position four. A year later (2017), she was position two before being crowned as the winner yesterday. Sigudla, who is about to start receiving her elderly grant from government, farms maize, legumes, sweet potatoes and rears indigenous chickens among other things. The elderly woman, who lives with her husband and four children, started farming after seeing that they were poverty stricken in the community yet they were blessed with plenty of land. After joining the WOFACO and being able to take care of her family, her neighbours started farming and she was happy to be a pioneer in her community. Sigudla sells her agricultural products to mills, individuals in the rural and urban areas. In terms of social responsibility, she usually donates food to neighbourhood care points (NCPs) and orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) in her community, whom she also teaches how to farm. The event was graced by the Minister of Agriculture Jabulani Mabuza, Ambassadors of the Republic of China on Taiwan and United States of America to Eswatini Jeremy Liang and Lisa Peterson among others. Also present during the event were Nhlambeni Member of Parliament (MP) Manzi Zwane and Kukhanyeni MP Vincent Sihlongonyane to mention but a few. SITEKI A combination of luck, bravery and unprecedented strength saved Hlane Royal National Park Chief Ranger George Mbatha from a lioness attack on Wednesday afternoon. Mbatha, a passionate protector of the countrys national heritage and conservation, has been protecting wild animals for over three decades. He was mauled by the lioness while going about his duties. He owes his life to the bravery of three of his colleagues, who fought and overpowered the wild cat after it had pounced on the veteran ranger. According to Ted Reilly, Chief Executive of Big Game Parks, it was around 4:30pm on Wednesday when Mbatha together with three others went to remove a fallen tree that had damaged a fence. A lioness, using the fallen tree to cross the fence, unexpectedly jumped onto the fallen tree, charged across it and sprang onto Mbatha, who fell to the ground, said Reilly. Characteristically of lioness attacks, Reilly said the lioness went straight for Mbathas throat but the veteran ranger used his experience and put up his arm to protect himself but got bitten severely on the arms. Being pinned down on his back by the lioness, he kicked it. The lioness let go of his arm and attacked his legs, biting both of them severely, Reilly stated. Instead of fleeing, Mbathas colleagues exhibited bravery and confronted the lioness, Reilly stated. sticks He said they first threw sticks at the lioness with the hope of frightening it off, however, the lioness remained resolute in its aim to grab Mbatha by the neck. In response the lioness, still on top of Mbatha, threatened to attack the labourers, who all stood their ground. One of them, in a moment of extreme courage and resourcefulness, grabbed a chainsaw nearby and started it, and with the machine at high revs he rushed at the lioness, which retreated, leaving Mbatha to get away to the safety of their vehicle, Reilly narrated. LOBAMBA It was a day of shock and disbelief as Members of Parliament (MPs) elected the four women from the regions to be members of the House of Assembly yesterday. The biggest shock was that four former legislators were beaten hands down despite the anticipation that they were going to win. The four who lost included former legislators Hlobisile Ndlovu and Trusty Gina. Ndlovu, who managed to get 23 votes, was beaten to the Parliament seat by businesswoman Nokunceda Bujela, who amassed 35 votes under the Hhohho Region while Gina lost to Lorraine Nxumalo under Lubombo. Beat For the Manzini Region, the Parliament seat was scooped by Busisiwe Mavimbela, who amassed 34 votes and beat another former legislator in Nonhlanhla Dlamini. The fourth old horse to bite the dust was former MP Jennifer Du Pont who also campaigned under the Hhohho Region with Ndlovu. On another note, Nokuthula Dlamini proved to be the chosen one for the Shiselweni Region as she amassed 36 votes to land the Parliament seat. Relatives Worth noting was that when the process began, the gallery where the women hopefuls sat with their friends and relatives was packed to the brim. As the process went on, loud noise would now and again be heard, something which forced both Speaker Petros Mavimbela and Clerk to Parliament Ndvuna Dlamini to issue warnings. At one point, Mavimbela made it known that he had all the power to chuck out all those who were seated inside the gallery if they did not behave. First Noted during the process was that the Prime Minister, Ambrose Dlamini, was the first one to cast his vote while Cabinent Ministers Pholile Shakantu, Princess Sikhanyiso and others watched. Before the ballot boxes were collected, it was clearly stated that only MPs were allowed to vote and that those who were appointed senators were only allowed to observe the proceedings. As the announcement of the votes was being done, the gallery seats were seen getting emptier by the minute as the guests and the MP hopefuls stood up and left one by one. LOBAMBA Talk about tightening the screws. During the Sibaya Peoples Parliament, he declared that the country would soar like an eagle again, and Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini already has a perfect strategy to make this a reality. True to his declaration, the PM and his Cabinet have taken eight drastic decisions which will provide the way to saving the country from the economic abyss. If Dlaminis words are anything to go by, the country will start spending as little money as possible. In a press conference held in Parliament yesterday, the PM announced that his Cabinet decided to implement major internal fiscal decisions to enhance financial prudence and controls, as means of dealing with the current economic challenges. Operations As if he wanted to make a statement that he had come to introduce a new era in the operations of government, the PM rocked up in Parliament dressed in traditional regalia, for the first time since he replaced the late Sibusiso Dlamini. He outlined that he, the deputy prime minister, Cabinet ministers, presiding officers, principal secretaries and all others in the same category, will no longer travel first class but in business class when flying on national duties. All other public servants will fly in economy class. For years, there had been concerns from Members of Parliament (MPs), economists and the public at large that so much money was being spent on international trips that were undertaken by government top officials, including ministers. The second decision that the PM and his Cabinet have taken is that government would not buy new vehicles for him and the DPM in the interim but instead, they will utilise the vehicles that were used by their predecessors, which will only be serviced as and when required. Government will not hire any vehicles for use by Cabinet ministers. They will utilise vehicles available in the government pool. All vehicles recently rented for ministers will be returned to contain expenditure, the PM said as he outlined the third decision taken by his Cabinet. Also mentioned in the fiscal decisions was that monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for all external travel shall be enhanced to ensure that only assignments of national importance were embarked on by civil servants. This, the PM said, was also applicable to parastatals that were expected to strictly adhere to their governing policies and procedures, and ensure cost effective measures. All sponsored external travel, as approved, will no longer attract quarter rate for all public servants. Tendering within government will be suspended for lack of effective controls and suspected overpricing. However, in situations of pressing need, Cabinet will advise, highlighted the PM. As if to send a message home that despite introducing money saving decisions, he still cared for the people, the PM gave a relief to consumers by adding that the increase in utility tariffs was suspended pending improvement in the economic situation. This means that consumers will be given a break from increasing prices of water, electricity and other commodities. In order to ensure that the decisions mapped well with the countrys future aspirations, including attaining First World status by 2022, Dlamini assured that a strategic roadmap towards economic recovery would be presented by government in due course. After announcing the decisions, the PM made it clear that they were by no means exhaustive but that all other issues that had a negative impact on the economy of the country would be attended to progressively. Comment A government that listens to and acts on good, sound advice is worthy of our attention and support. The statement issued by Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini in Parliament yesterday, committing government to cutting down on wasteful expenditure and dealing with corruption, is encouraging. This is what we have been waiting to hear, given that their predecessors did not do them any favours by leaving behind a country virtually crawling on its knees economically, flooded with a myriad of social challenges and with E0.00 in the bank. The PM has put his neck on the line with a big promise to fix this mess, starting with cuts on travel expenses, stopping car rentals and putting a freeze on tariff hikes. A huge relief for the tax-burdened society and certainly not an easy decision, given that the current team has to start with E0.00 in the government bank account. Travel allowances were the reason you could hardly find our former ministers in office, leaving service delivery crumbling behind them as their subordinates followed suit. Poor management of the government fleet and fuel shortages have remained a thorn in the taxpayers flesh for decades, yet nobody has been bold enough (or interested) to take a decision on the control of the Central Transport Administration (CTA). As for the lack of controls in the government tendering processes, the less said the better. To address these concerns, the PM has tasked four committees to ensure zero tolerance to corruption, oversee capital projects, review finance policies and control costs which are critical areas, no doubt. As we highlighted before, Dlamini and his team possess all the attributes required of the positions they hold, to deliver on the task that lies before them. If they carry on like this, we have a greater chance of becoming a proper country again. Most importantly, they will leave a respectable legacy, which is not what we can say of their predecessors. Ours is to give this team the benefit of the doubt and join hands to see to it that we achieve the desired goals. By Trend The head of Azerbaijans Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev discussed in Moscow the legal status of the Caspian Sea with the Secretary of Russias Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, the press service of the Security Council of the Russian Federation reported, according to Russian media. "The prospects for interaction between various ministries and departments of Russia and Azerbaijan, countering terrorism, as well as the topics of the legal status of the Caspian Sea were discussed with the head of Azerbaijans Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev," said in the message. On Aug. 12, the heads of five Caspian states signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea at the 5th Summit of the Heads of Caspian States in Aktau. The Convention is a historic document for the region, the work on which has been carried out for two decades since 1996. Azerbaijani president completes official visit to Turkmenistan 22 November 2018 [17:42] - By Trend President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has completed his official visit to Turkmenistan. Views: 1398 In a feature article titled Yorgos Lanthimoss Polarizing Visions, the New York Times sings the praises of the Greek director who shot to stardom and has become one of the most fascinating filmmakers in the world with his unique approach to contemporary issues. Alexandra Kleeman recognises his talent and the world acclaim he has rightfully earned. Read full article at the nytimes.com RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: anna Hanks License: CC-BY-SA Information is provided in short texts in the English language The Greek Migrants Forum, the University of Athens and the Spanish institution Acsar created an application for mobile phones to assist refugees get basic everyday information, ANA reports. The app was created in the context of the program UNINTEGRA, funded by the European Commission. ACSAR's project coordinator Erica Amezquita noted that "mobile phones are one of the most valuable objects refugees carry on them, that's why we focused on creating a simple-to-use app for them." More information about the app is available at: www.app4refs.org 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: pixabay.com An ongoing project of the SmokefreeGreece initiative, which aims to discourage young people in Greece from smoking The ninth Panhellenic Student Conference, titled Education for a World Without Smoking took place at the Athanasios Trigonis Cultural Center in Trikala recently. The conference is an ongoing project of the SmokefreeGreece initiative, which aims to discourage young people in Greece from smoking, greekreporter.com. You have the power to correct a big mistake that the previous generation bequeathed to you, and that is smoking, the president of the conference Panagiotis Behrakis urged the primary and secondary school students. The 800 students, from eleven primary and secondary schools in the Trikala area who took part in the conference staged plays, sang songs, and watched educational videos, all based on the concept of living in a smoke-free world. I want to have a strong body! I want to do what I love to do! was one of the comments from the children at the Student Conference. The internationally-renowned researcher George D. Behrakis is the chief sponsor of SmokefreeGreeces activities. Dr. Behrakis comes to the conference every year from Boston, Massachusetts to closely monitor the participation of students in their campaign against smoking. The event was also attended by the Greek Deputy Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs Meropi Tzoufi and other education officials. 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: AIGA. License: CC-BY-SA The government has signed a deal with the EBRD on a programme aimed at supporting small and medium sized enterprises in Cyprus The role of the small and medium-sized enterprises in reshaping the hospitality industry in Cyprus was the subject of a conference organised on Thursday in Larnaca, by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), CNA reports. Alexander Paine Associate Director EBRD London noted that the hospitality industry is constantly under pressure and is going through massive changes, whether is digitalization, whether is the change in habits of what people want to see and do in a country, whether is a new customer base, even new nations which we did not know some years ago and of course the geopolitics which constantly changes everything. The government has signed a deal with the EBRD on a programme aimed at supporting small and medium sized enterprises in Cyprus, said Constantinos Karagiorgis from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. 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: CNA FEDHATTA, Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourism Agencies, Federation of Hellenic Travel & Tourism Agencies Associations Vice President and HATTA Secretary-General Nicholas Kelaiditis was elected as Co-Chairman of the Incoming - Destination & Sustainability committee of the ECTAA (The European Travel Agents and Tour Operators Associations) The Committee focuses on the development of tourist destinations and, in cooperation with the European Commission, the management of issues related to incoming tourism. ECTAA is the Pan-European body of tour operators and travel agents, representing the industry in the EU with participation of associations from each country e.g. Germany (DRV), UK (ABTA), France (Les Entreprises du Voyage) Greece (HATTA), etc. ECTAA is an international non-profit association under Belgian law, whose offices are located in Brussels, Belgium. It was founded in 1961 at Bad Kreuznach (Federal Republic of Germany) by the national associations of travel agents and tour operators of the 6 founder Member States of the Common Market (Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). In 1973 the Group expanded for the first time, to welcome the associations from Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. ECTAA was then joined in succession by the Greek association in 1981, the Spanish and Portuguese associations in 1986 and the Austrian, Finnish and Swedish associations in 1995. It now represents the national associations of travel agents and tour operators of the 15 Member States of the European Union. By Zhang Wenwen and Tong Zujing US-China Disaster Management Exchange 2018 involving an engineering brigade of the army under the PLA Eastern Theater Command concluded on November 17, 2018. The joint exercise not only improved the ability of the two militaries to carry out joint operations in the field of international rescue and joint response to disasters, but also enhanced mutual understanding and trust and injected positive energy into the development of China-US relations. The China-US relationship is one of the most important bilateral relations in the world today. An important aspect of bilateral ties is that the two militaries have broad common interests in safeguarding world peace and security, while shouldering important responsibilities. At present, with an increase in international security challenges, cooperation between the two militaries is also expanding in scope. Against a background of China-US trade friction, the two militaries have kept strengthening communication, enhancing mutual trust, deepening cooperation, and controlling risks, making positive contributions to the healthy and stable development of China-US relations, while highlighting the stabilizing role of a bilateral military partnership for such relations. Mutual trust in terms of military security functions as the basis for China-US strategic mutual trust. The militaries of China and the US are committed to strengthening high-level communication to prevent misunderstanding and misjudgment, so that cooperation between the two militaries remains exemplary. In June this year, the US Defense Secretary James Mattis visited China for the first time. In October, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe met with Mattis during the fifth ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) in Singapore. In November, Wei Fenghe paid an official visit to the United States and attended the second round of the US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue in Washington, DC. The two defense ministers met three times within five months, indicating that both sides are committed to maintaining strategic communication, striving toward maintaining the stability of bilateral military relations, and adding positive energy to China-US relations. Meanwhile, the two militaries continue to strengthen institutional dialogue and pragmatic cooperation in terms of inter-university exchanges and humanitarian relief and disaster reduction, and to take practical steps to promote military exchanges between the two sides. In the present situation where certain negative factors are challenging China-US relations, the two militaries are resolute on maintaining exchanges at all levels, conducting dialogue and negotiation through the China-US Defense Departments consultations on defense, the Asia-Pacific Security Dialogue and other mechanisms, so as to continuously deepen the construction of two confidence-building mechanisms, namely the confidence-building measure (CBM) mechanism for notification of major military activities and the rules of behavior for safety of air and maritime encounters. This past September, the Chinese and US militaries co-hosted the 2018 Asia-Pacific Military Health Exchange (APMHE) in Xian, capital of northwest Chinas Shaanxi Province, providing an academic platform for military personnel in the Asia-Pacific region to focus on disaster response, medical readiness, and military medical care, and promoting exchange and cooperation in the fields of medical services, clinical research, education and training, and disease prevention. The just-concluded US-China Disaster Management Exchange 2018 has further promoted pragmatic cooperation and institutional exchanges between the two sides, which is conducive to the enhancement of mutual trust and to reducing misjudgment between the two militaries. Just as the ancient Chinese saying upholds, Work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron rod into a needle. The two militaries need to continuously enhance mutual trust and deepen cooperation, properly address differences and control risks, jointly promote the development of bilateral military relations, and work hard to ensure relations between the two militaries advance as a stabilizing factor for China-US ties. Disclaimer: The authors are Zhang Wenwen and Tong Zujing. The article was published on the PLA Daily on Nov. 20. It is translated from Chinese into English and edited by China Military online. Bahrain has signed three strategic business partnerships with Hebei an essential region of Chinas economy to explore opportunities to drive growth together. A senior delegation from Bahrain led by the Capital Governor Sheikh Hisham Bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa and organised by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) met with XU Qin, Governor of Hebei and a number of local government officials and business leaders in Shijiazhuang. The parties also attended the Bahrain Hebei Business Forum to discuss opportunities and strengthen cooperation. These come as part of the delegations nine-day visit to Chinas principal commercial centres as Bahrain continues to develop business relationships across China. The Bahrain Hebei Business Forum witnessed the signing of several memoranda of understanding (MOUs) to include: An MOU between the EDB and Hebei Provincial Department of Commerce to strengthen information exchange, establish a regular investment information exchange and strengthen cooperation in economic and trade activities. An MOU between the EDB and CNBM International Corporation to explore opportunities for CNBM International to expand presence in Bahrain, mobilise Chinese building material manufactories, and promote high-level visits between the two parties. An MOU between the EDB and Baoding Hanyang Technology to explore the possibility of establishing a Middle East Management office in Bahrain, assess Bahrains demand of 3D printing and the possibility of Hanyang partnering with local companies to develop the Mena market, and explore opportunities to construct platform that can facilitate exchanges in 3D printing. These agreements represent an important step towards stronger economic ties between China and Bahrain. Sheikh Hisham said: Bahrain and Hebei share many things in common. As part of the Jing-Jin-Ji Economic Zone and the Bohai Bay Economic Region, Hebei plays a critical role in Chinas economic growth and development. As for Bahrain, we are the fastest growing economy in the Gulf region, and are driving growth and innovation across the Middle East. The forum helps both Bahrain the Province of Hebei to better understand the business and regulatory environment, allowing for even further cooperation. We would like to take this opportunity to enhance our partnership with Bahrain and look to build a new chapter to encourage mutual growth, said Liu Xiaojun, director-general of Foreign Affairs Office of Hebei Province. Bahrain already has a history of partnership with Chinas leading firms to grow and evolve their businesses. In 2009, Huawei moved its headquarters to Bahrain - it is now creating and accelerating Bahrains 5G mobile networks ecosystem, one of the most advanced in the world. In 2018, the Bahrain EDB opened its third representative office in China, aiming to facilitate more investment by Chinese companies in Bahrain. Our nine-day visit to China has been very successful, which has been demonstrated by fifteen agreements signed between Bahraini entities and their Chinese counterparts. We look forward to working with the Hebei government to create a supportive environment that can facilitate and promote business partnerships between Bahrain and Hebei. Together, we believe we can ensure continued prosperity across two of the worlds most economically vibrant regions, said Khalid Al Rumaihi, chief executive of Bahrain EDB. TradeArabia News Service Saudi Arabias King Salman today (November 22) inaugurated the Phase One of Waad Al Shamaal, a SR85-billion ($23 billion) mega city for mining industries which will come up over a sprawling 440-sq-km area in the countrys northern region. The inauguration of the Waad Al Shammal marks a major milestone in Saudi Aramcos long-term strategy to increase gas supply in support of the Kingdoms economic diversification program to generate growth in new sectors, said a top official. The inauguration was witnessed by royal dignitaries, ministers, officials and corporate sector leaders with a delegation from Saudi Aramco led by President and CEO Amin Nasser. Waad Al Shamal (arabic for Northern Promise) will be a new industrial city located 30 km west of Turaif. With several phosphate processing facilities, it is set to become a major mining hub. Waad Al Shamal will help increase economic and industrial activity in the northern region of Saudi Arabia. Developing new mining and mineral activities, especially phosphates, and downstream value added industries such as glass and plastic manufacturing, said a statement from Saudi Aramco. Mining is key to the kingdoms reform plan to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons, as the government aims to more than triple this sectors contribution to the nations economic output by 2030. It is estimated that Waad Al Shamal will generate SR24 billion from non-oil sectors and contribute 3 per cent to the kingdoms Gross Domestic Product. About 30,000 jobs are expected to be created for qualified Saudi youth, especially those from the region, said a top official. "The launch of Waad Al Shamal by King Salman represents an important advancement and a key milestone in our journey toward diversifying the economy and in making Saudi Vision 2030 a reality," remarked Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin H. Nasser. "The Northern Promise can be a prime catalyst in creating transformational industries that can generate more growth and more value from niche manufacturing sectors such as manufacturing glass, glass fibers, plastics and solar panels," he stated. Delivering on its promise to fuel industries in the northern part of the kingdom, as it is presently doing in developing the Jazan Economic City in southwestern Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco began commercial production of unconventional gas in the North Arabia Field in May this year, supplying 55 million standard cu ft per day (MMscfd) to a local power plant. The gas production will ramp up to 190 MMscfd toward the end of 2018 to meet customers needs, said Nasser. "What we see now at Waad Al Shamal city is the productive outcome of close collaboration between government sectors, agencies and leading national companies. I am proud of Saudi Aramcos role in this achievement, making an investment of more than SR10 billion to supply the required energy feedstock to the city and its projects," he added. Waad Al Shamal is 1,000 km away from Riyadh and supplying the city with competitive gas feedstock was initially deemed as complex and costly due to its terrain and geography. However, Saudi Aramco came up with a creative and efficient solutions to explore and drill for gas resources in the region, specifically unconventional gas. With foresight to foster human resources and support the national goal of creating additional job opportunities in the northern part of the Kingdom via the establishment of Waad Al Shamal, Saudi Aramco reached out to schools in nearby cities and villages to promote upcoming opportunities with the company for high school graduates, such as the Apprenticeship Program for Non-Employees. The prospect for a 100 per cent Saudi workforce, primarily from the North, is very high with the upcoming employment opportunities in line with the regions growth. Commercial production of natural gas signifies the first milestone in Saudi Aramcos implementation phase of the unconventional resources extraction programme, said a senior official. "Building on three crucial pillars of a sound de-risking strategy, a fit-for-purpose business model, and the building of capabilities in people and technology, the companys unconventional resources (UR) organization has made significant achievements over the past few years," remarked Khalid M. Al Abdulqader, Saudi Aramcos general manager of Unconventional Resources. "The gas supply to support Waad Al Shamal industrial projects will also help offset the increase in liquid burning for electricity in the area," he stated. Abdulqader said the UR organisation has completed drilling wells, installing more than 300 km of pipelines, and building one surface processing facility (SPF) along with associated infrastructure, while the remaining four SPFs will come online by the year-end. He pointed out that producing unconventional gas near Turaif will replace the burning of hydrocarbons for electricity generation. The result will be a reduction in carbon emissions while saving hydrocarbons for export to obtain higher value, he stated. The projects best practices and experiences will benefit teams developing the remaining unconventional resources in the Kingdom, including the South Ghawar and Jafurah fields. In line with Saudi Vision 2030, these endeavors will contribute to increase the Kingdoms natural gas production, he added. The project is being developed in two phases with Phase One worth SR55 billion being inaugurated today. In the past two months, the king has visited a number of major cities, announcing projects and initiatives to develop the kingdom in line with Vision 2030, a broad strategic plan to diversify the country's economy and end its dependence on oil revenues. King Salman last evening unveiled projects worth over SR10.5 billion at Arar in the Northern Border Region as part of his multi city-tour of Saudi Arabia. Earlier on Tuesday, he had inaugurated 242 development projects worth SR10 billion in the northern Al Jouf province, in the presence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Interior Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Naif, Cultural Minister Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan and Al Jouf Governor Prince Badr bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, said the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). A total of 21 projects will be implemented by the Ministry of Health, 77 covering the key sectors of energy, industrial and mining sectors besides water and agriculture, it stated. King Salman later inaugurated several development projects including 20 road projects worth SR628 million in the region, said the Arab News report. The work involves addition of lanes to other roads, and construction of secondary roads and junctions on existing roads, it added. Kuwait, in a major move, has banned all companies and architectural firms that designed and implemented housing, infrastructure and road projects damaged by the recent heavy rainfall, pending an investigation, reported Arab Times. The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting which was chaired by HH Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah, it stated. As per the new directive, all these companies and architectural firms who are under probe would not be allowed to take part in any new projects without getting their names cleared from investigating agencies. Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Hussam Al Roumi briefed the cabinet about an investigation being carried out by a fact-finding commission, on individuals and companies into causes of floods. Leading French companies will be showcasing their products, services and expertise to local businesses at The Big 5, the premier construction industry event in the Middle East, which opens its doors in Dubai next week. Business France, the national agency supporting the international development of the French economy, will once again be running two French pavilions at expo, which will see a total of 24 companies taking part. This is part of the agency's bid to enable French companies seize new opportunities or reinforce their existing presence, said a top official. "France boasts a highly diverse offering when it comes to the building trades, with companies of all sizes providing structural engineering services and finishing work (carpentry, roofing, insulation, sanitation, air-conditioning, smoke detectors, etc.) and interior fittings (wall and floor coverings, luxury tapware, home automation, etc.)," remarked Marc Cagnard, the managing director of Business France Middle East. "The French construction, finishing work industry has several undeniable strengths in line with the Expo 2020 Dubai, likely to require transport and tertiary infrastructure, and will therefore create a whole host of opportunities that French companies must leverage by establishing ties with local decision makers," he stated. With a highly fragmented network of 392,000 companies and sales of 135 billion in 2017, the industry has one or more global leaders from France in most of its component sectors: Vinci, Eiffage, Bouygues and Spie, to name just a few. Cagnard said: "Innovation features strongly in French companies, from new and biosourced building materials, wooden construction driven by ecological considerations, and smart building in BIM - Building Information Modeling - to home automation, smart meters, energy optimization tools, solar glass, and smart thermostats, boilers and bulbs, these are just some of the development initiatives currently being pursued by businesses in the sector." Lastly, France enjoys a strong reputation for quality and reliability, which are especially important in the construction industry due to safety risks, he stated. "The country tends to maintain a strong presence internationally with 22 billion generated in foreign markets, to export top-quality carefully designed, advanced technology products (innovative insulation materials, building facades that let in natural light, suspended ceilings, clay roof tiles, natural paints and decorative fireplaces, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Work has started on two modern airport projects at Al Jouf and Al Qurayat regions of Saudi Arabia aimed at accommodating the ever-increasing passenger traffic. This comes in line with its Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation's (Gaca) vision to build modern airports system with advanced services. Once completed, these airports will handle a combined a capacity of 1.5 million passengers per annum. Saudi King Salman laid the foundation stone for the airport projects during his visit to the northern region in the presence of Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister and other senior officials of Gaca. The Saudi civil aviation authority had earlier unveiled plans to privatise management and operations at eight of the kingdom's airports as part of government efforts to diversify its income amid the oil slump. Speaking at the launch, Gaca President Abdulhakim Al Tamimi said: "The launching of the projects by King Salman has given the project an extra momentum in the course of development and clearly embodies the leaderships full grasp of the population growth in the kingdom." "These projects are aimed at boosting the kingdom's airport infrastructure and catering to the surge in passenger traffic," he stated. Al Tamimi said the Al Jouf airport project would be built on the Unified Airports Model (B) that can accommodate one million passengers per annum, while the new Al Qurayat airport will be developed as per he Unified Airports Model Plan (A), which can accommodate half a million passengers annually. The Unified Airports Model is based on Gaca's ongoing efforts to develop and expand existing airports and create new ones across the kingdom, said the Gaca chief. "This is a step towards reviving cities; supporting the population growth and enhancing the kingdoms position as an influential player the civil aviation industry and coming a step closer in achieving full economic sustainability," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Brazilian president hails free trade agreement with Chile RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 22 (Xinhua) Brazilian President Michel Temer hailed on Wednesday the signing of a free trade agreement with Chile, highlighting the high efficiency of the two countries' negotiations. The agreement was signed earlier in the day in Chile's capital city Santiago. "It was extraordinarily fast. In less than six months, we were able to establish and formalize this agreement," he said. Among the points of the agreement, Brazil and Chile vowed to work to end international roaming tariffs for mobile phones and data transmission between the two countries. Burundi elections must be free and credible:UN official United Nations, Nov 22 (Xinhua) The 2020 elections in Burundi must be free, inclusive, democratic and peaceful as well as credible, said Jurg Lauber , chairperson of the Burundi configuration of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, on Wednesday. "The elections of 2020 are already very much at the center of political attention in Burundi. It will be crucial for the future of the country that these elections be free, inclusive, democratic and peaceful, and that their results enjoy high legitimacy primarily inside the country, but also internationally," Lauber, who is Swiss ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council. "I encourage the government of Burundi and its international partners to pursue their discussions about possible forms of assistance which the country may need in order to ensure the conduct of successful elections." CAR: More than six in 10 people need humanitarian assistance United Nations, Nov 22 (UNI) Peoples needs in Central African Republic (CAR) have increased significantly in recent months, the top United Nations aid official in the country has warned, amid worsening localised violence that has included the recent torching of two camps for displaced people. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Najat Rochdi on Wednesday urged the international community to help CAR, explaining that 2.9 million people in need of assistance and protection out of a total population of some 4.6 million is a big deal. Next year, she said, 63 per cent of people there are likely to require urgent humanitarian assistance, up from 46 per cent in May. Taiwan thanks US for invite to democracy summit: Foreign Affairs Ministry 24 Nov 2021 | 3:28 PM Taipei, Nov 24 (UNI/Sputnik) Taiwan's ministry of foreign affairs (MOFA) thanked the United States for inviting Taiwan to participate at the virtual Summit for Democracy which will be chaired by US President Joe Biden on December 9 and 10. see more.. US firm receives threat call over forensic analysis of Saqib Nisar's audio clip on Nawaz Sharif 24 Nov 2021 | 3:26 PM Washington, Nov 24 (UNI) The US-based firm, which conducted the forensic analysis of the leaked audio clip having the conversation between Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and an unidentified person on Nawaz Sharif, has said it has received threat for its work. see more.. 2 policemen killed in firing in Pakistan's Peshawar 24 Nov 2021 | 3:09 PM Islamabad, Nov 24 (UNI/Xinhua) Two policemen were killed in a firing in Pakistan's northwestern Peshawar city, police said on Wednesday. see more.. Swedish parliament elects female Prime Minister for first time in history 24 Nov 2021 | 3:07 PM Zurich, Nov 24 (UNI/Sputnik) The Swedish unicameral parliament Riksdag on Wednesday voted to appoint the leader of the Social Democratic Labor Party of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, as the prime Minister, becoming the first woman in the country's history to take office. see more.. Inclusive dialogue needed in Burundi: UN envoy United Nations, Nov 22 (UNI) The absence of an inclusive political dialogue in Burundi has left country fragile amid the humanitarian, economic and financial difficulties and ongoing security threats, the United Nations Special Envoy there has told the Security Council. There is a lack of trust and dialogue between the Government and the opposition parties, which is essential for the resolution of the ongoing crisis, said Michel Kafando on Wednesday. He noted that the security situation in Burundi has remained relatively calm in recent months, but that the human rights situation remains worrying. By Mei Shixiong VIETNAM, Nov. 22 (ChinaMil) -- The fifth three-day high-level border meeting between Chinese and Vietnamese militaries successfully concluded on Wednesday in Cao Bang Province in the northeast region of Vietnam. During the meeting held in the Chinese territory, delegations from the two sides observed the joint water and land patrol of their border troops and visited the barracks of a frontier defense company of the Chinese ground forces, a middle-school, and the Ho Chi Minh Pavilion. The two sides also planted a friendship tree together and held various discussions. During the meeting held in the Vietnamese territory, the two delegations attended the ceremony marking the 5th anniversary of the establishment of sister counties between Longzhou County of Chongzuo City in south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Phuc Hoa District of Cao Bang Province in the northeast region of Vietnam, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the establishment of the Chinese-Vietnamese Friendship Culture Center. The two sides also hosted a symposium on border defense exchanges. They observed joint disaster relief drill conducted between the two sides' border troops, visited the Ho Chi Minh Museum, presented a flower basket to the Ho Chi Minh Memorial Hall, and signed minutes of meeting. The joint disaster relief drill was carried out against the backdrop of floods caused by the typhoon in border areas, which had left houses damaged and people trapped. At the drill site in the vicinity of Phuc Hoa District of Cao Bang Province in the northeast region of Vietnam, military engineers and medical personnel from both sides immediately rushed to the scene after receiving the disaster notification and successfully rescued the trapped people from the ruins of their houses. The two sides' frontier defense troops acted fast, cooperated closely, operated in line with the rules, and successfully completed the scheduled disaster rescue mission. The first high-level border meeting between China and Vietnamese militaries was held in Dongxing City in south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Mong Cai City of Quang Ninh Province in northern Vietnam in March 2014. The second one was held in Mengzi City of Honghe Autonomous Prefecture in south Chinas Yunnan Province and Lao Cai Province in the mountainous northwest region of Vietnam in May 2015. The third one was held in Lang Son Province in far northern Vietnam and Pingxiang City in south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in March 2016. The fourth one was held in Lai Chau Province in northern Vietnam and Jinping Autonomous County of Honghe Autonomous Prefecture in south Chinas Yunnan Province in September 2017. New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will pay a two-day visit to Laos from Thursday, November 22, to co-chair the 9th Meeting of India-Laos Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation with her counterpart Saleumxay Kommasith. "The two sides will review the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation covering areas of Defence, Development Partnership, Agriculture, Trade & Investment, Education & Culture, Science & IT, Energy & Mining, Transport and Natural Resources & Environment," an MEA statement said here. Ms Swaraj will also meet Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. The joint commission meeting and other engagements of the external affairs minister will further enhance the cooperation between the two countries in various areas, the statement said. Her other engagements would include an interaction with the representatives of the Indian community. UNI DEVN RSA 0842 Srinagar, Nov 22 (UNI) Train service was suspended on Thursday for security reasons in the Kashmir valley, where Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) has called for a general strike against the killing of separatist leader Hafizullah Mir by unidentified gunmen in Achabal area of South Kashmirs Anantnag district on Tuesday. 'We have suspended all train runs in the Kashmir valley today following advisory received from the authorities, including police, on Wednesday night,' a senior traffic police official told UNI. He said no train will chug on Srinagar-Badgam and Baramulla in north Kashmir. Similarly, he said, all trains will remain suspended on Badgam-Srinagar-Anantnag-Qazigund in south Kashmir to Banihal in Jammu region. This is the third time train service was suspended in the Kashmir valley during this month. 'We are acting on the advice of local administration since the safety and security of passengers, railway staff and property are important,' he said, adding that in the past, railway suffered damage worth crores of rupees during protests. Train service has become very popular in the Kashmir valley as it is cheap, fast and safe against other modes of transport. UNI BAS SV 1028 SK Patodia signs pact with Netherlands based INCO Mumbai, Nov 21 (UNI) In a bid to facilitate the USD 7 billion bilateral trade between India and Netherlands, city-based leading audit firm, S K Patodia & Associates, on Wednesday announced that it has entered into an alliance with the Netherlands-based INCO Business Group. The collaboration between the two consultancy firms assumes significance in light of the growing political and economic exchanges between the countries. Earlier, this year in May, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte was on a two-day visit to India with a strong contingent of 200-member delegation including the deputy PM, cabinet ministers in charge of Sons of Panamas Ex-President Martinelli detained in US:Prosecutor Mexico City, Nov 22 (Sputnik) Two sons of Panamas former President Ricardo Martinelli, charged with political espionage and embezzlement, have been detained in the United States southeastern city of Miami, a Panamanian prosecutor said. "They have been detained,we currently expect the US authorities to accordingly inform Panamas Foreign Ministry about it. As a result of the investigation, these people have been mentioned in relation to money laundering cases and the Odebrecht case," Kenia Porcell told the TVN Noticias broadcaster on Wednesday. Moreover, various media published a statement by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), issued on Wednesday, that said the US authorities "arrested unlawfully present Panamanian nationals Luis Martinelli-Linares and Ricardo Martinelli-Linares during a targeted enforcement operation in Coral Gables,Nov 20." Spanish PM to pay first Official visit to Cuba since 1986 on Thursday MADRID, Nov 22 (Sputnik) Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is arriving in Cuba on Thursday for the first official visit of a head of the Spanish government to the country in over 30 years, the Spanish government said, adding that the visit is aimed at improving bilateral relations. The visit is expected to last just over a day and is intended to normalize and stabilize relations between the two countries. During his stay, Sanchez is set to have meetings with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and local business people and intellectuals. No talks have been scheduled either with former Cuban leader Raul Castro, who is now serving as the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, or with the country's opposition. "It should be negotiated between Spain and the U.K. As it stands, the [Spanish] government will vote against the Brexit agreement," he said. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says neither the 585-page draft divorce deal nor the accompanying political declaration about a possible future free trade agreement makes clear Gibraltar's future is to be decided bilaterally. Spain wants the draft Brexit deal to make clear future talks about Gibraltar's status would be in "separate negotiations" between London and Madrid and not part of a deal between Britain and the European Union. Spain fears the Brexit deal will legally confirm Gibraltar is part of Britain. As May headed Wednesday to Brussels for a meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission's president, Madrid warned it would block the Brexit withdrawal agreement unless issues over Gibraltar's future are clarified. Spain is threatening to sink the Brexit deal over the status of Gibraltar, the headland on Spain's south coast dominated by a high limestone ridge known as the Rock, which was ceded to the British in 1713. British Prime Minister Theresa May appears to have held off a bid to oust her by rebels in her Conservative party who oppose a Brexit deal she is finalizing with the European Union. But her exit plan faces further threats as a group of EU nations demand further concessions from Britain. The subject of Gibraltar has long been an emotional issue for both countries. Spain has claimed sovereignty over Gibraltar. Last year, former British Conservative leader Michael Howard suggested a dispute over the headland could provoke a war between Britain and Spain. The veto threat has prompted outrage in London with accusations the Spanish government is trying to blackmail Britain. As far as the British are concerned, Spain's foreign minister, Josep Borrell, has gone out of his way to stoke Scottish nationalism. He announced Tuesday that Madrid is reversing its traditional opposition to Scotland being readmitted to the EU, if in the future it should declare independence. By dropping its opposition, Spain handed a propaganda coup to Scottish nationalists. It was quickly seized by their leader, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is eager to lead Scotland out of Britain. She said it "demolished" the "scare story" British Conservatives push that if Scotland should declare independence, it would never be allowed to join the EU. EU officials say they believe the Gibraltar issue can be solved before EU leaders sign the withdrawal agreement at a summit on Sunday. The deal would see Britain remaining in the EU customs union, which addresses imports and exports, for an indefinite period while a free trade deal is negotiated over the next few years. Few observers believe the deal will win the approval of the British parliament next month when lawmakers are scheduled to vote on it formally, as all opposition parties have formally come out against it. May is banking on securing a House of Commons majority for her deal by daring lawmakers across the political spectrum to let a "no-deal Brexit" go ahead. Crashing out of the bloc without a deal would likely trigger a recession, leaving behind bankrupt businesses and ruined livelihoods, say analysts. Fishing Rights Aside from Spain, the agreement has been criticized by France, the Netherlands and Portugal. The three countries want fishing rights in British waters to be included, if not in the divorce deal, then at least in the political declaration setting the parameters for a possible future free trade deal. Several EU governments are also dissatisfied because they believe the deal gives Britain a competitive advantage by not tying it closely enough to EU regulations, workers' rights, and environmental standards, potentially lowering the production costs of British goods. If they manage to ensure there will be no competitive advantage, it will cause May further difficulties in selling the withdrawal agreement in the British parliament. May leads a minority government and relies on the votes of a dozen Northern Ireland lawmakers, who deeply oppose the divorce deal as well. To demonstrate their power, twice this week they have withheld their support in important budget votes. GLO.ACT supports diplomatic and consular staff training on trafficking in persons Niamey, Niger - 22 November 2018 - Trafficking in Persons is a complex reality in Niger. The authorities of Niger have made combating this phenomenon a governmental priority. Considerable efforts have been made, in particular, through the National Agency for Combating Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (ANLTP / TIM), which has undertaken specific actions in the areas of prevention and the suppression of human trafficking, as well as measures of protection and assistance to victims. In this context, all the actors in the criminal justice chain involved in the fight against trafficking in persons have been trained to improve detection, investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators of these crimes as well as to protect the victims. Diplomatic and consular staff, who are in the front line of this phenomenon, needed to be trained on human trafficking, especially in the countries of destination where Nigeriens are regularly victims of exploitation. Until now they had not yet received any training on trafficking. Accordingly, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), jointly with ANLTP / TIM, organized a training workshop for diplomats and consular officials to make them aware of their crucial role in the fight against trafficking in persons and to provide them with operational means and good practices that can help them strengthen their actions in this area. This activity took place in Niamey from 24 - 26 of July 2018 and brought together 20 participants, including 1 woman, from Nigerien diplomatic and consular representations abroad located in countries heavily affected by the phenomenon of human trafficking, such as Algeria, Belgium, France, Italy, Kuwait, Libya, Marocco or Saudi Arabia. Funded by the European Union (EU), Mr Abass Malam, who works for the EU Delegation in Niger, spoke at the opening ceremony of this workshop to express his institution's willingness to continue to support the Niger's efforts in the fight against human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants. Also present on this occasion were the Cabinet Director of the Minister of Justice and the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in charge of African integration and Nigeriens abroad, Mrs. Salamatou Balla Goga. Each participant was provided with the basics of human trafficking, in order to be able to support the national effort to combat this form of human rights abuse by better identifying and taking into account trafficking victims. The training, both theoretical and practical, focused on the role of diplomatic and consular representations in guiding, assisting and protecting the rights of victims of trafficking and smuggled migrants. This activity is part of the Global Action to Prevent and Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants ( GLO.ACT), which is a four-year joint initiative (2015-2019) of the European Union (EU) and UNODC, and implemented jointly with IOM and UNICEF. This event also contributes to the Regional Strategy against Trafficking in Human Beings and Smuggling of Migrants (2015-2020) and to the UNODC Regional Program for West Africa (2016-2020) . The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), 11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. GLO.ACT works with the 13 countries to plan and implement strategic national counter-trafficking and counter smuggling efforts through a prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships approach. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms. For more information, please visit: www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/ Email: glo.act@un.org Twitter: @glo_act For more information : Regional Strategy to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and additional protocols UNODC Sahel Programme At UTSA, Myron Anderson will help shape policies, set goals and provide strategic direction to cultivate a spirit of collaboration and an inclusive campus environment. (Nov. 9, 2018) -- As UTSA implements its strategic vision and further cultivates a campus atmosphere that embraces diversity and inclusion, President Taylor Eighmy today announced the selection of Myron Anderson as the universitys Vice President for Inclusive Excellence. In this founding position, Anderson will serve as a leadership anchor, helping UTSA shape policies, set goals and provide strategic direction for the journey toward improving the campus climate for underrepresented groups. Anderson joins UTSA from Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver), where he has served in various roles since 2004 and currently serves as the Associate to the President for Diversity. He brings to UTSA more than 25 years of professional experience in higher education, including time as a faculty member conducting research in education technology. At MSU Denver, Anderson is currently responsible for developing an inclusive campus, and articulating and resolving current and anticipated issues related to campus climate, diversity and inclusion. In addition, Anderson identifies campus climate trends and is responsible for developing a strategic vision across all academic and administrative units to establish strategies for resolution of campus climate issues. Dr. Anderson brings extensive experience, an impressive record of success, and a spirit of collaboration to this important new role, said Eighmy. The work he will do to develop a strategic vision for UTSA as an inclusive campus will be instrumental, and I am delighted to welcome him as the newest member of our senior leadership team. At MSU Denver, Anderson has led the development of innovative recruitment and retention programs and the systemic implementation of a university-wide Campus Climate Survey, contributing to improvement of the campus climate and a 35 percent increase in the retention of faculty of color. His leadership has also led to the increase of faculty of color by more than 50 percent since 2005 with a university workforce greater than 30 percent of color. Additionally, hes raised and managed millions of dollars in an effort to align the MSU Denver mission with regional and national constituent goals and objectives. As a result of Andersons focus on inclusive excellence, MSU Denver is a five-time recipient of the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award and has received the Diversity Champion award three times, which recognizes the top 15 colleges and universities in the nation that exemplify an unyielding commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout their campus communities, across academic programs and at the highest administrative levels. Anderson has also conducted research in instructional technology, distance education, campus climate, diversity and microaggressions in higher education. His academic achievements have earned him tenure and the rank of full professor at MSU Denver. As UTSA Vice President for Inclusive Excellence, Anderson will provide leadership in the development, coordination and implementation of initiatives that contribute toward establishing an effective and collaborative policy and practice of diversity, equity and inclusion. UTSAs past accomplishments and goals for the future strongly align with my commitment to inclusive excellence, said Anderson. As an inclusive leader, I look forward to listening, co-creating, harvesting and collectively implementing programs and policies to advance inclusive excellence at UTSA. Inclusive Excellence is at the very foundation of a campus environment in which our students can thrive. Prior to his current position, Anderson served as associate chair of the Teacher Education Department at MSU Denver and as program leader in Continuing Education and director of student services at Virginia Tech and Winston-Salem State University, respectively. Throughout his career, Anderson has been cited by more than a dozen publications, served on many university and community committees and panels and has been a member of more than 20 professional organizations. President Eighmy created the Vice President for Inclusive Excellence following input from a UTSA faculty and staff diversity survey last fall, as well as feedback he received during community conversions sessions earlier this year. UTSA launched a national search in June with the appointment of a broadly representative search committee chaired by Interim Vice President for Student Success Rhonda Gonzales. The UTSA community also attended open forums in September to hear from the finalists. Anderson begins his new role at UTSA on Jan. 1, 2019. The U.S. said Wednesday it will scale back military exercises with South Korea next year, so the war games are not a hindrance to diplomacy over ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program. U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said the exercises with Seoul, called Foal Eagle, are conducted each spring in South Korea, but will be "reduced in scope" in 2019. He gave no details of how the exercises will be downsized, but said the reduced scope was an effort by the two allies to encourage further negotiations in the stalled talks between the U.S. and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. "Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis said. North Korea has frequently objected to the U.S.-South Korean exercises, viewing them as a threat to its existence as a nation. Connie Britton (left) as Debra Newell and Eric Bana as John Meehan costar in Bravos series, Dirty John, which is based on a real-life cautionary tale, premering Sunday. 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. Ray Chavez, believed to be the oldest Pearl Harbor survivor, has died. He was the quartermaster on the USS Condor, a Navy minesweeper, on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Clubhouse Gibraltar Launch New Logo Clubhouse Gibraltar launches their new logo as they move towards a new era in their development. They are rebranding their image and making their logo more self explanatory on the services provided which is mental health support. Over the past five years, since their temporary move to Wellington Front, Clubhouse has developed in leaps and bounds increasing from 34 to 155 members, from 2 to 5.5 members of staff and increasing their opening times to 45hrs/6 days per week. Clubhouse Gibraltar has also produced new brochures which explain what services they offer and another entitled How you can contribute to Mental Health and Wellbeing in Gibraltar. These have been designed by Piranha Designs and the printing sponsored by Gibunco. In addition Clubhouse Gibraltar is also producing new banners which have been kindly sponsored by Gibtelecom. Clubhouse Gibraltar is self-financing and depends on donations, grants and fund raising to provide their services free of charge to all those affected by mental illness or mental health difficulties in Gibraltar. In a statement, Clubhouse explain how their new look comes in the wake of the refurbishment of their new premises at 304a Main Street. Clubhouse feel they will be able to provide better facilities to help individuals recovering from mental illness, and develop to their full potential. Clubhouse Gibraltar is also seeking funds for the refurbishment of their new premises and is appealing to the Community of Gibraltar for their support. If you require mental health support, further information, or wish to make a donation please contact ; Clubhouse Gibraltar, 24 Wellington Front Tel 20068423 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.clubhousegibraltar.com www.facebook.com/clubhousegibraltar Hydrogen-fueled buses began operating in Seoul for the first time on Wednesday. The service runs five times a day along the No. 405 route between Yangjae-dong and Seoul Plaza in the capital. Seoul is the second city in Korea to run hydrogen-fueled buses on a regular route after Ulsan, which first started operating eco-friendly vehicles last month. The WCO Security Programme conducted a national Strategic Trade Control Enforcement (STCE) Workshop in Baku, Azerbaijan on 9-12 October 2018. The Regional Office for Capacity Building of the World Customs Organization in Baku holds a special place on the timeline of the STCE programme: in October 2013 the State Custom Committee of Azerbaijan hosted at this venue the European leg of the series of workshops preceding Operation Cosmo (2014), the first of its kind operation targeting strategic commodities. Five years has passed since that event which necessitated the return of the STCE programme to Baku and improve Azeri Customs capacities to comply with non-proliferation obligations set forth by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004). At the training, frontline staff was introduced to the concept of STCE and to ways to identify weapons of mass destruction, their constituent parts, means of delivery and dual-use materials and items needed to manufacture them. The event also served as an opportunity to accredit Azerbaijans first WCO STCE trainer. Should your administration be interested in hosting a national STCE workshop, please contact Adam Vas, STCE Programme Coordinator at WCO (Adam.Vas@wcoomd.org ). Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 19, 2018 | HICKORY By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 19, 2018 | 04:21 PM | HICKORY The Kentucky State Police will once again participate in Operation C.A.R.E. during the Thanksgiving travel period. Operation C.A.R.E. (Crash Awareness and Reduction Effort) is a national Thanksgiving patrol blitz scheduled now through Monday, November 25. It's an effort by state agencies to increase officer presence on Interstate and U.S. Highways during specific high crash periods Troopers will concentrate their holiday enforcement efforts on high traffic areas such as interstates and parkways, along with high crash locations. They will be observing for individuals exhibiting unsafe driving behaviors, such as, speeding, reckless driving, and impaired driving. Troopers will also watch for people who choose not to wear seat belts or use child safety restraints. Motorists around the Post 1 District can expect to see traffic safety checkpoints at pre-approved locations. For traffic safety checkpoint locations in your area, you may refer to the web site: http://kentuckystatepolice.org/post-locations/post1/post-1-road-check-locations/ Citizens can contribute to highway safety by reporting erratic drivers to the Kentucky State Police toll-free at 1-800-222-5555. Callers may remain anonymous and should give a description of the vehicle, location, direction of travel, and license number if possible. 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 He now lives in Seoul. "I couldn't work too long on the construction site due to my bad back, and I now work part-time at a social enterprise," he said. "I took a job as a construction worker to feed myself," Oh (not his real name) told the Chosun Ilbo Wednesday. "I experienced how hard it is to make money in the South." Oh left Hanawon, a halfway house that helps North Korean defectors adjust to life in South Korea, in June after a long hospital stay to treat his many gunshot wounds and clear him of a mass of parasites in his stomach. North Korean defector Oh Chong-song, whose bold dash across the heavily armed border in November last year made global headlines, has been struggling in South Korea since he was released from hospital. Oh denied a media report that he bought two cars and ended up selling them after running out of money. "That's not true," he said. "What I was given when I left Hanawon was W4 million in settlement support money and am entitled to live in public rental housing," he said. "I didn't have much money left after I bought furniture and a refrigerator (US$1=W1,130)." Oh now looks no different than many young South Korean men in their 20s. He is slender and around 177 cm tall. Dressed in a navy-blue suit and white shirt, he had also dyed his hair light brown. Because he was born and raised in Kaesong close to the inter-Korean border, he does not have a distinct North Korean accent. Oh insisted he had been misquoted in an interview with Japan's Sankei Shimbun last weekend. The right-wing Japanese newspaper stirred up controversy by quoting Oh as saying that the South Korean military is a joke. "I was misquoted and what I said was lost in translation," he claimed Wednesday. "I watched video footage of South Korean soldiers crawling to save me," he added, raising his voice as his emotions ran high. "I served in the North Korean military and do not know much about South Korean military life. You serve 10 years in the North Korean military and two years in the South Korean military, and all I said was it must be easier in the South." "But what I was quoted as saying made it sound like I laughed at the South Korean military." Oh claimed the Sankei sent him a message apologizing for mistakes by the interpreter. Oh denied that he traveled to Japan just for the interview to make money but said he went because a friend in South Korea offered to introduce him to someone in Japan. "An acquaintance in Japan told me it would be a simple interview, so I met the Sankei people," he said. He denied being paid a huge amount for the interview. "They paid for my airfare and hotel fee and nothing else, and I received W1 million. That's it," he said. Asked what he likes about South Korea, Oh said, "I like the freedom. I like the fact that I can go wherever I want to and do whatever I want to. In North Korea, there were so many things you weren't allowed to have." He also denied giving paid lectures to activist groups here. "I never gave a lecture to a civic group or received money from them," he said. Poland needs nuclear to reduce emissions and create jobs For immediate release from World Nuclear Association 20 November 2018 Poland plans to develop nuclear energy as part of its future energy system, according to Krzysztof Tchorzewski, the Polish Minister of Energy, because it is low-cost, low-carbon and creates high-value jobs. The Minister was speaking at the inaugural World Nuclear Spotlight Poland conference in Warsaw a high-level event which brought together Polish decision makers and global nuclear industry leaders and stakeholders. Krzysztof Tchorzewski, Minister of Energy, Polish Minstry of Energy (Source: www.gov.pl) Mr Tchorzewski told the conference that nuclear energy is a response to the challenges facing Polish economy and the energy sector, especially in the context of EU requirements. The climate policy of the European Union and the winter package compel a further decrease of the share of coal in the energy mix amid the continuously growing demand for electricity. The minister said that Poland must introduce a new low carbon energy source that would allow it to reduce the average CO 2 emissions produced in the course of electricity generation. As Mr Tchorzewski noted, development of nuclear energy would be an investment in Polish engineering know-how and the economy. The minister said that for the Polish industry, nuclear power provides an opportunity to implement technologically advanced projects that can contribute to the creation of stable, high-value jobs. He added that the development of the nuclear sector in Poland may also be a factor in accelerating the transfer of technologies and the development of many parent industries. Nuclear energy also allows countries to comply with the objectives of the Paris Agreement as it contributes significantly to cutting CO2 emissions. Poland is already showing its commitment, having recently joined the Nuclear Innovation Initiative under the Clean Energy Ministerial (NICE Future), and hosting the next Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 24) in December 2018 in Katowice. A recent report published by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that achieving the 1.5C goal, in line with the Paris Agreement, will require global greenhouse gas emissions to start reducing almost immediately, and nuclear generation increases on average by around 2.5 times by 2050 in the 89 mitigation scenarios considered by the IPCC. World Nuclear Association Director General Agneta Rising told the conference that it is urgent for Poland to act now and become the next country to use nuclear generation to meet their clean energy needs sustainably. She hoped that at the upcoming COP 24 UN climate conference, which will be held in Katowice, Poland, the international community would implement energy and climate strategies that would encourage a broad range of mitigation actions, including the essential expansion of nuclear energy worldwide, so economies can develop sustainably and efficiently for the well-being of people and the planet. Welcoming the Polish governments strong support for nuclear energy and the countrys ambitious plans to advance its nuclear power programme, FORATOM Director General Yves Desbazeille told the conference that the construction of a nuclear power plant could help Poland meet many strategic objectives as it would provide security of energy supply, decreases dependency on fossil fuel imports, boosts the economy, and help decarbonise the power system in line with the energy and climate targets agreed at EU level. Note to editors: World Nuclear Spotlight Poland is organised by World Nuclear Association in collaboration with FORATOM at the invitation of the Polish Ministry of Energy taking place in Warsaw on 20 November 2018. The conference gives participants an opportunity to learn more about the current status of the Polish nuclear energy programme and understand better its potential role in Polands future energy mix. For press queries, please contact: Jonathan Cobb press@world-nuclear.org +44 20 7451 1536 +44 7719 329790 Share You may also be interested in An appeals court on Wednesday upheld a two-year prison sentence for ex-President Park Geun-hye for meddling in the nominations of parliamentary candidates in her Saenuri Party. Presidents are constitutionally obliged to remain neutral in general elections. Park was found guilty of mobilizing Cheong Wa Dae officials to exclude her opponents within the party from winning nominations for National Assembly seats by creating a blacklist and conducting illegal polls from November 2015 to March 2016. She was also convicted of pressuring a politician not to seek a candidacy in order to back her ally. A lower court found Park guilty and sentenced her to two years. Park did not appeal, but prosecutors did because they felt the sentence was too lenient. But the appeals court said there was no reason to increase the jail term. Park has been boycotting all her trials since October last year and remains in jail. She had already been sentenced to 25 years behind bars on charges of corruption and another six years for misappropriating National Intelligence Service funds, to be served consecutively. Wednesday's ruling brings the total to 33 years, making it likely that she will spend the rest of her life in jail unless a future successor pardons her. I cant put into words the joy these simple gifts give these children last chance to take part in Christmas shoebox appeal This article is old - Published: Thursday, Nov 22nd, 2018 There are just over seven days left donate your shoebox full of goodies to the charity who are hoping to amaze 50,000 children this Christmas with a gift. Wrexham charity Teams4U are hectically preparing donated shoeboxes for transport to eastern Europe in their warehouse in Llay Industrial Estate with the first lorry leaving this Saturday with nearly 10,000 shoeboxes for Oradea, Romania. Just six years ago, the charity sent slightly over 4,000 Christmas gifts to deprived children in Romania whilst last year five articulated lorries delivered 38,000 Shoeboxes across orphanages, homes and schools in Belarus, Bosnia, Romania and Ukraine. The charity has grown to have a national presence with volunteers running Shoebox centres from Cumbria to Cornwall and they have big hopes to send over 50,000 Christmas Shoeboxes to children overseas this year. The charity says these gifts are often the only gift the receiving child will get at Christmas perhaps even at all in their childhood and are eagerly anticipated by the children. Charity Founder Dave Cooke said: I cant put into words the joy these simple gifts give these children and how each box reminds a child that someone, somewhere, cares enough to do this for them. We say its love in a box and that is exactly what it is. Each box given unconditionally to a child filled with love. If you are looking for a shoebox you can get one from Teams4Us warehouse: Unit 8 Llay Ind. Est, LL12 0TU or from the following addresses; 20 Chester Road LL11 2SA, 42 Prices Lane LL11 2ND and Cair Paravel, Rhosrobin Road LL11 4PG. The above all act as drop-off points as does the Manna Bookshop on Charles Street, and Apollo Taxis. Please drop-off your boxes by Friday 30th November. The charity need your help Can you make up a Christmas shoebox? So what goes in a Christmas Shoebox? The boxes for boys and girls often include toys, stationery, sweets and a winter hat/gloves whilst the charity also receives boxes for the home suggesting useful household items such as candles, soap, clothes pegs and cooking utensils. The charity will be receiving boxes locally in the following drop-off points until Friday 30th November and if anyone is struggling to locate an empty shoebox, most of the drop-off points also provide spare shoeboxes. A list of ideas on what goes can go in the shoeboxes can be found on the charitys website: http://www.teams4u.com and videos of shoeboxes being made such as the one below can be found on the charitys Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Teams4Utube Wrexhams Local Development Plan passes key vote will now be formally lodged for public inspection This article is old - Published: Thursday, Nov 22nd, 2018 Wrexham Council have voted to deposit its Local Development Plan (LDP) with Welsh Government and Planning Inspectorate Wales for independent examination in public. After a shorter than expected debate in the Guildhall this afternoon a recorded vote took place after a request by a large number of councillors, with the LDP passing 30 in favour and 17 against. Back in 2012 it was announced that progress on Wrexham Councils original new LDP had been halted after Planning Inspector concerns with the level of housing provision proposed within it, and since then the area has been without a LDP, although that situation could now change next year. Todays vote was expected to be tight after a number of councillors both inside and out of the ruling Independent and Conservative coalition last week voiced there concerns about the plans and the long-term impact it could have on Wrexham, however despite strong words by many councillors against, the issue passed with ease. The debate was limited to five minutes per councillor, a new approach to rein in the sometimes long winded and wide ranging speeches by some, and the verdict after the meeting appeared to favour that approach. With the LDP progressing to Cardiff an independent Examination in Public will take place, likely based somewhere in Wrexham town centre, where members of the public get to feedback further, as well as see their current consultation responses be considered. After the recent Executive Board meeting it was promised at the lodging point more information will be made public for those who requested it. Llay Cllr Rob Walsh, Liberal Democrat, said residents in the village had already been victims of predatory development and now see a predatory plan looking them in the eye and urged his fellow councillors to vote against the LDP. Im aware that some of my fellow councillors think this is a weak plan but intend to vote for it anyway to allow full examination in public, Cllr Walsh continued. Im sorry, but that is a failure of duty as an elected member. If you vote to approve today, it becomes councillors plan. Well not in my name, ill vote against and urge other to. Cllr Walsh also moved that a recorded vote took place, a proposal that was supported by Conservative councillor for Brymbo, Paul Rogers and later by many more. Cllr Rogers, who has spoken out about proposals for a gypsy and traveller site in his ward, said there was a determination to force this through and urged his colleagues to do the right thing and reject this plan. Cllr Marc Jones, Plaid Cymru, said today is our last chance as democratic representatives to have our say, how we vote matters. There are two choices in front of us. To approve the plan to go out or to refuse to approve it. If we refuse it the Welsh Government will put it out for examination for us. This plan will have its detail examined. I urge you to look at the bigger picture. This LDP has been developed on the basis the population is growing substantially. It is not a proposal based on facts. Allocating land for two huge estates and others will suit predatory developers, and that people are against. It will reduce the quality of life for Wrexham residents. He added: As a group Plaid Cymru are not opposed to allocating land to build new homes to meet need, we are opposed to building houses that are not needed. We have to stand up and say no to Welsh Government projections, no this is not our plan and we have to reject this recommendation today. However leader of Wrexham Council, Cllr Mark Pritchard said that whilst he sympathised with councillors and their ward issues, it is important that people go and make those points clear when it goes to examination. He added: I have issues with certain parts, but i will make representation at the right place and time. It is not the place to say throw out and send back to Welsh Government and we and dont support it It is always better if you can have an input and influence it. If you throw it out it becomes a national development plan outside our ownership. However Leader of the Labour Group, Cllr Dana Davies, said the plan needs to stay local and that councillors should not abdicate our responsibility to any government. She continued that although members of the group have concerns about plan particularly about the lack of social housing the planning inspector can choose to make changes to the plan or throw it out completely. Cllr Davies said; The elephant in the room is what happened at LDP 1. The process in LDP 2 has changed, we dont get a third shot. If we dont keep the plan local, then it goes off and its a national development plan that could be enforced. Such sentiments were echoed by Cllr David Griffiths, Independent councillor for Gwersyllt east and south, who said: We cant please everyone, this plan doesnt please everyone. It is our plan, warts and all. There is a chance to voice concerns to an independent person. I would sooner be in the tent then outside the tent, and burying our heads in the ground. Conservative councillor and deputy leader of Wrexham Council, Hugh Jones, said there he felt the LDP was flawed in content and process. Cllr Jones said: It ignores the over stretched services of hospitals and communities. It is flawed as it ignores a whole raft of Planning Policy Wales guidance and elements of Well-being and Futures legislation. It brings forward land which five major insurance companies would refuse to give cover due to flooding risk. As a counter point had been made that blocking the progress of the LDP would be anti-democratic as it would mean the public would not get a further say Cllr Jones queried via a point of order if such a rejection and subsequent forced request from the Welsh Government would rule out any such public comments. The Legal Officer indicated that such a choice would be in the gift of Welsh Government, and would not be something that could be judged locally at that point. Cllr Kelly wrapped up the debate, with no further comment from the Officer sat by him. Councillors were asked to stand to indicate if they would support a call for a recorded vote, and with clearly more than ten councillors rising to their feet a roll call vote was backed. One by one each councillor had their name read out and called out if they were for or against the motion with the LDP vote passing. The meeting then moved to a short ten minute break while the public gallery cleared and business moved to secret Part 2 to discuss Senior Management Structure and Review of Senior Manager Pay 2019/2020. Our tweets from the meeting are below in reverse order Wrexham.com @wrexham Shorter than we were expecting debate but the LDP vote has passed so meeting about to head to Part 2 secret debate on senior pay / management structures 10 min break called link Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllrs standing to see if will be a recorded vote well over ten stand up so names will be called and recorded. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Kelly says the LDP is not the holy grail but a conduit, gives a family saying it is the oven you put the cakes in in the first place adding some sites will go into the oven and some will rise and some will not rise. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Kelly unhappy that implication from many councillors that Officers have withheld information. Adds some detailed site assessment has not been done yet and should not be expected to be done. I do not believe anything has deliberately been withheld. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Kelly takes exception to the use of the word of flawed and unsound by several councillors, The inspector will decide if the plan is flawed or unsound. Brian Wake @BrianWake1 @wrexham The inference that WAG will impose the LDP without an EIP is clearly incorrect the Legal Officer has confirmed that WAG has the power to direct an EIP how could they possibly not..??! Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Kelly as the member presenting the report gets a chance to reply along with the Officer with him. Then will move to see if it is a recorded vote (we think will be) then the vote itself. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Hugh Jones with point of order, asks if public of Wrexham will have a chance to make representations if the plan is not voted through ie. Welsh Gov take it. Legal Officer gives some guidance, so appears that would be in gift of the Welsh Gov. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Michael Dixon has read out sections of what we think is this statement. If we do not submit a plan one will be imposed on us, says will support with misgivings. No more speakers. link Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Pritchard wraps up Councillors who dont support it here today. You are denying the rights of our constituents a voice at that time and place when it goes on examination. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Pritchard says he has confidence that those against the LDP will win the day if their concerns are valid when there is an independent inspection. Adds he has issues with some of the LDP himself, but will make those at the right time. Wrexham.com @wrexham Council Leader Pritchard says he will support LDP, to a heckle of theres a surprise from public gallery. Clr Pritchard says it is important to follow democratic process & does not want anarchy and mayhem, says throwing it to Welsh Gov is the easy decision. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Graham Rogers says destiny in our own plans if plan supported and therefore will be shout of disgraceful from public gallery. Wrexham.com @wrexham Officer also unaware of the statement. (Content of the statement attached to this tweet ! ) PIC: (Click for large) Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Kelly says he is not aware of the statement. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Gwenfair Jones refers to this announcement and asks how it will affect the LDP. Cllr Kelly and Officer have a chat. link Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Atkinson says lots of people in Gresford have asked him to support the LDP, contrasts that to lots of Cllrs saying the reverse. Adds he knows of a significant number of houses to be possibly built in Gresford ahead of LDP coming in as developers want to beat the clock Wrexham.com @wrexham Tweet from the public gallery link Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Morris refers to Cllrs who have pointed out Wrexham just could not cope with a large expansion. He says infrastructure wont come before knowing where development will be taking place, which is the idea behind the LDP. We will never get a plan that satisfies 52 cllrs Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Morris refers to the Planning Policy Panel that he chairs and fed into the LDP, notes all sites voted on and all been done via the democratic process by majority vote. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Morris rises to his feet as a beeper sounds, Mayor generously gives him his full five minute allocation ! Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Skelland not supporting LDP, says plan will create a commuter workforce. Adds gypsy & traveller site in Hanmer will affect the locality. Says a dairy and goat farm are 300 yards away, plus a listed building nearby and it is not fair on local residents. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Jones disputes that letting LDP proceed today is a good thing for democracy and is misleading says 2000 of 8000 houses will be determined before the plan even comes back and it is anti democratic. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Hugh Jones says the consultation process was is also flawed. Has a pop at the Officer and fellow Exec Board member sat two metres infront of him, saying land quality issue was played down at the recent Exec Board meeting. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Hugh Jones says will not be supporting the LDP, there is evidence the plan is flawed. Claims insurance cos could refuse cover on some sites due to flood risk. Contrasts Councils own recent policy on agricultural land against plan to develop on some in the LDP. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Griffiths echos elements of Clr Davies points, sees the LDP being passed to an independent pair of eyes as a positive step. I would sooner be in the tent than outside burying my head adding it wont go away. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Davies adds this plan needs to stay local that is how we can influence it says that is true democracy (Cardiff deciding on local planning appeal issues not democratic then? ) Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Dana Davies points that this vote is to send to an independent examination not adoption, and the LDP could be chucked out during that: the elephant in the room is that is what they did with LDP1. Warns not voting for it to proceed could mean loss of local control. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Mike Davies says he wont be voting for the LDP, says he has not had a single piece of positive feedback to it from those is his ward, contrasting that to lots of negative comments. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Barrie Warburton says he has been listening to those in Gwersyllt who he represents, and therefore will be voting against the LDP. Short and sweet. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Nigel Williams unhappy with the LDP, praises Planning Policy Panel work, but unhappy several issues were not done properly due to the info from councils planning department. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Brian Cameron says will support the LDP to go forward to allow the public to have their say which would happen during the next stage. (An actual b0ooo from the public gallery) Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Parry-Jones stands with Cllr Rogers and Cllr Walsh adds I am convinced information was withheld. Says the consultation response was a loud voice from the public, warns running the risk of being a council in crisis if ignored. Gets applause. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Paul Rogers opposes the plan, says he believes there is a determination to force this through by officers. Notes a land contamination report was released last week, but only after a FOI for it was refused. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Geoff Lowe says he has serious concerns if true that officers are being selective with information shared to councillors on the LDP. Goes a little off topic asking about the quality of materials used by Wrexham Council to repair roads in Wrexham. Wrexham.com @wrexham This has just turned up in our inbox bearing in mind LDP debate is based around population figures. Wonder if Cllrs in chamber are aware of it? today I am able to announce new arrangements for calculating housing need in Wales PIC: (Click for large) Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Bryan Apsley echos previous comments, contrasts the massive cuts being made by the council to the apparent open attitude to spend to challenge covenants. Highly critical of the process in his speech, a site not in the top 75 has now become number 1! Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Tina Mannering says LDP is unsound and has concerns that Cllrs have not been given full facts, says some have been chosen, and some not given to Cllrs. Says it makes consultation by Wrexham Council like a tick box exercise. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Edwards says this is an LDP strongly pushed by Officers and adds this is not a plan about members, but what vision officers have about Wrexham. Beeper goes off indicating he has had his 5mins Mayor indicates to wrap up yeah, alright Wrexham.com @wrexham More seriously Clr Edwards notes consultation responses from 750 people about highways issues on one site, refers to Officer response to him after noting it that they have vested interests, queries the point of consultations if residents are effectively ignored. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Alan Edwards starts his point saying he has been given a wobbly table! Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Marc Jones critical of the basis of the LDP, says population projections are fundamentally wrong. Says large housing estates on A483 corridor will suit developers but not the people of Wrexham. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Harper says there has been 20 years of overdevelopment in this town and public are against further development. If the Welsh Gov want this plan, let them endorse it Says Lesley Griffiths AM should explain the concreting over of the town if WG did take it up. Wrexham.com @wrexham 47 now as Cllr Hemmings has arrived ! Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Harper asks Cllrs if they have been to A&E lately, and how WCBC services would cope with a 20% housing growth noting the plan with the bleak public finances locally and nationally. Adds road networks are gridlock anyway without the extra demand if plan delivered. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Walsh says many cllrs have told him they think the LDP is weak but will be voting for it anyway, says they are failing in their duty if they take that course of action. Says not in my name and urges others not to vote for it. Asks for recorded vote. Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Pritchard seconds the report, and the floor is opened for speakers. Cllr Walsh is first with hand up, says opposition is not due to gypsy and traveller site says rejected sites have been readded to the LDP with no explanation. Reads out huge list of issues he has with it. Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Kelly runs Cllrs through the LDP overview report. If agreed today LDP will be submitted at the end of month. Examination in public will start Spring through to the Summer. Acknowledges concerns of Cllrs, asks to consider a bigger picture & warns of predatory development. Wrexham.com @wrexham 46 councillors in the room at the start of the debate, Cllr Lowe declared personal and prejudicial interest and left the meeting before the item. Others sent apologies. Wrexham.com @wrexham The early business gives indication of how this debate and vote is being treated Legal Officer is reminding cllrs what a point of order actually is or is not. Shame, as there are some entertaining ones chucked out sometimes Wrexham.com @wrexham Some Cllrs running late due to parking problems not 100% sure but sometimes the members car park is used when the lights switch on is on, are they having to park like normal people today?! Wrexham.com @wrexham Mayor opens meeting asking for a decent LDP debate says each councillor will get one time slot of five minutes each warns of a little background noise from lights switch on. Will do headcount, but in theory limits meeting to 4+ hrs (!) Wrexham.com @wrexham More and more public turning up banners banned in public gallery so here is a sample from outside earlier PIC: (Click for large) Wrexham.com @wrexham One of the biggest votes in years in this chamber no Newsquest (Leader) Reach (Daily Post) BBC / ITV or any other media here. Assume all are watching the webcast Good turn out in public gallery from members of public tho! He said Rico encouraged him to get his teeth fixed at the Friedman Dental Group and drove him to and from the place. Rico told him that if he got his teeth fixed, hed look better for conducting fraudulent transactions at other locations in Florida. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) There are many Native Americans right here in the Capital City. This holiday season, some are blending parts of their culture and working with other traditions, like the big Thanksgiving feast. Thelma Bowers left her Muscogee Creek tribe in Oklahoma to be with her husband, a Seminole. "I didn't know what to expect moving to Tallahassee. Tallahassee is a creek word and there are so many mounds still in this area," said Bowers. Like Bowers, Kathy Atkinson left her Iroqua tribe in Upstate New York. "I had 4 children and I wanted them to see what the culture was outside of the tribe, so we moved," said Atkinson. But despite leaving the tribe, Atkinson wanted her children to remember their roots. "We do a lot of cultural work, a lot of cultural bead work. This is just an example, this is part of a moccasin I started," said Atkinson. Atkinson also said "a lot of the different Native American tribes celebrate Thanksgiving and a lot of them don't because with the cultural changes in a lot of Native Americans not being recognized, for who they are, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving." Bowers said she wants to continue to bring recognition to Native cultures and ideals. "I don't doubt that the natives that did encounter those coming over and wanting to help them. You see your fellow humans coming over and dying. I don't think that's far from who we are as a people at all," said Bowers. Both Bowers and Atkinson will celebrate this year, saying that being helping and giving thanks is a big part of every Native American's culture. Both women work for the Florida Governor's Council on Indian Affairs and said that with organizations like that, they want to continue to shine a light on a forgotten group. The government on Wednesday formally started dismantling a foundation set up under an agreement with Japan to compensate victims of wartime sexual slavery. "The agreement was signed without reflecting the views of victims," the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said. "We are starting the process of dismantling the foundation in accordance with the views of the victims." The government has settled for an uneasy halfway house whereby it will not cancel the bilateral agreement, which was struck in murky circumstances by the Park Geun-hye administration, but will not honor it either. "The agreement cannot be a genuine solution to the wartime sex slavery issue. But there's been no change in our decision neither to abrogate it nor to request a renegotiation since it is a formal agreement between the two countries," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. There was anger in Tokyo at the decision to disband the foundation, which was set up with 1 billion yen from the Japanese government to indirectly compensate the victims without admitting guilt for the atrocity. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters, "If a promise made internationally cannot be kept, it will be impossible to form relations between countries." The agreement was a "final, irreversible resolution" of the wartime sex slavery issue, he said. "I hope Korea will act with responsibility as a member of the international community." Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba summoned Korean Ambassador to Tokyo, Lee Su-hoon, to make a formal protest. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters during a press briefing, "We'll continue to ask Seoul persistently to implement the agreement." An Afghan security force member stands guard at the site of a suicide bombing in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on Nov. 20, 2018. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah) UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms" the terrorist attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul that targeted a gathering of religious scholars. At least 43 people were killed and 83 others injured in the bombing that struck a hotel in Kabul amid a meeting of religious scholars to celebrate the Miladun Nabi or the birthday of Prophet Mohammad. Several top clerics were reportedly among the victims. The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government of Afghanistan, and they wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured, said the 15-nation council in a press statement. The council members underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice, and urged all UN member states to cooperate actively with the Afghan government and all other relevant authorities in this regard. The council members reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and stressed the need for all states to combat by all means threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 00:44:20|Editor: yan Video Player Close LILONGWE, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Bodies of the six UN Malawi soldiers who were killed during peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on November 14 arrived home on Wednesday. The plane carrying the fallen soldiers' bodies touched down at Kamuzu International Airport in Malawi capital at exactly 11:58 local time. Each of the six caskets was draped in the UN flag and they were welcomed by President Peter Mutharika, UN Resident Coordinator in Malawi Maria Jose Torres, government officials and family members. In her remarks, the UN Resident Coordinator described the death of the six UN Malawi soldiers as "unprecedented tragedy" for Malawi, a country that has over 900 men and women troops among more than 17,000 troops currently serving in peacekeeping operations in the UN. "The UN Security Council has expressed that the attack is war crime and they have asked the armed forces to lay down arms and cease all forms of violence," said Torres, adding: "The UN Secretary General has encouraged the Congolese authorities to take necessary measures to bring to justice the perpetrators of this act to book." She paid "heartfelt condolence" to the bereft families of the six soldiers and also wished well all the peacekeeping soldiers who had sustained injuries during the November 14 combat with the rebels in the DRC. In his remarks, President Mutharika described Wednesday, November 21 as "very sad and painful day" for all Malawians. He described the soldiers as "heroes of Africa" who had fought to their last breath in search for peace. He thanked the UN family and all regional leaders on the continent for mourning together with Malawi through the many condolence messages and flowers they had sent to the Malawi leader. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 00:49:20|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close Guo Ce (1st L), economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese embassy in Kenya, speaks during an event to conduct an end of year evaluation of Chinese technical assistance in training and capacity development in Kenya, in Nairobi, Kenya, on Nov. 21, 2018. China has made significant contribution to help bridge skills gap in Kenya by offering training opportunities for the country's youth and civil servants, Guo Ce said on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Yu) NAIROBI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- China has made significant contribution to help bridge skills gap in Kenya by offering training opportunities for the country's youth and civil servants, a Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday. Guo Ce, economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese embassy in Kenya, said that development of a highly trained workforce has been at the heart of cooperation between Beijing and the east Africa's largest economy. "As one of the most promising resources of Kenya, human resource has always been an important area of deepening practical cooperation between China and Kenya," said Guo. He spoke in Nairobi during an event to conduct an end of year evaluation of Chinese technical assistance in training and capacity development in Kenya. Senior Kenyan officials attended the ceremony to take stock of China funded technical training opportunities that has benefited public servants of all ranks, students and local staff employed by companies from the Asian country. Guo said that nearly 10,000 Kenyan government officials have visited China to participate in training seminars under the Foreign Aid Human Resources Training Program launched by the ministry of commerce in 2001. "After studying in China, many officials have been promoted or transferred to more important posts, and a lot of people hope to continue their studies in China," said Guo. He noted that China funded skills upgrade and vocational training programs have deepened friendship with Kenya while hastening the country's socio-economic transformation. "We are willing to continue to explore more convenient and efficient training platforms and strengthen human resources cooperation with Kenya," said Guo. Kenya is banking on closer cooperation with China in the area of human resources development to modernize the public sector and boost service delivery. Simon Angote, acting secretary of human resources division in the state department for public service, said that China funded skills upgrade for Kenyan civil servants has enhanced their competence in strategic areas like trade, energy, telecommunications, diplomacy and security. "It is worth noting that the 2019 proposed bilateral (Kenya specific) short-term training programs (to be offered alongside the multilateral programs) focuses on supporting the government's big four agenda," said Angote. He said that an evaluation undertaken by the government two years ago revealed a huge demand for Chinese scholarships by Kenyan public servants since they enhanced their performance. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 00:54:22|Editor: yan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will host a regional annual East Africa procurement forum next week in Nairobi to discuss the current reforms, trends and developments in the public procurement systems, organizers said on Wednesday. The three-day event, which runs from Nov. 28 brings together about 300 participants from the public and private sectors, professional bodies, civil society and training institutions, among others from Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Maurice Juma, director general of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), said the overall objective of the forum being providing a platform on which stakeholders will deliberate on issues aimed at strengthening integrity, transparency and accountability in national procurement systems within the East Africa Community (EAC) region. "The forum is expected to come up with resolutions to be implemented by partner states to strengthen integrity and accountability in national procurement systems within the EAC region," he said in a statement issued in Nairobi. Juma said the delegates intend to root for the usage of information technology to address corruption in the procurement system. He said the main goals of the forum include highlighting the key issues affecting the transformation and modernization of the public procurement systems; forging a common front among EAC member states on the value of public procurement for the promotion of good governance; and professionalization of procurement practice through legal mechanisms. The meeting comes at a time Kenya has amended the law twice to conform to the trends of the times and largely to as well create employment opportunities for her citizens, notably the youth and women. The government says its committed and has already put structures in place that ensure new spending through small and medium enterprise suppliers with an intent to widen public sector procurement to include SMEs. "Our ambition is that at least 30 percent of spend on government procurement flows to SMEs directly in the supply chain as this would complement the strategy of youth and women employment in the country," Juma said. The forum is convened on a rotational basis by the public procurement regulatory institutions within the EAC partner states. Since its inception in 2008, the forum has provided a vital framework for information and experience sharing amongst the participants drawn from the procurement and supply chain management policy makers, regulators, and practitioners in public and private sector. Kenya, through the PPRA, is hosting the event for the third time, having done so in 2009 and 2014. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 01:19:26|Editor: yan Video Player Close CAIRO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A delegation from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) praised on Wednesday Egyptian government's achievements in Suez Canal Corridor projects. Egypt's official MENA news agency reported that the delegation, which paid a visit to the Suez Canal area, also hailed the investment opportunities in the projects. Concluding its two-day visit in Suez Canal cities of Ismailia and Port Said, the delegation expressed willingness to pump new money for investments in Egypt's infrastructure sector. Egyptian Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr, who accompanied the delegation, said that the Egyptian government is working to attract more investors to invest in the country's mega projects, mainly renewable energy, sewage networks, land reclamation and fish farming, according to MENA. For his part, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority and the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) Mohab Mamish said that Egypt is keen to deepen cooperation with the AIIB in order to develop the infrastructure of the SCZone. The AIIB delegation and Egyptian officials toured a number of projects in the SCZone, including fish farms and the East Port Said Port. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 01:34:29|Editor: yan Video Player Close DUBAI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals on Wednesday sentenced British student Matthew Hedges to life in jail on charges that he was spying for Britain, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM). The defendant appeared before court in the presence of representatives from the British embassy, the report cited Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi as saying. Al Shamsi added that the sentence is not final and according to UAE laws the suspect has the right to appeal before the Federal Supreme Court for retrial. Matthew Hedges, a 31-year-old PhD student at Durham University, was arrested at Dubai airport on May 5 and referred in October to trial by the UAE attorney general on charges of "spying for a foreign state in an act that jeopardizes the military, economic and political position of the UAE." "The accused came to the UAE under the guise of being an academic researcher to secure confidential information to potentially pass to a foreign country," Al Shamsi said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 01:54:34|Editor: yan Video Player Close VILNIUS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Lithuanian government approved on Wednesday the legislation, opening doors for the buyout of the country's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal's floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) which Lithuania currently leases. The legislation allows the country's state operated company Klaipedos Nafta to purchase the FSRU vessel named Independence by the end of 2024. The vessel is a part of the country's strategic LNG terminal built to ensure diversification of natural gas sources and Lithuania's energy independence. Currently, Lithuania leases the FSRU vessel from Norwegian company Hoegh LNG. Before making the decision, Lithuania had been considering options of whether to continue leasing the vessel or purchasing it. The Lithuanian Energy Ministry argues that the purchase would help cutting the costs of operating the vessel. The annual operation costs of the vessel amount to around 66 million euros, and decision to purchase the vessel would cut the costs by around 20 million euros. "This decision is based on rational logics, thorough calculations, is of strategic importance and most importantly useful for all gas consumers," said Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas in a statement on Wednesday. The country's LNG terminal in Klaipeda Seaport, western Lithuania, and its FSRU vessel Independence officially started its commercial operations on the first day of 2015 in order to provide energy independence from Russian gas. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 03:24:49|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close Photo taken on Nov. 14, 2018 shows the 13-year-old Rashwan Abu Ammar (R), who has recently been released from the Islamic State (IS) captivity, sitting next to his brother and mother, in the town of Shbeki in Sweida province, Syria. For Feryal Abu Ammar, her release from the captivity of the Islamic State (IS) militant group along with her five children wasn't the end of her grief. (Xinhua/Hummam Sheikh Ali) SWEIDA, Syria, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- For Feryal Abu Ammar, her release from the captivity of the Islamic State (IS) militant group along with her five children wasn't the end of her grief. The traumatic memories of her husband and son being killed in front of her eyes have remained there even after she returned home. The woman and her five children were among the 30 people taken hostage by the IS during its sudden attack on July 25 in villages in the east of the southern province of Sweida. Speaking to Xinhua following her recent release during a Syrian military operation against the IS militants in the desert, Abu Ammar recounted horrifying minutes ahead of her kidnapping from the village of Shbeki as well as her captivity. She said before daybreak on July 25, she was woken up by heavy gunfire in the small village. Initially, she thought thieves were stealing sheep. Soon afterwards, they realized it was an IS attack, as the militants stormed houses and killed people who attempted to defend themselves. Her husband and son also held hunting rifles in defense of the household, before attackers broke in and managed to seize all of them. Hustling them from the house to another location in the village, the IS militants shot her husband and son in their heads. Abu Ammar said she lost nine of her extended family members during the IS surprise attack on the village. "We lived four months in a nerve-racking situation and every passing day felt like an entire year," she recounted. "Being freed after my kidnapping makes me grateful ... My daughters and I are still in disbelief that we finally managed to get back," she added. In fact, the transient happiness from the release was soon overwhelmed by the bigger losses. "The minute of our release was the happiest of our lives but when we returned home and remembered my husband and my son who died in front of us, the world became smaller in my eyes as those who had gone cannot be replaced," the woman said. Her 18-year-old daughter Merry said during IS captivity she kept encouraging her mother and younger siblings that they would all be free one day. "I was always hopeful and I used to tell my mother and siblings that one day we will be back home for sure and that the Syrian army will come to help us," Merry told Xinhua. Her brother Rashwan, 13, who was the only boy among the five children during captivity, said he felt responsible for his sisters and mother during those difficult times. Abu Ammar's another son Nashwan is the only one who escaped the kidnapping because he was working in Lebanon when the attack happened. Nashwan said he could hardly enter the house full of happy memories after his families were kidnapped. "I couldn't enter the house as it was empty and the last time I remembered was full of life when my father used to receive guests ... After the kidnapping, life has become pitch black in my eyes," the Syrian man, in his 30s, recounted. Following the hostages' release on Nov. 9, the Syrian army conducted a broader offensive and eliminated almost all IS militants in the desert region of Sweida. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 03:39:51|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIRUT, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Wednesday night called for stopping "wasting time" and forming the cabinet immediately. "Lebanon is undergoing a government formation crisis ... (which) makes us lose time irreversibly, and blocks our abilities to produce and follow up the interests and affairs of the country and the citizens, in particular to address the economic situation," Aoun said in his national address on the occasion of the 75th Independence Day. "Lebanon does not have anymore the luxury of wasting time," he stressed. Meanwhile, Aoun pledged to create a productive economy for Lebanon. "It is no longer possible to ... postpone the desired reform at all levels, especially that the national economic plan has become clear and awaits schemes and decisions in the cabinet and parliament," the president said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 03:44:52|Editor: yan Video Player Close by Bedah Mengo NAIROBI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- When Judith Boke gave birth to her first son seven years ago, she bought baby diapers occasionally, using them only at night because the items were pricey. "I used to buy a pack of 32 for about 800 shillings (7.8 U.S. dollars), which was expensive, so I agreed with my husband that we use nappies most of the time," she said on Wednesday. Today, Boke is finding her life much easier when nursing her two-month-old baby boy. She can afford to use diapers throughout the day as prices have dropped markedly after Chinese brands entered the market of the east African country. The Chinese-made diapers are among myriad products from the Asian nation that have won the hearts of Kenyans. From clothes, furniture, house fittings and motorbikes to electronic items like TVs, radios and mobile phones and motorbikes, the Chinese-made imports have offered Kenyans affordable and quality options. Besides, they offer employment to hundreds of dealers selling them. In downtown Nairobi, Kenya's capital, quite a a number of shops sell items imported from China. At the OTC bus station, several shops lined up in a lane next to the terminus are manned with up to three people, one taking cash and the rest attending to customers. There are at least 10 shops at the lane nicknamed Beijing. At one of the shops, attendant George Kamau is overwhelmed by customers amid brisk business. "You can take an alternative diaper brand because the one you want is out of stock. It is as good as the other one," he told a Somali woman on Wednesday, who was buying goods in wholesale for resale. Away from OTC terminus, on River Road, another set of shops selling various Chinese-made items are lined up on the streets. Several mobile phone shops are selling products from Chinese phone giants that include Tecno, Xiaomi and Huawei. "This is brand new from China and you get it at the best price, only 45 dollars and you have a phone that has a camera, big screen, touch and radio. With this you will have no problem taking selfies," a saleswoman said at a shop as she marketed a Tecno phone. As markets and shops in the East African nation teem with Chinese-made goods making both buyers and sellers happy, Chinese-made motorbikes have also offered thousands of Kenyans jobs. The Motorcycle Assemblers Association of Kenya and the ministry of transport estimate that there are close to 800,000 motorbike taxis, commonly known as boda bodas, on Kenyan roads, more than three quarters of which are imported from China. Each rider makes an average of 9.8 dollars a day, which means the drivers are generating at least 7 million dollars a day. The association estimates that some 5 million people across Kenya depend on the motorbikes for transport every day, as they offer livelihood to thousands of others who comprise of boda boda riders' families. "I bought my first bike made in China at 590 dollars from someone, which was secondhand, but from that machine I have been able to get two more in two years. I have now employed two people," said boda boda driver David Kiarie. Henry Wandera, an economics lecturer in Nairobi, attributed Kenya's love for Chinese goods to their affordability and quality. "Kenyans embraced Chinese brands because they are affordable and of good quality. With incomes shrinking for some people and others stagnating, the Chinese goods are offering good bargains to consumers and jobs to the sellers," he said. At least 800,000 jobs were created in Kenya last year, according to the Economic Survey 2018, the majority of which were in the informal sector where traders selling the Chinese items belong. With imports on the rise, more jobs are expected to be created this year and in the years ahead. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data show the value of imports from China last year stood at 3.8 billion dollars, up from 3.2 billion dollars in 2016. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 03:49:54|Editor: yan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Libya's state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Wednesday that unidentified gunmen on Tuesday attacked Sharara oil field in southern Libya, causing no human casualties. "Sharara oilfield sub-station B-6NC-186 was attacked around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, by an armed group of eight men. No employees were hurt in this attack or production affected," NOC said in a statement. The attackers stole vehicles and cellphones from the employees, the statement said, adding that local authorities are investigating into the incident for the identities of the attackers. "This incident serves to show the ongoing need for heightened security at NOC and subsidiary facilities," said NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla. Sharara is the largest oil field in Libya, with a production of 270,000 barrels of crude oil per day, more than a quarter of Libya's daily production. The field has been attacked by militants several times, and was once shut down by protesters. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 04:14:57|Editor: yan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Libyan navy said on Wednesday that dozens of illegal immigrants refusing to leave a cargo ship that rescued them were forcibly evacuated. "During the past 12 days, Libyan authorities have used all peaceful ways to convince the illegal immigrants to leave the ship which has been in Misurata port since Nov. 9," the Navy spokesman Ayob Qassem told Xinhua. "The illegal immigrants were taken to a number of reception centers" after being "forcefully disembarked," he said. Libya has become a preferred departure point for illegal immigrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe because of insecurity and chaos in the North African country following the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi. Shelters in Libya are crowded with thousands of illegal immigrants rescued at sea or arrested by the Libyan security services. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 04:19:58|Editor: yan Video Player Close BERLIN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Cities in Germany are once again becoming more attractive for the industrial production sector, a study published on Wednesday by the Hans Boeckler Foundation finds. "Major cities are experiencing significantly more new industrial foundations than other regions of Germany," a statement by the foundation read. Berlin, Munich and cities along the Rhine and Ruhr rivers in particular were found in the study to be highly attractive locations for the creation of new jobs in the German manufacturing industry. The findings were based on an analysis of company foundations between 2012 and 2016 was conducted by researchers at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) and the Technical University of Berlin. "We have a long phase of mass production behind us with a high demand for large spaces," Martin Gornig, deputy head of the firms and markets department at DIW, explained the post-war decline in industrial activity which was previously witnessed in cities. The trend marked a significant departure from the beginnings of automated mass manufacturing during the so-called industrial revolution in Europe. Throughout the 19th century, most newly-established factories were still located in densely-populated areas with large local consumer bases and good links to important maritime- or land transportation networks. According to Gornig, technological change could now tip the scales in favor of German cities again as the most promising locus of industrial production. "If we are able to produce small series with digital technology it will be a competitive advantage to be close to the customer," he said. Nevertheless, the study cautioned against overblown expectations of industrial renewal in urban centers. For such a development fully unfold, companies would require secure access to venture capital, knowledge and skilled workers and overcome a shortage of available commercial space. Gornig also noted that it remained a subject of debate whether promoting cities as industrial hubs was actually a sensible regional policy. Given that these already tended to serve as major service sector hubs, structurally weaker rural areas were at risk of "being left behind even more" if manufacturing increasingly began to move to cities as well. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 04:35:02|Editor: yan Video Player Close TIRANA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The unemployment rate in Albania is at the lowest level in the last 10 years, Albanian Minister of Finance and Economy Arben Ahmetaj said on Wednesday. Ahmetaj made this statement during a meeting with the National Labor Council. The unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2018 is 12.4 percent, according to Albania's Statistics Institute. According to Ahmetaj, the major challenge is vocational training, which has lacked in the Albanian market. The minister said that the government and the ministry will offer free courses in vocational training. "We will reintegrate people out of work in the job market and support all those who find it impossible to get a job and have no other sources of income but welfare," stated Ahmetaj. According to Ahmetaj, the data on the labor market are a reflection of the economic growth and development as a whole. Moreover, according to the minister, the economic growth goes hand in hand with increase of employment. "Roughly 35 percent of jobs have been created in the last 4 years," said Ahmetaj. "In the first 9 months of 2018, according to annual payroll obtained by tax office, there are 661,000 employees in Albania," added Ahmetaj. "The 2019 budget foresees a further reduction to below 12 percent to the unemployment rate and to create over 30,000 new jobs," Ahmetaj said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 04:50:08|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close United Nations General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces speaks at a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, on Nov. 21, 2018. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces on Wednesday called for a specific outcome at next month's UN climate conference in Katowice, Poland. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- UN General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces on Wednesday called for a specific outcome at next month's UN climate conference in Katowice, Poland. "What we expect in Katowice is to have a strong agreed program of work for the Paris Agreement (on climate change)," she told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York. "It requires a lot of political will, a lot of commitment, a lot of flexibility in the negotiations." Espinosa, who will be in Katowice for the opening of the climate conference, said climate action is urgent. The world needs to act as quickly as possible toward a green economy and to generate low-carbon technologies, which are good for both the environment and economic growth, she said. Espinosa also saw the need for a cultural shift in production and consumption patterns to stop temperatures from increasing 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. "Climate change is a survival issue," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 05:50:24|Editor: yan Video Player Close SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- African governments on Wednesday called for bringing local communities into ecosystem management at the 14th meeting of Convention on Biological Diversity held in Egypt's Red Sea resort town of Sharm El Sheikh. Lucy Mulenkei, co-chair of the international indigenous people's forum on biodiversity, said excluding indigenous communities will lead to failures in achieving the global goals. Indigenous communities' efforts to conserve the environment should be recognized by engaging them fully as key partners in the framework of biodiversity protection, said Mulenkei. Indigenous communities have played a leading role in conserving the forests and environment in general, through their sustainable and planned use of the concerned products, she added. Mulenkei also urged the inclusion of youths and women in the projects of diversity conservation, as they interact with the ecosystem on a daily basis. This year's UN biodiversity meeting, held from Nov. 13-29, calls on decision makers from more than 190 countries to increase efforts to halt biodiversity loss and protect the ecosystem. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 06:05:26|Editor: yan Video Player Close TIRANA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Albanian government on Wednesday launched a campaign for no violence against women and domestic violence under the slogan "Orange the world! Hear me too". Albanian Minister of Health and Social Protection, Ogerta Manastirliu, said in a meeting with the National Council on Gender Equality that the increasing number of cases reporting violence against women is a proof of the confidence in state institutions. According to Manastirliu, in the first 10 months of 2018, there were a total of 4,182 violence referrals, of which 2500 were lawsuits. "Increase of reported gender-based violence cases is further proof of increased confidence in state structures but also of our responsibility to act swiftly and make the voice of any woman heard," Manastirliu said. Manastirliu said that mechanisms for handling the gender-based violence cases have been set up in 39 municipalities in Albania and 10 others are to be set up in 2019. This picture taken on Nov. 21, 2018 shows an excavator of the Jerusalem municipality demolishing one of over a dozen shops in the Arab-inhabited Shuafat refugee camp in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. (AFP photo) RAMALLAH, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee Wednesday slammed the demolition of 20 commercial buildings in Shufat refugee camp in East Jerusalem. Israel's demolition in the camp is considered "waging war against the camp under unlawful pretexts of lack of construction permits," said Ahmad Abu Holy, who is in charge of the PLO's Refugees Affairs Department, in a statement. He described the Israeli move as "a dangerous and systematic crime and a part of Israel's practice of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem." This picture taken on Nov. 21, 2018 shows two excavators of the Jerusalem municipality demolishing one of over a dozen shops in the Arab-inhabited Shuafat refugee camp in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. (AFP photo) A large number of Israeli troops with bulldozers carried out a wide demolition operation in Shufat refugee camp Wednesday morning, leveling to the ground 20 commercial building including shops and businesses belonging to Palestinian refugees, and a source of living for at least dozens of families. Khader Al-Dibs, Shuafat refugee camp popular committee's public relations coordinator, told Xinhua that "this demolition is a new episode in the implementation of Israel's plan to take over the refugee camp by stopping the services offered by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), and eventually Judaize the entire city and force its people out of it." According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel has approved only 1.5 percent of the construction building permits called by the Palestinians in the city. Last September, former Israeli mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barakat declared a plan to shut down UNRWA services in the city, in contradiction of international law, mostly targeting Shuafat refugee camp, which is home to nearly 24,000 Palestinian refugees. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 06:30:29|Editor: yan Video Player Close VALLETTA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Maltese customs authorities had seized 44 kg of cocaine in Malta on its way from Ecuador to Cyprus, it was revealed on Wednesday. Malta Customs said in a statement that the street value is calculated to be 4.5 million euros (5.1 million U.S. dollars). The drugs were found in a refrigerated container, which was behind a panel above the refrigerant compressor. A total of 35 individual packets weighing a total of 44 kg were elevated. The substance was tested and preliminary results point to a positive indication for cocaine. The case was handed over to the police Drug Squad for further investigation. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 06:45:31|Editor: yan Video Player Close LONDON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Britain's newest major museum, the V&A Dundee, is host the first ever exhibition to focus on the complexity of videogames as one of the most important design fields of the age, it was announced Wednesday. The museum which opened earlier in September said videogames, robots and the future of design will be explored in its 2019 international exhibition program. One of the highlights of its videogames event, which runs from April 20 to September 8 will be a spectacular show, Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt. The museum in north east Scotland hopes its first full-year program will attract many of the estimated. 2.2 billion people who play videogames worldwide, from commuters playing on mobile phones to eSports professionals watched by tens of thousands of spectators. The exhibition will focus on videogames designed and developed since the mid-2000s when major technological advancements transformed the way games are designed, discussed and played. From multi-million-dollar blockbuster titles to smaller independent games and the work of DIY artists from a hacker/maker culture, the exhibition will explore current international debates as well as the creative contributions made to game culture by the players themselves. As part of the program, V&A Dundee today called on designers with a link to Scotland to submit proposals for a digital game commission that explores character development and the idea of self in videogames. Later in 2019 V&A Dundee will examine the current boom in robotics with the exhibition Hello, Robot, the first time the event has been featured in Britain. Design between Human and Machine which will run from November 2 to February 2020 the groundbreaking exhibition will investigate the science and fiction of robots and looks at how they are changing the world we live in. Posing a series of provocative questions, the event explores how popular culture has shaped the perception of robots and artificial humans, the impact the technology has had on industry and the increasing blurring of the boundaries between human and machine. "The exhibition shows the startling impact robots have already had on our world from fashion to architecture and even social care. Hello, Robot. Design between Human and Machine gives a comprehensive look at the current state of robotics and provides a fascinating vision of the future," said a spokesperson for V&A Dundee. Home Just In Dahal says its only his party that wants to develop country Chitwan, November 22 Ruling Nepal Communist Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal says only his party has the aim of developing the country. Dahal made the statement as he welcomed some cadres of Nepali Congress and Rastriya Prajatantra Party to his party in his home city, Bharatpur of Chitwan, on Thursday morning. On the occasion, he assured people that the government under his partys leadership was currently reviewing its performance, and the results would appear soon in the form of improvements. He said the government was serious about addressing problems of landless and squatters. In a different context, the lawmaker representing Chitwan-3 in the House of Representatives said he would blacktop all roads in the district within next five years. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 06:55:32|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Michel Kafando (front), the United Nations Secretary-General's special envoy for Burundi, briefs the UN Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York, Nov. 21, 2018. The top UN envoy for Burundi said Wednesday that the situation in the African country remains fragile as a result of lack of trust and dialogue between the government and opposition. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The 2020 elections in Burundi must be free, inclusive, democratic and peaceful as well as credible, said Jurg Lauber, chair of the Burundi configuration of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, on Wednesday. "The elections of 2020 are already very much at the center of political attention in Burundi. It will be crucial for the future of the country that these elections be free, inclusive, democratic and peaceful, and that their results enjoy high legitimacy primarily inside the country, but also internationally," Lauber, who is Swiss ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council. "I encourage the government of Burundi and its international partners to pursue their discussions about possible forms of assistance which the country may need in order to ensure the conduct of successful elections." The announcement of President Pierre Nkurunziza not to seek re-election in 2020 was a significant development, said Lauber, who visited the country at the beginning of the month. Leaders of the ruling party confirmed the intention of the president during his trip, said Lauber. Some interlocutors expressed the hope that this announcement would contribute to easing the tensions among political actors ahead of the 2020 elections, he said. He was not able to meet Nkurunziza due to "a last-minute change" in the president's schedule, said Lauber. But he said the upcoming elections should not distract from the fact that the socio-economic development of the country continues to require more attention and additional efforts. Burundi's international partners in Bujumbura unanimously welcomed the fact that the government had issued a new National Development Plan. The plan has the potential to contribute to the well-being of the Burundian population and to enable an increased cooperation between the government and its international partners, he said. "I encourage the government of Burundi and their partners to engage in an open and substantive strategic dialogue on the implementation of the plan, followed by sector-specific discussions on concrete projects. I also encourage bilateral and multilateral partners and the government of Burundi to continue their dialogue with a view to creating conducive conditions for the resumption of suspended assistance." He also stressed the importance of an orderly and voluntary return of Burundian refugees and the realization of human rights. The Burundi configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission remains committed to facilitating the dialogue between the government of Burundi and their international partners on all the issues, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 07:05:34|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's UN envoy on Wednesday expressed concern about the collateral damage of the Security Council's sanctions imposed on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the country's humanitarian situation. "Despite humanitarian exemptions that exist in the resolutions in the sanctions regime, there are still reports of adverse, indirect impacts of the sanctions on the humanitarian situation (in the DPRK)," Olof Skoog, the Swedish permanent representative to the UN, told reporters after the council held a consultation on the work of its committee monitoring the sanction scheme. Skoog further said the process allowing for exemptions to deliver aid is "a bit cumbersome," adding that humanitarian agencies are concerned about the delays in the committee for approving such exemptions. At Wednesday's consultation, the UN relief wing, or OCHA, briefed the council members on the humanitarian situation in the country. "The humanitarian situation is dire," said the Swedish envoy, noting the international community needs to do its utmost to provide life-saving support for the population. Chronic under-funding is hampering the humanitarian effort in the DPRK, Skoog said, urging all countries to come in with financial support to OCHA and to the agencies operating in the country and beyond. "No one is supporting sanctions that are hurting the civilian population," Skoog said. In July, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said during his trip to the DPRK that the country has made a lot of progress in improving on the humanitarian front since 2012, although challenges remain regarding child malnutrition as well as the lack of safe water and medical supplies. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 07:10:36|Editor: mmm Video Player Close GABORONE, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Botswana's development partner, has pledged support for the country's human rights promotion and protection, a senior government official said Wednesday. Nonofo Molefhi, Botswana's minister of presidential affairs, governance and public administration, made the remarks in his opening speech during the two-day Symposium on National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) for Botswana in Gaborone, Botswana's capital city. "This symposium comes at an opportune time when we have made strides as a country, in moving towards the transformation of the Office of the Ombudsman of Botswana into a hybrid institution dealing with human rights promotion and protection," he said. In 2014, Botswana made a commitment to expand the mandate of the Ombudsman to incorporate a human rights mandate following Botswana government's acceptance of recommendations made during the second cycle review under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva of Switzerland in 2013. One of the recommendations was for Botswana to establish a national human rights institution in accordance with the Paris Principles. The same recommendation was repeated at the third cycle UPR in January 2018. The Paris Principles refer to certain broad principles to which an institution is subjected, for purposes of accreditation through the UNHRC mechanisms which include a broad mandate based on universal human rights standards, autonomy from government, independence guaranteed by legislation or constitution. The human rights institution should guarantee pluralism including through membership and effective cooperation, adequate resources and adequate powers of investigation. "To this end, Government of Botswana and the UNDP have signed a 4 year program to support the fulfillment of human rights, access to justice and empowerment of youth and women projects, which will provide support for the expansion of the Ombudsman's mandate," he said. This initiative will result in, among others, the amendment of the Ombudsman Act, according to Molefhi. Jacinta Barrins, the UNDP resident coordinator in Botswana, said the global body is assisting the southern African country with the much-needed funding to research on human rights issues and the general setting up of the institution. Barrins said some Batswana (citizens of Botswana) are currently undergoing intense training sessions in Geneva. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 07:15:37|Editor: mmm Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said on Wednesday that peace talks to terminate conflicts in Yemen were likely to take place in early December in Sweden. "It looks like very, very early in December up in Sweden we'll see both the Houthi rebel side and the UN-recognized-President Hadi's government will be up there," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon. "The Saudis and the Emiratis are fully on board," the Pentagon chief added. Currently, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels both declared a temporary halt of fighting to pave the way for the peace talks, which will seek to end the Yemeni civil war that has killed thousands of people and brought the impoverished Arab country to its knees. UN Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths told the Security Council on Friday that he intends to convene the new round of peace talks between the warring factions "shortly" in Sweden in a bid to end the military conflict in Yemen. The fighting for the control of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah erupted following the collapse of the peacemaking efforts by the UN in Geneva on Sept. 8, as the Houthi rebels refused to attend. The military conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital of Sanaa by the Houthis, which forced Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. The Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 07:27:54|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close Children use azuki bean, corn and glutinous rice to make a kind of traditional food during an activity at a kindergarten in Lijiaxiang Township of Changxing County, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 21, 2018. The activity was held Wednesday to greet the light snow, one of the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar calendar. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Displaced people from Hodeidah ride in a vehicle in Sanaa, Yemen, Nov. 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed) WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said on Wednesday that peace talks to terminate conflicts in Yemen were likely to take place in early December in Sweden. "It looks like very, very early in December up in Sweden we'll see both the Houthi rebel side and the UN-recognized-President Hadi's government will be up there," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon. "The Saudis and the Emiratis are fully on board," the Pentagon chief added. Currently, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels both declared a temporary halt of fighting to pave the way for the peace talks, which will seek to end the Yemeni civil war that has killed thousands of people and brought the impoverished Arab country to its knees. UN Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths told the Security Council on Friday that he intends to convene the new round of peace talks between the warring factions "shortly" in Sweden in a bid to end the military conflict in Yemen. The fighting for the control of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah erupted following the collapse of the peacemaking efforts by the UN in Geneva on Sept. 8, as the Houthi rebels refused to attend. The military conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital of Sanaa by the Houthis, which forced Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. The Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 08:05:45|Editor: mmm Video Player Close SYDNEY, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Australia's first commercial payload rocket has taken off in the state of Queensland on Wednesday, marking what many hope will be the start of a developing industry. The launch, which took place in the outback border region of the state, was a test by company Black Sky Aerospace of it's Sighter190 rocket, sending a number of commercial products including sensors to extreme heights. "This Sighter190 research rocket is the first in Australia to catapult a commercial payload sky high, and that's happening right here in our own backyard in Queensland," state minister for Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning Cameron Dick said. "Black Sky Aerospace is proof Queensland can play a leading role in designing and manufacturing rocket and satellite technologies, including for projects like data collection for the communications, farming and mining industries." The four-meter long rocket travelled to around 5,180 meters, breaking the sound barrier as it went. Sensors belonging to Queensland aerospace venture, Hypersonix were tested in the flight, monitoring the effect of the extreme g-force loads associated with rocketry. "This test launch is giving Hypersonix a rare and invaluable opportunity to test the behavior of their advanced composite materials at a significant altitude," Dick said. "The data collected from this test will help push the boundaries of hypersonic flight - a field with incredible potential to shape the future of transport and space travel." Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 08:25:49|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close PARIS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The ninth edition of the Silk Way Rally will run in July, 2019 with creation of a motorcycle category, organizers announced here on Wednesday. The 2019 Silk Way Rally, including Mongolia in its brand-new route, will start in Russia's Irkutsk on July 6. The race will take competitors across southern Siberia and Lake Baikal onto Ulan Bator, then crossing Mongolia from north to south before arriving in China's Gobi Desert. The finishing ceremony will be held in Dunhuang, China on July 16 after the 5000-kilometer race over ten stages. Initially planned for 2018, the postponed motorcycle category is set to be included in the 2019 edition. Silk Way Rally, inaugurated in 2009, is one of the most popular and biggest cross country rally in the world. According to organizers, the race has attracted around 1,000 competitors since 2009. It was broadcasted on 74 TV channels in 190 countries and regions in 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 08:30:51|Editor: mmm Video Player Close CANBERRA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The alcohol content of Australian wine is on the rise as a result of climate change, according to experts. Rob Geddes, one of Australia's leading Masters of Wine (MW), said that grapes being grown for wine are being harvested earlier every year because of hotter, drier conditions, resulting in riper wines with higher alcohol content. "The climate change issue is one of sudden heat spikes as well as continuing heat and high temperatures and that is an issue," Geddes, who in 2017 became the first Australian MW to set up an office in China, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Thursday. "We are seeing higher alcohols and this is the result of ripeness and also, to a degree, the result of some berry shrivel, depending on the grower. "We were tasting one day and the wines that were 14.5 percent alcohol... a lot of them were actually 15.5 (percent alcohol)." Wine Australia revealed earlier in November that China remained the biggest export market for Australian wine by a wide margin with the total value of exports to the country up 24 percent in the 12 months to September 2018 to 1.06 billion Australian dollars (769 million U.S. dollars). Almost 50 exhibitors showcased 90 Australian wine brands from 20 regions at ProWine China 2018 in Beijing in mid-November. Bruce Redman, co-owner of South Australia's Redman wines and chief winemaker, said that the alcohol by volume (ABV) of his products had risen by between 0.5 and 1 percent since 2000. "If we get too much warm weather and our vintage comes forward too much and we start harvesting too early then obviously, the grapes are going to be riper and there will be different characteristics in the wine," he told the ABC. "What we are finding is that we are getting pretty similar characteristics in terms of aromas and flavors, but we are tending to find that in the past 20-odd years the alcohols have probably tended to creep up from around 13 to 13.5 to 14 percent by volume." Boat racers take part in the Water Festival in the Tonle Sap river in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Nov. 21, 2018. (Xinhua/Sovannara) by Mao Pengfei, Nguon Sovan PHNOM PENH, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia celebrated the Water Festival on Wednesday, reviving the more than 800-year-old tradition in the Southeast Asian nation. Hundreds of thousands of spectators, mostly from rural areas, flocked to the riverfront in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, to enjoy an annual boat race, which is the centrepiece of the country's water festival. Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, accompanied by Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and other dignitaries, watched the race from a stage erected on the riverbank in front of the royal palace. A total of 295 dragon boats with 19,017 oarsmen have taken part in the three-day regatta, which is held along a 1.7-km stretch of the Tonle Sap river that runs in front of the royal palace, said Bou Chumserey, vice-chairman of the boat-racing technical control committee. "Boat race is to remember the strength of the powerful Khmer marine forces during the ancient Khmer Empire in the late 11th century," he told Xinhua. During the reign of Angkorian King Jayavarman VII, the king had used naval forces, with boats as transport means, to fight against the invading Chams and defeated them in 1181, he said. Chumserey said the festival is also to mark the end of annual rainy season and the unique reversal flow of the Tonle Sap river that connects the Tonle Sap lake with the Mekong river. "It is to express our gratitude to the Mekong river for providing us with fertile land and abundant fish," he said. A team leader of a racing boat from Southern Takeo province Sos Soeun, 46, said his boat has 73 rowers and their participation was to help preserve the age-old tradition for next generations. "We participate in this national festival every year. It is to show our gratitude to King Jayavarman VII, who used marine forces to defeat the Cham rivals, and the water festival has been celebrated since then," he told Xinhua. Boat racers take part in the Water Festival in the Tonle Sap river in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Nov. 21, 2018. (Xinhua/Sovannara) The Water Festival, which will last until Friday, is the kingdom's largest annual festival. Phnom Penh governor Khuong Sreng expected that the festival would attract up to 3 million spectators. Besides viewing the regatta at daytime, festival-goers can enjoy the procession of illuminated floats and fireworks as well as concerts at nighttime. "This is our Khmer tradition, and our Khmer kings have celebrated this boat-race festival since the ancient times," spectator Ho Khema, 20, told Xinhua. "In the old days, boats had been used by marine forces to fight war against the invading enemies," she said. Khema said she had never lost her excitement in watching the boat race although she had seen it almost every year. "There are a lot of people and boats taking part in the festival. It's really happy," she said. Farmer Muong Mok, 56, from Southeastern Kampong Cham province, said it would be a regret if he had not seen the water festival once in his life. "This is the first time I come to see the water festival, it's really marvelous," he said. "The festival is to honor the heroism of our ancient kings who used boats to defend the territory." With its long history in the country, the water festival is a special occasion for rural people to come to the capital city of Cambodia and bring home with good memories. Major Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu on Thursday have given the top priority to various political issues. A memorandum submitted by 21 Central Committee members of the ruling Nepal Communist Party and Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis meeting with ministers and secretaries for the evaluation of individual ministries has received the most significant coverage on the front pages of the broadsheets. Likewise, the murder of a brick kiln staffer in Sunsari district of eastern Nepal has also been highlighted. Meanwhile, activities of various committees in Parliament have also been featured on the front pages of some newspapers. Besides, they have published some reports from sociocultural and economic spheres. Important 21 NCP leaders urge leadership for early meeting Kantipur, Naya Patrika, Nepal Samacharpatra, Rajdhani and Republica report that 21 leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to the chairpersons KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal demanding the Central Committee meeting be called at the earliest to discuss various issues. The leaders close to the partys senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal have claimed the party and the government under its leadership have turned unpopular due to the leaderships failure, reports Naya Patrika. Meanwhile, leaders loyal to Jhala Nath Khanal and Bamdev Gautam have kept mum on the issue whereas the Oli camp has accused former PM Nepal of inciting the dissidents, reports Nepal Samacharpatra. PM unhappy with ministers performance Apparently dissatisfied with the performance of ministers, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has directed his ministers to improve, according to the lead story in Gorkhapatra. The Prime Minister warned that he would take action against them otherwise. The present working style produces hopelessness in people. Hopeless people are dangerous for the state, he told the meeting, according to a brief story in Naya Patrika. Ignored New House session to begin in December third week The Federal Parliament Secretariat is preparing to ask the government to summon the next session of Federal Parliament from the third week of December, according to a box story in Nepal Samacharpatra. Preparations were underway to call the meeting in the second week, but it would be deferred by one week due to the mahasamiti meeting of main opposition Nepali Congress, the report adds. Congress fails to forge consensus on statute A panel formed to recommend amendments to the statute of Nepali Congress has failed to forge consensus, and it is preparing to forward its report with multiple options to the Central Working Committee, according to Rajdhani. The next meeting of Congress CWC has been scheduled for coming Sunday. Meanwhile, the partys President Sher Bahadur Deuba has directed top leaders of the party not to leave the capital for now, the report informs. Right to life is more important than right to business: High Court Kantipur reports in a snippet that the Patan High Court has observed right to life is more important than right to business. Scrapping a writ petition that demanded that operation of tippers be allowed in Kathmandu during daytime, a single bench of judge Tek Narayan Kunwar said the current ban was justified. House committee to probe Presidents motorcade controversy Amid widespread criticism of the governments plan to expand the area of Office of the President by acquiring the land of Nepal Police Academy and purchasing a set of new vehicles for President Bidya Devi Bhandari, the Public Accounts Committee in the House of Representatives has started preparations to investigate into the issue, according to a two column story in The Kathmandu Post. Nidhi says Yogi Adityanath shouldnt be invited to Janakpur A three column story in Republica informs that Nepali Congress Vice-President Bimalendra Nidhi has said the Chief Minister of Indian state of Uttar Predesh, Yogi Adityanath, should not be invited to attend a Vivaha Panchami ceremony in Janakpurdham next month as he has been advocating for a Hindu kingdom. His statement comes at a time when media reports have said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled his visit to Janakpur on the occasion, and Yogi is coming instead, also to inaugurate a cross-border railway. Interesting New intellectual property law proposes landmark reforms So far, Nepal has not been able to control practices of copying international business trademarks for the want of effective law. In order to address this problem, the government has finalised the draft of the Industrial Property Bill, which has proposed some landmark reforms, according to the lead story in The Himalayan Times. The bill to be tabled in the next session of Parliament will replace the 53-year-old Patent, Design and Trademark Act. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 09:36:01|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close CANBERRA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Australia's peak medical body has called for a complete overhaul of the nation's attempt to close the gap between its indigenous and non-indigenous people. A report released by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) on Thursday warned that the Closing the Gap strategy, an initiative to reduce the disadvantages faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, has "all but unravelled." The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is set to consider a refresh of the program in December but the AMA said that the policy needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. Closing the Gap, launched in 2008, focuses on reducing the gaps in life expectancy, child mortality, access to early childhood education, employment outcomes and educational achievement. The AMA's report made six key recommendations for an overhauled policy, including significant investment in indigenous health with a particular focus on mental health. It said that the indigenous population was facing "a stubborn form of institutional racism across the health system." "In 2017 the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) ranked suicide as the second leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males, and reported that over the period of 2008-12 and 2013-17 the rate of suicide deaths in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has increased by 21 percent," the report said. "In short, the suicide and the mental health gaps had likely only increased since 2011, and must be addressed if the health and life expectancy gap is to close." The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in July revealed that the life expectancy for the indigenous population was 10.6 years lower than that of non-indigenous Australians. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 10:16:12|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close SYDNEY, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Research released Thursday by an international group of scientists, including those from Australia, is creating a much more definitive understanding of how and when our ancestors evolved, and even what the climate was like when they did. It has long been accepted that the origins of humanity lie in Africa, and it was fossils recovered from the accordingly named "Cradle of Humankind" caves in South Africa which told us so. However up until now scientists have struggled to create a clear timeline for the fossils due to a lack of suitable dating methods available. La Trobe University's professor Andy Herries who conducted research at the sites said that "while the South African record was the first to show Africa as the origin point for humans, the complexity of the caves and difficulty dating them has meant that the record has remained hard to interpret." "In this study we show that the flowstones in the caves can act almost like the volcanic layers of East Africa, forming in different caves at the same time, allowing us to directly relate their sequences and fossils into a regional sequence," he said. The World Heritage listed Cradle of Humankind caves have produced nearly 40 percent of all known human ancestor fossils, including the famous Australopithecus africanus skull, nicknamed Mrs Ples. According to lead researcher Robyn Pickering from the University of Cape Town, the team's dating provides "a model to explain the age of all the fossils from the entire region," as well as creating a picture of the climate conditions of our ancestors. "The flowstones are the key," Pickering said. Flowstones are deposits of calcite or other carbonate minerals which form when water runs into caves. "We know that significant flowstones only grow in caves during wet periods, when there is more rain outside the caves - by dating the flowstones, we are picking out these times of increased rainfall," Pickering said. Using uranium-lead dating techniques developed at the University of Melbourne, the team analyzed 28 flowstone layers which are sandwiched between fossil-rich sediment in eight caves across the Cradle - revealing the ages of the fossils to fall into six narrow time-windows between 3.2 and 1.3 million years ago. "We therefore know that during the times in between, when the caves were open, the climate was drier and more like what we currently experience," she said. According to experts, this is an astounding breakthrough which greatly contributes to humanity's record of itself and understanding into the lives of the common ancestors from which we evolved. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 10:21:14|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton announced on Wednesday that he will meet with Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro in Rio de Janeiro later this month. "Look forward to seeing Brazil's next President @JairBolsonaro in Rio on November 29th," tweeted Bolton. Bolton also said in the tweet that the two countries "share many bilateral interests" and will work closely on regional issues. Bolsonaro, a right-wing candidate of the Social Liberal Party, won the country's presidential run-off last month. He was expected to tackle Brazil's slow economic recovery, one of the most urgent challenges in the South American country, after taking office. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Bolsonaro by phone after his victory, discussing bilateral collaboration on issues including Venezuela, countering transnational crime and ways to strengthen bilateral economic ties between the United States and Brazil. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 11:01:21|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close by Xinhua writers Zheng Jianghua, Pan Geping BRUSSELS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Lu Junjie, a Chinese globetrotting cyclist, was despondent when his cherished "companion" -- a red touring bike -- was stolen at Brussels's Midi metro station. The bummer turned out to be an unforgettable chapter of this adventure. The 30-year-old cyclist embarked on his tour from the eastern Chinese city of Shanghai in April 2017, crossing 15 countries, including 10 European ones before he arrived in Belgium on Nov. 15. He would have hit the road to Paris to wrap up his 15,000-km tour which has lasted for nearly 20 months should his bike not be stolen the next day. "I locked the bike, but didn't fasten it to the rail," he told Xinhua Wednesday in front of Midi metro station, pointing to a row of bicycles chained up to rails. What the lost bike means to the solo globetrotting cyclist is far beyond its price -- 3,000 yuan (433 U.S. dollars). "For me, it is not just a bike. It was my companion which accompanied me for 20 months. We have experienced many ups and downs along the way," he stressed. With a glimmer of hope to retrieve his bike, Lu reported the case to the police right after the incident, but their tepid response doused his hope. In the following days, the cyclist made every endeavor to look for his bike. He posted his unhappy story on his Facebook page, hoping to get clues about the bike while inadvertently drawing some Belgian media's attention. He also recounted the story through Wechat, a Chinese messaging app, among Chinese communities in Brussels. "Many local friends apologize to me as they felt embarrassed that this happened in their country," he said. "I once thought the public order in developed countries would be better, but it's not true. Having been to so many countries, I find that the public order in China, especially in large cities, is quite good." "Theft, robbery and the like are happening everywhere in the world, but it is abnormal for a developed country to have such a high crime rate," he added. Feeling disappointed, Lu launched a crowd-funding campaign Tuesday on his Facebook page and among Wechat groups, aiming to raise funds to buy a new touring bike so as to continue his tour to Paris. He set 1 euro (1.14 dollars) as the upper limit of donation on Facebook and 10 yuan (1.4 dollars) on Wechat. "There are a lot of people willing to offer help. For example, some would sponsor me a bicycle. I feel that if I choose someone's help, I will hurt the hearts of others, thus I will lose something," Lu said. "Through crowd-funding, all those who would like to help me could take part in," he added, explaining why he launched the fundraising. As his visa is due to expire on Monday, Lu could not wait for the result of the fundraising. The cyclist borrowed money from his family and bought a new touring bike which cost 1,400 euros (1,594.25 dollars). He planned to repay the money in the future. As of Wednesday afternoon, Lu received about 4,000 yuan (577.43 dollars) through Wechat groups from about 400 overseas Chinese in Belgium. In comparison, the fund raised on Facebook is nominal, he said. As donations poured in and some malicious comments emerged, Lu decided to stop the fundraising. "The amount is beyond my imagination. There are so many Chinese friends caring for me," he said. "I'm in deep gratitude." "Although I first asked for money from my family, I still think that everyone (donors collectively) bought this bike for me. It's a gift from everyone." Lu will hit the road for Paris on Thursday with his new bike. Then he will jet off to Shanghai on Monday, the day when his visa expires. "Maybe someday I will embark on another globetrotting tour starting from Paris after I save up some more money, but that will be another story," he said. File Photo: Staffs wear a scarf for the statue during the unveiling of a "comfort women" statue in Sydney, Australia on Aug. 6, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhu Hongye) SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea decided on Wednesday to dissolve a Japan-funded foundation for the domestic victims of sex slavery during World War II as it was set up in defiance of the victims and their bereaved families. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which governs the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation, said it would launch a legal process to close down the foundation, based on the current situations and the review results. The ministry said it consulted with relevant offices, along with the Foreign Ministry, over ways to handle the foundation and collected various opinions. The foundation was established in July 2016, with 1 billion yen (8.9 million U.S. dollars) offered by Japan after the then South Korean government of impeached president Park Geun-hye reached a final, irreversible agreement with Japan in December 2015 to settle the wartime sexual enslavement issue in return for the contribution. Historians say as many as 400,000 women from Asian countries, including from the Korean Peninsula, were forced into sex slavery for Japanese military brothels during WWII. The Korean Peninsula was colonized by the Imperial Japan from 1910 to 1945. The Moon Jae-in government, which was inaugurated in May 2017, decided to replenish the 1-billion-yen fund with its own budget as the living victims and civic groups supporting the victims protested against the foundation. The victims demanded the Japanese government's sincere apology and its acknowledgement of legal responsibility for the wartime atrocities. The Japanese government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has refused to do it. In 2018, six former South Korean sex slaves, euphemistically called comfort women, passed away. Among 240 comfort women victims, who identified themselves as former sex slaves, only 27 are still alive in South Korea. The Reconciliation and Healing Foundation has paid 4.4 billion won (3.9 million U.S. dollars) in compensation to 34 comfort women victims and the bereaved families of 58 late victims. However, they refused to receive any money from the Japan-funded foundation and called for Japan to sincerely apologize and acknowledge its legal responsibility for the wartime crime against humanities. The operation of the foundation actually stopped late last year as all of the civilian board members quitted from the fund. Regarding the remaining fund of the foundation, the ministry said it will collect opinions from the victims and civic groups to handle the fund in a reasonable way. The Foreign Ministry would reportedly seek to consult with Japan on ways to handle the 1-billion-yen fund. Advocacy groups have demanded returning all the money to Japan. Jin Sun-mee, minister of gender equality and family, said the ministry will make utmost efforts for policies to recover the honor and dignity of the comfort women victims. The Seoul decision to close down the Tokyo-funded foundation was forecast to add a strain on the already soured bilateral relations following the South Korean top court's ruling on the wartime forced labor. The South Korea's highest court ruled in October that Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, a Japanese steel producer, should pay 100 million won (around 88,000 U.S. dollars) per plaintiff in compensation to four South Korean victims for their forced labor during WWII. Japan protested against the ruling, claiming that the wartime forced labor issue was fully resolved through a 1965 treaty that normalized diplomatic ties between Seoul and Tokyo. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 11:16:24|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Wednesday underscored the importance of the Dec. 23 elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and called for efforts to make the process successful. In a press statement issued right before the start of the official electoral campaign, the Security Council said the elections constitute "a historic opportunity" for the first democratic and peaceful transfer of power, and the consolidation of stability and the creation of conditions for development in DRC. It urged all parties, government and opposition, to engage peacefully and constructively in the electoral process, in order to ensure transparent, peaceful and credible elections and to preserve peace and stability in DRC and the region. It further noted the importance of ensuring the safety and security of candidates and voters during the campaign period. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 11:21:25|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close YANGON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A man illegally running an overseas recruitment agency has been arrested in Myanmar's Yangon, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday quoting the police force. The man was arrested for the case at an apartment in Mayangone township on Tuesday where 38 women were found awaiting passports and overseas employment arrangement in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan by the license-revoked General International Company which the male suspect illegally operated. The police said the company had been dissolved on Jan. 30 for breaking recruitment rules. The Department of Labor has filed a case at the local police station against the man and the company for illegal recruitment of migrant workers to work overseas. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 11:46:32|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close CANBERRA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) has revealed its signature energy policy, including ambitious renewable energy and emissions reduction targets. Bill Shorten, leader of the ALP, on Thursday announced that 50 percent of Australia's power would come from renewable sources by 2030 if his party wins power at the 2019 general election. In addition to the renewable energy target (RET), Shorten adopted the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) - the signature energy policy of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull - as Labor policy. Turnbull proposed the NEG in October 2017, but his plan to include a 26-percent emissions reduction target in the policy proved costly, with conservative members of the governing Liberal-National Party (LNP) leading a rebellion against the policy, which ended in Turnbull's downfall as PM. Shorten said that the ALP would commit to a 45 percent emissions reduction target from 2005 levels by 2030, but added that, unlike Turnbull, he would not enshrine the policy in legislation. To achieve the targets, Shorten announced that an ALP government would spend 200 million Australian dollars (about 145 million U.S. dollars) to subsidize batteries for 100,000 Australian homes, saying that adopting the technology will save those households up to 60 percent on their energy bills. "If I'm elected prime minister, I will not sit around and wait for the Liberals and Nationals to stop arguing about whether climate change is real," Shorten said in a speech on Thursday. "I will act to lower prices, to cut pollution, to boost renewables and create jobs. "A Labor government I lead will be prepared to directly underwrite and invest in cleaner, cheaper power for Australia. "We will prioritize renewables and support firming technologies like storage and gas. Labor will invest in new generation, in better transmission and distribution -- because we realise this vital nation-building work cannot be left up to the big power companies." The ALP will embrace the investment framework put forward by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which recommended using the 10 billion Australian dollar (about 7 billion U.S. dollars ) Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to address Australia's energy shortfall. The CEFC, established under a former ALP government, has a mandate to invest in renewable energy and low-emissions projects, meaning that coal-fired electricity would not be included in Labor's plan. Energy Minister Angus Taylor dismissed the ALP's proposals earlier on Thursday, saying that batteries could not power large businesses. "The real problem with this is, even if they install those batteries, it doesn't touch the sides. It's not even close to enough," he told Macquarie Media radio. "If we want to keep jobs in this country, if we want to keep manufacturing, if we want to be a country that keeps making things, you have to have an electricity system that's affordable but can provide that reliable power." Recent opinion polls have suggested that the ALP is set to win the 2019 election in a landslide, with voters citing the leadership crisis that saw Turnbull deposed as PM as a key factor in voting against the LNP. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 12:31:38|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close CANBERRA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Australia and India have committed to boosting their economic ties following a meeting between leaders of the two nations. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday met with Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, the first Indian president attending the opening of the Australian chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry. "India is the world's fastest growing major economy and offers more opportunity for Australian business over the next twenty years than any other single market," Morrison said in a media release on Thursday. "Our work will focus on greater economic engagement targeting ten Indian states and ten key sectors, while providing practical support for Australian businesses entering or expanding operations in India," Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said. The meeting coincided with Morrison confirming that he would adopt recommendations in a report written by Peter Varghese, the former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), on cementing Australia-India trade ties. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 13:31:46|Editor: mmm Video Player Close KUNMING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Police in southwest China's Yunnan province arrested five suspects for drug trafficking and seized 37.68 kg of methamphetamine, local police said Thursday. The police in Zhenkang County in the border city of Lincang received a tip-off on Sunday that a group of people had attempted to rent a car to head for Kunming while avoiding checkpoints. Police then seized five men from Myanmar in a silver sedan at a toll station in Yun County and found the methamphetamine hidden in their bags. Further investigation is under way. Yunnan is a major front in China's battle against drug crime as it borders the Golden Triangle, an area notorious for rampant drug production and trafficking. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 13:46:51|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close LONDON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- As talks and negotiations on Brexit continue, teams in both London and Brussels are working behind the scenes on the unthinkable. What will happen if Britain leaves the European Union (EU) on March 29, 2019 without any deal? Such a "hard departure" cannot be ruled out. Hence both sides need to be prepared for the possible consequences. Yet, seasoned politicians also lay out a possible scenario when a deal emerges like a rabbit out of a magician's hat at the final seconds. Under provisional arrangements, nothing would change when Britain ends its EU membership on March 29, 2019, with a 21-month transition period aimed at giving Brussels and London more time to work out a permanent trading relationship. However, if a no-deal scenario happens, there will be a clean cut from the EU. NO DEAL MAY MEAN CHAOS Fears have been raised of massive queues of freight vehicles on both sides of the English Channel, and possible supply shortages of food and goods for Britain. Major British manufacturers, particularly in the auto business, could face chaos, as they rely on an arrangement known as "just in time," meaning a continuous procession of parts and components from mainland European suppliers being delivered directly to their plants. Britain would have to operate under the World Trade Organization rules, but this would mean tariffs on goods shipped to EU countries. Shipments could be delayed or rejected if vital paperwork and certifications are not available. Worries also have surfaced about cross-channel air travel, which runs a risk of jets being grounded. Also, EU countries would be exporting to Britain as a third-party country. Although British Prime Minister Theresa May has said there would be no change in the status of the 3 million EU citizens living in Britain, there could be migration implications for both sides. There are also over 1 million British citizens living in EU member states. A major flashpoint would be the 500-km border between Britain-controlled Northern Ireland and the neighboring Irish Republic. Border posts are likely to return to the area, which will become a physical EU zone border. The need to create a frictionless border on the island of Ireland has been one of the most difficult issues to be resolved during the Brexit negotiations. One consolation would be that Britain would no longer have to pay its contribution to the EU, estimated at around 13 billion British pounds (16.7 billion U.S. dollars) a year. On March 29 next year, Britain would leave the EU and "everything associated with that would come to an end," said Simon Usherwood, a political expert from the University of Surrey, in a recent media interview. "A no deal doesn't stop the UK from leaving but it means there is absolutely no clarity about what happens ...," Usherwood said. Anthony Glees, director of the Center for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, said the grim prospect of a no-deal outcome makes May's Brexit proposal sound sensible. "I don't think any British government could survive the collapse of sterling, the need to borrow more and practice austerity, stasis at our main ports, mass unemployment of industrial and agrifood workers, decline in services industry, labor shortages in the National Health Service, declining investment and more expensive food from Europe," Glees told Xinhua. CHOICES AFTER NO DEAL If members of the parliament vote down May's Brexit plan, leading to a no-deal Brexit, the loss would be 81 billion pounds (105.3 billion dollars) each year for the foreseeable future as predicted by the British government, said Glees. "There would be massive borrowing and the collapse of sterling," he said. He cited the viewpoint of Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, saying there are four choices after a no-deal Brexit -- Britain leaving with no deal, the parliament telling May to have another go, the parliament collapsing in further chaos with May forced into a general election, and fourthly, a new public referendum on EU membership. "I think (the) Labour (Party) would probably win a general election, while a new referendum might, or might not produce a different result," Glees said. He also predicted that a no-deal departure would mean a hard border in Ireland. "A hard border in Ireland means we return to sectarian violence as surely as night follows day." "Yet if we do not share the 'common rule book' with the EU, we have different tariffs and non-tariff regulations and we need a hard border for economic reasons. We also need one for political reason because Brexiters are afraid of migration from the EU," he said. "Northern Ireland would have an open door to EU27 (EU excluding Britain) migrants via Ireland without controls on the long land border," he noted. Brexit is already having an impact on the fortunes of Britain, he added. "It is weakening us ... Investment in the UK has already slumped by half in the past year, numerous firms and businesses are relocating into EU27 countries. We will take years to recover from the damage that has already been done," he said. Glees predicted that if a no-deal Brexit seems likely, the British parliament will step in. May's government has already produced a string of "just in case" documents spelling out the consequences. This is seen as an insurance policy strategy although May has continually said she is confident of striking a deal with Brussels that respects the 2016 referendum decision of the British people. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 13:56:57|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Michel Temer hailed on Wednesday the signing of a free trade agreement with Chile, highlighting the high efficiency of the two countries' negotiations. The agreement was signed earlier in the day in Chile's capital city Santiago. "It was extraordinarily fast. In less than six months, we were able to establish and formalize this agreement," he said. Among the points of the agreement, Brazil and Chile vowed to work to end international roaming tariffs for mobile phones and data transmission between the two countries. The Foreign Ministry said it will allow small companies from Brazil and Chile to participate in public bidding processes in both countries on an equal footing. In addition, the ministry said the agreement will help reduce import and export costs in several aspects, and also boost bilateral trade. "In its 24 chapters, the agreement establishes norms which will facilitate trade and investments between the two countries, in both goods and services sectors, according to the current dynamics of the global economy," the ministry said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 14:52:05|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A young girl was wounded Thursday after militants and the army exchanged fire in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. According to officials, the militants fired upon army camp at Khudwani area of Kulgam district, about 60 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "This morning militants fired at an army camp in Khudwani, which was duly retaliated by troops present there," a police official said. "In the brief exchange of fire between the two sides a girl... of Wanigund village was wounded." Locals said the girl was removed to the nearest hospital. Reports said following the exchange of fire the militants managed to escape from the spot. Government forces cordoned off the area to nab the militants. Searches in the area were going on. A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troopers stationed in the region since 1989. Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 15:19:45|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Aleksandra Denga, from Poland, improvises as she poses for a photo in front of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 19, 2018. After her graduation from Academy of Music in Gdansk in 2014, Aleksandra came to China to work with Guiyang Symphony Orchestra as a violinist in southwest China's Guizhou Province, three years later after a short stay in Poland, she decided to come back to China again, this time she found a job in National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra. "In the beginning it was a pretty scary adventure, because it's really different in weather, food, people, culture and traditions. But the longer I stay here the more I get used to it. And now I get a chance to appreciate more, I love China", the young violinist told Xinhua. (Xinhua/Luo Xiaoguang) Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 15:32:11|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least seven children and a driver were killed and six others injured Thursday after a private school van carrying them collided head-on with a tourist bus in central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, police said. The accident took place in Birsinghpur area of Satna district, about 483 km northeast of Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. "This morning a tourist bus collided with a school van here killing seven children and van driver on spot," a police official said. "Six children injured in the accident were immediately removed to the nearest hospital." The victims in the school van were aged between seven and 14 years. Following the accident locals and police teams rushed to the spot to carry out rescue work. Police have registered a case and ordered investigations into the accident Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed grief over loss of lives in the accident and directed district administration to provide assistance to the injured. Deadly road accidents are common in India often due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving. Officials say an average of over 400 deaths take place every day in India due to road accidents. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 15:57:17|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export in new promising industries posted a double-digit increase in the first nine months of this year, more than tripling the growth rate of the total shipment, a government report showed on Thursday. Outbound shipment in the promising sectors amounted to 59 billion U.S. dollars in the January-September period, up 14.6 percent from the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The promising sectors include electric vehicle, robot, biohealth, aerospace, renewable energy, high-tech new material, next-generation display panel and next-generation semi-conductor. The export growth rate of the new promising sectors showed more than tripling the rate for the total export, which rose 4.7 percent in the cited period. The ratio of the promising sectors' export to the total outbound shipment continued to rise to 13.1 percent in the first nine months of this year, from 11.2 percent in 2016 and 12.8 percent in 2017, respectively. Export to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Union (EU), India and the Middle East increased by a double-digit growth in the nine-month period. Export mainly led by industrial material and component jumped 13.2 percent to 237.82 billion U.S. dollars in the January-September period. Trade surplus in the industrial parts and material hit a new high of 105.9 billion U.S. dollars in the nine-month period, up 83.9 billion U.S. dollars from the same period of last year. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 16:57:27|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The question of Burundi should no longer stay on the agenda of the United Nations (UN) Security Council given the fact that the country has returned to calm, said a Chinese envoy on Wednesday. China noticed the Burundian foreign minister's announcement at this year's General Debate of the UN General Assembly that calm has returned to Burundi and that the situation had remained under control, said Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN. Burundi should not stay on the agenda of the Security Council as it no longer posed a security threat to the region or the world, according to Burundian Foreign Minister Ezechiel Nibigira. China is therefore of the opinion that the Security Council should listen to Burundi and take a comprehensive, impartial and objective view of the situation in Burundi. The council should make adjustments according to the latest developments and send out a positive message, Wu told the council. The security situation in Burundi remains stable and the Burundian government is actively pushing forward the political process, he said. China welcomes the positive developments, which serve as a manifestation of the capability and determination of the Burundian government and people to independently solve their political problems and safeguard peace and stability, he said. The international community should rightfully respect Burundi's ownership and leadership, and respect Burundi's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, said Wu. The international community should also fully respect the choices of the Burundian government and people, particularly on the issue of elections and the political process, he said. China welcomes the efforts of regional and sub-regional groups in promoting the Burundian political process, and hopes that the groups will continue to enhance coordination with the Burundian government and provide constructive assistance. At the same time, Burundi faces socio-economic and humanitarian challenges. The international community should provide necessary support and assistance, said Wu. China asks the international organizations concerned to resume economic cooperation and development aid to Burundi. He said that China has always supported Burundi's peace process and provided assistance within its capacity for Burundi's rebuilding, and is willing to continue to play a constructive role in helping bring peace, stability and sustainable development in Burundi. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 17:01:27|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Oriental white storks are seen at Bandao national wetland park in Chaohu, east China's Anhui Province, Nov. 21, 2018. More than 100 oriental white storks flew to the park for food and rest recently. (Xinhua/Guo Chen) Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 17:07:28|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close CHENGDU, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The city of Chengdu in west China's Sichuan Province has launched an intelligent parking system for dockless bike-sharing, to better manage the bikes in public spaces. The pavilion of the parking system covers 6.8 square meters of ground, which is connected with a 9.6-meter deep underground parking space of 50 square meters. The vertical underground parking facility is able to accommodate 224 bikes. The amount of bikes usually takes over 300 square meters parking space. The municipal traffic commission said the new system installed near a downtown entrance of the city's No. 2 metro line will be put into service by the end of the month. Users only need to click on an LED screen to order the system to send a bike automatically, which takes less than a minute. The system was developed by Tianjin Yuanzhuo Tech Development Co. Ltd. Chengdu, with 1.45 million shared bikes on the streets, the first Chinese city to pilot the system. Popular bike-sharing has caused problems such as traffic jams, parking difficulties and vandalism, as well as challenges for urban management in Chinese cities. Many cities have regulated the service. In May, Beijing and Hangzhou unveiled new rules requiring incumbent bike-sharing companies, including Mobike and Ofo, to phase out old bikes. The Chengdu traffic commission said further orders on the system depended on the public response to bike-sharing parking. Xie Haiping, chair of the developing firm, believes the system caters to the demand for urban management of bikes. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 17:22:30|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- China and Brazil will launch a new Earth resource satellite next year, according to an official with the China National Space Administration. The new satellite, the China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite-4A, or CBERS-4A, will be launched in the second half of 2019, said Li Guoping, the secretary-general of the China National Space Administration, in a recent interview with Xinhua prior to a symposium held in Beijing Thursday, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of China-Brazil cooperation in space. The CBERS satellites are Earth remote sensing satellites, specifically designed for Earth observation from orbit for non-military use, such as environment monitoring, meteorology and map making. According to Li, CBERS-4A, the new satellite to be launched, is assembled and currently going through tests in Brazil. It is set to replace CBERS-4. CBERS-4, launched in December 2014, is currently in great condition although under extended service. The two countries will also start the final design and research of CBERS-5 and CBERS-6. The two satellites will be successors to CBERS-4A, which is designed to serve for five years, said Li. China and Brazil inked the agreement establishing the joint research and production of the CBERS series in July 1988. The program has set a good example for cooperation among developing countries in the field of space technology, and has been praised as a model of "South-South cooperation." Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 17:32:31|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close NANJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The University of Oxford on Thursday launched its first overseas center for physical science and engineering research, in east China's Jiangsu Province. The Oxford-Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research (OSCAR) opened in the Suzhou Industrial Park in Suzhou City. The center was established initially with a grant from the park, according to Oxford University website. Initial research programs will be led by groups from the Oxford departments of Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and Materials, with applications ranging from health informatics, tissue engineering and biomedical imaging techniques to environmental remediation, advanced materials and electronic devices. A total of 12 scholars from Oxford have been chosen to lead projects at the center. The scholars will work in Suzhou for two months every year. Oxford vice-chancellor Louise Richardson said that cooperation with China provided an exciting opportunity, and that she looked forward to more achievements in innovative and new areas. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 17:37:32|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close KAMPALA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed on the spot and six others critically injured in a Wednesday night road accident in the eastern Ugandan district of Iganga, a police spokesperson said here Thursday. Patrick Onyango, Uganda's deputy police spokesperson, told Xinhua in an interview that the fatal accident occurred following a head-on collision between a passenger commuter taxi and coaster bus at Namasoga along the Jinja - Iganga Highway. The taxi was travelling from eastern town of Busia heading to the capital Kampala while the coaster was coming from the opposite direction. "The dead included the two drivers. The cause of the road accident was reckless driving by the taxi driver. He was trying to overtake several vehicles ahead and ended up colliding with an oncoming coaster," said Onyango. He said the bodies of the deceased were taken to Iganga Hospital mortuary for postmortem while the injured were rushed to the same hospital and Jinja regional referral hospital for treatment. Onyango warned drivers to avoid reckless driving and speeding, which are the major causes of road carnage in the east African country. Uganda registers about 20,000 accidents each year, with some 2,000 deaths, making it one of the countries with the highest road traffic death rates, according to police statistics. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 17:37:32|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close WELLINGTON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- More than 3 million New Zealand residents arrived back from overseas trips in the year ended October, up 175,100 year-on-year, the statistics department Stats NZ said on Thursday. More and more Kiwis have been taking overseas trips in recent years, with the number growing almost as fast as that for visitor arrivals. Only 10 years ago there were fewer than 2 million trips a year, Stats NZ said. In October, 283,600 visitors arrived in New Zealand, 13,100 more than in October 2017, led largely by Australia. Visitor arrivals from Australia were up 9.7 percent when compared with October last year, it said. "More arrivals from Australia was partly due to their school holidays beginning later in September this year than last year," population insights senior manager Brooke Theyers said in a statement. "More holiday travel in October this year boosted our visitor numbers slightly from the same month in 2017," Theyers said. More arrivals from Australia helped compensate for a lower number of visitors from Asia. There were 75,200 visitor arrivals from Asia in October, down 3.7 percent from the same month last year, Theyers said. For recent years Asia has been the fastest growing source region for visitors to New Zealand, which makes October's fall rather unusual, the manager said, adding despite this fall, for the year ended October, arrivals from Asia were up 8.7 percent, for a total of 1.04 million visitors. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 17:47:36|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BANGKOK, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Around 500 kg of marijuana were seized in a crashed pickup truck in northeastern Thailand on Thursday morning. A total of 500 bars of marijuana were found after the pickup truck overturned and fell into a roadside ditch at a curve at about 4:00 a.m. local time in Khon Kaen Province, police said at a press conference. The driver fled. Investigators believed that the driver was delivering the marijuana to a drug network member in the Khon Kaen, a province sharing border with Laos, as they found another vehicle scouting out the road ahead. According to police, a mobile phone, a wallet and four fake license plates were found inside the vehicle. Police got a tip-off that a gang would try to smuggle the marijuana from neighboring country to the central part or a southern province of Thailand. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 17:57:42|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close by Khin Zar Thwe YANGON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Sound of merry-making music and songs can be heard here and there along the roads of downtown Yangon, Myanmar, bringing in festive atmosphere to celebrate Tazaungdaing festival, a festival of light. Colourful lights are seen decorated everywhere in public areas and on buildings to celebrate the festival, which falls in Tazaungmone month, the eighth month of Myanmar calendar year. On the full moon day of Tazaungdaing festival on Thursday, some well-known pagodas are now congested with Buddhist devotees and pilgrims offering alms, candle lights, joss sticks, flowers and fruits as homage to the pagodas. As part of the festival, an activity called robe-weaving competitions, known as Matho Thingan competitions, is held for two days, starting in the eve of the full moon day throughout the night to the dawn of the next day to weave special yellow monk robes to be offered to the monks. Another notable festival -- Kathina festival, is being celebrated by bringing tree-shaped moveable stands where varieties of offerings and gifts are hung, accompanied with Myanmar traditional orchestra bands playing music with dance on the journey bringing the offerings to monasteries. At the festival nights, Yangon's downtown area is crowded with people enjoying the festival at the food stalls and snacks booths. People can also enjoy some fun rides including human-powered Ferris Wheel and other activities together with families and friends. At the night of full moon day, Myanmar people have "Mezali" salad, which is believed to be a healthy meal in accordance with the religious rites. Mezali is kind of flower-buds of the tree, usually boiled and seasoned with sesames, groundnut, fried garlic and other ingredients. There is also one fun activity of celebrating the festival -- a traditional game called Kyeemanoe Pwe, in which youngsters play game of practicing mischief on their neighbours by stealing things from them or playing tricks on them on the following day of the full moon day. Meanwhile, during the festive season, famous hot air-balloons launching competitions are also held on grand scale in Taunggyi, Shan state, featuring handmade hot air-balloons shaped in animals. During the competition, people release sky lanterns and beautifully decorated hot air-balloons with fireworks and candles strapped to the bases. Tazaungdaing festival is celebrated as the national holiday as well as to mark the end of rainy season in the country. The origin of the festival predates the introduction of Buddhism to Myanmar and is believed to stem from the Kattika festival, which honors the guardian planets in Hindu astrology. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:02:43|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close CHENGDU, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Sichuan Province has prohibited the transport of live pigs from any provinces after several cases of African swine fever outbreak were reported, local authorities said Thursday. Last week, two cases of African swine fever were confirmed in Gaoxian County and Xinjin County in Sichuan, one of the major pork production provinces in China. The provincial agriculture and rural affairs department said the province has entirely banned the transport of live hogs to other parts of the country, as well as prohibited live hogs and pork products of other provinces and regions from entering Sichuan. So far, more than 50 disinfection spots have been set up in the affected areas. The outbreak is now under effective control. Relevant enterprises including fodder manufacturers have also been examined to ensure the infection won't spread. Illegal transport or trade will be punished. The province will provide subsidies for farmers who suffer losses due to the cull of affected pigs. African swine fever is a highly contagious, viral disease that infects pigs but not humans or other animals. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:07:44|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close MANILA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the Philippines will enhance cooperation between the two countries and bring more technical assistance and trade arrangements, Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a recent interview. "Hopefully, it will translate into more purchase orders and more investments from China," Lopez told Xinhua. At the invitation of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Xi paid a state visit to the Philippines on Nov. 20-21. "Every time the two leaders meet, there is always good news coming out," said Lopez. Under the strategic guidance of Xi and Duterte, China-Philippines relations are moving along the fast track and gearing up for faster and stronger development. Figures from the Chinese government show that the trade volume between China and the Philippines in 2017 topped 50 billion U.S. dollars, which made China the Philippines' No. 1 trading partner and import origin, and fourth largest export market. Philippine exports to China grew by 10.5 percent to 19.2 billion dollars in 2017. Opportunities for trade between the Philippines and China "can be so much greater," said Lopez. "We are big exporters of pineapple, mangoes, coconuts, bananas to China. And we are also working on processed agriculture products, snack products, like dried mangoes etc. And we want to promote these kinds of products," he said. According to Lopez, in the past two years, he has met with many Chinese companies in the industries of steel, manufacturing, agriculture and electric power. "The Philippines is in an economic breakout, so (there are) a lot of opportunities now for the Philippines. We encourage all the Chinese businessmen and investors to come to the Philippines," he said. Last year, the newly added investment from China reached 53.84 million dollars, representing a year-on-year increase of 67 percent. Speaking highly of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Lopez said "it's a program that is definitely benefiting the Philippines." Lopez said the BRI is opening up more opportunities for cooperation, where the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) also finances major infrastructure projects in the Philippines. "We see a lot of good things and programs from China that definitely are benefiting the Philippines," he said, vowing to continue to work with Chinese counterparts on implementing BRI, increasing trade and investment and cooperation. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:17:46|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 22, 2018. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed in Beijing Thursday. Calling the United Nations the banner of multilateralism and the core of the multilateral mechanism, Wang said the international community needs a strong UN more than ever under the current situation. "As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China will continue to firmly support multilateralism and the UN in playing a central role in global affairs, as well as safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries," Wang said, adding China is willing to work closely with the UN on global issues including coping with climate change and jointly promote cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. Amina expressed appreciation to China's firm support for multilateralism and the work of the UN, adding the UN is looking forward to continuing to coordinate and cooperate closely with China. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:22:50|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran's capital Tehran hosts an international conference on Yemen war, state TV reported on Thursday. The conference, titled Supporting the Oppressed and Resistant Yemenis, kicked off in Tehran on Thursday with the participation of Yemeni opposition representatives, intellectuals and rights activists from 35 countries. The one-day conference also feature speeches by some Iranian officials and Yemeni opposition representatives. The military conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital of Sanaa by the Shiite Houthi rebels supported by Iran, which forced Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. The Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:22:50|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NAROK, Kenya, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's wildlife authorities on Thursday confirmed the death of three black rhinos in the world's famous game reserve in northwest region, saying investigations are underway to establish the cause of the deaths. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the rhinos, two adults and a calf - were found dead in separate incidences in a span of two weeks at the Masai Mara National Reserve, noting that its vets were carrying out tests on the carcasses in a bid to unravel the real cause of the deaths. "KWS regrets the deaths and is working closely with Narok County Government to enhance round-the-clock monitoring of the remaining rhinos as we await results from the Government Chemist," KWS said in a statement. According to KWS, carcasses of three black rhinos were reported between Nov. 12 and 19 by rangers from the Mara Triangle while on routine patrol in the expansive wildlife reserve. It said one male rhino aged 37 could have died a natural death but the two other deaths were disturbing. The rangers, KWS said, on Nov. 12 identified carcass belonging to a male rhino christened Sairowua that was among the oldest rhinos in the conservancy and had been observed to be in good health a few days earlier. "KWS mobile veterinary unit was called in and requested to do a post-mortem to establish the possible cause of death. The carcass (estimated at 5 days old) was extensively decomposed, scavenged and dismembered. All the soft tissues and internal organs were missing having been scavenged, leaving only a shell of skin and bones," it said. At 37 years of age, KWS said, it is possible that the rhino could have died of natural causes attributed to old age since there were no viable samples that could be collected for laboratory analyses. KWS said the rhino patrol team on Monday came across the second carcass about 4 km from the first case, which was identified as belonging to a female black rhino christened Naiteru. Upon being examined by the KWS vets, no external injuries were detected on the partly scavenged carcass estimated to be two days old though the scene had signs of struggle before death. The rhino appeared to have been in good body condition before death. KWS said the death of the rhino appeared sudden and differential diagnosis was considered. Following the discovery of the two rhino carcasses, KWS said it deployed personnel with aerial support to do a complete reconnaissance in order to locate and confirm the status of rhinos in the area. It was during the exercise that the carcass of a young male rhino christened Kantai was discovered not very far from the carcass of the mother. "The calf is reported to have been seen in good health two days prior to the discovery of the carcass, KWS said. It said there was evidence of struggle before death at the scene, but there were no external injuries observed. According to KWS, in all the three cases both anterior and posterior horns were intact. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:27:51|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SANTIAGO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chile and Brazil on Wednesday signed a free trade agreement (FTA) to promote e-commerce and the exchange in services. The agreement was signed during Brazilian President Michel Temer's visit to Chile's capital Santiago, where he met with his Chilean counterpart Sebastian Pinera. The two presidents ratified the participation of Chilean companies in Brazil's public-sector purchases, and the elimination of telecommunications roaming charges between the two countries. "This agreement goes beyond the strictly economic. It also seeks to integrate our countries and bring them closer together from the perspective of culture,(and) political cooperation," Pinera said in a joint statement with Temer. Brazil is the leading destination for Chilean foreign investment, said Pinera, adding that the FTA, which expands trade in goods and services, is "a new major step forward in bilateral ties." The agreement encompasses such areas as telecommunications, e-commerce, services, environment, employment and ect. It also aims to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by promoting their participation in bids for Brazilian government purchases, on an equal footing with local SMEs. "The agreement incorporates new chapters on technology, cybersecurity, cooperation in the Antarctic," as well as "the two countries' strong willingness to unite" the capability of their ports by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, said Pinera. Brazil is Chile's leading Latin American trade partner, with the volume reaching 6.8 billion U.S. dollars from January to August of this year. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:27:51|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Wednesday that the U.S. military is building observation posts along the Turkey-Syria border, widely seen as a move to reduce tension with Turkey. "We are putting in observation posts in several locations up along the Syria border, northern Syria border," Mattis told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. He said that the United States would like to be the one warning the Turkish side when "something is coming out of an area that we're operating in." "We are consulting closely with Turkey," the Pentagon chief added. The United States currently has about 2,000 troops serving in Syria, assisting local forces against the Islamic State (IS) militants, according to U.S. media reports. Washington has been backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for a long time in the battles against the IS. However, Turkey, which has for long been outright about its enmity to the Kurdish forces, said it was ready to launch offensives against the Kurds on the eastern side of the Euphrates River. The Turkish forces have actually started shelling positions of the Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, pushing the U.S.-backed SDF to slow down on its second stage of battles against the IS. To ease the tension, the United States deployed forces along the line between the two sides of the Euphrates River earlier this month to contain the situation, according to a report from a Syrian human rights group. In general, the U.S.-Turkey ties are undergoing a recovery process after a dispute over Turkey's detention and trial on terrorism charges of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson, who was released by Turkey last month. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:27:52|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian armed forces and police killed 12 militants in North Sinai during anti-terrorist raids over the past few days, state media reported on Thursday. "The national security forces have killed seven highly dangerous militants in the North Sinai's city of Arish in exchange of fire," State Information Service said in a statement. Other five militants were killed in shootout at the ring road near Arish city. Explosive devices, motor bikes and large amount of ammunition were seized with the terrorist, the statement added. Sinai Peninsula is the stronghold of terrorist groups in Egypt, with Sinai State, an Egyptian branch of the Islamic State, as the most severest. In February, Egypt started the comprehensive "Sinai 2018" anti-terror campaign that has killed over 430 militants and 32 soldiers so far. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:27:52|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close LAMU, Kenya, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- More than 50,000 local and international tourists are due to attend a four-day annual Lamu Cultural Festival, a major tourism event which kicked off in the coastal region on Thursday. The festival, which first started in 2001, is a four-day event celebrating coastal Lamu's heritage and traditions in a carnival atmosphere. Each year, the Lamu Archipelago, a cluster of islands along Kenya's north coast, comes to life during the annual Lamu cultural festival. Lamu Old Town has a unique cultural heritage passed down for over 700 years; an attribute that earned Lamu Island a place in the coveted UNESCO's List of World Heritage Sites in 2001. According to Betty Radier, chief executive officer of the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB), the event continues to attract growing numbers of local and international tourists every year. Under the theme 'Tembea Lamu' (Take adventure in Lamu), Radier said the event will showcase the diverse and distinct Lamu culture with dances, poetry, henna painting, displays of handicraft and unique competitions such as dhow and donkey races to spice up the festival. "We expect higher participation this year owing to enhanced marketing of the event. Lamu Cultural Festival is among the key events that KTB is supporting in line with the tourism product diversification strategy agenda to showcase Kenya's rich cultural diversity," she said in a statement. Radier said the festival will also be used to affirm Kenya's continued commitment as a destination towards the diversification of its tourist offering to complement the traditional safari and beach attractions. Hotels and other accommodation facilities in Lamu are gearing up for roaring business as thousands of local and international participants flock into the iconic island for the 18th edition of Lamu Cultural Festival. According to KTB, local, regional and international tourists have made bookings for the four-day event which ends on Sunday with over 50,000 participants expected to attend the festival. Radier said the government has invested heavily in enhancing security in Lamu and the surrounding region as part of preparations for the annual event. Most visitors to Lamu Island fall in love with its relaxed and peaceful lifestyle. She said visitors during the festival will have a chance to experience life in Lamu at its most exuberant and joyous. Boasting rich cultural splendor and a rare historical living heritage, Lamu cultural festival reveals an important and brilliant part of Swahili culture with a rare and wonderful opportunity to experience the island's unspoiled beaches, medieval ambience, architecturally magnificent Old Town, gracious population, and traditions of an enchanted island where history continues to live. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:32:53|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close AMMAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Jordan started on Thursday imposing custom duties on imports from Turkey after terminating a free trade agreement between the two countries, said an official. Customs duties ranging from 20 per cent to 30 per cent will be imposed on Turkish imports after the free trade agreement was officially terminated between the two sides, Yanal Barmawi, spokesperson of Jordanian Ministry of Industry and Trade, told Xinhua Thursday. In March, Jordan's government suspended the agreement, saying it negatively affected local industries. The decision seeks to curb any further negative impacts on the industrial sector in Jordan in light of the imbalanced competition with Turkish products that are supported by the Turkish government. The decision is part of the government's efforts to review all free trade agreements and study their benefit to the economy. The government said the deal, which went into effect in 2011, did not achieve the expected results as the trade balance sharply increased in favor of Turkey and Turkish investment did not significantly increase in Jordan as stipulated by the deal. Representatives of the industrial sector in Jordan have repeatedly complained about the deal and called for revising it, while several others called for revoking the deal. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:57:49|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Tourists visit the underground courtyard in Shanzhou District of Sanmenxia City, central China's Henan Province, Nov. 21, 2018. Underground courtyard in Shanzhou, a unique kind of residence in mountainous areas of western Henan, was listed as the national intangible cultural heritage in 2011. In recent years, local government has been making efforts in protecting and promoting this folk housing style, and plans to turn some places into tourist attractions. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang) Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:47:57|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close QALA-E-NAW, Afghanistan, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least three Afghan army soldiers and 10 Taliban militants have been killed following clashes in the western province of Badghis, local police said Thursday. "The clashes occurred after hundreds of militants ambushed an army convoy travelling in Bazar-e-Laman, an area on the outskirts of provincial capital Qala-e-Naw late on Wednesday. The clashes also injured nine soldiers and 13 militants," provincial police spokesman Naqibullah Amini told Xinhua. The soldiers fought back at the attackers and six military vehicles were burned following the clashes in the province, 555 km northwest of Kabul, he said. The mountainous province has been the scene of heavy clashes since early this year. The Afghan security forces have beefed up security operations against militants recently as the Taliban has been attempting to take territory and consolidate its positions ahead of winter in the war-plagued country. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 18:58:00|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 22, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Thursday met with Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, suggesting that both sides focus on policy synergizing efforts and implement well alignment of China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and Kazakhstan's Nurly Zhol (Bright Path) economic program. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 19:13:04|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close MACAO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Macao's tertiary industry has contributed 94.9 percent gross value added to Macao's economy in 2017, with that of wholesale and retail, and gaming activities increasing by 21.9 percent and 16.2 percent respectively, the special administrative region's statistic service said here on Thursday. Gross value added of all economic activities of Macao registered a 9.1 percent growth in real terms in 2017 after declining by 0.7 percent year-on-year in 2016, underpinned by satisfactory performance of the tertiary sector, the latest report from the Statistics and Census Service said. The contribution of the secondary sector to total gross value added fell from 6.7 percent in 2016 to 5.1 percent in 2017, owing to a decrease in the share of construction activities. Meanwhile the share of gaming activities grew by 2.5 percentage points year-on-year to 49.1 percent whereas that of non-gaming services dropped by 0.8 percentage points to 45.8 percent. Gross value added of the tertiary sector increased by 11.2 percent in real terms in 2017. Notable increases were observed in wholesale and retail (21.9 percent), gaming activities (16.2 percent), hotels and similar activities (8.6 percent), with their respective contribution of 3.44 billion patacas (about 427 million U.S. dollars), 29.12 billion patacas (3.61 billion dollars), and 2.49 billion patacas (309 million dollars). Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 19:13:05|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Taliban militants attend a welcoming ceremony in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Nov. 22, 2018. A total of 54 armed Taliban militants, including four of the insurgent commanders, joined peace and reintegration process in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, an official said Thursday. (Xinhua/Saifurahman Safi) JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A total of 54 armed Taliban militants, including four of the insurgent commanders, joined peace and reintegration process in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, an official said Thursday. "Up to 54 militants earlier affiliated with the Taliban, including four of their commanders, from several districts of the province handed over their arms and joined peace and reintegration process on Thursday morning," Atallullah Khogyani, provincial government spokesman, told Xinhua. The reintegrated Taliban have also handed over 54 light and heavy arms to security authorities in the province, 120 km east of Kabul, Khogyani added. After six years of distractive activities, the armed Taliban joined peace process by the efforts of the provincial National Directorate of Security, the country's national intelligence agency, said the source. The Taliban militant group has yet to respond to the report. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 19:28:08|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WINDHOEK, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Namibian Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Doreen Sioka on Thursday castigated the growing cases of violence against women in her country and the African continent in general. Speaking at the ongoing African Women Conference in Windhoek, Sioka expressed her dismay at any forms of violence against women in an African set up. "Violence against women is a violation of fundamental human rights and a social cost, and it represents a cross cutting issue and collective burden to society. The whole society need to be committed to the fight against disruptive phenomenon and priority needs to be given to prevention, protection of survivors, rehabilitation of perpetrators as well as strengthening coordination of efforts," Sioka said. The Namibian minister also called on African countries to continue accelerating the participation of women in decision making positions across all sectors as a way of empowering them and dealing with suppression of their rights. Sioka added that African women have a bigger role to play in the political, social and economic spheres. "Increasing opportunities for women in the labour market, especially young women need to be an integral part of every economic and labour initiative in order to support the sustainable development of our communities. "Multidimensional approaches are therefore needed for the promotion of female entrepreneurship at the local and continental levels and harnessing the power of innovation to transform the lives of women in the continent." Sioka said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 19:53:14|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The military bases of the United States in Iran's neighborhoods are targets within the reach of the Iranian missiles, a senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was quoted as saying by Press TV on Thursday. The IRGC Aerospace Commander, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said the U.S. bases in Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar as well as the U.S. aircraft carriers in the Gulf are all within the reach of "soft targets" for Iranian precision guided missiles. Hajizadeh said the IRGC has focused on improving the precision of its missiles since ten years ago. Those U.S. bases will be hit if the "enemy" makes a wrong move, he said. The IRGC has also acquired naval missiles with a range of 700 kilometers that could be used over the Sea of Oman. "U.S. aircraft carriers (in the region) are like shooting targets for us," Hajizadeh stressed, according to Tasnim news agency. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 19:58:16|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close PARIS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Two young men were killed overnight in the town of Martigues, southeastern France in a shooting linked to drug trafficking gangs, according to local media. At around 04:00 local time (0300 GMT) on Thursday, armed men opened fire at the victims near a building in the southeastern French city, BFM TV news channel reported. They targeted two men aged 22 and 28 years old before running away, the report added. In a separate shooting also in southeastern France, a 19-year-old teenager lost his life and four others were wounded late on Wednesday in a dispute related to drug trafficking. So far this year, 19 people were reported shot dead in similar incidents in the region. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 20:03:17|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A delegation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will conclude a trip to Egypt on Thursday by visiting the site of a national solar energy project in the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan. The total cost of Aswan project hits around 210 million U.S. dollars. The bank delegates held important talks with government officials and investment banks in Egypt for setting up joint ventures especially in the infrastructure and energy fields, said Finance Minister Mohamed Ma'it in a statement on Thursday. During the meeting, the AIIB delegates explained the current economic reform measures adopted by the Egyptian government and investment projects and potentials in the country, he added. Their meeting also dealt with the positive outcome of the reform program to upgrade the ranking of the Egyptian economy by international financial institutions, he said. Their talks with the Egyptian side covered measure to enhance joint cooperation along with funding projects in the private sector, he added. On Wednesday, the AIIB delegation praised government's achievements in Suez Canal Corridor projects. Egypt's official MENA news agency reported that the delegation, which paid a visit to the Suez Canal area, also hailed the investment opportunities in the corridor. Concluding its two-day visit in Suez Canal cities of Ismailia and Port Said, the delegation expressed willingness to pump new money for investments in Egypt's infrastructure sector. Egyptian Investment and International Cooperation Minister, Sahar Nasr, said that the Egyptian government is working to attract more investors to invest in the country's mega projects, mainly in renewable energy, sewage networks, land reclamation and fish farming, according to MENA. For his part, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority and the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), Mohab Mamish, said that Egypt is keen to deepen cooperation with the AIIB in order to develop the infrastructure of the SCZone. The AIIB delegation and Egyptian officials toured a number of projects in the SCZone, including fish farms and the East Port Said Port. The Egyptian State attaches great importance to developing the canal region in accordance with a comprehensive scientific plan that is capable of luring investors, Mamish said. Chairman of the board of the AIIB, Jin Liqun, said he was surprised in the past few days by the Egyptian government on its plans in the fields of economic, financial and monetary reform, describing Egypt's latest's accomplishment as "impressive." Liqun stressed that AIIB pays great attention to Egypt, therefore, it was the first non-Asian country where the bank officials visit. He also hailed the great construction being carried out in the New Administrative Capital. Ma'it added investments should be increased and all potentials directed to improving the investment environment including flexible laws and regulations, facilitating procedures and eradicating bureaucracy. "Investments should be increased and all potentials directed to improving the investment environment including flexible laws and regulations, facilitating procedures and eradicating bureaucracy. All this has been taken into consideration in the new investment law," he said. Launched in 2016, AIIB is a multilateral development bank that aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. The bank currently has 87 member states from around the world. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 20:08:20|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Republican chairman of a Senate panel overseeing trade on Wednesday downplayed the chances that Congress would have a vote on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) this year. "This year is not realistic, but I look forward to continuing consultations with the Trump administration," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, adding that members were still reviewing the text of the new North American trade deal. Hatch's remarks came after a group of 12 Republican senators on Tuesday urged the Trump administration to send a draft implementing legislation for the deal to Congress as soon as possible. "We are concerned that if the Administration waits until next year to send to Congress a draft implementing bill, passage of the USMCA as negotiated will become significantly more difficult," the senators wrote in a letter to the White House. Democrats, who will take control of the House of Representatives next year, have sought revisions to the USMCA, arguing that the trade pact lacked a strong enough enforcement mechanism to ensure a reasonable wage for Mexican workers. New Jersey Democratic Representative Bill Pascrell said last week that there should be "not only changes in the legislation but more enforcement" for the trade deal to pass the House. "It is still possible for the current Congress to consider and vote on the USMCA before the end of the 115th Congress," the Republican senators said in the letter, believing the USMCA could win a majority of votes in the House and the Senate this year. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn't shown interest in considering the trade deal before the end of the year, according to Bloomberg News. The USMCA, is scheduled to be signed by the United States, Mexico and Canada before the end of November. It still requires approval from lawmakers in the three countries before ratification and replacing the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 20:13:23|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Amnesty International's (AI) statement on the torture of children in Egypt is not based on "tangible evidence and lacks accuracy," the country's State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Thursday. The international rights group said on Tuesday that Egypt has committed "shocking violations" against children, including torture and enforced disappearance. The AI said it has documented at least six children who were tortured in custody, and 12 who were subjected to enforced disappearance since 2015. "As for the allegations of their enforced disappearance, no reliable evidence was provided to validate such claims, neither were they provided to prove torture allegations for that matter," the SIS statement said. The Egyptian authorities have abided by the standards emphasized by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as it has offered the necessary guarantees of justice in this contest, it said. The SIS urged the AI to be more accurate while relaying allegations of human rights violations in Egypt. The SIS also called upon the AI not to take part in the systematic politicized smear campaigns that aim to damage the image of Egypt locally and abroad through releasing such statements. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 20:13:25|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The top UN envoy for Burundi said Wednesday that the situation in the African country remains fragile as a result of lack of trust and dialogue between the government and opposition. "The situation in Burundi remains fragile, in particular, due to the lack of inclusive political dialogue, but also due to the humanitarian, economic and financial difficulties and security threats," Michel Kafando, UN secretary-general's special envoy for Burundi, told the Security Council. After more than three years of tireless efforts through the inter-Burundian dialogue process, it is now necessary for the United Nations, the African Union, the sub-region and Burundi's partners to re-evaluate the ways and means to help Burundi emerge from the current political crisis, he said in a briefing. This thinking needs to be started, first and foremost, with the Burundians themselves, and then by the region, said Kafando. The Burundi political crisis dates back to April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a controversial third term. Although Nkurunziza earlier this year declared that he would not seek re-election in 2020, the political crisis remains. Kafando said both human rights and humanitarian situations in Burundi remain worrying. The Burundian government has not resumed cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, he noted. Human rights violations and abuses continue in the country, such as arbitrary arrest and forced disappearance and other forms of intimidation, said Kafando. Some 1.7 million people in Burundi face food insecurity. From January to October 2018, 52,260 refugees returned to the country while more than 380,000 refugees are living in other countries in the region, including 227,510 in Tanzania, he said. Briefing the Security Council at the same meeting, Jurg Lauber, chair of the Burundi configuration of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, stressed the importance of the 2020 elections in the country. "The elections of 2020 are already very much at the center of political attention in Burundi. It will be crucial for the future of the country that these elections be free, inclusive, democratic and peaceful, and that their results enjoy high legitimacy primarily inside the country, but also internationally," said Lauber, who is also Swiss ambassador to the United Nations. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 20:23:28|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's economic growth has been recovering rapidly thanks to the recovery of commodity prices in the global market and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s economic bail-out program for the country, a Mongolian economic researcher said. "Mongolia's main economic performance has been improving thanks to the combination of recovery of commodity prices in global market and the three-year Extended Fund Facility of the IMF approved in 2017," Jamsrandorj Delgersaikhan, associate professor with the University of Finance and Economics of Mongolia, told Xinhua in a recent interview. "A recent report released by the National Statistics Office showed that Mongolia's GDP expanded 6.4 percent year on year in the third quarter of this year to 12.8 trillion Mongolian tugriks (about 5 billion U.S. dollars). This is a clear proof of the rapid economic growth," Delgersaikhan said, while expressing his optimism about the country's economic development next year. "Commodity prices in the global market are expected to remain higher next year. This will give a further boost to Mongolia's economic growth," Delgersaikhan said. The landlocked country's economy is heavily dependent on commodity exports. However, domestic political conflict may cause risks to the economic growth, the researcher added. "For any country, political stability is the basis of socio-economic development. Thus, our authorities should firstly create a stable political environment in order to promote economic growth, diversify the mining-dependent economy and reduce external risks to the economy," Delgersaikhan said. Photo taken on Jan. 12, 2018 shows a sign of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Li Xin) CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A delegation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will conclude a trip to Egypt on Thursday by visiting the site of a national solar energy project in the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan. The total cost of Aswan project hits around 210 million U.S. dollars. The bank delegates held important talks with government officials and investment banks in Egypt for setting up joint ventures especially in the infrastructure and energy fields, said Finance Minister Mohamed Ma'it in a statement on Thursday. During the meeting, the AIIB delegates explained the current economic reform measures adopted by the Egyptian government and investment projects and potentials in the country, he added. Their meeting also dealt with the positive outcome of the reform program to upgrade the ranking of the Egyptian economy by international financial institutions, he said. Their talks with the Egyptian side covered measure to enhance joint cooperation along with funding projects in the private sector, he added. On Wednesday, the AIIB delegation praised government's achievements in Suez Canal Corridor projects. Egypt's official MENA news agency reported that the delegation, which paid a visit to the Suez Canal area, also hailed the investment opportunities in the corridor. Concluding its two-day visit in Suez Canal cities of Ismailia and Port Said, the delegation expressed willingness to pump new money for investments in Egypt's infrastructure sector. Egyptian Investment and International Cooperation Minister, Sahar Nasr, said that the Egyptian government is working to attract more investors to invest in the country's mega projects, mainly in renewable energy, sewage networks, land reclamation and fish farming, according to MENA. For his part, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority and the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), Mohab Mamish, said that Egypt is keen to deepen cooperation with the AIIB in order to develop the infrastructure of the SCZone. The AIIB delegation and Egyptian officials toured a number of projects in the SCZone, including fish farms and the East Port Said Port. The Egyptian State attaches great importance to developing the canal region in accordance with a comprehensive scientific plan that is capable of luring investors, Mamish said. Chairman of the board of the AIIB, Jin Liqun, said he was surprised in the past few days by the Egyptian government on its plans in the fields of economic, financial and monetary reform, describing Egypt's latest's accomplishment as "impressive." Liqun stressed that AIIB pays great attention to Egypt, therefore, it was the first non-Asian country where the bank officials visit. He also hailed the great construction being carried out in the New Administrative Capital. Ma'it added investments should be increased and all potentials directed to improving the investment environment including flexible laws and regulations, facilitating procedures and eradicating bureaucracy. "Investments should be increased and all potentials directed to improving the investment environment including flexible laws and regulations, facilitating procedures and eradicating bureaucracy. All this has been taken into consideration in the new investment law," he said. Launched in 2016, AIIB is a multilateral development bank that aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. The bank currently has 87 member states from around the world. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 20:47:09|Editor: mym Video Player Close People present costumes of Miao ethnic group in Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Dec. 1, 2012. Guangxi is a multi-ethnic region and people like to wear ethnic costumes to attend their traditional festivals. The costumes with unique pattern and style reflect diversified ethnic cultures. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin) Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 20:48:36|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian top prosecutor Nabil Sadeq on Thursday ordered Aisha el-Shater, daughter of a Brotherhood's top leader, and five others in custody for 15 days pending investigations. The six suspects are accused of joining a terrorist group that incited public disorder to harm the national economy, official news agency MENA reported. Aisha el-Shater is daughter of the imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood's businessman tycoon and the group's deputy Supreme Guide, Khairat el-Shater. According to initial investigations, Aisha el-Shater and the other five suspects are charged with receiving funds to finance acts of terrorism, the report added. Since the army-led ouster of the Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule, thousands of his loyalists have been jailed or facing trials over accusations of inciting terror, espionage and murder. Morsi himself along with the Brotherhood prominent figures have received sentences varied from death to life sentences in cases related to the killing of protesters and spying for foreign countries. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:03:39|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TOKYO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn is alleged to have instructed a close aide and ally to doctor reports regarding the industry heavyweight's remuneration, sources with knowledge of the matter said Thursday. Along with Ghosn, 64, who was arrested on Monday over allegations he under-reported his pay package by 5 billion yen (44.26 million U.S. dollars) over five years from the business year ending in March 2011, Nissan Representative Director Greg Kelly, 62, was also arrested for being in cahoots with Ghosn's widening financial improprieties. Incriminating emails have been seized by prosecutors, the sources said, and are believed to contain instructions from Ghosn, also chairman of Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., for Kelly to falsify financial documents related to Ghosn's pay package. The sources said Kelly, as per Ghosn's orders, instructed an executive in charge of legal affairs and a senior employee to alter the content of the financial documents. In a bid to keep the financial improprieties secret, the sources said that Ghosn was only in cahoots with his closest subordinates on his expansive double-dealings. The executive and the senior employee instructed by Kelly via Ghosn to manipulate the financial documents, subsequently reached a plea-bargain agreement with prosecutors investigating the case and are believed to have handed over incriminating emails and other materials pertinent to Ghosn's alleged fraudulent activities. Ghosn is suspected by prosecutors to have netted in total billions of yen in unreported stock appreciation rights, with a Dutch-based subsidiary believed to have played a hefty role in the scandal that has rocked the global automotive industry. Remuneration from stock appreciation rights not reported by Nissan in financial statements, is believed to comprise the majority of the 5 billion yen (44.26 million U.S. dollars) in remuneration understated by Ghosn during the period in question. The Dutch-based subsidiary is also believed to be central to further allegations that Ghosn was provided with luxury houses in four different countries, purchased by Nissan, but without legitimate business reasons. The overseas houses are located in Brazil, France, Lebanon and the Netherlands, and the costs should have been recorded in securities reports as part of Ghosn's hefty remuneration package received from Nissan, Tokyo prosecutors said. Nissan, it has been claimed, paid billions of yen in costs to the subsidiary that owns the houses and it is believed that Ghosn himself paid only a fraction of the rent if any at all. Ghosn allegedly sent an email telling the executive to arrange a payment for the Lebanon house, with sources with knowledge of the matter saying Thursday that around 9 million U.S. dollars was spent to purchase the luxury accommodation and a further 6 million U.S. dollars ordered by Ghosn to be used for renovations. Ghosn, in a widening scandal that has cast serious aspersions over corporate governance in Japanese companies, particularly those in its scandal-plagued manufacturing industry, is also alleged to have pocketed money allocated for other executives at Nissan. Nissan Motor previously used to pay to its executives nearly 1.01 billion yen (8.94 million U.S. dollars) less than the amount its annual shareholders' approved. Tokyo prosecutors suspect that part of the amount may have been pocketed by Ghosn himself as every year the actual amount paid to the executives was one third less than was agreed by the shareholders. Ghosn was reportedly in control over who and how much the executives got paid. In 1999, Ghosn became Nissan's chief operating officer and was charged with boosting the at-the-time ailing automaker's market and profit margins, under a capital alliance with Renault. In 2000, Ghosn was promoted to president of Nissan and turned the automaker around through cost-cutting and restructuring measures, including the closure of some of the firm's plants. Ghosn, a French citizen who was born in Brazil, became CEO in 2001 and convinced shareholders he would stay with the automaker until it had been fully rehabilitated. Continuing with his aggressive cost-cutting and streamlining measures, he became Renault's CEO in 2005 and advocated joint procurement and development under the Nissan-Renault alliance. Ghosn, if found guilty of violating the financial law, could be facing punishment of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to 10 million yen (88,518 U.S. dollars), or both. A fine of up to 700 million yen (6.19 million U.S. dollars) can also be slapped on companies under the law. Nissan has said that it will dismiss Ghosn at an extraordinary board meeting on Thursday among multiple "serious misconducts," and believes the undeclared earnings were used for personal reasons by Ghosn. Mitsubishi Motors, sources here said, will also likely sack Ghosn next week, while Renault on Tuesday while not officially firing Ghosn, named Chief Operating Officer Thierry Bollore as temporary acting CEO. Renault owns a 43.4-percent stake in Nissan and the Japanese automaker, for its part, holds a 15-percent stake in Renault and a 34-percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors. Kelly, meanwhile, will also be dismissed for his involvement in improper financial practices in direct cahoots with Ghosn. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:03:40|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BERLIN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Germany's National Railway Company (Deutsche Bahn) is operating at the limits of its capacity due to severe shortages of staff, equipment and investment, according to a report on Thursday. According to the public broadcaster ARD's report, the situation has become so dire that only 20 percent of Germany's ICE high-speed trains are currently "fully operational." The high incidence of defects on these and other connections was reflected in a 73 percent rate of trains arriving on time in 2018 which was still well below the official target of 82 percent. ARD cited internal Deutsche Bahn documents which it had obtained as the source of the statistics. The supervisory board of the state-owned company is meeting in Berlin on Thursday and Friday to discuss its public funding needs and is expected to request around 7 billion euros (7.99 billion U.S. dollars) per year from 2020 until 2025 for infrastructure spending alone. While the number of German trains undergoing repairs has risen by 45 percent since 2016, this partial success was more than offset by a higher number of damage incidents during the same period. As a consequence, the number of ICE trains which left workshops although they were still at least partially defective also increased by 17 percent. ARD noted that frequent delays and technical defects produced a "vicious cycle" in which trains arrived late for repairs and could then consequently also only have their most urgent problems attended to by maintenance staff. This meant that the same train with a broken toilet or air condition system is often kept in operation for several connections, resulting in a reduced quality of service for passengers. The underlying source of the problems was identified in a shortage of qualified staff and insufficient investment. The report highlighted that Deutsche Bahn has more than 5,000 vacancies in so-called "operationally critical" functions and estimated the total backlog of necessary railway network spending at roughly 32 billion euros. Densely-populated areas in Germany were described as the worst affected by capacity bottlenecks and being responsible for 50 percent of delays on long-haul journeys. Reacting to the report, Claus Weselsky, chairman of the German train drivers union (GDL), reacted to the report with sharp criticism of what he viewed as inadequate government funding. Weselsky warned that the German railway system was at risk of "collapsing" if it continued to be hit with austerity programs year after year. Earlier this week, Deutsche Bahn chief executive officer (CEO) Richard Lutz conceded that his company was experiencing "growing pains" stemming from capacity bottlenecks, higher passenger numbers and a growing volume of cargo traffic. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:03:41|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close KUNMING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The number of endangered black-necked cranes that flocked to southwest China's Yunnan Province for winter migration has hit a record high, authorities said Thursday. As of Tuesday, a total of 1,545 such cranes had been spotted in the Yunnan Dashanbao National Nature Reserve for Black-necked Cranes, and the number is still increasing, said Zheng Yuanjian with the reserve. "Compared with previous years, the number of cranes has significantly increased," Zheng said. "There are 500 to 600 more cranes this year." Zheng said that the rising number shows that the environment in Dashanbao Township is getting better. Authorities of the nature reserve have taken a variety of means in recent years to increase the area of wetland and improve the ecosystem to provide a good living environment for the birds. They also boosted public awareness about protecting the birds. Black-necked cranes inhabit meadows, wetlands, and lakes at an altitude from 2,500 to 5,000 meters. They mainly live in highlands in China, India, Bhutan, and Nepal. They are under Class One national protection in China. With an estimated population of around 10,200, the species is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:08:42|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CAIRO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian armed forces and police killed 12 militants in North Sinai during anti-terrorist raids, state media reported on Thursday. "The national security forces have killed seven highly dangerous militants in the North Sinai's city of Arish in exchange of fire," State Information Service said in a statement. Other five militants were killed in shootout at the ring road near Arish city. Explosive devices, motor bikes and large amount of ammunition were seized with the terrorist, the statement added. "The terrorist dangerous elements have been hiding inside deserted houses in the area of 'build your house' in Arish city," an official security source told Xinhua on conditions of anonymity. The security forces have raided the houses on Thursday early morning, and the militants started shooting once the forces were approaching, the source added. He added seven automatic weapons, one explosive belt and two explosive devices were found at the houses. The security forces have combed through the surrounding areas in search for other fled suspects, the source added. Sinai Peninsula is the stronghold of terrorist groups in Egypt, with Sinai State, an Egyptian branch of the Islamic State, as the severest. In February, Egypt started the comprehensive "Sinai 2018" anti-terror campaign that has killed over 430 militants and 32 soldiers so far. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:08:44|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close JAKARTA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Lion Air will meet with Boeing management next week in the United States to review its orders of 737 Max series aircraft until 2035, director of the airlines said here on Thursday. Director of safety and security of Lion Air Daniel Putut revealed that the airlines had announced orders of 50 Boeing 737 Max 10 planes in April of last year with a total price of 6.24 billion U.S. dollars. "We will meet Boeing. We must ensure the type of the problem. We will discuss it with the management of Boeing," he said at the parliament building. Information gleaned from the flight data recorder indicated that the brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 plane with flight number JT 610 suffered from glitch on angle of attack (AOA) that culminated on malfunction of speed indicator during its fatal flight on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people onboard as it went down in waters off western Indonesia. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:28:49|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has unveiled an online system for granting access permits to biological researchers while tracking their researches at the same time, said Kenyan Ambassador to Egypt Joff Otieno. The integrated online permitting and monitoring system links all government institutions in one platform to ensure researchers to seek access permits and monitor compliance of their researches, Otieno said Wednesday evening while addressing the UN Biodiversity Conference being held in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sham El-Sheikh. "This is the first initiative to demonstrate practical ways for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol under a digitized Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) permitting system," said Otieno, also head of the Kenyan delegation to the conference. Otieno added that the ABS all-in-one window online permitting system will contribute to enhancing efficiency, monitoring and transparency, and offer clarity, certainty and compliance regarding biological researches. He explained that Kenya had in the past a disjointed ABS permitting system that was a long and complicated process in which each institution had its own individual process to grant access permits for biological researches. "During that time, an applicant needed to apply independently to each institution which was long and time consuming," he said, noting that the process required the applicant to deal with each government institution separately which made it hard to monitor. Otieno said that the new initiative will attract investment in the country's biodiversity that will in turn lead to improved livelihood. "It is going to offer practical solutions and facilitate business between users and providers of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge," he noted. The UN Biodiversity Conference 2018 is held from Nov. 13 to 29 with the participation of representatives from about 196 states, under the slogan of "investing in biodiversity for people and planet." Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:28:50|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) of Pakistan has foiled an attempt to smuggle drugs from the Multan International Airport, local media reported on Thursday. The ANF personnel recovered 1.5 kg of heroin from a passenger who was on his way to the United Arab Emirates by acting on an intelligence tip-off, said ANF officials. The officials added that the passenger was carrying contraband in secret sections of his bag and officials recovered the drugs while checking at the gateway of the airport. The man, who belonged to the country's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was arrested and sent to an undisclosed place for investigation. A case has been registered against the accused. It is the second seizure over the last two weeks. On Nov. 11, the authorities seized 2.4 kg of narcotics worth millions of rupees and arrested a drug-trafficker at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in eastern Lahore city. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:33:53|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- At weekends, shop assistants at the LEGO retail store at Chaoyang Joy City is occupied in answering the questions from parents and children attracted by the Danish toymaker's creative products. At the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in Shanghai earlier this month, the Danish toymaker's booth was popular with young visitors eager to try out their latest products. "Even though many people choose to go online for toy shopping, LEGO branded retail stores are still crowded with parents and children simply because of LEGO's powerful brand image," said one shop assistant. When speaking of the CIIE, Liao, a LEGO enthusiast from Guangdong Province said he was excited to see his favorite toymaker at the expo. "It was such a pleasant surprise to see LEGO at the expo," said the 22-year-old college graduate, who had started playing with LEGOs since primary school. Liao said that he hopes that LEGO's CIIE presence can be followed by a richer line of the company's products in Chinese toy stores. "I'm looking forward to buying some more products from their "Technic" series," he said, referring to a line of LEGO products featuring complex technical functions. Liao's hopes were in coherence with the company's visions. In an e-mailed response to a media interview, Niels B. Christiansen, CEO of the company, said LEGO is confident about its business in China. "China's commitment to fostering a world-class business environment is a great encouragement to us," said Christiansen, adding that the company will expand its business in China by setting up more retail stores. Entering China in 1983, LEGO has been one of the most recognized imported toy brands in China. It has seen a double-digit growth in its sales in China in the first half of the year, according to its financial report of H1 2018. China is one of the largest market of traditional toys in the world. Market research data indicate that the annual sale of toys and games in China had been going up by around 20 percent annually between 2012 and 2017. Market insiders said this is made possible by the expanding ranks of middle-income earners in China and the popularity of "learning through play" philosophy among young parents. Sensing the potential, foreign companies are vying for expanding their presence in the Chinese market. LEGO has opened two flagship stores in China, both in Shanghai. A third one is scheduled to open in Beijing in early 2019. Toy retailers are also seeing the same big opportunities. One prime example is the U.S. toy retailer Toys "R" Us. Though facing hardships in the U.S. and Europe, the toy retailer's business has seen rapid development in China. Andre Javes, Toys "R" Us president for Asia Pacific, told Chinese online media Economic Observer that the company plans to expand its retail network in China by 40 to 50 stores every year. Toy retailers have also realized the market potential of smaller cities and towns. Kidsland, a Chinese toy retailer, said nearly a third of their new retail points were opened in third-tier cities. China's efforts in improving the business environment for foreign companies, especially enhancing the protection of intellectual property rights, is another reason why China's market is more and more favored by toy companies. "Winning intellectual property cases against knockoff brands manifests China's commitment to create a fair business environment for all companies operating in China," said Christiansen. Christiansen said that hopefully, LEGO's business success in China can encourage other companies to invest in China and provide them with rich experience. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:59:01|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The South African government on Thursday reiterated its commitment to a responsible land reform approach that is in the best interests of everyone. The government respects the rule of law and will, at all times, act in accordance with the Constitution, acting cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said after a cabinet meeting in Cape Town. The cabinet meeting discussed, among others, the ongoing land reform process, according to Williams. This came after civil group AfriForum approached the U.S. Embassy and some other foreign embassies earlier this week, seeking their help to force the South African government to stop the land reform characterized by expropriation without compensation. AfriForum also threatened to launch a court bid to force Parliament to set aside a report on the necessity to amend the Constitution to allow land expropriation without compensation. Parliament's Joint Constitutional Review Committee (JCRC) adopted the report last week in favor of amending Section 25 of the Constitution. The cabinet noted the adoption of the report, Williams said. She said amending the Constitution will make it possible for the state to expropriate land without compensation in the public interest. The Constitution has so far been amended 17 times through a consultative and inclusive process, said Williams. A public consultation process had seen numerous organizations making submissions on the Constitution Amendment Bill and public hearings had been held in all nine provinces, Williams said. The JCRC's report is expected to be tabled in the National Assembly for debate, said Williams. The proposed land expropriation without compension has been strongly resisted by opponents who argue that the process will drive away white farmers, kill jobs and threaten food security. But the government has repeatedly assured that it will pursue the land reform without destabilizing the agricultural sector, endangering food security in the country, or undermining economic growth and job creation. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 21:59:03|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SINGAPORE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said on Thursday that the city state's economy grew by 2.2 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018, compared to 4.1 percent in the preceding quarter. In the first three quarters, Singapore's gross domestic products (GDP) growth was 3.6 percent on a year-on-year basis. The ministry said Singapore's GDP growth is expected to moderate but remain firm in the remaining quarter of this year, and the 2018 GDP growth forecast for Singapore is 3.0 to 3.5 percent. As for 2019, the MTI forecasts that Singapore will see slightly weaker external demand in 2019 as compared to 2018, which will make Singapore's economic growth to moderate next year. Meanwhile, some of Singaporean industries, including information and communications, education, and health and social services, are expected to remain resilient, and the construction industry is projected to improve next year. Taking into account the global and domestic economic environment, the MTI said the Singapore economy is expected to grow by 1.5 to 3.5 percent in 2019. Selena Ling, head of Treasury Research & Strategy of OCBC Bank, said the bank's forecast for Singapore's 2019 GDP growth is 2.7 percent, which is a slowdown from the 3.3-percent economic growth forecast for this year. She said Singapore will likely see a more challenging growth trajectory in 2019, especially in the second half of 2019, mainly due to "the expected U.S. growth moderation, the weaker demand conditions in the global semiconductor cycle and the moderation in growth in key markets including ASEAN." Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 22:14:07|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close GAZA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday published eight pictures of an Israeli army undercover unit infiltrating into the Gaza Strip on Nov. 11. The pictures, published by Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades on leaflets sent to the press, included two women, six men, a vehicle and a truck used by the Israeli soldiers. Hamas, which controls Gaza Strip, said that after investigation, "we managed to unveil in details the mission and who carried it out and who was behind it." The group said it has identified all members of the Israeli group, calling on everyone in the Gaza Strip to provide information about them. On Nov. 11, seven Hamas militants and one Israeli army officer were killed in a gun battle in southern Gaza Strip between the Israeli intruders and Hamas, which led to intensive Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave and firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas' armed wing. Israel has said that the army unit was on a top-secret intelligence mission. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 22:29:11|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The number of permanent residents in Beijing decreased for the first time in two decades, official data showed Thursday. In 2017, the number of Beijing's permanent residents was 21.707 million, 22,000 fewer than in 2016, according to the Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress. According to a report reviewed by the committee, the number of permanent residents in the city's six urban districts continues to decrease. In 2016 and 2017, Beijing saw a total decline of 740,000 permanent residents in the six districts, down 3 percent year-on-year. Beijing plans to cap its population as it seeks to address "big city diseases" such as traffic congestion and pollution. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 22:34:14|Editor: yan Video Player Close KIEV, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed former Prime Minister Eugene Marchuk as Kiev's new envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Ukraine's crisis in Minsk, the presidential press service said Thursday. Marchuk, who has served as Kiev representative in the security subgroup of the TCG, will perform his duties on a voluntary basis, said a statement on the Ukrainian presidential website. Marchuk will replace Leonid Kuchma, who resigned from the position last month. The 77-year-old Marchuk has served as Ukrainian prime minister in 1995-1996 and defense minister in 2003-2004. In 2015, he was appointed as Kiev representative in the security subgroup of the TCG. The TCG, consisting of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was formed to facilitate a diplomatic solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In April 2014, armed groups seized cities and villages in eastern Ukraine and declared independence from Kiev. The Ukrainian army launched the "anti-terror" operation against the insurgents. Relations between Ukraine and Russia have deteriorated since early 2014 over Crimea and the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 22:34:15|Editor: yan Video Player Close VIENNA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for European Union (EU) member states to make a joint declaration against antisemitism based on a singular definition of the term, local media reported on Thursday. Speaking at a conference in Vienna aimed at tackling antisemitism, Kurz said the proposed declaration would be an important step in creating a safer Europe for Jews, ORF reported. He said he hopes that EU member states could come to agreement on the declaration during Austria's current term in the Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will finish at the end of the year. Austria has a "particular responsibility" in the matter due its participation in the holocaust, he said, and only when Jews are safe the world over will Austria have met this historical responsibility. The chancellor said it is "unbelievable" that antisemitism still exists almost 100 years after the holocaust. He said that alongside the kind of antisemitism that has always existed in Europe, there is now also a new kind that has been "imported," particularly through migration streams from Islamic countries. Contact with holocaust survivors is imperative for being able to effectively tackle the issue, he argued, noting that his generation could be the last to be able to engage in such dialogue with witnesses to these atrocities. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 22:34:15|Editor: yan Video Player Close LUSAKA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Thursday pledged to provide electronic tablets for use during Zambia's first-ever digital-based Census of Population and Housing in 2020. Mary Manneko-Monyau, the bank's country manager, said the bank was exploring the possibility of leasing tablets from different countries to be used in Zambia's census. She said in a statement released by the Ministry of National Development Planning following a round table donor meeting on the census, that possibility of leasing tablets from different countries will depend on Zambia's census calendar. The bank, she said, normally provides technical assistance in census particularly in the preparatory activities in African countries and that Zambia was a beneficiary when it conducted its 2010 census. She further commended the government for its commitment to conduct the census. The government announced recently its intention to conduct the population and housing census electronically in 2020. The government has already started engagements with the cooperating partners and the private sector as part of efforts to mobilize resources for the census, according to the statement. Last week, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) pledged to provide 500,000 U.S. dollars in terms of technical assistance, equipment and financial resources towards the census while the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) pledged to provide 100,000 U.S. dollars towards the conducting of the census. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 22:39:15|Editor: yan Video Player Close BERLIN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Brexit withdrawal agreement recently reached by the European Union (EU) and British negotiators will require further discussions before it can be signed, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) warned on Thursday. "We have gotten a step closer, but there will surely be a need for many additional discussions, especially also in Britain", Merkel said during a speech of the congress of employers in Berlin. "I will do everything I can to ensure that we get a deal", she added. The draft treaty in question is intended to resolve the most pressing questions of the looming withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU and includes a "backstop" provision for London to remain in the bloc's customs union unless a more comprehensive free trade agreement can be reached at a later point. British Prime Minister Theresa May is still battling to secure domestic parliamentary approval for the plan after witnessing several high-profile resignations from her cabinet and receiving letters of no-confidence from dozens of Conservative party delegates which could trigger a leadership contest if more at 48 such notices are signed. It is still unclear whether a sufficient majority can be found to support to the deal in the British House of Commons. The Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), whom May's government relies upon to successfully pass legislation assuming the Conservatives vote as a unified bloc, has already threatened to oppose the treaty in its current form. Furthermore, the Spanish government also announced that it would vote against the agreement in the European Council unless the status of the contested island of Gibraltar is clarified in the text. Merkel reiterated her view on Thursday that a so-called no-deal Brexit, in which the United Kingdom crashes out of the EU without defining the nature of its future relationship on March 29th, 2019, would be the least desirable outcome of negotiations. "For business, as well as for the mental situation of our future relationship, a disorderly exit is the worst possible path", she said. The congress of employers convenes in the German capital towards the end of each year and provides a forum for discussion among leading business- and political representatives in the EU's largest national economy. German finance minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) recently noted during budgetary consultations that Brexit was likely to increase the economic risks faced by the bloc. European and British negotiators aim to have their withdrawal agreement formally passed by the EU heads of state during an upcoming special Brexit summit in Brussels on Sunday. On Thursday, both sides announced that they had also formulated an additional brief political declaration on their future relationship to accompany the broader exit deal. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 22:54:18|Editor: yan Video Player Close JUBA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said Thursday it plans to increase peacekeepers in the once restive Upper Nile region to shore up security and boost confidence among internally displaced persons (IDPS) returning home. David Shearer, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the Head of the UNMISS, told journalists they are eager to support IDPs who are returning to their homes since fleeing the towns of Kodok, Aburoc and Renk during intensified fighting which displaced tens of thousands since May 2017. "We are looking to boost our forces in Kodok on the west side of the Nile (river). We will establish a new base to support peace-building in the area so that people have confidence to return. This means that we will need to reconsider the amount of efforts we put into other areas," Shearer told journalists in Juba. Fighting between government troops and rebels allied to former first vice president Riek Machar displaced thousands, including some 30 aid workers who were withdrawn during the violence forcing the UNMISS to deploy troops at its temporary base in Aburoc. He said he visited Malakal, Kodok and Renk in Upper Nile where the security situation has improved and people are beginning to return to the area from Aburoc, Sudan and other places where they had sought refuge during the height of the conflict. Shearer said they are expecting the number of returnees to increase and are working on creating secure environment to support them and enable humanitarians to deliver assistance to them. UNMISS is comprised of 14,500 peacekeepers, including forces under the Regional Protection Force (RPF) already partially deployed to secure key installations and patrolling major high ways. South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world. A peace agreement signed in 2015 to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in the capital, Juba, forcing Machar to flee into exile. President Salva Kiir, his former deputy and arch rival Machar and several opposition groups in September signed a new power-sharing deal in the Ethiopian capital aimed at ending the five-year old conflict. The UN estimates that about 4 million South Sudanese have been displaced internally and externally. File Photo: Turkish soldiers prepare their armored vehicles near the Syrian-Turkish border at Reyhanli district in Hatay, Turkey, on Jan. 21, 2018. (Xinhua) WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Wednesday that the U.S. military is building observation posts along the Turkey-Syria border, widely seen as a move to reduce tension with Turkey. "We are putting in observation posts in several locations up along the Syria border, northern Syria border," Mattis told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. He said that the United States would like to be the one warning the Turkish side when "something is coming out of an area that we're operating in." "We are consulting closely with Turkey," the Pentagon chief added. The United States currently has about 2,000 troops serving in Syria, assisting local forces against the Islamic State (IS) militants, according to U.S. media reports. Washington has been backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for a long time in the battles against the IS. However, Turkey, which has for long been outright about its enmity to the Kurdish forces, said it was ready to launch offensives against the Kurds on the eastern side of the Euphrates River. The Turkish forces have actually started shelling positions of the Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, pushing the U.S.-backed SDF to slow down on its second stage of battles against the IS. To ease the tension, the United States deployed forces along the line between the two sides of the Euphrates River earlier this month to contain the situation, according to a report from a Syrian human rights group. In general, the U.S.-Turkey ties are undergoing a recovery process after a dispute over Turkey's detention and trial on terrorism charges of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson, who was released by Turkey last month. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 22:59:23|Editor: yan Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 22, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Thursday met with Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev in Beijing, and suggested that both sides focus on policy synergizing and well implement the alignment of China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and Kazakhstan's Nurly Zhol (Bright Path) economic program. Xi asked Sagintayev to give his cordial greetings to Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan. With close contact, Xi said his important consensus with Nazarbayev on many issues had guided the development of bilateral ties. "The consensus is being implemented by solid steps with the two sides' concerted efforts," he said. "As a friendly neighbour and comprehensive strategic partner, China places high importance on developing ties with Kazakhstan." He voiced his appreciation of Kazakhstan's people-centric development principle, and stressed that China firmly supported the Kazakh people in following a development path suited to national conditions. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. "Over the past five years, cooperation under the initiative has delivered tangible benefits to the people along the route, and injected new impetus to the world economy," Xi said. "China appreciates Kazakhstan's firm support and active participation in the Belt and Road cooperation. The two countries enjoy a solid basis and promising prospect for jointly building the Belt and Road." Looking into future cooperation, Xi called on both sides to step up policy coordination, further synergize the Silk Road Economic Belt construction with Kazakhstan's Bright Path economic policy, and map out exchanges in various fields. Sagintayev conveyed Nazarbayev's cordial greetings to Xi. Calling China a friendly neighbor, close friend and strategic partner of Kazakhstan, Sagintayev said his country highly valued the Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative proposed by Xi in Kazakhstan five years ago. "The initiative is of great significance to strengthening regional connectivity, combating global challenges, maintaining world security and stability, and promoting common growth and prosperity," he said. The Kazakh prime minister recalled Xi's keynote speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the first China International Import Expo earlier this month, when he compared the Chinese economy to the ocean. "Kazakhstan hopes the ship of Kazakhstan-China cooperation will keep sailing in the ocean of China's economy," Sagintayev said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 23:04:23|Editor: yan Video Player Close RAMALLAH, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Thursday slammed the decision of Israel's High Court of Justice to displace 700 Palestinians in East Jerusalem. The ministry said in a statement that the verdict was based on "false and contradictory pretexts," while criticizing the court for adopting "legally faulty" documents. It said that the Israeli court's decision was another proof that the Palestinians are constant victims of displacement and home demolition, while denouncing "the silence of the world's decision makers." The Israeli High Court of Justice allowed on Wednesday the eviction of around 700 Palestinians from their homes in Silwan in East Jerusalem, after rejecting a petition from the Palestinians and approving the Jewish settlers to take their place. The court claimed that the Palestinian homes were built on land owned by the Jews before 1948. However, the court also questioned the legality of transferring the land to the Jewish settlers, a right-wing group known as Ateret Cohanim. Ateret Cohanim, a right-wing Jewish settler organization based in Jerusalem, asked the court back in 2001 to expel the Palestinian families from their homes and to seize the whole area and the buildings, citing the Jewish ownership of the land more than 120 years ago. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 23:09:25|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close Liu Qiang, a former vice governor of northeast China's Liaoning Province, stands trial for taking bribes and disrupting elections at the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 22, 2018. (Xinhua) BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A former vice governor of northeast China's Liaoning Province stood trial Thursday for taking bribes and disrupting elections at the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing. Liu Qiang was charged with accepting money and property worth more than 10.63 million yuan (about 1.53 million U.S. dollars) personally or through others between 2000 and 2017. He took advantage of his different posts to help others on issues such as business operation, project contracts and job promotion. The prosecutors also accused Liu of bribery and illegally canvassing for himself during the local election. Between 2011 and January 2013, Liu disrupted the election with the power and influence of his position as secretary of the Communist Party of China Fushun Municipal Committee, in an attempt to be elected as vice governor of Liaoning Province, according to the prosecutors. Prosecutors, the defendant and his lawyers cross-examined evidence and gave full testimonies, according to the court's statement. Liu made his final statement, confessing and expressing remorse in court. The trial was attended by 70 people, including legislators and political advisors. The court will announce the verdict at a later date. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 23:34:29|Editor: yan Video Player Close LAMU, Kenya, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan security forces have arrested more than 10 suspects in connection with the abduction of an Italian aid worker in the coastal region of Kilifi. Noah Mwivanda, Coast regional police commander, confirmed the arrest on Thursday, saying the suspects were arrested in a sting operation conducted by a multiagency security operation at Chakama and Galana-Kulalu areas on Wednesday night. Mwivanda said the suspects have been detained in various police stations for interrogation following the Tuesday night incident in which five people including three children were injured. "I am unable to exactly confirm the number of those arrested in the ongoing operation unless I confirm with the concerned people on the ground," Mwivanda said. Sylivia Constanca, an Italian volunteer, was seized from her hotel room on Tuesday evening. The east African nation has sought to allay fears of insecurity at the coastal region, saying it was an isolated incident. The ministry of tourism has also assured investors and tourists planning to travel to the region that it is under constant surveillance. The move comes as search and rescue operation for the Italian woman has been intensified to neighboring regions. Sources said the military has joined the hunt for the attackers and efforts to rescue the woman amid fears the kidnappers may be headed far. Mwivanda said they have divided teams into groups to carry out the operation that extends to neighboring Tana River county and some parts of Voi in Taita Taveta county. He added that three of the assailants had AK47 rifles during the attack and two motorbikes they used have been recovered in Chakama. The regional police commander also denied that it was an al-Shabab attack as alleged by the media, adding that he was optimistic that the aid worker will be found alive. "Report any suspicious individuals amongst you so that we can avoid such incidents in future," Mwivanda said. Kenya's tourism suffered a decline in the number of tourists arriving since September 2011, when the Somali militant group, the al-Shabab, carried out the kidnappings of tourists in the Lamu archipelago and the kidnapping of the Spanish volunteers. Kenya sent troops into Somalia to battle the militants in October 2011 after several attacks, including the kidnapping of a French woman and a British tourist - and the killing of her husband - damaged its key tourism industry. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 23:44:32|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close Yukiya Amano (front L), Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), attends a board meeting of IAEA in Vienna, Austria, on Nov. 22, 2018. IAEA on Thursday confirmed that Iran is sticking to the 2015 nuclear accord. (Xinhua/Liu Xiang) VIENNA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday confirmed that Iran is sticking to the 2015 nuclear accord. In a report of IAEA chief Yukiya Amano to a board meeting in Vienna, the capital of Austria, the agency said that under the monitor of IAEA, Iran is still complying with the Iranian nuclear accord reached in July 2015. "Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (nuclear deal). It is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments," said the report. IAEA plays a key role in monitoring the implementation of the Iranian nuclear deal, under which, Iran agreed to significantly scale back its nuclear plan, giving more transparency of its atomic plan to the international society, in return, the related international sanctions are to be lifted. However, Washington withdrew from the landmark nuclear deal in May, and imposed second batch of sanctions against Tehran in early November, targeting Iran's shipping, financial and energy sectors. Tehran has dismissed U.S. sanctions' pressures, saying that it will continue its "constructive role" concerning regional policies. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 23:44:32|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIRUT, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said Thursday that he has no solution for ending the long delay in government formation. "I do not have a solution," he said, hinting at the fact that he is not the one who is hindering the process of government formation following the May elections. Hariri's remarks came after the end of the celebration at Baabda Palace to mark Lebanon's 75th Independence Day. Hariri has been facing various hurdles in his attempt to form a 30-member national unity government because of the deep rifts among rival politicians over the representation of the main Christian parties and Druze sect in the new cabinet. One major obstacle remains as the Sunni lawmakers from outside Hariri's Future Movement have been demanding for at least one seat in the government. Hariri, backed by President Michel Aoun, refused the demand, arguing that the six Sunni lawmakers do not have the right of representation because they were not part of a unified parliamentary block. Hezbollah, a Shiite Islamic political party in Lebanon, has strongly backed the independent Sunni lawmakers' demand. Hariri held a press conference over a week ago during which he accused Hezbollah of delaying the government formation, saying that Hezbollah should bear the consequences of the delay. Meanwhile, Lebanese lawmaker Kassem Hachem, who is one of the six independent Sunni lawmakers, announced Thursday that the six lawmakers will very soon ask for a meeting with Hariri to discuss their representation in the cabinet. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 23:44:32|Editor: yan Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Kazakh counterpart Bakytzhan Sagintayev hold the fourth regular meeting between the Chinese premier and the Kazakh prime minister in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 22, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday said China is willing to better dovetail its Belt and Road Initiative with Kazakhstan's development strategy to benefit the two peoples. During the fourth regular meeting between the Chinese premier and the Kazakh prime minister in Beijing, Li told his Kazakh counterpart Bakytzhan Sagintayev that China will also work to translate the two countries' high-level mutual trust and the will to cooperate into substantial results. Li said China and Kazakhstan would sign various cooperation documents covering areas such as industrial capacity, investment and digital economy during the regular meeting. China is willing to join hands with Kazakhstan to promote cooperation in major areas, stabilize and expand energy cooperation, and amplify other cooperation in emerging areas. The two sides will also accelerate negotiation on the signing of an investment protection agreement to supply legal safeguards to mutual investment and cooperation, according to Li. Culture, youth and tourism exchanges will be promoted with more convenience provided to people-to-people exchange, to consolidate the foundation of public opinion for the bilateral relations. "The two sides should strengthen coordination and cooperation under multilateral frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to maintain multilateralism and free trade regime and safeguard the peace, stability and development of the region," Li said. Sagintayev said Kazakhstan is willing to strengthen the alignment of its Bright Path economic policy with the Belt and Road Initiative, and deepen cooperation with China in such areas as trade, investment, capacity, agriculture and energy, as well as advancing personnel training and exchange of experience to usher in a new stage of bilateral relations. Li and Sagintayev witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents after the meeting. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-22 23:54:38|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close Wang Yang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, attends a consultation symposium of the agriculture and rural affairs committee under the top political advisory body in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 22, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Wang Yang on Thursday stressed the importance of consultations with those who work on special issues. Wang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, made the remarks at a consultation symposium of the agriculture and rural affairs committee under the top political advisory body. The symposium gathered national and local political advisors as well as officials from related CPC and government departments and was the first of its kind since the establishment of the rural committee. He said consultation with those who work on related issues is an important form of consultative democracy of the CPPCC and an important vehicle in realizing the extensive, multilevel and institutionalized development of consultative democracy. He urged giving full play to such professional and flexible consultations so as to build a new platform for and inject new vitality into the CPPCC's specialist consultative bodies. File Photo: A Burundian dancer performs during a celebration of Burundi's 56th independence anniversary in Bujumbura, capital of Burundi, on July 2, 2018. (Xinhua/Evrard Ngendakumana) UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The question of Burundi should no longer stay on the agenda of the United Nations (UN) Security Council given the fact that the country has returned to calm, said a Chinese envoy on Wednesday. China noticed the Burundian foreign minister's announcement at this year's General Debate of the UN General Assembly that calm has returned to Burundi and that the situation had remained under control, said Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN. Burundi should not stay on the agenda of the Security Council as it no longer posed a security threat to the region or the world, according to Burundian Foreign Minister Ezechiel Nibigira. China is therefore of the opinion that the Security Council should listen to Burundi and take a comprehensive, impartial and objective view of the situation in Burundi. The council should make adjustments according to the latest developments and send out a positive message, Wu told the council. The security situation in Burundi remains stable and the Burundian government is actively pushing forward the political process, he said. China welcomes the positive developments, which serve as a manifestation of the capability and determination of the Burundian government and people to independently solve their political problems and safeguard peace and stability, he said. The international community should rightfully respect Burundi's ownership and leadership, and respect Burundi's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, said Wu. The international community should also fully respect the choices of the Burundian government and people, particularly on the issue of elections and the political process, he said. China welcomes the efforts of regional and sub-regional groups in promoting the Burundian political process, and hopes that the groups will continue to enhance coordination with the Burundian government and provide constructive assistance. At the same time, Burundi faces socio-economic and humanitarian challenges. The international community should provide necessary support and assistance, said Wu. China asks the international organizations concerned to resume economic cooperation and development aid to Burundi. He said that China has always supported Burundi's peace process and provided assistance within its capacity for Burundi's rebuilding, and is willing to continue to play a constructive role in helping bring peace, stability and sustainable development in Burundi. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 00:19:49|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close SHANGHAI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese e-commerce giants including Alibaba's Tmall and JD.com have removed items of Italian luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana from their platforms amid a racism row. Other major e-business sites such as Suning.com, NetBase and Vip.com have also removed D&G products from their websites. According to Vip.com, its online retailers have suspended sales of D&G products and have been keeping a close eye on the development of the row. D&G caused public outcry after the brand posted three short videos on its Instagram and Sina Weibo over the weekend to promote its Shanghai fashion event. The videos featured a female Asian model struggling to eat pizza and other Italian food with chopsticks, with a male voiceover imitating the Chinglish accent and mocking Chinese pronunciation of the brand's name. The videos sparked uproar, with many accusing the brand of cultural insensitivity and racism. Critics said the tone of the video was arrogant, demeaning and reinforced stereotypes about Chinese culture. The videos were later removed from D&G's official Weibo account. The situation escalated after an Instagram user posted screenshots of her private messages with the company's co-founder, Stefano Gabbana, who insulted China as he fought back at the accusations of racism. The D&G fashion show, originally scheduled to take place in Shanghai on Wednesday night, was later canceled. Chinese A-list celebrities invited to the show, including Zhang Ziyi, Chen Kun, Li Bingbing and Wang Junkai, had all withdrawn from the event before D&G had even announced the cancelation. It was reported that around 5,000 global guests had been invited to the show, which was supposed to be the biggest not only in the brand's history, but the biggest among any other foreign competitors' shows in China. D&G responded to the incident via its Weibo account saying that Gabbana's Instagram account had been hacked and posting an image with the words "NOT ME" written across the screenshots of the exchange. "We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China," the company said. But the statement failed to sooth public outrage. Netizens later said they were unsatisfied because D&G didn't apologize to the Chinese market. D&G later announced on Weibo that the show had been rescheduled for another day. Yi Shen, with the Research Center for the Governance of Global Cyberspace at Fudan University, said that the incident shows how powerful Chinese netizens and consumers can be in defending the dignity of their nation. "D&G should learn a lesson from the incident," he said. "Each company should be responsible for their behavior." Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 00:24:51|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close LONDON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The next 72 hours are crucial in Brexit negotiations between Britain and the European Union (EU), Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons Thursday. May updated politicians on talks she has held in Brussels on the withdrawal agreement and a political statement outlining the new working arrangements for Britain's departure from EU membership. The UK-EU deal will create a free trade area with the EU unlike any other, May told politicians, adding the next 72 hours are crucial. She said that Britain would be able to negotiate new trade deals around the world, ready to introduce them when an implementation period with the EU ended. May also added that the sovereignty of British-territory Gibraltar would be protected. Specific proposals are also included over the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland to ensure a future so-called backstop arrangement is not needed by either Britain or the EU. The prime minister told MPs the future relationship document is a good deal for Britain, ending free movement once and for all and introducing skills-based immigration. She said the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Britain will end, and future decisions will be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and London. She concluded: "The British people want Brexit to be settled. They want politicians to move on, and focus on other issues like the National Health Service. A deal is now in grasp." May came under attack from the main opposition leader, Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, who said nothing has changed, describing the political statement as "waffle". The documents are now being studied by the 27 member states of the EU ahead of a meeting on Sunday when the aim is to approve the proposals. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 00:44:56|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the State Council called for more efforts to boost transparency of government services Thursday. Xiao Jie, state councilor and secretary-general of the State Council, made the remarks at the first meeting of a national leading group on the initiative, which he chairs. Remarkable progress has been made since late 2012 in promoting transparency, helping to earn recognition, trust and support from the public, said Xiao. He urged authorities in all areas and on all levels to make government transparency a conscious choice. In 2019, more should be done to explain policies, respond to public opinions, standardize services and improve platforms, said Xiao. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 01:09:59|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Beijing police have put 112 people in criminal detention since a campaign against gun and explosive-related crimes started in February. As 45 cases were uncovered, more than 560 guns and more than 550 replica guns were confiscated. More than 70,000 bullets, 5,400 knives and 4,500 pieces of explosives were found, according to Beijing's municipal public security bureau. While launching a crackdown, Beijing authorities also issued a notice, informing the public about the dangers of such items, and urging the public to voluntarily hand in guns and replicas. Firearms are tightly controlled in China, and those that hide related items face severe punishment. File Photo: A Burundian refugee waits as they gather on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Kagunga village in Kigoma region in western Tanzania with their belongings, as they wait for MV Liemba to transport them to Kigoma township, May 17, 2015. (Xinhua/REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The top UN envoy for Burundi said Wednesday that the situation in the African country remains fragile as a result of lack of trust and dialogue between the government and opposition. "The situation in Burundi remains fragile, in particular, due to the lack of inclusive political dialogue, but also due to the humanitarian, economic and financial difficulties and security threats," Michel Kafando, UN secretary-general's special envoy for Burundi, told the Security Council. After more than three years of tireless efforts through the inter-Burundian dialogue process, it is now necessary for the United Nations, the African Union, the sub-region and Burundi's partners to re-evaluate the ways and means to help Burundi emerge from the current political crisis, he said in a briefing. This thinking needs to be started, first and foremost, with the Burundians themselves, and then by the region, said Kafando. The Burundi political crisis dates back to April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a controversial third term. Although Nkurunziza earlier this year declared that he would not seek re-election in 2020, the political crisis remains. Kafando said both human rights and humanitarian situations in Burundi remain worrying. The Burundian government has not resumed cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, he noted. Human rights violations and abuses continue in the country, such as arbitrary arrest and forced disappearance and other forms of intimidation, said Kafando. Some 1.7 million people in Burundi face food insecurity. From January to October 2018, 52,260 refugees returned to the country while more than 380,000 refugees are living in other countries in the region, including 227,510 in Tanzania, he said. Briefing the Security Council at the same meeting, Jurg Lauber, chair of the Burundi configuration of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, stressed the importance of the 2020 elections in the country. "The elections of 2020 are already very much at the center of political attention in Burundi. It will be crucial for the future of the country that these elections be free, inclusive, democratic and peaceful, and that their results enjoy high legitimacy primarily inside the country, but also internationally," said Lauber, who is also Swiss ambassador to the United Nations. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 01:45:07|Editor: yan Video Player Close NICOSIA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- An official of the Cyprus Cheesemakers Association on Thursday dismissed media reports claiming that export of halloumi to China would derail the supply of the popular cheese to the north European markets. Cyprus and China signed an agreement on Nov. 6, during the first China International Import Expo (CIIE), which permits the exports of halloumi cheese to China. British media claimed that the export deal would lead to a shortage of halloumi, raising alarm among thousands of halloumi fans, who created a storm on social media. Guardian newspaper even reported that a big chain of supermarkets in Britain was already facing shortages of the product. "There is not even a shred of truth in these reports," said Georgios Petrou, the chairman of the Cyprus Cheesemakers Association. "My personal experience tells me that it takes a long time for people to get acquainted and used to a product like halloumi...By the time the Chinese will get to like it we would be able to increase production to meet all demand," he added. Halloumi is a medium hard white cheese, which Cyprus is in the process of safeguarding with the European Union as a protected designation product, meaning that no other manufacturers except Cypriots can name their cheese halloumi. Most Europeans like it because it can take the place of meat in barbecues. A hotter and longer summer this year across Europe also boosted sales of halloumi as people stayed more days in the open. Demand in Britain surpassed that in every other European country, except Cyprus, by 2013. Russian President Vladimir Putin (3rd L) and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (4th L) listen to explanations as they visit the site of the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait in Kerch, Crimea, September 15, 2016. (SPUTNIK PHOTO) MOSCOW, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Russia considers its activities in the Sea of Azov legitimate and rejects accusations from Ukraine and the European Union (EU) of its attempt to militarize the region, the Russian foreign ministry said Thursday. "Russia strictly observes its agreement with Ukraine on cooperation in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait of Dec. 24, 2003, which fixes the status of the sea as internal waters of Russia and Ukraine," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a weekly briefing. Earlier this year, Ukraine accused Russia of "aggressive actions" in the Sea of Azov after Russia inaugurated a bridge over the Kerch Strait, which links the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland, and started carrying out inspections of commercial ships sailing through the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait. EU High Representative Federica Mogherini on Monday said Russia's activities in the Sea of Azov "are damaging not only the Ukrainian economy, but also so many vessels that are flying European Union member states' flags." The EU could take "targeted measures in the coming weeks or days," she said. Zakharova said the Kerch Strait has never been an international waterway, and therefore any claims concerning the right of transit or innocent passage for foreign vessels are inapplicable. According to Zakharova, the increase in the number of inspections is due to the need to tighten security following the opening of the bridge over the Kerch Strait, and the inspections are not discriminatory as nearly half of the vessels inspected were transmitting to or from Russian ports, including ships under the Russian flag. She said the Ukrainian authorities were purposely whipping up tensions in the region through statements about an alleged militarization of the Sea of Azov by Russia. Relations between Kiev and Moscow have deteriorated since early 2014 over Crimea and the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 04:40:48|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close KHARTOUM, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Sudan and its neighboring countries on Thursday signed Khartoum declaration on enhancing health security across the border. The declaration was signed by Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt, Libya and South Sudan. It aims to enhance health cooperation to achieve health security and implement international regulations to prevent health threats. Sudan's Health Minister Mohamed Abu Zaid said "Khartoum declaration represents the countries' commitment to health security," adding that the World Health Organization (WHO) is committed to providing technical and financial support. Naeema Al-Gasseer, WHO representative in Sudan, said this is the first time in 20 years that African and Arab countries meet together to address health security across the border. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 04:45:48|Editor: yan Video Player Close VALLETTA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Maltese people spend about 90 percent of their lifespan in good health on average - longer than those in any other EU member,the figures released by the EU on Thursday showed. The figures emerged from the recently-released state of health in the EU country profile report. The average Maltese life expectancy had increased to 81.9 years in 2015 from 78.4 years in 2000 and is the sixth longest across the EU, which averages a life expectancy of 80.6 years. Maltese men were found to live 72.6 healthy years on average, with women spending an average of 74.6 years in good health. On average, 70 percent of Maltese people reported being in good health. The increased lifespan was mainly the reduction of premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases, although these remained the foremost cause of death for both Maltese men and women. Heart disease is the biggest killer in Malta, closely followed by cancer. Respiratory diseases and diseases of the nervous system make up the rest of the top four causes of death on the island. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 05:10:54|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close LONDON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Robot taxis that take to the road without drivers are set to appear on the streets of two major British cities, it was announced on Thursday. The trial schemes will see robot taxis without drivers on the streets of London and also a driverless bus service between Edinburgh and across the Forth Bridge to Fife on a 22.5-kilometer route. Business Secretary Greg Clark announced the schemes as part of the British government's industrial strategy, saying that self-driving cars will revolutionise the way goods and people move. "Autonomous vehicles and their technology will not only revolutionise how we travel, it will open up and improve transport services for those who struggle to access both private and public transport," Clark said. Clark promised funding of 25 million pounds (about 32 million U.S. dollars) through the Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Intelligent Mobility Fund. The driverless schemes are set to start in 2021. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 05:46:00|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close HAVANA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was set to kick off a two-day visit to Cuba on Thursday to enhance economic and political ties between the two nations. Sanchez's trip is the first by a Spanish prime minister in more than three decades, a sign Madrid is willing to expand cooperation with Cuba, which has been reaching out to European countries amid deteriorating ties with the United States. His agenda focuses on promoting economic cooperation and expanding business ties. Spain is Cuba's third largest trading partner, with bilateral exchange of 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2017. More than 100 Spanish companies operate in Cuba, most in the tourism sector through partnerships between Spanish hotel chains and Cuban firms. The Spanish leader is scheduled to arrive in Thursday afternoon in Havana, where he will be received by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. The two will hold private talks before presiding over the signing of new cooperation agreements in different sectors. Details of the agreements have yet to be disclosed. On Friday, Sanchez will have a work breakfast with Spanish businessmen in Cuba to learn about their experiences in the Caribbean country and new opportunities to expand trade ties. He will also participate in a Cuba-Spain business forum that aims to expand bilateral economic cooperation and promote new areas of trade. The Spanish prime minister is accompanied by his Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Reyes Maroto as well as a group of 200 entrepreneurs from different sectors. Sanchez will also tour Old Havana accompanied by the city's official historian Eusebio Leal, who also heads the ongoing renovation of the city's colonial-era monuments. Before returning to Madrid, Sanchez will host a meeting with Cuban intellectuals, artists, private entrepreneurs, and religious leaders. According to the Spanish prime minister's office spokesman, the visit aims to "normalize, stabilize and deepen relations between Spain and Cuba." Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 05:56:03|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Front L), crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces, receives visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates(UAE), Nov. 22, 2018. (Xinhua/Emirates News Agency) DUBAI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz on Thursday arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a state visit. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces, welcomed the Saudi crown prince and his delegation at the Presidential Airport in the UAE capital with other senior officials, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM). He received an official reception ceremony upon arrival. "We're proud of our deep-rooted ties, close cooperation and a fruitful partnership for our countries. The UAE will always be a loving and supportive home for our brothers in Saudi Arabia," Sheikh Mohammed said in a Twitter post. He also said in another Twitter post that the two sides "held talks on ways to enhance bilateral ties as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest." Some media reported that this is the first foreign trip of the Saudi crown prince since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and he is expected to visit Tunisia on Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-23 06:51:11|Editor: yan Video Player Close BUCHAREST, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Romanian and Moldovan ministers on Thursday signed an agreement to vigorously promote cooperation in tourism during a joint governmental meeting attended by the two prime ministers. "At this point, the cooperation between the two governments is more intense than ever," said Romanian Tourism Minister Bogdan Trif who signed the document with visiting Moldovan Minister of Economy and Infrastructure Chiril Gaburici. "We share the same history and the same values. That's why this collaboration agreement was born out of the belief that we can also share a common future," he said, noting that "Romania is willing to make all the efforts to support the Republic of Moldova in maintaining its European track and tourism is a field that can accelerate this." The new agreement stipulated the strengthening of cooperation in investment projects of common interest in tourism, through the development of projects that can benefit from the financial support of the European Union, as well as a sustained exchange of information regarding investments and facilities in this field. According to official Agerpres news agency, Romania already drafted some common cultural route with Moldova. "Stephen the Great Route" for one includes many cities and places associated with Stephen the Great, ruler of Moldova (1457-1504) who was renowned in Europe for his long resistance to the Ottoman Turks. "The Wine Road" is another bilateral project which will include many wine cellars in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, to promote the two countries as a destination for foreign tourists, especially those from the Asian market. The volume of air cargo has surpassed all previous levels at Liszt Ferenc International Airport: in October this year the monthly volume of cargo exceeded 13 000 tons. Apparently, Budapest Airport commenced construction of the new cargo base called Cargo City this September with the best possible timing. Cargo traffic this October exceeded traffic in the same period last year by no less than 22.9%. In total, 13 313 tons of cargo was handled at Budapest Airport, out of which 9 205 tons was flown cargo. This has been the busiest month ever at Budapest Airport. Since the beginning of the year, the performance of the cargo sector amounted to 120 603 tons, but figures of the last twelve months are even better: since October last year, 144 017 tons of cargo was put through Ferenc Liszt International Airport. Whats more important than specific numbers is that the outstanding performance of the Hungarian economy in the third quarter is behind this growth, as successful Hungarian sectors producing goods for international markets traditionally book significant capacities in air cargo traffic rapidly and smoothly distributing small but high-value products in the world market. These include pharmaceutical products requiring special transportation as well as the consignments of the domestic electronics industry and suppliers of vehicle parts. In addition to traditional cargo airlines, four Trans-Atlantic flights connect the Hungarian economy with North- American markets from the summer, ensuring access to New York, Toronto, Chicago, and Philadelphia simultaneously. The cargo hold of passenger flights to these cities can accommodate 10-12 tons of goods, in addition to passengers baggage. It is a pleasure to see that an increasing number of our partners are using the air cargo services of Budapest Airport and the Budapest branches of major forwarders. It is particularly worth noting that cargo traffic this year grew by 16.3% at Ferihegy, exceeding even the quite dynamic growth of passenger traffic, said Rene Droese, director property and cargo of Budapest Airport. Jozsef Kossuth, Head of Cargo at Budapest Airport added, This time next year we will be welcoming the aircraft of specialized freighter airlines including Cargolux, Turkish Cargo, Qatar Airways Cargo, AirBridgeCargo of Russia, and the Azeri Silkway Airlines in the area of our state-of-the-art Cargo City. Budapest Airport commenced construction of the cargo handling center called Cargo City in September this year close to Terminal 2A, on the boundary of the administrative area of Vecses. The 10-billion-HUF (32.6-million-euro) project funded by Budapest Airport itself includes a modern logistics warehouse of 20 000 square meters complete with an office block and a new concrete apron of 32 000 square meters, where two large Boeing 747-8F freighter aircraft will be possible to service at the same time. The project is scheduled to be completed by the second half of next year. Source & photo: bud.hu Indias Flex Films, which makes flexible plastic packaging, will build a 23 billion forint (EUR 71.5m) plant in Retsag, in northern Hungary, the foreign affairs and trade minister said. The government is awarding Flex Films a 2.8 billion forint grant for the investment which will create 170 jobs, Peter Szijjarto said. The plant will be Flex Films second in Europe after the one in Poland. Szijjarto said there was considerable regional competition for the investment and a three-year cooperation agreement between Invest India and the Hungarian investment agency played an important role in winning over Flex Films. India is currently the ninth most important investor in Hungary and as a result of these investments bilateral trade grew to 665 million dollars last year, he added. In the first eight months of this year, Hungarian exports grew by 22% and trade turnover by 9%, he said. Indian companies have played an important role in Hungarys 5% GDP growth in the third quarter, which is more than double of the European average. This shows that it is realistic to expect that Hungarys economic growth will remain over 4% in the long term, he said. MTI Photo: Mathe Zoltan The immigration and asylum office did not make any mistake and the information it provided concerning the asylum case of former Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski was precise, professional and legitimate, the interior minister told the press. Speaking after a meeting of parliaments national security committee, Sandor Pinter said that the office never discloses details about such procedures and added that such information could only be provided to the United Nations. He also added that the applicant is not bound by rules of secrecy and is free to disclose any details. This might explain what has been published in the press, he said. Adam Mirkoczki, the head of the committee delegated by conservative Jobbik, said that the Gruevski affair impacts national security. It must be revealed if Hungarian authorities or secret services had a role [in Gruevski's flight to Hungary], if laws have been violated, and if a convicted criminal can be sheltered in the European Union, he said. Janos Halasz, deputy head of the committee delegated by ruling Fidesz, said that Gruevski is persecuted by a Socialist government backed by [US financier George] Soros. He insisted that the opposition has created a political case around Gruevskis asylum request. He said that while migration is on the increase across the Balkans opposition politicians were only asking questions about the Gruevski affair. Zsolt Molnar, a Socialist member of the committee, called the attitude of ruling party deputies unacceptable and voiced regret that important national security questions were not addressed despite the interior ministers presence at the committee meeting. Related articles: Former Macedonian PM Seeks Political Asylum In Hungary Opposition Calls On FM To Resign Over Gruevski Affair Opposition Calls For Scrutiny Into Gruevski Affair PM's Office Confirms Gruevski Asylum Claim A foreign ministry official has met US government officials to discuss energy security in central and eastern Europe, the renewal of the US-Hungarian defence cooperation and aid for persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Relations between the countries have changed since the election of Donald Trump as president, Levente Magyar, foreign ministry state secretary, told MTI during a two-day visit to Washington. Bilateral talks are now friendly and cooperative. Magyar met Wess Mitchell, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, Fiona Hill, a senior director of the National Security Council, Kurt Volker, the US Special Representative for Ukraine, Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and Theodore Garrish, an assistant secretary at the Energy Department. He also met members of the US-Hungarian Business Council. Regarding energy security, Magyar said talks focused on Hungarys aim to diversify its energy supplies. Our main goals have been the same for 30 years, because Hungarys dependence on one resource of natural gas [from Russia] is unhealthy, Magyar said. Hungary has so far been working on diversifying its access to natural gas by drawing on its own resources in cooperation with its neighbours, but without substantial help from the EU or the US, he said. Right now, curbing central Europes dependence on Russian gas is not dependent on Hungary, Magyar said, adding that Hungary counted on US help to promote political decision-making and economic processes that result in other countries in the region taking the necessary steps to achieve energy independence. Magyar also had talks on the legal framework of a defence cooperation agreement that renews current regulations while serving both countries interests and fully respecting Hungarian sovereignty. Improving bilateral relations will pave the way for the signing of such an agreement in the near future, he said. The state secretary also had talks on coordinating US and Hungarian aid efforts for persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Helping Christians in the region aligns with the Hungarian governments aim to deliver aid to where the trouble is in contradistinction to the mainstream European rhetoric of supporting and boosting illegal migration, he said. Photo: kormany.hu Following a quiet start on 28 October, the first flight between Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Budapest Airport by JOON, the new generation travel experience by Air France, was officially launched on 8 November. The inauguration ceremony was attended by the French ambassador to Hungary, the regional director from Air France KLM, the CEO of Budapest Airport and the CEO of JOON. From the beginning of the winter schedule, the three flights per day between the Hungarian and French capitals, operated earlier by Air France, are now flown by JOON, a carrier launched in 2017. The flights continue to offer the same connectivity in the extensive Air France and KLM network that passengers are accustomed to. The flight launch event, which of course included the water canon salute provided by the airport firefighters, was attended by Pascale Andreani, the French ambassador to Hungary, Jost Lammers, the CEO of Budapest Airport, Thijs Komen, the regional director from Air France KLM and Jean-Michel Mathieu, the CEO of JOON. We are delighted that JOON, Air Frances sister carrier, chose Budapest as one of its first destinations from Paris, highlighted Jost Lammers, the CEO of Budapest Airport. We are certain that this airline will be popular amongst Hungarian travelers; with its youthful and dynamic image and service quality, it offers something brand new in the market. With the appearance of JOON, the number of seats available to passengers on the Budapest-Paris route has increased by 16%. There is sure to be demand for this expansion, as approximately 600 000 people travel between the two capitals annually, and this number is growing continuously, and could reach 700 000 by the end of this year. Jean-Michel Mathieu, the CEO of JOON said: I am very proud of the fact that JOON, the new generation travel experience by Air France, is flying to this beautiful city in the heart of Europe. JOON enables the successful operation of the route for Air France going forward. This winter, with three flights, and from the 2019 summer schedule, with four a day, we are providing 16% more seats for passengers. JOON brings a new approach to the world of airlines; its services have been formulated according to the latest travel trends and needs. The Budapest-Paris flight is part of an intensive expansion strategy. Concurrently with the Hungarian capital, JOON is also commencing operation to Bergen in Norway, known as the gateway to the fjords. The latest wave of new flights follows JOONs summer expansion program, when it launched several long haul flights from Paris, to Cairo, Cape Town, Fortaleza, Mahe and Mumbai, but now we can also fly JOON to Rome, Naples and Istanbul, in addition to Berlin, Barcelona, Porto and Lisbon. In the summer of 2019, they will commence operation from Paris to Quito, the capital of Ecuador and the island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean, and will also add Madrid, Stockholm, Prague and Manchester to their European network. Source & photo: bud.hu Conservative opposition Jobbik is turning to the European Commission over the case of former Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski, Marton Gyongyosi, the partys deputy leader, told a press conference he held jointly with Adam Mirkoczki, the (Jobbik) head of parliaments national security committee. Gyongyosi said his party wanted to know whether the EC has examined how the principles of the rule of law are applied in Macedonias justice and legal systems. If Macedonia passes the test, the Hungarian authorities will have no choice but to extradite Gruevski, he said. But if the EC has not looked into the state of the rule of law in that country, Jobbik expects it to, he added. Gyongyosi said the Gruevski affair raised countless questions about the Hungarian governments former dealings with the Macedonian ex-premier, whom he called the originator and primary user of the Stop Soros campaigns. He said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had even addressed one of Gruevskis past campaign events. He said it was no accident that Viktor Orbans government has granted asylum to Mr. Gruevski on the grounds that the former prime minister was fleeing the revenge of Soros. In response to a question, Mirkoczki said the EC had no deadline to respond to Jobbiks query. He added, however, that given the magnitude of the case and the international scandal it has caused, the party expects the body to respond in a relatively short amount of time. Mirkoczki said the government had misled the national security committee, arguing that the foreign ministry had told him that neither it, nor the intelligence community had any information on the Gruevski affair. He said that contrary to the governments communication, the decision to grant Gruevski asylum was a political, rather than a legal one. Related articles: Hungarian Opposition Slams Gov't For Gruevski Asylum During a coronavirus outbreak, in terms of the development of symptoms it is very important whether our immune system is working properly or not. Regarding conditions for the proper functioning of the immune system and what we can do to maintain our health, we ask chief physician Professor Dr. Kristof Nekam, Dr. Rose Private Hospitals immunologist and allergist. 26 de ani de activitate pentru farmacia Vichi Farm din Alba Iulia Farmacia Vichi Farm aniverseaza, astazi, 26 de ani de activitate. Peste un sfert de secol in care am pus, inainte de orice, profesionalismul si serviciile de cea mai buna calitate. Le multumim colaboratorilor si pacientilor nostri si ne angajam sa pastram intacte valorile [citeste mai departe] Pharmacist Walter Cwietniewicz, inside his Ellis Pharmacy on Brown Street in Fairmount, shows a Narcan nasal spray pack on Wednesday, November 21, 2018. He says he stocks the drug because it's the right thing to do. Read more You know how bad the opioid crisis is? So bad that Philadelphia drugstores would be forced by a precedent-setting law to stock Narcan on their shelves, and none of them are screaming bloody murder about it. In fact, two trade organizations representing pharmacists one city group, one statewide are not objecting to a bill sponsored by Councilman Bobby Henon that would require pharmacists to stock at least two cartons of Narcan. That is the brand name of the overdose-reversing drug known as naloxone. No prescription is required. Pharmacies also would be required to post a notice saying they have it in stock and would be fined $250 for each day they do not. "A lot of pharmacists were dispensing it anyway," says Patricia Epple, CEO of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association, "but I've heard from others that any time you put a mandate in it, there is a concern." More than a concern to me, it is an intrusion. Products have been banned in the past for being dangerous, but are there any other products that stores are required to carry? "Not that I'm aware of," says Epple. Henon says the city Law Department told him the bill was constitutional. I could not get a comment from the National Constitution Center, but the ACLU says it knows of no similar law. Despite the good intentions of trying to reduce the 1,200 overdose deaths Philly sustained last year, this bill is heavy-handed. "I have 22 pharmacies in my district," Henon told me during an interview in his office. "The majority of them did not have it on their shelves." His district runs from Port Richmond up through the Northeast. The Philadelphia Department of Health says 75 percent of Philadelphia's estimated 400 pharmacies already carry Narcan. Only 100 don't. CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens all carry it, I'm told by Health Department spokesperson Jim Garrow, and they are everywhere. What's more, since June 2017, the Health Department has handed out 57,000 doses, free of charge. That's free to the user. The city pays $75 for a two-dose kit and distributes it to first responders, says Garrow, "and community organizations that have regular contact with the population that needs this medication." So Henon's bill isn't necessary, because anyone who wants Narcan can easily get it. Garrow says that some of the small pharmacies are the biggest boosters of carrying Narcan. Walter Cwietniewicz, who runs the Ellis Pharmacy on Brown Street in Fairmount, tells me he carries it because it's the right thing to do. "You have to have it in stock when customers need it," he says. He carries two packs that are priced at $139.95 each. "I make $20," he says, adding that insurance usually pays for the dose. The Philadelphia Association of Retail Druggists may not agree with many of the government mandates it has been burdened with over the years, but "in this case, we think it is something every store can carry," says Executive Director Mel Brodsky. Of course they can and should. But "carry it, or else"? My colleague Mike Newall says "yes," even while acknowledging that most pharmacies already do. The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, which generally resists new demands on business, took no position on Henon's bill. It's unusual that no pro-business group resisted Henon's groundbreaking legislation. I think I know why. Oppose it and you will be painted as someone who doesn't care when someone overdoses and drops dead on the sidewalk. Henon said he was told by a pharmacist, whom he would not name, "Why should we be helping them?" I found another one who is opposed he felt it was government intrusion but he was not willing to have his name used. Their reluctance to be identified is not surprising. Pharmacists pushing back against the legislation would draw more condemnation than people trapped in addiction. WASHINGTON The year that is drawing to its close has been filled with the curse of parched fields and charred skies. To these torments, which are so constantly suffered, others have been added: hurricanes, harassment, gun violence. In 2018, misfortune can't help but harden the hearts of even the most steadfast believers. Many Americans will seek sustenance in Thanksgiving, a day "set apart" by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War. "The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies," Lincoln announced in a proclamation issued on Oct. 3. "To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God." Today, the celebration commemorates the first harvest of 1621. Its association with frightful violence against Native Americans makes the occasion delicate for some. There is no easy comfort on Thanksgiving, nor on any other day so redolent of the past. But the reason that tables are set around the country on Thursday is not because of the pilgrims or their exploits. Whether turkey was served at the 17th-century bounty is of little significance. (The original menu is in question.) It's because Lincoln, more than two centuries after settlers arrived in Colonial America, saw reason for thanks in the midst of trying times events that put present strife into perspective. On the urging of poet and magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale, the 16th president took what had been a festival celebrated disparately across the country and made it a national holiday, to be observed on the last Thursday of November. (In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt would move it to the penultimate Thursday of the month.) It would be a day for "Thanksgiving and Praise," he ordered. The country was at war over slavery, but still Lincoln saw reason for hope. And his words still hold the power to nourish a divided society. Americans were waging war against one another, he observed, but "peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict." Even the military conflict was cause for optimism, he found, as "that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union." Three months earlier, the Union had scored decisive victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg turning points in a war testing the endurance of a nation "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," as Lincoln would intone the following month in the Gettysburg Address, which turned 155 years old on Monday. Meanwhile, the war effort had hardly sapped enterprise, whether on the fields or in the mines. The country, he noted, could rejoice "in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor." Military victory, suddenly in sight, promised to bring a "large increase of freedom," Lincoln said. This Thanksgiving, American soldiers are stationed at the country's southern border, preparing for the arrival of a caravan of desperate asylum seekers whom President Trump has portrayed as a threat to national security. The 45th president has yet to visit troops deployed in a combat zone, but on Monday he ramped up his criticism of retired Adm. William McRaven, who oversaw the killing of Osama bin Laden and the capture of Saddam Hussein. Trump refers to the armed forces as "my military." Lincoln, by contrast, saw in the tumultuous events of 1863 good fortune beyond the workings of "any mortal hand." "They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy," Lincoln said, in an order believed to have been crafted by his secretary of state, William H. Seward. The proclamation mentioned God but no particular religion, making space at the Thanksgiving table for people of many faiths. This is fitting for a holiday that has come to represent civic belonging unfiltered by religious identification, which remains central to other national holidays. Thanksgiving is about no individual figure. It's symbolized by no national flag. Rather, it's about common bounty and shared bonds. For these "gifts," Lincoln declared, Americans should give thanks. "It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People," he announced. "I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Lest the country forget that it was at war, however, Lincoln suggested that Thanksgiving would be an occasion not just to celebrate bounty but to grieve loss. He enjoined Americans to "commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged." Together, he said, citizens would "implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation." And for "peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union," Lincoln proposed, Americans could be thankful. John Kerney, left, and his grandson Lincoln Kiessling, 2, of Barrington, N.J., watch the annual Thanksgiving Day parade in Center City Philadelphia on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. Temperatures were forecast to reach only into the 20s. Read more Philadelphia's annual Thanksgiving Day parade kicked off the holiday for the region, but this year's celebration brought with it a few more hats, coats and gloves than in years past. Huge floats and live performances decorated the Parkway in honor of the 99th anniversary of the celebration. Originally hosted by Gimbels department store, the 2018 6ABC Dunkin' Donuts parade began at 8:30 a.m. at JFK Boulevard and 20th Street before making its way down the Parkway and ending at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's steps at noon. >>READ MORE: How one family is spending their lotto winnings is one of many good Philly stories we're thankful for Attendees lined the Parkway to catch a glimpse of Gritty, the Flyers' red-hot new mascot, as well as other special guests, including American Idol's Justin Guarini, Michael Woodard and Catie Turner; Miss America 2019 Nia Franklin; Mr. and Mrs. Claus and many more. There may be cloudless blue skies overhead, but a frigid cold made it a bitter morning for attendees and participants alike. Today's high isn't expected to top 30 degrees, while wind gusts could reach 26 mph, according to the National Weather Service, making for what's likely the coldest Thanksgiving in more than a century for the Philadelphia region. Rose Pisacano, 22, wrapped herself in a blanket while she watched the parade. She just got back from Puerto Rico, where she said it was 90 degrees. "I'm not prepared for this," she said. "This is too much." She was thankful, though, for her smooth flight to see her family during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. Her family, from Philadelphia, goes to the parade every year. "I'm thankful they still have the parade. That it still goes on," said her father, Joseph, 55. "It's literally the one thing that we do every year." Whether the cold kept you inside or you toughed it out for the festivities, check out parade photos from staff photographer Tim Tai below: Ken Smukler talks to reporters at the former offices of the Inquirer and Daily News on Friday, May 4, 2007. Read more Ken Smukler, a political strategist for U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, believes he's found a way out from under the federal indictment he faces for alleged involvement in an illegal campaign contribution scheme. It involves pornography. In a motion filed last week, the 57-year-old campaign consultant and publisher of the independent weekly newspaper Liberty City Press alleges that FBI agents contrived a bogus investigation against him one that also threatened a sitting congressman solely to seek revenge for a series of critical op-eds Smukler wrote on the Justice Department's limited involvement in the Porngate email scandal that engulfed the Pennsylvania legal community in 2015. Although Smukler's lawyers admit they have no proof to back up that claim, they urged the judge overseeing his case to toss the charges anyway on grounds of vindictive prosecution or at least grant them a hearing to explore the matter. "The facts and circumstances pose a realistic likelihood that Mr. Smukler was not indicted because of his alleged involvement in criminal conduct, but rather because of the government's desire to punish him for exercising his right to criticize the government," his lawyers Brian J. McMonagle and Jon R. Fetteroff wrote in court papers. Their motion is at times a head-spinning and convoluted document, drawing conspiracy-board-worthy connections from Smukler's critical takes on other Justice Department corruption investigations published in Liberty City's pages to the allegations at the center of his own current legal problems. But in its 29 pages, the filing also lays out a series of attacks on the at-times meandering, two-year FBI investigation that has now landed Smukler in court attacks that could form the basis for his defense should he take his case to trial in April. Smukler was charged in October with helping Brady and others to disguise what prosecutors have described as an illegal $90,000 payoff to persuade the congressman's 2012 Democratic primary challenger former Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore to drop out of the race. While Moore and another Brady campaign aide have pleaded guilty, both Smukler and the congressman contend that the transaction was entirely aboveboard. And despite government lawyers naming Brady, in court filings, as part of the alleged conspiracy, he has not been charged with a crime and the statute of limitations on most charges he could have faced has since run out. Smukler's lawyers seized on that fact in their motion last week, arguing that it shows that their client not Brady was always the true target of the FBI's probe. They contend that Smukler's purported crimes tied to the 2012 campaign were only the last in a series of theories that agents considered while scouring his past for anything with which they could charge him. Recent court filings show that agents covertly surveilled Smukler for months in 2016 before obtaining a warrant to search his home nearly a year later. That warrant makes only scant mention of Brady or Moore and was primarily based around financial improprieties that agents believed had occurred during former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies' failed 2014 bid to reclaim her old seat a campaign on which Smukler worked. No charges were filed in connection with that investigation, and the Federal Elections Commission concluded in 2016 that the conduct of both Smukler and Margolies during the campaign appeared to be aboveboard a finding that Smukler's lawyers allege the FBI hid from the judge who approved the search warrant. But the connection that Smukler's defense draws between Porngate and the effort to prosecute him now appears to be based solely on timing. McMonagle and Fetteroff make much of the fact that the FBI investigation began two months after the Inquirer reported that Smukler, while working with then-Attorney General Kathleen Kane, had come into possession of a trove of pornographic, sexist, and racially insensitive emails traded among state prosecutors, judges, and officials in Harrisburg and elsewhere. At the time, an embattled Kane was wielding the illicit messages as a cudgel to strike back at her political enemies. Their release through leaks by Smukler to news organizations ignited a scandal that forced more than a half-dozen people from their jobs, including ex-Supreme Court Justices Seamus McCaffery and J. Michael Eakin. Smukler while working as a Kane adviser to disseminate the emails to the media also joined the public debate through op-eds penned for Liberty City, his small weekly newspaper that largely serves as a vehicle for legal notices and sheriff's sale ads. In them, he criticized both those caught up in the Porngate firestorm and the media for its coverage of the scandal. He also directed his ire at Harrisburg-based U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith for failing to punish six federal prosecutors in his office whose email addresses appeared on lists of recipients of the illicit messages. (None was found to have sent any of the objectionable material.) In their court filing Friday, McMonagle and Fetteroff concluded that the investigation that led to Smukler's indictment last year had been initiated with the goal of "determining the source and scope of Mr. Smukler's knowledge of the [assistant U.S. attorneys'] involvement in the Porngate email scandal." The motion fails to note that no lawyers from the Philadelphia-based U.S. Attorney's Office were ever tied to the scandal. Still, Smukler's lawyers point out, their client had been critical of local federal prosecutors too. Both of the government lawyers now leading his prosecution Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric Gibson and Jonathan Kravis had been involved in public corruption probes against convicted ex-U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and State Sen. Larry Farnese, who was later acquitted, that had drawn disapproval in Smukler's Liberty City columns in the past. "In other words," McMonagle and Feteroff wrote without offering proof, "the government engaged in a vindictive fishing expedition to locate some basis to further investigate and charge Mr. Smukler with criminal conduct as a penalty for the exercise of his First Amendment rights." The U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia declined Tuesday to comment on Smukler's allegations. Gibson and Kravis have yet to respond to the political consultant's claims in court. U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois is expected to convene a hearing to weigh the vindictive-prosecution claims and other attacks Smukler has filed on the case against him before it goes to trial in April. I grew up in Mlada Boleslav, a town of 27,000 people northeast of Prague. The town was named after Count Boleslav II, who in 935 murdered his brother Vaclav in front of a church. Vaclav was later canonized by the church and became St. Vaclav (St. Wenceslas), who is even now considered a spiritual father of the Czechs. Since then, like most European cities, Mlada Boleslav has experienced its ups and downs of history. The city was destroyed many times by various wars and uprisings, but it was always rebuilt. I was born in Mlada Boleslav nine years after the end of World War II, six years after the Moscow-organized communist coup, two years after horrendous Stalinist show trials in Prague, where 10 members of the Communist Party were sentenced to death, and one year after Stalin's death. I'm mentioning the history because I believe it becomes part of an individual's memory, and the memory becomes part of our identity. Though I wasn't alive when any of these things happened, they are part of the people and place I come from, and have helped to shape who I am. My family lived in a neglected house that was nationalized by the government and divided into units. In the apartment on the first floor lived my family, my dad's parents, and an old couple, members of the Communist Party. Only later I found out that the couple were living in the same apartment in order to inform on my parents. This was quite common. There were many informants living among the population. People were afraid to voice their opinions. My parents were afraid to say anything in front of the children for fear that we would repeat it in school around teachers or neighbors, and get them into trouble. Children's questions concerning history, politics, or injustice were answered either with a joke or silence. In many theater pieces I stage, I encounter characters searching for the truth hidden inside these kinds of silences. They are an essential part of great dramas. But how do we find that truth? Theater helps us to reimagine what it would be like if we were living in the moment of history that is not ours. We don't know who we are until we enter a crisis. How would we behave? What kind of steps do we take? Our actions reveal who we are. In 1968, Czechoslovakia was invaded by Soviet and Warsaw Pact armies. Mlada Boleslav, because of a large military base, was one of the first targets. At the age of 14, I watched Soviet tanks roll into my city. I watched people crying, throwing rocks, and shaking their fists. I threw rocks as well. Two years later, during my literature class, our professor ordered us to tear out pages from our textbooks. These offensive pages contained lessons about writers whose work was publicly denounced as ideologically subversive by the new pro-Soviet government. I can see it as if it were happening now all of us, 16 years old, ashamed, our heads bent down, no eye contact, tearing those pages out of our books. What was on our minds? We were never allowed to speak of it. Whom could we talk to? Whom to trust? I was profoundly ashamed of everybody involved in the situation: my teacher, classmates, and myself. But I can ask another question. Was this experience perhaps the beginning of something new? I believe so. I think it pushed me toward my path of becoming a serious theater artist. My life in Mlada Boleslav at that very specific time taught me that we all live inside of history. We can't pretend we don't. How does it impact us? What do we do with it? What do we do? Blanka Zizka is the founding artistic director of the Wilma Theater. Whats your hometown story? Tell us how your hometown shaped you. Send 150 words about where you grew up and what it means to you now to opinion@philly.com Some answers may be featured on Philly.com and in the Inquirer. Gun violence is an epidemic in Philadelphia. That is not hyperbole. Just ask the residents of the communities where gunfire and murder are everyday events. In 2013, we one of us an ex-offender dedicated to social services, one of us a prosecutor specializing in eliminating gun violence participated in an effort to combat this epidemic by implementing the Focused Deterrence Strategy in South Philadelphia. The aim of Focused Deterrence, which identifies those most likely to commit crimes and then corrals them together to offer them social services, is to reduce gun violence by changing offender behavior through a focused, blended strategy of law enforcement, community mobilization, and social services, including job training and placement. Like many new strategies in this city, Focused Deterrence encountered entrenched resistance. But with the hard work and enthusiasm of a specialized squad of police officers and district attorneys, probation officers, social services coordinators, families, and community members, we succeeded in executing the strategy. It worked: Participants stayed alive. Overall, the strategy was credited with a 35 percent reduction in gun-related homicides in South Philadelphia. A 35 percent reduction citywide in 2017 would have equaled 110 murders that didn't happen. One hundred and ten people not in the morgue, still alive, and able to contribute to society. Obviously, after the success in South Philadelphia, the city increased funding for Focused Deterrence and expanded it citywide, right? Wrong. Not only did the city not increase the funding, it actually reduced it from $150,000 in its first year of implementation to $120,000 in subsequent years. The strategy has never been implemented in any of the other gun-violence plagued sections of the city. So what is the future for Focused Deterrence in Philadelphia? The Inquirer recently published an op-ed by Christopher Norris, quoting the mayor as being "down on" the strategy and describing it as "fading." In its place, the city is apparently pursuing an alternative strategy: eliminating poverty. No matter that the elimination of poverty has been a societal objective from time immemorial. And while it is an admirable goal, it is not a solution or certainly not the only solution to the murders that are going to happen today. >> READ MORE: A solution to Philadelphia's gun violence that might actually work | Opinion Homicides in Philadelphia, like other urban areas with gun violence, have precise causes that require precise coordinated strategies. Not everyone afflicted by poverty carries and uses a gun to hurt other people. Focused Deterrence has a proven track record of success of targeting those that do. It works when it is funded and sustained. A recent study by the journal Criminology & Public Policy concluded that the strategy consistently achieved significant reductions in crime in multiple jurisdictions between 2000 and 2015 and that it should be a part of any urban strategy to combat gun violence. But in Philadelphia, it has "faded." In its place, we have gone back to the future, speaking in quaint platitudes about an utopian future while the blood pools around us. Madness. Reuben Jones is executive director of Frontline Dads. Bryan Lentz is a lawyer and a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2007 to 2010. Everyone has a hometown. Even those who moved around a lot have that primal "first place" the home base that shapes who we are, and how we look at the world. Because they are inextricably linked to childhood, hometowns leave powerful imprints for better or worse. In our memories, they never change or alter. Unfortunately, Inquirer writer Sarah Todd's hometown was recently altered out of existence by the California wildfires. Her moving piece about Paradise, Calif. prompted us to reach out to other well-known Philadelphians to tell us how they were shaped by their hometown. Here are their stories. Restaurateur Michael Solomonov on Squirrel Hill: I moved to Pittsburgh when I was three, so my formative years were in Squirrel Hill. I think back on that time after everything that happened there a few weeks ago. The village that it takes to raise a child is very evident there. Everybody was invested in each other, but I didn't appreciate it growing up. It was so small and everybody knew who you were. Now, I see it as idyllic. READ MORE: Read more from Michael Solomonov. 76er Amir Johnson on South Central Los Angeles: Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, a certain set of rules had to be followed. The right colors, the right clothes, the right kind of hat. READ MORE: Read more from Amir Johnson. Wilma Theater's Blanka Zizka on Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic At the age of 14, I watched Soviet army tanks roll into my city. I watched people crying, throwing rocks, and shaking their fists. I threw rocks as well. Two years later, during my literature class, our professor ordered us to tear out pages from our textbooks. These offensive pages contained lessons about writers whose work was publicly denounced as ideologically subversive by the new pro-Soviet government. READ MORE: Read more from Blanka Zizka. Comedian Sara Benincasa on Flemington, N.J.: When you tell somebody you grew up in New Jersey, people assume certain things namely, that your father was the model for Tony Soprano, or that you have a heavy accent that sounds kind of like Brooklyn by way of a kazoo on steroids, or that your home was wedged on the corner of Chemical Factory Lane and Smokestack Way. READ MORE: Read more from Sara Benincasa. The Philadelphia Orchestra's Yannick Nezet-Seguin on Montreal: Montreal provided me with a strong foundation of acceptance and inclusion. As a child, I was immersed in a city where half of the population spoke French while the other half spoke English, and we were able to coexist smoothly. This bilingual lifestyle not only nurtured an organic acceptance of others, but it also encouraged creativity. READ MORE: Read more from Yannick Nezet-Seguin. Reverend Mark Tyler of the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Oakland: Like Philly, Oakland is tough and the people are resilient. We rise and fall like it is a matter of life and death on every Raider win or loss. Oakland today is being tested greatly: a homeless crisis from a lack of affordable housing and gentrification, wages that can't keep up with the cost of living, and far too many homicides. But with all of the challenges, it is still a place of great strength and optimism. READ MORE: Read more from Rev. Mark Tyler. Cartoonist Alli Katz on Chicago: READ MORE: See more from Alli Katz. Whats your hometown story? Tell us how your hometown shaped you. Send 150 words about where you grew up and what it means to you now to opinion@philly.com Some answers may be featured on Philly.com and in the Inquirer. WASHINGTON: In a major display of its air power, the United States on Monday conducted its first ever mass drill involving F-35 fighter jets. According to CNN.com, the mass drill or the "elephant walk" launched dozens of aircraft in a condensed period as part of what the US Air Force called a "combat power exercise". The drill was conducted at the Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Dozens of stealth fifth-generation fighters from the active-duty 388th Fighter Wing and 419th Reserve unit participated in the exercise. The first-ever 'elephant walk' was aimed at showcasing the US Air Force's ability to "launch any number of aircraft to support the national defence mission at a moment's notice." During the mass drill, fighter wings launched between 30 and 60 aircraft in 20-to 40-second intervals. The drill involving F-35 fighters comes at a time when the US military is struggling hard to improve the readiness of its air fleet around the world. Interestingly, US Defence Secretary James Mattis had in October ordered that 80% of all jets, including the military's combat-ready squadrons of F-35s, to be mission-ready at any given time by 2019. Rajgarh: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said since the Congress did not work in the interest of farmers, it should be disbanded as wished by Mahatma Gandhi. In a veiled reference to veteran Congressman Digvijay Singh, he said a Congress leader's name had cropped up in a Naxal-related case. "The Congress has not worked in the interest of the farmers. Therefore, it should be disbanded as wished by Mahatma Gandhi. This is your responsibility," Adityanath said, while addressing a gathering at Narsinghar in this district of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. "A big Congress leader's name has cropped up in a case connected to Naxals. Terrorism and Naxalism are a threat to the nation and the Congress's sympathy for them is condemnable," he added. The Pune police had earlier said a letter seized in connection with the Elgar Parishad probe referred to a mobile number purportedly belonging to Singh. Two days ago, Singh had dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take action against him in the Elgar Parishad case. Adityanath claimed that Naxalism started emerging in Madhya Pradesh 15 years ago. "Madhya Pradesh was then known for potholed roads, unemployment, but after the BJP came to power, it turned the state into a developed one," he said. Adityanath expressed confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win the elections in all the five states where they are being held, including Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Justifying the decision to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj, he said it was because of the confluence of the holy rivers of Saraswati, Yamuna and Ganga, and added that the old name was not right. The 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly will go to the polls on November 28 and the results will be announced on December 11. JAIPUR: Senior Congress leader CP Joshi has triggered a fresh controversy by making casteist comments against Prime Narendra Modi and Union Minister Uma Bharti in Rajsamand district of the poll-bound Rajasthan. The Congress veteran made these remarks while addressing a gathering in Sema village in Khamnor on Thursday. Attacking PM Modi and Bharti, Joshi questioned their caste and their wisdom on 'Hinduism'. According to media reports, besides PM Modi and Bharti, Joshi also attacked other 'Hindutva' icons including Sadhvi Ritambhara. ''Does anyone know the caste of Uma Bharti? Does anyone know what is the caste of Ritambhara? In this country, if there is anyone who knows about religion it is the 'Pandits'. It is very weird that people like Uma Bharti who belongs to the Lodi community are talking about the Hindu religion,'' Joshi said. Congress leader continued by saying, ''Sadhvi ji (Ritambhara) also belongs to a different religion and she's talking about the Hindu religion. Narendra Modi also belongs to some other religion and talks about Hinduism. This isn't their job. Only Brahmins know about Hinduism.'' The video of Joshi making controversial comments on PM Modi and other BJP leaders went viral as it was widely shared on the social media. All this comes days senior Congress leader Kamal Nath was accused of urging Muslims to vote in large numbers for his party in order to defeat the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nath was severely criticised by the BJP, which accused him of polarising the voters on the communal lines. A complaint was also made to the poll panel against Kamal Nath seeking strict action against him. The BJP delegation comprising Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, SS Ahluwalia, Meenakshi Lekhi, Anil Baluni and Om Prakash urged the poll panel to take legal action against Nath for inciting religious sentiments by appealing to a particular religious community, news agency ANI reported. Attacking Congress over the issue, BJP alleged that the latter's pro-Hindu stance is a 'facade' and that the party believes in "divide and rule" via appeasement politics. A viral video of Kamal Nath showed him addressing a gathering of Muslim clerics and making strategies for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. In the shocking video clip, Kamal Nath could be heard saying that the tribal vote was unimportant to his party and reiterating that if 90% of Muslim voters don't support the Congress, the party will be finished. Later, clarifying on the video row, Kamal Nath said he just warned the Muslims to "not get confused" and that after the elections, the Congress "will defend everyone". Congress' president for Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath on Thursday slammed BJP and said that the Narendra Modi-led party have lost control with the 'religious politics'. Kamal Nath accused BJP of coming down to video and 'WhatsApp' politics, Kamal Nath comment comes a day after BJP wrote a letter to Election Commission stating that the Nath had violated the model code of conduct by indulging into religious politics. Nath added that he is not afraid of BJP's accusations and claimed that people know the truth, ANI reported. Earlier on Wednesday, A delegation of BJP met EC in Delhi and requested to take legal action against Congress for violating the model code of conduct. The delegation comprising of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, SS Ahluwalia, Meenakshi Lekhi, Anil Baluni and Om Prakash urged EC to take legal action against Congress for inciting religious sentiments by appealing to a particular religious community. In the letter, the BJP accused Congress president of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath of bribery and corruption. They also accused the Congress of spreading fake news and propagating fake news. BJP accused a private news channel of broadcasting an opinion poll on November 18th, which is a violation of model code of conducts, the letter stated. According to Election Commission's code of conducts, no opinion polls can be published before December 7. BJP, therefore, accused Kamal Nath of paying the news channel for doing so. The letter stated that this is a 'clear case of paid news'. BJP also targetted one of Kamal Nath's tweet where he promised to regularise the anganwadis and sahayikas and also said that wages of mid-day meal workers will be raised. The letter says that no such promise was mentioned in the election manifesto of Congress for the state of Madhya Pradesh ahead of Assembly elections. BJP also accused Kamal Nath of devided people on 'religious lines' and said that the Congress chief for Madhya Pradesh appealed to muslim voters in a gathering to mobilise 90% votes for the Indian National Congress (INC) in the 'muslim' booths. "It is tragic that Kamal Nath chose to even devide the booths along religious lines," the letter stated. BJP has therefore asked the EC to take action against the Congress and Kamal Nath. Earlier on November 18, the Congress had targetted Prime Minister Narendra Modi referring to fake video in a rally. MPCC wrote a letter to EC which said that PM Modi, in one of his rallies, had violated the code of conduct and misguided voters, news agency ANI reported. Modi in his public rally in Chhindwara had said, "Kamal Nath says that Congress will give tickets to goons, all it needs is a candidate who can win." The 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly will go to the polls on November 28 and the results will be announced on December 11. HYDERABAD: A galaxy of national level leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will soon begin campaigning for their respective parties in the poll-bound Telangana. According to reports, the deadline for the withdrawal of nominations came to an end on Thursday after which all major contenders began the process to finalise the schedules for their star campaigners. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu, several Union ministers and top leaders of the two national parties are expected to hit the campaign trail in Telangana. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will be addressing an election meeting at Medchal on the outskirts of Hyderabad on November 23. The meeting is expected to give a headstart to the party`s campaign as it heads a four-party `Mahakutami` or grand alliance ahead of the single-phase December 7 polls. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will share the stage with his mother on Friday at the meet. As this is Sonia Gandhi`s first visit to Telangana after the formation of the state, the party leaders will hold a ''thanksgiving event'' in her honour for carving out the state. Rahul Gandhi will again visit Telangana on November 28 and 29 and later on December 3 to address a series of rallies in different parts of the state. PM Modi is expected to give a boost to the BJP campaign by addressing a few rallies on November 27 and December 3. According to the state BJP leaders, PM Modi may participate in the campaign in four districts, including here, covering the constituencies where the party is considered strong. BJP chief Amit Shah, who addressed a couple of public meetings during September and October, is likely to visit Telangana again to address 12 rallies. Party's Telangana unit president K Laxman said Amit Shah will address the meetings on November 25, 27 and 28. BJP is contesting all 119 seats on its own. Several union ministers are also likely to campaign for the party candidates. Union Health Minister JP Nadda and party general secretary Ram Madhav have already addressed a few meetings. In his first-ever election in alliance with Congress party, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is likely to address a few rallies. Party leaders say he may share the dais with Rahul Gandhi. TDP, a constituent of `Mahakutami` is contesting on 14 seats. Popular actor and TDP MLA N Balakrishna may also address a few meetings, especially in Kukatpally constituency here, where his niece N Suhasini is a candidate. Suhasini is the granddaughter of TDP founder NT Rama Rao. Her actor brothers Junior NTR and Kalyan Ram are also likely to campaign for her. Meanwhile, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is racing ahead in the campaign with party president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao addressing series of rallies. He is criss-crossing the state in a helicopter, seeking a fresh mandate. KCR, who had already addressed a few meetings after dissolving the state assembly in September, plans to address 90 meetings in 15 days. KCR`s son KT Rama Rao is another key campaigner for the party. He has hit campaign trail here and in surrounding districts, focusing on constituencies with a sizeable number of voters who have their roots in Andhra Pradesh. Besides, KCR`s daughter and party MP K Kavitha and nephew Harish Rao were the other key campaigners for the party. The campaign of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) is being led by its president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. He is addressing public meetings and conducting foot march for his party`s candidates in the eight constituencies here. (With IANS inputs) BJP MLA Gyandev Ahuja, who had stepped down from BJP after being denied ticket by the party in Rajasthan, was on Thursday reinstated as BJP's state vice president. Ahuja had earlier filed nomination as an independent candidate after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had denied ticket to the MLA. Ahuja had on November 19 stepped down from the primary membership of the party. He said that his resignation is to protest against the dictatorial attitude of the saffron party. "Protesting against the dictatorial attitude of BJP, I have resigned from primary membership of the party. I will contest as an Independent on issues like Ram Janmabhoomi, cow protection and Hindutva," MLA Gyandev Ahuja had earlier said. BJP had released its 5th list of candidates for Rajasthan Assembly elections 2018 on Sunday and had placed State Minister Yunus Khan against Congress State chief Sachin Pilot. The BJP fielded Transport Minister and Deedwana legislator Khan in place of sitting MLA Ajit Singh Mehta from Tonk constituency. The party considered the change in the strategy for Tonk seat after the Congress fielded Pilot from the constituency. The 200-member Assembly polls are scheduled to be held on December 7 in Rajasthan. The counting will be held on December 11. Diwali was celebrated this year. Surely with a Supreme Court's order for bursting of crackers between 8-10 PM. Indeed agitated and concerned was Honorable Supreme Court with the growing levels of pollution in the country overall and particularly in Delhi. It is a matter of concern which is not just agitating everyone but also affecting everyone's health. Especially the children growing up in Delhi are most vulnerable. I do not want to pass on any comment on Supreme Court's order. They adjudicated on whatever was the issue arraigned before them. We should respect the order. Delhi of an earlier era Let me share with the readers that I am a Delhite to the core I was born in Connaught Place, and have grown up and lived in South Delhi most part of my life except for brief interludes of living in the UK and Mumbai. The Delhi I grew up was the Delhi of 1970s and 1980s and the air was much purer in Delhi those days. Pollution was not known to us as children except a pun here or a jest there when someone farted. That was the only pollution we knew as children and youth. It was also related to life styles. Notwithstanding all the negative connotation of DTU (Don't Trust Us) or DTC (Disgraceful Transport Confusion), people overall were using these public transport as a primary mode of intra-city commute. Scooters were a rarity and cars were deemed elitist. Increasing pollution in Delhi However, the growth of the vehicle population has indeed grown by leaps and bounds in the last two decades which as a consequence has given rise to increasing pollution in our Delhi. A young scientist, Ms. Anumita Roychowdhury, of the Centre for Science and Environment has done real time and highly creditable work on this with attendant crisis like shrinking public spaces due to parking, impact on public health etc. She really deserves kudos for this and her work has created awareness in the government circles to address the concerns. Both the Government of Delhi and the Government of India have been flagged because of this work and have calibrated several measures in combating this. But the sheer numbers are a matter of concern, which is becoming insurmountable for any counter measures to really have an impact. Venom multiplier Leaving the vehicular pollution behind, we are also concerned with pollution on account of several other factors like industrial pollution and illegal factories and dyeing units operating from households, on which the judiciary has indeed given appropriate directions from time to time. But one factor which generally leads to pollution during Diwali time is the stubble burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana. This results in air quality being rendered extremely poor. This in turn leads to a situation of Diwali crackers being a venom multiplier. It is this which I seek to examine and put in perspective. Was there stubble burning hitherto? As already recalled, I have been living in Delhi for one year short of six decades. This has endowed me with opportunity to travel into nearby and neighbouring states like UP, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan on quite a few occasions in different stages of life. I can say for sure that hitherto this trend of stubble burning was never in vogue. It was not even a known phenomenon. May also say for sure that during my travel in the hinterland areas neighbouring Delhi, it was not just sightseeing but I also had this opportunity to interact with local rural populace, and I never once heard even a mention of stubble burning. Only recently has this practise begun amongst the farming community of northern India. Agrarian practices in other regions Let me also share with you experiences I have had with farmers of other regions of the country with whom I have had opportunity to interact during these years. As an officer of the Ministry of Textiles, I had the opportunity to speak to inhabitants of Naupatna in Odisha. The vocation of the people here are farming and handloom weaving to supplement their income. While partaking of their excellent food I had in January 2016 ascertained what crops they grow. They informed that while paddy is a primary crop, the second crop was pulses, vegetables, etc. Again in April 2016, I had this opportunity to travel to hinterland of West Bengal from a handloom cluster in Fulia and Shantipur to Murshidabad handloom cluster. Handloom weaving is closely intertwined with the agrarian economy and here too the interaction with local inhabitants revealed that they generally grow paddy as the primary crop with a large platter of very exotic rural vegetables (contrary to myth, Bengalis consume many varieties of vegetables which are known only in the Southern and Eastern parts of the country). Further recently, I travelled to Tamil Nadu, where again my journey took me from Madurai to Dindigul, Natham, Sivagangai, Pillaiyarpatti, Rameswaram, Tirunelveli, Sankarankoil, Srivilliputhur, Satthur, and back to Madurai. I interacted intensively with local inhabitants. Being able to speak Tamil, I was at a distinct advantage of striking a chord with them. I was told by the farming community that they have two crops namely paddy being the primary one while the other being bananas, coconuts, palm, mangoes, etc. Now, in all these interactions I sought to know what they do after harvest of the first crop before sowing the second. They all responded uniformly that they plough the land to make it ready for next crop. When asked about the residue of the previous crop again there was common response that the residue acts as a nutrient ('satthu' as told in Tamil to be me by a farmer). Let me make one thing clear, that this is based on my interaction with farmers and not any laboratory findings of any scientific data. But one thing was clear, no one said that they burn the stubble. I was little surprised. It may surprise many that two decades back no one had heard of any phenomenon called stubble burning even in the North Indian states of Punjab and Haryana. An Agricultural Extension Officer would be able to confirm this. Stubble burning was known in certain pockets resorting to jhum cultivation, but that was a phenomenon in certain pockets and scientists were working for this practise to end. When did it start in food bowl of India? The next question is when and where did this stubble burning begin? Who introduced this phenomenon? Was it a endeavour to alter the agrarian practises? Was there a hidden agenda to make gullible farmers contribute to the destabilisation of the economy of the country? Make no mistake, this phenomenon has been introduced in two states which were the food bowl of the nation. One of them is a border area which had seen militancy affecting its agrarian economy for two decades not very far back. There are many for whom the wounds of militancy are still to heal. Is it an attempt at destabilisation? Also, recent attacks on Nirankari Bhavan in Rajsansi near Amritstar does reveal the unholy involvement of ISI through al Qaeda in these attacks. Not just that Gurdaspur (Pathankot), drug menace and such other dysfunctional events in recent past do have the ISI's stamp. Is the ISI, which is latently active through its sleeper cells in Punjab, also seeking to alter agrarian practises to discredit the farmers of Punjab in nation's eyes and foist disaffection in the state? Indeed, their previous endeavour of destabilising the Indian economy through Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) got a setback due to demonetisation. Is the ISI peddling an alternative endeavour? One possible method which could prove as litmus test for this could be to check whether the farming community in Pakistan on other side of Punjab indulges in stubble burning after harvest of a crop. We need to find the truth and combat the same. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.) Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar starrer '2.0' is one of the highly awaited films of the year. With an estimated budget of Rs 543 crore, it is the most expensive Indian film made to date. Interestingly, Akshay will be seen in a negative role on the big screen after a long time. And the actor had to go through a long and tedious prosthetic session to achieve the menacing look for the role. Expectations are soaring high for the film and fans can't keep their excitement under control to catch the film in their nearest theatre. In the meantime, the film has been awarded a 12A certification with an approved run time of 147 min 05 sec for the Hindi version and 146 min 39 sec for the Tamil version. Noted trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared the news on his Twitter handle. Take a look at his posts: #2Point0 [#Hindi version] certified 12A by British censors on 22 November 2018. Approved run time: 147 min 05 sec [2 hours, 27 minutes, 5 seconds]... Certified in 2D as well as 3D... #Overseas #UK taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) November 22, 2018 #2Point0 [#Tamil version] certified 12A by British censors on 21 November 2018. Approved run time: 146 min 39 sec [2 hours, 26 minutes, 39 seconds]... Certified in 2D as well as 3D... #Overseas #UK taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) November 22, 2018 As per reports, the censor board has suggested seven changes in the film to the maker to get the U/A certificate. A few days back, the visually powerful trailer was released and it was a VFX delight. The dialogues of this sci-fi outing are powerful and will stay with you for a long time. '2.0' is written and directed by S Shankar. This happens to be the first Indian film that is directly shot in 3D. '2.0' is a sequel to superhit 2010 Tamil film 'Enthiran' which had Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead. The sci-fi drama will see Rajinikanth reprising the roles of Dr Vaseegaran and Chitti, alongside Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson. The film is being shot simultaneously in Tamil and Hindi respectively. Academy award winning music maestro AR Rahman has composed music for the film. The film will hit the screens on November 29, 2018. LONDON: In more trouble for beleaguered business tycoon Vijay Mallya, the High Court in the United Kingdom on Thursday ordered the Swiss banking giant UBS AG to take control of his posh Central London mansion. News agency ANI reported that ruling in favour of the UBS Bank, the High Court directed it to seize Mallya's posh Central London property since he failed to repay the mortgage loan. The High Court in London has ruled in favour of Swiss banking giant UBS to take possession of Vijay Mallyas Central London house. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/IfNJQBS4AO ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 The court also ordered the fugitive liquor tycoon to pay 88,000 GBP to the Swiss Bank, UBS AG as legal costs till Jan 4 2019. The Swiss banking giant had last month moved the UK High Court seeking possession of Mallya's Central London mansion after he failed to repay Rs 195 crore mortgage loan. In a related development, the Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by Mallya seeking a stay on a request made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to declare him a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties. The ED had filed an application before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court seeking the 'fugitive' tag for Mallya under the Fugitive Economic Offenders' Act, 2018. Under the provisions of the Act, once a person is declared a fugitive economic offender, then the prosecuting agency has the powers to confiscate the accused persons' properties. Mallya had filed an application in the lower court seeking a stay on the hearing on the ED's plea till November 26 when the appellate tribunal functioning under the PMLA would hear matters filed by a consortium of banks seeking their dues back. The special court had on October 30 rejected Mallya's application, following which the liquor baron had approached the high court. Mallya's counsel Amit Desai Thursday told a division bench of Justices R M Savant and V K Jadhav that his pleas should not be misunderstood as a ploy to run away from the proceedings. "We are also anxious to clear the dues and to see to it that the creditors get their dues back. We only do not want the properties to be seized by the Enforcement Directorate, which would then hamper the process of clearance of dues," Desai said. The high court, however, said it was not inclined to grant any relief. "The application has been filed at the threshold and at a very premature stage when the lower court is still hearing the prosecuting agency's request to declare him (Mallya) a fugitive economic offender," the court said in its order. The bench, while dismissing the plea filed by Mallya, said the lower court shall hear the application filed by the ED on merits. (With Agency inputs) NEW DELHI: A fire broke out at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) building on ITO road in Delhi. Four fire tenders and another vehicle was rushed to the spot. A fire broke out on the third floor of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India building on ITO road here on Thursday, the Delhi Fire Service said. There were no reports of casualties. A call about the fire was received at 9.10 am. The fire was controlled by 9.30 am, a senior Delhi Fire Service officer said. Stationery items and furniture were damaged, the fire officer said. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Earlier this week, four people died after a fire broke out in a factory in Delhi's Karol Bagh. Delhi Fire Service (DFS) officials said the fire started at 12.23 pm in Beadonpura area in Karol Bagh after a solvent used for laundering clothes spilled out on the floor accidentally. NEW DELHI: The Aam Admi Party (AAP) government in Delhi on Thursday called a special session of the state assembly to discuss the recent chilli-power attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Centre's stand on the issue. "A special session of the state assembly will be held on Monday to discuss the attack on the CM and stand of the Centre and Delhi Police,'' Deputy CM Manish Sisodia was quoted as saying by the ANI. Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia says, "A special session of the Assembly will be held on Monday to discuss the attack on the CM & stand of the centre and Delhi police. Besides this issue, the deletion of 30 Lakh voters in Delhi, done by BJP along with EC, will also be discussed." pic.twitter.com/cKPlu2eEjr ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 ''Besides this issue, the deletion of 30 lakh voters in Delhi, allegedly done by BJP along with the EC, will also be discussed," Sisodia said. It is to be noted that the Delhi government and the Centre are at loggerheads over various issues including the recent chilli-powder attack on the Kejriwal. The AAP government had blamed the ruling BJP at the Centre for the attack and accused it of hatching a conspiracy to kill Kejriwal. Though he did not name any party, the AAP chief had on Wednesday said that he had been attacked several times in the past two years all such incidents were the handiwork of his rivals. The Chief Minister said that he has become the biggest obstacle in the path of his rivals and that's why they are trying to eliminate him. ''I've been attacked four times in two years. It's not a minor issue. These attacks aren't taking place, they're being ordered. Humlog inki aankhon ka roda ban chuke hain. Ye log milke mujhe marwana chahte hain. (We have become the biggest obstacles in their path. They want to eliminate. That's why I am being attacked again and again),'' Kejriwal said while responding to questions on the chilli powder attack on him. His deputy Sisodia too alleged that the BJP leadership had knowledge of the attack on Chief Minister and the opposition party wants the latter eliminated to stop him from working for the people. The reaction from the two AAP leaders came hours after a man flung chilli powder at Kejriwal outside his office in the Delhi Secretariat. The Chief Minister's spectacles broke but he was not injured in the attack. The attacker, identified as Anil Kumar Sharma, was arrested and later sent to judicial custody for 14 days by Delhi's Tis Hazari Court. "(Union) Home Minister Rajnath Singh called Kejriwal and asked him to file a complaint in the attack on him. Is this the way an attack on a Chief Minister should be probed?" Sisodia asked at a press conference. Sharma's Facebook profile shows that he is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sisodia alleged. The BJP had termed the incident as "drama" by Kejriwal, with its Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari demanding a high-level probe into it. "After failing to stop Kejriwal from working for the people of Delhi, now the BJP wants him eliminated. The entire series of events indicate that top BJP leadership had knowledge of the attack on Kejriwal," Sisodia claimed. The deputy chief minister also lashed out at the Delhi Police, alleging it was acting on the behest of the BJP and trying to save the culprit. The Delhi Police registered a case against Sharma at the IP Estate police station late on Tuesday. Mumbai: Domestic air traffic rose 13.34 percent to 1.18 crore in October over the same period a year ago, the lowest in the last 14 months, DGCA data, released on Thursday, showed. The Wadia group-owned budget carrier GoAir maintained its top position in on time performance(OTP) from four key airports at 90.5 percent while the largest airline by market share IndiGo was relegated to the fourth position, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data. The January-October cumulative travel demand also surged a healthy 20.11 percent, at 11.46 crore passengers as per data. In terms of flying passengers, IndiGo carried 50.75 lakh passengers during the month with a market share of 42.8 percent, followed by cash-starved Jet Airways along with its subsidiary JetLite, which flew 17.61 lakh passengers with a combined market share of 14.9 percent. National carrier Air India carried 14.44 lakh passengers with its share in the total domestic traffic pie standing at 12.2 percent in October. Among others, SpiceJet flew 13.82 lakh passengers while GoAir flew 10.48 lakh passengers during the reporting month. Third full-service carrier Vistara, unseated SpiceJet from the second position in maintaining flight time punctuality with 88.5 percent of its aircraft departing and arriving at four airports, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, on scheduled time as against 86.5 percent of the Ajay Singh-controlled budget carrier. The two scheduled commuter airlines, Air Deccan and Air Odisha, which are in the process of ownership change, failed to operate even a single flight during the month with the regulator recording a 100 percent cancellation of their flights. "GoAir continues to top the on-time performance for second consecutive month. Stringent processes and systems along with a committed ground force of staff drives our operations," said Cornelis Vrieswijk, chief executive officer, GoAir, on the carrier's best OTP for the second month on a trot. The Gurugram-based SpiceJet reported the highest passenger load factor among all domestic carriers at 90.8 percent for the 43rd month in a row followed by GoAir at 84.1 percent and IndiGo at 83.1 percent. The passenger load factor in the month of October has shown increasing trend compared to previous month due to the onset of the tourist season, the DGCA said. According to the data, as many as one lakh passengers were affected by flight cancellations and delays and those who were denied boarding by the airline for one reason or the other, forcing the carrier to pay them a cumulative over Rs 2.76 crore as compensation. "While October recorded a 13.34 percent growth as compared to the same month last year and the market continues to remain buoyant with over 118 million (1.18 crore) passengers flying during the month, the monthly growth was tempered due to factors such as the delayed festival season this year and an increase in fares of over 15 percent compared to September," said Sharat Dhall, COO(B2C), Yatra.Com. However, with oil cooling off, prices are likely to be stable ensuring that the growth momentum is maintained, he added. NEW DELHI: Days after a three-year-old child was raped and murdered in Gurugram Sector 66, a 20-year-old man was arrested for the brutal crime. Gory details shared by police stated that the minor was mercilessly tortured, a long wooden stick inserted in her vagina and her skull bludgeoned by a brick. The victim had multiple injuries all over her body. A plastic bag covered her dead face. Sunil Kumar was arrested for the heinous crime following a massive manhunt by the police spread across three states. Within hours of the arrest, the accused had confessed to nine crimes, all involving raping and murdering little girls aged between three and seven. Four of the cases are in Delhi, three in Gurugram, and one each in Jhansi and Gwalior. "He used to first break the legs of the victims before attempting rape," said Subhash Boken, an assistant sub-inspector and public relations officer with the Gurugram police told Reuters. "Then he would murder them." Kumar was unemployed and occasionally worked as a daily labourer. His modus operandi was targeting young girls who went to pick up food at community kitchens, offering them sweets or money, and abduct them, Boken quoted him as having told police. Using the same methodology, the accused lured the three-year-old toddler in Gurugram on November 11 with chocolates and took her to an empty room at a labourers` colony in Sector 66. A day later, a neighbour discovered the naked body of the child, lying in a pool of blood, inside a room in the slum. The accused had come to Gurugram to visit his mother and sisters and later fled to his native village in Jhansi district from where he was arrested. Kumar, often ate in community kitchens such as bhandaras and langars, and slept in parks and on the streets. He had no mobile phone, making it easy for him to prey on little children, said reports. A court on Tuesday granted police remand of the man for eight days, Boken said, adding that he did not yet have a lawyer. Police have already linked three cases of dead children to his statement and are investigating the rest, Boken added. One of first of known victims was a four-year-old girl in Gurugram in November 2016. Her brutalised body was found near a garbage dump in the bushes behind Omaxe Mall on Sohna Road. Two months later, in January 2017, another five-year-old's decaying, with similar injuries, was found in a water tank near Rajiv Chowk, said reports. The Bombay High Court on Thursday extended interim protection to activists Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde and Stan Swamy in the Bhima Koregaon case. The Bombay HC had earlier on Thursday heard the petitions filed by the three activists challenging an FIR against them in connection with Bhima Koregaon case. The court has ordered an interim protection to the activists till December 14. A bench of Justices BP Dharamadhikari and Sarang Kotwal extended the interim protection and also asked the Pune police to file an affidavit of its probe in the case by December 5. The bench's direction came after the state's counsel, additional government pleader Aruna Pai opposed a plea filed by Navlakha seeking that the FIR in the case against him be quashed. The court had slammed Pai asking her to bring the relevant materials which they want to produce before the court by December 4. "File an affidavit putting on record whatever stage your investigation is right now. Since you are saying you can't make the details public, or known to the other party, place the reasons behind your inability to make it known, also in the affidavit. All that is necessary and relevant to the case must be brought on record," the bench said. Pai told the bench that while the police had "enough material evidence against Navlakha, it could not yet make the same information public". She added that at the present stage, Swamy and Teltumbde were merely "suspects" in the case and that the police's probe against the two, and the other activists was still ongoing. The bench also directed the three petitioners to file their counter-affidavits within a week from the date that the police files its affidavit. In August, police arrested five left-wing activists, after raiding their homes in several states for suspected Maoist links over the Elgar Parishad meeting which was held a day before the violence. According to police, the Elgar Parishad event was funded and supported by Maoists. At the event, held a day before the January 1 clashes at Bhima Koregaon near Pune, the activists allegedly made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements that contributed to the Koregaon Bhima violence, the police said. The police raided the homes of the activists and lawyers from five states - Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, Bharadwaj in Faridabad and Gautam Navalakha in Delhi. Some of them, including Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj, P Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha, were initially put under house arrest on the directions of the Supreme Court. However, all of them, except Navlakha, were recently re-arrested and taken into custody by the police. In October this year, another FIR was registered by the Pune Police on the same issue, naming eight more activists, including Teltumbde and Swamy. Teltumbde and Swamy are yet to be arrested in the case. (With PTI Inputs) Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision on the Kartarpur corridor, which will be constructed from Gurdaspur district's Dera Baba Nanak to the International Border (IB) with Pakistan. In a landmark decision, the Cabinet approved the building and development of the Kartarpur corridor. The corridor will facilitate pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Narowal District of Punjab, Pakistan. Taking to Twitter, an exuberant Sidhu said, "I welcome this auspicious step by the Union Cabinet, it will be a cup of joy for 12 Crore Nanak Naam Laivas. It will build bridges, burn animosity and will act like a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries." "I humbly request the Government of India to dispense their duty towards 12 Crore Nanak Naam Laivas world over, by writing to the Pakistan Government. I hope the draft for the letter is ready as promised by Honble EAM Sushma Ji," tweeted the minister. He also asked Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to reciprocate the steps. "I thank the Govt. of India from the core of my heart and take a bow! I request the Honble PM of Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI Sahib to take reciprocal steps for opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and spread Baba Nanaks message of universal brotherhood and peace across the Globe," added Sidhu. The project with all modern amenities and facilities will be implemented with the central government funding, announced Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to commemorate 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji. The corridor will provide smooth and easy passage to pilgrims to visit the holy shrine throughout the year. "The Pakistan government will be urged to reciprocate and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory," said Rajnath Singh. Earlier, Sidhu, who had attended Imran Khan's swearing-in ceremony in Islamabad in August, has said that Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa hinted at the opening of the route to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. The 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev is being observed in November 2019. Kartarpur is situated in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province, close to Indo-Pak border. It was established by the first Sikh Guru in 1522. The first Gurdwara, Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, was built here, where Guru Nanak Dev is said to have died. Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan is located across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab's Gurdaspur district. A day after Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik dissolved the Assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday called for an important meeting with all its MLAs to decide the future course of action. The core group meeting is scheduled to take place in Jammu at 11 am. The BJP further added that the party wanted that the assembly elections for the state should be conducted along with the Parliament elections, scheduled to take place in 2019. Speaking to news agency ANI, BJP state president Ravinder Raina said, "The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for an important meeting with all its MLAs today and we will decide the future course of action. We wish that the Assembly elections in J&K should be conducted along with the Parliament elections." Earlier on Wednesday, Malik dissolved the assembly even as former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) staked claim to form government with the support of the National Conference (NC) and the Congress party. The decision of the Governor did not go down well with the parties, who decided to form an unprecedented alliance in Jammu and Kashmir. Leading the attacks were former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, who have been arch rivals in the polity of the state. Expressing shock over the decision of the Governor to dissolve the Assembly in a sudden manner, both Mehbooba and Abdullah claimed that they had been demanding the same for the past five months but their repeated requests were not paid any heed to. After the decision was announced by Malik, the BJP had welcomed move and defended it. The saffron party termed the new partners of the rival alliance as terror-friendly parties. Citing the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP tweeted that the best option in such a scenario is to go in for a fresh election at the earliest. This assembly cannot produce a stable government. The proposed alliance between the INC and the PDP broke up even before it was formed. They have taken contradictory positions on dissolution. One supports it and the other opposes it. Keeping the security scenario of J&K in mind, can it afford horse-trading and instability? J&K needs a firm administration to deal with terrorism and not a combination of terror-friendly parties, the BJP further said in a tweet. Raina had also said, "We welcome the decision of the governor to dissolve legislative assembly. We welcome it." The bid by the PDP, NC and the Congress "was a conspiracy against the people of Jammu and Ladakh (regions). It was conspiracy against nationalist people and also against the country at the behest of some forces." "We not only welcome the decision but thank the governor for foiling the conspiracy hatched by these anti-national and anti-country forces," he added. The assembly was in suspended animation since June 19. In the assembly, PDP has 29 MLAs, National Conference has 15 and the Congress has 12 legislators. The six-month tenure of the governor's rule ends on December 18 which will be followed by President's rule. The state assembly's tenure was till October 2020. Governor's rule was clamped in the state on June 19 for a 6-month period following the collapse of the PDP-BJP coalition government headed by Mehbooba Mufti after the saffron party withdrew support. The Centre on Thursday approved the building and developing a corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river in Pakistan. Minutes after the landmark decision was announced, several political leaders from across parties lines expressed happiness over the decision. It's a historic day for the entire Sikh community and we would like to thank PM Modi and his Cabinet. This has been a wish of each and every Sikh, said Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD on Kartarpur corridor. His wife and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal tweeted, On Shiromani Akali Dals persistent requests, the cabinet has given green signal to opening up of Kartarpur Sahab corridor. Eternally grateful to @narendramodi ji and the entire cabinet for taking this historic decision. On Shiromani Akali Dals persistent requests, the cabinet has given green signal to opening up of Kartarpur Sahab corridor. Eternally grateful to @narendramodi ji and the entire cabinet for taking this historic decision. Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) November 22, 2018 Wonderful gift by the Govt under PM Shri @narendramodi ji as the Cabinet approves building #Kartarpur corridor from #DeraBabaNanak till International Border. This will be tribute on 550th Birth Anniversary of shri guru nanak dev ji & to facilitate pilgrimage to #KartarpurSahib, tweeted BJP leader Ashok Goel. Wonderful gift by the Govt under PM Shri @narendramodi ji as the Cabinet approves building #Kartarpur corridor from #DeraBabaNanak till International Border. This will be tribute on 550th Birth Anniversary of shri guru nanak dev ji & to facilitate pilgrimage to #KartarpurSahib. https://t.co/zwRm6O7nZh Ashok Goel (@AshokGoelBJP) November 22, 2018 I thank the Govt. of India from the core of my heart and take a bow! I request the Honble PM of Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI Sahib to take reciprocal steps for opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and spread Baba Nanaks message of universal brotherhood and peace across the Globe, said Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu. I thank the Govt. of India from the core of my heart and take a bow! I request the Honble PM of Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI Sahib to take reciprocal steps for opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and spread Baba Nanaks message of universal brotherhood and peace across the Globe. Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) November 22, 2018 Congratulate people of India particularly Punjab for this great development on Kartarpur corridor between Gurdaspur & IB thanks to @narendramodi govt, said Shezad Poonawalla. Congratulate people of India particularly Punjab for this great development on Kartarpur corridor between Gurdaspur & IB thanks to @narendramodi govt https://t.co/6AoWo2Axj6 Shehzad Jai Hind (@Shehzad_Ind) November 22, 2018 Another Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa questioned, I welcome GOIs decision to build corridor on Indian side for Kartarpur Sahib but I have few reservations on their intentions-3 days back Govt announced installation of telescope for Darshan of Gurdwara whats the need of telescope if we are making a corridor? I welcome GOIs decision to build corridor on Indian side for Kartarpur Sahib but I have few reservations on their intentions- 3 days back Govt announced installation of telescope for Darshan of Gurdwara whats the need of telescope if we are making a corridor?#KartarpurCorridor Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) November 22, 2018 The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday issued a Note Verbale to the Pakistani government urging it to develop a corridor with suitable facilities in its territory from the International Border to Gurudwara Kartapur Sahib in order to facilitate easier access and smooth passage of India pilgrims through the year. Two officials of the Indian High Commission in Pakistan were stopped from entering two gurdwaras by their administration, which was upset over the screening of a film in India that they claim has hurt sentiments of the Sikh community. The officials - Aranjeet Singh and Sunil Kumar - were barred from entering the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib on Wednesday night and Gurdwara Sachcha Sauda on Thursday. Both the gurdwaras are in Punjab province of Pakistan. They were stopped from entering the gurdwaras by their administration, which said that the Indian government has hurt the sentiments of Sikhs by allowing the screening of the film 'Nanak Shah Fakir'. The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) said that the Pakistan Gurdwara Pharbhndik Committee (PGPC) officials have stopped the Indian officials. The visiting officials were heard saying in a video that "No Sikh was stopped from entering the house of the Guru. We are wondering as why you are stopping us." The PGPC officials however kept saying that they should better leave the premises. "We had written to the Indian High Commission asking it not to send its officials to any of the gurdwara since the release of the film," ETPB Secretary Tariq Wazir told PTI. He said the Indian officials ignored their advice. The officials reported to have visited the Sachcha Sauda gurdwara to exchange greetings with the visiting Indian Sikhs, who are here to take part in festivities related to the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. "We request the officials of the Indian High Commission not to visit any gurdwara without permission of the board as we have to security measures for them," Wazir said. In June, the PGPC officials had barred Indian High Commissioner Ajay Basaria and his wife from entering the Gurdwara Panja Sahib at Hassan Abdal, Rawalpindi. The Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS) on Thursday concluded the inquiry in Amritsar train accident which claimed the lives of around 60 people. CCRS in its inquiry said that the reason for the accident is negligence of persons reportedly standing on and near the railway tracks to witness Dusshera Mela at Dhobi Ghat, news agency ANI reported. CCRS also recommended that prior intimation to the railway administration should be given by the district administration/organisers to hold big events such as a mela or a rally. CCRS said that intimation will allow the authorities to take proper precautions in consultation with the stakeholders. Earlier, A 300-page, magisterial probe report on the Amritsar train accident in which about 60 people died last month was submitted to the Punjab Home Secretary on Wednesday. Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner B Purushartha, who was appointed special executive magistrate by the government to probe the October 19 accident, said the report was submitted to Punjab Home Secretary N S Kalsi. Soon after the submission of report, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asked Home Secretary Kalsi to "immediately examine" the report to "put up" the file before him, an official said. The report had statements of over 150 people. They included railway officials and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu, who was the chief guest at the Dussehra event, held close to the railway tracks in Amritsar. The report would now be examined by the Home Department, a senior official said. Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had questioned the Railways for giving a clean chit to the train driver, too had submitted his statement in writing. Opposition Akali Dal had rejected the institution of a magisterial probe and sought registration of a criminal case against Navjot Kaur Sidhu and the event organisers. About sixty people were mowed down by a train that hurtled through a crowd, which had spilled onto the railways tracks while watching the burning of a Ravana effigy on Dussehra this year. The railways had initially refused to order a probe, saying it was a case of trespassing and not of negligence by its officials or the loco-pilot. But two weeks after the accident, it said the chief commissioner of Railway safety would probe the tragedy. Additional Director General of Police (Railways) Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota is separately conducting an inquiry into the Amritsar train accident to fix responsibility. At least one civilian was injured on Thursday morning during an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists in Kulgam district on Jammu and Kashmir, as reported by news agency ANI. The exchange of fire ensued after terrorists fired upon a camp in Khudwani area of the district. The injured has been admitted to the hospital. A girl was caught in the crossfire when soldiers retaliated forcing the terrorists to withdraw. However, the terrorists managed to escape. Security forces have cordoned the area. This is a developing story. More details are awaited. The Andaman and Nicobar police has begun attempts to retrieve the body of American national John Allen Chau, who was allegedly killed on the isolated North Sentinel Island by members of the reclusive Sentinelese tribe. While the police have involved anthropologists and experts in their search, they have also decided to analyse the journal of the US national, who reportedly ventured to the island to preach Christianity. According to Andaman and Nicobar Director General of Police Dependra Pathak, a team of police personnel is also being sent to the North Sentinel Island waters. At least seven persons, who allegedly helped Chau reach the island, have been arrested till now, of which three have been sent to seven-day police custody. News agency PTI reported that Anthropological Survey of India experts, forest department, academicians and state tribal welfare department officials have been roped in by the police to prepare a plan to reach the place where Chau died, and look for his body. The access to North Sentinel Island and its buffer zone is strictly restricted under the Protection of Aboriginal Tribe (Regulation), 1956 and Regulations under Indian Forest Act, 1927. In the journal penned by Chau, he gave an account of his venture to the prohibited island thanking his mother and god for helping him hide from coast guard and navy patrols. "The mother and god himself helped shielding us from coast guard and navy patrols," read a noting in the journal. It also talks about Chau successfully reaching the shore of the island with friends and waiting to make contact with them. Meanwhile, some reports have said that Chau went to the island with an intention to preach Christianity and was preparing for the same for over three years. Daily Mail quoted a friend of Chau as saying that the deceased US national believed that he had a message from a higher authority, in a reference to God, to visit the island and convert the members of the Sentinelese tribe to Christianity. Chau believed that he would have helped the people living on the isolated island by preaching Christianity to them. The police have said that Chau gave Rs 25,000 to local fishermen to help him reach the island. "In the morning of November 17, they saw a dead person being buried at the shore which from the silhouette of the body, clothing and circumstances appeared to be the body of Chau," the DGP had said on Wednesday, defining the circumstances leading to Chau's death. (With PTI inputs) Thiruvananthapuram: A priest in Kerala, who held a protest against bishop - Franco Mulakkal - accused of raping a nun, was given a warning by the church. Father Augustine Vattoly, convenor of Save our Sisters' campaign, was warned on November 14. Father Vattoly co-ordinated the protest but he himself did not reportedly take part in it. He was warned of ecclesiastical action in case of disobedience by the church #KeralaNunRapeCase: Father Augustine Vattoly, convenor of Save our Sisters campaign, was prohibited by church from holding protests on Nov 14 & was warned of ecclesiastical action in case of disobedience. Father Vattoly reportedly coordinated the protest but didn't participate pic.twitter.com/4PC3AxHkQi ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Accused bishop Mulakkal was arrested on September 21 after three days of questioning. On September 24, he was sent to two weeks judicial custody. The Kerala High Court on October 3 had rejected the bail plea of Mulakkal. As per reports, the victim was subjected to rape and unnatural sex 13 times in the same room between 2014 to 2016. Mulakkal is the first bishop in the country to be sent to jail on charges of rape. The FIA has confirmed that the Haas F1 Team has lodged a protest against Force India ahead of this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. While the nature of the complaint has not been disclosed, it is believed that Haas is calling into question Racing Point Force India's qualification as a constructor given that the team uses a car - the VJM11 - initially designed and built by the original but now defunct Force India outfit. F1 regulations state that a team must own the intellectual property associated with a design to qualify as a constructor and therefore be eligible for F1's prize money fund. There's been no love lost between the two teams this season, with Force India calling for an investigation earlier this year into Haas' technical relationship with Ferrari. Over the summer, as Force India administration process reached its conclusion, Haas boss Guenther Steiner sought clarification from Formula 1's chiefs about the new entity's financial rights. In its blatant attempt to shore up its finances, Haas' protest is rooted in a financial issue, with the US outfit seeking to deprive Force India of its share of the prize fund if it does not qualify as a constructor, in which case Haas would financially benefit from Force India's share being divided among the other teams. Or, alternatively, Haas could also be seeking a retroactive settlement with F1, arguing that if the new Force India team is eligible for prize money in its first year - or for 'Column 1' payments - then the same rule should apply ex post facto to Haas for its 2016 and 2017 seasons. As a reminder, a team is only eligible for 'Column 1' prize money if it finishes in the top 10 of the Constructors' standings in two of three seasons. Representatives of both teams have been summoned to the stewards on Friday morning before the action kicks off in earnest in Abu Dhabi. In the end however, it may just all turn out to be a silly case of the pot calling the kettle black... Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National General Secretary Ram Madhav on Thursday slammed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC) for coming together and joining hands with the Congress to stake claim to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir. In a statement to news agency ANI, Madhav accused the parties of getting instructions from "across the border", in an obvious reference to Pakistan, to come together to form a government in the state. #WATCH: BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav says on dissolution of J&K assembly, "PDP & NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together & form govt." pic.twitter.com/wNjGSFmJbc ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 In another jibe, the BJP leader alleged that the parties had decided to boycott the local body polls, as even then, they had instructions from "across the border". He justified the dissolution of the state assembly by Governor Satya Pal Malik. "PDP and NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form govt. What they did prompted the governor to look into the whole issue," said Madhav. Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday had dissolved the assembly shortly after PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote a letter to him staking claim to form the government in the state in alliance with the NC and the Congress. However, Mehbooba said that she failed to get through the governor via fax and hence shared a copy of the letter on Twitter. Reacting to the issue of the fax machine not working and Mufti subsequently sending a copy of the letter via Twitter, Madhav said it is a lame excuse on the part of Mufti. He said, "Only Governor can answer why Guv home's fax is not working. Only he should answer. But this is a lame excuse on the part of Madam Mehbooba. In the letter, she never claimed that she will form the govt, she said I'll come & see you & stake the claim. It was all a drama." President of India Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone for Kartarpur corridor, news agency ANI reported. The foundation stone will be laid on November 26 this year. In a landmark decision, the Cabinet on Thursday approved the building and development of the Kartarpur corridor from Gurdaspur district's Dera Baba Nanak to the International Border (IB) with Pakistan. Hours later, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Islamabad has conveyed to India its decision to open the Kartarpur corridor. The MEA sent a letter to Pakistan, urging it to construct the corridor on its side. Kartarpur Sahib is located across Ravi river in Pakistan and is about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. The corridor will facilitate pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Narowal District of Punjab, Pakistan. The project with all modern amenities and facilities will be implemented with the central government funding, announced Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to commemorate 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji. The corridor will provide smooth and easy passage to pilgrims to visit the holy shrine throughout the year. "The Pakistan government will be urged to reciprocate and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory," said Rajnath Singh. Highlighting on the key points for the development on the issue, Singh said that a High-Level Committee chaired by him will regularly review, monitor and oversee the implementation of activities to celebrate the anniversary of Guru Nanak. The sources said India wants the corridor to be kept open for 24 hours on all days. Taking to Twitter, Singh said, "The States/UTs also being requested to celebrate 550th Birth Anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Devji in a befitting manner. Indian missions overseas to organize special events on the occasion. UNESCO to be requested to publish Shri Guru Nanak Devjis writings in world languages. Ministry of Railways will run a train passing through holy places associated with Shri Guru Nanak Devji." "Commemorative coin and postage stamps to be released by the Government of India. Religious activities to be organised throughout the country. Doordarshan to telecast programmes on Shri Guru Nanak Devji and Gurubani," Singh said further. "A centre for inter faith studies to be set up at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Chairs on Shri Guru Nanak Devji to be set up in one University each in UK and Canada. International seminar on the life and teachings of Shri Guru Nanak Devji to be organised in New Delhi. As major attraction for pilgrims and tourists, a heritage complex at Sultanpur Lodhi, Pind Babe Nanak da to be developed to depict life in the times of Shri Guru Nanak Devji. Sultanpur Lodhi railway station to be upgraded and developed," added the Union Minister. The sources said Indian High Commission officials were not allowed to meet Indian pilgrims in Gurudwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan yesterday and India may raise the issue with Islamabad. Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry welcomed the Indian announcement to commence the construction of the Kartarpur corridor, calling it a "victory of peace". "It is a step towards the right direction and we hope such steps will encourage voice of reasons and tranquillity on both sides of the border," he tweeted. India had first proposed the Kartarpur Sahib corridor in 1999 when the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took a bus ride to Lahore. BJP president Amit Shah and SAD chief Sukhbir Badal termed as "historic" the Union Cabinet's decision to develop the Katarpur corridor. "I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for approving the historic Kartarpur Sahib corridor. This would greatly help pilgrims visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan. The Modi govt has continuously strived to enrich India's rich religious diversity and this step further reinforces it," Shah tweeted. Badal said the SAD has been persistently requesting successive central governments for this corridor. Kolkata: Suspicious signals in coded languages in an around Kolkata for the past few weeks have been intercepted by amateur Ham radio operators, prompting authorities to deploy round-the-clock monitoring of radio signals. The first such incident came into light a few weeks ago just ahead of Diwali, after an amateur Ham radio operator picked up suspicious radio signals and unauthorised radio communication in coded languages from areas in Sodepur in North 24 Parganas district. Since then, such signals were picked up from Chuchura in Hoogly district and Sealdah in Kolkata at a specific time in the night. Areas, where these signals were received, are within 25-30 km radius of Kolkata. Alarmed over the suspicious signals, the radio operators informed police officials, central agencies and the ministry of communication about this. "For past few weeks especially after midnight we have been hearing such coded conversations. The whole thing is highly suspicious because whenever we tried to converse with them, there was no response. And when we asked them about their identity, there was total radio silence," said Ambarish Nag Biswas, secretary of Bengal Amateur Radio Club. "Those who were communicating on the radio frequencies alluded to Pashto accent but we couldn't identify the language. I was first alerted by a fellow HAM radio club member who overheard such conversations," he told PTI. Pashto is a language widely spoken in Afghanistan. Biswas said after the incident came into light, they had written to the Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, highlighting the strange signals and the suspicious mode of coded communications. "We submitted details of our findings to International Wireless Monitoring station, police and central agencies. We were asked to continue monitoring and try to locate the source of the communications," he said. The International Wireless Monitoring Station of Eastern region was pressed into service to track the signals. When contacted ADG (Telecommunication) of West Bengal Police, Debasish Roy, said he is aware of the issue about suspicious signals in the coded language. "We are aware of it and looking into the issue. We have sent the details to the Directorate of Coordination Police Wireless (DCPW) in New Delhi for necessary steps," he said. DCPW is a wing under Union Ministry of Home Affairs. A Kolkata-based senior official of International Wireless Monitoring Station said they have initiated a monitoring of the radio signals and the frequencies in which the conversation took place and will keep a tab on these for some time. Intelligence Bureau officials here, however, didn't rule out terror outfits using such frequencies to communicate among themselves, as mobile networks can come under surveillance. "It is not unnatural for extremists groups to communicate through these Ham radio frequencies as this mode is quite unconventional, unlike mobile networks or emails, which can come under surveillance. We will look into it," said a senior IB official, adding such kind of unverified communication in radio frequencies are often heard along the Indo-Bangla border. In 2016, Ham Radio operators had picked up suspicious signals in coded Bengali and Urdu languages along the India-Bangladesh border in Basirhat and Sunderbans region. HAM radio uses radio frequency spectrum to exchange messages with other radio operators. Each one of them are assigned a call sign for identity. The HAM or amateur radio operators are licensed to conduct such communications under specific radio frequencies by the Union Ministry of Communications and IT. New Delhi: Bollywood's glamour siren, Disha Patani raises the heat with every new Instagram upload. The actress, who will next be seen in 'Bharat', is one of the most popular actresses in B-Town and has a massive fan-following. Disha keeps her fanbase updated with deets from her life by posting regularly on social media. Her latest Instagram upload has garnered the attention of netizens and fans have started flooding the comments section with compliments. Check out the post here: Disha will soon light up the silver screen with her presence in 'Bharat'. The film is being helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar and has an ensemble star cast including Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Tabu, Sunil Grover to name a few. 'Bharat' will release in 2019 on the occasion of Eid and is high on the buzzword ever since it was announced. As per reports, Disha will play Salman's sister and a trapeze artist in the film. Not much has been revealed about her role in the film as the makers remain tight-lipped about the whole affair. On the personal front, the gorgeous actress is rumoured to be dating her 'Baaghi 2' co-star Tiger Shroff and is often clicked by the paps with him. Neither Disha nor Tiger, however, have confirmed their relationship status. Mumbai: Actress Neha Dhupia, who recently welcomed her first child a baby girl with actor-husband Angad Bedi, on Thursday took to Twitter to leave an emotional note, thanking all her friends from the industry and fans for pouring love on their 'little girl'. The former beauty queen posted, "Our hearts are filled with joy as we Thank you all for all the love that has poured in for our little girl... I just whispered in her ear that everyone says welcome to the world and she smiled back... She sends you all lots of love." Our hearts are filled with joy as we Thank you all for all the love that has poured in for our little girl_...i jus whispered in her ear that everyone says welcome to the world and she smiled back ... she sends you all lots of love __ _ Neha Dhupia (@NehaDhupia) November 22, 2018 Neha and Angad welcomed their first child on November 18. According to a statement issued by her publicist, Neha delivered the child in Mumbai's Womens Hospital. Later, the two said that they have named their child Mehr Dhupia Bedi. Neha on Tuesday took to Instagram, where she shared a photograph of her baby`s feet wearing booties. The booties read: "Hello world". She captioned the photograph, writing, "Mehr Dhupia Bedi says hello to the world." Neha and Angad surprised everyone with their hush-hush wedding in May this year. Buzz was there that it was due to Neha's pregnancy the couple planned for sudden marriage. After denying it for initial three months, Angad later confirmed the pregnancy rumours by posting a monochrome photo of Neha, showing off her baby bump. Unlike most of the B-Town actresses, Neha rocked her pregnancy like a pro and continued working without a taking any break. She shot for her show 'No Filter Neha' season 2 where several celebrities made some candid confessions. In fact, in the last podcast, hubby Angad was the guest and talked about all things personal, fun and what came out from the conversation was exactly what the fans wanted to hear. Angad revealed on the show how he went to meet Neha's parents and break the news of her pregnancy before marriage. The couple had a Sikh wedding and the Anand Karaj ceremony took place at a Delhi Gurdwara on May 10, 2018. They broke their wedding news on social media and shared beautiful pictures from the ceremony, melting a million hearts. New Delhi: The stunning Shilpa Shetty has defied age like a pro and her hourglass figure and give any actress a run for her money. The 43-year-old diva is currently in the Maldives, enjoying her own time with hubby Raj Kundra. The duo jetted off to the island to usher in their 9th anniversary. Shilpa, who is an avid social media user, took to her Instagram handle and shared some kickass pictures. The actress flaunted her bikini body and soaked in some Maldivian sun. She wrote in the caption: Soaking in the Maldivian Sun and loving it...If I had my way, would live here or the rest of my life #beachbody #waterbaby #bikini. #anniversary #9yrs #peace #gratitude #maldives #timelessmemories #sun Isn't she looking simply mind-blowing? She is a fitness freak and practices yoga regularly. After all, you don't get washboard abs without toiling hard! The actress often keeps her social media handles updated with regular videos inspiring people to eat healthily and practice yoga daily. And do not miss her yummy and delicious healthy food videos, by the way. Shilpa and Raj Kundra got married on November 22, 2009. The couple was blessed with son, Viaan Raj Kundra on May 21, 2012. NEW DELHI: Four out of the 15 jawans belonging to the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (UPPAC), who had been convicted in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case, surrendered before Delhi's Tis Hazari court on Thursday. According to ANI, the four UP PAC jawans will now be sent to the Tihar Jail. 1987 Hashimpura mass murders case: Four out of 15 jawans of Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (UPPAC) have surrendered before Delhi's Tis Hazari Court. The four will be sent to Tihar jail. The Court has issued non-bailable warrant against rest of the jawans. pic.twitter.com/iiCXSiTTov ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Delhi's Tis Hazari Court has issued a non-bailable warrant against rest of the jawans. On October 31, the Delhi High Court had sentenced 16 policemen to life imprisonment for killing 42 people of a minority community in Uttar Pradesh in what later came to be known as the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case. The high court held that the massacre was "targeted killing" of unarmed and defenceless people by the police. A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel reversed the trial court's verdict which had acquitted the accused. The high court convicted 16 former Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel for murder and of kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code. The high court's verdict came on pleas challenging a trial court's decision to acquit 16 policemen of charges of murder and other crimes in the case. The court also said that the families of the victims had to wait 31 years to get justice, and monetary relief cannot compensate for their loss. All the 16 PAC personnel convicted in the Hashimpura massacre case had retired from service and one of them died during the course of the trial in the case. LUCKNOW: An under-construction building collapsed in the Gomti Nagar locality in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow on Thursday. According to ANI, the building is located near Jeevan Plaza in Gomti Nagar. Lucknow: A building near Jeevan Plaza in Gomti Nagar collapsed today. No casualties have been reported. Police force is present at the spot. A construction work was underway at the building. pic.twitter.com/omBiWMpXJk ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 22, 2018 The building was under construction for some time. No casualties have been reported in the incident so far. Top officials of the district administration and local police have already reached the spot. A team of SDRF (State Disaster Response Fund) has also reached the spot, according to ANI. Lucknow: A team of SDRF (State Disaster Response Fund) has reached the spot where a building near Jeevan Plaza in Gomti Nagar collapsed today. No casualties have been reported. Police force is present at the spot. pic.twitter.com/XU0DnJAFep ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 22, 2018 Rescue work is currently underway and efforts are on to clear the debris. The authorities are trying to ascertain if there is anyone trapped inside the debris. BRUSSELS/LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May said she would be returning to Brussels on Saturday to hammer out an outline of Britain`s future ties with the European Union after her meeting with the head of the bloc`s executive on Wednesday failed to bridge the gaps. May met European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker for about an hour and a half to try to win commitments aimed at helping her appease rebels at home opposed to her draft Brexit treaty. "There were some remaining issues which we have discussed," May said afterwards. "I will be returning on Saturday for further meetings, including again with President Juncker to discuss how we can ensure that we can conclude this process." With just over four months before Britain`s departure, May is trying to finalise an outline of future relations before a summit of EU leaders on Sunday due to endorse the Brexit accord. Raising the stakes, EU diplomats said they had been told that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was not willing to come on Sunday for any more talks, meaning a text must be ready beforehand. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez meanwhile, insisted he would vote against the draft deal unless he wins assurances over the disputed peninsula of Gibraltar. On Wednesday night, May spoke to Sanchez and "there had been good engagement between the UK, the Government of Spain and the Government of Gibraltar," May`s office said, adding that the UK and Gibraltar "looked forward to these discussions continuing." May said negotiators from both Britain and the European Union would continue working on the text. "I believe we have been able to give sufficient direction for them to be able to resolve those remaining issues," she said. A spokesman for the European Commission said "very good progress" was made at May`s meeting with Juncker: "Work is continuing." Diplomats in Brussels said EU states` concerns over fishing rights and future trade ties had largely been addressed in the political declaration on the EU-UK future ties that would form a package with the legally binding divorce deal, meaning Spain`s concerns were the final issue to be settled. "The only thing really outstanding is Gibraltar," said one EU diplomat. Sanchez has demanded assurances that the future of Gibraltar would be settled through direct talks with Madrid. "If this is not solved by Sunday, Spain, a pro-European government, will unfortunately have to vote `No`," Sanchez said at a news conference in Valladolid with his Portuguese counterpart. Many in Brussels thought Sanchez was trying to score points with voters at home before a Dec. 2 local election in the southern Andalusia region. They said the issue could be solved by the leaders and warned Madrid not to put the whole Brexit agreement at risk. As an olive branch to Brexit campaigners in Britain, May was seeking to include their proposed technological solutions to keep the border open on the island of Ireland. The EU has previously dismissed these ideas as unrealistic at this stage. May`s finance minister, Philip Hammond, said Britain`s parliament needed to back her deal or risk either seriously damaging the economy or jeopardising Brexit altogether. "A smooth exit from the European Union - doing this in an orderly fashion - is worth tens of billions of pounds to our economy," he told broadcaster ITV. "If the deal is not approved by parliament, we will have a politically chaotic situation ... In that chaos that would ensue, there may be no Brexit," he added. NORTHERN IRELAND The British and European parliaments must ratify the tentative deal to end more than 40 years of partnership before Brexit day on March 29, 2019, or Britain would be set to crash out of the EU with no treaty. The publication last week of a draft exit treaty sparked the biggest crisis of May`s premiership, with two cabinet ministers quitting and dozens of Conservative members of parliament calling on her to step down. They accuse May of making too many concessions to the EU, while others oppose Brexit altogether. May hopes the blueprint on future relations -- a political document of about 20 pages meant to be agreed side-by-side with the legally binding 600-page exit treaty -- will help win back enough support at home for her approach to pass in parliament. The Northern Ireland party that props up May`s government said it does not plan to withdraw its support yet despite opposition to her withdrawal deal. "The confidence and supply agreement ... is very much still in existence," Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster told the BBC broadcaster. Asked when the party might consider pulling the plug on support for May, Foster said: "We`re not there yet." Despite the political turmoil around her, May has shown no sign in public of any doubt that she can bring home a deal. The draft treaty envisages Britain staying in a customs union with the bloc, which many Brexit supporters see as a compromise too far. The EU is trying to discourage Britain from any renegotiation of the draft treaty, while also seeking to assuage concerns expressed by some of the remaining 27 member states. While unanimity among the 27 is not legally required to endorse the deal now, the bloc seeks a unified stance. DEMANDS Both sides have also been advancing contingency plans for the worst case scenario -- a no-deal Brexit. Diplomats in Brussels said Britain was also seeking an easy flow of goods after Brexit, a position which was too close to the privileges allowed only for countries that sign up to EU single market rules, including free flow of people and services. "The UK wants free movement of goods, which they won`t get because that`s back to discussing partial access to the single market, which we don`t do," another diplomat said. In addition, France has called for more guarantees on future access to Britain`s fishing waters, which London wants to keep firmly under its control after Brexit. Most in the EU are determined to get the deal over the line, with a third EU diplomat saying: "There is plenty of negotiating time left to achieve that." The new head of Cherkasy Regional Administration thanked President Poroshenko for his trust and outlined his further goals and strategic steps November 21, Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko has introduced the new head of Cherkasy Regional State Administration, Oleksandr Velbivets, who previously chaired the local regional council. Poroshenko stressed that Velbivets is well known in his region. 'I didnt want to appoint anyone from the top. And Oleksandr Velbivets is a local man,' he underlined. The president added that for three years, Velbivets have been serving as chairman of the Cherkasy Regional Council. I think that he has a public support. And presidents choice of the person who would head Cherkasy Regional State Administration is correct if only you support this choice. Do you approve?, Poroshenko said. Representatives of the regional state body applauded in response, thus saying they supported presidents decision. Who is Olexandr Velbivets? Olexandr Velbivets was born on April 21, 1976, Lysyanka, Cherkasy region. He has several degrees; he graduated from the Ukrainian Transport University (mechanical engineering), Dnipropetrovsk Regional Institute of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine (public administration). He has started his first public service in 2005. Then he was appointed first deputy chairman of Lysyansky district state administration. A year later, he was elected head of Lysyansky local council (March 2006 July 2010). There is no information about the next three years of his official biography. In April 2014, he headed Lysyansky regional administration (Cherkasy region). A year later, he was elected a deputy of Cherkasy Regional Council on the partys lists of Petro Poroshenkos Solidarity bloc. From November 20, 2015, he was the chairman of Cherkasy Regional Council of the VII convocation, and in fact, three years after that, he was appointed the head of Cherkasy Regional Administration. Family and property Olexandr Velbivets is married, he has a daughter. According to the 2017declaration, he is the owner of a land plot in Lysyanka ( 1500 sq. m.) and rents an apartment in Cherkasy ( 49.1 sq. m.). His wife and daughter have an apartment in Lysyanka ( 46.1 sq. m.). In addition, his spouse owns a garage (24 sq. m.). Another family member is indicated in Velbivetss declaration; probably this his father Ivan Velbivets. He owns a house in Lysyanka (64.6 sq. m.), as well as 1990 Moskvitch-2141. In general, last year the Velbivtsev family had an income of 21,600USD. This is mainly the salary of the official, the pension and salary of his wife, and study allowance of his daughter. Open source The family does not have money on its banking account. Priority goals President Poroshenko instructed Velbivets to solve the most urgent problems of Smila town. "I have a favor to ask Oleksandr Velbivets to go to Smila first. You need to normalize the situation. I advice you to move your constituency surgery to Smila for a couple of days, meet with the people, listen to them, and then tell me and regional state administration about their position," Poroshenko said. The head of the state urged Velbivets to make sure that the locals would not pay for the heating as it was absent. The new head of Cherkasy Regional Administration thanked Poroshenko for his confidence and outlined his further goals and strategic steps. "Today we face numerous complicated tasks and challenges. First of all, it is about further implementation of reforms initiated by the president, ensuring stable socio-economic development, attracting investments and introducing energy efficient technologies, coordinating and controlling of modern educational, medical, and cultural services, social protection, support and assistance to Donbas veterans. It is important to focus on quality indicators," Velbivets said. According to the official, he will do everything possible to meet the expectations of the head of state and society. Previous governor In October, the Cabinet of Ministers agreed on the dismissal of four heads of regional state administrations, including Cherkasy region administration. Open source The region was led by a native of Odesa region, private entrepreneur, honored economist of Ukraine and a tax service adviser of the first rank Yuriy Tkachenko. I would like to thank for everything that Yuriy did for Cherkasy, President Poroshenko stressed during the presentation of the new head of the region. Read the original text at 112.ua. Open source Over the past 24 hours, the militants opened fire 11 times at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbas. One Ukrainian soldier sustained minor injuries, as the Joint Forces Operation HQ reported on Facebook. The occupant opened fire 11 times. Russian occupation troops continue using Minsk-banned weapons As a result, one Ukrainian soldier was slightly injured, the message says. At the same time it was specified that illegal armed formations shot at the Ukrainian positions near Krymske, Novozvanivka, Novoluhanske, Avdiivka, Slavne, Krasnohorivka, Pavlopil, Hnutove and Shyrokyne. Russian occupation troops were conducting adjusted fire from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms. Besides, yesterday evening, the enemy shot at JFO positions near Hnutove from 82mm. Ukrainian defence work near Krymske came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades twice, and near Novozvanivka from heavy machine guns and SPG-9 three times, the headquarters reads. Today, according to the Ukrainian military, the enemy performed no attacks. Related video: During November 21, the militants shelled the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Joint Forces Operation zone (JFO). The press office of the JFO reported this on Facebook. The occupiers provoked the Ukrainian military using small arms and heavy machine guns in the area of Krasnohorivka. The invaders have also opened aimed fire using grenade launchers of different systems, heavy machine guns, and small arms at the Joint Forces positions near Slavne and Novozvanivka villages, the headquarters reported. The defending units took necessary measures for the suppression of the enemy fire. The situation in the JFO remains under control of the Ukrainian military. It is noted that no casualties among the personnel of the Joint Forces were observed. As we reported earlier, none of the Ukrainian servicemen injured over the last day, November 20. The rival opened fire six times at the positions of our forces, and used weapons prohibited by the Minsk Agreements. Five years ago, Ukraine's Euromaidan protests kicked off, driving its autocratic leaders out of the country. But the revolution's promise has never come to pass because it lacks real leadership, - DW Deutsche Welle contributed to the stories timed to the anniversary of Euromaidan in Ukraine. Bernd Johann turned the audience's attention to the legacy of the powerful movement that swept off the regime of Viktor Yanukovych and his sidekicks who tried to weaken the Ukraine-EU ties and tighten those with Russia. 'When Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych rejected the comprehensive UkraineEuropean Union Association Agreement on November 21, 2013, a number of citizens spontaneously gathered on Kyiv's Independence Square that same night in protest. The impromptu rally sparked a wave of large-scale protests against Ukraine's corrupt, oppressive and pro-Russian rulers, who were eventually driven out of the country several months later', reads the opening paragraph. Covering the course and the results of the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, Johann wrote: 'Today, Ukrainians can travel to the EU without needing a visa. Many have made use of this new liberty. The UkraineEuropean Union Association Agreement was signed, and Ukraine's economy is growing. Much progress had been made, but more work still lies ahead; Ukraine's political revolution has stalled because there is nobody to take the lead'. 'While the Euromaidan protests invigorated the country's civil society, it lacks actual political power. Some anti-corruption activists and journalists have paid with their lives for asking too many questions, and not one of these murders has so far been investigated. Ukraine's revolution once so full of promise is incomplete, and long overdue', the contributor's article winds up. Read the full story here. The official previously served in this authority as Acting Minister and Deputy Minister The Ukrainian lawmakers approved Oksana Markarova's candidacy as the Finance Minister. 242 MPs voted 'yes', with 226 votes necessary to pass. The official previously served in this authority as Acting Minister and Deputy Minister. She de facto chaired the Ministry when the-then Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk was sacked in June 2018. Thursday session of the Ukrainian Parliament poses special meaning; the MPs may approve the state budget for 2019. 112 International follows the situation live. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman called the draft budget 'well-balanced, realistic and the one that should provide the development of our state'. The annual incomes are expected to make USD 357 billion; the expenses are to make just about the same sum; the minimum wage and the poverty line will be increased. The government expects the minimum monthly wage to be set on the level of USD 149. The European Union is mulling its own Magnitsky Act meaning more pressure on Russia. Time to ask what impact current US and EU sanctions have had on the creaking Russian economy so far Open source The media sometimes wonder whether the Western sanctions against the Kremlin are effective; Deutsche Welle joined those commenting on this issue. 'EU sanctions were established in March 2014 after Russia's encroachment in Ukraine and have been in force since. Reviewed every six month by the European Council, they are now in place until January 31, 2019, and include asset freezing, an import ban on items from the Crimea and Sevastopol and a ban on tourism to the same areas (...) Sanctions have knocked 6 percent off Russia's GDP since 2014, a Bloomberg report noted recently. The GDP of the "world's biggest energy exporter" is now 10 percent smaller than might have been expected at the end of 2013, before the Crimea crisis, it said', the article reads. 'Lower oil prices have hit the economy, but sanctions are the "bigger culprit," the report said, adding that Russia's economy is over 10 percent smaller compared with what might have been expected at the end of 2013. Growth has been sluggish at 1-2 percent in the last two years. The International Monetary Fund recently predicted the Russian economy would grow by 1.7 percent in 2018 and 1.8 percent in 2019. Russia has done much to insulate itself from sanctions, but the government's forecasts of growth of over 3 percent by 2021 are in doubt', the story goes on. But the coin, as always, has to sides, and as the time flows, the measures seem to be less effective - at least as Russia claims. 'The Bank of Russia said this week it expected the impact of possible new US sanctions on Russia's economy would be smaller than it was in 2014-2015. "We are not willing to argue that all the negative effects [of possible new sanctions], which we may face, will affect us in a painless manner, and that it will not have any impact on the Russian economy," the director of the Bank's Research and Forecasting Department, Alexander Morozov, said in a statement. "This is certainly not the case. But the effect cannot be overestimated since in most of the scenarios it will be much less than the one we observed in 2014-2015',' the article continues. Read the full story here. At the same time, Russia recommends Kyiv to refuse from attempts to revise the current status of Azov Sea as of inland waters of two states Russia accuses Ukraine of militarizing Azov Sea and refuses similar charges against it, as the statement published on the website of Russian Foreign Ministry says. Despite the statements of Kyiv and Brussels, Russia is not increasing its military presence in Azov Sea. The forces located there are mainly used for securing the Kerch Bridge. The actions of Ukraine, which announced the creation of a naval base in Bersyansk and regularly closes separate areas of Azov Sea to conduct artillery shells, are directed towards the militarization of the Sea of Azov, the statement says. At the same time, Russia recommends Kyiv to refuse from attempts to revise the current status of Azov Sea as of inland waters of two states. We urge Kyiv to refrain from any adventures directed at unilateral establishment of state border in Azov Sea which Russian does not recognize. Russian Federation warns that Ukraine and the countries which support its provocative actions are responsible for the further possible aggravation of the situation in Azov-Kerch water area, the message says. It should be noted that Russia considers Azov Sea as inland waters of Russia and Ukraine. Therefore, Kerch Straight has never been and is not international, and the requirements of transit or peaceful passage of foreign vessels do not apply to it. Therefore, the inspections of the Russian border guards of the foreign vessels in the Azov Sea are legal. Related video: A Russian cargo ship with 3,300 tons of grain has sunk at Kerch-Yenikale canal, near annexed Crimea as TASS reported. At the downstream of Kerch-Yenikale canal, to the north of Borzovka cape, the barge with grain (3,300 tons) has sunk at the depth of 10 meters. The incident took place in 600 meters from the coast. The home port is Rostov-on-Don. The owner of the cargo and the reason for the incident are under establishment, the traffic and navigation are not complicated, the spill of fuel did not take place, the so-called Emergency Service of Crimea reported. According to it, any member of the crew suffered, the detachments of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were not attracted to the rescue works. The cargo ship remains to stay at the sinking zone. In its turn, the shipping company Araks, which owns the barge and tugboat, claimed that it does not plan to bring the barge up as this operation is extremely costly. Barge is hardly to be brought up as the operation is extremely costly. It does not possess the fuel tanks and will not cause the pollution of the environment, the message said. The sum of the loss from the sunken vessel aimed under the Russian flag to Caucasus port is not established yet. Crimea was annexed by Russia by way of the illegal referendum, held at the peninsula in March 2014. Earlier the Russian militaries that stayed there without any marking conquered all strategic military objects and building of the force and state bodies. The results of the referendum were not recognized by Ukraine and the world society. The number of the European and world countries, including Ukraine imposed the economic sanctions against Russia. One of the detainees has to undergo long-lasting treatment, as the injuries proved serious Police dog, aggressive Open source An incident with Ukrainian smugglers recently took place in Kosice, Slovakia. The story happened when the local police chased four Ukrainians as they were receiving the smuggled cigarettes from the freight train that carried some ore. Mukachevo.net reported that on November 22. Kosice customs office told the police that several people were supposed to get the illegal cargo from the train that arrived in U.S. Steel Kosice enterprise. The smugglers saw the police and tried to escape; the law enforcers used a service dog to get them. 'The dog picked up a trail and found a man in the bushes. The patrol officer ordered the dog to stay put; but the man took a stick and assaulted the dog, which bit him in return, just a little', said police press officer Lenka Ivanova. The dog badly bit the man on his lower back, so the Ukrainian will need a long-lasting treatment. The police examined the site and found cigarettes of various manufacturers there; the total price made EUR 23,000. Iryna Lutsenko, the Presidents representative in the Parliament, hopes that the Verkhovna Rada will adopt Iryna Lutsenko, the Presidents representative in Ukraine's Parliament The Verkhovna Rada Ukraines Constitutional Court provided a conclusion to the presidential bill on amending the Constitution of the State concerning the integration of the country in the European Union and NATO, as Iryna Lutsenko, the Presidents representative in the Parliament, said, the press office of Petro Poroshenko Bloc reported. The vast majority, 14 judges of the Constitutional Court, supported the decision to recognize the presidential bill on amendments. Therefore, this gives the Parliament an opportunity to consider the document in the session hall, Lutsenko said. As Interfax-Ukraine reports, the Verkhovna Rada has an opportunity to preliminary confirm the presidential bill during the first reading on Thursday session. They (the amendments to the Constitution, - ed.) might be supported by the Parliament. I think, we will be working hard on this today There is a chance to vote for these amendments in the first reading, Lutsenko said. Earlier, the Parliament sent the bill on amendments to the Constitution concerning the EU, NATO integration plan with 321 votes on September 20, 2018. According to the bill, the President of Ukraine is the guarantor of the implementation of strategic course of the state towards Ukraines full membership in the EU and NATO. In its turn, the Cabinet of Ministers provides the implementation of the strategic course of the state towards Ukraines full membership in the EU and NATO. The members of the committee referred to the regulation of the Constitution Court in their decision The committee of the Verkhovna Rada on the legal policy and justice recommends to the parliament to adopt the draft law on the enshrining of the states course on the full membership in the EU and NATO in the Constitution as the basis. Besides, the exclusion of the possibility of the rental of the military bases in Ukraine by the foreign states was also recommended to be adopted as Ukrainian News reported. The MPs noted that the Constitution Court did not express any remarks to the document in the preamble. On November 22, the president of Ukraine appealed to the Parliament urging to immediately consider the bill on amendments of the Constitution on the consolidation of the course of EU and NATO integration. Earlier, the Parliament sent the bill on amendments to the Constitution concerning the EU, NATO integration plan with 321 votes on September 20, 2018. According to the bill, the President of Ukraine is the guarantor of the implementation of strategic course of the state towards Ukraines full membership in the EU and NATO. In its turn, the Cabinet of Ministers provides the implementation of the strategic course of the state towards Ukraines full membership in the EU and NATO. The discussion will be focused on the idea of deployment of UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas Ukraines Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin stated that the Normandy meeting would be held next week in Berlin, as Ukrinform reported. Now we are negotiating on this (deploying the UN peacekeeping mission, - ed.). This question will be discussed in the Normandy format at the level of political directors. The discussion is scheduled for next week in Berlin, Klimkin said. According to him, the problem is that Russia tries to consciously block and torpedo the idea of deploying the peacekeeping mission in Donbas. Russias direction lies in the legitimization of Donbas occupation and an attempt to push Russian protectorate in a free democratic European Ukraine, which is inherently impossible. Besides, Russia is speculation onto the fact that it doesnt want to carry out substantive negotiations, trying to point at the elections next year in Ukraine, Klimkin said. Four states Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia participate in the Normandy format meetings. President Petro Poroshenko has established the Day of Foreign Intelligence Service and it will be celebrated annually in Ukraine on January 24 as the order #381 dated November 22 reported. I order to establish the Day of Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine and to celebrate it annually on January 24, the document said. It is added that the holiday is established, taking into account the significant contribution of the officers of the intelligence bodies of Ukraine to the provision of the security of the national interests of the country from the external threats and the defense of the lives, health of its citizens and objects of the state property outside the state, strengthening of its defense capacity to revive the national intelligence identity and beginning of the modern traditions of the honoring of the victories of the foreign intelligence of Ukraine. The order comes into force since the day it was published. On October 14, Ukraine celebrated the Day of the Defender of Ukraine on the day of Pokrova. The holiday was introduced "to honor the courage and heroism of the defenders of independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, military traditions and victories of the Ukrainian people." Ukrainians will have an opportunity to visit Thailand without visa formalities for up to 30 days Open source Thailand Government imposed visa-free regime for Ukrainians who visit this country as tourists for up to 30 days, as the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko wrote on Facebook. I welcome the introduction of a visa-free regime for Ukraine! From now on, Ukrainians can travel to this country without wasting their time for visa procedures with a touristic aim for up to 30 days, Poroshenko wrote. Earlier, Thailand Government had temporarily canceled consular fee for processing Thai tourist visa for Ukrainians since December 1, 2018 till January 31, 2019. It should be noted that the Ukrainian passport took 44th place in world passport rating "Passport Index" 2018, published by Henley & Partners international company. According to the rating, the Ukrainian passport provides visa-free access to 90 states. One can obtain visa on arrival to 41 countries and process visa before visiting 67 states. Open source The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted the law #7279-d, which regulates the procedure of the investigation of the criminal offense. 239 MPs supported it as 112 Ukraine reported. The document changes the terminology in the Criminal Code. Earlier the term crime was used as the common one, according to the innovation, the phrase criminal offence will be used instead of it. As before the criminal offense is the socially dangerous action or inaction. If there are the signs of the criminal violation in such action but it does not pose the significant social threat due to its insignificance then it is not the criminal offence. The criminal offence are: - the criminal misconduct, the violation which provides the punishment in the form of the fine in the sum of up to $1,836 or another but not the detention; - grave, with the main punishment in the form of the fine in the sum of up to $612 or the imprisonment up to five years; - grave, with the main punishment in the form of the fine in the sum of up to $15,308 or the imprisonment up to ten years; - particularly grave, with the main punishment in the form of the fine in the sum of more than $15,308 or the imprisonment for more than ten years, including the life sentence. The preparation of the criminal misconduct is not prosecuted (earlier of the not grave crime). If a person is condemned due to the criminal misconduct, he will be treated as a person with no criminal record after the serving of the sentence. The draft law provides the exclusion of the norm on the driving of the transport in the drunken state from the Administrative Code and its introduction to the Criminal Code and such violation will become a criminal misconduct. According to the acting legislation, the driving of the cars or ships in the drunken state or drugged (and the refusal from the check) is punished in the same way, the fine in the sum of $367 in the first time and with the fine in the sum of $734 if the incident takes place for the second time during a year, and with the fine in the sum of $1, 469 if the incident takes place for the third time during a year. In all these cases, a driver can be deprived of the driving license for some period of time. The punishment for the alcohol, drug or medicine consumption after the car accident does not differ too much. The law make the amendments to the Administrative Code on the responsibility for the driving of the vessels in the drunken state: the fine in the sum of $612 or the public works during 40-60 hours with the depriving of the right to drive all types of the vessels for one-three years. If a person does not possess the right to drive the vessels and was drunk then the responsibility in the form of $918 or the public works during 40-60 hours with the depriving of the right to drive all types of the vessels for one-three years is provided. The consumption of the drugs after the accident will lead to the fine in the sum of $735 with the depriving of the driving license for three years. The Criminal Code provides that the driving of the vehicle under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medicine, pass of the driving to a person in such state, refusal from the check and consumption of such things after the accident can be punished in the form of the fine from $612 up to $1,225 with the depriving of the driving license for three years. If the violation repeats the fine will be up to $1,836 with the with the depriving of the driving license for two-three years. According to the document, some crimes of the medium gravity, particularly, the theft, illegal production, storage and transfer of the drugs and its analogs without intention to sell will become the criminal misconducts. It is supposed that the investigation of the misconducts will be held in the form of the inquiry with the simplified procedure, including the shortened terms. The police officers, the representatives of the security body, bodies, which control the tax legislation, representatives of the State Investigation Bureau will be enabled to hold the inquiry. A person who holds it uses the authority of the prosecutor. Moreover, the interrogators are authorized to search the detainees in particular cases, hold the tracking and unspoken investigative actions. If the case is urgent, the interrogator will possess a right to search the site, get the explanations, hold the medical examination, take a statement of the equipment, including photo or video, confiscate the commit of the crime, goods and documents before the information put on Unified register of pretrial investigations. The suspect in the commitment of the criminal misconduct can be detained without the regulation of the investigative judge, judge, if a person offers resistance to the law enforcers, refuses to stop the commitment of the crime or is trying to escape as well as if a person is drunk, can harm himself and society. It is possible to detain such person for maximally three hours. The prosecutors office should send charges along with the materials case to the suspect during three days after the serving of the charges. If a person is detained at the site during 24 hours. It also should do one of the following actions: to close the criminal proceeding, return the materials to the interrogator and extend the term of the inquiry, appeal to the court with the charges and send the criminal proceeding for the holding of the pretrial investigation in case of the signs of the commitment of the crimes. In its turn, the court should appoint the court session in five days or immediately if a person was detained at the site. if the suspect pleads guilty and does not appeal, the court considers the indictment without the consideration during the court session with the presence of the workers of the court proceeding. The majority of the norms comes into force from January 1, 2020. Earlier Ukraines Constitutional Court provided a conclusion to the presidential bill on amending the Constitution of the State concerning the integration of the country in the European Union and NATO. The MPs will be able to finally adopt this decision during the next session, at least 300 votes will be needed The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has supported the draft amendments to the Constitution on the foreign policy course of Ukraine, particularly, the intentions to enter the EU and NATO. 311 MPs supported the draft law #9037-P/1 as 112 Ukraine reported. On February, at the next session, we will finally adopt the amendments to the Constitution. What is it? It is just and additional guarantee from the revenge of the pro-Russian, anti-NATO and anti-European forces, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said, addressing to the MPs. The draft law #9037 provides the amendments to the preamble of the Constitution, according to which, the parliament confirms the European identity of the Ukrainian nation and irreversibility of the European and Euro-Atlantic course of Ukraine. It is planned to provide at Article 85 that the Verkhovna Rada is authorized to not only define the principles of the inner and foreign policy but also to implement the strategic course of the state for the obtaining of the full membership of Ukraine in the EU and NATO. The president of Ukraine is the guarantor of the implementation of the strategic course of the state on the obtaining of the full membership of Ukraine in the EU and NATO, as it is planned to add to Article 102. It is planned to oblige the Cabinet of Ministers to provide the implementation of the strategic course of the state on the obtaining of the full membership of Ukraine in the EU and NATO. The norm that allows the foreign military formations to temporarily and according to the rent terms to use the acting military bases at the territory of Ukraine is excluded from the transition points. The Constitution of Ukraine and the Regulation of the Verkhovna Rada define the order of the amendments to the Main law in Ukraine. Only the president and 150 MPs can register the proper draft law. Then the document is considered by the committees of the Verkhovna Rada and recommend the lawmakers to consider the legislation initiatives or not. If the issue is not about the topics, which need the holding of the referendum; the law should gain at least 226 votes to make it possible to submit the document for the consideration of the Constitution Court of Ukraine during the session of the Ukrainian parliament. The court should publish the conclusion on the fact whether the initiative contradicts some articles of the Constitution: it should not restrict rights and freedoms of human, aim at the amendment on the liquidation of the independence or territorial integrity, besides the amendments should not take place in the terms of the military or emergency state; moreover their parliament should not consider the same amendments during a year and the Verkhovna Rada of the current legislature should not change the norms. The Constitution does not mention the terms during which the Constitution Court should publish the conclusions. Only after this the MPs can preliminary support the draft law and 226 votes will be enough. Only during the next session, the lawmakers will be able to adopt the document in general as the law but with at least 300 votes. The law adopted on such procedure should be signed by the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and the president. The time when the law comes into force is mentioned in the transition points of the document but it can take place not earlier than the publishing of it on the official newspaper. On November 22, the president of Ukraine appealed to the Parliament urging to immediately consider the bill on amendments of the Constitution on the consolidation of the course of EU and NATO integration. Earlier, the Parliament sent the bill on amendments to the Constitution concerning the EU, NATO integration plan with 321 votes on September 20, 2018. According to the bill, the President of Ukraine is the guarantor of the implementation of the strategic course of the state towards Ukraines full membership in the EU and NATO. In its turn, the Cabinet of Ministers provides the implementation of the strategic course of the state towards Ukraines full membership in the EU and NATO. Yevheniy Marchuk has long worked in the Trilateral Contact Group representing Ukraine in the security subgroup Yevheniy Marchuk, newly appointed representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group Radio Liberty screenshot The President of Ukraine appointed Yevheniy Marchuk as a representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group, as Iryna Gerashchenko, First Vice-Speaker of Verkhovna Rada and the representative of Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, wrote on Facebook. Before that, Marchuk was Ukraines representative in the security subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group. Yevheniy Marchuk has been representing Ukraine in the subgroup on security with dignity all this harsh year. He feels confident in the issues of Minsk talks and he will severely defend Ukraines national interests, Gerashchenko said. Earlier, Leonid Kuchma represented Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group. Ruslan Demchenko temporarily represented Ukraine at the talks him. Later, the press office of the President confirmed the information Gerashchenko presented, and reported that the President signed a relevant order. With this document, Leonid Kuchma shall be released from the performance of the duties as the Ukraines representative in the Trilateral Contact Group. In his place, the Head of the state-appointed Yevheniy Marchuk as the representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group on a peaceful settlement of the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Yevheniy Marchuk carries out activities on a voluntary basis, the press office reports. By this document, the mandate of Kuhcma in the Trilateral Contact Group ceased to be in force. It should be noted that Yevheniy Marchuk is the General of the Army, Candidate of Legal Sciences and the sixth Prime Minister of Ukraine (March 6, 1995 May 27 1996). President Poroshenko delivers speech in Ukraine's Parliament Presidential Administration press office The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko appealed to the Parliament urging to immediately consider the bill on amendments of the Constitution on the consolidation of the course of EU and NATO integration, as he wrote on Facebook. The Constitutional Court gave the green light for introduction of amendments to the Ukrainian Constitution on the European and Euro-Atlantic integration. I am convinced that Ukraine is moving to the EU and NATO inconvertibly. I ask the Parliament to consider this question immediately, the message says. Earlier, the Parliament sent the bill on amendments to the Constitution concerning the EU, NATO integration plan with 321 votes on September 20, 2018. According to the bill, the President of Ukraine is the guarantor of the implementation of strategic course of the state towards Ukraines full membership in the EU and NATO. In its turn, the Cabinet of Ministers provides the implementation of the strategic course of the state towards Ukraines full membership in the EU and NATO. /. , - 40 , , Le Figaro. 2016 . , , ... I do my best to be thankful every day. A brush with death (details here ) tends to make one thankful for every single day thereafter. There are things I am particularly thankful for on this day. For my family. For my friends. For a vocation that allows me to help others. I saw a tweet today that contained an excerpt from the remarks that John F. Kennedy was going to deliver 55 years ago today. They aren't exactly typical Thanksgiving talk; but given the state of affairs in our nation's capital, they are worth repeating today. "I am honored to have this invitation to address the annual meeting of the Dallas Citizens Council, joined by the members of the Dallas Assembly and pleased to have this opportunity to salute the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest. It is fitting that these two symbols of Dallas progress are united in the sponsorship of this meeting. For they represent the best qualities, I am told, of leadership and learning in this city and leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. The advancement of learning depends on community leadership for financial political support, and the products of that learning, in turn, are essential to the leaderships hopes for continued progress and prosperity. It is not a coincidence that those communities possessing the best in research and graduate facilities from MIT to Cal Tech tend to attract new and growing industries. I congratulate those of you here in Dallas who have recognized these basic facts through the creation of the unique and forward-looking Graduate Research Center. "This Nations strength and security are not easily or cheaply obtained, nor are they quickly and simply explained. There are many kinds of strength and no one kind will suffice." This link between leadership and learning is not only essential at the community level. It is even more indispensable in world affairs. Ignorance and misinformation can handicap the progress of a city or a company, but they can, if allowed to prevail in foreign policy, handicap this countrys security. In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations, Americas leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the popular ascendancy with their seemingly swift and simple solutions to every world problem. There will always be dissident voices heard in the land, expressing opposition without alternative, finding fault but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side and seeking influence without responsibility. Those voices are inevitable. But today other voices are heard in the land voices preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality, wholly unsuited to the sixties, doctrines which apparently assume that words will suffice without weapons, that vituperation is as good as victory and that peace is a sign of weakness. At a time when the national debt is steadily being reduced in terms of its burden on our economy, they [view] that debt as the single greatest threat to our security. At a time when we are steadily reducing the number of Federal employees serving every thousand citizens, they fear those supposed hordes of civil servants far more than the actual hordes of opposing armies. We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will talk sense to the American people. But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense. I want to discuss with you today the status of our security because this question clearly calls for the most responsible qualities of leadership and the most enlightened products of scholarship. For this Nations strength and security are not easily or cheaply obtained, nor are they quickly and simply explained. There are many kinds of strength and no one kind will suffice. Overwhelming nuclear strength cannot stop a guerrilla war. Formal pacts of alliance cannot stop internal subversion. Displays of material wealth cannot stop the disillusionment of diplomats subjected to discrimination. Above all, words alone are not enough. The United States is a peaceful nation. And where our strength and determination are clear, our words need merely to convey conviction, not belligerence. If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help. I realize that this Nation often tends to identify turning-points in world affairs with the major addresses which preceded them. But it was not the Monroe Doctrine that kept all Europe away from this hemisphere it was the strength of the British fleet and the width of the Atlantic Ocean. It was not General Marshalls speech at Harvard which kept communism out of Western Europe it was the strength and stability made possible by our military and economic assistance. In this administration also it has been necessary at times to issue specific warnings warnings that we could not stand by and watch the Communists conquer Laos by force, or intervene in the Congo, or swallow West Berlin, or maintain offensive missiles on Cuba. But while our goals were at least temporarily obtained in these and other instances, our successful defense of freedom was not due to the words we used, but to the strength we stood ready to use on behalf of the principles we stand ready to defend. This strength is composed of many different elements, ranging from the most massive deterrents to the most subtle influences. And all types of strength are needed no one kind could do the job alone. Let us take a moment, therefore, to review this Nations progress in each major area of strength. First, as Secretary McNamara made clear in his address last Monday, the strategic nuclear power of the United States has been so greatly modernized and expanded in the last 1,000 days, by the rapid production and deployment of the most modern missile systems, that any and all potential aggressors are clearly confronted now with the impossibility of strategic victory and the certainty of total destruction if by reckless attack they should ever force upon us the necessity of a strategic reply. In less than 3 years, we have increased by 50 percent the number of Polaris submarines scheduled to be in force by the next fiscal year, increased by more than 70 percent our total Polaris purchase program, increased by more than 75 percent our Minutemen purchase program, increased by 50 percent the portion of our strategic bombers on 15-minute alert forces. Our security is further enhanced by the steps we have taken regarding these weapons to improve the speed and certainty of their response, their readiness at all times to respond, their ability to survive an attack, and their ability to be carefully controlled and directed through secure command operations. But the lessons of the last decade have taught us that freedom cannot be defended by strategic nuclear power alone. We have, therefore, in the last three years accelerated the development and deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, and increased by 60 percent the tactical nuclear forces deployed in Western Europe. Nor can Europe or any other continent rely on nuclear forces alone, whether they are strategic or tactical. We have radically improved the readiness of our conventional forces increased by 45 percent of the number of combat ready Army divisions, increased by 100 percent the procurement of modern Army weapons and equipment, increased by 100 percent our procurement of our ship construction, conversion, and modernization program, increased by 100 percent our procurement of tactical aircraft, increased by 30 percent the number of tactical air squadrons, and increased the strength of the Marines. As last months Operation Big Lift which originated here in Texas showed so clearly, this Nation is prepared as never before to move substantial numbers of men in surprisingly little time to advanced positions anywhere in the world. We have increased by 175 percent the procurement of airlift aircraft, and we have already achieved a 75 percent increase in our existing strategic airlift capability. Finally, moving beyond the traditional roles of our military forces, we have achieved an increase of nearly 600 percent in our special forces those forces that are prepared to work with our allies and friends against the guerrillas, saboteurs, insurgents and assassins who threaten freedom in a less direct but equally dangerous manner. But American military might should not and need not stand alone against the ambitions of international communism. Our security and strength, in the last analysis, directly depend on the security and strength of others, and that is why our military and economic assistance plays such a key role in enabling those who live on the periphery of the Communist world to maintain their independence of choice. Our assistance to these nations can be painful, risky, and costly, as is true in Southeast Asia today. But we dare not weary of the task. For our assistance makes possible the stationing of 3.5 million allied troops along the Communist frontier at one-tenth the cost of maintaining a comparable number of American soldiers. A successful Communist breakthrough in these area, necessitating direct United States intervention, would cost us several times as much as our entire foreign aid program, and might cost us heavily in American lives as well. About 70 percent of our military assistance goes to nine key countries located on or near the borders of the Communist-bloc nine countries confronted directly or indirectly with the threat of Communistic aggression Vietnam, Free China, Korea, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Greece, Turkey, and Iran. No one of these countries possesses on its own the resources to maintain the forces which our own Chiefs of Staff think needed in the common interest. Reducing our efforts to train, equip, and assist their armies can only encourage Communist penetration and require in time the increased overseas deployment of American combat forces. And reducing the economic help needed to bolster these nations that undertake to help defend freedom can have the same disastrous result. In short, the $50 billion we spend each year on our own defense could well be ineffective without the $4 billion required for military and economic assistance. Our foreign aid program is not growing in size, it is, on the contrary, smaller now than in previous years. It has had its weaknesses, but we have undertaken to correct them. And the proper way of treating weaknesses is to replace them with strength, not to increase those weaknesses by emasculating essential programs. Dollar for dollar, in or out of government, there is no better form of investment in our national security than our much-abused foreign aid program. We cannot afford to lose it. We can afford to maintain it. We can surely afford, for example, to do as much for our 19 needy neighbors of Latin America as the Communist bloc is sending to the island of Cuba alone. I have spoken of strength largely in terms of the deterrence and resistance of aggression and attack. But in todays world, freedom can be lost without a shot being fired, by ballots as well as bullets. The success of our leadership is dependent upon respect for our mission in the world as well as our missiles on a clearer recognition of the virtues of freedom as well as the evils of tyranny. That is why our Information Agency has doubled the shortwave broadcasting powers of the Voice of America and increased the number of broadcasting hours by 30 percent, increased Spanish language broadcasting to Cuba and Latin America from one to nine hours a day, increased seven-fold to more than 3.5 million copies the number of American books being translated and published for Latin American readers, and taken a host of other steps to carry our message of truth and freedom to all the far corners of the earth. And that is also why we have regained the initiative in the exploration of outer space, making an annual effort greater than the combined total of all space activities undertaken during the fifties, launching more than 130 vehicles into earth orbit, putting into actual operation valuable weather and communications satellites, and making it clear to all that the United States of America has no intention of finishing second in space. This effort is expensive but it pays its own way, for freedom and for America. For there is no longer any fear in the free world that a Communist lead in space will become a permanent assertion of supremacy and the basis for military superiority. There is no longer any doubt about the strength and skill of American science, American industry, American education, and the American free enterprise system. In short, our nations space effort represents a great gain in, and a great resource of, our national strength and both Texas and Texans are contributing greatly to this strength. Finally, it should be clear by now that a nation can be no stronger abroad than she is at home. Only an America which practices what it preaches about equal rights and social justice will be respected by those whose choice affects our future. Only an America which has fully educated its citizens is fully capable of tackling the complex problems and perceiving the hidden dangers of the world in which we live. And only an America which is growing and prospering economically can sustain the worldwide defenses of freedom, while demonstrating to all concerned the opportunities of our system and society. It is clear, therefore, that we are strengthening our security as well as our economy by our recent record increases in national income and output by surging ahead of most of Western Europe in the rate of business expansion and the margin of corporate profits, by maintaining a more stable level of prices than almost any of our overseas competitors, and by cutting personal and corporate income taxes by some $11 billion, as I have proposed, to assure this Nation of the longest and strongest expansion in our peacetime economic history. This Nations total output which three years ago was at the $500 billion mark will soon pass $600 billion, for a record rise of over $100 billion in three years. For the first time in history we have 70 million men and women at work. For the first time in history average factory earnings have exceeded $100 a week. For the first time in history corporation profits after taxes which have risen 43 percent in less than 3 years have an annual level of $27.4 billion. My friends and fellow citizens: I cite these facts and figures to make it clear that America today is stronger than ever before. Our adversaries have not abandoned their ambitions, our dangers have not diminished, our vigilance cannot be relaxed. But now we have the military, the scientific, and the economic strength to do whatever must be done for the preservation and promotion of freedom. The strength will never be used in pursuit of aggressive ambitions it will always be used in pursuit of peace. It will never be used to promote provocations it will always be used to promote the peaceful settlement of disputes. We, in this country, in this generation, are by destiny rather than by choice the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, good will toward men. That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen waketh but in vain. We remain the people who must be the watchers on the walls of world freedom, and our own freedoms. We must defend our rights against any and all who try to limit or eliminate them. I am thankful for our right to freely express ourselves in calling attention to what some in our nation's capital are trying to do to abrogate our rights. Let us remain vigilant and outspoken in defending our rights. CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Raise Production Inc. (TSX-V: RPC) ("Raise" or the "Company") has released its financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018. PRESIDENTS UPDATE The Company is pleased to provide an update to its shareholders on its financial results and recent activities related to its operations. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018, total revenue earned, which consists primarily of sales of the Companys High Angle Reciprocating Pump (HARP), increased 144% to $289,418 and gross margin on these sales increased 332% to $75,353 compared to the same period in the prior year. The Company continues to gain traction in this market and it anticipates additional revenue growth and increased gross margins over the remainder of the year and into 2019 as manufacturing costs are reduced due to increased sales volumes. The Company has three systems that can be used independently or in combination in horizontal wellbores: the High Angle Reciprocating Pump (HARP); the Raise Efficient Artificial Lift (REAL) formerly known as the High Angle Lift Solution (HALS); and the Horizontal Artificial Recovery Technology (HART). HARP (High Angle Reciprocating Pump) Canada The Company now has enough historical production data to announce that it has increased oil production rates across a variety of formations by an average of approximately 28%. The data also indicates reduced decline rates. The combination of increased oil rates and flatter decline curves is delivering incremental reserves. The Company has identified numerous high potential customers that will benefit from this product line and is executing its strategic sales approach. USA The Company, in conjunction with its USA partner, Endurance Lift Solutions, has successfully installed its first HARP in an Eagle Ford well. Initial production results have been higher than anticipated and the HARP is performing as expected with the newly improved components. Several additional installs are being evaluated, including the Powder River Basin, San Andreas and additional Eagle Ford wellbores. International The Company expects its first installation in Romania to be completed by year end. The Oman operation is in the final stages of company registration and legal approval. REAL (Raise Efficient Artificial Lift), formerly known as the HALS (High Angle Lift Solution) The REAL install, referred to in the Companys press release dated August 21, 2018, has been rescheduled to the end of 2018 or early 2019. Discussions for additional installations in the Montney region in 2019 are also underway. HART (Horizontal Artificial Recovery Technology) It is becoming increasingly evident that there is a need for the HART system due to steep decline curves over most horizontal wellbores. The Company is actively pursuing a potential partner to assist in bringing this product to market. In conclusion, Eric Laing, President and CEO, said: I am very excited to report that the Company is accomplishing its goal. We set out to improve the type curve and the results indicate that this has occurred. RESULTS OF OPERATIONS Statements of Loss and Comprehensive Loss Three months ended Sept 30 Nine months ended Sept 30 2018 2017 2018 2017 Revenue $ 80,840 $ 25,946 $ 289,418 $ 118,466 Cost of sales 54,887 11,850 214,065 101,033 Gross margin 25,953 14,096 75,353 17,433 Other income 10,947 3,529 16,688 20,522 Expenses: General and administration 549,976 420,520 1,358,831 1,158,762 Stock-based compensation 88,220 37,320 277,138 61,292 Research expenses 41,494 46,496 119,730 46,496 Depreciation and amortization 20,062 22,625 60,185 77,024 Finance costs 823 1,586 2,235 6,586 700,575 528,547 1,818,119 1,350,160 Net loss and comprehensive loss $ (663,675 ) $ (510,922 ) $ (1,726,078 ) $ (1,312,205 ) Net loss per share basic and diluted $ (0.01 ) $ (0.01 ) $ (0.02 ) $ (0.01 ) About Raise Production Inc. The Company is an innovative oilfield service company that focuses its efforts on the production service sector, utilizing its proprietary products to enhance and increase ultimate production in both conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells. For further information please contact: Eric Laing, President and Chief Executive Officer E-mail: elaing@raiseproduction.com Susan Scullion, Chief Financial Officer E-mail: sscullion@raiseproduction.com Raise Production Inc. 2620-58th Avenue S.E. Calgary, Alberta T2C 1G5 Tel: (403) 699-7675 Web site at: www.raiseproduction.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Certain information included in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements or information typically contain or can be identified by statements that include words such as "anticipate", "assume", "based", "believe", "can", "continue", "depend", "estimate", "expect", "forecast", "if", "intend", "may", "plan", "project", "propose", "result", "upon", "will", "within" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Such forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the ability to obtain financing to provide working capital to fund operations, the availability of credit, the ability to commercialize products and operations, the potential to increase recoverable reserves for customers by utilization of the HALS and HART systems, estimates regarding current and projected cash resources and cash flow anticipated sales, the ability to adequately protect proprietary information and technology from its competitors; the ability to obtain partnering opportunities; the ability to attract and retain key personnel and key collaborators; the availability of skilled labour, services and equipment, general economic and financial market conditions, the legislative and regulatory environment of the jurisdictions where the Company carries on business and the ability to successfully compete in targeted markets. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of the included forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable Canadian securities law. Forward-looking statements are based upon the current opinions, estimates, projections, assumptions and expectations of management of the Company as at the effective date of such statements and, in some cases, information supplied by third parties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions and that information received from third parties is reliable, it can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. By its nature, forward-looking information involves numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statement will not occur. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the possibility that testing, deployment and commercialization of the Companys products and regulatory changes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance upon the forward-looking statements contained in this news release and such forward-looking statements should not be interpreted or regarded as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com. English Finnish Nokia CorporationStock Exchange ReleaseNovember 22, 2018 at 09:00 (CET +1) Nokia establishes Access Networks Division to fully exploit opportunities of 5G and announces changes in the composition of the Nokia Group Leadership Team Strengthens end-to-end network advantage for the 5G era Further aligns organizational structure to strategy Tommi Uitto appointed President of Mobile Networks Marc Rouanne to step down from Group Leadership Team and leave Nokia Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced further steps to align its organizational structure to its strategy, strengthen its leadership team and position the company for success in the 5G era. "Nokia has a unique advantage in the 5G era with its end-to-end portfolio," said Nokia President and Chief Executive Officer, Rajeev Suri. "By creating a single Access Networks organization that includes both fixed and mobile, we can improve our customer focus, simplify our management structure, and more efficiently leverage our full portfolio." The Access Networks Division will consist of Nokia's current Mobile Networks and Fixed Networks Business Groups, with the change to take effect on January 1, 2019. The new leaders of Mobile Networks and Fixed Networks Business Groups will report to the President of Access Networks who will be named in due course. Effective immediately, Tommi Uitto is appointed President of Mobile Networks. Uitto is a 23-year Nokia veteran, an expert in radio technologies, and well-known to customers around the world. His most recent role has been leading Mobile Networks Product Sales since the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. As previously announced, Nokia plans to announce a President of Fixed Networks in due course. "Tommi is a strong leader with the right background in both sales and product development and I am pleased that he has accepted this role," said Suri. "He brings deep credibility from across the telecommunications industry and a proven ability to drive product leadership and business performance." With these changes, Marc Rouanne, who has been serving as President of Mobile Networks, will leave Nokia. "I want to thank Marc for his contributions to Nokia and wish him well in the future," said Suri. As a result of these changes, Nokia's Group Leadership Team will now consist of the following members: Rajeev Suri, Basil Alwan, Hans-Juergen Bill, Kathrin Buvac, Ashish Chowdary, Joerg Erlemeier, Barry French, Sanjay Goel, Bhaskar Gorti, Federico Guillen, Kristian Pullola, Sri Reddy, Maria Varsellona and Marcus Weldon. As announced earlier, Chowdary will step down and Ricky Corker will join as of January 1, 2019. The President of Access Networks will be appointed in due course and will also join the Nokia Group Leadership Team. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS It should be noted that Nokia and its businesses are exposed to various risks and uncertainties and certain statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect Nokia's current expectations and views of future developments and include statements regarding: A) expectations, plans or benefits related to our strategies and growth management; B) expectations, plans or benefits related to future performance of our businesses; C) expectations and targets regarding financial performance, results, operating expenses, taxes, currency exchange rates, hedging, cost savings and competitiveness, as well as results of operations including targeted synergies and those related to market share, prices, net sales, income and margins; D) expectations, plans or benefits related to changes in organizational and operational structure; E) expectations regarding market developments, general economic conditions and structural changes; F) our ability to integrate acquired businesses into our operations and achieve the targeted business plans and benefits, including targeted benefits, synergies, cost savings and efficiencies; G) expectations, plans or benefits related to any future collaboration or to business collaboration agreements or patent license agreements or arbitration awards, including income to be received under any collaboration or partnership, agreement or award; H) timing of the deliveries of our products and services, including our expectations around the rollout of 5G services; I) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements, joint ventures or the creation of joint ventures, and the related administrative, legal, regulatory and other conditions, as well as our expected customer reach; J) outcome of pending and threatened litigation, arbitration, disputes, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; K) expectations regarding restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, uses of proceeds from transactions, acquisitions and divestments and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, divestments and acquisitions; and L) statements preceded by or including "believe", "expect", "expectations", "commit", "anticipate", "foresee", "sees", "target", "estimate", "designed", "aim", "plans", "intends", "focus", "continue", "project", "should", "is to", "will" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. These forward-looking statements are only predictions based upon our current expectations and views of future events and developments and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) our strategy is subject to various risks and uncertainties and we may be unable to successfully implement our strategic plans, sustain or improve the operational and financial performance of our business groups, correctly identify or successfully pursue business opportunities or otherwise grow our business; 2) general economic and market conditions and other developments in the economies where we operate, including the timeline for the deployment of 5G and our ability to successfully capitalize on that deployment; 3) our ability to manage and improve our financial and operating performance, cost savings, competitiveness and synergies generally and our ability to implement changes to our organizational and operational structure efficiently; 4) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees, as well as the risk factors specified on pages 71 to 89 of our 2017 annual report on Form 20-F published on March 22, 2018 under "Operating and financial review and prospects-Risk factors" and in our other filings or documents furnished with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proven to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required. 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 www.nokia.com Media Inquiries: Nokia Communications Tel. +358 (0) 10 448 4900 Email: press.services@nokia.com Jon Peet, Vice President, Corporate Communications English Finnish Kamux Corporation Interim Report November 22, 2018 09:00 Kamux Corporation's Interim report for January-September 2018 KAMUX'S profitable growth continued during JULY-SEPTEMBER 2018 The figures in parenthesis refer to the comparison period, i.e. the same period in the previous year, unless otherwise mentioned. July-September in brief - The number of cars sold increased by 13.4% to 12,564 cars (11,083) - Revenue increased by 14.6%, totaling EUR 140.0 million (122.1) - Gross profit increased by 17.4% to EUR 18.0 million (15.3), or 12.8% (12.5) of revenue - Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) increased by 7.2% to EUR 6.6 million (6.2), or 4.7% (5.1) of revenue - Operating profit (EBIT) increased by 8.3% to EUR 6.6 million (6.1), or 4.7% (5.0) of revenue - Earnings per share were EUR 0.16 (0.12) - Like-for-like showroom revenue growth was 4.2% (-3.2) January-September in brief - The number of cars sold increased by 15.4% to 35,376 cars (30,663) - Revenue increased by 16.5%, totaling EUR 396.7 million (340.6) - Gross profit increased by 19.8% to EUR 48.9 million (40.8), or 12.3% (12.0) of revenue - Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) increased by 14.5% to EUR 17.5 million (15.3), or 4.4% (4.5) of revenue - Operating profit (EBIT) increased by 15.5% to EUR 15.0 million (13.0), or 3.8% (3.8) of revenue - Earnings per share were EUR 0.28 (0.25) CEO Juha Kalliokoski: "During the third quarter, Kamux's growth continued in line with our strategy, and our profitability was at a good level. Revenue increased by 14.6% and gross profit increased by 17.4 %. In Finland, the changes to vehicle taxation based on WLTP emissions testing had a negative impact on the sales of new cars. This also had an impact on sales of used cars and consumer behavior. In view of the current market situation, our accomplishments in the quarter were good. In Finland, we opened showrooms in Lempaala in Ideapark in July and in Jarvenpaa in November. We will open our third showroom in Oulu in January. Our international expansion is progressing according to plan. We opened our 12th showroom in Sweden in Vasteras and our third showroom in Germany in Ahrensburg. In addition we will open three showrooms in Sweden and one in Germany during this year and in the beginning of next year. We have further strengthened Kamux's management to support our growth and profitability. On October 1, 2018, Jennie Stenbom assumed her position as Kamux's Chief People Officer and Member of the Management Team. On October 29, 2018, Ilkka Virtanen assumed his position as Director, Business Development and Member of the Management Team. Virtanen is responsible for the company's strategic development projects and business development." Outlook and financial targets Kamux does not provide a short term outlook. In the medium term, the company's targets are to increase revenue to at least EUR 700 million with an operating profit margin of 4-5% in 2019 and to reach an operating profit margin of at least 5% in the long term. Key figures EUR million 7-9/ 2018 7-9/ 2017 Change, % 1-9/ 2018 1-9/ 2017 Change, % 1-12/ 2017 Revenue 140.0 122.1 14.6% 396.7 340.6 16.5% 454.9 Gross profit 18.0 15.3 17.4% 48.9 40.8 19.8% 53.8 as percentage of revenue, % 12.8% 12.5% 12.3% 12.0% 11.8% Operating profit (EBIT) 6.6 6.1 8.3% 15.0 13.0 15.5% 16.2 as percentage of revenue, % 4.7% 5.0% 3.8% 3.8% 3.6% Adjusted operating profit* 6.6 6.2 7.2% 17.5 15.3 14.5% 18.6 as percentage of revenue, % 4.7% 5.1% 4.4% 4.5% 4.1% Revenue from integrated services 6.8 5.8 17.0% 19.3 16.8 14.9% 22.8 as percentage of revenue, % 4.8% 4.7% 4.9% 4.9% 5.0% Number of cars sold 12,564 11,083 13.4% 35,376 30,663 15.4% 40,957 Gross profit per sold car, EUR 1,431 1,381 3.6% 1,382 1,332 3.8% 1,314 Sales growth of like-for-like showrooms, % 4.2% -3.2% 7.3% -7.2% -4.9% Net debt 4.3 8.7 -50.5% 7.3 Inventories 66.4 54.6 21.5% 55.2 Inventory turnover, days 49.1 45.9 6.9% 46.8 Capital expenditures 0.2 0.2 -38.6% 0.6 0.8 -27.8% 1.2 Average number of employees during the period 456 432 5.6% 418 Return on equity (ROE), % 21.7% 24.9% 26.6% Return on investment (ROI), % 15.7% 16.8% 17.2% Equity ratio, % 56.4% 56.8% 57.2% Earnings per share, basic, EUR 0.16 0.12 25.8% 0.28 0.25 12.5% 0.30 * Operating profit adjusted for special items related to strategy planning, strategy implementation, geographical expansion and taxes from previous financial years as well as the costs related to the initial public offering in the comparison period, totaling EUR 0.0 million for the third quarter of 2018 and totaling EUR 2.5 million 1-9/2018 (7-9/2017: EUR 0.1 million, 1-9/2017: EUR 2.3 million and 1-12/2017: EUR 2.4 million). Publication schedule for financial reporting in 2019 Publication schedule for Kamux Corporation's financial reporting in 2019: March 1, 2019: Kamux Corporation will publish its Financial Statements Bulletin 2018. May 10, 2019: Kamux Corporation will publish its Interim Report for January-March 2019. August 23, 2019: Kamux Corporation will publish its Half-Yearly Report for January-June 2019. November 8, 2019: Kamux Corporation will publish its Interim Report for January-September 2019. The Annual Report for 2018 including Financial Statements will be published in week 12/2019. The Annual General Meeting of Kamux Corporation is scheduled to be held on Friday, April 12, 2019. Interim Report press conference and webcast Kamux will hold an Interim Report press conference for media and analysts today, November 22, 2018 at hotel GLO Kluuvi, Video Wall meeting room, address Kluuvikatu 4, Helsinki, at 13:00 (Finnish time) in Finnish and then in English at around 13:30. You can follow the press conference live through a link at http://www.kamux.com/en/releases-and-publications/reports-and-presentations/. The Interim Report will be presented by CEO Juha Kalliokoski and CFO Tapio Arimo. In Hameenlinna on November 22, 2018 Kamux Corporation The Board of Directors For more information: Juha Kalliokoski, CEO Tel. +358 50 544 5538 Tapio Arimo, CFO Tel. +358 40 829 6452 Satu Otala, Director of Communications Tel. +358 400 629 337 English Estonian On 22 November 2018, the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of AS Ekspress Grupp was held in Tallinn, Parda 6. Out of 29 796 841 votes 18 856 092 votes were represented at the Meeting, i.e. 63,32% of the voting rights. The Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders decided the following: 1. Recall of a Supervisory Board member With 18 856 092 votes in favour to recall Andre Veskimeister from Supervisory Board from 22.11.2018. 2. Election of a Supervisory Board member With 18 856 092 votes in favour to elect Ahto Parl as a new Supervisory Board member from 22.11.2018. Mari-Liis Ruutsalu Chairman of the Management Board +372 669 8381 mariliis.ryytsalu@egrupp.ee AS Ekspress Grupp is the leading media group in the Baltic States whose key activities include web media content production, publishing of newspapers and magazines and provision of printing services in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Ekspress Grupp that launched its operations in 1989 owns leading web media portals in the Baltic States and publishes the most popular weekly and daily newspapers as well as the majority of the most popular magazines in Estonia. English Finnish Private investors voted Ponsse the best medium-sized listed company. In the Private investor's choice competition, small-scale investors cast their vote for Finland's most reliable and attractive listed companies. Their favourite companies in 2018 were Kone, Ponsse, Marimekko and Verkkokauppa.com. The competition was arranged by the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion, Kreab and Messukeskus. Ponsse was voted the winner on the list for medium-sized enterprises. In their assessments, small-scale investors especially appreciated Ponsse's competent management, strong ownership and a personnel-centred approach. The investors considered the company a developing, growing top player in its field, with outstanding innovation management. The prizes were awarded at the Sijoitus Invest event in Helsinki today on 22 November. The purpose of the competition is to strengthen the appreciation of small-scale investors and showcase companies that deserve thanks for their service-mindedness and communication. Private investors are an important investor group who provide long-term support for companies and actively monitor their business. Transparency and accessibility were emphasised in the investors choices, says Sari Lounasmeri, President and CEO of the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion. Multi-channel communication and transparency are important Lauri Hyppola, Director and senior communication consultant at Kreab, considered the competition an opportunity to speak about developing investor communication. According to the results, Finnish private investors appreciate strong brands and visionary managers: Whether investors can relate to the company's investment story and whether the senior management can communicate with them in a convincing manner are important in view of successful communication. Private investors praise multichannel communication and transparency. Even minor aspects, such as the atmosphere in the annual general meeting and the discussions held there, are highly important for private investors. Photos about the prize awarding occasion https://messukeskus.mediabank.fi/fi. Further information: Ponsse Plc, Petri Harkonen, CFO, tel. +358 40 352 8362 English Latvian Hereby AS Rigas kugu buvetava declares that on November 14th, 2018 Riga Regional Court rejected to initiate a legal proceedings concerning to the appeal of AS Rigas kugu buvetava on the Riga City Vidzeme Urban District Courts judgment of October 02nd, 2018. Thus become effective the Riga City Vidzeme Urban District Courts judgment of October 02nd, 2018, where the application for legal protection proceedings of the AS Rigas kugu buvetava was rejected and case of legal protection proceedings was dismissed. As it was already mentioned before on May 28th, 2018 the Riga City Vidzeme Urban District Court resolved to initiate the legal protection proceedings of the Company, what at the opinion of the Company were the only right measures to get out of the complex conditions that have arisen under the influence of various circumstances. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown to the Company, the Riga Regional Court did not even considered the appeal, although at the discretion of the Company the conclusions specified in the judgment of the Riga City Vidzeme Urban District Court were based on the wrong assessment of circumstances of the case, as well as the court have misinterpreted the rules of substantive law and breached rules of procedural law, which led to a misinterpreted judgment of the case. The Company admits that decision of the Riga Regional Court could have a significant impact on the future of the Company, but notwithstanding to that the Company currently continues its daily economic activity and is determined to be able to reestablish its activities, thereby ensuring the stability and competitiveness of the Company, as well as the fulfilment of its obligations towards its creditors. MANAGEMENT REPORT Chairman's summary I am proud to say, the flagship of our developments, T1 Mall of Tallinn, opened its doors in early November. Thus, I am first and foremost grateful to our team, who has done an outstanding work. Reflecting back on the nine months of 2018, this has been an extensive work with the largest single-object development project. I would, however, like to stress that a shopping mall is not a completed project, instead needs to be in continuous movement to foresee the expectations of the people. T1 Mall of Tallinn will continue to grow and open milestones step-by-step, which is very positive due to public attention it will receive prior to Holiday season this ongoing fourth reporting quarter. We have strategically left vacancy for attractive retail operators and intend to proceed negotiations during following periods. In parallel with the development of the T1 Mall of Tallinn, we continued work with ongoing residential development projects in Tallinn, Vilnius and Riga. Pro Kapital is not merely developing buildings but entire communities, that bring new breathing into unique areas. According to our conservative strategy, all development projects are carried out in phases. This allows us to set up the pace according to the market needs. One of the largest residential quarter developments in the Baltics is Kristiine City in Tallinn. We completed the renovation of Marsi 6 into a loft apartment building in spring 2018. Uniquely designed apartments have been incredibly popular amongst our customers and all lofts are sold. We have completed 5 of ten Kristina Houses and are proceeding with the following phases. The activity of sales of both Marsi 6 and Kristina Houses, is a clear demonstration of a great interest towards the new residential area. Another outstanding development we are soon to start in Tallinn is Kalaranna Quarter, located at the heart of Tallinn at the waterfront. By this being a prime development property in Tallinn it expands on more than 6 hectares. We have learned a great interest towards the project, from the local but also from the Finnish market. Thus, we started the presale for the project in summer 2018. We expect to start the construction works in 2019. In Riga, we are currently developing a unique residential quarter Kliversala, which is one of the very few residential spaces directly at the waterfront, with stunning views over the river Daugava to the old town of Riga. Like all our projects, Kliversala quarter will be completed in stages. In spring 2018 we finished construction works of the first phase a prestigious River Breeze Residence. We are currently in the process of sales for luxurious apartments in the residence. Pro Kapital will continue with the development of following phases of Kliversala. In parallel we are proceeding with other major developments in Riga. Projecting works are ongoing for Tallinas Residential Complex and office complex in Zvaigznes Quarter. Our prestigious large-scale development in Vilnius is a new quarter surrounded by nature in the most tranquil part of Vilnius Old Town on UNECSO heritage site. The first phase of the development of the residential quarter Saltiniu Namai has, to date, been almost sold. The construction works for the second stage of the residential buildings are ongoing and we are actively pursuing the sales. We expect to complete four buildings of the second stage during the second quarter of 2019. The Company is planning to obtain new attractive developments in Vilnius, aimed at starting new projects following the completion of Saltiniu Namai. Excellent results during nine months The Company has shown improved results for the nine months of 2018 due to the completion of development projects and intensive sales activity. At the end of the reporting period, the net revenue increased by 170% or by 13 million euros compared to the same period of 2017, reaching to 21 million euros. The net profit was 2 million euros compared to 2 million euros loss during the same period of 2017. Overall loans from financial institutions were 60.3 million euros as at 30 September 2018. The loans from minority shareholders including interests were 0.5 million euros. The Company has 10.2 million euros worth convertible bonds debt and 28.3 million euros worth non-convertible bonds debt at the end of reporting date. I am proud to acknowledge our team is remarkably stable. This allows me to say with full confidence that our inhouse competence can insure that the development projects are designed down to the last detail to deliver quality through the operations. As at 30 September 2018 there were 89 employees working in the Company, 44 of them were employed in the hotel and property maintenance business. Paolo Michelozzi CEO Key performance indicators Total revenue was 21.0 million euros, which is an increase of 170% compared to the reference period (2017 9M: 7.8 million euros from continuing operations and 9.8 million euros including discontinued operations). Total revenue of the third quarter was 6.0 million euros comparing to 1.8 million euros from continuing operations in 2017 (2.3 million euros including discontinued operations). Revenues of the Company depend on completing residential developments, as sales revenues are recorded at the moment of handing over the premises. Improved results of 2018 were influenced by the completion of the 4th and 5th apartment buildings in the Kristina Houses development, renovation works of Marsi 6 in Tallinn and River Breeze Residence in Riga, as presales were turned into notarised sales transactions. Gross profit was 6.9 million euros, which is an increase of 172% compared to the reference period (2017 9M: 2.5 million euros for continuing operations and 3.3 million euros including discontinued operations). Gross profit of the third quarter was 1.9 million euros comparing to 0.7 million euros from continuing operations in 2017 (1.0 million euros including discontinued operations). Operating result increased by 5.5 million euros (739%) compared to the reference period, totalling to operating profit of 4.8 million euros (2017 9M: loss of 0.7 million euros for continuing operations and loss of 0.2 million euros including discontinued operations). Operating profit of the third quarter was 0.4 million euros comparing to 0.1 million euros from continuing operations in 2017 (0.3 million euros including discontinued operations). Operating result of nine months includes profit from revaluation of Kalaranna project. The project was revalued in connection to reclassification from investment property into inventories. The increase in the value comparing to last year end valuation is related to change of input information in terms of volumes of construction of the project. Total impact from revaluation is 1.9 million euros (Note 7). Net result increased positively by 4.2 million euros (218%) compared to the reference period and totalling to positive result of 2.3 million euros (2017 9M: loss of 1.9 million euros for continuing operations and loss of 1.4 million euros including discontinued operations). Net loss of the third quarter was 0.5 million euros comparing to 0.7 million euros profit from continuing operations in 2017 (0.9 million euros profit including discontinued operations). Cash generated from operating activities was 3.4 million euros (2017 9M: cash used in operating activities was -3.1 million euros). In the third quarter cash generated from operating activities was 0.3 million euros comparing to 1.0 million euros during the same period in 2017. Net assets per share on 30 September 2018 totalled to 1.50 euros (30 September 2017: 1.44 euros). Continuing operations Continuing and discontinued operations 2018 9 months 2017 9 months 2018 Q3 2017 Q3 2018 9 months 2017 9 months 2018 Q3 2017 Q3 Revenue, th EUR 21 043 7 796 5 978 1 773 21 043 9 817 5 978 2 251 Gross profit, th EUR 6 892 2 531 1 859 730 6 892 3 309 1 859 962 Gross profit, % 33% 32% 31% 41% 33% 34% 31% 43% Operating result, th EUR 4 779 -748 350 107 4 779 -222 350 302 Operating result, % 23% -10% 6% 6% 23% -2% 6% 13% Net result, th EUR 2 279 -1 931 -543 685 2 279 -1 441 -543 870 Net result, % 11% -25% -9% 39% 11% -15% -9% 39% Earnings per share, EUR 0,04 -0,04 -0,01 0,01 0,04 -0,03 -0,01 0,02 30.09.2018 30.09.2017 31.12.2017 Total Assets, th EUR 208 798 158 854 175 158 Total Liabilities, th EUR 123 837 80 570 92 476 Total Equity, th EUR 84 961 78 284 82 682 Debt / Equity 1,46 1,03 1,12 Return on Assets, % 1,2% -1,0% -0,3% Return on Equity, % 2,7% -1,8% -0,6% Net asset value per share, EUR 1,50 1,44 1,46 CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Consoldated interim statement of financial position thousand euros 30.09.2018 30.09.2017 31.12.2017 ASSETS Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 7 079 8 793 10 317 Current receivables 4 055 4 054 4 888 Inventories 56 661 33 803 38 024 Total current assets 67 795 40 650 53 229 Non-current assets Non-current receivables 35 39 37 Property, plant and equipment 7 127 7 260 7 435 Investment property 133 530 104 608 114 140 Intangible assets 311 297 317 Total non-current assets 141 003 112 204 121 929 TOTAL ASSETS 208 798 158 854 175 158 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current liabilities Current debt 8 184 5 524 6 738 Customer advances 5 171 6 352 7 224 Current payables 11 662 7 602 10 091 Tax liabilities 181 254 132 Short-term provisions 642 155 170 Total current liabilities 25 840 19 887 24 355 Non-current liabilities Non-term debt 91 177 55 172 62 527 Other non-current payables 4 688 2 786 3 437 Deferred income tax 2 003 2 635 2 058 Long-term provisions 129 90 99 Total non-current liabilities 97 997 60 683 68 121 TOTAL LIABILITIES 123 837 80 570 92 476 Equity attributable to the owners of the Company Share capital in nominal value 11 338 10 854 11 338 Share premium 5 661 1 816 5 661 Statutory reserve 1 082 1 082 1 082 Revaluation reserve 3 262 3 259 3 256 Retained earnings 59 944 61 220 60 369 Profit/ loss for the period 2 320 1 374 -419 Total equity attributable to the owners of the Company 83 607 76 857 81 287 Non-controlling interest 1 354 1 427 1 395 TOTAL EQUITY 84 961 78 284 82 682 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 208 798 158 854 175 158 Consolidated interim statements of comprehensive income thousand euros 2018 9M Adjusted 2017 9M 2018 Q3 Adjusted 2017 Q3 2017 12M CONTINUING OPERATIONS Operating income Revenue 21043 7796 5978 1773 12077 Cost of goods sold -14151 -5265 -4119 -1043 -7516 Gross profit 6 892 2 531 1 859 730 4 561 Marketing expenses -706 -636 -247 -182 -822 Administrative expenses -4037 -3757 -1714 -1307 -5256 Other income 2679 1569 469 1296 4114 Other expenses -49 -455 -17 -430 -800 Operating profit/ loss 4 779 -748 350 107 1 797 Financial income 3 1399 1 1440 6 Financial expense -2548 -2581 -887 -882 -3352 Profit/ loss before income tax 2 234 -1 930 -536 665 -1 549 Income tax 45 -1 -7 20 596 Profit/ loss from continuing operations 2 279 -1 931 -543 685 -953 Profit from discontinued operations 0 490 0 185 435 Profit/ loss for the period 2 279 -1 441 -543 870 -518 Attributable to: Equity holders of the parent 2 320 -1 374 -550 891 -419 Non-controlling interest -41 -67 7 -21 -99 Other comprehensive income, net of income tax Income that will not be reclassified subsequent to profit Net chnage in properties revaluation reserve 0 0 0 0 -4 Total comprehensive income for the year 2 279 -1 441 -543 870 -522 Attributable to: Equity holders of the parent 2 320 -1 374 -550 891 -423 Non-controlling interest -41 -67 7 -21 -99 Earnings per share from continuing operations (EUR) 0,04 -0,04 -0,01 0.01 -0,02 Earnings per share for the period (EUR) 0,04 -0,03 -0,01 0,02 -0,01 Consolidated interim statements of cash flows thousand euros 2018 9M 2017 9M 2018 Q3 2017 Q3 2017 12M Cash flows from operating activities Profit/ loss for the period 2 279 -1 441 -543 870 -518 Adjustment for: Depreciation, amortisation of non-current assets 158 475 54 124 -455 Gain from disposal of property, plant and equipment -4 -1274 0 -1 247 -3 045 Gain from disposal of investment property -418 0 -418 0 0 Change in fair value of property, plant and equipment 0 0 0 0 -26 Change in fair value of investment property -1 910 0 0 0 -530 Profit/loss from disposal of shares of subsidiaries 0 -1 452 0 -1 452 346 Finance income and costs 2 545 2 645 885 901 3 460 Other non-monetary changes (net amounts) 16 827 13 401 2 790 142 12 410 Changes in working capital: Trade receivables and prepayments 842 425 -894 685 -408 Inventories -18 637 -19 659 -2 001 -4 279 -23 880 Liabilities and prepayments 1 246 4 189 -227 3 192 6 556 Provisions 502 -124 612 51 -101 Net cash used in/ generated by operating activities 3 430 -3 148 258 1 013 -5 281 Cash flows from investing activities Payments for property, plant and equipment -166 -154 -76 -13 -281 Payments for intangible assets -7 -30 -7 -6 -52 Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment 336 6 651 0 6 651 6 651 Payments for investment property -31 084 -17 348 .-8 898 -8 291 -24 772 Net cash from disposal of shares of subsidiaries 0 6 235 0 6 235 6 249 Interests received 3 4 1 1 6 Nets cash used in/ generated by investing activities -30 918 -4 642 -8 980 4 577 -12 199 Cash flows from financing activities Proceeds from increase of share capital 0 0 0 0 4 328 Dividend payment 850 0 0 0 0 Net changes related to non-controlling interests 0 -480 0 0 -480 Proceeds from the bonds 0 1 446 0 282 1 446 Redemption of the bonds -643 -773 -643 -234 -773 Proceeds from borrowings 33 474 19 276 10 960 8 242 28 260 Repayment of borrowings -5 509 -6 139 -754 -5 815 -7 048 Interests paid -2 222 -2 129 -473 -427 -3 318 Nets cash used in/ generated by financing activities 24 250 11 201 9 090 2 048 22 415 Net change in cash and cash equivalents -3 238 3 411 368 5 612 4 935 Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 10 317 5 382 6 711 3 181 5 382 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 7 079 8 793 7 079 8 793 10 317 Allan Remmelkoor Member of the Board +372 614 4920 prokapital@prokapital.ee Attachment TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sandy Lake Gold Inc. (Sandy Lake Gold or the Company) (TSXV:SLAU) announces that Marie-Josee Audet has stepped down as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company and Yajian Wang has been appointed to the position of CFO. The Company wishes to thank Ms. Audet for her services over the past three years. Ms. Wang holds a degree of Master of Applied Science, enterprise systems engineering, from the University of Waterloo; and a degree of Master of Business Administration, Financial and Accounting from Wilfrid Laurier University; Waterloo, Canada. She has 25 years of financial and accounting experience. CONTACT INFORMATION For further information contact: Sandy Lake Gold Inc. Patrick Sheridan, CEO Suite 1101 141 Adelaide Street West Toronto, Ontario M5H 3L5 Telephone: (416) 628-5904 Email: info@sandylake.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada House Wellness Group Inc. (Canada House or the Company) (CSE:CHV) is pleased to announce the immediate granting of 4,300,000 stock options to senior employees at an exercise price of $0.17 and with a term of 5-years. The grant was made in accordance with the Companys stock option plan and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange. Canada House Wellness Group Inc. Canada House is an experienced, integrated medical cannabis company providing patient-specific cannabinoid therapy products and services through its clinics and licensed producer. Canada House is the parent company of Canada House Clinics Inc., Knalysis Technologies and Abba Medix Corp. For more information, please visit www.canadahouse.ca or www.sedar.com. For further information, please contact: Boom Capital Markets Steve Low 647-620-5101 steve@boomcapitalmarkets.com Canada House Wellness Group Inc. Chris Churchill-Smith, CEO 514-313-0102 chris.smith@canadahouse.ca Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information. This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to, among other things, the Companys clinic, production and technology businesses, its future plans, the Companys markets, objectives, goals, strategies, intentions, beliefs, expectations and estimates, and can generally be identified by the use of words such as may, will, could, should, would, likely, possible, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, believe, plan, objective and continue (or the negative thereof) and words and expressions of similar import. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Material assumptions used to develop forward-looking information in this news release include, among other things, the regulations related to cannabis use under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations and the act respecting cannabis and to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Criminal Code and other Acts, passed by the Canadian Federal government, making cannabis legal for recreational use by October 17, 2018; Company liquidity and capital resources, including the availability of additional capital resources to fund its activities; level of competition; the ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; the ability to attract and retain key executives; and the ability to execute strategic plans. Additional information about material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations and about material factors or assumptions applied in making forward-looking statements may be found in the Companys most recent annual and interim Managements Discussion and Analysis under Risk and Uncertainties as well as in other public disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nutritional High International Inc. (Nutritional High or the Company) (CSE: EAT, OTCQB: SPLIF, FRANKFURT: 2NU) is pleased to announce that is has entered into formal agreements to purchase 51% interest in Bright Green Lights LLC, a California company d/b/a as JMEDS (the Seller or JMEDS) for gross proceeds of USD$714,000. The Company also secured worldwide licensing rights to the Sellers intellectual property, and an option to acquire the Seller's remaining 49% equity interest (the Minority Interest). JMEDS produces high quality cannabis-infused strain specific lozenges and sugar-free mints distributed across California. The Company believes that the Companys wholly owned distributor, Calyx Brands, Inc. (Calyx), can significantly ramp up sales of JMEDS products. Having commenced operations in 2005, JMEDS is a pioneer of micro dosed infused products and is one of Californias longest operating and most respected edible companies. Asset Purchase Agreement The Company will pay USD$600,000 for a 51% interest in the Seller, of which, USD$200,000 is payable in cash and USD$400,000 through the issuance of common shares of the Company (the Consideration Shares) at the time of closing. The Consideration Shares will be priced at the 30-day volume weighted average trading price (VWAP) of the Companys common shares for the 30 trading days immediately preceding three (3) business days before closing. The remaining USD$114,000 of the purchase price will be paid in cash upon successful revenue generation of $250,000 per month for three (3) consecutive months (the Earn Out). License and Option Agreement The Company also entered into an exclusive patent license and option agreement granting the Company global rights to JMEDS Intellectual Property (further described below) and to purchase the Minority Interest of the Seller. In this regard, the Company can acquire the Minority Interest beginning on the 30th month from closing and ending 36 months from closing, for an amount equal to four (4) times the 12-month trailing EBITDA of the Seller multiplied by 49%. Half of the purchase price will be payable in cash, and half in common shares of the Company priced at the 30-day VWAP immediately preceding the exercise of the option. Intellectual Property Jeffrey Kolsky, Founder and Director of JMEDS, was awarded a patent in 2014 for medical cannabis lozenges and compositions thereof (US 2016/0158298 A1) (the Intellectual Property). The Intellectual Property will be transferred to JMEDS at closing. The patent provides a method for optimizing the therapeutic effects provided by CBD on the one hand, and the psychotropic effects provided by THC on the other hand, in a sublingual medicament. The patent specifically protects a propriety method to produce a concentrated extract of cannabis in which the concentration of CBD is known and the concentration of THC is known wherein the amount of CBD is as high as possible and where the amount of THC is precisely controlled, forming lozenges, and administering the medicament. Jim Frazier, CEO of Nutritional High, commented, We are very pleased to be acquiring JMEDS and its innovative products and intellectual property. In making this acquisition, we are bringing yet another dynamic California brand into our product portfolio. With our manufacturing capacity at FLI NorCal, we will work to expand production to meet current and future demand. Going forward we will continue to seek to acquire high quality assets and further implement our California strategy to create additional value for our shareholders. The acquisition is scheduled to close on November 30, 2018. The parties had previously entered into a letter of intent, as had been announced by the Company on July 18, 2018. About Nutritional High International Inc. Nutritional High is focused on developing, manufacturing and distributing products under recognized brands in the cannabis products industry, with a specific focus on edibles and oil extracts for medical and adult recreational use. The Company works exclusively with licensed facilities in jurisdictions where such activity is permitted and regulated by state law. The Company follows a vertically integrated model with a fully developed strategy for acquisitions in extraction, production, sales, and distribution sectors of the cannabis industry. Nutritional High has brought its flagship FLI edibles and extracts product line from production to market through its wholly owned subsidiaries in California and Oregon, as well as Colorado where its FLI products are manufactured by a third-party licensed producer. In California, the Company distributes its products and products manufactured by other leading producers through its wholly owned distributor Calyx Brands Inc. and is entering the Nevada, Washington State and Canadian markets in the near future. For updates on the Companys activities and highlights of the Companys press releases and other media coverage, please follow Nutritional High on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and Google+ or visit www.nutritionalhigh.com . For further information, please contact: David Posner Co-Chairman of the Board Nutritional High International Inc. 647-985-6727 Email: dposner@nutritionalhigh.com NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR OTC MARKETS GROUP INC., NOR THEIR REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDERS HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. The statements relate to potential market expansion and the use of the proceeds of the Offering. Risks that may have an impact on the ability for these events to be achieved include completion of due diligence, negotiation of definitive agreements and receipt of applicable approvals. Although such statements are based on managements reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. The Companys securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. Persons, as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act, 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 securities in the United States or any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking information expressed in this press release include, but are not limited to: obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals including acquiring and renewing U.S. state, local or other licenses, the uncertainty of existing protection from U.S. federal or other prosecution, regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. state-law legalization, market and general economic conditions of the cannabis sector or otherwise. The high-level seminar "Mining in Latin America and the Caribbean: Interdependencies, Challenges, and Opportunities for Sustainable Development," was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) ECLAC undertook efforts along with the German Government through Deputy Director General for Latin America of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Christiane Bogemann-Hagedorn and with the support of Peru's Ministry of Energy and Mines. Held on Monday, the event was inaugurated by the Inca country's Deputy Mines Minister Luis Inchaustegui, Argentina's Mining Policy Secretary and Mines Ministries of the Americas Conference (CAMMA) Executive Committee President Carolina Sanchez, German Ambassador to Peru Stefan Herzberg , and ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena. In his welcome remarks, Deputy Minister Luis Inchaustegui emphasized the importance of recognizing the challenge of resolving trust dilemmas among stakeholders linked to the mining sector. "(It is) a challenge that must be handled with cooperation, and in a sustainable way," he said. Likewise, the official indicated that the prevailing spirit should be to make mining a competitive activity and one that contributes to inclusive development, within the framework of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda. Meanwhile, Carolina Sanchez stressed the need to improve society's relationship to mining through work to lay the institutional foundations that would reflect all viewpoints. She also highlighted the need to improve communication with society, along with the fact that mining can be an invigorating force for aspects such as gender equity, the articulation of local value chains, and the training of human capital that contributes to mining projects not only with its labor but also with its creativity and innovation. In his remarks, German Ambassador Stefan Herzberg promoted the idea of a partnership for sustainability, recognizing that countries like his need natural and mining resources such as those produced in the Andean region, and they are betting on ties that go beyond trade and may be framed within the global sustainable development agenda At the seminar's inauguration, Alicia Barcena explained that Latin America and the Caribbean has abundant natural resources and accounts for a significant portion of mining reserves at a global level: 65% of lithium, 49% of silver, 44% of copper, and 33% of tin. Furthermore, she indicated that historically this situation has defined the region's specialization in primary product exports, which was further reinforced by the last boom in mineral prices (between 2002 and 2008). In this way, the region's mining exports have consistently risen in terms of volume, reaching US$170 billion in 2017, which is equivalent to 17% of the value of its total goods shipments and to 8% of mineral-metal exports in the world (according to ECLAC's recent annual report International Trade Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2018 ). (END) NDP/DTK/RMB Loading... Authorities and experts gathered in Lima in order to stress the importance of having an adequate governance of natural resources especially mining ones that contributes to moving toward more sustainable development with a big environmental push in the region.Publicado: 22/11/2018 The Head of State recalled the Government has sent the documentation to Lima-based Uruguayan Ambassador Carlos Barros through a diplomatic note from the Foreign Affairs Ministry. "On Sunday, I spoke with Uruguay's President (Tabare Vazquez). It was a formal and cordial conversation," the top official expressed. "At that moment, we told him we would hand over a document supporting that there is a true rule of law in Peru and ruling out any political persecution . You and the citizens are witnesses (of that)," he added. 10:32 | Lima, Nov. 22. The meeting will be held in the first half of 2021 in New York, in the presence of heads of state and government of UN member states , but its preparatory phase will kick off in the following weeks. This initiative was passed last Tuesday with the unanimous support of UN member states and was cosponsored by countries in the region such as Belize, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, and Uruguay. According to Peru's Foreign Affairs Minister Nestor Popolizio , the assembly responds to the Peruvian Government's interest in renewing at the highest level a political commitment against corruption worldwide, as well as exploring new and more effective ways to combat it. The Peruvian diplomat reaffirmed "the Assembly against Corruption tackles problems and threats to the stability and security of societies posed by this scourge, which undermine institutions and values of democracy, ethics, and justice, as well as jeopardize sustainable development and the rule of law." The resolution passing the aforementioned meeting refers to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , which recognizes the need to provide equal access to justice, as well as to build effective, responsible, and inclusive societies at all levels. Likewise, it provides that the preparatory process ofhigh-level meeting shall be undertaken within the framework of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption , in Vienna. According to Article 20 of the UN Charter , General Assembly extraordinary sessions shall be convoked at the request of the Security Council or a majority of the Members of the United Nations. Therefore, it is unnecessary for the Government to convince other nations that Peru is indeed a democratic country "I have not even heard any comments claiming we do not live under the rule of law," the official told RPP radio and TV station. Likewise, De Zela informed the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday handed over a diplomatic note to Lima-based Uruguayan Ambassador Carlos Barros, as well as a document written by the Justice Ministry summarizing the cases involving ex-President Alan Garcia. As is known, Brazilian construction giant and corruption-tainted Odebrecht allegedly paid bribes to secure the Lima Metro Line 1 contract during Garcia's presidency (2006-2011). Alan Garcia served as President of Peru between 1985-1990 and 2006-2011. (END) JCC/CCR/DTK/MVB Peruvian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Hugo de Zela on Wednesday affirmed the international community has no doubts the Inca country relies on a full democracy.Published: 11/21/2018 According to the diplomat, the diplomatic note delivered to Uruguay referred to the separation of powers in the Inca nation, which has to do with this Parliament's decision. "This arose from a legislative initiative and, without a doubt, they (the legislators) are free to act according to what they find of interest, in this case, to clarify the country's stance and, above all, that there is no political persecution in Peru ," he stated. Presidente @MartinVizcarraC: Frente a ustedes ratifico que soy absolutamente respetuoso de la division de poderes y el sistema de administracion de justicia, que es la base para consolidar una democracia donde todos los ciudadanos debemos allanarnos a la justicia. pic.twitter.com/oeOSt8PfCH "You can be assured that if you support us, we will have a greater perspective of progress and development in the country," he added. The statesman highlighted he receives the population's support when he visits the country's regions due to the efforts he has been undertaking to fight corruption VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NATURALLY SPLENDID ENTERPRISES LTD. (Naturally Splendid or NSE) (TSX-V: NSP)(OTCQB: NSPDF) is pleased to announce that Wahupta Ventures Inc. (Wahupta) has accelerated its subscriptions for the second and third tranche under the previously announced cooperation agreement (the Cooperation Agreement) whereby Wahupta has committed to invest up to $2,000,000 (the Investment). Wahupta has subscribed for $350,000 at $0.18 per share in lieu of completing two tranches over an extended period of time at a price of $0.27 per share. These proceeds will be used to advance our new application for a Processing License under the new Cannabis Act and for working capital. The fourth and final tranche under the Cooperation Agreement will consist of the remaining $1,500,000 and is anticipated to close in 45 days from the close of tranches 2 and 3. Proceeds of the fourth tranche will be used to complete the installation of an extraction facility by NSEs subsidiary, Naturally Splendid Extracts Ltd. (NS Extracts), for the purposes of NS Extracts becoming a Licensed Dealer under the Narcotic Control Regulations (Canada). Naturally Splendid previously applied to be a licensed dealer under the previous regulations. Under the new Cannabis Act, existing applications to be a licensed dealer will be able to migrate into the new regulatory framework to obtain a Processing License. A Processing License allows a holder to grow their market reach in the pharmaceutical industry as well as the growing natural health product and nutraceutical industries, being revenue generating avenues which are closed to cannabis cultivators. This market advantage is especially strong in the increasingly important realms of cannabis R&D, testing and analytics, the extracts market and the emerging international cannabis markets. Naturally Splendid CEO Mr. Douglas Mason states, Accelerating the investment commitment from Wahupta allows NSE to proceed with the new application for a Processors License and advance initiatives set forth by both parties. This evidences our strong relationship with Wahupta and our combined commitment to be leaders in the industrial hemp industry. We look forward to providing updates on the license application and granting process as they develop. Wahupta CEO Warren Cudney states, "We are excited to have expedited our investment commitment and accelerated the new licensing process. Not only does this make sense from a financial perspective, but also offers the mutual benefit of being in the extraction business at the earliest possible date. Naturally Splendid has demonstrated continued dedication to achieve our goals in the hemp industry and we are confident in the team weve assembled." The financing is subject to acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. See the news release dated October 9, 2018 for additional information on the Cooperation Agreement and the Investment. About Wahupta Ventures Inc. Please visit Wahuptas website for more information: www.wahupta.com About Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. Naturally Splendid is a biotechnology and consumer products company that is developing, producing, commercializing, and licensing an entirely new generation of plant-derived, bioactive ingredients, nutrient dense foods, and related products. Naturally Splendid is building an expanding portfolio of patents (issued and pending) and proprietary intellectual property focused on the commercial uses of industrial hemp cannabinoid compounds in a broad spectrum of applications. For more information e-mail info@naturallysplendid.com or call Investor Relations at 604-673-9573 On Behalf of the Board of Directors Mr. Douglas Mason CEO, Director Contact Information Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. (NSP TSX Venture; NSPDF OTCQB; 50N Frankfurt) #108-19100 Airport Way Pitt Meadows, BC, V3Y 0E2 Office: (604) 465-0548 Fax: (604) 465-1128 E-mail: info@naturallysplendid.com Website: www.naturallysplendid.com Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Naturally Splendid cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Naturally Splendid's control, including Naturally Splendid's ability to compete with large food and beverage companies; sales of any potential products developed will be profitable; sales of shelled hemp seed will continue at existing rates or increase; the ability to complete the sales of all bulk hemp seed purchase orders; and the risk that any of the potential applications, including its application to become a Licensed Dealer, may not receive all required regulatory or legal approval. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Naturally Splendid undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Since 2006, Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections has been an independent view of family history resources and developments seen from an Ottawa perspective. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Today marks the 25th anniversary of the national currency of Armenia the dram. On this day in 1993, the national currency, the dram (AMD), of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 and 500 dram denominations was introduced ending the circulation of Soviet and Russian banknotes and laying the foundation for the main financial structures, including the banking system of Armenia. Between 1994-1995 the coins of 10, 20, 50 luma and 1, 3, 5, 10 dram denominations of aluminum alloy, as well as the banknotes of 1000 and 5000 dram denominations were put into circulation. Starting from 1998, the banknotes of the second series of 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000 and 20000 dram denominations were introduced. These banknotes meet modern requirements in terms of security, endurance, quality and design. In 2001, the jubilee banknote in nominal value 50000 dram dedicated to 1700th anniversary of adoption of Christianity in Armenia was put into circulation. In the period 2003-2004, the coins of the second series of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 dram denomination were introduced. In 2009, 100,000 dram denominated banknote (the highest nominal value) was put into circulation. In 2008, the year that marked the 15th anniversary of the currency, a bronze statue symbolizing the Armenian dram was erected outside the Central Bank headquarters in Yerevan, Armenia. This year, the Armenian Dram Museum was opened in Shushi, Artsakh, where ancient currencies, coins and banknotes from the Sophene era, times of the Artashes dynasty, Tigran Mets, Artavazd B, Cilician Armenia, Russian Empire and Soviet Union are displayed. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Armenian national currency, the dram, third generation banknotes will be introduced from November 22. The new banknotes will be made from high quality composite materials, which in turn will ensure an average 3-4 times higher lifecycle. The bills also feature the best modern security features, as well as designs for visually impaired persons. The newly introduced denomination will be the 2000 dram banknote. The third series 1000 dram banknote depicts Paruyr Sevak, the 5000 dram depicts writer William Saroyan, the 10,000 dram depicts Komitas, the 20,000 bill depicts Ivan Ayvazovsky, and the 50,000 bill depicts St. Gregory the Illuminator. The new banknotes - 10,000; 20,000 and 50,000 bills will be put into circulation from today. The other new bills 1000, 2000 and 5000 denominations will be introduced from December 25. The second generation banknotes will remain in circulation until natural wearout. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Russia signed an agreement in Moscow on the creation of an international bureau for investigation of aviation accidents and serious incidents, TASS reported. The agreement was signed by Russian minister of transport Yevgeny Ditrikh and Armenias acting minister of transport, communication and information technologies Hakob Arshakyan. The Russian minister told reporters that currently there are plans that the bureau will carry out its activities between the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAAU). Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has slammed the violations at small HPPs as disgraceful. Lets assume theyve a permit to use a given amount of water, but they actually use 3-4 times more. There are cases when the water isnt anyhow being returned from the HPP to the river or canal, but it gets lost. Whats happening on the Akhuryan and Yeghegis rivers requires a serious revision and involvement of law enforcement agencies and studies, he said at a Cabinet meeting. In turn, State Oversight Service director Davit Sanasaryan said theyve discovered violations after carrying out inspections at the Artashat water company. He said theyve collected money from farmers but failed to enter it to the budget. Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan tasked to carry out studies and present facts to law enforcement agencies. In turn, Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan said theyve discovered violations in nearly 150 small hydro power plants. The violations mostly concern the absence of water metering devices. An investigation is underway. But Davtyan also said that they dont have a damage calculation method for this type of situations. We dont have a calculation method in the event of the absence of a water meter to determine the volume of used water for a given amount of electrical energy, he said. He said that now there is an opportunity to clarify the sector with legal regulations. He added that the investigation will reveal those responsible for the unlicensed use of the water. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Police Chief of Armenia Colonel Valery Osipyan says he will personally tour provinces across Armenia from the beginning of the campaigning period, November 26, to meet with local campaign office directors of political parties and district candidates for parliament. I will visit provinces from November 26, I will have meetings with provincial institution leaders, I am inviting directors of campaigning offices of political forces and district candidates. The meeting doesnt have any political subtext, it will be a service-organization meeting. Those willing to cooperate will be present at the meeting, he told reporters today after the Cabinet meeting. Asked how police will ensure the safety of opposition politicians taking into account opinions claiming that the public has a critical approach for Republican Armen Ashotyan, Osipyan said that everyone will be treated equally. Asked whether police is constrained to carry out any action in Syunik because the incumbent governor is the former deputy chief of police Hunan Poghosyan, Osipyan said: Whoever knows me, knows that I, Osipyan, am not constrained by anyone, I am not constrained by anyone on this planet and I have sufficient strength in me that the system entrusted to me is capable of accomplishing any mission within the law. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov (HHK) argues that by appointing officials from the previous government to office the incumbent government is accepting that there was no widespread corruption in the given sector. We dont deny that corruption manifestations exist in Armenia, just like in any other country. But our new government said that the country was [extensively] looted, that widespread corruption existed. Is a widespread corruption possible without the army, without the presidential oversight service, without the NSS, police? If widespread ransacking exists in any state, then these bodies must be dunked in corruption. But now, the former oversight director, the former presidential oversight director, tax chief have been appointed to very high positions. If theyve appointed, then these people are clean, then there was no corruption in these systems, Sharmazanov said. He argues that if Davit Tonoyan has been appointed defense minister, then there was no widespread corruption in the military. They appointed Arthur Vanetsyan as NSS director, they did very well, but Arthur Vanetsyan was no secondary man, he was the deputy director of the NSS Yerevan department, therefore, if they appointed him, he hasnt been in a corruption scandal, he said. There cannot be a widespread looting in a country if high level officials arent involved in the widespread looting, he concluded. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Anna Hakobyan, spouse of Armenias acting prime minister, met with the heads of ZGEST, PETOOR, Just Black, Diana Avona Armenian companies discussing fashion-related issues, reports Armenpress. Anna Hakobyan said she is ready to assist the Armenian designers, Armenian brands to wear their clothes both during the local and international meetings. My goal is for the Armenian designers to be recognized also abroad so that our compatriots will give much more preference to the Armenian products, she said. We highly appreciate your statement that you are ready to wear the clothes made by Armenian designers. This is a very great support. Who must be the face of Armenian designers if not you?, ZGEST company founder Alla Pavlova said, adding that all partners of the field welcome and highly value this initiative. At the meeting the Armenian designers introduced the history of their brands, the style and qualitative features of their clothes, as well as their new ideas. This is not the first such meeting with the Armenian designers. Anna Hakobyan has also met and cooperates with the Nikolyan Fashion Studio, FAINA, RUZANE, Mika, Teryan Cultural Center, Anka and Teress companies. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Transportation, Communication and Information Technologies has cautioned drivers on snowfalls along the roads of the Vayk and Meghri regions as of 17:00, November 22. The ministry reports foggy conditions with low visibility (70-100 meters) in the roads of Noyemberyan and Tavush. The Vardenyats Pass is difficult to pass due to heavy snowfalls. Snow removal and clearing operations are underway. More information about the road conditions is available at www.mtcit.am, or the 24/7 ministry hotline 00374 10 56 25 33. Located on an elevation of 2410 meters in Armenias Gegharkunik Province, the Vardenyats Pass is a mountain pass in the eastern section of the Vardenis mountain range, where the Martuni-Yeghegnadzor highway passes through. The 14th century Selim Caravanserai is located here. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has signed all the documents necessary for granting Jirayr Sefilian with Armenian citizenship, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan made a note about this on his Facebook page. Yesterday I signed all the documents necessary for granting Jirayr Sefilian with Armenian citizenship. The decisions will enter into force after they are signed by the President of Armenia. The Constitution of Armenia gives no opportunity to grant someone citizenship post facto. Therefore, the citizenship will be valid starting from this year, Pashinyan wrote. Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, TELUS released the first installment of its new TELUS Health Originals documentary series, a heartbreaking look at the public health emergency devastating North America through a new documentary: Painkiller: Inside the Opioid Crisis . Available on YouTube and on the TELUS Optik TV Healthy Living Network on channel 346 in western Canada, the film illustrates how the ravages of opioids are felt far beyond heavy drug users revealing how they are now devastating families and communities across every race, gender and socio-economic status. Directed by award-winning filmmaker, Matthew Embry (Living Proof), the documentary takes an inside look at this complex epidemic fueled by legal and illegal activity, exacerbated by well-intentioned drug policies and annihilated by fentanyl. Featuring interviews with every day families who share their personal stories of how their lives have been devastated by the opioid crisis, this film sheds light on a topic that knows no bounds of discrimination and initiates necessary conversations to help remove the stigma of addiction. In 2017 , there were nearly 4,000 opioid-related deaths in Canada. Between January and March 2018 alone, 73% of accidental apparent opioid-related deaths involved fentanyl, compared to 54% in 2016 and 72% in 2017. Part of our work at TELUS Health is to create advocacy around serious and important health topics and it is a privilege to be able to help Canadians become more informed about what Fentanyl is and how it is ravaging our communities through this documentary we have created. said Juggy Sihota, vice-president, TELUS Health. The opioid crisis in our country needs our collective attention; we believe that the health of our communities is of the utmost importance and it is through building awareness and understanding that we will help to eliminate the stigma of addiction and build stronger healthier communities across our country. Painkiller: Inside the Opioid Crisis features interviews with frontline responders, border services and addiction specialists who share their perspective on the underlying problem of the ongoing opioid crisis and try to answer the question: how can our society treat pain without causing more? The film will be screened across the country in major cities as follows: Toronto, ON, November 19: AGO Jackman Hall (pre-screening) Edmonton, AB, November 21: Citadel Theatre | Zeidler Hall (pre-screening) Calgary, AB, November 22: Junction Grand Theatre Kelowna, BC, November 25: Kelowna Innovation Centre Vancouver, BC, November 26: SFU Harbour Centre | Fletcher Challenge Theatre Prince George, BC, November 27: UNBC Weldwood Theatre Surrey, BC, November 29: Surrey Civic Centre Victoria, BC, November 29: Oak Bay Beach Hotel (in Victoria) Winnipeg, MB, December 4: Winnipeg Art Gallery Ottawa, ON, December 6: Ottawa Art Gallery To RSVP for a public screening, please contact: consumerhealth@telus.com The opioid epidemic is taking lives every single day. At TELUS, we believe we need to tell these difficult stories to drive change, so we can improve the lives of everyone in our community, said Blair Miller, vice-president, Consumer Products and Content, TELUS. We created this documentary to spark conversations about the opioid crisis, unite people and build better understanding. The film premieres today in English on YouTube and the TELUS Optik TV Healthy Living Network on channel 346 in western Canada; a French subtitled version of the film will be released on YouTube in the coming months. To help fight the opioid crisis, TELUS will donate $5 for every view of the documentary, up to $50,000, to organizations providing critical care to those impacted, such as TELUS Health for Good, our Mobile Health Clinics providing primary healthcare to over 30,000 homeless Canadians. For more details on the documentary please visit: www.telus.com/painkiller . 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 health care 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 health care providers and financial institutions to their customers across Canada. For more information please visit: www.telushealth.com and www.telus.com/payment-solutions . For media inquiries, please contact: Jill Yetman TELUS Social and Media Relations Jill.yetman@telus.com 416-992-2639 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ae893d0d-f49e-4433-8172-bc0c44c8f98d The events included a dinner with President Xis counterparts from eight Pacific Island States. Chinese journalists were apparently the only ones allowed to cover these events. During the APEC leaders summit, held from 17-18 November in Port Moresby, several accredited media including the Australian public broadcasting TV channel ABC and the local EMTV News channel and The National daily newspaper were prevented from covering three events organised by the Chinese delegation and involving Chinese President Xi Jinping. AUCKLAND The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the discrimination practised by the Chinese delegation against local and international media at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held last weekend in Papua New Guinea and attended by President Xi Jinping. The delegation, which did not see fit to explain the reasons for this discrimination, cynically invited excluded journalists to use the recordings broadcast by the Chinese media as the source of information for their articles, RSF said. Cedric Alviani, director of RSFs East Asia office, said: It is intolerable that a foreign delegation in an international event would claim the right to choose which journalists can be admitted or not to cover the proceedings. He added that this incident was a new example of the media control strategy established by Beijing, which is no longer limited to the Chinese territory and tends to spread internationally. China is one of the worlds worst jailers of journalists, holding more than 60 professional and non-professional journalists behind bars. In the 2018 World Press Freedom Index published by RSF, the country stagnates at 176 out of 180. In the RSF Index, President Xi is described as a predator against press freedom. In Auckland, the Pacific Media Centres Pacific Media Watch freedom project also condemned the assault on Papua New Guineas freedoms of speech, expression and access to information in a country that has a constitutionally guaranteed free media. Even as the evidence continues to accumulate, they still clutch their pieces of coal while extolling the virtues of perhaps the most pernicious source of the climate change they so adamantly deny. These are people whose stupidity manifests itself in their outright rejection of a huge body of scientific evidence that we humans are actively despoiling the one and only planet upon which we can actually live. However, I think that the word ideology should be in the mix too, because it is now quite clear that the democratic world has collectively allowed itself to be governed, or at least greatly influenced by, a much more sinister idiocracy than the film makers had in mind. It is a splendidly evocative word and neatly fits the premise of the film. It appears to have originally been conceived as an amalgam of the words idiot and democracy. ADELAIDE Idiocracy is the title of a satirical film made in 2006, the premise of which was that the entire world had become stupid and was governed by idiots. Subsequently, the term idiocracy has come to mean government by fools. Then there are the religious fascists of all persuasions. These are the people who believe that randomly bombing, shooting and stabbing people to death in the name of their god is a good thing to do. They are also the people who believe, for example, that their god gave them exclusive rights to particular pieces of real estate and thus justify the persecution and displacement of those who have the temerity to currently occupy that real estate. Then there are the ultra-nationalists, who believe that only the members of particular ethnic, linguistic or religious groups can be part of their nation, as they define it. They have been around for a very long time but have latterly scuttled out from under their rocks and begun to scream and shout their views at us. As I recall, the last time the ultra-nationalists appeared in Germany and Japan it eventually become necessary to repress them by force. That worked out well, didnt it? Another group deserving special mention is those who believe that the particular form of capitalism currently enforced across most of the world is the best possible economic system, ever, period. The fact that its hideous imperfections and contradictions are now on full display deters them not in the least. Suzuki Jimny On a much smaller scale we have those who imagined that it was a cunning plan to buy 43 extremely expensive cars to transport people of transient importance, many of whose hugely inflated egos are in urgent need of deflation. Choosing Suzuki Jimnys would perhaps have sent them all a powerful message about the virtue of humility. Another small but revealing example is how the latest Australian prime minister could, without feeling any necessity whatsoever to seek informed advice on the matter, announce that Australia was considering moving its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. What could possibly go wrong with that idea? I could go on at some length, including mentioning the increasingly bizarre antics of the current US president, but by now you will have got the picture: we truly are being governed by idiots. Now you may think I am being unfair. After all, there are many good and honest people in government and business who are trying to work in a legal, moral and ethical way. I certainly dont deny this. However, the painful fact is that a critical mass of self interested, greedy, morally and ethically deficient, self serving swine have got their snouts firmly in the trough and wont be voluntarily leaving anytime soon. The current Australian royal commission into the banking, superannuation and insurance industries has revealed the full extent of the dishonesty and moral turpitude that pervades these industries from top to bottom. Many Australians are both angry and bewildered at just how egregiously exploitative, self serving and cynical these industries have been. The first response is to blame board members, CEOs, senior executives and so forth. This is entirely understandable. After all, they have frequently been the principal beneficiaries of the behaviour revealed by the royal commission. But there are plenty of others to blame including the regulators who turned a blind eye to the nefarious doings that they knew about or suspected and, perhaps most importantly, the politicians who fiercely resisted calls to investigate the increasingly obvious rorting and dishonesty as they strove to protect businesses judged too big to fail. Given how easy it is to point to examples of the idiocracy in action across the world, maybe it is time to examine the proverbial elephant in the room, which is the grievous failure of our democratic institutions. Political parties, parliaments and governments have become thoroughly infiltrated by a whole class of ideological nut bags, spin doctors, rent seekers, carpet baggers, shonks and grifters. They infest the body politic like fleas on a mangy dog. Sure, there are still good and decent people in the mix, but they are apparently powerless to stop the rot. It is well past time to root these people out, to embark upon a genuine reform program to rein in the grievous excesses of neo-liberal capitalism and reinstate the public good to front and centre in political life. Surely enough of us have realized that this is necessary? Whether you are in PNG or Australia or the USA or Britain or anywhere else, it must be apparent by now that something is seriously wrong at a systemic level within the worlds democracies? The ugly truth is that we the people have allowed this situation to develop by succumbing to the blandishments, blarney and bribery that a poll driven, manipulative and self serving political class now use to inveigle their way into office. After all, being in office is the prime objective because it gives access to the power, influence and wealth that far too many of them seek for entirely self serving reasons. I honestly do not know how we can do this beyond wielding our votes with hugely more care and discretion than we have previously. We need to abandon all tribal, national or ideological loyalties in doing this, looking past the obvious, the superficial and the imagery to see the world as it truly is, not as we may wish it to be. Unless and until we can do that, then the idiocracy will continue to rule and, eventually, we will all pay the price it. For make no mistake, the lesson of history is that if we allow peak idiot to be reached, then most of us will end up seeing our hopes and dreams dashed to pieces, whether it be through global environmental catastrophe or an economic cataclysm or war or, perhaps, all three. Image: Getty Aussie shoppers beware: your love of a bargain makes you the perfect target for seedy scammers. With Black Friday just hours away, scammers will be ramping up their activity, PayPal has warned. Big online sales days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday have exploded over the last couple of years because they are a great opportunity for Aussies to snatch up a deal or find the perfect gift on a budget, said PayPal Australias head of marketing, Liz Lefort. Unfortunately, they also offer deceptive cybercriminals the opportunity to capitalise on the chaotic rush for the best deal. We all know the festive season is an incredibly busy time of year and the last thing you need is having to deal with a cyber-attack. Cybersecurity software provider, Symantec is also raising the alarm. Australia often ranks among the top 10 targeted countries for cyber attacks thanks to our wealth and high use of technology, Symantecs chief technology officer for the Asia Pacific, Nick Savvides told AAP. Scammers will likely impersonate legitimate retailers and send emails offering incredible, and false offers. Australians really need to think about where they put their information, Mr Savvides said, suggesting shoppers stick with the major sites and navigate to them by typing in the URL rather than following links in emails. Shoppers should also be cautious of sites asking for too much information, like your cards PIN, Sophos regional manager Ashley Warne also told the AAP. If in doubt, give nothing out, Mr Wearne said. Stay safe online PayPal offered five tips to help keep shoppers online. 1. Find all the deals in one place: PayPal said sites like eBay provide a one-stop shop and the peace of mind that the eBay Money Back Guarantee will look after them if the order is faulty, doesnt arrive or doesnt match the listing. 2. Look for the lock: You can check to see if a site is secure by making sure the web address begins with https:// and includes a padlock icon. This means the site has security features in place. Story continues 3. Avoid unsecured public WiFi: Connecting to these networks can significantly increase your chances of a hack. 4. Do your research: Its simple but classic: read the reviews before purchasing. 5. If youre not sure, delete it: Around this time of year, retailers begin bombarding their email subscribers with emails about deals and sales. Scammers will try to mimic these to score victims details. PayPal suggested those with concerns just delete any fishy emails and avoid clicking any links. Now read: The decision costing Aussies 45% of their wealth Now read: The appalling scam targeting Aussies generosity ASIO has confirmed the death of Malaysian-Australian former part-time model Amirrudin Hud Rashid Milson, who was once voted Malaysias most eligible bachelor. Milson joins more than 220 Australians who have left to fight for ISIS overseas, as radicalisation becomes an increasing worry in the country. In 2010, Amirrudin Hud Rashid Milson was voted Malaysias most eligible bachelor by popular womens magazine Cleo. Tall and well-built, the half-Malaysian half-Australian mass communications graduate and part-time model hoped to become a TV presenter but ended up dead in 2016 while fighting for Islamic State in Syria. Melbourne's Herald Sun reported that Amirrudin, who went by Amir, had stepped on a landmine while carrying another fighter in Syria. The death was confirmed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The news report quoted Amirs friend who described him as handsome, outgoing, extremely friendly, brave and courageous... a great father and great husband, adding that he had settled all his debts before leaving Australia including divorcing his wife, who got custody of their son in 2014. We heard when he died. He was carrying a fighter on his shoulder when he stepped on a landmine. That was it, his friend was reported as saying. Amir joins more than 220 Australians who have left to fight for IS overseas. Australian media reports that to date 68 have been killed. According to the original report, his name came up in a separate investigation into another suspected radical, which is why the news of his death has only just emerged. Amir, who in early Cleo features expressed the desire to join politics and a soft spot for Miranda Kerr and then-partner Orlando Bloom, began attending prayer groups in 2014. Although he had a large family based in Perth, media reports say they were unaware of his plans. The radicalisation of young Australians has been a point of concern for the countrys government, which has instituted countering violent extremism (CVE) programmes. Its security and intelligence wing has reported an increase in violent activity from both left- and right-wing extremist groups, and believes that several hundred Australians advocate violent Islamist ideologies. However, ASIO said in a 2013 report to parliament that white supremacists and right-wing groups in Australia rarely engage in violence a narrative that buttresses Muslim groups accusations that the country feeds radicalisation through racist policies, a claim which followed controversial anti-terror raids in 2014. This story first appeared at The South China Morning Post. Read the original article. Copyright 2018. A Turkish opinion columnist on Thursday said the CIA had wiretapped a phone call in which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called for the Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi to be silenced "as soon as possible." President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a frantic proclamation saying the US would stand by Saudi Arabia, despite the possibility that the de facto Saudi leader ordered the killing. Despite leaks indicating that Turkey has a ton of damning information linking the Saudi crown prince to Khashoggi's killing, Turkey hasn't moved to publicly blame him by name. A Turkish opinion columnist on Thursday said the CIA had wiretapped a phone call in which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called for the Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi to be silenced "as soon as possible." The news, citing unnamed sources and published to Turkey's Hurriyet news website, comes shortly after President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a frantic proclamation saying the US would stand by Saudi Arabia despite the possibility that Crown Prince Mohammed ordered Khashoggi's killing. Anonymous Turkish officials have continually released information from Turkey's ongoing Khashoggi investigation at a slow, steady pace with increasingly grisly and damning details. But while many previous reports linked the Saudi crown prince and de facto Saudi leader to Khashoggi's death, the latest news purports to expose the US as spying on its ally, specifically the Saudi royals, and ignoring potentially consequential evidence of a murder plot. Read more: 'Saudi Arabia First, not America First': Even top GOP allies of Trump are railing against his defence of Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's killing Abdulkadir Selvi, a columnist for Hurriyet, cited anonymous officials on Thursday as saying the CIA had a tape of Crown Prince Mohammed telling his brother Khaled bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, that Khashoggi needed to be silenced immediately. Story continues Selvi wrote: "It is said that the crown prince gave an instruction to silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible and this instruction was captured during the CIA wiretapping. The subsequent murder is the ultimate confirmation of this instruction." He called the tape a "smoking gun." Selvi then called for an international investigation that "can reveal more jaw-dropping evidence, as CIA has more wiretapped phone calls at hand than the public knows about." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has purged the military, press, and intelligence services of any critics, stripping them of their independence. That means news published by the Turkish media is thought to reflect news the Turkish government wishes to emerge. Experts previously told Business Insider that Turkish leaks could be seen as an intelligence or information warfare campaign from the Turkish government, aimed at forcing the US to reconsider its ties to Saudi Arabia. America first? The Trump administration sanctioned Saudi nationals in response to Khashoggi's killing and cut support for the kingdom's war in Yemen. But Trump refused to outright blame Crown Prince Mohammed for the killing, saying it wasn't in US interests to publicly break with the 33-year-old monarch set to rule the US-allied kingdom for the next four or five decades. Read more: Analysis: Trump's manic statement letting Saudi Arabia off the hook for Khashoggi reveals a dark US secret Importantly, though Turkish intelligence and even Erdogan have several times implicated the Saudi crown prince in Khashoggi's October 2 killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Ankara has not directly blamed him. In fact, no country has come out against Crown Prince Mohammed by name. But consistent leaks from Turkish media, which Erdogan has almost total control over after making his country the top jailer of journalists, have done incredible public-relations harm to the kingdom and to US support for it. By leaking an accusation that the CIA has been spying on Saudi Arabia, and calling for an international investigation to reveal more presumably classified CIA surveillance, the Turkish intelligence, media, and government have neatly aligned in what seems to be another move designed to keep pressure on the US. The head of US Indo-Pacific Command recently accused China of building a "great wall of SAMs," or surface-to-air missiles, in the South China Sea. Despite the deployment of Chinese military equipment to the strategic waterway, the US continues to fly and sail through the South China Sea. Two US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bombers reportedly flew past Chinese-occupied territories in the South China Sea on Monday. Two US heavy long-range bombers tore past Chinese-occupied territories in the contested South China Sea on Monday, demonstrating America's determination to continue its activities in the region despite China's militarization of disputed areas. A pair of US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bombers out of Andersen Air Force Base on Guam conducted a routine training mission in the vicinity of the South China Sea, Pacific Air Forces told CNN on Tuesday, describing the mission as "consistent with international law and United States' long-standing commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific." The US military regularly sends bombers through the contested waterway in support of the deterrence-oriented Continuous Bomber Presence mission. China, which claims the majority of the South China Sea, tends to typically react with sharp criticism of US activities, even when the US is simply transiting planes between its bases across the Pacific. Beijing has previously called these flights "provocative," accusing the US of militarizing the region, a counter to US accusations. China has deployed electronic jamming equipment, anti-ship missiles, and surface-to-air missiles, known as SAMs, to military outposts in the South China Sea, allowing China's People's Liberation Army to keep US ships and planes in the region under threat of missile fires that outrange them any time they operate in the strategic waterway. Deployments, according to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, include HQ-9 SAMs and YJ-12 and YJ-62 anti-ship missiles, among other weapons systems. Story continues Maritime boundary claims in south china sea map "The PLA secretly deployed anti-ship missiles, electronic jammers, and surface-to-air missiles," Adm. Phil Davidson, the head of US Indo-Pacific Command, said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum. "So, what was a 'Great Wall of Sand' just three years ago is now a 'Great Wall of SAMs' in the South China Sea," he said, stressing that these developments gave China "the potential to exert national control over international waters and airspace through which over $US3 trillion in goods travel every year, along with commercial air traffic, as well as information and financial data through undersea cables." China has demonstrated increased resistance to US military activities in the region, especially near Chinese-occupied territories. A Chinese warship confronted a US Navy destroyer during a routine freedom-of-navigation operation in the Spratly Islands in September. The Chinese naval vessel nearly collided with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Decatur in an incident widely considered China's most aggressive response to a US ship to date. Despite escalated tensions in the South China Sea, the US and Chinese militaries are attempting to restore relations through military exchanges. Following a visit by Chinese military personnel to the USS Ronald Reagan, the aircraft carrier and several of its escort ships made a port call in Hong Kong on Tuesday. A mum is being accused of throwing her two-month-old daughter from a moving car before trying to kill herself, police said. American woman Nicole Stasio, 32, is being accused of throwing her daughter from the car in Bali on Tuesday. Villagers found the infant with severe injuries about a kilometre from where Stasio leapt out of the vehicle. The baby died about seven hours later at the same hospital, Bali Mandara, where Stasio is being treated. South Denpasar police chief Nyoman Wiarajaya told a news conference that officers havent been able to question the mum because she is hospitalised in a severe state of depression. Nicole Stasio, 32, is being accused of throwing her two-month-old daughter from a moving car in Bali before trying to kill herself, police said. Source: Getty Images (File pic) Chief Wiarajaya said the woman, who was born in California, travelled to Bali with her parents in July. The parents stayed in Bali for about 10 days and Stasio gave birth on the island in September after her parents had left Indonesia. She refused to answer when they (the parents) asked about her babys father, Chief Wiarajaya said, quoting information from the driver and tour guide who accompanied the family since they arrived. But she gave the impression that she was unmarried and her family preferred that she give birth to a child abroad, like wanting to avoid something, he said. The driver, Wayan Siaja, and the guide, Made Arimbawa, told police they had taken Stasio and her daughter to Balis international airport on Tuesday evening but Stasio changed her mind about returning to the US and told them to take her back to Ubud, a town popular with tourists for its traditional crafts and culture. They said she sat silently in the car before the tragic events unfolded, according to Chief Wiarajaya. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health call Lifeline on 13 11 14. MONTREAL, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OPUS ONE Resources Inc. (the Company or OPUS ONE) (TSX Venture Exchange: OOR) announces it has decided to extend, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange), the expiry dates of a total of 10,000,000 common share purchase warrants (the Warrants) issued under a non-brokered private placement completed by the Company in the summer of 2017 (for more details, see the Companys press releases dated June 22, 2017 and August 3, 2017). A total of 7,200,000 Warrants issued on June 21, 2017 and 2,800,000 Warrants issued on August 3, 2017, exercisable for common shares of the Company at a price of $0.15 per common share, are set to expire on December 21, 2018 and February 3, 2019, respectively. The Company is proposing to extend the expiry date of these Warrants by an additional 24 months, thereby expiring at 5:00 PM (eastern time) on December 21, 2020 and February 3, 2021, respectively. All other terms and conditions of the Warrants will remain the same. The proposed extension is conditional upon the receipt of the approval of the Exchange. About Opus One Opus One Resources Inc. is a mining exploration company focused on discovering high quality gold and base metals deposits within strategically located properties in proven mining camps, close to existing mines in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, north-western Quebec and north-eastern Ontario - one of the most prolific gold mining areas in the world. Opus One holds assets in Val-d'Or, Matagami and Chibougamau areas. Opus One controls a 90% to 100% interest in the following projects: Bachelor Extension property is adjacent to Metanor Resources Inc.- Bachelor Gold Mine (100%). Vezza Extension and Vezza North are located few kilometers West and North of Nottaway Resources Vezza Mine (both 100%). Courvillle property is located east of Val DOr (90%) In addition, Opus One detains the right to earn a 100% interest in three highly prospective properties, all of which are easily accessible by a network of all-season roads. They are as follows: Fecteau property, located in the Urban-Barry greenstone belt, east of Osisko Minings Windfall Lake deposit, currently one of the most active exploration area in Canada; Winwin property, located directly North of Iamgolds Monster Lake property, and Grizzly property, located 40 kilometers north-west of the city of Chapais in a similar geological setting to Northern Superiors Croteau East project. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information, please contact: Louis Morin, CEO 514.591.3988 info@OpusOneResources.com Visit our website at www.OpusOneResources.com MPs investigating Britain's 2017 terror attacks said Thursday that the MI5 security service missed key opportunities to stop the Manchester Arena bomber. Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, a cross-party panel of lawmakers that scrutinises the work of government in these fields, slammed communications service providers (CSPs) for giving terrorists a "safe haven". The ISC also said their recommendations on previous failings had gone ignored. Britain suffered five terrorist attacks in 2017: at Westminster, London Bridge, Finsbury Park and Parsons Green in London; and at the Manchester Arena, where 22 were killed in a suicide bombing. Thirty-six people were killed in total in the attacks. The Manchester Arena attack, as concert-goers were leaving an Ariana Grande show, was perpetrated by 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a Mancunian of Libyan descent. The ISC's report said the MI5 domestic security agency missed chances to stop Abedi, moving too slowly after his case had been flagged for review and failing to consider him for referral to the anti-radicalisation scheme. Abedi also visited an extremist contact in prison on more than one occasion but no follow-up action was taken by either MI5 or the police. MI5 did not place travel monitoring or restrictions on Abedi, meaning he was allowed to return undetected from Libya to Britain shortly before the bombing. "There were a number of failures in the handling of Salman Abedi's case and while it is impossible to say whether these would have prevented the devastating attack on May 22, we have concluded that, as a result of the failings, potential opportunities to prevent it were missed," the ISC said. Responding to the report, UK counter-terrorism police said they would study the report's findings "carefully". "We are deeply committed to learning so that we can refine our response to the evolving threat," he said. - 'Hopelessly out of date' - The committee found 12 "cross-cutting issues" which played a part in at least two attacks. On explosives, "the system for regulating and reporting purchases of the ingredients used to make explosives was hopelessly out of date in dealing with the threat posed," it said, adding that it had facilitated the perpetrators' actions. Meanwhile appeals to CSPs to tighten up their loopholes had fallen on deaf ears. The committee said that four years ago they concluded that CSPs were failing to stop their systems "being used as a safe haven for extremists and terrorists. "Yet we have seen that appeals to these companies' sense of corporate and social responsibility have not resulted in them making the changes required -- and again these loopholes were used by the perpetrators of the 2017 attacks." The committee concluded that MI5 and counter-terror police wanted to learn from past mistakes and their determination was impressive. However, "we have previously made recommendations in all of these areas, yet the government failed to act on them. The lessons from last year's tragic events must now result in real action", the report said. The probe did not fully cover the bomb attack on a London Underground train at Parsons Green station, because the Home Office interior ministry did not provide full evidence in time for the inquiry. "From what we have seen to date, there were fundamental failings in the handling of this case," the committee found, saying the "litany of errors" by the ministry, the police and the local authority necessitated a separate review. Twenty-two people died in the attack MI5 did not place travel monitoring or restrictions on Salman Abedi The fire that has ravaged northern California is now almost completely contained, authorities said Thursday as the death toll rose to 84. Rain fell in the first measurable amounts in months in the drought-stricken area and this helped put out hot spots and smouldering fires, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. It said the so-called Camp Fire is now 95 percent contained. The number of people listed as unaccounted for in the deadliest and most destructive fire in state history stands at 563. Previously the death toll had been put at 83. Another three people died in a second major blaze that struck Malibu in southern California. In the north, the Camp Fire has scorched 153,000 acres of land and destroyed more than 13,600 homes since it broke out on November 8. The Paradise Inn hotel burns as the Camp Fire tears through Paradise, California on November 8 Russia's military intelligence chief who oversaw a series of notorious operations abroad has died after a long illness, with Moscow praising him Thursday as a "great man" and a patriot. Igor Korobov, 62, had headed the defence ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) since 2016 and was the target of US sanctions. Under his tenure the GRU has become a byword for Russian meddling in Western affairs. The ministry said he died on Wednesday after a "long and serious illness," with analysts suggesting it was a code word for cancer. Korobov's 57-year-old first deputy, Vice Admiral Igor Kostyukov, has been appointed acting GRU chief and is likely become his successor, state news agency TASS said, citing a military source. President Vladimir Putin has expressed condolences, said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding the two "had been in constant dialogue". - 'Comrade-in-arms' - "The dear memory of this great man, a faithful Russian son and a patriot of the Motherland... will remain forever in our hearts," the defence ministry said. Sergei Naryshkin, the head of the SVR foreign intelligence agency, a GRU rival, praised Korobov as a "true comrade-in-arms". The West has accused the ultra-secretive agency of carrying out attacks on foreign soil, including the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a Soviet-designed nerve agent in Britain in March. Washington has said the GRU was directly involved in interfering in the 2016 US election through "cyber-enabled activities", while the Netherlands has said they had thwarted a GRU cyberattack on the global chemical weapons watchdog. Russia has denied the charges. Korobov did not participate in a gala marking the centenary of the service in early November when Putin heaped praise on the GRU. Korobov's first deputy Kostyukov, who is thought to be in charge of Russia's Syria operations at the GRU, reportedly presided over the ceremony. "If he is appointed, then he will be the first naval seaman in the history of the GRU to become a military intelligence chief," TASS quoted its source as saying. Korobov, who joined military intelligence in 1985, received the Hero of Russia decoration for his service. Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer described him as an "intellectual" who spoke several foreign languages. He was hard-pressed to say whether Korobov's successor would usher in any changes, noting the agency's policies were shaped by Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Putin. "It looks like there are no any major changes on the horizon," he said. Korobov's predecessor, Igor Sergun, died unexpectedly in January, 2016. Some reports said he was killed in Lebanon while on a mission. Many analysts have derided the GRU for a series of recent blunders including the attack on the Skripals in Salisbury that also killed a British woman and poisoned her partner. London identified the suspected attackers as GRU agents. After Putin publicly urged them to appear on television in September, they told state-funded RT channel they travelled to the English city as tourists to admire its famous cathedral. The same month an apparently ailing Korobov was reportedly summoned by Putin for a dressing down and felt unwell afterwards. - 'Professionalism and bravery' - But at the November gala, Putin praised the agency's "unique capabilities," saying Russian military spies helped turn around the war in Syria. "I am sure of your professionalism, personal bravery and decisiveness," he told the GRU staff. The GRU is one of Moscow's three spy agencies, along with the SVR and the FSB security service. Established in 1918, the GRU was considered a rival to the KGB in the Soviet era. It has an extensive spy network abroad and its highly trained "spetsnaz" special forces have fought in various conflicts, including in Afghanistan and Chechnya. It is also believed to be active in Ukraine and elsewhere. Its structure, staff numbers and finances are a state secret. Its emblem is a black bat flying above a globe. Igor Korobov, 62, had headed the defence ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) since 2016 and was the target of US sanctions The GRU is one of Moscow's three spy agencies A Guatemalan court on Wednesday sentenced a former soldier to 5,160 years in prison for the massacre of 201 peasants during one of the worst atrocities of the Central American nation's civil war. The court found Santos Lopez "responsible as author" of 171 of the killings and sentenced him to 30 years for each, or 5,130 years in total. He received an additional 30 years linked to the killing of a surviving child, but the sentences are symbolic because Guatemala's maximum prison term is 50 years. Lopez was a member of a US-trained counterinsurgency force called Kaibil. He was arrested in the United States and deported in 2016. According to the investigation, Lopez belonged to a patrol that committed the massacre in December 1982 in Dos Erres, on the border with Mexico. The soldiers were trying to recover about 20 rifles stolen by guerrillas during an earlier ambush which left 19 soldiers dead. The story of Dos Erres was told in the 2017 documentary "Finding Oscar," executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, which recounts the search for another boy whose life was spared and who was then raised by one of the soldiers. A handful of other "Kaibiles" have been convicted, each receiving a sentence of more than 6,000 years in prison. Three others accused in the slaughter were jailed in the US for immigration violations. Several others are believed to reside in the United States. The massacre occurred during the rule of dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who himself was indicted on charges of genocide and died last April. Rios Montt allegedly ordered the murders of 1,771 indigenous Ixil-Maya people during his short reign in 1982-83, which came at the height of the 36-year civil war. According to the UN, about 200,000 people died or were made to disappear during Guatemala's war, which ended in 1996. Former Guatemalan soldier Santos Lopez has been convicted for the massacre of 201 peasants during the civil war The father of a nine-month-old girl found dead on a Gold Coast beach has been charged with murder. The 47-year-old man was charged on Thursday after the girl was found unresponsive on Surfers Paradise beach on Monday. The father of a nine-month-old girl found dead on Surfers Paradise beach has been charged with murder. Source: 7 News The babys parents, the man and a 23-year-old woman, have both been questioned by investigators. The man was extradited from Queensland to NSW on Wednesday. The baby was found dead on Monday. Source: 7 News It will be alleged in court that the child died in NSW. The man been refused bail and will appear in Tweed Heads Local Court on Thursday. A car rammed into a group of children crossing a street in front of an elementary school in northeast China on Thursday, killing five children and injuring 19 others, state media said. Police took the driver into custody and are investigating the cause of the incident in Huludao, Liaoning province, the official CCTV broadcaster said on its Weibo social media account. Of the nineteen that were injured, sixteen were children. Two teachers and a passerby were also hurt, said CCTV. Unverified videos circulating on social media appeared to show a car veering onto the wrong side of the road and ploughing through the line of pupils, with the impact from the crash throwing bodies across the road. Other gut-wrenching footage showed at least two small children lying unconscious and bleeding on the street. The screams and cries of children could be heard in the background, as onlookers milled around the scene of the collision. An eyewitness quoted by Chinese media site Sina News said that he saw "children's shoes" and "traces of blood" on the ground near the accident. The 29-year-old driver -- who tried to flee after the accident -- was not under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, said the official Weibo account of state newspaper the People's Daily, citing the police. It did not specify whether the driver voluntarily struck the group of children, indicating only that "the investigation continues". Victims of the crash are undergoing medical treatment, according to CCTV. The incident happened around noon. The ages of the victims were not released. Police from Jianchang county in Huludao city did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment. - Dangerous roads - Grisly car accidents are common in China, where transportation authorities have struggled to enforce safety regulations, which are often flouted or go unenforced. According to authorities, 58,000 people were killed in traffic accidents across the country in 2015 alone. Violations of traffic laws were blamed for nearly 90 percent of accidents that caused deaths or injuries that year. Earlier this month, at least 13 people died when a bus plunged off a bridge in Chongqing municipality, after the driver got into a fist fight with a passenger who had missed her bus stop. Search and rescue teams dispatched more than 70 boats, as well as a team of scuba divers and underwater robots, to find the wreckage and retrieve bodies from the water. In February, a van packed with pressurised gas tanks and petrol-filled bottles caught fire and ploughed into pedestrians in Shanghai, leaving at least 18 people injured. Authorities concluded that it had been a "traffic accident". But a 2013 incident was blamed on militant separatists. Two tourists were killed at the time when a car rammed into bystanders in Beijing's iconic Tiananmen Square before bursting into flames. Three attackers also died in the incident, which Beijing blamed on separatists from the restive western region of Xinjiang. And in September, 11 people died and dozens were injured when a car struck a crowd in a public square in the central Hunan province city of Hengdong. Police detained the driver, a man in his 40s, and described him as a "vengeful repeat offender" who had daggers in his car and intended to "cause serious damage". Map locating deadly car-ramming incident in Liaoning Five Iranian security personnel, who had been held by jihadists for a month, have been flown home after Pakistani forces secured their release, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday. The five were part of a mixed unit of 12 border guards, militiamen and Guards intelligence agents who were captured by jihadists of the Pakistan-based Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) group during an operation near the border on October 16, a state television-run news agency reported. The Pakistani foreign ministry announced on November 15 that police and troops had secured the release of five of the captives and were still trying to free the others. "Following efforts and interactions with the Pakistani side to free the border guards and militiamen," five of them "were released and returned to Iran last night", the Guards said. The Guards website carried photographs of the five being welcomed home by generals as they got off the plane. Sistan-Baluchistan province, where the men were captured, has long been a flashpoint, with Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and jihadists carrying out cross-border raids. The province has a large, mainly Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchi community which straddles the border. Jaish al-Adl, which claimed the capture of the Iranian personnel and is labelled a "terrorist" group by Iran, was formed in 2012 as a successor organisation to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God) which waged a deadly insurgency against Iranian targets over the previous decade. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif visited Islamabad twice in a month for briefings on the progress of the efforts to secure the captured unit's release. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi blamed the kidnapping on "our common enemies unhappy with the existing close, friendly relations between Pakistan and Iran". Iranian (L) and Pakistani security officials meet at Zero Point in the border town of Taftan on October 16, 2018, the day jihadists seized 12 Iranian security personnel near the border English French MONTREAL, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Niobay Metals Inc. (NioBay or the Company) (TSX-V: NBY) is pleased to announce the appointment of Jacquelin Gauthier P.Geo. to the position of Vice President, Geology, effective immediately. Jacquelin Gauthier is a geologist with over 40 years of mining exploration and geology. He graduated from Universite du Quebec at Chicoutimi in applied science in 1975 (geological engineering). His experience includes senior positions with Kinross Gold Corp., Bema Gold Corp., Cambior Inc., Azimut Exploration Inc., Geomega Resources Inc., and Noranda Inc. He worked in Canada, Russia, Central Asia, Africa, and Mexico and has been directly responsible for three gold discoveries. He is a member of the Mining Advisory Committee of the Quebec Autorite des Marches Financiers and the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec. "We are delighted that Jacquelin joins NioBays management team. Jacquelin has been instrumental to the James Bay Niobium Project acquisition and he will continue to lead the activities in the region, said Claude Dufresne, President and CEO of Niobay. Mr. Gauthier will continue with the Company as a consultant on a non exclusive basis. James Bay Niobium Project The Company announces an 11% increase to the Mineral Resource estimate initially reported on November 16, 2017, due to a revised tonnage factor for its 100% owned James Bay Niobium Project located in Ontario. A tonnage factor of 10.9 ft/ton was used compared to a tonnage factor of 12.2 ft/ton used in the initial 2017 estimate. The initial and updated Mineral Resource estimates were prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA) following a successful re-logging and re-sampling program of representative historical diamond drill holes performed by NioBay. The effective date of the updated estimate is October 31, 2018 and the supporting technical report will be filed on SEDAR today. Highlights of the updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimate: Classification Tonnes Grade Contained Nb 2 O 5 (Mt) (%Nb 2 O 5 ) (Mkg) Indicated 26.1 0.53 139 Inferred 25.3 0.51 129 Notes: Minerals Resources are reported in metric tonnes. CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. Mineral Resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.3% Nb2O5 based on an underground mining operating cost of C$70/tonne and a metallurgical recovery of 70%. Mineral Resources are estimated using a long-term niobium price of US$40 per kg and a US$/C$ exchange rate of 1:1.2. A tonnage factor of 10.9 ft/ton (2.93 g/cm) was used. A minimum mining width of approximately 25 ft (7.6m) was used to build the resource wireframes. Resources situated in a 150 ft (45.7m) thick crown pillar have been excluded. The RPA Qualified Persons for the estimate are Dorota El Rassi, P.Eng. and Paul Chamois, P.Geo. RPAs Qualified Persons, Dorota El Rassi, P.Eng. and Paul Chamois, P.Geo., have reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this press release related to the updated mineral resource estimate. The Companys priority is to obtain the exploration permit to conduct a drilling program on the James Bay Project as soon as possible. The Company continues to reach out to all concerned stakeholders in the area of the James Bay Project. To that effect, the Company is opening an Information center in Moosonee to provide information to the community, including an increasing number of interested Moose Cree First Nation (MCFN) members, on the James Bay Project. The Ontario Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines is also pursuing efforts to consult with the MCFN to address any concerns they may have about the Companys proposed drilling campaign on the project. Crevier Niobium Project The Company has initiated an internal review of its 2010 Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Crevier Niobium and Tantalum Project, located in Quebec, in light of the significant increase in niobium and tantalum prices over the last 12 months. Although the funds invested are not significant, if the result of the review is positive, the Company may allocate additional funds to the development of the Crevier Project. About NioBay Metals Inc. NioBay Metals Inc. is a mining exploration company holding a 100% interest in the James Bay Niobium Project located in Ontario and a 72.5% interest in the Crevier niobium and tantalum project located in Quebec. In addition, NioBay holds an option to acquire an interest of up to 65% in the La Peltrie gold project in northern Quebec and a 49% direct participation in certain mineral titles located in the Chibougamau region, Quebec, under a joint venture agreement with SOQUEM. Cautionary Statement Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward looking information under the provisions of Canadian securities laws. Such statements include, without limitation, the statements regarding the Mineral Resource estimate. Such statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove accurate. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of Mineral Resources will be converted to Mineral Reserves. Inferred Mineral Resources are based on limited drilling which suggests the greatest uncertainty for a resource estimate and that geological continuity is only implied. Additional drilling will be required to verify geological and mineralization continuity and there is no certainty that all of the Inferred Resources will be converted to Measured and Indicated Resources. There is also no certainty that Niobay will obtain the necessary permits and have the required funds to conduct the required drilling programs and studies for the development of the James Bay Project. 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. For more information, contact: Macedonia prosecutors filed two new indictments Thursday against fugitive former premier Nikola Gruevski, who said this week he was granted asylum in Hungary after fleeing a two-year jail sentence in his homeland. Gruevski, a former strongman close to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, fled to Budapest earlier this month after being sentenced in Macedonia for abuse of power. On Thursday, a special prosecution team appointed to probe alleged crimes committed by Greuvksi's administration, submitted two new charges accusing him of "illegal financing" of his political party VMRO-DPMNE, and unlawful construction of its headquarters. Between 2009 and 2015 Gruevski and others "provided finances from anonymous and illegal sources" to the party, prosecutors said in a statement. He and a party official also allegedly secured "disproportionate benefit" of over eight million euros ($9.1 million) for the party in an illegal contract with a building company, it said. Gruevski ruled Macedonia for nearly a decade until 2016, when evidence appearing to show a widespread wire-tapping scheme by his administration led to his downfall. He has since been the target of a number of prosecutions and was found guilty earlier this year of using a luxury government Mercedes for personal travel. On November 11, he pulled off a dramatic escape, passing through Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia before reaching Hungary, where he said this week he had been granted asylum. Skopje has demanded his immediate return, while the EU is looking to Budapest for answers. Gruevski claims he received death threats in Macedonia, which the government denies. Former Macedonia Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (pictured December 2017), a former strongman close to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, fled to Budapest in November 2018 after being sentenced in Macedonia for abuse of power India's government has dissolved the Kashmir state assembly in a sudden move that could lead to fresh elections and further turmoil in the disputed region also claimed by Pakistan. The move, which came after two rival local alliances both staked claims to form a government in the heavily-militarised region, was seen to strengthen the hand of the New Delhi government, which has ruled Kashmir directly since June and is gearing up for next year's general election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hand-picked governor said he dissolved the legislature late Wednesday in the absence of stable government in Jammu and Kashmir, in India's far north. Satya Pal Malik said late Wednesday that elections would be held "at an appropriate time so that a government with a clear mandate is duly formed". Malik is the first politician to be appointed governor of Jammu and Kashmir in decades, with the role traditionally reserved for non-political figures. The Indian-administered region has been plagued for decades by political instability and an armed insurgency that has left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians. Rebel groups have long fought half a million Indian troops stationed there, demanding an independent state or merger with Pakistan. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled out of the governing coalition in Jammu and Kashmir in June, because of what it called worsening "terrorism and violence". This latest move has agitated an alliance of local parties that claimed to have a majority in parliament, and a right to rule free from New Delhi's control. Malik dismissed their claim, saying "extensive horse-trading and possible exchange of money" had occurred and the alliance could not ensure stable government. The BJP called for fresh polls "at the earliest". "J&K needs a firm administration to deal with terrorism and not a combination of terror-friendly parties," the ruling party declared in a Twitter post late Wednesday. - Power play - Analysts say the BJP hope to rule in their own right in the region, and this latest move could be aimed at appearing tough on Pakistan and militancy ahead of a national election next year. The Hindu-right party could exploit the sense of political instability as Modi campaigns for a second term in coming months, experts said. "The BJP could sell it both ways across India, for gains in general elections," said Noor Ahmad Baba, a political scientist at University of Kashmir. "Now, they would say they didn't let the local parties come together against the national interest, didn't bow down to them," he added. It is unclear when a fresh local poll will be held but historically ballots have lacked credibility. Last year just seven percent of voters turned out to elect a state representative to the national parliament. Another vacant seat in the lower house has not been filled in two years. State assembly elections in 1987 were marred by graft and foreshadowed an armed rebellion against Indian rule that continues today. "This (latest) move by New Delhi confirms the lack of credibility elections in Kashmir have," Prof Siddiq Wahid, a historian and political commentator told AFP. "It also means more confrontation between the people and the Indian state in Kashmir." Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both countries claim the former Himalayan kingdom in its entirety. Earlier this month gunmen killed a local BJP leader and his brother in a remote district of the region. The Indian-administered region of Kashmir has been plagued for decades by political instability and an armed insurgency that has left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians The United States accused Iran on Thursday of failing to declare a toxic arms programme to the global chemical warfare watchdog, in breach of international agreements. US envoy Kenneth Ward told the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague that Tehran was also seeking deadly nerve agents for "offensive purposes". Tehran did not immediately respond to the accusations, which add to tensions with Washington over Iran's nuclear programme, terrorism, and the war in Syria. "The United States has had longstanding concerns that Iran maintains a chemical weapons programme that it failed to declare to the OPCW," ambassador Ward told a five-yearly meeting on the body's future. "The US is also concerned that Iran is pursuing central nervous system-acting chemicals for offensive purposes." Ward said Iran had failed to declare the transfer of chemical-filled shells sent to Libya in the 1980s despite an appeal by the OPCW to identify their origin. They were found after the death of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. "They were clearly of Iranian origin as evidenced by the farsi writing on the boxes containing the artillery shells," he said. Iran had also failed to declare a "chemical weapons filling capability" despite the discovery of toxic shells and bombs in Libya and also in Iraq. Finally, Iran had failed to declare riot control agents despite having marketed them at defence expos, he added. The new chemical warfare allegations come amid growing pressure on Iran from President Donald Trump, who has withdrawn from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and introduced several rounds of unilateral US sanctions. Ward accused Iran and its ally Russia of "enabling" the use of chemical weapons by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "while pursuing their own chemical weapons programmes". Western powers have accused Russia of carrying out an attack using an undeclared Soviet-era nerve agent on former double agent Sergei Skripal in the British town of Salisbury in March. Member states at the OPCW this week rejected attempts by Russia to block the watchdog's new powers to identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria and elsewhere. Previously the OPCW -- charged with enforcing the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention under which all toxic arms will be destroyed -- was only able to confirm the use of chemical weapons without assigning blame. The United States accused Iran at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) of failing to declare a toxic arms programme A new film is shining an uncomfortable light on the fate of thousands of Italians killed in massacres on the Yugoslav frontier at the end of the Second World War. "Red Land - Rosso Istria" recounts events that for decades were only commemorated by neofascists, showing that things were not as black and white as previously thought and provoking a wave of reactions on social media. From 1943 to 1947, between 5,000 and 10,000 Italians were murdered in the region around Trieste, on today's border with Slovenia, as it was reconquered by Tito's Yugoslav partisans, with victims often thrown alive into deep sinkholes known as "foibe". Another 250,000 people fled their homes. What began as a "cleansing" of police and civil servants associated with the fascist regime by Yugoslav and Italian partisans later became the systematic murder of Italians. Immediately after the war, Italy wanted to turn the page on its fascist history and the crimes committed by its forces in Yugoslavia as quickly as possible. That meant that the massacres carried out by partisans were for years only commemorated by those nostalgic for Mussolini. It was only in 2004 that the right-wing government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi initiated a national day of remembrance for the massacres. In 2005, Italy awarded a posthumous medal to Norma Cossetto, a 23-year-old student and daughter of a local fascist official, who was raped, tortured and murdered by Yugoslav and Italian partisans in October 1943. Her story "is a metaphor" for the fate of all the other victims of the massacres, the film's producer Alessandro Centenaro told AFP. The film recounts one of the partisans' murder methods: prisoners would be shot in the head on the edge of a "foiba", dragging others still living to whom they were tied to their deaths. - "Long-hidden truth" - "Yes, Norma was killed because she was fascist. But also because she was a woman, educated and Italian," Centenaro said. "There are many sides to this story, like the character of Giorgio, the deserter who joins the Yugoslav partisans to get rid of the fascists and ends up a victim himself," said the film's Italian-Argentine director Maximiliano Hernando Bruno. The film was premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival and also screened this month at the Italian Senate, where it was hailed by politicians from left and right. Comments on the film's Facebook page hail the "powerful story", which "finally does justice to the victims" and "shines a light on a truth that has been hidden for too long", which "should be shown in all schools". But some Internet commentators have also accused the director of being fascist or revisionist. Hernando Bruno dismisses such critics as "provocateurs who haven't seen the film." Some say that the film is being "boycotted" because it has received little coverage in Italian media. Unusually, far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Monday shared a list of the around 30 cinemas showing the film with his millions of followers on social media. "For decades, left-wing politicians and intellectuals have done everything to hide this truth," Salvini said. "Go and watch it and pass the word along, so that those who were killed simply for being Italian may at least be honoured by our memory," he said. From 1943 to 1947, between 5,000 and 10,000 Italians were murdered in the region around Trieste, on today's border with Slovenia Nissan's board sacked Carlos Ghosn as chairman on Thursday, a spectacular fall from grace for the once-revered boss whose arrest for financial misconduct has stunned the business world, as France and Japan insisted they want the Nissan-Renault alliance to survive the scandal. Ghosn, in jail since Monday, stands accused of under-reporting his income by millions of dollars and a host of other financial irregularities after an internal Nissan probe following a whistleblower report. His ouster is an astonishing turnaround for a titan of the auto sector who revived the Japanese brand and forged an alliance with France's Renault as well as domestic rival Mitsubishi Motors, which sold a combined 10.6 million cars last year -- more than any other firm. It also throws the future of the alliance into doubt as Ghosn was the architect of the far-flung partnership -- which employs 450,000 people globally -- and the glue holding it together. "After reviewing a detailed report of the internal investigation, the board voted unanimously... to discharge Carlos Ghosn as chairman of the board," Nissan said in a statement after the four-hour meeting, not naming a replacement. But it reiterated that its "partnership with Renault remains unchanged" and that "the mission is to minimise the potential impact and confusion on the day-to-day cooperation" between the firms. - 'Winning cooperation' - The French and Japanese finance ministers also reiterated their "strong support" for the alliance at a meeting in Paris on Thursday. In a joint statement, Bruno Le Maire and Hiroshige Seko said they both wanted "to maintain this winning cooperation". Renault's board has so far stood by Ghosn -- naming his deputy Thierry Bollore to handle day-to-day business. Bollore on Thursday pledged "to stay focused on our mission to preserve the interests of Renault and the sustainability of the alliance". "You can count on my full commitment," he said in a statement on Twitter. The board of Mitsubishi Motors was reportedly set to meet on Monday to discuss Ghosn's future. Prosecutors intercepted the Brazil-born tycoon Monday as he landed in Tokyo on a private jet, accusing him and another executive Greg Kelly of understating the chairman's income by around $44 million between June 2011 and June 2015. His fate as Nissan chairman appeared sealed just hours later as his hand-picked successor as CEO, Hiroto Saikawa launched an impassioned broadside at his former mentor, muttering about a "dark side" to the Ghosn era and urging his sacking. Even after being jettisoned as chairman, Ghosn remains technically a member of the board as a full shareholders' meeting is required to remove him. Nissan said it would study the creation of a "special committee" to take advice from a third party on improving its internal governance and executive pay. - 'Good health' - Ghosn is being held custody in a Tokyo detention centre and has not been seen in public or made any comments since his arrest. He received a visit from Brazilian consul Joao de Mendonca on Thursday who told AFP that Ghosn "sounded very well, in good health". But his conditions are likely to be a far cry from what the millionaire businessman is used to. Inmates at the centre are typically allowed 30 minutes exercise per day and only two baths a week. Ties and strings are removed to prevent suicide attempts, and former guards and lawyers said Ghosn was almost certain to be held in a cramped cell on his own. On Wednesday, prosecutors successfully applied to extend his custody for an additional 10 days as they stepped up their questioning. Deputy chief prosecutor Shin Kukimoto said the type of crime Ghosn is accused of is "one of the most serious types of crime" under Japan's Financial Instruments Act, and Ghosn could face a fine of 10 million yen ($89,000) and a 10-year prison sentence. Under the law, companies themselves can also be held accountable for the falsified documents, Kukimoto said, following reports that prosecutors believe Nissan also has a case to answer. The Kyodo news agency in Japan also reported Thursday that Nissan had paid $100,000 a year since 2002 to Ghosn's sister who had no record of doing advisory work for the group. Public broadcaster NHK has reported that Nissan paid "huge sums" to provide Ghosn with luxury homes in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam "without any legitimate business reason". - 'Couple divorcing' - According to the Financial Times, Ghosn's fall from grace came as he was working on a full-blown merger of Nissan and Renault. This was opposed by executives in the Japanese firm that has ended up being the most profitable player in the partnership, and the FT said Ghosn's departure could be used as a pretext to rebalance the alliance in Nissan's favour. Analysts said that despite clear tensions between the two firms headquartered 10,000 kilometres apart, neither company has the financial might alone to make the heavy investments in electric vehicles considered to be the industry's future. "It would be like a couple divorcing after 20 years -- it would be complicated, very expensive and not easy to do," said Gaetan Toulemonde, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. "Honestly, I don't know if it's even possible." burs-ric-adp/js/dl/har Carlos Ghosn once dominated Nissan Ghosn's ouster is an astonishing turnaround for a titan of the auto sector who revived the Japanese brand and forged an alliance with France's Renault as well as domestic rival Mitsubishi Motors The structure of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance Ghosn is being held in spartan conditions at a Tokyo detention centre Nissan may also soon find itself in the firing line A missing woman, who was five months pregnant, has been found dead on a remote beach. Surfers came across Sonam Shelars body in the Wairarapa region, on New Zealands North Island, around lunchtime on Wednesday (local time), a police release on Thursday said. The expectant mothers body washed up in a spot on White Rock Beach which is on private land and difficult to access, according to the New Zealand Herald. Ms Shelar was reported missing on Saturday from a Wellington address. The area where her body was found was close to 65 kilometres away from the city by sea, or more than a three hour drive, Stuff reports. Authorities are trying to determine how a pregnant womans body washed up on a remote beach on the North Island of New Zealand. Source: Google Members of the Police National Dive Squad are expected to search Wellingtons south coast on Thursday, as authorities try to piece together what happened. The young woman and her husband were married late last year and moved to New Zealand about six months ago, the New Zealand Herald reports. Her husband told Stuff that the pair had never been to the area where her body was found. In a statement from Detective Senior Sergeant, Warwick McKee, released on Thursday afternoon, police said the post-mortem is complete but they are unable to comment further at this time. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BLOK Technologies Inc. ("BLOK Tech" or the "Company") (CSE: BLK) (OTC: BLPFF) (FRANKFURT: 2AD) today announces the resignation of Dr. Lui Franciosi as a Director and Chairman of BLOK Tech effective immediately. At this time the Company will remain with a vacancy on the board until a suitable replacement is found. The board and management of BLOK Tech expresses their gratitude to Mr. Franciosi for his efforts and contributions to the Company and wish him well in his future endeavors. Rob Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of BLOK Technologies, said, "I, along with all my board members and management of the Company, thank Dr. Franciosi for his leadership on BLOK Tech and for his contributions and wish him all the best in the future." About BLOK Technologies Inc. BLOK Technologies Inc. is a public company that invests in and develops emerging companies in the blockchain technology sector. The Companys approach is to provide capital, technology and management expertise to the companies it develops. BLOK Techs Greenstream technology platform is designed to effectively manage value transfer, supply chain integrity and identity verification in complex and highly regulated industries. This scalable and adaptable platform is being developed on the Hyperledger technology stack and with the support of Oracle Cloud infrastructure. BLOK Tech continues to grow its business into adjacent industries and emerging technologies. The Company systematically identifies early-stage technologies with potential to disrupt and innovate within their industry and invests the necessary resources to ensure the success of their projects. For additional information regarding BLOK Technologies and other corporate information, please visit the Company's website at BLOKTECHINC.COM ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Robert Dawson President & CEO For further information, please contact: James Hyland, B.Comm. Vice President Corporate Development, Director (604) 442-2425 jamie@bloktechinc.com Statements in this news release may be viewed as forward-looking statements. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. There are no assurances the company can fulfill such forward-looking statements and the company undertakes no obligation to update such statements. Such forward-looking statements are only predictions; actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks facing the company, some of which are beyond the companys control. Spain's prime minister on Wednesday reiterated his threat to vote against the draft deal on Britain's exit from the European Union at the weekend unless it guarantees Madrid's veto over Gibraltar's future status. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is due to sign a treaty with EU leaders to leave the bloc on Sunday, but Spain's warning over the contested British territory on Spain's southern tip may add another complication. "If this is not resolved by Sunday, Spain unfortunately...will have to vote no, and exercise its veto because this is a question that affects the essence of our country," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a joint news conference with his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa in the central Spanish city of Valladolid. "Right now, as the declaration stands, unfortunately we do not feel represented nor reflected. What we are doing is defending the interests of the Spain, and we will that until the end." Spain has a long-standing claim on Gibraltar, which was ceded to the British crown in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Madrid wants to retain what it sees as its right to negotiate the future on Gibraltar with Britain on a bilateral basis, giving it an effective veto. Although the legal service of the EU Council has tried to reassure Spain that the text does not preclude this, Madrid is upset that the draft Brexit deal does not clearly spell out that it will have a veto over the tiny territory's future status. Before the start of Brexit negotiations in June 2017, the EU assured that no agreement between the bloc and Britain would apply to Gibraltar without Spain's approval. Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borrell had already warned on Monday, after a meeting of EU ministers, that the draft deal does not spell out how Gibraltar should be handled. "Until it is clear... we will not be able to give our agreement," he said. Sanchez's minority Socialist government has been criticised by the main opposition conservative Popular Party for not using the Brexit negotiations to press Madrid's claims over Gibraltar, a tiny 2.6 square mile (6.8 square kilometre) territory which is home to about 30,000 people His government has adopted a tough stance on Gibraltar just as the southern region of Andalusia, a Socialist bastion which surrounds the British territory, is gearing up for a regional election next month. "Sanchez is under pressure at home from the right ahead of elections in Andalusia on December 2 and is making a big play on this for domestic consumption," said Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at research firm Eurasia Group in London. "We don't see it as a deal-breaker, but this issue is the one which could potentially flare up on Sunday night," he added. Separately, Madrid and London reached four agreements governing the relationship between Spain and Gibraltar after Brexit covering tobacco smuggling, police cooperation, the rights of cross-border workers, the environment and one tax agreement, the Spanish government said Wednesday. Sanchez (r) made the comments during a press conference with visiting Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Argentina next week amid tensions between Ankara and Riyadh, the Turkish presidential spokesman said Thursday. "We are looking at the programme," spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in Ankara. "There could be" a meeting between the two men, he said. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are clashing over the murder of Riyadh critic and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, 59, inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul last month. Such a meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between Erdogan and the crown prince since the killing that tainted the image of Prince Salman, known as MBS, who is seen as the driving force in day-to-day rule of the kingdom. The two men previously spoke on the phone last month where they discussed joint efforts to shed light on what happened to Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a US resident and Saudi citizen, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and dismembered, according to Turkish prosecutors. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince. Turkey has repeatedly called for those who ordered the murder to be held accountable but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's reputation has been tainted by the murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month A United Nations envoy met Yemen's rebel chief Thursday to nail down details of peace talks expected in December, a day before a planned visit to the battleground port city of Hodeida. Martin Griffiths, who arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Wednesday, is pushing for negotiations early next month in Sweden to help end years of conflict that have left Yemen facing famine. The diplomat's visit to Hodeida on Friday is aimed at encouraging Iran-aligned Huthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition to keep a lid on hostilities ahead of the talks in Stockholm, a UN source said. The conflict in Yemen, which escalated when the Saudi-led alliance intervened in 2015, has killed thousands and left up to 14 million Yemenis at risk of starvation according to UN agencies. Both sides have in the past week expressed support for the envoy's mission to hold discussions, and violence in the Red Sea city of Hodeida has diminished despite intermittent clashes. The port city has a crucial role as the entry point for nearly all of the country's imports and humanitarian aid. Griffiths and Yemeni rebel chief Abdulmalik al-Huthi during their meeting addressed "what can facilitate new discussions in December", rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam said on Twitter. Abdelsalam said that included "procedures needed to transport injured and sick for treatment abroad and bring them back", a key sticking point during a previous failed attempt at talks in September. Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the rebels' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, said the rebels were ready for peace. "We support peace. We are ready for peace if that is what they (the Saudi-led coalition) want," he said after also meeting Griffiths. Humanitarian organisations are desperate to see the current peace push translate into a more permanent halt to the bloodshed. The heads of the UN's humanitarian and children's agencies said the "recent de-escalation in fighting in Hodeida is providing a desperately needed respite to hundreds of thousands of civilians". "We urge all parties to maintain it," a statement by Mark Lowcock and Henrietta Fore said. - 'Fully on board' - United States Defence Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed on Wednesday peace discussions between the Huthis and the internationally-recognised government look set for "very, very early" in December. He said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- which is also a key member of the military coalition supporting the loyalists -- were "fully on board". Kuwait's Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid al-Jarallah said that the talks may happen on December 3. He added that his country -- which is currently a non-permanent UN Security Council member -- will offer "logistical support" at Sweden's request, without elaborating. Mattis last month made a surprise call for a ceasefire in Yemen and urged warring parties to enter negotiations within the next 30 days. The US has been providing bombs and other weapons, as well as intelligence support, to the Saudi-led coalition backing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, but recently ended its refuelling support for Saudi warplanes. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate has increased scrutiny of Western support for the coalition, and ramped up pressure on Riyadh. On Monday, Britain presented to the UN Security Council a draft resolution urging an immediate truce in Hodeida. The draft, circulated to the 14 other council members, and seen by AFP, sets a two-week deadline for the warring sides to remove all barriers to humanitarian aid. - UN peace efforts - The current peace push by Griffiths is the biggest effort in two years to end the war. In September, a previous round of UN-led peace talks faltered when the Huthis refused to travel to Geneva, accusing the world body of failing to guarantee their delegation's return to Sanaa or secure the evacuation of wounded rebels to Oman. Previous talks broke down in 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to yield a deal and left rebel delegates stranded in Oman for three months. A UN panel of experts has accused both the Huthis and the Saudi-led coalition of acts that could amount to war crimes. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, though some rights groups estimate the toll could be five times higher. Martin Griffiths (C), the UN special envoy for Yemen, descends from his plane upon his arrival at Sanaa international airport on November 21, 2018 Map showing damaged in Sanaa and Hodeida since December 2017. UN agencies say up to 14 million Yemenis would be at risk of starvation if fighting closes the port of Hodeida A Yemeni supporter to the Shiite Huthi movement, attends a rally marking the birth anniversary of Islam's Prophet Mohammad in the capital Sanaa, on November 20, 2018. The United States and South Korea have scaled down an annual joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. "Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis said, adding that it would be "reduced in scope." Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies, and has always infuriated Pyongyang, which condemned it as preparations for invasion. But the drill -- one of the world's largest field exercises involving 200,000 South Korean and some 30,000 US soldiers -- was delayed and scaled down last year as diplomatic detente took hold on the peninsula. And following a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would stop holding joint exercises with the South, calling them expensive and "very provocative". Since then the two allies have suspended most of their major joint exercises including the Ulchi Freedom Guardian in August and Vigilant Ace, slated for next month. But more recently progress in talks with the North has stalled, with the US pushing to maintain sanctions against it until its "final, fully verified denuclearization" and Pyongyang condemning US demands as "gangster-like." Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South to defend it from its nuclear-armed neighbor, which invaded in 1950. - 'Fait accompli' - But differences are beginning to emerge between Seoul and Washington. The South's dovish president Moon Jae-in has long favored engagement with the North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. He has dangled large investment and joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearization, while the US has been adamant pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programs. Seoul's defence ministry said Mattis' comments were in line with their shared view on the need to back diplomacy -- but a spokeswoman added that the question of whether the exercises will take place at all was "still under discussion." Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the South's state-run Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said reducing the exercise was largely expected. "The Trump administration claims Pyongyang's suspension of nuclear and missile tests as the key achievement of its North Korea policy and the joint drills have been postponed as a kind of corresponding measure," Kim told AFP. "As long as talks continue, postponing or reducing major US-South Korea joint exercises has become a fait accompli," he said. - 'No rush' - Earlier this month Pyongyang threatened to "seriously" consider returning to its weapons drive if Washington did not end its tough economic sanctions. And last month, the North's state media carried a near 1,700-word commentary accusing the US of playing a "double game", implicitly criticizing Trump for comments aimed at barring Seoul from lifting sanctions against Pyongyang. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday defended Washington's strategy on the peninsula, noting that North Korea had halted missile launches and had not conducted a nuclear test in over a year. "And I do hope there'll be a summit between the two leaders early in 2019," he said in an interview with KCMO radio. Pyongyang has declared its nuclear and missile development complete, saying it has no further need for testing. Trump has also said he hopes to have a second meeting with Kim early next year, but talks between Pompeo and a top North Korean official, partly to prepare for the meeting, were cancelled. The US said the North axed the talks because they weren't ready, and Trump insisted he was in "no rush." US and South Korean marines take part in a joint landing operation, part of the annual Foal Eagle exercises, near the southeastern port of Pohang US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, pictured at the Pentagon in August 2018, said Foal Eagle was being scaled back to a level that would "not be harmful to diplomacy" US and South Korean forces have been training together for years, and routinely rehearse everything from beach landings to an invasion from the North and even "decapitation" strikes South Korean and US soldiers wrestle during a joint winter exercise in Pyeongchang in 2017 North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump met at a historic summit in Singapore in June US troops stationed on the border with Mexico ahead of the expected arrival of a Central American migrant caravans can intervene to quell violence but will be armed only with batons, Defense Minister Jim Mattis said on Wednesday. The White House has given almost 5,800 troops posted along the frontier guidance that they can come to the aid of any Customs and Border Protection agents who come under attack, Mattis told reporters. But even if migrants try to force their way through border posts, they will likely be met by military police with shields and batons, with "no armed element going in," he added. In all, some 8,000 migrants are currently crossing Mexico in several caravans, according to the Mexican interior ministry. They are mostly fleeing poverty and unrest in Central America's "Northern Triangle" -- El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where brutal gang violence has fueled some of the highest murder rates in the world. President Donald Trump ordered troops to the border in a move critics decried as a costly political stunt to galvanize supporters ahead of hard-fought midterm elections earlier this month. Trump declared the exodus a "national emergency" and an "invasion" -- suggesting US troops could shoot migrants if they threw stones at the US border -- but he has since been less vocal on the issue. The US military is not allowed in almost any case to get involved in domestic law enforcement and the border mission has put the supposedly non-political military in an uncomfortable spotlight. Mattis said he had taken no decision on the duration of the deployment, initially expected until December 15, because that would depend on HOW the mission developed, he said. The estimated cost is currently $72 million but "I am confident that number will go up," the Pentagon chief said. Soldiers from the Kentucky-based 19th Engineer Battalion have installed barbed and concertina wire in Laredo, Texas UBS, Danske Bank, Cambridge Analytica and now Renault-Nissan: the probe into Carlos Ghosn demonstrates the growing power of whistleblowers as transparency requirements tighten in the corporate world. Ghosn, who is suspected of having under-reported his income by half between June 2011 to June 2015, was arrested at the beginning of the week by Japanese authorities. While some information about who pointed the finger at Ghosn is beginning to emerge, the whistleblower's motive remains unclear. According to Japanese media, the he or she works in Nissan's legal affairs service. Jenny Corbett, a researcher at the Foundation for Australia-Japan Studies, said "it's unusual because the culture of whistleblowing isn't very well established in Japan". This, she said, may "suggest there's some kind of internal tensions or struggle for power within the company". For Patrick Wiedloecher at the French Business Ethics Club, the motivations of the Nissan employee, which could be either personal or political, don't distract from the person's status as a whistleblower -- if the allegations turn out to be true. "There are many different motivations for whistleblowers. Sometimes they act to defend the common interest, sometimes to protect themselves, sometimes for personal revenge," said the former ethics officer for France's postal service. He believes it is also part of a much larger phenomenon hitting the business world. - 'Tidal wave' - In recent years there have been numerous cases of employees denouncing illegal practices. A decade ago UBS was stung by one of its American employees denouncing how the Swiss bank helped US citizens evade taxes. In 2014 whistleblowers provided information on how Luxembourg was providing sweetheart tax deals to multinationals, which allowed them to avoid paying taxes in other countries. This year, whistleblowers disclosed how Cambridge Analytica misused the personal information of Facebook users and how hundreds of billions of suspect dollars passed through the tiny Estonian branch of Danske Bank. "There is a tidal wave on the international level" driven by a desire to "battle against an abuse of power" said Nicole-Marie Meyer, who handles anti-corruption affairs at Transparency International France. "Political and economic leaders are increasing being held to account by citizens," she added. - 'Nothing remains hidden' - A study published last year by the Freshfields Bruckaus Deringer law firm that surveyed 2,500 people in the United States, Asia and Europe, found that one out of every two executives had been involved in whistleblowing cases, either by spilling the beans on their own initiative or after being alerted by a whistleblower. "Today, nothing remains hidden for long -- information circulates very quickly," said Widloecher. "The market economy is an economy built on confidence. Companies have to inspire confidence or they are at the mercy of their competitors," he added. A recent study in the Harvard Business Review found that whistleblowers were in fact a sign of a healthy company that had good internal conflict resolution procedures and a desire to reduce risks. "Companies that more actively use their internal reporting systems can identify and address problems internally before litigation becomes likely," said the study by Stephen Stubben and Kyle Welch. Their study also found that such companies were also typically more profitable, with fewer lawsuits and less legal settlement amounts. Whistleblowers are increasingly exposing wrongdoing by companies and their top managers Former UBS Group AG banker Bradley Birkenfeld, who as a whistleblower helped US authorities prosecute the Swiss bank for tax fraud Christopher Wylie blew the whistle on Cambridge Analytica and its abuse of Facebook's data privacy provisions A Sydney woman who allegedly convinced strangers to give her money by telling them made-up stories has been charged with fraud. Police allege the 49-year-old woman targeted car parks across Nepean, Mt Druitt and The Hills, telling people that her mother was sick in hospital and that she needed money for fuel and parking. After being notified of the womans alleged behaviour, police launched an investigation and arrested the woman at Penrith Police Station on Wednesday. The woman allegedly convinced strangers to give her money by telling them fake stories about non-existent hardships. Source: Getty/File She was charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and granted conditional bail to appear in court on December 18. Investigations are continuing and police believe further charges are likely. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Malabo, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Media Inquiries: Jacinto Nguema Owono owonojacinto@gmail.com +240 222 215913 The Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons has commended international oil services companies Schlumberger and TechnipFMC on their proactive measures taken to comply with Equatorial Guineas local content regulations. Both Schlumberger and TechnipFMC have a long history of working in our country, and their recent engagement with local companies, commitment to train, develop and promote our citizens as well as setting up a robust workplace nationalization program demonstrates their willingness to ensure that benefits of oil contracts are shared with our citizens. said H.E. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons. I want urge the entire industry to continue with our policy of building a culture of compliance. We will continue to be flexible and will continue working on making our country the best place for oil companies to operate in the region. The announcement follows the decision, earlier this week, to cancel all contracts awarded to international oil services firm Subsea 7 for failure to comply with local content rules in Equatorial Guinea. National content provisions in Equatorial Guinea are set out in the 2014 National Content Regulations, under which contractors must notably register with the Ministrys local content department and give preference to local companies. The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons is currently completing a local content compliance audit to assess efforts taken by operators and contractors towards local content compliance. A woman has dropped her baby out of a window as her apartment was engulfed by flames. As an apartment in Texas, US was burning down, some residents leapt from third-floor windows onto mattresses. One woman dropped her infant to a man below as he held out his arms, KDFW-TV reported. The woman drops her baby down to rescuers below. Source: KameraOne Other residents were seen jumping from third-story windows onto mattresses dragged from inside the east Dallas complex before firefighters arrived. At least five residents jumped from the third level, The Dallas Morning News reported. Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans says several residents and bystanders, assisted by police officers, went door-to-door to alert others to the fire on Wednesday morning. Firefighters at the scene of the apartment in Dallas, Texas. Source: AP Authorities say three people, including a firefighter, suffered minor injuries. Investigators are trying to determine what started the fire that destroyed about two dozen units. -With AP A woman has died after being shot in the stomach at a home southeast of Melbourne. The woman, 31, was shot at Whittington, Geelong on Wednesday about 9.20pm. She suffered a shotgun wound and was rushed to hospital but later died. A 31-year-old woman has died from a gunshot would in Whittington, Geelong. Source: 7 News A man in his 20s is being questioned by police but is yet to be charged. Detectives have indicated they arent looking for anyone else in relation to the womans death. Homicide squad detectives are on scene and the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online via the online reporting page. The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union. The British Broadcasting Corporation is defending a seemingly bizarre censorship decision in which it chose to blur out the cleavage of an otherwise fully clothed interview subject in a new documentary about social media personalities, according to a report by The Independent newspaper. The documentary entitled Fake Me: Living for Likes aired on BBC Africa and featured interviews with Glamor Pam, a social media star from Nairobi, Kenya, as she instructs a young female protege in the finer points of succeeding as an Instagram influencer. During the segment, Glamor Pam wears a somewhat low-cut bright orange dressand thats what caused the problem. BBC producers decided that it might offend audiences in some conservative African countries as it exposed too much flesh, so they decided to blur out her chest, The Independent reported. The blurring effect, seen above, occurs every time that the woman faces the camera. According to a report by The Guardian, producers attempted to get around the cleavage issue by zooming in tight on Glamor Pams face, avoiding her chest altogether, but in some shots, particularly the wide shots, we were unable to do this and so had to blur, the films producer explained to colleagues, according to the Guardian investigation. The documentary, part of a BBC series titled The She Word, aired in several African countries including Kenya, Nigeria and Malawi, but some of those countries maintain struct censorship rules, which the BBC said was the reason for the cleavage censorship. But critics of the move were unimpressed with the publicly-owned broadcasters explanation, with Guardian columnist Chitra Ramaswamyi noting that Glamor Pam is interviewed by another woman, whose cleavage is uncensored, presumably because her breasts are smaller and her top less low-cut, causing Ramaswamyi to wonder, Is this how the logic goes? Cleavage needs to be above a certain cup size to commit an offense? What does this censorship achieve? It invites you to compare cleavages, to look at breasts as though they exist independently. It makes you objectify womens bodies, the columnist concluded. But neither the cleavage nor the woman baring it is offensive. What is deeply offensive is some media outlets censoring breasts while hate speech repeatedly slips through the net. Photo by BBC Screen Capture Since 2011, the Federal Communications Commission has measured the speed of internet traffic, comparing the results to the speeds that internet service providers claim to offer, in their advertising. But since Donald Trump took office, and his appointee Ajit Pai assumed the FCC chair, the agency has stopped releasing those results to the public, according to a report by the tech site Ars Technica. Following the Ars Technica report, the FCC announced that it would finall release a new broadband speed report on Wednesday of this weekbut that the results would not be issued in their own report but as part of a consolidated Communications Marketplace Report that will combine numerous reports that the FCC previously issued piecemeal, according to the tech site CNet. "It's downright unacceptable that the FCCwhich has been collecting data on broadband speeds nationwiderefuses to make this information public," Jessica Rosenworcel, one of two Democrats on the five-member FCC board, said to CNet. "Why didn't the agency release it last year? Why is it burying it in an appendix to a larger report this year?" The revelation that the FC has been withholding broadband speed data came after the FCC repealed net neutrality rules in June, rules that prevented ISPs such as Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and others from slowing some internet traffic and giving data from other content providers special treatment. Pai has claimed that net neutrality rules stifled competition and innovation among internet service firms, but former FCC officials and well as net neutrality advocates speculated that the results of the ongoing broadband speed tests would contradict Pais claims, according to CNet. "I wonder whether a 2017 report would have undercut the chairman's argument that broadband investment somehow suffered because of the 2015 Open Internet Order," said Obama adminitration FCC official Gigi Sohn. "After all, the data shows that broadband network speeds increased after the order was adopted. If a 2018 report does come out, the FCC should release the 2017 data as well." An independent study earlier this year found that several major ISPs artificially slowed, or throttled, data from heavily trafficked video sites such as Netflix and YouTube. The practice of throttling was prohibited under net neutrality rules. Three United States Senators, Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and Ron Wyden or Oregon, recently sent a letter to telecom providers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon demanding explanations for the data speed throttling, and whether customers may choose not to have their data slowed by the ISP giants. Photo by Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons Out-of-home occasions featuring a savoury bakery item are up 3% compared to Q3 in 2017, new research from analyst MCA has revealed. The insights are part of its Quarterly Bakery & Sandwich Tracker, which also highlights a 1% decrease in the number of sweet bakery occasions to 500 million between July and September. This has been driven by a hefty 6% decline in sweet bakery snacking despite gains at breakfast and dinner. Savoury bakery, meanwhile, gained at every meal time, with breakfast driving the strongest growth with an increase of 15% to 212m occasions. The significant decline in total snacking is cause for concern, believes Gareth Nash, consumer insight director at MCA. However, he noted snacking continues to be the most important day-part. Breakfast and dinner are great opportunities for retailers and operators to maximise bakery sales, he said. However, with over 532 million occasions in Q3 2018, they cannot take their eye off the snacking mission and should seek growth opportunities in a declining day-part, he added. When it comes to specific items, sandwich carriers gained a share of total out-of-home meal and snack visits up 0.5 percentage points to 26.8%, meaning they appeared on 644 million occasions. Within this, traditional sandwiches and baguettes dropped slightly, while bagels were the big winner this quarter, having been bought on more than 50 million visits. Notably, their growth was partly driven by McDonalds, which now accounts for 35% of all breakfast bagel visits. The report is underpinned by MCAs Eating Out Panel, which includes 6,000 monthly consumer interviews every year. The sample is representative of UK adults in terms of age, gender and region, and covers every day of the year. The results look at the consumer trends affecting the bakery and sandwich market purchase behaviours, purchase locations, spend and products. TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Datametrex AI Limited (the Company or Datametrex) (TSXV: DM, FSE: D4G) is pleased to share that Claude Theoret, founder and President of Nexalogy Environics has been invited as one of Canadas top Artificial Intelligence experts to participate in the G7 Multistakeholder Conference on Artificial Intelligence to be held in Montreal on December 6th 2018. About 150 participants selected by G7 partners are expected to participate, including many of the greatest thinkers on AI from both the public and private sectors, as well as from civil society, academia and research institutions for a deeper exploration of practical perspectives to inform collective action. "Artificial Intelligence is a key part of our government's economic growth strategy. It presents new opportunities to generate prosperity for Canadian families through new and innovative high-quality jobs. The G7 conference in December will help us focus on the responsible adoption of AI and explore business opportunities related to AI." The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development We are honored to be invited to this conference and to have the chance to meet and exchange with the leading AI thinkers in the free world. Nexalogys work on AI applied to social media and disinformation is key as we are helping to safeguard society against Fake News and hostile actors. says Claude G. Theoret, President of Nexalogy About Datametrex Datametrex AI Limited is a technology focused company with exposure to: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning through its wholly owned subsidiary, Nexalogy (www.nexalogy.com). Blockchain solutions through its investee company, Graph Blockchain Limited (www.graphblockchain.com), and cryptocurrency mining through its wholly owned subsidiary, Ronin Blockchain Corp. (www.roninblockchain.com). Additional information on Datametrex is available at: www.datametrex.com To stay informed about Datametrex, please join our Investor Group on 8020 Connect http://bit.ly/8020DM for all upcoming news releases, articles comments and questions. For further information, please contact: Jeffrey Stevens President & COO Phone: (647) 400-8494 Email: jstevens@datametrex.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. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance or results, since it involves risks and uncertainties. There is no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume and expressly renounces any obligation to update any forward-looking information, which is only applicable on the date on which it is given. We've detected that JavaScript is not enabled in your browser. You must enable JavaScript to use craigslist. CSRE published the newsletter/magazine SPARK, which emphasized the role of engineering in its social and political-economic context, including especially labor relations. SPARK highlighted and criticized a range of "oppressive" applications of engineering skills and technology, with particular attention paid to the connections between engineering and military. Instead of working on military projects, SPARK's editors encouraged engineers to employ their skills toward progressive, liberatory ends. Ethical Principle: Engineers' primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems. Engineers elevate service to others above self-interest. Engineers draw on their knowledge, values, and skills to help people in need and to address social problems. Engineers are encouraged to volunteer some portion of their professional skills with no expectation of significant financial return (pro bono service). Conspicuously missing from this list is an emphasis on engineering and social justice. While nearly 200 years have passed since the first engineering degrees were granted in the United States, there are still huge discrepancies among groups and individuals who are served by and benefit from engineering and technological developments, which have provided for some clean water and air, safer products (automobiles, for example), and better services. This book is an important contribution in raising awareness and increasing emphasis on social justice in engineering. As noted by the editors, "we see huge potential in engineering to serve society-all of society." They (students) completed a stakeholder analysis to learn about the different perspectives that different groups have, and determine how to best address their concerns. Speakers from a local oil and gas company came in and discussed how they engage the community, listen empathetically, communicate extensively, and deal with difficult social and environmental situations. In 2015, Colorado School of Mines writing instructor Dr. Jon Leydens delivered a TED talk titled "engineering and social justice." According to Leydens, in the mid-2000s students started asking him about how they could combine their "passion for social justice" with their "interest in engineering."Leydens is part of a growing movement that seeks to incorporate social justice into engineering, in both the professional code and the curriculum. Far from being a marginal movement, on the fringes of the profession, it enjoys support at the highest levels.The movement began during the Vietnam War era when left-wing engineers founded the Committee for Social Responsibility in Engineering (CSRE). According to Dean Nieusma, an assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in his paper "Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace: Strategies for Pedagogical, Curricular, and Institutional Reform:"The engineers who founded CSRE were dissatisfied with their role in the world and the careers available to them. Traditionally, most engineers worked in private industry, and many of them worked for defense contractors. For a leftist engineer suspicious of capitalism and opposed to U.S. "empire," this presented a problem.Initially, CSRE focused on convincing individual engineers to support their goals, for example, by not working on military projects. They also made attempts to unionize the profession and encouraged "solidarity" with other workers. However, as the movement evolved, their focus shifted.Dean Nieusma presented his paper at the 2011 American Society for Engineering Education Conference. The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) is the professional organization for people who teach engineering at the college level. In recent years, the ASEE has begun featuring more social justice advocates as distinguished speakers.In 2015, Donna Riley and Yanna Lambrinidou presented a co-written paper titled "Canons against Cannons" that proposed engineers adopt a new ethical code based on social justice. Riley and Lambrinidou began by arguing that engineering lacks a greater purpose, a social good that engineering should seek to further. Medicine's greater purpose is human health; the law's greater purpose is justice; nothing similar exists for engineers. Because of this lack of a greater purpose, the authors argue that engineers frequently behave in morally disengaged ways.Riley and Lambrinidou go on to propose that engineers make social justice the foundation for their ethical code. While the duo reject giving a precise definition for social justice, they offer a set of "canons" as an example of what an ethical code embodying social justice would look like.Some of their proposed canons are vague and innocuous, for example,However, other canons sound more political, such as,or,Many of Riley and Lambrinidou's canons reflect a deep suspicion of capitalism. While they don't specifically condemn private industry, they tell engineers that their primary goal should be addressing social problems rather than making money:The implication hinted at here is that private sector engineers may not be benefiting humanity as much as they could. Of course, that interpretation is superficial at best. It fails to consider the many ways that private sector engineers have benefited humanity. The home washing machine freed people from untold hours of grueling domestic labor, and private sector engineers invented it and profited financially from doing so.Riley and Lambrinidou's most extreme canon would bar engineers from designing prisons, working on defense projects, or working in formerly state-run industries. Although, given that the ASEE website boasts of their relationship with Dassault Systems and Lockheed Martin, listing them as "Premier Corporate Partners," it seems unlikely that ASEE will adopt this particular canon anytime soon.Another example of ASEE's drift into politics is Dr. Karl Smith, who delivered one of the three distinguished lectures at the 2018 conference. Smith, who teaches engineering education at Purdue University, wrote the foreword to Engineering and Social Justice: In the University and Beyond, and is a Fellow at ASEE.While Smith's 2018 lecture avoided the topic of social justice, he is clearly aligned with the movement. In his foreword to Engineering and Social Justice, Smith complained that the National Academy of Engineering ignored social justice in their 2008 "Grand Challenges Report:"Members of the social justice movement have also focused on engineering education. Specifically, they have focused on the way engineering ethics is taught. In their view, engineering education spends too much time on "micro-ethical" dilemmas while ignoring larger questions.At the 2018 ASEE conference, three scholars from the Colorado School of Mines-Dr. Greg Rulifson, Dr. Carrie J. McClelland, and Dr. Linda A. Battalora-presented a paper titled "Project Based Learning as a Vehicle for Social Responsibility and Social Justice in Engineering Education." The paper detailed how social justice and social responsibility were incorporated into the required coursework for petroleum engineers.they wrote.In these classes, the instructors tried to get students to consider the interests of non-traditional stakeholders, such as the communities where a petroleum project would be located:It's fair to be suspicious of what the authors of "Project Based Learning" want to teach engineering students about corporate decisionmaking. Within business ethics , there exist two competing views on the basis for corporate decisions. The traditional view, known as "shareholder primacy," holds that managers of a publicly traded corporation have a contractual obligation to maximize shareholder wealth, within ethical boundaries.The competing view, known as "stakeholder balance," holds that managers should make decisions based on balancing the interests of "stakeholders." Stakeholders would include investors, employees, consumers, and the general public. While the authors of PBL don't explicitly endorse this view, their use of the phrase "stakeholder analysis" should raise eyebrows.I asked Ed Gehringer, a conservative engineering professor at North Carolina State University, what he thought about efforts to incorporate social justice into engineering. Gehringer rejected the idea of using social justice as the basis for a professional code or an aspirational value for all engineers.Gehringer said he became an engineer partially because he thought nobody would discriminate against him for his beliefs. He worries that the changing climate will make it harder for conservative engineers to get academic jobs. In his view, incorporating social justice into engineering sends a message that conservatives are unwelcome.It is hard to envision the engineering profession putting the brakes on this politicization.Left-wing engineers have a strong tradition of activism; they spent the last fifty years building a movement. On an individual level, they have also been very active within their professional organizations. Conservative engineers do not have a tradition of activism, and they aren't as involved with their professional organizations. Because of this, the profession has drifted leftward-and will likely continue to do so.Because engineering is a technical field, politicization manifests itself differently than in the humanities. Politicization manifests itself in how ethical codes are written and how engineering ethics is taught. The future of engineering depends on whether the profession chooses to embrace a broad concept of the good, or they choose to embrace a narrow one that excludes those not on the political left. Iqaluit, Nunavut, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IQALUIT, Nov. 21, 2018 Recent surveys show the Bathurst and Bluenose East herds in Canadas North declined by 50 per cent since the last survey conducted in 2015, affirming the need for urgent action to protect barren-ground caribou. This study highlights a disturbing trend across the Canadian Arctic where many barren-ground caribou herds are in a state of decline, with the Bathurst herd now sitting at less than two per cent of its 1980s population. Paul Crowley, WWF-Canadas vice-president of Arctic conservation, says: The federal government must protect the struggling Bathurst and Bluenose East herds in 2019 by putting a moratorium on granting new mining exploration permits in caribou calving grounds. One of the greatest threats to the recovery of barren-ground caribou is disturbance during the calving period, and eliminating disruptions such as mining activities and exploration will help these herds recover. The Nunavut Land Use Plan presents an important opportunity to protect critical habitats and ensure the long-term recovery of the species. Brandon Laforest, WWF-Canadas senior specialist, Arctic species and ecosystems, says: While we know herd numbers naturally ebb and flow, we are extremely concerned about the rate in which these two herds continue to decline, with no signs of recovery. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada classified the barren-ground caribou as Threatened in 2016, but the government of Canada has yet to make a decision on their designation under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). The government must invest heavily and quickly in the listing process for barren-ground caribou under SARA protecting critical habitat and allowing much-needed resources to flow toward the development of management plans that will aid in their recovery. About World Wildlife Fund Canada WWF-Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca. For further information Antonella Lombardi, communications specialist, alombardi@wwfcanada.org, +1 647-668-4613 Amazon admits that it leaked some users' email addresses and names. But it's not saying how the information was exposed, how many were affected, or otherwise talking to those affected or to the press. From the sound of things, it'll be a Christmas miracle if anyone finds out. From TechCrunch: TechCrunch that the issue exposed names as well as email addresses. "We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted." The company emailed all impacted users to be cautious. In response to a request for specifics, a spokesperson said the company had "nothing to add beyond our statement." The company denies there was a data breach of its website of any of its systems, and says it's fixed the issue, but dismissed our request for more info including the cause, scale and circumstances of the error. I guess the good news is that those who Amazon is certain of having been affected by their leaky ship have been contacted via email and told the following: "We're contacting you to let you know that our website inadvertently disclosed your email address due to a technical error The issue has been fixed. This is not a result of anything you have done, and there is no need for you to change your password or take any other action." What a relief. After all, Who wants to know how or why a snafu that could have a deep impact on their personal finances occurred. Give me a vague explanation of a serious issue, any day. If you didn't receive an email from Amazon regarding exactly who screwed you might be, you might want to take steps to unscrew yourself, all the same. Given what a tasty target Amazon's customer database could be for a hack, it's a damn fine idea to change your account password on a regular basis. If you own a password manager, like 1Password, use it. Frequently changing your credentials up in the name of security is an undeniable pain in the ass, but it's better than discovering that someone in Florida bought 1,400 pounds of freeze-dried meals to stock their Civil War II bunker with on your dime. Image via Wikipedia Commons If you're planning on traveling to the European Union in the near future, you'd best grease up as a new border security project is planning on sliding into your background, personal story and biometrics before you have a chance top step off of your plane. From Lonely Planet: A new EU-funded project designed to ramp up security will put travelers from outside the European Union to the test by using lie-detecting technology. Countries participating in the project include Luxembourg, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, Spain, Hungary, Germany, Latvia and the UK. The iBorderCtrl project has been implemented because more than 700 million people enter the EU every year, and the huge volume of travelers and vehicles is putting pressure on external borders. This makes it increasingly difficult for border staff to uphold strict security protocols including checking the travel documents and biometrics of every passenger, while keeping disruption to a minimum. The project aims to facilitate the work of border guards in spotting illegal immigrants, and contribute to the prevention of crime and terrorism. As part of the project which was seemingly named by someone who's watched Hackers at least 90 times, iBorderCtrl will consist of two parts. The first is a creepy online component that visitors to countries enrolled in the program will have to endure before they leave home. Speaking to a virtual border guard, they'll be asked about their gender, ethnicity and to upload a photo of their passport in order to sort out their visa. The program will also inform travelers of their rights while they're in the EU. Did I mention that while all this is going on, the program will be using your computer's camera to monitor your micro expressions? Ah, good times. Anyway, if the program thinks that you're full of shit, you'll have more fun that most people when you arrive in the EU. The second part of the iBorderCtrl process happens once you arrive at your destination. There, a border guard, presumably wearing a Babadook costume will, continue the privacy freak out and pick up where the your computer probing left off. If the program detected what it believed to be a lie during the online application process, you'll face deeper interrogation than other passengers are subjected to. Using a PDA, the Babadook will cross examine you on the answers you gave while you were still at home. Your face will be compared to the passport photos you sent along and, provided everything checks out, you'll be allowed into Europe just in time for you to catch your return flight home. I get that with so many people crossing into Europe on a daily basis, something has to be done to streamline the entry process and to increase security for EU citizens. But this all seems like a bit much and, in the end, hasn't been proven to keep the baddies from mingling with the EU's goodies. Time will tell whether or not the project is a success or just another way to erode more of the few rights, freedoms and the wee bit of privacy that some of us still possess. Image via Wikipedia Commons Nasty C is a popular rapper in South Africa popularly known for two of his hits; Way it go' and Juice black.' Juice Black featured two famous artists, Davido and Cassper Nyovest. Nasty C is known for releasing great music, most of which turn out to be hits that are played by most South Africans. Nasty C songs are always on point. Many people and especially his fans keep asking how old is Nasty C. If you are one of them, then read on to know the exact age of this rapper. How old is Nasty C - Nasty C biography Nsikayesizwe David Junior Ngcobo is Nasty C real name. He was born in Soweto Johannesburg, Gauteng province in 1997 on February 11th. This makes him exactly 21 years of age in 2018. The saying that goes that age is but a number is fulfilled in Nasty C's life. He has been able to achieve a name for himself at a very young age. The rapper was born in Soweto Gauteng province but was raised in Durban. Nasty C mother died in a fatal car accident, and therefore the 11-month-old was left in the care of Nasty C father. He started rapping at the age of 9 where he learned a lot of musical basics from his brother since he was a producer. Currently, the rapper has two other titles; producer and songwriter. Not much is said about the Nasty C family, the one clear thing is that he was brought up by his father and he has an elder brother who helped him get into the music industry. READ ALSO: Nasty C new album 2018 Nasty C has never stopped giving his fans hits after hits since he started as a rapper at a very young age. He began by releasing a mixtape that he titled "One kid, a thousand coffins" in 2013. Since then, he has been releasing top notch albums. Nasty C 2018 music has been a great success considering that he is only 21 years at the moment. It is a fact that when listening to the rappers music, many people do not ask how old is Nasty C. This is because he is a talented rapper. In 2018, he released the Strings and Bling album which was well received by his fans. The most heartwarming information is that at the age of 13 years, he got an opportunity to perform alongside one of the famous rappers in South Africa known as AKA. He got this chance and performed alongside AKA in a Durban festival. READ ALSO: Top 10 songs in South Africa now 2018 In 2017, some armed robbers raided Nasty C house and robbed them at gunpoint. The robbers were able to leave with some valuables such as phones, a watch, and laptops. The rapper and four others were tied up and robbed, but none of them was hurt. His best friend had this to say to Tshisalive Publication. "Nobody was injured in the house robbery, and everyone is just grateful that there were no injuries because it had the potential to be much worse." The SAPS spokesman already confirmed to Tshisalive that indeed two armed suspects raided the rapper's house and made a robbery where one of them had a gun, and the other had a knife. Nasty C net worth is not confirmed. The rapper has not yet opened up to the world how much he has to his name. Nevertheless, Nasty C car, the new one is such a nice ride, a car that the rapper can boast about. He got this fantastic Mercedez in 2018, and he could not hide his joy from his fans. He posted his new ride on Instagram. Nasty C is a very successful young rapper, and he has never disappointed his fans. Since Nasty C high school years, the rapper has been pursuing his talent, and his hard work never failed him. The question that comes up; how old is Nasty C is never a puzzle, the rapper has never kept his age to himself. He is 21 years old at the moment. READ ALSO: Emtee new album 2018 Best Cassper Nyovest songs 2018 Emtee house 2018 - inside pics and worth Source: Briefly.co.za - Prof Thuli Madonsela has been awarded yet again for her contribution to democracy - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded her the Order of Merit - It's one of Germany's highest national awards PAY ATTENTION: Click "See first" under the "Following" tab to see Briefly News on your newsfeed! Professor Thuli Madonsela has received yet another prestigious award - the German Great Order of Merit. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier bestowed the honour on the former Public Protector for her contribution to South Africa's democracy. The ceremony took place during a reception at the German ambassador to South Africa's residence in Cape Town on Tuesday, Citizen.co.za reports. PAY ATTENTION: Save mobile data with FreeBasics: Briefly is now available on the app Prof Madonsela earlier shared a selfie on Twitter while on the way to receive the award. She captioned it, "On the way to receiving another unexpected award. #Gratitude." Her seminal report, State of Capture, recommended the State Capture Inquiry that's currently underway. She currently serves as Chair of Social Justice at Stellenbosch University. READ ALSO: Cristiano Ronaldo and partner Georgina go wedding venue hunting South Africans on social media congratulated Prof Madonsela for receiving the honour, Briefly.co.za gathered. Her tweet has racked up close to 3,000 likes so far. President Steinmeier departed South Africa on Wednesday after completing a three-day state visit. President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted him and the two held bilateral talks. READ ALSO: Idols SA winner Yanga breaks the mould with career in gospel music Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news! Source: Briefly.co.za - Pravin Gordhan has responded to attacks on his daughter by saying she never did business with the state - He said that all of her directorships were not in her personal capacity, but on behalf of her employer, Investec - He reiterated that anyone with evidence of any wrongdoing should present themselves to the commission PAY ATTENTION: Click See First under the Following tab to see Briefly.co.za News on your News Feed! Minister Pravin Gordhan has responded to allegations put forward by the EFF regarding his daughter. The minister went before the commission of inquiry and told them his daughter, Anisha did not benefit in any way from government tenders. The allegations stemmed from a statement put out by the EFF on Tuesday after Pravin Gordhan began testifying at the state capture inquiry on Monday. The EFF will expose all the dealings of Anisha Gordhan, and demonstrate that like Duduzane Zuma, she used her fathers proximity to score state tenders, except she did not work with the Guptas, she worked with those who benefited from apartheid, the statement reads. PAY ATTENTION: Save mobile data with FreeBasics: Briefly is now available on the app My daughter has not done business with the state Gordhan said, adding that the allegations were a blatant lie. During closing remarks the minister went on to say that the directorships his daughter held were in her personal capacity but rather on behalf of Investec, where she was employed between 2007 and 2017. Pravin Gordhan implored with his critics to engage with him personally and not to choose vulnerable targets. READ ALSO: Malema could be fined, even imprisoned over insults aimed at advocate If there are political objectives that anyone wants to achieve, well come to me and direct your attention to me and I will answer for anything that I will have to answer for, he said. He then repeated his initial response to the situation by asking anyone with any evidence implicating him to present themselves to the commission. The Economic Freedom Fighters have staged protests outside of the commission inquiry every day that Pravin Gordhan has protested, joined by BLF( Black First Land First) supporters. EFF leader Julius Malema has also landed himself in hot water after violating the legal framework for the commission by insulting Advocate Paul Pretorius. This act may lead to the leader either being fined or sentenced to prison. Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news! Source: Briefly.co.za Refilwe Modiselle shared awesome snaps of her Zanzibar vacay, and it looks like she had a total blast. The model and media personality took some time off and decided to head to Zanzibar for some well-deserved R&R. PAY ATTENTION: Click See First under the Following tab to see Briefly.co.za News on your News Feed! Most South Africans are waiting anxiously for December to roll in so they can take a break after a very long year. 2018 has been a difficult year with political drama, petrol prices giving us grey hair, and we recently had to endure a heat wave too! Mzansi needs a break. PAY ATTENTION: Save mobile data with FreeBasics: Briefly is now available on the app Some lucky souls get to enjoy a pre-December vacation, and gorgeous Refilwe Modiselle is one of them. She recently travelled to Zanzibar, Tanzania to take a break and it looks like she had the best time. As part of her relaxation, Refilwe lazied about and sipped exotic drinks on white beaches while enjoying a view of sparkling turquoise waters. She even had a henna tattoo done on her hand and foot. Here are the snaps Refilwe shared with her fans, and we're feeling rather green with envy: READ ALSO: Net worth, mansion and cars: A look at Connie Ferguson's lavish lifestyle Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news! Source: Briefly.co.za Dublin, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Application Processor Market by Device Type (Mobile Phones, PC Tablets, Smart Wearables, Automotive ADAS & Infotainment Systems), Core Type (Octa-core, Hexa-core, Quad-core, Dual-core, Single-core), Industry, Geography - Global Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The application processor market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.63% from 2018 to 2023, to reach USD 38.2 billion by 2023 from USD 29.0 billion in 2018. High demand for application processors for use in smartphones is one of the major factors fueling the growth of this market. However, intense market competition and short life cycles of consumer electronic products are the main challenging factors companies operating in this market face. Application processor market for automotive industry to witness significant growth during forecast period The application processor market for the automotive industry is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. Increasing demand for automotive ADAS is one of the key factors responsible for the growing requirement for application processors in the automotive industry. The rise in demand for ADAS can be attributed to the increasing consumer demand for safe, efficient, and convenient driving experience. Besides, various governments are introducing mandates and regulations for increasing safety features in vehicles with an intention of curbing road accidents. Application processor market in APAC to witness significant growth during forecast period Among all regions, the application processor market in APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. China, India, and Vietnam are some of the major contributors to the growth of the market in APAC. High demand for application processors from the consumer electronics industry, especially smartphones, feature phones, and PC tablets, is fueling the growth of the market in this region. Key Topics Covered: 1 Introduction 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Premium Insights 4.1 Attractive Growth Opportunities in Application Processor Market 4.2 Application Processor Market Volume 4.3 Application Processor Market, By Device Type 4.4 Application Processor Market in APAC, By Country and Industry 4.5 Application Processor Market, By Core Type 4.6 Application Processor Market, By Country (2018) 5 Market Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Market Dynamics 5.2.1 Drivers 5.2.1.1 High Demand for Application Processors in Smartphone Industry 5.2.1.2 High Adoption of Octa-Core Application Processors 5.2.1.3 Increasing Penetration of Application Processors in Automotive Industry 5.2.2 Opportunities 5.2.2.1 Increasing Implementation of Artificial Intelligence in Mobile Devices 5.2.2.2 Growing Demand for Connected Communication Devices in Developing Countries 5.2.3 Challenges 5.2.3.1 Intense Competition 5.2.3.2 Short Life Cycle of Consumer Electronic Products 5.3 Value Chain Analysis 6 Application Processor Market, By Device Type 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Mobile Phones 6.2.1 Applications in Smartphones Will Drive Octa-Core Application Processors Market During Forecast Period 6.3 PC Tablets and E-Readers 6.3.1 Demand for Dual-Core Application Processors is Decreasing Due to Rising Penetration of Quad-Core Application Processors 6.4 Smart Wearables 6.4.1 Dual-Core Application Processors are Most Commonly Used Processors in Smart Wearables 6.5 Automotive ADAS and Infotainment Devices 6.5.1 Penetration of Quad-Core Application Processors is Expected to Rise in Automotive ADAS and Infotainment Devices During Forecast Period 7 Application Processor Market, By Core Type 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Octa-Core 7.2.1 Mobile Phones is Major Application Area for Octa-Core Application Processors 7.3 Hexa-Core 7.3.1 Iphones Driving the Growth of Hexa-Core Application Processor Market 7.4 Quad-Core 7.4.1 Mobile Phones and PC Tablets are Major Application Areas of Quad-Core Application Processors 7.5 Dual-Core 7.5.1 Rising Demand for Dual-Core Application Processors in Smart Wearables to Boost Growth of Market During Forecast Period 7.6 Single-Core 7.6.1 Feature Phones is One of the Major Application Areas of Single-Core Application Processors 8 Application Processor Market, By Industry 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Consumer Electronics 8.2.1 Mobile Phone Segment Dominates in Application Processor Market for Consumer Electronics Industry 8.3 Automotive 8.3.1 Growind Demand for ADAS Boosting the Growth of Application Processor Market for Automotive Industry 9 Geographic Analysis 9.1 Introduction 9.2 North America 9.2.1 US 9.2.1.1 Automotive Industry to Boost the Growth of Application Processor Market in the US 9.2.2 Canada 9.2.2.1 Increasing Safety Awareness Among Consumers and Rising Demand for Safe, Efficient, and Convenient Driving Experience to Positively Impact Application Processor Market in Canada 9.2.3 Mexico 9.2.3.1 Mexico's Automotive Industry is Growing Due to the Availability of Cheap Labor and Lenient Restrictions on Manufacturing and Licensing Operations 9.3 Europe 9.3.1 in 2017 Germany and Russia Dominated the Application Processor Market in Europe 9.4 Asia Pacific 9.4.1 China 9.4.1.1 Presence of Manufacturing Plants of A Number of Leading Consumer Electronics Companies Creates High Demand for Application Processors in China 9.4.2 Japan 9.4.2.1 Rising Requirement for ADAS is Expected to Drive the Growth of Application Processor Market in Japan 9.4.3 India 9.4.3.1 Growing Number of Mobile Phone Manufacturers Setting Up Manufacturing Facilities in India is Boosting the Growth of Application Processor Market in India 9.4.4 South Korea 9.4.4.1 Consumer Electronics Industry to Dominate the Application Processor Market in South Korea During the Forecast Period 9.4.5 Vietnam 9.4.5.1 Vietnam has Thriving Consumer Electronics Industry That Witnesses High Demand for Application Processors for Mobile Phone Manufacturing 9.4.6 Indonesia 9.4.6.1 The Application Processor Market in Indonesia is Dominated By the Consumer Electronics Industry 9.4.7 Rest of APAC 9.5 Rest of the World 10 Competitive Landscape 10.1 Overview 10.2 Market Ranking Analysis: Application Processor Market 10.3 Competitive Situations and Trends 10.3.1 Product Launches 10.3.2 Agreements and Partnerships 10.3.3 Expansions 11 Company Profiles Apple Embitel Fossil Garmin Hisilicon Technologies Ingenic Semiconductor Lenovo LG Electronics Mediatek Nokia Nvidia NXP Semiconductors Oppo Electronics Qualcomm Renesas Electronics Samsung Electronics Spreadtrum Communications Texas Instruments Toshiba Xiaomi For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/vf294c/38_2_billion?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. - A woman has claimed a Tshwane pastor sprayed her with anointing oil before he forced himself on her - She said he sexually assaulted her six times between 2016 and 2018 - He now faces four rape-related charges and is set to appear in court on Thursday PAY ATTENTION: Click "See first" under the "Following" tab to see Briefly news on your News Feed! On Wednesday, a 27-year-old woman spoke up about the alleged sexual assault she suffered under a pastor. According to the Sowetan, the religious leader faces several charges of sexual assault. The 43-year-old pastor, who has not been named because he has not yet pleaded to the charges, is set to return to the Bronkhorstspruit magistrate's court on Thursday. According to the victim, the religious leader sexually assaulted her on six different occasion, which took place between 2006 and January 2018. PAY ATTENTION: Save mobile data with FreeBasics: Briefly is now available on the app She said the pastor would spray her with anointing oil before forcing himself on her, Briefly.co.za gathered. The mom of two said the pastor would wait until her fiance was at work before he came to 'pray' for her. She recalled the first time it happened, the pastor gave her a ride home and said she needed to be delivered from evil spirits, which were attacking her womb and breasts. According to the victim, he allegedly told her to take off all her clothing and to kiss him. He then reportedly pushed her down on the bed and sexually assaulted her. READ ALSO: Cops watch as looters raid overturned truck full of chicken She added he would allegedly send her messages after the incident to say he enjoyed it- and she started to ignore his calls. She confided in another member of the church and stopped attending his sermons. She allegedly filed a report on 13 November. "I was shocked to find out that there were other victims and women who were afraid to speak," she said Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news! Source: Briefly.co.za News / National by Staff reporter Five MDC supporters were last week arraigned before a Kwekwe magistrate facing allegations of beating up a soldier whom they accused of shooting and killing civilians during the August 1 illegal and violent demonstrations in Harare.The five also threatened to kill the soldier.Maphios Magora (30), Tawanda Magora (39), Owen Magwiramhaka (27), Rashid Phiri (24) and Daniel Nzveda (27) allegedly assaulted Witness Mpofu (26), accusing him of taking part in the August 1 shootings.The five are all from Torwood in Redcliff, while Mpofu is a soldier based at Pomona Barracks in Harare, but lives in Torwood.Kwekwe magistrate Mr Tayengwa Sangster released the five on free bail and the case will proceed by way of summons.The State, led by Mr Freddy Ndoro, has it that on September 1 around 5pm, Mpofu was drinking beer at a supermarket in Torwood.Phiri, who was also drinking beer in company of his co-accused, approached the complainant and accused him of restraining them from beating up his colleague who had broken an egg the previous day. Phiri started shouting at the complainant until the other four joined in.They started poking him all over the body with fingers, while some were punched him and slapped him.They also threatened to kill him to avenge for the "innocent souls that the soldiers killed" in the August 1 shootings, which are currently the subject of a probe by the Motlanthe Commission.Mpofu was saved by the intervention of vendors who were selling their wares nearby. Mpofu subsequently filed a police report and the gang was arrested last week and arraigned before the courts. News / National by Staff reporter GOVERNMENT has warned local authorities against engaging debt collectors saying it is illegal to do. Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo said investigations were underway to identify councils that were engaging debt collectors.In a Ministerial statement delivered in the National Assembly last week, Minister Moyo said there has been an outcry from residents regarding the engagement of debt collectors by local authorities hence the need to clarify Government's position."As Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, I have to set the record straight on Government's position on the engagement of debt collectors by local authorities that fall under my purview. As Government, we are relying on Section 9 (2) of the Legal Practitioners Act," said the Minister.Minister Moyo said the said Act reads: "Subject to any other law, no person other than a registered legal practitioner who is in possession of a valid practising certificate issued to him shall; 'issue out any summons or process or commence, carry on or defend any action, suit or other proceedings in any court of civil or criminal jurisdiction in the name of any other persons; or for or in expectation of any fee, commission, gain or reward in any way or assist any other person to sue out or threaten to sue or process or to commence or to carry on or defend any action, suit or other proceedings in any court of civil or criminal jurisdiction or appear, plead or act in the capacity of a legal practitioner for or on behalf of any other person in any action, suit or other proceedings in any court of civil or criminal jurisdiction."The Minister said there is no legal provision supporting the engagement of debt collectors in the Urban Councils Act or the Rural District Councils Act. He said he has not been advised of any legal framework in Zimbabwe which regulates or authorises the operations of the so called 'debt collectors.'"In the absence of such a legal instrument, no authority can be established to monitor their operations and conduct. This is why we have received numerous allegations of ruthlessness and unethical behaviour in their conduct of business," said Minister Moyo.He said his Ministry communicated Government's position that councils need to use legal means in collecting debts by engaging lawyers who are authorised to represent clients or using their own internal lawyers."A circular has been in place, being 'Local Government Circular No. 3 of 2010,' which directed all local authorities to desist with immediate effect from contracting debt collectors to recover unpaid levies. Local authorities need to account for why they are contravening Government directive and yet they are not supported by any statute. Someone needs to be answerable."We have investigations going on and we have communicated to our local authorities to desist from engaging debt collectors," he said.Minister Moyo said he was aware that Harare City Council had since terminated its contract with debt collectors while Chitungwiza Municipality was in the process of abiding by the Ministry's directive."We continue to receive reports from all other local authorities. What remains for us is to investigate and see how the monies that were being collected were used," he said.Minister Moyo urged ratepayers to honour their financial obligations in respect of services provided by councils."If they fail to get our support, they face a demise, not only in their quest to deliver quality and continuous services but even in their establishments."We are duty bound to ensure the survival of these entities we created for our own convenience. To this end, we need to give them support," he said."Where there are serious disagreements between rate-payers and local authorities, we as Government are there to foster constructive dialogue which will usher in a win-win solution. So, no debt collectors, but for those who were engaged, we are now investigating how the monies were used by those who were collecting it". News / National by Staff reporter Former chairperson of the commission appointed to run the affairs of City of Harare between 2006 and 2013, Michael Mahachi, appeared in court on Saturday charged with criminal abuse of office after he corruptly contracted his company to manage the $80 million Airport Road rehabilitation project.Mahachi (66) was not asked to plead when he appeared before magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa, who remanded him in custody to November 30.In denying him bail, Mugwagwa said Mahachi was a flight risk and could flee the country if given bail as he faced a serious offence.She further said since Mahachi's company was involved in the case, chances were he could tamper with the evidence to weaken the State's case.The complainant in the matter is the City of Harare represented by town clerk Hosiah Chisango.Mahachi was appointed as commissioner by former Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo.Allegations are that on May 21, 2008, City of Harare entered into a memorandum of understanding with a then unregistered Augur Investments to upgrade the airport road.On May 30, 2008, Mahachi entered into another memorandum of understanding with the same company, purportedly now indicating to be based in Ukraine.The directors of Augur Investments were listed as Kenneth Sharpe and Michael van Blerk.The project was allegedly valued at $80 million and the terms of the agreement were that City of Harare was to provide pieces of land and service materials equivalent to 90% of the project value and 10% of project value was to be paid to Augur Investments in cash at the prevailing exchange rate.The project was allegedly divided into four phases and was to be completed by 2010.The parties further agreed that the title deeds of the property of pieces of land in Gunhill were to be held in trust by Messrs Coghlan Welsh and Guest.It is the State's case that Mahachi corruptly caused his company, Classique Project Management, to manage the project without disclosing to his principal, the Local Government minister, that he had a personal interest and was one of the directors.Classique Project Management was allegedly paid for its management services by the City of Harare, but Augur Investments did not complete the project despite having been paid in full.It is alleged the City of Harare suffered an actual prejudice in the form of the land that was transferred to Augur Investments valued at over $80 million.Mahachi, in his capacity as the commission chairperson for the City of Harare, is also accused together with his accomplices, who are yet to be arrested, of corruptly awarding the contract to Augur Investments without going to tender.Augur Investments was registered in Zimbabwe three years later after being awarded the contract.It is alleged Augur Investments had no capacity to carry out the project, hence government's decision to withdraw and hand it over to the Department of Roads.Michael Reza appeared for the State. News / National by Staff reporter MPILO Central and the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) will undergo massive renovations soon after the 2019 budget announcement to meet international standards, Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Obadiah Moyo has said.Speaking in Bulawayo on Friday last week, Dr Moyo said the facelift on two of the country's largest referral hospitals will be done when the Ministry of Health gets its budget allocation as it seeks to improve health service delivery in hospitals.The two institutions cater mainly for clients in the country's southern region, which covers Bulawayo, Midlands, Masvingo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South.Dr Moyo was visiting three patients admitted to UBH who sustained severe burns in an accident where 33 people were burnt to death after a Musina-bound bus they were travelling in caught fire near West Nicholson last week on Thursday night."Plans to renovate this hospital (UBH) and Mpilo Central Hospital are at an advanced stage. As soon as the budget is out, you will get your allocations and the renovations begin. We want these hospitals to have a five star ranking," said Dr Moyo."If we want to improve health service delivery we must focus on improving the premises where the medical activities take place."Dr Moyo said the renovations will upgrade the hospitals to "super specialist hospitals in the country.""We want these hospitals to be super specialist hospitals in Zimbabwe."We are going to train more medical staff who are going to provide specialist services, we want you to be popular for offering specialist services."We don't have to be sending our patients to South Africa. They should all be coming here."Of late, many people go to neighbouring countries for specialist health care because hospitals in the country are not fully capacitated to provide such care.The Minister said the health sector needs more investors in order to improve service provision."We want to draw joint venture partnerships in order to strengthen our services. We need investors."If we have investors coming through our health sector we will come up with much better health services and facilities will be easier to rehabilitate," he said.Of late, the referral hospitals have been facing resources challenges and drugs shortages that resulted in some patients sleeping on floors. Dr Moyo urged the health services providers to continue working hard for the benefit of our patients.He said: "Things will improve. Things will normalise. It will never stay like this forever. So I want to encourage you to work hard during these hard times including shortage of medicine and other challenges."Let's try our best. It is through your services that we are able to achieve a better life for our citizens in Zimbabwe."Meanwhile, Mpilo Hospital is appealing for assistance to rebuild destroyed buildings after an inferno engulfed doctors' quarters on Saturday afternoon. News / National by Staff reporter PRESIDENT Mnangagwa heads to Mashonaland West province this weekend as he launches his "Thank You Rallies" to express his gratitude to the people who voted for him and Zanu-PF in the July 30 harmonised elections.Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman Ziyambi Ziyambi told a provincial coordinating committee meeting in Chinhoyi at the weekend that the rally would be held at Murombedzi Growth Point in Zvimba this Saturday."The President is going to have a rally at Murombedzi Growth Point this Saturday to thank the people for voting overwhelmingly for him and Zanu-PF," he said."It's the first rally and I think he is going to have other such rallies throughout the country. We feel excited, humbled and honoured that he chose to start in Mashonaland West province."Ziyambi said people should come in their numbers to welcome the President, adding that the province performed well in the harmonised elections which showed that it was a Zanu-PF stronghold.Zanu-PF managed a two thirds majority in Parliament and won 18 out of 22 constituencies in Mashonaland West province, with MDC Alliance winning in three constituencies, while independent candidate Temba Mliswa won in Norton. President Mnangagwa got 312 958 votes in the province against MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa's 217 732."The honour that has been bestowed on us as a province can only be repaid by people coming in their thousands to welcome the President in appreciation of the gesture that he has made in starting in Mashonaland West province," said Ziyambi.The PCC meeting was also called to prepare for the party's Annual People's Conference in Esigodini. Accreditation of delegates started last week and is expected to continue this week. Briefing the PCC on Government efforts to revive the economy, Politburo member and Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Prisca Mupfumira said the country was still under sanctions."The people should work with Government to expose those who are manipulating prices in a bid to sabotage the country," she said."We are working on legislation to deal with saboteurs of the economy."The situation is being addressed, but the impact would not be felt immediately. It is like someone falling pregnant and expecting to see the baby on the same day."Minister Mupfumira said there was no reason why people should starve, as the country had enough grain stocks in its reserves, before calling for increased production of wheat and soya beans to cut imports and save foreign currency.Minister Mupfumira hailed the unity prevailing in the province, saying it was the bedrock of development.Provincial Affairs Minister Mary Mliswa said everyone should support President Mnangagwa's transformation agenda and efforts to improve the economy. The meeting was attended by provincial, National Consultative Assembly, House of Assembly and Central Committee members. News / National by Staff reporter ZIMBABWE Power Company (ZPC) finance director Hubert Chiwara yesterday told the court that the $5 million payment to controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo's Intratrek was made without former Energy minister Samuel Undenge's involvement.Undenge, who is facing corruption allegations arising from the deal, is currently on bail after he was found guilty of issuing a $12 650 contract to a public relations company without going tender.Chiwara, who is a State witness, told court that he received a message from his boss Noah Gwariro instructing him to immediately pay Intratrek $200 000 without a bank guarantee because the contractors were "making noise".ZPC officials signed a payment release certificate for Intratrek without Undenge's involvement, he added.A payment release certificate submitted in court carried Gwariro, Chiwara and Washington Mareya's signatures.Chiwara said before he asked for authority from operations director Joshua Chirikutse, he received a letter from then acting permanent secretary, Benson Munyaradzi, warning them to stick to the rules of the Procurement Act, but they proceeded to pay Intratrek without the bank guarantee.Chiwara said Munyaradzi's letter was the ministry's position.Chiwara, who was suspended together with 16 other managers over the Intratrek payment, took the blame for the payment because he had violated the Public Finance Act.He said he had no evidence in writing of Undenge's instructions to pay Chivayo and neither did he receive any verbal instruction from the former minister.The State closed its case and Muchadehama filed a notice to apply for discharge. The ruling of the application will be delivered on December 5.Zivanai Macharaga appeared for the State. News / National by Staff reporter Police in Mashonaland East Province are investigating a case in which a Harare man was drugged before being robbed of his belongings by unknown people along the Harare-Nyamapanda Highway recently.Timothy Jiri boarded a Honda Fit at Total Service Station along Samora Machel Avenue in Harare which had five passengers and heading for Murehwa.On approaching the 50-kilometre peg of the Harare-Nyamapanda Road, one of the passengers produced a pistol and commanded Jiri to swallow a red tablet that he was handed by a female passenger.Fearing for his life, Jiri complied and he fell unconscious immediately after taking the pill.He regained consciousness a while later and realised that he had been dumped near Juru Growth Point minus his belongings - $380 cash, groceries and clothes.Jiri reported the matter at Juru Police Station. The perpetrators are still at large. News / National by Staff reporter THE Commission of Inquiry into the August 1 disturbances that resulted in the death of six people and damage to property is resuming today amid reports that MDC-Alliance leader, Mr Nelson Chamisa, is also likely to come and testify.Mr Chamisa was subpoenaed by the Commission after his name was implicated by earlier witnesses as one of the people who incited violence on August 1.Initially, Mr Chamisa publicly refused to appear before the Commission during a press conference where he vowed that he could only do so if President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputies appeared before the same Commission.Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mrs Virginia Mabiza confirmed in a statement yesterday that the hearings are resuming today."The general public is hereby invited to attend public hearings to be held in Harare at Cresta Lodge on Wednesday 21 November 2018," said Mrs Mabiza.The hearings start at 10AM. So far, several prominent people including senior military personnel such as the Commander Zimbabwe Defence Force General Phillip Valerio Sibanda and Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga have appeared before the same Commission. Both Gen Sibanda and Comm Gen Matanga denied that the military personnel deployed in the streets of Harare under the National Reaction Force, opened fire on the rioters.Gen Sibanda confirmed that he heard gun shots from his office at the Defence House before the deployment of the National Reaction Force. They said the people died before the deployment of the National Reaction Force.Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba, also testified and said the fatal incident could have been avoided if the MDC-Alliance leadership and its supporters had allowed the electoral body to announce the election results as enshrined in the constitution without hindrance.Meanwhile, police said they had opened a murder case docket in relation with the August 1 shootings. The Commission, which is chaired by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, was appointed by President Mnangagwa to investigate the August 1 incident and is expected to come up with recommendations on the way forward. News / National by Staff reporter INDEPENDENT Norton MP Temba Mliswa has been blocked from joining the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Lands, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement on allegations that he was conflicted.According to a memo from the committee chair, Justice Mayor Wadyajena to the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda dated November 15, Mliswa had wanted to join the committee where he was a member before the July 30 elections, but his bid was turned down."Being cognisant of the current and past events, Mr Speaker sir, there is strong evidence that Hon Mliswa is a highly conflicted individual in regards to the substance to be addressed by the committee. I strongly recommend that he be allocated another committee as this will enable it to fully execute our mandate in line with the Standing Rules and Orders as read with the Constitution of Zimbabwe without any interference," part of the letter read.Mudenda instructed the clerk of Parliament, Kennedy Chokuda to inform Mliswa of Wadyajena's reservations and allow the MP to seek membership in another committee."Advise Hon Mliswa to secure another committee since the chairperson is not receptive," Mudenda wrote to Chokuda.The agriculture committee, according to its work plan, will probe government inputs schemes as well as the farm mechanisation programmes.Mliswa has been involved in tobacco business through a company called Saltlakes Holdings, which is a subject of the committee investigations.The committee also intends to probe the alleged abuse of the government-funded input distribution programme and it was not clear if the Norton legislator was a beneficiary or linked to suppliers or various projects.Mliswa, who chairs the Mines Committee, has been ruffling a number of senior government officials through his Hwange Colliery Company probe. English French CNOVA N.V. Board and Management Changes AMSTERDAM, November 22, 2018, 18:15 CET - Cnova N.V. (Euronext Paris: CNV; ISIN: NL0010949392) ("Cnova" or the "Company") announces the appointment today of Mr. Jean-Yves Haagen as Chairman of the Board of Directors (the "Board") as well as the appointment of Mr. Franck-Philippe Georgin as replacement Non-Executive Board member, effective immediately. This follows the resignation of Mr. Antoine Giscard d'Estaing from his position as non-executive director and Chairman on November 22, 2018. In addition, effective today, the Board has appointed Mr. Gautier Bailly as Chief Financial Officer of the Company, who was also appointed CFO of Cdiscount, replacing Mrs. Amandine Lezy, who becomes Casino Group Deputy CFO. Biographical information of Mr. Georgin, Mr. Haagen and Mr. Bailly is available at www.cnova.com/en/investor-relations/board-of-directors/; and http://www.cnova.com/en/about-cnova/managing-team/ respectively. The Company and the Board thank Mr. Giscard d'Estaing and Mrs. Lezy for their contributions to the Company and congratulate Mr. Haagen, Mr. Georgin and Mr. Bailly on their appointments. *** About Cnova N.V. Cnova N.V., one of the leading e-Commerce companies in France, serves 8.8 million active customers via its state-of-the-art website, Cdiscount. Cnova N.V.'s product offering provides its clients with a wide variety of very competitively priced goods, fast and customer-convenient delivery options as well as practical and innovative payment solutions. Cnova N.V. is part of Groupe Casino, a global diversified retailer. Cnova N.V.'s news releases are available at www.cnova.com. Information available on, or accessible through, the sites referenced above is not part of this press release. This press release contains regulated information (gereglementeerde informatie) within the meaning of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht) which must be made publicly available pursuant to Dutch and French law. This press release is intended for information purposes only. *** News / National by Staff reporter The Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) is saddled with a $16,1 million debt and now wants government to warehouse it so that it can work on a turnaround strategy for the bus operator now running only 56 buses.Zupco acting chief operating officer, Evaristo Madangwa yesterday appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government where he said the company's revenue has been declining since 2013 because of the depleted fleet which they have been buying from China."Our total debt is $16,1 million and we owe the pension fund $2,9 million, close to $6,9 million in salary arrears dating back from 2009, trade creditors $4,8 million, $2,9 million capital expenditure for the purchase of four buses that are still embargoed by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) and we are yet to pay them $376 000 for the duty," Madangwa said."We hope to approach the Finance ministry to warehouse our $16,1 million debt, and warehousing does not mean that government must take over the debt, we will service our debt later, but now we are looking at paying pension arrears and just want to cede our debt."But MPs from the committee said it was highly unlikely that Finance minister Mthuli Ncube would agree to warehousing of the Zupco debt as he had already indicated to Parliament that warehousing was not a good way of financing.Madangwa said Zupco, which has a staff compliment of 351 against a fleet of 56 buses, was considering staff rationalisation as the ratio must be four staffers to one bus."From 2011 to 2015, we managed to buy 350 buses and in 2015 we bought 50 buses using funds generated from our own operations. After importing them a Statutory Instrument was gazetted where duty was charged on imported buses and they attracted additional duty, resulting in our buses being bonded and warehoused by Zimra. We are left with paying duty for five buses ($370 000). We paid $28,3 million for the buses using our own funds," he said.Madangwa said revenue declined from $10,7 million in 2016 to $8,1 million in 2018."We last made a $3,9 million profit in 2014, and from 2015 we incurred a $2,6 million loss, and then a $9,3 million loss in 2017.He refuted allegations by MPs that they were providing free service to Zanu PF, saying the ruling party has been paying for the services rendered."At the moment, we are flighting a tender process for a transactional adviser to do a due diligence for the company and guide us on selection of potential investors. The privatisation process will address our urban and rural transportation requirements. We will work with the National Railways of Zimbabwe to offer transport solutions," Madangwa said. News / National by Staff reporter Government has shot down proposals by textile firms to hike prices of school uniforms by a massive 300 percent.This comes after uniform prices went up by as much as 440 percent last month.Addressing a government-hosted indaba on prices with business leaders on Monday, Industry minister Mangaliso Ndlovu revealed that some players in the textile industry were pushing hard to increase the prices again."This last proposal was inspired by a conversation that I had with someone from the textile sector who told me that we should expect school uniforms to rise by no less than 300 percent next year," Ndlovu said."They said that, as manufactures, they had not increased prices but from dispatch up to the last person who buys the product, prices were rising exponentially," he said.The minister, however, stressed that government will not countenance unjustified increases."We are not going to allow this to continue, we need to ensure that our consumers are not left worse off," Ndlovu said. News / National by Staff reporter Bulawayo mayor Solomon Mguni has sprang to the defence of his fellow councillors after the city fathers came under a barrage of criticism for choosing to hold their induction retreat in the resort town of Victoria Falls.An outcry among residents, activists and civic society this week emerged following news that the city fathers had slated their retreat, which started on Monday and is ending on Friday, in the border town. Some took to social media to express their views."For us it's problematic, it shows poor prioritisation of funds at a time the city fathers are complaining about inadequate revenue collection, so we believe that BCC could have saved a lot by choosing their retreat at a cheaper place like Matobo Hills," Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (Bpra) spokesperson Zibusiso Dube told Southern News.The mayor, who is also part of the week-long sojourn, said the onslaught against the councillors was uncalled for."This induction is a ministry of Local Government programme, In fact it's one the local government programmes," Mguni told Southern News. News / National by Staff reporter The People's Democratic Party (PDP) led by Lucia Matibenga has continued to disintergrate after one of its top officials this week tendered his resignation due to frustrations.The party's treasurer-general Clayton Jones was elected as the substantive treasurer-general in April during the extra-ordinary congress which was held in the city soon after its split with the Tendai Biti-led PDP."This email serves to notify the party I have resigned as the treasurer-general and member of the PDP with immediate effect," read in part a resignation letter by Jones, one of the Bulawayo South losing parliamentary candidates."I am not joining any political party but will want to focus on my personal business. It has not been an easy decision given the journey I have travelled with fellow party members."The Matibenga-led formation was one of the parties that contested the July 30 harmonised elections under the People's Rainbow Coalition (PRC) fronted by Joice Mujuru.Robbery accused duo freedBULAWAYO - Two Bulawayo men who were last month arrested for allegedly robbing a Great Flavours Enterprises driver of more than $8 000 have been freed.The two, Silence Kangwa, 21, of Tshabalala suburbs and Butshilani Ndlovu, 37, of Entumbane, appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Urgent Mvundla facing robbery and unlawful entry charges.The duo which was being represented by Dixon Abraham of Tanaka Law Chambers was acquitted at the close of the State case after the State witnesses failed to positively identify them.It is the court's case that on September 1, the two accused persons in the company of six accomplices who are still at large hatched a plan to rob the complainant at his work place.On the same day at around 11pm, the two accused persons in the company of their accomplices pounced on the complainant and other employees at the premises wielding machetes and iron bars. News / National by Staff reporter The High Court has thrown out an application by television personality Oscar Pambuka and former Zanu-PF MP for Highfield Psychology Maziwisa to overturn a decision by the Magistrates' Courts to be put to their defence in the ongoing fraud trial.Maziwisa and Pambuka are accused of defrauding Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) of $12 650.Magistrate Lazini Ncube dismissed their application for discharge at the close of the State's case and ruled that they should be put to their defence, but they approached the High Court, challenging Ncube's ruling.A High Court judge ruled that there is nothing improper about Ncube's decision and they should go back to court and defend themselves.The defence case failed to proceed yesterday after the duo's lawyer, Jonathan Samukange travelled to Namibia for a Supreme Court hearing.Ncube postponed the matter to November 26 for continuation of trial. News / National by Mandla Ndlovu Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) Boss Raymond Majongwe has told the nation that his heart bled when he listened to Jim Kunaka's confession because as teachers they went through a traumatic process under the ZANU PF regime.Said Majongwe, "While others celebrate the bravery of people like Jim Kunaka, today my heart bleeds. On 19 February 2008 I was tortured at Zanu PF Headquarters with 10 other PTUZ comrades. Linda died 3 months after. Two more died within 12 months. The party youths did all this. Now these are the heroes? Shame."With all these harrowing stories they have, they must tell us their full story and their reign of terror. We were the first group that was tortured in 2008 and left for dead. I cannot believe the torture inflicted on the lady teachers we had , it was pure Satanic."Giving his evidence in chief before the commission of inquiry on Wednesday, Jim Kunaka narrated what he alleged as ZANU PF's reign of terror during the 2008 elections."There is a high level meeting that seats at the basement of ZANU PF Headquarters. When we lost elections in 2008, we were called by the military personnel. I was instructed that the country can not go on pen and paper. When I asked what should I do, I was told to go and defend the revolution through doing everything. You know what followed and ZANU PF emerged victorious."Kunaka said."When Morgan Tsvangirai was beaten, I will tell you that ZANU PF youths were give riot police gears with button sticks to beat opposition members including Commissioner Lovemore Madhuku."There is a slogan in that party that says you cannot separate ZANU PF from its military wing meaning if they lose they send the military and come after you." News / National by Brian Hungwe Cremation is provoking a huge debate in Zimbabwe, bringing cultural and religious beliefs to the fore, journalist-turned-barrister Brian Hungwe writes from Harare."For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return" - this verse from the Bible holds little sway with many Christians in Zimbabwe who oppose cremation.They want their bodies interred intact - and feel that nature should take its course, instead of hastening a return to dust.Cremation subjects a human body to intense heat ranging from between 500C (930F) and 800C. It is the family's choice to then decide what to do with the ashes afterwards.The contentious topic of cremation is again in the headlines as the municipal council of Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, has recommended mandatory cremation for those who die aged 25 and under.The proposal comes less than two years since the council had said the bodies of children aged 10 and younger should be cremated - highlighting the stark reality facing urban planners.The rapid population growth around Zimbabwe's urban centres means burial space is running out. Councillors have limited options and they feel cremation is the solution.One of the city's six cemeteries - West Park Cemetery - is reported to only have space for 200 graves. And the capital, Harare, is facing similar problems.There are disputes about what the Bible actually says about cremation, but the core opposition to cremation is likely to spring from traditional burial rites.Sprinkling beer required at gravesidesCultural activists say cremation has no expression is African traditional religion.The dead, known as "the ancestors", are symbolic and carry a lot of weight amongst the living. They need to be respected, and to do that you need a grave that you can take care of.There are rich cultural practices to be done at the graveside that involve the sprinkling of beer to appease the forefathers.With ashes sprinkled in "no man's land", this would make the ritual difficult to practise.The spiritual connection between the dead and the living is difficult to disconnect. Cremating a human body entails that sad disconnection. And there is a strong view that this is a foreign culture.What the late Gordon Chavunduka, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe, said nearly 20 years ago still holds true for some: "The philosophy of death in Shona African society says it takes about a year for a spirit to leave the body and join the spirits of the ancestors."If the body is cremated, that spirit would be blocked. Although it would remain alive, it would be angered that traditional burial rites had not been followed properly and could return to punish the family and community."It may also explain why the authorities are shrewdly suggesting that those who die younger be cremated - as they have no descendents or long memories that would require traditional rituals.The council's proposal excludes adults aged over 25, who would be more likely to have children looking up to them in the spiritual realm.'Fear of witches'Yet even on the cultural side there are those in favour of cremation - though perhaps for more tongue-in-check reasons.One Harare resident has been quoted as saying it would be a good way to save oneself from the witches of the spirit world, who some believe can exhume and feast on dead bodies."I will not give them that satisfaction because now they must be salivating, lusting after my thick frame and big bottom. But if I am to be cremated tough luck on them, they can only sniff my ashes spread all over the village," she told the state-run Herald newspaper.Environmentalists have also argued that cremation is a better option, saying that coffins are usually coated with preservative paints and varnishes containing dangerous chemicals such as mercury that can contaminate underground water systems.But at the end of the day, if anything is going to encourage a move away from burials to cremation in Zimbabwe, it is the cost factor.The majority of the population is struggling to make a living as the economy yet again seems to be floundering.As the Bulawayo-based Chronicle newspaper noted, it costs about $63 (55) to cremate a body, while conducting a burial without a funeral policy is about $1,000. News / National by Staff reporter THE Gukuruahundi massacres yesterday dominated deliberations at the National Transitional Justice Working Group (NTJWG) symposium currently taking place in Bulawayo, with participants accusing the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) of shutting out the victims.Participants at the three-day symposium expressed concern at the delay in resolving the issue, saying there were more talk shows on transitional justice that were not accompanied by action to bring closure to past human rights violations.The participants lamented failure by those leading national healing efforts to include the victims in deliberations, showing a lack of commitment to bringing out the truth.Human rights groups say as many as 20 000 civilians were killed between 1983 and 1987 when former President Robert Mugabe, who then was Prime Minister, deployed the North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade in a crackdown against dissidents in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.The issue has remained thorny in local politics, with government refusing to acknowledge the massacres until Mugabe described them as a "moment of madness" in a speech at the Brethren In Christ Church in Bulawayo in late 1999.Gukurahundi was the name given to the Fifth Brigade by Mugabe when he announced its formation and has become the synonym for the massacres.Zapu secretary-general Strike Mnkhandla said while he welcomed efforts made by the NPRC, a constitutional body mandated to look into past human rights violations and the non-governmental organisations lobbying for justice, he was concerned by the lack of action to put the Gukurahundi matter to finality."There has been much talking and no action. The talks are massaging the egos of the perpetrators. More should be done; we are here talking about national healing, but the people who were most affected are out there," Mnkhandla said."It is the victim who should suggest what they think should be done to get healed. We cannot impose a solution to the victim, whether they want reparations, an apology, it is for them to say. Our approach should be focused not only on truth telling, but truth seeking."A former Zipra combatant, one Colonel Magwizi said: "We are not including the victims in discourse, but it should be known that the problem of Gukurahundi is inter-generational. Our children will continue to say what we are saying today."Historian Pathisa Nyathi and former MDC legislator David Coltart shared a similar view, saying the failure to make in-roads in resolving the Gukurahundi issue was a result of failure by programmes to be all inclusive and embrace the victims."There are some people who are violent entrepreneurs. They benefit from violence. There is need to involve the victims and get what they want in order to bring closure to their pain," Nyathi said.However, the NPRC chairperson, Retired Justice Sello Nare said his commission, though limited by funding, would establish an office in Bulawayo to collect testimonies from the victims and map a way forward."We have heard your concerns and we are going to establish an office here to make sure all the victims' concerns are forwarded and become known," Justice Nare said.Earlier, NPRC commissioner Choice Ndoro said the commission was looking at the history of past violations from the Mapungubwe era because there was a pattern in the violence. She said the commission, now supported by political will from President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration, will present the people with an opportunity to know what happened in the past."Reconciliation requires truth telling and should be victim-centred. We will also be gathering the truth. Zimbabwe has a long history of structural violence and the opportunity is now for people to look into it and move forward," Ndoro said.But MDC Alliance legislator Innocent Gonese (Mutare Central) said there was need to examine if there was the political will to resolve past violence, citing political sponsoring of conflicts experienced during the Copac constitution-making process ahead of the 2013 elections and the violence that rocked the collection of information for the Human Rights Bill.Oto Saki, a human rights lawyer, said there was need for a transitional justice policy that spells how past violations should be dealt with, and if there are to be prosecutions, who should lead them and how. The symposium is being held under the theme: Never Again. News / National by Mandla Ndlovu Attorney-General Prince Machaya has said without the express authorisation of the President, the Minister of Defence cannot unilaterally deploy soldiers to assist police.He was commenting before the Motlanthe Commission on the High Court judgement that was issued by Justice David Mangota exonerating President Emmerson Mnangagwa from the deployment of the soldiers to restore peace on August 1."One of the conclusions the judge came to was that the Minister of defence was the one who had authorised the deployment of the defense forces on 1 August. My reading of it is that neither the applicant nor the respondent had placed that evidence in court and therefore the judge or the court reached the conclusion merely from perusing the provisions of the Public Order and Security Act Section 37. That conclusion was not based on facts before the court."Machaya said the ruling is misplaced since the President is the only one who can deploy defence forces."In terms of the Constitution only the President can legally deploy the military in support of the police. How the deployed soldiers behave is clearly spelt out in POSA," he added.Machaya conceded that when read in isolation POSA creates impression that defence Minister can deploy defence forces without authority from the President.Prominent lawyer David Coltart concurred with Machaya and said, "This is a correct interpretation of section 213 of the Constitution which we have said ever since this tragedy occurred." News / National by Mandla Ndlovu Government has finally announced that it will be retiring 2 917 Youth Officers who are still on government payroll be end of December 2018.Addressing Parliament on Wednesday Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube said,"The 2 917 Youth Officers who still remain on the payroll, are being retired and the posts removed from the establishment, by end of December 2018."At its 38th Meeting of 5 December 2017, Cabinet re-affirmed its decision to terminate employment contracts of 3 188 Youth Officers as previously resolved."Most of the youth officers are Zanu PF militia who graduated from the late Zanu PF political commissar Boarder Gezi-initiated national youth service programme which government abandoned in 2003.These youths double as Zanu political commissars during the elections as they forcibly mobilise support for the ruling party.The opposition has, for a long time, complained about the partisan recruitment of youth officers."Drawing from the above Cabinet Resolutions and guidance of the Public Service Commission, Treasury proceeded to mobilise in the first instance, US$5.2 million in December 2017 towards three months Cash In-Lieu of Retirement Notices and in the second instance, US$17.7 million on 16 February 2018 towards the officers Pension benefits." Ncube further explained.Earlier this year Mnangagwa's government made a U-turn and re-engaged Zanu PF's dreaded national youth service graduates, derisively called known as Green Bombers to their positions as youth officers, after they were relieved of their duties in a slew of cost-cutting measures.In the 2018 budget, the then Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa announced that the youth officers would be relieved of their duties and this would see the government saving $19,3 million.But the youth officers took government to court, forcing Mnangagwa's administration to reinstate them with effect from April 1 this year. French English The dog meat industry is increasingly unwelcome in Korean society, says HSI/Korea MONTREAL, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Taepyeong, the largest dog slaughterhouse in South Korea, has been shut down by local authorities, bringing the country one step closer to ending its brutal dog meat trade. Seongnam city council intends to build a community park on the land, creating a vibrant public space where once hundreds of thousands of dogs were slaughtered for human consumption. HSI/Canada rescuers are on the scene and report that conditions inside the slaughterhouse are shocking. They found a large number of empty wire pens that would once have held hundreds of dogs, as well as knives and the electrocution equipment used to kill them. Piles of dead dogs were also found abandoned on the floor. HSI/Canada senior campaign manager Ewa Demianowicz said: It was deeply disturbing to see the inside of this slaughterhouse and to know that millions of dogs have died terribly here. It was a bleak, brutal facility, and a stark reminder of the unimaginable suffering caused by this industry. Thankfully, todays events have brought us a giant step closer to ending the South Korean dog meat trade for good. HSI/Koreas Nara Kim stated: Both as a Korean citizen and an animal campaigner, it was incredibly moving for me to a part of the historic closure of this notorious dog slaughterhouse. I shudder to think how many millions of beautiful dogs will have met their horrific fate at this place over the years. It was a stain on the city of Seongnam and we are so pleased to see it bulldozed. This really feels like a landmark moment in the demise of the dog meat industry in South Korea, and sends the clear message that the dog meat industry is increasingly unwelcome in Korean society. Taepyeong comprises six individual slaughterhouses, five of which will be bulldozed immediately; permission to destroy the sixth building was not secured in time for the closure however all its cages will be destroyed and equipment removed so that it is no longer operational. The closure of Taepyeong comes at a time when dog meat consumption is declining rapidly in South Korea, particularly among younger generations. A survey by Gallup Korea conducted in June 2018 Shows that 70 percent of South Koreans say they will not eat dog meat in future, and a series of recent moves to curb the dog meat trade reflects a society increasingly ill at ease with the industry. Most recently, last September, a Supreme Court struck down a lower court decision to allow dog electrocution (the favoured method of the dog meat trade), saying the method is "too cruel." Over the past four years, Humane Society Internationals pioneering program of dog meat farm closures has shone a global spotlight on the plight of dogs in the South Korean dog meat trade. HSI works in partnership with dog farmers who want to leave the increasingly controversial business, helping them transition to more profitable and humane livelihoods. So far HSI has permanently closed 13 dog farms and rescued nearly 1,600 dogs, who are flown to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to find new homes. Korea Animal Rights Advocates is an HSI/Korea partner group, and the two organisations recently teamed up to present a petition of nearly 1 million signatures to the Presidents Blue House, calling for an end to the dog meat trade. Hyunji Kim of Korea Animal Rights Advocates says: We have been making constant efforts to shut down the Taepyeong-dong dog slaughterhouse through investigations and putting pressure on Gyeonggi province and Seongnam-si. As Koreas biggest, brutal, illegal dog slaughterhouse, Taepyeong-dong is notorious for supplying huge amounts of dog bodies to nearby Seongnam Moran traditional market. Its closure is an historical event, and hopefully may trigger the closure of other illegal dog slaughterhouses throughout the country. Until we achieve this, we really appreciate the support of both Korean people and global citizens who love animals for helping our campaigns to completely end dog meat in Korea. Korea Animal Welfare Association has campaigned against the dog meat trade for many years. KAWAs Iltaek Chae, says: The slaughterers in Taepyeong have long been accumulating their wealth and a huge number of dogs have been killed over the years. It is hoped that the closure of this horrific dog slaughterhouse can halt the suffering of more dogs in the future, and help trigger the collapse of the dog meat industry in Korea. Download photos and video of the dog slaughterhouse closure and rescue by clicking here. Media Contact: Christopher Pare office: 514 395-2914 x 206 / cell: 438 402-0643, email: cpare@hsi.org Humane Society International/Canada is a leading force for animal protection, with active programs in companion animals, wildlife and habitat protection, marine mammal preservation, farm animal welfare and animals in research. HSI/Canada is proud to be a part of Humane Society International which, together with its partners, constitutes one of the world's largest animal protection organizations. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty worldwide - on the Web at www.hsicanada.ca Finance Minister Bill Morneau says a plan to increase competitiveness is what we need to do to lure investment dollars to Canada. Opposition parties denounced the plan announced in Wednesdays fall economic statement. Corporate Canada has a growing appetite for stimulus from Ottawa thanks to billions of dollars in new tax breaks included in the governments latest economic update. The question is, will there be a second helping? The bulk of the new spending announced by Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Wednesday is aimed at mitigating the impact of U.S. corporate tax cuts brought in by President Donald Trump that erode Canadas ability to attract investment. The government has earmarked $14 billion over five years to make Canada more competitive through tax incentives. The measures will allow manufactures to write down machinery and equipment costs right away, and forgives the cost of clean energy equipment. A new accelerated capital cost allowance will encourage investment across all business sizes and sectors by allowing tax deductions earlier than before. The incentives apply to eligible assets acquired after Nov. 20, and are expected to cost $486-million in foregone federal revenue in the 2018-19 fiscal year. The strategy comes in response to a growing chorus of complaints from major Canadian business leaders about the flow of capital and profit south of the border. Business groups, including the Business Council of Canada and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, welcomed the helping hand. But their statements make it clear they expect more from Ottawa down the road. Canadas competitiveness challenges go much deeper than any single tax measure, Business Council of Canada President and Chief Executive Officer Goldy Hyder said in a statement. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business echoed his remarks. Our work is far from done! the federation wrote on its website. We will continue to urge the government to take steps to ensure that your business can stay competitive. CIBC economist Andrew Grantham points out that capital spending growth in Canada has lagged the U.S. by 20 per cent since 2009, long before the Trump administrations corporate tax reforms and commodity weakness dampened Canadas competitiveness. Story continues Hes said in a research note that Wednesdays announcement is a helpful step in countering the negative impacts on investment here from the U.S. tax changes, but unlikely to be a game-changer for future growth or Bank of Canada policy. Economists at the Bank of Montreal and Scotiabank are sceptical that a more forceful government response to Canadas competitiveness gap with the U.S. is on the horizon as the Liberal government nears a federal election. They also raise concerns about the knock-on effects of tax-based stimulus. The new measures come at a significant cost and the evidence is somewhat unclear as to how past business tax rates influenced Canadian investment patterns and productivity, Scotiabanks Marc Desormeaux wrote in a research note on Wednesday. Will todays steps be enough to quell the rising tide of competitiveness concerns? In a word: Probably not. At least not by themselves, BMOs Chief Economist Douglas Porter wrote on Wednesday. While Ottawa will get yet another chance in next years pre-election budget, we suspect the focus will revert back to some key social policy goals (say, pharmacare?) and away from business challenges at that time. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Canada's first academic researcher focused solely on the cannabis plant says he'll draw on his experience developing anti-cancer drugs to help him understand the full potential of pot. Yang Qu was recently hired as the cannabis health research chair and assistant professor at the University of New Brunswick. He spent the last five years studying the Madagascar periwinkle and how to synthesize the compounds in that plant to use in chemotherapy. Qu said his time leading that research at Brock University was successful, and he will draw on that experience in his new, groundbreaking role. "We know something about the medicinal value of cannabinoids, about the major two cannabinoids, THC and CBD," he said. "The information about other cannabinoids that also accumulate in the plant are very scarce, so this is an area that we need to study." Benefits of synthetic production THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the psychoactive compound that causes the euphoric or high feeling, while CBD or cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive compound that is used to treat anxiety and pain. Qu said those compounds are produced by specific genes. "We could transfer these genes from the cannabis plant and into different kind of microorganisms. Potentially you could produce very pure compounds," Qu said. Synthetically producing those compounds without having to extract them from a plant means production could be much quicker. Qu said he hopes finding more medical applications for cannabis will help fight the stigma that still remains even after legalization. "In the past, even in Canada, cannabis is considered a taboo but we're seeing the change of image of the plant with legalization," he said. "Especially with the discovery of medicinal use of the planet we're going to create a very positive image of the plant." 'Direct implications' Qu will begin the five-year position at UNB on Jan. 1. Story continues He said he will focus on three areas: medical applications, agricultural improvement and speaking to private producers and government bodies to see exactly where the research is needed most. He said the latter will be his priority in the first few weeks. "This research would have direct implication with the industry," he said. "I would like to talk with local industry and the private sector as well as government agencies of food and agriculture to set priorities for the research project." Chosen among 40 Qu was chosen from over 40 other people who applied for the position, and was shortlisted among three other researchers. He will spend his time at both the chemistry and chemical engineering departments. UNB vice-president of research David MaGee said every department in the university was consulted in the hiring process. Cameron Fitch/Submitted "You make a decision based on all of that feedback and who you feel will be the best fit for the university, the best fit in the position, and really the person who who has I think a very novel and creative research program," MaGee said. The UNB position is funded equally by Toronto-based pharmaceutical company Tetra Bio Pharma and the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation. Collaborating with STU St. Thomas University also announced a cannabis research chair last year, but the search is still ongoing, said Michael Dawson, associate vice-president of research. The STU research chair would be part of the criminology or sociology departments who will focus "on delivering useful policy analysis that can focus of the social impact of cannabis or the health impact of cannabis," Dawson said. The STU and UNB research chairs would ideally be working together, Dawson. "We're hoping to have a short list of candidates we can interview Sometime in December or January," he said. Dawson said he hopes they'll be at the "forefront" of the cannabis phenomena. At least a hundred people gathered Tuesday night to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance, with a memorial ceremony held at the University of Windsor. "It's really about bringing awareness that trans violence happens everyday and in many ways," said Jayce Carver, executive director of W.E. Trans Support. "Transphobia is very alive and well in our community." Attendee Jamie Defoe said it's important to pay respects to transgender people who have had injustices done to them. "The more people who we can make aware of it and educate to what's going on, hopefully in the end, we can eliminate or at least drastically reduce the type of violence that goes on." Importance of coming together The evening included a ceremonial reading of names of people who died in the past year to trans violence, as well as a speech from invited keynote speaker Sophie Labelle, a cartoonist, author and trans advocate from Montreal. Katerina Georgieva/CBC The content she creates is targeted to trans people, which she said is very rare. Labelle said her message to the trans community is that it is important to keep the fight on. "Many people won't even acknowledge that there is a structural problem with transphobia and the way that we push trans people to the margins of society," she said. "As a community, getting together, to share a space, share this moment together," is important she explained. City proclamation Arwinn Cross said it's "absolutely amazing" being able to participate in the event. Katerina Georgieva/CBC "I love seeing all the different people," said Cross. "Because I'm not really from a supportive place, so seeing all these people here to support each other and seeing all the different changes everyone's going through is just amazing." Theodore Hogan said the Transgender Day of Remembrance is also about standing "in solidarity" as a group and finding hope in that. "Although it can be a sad thing, it can be a really good opportunity for healing and for dialogue and to look towards the future." Story continues Coun. Rino Bortolin was also at the ceremony where, on behalf of the mayor and the city, he proclaimed November 20 as Transgender Day of Remembrance in the City of Windsor. Upcoming rally During the event, Carver spoke about the provincial government's latest conversation around gender identity, which she said tried to erase trans identities as valid identities. Katerina Georgieva/CBC At the Ontario Progressive Conservative policy convention in Toronto on Saturday, the Tories agreed to debate a controversial resolution to consider the removal of gender identity from the province's sex education curriculum at next year's convention. But on Monday, Premier Doug Ford said he is "not moving forward" with the motion. Though Carver said it's encouraging to hear Ford say it won't be moving forward, she said a rally will still be held at the W.E. Trans Support Centre on Sunday to denounce the proposed policy and make sure it doesn't go any further. "We believe that the only way to combat this is by getting together and leveraging the voices of the trans community and our allies to say that this is not okay." By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British company structures which hide the identity of those behind them were branded a disgrace by the whistleblower who brought to light an alleged 200 billion euro ($228 billion) money laundering scandal involving Danske Bank. "The role of the United Kingdom is an absolute disgrace. Limited liability partnerships and Scottish liability partnerships have been abused for absolutely years," Howard Wilkinson, who headed Danske Bank's Baltics trading unit from 2007 to 2014, told European Union lawmakers on Wednesday. And in a sign of the wider repercussions of the Danske Bank affair, Deutsche Bank said it played only a secondary role as a correspondent bank, limiting its need to know about the people behind the transactions. Chief Regulatory Officer Sylvie Matherat said that the German bank had acted once it noticed suspicious transactions, but declined to comment on the volume of payments. Deutsche Bank helped process up to $150 billion in suspicious payments, a source with direct knowledge of the case told Reuters on Monday. Payments made through the tiny Estonian branch of Denmark's biggest bank between 2007 and 2015 have triggered investigations by authorities in Denmark, Estonia, Britain and the United States and caused anger among shareholders who have seen the value of their investments in Danske Bank tumble. Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) has said it is investigating the use of UK-registered companies and a number of so-called professional enablers in connection with the widening scandal, which has already led to the departure of both Danske's chief executive and chairman. Danske Bank shares: https://tmsnrt.rs/2PKHpuE WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION On Tuesday, a coalition of law firms said they would be pursuing compensation on behalf of investors, in the first move to claim damages against Danske Bank. Danske Bank's interim CEO Jesper Nielsen told the EU lawmakers that it had found signs of internal collusion and suspicious activity that needed to be investigated. "It is up for the authorities now to determine the exact level of money laundering and the same goes for what happens to the 42 people that have been reported to authorities and the eight that has been directly to the police," Nielsen said. Wilkinson, whose anonymity was ended by an Estonian newspaper, said this was a "gross abuse of human rights", in part because whistleblowers risk never working again. The Briton said he did not back mandatory internal reporting channels for whistleblowers, although he said it would not have crossed his mind to go to Estonian authorities in 2013 because he trusted his employer to deal properly with his reports. He also called on EU lawmakers to ban non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) such as the one he signed with Danske Bank, which prevent former employees speaking out over wrongdoing. "I took the view that the right thing to do was to take his (a senior executive's) word for it and take the money," he said when asked why he had signed an NDA with Danske Bank. AMERICAN CONNECTION Wilkinson reiterated his view that almost all the money that flowed through Danske Bank's Estonian branch passed through banks in the United States, including one major European lender. "In my estimate 80-90 percent of the money that went through Danske Bank ended up in dollars leaving through U.S. correspondent banks into the financial system," he said. Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Bank of America all cleared dollar transactions for Danske's Estonian branch, sources have told Reuters. JPMorgan ended the correspondent banking relationship with Danske in 2013 on grounds that transactions did not comply with anti-money laundering rules, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday, while Bank of America has declined to comment. Wilkinson's U.S. lawyer Stephen Kohn has said the EU should harmonize whistleblower protection with the United States to avoid major money laundering scandals like the Danske incident. In a written response to the EU lawmakers, Kohn called for the establishment of a government agency where whistleblowers can report confidentially or anonymously, as well as payments of 10-30 percent of the proceeds obtained from wrongdoers to incentivize whistleblowers to step forward. A number of U.S. authorities offer financial rewards to incentivize informants to help recover billions of dollars lost to large-scale and often well hidden economic crime. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it alone paid $168 million to 13 individuals in the latest financial year, up from $50 million in the previous year. It has handed $326 million to 59 people since the program began in 2011. Increased protection for whistleblowers against retaliation, and remedies to compensate them for loss of reputation and income and emotional distress, is also crucial, Kohn added. Danish lawmakers pledged to improve legal protection for whistleblowers following a public hearing on Monday. (Additional reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Teis Jensen in COPENHAGEN and Kirstin Ridley in LONDON; writing by Alexander Smith; editing by Jason Neely/Keith Weir) Watch the full episode 12 of Yahoo UKs The Royal Box here from Friday 23 November. Prince Charles would have tried to stop former Prime Minister Tony Blair going to war in Iraq if hed been king at the time. Charles level of political meddling has been the subject of widespread debate ahead of him becoming king when the Queen dies. Last week, he took the step of assuring the public he would be a hands-off monarch. And royal biographer Robert Jobson, the author of Charles at Seventy, tells Yahoo UKs The Royal Box the prince would have made it more difficult for Mr Blair than the Queen. I dont believe that had he been king when Blair took us to war in Iraq, that it would have been such an easy ride, he said. The prince was very, very critical of Blair over it at the time and used to refer to him as our magnificent leader in a mocking tone and actually said to his closest people, how on earth did Mr Blair take us to war knowing what he knew? The Chilcot report found that the decision to join the US-led invasion was taken before all other options had been exhausted and on the basis of false intelligence. Former Labour leader Blair faced particular criticism after pledging to support President George W. Bush in the run-up to the wear whatever happened and failing to ensure there was a flexible, realistic and fully resourced plan. The Prince of Wales and Tony Blair (PA) More than 151,000 Iraqis had died and 179 British soldiers were killed by the time most British troops had withdrawn in 2009. Charles recently revealed in the BBC programme Prince, Son & Heir, to mark his milestone birthday, that he wont speak out on issues he feels strongly about when he becomes king. Acknowledging that some people have accused him of meddling in the past, for his views on topics such as the environment or architecture, he said: But I always wonder what meddling is, I mean I always thought it was motivating but Ive always been intrigued, if its meddling to worry about the inner cities as I did 40 years ago and what was happening or not happening there. Story continues The conditions in which people were living. If thats meddling Im very proud of it. When asked whether Charles will be a good monarch, Jobson says: I think he will be somebody that will definitely in his role as king keep ministers and prime ministers on their toes. Loblaws is ramping up self-checkout with new technology called "shop and scan" a system that lets people scan their items with a phone app while shopping, saving time at checkout. On Thursday, Loblaws will begin testing shop and scan at five grocery stores in the Greater Toronto Area, and will expand to three more locations in the region in the coming weeks. "Customers can now scan, pay and be on their way," spokesperson Catherine Thomas said in an email. CBC In the race to streamline the shopping experience and reduce labour costs, retailers are rushing to innovate. But not all new technologies prove successful: Walmart recently tested a similar scanning system, "scan and go," which failed to catch on with customers. "Nothing is known until it's really tested out there with consumers and they vote with their pocketbook," said Toronto retail consultant Bruce Winder. Shop and scan explained To use Loblaws's shop and scan, customers download the PC Express app on their phone and connect to free Wi-Fi offered in their store. They then use the app to scan items before putting them in their shopping cart. Stores will also provide digital scales so customers can weigh their produce before scanning. The app creates a barcode for the total purchase, which customers can quickly scan to pay at a cashier, self-checkout or dedicated "shop and scan" kiosk. CBC Loblaws is also working on an in-app payment system so shoppers can eventually bypass self-checkout. "We're excited that this is a platform we can further invest in," said Thomas. So will shop and scan catch on? Some shoppers are destined to reject it because they prefer to let a cashier ring in their items. "I like being personable with people. It's that face-to-face experience," said Dan Morris, of Brockville, Ont. "They're trying to make us do a lot of the work to get some savings, but I'd rather have people employed." Story continues CBC At this point, Loblaws said it doesn't anticipate any changes to its workforce. "This is simply a convenient option for customers," said Thomas. Winder predicts shop and scan will be successful if it wins over customers who crave convenience over conversation while grocery shopping. "If you can save consumers time and it's very easy for them to implement, i.e., it doesn't need heavy lifting to get going, then that has a good chance of winning," he said. Lincoln Ho tried the scan-and-go system at Walmart in Edmonton for about six months, before it disappeared in June. He liked the concept because he could price check while shopping and, at times, found it sped up the process. But he said it proved inefficient at other times because of technical issues he encountered at checkout. "I'm pretty young I'm 35," said Ho. "If I had trouble with the technology myself, I don't think a lot of other people would have had any better of an experience with it." Dan Morris Walmart wouldn't detail why the concept didn't take off, except to say that it's currently testing improvements to the technology, including finding ways to let customers use their own phones. In Walmart's case, shoppers had to use an in-store mobile device to scan items. "We are frequently testing and trying out new things in our business," said Walmart Canada spokesperson Anika Malik in an email. Lincoln Ho In the U.S., Walmart stores abandoned scan and go earlier this year. It blamed customer "friction points," such as having to weigh their own produce and facing receipt-checks at the door to combat theft. "That's why you have to test these things, because if inadvertently you're adding friction instead of taking away friction, that's when the technology fails," said Winder. When asked about theft, Loblaws suggested it wasn't a concern. "Canadians have been responsibly checking out their own products for decades," said Thomas. Scan and go lives on Despite its setbacks, Walmart in the U.S. hasn't completely dropped scan and go. The retailer reports that at its big-box membership store, Sam's Club, shoppers have actually embraced it. As a result, Walmart opened its first Sam's Club Now last week in Texas, a cashierless store where shoppers can only purchase items using the scan-and-go app on their mobile phones. The store still has employees, called "member hosts," who offer in-store assistance. "As shopping preferences evolve, we'll give members and customers options to shop in new ways," said U.S.-based Walmart spokesperson Carrie McKnight in an email. But ultimately, shoppers will get to decide if what retailers are offering will be part of their shopping experience of the future. Dublin, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global and China Elevator Industry Report, 2018-2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. In 2017, a total of 793,000 new elevators were sold globally, a slight rise of 3% from a year earlier, thanks to the increased demand from Asia-Pacific and Europe, bringing global elevator ownership to estimated 14.5 million units. It is predicted that in 2018 global new elevator sales will sustain growth in the context that global economy is on a steady rise, expectedly reaching 813,000 units with a year-on-year increase of 2.5%. Globally, most elevators are produced and sold in Asia-Pacific region and China is the largest producer and consumer of elevators. World-renowned elevator brands have set up their either own companies or joint ventures in China, making the country a center of global elevator production. New elevator market: In 2017, around 480,000 elevators were sold in China, up 2.1% year on year driven by the property market growth. Shanghai Mechanical & Electrical Industry Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Guangri Stock Co., Ltd. and Canny Elevator (except for players with smaller business scale, like SJEC Corporation and Shenyang Yuanda Intellectual Industry Group) saw a varied increase in new elevator sales, of which Shanghai Mechanical & Electrical Industry Co., Ltd. reached the highest 75,600 units, a year-on-year increase of 9.4%, a 15.8% share of the total. Under the impetus of urbanization, aging population, fast-growing urban rail transit, enforcement of the policy for elevator installation in old buildings as well as a growing number of old elevators to be replaced, Chinese elevator market will continue to grow steadily in the next five years, and till 2022 the sales of new elevators is anticipated to record 560,000 units. Maintenance Market: The ownership of elevators has been climbing in China year after year. By the end of 2017, there had been a total of 4.8 million elevators in China. Higher ownership has contributed to the robust elevator maintenance business. Assuming the maintenance cost of RMB8,000/year for each elevator, Chinese elevator maintenance market size now reaches RMB38.4 billion and will fetch RMB52 billion by 2022. At present, Chinese elevator maintenance market is in a state of disorderly competition. As the elevator maintenance is featured with high gross margin and huge market space, Chinese and foreign brands attach great importance to the development of the maintenance business, and they have rushed into the maintenance market successively. In the future, Chinese elevator maintenance market will be developing in an orderly and sound way. Key Topics Covered: 1. Overview of Elevator Industry 1.1 Definition and Classification 1.2 Policy Environment 2. Development of Global Elevator Industry 2.1 New Elevator Market 2.1.1 Sales Volume 2.1.2 New Elevator Sales by Region 2.2 Maintenance Market 2.2.1 Elevator Ownership 2.2.2 Maintenance Market Becomes a Major Growth Engine 2.3 Competitive Landscape 2.4 Development Mode 2.4.1 Two Modes 2.4.2 Business Development in Asia Pacific 2.4.3 Global Expansion 3. Development of China Elevator Industry 3.1 Product Structure 3.2 New Elevator Market 3.2.1 Status Quo 3.2.2 Sales Volume 3.2.3 Sales Volume of Major Enterprises 3.2.4 Market Size of Newly-installed Elevators 3.3 Maintenance Market 3.3.1 Status Quo 3.3.2 Elevator Ownership 3.3.3 Maintenance Market Size 3.3.4 Layout of Domestic Elevator Manufacturers in Maintenance Market 3.3.5 Maintenance Business Comparison between Major Enterprises 3.4 Import and Export 3.4.1 Import Tends to Decline 3.4.2 Export Grows Steadily 3.4.3 Import and Export Unit Price 3.5 Competitive Landscape 3.5.1 Layout of Foreign Brands in China 3.5.2 Financing of Local Enterprises 3.5.3 Operating Result Comparison between Major Enterprises 3.6 Summary & Forecast 3.6.1 New Elevator Keeps growing sales 3.6.2 Intelligent Manufacturing to become transformation direction of elevator enterprises 3.6.3 Maintenance Service to realize industrialization 3.6.4 Industry concentration to be enhanced further 4. Demand of China Elevator Industry 4.1 Downstream Demand Structure 4.2 Demand Composition 4.3 Influencing Factors 4.3.1 Real Estate Sector 4.3.2 Urbanization 4.3.3 Aging Population 4.3.4 Urban Rail Transit 4.3.5 Renewal and Upgrading of Old Elevators 5. Key Elevator Companies in China 5.1 Shanghai Mechanical & Electrical Industry Co., Ltd. 5.2 Guangzhou Guangri Stock Co., Ltd. 5.3 Canny Elevator Co., Ltd. 5.4 SJEC Corporation 5.5 Shenyang Yuanda Intellectual Industry Group Co., Ltd. 5.6 Dongnan Elevator Co., Ltd. 5.7 Shandong Bunse Elevator Co., Ltd. 5.8 Hunan Sinda Elevator Co., Ltd. 5.9 Rhine Elevator 5.10 Shenlong Elevator Co., Ltd. 6. Key Foreign Elevator Companies 6.1 Otis 6.2 Hitachi 6.3 Schindler 6.4 ThyssenKrupp 6.5 Toshiba 6.6 Fujitec 6.7 Kone For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hsk5pj/global_elevator?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Some legal scholars believe women that get abortions could be charged with murder under the legislation. COLUMBUS, OH While the debate swirls around another Ohio "Heartbeat" bill, which would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, the Ohio House is considering an even more severe and extensive abortion bill. This time, patients that undergo an abortion, and the doctors that perform abortions, could possibly be punished with the death penalty. Ohio House Bill 565 openly states it is designed for the "abolition of abortion in the state of Ohio and the protection of unborn humans." In equating a fetus unequivocally with an "unborn human" it opens the possibility that patients and doctors involved in abortions could be charged with murder. That carries sentences of life in prison or, possibly, the death penalty in Ohio. Mary Ziegler, a professor at Florida State University's College of Law, told Newsweek that House Bill 565 would put severe penalties "on the table" for women that get abortions. She told the publication that while HB 565 "doesn't actually say that women would get the death penalty," it does "treat abortion as homicide and pretty clearly includes women having abortions among people who could be punished for having abortions." The legislation was introduced in March and taken to committee in June. It hasn't gained much traction. The Ohio House did pass another Heartbeat Bill this month, which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, or if a heartbeat can be detected in a fetus. That legislation passed Thursday and heads to the Ohio Senate for consideration. Under the Heartbeat Bill, doctors could be charged with felonies for performing abortions after a heartbeat is detected, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Term-limited Governor John Kasich has said he will again veto the Heartbeat Bill if it makes it to his desk. A similar piece of legislation was vetoed by Kasich in December 2016. It's not yet clear what Governor-elect Mike DeWine might do if presented with the bill. Story continues The point is: its time. It doesnt matter if the governor is with us or against us," Rep. Christina Hagan, a Republican from Stark County, told the Enquirer. "Motherhood isnt easy but its necessary." With two pieces of legislation that seek to restrict abortions in Ohio working their way through Ohio's Congress, many are speculating that these bills are a Trojan Horse. They're not geared specifically to be enacted in Ohio, but to challenge the landmark Roe vs Wade decision in the U.S. Supreme Court. Business Insider said there are currently 13 legal challenges to Roe vs Wade in the "pipeline" across the United States. "We're concerned [Ohio] is the first of several states that will try to ban abortion, which is why people need to stay vigilant," Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project told Business Insider. "I was a little surprised that Ohio was so quick to do so, and it makes me deeply concerned that other states will be acting quickly when the legislatures come back in session in 2019 in other states." The full text of the so-called Heartbeat bill can be found by clicking here. The full text of Ohio House Bill 565 can be found by clicking here. (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. And like Patch on Facebook!) Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images A vocal critic of hydroelectric development in Labrador says the public inquiry into the controversial project is revealing how Nalcor "stumbled" upon the Muskrat Falls option after others failed. And David Vardy says the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will now have to pay the price. "The grand picture here is that there's been a stumbling along the way," Vardy told reporters. Vardy, a member of the Muskrat Falls Concerned Citizens Coalition and an economist, once served as the province's top civil servant. He also served as chairman of Newfoundland and Labrador's public utilities board for seven years. I think the people of Newfoundland have cause to be gravely concerned about the course of this whole saga that's unfolding before us here in the commission. - David Vardy He made this comment Wednesday after Paul Harrington, project director for Muskrat Falls, concluded two-and-a-half days of testimony: "I think the people of Newfoundland have cause to be gravely concerned about the course of this whole saga that's unfolding before us here in the commission." Desperate to build a megaproject Vardy is closely following the testimony, and his group has full standing at the inquiry. It's clear from the evidence that Nalcor and the provincial government desperately wanted to build a hydro project on the Churchill River, and it took nearly five years and many millions before a plan was finally settled upon, he said. "What we're seeing here is a project that began without a clear focus," Vardy said. Terry Roberts/CBC Nalcor initially pursued a development of the larger Gull Island option, with the hope of selling electricity to Quebec, Ontario and elsewhere, and attracting the aluminum smelting industry to Labrador. Vardy described this as "grandiose notions of megaprojects that would transform the province through export revenues or through industrialization in Labrador." Story continues But by 2010, Gull Island floundered because of opposition in Quebec and an inability to provide power cheap enough to entice industry to Labrador. 'Disaster from the beginning' So the focus shifted to the smaller Muskrat option, and the argument that it would be the least-cost option for Newfoundland's future electricity needs. "The only thing that's constant throughout all of this is the Lower Churchill. We wanted to build a megaproject on the Lower Churchill," said Vardy, adding that other, less risky options were rejected before sufficient research could be completed. And despite requests for proposals from outside the province, documents suggest former premier Danny Williams favoured the so-called go-it-alone approach as early as 2006, with Harrington referencing Williams' "strong preference" for this in one of his first reports. That's exactly what happened. Muskrat was sanctioned in late 2012, with the provincial government agreeing to pay any cost overruns, and electricity consumers in the province having to cover the cost of building the project. Vardy said Muskrat was a "disaster from the beginning." We were building a project far bigger than anything we needed for a province of 500,000 people, with demographic projections showing a decline. - David Vardy All-in costs have ballooned by more than $5 billion to nearly $13 billion (Vardy believes it will eventually go billions higher), and first power is not expected until 2019, two years behind schedule. "We were building a project far bigger than anything we needed for a province of 500,000 people, with demographic projections showing a decline," Vardy said. An onslaught of questions Harrington, meanwhile, joined what's called the Lower Churchill Project in late 2005, and was hand-picked by former Nalcor CEO Ed Martin. Terry Roberts/CBC He served as overall project director for about a decade, earning just under $1,700 daily as a contractor. His role changed in 2016 after incoming CEO Stan Marshall, Martin's replacement, restructured things and put Harrington in charge of electricity generation at Muskrat Falls. His day-rate has since increased to just under $2,000, though Vardy has no issue with Harrington's rate of pay. "In my opinion that rate of pay is not unreasonable for a project leader of a $12.7 billion project. I don't think this is a big issue," Vardy said. A group of oil men running a hydro project Like many in the project's inner circle, Harrington's background is in oil and gas. Muskrat was the first time he was tapped to direct a major project, with the responsibility to ensure schedule and cost estimates were delivered on time and on budget. Terry Roberts/CBC Harrington faced a steady onslaught of questions about his experience and his role in the project, with considerable scrutiny on whether or not he did enough to highlight the risks, considering hydro projects are notorious for cost and schedule overruns. But Harrington defended his work in the period leading up to project sanctioning, saying he followed industry practices and apprised Martin and Gilbert Bennett, another senior Nalcor executive, of the risks. All I can do is identify what I believe to be the residual strategic risks. - Paul Harrington "It's not my decision to decide that," Harrington said of the controversial decision to exclude any strategic risk allowance from the final cost estimates. "All I can do is identify what I believe to be the residual strategic risks." Vardy, meanwhile, said Harrington's testimony is further evidence that oversight and critical reviews were sorely lacking. Vardy said a revelation that an independent review team was given just two weeks to scrutinize the project in 2012, several months prior to sanctioning, was "absurd." "Things were too pre-determined. Not enough latitude there for a free-ranging inquiry," he said. Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador By Joe Brock PRETORIA (Reuters) - When U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to investigate large scale killings of white farmers in South Africa and violent takeovers of land, Pretoria said he was misinformed. Elsewhere, there was quiet satisfaction. For a little-known South African activist group, Trump's intervention, following a Fox News show criticizing the land reform plans of President Cyril Ramaphosa's ruling African National Congress, signaled a job well done. "The best possible outcome that we hoped for was for a statement by the president of the USA, which we got," Ernst Roets, deputy CEO of Afriforum, told Reuters in his office in a quiet suburb of the capital. The office walls display photographs of street protests by Afriforum, stepped up this year against land distribution plans and what it calls the targeted killing of white farmers. In South Africa, no land has been seized and while violent crime is a huge problem, the vast majority of victims are poor and black. Of 20,000 murders in the last recorded year, 46 were white people killed on farms, according to police data. Afriforum is an interest group representing Afrikaners - the 5 percent of the population descended mainly from Dutch, German and French settlers. It belongs to a wider movement called Solidarity, which has grown from a 100-year-old trade union into a sprawling and well-resourced organization offering education and training and a range of other services in Afrikaans. Ramaphosa's vague pledge this year to pursue land expropriation without compensation to right the wrongs of apartheid has given new impetus to both groups, who have brushed aside his insistence he will protect property rights. Critics, including some prominent Afrikaners, accuse them of stirring racial fears at a time when Ramaphosa is trying to defuse threats of unrest from a far-left party. Solidarity says it reflects fears rather than stirring them. "On expropriation, they can't threaten that sort of thing and not expect a reaction," Flip Buys, chairman of the umbrella movement, said by telephone. "Some battles you must fight. We must save the country from what happened in Zimbabwe," he said, referring to the widespread violent takeover of white-owned farms in the early 2000s. More fringe white groups, including the survivalist Suidlanders, have been warning for decades that Afrikaners are under threat. But Solidarity and Afriforum are working at a different level, holding prominent protests, lobbying foreign governments and preparing to approach the United Nations to request land expropriation be recognized as a breach of human rights. Afriforum and COPE, a party formed by dissident ANC members with three seats in parliament, said they met senior U.S. embassy officials on Monday to ask Washington to put pressure on South Africa to protect property rights. The U.S. embassy said COPE and AfriForum delivered a petition to one of its officials. HIJACKED Conversations with a dozen members of Afriforum at its rallies and elsewhere, reviews of its social media accounts and private text messages sent by its members reveal an increasingly influential movement with an agenda that divides South Africa. Roets had appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show in May where they spoke about what they called targeted killings of white farmers and plans to take land along racial lines. The government, academics and a wide range of commentators say neither is happening, but right-wing journalists from Canada, Britain and Australia have made programs on the issue. "Afriforum has understood this emergence of white chauvinist identities around the world and is manipulating it for its own ends," said Adam Habib, vice-chancellor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. "The problem with that is it will fracture our communities." Max du Preez, an Afrikaans-speaking author and commentator, said Afriforum did not represent the community and did it a disservice by making it seem racist. "If black people want to insult an Afrikaner they call him Afriforum," he said. Roets denies Afriforum preys on white people's fears and said it was employing the same tactics as the ANC used in the 1980s to build pressure on the apartheid government. "We learnt from the best. We have found the South African government is very sensitive to international criticism." Trump's intervention stole the limelight during Ramaphosa's high-profile visit to the U.N. general assembly in September. Ramaphosa made light of Trump's comments but an ANC source said he was very angry. Every president since Nelson Mandela led South Africa out of white-minority rule in 1994 has tried, and largely failed, to redress an imbalance whereby whites - nine percent of 56 million South Africans - own more than 70 percent of agricultural land. Ramaphosa is competing in next year's election with a far-left party exploiting anger at persistent rural destitution among blacks alongside wealthy, white-owned commercial farms. That party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, has threatened to nationalize all land and urged people to occupy it - calls which have so-far gone unheeded beyond a few groups erecting shacks on unused plots. Ramaphosa, who replaced scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma in February, has said reforms will not harm the economy, investment or food security and that unused land in towns and cities would be a high priority. He has given few details, but has the support of most big businesses and foreign investor community. Trump's tweet unnerved investors and drove down the rand and share prices, although they subsequently recovered. "I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers," it said. A U.S. embassy spokesman said it was continuing to evaluate various issues, including land, as normal. STATE WITHIN A STATE Solidarity contains around 20 organizations, including a media company, a university and an investment fund. Its half a million members pay fees and a property portfolio and stock market investments are among other funding sources. Reuters spoke to Afriforum members who believed the Afrikaner community was under threat and felt Solidarity was the only support network they could rely on. Some described Solidarity as a "state within a state". Roets said Afriforum's membership was growing but it had no intention of trying to carve out a de-facto white state. "There are certain buzzwords that we like to use and we encourage among our membership and those are words like 'self-reliance' like 'self-help' like 'independence'," he said. "If you want to describe that as a 'state within a state' that's fine." The Suidlanders, meanwhile, are preparing for battle. In an isolated outpost town on the Orange River, they say they expect an "imminent" racial civil war. Hoarding guns, clothes and food in bunkers hidden in the dry barren landscape, its growing membership has drawn up a detailed plan to carve off a section of the country. "Some people think we are racists. It's totally not the case. We are purely and simply a civil defense organization," Suidlanders spokesman Simon Roche told Reuters. Roche, who showed Reuters caravans filled with supplies ready for when "war" breaks out, says he has traveled to Washington and Europe to meet with likeminded groups and with politicians, although he declined to name them. "We must tell the world what is coming. People can call us conspiracy theorists. Soon we will see who was right." (Reporting by Joe Brock; additional reporting by Shafiek Tassiem; editing by Philippa Fletcher) By Arshad Mohammed and Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has moved to disrupt an Iranian-Russian network that it said had sent millions of barrels of oil to Syria and hundreds of millions of dollars to indirectly fund militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. The complicated arrangement, described by the U.S. Treasury in a statement on Tuesday, involved a Syrian citizen allegedly using his Russia-based company to ship Iranian oil to Syria with the aid of a Russian state-owned company. Syria then helped transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in cash to Hezbollah, which functions as a political party that is part of the Lebanese government and as a militia, as well as to Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules the Gaza Strip. The U.S. Treasury Department alleged that since 2014, vessels carrying Iranian oil have switched off transponders to conceal deliveries to Syria. The Treasury, the State Department and the U.S. Coast Guard have issued an advisory to the maritime community about the sanctions risks of shipping oil to Syria's government. Russia will continue supplying oil to Syria in line with its agreement with Damascus despite pressure from the United States, RIA news agency quoted Oleg Morozov, a member of the Russian Federation Council, as saying late on Tuesday. "The political defeat in Syria apparently prompts the United States to return to the idea of regime change in Damascus. Therefore, economic pressure through oil supply shutdown becomes a tool of the new economic war with (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad and indirectly with Moscow and Iran," he said. Morozov said Russia acts and will act "absolutely legally". "We have an agreement with Syria and therefore it's up to us to decide what we supply and to whom. This will be our answer, (it is) much more effective than counter-sanctions," he added. The Russian Energy Ministry declined immediate comment. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman called the sanctions "fruitless, illogical and inefficient". Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA on Wednesday: "Those who designed and implemented these sanctions will understand sooner or later that they will not achieve their goals." The alleged arrangement shows how Russia has sought to undercut U.S. policy toward Syria, where Washington and Moscow back opposite sides of a civil war that began in 2011, as well as toward Iran, which the United States wants to curb its nuclear and missile programs and support for militant proxies. "Today we are acting against a complex scheme Iran and Russia have used to bolster the Assad regime and generate funds for Iranian malign activity," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement announcing sanctions on those it said were tied to the network. "Central Bank of Iran officials continue to exploit the international financial system," he added. TARGETS Richard Nephew, a sanctions expert at Columbia University, said: "The arrangement exposes Russia's efforts to support Assad for their own interests, which has the function of thwarting the U.S. desire to no longer have Assad in power." Those targeted include Syrian Mohammad Amer Alchwiki and his Russia-based company Global Vision Group, which were central to the delivery of Iranian oil to Syria and the transfer of funds to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force's "lethal proxies", the Treasury Department said in a statement. Other targets include Syrian national Hajji Abd Al-Nasir, Lebanese national Muhammad Qasim Al-Bazzal and Russian national Andrey Dogaev, as well as Iranian nationals Rasoul Sajjad and Hossein Yaghoubi Miab, the statement said. Sajjad and Yaghoubi, Central Bank of Iran officials, worked to facilitate Alchwiki's transfers, it said. Others sanctioned include state-owned Russian company Promsyrioimport, a subsidiary of the Russian Energy Ministry, which the U.S. Treasury alleges had facilitated shipments of Iranian oil to Syria, as well as Mir Business Bank and Iran-based Tadbir Kish Medical and Pharmaceutical Company. The Treasury's "designation" of the individuals and entities effectively cuts them off from the global financial system by blocking any of their assets under U.S. jurisdiction and in effect warning non-U.S. institutions against dealing with them. The United States is at odds with Britain, France and Germany as well as with Russia and China over U.S. President Donald Trump's May 8 decision to abandon the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, negotiated with the other world powers during Democratic President Barack Obama's administration. That agreement removed many U.S. and other economic sanctions from Iran in return for Tehran's commitment to curtail its nuclear program. Trump restored U.S. sanctions on Nov. 5 and has threatened more action to stop its "outlaw" policies. Iran, in turn, called Trump's actions economic warfare and vowed to defy the sanctions. European powers that continue to back the nuclear deal said they opposed the reapplication of sanctions. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Lisa Lambert and Mohammad Zargham and Polina Devitt, Oksana Kobzeva and Olesya Astakhova in Moscow, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London; editing by Chizu Nomiyama, James Dalgleish, Louise Heavens and Dale Hudson) Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh. blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. . ..JNS.org..21 November '18..He did it again. Despite being placed in an impossible position by the resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman over accepting another ceasefire with Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to keep his coalition government alive.Netanyahu called the bluff of Minister of Education Naftali Bennett, who threatened to topple the government if he wasnt named defense minister after Liebermans parting. That meant that when the dust cleared, one right-wing rival was sidelined, and the other exposed as unwilling or unable to take on the prime minister and set off a crisis that would force early elections.It was yet another successful maneuver by the man who has presided over Israel since 2009, and is very likely to be put in a position to lead it for at least another four years when the country goes to the polls to elect a new Knesset either in the spring or later in 2019.The graveyards are full of people who thought they were indispensable, and Netanyahus run of victories cant last forever. But the prime ministers frenemies within his coalition, as well as his open foes in the opposition, know that he currently stands alone when Israeli voters consider who should lead them.This would be an extraordinary achievement for anyone, but when you consider the political hurdles that Netanyahu has overcome, its downright remarkable. Nevertheless, a sober analysis of the situation reveals that his triumphs say more about the lack of other options than it does about his personal greatness. For all of his deft management of the government, the failure of his opponents on both the left and the right to come up with rational alternatives has kept him as the only person most observers think has a chance of leading the next Israeli government. Al-Abd Al-Faqir A pro-ISIS media group has threatened to attack Pope Francis as Christians around the world gear up to celebrate the birth of Christ. Al-Abd Al-Faqir made the threat in a new propaganda poster showing a handgun being pointed at the Pope. It carries the slogan 'Don't think you are away from our attacks'. Another poster threatened violence to 'slaves of the Cross' and showed a gunman creeping up behind the Pope, PJ Media reports. Last year, the ISIS-affiliated media group Wafa Media Foundation made a similar threat of violence in the run-up to Christmas when it released a poster showing a man in a balaclava driving towards the Vatican. It was captioned 'Christmas blood ... so wait'. According to PJ Media, ISIS produced an e-book in which it said any attack on the Vatican was likely to be met by strong resistence from the Mafia. 'There is no doubt that if Muslims want to take over Italy, the Islamic State European fighters will have to ally with other militias to fight the Mafia before the conquest of Rome,' it reportedly said. The Vatican has previously acknowledged it could be the target of an ISIS attack. In 2015, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the Vatican would ensure that the appropriate security measures were in place to deal with any threat. 'The Vatican could be a target because of its religious significance,' he said. 'We are capable of increasing the level of security in the Vatican and the surrounding area. 'But we will not let ourselves be paralysed by fear.' ISIS has previously called for 'lone wolf' attacks to be carried out in Europe. In one ISIS-inspired attack in 2016, 12 people were killed at a Christmas market in Berlin. Photo - Mark Tronson in faith financed mission for 41 years So much of the comment in the secular press on the school chaplaincy program has a bent for it, that I rejoiced when I read an article in the secular press that put some proper light on the matter. Audrey Stratham is a Research Associate Health in Society Research Network, School of Social Sciences at Monash University in Melbourne and in her article published in The Conversation tackles the school chaplaincy issue in the light of secularism as it has been historically understood and developed in Australia. What we see in this article is not the hysteria of anti-Christian columnist and news reporting lobbyists, rather a seasoned, thoroughly well researched document that in effect affirms, that the Government's school chaplaincy model is in alignment to historical and existing Australian standards (religious or not). The challenges to the school chaplaincy program are in effect, coming from both humanist and hedonistic agendas that have had no place in Australian main stream life but have had a voice in the Australian counter-culture from our earliest times. The counter-culture has always been there, but never had even a modicum of a voice in the main stream of Australian society. The nature of the centenary of WWI is evidence of this as is the WWII veterans whereby these men went and did their duty as they saw it, not for the counter-culture but for their wives and families in the main stream. Whatever the pit-falls of the Vietnam War's politics, the early anti-war protest was not a main stream agenda, it was the counter-culture's protest mixed in with a lot of pink politics. But by 1972 much of the nation saw the Vietnam War as not theirs and the nation spoke thrusting Gogh Whitlam into power. This was the big-issue for when the Vietnam vets came home they were not heroes. They were deemed villains. Australian history sees secularism as very different to elsewhere in the world. Many are not even aware that chaplaincy goes back a long way in secular Australia, as there were Australians chaplains with our boys in the Boer War. There are chaplains in industry, commerce, youth, sport, welfare, hospitals, the military, prisons, respite, nursing homes and the like. Photo - Fiona Mackenzie an ambulance chaplain in faith financed mission The numbers Reverend Dr Rowland Croucher the Pastor's Pastor of John Mark Ministries recently cited that of the 25 largest charities in Australia, 23 are faith based and many of them have chaplaincy services. Dr David Milikin way back in 1982 in his book The Sunburnt Soul of which there was a Compass Television program made, cited that 82% of all Australian welfare is provided by the Christian Church the Australian version of the secular. Audrey Stratham concludes her insightful article with this: Social conditions necessary for exercising democratic freedoms dont just materialise out of thin air; they need to be created. If non-religious and religious Australians are to collaborate together in fostering social conditions that can reinvigorate a democratic way of life, then the Australian lived experience of secularism needs to be cherished. Photo - Paul Lewis West Indies in faith financed apologetics mission with university students Secular In France for example, the secular is very distinctive, where laicite prohibits the wearing of conspicuous religious apparel, such as large crucifixes, Jewish skull caps and Islamic headscarves in state schools. Australian secularism is very different as Audrey Stratham explains: The standpoint of lived experience in Australian society, Australian secularism includes as its most fundamental and precious value the freedom of citizens to be non-religious or religious, and the freedom to co-exist and engage democratically with others who have very different worldviews from ones own. In other words, the taxes of those who are religious have a value for being put back into the society for religious 'secular' services. The same is said for the non-religious for non-religious values. This is pluralism Australian style. Audrey Stratham gives an academic flavour: Recovering the understanding of 'secular' as an inclusive term is vital for creating an environment that is not exclusionary of those who have religious faith or those who dont but, rather, as an environment that encourages the participation of diverse perspectives. My conclusion What all this says, in my view, is that both arguments can be put, that school chaplaincy can either be a religious affair as is the current Government policy for chaplaincy services, or it can be both both are legitimate and the Government of the day determines which it is. This Government has the retention of school chaplaincy as one of their platforms. They have determined school chaplaincy is associated with the religious. This is legitimate 'secular' Australia. Labors Senator Doug Cameron this very week wants a secular school system and that for many is code for cutting school chaplaincy. Photo - Ron Ross in faith financed mission for 43 years Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand. Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html Photo - Grey carry-on bag There has been a rash of articles on the weight and size of carry-on luggage in recent months telling frightening stories of increased costs, even one where the cost of the increased luggage cost at the check-in was more than the ticket. This News.com story says that travellers are being left confused by different carry-on luggage policies across airlines, and have been urged to closely read the individual allowances. Womens handbags are now being weighed at some check-in hot spots and when overweight hefty fees are applied. And its not just carry-on luggage either, one passenger departing Seattle was so enraged by all this that he simply left his bags at the airport and got on the flight figuring it was cheaper to buy what he needed at his destination. The entire airport was closed when these unaccompanied bags were found. All flights got delayed for hours. There was no legal recourse in which the passenger could be charged. The 7-10 ratio is a puzzle to most of us. Most airlines allow 10g in total, that is both the baggage and carry-on under 10g together. Some only allow 7. It all depends on airline policies. I was caught out in Auckland airport some years ago when coming across from the Gold Coast to Auckland on Virgin Air New Zealand shared international flight where 10g for carry-on was permissible. I was unaware that Air New Zealand domestic from Auckland to Christchurch only allowed 7g I ended up paying $60 for that 3g extra. Photo - Open carry-on bag How it came about I can recall innumerable domestic flights within Australia where so many passengers, mainly young men and young women, bought into the flight cabin their large gym bags which were considerably larger than any purchasable wheelie executive bag. These oversized gym bags were pushed and shoved and squeezed into the upper lockers leaving only limited space for other paying passengers and I thought that the day will come when all this will necessarily be bought to book. Sure enough the daggers came out (as it were). Some airlines subsequently provided self check-in kiosks and they can go to the gate without their cabin bags being weighed, but may be pulled up by staff if they appear to be carrying too much. In any domestic airline check-in now one might be pulled up for a weight check. I have seen some remove clothing and put those clothing items on to reduce the weight to an acceptable level. Once on the aircraft, those clothing items are taken off and re-stowed. The system can certainly be manipulated. My wife and I have developed new strategies when on mission travel which is not irregular. When travelling to Laguna Quays Respite (Brisbane to Proserpine) we take full baggage as we undertake a host of tasks when there in maintenance and the like. Any other travel if at all possible it is carry-on. That means a small executive wheelies bag. We have been on interstate Country Town Tours where weve learnt to reduce our clothing input to a minimum and wear heavier items. Delma also carries a hand bag and sometimes a light cloth bag for a book and two magazines. I either take a similar wheelie executive bag or a shoulder strap bag along with a brief case which houses my lap top. In one airline terminal our entire bags were weighed and the helpful air line staffer suggested I put a couple of items from the executive bag into my brief case as that airlines policy was 7g and 3g as carry-on luggage rules. That worked. Photo - Purple carry-on bag Drama filled In that article a Melbourne woman was shocked to be charged $82.50 in excess baggage fees - more than the cost of her flight - after Tiger said her handbag and suitcase were 5kg over the limit. "Most people may not check what their handbag weighs," she said. "Mine just had a purse, make-up kit, glasses case, an umbrella and gloves. It was certainly not a big bag that many women carry. Another woman, was also surprised when her handbag was weighed at Melbourne Airport, with her total baggage coming to 8.5kg. This News.com article has only scratched the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds are being caught out every day and coughing up big dollars. It pays to do your homework. Our immediate family members (and grand children) discovered it was cheaper to fly Qantas Sydney-Gold Coast-Sydney where baggage was included in the price. Many missionaries and those travelling in Christian ministry have developed strategies to reduce such costs like baggage charges and payments. We have saved $250 this year alone in purchasing airline tickets through direct bank payment. In mission, every cent counts. Photo - Brief case Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand. Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html CAMBRIDGE, Ontario, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Cowan Insurance Group, a prominent Canadian-owned and operated independent insurance brokerage and consulting operation, announced that it had been named by Waterstone Human Capital as one of Canadas Most Admired Corporate Cultures of 2018. This national program annually recognizes best-in-class Canadian organizations for having cultures that enhance performance and help sustain a competitive advantage. Cowan Insurance Groups submission highlighted a culture characterized by excellence, commitment and innovation; the outcome of continuous, disciplined execution of robust employee engagement strategies directly aligned to corporate business goals and objectives supported by a corporate social responsibility program, a constant focus on employee development and an integrated recruitment and retention framework. At Cowan, collaboration and delivering exceptional value to our clients is an integral part of our culture, said Heather McLachlin, President of Cowan Insurance Group. We actively work at creating a results-driven culture focused on trust and accountability through open and transparent communication across all levels of our organization. We dont take it for granted. I am extremely proud that our efforts have been recognized with our second consecutive Canadas Most Admired Corporate Cultures award. Forty winners are chosen across four categories; three are based on revenue (growth, mid-market and enterprise) and one not-for-profit category (broader public sector). Organizations submissions are scored on six categories: vision and leadership, recruitment and hiring for fit, cultural alignment and measurement, retention, rewards and recognition, organizational performance and corporate social responsibility. The Canadas Most Admired Corporate Cultures program creates a benchmark of success for all those who are nominated. At Waterstone, we believe corporate culture drives performance and that its your organizations greatest asset, said Marty Parker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Waterstone Human Capital and Chair of Canadas Most Admired Corporate Cultures. Whats notable about the 2018 winners is their commitment to culture as a competitive advantage. They set an outstanding example for cultivating and sustaining great cultures that ultimately drive growth and performance. This years winning organizations are to be admired for the diverse and impactful ways they ensure culture underpins their success. The 2018 designation follows the 2015 win for Cowan Insurance Group one of ten organizations to be awarded this designation in the mid-market category. Winning Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures allows organizations to use the logo and trademarks for three years as a mark of excellence in culture and performance. For more information: Bruce Borgundvaag Director, Marketing, Communications & Digital Strategy Cowan Insurance Group Cambridge, ON 519-650-6363 ext. 31614 bruce.borgundvaag@cowangroup.ca About Cowan Insurance Group As a prominent Canadian-owned and operated independent insurance brokerage and consulting operation, Cowan Insurance Group provides real value in insurance and risk management solutions to businesses, organizations and individuals. With close to 500 employees operating out of 12 locations across Canada, we partner with leading national and international insurance companies to advise on and create retirement, group benefits, disability management and international benefits programs for employee groups. We also offer wealth and asset management as well as financial and succession planning services to individuals, and specialize in property, casualty and credit insurance. WEDNESDAY, Nov. 21, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- A test that measures wavelengths of light coming off skin cells might detect type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even your risk of dying, new research shows. It's possible that -- someday -- a quick "autofluorescence" light test to the skin might be used by consumers in "supermarkets, pharmacies or drugstores as a first estimate of [health] risk," according to a Dutch research team. The new device is called an AGE Reader, with AGE standing for chemicals found on skin cells called "advanced glycation end-products." AGEs are natural byproducts of illness that can -- using the AGE Reader -- glow or "fluoresce" on the skin, explained the researchers led by Bruce Wolffenbuttel of the University of Groningen. Their new study tested the device on the skin of nearly 73,000 people whose health was then tracked up to 10 years, with an average follow-up of four years. During the follow-up period, more than 1,000 participants went on to develop type 2 diabetes, close to 1,300 developed heart disease and 928 died. A 1-unit rise in skin autofluorescence using the AGE Reader "was associated with a threefold increase in risk of type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease, and a five-times increased risk of death," the researchers reported Nov. 21 in the journal Diabetologia. What's more, the device's power at predicting death or disease remained steady even when telltale risk factors -- such as obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or poor blood sugar control -- were absent, the study found. Even after adjusting for those risk factors, a 1-unit rise in the AGE Reader autofluorescence score was tied to a 26 percent rise in risk for type 2 diabetes; a 33 percent rise in heart disease risk; and a near-doubling of the odds for death during the follow-up period. The bottom line is that the new findings support skin autofluorescence "as a first screening method to predict type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mortality," the researchers said in a journal news release. One U.S. diabetes specialist was intrigued by the research. Dr. Gerald Bernstein directs the Friedman Diabetes Program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He wasn't involved in the new study, but is familiar with "AGE" chemicals as natural indicators of health. "What's a good example of an AGE that everyone can recognize? On Thanksgiving we put a turkey in the oven with the goal of having a beautiful bird with beautiful browned skin. That browning occurs because of the AGEs in the turkey skin," Bernstein noted. He explained that in live humans, these proteins "stick to each other and form a web, and this web is an AGE. The formation of AGEs contribute to the complications of diabetes." Because AGEs can gradually increase over time, doctors might someday "easily screen whole populations by the fluorescent technique to identify who has AGEs and is therefore at risk," Bernstein said. A heart specialist agreed. Dr. Guy Mintz called the study "impressive," and said devices like the AGE Reader "could be a game-changer in cardiovascular and diabetic risk assessment." He directs cardiovascular health at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. Mintz said studies where the AGE Reader was used on a patient's skin before and after medical treatments would be interesting "to see if the pattern of skin autofluorescence changes with medical and lifestyle interventions." However, Mintz did have one reservation: "I do not agree with the author's [notion] that this technology can be used in nonclinical settings, such as pharmacies, to assess patients' risk." He said non-physicians could easily misinterpret test results and that might harm, not help, patients. More information The American Diabetes Association offers more on diabetes. Institutions Innovation Council (IIC) Program of Ministry of Human Resource Developments (HRD) Innovation Cell was launched in New Delhi by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar. HRD Ministry has established Innovation cell at AICTE with purpose to systematically foster culture of Innovation in all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the country. Institutions Innovation Council (IIC) Program IIC Program is significant step in institutionalising innovation and developing a scientific temperament in the country. The purpose of formation of network of IICs is to encourage, inspire and nurture young students by exposing them to new ideas and processes resulting in innovative activities in their formative years. More than 1000 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have already formed IICs in their campuses and enrolled for IIC network managed by MHRDs Innovation cell to promote innovation through multitudinous modes leading to an innovation promotion eco-system in their campuses. Through this initiative, India hopes to get good rank in global innovation ranking in the next 2-3 years. Innovation Cell has undertaken many initiatives for educational advancement in higher education for encouraging best practices in innovation and advance research. For this, it has implemented programs like Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievement (ARIIA), Smart India Hackathon (SIH)- 2019, etc. CALGARY, Alberta , Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prairie Provident Resources Inc. (Prairie Provident or "PPR" or the "Company") (TSX:PPR) today announced that it will host a webcast investor presentation on Wednesday, November 28th at 11:00 AM ET. During the webcast, Tim Granger, president and chief executive officer will provide an update for investors on key areas of Prairie Providents business. Investors will have an opportunity to ask relevant questions of PPRs management team through an interactive Q&A portal. To listen to the live webcast or to ask questions during the live event, please pre-register at the following link: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1216751&tp_key=1e7877f9c1 An archived version of the webcast and presentation will be available on the Company's website at www.ppr.ca following the event. 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 Michichi/Wheatland and Princess in Southern Alberta targeting the Banff, the Ellerslie and the Lithic Glauconite 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: India: World Fisheries Day 2018: Indias increasing fish kill incidents November 22,2018 | Source: SANDRP 21 November is celebrated as world fisheries day across the world. Apart from crucial source of food and livelihood to lakhs of fisherfolks in India, fish diversity determines the health of the water body including lakes, ponds and rivers. However with growing threats and pollution mass fish mortality has been taking place in various rivers and lakes in the country every year. On World Fisheries Day 2018 SANDRP has put together known mass fish kill incidents that took place this past year to highlight the gravity of threat so that corrective measures can be taken by respective Governments and others concerned. NORTH INDIA Punjab Gurdaspur Sugar Mill Molasses release led to Beas River Fish Kill The worst mass fish death took place in Beas river in May 2018 in Punjab when 10000 kilo liters of toxic effluents were discharged by Chadha Sugar Mill located in Kiri Afgana village of Gurdaspur district. The avoidable incident grossly polluted the 80 km river stretch of river causing death of thousands of fish. The other aquatic animals like Gharial and Dolphins were also severely affected by the industrial disaster termed as one of worst incident in Punjab. Here is detailed SANDRP report on the issue. https://sandrp.in/2018/05/22/gurdaspur-sugar-mill-molasses-release-leads-to-beas-river-fish-kill/ (22 May 2018) Contaminated water with dead fish and snakes has entered Rajasthan through the Indira Gandhi canal from Punjab, prompting authorities to stop drinking water supply from the canal as a precautionary measure. https://www.hindustantimes.com/jaipur/dead-fish-and-snakes-float-in-indira-gandhi-canal-rajasthan-stops-drinking-water-supply/story-BlwNI4xbhLeuu5pxp34sNL.html (21 May 2018) On Nov 14, 2018, National Green Tribunal imposed a fine of Rs 50 crores in connection with this incident. The bench clubbed several similar cases, including the one dealing with death of fish due to untreated discharge from sugar Industries in May 2018. The bench headed by Justice AK Goyal asked the Punjab government to recover the fine from industries in two weeks. Earlier a committee headed by Central Pollution Control Board, of which Punjab Pollution Control Board was a part, submitted a report saying it found that the industrial discharge was not being treated as treatment plants were not functioning, PPCB counsel Nagendra Benipal said. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ngt-imposes-rs-50-crore-fine-on-punjab-over-river-pollution-1947522 (5 Nov. 2018) Himachal Pradesh, Punjab Thousands of fish found dead in Swan river Local people on the Punjab-Himachal border woke up to see thousands of dead fish floating in Swan river along 10 to 12 km stretch from Santokhgarh in Himachal to the point where the river merges with the Sutlej in Punjab on Aug. 3, 2018. The mass fish kill apparently was the result of industrial pollution. There are two major industrial areas Tahliwal and Mehatpur in Himachal, from where waste is released into the Swan River. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/himachal/thousands-of-fish-found-dead-in-swan-river/631572.html (4 Aug. 2018) However instead of finding the source of pollution and taking action against culprit the Pollution Control Boards (PCB) of both states kept blaming each other for the incident. Jatin Joshi, SDO, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), said since there were no industrial units on the Punjab side on the banks of the river, effluents released from the units in Himachal might have led to the death of the fish. On the other hand, the Himachal Pradesh PCB authorities blamed Punjab Alkalis and Chemicals Limited (PACL), a Punjab Govt undertaking, for fish mortality. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/himachal/hppcb-blames-punjab-unit-for-fish-death/632138.html (5 Aug. 2018) Chandigarh Fish found dead in Sukhna Lake Large number of fish were found dead at Sukhna Lake on Aug. 5. While officials of the Animal Husbandry Department primarily blamed lack of oxygen in the water for the death of the fish, experts said there could be other reasons too. Dr Ravneet Kaur, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, PU, said in this season of high humidity, there was less exchange of oxygen between the water and the external environment. She said it happened every year these days. Experts said despite the High Courts order, sewage from nearby areas was still flowing into the lake, which also needed to be monitored. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/chandigarh/fish-found-dead-in-sukhna-lake/632889.html (6 Aug. 2018) Fish found dead in Dera Bassi pond A large number of dead fish were found floating in a water body at Mubarikpur village on Aug. 17. Villagers passing along the pond found a large number of fish floating in the water body. Foul smell was emanating from the pond. The residents informed the authorities concerned about the dead fish and officials of the civic body reached the spot. The villagers suspected that lack of oxygen or polluted water due to the release of effluents from industrial units might have killed the fish. The villagers demanded that the water of the pond needed to be tested to understand the actual reason behind the deaths. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/chandigarh/fish-found-dead-in-pond/638810.html (18 Aug. 2018) Uttar Pradesh Thousands of dead fish found floating in Ganga Thousands of dead fish were found floating in the Ganga on May 14, 2018. This was the fourth time such an incident has occurred in as many years. Reports suggested that dead fish were first seen floating in the rivers Kannauj stretch, after which the phenomenon was witnessed in Unnao and Bilhaur. Effluents from industrial units in Shahjahanpur were prima facie suspected of discharging toxic material downstream, poisoning the river water. UPPCB officials suspect the presence of a poisonous substance in the Garra river, which originates from Shahjahanpur and merges with the Ganga in Kannauj. https://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/thousands-of-dead-fish-found-floating-in-ganga-experts-blame-toxic-effluents/story-ujQ4HnvtMVXULPYRa2XENP.html (15 May 2018) After Kannauj, thousands of dead fish were found floating in Ganga at Bilhaurs Nanamau ghat, Chaubeypurs Andimata and Pathakpur ghats in Kanpur on May 15. District and Pollution Control Board officials rushed to the site and collected water samples for examination. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/dead-fish-found-floating-as-oxygen-levels-dip-in-ganga/articleshow/64184214.cms (16 May 2018) In July 2017 also hundreds of dead fish were found dead in the Ganga near the temple town of Shukratal, in Muzzafarnagar, due to toxic industrial effluents in the river discharged by industries in upstream Uttarakhand. http://www.hindustantimes.com/environment/hundreds-of-fish-found-dead-in-ganga-near-up-temple-town/story-YGmXasnEVQNQXrkxNm7RpL.html (July 2017) Mass Fish Death in Virandavan Countless number of fishes and other aquatic animals were found dead in the Yamuna river in Vrindavan area. Locals noticed dead fishes floating in the water on Nov. 1 near the Kesi Ghat of Yamuna. Regional officer of UP PCB in Mathura collected samples for tests and said that water appeared to be highly contaminated, as it had turned oily and black in colour. The water is also used for irrigation purposes by farmers alongside the river. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwp9fIfoO0Y (3 Nov. 2018) UP PCB official in Mathura said that untreated waste water, industrial effluents discharged upstream caused oxygen depletion resulted fish deaths. https://www.firstpost.com/india/ahead-of-diwali-thousands-of-fish-found-dead-in-yamuna-in-uttar-pradesh-activists-in-agra-begin-cleaning-drive-5502311.html? (4 Nov. 2018) Meanwhile, experts rule out possibility of Delhis pollution to be reason behind mass fish kill in Yamuna at Virndavan on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. The water released in Delhi is no doubt filthy, but it wont be right to say it kills the fish in Vrindavan. The reason for this can be attributed to local factors like industries dumping effluent or the water that flows down Kosi drain, Manoj Misra, convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan said. Himanshu Thakkar, of SANDRP echoed Misras views and said it was unlikely that Delhis dirty water was killing the aquatic populace at Vrindavan. The distance and time are definite factors here. Essentially, fish die because of less oxygen or toxicity due to chemicals. In either case, the impact should have been seen much closer to Okhla barrage. The deaths may have occurred due to local sources, Thakkar said. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/far-fetched-why-delhi-cant-take-blame-for-dead-fish-in-vrindavan/articleshow/66503055.cms (5 Nov. 2018) Report of water samples collected by the UP PCB indicated high content of oil in it, which led to low levels of dissolved oxygen. The reason and source of pollution is still not known. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/test-shows-high-content-of-oil-in-yamuna-water-sample-mathura-pcb-official/articleshow/66515877.cms (5 Nov. 2018) Jammu & Kashmir Hundreds of fishes dead in Jakh pond Hundreds of fishes died in Jakh pond in Vijaypur area of district Samba and concerned department paid no heed towards it. The pond is located on the edge of the Jammu Pathankot National Highway near Jakh in district Samba. People of Jakh and adjoining areas alleged that the fish death was due to dirty water adding that despite repeated requests none of the officials of Fisheries Department showed concern over the issue. Villagers said that they brought medicines from money they contributed and cast it in the pond so that the remaining fish can be saved. http://news.statetimes.in/hundreds-of-fishes-dead-in-jakh-pond-department-unmoved/ (15 June 2018) Devotees anguished over death of fishes at Bawe-Ka Talab Devotees and locals were anguished over the death of fish in the holy pond of Bawe-Ka-Talab at Mishriwala along Jammu-Akhnoor road where world famous Jhiri Mela is held every year. According to the locals, hundreds of fish were found dead in the pond water, which had apparently turned dirty. The agitated people held the Departments of PHE and Fisheries responsible for the death of these fish, which are worshipped by them as deities. An officer in the Fisheries Department told that they were helpless and could not do anything to check such incidents, which hurt religious sentiments of people as catching of fish is not allowed at such religious places. http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/devotees-anguished-over-death-of-fishes-at-date-ka-talab/ (13 June 2018) NORTH EAST INDIA Assam Thousands of Fish Found Dead in Laokhuwa Wildlife Sanctuary In October 2018, thousands of fish and other living beings died in the water body of Laokhuwa sanctuary after poison was allegedly mixed in the water body by some miscreants. According to sources, the water body of the sanctuary turned into a valley of death after poison was mixed in the water by miscreants. Local people suspect that this act of poisoning the water is revenge against forest officials for the eviction drives. https://www.sentinelassam.com/news/thousands-of-fish-found-dead-in-laokhuwa-wildlife-sanctuary/ (22 Oct. 2018) Meghalaya Dead fish, snakes found floating in Ranikor river Thousands of river snakes and fish, all dead, were found floating in Ranikor river in South West Khasi Hills district in April 2018. The mass killing created a panic among residents. Khasi Students Union, has alleged that the exploratory drilling for uranium in the hinterlands, on the upstream of the river, was the reason behind the incident. Incidents of dead fish and snakes floating in Ranikor river was happening since 2012 and multiple probes carried out by the govt always ruled out that the fish and snakes were killed due to exploratory drilling for uranium. http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=apr0518/oth051 (4 April 2018) India-Bangladesh shared river in Meghalaya in news due to pollution and mass fish death The Khasi Students Union has demanded an independent inquiry into the mysterious death of thousands of fishes, which was because of the change of colour of river water at Ranikor in South West Khasi Hills district. The river at Ranikor is near the India-Bangladesh border in South West Khasi Hills district. The deaths have become quite common since the first incident in 2010. https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/north-east/plea-for-fish-deaths-probe-203114 (23 January 2018) EAST INDIA West Bengal Stretch of Teesta River turned grave for fish trove Hundreds of dead fish were seen floating in a stretch of the Teesta in Jalpaiguri in Jan. 2018. A probe was ordered amid suspicion that the water in the Mondalghat area along a 2 km stretch of the river might had been poisoned. It was found that fish like baim (tire track eel), taki (spotted snakehead), boal (Wallago), boroli (Barred baril), bata (Bata) and some other species were either floating on the rivers surface or had washed up on the bank. Earlier, in 2011 and 2015, similar incidents had occurred in Karala, a rivulet flowing through Jalpaiguri town and merging at the Teesta. It was learnt that insecticides were put in the river water to catch fish. Also, poison was mixed in the water of Teesta in Dec. 2012, which had left fish dead. https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/stretch-of-teesta-turns-grave-for-fish-trove/cid/1453166 (17 Jan. 2018) Teesta river water was collected and tested from a Jalpaiguri pocket on Jan. 17, days after shoals of dead fish were found floating along the stretch. Officials of the district fisheries department and the Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA), who collected the water from Mondalghat in Jalpaiguri Sadar block, said the samples would be sent to the departments laboratory in Calcutta. The official also mentioned that those involve in the act of mixing poison or putting livewire in the river had also blocked the rivers water in the locality on Jan. 15. https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/teesta-water-test-in-dead-fish-probe/cid/1453199 (18 Jan. 2018) Earlier in June 2017, also, hundreds of dead fish were found floating in the Jaldhaka river in the Panbari area of Jalpaiguri and the district fisheries department suspected water poisoning caused the death. Odisha Mass fish death in Bata river triggers panic Panic gripped locals of Balijhara after thousands of dead fish were found floating in Bata river in April 2018. The locals including fishermen alleged that some miscreants might have poisoned the river water to settle scores with the successful bidders who have taken up fish cultivation in Bata. A similar incident had taken place in 2016 when thousands of dead fish were found in Bata River. A team of Odisha State PCB had collected water sample and dead fish for tests and found that lack of oxygen level in the water had caused mass death of fish. http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/2018/apr/03/mass-fish-death-in-bata-river-triggers-panic-1796286.html (3 April 2018) Fish Kill in River in Paradip In another incident thousands of dead fishes were found floating on Sahara Matsyadia river in Paradip in August 2018. As per a State PCB official, such instances have also occurred in the past. He further said that waste discharge in the river by nearby industries could be the reason for fish death. Earlier, similar incidents were reported in other rivers of Paradip and resentment was observed among the locals following todays incident. https://odishatv.in/odisha/thousands-of-dead-fishes-found-floating-in-river-in-paradip-315615 (14 Aug. 2018) Jharkhand Over 3000 kg fish die of filth in Getalsud dam Around 30 quintal of adult fish were found dead at Getalsud dam, some 30km away from capital limits in Angara block on June 16, 2018, the needle of suspicion falling on industrial units in close proximity to the dam. Fishermen of Getalsud Matsya Sahog Samiti Limited, a cooperative of local fishermen who are patronised by state fisheries department, who informed the state fisheries department of the incident, alleged one of the industries nearby had released untreated effluents in the dam. The samiti had around 100 fishermen as members. Directly and indirectly close to 5,000 people were dependent on fishing at Getalsud as their lone source of livelihood. Ashish Kumar, deputy director of state fisheries department, confirmed having received the information from fishermen. Member secretary of Jharkhand State PCB, Rajiv Lochan Bakshi said they would take strict action against erring companies if any was found guilty of polluting the water body. https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/jharkhand/over-3000-fish-die-of-filth-in-dam/cid/1371668 (17 June 2018) Before this, on the eve of World Environment Day, June 5, fish had died in droves at Ranchi Lake or Bada Talab, with conservationists blaming pollution. Ravindra Kumar Sinha, the VC of Nalanda Open University and a noted environmentalist said Dolphin Man who was in Ranchi then, had told that severe water pollution led to fish deaths. https://www.siasat.com/news/dead-fishes-found-floating-polluted-ranchi-lake-1364887/ (5 June 2018) Earlier mass fish death has taken place in Bada Talab in 2014 and 2017. According to locals the depletion in water level and rise in pollution in form of solid and liquid was of the water body were main reasons behind the repeated fish kill incident. WEST INDIA Gujarat Dead fish surface in Kamlanagar pond Dead fishes surfaced in the Kamlanagar pond in the Ajwa Road area on Aug. 9 morning. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) had recently spruced up the Kamlanagar pond at a cost of Rs. 4 crore. While the pond was cleaned up and its embankment were concretised, sewage contamination seems to have resumed in it. VMC councillor Vijay Pawar said that he had spotted the contamination some time back and even informed the top brass of the civic body. But no action was taken. Mamlanagar pond was amongst the first to be spruced up in the city. Environmentalists had, however, raised questions about the work on the pond stating that with stone masonry embankments it had become a tank and would not be a live water body. It was after this that the VMC stopped the process of having concrete borders of ponds. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/dead-fish-surface-in-kamlanagar-pond/articleshow/65345576.cms (10 August 2018) Rajasthan Thousands of fish die in Lodha pond On July 9, thousands of fish were found dead in a pond located in Lodha area along Dungarpur. Foul smell emanating from the dead fish affected the movement of people. The pond was tickly covered with water hyacinth. Sewage water from nearby localities was entering the pond. Some industries were also discharging their polluted water in it. A similar incident had taken place few days back in Badodiya pond. https://www.patrika.com/banswara-news/thousands-of-fish-died-in-rajasthan-3075536/ (9 July 2018) In May 2018 the supply of polluted water in canals had caused fish death in the Hamumangarh district. https://www.patrika.com/hanumangarh-news/rajasthan-water-shortage-problem-2847425/ (24 May 2018) Due to rising heat, Talai water body in Kishourpura village of Nangla Rajawatan in Dausa district was drying threatening the fish population. As per locals the water body had never dried in last three decades. They tried to fill the water body with tube wells. https://www.patrika.com/dausa-news/death-of-the-fishes-heat-of-summer-2830243/ (21 May 2018) Many fish were dying in Ruparel river in Alwar due to decrease in oxygen level. The phenomena has become an annual affair. In the month of June, local people used to offer flours and other grains to fish out of religious sentiments. This could lead to oxygen demand in the river killing the fish population. https://www.patrika.com/alwar-news/fishes-dying-in-natni-ka-baran-in-alwar-2944032/ (12 June 2018) Goa Hundreds of dead starfish wash ashore at Caranzalem beach Scores of dead starfish washed ashore at Caranzalem beach in Panaji situated near the mouth of River Mandovi. The locals said that the starfish could have perished due to the muddy water that was the result of heavy rains in the area. Sea water turned muddy after a rainy spell in the state. Locals were also baffled with the sight of the dead starfish as such an event had not been seen in the last few years. The spot where the dead starfish washed was not very far away from the popular Miramar beach. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/hundreds-of-dead-starfish-wash-ashore-at-goas-caranzalem-beach/videoshow/64949020.cms#0 (13 June 2018) Madhya Pradesh Fish Kill in Kshipra river On Oct. 29 pollution caused mass fish and aquatic animal death in Kshipra river, Devas. Similar incidents have taken place in April 2018 and in June 2016. https://www.bhaskar.com/mp/indore/news/shipra-s-water-black-dying-turtles-and-fishes-01196359.html (30 Oct. 2018) A Rs 432-crore project to clean Kshipra river was started in 2014 to bring water from the Narmada river by pipelines from Omakeshwar to Kshipra after the latter ran almost dry ahead of the Kumbh. In reality, however, Kshipra remains parched where it enters Ujjain and the extent of its pollution is evident from the colour of river water at Ram Ghat. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/mp-assembly-polls-pollution-of-kshipra-river-now-a-rallying-point/articleshow/66484060.cms (3 Nov. 2018) Maharashtra After holy rituals, fish die at Banganga tank at Walkeshwar In what has almost become an annual feature at the historic Banganga tank at Walkeshwar, dead fish were found floating on Oct. 9, 2018, after hordes of people immersed food dumplings in water as part of the Pitrupaksha rituals. Residents from the immediate vicinity said it is a common sight every year. According to Dr Vinay Deshmukh, Former principal scientist at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) during this ritual, cooked rice balls and wheat are immersed in water, which not only becomes food for bacteria but also increases their population. The bacteria consumes the dissolved oxygen thereby depleting it quickly resulting in mass death of fish and the only solution is to stop immersing the offerings in water. https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-maharashtra-after-holy-rituals-fish-die-at-banganga-tank-at-walkeshwar-2673544 (10 Oct. 2018) SOUTH INDIA Tamil Nadu Dead Fish set off pollution alarm in Valankulam lake Local fishermen had noticed the alarmingly sight of several dead fish floating in Valankulam lake on July 24. It was only after they began circulating pictures on social media did authorities get wind of it. As per environmentalists such mass fish deaths had happened in Singanallur and Sulur lakes for past 7 years. They suspected water contamination with highly toxic sewage to be the reason. The latest incident was another stark reminder of the fact that the majority of the citys sewage is being let into water tanks instead of being treated. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/dead-fish-set-off-pollution-alarm-in-valankulam-lake/articleshow/65124847.cms (24 July 2018) 1000s of dead fish washed ashore at Adyar estuary on Nov. 28. Many more lying in riverbed. https://scroll.in/article/859685/this-water-has-poison-in-chennai-thousands-of-dead-fish-wash-up-on-shore-of-adyar-estuary (30 Nov. 2018) Scores of dead fish had washed ashore at the same spot in January 2015. The site has become a graveyard for turtle too. Lab test hints pollution to be culprit but govt thinks otherwise. However the two incidents in the space of three years have left fishermen in the village worried about the impact on their livelihoods. As per local fishermen high influx of raw sewage from upstream residential localities, industries and hospitals have led to the incident. Locals also allege that some of the industries in SIPOT at Irungattukottai, Pallipattu, Somangalam, Amarambedu and Chembarambakkam release untreated effluents into the neighbouring water streams during monsoon period, which eventually flow into the Adyar estuary. http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2017/nov/29/twice-in-two-years-dead-fish-wash-ashore-in-chennai-sewage-influx-blamed-1713472.html (29 Nov. 2018) Karnataka Thousands of fish found dead in Hemavati river In March 2018, very large number of fish found dead in the Hemavati river, a tributary of the Cauvery and the lifeline of Bengaluru and Mysuru, in Banakal in Chikkamagaluru district, triggering alarm that the water has been poisoned. Locals allege that a few criminals have poisoned the river water to catch fish easily and in huge numbers. Following outrage by local fishermen, the police have launched an inquiry into the issue. https://www.gnsnews.co.in/thousands-of-fishes-found-dead-in-hemavati-river-reason-of-death-is-suspected-as-poisoning/ (5 March 2018) Fish Death In Kukkarahalli Lake Apprehension was writ large on the faces of regular walkers and environmentalists, who frequented Kukkarahalli Lake as a sizeable number of dead fish was found floating on April 7 on the water in the lake especially the stretch abutting Hunsur Road. It was feared that contaminated water was responsible for the death of fish. Environmentalists opined that owing to the huge organic load, the dissolved oxygen level in water had depleted abysmally resulting in the death of fish which was said to be happening for the last 3 or 4 days. They suspected seepage of effluent from Paduvarahalli area. https://starofmysore.com/fish-found-dead-in-kukkarahalli-lake/ (7 April 2018) Varieties of fish at Kukkarahalli Lake continued to die with more than 40 fish found floating in the lake. The lake staff removed the dead fish. The authorities collected the samples of dead fish and have sent the same to a laboratory in Bengaluru and also collected water samples for testing. The place where sewage water was flowing into the lake was emanating foul smell. https://starofmysore.com/fish-death-continues-at-kukkarahalli-lake/ (15 April 2018) Even as the fishes are dying at Kukkarahalli Lake reportedly due to overpopulation, Electoral Officer allowed fishing in the lake. Karnataka State Co-operative Fisheries Federation (KCFF) has the right for fishing but due to lack of cooperation between the University of Mysore and the Federation, fishing has been stopped in the lake for the last few months. As a result, the population and size of the fish started increasing. The University authorities claimed that since the Model Code of Conduct was in place (for Karnataka state elections), they could not call for fresh tenders. According to Prof. K.M. Jayaramaiah, Non-official Member, Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority, waste water from cow sheds and houses of Paduvarahalli flowing through open drains collect at shallow places at the junction of Hunsur Road and north bund of the lake. This polluted water was entering the Lake through drains located at north bund killing fish by reducing the oxygen level in the lake water. https://starofmysore.com/fish-death-at-kukkarahalli-lake-ec-permits-fishing/ (28 April 2018) 1000 fish die in Kalkere lake, residents blame sewage In Sept. 2018, close to 1000 fish died in Kalkere lake near Horamavu. While residents of the locality pointed to sewage flow and poor maintenance of the water body by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the civic agency attributed the fish deaths to abrupt fall in oxygen levels in the lake. Residents said the lake, spread over 105 acres, and received polluted water from surrounding areas over the last few months. They also said that they witness frothing like in Bellandur and Varthur lakes. BBMP officials said Rs 18 crore has been allocated for development on Kalkere lake and work will begin soon. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/1k-fish-die-in-kalkere-lake-residents-blame-sewage/articleshow/66002127.cms (29 Sept. 2018) Fish, snails found dead in thousands at Bengalurus Madiwala Lake On Oct. 4 morning thousands of dead fish and snails were found floating on the banks of the Madiwala Lake. According to the residents of Madiwala who first noticed the bodies the rising pollution of Karnatakas water bodies seems to have led to this disaster. A similar incident was reported from the Valankulam water tank in Tamil Nadus Coimbatore earlier this year where hundreds of dead fish were found floating on the tanks surface one morning. Locals alleged that toxic discharge into the water tank from nearby textile dyeing units led to the deaths. Even in Mumbai, in Sept. 2017, scores of dead fish washed ashore Mumbais beaches in the aftermath of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival where idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) were immersed into the Arabian Sea. Despite activists condemning civic bodies for their failure to act against those brazenly destroying our marine ecosystems, no legislative measures have been taken to avoid the decimation of water bodies as clearly visible in the case of Bengalurus own Bellandur and Varthur lakes. https://www.timesnownews.com/mirror-now/civic-issues/article/bengaluru-madiwala-lake-bellandur-varthur-dead-fish-snails-water-pollution-marine-life/294412 (5 Oct. 2018) As per another report, the incident exposed the pathetic condition of the water body. Harsha Vardhan, in-charge Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bengaluru said that since the lake was full of rainwater and the drains are overflowing, the untreated water gushed into the lakes resulting in the death of the fish and snails. The forest officials said that the lake was earlier being maintained by the Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority (KLCDA) in coordination with the forest department. But after KLCDA was disbanded, the work and funds were yet to be transferred to the forest department. The Minor Irrigation Department, which was in charge of all lakes has also not acted. https://www.deccanherald.com/city/sewage-inflow-kills-fish-696431.html (6 Oct. 2018) According to Vaman Acharya, former chairman of the State PCB, the fish in lakes normally die due to the lack of oxygen caused by the mixing of drainage water into the lake, but the death of snails were mysterious. A senior official of the department told that prolonged contamination of the lake water has endangered the marine life. Due to heavy rains, the dirty water has also been pushed into the lake which has further led to this situation where the marine life is near to extinction. https://www.timesnownews.com/mirror-now/in-focus/article/bengaluru-thousands-of-snails-and-fishes-found-dead-in-madivala-lake-experts-call-deaths-mysterious/295133 (6 Oct. 2018) Similarly on Nov 30, thousands of fish have died in the Doodhganga river at Karadaga village, Chikkodi taluk, Karnataka in the past week due to the release of chemical effluents by Maharashtra-based sugar factories, Jawahar Cooperative Sugars and Shahu Cooperative Sugars in Kolhapur district.. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hubballi/fish-kill-after-sugar-factories-release-chemical-effluents-to-doodhganga-river/articleshow/61870745.cms (30 Nov. 2018) Andhra Pradesh Thousands of rare fish species found dead Thousands of fish belonging to Rhinomugil corsula, Salmostana and Ompak species and some amphibians, including Balloon frog, were found dead in the Bheemuni Kolanu in Nallamala forest region. The death of large number of fish species was attributed to pollution of the water body with the disposal of adulterated oils, left-over food stuff and plastic covers in it by devotees travelling on foot to Srisailam. The devotees cook food on the banks of the pond and carelessly discard the left-over items. The rare fish species that were found dead were first discovered in 1822 and 1863. More devotees belonging to Maharashtra and Karnataka were likely to reach Srisailam by foot in another 18 days posing greater risk to aquatic species in the pond. https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Andhra-Pradesh/2018-03-01/Thousands-of-rare-fish-species-found-dead/362351 (1 March 2018) Telangana 23 Lakh Fish Die Due to Pharma Pollutants in Lake Nearly 23 lakh fish died in Gandigudem Lake on Oct. 4, allegedly due to chemical effluents released by pharmaceutical companies located in the Kazipally Industrial Area. The police registered a case against five pharma companies found guilty of causing pollution under section 277 (fouling water of public spring or reservoir) and 278 (making the atmosphere noxious to health) of IPC. There was a precedent to fish dying in lakes around Hyderabad due to pollutants in the water. Earlier in May 2017, 30,000 fish were found dead in Rampally Lake, located 30 km from Hyderabad. In same month, around 4 lakh fish were found floating in Shamirpet Lake and over 20,000 fish died in Medchal. https://www.news18.com/news/india/23-lakh-fish-die-due-to-pharma-pollutants-in-telangana-lake-1538277.html (6 Oct. 2017) The pollution in the lakes in Telangana continued unabated. The lake, located in Annaram village, had nearly 70,000 fish, and most of them were found dead in Oct. 2017, reportedly owing to untreated sewage being let into the waterbody, and also due to the municipal dump alongside the lake. Local residents told media that a day before the incident, an earthmover pushed the medical garbage pile into the lake. Shockingly, this is the third such incident happening in the state within two months. Recently, nearly 2 lakh fish were dead, after chemical effluents were released into the Gandigudem lake in Bollarum, Hyderabad by pharmaceutical companies. The fishermen suffered a loss of nearly Rs 2 crore. Earlier in September, hundreds of fish were found dead in Pasumamula Lake in Abdullapurmet, Hyderabad incurring a loss of Rs 60 lakh to the fisheries society. https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/telangana-lake-becomes-graveyard-70000-fish-thanks-sewage-medical-waste-70842 (31 Oct. 2017) SOUTH ASIA Bangladesh Dead fish in Halda river pose danger to livelihoods, biodiversity Hundreds of dead fish of different species, and other aquatic animals were found floating in the river Halda in June 2018 due to rise in ammonia level in water. The dead fish were posing a serious threat to the aquatic biodiversity of Bangladeshs largest natural breeding ground for carp. Halda River Locals said the water of Halda River turned pitch-black on June 20, spreading the rotten stench of dead fish. The locals formed a human chain at Madunaghat area on June 23, demanding that the river be saved from industrial pollution. As per Halda River Research Laboratory of Chittagong University, 20 species of fish, including Mola carplet (Amblypharyngodon mola), 5 species of prawn, Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), Aer (Sperata aor), Rohu (Labeo rohita) Catla (Catla catla), Mrigel carp (Cirrhinus mrigala), Kalbaus (Labeo calbasu) Kuchiya (eel-type fish) were found floating in the river. The noted Halda river researcher Prof Dr Manzoorul Kibria said the levels of dissolved oxygen fell sharply and the ammonia went up hundred times the tolerance level due to pollution. Chittagong District Fisheries Officer Mominul Haque said they had inspected different points of the river for three consecutive days and witnessed different species of fish like major carps, prawns, eels, Tilapia, Rohu, and Aer floating in the river. Originating in Khagracharis Ramgarh upazila, the 107km-long river passes through Hathazari and Raozan upazilas before merging into the Karnaphuli River. During April-May every year, different species of carp fish start migrating to the spawning ground of the Halda from rivers like Karnaphuli, Matamuhuri, and Sangu. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2018/06/24/dead-fish-in-halda-river-pose-danger-to-livelihoods-biodiversity (24 June 2018) Pakistan Hundreds of dead fish wash ashore on Karachis Sea View beach A large number of dead sea creatures surfaced along Karachis Sea View beach with experts believing that they died owing to an illness or oil spill. The death of marine life was a cause for concern for local fishermen who are dependent on them for their sustenance. Citizens said that that the maritime movement of ships to Karachis ports and shore, along with poisonous chemical waste and diesel was a major reason behind the incident. Experts believe that incidents such as this occur every year as the local authorities have installed a sewage line in the sea. Moreover, the disposal of waste into the sea is also a contributing factor in the loss of marine life. https://tribune.com.pk/story/1804722/1-hundreds-dead-fish-wash-ashore-karachis-sea-view-beach/ (16 Sept. 2018) In Conclusion The narration of these numerous fish kill incidents in India and a couple from South Asian neighbours show that the fish kill happens in both monsoon and non monsoon months. Secondly, every year numerous such incidents happen, but the culprits are rarely caught and held accountable, the only exception being the Punjab fish kill of May 2018 where it was difficult to allow the culprits go scot free. Thirdly, its clear that thousands of poor people get adversely affected by each such incident, but there is never any compensation for them. In fact, there is rarely a credible report put together to narrate the full facts. The root cause of the contamination of water bodies in all such cases, is rarely tackled. In fact, we do not know if any one is even putting together a comprehensive account of all such incidents across the state or country and try to find a solution or way forward. Long way to go for the fish and other riverine biodiversity and those dependent on them. Tamil Nadu: Oil spill: CG vessel begins work, but fishermen distressed by KATHELENE ANTONY November 22,2018 | Source: Asian Age A day after the second oil spill at the Ennore port in two years, dedicated Coast Guard Pollution Control Vessel ICGS Samudra Paheredar arrived in Chennai from Vishakapatnam on Monday evening. MT Coral Stars, a tanker, which was docked at the Kamarajar Port caused an oil spill in the early hours of Sunday. The spilt oil is less than two tonnes, a statement from the port said. MT Coral Star is an oil tanker with a gross tonnage of 25,400. The vessel built in 2004 was carrying furnace oil. The oil allegedly spilt due to a fault in the hose that was being used to transfer it. Help was sought from the Coast Guard Pollution Control Vessel to help estimate the spillage and also to begin the clean-up, an official of the defence wing said. The vessel began its work and a report will be submitted on Tuesday morning on the extent of the spill, how much work is done and how long it will take to clean it up, an official said. Coast Guard interceptor boat and helicopter were launched to assess the extent of the oil spill. Subsequently, two Coast Guard Fast Patrol Vessels with Pollution Response equipment embarked onboard were deployed from Chennai for combating the spill. The effect of the spill, however, is already being felt by the fisherfolk who had opposed the laying of an illegal oil pipeline through the Ennore Creek by Indian Oil Corporation Limited to transport oil from the Marine Liquid Terminal in October 2018. When new projects begin, these private players stand in front of the collector and promise big things. But such incidents are happening repeatedly, said K. Bharathi, president of the South Indian Fishermens Association, speaking to Deccan Chronicle. As much as officials promise that the spill wont spread, the effect will definitely be felt because oil cannot mix with water, Bharathi said. Because the spillage is close to the dock, it will not spread into the sea, but along the shore. Both sides of the port are inhabited by fisherfolk. Whichever way the spill spreads, itll affect us, he said. The port is functioning with inexperienced and low number of employees to increase profits. Thats the sole reason this is happening, Bharathi said, adding we suspect that the spill also may be because they want to curtain fishing activities in this area, he said. Moroccan women with alleged ties to ISIS will potentially face the death penalty in Iraq. Rabat Moroccos North Observatory for Human Rights (ONDH) shared a statement today on its Facebook, saying that a source at a refugee camp in northern Syria told women living in the camp, including Moroccan women, that they might be handed over to Iraqi authorities in a period of no more than six months. The source added that the ISIS-linked women might be subject to the death penalty. The statement added that women and children are suffering from dire conditions, including nutrition issues. ONDH also recalled that it has been calling on the Moroccan government to return Moroccan women and their children back to Morocco and try to reintegrate them in Morocco based on the requirements of the international humanitarian law. Throughout his recent interviews with national and international news outlets, Head of Moroccos Counter-Terrorism Bureau (BCIJ) Abdelhak Khiame expressed concern over the threat imposed by ISIS returnees. According to Khiame, Moroccos position regarding returning fighters was established in 2015, allowing police to apprehend them for investigation and place them in custody. Returnees typically receive sentences ranging from 10 to 15 years in prison. In July, Moroccan newspaper Akhbar Al Yaoum reported that Iraqi authorities wanted to extradite wives and children of Moroccans with ties to ISIS. In August, ONDH said that a Spanish-Moroccan security unit arrived in Syria to interview Moroccan women with alleged ties to ISIS to repatriate them. The security intelligence team called the women individually and interrogated them beginning from the time they adopted the radical ideology to the moment they joined ISIS and fell in the hands of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syrias forces, ONDH stated. ISIS Moroccan suspects are spread throughout the MENA region, but are mainly in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Read Also: Morocco to Bring Home Former Moroccan ISIS Women from Syria Khiame added that 1,666 Moroccans joined the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, of whom 929 joined ISIS. Nearly 225 other fighters have criminal records with terrorism-related charges. BCIJs chief added that 642 Moroccan fighters died in Syria and Iraq due to suicidal terrorist operations. | 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 Labourer of a state-owned bridge building company works at a construction site of a bridge in Hanoi. Photo by Reuters/Kham The privatization of state-owned enterprises is happening at snails pace over determination of land ownership. From early this year to September 10, Vietnam finished privatizing only 11 state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and it is most likely that the whole year's privatization target will be missed, Dang Quyet Tien, head of the Corporate Finance Agency under the Ministry of Finance, told a recent meeting in Hanoi. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in July last year said Vietnam should finish privatizing at least 85 this year. These included 21 that had been left over from last years list. Tien blamed the extremely sluggish pace on the long process of determining and building legal records of land owned by state firms. Tien said that in order to privatize an SOE, its parent ministry needs to determine all assets of the firm including land. However, many companies have already undergone several transitions in the past, followed by changes in papers, seals, and asset certificates, and sorting through them is a complicated task. There are some land lots for which ownerships is identified simply on a handwritten sheet of paper, and there is no other record, he said, citing the case of Vietnam Investment Construction and Trading Joint Stock Corporation (Constrexim Holding), which the Ministry of Finance has not been able to privatize since 2007. Speaking at a meeting on SOEs in Hanoi Wednesday, PM Phuc highlighted the delay in the privatization process, saying that SOEs have failed to lead the economy and be part of the high-tech revolution. He stressed that inspectors should keep tracking the SOEs as he was well aware that many of them have invested in a wide pool of non-core businesses and are not willing to change themselves. The PM said that many SOEs have "completely transformed" after privatization, like the Vietnam National Seed Joint Stock Company (Vinaseed), which saw its revenue and profit increased by 20 times and 40 times respectively, while dairy giant Vinamilks revenue and owner's equity rose by 10 and 13 times respectively. He said he wanted the government to divest from all SOEs that the state does not actually need to be involved in by 2020, and strictly handle SOEs that have already been privatized but have not listed themselves on the stock exchange. By December 31 this year, all ministries and departments should prepare a roadmap for SOE privatization, he noted. In February, the government had set up set up a committee to manage around $220 billion worth of government assets in companies as part of efforts to boost privatization. The Committee for State Capital Management at Enterprises would have more comprehensive tasks than the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC), Vietnams main state investment arm that holds shares in firms like dairy giant Vinamilk, the countrys biggest listed firm. Many state shares, especially in SOEs, are under the management of different ministries, causing further complications and delays in selling stakes. Data compiled by Bloomberg earlier this month showed the privatization of SOEs has slowed down with the government unable to attract buyers. Seventeen auctions worth around $401 million have been cancelled this year. Bloomberg pointed out it was not a case of investors no longer being interested in Vietnam, but that they find private firms much more attractive, with greater transparency in the process. As of September 10 this year, Vietnam finished privatizing only 11 state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and it is most likely that the whole year's privatization target will be missed, Dang Quyet Tien, head of the Corporate Finance Agency under the Ministry of Finance, told a recent meeting in Hanoi. What are the best Black Friday & Cyber Monday Canon T6 deals for 2018? Retail Fuse share their top picks for shoppers. In search of the best Canon T6 deals for Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2018? Online sales researchers at Retail Fuse have reviewed the best Canon T6 deals and are listing the top choices for shoppers below. Best Canon T6 deals: Note: Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales run for a limited time. Check the Amazon Black Friday & Cyber Monday page for their full range of live deals. The Rebel T6 is an excellent entry level DSLR camera offering decent specs at a reasonable price. The Rebel T6 packs an 18MP APS-C sensor, 1080p video, 3 fps burst shooting and built-in Wi-Fi and NFC. In order to identify the best Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals for shoppers the team at Retail Fuse research and track product prices throughout the holiday shopping season. Find their complete list of the best Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals for 2018 by clicking here. Holiday season sales have been growing in size each year since 2008 and this years shopping season looks set to be the largest on record. Mobile spending exceeded $2 billion on Cyber Monday alone last year, an all-time high according to data from Adobe Digital Insights. Smartphone conversion rates increased by 10.1%, helping to drive the overall growth in online sales over the period. Casino bussiness is allowed in a hotel-amusement complex on Vietnam's largest island Phu Quoc. Photo by Shutterstock/Visualize Creative A Vingroup-invested firm has been allowed to include a casino in a hotel-amusement complex on Vietnam's largest island Phu Quoc. The Peoples Committee of Kien Giang Province announced that the Prime Minister has approved in principle the casinos inclusion in a hotel-amusement being built on the southern province's island. With the casino business, total investment in the complex will increase to VND50 trillion ($2.14 billion). The complex, which is under construction, is scheduled to start operating in 2021. Its main investor is the Phu Quoc Tourism Investment and Development Jsc, a company in which Vingroup, Vietnams largest private conglomerate, holds a 50 percent stake. The casino project is part of a pilot program that would allow Vietnamese citizens to gamble in casinos in the country for the first time. For decades, Vietnam has banned gambling as a social evil. Vietnamese were also prohibited from gambling in the few casinos that have been built in the country. Shifting its stance, the government has allowed citizens over 21 years old with a monthly income of at least VND10 million ($445) to gamble in local casinos from last March under a three-year pilot program. However, the casinos have to obtain approval from the government on a case-by-case basis to allow Vietnamese citizens to use their services. Vietnam's average annual income was around $2,200 last year. There are fewer than 10 casinos in Vietnam, mostly smaller ones outside major cities. Their services are reserved exclusively for foreign passport holders. Several options, including exclusive servicing of long-haul flights, have been proposed for the Long Thanh Airport planned in southern Vietnam. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has recommended two broad options for dividing traffic between the existing Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City and the Long Thanh Airport that will built in the neighboring province of Dong Nai. The first option that it has suggested to the Transport Ministry is that Long Thanh will handle all international flights of more than 1,000 km, with the rest flying into Tan Son Nhat. For domestic flights, carriers can choose where they want to be based. The second option is to allocate all flights from outside Southeast Asia to Long Thanh. The allocation criteria can be reconsidered after five years of actual operation, the CAAV proposed. Carriers Jetstar Pacific and Vietjet have supported the second option. Vietnam Airlines wants to use Long Thanh for all international flights and certain domestic flights and Tan Son Nhat only for domestic flights. The preliminary feasibility report on the Long Thanh airport by a joint venture between firms from Japan, France and Vietnam had suggested that all budget carriers could fly into Tan Son Nhat, and all full-service airlines use Long Thanh. But CAAV executives said the law does not distinguish between full-service and low-cost airlines, making the suggestion impractical. In the communication it sent recently to the Transport Ministry, the CAAV suggested operating international and domestic flights from both airports, ensuring their equal and non-discriminatory use. An aviation specialist who did not want to be named pointed out that airlines would prefer to operate from Tan Son Nhat because of its high capacity and proximity to downtown Ho Chi Minh City. The ministry needs to allocate flights in such a way as to ensure both airports benefit equally and the load on Tan Son Nhat eases. The allocation of domestic flights to Tan Son Nhat and international flights to Long Thanh is not feasible since airlines fly the same aircraft on both international and domestic routes, meaning they would often have to fly empty between the two airports, the specialist noted. He said the distribution of routes should also depend on the growth of the aviation market. Situated 40 kilometers east of Ho Chi Minh City, the Long Thanh airport is expected to take up the overflow from the largest existing airport in the country, the Tan Son Nhat International Airport. The Tan Son Nhat International Airport now receives 32 million passengers a year, far beyond its designed capacity of 25 million. Long Thanh, to be built in three phases over three decades, was recently listed by CNN Travel as one of the worlds 16 most exciting airport projects. The first phase is scheduled for completion in 2025 when it will be able to handle 25 million passengers a year. The next two phases will be built in 2030-2035 and 2040-2050. It will have a capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo when completed. The Airports Corporation of Vietnam said airports had handled 87 million passengers in the first 10 months of this year, up 12 percent year-on-year. The number of international passengers rose by 23 percent and domestic passengers by 7 percent. A security camera has captured footage of a monk chasing thieves with a dustpan at a pagoda in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. Monk chases, captures pagoda thieves in southern Vietnam Monk chases, captures pagoda thieves in southern Vietnam Thich Chuc Minh, head monk of the Van Phuong pagoda, was getting ready for lunch when he noticed four people entering the pagoda and acting in a suspicious manner last Saturday. He said that he saw a woman stay in front to guard their vehicles, while three men entered the pagoda and walked around as if they were worshipers, before entering the main building where the donation box was kept. Not long after, the monk noticed the security camera was adjusted and pointed downwards. He quickly checked the video footage and saw that the men were stealing money. Camera footage shows that the thieves used a taped ruler to remove money from a box. "That is worshippers donation money," the monk said. He gave chase to the robbers with a dustpan in one hand. Thich Chuc Minh told the media that he "knocked down one man and locked his hands behind the back." Further details of the incident are not available. The police have been informed and are investigating the case. It is estimated that over 70 percent of the Vietnamese population are either Buddhist or follow Buddhist practices. Vietnams urbanization problems, particularly those affecting poor residents, are typically swept under the rug. When disaster strikes, the buck passing begins. Thanh Nguyen, journalist I could not believe that I was looking at pictures of the Nui neighborhood in Nha Trang. Nha Trang, Vietnams beautiful beach town, which attracts millions of visitors each year, just cannot look like this. But before my eyes, unforgiving, were pictures of crushed metal roofs, fallen electric poles, broken tree branches and rubble. The Nui neighborhood, today. Two years ago, Id reported on this neighborhood to find out what had been done, or was being done, to improve the living conditions of its residents. Hundreds of houses stood next to the Hon Ro Mountain; all made of wooden planks, iron sheets and nylon covers clumsily thatched together. Most of the residents were poor workers, whod left their homes from other parts of the country to try and make a living from the sea. In this neighborhood, trash was littered in every alley, vehicles made their way through the trenches and water-worn ravines on flimsy, wobbly wooden planks, and elders and children alike wore haggard faces and ragged clothes. The Nui neighborhood was a stark contrast to the fancy resorts in the town, which is just 20 minutes away and where urbanization has happened and is happening at breakneck speed. Ive been to many places, but nowhere have I seen so many skyscrapers, apartments and hotels sprout up every month along beaches, rivers and mountain slopes like in Nha Trang. The residents of Nui were not asking for fancy constructions and urban comforts. They just wanted lower prices for clean water and electricity. Mai Thi Suong, a long-time resident, said all the electricity and water came from a single provider in the neighborhood, with each kWh costing VND4,600 (20 cents) and each cubic meter of water costing VND17,000 (73 cents) twice the city average. High utility costs have played a role in ruining many families finances, Suong said. Some people tried to reduce the bills by simply not building urinals and bathrooms, whereas in some extreme cases, some forbid their children from going to school to save tuition fees. While city authorities mostly turned a blind eye and deaf ears to peoples repeated pleas for help, they finally had an unexpected and unwanted appearance on national newspapers last Sunday morning. At least 17 people died last weekend in Nha Trang as heavy rains triggered floods and landslides in the city. Traffic was paralyzed and homes buried. The rains were brought by storm Toraji, which devolved into a tropical depression on Sunday, but ravaged central Vietnams coastal provinces. Witnesses said houses collapsed mere moments after they heard the water rush down the area. In just a few hours, torrential rains and landslides transformed the roads they used to walk on into raging waterfalls. Hundreds lost their homes and loved ones. Rescue workers are dispatched to an area affected by landslides in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province to look for victims possibly buried under rocks. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Ngoc Meanwhile, in Nha Trangs Vinh Hoa Ward, also devastated by landslides, an artificial lake on a local mountain exacerbated the disasters consequences. When questioned, authorities resorted to blaming each other for the tragedy. "The construction of the artificial lake was not brought to the wards notice. If we knew about it beforehand, we would have warned the people," said a representative of the Vinh Hoa Ward. The Chairman of Nha Trang blamed its "late responses" to the floods and landslides on the fact that areas where landslides killed people werent included in the list of landslide-prone areas given to city authorities. Ive heard this too many times before. Years of reporting in places where natural disasters struck have numbed me to words and phrases spouted by the authorities whenever something like this happens - how they "didnt know," how they were "surprised," or how the disaster was "beyond ones expectations." I also remembered how these same figures of authority said they wanted new resorts and new hotels, along with plenty of suggestions to boost tourism in cities and provinces under their jurisdiction. But for the forgotten communities inside the very same cities and provinces, the big shots have done nothing. They have never received the help they need to relocate from disaster-prone areas. Such plans remain on paper and gather dust for years. It was only after the floods and landslides pummeled and reduced areas of Nha Trang to rubble last weekend did the authorities pledge to "relentlessly" move forward with relocation plans. They only made up their minds once homes had forever been destroyed and lives had forever been lost. The tragedy of the Nui neighborhood is not likely to be the last, because there are so many similar make-shift communities in many of Vietnams cities. Their poverty and lack of livelihood options have withstood attempts to disband them. Will the cataclysm that struck Nha Trang last weekend be a real wake-up call for the government to step up and resolve this countrys urbanization problems that have been swept under the rugs for long with depressing regularity? Only time will tell. *Thanh Nguyen is a journalist based in Ho Chi Minh City. The opinions expressed are his own. An aerial view shows of Ba Binh, or Itu Aba Island, in the South China Sea, November 29, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Fabian Hamacher Taiwan's action is a serious violation of Vietnam's sovereignty over the archipelago, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. It is also threat to peace, stability, safety and maritime security in the South China Sea, it added. "Once again, Vietnam resolutely opposes Taiwan's actions and demand that it ceases similar activities in the future," Foreign Ministry deputy spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Tra said at a regular press conference. A Taiwan News report said Wednesday that Taiwan's drill on the Ba Binh Island, known internationally as the Itu Aba Island, would last from Wednesday to Friday. The drills will be held from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and reviewed on Friday, the report said. Defense officials from Taiwan were also present on the island to oversee the drills. Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs had notified Vietnam of the drills, the Taiwan News report said. Last month, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang already denounced Taiwan's planned live-fire drills on Ba Binh Island in November as a serious violation of Vietnam's sovereignty. She said the ministry was closely following the situation and developments in the East Sea, using the Vietnamese name for the waterway. Taiwan's repeated drills around Ba Binh Island threaten peace, stability, maritime safety and security, create tension and complicates the situation in the waters, she added. Ba Binh is the largest naturally occurring island in the Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago, which Vietnam asserts its sovereignty over. Vietnam has repeatedly said it has full legal grounds and historical evidence for its indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly and Paracel archipelagoes in accordance with international law. Masena Bokang Jon from Lesotho boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul Tuesday night, after staying in detention at HCMC's Tan Son Nhat Airport for two months. Photo by Shutterstock/Chris Parypa A foreigner who spent two months as an uninvited guest at Vietnams largest airport has been sent home. Masena Bokang Jon, 32, from the Kingdom of Lesotho near South Africa, boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Tuesday night. Airport authorities said Thursday he would take another flight from Istanbul to his homeland. After confirming his personal status, immigration officers in Vietnam completed legal procedures for him to leave for home, concerned that his state of health required good care from his family. Earlier reports had said that Jon stayed in the detention room at Tan Son Nhat for two months following his deportation from Japan for using a fake passport. He had entered Vietnam with a valid visa, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City on a Vietnam Airlines flight from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on August 18. Two weeks later, he boarded an AirAsia flight to Japan, transiting via Thailands Bangkok. However, Japanese immigration authorities denied him entry after discovering he was using a fake passport. The authorities reportedly confiscated all his counterfeit personal papers. On September 26, he was deported from Japan and sent back to Tan Son Nhat Airport, his point of departure. Without a valid passport and international travel documents, Jon was refused entry into Vietnam and was stuck in the airport. In detention at the airport, he abstained from solid food, refusing the paltry ration of bread he was offered. Not having money to buy other food, his health had worsened, prompting aviation officials to seek help from immigration authorities and the foreign affairs ministry to send him home. Jons stay had some parallels to famous Hollywood movie "The Terminal," wherein a foreign national gets stuck in a New York airport for months. Some experts in the aviation industry said the foreigners long stay at the Vietnamese airport was a rare incident. Normally, foreign tourists are immediately deported to their place of domicile if they are found using fake passports. However, Jon had successfully boarded international flights to many countries including Indonesia, Nigeria, the Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Vietnam with his fake passport before being found out by Japanese authorities. It remained unclear why he could use a counterfeit passport to visit several countries. The diplomatic agency of the Kingdom of Lesotho based in Malaysia said the passport number belonged to another woman. A man struggles on a road in central Vietnam's Nha Trang as storm Toraji triggered heavy rains last weekend. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Ngoc A tropical depression off the Philippines has strengthened into a storm that could make landfall Saturday in central Vietnam. The agriculture minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong has warned that the storm could prove "very dangerous." As of 2 p.m. Thursday, the ninth storm of the year to threaten Vietnam was around 130 kilometers (81 miles) to the east of Southwest Cay Island in the Spratly Archipelago, carrying maximum wind speeds of 60 kilometers per hour. On Friday afternoon, the center of the storm is likely to be around 340 kilometers off the coast of central provinces from Binh Dinh to Binh Thuan with maximum wind speeds of 100 kilometers per hour. Hoang Van Cuong, director of the Vietnam National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, said both Vietnamese and international weather stations predict that theres a very high chance of the storm directly affecting southern and central provinces as it makes landfall in Vietnam on Saturday, November 24. Southern and central provinces have been told to expect heavy rainfall of up to 600mm from November 24 to 26. Rainfall from 180mm a day is considered heavy. Storm preparations Officials said at a meeting Thursday that authorities should take urgent measures to ensure safety of residents and tourists in areas likely to be hit. Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong, head of the national disaster prevention committee, said the storm has been projected to become more ferocious after making landfall. He asked leaders from the central province of Quang Ngai to the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and the Central Highlands region to be careful and make due preparations. Popular tourist destinations Da Lat, Nha Trang, Mui Ne and Vung Tau should brace for more severe impacts while preparations were also recommended for Hue, Hoi An and Da Nang. The storm's route as forecasted by the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting on Thursday. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung on Thursday worked with the Steering Committee for Flood Prevention to initiate urgent measures to cope with the storm and prevent loss of life and damage to property. Government agencies have been asked to stay in contact with fishing boats in their jurisdiction as a precaution and work to ensure safety of residents in storm-hit areas. Mass evacuations planned HCMC authorities are preparing to evacuate vulnerable residents to safety as the storm approaches. Authorities in the coastal district of Can Gio are planning to evacuate 4,000 people to safe areas and prepare daily necessities to sustain them. The central province of Khanh Hoa, whose resort town Nha Trang was badly hit by torrential rains and landslides triggered by storm Toraji last weekend that killed at least 19 people, is considering evacuating 280,000 residents from dangerous areas. Weather forecasters in Vietnam have predicted that four to six typhoons and tropical depressions could develop off the country's east coast from now until the end of the year. Around two to three storms will make landfall in Vietnam and batter the central region, they said. A record-breaking 16 tropical storms hit Vietnam in 2017, leaving 389 people dead or missing and injuring 668 others, mostly in northern and central regions. The General Statistics Office estimated damage at around VND60 trillion ($2.64 billion), 1.5 times the previous years figure. In the first ten months of this year natural disasters left 185 people dead or missing and injured 134 others, and caused losses of more than VND8.8 trillion ($381 million), according to the General Statistics Office. Needles have been found inside strawberries and other fruits around Australia. Photo by Reuters/TV The Vietnamese-Australian woman arrested earlier this month for allegedly pricking strawberries with pins was granted bail Thurday. The ABC News reported that My Ut Trinh, 50, had been arrested by Australian police following a "complex and extensive investigation" into a food contamination case where sewing needles were found in strawberries shipped to different parts of the country in September. Trinh, who worked at the Berry Licious farm at Caboolture in Brisbane's north, allegedly told a worker: "If I hate anyone, I will put the needle in the strawberry and make them go bankrupt," reports said. The DNA found on one needle discovered in a strawberry inside a plastic container in Victoria was "100 billion times more likely" to be that of Trinh, prosecutor Cheryl Tesch told the Brisbane Magistrates Court. Trinh was subsequently charged with seven counts of contaminating goods and held at the Brisbane Womens Correctional Centre, but was granted bail by the Brisbane court on Thursday. Trinhs lawyer Nick Dore said the case against Trinh was based on "hearsay, innuendo and rumor," as the alleged conversation Trinh had with the worker was from "one or two years ago," and the worker didnt think Trinh was being serious. Additionally, Trinh had "no motive to commit the offense" and had "complied with police during investigation," said Dore. He further added that while Trinhs DNA was indeed found on a needle, it failed to prove that Trinh inserted the needle into the strawberry in the first place. Dore also said that Trinh was unlikely to re-offend if she were released on bail, and that "the risk to her personal safety" was low. Trinh was granted bail under the conditions that she will not contact workers on the farm, surrender her passport and report to the police three times a week, the court stated. The case was adjourned until December 17. The strawberry scare first came to light in September and sparked nationwide panic back then. More than 230 alleged incidents of pins and needles were found in fruits, mostly strawberries, around Australia. As a result, hundreds of tons of strawberries were destroyed, prompting Australian government to spend approximately $725,000 to deal with the aftermath. ASEAN may be forced to choose between US, China: Cambodia PM's son Hun Many is widely believed to be the political heir to his father Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 33 years. Photo by AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy Southeast Asian nations may soon have to "choose sides" between the U.S. and China in their ongoing trade war. Impoverished Cambodia has become an unlikely staging ground for geopolitical influence in Asia. In recent years it has turned into a key China ally, receiving billions of dollars in investment and loans. While China has cosied up to Cambodia, the United States and the European Union have admonished Hun Sen, the nation's ruler for 33 years, for his increasingly authoritarian rule. In a rare speech outside of his country, his son and political heir, Hun Many warned the U.S.-China trade spat may create lasting divisions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Wednesday. "Perhaps one day ASEAN would have to choose between U.S. or China," Hun Many said in Bangkok. "How would we see the trade war spill or expanded in other areas? Surely it will pressure individual members of ASEAN or ASEAN as a whole to choose sides." The economic ripples of the trade spat between China and the U.S. could destabilize global supply chain links in Southeast Asia, while a slump in Chinese spending would impact its trading partners. Cambodia's strongman Hun Sen has welcomed Chinese investment to pump-prime his country's economy. At the same time, he has accused the U.S. of trying to foment revolution in Cambodia by supporting his critics. Both the U.S. and EU decried the July elections, which were held without a credible opposition and gave Hun Sen another term in power. When asked which of the superpowers Cambodia would side with, the Australian-educated Hun Many demurred. "At the end of the day, it depends on those who are involved to take a more responsible approach for their decisions that affects the entire world," he said. Earlier this week, Hun Sen swatted away concerns that Beijing will construct a naval base off the southwest coast of Cambodia, which would provide ready access to the disputed South China Sea. Beijing claims most of the potentially resource-rich waters, including waters close to the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan. Hun Many, who described himself as a "proud son," is widely believed to be in the running to one day replace his father. His elder brother, Manit, is the head of a military intelligence unit while Manet, the oldest, was promoted in September to the chief of joint staff of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces as well as the commander of the infantry army headquarters. But Many brushed aside the notion. "It is way too soon to say that I am in the next generation of leaders," he said. Smuggling probe launched as loose barge with millions of cigarette packs washes ashore near Odesa Schemes were earlier revealed of cigarette smuggling across the land border with EU countries, where prices for the smokes can be up to ten times higher than those in Ukraine. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lupaka Gold Corp. ("Lupaka Gold" or the Company") (TSX-V: LPK, FRA: LQP) reports that effective November 21, 2018, the Company has granted, pursuant to its 2010 Incentive Stock Option Plan, 1,725,000 incentive stock options to employees, consultants, officers and directors of the Company. Including this issuance, outstanding options represent approximately 8% of the issued common shares. The options vest over 18 months from date of grant and are exercisable on or before November 21, 2023, at a price of $0.12 per share. 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. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Will Ansley, President & C.E.O. wansley@lupakagold.com Tel: (416) 862-5257 Wizz Air Ukraine halted its operation in 2015. Hungarian-registered low-cost airline Wizz Air's Ukrainian subsidiary is to resume work after it receives a license as a Ukrainian air carrier next year. This was announced by Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air Jozsef Varadi at a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. "We want to increase our presence and do more for Ukraine," the Ukrainian president's press service quoted Varadi as saying. "The visa-free regime [for Ukrainians travelling to the EU] and the absence of travel restrictions along with economic growth will be the main driver of our business growth in Ukraine. I believe that it is high time for us to develop more ambitious plans of work in Ukraine," Varadi said. According to him, the company had worked in Ukraine for 10 years and had already transported 7 million passengers. Poroshenko and Varadi discussed legislative, regulatory and economic conditions necessary to reach final agreements in the framework of a long-term business proposal, the airline's press service said. Read alsoWizz Air announces five new routes from Kyiv Resuming Wizz Air Ukraine's work would contribute to the development of the Ukrainian aviation industry by offering low-priced travel to millions of Ukrainians and tourists who want to visit Ukraine, it said. In addition, it would contribute to the creation of about 6,000 local jobs, both direct and related industries, and would stimulate the development of Ukrainian tourism and services, it added. The airline says the resumption of Wizz Air Ukraine's operation will expand the network of low-cost routes of the airline to and from Ukraine through investments of $2.5 billion, which will be used to expand the Ukrainian fleet to 20 new Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft. "These aircraft will be delivered to the airline's bases in Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine. As a result, passenger traffic is expected to be 6 million per year by 2025," it said. Wizz Air Ukraine halted its operation in 2015 reportedly over the unstable situation in the east of Ukraine and the weakening of the hryvnia. However, Wizz Air continued handling flights to and from Ukraine as a Hungarian airline. Russia's authorities in occupied Crimea write off US$4.7 mln in debt before Ukraine's central bank The decision was taken at a meeting of the "Crimean government" on November 19. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Kolomoisky says litigation at PrivatBank's claim not yet begun The bank's assets were frozen and disclosed after the lawsuit was filed, he said. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Cabinet approves Ukraine-Israel draft agreement on free trade The document is expected to be signed in late November 2018. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Kyiv's court refuses to return Akhmetov's Ukrtelecom to state ownership The State Property Fund accuses the buyer of the failure to fulfill its investment obligations estimated at US$450 million. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Ukraine's Supreme Court rejects Gazprom's appeal against US$6.2 bln fine, penalty Rulings of lower instance courts were upheld as adopted in line with the rules of substantive and procedural law. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter London court rejects PrivatBank case - media The freezing orders on Kolomoisky and Bogolyubovs assets are likely to be lifted. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter French English MONTREAL, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cogeco Inc. is proud to announce that Executive Chairman of the Board, Louis Audet, was chosen as the United Nations Association in Canadas (UNA-Canada) 2018 Global Citizens Laureate. UNA-Canada hosted the 2018 Global Citizens Dinner in his honour in Montreal on November 21, which was attended by dignitaries, business and community leaders, colleagues, family and friends. Each year, UNA-Canada names a global citizen laureate by selecting a Canadian who shares and invests in ideas, people, and community. This years Global Citizens Dinner paid special tribute to Mr. Audets uniquely Canadian model of success within the global community and recognized him for his dedication as a Canadian corporate leader who continuously gives back through his active involvement with charitable, educational and community organizations, and through his leadership. Mr. Audet has often been recognized by both the business and philanthropic communities for his numerous achievements. His generous philanthropic commitment to society and his leadership all contribute to building a better and more inclusive world. ABOUT COGECO INC. Cogeco Inc. is a diversified holding corporation which operates in the communications and media sectors. Its Cogeco Communications Inc. subsidiary provides residential and business customers with Internet, video and telephony services through its two-way broadband fibre networks, operating in Quebec and Ontario, Canada under the Cogeco Connexion name, and in the United States under the Atlantic Broadband name in 11 states along the East Coast, from Maine to Florida. Through Cogeco Peer 1, Cogeco Communications Inc. provides its business customers with a suite of information technology services (colocation, network connectivity, hosting, cloud and managed services), by way of its 16 data centres, extensive FastFiber Network and more than 50 points of presence in North America and Europe. Its Cogeco Media subsidiary owns and operates 13 radio stations across most of Quebec with complementary radio formats serving a wide range of audiences as well as Cogeco News, its news agency. Cogeco Inc.s subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CGO). The subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Communications Inc. are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CCA). INFORMATION: Nancy Bouffard Senior Director, Corporate Communications Cogeco Inc. (514) 764-4613 nancy.bouffard@cogeco.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2fe4c1c0-a7e6-4e19-9be4-2b04305ea6e5 Doctor Cesar Noval presents the results of the operation. MONICA TORRES A Spanish medical team led by the surgeon Cesar Noval has performed a pioneering sex reassignment surgery in 17 hours at Imed, a private hospital in Valencia. Compressing a process that can take between two and 10 years in Spain to under one day, the team constructed a penis (phalloplasty), removed the patients internal female organs and breasts, and gave him a more masculine face, Noval explained on Tuesday. The advantage of doing everything at once is that patients dont have to spend years with their lives on hold Surgeon Cesar Noval The patient, a 29-year-old trans man who lives in a small town in the Valencia region, was operated on two months ago and has recovered well from the surgery. His life has almost completely returned to normal, although the surgeon admits that his sexual life is still limited. During the operation, the patient had his breasts removed and chest redefined. A penis was implanted using skin, fat, nerves, arteries and veins from the patients forearm, which was covered with a skin graft from his thigh. His face was made squarer and his nose widened to make him look more masculine. The main advantage of doing everything at once is that patients dont have to spend years with their lives on hold waiting for the next operation, said Noval. Under the public health system, the three main surgeries required for a sex reassignment (facial plastic surgery is not offered) can take between eight and 10 years, because the operations are performed by different services, says Mane Fernandez, vice president of the national LGBTI Federation, who is also a trans man. The waiting time however is shorter in regions where health regulations respect the needs of LGBTI people. Thats why its important to legislate on a national level and to approve the LGBTI Equality Law that is now being reviewed by parliament, explains Fernandez. Surgeons during the sex change operation in Valencia. Under the private health system, around two years are needed for the four surgeries because at least six months usually pass between operations, said Noval, who learned how to shorten the process to one surgery in the United States. The surgeon did not want to say how much the patient had paid for the operation but admitted it was more than 20,000. To go through this type of surgery, a patient must be in good physical and psychological health and have social and family support, said Noval. In this case, the patient had spent 15 years living fully as a man and three years using hormone treatment. He has been in a stable relationship for the past 10 years and both his wife and family offered him spectacular support, said Noval. Complications Sex reassignment surgery involves many risks. The most severe tend to appear in the first 48 hours. The surgeon warned that only 60% achieve feeling in the penis, while 30% suffer complete or partial loss of the member. The risk of breast cancer increases despite the mastectomies, due to the hormone treatment. And a prosthesis must typically be placed in the new penis, although in this case it does not appear to have been necessary. The 29-year-old patient is recovering well from the operation Around 15 phalloplasties are performed each year in Spain far fewer than the number of vaginoplasties (the sex reassignment operation for trans women), which is around 100 a year. Fernandez says the low number of phalloplasties is due to the fact the operation not only has a high level of risk, it also often fails to meet the patients expectations. The surgery is irreversible. In the very few cases where patients have wanted to return to their previous state (0.6%), the outcome has not been good. Noval advises patients and their families to reach out to LGBTI associations and meet people who have gone through the process. He also says it is a good idea for people considering a sex change to spend a period beforehand living in the body they feel, and when they feel comfortable, we can continue. It cant be done without support As well as speaking with LGBTI associations, the support of family and close social circles is crucial, says Noval. Without this support, we cant operate. And its very hard to tell a patient who wants the operation that you are not going to operate because they need it for their personal development. The medical team in Valencia was divided into two and took turns performing the operation. The complete process involved a plastic surgeon, a maxillofacial surgeon, an endocrinologist, a gynecologist, a urologist and a psychologist. English version by Melissa Kitson. European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels on Sunday. AP More information Spain and Brexit The European Commission (EC) on Thursday agreed on the draft Political Declaration on the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom, an essential document for the so-called Brexit deal that is due to be signed off on Sunday at a European summit. The document, which is 26 pages long and has 147 articles, has been given preliminary approval by the UK. The text that has been sent to the other 27 member states of the EU excludes any reference to the thorny issue of Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory located in the south of Spain, and over which Madrid has a long-standing claim. The pact evens out one of the difficulties that have arisen in the final stretch of the Brexit process This week both the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, and the countrys foreign minister, Josep Borrell, made clear they would not sign off on the UKs draft withdrawal agreement on Sunday if Article 184 within the text was not modified to make clear that negotiations on the future of the EU-UK relationship would not include Gibraltar. Instead, Madrid wants separate, bilateral negotiations on Gibraltar after Brexit, covering issues such as the price of tobacco products, the fate of cross-border workers, environmental concerns and cooperation on police and border control issues. Madrid and London this week reached preliminary agreements on these points, set out in four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and a tax deal. European Commission sources said on Thursday that the issue of Gibraltar, as well as others that have been raised by EU member states, would be resolved with resolutions appended to the main document. For now, the Political Declaration has also eliminated any direct reference to Article 184. The 26-page long text excludes any reference to the thorny issue of Gibraltar The pact evens out one of the difficulties that have arisen in the final stretch of the Brexit process. The Declaration should have been approved on Wednesday, but the snags identified by a number of European commissioners such as Gibraltar, fishing quotas and the duration of the transition period precluded the deal being agreed on during the meeting last night between the EC president, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the British prime minister, Theresa May. Brussels now trusts that this pact will overcome the differences that have arisen in recent hours. The 27 EU governments are currently reviewing the Declaration and a response is expected for this Friday. Should it be positive, Juncker will meet with Theresa May again on Saturday and could provisionally close the Brexit deal, ahead of the European Council meeting on Sunday. English version by Simon Hunter. 116 million AMD assistance to minors with disabilities in Shirak Province from Mikayel Vardanyan Discussion on the topic IT infrastructure as the basis of the digital economy with the participation of the heads of telecommunication companies in Armenia Statement nn the ongoing Aggression by Azerbaijan against the Republic of Armenia "We condemn any attempts at borderisation, as observed since the incursion of Azerbaijani troops into Armenian territory on 12 May" Joint statement Google Ad The United States is deeply concerned about reports of intensive fighting today between Armenia and Azerbaijan.ANTONY J. BLINKEN Statement of the MFA of Armenia Ookla has awarded Ucom with The fastest fixedline network in Armenia award UCOM keeps on supporting the 42 YEREVAN programming school Recognizing the One-Year Anniversary of the Ceasefire Declaration Between Armenia and Azerbaijan They should not be positioned near civilian communities neither in Armenia nor in Artsakh Humanitarian and human rights protection needed following the 2020 outbreak of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh Galaxy Group of Companies expands its activities in Belarus: a new TIME and Pandora store launched I think its a good moment to invest in Armenia. Head of Markets at Symbiotics Vincent Lehner Ameriabank has Raised USD 17.5M Tier 2 Capital UNIGHT TO UNITE. UCOM CELEBRATED ITS REBIRTH Ameriabank and HSBC Armenia to provide their customers access to each others ATMs without additional fees Google Ad Ameriabank. 62.5% Growth in Taxes YOY Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans have provided 300 million AMD to overcome the infertility in Armenia UCOM has officially launched the sale of IPHONE 13 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 Flashmob in NA against adoption of 2019 state budget bill (video) The Armenian parliament adopted the 2019 state budget bill. 66 MPs voted in favor of the draft budget, 4 voted against and 2 abstained. Ahead of the vote, Republican party members who voted against the bill, announced their opinions. According to Deputy Speaker of Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov, this is an inert budget, so he will vote against the bill. "Through this bill], the economy will not develop, but it will regress. This will not create jobs, but the number of jobs and investments will decrease," he said. Member of the RPA Armen Ashotyan joined the flashmob of his colleagues, stating that he would vote against, respecting the party's decision. According to Ashotyan, he expresses the opinions of those who are disappointed by the timely and unfulfilled promises. Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly Arpine Hovhannisyan, who also voted against 2019 state budget project, noted that the faction has never ceased personal opinions of individuals and anyhow lawmakers are free to vote at their discretion. "Our stance has not changed," Baghdasaryan said. Tsarukyan faction MP Tigran Urikhanyan reminded that the number of poor people, the crisis of migration, the unemployment rate, the environment of disappointment and inequality have been manifested by the budget bills of the previous years. So, their faction will support for the implementation of obligations assumed by the incumbent government. LGBT propagandists are funded from foreign funds - A. Ghukasyan (video) More than a dozen people gathered in front of the government building to protest against homosexuality. The participants of the action were members and supporters of the "For Social Justice" party. According to party leader Arman Ghukasyan, their struggle is against homosexuality. He is convinced that homosexuality in Armenia is being funded by foreign funds. "Money comes to our country from abroad, which is aimed at the propaganda of homosexuality." The action participants' view, the state should take concrete steps to prevent propaganda of homosexuality, especially among juveniles. Arman Ghukasyan underlined that they also applied to the former government, but they did not receive any response as well. The party's deputy chairman Tsovinar Kostanyan said they often are asked: "Where were you before? We have always been worried about this topic, we have always acted out and voiced our concern. We respect the rights of all, but we are against the propaganda." Tsovinar Kostanyan added that they expect the authorities to have a clear position on the issue. Anna Hakobyan meets with Armenian designers Anna Hakobyan, spouse of Armenias acting prime minister, met with the heads of ZGEST, PETOOR, Just Black, Diana Avona Armenian companies discussing fashion-related issues. Anna Hakobyan said she is ready to assist the Armenian designers, Armenian brands to wear their clothes both during the local and international meetings. My goal is for the Armenian designers to be recognized also abroad so that our compatriots will give much more preference to the Armenian products, she said. We highly appreciate your statement that you are ready to wear the clothes made by Armenian designers. This is a very great support. Who must be the face of Armenian designers if not you?, ZGEST company founder Alla Pavlova said, adding that all partners of the field welcome and highly value this initiative. At the meeting the Armenian designers introduced the history of their brands, the style and qualitative features of their clothes, as well as their new ideas. This is not the first such meeting with the Armenian designers. Anna Hakobyan has also met and cooperates with the Nikolyan Fashion Studio, FAINA, RUZANE, Mika, Teryan Cultural Center, Anka and Teress companies. Company announcement 9/2018 Today European Wind Farms Denmark A/S, a subsidiary to European Energy A/S, signed an agreement for the sale of a wind farm in Denmark with a total capacity of 25.2 MW to a Swiss investment management firm. The wind farm is located in the municipality of Lolland, Denmark. The wind farm was commissioned in February 2018 and consists of a total of 7 Vestas V117-3.45 MW turbines, upgraded power mode to 3.60 MW. The sale is conditioned upon the fulfillment of a few conditions precedent and closing is expected to take place in December 2018. The sale will (subject to closing of the transaction) contribute positively to European Energy A/S' financial position. Contact information: European Energy A/S Jens-Peter Zink, chairman of the board jpz@europeanenergy.dk ph. + 45 2047 8220 This announcement has been made in accordance with the market abuse regulation (regulation (EU) no. 596/2014 on market abuse). In addition to the Belarusian oil trader Interservice, four more companies plan to take part in the auction for privatization of power generating company PJSC Centrenergo. According to the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, Forbes and Manhattan Ukraine (Kyiv), headed by member of the advisory board of the Canadian bank Forbes & Manhattan Mykhailo Spektor, also announced its intention to participate in the auction for the sale of 78.289% of Centrenergo. In addition, Ukrdoninvest LLC (Kyiv), whose beneficiary is businessman Vitaliy Kropachev, also plans to participate in privatization of the power generating company. It is also assumed that Georgian International Energy Corporation (Tbilisi), one of the largest multifunctional energy companies in Georgia, as well as Balance Group LLC (Kyiv), whose ultimate beneficial owner is ex-People's Deputy Dmytro Kriuchkov, detained in Germany on July 14 and suspected of embezzling Zaporizhiaoblenergo funds, will take part in the auction. As reported, the Belarusian unitary enterprise Neftebitumen Plant, which has been owned by Interservice, one of the largest Belarusian oil traders, since 2012, also announced its intention to participate in the auction for the sale of Centrenergo shares. The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce before May 31, 2019 would issue the final award in the case on the termination of the joint venture (JV) agreement signed by PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia and Karpatygaz LLC and Misen Enterprises AB (Sweden, the shareholder in Karpatygaz), the press service of Misen has reported. As reported, Ukrgazvydobuvannia on July 15, 2016 appealed to the Arbitral Tribunal in Stockholm with a claim for the termination of the cooperation agreement with Karpatygaz LLC and Misen Enterprises AB, as well as on loss recovery. Ukrgazvydobuvannia in autumn 2015 said that Karpatygaz and its shareholder Misen refused to fulfill obligations under the JV agreement. According to Ukrgazvydobuvannia, Misen contributed only $3.68 million of investments during the contract period, while the capitalization of Karpatygaz during the contract period amounted to UAH 1.5 billion (due to the production of more than 700 million cubic meters annually from 110 Ukrgazvydobuvannia wells). Ukrgazvydobuvannia, fully owned by Naftogaz Ukrainy, is Ukraine's largest gas producer, which provides about 75% of the total gas output in the country. Misen Enterprises AB is a subsidiary of Misen Energy AB headquartered in Sweden. The Bogdan Corporation has issued its first electric truck ERCV27 for loading solid household waste under a contract with Denmark's Banke Electromotiv. The truck was presented on November 22 at the Bogdan Motors automobile plant in Lutsk with the participation of Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan. "We are gradually refuting the widespread opinion that Ukraine is exclusively agrarian. The presented electric transport is fully designed and created in Ukraine. It will be "Made in Ukraine" in the European Union," the ministry's press service reported on its website, citing Omelyan as saying. The press service of the Bogdan Corporation said that the mass production of cars will begin after their certification in Denmark. As reported, the agreement signed between the Bogdan Motors plant in Lutsk and Banke Electromotiv for the designing and production of garbage collection trucks signed in the spring of this year involves the manufacture of 15 trucks. In general, Banke Electromotive requires about 200 trucks a year. "As long as European companies order ecofriendly special vehicles for the removal of household waste from a Ukrainian manufacturer, our state is lagging behind in this matter. Although the Bogdan's electric truck with its characteristics is ahead, and the company is ready to produce it for Ukrainian cities," the corporation's press service said. In turn, according to the press service of the Infrastructure Ministry, Omelyan pointed out the importance of creating conditions for the development of electric transport in Ukraine as soon as possible. "We have visited a workshop that is ready for operation, we just need to start it. To do this, we need to create conditions for restoring the automotive industry in Ukraine. In particular, we initiated an electric bus at the Boryspil airport, and I hope it will be Ukrainian electric bus," the press service said, quoting Omelyan. Political directors to meet in Normandy format in Berlin next week Ukrainian MFA A meeting of political directors in the Normandy format will be held in Berlin next week, Oleksii Makeiev, political director of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, has said. "Yes, such a meeting will take place," he told a journalist of Interfax-Ukraine news agency when asked whether a meeting was possible. The Ukrainian party is going to demand at a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on November 22 that the Russian Federation should dissolve all the institutions created as a result of the November 11 illegitimate elections in the occupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Iryna Gerashchenko, First Deputy Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament and and Ukraine's envoy to the TCG humanitarian subgroup Iryna Gerashchenko, has said. "Today is the first meeting of the Minsk groups to be held since the conduct by Russia of the illegitimate elections in Russia's occupied Donbas. Ukraine and the entire civilized world do not recognize that farce Today the Ukrainian party will voice its strong protest at a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group against a blatant violation of the Minsk agreements. And it will demand Russia and its puppets in the occupied areas of Donbas immediately dissolve all the illegitimate institutions, all those 'parliaments' and 'governments,' which have not been officially recognized even by the Russian Federation itself," Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook on November 22. She said that on November 22 the Ukrainian party is also going to immediately demand the fifth subgroup, for border issues, be created within the TCG so that "the Ukrainian border could be brought back under the Ukrainian control." Also, the Ukrainian party will immediately demand that the Zolote checkpoint be opened on the demarcation line. Also, Gerashchenko said the meeting will look into the safety of drones belonging to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine and landmine security. "We expect the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine will be able to work in the entire territory of Ukraine, including the occupied areas of Donbas and Crimea," Gerashchenko added. Russia-led occupation forces mounted 11 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, wounding one Ukrainian soldier. "One Ukrainian soldier was wounded in the past day. According to intelligence reports, one enemy combatant was killed," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said on Facebook. Russia-led occupation forces opened aimed fire from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms to attack the defenders of the towns of Avdiyivka and Krasnohorivka. The villages of Krymske, Novozvanivka, Novoluhanske, Slavne, Pavlopil, Hnutove, and Shyrokyne came under attack. The enemy employed 82-mm mortars to shell the Ukrainian positions near Hnutove last night. In addition, a Ukrainian fortified position near Krymske came under fire from hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers twice. Ukrainian troops stationed near Novozvanivka were attacked twice with the use of heavy machine guns and mounted anti-tank grenade launchers. "Since Thursday midnight, Russia-led forces haven't attacked the Ukrainian positions," the report said. European lightweight Vega class rocket with a Ukrainian engine successfully launched the Mohammed VI-B Moroccan Earth Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS) into a sun-synchronous earth orbit. According to a report on the website of the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU), the rocked launched on November 21 at 03:42 Kyiv time from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana (South America). The launch became the 13th under the Vega program and the second in 2018. The next launch of this program scheduled for February 2019. The mass of the Mohammed VI-B satellite, created by Thales Alenia Space with the participation of Airbus on the order of the Kingdom of Morocco, is 1,108 kg. The satellite will be used primarily for mapping and land surveying activities, regional development, agricultural monitoring, the prevention and management of natural disasters, monitoring changes in the environment and desertification, as well as border and coastal surveillance. The Vega was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) in cooperation with the Italian Space Agency (ASI). It is intended for launching into a solar-synchronous orbit with a height of 1,200 km satellites weighing up to 1,200 kg or into a polar orbit with a height of 700 km satellites weighing 1,500 kg. The propulsion engine for the 4th stage of the PH RD-868P was developed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and manufactured the Yuzhmash PO (both from Dnipro, Ukraine). According to the developer, the new liquid engine is based on the intercontinental ballistic missile carrier (ICBM) RS-20. A successful test run of the Vega rocket was carried out in February 2012. Since May 2013, ESA has begun commercial operation of the new launch vehicle. Some 30 satellites have been launched into orbit for customers. . In July 2017, Ukrainian participants in the Vega program cooperation extended the contract signed in 2012 with a European contractor - Italian Avio SpA - for the supply of production engines for the Vega rocket until 2020. The Government of Ukraine and the ESA signed an agreement on cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space in 2008. The structure of the ESA includes 17 European countries. Ukraine is currently preparing the creation of an information hub for the implementation of the cooperation agreement with the EU signed in May 2018 in the European space monitoring program Copernicus. Popularity of cigarette smoking among Ukrainians is declining given the global trend of harm reduction and responsible attitude to own health and wellbeing, market experts believe. An important factor has been the emergence of alternatives to conventional cigarettes. Just recently two large multinationals launched tobacco heating devices; while the e-liquid market is supplied by tens if not hundreds of small manufacturers and importers, notes Valery Vorotin, PhD, and expert of the Legislation Institute of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament). Experts believe the new technologies allow significant reduction in exposure to harmful and potentially harmful components for users. Michalis Alexandrakis Director General of Philip Morris Ukraine stated: The new generation of devices deliver significant improvement and innovation and mark another step toward convincing all men and women who would otherwise continue to smoke to switch to smoke-free alternatives. Alexandrakis noted that almost 6 million users in 43 countries chose the contemporary heating devices, and Ukraine is also witnessing a growing demand trend. Results of the Strazhesko Cardiology Research Center point that switching to electronic nicotine delivery systems [such as electronic cigarettes and tobacco heating devices] improve functions of blood circulation, heart and lung systems. As reported earlier, IPSOS study shows that 93% of respondents in Ukraine believe that consumer goods companies have an obligation to continuously develop and apply innovations for the benefit of public health. Philip Morris Alexandrakis highlighted priority of Ukraine as a production hub for conventional cigarettes as well as commercialization of the alternative products. Philip Morris International entered the Ukrainian market in 1994. Total investment towards establishing a contemporary production and logistics hub in Dokuchaevske (Kharkiv region) is US$ 348 million. 40% of the products were exported to Albania, Armenia, Bakhrein, Georgia, Quatar, Kuweit, Moldova, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Japan. Tobacco cut filler is exported to Egypt. Shipments of conventional cigarettes in 2017 for the internal market reached 19.4 billion units. Former acting head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine Myroslav Prodan suspected of embezzlement, has said that next week he will return to Kyiv after treatment abroad, and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) has been notified about it. "Next week I am returning to Kyiv after the completion of treatment. Doctors believe that my condition will allow me to leave the medical center. Today, the lawyers provided the representatives of the SAPO with this information. I hope that they will not present me a show on my return. I am ready to appear at SAPO on the day [of the arrival]," Prodan wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday. He said that "this story with subpoenas, suspicions" was arranged to scare him so that he would not return to Ukraine. "Many hoped that I would stay abroad. Indeed, in that case, there is nothing to prove. I do not come back, I hide and thus, I confirm that it was really my fault. I won't make such a gift to people who ordered me. . I am returning," he said. "I am returning to prove a point," he added. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko's order No. 210/2018-rp on the appointment of Yevhen Marchuk as the representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbas (TCG) has been published on the website of the Ukrainian president. "To authorize Marchuk Evhen Kyrylovych to represent Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group on the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Marchuk carries out the activities stipulated by this order on a voluntary basis," the text of the document says. The second President of Ukraine (1994-2005), Leonid Kuchma, is also dismissed by this order from respective duties. Marchuk is former head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), ex-minister of defense, ex-secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), ex-prime minister of Ukraine, and the army general. English French TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited (BlackRock Canada), an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. (BlackRock) (NYSE:BLK) and manager of the iShares Balanced Income CorePortfolio Index ETF (CBD) and iShares Balanced Growth CorePortfolio Index ETF (CBN, and together with CBD, the iShares Funds), announced on September 28, 2018 that it called special meetings of the unitholders of CBD and CBN (the Meetings), to be held on December 3, 2018, to approve changes to the fundamental investment objective of each iShares Fund and certain related matters (the Proposals). Further details regarding the Proposals and related changes have been provided in a joint management information circular dated October 29, 2018 (the Circular) that has been mailed to unitholders of record of the iShares Funds as of October 19, 2018. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers continues rotating strikes in Canada, which may disrupt postal services and delay the delivery of the Circular, forms of proxy and/or voting instruction forms in respect of the Meetings. 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Unitholders who do not want to take the steps required to attend and vote at the Meetings should submit their voting instructions no later than November 28, 2018. About BlackRock BlackRock helps investors build better financial futures. As a fiduciary to our clients, we provide the investment and technology solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. As of September 30, 2018, the firm managed approximately US$6.44 trillion in assets on behalf of investors worldwide. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/ca | Twitter: @blackrockCA | Blog: www.blackrockblog.com/can About iShares iShares unlocks opportunity across markets to meet the evolving needs of investors. 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All rights reserved. iSHARES and BLACKROCK are registered trademarks of BlackRock, Inc., or its subsidiaries in the United States and elsewhere. Used with permission. Contact for Media: Julia Koene T 416-643-4010 Email: julia.koene@blackrock.com The implementation of the Minsk agreements will be discussed in Berlin and Vienna next week, Martin Sajdik, the special representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas, said at a briefing in Minsk on Thursday. A Normandy-format meeting in Berlin on Monday will take place in the framework of the monitoring mechanism envisaged by the February 12, 2015 declaration of the four nations' leaders, he said. The meeting is welcomes because it shows the two formats, the Normandy and the Minsk meetings, are working together, he said. In addition, the OSCE Permanent Council will meet in Vienna on Thursday to discuss Ukraine, Sajdik said. Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry confirmed that a Normandy-format meeting at the level of political directors will be held in Berlin next week. According to some reports, the meeting could be held on November 26. After changing constitution Ukraine will not step off path towards EU, NATO - Poroshenko Changes to the constitution will compel any Ukrainian government and all its branches to ensure the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of the country, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said. "I am almost in no doubt that Verkhovna Rada will definitely support the draft constitutional changes on first reading. By virtue of the Fundamental Law, they will compel the Ukrainian government - I stress: any [government] and all its branches - to ensure Ukraine's accession to the European Union and NATO," Poroshenko told parliament on Thursday, during a consideration of draft constitutional changes regarding Ukraine's EU and NATO integration. Ukraine's membership would substantially reinforce NATO's eastern flank, he said. "Our Armed Forces, all of Ukraine will substantially strengthen the Alliance's eastern flank," Poroshenko said. The fact that in its east Ukraine is defending not only itself but the whole European civilization "substantially reinforces our moral right to expect to become a full member of the European Union," he said. Earlier today Ukraine's Constitutional Court delivered a favorable conclusion on the constitutional filing by Verkhovna Rada regarding the constitutionality of the presidential bill on Ukraine's NATO and EU course. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko says that amending the Constitution of Ukraine on the country's strategic course towards integration into the European Union and NATO is an additional guarantee against the threat of revenge by the pro-Russian and anti-NATO forces in the country. "This is an additional guarantee against the revenge of the pro-Russian, anti-NATO, and anti-European forces. I don't want to exaggerate the threat of such revenge, but I also urge not to ignore it and not to underestimate it. We must guarantee the inevitability of the European and Euro-Atlantic course. This is our responsibility before this and next generations," Poroshenko said in the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday before voting on amendments to the Constitution on the consolidation of the country's EU and NATO membership efforts. KYIV. Nov 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) The majority (86.8%) of Ukrainians do not support the activities of the Verkhovna Rada, 81% - the activities of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and 78.5% - the activities of Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, a poll conducted by the Sociopolis Institute of Social Technologies has shown. The results of the poll were announced at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine news agency on November 22. In particular, to the question "How do you assess activities of the Rada," 1.6% of respondents answered that they do not know anything about the parliament's activities, 1.2% fully support, 5.6% more likely support, 26.9% do not support, 59.9% - do not fully support, and 4.8% found it difficult to answer. Answering the question "How do you assess Poroshenko's activities?," 1.5% of respondents answered that they do not know anything about the president's activities, 2.4% - fully support, 10.4% - rather support, 27.9% - rather don't support, 53.1% - do not fully support, and 4.6% were undecided. In addition, to the question "How do you assess Groysman's activities," 2.8% of respondents answered that they do not know anything about the prime minister's activities, 2.4% - fully support, 11.3% - rather support, 29.5% - rather do not support it, 49% do not support it fully, and 5.1% found it difficult to answer. The poll was conducted by the Sociopolis Institute of Social Technologies from November 8 to November 16, 2018. A total of 2,403 people aged above 18 years were polled in all the regions of Ukraine except for Crimea and Russia-occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The statistical error is no more than 2% for figures close to 50%, 1.7% for figures close to 25%, 1.2% for figures close to 10% and 0.9% for figures close to 5%. Pseudo-documentary film about how Ukraine became almost depopulated after opening borders in 2020 to be shown on Nov 22 Kyiv. Nov 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The film "2020 #deserted country," a mockumentary film (pseudo-documentary), will premiere in several cities of Ukraine. "The film takes place in 2020. As a result of the signing of a number of international treaties, Ukraine opens its borders to all countries of the world. People begin to travel abroad en masse in search of a better life. After a few weeks, the country becomes almost deserted. A Canadian film director of Ukrainian origin decided to visit Ukraine, to find out if the people who stayed are happy and why," Korniy Gricyuk, the director of the film, told a press conference at the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Thursday. Famous Ukrainian journalist Andriy Kulikov plays the fictitious Ukrainian President Taras Voitenko in the film. Voitenko is the author of the fictional election program "Civic Initiative 2020. Leave and return." "The essence of the initiative is that Ukrainians are entitled to a free one-way ticket to any country in the world, but everyone has to earn the ticket back independently. The idea is that Ukrainians, having received experience and education abroad, a different mentality, must return to their homeland in order to build a new country. The premiere of the film will take place at Zhovten (October) movie theatre at 19:00 on November 22. The film will also be shown in Planet Cinema, Boomer and Magnat film houses. In Lviv, Kharkiv, Sumy and Odesa - in the Planet Cinema movie theatres. The small Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, home to US and British military bases, is close to Saudi Arabia but hostile to Iran which it accuses of fuelling Shiite-led protests. Ahead of legislative elections on November 24, here is some background: - Sunni rulers - Bahrain is made up of one large island and around 34 smaller ones situated off the east coast of Saudi Arabia, to which it is connected by a causeway. At just 700 square kilometres (270 square miles), it is the smallest country in the Middle East with a population of 1.49 million (World Bank, 2017). A British protectorate from 1871 until its independence in 1971, it has been ruled since 1783 by the Khalifa dynasty that follows the Sunni branch of Islam. Bahrain has a majority Shiite Muslim population, according to unofficial estimates contested by the government. It also has a significant community of Southeast Asian workers employed mostly in the construction and service sectors. - Waves of unrest - Bahrain was shaken by anti-government unrest in the 1990s driven by the Shiite opposition which called for the restoration of parliament dissolved in 1975. Since 1999 it has been ruled by King Hamad, who is now in his late 60s. A 2001 referendum approved reforms that paved the way for elections to a restored parliament in 2002, although they were boycotted by the opposition. In 2011 Bahrain was rocked by an uprising by its Shiite population who complained of political, economic and social discrimination and demanded pro-democracy reforms. A major sit-in by protesters in the capital Manama lasted a month before being crushed by security forces reinforced by deployments from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Since then hundreds of opposition activists have been imprisoned, some stripped of their citizenship, and opposition parties outlawed. Dozens of people are feared to have been killed in the unrest. - Tehran tensions, Riyadh ally - Bahrain is one of the strongest allies of Saudi Arabia, the regional Sunni power, and is hostile to Iran, the Shiite heavyweight. It frequently accuses Iran of stirring its unrest, a charge that is denied. Manama broke diplomatic relations with Tehran in 2016. A year later it joined Saudi Arabia and other countries in ending ties with Qatar, accused of supporting extremists and rapprochement with Iran. - US, British bases - Located between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the island state is a strategic western ally and part of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group. It hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet with around 7,800 US military personnel deployed in the country. Britain in April 2018 opened in Bahrain its first permanent military base in the Middle East since 1971. South of Manama, it is to host around 300 troops. - Smallest Gulf oil producer - In 1932 Bahrain became the first Gulf Arab country to produce crude oil but today it is the smallest of the Gulf producers. In 2008 it announced the discovery of more than 80 billion barrels of shale oil which it hopes to start pumping in 2023. With 80 percent of its revenues from oil and a large budget deficit, it announced in October 2018 an economic reform plan backed up by a $10-billion (8.6 billion euros) support package from its key Gulf allies. - Pearl-rich past - Before the discovery of oil, Bahrain's main activities were fishing and pearl diving. In 2012 UNESCO added a major pearling site to its world heritage list, describing the practice as "testimony of an island economy". Pearl Square in Manama, the epicentre of the 2011 protests, is so-called to evoke the kingdom's pearling history. Iranian Medical Council officials have warned about the negative impact of U.S. sanctions on the availability of medicine and medical equipment in Iran. In a letter to UN Chief Antonio Guterres, Dr. Iraj Fazel and Dr. Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi wrote that US sanctions on Iran's international trade have "seriously and adversely affected Iran's ability to access medical services and equipment." The claim is made while U.S. officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Iran Action Group Chief Brian Hook have said repeatedly that US sanctions do not target the export of medicine and medical supplies to Iran. U.S. officials insist that sanctions are not against the people of Iran and that they are meant to change the behavior of the Iranian government. Some Iranian activists abroad have warned in the past that the Islamic Republic takes advantage of sanctions to conceal its incapability and mismanagement, in cases such as running an efficient healthcare system. The Iranian Medical Council Officials in their letter called US sanctions on Irans trade "illegal," adding that they would do their best to increase international awareness of the impact of sanctions on procuring medicine for Iranians. They also called for "an immediate humanitarian solution to put an end to this problem." Pompeo has recently said in an interview with the BBC's Persian TV that the United States has not imposed any sanctions on food and medicine for Iran. "Not only are the transactions themselves exempted that is, the transactions in medicine, for example but the financial transactions connected to that activity also are authorized," Pompeo said. He added that it was up to the Iranian government to decide whether it wants to spend the country's wealth on providing food and medicine, or to invest in expanding its influence in the region. The United States has repeatedly asserted that the sanction do not target humanitarian goods. Previously, while hearing an Iranian government's complaint against the United States, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, ruled that the US should nullify those sanctions that deprived the Iranian people of essential needs and aviation safety. A tweeter user opined that it is the Islamic Republic that has sanctioned importing medicine because it has used a ship allocated to shipping medical supplies to carry supplies for the Lebanese Hezbollah and Assad's regime in Syria. Critics, including Iranian activists abroad, have insisted that the Islamic Republic should be held accountable for shortcomings resulting from international sanctions, as these are foremost the outcome of its unacceptable behaviour, including supporting terrorism and proliferating missiles. Others have accused Iranian officials of profiteering using the pretext of sanctions, by selling often low-quality medicine procured from dubious sources at high prices in government owned pharmacies and at the same time fuelling the price rise that inevitably includes essential goods such as medicine by not being able to control the markets. On Social media, Zahra Dizaji tweeted that "Certainly there is no sanctions against medicine, but it is not correct to say that sanctions have not created problems for importing medicine." Another user, Maziar, reminded that banking transactions for importing medicine are not subject to sanctions. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic has been criticized by many Iranians during various protests in the past year for sending large amounts of medical supplies to other countries in the Middle East and North Africa while Iranians are suffering from shortages of the same medicines and equipment in the country. Cutting off Iran's banking system from the world banking network has created problems for importing goods from abroad. According to a Reuters report the sanctions imposed in 2012, cut Iran's medical imports from the United States by 50 percent. But in the same period, the Islamic Republic under hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spent the budget allocated to importing medical supply on buying luxury goods and irrelevant items from countries such as China. Ahmadinejad dismissed his Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi in 2012 after she protested against mismanagement and mishandling of government funds that should have been spent on providing medicine and medical supplies. As lobbying and unofficial campaigning starts for the 2021 presidential elections in Iran, some reformists have been distancing themselves from Majles Speaker Ali Larijani and have started criticizing him for his role in recent political developments, while other reformists have been grooming him for the country's top executive post. Early campaigning is one of the characteristic features of presidential elections in Iran. While being criticized by some reformists, Larijani is not the poster boy of many conservatives either. This is because he has wiggled his way between the two factions for quite a while. For at least a decade Larijani has been trying to present himself as an independent non-partisan political figure who is not under the influence of rival factions in Iran. Some say his moves are based on a model presented by former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Larijani was initially part and parcel of Iranian hardliners during his term of office as the head of Iran's state-run TV in late 1990s and early 2000s and played into their hands by broadcasting damning documentaries to tarnish the reformists' image. But that changed over the years. Following his defeat in the 2005 Presidential elections and his dismissal from the post of the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Larijani tried his best to portray himself as a non-partisan politician. His next move was to take part in the Majles election from Qom, a city that hosts Iran's biggest seminary. A move, that portrayed him as top ayatollahs' favorite. That is in fact not far from the truth as he is the son of a top ayatollah. During the 8th and 9th rounds of the Majles (2008 - 2016), Larijani more or less established himself as an independent politician, who of course, never dared to challenge the Supreme Leader's authoritarian rule. Those who did, have been under house arrest for the best part of a decade. He never took a clear and transparent position about the disputed presidential election in 2009 which effectively divided the nation and the country's political circles. Hardliners, including -then- pro-Ahmadinejad Paydari (steadfastness) Party did not like this stance. Hassan Rouhani's victory in the 2013 Presidential election marked a new chapter in Larijani's political career. The two knew each other very well and had worked together. Rouhani gave a good share of his cabinet to Larijani's men. That included Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli. This time, Iran's reformist did not like that. As Larijani started to align his positions with Rouhani's so called moderate and pro-reform administration, hardliners who were trying to undercut the Rouhani administration by questioning and impeaching his ministers in parliament, accused Larijani of obstruction. Disappointed by Larijani's alliance with Rouhani, conservatives refused to back Larijani as a candidate in the latest Majles elections in 2016, but the reformists-moderates coalition included his name in the list of their candidates and strongly supported him. They also lent him their support to become the speaker of the Majles for the third time. The political scene however has changed since then and some reformists have recently began criticizing Larijani as talks about his probable candidacy in the next presidential election became serious. Their pretext, according to MPs, was Larijani's support for reformist labor minister Rabiei's dismissal from the cabinet in September 2018. Rabiei's supporters have charged that Larijani has facilitated Mohammad Shariatmadari's appointment as the new labor minister. They claimed that Shariatnmadari is going to fund Larijani's presidential campaign, using his influence in the labor ministry's wealthy pension fund that owns several companies. But other reformists think differently. Figures such as publisher Mohammad Atrianfar have put forward Larijani's name as a potential candidate, grooming him for the top executive post in 2021. "All of us reformists are committed to support Mr. Larijani's candidacy," He said. Some reformist analysts, such as Sadeq Zibakalam, however, say that supporting Rouhani in the two previous elections has discredited reformists as Rouhani failed to deliver on his promises. "If they promote Larijani, a former conservative, as their choice, this will put an end to their prestige as reformists." Other reformist figures, such as newspaper publisher and member of parliament Elias Hazrati, have put forward well-known reformists' name, including incumbent vice-president Es'haq Jahangiri and MP Mohammad Reza Aref as their choices for the 2021 presidential race. Previously, early starts in the race have not been successful. Generally, in Iranian presidential elections, last minute candidates such as Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani have won the elections. Also, no previously defeated candidate in Iran has won the presidential elections later. Larijani lost the 2005 election to Ahmadinejad after winning only 6% of the votes cast and ranking 6th among seven candidates. Observers say Larijani has no other grassroots support if reformists do not nominate him for the presidential race. On the other hand, the chaotic political situation that followed the US pull-out from the nuclear deal with Iran and Khamenei's insistence on continuing his current uncompromising posture that has led to Iran's isolation in the international community has disappointed both some of the conservatives and reformists. They might be looking for a new face who is not necessarily identified with one of the two factions. That new face can be Ali Larijani. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: Within the framework of the bid to host the World Expo in 2025, in Baku the essay competition was organized by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Expo 2025 Baku Operations Secretariat. The competition was organized to support the candidacy of Baku at the Baku Expo 2015, presenting the potential opportunities for holding the exhibition in Azerbaijan and strengthening the scientific basis for the development of human capital selected as the priority topic of the exhibition. The winner of the scientific essay competition on the topic Developing human capital for better future growth was the director of the UNEC Center for Empirical Research and the young teacher of the International Economics (English speaking) chair Khatai Aliyev. The young teacher of the UNEC had used both illustrative and empirical methods in the scientific article on the topic The role of education and science in the development of multicultural values in Azerbaijan". In the research, the level of multicultural thinking and tolerance in Azerbaijan was analyzed from different aspects based on the survey, involving 3308 respondents. At the same time, the role of education and science was assessed using the Smallest Quadratic (ACE) method. As a winner of the contest was organized the visit of Khatai Aliyev to the headquarters of the International Exhibitions Bureau, located in France, in the city Paris. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: Azercell subscribers will get the best out of long-waited Black Friday discounts. The company is launching a new campaign on November 23rd, a day well-known as Black Friday all over the world. Azercell Exclusive Stores and Dealer network will give everyone awesome deals and discounts up to 70%. Find incredible savings on various items across the services, devices and accessories only from Azercell. Check for all of Azercells Black Friday deals by visiting www.azercell.com or official pages in Instagram and Facebook. Visit Azercells Exclusive Stores and Dealer network and take advantage of incredible discounts! For more information, please contact [email protected] The leader of the mobile communication industry, the largest taxpayer and the biggest investor of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48% share of Azerbaijans mobile telecom market Azercells network covers 80% of the territory (excluding 20% of the occupied territories) and 99,8% of population of the country. Currently, 4,5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, mobile internet services, Metro coverage, 24/7 call centre service, 7 day/week Front Office service, M2M services, one-stop-shopping approach Azercell Express offices, mobile customer services, Online Customer Care and Social Media Customer Care services, mobile e-signature service ASAN Imza etc. Azercell deployed first 4G LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012. According to the results of mobile network quality and wireless coverage mapping surveys by international systems, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan. Azercell is the only company in Azerbaijan and CIS region which has been awarded Gold Certificate of International Investors in People Standard. TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Minister Lisa MacLeods announcement today about a new direction for social assistance in Ontario shows promising directions for Ontario Works, but leaves many unanswered questions and creates serious risks for people with disabilities. There is also no mention of addressing the most critical problem, which is improving the inadequate benefit rates for people on OW and the Ontario Disability Support Program. We are very concerned about the plan to change the definition of disability in ODSP and the impact this will have on people with disabilities in Ontario, said Mary Marrone, Director of Advocacy & Legal Services at ISAC. But the governments new vision of providing wrap-around services to better support people in their efforts to find employment would be a move in the right direction if done well. Recipients and advocates have called for such changes for many years. Other aspects of the announcement, including the new Health Spending Account and changes to amounts of money that people can keep when they work, leave more questions than answers. Disability Definition The announcement indicates that government will change the definition of disability for ODSP to align with federal guidelines. This change would exclude a large number of people who are currently eligible for the program. ODSP currently uses an inclusive definition of disability that recognizes that people whose disabilities might not be severe may still face serious obstacles to employment and participation in the community and in daily life. Moving to a federal definition of disability whether the CPP-D or the Disability Tax Credit definition would make it much harder for many people with disabilities to access ODSP, said Marrone. Many people with disabilities would be excluded, like those with episodic disabilities or some mental health disabilities, forcing them to rely on the much lower benefit amounts that Ontario Works provides. Grand-parenting current recipients of ODSP is essential to ensure the lives of current recipients will not be disrupted. But Ontario cannot condemn people with disabilities who will require support in the future to the much lower benefit rates available from Ontario Works. Reform of the system should not start with what is effectively a rate reduction for new entrants. We urge the government to reconsider the move to a more restrictive definition of disability. Health Spending Account The Minister noted the creation of a new Health Spending Account for people with disabilities that would give them the ability to select and pay for whichever health-related services they require. It is not clear whether this new amount will replace current mandatory and discretionary health-related benefits that help people access items like diabetes supplies, incontinence supplies, medical travel, and other necessities. No information is available for how much this benefit will provide, how people will qualify for it, and how they will access it. The test of the Health Spending Account will be whether everyone who needs it will have easy access to it, and whether it will provide enough money for people to pay for the health-related supplies and services they need, said Marrone. Earnings Exemptions The announcement includes changes to the amounts of money that people on OW and ODSP can keep when they work. However, these changes benefit people who work less rather than more. No timeline was given for when these changes will start. Monthly amounts that people on Ontario Works will be able to keep will increase from $200 to $300. However, clawback rates on earnings above that amount will increase from 50% to 75%. This will mean that the more people on OW earn from work, the less they will benefit. For example, a single person on OW who makes $300 is able to keep $250 currently, but will keep $300 under the new system. But a single person on OW who makes $1,000 is able to keep $600 currently, but under the new system will only keep $475. For people on ODSP, the earnings exemption amount will increase from $200 / month to $6,000 / year. Moving to an annual amount will provide much more flexibility for people with disabilities, whose earnings can fluctuate from month to month. However, in combination with the higher clawback rate of 75% on additional earnings, people with disabilities will also be negatively impacted the more they are able to earn, although at higher earnings. These changes seem counterproductive to the Ministers stated goal of providing more incentives for people to seek paid work, said Marrone. And people who work will actually become financially ineligible sooner, losing critical supports like drug coverage. Wrap-Around Supports to Employment Minister MacLeod announced a number of changes to the way in which services will be provided to move people into employment, including commitments to improve access to critically important help like mental health and addictions supports, childcare, housing, and life skills. These changes recognize that people on social assistance are not necessarily job ready and may need a range of services to stabilize their lives before contemplating employment. We are encouraged by this focus, including the commitment to undertake pilot projects and proceed carefully, said Marrone. The Ministers statement that changes to programs that support vulnerable people can have serious negative impacts demonstrates that she understands the need for carefully managed change. ISAC is a specialty legal clinic with a provincial mandate to improve the income security of people living in Ontario through test case litigation, policy development and advocacy, and community organizing. More information www.incomesecurity.org . Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: Russia hails the possible meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia as part of the OSCE Ministerial Meeting in Milan on Dec. 6-7, Spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a press conference on Nov. 22. "We would welcome another round of such a meeting if the parties agree to hold it. But it is the sovereign right of every state to decide on holding such meetings. If such a meeting takes place and turns out to be constructive, it can only be hailed," she said. Zakharova also commented on Armenia's refusal to exchange captives with Azerbaijan according to the all-for-all principle. "We hail any agreement that is in line with the main task of resolving the conflict. But the agreement involves consent and work to fulfill it. Therefore, the initiative [of Azerbaijan] is remarkable, but it needs to be worked out for it to turn into agreements," Zakharova 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 Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: The OSCE Minsk Group (MG) lacks decisiveness in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Minsk Latif Gandilov said in an interview with RIA Novosti. He was answering a question about Azerbaijans dissatisfaction with the actions of OSCE MG mediators. He said that the principles of international law are the invariability of borders, territorial integrity. The ambassador said that Baku is waiting for the settlement of the Karabakh issue on the basis of the four resolutions of the UN Security Council and on the basis of international law. There is no clear understanding of security principles in the world, international law doesnt work, we see this clearly in the Karabakh issue, Gandilov added. Answering the question about the need for reforming the OSCE MG in this case, the diplomat noted that looking for new formats means starting all over again, it will take another 25 years to resolve the issue. Negotiations cannot be endless, there can be no negotiations for the sake of negotiations, he concluded. The Azerbaijani people demand a solution of the issue. 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, Nov. 22 Trend: An official welcome ceremony has been held for President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the Independence Square in Ashgabat. A ceremonial guard of honor was arranged for the Azerbaijani president at the square decorated with the national flags of the two countries. President of Turkmenistan Gurbangulu Berdimuhamedov welcomed President Aliyev. The chief of the guard of honor reported to President Aliyev. State anthems of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan were played. President Aliyev saluted Turkmen soldiers. The presidents reviewed the guard of honor. State and government representatives of Turkmenistan, foreign ambassadors, and heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Ashgabat were introduced to President Aliyev, while members of the Azerbaijani delegation were introduced to President Berdimuhamedov. The guard of honour marched in front of the presidents to the accompaniment of a military march. The presidents then posed for official photos. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: A delegation of the Air Force of Azerbaijan is taking part in a planning meeting of the "Anatolian Phoenix" and "Anatolian Eagle" military exercises, to be held in Turkey in 2019. Currently, the Eternity 2018 multinational exercises are being held in the Turkish town of Pinarhisar to protect oil and gas pipelines, exchange experience and increase interoperability between the armed forces of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia. Command and staff exercises are held with the involvement of units of all the three countries simultaneously. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Bay Leman Zeynalova - Trend: Japan hopes to develop relations with Azerbaijan in tourism sector, Japanese Ambassador in Baku Teruyuki Katori told reporters at an event on the occasion of the Emperor's birthday on Nov. 22. "Azerbaijan and Japan have ensured the development of relations in various fields, especially in the energy sector. We are looking forward to expand relations in tourism and agriculture as well," Katori said. The diplomat noted that trade relations between the two countries are developing rapidly. From Azerbaijan, Japan mainly imports oil and agricultural products, the ambassador said, adding that the trade turnover between the two countries is $1 billion per annum. Katori said that after a 19-year hiatus, the Japanese foreign minister visited Azerbaijan and held significant talks with senior officials of the country. The ambassador expressed confidence that relations with Azerbaijan will further develop with the coming to power of the new emperor in Japan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: Azerbaijans State Border Service has prevented an attempt by four Iranian citizens to cross the borders using fake Italian passports, the Service said in a message. Italian passports, submitted at the border control by four Iranian citizens who arrived Nov. 21 on the Tehran-Baku flight, caused suspicion, and as a result of a thorough check, it was established that they were fake. During the investigation, Iranian passports of these individuals were found, and it was established that on Nov. 17 they flew from Tehran to Istanbul and returned a day later. Apparently, they flew to Istanbul to get Italian passports. The detainees were deported from Azerbaijan to Iran. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Sara Israfilbayova Trend: The volume of export of goods to Azerbaijan supported by the Russian Export Center (REC) reached $53 million in the first nine months of 2018, Nuri Guliyev, head of the centers representative office in Azerbaijan, told Trend. Guliyev stressed that in the first nine months of 2018, the REC group supported projects within the supply of pharmaceutical products, civil engineering products, agro-industrial products and timber products (except for raw wood). The services were rendered in searching for partners, supporting Russian exporters funded from the federal budget, issuing free-sale certificates, supporting export supplies and research, he said. "The volume of supported export of goods to Azerbaijan in this area reached $8 million," Guliyev added. Guliyev stressed that in 2017 the volume of supported export of goods to Azerbaijan reached $184.4 million, while the volume of supported export of goods to Azerbaijan within non-financial support reached $31 million. He added that presently, the companies of the REC group rendered comprehensive support for the Russian-Azerbaijani foreign economic projects worth more than $800 million. According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia reached almost $2 billion in January-October 2018. At the same time, $509.98 million accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products. The trade turnover between the countries increased by 20 percent in January-October 2018 compared to the same period of 2017. Tehran, Iran, Nov. 22 Trend: The costs of Britain's departure from the EU has made the country to look for options to compensate the losses, and Iran is one of those options, economic expert Ali Asghar Zargar told Trend. The UK Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt is visiting Tehran this week to discuss different issues, including nuclear deal. "UK has always followed America's foreign policies and is a strong ally to the US, but now this policy has probably changed. We have to consider the efforts of France, Germany and UK in finding the ways to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)," he said referring to economic goals of Hunt's trip to Iran. "Currently, Britain has a more independent foreign policy and if its rivals seek to profit from Iran's situation, UK would definitely intend to benefit from trade and monetary exchanges with Iran too," he added. Referring to the departure of Britain from the European Union, Zargar says Brexit has led to heavy costs for UK, therefore it seeks to find ways to offset the costs considering its population and economy. "It can be said that UK has come from Europe to keep Iran in JCPOA with a detente of tensions," he noted. "Of course, it should not be forgotten that UK has always had economic interests in the Gulf region and is trying to moderate its regional policies in close proximity to Iran," he said. Tehran,Iran,Nov.22 Trend: Today, with the presence Head of Iran's Management and Planning Organization (MPO) Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht and officials of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the first train on the trial run of the Qazvin-Rasht railway arrived in Rasht from Qazvin province. Referring to the fact that the train is currently open to carrying cargo, the governor of Gilan province Mostafa Salari said the railway will be officially opened in two months with the presence of the president. Salari went on to add that with the opening of the railway, 3.8 million passengers and 10 million tons of cargo will be exchanged annually, which, after completing the route from Rasht to Anzali and Rasht to Astara, will be used to its full capacity, RashtPress reported. The plan is time-consuming and cost-effective, and its credit is provided, and its operations will begin this year, he said referring to the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway. By running the Rasht-Astara railroad, the rail network of the province will connect to the rail network of Azerbaijan, Europe and the Caspian Sea countries, he said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Matanat Nasibova - Trend: Azerbaijans Goychay Sud OJSC, which is engaged in production of milk, dairy products and fruit juices, will carry out export supplies to New Zealand, Russia and Belarus before the end of this year, the company's chief accountant Gasim Karimov told Trend. He said that the company has received orders for supply of fruit juices to these three countries. It cannot be said that there was an increase in exports for the current year, however, supplies to different countries didnt stop, he noted. We have regular customers in Estonia, and for so many years we have been shipping our products to the Baltic region. He said that in total, the products of Goychay Sud OJSC were exported to 20 countries. New Zealand is a relatively new direction, compared to Russia and other CIS countries, but in the future, we will be able to expand our customer base even more, and, accordingly, the export geography, said Karimov. He noted that the company will continue cooperating with current customers, and is ready for new, significant export volumes. The company's products have an ISO 9001:2008 Certificate and a Certificate of Conformity issued by the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patents of Azerbaijan. The company uses modern equipment manufactured in Sweden and Italy. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova State Senator Jose Peralta, who represented Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst, and Woodside, died on Wednesday at age 47. The Post and Daily News report that he had a sudden heart attack. Peralta's communications director told WABC 7, "I can confirm that Senator Jose Peralta died on Wednesday. We have no further details to disclose at this time and we ask that the privacy of the family be respected. Thanks to all those who have expressed words of kindness and support." "I am deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Senator Jose Peralta. Senator Peralta was a dedicated public servant, a relentless advocate for Queens and a pioneer as the first Dominican-American elected to the New York State Senate," Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement issued this morning. "As a Member of the Assembly for eight years and then as Senator, he fought tirelessly to make a difference for others, and he will always be remembered for his service to Queens and to all New Yorkers. This is a reminder of how precious life is hold your families a little bit closer today as we think about all we are thankful for. On behalf of the entire family of New York, my thoughts and prayers are with Senator Peralta and his family, including his wife, Evelyn, and two sons." Peralta was elected to the State Senate in 2010 in a special election after the Senate decided to expel Hiram Monserrate, who had been convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. However, 2017, Peralta's constituents started to confront his defection to the Independent Democratic Conference, a breakaway group of Democratic Senators who caucused with the Republicans, in angry town halls. He was defeated in the September primary by Jessica Ramos. Jose Peralta is gone too soon. When I met him in 2003 I saw a world of promise for our community & though years later wed disagree on tackling the issues, I know in his heart he loved his community. He was a true public servant. Strength & love to his wife, sons, and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/r4HhjIAji1 Jessica Ramos (@jessicaramos) November 22, 2018 Peralta's colleagues and other elected officials also shared their condolences: Deeply saddened by passing of Sen #JosePeralta, my "brother from another mother," as he lovingly referred to me. Jose was a good man who loved his community & job. Words cannot express my feelings. My sympathies go out to Evelyn, Matthew, Myles, his mother & family. RIP my friend pic.twitter.com/zJ7Qqro2KG Daniel Dromm (@Dromm25) November 22, 2018 This news is truly shocking and heartbreaking . My deepest condolences go out to Senator Jose Peraltas family and friends. He will always be part of the Senate family. Sen. Stewart-Cousins (@AndreaSCousins) November 22, 2018 My deepest condolences go out to the family of Senator Jose Peralta. Jose was a great man who gave his all to the community he served and New York State. May God bless and comfort his family. Senator Marty Golden (@SenMartyGolden) November 22, 2018 Tragic news about @SenatorPeralta. My heart goes out to his family. Rest In Peace Sen. Mike Gianaris (@SenGianaris) November 22, 2018 Tehran, Iran, Nov.22 Trend: The railway of Qazvin-Rasht, after the operation, will handle around 2.5 million passengers annually, the Deputy Governor for Development Affairs of Qazvin province, Ali Farrokhzad told Trend. The railway also has a capacity of 7 to 7.5 million tons of cargo per year, he said. After the launch, the railway will play an important role in the economic prosperity of the region, reducing road accidents and saving fuel, he said. "This rail links our country to the Caucasus and is economically important internationally. The Qazvin-Rasht railway will be put into full operation this year with the presence of high officials of the country, said Farrokhzad. The Ghazvin-Rasht railway is 164 km long, and is further connected to Anzali and Astara. Construction of the Rasht-Qazvin Railway Project has been started in 2006. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Taleh Mursagulov - Trend: The EU will allocate a grant of one million euros to the Agency for Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) of Azerbaijan, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Kestutis Jankauskas said at the 9th Azerbaijan Microfinance Conference in Baku. He said the EU supported the creation of the SME agency, as well as the adoption of the SME law in the country. Jankauskas noted that the priorities for the EU financing in Azerbaijan comprise education, including vocational education, as well as the development of rural areas and the agriculture sector. He said the EU and the Azerbaijan Microfinance Association (AMFA) are implementing a $10 million joint initiative to support rural areas. In the coming months, AMFA will unveil the areas where grants are to be allocated in four main regions of Azerbaijan, he noted. He added that from 2020, work will begin to develop the Lankaran economic zone. The main goal is the development of horticulture farms and increasing competitiveness, Jankauskas said. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @TalehMursagulov Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Elnur Baghishov - Trend: Once the 350-kilometer Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway is commissioned, it will connect Indias Mumbai to Finlands Helsinki, Iranian MP Davoud Mohammadi said in an interview with IRNA. He was speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 164-kilometer Qazvin-Rasht railway commissioned in test mode Nov. 22. He added that the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway is a national and important railway project of Iran. In addition to Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin and Gilan provinces will benefit from this railway, he said. He noted that however laying the Qazvin-Rasht railway started 10 years ago, huge investments were made in the last six years and great progress was observed in this project. This railway will reduce rail traffic jams and traffic accidents as well as make it possible to decrease energy consumption, he said. Transportation of 10 million tons of cargo, 3.85 million passengers per year is one of the goals of the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway project. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: Business Women Association Tadbirkor Ayol (BWA) with the support of the World Bank and other development partners, including the EU Delegation in Uzbekistan, Embassies of the United States and Switzerland organized a workshop designed to discuss challenges and innovative solutions to facilitate rural womens entrepreneurship, the WBs Tashkent office said in its press release. BWA joined World Womens Entrepreneurship Day marked globally in 2016 and annually organizes a series of event to promote women entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan, discuss barriers and challenges to develop business, find international partners, build capacity and share best practices with local female entrepreneurs. The workshop held on Nov. 22 in Tashkent was attended by representatives of ministries and state agencies, NGOs, firms, and companies run by women, beneficiaries of the World Bank projects, including female farmers from rural areas across Uzbekistan. Challenges faced by women in entrepreneurship, especially in rural areas can be effectively addressed through various business models of cooperation that are successfully implemented globally for many years. Such business models strength women`s position at the labor market and add value to leadership capacity in their communities that are highlighted through World Bank's global experience based on projects implemented worldwide, said Nina Kolybashkina, World Banks Senior Social Development Specialist, welcoming the event participants in Tashkent. The empowerment of rural women requires multi-faceted approaches to improving their access to economic opportunities, productive resources, jobs, services, and entitlements. Today, rural women face many barriers to enjoy their economic rights leaving in an informal economy. Therefore, new policies and programs are addressing key aspects of women entrepreneurship in the promotion of their access to finance, formal markets and value chains, innovative technologies, and practices their own ability to realize these goals, said Gulnora Makhmudova, Chairwoman of BWA. BWA, World Bank, local and foreign experts discussed business models that address women`s entrepreneurship in an integrated manner with simple and customized approaches. Participants were informed about international best practices and innovative models including frugal innovations that facilitate and build rural women`s entrepreneurship. The event participants had a fruitful exchange on challenges that rural female entrepreneurs experience and innovations for rural entrepreneurship. They also discussed business cooperatives as one of the models for networking and collaboration, and best practices of women entrepreneurship from Azerbaijan and India presented by guest speakers from these states. In Uzbekistan, the World Bank is implementing 18 projects totaling over $3.3 billion with the aim to support the Governments social and economic reforms. These projects help implement critical macroeconomic reforms, develop agriculture and water resources management, healthcare, education, water supply and sanitation, energy, transport, and urban sectors. They contribute to the countrys economic growth and higher living standards for the people of Uzbekistan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Fikret Dolukhanov, Huseyn Veliyev Trend: The Mayors Office of Israels Ma'alot-Tarshiha city is implementing the Smart City project, City Mayor Arkady Pomeranets said in an interview with Trend. Pomeranets, who is the first Azerbaijani native becoming the city's mayor, in the history of Israel, said that the Smart City project envisages an integrated approach and will be implemented in stages. The goal of the project is to improve the life of citizens and increase the attractiveness of the city, he noted. The project provides for reducing the costs of citizens for electricity and land tax. The Smart City project offers great prospects for further development of the education system. For example, there are plans to open smart classes and smart schools. Special attention will be also paid to the development of electronic services that people will be able to use through various applications, he said. We also want to make publicly available the information about tenders so that entrepreneurs of our district have the opportunity to participate in them, said Pomeranets. The Smart City project includes various services that can make the city more attractive, contribute to the development of private entrepreneurship, the opening of new production facilities, etc., he noted. We also intend to focus on the development of medicine so that the citys population can use all medical services directly in Ma'alot-Tarshiha, he said. It is also important for us to open a branch of some Israeli university in the city so that students can study here, he added. We also want to support our students, and this support can be expressed in the form of scholarships or discounts on taxation. In addition, we would like to offer benefits to newlyweds. They may include discounts on land tax in the first year of their life together. But all this is only projects for now. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: On Nov. 20, Uzbekistans Ipoteka Bank, just like a number of other financial companies, suspended cooperation with the Russian bank Unistream, Russias Kommersant newspaper reported. Some former partners of Unistream decided to block all incoming correspondence from the Russian bank due to the hacker attack on the latter. It wasnt the first attack in 2018 though. On Nov. 19, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation warned credit organizations in its bulletin about malware being sent from the banks official e-mail address. It should also be noted that the issues with hacker attacks aren't the only issues the bank is currently facing. Unistream illegally provides services in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and even has an agreement with the separatist regimes bank. Due to this, Azerbaijani banks have also ceased cooperation with Unistream. The chairman and two of the four members of the board of directors of the company are Armenians. According to the newspaper, the e-mails with the malware were sent to the recipients from the address book of the bank, which includes foreign partners apart from the Russian ones. Partners from the CIS countries were among the first to react. The Bank of Asia from Kyrgyzstan, Imon International from Tajikistan, and Ipoteka Bank from Uzbekistan decided to suspend cooperation with the Russian bank. One of the key partners of Unistream in Russia, Vostochny Bank (Eastern Bank) terminated the cooperation agreement with Unistream. Numerous Russian credit organizations also temporarily suspended cooperation. Some Russian credit organizations also temporarily suspended cooperation with the bank. Earlier, Unistream has already received a warning from the Central Bank of Russia, which limits the systems ability to conduct foreign exchange transactions for half a year. According to Kommersants sources, the restriction was introduced after an unscheduled inspection, which took place in August and revealed violations in identifying customers who exchanged large amounts of currency. According to Alma Obayeva, Chairman of the Board of the National Payment Council of the Russian Federation, Unistream is in an extremely difficult situation. The restriction of currency exchange operations for Unistream was indeed negative, but not fatal. However, refusal of foreign partners to cooperate, even temporarily, will inevitably lead to the loss of customers and to significant reduction in cross-border transfers, she said. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: The Azerbaijani confectionery company Can-Pa intends to establish export of products to Russia, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates in 2019, marketing director of the company, Gunay Khalafzade, told Trend on Nov. 22. According to her, Can-Pa currently does not have any supplies abroad, but the company actively participates in exhibitions to promote its products and sign export contracts. Khalafzade reminded that the Can-Pa products, Turkish delight, marmalade, dragees, and other locally made sweets are currently presented at the UZPRODEXPO food exhibition, being held in Tashkent. Uzbekistan is a close country for us, so we want to establish exports in that direction. We contacted the organizers of UZPRODEXPO and opened our stand at the exhibition, which will be active from Nov. 21 through Nov. 23, the company representative said. She underlined that the company plans to significantly increase local production in 2019 in order to enter the markets of Russia and the UAE as well. On Feb. 5-9, 2018, our company, with the support of AzPromo, took part in the ProdExpo exhibition in Moscow. We plan to take part in the 24th Gulfood exhibition in Dubai on Feb. 17-21, 2019, Khalafzade said. According to her, the company has already received a certificate for exports to Uzbekistan, and is currently negotiating with the Azerbaijani company Grante in Moscow on arranging export supplies. International exhibitions, UZAGROEXPO 2018 Agriculture and UZPRODEXPO 2018 Food Industry, started in Tashkent on Nov. 21. The organizers earlier told Trend that Azerbaijan is represented at UZPRODEXPO with the products of the confectionery company Can-Pa. Can-Pa LLC has been operating since March 18, 2003. The confectionery company is engaged in both production activities and retail. Can-Pa is a distributor of Turkish companies Elit, Taha, Ece, Ekmekcioglu Hicret, etc. In January-September 2018, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan reached $30.73 million, of which $7.08 million accounted for exports from Azerbaijan and $23.65 million for imports from Uzbekistan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: Japan has simplified the process of issuing multiple entry visas for Azerbaijani citizens, Japanese Ambassador in Baku Teruyuki Katori told reporters at an event on the occasion of the Emperor's birthday on Nov. 22. The ambassador noted that about 30 million tourists visit Japan every year and the influx of tourists to Japan continues to increase. Speaking of economic cooperation, the ambassador noted that the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Mukhtar Babayev has been appointed co-chairman of the intergovernmental commission for economic relations. "I am confident that under Babayevs leadership, economic relations between the two countries will develop further," he added. Speaking at the event, Mukhtar Babayev, in turn, noted that there have always been friendly relations and partnership between Azerbaijan and Japan. "Azerbaijan and Japan have always contributed to peace and stability in the world. Japans support for Azerbaijans fair position in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is important," the minister said. "There is a great potential for the development of economic relations, and a goal has been set to increase the bilateral trade. In addition, I would like to mention the prospects for opening direct flights. Japans use of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is also of great importance," Babayev said. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will consider the possibility of financing the renewable energy projects in Azerbaijan, after they are developed as part of the bank's technical assistance, Ivana Duarte, head of the EBRD Baku office, told Trend. Presently, EBRD pays special attention to development and capacity-building in the Agency for Regulation of Energy Issues of Azerbaijan, Duarte said, adding that cooperation with Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy is also at a high level. Duarte said the bank supports the revision and development of the necessary legal and structural bases for renewable energy in Azerbaijan. In addition, the power supply systems are being studied and all these activities are funded through the EBRD technical assistance, Duarte said. Once the projects are ready for implementation, EBRD will consider them for possible financing, she added. Azerbaijan is currently taking serious steps to develop alternative energy. To this end, negotiations are underway with foreign companies and investors, including companies from China, the UAE, the US and the EU. For example, the Norwegian company DNV GL will help create a support system and a legal framework in Azerbaijan's alternative energy sector. Most of Azerbaijan's potential in this sector comes from the solar energy and this potential is estimated at 5,000 megawatts. Wind power accounts for 4,500 megawatts, biomass for 1,500 megawatts, geothermal energy for 800 megawatts, and the remaining 350 megawatts account for small hydropower plants. The potential of renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan exceeds 25,300 megawatts, which will allow generating 62.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually. According to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, in January-September 2018, hydropower production amounted to 1,422.3 kilowatt hours, solar energy to 31.7 kilowatt hours and wind power to 31.9 kilowatt hours. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 22 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Malaysian company Petronas has been working in Turkmenistan since 1996, having invested about $10.5 billion in the local fuel and energy industry, General Manager of Petronas Carigali (Turkmenistan) Sdn. Bhd., Yat Hong Teh told the "Neutral Turkmenistan" newspaper in an interview. All these years, Petronas has not only invested, but also built and adjusted the equipment, which now allows to produce more than 5 billion cubic meters of gas a year and 35,000-40,000 barrels per day of oil, he said. Petronas looks forward to further expand this mutually beneficial partnership, he said. A coastal block in the Caspian Sea has been allocated to Petronas Carigali for oil and gas production, and this is a very promising project, taking into account the amount of hydrocarbons in the area, Yat Hong Teh said. News Biden invites Taiwan to democracy summit alongside 110 countries The first-of-its-kind gathering is a test of President Biden's assertion, announced in his first foreign policy address in office in February, that he would return the United States to global leadership to face down authoritarian forces led by China and Russia. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.22 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The European Commission is opening a call for gas projects to be submitted as candidates for the fourth European Union 'Projects of Common Interest' (PCIs) list, said a message on the organizations website. Calls for PCI candidates in the Priority Corridors for smart grids, cross-border carbon dioxide network, and oil will follow. In accordance with the Regulation on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure (No 347/2013), candidate projects in gas must be included in the Ten-Year Network Development Plans (TYNDP) developed by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for gas (ENTSO-G). Eligible projects will be assessed to identify if they address a European need that can be best solved through infrastructure. Projects that pass this initial test will be further assessed against the criteria set out in the TEN-E Regulation to measure their contribution towards the implementation of the respective energy infrastructure priority corridor and their fulfilment of the aforementioned criteria. Projects meeting all requirements of the Regulation and making the largest contributions will be proposed for inclusion in the 4th Union list of PCIs. The list will be adopted by the European Commission by the end of 2019 and published in the Official Journal by early 2020. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Elnur Baghishov - Trend: The first 42-megawatt gas power station in Zahedan city of Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province has been commissioned, IRNA reported. The opening ceremony of the power station, which was built for 4 trillion rials (about $95.23 million), was attended by Iran's Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian, governor of the province and many other regional officials, said the report. This station is a mix of very important achievements, Executive Director of Sistan and Baluchestan regional electric company Mohibali Ghazzagh Jahid said. Mapna Group provided the MGT49 turbine, a 50 megawatt generator, electrical systems, control equipment, he added. He also noted that the power station can supply 40,000 subscribers with electricity. In his turn, Iran's Energy Minister will also attend the groundbreaking ceremony of 480 megawatt combined cycle power station as part of the visit to Sistan and Baluchestan. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.22 Trend: Asia is forecast to be the major contributor to the growth of the global refinery hydrocracking units industry between 2018 and 2022, accounting for around 45% of the global planned and announced refinery hydrocracking unit capacity additions by 2022, according to leading data and analytics company GlobalData. The companys report: Global Refinery Hydrocracking Units Outlook to 2022 Capacity and Capital Expenditure Forecasts with Details of All Operating and Planned Hydrocracking Units forecasts that around 3,039 thousand barrels of oil per day (mbd) of planned refinery hydrocracking unit capacity will be added globally by 2022, taking the total global refinery hydrocracking unit capacity to around 13,835 mbd by 2022. Asia also has the highest planned and announced new-build capital expenditure (capex) spending globally with roughly US$20.7bn during the 20182022 period. Among the countries in the region, China will have the highest planned refinery hydrocracking unit additions of 889 mbd by 2022. Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, explains: Chinas refinery hydrocracking units capacity is expanding rapidly, fuelled by demand for diesel, gasoline and jet fuel by the domestic transportation sector. The country is planning to add 11 refinery hydrocracking units by 2022, accounting for more than 65% of Asias total hydrocracking capacity additions. GlobalData identifies Africa as the second highest in terms of refinery hydrocracking unit capacity additions as well as planned capex spending. The region will add approximately 836 mbd of hydrocracking unit capacity and has planned capex of around US$14.3bn by 2022. Nigeria will be the top country in the region with planned hydrocracking unit capacity additions of 396 mbd during the forecast period. Tejomoortula adds: Nigeria is expanding refinery hydrocracking units to reduce imports of gasoline and other petroleum products. The country is also planning to export petroleum products to generate valuable foreign exchange. In terms of capacity, Dayushan Island refinery in China, Lagos I refinery in Nigeria and Visakhapatnam refinery in India are the top three planned and announced refinery hydrocracking units for the 20182022 period with capacities of 232 mbd, 189 mbd, and 117 mbd respectively. In terms of capex, Nakhodka refinery in Russia with US$1.9bn is the top planned and announced refinery hydrocracking units globally between 2018 and 2022. Tabi refinery in Angola and Lagos I refinery in Nigeria follows, with almost equal planned and announced new build capex of US$1.6bn each. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: VisionCraft, an Indian IT company, may take part in a number of projects in Uzbekistan, the Uzbek media reported. A meeting with VisionCrafts Managing Partner Amolak Singh was held at the e-Government Development Center. The company is working in such spheres as medicine, construction, real estate, textiles, energy, etc. During the meeting, special attention was paid to the IT achievements of the Indian company. First Deputy Director of the e-Government Development Center Daniyar Atajanov spoke about the ongoing work to develop the e-government system in the country. The representatives of the Indian company were greatly interested in the announced plans to introduce modern innovative technologies in public administration in Uzbekistan. During the talks, the sides also touched upon the implementation of joint projects in development of "smart city" technology. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: The State Inspectorate for Control in the Field of Information and Telecommunications, the Technical Assistance Center, and the Safe City Assistance Center for Public Order under the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (MITC) will be established in Uzbekistan, Uzbek media reported. New structures will be created instead of the Inspectorate for Control of Communications, Informatization and Telecommunication Technologies at the MITC and the Center for Information Security and Assistance in Ensuring Public Order of the MITC. The changes are stipulated by the decree of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Nov. 21 on improving the system of control over the implementation of information technologies and communications, as well as on organization of their protection. The decree is aimed at improving the effectiveness of state policy in the ICT field, improving the system of control of the telecommunications sector and ensuring information and cyber security. According to the decree, the mechanism of control and verification of the implementation of legislation and state standards did not meet modern requirements. Deficiencies in the system of examination and certification of hardware and software products introduced by government agencies are delaying their integration into the e-Government system. The imperfection of the control system in the field of telecommunications, information and cybersecurity, critical information infrastructure leads to the vulnerability of objects of state information systems, the digital economy and personal data. In addition, the decree read that the active use by the destructive forces of modern information and communication technologies and the internet negatively affects the worldview and consciousness of the population, especially the younger generation. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend: The number of Azerbaijani citizens visiting foreign countries increased in January-October 2018, the State Statistics Committee said in a report on Nov. 22. During the reported period, the number of Azerbaijani citizens who visited foreign countries increased by 16.2 percent compared to the same period of 2017 and reached 4,014,600 people. In January-October 2018, 32.2 percent of the citizens visited Iran, 29.6 percent - Georgia, 19.1 percent - Russia, 12.9 percent - Turkey, 1.5 percent - Ukraine, 0.9 percent - the UAE, while 3.8 percent accounted for the rest of the countries. The report noted that 65.6 percent of the Azerbaijani citizens who went abroad during the reported period were men, while the women accounted for only 34.4 percent. The number of Azerbaijani citizens who visited Iran during the period increased by 61.4 percent, Georgia - by 2.7 percent, but the number of those who left for Russia and Turkey decreased by 1 and 0.3 percent, respectively. During the reported period, 80.8 percent of those who visited foreign countries used rail or road transport, 18.4 percent traveled by air, while only 0.8 percent left the country by water. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend: Russians made up the majority of the tourists who visited Azerbaijan in January-October 2018, State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan said in a report on Nov. 22. In January-October 2018, 2,420,400 foreigners and stateless persons from 194 countries arrived in Azerbaijan, and this indicates a 6.1 percent growth compared to the same period of 2017. According to the report, 31.1 percent of the tourists came from Russia. The list follows with Georgia - 20.2 percent, Turkey - 10.1 percent, Iran - 8.9 percent , UAE - 3.2 percent, Saudi Arabia - 2.8 percent, Iraq - 2.6 percent, Ukraine - 2 percent, Israel - 1.6 percent, while 17.4 percent accounted for citizens of other countries and 0.1 percent - for stateless persons. The Committee reported that 65.5 percent of the tourists visiting Azerbaijan are men, while 34.5 percent account for women. During the period, a greater increase was observed in the visitors from the Gulf countries (except the UAE and Iran). Compared to the figures for January-October 2017, the number of Bahraini and Saudi citizens arriving in Azerbaijan increased 2.2 times, while the number Kuwaiti visitors increased 2 times, Qatari visitors - 1.6 times, Iraqi visitors - 13.7 percent and Omani visitors - 6.3 percent. The number Iranian tourists decreased by 33 percent, while the number of Emirati tourists decreased by 6.7 percent. As for the tourists from the EU, during the period their number increased by 8.3 percent, reaching 99,400 people, and the number of tourists from the CIS increased by 4.1 percent, reaching 891,000 people. Some 56.5 percent of the tourists and stateless persons who arrived in Azerbaijan used rail and road transport, 42.5 percent - air transport and only 1 percent traveled using water transport. Kyrgyzstan planned to develop investment lots and an investment map, Director of the Agency for the Promotion and Protection of Investments of the Kyrgyz Republic Adilbek uulu Shumkarbek said, kabar.kg reports. He said that at this time, investors are waiting for the law to transform the land for the construction of business facilities. We analyzed the whole situation around investors and decided to prepare possible projects for investors. Because the investor has been waiting for the project to be implemented for more than two years - this is not very profitable for him, and during this time he may change their mind about investing money in our country, said Adilbek uulu. He said that also at this time the developing an investment map of the country is being worked out. It is planned to indicate in the online map all information on possible production facilities throughout the country. For example, in the south, possible mining sites and possible prices and other information will be indicated. There is no money for this yet, but we are already negotiating with international donors, said the director of the Investment Promotion Agency of the Kyrgyz Republic. ouncil on Relations with Compatriots Abroad under the President has been established in Kyrgyzstan. Sooronbai Jeenbekov signed a relevant decree, 24.kg reports referring to the Information Policy Department of the Presidential Administration. It is noted that the need for the council was caused by an increase in the number of our compatriots working abroad, who are interested in investing in various economic projects in the Kyrgyz Republic. Therefore, the state will in every possible way encourage such initiatives and create all the necessary conditions for those who want to invest. Appropriate financial mechanisms and the necessary infrastructure must be developed for it. An executive committee of the council includes Sooronbai Jeenbekov, Deputy Prime Minister Altynai Omurbekova, who will be a chairwoman of the new council, as well as the head of the Presidential Administration Dosaly Esenaliev and Chairman of the State Migration Service Bolotbek Ibraimzhanov. Council members are a deputy of the Parliament Aida Kasymalieva, Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration Daniyar Sydykov, Head of the Strategic Development Department Daniyar Imanaliev, Foreign Affairs Minister Chingiz Aidarbekov, Minister of Economy Oleg Pankratov, Executive Director of Roza Otunbayevas Initiative International Public Foundation Dogdurkul Kendirbaeva and the leader of the association International Congress of Kyrgyzstanis and Compatriots Zamandash Zhenish Moldokmatov. In addition, Jamila Begieva, Chairwoman of Mekenim Ala-Too Association in Moscow, Kanybek Akayev, head of the regional association from Novosibirsk, Tursunbai Kubatbekov, head of the interregional public organization, and other 25 people, heads of various unions of compatriots in Russia, became members of the council. Since the beginning of the year, 250,000 Kyrgyzstanis have left for Russia. The Kyrgyz Republic takes the fourth place in terms of the number of citizens who came to Russia for work. 'The French party reiterated that though there are differences about Iran's missile program and regional policies, the principal stance of French President [Emanuel Macron] is not to bound commitment to keep Iran Deal with other bilateral issues,' told Abbas Araqchi, regarding the new round of Iran-France political talks, IRNA reports. Araqchi said, 'We welcomed the idea and added that strengthening the defensive power is an inevitable necessity for Iran in the path of implementing the policy of deterrence; developing the power is a part of Iran's security and potential threats to the country.' Saying that the talks were useful to help the parties understand each other's stances, he said that France has come up with new innovations for Special-Purpose Vehicle and trading with Iran. 'The main topic was Iran Deal and the commitments of the Europeans; however, other issues were also discussed.' 'The Iranian party raised the issue of some renowned terrorist groups' free activities in France and said this is opposite to good will, opposite to bilateral relations and against France's international responsibilty to fight terrorism.' 'Some double standards of European counties in dealing with terrorism is not acceptable, whatsoever.' He also said that Iran and France talked about the issues of Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan; both parties stressed the necessity of ceasefire in Yemen, fighting terrorism, and destabilizing factors in the region. French Foreign Ministry political director Nicolas de Riviere arrived in Tehran on Wednesday and held a meeting with Iranian deputy foreign minister. According to Iran's Foreign Ministry statement, the Iranian and French sides reviewed the measures taken to minimalize the effects of the US sanctions on Iran, and other developments in the economy and trade sectors. The Maldives has started discussions to re-establish diplomatic ties with Iran and Qatar, the new foreign minister announced on Thursday, IRNA reports. Under the new administration, the Maldivian government will have relations with all friendly countries, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid told reporters at his first press briefing, Maldives Independent reported. We have been highlighting the principle we will use to establish relationships; that is countries that are friendly, cooperative and want to have relations with Maldives. We will continue strengthening relationships with all the countries who want to have a good relationship with us, the former speaker of parliament said. Discussions were already under way with Qatar and Iran, Shahid added. Qatar, specifically, is a country that helps Maldivians a lot. So we will start work on re-establishing ties with Qatar. We also have to re-establish ties with Iran, he said. Under the administration of former president Abdulla Yameen, the Maldives took Saudi Arabias side in several international disputes. The Maldives severed diplomatic relations with Qatar after Saudi Arabia, Egypt and four other Arab countries cut ties with the oil-rich Persian Gulf state amid a diplomatic crisis in June 2017. Ties with Iran were cut in 2016 when Maldives along with other Sunni Muslim countries joined Saudi Arabia in diplomatic action against Iran. The foreign minister went on to announce plans to travel to India on his first official visit followed by trips to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China. The purpose is to seek assistance for restructuring foreign debt, a large portion of which is owed to China for loans offered to finance the previous administrations flagship infrastructure projects. Shahid will be accompanied by the ministers for finance and economic development. During the visit to India, the Maldives delegation will meet the Indian prime minister and senior government officials. Discussions on easing visa restrictions will be on the agenda, he said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend: Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has already visited Belarus for the fifth time, which indicates a high level of the Azerbaijan-Belarus relations, Elshad Mirbashiroglu, a political analyst, PhD in political science, associate professor, told Trend Nov. 22. He said the high level of the Azerbaijan-Belarus relations and mutual ties are conditioned primarily by sincere friendly relations of the two presidents. Just like at all meetings, during the last meeting, the heads of state also stressed the availability of opportunities for further development of the Azerbaijan-Belarus relations, Mirbashiroglu said. Nine important documents were signed between the parties, and the most importing thing was the joint statement by the presidents. Mirbashiroglu noted that this statement once again demonstrates that the Azerbaijan-Belarus relations are of strategic nature and both states sincerely and seriously support each other on international arena as well. The joint statement of the presidents contains aspects of strategic importance for both countries, he added. It should be noted that the sixth paragraph of the statement clearly talks about the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, UN Security Council resolutions and international law. Mirbashiroglu also said the seventh paragraph of the statement says that the OSCE Minsk Group should increase its efforts to resolve the conflict. The political analyst reminded that during the visit, a memorandum of cooperation in the military-technical sphere was signed, and said all this indicates that the Azerbaijan-Belarus relations are an example for other states. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Matanat Nasibova Trend: Armenias new bill on introducing the money transfer taxation mechanism is the next step of the countrys government, aimed at robbing its own population, famous Ukrainian expert Alexander Okhrimenko told Trend. A compulsory tax is introduced for all citizens from 18 to 65 years old in Armenia from 2020, the Armenian media reported. That is, every citizen who receives income from outside undertakes to declare it and pay 23 percent of income tax to the state. The implementation of this document will primarily have a negative impact on the poor, Okhrimenko said. The Armenian government is unable to bring the country's economy out of a protracted crisis and is already using any means to close budget gaps, he added. First, the government decided to squeeze entrepreneurs and oligarchs, now its time for ordinary citizens. The desperate steps of the authorities testify that the Armenian economy is indeed in a hopeless state and this may drag on for many years, Okhrimenko said. "According to the new law, all citizens of Armenia from 18 to 65 years old must submit declarations of their income, which means that an ordinary inhabitant in a village or in a region, having sold something, must declare every penny of profit and send 23 percent of income to the treasury, he added. Perhaps if such a tough law is adopted, a new wave of protests may begin in Armenia, which will further aggravate the shaky socio-economic situation in the country, Okhrimenko said. It is known that Armenia is among 15 countries the economy of which is maintained thanks to transfers, and its economy would have collapsed long ago without migrant workers. According to the International Monetary Fund, in the past few years, bank transfers reached 16 percent of the country's GDP. According to the World Bank, financial receipts from abroad from migrants are comparable with the Armenian state budget. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova Sappers have started demining settlements near the Syrian city of Daraa and destroying ammunition seized from militants. Servicemen also take into account the information they get from local residents about locations of land mines, a representative of the Syrian army told reporters, TASS reports. The Daraa province is located on the south-west of Syria and borders Jordan. The administrative center of the province is the eponymous city in 110 kilometers from Damascus. The province is often described as the epicenter of anti-government protests, as demonstrations started there in March 2011. Clashes between government forces, armed opposition forces and militants from terrorist organizations continued there until the ceasefire agreement was reacged in July 2017. "Among others, we take demining requests from peasants living in settlements around the city of Daraa. We find bombs in fields even near residential houses. We transport munitions to special warehouses, and then take them for destruction or hand them to the Syrian army," sapper Mulyazim Muhammad Sami said. Sappers also continue to work in the city of Daraa, whose downtown was destroyed by militants. Servicemen check ruins and underground tunnels for trap mines used by terrorists. After the inspection, construction workers start clearing out debris in the city center. The situation in the province escalated in the spring of 2018. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, up to 40 percent of the province's territory was controlled by militants from Islamic State and Jebhat al-Nusra terrorist groups (both banned in Russia). In June the Syrian forces launched an operation against militants with the support of the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces. On August 2 the Russian Defense Ministry reported that all illegal groups in the area were destroyed and the Syrian forces regained control over Daraa's whole territory. Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday at the start of a tour of several Arab countries, his first trip abroad since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi that caused a global outcry, Reuters reports. The prince, the countrys de facto ruler, is also expected to participate in a G20 meeting in Buenos Aires at the end of the month which will be attended by leaders from the United States, Turkey and European countries. The killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of the crown prince, at Riyadhs consulate in Istanbul six weeks ago has strained Saudi Arabias ties with the West and battered Prince Mohammeds image abroad. King Salman asked his chosen heir, known in the West as MbS, to conduct the tour based on his keenness to deepen the kingdoms ties regionally and internationally, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Prince Mohammed was greeted upon his arrival in the neighbouring UAE by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nayhan, a close ally of MbS. Were proud of our deep-rooted ties. Close cooperation and a fruitful partnership lies in store for our countries. The UAE will always be a loving and supportive home for our brothers in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Zayed said in a Twitter post. Tunisian newspaper, Business News, said he is expected to visit Tunisia on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia has said the prince had no prior knowledge of the murder of the prominent Saudi journalist. After offering numerous contradictory explanations, Riyadh said last week Khashoggi had been killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed. Turkeys President Tayyip Erdogan has said the killing was ordered by the highest level of Saudi leadership but probably not from King Salman, putting the spotlight instead on the 33-year-old crown prince. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Washington would remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia despite saying that Prince Mohammed may have known about the plan to murder Khashoggi. Dialogue with Russia is highly important for resolving the Libyan issue, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera daily, published on Thursday, TASS reports. "If we truly want to stabilize the situation in Libya, we cannot avoid dialogue with Russia. Clearly, it is up to the Libyan people to make an agreement but if we leave the most important mediators out, the search for a solution will become much more difficult," the Italian top diplomat said. He added that "Russia has always been interested in the Mediterranean Region - be it the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union or todays Russia - and it should come as no surprise." Moavero Milanesi also pointed to Italys "friendship and alliance" with the United States, particularly in accordance with obligations concerning NATO, which are "non-negotiable." He noted that Italy valued the attention NATO paid to its southern flank. On Thursday, a high-level international conference dubbed Rome MED - Mediterranean Dialogues will kick off in the Italian capital, which is arranged with the Italian Foreign Ministrys assistance. Participants are particularly expected to discuss the Libya issue. On November 12-13, the Italian city of Palermo hosted an international conference on Libya. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev represented Russia at the event. US Dublin-based med-tech company Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT) has acquired Israeli nutrition-related data services, analytics, and technologies company Nutrino Health Ltd.. No financial details about the deal were disclosed. Founded in 2011 by Yonatan Lipkin and Dr. Yaron Hadad, Nutrino has raised $10 million, Globes reports. Based in Tel Aviv, Nutrino will be integrated into Medtronic's Diabetes Group. Medtronic and Nutrino said that the companies recognized an opportunity to improve clinical outcomes for people with diabetes by integrating Nutrino's extensive food analysis infrastructure, nutrition science expertise and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven personalized insights with Medtronic's technology and future innovations. Medtronic and Nutrino have been collaborating on a diabetes app over the past two years. The Diabetes Group at Medtronic is focused on innovating diabetes management resources to improve the lives of people with diabetes. Medtronic will add Nutrino's comprehensive food database, food analysis system and nutrition-science expertise to its capabilities, upon closing of the transaction. In addition, Nutrino has been developing algorithms to predict glycemic responses to food. By leveraging Nutrino's technology and infrastructure with continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and industry-leading closed loop systems, Medtronic can help reduce the substantial physical and mental burden of food and nutrition management for people with diabetes. Medtronic EVP and Diabetes Group president Hooman Hakami said, "Bringing Nutrino and their nutrition-related expertise into our organization will give us a substantial differentiator in the diabetes industry and accelerate our progress to help people with diabetes live with greater freedom and better health. The Nutrino team has been an outstanding partner over the past few years. We are excited to welcome them to our team, and I have no doubt that, together, we will make a profound impact on the lives of people with diabetes." The acquisition is expected to close in Medtronic's third fiscal quarter. Nutrino Health CEO Yael Glassman said, "The Nutrino team is passionate about personalized nutrition data services and technologies. Our work in the diabetes space is helping to address the needs of a growing population that needs better tools and guidance. We are excited to now focus completely on the intersection of nutrition and diabetes to help more people be able to better manage their condition." Medtronic has acquired many Israeli companies in the past including Mazor Robotics Ltd. (TASE:MZOR) in September for $1.6 billion. Nutrino was represented by Advs Shira Azran and Alon Sahar from the Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal law firm. Medtronic was represented by Advs David Osborne and Ezra Gross from the Yigal Arnon & Co. Law firm. A fire has killed 6 people in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, local media repored. On Wednesday night, authorities received a report of a fire at a residence in Ono Town. Police say the fire was put out about an hour later but it destroyed a house and a warehouse, and that 6 bodies have been found. They note that 9 people were living in the house. The police also say they have had contact with 2 adults, but are not able to reach 7 others. Several local nearby residents say 4 of the family are young children. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 Trend: Russias armed forces delegation visited Pakistan and met with the Corps Commander Peshawar Lieutenant General Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood, the Dispatch News Desk (DND) news agency reported. The meeting was held at Corps Headquarters in Peshawar wherein a six-member delegation headed by Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Vice Admiral lgor Osipov undertook a visit today. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the Russian armed forces delegation was given briefing on Pakistan armys campaign against terrorism, situation and fencing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The visiting delegation also visited the Khyber District on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have signed Grant Agreement on the implementation of the second phase of the project, Promoting Cross-Border Cooperation through Effective Management of Tajikistans Border with Afghanistan, news.tj reports. According to the UNDP Office in Tajikistan, the ceremony took place in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan on November 22 . The Government of Japan has reportedly allocated 506 million Japanese yen (appr. 4.6 million US dollars) for implementation of the project, aiming to promote stability and security in the bordering districts of Tajikistan and Afghanistan and contribute to the wellbeing of vulnerable population in the area. Border-crossing points along the Tajik-Afghan border are vital for strengthening the security of the region. The construction of a new modernized Border Crossing Point in Langar handed over to the Government of Tajikistan a month ago was a historic moment. Building on the success of Phase I, the phase II of the project aims to further strengthen border security, including through the promotion of cross border trade and local economic development said Dr. Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Tajikistan, in her opening speech. The official visit of Tajikistans President Emomali Rahmon to Japan in October 2018 became a new landmark event in bilateral relations giving momentum to the development of political and economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Japan. JICA will continue providing support to strengthen institutional capacity through infrastructure development on the Tajik-Afghan border, including the construction of BCP Kokul and procurement of modern equipment for strengthening border security. At the same time, in the new phase, the project will place greater emphasis on coordination and collaboration to promote regional economic cooperation. The close cooperation with the Government of Tajikistan and our partner UNDP in Tajikistan is a prerequisite for successful implementation of Phase II, Chief of Representative Office of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Tajikistan Hideki Tanabe said. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin and Uruguayan Minister of National Defense Jorge Menendez have agreed to develop practical cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries at a meeting in Montevideo, TASS reports. "Uruguay is an important and reliable partner of Russia in Latin America. The 150-year-long relations of friendship and mutual trust between our countries create a solid basis for strengthening cooperation in different spheres and, most importantly, for developing dialogue and practical cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries," Fomin said. He noted similarity of Russian and Uruguayan approcahes to key international issues adding that "constructive work in the UN Security Council, with Uruguay's temporary membership in 2016-2017, serves as confirmation of this." The deputy defense minister expressed gratitude to his Uruguayan colleagues for traditional support of Russian priorities in UN General Assembly on transparency measures and trust building in space, international informational security and unacceptability of Nazism heroization. Fomin also informed Menendez about the humanitarian situation in Syria, stressing the importance of assisting refugees returning home and providing assistance to civilians. The deputy defense minister noted that "effective fight against terrorism and extremism is only possible if the international community consolidates its efforts." Fomin also invited his Uruguayan colleagues to take part in the next International Military-Technical Forum "Army." The Uruguayan minister confirmed the readiness of the country's army to develop practical cooperation with the Russian Armed Forces. Fomin arrived in Montevideo upon Menendez' invitation after certain agreements were reached in April 2018 at the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security. The deputy defense minister's visit to Uruguay will last until November 23. Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The results of the US presidential election led to chaos and clashes in the world, Turkish media cited Parliament Speaker Binali Yildirim as saying on Nov. 22. Chaos reigns near the borders of Turkey for eight years, he said. Turkey has suffered most of all because of armed clashes in neighboring countries. Despite the difficulties, Turkey hosted more than three million refugees from neighbor countries." Yildirim stressed that the US sanctions against Iran have a negative impact on the entire region. On Nov. 5, US sanctions against Iran entered into force. US President Donald Trump announced in May that Washington was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement. He also spoke about the restoration of all sanctions against Iran, including secondary ones, that is, against other countries doing business with Iran. Some sanctions against Iran came into effect on Aug. 7. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The European Union must accept Turkey as its member, as its expansion is of interest not only for Turkey, but also for the EU itself, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. Cavusoglu noted that in order to gain a EU membership, Turkey has consistently implemented democratic reforms, which are a priority for Turkey, media reported on Nov. 22. "Presently, Turkey is fighting terrorism, and this is also among the EU interests," Cavusoglu said. The foreign minister noted that Turkey demands from the EU the necessary support against all terrorist organizations, especially PKK and the Fethullah Gulen terrorist organization (FETO). "Presently, Turkey and the EU share common economic interests as well," Cavusoglu said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has earlier said Europe will pay dearly for supporting the FETO terrorists. "I assure our European friends, the time will come and these terrorists of Gulen movement, who are hiding by your side, will use weapons to destabilize the situation in your countries," Erdogan said. He noted that the countries supporting the FETO terrorists do not have the right to talk about democracy. Fethullah Gulen and his supporters are accused of the 2016 military coup attempt in Turkey. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The first flight of a SpaceX rocket tailored to fly astronauts to the International Space Station is set for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 7, NASA said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The launch test is a crucial milestone in the space agencys Commercial Crew Program, which aims to launch humans to space from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration said SpaceXs Crew Dragon spacecraft - which will shuttle three astronauts to space from the same launch pad that sent Apollo 11s three-man crew to the moon in 1969 - will make its debut flight atop SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 7. While NASA did not detail the flight path, it said the test would provide data on the performance of the Falcon 9, Crew Dragon capsule, and ground systems, as well as on-orbit, docking and landing operations. SpaceX and Boeing Co (BA.N) are the two main contractors selected under NASAs Commercial Crew Program to send astronauts to space as soon as 2019, using their Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner spacecraft respectively. Since the U.S. space shuttle program was shut down in 2011, NASA has had to rely on Russia to fly astronauts to the space station, a $100 billion orbital research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (402 km) above Earth. The Demo-1 launch is the latest test in a rigorous certification timeline imposed under NASAs Commercial Crew Program. While SpaceX is targeting early January, NASA spokeswoman Marie Lewis said the demo mission could be pushed back because flying safely has always taken precedence over schedule. Founded by Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk, SpaceX said if the Jan. 7 test is successful, it plans to launch its first crewed mission in June 2019, but the timeline may shift. Boeing plans a similar test launch of the Starliner spacecraft atop its Atlas 5 rocket as soon as March, with a crewed mission following in August. The Jan. 7 launch date announcement comes a day after NASA said it would conduct a cultural assessment study of the companies, including the adherence to a drug-free environment, prior to crew test flights. [nL4N1XW01J] Ray Chavez, the oldest surviving veteran of Pearl Harbor, died Wednesday in California at the age of 106, Fox News reported. Ray was the epitome of the greatest generation, said Richard Rovsek, a trustee of the nonprofit Spirit of Liberty Foundation in Rancho Santa Fe, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. He was always proud to be an American and proud of the military. Kathleen Chavez, who had been her fathers live-in caregiver for more than 20 years, said Ray who'd been in hospice care, asked to be buried at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego. He was born in San Bernardino in 1911 and grew up in San Diegos Old Town and Logan Heights communities; his large family ran a wholesale flower business, the news outlet said. At 27, in 1938, he joined the Navy and was stationed with the minesweeper Condor at Pearl Harbor. On Dec. 7, 1941, he was a seaman first class; after the attack, he spent the next nine days on continuous duty in and around Pearl Harbor, the paper said. He once said the horrors he saw at Pearl Harbor left deep trauma. His daughter, who was adopted in a San Diego orphanage in 1957, added that "he never saw himself as any different from the other men he served with. Hed always say, Im no hero. I just did my job. She told The Union-Tribune her father was the child of Mexican immigrants, and although he experienced racism and discrimination in childhood and in the Navy, he remained a proud American. Chavez, who loved nonfiction books and was into travel, spent 30 years as a groundskeeper at the University of California, San Diego, and then ran his own landscaping and grounds keeping business in the Poway area until he retired at 96. US President Donald Trumps national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday said he would meet with Brazils far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro this month in Rio de Janeiro, Reuters reported. Look forward to seeing Brazils next President @JairBolsonaro in Rio on November 29th. We share many bilateral interests and will work closely on expanding freedom and prosperity throughout the Western Hemisphere, Bolton wrote on Twitter. Bolsonaro, a former Army captain, said after winning Brazils presidential election last month that he planned to visit Washington after a friendly call with US President Donald Trump. Trump said he had an excellent call congratulating Bolsonaro and tweeted about their plans to work closely together on trade, military and everything else! The president-elect, who nearly died from a stab wound received on the campaign trail, said last week he would likely skip the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires set for Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 because of his poor health. Trump is due to attend the summit. Bolsonaro, who takes office on Jan. 1, was invited by Brazilian President Michel Temer to accompany him to the gathering as part of the transition to the new government. Bolsonaros election cheered investors, but alarmed critics around the globe given his defense of Brazils 1964-1985 military dictatorship, vows to sweep away leftist political opponents, and a track record of denigrating comments about gay people, women and minorities. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States was in very strong peace negotiations in Afghanistan but he did not known whether they would be successful, Reuters reports. I really think the people of Afghanistan ... are tired of fighting, Trump told reporters after delivering a Thanksgiving holiday message to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, scene of one of Americas longest-ever wars. We are talking about peace and well see if that happens ... We have negotiations going on. I dont know that they are going to be successful, probably theyre not. Who knows? They might be, they might not be. Trump was speaking after Taliban leaders met with U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad at their political headquarters in Qatar last week for the second time in the past month. Khalilzad said on Sunday he hoped to reach a peace deal by April 20, a deadline that coincides with the date set for presidential elections in Afghanistan. However, the Taliban said their three-day meeting with Khalilzad to pave the way for peace talks ended with no agreement on any issue and they had not accepted any deadline set by the United States to wrap up talks. Khalilzads public statement that the Taliban believe they will not win militarily apparently angered senior members of the group, who warned U.S. officials against mixed messages that could muddle the peace process. U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of a campaign to topple the Taliban following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Some 14,000 U.S. personnel are still there. The Taliban have strengthened their grip over the past three years, with the government in Kabul controlling just 56 percent of Afghanistan, down from 72 percent in 2015, a U.S. government report showed this month. Two senior U.S. officials confirmed this week that a second round of peace talks ended last week and the Taliban expected Khalilzad to visit Qatar for a meeting before the end of 2018. Trump hinted he may go to Afghanistan, a country he has yet to visit almost two years into his presidency, even though previous U.S. commanders-in-chief have routinely visited troops in active war zones. Trump told troops in the teleconference that while they were fighting, he was taking tough action to secure the southern borders of the United States from illegal immigration. You are doing it over there; we are doing it over here, he said. We have a very powerful border now ... We took old broken wall and we wrapped it with barbed wire plus ... nobody is getting through these walls and were going to make sure theyre the right people because thats what you and your family want, he said. Thats why were all fighting you know, were fighting for borders, were fighting for our country. The court fast tracked its proceedings in light of the DNA test results, which confirmed that Anupama and her partner Ajith are the biological parents of the adopted child. The fans are very excited to witness the wedding of Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas who will be man and wife in ten days. The couple will tie knot on December 2 and 3 at Umaid Bhawan Palace Hotel in Jodhpur. The pre-wedding festivities will begin on November 29, 2018 with the Mehendi ceremony. The sangeet ceremony will take place on November 30, 2018. The couple will get married in a Hindu ceremony followed by a Christian wedding on the next day. They will also host a wedding reception in Mumbai. Desi Girl is in Delhi where she is busy with the shoot of her film, The Sky is Pink. Nick Jonas has left for India from New York City and the ecstatic groom-to-be posed for a photo with a fellow passenger. Before heading to the airport, he also obliged a fan with a photo. His family is also expected to fly to India this weekend. Nick Jonas will be brushing up on his skills with choreographer Ganesh Hegde for his performance at sangeet ceremony. He may also sing a Hindi song for Priyanka at the pre-wedding function. Priyanka will wrap up her shoot by November 25, 2018 and will be attending a charity event on November 27, 2018. Washington: A few weeks ago, a case of US journalist Jamal Khashogi, who was missing from Saudi Arabia, was ruthlessly killed in Saudi Arabia's embassy in Turkey. Since this issue was coming out, it was being strongly opposed in the whole world including the United States and yesterday US President Donald Trump had supported the killers of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after giving a controversial statement, In the whole world there is a conflict after this statement. The media and other organizations around the world have strongly criticized this statement of President Trump. The Washington Post, the famous American newspaper (for which Khashogi used to work ), has also strongly opposed Trump's decision, saying that this statement of President Trump is 'betrayal of American values'. The newspaper also wrote in its editorial that President Trump has made this statement about the truth of his and his administration's thinking about which his administration has been indicating for the past several months. It is notable that some time ago, journalist Jamal Khashogi was confirmed to be killed in the Saudi Embassy in Turkey. After this, the world was hoping that US president Donald Trump will make a strong case against Saudi Arabia, but he recently said in his statement about the matter that he did not consider responsible to the rulers of Saudi Arabia for the killing of Jamal Khashogi and will not take any action against them. Study by 72 researchers from eight countries concludes that the Lagoa Santa people are descendants of Clovis culture migrants from North America; distinctly African features attributed to Luzia were wrong The history of the peopling of the Americas has just been interpreted afresh. The largest and most comprehensive study ever conducted on the basis of fossil DNA extracted from ancient human remains found on the continent has confirmed the existence of a single ancestral population for all Amerindian ethnic groups, past and present. Over 17,000 years ago this original contingent crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska and began peopling the New World. Fossil DNA shows an affinity between this migratory current and the populations of Siberia and northern China. Contrary to the traditional theory it had no link to Africa or Australasia. The new study also reveals that once they had settled in North America the descendants of this ancestral migratory flow diversified into two lineages some 16,000 years ago. The members of one lineage crossed the Isthmus of Panama and peopled South America in three distinct consecutive waves. The first wave occurred between 15,000 and 11,000 years ago. The second took place at most 9,000 years ago. There are fossil DNA records from both migrations throughout South America. The third wave is much more recent but its influence is limited as it occurred 4,200 years ago. Its members settled in the Central Andes. An article on the study has just been published in the journal Cell a group of 72 researchers from eight countries, affiliated with the University of Sao Paulo (USP) in Brazil, Harvard University in the United States, and Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, among others. According to the researchers' findings, the lineage that made the north-south journey between 16,000 and 15,000 years ago belonged to the Clovis culture, named for a group of archeological sites excavated in the western US and dating from 13,500-11,000 years ago. The Clovis culture was so named when flint spearheads were found in the 1930s at a dig in Clovis, New Mexico. Clovis sites have been identified throughout the US and in Mexico and Central America. In North America, the Clovis people hunted Pleistocene megafaunas such as giant sloth and mammoth. With the decline of the megafauna and its extinction 11,000 years ago, the Clovis culture eventually disappeared. Long before that, however, bands of hunter-gatherers had traveled south to explore new hunting grounds. They ended up settling in Central America, as evidenced by 9,400-year-old human fossil DNA found in Belize and analyzed in the new study. At a later date, perhaps while pursuing herds of mastodons, Clovis hunter-gatherers crossed the Isthmus of Panama and spread into South America, as evidenced by genetic records from burial sites in Brazil and Chile revealed now. This genetic evidence corroborates well-known archeological finds such as the Monte Verde site in southern Chile, where humans butchered mastodons 14,800 years ago. Among the many known Clovis sites, the only burial site associated with Clovis tools is in Montana, where the remains of a baby boy (Anzick-1) were found and dated to 12,600 years ago. DNA extracted from these bones has links to DNA from skeletons of people who lived between 10,000 and 9,000 years ago in caves near Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. In other words, the Lagoa Santa people were partial descendants of Clovis migrants from North America. "From the genetic standpoint, the Lagoa Santa people are descendants of the first Amerindians," said archeologist Andre Menezes Strauss, who coordinated the Brazilian part of the study. Strauss is affiliated with the University of Sao Paulo's Museum of Archeology and Ethnology (MAE-USP). "Surprisingly, the members of this first lineage of South Americans left no identifiable descendants among today's Amerindians," he said. "Some 9,000 years ago their DNA disappears completely from the fossil samples and is replaced by DNA from the first migratory wave, prior to the Clovis culture. All living Amerindians are descendants of this first wave. We don't yet know why the genetic stock of the Lagoa Santa people disappeared." One possible reason for the disappearance of DNA from the second migration is that it was diluted in the DNA of the Amerindians who are descendants of the first wave and cannot be identified by existing methods of genetic analysis. According to Tabita Hunemeier, a geneticist at the University of Sao Paulo's Bioscience Institute (IB-USP) who took part in the research, "one of the main results of the study was the identification of Luzia's people as genetically related to the Clovis culture, which dismantles the idea of two biological components and the possibility that there were two migrations to the Americas, one with African traits and the other with Asian traits". "Luzia's people must have resulted from a migratory wave originating in Beringia," she said, referring to the now-submerged Bering land bridge that joined Siberia to Alaska during the glaciations, when sea levels were lower. "The molecular data suggests population substitution in South America since 9,000 years ago. Luzia's people disappeared and were replaced by the Amerindians alive today, although both had a common origin in Beringia," Hunemeier said. Brazilian contribution The Brazilian researchers' contribution to the study was fundamental. Among the 49 individuals from which fossil DNA was taken, seven skeletons dated to between 10,100 and 9,100 years ago came from Lapa do Santo, a rock shelter in Lagoa Santa. The seven skeletons, alongside dozens of others, were found and exhumed in successive archeological campaigns at the site, led initially by Walter Alves Neves, a physical anthropologist at IB-USP, and since 2011 by Strauss. The archeological campaigns led by Neves between 2002 and 2008 were funded by Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP. Altogether the new study investigated fossil DNA from 49 individuals found at 15 archeological sites in Argentina (two sites, 11 individuals dated to between 8,900 and 6,600 years ago), Belize (one site, three individuals dated to between 9,400 and 7,300 years ago), Brazil (four sites, 15 individuals dated to between 10,100 and 1,000 years ago), Chile (three sites, five individuals dated to between 11,100 and 540 years ago) and Peru (seven sites, 15 individuals dated to between 10,100 and 730 years ago). The Brazilian skeletons come from the archeological sites Lapa do Santo (seven individuals dated to about 9,600 years ago), Jabuticabeira II in Santa Catarina State (a sambaqui or shell midden with five individuals dated to about 2,000 years ago), as well as from two river middens in the Ribeira Valley, Sao Paulo State: Laranjal (two individuals dated to about 6,700 years ago), and Moraes (one individual dated to about 5,800 years ago). Paulo Antonio Dantas de Blasis, an archeologist affiliated with MAE-USP, led the dig at Jabuticabeira II, which was also supported by FAPESP through a Thematic Project. The digs at the river midden sites in Sao Paulo State were led by Levy Figuti, also an archeologist at MAE-USP, and were also supported by FAPESP. "The Moraes skeleton (5,800 years old) and the Laranjal skeleton (6,700 years old) are among the most ancient from the South and Southeast of Brazil," Figuti said. "These locations are strategically unique because they're between the highlands of the Atlantic plateau and the coastal plain, contributing significantly to our understanding of how the Southeast of Brazil was peopled." These skeletons were found between 2000 and 2005. From the start, they presented a complex mixture of coastal and inland cultural traits, and the results of their analysis generally varied except in the case of one skeleton diagnosed as Paleoindian (analysis of its DNA is not yet complete). "The study that's just been published represents a major step forward in archeological research, exponentially increasing what we knew until only a few years ago about the archaeogenetics of the peopling of the Americas," Figuti said. Hunemeier has also recently made a significant contribution to the reconstruction of human history in South America using paleogenomics. Amerindian genetics Not all the human remains found at some of the most ancient archeological sites in Central and South America belonged to genetic descendants of the Clovis culture. The inhabitants of several sites did not have Clovis-associated DNA. "This shows that besides its genetic contribution the second migration wave to South America, which was Clovis-associated, may also have brought with it technological principles that would be expressed in the famous fishtail points that are found in many parts of South America," Strauss said. How many human migrations from Asia came to the Americas at the end of the Ice Age more than 16,000 years ago was hitherto unknown. The traditional theory, formulated in the 1980s by Neves and other researchers, was that the first wave had African traits or traits similar to those of the Australian Aboriginals. The well-known forensic facial reconstruction of Luzia was performed in accordance with this theory. Luzia is the name given to the fossil skull of a woman who lived in the Lagoa Santa region 12,500 years ago and is sometimes referred to as the "first Brazilian". The bust of Luzia with African features was built on the basis of the skull's morphology by British anatomical artist Richard Neave in the 1990s. "However, skull shape isn't a reliable marker of ancestrality or geographic origin. Genetics is the best basis for this type of inference," Strauss explained. "The genetic results of the new study show categorically that there was no significant connection between the Lagoa Santa people and groups from Africa or Australia. So the hypothesis that Luzia's people derived from a migratory wave prior to the ancestors of today's Amerindians has been disproved. On the contrary, the DNA shows that Luzia's people were entirely Amerindian." A new bust has replaced Luzia in the Brazilian scientific pantheon. Caroline Wilkinson, a forensic anthropologist at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK and a disciple of Neave, has produced a facial reconstruction of one of the individuals exhumed at Lapa do Santo. The reconstruction was based on a retrodeformed digital model of the skull. "Accustomed as we are to the traditional facial reconstruction of Luzia with strongly African features, this new facial reconstruction reflects the physiognomy of the first inhabitants of Brazil far more accurately, displaying the generalized and indistinct features from which the great Amerindian diversity was established over thousands of years," Strauss said. The study published in Cell, he added, also presents the first genetic data on Brazilian coastal sambaquis. "These monumental shell mounds were built some 2,000 years ago by populous societies that lived on the coast of Brazil. Analysis of fossil DNA from shell mound burials in Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo shows these groups were genetically akin to the Amerindians alive today in the South of Brazil, especially the Kaingang groups," he said. According to Strauss, DNA extraction from fossils is technically very challenging, especially if the material was found at a site with a tropical climate. For almost two decades extreme fragmentation and significant contamination prevented different research groups from successfully extracting genetic material from the bones found at Lagoa Santa. This has now been done thanks to methodological advances developed by the Max Planck Institute. As Strauss enthusiastically explained, much more remains to be discovered. "Construction of Brazil's first archaeogenetic laboratory is scheduled to begin in 2019, thanks to a partnership between the University of Sao Paulo's Museum of Archeology and Ethnology (MAE) and its Bioscience Institute (IB) with funding from FAPESP. When it's ready, it will give a new thrust to research on the peopling of South America and Brazil," Strauss said. "To some extent, this study not only changes what we know about how the region was peopled but also changes considerably how we study human skeletal remains," Figuti said. Human remains were first found in Lagoa Santa in 1844, when Danish naturalist Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801-1880) discovered some 30 skeletons deep in a flooded cave. Almost all these fossils are now at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. A single skull has stayed in Brazil. It was donated by Lund to the Brazilian History and Geography Institute in Rio de Janeiro. Colonization by leaps and bounds On the same day as the Cell article was published (November 8, 2018), a paper in the journal Science also reported new findings on fossil DNA from the first migrants to the Americas. Andre Strauss is one of the authors. Among the 15 ancient skeletons from which genetic material was taken, five belong to the Lund Collection in Copenhagen. They date from between 10,400 and 9,800 years ago. They are the oldest in the sample, alongside an individual from Nevada estimated to be 10,700 years old. The sample comprised fossilized human remains from Alaska, Canada, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. The results of its molecular analysis suggested the peopling of the Americas by the first human groups out of Alaska did not come about merely through gradual occupation of territory concomitantly with population growth. According to the researchers responsible for the study, the molecular data suggests that the first humans to invade Alaska or neighboring Yukon, split into two groups. This happened between 17,500 and 14,600 years ago. One group colonized North and Central America, the other South America. The peopling of the Americas ensued by leaps and bounds, as small bands of hunter-gatherers traveled far and wide to settle in new areas until they reached Tierra del Fuego in a movement lasting one or at most two millennia. Among the 15 individuals whose DNA was analyzed, three of the Lagoa Santa five were found to have some genetic material from Australasia, as suggested by the theory proposed by Neves for the occupation of South America. The researchers are unable to explain the origin of this Australasian DNA or how it ended up in only a few of the Lagoa Santa people. "The fact that the genomic signature of Australasia has been present for 10,400 years in Brazil but is absent in all the genomes tested to date, which are as old or older, and found farther north, is a challenge considering its presence in Lagoa Santa," they said. Other fossils collected during the twentieth century include the Luzia skull, found in the 1970s. Almost 100 skulls excavated by Neves and Strauss in the past 15 years are now held at USP. A similar number of fossils are held at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC-MG). But the vast majority of these osteological and archeological treasures, belonging to perhaps more than 100 individuals, were deposited at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro and were presumably destroyed in the fire that raged through this historic building on September 2, 2018. The Luzia skull was on display at the National Museum alongside Neave's facial reconstruction. Scientists feared it had been lost to the fire but fortunately it was one of the first objects to be recovered from the ruins. It had broken up but survived. The fire destroyed the original facial reconstruction (of which there are several copies). ### About Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) The Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships, and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. For more information: http://www.fapesp.br/en. New research from an international team of scientists led by University of Cape Town isotope geochemist Dr Robyn Pickering is the first to provide a timeline for fossils from the caves within the Cradle of Humankind. It also sheds light on the climate conditions of our earliest ancestors in the area. Published online in the journal Nature on 21 November 2018, the work corrects assumptions that the region's fossil-rich caves could never be related to each other. In fact, the research suggests fossils from Cradle caves date to just six specific time periods. "Unlike previous dating work, which often focused on one cave, sometimes even just one chamber of the cave, we are providing direct ages for eight caves and a model to explain the age of all the fossils from the entire region," says Dr Robyn Pickering. "Now we can link together the findings from separate caves and create a better picture of evolutionary history in southern Africa." The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site made up of complex fossil-bearing caves. It's the world's richest early hominin site and home to nearly 40% of all known human ancestor fossils, including the famous Australopithecus africanus skull nicknamed Mrs Ples. Using uranium-lead dating, researchers analysed 28 flowstone layers that were found sandwiched between fossil-rich sediment in eight caves across the Cradle. The results revealed that the fossils in these caves date to six narrow time-windows between 3.2 and 1.3 million years ago. "The flowstones are the key," says Pickering. "We know they can only grow in caves during wet times, when there is more rain outside the cave. By dating the flowstones, we are picking out these times of increased rainfall. We therefore know that during the times in between, when the caves were open, the climate was drier and more like what we currently experience." This means the early hominins living in the Cradle experienced big changes in local climate, from wetter to drier conditions, at least six times between 3 and 1 million years ago. However, only the drier times are preserved in the caves, skewing the record of early human evolution. Up until now, the lack of dating methods for Cradle fossils made it difficult for scientists to understand the relationship between East and South Africa hominin species. Moreover, the South African record has often been considered undateable compared to East Africa where volcanic ash layers allow for high resolution dating. Professor Andy Herries, a co-author in the study at La Trobe University in Australia, notes that "while the South African record was the first to show Africa as the origin point for humans, the complexity of the caves and difficultly dating them has meant that the South African record has remained difficult to interpret." "In this study we show that the flowstones in the caves can act almost like the volcanic layers of East Africa, forming in different caves at the same time, allowing us to directly relate their sequences and fossils into a regional sequence," he says. Dr Pickering began dating the Cradle caves back in 2005 as part of her PhD research. This new publication is the result of 13 years of work and brings together a team of 10 scientists from South Africa, Australia and the US. The results return the Cradle to the forefront and open new opportunities for scientists to answer complex questions about human history in the region. "Robyn and her team have made a major contribution to our understanding of human evolution," says leading palaeoanthropologist Professor Bernard Wood, of the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology at the George Washington University in the USA, who is not an author on the study. "This is the most important advance to be made since the fossils themselves were discovered. Dates of fossils matter a lot. The value of the southern African evidence has been increased many-fold by this exemplary study of its temporal and depositional context." ### (Adds comments by federal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Alberta is willing to buy trains itself to help clear a backlog of crude oil if Ottawa decides not to back the Canadian province's proposal to split the costs of new rail cars, Premier Rachel Notley said on Thursday. Notley said Alberta had asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to help pay for additional rail capacity to move an additional 120,000 to 140,000 barrels per day. Notley said Alberta had not received an answer from Ottawa. Full pipelines have stranded much of Western Canada's expanding crude output, driving down the price U.S. refineries are willing to pay. "Ottawa needs to join Alberta to help ease the economic pain," Notley told oil well drillers in Calgary. "If Ottawa won't come to the table, then we'll get it done ourselves .. If it takes buying trains to (move more oil to market) then that's what we're going to do." Reuters reported exclusively late on Wednesday that Alberta has asked Ottawa to share the C$350 million ($265.4 million)capital cost, and C$2.6 billion in operating costs over three years of buying rail capacity to move more crude, starting in July 2019. Sources briefed on the matter say federal officials are cool to the idea, suggesting that by the time any new cars came on line the worst of the glut should be over. Trudeau, speaking later in Calgary, did not respond directly when asked about Alberta's proposal. He said oil executives were focused on tax breaks and adding pipeline capacity. "There are many things that are beyond our control here," he told reporters, citing refinery shutdowns and the fact Canada exports almost all its oil to the United States. "This is very much a crisis," he added. Trudeau's Liberals could lose Alberta seats in a federal election set for October 2019 if voters decide he did not do enough to help. Finance Minister Bill Morneau also showed little evident enthusiasm when asked by reporters about Notley's request, saying "that's a discussion that might go forward in Alberta." Story continues Low prices are costing the Canadian economy C$80 million a day, according to Alberta. Companies that service oil producers are "on life support," said Mark Scholz, president of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, which hosted Notley's speech. Several Canadian crude producers, including Cenovus Energy , have curtailed production and asked Alberta to mandate cuts for other producers. Notley said the province is considering several options to improve prices. Mandated production is opposed by producers who own refineries to process the cheap oil, such as Suncor Energy and Imperial Oil. The premier said Alberta would have liked greater recognition of the industry's struggles in the federal government's fiscal update, which Morneau delivered on Wednesday without including specific new measures to help the sector. A spokesperson for Canadian National Railway Co could not be immediately reached. Canadian Pacific Railway declined to comment. Notley said Alberta has short-listed six projects to partially upgrade oil, worth a combined C$5 billion if all proceed. Upgrading reduces the thickness of bitumen so it does not require blending with lighter oil to move in pipelines, freeing up space. ($1 = 1.3189 Canadian dollars) (Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa Editing by Frances Kerry and Sandra Maler) colorado blockchain ico The Colorado State Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) has taken action against four more ICOs, ordering them to immediately cease and desist from carrying out all activities in violation of state finance laws. In a November 20 press release posted on the regulators website, it was revealed that with these four new additions, Colorado Securities Commissioner Gerald Rome has now signed orders mandating the cessation of eighteen ICOs in the state, with at least two more orders pending. In August, CCN reported that the ICO Task Force convened in May by commissioner Rome within the Division of Securities under the aegis of DORA targeted three cryptocurrency companies namely Bionic Coin, Sybrelabs and Global Pay Net, eventually leading to similar regulatory action against them. Affected ICOs The four ICOs named in the order are Global Pay Net, Cred, CrowdShare Mining and CyberSmart Coin Invest. Interestingly, Global Pay Net, which purportedly sells GLPN Coins to investors was mentioned in the previous DORA regulatory action from August. Like in its initial mention, the company was cited for inducing investors to market the scam and making unsupported promises to investors including a promise of up to 80 percent of the companys profits. It also made false claims including referencing professionals purportedly involved in its operations who have denied any knowledge of it, and an SEC filing claim which cannot be verified as the phone number attached to the 2011 filing is disconnected. The second entity listed is known as Cred or Credits LLC, using a website https://credits.energy to promote a scam that purports to be a tokenised mobile mining app supporting green energy. Based on these claims, the company markets a supposed ICO for its cryptocurrency known as Cred (CX). Apart from promising investors outsized future returns on their investment, it also makes a direct claim that CX tokens will have guaranteed tangible value at some point in the future, which makes it a security offering. Luke Ingraham, an individual listed as President and Director manages the security offering. Story continues Speaking about the regulatory action, Commissioner Rome said: The sheer number of orders entered against ICOs should be a red flag to all investors that there is a real risk that the ICO you are considering is a fraud. Our investigations show that there are fraudsters who will simply create a fake ICO to steal investors money, or spoof a legitimate ICO to trick investors into wrongfully paying them. The other two entities listed are CrowdShare Mining, which operates an ICO for CrowdShare Mining Coin (CSM) through the website https://crowdsharemining.org/#, and CyberSmart Coin Invest, which offers CyberSmart Coin (CBST) through the website http://cybersmartcoin.com/default.aspx. Both scams use similar tactics, promising steady and unusually high returns ranging from 20 percent to 1000 percent through secret or specialist investment tactics. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Crackdown: Colorado Regulator Takes Down Four More ICOs appeared first on CCN. Investing.com - Cryptocurrency prices were lower on Thursday, as trading remained thin due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Bitcoin fell 2.57% to $4,537.90 on the Bitfinex exchange, as of 7:40 AM ET (12:40 GMT), after falling as low as $4,411.00 during a steep decline on Tuesday. Cryptocurrencies overall were lower, with the total coin market capitalization at $147 billion at the time of writing, down from $150 billion on Wednesday. Ethereum,or Ether, was down 4.92% to $133.85 and Litecoin was at $33.510, off 1.27%, while XRP lost 1.76% to trade at $0.44332. Meanwhile, Frances National Federation of Tobacco Vendors announced that tobacco shops will offer bitcoin vouchers starting Jan. 1, 2019. The project was created by French startup Keplerk and will enable clients to convert their vouchers into bitcoin and store it on wallets on its platform. The startup has been trying to find a way to sell to retail investors for over a year and plans to charge a 7% commission fee on transactions. The French central bank does not oversee the Keplerk initiative and warned investors against the potential risks of investing in digital coins. Those are purely speculative assets and not currencies. Those who invest in bitcoin or other crypto-assets do it at their own risk, the Central Bank said in a statement on Wednesday. In other news, Saudi Arabia is close to launching its own digital coin next year, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The project, which is being made with the United Arab Emirates, will be finalized by mid-2019, Mohsen Al Zahrani, head of innovation at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the Kingdoms central bank, told the agency. Related Articles Japan: Zaif Exchange Handover Complete as Previous Owner Vows to Dissolve Company $1M in Crypto Disappears after SIM Swapping by US Hacker Swiss Railway Tests Blockchain Identities for Workplace Safety Boost Dentons plans to expand its Italian offering with the launch of an insolvency practice as the international firm looks to build on a successful first three years in the country. The firm, which launched in Italy in October 2015, has earned more than 32 million ($36.5 million) from its Milan and Rome offices so far this calendar yearan increase of almost 50 percent on the corresponding 2017 figure of 22 million ($25 million). Dentons' move into Milan three years ago was followed by a Rome launch in summer 2016, and the firm has now built up the two offices to reach a total of 113 fee-earners in Italy. The firm said its goal is to reach a total lawyer head count of 120 by the end of 2018, with further lateral hires expected shortly. A priority is the addition of local insolvency capability, as well as further hires in litigation and arbitration. It is also considering growing its insurance and regulatory offerings, as well as its Rome litigation practice. According to the firm's 2016-18 Italy business plan, Dentons also aims to have 20 percent of the work carried out in Italy to be generated by other offices in the international firm's network. The firm's Italian practice counts the banks UBS, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas among its clients, as well as asset manager Oaktree Capital, real estate investment firm CBRE and pharma giant Johnson & Johnson. Since launching in Italy, Dentons has made a number of key partner hires, including Allen & Overy Milan real estate partner Carlo Merisio; DLA Piper Europe data privacy head Giangiacomo Olivi; Chiomenti Rome banking and finance partner Giovanni Diotallevi; Bonelli Erede Milan structured finance and banking partner Gianpaolo Garofalo; and Chiomenti Milan corporate and M&A partner Antonella Brambilla. Elsewhere in continental Europe, Dentons recently announced it will be launching in Duesseldorf next yearits fourth office in Germany. Nov 22 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - American trade negotiators are proposing a quota system that would cap the volume of steel Canada and Mexico can export to the United States each year. https://nyti.ms/2qYxd2V - While working for Qualcomm Inc, public relations company Definers had pushed the idea that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook was a viable presidential candidate in 2020, according to a former Definers employee and digital records. https://nyti.ms/2BoGEi6 - Nissan Motor Co Chairman Carlos Ghosn will be detained for 10 more days as prosecutors investigate accusations of financial misconduct against him, and French and Japanese officials prepare to meet over the case. https://nyti.ms/2QXWnK5 (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom) Steven Madden, Ltd. SHOO is gaining momentum on the back of solid wholesale and international businesses. Additionally, its focus on enhancing product portfolio is impressive. The company continued with its positive earnings surprise streak for the fourth straight quarter, when it reported third-quarter 2018 results. Notably, both the top and bottom line grew year over year in the quarter. Furthermore, the company benefited from solid gains in international markets and impressive performance by its footwear brand Blondo. Also, Steven Maddens e-commerce business and Womens wholesale business improved significantly. For 2018, it issued an encouraging sales and earnings projection. (Read: Steve Madden Tops Q3 Earnings Estimates, Updates View) In a months time, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has gained 9% against its industrys 2.9% decline. Steven Maddens focus on expanding its business globally is an added positive. In the third quarter, the company witnessed 24% revenue growth internationally. Its directly-owned subsidiaries in Canada and Mexico, SM Europe JV and the distributor business also posted solid results. Backed by strategic investments, the company expects international business to sustain its momentum. The company is optimistic about growth in the Middle East, Italy and India as well. In fact, Steven Madden expects Asia to be a major contributor to net sales. The companys wholesale business witnessed sturdy performance during the third quarter, wherein net sales rose 3.1%, reflecting gain from wholesale accessories business. Notably, net sales in wholesale accessories business climbed on the back of Steve Madden handbags and private label accessories business, including contribution from Anne Klein handbags and new license. Also, the companys Steve Madden handbag and special make up businesses continue to gain traction. Despite these above-mentioned tailwinds, rising operating expenses, stiff competition and concerns related to trade war remain major concerns. Imposition of tariffs on additional consumer goods such as shoes, handbags and others imported from China are likely to hurt Steven Madden and may have a direct impact on the bottom line. A greater percentage of the companys handbags are made in China. However, to lower its dependency on China, Steven Madden is contemplating to shift more of its handbag production to Cambodia. Nevertheless, following the third-quarter performance, the company raised its lower end of expected net sales growth from 5-7% to 6-7% for 2018. The company envisions full-year adjusted earnings in the range of $1.76-$1.78, mirroring an improvement from $1.49 in 2017. Notably, the companys projection includes a negative impact of 2 cents due to imposition of tariffs on hand bags and other accessories. For 2018, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for adjusted earnings is pegged at $1.79. 3 Stocks to Watch Rocky Brands RCKY delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 53.3% in the trailing four quarters. It has a long-term earnings growth rate of 23% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Deckers Outdoor Corporation DECK delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 69.1% in the trailing four quarters. It has a long-term earnings growth rate of 11.3% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Skechers U.S.A. SKX delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 11.9% in the trailing four quarters. It has a long-term earnings growth rate of 7% and a Zacks Rank #2. 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 Steven Madden, Ltd. (SHOO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Deckers Outdoor Corporation (DECK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Rocky Brands, Inc. (RCKY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Skechers U.S.A., Inc. (SKX) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research SAN DIEGO, Nov. 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) will host U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman as a keynote speaker during its 2018 Fall Conference & Exhibition, Nov. 27-30 in San Diego. Speaking during the Nov. 29 luncheon, Burman will address public water agency leaders from throughout California, where the Bureau oversees the Central Valley Project. She will share a national perspective on key issues and top priorities important to all ACWA public agency members. The Bureau of Reclamation is the largest wholesale provider of water in the country and operates the Central Valley Project and Hoover Dam. ACWA represents more than 450 public water agencies that are collectively responsible for 90% of water delivered to California cities, farms and businesses. Its biannual conferences attract more than 1,500 attendees over four days and include panel discussions touching on every aspect of Californias water supply, quality and sustainability. ACWA members will also hear keynote addresses from California Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth and Water Foundation CEO Wade Crowfoot on Nov. 28. Nemeth previously worked at the California Natural Resources Agency as Gov. Jerry Browns deputy secretary and senior advisor for water policy since 2014. Before coming to the Water Foundation in 2017, Crowfoot served as a senior advisor to Brown on his administrations response to drought. The full conference program with event dates and times is available online: https://www.acwa.com/events/2018-fall-conference-exhibition/ WHAT: ACWA 2018 Fall Conference & Exhibition WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 27 through Friday, Nov. 30 WHERE: Manchester Grand Hyatt, 1 Market Place, San Diego ACWA is a statewide association of public agencies whose more than 450 members are responsible for about 90% of the water delivered in California. For more information, visit www.acwa.com. ACWA Contact: Heather Engel, Director of Communications | (916) 441-4545 | C (760) 217-0627 By Joey Roulette ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - The first flight of a SpaceX rocket tailored to fly astronauts to the International Space Station is set for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 7, NASA said on Wednesday. The launch test is a crucial milestone in the space agency's Commercial Crew Program, which aims to launch humans to space from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration said SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft - which will shuttle three astronauts to space from the same launch pad that sent Apollo 11's three-man crew to the moon in 1969 - will make its debut flight atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 7. While NASA did not detail the flight path, it said the test would provide data on the performance of the Falcon 9, Crew Dragon capsule, and ground systems, as well as on-orbit, docking and landing operations. SpaceX and Boeing Co are the two main contractors selected under NASA's Commercial Crew Program to send astronauts to space as soon as 2019, using their Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner spacecraft respectively. Since the U.S. space shuttle program was shut down in 2011, NASA has had to rely on Russia to fly astronauts to the space station, a $100 billion orbital research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (402 km) above Earth. The Demo-1 launch is the latest test in a rigorous certification timeline imposed under NASA's Commercial Crew Program. While SpaceX is targeting early January, NASA spokeswoman Marie Lewis said the demo mission could be pushed back because "flying safely has always taken precedence over schedule." Founded by Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk, SpaceX said if the Jan. 7 test is successful, it plans to launch its first crewed mission in June 2019, but the timeline may shift. Boeing plans a similar test launch of the Starliner spacecraft atop its Atlas 5 rocket as soon as March, with a crewed mission following in August. The Jan. 7 launch date announcement comes a day after NASA said it would conduct a "cultural assessment study" of the companies, "including the adherence to a drug-free environment," prior to crew test flights. [nL4N1XW01J] (Reporting by Joey Roulette in Orlando, Florida; Editing by Eric M. Johnson and Lisa Shumaker) President Trump has made it clear that a government shutdown could very well happen in early December if Congress doesnt fund his border wall. Now that threat is creating one-upmanship between Democrats and Republicans, neither of whom want to give in, nor be the party responsible for thrusting the government into a partial shutdown. Last week, Trump told reporters that it would be a very good time to do a shutdown, highlighting border security needs and pushing for funding for the border wall. With government funding due to run out on Dec. 7, Congress needs to act fast to avoid a shutdown, but neither side appears particularly willing to compromise. On the one hand, Trump wants Republicans to secure $5 billion to fund the border wall, a figure that Democrats are unlikely to accept, according to Politico. Democrats, on the other hand, have a number of issues they hope to push ahead of the deadline that may not appeal to Republicans. These reportedly include passing legislation that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller, as well as removing the citizenship question from the next census. And those are just the combatting priorities of Senate members. In the House, Democrats are preparing to take the majority come January, but have yet to come to a consensus surrounding Rep. Nancy Pelosis leadership bid. Meanwhile, this could be the last chance for House Republicans to make a substantive play for getting border wall funding before theyre relegated to the minority in the next Congress. The risk of conceding to the other party is almost as bad as the promise of a shutdown, meaning Congress could be heading toward a stalemate. And even if concessions are madesuch as an agreement to fund the border wall at lower levels than the requested $5 billionTrump himself could trigger a partial shutdown if he refuses to sign such a bill. But all is not lost. Around 75% of the government is already funded through next fall following deals made this summer, meaning that a shutdown wouldnt look as bad as the one that nearly happened at the start of the year. STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE KAZAN, Russia -- A Tatar activist held a one-man picket in the capital of Russia's republic of Tatarstan to denounce what he called the Chinese authorities persecution of the countrys Muslims. Rafik Karimullin of the Azatliq (Freedom) Tatar Youth Union stood on November 21 in front of the Chinese Consulate in Kazan with a poster reading, "China! Stop the genocide of the Muslim peoples, our brothers, Uyghurs, Tatars, Kyrgyz, and Kazakhs!" The city authorities had refused to allow a larger demonstration. Investigations by the United Nations revealed in August that an estimated 1 million Muslims from Chinas northwestern province of Xinjiang were being held in "counterextremism centers" and millions more have been forced into reeducation camps. China denies the facilities are internment camps. Officials say they are part of a "vocational education and training program" that helps people to "see clearly the essence and harm of terrorism and religious extremism." Uyghurs are the largest indigenous community in Xinjiang, followed by Kazakhs, and the region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Hui, also known as Dungans. An estimated 8,000 ethnic Tatars are living in the region. Han, China's largest ethnicity, are the second-largest community in Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan. FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2017 file photo, Chief Justice John Roberts speaks during the Bicentennial of Mississippi's Judiciary and Legal Profession Banquet in Jackson, Miss. Roberts is pushing back against President Donald Trumps description of a judge who ruled against the administrations new asylum policy as an Obama judge. Its the first time that the leader of the federal judiciary has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who has previously blasted federal judges who ruled against him. Roberts says Wednesday that the U.S. doesnt have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. He is commenting in a statement released by the Supreme Court after a query by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) The view looking eastward across the lake at the Broadmoor Hotel Tuesday, November 27, 2012. The holiday lights display at the hotel features more than half a million lights strung on 280 trees throughout the property. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday asked the Colorado Supreme Court to look into conflicts between two state constitutional amendments that critics say combine to drain away tax revenue needed by communities around the state to fund schools, firefighting and other services. Those conflicts are preventing local governments from funding even limited essential services, Hickenloopers filing with the court says. It has resulted in the steady erosion of the budgets of local governments in communities throughout the state that rely on property taxes. The two amendments, both passed by voters years ago, are known as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR, and the Gallagher Amendment. Conflicts between the two overlapping amendments have kept residential property tax revenue across the state lower than it would be otherwise, the governor argues. In a statement, the governors office said Hickenlooper had submitted interrogatories to the state Supreme Court asking it to examine conflicts between the two amendments. The interaction of TABOR and Gallagher has resulted in a system in which provisions in both amendments are not working as intended and is adversely affecting local communities, Tuesdays statement said. Under the state constitution, the governor can directly submit important questions upon solemn occasions on constitutional issues to the Supreme Court in the form of interrogatories. Its up to the court whether to review the questions and rule on them. Colorados local governments must be able to provide essential services, Hickenlooper said. With clarification from the Colorado Supreme Court, we will be able to address the funding issues caused by the conflict and find a workable solution. The Gallagher Amendment, adopted in 1982, permanently set the shares of total property tax statewide that owners of residential and commercial property pay, with homeowners paying a combined 45 percent and businesses 55 percent. The amendment also fixed the assessment rate on most commercial property at 29 percent of value, but called for the rate on residential property to slide up or down at a uniform level statewide as property values change so that the states homeowners kept paying 45 percent of total property taxes. But TABOR, passed in 1992, bars tax increases unless approved by voters. TABOR has been interpreted by lawmakers as blocking the residential adjustments called for under Gallagher, with the effect of pushing down residential assessment rates statewide as property values have increased sharply in metro Denver in order to maintain the 45-55 percent ratio. As a result, according to Hickenloopers filing, residential assessment rates have dropped from 21 percent in 1983 to 7.2 percent currently. Since home values have increased far less in rural areas, local governments in those parts of the state have been receiving less property tax revenue each year as the residential assessment rates get pushed down under Gallagher as impacted by TABOR, Hickenlooper argues. Rural communities that rely on property taxes to fund schools, fire departments and other services are being squeezed, he says. What the governor wants is for the Supreme Court to weigh in if there actually is a conflict between the Gallagher Amendment and TABOR, Christopher Jackson, a political and public law attorney in Denver, told 9News. The government thinks there is some kind of conflict, and so he is trying to get some kind of guidance from the Supreme Court to say, if these two provisions conflict, what are state and local governments to do? What is the best way for them to address that conflict? Jackson said that if the Supreme Court finds a conflict, the Legislature or a group of citizens can ask for a constitutional amendment in the next election. Backers of the two measures say that its proper to ask taxpayers to approve any tax increases. But others say that TABOR should not be seen as overriding Gallaghers provisions and that assessment rates should be allowed to rise or fall as the voters intended. Hickenloopers interrogatories ask the court to determine whether TABOR had overwritten or superseded parts of the Gallagher Amendment, or even invalidated Gallagher. It also asks at what level can the General Assembly can set the residential property-tax assessment rate in future years. Hickenlooper asked the Supreme Court to answer his interrogatories ahead of the next legislative session in January, but there was no immediate indication of whether the court could act that quickly. State Rep. Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, a member of the Legislatures Joint Budget Committee, issued a statement Wednesday supporting Hickenloopers move. If the unintended consequences of the Gallagher amendment are not addressed, Colorado will continue to see major problems for education, fire, library districts and our rural communities, Esgar said. It will be helpful to get additional clarity from the court on this issue as we continue looking for solutions. Whether youre a Republican, unaffiliated, Democrat or the governor, we all recognize that this is a critical issue that is depriving communities and that we have to work together and to address it. But the Gallagher Amendments author former state senator and Denver city auditor Dennis Gallagher told Colorado Politics that the Legislature should come up with a solution, not the courts. To just want to come along and have the courts double everybodys property taxes does not set well for somebody looking to run for higher office, I dont think, he said Wednesday, referencing Hickenloopers recent dalliances with a presidential campaign. Its a radical proposal, he said. Its radical. Gallagher noted that plenty of special district have passed ballot measures to accomplish what Hickenlooper is asking the courts to do. You have to make the case, he said. You cant just be an elitist and come along and say were special. Baloney. This is democracy. This is not Russia. In 2017, the Colorado State Fire Chiefs, facing severe budget cuts, asked Hickenlooper to seek the Supreme Court examination of the matter, The Denver Post reports. Tom Demint, president of the Colorado State Fire Chiefs and chief of the Poudre Fire Authority in Fort Collins, noted that his group has been engaged in a long effort to address the negative fiscal synergy between Gallagher and TABOR. He thanked Hickenlooper for his action. We are extremely pleased that the governor decided to ask the questions of the Supreme Court prior to the 2019 General Assembly. Depending on the action of the Supreme Court, we may have a more positive fiscal future for the fire protection districts in Colorado, Demint said in a statement. In an interview with 9News in April, several Colorado fire chiefs complained that the situation was hampering their ability to provide services and save lives. We have two (fire) stations, Chief Alan Fletcher of the Fairmount fire district near Golden said at the time. The potential is wed go down to one. The fire chiefs group was listed as a supporting agency in Hickenloopers filing, along with the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters, the Special District Association of Colorado, Colorado Counties Inc., the Colorado Association of School Boards and the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. More than $20 million in federal funding will be available to Colorado communities ravaged by three wildfires this summer. The money, secured by Sen. Michael Bennet and Gov. John Hickenlooper through the U.S. Department of Agricultures Emergency Watershed Protection fund, will be used for post-fire flooding and wildfire restoration in counties recovering from the 416, Spring Creek and Lake Christine fires. Colorados 2018 wildfire season was one of the most destructive to date and requires a robust response, said Bennet. These ... funds will help Coloradans prevent flooding and debris that threaten their property and communities. Burn scars pose serious hazards to downstream communities for years after major burns. Rainfall that would normally be absorbed by vegetation and soil easily run off, frequently prompting flash floods and debris flows. Mitigation work helps restore the ability of the hillsides to absorb water. The three blazes ran through about 175,000 acres of the more than 450,000 acres burned statewide. The Spring Creek fire in Costilla and Huerfano counties was Colorados third-largest wildfire, with more than 200 structures destroyed and 108,000 acres decimated since it sparked June 27. Monsoon rains in late July flooded creeks, destroyed at least one structure and nabbed cattle west of La Veta. Mudslides in Costilla County closed a portion of U.S. 160 and rendered other residential roads inaccessible. At the time, Huerfano County Emergency Manager Larry Sanders called the potential for widespread damage very real. The funding announcement lifted spirits in the southern Colorado community. These funds are critical for our community and very time sensitive as we work to implement these urgent watershed restoration projects before winter, said Costilla County Commissioner Ben Doon. The 416 fire, which ignited June 1 north of Durango, startled the state in what many feared was the start of a historic wildfire season. It burned 54,129 acres over the course of 61 days and forced the closure of the San Juan National Forest. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Some locals point to a stray ember from the coal-fired locomotive. Ten businesses and residents filed a lawsuit against the railroad company in September, lambasting the train for running during extreme drought conditions. Two people were accused of three counts of fourth-degree arson in the Lake Christine fire near Aspen. The Aspen Daily News reports that 23-year-old Richard Miller and 22-year-old Allison Marcus allegedly started the 12,588-acre fire July 3 while at a public shooting range. The Lake Christine blaze burned just a mile north of Basalt, destroyed four homes and threatened hundreds more. This is great news ... said Eagle County Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry. These federal dollars are needed for critical watershed restoration and flood mitigation in areas affected by the Lake Christine Fire. Twitter: @lizmforster Phone: 636-0193 In this Nov. 2 photo, New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver attends a rally for Democratic political candidates at an arts and entertainment center in Santa Fe, N.M. She won re-election on Nov. 6 by a wide margin and has urged lawmakers to approve election reforms aimed at sustaining or increasing voter turnout. The Road Not Taken: In celebration of Thanksgiving Dublin, Nov. 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Analysis of the ASEAN and Taiwan Infrastructure-as-a-Service Market, Forecast to 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The ASEAN cloud infrastructure market will gravitate towards a hybrid deployment model (partially premises-based and partially cloud-based) in the next 3-5 years. The demand for managed cloud offerings has been increasing, particularly for Application-as-a-Service and Network-as-a-Service offerings. Enterprises are looking to deploy more open-source private cloud platforms across hybrid environments, as hybrid IT emerges as a new norm. Adoption of multi-cloud solutions will accelerate, owing to factors such as the migration of development applications to the public cloud and disaster recovery and business continuity purposes. Enterprises are moving up the IT infrastructure stack and are demanding applications support, as well as integrated management solutions in multi-cloud environments (such as cloud orchestration, automation, and abstraction). Active government initiatives such as Smart Cities in developing countries and key digital hubs present new monetization opportunities for service providers in developing verticalized cloud solutions to address governments' digital transformation ambitions. There is expected to be increasing demand for integrated management solutions in multi-cloud environments. Managed hybrid cloud platforms are in demand to accommodate workloads, ranging from enterprise applications (such as email, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and cloud-native applications) and analytics to Internet of Things (IoT). While cloud security and privacy remain major concerns for many companies in the ASEAN region, they present monetization opportunities for vendors to provide ancillary managed security, cloud, and other professional services. The expansion of open-source technologies, as well as advances in application programming interfaces (API)-accessible single-tenant cloud servers, helps promote acceptance towards managed cloud providers. Established data center markets such as Singapore and countries experiencing high data center growth rates such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand are expected to be the key focus areas for cloud infrastructure market growth in the ASEAN region, owing to the availability of necessary infrastructure and connectivity, as well as the presence of hyperscale cloud vendors. Key Issues Addressed What is the addressable market opportunity for cloud infrastructure services? What are the driving and restraining factors that will shape the future of the data center services market in ASEAN and Taiwan? What are the significant developments in the cloud infrastructure services space in ASEAN and Taiwan? Which are the key participants in the market and what are their market strategies? What are the key customer adoption trends in the cloud IaaS market in ASEAN and Taiwan? Where are the growth opportunities, and what are some actionable recommendations for service providers and vendors to capitalize on these opportunities? Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary Key Findings Market Engineering Measurements CEO's Perspective 2. Market Overview Market Definitions Geographical Coverage Cloud Offering Models Key Questions This Study Will Answer 3. Key Trends Key Trends Impacting Cloud Infrastructure Services in ASEAN Key Trend 1-Strategic Collaborations to Monetize Government Opportunities Key Trend 2-Aligning Business Capabilities with Government Regulations Data Sovereignty Regulation Scenario in the ASEAN Region Key Trend 3-Shift from Traditional Cloud Infrastructure Offerings to Broader Service Portfolios 4. Drivers and Restraints-Total IaaS Market Market Drivers Drivers Explained Factors Driving End-user Demand for Cloud Computing Market Restraints Restraints Explained 5. Forecasts and Trends-Total IaaS Market Market Engineering Measurements Forecast Assumptions Revenue Forecast Revenue Forecast Discussion Competitive Analysis Decision Making Factors for End Users When Selecting a Cloud Computing Provider Growth Analysis by Country 6. Companies to Watch Out For Market Participant Profile-AIMS Market Participant Profile-Cloudfabrix 7. Growth Opportunities Key Growth Opportunities Growth Opportunity 1-Demand for Managed Cloud Service Offerings, with a Focus on Applications and Networks Growth Opportunity 2-Integrated Infrastructure, Platforms, and Services to Enable Hybrid Cloud Architecture Growth Opportunity 3-Developing Verticalized Focus Toward Government and Smart City Initiatives Strategic Imperatives IaaS Providers (IaaSPs) 8. Singapore 9. Malaysia 10. The Philippines 11. Thailand 12. Indonesia 13. Vietnam 14. Myanmar 15. Taiwan 16. The Last Word The Last Word-Predictions Legal Disclaimer 17. Appendix Companies Mentioned AIMS Cloudfabrix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2htv6j/asean?w=12 Did you know that we also offer Custom Research? Visit our Custom Research page to learn more and schedule a meeting with our Custom Research Manager. HELENA, Ala., Nov. 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- International Expeditions, a pioneer in upscale experiential adventure, has announced $1,500 per person savings on select 2019 small-ship cruises to the Galapagos Islands, Peruvian Amazon, and Pacific coasts of Costa Rica and Panama during their annual holiday sale. On International Expeditions 10-day Galapagos cruises, guests travel aboard the 32-guest yacht M/V Evolution, enjoying oversized, newly renovated cabins as well as the archipelagos best guide-to-guest ratio on small-group departures of just 26-32 travelers. In addition to daily snorkeling and hiking through deserts, rainforests and volcanic terrain, other highlights include calling on a family run sugar cane farm, which also produces small-batch moonshine, and stopping at the Charles Darwin Research Center, famous for its tortoise breeding programs. Discounted pricing for the May 10, June 28 and August 9, 2019 Galapagos Islands cruises starts at $5,998. Nature enthusiasts and river cruise connoisseurs alike will love a luxurious adventure deep in the Peruvian rainforest. Guests on International Expeditions 10-day Amazon Voyage enjoy a refined stay aboard the 18-cabin Zafiro, while days are spent plying the creeks and tributaries of the pristine Pacaya-Samiria Reserve during kayaking, hiking and boating excursions. This modern riverboat features airy suites, delicious cuisine and even a spa. Discounted pricing for the May 17, June 7, June 28, July 5 and August 16, 2019 Amazon River cruises starts at $4,198. Travelers seeking a warm-weather escape blending beaches, snorkeling and rainforest can cruise south for the holiday on IEs 10-day Costa Rica to Panama Voyage aboard the sleek yacht Voyager. Alongside an incredible field staff, guests explore famed national parks including the remote Darien. Tuna, rays and dolphins are common, while humpback and sperm whales migrate through the protected waters of the Pearl Islands, Manuel Antonio National Park and Restingue Island, where guests will enjoy swimming and snorkeling. Pricing for the December 21, 2018 departure starts at $4,299. International Expeditions holiday sale runs until December 14, 2018. For additional information on International Expeditions journeys, visit http://www.ietravel.com or contact 800-633-4734. ### About International Expeditions Celebrating 38 years of nature travel, International Expeditions specializes in small-ship voyages and escorted journeys to more than 20 countries worldwide. Hosted by knowledgeable local naturalists, International Expeditions travelers survey the habitats, cultures, cuisine and traditional lore of Earths most exhilarating destinations. A pioneer of environmentally responsible travel, IE is committed to preserving natural habitats and improving the welfare of the people and communities it visits. Attachments Vancouver, BC, Nov. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Laurie Schultz, CEO of ACL, was today recognized for the third year in a row by Womens Executive Network (WXN) as a winner of the Canadas Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award. Laurie leads Vancouver-based software company ACL, which specializes in governance, risk management, and compliance solutions. Through organizations like WXN, we are able to celebrate female leaders who push boundaries, forging the way for the next generation of women, said Laurie Schultz. Receiving this award is a true honour, as well as a reminder of the responsibility that I, and all women, have to support each other in overcoming professional barriers to strengthen our industries and society. With over 25 years of expertise in software and technology, Laurie is an active advocate for BCs small and mid-sized tech companies. As Chair of the BC Technology Associations Board of Directors, Laurie is responsible for guiding the Associations formation of policy. Through her role, she also advocates for growing Canadas tech footprint, mentoring C-level executives on strategies to Build it to Keep it, to achieve global revenue growth while maintaining local roots. With 7,000 customers in 140 countries, ACL maintains their headquarters in Vancouver, BC. Lauries innovative leadership style has been the driving force behind ACLs approach to a culture-driven workplace. Their inclusive policies and company-funded programs for employee growth has resulted in recognition as one of Canadas Most Admired Corporate Cultures, Canadas Top 100 Employers and Canadas Top Small & Medium Employers. Laurie was also instrumental in the recent $50 million investment from growth equity firm Norwest, a partnership which is rooted in shared culture values and a joint vision for success through a balanced focus on employees, customers, and financials. The WXN Top 100 Award recognizes women who have achieved outstanding accomplishments while inspiring the next wave of female changemakers. The award spans the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, with the initial candidates selected by WXNs Diversity Council. To mark this years awards, WXN is hosting an Awards Gala on November 22nd at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. A full list of winners can be found here. For more information on Laurie Schultz, visit www.acl.com. # # # About ACL: ACL delivers software solutions that are transforming audit, compliance, and risk management to give organizations unprecedented control over their business. www.acl.com. About the Women's Executive Network (WXN): Womens Executive Network (WXN), a member-based organization, exists for the advancement, development and recognition of professional women in Canada. WXN delivers this advancement through training, events, mentoring, networking, and award and recognition programs for members and partners. At WXN, equity, inclusion and the advancement of professional women make industry stronger and society better. Their passion is 100% centered on empowering women and creating positive social change. WXN currently operates in Canada and Ireland. Media contact: Julia Hanbury Julia@talkshopmedia.com 604-738-2220 2018 ACL Services Ltd. ACL and the ACL logo are registered trademarks of ACL Services Ltd. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. goodyear2013 wrote: Manager: Although our corporation lists office rules in an orientation booklet, few employees read the booklet carefully enough to familiarize themselves with all the rules. Lecturing employees for inadvertent rule violations often makes them resentful and less cooperative. Thus, to improve employee adherence to office rules, we plan to issue gentle reminders about various rules in each issue of our weekly newsletter. Which of the following would it be most helpful to discover about the employees in the corporation in order to evaluate the likelihood that the plan will succeed? (A) Whether most of them who are lectured for inadvertent rule violations are deterred from violating the same rule again (B) Whether most of them who inadvertently violate office rules already feel resentful and uncooperative (C) Whether most of them violate at least some office rules with which they are familiar (D) Whether most of them who regularly read the weekly newsletter are familiar with at least some office rules (E) Whether most of them would usually read with sufficient care the portions of the weekly newsletter that are reminders of rules Hi, I came down to two choices which were (D) and correct answer. Then, I chose (D). Could anyone explain why it is wrong, please. goodyear2013 (D) Yes, most of the folks who regularly read the weekly newsletter are familiar with most of the rules No, most of the folks who regularly read the weekly newsletter don't have a clue about most of the rules (D) (E) No, most of the folks will ignore completely the portions of the weekly newsletter that are reminders of rules (E) Magoosh Test Prep Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. William Butler Yeats (1865 1939) Mike McGarryEducation is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. William Butler Yeats (1865 1939) Signature Read More DearI'm happy to respond.Think about. Suppose I answer that question. Suppose I were able to tell you:Well, then the folks who are already well informed about the rules will read the reminders about what they already know, but what if most employees don't know the rules and don't read the newspaper?Similarly, if I were able to tell youWell, OK, then there would be three groups(a) the folks who know the rules already(b) the folks who didn't know the rules but who would learn about it in the newspaper(c) the folks who don't know the rules and just don't read the newspaperHow big are these three groups? Is group (c) a relatively small or relatively large portion of the whole? As long as we don't have an answer to this question, knowing the answer to questionis not going to help us much in evaluating the argument.By contrast, think about. Suppose I were able to tell you:Well, that would shatter the argument. That would make a HUGE difference in the validity of the argument. Printing this stuff in the paper is not going to do bupkis if folks aren't going to give it any attention; it would be a entirely futile gesture. That's why knowing the answer to questioncould make a HUGE difference in evaluation the strength of the argument.Here's a blog about this question type with four practice questions:Does all this make sense?Mike_________________ Multiple Admits (In Dilemma to finalize offers - Deposit are due soon) [ #permalink Hi, I am having a struggle deciding the schools Ill be going to next year. I have 5.5 years of experience in upstream oil and gas operations in Pakistan. I have an undergrad in Chemical engineering and a GMAT of 650. Decent co-curricular's and academic grades. Post-MBA I plan to work in Operations or Supply chain consulting. The geography is not much a vital concern (although it should be) but I would most certainly want to function outside the domestic market. As of now, I have following offers: 1) Schulich Sep intake (Need to deposit $ CAD 3000 reservation by 30th November) 2) HEC Paris Sep intake (Need to deposit 9000 Euros by 10th December) 3) Purdue Krannert with 50% Scholarship (Need to $USD 2000 deposit by 2nd Dec) 4) SMU Cox with 40% Scholarship, I could potentially push for more (Need to deposit $1000 USD by 2nd Dec) Note: Apart from these, I applied to 9 other schools: Waitlisted at MSU Broad and rejected at rest (6 in the US and 2 in Canada) I tried retaking GMAT, got the same score just the scaled score changed. In terms of the above schools: Schulich Pros: Central location, Easier routers to PR, 3-year post-MBA work visa. Schulich Cons: Not much diversity, generally poor placement (comparison to Rotman/Ivey). HEC Paris Pros: Strong brand name, highly diverse, massive alumni based, good placements. HEC Paris cons: Language barrier. Purdue: In the US which is a big market, strong placement in supply chain & operations, offered a scholarship. Cons: Relatively poor rank (not much know for its MBA), H1B visa could be a challenge. SMU Cox: In Dallas (huge market that will continue to grow), good placement in consulting (Big four/boutique firms), offered scholarship Cons: Same as Purdue I need advice from the admission gurus here or folks whove been through a similar Dilemma. Would be really helpful to finalize decisions as the deadlines for securing places would be coming up soon. This holiday season is going to be rough for a lot of farmers across the country. Reports of farms selling out are still rolling in daily, which means that too many families will be spending their first Christmas opening their gifts shortly after they wake up. If youre a farm kid, you know thats not good. Theyll be facing their very first Thanksgiving and Christmas not having to milk cows. Its every farmers dream, having one of the big holidays off, until it actually happens. As for the rest of us, yes, well still be toiling away. But for how long? With the current state of the dairy industry, were all wondering when our first Christmas morning in the house may come. Well spend every night praying for the change that American agriculture desperately needs, but what are we supposed to do until then? Ive known from a very young age that making people smile is no small feat. Especially in times like these, a smile can change someones entire day. So, Im issuing a challenge. This holiday season, instead of complaining about milk prices, low feed inventory, or the laundry list of all the other completely legitimate things we could complain about, why not put some energy into making someone smile? It doesnt take much. Send your favorite online farmer a message telling them how much you appreciate them or drop off cookies in the barn office of a nearby farm with a fun note for everyone to share. Build a pyramid of hay bales in your front yard and paint them like a Christmas tree. I read a post online from a woman who collects Crock-Pots from farmers in her area, fills them with food, and drops them back off where they belong. How cool is that? In 2019, we can go back to worrying about what the future may bring and how were going to pay our bills. For one month, one magical, fun, twinkly-light-filled month, I choose to be grateful. So, if you live in Crawford County, Pennsylvania and have anything to do with cows, get ready. This December, with a little help from some friends, the very first Farmer Christmas Party is coming your way. Because whats the point of being miserable if we cant be miserable together? Plus, there will be Christmas music. The author dairies in partnership with her parents and brother at Spruce Row Farm in Pennsylvania. Jessica is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, and since 2015, she has been active in promoting dairy in her local community. You can find her and her 250 Jersey cows on Facebook at Spruce Row Dairy or on Instagram at @seejessfarm. IceViking strongly condemns physical attacks and harassment directed towards them. They are also often victims of the Islamic idea. This is true when it comes to the cruel and tragic treatment of Muslim women and children when it is in accord with the Koran, the example of Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia, which may be applied regardless of where a Muslim male may find himself in the world, whether in a Muslim or non-Muslim country. However, in no way, shape or form should one judge all Muslim men because of what is in Islamic scripture and what constitutes the Islamic law, Sharia. "Race", ethnicity or basically anything that you are "merely" born with should never be a basis for bigotry and discrimination. Apostates from Islam have been executed for 1400 years in accord with the Koran and the words and actions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia. They should be lovingly helped. Furthermore, approximately as many as 11,000,000 Muslims may have been killed by other Muslims since 1948. To quote the website The Religion of Peace (TROP), edited by Glen Roberts: While it may be safe to say that a true Muslim would not intentionally kill another true Muslim ( 4:92-93 ), the Quran places no such value on the life of a Muslim who is not true. Consider verse 9:73 : Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them, their abode is Hell. The Arabic for strive hard uses the same root as Jihad - and the context in this sura is holy war (see v. 86 and 91). Thus, there are two distinct classes of people that a true Muslim is to target with harshness: disbelievers and hypocrites. A disbeliever obviously refers to a non-Muslim, so a "hypocrite" must be a Muslim of some sort. In fact, hypocrites are those who say they believe, but do not act as they should. In other words, they are "Muslims", but not true Muslims. They will go to hell just as unbelievers do, and so, according to the verse, their lives matter for naught. The same sura says that a hypocrite can be recognized not just by lack of piety (reluctance to follow Sharia), but by fear of death ( 9:56 ), reluctance to fight ( 9:44-45 ) and even friendliness toward non-believers ( 9:67 ). A true Muslim would thus be a pious person who relishes martyrdom, is eager to fight, and shuns non-believers. Even the Quranic passage that warns against killing "believers" ( 4:88-94 ) is more complicated than it first appears. It never says that a true Muslim is incapable of killing another Muslim, just that it should not be done. In fact, it makes exceptions for the unintentional killing of "believers" in war and mandates the killing of "hypocrites." Verse 17:33 says, "Do not kill anyone which Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause" . The greatest cause of all is that Islam be superior ( 9:33 ), which is exactly what Islamic terrorists say is their goal. Thus believing Muslims are allowed to be collateral damage in the war on unbelievers. There is sadly a phenomena that I`ve noticed in Sweden and elsewhere of people using true facts about Islamic doctrine and history as a cover for all sorts of irrational targeting of Muslims, ranging from xenophobia and racism to verbal abuse and physical attacks. This is strongly condemned by this website and does not in any way serve serious criticism of orthodox Islam and other important work. It`s also important that one tries to express oneself in a civilized way. Words matter. In this bloggers humble opinion the root cause of the problem is the ancient doctrine of orthodox Islam. In simple terms a non-Muslim is a Kafir. " The Koran defines the kafir and kafir is not a neutral word. A kafir is not merely someone who does not agree with Islam, but a kafir is evil, disgusting, the lowest form of life." An exact quote, as stated in the writings of Dr. Bill Warner in the article "Kafir" at http://www.politicalislam.com/kafir . In the perfect Koran (Allah`s direct and literal word as revealed to Mohammed through the angel Jibril), Muslims are told 89 times to emulate Mohammed in all ways (see Koran 33:21 for instance). Mohammed`s example, the Sunna, is found in the Hadith (stories of what Mohammed said and did) and the Sira (biographies of Mohammed). Islamic law, Sharia , is directly derived from these unchanging scriptures. It is based on the Koran`s numerous commands to obey Allah and obey the Messenger, that is Mohammed (see Koran 4:59 for instance). Islam is Sharia. Sharia is Islam. It is a capital crime for Muslims to deny Sharia in any way. A Muslim is someone who submits to Islam and submitting to Islam means obeying the Sharia of Allah. Sharia law includes pronouncements for both Muslims and non-Muslims (Kafirs). Islam is a "complete way of life", a "complete code of life", a "complete system of life". Islam is not just a religion but also a comprehensive ideology. Islam is a supremacist ideology. Islam is a totalitarian and imperialistic ideology akin to Communism and Nazism. Islam is a civilization. Islamic law, Sharia, is a manual for a civilization. Islamic law, Sharia, governs every aspect of life. It has a say about every conceivable human act . Non-Muslims are morally and legally inferior in Islam. Women are morally and legally inferior in Islam. The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS by Robert Spencer is the first one-volume history of jihad in the English language and a great book on the topic. Allah guarantees Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for him (Koran 9:111). A hadith depicts a Muslim asking Muhammad: "Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward)." Muhammad replied, "I do not find such a deed." (Bukhari 4.52.44) Muhammad himself said: I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah. (Sahih Muslim 30) Freedom of speech, human rights, democracy, science and human lives are all at stake in the fight against the Islamic Jihad. 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 In advance of his trip, the UK Foreign Minister said that he would use the occasion to emphasize Irans terrible human rights record and to demand the immediate release of such persons as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian charity worker who was arrested in April 2016 and accused of being a major figure in a vaguely-described infiltration network seeking the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The accusations were apparently based primarily on the young mothers former affiliation with the British Broadcasting Corporation, although she was employed only by its charitable arm and had no involvement in the news reporting that has long been banned inside the Islamic Republic. But if Hunt did exert pressure on his Iranian counterpart or on other Iranian officials over this case and related human rights issues, the countrys state media simply declined to report upon those aspects of the conversation. In recent months, Tehran has frequently boasted about the trajectory of its relations with European nations, suggesting that they are siding with the Islamic Republic against the US in the wake of American withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. As such, this agreement and associated trade relations reportedly formed the crux of Iranian state medias reporting on Hunts visit. The Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, as saying, The Europeans should accelerate their efforts to save the dealWe are ready for all scenarios, including a return to pre-deal era. Even when the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was in full force among all negotiating parties, the Iranians were in the habit of urging greater efforts by Western trading partners to confer economic benefits on Iranian businesses, in line with associated relief from economic sanctions. However, Tehran made full re-integration into the Iranian market difficult, in part by refusing to come into compliance with the anti-money laundering standards of the Financial Action Task Force. And now that the US has fully re-imposed the sanctions it suspended under the JCPOA, international transactions with Iranian partners are even more complicated and impractical. Nevertheless, the European Union and most of its member states continue to stand firmly behind the JCPOA, even in the face of challenging issues like Tehrans hostage-taking of Western nationals. For his part, the UK Foreign Minister said in a statement preceding his visit to Tehran, The Iran nuclear deal remains a vital component of stability in the Middle East by eliminating the threat of a nuclearised Iran. It needs 100 percent compliance though to survive. Such commentary seems intended to portray the UK as a friend, rather than an enemy of the Islamic Republic, though it is frequently given the latter label in public statements by Iranian officials. In its commentary upon Hunts visit, The Independent raised questions about the prospects of European officials convincing their Iranian counterparts that their intentions are pure, much less successfully inspiring the release of hostages being held on politically motivated charges in Iranian prisons. In light of the Iranian leaderships penchant for conspiracy theories, the article observes, any westerner is bound to be treated as a potential, if not an actual, spy. To this it might be added that many of the same individuals are prone to being singled out for harsh treatment while in detention. This appears to be the situation facing Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has alleged repeated instances of psychological torture by prison officials. Among other tactics, those officials reportedly barred her from contact with her British husband and attempted to convince her that he was conspiring to take away their child and leave Nazanin in her Iranian prison. At the time of her arrest, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was accompanied by her two-year-old daughter Gabriella, whom Iranian authorities barred from leaving the country and placed in the care of her Iranian grandparents. Although the prisoner has been granted occasional furlough to visit her daughter during the past two years, these temporary releases have been abruptly and arbitrarily truncated, thus precipitating additional psychological strain, the details of which have been conveyed to Western media by her husband in the wake of phone calls between the couple. Of course, the relatives of imprisoned dual nationals are often those individuals greatest advocates upon Western soil, as well as being a crucial source of information about instances of prisoner abuse and extrajudicial punishment in the Iranian penal system. Prominent among those advocates in the United States is Babak Namazi, who is the brother of one wrongly imprisoned American citizen and the son of another. The latter relationship returned to the spotlight just a few days before Jeremy Hunt spoke out about the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case. NBC News quoted Babak as saying of the 82-year-old Baquer Namazi, I cant imagine how much more my father can really withstand I fear the worst. Babak accordingly met with senior officials at the White House and the State Department last week to urge renewed efforts to secure his fathers release. In October 2016, Baquer Namazi and his son Siamak were both sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of collaborating with a hostile state. Neither the exact nature of the charges nor the evidence against them were presented to the public, and the trials have been internationally condemned. Such secrecy is characteristic of politically motivated cases in the Islamic Republic, including the case against Mrs. Zaghari-Ratcliffe. As NBC News reports, Baquer Namazis health has steadily deteriorated since he began serving his sentence. The situation is exacerbated not only by his advanced age but also by the notoriously harsh and unhygienic conditions of facilities like Evin Prison, where both of the Namazis are being held. Baquer has reportedly been released a number of times over the past nine months, but in keeping with familiar tactics employed by Iranian authorities against political prisoners, these medical furloughs have also been cut short, with the effect of prolonging the elderly prisoners life but not allowing him to recover. As NBC noted, Iranian officials have tentatively expressed interest in releasing one or more dual nationals as part of a prisoner exchange. And despite Iranian state medias silence on the topic, it is not unlikely that Tehran communicated this sentiment to the UK Foreign Minister during his visit on Monday. But for critics of the Islamic Republic, such statements only serve to underscore the Iranian regimes habit of hostage taking and its tendency to view Western nationals either as ideological threats or as political bargaining chips. Interestingly, right around the time of Jeremy Hunts departure from the UK, local events served to demonstrate the British governments very different attitude toward foreign nationals, and specifically toward those who originate from the Islamic Republic. According to the Associated Press, dozens of Iranian refugees arrived on the British coast over the past week alone. Far from casting suspicion on the arrivals, the British Home Office publicly announced that they would be processed in line with immigration rules, and as such they may be granted asylum in the wake of their apparent flight from the theocratic dictatorship in their home country. In contrast to the various recent arrests of dual nationals in Iran, there is arguably some justification for Western nations to take a reflexively suspicious approach to dealing with visitors from Iran. In March, Iranian operatives were arrested plotting a terrorist attack on members of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran who are presently living in Albania. In June, two other operatives and a high-ranking Iranian diplomat were arrested for attempting to bomb the rally organized in France by the PMOIs parent coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. And in October, yet another arrest was made, this time in Denmark, relating to a foiled plot to assassinate Iranian opposition activists. These plots have led to economic sanctions, and to public calls for more of the same, on the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and its affiliates. But there is no indication that they have led to a change in the approach to dealing with Iranian nationals, either in the UK or elsewhere. For that matter, the UK Foreign Ministers visit to Tehran indicates that there has not even been a substantial change in the diplomatic posture of European nations toward the Islamic Republic. There is, however, pressure for change on this latter point, coming from various sources inside the European Union. On Monday, Agence France Presse reported that a letter had been published bearing the signature of 150 Members of the European Parliament, which insisted upon a more assertive response to Iranian terror threats and human rights abuses against dual nationals as well as the Iranian public. Any expansion of political and economic relations with Iran must be conditional [on] clear progress in these areas, said Gerard Deprez, the chairman of the Friends of a Free Iran intergroup, in commenting on his fellow signatories position. It remains to be seen whether this letter or associated pressures succeed in generating an overall change in European policies regarding Iran. But the letter coincided with a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, and as Reuters reported on Monday, the participants affirmed support for French sanctions that had been imposed on the Islamic Republic following the June terror attack, thereby setting the stage for those measures to be extended across the whole of the European Union. Maryam Rajavi explains that the ruling regime in Iran is not just dangerous because of their abuses of the Iranian people or their sponsorship of terrorism or their expansionist tendencies, but because they serve as an example for other fundamentalist groups to follow, including those who have become the source of terrorism and war in the Middle East and around the world. Further, Maryam Rajavi points of that the emergence of fundamentalism is not a matter of the Middle East versus the West or Islam versus Christianity and Judaism or even Shiite versus Sunni. The conflict is instead between a freedom-loving democracy, which espouses equality for all, and the totalitarian dictatorship, which prizes subjugation, oppression, and misogyny. Which brings us to the question: why do the fundamentalists in Iran hate women? Maryam Rajavi said: First because their backward nature has rendered them misogynous. And second, during the 1979 revolution in Iran as well as in social movements in other Middle East countries, the fundamentalist were challenged and are being challenged today with an immense yearning for freedom and equality, which pivots around womens emancipation. For this reason, misogyny lies at the core fundamentalist mindset, which by suppressing women oppresses and intimidates society as a whole. Maryam Rajavi goes on to explain that fundamentalism is a defensive reaction to growing calls for freedom and equality and, because of this, it cannot withstand the peoples determination to achieve those ideals. Therefore, it can be defeated, but it requires a comprehensive solution and a cultural response. The Regime invokes Islam to defend its fundamentalism, but democratic Islam is its undoing. Maryam Rajavis version of Islam recognizes freedom, promotes gender equality, defends equal rights, promotes respect for freedom of belief, and rejects compulsory religion. Maryam Rajavi said: By underscoring this reality half a century ago, the Peoples Mojahedin of Iran challenged Islamic fundamentalism. Speaking about these two Islams, the Resistances Leader Massoud Rajavi said that one interpretation of Islam is the harbinger of darkness while the other is the standard bearer of freedom, unity and emancipation. But the battle between these two, which is at the same time, a battle of destiny for the Iranian people and history, is one of the most important tests of contemporary humanity. So, what is the solution to fundamentalism? Simply, overthrow the Iranian Regime, as this will not only benefit the Iranian people but the world at large, removing the blueprint for the fundamentalist dictatorship throughout the world. Maryam Rajavi said: The Iranian regime is the founding state for most of the atrocities and evil which fundamentalist groups have perpetrated and are perpetrating by using the mullahs rule as a role model It was the mullahs regime which initiated terrorism under the banner of Islam. The IAEA statement comes more than two weeks after the full re-imposition of US sanctions in line with that withdrawal. The first round of sanctions went back into effect in August, prompting many international businesses to withdraw from Iranian contracts. But the November sanctions on the Iranian oil industry and banking sector were expected to have a much greater impact, targeting more than 700 individuals and entities as the Trump administration follows through on its strategy of maximum pressure on the Iranian regime. In reporting upon the IAEAs announcement on Thursday, Reuters pointed out that the nations of Europe are still working to counteract the American pressure, in the interest of incentivizing Tehran to remain a party to the JCPOA. However, the report went on to note that this effort has met with limited success within the European Union, as none of its member states have yet stepped forward to accept the risk involved in hosting a special purpose vehicle to facilitate sanctions with the Islamic Republic in defiance of US sanctions. Furthermore, pressure is mounting within the EU for expansion of a European sanctions regime that is ostensibly unrelated to the issue of Irans historical pursuit of nuclear weapons. Although the JCPOA led to the lifting of nuclear sanctions, it left the door open for both the US and Europe to maintain existing sanctions and add new sanctions addressing the regimes longstanding human rights abuses and its support of terrorism. The US added a number of sanctions on these bases even before President Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in May, and last month the government of France did the same in the wake of an intelligence report confirming that the Islamic Republic was responsible for a foiled plot to blow up a gathering of Iranian opposition activists near Paris in June. On Monday, Agence France Presse reported that the EU as a whole was examining those sanctions in view of a letter by 150 Members of the European Parliament, which urged European leaders to respond more assertively to Iranian terror threats and human rights violations, and to make relations with the Islamic Republic conditional on improvements in these areas. In the preceding weeks, the EU had also come under pressure from the government of Denmark after it was revealed that an Iranian national had been arrested in that country for plotting to assassinate members of an Iranian Arab separatist group. In the wake of a meeting of European foreign ministers in Brussels, the stage may be set for the expansion of the French anti-terror sanctions to encompass the whole of the EU. The actual extent of any collective measures remains to be determined, but internal and external pressure seems to have contributed to the foreign ministers examination of the issue, and there is no sign of these pressures diminishing in the near future. The French and Danish responses to Iranian terror threats are two examples of this, and the ongoing American efforts to promote compliance with and participation in renewed sanctions are another. This was presumably a motivating factor in the White Houses latest efforts to underscore evidence of Iranian violations of an international non-proliferation convention. Reuters reported on Thursday that Kenneth Ward, the US ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, had told the agency that Iran is presently working to obtain banned chemical weapons, and had previously failed to disclose the existence of relevant facilities. This allegations arguably broaden the pressure on traditional US allies to take measures that would further restrain the Islamic Republic. At the same time, they represent an issue that is closer to the original intent of the JCPOA than some of the elements of Iranian behavior that were highlighted to justify American withdrawal from it. Though the Trump administration never explicitly disputed the IAEAs repeated conclusions that Iran was in compliance with its basic requirements under the nuclear deal, the US president insisted that Tehran was in violation of the spirit of that agreement, which had sought to promote regional peace and stability. In pulling out of the JCPOA in May, Trump underscored Tehrans disregard for the United Nations Security Council resolution governing the deals implementation, which called for a halt to the development and testing of Iranian nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. The president also pointed to Irans destabilizing influence in the broader Middle East, including its support of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. These and similar topics have remained familiar talking points for the White House over the past six months, as pressure has mounted on European governments and businesses to embrace American sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Those talking points were evident, for instance, in a recent White House statement that emphasized Iranian threats in order to justify the maintenance of existing relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Irans main regional adversary. The statement dispelled criticism of Saudi involvement in the devastating Yemeni Civil War by saying that that involvement was purely a response to the Iranian origins of the rebel uprising and that the Saudis would gladly withdraw from Yemen if the Iranians would agree to leave. That aspect of the Trump administrations remarks reflected Saudi Arabias own contributions to the chorus of voices urging international action against Tehrans malign activities. On Monday, Reuters quoted King Salman as saying, The Iranian regime has always intervened in the internal affairs of other countries, sponsored terrorism, created chaos and devastation in many countries in the region. He went on to specifically highlight the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile programs and to insist that Saudi involvement in Yemen is part of a duty to support the Yemeni people in confronting the aggression of Iranian-backed militias. According to Newsweek, when President Trump was pressed on his defense of this and other Saudi positions, he swiftly changed the subject to the terrorist nation of Irana move that angered [Iranian Foreign Minister Javad] Zarif. The report went on to detail Zarifs response, which included a post on Twitter that insisted Trumps words revealed hostility toward an entire people and exposed the real reason for targeting them with economic sanctions. But in various public statements, President Trump and his leading foreign policy officials have drawn clear distinctions between the Iranian government and the Iranian people, calling them the longest-suffering victims of Tehrans repression and human rights abuses. Those same officials are also quick to point out as the president did in the statement on Saudi relations that state-sponsored rallies in Iran regularly feature chants of death to America and draw no obvious distinctions between the government and the people of a nation that Tehran refers to as the great Satan. In view of these rallies and ongoing, explicit threats against American and European assets, the Islamic Republic threatens to undermine its own efforts to dissuade the European Union from joining in the enforcement of growing numbers of economic sanctions. On Wednesday, the day before the IAEA issued its latest affirmation of Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal, Reuters reported that Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the aerospace division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, had threatened American bases in Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, as well as US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. They are within our reach and we can hit them if [the Americans] make a move, he said. Hajizadeh also asserted that the IRGC had greatly improved the range and precision of its ballistic missiles in recent years, a testament to the hardline paramilitarys open defiance of the Security Council resolution calling for an end to this development. As the Reuters report pointed out, the IRGC and the Iranian regime have not only continued to test such weapons but have also recently deployed them against targets in Iraq and Syria, in moves that were lauded by Iranian hardliners as warnings to enemies in the US and in Europe as well. People are forced to work as porters. The people in the border regions lack a productive economy and factories. There are no facilities. Therefore, they are forced to work as porters, Mikael Sedighi, the head of the Construction Workers Association in Marivan and Sarvabad said in comments to state-run ILNA News Agency. He added, I know of women in border villages that have resorted to porter work. Women are paid less because they cannot carry as much as men. Porters get paid depending on the weight they carry, Sedighi said adding that he knew of women who worked as porters for 10,000 tomans (around $2). The number of porters increases in winter months as it is unemployment season for construction workers.A few months of unemployment for a construction worker with a family who does not enjoy services such as unemployment insurance, leaves no other option than to work as a porters in the cold and difficult conditions of the mountains, Sedighi said. An Iranian running champion has been forced to work as a porter to make ends meet. State media recently published a report on the plight of Taha Ghafari, who won second place in the Asian Games in Japan and holds several titles at the national level. Ghafari braves the risks involved in being porter to make just 160,000 tomans (around $38) for each trip. He says, The conditions are terrible, and I do this to make a living. I carry goods such as clothing five hours a day and get 160,000 tomans for it. Being a porter is very difficult and people die doing it. Sometimes you are 2,500-meters high (in the mountains) while carrying goods. Its unimaginable how difficult it is, The Head of the Coordination Center of Islamic Labor Councils in Kurdistan, Shaker Ibrahimi, explained the negative effect that the currency fluctuation has on porters. He said that the livelihood of porters had taken a downward turn because, Porters do not carry goods for themselves and are only middlemen. This means they bring the goods for third parties and receive money. He added, When the currency rate increases, the goods that they carry no longer has any buyers. In other words, there are no customers for foreign goods. Instead they carry the goods from one border to another. Food and clothing goes from Iran to Iraq. People from Iraqi Kurdistan come to Irans border towns and buy goods and either sell them in Iraq or use it for personal consumption. According to the law in Iran, porters are smugglers and therefore border guards may open fire on them, even kill them. At recent case was 17-year-old Vahid Dolatkhah, who died on August 21st, near the border with Turkey due to an unnatural accident, according to ILNA reports. However, human rights sources say that Dolatkhah was shot in the chest and stomach by Iranian border guards while carrying smuggled cigarettes. In fact, in past years, hundreds of porters have been killed or injured according to reports by rights groups. Some have been shot by security forces and border guards, and others have died in natural disasters like falling off mountains, or from land mines that remain from the 1980-1988 war with Iraq. As well, human rights sources also say that in the past month, 15 porters were sentenced to prison. They were convicted of carrying smuggled goods by the Sardasht Revolutionary Court, and given prison sentences. Today, we want to look at the Iranian Regimes disinformation campaign, specifically targeted against the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Since the Iranian Regime stole power in 1979, theyve made it the almost sole task of their Intelligence Ministry to aggressively target the MEK through dishonest reports in Iranian state media and sending disinformation agents out to discredit the MEK in foreign media and to foreign officials. The European Parliament has gone on record as saying that the Iranian intelligence ministry has a long-running and sophisticated information campaign against the MEK with the aim of tarnishing the organization within Iran, and more importantly, in the international community; an assessment that the intelligence agencies in the Netherlands and Germany also stand by. In a 2011 report by the General Intelligence and Security Service (GISS) of the Netherlands, they advised that Irans efforts to undermine the opposition [MEK]in the Netherlands continued unabated and that the Iranian Regime had launched a coordinated campaign in order to portray the MEK in a highly negative light to the media, politicians, and other public servants. In fact, Dutch intelligence has been monitoring the Iranian intelligence services activities against the MEK, since at least May 2002, when they released a report stating that the MEK was the Iranian Intelligence Agencys main interest. It read: [Irans intelligence ministry sought to] exert pressure on Western countries to condemn and ban this group [MEK]. The Intelligence Ministry tries to gather information on the Peoples Mohahedin Organization [and its members]. They are trying, therefore, to destabilize the organization and demonize the [MEK] in the host country and thus end their political and social activities. While Germanys Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz BFV) has been tracking the Iranian Intelligence services targeting of the MEK since at least 2000. In a report, the BFV wrote: The exiled Iranian opposition [MEK] in Germany continues to remain in the focus of the reconnaissance activities of the Iranian Intelligence Services, VEVAK. As in the past years, the Iranian Intelligence Service tries to recruit active or former members of opposition groups. In many cases, this effort is accompanied by intimidation to put pressure on the person or on his relatives who live in Iran. So, to sum up, the Iranian Regimes targeting of the MEK is nothing new. Indeed, it first became a high priority for the Intelligence services just after the 1991 Gulf War, when they drastically increased operations against the MEK in order to shut them down before they received too much attention in the West. The Iranian Regime created millions of publications and articles attacking the MEK and wrote thousands of letters to foreign leaders, accusing the MEK of things that are now long debunked. - A social media post went viral about an allegedly brand new airport in Manila - However, it was debunked by a French news agency - They even verified the information with Philippine aviation authorities and govts official TV station PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed A Facebook post claims that the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte has made a new airport in Manila. However, KAMI learned from Inquirer that there is no new airport in Manila yet. In a report by French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP), the post had a misleading headline. It stated, Boom panis! Laos ang NAIA sa pinakabagong airport sa Maynila. Screenshot from Archive/Blogspot Source: Facebook PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! In addition, the photo used in the report was from a Chinese project by the international architecture firm Corgan. AFP also added that the photo was a proposed design for Northeastern Chinese airport in Dalian. Even the governments official TV station, Peoples Television Network, did not have any reports about a brand new airport in Manila. The social media post went viral on the Internet. It garnered around 800,000 shares on Facebook as reported by ABS-CBN News. They also reported that as per Manila International Airport Authority, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is the only airfield which operates in Manila. You may check the website here and here. As previously reported by KAMI, another claim was debunked by AFP. Another Facebook post claimed that late President Ferdinand Marcos held the Guinness World Records title for Most Brilliant President in the History. AFP reported that Marcos was instead listed in the Greatest robbery of a government. POPULAR: Read more news about President Rodrigo Duterte here! Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Philippines social experiment: can you answer these tricky questions? Today we are going to ask the Philippines strangers some very funny Tagalog tricky questions! WHAT is PMS? Do you think you can answer them correctly? These individuals from the Philippines have their answers! on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph - Sam Milby recalled the tragic story his half-brother who passed away because of a motorcycle accident - He encouraged the riders to wear a helmet whenever they travel to avoid such circumstance - The 'Halik' lead star received praises from the netizens and they also involved his character as Ace' in their comments PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Sam Milby or also known as 'Ace' from his drama-series 'Halik' posted a photo on Instagram with a caption that served as a reminder to all motorcycle riders to wear their helmets whenever they travel. The Kapamilya actor recollected his half brother's death because of not wearing a helmet and had a motorcycle accident. "Ito ang jacket na suot ng half brother ko nung naaksidente siya at hindi siya nakasuot ng helmet... I was 1 year old. Marami pa sana kaming memories na mapagsasaluhan. I see so many riders here sa Pinas na hindi gumagamit ng helmet. Please if you're a rider, ALWAYS wear a helmet," Sam wrote. Furthermore, the netizens thanked Sam for reminding everyone to keep themselves safe. Some funny comments were present too because of involving his character in 'Halik' as Ace. "Buti nalang si Lino laging May helmet." "Ok thank u for your advise Sam.." "Thank you for sharing this @samuelmilby I notice the same thing too" "I am sorry to hear that. I can feel every word you just said." "Ambait tlga ni sam bakit si ace ang landi " PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! In a previous report by KAMI, Sam Milby disclosed that he receives some death threats because of his role as Ace in 'Halik'. He also became part of ABS-CBN teleseryes such as Nathaniel and Doble Kara. Sam was romantically involved with Mari Jasmine. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! The topic of this episode is a day we are waiting for the whole months. Yes, Im talking about the PayDay in the Philippines. Have you ever promised yourself to start making savings? Click Play to watch our hilarious expectations vs. reality video about PayDay in the Philippines. - on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph - Former actress Nikki Gil posted a message for her husband BJ Albert on their anniversary - A lot of their fans described the post as sweet and naughty - The message of Nikki also attracted varied reactions from netizens PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Celebrity mom Nikki Gil promptly took to social media her sweetness to husband BJ Albert as she posted an anniversary message for him. KAMI learned that aside from being cheesy on her post, a lot of netizens also traced the former actress naughty side through her words. Nikki began her Instagram post by greeting her husband a happy anniversary on their special day. She also expressed that it turns her on to see BJ sing and dance to the beat of The Wiggles. At the latter part of her short but meaningful message, Nikki showed gratitude to her partner-in-life for always making her happy. Happy Anniversary (BJ Albert) I dont understand how seeing you dance and sing to The Wiggles can turn me on. But it doezzzz hahaha thank you for a happy life! Love you! the celebrity mom wrote. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! Because of her post, a lot of netizens reacted and also aired their opinion regarding the love life of Nikki and the content of her message. Here are some of the comments: Ganoon talaga may weird/simple things na ginagawa yung partners natin na iba sa pakiramdam. Yung tipong pag nasa iisip mo hindi maganda sa imagination pero pag ginawa na boooom! She's a testament of God's protection. It took her a massive heartbreak but it worked really well for her in the end because she ended up with a man who truly deserves her. Ang sarap nung thank you for a happy life. Haaaay life goals sila. Nikki is not prettiest in showbiz but i adore her,. I guess it's her classy demeanor that makes her stand out from the rest. Wala masyadong hanash sa buhay kaya hindi pinabayaan ng Diyos. In a previous article by, the former Maria Mercedes star flaunted her elegant and new home with husband BJ and baby Finn. Nikki, or Monica Pauline Gil-Albert in real life, was born on August 23, 1987. Before she married BJ in 2015, she was in a romantic relationship with actor Billy Crawford. According to Nikki, they decided to part ways because of the actors infidelity. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Today we are going to ask Philippines strangers some very funny Tagalog tricky questions! Do you think you can answer them correctly? These individuals from the Philippines have their answers! Saan Aabot Ang Bente Pesos Mo? This question might sound easy, but in reality, they are pretty tricky and it is easy to make a mistake! on HumanMeter! Source: Kami.com.ph New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today A mix of clouds and sun this morning followed by increasing clouds with showers developing this afternoon. High 77F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Rain. Thunder possible. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Bill Duke: 40 Years On Screen & Behind The Camera Many aspiring actors move to Los Angeles in hopes to find success. Some of them imagine themselves on red carpets, while others envision receiving their own Hollywood Walk Of Fame star. What happens when that illusion breaks and you have no idea what you should do? Thats the question legendary actor Bill Duke answered in his new book Bill Duke: 40 Years On Screen and Behind The Camera. One of my purposes for writing the book is hopefully that it is helpful for other people coming into the industry. A lot of kids have the passion but dont understand the business, said Duke. His business mind was what propelled his career. Known for his roles in popular films such as Predator, Commando, and currently Black Lightning, Duke digs deeper into why he loves being an actor. His family played a large role in providing him motivation. They developed his work ethic since childhood. They worked relentlessly. My mother had two jobs and my father had three. Sometimes they worked seven days a week. They didnt let anything stop them, Duke said over the phone. ADVERTISEMENT Though his parents gave him courage, it was seeing popular Black actors on-screen that changed his life. Sidney Poiter was such a profound influence. He wasnt just an actor, but he stood for things that mattered, said Duke. He stood up for his pride, himself, and his family. That inspired me Though he was shining on screen, his personal life was dark. He doesnt hold back speaking about his past drug habits in his book. Some of those habits hindered his career. It wasnt until a good friend introduced him to transcendental meditation that his life changed. A friend of mine saw me tumbling down. My head was not right. She told me about transcendental meditation. At first it was okay. After about a month it changed my life. I was higher than any drug I took at the time, Duke said. Years later, Duke is drug free and continues to motivate incoming actors about the art of filmmaking. He stresses the importance of finding your own path and not waiting on anyone. The explosion of mainstream media further proves why building your own brand is important according to the actor. There has been a paradigm shift from television to media. Look at Issa Rae. She had a show online then HBO came after her. Same thing happened to Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It started online. You can discover yourself. Duke asserted. ADVERTISEMENT Though artists are succeeding in the industry, Duke advises to deny the fame hungry mindset. He explains why enjoying the craft should outweigh any recognition you may receive. I understand people that want recognition but its all momentary fame. There should be more attention to the business. Its called show business. Actually, it should be called business-show since business is everything. Times are changing. You have to leverage yourself into success, Duke explained. Bill Duke: 40 Years On Screen and Behind The Camera is currently available where books are sold. Compton Unified School District Awarded $10 Million Dollar Grant from US Department of Education Compton Unified School District has been awarded two United States Department of Education Gear Up Grants for the next seven years in collaboration with university and community college partners. Through the grant, CUSD will provide intensive academic and college preparation support to 1,800 6th and 7th grade students. The grant will fund programs that will follow the same students as they journey through middle school, high school and college. CUSD is one of only 60 organizations nationwide(only11 in California) to be awarded the prestigious grant. The districts efforts will receive almost $10 million over seven years. The GEAR Up grant will enable Compton Unified School District to not only continue its upward trajectory of improved graduation and college going rates, it will enable us to take a huge leap toward ensuring students successfully graduate college as well, said Dr. Darin Brawley, Superintendent of CUSD. The goal of the grants are to measurably increase students rate of graduation, enrollment in, and completion of college. The grant will fund multiple activities and services including STEM enrichment, college readiness, professional development for teachers, counselors and staff, academic tutoring and support, economic literacy, and advanced placement/dual enrollment support. In addition to institutions of higher learning, this project will work collaboratively with a diverse group of community-based partners including the City of Compton, Verizon Foundation, SNAP and Project First. Today is truly a great day in Compton! said Satra Zurita, Vice President of the CUSD Board of Trustees. In addition to the strong academic support students will receive, I am excited that this grant will help our students gain access to financial, academic and other supports that will in essence lock arms with them as they travel a path that leads them to directly to success! The two grant projects, award amounts, participating partners, and program activities are: UCI, Compton College and the Compton Unified School District Gear Up were awarded $5,440,000 for a seven-year project to increase students academic achievement, college awareness, preparation and parents college knowledge. The Compton Partnership GEAR UP will begin its intensive work at Davis, Bunche, Enterprise, and Willowbrook Middle Schools in the Compton Unified School District. The project will start by creating a cohort of 1,000 6th and 7th grade students, and will continue to serve these same 1,000 students as they move into Compton and Centennial High Schools and on to the college of their choice. California State University Dominguez & Compton Unified School District Gear Up were awarded $4,450,000 for a seven-year project to increase students academic achievement, college awareness, preparation and parents college knowledge. The California State University of Dominguez & Compton Unified School District GEAR UP will begin its intensive work at Dominguez High School, Whaley and Roosevelt Middle Schools in the Compton Unified School District. The project will start by creating a cohort of 800 students and will continue to serve the same 800 students as they move into Dominguez High School and on to the college of their choice. Here at Compton Unified School District, we are intently focused on partnerships and initiatives that are innovative and game-changers for students. We are grateful to the US Department of Education and our collaborative partners for agreeing to take this bold step forward in firmly establishing a college-going and college-enabling culture in our district, said Micah Ali, President of CUSDs Board of Trustees. The Gear Up grant will begin implementation in the 2018-19 school year. ADVERTISEMENT Digital Boom and Tech Access Fuel Black Entrepreneurship No different than the impact industry had on Americas business model of the early 20th century, new technological innovations have significantly changed all aspects of business, from the way people consume to how brands engage consumers. We are on the threshold of a new business paradigm, said Cheryl Grace, Senior Vice President, U.S. Strategic Community Alliances and Consumer Engagement at Nielsen. The digital age is transforming not only commerce and the relationship consumers have with companies, but digital know-how among consumers particularly African Americans is fostering new levels of independence and financial freedom. For African Americans, these milestones of innovation have played integral roles in how Black households have navigated socioeconomic status while keeping pace with an ever-changing American business landscape. Innovation breeds new opportunities, fosters entrepreneurship and spurs educational advancement to meet the demand for professional specialization. ADVERTISEMENT Nielsens latest report, From Consumers to Creators: The Digital Lives of Black Consumers, makes the case that a legitimate renaissance is taking shape within the African American community. In fact, more than half (54%) of all African Americans have lived their entire life in the digital age. Echoes of digital deserts and tech disparities have given way to unfettered access to WiFi, the cloud and 4G LTE. Black consumers have dismantled old paradigms and bridged divides in access, device ownership and usage. Undisputedly the vanguards and early adopters of popular American cultural trends, African Americans have fully embraced todays digitally connected marketplace, said Andrew McCaskill, SVP Global Communications and Multicultural Marketing at Nielsen. Black consumers are engaged and plugged in to a digital, multi-platform universe in ways that are redefining the African American experience with an unprecedented sense of community, economic consciousness and digital-native know-how. The digital age and its technologies are outpacing 20th century business practices by leaps and bounds. The byproduct? Rapid changes in the economy and society are unearthing opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses black-owned businesses. The digital boom and access to tech have created a democratization of digital platforms in which African Americans are not just embracing but thriving. Black consumers are impacting the marketplace and the brands within it. Representation matters to consumers of color, and when companies fail to resonate culturally or authentically appeal to them, Black consumers are decisive in their response. African Americans leverage their digital access to critique, connect and hold brands accountable in full display on social media platforms. With a buying power of $1.3 trillion, Black consumers are effective in supporting brands that align with their preferences and ignoring those that do not. More importantly, the most enterprising Black consumers are transforming from Consumers to Creators and ultimately becoming the Competition to the brands or industries that have been more exclusive than inclusive. ADVERTISEMENT McCaskill added, At the nexus of digital interconnection, entrepreneurship and an unyielding desire to control and share their own images and ideas, African Americans are using the media-verse as a springboard for content creators to become decision makers. Black consumers are taking a for us by us approach to building new platforms and business models, thereby creating entirely new Black financial ecosystems. For more details and insights, download From Consumers To Creators: The Digital Lives Of Black Consumers at www.nielsen.com/africanamericans. Join the conversation on Facebook (Nielsen Community) and Twitter (@NielsenKnows) using #NielsenKnows #Consumers2Creators. Ex-L.A. Sheriff Deputy Gets Prison Time in Federal Drug Case A former Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy was sentenced today to 17 years and six months in prison for his role in a scheme to oversee the delivery of narcotics and other contraband in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in cash. Kenneth Collins was arrested by FBI agents Jan. 16, along with two others, after they arrived in Pasadena to provide a security escort for the transport of nearly 45 pounds of cocaine and more than 13 pounds of methamphetamine to Las Vegas. ADVERTISEMENT Collins, 51, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. Prosecutors agreed not to recommend more than about 20 years in prison in exchange for Collins guilty plea, court papers show. During the FBIs undercover investigation, Collins agreed that he and his team would accompany the narcotics and take steps to prevent legitimate law enforcement from intercepting the drugs in exchange for payments as high as $250,000, prosecutors said. Collins and two co-defendants both of whom have also pleaded guilty in the case provided security in November for the transport of what they thought was 13 pounds of methamphetamine, as well as marijuana and counterfeit cigarettes, according to the indictment. In justifying the high fees for his services, Collins, a 15-year veteran of the sheriffs department, told an undercover FBI agent were cops and all of our transports make it through, according to the indictment. After Collins arrest, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department issued a statement noting that it brought the allegations of criminal misconduct against Collins to the attention of federal investigators several months earlier, and since then, had been directly cooperating with the Department of Justice and the FBI during all aspects of the investigation. He was placed on administrative leave, according to the sheriffs department. Collins was most recently assigned to the County Services Bureau. ADVERTISEMENT Prosecutors said the FBI began investigating Collins in relation to a scheme to accept cash payments in exchange for providing security for illegal marijuana grow facilities, as well as assisting in the distribution of controlled substances. An undercover FBI agent who was posing as a family member of a wealthy investor looking to finance an illegal marijuana grow house first met with Collins more than a year ago, according to court documents. First Black Democratic Nominee for Florida Governor Concedes Andrew Gillum, who tried to energize Floridas young and minority voters through a Democratic coalition seeking to end two decades of Republican control of the governors office, ended his hard-fought campaign Saturday as the states first black nominee for the post. Gillum, whose refrain had been bring it home as he recounted stories of growing up poor in the state, concluded his campaign with a Facebook video he recorded alongside his wife in a park. In his four-minute plus video, Gillum congratulated Republican Ron DeSantis and also vowed to remain politically active even though his term as mayor of the Florida capital of Tallahassee ends next week. Of his future plans, Gillum said: stay tuned. ADVERTISEMENT Gillum, just 39 years old, earned national attention and financial backing from well-known liberal billionaires with his first bid for statewide office. He ran on a liberal platform that included expanding Medicaid and raising taxes to spend more on education even though both ideas would have been hard to pass through the GOP-controlled Legislature. His final act as a candidate was less confrontational than that of another prominent African-American candidate in this years midterm elections: Stacy Abrams in neighboring Georgia ended her campaign for governor on Friday, ceding to a Republican with an unapologetically indignant tone establishing herself as a leading voting rights advocate. Democrat Andrew Gillum says he is ending his hard-fought race for Florida governor and has congratulated Republican Ron DeSantis (Nov. 17) This has been the journey of our lives, said Gillum, appearing in the video with his wife, R. Jai Gillum. Although nobody wanted to be governor more than me that this was not just about an election cycle. This was about creating the type of change in this state that really allows for the voices of everyday people to show up again in our government, in our state, and in our communities. We know that this fight continues. Gillums concession came hours before Floridas counties must turn in their official results at noon Sunday after tense days of recounting ballots in both the gubernatorial and a U.S. Senate contest two nationally watched midterm elections that have keep the presidential swing state on edge since Election Day. Gillums brief remarks came hours after President Donald Trump, who at one point in the campaign had sharply criticized Gillum, praised him for running a tough race. ADVERTISEMENT He will be a strong Democrat warrior long into the future a force to reckon with! said Trump in a Twitter post. Gillum had initially conceded to DeSantis on election night, but he retracted it as the razor-thin margin between the two candidates narrowed. But he still trailed DeSantis by more than 30,000 votes following a legally required machine recount. Counties are wrapping up a hand recount this weekend and must submit their official results by noon Sunday. Gillums concession assures Florida Republicans will retain their grasp on the governors office since Jeb Bushs term starting in 1999. DeSantis, 40, was considered an underdog before Trump tweeted his support for DeSantis in December, a month before DeSantis even entered the race. Trump campaigned to help push DeSantis to a primary victory in August and visited Florida two more times to help the Republican in the final days of the election. DeSantiss campaign did not respond to Gillums remarks, pointing instead to a statement the former congressman put out two days ago. Campaigns are meant to be vigorously debated contests of ideas and competing visions for the future, DeSantis said. The campaign for governor achieved this objective as evidenced by historic voter turnout from people of all parties across our state. But campaigns of ideas must give way to governing and bringing people together to secure Floridas future. With the campaign now over, thats where all of my focus will be. DeSantis stumbled out of the gate after winning the Aug. 28 primary, telling Fox News that voters shouldnt monkey this up by electing Gillum. Despite implications that DeSantis is racially insensitive an idea he angrily disputed during a debate he is poised to officially win the state that Trump carried in 2016. He has promised to keep intact many of the same policies on education and health care that have been in place by previous Republican governors. DeSantis ran as a political outsider despite serving three terms in Congress and running for the U.S. Senate in 2016 before dropping out of the race when Republican Sen. Marco Rubio decided to run for re-election. DeSantis is a former Navy officer who graduated from Yale University before getting his law degree at Harvard University. He gained name recognition during the primary with more than 100 appearances on Fox News, often to defend the president. DeSantis ran a largely negative campaign, calling Gillum a socialist and saying he oversaw one of the most corrupt and crime-ridden cities in the state. Trump joined in on the criticism, tweeting similar messages. The corruption allegation stemmed from a continuing FBI investigation into City Hall that Gillum has said he is not a target of and is cooperating with; the charge that Tallahassee had the states highest crime rate was false. Gillum portrayed DeSantis as racially divisive, repeatedly pointing out his monkey this up comment. Im not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist. Im simply saying the racists believe hes a racist, Gillum said previously. Gillums announcement came as most Florida counties were winding down their hand recount in the states contentious U.S. Senate race. The smattering of results publicly posted Saturday showed that Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was only gaining a few hundred votes in his bitter contest with outgoing Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican. State officials ordered a manual recount earlier in the week after a legally required machine recount showed that Scott led incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson by about 12,600 votes. More than 8 million voters cast ballots in the race. Nelson and Democrats filed several lawsuits following the close election, challenging everything from the states signature mismatch law to deadlines for mail-in ballots. If the 76-year-old Nelson loses, it would likely spell an end to a lengthy political career that stretches back four decades. Nelson was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. A win for Scott would mark his third victory since the multimillionaire businessman launched his political career in 2010. In each race, Scott has barely edged his Democratic opponent. State law requires a machine recount in races where the margin is 0.5 percentage points or less. Once that recount was complete, if the differences in any of the races are 0.25 percentage points or less, a hand recount is ordered. Local canvassing boards only review ballots where a vote was not recorded by voting machines. Former Ca. Sen. Roderick Wright Pardoned by Governor Jerry Brown SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The California Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for a pardon by Gov. Jerry Brown for former state lawmaker Roderick Wright convicted of felony charges that involved lying about his true residence. Wright has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen, Brown wrote in his pardon message. He said Wright has devoted much of his life to public service, including six years in the Assembly and six years in the Senate. A Los Angeles County jury in 2014 determined that state Sen. Roderick Wright lived outside the district he represented and convicted him of voter fraud and perjury. Some lawmakers at the time defended Wright, saying state law was ambiguous about the issue. The justices did not object to a pardon for Wright in a letter to the governor. They did not publicly explain their decision. In a March order, the court clarified that its role is not to take a position on whether the governor should extend clemency to someone but whether such action would represent an abuse of power. The justices decision came after the governors legal affairs secretary, Peter Krause, sought the courts input last month. Wright presented a favorable case for a pardon, Krause said in a letter to the justices in October, saying the Legislature has since clarified the law about a politicians residence. Krause also cited a parole board determination that what Wright did would be legal under the bill lawmakers passed. The board in September recommended a pardon for Wright. Wright was sentenced to 90 days in jail then released almost immediately. The California Supreme Courts decision was first reported by the Los Angeles Times . A call to what appeared to be a listing for Wright was not immediately returned. He told the newspaper recently that he believes he complied with state law. Im certainly sorry for the challenges I brought forth in terms of questions about my house, and I take full responsibility, Wright told the newspaper. I thought I was correct, but the jury didnt agree with me. ADVERTISEMENT In Defeat, Abrams Emerges as Leading Voting Rights Advocate Stacey Abrams broke the rules of politics until the very end. The Georgia Democrat, who came about 60,000 votes shy of becoming Americas first Black female governor, refused to follow the traditional script for defeated politicians who offer gracious congratulations to their victorious competitor and gently exit the stage. Instead, Abrams took an unapologetically indignant tone that established her as a leading voting rights advocate. I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election, Abrams said in a fiery 12-minute address. But to watch an elected official baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the peoples democratic right to vote has been truly appalling. ADVERTISEMENT So lets be clear, Abrams concluded, this is not a speech of concession. Pointedly refusing to concede would typically risk drawing a sore loser label that would be impossible to shake in any future political campaign. But Democrats and even some Republicans say she is likely to emerge from the closely fought governors race with her political future on solid ground. There was a time when this may have been a bad look, but Im not sure thats where we are in politics anymore, said Jen Palmieri, who served as communications director for President Barack Obamas White House and for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign. For many years, people have been too concerned about the optics of their actions as opposed to the impact of their actions, Palmieri added, saying that addressing some voters lack of faith in the system is more important than worrying what might offend people who may or may not vote for you four years from now. Republican Rick Tyler, a top adviser to Sen. Ted Cruzs 2016 presidential campaign, said botched concessions have hurt people before, but he said its too simple to say Abrams botched anything because some of her criticism has merit. I wish we could all have faith in the system and the process, Tyler said. Then we could count votes, listen to gracious concession speeches and all just move on. Thats not where we are. ADVERTISEMENT Abrams cited a litany of problems that she said add up to systemic voter suppression. She specifically pointed to absentee ballots thrown out by what she called the handwriting police, a shortage of paper ballots to back up broken-down voting machines and Georgias so-called exact match voter registration rules that require information on voter applications to precisely match state and federal files. While state law allows no viable remedy, she said she plans to file federal legal action challenging various aspects of the electoral system Kemp oversaw until he resigned as secretary of state two days after the Nov. 6 election. She also launched the new nonprofit group Fair Fight Georgia to advocate for changes. In an interview Sunday, she confirmed the federal lawsuit would be filed this week. We are going to ask the court to use all the legal remedies possible to force reform in our electoral system, she told The Associated Press. Some Republicans rebuked her approach. She seems to think there are only two branches of government: executive and judicial, said Debbie Dooley, a Georgia-based activist who was among the early national tea party leaders. Im just disappointed that her immediate adversarial response is to file lawsuits when there are a lot of people on the Republican side who see a need for some of the reforms she wants. For starters, Dooley cited an absentee ballot process that varies from county to county and Georgias reliance on electronic voting machines with no paper trail, a system a federal judge already has harshly criticized in a separate case. If they try to do it all through the federal courts, its going to end up with people resenting her, Dooley predicted. In her speech Friday, Abrams said pundits and hyper-partisans would object to her flouting normal order for losing candidates. I should be stoic in my outrage and silent in my rebuke, she said of conventional expectations. But stoicism is a luxury and silence is a weapon for those who would quiet the voices of the people. She told AP her goal with Fair Fight Georgia is to make sure that when the next campaign happens, there is a clear understanding of what occurred in her loss to Kemp. Georgia Democrats said Abrams has little choice but to continue highlighting problems. The middle ground here is simple: Count every vote, said Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Abrams campaign chairman. Buddy Darden, a former congressman who chaired the campaign of Abrams Democratic primary rival, agreed. Darden, who is white, said Abrams proved wrong the old dinosaurs like me who thought a black woman couldnt compete in a general election in the Deep South. She did it by getting folks out that no one else could, Darden said. Now she has their back, and thats a good thing for the party, a good thing for the state. Palmieri, the former Obama and Clinton adviser, said Abrams can fill an important national void. Republicans, she said, have spent a generation focused on passing GOP-friendly voting rules, redrawing district boundaries and electing like-minded secretaries of state like Kemp. The left has answered with a less-effective patchwork of lawyers and think tanks. She would be a formidable force on that front, Palmieri said. Abrams did not say what her next bid for public office would be, but makes clear shes not bowing out. Her next chance in Georgia would be to challenge for Republican Sen. David Perdues seat in 2020. My mission is to take a little bit of time to decompress, and then No. 1, file this lawsuit, get this organization off the ground, get a little bit of rest and then get to work figuring out what we can do to not only help Georgia but help the United States, she told the AP. History offers some parallels. Democrat Al Gore fell just short of the presidency in 2000 after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed Republican George W. Bushs victory in Florida. Gore never returned to politics, but he established himself as a leading advocate for addressing climate change. Republican Richard Nixon lost a bitter presidential election to John Kennedy in 1960, then followed with a loss in the 1962 California governors election, prompting a bitter concession speech in which he declared himself done with politics. Six years later, he was elected president, capitalizing on Democrats Vietnam-era disarray. Cruz found himself in Republican crosshairs in 2016 when he spoke at the Republican convention but notably refused to endorse nominee Donald Trump for president. Weeks ago, Trump and Cruz embraced on a Texas campaign stage, helping Cruz to a hard-fought re-election victory to the Senate. The lesson, Palmieri said, is that voters let these things play out. Is the FBI Underreporting the Surge in Hate Crimes? The FBI has released its 2017 hate crimes statistics which revealed a 17 percent increase in incidents since 2016. In 2017 there were 8,493 victims and 6,307 known offenders. By comparison there were 7,509 victims and 5,727 known offenders in 2016, according to the data. This report is a call to action and we will heed that call, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said in a statement. The Department of Justices top priority is to reduce violent crime in America, and hate crimes are violent crimes. The report contrasts with the prior year when there were 6,036 single-bias incidents, or occurrences where the perpetrator has one bias against a community or group. By comparison, in 2017, there were 7,106 single-bias incidents reported. ADVERTISEMENT According to the FBI, 58.1 percent were motivated by a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias, 22.0 percent were prompted by religious bias, 15.9 percent resulted from sexual-orientation bias and 1.7 percent were motivated by gender-identity bias. This [report] is shocking and requires Congresss full attention, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. Shouldnt this urgent crisis be the subject of the first post-recess Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, instead of ramming through more Trump judges? Our lives are at stake, Johnson said. Also, some organizations are skeptical of the FBI statistics and say underreporting remains a significant problem in its annual survey. In a statement, the Arab American Institute (AAI) expressed concern and disappointment with the release of the 2017 hate crime statistics. The organization claims that the data contained some glaring omissions, including three of the most severe acts of bias-motivated violence committed last year. And while career officials at the Department of Justice continue to demonstrate a commitment to serving communities and preventing hate crime, officials at the AAI said they remain dissatisfied with the response from this administration. ADVERTISEMENT Of 34 reportable bias motivation categories, all but five reported an increase in 2017. With 2,013 incidents reported, Anti-Black or African American bias accounted for nearly half of all crimes motivated by race or ethnicity, which rose 18 percent according to the FBI data, while Anti-American Indian or Alaska Native, Anti-Multiple Races, Group, and Anti-Hispanic or Latino hate crimes all increased over 20 percent (251, 180, and 427 incidents, respectively). Anti-Arab hate crime, which was reintroduced into the data collections in 201 after the category became invalid in 1996 and was eliminated in 2001, increased 100 percent last year, with 102 incidents reported. As for crimes motivated by religion, which increased 23 percent in 2017, Anti-Jewish hate crime surged 37 percent, representing a majority with 938 incidents reported. After increasing 67 percent in 2015 and 19 percent in 2016, Anti-Islamic (Muslim) hate crime decreased in 2017 but remained well above historical averages with 273 incidents reported. Based on state-level hate crime statistics reported through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) system, which the FBI also uses to publish its annual report, the AAI was expecting an increase of crimes motivated by sexual orientation in 2017 statistics. While an increase was reported in the federal data, it was less significant than expected, the organization noted in a statement. Analysis from AAI shows that in multiple states, official state-level data reported a greater number of incidents than what is reported in the FBIs statistics. Crimes motivated by disability, gender, and gender identity, which are more recent additions to the data collections and generally produce smaller annual totals, were significantly affected by these discrepancies. For example, the Kentucky State Police reported 41 gender-motivated hate crime incidents in official state-level statistics, whereas only 46 incidents were reported nationwide according to the FBI data. Aside from these discrepancies, additional aspects of the 2017 federal data suggest significant underreporting, the most striking of which being the omission of three of the most severe acts of bias-motivated violence committed last year, AAI officials said. According to FBI statistics, the city of Olathe, Kansas, reported no hate crimes, and statewide, zero hate crime murder were reported in 2017. But on February 22, Srinivas Kuchibhotla was shot to death in an Olathe bar because of his perceived national origin, according to the AAI. The shooter, Adam Purinton, who also wounded Kuchibhotlas friend Alok Madasani and another man named Ian Grillot, was convicted on federal hate crime charges. Similarly, neither the May 26 fatal stabbing of Ricky John Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche aboard a train in Portland, Oregon, nor the August 12 killing of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, is reflected in the federal data. Further, over 300 jurisdictions representing populations of at least 50,000 people reported zero hate crimes in 2017. Of these jurisdictions, 78 represent populations of at least 100,000, and research from AAI found evidence of no fewer than 10 additional major jurisdictions that did not even participate in the data collections. The largest jurisdiction to report zero hate crimes in 2017 was the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which represents a population of over 1.6 million and is one of the nations largest police departments in terms of population served. The entire state of Nevada had only three agencies submit incident reports last year, with just five incidents reported statewide. Not including Hawaii, which does not participate in the national hate crime statistics program, 11 additional states had fewer than 10 agencies submit incident reports in 2017. The reported increase in the FBIs hate crime statistics warrants concern, as do the discrepancies between state and federal hate crime data, the omission of several high-profile hate crime incidents, and the limited rate of hate crime reporting in some major jurisdictions, AAI officials said. The scourge of hate crime continues to harm communities in cities and states across the country. The FBI data confirms the reality we all know: hate is increasing in America, said Maya Berry, the executive director of the AAI. The FBI data, in what is missing from it, also demonstrates the hate crime reporting system we have in place is falling to respond adequately to hate crime, and thus inform fully the policy remedies we must make to improve our response to hate, Berry said. Berry continued: While we remain grateful to the career professionals at the DOJ, it is clear the Trump Administration has largely abdicated from the stated federal interest of eradicating bias-motivated violence, and the presidents rhetoric has at times appeared to exacerbate its spread. With respect to the recent data release, AAI is disappointed that despite our request, the administration made no attempt to coordinate an event with stakeholders and officials to discuss the annual FBI statistics, as was customary during previous administrations. L.A. Students Receive Thousands in Scholarships at UNCF Tour Cheers, whoops and applause filled the air, but it wasnt at a concert or a game. Instead, more than 400 Los Angeles-area high school students were responding to the chance to receive scholarships for college. The educational event, held Nov. 16 at the Hyatt Regency LAX Hotel, was part of the Empower Me Tour (EMT) sponsored by the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). The free college-readiness program allowed students to obtain information and admission to the nations historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Instant scholarships were another EMT bonus for five graduating seniors, who surprised to collect the $2,500 awards. The recipients were Christian Dixon, Mohamad Lorenzano and Jada Salazar of Susan Miller Dorsey High School; Samad Acklin of Early College High School and Kiara Phillips of USC Media Arts High School. ADVERTISEMENT Salazar, who grew up in the foster care system and hopes to attend Spelman College in Atlanta, said, Applying for colleges and exploring opportunities help me to know that I can strive. Exposing students to future possibilities is one of the goals on the EMT program, according to Paulette Jackson, UNCF vice president of development. Students will walk away from here today understanding what it takes to get into college, get financial aid and theyll be a little more empowered within themselves. They will have a chance to attend workshops that deal with self-esteem and help them to understand who they are personally and feel that confidence as they get ready to go off to college, said Jackson. Participating in the EMT certainly boosted the confidence of Inglewood High School senior Donaja Heard, who plans to major in criminology and become a lawyer. Their (HBCU representatives) energy is really good here and helped me not to be scared. Im usually a shy person, but they understand what Im going through and theyve experienced the things that Ive experienced, said Heard. Also, I liked being around my peers who want to be successful just like myself. Reggie Trimble, a senior at Compton Early College High School, enjoyed the welcoming environment as well. Everyone was really nice and real approachable. You could talk to each college [representative] and learn what you can get from each college without feeling any pressure. Im thinking about attending a HBCU and majoring in business or finance. In addition, the event included three interactive sessions to further aid students. For the Culture: HBCU Experience showcased the history and experiences at HBCUs. My Black is Beautiful: Girl Talk dissected barriers of beauty and shared strategies for educational and professional success. Tied to Greatness: Guy Talk highlighted how successful, minority men overcame struggles and obstacles during their educational pursuits. Jackson added that EMT also features a second track, which starts in the spring, focused on career-readiness for college students. UNCF uses that platform to introduce undergraduates to representatives from graduate schools and potential employers. ADVERTISEMENT The students are able to apply for internships, screen for an opportunity for full-time employment, we review their resumes, explain how to dress for success and networking for success and how to get a good work product, Jackson noted. Its an opportunity for students to get those skills that they might need to help them go into the workplace. Los Angeles is the fifth city on the Empower Tour, which also includes stops in Fort Worth, TX; Cincinnati, OH; Chicago, IL; Milwaukee, WI and Atlanta, GA. UNCF presented EMT in partnership with L.A.-area public school districts, parents, national sponsors Wells Fargo, Target, P&G and FedEx. UNCF is the largest scholarship provider to students of color, awarding $100 million annually to more than 10,000 students across the country. To learn more, visit empowermetour.org or follow @UNCF #EmpowerMeTour. Mississippi Senate Race May Be Defining Moment for Black Voters Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smiths remark to a colleague that If he invited me to a public hanging, Id be on the front row puts the Magnolia State at center stage for Black voters in the 2018 mid-term elections. Mississippi had the highest number of lynchings in the United States between 1882 and 1968, according to NAACP records. Hyde-Smiths explanation that her phrase was an exaggerated expression of regard drew outrage from Dr. Maya R. Cummings, president and CEO of Global Policy Solutions, veteran Capitol Hill staffer and former vice president of research and programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. ADVERTISEMENT [It] shows how little regard her forebears had for Blacks they murdered and mutilated and how their atrocities are still accepted in her culture, Cummings said. In the Nov. 6 mid-terms, Hyde-Smith finished in a dead heat with former Mississippi congressman Mike Espy, an African American who was the Clinton administration Secretary of Agriculture, in a four-way Senate race. The two now will face each other in a runoff special election on Nov. 27. Hyde-Smith was appointed by Mississippis governor to fill the remaining two years of the Senate seat when Thad Cochran vacated it due to illness. As a Trump-endorsed candidate, she is in lockstep with the presidents agenda, one Cummings finds polarizing. According to initial Pew Research data, in the 2018 mid-terms, African Americans voted at 90 percent for Democratic candidates; nine percent for Republicans. African Americans and other people of color were motivated to turn out in record numbers for mid-term elections due to the desire to see Trumps power curbed, Cummings observed. ADVERTISEMENT African Americans know exactly what Trump is and what he means for our future. Indeed, he has made no effort to hide his disdain for African Americans and other historically marginalized groups. Some Black analysts argue that a tax-cut-driven bump in personal income should prompt African Americans to vote Republican. But in Mississippi, in precincts where well-to-do and middle-class African Americans reside, Trumps tax cuts had no measurable impact in the mid-terms, according to Charles Taylor, principal and founder of Peyton Strategies, LLC, based in Jackson, Miss. Though he has provided consulting services for the Espy campaign, he is not a spokesperson. Precinct 83 is an affluent Black precinct in Jackson. Espy got 97.67 percent of the vote, Taylor said. In Precinct 84, 95 percent. Precinct 85, predominantly Black middle class, 97.2 percent. Raynard Jackson, a Black Republican, is president and CEO of a government affairs and public relations firm in Washington, D.C. who has worked on numerous Republican campaigns, including Ron DeSantis gubernatorial campaign in Florida against the Democrat candidate, Andrew Gillum, mayor of Tallahassee. Though not an ardent Trump fan, Jackson criticizes the Democratic party for failing to deliver policies that enable African Americans to reach economic independence. I carried this message across the state to black communities, how much are you willing to pay to make history? Jackson explained. He says Gillums vow to increase the minimum wage and raise taxes to accomplish policy objectives make Floridas costs for electing its first African American governor too high. Id ask a Black businessman, Which of your employees are you going to lay off? Theyd stop and say, I hadnt thought of it like that. Jackson derides African American candidates he claims are fearful of being openly vocal advocates for their own people. Obama said he was going to be president of all the people. We hear it over and over from Black candidates, Gillum included. But if you speak to a Latino candidate, he will tell you exactly what he will do for the Latino community. Kevin McNeir, editor of the Miami Times during the hanging chad controversy in the Bush-Gore 2000 election and now editor of the Washington Informer, finds some truth in Jacksons assertions, but takes each candidate on his or her own merits. Im an independent. Democrats havent done a damn thing for me, including Barack Obama. Ive been Black all my life, so I dont care about your color. Im not going to vote for you just because youre Black. Regardless of African American voters views on Trump, McNeir attributes the Democrats success in the mid-terms to their expansive field of qualified candidates. From women, to Muslims, to Native Americans, to transgender, to veterans all those numbers went up. The result is the most significant increase in Democratic House members since Watergate. Thats truly noteworthy. Now, Trump can spin it all he wants to. But McNeir does believe Trumps influence in Florida was significant because he elevated DeSantiss visibility by giving him a shoulder to lean on, much like with Supreme Court Judge Kavanaugh. Had Gillum been White, he would have won by 99 percent, hes that much more qualified than DeSantis. He was too progressive. And he was going to raise taxes. It was honest for him to say, but you dont talk about raising taxes with White folk. He should have done what white folks do, lie; raise taxes once he got in. Tax cuts were also in play in the predominantly Democratic state of Maryland, where Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous, African American and a former NAACP president, was defeated by Republican incumbent Larry Hogan, who won a second term. African American Democrats crossed party lines, not en masse but in significant numbers, in part because they felt Hogans tax reduction initiatives had improved their personal finances. Yet, as The Baltimore Sun noted the day after the election, No coattails: Maryland voters backed Republican Gov. Hogan, but also showed their disdain for Trump. In exit polling, and across racial lines, voters rejected what they perceived as Trumps divisiveness, apparently despite whatever personal gain they may have derived from his tax cuts. Charles Taylor described this years mid-terms in Mississippi as historic. In the 2014 mid-terms, for all voters, we had 631,000 voters; in this one, close to 900,000. Indeed, the Hyde-Smith versus Espy contest may be the defining moment for how Black voters view the political landscape in 2020. Echoing Cummings, McNeir said, The hatred that has been under the radar in America has gotten an invitation from Trump to express yourself. NAACP Strongly urges Senate Rejection of Farr Nomination The NAACP strongly condemns Thomas Farrs nomination and the Senates scheduling of his vote. The nation just experienced national elections which are not yet over, and which were tainted by egregious voting rights violations. That Majority Leader McConnell chooses this moment in time to vote on a judicial nominee known as the vote-suppressor-in-chief is not lost on anyone. It is a slap in the face to communities of color everywhere. Thomas Farr poses a serious threat to civil rights, especially since he would preside over a jurisdiction with a large African-American population. Even among dangerous Trump nominees, Farr stands out for his decades-long crusade to disenfranchise African Americans. He learned how to intimidate Black voters from segregationist Senator Jesse Helms and helped turn North Carolina into ground zero for voter suppression tactics. His nomination is a travesty. His confirmation would be heresy. We believe the American people want tolerance and unity, rather than hate and divisiveness, and that applies to the federal courts, too. We urge each and every Senator to reject this judicial throwback to white supremacy and segregation. The people of North Carolina and our entire country deserve better than this. ADVERTISEMENT Rep. Bass Statement of Concern Regarding the Appointment of Lana Marks as Unites States Ambassador to South Africa Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), top Democrat serving on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, issued the following statement after the appointment of Lana Marks at United States Ambassador to South Africa. Im encouraged that the Trump administration and the State Department are expressing interest in staffing important U.S. diplomatic posts in African countries. This is absolutely essential to bettering our relationship with the countries on the continent and the economic opportunities they offer. In order for our country to fully take advantage of these opportunities, it is imperative that people with strong backgrounds relevant to the countries they will serve are appointed to be ambassadors, especially to sensitive countries such as South Africa, where less than 70 years ago, the United States refused to stand with the rest of the world in opposing the Apartheid regime established there. South Africa is a key strategic partner and a key ally on the continent and I look forward to continuing our work to build capacity there. ADVERTISEMENT Shaneen Bonner Releases Prophetic Declarations Album The blessings of God are available to all believers and Shaneen Bonner wants to help you access them. Through her new album, Prophetic Declaration, Bonner offers seven inspirational and spoken word tracks to empower others to live victoriously in Christ and enjoy all that God promises to His children. The Lord directed me to speak life in the lives of His people. Through my music, I teach how to decree your blessings by coming to God, staying in His presence and studying His Word, said Bonner. It is my goal that the Word of God spoken in my songs will bring hope to the hopeless. ADVERTISEMENT Bonners mission to help Gods people has continued strong over the years. Accepting her call to preach in 1996, she established Shaneen Bonner Ministries in 2007 where she organized evangelism and outreach events to provide tangible assistance to the needy, students and homeless individuals. After being ordained as an apostle in 2014, she wanted to expanded her ministry to include a music component as a way to uplift others and touch lives in a positive way. Her goal remains the same as she shared in a 2016 Sentinel interview. Two years ago, Bonner insisted, We want to let the people of God know that God is still speaking in this time! According to Isaiah 45:1, God gives us permission to ask Him what is going on with the plans and purpose of our lives. Command ye me. Hoping to persuade believers to embrace that scripture, she will perform music from Prophetic Declarations when she launches her Declare Fest tour next year. The event will take place on March 9, 2019, at I Am The Word of God Ministries, 1478 E. 92nd St., in Los Angeles. Pastors Leroy and Gloria Lawrence will host the concert. However, listeners can be inspired now by Bonners music. Her album is now available on iTunes, Soundcloud and Spotify. South L.A. Prostitute Pleads to Federal Sex Trafficking Charge A South Los Angeles prostitute known as Pretty Hoe on social media pleaded guilty today to a federal sex-trafficking charge, admitting she used the internet to try to enlist underage girls to work for her on the streets. Melanie Williams, 23, faces a minimum of 15 years in prison for her plea to a single count of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. U.S. District Judge George H. Wu scheduled sentencing for Jan. 28. According to prosecutors, Williams physically abused a woman she had recruited via social media to work as a prostitute. Williams ordered the unnamed victim to strip off her clothes, and then threw bleach on the woman and beat her with her hands and a broomstick, according to a court affidavit. ADVERTISEMENT Federal prosecutors also contend that Williams forced the woman to tattoo Melanie on her face to show she was her property. Williams who has a large social media presence on Snapchat and Instagram was sentenced last year to three months in jail for prostitution, according to the affidavit. She also refers to herself on social media as the most hated hoe in LA. The Eastside Boys We got what we wanted, but lost what we had, (An Eastside boy) Older Blacks often compare conditions under lawful segregation with post-civil rights de-facto segregation that legally afforded them greater opportunities but did not eliminate the barriers that still block such opportunities. Nowhere is this dilemma more evident than in the conversations of Los Angeles Eastside Boys who grew up in the 1930s through the 1950s. Some were born in Los Angeles; others came with their families, mostly from the South, and found Los Angeles, in many ways, just as segregated as the cities and towns they came from. Paradoxically, segregation spawned strong individual and community bonds that significantly evaporated because the new opportunities steadily fueled a mass exodus from the Eastside. ADVERTISEMENT (The Eastside was not East Los Angeles. Its boundaries were Main Street on the west, Alameda Street on the east, Washington Blvd on the north and Slauson Avenue on the south.) The Eastside Boys (now Eastside Boys and Girls) continue to meet every summer, a testament to their resilience and lasting affinity. The balance of todays column consists of excerpts from Erin Aubry-Kaplans (then Erin J. Aubry) 1997 Los Angeles Times Magazine cover story, The Eastside Boys. Most Blacks left the Eastside when they could, as soon as they could, starting in the early 50s; it was an onward flow that, in retrospect, was a hemorrhage, an exodus of Black people from a place that both built them and bound them. Its an old story to all of us now: the sudden fury of flight and the broken economy left in its wake, like debris scattered in the aftermath of a storm. Still, out in the new territory of the Westside and South Bay, of Crenshaw and Ladera Heights and Baldwin Hills, a lot of promise was realized in the form of college educations and fruitful careersmore opportunities for the Eastside Boys and their children. The Eastside Boys respected and supported one another and felt there was nothing especially noble or self-sacrificing about it; but they find themselves where they never expected to be, in the role of heroes and gatekeepers, living connections to the last era of bountiful times for many Black people. They are the flashpoints of a social upheaval that cast off segregation and laid a new course. None offered (when interviewed) any definitive answers. Yet, in spite of a city so changed from what they knew, so disparate and willfully disconnected, their spirit was never broken. My father said, To me, its more a matter of (pause)..Its a good feeling, a link to the past. It was the sort of environment devoid of judgment; it didnt matter who you were, judge or janitor. Damn right said Hal Miller, founding convener of the Eastside Boys, There was no caste system..Everybody knew everybody and they lived together. Doctors, lawyers, butchers, domestic workers. You didnt have chance to commit a crime. The old ladies would be sitting out all day on the porches, snapping string beans, yelling at each other across the street, telling each other the news. Shoot, if you did something bad in school, the message would beat you home. Youd get a whipping at school and another one would be waiting for you when you walked in the door. ADVERTISEMENT Hals uncle, Loren Miller, owned the California Eagle Newspaper and was a celebrated attorney who helped win the 1948 Shelley vs. Kramer court case that struck down restricted housing covenants. His cousin, Leon Washington, launched the citys other Black newspaper, the Los Angeles Sentinel. The Eastside Boys get-togethers were strictly male affairs, fraternizing in the tradition of 40s social clubs such as the Cosmos and the Blue Devils. A No Women Allowed sign hung prominently for over 20-years. Completely sexist, my father said amicably. In 1994, the Eastside Boys organized a massive event at the Convention Center. It wasnt easy to get, but Eastside Boy Tom Bradley intervened. Attorney Walter Gordon, Sr., (he died at age 104), recalled that in the beginning, Negro activity was concentrated downtownfirst around 2nd and Los Angeles Streets and then around 12th and Central, and eventually, Vernon and Central. As a young man, Gordon was a member of the L.A. Forum, a Black civic organization where Black and White attorneys from all over town met to discuss discrimination. Block by block, year by year, Blacks expanded their boundaries southward along Central Avenue. When Gordon returned to L.A. from law school in 1936, Central Avenue was just beginning to hit its stride as a hub of Black business and a mecca for jazz. It would be the best of times for the Eastside Boys. Segregation was still virulent, ubiquitous, but its heavy hand had also compressed the brightest hopes and aspirations of Black people into a potent square of time and space made all the stronger because of the strictures placed upon it. And there was hope, passed from one generation to the next, that the barriers of segregation would finally come down. The Eastside Boys were part of the driving social forces that blew their history to the wind. There are no heroes or anti-heroes. The Boys may live now with their point of origin in their sights, but they do not go back. Their heroism is in recognizing the truth and going forward. Erin Aubry Kaplan: [email protected] Larry Aubry: [email protected] Thurmond Wins Historic Race For CA Superintendent Of Public Instruction Assemblymember Tony Thurmond is the projected winner of the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction election. More than a week after Election Day, Thurmond has overcome an 86,000 vote deficit on Election Day to win the election. On Saturday, his opponent Marshall Tuck conceded. I want to thank the voters of California for electing me to serve the 6 million students of California, I intend to be a champion of public schools and a Superintendent for all California students, said Superintendent-elect Thurmond. I ran for Superintendent of Public Instruction to deliver to all Californians the promise that public education delivered to me that all students, no matter their background and no matter their challenges, can succeed with a great public education. Thurmond was born in Fort Ord, California, and overcame humble beginnings. His mother was an immigrant from Panama who came to San Jose, California to become a teacher. Thurmonds father was a Vietnam veteran who Tony met when he was almost 40 years old. After Thurmonds mother died when he was 6 years old, Thurmond moved to Philadelphia with his sibling and was raised by a cousin whom he had never met before. With the help of the public education system and public assistance, Thurmond went on to attend Temple University, where he became student body president. Thurmond has devoted his career to public service, specifically to at-risk young people. As a social worker, Thurmond spent 20 years working directly with families and youth in education, running school-based mental health services and teaching civics, life skills, and career training. Thurmond later served on his local city council, school board, and was elected to the California State Assembly in 2014. In the State Assembly, Thurmond authored legislation that expanded the free lunch program and moved funding directly from the criminal justice system to school districts. He served as Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education. In his campaign for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Thurmond was supported by Senator Kamala Harris, the California Democratic Party, and Californias teachers. We talked to voters across the state, and told them what this election means for each of us: It means giving every kid the opportunity to succeed in the 21st century, not just the ones that show the most potential. It means funding our public schools at the levels they deserve, not pouring money into our jails and prisons. It means providing mental health treatment for kids, not arming them with guns. It means supporting our teachers, not demonizing them. It means ensuring every child starts school on the same foot, and providing universal preschool to Californias children. And it means stopping Donald Trump and Betsy DeVoss anti-education agenda from coming anywhere near Californias public schools. Thurmond went on to promise, As Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ill fight for these values every day. Because these are the values that will create a better life for all through the power of public education in the great state of California. ADVERTISEMENT Whitlock Urges Fast for Spiritual Renewal and Ending Gun Violence Pastor Mark E. Whitlock, Jr. of Christ Our Redeemer AME Church invited the faith community to join him in fasting for spiritual renewal and an end to gun violence. Through the fast, which started Nov. 11 and continues until Jan. 21, Whitlock believes God will heal our lives, our land, our churches, our communities, our nation and world. Among the incidents spurring Whitlock to action are the mass killings in Pittsburgh and Thousand Oaks as well as the recent murder in Las Vegas of the 25-year-old son of the Rev. Dr. Najuma Smith-Pollard, pastor of Word of Encouragement Community Church and a close friend of Whitlocks . ADVERTISEMENT Fasting is one of the most powerful spiritual disciplines of all the Christian disciplines. Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life, transform family problems, and gain new power. According to scripture, personal experience and observation, fasting and prayer can also effect change on a much grander scale, insisted Whitlock, a doctoral candidate who also serves as executive director of the USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement. I am convinced that when Gods people fast with a proper biblical motive seeking Gods face with a broken, repentant and contrite spirit, God will hear from heaven. God will heal our lives, our land, our churches, our communities, our nation and world. Fasting and prayer can bring about a change in the direction of our nation, the nations of earth and the fulfillment of the Great Commission this is powerful motivation in todays unsettled world, he noted. For those who desire both inward and outward impact, humbling yourself before God through fasting is a good place to start. Gods power can be released in and through you by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Whitlock, who has completed five 40-day fasts in the past, encouraged believers to support the campaign through a one-day, multiple days or an extended 40-year fast. Acknowledging the fast as an exciting step of faith, he added that he is available to share the knowledge and fulfillment that he gained through the experience. To learn more, contact Whitlock at [email protected]. During yesterdays Legislative Assembly (AL) plenary session, lawmakers Ella Lei, Leong Sun Iok and Lei Chan U expressed their strong opposition to the governments proposal to amend the labor law, allowing employers to perform holiday shifts between several mandatory public holidays, trading the benefit of such days for others. The proposal, presented at the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs (CPCS), gathered strong opposition from the employees sector, with the workers accusing the government of insisting upon a proposal that goes against public opinion. The law amendment proposed to change three of the citys compulsory public holidays into normal public holidays, and gathered a total of 64 percent of opinions against during the period of public consultation. The proposal from the government recommends the selection of three of such holidays out of four: New Years Day, Ching Ming Festival, The Day following Chong Chao, and Chong Yeung Festival and is being portrayed by opponents as a clear attempt to diminish the rights of the workers. At the AL yesterday, the two lawmakers urged the government to back down from such a proposal. On the topic, Lei added that the fact the government decided to put such an idea on the negotiation table is, in fact, a way for the government to delay or even fail to accomplish its promise of the Policy Address, which includes not only to prioritize the law amendments that regulate weekly rest days, but also mandatory holidays and paternity leave. During his turn, Leong said, mandatory holidays have not increased in the last 30 years, and there has been no update of maternity leave in the last 10 years, urging the government to take action and implement measures on which society already showed to have reached consensus. Furthermore, Lei Chan U recalled, in the beginning [when the labor law was firstly created], it had the purpose of balancing the rights due to the fact that workers were in a weaker position, he noted. Lei added that at that time labor standards followed the minimum criteria of international conventions in the old Macau laws, for example, the rule the working period can not exceed forty-eight hours per week followed the criteria of the Working Hours (Industry) Convention of 1919 and the 56 days of maternity leave only includes two weeks more than the six weeks defined by the Maternity Protection Convention also of 1919. With this historical background Lei tried to show that labor laws in the region are old and not in line with reality, a fact that he contended to be applicable also to the 10 mandatory holidays [rule] that follow the regime of the labor relations of 1989. Concluding, In my perspective, the law is perfected through its application and exists not to protect the superiors but to defend the common interests, urging the government to put an end to the arguments between workers and employers by making a decision that gathers the consensus of society in general. Right after the lawmakers voices were heard at the AL plenary, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, called a press conference at the AL lobby to respond to the allegations. Since last week [Ive been] dialoguing with both parties [workers and employers] hoping that through the platform of the CPCS they can dialogue, Leong said, adding that the government will convene a meeting at the CPCS as soon as possible. According to the same official, this meeting should be held on December 5 to address such topics. On the lawmakers agenda LAND LAW STUDY Lawmakers Zheng Anting and Pereira Coutinho addressed the plenary, enquiring about the government study that the Chief Executive (CE), Chui Sai On, revealed during the Policy Address for 2019. Chui has commissioned the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) to undertake the study regarding the land plots already retrieved by the government and others still being processed. While Zheng said he agreed with previous reports from the CCAC noting the factor of responsibility of the developers on the non-usage of the land, he claimed that the anti-graft body had already produced reports that were ignored by the government. Coutinho expressed his disapproval of the choice of the CE in ordering the anti-corruption police to undertake such a study, claiming that the CCAC cannot or should not be the department to do it. SMOKING IN CASINOS Lam Lon Wai noted that, despite the existing laws and complaints from employees, the lack of smoke control in casinos is a situation that still persists. Lam fears that the existing problem will tend to be aggravated when the new anti-smoking law, which enforces a ban on smoking in VIP lounges and common rooms, enters into force on January 1, 2019. In his opinion, since at least 19 casinos have not submitted any request to install smoking lounges, it means that some casinos will not possess rooms for smokers, a situation that will likely lead to violations of the anti-smoking law. In Lams opinion, if the existing law has been difficult to enforce, the new one might be equally difficult. He doubts that the government will reinforce its surveillance over the issue particularly on the strict rules for the smoking lounges. GP PUBLIC HOLIDAYS Lawmaker Song Pek Kei revisited an idea that has not been voiced for a while. The lawmaker proposed that the government establish public holidays for the days of the Macau Grand Prix racing event, in order to ease the inconvenience to the population during such days and to allow a larger participation from local residents in an event that has a long history and a large impact on Macaus image abroad. In the opinion of Song, the establishment of the days of the Grand Prix as public holidays would facilitate the life of the population and improve the relationship of local residents with the event. Budget for 2019 approved with 13.3 percent increase The governments budget for 2019 was passed during yesterdays Legislative Assembly (AL) plenary session on its first reading with unanimity. The session, which had been scheduled precisely with this matter in mind, triggered little interest from lawmakers, with the exception of requests for further clarification on certain topics. As such, there was no real obstacle to the proposal by the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, who also made little effort to advocate for the budget in the plenary. Right at the start, the Secretary announced that the integrated budget for 2019 would present an increase of 13.3 percent when compared to the previous year, to reach a total of MOP122 billion. At the same time, government expenses were forecast to grow 2.2 percent to MOP101.1 billion, an increase explained by Leong as to be mostly the result of the increase in the salary index of public servants from MOP85 to MOP88, accountable for a surge of about MOP885 million. The government also expects the income from the gaming industry to grow by about MOP12 billion next year when compared to 2018. The Secretary highlighted that, besides the increase of the amount announced by the Chief Executive for the wealth partaking scheme to MOP10,000 for permanent residents and MOP6,000 for non-permanent residents, four other measures will aim to ease the burden in concern to taxation. In this sense, the government presented tax deductions for companies dedicated to investigation and development, with the purpose of encouraging the development of technology. The government also said it is revising its taxation structure for rental properties to discourage the non-leasing of units. Chinas plan to judge each of its 1.3 billion people based on their social behavior is moving a step closer to reality, with Beijing set to adopt a lifelong points program by 2021 that assigns personalized ratings for each resident. The capital city will pool data from several departments to reward and punish some 22 million citizens based on their actions and reputations by the end of 2020, according to a plan posted on the Beijing municipal governments website on Monday. Those with better so-called social credit will get green channel benefits while those who violate laws will find life more difficult. The Beijing project will improve blacklist systems so that those deemed untrustworthy will be unable to move even a single step, according to the governments plan. Xinhua reported on the proposal Tuesday, while the report posted on the municipal governments website is dated July 18. China has long experimented with systems that grade its citizens, rewarding good behavior with streamlined services while punishing bad actions with restrictions and penalties. Critics say such moves are fraught with risks and could lead to systems that reduce humans to little more than a report card. Beijings efforts represent the most ambitious yet among more than a dozen cities that are moving ahead with similar programs. Hangzhou rolled out its personal credit system earlier this year, rewarding pro-social behaviors such as volunteer work and blood donations while punishing those who violate traffic laws and charge under-the-table fees. By the end of May, people with bad credit in China have been blocked from booking more than 11 million flights and 4 million high-speed train trips, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. According to the Beijing governments plan, different agencies will link databases to get a more detailed picture of every residents interactions across a swathe of services. The proposal calls for agencies including tourism bodies, business regulators and transit authorities to work together. The tracking of individual behavior in China has become easier as economic life moves online, with apps such as Tencents WeChat and Ant Financials Alipay a central node for making payments, getting loans and organizing transport. Accounts are generally linked to mobile phone numbers, which in turn require government IDs. The final version of Chinas national social credit system remains uncertain. But as rules forcing social networks and internet providers to remove anonymity get increasingly enforced and facial recognition systems become more popular with policing bodies, authorities are likely to find everyone from internet dissenters to train-fare skippers easier to catch and punish than ever before. Bloomberg A Brazilian delegation recently visited the University of Macau (UM) to discuss strengthening the collaboration between UM and Brazilian universities. The delegation was led by Geraldo Nunes Sobrinho, director of programs and scholarships of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) within the Ministry of Education of Brazil. During a meeting with UM representatives, Sobrinho said that he looks forward to increased collaboration between UM and Brazilian universities in mobility programs and exchange activities. Zhuhai airport records milestone of 10m passengers On Tuesday, the Zhuhai airport celebrated the milestone of 10 million annual passengers. The airport expects the number of passengers to reach 11 million this year. The Zhuhai airport companys chairman of the board, Wan Jingping, said that the airport will continue improving its transportation connection to downtown Hong Kong and to the Hong Kong airport. In the vicinity of the Gongbei border gate and the Hengqin border gate, shuttle buses to Zhuhai airport are also available, with buses taking passengers from the two border gates to the Zhuhai airport within one hour. Casino-banned peoples money reverts to govt Casino-banned peoples earnings from casinos or losses to casinos will be deemed to belong to the government, according to the First Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL). Yesterday, the committee discussed the casino-entry ban bill. The abovementioned proposal is expected to stop gaming sector employees from entering casinos while off-duty. Currently, the bill still needs minor improvements. The committee hopes to deliver the bill to the AL before January. Once the law is in effect, the gaming authoritys inspectors will enter casinos to check the identity of suspicious gamblers who might be casino employees. Macau to grant 30 mainland postdocs yearly Mainland Chinas postdoctoral management office has signed an agreement with the Macao Association for Promotion of Science and Technology to allow mainland China to sponsor 30 mainland PhD students or young teachers to conduct research in Macau universities. The research period will typically last two years, with each person being granted MOP150,000 each year. The research fields include Chinese medicine, microelectronics, lunar and planetary research, smart cities and the internet. HK finds humans contracted hepatitis carried in rats The Hong Kong Health Department says a second person in the city has been found to have contracted a strain of hepatitis that is carried by rats. Both human cases appear to be the first known globally. The Health Department said in a statement yesterday that it could not determine how the two people came to be infected with this particular strain of the hepatitis E virus. Other strains of Hepatitis E are typically transmitted among humans through contaminated water, particularly in East and South Asia. Both cases in Hong Kong were discovered long after the patients had been treated. The latest case was found in blood samples from a 70-year-old woman with a compromised immune system who had been treated in May 2017. The first case was reported in September. AL discusses non-resident internships A bill concerning medical professionals suggests that non-local residents can also take internship entrance exams in Macau. According to the proposal, although these non-locals have passed the internship entrance exams, they will still likely not be allowed to undertake internships in Macau. The opinions raised by the Second Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) argued that once Macaus medical professional internship entrance exams are accredited worldwide, people from other regions can take the exams in Macau and, in turn, it will promote Macaus traditional Chinese medicine industry. Preliminary research on how to turn the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge into a smart bridge has already been carried out, Su Quanke, chief engineer of the HKZMB Authority, said on Tuesday. Su was a keynote speaker at a recent talk at the University of Macau, where he gave an overview of the bridge, from preliminary studies, to overall planning, to its design and construction. According to the chief engineer, authorities are collaborating with institutions and key state laboratories, including UM, to help carry the project in a bid to prevent low efficiency and enhance safety considerations. The chief engineer called for the use of advanced technology in relation to the bridge. UM and key state laboratories will work with us so that we can be a pioneer and this could be a platform for mutual growth and construction, said Su, adding that experts from the three regions are listing its short and long-term goals. [We need] to maintain and operate this bridge using AI [artificial intelligence] to bring in state of art technology. We all hope that we can use AI to resolve [technologies] such as driverless vehicles. Big data plays an important role here, the expert added. According to Su, the bridge is also in need of advancing its technology to predict what maintenance work is needed, based on the volume of the traffic flow. We would put in all kinds of data, and even if structure is deformed by 0.1mm, we will not [tolerate it]. AI will have a lot to do, he added. Su also discussed construction techniques used in the bridge, highlighting the sections of the bridge and the two artificial islands linked by a four-mile tunnel west of Hong Kongs airport. According to media reports, the 55-km bridge is preparing to have 5G services in the future. Experts and workers extended the coverage area of the optical fiber to 20 kilometers, double the conventional maximum onshore coverage of 10 kilometers, to ensure the full coverage of network signal along the bridge. Currently, the bridge is ready for access to the Internet of Things, an innovation to be achieved by 5G technology. From the very beginning, the technological base needed for 5G has been considered in terms of network architecture, room for 5G station and the installment of fiber. LV HK community, lawmakers call for crowd control in Tung Chung Mainland crowds in Tung Chung, a residential area close to the port facility of the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge, dropped this weekend, with community groups calling for facilities to control the tourist influx. Lawmakers are also calling for a shopping mall and another car park with about 1,000 to 2,000 spaces to be built at the Hong Kong port, the South China Morning Post reported. Some also suggested that a bus route should be set up for tourists visiting an east artificial island on the mega crossing, so that they do not need to enter the city. Hong Kongs Travel Industry Council said around 200 mainland tour groups in Hong Kong passed over the bridge on Sunday, up from about 90 a week earlier. Meanwhile, the HKSAR government has already announced further measures to control crowds, noting that it plans to increase the number of port-to-port shuttle buses and loosening the application process for licenses to operate buses. More than a year after the Iraqi town of Qaim was freed from the Islamic State group, booms from airstrikes still echo and columns of smoke rise beyond the berms and concrete walls marking the border with Syria. There, on the other side, the fight is raging to capture one of the militants last enclaves. Iraqi troops and Shiite militiamen outside Qaim watch over a giant earth barricade topped with barbed wire that runs along the long, featureless desert border, trying to prevent IS infiltration. Iraqi artillery and U.S.-led coalition warplanes bombard IS positions inside Syria, while Iraqi militiamen along with allied Iranian troops cross the border to back Syrian government forces there. The battle on the doorstep means life in Qaim is still on hold, with residents waiting for their town to be rebuilt. There is still no central electricity, and running water works only intermittently. On the outskirts lie the wreckage of houses, their walls blasted open and roofs collapsed from bombardment during the assault a year ago by militias and U.S.-backed Iraqi troops who retook Qaim from IS. The dusty, quiet streets are dotted with security checkpoints, manned by the military and the government-sanctioned, Iranian-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, who are viewed with deep suspicion by many in this Sunni Muslim town. Many checkpoints fly both Iraqi national flags and the militias banners proclaiming Shiite slogans. On the main commercial road, militiamen and Iranian fighters shop in the markets. One fruit seller, Nabil Mashhad, said that since he doesnt speak Farsi, he shows the Iranians the prices on his cellphones calculator. The situation is bad, Mashhad said. Where are the services? The schools? Theres no life. Were working just trying to get by. The fight next door underscores the tenacity of the Islamic State group, a year after it was driven out of almost all the territory it once held, which at its height encompassed nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria. The IS enclave across the border is the last area with a significant population that it holds, a 30-kilometer stretch of towns on the east bank of the Euphrates River. The militants are surrounded. On one side are the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by American warplanes, who have been waging an offensive since mid-September. On the west bank of the river is the Syrian military, backed by Russian airpower along with Iranian troops and Iraqi militiamen. IS has fought back ferociously. Last month, it attacked under cover of a sandstorm and captured a number of villages from the SDF. During the fighting, the militants drove explosives-packed cars through tunnels to emerge at their opponents lines and at one point lured SDF fighters into an ambush by sending a woman to cry for help, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors Syrias war. The extremist group is estimated to have several thousand fighters, including many Iraqis, in the enclave. The Iraqi military believes senior IS leadership are among them, possibly top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. IS holds one other pocket in Syria, but that is a largely uninhabited desert expanse surrounded by government-held territory. We never thought or said this fight would be easy. These are some of ISISs most determined fighters, and theyve had a lot of time to prepare, the deputy commander of the U.S.-led coalition, British Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, told The Associated Press. Retaking the enclave has also been slowed by the rivalries among the various forces besieging it, said Iraqi Gen. Qassim Mohamed, commander of Iraqi forces in the Qaim area. Each must move carefully to avoid friction with the other. Meanwhile, IS has turned to insurgent tactics inside Iraq. Last week, it claimed an attack on the home of a tribal leader that killed nine members of the security forces in Anbar, the province that includes Qaim. There has been an uptick in bombings and kidnappings elsewhere in the country, though not all are claimed by IS. A reminder of the groups presence came last week when the U.S. military announced that American and Iraqi forces killed more than 50 militants in October in the Makhmour Mountains of north-central Iraq. The security situation is under control, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi told a televised press conference. Its natural that Daesh is trying to recover its strength, he said, using an Arabic acronym for the group. Our forces monitor them, repel them and are in control of all the crossings. In Qaim, the border crossing is sealed by a concrete wall with a metal gate. Militiamen cross into Syria using a gap in the earth berm south of the town. The town was once a thriving stopover on the highway between Damascus and Baghdad. Long before a hard border materialized in the latter half of the 20th century, tribes sent their grooms and brides across the frontier to marry, extending the branches of their families on both sides. When IS overran the town in 2014, it linked the groups holdings in both countries and connected them to key highways leading to multiple parts of Iraq. Many of Qaims 120,000 residents fled IS. A third of them still have not returned. Security forces issue passes to allow residents to move in and out, a measure against infiltrators. But to apply for an ID, residents must be vetted by both the army and the militias, raising uncomfortable questions about who is in control. Among Iraqs Sunnis, the Shiite militias are widely resented, and relations between the two communities have been poisoned ever since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Qaim resident Talal Obeid said he had been hesitant about returning home because of reports of militia abuses. We are more scared of the yellow flags than the black ones, he said, referring to the yellow banners of the Kataeb Hezbollah militia and the black flags of IS. I worry if they stay, there will be friction and provocations. Qassim Abdul-Zahra & Philip Issa, Qaim, AP President Donald Trump has declared he will not further punish Saudi Arabia for the murder of U.S.-based columnist Jamal Khashoggi making clear in an exclamation-filled statement that the benefits of good relations with the kingdom outweigh the possibility its crown prince ordered the killing. The president condemned the brutal slaying of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul as a horrible crime [] that our country does not condone. But he rejected calls by many in Congress, including members of his own party, for a tougher response, and he dismissed reports from U.S. intelligence agencies that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must have at least known about such an audacious and intricate plot. It could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event, the president said yesterday [Macau time]. Maybe he did and maybe he didnt! In many ways, the statement captured Trumps view of the world and foreign policy, grounded in economic necessity. It began with the words America First! followed by The world is a very dangerous place! It came after weeks of debate over whether the president would or should come down hard on the Saudis and the crown prince in response to the killing of the Saudi columnist for The Washington Post who had criticized the royal family. The U.S. earlier sanctioned 17 Saudi officials suspected of being responsible for or complicit in the Oct. 2 killing, but members of Congress have called for harsher actions, including canceling arms sales. Trump said foolishly canceling these contracts worth billions of dollars would only benefit Russia and China, which would be next in line to supply the weapons. Critics denounced Trumps statement saying he ignored human rights and granted Saudi Arabia a pass for economic reasons. Asked by a reporter if he was saying that human rights are too expensive to fight for, he responded, No, Im not saying that at all. But then he switched the subject to the terrorist nation of Iran rather than any actions by Saudi Arabia. The U.S. needs a counterbalance to Iran, and Israel needs help, too, he said. If we abandon Saudi Arabia, it would be a terrible mistake. The mistake was Trumps, said Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, contending the administration has blinders on in comparing Iran and Saudi Arabia. Its a sign of weakness not to stand up to Saudi Arabia, Paul said in an interview. Sometimes when you have two evils, maybe you dont support either side. Republican Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator who is close to Trump, also disagreed with the presidents statement, saying America must not lose its moral voice on the international stage. It is not in our national security interests to look the other way when it comes to the brutal murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi, Graham said. Likewise, Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said that to suggest that U.S. silence can be bought with arms sales undermines respect for the office of the presidency, the credibility of our intelligence community and Americas standing as a champion of human rights. Trumps statement, issued just before he pardoned the Thanksgiving turkey at the White House and left for the long holiday weekend in Florida, underscored his world view of putting U.S. interests both financial and geopolitical above all else. He told reporters on the South Lawn that oil prices would skyrocket if the U.S. broke with the Saudis, and he was not going to destroy the worlds economy by being foolish with Saudi Arabia. Asked about any personal financial involvement, he said: Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with me. What does have to do with me is putting America first. Trump said that King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed both vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the killing. He also said the CIA has not made a conclusive determination about whether the crown prince ordered it. A U.S. official familiar with the case told The Associated Press last week that intelligence officials had concluded that the crown prince, the kingdoms de facto leader, did order the killing. Others familiar with the case, however, have cautioned that while its likely the crown prince had a role there continue to be questions about the degree. We may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi, Trump said. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran. Saudi prosecutors say a 15-man team sent to Istanbul exceeded its authority when the lead negotiator in the team decided to kill Khashoggi for refusing orders to return. The Saudis say the agents dismembered his body, which has not been found. Democrats on Capitol Hill called on the CIA and other top intelligence agencies to publicly report what it has learned about the killing. The CIA had no comment on the presidents statement. However, former Director John Brennan, a frequent Trump critic, tweeted: Since Mr. Trump excels in dishonesty, it is now up to members of Congress to obtain & declassify the CIA findings on Jamal Khashoggis death. No one in Saudi Arabia most especially the Crown Prince should escape accountability for such a heinous act. Trump said he knew some members of Congress would disagree with his decision. He said he would listen to their ideas, but only if they were focused on U.S. national security. Late last week, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that calls for suspending weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, for sanctions on people who block humanitarian access in Yemen or support the Houthi rebels, and mandatory sanctions on those responsible for Khashoggis death. Democrats harshly criticized Trumps decision and called on Congress to cut off arm sales to Saudi Arabia and end support for Saudi Arabias war against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen, which is facing a humanitarian crisis. Standing with Saudi Arabia is not America First! said Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia where Khashoggi lived. President Trump has sided with a murderous regime over patriotic American intelligence officials. Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, said Khashoggi was killed by agents of the Saudi government in a premeditated murder, plain and simple, and she said she would introduce legislation requiring intelligence agencies to release an unclassified public assessment. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended Trumps decision, saying, We are determined to ensure that we continue to make sure that we take care of the American people in all of the strategic decisions we make about with whom we work with around the world. The president opened his eight-paragraph statement chastising Iran for its proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, its activities in Iraq, its backing of the Syrian government of Bashar Assad and its support of militant groups, which Riyadh has pledged billions to fight. Deb Riechmann, Washington, AP Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn will be detained for another 10 days following his arrest on suspicion of falsifying income reports by millions of dollars and misusing company assets for personal gain, Japanese media reported yesterday. Nissans board of directors is due to meet today and decide if it will dismiss Ghosn and the companys representative director, Greg Kelly. He also arrested Monday on suspicion of collaborating in the wrongdoing. Their detention was extended yesterday for another 10 days, Kyodo News service reported. It cited the Tokyo District Court, which declined to comment. Under Japanese law, suspects can be held for 20 days per possible charge without an official indictment. Additional charges can be tagged on, resulting in longer detentions. Neither Ghosn nor Kelly has been charged so far. Ghosn is suspected of under-reporting USD44.6 million in income from 2011 to 2015, according to Tokyo prosecutors. The maximum penalty, upon conviction for violating finance and exchange laws is 10 years in prison, a 10 million yen ($89,000) fine, or both. Renault SA of France, a partner since the late 1990s and now holding a 43 percent stake in Nissan, retained Ghosn as chief executive in an emergency board meeting Tuesday, while naming the companys chief operating officer, Thierry Bollore, in his place. Renaults board also is requesting that Nissan share details of its internal investigation into Ghosn, which the company says was sparked by a whistleblower. From the start, Nissan has sought to distance itself from the arrests. Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa denounced Ghosn and Kelly as the masterminds, and made clear he thought they should be removed at todays board meeting. Ghosn, 64, is credited with turning around Nissan from near-bankruptcy after he was sent to Nissan by Renault in 1999. He served as Nissans chief executive from 2001 until last year. He became chief executive of Renault in 2005, leading the two major automakers simultaneously. In 2016, he became chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. after Nissan took it into the alliance to help it recover from an inspections scandal at the smaller automaker. Kelly, 62, joined Nissan in the U.S. in 1988, and became a board member from 2012. His background over the years has been in human resources and alliance management. He has a law degree from Loyola University School of Law and a bachelors degree in public administration from Augustana College. When Saikawa was asked how such actions could have gone undetected for five years, perhaps longer, he blamed a murky system of checks and balances at Nissan and emphasized that he believed Ghosn had too much power. Nissans overall performance wont be hurt by the absence of Ghosn, as long as the executive team pulls together, said Janet Lewis, an analyst at Macquarie Research. The fact the case was initially raised by a whistleblower shows the system was working, she said. Nissan shares tanked Tuesday after the scandal surfaced, falling 5.5 percent. The stock recovered moderately in yesterdays trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closing up 0.4 percent. Masahiro Akita, auto analyst with Credit Suisse, said he was stunned by the news of Ghosns arrest. But he believes operations at Nissan will mainly remain business as usual, while uncertainties about brand image remain. Its not realistic to think the alliance will suddenly change as it is now already operating, he said, noting the automakers share platforms, or the basic parts on which vehicles are built, as well as parts purchasing. You cant go back on it that easily. AP South Koreas Kim Jong Yang was elected as Interpols president yesterday, edging out a longtime veteran of Russias security services who was strongly opposed by the U.S., Britain and other European nations. Kims election was seen as a victory for the White House and its European partners, who had lobbied against Alexander Prokopchuks attempts to be named the next president of the policing organization. The U.S. and others expressed concern that if Russias candidate had been elected, it would lead to further Kremlin abuses of Interpols red notice system to go after political opponents and fugitive dissidents. Russia accused its critics of running a campaign to discredit their candidate, calling Prokopchuk a respected professional. Kims win means he secured at least two-thirds of votes cast at Interpols general assembly in Dubai. He will serve until 2020, completing the four-year mandate of his predecessor, Meng Hongwei, who was detained in China as part of a wide anti-corruption sweep there. Kim, a police official in South Korea, was serving as interim president after Mengs departure from the post and was senior vice president at Interpol. Russias Interior Ministry said after the vote that Prokopchuk, who is one of three vice presidents at Interpol, will continue his role in that position. Most of Interpols 194 member-countries attended the organizations annual assembly this year, which was held in an opulent Dubai hotel along the Persian Gulf coast. Interpol was facing a pivotal moment in its history as delegates decided whether to hand its presidency to Prokopchuk or Kim, who were the only two candidates vying for the post. Based in the French city of Lyon, the 95-year-old policing body is best known for issuing red notices that identify suspects pursued by other countries, effectively putting them on the worlds most-wanted list. Critics say countries like Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Iran and China have used the system to try to round up political opponents, journalists or activists, even though its rules prohibit the use of police notices for political reasons. The agency faced criticism two years ago when Interpols member-states approved Meng as president for a four-year term. Amnesty International has criticized Chinas longstanding practice of trying to use Interpol to arrest dissidents and refugees abroad. In 2016, Interpol introduced new measures aimed at strengthening the legal framework around the red notice system. As part of the changes, an international team of lawyers and experts first check a notices compliance with Interpol rules and regulations before it goes out. Interpol also says it enhanced the work of an appeals body for those targeted with red notices. Still, member countries can issue requests, known as diffusions, directly to other countries using Interpols communication system, without going through the centralized Interpol vetting thats in place for red notices. Watchdog groups have urged Interpol to reform the diffusion system too. Bill Browder, who runs an investment fund that had once operated in Moscow, says Russia used the diffusion system against him, which led to his brief arrest in Spain earlier this year. Aya Batrawy & Angela Charlton, Dubai, AP Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. has made clear to South Korea that progress on disarming North Korea should not lag behind the expansion of relations between the two Koreas. Pompeo said theres complete agreement between Washington and Seoul on this, but his comments to reporters underscore U.S. anxiety over a potential disconnect with its close ally. Pompeo said the U.S. and South Korea set up a working group, which is meeting in Washington early yesterday [Macau time], to ensure they dont talk past each other on their dealings with North Korea. U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun was holding the talks with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon. We have made clear to the ROK that we do want to make sure that peace on the peninsula and denuclearization of North Korea arent lagging behind the increase in the relationship between the two Koreas, Pompeo told a news conference, using the acronym for the Souths official name, the Republic of Korea. We view them as moving forward together. Negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea on ending its nuclear program have appeared to stall in the months since President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un held a historic summit in Singapore, where they made a vague commitment on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula but glossed over how to make it happen. So while North Korea is pressing for sanctions relief now, the U.S. is continuing to intensify economic restrictions and says it wont relent until Pyongyang denuclearizes. In the meantime, South Koreas liberal government has pressed forward in cooperation with the North, staging brief reunions of divided families and dialing down military tensions. North Korea on Tuesday blew up some of its front-line guard posts on the heavily fortified border as part of an agreement with the South, Seouls Defense Ministry said. AP The Lord Stows Bakery has donated HKD19,630 to the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation, an amount representing 50 percent of its sales revenue from the companys Pink Ribbon Cookies and Rose Lattes. To commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, the company initiated the raising of funds for the breast cancer-related foundation for the first time. Speaking to the Times, Eileen Stow, chief executive of Lord Stows Bakery, explained that the move was important to the family-owned business, as their mother was a victim of breast cancer. We also know other people close to us that suffer, some weve lost, some won the battle. For us its a very important foundation because what the breast foundation does is it creates awareness amongst women to get themselves checked, said Stow. There are too many women scared to get themselves checked for cancer but its the most prudent thing you can do, she added. Thus, for the whole month of October, the bakery created pink ribbon cookies and rose coffees that had pink elements to draw the publics attention, while also raising funds. According to Stow, it will do so again next year, hinting that it will be an annual corporate social responsibility initiative of the company. We have our own corporate social responsibility favorites. Its one of the group of things that we support throughout the year. Most of the things we support are very local and dear to out hearts, whereas this is more of an international thing and its family connected, Stow explained. LV South Korea said yesterday it will dissolve a foundation funded by Japan to compensate South Korean women who were forced to work in Japans World War II military brothels. The widely expected decision, if carried out, would effectively kill a controversial 2015 agreement to settle a decades-long impasse over the sexual slavery issue and threatens to aggravate a bitter diplomatic feud between the Asian U.S. allies over history. Many in South Korea believed the Seoul government settled for far too less in the sex slave deal and that Japan still hasnt acknowledged legal responsibility for atrocities during its colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono sharply criticized South Koreas decision to shut down the foundation, saying that Seoul would violate the most basic rule to live in the international society by walking back on the deal. Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba summoned South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Su-hoon to the ministry to lodge a protest. The announcement is problematic and unacceptable, said Kono, urging Seoul to stick with the agreement signed under its previous government. South Koreas Foreign Ministry couldnt immediately confirm Konos comments that Ambassador Lee told Japanese officials Seoul doesnt plan to scrap or renegotiate the agreement. Seouls Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said it will take legal steps to dissolve the foundation, a process ministry officials said could take months. Lee Nam-hoon, an official from the gender equality ministry, said Seouls Foreign Ministry plans to consult with Tokyo on what to do with the 1 billion yen (USD8.8 million) Japan funded to the foundation that was formally launched in July 2016. After considering diverse opinions over the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation based on victim-centric principles, we have decided to push for the dissolution of the foundation, Gender Equality Minister Jin Sun Mee said in a statement. She said the ministry will continue to push policies to restore the honor and dignity of the sexual slavery victims. The decision was welcomed by hundreds of protesters gathered in Seoul for a weekly rally denouncing sexual slavery by Japans wartime military. Organizers played a recorded message by a hospitalized 92-year-old victim, Kim Bok-dong, who said she was happy that the foundation was getting dissolved but also demanded a proper apology and compensation from Tokyo. We won, [but] its just the start, said Yoon Meehyang, who heads an activist group representing South Korean sexual slavery victims. In saying that we won, we mean that we turned back history to the day before Dec. 28, 2015. We will invest all our passion to write a new history of justice while the victims still have time and overcome past three years that were lost. Historians say tens of thousands of women from around Asia, many of them Korean, were sent to front-line military brothels to provide sex to Japanese soldiers. Liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has been a harsh critic of the 2015 deal reached under his conservative predecessor, told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a meeting in September that the foundation was failing to function properly because of strong opposition by the victims and public. A South Korean government panel in December last year concluded the deal as seriously flawed because Seouls previous conservative government failed to properly communicate with the victims before reaching the deal. South Korea and Japan are already at odds over a ruling by Seouls Supreme Court last month that a major Japanese steelmaker should compensate four South Koreans for forced labor during Japans colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II. Abe said Tokyo will respond resolutely to the ruling, which he described as a violation of a 1965 treaty between Seoul and Tokyo that restored diplomatic ties and was accompanied by more than $800 million in economic aid and loans from Tokyo to Seoul. Seoul and Tokyos bitter disputes over history have complicated Washingtons efforts to strengthen trilateral cooperation to deal with North Koreas nuclear threat and Chinas growing influence in the region. At the time of the sex slave deal, Seoul said there were 46 surviving South Korean victims. But 19 of them since died. Twelve victims who rejected payment from the foundation sued the Seoul government over the deal in August 2016, saying it didnt go far enough to establish Japans responsibility. Lee, the ministry official, said the foundation had used 4.4 billion won ($3.8 million) in cash payments to 34 victims who were alive at the time of the 2015 deal and to relatives of 58 victims who were dead by then. Only 27 of around 240 South Korean women who registered with the government as victims of Japans wartime sexual slavery are currently alive, Lee said. Kim Tong-Hyung, Seoul, AP The President of the United States has been assassinated by a gunman in Dallas, Texas. John F Kennedy was hit in the head and throat when three shots were fired at his open-topped car. The presidential motorcade was travelling through the main business area of the city. Texas Governor John Connally was also seriously injured when one of the unknown snipers bullets hit him in the back. The men were accompanied by their wives, who were both uninjured. Vice-president Lyndon Johnson who was following in a different car has been sworn in as the new US leader. The presidential party was driving from Dallas airport to the city centre when witnesses said shots were fired from the window of a building overlooking the road. The president collapsed into Jackie Kennedys arms, who was heard to cry Oh no. Seconds later Governor Connally was also hit. Dallas Times Herald photographer Bob Jackson was in the motorcade close behind the Democrat leaders car and heard the shots as it entered Dealey Plaza. As I looked up I saw a rifle being pulled back from a window it might have been resting on the windowsill I didnt see a man, he said. Mr Kennedys limousine was driven at speed to Parklands Hospital immediately after the shooting. The president was alive when he was admitted, but died at 1400 local time (1900 GMT) 35 minutes after being shot. Police and Secret Service agents stormed the School Book Depository building moments after the shots were fired and recovered a rifle with a telescopic sight, said to be the assassination weapon. The mood of shock in the US was echoed by Senator Mike Mansfield in an emergency forum of the senate. This is terrible I cannot find words, he said. Courtesy BBC News In context A little under an hour after the shooting, a policeman approached Lee Harvey Oswald, believing he recognised his description. The policeman was shot dead. Oswald was arrested almost immediately under suspicion of murder. Shortly afterwards, he was also charged with the assassination of President Kennedy. The suspect was never tried as he was shot dead himself two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. The Warren Report, commissioned to investigate the presidents death, concluded he had been killed by shots fired by Mr Oswald from the School Book Depository building. But conspiracy enthusiasts quickly turned the assassination into one of the most disputed events in modern history, with theories ranging from claims it was an elaborately staged suicide to the driver being the murderer. A U.S. aircraft carrier docked in Hong Kong yesterday, days after a pair of American B-52 bombers flew over the disputed South China Sea. The arrival of the USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group in the Asian financial hub is being seen as a friendly gesture ahead of a planned meeting later this month between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. That will mark the first time theyve sat down together since the start of a bitter trade war and amid tensions over the South China Sea. China has demanded the U.S. cease military activity of all kind near its South China Sea island claims that it has been rapidly fortifying. The U.S. says it takes no stance on sovereignty claims, but will continue to sail and operate wherever international law permits. In late September, a Chinese destroyer came close to the USS Decatur in the South China Sea in what the U.S. Navy called an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver. Asked to comment on the incident, Rear Adm. Karl O. Thomas, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5, said the vast majority of our interactions out there at sea are very professional. That was a rare, unusual occurrence, Thomas told reporters at a ship- board news conference. In that particular case, the ship made some aggressive, continuing aggressive maneuvers and our ship warned them and had to maneuver to prevent a collision. It was unfortunate and Id like to see that not happen again. The Navy said in a statement that during the Reagans visit, interactions will take place with Hong Kong citizens through sports, community relations projects and tours of the carrier. More than 4,400 men and women are usually aboard the ship. The Reagans visit comes two months after China rejected a similar request by another U.S. Navy ship amid a spike in tensions between the countries militaries. And while the port call is seen as a positive for bilateral relations, other events this week point to the ongoing rivalry between the sides. U.S. Pacific Air Forces said two B-52 bombers flew over the South China Sea earlier this week, calling it a routine training mission. The B-52H Stratofortress bombers departed Andersen Air Force Base in Guam as part of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Commands Continuous Bomber Presence operations that began in 2004, Pacific Air Forces said in a statement Wednesday. This recent mission is consistent with international law and United States long-standing commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, the statement said. Also this week, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, reported that China had installed a new platform on Bombay Reef, a remote undeveloped feature in the Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. Vietnam and Taiwan also claim the reef. The platform appears to be topped with a radome and solar panels, and its strategic location makes it likely it is intended to extend Chinas radar or signals intelligence collection in the area, the report said. Bombay Reef already has a lighthouse to serve as an aid to navigation. Unlike Chinas large man- made islands created by piling sand on top of coral reefs, installing the modestly sized Bombay Reef platform did not require inflicting major environmental damage, CSIS said. However, that illustrates how easily China could expand its footprint to other features such as Scarborough Shoal, which it seized from the Philippines in 2012, it added. Compared to dredging and reclamation, the installation of a modest platform would be harder to prevent at the time and more difficult to rally international condemnation against after the fact, the report said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that he had no information about the details of the report, while reasserting Chinas claims to the island group it calls Xisha. Alice Fung & Christopher Bodeen, Hong Kong, AP Credit: CC0 Public Domain The slow, precise demands of research can be frustrating but there are times the work becomes personal, and then it takes on a greater urgency. Narlon C. Boa Sorte Silva, is researching the benefits of exercise for older adults with high blood pressure or hypertension, which puts them at a higher risk for diseases such as dementia. "The inspiration comes from my grandmother, the person who raised me," said Boa Sorte Silva. "She recently couldn't recognize who I was when I called her, didn't know where I was or who I was. "While this tells you that it's personal, how many other families out there are dealing with the same issue? This is something where works needs to be done. So, when you get funding and look at the perspective for the study, the people you are collaborating with, and you know the importance of it, you can't excuse yourself, you have to do the work. You have to put forward that effort." His new two-year study, expected to begin in February, is helped by funding from the Heart and Stroke Foundation's Grant-in-Aid program, which supports novel research in the areas of heart disease and stroke. The project is based on a previous study in which Boa Sorte Silva showed mind-motor training activities that engage cognitive function and movement simultaneously plus regular exercise helped older adults stave off the effects of dementia more than just regular exercise alone. These findings led him to focus this time only on older adults with cardiovascular disease to discover if high-intensity exercise offers more potential than just regular exercise. Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Kinesiology professor Robert Petrella, who is leading the project, said exercise affects people's morbidity and mobility and 'cardiovascular' means more than just blood pressure, but also brain function. By 2035, one-third of the Canadian population will be older than 60, and by the time we reach 80 years old,90 per cent of us will have high blood pressure. The study is examining whether exercise modifies blood pressure and brain function and, if so, whether it makes a difference how often people exercise, and with what intensity. "When you have high blood pressure it does something to your blood vessels, it makes them thicker and less compliant, more stiff," added Petrella, whose father has dementia. "When you exercise and lower blood pressure, you make them more compliant and regulated. Exercise will modify how these blood vessels function and will improve how blood vessels function in the brain. "It can feed the brain, the regions that may be a little more susceptible to memory impairment and may be under stress, and by giving exercise as a treatment, you make the bloodflow more efficient to those who need it the most." Boa Sorte Silva said this study will examine, with accurate heart monitoring sessions, what exercise is ideal for the body and the brain. The project will test brain function, with the help of Western's Adrian Owen and Cambridge Brain Sciences, to determine in which specific parts of the brain any changes may be taking place, and how much of it is attributable to exercise. The dementia-cardiovascular link may become a greater issue in coming decades. By 2035, one-third of the Canadian population will be older than 60, and by the time we reach 80 years old,90 per cent of us will have high blood pressure. While 564,000 Canadians are currently living with dementia, that number will grow closer to a million within 15 years. Almost seven in 10 of those diagnosed with dementia over the age of 65 are women. Current, dementia-related expenses to the Canadian economy stand at $10.4 billion. "We believe by targeting this population with a steady design to improve their health it, perhaps, can prevent dementia in that demographic," said Boa Sorte Silva. "The nature of our work is to be multidimensional and look at the problem with a broader perspective and target the points that can be addressed." Explore further Mind-body maximizes benefits of exercise to seniors Reliance on carers makes nursing home residents especially vulnerable to sex abuse. Credit: shutterstock.com We don't often think of older women being victims of sexual assault, but such assaults occur in many settings and circumstances, including in nursing homes. Our research, published this week in the journal Legal Medicine, analysed 28 forensic medical examinations of female nursing home residents who had allegedly been victims of sexual assault in Victoria over a 15-year period. The cases were examined by Clinical Forensic Medicine a division of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2015. The majority of the alleged victims had some form of cognitive or physical impairment. All 14 perpetrators who were reported were male, half of whom were staff and half other residents. The majority of case reports didn't indicate whether the alleged victim had received treatment for the assault. The most frequent alleged sexual contact was vaginal contact or penetration. Injuries weren't reported for every case. Where present, they consisted of bruising, skin tears, redness and swelling. The physical examination was often limited because of the cognitive status (in 38%) of the individuals, physical issues (in 31%), lack of cooperation (23%), and poor examination conditions (23%). Data on alleged victims' behaviour was commonly missing. These information gaps highlight the difficulty of examination which is essential to a detailed investigation. A better understanding of the context and setting of the assault, which is usually available when younger women are victims, is essential to inform prevention efforts. Eliminating sexual assault in nursing homes is a major challenge which starts with acknowledging it exists and recognising the scale of this abuse. Much higher than we think Sexual assault is considered the most hidden, as well as least acknowledged and reported, form of elder abuse. This makes it difficult to accurately estimate its prevalence. Prior to 2007, it was estimated there were around 20,000 unreported cases of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation in Victoria. Between 2009-10 and 2014-2015 the published number of sexual assaults among older people rose from around 280 to 430 reports nationally (information about each jurisdiction was not available). In 20152016 The Australian Department of Health was notified of 396 reports of alleged or suspected unlawful sexual contact of residents in nursing homes in Australia. Based on these statistics, we expected Victoria would have 80-120 sexual assaults of residents reported in nursing homes per year (equating to approximately 1,200 assaults during the study period). The 28 cases reported to the forensic investigation team over a 15 year period suggests under-recognition and under-reporting. Nursing home residents are particularly vulnerable to sexual assault due to their dependency on caregivers, health problems, and the co-housing of residents, sometimes with potentially dangerous older individuals with sexual assault backgrounds. Negative stereotypes such as that older people aren't sexual beings, their greater dependency on others, potential divided loyalty to staff members or residents are unique barriers to reporting, detecting, and preventing sexual assault in nursing homes. Despite severe health consequences, efforts to prevent and address elder abuse remain inadequate. In the majority of cases we examined, signs of general or genital injury were not found. Further, post-assault victim responses, such as agitation, distress and confusion may mirror symptoms of cognitive impairment. This can create difficulties for nursing home staff in distinguishing between the usual behaviour or a response to trauma, such as sexual assault. Also, nursing home victims of sexual assault tend to be ignored by staff who often don't believe the accusations. Although we could not determine who or what prompted reporting, what is known is that sexual assaults are unlikely to have a witness, though witnesses appear to be crucial to ensure successful prosecution. Sexual assault, in any setting or age group, is one of the most difficult crimes to prosecute due to the required elements of intent and lack of consent. But this is made all the more complicated when it comes to nursing home residents. Awareness is crucial Staff must be aware of the existence of sexual assault in nursing homes. It is their duty as care providers to report alleged or suspected sexual assault in a timely manner. More education, training and research is needed to address the knowledge gaps around incidence, levels of reporting, nature of investigations, responses required to better assist the victim, and the interventions needed to prevent sexual assault. Without a clear understanding of the alleged victim and incident characteristics, we will struggle to combat sexual assaults in nursing homes. There is an urgent need to better use the existing data held by the the Department of Health to understand the full extent of sexual assault in nursing homes. The Royal Commission is an opportunity to consider the development of tailored policies, staff training and legislation. Explore further Report reveals prevalence of sexual assault in nursing homes This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Mwita and his children Ghati, Juliana, Charles, Enock. Credit: University of Glasgow Rabies, contracted through dog bites, currently kills an estimated 60,000 people each year, mostly in Africa and Asia with approximately 10% of deaths among children under the age of five. However these deaths can be prevented through a post-bite vaccination of the victims known as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), alongside a programme of disease elimination through mass dog vaccination. Domestic dogs are responsible for 99% of human cases of rabies. And although mass dog vaccination is required for elimination of rabies, deaths from the disease could be substantially reduced through improved and timely patient access to PEP. Once rabies symptoms start, the disease is inevitably fatal. Lifesaving rabies vaccines must be given immediately after a bite by a rabid dog, to be 100% effective in preventing death. Current PEP use saves approximately 56,000 deaths annually, however it has the potential to save many more. Due to high costs and issues around supply, current availability of PEP remains limited in many rabies-endemic countries. Access to PEP is poor in many parts of the world, particularly rural areas where most rabies cases occur. Indeed, even if bite victims get to a treatment centre and PEP is available, the cost is often unaffordable and therefore treatment is not given. Now, new research led by the Universities of Glasgow and Cambridge published today in Lancet Infectious Diseases, has used both epidemiological and economic modelling to highlight the life-saving potential of investment in PEP by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The researchers predict that more than 1 million deaths will occur in the 67 rabies-endemic countries studied from 2020-2035, under the current status quo. However, if there was investment in PEP, and access to the vaccines for patients was expanded and provided free of charge, the researchers estimate an additional 489,000 deaths could be prevented between 2020 and 2035. Dr. Katie Hampson, from the University of Glasgow, said: "Rabies vaccines are the only way to be sure of preventing rabies following a bite by a rabid dog. It is appalling that so many families struggle to obtain these vaccines, because they are so expensive and are often not stocked or out of stock in local hospitals. When you calculate how many deaths could be avoided, the numbers are shocking. "With changes in how vaccines are procured and administered, access could be improved so that patients can access the vaccine free of charge, and many more bite patients could be treated in these emergency situations. Although the overall volume of vaccine used would not change very much, an investment from Gavi would be needed, otherwise these costs continue to fall to the poorest patients and the cycle of poor access continues." The study also highlights that scaling up dog vaccination programmes over the same time period could eliminate dog-contracted rabies by 2035. Dr. Caroline Trotter, University of Cambridge, said: "With such effective vaccines, there is a huge opportunity to save lives by increasing access to rabies PEP. The Rabies Modelling Consortium worked hard to gather the available data and build a consensus on the modelling approach to provide the best possible evidence to inform investment decisions." A global framework to reach zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 was developed by WHO and partners in 2015. A strategic plan covering human and animal vaccine demand was developed for the implementation of this framework and in 2016, WHO established a Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) Working Group aiming to increase the public health impact of rabies biologics through practical and feasible recommendations. Dr. Bernadette Abela-Ridder, WHO Team leader on Neglected Zoonotic Diseases, added: "WHO is supporting countries to develop their rabies programme and implement this new cost-, time- and dose-saving policy which will be one key component to driving change in achieving zero rabies deaths by 2030." The paper, 'The potential effect of improved provision of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis in Gavi-eligible countries: a modelling study' is published in Lancet Infectious Diseases. The work was funded by the World Health Organization. Katie Hampson is supported by Wellcome. Case Study This is Mwita and his children Ghati, Juliana, Charles, Enock. They are from a small village called Morotonga in Northwest Tanzania (Mara region) close to Lake Victoria. In November 2006, the family's three-month-old puppy developed signs of rabies. The puppy had been bitten the previous month by an unknown dog that had come to their house. The puppy bit all four children in the household (the youngest was just three years old and the oldest was 14 years), as well as the father. Initially, the family thought the puppy was just being playful; but they realised it was definitely rabid when it became increasingly sick and aggressive over the course of the day. At that time, there was only enough vaccine at the nearest hospital for one child, costing roughly $10 for each dose (each child requires five doses). The father was facing the prospect of which child he would vaccinate and whether he could afford to take the rest of the family to another hospital, which was an eight-hour bus ride away, to look for more doses. Fortunately, the local hospital had already requested more vaccine from the Ministry of Health the previous month as they had been facing shortages. Enough vials were delivered to the local hospital the following day to allow the rest of the children to be vaccinated. Mwita sold one of his cows to cover the costs of all the vaccines needed for his children. Dr. Katie Hampson said: "Unfortunately, this kind of tragic dilemma is all too common in countries where rabies is prevalent. The vaccines are very expensive and some families may not be able to afford vaccine or may struggle to raise funds resulting in dangerous delays. This is why we continue to see entirely preventable deaths. An investment could make these lifesaving vaccines affordable and accessible to those in urgent need." Explore further 160 people die of rabies every day, says major new study Milwaukee, WI - A 21-year-old man faces serious criminal charges after prosecutors say he contacted a 19-year-old thorough a dating app then took her to an apartment, where she was sexually assaulted by several men. Davoncia McAfee, 21, is charged with first degree sexual assault and kidnapping. He is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 28. Prosecutors say McAfee used the dating app Tagged to talk to a 19-year-old woman. The app, which developers say has 300 million registered users, is advertised as a place to chill, chat and go live. Its features are similar to the dating app Tinder. The victim agreed to meet up with McAfee on Nov. 11. According to the criminal complaint, the 19-year-old soon learned they werent alone during the meeting when a second man hiding in the back of McAfees car wrapped his arm around her face and neck pointed what felt like a small caliber handgun to the back of her neck and placed a blindfold over her eyes. The victim alleges the men led her to a nearby apartment where others were waiting. She says she was sexually assaulted for five hours by multiple men before finally being driven back to her car. Once home, the 19-year-old posted the suspects Tagged profile picture on Facebook, where a user identified him. She then provided the name to police. Prosecutors say, once in custody, McAfee admitted to bringing at least five different kidnapped women to the apartment and told them more women were likely raped in other locations, but he was not a part of those. A search for evidence at the apartment where the alleged assaults took place revealed a handgun, ammunition and the 19-year-olds victim ID card. McAfee is being held on a $100,000 bond. Mountain View, CA A decade-long stalking case that apparently began when the victim asked the suspect to cover his mouth while coughing finally came to a close this week. Mountain View police on Monday arrested 29-year-old Matthew Cringle, of Los Altos, on felony stalking charges. Detectives opened an investigation in late April after the victim reported receiving explicit messages via Facebook. Some of the senders appeared to be fake accounts, but based on previous messages she had received, the victim believed they were from a former classmate who had harassed her in the past, said police spokeswoman Katie Nelson. Through a series of search warrants, detectives determined Cringle was the person behind the accounts, Nelson said. From our investigation, we learned that Cringle and the victim were in one class together at a local high school, she said. At some point during the school year, Cringle coughed, and the victim asked him to cover his mouth. After that, Cringle appeared to fixate on the victim. As social media usage grew, Cringle allegedly began creating phony Facebook profiles, which he used to send sexually explicit messages to the victim, her friends and her family. The messages then turned sexually violent and threatening, Nelson said. Recently, he even began to use his personal email to reach out to the victim with even more messages, including asking after her whereabouts, Nelson said. Following his arrest Monday, Cringle was booked into Santa Clara County Jail on felony charges of stalking, stalking under a prohibited restraining order, stalking after having been convicted of a prior felony and criminal threats. He is being held without bail. This is the first holiday season in over a decade where the victim can relax and not worry about looking over her shoulder, Sgt. Tim Dahl said. He has had enough opportunities to change his behavior, and he still didnt stop. She shouldnt have to live in fear. Nelson said detectives are concerned there might be other victims. Anyone with information about the case, or who may be a victim or knows someone who is a victim can contact Dahl at timothy.dahl@mountainview.gov and reference case no. 18-02540. ARCHIVED - Tension grows as Spain threatens to pull the plug on Brexit deal Demands over Gibraltar could lead to a stalemate at the weekend summit in Brussels As the weekends crucial Brexit meeting looms it appears more and more likely that the UK parliament may not even be called upon to ratify or reject the agreement reached in Brussels, with the growing possibility that other EU members, among them Spain, threatening to throw the document out if extra demands are not met. It is reported that Angela Merkel and the German government are becoming increasingly frustrated by the objections being raised by other national governments, and have considered pulling the plug on the whole meeting, as Poland, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Denmark all join Spain in stipulating extra concessions before they allow the acceptance of the document. In the case of France, Belgium and the Netherlands are requesting clear statements to the effect that they will have greater access to British fishing waters after Brexit, but in Spain, as has been forecast by some ever since the Brexit referendum, the government is using the negotiations as a lever to exert greater control over Gibraltar. This should come as no surprise the Minister for Foreign Affairs stated openly that this was his policy in September and it has now been confirmed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez that as things stand there is a very real chance that Spain will not approve the deal on Sunday. On Wednesday evening, prior to a lightning trip to Cuba, Sr Sanchez said that a clause in the withdrawal agreement giving the Rock the same benefits as the UK was not acceptable, adding we are conscious that this is an essential point and if this is not resolved then unfortunately Spain will unfortunately not be able to vote in favour of it. He later tweeted to the effect that we are a pro-European government, but we cannot accept a Brexit agreement which questions the ability of Spain to negotiate the future of Gibraltar with the United Kingdom. Before his departure for the Caribbean, Pedro Sanchez is also reported to have held a long telephone conversation with Theresa May, but if any progress was made towards the resolution of the issue it has not been made public. So, while Donald Tusk reported on Thursday morning that a revised version of the draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK had been agreed at negotiators level and agreed in principle at political level, it is important to note that he still recognizes that the document is subject to the endorsement of the Leaders. And in the case of Spain, the Leader has shown so far shown himself to be determined to secure assurances that Spain and Spain alone will be in a position to negotiate with the UK on the future status of Gibraltar. Image: Pedro Sanchez speaking at a Hispano-Portuguese summit on Wednesday Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news, events and information in the Region of Murcia and the rest of Spain: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/ article_detail --> Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapores state investment firm, is setting up new groups to explore opportunities in artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies. Temasek is creating so-called experimental pods to focus on these two areas, which it sees as long-term trends impacting multiple industries and geographies, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. Chia Song Hwee, the chief operating officer of key management arm Temasek International Pte, will oversee the new groups. The strategy was announced alongside other organizational changes that took effect Oct. 1, the memo shows. A spokesman for Temasek, which manages S$308 billion ($224 billion), confirmed the contents. Temasek participated in a $600 million series C funding round in April for Chinas SenseTime Group Ltd., now the worlds most valuable AI startup. Temasek helped lead a series A round in June for London-based Eigen Technologies, which automates the extraction of unstructured data. In blockchain, Temasek invested in R3, backed by a group of banks seeking to bring distributed ledger technology to their operations. Greater Agility We have been expanding our business coverage and geographic footprint over the past few years, the Temasek spokesman said in an emailed response to Bloomberg queries. As our operating environment evolves, our focus is on remaining nimble and well-positioned to capture opportunities that deliver sustainable value over the long term. Temasek is also setting up a new Strategic Initiatives unit, seeking greater agility for opportunistic deals requiring fast turnaround and senior-level assessment, according to the memo. The unit, which can pull in resources from other parts of Temasek, will be led by Tan Chong Lee, who is head of Europe, Middle East and Africa as well as Southeast Asia. As the investment landscape becomes more competitive and complex, we are now seeing more situations where we would benefit from collaboration and specialized capabilities wider than our traditional sector and market team approach, Temasek wrote in the memo. Chia will work with Lee Theng Kiat, Temasek Internationals deputy chairman and chief executive officer, and deputy CEO Dilhan Pillay as the firms collective leadership, according to the memo. Temasek said it has identified the Americas, China, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, India and Southeast Asia as investment markets where its actively doing deals and allocating capital. The firm sees Japan, Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand as engagement markets where it will primarily focus on institutional network building, the memo shows. The Department of Telecommunications wants stricter controls on spectrum refarming to ensure that network operators pay the correct licensing fees. This is according to its chief director for radio frequency spectrum, Dick Sono, who was speaking at AfricaCom 2018 in Cape Town. Sono was speaking about how the department does not care what technologies network operators use and that they are technology neutral. Challenged on how they can claim to be technology neutral when the department is pushing for operators to get permission to refarm spectrum, Sono said they dont actually care what technology is used its about spectrum licensing fees. Refarming refers to the practice of repurposing spectrum for a different technology or use. South Africas mobile operators relied on refarming to roll out LTE services, as the government had not assigned new spectrum suitable for the technology. The Ministry of Telecommunications recently published a draft amendment to the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) which proposed new controls for refarming. Refarming Previously, operators could refarm the radio frequencies licensed to them at will. Should the draft amendment to the ECA pass into law, however, spectrum licensees will have to get approval from industry regulator ICASA to refarm spectrum assigned to them. ICASA is barred from approving spectrum refarming if it will have a negative impact on competition, but Sonos answers did not address this aspect of the legislation. Sono did state that cellular network providers are refarming spectrum all the time, but that they are not paying their fair share of the licence fees because they are not notifying ICASA of the change. ICASA introduced a new system of spectrum licence fee calculations on 1 April 2012 it called Administrative Incentive Pricing (AIP). AIP was introduced as a way to manage demand for scarce spectrum, using fees to dissuade operators from hoarding spectrum. The system was successful in many respects, as unused spectrum was returned to ICASA to reassign. This included valuable spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands licensed to Sentech, which lay completely unused for many years after the failure of its MyWireless broadband service. However, not all wireless network providers are properly notifying ICASA when refarming causes a change in the AIP calculation, likely increasing the fee they need to pay. As a result of this, the ministry wants all refarming to be approved by ICASA, Sono said. Now read: Ramaphosa told Telecommunications Minister to speed up 4G and 5G spectrum Beginning in January, Pacific Union College plans to begin work on an approximately 3-mile shaded fuel break. It is designed to protect the college and Angwin community from a wildfire that comes from the east. With financial support from community members and alumni, the college plans to construct a shaded fuel break on a prominent ridge between Pope Valley and Angwin, running from Howell Mountain Road to the Las Posadas State Forest. Angwin Volunteer Fire Department Chief J.R. Rogers said, A shaded fuel break is a great fire prevention measure that reduces fuel levels in key locations and helps to slow a fires rate of spread, giving us a defensible location so we can ultimately suppress the forward momentum of a fire. A public meeting to address questions and concerns will be held at 11 a.m., Sunday, Dec. 2 in the Fireside Room at the Pacific Union College Church, 10 Angwin Ave., located adjacent to the college. This meeting will be followed at noon by a field tour of the shaded fuel break, starting from Helmer & Sons Construction at 910 Howell Mountain Road. In 2014, the college began working with the Land Trust of Napa County and Cal Fire to conserve more than 800 acres of forested land in a conservation easement. Now known as the PUC Demonstration and Experimental Forest, it is used for student activities and scientific research projects, as well as recreation for both college and community members. The forest is part of our rich heritage here on Howell Mountain. It provides welcome opportunities for both education and recreation in a pristine forested setting, said PUC president Dr. Robert Cushman. PUC has developed a Cal Fire-approved Forest Stewardship Plan, which outlines management goals and objectives (available at www.pucforest.com). This plan includes fire mitigation work, of which the shaded fuel break is only the initial phase. Margo Kennedy, the co-chair of Angwin Fire Safe Council, said, Our council is in full support of the PUC forest shaded fuel break. This shaded fuel break is an essential and immediately important endeavor to help protect the community of Angwin. If you wish to support this project, visit http://puc.fund/firemitigation. All donations are tax deductible. For more information, contact PUC Forest Management at forestry@puc.edu or (707) 965-7635. On Thanksgiving Day in 1945, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower testified before Congress on why fighting hunger is critical. Europe was suffering with post-war food shortages. Eisenhower told Congress that funding for the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) had to be increased. Eisenhower said, There are few places in Europe today where people are not cold, hungry and apprehensive of the future ... the ravished nations of the world are looking to UNRRA for their relief. Congress approved the budget increase. The American public got involved too with fundraisers for charities fighting hunger in Europe including Save the Children, CARE and Catholic Relief Services. This generosity was essential for saving and rebuilding Europe and Asia after the war. There would have been mass starvation without American food aid. Food saves lives, and is vital to building peace. We should remember this on Thanksgiving. Like Eisenhower we should also make a powerful statement for feeding the hungry. Today, there are 821 million people suffering in hunger around the globe. They are war victims in Yemen, Syria, the Sahel of Africa, South Sudan and other impoverished nations. In Afghanistan, a country where peace remains elusive, hunger is escalating because of conflict and drought. There will be no peace if Afghanistan without food. In Yemen, a civil war between a Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi rebels has placed that country on the brink of famine. More than two-thirds of Yemens population lives in hunger. Some Yemeni children are starving to death. The Rhode Island nonprofit organization Edesia has sent life-saving food for 200,000 children in Yemen. It is an enriched peanut paste called Plumpysup that the UN World Food Program distributes. Navyn Salem, the owner of Edesia, wants as many people to get involved in ending the hunger crisis in Yemen. Salem pleads, My team at Edesia works 24 hours a day to supply our humanitarian partners with the food that is necessary to give life. Now, tell me, who else is willing to bear this responsibility? Dont close your eyes, dont look away, take action, and help us make this suffering end. Yemen needs an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian agencies to bring food to all war victims. The blockades of ports and roads must end. Much more funding is needed for relief agencies so they can provide this aid. Yemen is a massive humanitarian operation. The Congress must increase the budget for our international food aid programs. Our Food for Peace program, which was started by Dwight Eisenhower, needs more support. Food for Peace is the major donor to the World Food Program (WFP) and its relief efforts in war-torn Yemen, Syria and over 70 other countries. The needs are so great that more funding is needed. Food for Peace recently donated to the WFP in Central African Republic so they can provide school meals to children. This fights hunger and keeps children in class learning. Some of the programs are supported by nearby farmers, which is a positive trend. But so much more aid is needed in the Central African Republic, one of the lesser-known hunger emergencies. The Central African Republic is a country in dire need of food because of conflict. As Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, warns The situation in the Central African Republic is a grotesque example of the impossibility of building peace and stability on empty stomachs. The American public, like Eisenhower, should testify in support of increasing Food for Peace funding everywhere its needed. The McGovern-Dole global school lunch program also needs expanding. Let your representatives know that food matters. On Thanksgiving Day as we celebrate an abundance of food, we cannot forget those who are without. We can feed them and help build their agriculture with our international aid programs. We have to meet the challenge of hunger today so countries can have food security and peace tomorrow. We should strive to end hunger everywhere, whether at home or abroad. This noble goal can inspire us on Thanksgiving Day. William Lambers is an author who partnered with the UN World Food Program on the book Ending World Hunger. His writings have been published by the New York Times, History News Network, The Hill, Newsweek and many other media outlets. As a wine-producing nation with widely divergent soils and climates, the United States has adopted literally dozens of grape varieties from other countries (mainly Europe) to make into wine. Some U.S. wines mimic the best wines of the old country, where wine rose hundreds of years ago from an outback hobby into a major industry. The U.S. wine culture, one of the worlds youngest, has relied on a few grapes for its table wines. Wine regions in many other areas make table wines from far more grape varieties than most Americans ever imagined. Today, thanks to greater dissemination of winemaking information (the Internet) and greater access to better equipment (cheaper shipping), wines from dozens of emerging nations are better than ever and many are arriving here without fanfare. Today, we see wines made from some of the most obscure grapes. Here is a short primer on some of these emerging areas and grapes: Italy: Most wine lovers know Italian Pinot Grigio, the simple dry white wine; Chianti (from Tuscan Sangiovese) and Piemontes Barolo and Barbaresco (from Nebbiolo). But Italy grows hundreds of different grapes, from Val dAosta in the north to Campania in the south. Few of their wines are imported here, but those that are can be superb. Among the top red wines is the lighter, tarter Barbera, with superb food compatibility. Rivaling Barolo for aging potential is the locally revered dark red wines from Basilicata in the south made from Aglianico (the g is silent). And Sagrantino, the deeply tannic, long-lived red of Umbria, is a joy to anyone tiring of the New Worlds latest trick (sweeter, drink-now reds). Both are best a decade after the vintage. To drink now, decant for four to six hours(!) before trying them with hearty meat pastas or rich cheeses. New Zealand: Most wine lovers know the greatness of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir from this cool, southern hemisphere twin-island nation. For me, the most excitement in New Zealand is the rapid development of Cabernet Franc and Syrah as potential kiwi stars. Germany: Since I adore Germanys greatest wine, Riesling, I might sound traitorous to suggest there are two more Germanic varieties I love as much. The yet-to-be widely discovered are the grapes Silvaner (white) and Spatburgunder (red or pink). The former is generally austere, a dry, angular wine; the latter is the German name for Pinot Noir. Both are fascinating for different reasons. Silvaner usually has a stony or steely aroma and a lemon-y finish. Spatburgunder is similar to red Burgundy and often less expensive. Australia: Most Americans know of the greatness of Shiraz, from the warmer Barossa Valley and the cool-climate minerally Rieslings of a half dozen regions. Two other great wines, both a bit obscure here, are Semillon, a lean, dry, age-worthy white wine from the Hunter Valley, and the amazing dessert wine from remote Rutherglen called Muscat (the Aussies say muss-kit). Semillon exists in some West Coast vineyards, and several California and Washington wineries make a wine from it, or blend it with Sauvignon Blanc. But almost no U.S.-made Semillons approach the remarkably sublime Hunter Valley style, which can be interesting when young, but really calls for a decade of aging before it reaches an early peak and lives on years after! Rutherglen, hours north of Melbourne, grows an obscure, ancient black variant of the normally flowery white Muscat. The Port-like Australian Muscats (Aussies often call them stickies) are fortified and unctuously sweet. Theyre endowed with an astoundingly complex aroma and taste thats similar to a cross between cream sherry and Port. Spain: This warmer country has more grapevines (nearly 3 million acres) than any other country. The most widely planted, Tempranillo makes the countrys best-known red wine, Rioja. The lesser-known region Rias Baixas in Atlantic Ocean-adjacent Galicia makes a delicate, wildly spiced white wine called Albarino, which grows also in Portugal and there is spelled Alvarinho. Spain is also home to Jerez in the south, which makes some of the best value aperitif and dessert wines, Fino and Cream Sherry, respectively. In terms of the difficulty of making it, Sherry may be the worlds best wine value. Portugal: The home of Port and now some sensational value red wines from local grapes, Portugal also has recently revived Vinho Verde, and its better than ever. A dry, low-alcohol white (10 percent-11 percent), its rarely more than $10 a bottle. South Africa: One of the oldest wine-making nations in the world, South Africa makes many popular wines. The two South Africa is best known for are both fairly priced, the dry-ish to sweet Chenin Blanc and a lighter red called Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault. Austria: Austria is developing a cult following here for a white wine called Gruner Veltliner, often slightly sweet and not unlike Riesling though German wine lovers would violently disagree! Best bet: In a fine wine shop, tell a clerk youd like to try something you never herd of before. Many California wineries now are adopting some of the obscure grapes. This may not work if the clerk is 22. Discovery of the Week: 2017 Tyrrells Semillon, Hunter Valley ($20) Good entry-level Australian Semillons are hard to find in the U.S. This long-time producer continues to make its in a traditional style, harvesting grapes very early (only 11 percent alcohol in the wine). The aroma offers grapefruit and a trace of lime, with a faint hint of lanolin, which should grow as the wine ages. It has no oak. Semillon made this way probably will be best at 10 years! (Ive had great 20- to 25-year-old bottles!) Consumed now, its best served just cool; too cold and the wines subtle nuances may be lost. Dan Berger lives in Sonoma County, where he publishes Vintage Experiences, a subscription-only weekly wine newsletter. Write to him at winenut@gmail.com. He is also co-host of California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon on KSRO Radio, 1350 AM. Apple confirms: Eavesdropping is carried out by Pegasus spy program in Armenia WTI crude oil prices rise by close of trading in US COVID-19 in Armenia: 28 new deaths Policemen apprehend protesters who close Yerevan subway entrances Apple suspends sales of devices in Turkey due to collapse of local currency Court session kicks off as Serzh Sargsyan sues Khachatur Sukiasyan Russian peacekeepers clear nearly 2 hectares of land in Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian PM: Remains of Vano Siradeghyan will be transferred to Armenia soon Armenian PM: 40-45 square kilometer territories of Armenia under Azerbaijani control after Azerbaijan's May 12 attack Armenia premier says what the heaviest blow was during his term of office, adds that it's not the defeat in the war Armenia PM: I had planned to deliver a message on circumstances of war and negotiations on Nov. 9 PM: Armenia decides road through which communication between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan will be ensured Armenia PM: Karabakh conflict settlement and unblocking of communications shouldn't be discussed in '3+3' format Pashinyan fails to clearly state whether Armenia applied to Russia and CSTO in writing in regard to Nov. 16 attack Armenia PM: Azerbaijan is trying to turn the region into a jungle Pashinyan: Armenia and Azerbaijan recognized each other's territorial integrity when they acceded to CIS in 1991 Pashinyan: If government of Armenia was a giver, there wouldn't be shootings Armenia PM: 32 servicemen were captured on Nov. 16, according to unverified information PM: It's the first time that direct communication is established between Armenian and Azerbaijani defense ministers Armenian premier: Armenia will not give in to that policy of blackmail Armenia PM answers question about online meeting with Azerbaijani leader on Nov. 9 Armenia PM on upcoming meetings with Azerbaijan President in Brussels and Sochi Azerbaijani plane flies from Nakhchivan to Baku through Armenia's airspace (PHOTOS) Armenia PM is giving a press conference Armenian demining experts demine 2,000,000 square meters of territory in Damascus along with UNMAS Armenia opposition movement holding march in Yerevan, calling on citizens to join NEWS.am daily digest: 23.11.21 Russian analyst: Karabakh's regions under Azerbaijan's control are becoming a serious problem for Aliyev Stepanakert: Azerbaijan intends to create terrorists training centers in Karabakhs territories Iran and Georgia hold talks on creation of Persian Gulf-Black Sea corridor Israeli FM demands Turkey to close offices of Hamas movement Opposition MP: Situation in Armenia's judiciary is impacting security issues Armenia PM calls UN Under-Secretary-General's attention to facts of destruction of Armenian heritage Ruling party MP: If Russia's proposals are acceptable for Armenian premier, they are in Armenia's interests Putin, Pashinyan and Aliyev to hold talks in Sochi on November 26 Armenia Ombudsman: Baku's Armenophobia is policy aimed at maintaining hostility between two peoples around the world Karabakh National Security Service: Citizen gets lost, in territory under Azerbaijani control, taken into custody ECHR awards 5,000 each to judges detained in Turkey after 2016 putsch American Center of US Embassy in Yerevan sends more than 5,000 Armenian library items to United States Iranian Ambassador to Turkey: Iran supports '3+3' regional format Azerbaijan MOD thanks Turkish ASELSAN's CEO for equipment used during war against Karabakh Armenia MOD receives Russia Ambassador and embassy's Defense Attache MFA: Armenia has informed Moscow about its willingness to normalize relations with Turkey without preconditions UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues calls US a nation of paradoxes Armenian parliamentary commission honors memory of soldier who died yesterday Alen Simonyan briefs Gerard Larcher over continuing aggressive behavior of Azerbaijan China and Russia are discussing details of Putin's possible visit to Beijing Olympics Yerevan court rejects motion to apply to Constitutional Court due to lack of procedures for overcoming MP's immunity Criminal case initiated into death of Armenian soldier Employee of Norabak village council on exchange of fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, issue of wounded soldiers Russian peacekeepers donate humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh Coronavirus in Armenia: 48 new deaths 116 million AMD assistance to minors with disabilities in Shirak Province from Mikayel Vardanyan Armenian soldier who died in Armenia's Gegharkunik Province was Yezdi by nationality, was in army for a year Taliban want to establish 'fraternal' ties with Turkey Letter addressed to UN Security Council President about Azerbaijani attack published as SC official document Armenia, India to end process of mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates soon Syrian mercenaries who fought on Azerbaijani side during 44-day war complaining about not having received 'salaries' Armenia Ombudsman: Videos about captured Armenian servicemen being explored, translated from Azerbaijani and identified Armenia National Academy of Sciences Physiology Institute wins Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's grant Armenian MFA on news about Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker receives ARF-D Lebanon Central Committee member Hagop Pakradouni Armenia MOD: Conscript dies after Azerbaijani soldier's gunshot fired in Gegharkunik Province Did the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan speak about 'the liberated territories'? Armenia PM appoints new head of Vedi village Armenian army's General Staff chief holds working consultation, presents current situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border Armenia Deputy PM receives Eurasian Economic Union's minister in charge of integration and macroeconomics Armenia's new Ambassador to Iran presents credentials to FM Aysor.am: Armenia MOD: Exchange of fire began near Norabak village on border with Azerbaijan Ambassador to Baku: United States makes persistent efforts for Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders' tete-a-tete meeting Azerbaijan's special detachment soldiers conducting exercises under Turkish specialists' supervision in Nakhchivan Armenian movement leader: If Armenian parliamentary opposition can't do anything, why is it in parliament? Armenia MP to protesters: Our sovereign territories can't be transferred illegally and behind people's backs Armenian military servicemen score medals at championship in Iran Iranian FM, Azerbaijani Deputy PM discuss situation in Caucasus Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of another serviceman found in Varanda region Armenia Parliament Speaker meets with French Senate President Richard Ferrand Yerevan protesters demand to declassify content of Armenian-Azerbaijani document G7 FMs to discuss human rights protection issue in Liverpool Exchange rates in Armenia Level of Armenia's Lake Sevan drops by 2 cm in one week Armenia is interested in Russia's Ka-52M and Mi-28NE attack helicopters Azerbaijan President invites South Korean companies to work in Nagorno-Karabakh's occupied territories Opposition 'Armenia' faction MP: Azerbaijanis built customs terminal in Nakhchivan, will try to obtain road Armenia PM, Belarus President hold phone talks Syria Ambassador to Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker: Turkey's actions are fully targeted against regional stability Armenia applies to ECHR for ensuring fundamental rights of Armenian soldiers captured on Nov. 16 Armenian Ombudsman presents Azerbaijani aggression facts to US Congressman Adam Schiff More than 40 people killed in heavy rains in southeastern India Opposition 'Armenia' faction MP Armen Charchyan greeted with applause in courtroom Australia, UK and US sign first agreement under AUKUS Armenian PM to hold online Q&A conference Tuesday Armenia opposition member says Azerbaijani ex-FM expresses gratitude to Pashinyan Gas prices in Europe drop below $1,000 per 1,000 cubic meters Erdogan and Turkish ministers to discuss situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border Citizens who blocked one of Yerevan avenues are apprehended Defense ministry: Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is relatively stable U.S. Embassy in Israel advises diplomats not to visit Jerusalem's Old City Covid-19 in Armenia: 30 new deaths 18 citizens are apprehended for participation in Yerevan protests Erdogans verbal attack directed at the left-wing billionaire investor resembles statements previously made by Hungarian authorities, with the countrys Prime Minister Viktor Orban vigorously accusing George Soros of ruining Hungarian identity and even initiating the so-called "Stop Soros" set of laws to offset Soros activities, Sputnik reported. In a speech to local officials on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused leftist Hungarian-US donor George Soros of providing assistance to jailed Turkish activist Osman Kavala charged with attempts to overthrow the government. He notably started with accusations against the campaigner himself, implicating him in financing the notorious Gezi Park protests in Istanbul in 2013, which were one of the biggest challenges during Erdogans term. "There is a person who financed the terrorists in the Gezi events. Now he is behind bars," said Erdogan, referring to Kavala, but without calling him by his name. Controversy over the issue has increased to a great extent in the last week after 14 Turkish academics and activists were detained on Friday over links to the jailed activist. "And who is behind him? The famous Hungarian Jew Soros, Erdogan continued, before adding in a most straight-forward way that the latter sends people across the world to divide and tear up nations and uses the large amount of money he possesses to this effect. YEREVAN. The Chief of Police of Armenia, Valeri Osipyan, reflected on the matter as to why Investigative Committee former deputy Vahagn Harutyunyan, who is charged along the lines of the criminal case into what had occurred in capital city Yerevan in March 2008 and is being searched internationally, is not arrested and extradited to Armenia, in the case when he is giving interviews to international media without restraint. Armenian News-NEWS.am asked Ospiyan the reason for the above-said, and the police chief responded: There are people who are searched for, for whom years are needed. There are circumstances when there are people who are searched for, and who are being newly found months, years later. To the remark that Harutyunyans whereabouts is known: Russia, the Armenian chief of police responded: We collaborate closely with our associates. Osipyan, however, did not respond when asked whether he saw any intent that the Russian law enforcement officials were not collaborating with their Armenian counterparts in the cases of ex-Defense Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan and Vahagn Harutyunyan, alike. It perhaps is a coincidence, he said. Former Defense Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan has been charged in Armenia within the framework of the criminal case into the tragic events that transpired in capital city Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 2008and under Article 300.1 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code; that is, breaching Armenias constitutional order, in conspiracy with others. But since Harutyunyan is not in Armenia, an international arrest warrant for him was declared. The Special Investigation Service had informed that Vahagn Harutyunyan had been included as a defendant for falsifying evidence along the lines of a criminal case into a grave crime in connection with the March 2008 events in Yerevan, and an international search was declared for him. On March 1 and 2, 2008, the then authorities of Armenia used force against the opposition members who were rallying in downtown Yerevan, and against the results of the then recent presidential election. Eight demonstrators as well as two servicemen of the internal troops were killed in the clashes. But no one had been brought to account for these deaths, to this day. Honduras is a central American country with both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, known for beautiful diving at the Bay Islands. The diving features underwater mountains with dramatic walls, cracks and crevices, the worlds second largest barrier reef, and the chance to swim with whale sharks. Above water there are stunning jungle-covered hills and white sandy beaches to explore. When to visit Honduras Now is a great time to visit, as the Zeppelin liveaboard is offering a December 7-night Dive and Sail package to the Bay Islands with a special discount: Book for Monday 10th to 17th December 2018 and the Zeppelin will accept Canadian dollars at par to the USD! This is a 25% saving and coincides with direct non-stop flights from both Toronto and Montreal being available for under USD$700 on Air Transat. The Zeppelin will also be offering a 25% discount to their non-Canadian guests. Where are the main areas for diving Honduras? There is plenty of variety at the Bay Islands and the islands of Roatan, Utila and Guanaja are the main diving areas. With a limited number of Honduras liveaboards operating in the area, the Bay Islands are a peaceful and unique dive destination. Roatan Explore dramatic drop-offs, trenches, walls, boulder formations and reefs at Roatan. Marys Place is one of the most spectacular dive sites there. This deep crack formed by volcanic activity has stunning coral overhangs, large sea fans and sponges. All of which has created a haven for seahorses, lobsters, octopi and many colourful fish. The Odyssey and Prince Albert wrecks are also well worth exploring. Utila This island is famous for whale sharks, which are often seen at the west end of the island. The north side of Utila has sheer walls and drop-offs teeming with life, whilst the south side has vibrant reefs. The Black Hills dive site is not to be missed for the chance to see a colourful effervescent seamount, whilst nearby Cayos Chocinos has pristine coral reefs and the chance to see Caribbean reef sharks and sea turtles. Gunaja Gunaja is the most remote and least-visited of the Bay Islands, located on the edge of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. There are shallow reefs, pinnacles, lava tunnels, wrecks and wall dives to enjoy, plus plenty of pelagic marine life. Take a cruise to Mestizo Reef and you can be face to face with two life size statues of Christopher Columbus and the local chief, Lempira. Who is the diving suitable for? There is something for everyone at the Bay Islands, with varying dive depths and dive styles. Read more about Bay Island Diving We cubed in a bedroom set too but we couldnt take pictures of our progress because actors were scantily clad Britta Lundin (@brittashipsit) November 20, 2018 Even though there wasn't even an episode this week, the CW still released the promo for 3x07 which is in TWO WEEKS. Featuring Riley Keough. This is the anthology episodeINTO THE BELLY OF THE BEAST Fearful that he will be caught since he's still a fugitive of the law, Archie hits the road with Jughead and ends up at a farm outside Riverdale, where he meets Laurie Lake (guest star Riley Keough). And maybe Varchie is over judging from how he's welcoming her advances.Meanwhile, after Alice puts Betty in the Sisters of Quiet Mercy in order to keep her safe from the Gargoyle King, Betty finds herself up against a formidable foe from her past (Ethel??? really??).Finally, after learning that her dry speakeasy is in trouble, Veronica does some gambling because age means nothing on Riverdale.Marisol Nichols, Mark Consuelos and Charles Melton also star.Directed by Alex Pillai and written by Janine Salinas Schoenberg. Original airdate 12/5/2018.--- While talking about playing with a Rubix cube set, writer Britta Lundin mentioned scantily clad actors which immediately made everyone assume a sex sceneThing is, according to better Riverdale detectives than I, the two actors posting from set that fit this timeline were Ashleigh and KJ. Will Archosie finally rise?? --- An actress named Bernadette Beck has been cast as a character named Peaches n' Cream in a recurring role--- Nathalie thanks Vanessa for donating 10k to her fundraisersource: 1 Happy Thanksgiving! i used to find him so hot but he aged like a wax figure also i thought he was italian whoops Reply Thread Link I prefer that look to this tbh [ Spoiler (click to open) ] I think he looks good I prefer that look to this tbh Reply Parent Thread Link Lmao the 2nd pic made him look like Hugh Jackson. The eyes Reply Parent Thread Expand Link hes italian-american, i think second or third gen Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Tony wasn't a teenager in the '60's and I don't remember him ever serving a multiyear prison sentence either. Reply Thread Link the family friend is serving the sentence, it's just worded weirdly Reply Parent Thread Link That makes more sense. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link None of that really interests me, I just remember being 11 and watching Jurassic Park III and thinking he was SO cute (so dumb, but so cute). Also Best Laid Plans, which I was definitely too young to be watching at the time. Reply Thread Link The Sopranos is my favorite show of all time. I've watched the series at least 10 times. The 1960's? I always assumed Tony was in his early 40's in 1999 when the Sopranos began. That wouldn't have him being a teenager in the 60's though. Are they changing his age just to fit the time period? Edit: According to Wiki, Tony was born in 1959. So I guess they are. I'm not sure how I feel about it revolving around Dickey. I really wanted a Johnny/Junior Soprano backstory. I'm sure they'll be in it. But I'm not sure how interesting a Dickey storyline is going to be since he was dead in the Sopranos and we never got to see that character to even care about his backstory I'm going to watch it anyway Edited at 2018-11-22 02:12 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link Yeah I wanted the Johnny/Junior backstory too. They talked about and hinted at so much. Dickey should've been a character that makes an appearance, not the star. Reply Parent Thread Link Exactly. This is so weird to me. But I'll take it! Reply Parent Thread Link Agreed. The Johnny Boy Soprano prequel flashbacks were some of my favorite scenes in the series. I'd like to see him and Junior growing up as sons of recent Italian immigrants to NJ. Reply Parent Thread Link YES YES YES Reply Thread Link I have the weirdest mental block about him. I can see him in 5 movies in a row and not recognize him in any of them. Reply Thread Link same Reply Parent Thread Link IA Reply Parent Thread Link He looks like 5 other actors. I often confuse him for Sharlto Copley. Reply Parent Thread Link I appreciate that theyre going with a tangentially related story, but Im still nervous about this. Im already anticipating that the teenage Tony will make me cringe hard. Nobody can live up to James Gandolfini. Reply Thread Link Here for it Reply Thread Link Alessandro Nivola has legit never been hot enough to merit that gorgeous name lol I like him tho and I'm kind of hype for this Reply Thread Link him in jurassic park 3 *does the chef kiss thing* Reply Thread Link I love Sopranos so much. I appreciate how honest it is regarding racism too. This guy looks like Voldemort. Reply Thread Link This guy looks like Voldemort lol damn Reply Parent Thread Link lmfao i love this comment a lot and agree. i love rewatching it and spot stuff i didnt spot when i was younger, like a cringey young lin-manuel miranda. Reply Parent Thread Link whatttt just went off to google it!! would never have caught that myself! Reply Parent Thread Link Oh god fucking Christopher I hated him so much lmaoooooo Anyway I am happy with almost everything David Chase has created. Nobody makes it so easy to laugh at stupid gangsters. And yes, I have made my peace, it was great. I plan on watching it all again in the near future. Reply Thread Link [ yuh ] Tony offed him I fucking hated Christopher! WhenI was like Reply Parent Thread Link Yaaaas but it took them FAR too long tbh LOL @ yuh Reply Parent Thread Expand Link IKR. I was like yaaaaas Reply Parent Thread Link The people demand more Carmela Soprano! Reply Thread Link carmella is an icon Reply Parent Thread Link I thought he was so cute in Laurel Canyon. Reply Thread Link Dolce & Gabbana @dolcegabbana under fire for series of racist promo vids for upcoming fashion show in Shanghai. Vids are extremely condescending & mock the Chinese in how they use the chopsticks. They've been taken down on Weibo but are still on IG & Twitter Eng subbed vid below pic.twitter.com/c8oRau21PS c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) November 18, 2018 [trending] Cnetz are furious after an IG user shared screencaps of his convo with @dolcegabbana co-founder #StefanoGabbana. After being told D&Gs recent vid for its Shanghai show was racist, Stefano fired back with insults like China ignorant dirty smelling mafia and more. pic.twitter.com/LOmeBAhRkr c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) November 21, 2018 Chen Xuedong and Li Bingbing announce that they will not be attending tonights @dolcegabbana 'The Great Show' in Shanghai after outrage over Stefano Gabbanas racist comments towards the Chinese. Its being rumored that other guests will be pulling out as well.# # c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) 21. November 2018 Stefano Gabbana responds on Instagram stating that he wasn't the one who made the racist comments, and his account was hacked. He apologises for the fiasco but netizens aren't buying it stating that the series of racist videos have still not been addressed. pic.twitter.com/FcY93EgRFj c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) 21. November 2018 #ChenKun, who finds out about the racist comments that Stefano Gabbana made only upon landing in Shanghai for the @dolcegabbana show, doesnt even bother leaving the airport and tells fans, Im going back. Like other Chinese stars, hes pulled out of the show. # pic.twitter.com/RZaQqpySDj c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) November 21, 2018 Zhang Ziyi fires back at the @dolcegabbana fiasco in latest weibo update - "Bringing disgrace upon yourself. DG " Her attached image caption reads - "Your shit dropped, returning it to you."# #zhangziyi pic.twitter.com/1hIouQCks0 c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) November 21, 2018 Model #JinDachuan, who was scheduled to walk for @dolcegabbanas The Great Show' in Shanghai today, announces that he will not be going, and that he refuses to work with the brand going forward. He had previously walked a number of shows for D&G internationally.# pic.twitter.com/haffpou4qH c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) 21. November 2018 Chinese models who were scheduled to walk for @dolcegabbanas The Great Show' in Shanghai today mock Stefano Gabbanas claim of being hacked by using the same Not Me text to announce their refusal to participate in the show pic.twitter.com/ttMuSWqmdn c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) November 21, 2018 Its been revealed that the Chinese models at the @dolcegabbana The Great Show were the first to boycott, as they collectively walked out of the shows venue. Cnetz praise them for their courage, as they were putting their careers on the line (before things escalated). pic.twitter.com/JP9onT5Vpb c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) 21. November 2018 After Chinese celebrities and models made their decision to boycott @dolcegabbanas The Great Show' in Shanghai today, the show has been officially canceled. D&G posts on Instagram that like Stefano Gabbana, they have been hacked and are working to sort through the issue. pic.twitter.com/f7VAwEFOtg c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) 21. November 2018 Rising Chinese-French model #EstelleChen, who was one of four Chinese models to walk the 2018 Victorias Secret Fashion Show, shares her own letter to @dolcegabbana and Stefano Gabbana. # #chenyu pic.twitter.com/gx2zwpEoVj c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) 21. November 2018 #Dilirebas studio releases official statement saying they have notified @dolcegabbana that as of today, she will no longer be partnering with the brand. This would also indicate that she will end her role as D&Gs brand ambassador. # #dilireba #dilrabadilmurat #dilraba pic.twitter.com/XWEbmpbh48 c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) 21. November 2018 #WangJunkais studio officially announces that theyll be terminating all collaborations with @dolcegabbana, ending his role as D&Gs brand ambassador. They stated that a partnership is based on mutual respect of each others history & culture. # #karrywang pic.twitter.com/fp5Nn5kPJu c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) 21. November 2018 Just to make things clear, the @dolcegabbana show was cancelled because of the RACIST messages by Stefano Gabbana, NOT just because of the series of vids. Apparently a no. of Western media have been incorrectly reporting it & making it look as if the Chinese are overly sensitive pic.twitter.com/a1EHgYaJ8h c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) 22. November 2018 On Weibo, Zhang Yixing writes, "Unity is power. This power is iron, it's steel. It's harder than iron, stronger than steel" in response to @dolcegabbana's racism. A fan replies, "D&G was born in Milan, Italy in 1985. It died in Shanghai, China in 2018 at the age of 33." [+27K] pic.twitter.com/Y6YzGVil6l C-Ent Translations (@CEntNews1) November 22, 2018 [trending] Following the boycott against @dolcegabbana by celebrities & general public alike, T-Mall, Jindong, Suning and other e-retailers have removed all products by the fashion house. This means that there's no other online outlet selling in China, save for their own website pic.twitter.com/Jqte9rZLaQ c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) November 22, 2018 [trending] According to a weibo post, Stefano Gabbana purportedly replies once again to racist allegations - however this post can no longer be found on his IG account. A netizen remarks - "Soon he's going to say they're not racist because they sell products to the Chinese." pic.twitter.com/50UO508X1U c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe) November 22, 2018 It all started with this messed up promo vid for D&G's fashion show in Shanghai. An IG user confronted D&G's co-founder Stefano Gabbana about the promo vid.Celebrity guests started to pull out...even their brand ambassadors Wang Junkai and Dilraba Dilmurat pulled out.Stefano Gabbana realizes that his racism could cost him some of that sweet and says he was hackedAfter even models who were scheduled to walk, walk out the door, the fashion show is cancelled.Not enough, celebrities and models make official statements that they will not work or wear D&G in the future.Dolce & Gabbana say that the cancellation of the fashion show "was very unfortunate" but misses an apology.After celebrities and the general public boycotted D&G, major online retailers like e-commerce giants T-Mall, Jindong and Suning removed the brand from their sites.Stefano Gabbana purportedly replies once again to racist allegations - however this post can no longer be found on his IG account.source 1 In the past seven years Syrian cities have been reduced to rubble, thousands have lost their lives, but the main objective of the U.S. and its allies to remove Bashar al-Assad has failed. As of November 2018, government forces loyal to Assad have recaptured significant swaths of land from rebels. Two areas have escaped their grasp: Idlib, protected by Turkey, and Eastern Syria, protected by the U.S. Ankara needs to cooperate with Russia and Iran to obstruct the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region and prevent new flows of refugees towards its territory. Washingtons primary goal, however, is to maintain a foothold in Syria in order to contain Iran. The U.S. is confronted by two challenges in achieving its goal: a working economy in Eastern Syria and a rebellious Turkey. Ankara strongly opposes the Kurdish YPG which is the backbone of the SDF forces that have established control over the area. Eastern Syria, however, contains the resource by which Washington can overcome both challenges: oil. The two sides of Syria Syria is usually divided into roughly two parts: Western Syria and Eastern Syria. The majority of the population before the conflict lived in the urban areas of Western Syria which includes the cities of Damascus, Hama, Homs, and Aleppo. These areas had the highest contribution to national economic output. Despite the destruction, it is safe to assume that these areas will become the epicenter of economic activity again. Eastern Syria, on the contrary, is the less productive part of the country due to its relative underdevelopment. Before the war, when the last meaningful inquiries were made, the region had an illiteracy rate of 30 percent compared to the national average of 15 percent. Of the workforce in Eastern Syria, 40 percent worked in agriculture compared to a national average of 20 percent. Despite its low economic output, the eastern region is actually the breadbasket of Syria and contains the majority of the nations energy resources. Before the war, the country produced 387,000 barrels of oil per day, of which 140,000 were exported. The challenge currently is not production, but transportation. Before the war, a 1,400 kilometers long pipeline transported the oil to a transport terminal on the Mediterranean Sea in Western Syria. This pipeline is currently out of order as the west is controlled by forces loyal to Assad. Eastern Syria revived Washingtons efforts to oppose and depose President Assad have failed. Attempts to unite rebel groups and provide them with training and weapons didnt have the desired results. The SDF in Eastern Syria, of which the Kurdish YPG is the backbone, has been the exception. U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that the Syrian Kurds have been great partners" and added, "Washington would make sure that the Kurds have a seat at the table". An autonomous Kurdish region bordering Turkey would be the worst-case scenario come true for Ankara. The Turks have declared on multiple occasions that the Kurdish issue' is a red line. Unfortunately for Ankara, Washington doesn't seem willing to change its course concerning its support for the Kurds. The U.S. has tried to appease Turkey by putting bounties on several PKK leaders. Ankara, however, interpreted these steps as an effort to separate the YPG from the PKK. Related: The Oil Industry Is Facing A "Capex Conundrum" Despite the intractable position of both the U.S. and Turkey, Washington could bring the parties together on basis of mutual interests and economic dependency. Eastern Syria contains 95 percent of the countrys oil resources. The Kurds have already struck a minor deal with the Syrian government under the mediation of Moscow to share a third of the 50,000 barrels per day produced at Rmailan oilfield. Energy, however, could also moderate Ankaras position vis-a-vis the Kurdish issue by providing an incentive to cooperate. Energy as glue Turkey and Eastern Syria are complementary to each other in terms of energy production and consumption. The Kurdish controlled areas could potentially produce large quantities of oil, while Turkey already imports 75 percent of its energy from abroad. Ankara's opposition concerning Washington's involvement is not by definition aimed towards the Kurds, but the YPG's dominant presence. Turkey has already established working relations with another autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq. Despite Ankaras strong opposition towards the independence referendum of Iraqi Kurdistan in October 2017, the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline has been restarted. If Washington is able to mitigate the YPGs role and convince Turkey of the benefits in working with the remaining Syrian Kurds, both parties could benefit greatly from cooperation. By Vanand Meliksetian for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Irans tracked oil exports in November plummeted by several hundred thousand barrels per day compared to October, as many Iranian customers hadnt nominated barrels amid uncertainty whether they would get U.S. waivers to continue importing Irans oil after the sanctions retuned. Iranian crude exports so far in November are down several hundred thousand barrels per day from October levels, Daniel Gerber, chief executive officer at tanker-tracking company Petro-Logistics, told Reuters on Thursday. According to Petro-Logistics and many analysts, Iranian exports in early November would indeed be much lower, because many of Irans customers hadnt requested any volumes for fear of breaching the U.S. sanctions in the event they failed to secure a waiver. The low volumes we saw in the beginning of the month were due to buyer reluctance to schedule loadings while awaiting clarity on sanctions waivers, Petro-Logistics Gerber told Reuters. On the day on which the U.S. re-imposed sanctions on Iran, Washington also announced that it was granting waivers to eight countriesincluding Irans biggest buyers China and Indiato continue importing reduced volumes of oil from Tehran for another 180 days, until early May 2019. Irans oil exports in October were estimated at between 1.5 million bpd and 1.85 million bpd, according to tanker-tracking company estimates, quoted by Reuters. Based on Petro-Logistics estimate that Iranian oil exports were down in November by several hundred thousand, Irans exports might have been close to 1 million bpd this month, compared to a peak of 2.5 million bpd in April this year. Related: Goldman Expects Extreme Volatility In Oil Markets This Month However, tracking Iranian oil exports has become increasingly difficult because Iranian tankers are switching off transponders on board. Petro-Logistics CEO Gerber told Reuters that Irans oil trade is currently incredibly opaque and the majority of the trade is hidden. We believe that volumes have been picking up in the past week, he said. Meanwhile, Iran continues to strike a defiant tone, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that the Islamic Republic is selling and will continue to sell its oil, with or without U.S. waivers. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: JP Morgan has revising its outlook on Brent crude to US$73 per barrel on average, CNBC reports. The banks earlier forecast was for an average Brent crude price of US$83.50 a barrel. The head of the banks Asia-Pacific oil and gas operations, Scott Darling, told CONB analysts had factored in the increase in supply in North America that will occur in the second half of 2019 and will eventually pressure prices even lower in 2020, to an average US$64 in that year. With everything that has been happening to oil in the last few days, with prices getting pummeled by mass short covering and pessimistic economic forecasts for global growth, chances are investment bank will soon begin revising their forecasts unless they are certain OPEC will agree a production cut at its Vienna meeting next month. This cut is by no means certain although bulls are pinning their hopes on it in the absence of any other significant positive factor working for oil right now. On the contrary, even the latest production numbers from OPECs number-one, Saudi Arabia, were bearish for prices: Bloombergs Javier Blas yesterday reported, citing industry insiders, that the Kingdoms oil production since the beginning of this month jumped to new highs, reaching 10.8-10.9 million bpd. Supply, including production and inventory drawdowns reached 11 million bpd on some days. JP Morgans Darling said if OPEC is to balance the market and prop up prices, it would need to reduce its combined production by as much as 1.2 million bpd. The cartel itself is discussing cuts of between 1 million bpd and 1.4 million bpd. Russia has yet to weigh in but a Reuters report citing two senior Russian government officials said the country would rather not join an OPEC-led cut this time, even as President Putin said at an industry event that Russia will cooperate with OPEC on oil prices. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: In the past, Brazils massive state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has operated at the whim of Brazilian politics, a volatile model to say the least. After years of corruption scandals and rapid power shifts, Petrobras may finally find some stability with its new chief executive officer Roberto Castello Branco, an economist, a former Petrobras board member, and an avid advocate for privatization. Economic analysts are already predicting that previously prohibitive downside risks of Petrobras stocks will be majorly diminished. Current CEO Ivan Monteiro isnt scheduled to surrender his position until January 1st, but already, just in the time since the announced appointment of Castello Branco, Petrobras stock has already increased nearly 2 percent. (Click to enlarge) Castello Branco was appointed on Monday by Brazils far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro, a fellow pro-market reformer. Before his tenure on the Petrobras board in 2015 and 2016, Castello Branco spent 15 years as the director of Brazilian mining company Vale, from 1999 to 2014. Now, and up until his inauguration as Petrobras CEO, the veteran businessman is a professor at university and business-focused think thank Fundacao Getulio Vargas. The incoming Petrobras CEO has long advocated for privatizing the massive energy company from his seat on the board, and now he will have far more power and support to work toward making that dream a reality, with the backing of Bolsonaro as well as Paulo Guedes, a long-time friend and confederate of Castello Branco, who will soon be stepping up as Brazils incoming finance minister. Despite the major administration change and a strong pro-privatization lineup, experts tend to agree that completely privatizing Petrobras is not going to be feasible, and Castello Branco has admitted as much (contradicting the staunchly pro-privatization stance he has publicly taken in the past). That being said, Castello Branco will be able to push a market-friendly agenda, set fuel prices, and get more aggressive with divestments. While its a far cry from wholesale privatization, all of these would be major changes compared Brazils previous leftist administrations. In fact, after so many years of anti-privatization government, Brazil now has more state-owned enterprises (SOEs) than any other nation in the Western Hemisphere, even prompting Forbes to label it the China of Latin America. Related: Economic Turmoil Could Send Oil Even Lower While there are plenty of strong arguments in favor of privatization, which would help Brazilian oil stay competitive and go a long way to combatting the countrys hefty debts, there is also considerable opposition to the new pro-market forces taking over Brazilian politics and industry. Its highly unpopular among the Brazilian military, which sows considerable division among ex-military officer Bolsonaro's base. Privatization would likely also mean the end of hard-won subsidies for fuel prices (instated after a trucker strike that left the nation in gridlock earlier this year), another hugely unpopular proposition. After so many years of Brazil striving to keep their own rich resources under domestic control, many of its constituents also bristle to the idea of ceding that independence to foreign investors with deep pockets. That being said, Bolsonaro has already announced his plans to begin a massive push to sell a huge quantity of Petrobras pre-salt crude deposits to foreign investors. If all goes according to plan, a staggering amount of oil, greater than all of Mexicos proven reserves, would suddenly become available to Big Oil. For his own part, Castellano Branco has said that he will be re-focusing Petrobras strategy toward selling off the massive companys non-core assets and emphasizing oil exploration and production. Speaking to Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, Castellano Branco said The privatization of the company is not in question. I do not have a mandate to think about it, but the fact remains that any pro-economic reform, sweeping overhaul or no, will be a big change (hopefully for the better) for long-struggling Brazil. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Gazprom Export, the export arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom, has stopped the natural gas auctions on its electronic sales platform because all natural gas available until the end of 2018 has already been sold, a source close to the issue told S&P Global Platts on Wednesday. Gazprom Export launched on August 17 its Electronic Sales Platform (ESP) for physical natural gas sales to European consumers, in addition to supplies under existing contracts. The Russian firm expects the platform to become an additional mean to optimize supplies of gas, Elena Burmistrova, Director General of Gazprom Export, said. Sales via the ESP began on September 20, and according to Gazprom Export data, no auctions have been held since last Friday, November 16. There are no auctions as all of the gas available in balance has been sold till the end of the year, the source close to the process told Platts. Gazprom first set a ceiling of 1.14 Bcm of natural gas to be sold in auctions that were planned to run until the end of December this year. Later in the process the Russian company lifted the ceiling. According to Platts estimates, the auction process was halted at 1.036 Bcm sold, just below the original ceiling. Gazprom, which holds around a third of the European gas market, started the electronic daily auctions to sell gas to customers outside its long-term contract model. Between January and mid-November, Gazproms natural gas deliveries to European countries increased by 3.5 percent compared to the same period last year, with exports to Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Greece rising, Gazprom said last week. Last month, Gazprom Exports Burmistrova said that the Russian giant sees additional demand for its gas in Europe at up to 50 Bcm in the medium and long term, and that it would continue to push for the Nord Stream 2 and Turk Stream pipeline projects. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Australia unveiled a radical plan Thursday to strip convicted terrorists of their citizenship even if they are native-born Australians. Acting after a series of Jihadist-inspired plots and attacks in the country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government needed expanded powers to withdraw citizenship from anyone found guilty of terrorist activity. "People who commit acts of terrorism have rejected absolutely everything that this country stands for," Morrison told a hastily organised press conference. "This is something that can't be tolerated, and for those who would engage in this sort of activity, and they have citizenship elsewhere, or we have reason to believe they do, they can go." Australia's current Citizenship Act allows authorities to revoke citizenship from people jailed for six years or more for terrorist activities, but only if they are already dual nationals. Morrison called these limits "unrealistic" and said the law should be broadened so that anyone convicted of a terrorist offence, even native-born Australians, could be expelled if they could "reasonably" be expected to gain citizenship in another country through their parents or grandparents. The conservative government will submit legislation to amend the Citizenship Act to enshrine these new powers by the end of the year, he said. The legislation will also seek the power to impose "temporary exclusion orders" on so-called "returned foreign fighters" -- Australian citizens who travel to conflict zones to fight alongside extremist groups. Modelled on a British law, the provision would allow Australia to bar the return of a citizen for up to two years, and to impose strict conditions on their activities once they come home. Morrison's action came two days after police in Melbourne arrested three Australian-born men of Turkish descent for allegedly plotting a mass shooting in the city. Less than two weeks earlier, another man who was born in Somalia but came to Australia with his family as a child, went on a stabbing rampage in Melbourne, killing one man and wounding two others before being fatally shot by police. Authorities said all four men were inspired by Jihadist propaganda from the so-called Islamic State group, even though none had any direct links to an extremist organisation. - Controversial legislation - Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said there had been seven terror-related attacks in Australia while authorities had thwarted 15 other plots since 2014. Nine convicted terrorists have already had their citizenship revoked under existing law, mainly for activities overseas, he added. "We assess there are around 50 Australian dual citizens who may be eligible to lose citizenship under the current provisions, and even more with the changes we are announcing today," Dutton said. Morrison and Dutton also said they would renew a push for controversial legislation which would allow authorities to break into encrypted messaging apps that police say are widely used by extremists and other criminals. The law, which would force app developers and telecom companies to provide police with the ability to decrypt messages, has drawn strong criticism from civil liberties groups. Morrison heads a minority coalition government that must call a national election before May 2019 but is trailing well behind the main opposition Labor Party in opinion polls. As campaigning builds towards the election, Morrison and Dutton have led a tough law-and-order push around terrorism and immigration. The government's proposed citizenship crackdown is meanwhile certain to worsen tensions with parts of Australia's large Muslim community. Several Islamic leaders already boycotted a proposed meeting with Morrison this week after he said the community needed to do more to police extremists in their ranks. BMW is making inroads into the ride-hailing business in China after securing a permit in Chengdu, making it the first global carmaker to obtain this kind of access in the worlds largest mobility market. Transport authorities in Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan province, awarded the licence earlier this month to the companys subsidiary, BMW Mobility, according to an announcement late on Wednesday. The permit will enable the German carmaker to provide online booked taxi services in the city, according to the statement. BMW did not reveal details of the expected fleet size or when it will launch services. China has become the worlds largest mobility market after fourfold growth over the past three years, according to a survey by consultancy Bain & Company. It found 62 per cent of respondents in mainland China hail rides online, compared to 29 per cent in Germany and 23 per cent in the US. Meanwhile, the ride-hailing scene in China has seen a rising number of traditional car makers enter the market which has been dominated to date by Didi Chuxing. Last week, a car-hailing platform backed by Chinese state carmaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation rolled out trial operations in Shanghai. Geely launched ride hailing services via its Caocao Car subsidiary a year earlier. Chinas Didi Chuxing rolls out in-car audio recording as part of safety overhaul The market has also attracted new players including Meituan Dianping, Dida Chuxing, Shouqi and UCAR. Didi Chuxing still accounts for more than 90 per cent of ride-hailing orders in China though. Having driven Uber out of the country in 2016 in exchange for a minority stake, the ride-hailing giant counts Apple, Softbank, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings among its biggest shareholders. Last year it handled 7.4 billion rides, compared with Ubers 4 billion trips. With more players in the market, the quality of service and safety of passengers is expected to take centre stage after two rape and murder cases involving Didi drivers and passengers earlier this year plunged the industry into turmoil. Story continues At the peak of the crisis in September, company founder and chief executive Cheng Wei said Didi had not made a profit in the six years since its founding and recorded a net loss of 4 billion yuan in the first half of the year. Alibaba is the parent company of the Post. This article BMW makes inroads into China after winning ride-hailing licence in Chengdu first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. Jailed Chinese billionaire Huang Guangyu could have a better chance of overturning his conviction for running an illegal business operation as Beijing pledges to protect the private sector and the countrys top prosecutor calls for more prudent use of criminal law, observers said. Huang, former chairman of retail chain Gome Electrical Appliances, was jailed for eight years in 2010 for transferring 800 million yuan (US$115.3 million) to underground private banks in 2007 for them to convert to Hong Kong dollars to pay gambling debts. He was also convicted of insider trading and corporate bribery, earning 14 years in total behind bars. But his conviction for running an illegal business was particularly controversial. Ruan Qilin, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, told China Business Journal that Huangs money transfer amounted to illegal foreign currency trading because it was not done to make a profit. Huangs action violated an administrative law of illegally buying currencies, but it is not a criminal act, he was quoted as saying. Huang, who topped Hurun China Rich List from 2005 to 2008, was told two years ago that he would get a retrial for the crime but there has been no progress since then, according to the report. An insider, quoted by the China Business Journal, said the judicial environment had changed greatly and recent announcements by Chinas top court and prosecutorial body would make a difference. Beijing has been trying to boost the confidence of the private sector as the economy slows and a hostile political environment for China brews overseas. Chinese President Xi Jinping met private business owners earlier this month and told them he was there to boost their confidence. Soon afterward, the Supreme Peoples Court and Supreme Peoples Procuratorate (SPP) announced they would be very prudent when applying criminal law to private businesses and their owners and would speed up righting the wrongs done to business owners in the courts. Story continues Last week, the SPP said businesspeople must not be charged with running illegal operations unless their dealings were specifically prohibited by law or an interpretation of the law. Prosecutors were told to confine laying charges to the rules of criminal law and draw a line between crime and the legitimate operations of a private business. There is already some precedent for overturning Huangs conviction. Before he was executed in 2015 for mafia-style businesses and murder, Sichuan mining tycoon Liu Han was acquitted of the charge of running an illegal business after transferring more than 500 million yuan to underground private banks. Liu transferred the money from December 2001 to June 2010 to cover his overseas gambling debts. The report cited Chen Xingliang, a law professor at Peking University, as saying Lius acquittal supported the case that Huangs conviction lacked the essential profit-making motive needed for an illegal business operation conviction under the criminal code. Zhao Xudong, a law professor at China University of Political Sciences and Law, agreed that while Huang had violated foreign currency supervision provisions, he had paid off debts without aiming to make a profit, the report said. He said the judicial decision-making had undergone great changes, the biggest being that all documents from the central government now stressed the need to protect the legitimate rights and interests of private business owners, including correcting the wrong convictions against them. Huangs other offences put aside, the crime of running illegal business operations is in need of amendment or correction, he said. Huangs jail term was cut by 21 months for good behaviour, and he has two years and three months left to serve. This article Chinas wooing of private enterprise may let billionaire Huang Guangyu challenge 2010 business conviction 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: PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the dismissal from service of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Secretary-General Falconi Millar, who is accused of corruption."For all PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the dismissal from service of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Secretary-General Falconi Millar, who is accused of corruption. "For all of you, disabuse your minds about corruption in government," the President said in a speech delivered during the inauguration of the Cavite Gateway Terminal in Tanza, Cavite on Thursday, November 22. "In at least dito sa (here in the) executive department, wala ho kami niyan (there's no corruption). Just before I left my office, I signed a dismissal order ng (of) secretary general ng (of) Housing [and Urban Development Coordinating Council], a certain Millar," he added. Duterte made the announcement nearly a week after he announced that he would fire a high-ranking government official allegedly involved in corruption. In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Millar was ordered to vacate his post "immediately." "The Palace is announcing the termination of services of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Secretary-General Falconi V. Millar due to allegations of corruption," Panelo said. "The Presidents order takes effect immediately," he added. Both Duterte and Panelo did not elaborate on Millar's supposed involvement in corruption. Millar, who was sworn into office in September 2017, was the head of the Task Force Bangon Marawi Secretariat. The task force leads the rehabilitation effforts in war-torn Marawi. Panelo assured the the public that the delivery of public services would not be disrupted, especially in rehabilitating Marawi City and other affected areas. The Palace official added that the HUDDC official's termination of service merely proved that Duterte would not allow even just a "whiff of corruption" during his watch. "There are no sacred cows in the administration, especially in its drive against corruption. As the President said, he will not tolerate even a whiff of corruption in the Executive Branch of Government," he said. Shortly after the announcement, Millar said his termination from office was an "obvious demolition job." "It is an obvious demolition job, in protecting the interest of the government, I have annoyed some personalities, I filed my resignation this morning," he said in a statement sent to Palace reporters. (SunStar Philippines) NINE years after the deadliest attack on journalists in Maguindanao, Malacanang admitted Thursday, November 22, that justice remains elusive for the 58 massacre victims."We're not surprised that NINE years after the deadliest attack on journalists in Maguindanao, Malacanang admitted Thursday, November 22, that justice remains elusive for the 58 massacre victims. "We're not surprised that the wheels of justice in this country grind so slow. Many cases take so long," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, who served as former legal counsel of the individuals accused of being behind the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, told a press conference. The Maguindanao massacre, which claimed the lives of 58 individuals including 32 media workers, occurred on November 23, 2009. Members of the Ampatuan clan are facing criminal charges for allegedly being the masterminds behind the cold-blooded killing of the 58 individuals. The 58 victims included 32 media workers, the wife of Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, lawyers and supporters. They were in a convoy to Shariff Aguak town to file Mangudadatu's certificate of candidacy for the May 2010 elections. A group of armed men stopped the convoy, shot them dead and used a backhoe to bury them while they were still onboard the vehicles. Before the country commemorates the ninth anniversary of the infamous Maguindanao massacre, Panelo guaranteed that the government, through the Department of Justice (DOJ), is doing its best to attain justice for the families and victims of the mass killing. "What's important to us is justice will prevail. Rule of law will have to be observed regardless of who the persons are involved in any particular case," the Palace official said. "The DOJ is the one responsible for prosecuting the case and so it is doing its job, its level best, to speed up the prosecution of the case," he added. On Monday, November 19, acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said the families of massacre victims will soon hear the verdict on the accused of perpetrating the mass killings. There are a total of 197 accused in the massacre. Around 103 of the 197 accused are currently undergoing trial for multiple murders, including prime suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. Story continues Aside from Ampatuan Jr., others accused of the same charges were his father, the late Andal Ampatuan Sr., and his brothers Zaldy Ampatuan and Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan. Datu Sajid was allowed to post bail by the court in January 2015 while Ampatuan Sr. died in detention on July 17, 2015. Asked if a resolution on Maguindanao massacre case will be issued anytime soon, Panelo said, "It depends on the stage of the case. It depends. And it depends on the prosecutor." Pressed again if he thinks the accused will be convicted, the Palace official said the ruling will depend on the "basis of evidence." "We can always speculate. You know the court will always rule on the basis of evidence. That has been the rule and that has been the training of all lawyers," he said. (SunStar Philippines) US troops stationed on the border with Mexico ahead of the expected arrival of a Central American migrant caravans can intervene to quell violence but will be armed only with batons, Defense Minister Jim Mattis said on Wednesday. The White House has given almost 5,800 troops posted along the frontier guidance that they can come to the aid of any Customs and Border Protection agents who come under attack, Mattis told reporters. But even if migrants try to force their way through border posts, they will likely be met by military police with shields and batons, with "no armed element going in," he added. In all, some 8,000 migrants are currently crossing Mexico in several caravans, according to the Mexican interior ministry. They are mostly fleeing poverty and unrest in Central America's "Northern Triangle" -- El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where brutal gang violence has fueled some of the highest murder rates in the world. President Donald Trump ordered troops to the border in a move critics decried as a costly political stunt to galvanize supporters ahead of hard-fought midterm elections earlier this month. Trump declared the exodus a "national emergency" and an "invasion" -- suggesting US troops could shoot migrants if they threw stones at the US border -- but he has since been less vocal on the issue. The US military is not allowed in almost any case to get involved in domestic law enforcement and the border mission has put the supposedly non-political military in an uncomfortable spotlight. Mattis said he had taken no decision on the duration of the deployment, initially expected until December 15, because that would depend on HOW the mission developed, he said. The estimated cost is currently $72 million but "I am confident that number will go up," the Pentagon chief said. Seized suspected shabu and firearm PASAY CITY, Philippines A visitor at Pasay City Jail was arrested after he was caught in possession of over 200 grams of suspected shabu inside the facility. Thirty-one-year-old Jonathan Roxas was at the facility to visit his detained cousin. But the jail guard noticed that Roxas was uneasy and exhibiting suspicious behavior. When the jail guard conducted a body search on Roxas, the guard discovered bulks of shabu in his pocket valued at P200,000. Sa BJMP kasi, bago ka pumasok may mga protocol sila; mga process sila. Kinakapkapan yung mga bibisita as a process of frisking. It so happened na nakuhanan ito during the frisking ng isang bulto, said acting chief of police, PSSupt. Noel Flores of Pasay City Police Station. Roxas was immediately turned over by members of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to the Pasay City Police for questioning. Authorities then discovered that the suspect had a vehicle parked somewhere. When they checked the vehicle, they discovered another bulk of suspected shabu worth around P1M; two sachets of marijuana; a .9mm caliber pistol and several drug paraphernalia. Hindi nga kami nagkamali. Meron pang mga droga sa loob ng sasakyan. Naka-bottle siya na stainless iyong mga flavored lahat, Flores said. Overall, authorities seized from Roxas 220 grams of suspected shabu worth P1.2 million. Roxas argued that he was compelled to sell drugs to support his family. Police records show that Roxas has a pending drug case and has been out on bail. Authorities are now investigating the inmates who Roxas regularly visited. The suspect is now facing charges in violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and for illegal possession of firearms. Marje Pelayo (with reports from Asher Cadapan Jr.) The post Visitor nabbed for bringing in P1.2M-worth of shabu inside Pasay City Jail appeared first on UNTV News. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Appearing before the banking royal commission, the newly appointed head of the Commonwealth Bank, Matt Comyn, has held out the prospect of ethical leadership making a difference. He revealed that for more than a year as head of the Commonwealth's retail division, he had wanted to shut down an insurance policy that charged many people for cover they were unable to claim. The head of the bank at the time, his boss Ian Narev, refused, telling him among other things: "temper your sense of justice". Comyn made a contemporaneous note that was displayed on a screen at the commission. The quote (which may be disputedNarev has not had it put to him by the commission) is almost as memorable as the now infamous one by Oliver Schmidt, the since-jailed general manager in charge of Volkswagen's engineering and environmental office, in an email during what became the emissions cheating scandal. He was found to have written: It should first be decided whether we are honest. If we are not honest, everything stays as it is." Could Australia's banks decide to be honest? In his interim report, Commissioner Kenneth Hayne nominated two things that would help: ethical leadership at the top, and consumer financial literacy that would keep those ethical leaders honest. Unfortunately, there is evidence neither will be enough. Literacy is a losing battle Firstly, the notion that financially educated consumers can keep anything at bay is seriously problematic. Researchers found it hard to even teach financial literacy given it is such a moving target. Continually changing tools and technologies, including the growth of artificially intelligent financial service providers, are hard to stay on top of. And change from the top is hard Secondly, there is enormous inertia at the top. As an example, both the AMP and TAL Insurance released statements after evidence given to the commission supporting some of the unethical practices exposed. AMP said it's within its legal rights to charge dead people life insurance premiums, and said it after its chair and chief executive had resigned. TAL Insurance said its practice of seeking out medical information unrelated to a claim in order to prove non disclosure and deny the claim was standard industry practice at the time. Banks have a history of commissioning risk culture studies and then reporting that everything's fine, something that suggests a commitment to the idea of good behaviour rather than its practice. The group's the thing Financial incentives can dull our sense of what's right. Recent research indicates that those with something to gain from bad behaviour are less likely to see it as a problem, all the more so if it is practised in a group. But groups can also be used to stimulate good behaviour. What is needed is the relatively new concept of "ethical followership". Ethical followership is an understanding that doing good in organisations is co-produced by both leaders and their followers. Building a culture of ethical followership includes seeking out and recruiting those who are willing to be brave in their ethics and can handle the stress of standing against the crowd for what they know is right. Radical honesty is the answer These people, who arrive ready to drive good in the workplace, should be specifically rewarded for calling out and discussing what is wrong and thereby encouraging others to do the same. Built up around them should be a growing progression to radical honesty, which would include recording, and openly allowing access to, all meeting notes, decisions, even actual tapes of meetings in order to generate a better memory for honesty. It can make money Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, is a champion of radical honesty. Nearly every meeting is taped and anyone relevant is allowed to go back and watch. Confrontation is as good as compulsory. It isn't easy, and it has critics, but it works for Bridgewater. In Australia, too many whistleblowers have been alienated and discarded simply for doing what Bridgewater would encourage them to do. If the bank is brave Their experiences bring in to question whether Australian financial institutions are capable of embracing the level of ethical followership that would be needed to rebuild trust with the Australian people. Many within them would see it as too big a price to pay. Others would see it as a small price to pay for continued access to a stream of government guaranteed deposits. Explore further Consumers need critical thinking to fend off banks' bad behaviour This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The shadow of a black hole surrounded by a ring of fire in a generic simulation. Credit: T. Bronzwaer, M. Moscibrodzka, H. Falcke Radboud University In the shadowy regions of black holes two fundamental theories describing our world collide. Can these problems be resolved and do black holes really exist? First, we may have to see one and scientists are trying to do just this. Of all the forces in physics there is one that we still do not understand at all: Gravity. Gravity is where fundamental physics and astronomy meet, and where the two most fundamental theories describing our worldquantum theory and Einstein's theory of spacetime and gravity (aka. the theory of general relativity) clash head on. The two theories are seemingly incompatible. And for the most part this isn't a problem. They both live in distinct worlds, where quantum physics describes the very small, and general relativity describes the very largest scales. Only when you get to very small scales and extreme gravity, do the two theories collide, and somehow, one of them gets it wrong. At least in theory. But there is once place in the universe where we could actually witness this problem occurring in real life and perhaps even solve it: the edge of a black hole. Here, we find the most extreme gravity. There's just one issue nobody has ever actually 'seen' a black hole. So, what is a black hole? Imagine that the entire drama of the physical world unfolds in the theatre of spacetime, but gravity is the only 'force' that actually modifies the theatre in which it plays. The force of gravity rules the universe, but it may not even be a force in the traditional sense. Einstein described it as a consequence of the deformation of spacetime. And perhaps it simply does not fit the standard model of particle physics. When a very big star explodes at the end of its lifetime, its innermost part will collapse under its own gravity, since there is no longer enough fuel to sustain the pressure working against the force of gravity (yes, gravity feels like a force after all, doesn't it!). The matter collapses and no force in nature is known to be able to stop that collapse, ever. In an infinite time, the star will have collapsed into an infinitely small point: a singularity or to give it another name, a black hole. Of course, in a finite time the stellar core will have collapsed into something of a finite size and this would still be a huge amount of mass in an insanely small region and it still is called a black hole! Black holes do not suck in everything around them Interestingly, it is not true that a black hole will inevitably draw everything in. In fact, whether you are orbiting a star or a black hole that formed from a star, it does not make a difference, so long as the mass is the same. The good old centrifugal force and your angular momentum will keep you safe and stop you from falling in. Only when you fire your giant rocket thrusters to brake your rotation, will you start falling inwards. However, once you fall towards a black hole you will be accelerated to higher and higher speeds, until you eventually reach the speed of light. Simulated image as predicted for the supermassive black in the galaxy M87 at the frequencies observed with the Event Horizon Telescope (230 GHz). Credit: Moscibrodzka, Falcke, Shiokawa, Astronomy & Astrophysics, V. 586, p. 15, 2016, reproduced with permission ESO Why are quantum theory and general relativity incompatible? At this point everything goes wrong as, according to general relativity, nothing should move faster than the speed of light. Light is the substrate used in the quantum world to exchange forces and to transport information in the macro world. Light determines how fast you can connect cause and consequences. If you go faster than light, you could see events and change things before they happen. This has two consequences: At the point where you reach the speed of light while falling inwards, you would also need to fly out at the speed of light to escape that point, which seems impossible. Hence, conventional physical wisdom will tell you that nothing can escape a black hole, once it has passed that point, which we call the "event horizon." It also means that suddenly basic principles of quantum information preservation are brutally violated conserved quantum quantities can simply disappear behind a wall of silence. Whether that is true and whether and how the theory of gravity (or of quantum physics) needs to be modified is a question of intense debate among physicists, and none of us can say which way the argument will lead in the end. Do black holes even exist? Of course, all this excitement would only be justified, if black holes really existed in this universe. So, do they? In the last century strong evidence has mounted that certain binary stars with intense X-ray emissions are in fact stars collapsed into black holes. Moreover, in the centres of galaxies we often find evidence for huge, dark concentrations of mass. These might be supermassive versions of black holes, possibly formed through the merger of many stars and gas clouds that have sunk into the centre of a galaxy. The evidence is convincing, but circumstantial. At least gravitational waves have let us 'hear' the merger of black holes, but the signature of the event horizon is still elusive and so far, we have never actually 'seen' a black hole they simply tend to be too small and too far and, in most cases, yes, black... So, what would a black hole actually look like? If you could look straight into a black hole you would see the darkest dark, you can imagine. But, the immediate surroundings of a black hole could be bright as gasses spiral inwards slowed down by the drag of magnetic fields they carry along. Due to the magnetic friction the gas will heat up to enormous temperatures of up to several tens of billion degrees and start to radiate UV-light and X-rays. Ultra-hot electrons interacting with the magnetic field in the gas will start producing intense radio emission. Thus, black holes can glow and could be surrounded by a ring of fire that radiates at many different wavelengths. A ring of fire with a dark, dark centre In their very centre, however, the event horizon still lurks and like a bird of prey it catches every photon that gets too close. Radio images of the jet in the radio galaxy M87 observed at lower resolution. The left frame is roughly 250,000 light years across. Magnetic fields threading the supermassive black holes lead to the formation of a highly collimated jet that spits out hot plasma with speeds close to the speed of light . Credit: H. Falcke, Radboud university, with images from LOFAR/NRAO/MPIfR Bonn Since space is bent by the enormous mass of a black hole, light paths will also be bent and even form into almost concentric circles around the black hole, like serpentines around a deep valley. This effect of circling light was calculated already in 1916 by the famous Mathematician David Hilbert only a few months after Albert Einstein finalised his theory of general relativity. After orbiting the black hole multiple times, some of the light rays might escape while others will end up in the event horizon. Along this complicated light path, you can literally look into the black hole. The nothingness you see is the event horizon. If you were to take a photo of a black hole, what you would see would be akin to a dark shadow in the middle of a glowing fog of light. Hence, we called this feature the shadow of a black hole . Interestingly, the shadow appears larger than you might expect by simply taking the diameter of the event horizon. The reason is simply, that the black hole acts as a giant lens, amplifying itself. Surrounding the shadow will be a thin 'photon ring' due to light circling the black hole almost forever. Further out, you would see more rings of light that arise from near the event horizon, but tend to be concentrated around the black hole shadow due to the lensing effect. Fantasy or reality? Is this pure fantasy that can only be simulated in a computer? Or can it actually be seen in practice? The answer is that it probably can. There are two relatively nearby supermassive black holes in the universe which are so large and close, that their shadows could be resolved with modern technology. These are the black holes in the center of our own Milky Way at a distance of 26,000 lightyears with a mass of 4 million times the mass of the sun, and the black hole in the giant elliptical galaxy M87 (Messier 87) with a mass of 3 to 6 billion solar masses. M87 is a thousand times further away, but also a thousand times more massive and a thousand times larger, so that both objects are expected to have roughly the same shadow diameter projected onto the sky. Like seeing a grain of mustard in New York from Europe Coincidentally, simple theories of radiation also predict that for both objects the emission generated near the event horizon would be emitted at the same radio frequencies of 230 GHz and above. Most of us come across these frequencies only when we have to pass through a modern airport scanner but some black holes are continuously bathed in them. The radiation has a very short wavelength of about one millimetre and is easily absorbed by water. For a telescope to observe cosmic millimetre waves it will therefore have to be placed high up, on a dry mountain, to avoid absorption of the radiation in the Earth's troposphere. Effectively, you need a millimetre-wave telescope that can see an object the size of a mustard seed in New York from as far away as Nijmegen in the Netherlands. That is a telescope a thousand times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope and for millimetre-waves this requires a telescope the size of the Atlantic Ocean or larger. A virtual Earth-sized telescope Fortunately, we do not need to cover the Earth with a single radio dish, but we can build a virtual telescope with the same resolution by combining data from telescopes on different mountains across the Earth. The technique is called Earth rotation synthesis and very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). The idea is old and has been tested for decades already, but it is only now possible at high radio frequencies. Layout of the Event Horizon Telescope connecting radio telescopes around the world (JCMT & SMA in Hawaii, AMTO in Arizona, LMT in Mexico, ALMA &APEX in Chile, SPT on the South Pole, IRAM 30m in Spain). The red lines are to a proposed telescope on the Gamsberg in Namibia that is still being planned. Credit: ScienceNordic / Forskerzonen. Compiled from images provided by the author The first successful experiments have already shown that event horizon structures can be probed at these frequencies. Now high-bandwidth digital equipment and large telescopes are available to do this experiment on a large scale. Work is already underway I am one of the three Principal Investigators of the BlackHoleCam project. BlackHoleCam is an EU-funded project to finally image, measure and understand astrophysical black holes. Our European project is part of a global collaboration known as the Event Horizon Telescope consortium a collaboration of over 200 scientists from Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Together we want to take the first picture of a black hole. In April 2017 we observed the Galactic Center and M87 with eight telescopes on six different mountains in Spain, Arizona, Hawaii, Mexico, Chile, and the South Pole. All telescopes were equipped with precise atomic clocks to accurately synchronise their data. We recorded multiple petabytes of raw data, thanks to surprisingly good weather conditions around the globe at the time. We are all excited about working with this data. Of course, even in the best of all cases, the images will never look as pretty as the computer simulations. But, at least they will be real and whatever we see will be interesting in its own right. To get even better images telescopes in Greenland and France are being added. Moreover, we have started raising funds for additional telescopes in Africa and perhaps elsewhere and we are even thinking about telescopes in space. A 'photo' of a black hole If we actually succeed in seeing an event horizon, we will know that the problems we have in rhyming quantum theory and general relativity are not abstract problems, but are very real. And we can point to them in the very real shadowy regions of black holes in a clearly marked region of our universe. This is perhaps also the place where these problems will eventually be solved. We could do this by obtaining sharper images of the shadow, or maybe by tracing stars and pulsars as they orbit around black holes, through measuring spacetime ripples as black holes merge, or as is most likely, by using all of the techniques that we now have, together, to probe black holes. A once exotic concept is now a real working laboratory As a student, I wondered what to study: particle physics or astrophysics? After reading many popular science articles, my impression was that particle physics had already reached its peak. This field had established an impressive standard model and was able to explain most of the forces and the particles governing our world. Astronomy though, had just started to explore the depths of a fascinating universe. There was still a lot to be discovered. And I wanted to discover something. In the end, I chose astrophysics as I wanted to understand gravity. And since you find the most extreme gravity near black holes, I decided to stay as close to them as possible. Today, what used to be an exotic concept when I started my studies, promises to become a very real and very much visible physics laboratory in the not too distant future. Explore further Most detailed observations of material orbiting close to a black hole This story is republished courtesy of ScienceNordic, the trusted source for English-language science news from the Nordic countries. Read the original story here. Researcher Michelle Garneau from the University of Quebec in Montreal tests soil in a peat bog to gauge the climate impact of the giant Romaine hydroelectric dam project Squatting on spongy soil, a climate scientist lays a small cone-shaped device to "measure the breathing" of a peat bog in the northern part of Canada's Quebec province. Michelle Garneau, a university researcher and a member of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is collecting the first data on areas flooded to build the new Romaine hydroelectric dams in a bid to assess the project's impact on the region. While renewable hydroelectricity itself is considered to be one of the cleanest sources of energy on the planet, there is currently no proven model for calculating the greenhouse gas emissions released by flooding huge areas behind new dams. With construction of four new dams on the Romaine River in northern Quebec nearly complete, researchers saw an opportunity to try out new techniques to measure its carbon footprint. The team led by Garneau zeroed in on a swamp a mere stone's throw from the raging river in the wilds of Canada's boreal forest, an area accessible only by helicopter. After landing, she takes several boxes out of the belly of the aircraft and places them next to some solar panels and a portable weather station that she and her students installed over this summer. The devices are expected to produce sample data within two years. "Every 20 minutes, the cone will capture and measure the breathing of the soil," she explains, placing a transparent device that resembles a handbell on the lichen, as wild geese honk and cackle overhead. Researcher Michelle Garneau's team is building a temporary weather station to record data from the area near the Romaine hydroelectric dam project in Canada's Quebec province She takes a few steps further on the unstable ground and places a box that connects to sensors already sunk into the ground. "This automated device to measure the photosynthetic activity records the CO2 and methane emissions every three minutes, for hours," the researcher says. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane emissions are the main sources of global warming. Another team is measuring carbon dioxide emissions from artificial lakes created by flooding lands behind dams, for eventual comparison. More research needed About one-third of the world's land area is covered by forests, which act as sinks for greenhouse gases. Canada's vast boreal forest has trapped more than 300 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council. However, 10 to 13 percent of Canada's boreal forest is covered by peatlandswetlands with high levels of organic matterand very little is known about them, says Garneau, research chair on peat ecosystems and climate change at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). An aerial view with the Romaine River in the background and Hydro-Quebec's power line seen north of Havre-St-Pierre in Canada's Quebec provinceclimate scientists are trying to gauge the impact of a new hydroelectric dam project Her work is supported by the province's utility Hydro-Quebec, whose damsonce the four additional hydropower plants on the Romaine River are turned on in 2019will supply 90 percent of Quebec's power needs. The data collected in this study should "serve the IPCC and the advancement of science in general" by helping to better peg the carbon footprint of flooded wilderness, Garneau told AFP. The information is crucial with several new big hydroelectric projects due to come online in the coming years, including in Canada, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Laos, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe. "We're creating artificial reservoirs around the world, but GHG emissions from hydroelectricity are not well accounted for," said Paul Del Giorgio, a biologist at UQAM. "There are some dams in tropical zones that emit as many greenhouse gases as coal plants," due to the accelerated decomposition of drowned organic materials, said the Argentine researcher. Del Giorgio and his students complement Garneau's research by taking water samples from flooded lands behind dams that are analyzed in a field laboratory set up in Havre-Saint-Pierre's town hall. Both datasets will be plugged into a complex set of equations to determine the volume of greenhouse gas emissions from dams. The first results of their work are expected in 2019 and are highly anticipated by climate scientists worldwide, says Garneau. The IPCC desperately needs "to have better models, for better predicting climate change," she said. 2018 AFP Credit: CC0 Public Domain Corals and the microbes they host evolved together, new research by Oregon State University shows. The findings, published today in Nature Communications, add fresh insight to the fight to save the Earth's embattled coral reefs, the planet's largest and most significant structures of biological origin. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study involved hundreds of samples of scleractinian coralsalso known as stony coralswhich since their first appearance 425 million years ago have branched into more than 1,500 species. Many of those are major builders of coral reefs, which are found in less than 1 percent of the ocean but are home to nearly one-quarter of all known marine species. Reefs also help regulate the sea's carbon dioxide levels and are a crucial hunting ground that scientists use in the search for new medicines. "Many corals have gone extinct during industrialization and many others are threatened with extinction," said study co-author and OSU microbiologist Rebecca Vega Thurber, who is featured in the 2018 Oregon State University-produced documentary "Saving Atlantis." "If we see patterns of evolution between microbiomes and corals, that gives us an idea of which microbes to targetto learn what they do, how they help corals resist climate change, and how they help to buffer against nutrient pollution. We can look in more depth at the microbes and understand how they help or hurt their hosts." Modern corals are home to a complex composition of dinoflagellates, fungi, bacteria and archaea that together make up the coral microbiome. Shifts in microbiome composition are connected to changes in coral health. "Likely the ancestral corals also harbored complex microbial communities but there's a lot we don't know about how these coral-microbe symbioses evolved or the key factors influencing microbial communities in modern corals," Vega Thurber said. "Certain species of corals have distinct microbiomes, to the point where that occurred at some point in their evolutionary history. Not 400 million years ago, but there are specific groups of microbes that do show very strong evidence of evolving with their hosts more recently." Vega Thurber and Ryan McMinds, a Ph.D. student in her lab and co-first author of the paper, were part of an international collaboration that also included Penn State University's Monica Medina and former Oregon State post-doctoral scholar Jesse Zaneveld, now an assistant professor at the University of Washington-Bothell. The massive, computationally challenging research project involved taking 600 coral samples from 21 reefs off the coasts of Australia, spanning 17 degrees of latitude. "On a lot of different scales, the more similar the coral hosts, the more similar the microbial communities areboth the whole community and particular microbes," McMinds said. "We collected samples from as many kinds of corals as was possible. For every sample set, we looked at the corals' tissue, skeleton and mucus to see what microbes were there." To do that, the researchers sequenced the 16S rRNA gene. The gene is present in every living organism, McMinds explains, but is slightly different. He likened it to a "molecular bar code" of each organism it belongs to. From there, the scientists could look for patterns between different corals' microbial communities and determine whether co-evolution of the corals and their microbiomes had taken place. "We found strong support for coral-microbe 'phylosymbiosis,' in which coral microbiome composition and richness is reflected in coral host's evolutionary history," Vega Thurber said. "When speciation for modern reef-building coral families began between roughly 25 million and 65 years ago, that was accompanied by large changes in microbiome richness. And changes continued to accumulate during more recent speciation events." Coral diversity is too great for assessing the various factors that maintain the microbiome of every single coral species, but these findings provide general rules for microbiome assembly "that inform estimates of the effects of microorganisms in understudied portions of the coral tree." "Now we have a framework for analyzing scleractinian coral microbes that can reveal how the corals' evolutionary history, host traits and local environment interact to shape microbiomes," Vega Thurber said. "In the coral world, there's been a longstanding hypothesis that microbes and coral co-evolved, but there hadn't been a sufficient data set to test that before now." It was something of a surprise to researchers to find that the microbial communities of the corals' calcium carbonate skeletons showed greater microbiome richness compared to the tissue and mucus microbiomes. Also, the skeletal microbiomes displayed the strongest signal of long-term phylosymbiosisa pattern in which the diversification of a related group of host organisms correlates with changes in dissimilarities among their microbiomes. "We originally thought corals would show signs of phylosymbiosis throughout their entire phylogenetic history, and the results support that for the skeleton and tissue but not the mucus," McMinds said. "Despite variability in the chemical composition of mucus between species and significant host-specificity in the mucus microbiome, host specificity was limited to relatively recent divergences." He also noted the research found potential significance in "a few groups of microbes no one had thought were important to look at." "There are thousands of different species of microbes and not that many that researchers have thought were interesting, and we identified a couple of other microbial targets that might be influencing coral health," McMinds said. "We don't know for sure if they are important, but evidence suggests they're changing along with their hosts, so it's probably something important they're doing. They're not a standard symbiont but it seems they're something worth looking at more closely." Explore further New research suggests corals produce molecules that can help resist disease More information: F. Joseph Pollock et al, Coral-associated bacteria demonstrate phylosymbiosis and cophylogeny, Nature Communications (2018). Journal information: Nature Communications F. Joseph Pollock et al, Coral-associated bacteria demonstrate phylosymbiosis and cophylogeny,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07275-x Researchers test the paper diagnostic. Credit: Anthony Guimaraes An MIT Tata Center funded research team led by MIT Professor Lee Gehrke and collaborator Irene Bosch has developed a paper-based diagnostic test to detect Zika, dengue, chikungunya and other related viruses within minutes. To commercialize the venture, they recently formed life sciences startup, E25Bio, to not only change the way mosquito-borne illnesses are diagnosed, but also enable governments to effectively prevent an outbreak from turning into a public health crisis, especially in high-risk, resource-poor areas across the developing world. Conventional methods deployed to test for infectious diseases typically require long lead times for sample collection and analysis. Led by E25Bio's paper-based test, which functions similarly to an over-the-counter pregnancy test, is able to quickly and accurately identify Zika, dengue 1-4, and chikungunya at the point of care at an affordable cost. Currently, these viruses can be indistinguishable in symptomatic patients without the use of expensive equipment and trained lab technicians. E25Bio recently received funding from MIT-backed venture firm The Engine to commercialize its technology. The startup's rapid diagnostic test marks a leap in arthropod-borne virus diagnostics. Each of these distinct diagnoses calls for specific next steps in patient care, so a quick, accurate, low-cost method is a critical piece of the puzzle in resource-constrained communities. Elimination of cross-reactivity in the test also reduces the risk of misdiagnosis which often leads to inaccurate or insufficient treatment in the best case and death in the worst case. E25Bio's test is supported by an accompanying mobile app that catalogues the results of the test by time and location. This real-time data could potentially enable governments to take preventative steps to control the spread of disease and avoid an epidemic. As a Venezuelan, and an expert in epidemics and tropical public health, Bosch has spent decades in the field perfecting her research. Her familiarity with the devastating consequences of infectious disease outbreaks, and the frustrating inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of the current methods in place to combat them, has served as a constant reminder of the need to develop a robust infectious disease response system. When asked about her inspiration to develop this technology, she said, "In cell biology, there are fascinating biological processes to learn, with tremendous complexity and beauty. The idea is to use all that knowledge to solve human health challenges that are left unattended by modern society." Perhaps most importantly, this test could have critical applications for care during crises like the current Zika outbreak reported in parts of Rajasthan, India or the 2015-2016 epidemic in Latin America. Over the lifecycle of the outbreak in 2016, the world saw over 175 thousand confirmed cases of Zika and more than 525 thousand suspected cases. At its peak, the World Health Organization declared the epidemic a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern." Brazil, in particular, was hit hard and the government's lackluster response to the crises exposed systematic failures in the country's public health system. Bosch, along with Gehrke, the Hermann von Helmholtz Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and a member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, have worked closely with the Tata Center on implementation pathways for their research in rapid diagnostics. With the help of the center's new Translational Research Program, both Bosch and Gehrke were able to move their technology toward commercialization. "Without the Tata Center, it is quite possible that we would not be in active discussions about bringing our research to large numbers of patients," Gehrke said. E25Bio is currently looking to close their Series A round of funding. The Tata Center utilizes innovative science and technology to address challenges in the developing world. The center strives to achieve long term impact by translating discoveries into affordable products and services. With help from equally visionary colleagues at The Engine, this particular technology's journey to market paves a way for exponentially greater impact for the Tata Center's world-changing research and solutions. Explore further Rapid, easy Zika test developed This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching. Fish genes hold key to repairing damaged hearts. Credit: Shutterstock The Mexican tetra fish can repair its heart after damage something researchers have been striving to achieve in humans for years. Now, new research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) published in Cell Reports suggests that a gene called lrrc10 may hold the key to this fish's remarkable ability. Around 1.5 million years ago, the tetra fish (Astyanax Mexicanus) living in the rivers of Northern Mexico were periodically washed into caves by seasonal floodwaters. Over time, the floods became less frequent and eventually stopped. This created the perfect environment for different members of the same species to adapt and evolve to suit their different habitats the river and the caves. To this day, the surface fish still living in the rivers of Mexico have retained their ability to repair their heart tissue. However, the fish in one particular cave, called Pachon, lost this amazing ability. They also lost their colour and ability to see, with neither trait giving them any advantage in the perpetual darkness of their new home. Dr. Mathilda Mommersteeg and her team at the University of Oxford compared the genetic code of the river fish to that of the blind cave fish to discover what special mechanisms are required for heart repair. They found three areas of the fish genome were implicated in the fish's ability to repair their hearts. The researchers also compared the activity of genes in the river versus the cave fish in the period after heart injury. Two genes, lrrc10 and caveolin, were much more active in the river fish and could be key in allowing the river fish to repair their hearts. Lrrc10 is already linked to a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in people. Studies in mice have previously shown that this gene is involved in the way that heart cells contract with every heartbeat. The researchers went on to study the effect of this gene in the zebrafish, another fish which has the remarkable ability to heal its own heart. When the team inactivated the lrrc10 gene in zebrafish they saw that the fish could no-longer fully repair their hearts. Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are living with debilitating heart failure, often as a result of a heart attack. During a heart attack, the heart is deprived of oxygen leading to the death of heart muscle cells and their replacement by scar tissue. This stops the heart muscle from contracting properly and reduces the heart's ability to pump blood around the body. People suffering from heart failure can't regenerate their damaged hearts, and often the only cure is a heart transplant. Researchers hope that by unlocking the secrets of these remarkable fish, we will one day be able to heal human hearts in much the same way. Professor Metin Avkiran, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "These remarkable findings show how much there is still to learn from the rich tapestry of the natural world. It's particularly interesting that the ability of the river fish to regenerate its heart may arise from an ability to suppress scar formation. We now need to determine if we can exploit similar mechanisms to repair damaged human hearts. "Survival rates for heart failure have barely changed over the last 20 years, and life expectancy is worse than for many cancers. Breakthroughs are desperately needed to ease the devastation caused by this dreadful condition." Dr. Mathilda Mommersteeg, Associate Professor of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Oxford, who led the research, said: "A real challenge until now was comparing heart damage and repair in fish with what we see in humans. But by looking at river fish and cave fish side by side, we've been able to pick apart the genes responsible for heart regeneration. "Heart failure is a cruel and debilitating illness that more than half a million people across the UK are living with. It's early days but we're incredibly excited about these remarkable fish and the potential to change the lives of people with damaged hearts." Explore further A Mexican cavefish with a scarred heart Observations of PSR J1826-1256 a radio quiet gamma-ray pulsar obtained with ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory. Scientists discovered the X-ray pulsed emission from this and two similar sources using a theoretical model that predicts a pulsar's non-thermal X-ray brightness on the basis of its observed gamma-ray brightness. This pulsar has a period of 110.2 milliseconds, appearing alternatively fainter and brighter as its beams of radiation point towards and away from Earth. For illustration purposes, the pulsar's flickering is shown 10 times slower than the actual one in this animated view. Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton/J. Li, DESY, Germany Based on a new theoretical model, a team of scientists explored the rich data archive of ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra space observatories to find pulsating X-ray emission from three sources. The discovery, relying on previous gamma-ray observations of the pulsars, provides a novel tool to investigate the mysterious mechanisms of pulsar emission, which will be important to understand these fascinating objects and use them for space navigation in the future. Lighthouses of the Universe, pulsars are fast-rotating neutron stars that emit beams of radiation. As pulsars rotate and the beams alternatively point towards and away from Earth, the source oscillates between brighter and dimmer states, resulting in a signal that appears to 'pulse' every few milliseconds to seconds, with a regularity rivalling even atomic clocks. Pulsars are the incredibly dense, extremely magnetic, relics of massive stars, and are amongst the most extreme objects in the Universe. Understanding how particles behave in such a strong magnetic field is fundamental to understanding how matter and magnetic fields interact more generally. Originally detected through their radio emission, pulsars are now known to also emit other types of radiation, though typically in smaller amounts. Some of this emission is standard thermal radiation the type that everything with a temperature above absolute zero emits. Pulsars release thermal radiation when they accrete matter, for example from another star. But pulsars also emit non-thermal radiation, as is often produced in the most extreme cosmic environments. In pulsars, non-thermal radiation can be created via two processes: synchrotron emission and curvature emission. Both processes involve charged particles being accelerated along magnetic field lines, causing them to radiate light that can vary in wavelength from radio waves to gamma-rays. Non-thermal X-rays result mostly from synchrotron emission, while gamma-rays may come from so-called synchro-curvature emission a combination of the two mechanisms. It is relatively easy to find pulsars that radiate gamma-rays NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has detected more than 200 of them over the past decade, thanks to its ability to scan the whole sky. But only around 20 have been found to pulse in non-thermal X-rays. "Unlike gamma-ray detecting survey instruments, X-ray telescopes must be told exactly where to point, so we need to provide them with some sort of guidance," says Diego Torres, from the Institute of Space Sciences in Barcelona, Spain. Aware that there should be many pulsars emitting previously undetected non-thermal X-rays, Torres developed a model that combined synchrotron and curvature radiation to predict whether pulsars detected in gamma-rays could also be expected to appear in X-rays. "Scientific models describe phenomena that can't be experienced directly," explains Torres. "This model in particular helps explain the emission processes in pulsars and can be used to predict the X-ray emission that we should observe, based on the known gamma-ray emission." The model describes the gamma-ray emission of pulsars detected by Fermi specifically, the brightness observed at different wavelengths and combines this information with three parameters that determine the pulsar emission. This allows a prediction of their brightness at other wavelengths, for instance in X-rays. Observed X-ray and gamma-ray emission from three pulsars: J1747-2958 (left), J2021+3651 (centre), and J1826-1256 (right). The X-ray pulsed emission was discovered using a theoretical model that predicts a pulsar's non-thermal X-ray brightness on the basis of its observed gamma-ray brightness. The gamma-ray observations are from NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope; the X-ray observations are from NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory (left and centre) and ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory (right). The red curve in the graphs represents the best fit of the model describing the overall emission of the sources compared to the observed data (black symbols). In the upper row, the fit was performed using only the gamma-ray data: the value in the X-ray energy range represents the theoretical prediction, which is pretty close to what was later revealed in the observations. In the lower row, the fit includes the X-ray data as well, providing a more accurate description of the phenomenon using the same model. Credit: Adapted from J. Li et al. (2018) Torres partnered with a team of scientists, led by Jian Li from the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron in Zeuthen near Berlin, Germany, to select three known gamma-ray emitting pulsars that they expected, based on the model, to also shine brightly in X-rays. They dug into the data archives of ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra X-ray observatories to search for evidence of non-thermal X-ray emission from each of them. "Not only did we detect X-ray pulsations from all three of the pulsars, but we also found that the spectrum of X-rays was almost the same as predicted by the model," explains Li. "This means that the model very accurately describes the emission processes within a pulsar." In particular, XMM-Newton data showed clear X-ray emission from PSR J1826-1256 a radio quiet gamma-ray pulsar with a period of 110.2 milliseconds. The spectrum of light received from this pulsar was very close to that predicted by the model. X-ray emission from the other two pulsars, which both rotate slightly more quickly, was revealed using Chandra data. This discovery already represents a significant increase in the total number of pulsars known to emit non-thermal X-rays. The team expects that many more will be discovered over the next few years as the model can be used to work out where exactly to look for them. Finding more X-ray pulsars is important for revealing their global properties, including population characteristics. A better understanding of pulsars is also essential for potentially taking advantage of their accurate timing signals for future space navigation endeavours. The result is a step towards understanding the relationships between the emission by pulsars in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, enabling a robust way to predict the brightness of a pulsar at any given wavelength. This will help us better comprehend the interaction between particles and magnetic fields in pulsars and beyond. "This model can make accurate predictions of pulsar X-ray emission, and it can also predict the emission at other wavelengths, for example visible and ultraviolet," Torres continues. "In the future, we hope to find new pulsars leading to a better understanding of their global properties." The study highlights the benefits of XMM-Newton's vast data archive to make new discoveries and showcases the impressive abilities of the mission to detect relatively dim sources. The team is also looking forward to using the next generation of X-ray space telescopes, including ESA's future Athena mission, to find even more pulsars emitting non-thermal X-rays. "As the flagship of European X-ray astronomy, XMM-Newton is detecting more X-ray sources than any previous satellite. It is amazing to see that it is helping to solve so many cosmic mysteries," concludes Norbert Schartel, XMM-Newton Project Scientist at ESA. Explore further Student discovers slowest ever pulsar star More information: Jian Li et al. Theoretically Motivated Search and Detection of Non-thermal Pulsations from PSRs J1747-2958, J2021+3651, and J1826-1256, The Astrophysical Journal (2018). arxiv.org/abs/1811.08339 Journal information: Astrophysical Journal Jian Li et al. Theoretically Motivated Search and Detection of Non-thermal Pulsations from PSRs J1747-2958, J2021+3651, and J1826-1256,(2018). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aae92b From the first week of November, women in the United States, Ireland, UK, and around the world are effectively working for free as the gender gap in average pay earnings accounts for remaining two months' salary of the year. The gender pay gap has remained remarkably constant over time and is linked to a wide range of factors. Yet now there is a new policy approach being promoted in the form of pay gap reporting. To what extent can these policies break down the persistent gaps between women and men's wages? Pay reporting legislation on the rise With the gender pay gaps widening for the first time since 2006, governments have been forced to broaden their existing legislation to encourage organisations to address the issue. Gender pay gap reporting has appeared as one of the preferred measures, with a recent regulatory uptake across the EU. For example, a law in Iceland requires companies to prove they are paying male and female employees equally. In the UK, all private and public companies with more than 250 employees must now report gender differences in both hourly wages and bonuses. Other EU and non-EU countries either already have or are planning to introduce legislation concerning employers' duty to report on pay differences, including France, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Ireland and outside the EU Switzerland, Australia, and Canada. "Naming and shaming" vs "secrecy" of pay gap data An important factor determining the impact of reporting measures is whether it allows for identification of specific "bad performers". Companies are aware of the reputational consequences, which may prompt them into action. Indeed the "naming and shaming" mechanism is already being used in the UK, where gender pay gap data is publicly available, and has affected employers such as the BBC. By contrast, in Austria and Belgium confidentiality of the pay reports limits both reputational costs (and benefits) for employers, as well as the ability of employees to act upon the findings. Similarly, reporting requirements in Australia do not allow for direct pay comparisons and thus hinder action. Confidentiality and aggregated data also limit the impact of pay reporting since these can become a formality with no incentive or obligation to discuss the data or potential solutions. Britain provides an interesting example of a policy that has evolved after being introduced on a voluntary basis and then subsequently legally reinforced after an initial low take up. The figures for the gender pay gaps show that voluntary equality initiatives have not significantly changed the situation for women, especially in top jobs. Voluntary measures place emphasis on the willingness of employers to identify with the issue and act while legislation leaves them with little choice. Pressures and enforcement Gender pay gap reporting regulations vary, even within the more harmonized regulatory space of the European Union. UK legislation does not include penalties against companies with large gender pay gaps, relying instead on the reputational stakes of sector-specific league tables. In Sweden, employers are required by law to undertake actions when unjustified pay gaps are identified. Elsewhere legislation has included various degrees of constraint, e.g., in Iceland companies should obtain a certification of compliance with equal pay regulations for all jobs and hierarchical levels, and in Ontario, Canada compliance audits may be conducted and financial penalties issued. The impact of gender pay reporting measures also depends on the type of companies required to comply. In the EU alone there is a wide variety of company size thresholds smaller companies are often excluded from the measures thus excluding many women who work in smaller firms. Shedding light on specific gender pay data Gender pay gap reporting can also prove to be important in identifying specific inequalities. For example, where there is a pattern of structural inequality of opportunity and unequal distribution of women not getting the best-paying jobs. The data can also reveal persistent differences in access to bonuses and rewards based on salary levels that help widen the gender pay gap. A pilot program in Iceland has revealed that salaries were lower when women were employed as a large group. Findings could thus force or encourage employers to identify internal barriers for women's progression and seek remedies. Similarly results could also trigger an external push for more equality from stakeholders such as clients and employee groups. Depending on the specific requirements scope, detail and enforcement gender pay gap reporting may also produce some unintended consequences. For example, it might encourage outsourcing of lower-paid jobs occupied by women or avoiding recruitment of women to atypical occupations for example, technical apprentices to prevent their inclusion in the report. It could also cause resentment toward women and discourage them from seeking work with certain employers. Furthermore, there might even be salary cuts for men instead of raising pay for women, as happened at the BBC and EasyJet. The way forward? The eventual impact of gender pay reporting measures depends not only on the requirements on companies to publish but also on the sanctions and the required follow-up actions. While it is not easy to assess impact of the relatively new measures it is clear that new legal obligations have boosted participation. To have a larger impact, pay reporting measures need to be accompanied by a requirement to act. The evidence from Sweden, where legislation has a longer history, indicates that employers are in fact positive about the changes that they have been required to implement. Likewise the case of Iceland suggests that a bold legislative push accompanied with relevant support structures for employers might be the way forward. In any case, given the complexity of the causes of the gender pay gap, it is clear that a combination of legislative and non-legislative measures is required to produce tangible effects on pay inequalities. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Africa contains the greatest diversity of large-bodied mammals in the world today. This includes five species of megaherbivores (herbivores over 2000 lbs). From left to right: hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), elephant (Loxodonta africana), white rhino (Ceratotherium simum), and black rhino (Diceros bicornis). Credit: John Rowan New research disputes a long-held view that our earliest tool-bearing ancestors contributed to the demise of large mammals in Africa over the last several million years. Instead, the researchers argue that long-term environmental change drove the extinctions, mainly in the form of grassland expansion likely caused by falling atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels. Tyler Faith, curator of archaeology at the Natural History Museum of Utah and assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah, led the study. The research team also includes John Rowan from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Andrew Du from the University of Chicago, and Paul Koch from the University of California, Santa Cruz. The study is published today in the journal Science. "Despite decades of literature asserting that early hominins impacted ancient African faunas, there have been few attempts to actually test this scenario or to explore alternatives," Faith says. "We think our study is a major step towards understanding the depth of anthropogenic impacts on large mammal communities, and provides a convincing counter-argument to these long-held views about our early ancestors." To test for ancient hominin impacts, the researchers compiled a seven-million-year record of herbivore extinctions in eastern Africa, focusing on the very largest species, the so-called 'megaherbivores' (species over 2,000 lbs.) Though only five megaherbivores exist in Africa today, there was a much greater diversity in the past. For example, three-million-year-old 'Lucy' (Australopithecus afarensis) shared her woodland landscape with three giraffes, two rhinos, a hippo, and four elephant-like species at Hadar, Ethiopia. Today, Africa has five species of massive, plant-eating mammals, the so-called megaherbivores: Elephants, hippos, giraffes, and white and black rhinos. Millions of years ago, however, there was a much greater diversity. When and why these species disappeared has long been a mystery for archaeologists and paleontologists, despite the evolution of tool-using and meat-eating hominins getting most of the blame.New research disputes a long-held view that our earliest tool-bearing ancestors contributed to the demise of large mammals in Africa over the last several million years. Instead, the researchers argue that long-term environmental change drove the extinctions, mainly in the form of grassland expansion likely caused by falling atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.Video based on:J. Tyler Faith, John Rowan, Andrew Du, Paul L. Koch. 2018. Plio-Pleistocene decline of African megaherbivores: No evidence for ancient hominin impacts. Science. Nov. 23, 2018.(DOI: 10.1126/science.aau2728) Credit: Lisa Potter When and why these species disappeared has long been a mystery for archaeologists and paleontologists, despite the evolution of tool-using and meat-eating hominins getting most of the blame. "Our analyses show that there is a steady, long-term decline of megaherbivore diversity beginning around 4.6 million years ago. This extinction process kicks in over a million years before the very earliest evidence for human ancestors making tools or butchering animal carcasses and well before the appearance of any hominin species realistically capable of hunting them, like Homo erectus," says Faith. The team analyzed more than 100 sites in East Africa with rich fossil records to track the longterm decline of megaherbivore diversity. Credit: J. Tyler Faith Taking a Closer Look Faith and his team quantified long-term changes in eastern African megaherbivores using a dataset of more than 100 fossil assemblages spanning the last seven million years. The team also examined independent records of climatic and environmental trends and their effects, specifically global atmospheric CO 2 , stable carbon isotope records of vegetation structure, and stable carbon isotopes of eastern African fossil herbivore teeth, among others. Their analysis reveals that over the last seven million years substantial megaherbivore extinctions occurred: 28 lineages became extinct, leading to the present-day communities lacking in large animals. These results highlight the great diversity of ancient megaherbivore communities, with many having far more megaherbivore species than exist today across Africa as a whole. A fossil tooth of a hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) (left) and a fossil tooth of a white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) (right) , two of the few surviving megaherbivores, from the Late Pleistocene of western Kenya (left). Credit: J. Tyler Faith Further analysis showed that the onset of the megaherbivore decline began roughly 4.6 million years ago, and that the rate of diversity decline did not change following the appearance of Homo erectus, a human ancestor often blamed for the extinctions. Rather, Faith's team argues that climate is more likely culprit. "The key factor in the Plio-Pleistocene megaherbivore decline seems to be the expansion of grasslands, which is likely related to a global drop in atmospheric CO 2 over the last five million years," says John Rowan, a postdoctoral scientist from University of Massachusetts Amherst. "Low CO 2 levels favor tropical grasses over trees, and as a consequence savannas became less woody and more open through time. We know that many of the extinct megaherbivores fed on woody vegetation, so they seem to disappear alongside their food source." The loss of massive herbivores may also account for other extinctions that have also been attributed to ancient hominins. Some scientist suggest that competition with increasingly carnivorous species of Homo led to the demise of numerous carnivores over the last few million years. Faith and his team suggest an alternative. The decline of African megaherbivore diversity (gray curve) over the last seven million years was driven by falling atmospheric carbon dioxide and the expansion of grasslands, not ancient hominin impacts. The onset of the megaherbivore decline around 4.6 million years ago (red dashed line and shading) occurs well before the appearance of tool-bearing hominin species capable of hunting large prey. Credit: John Rowan "We know there are also major extinctions among African carnivores at this time and that some of them, like saber-tooth cats, may have specialized on very large prey, perhaps juvenile elephants" says Paul Koch. "It could be that some of these carnivores disappeared with their megaherbivore prey." "Looking at all of the potential drivers of the megaherbivore decline, our analyses suggest that changing climate and environment played the key role in Africa's past extinctions," said Faith. "It follows that in the search for ancient hominin impacts on ancient African ecosystems, we must focus our attention on the one species known to be capable of causing themus, Homo sapiens, over the last 300,000 years." Explore further Teeth of Homo antecessor shed light on trends in Pleistocene hominin dental evolution More information: J.T. Faith at University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT el al., "Plio-Pleistocene decline of African megaherbivores: No evidence for ancient hominin impacts," Science (2018). J.T. Faith at University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT el al., "Plio-Pleistocene decline of African megaherbivores: No evidence for ancient hominin impacts,"(2018). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi 1126/science.aau2728 R. Bobe el al., "The decline of Africa's largest mammals," Science (2018). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi 1126/science.aav6883 Journal information: Science Matt Ashmore, an engineer at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, performs a fit check of RRM3s three external tools (from left to right: cryogen servicing tool, VIPIR2, multi-function tool 2). After RRM3 is installed to the outside of International Space Station the Dextre robotic arm will mount the pedestal and tools, pre-assembled by astronauts on the space station. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Gunn NASA will lay the foundation for spacecraft life extension and long duration space exploration with the upcoming launch of Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3), a mission that will pioneer techniques for storing and replenishing cryogenic spacecraft fuel. The third phase of an ongoing technology demonstration, RRM3 will attach to the International Space Station and build on two previous missionsRRM and RRM2. These first two phases practiced the robotic tasks of removing caps and valves on spacecraft, leading up to the act of replenishing fuel, but stopped short of cryogenic fluid transfer. Cryogenic fluid can serve as a very potent fuel. As a propellant, it produces a high thrust or acceleration, allowing rockets to escape the gravitational force of planetary bodies. As a coolant, it keeps spacecraft operational and can prolong their lifespan by years. Besides these uses, the ability to resupply cryogenic fuel in space could minimize the amount of fuel spacecraft are required to carry from Earth's surface, making it possible to travel farther into space for longer periods of time. Liquid oxygen is another type of cryogenic fluid, used for astronaut life support systems. Having the ability to efficiently store and replenish this type of oxygen could facilitate astronauts' capacity to embark on long duration human exploration missions and live on other planets. The ability to replenish and store cryogenic fluid can help with exploration. Here are some ways technologies demonstrated by RRM3 could be used at the Moon and Mars. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center "Any time we get to extend our stay in space is valuable for discovery," said Beth Adams Fogle, RRM3 mission manager in NASA's Technology Demonstration Missions program office at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "RRM3's ability to transfer and store cryogenic fluid could alter our current fuel constraints for human exploration." Another possibility is mining water on the Moon in order to separate it into its individual elements, hydrogen and oxygenboth of which can be converted into cryogenic propellants. RRM3 technologies will establish methods for transferring and storing these resources to refuel spacecraft on exploration missions, laying the groundwork for what could one day be lunar gas stations. Beyond the Moon, carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere also has the potential of being converted to liquid methane, a cryogenic fluid. RRM3 techniques could then be applied to refuel departure rockets from Mars. Spacewalking astronauts successfully transfer the RRM module from the Atlantis shuttle cargo bay to a temporary platform on the ISS's Dextre robot for RRM Phase 1 and 2. Credit: NASA As useful as cryogens are, their extremely low boiling points make storing them in space difficult, because they boil off over time. RRM3 will not only transfer cryogenic fluid, but store 42 liters of cryogen without fluid loss for six monthsenough to maintain spacecraft instruments for years. "Any time you try something for the first time, there is an element of risk," said Jill McGuire, project manager for RRM3. "We hope our technology demonstration helps drive down the risk of refueling in space for future exploration and science missions." NASA engineers built on lessons learned from RRM and RRM2 to design next-generation hardware. During RRM3 mission operations, the space station's Dextre robotic arm will carry out tasks using a suite of three primary tools. RRM3 fluid transfer module with the external tool pedestal affixed to the top during a tool fit check in Greenbelt, Maryland. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Gunn The task sequence begins with the multi-function tool 2, which operates smaller specialized tools to prepare for the fluid transfer. Next, the cryogen servicing tool uses a hose to connect the tank filled with liquid methane to the empty tank. To monitor the process, the Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot 2 (VIPIR2) utilizes a state-of-the-art robotic camera to make sure tools are properly positioned. "We learn by doing," said Ben Reed, deputy director of the Satellite Servicing Project Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Pioneering new technologies is hard, but when we get it right the payoffs are big." Explore further NASA robotic refueling mission departs station Credit: CC0 Public Domain A new test to spot where the ability to exploit the power of quantum mechanics has evolved in nature has been developed by physicists at the University of Warwick. The test identifies a tell-tale hallmark of quantum coherence, classifying the properties of particles in a quantum state that are interacting with a real-world environment. The test should allow scientists to quantify and track quantum coherence in the natural world using laboratory experiments. Published this week in the journal Physical Review A, the theoretical work could lead to experiments that help solve the debate on whether biological processes exploit quantum mechanics to their advantage, and whether evolution could provide us with a template for quantum technologies such as computers, sensors and energy sources. Microscopic particles in a quantum state are very difficult to spot as the act of observing them changes their state. These stealthy particles can exist in many locations or configurations simultaneously, a feature known as quantum coherence. The effect underpins technologies such as quantum computers, quantum sensors and quantum communication systems, which use ordered systems isolated from the rest of the world. However, whether quantum coherence exists in the noisier and messier real world is more difficult to identify. The test involves a procedure to destroy quantum coherence, and then to observe the change in later measurements. Where a measurably large impact is observed, scientists can demonstrate that there must have been quantum coherence in the system. The new work clarifies the possible exceptions to this conclusion, which depend on how quickly the special procedure can destroy the coherence. Dr. George Knee, 1851 Royal Commission Research Fellow from the University's Department of Physics, said: "To demonstrate the presence of quantum coherence in a biological system would constitute a paradigm shift, away from the idea that only humans have the ability to engineer systems capable of exhibiting and exploiting quantum coherence. It would also be a step toward the Schroedinger's Cat thought experiment, where a living organism is placed in a state where it is, quantum coherently, both dead and alive." Co-author Dr. Animesh Datta said: "The results from this test will be valuable in improving our understanding of how chemistry and biology works, and may allow us to answer the question of whether quantum physics has played a part in evolutionary processes." According to quantum physics, a particle, such as one carrying energy in a photosynthetic organism, can travel along multiple different pathways between an input and an output. The energy carried by the particle could be lost at any moment after it is created. Should the particle move towards its destination faster, there is a lower chance of loss and greater efficiency could be achieved. Coherence allows for interference between the two pathways, allowing the particle to travel further on average than it could otherwise during the same time period. This suggests that quantum effects might have lent an evolutionary advantage to those organisms adapted to exploiting them. Dr. Knee added: "The possibilities are tantalising: if our proposed test were carried out in a biological system, and returned a positive result, we might be able to learn quantum engineering design principles from nature. We could then try to create biomimetic technologies that are more robust and perhaps even more powerful than the current generation of quantum technologies, which are almost exclusively based on highly isolated systems. If we were able to turbocharge artificial light harvesting, such as in a solar cell for example, there would be a huge potential for providing affordable, renewable energy." More information: George C. Knee et al. Subtleties of witnessing quantum coherence in nonisolated systems, Physical Review A (2018). Journal information: Physical Review A George C. Knee et al. Subtleties of witnessing quantum coherence in nonisolated systems,(2018). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.98.052328 Credit: Queen Mary, University of London A brand new portrait of the only person to have successfully assassinated a British Prime Minister, has been revealed by museum technicians at Queen Mary University of London. The image of John Bellingham was created through forensic reconstruction based on his skullthe most famous item in the collection at Queen Mary's Pathology Museum. John Bellingham is known for assassinating the British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in 1812. Although there is little information that exists about this skull, it is known that the museum acquired the specimen because the punishment for murder at that time was to be "hanged and anatomised". The forensic imaging expert Hew Morrison, whose previous work involved reconstructing the face of the Bronze Age woman 'Ava', carried out a digital reconstruction based on the skull, to reveal what John Bellingham would have looked like at the time of his death. Carla Valentine, Museum Technician at Queen Mary's Pathology Museum, said: "This is a novel way to engage the public with a previously one-dimensional 'specimen'. In this project, we specifically opted to reconstruct a well-known figure in order to reinstate his personality. "A skull which has been denuded of its facial featuresand therefore its identityhas less of an impact on a museum visitor than being able to see the person's face. The impersonal presentation of a skull can also be seen as creating a 'spectacle' out of the person, which is an issue when we work hard to display human remains to the public in an appropriate manner." The forensic imaging expert behind the new portrait, Hew Morrison, said: "I found the skull to be rather unusual looking, with quite a bulbous cranium and noticeable asymmetry of the chin. John Bellingham would have had a long, narrow, slightly downturned nose. This was apparent when I saw the skull as the nasal aperture was indeed quite significant in length with a downward nasal spine. "I gave him a neutral expression as I treated this like any other facial reconstruction. Despite committing the crime that he was found guilty of and subsequently executed for, I did not feel the need to make him look bad or mean in any way." John Bellingham's living relatives were first traced and gave agreement to the project. Knowing that John Bellingham was a male in his forties and of British descent, a modern database of tissue depth markers that apply to European male individuals of the same age group were used to gauge the thickness of the tissues that overlay the skull. The eye sockets on the skull were quite large, which led to the high position of the eyebrows on the facial reconstruction. The height of the enamel of the front teeth on the skull also determines the thickness of the lips. This was used to determine the height of the bottom lips from the teeth, but due to the top teeth not being present, an approximation had to be made for the top lips. To create the facial features, a large database of high-resolution photographs of human faces was used. Each facial feature was adjusted to fit with the underlying anatomy of the skull and facial muscles. Computer software was used to combine and blend everything together to create the completed face. Hair colour, eye colour and skin tone cannot be determined from a skull. However, a suitable hairstyle was added to the reconstruction along with sideburns, which were present in illustrations of John Bellingham from the time. An old-fashioned Jabot-type necktie and dark woolen Crombie overcoat with the collar turned up was then photographed and added to the digital image, so as to dress Bellingham in a style that would be fitting to the time period. Explore further Brazil recovers ancient human fossil fragments from burnt Rio museum Credit: CC0 Public Domain In recent years, cities have asserted themselves as relevant actors in efforts to address global climate change. The announcement by the United States of their intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement has generated more attention than ever for what cities and other subnational authorities can do in this field. A new article in the journal Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law asks: how will the balance between countries as central actors of the international system on the one hand and an increasingly assertive league of cities and subnational authorities be struck? "It is more uncertain than ever how the relationship between states and cities will evolve," said author Prof. Helmut Philipp Aust, of Freie Universitat Berlin. "In the climate change context, but also with respect to migration, cities no longer automatically accept the authority of national governments. This raises difficult questions for international law and politics." Explore further World Bank climate policy officer describes keys to success of the Paris agreement More information: Helmut Philipp Aust. The shifting role of cities in the global climate change regime: From Paris to Pittsburgh and back?, Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (2018). Helmut Philipp Aust. The shifting role of cities in the global climate change regime: From Paris to Pittsburgh and back?,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/reel.12272 South Africa faces the possible collapse of several inshore fisheries, particularly certain species of linefish, abalone and West Coast Rock Lobster. If nothing is done, not only will the ecology be poorer and change in many unexpected ways, but sea-derived livelihoods will collapse. The social structures that have maintained communities and relationships with the sea will follow. In South Africa abalone is threatened because of a number of failures. These include a lack of opportunities combined with poverty in small towns along the country's coast, as well as inefficiencies in fishery management. Abalone is a mollusc of the genus Haliotis. It's found in most parts of the world except one or two continental coasts and the polar regions. Along South Africa's coast, baby abalone - called spat - shelter among the sea urchins that cohabit with the shellfish on our rocky shores. The muscular and mucous-rich meat of the sea snail is delicious. It's been eaten along the South African coast for millennia. The inside of an abalone shell the opposite of its rough and camouflaged exterior is covered in smooth nacre that runs a spectrum of colours from white to blue to purple. It's this hidden beauty that earned it its Afrikaans name from the Dutch, perlemoen or "mother of pearl". The most sought-after species in South Africa is Haliotis Midae. It's this species that's highly prized in Asia, particularly China, and enjoys the same status as luxury foods such as the infamous shark-fin and bird's nest soups. Since the 1990's, international trafficking in abalone has skyrocketed. Sophisticated syndicates move it in amounts that usually equal several million rands' worth. This booming illegal trade has affected the country's coastal socio-ecologies in two particularly devastating ways. One, the species is highly over-exploited; two, the lucrative nature of these poaching networks has roped in local and international criminal networks. Currently, the South African government and these poaching networks are locked in a downward spiral of violence that's seen the increased militarisation of both poaching and law enforcement activities. I saw this first hand in my research along the Indian Ocean coastline where I witnessed the effect of two decades of organised poaching on small coastal communities. What's driving the illegal demand Since 1994 the government has attempted to transform the fishing industry to make it more inclusive. However, it's failed to give small-scale fishers the number and size of fishing rights they were expecting, or that they needed. The disappointment this caused led to an explosion of what was termed "protest fishing", where large groups of disgruntled fishers would fish illegally, often out in the open and in front of the public and media to make their case for the recognition of their livelihoods. Additionally, the end of apartheid meant that South Africa's borders were opened up. This had an impact on both legal and illegal activities. The protest fishers needed a market for their catch, which was by definition illegal. This environment created the perfect scenario for foreign interests to step in. One of the biggest markets was China. It quickly became apparent that what this market wanted most - and was willing to pay highly for - was abalone. The lucrative nature of this new industry soon attracted the attention of syndicates in South Africa and abroad. Many protest fishers were co-opted into highly profitable networks of poachers that were intimately tied to established gangs. Breaking the cycle of illegal activity is going to be tough, but there are things that the government can do. What can be done The government needs to curtail the socio-economic conditions that make poaching not only the most lucrative, but often the only option, for employment in impoverished fishing villages. For example, hotspots such as Gansbaai in the Overberg and Hangberg in Cape Town are characterised by a lack of housing, employment, opportunity and skills-based education. By focusing both on communities' well being and on good governance, many of the factors that threaten the natural resource sectors would be ameliorated. Here are additional steps the government must take: Root out the corruption at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The department's leadership has been compromised for decades. It's no wonder that some fishers question the authority of such inefficient management. Forensic task teams must be established and authorised to follow the flows of capital into and out of coastal communities, as well as the Marine Living Resources Fund. Community, here, refers to both fishers and Fisheries Branch personnel. Bring back the Green Courts. These special courts were regionally based and dealt only with environmental crime. Both the prosecutors and judges had specialised knowledge and the court didn't need to prioritise between environmental crime and other serious crime such as murder, rape or robbery. When operating, the Green Courts had an over 80% success rate at convicting. Currently, environmental crimes are often relegated to the bottom of the schedule because they're not seen as urgent. This has resulted in endless delays in hearing cases of poaching, and under-prosecution of environmental crime. The small-scale fisheries policy needs to be realistically assessed for its capacity to uplift communities who've been waiting in increasingly desperate anticipation for its implementation since 2007. It cannot be the only option for long-term upliftment along our coasts. Abalone are not charismatic creatures. They'll never inspire the same national outrage or proliferation of bumper stickers as the rhino. Yet, their value is no less. Fixing the myriad of problems that have spawned this illegal industry won't be easy. However, by assuming that the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is capable of addressing the problem on its own, we're condemning all such efforts to failure. With political will, and coordinated effort between government departments, almost everything is possible. Explore further S.Africa divers risk all to poach marine delicacies for China diners This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. This graphic shows an ECCO estimate of the 20-year change in oceanic temperature at 1,000 meters. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Before the advent of modern observational and modeling techniques, understanding how the ocean behaved required piecing together disparate dataoften separated by decades in timefrom a handful of sources around the world. In the 1980s, that started to change when technological advancements, such as satellites, floats, drifters, and chemical tracers, made continuous, mass measurements possible. Still, the resulting new datasets often existed independently of each other, obscuring the big picture of how the ocean circulates, transfers heat, affects climate, stores carbon, and more. That's why Carl Wunsch, professor emeritus of physical oceanography in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) and member of the EAPS Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate (PAOC), started spearheading an endeavor to reveal that big picture nearly 20 years ago. Following on the heels of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), Wunsch founded a consortium that sought to combine global ocean datasets with state-of-the-art circulation models. Only with this combination of observation and theory could scientists fully understand the physical and dynamical state of the ocean, and thus its role in climate, Wunsh wrote for the journal Oceanography in 2009. The consortium, which came to be called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO), was a massive undertaking, including an international network of researchers and governmental bodies to exchange and analyze billions of ocean observations taken from all corners of the globe. "It was like building a large telescope," Wunsh says. "That's what ECCO has been." Today, ECCO is largely heralded as the foundational framework for understanding the behavior of the entire ocean for decades to come. Last month, Wunsch and his collaborators published a progress report of sorts on ECCO efforts in The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, where they detail the best record of ocean circulation to date: a 20-year average of ocean climate and circulation, called a climatology, that obeys the laws of fluids and includes all of the data collected on the ocean from around the world since 1992. In the article, "A Dynamically Consistent, Multivariable Ocean Climatology," the authors outline recent updates to ECCO and explain the deep trove of information that makes it possible, including observations from all of the altimetric satellites that have flown since 1992; temperature and salinity data from depth sensors, expendable bathythermographs, and Argo profiles; andperhaps most fascinatingdata collected via sensors on deep-diving elephant seals. With an immense volume of dataseveral billion observationsWunsch and his collaborators write that the problem soon became how to combine the massive datasets and fit them to a model that would represent a three-dimensional time-evolving ocean over decades. Fortuitously, during ECCO's initiation, a parallel effort at MIT was underway, led by EAPS Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Oceanography John Marshall, to develop a new ocean general circulation model, called the MIT General Circulation Model, which Wunsch adapted to become the dynamical engine of ECCO. Detailed understanding of the accuracies and precisions of this methodology, including at least some approximation to an error estimate on all scales, is "an unglamorous but essential activity," Wunsch says. Unglamorous as the methodology may be, the results are elegant solutions that adequately fit almost all types of ocean observations and that are, simultaneously, consistent with the model. These solutions are now being used to inform a wide range of research, ranging from ocean variability, biological cycles, coastal physics, and geodesy. Some studies have involved more immediate applications, like predicting physical flow and mixing fields, which influence the ecosystems of lobsters and cod. Others offer better resolution into big-picture issues, like ocean carbon absorption, sea level rise, climate forecasting, and paleoclimate. With ECCO, analyzing these problems is no longer confined to the use of single datasets, and researchers are freed from worries that basic properties such as energy conservation are violated in the analysis, says Wunsch. "It's a luxury to think about the long term," he says. But, he adds, it is a scientific and social necessity and requires decades more data to go beyond 20 to 30 years. Today the ECCO effort stands as proof that model-data combinations looking at decadal and longer time scales are possible, says Wunsch. But the consortium's goals don't end there. "We want this climatology to be used for a greater variety of purposes, and we invite the use and critique of the result by the wider community," he says. All of the data and the model are publicly available, Wunsch says, and if someone is interested, all they have to do is ask for help. Wunsch, who is retired but still has an office in the Green Building at MIT, says gladly that his former students and group members have now taken over the ECCO effort. In fact, the article co-authors were all once Wunsch's advisees: Associate Professor Patrick Heimbach of the University of Texas at Austin, Principal Scientist Ichiro Fukumori of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Rui M. Ponte of Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), Inc. Wunsch hopes that ECCO's spread to the next generation of researchers will make it more resistant to fickle political and economic trends. Because understanding how the ocean is behaving under a changing climateand how it is likely to change in the futurerequires uninterrupted observations of the immense complexity of ocean circulation. "There can't be any gaps in data," said Wunsh. "Gaps are deadly." Explore further NASA views our perpetually moving ocean In this Nov. 14, 2005 file photo, clouds hang over the North Sentinel Island, in India's southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands. An American is believed to have been killed by an isolated Indian island tribe known to fire at outsiders with bows and arrows, Indian police said Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Police officer Vijay Singh said seven fishermen have been arrested for facilitating the American's visit to North Sentinel Island, where the killing apparently occurred. Visits to the island are heavily restricted by the government. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh, File) For thousands of years, the people of North Sentinel island have been isolated from the rest of the world. They use spears and bows and arrows to hunt the animals that roam the small, heavily forested island, and gather plants to eat and to fashion into homes. Their closest neighbors live more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) away. Deeply suspicious of outsiders, they attack anyone who comes through the surf and onto their beaches. Police say that is what happened last week when a young American, John Allen Chau, was killed by islanders after paying fishermen to take him to the island. "The Sentinelese want to be left alone," said the anthropologist Anup Kapur. Scholars believe the Sentinelese migrated from Africa roughly 50,000 years ago, but most details of their lives remain completely unknown. "We do not even know how many of them are there," said Anvita Abbi, who has spent decades studying the tribal languages of India's Andaman and Nicobar islands. North Sentinel is an outpost of the island chain, which is far closer to Myanmar and Thailand than to mainland India. Estimates on the group's size range from a few dozen to a few hundred. Anthropology professor at Delhi University P.C. Joshi speaks to the Associated Press in his office in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. The Indian island where a young American was killed last week has been cut off from the world for thousands of years, with islanders enforcing their own isolation. While scholars believe North Sentinelese islanders probably migrated from Africa roughly 50,000 years ago, almost nothing is known about their lives today, from what language they speak to how many survive. "We have become a very dangerous people," Joshi said, "even minor influences can kill them." (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) "What language they speak, how old it is, it's anybody's guess," Abbi said. "Nobody has access to these people." And, she said, that is how it should be. "Just for our curiosity, why should we disturb a tribe that has sustained itself for tens of thousands of years?" she asked. "So much is lost: People are lost, language is lost, their peace is lost." For generations, Indian officials have heavily restricted visits to North Sentinel, with contact limited to rare "gift-giving" encounters, with small teams of officials and scientists leaving coconuts and bananas for the islanders. In this October 2018 photo, American adventurer John Allen Chau, right, stands for a photograph with Founder of Ubuntu Football Academy Casey Prince, 39, just days before he left for India where he was killed in a remote island populated by the Sentinelese, a tribe known for shooting at outsiders with bows and arrows, in Cape Town, South Africa. The Sentinelese people are resistant to outsiders and often attack anyone who comes near, and visits to the island are heavily restricted by the government. "He was an explorer at heart," Prince said. "He loved creation and being out in it, I think having probably found and connected with God that way, and deeply so." (AP Photo/Sarah Prince) Any contact with such isolated people can be dangerous, scholars say, with islanders having no resistance to diseases outsiders carry. "We have become a very dangerous people," said P.C. Joshi, an anthropology professor at Delhi University. "Even minor influences can kill them." Because of this, Abbi said scholars who visit isolated peoples are careful to limit their visits to a few hours a day and to stay away even if they have minor coughs or colds. Many of the island chain's other tribes have been decimated over the past century, lost to disease, intermarriage and migration. In this October 2018 photo, American adventurer John Allen Chau, right, stands for a photograph with Founder of Ubuntu Football Academy Casey Prince, 39, in Cape Town, South Africa, days before he left for in a remote Indian island of North Sentinel Island, where he was killed. Chau, who kayaked to the remote island populated by a tribe known for shooting at outsiders with bows and arrows, has been killed, police said Wednesday, Nov. 21. Officials said they were working with anthropologists to recover the body. (AP Photo/Sarah Prince) Survival International, an organization that works for the rights of tribal people, said Chau may have been encouraged by recent changes to Indian rules about visiting isolated islands in the Andamans. While special permissions are still required, visits are now theoretically allowed in some parts of the Andamans where they used to be entirely forbidden. "The authorities lifted one of the restrictions that had been protecting the Sentinelese tribe's island from foreign tourists, which sent exactly the wrong message, and may have contributed to this terrible event," the group said in a statement. 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Ad DPRO The Best Drone Company to Look At in 2021 As the drone market explodes, one hidden small-cap is about to flip the space on its head! Are Mainstream Media Promoting Murder or Working to Stop It? By Rob Morse. November 16th, 2018 Original Source The news media is a business. It makes money by delivering our eyes to its commercial advertisements. The media will show us anything that keeps us watching. That is bad news for all of us, because some people want to be the news rather than watch it. Some of us will go so far as to kill to be on the news, and the media is fine with that. We have data that mass murders have increased due to the news coverage given to the mass murderers. Is celebrity violence real, and how do we fix it? Lets see how this plays out step at a time. Narcissists are mad at the world because they want more attention. They want to be famous, and some of them will do anything to get that attention. For their part, the news media delivers fame to mass murderers. This seems like a fair trade to a depressed and socially isolated narcissists. The media gets the sensational story they want from a mass murder while the murderer gets the public recognition he craves. Were left to clean up the bloody mess mess of dead bodies. Today, the media is part of the problem rather than part of the solution. ....... The movement to encourage a limit to media's exposure of murderers continues. Of course serious events will inevitably be reported but much is down to the scale of that reporting - a mention and description once is quite enough, and without having to see pictures of the perpetrator. Take events off the 'front page' and place them on the 'back page' - inform but do it discreetly, including follow ups. Back to Top Are Mainstream Media Promoting Murder or Working to Stop It? By Rob Morse. November 16th, 2018 Original Source The news media is a business. It makes money by delivering our eyes to its commercial advertisements. The media will show us anything that keeps us watching. That is bad news for all of us, because some people want to be the news rather than watch it. Some of us will go so far as to kill to be on the news, and the media is fine with that. We have data that mass murders have increased due to the news coverage given to the mass murderers. Is celebrity violence real, and how do we fix it? Lets see how this plays out step at a time. Narcissists are mad at the world because they want more attention. They want to be famous, and some of them will do anything to get that attention. For their part, the news media delivers fame to mass murderers. This seems like a fair trade to a depressed and socially isolated narcissists. The media gets the sensational story they want from a mass murder while the murderer gets the public recognition he craves. Were left to clean up the bloody mess mess of dead bodies. Today, the media is part of the problem rather than part of the solution. The media might claim that their sensational coverage of mass murder is merely the publics right to be informed. Ill remind you that the publics right to be informed is so the public can make good political decisions. I am all for free speech, but we have several examples where the news media deliberately restricts the information they make public..and were better for it. The most obvious example is that we no longer publicise the name of rape victims. There is a clear public purpose to that restraint. We want rapists prosecuted, and we found that victims were less likely to come forward and press charges if they were pushed into the public eye. Keeping the victim out of the news led to more prosecutions and fewer rapes in the future. The news media stayed in business even with fewer rapes to report. We no longer publicise the name of young suicides. We used to do so, but then we noticed that youth-suicides would cluster after the first suicide was given widespread news coverage. Other at-risk teens would kill themselves in copycat suicides in order to get their name in the paper. Today, we dont publish the name and face of the suicide in order to stop copycat celebrity suicides. The media has plenty of news to report without showing us the face and name of the dead youngster. There were no mass murders at schools in 2017. Weve seen several for them in 2018. The media coverage is now feeding an accelerating cycle of celebrity violence. Oddly enough, we knew this would happen. A report several years ago by the American Psychological Association estimated that weve doubled the rate of mass murders due to the extensive news coverage the media gives these celebrity violence events. The public has the right to know, but when does news coverage become a casting call for the next mass murderer? It is easy to separate the publics need for information from the medias lust for advertising revenue. We already have the examples of the coverage of rape and suicide where the media does not show names and faces. We seem to be able to report on those events very well given that small restriction. In the case of celebrity violence, the media should neither show the murderers face and nore mention his name. How do we stop the media from prostituting itself for profit? If I were an advertiser, I wouldnt want my company promoted next to a mass murderer. Advertisers could demand that their promotions not be placed next to coverage of celebrity violence. Id like the government to help this movement. We could demand that the media stop all advertising within one hour of when the media shows the face or mentions the name of the murderer. That would take the profit motive out of celebrity violence. We could also call the advertiser and ask them to pull their ads if the station mentions the murderers name. I hope that isnt necessary. All it really takes is for us to change the channel or turn off the TV. Back to Top Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. 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. Notable account of Acting AG Matt Whitaker's sentencing work as US Attorney in Iowa | Main | So very thankful this year that so very many voices on the political right are actively advocating for criminal justice reforms A helpful reader made sure I did not miss this new Marshall Project report headlined "Treatment Denied: The Mental Health Crisis in Federal Prisons." Among other important messages, this story highlights that formal prison reforms in legislation like the FIRST STEP Act have to be followed by functional work by prison officials in order to be fully efficacious. Here are excerpts from this story: In 2014, amid mounting criticism and legal pressure, the Federal Bureau of Prisons imposed a new policy promising better care and oversight for inmates with mental-health issues. But data obtained by The Marshall Project through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that instead of expanding treatment, the bureau has lowered the number of inmates designated for higher care levels by more than 35 percent. Increasingly, prison staff are determining that prisoners some with long histories of psychiatric problems dont require any routine care at all. As of February, the Bureau of Prisons classified just 3 percent of inmates as having a mental illness serious enough to require regular treatment. By comparison, more than 30 percent of those incarcerated in California state prisons receive care for a serious mental disorder. In New York, 21 percent of inmates are on the mental-health caseload. Texas prisons provide treatment for roughly 20 percent. A review of court documents and inmates medical records, along with interviews of former prison psychologists, revealed that although the Bureau of Prisons changed its rules, officials did not add the resources needed to implement them, creating an incentive for employees to downgrade inmates to lower care levels. In an email, the bureau confirmed that mental-health staffing has not increased since the policy took effect. The bureau responded to questions from a public information office email account and declined to identify any spokesperson for this article. You doubled the workload and kept the resources the same. You dont have to be Einstein to see how thats going to work, said a former Bureau of Prisons psychologist who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of a pending lawsuit regarding his time at the agency. The bureau said it is developing a strategy to analyze this drop in mental-health care, consistent with a Justice Department inspector generals recommendation last year. Although only a small fraction of federal inmates are deemed ill enough to merit regular therapy, officials acknowledged that 23 percent have been diagnosed with some mental illness.... Data analyzed by The Marshall Project shows that the average monthly rate of assault across all federal prisons increased 16 percent from 2015 to 2016, the last full year available. Most of those incidents were not classified as serious assaults defined by the bureau as likely to cause death or serious injury which have declined in recent years, even before the mental-health policy change in 2014. In several recent in-prison homicides, records suggest that either the alleged attacker or victim wasnt getting needed treatment.... At the high-security Hazelton penitentiary, which saw one of the largest drops in mental-health care, the average monthly rate of assault rose from 29 per 5,000 inmates in 2015 to 40 in 2016. The increase in the rate of serious assault was particularly dramatic, more than quadrupling in that time period. The head of the correctional officers union there has attributed the increase in the rate of assault to guard understaffing. Violence at Hazelton made headlines this fall when infamous mob boss James Whitey Bulger was killed soon after being transferred to the facility. SINGAPORE, Nov 22 (Reuters) - * Norway's Equinor said on Thursday it has inked a long-term agreement with a storage company to store liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Malaysia for sales across southeast Asia * Global Petro Storage (GPS) will build a new terminal and storage facility for LPG at Port Klang where Equinor will be the sole user with the option to own part of the proposed terminal, the company said in statement * Equinor will supply LPG for sales into the domestic market in Malaysia as well as to markets like Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, it said (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Christian Schmollinger) I never thought I would receive such an honour, says Uma Devi Badi Born to the formerly untouchable Badi community, in Salyan, Uma Devi Badi has always lived in poverty and discrimination. But today, Uma Devi is a well-known human rights activist who has dedicated her life to advocating for the rights of the Badi community, spearheading many rallies and demonstrations for the rights of the Badi community. In this article: SINGAPORE, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Singapore fuel oil inventories jumped 13 percent to a four-week high in the week ended Nov. 21, despite an 18 percent drop in net imports to a two-week low, official data released on Thursday showed. - The higher inventory levels were in line with market expectations of increased arbitrage flows into Singapore in November, compared with the previous month, with more volumes due for arrival in the second half of the month, trade sources said. - Onshore fuel oil inventories jumped 2.082 million barrels (about 311,000 tonnes) to 17.903 million barrels, or 2.672 million tonnes, in the week to Nov. 21, data from International Enterprise (IE) Singapore showed. - Net fuel oil imports came in at 1.121 million tonnes, compared with an 11-week high of 1.359 million tonnes in the week before. Weekly figures like this are volatile, however. - Singapore fuel oil net imports have averaged 792,000 tonnes per week in 2018. - This week's onshore fuel oil inventories were 24 percent lower than a year earlier. - Singapore's net exports of fuel oil to China topped the week ended Nov. 21 at 297,000 tonnes, an 11-month high, followed by Hong Kong at 264,000 tonnes, Malaysia at 106,000 tonnes and Qatar at 41,000 tonnes. - Singapore's fuel oil shipment to Qatar in the week to Wednesday marked a second consecutive week of fuel oil exports to the gas-rich Gulf state. Before that, Singapore never exported fuel oil to Qatar since at least December 2015, or as far as records go back, official data compiled by Reuters showed. - The largest net imports into Singapore originated from Iraq at 533,000 tonnes, followed by Russia at 286,000 tonnes, the Netherlands at 218,000 tonnes, Saudi Arabia at 192,000 tonnes and Malta at 172,000 tonnes. - Singapore's fuel oil imports from Iraq hit a record high in the week to Nov. 21. Only Russia and Malaysia exported larger volumes of fuel oil to Singapore in any given week this year at 658,000 tonnes and 679,000 tonnes, respectively. Story continues - Fuel oil inventories in Singapore have averaged 18.83 million barrels, or 2.81 million tonnes, a week since the start of 2018, compared with 23.552 million barrels, or 3.515 million tonnes, in 2017. Week to Nov 21 Total Imports Total Net Imports Exports Fuel oil (in tonnes) BANGLADESH 0 32,119 -32,119 BELGIUM 14,735 0 14,735 BRUNEI 0 13 -13 CANADA 72,572 0 72,572 CHINA 0 297,011 -297,011 COLOMBIA 67,813 0 67,813 ESTONIA 52,323 0 52,323 GERMANY 7,083 0 7,083 HONG KONG 0 263,877 -263,877 INDIA 32,789 7,347 25,443 IRAQ 533,322 0 533,322 LATVIA 56,135 0 56,135 MALAYSIA 190,600 296,255 -105,655 MALTA 172,195 0 172,195 MEXICO 10,967 0 10,967 NETHERLANDS 217,728 0 217,728 NEW CALEDONIA 0 9,663 -9,663 NORWAY 74 0 74 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 0 3,281 -3,281 PHILIPPINES 30,974 31,033 -59 POLAND 41,032 0 41,032 QATAR 0 40,704 -40,704 RUSSIA 285,526 0 285,526 SAUDI ARABIA 191,923 0 191,923 TAIWAN 30,530 38,016 -7,486 THAILAND 0 19,989 -19,989 UNITED KINGDOM 13,304 0 13,304 UNITED STATES 139,157 0 139,157 TOTAL 2,160,783 1,039,307 1,121,476 (Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) Reuters Bharat Biotech's vaccine was only 50% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in a high-risk population during a devastating second wave of infections in India this year, data gleaned from hospital workers showed. The real world study for Covaxin, conducted April 15-May 15, compares with a 77.8% effectiveness rate in a late-stage trial of more than 25,000 participants that was conducted November 2020 to January 2021. The much lower effectiveness rate for the two-dose shot seen in the new study can possibly be attributed to the fact that the study was restricted to hospital employees who had a higher risk of being infected than the general population, that it was conducted during a surge in infections and also to the prevalence of the Delta variant at the time, the study concluded. Chinas biggest airlines potential move to the same industry alliance as Cathay Pacific Airways could help, rather than hinder, the Hong Kong carrier, experts have said. And the fact that China Southern specialises in trips within mainland China, while Cathay Pacific flies further afield and is struggling against cheaper mainland carriers, could mean a boost for both if they teamed up, they said. Major airlines are in one of three global airline clubs Skyteam, Star Alliance and Oneworld, of which Cathay Pacific is a key member. Airlines frequent flier members can use points collected with one carrier across its alliance, and benefit from a wider variety of destinations on one booking. Code-share arrangements between the allies are common. Cathay Pacific has weathered two years of annual losses, most recently losing HK$1.25 billion in 2017. One of Asias premier airlines, it has faced intense competition from mainland carriers, low-cost airlines in particular. Analysts said last week China Southerns recently announced exit from Skyteam and mooted move to Oneworld could threaten Cathay Pacific. But the prospect remained of the two nearby airlines based in Guangzhou and Hong Kong respectively complementing each other inside the same grouping. Junhao Kuang, editor of Guangzhou-based research group FATIII Aviation, said that given each airlines respective strengths the pair were not really rivals at all, and both had more to offer each other, were they to cooperate. I dont think China Southern wants to compete in the premium market with Cathay, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways, Kuang said, adding that China Southern, while huge, did not focus on lucrative business travellers as Cathay did. An example of cooperation between the two would be code-sharing stopover flights which marry a long Cathay Pacific flight with a shorter China Southern flight into mainland China, to open up more Chinese destinations to people in places like Europe and North America. Story continues The two airlines are in Chinas Greater Bay Area, a region comprising 11 cities with a combined population of 68 million and an annual economic output of US$1.4 trillion. Beijing has put greater focus on the region in recent years, to improve cooperation and economic development. Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong are jostling to lead on the aviation front. Dr Law Cheung-kwok, a Chinese University aviation policy expert, said both carriers recognised the pace of change in the regions skies and Cathay Pacific would look to boost custom near its home city. From Cathay Pacific or Hong Kong airports point of view, they would like to expand this connectivity and catchment area in the region as much as possible, he said. A report by OAG, an aviation data consultancy, concluded the airports and airlines stood to win either way as the region prepared for an anticipated surge in outbound Chinese tourism. Ultimately this [would be] a win-win for both airlines. Whilst the issue of respective alliance membership will always be interesting, the fundamentals of strong markets with significant growth potential hold good for both airports and their respective airlines, Mayur Patel, OAGs Japan and Asia-Pacific sales director, said. Jet lands at Hong Kong airport only to find another plane on runway A review of both airlines routes from their respective hubs showed them overlapping on 61 per cent of destinations, according to OAG. Most of Cathays destinations which were not served by China Southern were long-haul ones like Dublin, Frankfurt, Boston, Milan, Tel Aviv and Madrid. Most of the China Southern routes not served by Cathay were to mainland Chinese destinations. The view of Cathay Pacific which can veto new Oneworld entrants was less clear. The carrier declined to comment. Chinese Universitys Leung concluded China Southern had the upper hand. I dont think it will be in any urgent need to make a deal with Cathay Pacific at all for any collaborative arrangement. Cathay is not in a good position to offer a viable deal, he said. Industry experts have said Cathay could leave Oneworld in response and move to a different alliance. But OAGs Patel rejected this. He said: Simply put, the two airlines serve different markets today and whilst that may change over time it certainly doesnt mean that Cathay Pacific have to make a knee-jerk decision to change alliances. This article Alliance with China Southern in Oneworld could help Hong Kongs Cathay Pacific first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. The Asia Pacific region saw prime office rents increase 2.3 percent quarter-on-quarter and 6.4 percent year-on-year during the third quarter of 2018, revealed a Knight Frank report... The Asia Pacific region saw prime office rents increase 2.3 percent quarter-on-quarter and 6.4 percent year-on-year during the third quarter of 2018, revealed a Knight Frank report. This comes as 18 of the 20 cities tracked by Knight Frank reported stable or increased rental growth. In Australia, Melbourne saw rents increase 2.6 percent quarter-on-quarter as rapid employment and population growth continues to drive the citys high level of absorption. Sydney rents rose 2.5 percent, while rents in Brisbane and Perth climbed 0.7 percent and 0.2 percent respectively. While Australias economic condition is supportive of the major office markets, Knight Frank expects the pace of rental growth in Melbourne and Sydney to gradually slow. Rents in Kuala Lumpur slid 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, decelerating from the 0.8 percent drop registered previously, as the commodity sector began to see signs of life on the back of the growing co-working sector and sustained oil price growth. Rents in Manila grew 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter as the US-China trade dispute dented sentiment for US multinationals, which accounted for a large tenant demographic for the booming BPO industry there. Singapore, on the other hand, saw rents increase 1.1 percent quarter-on-quarter as the city-states limited office supply outlook favoured landlords. After a firm showing during the previous quarter, rents in Bengaluru returned to a normalised steady state, rising 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter. Rents in Mumbai climbed 3.9 percent on sustained demand from traditional finance and IT sectors as well as co-working operations. Prime office rents in Tokyo and Hong Kong rose 5.6 percent and 2.7 percent quarter-on-quarter, while rents in Shanghai remained firm. While we are starting to feel the impact of the trade tensions flow through the Asia-Pacific office markets, sound economic conditions are expected to support office demand and drive steady rental growth across the region, said Nicholas Holt, Knight Frank head of research for Asia-Pacific. Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg Paranjape Niranjan Jayant was jailed three weeks after pleading guilty to two counts of molest (PHOTO: Getty Images) While aboard a flight from Sydney to Singapore, an Australian man repeatedly harassed and molested a flight attendant he found attractive. At the State Courts on Thursday (22 November), Paranjape Niranjan Jayant was jailed three weeks after pleading guilty to two counts of molest. One count of molesting the woman by touching her hand was taken into consideration for his sentencing. The 34-year-old works for a logistics company in his home country. The victim a Singaporean in her 20s is a stewardess with the Scoot budget airline. She cannot be named to protect her identity. Unwanted advances According to court documents, the offence took place aboard a flight in August while the victim was deployed to the aircrafts business class section, where Paranjape was seated. Sometime after meal service, Paranjape went to use the toilet at the front galley of the aircraft. As he exited the toilet, he spotted the victim working in the front galley. She was faced away from him at the time. The woman suddenly felt a hand caressing her left hip and turned around to see Paranjape with his hand on her. Without removing his hand, Paranjape then asked the woman where she was from. The woman replied that she was from Singapore while moving away from Paranjape. Paranjape then commented that the woman was beautiful before returning to his seat. After the incident, Paranjape repeatedly asked for the womans phone number but she ignored him. About an hour before the flight landed, he again visited the toilet and found the woman standing with her back towards him. He molested her again before asking for her phone number once more. The woman informed her superior about the offence before telling Paranjape to stop touching her and return to his seat. Paranjape complied. Two days later, the woman made a police report at a police post in Changi Airport Terminal 2. Accused really sorry for stupid act Deputy Public Prosecutor James Chew pointed out that the offence had been made against a crew member and had taken place in an aircraft, which were aggravating factors. He sought three weeks jail for Paranjape. Story continues In mitigation, Paranjape said that he was really sorry for his actions and that he had been away from work the three months while awaiting the conclusion of his court case in Singapore. I just keep thinking about how stupid I have been. I was shameful to myself, my wife, my in-laws and my family to do this stupid act, he said. If Im put in jail, its going to affect my career really bad, said Paranjape, adding that the emotionally draining three months he has spent in Singapore was more than enough for him to learn his lesson. He pleaded for leniency and said he would prefer not to be jailed. Paranjape also claimed that he was intoxicated during the flight and has since learnt that he cannot handle alcohol. In reply, District Judge Lim Tse Haw said he was convinced that Paranjape was remorseful but that he could not ignore the aggravating factors of the case. He added that the court had to send a clear deterrent signal and the message that molest on an aircraft would be dealt with severely. More Singapore stories: NTUC Foodfare to take legal action against The Independent Singapore Serial sexual predator sentenced to 9 years preventive detention Food delivery man arrested in Yishun after being stopped for using non-compliant e-scooter Ex-security guard who sexually assaulted drunk man in Suntec City toilet jailed, caned Beaten Indonesian domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih demands to know why Hong Kong abuser was released from jail early Hong Kong prison authorities were on Thursday under mounting pressure to explain why an employer who made headlines around the world for torturing Indonesian domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih was released from prison after serving only about half of her six-year sentence. Erwiana and Tutik Lestari Ningsih, another Indonesian helper abused by the same woman, joined supporters in demanding an explanation from the Correctional Services Department. Law Wan-tung was found guilty of assault in February 2015 and is yet to pay HK$809,430 in damages to Erwiana and HK$170,000 to Tutik as ordered by the court. Erwiana on Thursday called the original six-year sentence not adequate for the terrible crimes Law committed, and said she felt powerless against the decision to release her early. The Indonesian demanded an apology from Law and a promise that she would never do such evil things again. I felt very sad and disappointed when I learned Law had been released, Erwiana was heard saying in an audio recording played at a press conference organised by migrants groups. In comments later made to the Post she added: Prison might not be the only place that can make people repent their crimes, but at least [jail time] serves as a lesson to her. In January 2014 Erwiana was spotted by another Indonesian worker at Hong Kong airport with bruises all over her body. She had suffered eight months of physical and emotional abuse, and Law had then tried to put her on a flight back to Indonesia. When the case came to trial, the court heard how Erwiana had been beaten frequently, knocked out on one occasion, and even had a metal vacuum cleaner tube shoved in her mouth. On Wednesday, Yvonne Cheung, a lawyer with the justice department who is pursuing Law for HK$200,000 over a separate, failed legal action, told the High Court that Law had been released from Lo Wu Correctional Institution a few months prior. Cheung said she had been unable to ascertain Laws whereabouts. Story continues Inmates can earn a one-third reduction on their sentences through good behaviour, but it was unclear why Law served less than four years. It is my hope that Law Wan-tung can admit her wrongdoings, apologise to the victims and resolve never to do the same thing to anyone ever again. She must also pay the overdue compensation that I and the other victims deserve, Erwiana said in the audio recording. Tutik said she was also very upset and disappointed, and that Law had not even apologised. Cynthia Abdon-Tellez, general manager of the Mission for Migrant Workers, said Law had not shown any remorse or paid a cent of the damages she owed. Eni Lestari, spokeswoman for the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, said the early release was an injustice and sent the wrong message to employers. Migrant workers groups were discussing how to ensure Law paid the damages, she said. On Thursday the Correctional Services Department offered the same reply it had issued a day earlier. To protect individual privacy, we cannot disclose the personal data of a person in custody, it said. A source close to the matter said Law had been part of an early release scheme and would be subject to supervision until her jail term expired. Hong Kong is home to 380,000 foreign domestic workers, who make up almost 10 per cent of the citys working population. Their number is projected to surge to 600,000 by 2047 to meet rising demands from Hong Kongs ageing population, according to labour and welfare minister Dr Law Chi-kwong. Under Hong Kongs Prisoners (Release Under Supervision) Ordinance, a person serving a jail term of three years or more can apply for early release under the Release Under Supervision Scheme, when he or she has served not less than half or 20 months of the sentence. A prisoner can also apply for early release under the Pre-release Employment Scheme if the inmate has been given a sentence of two years or more and is within six months of the earliest date of release. Both schemes are aimed at facilitating early reintegration into society. A supervision board considers applications. Security minister John Lee Ka-chiu said in a written reply to lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai last October that when reviewing applications the board considered reports from the Correctional Services Department, police and medical reports. The board shall also consider factors such as an applicants criminal record, his conduct in prison, and his ability and readiness to assume obligations and to undertake responsibilities, Lee wrote. The board would then submit recommendations to the security minister for consideration, Lee added, who may exercise the powers delegated by Hong Kongs chief executive under the ordinance to make decisions. Between 2012 and September last year, the board considered 589 applications for the two schemes and approved 237. This article Beaten Indonesian domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih demands to know why Hong Kong abuser was released from jail early first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. MPs investigating Britain's 2017 terror attacks said Thursday that the MI5 security service missed key opportunities to stop the Manchester Arena bomber. Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, a cross-party panel of lawmakers that scrutinises the work of government in these fields, slammed communications service providers (CSPs) for giving terrorists a "safe haven". The ISC also said their recommendations on previous failings had gone ignored. Britain suffered five terrorist attacks in 2017: at Westminster, London Bridge, Finsbury Park and Parsons Green in London; and at the Manchester Arena, where 22 were killed in a suicide bombing. Thirty-six people were killed in total in the attacks. The Manchester Arena attack, as concert-goers were leaving an Ariana Grande show, was perpetrated by 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a Mancunian of Libyan descent. The ISC's report said the MI5 domestic security agency missed chances to stop Abedi, moving too slowly after his case had been flagged for review and failing to consider him for referral to the anti-radicalisation scheme. Abedi also visited an extremist contact in prison on more than one occasion but no follow-up action was taken by either MI5 or the police. MI5 did not place travel monitoring or restrictions on Abedi, meaning he was allowed to return undetected from Libya to Britain shortly before the bombing. "There were a number of failures in the handling of Salman Abedi's case and while it is impossible to say whether these would have prevented the devastating attack on May 22, we have concluded that, as a result of the failings, potential opportunities to prevent it were missed," the ISC said. Responding to the report, UK counter-terrorism police said they would study the report's findings "carefully". "We are deeply committed to learning so that we can refine our response to the evolving threat," he said. - 'Hopelessly out of date' - The committee found 12 "cross-cutting issues" which played a part in at least two attacks. On explosives, "the system for regulating and reporting purchases of the ingredients used to make explosives was hopelessly out of date in dealing with the threat posed," it said, adding that it had facilitated the perpetrators' actions. Meanwhile appeals to CSPs to tighten up their loopholes had fallen on deaf ears. The committee said that four years ago they concluded that CSPs were failing to stop their systems "being used as a safe haven for extremists and terrorists. "Yet we have seen that appeals to these companies' sense of corporate and social responsibility have not resulted in them making the changes required -- and again these loopholes were used by the perpetrators of the 2017 attacks." The committee concluded that MI5 and counter-terror police wanted to learn from past mistakes and their determination was impressive. However, "we have previously made recommendations in all of these areas, yet the government failed to act on them. The lessons from last year's tragic events must now result in real action", the report said. The probe did not fully cover the bomb attack on a London Underground train at Parsons Green station, because the Home Office interior ministry did not provide full evidence in time for the inquiry. "From what we have seen to date, there were fundamental failings in the handling of this case," the committee found, saying the "litany of errors" by the ministry, the police and the local authority necessitated a separate review. Chandan Kumar Mandal is the environment and migration reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering labour migration and governance, as well as climate change, natural disasters, and wildlife. A solitary cell, 30 minutes of daily exercise and two baths a week: Carlos Ghosn's new routine is a world away from the private jets and lavish parties the millionaire tycoon once enjoyed. The 64-year-old auto industry titan stands accused of serious financial misconduct and is being questioned at a concrete 12-floor detention centre in northern Tokyo which also houses convicted criminals and even death-row inmates. While it is impossible to know Ghosn's exact surroundings, lawyers who have made several visits there to clients as well as former detainees paint a picture of an austere facility where solitude is the biggest enemy. Veteran attorney Yoshiro Ito said the barren rooms have nothing but a bed, toilet, and a handle-less door with an iron-barred window. Detainees follow a strict routine. Wake-up call is shortly before 7am and lights out at 9pm. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided. For an extra charge, inmates can order additional food from pre-approved options. It is a far cry from the macaroons and colourful cakes photographed at Ghosn's Marie-Antoinette-themed wedding party thrown in 2016 at the sumptuous Palace of Versailles near Paris. Inmates have the option of taking half an hour of physical exercise and can take a bath twice a week. "You can wear your own clothing but ties, strings and belts are taken away to prevent suicide," said Ito. Books and letters can be sent in but are all censored by prison officials. - 'Extremely lonely' - Generally, high-profile detainees are kept away from other inmates, with the cells either side and in front left vacant. "There are solitary cells as well as rooms that can accommodate several people, but in special cases like Mr Ghosn, I believe he is undoubtedly in a solitary room," said lawyer Ito. Takafumi Horie, a Japanese businessman detained at the same centre and later jailed in 2011 for securities fraud as head of Internet giant Livedoor, said the toughest part was "not being able to talk to people". Frenchman Ghosn has received a visit from the French ambassador as part of consular protection and the Brazilian consul has also seen the businessman who was born in Porto Velho in northwestern Brazil. But Horie said his overriding memory at the centre is being "extremely lonely." "There was a guard who spoke to me through a small hole on the door and said he would talk to me for a short while... Honestly, I cried," said Horie in his book "Tettei Kosen" ("Total Resistance"). Horie said there was no track of time in the cell, as the clock was removed "because some people try to commit suicide or harm themselves by using plastic or glass covering the clock." Even toothbrushes and hand towels were taken away each night, said Horie. "Until I was detained, I didn't realise that losing the freedom to look at my face (in the mirror) was this tough," said the former inmate. Following Ghosn's arrest, Horie tweeted it would also be "pretty cold" at this time of year. - 'American crime drama' - Toshio Sakamoto, who worked as a prison guard there for nearly three decades, said conditions would be "very tough" and not just for Ghosn, but also for officials monitoring a maximum of 3,000 inmates. "He's super-famous and rich and a foreign national. It's very difficult to detain someone like him due to the language barriers and difference between Japan's justice system and the system he knows," Sakamoto told AFP. If he had complaints, he would only be able to address the detention centre staff, whose English would unlikely be strong enough to understand every detail, added the former guard. "It's a disaster for the Tokyo Detention Centre. You must be very careful to prevent any mishap, which could be an international issue. I wouldn't want to be there myself," he said. He described the centre as a "monster" not just because of its size but "because you never know what will happen there". Sakamoto said he was aware of cases where paparazzi-style conmen deliberately commit a crime so they can spy on famous inmates in the hope of splashing their story. "It's just like an American crime drama in there," he said. China and Russia look to ditch dollar with new payments system in move to avoid sanctions China and Russia are drafting a pact to boost the use of their national currencies in bilateral and international trade, underscoring their intent to cut their reliance on the US dollar. The development of a new international financial payments system aims to address rising concerns over additional US sanctions and trade tariffs. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, during his visit to China earlier this month, said the two nations were discussing the launch of a new cross-border system for direct payment of trade invoices in the yuan and the rouble. He also said discussions were under way to allow the use of Chinas UnionPay credit card in Russia and Russias Mir card in China. The impetus for creating a new financial infrastructure is the continued deterioration in both countries relations with the United States and the threat that Washington will impose more economic sanctions on one or both of them. The Chinese should protect their system while Russia should protect its own system, Medvedev said earlier this month, ahead of the 22nd regular meeting of Russian and Chinese heads of government. In this respect, this kind of cooperation is very useful because in this situation no one will be able to block the development of financial traffic, he said, predicting that China-Russia bilateral trade would reach US$200 billion in 2020, double the US$100 billion level in 2014. The US, European Union and other Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia officials and businessmen after its forceful annexation of Crimea in 2014. Many Russian and Chinese firms have also been fined or put on a blacklist by US authorities for violating US sanctions law. For instance, Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp was fined US$1.4 billion fine in June for shipping goods to Iran and North Korea in violation of those sanctions. Story continues Medvedev made clear the payment system initiative was an attempt to move away from the current dollar-dominated financial system. No one currency should dominate the market, because this makes all of us dependent on the economic situation in the country that issues this reserve currency, even when we are talking about a strong economy such as the United States, Medvedev said. I want to say something that may raise a few eyebrows, but I think some of these [US] sanctions are good or useful because they forced us to do what we should have done 10 years ago, he said. But it is unclear to me why we have been trading oil and gas for dollars and euros all of these years without trying to involve the rouble. Trading for roubles is our absolute priority, which, by the way, should eventually turn the rouble from a convertible currency into a reserve currency. Since some 42 per cent of transactions on the Swift international payments system are in US dollars, exclusion from the current system is a powerful weapon Washington could use to punish sanctions violators. The development of a new cross-border payments system could allow China and Russia to avoid using Swift for many transactions, potentially allowing them to circumvent any US sanctions. If the trade war escalates, using Swift to make financial payments becomes a potential channel to sanction a country, Nathan Chow, an economist at DBS Bank said. So starting a new payments system will help avoid such a situation, on top of other uses such as yuan internationalisation and Russia-China trade development. Chinas share of Russias international trade increased to 15 per cent last year from 11 per cent in 2013, largely reflecting increased purchases of oil and gas, according to Dmitry Dolgin, Russia chief economist at ING Bank. Russian imports from China replaced some of the EU imports that were cut off by Western sanctions, which increased Chinas share of total Russian imports to 22 per cent from 17 per cent five years ago. However, INGs Dolgin said several hurdles would need to be overcome before the full benefits of a new payments system could be realised. Chinas heavy integration into global manufacturing supply chains means it has limited power to set prices in its own currency. And US dollar-denominated payments had long been used by oil exporters for their convenience as well as for their faith in the dollar as a safe store of value, Dolgin said. This article China and Russia look to ditch dollar with new payments system in move to avoid sanctions 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: Safety at Hong Kong youth parties was under the spotlight on Thursday after birthday celebrations turned into a nightmare for a group of Baptist University students who suffered burns when an explosion went off as they threw flour dust around. Four students remained in hospital on Thursday night, while eight others were treated and discharged earlier. Investigators from the Fire Services Department were looking into whether the flour dust had ignited during the incident, which prompted comparisons with a tragedy three years ago in Taiwan where 15 people were killed and hundreds injured when a fireball tore through a crowd of revellers while flammable corn starch powder was being sprayed at party goers. The 12 Hong Kong students suffered burns to the face, neck, hands or feet as a group of about 20 were celebrating a birthday in the student halls of Baptist Universitys Kowloon Tong campus shortly before 1am. They were rushed to different hospitals, where one of them, a 21-year-old woman with serious burns, was in a stable condition on Thursday night, along with three others. The Fire Services Department said it received a call at 12.54am on Thursday, and sent seven fire trucks and 11 ambulances to the scene. There was no fire when they arrived. Baptist University president Roland Chin Tai-hong, provost Clayton MacKenzie and director of student affairs Gordon Tang Yu-nam visited two female victims at Queen Elizabeth Hospital at around 7pm. Chin said the injured students were in good spirits after their ordeal. I told them not to worry about their studies, he said. I told their professors that their exams and assignment deadlines can be postponed. The most important thing for them now is to get well soon. Chin revealed that the most seriously injured student had suffered 19 per cent burns, and the second most serious case involved 10 per cent burns. Story continues Having just flown in from South Korea, he had already visited a patient at Prince of Wales Hospital earlier and was heading to Kwong Wah Hospital next to see the remaining patient. Play is fine, but the most important thing is safety awareness, Chin said, adding the university would take steps to educate students and spread the message. Earlier, MacKenzie sent out an email to students and staff, saying: We are distressed by this incident and will do all we can to look into the cause and prevent a reoccurrence. The vice-president of the universitys student union, Mak Kwan-wai, said he had learned the management would deal with the injuries of the students as a priority, instead of taking disciplinary action against them. The university would also provide financial help and counselling, he said. A police source said investigators believed students were throwing flour at each other and the dust was ignited by burning candles on a birthday cake. Lam Chun-man, a former director of fire services, suspected a flour dust explosion was most likely to have caused the injuries. Flour was combustible, he noted. Dr Fung Ying-sing, a retired chemistry teacher for the University of Hong Kong, said explosions could occur when large amounts of organic powder, such as flour and corn starch, caught fire in an oxygenated environment. Dont run away [if you are on fire], Fung said. It will provide more oxygen to support combustion. Five women from Hong Kong were among those injured in the 2015 tragedy at a water park in New Taipei City. The explosion went off when large amounts of coloured powder were sprayed on revellers enjoying a Colour Play Asia party with about 1,000 spectators. Additional reporting by Peace Chiu This article Safety concerns after 12 students at Hong Kong Baptist University are injured at birthday celebration during which flour dust was thrown around first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. An airplane of Malaysian budget carrier Firefly. (Photo: Firefly) Malaysian budget carrier Firefly said on Thursday (22 Nov) that it would be suspending flights into Singapore from 1 December 2018 onwards, citing issues with the Singapore authorities plan to move turboprop operations from Changi Airport to Seletar Airport. In a statement on its Facebook, Firefly said, Firefly confirms that it has had to suspend flights into Singapore effective 1 December 2018 until the relevant authorities have cleared remaining matters in relation to the Singapore authoritys plans to move turbo-prop operations from Changi International to Seletar. Firefly has not been provided any definitive timeline by the authorities for the delay. Upon final approval from the authorities, Firefly will then resume its flights into Singapore. Firefly added in its statement that arrangements were being made for all affected passengers, although it did not elaborate on these arrangements. Customers who made queries on its Facebook page were directed to contact the airline by telephone or email for further information and assistance. An $80 million passenger terminal opened at Seletar Airport on Monday (19 Nov). Operation of scheduled turboprop flights are planned to be moved from Changi Airport to Seletar Airport beginning on 1 Dec, which is also the date on which Firefly was expected to begin operations at Seletar. Follow Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore on Facebook. Related story: Firefly to operate from Seletar Airport from end of 2018 Nayak Paudel is a crime reporter for The Kathmandu Post. Since joining the Post in 2018, he has also written on health issues. Hong Kong food safety centre warns consumers to avoid eating romaine lettuce from United States and Canada because of E coli outbreak Hong Kong food safety authorities have warned the public to avoid consuming romaine lettuce from the United States and Canada because of possible E coli infection. The call came after the citys Centre for Food Safety received outbreak reports from the two countries of E coli infection which might be linked to the consumption of romaine, also known as cos lettuce. The centre also held all romaine lettuce imported from the two countries starting from Thursday for testing, a spokesman said. The produce will only be released to the market upon satisfactory test results. It has enhanced surveillance of romaine from the two countries at retail level. Local retailers had voluntarily removed the produce from their shelves, the spokesman added. For the sake of prudence, the centre urges the public not to consume romaine lettuce from the US, Canada and unknown sources, the centre said. The centre will continue to closely monitor the latest developments of the incident. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 32 people in 11 states had become sick from eating contaminated romaine. Of those, 13 had been admitted to hospital, with one patient suffering from kidney failure. The Public Health Agency of Canada reported that 18 people have been infected with the same strain of E coli in Ontario and Quebec. In a rare, wide-ranging alert two days before Thanksgiving on Thursday, the CDC warned American consumers romaine lettuce was unsafe to eat in any form in response to a new outbreak of illnesses caused by a particularly dangerous type of E coli bacteria. It told consumers to throw away any romaine they may already have bought. Investigators have yet to find out where, when or how the contamination happened. This article Hong Kong food safety centre warns consumers to avoid eating romaine lettuce from United States and Canada because of E coli outbreak first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. Hong Kong women are the most willing in Asia to quit their jobs for family, HSBC study finds Just over a quarter of Hong Kongs working women would quit their jobs to take on family responsibilities if needed, more than anywhere else in Asia, according to a global survey by HSBC. But their readiness to sacrifice their careers to bring up children would make it harder for them to save enough money for retirement, a trend reflected in the study by an apparent lack of confidence in their financial future. Twenty-six per cent of the citys working women said they would sacrifice their career for their children, contrasting with just 5 per cent in mainland China, according to the online survey by HSBC polling more than 17,000 people worldwide between November and December last year. Although Hong Kong women have many career obligations, many of them tend to put their priorities on the home, thinking its most important to manage the family well, said Elaine Lai, head of wealth development, retail banking, and wealth management at HSBC in Hong Kong. Despite coming changes, Hong Kong mothers still face uphill battle in workplace About 18 per cent women polled in India said they were willing to make the sacrifice for family, while in Indonesia the figure was 13 per cent, in Taiwan 25 per cent, in Malaysia 15 per cent and in Singapore 25 per cent. Hong Kong lags far behind its peers in terms of family-friendly policies and provisions for working women - and this needs to change. Men are still expected to be the primary breadwinner while women are also commonly stereotyped as family caregivers, said Fiona Nott, CEO of the Womens Foundation. Having less money to set aside for retirement, Hong Kong women were also found to be the least confident about their financial future among regional peers, with just 38 per cent expressing confidence about maintaining a comfortable retirement, compared to 63 per cent in mainland China. Hong Kongs Mandatory Provident Fund scheme is not a comprehensive scheme to ensure a favourable retirement life, it only serves as a subsidy to daily expense. Meanwhile, China has better social security and Singapore requires a higher contribution, said Elvin Yu, principal at pension consultancy Goji Consulting. Story continues The citys MPF scheme requires employers and employees to each contribute 5 per cent to the accounts, but the scheme does not cover housewives, with the Womens Foundation estimating that one million women in Hong Kong do not qualify for the MPF, including homemakers, part-time workers and elderly. Hong Kongs MPF languishes among the bottom of such schemes globally. It failed to meet the future needs of pensioners, according to a worldwide study published in October by pension consultancy Mercer. Hong Kongs MPF ranks near bottom of the class globally when it comes to adequate savings preparation, consultancy says Female respondents said that medical and daily expense are their major sources of worry, with 72 per cent saying they will not have enough to pay for medical expenses and over half believing they will struggle to pay for even basic necessities after retirement. Hong Kong women are health-conscious and they expect themselves to live longer than their spouse, creating a perception that they may not have enough to pay for medical expenses, said Lai. Despite lingering concerns, most female respondents were not taking an active role in managing their finances, as they believed they lack the knowledge to do so. Even when they were seeking financial advice, 39 per cent said they did not understand what the experts were saying. Only 28 per cent of local women believed they have better financial knowledge than their partners, compared to 43 per cent of men. Important buying decisions such as purchasing a home or car are usually made by men while women only were focused on household management, potentially affecting their level of engagement and confidence in financial planning, Lai said. Yu suggested that housewives use the MPF platform to do long-term financial planning by making special voluntary contributions. The fees for buying funds on the MPF platform are lower than that from banks, although choices may be limited as MPF providers tend to avoid risky products that may not be suitable for long-term retirement savings, said Yu. This article Hong Kong women are the most willing in Asia to quit their jobs for family, HSBC study finds first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. This marks South Korean BonAngels Ventures Partners first investment in Malaysian company Malaysian online travel platform LokaLocal announced that it has raised a total of US$1.5 million funding from South Korean venture capital firm BonAngels Venture Partners. LokaLocal plans on using the funding to accelerate its growth through the development of an integrated tech solution, acquisition of products, and regional expansion to about 50 cities, towns, and villages within next year. The company noted that its immediate project would be working alongside cultural space owners and event organisers to give access to Malaysias culture and art scene in a digital platform. The company will also expand to 50 more cities, towns and villages within the next year. Also Read: Agritech startup CropIn raises US$8M from Chiratae Ventures, Bill & Melinda Foundation We can already see the growing interest in off-the-beaten-track experiences over mass tourism. This new funding will enable LokaLocal to further solidify its position in Malaysia, said founder and CEO of LokaLocal Chin Yoon Khen. BonAngels is adding LokaLocal to its portfolio as the execution of their vision to expand the growth of promising Southeast Asian companies. LokaLocal is a company that genuinely discovers local attractions and has the ability to form them into tours. As the tourism industry grows, we believe content-uniqueness would be much important. LokaLocals whole network and learnings would truly be a valuable asset, said CEO of BonAngels, Simon Seok-heun Kang regarding the decision. Also Read: Singapores CapBridge gets central bank approval to operate private exchange LokaLocal was established in 2016 as an experienced-based platform in Malaysia. Currently, the company claimed to have connected travelers to over 800 unique tours and workshops, while delivering economic and social impact to 700 local hosts. The company that was awarded the Best Social Impact Award by the Mekong Innovative Startups in 2017 has worked with tourism arms of Selangor and Perak state government in the national initiative under Visit Malaysia 2020. Image Credit: LokaLocal The post Malaysia-based travel tech startup LokaLocal secures US$1.5M funding from BonAngels Venture appeared first on e27. Defence Ministry denies approval to Army officials for Swiss-funded junket Agreeing on the Swiss governments invitation, which is funding the junket, the national defence force last week had sought permission from its line ministry for the approval to participate in the six-day programme that begins next week. Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has signed a new long-term contract with the Premier League giants, the club announced on Thursday. The 26-year-old joined Jurgen Klopp's side from Southampton in June 2016, and has scored 40 goals for Liverpool, forming a deadly frontline alongside Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah. "I am very happy, very happy to extend my time at Liverpool," Mane said. "It is a great day for me and now I am looking forward to everything - to helping the team, to helping the club achieve our dreams and, especially, to win trophies. "For me, I have made the best decision in my career." The Senegal international scored 10 goals as Liverpool reached last season's Champions League final, and has started the new campaign strongly, netting six times in 11 Premier League games. He was also named on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or last month. The length of his new deal was not disclosed by Liverpool. "This is a big boost for everyone and another demonstration of how the players we have at this club are committed, not just to our present but our future also," said Reds manager Klopp. "I can't think of a single club anywhere in Europe that wouldn't want a player like Sadio available to them, so the fact he wants to remain with us says something about where we are currently. "He is a such an important member of our team and squad. He radiates joy and I think this is reflected in his performances and impact on the pitch." The Anfield club put their unbeaten record in the league this term on the line against Watford on Saturday. NTUC Foodfare is taking legal action against socio-political website The Independent Singapore. Yahoo News Singapore file photo Social enterprise cooperative NTUC Foodfare said on Wednesday (21 November) that it will take legal action against socio-political website The Independent Singapore (TISG). This comes after the website refused to comply with its demands to remove two articles and two Facebook posts sharing those articles, all of which are allegedly defamatory. The first article, published on Monday, was titled Elderly hawker allegedly passed away after working 18-hour days to avoid hefty fine when NTUC Foodfare rejected appeal to shorten operating hours. The second article, also published on the same day, was titled NTUC Foodfare slaps $3,500 fine on elderly and injured tenant who was unable to operate for a few days. The first article had more than 5,100 Facebook shares by 9am on Thursday, while the second had more than 3,000. Letter asking for apology and retraction A letter by law firm David Lim & Partners, served on behalf of the cooperative on Tuesday, had asked for an apology and retraction of the articles and Facebook posts by 3pm on Wednesday, on grounds that NTUC Foodfare has been disparaged and injured in its character and reputation and has suffered considerable hurt, distress and embarrassment. NTUC Foodfare also put up a post on its Facebook page about the TISG posts and articles: In response, TISG posted the demand letter on its website, as well as a note by the sites publisher Kumaran Pillai saying it needed more time to investigate the contentions raised. It added that it had relevant facts to justify its articles. TISG added that It is curious that NTUC Foodfares public statements are somewhat contrary to our findings. It added that it has sent a lawyers letter to NTUC Foodfare, asking for information related to the two articles. TISG insisted that the articles should remain published until and otherwise it is proven to be false and baseless by NTUC Foodfare. It said in the notes concluding paragraph. We cant go wrong for standing up for what is right. In the hawkers plight, we feel the pain of all those who have toiled hours in front of a hot stove so that we can have affordable meals in Singapore. We cannot and will not be cowed by the powers that be. (We) will hold the line in championing the rights of our hawkers, workers and downtrodden. Story continues Second website to be accused of defamation this week The Independent Singapore, which was started in 2013, is the second Singapore socio-political website to be accused of defamation this week. On Tuesday, police said that it seized equipment such as desktop computers and mobile devices from the executive editor of The Online Citizen, after one of its articles made serious allegations that the Governments highest officers are corrupt and that the Constitution has been tampered with. The article has been removed. Related story: Police seize equipment from The Online Citizen in defamation investigation Frank Buhler, a leader of the protesters who have barricaded French highways over the past week, aims to colour Paris in the movement's trademark yellow on Saturday when rural France takes its fight with President Emmanuel Macron to the capital. The 53-year-old political activist has called on demonstrators to swarm Paris "on foot, horseback or by car" for the second round Saturday of a battle between centrist President Emmanuel Macron and rebels from the provinces. A member of the right-wing "Stand Up France" party Buhler has watched in horror as fuel prices soared in the past year, driving up the cost of his commute to work in the rural southwestern Tarn-et-Garonne region. "I spend between one and two months' wages on fuel," he told AFP in an interview, accusing Macron, who has hiked anti-pollution taxes, of penalising those who get up and go to work in the morning. Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people wearing yellow high-visibility vests erected roadblocks across the country in a wave of anti-government defiance. Two people have been accidentally killed and over 530 people been injured in six days of protests that have shone a light on frustration over stagnant spending power in Europe's second-biggest economy. Macron was elected on a pledge to put more money in workers' pockets but the effects of his reforms on purchasing power have been limited so far. The Rexecode institute predicts household purchasing power will rise only by 1.3 percent this year, failing to compensate for an overall decline in disposable income of 440 euros between 2008 and 2016. "The problem is that before the (global financial) crisis living standards were rising steadily. But that stopped in 2008 and the average household has still not recovered," Mathieu Plane of the French Economic Observatory told AFP. - No post-2008 recovery - A 23-percent rise in the price of diesel in the past year was the last straw for many struggling families. The government has linked the price surge to world oil prices but the "yellow vests" accuse Macron of punishing motorists while slashing taxes on business and the wealthy. This is not the first time the French -- who pay more in taxes and social security contributions than any other EU country -- have rebelled against levies they see as unjust. For political analyst Jean-Yves Camus, "the acceptance of taxes is based on the notion of redistribution. "It declines when public services recede, the safety nets dwindle and the gap between rich and poor increases," he said. Macron has vowed not to back down on taxing polluters. But with his ratings languishing at record lows six months ahead of European Parliament elections, the former banker, labelled the "president of the rich" by his opponents, has sought to present a more empathetic side. In a TV interview last week he admitted that he had "not succeeded in reconciling the French with their leaders" and vowed to give the provinces more of a say in policy-making. "There are legitimate grievances that have to be given a hearing," he told his cabinet Wednesday. - 'Societal malaise' - The "yellow vests" have drawn comparisons with the fiery Breton "red hats" who forced the Socialist government of Francois Hollande to scrap a pollution tax on trucks after weeks of protests in 2013 by food producers. Unlike the "red hats", however, the "yellow vests" have national reach and represent a wide variety of grievances, from the cost of diesel to rising taxes on pensions to rural unemployment. For historian Jean Garrigues, a professor at Sciences Po university in Paris, the protests hark back to the peasant tax revolt of 1358. Like the 12th century "Jacquerie" -- named after the nickname given to the protesters by the nobility -- the revolt is "the expression of a societal malaise, which makes it very difficult to resolve," he told AFP. Some observers see in it the seeds of a populist movement like Italy's Five Star Movement (M5S), which was born out of frustration with the political establishment and corruption and now shares power with the far-right League party. But unlike the M5S, which was founded by comedian Beppe Grillo, no charismatic figure has so far emerged to lead the "yellow vests", despite attempts by the right, far right and radical left to channel their frustrations. Duhabi tense after NEA employee shot dead An employee of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) was shot dead by an unidentified assailant at Duhabi Municipality-9 in Sunsari district on Wednesday morning. What a week in taking action against sociopolitical websites on grounds of defamation. First, The Online Citizen got involved in a police investigation after a report was lodged about an article that accused the government of corruption. Now, The Independent Singapore is facing legal action for two of its articles that didnt shine social enterprise NTUC Foodfare in a good light. Law firm David Lim & Partners served a letter to TISG on behalf of NTUC Foodfare on Tuesday, demanding that the site takes down two of its articles that are allegedly defamatory. Article 1: Death of a hawker From TISG One article in subject is about an elderly hawker who died earlier this year from overworking, with TISG pinning the blame on NTUC Foodfare. An anonymous reader tipped off the site, claiming that an elderly hawker who owned two stalls at the food court of Changi Airport Terminal 4 had no choice but to work 18-hour days to avoid being fined by NTUC Foodfare, the food courts operators. TISG reported that NTUC Foodfare had warned the hawker that he would be fined $500 for each day his stall closed. The hawker had apparently appealed to them to shorten his operating hours when his staff returned home for the holidays during the Chinese New Year period, but the request was said to be rejected. According to the TISG reader, the hawkers heart surgeon attributed his death to being overworked. TISG made no mention of contacting NTUC Foodfare to verify the account. From NTUC NTUC rebutted the report, clarifying that no such request or appeal to shorten operating hours was received from the hawker. NTUC even asserted that it was their staff member who helped the deceased hawker, identified as a Mr. Fong. On 19 February 2018, our outlet manager noticed that Mr. Fong was looking unwell. He then persuaded Mr. Fong to seek medical help while his staff attended to the stalls. The man passed away due to heart failure that same evening, and NTUC assured that assistance was rendered to his family. Absent from their statement is a confirmation if the elderly man was working 18-hour days or if he indeed was overworked. Story continues Article 2: The hefty fine From TISG At the very same Changi Airport food court, another vendor was said to have issues with the operators. Writing to TISG, the stall-holders daughter claimed that her father was slapped with a $3,500 fine for not complying to NTUC Foodfares regulations. The hawker had sustained an injury and was put on medical leave for 60 days, but this meant that the stall he ran as head chef was forced to be closed as there was no one else to operate it. The article took issue with how NTUC Foodfare wasnt sympathetic to its vendor and deducted the fine from the hawkers deposit. Again, TISG made no mention of contacting NTUC Foodfare to verify the account. From NTUC On their part, NTUC Foodfare mentioned that it has actually been very lenient to the stall operators, and have actually given them face in previous occasions when the stall had to be closed for prolonged periods of time. The reason why the vendors were charged $3,500 was that the stall was not opened after the licensee promised that she would. She had told the outlet manager that she will open her stall after her fathers medical leave. However, she did not. Per the leasing agreement, this invoked the pre-termination clause. NTUC also stated that they were willing to waive the fine if she opened her stall within three days, but she did not do so. Keep calm and hold the line Yesterday, TISG defended their decisions to publish their articles and declared that they will not be taking down the articles. Obviously, apologizing to NTUC Foodfare is the easy way out we come out with no financial losses and all we have to do is to put up an apology and take down the two articles in question, wrote Kumaran Pillai of TISG. But TISG is not driven by profits. What motivates us most is to put the pen back in the hands of the journalist. To cover stories like these where people are suffering alone on their own, to give voice to the voiceless. Kumaran added that theyve since replied the letters sent by NTUC Foodfares lawyers, expressing confidence that the two articles in subject are based on facts and that they do have evidence to corroborate their stories. We cannot and will not be cowed by the powers that be. TISG will hold the line in championing the rights of our hawkers, workers and downtrodden. Looks like a juicy court story between the two parties is due to unfold in the next couple of months. The post Sociopolitical site The Independent Singapore will not be cowed by NTUC Foodfares legal action appeared first on Coconuts. Earlier this month, the case of a three-year-old abandoned in an Ampang hospital by his mother and stepfather in serious condition, only to die 30 minutes later shocked Malaysians. Today, Khairul Izaini Khairuddin, known as Boy Tiger, the individual named as the young tots stepfather, is expected to be charged, while his wife, the childs mother, has been released on police remand. Authorities confirmed that since the boy died in hospital on November 8, the couple have been held in remand twice, on November 13 and then again on November 19. The mother, Noraini Samian is expected to act as a witness in the case. Prosecutors are expected to charge the suspect under the Child Act 2001. Doctors were unable to save the young boy, who arrived in hospital unconscious with his mother and stepfather. After examining the boy, they found he had a fractured skull and was covered in bruises from his face, to chest, stomach and back. Emergency room doctors worked for 30 minutes on the boys body before pronouncing him dead at noon. By then, both his mother, who was heavily pregnant, and stepfather had fled the scene. Police tracked them down three days later, after Noraini gave birth at Kajang hospital. This article, Stepfather who left abused son to die in hospital to be charged today, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. For more Coconuts stories, you can download our app, sign up for our newsletters, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina next week, a spokesman said Thursday, amid tensions over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder. Such a meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between Erdogan and the crown prince since the grisly killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month, which has tainted the image of the kingdom's de facto ruler. "There could be" a meeting, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said. "We're looking at the programme," Kalin said, according to state news agency Anadolu. Seeking to rally support from Arab allies ahead of the summit, Prince Mohammed on Thursday embarked on a regional tour starting with the United Arab Emirates, his first official trip abroad since Khashoggi's murder tipped the kingdom into crisis. The former court insider and Washington Post contributor was killed and dismembered in what Saudi Arabia said was a "rogue" operation, but CIA analysis leaked to the US media pointed the finger at Prince Mohammed. Saudi Arabia has said that 21 people are in custody, with death penalties sought against five men, but attention remains focused on whether the crown prince ordered the murder despite the kingdom's denials. The European Union on Thursday called for those "really responsible" to be held to account. Calling for a "completely transparent and credible investigation", the EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said: "For us accountability does not mean revenge." Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed. Erdogan and the crown prince spoke for the first time on the phone on October 24 about the case, discussing the joint efforts needed to shed light on the murder. But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has criticised Saudi officials over their lack of cooperation. - 'Victory lap' - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday glossed over the CIA's reported conclusion that the crown prince had authorised the killing, saying Washington would not slacken its support for the kingdom. Trump has admitted that the prince may have been behind the murder. Prince Mohammed, meanwhile, set off on a visit to a "number of brotherly" Arab states at the request of his father, King Salman, the royal court said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, without naming the countries. Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed welcomed him on his first stop in the UAE, a close ally that is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen, according to the Emirati state news agency WAM. The prince is also set to travel to the Tunisian capital on Tuesday, a presidential source in Tunis told AFP. "It's hard not to see this regional tour as a victory lap" after winning Trump's support, said Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. "Travelling to friendly countries effectively compels them to demonstrate their support for the crown prince, and rallies regional support ahead of the G20," Diwan told AFP. - 'Red line' - The Saudi prosecutor last week absolved the crown prince of blame for the murder of Khashoggi, a US resident since 2017 who had written critical articles and once compared Prince Mohammed to Russian President Vladimir Putin. A spokesman for the Saudi public prosecutor said Khashoggi was drugged and his body dismembered, but Turkish officials say he was strangled. The whereabouts of the body remain unknown. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Wednesday said criticism of the crown prince is a "red line", and that calls for him to be held accountable for the murder would not be tolerated. "In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line," Jubeir told the BBC. "And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince." But keeping up the international pressure on Riyadh, Denmark on Thursday suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the murder, the second country to do so after Germany. "I hope that the Danish decision can create additional momentum," Denmark's Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said. Separately, the French foreign ministry said Thursday that it would impose sanctions against 18 Saudi citizens over Khashoggi's murder. "These measures... aim to prohibit these individuals from entering national territory and the entire Schengen area" of Europe, the ministry said in a statement. A United Nations envoy met Yemen's rebel chief Thursday to nail down details of peace talks expected in December, a day before a planned visit to the battleground port city of Hodeida. Martin Griffiths, who arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Wednesday, is pushing for negotiations early next month in Sweden to help end years of conflict that have left Yemen facing famine. The diplomat's visit to Hodeida on Friday is aimed at encouraging Iran-aligned Huthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition to keep a lid on hostilities ahead of the talks in Stockholm, a UN source said. The conflict in Yemen, which escalated when the Saudi-led alliance intervened in 2015, has killed thousands and left up to 14 million Yemenis at risk of starvation according to UN agencies. Both sides have in the past week expressed support for the envoy's mission to hold discussions, and violence in the Red Sea city of Hodeida has diminished despite intermittent clashes. The port city has a crucial role as the entry point for nearly all of the country's imports and humanitarian aid. Griffiths and Yemeni rebel chief Abdulmalik al-Huthi during their meeting addressed "what can facilitate new discussions in December", rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam said on Twitter. Abdelsalam said that included "procedures needed to transport injured and sick for treatment abroad and bring them back", a key sticking point during a previous failed attempt at talks in September. Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the rebels' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, said the rebels were ready for peace. "We support peace. We are ready for peace if that is what they (the Saudi-led coalition) want," he said after also meeting Griffiths. Humanitarian organisations are desperate to see the current peace push translate into a more permanent halt to the bloodshed. The heads of the UN's humanitarian and children's agencies said the "recent de-escalation in fighting in Hodeida is providing a desperately needed respite to hundreds of thousands of civilians". "We urge all parties to maintain it," a statement by Mark Lowcock and Henrietta Fore said. - 'Fully on board' - United States Defence Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed on Wednesday peace discussions between the Huthis and the internationally-recognised government look set for "very, very early" in December. He said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- which is also a key member of the military coalition supporting the loyalists -- were "fully on board". Kuwait's Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid al-Jarallah said that the talks may happen on December 3. He added that his country -- which is currently a non-permanent UN Security Council member -- will offer "logistical support" at Sweden's request, without elaborating. Mattis last month made a surprise call for a ceasefire in Yemen and urged warring parties to enter negotiations within the next 30 days. The US has been providing bombs and other weapons, as well as intelligence support, to the Saudi-led coalition backing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, but recently ended its refuelling support for Saudi warplanes. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate has increased scrutiny of Western support for the coalition, and ramped up pressure on Riyadh. On Monday, Britain presented to the UN Security Council a draft resolution urging an immediate truce in Hodeida. The draft, circulated to the 14 other council members, and seen by AFP, sets a two-week deadline for the warring sides to remove all barriers to humanitarian aid. - UN peace efforts - The current peace push by Griffiths is the biggest effort in two years to end the war. In September, a previous round of UN-led peace talks faltered when the Huthis refused to travel to Geneva, accusing the world body of failing to guarantee their delegation's return to Sanaa or secure the evacuation of wounded rebels to Oman. Previous talks broke down in 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to yield a deal and left rebel delegates stranded in Oman for three months. A UN panel of experts has accused both the Huthis and the Saudi-led coalition of acts that could amount to war crimes. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, though some rights groups estimate the toll could be five times higher. By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - Endemic violence in Central African Republic is pushing the country towards famine with 63 percent of the population already needing emergency aid, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in the country said on Wednesday. Central African Republic (CAR) has been in chaos since 2013, when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted the president, provoking a backlash from Christian anti-balaka militias. The fighting has uprooted more than 1 million people. The U.N. humanitarian chief in the country, Najat Rochdi, said 2.9 million of the 4.6 million population needed aid, and 1.6 million were in acute need. In August, a food security survey assessed that for the first time, parts of CAR were in an "emergency". That is the level four in a globally recognised food security classification system, where five is "catastrophe/famine". "If the situation is remaining the same and people are not going back to work their fields... it means that, yes, in a very few years we will have a famine in Central African Republic," Rochdi told reporters in Geneva. Such a catastrophic scenario would not arise immediately, but could threaten hundreds of thousands, she said. Violence has continued in the south and east, and Rochdi said the United Nations had had to act as a government to keep basic services running. Part of her job was identifying areas that were now stable enough to hand over to local officials, so U.N. staff could be freed up for more urgent work. People uprooted in CAR include 620,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) and 570,000 refugees in neighbouring countries, mostly in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad. In some areas, security was improving, allowing displaced people to come home and aid workers to get unaccustomed access. But in other areas, attacks on IDP sites was putting things "back to square one", Rochdi said. IDP camps at Batangafo in the northwest and Alindao in the south had been torched, obliterating years of work and leaving tens of thousands of people with absolutely nothing. Story continues Rochdi said that although the residents of both camps were Christian, it was simplistic to see it as Muslim-on-Christian violence, since Muslim and Christian militias were involved in both attacks. Ordinary people never talked about hating Christians or Muslims, and just wanted to live in peace, but the armed groups often justify their actions as vengeance for killings of particular groups, producing an endless spiral of violence. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Improvements in NC possible only after end to intra-party tussle: Deuba Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba said the infighting in the party led to the drubbing in the elections. Did bombing during second world war cool global temperatures? Posted on 21 November 2018 by Guest Author This is a re-post from Carbon Brief Prof Alan Robock is a distinguished professor of climate science in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University in New Jersey, US. Between 3 February and 9 August 1945 during the second world war, an area of 461 square kilometres in 69 Japanese cities was burned by US bombing raids. This included the nuclear bombs dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The resulting fires saw plumes of thick, dark smoke rise high into the atmosphere. Much like the cloud and ash thrown into the air by volcanic eruptions, this soot had the potential to block out incoming sunlight, cooling the Earths surface. In a recent paper, published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, we investigate whether the smoke from these fires was enough to change global temperatures. Nuclear winter Ive been working on the threat of nuclear winter for 35 years now. In the 1980s, using simple climate models, we discovered that global nuclear arsenals, if used on cities and industrial areas, could produce a nuclear winter and lead to global famine. Smoke from the fires would last for years in the upper atmosphere, blocking sunlight, and making it cold, dark and dry at the Earths surface. It would also destroy ozone, enhancing ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface. While the immediate effects of nuclear strikes might kill hundreds of thousands, the numbers that would die from starvation in the years that followed could run into billions. Normally scientists test their theories in a laboratory or with real world observations. Fortunately, we do not have a global nuclear war to examine. So how can we test nuclear winter theory? One option is to look at the impact of forest fires. Large wildfires have been observed to pump smoke into the upper atmosphere the stratosphere above where rain can wash it out, and then be further lofted by solar heating. Such was the case with a massive fire in British Columbia in August 2017. We also have many examples of cities that have burned in the past. Accidental fires burned numerous cities, such as London in 1666, Chicago in 1871 and San Francisco in 1906. But while we dont have a global nuclear war to study, we do have two cases where nuclear weapons were deployed Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the second world war. Temperature drop While the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively have gone down in history as the first use of nuclear weapons in warfare, what is less well known is that they were part of a larger bombing campaign by US B-29 Superfortress bombers. Between 3 February and 9 August 1945, an area of 461sq kilometers in 69 Japanese cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was burned during these air raids killing 800,000 civilians. The smoke produced by Hiroshima and Nagasaki made up less than 5% of the total. In our study, we calculated how much smoke was emitted based on estimates for the area burned by fires, the amount of fuel, how much soot was emitted into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, and how much was washed out by rain. We then estimated the impact on the climate using observed records of solar irradiance i.e. the amount of the suns energy that reaches the Earths surface and land surface temperature. Fortunately, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory maintained two long-term records for solar irradiance at Mount Montezuma in Chile and on Table Mountain in California, US so there are data available. For global land surface temperature records, we used GISTEMP from NASA and CRUTEM from the Met Office Hadley Centre and the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. The chart below shows the land temperatures during the 1940s and 1950s for CRUTEM (yellow) and GISTEMP (green) as anomalies from the 1940-44 average. Both temperature records show a drop in global temperature (left-hand chart) in 1945 of around 0.1C and in northern hemisphere (right) temperature of 0.2C. However, we know that there were other factors in play. For example, seasonal temperatures show that cooling in 1945 started at the beginning of the year, before the air raids on Japan. This suggests that natural variability was also playing a role. Yet there were no significant volcanic eruptions in 1945, nor any El Nino or La Nina event in 1945 or 1946. (In fact, you can see the cooling effect of La Ninas later in the data series two of the largest La Ninas on record occurred in 1950 and 1956.) Therefore, despite a detectable amount of cooling in 1945, the multiple uncertainties mean we cannot say for sure that it was caused by this period of bombings in the second world war. Arsenal Although our results could not formally detect a cooling signal from second world war smoke, it does not invalidate the nuclear winter theory that much more massive smoke emissions from nuclear war would cause large climate change and impacts on agriculture. There are many analogues that support parts of nuclear winter theory not least the way in which major volcanic eruptions create long-lasting clouds in the stratosphere, cooling the Earth and reducing rainfall. The 1815 Tambora eruption in Indonesia, for example, caused the Year Without a Summer in 1816, bringing crop failures and food shortages across the northern hemisphere. Since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, the global nuclear arsenal has been reduced by a factor of four. The world currently possesses about 14,000 nuclear weapons, distributed among nine nations the US, Russia, France, the UK, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. Yet our climate model simulations show that these would still be enough to produce nuclear winter and that even 1% of them could cause climate change unprecedented in recorded human history. In the months after Hurricane Harvey pummeled East Texas, Houston asked itself a hard question: How much blame does the citys rapid growth deserve for the calamity? As storms leave patterns of damage that bear little resemblance to FEMAs flood plain maps, its clear that the topology of cities has become its own hydroscape, directing and displacing stormwater according to the layout of buildings, roads, parking lots, and storm drains. In Houston, the countrys fastest-growing city over the past few decades, rivers appear to be rising along with development as grasslands give way to pavement. That climate change is sending bigger, more frequent rainstorms is not helping. Even after hurricanes, about two in three residential flood-insurance claims are inlandthe product of freshwater flooding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A report this month in Nature raises a different, intriguing possibility about how urbanization might be making rainfall flooding worse, or at least how it did in Houstons case: by literally slowing down storms. Researchers at the University of Iowa and Princeton built a model to estimate Harveys rainfall totals in the region. Then they took the city out of the model. They found the storm would have dropped less rain, and in different places, on a Harris County made of cropland. Why? Basically, they think, the scale of the urban agglomeration in and around Harris County is creating atmospheric friction, putting a drag on storm winds. Climate change is supposed to produce more slow-moving storms like Harvey, which increases the scope of rainfall damage by leaving storm clouds to linger over one placebut cities may be slowing them down further, according to a co-efficient the authors call roughness. (Their models also conclude the growth of the city since 1950 is linked to a clear increase in the magnitude and variability of flooding.) In the case of Harvey, the storms extremely slow speed caused it to linger over East Texas for three days, concentrating rainfall damage. Its one more threatening way that natural disasters are evolving into our own creations. Care and Feeding is Slates parenting advice column. In addition to our traditional advice, every Thursday we feature an assortment of teachers from across the country answering your education questions. Have a question for our teachers? Email askateacher@slate.com or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group. This weeks Ask a Teacher panel: Amy Scott, eighth grade, North Carolina Matthew Dicks, fifth grade, Connecticut Brandon Hersey, second grade, Washington Carrie Bauer, middle and high school, New York Advertisement How do teachers really feel about kids missing school for a vacation? My kids range in age from upper elementary school to middle school. For years, Ive watched families visit Disney World in the dead of winter to beat the long lines, or take advantage of lower airfare during nonpeak travel periods to head off somewhere warm. Im envious. Im a rule-follower and feel like school is school. But I also feel like I may be missing out on quality time with my family. We dont have a lot of discretionary income and taking a vacation when prices are lower would help us take a vacation we wouldnt otherwise be able to afford. Is it a big deal for my kid to miss five days of school for a vacation? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wanna Get Away Dear Wanna, I understand your hesitation. A few years ago, a rule-following friend was in the same predicament after her kids school stopped excusing family trips, even educational ones. Because their October beach trip with the grandparents didnt align with fall break, her kids would miss five days of school. So what? I asked. She squirmed and said, Theyll have unexcused absences on their record. Again, I said, So what? Seriously, so what? The school is not going to take you to truancy court for going to Disney World for a week. (I should clarify: Some states truancy laws are more stringent than others so check them before you book travel, and Im assuming the rest of your kids absences will be excusedillnesses, college trips, what have you.) Take the vacation. Advertisement A few suggestions (you may want to take these or leave these depending on the ages of your childrena high-schooler making up a week of calculus may have a harder time than a first-grader missing a week of subtraction): 1. Check in with your childrens teachers beforehand and make sure there are no standardized tests that week. (But if you cant reschedule, go anyway.) 2. Get your kids to collect their assignments ahead of time and work on them in the car or on the plane. (Or dontjust enjoy yourselves.) The school is not going to take you to truancy court for going to Disney World for a week. 3. Help your kids catch up on missed work after you get back. (Or not. Its not the GRE. Your kids can still have a bright educational future if they get a C in third-quarter sixth-grade social studies, and theyll always remember the whoosh of Space Mountain.) Advertisement I will say this: Any time you ask for class work ahead of time or your kids turn things in late, it creates more work for the teacher. So thank her. Tell her you know its an inconvenience and you appreciate the extra effort she has to put in. If you want to, you can get her a fridge magnet from your destination, or a $5 Starbucks gift card, but the acknowledgment is likely enough. Advertisement In any case, take the vacation. Save money, have fun, and make memories. You wont regret it. Ms. Scott Dear Ask a Teacher, Last year, not having yet read your columns wonderful advice about not going over the teachers head to the principal when there is a problem, I did just that. My son related to me a teachers comment (not his classroom teacher)Ill call her Ms. Xto an assembly of several classes rehearsing the winter concert music together. I thought the comment was racist. In my opinion it concerned half a school full of childrennot just the child the comment was directed at, but all of the other children present as well, who might see it as normaland so I notified the principal. Advertisement Advertisement I ended up with Ms. X screaming at me after school one day, in front of my two children and their classroom teachers. She never denied having said it, but she insisted that I had overstepped because I had taken a comment said in jest out of context and made a big deal about nothing. My childrens teachers agreed with Ms. X. I actually had no doubt that the comment was said in jest and that was precisely why I found it offensive. Comments like that normalize a mild, chronic racism, which is the No. 1 thing that propagates racism. My question to you is: Is this still a case where I should have talked to the teacher first? Even before this episode, Ms. X seemed to be someone very set in her ways who is never wrong. If I had a problem with something regarding my son directly, Im sure I would have spoken to the teacher first. But in this case, I was sure Ms. X would dismiss my concern out of hand and continue to act the same way. Advertisement Advertisement Was I Right to Tattle? Dear Was I Right, Had you asked me how to handle this situation prior to taking any action, I would have said: Advertisement 1. Since youre hearing this comment secondhand, tread lightly. Im not implying that your child was lying or even incorrect in his characterization of the comment, but children can often misconstrue a situation. The rational part of the human brain is not fully formed until well after a persons teenage years, so whenever my own children tell me something, I take it with a large grain of salt. You should do the same. 2. Speak to the teacher first. If you do, this does not prevent you from speaking to the principal later if the teachers response is not satisfactory, so why not start there? Based upon her unprofessional response, I doubt shes capable of serious introspection, but at least give the teacher the chance to realize the mistake shes made. We all say things that we regret. Giving the teacher a chance to respond appropriately is the right thing to do. Advertisement For example, I recently handed out a permission slip that asked for the names of the students mother and father. It was an old permission slip that I copied without reviewing. A lesbian couple approached me the next day, pointing out how inappropriate and insensitive the permission slip was. I agreed. I made it clear that it was not my intent to be insensitive but that I was clearly guilty of carelessness. I apologized, and two very angry parents quickly forgave me, and weve had a positive relationship ever since. Advertisement Advertisement This is what I would want from every parent. An opportunity to recognize my mistake, apologize sincerely for it, and move on. 3. If the teachers response is not satisfactory, then by all means alert the principal to your concerns. I would probably tell the teacher that I was going to take the issue to the principal, but this could escalate the encounter, which you might rightfully want to avoid. Advertisement Advertisement Ive never shied away from a good fight. In 20 years of teaching, many parents have come to me concerned, angry, or even outraged over something I have said to a student or to my class. In many cases, confusion or misconception on the students part was the source of the problem. But when the fault was my own, I always appreciated that the parents approached me first, not because I was afraid of my principal finding out, but because this is the best way to preserve an important professional and personal relationship. Mr. Dicks I am looking for advice on how to deal with an incredibly disruptive student in my daughters fourth-grade class. This girl, lets call her Jane, has already established a reputation as a bully at two elementary schools. She threatens to hit kids (and has hit kids in the past) who dont do what she says. She uses that fear to box out whoever is on her list on any given day, saying that nobody can talk to this person or that person (sometimes my daughter, sometimes not). She has punched children during recess (in one instance she broke another childs glasses), and she has been returned to class later that same day. Advertisement Advertisement She regularly seriously disrupts class with her fits and meltdowns. In the first two months of school, my daughters class has had to sit and wait in the library for one to two hours while Jane has had a cursing, chair-throwing fit in the classroom. On one occasion, Jane stood outside the classroom door threatening to hit any kid that left. Because staff is not authorized to use physical force to restrain or move Jane, my daughters class missed a significant portion of lunch because children could not exit the classroom without getting punched. Advertisement While I understand where this rule is coming from, is the school really powerless to stop a single student from robbing the rest of the class from hours of education time? Speaking with other parents, I have learned that Jane has exhibited this pattern of behavior since first grade. Advertisement I know a child who has acted like this since she was 6 has some serious social/emotional development problems, and I want to be sympathetic. I dont want to launch a campaign to get a special needs fourth-grader removed from school. But my own child is anxious having to deal with Janes volatility, and Im genuinely concerned for my daughters safety. I know this girl has to be on the school administrations radar, but the stories keep coming, and I have no confidence that they have a plan for dealing with her outbursts or improving her behavior beyond just wait it out. Do I have any options here to make the school year safer and more enjoyable for my daughter? Advertisement Advertisement Sympathy Has Its Limits Hey Sympathy, You and your family have my sympathy! Schools should be a place where students feel supported by one another, not threatened. Ive got some advice that assumes Jane does not have an individualized education plan or any other special education services. (If she does have an IEP, then your only option may be the last resort mentioned below.) First, I find it hard to believe that no one is trained to physically restrain Jane. Most schools have at least one employee who is Crisis Prevention Institute certified, which means theyve been trained in the best way to restrain a child while minimizing risk of harm. These employees are specifically taught to manage situations where students may pose a threat to themselves or others. Ive worked in schools where CPI-certified staff are integral to basic school safety. In our district, most principals are CPI certified. Even if your school does not have any CPI certified employees on site, your schools leadership can ask for help from the district. Advertisement Advertisement Ask your schools counselor who in the building is CPI certified, and you can go from there. Knowing this will give you a place to start a conversation with either the principal or the counselor about your safety concerns. If no one is CPI certified, you can raise your concerns about Jane (while still being sympathetic) and say youre wondering if the school can get help from someone CPI certified in the district. If someone is CPI certified, you can ask why that person has not yet been enlisted to help when needed. You can also use this meeting as an opportunity to inquire more generally about the schools safety plan for the classroom. Most schools have these in placeits their blueprint for how and who will respond if and when Jane becomes violent. Advertisement As a last resort, you can also consider requesting a classroom reassignment for your daughter. To be clear, I only suggest this in extreme circumstances. Moving a child at this point in the year could have serious ramifications on her social life and academic performance. However, if Jane is as much of an issue as you make her out to be, you may have no choice. If your kid cant feel safe, then she cant learn. And no bully, big or small, should keep her from that. Mr. Hersey If my 6-year-old bombs standardized tests, how worried should I be? Not the Best With Tests Dear NtBWT, Probably not very worried. The current discourse around testing in American public schools is, uh, heated. Like, people basically burst into flames at the merest mention of the topic. Its important to remember, though, that a standardized test is merely a skill assessment administered and scored to a large group in a consistent manner. The term implies nothing about the duration, difficulty, or significance of the test. At 6, we may well be talking about a simple five-minute assessment of letter sound recognition. A snapshot, in other words! One quick data point, in isolation, at one moment in time. Not meaningless but also not an irreversible determinant of your childs future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Think of it like the milestone checklists you received at your kids well visits during babyhood. It was darkly tempting to commence a panic spiral if your baby hadnt smiled by the six-week appointment, but really, each milestone is more of an indicator and a starting point for a conversation about the whole picture with your pediatrician. Same idea for your school-age kid. Feel free to use the test performance as a discussion opener with your childs teacher if youre worried (though, again, you shouldnt be very worried). If either of you has observed multiple other issues that seem like developmental red flags, the test performance will be useful information to add. If there are no concerns other than the test scores, well, youve got one quirky outlying data point that doesnt indicate much in the grand scheme of your child as a learner. Keep a level head! Its probably fine. Ms. Bauer Nepal, Cambodia to sign new air service agreement Nepal is readying to sign an air service agreement (ASA) with Cambodia on December 1 allowing at least 14 weekly flights in either direction. The commander in chief had an uplifting message to start the Thanksgiving holiday. In a series of tweets Thursday morning, Trump warned of the bedlam, chaos, injury, and death that would result if judges continue to put limits on his power. The president made the stark warning as he apparently felt he had more to say to respond to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts extraordinary rebuke of the president in which he defended judicial independence. Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster, Trump wrote on Twitter. He characterized the San Franciscobased court of appeals as out of control, adding it has a horrible reputation and is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country. The commander in chief went on to warn that there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death unless law enforcement can DO THEIR JOB. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster. It is out of control, has a horrible reputation, is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country, 79%, & is used to get an almost guaranteed result. Judges must not Legislate Security... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2018 ....and Safety at the Border, or anywhere else. They know nothing about it and are making our Country unsafe. Our great Law Enforcement professionals MUST BE ALLOWED TO DO THEIR JOB! If not there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death. We want the Constitution as written! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement The rare back-and-forth with the countrys chief justice began when Trump denounced a judge who rejected his asylum policy as an Obama judge. That led Roberts to issue a rare statement saying that we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. The Republican-appointed Roberts gave a Thanksgiving message of his own, saying that independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for. That led to a quick response from Trump: Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. Trump was apparently still seething about this Thursday morning. President Donald Trump issued a threat on Thanksgiving to shut down the entire southern border with Mexico if the migrant situation gets out of control. If we find that it gets to a level where were going to lose control or people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control, he said. Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said he had signed an order two days ago allowing the border to be sealed, adding that Ive already shut down parts of the border. Advertisement The commander in chief made clear he wasnt just referring to migrant flows but also trade. The whole border, he continued. I mean the whole border. And Mexico will not be able to sell their cars into the United States where they make so many cars at great benefit to them, not at great benefit to us. The White House hasnt released any order and when a reporter asked to see it he said it wasnt that big of a deal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After Trump breaks significant news by claiming he signed an order to "shut down the border" two days ago, a reporter asks him if the public can see a copy of it. Trump immediately backtracks, saying, "ah, you don't need it. It's not that big of a deal." pic.twitter.com/s6CB7HMTZa Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 22, 2018 Advertisement Trump also confirmed he has given the green light for U.S. troops along the border to use lethal force if necessary. If they have to, theyre going to use lethal force. Ive given the OK, Trump said. If they have toI hope they dont have to. Trump said he had no choice because there are a minimum of 500 serious criminals in the caravan currently making its way to the United States. President Trump: If [border troops] have to, theyre going to use lethal force. Ive Ive given the OK. If they have to. I hope they dont have to." https://t.co/gee0dsaGsV pic.twitter.com/37U5IgZuP7 The Hill (@thehill) November 22, 2018 Trump also told reporters there certainly could be a governmnet shutdown in early December over border security. Trump has threatened to veto spending bills if Congress doesnt pass funding to build the wall along the southern border It all makes sense once you realize they want to kill us, by Mike Whitney - The Unz Review : 'It is now apparent that these products in ... The Hungarian prosecutors office said that the information and evidence available cannot be used after so many years to confirm whether Hedviga Zakova (nee Malinova) had committed a crime. News: Receive favorite authors articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The case of Hedviga Malinova-Zakova, which was one of the most serious scandals of the ex-interior minister Robert Kalinak (Smer), is over after 12 years. The Hungarian prosecutors office halted a proceeding against a former student already prosecuted for perjury on October 24, the Hungarian daily Uj Szo reported. What is the case about? Malinova (who has since married and now goes under the name Zakova) is an ethnic Hungarian who reported being attacked in August 2006, after two men overheard her speaking Hungarian on the phone. Suspects were investigated in connection with this incident but not prosecuted and the police closed the case in September 2006, concluding that the attack did not take place at all; instead it was determined that Zakova should be charged with perjury in early April 2014. Read also: Read also: Hungary accepts the Malinova case Read more Since she had moved to Hungary and was granted Hungarian citizenship in December 2013, Zakova turned to the court in Nitra, asking to move the proceedings to Hungary. Then-justice minister Tomas Borec agreed that the official request to move the case to Hungarian courts would be sent in March 2017. Zakova does not want to comment The Hungarian prosecutors office now decided that the information and evidence available cannot be used after so many years to confirm whether Zakova had committed a crime or not. This means that the case is definitely over, the Sme daily reported. The prosecutors office spokesperson, Katalin Zsuzsanna Gal explained that only the person in question can appeal the verdict. However, Zakova said that she would not comment on the case, according to Uj Szo. Non-governmental organisations are calling for systemic changes. News: Receive favorite authors articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Non-governmental organisations vaccinated 55 people in Bratislava, who would otherwise have no access to vaccination, in late October. Since the beginning of the year, they have provided further medical care to more than 150 homeless people. Its the constitutional right of all citizens of Slovakia to have full health care, the representatives of NGOs said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. The vaccination was organised by the Equita civic association, in cooperation with the organisations Proti Prudu (Against the Stream), Krestania v Meste (Christians in the City), Vagus and Odyseus. Vaccination can save lives NGOs vaccinated the clients of the Odyseus civic association at the Pentagon housing estate in Bratislavas Vrakuna borough against hepatitis A and B, while they re-vaccinated people at Zatisie against hepatitis A. They also offered everybody a vaccination against flu. Every time we witness a high interest in health care and gratitude for our help, said Lucia Roussier from Equita, which has been offering vaccination to homeless people for over a year, as quoted by TASR. People from NGOs say that their experiences disprove many myths about homeless people, for example, that they do not care about their health or damage it deliberately. On the contrary, being healthy means that homeless people can survive cold weather, stress, hunger and social exclusion. Read also: Read also: Park benches turn into beds Read more The interest in participating in events organised by NGOs is increasing, they agree. However, many homeless people have bad experiences with medical facilities, said Nikoleta Bedusova from Odyseus, as reported by TASR. Nearly everybody who came was also vaccinated against flu. Common people consider the vaccination against flu useless, said Ivan Vojtech, a group member of volunteer doctors who visit places where homeless people stay. But it can save the lives of the homeless. Systemic changes necessary Debts and an unprepared health-care system are among the main obstacles for homeless people to access health care, according to NGOs. Its great that we manage to provide homeless people with health care via these activities, said Nina Benova from Proti Prudu, as quoted by TASR. But we need systemic changes that will enable full health care for all citizens of Slovakia. The law stipulates that everybody, including homeless people, is entitled to urgent medical care in situations that threaten ones life, said Zuzana Eliasova, spokesperson for the Health Ministry. However, anybody who is not insured by the state needs to pay health insurance, she added, as quoted by TASR. In her opinion, the situation is often complicated by the fact that homeless people have no ID card or are not registered as people receiving social benefits. This is what social workers or organisations working with homeless people can help them with, she added. The NGOs say that they have launched talks with the ministry about legislative changes that will enable full health care for everybody, as reported by TASR. Meet some of Slovakia's male nurses. There are very few of them. News: Receive favorite authors articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Milos Caklos was a primary-school pupil when he was badly injured, with torn tendons in his right hand. He underwent two surgeries in the hospital, two plastic surgeries in Bratislava and then home care. The three years that he spent in the hospital environment inspired him to choose the profession of a nurse. I observed the work of nurses in the hospital, they were with their patients 24 hours a day, working at 100 percent, Caklos told The Slovak Spectator. His mom is also a nurse, so he says the job might be in his genes. He has never thought about a career as a doctor, he always wanted to be near patients. He has been working in National Oncologic Institute in Bratislava, his first job, for four years. Caklos is one of few men in Slovakia who has chosen this profession. In fact, looking for a male nurse is a little bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. From the total number of registered nurses and midwives, only 2.4 percent are men, according to data of Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwifes. Registered nurses and midwives in Slovakia Nurses: Women 38,983 Men 1,006 Midwives: Women 1,834 Men 2 Source: Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwifes Even though there are definitely more male nurses in Slovakia than five or 10 years ago, the opinion still persists that it is a women's profession, Milan Laurinc, office director of Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwifes, told The Slovak Spectator. Language makes their life harder The Slovak language does not help overcome the stereotype. In Slovak, a nurse is zdravotna sestra or only sestra, which literally translates as healthcare sister or simply sister, reminiscent of the old days when the profession was mostly performed by nuns. There is no linguistic equivalent for men working as a nurse. Once I picked up the phone at work and introduced myself as a sister. A nurse from surgery was calling and she started to laugh very hard, Caklos recalled. The justice minister fired the head of the court. News: Receive favorite authors articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The missing part of the Technopol case has been found, said Justice Minister Gabor Gal (Most-Hid) at the November 22 press conference. Immediately after finding that part of the file was missing, the ministry took all due steps, including its electronic renewal, Gal said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. The missing pages were found in another file. It is not possible to discover who put them there, Gal noted. A personal failure Read also: Read also: Large part of a file about one of Kocner's cases disappeared from court Read more At the same time, the minister made sure there were consequences from the case. He removed Anna Kasajova, president of the Bratislava I District Court, from office, citing her personal failure as one of the main reasons. Moreover, she did not consider it important to report the missing part of the file to the ministry, as reported by SITA. The courts deputy Miriam Plavcakova will temporarily manage the district court, until a new court president is selected. Gal said that it is important to have all the files in electronic form to avoid similar situations in the future, as reported by SITA. PM: Stop arguing and strive for better results In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has begun a performance evaluation of his own government starting Wednesday, calling a special meeting of ministers and secretaries following continuous criticism of his administration to deliver on the promises made since coming into office. The SDF have been fighting in Deir ez-Zor to push out the last remaining Islamic State fighters from the region reports Sada al-Sham. A Russian military source said that on Wednesday, an American air raid in the Deir ez-Zor province accidentally killed six fighters and wounded 15 from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), while they were attacking the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Hajin area in the provinces east. The source told the Russian Sputnik agency that SDF units had tried to attack ISIS positions in the Hajins environs with American support, but that the absence of coordination between Kurdish and American forces derailed the operation, which led to the fighters fleeing. Local sources said that the area has seen heavy clashes between the two sides, around the towns of al-Shahil and al-Baghour, which the SDF had previously controlled, and its fighters are attacking the city of Hajin. In a statement, the SDF announced that its fighters had killed 12 ISIS members during the ongoing battles around the city of Hajin, while they were able to advance in a number of points. The statement added that SDF fighters had attacked ISIS positions near the city of Hajin, and had been able to establish new points of control around the city. It said that coalition warplanes had carried out three raids on ISIS positions, while fighters dismantled six mines after advancing around the city. Last Tuesday, the United Nations warned against the ongoing violence in the Hajin region in the eastern Deir ez-Zor countryside, and the damaging effects on civilians. More than a month ago, the SDF launched the final stage of Operation al-Jazira Storm, which aims to remove and eliminate ISIS fighters from their last strongholds in Deir ez-Zor. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The curfew is part of a security campaign that aims to root out corrupt rebels from the National Army reports Zaman Al Wasl. Turkish-backed Syrian forces have imposed a curfew on civilians from Wednesday morning in the border city of Jarablus amid a security campaign tracking corrupt rebels, the National Army said in statement. A major military campaign was launched by the Turkish forces and the National Army, formerly known as Free Syrian Army, to uproot rebel groups who are involved in the thuggish acts in the Euphrates Shield region of northeastern Aleppo. On Sunday, clashes between National Army units in the town of Afrin left 25 fighters dead, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Turkish troops and allied rebels seized the Afrin region from Kurdish forces in March after a two-month air and ground offensive. The clashes pitched the majority of the pro-Ankara rebels against Shuhada al-Sharqiyah, a group of around 200 fighters who were accused of disobeying Turkish forces and committing abuses, the monitor said. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Following a vote by member states, the OPCW will now be able to investigate chemical attacks and attribute responsibility reports Hurriya Press. On Tuesday, the efforts of Russia and China failed to stop granting the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) new powers to identify who is responsible for chemical weapons attacks, such as those carried out by the Assad regime in Syria. This occurred during the 33rd Annual Conference of Member States in the Organization at The Hague in the Netherlands, where they approved the budget for 2019, which expanded its scope to include the new mechanism. The member states in the organization voted after bitter exchanges against Moscow and Beijings efforts to appeal the decision taken in June to grant the organization powers that enable it to identify the party responsible for using chemical weapons. These countries also derailed a proposal put forward by Russia and China to form a group of experts after saying that the West said that it would effectively impede the organizations new powers. In June, the member countries in the organization adopted a controversial decision to allow the group for the first time to identify those responsible for attacks, after it had previously only been able to confirm the use of chemical weapons. After the vote on Tuesday with a majority of 82 votes to 30, the British ambassador to the organization, Peter Wilson, said on Twitter that, A clear majority against an attempt to wreck the historic June decision. This is the first time the group has voted on the budget after Russia and Iran, who objected to the new powers, insisted on a vote. The group voted with an 82-30 majority against the joint plan put forward by Russia and China to form an open group to study how the new powers would work. A number of the countries supported the Russian-Chinese proposal, including Iran, Syria represented by the Assad government India, Pakistan, South Africa, Palestine and Cuba, as well as a number of former Soviet Republics in Central Asia. The Palestinian decision to support Russia and China served as a vote in favor of the Assad regime, despite the fact that this is the first time they have participated in the general conference of member states. The West had proposed to give the organization new powers to identify those responsible for using chemical weapons after a chain of attacks in Syria, as well as a nerve agent attack on the Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal, in the British city of Salisbury in March. The organization says that it aims to form a team next year that can identify the parties responsible for all chemical attacks in Syria since 2013. The team will be allowed to attribute responsibility for attacks in other areas if requested by the country where the attack occurred. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have reportedly sent troops to join the US-led coalition east of the Euphrates, as Turkey prepares to expand military operations writes Yeni Safak. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia allegedly dispatched troops to Syrias northeast, which is occupied by the PKK/YPG terror group. The soldiers are purportedly stationed with the US-led coalition. Although there is no estimate of how many troops were posted by the two Gulf countries, the claim comes at a time when Turkey could launch an operation targeting the east of the Euphrates at any given moment. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in late October that Turkey had completed preparations for operations on the eastern side of the Euphrates River. We will trample on terror groups with more effective operations. We have finished all our preparations and plans regarding the issue, Erdogan said. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir confirmed in April a report published in the Wall Street Journal saying that US troops in Syria could be replaced by an Arab force. Jubeir said Riyadh was in talks with Washington about such a force. We are in discussion with the US about sending forces into Syria and have been since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, Jubeir said on Apr. 17, 2018. There are ongoing discussions regarding what kind of force needs to remain in eastern Syria and where that force would come from, he added. Cooperation with Assad Recent developments indicate that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leaning toward cooperating with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has massacred millions of his own citizens. Last week, the UAE said it was negotiating the reopening of its embassy in Damascus and restoring ties with Syria. Pro-Syrian regime news outlet al-Masdar recently reported that Saudi Arabia and Syria were working through back channels with the UAEs help to reach political conciliation. Furthermore, there are claims that the UAE seeks to include the Syrian regime in an Arab force. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad, emphasised the work that Syria has been doing with the OPCW and called on Israel to join the Chemical Weapons Convention writes SANA. Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad said that Syria condemns in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons anywhere, by anyone and under any circumstances. Delivering Syrias speech at the Fourth Special Session of the Conference of States Parties to review the operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) at The Hague, Mikdad said on Wednesday that since holding the Third Review Conference in 2013, important achievements had been made in elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons, with Russia, Iraq and Libya completely destroying all of their chemical weapons and their production facilities. Mikdad said that, Syria expresses concern over the US procrastinating about the process of destroying its chemical weapons and completing the destruction of its vast arsenal of these weapons. Mikdad pointed to the success achieved in the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons by transporting the chemical materials out of Syria in order to destroy them, along with the destruction of all chemical facilities under delicate and difficult circumstances, which makes the process a historic precedent. Mikdad stressed that Syria has confronted the largest and fiercest terrorist attack on its territory, and terrorism was eradicated and safety and security were restored to the country thanks to its army, in cooperation with allies. Mikdad said that one of the key factors that ensured the successful elimination of Syrian chemical weapons was the cooperation between the Syrian government and the technical secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which reviewed Syrias initial declaration and made it fully consistent with the provisions of the Convention. Mikdad affirmed that the theories adopted by some countries based on spreading chaos and the policies of regime change by force led to the expansion of the terrorism phenomenon around the world. These countries, he added, did not like the state of security and stability in Syria, which led them to push their tools and mercenaries to destabilize the country by fabricating stories about the use of chemical materials against civilians aimed at distorting the image of the Syrian state. Syria has maintained cooperation with the technical secretariat of the OPCW and managed to overcome many complexities in the Syrian file through the continuous work, systematically providing information on the terrorists desire to possess and transfer chemical weapons and toxic chemicals via Turkey into Syria. The OPCW put forward several aspects that need to be addressed and developed, including respect for the national expertise of states parties in dealing with issues related to them, he added. Mikdad welcomed the accession of Palestine state to the Convention as the 193rd Member State of the Organization, which represents an important step towards achieving the universality of the Convention. Mikdad pointed out that the strengthening of regional security and peace in the Middle East requires efforts to make the region free of all weapons of mass destruction. This will not be achieved, he explained, unless Israel is obliged to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention and other relevant international conventions on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction He clarified that the issue involving violations of confidentiality in the organization has raised serious concern in Syria and a number of countries. Mikdad reiterated that Syria has been keen since the first day of its accession to the organization to cooperate with the technical secretariat in a positive and transparent manner to implement its obligations under the Convention and the Executive Council resolutions. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Presidents motorcade faces red light Amid widespread criticism of governments plan to expand the area of Office of the President by acquiring Nepal Police Academy and purchasing a set of new vehicles for President Bidya Devi Bhandari and her convoy, the Public Accounts Committee of the Legislature Parliament has started preparations to probe the matter. Madhukar Upadhya is a watershed person, who writes about the rising tensions between a flourishing society and sustaining natural resources, including the emerging challenges of managing climate crisis. Mountain Shadows in Wayanad is just the place for a dreamy vacation Respect the process Developmental Partners should channel more of their aid through the budgetary system The Singaporean Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) on Thursday launched Singapores Services and Digital Economy Technology Roadmap, which puts Services 4.0 at the core of Singapores digital economy. The launch was announced by Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran at IMDAs second SG:Digital Industry Day, which saw more than 1,500 participants from the ICM industry attending the event. Services 4.0 was identified through the Services and Digital Economy Technology Roadmap (SDE TRM) as a potential engine of growth for Singapores digital economy, as the services industry accounts for 72 percent of Singapores GDP and 74 percent of national employment. The TRM, conducted in consultation with local and international business leaders and technology experts, provides a scan of the digital technology landscape in the next three to five years, identifying the impact of key shifts and technology trends. IMDA said Industry 4.0 has its transformative impact not only on the manufacturing sector, but also on the services sector. Against this context, the next generation of service providers must be able to anticipate and empathize with the customer, and take proactive, automated actions to enable the customer to seamlessly fulfill their needs in one platform. These are the defining features of Services 4.0 IMDAs vision for the next-generation of Singapores services sector that is end-to-end, seamless, empathic and anticipatory of customer needs. Leading business-to-consumer enterprises have already started their Services 4.0 journeys, Tan Kiat How, IMDAs Chief Executive, said at the event. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from the new technology shifts, and IMDAs programs will provide the support to help every business become a digital business. Tan Kiat How, IMDAs Chief Executive, speaks at the event. Photo: Liem Nguyen The IMDA is amplifying these benefits and making them accessible to many more companies, regardless of their size, by enabling info-communications media (ICM) solution providers to deliver more cost-effective, agile, and scalable solutions and piloting a two-year program called the Digital Services Lab to bring together industry and research partners to solve sector-specific digitalization challenges. Guests to Thursday's event also had a chance to try out several innovations of local firms. A 'smile to drink' vending machine showcased at the event. Photo: Liem Nguyen Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran (left) is seen at the event. Photo: Liem Nguyen Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Striking a balance National ID Card (NID)'s intentions may seem benign, but potential data misuse cannot be overlooked Your browser does not support the audio element. An out-of-the-box idea to recreate banh mi, the famed Vietnamese bread, as a dress has won a contest to officially become the national costume of Vietnam to be donned at the upcoming Miss Universe 2018. The organizing board of Miss Universe Vietnam held a press meeting and gala dinner in Ho Chi Minh City to announce the national costume at the upcoming Miss Universe 2018 contest to be held in Thailand on Wednesday night. The banh mi dress, designed by Pham Phuoc Dien, casts the wearer as a banh mi vendor carrying a tray of bread around her waist. The costume will be donned by HHen Nie, Miss Universe Vietnam 2017, at the international beauty contest in mid-December. To come to this decision, the costume design contest organizers had to resort to public votes for the six final designs narrowed down from a pool of submissions by fashion designers in a competition held annually since 2016. This is the first time a Vietnamese food has been recreated as a national costume. Miss HHen Nie dons the banh mi costume at the press meeting on November 21, 2018. The banh mi design caught the eyes of the public right from the moment submissions were publicized. Many have showered the banh mi-inspired ensemble with praise, while others have complained that it looks odd." Still, the public was stunned to see the new version of the costume when HHen Nie introduced it at the Wednesday night event, according to news site Zing.vn. The dress was given a complete overhaul, redesigned as a more refined version of the original idea tailored to fit with the 26-year-old beauty while allowing its homage to Vietnamese culture to shine through. Miss HHen Nie and an organizing representative board introduce the national gift at the press meeting on November 21, 2018. In addition to the announcement of the national costume, Wednesdays press meeting also unveiled the national gift a painting of a Lac Bird and a bronze drum, gold plated and engraved with pearls that HHen Nie will bring to Miss Universe 2018. Lac is Vietnams legendary symbol while the bronze drum is a symbol of ancient Vietnamese civilization. Speaking at the event, HHen Nie said that she has been busy preparing herself for the Miss Universe 2018 competition. She is scheduled to depart for Thailand on November 29. The finale of Miss Universe 2018 will take place at 7:00 am on December 17. Miss HHen Nie dons the banh mi costume at the press meeting on November 21, 2018. Miss HHen Nie dons the banh mi costume at the press meeting on November 21, 2018. Miss HHen Nie dons the banh mi costume at the press meeting on November 21, 2018. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Two Ho Chi Minh City residents have spent the last decade doing their best to bring happiness to pediatric cancer patients at a local hospital. After retiring from his job as an elementary school teacher in 2009, Dinh Thi Kim Phan took it upon himself to teach reading to children at the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital in 2009. It took some persuading, but as time passed more and more parents let their children study with Phan. Initially, the class was held every Friday and Saturday in the center of a treatment ward, surrounded by the cries of children in pain. Occasionally, a child would pass away just meters from where she was holding class. The hospital eventually designated a small room packed with books, tables, playground toys, and teddies, where Phan has held her class sessions for nearly ten years. Dinh Thi Kim Phan dances with her students at the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Dinh Thi Kim Phan sits with a cancer patient at the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Dinh Thi Kim Phan takes pictures in a classroom at the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Now Phan sprinkles her lessons with a mixture of dancing, drawing, and writing, hoping to distill just a little bit of cheer into her students lives. Unhappiness chose them. That moves me to tears, she said. Birthday with love Le Van Hai, another Ho Chi Minh City resident, also dedicates his time to children at the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital. Le Van Hai, in red, talks with a child patient at the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre The 44-year-old first started the Birthday with Love program 11 years ago as a means to create a collective birthday party for the hospitals pediatric patients, many of whom are from poor families or rural areas and have only seen birthday parties on television. I gave them birthday cakes, candles, and food. After they blow out the candles and sing songs, I ask them their wishes and try to give gifts theyll like, Hai said. A magician performs before children and mothers in a classroom at the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre To add luster, Hai dons clown make-up and a costume while another volunteer in his group performs magic tricks for the children. To Hai and Phan, their work is filled with important and emotional memories. One day, the children will leave this life. But memories, many memories, will still stay here because we have given them a smile and happiness, Phan said. Even if they pass, I hope theyve spent their short lives with some of the same happiness as ordinary children. Here are pictures of the children with Hai and Phan taken by Tuoi Tre: Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Your browser does not support the audio element. The management of a notorious expressway in central Vietnam is under fire for using tape to fix leaks have appeared in one of its underpasses. Water leaks, occurring after heavy rains, have been consistently reported inside an underpass of the Da Nang Quang Ngai Expressway passing the central province of Quang Nam since the roads opening in September. Following repeated complaints from commuters, a group of workers showed up last week and started applying multiple layers of adhesive tape to the leaking underpass, locals said. According to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspapers observation at the site on Wednesday, large patches of tape covered several areas inside the underpass, some of which were already peeling off. Video of the tape-covered underpass by Tuoi Tre On social media, photos of the tape-covered underpass went viral over the weekend, with hundreds of comments expressing discontent with how the leaks were 'fixed.' After two months, they have finally fixed the leaks at a cost of over VND7,000 [US$0.30], with a roll of adhesive tape, one Facebook user wrote. Adhesive tape was used to cover leaking spots inside an underpass on the Da Nang Quang Ngai Expressway in central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Truong Van Trung, deputy chairman of Nui Thanh District in Quang Nam Province, said the underpass was developed by a Chinese contractor. Tuoi Tre reached out to the contractor and relevant authorities for comment, but has yet to receive a response. The underpass in question is part of a 139-kilometer expressway connecting Da Nang and Quang Ngai Province in central Vietnam. The $1.48 billion road first earned notoriety for the numerous potholes that appeared only weeks after it was opened in September. Adhesive tape was used to cover leaking spots inside an underpass on the Da Nang Quang Ngai Expressway in central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Adhesive tape was used to cover leaking spots inside an underpass on the Da Nang Quang Ngai Expressway in central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Six people were killed while many houses burned after a crash caused a large tanker fire in the southern province of Binh Phuoc on early Thursday. The petrol truck was traveling on National Highway 13 near the Minh Hung - Korea Industrial Park at around 4:30am when it rear-ended a three-wheeled cargo motorcycle, according to eyewitnesses. The tanker then crossed the median strip to the other side of the road where it continued down the sidewalk and eventually crashed into a medium voltage power pole. The truck then overturned, spilling petrol onto the street which erupted in flames that quickly engulfed a series of houses along the highway. At least six people died on the spot, while dozen others were injured and the tanker was completely destroyed. Initial reports show that 19 houses were affected, with many of them severely burned and one completely engulfed by the raging flames. Most of the victims were sleeping at the time of the accident so few were able to escape when their houses caught fire, according to eyewitnesses. Many fire trucks and hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to the scene. The fire was finally extinguished after more than an hour of battling the flames. Binh Phuoc police are continuing their investigation into the case. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A tropical depression has entered the East Vietnam Sea and is forecast to evolve into a storm on Thursday, threatening provinces in the south-central region. The low-pressure system first formed in a maritime area east of the Philippines around Monday and has since been traveling westward. It reached the East Vietnam Sea early Thursday morning, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting. As of 7:00 am on the same day, the tropical depression was located about 300 kilometers southeast of Song Tu Tay Island in Vietnam's Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago. Average wind speeds were recorded at 50 to 60km per hour with gusts at up to 88km an hour. It is likely to gather enough strength to become a tropical storm within the next 12 hours. In the next 12 to 24 hours, the storm, which will be the ninth typhoon to hit Vietnam this year, is forecast to travel northwest as it continues to amass strength. Rescuers look for missing victims after landslides in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, November 20, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre By 7:00 am on Friday, it is expected to reach within 100 kilometers west of Song Tu Tay Island, packing winds of 60 to 90km per hour and squalls at about 130km an hour. The storm will head toward the mainland and reach within 160 kilometers of the south-central Vietnam coast on Saturday morning, with wind speeds increasing to between 75 and 100km per hour. According to Le Dinh Quyet, an official from the southern weather station, chances are that the storm will directly affect provinces from Ninh Thuan to Khanh Hoa in south-central Vietnam, bringing heavy downpours to the region. Le Huu Tho, chairman of the Peoples Committee in Nha Tang City, Khanh Hoa Province, confirmed on Tuesday they were trying to evacuate about 400 households at 71 locations susceptible to flashfloods and landslides. At least 18 people in Nha Trang were killed after downpours brought about by storm Toraji, Vietnams eighth storm this year, triggered serious landslides in multiple residential areas across the city last weekend. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Your browser does not support the audio element. Prosecutors in the northern province of Phu Tho are seeking jail terms of seven to eight years for two former police chiefs involved in a massive online gambling ring busted in April. A court in Phu Tho, 80 kilometers northwest of Hanoi, wrapped up the questioning of 92 suspects in the multimillion-dollar gambling case on Wednesday, more than a week into their trial which began on November 12, and invited public prosecutors to state their proposed sentences for the defendants. A jail term of 7-7.5 years was sought for Phan Van Vinh, former general director of the General Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security. Meanwhile, Vinhs subordinate Nguyen Thanh Hoa, former director of the ministrys Hi-Tech Crime Department, could face 7.5-8 years behind bars. Jail terms of up to 13 years were also sought for other defendants, including leaders of companies involved in running gambling websites. Vinh, 63, played a leading role in directing Hoa, 60, to organize the gambling operations of such websites, prosecutors said. Vinh also hid his involvement from his superiors and tried to erase all traces of his illegal doings during an inspection by authorities. There are signs that the two former police chiefs had received bribes, but there is insufficient evidence to suggest they had personally benefited from the rings activities, according to prosecutors. Therefore, the sentences sought for Vinh and Hoa were pursuant to penalty ranges applicable to the crime of abusing power and authority while performing duties." Both men have denied the charges. Vinh claims he is not guilty of "abuse of power" and was merely being "irresponsible," while Hoa blamed others for his actions. Investigators said Vinh and Hoa have helped Nguyen Van Duong, chairman of hi-tech security development company CNC, and Phan Sao Nam, founder and former board chairman of major communications firm VTC Online, set up the gambling ring in May 2015, running on multiple websites under different names. When the ring was busted in April, Phu Tho police seized assets amounting to more than VND1.34 trillion (US$57 million). In total, it is estimated that gamblers and members of the ring had processed transactions worth VND9.7 trillion ($415 million) during its run, including $3.6 million in foreign currencies already transferred abroad. The rings profits are estimated to have totaled VND3.45 trillion ($148 million). Forty-three million users signed up for online accounts used for gambling on sites run by the defendants, Phu Tho police said. Prosecutors sought jail terms of six to seven years for Nam and 11-13 years for Duong. Vinh and Hoas actions had led to extremely severe consequences and tarnished the reputation of the police force, according to their indictment. Final verdicts for the defendants are expected when the trial wraps up next week. Prosecutors have said an investigation will be launched into details that have not been made clear in the first phase of the probe. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A Vietnamese woman has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for causing the death of her own father when a conspiracy to harm his mistress went awry. The Peoples Court in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang announced the punishment for Tran Kieu Trang, 47, who resides in Ho Chi Minh City, at the conclusion of her trial on Wednesday. Trang was found responsible for the death of Tran Van Ri, 74, her father, and for inflicting serious injuries on Vo Thi Chien, 43. Trang was mandated to pay Chien VND2.3 billion (US$98,476) as compensation. According to the indictment, Ri owned a trade and production company in Ho Chi Minh City and had developed a romantic relationship with Chien, who was his deputy director. Trangs statements showed that her father had handed over the firms management to Chien and paid little attention to the family. The woman started plotting to separate the couple in March 2017, when she asked Nguyen Thi The to arrange an attack on Chien in exchange for VND250 million ($10,702). Four months later, The hired Nguyen Anh Tuan, Nguyen Quoc Huy, Nguyen Huu Loc, and Pham Thanh Toan for the job. The gang attempted to assault Chien in late September 2017 but failed. The automobile was burned down following the attack on October 4, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre They managed to talk Cai Van Chung, Ris personal driver, into working with them and planned an attack on October 4, when Chung was taking both Ri and Chien from Ho Chi Minh City to the Mekong Delta region. At 11:00 pm that day, the group raided the automobile along a section of National Highway 61C in Hau Giang Province. They blocked the vehicle and forced it to pull over before stabbing Chien in her thighs and stomach with a pair of scissors. The attackers then poured gasoline on Chien and set her on fire. While the original target was to only hurt Chien, the entire car caught fire while both Ri and Chien were still inside. The two victims were then brought to the hospital with severe burns. Ri succumbed to his wounds a few days later. The incident first appeared to be an attack by a group of muggers but police eventually uncovered the conspiracy. Aside from Trang, The, Tuan, Huy, Loc, Toan, and Chung, aged from 25 to 57, were also put behind bars for seven to 20 years for murder. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Performers have been confirmed for the 32nd Annual ARIA Awards screening next week on Nine. Keith Urban hosts the night with performances by Rita Ora, 5 Seconds of Summer, George Ezra, Amy Shark, Courtney Barnett, Dean Lewis and Hall of Fame inductee, Kasey Chambers. The ARIA Awards are the flagship event on the Australian music calendar a chance to celebrate the very best talent our country has to offer. This years awards will have performances by superstars Keith Urban, 5 Seconds of Summer, Rita Ora and George Ezra, Amy Shark, Dean Lewis and Courtney Barnett. With four ARIA nominations, 5 Seconds of Summer are undoubtedly one of the biggest bands in the world right now. Their recent hit single Youngblood peaked at number one on the ARIA charts and spent eight consecutive weeks at the top, and they also topped the ARIA album charts. Not only have they been hugely successful locally, their latest album has also topped the US Billboard charts, making it their third consecutive number one album in the USA. It has been over a decade since host Keith Urban graced the stage for the ARIAs. With 14 ARIA platinum-selling singles and albums, he has earned five ARIA Awards. With so many great hits, including songs from his new album Graffiti U, which debuted at number two on the charts, Urbans performance will be a real treat for viewers. British pop sensation Rita Ora has taken the world by storm with her pop anthems. Following a sold-out European tour, Oras latest release, Let Me Love You, has put her in the UK history books for the most Top 10 singles from a British female artist. Her global hit, Your Song, became a triple-platinum seller in Australia and was also a Top 10 single in the UK. George Ezra recently scored big time with his triple platinum award-winning song Shotgun his first number one single in Australia, which spent five weeks on top of the ARIA charts. Ezra will be joining the 2018 ARIA Awards with a special performance. These artists will be joined by a lineup of multi-ARIA nominated Australian artists who will also be performing, including Amy Shark who has an impressive nine ARIA nominations, Courtney Barnett with eight nominations and Dean Lewis with five nominations. There will also be a special performance by 2018 ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, Kasey Chambers. Australian music legend Gurrumul is up for seven nominations on the night after already winning two ARIA Awards for Best World Music Album and Best Cover Art. Musical trio Pnau are also up for seven nominations, Tash Sultana with six nominations and Peking Duk with five nominations. Presenters on the night will include Troye Sivan, Rita Ora, Jimmy Barnes, Conrad Sewell, George Ezra, Jessica Mauboy, Sophie Monk, Vance Joy, Richard Wilkins, Dave LeAupepe, Peking Duk and many others. Australian musics night of nights will begin with the ARIA Awards red carpet hosted by radio stars Tanya Hennessy and Angus OLoughlin from the Hit Network and will be available for streaming from 2.00pm on 9now and Twitter. Wednesday, November 28, at 7.30pm on Nine. Its a day for Aussie drama trailers. Stan has released an evocative full trailer for its 6 part drama Bloom which premieres on New Years Day. Nick Forward, Stans Chief Content Officer, said Its been an amazing experience working with the creative team on Bloom, and we couldnt be prouder of the results. Bloom is a beautiful and ambitious tale of love and regret, exploring what any of us might do for the opportunity of a second chance. It further demonstrates our commitment to creating world class drama here in Australia, and we cant wait to share it with Stan audiences on New Years Day. Film Victoria CEO, Caroline Pitcher, said: Film Victoria is thrilled to support Bloom. This highly original storyline will appeal to new audiences at home and abroad, while also providing an opportunity for regional Victoria to shine on screen alongside some of Australias most loved and celebrated talent. We look forward to seeing the series mark a strong start for 2019 for Stan and for Victorian screen content. The 6 x 1 hour series stars two-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook, Animal Kingdom), Bryan Brown (The Light Between Oceans, Red Dog True Blue, Gods of Egypt), Phoebe Tonkin (The Originals, Safe Harbour, The Vampire Diaries, The Affair) and Ryan Corr (Holding the Man, Hacksaw Ridge). Bloom is a mystery drama about the scarcity of time and the choices we make. Beyond the impulses of youth and the regrets of age lies a secret. One year after a devastating flood kills five locals in an idyllic country town, a mysterious new plant appears with the power to restore youth. Its a gift powerful beyond wildest imaginings. A phenomenon so formidable that attempting to harness its potency means re-evaluating everything thats important. Its a miracle some will kill to keep secret. The outstanding ensemble cast includes Daniel Henshall (Okja, The Babadook, Snowtown), Sam Reid (71, Prime Suspect 1973, The Railway Man), Genevieve Morris (Stan Original No Activity, Thats Not My Dog!), Anne Charleston (Neighbours, Emmerdale, Prisoner Cell Block H), Terry Norris (Jack Irish, The Dressmaker, Killing Time), Amali Golden (Stan Original Series The Other Guy), Nikki Shiels (The Eye of the Storm, Neighbours), Tessa Rose (Glitch, Cleverman), John Stanton (Dr Blake Mysteries, Beneath Hill 60) and Rod Mullinar (Reef Doctors, Dead Calm). Following the launch of the trailer, Stan will hold its world premiere of Bloom next Thursday, November 29, in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, where the cast, including Bryan Brown, Phoebe Tonkin and Ryan Corr, will be joined by a huge line up of Stans biggest stars from its original productions. Tuesday 1 January on Stan. Rebecca Gibney is reprising her role as forensic psychiatrist Jane Halifax for a Nine mini-series, Halifax: Retribution. Gibney previously played the role in some 20 telemovies from 1994 to 2002. I started it when I was about 28 -just a baby! she recently told TV Tonight. Fast-forward about 20 years and now I am old enough to play a forensic psychiatrist! In the new series Jane Halifax will face the most thrilling and dangerous case of her career when she hunts down a killer terrorising an entire city. As she is drawn into the killers web, has she put herself and her family in the firing line? Im beyond thrilled to be re-teaming with Roger Simpson who created Jane Halifax and returning to Channel Nine where it all began, she said. Nine was the first network I was ever employed by in Australia, in 1985 with Zoo Family then Flying Doctors, All Together Now and Halifax, and its really exciting to be working with them again in 2019. Michael Healy, Nines Director of Television, said: We are delighted to welcome Rebecca back to Nine. She is a legend of Australian television and we are honoured that she will bring back one of Australias most iconic characters in the exciting new chapter of this renowned franchise. Original creator and writer Roger Simpson (Stingers, Satisfaction, Good Guys Bad Guys) returns as writer and producer, alongside executive producer Mikael Borglund and writers Mac Gudgeon (Killing Time) and Jan Sardi (Shine). Roger Simpson said: The opportunity to bring back my favourite creation two decades after Rebecca Gibney first brought Jane Halifax to life has been irresistible. Produced by Beyond Lonehand, filming will begin in 2019. Upper Tamakoshi likely to miss completion deadline Delays in the construction of the hydro-mechanical component are likely to make the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project miss its recently revised completion deadline. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhsjoQLKaiY&feature=youtu.be&t=3s Anticipated Australian drama Tidelands has a new trailer on Netflix today. The eight-part series produced by Hoodlum premieres on Friday December 14. The series marks Netflixs first fully-funded original Australian production. Tidelands follows Cal McTeer, played by Charlotte Best (Home & Away, Puberty Blues), a young woman who returns home to the small fishing village of Orphelin Bay after ten years in juvenile detention then jail. However, Orphelin Bay is shrouded in mysteries. When the body of a local fisherman washes ashore, the towns clandestine relationship with drug smuggling is suddenly on public display. Cal must uncover the towns well-hidden secrets, while investigating a commune of outcasts who live in a hidden pocket of the bay a group of sexy and dangerous half-Siren / half-human Tidelanders. Elsa Pataky (Fast and the Furious) stars as the mysterious and alluring Adrielle Cuthbert, the leader of the Tidelanders who will go to any length to protect her tribe of people. Tidelands also stars Australian actors Aaron Jakubenko (Spartacus: War of the Damned) as Cals misguided and secretive brother Augie, and Peter OBrien (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as Augies faithful deckhand. Brazilian actor Marco Pigossi (Caras e Bocas) features as Dylan. New Zealand actor Mattias Inwood (Will) is the Senior Constable who also has a secret to uncover with Cal. Australian actors Madeleine Madden (Mystery Road), Caroline Brazier (Rake) and Dalip Sondhi (Secret City) also star in the show. Alan Brough, who has a role in the upcoming Blake Mysteries is a fan of Hilda, Big Mouth & Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Whats on your Must See TV list lately and why? AB: Ive been avidly watching two very contrasting shows both on Netflix. Hilda is one of the most beautiful shows I have seen in many years. It is an animation based on a series of graphic novels and features a half-dog half-deer named Twig, grumpy trees and an extraordinarily real relationship between a young woman and her mum. The other show I cant get enough of is Big Mouth. Its not for the faint-hearted. Indeed some of it isnt for the hard-hearted. It is easily the rudest, funniest show on TV. What are your Guilty Pleasure shows? AB: I like to watch ABCs Q&A with the sound down and try and work out what the panelists are saying. Describe your viewing habits. AB: I watch TV on an actual TV. At night. Sometimes I might watch a few episodes of a show in a row but mostly I watch one episode of something per night. I dont normally sit down to watch anything until about 9pm so one episode and then perhaps a few music videos on YouTube and Im ready for bed. You are acting in Blake Mysteries, what other shows would you secretly love to appear on? AB: I really, really, really, really want to be on the US police comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It is a classic ensemble comedy in the vein of The Mary Tyler-Moore Show and Taxi. I would like to play Scullys illegitimate son. As a viewer whats the best and worst thing about watching Australian Television at the moment? AB: Best thing: that Channel 10 decided to call one of their channels Peach. Worst thing: That arseholes like Scott Morrison etc feel compelled to criticise the ABC at every turn. The ABC isnt perfect but its much more respected, loved and well-managed than the current government. Put a sock in it SloMo. (Or whatever his name is.) What can you reveal about your role in The Blake Mysteries and what else should we expect from the telemovie? AB: I cant reveal anything. Its a mystery. Revealing anything about a mystery makes it, well, not mysterious. All Ill say is this The Blake Mysteries airs on Seven 8:30pm Friday November 30. The coast of Nova Scotia is historically one of the best places to go treasure hunting. It also has one of the most prominent islands in the world which is called Oak Island. This tiny island looks normal, however, it holds many mysteries that even to this day, no treasure hunter or archaeologist has been able to uncover. What is on the island? Where exactly is the Money Pit? What is inside those chambers? Everyone wants to know if the stories are true Ever since the Lagina Brothers started the show Curse of Oak Island, treasure hunters all over the world viewed their expedition with much anticipation. It's no secret that everybody wants to know if the stories about the island are actually true. For the past six seasons, the cast of the show has unearthed some unexpected precious stones and artefacts much to viewers' surprise. Probably, the most precious treasure they discovered is the small medieval cross that is believed to be from the Knights Templar. If this is actually true, then they have a shot at rewriting history. Going back to the Money Pit, this remarkable place was discovered accidentally by a boy named Daniel McGinnis in 1795. Who knew that this land which measures less than 150 acres across has so many precious treasures. However, apparently McGinnis was sceptical the first time he saw it and there was also a sign of fear when he noticed that there was a tackle block hanging in a large Oak Tree. Daniel was able to convince his friends to check the area and they were astonished when they saw a shaft filled with dirt. Eventually, they kept on digging with professional help and heavy pieces of machinery. Every 10 feet, they are greeted with an eerie platform and some odd materials like a huge block of stone with unusual markings. This sparked the controversy about a possible extraterrestrial activity surrounding the area. Daniel and his team tried several times to uncover the mystery of Oak Island, but every time they got deeper, the tunnels are flooded. After 200 years, a variety of treasure hunters stormed the area. It was also suggested by an archaeologist that Oak Island or specifically Money Pit is a sinkhole. The only problem is, there are contradicting pieces of evidence about it being a natural sinkhole and it is more of a man-made chamber. Conspiracy theories Various theories state that the treasure these fortune seekers are trying to unveil is the riches of Captain Kidd, who was a known pirate from the 1600s. According to historians, the renowned Captain hid his treasure East of Boston on a small island. However, they havent provided enough evidence to acknowledge their theory. Another theory is that these treasures belong to the Vikings who ruled the sea hundreds of years ago and of course, the Freemasons. Some conspiracy theories even suggest that the Money Pit might contain Marie Antoinettes precious jewels. This theory was widely supported as one archaeologist was able to provide at least some evidence. The only problem is, when he was about to reveal the secret passages and artifacts, he met his untimely death. Lastly, the most supported theory in the history of Oak Island is, that this small island was the last resting place of the Holy Grail which was hidden by the Knights Templar. The only thing guaranteed with the legendary Money Pit is, whoever created it is hiding something. Either its precious jewellery, gold bars, valuable artefacts or even extraterrestrial secrets, this builder has tried to bury the secret that they dont want us to know. Facebook is to lodge an appeal against the 500,000 fine issued against it over the Cambridge Analytica (CA) scandal. The UK Information Commissioners Office (ICO) issued the fine for the social networks role in the data scandal which broke earlier this year and revealed millions of users data had been harvested from the site. Some of this data was then shared with consultancy Cambridge Analytica, who used it to target political advertising in the US. The social network has now confirmed it will appeal the decision. Facebooks associate general counsel in Europe Anna Benckert said: We have said before that we wish we had done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica in 2015. We made major changes to our platform back then and have also significantly restricted the information app developers can access. We are investigating all historic apps that had access to large amounts of information before we changed our platform policies in 2014. (Yui Mok/PA) Facebook argues that because the ICO found no evidence that UK user data was among that exposed to Cambridge Analytica, the fine no longer relates to the CA data incident. The ICOs investigation stemmed from concerns that UK citizens data may have been impacted by Cambridge Analytica, Ms Benckert said. Yet they now have confirmed that they have found no evidence to suggest that information of Facebook users in the UK was ever shared by Dr (Aleksandr) Kogan with Cambridge Analytica, or used by its affiliates in the Brexit referendum. Therefore, the core of the ICOs argument no longer relates to the events involving Cambridge Analytica. Instead, their reasoning challenges some of the basic principles of how people should be allowed to share information online, with implications which go far beyond just Facebook, which is why we have chosen to appeal. Ms Benckert argues the same rationale means people should not be allowed to forward an email or message without having agreement from each person on the original thread. Story continues These are things done by millions of people every day on services across the internet, which is why we believe the ICOs decision raises important questions of principle for everyone online which should be considered by an impartial court based on all the relevant evidence. An ICO spokeswoman said: Any organisation issued with a monetary penalty notice by the Information Commissioner has the right to appeal the decision to the First-tier Tribunal. The progression of any appeal is a matter for the tribunal. We have not yet been notified by the tribunal that an appeal has been received. Making foie gras (fattened liver) involves the controversial force-feeding of ducks or geese with more food than they would eat normally. Photo: Getty Leader Jeremy Corbyn may have avoided setting out the kind of deal he wants with the EU, but at least one plank of Labours Brexit vision is now clear banning foie gras imports. The party tried to add a complete ban to Brexit farming legislation in the House of Commons on Tuesday, with one MP arguing it was why some people voted to leave the EU. Foie gras production is banned in the UK, but French imports of the product, made from force-fed geese and ducks, cannot be stopped under the rules of the European single market. The Labour amendment failed to pass, but a Conservative minister said the government may consider a ban in future, depending on the deal negotiated with the EU over Britains departure. Labour MP David Drew told parliament: If we ban production here, why are we still allowing imports to a very small number of establishments that still condone something that we would put at the extremes of animal cruelty? It is one of the things that certain people prayed in aid of the advantage of leaving the EUthat is, that we could bring about some of these animal welfare changes. It was a crucial argument. It was not quite as big an argument as the 350m-a-week for the NHS, but it was nevertheless an argument, added the shadow minister for the environment, food and rural affairs. Duck foie gras on sale in Perigueux, southwestern France. Photo: Patrick Bernard/AFP/Getty Images George Eustice, a minister at the department for environment, food and rural affairs, agreed it was an important ethical issue, and told MPs that production had been illegal in the UK since 1911. But he said French products had been called ethical foie gras, adding that the geese were not force-fed. It would be an option for a government, depending on the nature of the agreement we finally have with the EU, to ban the import of foie gras, in much the same way as India does, but I do not believe the Bill is the right place for it, he added. The environment secretary Michael Gove had raised hopes of such a ban earlier this year, after Labour included the idea among 50 proposals to improve animal welfare. But he admitted in July that France may block any trade agreement that included a ban, in a bid to protect its farmers. Centrica and Fresnillo were the two worst performing stocks on the FTSE 100 on Thursday. Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images Here are the top business, market and economic stories you should be watching today in the UK, Europe and abroad: European stocks slide again European stock markets resumed their downwards trend on Thursday, hit by some disappointing earning updates and a fall in Italian banks based on continued uncertainty over the outlook for the countrys finances. Uncertainty over Italian politics, Brexit and worries over slowing economic and earnings growth have discouraged investors from taking risks. Britains FTSE 100 (^FTSE), Germanys DAX (^GDAXI) and Frances CAC 40 (^FCHI) were all down by about 1% in early morning trading. The two worst-performing stocks in the benchmark UK index were Centrica (CNA.L) and Fresnillo (FRES.L), with shares down about 8% and 11%, respectively. This follows a mixed Thursday session in Asian markets. US stock markets are closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. New weekend Brexit meeting for May and Juncker UK prime minister Theresa May said she would be returning to Brussels on Saturday to further refine plans for Britains future relationship with the European Union. This comes after a Wednesday meeting with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. I will be returning on Saturday for further meetings, including again with President Juncker to discuss how we can ensure that we can conclude this process, she said. A summit of EU leaders is scheduled for Sunday. They are expected to endorse the Brexit divorce deal along with the document outlining plans for the future UK-EU relationship. Tesla reverses on price hike in China Tesla (TSLA) is cutting the price of its Model X and Model S cars in China, marking a shift in strategy that will see it absorb the cost of new tariffs that were imposed in the midst of the ongoing US-China trade war. The electric carmaker, led by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, said it will cut prices of the two models by between 12% and 26% to make the cars more affordable in the worlds top auto market, where sales of so-called new-energy vehicles are rising fast. Story continues China recently slapped new tariffs on US imports, including automotives, to respond to the Trump administrations tariffs. This is hurting Tesla, which imports all the cars it currently sells in China. Tesla warned last month it was facing major problems with selling cars in China due to new tariffs that would force it to accelerate investment in its first overseas Gigafactory in Shanghai. Nissan officially giving Ghosn the boot Nissan Motors (7201.T) board is meeting Thursday to oust chairman Carlos Ghosn after the shock arrest of its once-revered leader. The move ushers in a period of uncertainty for its 19-year alliance with French automaker Renault (RNO.PA). Both companies own sizeable stakes in one another and Ghosn remains CEO and chairman of Renault. The Franco-Japanese alliance, enlarged in 2016 to include Japans Mitsubishi Motors (MBI.F), has been rattled to its core by Ghosns arrest in Japan on Monday. The 64-year-old group chairman and industry star has been accused of financial misconduct. Ghosn had shaped the auto alliance and was pushing for a deeper tie-up, including the potential for a full Renault-Nissan merger. With files from Reuters Zakir Hussain to perform in city after 17 years Internationally acclaimed percussionist Ustad Zakir Hussain, accompanied by three other Indian musicians, will perform in Kathmandu on November 27, event organisers announced at a media conference on Wednesday. A British Gas sign is seen outside its offices in Staines in southern England, July 31, 2014. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo By Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in Britain's Centrica tumbled 9 percent on Thursday after the energy supplier reported losing customers, lower nuclear power generation and a fall in output at its oil and gas division. The owner of Britain's largest energy supplier British Gas said it would still meet its 2018 group targets that were set out in February. But that failed to reassure investors. The shares fell to 131.90 pence, their lowest level since March. Centrica's British home energy supply business, which includes British Gas, lost 372,000 customers in the four months to the end of October. Britain's big six energy suppliers have been losing business to smaller rivals, which often offer lower prices and have lifted their market share to 30 percent from 1 percent six years ago. British energy suppliers are also facing a price cap on the most commonly used tariffs from Jan. 1, a move regulator Ofgem said would save households around 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) a year. Centrica said the cap would lead to a one-off negative adjusted profit impact of about 70 million pounds in the first quarter of 2019. Forecast 2018 production at Centrica's exploration and production division's Spirit Energy fell to about 47.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) from around 50 mmboe due to unplanned outages and operational issues. Centrica's share of full year-nuclear generation from its 20 percent stake in EDF's British nuclear plants was expected to be 0.2 terrawatt hours lower since the February interim results due to outages at the Hunterston B and Dungeness B power stations. The Hunterston unit, which can produce enough electricity to power more than 800,000 homes, has been offline since March when cracks were found in its core during a routine inspection. Centrica has gained 280,000 customers in its connected home division since the start of the year and said it was on track to achieve cost savings of around 200 million by the end of 2018. Story continues Europe's General Court ruled last week Britain must halt payments made under its capacity auction scheme aimed at avoiding electricity shortages pending a further investigation by European Union regulators. Centrica said it was awaiting further updates from the British government to determine the full implications for the capacity contracts it has at nuclear, battery and gas-fired generation assets. ($1 = 0.7828 pounds) (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Jason Neely and Edmund Blair) Coast Guard drug cocaine offload engine cowling gunshot hole Christopher Woody/Business Insider The Coast Guard is catching increasing amounts of cocaine at sea. Most of the cocaine heading to the US is coming through the eastern Pacific Ocean. More smuggling routes are swinging deep into the Pacific and around the Galapagos. FT. LAUDERDALE, Florida The Coast Guard has been seizing record amounts of cocaine, bringing in more than 458,000 pounds during fiscal year 2018, which ended in September. That was less than the record-setting 493,000 pounds seized in fiscal year 2017 but more than the 443,000 pounds intercepted in fiscal year 2016, which was the record at the time. More than 80% of that cocaine travels through the eastern Pacific Ocean as it is smuggled between South America and entry points in Central America and Mexico. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, an increasing portion of that smuggling is going around the Galapagos Islands a cluster of volcanic islands that straddle the equator and are better known for unique wildlife than transnational crime. South America Pacific Ocean drug cocaine trafficking smuggling Galapagos Islands US DEA Cocaine production in Colombia, the world's largest producer of the drug, has more than quadrupled since 2012, according to the DEA's most recent National Drug Threat Assessment. (Peru and Bolivia are the world's other main cocaine producers, but combined they produce less than Colombia.) Booming production kept cocaine moving out of South America at "elevated levels" in 2017, the DEA said. "In 2017, at least 84% of the documented cocaine departing South America transited the eastern Pacific," the DEA report states. Read also: Billions of dollars of cocaine are smuggled into the US by sea every year, and the Coast Guard says it can only stop one-quarter of it "Shipments around the Galapagos Islands increased to 17 percent of overall flow in 2017, up from four percent in 2016 and one percent in 2015," it adds. Of the remaining 16%, the report said, 9% goes through the western Caribbean and 7% through the eastern Caribbean. Story continues The rise from 4% to 17% is likely not a single-year phenomenon, according to Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA. Ecuador cocaine seizure Diego Fuentes Acosta/Twitter "The Galapagos has always been a staging area," Vigil said, especially after traffickers shifted to the eastern Pacific in response to more law-enforcement focus on Caribbean routes. "I think it was much higher than that," Vigil said of previous estimates. "I think they miscalculated the amount of cocaine going through the Galapagos," he added, suggesting the increase to 17% reflected an attempt to compensate for not paying much attention to the area over the past decade. Usually a large ship like a freighter or a commercial fishing boat, what Vigil called the "mothership," will approach the Galapagos with a load of drugs or fuel that would be distributed to smaller vessels heading north. The Galapagos and the surrounding waters are "very safe" for traffickers, Vigil added. "Even if you have surveillance there [by] Coast Guard cutters or whatever, they're going to pick it up" and can abort smuggling operations. "There's no better staging area, because it's close to South America; they can loiter there," Vigil said. "It's a big fishing area. They can always say they're fishing. They're in tune with any kind of enforcement shift" around the islands, whether it's by the US Coast Guard or Colombian authorities. Central America drug trafficking map Adam Isacson/US Southern Command Most of the cocaine being staged in the Galapagos originates in Peru or Bolivia, Vigil said, but travels over sea or land to Ecuador, of which the Galapagos Islands are a province. From Ecuador, that cocaine mostly leaves through the ports of Esmeraldas or Manta. Ecuador has been seen as a major transshipment point for cocaine for some time. But given a lack or resources, it can only search about 3% of the shipments coming out of those ports, Vigil said. US law-enforcement ties with Ecuador withered under former President Rafael Correa. His successor, Lenin Moreno, has been more open to working with the US, agreeing in April to allow the DEA and Customs and Border Protection back into the country. The US touts at-sea interdictions as a way to undermine cartels US Coast Guard cutter James cocaine drug bust narco sub low-profile vesse US Coast Guard Traffickers "may use a variety of routes, and that's a tactical calculus ... that these transnational criminal organizations make," Capt. Jeffrey Randall, commander of the Coast Guard cutter James, said on Thursday during a drug offload from the James in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. "Some of them may choose to go that route. Some of them may choose to go a shorter route," Randall said of trafficking around the Galapagos. "It all depends on how that individual cartel or individual drug-trafficking organization chooses to move their narcotics." Now read: Drug cartels make billions in the US, but somebody else is doing the selling "But you can't do that without some sort of logistics change, so there's a network at play there," he said. "Dismantling that network is what's key to reducing the overall flow." The US government has touted at-sea interdictions as a way to undermine trafficking organizations. The Coast Guard has said its seizures between 2002 and 2011 and information gained from them contributed to the extradition of 75% of Colombian cartel leaders, as well as to the 2014 capture of Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. US Coast Guard helicopter HITRON Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron warning shots US Coast Guard/Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Hulme The Coast Guard can stop drug smuggling early in the process and "exploit connections amongst the transnational criminal organizations to not just catch a single bad actor but reach back across the organization and disrupt the overall flow," Claire Grady, the Homeland Security Department's management chief, said aboard the James on Thursday. "That is probably the best progress that we've made," Grady added, "making every time we encounter a nefarious actor that much more important because of our ability to then penetrate and disrupt the entire organization." Decisions about at-sea interdictions are based on "a time-speed-distance calculation," Randall said when asked whether the Coast Guard was spending more time around the Galapagos Islands. "You want to optimize your position to react," he added, "because the last thing you want to do is be in a tail chase, chasing somebody down and you're both going the same speed. You're never going to get there if that happens." Nevertheless, Coast Guard commandant Adm. Karl Schultz said, the Coast Guard has the edge deep in the Pacific. "When those 419-foot national security [cutters] show up with a [Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron] helicopter and very capable boats [and] you're in a fishing boat [or] you're in a fast boat," Schultz said Thursday, "it's sort of game, set, match when you're out past the Galapagos." NOW WATCH: Watch the US Coast Guard seize a narco sub laden with $73 million worth of cocaine See Also: Families of 16 kidnapped Egyptians in Libya cry at Al-Herda village in Kafr El Sheikh Families of 16 kidnapped Egyptians in Libya cry at Al-Herda village in Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt November 20, 2018. Picture taken November 20, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany AL-HERDA, Egypt (Reuters) - Armed men in an eastern Libyan city have kidnapped 16 Egyptian workers over a financial dispute between Libyan contractors and their Egyptian partner, residents of the workers' home village said. The incident revived concerns over the fate of thousands of Egyptians, most of them working as cheap labourers, in Libya -- a country torn by lawlessness since Western-backed rebels toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Egyptian officials were not immediately available to comment. Residents of the small village which the kidnapped workers came from -- Al-Herda in the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh -- said that three of the hostages had escaped their captors but their whereabouts were not known. The workers were seized four days ago in the city of Tobruk, on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast by unknown gunmen after Libyan contractors accused a business partner from the same Egyptian village as the kidnapped men of fleeing the country after he stole 100,000 Libyan dinars ($72,000). The kidnappers have told the village residents through mediators that the men would be freed once the Egyptian businessman returned the money, residents said. One resident said the kidnappers have threatened to take unspecified action against the hostages if the money was not paid. "The Libyan side said he wants his money before letting the men go," the resident, who asked not to be identified, said. He said the kidnappers have said they would deliver the men to Egypt's land border crossing with Libya at Salloum once the money was paid. Thousands of Egyptians, most driven by lack of jobs, have sought work in Libya since 2011, risking their lives in a country where Islamist militants and militias largely rule. One resident of the Egyptian village said his brother paid 7,000 Egyptian pounds ($390) to smugglers who helped him reach Libya through desert roads. "I am now worried about my brother's life because killing in Libya has become a common practice," the man who asked not to be identified, said. Story continues One of the kidnapped men had travelled to Libya to help pay for a house he is building in his native Herda, his mother said. "We all depend on him, his father is ill," said Hasanat Mostafa, the mother. Asked what needed to be done for her son, she said: "I want him to come back. The government should intervene and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi should intervene." In 2015, Islamic State militants killed 20 Egyptian Christians who were kidnapped while working in Libya. (The story corrects paragraphs 12 and 13 to show named person is mother, not son). (Reporting by Ahmed Mansour and Ahmed Fahmy, writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Toby Chopra) Facebook has admitted hiring a PR firm to attack billionaire Jewish philanthropist George Soros after he criticised the social media giant. The company's outgoing head of communications and policy, Elliot Schrage, said earlier this year he had asked public relations firm Definers to target Mr Soros after he criticised the company. Facebook is replacing Mr Schrage with former British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. At the Davos business summit in January, Mr Soros called Facebook and Google a "menace to society" and accused them of exploiting the social environment in the same way that mining and oil companies exploited the physical environment. Mr Soros, 88, has been vilified by the political right for his support of politically liberal causes, and has been especially criticised by anti-Semites. Facebook's outgoing head of communications said he took full responsibility for the decision to target the famous investor, and said neither chief executive Mark Zuckerberg nor chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg were aware of it. Mr Schrage, who did not specifically apologise for targeting George Soros, wrote that Facebook had asked the PR firm to identify the figures behind the "Freedom from Facebook" campaign. When they learned that the Open Society Foundation had funded several of the coalition members they "prepared documents and distributed these to the press to show that this was not simply a spontaneous grassroots movement", Mr Schrage wrote. Through the Open Society Foundation, Mr Soros has contributed to numerous liberal political causes, including making a 400,000 donation to anti-Brexit campaign Best for Britain. His philanthropy has prompted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories accusing Mr Soros of being behind many politically progressive initiatives, and criticism of the billionaire has become increasingly mainstream. Mr Soros was among a number of people who has been criticised by President Trump and was targeted by an explosive device found in a mailbox near his home. Story continues Hungary's anti-migrant prime minister Viktor Orban and Donald Trump have both accused Mr Soros of being behind political opposition to them. :: Nick Clegg will not be silenced on Brexit despite Facebook role Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg now wants to "reevaluate how we work with communications consultants", Mr Schrage wrote. "Many people across the company feel uncomfortable finding out about this work," he added. "Many people on the Communications team feel under attack from the press and even from their colleagues. "I'm deeply disappointed that so much internal discussion and finger pointing has become public. This is a serious threat to our culture and ability to work together in difficult times." Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, added in her own post: "It was never anyone's intention to play into an antisemitic narrative against Mr Soros or anyone else. "Being Jewish is a core part of who I am and our company stands firmly against hate. The idea that our work has been interpreted as antisemitic is abhorrent to me - and deeply personal." FILE PHOTO: A display featuring missiles and a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran September 27, 2017. Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi/TIMA via REUTERS. LONDON (Reuters) - An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Wednesday that U.S. bases in Afghanistan, the UAE and Qatar, and U.S. aircraft carriers in the Gulf were within range of Iranian missiles, as tensions rise between Tehran and Washington. "They are within our reach and we can hit them if they (Americans) make a move," Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards' airspace division, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Hajizadeh said the Guards had improved the precision of their missiles, and specifically said they could hit the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Al Dhafra base in the United Arab Emirates and Kandahar base in Afghanistan that host U.S. forces. U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement on Iran's nuclear programme in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. He said the deal was flawed because it did not include curbs on Iran's development of ballistic missiles or its support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq. The Islamic Republic's government has ruled out negotiations with Washington over its military capabilities, particularly its missile programme run by the Guards. Iran, which says its missile programme is purely defensive, has threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if the United States tries to strangle Iranian oil exports. In October, the Revolutionary Guards fired missiles at Islamic State militants in Syria after the Islamist group took responsibility for an attack at a military parade in Iran that killed 25 people, nearly half of them members of the Guards. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Hugh Lawson) By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) - Kingfisher , Europe's second largest home improvement retailer, reported weak quarterly sales in France and said it would pull out of Russia, Spain and Portugal, sending its shares lower and raising questions over its plan to increase profit. The group, which across Europe trails France's Groupe Adeo, is in the third year of five-year programme to raise annual profit by 500 million pounds from 2021. However, profits are forecast to go backwards in its 2018-19 year. Kingfisher's shares fell as much as 5.8 percent on Wednesday, taking losses for the year to more than 30 percent, after the group, whose main businesses are B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France, reported a fall in underlying sales in its third quarter, with Castorama in continuing to trade particularly poorly and underperform the wider French market. Chief Executive Veronique Laury, who has cut Castorama's prices and revamped its marketing, warned "there is no quick fix" for that business. "We believe Kingfisher's transformation plan will not yield the margin benefits it was supposed to, so there will be more calls for a break-up, but in between a margin reset may be necessary," said RBC Europe analyst Richard Chamberlain, who has a "sector perform" rating on the stock. Kingfisher's like-for-like sales fell 1.3 percent in the quarter to Oct. 31, reflecting the weak performance at Castorama France, where sales on the same basis slumped 7.3 percent - worse than analysts' expectations of a fall of about 3 percent. Laury said the margin outlook in France was uncertain given the difficult trading and the impact of recent national fuel tax protests. "Castorama is likely to be still losing share to Leroy Merlin due to unified products not resonating with customers and a suboptimal digital offer," said RBC's Chamberlain. Story continues Kingfisher's plan for the group, costing 800 million pounds over five years, involves unifying product ranges across brands, boosting e-commerce and seeking efficiency savings. EXITING MARKETS "We are committed to our plan and to building a strong business for the long-term. As part of this commitment, we have taken the decision to exit Russia, Spain and Portugal," said Laury. "This will allow us to apply our strategy with more focus and efficiency in our main markets where we have, or can reach, a market leading position." Russia and Iberia account for about 7 percent of Kingfisher's total sales. The loss-making Russian business trades from 20 stores, while Iberia, which is close to break-even, trades from 31 stores. Britain, France and Poland account for 90 percent of Kingfisher's sales. Like-for-like sales in Britain and Ireland fell 0.7 percent in the quarter. Prior to Wednesday's update analysts were on average forecasting a full-year underlying pretax profit of 741 million pounds, down from 797 million pounds made in 2017-18. Analysts said they expected forecasts to be downgraded by about 5 percent. The stock was down 2.5 percent at 240.2 pence at 0923 GMT, valuing the business at 5.1 billion pounds. (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton and Louise Heavens) BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday the country no longer had the luxury of wasting time as a six-month government formation crisis drags on and economic pressures mount. More than six months since parliamentary elections, Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri has hit a wall in his effort to form a national unity government as political factions jostle for positions in the new cabinet. A new government must be in place before Lebanon embarks on major fiscal reform, which the International Monetary Fund said in June is urgently needed to put the country's debt on a sustainable footing. "Lebanon today is experiencing a government formation crisis ... Lebanon no longer has the luxury of wasting time," Aoun said in a televised speech on the eve of the country's 75th independence day since the French mandate ended in 1943. Stressing that tackling the economy is a priority, Aoun called on all officials and parties in Lebanon to set aside personal interests and work responsibly for the Lebanese people. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Alison Williams/Mark Heinrich) Chesterfield, Missouri, police said they have identified seven suspects in the theft of $8,000 in perfume from a Victorias Secret store at the Chesterfield Mall on November 20. Three of the suspects knocked over a child on an escalator during their escape, and the suspects also threatened to pepper spray a security guard, Fox2 in St Louis reported. The suspects fled the mall parking lot in a dark-colored Honda CRV with temporary tags. Credit: Chesterfield Police Department via Storyful Hundreds of Libyans packed the narrow streets of Tripolis old city Tuesday for a celebration of Mawlid, the Prophet Mohammeds birthday, braving security threats from hardline Salafists opposed to the ancient Sufi tradition. Dressed in traditional finery, with drums and cymbals accompanying joyous hymns and chants, Libyans took to the streets of Tripolis old, walled city to celebrate Mawlid, the Prophet Mohammeds birthday. After a break of at least four years, Mawlid was celebrated in the Libyan capital this year. The festivities are an important event, dating back centuries, for Sufis in this North African nation. But rising tensions between Sufis and Salafists, whose numbers have grown over the past few years, have seen a cancellation of such festivities across Libya. Tripoli is home to many historic Zaouias or Sufi mosques, and this year, Abdallah Banoon, leader of the Great Sufi Zaouia, told FRANCE 24 he has happy to participate in the public festivities. "We have not been able to celebrate this holiday these past few years. Not because I was afraid to be shot myself, but because I was afraid that a crazy person might blow himself up amongst the people assembled here," said Banoon. For many Tripoli residents, it was a joy to welcome back a beloved tradition. "It's extraordinary, this traditional celebration had disappeared for four years, it was heartbreaking, said one resident. It was a sentiment echoed by a female resident. "I feel reassured to see our traditions return," she explained. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Spain would have no objection to Scotland rejoining the European Union as an independent nation, as long as the secession process from the United Kingdom was legally binding, Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell said on Tuesday. During a fiercely fought referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom in 2014, one of the potential stumbling blocks for Scotland to rejoin the European Union was perceived to be the potential veto of EU member Spain, because of worries about its own secessionists in northeastern region Catalonia. Spain's government, then headed by Conservatives, has changed since 2014 and is now headed by Socialist Pedro Sanchez. Scotland rejected independence by a 10-point margin in 2014 but since then support for a separate Scotland has stayed at around the same level, 45 percent, according to polls. Asked if a Sanchez government would accept Scotland's EU application to join if Scotland left the United Kingdom and fulfilled the requirements of the UK constitution, Borrell said: Why not? If they leave Britain in accordance with their internal regulation, if Westminster agrees ...," "If Westminster (Britain's national parliament) agrees, why should we be against it? (...) I think the United Kingdom will split apart before Spain," he told Politico in an interview before a live audience. Scotland's pro-independence Scottish National Party, the biggest party in Scotland, welcomed the comments, saying they destroyed a "favoured unionist scare-story". Britain's 52-48 percent 2016 vote to leave the European Union has called the future of the four-nation United Kingdom into question because England and Wales voted to leave but Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay. (Reporting by Robin Emmott; Writing by Elisabeth O'Leary in Edinburgh; editing by Stephen Addison) 1. Yes. Nonprofit youth organizations are underfunded in the city. Its a good decision. 2. Yes. In conjunction with city-run programs, it will provide needed opportunities. 3. No. The money should be used to benefit all residents, not just the citys youth. 4. No. The funds should be invested in the area where the project is being developed.. 5. Unsure. Its hard to say whether its an appropriate use of the money. Vote View Results A man suspected of stealing from vehicles in Clackamas, Oregon, was pinned beneath the wheel of his own car after a high-speed chase with police on November 19, Clackamas County authorities said. Isaiah John Gellatly suffered a broken leg as he attempted to run from officers from the Happy Valley Police Department, a statement from the Clackamas County Sheriffs Office said. The incident was captured on the dashcam footage of a police car and was released on Wednesday, November 21. It shows a man exiting the car as the vehicle continues to roll. The car hits the man as it comes to a stop at the wall of a building. The suspect was recovering in hospital and faces a variety of charges, police said. Credit: Clackamas County Sheriffs Office via Storyful President Donald Trumps embrace of Saudi Arabia has exposed a foreign policy rift in the Republican Party, as some of his colleagues warn that not punishing the kingdom for its role in killing a US-based columnist will have dangerous consequences. Many Republicans, even senators Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul, who share their views on the matter with the president, have denounced Mr Trumps decision not to levy harsher penalties on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the death and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday he was astounded by Mr Trumps statement and likened it to a press release for Saudi Arabia. Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but lets go lower! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018 It is a delicate situation when we have a long-term ally that weve had for decades, but we have a crown prince that I believe ordered the killing of a journalist, Mr Corker told Chattanooga TV station WTVC in his home state of Tennessee. We dont have a smoking gun. Everything points to the fact that he knew about it and directed it. AMERICA FIRST! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended Mr Trumps decision, saying the US has already placed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials suspected of involvement in the October 2 killing of The Washington Post columnist, who had been critical of the royal family. Story continues I fully realize we have to deal with bad actors and imperfect situations on the international stage. However, when we lose our moral voice, we lose our strongest asset. Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 20, 2018 Weve sanctioned 17 people, some of them very senior in the Saudi government, Mr Pompeo said in a radio interview with KCMO in Kansas City, Missouri. We are going to make sure that America always stands for human rights. Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Yui Mok/PA) Mr Graham is not convinced. When we lose our moral voice, we lose our strongest asset, he said. Members of both parties have accused Mr Trump of ignoring US intelligence that concluded, according to one official, that it was likely the crown prince ordered the killing. Several politicians have indicated that the US has no smoking gun that proves he was responsible, but they have called on the CIA and other top intelligence agencies to publicly share what they told the president about the killing. Hey @realdonaldtrump: being Saudi Arabias bitch is not America First. Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) November 21, 2018 In his statement on Tuesday, Mr Trump argued that punishing Saudi Arabia by foolishly cancelling Saudi arms deals worth billions of dollars to the US would only benefit Russia and China. Critics, including high-ranking officials in other countries, accused Mr Trump of ignoring human rights and giving Saudi Arabia a pass for economic reasons. It is America First, Mr Trump said. That unleashed a tweet on Wednesday from Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii who wrote: Being Saudi Arabias bitch is not America First.' A woman holds a poster with the image of murdered Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi (Emrah Gurel/AP) Mr Trump also said the US needs Saudi Arabias help to counter Iran in the region, fight extremism and keep oil prices steady. The US, Russia and the Saudis have boosted oil production in anticipation of sharply lower exports from Iran due to U.S. sanctions reinstated after Mr Trump exited the Iran nuclear deal. Mr Trump publicly thanked Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for plunging oil prices. However, Opec, the cartel of oil-producing countries, could announce production cuts at its December 6 meeting in Vienna, nudging prices upward. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but lets go lower! he wrote from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending Thanksgiving. Criticism of the president will likely resume after the holiday when politicians return to Capitol Hill early next week. Ive just travelled to Slovakia, where I saw thousands demonstrate on Bratislavas central square against corruption and for a decent country. Photograph: Vladimir Simicek/AFP/Getty Images Europes outlook can appear bleak these days: the Brexit downward spiral continues, both Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel are weakened, and Italys far-right-dominated, not-so-funny commedia dellarte only seems to be getting worse. But turn your gaze a bit further east, and there is good news to be found. In central Europe, grassroots democratic movements seem to be gaining ground. In some ways they are much more valiant and persistent than those found in western European countries. They could reshape the EU in ways few people care to anticipate. The young people are particularly motivated: they have vivid family memories of an authoritarian system Ive just travelled to Slovakia, where I saw thousands demonstrate on Bratislavas central square against corruption and for a decent country. Crowds stood in the cold listening to an array of activists, mostly students and artists, making the case for people power against the graft and cynicism of those who govern. The Slovak protests are organised every Friday evening not far from an improvised memorial, made of pictures, flowers and candles, honouring Jan Kuciak, a 27-year-old investigative reporter who was brutally murdered in February alongside his fiancee. Things havent been the same since that double murder, with an outpouring of anger and larger street demonstrations than those of the 1989 revolution in what was then Czechoslovakia. Each country has its own story, of course, but events in Slovakia are part of a wider trend across the region: a new generation of central Europeans are mobilising to salvage democratic values they feel are under threat. The young people involved are extremely focused and motivated because they have vivid family memories of what it is like to live in an authoritarian system. In Bratislava last weekend, activists and intellectuals from Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Poland met to discuss their struggles and their ideals at a conference titled Lets demand the impossible a nod to the slogans of the Paris 1968 student uprising. Story continues Meanwhile in Prague, protests were under way against the scandal-ridden, oligarchic Czech prime minister Andrej Babis, who stands accused of fraud. Calls for him to step down are intensifying, with a possible vote of no confidence in parliament later this week. Babis is defiant and says he will never resign, but it is striking that people took to the streets on 17 November, the anniversary of the 1989 Velvet revolution. Recent developments in Poland are also interesting: the opposition to the nationalist Kaczynski regime made some important gains a few weeks ago in local elections, taking almost all of the larger cities a vote that underscored how divided the country is. The ruling Law and Justice party may struggle to win in next years European parliament election, and in national elections beyond that. If so, this would be a momentous shift, not least because Poland is a large EU country. Poland will be back, one Polish writer and leftwing intellectual confidently told me while in Bratislava. He meant a democratic, pro-EU Poland. In Romania, civil society is also buzzing with energy after massive street protests were held in August against government plans to dismantle anti-corruption measures. While in Bratislava, a Romanian activist from the town of Sibiu, in Transylvania, described how crowds continued to hold daily silent protests in front of the ruling partys local offices. We stand there, on the public square, reading poetry and texts by Henry David Thoreau on civil disobedience, he smiled. Even Hungarys strongman Viktor Orban may not be as secure as he thinks at least in his EU-wide ambitions. Its true he was comfortably re-elected earlier this year, but the man who casts himself as the ideologue of illiberal democracy, and a champion of Christian, anti-immigration sentiment, has now come under strong criticism from within the continental political bloc he belongs to, the European Peoples party. Central European sources tell me Orban will get kicked out of that group after the May 2019 EU elections. Whether this happens or not, he was very publicly lambasted for his illiberalism earlier this month at the European Peoples party congress held in Helsinki. And his image has been further tarnished by the so-called Gruevski scandal a case of political asylum given in Hungary to Macedonias convicted former prime minister. The joke in Budapest now, one Hungarian pro-democracy activist tells me, is that Orban no longer seems to have a problem with criminal migrants. For all the talk about central Europe having fallen prey to mind-numbing populism in recent years, some nuances and signs of change are worth paying closer attention to. Across the region, civil society activists are pushing back hard against the cynics in power. We should beware of caving in to a simplistic narrative about the east of Europe being a homogeneous hotbed of authoritarianism with little effort put into holding it in check. There is resistance. In fact, in some ways, Europes west looks more worrying than its east. The opposition to Matteo Salvini in Italy looks flat on its face. In France, Marine Le Pens party is now riding higher in polls than Macrons La Republique En Marche. When French protesters blocked roads last week, it looked like the social movement might fuel yet more populist tendencies, rather than run counter to them. Britain, meanwhile, is locked into its separate world with Brexit. And Germany is experiencing its own brand of navel-gazing, as a result of the contest for Merkels succession. If the political tide in central Europe does shift in the coming year, an entirely different picture could emerge on the continent. The children of those who successfully fought for democracy in 1989 will have demonstrated that truth and decency (key slogans they use) can yet again be victorious. The oft-mentioned east-west gap would then need to be revisited altogether. Western European liberals and progressives might want to draw a lesson or two from the mobilisation in the east. Central Europeans know they are in a fight for values and what failure might cost them. As a consequence, they adapt their methods. For instance, they reach out to rather than shun socially conservative parts of the population. Slovak grassroots protesters have made a point of harnessing the support of traditionalist Catholic networks because fighting for the democratic rule of law means being inclusive of people you might not agree with. Also, they have smartly set up public transparency for their crowdfunded bank account, as a way of disproving conspiracy theories saying that they are Soros funded. Im not saying populism is over in central Europe. Im saying the spirit of dissidence is alive and well, and westerners should take more notice. Europes salvation might possibly come from the east. Natalie Nougayrede is a Guardian columnist This article was amended on 22 November 2018. An earlier version spelled Kaczynski as Kaszynski. bet365 Boss Pays Herself an Obscene 265 Million November 22 2018 Matthew Pitt The co-founder of online gambling giant bet365 paid herself 265 million during the last 12-monhts, a sum branded obscene by a campaigner for reducing economic inequality. Denise Coatess basic pay rose from 199 million to 220 million, rising to 265 million when the 45 million dividend payment is taken into account. This means that Coates earned an incredible 726,000 per day last year and her annual salary is 9,500 times more than the UK average. Coates salary has soared during the past two years, according to figures published with Companies House. Coates was paid a salary of 6 million in 2012, 5 million in 2013 and 13 million in 2014. The boss of bet365 awarded herself 30 million in 2015, 54 million in 2016 before an astonishing 199 million for 2017. The above figures do not include dividends Forbes magazine estimated Coates personal fortune to be 3.2 billion as of Oct. 2018. Luke Hildyard, a director for the High Pay Centre, an organisation that campaigns against excessive remuneration among executives and company directors, branded Coates salary as obscene. Speaking to the London Economic website, Hildyard is quoted as saying Why does someone who is already a billionaire need to take such an obscene amount of money out of their company? It is difficult to find a reason beyond pure greed. A payment of this size would be impossible to justify for someone whose business was in unquestionably life-enhancing products or services. It is doubly offensive when awarded to a betting company CEO at a time when problem gambling is spiralling out of control. bet365 pre-tax profits rose 28 percent to 660.6 million from more than 52 billion worth of wagers. The company donated 75 million to the charity set up in Coates name, the Denise Coates Foundation. Coates set up bet365 from a portacabin in a Stoke car park in 2000 after purchasing the bet365.com domain name for 19,000. Bet365 has since grown into a global sporting betting goliath with more than 35 million customers worldwide and employing more than 4,000 members of staff. We wonder what those staff feel about their boss astronomical salary. Unified Communications Week in Review: Fusion, Mitel, UC & More Share Tweet By Maurice Nagle Web Editor By Maurice NagleWeb Editor The cloud era is upon us, and the dawn of a new day has arrived. Technology is in the midst of a major transformation as a result of cloud computing, and one area most notably grabbing attention is the unified communications space. So, with the weekend upon us, theres no better time than the present to take a look back at the week that was in unified communications news: Time for the Week in Review! Mitel announced an expanded partnership with MLB (News - Alert) as the title partner of next seasons MLB London Series. Taking place June 29-30 2019, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will put one of MLBs biggest rivalries on the world stage. All the details are HERE. UC is a murky topic. Unified communications at its most basic level is voice, email, and presence/IM capability in an application. And some companies are very particular about saying they have UC apps because they have the basic ones. But UC can also mean voice conferencing, video conferencing, text messaging, collaboration/document sharing, and fax. Take a deep dive into the world of unified communications with industry vet Jim Machi HERE. Fusion announced a rapidly growing Asian fast food chain selected the cloud services provider to deliver connectivity and communications to its 78 U.S. locations. Theres an oversupply of companies trying to sell unified communications solutions to SMBs. Yet, these players have only been able to penetrate a small portion of the market. In light of that, and the fact that the world is going mobile, cellular operators are ideally positioned to disrupt the UC market. At least thats the position of Chris Carabello (News - Alert), senior director of product marketing for Metaswitch Networks. All you need to know is HERE. Come back early and often for your fill of all things Unified Communications. See you next week! Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Article comments powered by Disqus Article comments powered by Edited by Maurice Nagle After stepping down from the post of president of the US, the Obamas signed a contract with Penguin for their memoirs. It was a $65 million dollar deal and Michelle Obama has completed her Book while her husband will finish his next year. The name of Michelles book is Becoming. It released on November 13 and has become a huge hit. It has already sold more than 1.4 million copies in print and digital formats in the U.S. and Canada. Daily Mail UK reports that the book is about the journey of the Obamas from Chicago's South Side to the White House. It is but natural that people will be curious to know about life in the White House, especially from those who were very much down to earth persons like Barack and Michelle Obama. From the immense popularity of the book, it is obvious that it has met the expectations of the people. Initial print order of the book was inadequate The former first lady Michelle Obama, revealed that she had spent plenty of time deciding on how best to present the book that contains many personal incidents. She is now traveling to interact with her fans and is carrying book signing. The publisher had printed 3 million hardcover copies in North America and it became the highest selling book on debut in the year when it sold more than 725,000 copies on the first day itself. Becoming is currently on top of the list of bestsellers under the category of an adult nonfiction title in many countries. It also topped the Amazon chart this week on bestselling biographies. Michelle Obama's book "Becoming" sells 1.4 million copies in a week, well exceeding the pace of previous memoirs by first ladies. https://t.co/Ef418VJkps pic.twitter.com/105Msm5DBL CBS News (@CBSNews) November 21, 2018 Michelle Obamas memoir is surpassing the pace of a previous similar book by another former first lady - Hillary Clinton. Discuss this news on Eunomia Her book was Living History and its first week sales were around 600,000 copies. Oprah Winfrey visited Michelle during her book tour. She has told a section of the media that she had selected Michelles book for her book club. Michelles book dislodges another bestseller According to CNN, Barnes & Noble says that the memoir of Michelle Obama has dislodged Bob Woodward's Fear which was about the dissection of the Trump administration. It came out in September and was on top until November. The bookseller admitted, "Becoming" gave "the biggest first-week sales of any book this year." It is obvious that even though the Obamas had left the White House nearly two years back, the common man still roots for them. TV interviews coupled with her nationwide arena tour helped to boost sales. There is speculation on whether she will run for any political office but that is not likely to happen. Incidentally, Barack Obama is busy working on his memoir. It seems his task is tougher than that of Michelle and he agrees that writing is hard. He was president for two terms and has interacted with most of the world leaders. He will have to meet the aspiration of his readers without stepping on anybodys toes, John Allen Chau, 27, was an American Christian missionary whose ambition was to be an explorer, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on November 21. He self-identified as an adventurer, as well as on social media. He died, however, as a result of Sentinelese tribal people taking aim and shooting him with bows and arrows. He arrived on India's Andaman and Nicobar islands by bribing fishermen in the area. Travel to island cost explorer his life He ventured to the area in the past an estimated four or five times, according to the BBC. His previous journeys did not matter, though. His latest adventure cost him his life when he touched land on North Sentinel Island, where doing so is forbidden to outsiders. The area is remote, the BBC and the Calgary Herald (Canada) described. The people he encountered and who reportedly killed him are Indias most isolated hunter-and-gatherer tribes, the Herald stated and attributed to a police official. The senior official spoke yet requested anonymity since he did not have the authorization to speak to the press. Reports of Americans death are not confirmed As with recent news about Almarosa Tenorio, 57, dying aboard a Princess Cruises luxury ship that was en route to the Caribbean, details surrounding the reported death of Chau remain sketchy at this time. The news is still unfolding on this developing story. The U.S. Consulate released a statement that indicates Chau is missing, the Herald relayed. The Consulate is located in Chennai, which is in southern India. The Consulate has affirmed receiving reports about a U.S. citizen that denote concern, as the Herald further explained. Discuss this news on Eunomia When a U.S. citizen is missing, the agency stated, we work closely with local authorities. Keeping privacy in mind, means holding media at-bay at least for now. His death has not been verified, according to several news organizations reporting the story. Just five months ago the Indian authorities lifted one key restriction on foreign tourists going to the #Sentinelese tribe's island the news of an American missionary's death on the island is the tragic consequence. Protect #uncontacted tribes' lands now! pic.twitter.com/R2j9ANezsk Survival International (@Survival) November 21, 2018 Outsiders are forbidden to visit the island That Chau allegedly arrived on North Sentinel Island multiple times is astonishing, regardless of whether he visited as an adventurer or as a missionary. Travel for any purpose to the island is off-limits, the Independent (UK) reported. The prohibition that the government set is in place not only to protect the inhabitants from intruders but as a precaution to would-be visitors following previous, alleged bow and arrow attacks. An #American tourist was killed by arrows shot by protected tribesmen living in one of the world's most isolated regions tucked in #India's Andaman islands, police said Wednesday.https://t.co/sFJa8PSef1 WION (@WIONews) November 21, 2018 Body of missing missionary has been discovered but not recovered Media in India report that Chaus body was discovered by a local fisherman, according to the Independent. Police have not recovered a body, though. Vijay Singh, a police official, reportedly stated that seven fishermen were arrested after assisting Chaus travel to the island, WSFA 12 News noted. The news agency has also stated that the area police claim Chau was killed and that they are working in conjunction with anthropologists to affect the recovery of his body. An #American tourist was killed by arrows shot by protected tribesmen living in one of the world's most isolated regions tucked in #India's Andaman islands, police said Wednesday.https://t.co/sFJa8PSef1 WION (@WIONews) November 21, 2018 Chaus family posts moving message on Instagram Chau had an Instagram account @johnachau to which his family appears to have posted a message on November 21, 2018. The Chau family describes him as a beloved son, brother, uncle, and best friend. The message also states that the report about his death is unconfirmed. At the same time, however (and possibly mirroring the conflicting reports about his status), the wording is in the past tense, stating, he had nothing but love for the Sentinelese people. The most heartbreaking passage reads, We forgive those reportedly responsible for his death. Be sure to follow Blasting News for updates and for the latest information about Chau, as well as about the death of Alabama resident Almarosa Tenorio, who died while on a cruise to the Caribbean. Rey Rosales has been raising eyebrows on "The Young and the Restless" because of his pursuit of the women who covered up J.T.'s murder. His portrayer, Jordi Vilasuso also has tongues wagging because of his war of words on social media with Eric Braeden. Spoiler alerts indicate that there still may be some tensions between the two men, and art may soon imitate real life. Rey is going to begin closing in on Phyllis, Sharon, Victoria, and Nikki who disposed of J.T.'s dead body. Detective Rosales may even ruin Thanksgiving by revealing new evidence in the case. At some point, he might also have a run-in with Victor, just as Jordi did on social media with Eric Braeden. Rey may ruin Thanksgiving Genoa city Soap Dirt reports that things have simmered down a bit between Eric Braeden and Jordi Vilasuso since their disagreement on social media. The spoiler suggests that their characters eventually will collide on "The Young and the Restless." If indeed Rey has new evidence that will implicate the cover-up crew in J.T.'s murder, it's inevitable that he and Victor must but heads at some point. Celeb Dirty Laundry indicates that the good people of Genoa City will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday and this may be when Rey announces the news of what he has uncovered. Turkey day might be ruined if Sharon, Phyllis, Nikki, and Victoria are implicated in J.T.'s death. Detective Rosales will certainly be on the bad side of Victor Newman if he accuses his wife and daughter of murder. Rey's feelings for Sharon may get in the way Spoiler alerts suggest that Rey may have some compassion for Sharon because of his growing feelings for her. Discuss this news on Eunomia This could cloud his judgment and he may show her favoritism when he confronts the cover-up crew. His estranged wife Mia hanging around causing trouble is also a big distraction. There is also the fact that since coming to Genoa City, Detective Rosales has been talking to someone on the phone about the case and it's possible that individual may have been the one to move J.T.'s body. Be on the lookout for updated spoiler alerts to find out if Rey and Victor clash in Genoa City as did Eric Braeden and Jordi Vilasuso online. Make sure you don't miss Friday's cliff-hanger Thanksgiving episode of "The Young and the Restless" to find out if Sharon and the gang will be in big trouble for hiding J.T.'s lifeless body in Chancellor Park. "Y&R" airs each weekday afternoon on CBS at 12:30 PM EST. Spoilers indicate that this is going to be explosive, must-see TV -- so stay tuned. Eric Levitz in New York Magazine: The GOP understands how important labor unions are to the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party, historically, has not. If you want a two-sentence explanation for why the Midwest is turning red (and thus, why Donald Trump is president), you could do worse than that. With its financial contributions and grassroots organizing, the labor movement helped give Democrats full control of the federal government three times in the last four decades. And all three of those times under Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama Democrats failed to passlabor law reforms that would to bolster the union cause. In hindsight, its clear that the Democratic Party didnt merely betray organized labor with these failures, but also, itself. Between 1978 and 2017, the union membership rate in the United States fell by more than half from 26 to 10.7 percent. Some of this decline probably couldnt have been averted or, at least, not by changes in labor law alone. The combination of resurgent economies in Europe and Japan, the United States decidedly non-protectionist trade policies, and technological advances in shipping was bound to do a number on American unions. More here. Becca Rothfeld in The Nation: If anyone is entitled to misgivings about the pernicious world of publishing, its Helen DeWitt, the long-suffering veteran of a by-now-well-known bevy of artistic successes and commercial failures. The Last Samurai, an exuberantly experimental novel about a child prodigy and his brilliant but depressive mother, made a triumphant debut at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1999, but its publication was fraught. DeWitt fought to retain her idiosyncratic typesetting, faced off with a belligerent copy editor, and saw few profits in the wake of financial disputes with her publisher. Worse still, the imprint responsible for The Last Samurai folded in 2005. Though the book commanded a dedicated cult following, it went out of print until New Directions reissued it 11 years later. DeWitts second book, Lightning Rods, must have seemed like an easier sell. A trenchant, ever-timely satire about sexual politics in the office, it follows an opportunistic entrepreneur who supplies companies with prostitutes, supposedly as a means of alleviating tensions in the workplace. But Lightning Rods proved surprisingly difficult to place. DeWitt completed it in 1999yet did not find a home for it until 2010. In the intervening years, her agent rescinded his offer of representation, and she responded by threatening to jump off a cliff. It wasnt the only time the vicissitudes of publishing drove DeWitt to desperate measures: When one of her many attempts at negotiating a deal on her own fell through, she took a sedative and stuck her head into a plastic bag. More here. DemKota's new Army partnership to help military personnel find jobs The partnership was made official at a signing ceremony on Nov. 10. LONDON In the battle for online privacy, Google is a U.S. Goliath facing a handful of European Davids. The backlash over Big Techs collection of personal data offers new hope to a number of little-known search engines that promise to protect user privacy. Sites like Britains Mojeek , Frances Qwant , Unbubble in Germany and Swisscows dont track user data, filter results or show behavioral ads. These sites are growing amid the rollout of new European privacy regulations and numerous corporate data scandals, which have raised public awareness about the mountains of personal information companies stealthily gather and sell to advertisers. Widespread suspicion in Europe about Googles stranglehold on internet searches has also helped make the continent a spawning ground for secure searching. Europe is particularly sensitive to privacy issues because spying by the Nazi-era Gestapo and the secret services in the Soviet Union is still within living memory. For us, its all about citizens and citizens have the right to privacy, said Eric Leandri, chairman of Paris-based Qwant. He said that view contrasts with the mindset across the Atlantic, where internet users are seen as consumers whose rights are dictated by the terms of their agreements with tech companies. Traffic numbers show interest is rising. Qwants queries tripled to 10 billion in 2017. On a monthly basis, its getting 80 million visits while requests are growing 20 percent. Leandri says the site now accounts for 6 percent of search engine market share in France, its biggest market. Qwant is even getting official support. Last month the French army and parliament both said they would drop Google and use Qwant as their default search engine, as part of efforts to reclaim European digital sovereignty. The site doesnt use tracking cookies or profile users, allowing it to give two different users the exact same result. It has built its own index of 20 billion pages covering French, German and Italian and plans to expand it to about two dozen other languages, for which results currently come from Microsofts Bing. To be sure, Googles in no danger of toppling. The company based in Mountain View, California, accounts for three-quarters or more of global market share, depending on whom you ask, and rules the mobile market with its Android operating system. Mojeek, based in Brighton, England, operates on similar principles and has so far cataloged 2 billion webpages. The company says it gets 200,000 unique visitors a month and search queries have quintupled over the past year. Another British startup, Oscobo, does anonymous searches for U.K. users with results licensed from Yahoo/Bing. Netherlands-based Startpage anonymizes Google search results, stripping out ads and tracking. Pat Walshe, a U.K.-based privacy consultant, has been using Startpage and Qwant for years and says has never felt their services were inferior to Googles. I dont think people would go back if they started using these sites, Walshe said. Theyre allowing you to have greater choice and control and should hopefully minimize the tracking, which means youll no longer see, for example, the same ad for a pair of shoes following you around online, he said. Walshe likes Startpages new anonymous view feature, which goes a step further by letting users browse a copy of a website from its search results, not the actual site. Germanys Unbubble is a meta-search site, sending encrypted queries to more than 30 other search engines. It promises neutral search results rather than ones filtered by an algorithm catering to personal biases. Outside Europe, theres also U.S. site DuckDuckGo. Some privacy search operators say its equally important to help users avoid filter bubbles, in which content is pre-selected by the likes of Google and Facebook based on previous searches and other data. The main idea is to provide neutral information and allow people to depend less on machine learning-based filters, said Unbubble founder Tobias Sasse. If you are using Google today, perhaps youll notice that there is always the same mainstream information, preventing people from seeing the great diversity online, he said. Some sites rely on donations, others from affiliate advertising links from shopping sites that pay a commission but dont target or track users. Thats different from Googles behavioral, or targeted, ads that come up based on your search history, which many find creepy and invasive. Mojeek has private investors. Founder Marc Smith, who began in 2004 with two servers in his bedroom, believes advertising is a necessary evil and well look for whatever route we can to avoid it, said marketing chief Finn Brownbill. In Switzerland, a country whose banking sector became a byword for secrecy, Swisscows has thrived, with monthly search queries jumping by nearly half to 20 million from a year ago, said founder Andreas Wiebe, who also runs software company Hulbee. Even so, Wiebe said he met plenty of skepticism at the start. In 2014, I had people talking to me (saying) youre crazy, and that the project would be dead within a year. Instead, National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowdens revelations of U.S. government surveillance in 2015 gave it a kickstart. ___ Follow Kelvin Chan at twitter.com/chanman A Santa Fe District Court judge has ruled against Molina Healthcare of New Mexico in a legal battle over the states Medicaid procurement process. The decision was handed down Wednesday, according to the New Mexico Human Services Department. Earlier this year, Molina filed a series of requests in court aimed at halting the procurement process. The state did not choose Molina, an incumbent, for a five-year Centennial Care 2.0 Medicaid contract that begins in 2019. Molina alleged the procurement process was unfair. The company has said it will continue to serve customers in New Mexico through its Medicare and health insurance exchange plans. In a statement, Molina said it was disappointed by the courts decision and plans to appeal. We remain concerned about our members access to and continuity of care, particularly with regard to our most vulnerable high-risk members, wrote the company. Mary Elizabeth Robertson, a spokeswoman for the Human Services Department, said in an email the agency was pleased the judge affirmed the states procurement process, which she described as fair and transparent. We are ready to move forward with Centennial Care 2.0 and our (managed care) providers . . . in delivering quality health care services to the more than 800,000 New Mexicans in need of care. In December 2017, the state awarded Medicaid contracts to incumbents Presbyterian Health Plan and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico, as well as Western Sky Community Care, a subsidiary of the St. Louis, Mo.-based company Centene Corp. Neither Molina nor United Healthcare, another incumbent, had their contracts renewed. Presbyterian Health Plan President Brandon Fryar said in a statement that his organization supports the courts firm decision. In a statement late Wednesday, Blue Cross and Blue Shield said, BCBSNM supports the courts decision, and we are committed to serving our members and communities statewide. The other bidders were not immediately available for comment late Wednesday. In October, Molina filed a notice with the state announcing it would lay off 381 employees in December, which it attributed to the Human Services Departments decision to not award it a contract. In New Mexico, we know how hard working and valuable our small-business owners are. But this year, we can do more than say, Thank you! We can support our local retailers with our business. Last legislative session, I was able to pass legislation that promotes small, local businesses by making Small Business Saturday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, tax-free at mom-and-pop shops across New Mexico. House Bill 79 is a celebration of small businesses in our state. Much like the back-to-school tax holiday, Small Business Saturday gives consumers an opportunity to support their neighborhood retail businesses tax-free for one day during the holiday, helping to lighten the load for both consumers and business owners. We know that across the state there are 154,257 small businesses, and that those businesses represent 99 percent of all the businesses in New Mexico. We also know that New Mexicos small businesses employ 339,640 people, according to the U.S. Office of Small Business Administration. And Civics Economics says out of every dollar spent at small businesses, 68 cents stays in the community. Consumers participate in tax-free holidays, and that means more sales for local businesses, which are crucial around the entire state, but particularly for our small-town economies. Shopping local helps keep New Mexicans employed, which in turn helps our families thrive. My job is to work with my fellow legislators, both at home and in Santa Fe, so we can implement solutions that will strengthen our state. This legislation is an example of that. By working together and coming up with smart solutions, we can help our fellow New Mexicans prosper. New Mexicans are hard-working people who want to earn an honest living and create bright futures for their children; this is why I co-sponsored House Bill 79, in recognition of all of the hard-working people across this great state. The people in this state have an incredible entrepreneurial spirit and support one another in many different ways. Small businesses are the lifeblood of New Mexico. These businesses help our economy grow and are valuable to every community across the state. I supported this legislation because I am committed to helping small-business owners thrive in our state. Now, its time to do your part find your favorite local retailers and make sure you support them on Saturday. They will be grateful for it, and your wallet will be grateful, too. We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. Author Cynthia Ozick Just three weeks ago, we were being bombarded with attack ads portraying candidates as hypocrites, incompetents, liars and worse. The steady stream of nastiness painted an ugly picture of public servants and the world we live in. Added to the divisiveness playing out in Washington, D.C., and the crime and depravity occurring in our own community, and it would be easy to lose faith in humanity. But for every bad guy there are so many others who step up and help others. Our communities are filled with good people who go out of their way to be of service to others. On this Thanksgiving Day, we pause to give thanks for all of them. Theres the Uber driver who intervened when he came upon a domestic violence situation at Yale and Gibson in February. A man had intentionally crashed his vehicle into one driven by his estranged wife and daughter; fired shots into the car, wounding the daughter in the shoulder; pulled the daughter from the car and started pistol whipping her in the street. Thats when the Uber driver, Staff Sgt. Christopher Valdez, a 12-year National Guard member, stopped, got out of his vehicle, pointed his weapon at the assailant and told him to stop. The assailant pointed his gun at Valdez, who feared for his own life and shot and killed him, likely saving more than one person that day. Gov. Susana Martinez presented him with the Medal of Valor with Palm the Palm signifies the recipient put his or her own life in danger. Here is a neighbor who not only makes the sacrifice of serving in the armed forces, but put his life on the line during his civilian job to protect complete strangers. There is the role firefighters play in our communities, highlighted by the devastating fires in California. The Camp Fire in the hillside town of Paradise alone has killed at least 81 and destroyed more than 13,500 homes. Hundreds are still unaccounted for. California firefighters rushed in and saved thousands of lives in Paradise, and they have been battling other wildfires in their state. Firefighters from around New Mexico have gone to lend a helping hand. Albuquerque Fire Rescue Lt. Brian Fox led a 24-member team to fight the Woolsey Fire near Malibu, which has killed at least two and destroyed 1,500 structures. And firefighters arent the only ones who rush into harms way to help others. Just 10 days ago, Albuquerque police were called when Waid Anthony Melton showed up at the southeast Albuquerque food distribution warehouse where he worked and opened fire on the first three people he saw. Officers got to the scene within minutes, went in not knowing if the shooter was still there and pulled victims to safety so they could get medical help. The three survived, thanks to those officers, paramedics and UNM Hospital trauma teams. Days earlier in Southern California, a veteran sheriffs deputy responding to an active shooter call was shot and killed by a gunman, who also killed 11 others. A world away, thousands of U.S. service members are in places like Iraq and Afghanistan doing their parts to keep us safe. And theyve signed up to serve knowing they may end up paying the ultimate price, like Brent Taylor, a father of seven and the mayor of North Ogden, Utah, killed in Afghanistan earlier this month. There are also many people in our community doing their part to feed the hungry and the homeless, including mail carriers who collected nearly 200,000 pounds of food for the Roadrunner Food Bank last Saturday. The list goes on and on, from teachers going the extra mile to foster parents and hospice providers who make tough situations a bit easier. Theres no question its been a difficult year, but weve got so much to be grateful for. So this Thanksgiving Day, we say thanks to each and every one of you trying to make your corner of the world a better place. 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. Two members of New Mexicos incoming U.S. House delegation have endorsed California Rep. Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House when the Democrats take control in January. Both U.S. District 3 Rep. Ben Ray Lujan and incoming U.S. District 1 Rep. Deb Haaland announced their support for Pelosi this week. Incoming U.S. District 2 Rep. Xochitl Torres Small remains uncommitted, according to Brian Sowyrda, who served as Torres Smalls campaign manager. Lujan voiced his support on Twitter. No one works harder, smarter, or more effectively at delivering for the American people than @NancyPelosi. She will be our next Speaker of the House, Lujan said in a tweet Tuesday. Yes. I support Nancy Pelosi for the same reasons Republicans hate her: she is incredibly effective, Haaland told the Journal. I think our country needs more women in leadership right now, not less. Lujans and Haalands endorsements do not come as a surprise. Lujan worked closely with Pelosi as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and celebrated with her on election night when the Democrats took control of the House. Pelosi campaigned for Haaland in Albuquerque in August. While Pelosi did not campaign with Torres Small in her race against Republican Yvette Herrell, she did support Torres Smalls candidacy. Sowyrda said Torres Small wanted to talk to all candidates for the position who share rural values. Shes not going to commit at this time, Sowyrda said. She has not made up her mind. According to the Associated Press, at least 16 House Democrats nationally have signed on to a letter in favor of new leadership, and several incoming freshmen lawmakers have said they wont vote for Pelosi. Lujan is also campaigning for a leadership position of his own. He is seeking the position of assistant Democratic leader. The post is the number four slot among House leaders, after speaker, majority leader and whip. An official with Lujans office told the Journal the position of assistant Democratic leader would be selected next Wednesday. By Ruth Anderah. Nine people accused of participating in the murder of susan Magara have been committed to High Court for trial pending the arrest of the alleged key suspect Patrick Kasaija alias Pato. The 9 have been committed by Buganda road court grade one magistrate Robert Mukanza on the orders of Director of Public Prosecutions Mike Chibita. The committal papers has been presented by prosecutions Patricia Cingtho upon conclusion of police investigations. Magistrate Mukanza also over ruled defence lawyer Evans Ochieng that they cannot commit nine accused persons when the first suspect on the charge sheet is not around. Now the magistrate has issued an arrest warrant against Kasaija who allegedly detained in South Africa to appear before court on January 7th 2019. Prosecution states that the suspects and others still at large on February 7th 2018 kidnapped Magara with intent to procure a ransom or benefit from her liberation from the danger of being murdered. It further stated that the accused and other still at large on the February 27th 1018 at Kigo in Wakiso district murdered Magara. Related Stories.. Susan Magara murder suspects complain of torture Kidnapped Suzan Magaras body found dumped CHICO, Calif. - The city of Chico has released a statement regarding the large camp area outside of Walmart for victims of the Camp Fire. The release states that the city is grateful to community volunteers like Walmart that have been so welcoming in their desire to support evacuees of the Camp Fire. However, it also says that there are great concerns related to the location as a long-term camping spot sue to rain and temperature changes, as well as the lack of services available to help evacuees. The area is private property owned by the Walmart cooperation so the city has no jurisdiction to dictate how Walmart uses the property. Read the full statement below: "The Campfire displaced many individuals from Paradise, Magalia, Concow and other neighboring Butte County communities. The City of Chico has proudly served as a location for care and sheltering for many of these individuals. The City, community volunteers and residents have been incredibly welcoming in their giving and desire to support these evacuees through various proactive efforts. Through this time, the city and our partners are aware of temporary shelters that developed during the chaos of the evacuations and the days following. These spaces of refuge created a wonderful place of kindness and wellbeing for the period immediately following the disaster. Walmart was one of the generous community partners that offered a site for respite and relief. Courageous and compassionate community volunteers came together and built an immediate safe place for many evacuees. Once more sustainable shelter options were available out of the elements and with other necessary services, the volunteers engaged these evacuees and encouraged those staying at Walmart to move to a safe, warm place. However, this location remains in place, and does not offer the level of safety, health and services that official sheltering locations do. The city has great concerns with the location as a long-term camping location, primarily due to the rain and temperature changes as well as the lack of services available to help evacuees. As such, it is vitally important to help these temporary residents locate to sanctioned shelters. The City, County and Community Volunteers have done extensive outreach with the individuals at Walmart offering free bus rides to proper shelters that allow camping and animals, direct shuttles intended just for those residing at Walmart, gas gift cards, money and food. Unfortunately, some campers have chosen to stay. Because this area is private property owned by the Walmart corporation, the City has no jurisdiction to dictate how Walmart uses their property. The City of Chico is committed to providing safe places for all residents in our community. We believe the infants, children and adults staying in tents on Walmart property deserve better. While we do not think the Walmart location is a safe or sustainable place for individuals to reside, we understand Walmart is working on viable solutions regarding this situation and we look forward to hearing their plans in the coming days." (AP) - About 80 travel trailers are at McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento as officials figure out where to deploy them. Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Frank Mansell says there's no timeline for when the trailers will he placed for use, but it will likely take weeks. Mansell says FEMA would ideally place trailers at the site of people's destroyed homes and is also looking for a larger site such as the fairgrounds. It takes time to assess whether the sites have appropriate electricity, sewer or septic and other infrastructure to support the trailers. Mansell says FEMA is also working to put people in hotels or find them other sustainable lodging. He says in most disasters only about 10 percent of victims use FEMA-run shelter. He says the agency can get as many mobile units as needed. Anderson, Calif. -- Anderson Police Officers arrested William Ashley, age 37, of Anderson, on a federal warrant for aggravated identity theft and bank fraud Wednesday. Police say Ashely was previously arrested in March of 2018 after APD Officers found him to be in possession of mail belonging to almost 100 different victims. Officers continued their investigation and say they discovered that Ashley had stolen several of the victims identity, stealing the victims money and opening fraudulent credit accounts in their names. APD Officers worked with US Postal Investigators on the case and were able to develop an investigation that was adopted by the US Attorneys Office for federal prosecution. During the investigation, police say Ashely actually contacted an APD supervisor to complain that our Police Officers take our investigations too seriously. Ashely has since been transferred into federal custody in Sacramento. BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a surprise visit to firefighters battling the Camp Fire on Wednesday. Schwarzenegger said that he was in Budapest, Hungary, when he first heard of the Camp Fire. After that, he decided to make his way to the North State and helped serve the firefighters breakfast and also provided words of encouragement. "Our firefighters are by far the best and the bravest," he said. "They're really tough guys they deal with this terrain with the fires, the obstacles and all this stuff. They're out there 24 hours a day at times. You know, I always said I'm playing an action hero in the movies, but they're the true action heroes." The former governor also criticized President Trump for blaming the wildfire on poor forest management. Schwarzenegger spent about an hour at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds during the press briefing on Wednesday. PARADISE, Calif. - As evacuation orders are continuing to be lifted by Cal Fire, evacuees are starting to get a first look at the homes they left behind. Action News Now employee Patricia Babcock is a Paradise resident and was able to return to her home for the first time since the Camp Fire raged through her town. PLEASE NOTE: Patricia Babcock is an employee of Action News Now and is covered under insurance. That is why she was able to briefly return with a reporter and with permission from officers. Evacuation orders are still in place for the town of Paradise. Babcock took the first steps on what was their driveway and front porch. She describes the scene as devastating and hard to look at. "It's so hard to look at," Babcock said. "All you see is devastation. It's like another planet." She said that it's hard to recognize the place she once called home. "You think of your home as where you're comfortable and safe. Everything now is just black ash. You can't recognize anything." Patricia's brother, James, lived one door down from her and also lost his home. "This house was built in 1948, one of the first houses on this street," he said. Like some other evacuees, Patricia and James say that they can't see themselves rebuilding in Paradise but they will always treasure the memories they have there. "It was home," Patricia said. "I have family here, friends and neighbors. I'm worried about all of the people. It's a sad feeling when you don't have a place to go home." Camp Fire Latest Update It's been exactly two weeks since the start of the Camp Fire which is now 153,336 acres and is 90 percent contained. More evacuation orders were lifted this morning by the Butte County Sheriff. Law Enforcement to Work Through Thanksgiving on Camp Fire Efforts It may beThanksgiving, but crews are not stopping the search to recover remains in the debris of the Camp Fire. More than 1,000 law enforcement personnel will continue safety patrols and recovery efforts today. Butte County Sheriff Lifts More Evacuation Orders The sheriff has lifted more evacuation orders as of 8 a.m. this morning. The orders for Morgan Ridge Zone A and the Lower Pentz Zone are lifted for residents only. Non-residents will be allowed back tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. PG&E Facing Lawsuits in Camp Fire Investigation The daughter of a man killed in the Camp Fire is among those now suing PG&E. The associated press says Neva Rodrigues filed suit Wednesday. At least two other lawsuits have been filed against the company by others who lost their homes in the fire. Cal Fire is still investigating the exact cause of the fire. More Norovirus Cases Detected in Butte County Butte County Health officials say 145 people have presented symptoms related to norovirus since shelters opened. According to a virus specialist, the virus can be spread very quickly. Washing your hands often with soap and water is the best way to prevent catching the virus. Anderson Man Facing Identity Theft Charges A man arrested by Anderson police is now facing federal charges for identity theft in March 2018. Officers found William Ashley with mail belonging to almost 100 victims. Police say he stole several identities and opened fake bank accounts in their names. Police arrested Ashley Monday. He is now in federal custody. Free Thanksgiving Meals for Those in Need Thousands of evacuees and those in need will receive a Thanksgiving meal courtesy of World Central Kitchen. Click the link for a full list of meals and events in Butte County. Representatives from Indias digital transformation industry came together under one roof to discuss the road ahead in taking Digital At Scale at Chief Digital Officers Summit 2.0 organized by IAMAI and DX50 team today. DX50 is the Think Tank forum for Chief Digital Officers in India with the sole purpose of advising and guiding traditional or legacy companies on digital transformation. Mr. Sarajit Jha, Chief Business Transformation Officer, Tata Steel and a member of the IAMAIs DX50 team in his inaugural address shared his 3S Mantra wherein he highlighted how SWEAT (effort) , SHARPness (in things we do) and STANDARD ( that needs to be maintained) to set the perfect tone for the Summit. Deon Newman, Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Strategy, IBM Asia Pacific in his welcome address highlighted that in a research conducted among chief digital officers, 68% raised concerns on regulatory issues and 47% highlighted the issue of insufficient employee skills. He also shared how every company can use data to be disruptors in their respective market and also continue to create dominance. Avnish Sabharwal, MD, Accenture Ventures, while moderating a session on innovating with Startups highlighted that appx. 60% of Accentures total revenues of $39.6 Billion in FY18 were generated from digital, cloud and security-related services. Uma Talreja, CMO, Shoppers Stop, in a panel discussion with Abhinav Chamoli, Head Advisory Partnership, Adobe stated Its important to choose what you want to present to the customers, measure it well and provide the wow experience. The debate session Incubate vs. Garage: the better way to scale start-ups? saw an active participation of the delegates where a majority of the audience sided for team incubate represented by Manish Gupta, CDO, Mastercard and Vivek Vishnu, Author, Transformation Strategy for the Digital CIO stating thats the way forward against team garage represented by Devendra Parulekar, Founder, Saffron Stays and Wriju Ray, Chief Business Officer, IDfy. Representatives from Indias digital transformation industry are participating at this one-day learning and networking gathering along with experts to deliberate on the way forward for the industry. The conference features leading players of the digital transformation industry, some of the distinguished speakers who are participating in this years conference are, Kavinder Singh, MD & CEO, Mahindra Holidays, Nitin Chugh, Country Head, HDFC Bank, Aneesh Chaudhry, CDO, HUL, Manish Gupta, CDO, Mastercard, Nipun Mehrotra, CDO, IBM India/South Asia, among others. Shujoy Dutta has been appointed as the Head of Planning for J Walter Thompsons Bangalore office. Shujoy has been with J. Walter Thompson for over nine years and in his last role at JWT Delhi, he has been the planning lead on brands like Airtel, Hero Motocorp, Naukri.com,Jeevansaathi.com, 99acres.com, ITC Hotels, RedFM. MagicFM, to name a few. With over 21 years of experience in marketing and advertising, Shujoy has worked across multiple categories such as Food & Beverages, Technology, Automobile, Insurance, Hospitality, Aviation and Philanthropy. Having begun his career as a Copywriter and having worked in the creative function for over ten years, he brings to planning an eclectic mix of strategy and creativity. Announcing Shujoys appointment, Bindu Sethi, Chief Strategy Officer, J Walter Thompson said; Shujoy, is an author and a story teller. The humans in his stories are people you want to love or trample; the response is strong and emotional. He constructs his brand stories to get noticed, to shift behavior. Shujoy is a treat for clients and colleagues. I look forward to seeing Shujoy build strong brands and stronger client relationships. Shujoys energy is contagious, he is unquestionably talented and as new age, a planner as one can get. He is genuinely an integrated thinker and I see him adding tremendous value to our clients' businesses and the agency itself. I look forward to seeing him channeling this ability to create meaningful media agnostic platforms for our portfolio of brands and help drive the creative product.; added Kundan Joshee, SVP & Managing Partner, J. Walter Thompson, Bangalore. Commenting on his new role, Shujoy Dutta, Sr. Vice President, and Executive Planning Director said; Im very excited about my new role. This city has tremendous potential and JWT Bangalore packs in significant Creative firepower. So, I look forward to forging new partnerships and creating a bouquet of memorable work, and of course, consuming lots of filter coffee.. Outside of work, Shujoy is a published author. His novel Like a Pin Prick to the Heart was released in 2015, for which he was invited to speak at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2016. He also looks forward to being a part of the quizzing scene in Bangalore. One of Indias leading travel brands, Treebo has unveiled a new brand identity, in line with the vision that the company adopted for itself earlier this year. In addition to refreshing the visual identity, the company also announced a change in the naming architecture of its properties with the launch of 3 sub-brands. Explaining the new approach, co-founder Sidharth Gupta said, Treebo exists to provide delightful experiences to every single traveler. Thats the purpose we defined for ourselves earlier this year. As part of this vision, we see ourselves as more than just a hotel chain. In fact, we aspire to play a key role in enhancing a travelers experience in all aspects of his/her journey. We stand for making the joy of travel accessible to everyone by solving the experience problems that often come in the way, especially at a budget price point. The new identity will centre around a 4-coloured pinwheel, which will replace the green polygon shaped logo that the company used so far. We saw the colourful pinwheel as the perfect embodiment of our vision. It represents joy, which it delivers through its movement. And it represents ubiquitous access. Anyone can build a pinwheel. Anyone can own a pinwheel. Anyone can enjoy a pinwheel. It is a device that everyone understands and can relate to on an emotional level. It represents the childlike spirit of wonder that accompanies travel, said Gupta. The company also announced the launch of 3 sub-brands for its hotel portfolio. Called Trip, Trend, and Tryst, these brands will operate at different price points and will have different amenities associated with each. While there will be city and seasonality differences, Trip will typically be the entry level brand operating in the Rs 1000-1500 price range, whereas Tryst will be a premium-budget brand, which was earlier referred to as Select, operating in the Rs 2500-4000 price range. However, majority of the portfolio will be categorised under the middle brand, Trend, and will operate in the Rs 1500-2500 price range. As our portfolio grew, it was necessary for us to segregate properties based on the amenities they offered, despite the fact that all properties offered the core quality guarantee that Treebo is known for- For example, some had buffet breakfast, others didnt. Some had larger bathrooms with shower cubicles, some didnt. It was thus important to set the customers expectations accordingly. Treebo had recently announced its foray into the homestay segment. Earlier this year, it had also acquired a tours and activities company called Events High. These moves have been in line with the companys goal of becoming a travel brand, and not just a hotel chain. With the launch of the new brand system, Treebo will become the parent brand for all these offerings and will appear as a suffix in their names. For example, Events High by Treebo, Trip Hotels by Treebo, Homestays by Treebo, and so on. Design firm Dev Kabir Malik Design Studio worked with Treebo on the design of its new identity and brand architecture. Prior to Treebo, the firms other notable work includes the brand creation for the beer brand, Bira. Sir David Attenborough, one of the worlds most famous naturalists, will bring the voice of millions of citizens to the UN Climate Change Conference later this year as part of a new UN campaign, the Peoples Seat. The initiative will allow people from around the world to watch and have their voices heard during the critical climate summit COP24, held in Poland from December 2-14. To launch the campaign, Sir David Attenborough and environmental campaigner Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner are calling on people to share their experiences and opinions on climate change using the hashtag #TakeYourSeat. These messages will then help shape the Peoples Seat Address Sir David gives to the assembly on December 3. WPP agencies Grey, Town Productions, Kantar TNS & Lightspeed, Finsbury, BCW, The Social Partners and MediaCom have worked in partnership with the UN Department of Public Information (DPI), the United Nations Office at Geneva, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Facebook to develop the multifaceted campaign, with support from Circle AI, Whalar, ITB and Getty Images. Speaking about the project, Sir David Attenborough said, We all know climate change is a global problem and that it requires a global solution. This is an opportunity for people from across the globe, regardless of their nationality or circumstances, to be part of most important discussion of this century: the unprecedented action needed to reach the Paris Agreement targets. I encourage everyone to take their seat and to add their voice so that the Peoples Seat Address truly represents a mix of voices from across the world. Alison Smale, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, remarked, People need to be empowered in their own lives to be the change that we need for a sustainable world. We welcome the use of cutting-edge technology to help everyone around the world reduce emissions through the Actnow.bot. With this initiative, we are calling on citizens to take action in ways that are feasible, fresh and have an impact. The initiative was first put forward by Michael Mller, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG). He said, The challenge to humanity that climate change represents is of such epic proportions that only through collective global action will we have a chance to combat it successfully. Every single human being on our severely stressed planet has to take responsibility. Mller cautioned, If we dont, we all fail with catastrophic consequences. The Peoples Seat initiative provides the impulse for seriously ramping up global solidarity, especially among the young who, at the end of the day, are the ones who will have to deal with the mess we have left them with. CEVA Logistics has added Germany to the responsibilities of Guillaume Sauzedde, its newly appointed managing director for Eastern & Central Europe He was appointed managing director of CEVAs Central & Eastern European cluster in October, succeeding Piotr Zborowski, who left the company to pursue other career opportunities. Sauzedde takes up his additional role for the expanded cluster on November 30. He will continue to report directly to chief executive Xavier Urbain. Said CEVA: As a result of the close synergies in the two clusters CEVA has decided to create a single cluster, under Sauzeddes leadership, from what were previously two distinct entities. The aim is to accelerate growth in Contract Logistics, Freight Management air, ocean and ground. The management team in Germany and Central & Eastern Europe will report to Sauzedde who now takes on the duties of Christian Wurst. Wurst leaves the company at the end of the month and will join Panalpina soon after as regional chief executive for Europe. With more than 20 years experience in the logistics industry, Sauzedde joined CEVA in October from Kuehne Nagel in Poland where he was responsible for all business lines. Commenting on the new cluster, CEVA chief executive Xavier Urbain said: "I am delighted to announce this new role for Guillaume. I would also like to thank Christian Wurst for his work during his time with CEVA. He hands over a well-positioned organization ready for future growth". AiN AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq In Iraq, tension between the US-led coalition and armed groups linked to Iran has risen in recent months. For example, the United States sanctioned key representatives of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Nov. 13, saying they had moved money, acquired weapons and trained fighters in Iraq. Problems have also arisen with some factions of Iraqs Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). As a whole, the PMU are part of Iraqs security forces, but some of its dozens of factions are Shiite armed groups with ties to Iran. There has long been tension between some of the local Sunni population and those Shiite-majority PMUs from southern and central Iraq. Recently, one of these Shiite factions claimed that elite Danish troops members of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq fired rockets at them. The PMU unit also alleged the Danes guilt prompted them to leave the border area in last September. The Danish unit, part of an elite fighting force known as Jaeger Corps, denied any connection with the event. The day before they left in late October, Al-Monitor was granted an exclusive interview with Kaare Jakobsen, commander of the highly secretive Jaeger Corps. The corps had created Task Force 61, the team that partnered with local Sunni PMU fighters in Qaim. For two years, the task force had been training, advising and assisting the PMU militia known as the Aaly al-Furat (AAF) Brigade. Task Force 61 was with AAF on the front lines in the fight to take back western Anbar from IS last year. It was this Danish/AAF team that allegedly fired on a non-local PMU group, according to the southern Shiite PMU leader, Qassem Musleh, who spent years in exile in Iran before returning to the country in 2003. Musleh told Al-Monitor in an Oct. 11 interview that the Danes had shot at them in September in Qaim. But Jakobsen said his men had already pulled back in September to Camp Brink at the Ain al-Asad air base in line with a decision that had been made in August that their mission had ended. He said AAF is the only brigade his men had partnered with in Iraq, though we have also been training units of the 8th Division from the Iraqi army under Maj. Gen. Qassem al-Mohammedi, the officer in charge of western Anbar. But we work in coalition forces, Jakobsen stressed, whether that be with the Americans or other NATO partners. Besides the Iran-backed PMU factions allegations against the Danes, tension between Denmark and Iran has been rising for other reasons as well. On Sept. 22, armed gunmen attacked a military parade in Ahvaz in southwestern Iran, killing dozens of people, including civilians. Iran blamed the separatist group the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), which has members in exile in Denmark. Both ASMLA and IS were said to have claimed responsibility, though ASMLA since has decried the violence and claims to have had no part in it. Tehran accused Denmark of harboring ASMLA members. On Sept. 28, the Iranian regime allegedly tried to assassinate ASMLA leaders on Danish soil. When Danish authorities discovered the alleged plot, they shut down the streets of Copenhagen and sealed the borders as part of a massive, but unsuccessful, manhunt. On Oct. 21, one suspect was detained in Sweden and extradited to Denmark. The man is a Norwegian national of Iranian descent. Iran denied there was any assassination plot, but Denmark has recalled its ambassador to Iran and urged new EU sanctions against Tehran. On Nov. 7, Denmark did detain three individuals thought to be ASMLA members, but released them the same day after police interviewed them. They had been accused of condoning terrorism for publicly praising the Sept. 22 attack. Meanwhile, during Al-Monitors Oct. 11 interview with Musleh in Iraq, he also voiced suspicion of Iraqi forces, claiming members of the army's 7th Division were spying on them. The non-local Shiite PMU factions under Musleh, who commands the PMUs Tufuf Brigade, now have their area headquarters in the Karabla district of Qaim, a fact that rankles some residents. Musleh is also a PMU leader for western Anbar, but both the non-local and local PMUs operating there officially answer not to Musleh, but to the Iraqi armys Mohammedi, according to Col. Moussa Hamad al-Karbouly. Anbar province is predominantly Sunni. In recent months, Tufuf moved its PMU health facility from further south in Akashat to the Karabla headquarters. Tough fighting against IS in recent weeks in eastern Syria, after IS advanced against the Syrian Democratic Forces, may hint that the move is possibly part of preparations for more cross-border activity by the PMU. When dozens of dead and wounded fighters were killed in a June airstrike on Iraqi Shiite militias in Syria, the casualties were taken back across the border to the nearby state-run hospital in Qaim. The mysterious attack hit a base used by the pro-Iranian militias, including Katai'b Hezbollah, which were backing the Syrian regime. Meanwhile, the Danish elite forces have withdrawn, but there will be a different Danish battalion of conventional forces at the Ain al-Asad base for training, at least until the end of 2018, Jakobsen said. As to which forces the Danish will train, the Jaeger Corps commander said, If the Iraqi government sends them here, [the battalion] will train them. However, the [US-led] coalition will have to approve it, so I don't think that the PMU will be included, since many of the factions are close to Iran. But to be clear on this, we dont have any problem with the PMU or the Tufuf Brigade, Jakobsen stressed. The decision was made in August that the mission we were here on had been completed. It wasnt because of an incident [the alleged September rocket attack in Qaim] we werent a part of. Since the Danes withdrawal, and as IS has advanced dangerously close to the Iraqi border with Syria in recent weeks, the PMU reportedly has sent reinforcements to strengthen defenses there. Earlier this year, the Anbar governor at that time asked non-local PMU to leave the region. Instead, they now seem to be bolstering their presence. In the South, a Thanksgiving blessing usually involves some extemporaneous praying by someone who knows how. But just in case a little help is needed, we have gleaned these prayers from several sources to help along in the final rites for your turkey. A Baptist blessing: O God of all things, on this special day of giving thanks we are even more reminded of the many blessings which come from you - blessings of comfort, blessings of healing, blessings of family, blessings of riches, blessings of your love. Hear us this day and every day, as we offer to you, our humble yet grateful hearts in thanksgiving for you. Prompt us, O Lord, to be your hands, your feet and your outstretched arms today as we strive to do good by sharing our diversity of wealth among those who may be less fortunate. Times are difficult and we know that in helping others, we are being obedient to your command of loving our neighbor. We thank you, loving God. We acknowledge that all good things come from you. Help us to never take for granted your gifts, your love, or the life we have through knowing your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. For it is in his name that we offer this prayer to you. A Catholic blessing (adapted from the liturgy and prayers for Thanksgiving Day): Father, we join all creation, in heaven and on Earth, in praising you, our mighty God. You made man and woman in your own likeness and set them over your wonderful creation. You gave them a destiny, when you brought them out of bondage to a land of freedom, as they carried with them the promise that all would be blest and free. What the prophets pledged was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. It has come to pass in every generation, as it happened to our parents, who came to this land as if out of the desert into a place of promise and hope. It happened to those pilgrims and Native Americans who gathered in thanksgiving on that first Thanksgiving Day for the bounty of this land. And it happens to us still, as you call us to a vision of peace. And so on this Thanksgiving Day, with hearts full of love, we give thanks for all the blessings we have received this past year. We offer this prayer of praise and thanksgiving through our Lord, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. An Episcopal blessing (from the collect for Thanksgiving): Almighty and gracious Father, we give thee thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we beseech thee, faithful stewards of thy great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen. A Methodist blessing: O Lord God, from whom comes every good and perfect gift, we give You most hearty thanks for Your love, grace and tender mercies. We praise Thee for everything, whether joy or sorrow, that brings us closer in union with Thee and our brothers and sisters here on Earth. You have made us to give glory to Thee. Help us to manifest our love and thanksgiving in treating one another with respect and kindness and give us the passion to help those who struggle against the odds. We pray that as we celebrate this day that we not forget that all that we have comes from Thee. Help us to not be selfish but give of ourselves daily in order that others may rejoice and know that you are yet alive. In the name of Jesus, we pray and give thee thanks. Amen. A Jewish blessing: We thank you, Lord our God, you - who gives food to all, who heals the flesh of all, creates wonders in this world, who forged mankind in great wisdom and who gives refuge beneath the shadow of his wings. God, from your wisdom grant us wisdom, from your love grant us love, from your understanding grant us understanding. Feed us when we are hungry, give us strength when we are weak, raise us up when we are bent over, set us free when we are enslaved. Just as our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were blessed in all, from all, with all - may the Lord bless all of us together with a complete blessing: of peace, of strength - with the blessing of being thankful. People often think of the Pilgrims at Thanksgiving, imagining them as people wearing funny buckled hats and carrying blunderbuss muzzle rifles. But who were the Pilgrims? The Pilgrims were devout Christians who fled Europe seeking religious freedom. They were Calvinists who wanted to be distinct from the state Church of England. The 1559 Act of Uniformity made it a crime not to attend services with official Church of England congregations. Some Separatist leaders were even executed for sedition in 1593. So, the Pilgrims left England, first for Holland, then for the New World. Headed for Virginia, they went off course and landed and settled in what would become known as New England. The Mayflower pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620 after a difficult voyage, then met with hardships in their first winter. They held a ceremony of Thanksgiving in the fall of 1621. The Native Americans they celebrated with did not share their religious views, but joined in celebrating a successful harvest with plentiful food to survive the winter. Thanksgiving, from its very beginning in America, has been an interfaith holiday about faith, food and gratitude to God. Aboard the Mayflower on the way to Plymouth Rock, the 44 religious dissenters separated themselves from the 66 English adventurers on the trip. They called themselves saints and the others strangers. Of the 110 passengers, fewer than 50 survived a harsh winter and were alive in the fall of 1621. By then, they had all been humbled by burying friends and relying on the natives, who helped them find enough food to live. The distinction between saints and strangers faded. They dropped their holier-than-thou attitude toward the other Mayflower passengers. They all became known as pilgrims. They cared less about converting the natives to Christianity, and more about thanking them for their assistance. That story makes Thanksgiving a truly American holiday, appreciated by people of all faiths. Its one of the enduring narratives of Americas founding, said Ann Berry, executive director of the Pilgrim Society, which was founded in 1820 to commemorate the memory of the Mayflower pilgrims who arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620. In the fall of 1621, they had a harvest feast, Berry said. Its the foundation of this holiday were about to celebrate. Over the centuries, it has become a very American tradition that has been shaped by a lot of other things in our history. During the 1500s, the Puritans had tried to abolish Christmas and Easter and other feast days of the Roman Catholic Church, but began proclaiming days of thanksgiving. That first American Thanksgiving in 1621 was probably in late September or early October, to reflect on surviving their first winter. Some of the older traditions reasserted themselves at the first Thanksgiving, with games and feasting, he said. The pilgrims were firing off their weapons. That may have summoned the natives, who had a treaty to help protect them, Berry said. If they heard pilgrims shooting guns, they may have thought they needed assistance, Berry said. King Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe came with 90 men. They went out and killed five deer, which was part of the feast. The Wampanoag tribe outnumbered the pilgrims, about 90 to 50. The natives may have seen it as a diplomatic gathering, affirming their association with the new tribe of Englishmen. Edward Winslow wrote in 1622, Our harvest being gotten in, our men went fowling. Four pilgrims went out to shoot ducks or other birds, possibly turkeys. Plymouth Colony Gov. William Bradford wrote later that there was a great store of wild turkeys. There was also cod, bass and other fish, Berry said. There was probably more venison and fish than turkey. Though that first Thanksgiving was more of a harvest feast, at some point the very devout Pilgrims would have offered a prayer. In the later 1600s and early 1700s, they began calling a day of Thanksgiving on a regular basis, later in the year, usually the first week in December. They were not harvesting anything at that time of year, but they were visiting and exchanging gifts. After the Civil War ended, President Abraham Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving that evolved into the modern observance. She remembers the light turning green at the Irondale intersection; she remembers turning left. She remembers seeingto her right, just inside her line of sight; it was nine-o-clock in the evening on October 13the white truck bearing down on her. Fast. She remembers the impact, the spinning. She remembers seeing a utility pole in her path and thinking: I dont want to hit that; I want to be alive. She doesnt remember what she gripped so tightlymost likely the steering wheelthat her nails were completely ripped from three fingers on her left hand. She remembers not being able to feel her lower body but thinking she would be okay. She was, considering and all. She was able to walk away, in fact, from what remained of the silver 2009 Kia Spectraalthough, she remembers, I think my body was in shock. She suffered significant bruising on her pelvis and the right side of her body. Her natural hair was filled with glass fragments. As were her shoes. A few small shards also settled in her right eye. Thats not a good thing for a photographer, especially a young photographer just discovering her gift and the impact it has on others. Just discovering her eye. Ive just started, Lauren Johnson is saying. Shes a Birmingham native, a graduate of Spain Park (Go Jags! she effuses) who attended the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Twice. First as an art-transitioning-to-history major who became not focused as her parentsboth physiciansendured a divorce, as her father struggled with his eyesight to the extent that his family wondered if he might go blind, and, sadly, as her grandmother passed away. As kids, she says, we believe our parents are superheroes. As you get older, you realize theyre human. We all make mistakes. It all affected my focus. The second UAB stint came after she was suspended for poor grades, after she earned a 4.0 GPA in classes at Jefferson State, after she worked at the Apple stores Genius Bar to earn money, after she interned at the Birmingham Museum of Art, and after she decided to return to UAB because I was going to get that degree. I was very competitive with myself, and felt some kind of way about being suspended, she says. I wanted to get [my degree] to say I got it. So, I sat in front of the classroom to be close to the teacher and wasnt trying to make friends. Although her parents are both in medicine, Johnson has no math or science in my body at all, she says. Neither, apparently, do her older sister, an actress; or younger sister, a musician. Johnson, 31, has a photographers eye. An eye for the moment. An eye for expressions. An eye for emotionsfrom the highest to lowest. Her talents shine particularly in black and white, a lost canvas in a selfie-made era with a proliferation of images produced with our phones. And her preference is natural light, which she wanted to master before relying on artificial lights to convey mood or message. Her images make you feel as if you are there, tooloving, laughing, living. Along with the people in the frame. Her own photo idols are Gregory Prescott, a Los Angeles photographer who also mostly shoots in black-and-white (I use my camera as a paintbrush.), and Loretta Houston, a fashion and beauty photographer, also in L.A. (To photograph is to hold ones breath.) When prodded to describe photographs that move her Johnson evokes two famously dark images: One of a man in mid-air after jumping from a World Trade Tower on 9/11 (its widely described as The Falling Man; He almost looks as if he is posed, Johnson says); the other captures the moment in 1968, during the height of the Vietnam war, when a South Vietnamese Brigadier General fires a snub-nose .38 into the temple of a Viet Cong officer. What Id like, Johnson says, is for my photography to turn into is photojournalism, more telling a story. That is where I want it to go. One Christmas, way back in her 20s, Johnson asked her father for a camera. He gave her a Canon EOS 60D. He said, This is your one first, she recalls with a laugh. For many years, it was sparingly used, mostly around family and friends. She never took a photo class. I just know what I want out of a shot, so I make sure I get it, she says. Last year Johnson brought it along on a trip to Colorado and photographed her friends adorable xx-year-old girl. When they were shared on social media, a career was born. People were like, Oh, my God, how much do you charge? Johnson recalls. I was like, I dont know. I had no idea. I thought, Maybe I should try this out. She went online and created an LLC, ostensibly because someone asked for her Tax ID. Her brand is Janie Bella. Janie is the protagonist in novelist Zora Neal Hurstons best-known work, Their Eyes Were Watching God. She resonated with my personalityconfident, I dont care how others think and feel about me, Johnson says. Ill speak in my presence, no matter whether you agree or disagree. Bella is Italian for beauty. For me, its not as in aesthetic beauty, she says. But beauty in self, in whatever you love doing. Beyond creating story-telling images, Johnson aspires for Janie Bella to empower women and inspire open, honest dialogue, particularly among African-American men and women. Particularly as it pertains to the sometimes toxic and disrespectful exchanges that mar interactions and relationships. Everything for me is about empowerment and discovery and loving self, she says. You wont be successful if you dont have a foundation that includes caring about yourself. Johnson occasionally steps in front of the camera herself, often revealing an image strikingly different cal it playfully provocativea from her typical, almost nerdish, big-glasses-wearing persona. I dont think Im the most attractive thing, okay, but I know Im not unattractive, she says with a laugh. Like many not unattractive professional women, Johnson hates that her appearance, at times, becomes the focus of interactions rather than her work. I want to speak to that, she says, how women are treated and viewed in professional environments. Were not taken seriously sometimes. I should be able to wear while working without a man putting his hand on my waist, she says. I didnt ask for that and its not appropriate for someone I dont know and have never spoken to before. But you think appropriate because you are talking to me and I am responding. Where are men getting the idea that if I engage in conversation with you, its okay to put your hand somewhere its not welcomeespecially if we are having a conversation about what I do. We are in a state of the world of [Supreme Court judge Bret] Cavanaugh, [Bill] Cosby and [Harvey] Weinstein. Women speak up, but it still falls on deaf ears. I want to somehow put a light on it. Can we as men and women get comfortable talking to one another about this? Through photography, he adds with a laugh. I have a lot of high hopes. As she sat in the emergency room at Grandview Medical Center last month, with small bits of glass in her eye, Johnson actually never thought her photographic journey might be stymied just as it was beginning. I had already decided I would make a way, she remembers. It never entered my mind that my sight might be so impaired it would potentially affect my ability to shoot. I really felt like I would make a way, even if the injuries were severe. They were not, fortunately, so Johnson continues to grow along this burgeoning path, creating images that engage, provoke and, in time, perhaps even prompt uncomfortable yet much-needed conversations. I didnt realize my photos would have so much of an effect on people, she says. Im shocked. Its a new feeling; its great but weird, and I am my own worst critic. I can do better. A house in one of Birmingham most desirable neighborhoods sold for $685,000 early this year, even though, it had a roof damage so extreme that the houses interior couldnt be shown to prospective buyers. The Clarendon Road home in Mountain Brooks Colonial Hills neighborhood received four offers and sold for more than the $649,900 listing price, said Langston Hereford, who sells real estate at RealtySouth. And, it turned out, the house couldnt even be salvaged, because it basically had rain coming into it for a year, Hereford said. The new owners had to tear it down and build a new one. Here are some of the Birmingham areas hottest neighborhoods: Hotness is based on the opinions of veteran real estate agents and data from the Greater Alabama Multiple Listing Service, including the average price per square foot (which tends to be higher closer to the downtown core) and days on market. This house in Colonial Hills with a hole in the roof was listed for $649,900 and sold for $685,000. It was later torn down. Colonial Hills neighborhood in Mountain Brook: Colonial Hills is the most desirable neighborhood in Mountain Brook, real estate agents said. The neighborhood is between Overbrook and Montevallo roads near Mountain Brook Junior High and Mountain Brook Baptist Church. The average sale price of a home in the Colonial Hills neighborhood is $1,088,250, according to the Greater Alabama Multiple Listing Service. Homes sold on average for $303 a square foot. They sold after being on the market for only 26 days. And, buyers often found themselves in a bidding war. On average, buyers in this desirable neighborhood paid 101 percent of list price, according to the MLS. In general, homebuyers choose Mountain Brook for its nationally ranked school system, family-friendly atmosphere and its privacy, said Jane Huston Crommelin, real estate agent with Ray & Poyner Properties. Your tax dollars are really working well for you (in Mountain Brook), she said. Its a lot more affordable to buy in Mountain Brook than to pay for private school. This house in Homewood's Edgewood neighborhood is on the market for $474,900. Edgewood neighborhood in Homewood: Edgewood, known for its walkable streets and trendy shops and eateries, is Homewoods hottest neighborhood, real estate agents said. You have to be prepared and ready to buy something. You cant wait around, Blair Moss, a real estate agent for Ray & Poynor Properties, said. The day it hits the market, you are seeing multiple offers. The demand is just very high. In Edgewood, which is centered by the Edgewood Business District at the intersection of Oxmoor Road and Broadway Street, homes sell, on average, for $236 a square foot, according to data from the Greater Alabama Multiple Listing Service. The average sale price for a home in Edgewood is $471,384, higher than in the city as a whole, according to the MLS. Homes sell on average in 32 days. Moss said lack of inventory has driven sale prices up. According to the MLS, the average sale price for a single-family home in Edgewood has gone up 22 percent since just 2016. The draw of the neighborhood has been so strong that over the years, some buyers and developers have resorted to snatching up older homes, knocking them down and building their dream home. Some developers are even replacing a single home on a large lot with two, three or more houses. This house in Mountain Brook's Crestline neighborhood sold for $850,000 this year. Crestline in Mountain Brook: Millennials are moving their young families to Crestline for its walkability and nationally ranked schools, Hereford said. Also, the neighborhood is increasingly popular to retirees. The last three or four houses shes sold in Crestline were to retirees looking for smaller and easier to maintain lots, she said. It is a little like Mayberry, she said of the neighborhood, which has Crestline Village at its center. Crestline Village offers a host of amenities to residents including a grocery store, bars and restaurants, clothing stores, bookstore and service stations. The area known as The Flats, which lies between Euclid Avenue and Montevallo Road is the hottest residential section of Crestline, Hereford said. Straight-line winds destroyed one out of five houses in that section of Crestline in 1991, she said. That ended up transforming the area from more starter houses to larger, family homes that can now sell for up to $1 million. According to the MLS, the average sale price for a home in Crestline is $835,647. The average price per square foot is $241. And, the average home is on the market 63 days before it is sold. Sales prices in Crestline are higher than Mountain Brook as a whole where the average sale price is $778,131. This house on Sunset Drive in Biltmore Estates in Vestavia Hills was under construct after being on sale for one day in the summer. The house received six offers in that single day. Biltmore Estates in Vestavia Hills: Biltmore Estates is the most popular neighborhood in Vestavia Hills, Moss said. The neighborhood is off Highway 31 and Shades Crest Road near the Vestavia Country Club and within walking distance to Vestavia East Elementary School. It is the Crestline of Vestavia, she said. It is very family friendly. The prices and demand have just continued to rise over the last 10 years. They are tearing down old houses and building new homes. The average sale price for a home in Biltmore Estate is $696,796, according to the MLS. Homes, on average, sell for $236 a square foot and in 46 days. For Vestavia Hills as a whole, the average sale price for a single-family home is much lower at $468,577. Homes sell within 48 days of being on the market. South Avondale in Birmingham: Millennials are flocking to South Avondale for its walkability and proximity to downtown, said Pye Parson, who sells houses in the Avondale and Crestwood areas for Brik Realty. Right now, this is the fun place to be, she said. Parson said young people from across the country are moving to Avondale because of its proximity to cool, locally owned restaurants and breweries. Empty nesters, downsizing from Mountain Brook, are also moving to South Avondale for the same reasons, she said. The demand is so high, Parson said, that an upgraded and renovated house in the neighborhood will be under contract 24 hours after it hits the market. Your buyer has to be prepared to offer more. There is no negotiating. You have to offer list price or more, Parson said. She said the South Avondale market has been that hot for the last two years. According to the Greater Alabama Multiple Listing Service, the average home in Avondale sells for $252,436. The average home sells for $161 a square foot and within 43 days of being on the market. This ranch-style house in Crestwood South with a few updates sold for $244,000 this year. It sold for $179,000 in 2015. Crestwood in Birmingham: The Birmingham neighborhoods of Crestwood North and Crestwood South are popular for their proximity to the Avondale Business District and downtown, Parson said. I think a lot of my Crestwood (buyers) would rather be in Avondale because it has restaurants, she admitted. But, Crestwood benefits from having more supply than South Avondale next door, Parson said. Residents also get to avoid a congested commute to downtown, and they get a family-friendly neighborhood that has a more suburban feel than Avondale. North Crestwood is filled with mostly craftsman -style cottages and South Crestwood is made up of more ranch-style homes, Parson said. Both South Avondale and Crestwood are attracting young couples planning to live in the neighborhood, at least, until they have children old enough to attend school, she said. The average house in Crestwood North and Crestwood South sells for $241,100, according to the MLS. On average, homes sell after being on the market for 27 days. They sell for about $155 a square foot. An Athens man has been charged with the murder of his 79-year-old mother, whose body was found at their apartment on Wednesday. Officers responded to Roberts Apartments around 2 p.m. and found the woman dead from an apparent physical assault, said police chief Floyd Johnson. The victim was identified as Emma Sutton, said Athens police Capt. Trevor Harris in a news release late Wednesday. The victims son, Sean Kevin Sutton, 47, was being taken to the Limestone County jail on a murder charge, the authorities said. I will tell you this is not your usual shooting or cutting, Johnson said during a press conference Wednesday night. Evidence and other items were taken from the home, Johnson said. Holidays are for family. Holidays are a time of relaxing and enjoying. This family is in pain. The neighborhoods in pain. She had a lot of friends who live here and in the area, he said. Johnson said a lot of elderly people lived in the community and wants people to know it is a safe place to live. Johnson said more information about charges could be released later tonight. This story will be updated as soon as more information becomes available. A 16-year-old has been charged with capital murder in the weekend shooting death of a man outside and Ensley convenience store. Birmingham police on Wednesday night announced the arrest of Corey Beckwood Jr. He was taken into custody Wednesday by the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force and Birmingham police at a home in the 100 block of Remington Road in the eastern part of the city. U.S. Marshal Marty Keely said Birmingham police asked for the assistance of the task force Wednesday morning after obtaining the capital murder warrant and two attempted murder warrants against Beckwood. They developed information that Beckwood was at the Remington Road home. Birmingham police and Jefferson County sheriffs deputies set up a perimeter around the home. They knocked on the door and could hear a lot of moving inside but nobody would answer the door. The homeowner gave lawmen permission for the marshals to enter the home. Ultimately they found Beckwood hiding behind a stove in the kitchen. He had pulled out the stove, climbed in behind it and moved it almost back into place. He was taken into custody without further incident. He is charged in the Saturday death of 34-year-old Eric Jackson in Ensley. West Precinct officers responded just before 1:30 a.m. Saturday to the parking lot of The Hamilton Apartments in the 1900 block of Avenue O on a report of gunshot victim. Once on the scene, officers found 34-year-old Eric Jackson in a back seat of a white SUV wounded and unresponsive. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Investigators said the shooting happened at nearby Smart Food Mart in the 900 block of 20th Street Ensley. A woman then drove the victim to the apartment complex seeking help. The rear window of the SUV had been shot out. Authorities on Saturday released surveillance photos from the store, asking the public to help identify the suspect. They did not say how he was identified, but said he was arrested Wednesday. Investigators have not yet disclosed a motive in the deadly shooting. Police on Saturday afternoon also said they were searching for a woman also spotted on the footage, but have not said whether that woman has been identified or what role she may have played, if any, in the incident. Three men traveled from Birmingham to a Shelby County motel with a young child to sell drugs, authorities said. The Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force announced the arrests of Reginal Lamar Brown, 43, Norman Rudolph Taylor, 37, and Jerry Lee Jackson, 40. All three suspects are from Birmingham. Task force commander Capt. Clay Hammac said the arrests took place Tuesday during an undercover narcotics operation at the Shelby Motor Lodge in Alabaster. During the arrests, Hammac said, lawmen discovered the trio drove from Birmingham to Alabaster with a 9-month old child in the vehicle. The plan, he said, was to sell someone crack cocaine but that someone was an undercover narcotics investigator. Authorities contacted Shelby County DHR, which responded to the scene and placed the child in the care of the mother. The childs mother was not present during the arrests, nor was she considered to be a suspect in the narcotics investigation. Brown is charged charged with resisting arrest and unlawful possession of a controlled substance. He remains in the Shelby County Jail on a $10,500 bond. Taylor is charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance. His bond is set at $10,000. Jackson is also charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance. His bond is set at $10,000 as well. The Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force will continue to work with Shelby County and Jefferson County DHR during their follow-up investigation. Indictments against a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator and a former Alabama Environmental Management commissioner were made public Wednesday. Region 4 administrator of the EPA Trey Glenn, who resigned the position Nov. 18, was indicted on 20 counts of wrongdoing. Six of the charges against Glenn using his position for personal gain are felonies. The remainder of the charges are misdemeanor ethics violations and include soliciting/receiving money and bribery/conspiracy to receive from a lobbyist. Phillips was indicted on 16 charges including three felonies using his position for personal gain and 13 counts of misdemeanor ethics violations for soliciting/receiving money. Both were booked into the Jefferson County Jail Nov. 15 and released about an hour later after posting $30,000 bond. The indictments were issued Nov. 9 and announced Nov. 13. Glenn and Phillips co-owned a company called Southeast Engineering and Consulting that worked with law firm Balch & Bingham and its client, Drummond Company, to fight the EPA efforts to test and clean up soil in north Birmingham neighborhoods and in the city of Tarrant from 2014 through 2017, records show. They provided consulting at the same time Phillips served on the environmental commission. The men are charged with multiple violations of Alabamas Ethics Act, including soliciting a thing of value from a principal, lobbyist or subordinate, and receiving money in addition that received in ones official capacity. Under Alabama ethics law, it is illegal for a lobbyist or a lobbyists client, called a principal, to give a public official a thing of value, including a job. The charges against Glenn and Phillips, according to the indictments, center around their dealings with Drummond Company and Balch & Bingham. This summer, former Drummond VP of Government Affairs David Roberson and former Balch partner Joel Gilbert were convicted on six federal, criminal charges related to the scheme intended to stop the Superfund expansion into Tarrant and thwart cleanup efforts. A former state legislator, Oliver Robinson, pleaded guilty to his part in the crime and testified for the government against Roberson and Gilbert. Roberson and Gilbert were sentenced to federal prison in October; Gilbert was sentenced to five years followed by a supervised release period of two years, and Roberson was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release. Each were ordered to pay a $25,000 fine and complete 100 hours per year of community service while on supervised release. Both men are appealing their convictions, and Roberson has been allowed to remain on bond during his appeal process. Records do not yet list court dates for Glenn and Phillips. A DUI driver caused two crashes on Interstate 65 in northern Jefferson County Thursday morning, including one that injured a Jefferson County sheriffs deputy. The first crash happened at 5:10 a.m. on I-65 northbound near the 271 mile marker when the intoxicated motorist identified by Alabama State Troopers as 35-year-old Dejuan Dawson- lost control of his vehicle while he was traveling at a high rate of speed. Dawsons vehicle left the roadway, struck the median guardrail, re-entered the interstate and crashed into a semi tanker truck. Alabama State Trooper Cp. Steve Smith said Dawsons vehicle came to a final rest in the middle of the dark roadway. A short time later, Smith said, a sheriffs deputy who was traveling northbound struck Dawsons vehicle. The impact of that crash caused the deputys cruiser to hit the median guardrail, cross over into the southbound interstate lanes and flip several times. A DUI driver caused two crashes on Interstate 65 in Jefferson County Thursday morning, including one that injured a Jefferson County sheriffs deputy. The deputy was taken to UAB Highlands and Dawson was taken to UAB Hospitals Trauma Center. Smith said neither have injuries believed to be life-threatening. Dawson is charged with DUI and operating a vehicle without insurance. Because he is hospitalized, he has not yet been booked into the Jefferson County Jail. As of 8 a.m., all lanes on I-65 at the crash site are now open. North Korea's official news agency has denounced Japan's rejection of a recent South Korean court ruling ordering a Japanese firm to compensate forced labor victims as "impudent and shameless." The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a commentary sent Tuesday that Japan has again showed its impudence and shamelessness by vowing to take a tough countermeasure against South Korea's court ruling and take the case to the International Court of Justice. "Japan is just going so preposterously that its conduct cannot be described with even such expressions as impudence and shamelessness. The international community is greatly astonished by it. Japan has no reason to protest against that judgment," the English-language KCNA commentary said. South Korea's Supreme Court ruled late last month that a Japanese steel firm should compensate four Koreans mobilized into forced labor during the 1910-45 colonial rule, rejecting Japanese claims that all colonial-era compensation claims were settled under a 1965 treaty signed by the two countries when they normalized diplomatic relations. But Japan called the judgment "absurd" and a "challenge to the international community," the KCNA commentary said. It noted that Japan forcibly brought more than 8.4 million young and middle-aged Korean men to battlefields and labor sites through abduction and haul-off and the sites of slave labor where Koreans toiled still exist in Japan. "So, Japan is obliged to make a sound apology and national reparation to the Korean people for its crime-woven past when it inflicted the loss of manpower and mental and physical damage upon them," the commentary said. "Japan is behaving just like a guilty party filing the suit first. Such conduct is reminiscent of gangsters and hooligans," it said, accusing the government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of pushing ahead with constitutional revision and a scenario for building a military giant. (Yonhap) Some in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, feel abandoned by London as Brexit nears. Eric Brown had a target on his back for 28 years. Thats how long he spent in the security forces of Northern Ireland, first in the police, then the British Army, during the Troubles. The sectarian conflict from 1968 to 1998 pitted mostly Catholic Irish nationalists, who wanted to end British rule in Northern Ireland, against mostly Protestant unionists, who wanted British rule to continue. Policemen and soldiers were routine targets for Irish nationalist paramilitaries, as they were regarded as enforcers of British occupation. The most dangerous place to be a police officer or soldier was along the controversial border, nearly 500 kilometres long, that divided Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland. It is where Brown worked and lived, in the strongly nationalist county of Fermanagh. The border is quiet now, and people on both sides can travel across it without even realising theyve done so. But security officials across the United Kingdom and Ireland have warned that Brexit might put an end to that. Cyclists ride past a No Border sign on November 14, 2018 in Ravenscourt, Northern Ireland [Charles McQuillan/Getty Images] The European Union insists that if Northern Ireland leaves the bloc along with the rest of the UK, and adopts different trading rules from EU-member state the Republic of Ireland, then theyll be forced to create a hard border of customs checks and trading posts. That could, in the worst case scenario, incite Irish nationalist paramilitaries, now largely dormant, to renew their attacks. But Brown, like many unionists, sees warnings of a so-called hard border as a threat European leaders are using to force Britain to stay close to the European Union. I always thought this hard border stuff was a little bit of scaremongering, he tells Al Jazeera. I dont for one moment believe that this could challenge the peace and lead to a return of violence. I dont think the situation and circumstances are right, certain political parties could not afford to return to terrorism. He is disappointed by the deal negotiated by the British government to withdraw from the EU. In order to avoid any possibility of a hard border, Prime Minister Theresa May has agreed that Northern Ireland will continue to abide by all of the EUs trading rules, even if the rest of the UK diverges. Cows stand beneath a sign for the diused Customs Office along the Irish border [Charles McQuillan/Getty Images] The deal has prompted consternation from unionists, who fear they are being sold out. It is a double shock because, due to Mays poor performance in elections last year, she has been relying on Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to back up her government. Faced with the prospect of their homeland being permanently economically cut off from the rest of the UK, the DUP has all but withdrawn its support for her. During the 2016 Brexit referendum, Brown voted to remain in the EU, and even though the result went the other way, he says it should be honoured. Now he is faced with the prospect of living under EU rules, with Northern Irelands place in the UK undermined. There is trepidation among unionists. This is a threat to the union, he says. I dont see why Northern Ireland should be treated preferentially, because we took the decision as a nation, we need to face it as a nation. But not everyone agrees, including most of those who work in the Provinces vital agricultural industry. The Ulster Farmers Union has thrown its weight behind the deal, not with great enthusiasm, but because almost all of its members agree that any deal that keeps close economic ties with the EU is better than simply crashing out of the bloc without agreement. Withdrawing without a deal would be an absolute disaster, says the unions president, Ivor Ferguson. Seventy-five percent of what we produce leaves Northern Ireland. We depend so much on trading north and south, any restrictions on that would be a problem. A student walks past a Border Communities Against Brexit sign in Newry, Northern Ireland [Charles McQuillan/Getty Images] Business leaders and organisations representing the hospitality, food and drinks industry have also backed the deal. It isnt just about continuing free trade with Europe, its also about maintaining the high product standards promoted by the EU. A big concern for us would be if the floodgates were opened to cheap products below our standards, Ivor continues. Some of the politicians who said not to worry about leaving the EU without a deal were also the ones who wanted to bring in cheap products from America and elsewhere. Even for farmers though, the deal creates nervousness. Ivor says hes received assurances from London that there will never be any restrictions for Northern Irish products being sold into the rest of the UK, guarantees which at the moment he takes at face value. But Ben Lowry, deputy editor of the Belfast-based unionist daily newspaper The News Letter, envisages a full trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The EU wont allow us out and London clearly wont fight for us, he says, it means a major barrier between us and the rest of the UK. Despite this sentiment, the deal has not prompted mass protests. According to Lowry, the issues are too complex. Very few people understand it and the implications of it, and therefore there is nothing like the uproar that there should be. He is dismissive of suggestions that Northern Ireland could benefit from its unique position between the EU and the rest of the UK, attracting investment from international companies that want to straddle both jurisdictions. Many people believe we will get the best of both worlds. I would even be attracted to that myself, if it wasnt my fear for the long-term implications of this, he says. This is a victory for Irish nationalism better than they could have dreamt of a few years ago. Bangladesh is the only player in the Rohingya crisis that actually wants reparations to take place. Earlier this month, Bangladesh and Myanmar attempted to repatriate thousands of Rohingya refugees currently residing in Bangladesh as part of a deal they had signed last November, but were eventually forced to postpone their plans amid intense international pressure. More than 720,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar as result of a brutal military crackdown in August last year, taking shelter in crowded camps in Bangladesh and bringing with them harrowing tales of rape, murder and arson. Earlier this year, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar classified the atrocities perpetrated by the countrys military as genocide. In its 440-page report on the crackdown, the mission revealed that the military has killed more than 10,000 people in a matter of months and used brutal methods like rape, sexual slavery, arson and abductions to force the Rohingya to leave the country. Marzuki Darusman, chair of the UN fact-finding mission, also said the estimated 250,000 to 400,000 Rohingya who remained in the Buddhist-majority country following last years crackdown continue to suffer the most severe restrictions and repression. It is an ongoing genocide that is taking place, he said. Myanmar, on the other hand, rejected the UN report, claiming the investigation was flawed, biased and politically motivated. Myanmar authorities consistently deny any atrocity ever against Myanmars Rohingya population, saying the countrys security forces only attack armed rebels. {articleGUID} In light of all this, the rushed attempt to send the Rohingya refugees back to their home state caused concern in the international community and led many to question the reasons behind the eagerness of Bangladesh and Myanmar to swiftly start the repatriation process. Perhaps Bangladesh wants to unload the burden of the refugees as soon as possible and Myanmar wants to partially repair its image in the international arena by showing some willingness to welcome back the Rohingya. While all this is understandable, there were major flaws in the process that led to the failed repatriation attempt. First of all, the refugees themselves were absent from the bilateral negotiations on repatriation between the two neighbouring states nobody asked them what they wanted to do. We want to return to Burma [Myanmar] as it is our motherland, we were born and brought up there, said Abdul Jalil, a newly arrived Rohingya refugee I interviewed in September in the Balukhali camp in Bangladesh. But we experienced nothing but atrocities there since August last year Burma turned into a death hole for us, he added. Now you tell me, would you be willing to fall into a death hole? Other Rohingya men and women I interviewed there told me more or less the same thing: That they want to go back to their homeland, but only if Myanmar gives them legal recognition and their safety is guaranteed by an international body such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Nevertheless, even in the unlikely scenario that Myanmar agrees to meet these conditions, the safe repatriation of the Rohingya refugees may not be possible. The ethnic Burmese majority in Myanmar is highly sceptical of Muslims in general and the Rohingya minority in particular, and the events of the past year only accentuated these feelings. Kyaw Soe Moe, the administrator of the Inn Din village in Myanmars Rakhine state where most atrocities took place told Britains Guardian newspaper in October that he does not believe the Muslims will come back. No one wants the terrorists to come back, he added. Given that the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh do not want to return to a death hole and many in Myanmar are reluctant to welcome back terrorists, it is possible to say, at least for now, any repatriation attempt is doomed to fail. Myanmar is not mentally, politically, or logistically ready for the Rohingya refugees return and those in Bangladesh are not ready to go back to their homeland due to a persistent sense of insecurity. Predictably, Bangladesh, an already overpopulated country whose infrastructure reached a breaking point following the arrival of the last batch of Rohingya refugees, is eager to start the repatriation process. However, as was demonstrated by the failed attempt earlier this month, repatriation cannot take place without the agreement of the Myanmar authorities, the Burmese majority, the international community and, most importantly, the Rohingya refugees themselves. For now, none of the concerned parties other than Bangladesh genuinely believes the right conditions for the return of the Rohingya refugees are there. Myanmar is not willing to bring the Rohingya refugees back. It is only appearing to be going along with Bangladeshi attempts to arrange their return to ease international pressure. The fact that the Rohingya villages in Rakhine are being prepared to be re-populated by Rakhine, Chin, Bamar, and Hindu people from other parts of the country clearly shows that Myanmar authorities have no real intention to welcome Rohingya back. The international community is also not supporting the idea of repatriation at this time as NGOs active in the region and the UN agree that a rushed action would put the Rohingya at further risk. As Myanmar authorities are still refusing to give citizenship rights to the Rohingya, it is clear to many that what is waiting for them on the other side of the border is nothing more than the same apartheid conditions and threats that they faced prior to their escape. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves: Who would benefit from rushed repatriation efforts other than the Myanmar authorities? Who would get an opportunity to pretend they are doing something to end the crisis? Can any repatriation deal convince the Rohingya that they will be safe in Myanmar, that they will have a dignified and productive life not clouded by fear? Everyone who has been following the devastating ordeal of the Rohingya refugees undoubtedly wants the crisis to be resolved as soon as possible. However, rushed and forced repatriation is not the sustainable solution everyone is looking for. Repatriation would only be acceptable if it takes place within the framework of reciprocal understanding, mutual trust and multilateral consensus between Bangladesh, Myanmar, international actors and the Rohingya. It would only succeed if it ensures the legal recognition, safety and dignity of the Rohingya population. For now, such a repatriation deal does not appear to be within reach. We can talk repatriation if and when the Myanmar authorities take the necessary steps to convince the Rohingya people that they can be truly safe at home. Until then, the concerned parties should focus on easing the suffering of the Rohingya refugees and the burden on the Bangladeshi state. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Al Jazeera profiles the 15 men who travelled to Istanbul to allegedly carry out Jamal Khashoggis murder. Saudi Arabia has arrested 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of an investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain documents that he needed to get married. After weeks of saying he left the consulate alive, the Saudi administration later admitted Khashoggi was killed there, blaming his death on a group of rogue Saudi operatives. Turkish sources, however, say 15 Saudi intelligence operatives flew to Istanbul on two private jets hours before Khashoggi was killed and his body dismembered. A close aide to MBS, Qahtani was removed as adviser to the royal court after the killing [Twitter] Most among the group of 15 worked in the Saudi military, security or intelligence services, including at the royal court, according to Turkish officials and sources with ties to the royal court. Reports said the Saudi foreign ministry, headed by Adel al-Jubeir, issued the passports to the hit squad to enter Turkey. The private jets from Riyadh to Istanbul and back were chartered from a company owned by the Saudi government. Turkeys Sabah newspaper published what it said were photographs of the men taken from surveillance footage at the airport, two hotels they briefly checked into, the consulate, and the consuls residence. Saud al-Qahtani, 40, is the highest-profile figure implicated in the killing. Believed to be the right-hand man of Prince Mohammed, he was removed as a royal court adviser following Khashoggis assassination. Qahtani, however, was not a part of the 15-member squad that flew to Turkey. Al Jazeera profiles the men part of the hit-squad suspected to be behind the killing, based on photographs, reports and information from officials in Turkey and Saudi Arabia: Salah al-Tubaigy Salah al-Tubaigy is a forensic expert at the Saudi interior ministrys criminal evidence department, according to his biography posted online by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. According to the Turkish newspaper, Sabah, the Saudi group that dismembered Khashoggis body in a 15-minute process was led by Tubaigy. The Saudi Society of Forensic Medicine lists him as a board member. He earned a masters degree in forensic medicine from the University of Glasgow in 2004. In 2015, Tubaigy spent three months at Australias Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine to observe death investigation procedures and the use of CT scans in mass fatality incidents, director Noel Woodford told Reuters news agency. He is 47, according to a passport copy provided to the US media by Turkish officials. Maher Mutreb, an aide to al-Qahtani. Maher Mutreb General Maher Mutreb, aide to al-Qahtani for information and security, was the lead negotiator inside the consulate, according to a senior Saudi official. He is a senior intelligence officer and has appeared in photographs with the crown prince on official visits to the United States and Europe. Reuters, quoting a Saudi official, said Mutreb was selected for the Istanbul operation because he already knew Khashoggi when they worked together at the Saudi embassy in London. Sabah newspaper published photographs from surveillance cameras that appear to show Mutreb entering the consulate three hours before Khashoggi, and later outside the consuls residence. Meshal Saad Albostani Meshal Saad Albostani, a lieutenant in the Saudi Air Force, is from the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, according to a Facebook profile that has been deleted. A LinkedIn profile, that was also deleted, said he served in the air force since 2006, Reuters reported. He is 31, according to a passport copy provided to the US media by Turkish officials. Mustafa Mohammed al-Madini, government employee. Mustafa Mohammed al-Madini Moustafa al-Madani led the intelligence efforts for the 15-member team in Istanbul, a senior Saudi official told Reuters. According to the official, Madini donned Khashoggis clothes, glasses and Apple watch, and left through the back door of the consulate in an attempt to make it look like the journalist had walked out of the building. Madini is a government employee who studied at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, according to a Facebook profile with photographs resembling the suspect identified by Turkish media. He is 56 years old, according to the US Treasury. Other members of the team: Abdulaziz Mohammed al-Hawsawi, 31, is a member of the security team that travels with the Saudi crown prince, according to a New York Times report that cited a French professional who had worked with the royal family. Thaar Ghaleb al-Harbi: A Saudi news report last year said that a man by the same name was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Saudi army, the Washington Post reported. Mohammed Saad al-Zahrani: A popular Arabic app, MemoM3ay, identified him as being in the Royal Guard, a unit of the Saudi military charged with protecting the royal family, according to the Washington Post. He denied being in Turkey at the time of Khashoggis disappearance. The name is far clearer in this picture. So #4 on the list is this guy. Mohammad Saad Al Zahrani. pic.twitter.com/60Ue4qOHmz Iyad el-Baghdadi | (@iyad_elbaghdadi) October 9, 2018 Khalid Aedh G al-Otaibi: In the MenoM3ay app, he is identified with a symbol for the Royal Guard, according to a report by the Washington Post. Waleed Abdulla al-Sehri: According to reports in the Saudi media, he is a part of the countrys air force. There is a YouTube video showing Sehri as a Saudi air officer, reading a poem to a gathering of military officials in 2012, according to the Middle East Eye. Naif Hassan al-Arifi: A deleted Facebook page of a man with the same name shows him as an officer in the Saudi special forces. One of the names published by @ragipsoylu of the 15 Saudi nationals traveled to Turkey on the day @JKhashoggi disappeared, matches a Facebook profile of an officer in the Saudi special forces: Please meet Naif Hasan S. Alarifi pic.twitter.com/2BXb5xyFk3 Qutaiba Idlbi (@Qidlbi) October 9, 2018 Mansour Othman M Abahussain: A man with the same name has been identified in the MenoM3ay app as working for the Saudi intelligence. Fahad Shabib al-Balawi: Identified as a member of the Saudi Royal Guard by two users of the MenoM3ay app. Saif Saad al-Qahtani: Identified in the app as working in the service of MBS, according to the Washington Post. No information is available on the following men, who were also a part of the 15-member squad: Badr Lafi M al-Otaibi Turki Musarref M al-Sehri Two new US raids killed six fighters and destroyed a weapons cache near Harardere, the US military says. At least six al-Shabab fighters have been killed in two air raids launched against targets near Haradere town in Somalias Galmudug state, the US military said on Thursday. A weapons cache was destroyed in a second air attack on Wednesday, it said, as part of US operations in Somalia since President Donald Trump loosened the rules of engagement last year. The United States announced the latest deadly air raids against the al-Qaeda-linked fighters who control large parts of the country. The US has now carried out 35 air attacks this year against al-Shabab, Africas deadliest armed group. Two air attacks on Monday killed 37 fighters and one on Tuesday killed seven. More asylum seekers arrive at border as US expands military power Migrants and refugees continue long wait in Tijuana as US defence chief given extra authority to use military at border. Armed men storm Foracos water well site in Toumour village of Diffa region, killing six staff and one civil servant. Unidentified attackers have killed seven people in an attack on French drilling company Foracos water well site in southeastern Niger, according to a security and company source. The security source said Thursdays attackers were believed to belong to Nigerian armed group Boko Haram, which is active in the Diffa region near the border with Nigeria. An official at the well site in the village of Toumour did not know who was responsible for the attack but said the victims included six company employees and one civil servant. We lost six agents in our ranks, the official told Reuters news agency. The controller, a civil service agent, was kidnapped before having his throat slit not far from the site. Boko Haram has been trying to establish an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria since 2009 and has launched repeated attacks into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the violence. Marseille-based Foraco is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and says it is the third largest global mineral driller with mining and water projects across 22 countries. The new proposal comes after the prime minister asked Muslim community to do more to prevent acts of violence. Australia has unveiled plans to increase government powers to strip the citizenship of the people convicted of terrorism and to control the movements of Australian fighters who return home from the battlefields of Syria and Iraq. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday that his government wanted powers to expel anyone convicted of a terrorist offence, even native-born Australians, as he singled out Muslim leaders as having a special responsibility to prevent acts of violence committed by members of the community. People who commit acts of terrorism have rejected absolutely everything that this country stands for, Morrison told a hastily organised press conference in Sydney. This is something that cant be tolerated, and for those who would engage in this sort of activity, and they have citizenship elsewhere, or we have reason to believe they do, they can go. This comes a day after Muslim leaders in Australia boycotted a roundtable meeting called by the conservative leader, who has asked the Muslim community to do more to halt attacks in the country. Community leaders, in an open letter, said they are deeply concerned and disappointed with statements made by the prime minister and senior officials, which infer that the community is collectively culpable for the criminal actions of individuals and should be doing more to prevent such acts of violence. These statements have achieved nothing to address underlying issues, but rather, have alienated large segments of the Muslim community, they said in the letter published by Australian media. Legislation to amend Citizenship Act Australias current Citizenship Act allows authorities to revoke the citizenship of people jailed for six years or more for terrorist activities, but only if they are already dual nationals. Morrison called these limits unrealistic and said the law should be broadened to strip citizenship from convicted terrorists if they could reasonably be expected to gain citizenship in another country through their parents or grandparents. The conservative government will submit legislation to amend the Citizenship Act to enshrine these new powers, he said, in the final two-week parliamentary session of the year that begins on Monday. His proposals came two days after police in the countrys second largest city, Melbourne, arrested three Australian-born men of Turkish descent for allegedly plotting a mass shooting in the city. Less than two weeks earlier, a Somalia origin man went on a stabbing spree in Melbourne, killing one man and wounding two others before being fatally shot by police. Authorities said all four men were inspired by the propaganda of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, even though none had any direct links to such organisations. Legal challenges Experts say the proposed legislation was likely to face legal challenges. It is not clear that the commonwealth has the power to kick out people who have been here for many, many generations, said Sangeetha Pillai, a constitutional lawyer at the Kaldor Centre, University of New South. This legislation would make some people stateless at least temporary and in some cases, permanently. Prime Minister Morrison said the law will also seek the power to impose temporary exclusion orders on so-called returned foreign fighters Australian citizens who travel to conflict zones to fight alongside armed groups. Modelled on a British law, the provision would allow Australia to bar the return of a citizen for up to two years and to impose strict conditions on their activities once they come home. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said there had been seven terror-related attacks in Australia, while authorities had thwarted 15 other plots since 2014. Nine people convicted of terrorism have already had their citizenship revoked under the existing law, mainly for activities overseas, he added. We assess there are around 50 Australian dual citizens who may be eligible to lose citizenship under the current provisions, and even more with the changes we are announcing today, Dutton said. Morrison and Dutton also said they would renew a push for controversial legislation which would allow authorities to break into encrypted messaging apps that police say are widely used by extremists and other criminals. The law, which would force app developers and telecom companies to provide police with the ability to decrypt messages, has drawn strong criticism from civil liberties groups. Morrison heads a minority coalition government that must call a national election before May 2019 but is trailing far behind the main opposition Labor Party in opinion polls. As campaigning builds towards the election, Morrison and Dutton have led a tough law-and-order push around terrorism and immigration. An Arizona jury on Wednesday acquitted a United States Border Patrol agent of involuntary manslaughter in the killing of a Mexican teen through a border fence, sparking a protest in downtown Tucson following another loss for federal prosecutors in the second trial over the 2012 killing. Jurors in Tucson found Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter but didnt come to a decision on voluntary manslaughter. The verdict comes months after Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder by another jury that had deadlocked on manslaughter charges, allowing prosecutors to pursue the case again. Border Patrol agents are rarely criminally charged for using force. But the killing of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez sparked outrage on both sides of the border and it came at a time when the agency was increasingly scrutinised for its use of force. Outside the court on Wednesday, a small group of activists protested the verdict, and one man was detained, local media outlets reported. The protest grew later in the day as scores of demonstrators shut down an intersection, snarling traffic in downtown and prompting authorities to briefly close several freeway ramps. Family of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, killed by @cbp agent Lonnie Swartz in cross border shooting 2012. If the agent returns to work he will kill again- mother. pic.twitter.com/GnD8w9oaXm Michel Marizco (@BorderReporter) November 21, 2018 One sign protesters carried said, Abolish Border Patrol, while another read, No justice, no peace. A spokeswoman for the US attorneys office said prosecutors havent decided whether to try Swartz again on the voluntary manslaughter charge. {articleGUID} We fully respect the jurys decision, and we thank every member of the jury for the time and attention given to this trial, Elizabeth A Strange, first assistant US attorney for the District of Arizona, said in a statement. Sean Chapman, Swartzs lawyer, said his client was relieved. He has had to live with the burden of this case hanging over his head for years. He is glad that it is finally over, Chapman said in an email to the Associated Press. Shot 10 times in back and head During the trial, prosecutors said Swartz was frustrated over repeated encounters with people on the Mexico side of the border fence who throw rocks at agents to distract them from smugglers. They say he lost his cool and fatally shot Elena Rodriguez. Swartz fired about 16 rounds, and the teen was hit at least 10 times in the back and head. Swartz had then said he was following his training and defending himself and other law enforcement officers from rocks, which he said could be deadly. Prosecutors acknowledge that Elena Rodriguez was throwing rocks at agents while two smugglers made their way back to Mexico, but they said that wasnt justification for taking his life. Members of Elena Rodriguezs family maintain he wasnt throwing rocks and was killed while walking home. Speaking to Al Jazeera earlier this year, Elena Rodriguezs grandmother Taide questioned how officials would have reacted had it happened the other way around. What if a Mexican official had fired into the US, killing a US citizen. This would have been an international crisis, she said. On Thursday, Taide expressed disappointment in the verdict, saying that the possibility for getting justice now seems small. We will keep on waiting and like before we will hope to see a miracle happen, she told Al Jazeera by phone after the Wednesdays verdict. But that is what it will be: a miracle. Thats what we always hoped for. Swartz still faces a civil rights lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the teens mother. A US pro-migration activist holds a candle and a picture of slain Mexican youth Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez through the border fence between Mexico and the US in Nogales [File: Alonso Castillo/Reuters] Wednesdays verdict comes as President Donald Trump has deployed troops to the border to support US authorities in response to thousands of Central American migrants and refugees who have made their way to the US border as part of a caravan, dubbed the Central American exodus. The troops have been given authority to protect Border Patrol agents and other personnel, even though there have been no instances of violence against US authorities. Trump on Thursday, renewed his threats to close the border if things get to a level where we are going to lose control, adding that he has given troops the ok to use lethal force against migrants and refugees if they have to. Additional reporting by Jurriaan van Eerten. The meeting focused on the prospects for strengthening of Kazakh-Russian trade and economic and fuel and energy ties as well as integration within the EAEU. Bosnia: Stranded refugees allege Croatian police brutality Why Refugees in Bosnia find themselves stuck in limbo and vulnerable to violence. Officials fear rain will cause ravines to turn into rivers of mud, making the search through debris more difficult. The first significant rain in months in northern California all but extinguished the deadliest wildfire in the states history on Wednesday but also raised risks of flash flooding that could hinder teams searching for human remains. Between 102-152mm of rain was expected to fall through the weekend in areas around the town of Paradise, the community of nearly 27,000 people 280km northeast of San Francisco that was largely incinerated by the so-called Camp Fire. The blaze killed at least 83 people and 563 remain unaccounted for, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told a news briefing on Wednesday. The rain is a concern for us and there is the potential for mudflows, Honea said. Searchers would be pulled out of areas threatened by mudslides, he said. Richard Ventura of Orange Countys FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team said on Thursday the rainy, windy, cold conditions are making the search process miserable. His team has 27 people involved in the effort in northern California. Ventura said the rain clumps things together while making the terrain soggy and harder for workers to see and move. The storm added to the misery of evacuees camping out in a Walmart car park in nearby Chico. Mitchell Manley was cold and wet but thankful he persuaded his elderly mother to evacuate. He said most of the dead were retirees who thought they could ride out the flames in their homes. I was lucky to get her out, she was going to sit it out, said Manley, who was camping at Walmart while he waited to go back to his home in Concow. Amy Sheppard packs up items outside her tent in a Walmart car park in Chico [Kathleen Ronayne/AP Photo] Warehouses were opened in Chico to provide evacuees protection from the cold and rain. Others are being welcomed by nearby families for the Thanksgiving holiday. Some 830 people had signed up to spend their Thanksgiving combing through ash and rubble in forecast heavy rain, searching for human remains, Honea said. Rivers of mud possible The rains, which in some areas were likely to be accompanied by winds of up to 72kph, raised risks of ravines turning into rivers of mud. The fire has burned across 62,000 hectares of the Sierra foothills and is 85 percent contained. {articleGUID} Theres no vegetation to hold the earth and theres a risk it could just start moving, with mud carrying everything in its path, National Weather Service forecaster Johnnie Powell said in Sacramento. Firefighters installed straw tubes known as wattles to stop hillsides being washed away. With the heavy rains, the fire activity is practically nothing, said Cal Fire Operation Section Chief Josh Bishop. The death toll has been gradually rising, with two more names added to the list on Wednesday to bring the total to 83 people, with 58 of them tentatively identified, Honea said. The number of people unaccounted for, which has fluctuated widely over the past week, declined by 307. Asked about the effects of rain on the search for remains, Honea said it would make going through debris more difficult but he was less concerned about remains washing away than the headaches posed by mud. Still, he said some remains might never be found. What were looking for in many respects are very small bone fragments so, as we go forward, its certainly possible that not all of them will be located, Honea said. An anthropologist examines the remains of a dog found in a bathtub in a home destroyed by the Camp Fire in Paradise [Terray Sylvester/Reuters] The Camp Fire incinerated 13,503 homes in and around Paradise. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The state is undertaking the largest single wildfire cleanup operation in its history to remove toxic and radioactive ash and debris at burned home sites, said Eric Lamoureux from the Governors Office of Emergency Services. Butte County says evidence from recent fires in California showed that some destroyed homes and property contained high and concerning levels of heavy metals, lead, mercury, dioxin, arsenic and other carcinogens. Some property may have the presence of radioactive materials. At least 18 injured after a car rammed into a group of schoolchildren in Huludao, northeastern China, state media said. A car rammed into a group of schoolchildren crossing a street in front of an elementary school in northeast China, killing at least five people and injuring another 18, state media reported. A govenment spokesperson for Jianchang county told AP news agency that police took the driver into custody and are investigating the cause of Thursdays incident in Huludao, Liaoning province. The spokesperson, who declined to give his name, described the crash as a major traffic accident, according to AP. Victims of the crash are undergoing medical treatment, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The incident happened around midday. Unverified videos circulating on social media show a car veering onto the wrong side of the road and ploughing through the line of pupils. Other footage showed at least two small children lying unconscious and bleeding on the street. Grisly car accidents are common in China, where transportation authorities have struggled to enforce safety regulations. Earlier this month, at least 13 people died when a bus plunged off a bridge in Chongqing province, after the driver got in a fight with a passenger. In September, 11 people died when a car struck a crowd in a public square in the central Hunan province city of Hengdong. Police arrested that driver, a man in his 40s, and described him as a vengeful repeat offender. In February, a van packed with pressurised gas tanks and bottles full of petrol caught fire and ploughed into pedestrians in Shanghai, leaving at least 18 people injured. Authorities concluded that it had been a traffic accident. Martin Griffiths due to visit Hodeidah in his efforts to get warring sides to join talks amid reports of fighting. The UN special envoy to Yemen is expected to arrive in the Yemeni city of Hodeidah as part of his renewed push for peace, as sporadic fighting continued in the strategic port city. Martin Griffiths is spearheading the biggest push in two years to get the warring parties to join the upcoming peace negotiations aimed at ending almost four years of devastating conflict. Al Jazeeras Mohammed Adow, reporting for neighbouring Djibouti, said residents in Hodeidah say there is no meaningful ceasefire in place as there are still sporadic clashes near the citys outskirts. When they announced that they were going to stop drone and ballistic missile attacks against their opponents, the Houthi fighters were categorical that they still have the right to defend their positions, which they have been fortifying in the past days, Adow said. The UN envoy arrived in the capital city of Sanaa on Wednesday, where he met the leaders of Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been in control of the Yemeni capital since 2014. Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi rebels Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, tweeted on Thursday that he hopes there is no escalation in military operations by the coalition [Saudi-UAE] following Griffithss visit to Hodeida. Griffiths planned visit to Hodeidah, which has become the focus of the countrys ongoing war, comes a day after US Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced that talks would commence by early December in Sweden between Houthi rebels and the UN-recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Earlier peace talks between the government, supported by Saudi Arabia, and the Houthi rebels collapsed in September after Houthis were not able to attend. Last week, Griffith said that Yemens parties had given firm assurances they are committed to attending peace talks to agree on a framework for peace under a transitional government. But military officials say intermittent clashes have continued to erupt in the Red Sea city of Hodeidah. Fighting broke out followed by a lull in violence earlier this month in Hodeidah as Saudi-UAE coalition warplanes reportedly carried out air attacks on Houthi positions. The port city the main gateway for imports of relief supplies and commercial goods into the country is under Houthi control. In June, the Saudi-UAE alliance launched a wide-ranging operation to retake the strategic seaport. According to Adow, Griffiths is keen on maintaining a ceasefire before taking the two sides to the negotiating table in Sweden. He also said talk of the Houthis handing over the port to a third party was not looking feasible at the moment. Years of war Efforts to launch peace negotiators failed in September when the Houthis did not show up at the talks in Switzerland, saying they needed stronger security guarantees from the international community. The Saudi-UAE coalition has enforced a crippling air and sea blockade on the Middle Easts poorest country since March 2015. Western allies, including the United States, have called for a ceasefire to end the nearly four-year-old war that has killed more than 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and caused the worlds most urgent humanitarian crisis. UN agencies say up to 14 million Yemenis are at risk of starvation if the port of Hodeidah is closed by fighting or damage. Aid group Save the Children reported on Wednesday that as many as 85,000 children may have starved to death in the past three years during its brutal war. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemens war in 2015 to restore Hadis government, which was removed from Sanaa by the Houthis in 2014. Birtukan Mideksa, who recently returned from exile, will head countrys election body ahead of 2020 polls. Ethiopia has chosen an opposition leader, who recently returned from exile, to head its election body part of the African countrys efforts to bring former rebels into the political mainstream. Birtukan Mideksa was named the head of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia on Thursday, weeks after she returned from the United States under an amnesty announced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The announcement came as the African country prepares for a free, fair and democratic election in 2020, as promised by the reformist prime minister. We are appointing her considering her knowledge of the constitution and the law of the nation, Abiy told parliament. She might have her own opinions and sayings like anyone, but we believe she will act according to the constitution, he said after several MPs questioned her impartiality given her role in opposition politics. High-profile figure Birtukan, a former judge, is the most senior former opposition figure to assume a high government post in Ethiopias recent history. She is also the latest among several women appointed to high-profile posts in Abiys new administration. {articleGUID} Birtukan rose to prominence in the wake of the disputed elections of 2005, which sparked protests that were brutally suppressed by soldiers, leading to the death of 193 people. She was jailed in the aftermath of the protests and spent time in and out of prison before fleeing into self-imposed exile in the US in 2010. Encouraged by the political reforms announced by Abiy since he took office in April, Birtukan returned earlier this month. The two also met in the US recently. PM Abiy Ahmeds nomination of Birtukan Mideksa as Chair of the National Election Board of Ethiopia realizes his promise in facilitating electoral reforms & bears testimony to the political will for strengthening an independent election board ahead of the 2020 elections. pic.twitter.com/8iA2Lk6TFz Office of the Prime Minister Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) November 22, 2018 My new job, in some sense, is similar to being a judge, Birtukan said after her appointment. What Ethiopians endured have prepared us to ask the right questions, including through the ballot box, she told the state-affiliated Fana news agency. Under Abiy, Ethiopia has in recent weeks got a 50 percent female cabinet, with women also serving as president a ceremonial post and head of the Supreme Court. Abiys recent reforms also include dissidents released from jail, a peace deal with long-time foe Eritrea, the return home of armed opposition groups and the gradual loosening of the militarys grip on the country. The convictions are the latest in a series of sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Vatican. A French priest has been sentenced to two years in prison for sexually abusing multiple children, while his former bishop has been given a suspended sentence of eight months for failing to report the crimes. A court in the city of Orleans in central France on Thursday handed down the verdict against the priest, Pierre de Castelet, and the retired bishop, Andre Fort. A court official said the ruling forbids de Castelet from working as a priest or meeting with minors, puts him on a national list of sex offenders and orders him to receive psychiatric treatment. Three victims were awarded 16,000 euros ($18,245) each in damages. De Castelet, 69, was convicted for abusing children during a summer camp in 1993, where he touched them inappropriately while pretending to carry out medical examinations. Both men are expected to avoid serving time behind bars, since French law allows a convict to apply for a non-custodial punishment in cases involving short jail sentences. Still, prosecutions of bishops are extremely rare in France, with the last case dating back to 2001 when a bishop in the town of Bayeux-Lisieux was given a three-month suspended jail term for failing to report abuse. After the judgements, one of de Castelets victims, Olivier Savignac, said he was satisfied with the outcome. We were heard. I am happy with my country, he told reporters. Vatican under pressure Predominantly Catholic France has seen priests accused of sexual abuse recently but has not faced a national scandal or reckoning like that seen in multiple countries across the world. French Catholic clerics have also been caught in abuse scandals, according to French investigative journal, Mediapart. In response to alleged abuse scandals, French bishops organised an independent panel to investigate child abuse committed by Catholic priests in early November. {articleGUID} The Bishops Conference of France said in a November 7 statement that the panel would seek to understand the reasons which led to the way these affairs were handled and make recommendations. The Vatican is under pressure following a string of sexual abuse accusations against clergy in the Americas, Australia and Europe. More than 300 predator priests were accused of abusing over 1,000 minors over seven decades in the US state of Pensylvania, according to a report released in August. Most of the abuse survivors were boys, the report said. On Monday, the Catholic Church in Spain admitted that priests and other members of the clergy had sexually abused minors. Earlier this year, all 31 Catholic bishops in Chile offered their resignation over a sex abuse cover-up scandal. Pope Francis has called for a summit in February on the prevention of sex abuse with national Catholic Church leaders from around the world. Spain threatening to derail the Brexit deal over a tiny peninsula at the centre of its long running dispute with the UK. Spain is threatening to oppose a deal on the United Kingdoms withdrawal from the European Union unless it gets assurances over the disputed peninsula of Gibraltar. Unlike the much-discussed issue of avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland, not much has been said publicly about Gibraltar during tense months of Brexit talks. Why has Spain come up with a last-minute objection and what effect could it have ahead of Sundays summit, where the EU leaders meet to rubber-stamp the Brexit deal? What is Gibraltar? The small peninsula, known to its some 30,000 residents as The Rock, is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations. Spain has long claimed sovereignty over the territory, which adjoins the Spanish mainland but has been a British territory since 1713. Gibraltar is due to leave the EU along with the UK at the end of March next year, despite 96 percent of its population voting to remain in the 2016 referendum on leaving the EU. What does Madrid want? Earlier this month, Madrid said it was happy with a protocol on the peninsula. However, on Tuesday, it said there was a problem with the main body of the text of the draft Brexit deal. {articleGUID} Spain claims it was not aware of Article 184 until a few days ago. The article relates to negotiations on the future relationship between the EU and Britain. Spain says it is ambiguous on Gibraltar. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said the withdrawal agreement and a political declaration that goes with it must make clear that negotiations on the future relationship between Britain and the EU do not apply to Gibraltar. Madrid wants guarantees that it alone can decide on the future of Gibraltar in direct talks with Britain. However, crafting the tentative Brexit deal has taken a year and a half of difficult talks. EU states are determined not to set a precedent for Britain or other states making more requests to modify the text. Sanchez said Spain will vote against the deal unless changes are made [Fernando Calvo/AP Photo] What is the UK saying? British Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament that the UK would not agree to exclude Gibraltar from negotiations on the future relationship with the EU. We want a deal that works for the whole UK family, and that includes Gibraltar, she said. According to Reuters, diplomats in Brussels are also presenting a united front, saying they thought Sanchez was trying to score points with voters before a high-stakes regional election in Andalusia, which borders Gibraltar, on December 2. The diplomats said the issue could be solved by Sanchez and May and urged Madrid not to put the whole Brexit deal at risk. What will happen now? According to EU rules, the withdrawal treaty is adopted by a qualified majority and not unanimity, so a single state cannot block it. The leaders of the 28 member states, minus Britain, would, however, seek unity on this most politically sensitive matter. Any solution could refer to the fact that in April 2017, the EU 27 gave the European Commission guidelines for Brexit talks that said no deal between Britain and the EU on their post-Brexit relationship may apply to Gibraltar without a specific agreement between Madrid and London. A Guatemalan court has sentenced a former soldier to 5,160 years in prison for a massacre during one of the worst atrocities of the Central American nations civil war. The court on Wednesday sentenced Santos Lopez to 30 years for each of the 171 killings, or 5,130 years in total. He received an additional 30 years in jail linked to the killing of a surviving child, but the sentences are symbolic because Guatemalas maximum prison term is 50 years. Lopez was a member of a counterinsurgency force trained by the United States, called Kaibil. He was arrested in the US and deported in 2016. According to the investigation, Lopez belonged to a patrol that committed the massacre in December 1982 in Dos Erres, on the border with Mexico. The soldiers were trying to recover about 20 rifles stolen by rebels during an earlier ambush which killed 19 troops. Finding Oscar The story of Dos Erres was told in the 2017 documentary Finding Oscar, executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, which recounts the search for another boy whose life was spared and who was then raised by one of the soldiers. A handful of other Kaibiles have been convicted, each receiving a sentence of more than 6,000 years in prison. Three others convicted for the slaughter were jailed in the US for immigration violations. Several others are believed to reside in the US. The massacre occurred during the rule of Efrain Rios Montt, who himself was indicted on charges of genocide and died in April. Montt allegedly ordered the murders of 1,771 indigenous Ixil-Maya people during his short reign in 1982-83, which came at the height of the 36-year civil war. According to the United Nations, about 200,000 people died or were made to disappear during Guatemalas war, which ended in 1996. Senior military officers said naming combat brigade after al-Nahyan was deeply insulting to its military traditions. Senior Jordanian military officers have expressed displeasure over the renaming of one of the countrys combat brigades. On Tuesday, King Abdullah II of Jordan presided over a ceremony where the military renamed one of its special forces units Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Rapid Intervention/High Readiness Brigade from Desert Brigade. The move is deeply insulting to Jordans military traditions, said a senior officer under condition of anonymity. Sadly, it looks like money can change and buy everything, including our military and its traditions. Jordanian military officers are barred from commenting publicly on political and military issues, including the renaming of the brigade, and could be charged if found to have done so. The UAE signed a $100m grant agreement with the Jordans Crown Prince Foundation during al-Nahyans visit to the country on Tuesday to support business development in Jordan. The renaming of the brigade is ill-conceived and it contradicts Jordans military values, Mahmoud Hammad, a retired general and former commander of Jordans land forces, told Al Jazeera. The military divisions are named after royal family members and historic Muslim commanders. I respect Abu Dhabis crown prince and his late father but to have one of Jordans armed forces units named after him is just too much. His Majesty King Abdullah II, the Supreme Commander of the #Jordan Armed Forces, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the #UAE Armed Forces, present the new Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Brigade Flag to the flag-bearer pic.twitter.com/aqHkX03Lz4 RHC (@RHCJO) November 20, 2018 Earlier, a statement by Jordans royal court said: Naming the brigade after the UAE crown prince is an expression of the deep brotherly ties between the two nations. The brigade was established in 2014 during the Syrian civil war with the help of the United States army. The US Central Command, which lists Jordan, Syria and Iraq as part of its area of responsibility, envisioned the brigade as a attack force to target ISIL fighters in Iraq and Syria. The US also equipped the brigade with eight US-made Blackhawk helicopters. Since the 1960s, Jordanian military officers have trained and advised UAE and other Gulf militaries. Jordan currently has between 80 and 100 combat special forces that support the UAEs efforts in the war in Yemen, according to senior Jordanian officers. Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @ali_reports Foreign ministry refrained from naming them but said its move was in coordination with European partners. France has imposed a travel ban on 18 Saudi citizens linked to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and has said more sanctions could follow depending on the results of investigations. Frances foreign ministry did not name the individuals but in a statement released on Thursday, it said the move was in coordination with European partners, notably Germany which on Monday banned 18 Saudis and moved to halt all arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The murder of Mr Khashoggi is a crime of extreme gravity, which moreover goes against freedom of the press and the most fundamental rights, the ministry said in a statement. The bans bind all members of the European Unions passport-free Schengen zone, the statement said before adding that France expected a transparent, detailed and exhaustive response from Saudi authorities. These are interim measures that may be reviewed or extended depending on the progress of ongoing investigations. {articleGUID} On November 15, Saudi Arabias deputy public prosecutor had said Riyadh was seeking death penalty for five of the 11 suspects charged with Khashoggis killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month. It [France] recalls its opposition, in all places and in all circumstances, to the death penalty, the ministry said. Highest levels The brutal killing of Khashoggi has drawn global condemnation, including from many politicians and officials in the United States, a key Saudi ally. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested the order to kill the journalist came from the highest levels of the Saudi government but refused to blame Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia has denied Prince Mohammed ordered the killing. After offering numerous contradictory explanations, Riyadh admitted last month Khashoggi was killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed. Cavusoglu said Ankara may seek a formal United Nations inquiry if its liaising with Riyadh comes to an impasse. The experts of the National Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan recommend to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. In Kazakhstan, according to the 6th National Study (2015), the prevalence of overweight and obesity was 42.5 percent. The overweight rate among the adult population of the country was 33.3 percent. The WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (or COSI) multicenter study involving 5,537 children aged 8-10, which was conducted in 2015 and 2016, showed that 2 out of 10 children were overweight or obese. Doctors warn that there are 11 teaspoons of sugar in a cup of vanilla latte (4 grams of sugar in a teaspoon), 11.25 in sweet tea, 16.5 in soda water, 18.5 in juice, and 19 teaspoons of sugar in energy drinks. Daily consumption of a can of soda water can result in gaining 7 kg of weight. The World Health Organization recommends consuming no more than 25 grams (6 teaspoons) of sugar per day. However, as you know, not only sweets contain sugar. It should be mentioned, there are healthy options: one can add lemon, cucumber, watermelon to water for flavor, drink sparkling water instead of carbonated drink. Sweet drinks decrease hunger for a short time, therefore, they do not virtually affect the amount of food consumed by a person after. But, the easily digested carbohydrates mainly transform into fat, the experts explain. Any soda water contains acid, from relatively harmless carbonic acid (that almost immediately decomposes into gas and water) to orthophosphoric that can dissolve not only teeth but even nails (fasteners). Phosphorus of orthophosphoric acid can reduce the calcium contained in the bones. As children's bones grow, even insignificant metabolic disorders can cause serious problems in the future. Metabolic disorders and excess weight promote calcium loss. Disorders of digestion and absorption increase the chances of illness. Overweight and obesity can lead to hypertension and diabetes, and pose the risks of more serious cardiovascular diseases in the future. Ghosns arrest casts shadow over carmakers alliance as French and Japanese finance ministers prepare to meet on issue. Nissan Motor Co will hold a board meeting on Thursday to remove Chairman Carlos Ghosn after his shock arrest earlier this week, heralding what could be a long period of uncertainty in its 19-year alliance with Renault. The alliance between the French and Japanese carmakers, enlarged in 2016 to include Japans Mitsubishi Motors, has been rattled by Ghosns arrest in Tokyo on Monday when the 64-year-old group chairman was accused of financial misconduct. Ghosn had shaped the alliance and was pushing for deeper ties including, potentially, at the French governments urging, a full merger despite strong reservations at the Japanese carmaker. Carlos Ghosn, who was arrested on Monday, pictured earlier this year at an event in the US [Steve Marcus/Reuters] Amid growing uncertainty over the future of the alliance, finance ministers of Japan and France are also due to meet in Paris on Thursday. Renault has refrained from removing Ghosn from his position, although he remains in detention along with Representative Director Greg Kelly, whom Nissan also accuses of financial misconduct. Break-up impossible For me, the future of the alliance is the bigger deal, one senior Nissan official told reporters on Wednesday when asked about Ghosns arrest. Its obvious that in this age, we need to do things together. To part would be impossible. Nissans board meeting will be held sometime after 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT) at its headquarters in Yokohama and the company is likely to issue a statement afterwards, the official said, requesting anonymity as the details were confidential. Renault executives are expected to join by video conference. Nissan said on Monday an internal investigation triggered by a tip-off from a whistle-blower had revealed that Ghosn had been engaged in wrongdoing for years, including the personal use of company money and under-reporting of his earnings. Japanese prosecutors said he and Kelly conspired to understate Ghosns compensation at Nissan over five years from 2010, saying it was about half the actual amount of 10 bn yen. Ghosn and Kelly have not commented on the accusations and Reuters has not been able to reach them. The Asahi Shimbun said on Thursday, quoting unnamed sources, that Ghosn had given Kelly orders by email to make false statements on his remuneration. Tokyo prosecutors likely seized the related emails and may use them as evidence, the report said. The Yomiuri, Japans biggest-circulation daily, cited unnamed sources as saying that Nissans internal investigation found that Ghosn had since 2002 instructed that about $100,000 a year be paid to his elder sister as remuneration for a non-existent advisory role. Philippines: Artists protest authoritarianism through their work Philippine artists are using their talents to fight back against a government they accuse of silencing free speech. Protests mark Lebanons 75th independence day from France Theres been no functioning government for more than six months as politicians argue about power-sharing. Riyaz Naikoo is one of the most wanted armed Kashmiri fighters with a bounty of 12 lakh (approximately $170,00) on his head. The 31-year-old former mathematics teacher is the commander of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), a pro-Pakistan armed separatist group that opposes Indian rule in Kashmir. The HM group, founded in 1989, is regarded as a terrorist organisation by India as well as the United States and the European Union. The Himalayan region is home to seven decades of conflict, with more than half a million Indian forces deployed to fight rebel groups demanding either independence or merger with Pakistan. Since the armed rebellion erupted in 1989, more than 70,000 people have been killed, according to estimates by a local human rights federation, Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). In 2010, mass protests erupted again, during which more than 100 civilians were killed the worst violence in a decade that saw stone-throwing Kashmiri youths hitting the streets against Indian rule. The killing of popular HM commander Burhan Wani in 2016 sparked the current phase of deadly protests that has pushed a growing number of youths towards armed rebellion. Al Jazeera spoke to Naikoo over the phone to discuss whether he would consider negotiating with India, the strategy behind armed struggle and his vision for Kashmirs future. Al Jazeera reached out to the Indian government for comment but was yet to receive a response at the time of publication. Al Jazeera: Why did you decide to take up arms, what convinced you to join HM? Riyaz Naikoo: In 2003, a cousin of my mother was martyred. This was when the reality of Kashmir touched me personally for the first time. I was in class 11 (eleventh grade). My parents wanted me to go outside Kashmir to complete higher education, but I was attracted to the idea of resistance and knew that I will not be able to serve on the ground if I went away. I worked as a teacher for more than three years and was also involved in social work in Pulwama district. During this time, I came in touch with a senior fighter, Parvaiz Musharraf. I used to talk to him a lot and would ask him questions about why he had joined and how they would succeed even though they were outnumbered. He would explain my queries, and he also gave me his personal diary, which I would often read, [it] is still with me. On March 21, 2010, he was martyred. I finally became an active fighter on 1 June 2012 under my code name, Zubair. Those days, it was not easy to survive, as our numbers were low. From the threats to our lives to pangs of hunger, we saw it all. Since then I have met and lost many fellow fighters and friends. My family has suffered a lot and are routinely harassed since I joined the armed rebellion. Our house has been attacked so many times, and my brother, uncles, and father have been arrested many times. Al Jazeera: Do you still believe in the strategy of armed resistance? Naikoo: Allow me to quote the great Nelson Mandela, who wrote the following words in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom: A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor. At a point, one can only fight fire with fire. The Indian military occupation of Jammu and Kashmir which we are fighting against is the longest-running and the most brutal occupation in the contemporary era, which compares with the occupation of Palestine in its scope and intensity, yet the reality of abuses here is much less known. Yes, we have chosen the path of armed struggle, but primarily, we are for peace, not war. It is the nature of the occupying Indian state that has compelled us to resort to violent methods of resistance. Kashmiri people did not pick up arms for more than 40 years since occupation began in 1947. It was only after continuous repression and scuttling of all peaceful means of resistance that we were compelled to do so. There are many United Nations resolutions that call for a plebiscite to determine the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. But the Indian state has repeatedly refused to recognise or implement them, and they keep labelling Kashmir as their internal matter, which goes against the legality and history of the dispute. Armed struggle is not exactly our first choice, but it is a difficult choice that some of us have made, and we will remain steadfast on our chosen path. You must know that this scenario is not unique in history. Such has been the case with all freedom struggles against colonial rule, be it the Indian freedom struggle against the British, or the Algerian movement against the French, or the struggle of the Libyan people against Italian rule. The people of Kashmir are the life-blood of our resistance. Al Jazeera: Given that many young men are being killed, what makes you continue to take up arms? Naikoo: By raising our guns against Indian rule in Kashmir, we want to let them know that we will not accept the occupation of our land under any circumstance. We will respond to their force with force since that seems to be the only language they understand. We will continue to stand up for our right to self-determination and we are ready to fight until our last breath. Most of all, we want to let them know that we might die in the struggle, but we will never surrender. No colonial occupation has continued forever, and it is our firm belief that the Indian rule in Kashmir will also collapse sooner or later, until then, we will fight. Obviously, such resistance comes at a cost, and Indian forces continue to kill Kashmiri people with impunity. The determination, resistance and sacrifices of our people men and women, old and young, widows and orphans, half-mothers [mothers whose children have disappeared] and disappeared sons, those in prisons and in torture centres, motivate us to carry on. Al Jazeera: What are your demands? Do you see Pakistan as part of what you want? Naikoo: Our demand is very simple freedom. Freedom, for us, means the complete dismantling of Indias illegal occupation of Kashmir and all the structures that support it, be they military or economic. We want to get rid of the structures that have enslaved not just the territory of Kashmir but also the free expression and social and economic well-being of our people. We want our freedom with justice and dignity. We consider Pakistan as our ideological and moral friend. Pakistan is the only country which has consistently supported our cause and raised the concerns of Kashmiri freedom struggle at international forums. Pakistans creation as the homeland for Muslims of the Indian subcontinent links us to it historically as we were a Muslim majority region whose geography was contiguous with Pakistan. Most importantly, even if the Pakistani states support for Kashmir cause has, at times, wavered circumstantially, the people of Pakistan have always stood by us and our cause. Al Jazeera: Would you ever engage in negotiations or back-channel talks with India? Naikoo: We are not against negotiations with India. But negotiations can only lead to a fruitful outcome when they take place between parties that recognise each other as equals. Negotiations cannot happen between a master and a slave or, as the great thinker of Palestinian armed struggle, Ghassan Kanafani, very aptly put it, as the conversation between the sword and the neck. Some Indian leaders insist that we must talk within the ambit of the Indian constitution; what they really mean is capitulation. They are not interested in honouring our legitimate political demands. They are only interested in pushing for policies and mechanisms that further entrench the occupational apparatus. Al Jazeera: What is the ideology behind your struggle? Are you interested in connecting with other armed groups fighting occupation in different countries? Naikoo: Our ideology is of peace with justice. But our struggle is for each and every citizen of occupied Jammu and Kashmir who lives and suffers under the shadow of occupation. As followers of Islam, we are taught by our religion to fight all forms of oppression till oppression is decimated. Islam motivates us to sacrifice for the cause of universal justice. To the people all over the world who might be reading this, let me assure them that we are in solidarity with all those people, irrespective of their religion and their geography, who are living under occupations and are fighting struggles for their freedom. We understand their plight, their challenges, their hopes and their desires as only an oppressed can understand the pain of other oppressed. Having said that, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is an indigenous Kashmiri organisation which derives its cadres and logistics locally and, in that, we are self-sufficient. Thus, we do not need support of any armed group in military terms, but we do encourage diplomatic, moral, and activist solidarity from those who would recognise the legitimacy of our struggle for liberation. Al Jazeera: What kind of Kashmir do you want? Do you want a religious state? Naikoo: Freedom struggle is a long drawn out process and it evolves over a period of time. Our immediate goal is to end the Indian occupation and drive its military and political apparatus out of our land. As for our future, we envision the creation of a free space whereby the nature of the state can be deliberated upon freely. The paradigms of this debate can, and will change with time. Having said that, as you know, Kashmir is a Muslim majority region and therefore the people have a special affinity with the laws, principles and ethos of Islam. I must mention here that we, very much based on our religion, envision a system that encompasses the protection of minorities, which appreciates dialogue and tolerance, which has a great tradition of free thinking, which does not tolerate slavery, and which strives for equality. We seek guidance from Allah, to whom sovereignty belongs, to strive for peace and justice, and unlike the forces of oppression, we are not guided by the egos of the power hungry. Al Jazeera: When civilians come out on the streets to protect the fighters from Indian forces, they end up being killed, arrested or hurt. Do you feel this will end up fermenting bitterness and have your own supporters turn their backs on you? Naikoo: Kashmiri people are not new to the streets of Kashmir. They have been protesting the Indian occupation since 1947, and the oppressive Dogra rule [in the 20th century] before that. While earlier, people used to run away from entire villages the army was about to cordon, now times have changed and we are seeing that people especially our youth are continuously putting their lives at risk. We are extremely thankful to all those people who in one way or other are fighting this illegal occupation. We must also understand that we as armed fighters are not different from people. We are different organs of the same body. There is no essential binary of difference between armed fighters and common people. Occupations bullets do not make a distinction between civilians and fighters, nor do its prisons. We are united with our people in life and death. Adel al-Jubeir takes to airwaves to defend Prince Mohammed and terms Khashoggis killing as unfortunate accident. Journalist Jamal Khashoggis murder was an unfortunate accident and any discussion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was responsible and may not take the throne is outrageous, the foreign minister said. In a series of interviews on Wednesday, Adel al-Jubeir reiterated that calls for Prince Mohammed to be held accountable for Khashoggis shocking killing are a red line. We will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince, Jubeir told the BBC. On other television networks, Jubeir steadfastly defended Prince Mohammed despite a CIA assessment reportedly saying there was high probability that he ordered the murder. We have made it very clear that Saudi Arabias government is not involved in this and the crown prince is not involved in this at all, he told US network CNBC. The foreign minister was also asked about a Reuters news agency report this week that quoted Saudi sources saying a move was in play to prevent Prince Mohammed from ascending the throne after his father, King Salman, 82. These are outrageous comments that have been made and are totally unacceptable. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is committed to its leadership, he said. The crown prince has the confidence of every Saudi citizen, including King Salman. The crown prince is the architect and driving force behind the reform programme in Saudi Arabia and the Vision of 2030, Jubeir told CBS. In a statement on Wednesday, Reuters said: We stand by our story. Punish individuals Khashoggi a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and his body was reportedly dismembered. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people involved in the rogue operation had been taken into custody. We have made that very clear. We have investigations ongoing and we will punish the individuals who are responsible for this, said Jubeir. President Donald Trump had on Tuesday said the United States would not take punitive measures against the kingdom or the crown prince over Khashoggis murder. Trump said the US intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia even though it could very well be that Prince Mohammed had knowledge of Khashoggis killing. The president added he did not intend to cancel tens of billions of dollars worth of military deals with Saudi Arabia, saying if we foolishly cancel these contracts, Russia and China would be the enormous beneficiaries. {articleGUID} Unblemished partners Trump on Wednesday ignored criticism that he gave Saudi Arabia a free pass on Khashoggis murder, instead praising Riyadh for keeping oil prices low. US defence chief James Mattis reiterated Trumps stance to stand by the kingdom. On the Khashoggi affair, presidents dont often get the freedom to work with unblemished partners in all things, said Mattis on Wednesday. He highlighted the brutal war in Yemen that the Saudi-Emirati coalition has waged since 2015. If you want to end the war, youre going to deal with Saudi. You cant say, Im not going to deal with them, the Pentagon head said. US and South Korea in discussions over scope of 2019 Foal Eagle military exercises. Decision expected next month. US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said on Wednesday a joint military exercise with South Korea called Foal Eagle would be reduced in scope next year so it does not harm diplomatic efforts with North Korea. Foal Eagle is being reorganised a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy, Mattis told reporters. The Foal Eagle field exercise, which usually involves thousands of combined ground, air, naval and special operations troops from the militaries of South Korea and the United States, takes place every spring. Mattis did not provide details on what a scaled-back version of the exercise would entail. South Koreas defence ministry said on Thursday the allies were still in talks over next years drill and they would formally announce their decision early next month. Both sides militaries are discussing ways to prop up the two governments diplomatic efforts to bring progress on North Koreas denuclearisation, spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo told a news briefing in Seoul. US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed at an unprecedented summit in June to work towards denuclearisation and peace on the Korean Peninsula and establish new relations. Focus on denuclearisation The US and South Korea have suspended a number of military exercises since then to encourage talks with North Korea. However, negotiations have made little headway, with the North upset by Washingtons insistence that international sanctions must remain until the country gives up its nuclear weapons. Trump caught many US officials off guard when he announced after his summit with Kim that the US was suspending the summers joint military drills with South Korea, known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian. The new commander of US forces in South Korea, General Robert Abrams, said in September the decision to suspend some joint exercises was a prudent risk but had caused a slight degradation in military readiness. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week the US had told the South it should not improve ties with North Korea faster than Pyongyang takes steps to give up its nuclear weapons. In a rare sign of discord between Seoul and Washington last month, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Pompeo had expressed discontent at an inter-Korean military pact reached during a summit in September. Trump renews threat to shut US-Mexico border as more Central Americans arrive to begin long wait to apply for asylum. President Donald Trump is threatening to close the US border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines that its southern ally has lost control on its side. The repeated threat, which came on Thanksgiving Day in the US, is in response to thousands of migrants and refugees who have arrived in the border town of Tijuana, many hoping to apply for asylum. If we find that its uncontrollable, Trump said, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control. The whole border. Thousands of Central Americans, fleeing violence, extreme poverty and political persecution, have made their way to the border over the past month as part of a caravan dubbed the Central American exodus. Thousands more are following behind. Caravans from the region are not rare, but this one is unusual for its size. Migrants and refugees often prefer to travel in groups to avoid the dangerous journey through Mexico to the border. According to Mexicos Baja California state governor, more than 5,600 migrants and refugees have arrived in the Tijuana area in recent days and the stadium sheltering individuals is now over capacity. Migrants and refugees stand in line for a meal after arriving in Tijuana, Mexico [Jorge Duenes/Reuters] {articleGUID} Central Americans who are part of the collective exodus have shared harrowing stories of being forced to leave their homes due to threats or violence. Others, including those with or caring for individuals with disabilities or health conditions, are hoping to find work in the United States to be able to afford medical treatment. Since the initial collective exodus set off from Honduras in October, Trump has sought to sow fear in the US, often falsely labelling the group as an invasion and saying, without giving evidence, the caravan is full of criminals. Authority to use lethal force The president also deployed thousands of troops to the border, and this week gave the US defence chief expanded powers to use the military to protect US Border Patrol agents. On Thursday, Trump confirmed that he gave troops the ok to use lethal force against migrants and refugees if they have to, even though there have been no signs of violence towards US authorities. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is set to hold a large-scale operational readiness exercise at the San Ysidro port of entry in Tijuana on Thursday. A boy, part of a caravan of thousands travelling from Central America en route to the US, walks through a makeshift camp in Mexico City [Hannah McKay/Reuters] {articleGUID} The administration also implemented new asylum rules on the border, which were temporarily blocked by a US judge. Under the new rules, individuals crossing the border between official ports of entry would not be eligible for asylum. Rights groups call the rules a violation of US and international laws. On Monday, US District Judge John Tigar issued a temporary nationwide restraining order prohibiting the enforcement of the policy, saying Whatever the scope of the presidents authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden. Many of those who have arrived in Tijuana say they want to apply for asylum at an official port of entry. Frustrated with an expected months-long waiting period before they are permitted to request asylum in the US, a group of some 100 migrants and refugees walked together to the San Ysidro port of entry Thursday to request a solution. Additional reporting from Sandra Cuffe in Tijuana, Mexico. Document still needs to be agreed by leaders at summit this weekend, after agreement reached at negotiator level. The United Kingdom and the European Union have agreed on a draft political declaration that sets out the terms of the post-Brexit relationship between London and Brussels. Speaking outside her official residence at 10 Downing Street in London on Thursday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that the Brexit deal is the right deal for the UK. The British people want this to be settled, they want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future, said May. That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it. The UK and EU agreed the terms for the draft divorce deal last week. That agreement is legally binding and covers the terms of Britains withdrawal from the EU. It addresses the UKs so-called divorce bill and outlines the backstop agreement, that will ensure no return to a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, in the event that the UK and EU fail to reach a future trade agreement. The draft political declaration is aspirational and not legally binding, but it sets out the future framework for EU-UK relations after Brexit, paving the way for an EU summit this weekend to rubber-stamp the agreements. Red lines crossed On Thursday, President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said the EU executive informed him it has agreed on the text in principle and that the leaders of the 27 remaining EU states would screen the text on Thursday at a meeting in Brussels. The Commission president has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the leaders, Tusk said. He said May and the European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, discussed the text on Wednesday. The declaration established the parameters of an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic cooperation and other areas, according to a copy of the document seen by the AFP. {articleGUID} Al Jazeeras Neave Barker, reporting from London, said the document, which has been largely leaked, suggests some previous red lines may have been crossed to secure a deal. There appear to be quite a few red lines that might have been crossed. Firstly, the suggestion that if EU or UK people want to stay on in each others territories for any length of time, they may need visas. That had been a big issue, some major concerns had been raised about that, he said. Also, there is no mention of frictionless trade, seen as being absolutely vital for the health of the British economy going forward. The EU and the UK will now be seen as mutually exclusive trading areas, raising the prospect of barriers with, of course, worrying implications for what that may mean for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland or Gibraltar and Spain. Representatives from all 28 EU countries are set to meet on Friday to prepare for the weekend summit. Gibraltar, fishing rights issues remain Some EU member states have raised objections to the divorce deal that was agreed at the UK-European Commission level and work is still ongoing among those states, European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said Thursday. Spain wants stronger language underlining its role in any decisions on Gibraltar, a British territory on the tip of the Iberian peninsula. Meanwhile, several member states are concerned about the impact of Brexit on fishing rights in the waters around Britain. I can confirm that the issue of Gibraltar, like the issue of fishing, are questions that still need to be tackled, resolved, he said. There are ideas, contacts are ongoing, he added, in relation to Gibraltar. May addressed the issue on Thursday and said she thought a deal could be done. May said she had spoken to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and added: I am confident that on Sunday well be able to agree a deal that delivers for the whole UK family, including Gibraltar. Daniela Tejada accuses UK Foreign Office of ignoring her pleas for help over her husbands arrest and sentencing. The wife of a British student who was sentenced to life in prison for spying in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has condemned the United Kingdom government for putting diplomatic relations before an innocent mans freedom. Daniela Tejada told the BBC on Thursday that UK Foreign Office officials bungled the 31-year-old PhD student Matthew Hedges case. Tejada, who is due to meet the UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, said British officials gave the impression they were putting their interests with the UAE above a British citizens rightful freedom and his welfare. She added that they were stepping on eggshells instead of taking a firm stance. Britain views the UAE as a strategic Middle East ally which it supplies with arms. Hedges was arrested at Dubai airport on May 5 and has been held in detention since. His sentencing on Wednesday shocked the UK and put political pressure on the foreign secretary. He was researching the UAEs foreign and internal security policies after the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011, studies that Britain insisted were entirely innocuous, but which the UAE said threatened its political and economic security. Serious diplomatic consequences On Thursday, Hunt warned the UAE of serious diplomatic consequences over the case. Prime Minister Theresa May also told a session of the parliament she was deeply disappointed and instructed the Foreign Office to continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis. Al Jazeeras Paul Brennan, reporting from London, said the sentence may have come as a shock to the Foreign Office, especially after they had a meeting with a UAE leader 10 days ago. Apparently [Hunt] was given assurances about Hedges fate and the likely outcome of the proceedings, those assurances appear to have been worthless, Brennan said, adding that Tejada has also been critical of the UAEs handling of the case. The family are extremely unhappy with the process that was followed, that he was held without being told what the charges against him were. Not their duty Tejada said she pleaded with the Foreign Office to force the UAE to release Hedges from solitary confinement throughout his pre-trial detention. They just disregarded my requests. They said that it wasnt part of their job, that it wasnt part of their duty. Her voice broke down several times as she described the fear that gripped her husband during the sentencing. He was very, very scared when he was standing in front of the judge, said Tejada. He started shaking when the translator told him the sentence. He actually had to ask to double-check if he had heard right. In a separate interview with the Reuters news agency, Tejada called on the Emirati authorities to free him. Handing a life sentence to an innocent researcher who held the UAE in high regard speaks volumes about their lack of tolerance and respect for human life, she said. They must review their sentence and release my husband who has already had more than six months taken away from us. Meanwhile, lecturers at the University of Birmingham will refuse to teach in Dubai or provide the Abu Dhabi campus with any support following the sentencing, reported The Guardian. We call on the university to enter into meaningful negotiations with the trade unions to ensure they protect the safety and wellbeing of staff and students on the Dubai campus, James Brackley, president of the Birmingham branch of the University and College Union (UCU), said. We also call on them to hold back on the expansion of the campus until safeguards are in place. Many families during Thanksgiving are grateful for survival, the sharing of victories and struggles. Stories are retold of what people hold most precious, the core values of love, courage, and generosity. A recently published book shows how peoples furry friends answered the call to duty. War Animals by national bestselling author Robin Hutton recounts the experiences of horses, mules, dogs, and pigeons that were all a part of the Allied war machine. They were messengers, spies, and sentinels. They carried supplies to the front, comforted wounded soldiers, became POWs, and were a vital part of the search and rescue effort during the German Blitz of London. This is Huttons second book in the War Animal" series. In the first one, she recounted the story of Reckless, a sorrel mare, small for her size, that joined the Marines during the Korean War. Employed to help move heavy recoilless rifles and ammunition across steep and treacherous terrain, she regularly proved her bravery and endurance, making precarious trips hauling ammunition to soldiers in need, often under heavy fire. Once home, news of her promotion to staff sergeant quickly spread, though that notoriety has since faded. Hutton's passion and admiration for Reckless is shown when she raised the money for not one but three monuments to this courageous horse, at Quantico, Camp Pendleton, and at the Kentucky Horse Park. In this latest book, incredible and inspiring true stories are told of some animals who received the PDSA Dickin Medal during WWII and lesser-known stories of other military animals whose acts of heroism have until now been largely forgotten. Founded in 1943, the prestigious PDSA Dickin Medal is the highest award an animal can achieve for gallantry and bravery in the field of military conflict, a Victoria Cross of sorts for animals. War dogs came about after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead of originating from within the military, the war dog was founded by New York socialite Arlene Erlanger. She was a poodle breeder and wanted to help the allied effort. Starting a grassroots movement, she created Dog for Defense Inc., a volunteer organization that recruited a canine army, known as the K-9 Corps. Owners of dogs donated their personal pets to the war effort. The 40,000 animals were whittled down to about 19,000 after the first cut, but ultimately a little over 10,000 were chosen. The requirements included dogs that were between 28 inches tall at the shoulder, and no more than five years old. Once trained, they were put on assignment with strict secrecy imposed. The British also started up a war dog program in May 1941, and asked for citizens to volunteer their dogs. The War Dogs Training School officially opened for business on May 5, 1942 at a greyhound kennels in Northaw. Forty recruits were awaiting training. By the end of the war some 3,300 had been successfully dispatched to units across the globe. Each of these stories will leave readers spellbound, but the most heartfelt one was that of Judy, an English Pointer. Chosen as a mascot for a Royal Navy gunboat, she provided a huge morale boost. After some of the crew was reassigned to another ship, Judy went with them. In 1942, attacked by more than a hundred Japanese bombers, the ship sank, but luckily Judy survived the shipwreck with some crew members. On March 18th, 1942 Judy and the surviving sailors were captured by the Japanese and became prisoners of war in a forced labor camp. A new arrival, RAF pilot Frank Williams, took pity on her and decided that she would be his companion. He taught her to obey signals and whispered speech, while she brought scraps of food she salvaged to him. Transferred to an even more brutal labor camp, Frank worked up to sixteen hours a day to build railroad tracks. Williams described her as a skinny animal that kept herself alive through cunning and instinct I do not exaggerate when I say that this dog, with her example of courage to live, saved many of us who would surely have died. Liberated in August 1945 by the allied soldiers, she lived with Frank until her death on February 16th, 1950. Hutton noted, When I heard about Judy I knew she would be the heart and soul of this book. Her story touched me and it would also touch readers. She was resilient and became the heart of the POW camp. The men would say if Judy can make it so can I. They persevered because of her and never gave up. Today dogs are used to help with PTSD and back then Judy was no different. She provided comfort and security. Another brave dog was the U.S. Army's Chips, a German Shepherd-Collie-Husky mix trained as a sentry who attacked an Italian machine-gun crew, sustaining powder burns and saving his handler's life. He actually received the Silver Star, but it was revoked in 1944 after a national commander complained. Known as Mr. Chips, he was honorably discharged on December 10th, 1945. Private John Rowell who served with the canine partner wrote, We went through a lot together he is really wonderful. He saved my life more than once when things were tough. Hutton decided to nominate Chips for a Dickins Medal since he is Americas most decorated war dog. He received it this January. Some of the most special dogs were those used for search and rescue. Irma is an example of how the dogs gallantly found survivors. She is an Alsatian that was bred with exceptional intelligence and a strong devotion to duty. Her owner wrote in 1945, Irma gave the position of victims under a collapsed house and although there was some doubt in the minds of the men who were working on the ruins, excavations were made. As a result, they discovered two girls, both alive. This rescue was especially impressive because Irma refused to give up on the location, and kept returning to it, even after two days. Only because of her tenacity did the two girls survive. Today there are dogs whose duties are to search and rescue and others that recover. Irma was a pioneer since she was able to discern if a victim was alive or dead, and inform the human rescuers with different barks. Hutton hopes readers discover the heart of the animals and how they will do anything for us. They deserve to be honored because they answered the call of duty. I have some projects that I hope will do just that. I am putting together an International War American Museum in Washington D.C. where people can learn about these wonderful animals. I think there should be a medal of honor for dogs served. Each branch should have a medal to bestow on these animals. I also would love to do a war animal TV series that would have two or three stories with re-enactments showing the role they had throughout history, especially during wartime. In reading this book people are able to see how the animals served valiantly. The author writes for American Thinker. She has done book reviews, author interviews, and has written a number of national security, political, and foreign policy articles. The GOP-led House of Representatives must pass critical legislation before the Democrats take over Congress in January. Obamacare repeal and the Merit Act must be proposed, but most importantly, the House must pass immigration legislation that will facilitate President Trump's ability to seal the border and build the wall. If this is not done, GOP RINOs will work with Democrats to propose immigration "reform" that will include a massive amnesty, reflecting the desires of all Democrats to shore up their voting base with millions of imported voters and please the Chamber of Commerce and big business with the prospect of even more low-wage workers who will depress wages and steal American jobs. Finally, if you think the caravans are bad now, legislation proposed by Democrats and their RINO allies would create a veritable tidal wave of caravans. If this happens, the GOP can kiss goodbye any chance of retaking the House in 2020. And do we have confidence the Senate would not support such legislation? If they did, GOP senators will be slaughtered in 2020 as well, and we may be looking at a President Harris, Booker, or possibly even Clinton. That would be a disaster, to put it mildly. I don't think our nation would ever recover. Venezuela, here we come. And forget about the caravans, which are really invasion forces of mostly young, defiant males. As it stands, illegal aliens flooding the border are apprehended at the rate of almost 12,000 per week! Those are the ones we caught. When Trump first took office, border apprehensions dropped to historically low levels. But with the unprecedented pushback from the hard left with lawsuits and accommodating activist judges, Central American migrants got the word that they could still get away with illegally entering the U.S. As shown in the table below, today, the numbers of illegals being apprehended at the border are approaching the highest levels of the Obama administration. Remember: these people are given a trial date for their asylum claims that will be heard months or even years from now there is a backlog of over 1 million asylum cases already on the books. Few show up. De facto amnesty. And as we have seen all over the country, Democrats are registering illegals, allowing them to legally vote in some local elections, and even urging them to vote illegally in some cases. The House must pass immigration legislation now, during the lame duck, and ram it through Congress for passage in the lame duck Senate. Critics of this idea say outgoing senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker will vote against anything the GOP House does on immigration, health care, and whatever else. But we are in a unique position. It is crystal-clear that the House was lost because the GOP refused to wholeheartedly support the Trump agenda, and those candidates who spurned Trump were the losers. It seems that if Senate leadership exerted the effort they did to nominate Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, they could perhaps arm-twist Flake and Corker into leaving the Senate with honor, rather than their disgraceful records of betrayal. But even if they refused to go along, Flake and Corker would be the ones to take the blame. If the House instead does nothing during the lame duck session, the entire GOP Congress will get the blame. In addition to squandering what may be the last opportunity on real immigration reform, our nation will have to put up with the continuing Obamacare health care disaster and continue to witness widespread bureaucratic insubordination. In 2020, the United States will be taken over by the Democrats. The base is rightfully infuriated at the GOP House for doing nothing. It will be worse then because they will be totally demoralized. Many already are. Minnesota, for example, looks to be a lost cause now. How on Earth could a corrupt, abusive anti-Semite like Keith Ellison get elected? How could a corrupt politician like Ilhan Omar, who committed immigration fraud by marrying her brother to get into the U.S., ever get elected? Minnesota is the canary in the coal mine. According to my sources, the blue wave that did happen there was all over the state. In fact, it was so overwhelming that there may have been some kind of large-scale electoral shenanigans going on. What else is new? This is how Democrats play. The Somali leadership there, in bed with terror-supporting groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), are expert at every description of fraud they didn't earn the moniker "Somali pirates" for nothing. (The Democrats are no better, as we all well know witness what is going on in Florida.) The only option is to pass muscular legislation and use every bit of leverage Senate leadership and the president have to arm-twist Corker and Flake into supporting the legislation rather than make their parting gift to the GOP Congress a nuclear bomb in the GOP's lap. I think Flake at least has been offered a lucrative post-Senate job by liberals. He should be offered a better job if that might work. Bribery? Sure the Dems do it every day. GOP margins of victory in this election were razor-thin. With continued overwhelming immigration, they will get thinner and thinner. As Democrats have said, "demographics is destiny." Do you realize that because of massive immigration, both legal and illegal, that has occurred over the past 18 years, many states are rapidly becoming minority-majority states? Texas is already there. The Hispanic population currently exceeds that of non-Hispanic whites, who now constitute only 40.3 percent of the electorate. (Note: All tables in this article provide statistics for non-Hispanic whites, blacks, and other.) And because Hispanics typically vote about 70 percent Democrat (69 percent in 2018), the only things keeping Texas red are (1) low turnout among Hispanics and other minorities and (2) a large proportion of illegal aliens who mostly don't vote. The "other" category almost quadrupled since 2000. Under President Obama, Texas surpassed California as the largest refugee resettlement state, but many more categories of immigrant settled in the Lone Star State also. Texas Population 2000 & 2018 White Hispanic Black Other Total 2000 11,074,716 6,669,666 2,364,255 743,183 20,851,820 % Total 53.1% 32.0% 11.3% 3.6% 100.0% 2018 11,826,470 12,181,167 3,348,098 2,010,744 29,366,479 % Total 40.3% 41.5% 11.4% 6.8% 100.0% Source: Texas Department of State Health Services and Census Bureau. Democrats have already mounted a full-throated effort to register low-turnout minorities and non-citizens. If Texas goes blue, there will never be another GOP president elected. That Texas is on a razor-thin margin was borne out by the relatively close election between conservative stalwart Ted Cruz and the unknown socialist skateboarding adolescent, "Beto" O'Rourke. "Beto" allegedly lost some votes because some of his supporters were too stupid to know that his real name, as printed on the ballots, is Robert. Cruz won with 50.9 percent of the vote to O'Rourke's 48.3 percent. Among Latinos, O'Rourke took 64 percent, while Cruz got 35 percent. Overall, minorities went for Beto 69 percent to 31 percent. How about Arizona? In the race for the U.S. Senate, it seems impossible that Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat who openly expressed her contempt for average Arizonans and said she had no problem with Americans fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan, could successfully challenge Rep. Martha McSally, the first female combat pilot, who rose to the rank of colonel during her Air Force career. Kelli Ward was probably a better candidate, but as usual, the GOP backed the moderate, and with Arpaio in the race, the conservative vote was split. Still, are you kidding me? Krysten Sinema? Look at the stats and see why. Arizona Population 2000 & 2017 White Hispanic Black Other Total 2000 3,274,258 1,295,617 149,941 410,816 5,130,632 % Total 63.8% 25.3% 2.9% 8.0% 100.0% 2017 3,836,639 2,202,173 290,379 687,079 7,016,270 % Total 54.7% 31.4% 4.1% 9.8% 100.0% Source: Census Bureau Race and Hispanic Origin. Arizona's Hispanic population jumped 54.5 percent between 2000 and 2018. The "Other" category, which includes refugees and people from all over the world, grew 178.4 percent. You can be sure the majority of these demographic shifts favor Democrats, or they would be screaming to the rafters to close our borders and halt immigration. What about Florida? Have a look. The Hispanic population increased 76.6 percent. The "other" category increased 170.2 percent. The white population has barely changed, reducing it to a slim majority in the state. Florida Population 2000 & 2017 White Hispanic Black Other Total 2000 10,458,509 2,682,715 2,264,268 576,886 15,982,378 % Total 65.4% 16.8% 14.2% 3.6% 100.0% 2017 11,288,419 5,370,860 3,224,452 1,100,669 20,984,400 % Total 53.8% 25.6% 15.4% 5.2% 100.0% Source: Census Bureau Race and Hispanic Origin. These things are happening all over the country. Simmering on the back burner for decades, the Democrats' open-borders policies are stealing our nation before our eyes. We are right down to the wire. U.S. Population 2000 & 2017 White Hispanic Black Other Total 2000 194,552,774 35,305,818 33,947,837 17,615,477 281,421,906 %Total 69.1% 12.5% 12.1% 6.3% 100.0% 2017 197,285,202 58,846,134 40,129,593 29,458,249 325,719,178 %Total 60.6% 18.1% 12.3% 9.0% 100.0% Source: Census Bureau Race and Hispanic Origin. Finally, be sure that no matter how much the Democrats spent this year, much more will be spent in 2020. The secretive mega-donor Democracy Alliance met last week in D.C. to discuss this issue, noting especially the benefits that immigration and the increasingly leftist youth vote promises for the desired "permanent progressive majority." They have the money and will flood the elections with it. Do you want the free, prosperous, and stable country we one knew know and loved, or do you want one corrupt from top to bottom, riven with chaos and division, where your income is confiscated to further engorge the left with your hard-earned dollars, while your freedoms vanish in thin air, all enforced by vicious Antifa street mobs? Time to take off the gloves. Our nation is at risk, right now! Demand that Congress man up. Seal the border, and let the chief executive enforce the law! Many Americans -- Christian, Jewish and secular -- find Thanksgiving to be their favorite holiday of the year. And for good reason beyond the joy of a feast. Thanksgiving was the first holiday of the Pilgrim forefathers, who spoke of their voyage to the New World in terms of a flight from persecution to freedom, much like the Israelites exodus from Egypt to reach the Promised Land. Thanksgiving is the holiday that made the other American holidays possible. Without the Pilgrims having courage, a quest for adventure, and a willingness to sacrifice and risk everything, and absolute faith in their cause and calling, they never would have embarked on the unseaworthy 94-foot Mayflower. Were it not for their dream and determination to find freedom of conscience and religion in the New World there may have never been a July 4th Independence Day or many of the other American holidays we take for granted and celebrate every year. After a harrowing passage across the Atlantic -- one that included wild pitching and broadside batterings by gale force winds and ferocious seas that caused the splitting of one of the ships main beams -- the Mayflower was blown off course from the intended destination of the established Virginia Colony to wilds of Cape Cod. The Pilgrims knew not where they were nor how to proceed, so they beseeched the Almighty for favor in a safe arrival and in establishing a new and independent settlement. Now in sight of land after a frightening voyage and facing hunger from depleted provisions, some of the secular Mayflower passengers were clamoring for rebellion. And so, under the direction of Pilgrim leaders William Brewster and William Bradford, the drafting of a governing agreement was undertaken to quell unrest and ensure the establishment of a unified settlement that would be acceptable to both their Christian brethren and the secular crewman and merchant adventurers who made up about half the 102 people aboard the Mayflower. That governing document, known as the Mayflower Compact was introduced solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another, and it was specifically referred to as a covenant. A covenant is an unbreakable agreement -- with precedents being made between God and towering figures of Jewish history -- such as Abraham, Noah, and Moses. After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea and journeyed on to Mt. Sinai, God made a covenant with Moses providing the Israelites the Ten Commandments and other laws -- a necessary requirement before they could proceed and cross into the Promised Land. Similarly, every able man aboard the Mayflower, had to sign the Mayflower Compact before each could cross over and finally set foot in the New World after their ship arrived at Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod at sunrise on Saturday, November 11, 1620. As a covenant adapted to the civil need of forming a government with laws -- established for the general good of the colony -- the Mayflower Compact embodied fundamental principles of self-government and common consent. Thus, the Mayflower Compact was the beginning of democratic government in America, and it is often cited as the cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution. The fact that all the Pilgrims survived the squalid and cramped ship quarters during the dangerous crossing of a vast ocean, is no doubt partially attributable to the good fortune that the Mayflower had previously been enlisted as a wine transport cargo ship. Unlike most ships, she had a sweet smell, from all her decks and bilges being disinfected with wine sloshing and soaking from broken barrels of Bordeaux in the many prior crossings of the sometimes stormy English Channel. That all changed once the Mayflowers passengers settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts in December of 1620. The first winter was devastating, with over half the Pilgrims dying, including nearly half the women. Four whole families perished. But it could have been worse. Had those colonists not settled in Plymouth, adjacent to friendly Native Americans, and had they not befriended two who could speak broken English -- Samoset and Squanto -- perhaps none would have survived. In fact, just four months after the Pilgrims disembarked in Plymouth, Samoset facilitated the signing of a Peace Treaty between the Pilgrim colonists and Massassoit, the chief of the Wampanoag tribe. At the same time native tribesman were teaching the Pilgrims survival skills, showing them how to hunt, fish, and plant various crops, such as corn -- which was unknown to Europeans. The Pilgrims were extraordinarily grateful for the first seasons harvest -- modest though it was -- and decided to invite Massassoit and some of his people to a three-day-long feast, at which they would thank God not only for the harvest, but also for their survival and initial success of a diverse colony that included both Christians and non-believers. No one knows for sure the exact date of this three-day event patterned after the harvest fest in England and also the Feast of Tabernacles in the Jewish calendar. Massassoit arrived with some 100 followers, more than two times the number of the Pilgrims, and for three days they entertained each other and feasted. This feast later became known as the first Thanksgiving, which we now celebrate on the fourth Thursday of November. Some eighteen months after this feast, it came to be known that Massassoit was on the brink of death from an unknown sickness. Governor William Bradford immediately sent elder Edward Winslow to administer natural herbs, medicines, and prayers to Massassoit. Astonishingly, he made full recovery within days, and remarked, Now I see the English are my friends and love me; and whilst I live, I will never forget this kindness they have showed me. Times are very different than they were nearly 400 years ago at the time of the Mayflowers voyage to the New World. But the qualities of character that made the Pilgrims exemplary are as relevant today as they were back then. A contemporary Thanksgiving makeover might include: rekindling a quest for adventure; growing the faith to hold on to a vision of a promised land no matter what; mustering the courage to go against the crowd and defend the truth; gaining determination to endure hardship; rejuvenating a joyful willingness to sacrifice for others; revitalizing respect and tolerance of people of different beliefs and renewing the predisposition to extend love and gratitude at every appropriate opportunity. Scott Powell is a senior fellow at Discovery Institute and managing partner of RemingtonRand LLC. Three generations of his family lived in the Peabody Bradford House, built by a great grandson of Governor William Bradford in 1760 in Kingston, MA. Reach him at scottp@discovery.org. The "unipolar moment" that the United States enjoyed following the end of the Cold War is, for the most part, over. We have entered into what international relations scholars refer to as a "multipolar world" a world of many powers seeking balance against each other. Gone are the days (at least for now) of Washington dictating terms to the rest of the world because the United States was the global hegemon. Today, China, Russia, and others have a say in how the United States can best exercise its power in their respective regions. This multipolar reality has been especially felt in the ever shifting geopolitical sands of the Middle East. The Middle East has been dominated by extreme ethno-religious tribalism for centuries and has long been the focus of great powers. The region has always been important because of its geostrategic position as a crossroads of civilization: it connected the civilizations of Europe and Asia (as well as Africa). The Mideast is also the source of much of the world's oil and natural gas. Over time, other oil- and natural gas-producers have started competing against the Mideast (particularly we here in the United States as well as Russia). Despite this, the region basically remains the world's gas station. The Mideast in Flux The goal of U.S. foreign policy for the region has centered on keeping the region's energy sources available to the world. Because of this, Washington has not been able to rest: the region is constantly faced with the forces of modernity clashing with those of traditionalism and within that framework, various ethno-religious groups jockeying for dominance over one another (as well as over powers like the United States) which could close the region off to the world. This is especially true today, as the intra-religious rivalry between the Sunni Arab world and Shiite Iran crescendos. Iran is poised to obtain a nuclear weapons arsenal that will fundamentally alter the already precarious balance of power in the region. With the believable threat of their nuclear weapons, the Iranians intend to shatter the axis of resistance in the Sunni Arab world while threatening their great rival, the Jewish state of Israel. In so doing, Tehran hopes to force America's withdrawal from the region, thereby leaving Iran as the strongest power in the Mideast. Beginning with Desert Storm, the United States spent the last 30 years running the biggest (failed) social experiment in the world: trying to democratize the Middle East to create long-term "stability." Unfortunately, all of America's military interventions there each one escalating in size and scope have done little to quell the unrest. In fact, American interventions have only worsened the instability in the region. With the old order broken, the region appears to be transitioning away from the Sunni- and Israel-dominated balance of power toward a new Iranian order inimical to American interests. To further the cause of regional hegemony, Iran has aligned with Russia, Turkey, and even China. Washington fears that Iran's possession of nuclear weapons will solidify Iran's claim on the region. Putting Pressure on Iran through Russia Iran, like North Korea, has long been considered a rogue state with malicious nuclear weapons ambitions. Despite their continual calls for "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!," the Obama administration made an ill advised executive agreement with the mullahs of Iran that effectively allowed Iran a path to acquiring nuclear weapons. The Obama deal then normalized the country with the outside world. Basically, Obama legitimized the virulently anti-American, revisionist regime in Iran at the expense of American allies in Israel and throughout the Sunni Arab world. While President Trump has (rightly) shredded the horrible Obama agreement with Iran, it remains to be seen if an Israeli-Sunni Arab concert can contain the growth of Iran. Despite his tough talk on Iran, Trump appears disinclined to repeat the mistakes of his Republican presidential predecessor, George W. Bush, by invading another Muslim country. Trump has even intimated over the last year that he'd be willing to meet with Iran's leadership (without preconditions) and make a deal just as he has done with North Korea. What few acknowledge is that the North Koreans came to the negotiating table because of the increasing pressure that the Trump administration placed on China. Trump used tripolar diplomacy (among the United States, China, and North Korea) to bring North Korea to heel. Just as China is North Korea's most important partner, Russia is Iran's most important ally. Thus, Trump must replay his strategic gambit of using tripolar diplomacy to prevent a seemingly implacable rogue state this time Iran from threatening the world. Welcome to Multipolarity! Reaching out to Russia is something the president has been prevented from doing, thanks to the partisan hackery of Trump's opponents in Washington. According to these partisans, Trump colluded with Russian intelligence to steal the 2016 election (a claim that remains unproven), therefore any diplomatic overture to Russia is politically toxic for Trump. The Russians want to make a deal with Trump; they continue engaging in hostile rhetoric as part of their overall program of "escalating to de-escalate" world crises. Yet Trump has not gotten the message because the Democrats are preventing him from picking up the phone. As with all negotiations, there is a window of opportunity before the negotiations cannot be had...and that window is closing fast. Without making a great geopolitical deal with Russia (which would mean creating a real peace over Ukraine and better defining NATO's eastern borders) and soon the chance to do for the Iran threat what Trump has managed to do with the North Korean threat will evaporate. And, absent any meaningful diplomacy alongside Moscow, the region will slide into a terrible nuclear arms race that will eventuate in a larger gruesome war. Russia has taken on the characteristics of its autocrat, Vladimir Putin. As Fiona Hill observed at The National Interest, Russia wants respect more than anything else. The Russian Federation wants to be viewed as a world power equal to that of the United States a fact that was codified in Russia's 2002 national security strategy document. Such desires on the part of Putin explain why Moscow has been calling for a multipolar world for years. While it might harm Washington's ego to treat Moscow as an equal partner in world affairs, the only way to mollify the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program without a major war against Iran (and absent another silver bullet to use on Iran, like the Stuxnet cyber-attack) is to grant Russia the respect Putin believes he and his country deserve. Thanks to the restrictive sanctions regime that President Trump has imposed on Russia, the United States has leverage. By dangling the prospect of a grand bargain between Moscow and Washington over key disagreements, the United States would likely be able to get Russia to work with it on ending the threat posed by Iran. Life in a multipolar world order is complex; often enemies must work together to balance against greater, shared threats (such as the case with Iran) while, at times, pursuing shared opportunities. Let's not miss this opportunity out of moral squeamishness, pride, or misplaced partisan rancor. Brandon J. Weichert is a geopolitical analyst who runs The Weichert Report, is a contributing editor at American Greatness, and is a contributor at The American Spectator. His writings appear often in Real Clear Politics and RealClearPolicy. He can be reached on Twitter at @WeTheBrandon. Stacey Abrams is certain that the Georgia governor's election was not legitimate and that thousands of residents were suppressed from voting. She is also certain that as Georgia's secretary of state in charge of elections, Brian Kemp is responsible for the voter suppression. If Stacey Abrams and her supporters truly believe she would have won a "fair" election, then because Brian Kemp won by 54,723 votes, there have to be at least 54,724 people who were denied their right to vote specifically for Stacey Abrams. If this were the case, of the 54,724 disenfranchised voters, one would assume there should be at least 5% (2,736 people) who would come forward to lodge their complaint of voter suppression. So just where are the thousands of suppressed voters Stacey Abrams is talking about, and why hasn't any of them come forward to tell his story of disenfranchisement? If Stacey Abrams actually believed that her accusations of massive voter suppression, her contingent of lawyers would have put out a request for every disenfranchised voter to come forward to file a class action lawsuit against Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp. Stacey Abrams's lawyers didn't call out suppressed voters because the fact is, there aren't thousands of people who were denied a vote in Georgia or even hundreds of people. Stacey Abrams and her vocal supporters are simply sore losers who can't accept the fact that they were rejected by a majority of legitimate Georgia voters. The absence of thousands of disenfranchised voters coming forward in Georgia is absolute proof that the election was legitimate, and Brian Kemp won the election fair and square. With the U.S. military being redeployed from the southern border, the founder of the aid group Angels without Borders claims that "thousands" of migrants in the caravan that arrived at the U.S. border may be prepared to cross the border in such great numbers that it would overwhelm the border patrol. Members of the caravan pulled a similar stunt a few weeks ago at the Guatemala-Mexico border. At that time, several Mexican border guards and caravan members were injured in the melee. Fox News: "They have that intention," Sergio Tamai, a founder of Angels without Borders, a group helping the migrants, told Telemundo 20 in San Diego. "I believe that thousands could make that jump." At least 3,000 migrants have already arrived in Tijuana, a border city across from San Diego, Calif., the past two weeks. The federal government estimates the number of migrants could grow to 10,000 in the coming weeks, or months. Those already in the city have camped out in tents, slept on dirt fields or under bleachers or are staying in overcrowded shelters throughout the city as they wait to figure out their next steps. But some are growing impatient, and believe their best option is to plan a mass crossing. "Most of us, yes, we want to be on the other side," Jorge Molina, a Honduran migrant, told Telemundo. "Some want to jump over the wall, others to go another way, and others want to wait and see what kind of response they get." Those who want to "wait and see" what the U.S. is going to do won't have long to wait. Washington Post: Central Americans who arrive at U.S. border crossings seeking asylum in the United States will have to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed under sweeping new measures the Trump administration is preparing to implement, according to internal planning documents and three Department of Homeland Security officials familiar with the initiative. According to DHS memos obtained by The Washington Post on Wednesday, Central American asylum seekers who cannot establish a "reasonable fear" of persecution in Mexico will not be allowed to enter the United States and would be turned around at the border. The plan, called "Remain in Mexico," amounts to a major break with current screening procedures, which generally allow those who establish a fear of return to their home countries to avoid immediate deportation and remain in the United States until they can get a hearing with an immigration judge. Trump despises this system, which he calls "catch and release," and has vowed to end it. The U.S. is currently involved in talks with Mexico about what to do with the thousands of caravan members with more on the way who are currently in Tijuana. But with more caravans on the way from other Central American countries, Trump wants to make a strong, unmistakable statement about how these refugees should go about applying for asylum in the U.S. Considering that a hearing before an immigration judge will take years, it's either force them to stay in Mexico or allow them into the U.S. where they can pretty much disappear if they choose to. I see nothing wrong with this policy. We have an absolute sovereign right to determine our own asylum procedures. More than 190 other countries are able to do it; why can't we? It is a continuing source of amazement that so many object to the United States formulating policies that protect our sovereignty, as well as the safety of our citizens, according to our own lights. This would be an important and necessary policy change since it appears that we are going to have to deal with several more of these caravans until the people of Central America realize they can't just waltz up to the border and plead "persecution." How dare President Trump "condone" the murder of a Saudi citizen by his government? The only rational response is to drop Saudi Arabia as an ally, impeach Trump, and re-install the wonderful treaty with Iran, maybe adding a few more pallets of cash in the deal. These are apparently the objectives behind the massive outrage exploding from the American left, as well as some establishment Republicans in Congress. Trump's official statement on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi begins with, "The world is a very dangerous place!" and concludes, "As President of the United States I intend to ensure that, in a very dangerous world, America is pursuing its national interests and vigorously contesting countries that wish to do us harm. Very simply it is called America First!" This statement has caused firestorms in the op-ed pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post, which issued this tweet: Now the calls for impeachment are being heard over Trump's supposedly weak reaction to the incident. This makes the 1,393rd reason to impeach Trump, right after the treasonous way he ties his shoes in the morning. We are supposed to be outraged over a supposed "state-sponsored" murder, based on supposed evidence from the always reliable CIA. After all, the pals of former communist John Brennan wouldn't lie to us for political advantage, would they? We should trust the CIA implicitly, since they were only caught one other time in a blatant lie, successfully influencing U.S. policy by falsely claiming that Iran had abandoned its nuke program. I guess those who are screaming for Trump's impeachment over the Saudi government's alleged murder of one of its own citizens have conveniently forgotten something in our recent past. Were they this upset over the Obama administration for murdering three U.S. citizens (including a 16-year-old) by targeting them in drone strikes? Yes, they were probably bad people, possible terrorists living in Yemen working against American interests. But I'm sure the Saudi government viewed Khashoggi as a threat in much the same way. In all of these assassinations, the victims were denied their right to a trial and due process as citizens. The Khashoggi assassination was gruesome and messy. The U.S. drone strike assassinations were much cleaner and left no witnesses. However, they were morally not at all different. Actually, the drone strikes were much worse, because they resulted in significant collateral damage, killing others who were possibly innocent victims. This is all so dishonest and hypocritical. Did the WaPo call out Obama's "failure of leadership"? Did the paper cry for "the cause of truth and justice and human rights" when U.S. citizens were murdered by their government without a trial? Is there that much ignorance bordering on insanity in leftist politics and the media? Or is it really a cold, calculated effort to influence the public in order to weaken Trump's agenda and gain power for the left? Image: Ari Levinson via Wikimedia Commons. It's a breath of fresh air compared with the press coverage, which repetitively promotes the narrative that the whole thing is nothing but a collection of mothers and toddlers fleeing gangs. Mexico's ambassador made some common ground with the Trump administration, by stating the cold hard facts about the Central American migrant caravan traversing through his country - plainly agreeing that yes, the caravan had a lot of known criminals within it. Common ground is a good thing, because it means the U.S. and Mexico are probably no longer talking past each other as to what is going on. But it also raises questions as to what Mexico is going to do about it. Crime, after all, is also illegal in Mexico. Here's what the Examiner reported: Mexicos ambassador to Washington has said that there are people that have criminal backgrounds in the migrant caravan, lending weight to President Trump's assertion that it presents a threat to the United States. Geronimo Gutierrez told the Washington Examiner that while there were criminal elements in the caravan, he could not put a number on how many there might be. A Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said on Monday the department estimates that there are more than 500 criminals traveling in the caravan heading toward the U.S. And here's the video of the polished professional diplomat, with his nice Ricardo Montalban accent: Now the Mexican envoy, Geronimo Gutierrez, did express some skepticism about the number of criminals contained therein, but it's a small detail. News reports out say that the U.S. is paying undercover operatives to monitor the caravan (which is its job) and that is probably where the 500 number came from. Mexican law enforcement practice does not permit the usage of undercover operatives, which is one reason why they have such a hard time taking down cartels. They probably wouldn't know the exact number based on cameras alone. The reporters asking the questions possibly didn't know that. But the Mexicans are obviously no idiots in recognizing just who makes up the caravan - and plainly know it's not the media legend of mothers and toddlers fleeing gangs. Actually, they can see that the the caravan is the gang. And the tiny number of moms and kids within it are of use to the gang primarily for their camera value. The vast majority of caravaners are jobless military-aged young men. That's the real implication of his statement. What's more, the caravan is proving to be costly to Mexico, bringing some ten thousand unauthorized immigrants into the country, and leaving Mexico's city and state governments to pay for their upkeep. There's also a second problem in that Mexican citizens are being forced to absorb the petty crime, garbage, and disorder that these migrants are bringing. There's also a broader economic cost: The new barriers at the border as well as the uncertainty about whether it will be open or not amounts is costly to Mexico's economy to and amounts to economic warfare, courtesy of the caravan. The new intelligence about migrants planning to storm the border is sure to create new barriers and delays for legitimate trade that flows between the U.S. and Mexico - and Mexicans are going to suffer. The caravan is exacting costs from Mexico indeed. The caravan has also humiliated Mexico, busting down that country's border in full view of the cameras and showing the world that its border controls are a paper tiger. That's not good for Mexico's image, let alone its claims to rule of law. Shouldn't someone be held accountable? Should not these caravan organizers - with their Pueblo Sin Fronteras address right there in Playas de Tijuana - face a few charges? Have they broken absolutely no laws given the disruptiong they have claimed? Or, for the Mexican government, is making a statement to gringo up north about the importance of open borders more important? One wonders why the caravan organizers aren't facing any legal implications for the costs and problems they have brought into the country. Mexico apparently doesn't have either the legal mechanisms or more likely, the will, to create consequences, and as a result, the migrant caravans are going to continue to flow there. Here's another thing: The migrants themselves say they were told by the caravan organizers that entry to the U.S. would be instant and legal, and going as a group would be a great way to avoid coyote expenses and get in. That's fraud. Not only was border entry going to be hard, they'd have to wait for six months at a port of entry or else take their chances at a dangerous desert crossing, in areas controlled by cartels. As for safety in numbers, no, there's no safety in numbers - already at least one of the moms with toddlers has seen her kid kidnapped, probably by some criminal in the gang, possibly to be used on the hip of some military-aged male in the group as an entry ticket to cross into the U.S. as a family unit. President Trump, by tightening the border, has put indirect pressure on Mexico to do something about this problem if it wants normal trade and commerce with Mexico to continue. That probably explains the realism seen from Mexico and its diplomat. What's needed now is for Mexico to start responding to that pressure if it doesn't want to see its country become a highway to be tramped through by leftist activist groups who if they are not stopped, will be using the country for their own purposes again and again. Image credit: Nicholas Ballasy / Screengrab from YouTube Mexico's ambassador found some common ground with the Trump administration, by stating the cold hard facts about the Central American migrant caravan traversing his country plainly agreeing that yes, the caravan had a lot of known criminals within it. It's a breath of fresh air compared with the press coverage, which repetitively promotes the narrative that the whole thing is nothing but a collection of mothers and toddlers fleeing gangs. Common ground is a good thing, because it means that the U.S. and Mexico are probably no longer talking past each other as to what is going on. But it also raises questions as to what Mexico is going to do about it. Crime, after all, is also illegal in Mexico. Here's what the Examiner reported: Mexico's ambassador to Washington has said that "there are people that have criminal backgrounds" in the migrant caravan, lending weight to President Trump's assertion that it presents a threat to the United States. Geronimo Gutierrez told the Washington Examiner that while there were criminal elements in the caravan, he could not put a number on how many there might be. A Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said on Monday the department estimates that there are more than 500 criminals traveling in the caravan heading toward the U.S. Here's the video of the polished professional diplomat, with his nice Ricardo Montalban accent: Now, the Mexican envoy, Geronimo Gutierrez, did express some skepticism about the number of criminals contained therein, but it's a small detail. News reports out say that the U.S. is paying undercover operatives to monitor the caravan (which is its job), and that is probably where the 500 number came from. Mexican law enforcement practice does not permit the usage of undercover operatives, which is one reason why they have such a hard time taking down cartels. They probably wouldn't know the exact number based on cameras alone. The reporters asking the questions possibly didn't know that. But the Mexicans are obviously no idiots in recognizing just who makes up the caravan and plainly know it's not the media legend of mothers and toddlers fleeing gangs. Actually, they can see that the caravan is the gang. The tiny number of moms and kids within it are of use to the gang primarily for their camera value. The vast majority of caravaners are jobless military-aged young men. That's the real implication of his statement. What's more, the caravan is proving to be costly to Mexico, bringing some ten thousand aliens into the country and leaving Mexico's city and state governments to pay for their upkeep. There's also a second problem in that Mexican citizens are being forced to absorb the petty crime, garbage, and disorder these migrants are bringing. There's also a broader economic cost: the new barriers at the border as well as the uncertainty about whether it will be open or not amounts is costly to Mexico's economy to and amounts to economic warfare, courtesy of the caravan. The new intelligence about migrants planning to storm the border is sure to create new barriers and delays for legitimate trade that flows between the U.S. and Mexico and Mexicans are going to suffer. The caravan is exacting costs from Mexico, indeed. The caravan has also humiliated Mexico, busting down that country's border in full view of the cameras and showing the world that its border controls are a paper tiger. That's not good for Mexico's image, let alone its claims to rule of law. Shouldn't someone be held accountable? Should not these caravan organizers with their Pueblo Sin Fronteras address right there in Playas de Tijuana face a few charges? Have they broken absolutely no laws, given the disruption they have claimed? Or, for the Mexican government, is making a statement to gringo up north about the importance of open borders more important? One wonders why the caravan organizers aren't facing any legal implications for the costs and problems they have brought into the country. Mexico apparently doesn't have either the legal mechanisms or, more likely, the will, to create consequences, and as a result, the migrant caravans are going to continue to flow there. Here's another thing: the migrants themselves say they were told by the caravan organizers that entry to the U.S. would be instant and legal, and going as a group would be a great way to avoid coyote expenses and get in. That's fraud. Not only was border entry going to be hard, but they'd have to wait for six months at a port of entry or else take their chances at a dangerous desert crossing, in areas controlled by cartels. As for safety in numbers, no, there's no safety in numbers already at least one of the moms with toddlers has seen her kid kidnapped, probably by some criminal in the gang, possibly to be used on the hip of some military-aged male in the group as an entry ticket to cross into the U.S. as a family unit. President Trump, by tightening the border, has put indirect pressure on Mexico to do something about this problem if it wants normal trade and commerce with the U.S. to continue. That probably explains the realism seen from Mexico and its diplomat. What's needed now is for Mexico to start responding to that pressure if it doesn't want to see its country become a highway to be tramped through by leftist activist groups, who, if they are not stopped, will be using the country for their own purposes again and again. Image credit: Nicholas Ballasy, screen grab from YouTube. Username: Password: or Register Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Thread Rating: 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Page: 1 2 Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US ALADIN * weird wizard1* User ID: 473649 11-22-2018 03:15 AM Posts: 5,423 Post: #1 Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US Advertisement FILE PHOTO. US military hardware in northwestern Poland. Reuters / Agencja Gazeta Moscow will have to respond if Warsaw pushes through a plan to build a permanent US base on its soil, top Russian officials have warned, as the Polish defense chief said construction of the so-called Fort Trump was a done deal. Polands Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak confirmed that a permanent US military installation will be undoubtedly created on the countrys territory. While bolstering US military presence is not a matter for negotiation, the exact mechanism and select units to be deployed are still being discussed, Blaszczak told Polish Radio on Tuesday. However, he did not reveal any details citing the need to protect a strong negotiating position. The idea of building a permanent US military installation is wholeheartedly supported by top Polish officials, who are even ready to pay a hefty sum of $2 billion for it. President Andrzej Duda discussed the base with his US counterpart Donald Trump back in September, coining a name for the installation The Fort Trump. The bases namesake said back then that he seriously studied the Polish proposal, yet Washington has not confirmed if the bases construction was agreed. The Polish-US plans have raised alarm in Russia, which sees such a base as a direct threat to security. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx https://www.rt.com/russia/444473-russia-...-military/ It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a ma s k on their nose and mouth ... Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US military baseFILE PHOTO. US military hardware in northwestern Poland. Reuters / Agencja GazetaMoscow will have to respond if Warsaw pushes through a plan to build a permanent US base on its soil, top Russian officials have warned, as the Polish defense chief said construction of the so-called Fort Trump was a done deal.Polands Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak confirmed that a permanent US military installation will be undoubtedly created on the countrys territory. While bolstering US military presence is not a matter for negotiation, the exact mechanism and select units to be deployed are still being discussed, Blaszczak told Polish Radio on Tuesday.However, he did not reveal any details citing the need to protect a strong negotiating position.The idea of building a permanent US military installation is wholeheartedly supported by top Polish officials, who are even ready to pay a hefty sum of $2 billion for it.President Andrzej Duda discussed the base with his US counterpart Donald Trump back in September, coining a name for the installation The Fort Trump. The bases namesake said back then that he seriously studied the Polish proposal, yet Washington has not confirmed if the bases construction was agreed.The Polish-US plans have raised alarm in Russia, which sees such a base as a direct threat to security. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx ALADIN * weird wizard1* User ID: 473649 11-22-2018 03:16 AM Posts: 5,423 Post: #2 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US XXXs = Building Fort Trump will certainly trigger a response from Moscow, Russian Senator Vladimir Kozhin warned. ^^^^ this text triggers a Internal Server Error ! ( see Part IIXXXs = Building Fort Trump will certainly trigger a response from Moscow, Russian Senator Vladimir Kozhin warned.^^^^this text triggers a Internal Server Error !( see http://lunaticoutpost.com/thread-83539.html It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a ma s k on their nose and mouth ... (This post was last modified: 11-22-2018 03:17 AM by ALADIN .) LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 425114 11-22-2018 04:21 AM Post: #3 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US j= |_| ( |< |- |_| 5 5 | 4 Build the Base.j= |_| ( | LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474594 11-22-2018 04:34 AM Post: #4 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US Clinton got paid for building base in Serbia. Bush got paid for building bases all over fu*k. So did Obama. Now Trump joins the party. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474594 11-22-2018 04:35 AM Post: #5 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US At least Trump is building a base in a White country. Unlike the last ten presidents. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474594 11-22-2018 04:43 AM Post: #6 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US Tell Russia to STFU. Or we come build base in MOSCOW! Fuming bit*h ass russians! Place the iron boot of NATO deep in Russia buttinski! LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474215 11-22-2018 08:05 AM Post: #7 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US Man the Poles must really be stupid. They are setting themselves up to be the punching bag in the middle of two heavy weights again. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 372620 11-22-2018 08:10 AM Post: #8 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US Quote: Man the Poles must really be stupid. They are setting themselves up to be the punching bag in the middle of two heavy weights again. i dont get it either. 'hey russia the new base is right over here, now target it and endanger the population too! there is no weapon to stop those hypersonic missiles. i dont get it either.'hey russia the new base is right over here,now target it and endanger the population too!there is no weapon to stop those hypersonic missiles. Lunatic z Registered User User ID: 472994 11-22-2018 08:56 AM Posts: 594 Post: #9 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 08:05 AM) Man the Poles must really be stupid. They are setting themselves up to be the punching bag in the middle of two heavy weights again. Again remember they started WW2 thinking GB had its back https://www.quora.com/Is-there-any-truth...tarted-WW2 Can you see where this is going Poland is now Cuba Fk them they are failed Germans as the people say Again remember they started WW2 thinking GB had its backCan you see where this is going Poland is now CubaFk them they are failed Germans as the people say LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474307 11-22-2018 09:59 AM Post: #10 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 08:05 AM) Man the Poles must really be stupid. They are setting themselves up to be the punching bag in the middle of two heavy weights again. Yep. This guy... Jack Strong (2014) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2785288/ ... must be turning in his grave. I mean, it was easy for a Polish patriot to fight back against the Soviets back then, when there was the CIA to turn to, but how does a Polish patriot fight the Americans today, when FSB (formerly known as KGB) is actually being fully controlled and run by the CIA? Walking into the Russian embassy would spell certain death for any such (hopelessly uninformed) individual. Such a patriot would have better chances of surviving if he just walker right across the border, and let himself be arrested by Russian military (GRU). Then again... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46298959 ... GRU has bigger problems to deal with right now. Namely, how to survive (CIA-controlled) FSB themselves. ... Funnily enough... I've almost been locked out of my own home computer this morning. Somebody's been messing with the password, it seems, but had done such a lousy job that simply switching user profiles lifted the lock. I believe that what we're seeing right now (over here in Serbia, as well as the world over) is the CIA (being overly-exposed as it is) passing some of its job down the pipeline and over to the FSB. Which gives me twice as much cause for going after the FSB as hard as possible... ... and, apparently, gives GRU at least as ten times as much cause to do the same. The only problem is... the Pentagon . The m****f**kers at the Pentagon have been slacking, and are still following CIA's orders to poke the Russians in all the wrong places. Those chickenshit pu$$y Pentagon generals are about to become as much worse-than-useless as the CIA itself. So my FSB hunt may actually have to wait for a little longer. At least until those Pentagon f**kers have been dealt with. And pronto . Yep. This guy...... must be turning in his grave.I mean, it was easy for a Polish patriot to fight back against the Soviets back then, when there was the CIA to turn to, but how does a Polish patriot fight the Americans today, when FSB (formerly known as KGB) is actually being fully controlled and run by the CIA?Walking into the Russian embassy would spell certain death for any such (hopelessly uninformed) individual. Such a patriot would have better chances of surviving if he just walker right across the border, and let himself be arrested by Russian military (GRU).Then again...... GRU has bigger problems to deal with right now. Namely, how to survive (CIA-controlled) FSB themselves....Funnily enough... I've almost been locked out of my own home computer this morning. Somebody's been messing with the password, it seems, but had done such a lousy job that simply switching user profiles lifted the lock.I believe that what we're seeing right now (over here in Serbia, as well as the world over) is the CIA (being overly-exposed as it is) passing some of its job down the pipeline and over to the FSB.Which gives me twice as much cause for going after the FSB as hard as possible...... and, apparently, gives GRU at least as ten times as much cause to do the same.The only problem is...The m****f**kers at the Pentagon have been slacking, and are still following CIA's orders to poke the Russians in all the wrong places. Those chickenshit pu$$y Pentagon generals are about to become as muchas the CIA itself.So my FSB hunt may actually have to wait for a little longer. At least until those Pentagon f**kers have been dealt with. And LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 370703 11-22-2018 10:06 AM Post: #11 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US And then they build a permanent base, and keep the temporary ones too.. Russia bit*hes.. Bases justified because of threats.. Rinse, repeat. Same thing happens for the Russia too. Rinse, repeat. Once bases go up they next to never go away.. Peace achieved!! Breakout the nobels, because reasons. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474710 11-22-2018 05:06 PM Post: #12 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 04:43 AM) Tell Russia to STFU. Or we come build base in MOSCOW! Fuming bit*h ass russians! Place the iron boot of NATO deep in Russia buttinski! How would you feel if China built a base on the US/Mexico border? I thought so. How would you feel if China built a base on the US/Mexico border?I thought so. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 473031 11-22-2018 05:24 PM Post: #13 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 05:06 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 04:43 AM) Tell Russia to STFU. Or we come build base in MOSCOW! Fuming bit*h ass russians! Place the iron boot of NATO deep in Russia buttinski! How would you feel if China built a base on the US/Mexico border? I thought so. Does china really have the, shall we say history of using Mexico as a conduit for invading the US? as we know the region we call Poland has been a conduit, or super highway for invading troops for hundreds of years... how do you think Hitler or Napoleon got to Moscow, how did Russian troops go the other way in any of those wars... Bit of a chalk and cheese comparison... on the surface it holds some validity... but aside from that it doesn't the US had enemy outposts on it's borders for many years, it's not like Canada has always been the BFF of the US, or was the burning of the Whitehouse a whoopsy accident.. What *IS* interesting is that the Poles have aligned themselves with some other nations as they are deeply concerned about being invaded...and signing mutual defence pacts that sit outside the pre-existing frameworks like NATO or EU that should cover such an eventuality and a collective response... That kinda underlines something is happening.... not just in terms of Poland, but in terms of how it sees those big block alliances that a collective response would not materialise... which should be out there waving a red flag for all to see... very worrisome.. Does china really have the, shall we say history of using Mexico as a conduit for invading the US? as we know the region we call Poland has been a conduit, or super highway for invading troops for hundreds of years... how do you think Hitler or Napoleon got to Moscow, how did Russian troops go the other way in any of those wars...Bit of a chalk and cheese comparison... on the surface it holds some validity... but aside from that it doesn't the US had enemy outposts on it's borders for many years, it's not like Canada has always been the BFF of the US, or was the burning of the Whitehouse a whoopsy accident..What *IS* interesting is that the Poles have aligned themselves with some other nations as they are deeply concerned about being invaded...and signing mutual defence pacts that sit outside the pre-existing frameworks like NATO or EU that should cover such an eventuality and a collective response...That kinda underlines something is happening.... not just in terms of Poland, but in terms of how it sees those big block alliances that a collective response would not materialise... which should be out there waving a red flag for all to see... very worrisome.. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 470319 11-22-2018 05:32 PM Post: #14 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US Boots on ground! LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474713 11-22-2018 06:47 PM Post: #15 RE: Obvious threat: Russian officials warn Poland not to proceed with permanent US Need a reason to be thankful? Advertisement Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread What am I thankful for? Well, after writing a lot about Venezuela and the Central American caravan, what comes to mind is food. Food is not a given, no tyrant can coerce the existence of food, and the reality of socialism ensures that many people do not have any. In Venezuela, the situation is dire. In Cuba, people eat ice to stave off hunger. In China, a reporter I know taunted an inquisitive Chinese communist guard with a reply that his trip to Taiwan was all about its mountains and mountains of food. Even in Central America's drought-plagued highlands, state control ensures that there is hunger. Food is a sort of a prima facie evidence that socialism isn't there. It's a kind of anti-socialism in material form. In America, there is food so much food that we export food. Food production is still skyrocketing. And it's not expensive, either. This is the pride and joy of America, and one of the big things we can be thankful for as we celebrate our feasting holiday. Food, of course, is about America's farmers, who not only work hard to grow and produce food they put so much attention to it that glorious technology, brought on by America's free markets, has enabled the creation of more food than all our people can possibly eat. One of America's greatest heroes is agricultural productivity expert Norman Borlaug, whose Green Revolution fed the entire world. A huge part of the planet is alive because Norman Borlaug lived. Here's what Wikipedia says: Take a look again at those corn statistics in this chart here. Corn grown in Free Soil, Michigan. Photo by Monica Showalter. And corn is just one crop we produce we produce just about everything, even coffee, the glorious Kona coffee of Hawaii, which is the best in the world. Among the few things we do not, such as the awesome tropical fruits of Southeast Asia, we have free trade pacts, along with refrigerated shipping, all part of our fabulous system of food production. You want durian? Jackfruit? Soursop? Dragonfruit? I can get some for you at our local Vietnamese market, less than a mile away from me. Here's another aspect: our government is pretty good. The E. coli outbreak on the nation's romaine lettuce crop is not a nice thing, but notice how swiftly the authorities moved in, getting the suspect crops off the shelves and getting word out to consumers, all to protect them from being sick. It's a storm that will pass, and we will soon get the romaine back. Over in England, the lefties at the Guardian were aghast at U.K. perceptions of high U.S. food production standards. The locals know something. Here's a cool chart from 2016. The numbers are simply amazing: California produces the most food (by value) in the United States followed by Iowa and Nebraska. Twelve (12) states generate over $10 billion in agricultural cash reciepts: California, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, Wisconsin, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio & South Dakota. California accounts for 11% of ag cash receipts in the United States. United States $395,068,677,000 Rank Commodity Cash Receipts Percent 1 California $44,738,132,000 11.30% 2 Iowa $31,985,370,000 8.10% 3 Nebraska $24,465,882,000 6.20% 4 Texas $22,726,067,000 5.80% 5 Minnesota $20,580,696,000 5.20% 6 Illinois $19,649,939,000 5.00% 7 Kansas $16,223,254,000 4.10% 8 Wisconsin $12,110,055,000 3.10% 9 Indiana $12,052,964,000 3.10% 10 North Carolina $11,706,602,000 3.00% 11 Ohio $10,066,756,000 2.50% 12 South Dakota $10,013,470,000 2.50% 13 Missouri $9,940,400,000 2.50% 14 Georgia $9,779,096,000 2.50% 15 Arkansas $9,421,594,000 2.40% 16 Washington $9,293,914,000 2.40% 17 North Dakota $8,684,221,000 2.20% 18 Michigan $8,293,622,000 2.10% 19 Florida $8,252,525,000 2.10% 20 Colorado $7,638,232,000 1.90% 21 Idaho $7,586,979,000 1.90% 22 Oklahoma $7,038,174,000 1.80% 23 Pennsylvania $6,868,357,000 1.70% 24 Mississippi $6,235,891,000 1.60% 25 Alabama $5,349,114,000 1.40% (The whole thing can be seen here.) Some closing thoughts from Borlaug and an appreciative congressman: Nobel Prize Winner Norman Borlaug once observed that countries that can feed themselves have many problems and that countries that can't feed themselves only have one problem. Bill Flores is the U.S Representative for Texas' 17th congressional district. "Food Security is National Security. Healthy economies are National Security. You can't have a healthy economy if you've got hungry families. And again that's another essential element about why ag producers in this country are so important and that's why it's so important to get ag policy right in this country and all the things that help ag policy. If you think about ag policy at large, that covers tax policy. It covers regulatory policy. It covers trade policy. It covers labor policy and immigration." Flores is quick to praise the productivity of U.S. farmers. "Our farmers grow enough food not only for those of us here in the United States to be well fed and to be productive citizens and healthy families. We grow enough for other economies around the world and one of the things that we do with some of the production we have from agriculture is to use that for foreign aid." Reason enough to give thanks. Two of many things to be grateful for today are that: 1. America's oil companies are creating, in Bloomberg's headline, "OPEC's worst nightmare," and 2. Barack Obama is no longer in office and able to prevent them from liberating us from dependence on hostile powers for our energy. Those who have driven any distance to celebrate Thanksgiving realize that oil prices are dramatically down, and, while there will be fluctuations ahead, the outlook is positive for dramatically increased American oil production. Via Bloomberg, we learn that the Permian Basin in Texas alone is set to disturb sleep in Caracas, Tehran, and Moscow: In Houston, the U.S. oil capital, shale executives are trying out different superlatives to describe what's coming. "Tsunami,'' they call it. A "flooding of Biblical proportions'' and "onslaught of supply'' are phrases that get tossed around. Take the hyperbolic industry talk with a pinch of salt, but certainly the American oil industry, particularly in the Permian, has raised a buzz loud enough to keep OPEC awake. "You've got an awful lot of production that can come in very economically,'' said Patricia Yarrington, Chevron Corp.'s chief financial officer. "If you think back four or five years ago, when we didn't really understand what shale could do, the marginal barrel was priced much higher than what we think the marginal barrel is priced today.'' ... August saw the largest annual increase in U.S. oil production in 98 years, according to government data. The American energy industry added, in crude and other oil liquids, nearly 3 million barrels, roughly the equivalent of what Kuwait pumps, than it did in the same month last year. Total output of 15.9 million barrels a day was more than Russia or Saudi Arabia. By the way, "shale" refers to oil liberated via "fracking." Bloomberg correctly points out that not only oil production, but pipeline infrastructure to get it to market is being put in place. These massive investments can pay off because fracking technology has improved so drastically that even at low oil prices (as low as OPEC can tolerate), production and distribution is profitable. OPEC's bad dream only deepens next year, when Permian producers expect to iron out distribution snags that will add three pipelines and as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day[.] Source: Bloomberg. In a slightly longer time frame, even more American oil production is going to be coming onstream far from Texas, as the Anchorage Daily News reports: The North Slope oil patch is generating a surge of interest not seen in more than a decade, as investors eye new opportunities and companies plan billions of dollars in new projects, observers say. Near-term, the upcoming winter exploration season is expected to be the busiest in five years, with ConocoPhillips leading the way, said Chantal Walsh, director of Alaska's Oil and Gas Division. Long-term, oil companies are looking to complete projects by 2024 that could cost more than $10 billion. They could produce thousands of jobs, if developed. "The North Slope is back," said Mark Myers, who formerly ran the U.S. Geological Survey and Alaska's Natural Resources department. "It was never gone in my opinion, but it's getting recognized now." Helping spark "The New Alaskan Oil Rush," in the words of one trade publication, are two giant discoveries on the western side of North Slope development. Officials say there's potential for more discoveries in the region where those were made, in a long-overlooked geological formation called the Nanushuk. Barack Obama was dead wrong on a lot of subjects, but his dismissive attitude toward increasing oil production is one of his most consequential positions that was foolish, harmful to America, and logically impossible: Here's a little U.N. hypocrisy with your turkey today. The head of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Erik Solheim, has resigned amid some startling revelations about the frequency and expense of his travel. Solheim really gets around. Guardian: The Guardian understands Solheim was asked to resign by the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres. Sources at the UN Environment Programme (Unep) said that countries unhappy with Solheim's conduct were holding back tens of millions of dollars, threatening a financial crisis at the body. A draft internal UN audit leaked to the Guardian in September found Solheim had spent almost $500,000 (390,000) on air travel and hotels in just 22 months, and was away 80% of the time. The audit said this was a "reputation risk" for an organisation dedicated to fighting climate change. Gee...ya think? When even the UN recognizes the crummy optics of having someone in charge of climate change policy dumping CO2 into the atmosphere from jet exhaust, you know it's serious. A UN staff union leader called some of the revelations "mind-blowing" and a prominent climate scientist accused Solheim of "obscene CO2 hypocrisy". Yeah what he said. The audit said Solheim had "no regard for abiding by the set regulations and rules" and had failed to account properly for some of his travel. He also unofficially allowed chosen staff to work from Europe rather than at Unep headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. Solheim told the Guardian he had already paid back money for instances of oversight and made changes where other rules had been broken. In fairness to Solheim, I wouldn't want to work in Kenya, either. There's a definite lack of five-star hotels, and one can imagine what passes for a good restaurant in Nairobi. And then there's nepotism: The Guardian had also revealed that Solheim had to recuse himself in September from professional dealings with his own wife and a Norwegian company that employed her shortly after it signed a deal with Unep in April. The Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden are among the countries that publicly said they were halting funding for Unep until the issues around Solheim were resolved. The total sum at stake is in the region of $50m, according to sources. That's a drop in the bucket for the U.N. and therein lies the problem. The United Nations is a black hole for money with little or no oversight and massive overspending. Various efforts at reform over the years have been beaten back by the career bureaucrats, many who live like kings in New York and Geneva, Switzerland while the people of their own countries starve. It is "obscene." Despite the obscenity, the U.N. continues to stand as a symbol of the universal desire for peace and security. The question for each succeeding generation is why house this bloodsucking organization in the U.S.? Geneva or The Hague would be a far better location, considering both are well known for their internationalism. Yes, but neither of those cities has the Big Apple's nightlife and, let's admit it, debauched underground. If you're going to rob the U.N. blind, you want to live in a city where you can spend that ill gotten cash on wine, women...and more women. Am I exaggerating? Perhaps a little. But Solheim's sins are just the tip of the iceberg and represent a common mindset at the U.N. Wrangel Island, in the Arctic Ocean, is one of the most remote islands in Russia. Straddling the International Date Linethe boundary where the eastern and the western hemisphere meetthis rugged volcanic island, where summer temperatures barely climb above freezing, is believed to have been the last place on earth where the wooly mammoth survived, six thousand years after their cousins on the mainland disappeared. This harsh landscape supports a surprisingly diverse ecosystem, including Arctic foxes, seals, walrus, musk oxen, lemmings, and many types of birds. But the most abundant species here is the polar bear. There are so many ravenous bears roaming on the island that the handful of cottages and cabins here for the temporary habitation of research scientists and rangers have metal spikes built into the windows to prevent bear attack. Warning signs posted on the door remind people to watch out for bears when venturing outside. Spiked windows are required on Wrangel Island to thwart polar bear attacks. Photo credit: Sergey Dolya Wrangel Island has the highest density of polar bear dens in the entire Arctic region. The bears come here every summer when the ice melts, and stay on the island until winter and the start of the next freezing cycle. The bears also come here to give birth and raise cubs and prepare them for the next winter. The polar bear is actually a marine animal that love to spend its time in the water. Its preferred habitat is sea ice that covers the waters over the continental shelf and the Arctic Ocean. It usually lives on the edges of the ice sheet so that it could hunt for seals and other marine animals. But in the past few decades, change in the climate has forced the bears to spend more and more time on land because the ice now melts earlier and freezes later, elongating the ice-free period. Compared to 20 years ago, polar bears now spend, on average, a month longer on Wrangel Island. The number of bears that arrive on Wrangel Island each year is also increasing. In 2017, researchers counted 589 bears on the island, which was abnormally higher than the previous average of 200-300 individuals. The last refuge of the wooly mammoth The woolly mammoth died out about 10,000 years ago as glaciers melted and earth became warmer and hostile to the large beast. Shrinkage of its habitat and hunting by humans together caused the animal to disappear, but isolated populations survived in remote corners such as Wrangel Island, where the mammoth thrived as recently as 4,000 years ago. Possibly the last few hundred years of its existence, the animal coexisted with humans as carbon dating of various tools left behind by these prehistoric humans reveal. It is also possible that hunting drove the last of the surviving mammoths, on this frozen isle, to extinction. Today the island is littered with remains of the wooly mammoth such as tusks and bone fragments. A tusk of a wooly mammoth lies on a stream on Wrangel Island. Photo credit: Gorshkov Sergey UNESCO World Heritage Site Unlike Canada and the US, polar bears are protected in Russia. The Soviet Union banned all hunting in 1956, but after the fall of the Union, there has been not enough law resources and poaching is still a problem. In recent years, polar bears have started to approach coastal villages in Chukotka due to the shrinking of the sea ice, endangering the lives of humans and raising the chances of illegal hunting. In 1976, the Soviet Union declared Wrangel Island and the nearby Herald Islands and the surrounding waters a state Nature Reserve. By the 1980s, reindeer-herding on Wrangel was abolished and the two settlements there were relocated. The island gained UNESCO World Nature Heritage Status in 2004. It is one of five UNESCO World Heritage Sites located inside the Arctic Circle and the only one which is listed for its marine values. Wrangel Island boasts the worlds largest population of Pacific walrus, with up to 100,000 animals congregating in the islands rookeries, and the highest density of ancestral polar bear dens. What appears to be sheep from the distance are actually polar bears. Photo credit: Olga Belonovich/Heritage Expeditions Polar bears scavenging on the carcass of a dead bowhead whale that washed ashore on Wrangel Island. Photo credit: Chris Collins/Heritage Expeditions Living with polar bears Wrangel Island has no permanent population, but 6 or 7 rangers reside here to carry out various tasks, such as ecological monitoring of the wildlife, maintenance of the field huts, and working with scientific groups, researchers, and tourist groups who visit the island. The rangers live in a couple of rundown huts with windows protected by sharp metal spikes to prevent polar bear attacks. They are forbidden to posses weapons, but they do carry flare guns and pepper sprays. Facilities on the island are primitive, and conditions of the huts and the few vehicles in their reserve are very poor. They lack good repair kits and replacement parts, including tires, which make vehicle and communications breakdowns a constant challenge and create serious safety concerns at the site. Communication to and from the island is via radio signal, when conditions permit. Electricity is provided by diesel generators but the supply of fuel is not always guaranteed. Today, Wrangel Island is one of the least visited and most restricted nature reserves in the world. Tourist require special permit from the Russian authorities, which some say is a rather difficult process. An abandoned village on Wrangel Island. The residents were evacuated after Wrangel Island was declared a Nature Reserve. Photo credit: Sergey Dolya Abandoned cabins and oil drums can be seen on the site of a former settlement on Wrangel Island. Photo credit: Sergey Dolya An abandoned cabin on the site of a former settlement on Wrangel Island. Photo credit: Sergey Dolya A window protected by metal spikes on Wrangel Island. Photo credit: Sergey Dolya A polar bear peeks inside a cabin on Wrangel Island. Photo credit: Gorshkov Sergey Headline presenters include one of the top names among airline CEOs, the current chairman of the International Air Transport Organisation (IATA) and the CEO of the successful Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker and stretching destinations even further is globally recognised inspirational speaker Dr Adriana Marais, the South African set to become Africas first extra-terrestrial when she completes her one-way mission to Mars. The event which is run by TIMES Aerospace began in Dubai four years ago. The UAE was selected because of its hub status and ease of visa rulings. This is a philosophy shared by Rwanda, which offers a visa-free entry to African countries and entry on arrival to others, said Times Aerospace managing director Mark Brown. The beauty of this means that we have visitors, speakers, exhibitors and key government delegations coming from all over Africa," said Borwn. Akbar Al Baker, will be centre stage for the air transport segment of the summit.Qatar is one of the airlines that has been expanding into Africa in recent years, Brown said. There has often been concern expressed by African airlines about the growth of non-African airlines, but I think many of them may not have heard Mr Al Baker share his views. I know they are in for a treat. Al Baker will be on stage for a one-on-one interview with summit chairman Alan Peaford MBE. Airline leaders from across Africa both from English-speaking and Francophone countries will be also talking at or visiting the summit, which will be addressing issues such as protectionism, search and rescue, infrastructure, airline finance, aviation services, regulation and innovation. Stepping into the unknown will be key to the presentation by Dr Marais - a quantum biologist, a theoretical physicist, the director of the South Africa Space Foundation and head of innovation for SAP Africa. She is part of the Mars One project which is currently going through its selection process to take 24 astronauts to move to the Red Planet and begin building a society there. "She is an incredible speaker and has been inspiring school children and adults to look up to the skies and think about the new horizons and what value space exploration can bring to earth. She genuinely changes the way people think about our planet and it is fantastic that she will be sharing her incredible story here on her own continent, said Brown. Dr Marais - the director of the South Africa Space Foundation and head of innovation for SAP Africa. Lunaticoutpost.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program , anaffiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.Amazon, the Amazon logo, MYHABIT, and the MYHABIT logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.Don't be a pest to the forum.No profanity in thread-titles or usernamesNo excessive profanity in postsNo Racism, Antisemitism + HateNo calls for violence against anyone..This website exists for fun and discussion only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. 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Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: We are extremely pleased to have been awarded these accolades in the AirlineRatings Airline Excellence Awards 2019. Our patented, revolutionary Qsuite has left an indelible impression on passengers who have experienced it, and we are delighted that the editors at AirlineRatings concur. Qsuite represents our commitment to innovation and exceptional passenger experience as it continues to set the global benchmark for the Business Class experience. Airlineratings.com editor-in chief, Geoffrey Thomas, said: Qatar Airways has always been a trendsetter by raising the bar, and its new Qsuite is the epitome of that drive and a natural choice as AirlineRatings.com best Business Class for 2019. Qsuite is a first-class experience in Business Class. Our judges rated it as one of the best overall business-class products they had seen. It sets a standard to which some airlines can only aspire. But its not just business class where Qatar sets the standard; its win for Best Catering 2019 is another example of its attention to detail throughout the aircraft. The airline is rightfully in the Airlineratings.com Top Ten for 2019. Do it yourself if you can We accept in principle that private equity can deliver (somewhat) excess returns over most other asset classes. But there are a lot of qualifications attached to that, and most of them are very relevant to whether and how pension funds should invest in private equity. The decision has numerous implications, Michael Mills, Quinn Emanuels managing partner in Australia, told Australasian Lawyer. We are pleased the Full Court decision reflects GetSwifts submissions on appeal to the effect that one proceeding is capable of vindicating the interests of all group members and therefore only one should be allowed to proceed, he said. The decision means that GetSwift will not be vexed with multiple actions in respect of the same issues just the one. The other two proceedings remain permanently stayed. The decision cuts wasted resources and encourages thorough due diligence, Mills said. This will reduce the costs of defending the proceeding, the complexity of doing so and the overall time to resolution. We think it is sensible for the courts to consider a procedure to avoid a multiplicity of duplicative class actions and all the wasted costs this imposes on the parties, especially the defendant, he said. We also think it is sensible that the court, by way of this decision, have encouraged plaintiffs to undertake a proper due diligence before racing to the court. In the context of the multiplicity of actions of late, this can be seen as particularity useful guidance for the development of class actions in Australia generally. Username: Password: or Register Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Thread Rating: 2 Vote(s) - 3 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Why crime is out of control in south africa? State alchemist Never give up User ID: 474686 11-22-2018 03:04 PM Posts: 5,279 Post: #1 Why crime is out of control in south africa? Advertisement I was the perfect warrior, cold and ruthless. I lived by my strength alone, uninhibited by foolish emotion I do not fear this new challenge! Rather, like a true warrior, I will rise to meet it! I just was talking to someone from south africa, she told me that rape and murder rates are highest in the world.I was the perfect warrior, cold and ruthless. I lived by my strength alone, uninhibited by foolish emotionI do not fear this new challenge! Rather, like a true warrior, I will rise to meet it! LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474692 11-22-2018 03:07 PM Post: #2 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? I personally believe they are feeding the militias viagra and being paid hadsomely by the white leaders. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 456252 11-22-2018 03:08 PM Post: #3 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? your religion LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 470865 11-22-2018 03:14 PM Post: #4 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 03:07 PM) I personally believe they are feeding the militias viagra and being paid hadsomely by the white leaders. White leaders? gosh darn white leaders?? Excuse me, what the fu*k? Really? Your trying to put this sh*t on white people? WOW It's pretty clear you have an irrational hatred for white people if your projecting the evils of another race onto us. Are you being paid for this sh*t or is this a product of your own warped and evil mind? White leaders? gosh darn white leaders?? Excuse me, what the fu*k?Really? Your trying to put this sh*t on white people? WOW It's pretty clear you have an irrational hatred for white people if your projecting the evils of another race onto us. Are you being paid for this sh*t or is this a product of your own warped and evil mind? LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474692 11-22-2018 03:37 PM Post: #5 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 03:14 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 03:07 PM) I personally believe they are feeding the militias viagra and being paid hadsomely by the white leaders. White leaders? f*cking white leaders?? Excuse me, what the f*#k? Really? Your trying to put this sh*t on white people? WOW It's pretty clear you have an irrational hatred for white people if your projecting the evils of another race onto us. Are you being paid for this sh*t or is this a product of your own warped and evil mind? I am caucasian..and i have listened and read for years about the troubles over there and it all started with the white capitalists landgrabbers. And those doing the rapes and murders are murdering and raping blacks far more often than they do whites. Are you saying all of south africa's leaders are black? Even in the diamond districts? If you think it's all the blacks causing problems..i would wager it is you geing paid to stir things up..not i. I am caucasian..and i have listened and read for years about the troubles over there and it all started with the white capitalists landgrabbers. And those doing the rapes and murders are murdering and raping blacks far more often than they do whites.Are you saying all of south africa's leaders are black? Even in the diamond districts?If you think it's all the blacks causing problems..i would wager it is you geing paid to stir things up..not i. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 464133 11-22-2018 04:13 PM Post: #6 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 03:37 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 03:14 PM) White leaders? f*cking white leaders?? Excuse me, what the f*#k? Really? Your trying to put this sh*t on white people? WOW It's pretty clear you have an irrational hatred for white people if your projecting the evils of another race onto us. Are you being paid for this sh*t or is this a product of your own warped and evil mind? I am caucasian..and i have listened and read for years about the troubles over there and it all started with the white capitalists landgrabbers. And those doing the rapes and murders are murdering and raping blacks far more often than they do whites. Are you saying all of south africa's leaders are black? Even in the diamond districts? If you think it's all the blacks causing problems..i would wager it is you geing paid to stir things up..not i. There is a difference between white people and those who look white but are members of the Kosher tribe of the chosen ones. The tribe says they are above race because they are mini-gods on earth. Never pin their crimes on white people. . There is a difference between white people and those who look white but are members of the Kosher tribe of the chosen ones.The tribe says they are above race because they are mini-gods on earth. Never pin their crimes on white people. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474706 11-22-2018 04:19 PM Post: #7 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? Crime is out of control in Africa and South America because Christian missionaries raped and forced evil religions on beautiful innocent people long ago. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 470524 11-22-2018 04:20 PM Post: #8 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? Synthesis31 Wrote: (11-22-2018 03:04 PM) I just was talking to someone from south africa, she told me that rape and murder rates are highest in the world. Every South African is vaccinated by big pharma. What else is in there? Every South African is vaccinated by big pharma.What else is in there? LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 470865 11-22-2018 05:22 PM Post: #9 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 03:37 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 03:14 PM) White leaders? f*cking white leaders?? Excuse me, what the f*#k? Really? Your trying to put this sh*t on white people? WOW It's pretty clear you have an irrational hatred for white people if your projecting the evils of another race onto us. Are you being paid for this sh*t or is this a product of your own warped and evil mind? I am caucasian..and i have listened and read for years about the troubles over there and it all started with the white capitalists landgrabbers. And those doing the rapes and murders are murdering and raping blacks far more often than they do whites. Are you saying all of south africa's leaders are black? Even in the diamond districts? If you think it's all the blacks causing problems..i would wager it is you geing paid to stir things up..not i. Eiter you don't know history or you think I don't! Firstly, when white people settled in south africa it was uninhabited. Black people turned up later when they saw how much food white people were growing there and came with their hands out. So your claims about "white capitalist land grabbers" is clearly BS. Onto your next point, it sounds like your saying that because blacks murder and rape other black people as well that makes it ok to do it to white people, gotcha! Your wrong incidentally but hey, you do you! Next. South Africa is currently being run by the ANC. A black former terrorist group that commited a very long list of atrocities, many of which were against black people with different tribal affiliations to those in the ANC. Also, if you bothered to use your eyes you would notice that the president of SA is black, and all positions of power within the SA government are occupied by black people. And as I'm sure you must be aware, the SA government is the government of THE WHOLE OF SOUTH AFRICA, including the "diamond districts". So no I don't "think" that all of SA's leaders are black, I KNOW it for a fact. Whether you like it or not, ALL of south africas problems are caused by blacks and no I'm not being paid a penny to tell the truth, I do it for free. By my reckoning the work day is now over in israel, so feel free to wait till tomorrow to reply, unless you want to work overtime that is! Eiter you don't know history or you think I don't! Firstly, when white people settled in south africa it was uninhabited. Black people turned up later when they saw how much food white people were growing there and came with their hands out. So your claims about "white capitalist land grabbers" is clearly BS.Onto your next point, it sounds like your saying that because blacks murder and rape other black people as well that makes it ok to do it to white people, gotcha! Your wrong incidentally but hey, you do you!Next. South Africa is currently being run by the ANC. A black former terrorist group that commited a very long list of atrocities, many of which were against black people with different tribal affiliations to those in the ANC. Also, if you bothered to use your eyes you would notice that the president of SA is black, and all positions of power within the SA government are occupied by black people. And as I'm sure you must be aware, the SA government is the government of THE WHOLE OF SOUTH AFRICA, including the "diamond districts". So no I don't "think" that all of SA's leaders are black, I KNOW it for a fact.Whether you like it or not, ALL of south africas problems are caused by blacks and no I'm not being paid a penny to tell the truth, I do it for free.By my reckoning the work day is now over in israel, so feel free to wait till tomorrow to reply, unless you want to work overtime that is! LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 470524 11-22-2018 05:24 PM Post: #10 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 05:20 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 05:13 PM) Chinese are J*ews now? You may not know this, but Chinese are opening Police Stations all over Africa.... Once Africa (Egypt) was the greatest. Now everyone is robbing them like there was never such a superpower. Time changes. When the Anglo saxons were mudhut dwellers. Once Africa (Egypt) was the greatest. Now everyone is robbing them like there was never such a superpower.Time changes. When the Anglo saxons were mudhut dwellers. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474692 11-22-2018 05:29 PM Post: #11 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 05:22 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 03:37 PM) I am caucasian..and i have listened and read for years about the troubles over there and it all started with the white capitalists landgrabbers. And those doing the rapes and murders are murdering and raping blacks far more often than they do whites. Are you saying all of south africa's leaders are black? Even in the diamond districts? If you think it's all the blacks causing problems..i would wager it is you geing paid to stir things up..not i. Eiter you don't know history or you think I don't! Firstly, when white people settled in south africa it was uninhabited . Black people turned up later when they saw how much food white people were growing there and came with their hands out. So your claims about "white capitalist land grabbers" is clearly BS. Onto your next point, it sounds like your saying that because blacks murder and rape other black people as well that makes it ok to do it to white people, gotcha! Your wrong incidentally but hey, you do you! Next. South Africa is currently being run by the ANC. A black former terrorist group that commited a very long list of atrocities, many of which were against black people with different tribal affiliations to those in the ANC. Also, if you bothered to use your eyes you would notice that the president of SA is black, and all positions of power within the SA government are occupied by black people. And as I'm sure you must be aware, the SA government is the government of THE WHOLE OF SOUTH AFRICA, including the "diamond districts". So no I don't "think" that all of SA's leaders are black, I KNOW it for a fact. Whether you like it or not, ALL of south africas problems are caused by blacks and no I'm not being paid a penny to tell the truth, I do it for free. By my reckoning the work day is now over in israel, so feel free to wait till tomorrow to reply, unless you want to work overtime that is! Yeah, when they settled america it was unihabited too..then all of those black people were brought here to work leaving south africa without the indigeonous black people, and the white capitalists grabbed the abandoned diamond mines. Yeah, when they settled america it was unihabited too..then all of those black people were brought here to work leaving south africa without the indigeonous black people, and the white capitalists grabbed the abandoned diamond mines. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 464133 11-22-2018 05:32 PM Post: #12 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 05:29 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 05:22 PM) Eiter you don't know history or you think I don't! Firstly, when white people settled in south africa it was uninhabited . Black people turned up later when they saw how much food white people were growing there and came with their hands out. So your claims about "white capitalist land grabbers" is clearly BS. Onto your next point, it sounds like your saying that because blacks murder and rape other black people as well that makes it ok to do it to white people, gotcha! Your wrong incidentally but hey, you do you! Next. South Africa is currently being run by the ANC. A black former terrorist group that commited a very long list of atrocities, many of which were against black people with different tribal affiliations to those in the ANC. Also, if you bothered to use your eyes you would notice that the president of SA is black, and all positions of power within the SA government are occupied by black people. And as I'm sure you must be aware, the SA government is the government of THE WHOLE OF SOUTH AFRICA, including the "diamond districts". So no I don't "think" that all of SA's leaders are black, I KNOW it for a fact. Whether you like it or not, ALL of south africas problems are caused by blacks and no I'm not being paid a penny to tell the truth, I do it for free. By my reckoning the work day is now over in israel, so feel free to wait till tomorrow to reply, unless you want to work overtime that is! Yeah, when they settled america it was unihabited too..then all of those black people were brought here to work leaving south africa without the indigeonous black people, and the white capitalists grabbed the abandoned diamond mines. Is that why all the "white" diamond mine owners have a "stein" at the end of their names? . Is that why all the "white" diamond mine owners have a "stein" at the end of their names? LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 470319 11-22-2018 05:33 PM Post: #13 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? Boots on ground! LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 474716 11-22-2018 05:36 PM Post: #14 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? Between aids and syphilis, the best other people can do is keep hosting pity parties anyway. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 470865 11-22-2018 05:38 PM Post: #15 RE: Why crime is out of control in south africa? LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 05:24 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (11-22-2018 05:20 PM) You may not know this, but Chinese are opening Police Stations all over Africa.... Once Africa (Egypt) was the greatest. Now everyone is robbing them like there was never such a superpower. Time changes. When the Anglo saxons were mudhut dwellers. You do know that the ancient egyptians were caucasian type 3, mediteranean white, don't you? Probably not! LOL Basically your saying that white people built an amazing and advanced civilisation while white people were still in mud huts! Anglo saxons in mud huts???? WOW your a moron! There were no "anglo" saxons untill after the romans left britain in the late fifth/early sixth century. The Saxons were building out of wood and stone, and in fact NEVER built out of mud. Mud huts are an african thing! This afrocentric bullshit is always thoroughly entertaining and funny, please by all means continue spouting it! You do know that the ancient egyptians were caucasian type 3, mediteranean white, don't you?Probably not! LOLBasically your saying that white people built an amazing and advanced civilisation while white people were still in mud huts!Anglo saxons in mud huts???? WOW your a moron!There were no "anglo" saxons untill after the romans left britain in the late fifth/early sixth century. The Saxons were building out of wood and stone, and in fact NEVER built out of mud. Mud huts are an african thing!This afrocentric bullshit is always thoroughly entertaining and funny, please by all means continue spouting it! Advertisement Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Robfromoz said: Thank you, does that mean once the bridging visa is granted that we have work and medicare rights or do we have to wait until the end of the initial 3 month period. Thank you Click to expand... You're bound by the conditions of the visa you're on. So the conditions on the BVA aren't in effect until the BVA is in effect. So if not allowed to work on the tourist visa, you can't work on the tourist visa. Tourist visa ends, then BVA goes into effect meaning you're on the BVA then. Medicare is available as soon as the 820/801 application is made. A VEVO check can tell you which visa you're on. Hello all I would like some help! I have a pending Prospective marriage visa and am hoping to travel to Australia soon to visit my fiance for about 2 weeks and then return back to the UK until my PMV is approved. Will I be able to travel to Australia on a separate tourist visa if my pmv hasn't been approved before I go to visit ? Or will I have to wait until my PMV is approved before I can travel to Australia again? And will this effect the processing times on my pmv? It happened in Independence, Kansas, and it was caught on camera by a fellow motorist. The video was then posted to LiveLeak and picked up traction from there, attaining viral status.Though theres not much footage to go by, there can be no mistaking as to whats happening in that car. The woman is on top of the man and hes not paying any attention to the road. You can tell that hes going fast, but at least there isnt much traffic around with the exception of the motorist filming the action. This happened after dark.As if to prove that hepaying some attention to whats happening around him, when the driver filming them approaches the vehicle for a better look, the driver flips him the bird. Recklessclassy, thats a powerful combination in such a short video.Of course, people having sex in moving cars is not new. Its been done before and its been caught on camera, too. That isnt to say that this is ok: as fun as it might be for both parties involved, its dangerous and potentially fatal for other motorists and the couple.Just recently, Spanish police caught a couple of daredevils who did the same on one of the national roads, after footage of them popped up online. They were identified by the car they drove (a DACIA Sandero Stepway ) and they were fined accordingly.This time, police are yet to catch the culprits. They dont have much to go on, either: the video shows neither the plates nor the make of the car, just the location. You cant see the womans face and all you can make out of the mans is that hes wearing glasses. And likes to flip the bird. The incident happened at the end of July this year. A woman called the police to report that her car and her had been stolen from the parking lot. While police investigated, she looked through surveillance footage taken of the parking lot, and she recognized the man who got into her car and drove away.He was Aaron Shumake, who had worked with her for some time and whom she even counted a friend before he was fired. So she texted him and told him that she had recognized him, confronting him in a series of heated exchanges, MySanAntonio reports.Thats when Shumake realized the gist was up, so he eventually told the woman where to find the car and the purse. Maybe he thought giving back what he had stolen meant the police would no longer go after him, but he was wrong.He was arrested on Monday on suspicion of theft of a vehicle, and is being held on a $5,000 bond. Turns out, bringing back a car you stole doesnt absolve you of stealing it in the first place.This would only happen if the woman had reported that the car had been retrieved before the police caught the guy. This actually occurred earlier this month in Louisville, Kentucky, when a thief returned the car hed stolen after 3 days.He even placed a handwritten apology on the windshield, in which he explained that he didnt mean to cause any inconvenience and that he was sorry. The owner accepted his apology and told the police she had found the car she had reported missing. She explained to the media that she liked to think the thief had merely borrowed it for a while. AMG HP The GLB is one of the most car-like SUVs Mercedes will make, based on the same platform as the A-Class. Though nothing was officially revealed about this model, we expect it to be very familiar, from the engine lineup to the way its dashboard looks. And all signs point towards it being made in Mexico for the North American market.The GLB 35 is not a full-fatmodel. Its toast is covered in margarine, as it were since the 2.0-liter turbo that resides under its hood should deliver 306(302 bhp) and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) of torque. The power will naturally go to all four wheels, just like in the A 35 . Adaptive dampers and a drive mode selector will keep things interesting. However, you won't get a mechanical front axle diff.By comparison, the G63 has twice the cylinders in its 4.0-liter V8 and produces just shy of the 600 mark. However, we think the correlation between the two continues to be unjustified. Mercedes is just looking to expand into a new niche without actually creating a connection to its iconic off-roader.This is the first sighting of the prototype, which means we're dealing with an early test mule. That means its bumpers aren't the right ones, the wheels aren't the right ones and the exhaust... well, you get the idea. The AMG look should help the GLB 35 stand out from the crowd, not that it has too many rivals.One obvious competitor we can think of is the 300 horsepower Cupra Ateca , which is probably a little smaller, just like the Audi SQ2. Meanwhile, both the RS Q3 and Tiguan R are going to jump straight to the 2.5 TFSI. Over the following weekend, NASA engineers will be monitoring the trajectory of the spacecraft and the weather reports from Mars to see if any of these good parameters change.If all goes well, on Monday the spacecraft will begin its descent toward Mars. InSIght will be entering the Martian atmosphere at 12,300 mph (19,800 km/h). In the just seven minutes it will take the spacecraft to reach the surface it will have to slow down to 5 mph (8 km/h).These seven minutes are dubbed by NASA engineers the seven minutes of terror, mostly because they have no actual control of the spacecraft as it maneuvers and have to be confident the pre-programmed instructions are correct and work.The InSight will be landing in the Elysium Planitia region. NASA will know if all went well if the two CubeSats that are accompanying the mission will work as planned and watch the descent live, sending back to Earth InSight data.According to NASA, if the CubeSats work mission control will know if the craft landed safely or not just eight minutes after it completes the maneuver. If the CubeSats dont work, the agency will have to wait several hours before learning of their machines fate.InSight was built back in 2010 and was initially scheduled to leave for Mars in 2016, but because of a failure to one of the instruments, the launch was postponed.Once on the neighboring planet, the lander will use various instruments to look for quakes, perturbations of Mars' rotation axis, information about the planet's core or the amount of heat escaping from underneath. It happened in Goldsboro, N.C., and the car Mark Crabtree was driving was a black 2000 Chevrolet Camaro SS. He made sure to make the most of it, too: police say that he was doing 157 mph in a 55 mph zone, Spectrum Local News reports.Crabtree is believed to have been racing prior to the chase beginning, the report says. Which explains why he was so eager to get away from them. He was probably thinking he could get away with it and would never be caught.Police used a tire deflation device to immobilize Crabtrees Camaro, bringing him to a stop south of Cornwallis Road, just inside the Johnston County line, the report says. Hes been hit with a string of charges from 3 different law enforcement agencies: fleeing to elude, speeding, and damage to property, from the Goldsboro Police Department, the Wayne County Sheriffs Office and the NC Highway Patrol.The daredevil was eventually released on a $3,000 bond and is due to appear in court. He wont be able to take his beloved Chevy for any more rides, as its been impounded under North Carolinas Run & Done statute. Bummer.Run & Done allows North Carolina police officers to impound a vehicle thats been used to commit a felony flee to elude (which Crabtree is guilty of). The vehicle is then auctioned off and the state uses the money raised to fund various projects in the schools system. Double bummer for Mr. Crabtree.The lesson learned here is that some joyrides are too costly to be worth it. According to the Metro , the plane was grounded in Beijing for a malfunctioning pump. The plane couldnt take-off until a new one was put in, so everyone on the plane was asked for cash so they could raise the necessary amount to buy it.Daniel Golebiowski was on that flight and he says he was just as shocked as the other passengers when cabin crew members came to ask them for cash. There were 249 people on that plane. In the end, some did chip in: $350 in American money was raised and the flight took off with a 10-hour delay.We are at the international airport. I cannot believe that transactions take place here in cash under the table with the mechanic standing next to the plane, Golebiowski says.As strange as this sounds, the airline has an explanation for it: apparently, the mechanic who performed the repairs wouldnt take any other form of payment than cash. And cash was the last thing airline employees had on them, apparently.So, because the mechanic wouldnt accept a wire transfer, the pilot decided to borrow some money from some of the passengers on board. The entire sum was refunded to them when the aircraft landed in Warsaw, before they even got off the plane, an airline company says.Still, the representative of LOT should have both cash and credit card with him, Adrian Kubicki, spokesperson for the same company, admits in an interview with Aerotime . The company provides them with funds to solve similar situations. There are no circumstances that justify asking money from passengers. The first of the bunch to fly to outer space is the Crew Dragon, which is scheduled to take off from Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on January 7. It will be an uncrewed flight, but one of extreme historical significance for NASA and the American space program.It will be the first launch of an astronaut carrying capable capsule from American soil since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011. It will also be the first flight of the Commercial Crew Program, NASAs crazy idea of asking for help from the private sector, an idea that has reignited mankinds dreams of heading for the stars.The flight test will be conducted to gather relevant data on the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon spacecraft, and ground systems.If all goes well, NASA targets a crewed test for June 2019 in a Crew Dragon capsule. Sometime in between these two events, the agency will conduct in-flight abort tests for the spacecraft.Boeings turn will be up in March, when the Starliner will be launched empty. Pad abort tests will follow, and in August 2019 the first crewed mission of Boeings capsule is scheduled.Overall, both capsules will go through an uncrewed test and a crewed one, before being ready for their first real missions.For SpaceXs crewed test flight, NASA assigned Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, both members of several Endeavour and Atlantis missions. The first real mission of the capsule, still unscheduled, will see Victor Glover, at his first flight to space, and ISS veteran Michael Hopkins climb onboard.Boeing's capsule will be crewed during the test flight by Eric Boe and Christopher Ferguson, both shuttle missions veterans, and Nicole Aunapu Mann, at her first flight to space. The first mission has been tasked to Josh Cassada, who will be flying for the first time in space, and ISS astronaut Sunita Williams. Meant to work in parallel with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, the Vodafone-powered tool will include up-to-the-minute traffic information, parking and location services, and vehicle diagnostics. More importantly, Hyundai-Kia cars will also get voice-control features for some of its systems.Not all of the groups cars will be fitted with the new system, and the two companies have not yet announced the models to get it.This strategic partnership will enable us to offer many more drivers maximum connectivity at the wheel, supported by a comprehensive European data network, said in a statement Jungsik Suh, Hyundais VP of the ITC division.The system will launch across Europe next year with the arrival of upcoming Hyundai and Kia models, meaning customers will have the most accurate and relevant information at their fingertips.The battle for car companies-made infotainment systems has picked up this year in Europe, as giants BMW and Mercedes launched their own upgraded system, both featuring voice-control as the main attraction.Until now limited to the premium segment, this type of technology was already confirmed to be offered in cars of the Volkswagen group or PSA from as soon as next year. Now that Hyundai Kia has joined, the race in this segment is likely to pick up.Vodafone, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, is no stranger to the automotive world. Its favorite partner in this industry is Ford.Ford and Vodafone have announced since last year they are working on providing 4G LTE connectivity on the Old Continent, and this year they began research which will lead to the creation of an accident alert system for drivers. For 2018, Kwanchai Paphatphong, organizing chairman of the 35th Thailand International Motor Expo, has revealed that 36 different manufacturers from all over the world will be displaying their line up of vehicles at the upcoming event. There will also be 23 motorcycle companies displaying their latest line up. The 35th edition of the annually held Thailand International Motor Expo will once again open its doors this coming November 29, and will be held at the Impact Challenger in Muang Thong Thani, Thailand. This year, the Motor Expo runs the theme of Enjoy Driving! Before Driverless Era highlighting the debut of new models along with concept cars. Those going to the event can actually book and purchase brand new vehicles right then and there at the expo. Organizers will also be giving away brand new vehicles and other prizes to lucky showgoers as part of the expo's promo. The promos include 'Buy a Car Win a Car', 'Buy a Ticket Win a Car', 'Buy a Motorbike Win a Big Bike', 'Win a Prize New Gen Style', 'Buy Merchandise to Win a Prize', and 'Scan to Win More Scans Better Chance.' Prizes include a brand new Volvo V40 T4, an MG 3 Hatchback, a Yamaha YZF-R6, and a Mitsubishi Mirage GLX. Other activities include 'Skill Driving Experience Junior' which aims to provide road safety awareness training for children aged 4-8 years old; with a chance of winnig a brand new child car seat. Vistors can also experience new car features at the Autonomous Test Drive Area and the 'Skill Driving Experience'. The 'Spirit of the 4x4 Driving School' meanwhile welcomes 4x4 enthusiasts from all over the globe. Makers of tuner kits and spare parts will also be there for the enthusiasts. Kwanchai Paphatphong expects bookings to reach 45,000 units for cars and 8,000 units for motorcycles. It is also expected that 1.5 million visitors will be going to the expo and generate over 55 million Baht in purchases. This would then push Thailand's vehicle sales in 2018 to above 1 million units. The 35th Thailand International Motor Expo will run from November 29 to December 10, 2018. For more information, visit their website at http://www.motorexpo.co.th At an emergency board meeting held today Nissan's global headquarters in Yokohama, the Japanese automaker has decided to dismiss Carlos Ghosn from his position as Chairman of the Board. His close associate and representative board member Greg Kelly, was also voted out. Now the logical conclusion has come to pass. Over the last 3 days, Nissan has been in the spotlight after their Chairman, Carlos Ghosn, was apprehended by Japanese authorities. Ghosn was arrested in Japan on Monday on charges of under-reported compensation nearly JPY 5 billion in over 10 years in a scheme allegedly masterminded by Kelly, who was also arrested. According to Shin Kukimoto, deputy public prosecutor at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, Ghosn is still in detention after the Tokyo District Court approved detaining him for 10 days. This is according to a report by The Asahi Shimbun. Kukimoto also said that Ghosn is being held at the Tokyo Detention Center and that the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday approved detaining Ghosn for 10 days. The Nissan board is officially composed of 9 members, Ghosn and Kelly included. With their absence, only 7 members met to make the vote. President and CEO Hiroto Saikawa presided over the special board meeting. Other members of the board are: Hideyuki Sakamoto, Toshiyuki Shiga, Jean-Baptiste Duzan, Bernard Rey, former race driver Keiko Ihara and Professor Masakazu Toyoda (a former bureaucrat, not related to the Toyota family). A majority vote was all it took to remove them from their posts, but a shareholders vote is required to officially remove to two from the board of directors. The board affirmed that "the long-standing Alliance partnership with Renault remains unchanged and that the mission is to minimize the potential impact and confusion on the day-to-day cooperation among the Alliance partners." The board also voted to approve two aspects: "To study the creation of a special committee to appropriately take advice from an independent third party regarding the governance management system and better governance of director compensation. Further to the mandate, the three independent directors Masakazu Toyoda, Keiko Ihara and Jean-Baptiste Duzan will lead this matter. To approve establishment of an advisory committee chaired by Masakazu Toyoda and including Keiko Ihara and Jean-Baptiste Duzan. The committee will propose nominations from the board of directors for the position of Chairman of the Board." Nissan has since decided to remove Ghosn from his chairmanship in its 'Executives' section. The Mitsubishi Motors board will convene next week to decide on the fate of Ghosn, who also sits on its board as Chairman. The FAA has issued a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) addressing several aircraft refueled with contaminated jet fuel at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF) in Opa-locka, Florida. The agency reports that five aircraft were serviced with jet fuel containing diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) between Aug. 12 and Aug. 16, 2018. Nine additional aircraft were serviced with refueling equipment that had been exposed to DEF. The FAA identified a similar event in which seven aircraft were serviced with jet fuel containing DEF at Eppley Air Field Airport (OMA) in Omaha, Nebraska, in November 2017. In both cases, the agency says DEF was mistakenly used instead of a fuel system icing inhibitor (FSII) on aircraft refueling trucks. The DEF was then added to the fuel via the trucks FSII injection systems. DEF is a urea-based chemical used to break down potentially hazardous diesel engine emissions. According to the SAFO (PDF), it reacts with certain jet fuel chemical components, forming non-fuel-soluble crystalline deposits that can accumulate on filters, fuel system components and engine fuel nozzles. For affected aircraft, recommendations include contacting their aircraft, engine and APU manufacturers to determine the appropriate maintenance actions; reporting inspection results, system repairs and service difficulties to the FAA; making sure to discard any jet fuel suspected to be contaminated; and discussing procedures for avoiding DEF contamination with fuel providers if it is used in their service vehicles. The FAA says it will be monitoring the situation to determine if additional action is necessary. On Dec. 1, Mexicos leftist president-elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, will be inaugurated in Mexico City. It's likely to be just hours after Mexico's outgoing president, Enrique Pena Nieto, joins with President Trump and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to sign the NAFTA replacement deal in Buenos Aires. Why it matters: Trump has insulted, threatened and scapegoated Mexico since the day he announced his presidential campaign. The signing ceremony will underscore Pena Nieto's decision to, as Mexicos ambassador to the U.S. Geronimo Gutierrez puts it, remove political rhetoric from negotiations. But Lopez Obradors arrival signals a new, unpredictable era for the crucial relationship. Catch up quick ... Mexico City was the first foreign capital Trump visited as a presidential candidate, in August 2016. Pena Nieto paid a big political price for welcoming Trump, and for declining to go punch for punch with him in the two years since. He has portrayed the trade deal as vindication of his approach. After a term plagued by crime and corruption, though, Pena Nieto limps out of office as one of the least popular presidents in recent Mexican history Lopez Obrador won his convincing victory in Julys election on promises to fight corruption and inequality. A charismatic populist, he has played the role of both revolutionary and pragmatist, and its not always clear which version Mexico elected. Case in point: Lopez Obrador has both reassured investors by backing the trade negotiations, and terrified them by pledging to halt construction on what would have been the worlds biggest airport. Likewise, he has written a book Oye Trump criticizing the U.S. president, but also invited him to his inauguration. (Vice President Pence will go instead). Where things stand ... Gutierrez, Mexico's ambassador, says he expects a deal to end U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico, and Mexicos counter-tariffs targeting agriculture, by next weeks signing or shortly thereafter. That would leave the slate clear for Lopez Obrador, at least on trade. But speaking at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday, Gutierrez said that despite the breakthrough on trade, the U.S. and Mexico are not quite there in terms of forging a new, better relationship. The primary obstacle is immigration, he says, and the relationship will remain at a critical moment until a solution is found. Trump and Lopez Obrador discussed the issue in a call last month that both said was productive and friendly. Their approaches differ widely, though: Lopez Obrador wants big investments to address the root causes of immigration, while Trump has done just the opposite. The big picture: Gutierrez was joined on stage by Tony Wayne, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico now at the Wilson Center. Wayne said the U.S.-Mexico relationship touches more Americans daily lives than any other. The direction it takes now will depend on Lopez Obrador, and on Trump. China has all but stopped buying American soybeans, which in a circuitous new global legume market are now going to South America, when they are not being thrown into storage in wait of an end to the trade war. What's happening: U.S. soybean exports to China are now down 98% in 2018, the result of the escalating U.S.-Chinese tension. The big picture: With the reduced Chinese demand, the U.S. has begun exporting soybeans to Brazil and Argentina in larger volumes. Those countries, which produce lots of soybeans themselves, have been using the imported soy for domestic products like oil and soymeal. In turn, they export their homegrown soybeans to China, said Farzad Taheripour, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. lots of soybeans themselves, have been using the imported soy for domestic products like oil and soymeal. In turn, they export their homegrown soybeans to China, said Farzad Taheripour, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. The shift was captured in an analysis of changing shipping routes, shown above. Descartes Labs, a company that analyzes information from satellite imaging and other sensors around the world, found that grain-carrying ships began cutting a new, direct route from the U.S. to Argentina in recent months. in an analysis of changing shipping routes, shown above. Descartes Labs, a company that analyzes information from satellite imaging and other sensors around the world, found that grain-carrying ships began cutting a new, direct route from the U.S. to Argentina in recent months. "This is what you see when you institute tariffs that really mess up the system," said Matt Witte, a commodities expert at Descartes. "You do things like ship soybeans to a country that already produces a lot of them." The uptick in Argentinas soy imports is relatively modest for now, said Pat Westhoff, director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri. Its been driven partly by tariffs, but also by a soybean shortage in Argentina due to a bad harvest. If it were not for the shortage, Argentina would have even more soybeans to export to China. The U.S. government expects this dynamic to continue into next year, even though Argentina is likely to harvest more soybeans in 2019, Westhoff said. The bottom line: This detour hurts the American soybean industry, said Taheripour. "Our farmers will receive a lower price for their products." Go deeper: The outgoing National Assembly approved on Thursday the Armenian governments draft budget for next year which calls for a 12 percent rise in public spending projected to total 1.65 trillion drams ($3.4 billion). Despite the planned increase, the government will keep public sector salaries and pensions largely unchanged. The budget commits the government to collecting 1.5 trillion drams in tax and other revenues. This would further cut the budget deficit which should fall to 2.7 percent of GDP this year. As has been the case in the past two decades, the deficit will mostly be financed with foreign loans and grants. Armenias military spending is projected to soar by 25 percent, to 309 billion drams ($633 million), in 2019.By comparison, the government is planning to spend 444 billion drams on social programs, 139 billion drams on education and 90 billion drams on healthcare. The government agreed to increase its total spending target by about 6 billion drams ($12.3 million) as a result of parliament debates. According to Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian, lawmakers proposed 146 amendments. The 105-member parliament passed the budget by 66 votes to 4, with two abstentions. The spending bill was backed by most deputies representing former President Serzh Sarkisians Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). Still, three senior HHK lawmakers -- Eduard Sharmazanov, Arpine Hovannisian and Armen Ashotian -- voted against it. Citing the budgetary targets and other macroeconomic data, Sharmazanov accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian of failing to make good on his pledges to significantly speed up economic growth in the country. He argued that Pashinians government has forecast a growth rate of only 4.9 percent for 2019. The Armenian economy is on track to grow by roughly 6 percent this year after expanding by 7.5 percent in 2017. According to official statistics, GDP growth accelerated to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2018 that marked the last three months of Sarkisians decade-long rule. The 2019 budget envisages pay rises only for 14,000 or so doctors and other medical personnel working in state-run policlinics. Presenting it to the parliament on November 13, Pashinian defended his governments decision not to raise the salaries of other public sector employees as well as pensions and poverty benefits. He attributed that to a lack of state revenue and economic realities inherited from the previous government. The chief of the Armenian police, Valeri Osipian, downplayed on Thursday an 11 percent increase in the number of crimes registered in the country this year, saying that they were previously underreported. According to Armenias Statistical Committee, law-enforcement bodies recorded 16,227 crimes in January-September, up from 14,554 in the same period of 2017. Some critics blame the current Armenian government, which took office after this springs velvet revolution, for the higher crime rate. They claim that it is less tough on crime than the previous authorities in Yerevan. Osipian insisted, however, that other factors are at play. True, there has been an increase in crimes but its not risky enough to make us feel concerned It has to do with a number of factors, he told reporters. First of all, the vicious practice within the police system of concealing crimes has been completely eliminated, explained Osipian. He said police officers used to tell victims of theft, robbery and other offenses not to file formal crime reports so that that does not affect police indicators. As a result, many crimes were registered orally and thus not added to official statistics, he said. Osipian, who was appointed as police chief by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in May, declined to name any police officers responsible for that. He insisted only that his predecessor Vladimir Gasparian always demanded that they dont underreport crimes. Zhanna Aleksanian, an outspoken human rights activist, strongly disagreed, saying that many crimes were concealed, covered up and ignored by the police under Gasparian. I dont think that this police [leadership] has fully stopped underreporting crimes or using violence, she told RFE/RLs Armenian service. According to Osipian, another reason for the larger number of registered crimes is that their victims are now less wary of reporting them because of what he described as greater public trust in the police. While people did not trust, respect and love us, police servicemen, in the past, I can say that the opposite is the case now, he claimed. By Narmina Mammadova SOCAR Energy Ukraine, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) in Ukraine, plans to build a new gas station in Kiev. The gas station with a cafe-shop will be located at Stepan Bandera Street, 36 in Obolon district of Kiev, Ukrainian media reported. The total construction area will be almost 0.35 ha. SOCAR Energy Ukraine plans to install 4 fuel dispensers, as well as equip the complex with a module for the sale of liquefied gas. At the gas station, customers will be offered gasoline brands Ai-92, Ai-95, Ai-95 Nano, Ai-98 Nano, diesel and diesel fuel Nano. According to SOCAR, the estimated number of gas stations at the new gas station will be 250 cars per day, and the sale of petroleum products will be 2625 cubic meters per year (1,680 cubic meters of gasoline and 945 cubic meters of diesel fuel). In addition, the annual sale of liquefied gas is expected at 1,750 cubic meters per year. In addition to the gas station on the Bandera Street, the copmany intends to build another gas station in Kiev. The SOCAR Ukraine Trading House, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) in Ukraine, imported 144 million cubic meters of gas to Ukraine in July-September of this year. This is equal to 4.11 percent of the total volume of gas imports to the country in the third quarter of 2018. Gas from Europe to Ukraine in this period supplied more than 30 companies, the volume of imports amounted to 3.5 billion cubic meters. Private gas importers imported 761 million cubic meters to Ukraine in July-September this year. This is equal to 18.9 percent of the total gas supply to the country. The main import volumes accounted for 5 companies. The leading importer was the Trading House SOCAR Ukraine. In general, in January-September of this year, traders imported 6.2 billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine. The main activity of SOCAR Energy Ukraine is to improve the network of petrol filling stations and organize wholesale of petrol and oil products in the territory of Ukraine. SOCAR entered the Ukrainian market back in 2009. The main activity of SOCAR Energy Ukraine is to improve the network of petrol filling stations and organize wholesale of petrol and oil products in the territory of Ukraine. Azerbaijan is considered one of the main trade partners of Ukraine among the CIS countries. Main goods imported from Ukraine to Azerbaijan remains as mainly metallurgy products, machine building products, agro-industrial products, and chemical industry products. While main goods exported from Azerbaijan to Ukraine are generally products of fuel energy industry, chemical industry products, and agro-industrial products. The trade turnover between the states amounted to $810 million in 2017. Currently, SOCAR is the only producer of oil products in Azerbaijan, and operates more than 370 gas (petrol) filling stations in Switzerland, Georgia, Romania and Ukraine. SOCAR is also a co-owner of Turkey's largest petrochemical complex Petkim and other assets in Turkey. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov Azerbaijan will host an international forum on agrarian and green technologies called AgTech and Green Energy for the first time. The event is organized by the ministries of agriculture and energy, AZERTAC reported. The international forum, which will be held under the slogan Innovations for a green future, is planned to be held on December 10-11 at the ADA University, department of public relations and information support of the Ministry of Agriculture said. The main objectives of the AgTech and Green Energy Forum are to ensure the innovative development of the agricultural and energy sectors in Azerbaijan, strengthen the links between various stakeholders, and establish models and links in the field of sustainable business. The forum will be attended by high-ranking officials from a number of ministries, government agencies, heads of farms, foreign experts in the field of green technologies, representatives of start-ups and technology companies, and the private sector. The economic reforms carried out in Azerbaijan in recent years have had a positive impact on the development of the entire non-oil sector, including in the agrarian sector, where institutional changes have taken place. Ensuring food safety remains one of the highest priorities for the state, and in this direction, a lot of work is being done, primarily aimed at meeting domestic demand, as well as increasing the volume of export supplies that meet world quality standards. Azerbaijan has entered a new stage of deep reforms in the agrarian sector in 2018. President Ilham Aliyev adopted and signed three state programs on the development of rice, tea and citrus crops. The head of state signed a series of orders on the revival of cotton, fodder, sericulture and tobacco growing. Thus, in a short time, large-scale changes have occurred in Azerbaijan, the aim of which is to increase the welfare of the people and create new jobs. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Today, with the presence Head of Iran's Management and Planning Organization (MPO) Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht and officials of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the first train on the trial run of the Qazvin-Rasht railway arrived in Rasht from Qazvin province. Referring to the fact that the train is currently open to carrying cargo, the governor of Gilan province Mostafa Salari said the railway will be officially opened in two months with the presence of the president. Salari went on to add that with the opening of the railway, 3.8 million passengers and 10 million tons of cargo will be exchanged annually, which, after completing the route from Rasht to Anzali and Rasht to Astara, will be used to its full capacity, RashtPress reported. The plan is time-consuming and cost-effective, and its credit is provided, and its operations will begin this year, he said referring to the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway. By running the Rasht-Astara railroad, the rail network of the province will connect to the rail network of Azerbaijan, Europe and the Caspian Sea countries, he said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The Mayors Office of Israels Ma'alot-Tarshiha city is implementing the Smart City project, City Mayor Arkady Pomeranets said in an interview with Trend. Pomeranets, who is the first Azerbaijani native becoming the city's mayor, in the history of Israel, said that the Smart City project envisages an integrated approach and will be implemented in stages. The goal of the project is to improve the life of citizens and increase the attractiveness of the city, he noted. The project provides for reducing the costs of citizens for electricity and land tax. The Smart City project offers great prospects for further development of the education system. For example, there are plans to open smart classes and smart schools. Special attention will be also paid to the development of electronic services that people will be able to use through various applications, he said. We also want to make publicly available the information about tenders so that entrepreneurs of our district have the opportunity to participate in them, said Pomeranets. The Smart City project includes various services that can make the city more attractive, contribute to the development of private entrepreneurship, the opening of new production facilities, etc., he noted. We also intend to focus on the development of medicine so that the citys population can use all medical services directly in Ma'alot-Tarshiha, he said. It is also important for us to open a branch of some Israeli university in the city so that students can study here, he added. We also want to support our students, and this support can be expressed in the form of scholarships or discounts on taxation. In addition, we would like to offer benefits to newlyweds. They may include discounts on land tax in the first year of their life together. But all this is only projects for now. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Laman Ismayilova Uzeyir Hajibeyli's opera "Koroghlu" (The Blind Man's Son) will be staged in Baku. Azerbaijans State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater will present the opera by prominent national composer and playwright on November 28, Sputnik Azerbaijan reported. The opera will be staged in honor of the 90th anniversary of the artistic director of the opera, the world-famous Azerbaijani artist, Tahir Salahov. Koroghlu is Azerbaijan's heroic epos that tell about life of people, their struggle for justice and freedom. The storyline is based on a national epos about poor, abused villagers who rise up to defeat their unjust, oppressive khans and beys (landowners) in the 16-17th centuries. The fight of two opposing forces - the people and feudal forms of governance - forms the dramatic basis of the opera. The drama shows the mounting fight of the people for the liberation from the oppressors and enemies of the motherland. Based on his story, Hajibeyli created the opera in five acts, that has become a truly nation's patrimony. It was premiered on April 30, 1937 at the opera and ballet theater. It was conducted by the composer himself with remarkable Bulbul and Gulyara Iskandarova in leading roles. Since the first night, the opera has always gathered a large audience. The opera will be conducted by Honored Artist of Azerbaijan, laureate of international competitions of conductors Eyyub Guliyev. Leading soloists of the theater will take part in the opera. Peoples Artists of Azerbaijan Ali Askarov, Akram Poladov, Fidan Hajiyeva, Honored Artists Farid Aliyev, Ilaha Efendiyeva, Jahangir Gurbanov, Aliakhmed Ibrahimov, Tural Agasiyev and theater soloists Taleh Yakhyayev, Fahmin Ahmadli, Nurlan Namazov will share the same stage. Tahir Salahov, one of the most prominent representatives of the Azerbaijani art, is the vice-president and honorary president of the International Association of Plastic Arts of UNESCO, the vice-president of the Russian Academy of Arts, People's Artist of the USSR, Azerbaijan and Russia, and is the winner of a number of high awards, including the State Prize of the USSR and Azerbaijan. The world-renowned artist, who sensitively catches the rhythms of life and able to listen and hear the time, Salahov is the master of portraits, landscape pictures, still-life paintings and large many-figured paintings. His paintings such as "Oilmen", "Portrait of Gara Garayev", "Woman of Absheron" and "Aydan" have become the most beloved works of the artist. The artist currently lives in Moscow, where he is a professor at the Moscow Art Institute. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Laman Ismayilova Rustam Huseynov is a truly extremely talented soul and this comes out through his works. Azerbaijani photographer successfully represented the country at Busan International Environment Arts Festival. The event displaying eco-friendly artwork brought together world-famous art professionals. Both works devoted to contemporary trends in visual art, as well as works on historical topics related to current events in different parts of the world. "The festival is one of the largest international festivals in Asia in the field of visual art," Rustam Huseynov told Azernews. The photographer brilliantly captured beautiful moments showing the wondrous diversity of old and new trends. "My work made a great impression, as it reflects the tendency of combining historical heritage and modernity, which is now popular around the world, including South Korea", said the photographer. His impressive works showcases his incredible talent, as well as his keen eye for capturing the captivating colors. So, there was no doubt that the works of national photographer would cause a great success among art connoisseurs. The art festival in the beautiful port town of Busan made a deep impression on him. The festival impressed the photographer with a huge number of participating countries. Undoubtedly, Rustam Huseynov took home wonderful memories from the festival. "The most pleasant impression for me was the exhibition catalogue, where my work looks both as an object of digital art and as a historical miniature at the same time," he said. Earlier, Rustam Huseynov presented his works at the exhibition "European architectural heritage of Baku" at Center of Contemporary Art. The exhibition combined in the greatness of the Western styles has always coexisted with the elegance of the East for centuries. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova Armenia has once again showed its unconstructive position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as the countrys leadership rejected a humanist proposal from Azerbaijan, namely the exchange of prisoners. Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, while sitting in his comfortable chair, doesnt seem to care much about his own citizens. War always brutally reflects on ordinary civilians, not on the tops of power. Both, Armenian and Azerbaijani civilians living in the frontline areas constantly experience fear and distress because of the conflict that cannot find its decision for more than 30 years due to unconstructive position of Armenia. When the leadership of the country has changed, everyone had hopes that at least now the situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict might change and the peace may be established in the region. However, not much has changed since Pashinyan took his office. It seems that unresolved conflict is somehow beneficial to certain circles of Armenia who have no compassion for ordinary civilians at all. This is also reflected in what Pashinyan said -- he opposes the return of two Azerbaijani civilians held captive in Armenia in exchange for Armenian captives in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijans offer on the exchange of hostages on the principle of "all for all" is a humane approach to solving the problem. Instead of grappling with this opportunity, thereby proving his commitment to the peace negotiations, Pashinyan became obstinate. While Azerbaijan, proceeding from the relevant conventions of international law, as well as the principle of humanism, is proposing to exchange hostages held by both parties, Pashinyan, by voicing such statements, thereby recognizes that his country, contrary to the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols it joined is grossly violating its international obligations, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva said. In addition to Pashinyans indifference towards the fates of his people, this step can also be viewed as a disregard for humanitarian activities constantly encouraged by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. What is obvious from this entire situation? The only explanation is that Armenian leadership has not changed its position and is not a real supporter of peace. Of course, there are still some opinions that this issue might be reconsidered, since Pashinyan currently experiences pressure on the eve of the elections. Azerbaijani citizens Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev have been kept hostage by Armenian militaries in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan for more than four years already. They were detained by the Armenian armed forces in July 2014 while visiting their native places and graves of loved ones in Azerbaijan's occupied Kalbajar region. Moreover, Armenian armed forces killed the third Azerbaijani Hasan Hasanov. Later, Guliyev and Asgarov were judged illegally by the unrecognized courts of the separatist regime in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Following an expedited judicial process in December 2015, Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years in prison. Azerbaijans State Committee on Affairs of Refugees and IDPs, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons and other agencies have repeatedly urged international organizations, including the ICRC, to assist in release of Guliyev and Asgarov, whilst the problem remains topical yet. In June 2018, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Bar Association Anar Bagirov informed that documents and videos on tortures against Asgarov and Guliyev were submitted to the European Court of Human Rights. During the investigation carried out on a criminal case regarding the crimes committed by the Armenian armed forces and illegal armed formations in Nagorno-Karabakh, it was established that Armenian nationalists with particular cruelty killed thousands of Azerbaijanis only because of their national identity in Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent areas, that is, in the Azerbaijani lands. Meanwhile, there are three Armenian citizens Arsen Baghdasaryan, Karen Kazaryan and Zaven Karapetyan, who are professional military saboteurs, in Azerbaijan. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov Russia welcomes the possible meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the OSCE Ministerial Meeting in Milan on December 6-7, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a press conference on November 22. She said Russia would welcome another round of such a meeting if the parties agree to hold it. But it is the sovereign right of every state to decide on holding such meetings. If such a meeting takes place, and it will be constructive, it can only be welcomed, the spokeswoman stressed. Zakharova also commented on the refusal of Armenia to exchange prisoners with Azerbaijan on the principle of "all for all". We welcome any agreements that are in line with the main task of resolving the conflict. But the agreement involves consent and work to achieve this agreement. Therefore, Azerbaijans initiative is remarkable, but it needs to be worked out in order for it to turn into agreements, concluded Zakharova. The 25th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the countries participating in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE Ministerial Council) will be held under the Italian chairmanship in Milan on December 6-7, 2018. cting Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan will also be present at the meeting. Commenting on the question whether the meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan will take place, the head of the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan said similar proposal was made by the mediators. When the possibility of the meeting will be clarified, we will inform you, he concluded. It is clear why official Yerevan is quite cautious in the comments on the prospects for holding a meeting of the heads of the two foreign ministries. The sooner it is said directly about holding the meeting, the longer it will take another reason for Pashinyans opponents to use it to criticize the acting Prime Minister. As the voting day approaches, Nikol Pashinyan and his opponents will make increasingly harsh statements on Karabakh. This means that the possible meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in early December will be held against a rather problematic background. It is impossible to completely exclude that meeting will eventually be postponed. And if it takes place, then a sharper rhetoric can be expected from the official Yerevan on the eve and on the results of its holding. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has congratulated President of the Lebanese Republic Michel Aoun. On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I congratulate you and your people on the occasion of the Independence Day of the Lebanese Republic, the president said. On this remarkable day, I extend my best regards to you, and wish the friendly people of Lebanon peace and prosperity, he said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The head of Azerbaijans Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev discussed in Moscow the legal status of the Caspian Sea with the Secretary of Russias Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, the press service of the Security Council of the Russian Federation reported, according to Russian media. "The prospects for interaction between various ministries and departments of Russia and Azerbaijan, countering terrorism, as well as the topics of the legal status of the Caspian Sea were discussed with the head of Azerbaijans Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev," said in the message. On Aug. 12, the heads of five Caspian states signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea at the 5th Summit of the Heads of Caspian States in Aktau. The Convention is a historic document for the region, the work on which has been carried out for two decades since 1996. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz State-run Land Bank of the Philippines, the third-largest lender in terms of assets, said net income rose 9 percent in the first three quarters to P11.4 billion from P10.5 billion a year ago. LandBank said in a statement Thursday this translated into a return on equity of 13.15 percent, which remained above the latest industry average. LandBank posted a 20-percent hike in total assets from P1.48 trillion to P1.77 trillion as of September 2018. Deposits rose 20 percent to P1.57 trillion from P1.31 trillion, fueled by a steady increase in both private and government deposits. This makes LandBank the countrys third largest universal bank in terms of assets and second in terms of deposits in the ranking of solo/parent companies. LandBank president and chief executive Alex Buenaventura attributed the increase in revenue and total assets to higher interest income on loans, which jumped 35 percent as the banks gross loan portfolio surged 37 percent to P838.7 billion.Its capital climbed 22.6 percent to P124.9 billion as of end-September from P101.9 billion a year earlier. We are happy about LandBanks steady growth and solid ranking among the countrys top banks. We are optimistic about capping 2018 on a high note, as income from loans and investments remains strong, Buenaventura said. This allows us to continue to channel greater financial assistance to our priority sectors, foremost to our farmers and fishers, microenterprises and SMEs, agribusiness and other development players, he said. LandBank is the only lender present in all 81 provinces of the country and is considered the largest provider of loans to small farmers and fishers, cooperatives, MSMEs and local government units. By Trend President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has visited the "People's Memory" memorial complex in Ashgabat. The complex features monuments commemorating the victims of Ashgabat earthquake of 1948, and those fallen during the battle of Geok Tepe. President Aliyev laid a wreath at the Eternal Glory monument. The president then familiarized himself with the Sacred Homeland Museum. The museum features exhibits highlighting Geok Tepe battle, World War II, and Ashgabat earthquake of 1948. The president viewed the installation of Geok Tepe battle of 1881. President Aliyev signed the museums guest book. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has viewed the Turkmen national carpet museum in Ashgabat. The museum was established in 1993 under the order of the president of Turkmenistan. The goal of the museum is to protect and develop the carpet weaving art of Turkmenistan. The day the museum was founded is annually celebrated as Turkmen Carpet Day in the country. The museum also houses an administrative building of the Turkmenkhali state joint stock corporation. The museum occupies a total area of 5,000 square meters. More than 2,000 carpet samples are kept in the museum. One of the highlights is the Golden Age carpet measuring 301 square meters. Woven to mark the 10th anniversary of Turkmenistans independence, this carpet is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest handmade carpet. The president signed the museum's guest book. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova Winery occupies one of the most important areas in the food industry of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is famous for its high quality grape varieties. Five major wine-growing regions of the country are Shamakhi, Ismayilli, Gabala, Ganja, Tovuz. Local grape varieties in Azerbaijan include White Shani, Derbendi, Nail, Bayanshire, Gamashara, Ganja Pink, Bendi, Madrasa, Black Shani, Zeynabi, Misgali, Khindogni, Agdam Kechiemdzheyi, Tebrizi, and Marandi. The share of Azerbaijan in the wine production in the former Soviet Union has always been high. Nevertheless, the Alcoholism and Anti-Drinking Initiative of the former Soviet Union in 1985 caused the destruction of the vineyards of more than 130,000 hectares in Azerbaijan. One of the first steps towards the restoration of vineyard and winemaking in the country was the Law on Winemaking, adopted in 2001. Recently, a group of Russian journalists, bloggers and wine experts traveled to Azerbaijan to familiarize themselves with the local wine production facilities and products. The five-day visit took place on November 14-18 with the support of Azerbaijan's Trade Representative Office in Russia, especially its head, Ruslan Aliyev, and with the support of the Azerbaijan Wine Manufacturers and Exporters Association, "Support for tourism and national cuisine" Public Union. Experts familiarized with wine products of Shirvan Wines, Absheron Sharab, Ismayll Sharab-2, Savalan, Goygol Sharab, Ganja Sharab-2, Yarmada, Calilabad Sharab-2, Marandi brands and tasted them. They also visited Shamakhi, Ismayilli, Gabala, Mingachevir and Ganja where these wine production facilities are located. Based on the results of the wine tour, a video clip will be shot about the history of wine production in the country, its development phases and prospects, especially about the new wines of Azerbaijan. Organization of such events will facilitate popularization of Azerbaijani winemakers not only in Russia, but also beyond its borders. The State Program on the development of wine growing in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2018-2025, which will lead to development of wine tourism and increase the amount of loans allocated to the wine industry in Azerbaijan, has been approved in May this year to ensure sustainable development of winemaking in the country, increasing interest in wine production and exports. According to the State Program, the export of wine from Azerbaijan should increase five-fold by 2025. Azerbaijan Wine Manufacturers and Exporters Association was established to coordinate activities between producers and exporters of wine and winery products with the support of the Export and Investment Promotion Foundation of Azerbaijan (AZPROMO) in 2016. Azerbaijani Wine Houses are opened in foreign countries to promote national brands and exports of local products. The first wine house of Azerbaijan was opened in China this year. Production of wine and wine-making products in Azerbaijan exceeded 1 million decalitres in 2017, of which 375,000 decalitres were exported. Thus, wine products from the country were mainly sent to Russia (338,000 decals) and China (27,000 decals). Wine exports increased by more than 80 percent over five months of 2018 compared to the first five months of 2017. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Narmina Mammadova At present, supply of steel pipes for construction of TAPI gas pipeline is carried out, according to the Media-Turkmen News Agency (orient.tm). These steel pipes are procured to the amount of $ 40 million, which were allocated by Saudi Development Fund, under the contract concluded between Turkmengas State Concern and Global Pipe Company, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The pipes for transportation of natural gas are delivering by sea from Dammam Port, Saudi Arabia, to Batumi Port, Georgia, and then transit through Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan, to Turkmenbashi International Port. As the Ministry of Railway Transport of Turkmenistan informed ORIENT, 188 wagons, each of which has four standard pipes for gas-main pipeline, were shipped in accordance with planned schedule in Turkmenbashi port as of November 19. From Turkmenbashi Port, the pipes will be delivered to Ymambaba station, Mary province, by rail. Over 5,000 meters of pipes have already been unloaded here. In accordance with the contract, over 35,000 meters of steel pipes placed in 750 wagons to be delivered to Turkmenistan in two stages. Steel pipes are immediately transported to construction sites for assembling. The cost of the TAPI project is estimated at 8-10 billion dollars. It is planned to supply 33 billion cubic meters of gas annually through the 1,800-kilometer gas pipeline from the Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan. Pakistan and India will receive up to 40 million cubic meters of gas per day. Afghanistan is expected to earn more than $ 400 million annually from its transit role in the project. 14 million per day are for Afghanistan. The laying of the Afghan section of the gas pipeline took place on February 23, 2018, and the beginning of the Pakistani section of the gas pipeline is scheduled for December. According to experts, the supply of pipes will significantly speed up the construction of TAPI gas pipeline, which will connect Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The main concern about reliability of pipeline is the ongoing military activity in Afghanistan. Political scientists believe that TAPI would play important role in the context of restoration of the economic infrastructure of Afghanistan, as well as its peaceful revival and stabilization of general political situation in this distressful country. Construction of TAPI gas pipeline was launched in December 2015. However, the construction of Afghan part commenced in early 2018. The annual capacity of the gas pipeline will be 33 billion cubic meters. As the leader of TAPI Pipeline Company Limited, Turkmengas State Concern, which has a controlling stake, is the main financier and project manager. The consortium also includes the Afghanistan Gas Corporation, Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited and Indian GAIL. Turkmengas State Concern holds 85 percent stake on construction and operation of pipeline. Afghanistan, Pakistan and India will each cover 5 percent. Raw material for TAPI will be provided from Galkynysh, the largest natural gas field in Turkmenistan. Turkmen government has already cut the cost of TAPI (Turkmenistan - Afghanistan - Pakistan - Indian gas pipeline) project from $ 10 billion to $ 7 billion to facilitate the realization of pipeline by attracting investors from Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The main investor is the Asian Development Bank, which technically and financially supports the project. The Islamic Development Bank has allocated $ 700 million for the construction of the Turkmen part of the pipeline. The European Union envisages joining the TAPI pipeline to the Southern Gas Corridor to meet Europes energy needs. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova The development of Azeri Chirag Gunashli (ACG) fields, which laid the foundation for the development of oil production and exports in Azerbaijan, is continuously invested in. According to the report released by BP, Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) has spent $ 1.19 billion on ACG bloc development project in January-September 2018, Report.az informed. This amount is three percent less than in the same period last year. During the three quarters of 2018, expenses for ACG amounted to approximately $ 367 million and operating costs to $ 825 million. The volume of operating expenses of ACG increased by 8 percent compared to 2017, while its capital expenditures decreased by 7 percent. In 2019, AIOC is expected to increase oil production by 0.6 million tons to 30.9 million tons, and gas production by 5.9 billion cubic meters to 29.7 billion cubic meters. The agreement on joint development and shared distribution of production from the block of ACG fields was signed on September 20, 1994, in Baku. Thirteen companies from eight countries (Azerbaijan, the U.S., Great Britain, Russia, Turkey, Norway, Japan, Saudi Arabia) have participated in signing of the "Contract of the Century". In February 1995, the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) was established. Proven oil reserves of ACG block of oil and gas fields are estimated at 1.2 billion tons, while gas reserves make 350 billion cubic meters. On September 14, 2017, a modified and re-developed agreement was signed on joint development and shared distribution of production from the Azeri, Chirag fields and the deepwater part of the Gunashli field (ACG). The new agreement provides for the development of the field until 2050. The new ACG participating interests come as follows: BP - 30.37 percent; AzACG (SOCAR) - 25 percent; Chevron - 9.57 percent; INPEX - 9.31 percent; Statoil - 7.27 percent; ExxonMobil - 6.79 percent; TP - 5.73 percent; ITOCHU - 3.65 percent; ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) - 2.31 percent. ACG is the largest oil field in the Caspian Sea, covering more than 432 square kilometers. Oil extraction from the field began in November 1997. The oil produced from the ACG field is exported to the world markets through the Sangachal Terminal, mainly through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil export pipeline and the West Stream Pipeline to Supsa. So far, more than 3 billion barrels of oil has been extracted from the field and about $ 33 billion has been invested in the field. Mewnwhile, the Shah Deniz Consortium has spent $ 1.558 billion on the development project of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Of this amount, operating expenses totaled more than $ 418 million, capital expenditures - about $ 1.14 billion. It is noted that the majority of capital expenditures are related to the Shah Deniz-2 project. Total expenses for Shah Deniz decreased by 41 percent year-on-year, operating expenses increased by 13.6 percent, and capital expenditures decreased by 50 percent. The agreement on the exploration, development and shared production of promising areas of Shah Deniz was signed on June 4, 1996. The agreement on the division of production was ratified on October 17, 1996. The project participants are BP (operator - 28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), LUKOIL (10 percent), NIKO (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent). --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend A workshop dedicated to digital economy, organized by the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is being held in Ashgabat, Altyn Asyr TV channel reported. Employees of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Education, the Central Bank, the State Statistics Committee, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan are attending the event. During the workshop, participants will review various aspects of the digital economy, including its business models, interaction with traditional economy. The workshop will last until Nov. 23. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The European Commission is opening a call for gas projects to be submitted as candidates for the fourth European Union 'Projects of Common Interest' (PCIs) list, said a message on the organizations website. Calls for PCI candidates in the Priority Corridors for smart grids, cross-border carbon dioxide network, and oil will follow. In accordance with the Regulation on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure (No 347/2013), candidate projects in gas must be included in the Ten-Year Network Development Plans (TYNDP) developed by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for gas (ENTSO-G). Eligible projects will be assessed to identify if they address a European need that can be best solved through infrastructure. Projects that pass this initial test will be further assessed against the criteria set out in the TEN-E Regulation to measure their contribution towards the implementation of the respective energy infrastructure priority corridor and their fulfilment of the aforementioned criteria. Projects meeting all requirements of the Regulation and making the largest contributions will be proposed for inclusion in the 4th Union list of PCIs. The list will be adopted by the European Commission by the end of 2019 and published in the Official Journal by early 2020. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Russias armed forces delegation visited Pakistan and met with the Corps Commander Peshawar Lieutenant General Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood, the Dispatch News Desk (DND) news agency reported. The meeting was held at Corps Headquarters in Peshawar wherein a six-member delegation headed by Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Vice Admiral lgor Osipov undertook a visit today. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the Russian armed forces delegation was given briefing on Pakistan armys campaign against terrorism, situation and fencing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The visiting delegation also visited the Khyber District on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. ---- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Narmina Mammadova Azerbaijan's potential for the tourism development is beyond any doubt. Nature, climate, historical monuments, cuisine, rich culture of the people arise great interest among foreign guests of the country. Current trends in the development of tourism indicate an increase in its influence both on the world economy as a whole and on the country's economy. Azerbaijan is among the developing countries in the field of tourism, occupying the 39th place among 148 countries in terms of global competitiveness in tourism. As a result of measures taken by the state, the country has created a modern hotel and tourist infrastructure, trained personnel for the industry, formed an extensive network of travel agencies, created information and advertising structures, developed many tourist routes across the country, running through the most scenic and fertile areas. In January-October 2018, the number of Asian and Middle Eastern tourists who visited Azerbaijan significantly increased, Azerbaijani State Tourism Agency told Trend. During the reported period, 330,000 tourists arrived from the countries of the Middle East, which shows an increase of 42 percent compared to the same period of 2017. Most tourists from this region came from Saudi Arabia, Israel and Kuwait. Russians are in the first place among those who arrived in Azerbaijan in January-October 2018 (752,000 tourists). The number of Russian tourists increased by 3.3 percent compared to the same period of 2017 and made up 31 percent of all foreign citizens who visited Azerbaijan. Earlier, analytical agency TurStat has published a rating of the best CIS cities for shopping, according to Russian tourists earlier. Baku and Astana lead this ranking. Azerbaijan's ski resort Shahdag has also entered the three top destinations among Russians this winter season. In January-October 2018, in total, the number of tourists arriving in Azerbaijan increased by 6.1 percent and reached 2.416 million people (previously 2.277 million). All this shows that tourism industry is not static in Azerbaijan and the country is quickly learning and gaining experience in its development. --- Narmina Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Narmina86085711 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Narmina Mammadova Tourism in Azerbaijan is one of the fastest developing industries. In recent times tourism has become a very important element in the formation of the image of our country abroad and the state pays special attention to this. Thus, the Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA) proposes the creation of a tourist police, AzTA Chairman, Nahid Bagirov announced such an initiative. He noted that tourist police operate in neighboring Turkey, including other countries. Bagirov believes this will help solve problems related to tourists. "In social networks they write that some tourist behaves inappropriately, or some tourist has encountered a problem. In my opinion, the tourist police can monitor all this. I think that if a certain mechanism is used by the state, it will be even better," added the chairman. Earlier, the chairman of the State Agency for Tourism Fuad Nagiyev noted that the level of services provided to tourists is one of the important aspects of tourism development. Everyone who works in the field of tourism should be interested in improving the level of services provided, and the State Agency is taking steps in this direction, he said. In January-September of this year, 2,208,600 foreigners and stateless persons from 193 countries of the world arrived in Azerbaijan, which is 6.4 percent more compared to the same period last year. None of us are immune from unforeseen situations while traveling in foreign country or city. We can lose money, documents, some things or face frank rudeness or infringement of your rights by the hotel staff. If something similar has happened to you, the first thing you need to do is contact the tourist police. Who are they? There are special police units that provide assistance to tourists in difficulty in almost any tourist town or resort. As a rule, tourist police officers speak several languages, they are well-versed in the tourism business and can provide assistance and informational support on any issue. Usually, these policemen have a tag on their sleeve or a patch with the inscription Tourist Police. The main task of this police is to resolve the conflict as quickly as possible and with minimal losses. For example, in Turkey, as well as in any other country, there are many police departments aimed at combating certain types of offenses. However, no matter what trouble you get in, the tourist police will take care of your problems. This unit has existed in Turkey for a long time, although it received the approved official status of a separate department relatively recently. It was in 2017 that the state allocated funds for an updated form, transport and technical equipment. The tourist police have a number of differences from their colleagues. For example, employees must speak at least English, and recently a mandatory condition has been introduced for learning Russian. If you had an accident, the local traffic police will only deal with the expertise and, possibly, the investigative experiment. In general, the case will be conducted by the same tourism department. If the situation is serious, then the police will contact the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of your country, who is represented in Turkey by the diplomatic corps. Serious offenses, such as major thefts, murders and drug trafficking, are also reported to the Foreign Ministry. It is important to know that a person who committed a crime in Turkey will serve his sentence there. Extradition is not provided. On the eve of the tourist season, the tourist police undergo a mandatory refresher course, pass a series of examinations and are allowed to work only when they receive the highest score. --- Narmina Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Narmina86085711 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Huaren Capital picks PH as headquarters posted November 22, 2018 at 07:00 pm by Manila Standard Business November 22, 2018 at 07:00 pm Huaren Capital of China said it decided to set up its headquarters in Manila, following the successful state visit of Chinese president Xi Jin Ping to the Philippines. Jeff Wang, president of Huaren Capital and widely considered the father of bitcoin in China, said the decision to choose Manila was based on the Philippine governments support for the blockchain industry and many policy regulatory conveniences. The Philippines regards blockchain innovation as a national strategy, providing a large number of preferential policies and services to related companies, and solving the regulatory problems faced by the blockchain industry, Wang said.At the same time, the traditional developing financial industry in the Philippines has created an enabling environment for Huaren Capital to develop innovative financial services. These services, can aid Philippine authorities to use blockchain technology to advanced financial market service systems to the Filipino people, Wang said. The Philippines is seen as the springboard of Huaren Capital. Im confident that this raging fire from Southeast Asia will shine in the future and become the focus of decentralized revolution, Wang said. 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. The Securities and Exchange Commission accepted settlement offers worth P2.05 million from former top officials of the Development Bank of the Philippines and First Metro Investments Corp. allegedly involved in the wash sales. The SEC in an order approved the offers made by DBP officials, namely former DBP president and chief executive Gil Buenventura, Lydia Echauz, Vaughn Montes, Rafael Danilo Ranil Reynante and Mariquita Agena, and First Metro and its officers, namely Reynaldo Montalbo, Anna Graziela Banaad, David Ignacio Estacio, Percival Pena, Bernice Joy Nobleza and Jonthan Tabac. The DBP and First Metro officials offered the settlements pending their appeal of the August 2016 decision of the SECs Enforcement and Investor Protection Department finding them in violation of the provisions of the Securities Regulation Code. Thus, considering that the settlement offers as approved by the Commission En Banc are already paid and accepted by the Commission accordingly, the the case is now deemed settled without any determination of fault or guilt on the part of Gil Buenventura, Lydia Echauz, Vaughn Montes and Rafael Danilo Ranil Reynante, the SEC said. DBP in 2015 was allegedly involved in wash sales, in an illegal trading activity in which an investor sells a losing security to claim a capital loss, only to repurchase it again within 30 days of the sale.State-owned DBP allegedly engaged in over P14 billion of what critics described as wash sales that resulted in the booking of P717 million in losses for the government financial institution. The wash sales transactions were made through First Metro, the investment banking unit of the Metrobank group. The SEC department in August 2016 penalized Buenaventura, Echauz, Montes and Agena for P500,000 penalty each; Reynante with P300,000; First Metro, P1 million; Tabac, P300,000; and Montalbo, Banaad, Estacio, Pena, and Nobleza, P100,000 each. HolidayLights When: 5:30 to 9 p.m. nightly, Nov. 30 to Jan. 5 (closed Dec. 25) Where: California Living Museum, 10500 Alfred Harrell Highway Admission: $12, $10 for seniors and children 13-17, $6 children 3-12, free for children under 3; $2 discount for military, and 50 percent off for members. Tickets available at Kern School Federal Credit Union locations or at the gate. Information: calmzoo.org Small Business Saturday in Bakersfield Two series of events have been scheduled in Bakersfield this weekend to highlight Small Business Saturday. One is at The Marketplace at 9000 Ming Avenue, where there will be a toy drive, spin-the-wheel prizes and photos with Santa from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Separately, the Downtown Business Association has organized a day of shopping that kicks off with brunch at The Mark at 19th and H streets, followed six hours later by free champagne and desserts at the Bakersfield Marriott at the Convention Center, 801 Truxtun Ave. How to find your voting location: The Kern County Elections Division has an online tool available to look up your polling location using your address. Go to https://www.kernvote.com/Voting/ and click on "Go to a Polling Place." Then type in your address. The Philippines and Japan signed a P78-billion loan agreement for the construction of the North-South Commuter Railway Extension Project. The exchange of notes between the Philippines and Japan for the 109-kilometer North-South Commuter Railway Extension Project was signed on Nov. 21, 2018, coinciding with the sixth meeting of the Philippines-Japan High Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation. The signing was witnessed by several Cabinet Secretaries for the Philippines side, and by Dr. Hiroto Izumi, special adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Shigeru Kiyama, special adviser to the Cabinet of Japan, for the Japan side. Approved on Nov. 15, 2018 by the board of the National Economic and Development Authority, the NSCR Extension Project is a part of the 147-km. NSCR System Project. It will extend the system to Clark Freeport in the north and to Calamba, Laguna in the south. Previously divided into three different projects, the NSCR System Project will seamlessly integrate the 38-km. PNR 1 from Tutuban to Malolos, the 53-km. PNR 2 from Malolos to Clark International Airport and the 56-km. PNR 3 from Solis to Calamba.The NSCR System, with a total project cost of P777.55 billion, will have 36 stations, 58 8-car trains (inclusive of 7 airport express trains), and a double-track fully elevated railway system that will connect Central Luzon, the National Capital Region and Calabarzon. It will also have seamless transfer stations with Light Rail Transit Line 1, LRT-2 and Metro Rail Transit-3 as well as with the upcoming Metro Manila Subway. The system is expected to have 340,000 passengers per day when it partially opens in 2022, increasing to 550,000 passengers per day once it becomes fully operational by 2023. The NSCR Extension Project will be co-financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Asian Development Bank. A 20-year-old Beaumont man arrested in connection with aggravated robbery Wednesday night ran from authorities, leaving behind a vehicle he and an at large suspect had stolen and crashed into a pole. Two people were robbed at gun point in the 4400 block of South 5th Street around 11:10 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Beaumont Police Department. Their vehicle, a blue Hyundai Elantra, was stolen. A man died in a major Port Arthur traffic accident on Wednesday afternoon, according to information from Port Arthur Police Department. Authorities reported that around 2:18 p.m., a white GMC truck traveling south in the 3000 block of Texas 82 crossed into the northbound lane and was hit by an oncoming red Chevy truck. The driver of the red truck was pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Tom Gillam, police said. The GMC truck flipped over the concrete guardrail and landed on its roof, PAPD reported. The driver was taken to a local hospital and treated for his injuries. PAPD has not released the names of the drivers as of Thursday afternoon. Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi The Department of Energy expects to come out with the guidelines for the joint Philippines-China oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea within one year, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said. The Philippines and China agreed to cooperate on oil and gas development as part of the deals forged during the Manila visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. [Under] that MOU [memorandum of understanding], we have to sit down immediately and come out with our position and we should do it if I remember it right within a period of no more than one year. That is for us to come out with ways to harness the resources, or do a joint development or joint exploration, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.Cusi said the agreement focused on how to move forward with a joint cooperation to explore for oil and gas reserves in the disputed areas. No joint exploration agreement, however, was signed. Under the MOU, the conflicted area, we are talking about how to develop ways, on how are we going to explore, develop, exploit the resources there, the energy chief said. [The] DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] and DoE will sit down with Chinese counterparts and further discuss what will be done, he said. Cusi also raised the urgency of lifting the moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the disputed areas. We want to lift itbut as we do so, we do not want to create problems that we may not be able to handle..Theres also urgency to that but we dont want to impose a timeline that is not within our control because there are other factors we have to considerThe president is pushing us to solve the problem, he said. Cusi cited the need to develop the countrys indigenous resources to reduce the countrys dependence on imported fuels.He said his department was aggressively promoting the 1st Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program which was officially launched Thursday with around 65 foreign firms and 200 local firms in attendance. We are trailing behind our neighbors in our upstream petroleum activities. We have only drilled an average of five wells in a 10-year period. Five wells vis-a-vis the double and triple averages of other Asean countries, Cusi said. The PCECP will address the lack of petroleum exploration in the country. The program was enhanced to encourage stakeholders to invest, explore, develop and produce the nations indigenous energy resources. It is our intensified approach to harness these resources for long-term energy security and energy self-sufficiency, Cusi said. The DoE identified 14 pre-determined areas for potential petroleum exploration and development activities under PCECP. These are Area 1 (Cagayan Basin), Areas 2, 3 and 4 (East Palawan Basin), Areas 5, 6 and 7 (Sulu Sea), Areas 8 and 9 (Agusan-Davao basin), Area 10 (Cotabato Basin) and Areas 11, 12, 13 and 14 (West Luzon). Alternatively, investors may also nominate respective areas of interest outside of the PDAs, Cusi said. The PCECP is the DOEs revised and transparent petroleum service contract awarding mechanism that allows the government to develop and utilize indigenous petroleum resources under a service contract with qualified local and international exploration companies. Under the PCECP, awarding of service contracts are conducted either through the competitive selection process or via nomination. Bombardier workers face an uncertain future following yesterdays announcement by the company on job losses One way to consider the impact of yesterday's announcement is to start with a focus on the individual and then move out to the wider Northern Ireland economy and then the world aerospace sector. Starting with the individuals, this is obviously a heavy blow for the 490 individuals who may be losing their jobs in early 2019. It is not much immediate consolation to those individuals but some parts of Northern Ireland manufacturing have continued to grow in recent years. Read More My colleagues in the UU Economic Policy Centre forecast that total employment in the sector could grow by about 4,000 over the next decade in a central scenario. Given that there are some gaps in the supply of skills, this implies that some of the former Bombardier workers may be able to find replacement jobs but there could, of course, be considerable upset in the process and the necessity to either move to or commute to other parts of Northern Ireland. What about the wider economic impact? In geographical terms this blow is going to be felt far beyond east Belfast. Like most other large employers, Bombardier has quite an extensive "travel to work area". If this job reduction heralds a reduction in the level of activity and revenue generation in the Belfast operation, it is important to remember that the firm's supply chain spreads across Northern Ireland. It also includes businesses in GB and the Republic of Ireland. It is often said that Northern Ireland needs more technology-based industries which in turn will pay relatively high wages. Bombardier certainly seems to tick the boxes in terms of the types of priorities identified in the 2016 draft Programme for Government and the 2017 draft Industrial Strategy. The wings which are manufactured in Northern Ireland for the C Series airliners (now the A220) represent cutting edge technology. Unfortunately, the Bombardier experience demonstrates that jobs can be precarious in technology-intensive, export-led sectors. It is always important to remember there is much more to the Northern Ireland aerospace sector than the single firm Bombardier. There are about 60 aerospace-related firms. Nevertheless, we can see that some of the ambitious plans that appeared earlier in the decade for expanding the sector have not been achievable. Yesterday's announcement confirms the international aerospace sector is highly globalised and characterised by fierce competition. It is becoming even more so. Those who this week have been arguing for the softest possible Brexit may view aerospace as the classic example of the sort of long and complex supply chains which must not be endangered by customs or regulatory barriers or frictions. At the same time, proponents of global Britain might argue that aircraft manufacture is a truly global sector in which the UK is as integrated with North America as continental Europe. Recent research shows that Northern Ireland's knowledge-intensive sectors such as aerospace are much less reliant on the EU as an export market than the more traditional sectors of the economy are. Decisions about Bombardier in Belfast are being taken in Montreal and could involve relocation of production to Mexico and Morocco. Major developments in this sector have often transcended the boundaries of any one region or country. Short Brothers, after all, began plane-making 110 years ago when they won a contract to build Wright brother aircraft under licence. Shorts began to move from Kent to Belfast in the late 1930s. By the 1980s global passenger jet manufacture was dominated by the rivals Boeing and Airbus - this was what economists call a duopoly. What is striking today is how many countries are trying to break into the market for modern airliners: Brazil, India, Russia, China and Japan. Alongside this global competition has come an immense level of government intervention as many governments have determined this is a "must have" sector. That unfortunately poses an immense dilemma for policy makers in both London or Belfast. If they want to have a domestic aerospace sector the price will have to be paid in the form of considerable subsidies. The Industrial Strategy published 12 months ago by the London government certainly identified aerospace as a jewel in the crown sector for the UK economy and so implied continued strong government intervention and subsidy might be justified. Stormont's own draft industrial strategy from January 2017 similarly suggested sectoral priorities but, of course, we do not have a regional government at the moment. The Bombardier experience certainly illustrates how difficult it has become for aerospace companies to fund the huge up-front cost of all the research and launch activity which is associated with bringing a new airliner to the market. Notwithstanding the cash aid it has received from Stormont, the London government and Quebec Provincial government, Bombardier has made substantial adjustments as it attempts to rebuild its balance sheets. A majority stake in the former C Series has been sold to Airbus. The Q Series and de Havilland brands have also been sold. It is too early to pronounce the end of aircraft building in Belfast but the only certainty in this sector will be continued uncertainty. Dr Esmond Birnie is senior economist at Ulster University's Economic Policy Centre. Prior to joining the university, he was chief economist at PwC for Northern Ireland and Scotland and before that a ministerial special adviser and member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Fears that 500 new job losses at Bombardier could cost the economy here up to 35m The loss of another 490 jobs at Bombardier Belfast comes as an unwelcome decision as part of an overall restructuring programme in different parts of the Bombardier international organisation. In other announcements from Bombardier in the last two weeks, there is a picture of very considerable efforts to improve the profitability of all the businesses, an emphasis on a search for improved productivity, as well as a series of asset disposals to other businesses. Read More Interestingly, in recent days, Bombardier has announced new orders for parts of its railway transportation equipment assembly business. 153 new metro cars have been ordered for Montreal, 19 Premium intercity trains for SNCF in France and 33 new locomotives have been contracted for a German business in Berlin. In the aero structures business, the report from headquarters on the third quarter financial results has some encouraging sentiments on the sale of business jets in the Global 5,500, Global 6,500, and Global 7,500 series. The consolidated financial report makes no direct reference to the financial performance of Bombardier Belfast. There may be some significance in references to the small profit margin, expressed before any deductions for interest and tax payments, which specifically excludes any losses carried forward as a consequence of the withdrawal of the C-series from Bombardier's accounts. In other words, the losses carried forward from the earlier work on the C-series (below), now transferred to Airbus, are still a negative factor. Bombardier has announced a reduction of 490 employees across the local business. This is the outcome of the detailed internal business forecasting and possible organisational or efficiency changes. Internally, Bombardier will have measured its workload, assessed the scale and prospects for its order book and worked this into a business plan down with financial details alongside the size of an efficient workforce to deliver acceptable results. A feature of business planning at Bombardier Belfast is that increasingly the order book may now be set for shorter periods than in the past. Long-term set contracts were a feature of the more comprehensive work of large-scale assemblies. Delivery schedules, even for the advanced engineering of the C-series wings (now renamed in the A-series) do not necessarily come with a multi-year contract. Indeed, as a subsidiary supplier, regaining contracts for sub-assemblies is now likely to be a more financially stressful process for Belfast. Keeping Bombardier Belfast a busy, successful business has become a critical performance test, only fully understood within the competing parts of the larger Bombardier organisation. The employees, suppliers and other contractors who compete for subcontract work from Bombardier will be acutely aware of these pressures as they, in turn, hope to be efficient enough to get work for themselves, as well as to help the larger organisation win in the larger market. Local senior managers must try to deliver as a competitive local supplier. Labour costs, fluctuating exchange rates and any post-Brexit costs, all set challenging constraints. Productivity, efficiency and the adaptation on new technology must all be part of the slim line modern model. Success will be hard won. Up to 20 employees at Belfast's Ikea outlet could be set to lose their jobs as part of the furniture giant's plan to cull 7,500 workers worldwide Up to 20 employees at Belfast's Ikea outlet could be set to lose their jobs as part of the furniture giant's plan to cull 7,500 workers worldwide. Ikea has said up to 350 jobs are expected to go in its 18 UK stores, with up to 20 going in the Republic, where is runs two outlets. The Swedish group employs around 160,000 people in its 367 stores worldwide. This includes 12,100 in the UK and 730 in the Republic. It means the number of jobs going at its store on the Holywood Exchange in Belfast is likely to be less than 20 over the next two years. Ikea's parent firm Ingka Group said it is assessing all parts of the organisation and is "simplifying to enable a greater focus on adding value to its customers". As part of the shake-up, 11,500 jobs will also be created over the next two years through the opening of what Ikea called 30 new "touchpoints". In a statement, a spokesperson for Ikea said: "At this time, these changes do not impact the majority of co-workers in our stores and distribution units." Almost half of shoppers here will buy something this weekend in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, but only if the deal is good, a new survey from PwC has suggested Almost half of shoppers here will buy something this weekend in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, but only if the deal is good, a new survey from PwC has suggested. The survey showed that local shoppers are the in the top three for spending in the UK, with just over one in 10 reporting that they will spend up to 1,000 over the coming days. Here, 44% said they will only head to the till for the right price, compared to 23% in Scotland and 27% in Wales. However, 37% have no interest in the sales. The survey was conducted among 2,000 UK adults. Whereas 44% of UK respondents said Brexit uncertainty had led them to adopt a more cautious financial attitude this year, only 25% of those questioned locally said it had made them change their spending plans. The survey also suggested a boost for the high street, with the number of respondents intending to shop online and via mobile down from 82% to 69% on last year's survey. A dark, cold, miserable afternoon in east Belfast - a day that perfectly summed up the mood in the area following the announcement that almost 500 jobs are to go at Bombardier. Earlier this year, skies looked much brighter for the aerospace manufacturer. There was a reported 57% rise in profits coming on the back of 1,000 jobs being saved after the company won its case against huge US tariffs being slapped on their import of new passenger jets - something which threatened the very future of the business in east Belfast. Read More But warning signs were there over the summer when the Canadian firm said it needed to make more efficiency savings in Northern Ireland. That announcement followed several redundancy programmes in recent years and was met with concern by the 4,000 workers in Belfast. Yesterday, what trade union Unite called the "hammer blow", arrived. It will hit hard and reverberate across the community. But the threat of further redundancies echoes through the streets of east Belfast where times have been tough - and now look likely to get even tougher - with the latest cuts meaning Bombardier will have shed more than 50% of its workforce in 16 years. The Bishop of Down and Dromore, the Rt Revd Harold Miller, called on Bombardier to "do everything in its power to minimise compulsory redundancies and the inevitable impact upon individuals and their families". Michael Piper runs a family fruit and veg business on Belmont Road and said the latest blow is sad for the whole area. "We don't seem to be getting any good news," he said. "We have a lot of customers and a lot of friends who work at Bombardier and the man in the street never seems to win. "The mood was glum but this will make it even worse and we sit here with a joke of a government who are doing nothing to stop this downward spiral. "I've see Tesco move in around the corner, our electricity prices are going up, our rates are going up, but jobs are now going. This community needs a boost but we're getting no help. "My mother ran M Piper's from 1961 until the mid-80s, and even through the Troubles we had many great times and a great family business. "To see so many people and families facing losing their jobs here again is devastating." A few doors along, a local bakery which receives regular orders from the workers at Bombardier said the fear is that trade will start to vanish. Jenny Workman from Elizabeth's Home Bakery said: "When I heard the news I was shocked. The workers collect orders from us every Friday and naturally the fear is that we'll lose that," she said. "News like this doesn't help us or anyone around east Belfast. It's going to be very difficult, a time of uncertainty. "It's sad when you see what has been happening to business recently. We look at the Primark fire and what that has done to Belfast as well. Businesses need support." Workers leaving their shift around 3.30pm preferred to leave the talking to the unions as they headed home to digest the news with families left facing uncertainty over Christmas. Unite's officer responsible for the Bombardier workforce Susan Fitzgerald described the news as "cruel". She said: "It's a hammer blow for the economy. "For workers to be told again they're standing with an axe hanging over their head a few weeks before Christmas is cruel, callous and unnecessary. "These workers now have to go home and tell their families. "Bombardier are seemingly never satisfied. This time last year they faced a major threat from Boeing but the workforce at Bombardier rallied and stood up and campaigned against that threat. As soon as that threat was lifted they announced redundancies. "Now they are back for a greater pound of flesh. "We fear this will end up being far in excess of 500 jobs. "No one is safe." She said the union does not intend to just accept it. "Northern Ireland doesn't have the ability to absorb all these workers into the economy. Losing jobs on a scale like this gives us less chance of attracting new jobs and new businesses to Northern Ireland. The skills base is being eroded." Unite's Davy Thompson called on politicians to start earning their money on behalf of the people they're supposed to serve. "The absence of the Northern Ireland Assembly doesn't help in any shape or form," he said. "It will be difficult for these workers to get equivalent jobs, and we expect the job loss total to be more than the 490 they have told us. We still have to talk to them about the agency work and contracting work all associated with Bombardier. "If we have no industry, nothing else matters, not Brexit, not anything. There's no point arguing over Brexit if there's no economy left here. "Stormont has eroded the good work of previous years and we now call on Westminster to support Northern Ireland manufacturing." Mr Thompson said there had been an explosion of job losses across Northern Ireland - including the closure of tyre manufacturer Michelin outside Ballymena, and the Gallaher tobacco factory owned by JTI, as well as at heavy plant firm FG Wilson - with over 40% of those in manufacturing. "Then we have to think about the massive supply chains across Ireland. "Lots of people rely on that," he added. "Hopefully the DUP and the other political parties will now come out and support our call for a real manufacturing strategy that isn't just for Bombardier but for the whole of Northern Ireland. "We have to give young people hope for the future." Fears that 500 new job losses at Bombardier could cost the economy here up to 35m Northern Ireland business leaders will discuss the Brexit deal with Theresa May today amid fears that 500 new job losses at Bombardier could cost the economy here up to 35m. Around 60 employers and business groups have been invited to Downing Street for talks about the draft EU Withdrawal Agreement. Read More But it comes against the devastating backdrop of the shock job losses at planemaker Bombardier in Belfast. Leading economist John Simpson said that the latest blow to employment could have a direct financial impact of 20m over a year, but with major knock-on costs to Bombardier suppliers and other businesses that could reach 35m. Meanwhile, DUP leader Arlene Foster said she wanted to meet business groups next week to discuss their support for Mrs May's plan. The semiconductor and electronics sector expects exports to increase 6 percent this year to a record $35 billion from $32.7 billion in 2017. It will still be a record year for us but the threat of having onboard a legislative measure that can impact on our productivity and profitability may affect our performance next year, Semiconductor and Electronics Industry of the Philippines Inc. president Dan Lachica said in a news briefing Thursday. Lachica was referring to House Bill 8083, or the proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion bill, that aims to reduce the income tax rate from 30 percent to 20 percent while removing the incentives enjoyed by companies. Lachica said the bill would likely diminish the growth of the semiconductor industry. Electronics exports reached $3.41 billion in September, comprising 58.58 percent of the total merchandise exports. The industry said $1 billion worth of planned expansion of electronics firm were diverted to other markets amid concerns by foreign investors over the proposed Trabaho bill. Lachica said at least four companies already moved out carrying with them billions of dollars worth of expansion investments.Youve seen the reduction in foreign direct investments particularly those at Peza [Philippine Economic Zone Authority]. If fact we have member companies [that] have redirected investments from the Philippines to other countries. Its gonna eventually translate to jobs being at risk. Because the nature of our industry is that technology moves really fast so the factories here have to be given new product, new technologies. And these come with expansions. But if the expansions dont happen here, we will be stopped from producing legacy products, which overtime will gonna be obsolete, he said. Thats as far as we know and there are even more [companies] that are threatening to move out. Just to get it clear, we do support the Trabaho bill, but there certain provisions in the original proposal that may harm investments, Lachica said. The bill is currently being threshed out in the Senate. The SEIPI made public its position on the bill that include the retention of the autonomy of the Philippine Export Processing Zone, replacement of the 18 percent corporate income tax with 6 percent to 7 percent tax on gross income earned; restoration of VAT exemption for indirect exporters and the retention of customs duty exemption. The group is also asking legislators to exclude equipment from the real property tax, which is one of the highlights of the Congress version. Another concern would be property tax. Its being redefined not just building and land but also equipmentequipment that are on the ground. Thats not real property, thats equipment. So its gonna add millions in taxes, Lachica said. The Philippine government expects to implement the measure in the first quarter of 2019. It will take two years to have a fully operational customs system at the UK border if the UK crashes out of the European Union without a deal, officials have said. MPs were told that functioning but clearly sub-optimal arrangements could be in place on March 29, 2019 when the UK leaves but there would be a risk of failing to collect tariffs owed on imports. Officials also said the prospect of traffic chaos at ports was a known unknown and could not be ruled out. HM Revenue and Customs chief executive Jon Thompson told MPs: The date for putting in an optimal customs system for the UK in the event of no deal was passed months ago. Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee he was asked about the prospect of queues at ports. It is plausible that there would be delays at the border, he said. Its very difficult to answer your question because we have a known unknown. If you are going to go from Dover to Calais, you cannot know exactly how the French authorities would react when your lorry arrives there. Senior HMRC official Jim Harra told the committee: We have in place plans that in the event of us leaving on March 29 with no deal, we will be able to operate a functioning customs border with the EU. He added: We would start off with a functioning but clearly sub-optimal customs border. There would likely be some fiscal risk attached to that depending on what tariff decisions are. Over time there would be improvements but I think we are looking at a minimum of two years from the no-deal to get to a point where you can say we have a steady-state system where we are comfortable that we can manage all the fiscal risks in a way we would like and trade can flow in the way we would like. The Taoiseach has said the DUP puts the integrity of the "precious Union" ahead of everything else, even if it leads to a "lesser world". Leo Varadkar said the DUP did not want the "best of both worlds" when it came to a Brexit deal. He told the Irish parliament: "It's not the best of both worlds that the DUP wants. "The DUP holds very firm to this view that the most important thing is the integrity of the UK, the integrity of the precious Union, and, if that means a lesser world, that's acceptable provided that the integrity of the Union is upheld." The Taoiseach added that the draft agreement reached on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU should not be seen by unionists as a threat to the Union. "It shouldn't be seen as a threat to the United Kingdom. "It shouldn't be seen as any effort to separate Northern Ireland from Great Britain," he said. Mr Varadkar added that it was a "real shame" that the Northern Ireland institutions were not functioning during what he called "this very significant time". He said the DUP was a hardline unionist party, adding that they would not object to being described as such, and said that they were "not well disposed" to taking advice from Irish Governments. Asked to clarify comments he made last week that in a no-deal scenario it would be difficult to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, Mr Varadkar said "nobody knows for sure" what would happen in a scenario where the UK crashes out of the European Union without a deal. In such an event, Mr Varadkar said negotiating teams would have to try to come up with "some agreement around regulations and customs to avoid a hard border". He said: "Nobody knows how long that no-deal would last. "It's my view that if we did end up in a no-deal situation, we would find ourselves having to negotiate a no-deal deal quite soon thereafter, so it might happen for a few weeks." He added that in such circumstances, "why put our countries and people through that when we have a deal on the table?" The Dail was expected to back the draft agreement after a long debate late last night. Theresa May will hold Brexit talks in Brussels on Saturday, just hours before a special summit is scheduled to sign off on the EU withdrawal agreement. The Prime Minister announced the surprise move after a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Belgium. Mrs May said: "We have had a very good meeting this evening. Read More "We have made further progress. And, as a result, we have given sufficient direction to our negotiators, I hope, for them to be able to resolve the remaining issues. And that work will start immediately. "I now plan to return for further meetings, including with President Juncker on Saturday to discuss how we can bring to a conclusion this process and bring it to a conclusion in the interests of all our people." The remarks came after suggestions from Brussels that the summit set to approve the draft Withdrawal Agreement on Sunday could be called off unless progress is made on finalising a political declaration on future relations, with one senior official saying: "We're not there yet." Reports suggested that Germany's ambassador to the EU had said the document must be finalised by today or Chancellor Angela Merkel would not attend. Asked whether the UK expected the summit to go ahead, the PM's official spokesman said only: "A summit has been called, an agenda has been published and we look forward to attending." Earlier, Mrs May and senior Government ministers warned that Britain may not leave the European Union if MPs vote down the Prime Minister's Brexit deal. Spain has raised concerns about the treatment of Gibraltar in the proposed text, while France is understood to be pushing for better rights of access to UK fishing waters. And Mrs Merkel made a stance against Tory backbench demands for Britain to have the unilateral power to tear up a proposed "backstop" arrangement for the Irish border. Mrs Merkel told the German Parliament: "We have placed value, and I think this is right, on the fact that Britain cannot decide unilaterally when it ends the state of the customs union, but that Britain must decide this together with the EU." Since unveiling her draft agreement last week, the PM has repeatedly warned MPs that failure to approve it would risk a no-deal Brexit, or no Brexit at all. But answering questions in the Commons yesterday, she told MPs that the alternative to her deal "will either be more uncertainty, more division, or it could risk no Brexit at all". Prime Minister Theresa May is welcomed to the Berlaymont, the EU Commission headquarters by its president Jean-Claude Juncker Around 60 Northern Ireland employers and business groups have been invited to meet Prime Minister Theresa May in Downing Street today to discuss the draft EU withdrawal agreement. The delegation, which was contacted by Number 10 earlier this week, largely comprises individual businesses, but around 20 business groups are also expected to attend. Read More Some of the delegation will also meet with Labour front-benchers today. However, it is understood Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will not be present, owing to a prior engagement in Wales. The visit comes as the chasm between the DUP and the bodies representing Northern Ireland's businesses continued to widen this week. It also comes against the backdrop of the announcement of almost 500 jobs lost at Bombardier in Belfast. Over the summer the aerospace manufacturer had suggested that a 'no-deal' Brexit would costs it tens of millions of pounds. East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson has accused business leaders of being "puppets" for the NIO. But Gordon Best, the head of the Quarry Products Association NI, said: "We are certainly not puppets for others; we evaluate and risk-assess any threats to our industry and economy." Stephen Kelly of Manufacturing NI said business bodies have been seeking a sit-down with the Prime Minister for a number of weeks. He said Downing Street had reached out to the various business bodies earlier this week. "Over the last month or so we have been asking the Cabinet Office for a meeting with the Prime Minister so that we can stress to her the importance of reaching an agreement with the EU on the withdrawal," he added. He said the delegation will comprise a spectrum of businesses, including agri-food, logistics, retail and manufacturing firms. Roger Pollen, from the Federation of Small Businesses in Northern Ireland, said: "Our aim for the visit is to get some perspective from the Prime Minister on how she sees the path ahead, in terms of getting Parliamentary approval for the draft withdrawal agreement. "We also hope to get some clarity around how the backstop, if it were implemented, would operate practically. This would include both ensuring that regulatory checks do not negatively impact our members, but also how Northern Ireland might be able to influence EU regulations to which we would be subject. "Above all, we wish to stress to the Prime Minister the importance of ensuring a withdrawal agreement is approved, so firms have time to adjust to whatever the future relationship may be, and that a chaotic, cliff-edge Brexit can be avoided." DUP leader Arlene Foster said yesterday that she would like to meet the business bodies "if they want to meet me". The BBC reported that the DUP had asked the NI Chamber of Commerce to set up a meeting with such groups on Monday to discuss the draft Brexit deal. Among the groups which see Mrs May's withdrawal agreement as the best way forward are the Confederation of British Industry in Northern Ireland, the NI Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Institute of Directors. The Ulster Farmers' Union has also indicated its support, as it believes a no-deal scenario would "decimate" agriculture in Northern Ireland. Last night Mrs Foster said that not every business agreed that the Prime Minister's plan represented the best way forward. The Fermanagh MLA said she wanted to engage with business next week "around labour policy" and "how we are going to deal with the new immigration system which the Home Secretary is going to bring in". "He's bringing in that new labour system and immigration system regardless of whether there's a deal or whether there's not a deal," she said. "So we need to talk about that, and I'm hoping to engage with those people next week." Mrs Foster claimed she had met a businessman who employs 300 people and has a turnover of 70m who is "absolutely outraged" by the withdrawal agreement. She also posted a photograph on Twitter of herself with David Boyd, a director of Rockabill NI, the largest prawn processor in western Europe and a local subsidiary of Dublin seafood company Rockabill Group. Mrs Foster tweeted: "Useful round of meetings today with Northern Ireland business owners including businessman David Boyd from Rockabill NI. Real worry about impact of draft withdrawal agreement on their industry." Earlier this year Mr Boyd, a vocal Brexiteer, warned lives could be lost if the Royal Navy did not step in to protect British fishermen. He was speaking after clashes with French fishermen off the Normandy coast. Meanwhile, trade unionists on both sides of the Irish border have said a "catastrophic" no-deal Brexit should be avoided at all costs. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) gave a qualified response to Mrs May's draft deal. It said if there had to be a divorce, it should be as soft as possible and added: "A UK-wide backstop with the entire UK in a customs union is preferable to a Northern Ireland-only backstop. "We must insist that a no-deal scenario that sees the UK crash out of the EU at the end of March 2019 must be avoided at all costs and is unacceptable. "The consequences of such a no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic." SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has hit out at Jeremy Corbyn for being "totally wrong" and "taking the DUP line" on the Government's withdrawal deal with the European Union. Mr Eastwood, MLA for Foyle, tweeted: "Jeremy Corbyn is totally wrong. He knows the proposal isn't for a "border down the Irish Sea". Read More "Taking the DUP's line on this is a very strange position for him to take." Negotiators in Brussels agreed a text for the proposed political declaration on future EU/UK relations today. The SDLP, sister party to Mr Corbyn's Labour Party, has backed Mrs May's withdrawal agreement which has aimed to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. But the DUP are unhappy that the deal will see Northern Ireland aligned too closely with EU rules and remain part of the single market - with checks on some goods coming in to Northern Ireland from the UK. They fear this will in effect create a border down the Irish Sea. The Labour Party have echoed this in recent days as they repeatedly attack the backstop proposal. Mr Eastwood later said in a statement: Jeremy Corbyns continued opposition to the draft Withdrawal Agreement, based on the myth that it would create a border down the Irish Sea, is not only wrong, it is disingenuous. To be clear, this deal does not involve a customs border in the Irish Sea. There will be additional regulatory checks for some goods coming to Northern Ireland from Britain. There will be none going from Northern Ireland to Britain. This hardly constitutes a 'border in the Irish Sea'. The business community in Northern Ireland agree that this deal protects them." He added: "Jeremy's position on this doesn't add up. He says he wants to protect Ireland from a hard border but refuses to support the backstop that will prevent it from being necessary. The SDLP has been clear, this deal is not perfect but it does offer us an insurance policy. The backstop protects us from a hard border and offers us a 'best of both worlds' position in terms of trade." A Labour Party spokesperson told the PoliticsHome website: Labour has been pushing for a new comprehensive customs union, with a British say in all future trade deals, along with a new single market deal to ensure no hard border in Northern Ireland." A snap poll of more than 12,000 Belfast Telegraph readers has gone overwhelmingly against Theresa May's draft Brexit withdrawal deal. In total, 12,500 people responded to the question 'Do you support Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit draft agreement text' and were asked to state their reasons why. Read More Almost three-quarters (around 9,000) voted 'No', with around 3,500 supporting the deal (28%) on the Belfast Telegraph website's online survey. Cynthia Cromie voted for Brexit and said the draft deal had failed to deliver. "The people of the United Kingdom voted to get out of the EU and that includes Northern Ireland, as we are part of the United Kingdom," she said. "Now it looks as if we will be part in and part out, a real shambles. To have to pay all that money to the EU, I think it is wrong." But Grainne Carson from the Falls Road supported the deal. "Three of my best friends are from the Shankill, we never discuss politics," she said. "I personally think the deal we're getting is going to be beneficial for us, especially small businesses and farming communities. "I wouldn't put a flag before putting food on my table, it's that simple. The UK Government don't see 'Northern Ireland' as anything but a money-draining problem (and) the DUP have brought that to light on a massive platform." Peter Owens accused the Prime Minister of moving the goalposts. "The vote was Leave or Remain, I don't remember being offered a third choice on my ballot paper asking was it OK to remain under EU regulations if I voted to leave," he said. John Johnston likened the deal to "paying for a divorce and still being married". "She appears to have agreed to leave us still tied but costing us a clean fortune," he said. Billy Smith said the deal would tie the UK to the customs union as long as the EU sees fit, as well as giving it control over the departure process. "The UK will not be able to make trade deals with non-EU countries for the foreseeable future and we pay for the privilege," he said. Valerie Leonard said with little chance of the UK staying in the EU, it was a "win-win" situation for the island of Ireland "with no threat to British or Irish living here". She added: "Brexit did not articulate exactly what people were voting for or against in the first instance and that is the main reason for the current situation. "Had people been given correct educated information on economics, trade and immigration, I believe people would have not voted to Leave at all." Mandy Gordon said Brexit had so sharply divided opinions that Mrs May was facing an "impossible task". "You can never please all of the people all of the time," she said. Sarah Louise said that after two years of protracted negotiations "this is the best we will get". "It is better than nothing. Northern Ireland did after all vote to Remain," she said. The Prime Minister is due today to meet local business leaders who have voiced support for her deal. Hospitality Ulster, the body representing the drinks trade, conducted a poll of its members on the deal. Out of 650 businesses, 134 responded with around three-quarters backing the deal and 47 responding 'No'. Others supporting the Prime Minister's option included the Quarry Products Association in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Farmers' Union and Danske Bank. DUP MP Jim Shannon, however, warned Mrs May she would receive a "rude awakening" if she didn't seek a wider range of opinion in Northern Ireland. The withdrawal was agreed in principle by the Prime Minister and the EU last week. It includes a 39bn divorce bill and a customs backstop that would see the UK remain in the customs union in order to prevent customs checks along the border. Tonight the ears of Northern Ireland should be burning as Prime Minister Theresa May hosts a special reception in Downing Street for the voices of local industry, commerce and agriculture. The battle for the hearts and minds of us all in the great Brexit crisis is now waging in every corner of the UK - none more so than here, where the 10 MPs of the Democratic Unionist Party appear determined to face down the views of those to whom Mrs May will listen this evening. Read More Never before have so many in the local business community been so willing to put their heads above the parapet of politics and challenge their elected representatives as has happened in the past week. The very future of a British Prime Minister, of the Conservative Government, of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, depends on Northern Ireland. By a quirk of electoral arithmetic, the DUP finds itself uniquely positioned in a make or break pivotal role. The party says it will not be moved irrespective of the supportive message those gathered in Downing Street tonight will offer to Theresa May. The stage is therefore set for an extraordinary conflict of political and economic interests. Mrs May may well wonder who is truly reflecting opinion in this corner of her increasingly disunited kingdom - the politicians or the business leaders? To answer that question, it is worth returning to the only accurate gauge we have of Brexit views: the results of the 2016 referendum in the 18 Northern Ireland constituencies. Who voted for and against leaving the EU and how do those votes justify or otherwise the trenchant attitude adopted by the DUP? When the DUP is reminded that 56% of Northern Ireland voters in the referendum were Remainers, the party chooses conveniently to ignore the local result and claims instead that it reflects the overall 52% national majority for leaving the EU. However, can that argument be sustained in the current climate when the issue of the border and Northern Ireland's future is at stake? Can the 10 DUP members of Westminster have an agenda which takes little or no account of the feelings of the majority in NI who did not want to leave the EU in the first place? Only seven of the 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland supported the DUP's Brexit stance in the 2016 referendum. Three out of the four Belfast constituencies voted to Remain in the EU. Nigel Dodds, the leading spokesman of the DUP at Westminster, represents an area in north Belfast where the referendum vote was split virtually 50/50 with a narrow victory for the Remainers. When it comes to her views on the EU, the south Belfast MP Emma Little-Pengelly appears to be the most unrepresentative of all - almost 70% of voters in her constituency voted to Remain. Gregory Campbell's diehard Brexit stance was also rejected by 52% of voters in East Londonderry. In South Antrim, where Paul Girvan is MP, the Leave vote had a majority of only 557 or 0.6% in a overall turnout of 43,553. In east Belfast, regarded by many as a bastion of the DUP, 48.6% opposed the party's Leave position - hardly a vote of confidence in the views now being expressed by Gavin Robinson, the sitting MP. DUP leader Arlene Foster in Fermanagh and South Tyrone had only 41% of referendum voters along the border supporting her Leave views. That said, the DUP and indeed people on both sides of the referendum result may argue that 2016 is not 2018. It is possible that the constitutional warnings of the DUP are raising new fears and swaying unionist voters, yet so too could the economic arguments that Northern Ireland can have the best of all worlds under Theresa May's withdrawal deal, as business leaders are suggesting. It is easy to overlook the fact that Ulster's two main commercial hubs, Belfast and Londonderry, rejected the DUP's Brexit stance in the 2016 referendum by a substantial majority. Sinn Fein's abstentionism means that the 440,000 people who rejected the DUP's Leave position and voted to Remain in the EU are totally disenfranchised on arguably the most important political issue in 20 years since the Good Friday agreement referendum. In the land where 'one man, one vote' was so bitterly contested, nationalists and unionists alike who were Remainers have no say at all at Westminster other than the isolated independent voice of North Down's Sylvia Hermon, who continues bravely to offer an alternative view to the DUP's. Of the 10 DUP MPs, only five can claim with any confidence that they reflect majority opinion in their constituencies: Ian Paisley (62% North Antrim), Jim Shannon (55% Strangford), Sammy Wilson (55% East Antrim), Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (53% Lagan Valley) and David Simpson (52% Upper Bann). Around 380,000 people voted unionist of one shade or other in the 2017 general election, compared to 350,000 in the 2016 referendum who supported the Leave campaign to exit the EU. The difference might suggest that as many as 30,000 unionist voters do not share the Brexit view of the two main unionist parties. In 2016, Arlene Foster expressed her delight at the referendum result despite the fact that in Northern Ireland so many people had taken an opposite view to that of her party. "We are now entering a new era of an even stronger UK," she said with a confidence which has not been borne out by subsequent events. "I am proud of the fact that this decision was taken by the people and I will be working for the best possible exit negotiation." As First Minister, along with the late Martin McGuinness, she put her signature to a letter to Theresa May which set out their views on Brexit and which is particularly illuminating given the DUP's tough stance. For example, Foster and McGuinness wrote: "We need to retain as far as possible the ease with which we currently trade with EU member states and also importantly retain access to labour ... EU funds have been hugely important to our economy and the peace process. Since 1994, for example, we have benefited to the tune of 13bn and in 2014-2020 we would expect to draw down 3.5bn." The voting statistics of 2016 indicate that Northern Ireland was deeply divided then and it almost certainly remains so now. A total of 440,707 referendum voters in Northern Ireland who wanted to Remain in the EU have found themselves with virtually no voice at Westminster on this issue. This weekend the DUP assembles for its annual party conference and finds itself holding the future of the Prime Minister and her government in its hands. No unionist party has wielded such potential power since the heady days of Home Rule a century ago. The big question is, how will the DUP use that power? To what extent will the party's MPs recognise rather than ignore the concerns of the business and farming people assembled in Downing Street tonight? And above all, will the DUP belatedly accept that when it comes to Northern Ireland's future in Europe, a majority of people are not on the same wavelength as the party's 10 MPs at this critical moment in the UK's and Europe's history? Four in court after attack on man in west Belfast A man was allegedly subjected to a "ferocious" paramilitary-style assault involving more than 40 blows in a matter of seconds, the High Court heard today. Prosecutors claimed his head was stamped on during a coordinated attack after he had been ejected from premises in west Belfast. Details emerged as one of four men charged with his attempted murder was granted compassionate bail for a family funeral. Mark McGrann, 35, of Old Colin in the Dunmurry area, also faces a second count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent during the incident on September 28. Based on CCTV footage, a Crown lawyer said the victim received 42 blows in a 14-second period. She claimed he was punched and kicked about the head and body - with McGrann allegedly stamping on his head up to 14 times - before being left lying on the pavement. Due to reporting restrictions the exact location is not being disclosed. The man sustained a "significant" head injury and told police the attack had been carried out by a group referring to itself as "the IRA", according to prosecution counsel. "The line of inquiry at this stage is that this was a paramilitary-style assault," she said. The court heard footage allegedly shows the four accused in conversation inside the premises before the man is removed by bouncers. Once outside he is seen being led away and then dragged to the ground, the prosecutor claimed. She continued: "Thereafter, what is described as a ferocious assault takes place, lasting 14 seconds, which includes stamping on his head by this applicant." With the alleged victim out of hospital but yet to make a formal complaint, bail was opposed due to fears of possible intimidation. Mr Justice McAlinden was told 38 potential witnesses have been identified, but a number of them have declined to make statements. Defence barrister Joe Brolly contended that a case without any medical evidence is "replete with exaggeration and speculation". He told the court: "The charge is attempted murder, and this gentleman had a cut on his forehead." The CCTV footage which allegedly links his client only shows blurred figures "almost impossible to see", Mr Brolly claimed. McGrann was seeking temporary release to attend his sister's wake and funeral on Saturday before being returned to custody later that day. Granting his application, the judge imposed conditions including the lodgment of a 2,000 cash surety. He said: "The court can be satisfied that this man's attention and the attention of his family will be directed towards the loss of a loved one, rather than any other issues arising out of the alleged offending." Two men robbed a house in south Belfast on Wednesday and ordered one of the people inside to a cash machine at knife point. Police have appealed for information following the aggravated burglary in the Stranmillis Park area. Shortly after 10:40pm police received a report that two males entered a house in the area with one man armed with a large kitchen knife. Four men were inside the house during the incident, with one of the men threatened by the man armed with the knife. The male was not injured during the incident. The males then proceeded to take the phones and wallets of those in the house. The male threatened at knife point was then taken to a nearby cash point and ordered to withdraw a sum of money. The two males then made off from the scene. One of the men is described as being 62 in height, brown hair and stubbly brown beard. He was wearing a grey jumper and grey hat. The second man was described as 58 in height and wearing a blue coloured hooded top. Enquiries are continuing and we would appeal to anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area at the time of the incident to contact detectives on 101, quoting reference number 1332 21/11/18," Detective Sergeant Moffett said. "Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime. A bin was placed against the front door of a house in Holywood and set on fire. Police are treating the incident, which happened on Oakley Avenue at around 11.40pm on Wednesday, as arson. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene and extinguished the blaze. Detective Sergeant Lauren Edwards said: We believe that a bin was placed against the front door and deliberately set alight. Damage was caused to the outside of the property, the fire is being treated as deliberate. Enquiries are continuing and we are appealing to anyone who witnessed the incident or anyone who has any information that can assist with the investigation to contact officers in Bangor on 101 quoting reference 1380 of 21/11/18. Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. THE Department of Education said it does not condone such display of violence in schoolsreferring to the shooting incident that killed an elementary teacher and wounded a pupil in Bulacan. In a statement Wednesday, DepEd assured the public that it was consistently working with law enforcement agencies and strengthening necessary measures to ensure that schools continue to be a safe environment for its personnel and learners. Reports said 40-year-old Ruperto Datwin, a member of the Philippine Army, shot to death his live in-partner Melody Esber, 33, a teacher at the Tambubong Elementary School. Datwin killed himself after shooting Esbers chest with a handgun in front of her pupils, where nine-year-old Raine Julian was wounded on his shoulder during the incident. DepEd extended its deepest condolences to the bereaved family of Esber and Datwin. It also confirmed that Julian was wounded and was now in stable condition.The rest of Esbers students who witnessed the crime were now undergoing psychological debriefing facilitated by the Schools Division Office of Bulacans medical team. The SDO of Bulacan, in close coordination with the Philippine National Police-Bulacan, is conducting an investigation on the motive of the suspect. Officials of Tambubong Elementary School have already reached out to the victims family to identify and provide the necessary assistance, the department said. Bombardiers decision to axe almost 500 jobs at its site in Belfast is not a Brexit issue, Business Minister Richard Harrington said as he was blasted for saying the Government had no role to play in the matter. More than a tenth of core staff face redundancy under cost-cutting plans aimed at improving the Canadian-headquartered firms long-term competitiveness. Mr Harrington told the Commons that the decision was regrettable. He said: This is unwelcome news for the Belfast workforce and their families. Its regrettable that they face further uncertainty at this time of year, but Bombardier is a private company and the Government has no role in its commercial decisions. The minister also revealed that he had been assured by the firms president Michael Ryan that Brexit had not played a role in the decision. Expand Close Business Minister Richard Harrington (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Business Minister Richard Harrington (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA) Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner warned that there would be significant implications for the whole of the UK if the firm continued to downsize operations. He said: Bombardiers presence in Northern Ireland is vital to the economy there, representing 8% of Northern Irelands GDP and about 40% of the provinces manufacturing output. The company employs about 4,000 people across Northern Ireland as a whole, so this announcement will be a devastating blow not only to the 490 families who will be directly affected by it in the run up to Christmas but there are an estimated 20,000 jobs throughout the UK supply chain. This matter is therefore of national public policy importance, for the minister to say the Government has no role here is simply unacceptable. He added: These job losses are just the latest in a long line of redundancies at Bombardier, over 1,700 since May of 2015. Such huge cuts to the workforce so highly concentrated in one area will have devastating consequences to entire communities. Mr Harrington accused Mr Gardiner of talking down Northern Ireland with his questions, saying there was a lot of good news coming from the region. The minister added that he and his officials were having regular and ongoing discussions with Bombardier, trade unions and stakeholders in Northern Ireland. Mr Harrington later offered Speaker John Bercow a briefing about a reverse thrust project under consideration. If we're in the business of reverse thrusts, can I suggest a bit of reverse thrusting be done in the direction of BombardierJulian Lewis, Defence Committee Julian Lewis, Conservative chairman of the Defence Committee, said: If were in the business of reverse thrusts, can I suggest a bit of reverse thrusting be done in the direction of Bombardier because, although (Mr Harrington) is right in that its a private company and he has no power over it, he shouldnt underrate his own degree of influence. He is going to meet the company, as he says, let him do a bit of thrusting and let him thrust them in the right direction. DUP MP for Belfast East Gavin Robinson said: The workforce has been through an incredibly difficult period over those three years. This is a further disheartening blow for a workforce that saw the clouds shifting from above the plant in Belfast in Newtownards and Newtownabbey. Mr Robinson urged the Government to not only explore every avenue of financial support but also deliver for Northern Ireland. Labours Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) suggested Mr Harrington should not try and bamboozle the Commons, noting Bombardier is a damn good company, although he argued that the disturbance of us coming out of the European Union has a deep, deep effect. The mother of a missing Co Down teenager who is believed to have been murdered nearly 30 years ago has called for an inquest into her daughter's disappearance. Caroline Graham (19) from Newry has not been seen since a night out at a Banbridge nightclub in March 1989. At the time she had been living in Portadown, moving between a hostel and an address in Hanover Street. Police believe Caroline had visited the property to collect items and disappeared some time after. Despite extensive searches and appeals her body has never been found. In 2012, 23 years after Caroline vanished, the PSNI launched a murder investigation following a number of new leads. One of these pointed to her remains being somewhere in Portadown, specifically the Hanover Street and Carleton Street area. However, nothing of significance was found by a specialist search team. Six years on, her mother Barbara repeated her plea for the public's help in finding out what happened to Caroline. "There has been no justice for her and no justice for me," she told BBC News NI yesterday. "If anyone knows anything about her, what happened to Caroline, please come forward." Her appeal comes as the chief suspect in the murder denied any involvement in the teenager's disappearance. He was tracked down by the BBC to his home in Portadown. The man, who was not identified, said that while he knew the teenager in 1989 around the time she disappeared, he had no idea what happened to her. He revealed that he had been interviewed on a number of occasions in relation to the police investigation. "I have been arrested five or six times and questioned, and the police accused me of murdering her. I did not," he told the BBC. "I am telling you what I told them. "I don't know what happened to her. "I am sick of the police coming to my door about this. "There is no evidence to connect me to anything." Meanwhile, Mrs Graham said that whoever was responsible for taking her daughter's life had escaped justice while Caroline's loved ones had been left in anguish. "I believe her killer is alive and well," she added. "They have had a good life for the past 30 years while I have had a horrible life, and Caroline had no life. "She's not alive, and hasn't been all these years. "Someone, somewhere knows something. "You just can't go out and murder someone and no one knows nothing." Urging anyone who can shed any light on Caroline's fate to come forward, she stressed that an inquest could help her achieve closure. "Someone has done something to her," she said. "For what reason I don't know, but I would love to know. "I can't show a death certificate. "I feel Caroline has been forgotten." She added that she wasn't expecting a prosecution over the murder, only the location of Caroline's remains. In an interview with Sunday Life in 2012, Mrs Graham spoke of her deep pain that her first-born child had missed so many special family occasions over the years. "There has been no justice for her and no justice for me," she said in her latest appeal. A billboard in Londonderry telling people to "have yourself a Derry little Christmas" has been removed after objections from unionists. It was erected at Spencer Road in the Waterside area of the city which is primarily associated with the unionist community. The billboard was erected by Derry City and Strabane District Council to promote the area's Christmas offering. A number of local unionist councillors complained about the wording of the billboard and it was subsequently removed by council. The naming of the city is contentious with members of the unionist community preferring to refer to it as 'Londonderry' while members of the nationalist community typically call it 'Derry'. A council spokesperson stressed that no member of the public complained about the billboard. The concerns were first raised by Deputy Mayor Derek Hussey at a council committee meeting. The UUP councillor was concerned at the wording of the advertisement. Waterside DUP councillor David Ramsey said that he had been contacted by a number of local people who were angered by the sign. "I welcome the fact that it has been seen as an issue and has been dealt with," he said. Expand Close DUP Councillor David Ramsey / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp DUP Councillor David Ramsey "We are an inclusive city and there was people angry. It was a marketing tool, but there is a bigger picture. "These things are preventable, but thankfully this has been dealt with efficiently by council and hopefully that's the end of it. Let's get on and enjoy Christmas." A council spokesperson said that the billboard was an attempt to use a "catchy slogan" to "engage visitors". "It has since been highlighted by some council members that this may not be considered inclusive by all members of the community and as such has been amended in some campaign branding," the spokesperson said. Council has received no complaints from the public in response to our festive advertising, but as with all our marketing activities, we welcome feedback and take this into consideration in the planning of all our campaigns. The billboard in Spencer Road has been refreshed slightly earlier than planned to reflect members concerns. Libyan-supplied Semtex was used in the 1987 IRA bombing of Enniskillen The head of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has expressed his disappointment at the lack of government plan to compensate victims of IRA Semtex attacks supplied by the Gaddafi-led Libyan regime. Minister for International Development Alastair Burt updated the committee on the progress of plans on Tuesday. Read More Chair Dr Andrew Murrison said that he was "gravely disappointed" at the lack of momentum in the government's plan. Government witnesses told the committee the value of the impounded cash had risen to 12 billion but admitted parts of the fund had performed poorly because of international restrictions. The committee has held lengthy hearings with victims of IRA bombings which used the Libyan Semtex plastic explosives. These included Harrods in 1983, a Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen in 1987, Warrington in 1993, and Londons Docklands in 1996. The bereaved and injured are pressing for UK Government support in their campaign for compensation paid out of the large number of frozen assets seized from the toppled Gaddafi administration. Dr Murrison called on the government to commit to a timeline for compensating victims. "The use of Gaddafi-supplied Semtex in IRA attacks led to catastrophic human suffering, and many victims are simply unable to move beyond the horrors of their experiences," the Conservative MP said. "My Committee is gravely disappointed in the UK Government's continued failure to secure compensation for these victims. We fear they are treading water while victims continue to suffer. Expand Close Dr Andrew Murrison. Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dr Andrew Murrison. "The UK Government must urgently commit to a timeline for providing compensation to victims, either through agreement with the Libyan authorities or through direct funding from the Treasury." Dr Murrison said that the Minister was unable to provide sufficient information to the committee on a number of points raised in the evidence session. The International Development Minister committed to provide additional information to the committee on a number of issues. Mr Burt said that he would clarify the veracity of recent press statements which allege the UK Treasury has released interest or dividends accumulated from the frozen Libyan assets and explain the history and precedent which underpins the policy, held by successive UK Governments, of not pursuing government-to-government negotiations with Libya on compensation for victims. He also committed to reveal the form the frozen Libyan assets take (for instance, property or bank accounts), whether they are currently subject to any UK tax and whether transactional fees apply. Mr Burt has committed to providing a timeline setting out the Departments plan for securing compensation for victims before Christmas 2018. The timeline will include details of interdepartmental meetings (Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Northern Ireland Office) on improving support for the victims via a communal fund or individual compensation and progress towards the appointment of a Special Envoy, as discussed in a cross-party meeting with the Secretary of State. The Minister is expected to respond in writing to the Committee in due course. While the US, France and Germany negotiated multimillion-pound settlements with Gaddafi for its citizens impacted by Libyan-sponsored terrorism, the previous Labour government in the UK has been heavily criticised for not striking a similar deal. The current UK Government has said it considers compensation claims to be private matters and the Foreign Office facilitates victims to engage with Libyan authorities to pursue compensation. It has rejected calls for a UK reparations fund for victims of Libyan-sponsored IRA attacks. A DUP councillor has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a nursing colleague. A court today backed claims that Ian Stevenson deliberately squeezed the woman's breast at a care home in Co Antrim before joking that he would "grope anything". District Judge Amanda Henderson said: "I found the injured party to be credible in her testimony." Stevenson, a 49-year-old nurse and former mayor of Ballymoney, will now be sentenced next month. Belfast Magistrates' Court heard he allegedly asked for a hug while talking to the woman on a corridor in April 2017. She claimed that after raising her arms Stevenson, of Headlands Avenue in Ballymoney, grabbed her breast. "He actually squeezed when he did it," the woman said in evidence. During the trial she described responding by pushing him away and telling him "no", adding that the encounter left her shocked and frightened. "He just basically tried to laugh it off and made the joke 'You know me, I would grope anything... well, not anything'," the woman claimed. The court was told she later sent Stevenson a Facebook message, expressing her "disgust" at what allegedly happened. Asked how the incident has affected her, she replied: "It makes me nervous that somebody in that position could take such an advantage." With Stevenson emphatically denying the sexual assault charge, it was put it to the woman that her allegations were inconsistent and false. Defence counsel argued it was unbelievable that a public figure and nurse of 22 years standing would carry out the alleged act in the middle of a care home. It emerged in court that Stevenson has since been dismissed from his nursing position - an action which is to be challenged at a tribunal. The defendant, a representative on Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, has also reportedly been suspended by the DUP pending the outcome of the case. He claimed it was the woman who offered him a hug when he told her he was going to lay a wreath on a friend's grave. At no point did he grab or touch her breast, he insisted. Questioned about his alleged comments, he told the court: "Anybody that knows me, anybody in the political sphere, knows that I have never cursed in my life, which might seem a bit incredible, and I certainly would not say anything like that." Stevenson rejected prosecution contentions that he "took a chance" by overstepping the boundaries and grabbing the woman's breast. "It's not my nature, it's not me," he maintained. But delivering judgment today, Mrs Henderson said the woman's testimony was consistent with her complaint following the alleged incident. The content of her Facebook message also supported her assertion of sexual touching, the judge held. She said Stevenson had failed to provide an explanation for why the woman would fabricate the incident after they had previously been on good terms. Accepting he had allegedly remarked that he would "grope anything", Mrs Henderson confirmed: "He did the act deliberately and I convict." Stevenson will return to court in four weeks time to be sentenced. A decision to suspend the release of certain files requested under Freedom of Information law in Northern Ireland is set to face a court challenge. The family of a loyalist murder victim already taking a legal case over delays obtaining official papers linked to his death has issued pre-action proceedings over the suspension announced by the Public Record Office for Northern Ireland (PRONI). The UK Information Commissioners Office has told PRONI it does not have the authority to release closed files due to Stormonts powersharing crisis. It cited the absence of an elected minister in its overseeing government department the Department for Communities. The PRONI has sent letters to a number of FoI applicants telling them while it has the papers requested, it cannot now provide them. The move is set to impact many relatives bereaved during the Troubles who are campaigning for fresh investigations. Lawyers acting for such families regularly use the PRONI to obtain coroners files from historic inquests and court papers from old criminal trials. Belfast law firm KRW Law is set to challenge the move on behalf of the family of Martin Lavery, a father-of-three murdered by the UVF in Belfast in 1992. The Lavery family has long been trying to secure files linked to an original inquest as part of its efforts to have a new coroners probe ordered. They launched legal proceedings in 2016 against the then Department for Communities minister and DUP MLA Paul Givan for the length of time it had taken to obtain the files. The family has now issued a pre-action letter to PRONI, warning that if the suspension is not lifted it will face separate judicial review proceedings. Solicitor Kevin Winters said: For many relatives of victims of the conflict and survivors of the conflict, access to material relating to the conflict and held by PRONI, including inquest papers and court records, is important in truth recovery and in legal challenges relating to conflict-related human rights violations. Closed files held by PRONI include court records; coroners inquest files; workhouse admission records; hospital admission records; prison records; school records; and other files created by Northern Ireland government departments that may contain sensitive information but have not yet been examined to determine if they can be released. Civil servants have been running public services in Northern Ireland since the Stormont executive imploded in early 2017. But there has been ongoing uncertainty as to how much authority they have to take significant decisions. Last month, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley passed legislation designed to give greater clarity to their decision-making powers. A spokeswoman for the Department for Communities said: From November 21 2018, certain Freedom of Information requests to PRONI are temporarily unavailable pending the appointment of a minster to the department. This applies only to closed records held by the Public Records Office. All other FoI requests to the department are being processed as normal. This is because we have been advised by the Information Commissioners Office that the Department for Communities does not have the statutory authority to process certain categories of Freedom of Information requests to PRONI without a Minister for the Department for Communities being in post. The temporary suspension applies to transferred closed public records held by PRONI. It will last until a minister with responsibility for the departments functions has been appointed. In regard to Ms Bradleys recent legislation, the department said it does not provide a legal basis for senior officers to allow the operation of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) in respect of transferred public records. An ICO spokesman said: We are aware that PRONI has temporarily suspended the processing of FOI requests which specifically relate to transferred public records, in the absence of an appropriate minister as required by law. We recognise the significant difficulties caused by these particular and unusual circumstances and are in contact with the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Communities and other stakeholders regarding this situation. Our priority at the ICO is to find a prompt and effective solution in order to protect the publics right to access public information. Police at the scene following a serious road traffic collision on the Antrim Road in north Belfast on Thursday Morning. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker A man has died after he was involved in a serious incident involving a bus on the Antrim Road on Thursday morning. The North Belfast MLA Nichola Mallon extended her condolences to the man's friends and family. My thoughts go out to this mans family and friends at this extremely difficult time, and to all those involved in this incident, she said. Police closed the Antrim Road in both directions for much of the morning and into the early afternoon. The road closure forced a number of schools to remain shut for the day. Bus operator Translink confirmed a route 1J Metro bus was involved in a serious incident at Grays Lane on the Antrim Road at 6.25am. We are investigating and are assisting the PSNI with their inquiries," a spokeswoman said. Expand Close Police at the scene following a serious road traffic collision on the Antrim Road in north Belfast on Thursday Morning. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Police at the scene following a serious road traffic collision on the Antrim Road in north Belfast on Thursday Morning. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service received a call at 6.23am following report of a road traffic incident. One emergency ambulance crew was sent to the scene. Following assessment and initial treatment at the scene, one patient was transported to the Royal Victoria Hospital. National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana Its their loss, not ours. National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that the cancellation of the trip of National Democratic Front chief negotiator Fidel Agacoiili and consultants Luis Jalandoni and Coni Ledesma to the country is not a loss for the government since it is NDF which is desperate to resume the aborted peace talks. Hindi kawalan sa gobyerno kung ituloy man o hindi nina Mr. Jalandoni at Ms. Ledesma ang pagbalik sa Pilipinas, Lorenzana said in a statement. After all, it is not the government that is desperate to resume peace talks with the NDF [National Democratic Front].It is also not to government that is losing a large number of fighters because of the effectiveness of the localized peace talks and the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program [E-CLIP], he added. Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison earlier said that the NDF top officials canceled their trip to the country for security reasons, while also calling the military and police as President Rodrigo Dutertes minions.Lorenzana said Sisons statement was an insult not only to the military and police but to President Duterte himself. Minion is a term of contempt. It means a servile, fawning, and an unimportant person who is at the beck and call of a powerful person, Lorenzana said. This is a great insult to our police and military officers and personnel who are doing their jobs with utmost dedication and professionalism in serving the Filipino people, he added. Health officials are looking at the possibility of developing a new cancer strategy for Northern Ireland, it has emerged. The Department of Health has also confirmed it wants to cut the number of facilities that provide specialist breast cancer services here. The proposal, which would be put out to public consultation, is aimed at improving the outcome for patients diagnosed with breast cancer. This would be achieved by concentrating staff, expertise and diagnostic equipment on fewer sites - but would require a Health Minister to rubber-stamp the proposed changes. Details of efforts to improve cancer services here have been spelt out in a response from the Department of Health to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. Chair of the committee Dr Andrew Murrison had put a series of questions to health officials about cancer services, including asking for an update on a scheme to improve access to innovative drugs. The department's permanent secretary Richard Pengelly said officials are looking at the possibility of creating a new cancer strategy. He said they are in the final stages of the work and hope to announce a decision on the matter early next year. "Meeting the challenges posed by cancer is, and will continue to be, one of the department's highest priorities," he said. Mr Pengelly said that, in light of the recent change in legislation giving more powers to civil servants in the absence of a functioning Executive, the department will revisit this commitment. He added: "We are aiming to conclude the consideration of this matter and announce the outcome in early 2019." Mr Pengelly also referred to the performance of the health trusts with regards to waiting times for cancer services. He said the latest statistics show a fall in performance - the most significant of this relating to urgent breast cancer referrals. According to official figures, only 74.5% of patients were seen within 14 days throughout September. Mr Pengelly blamed the figures on a "deterioration in performance in the Northern Trust where only 11.9% of urgent referrals were seen within 14 days", which he put down to a shortfall in capacity. He said the remaining four trusts all achieved the 100% target. Mr Pengelly said the Northern Trust has a recovery plan in place and he hopes performance will improve significantly from October. He also gave an update on plans to make it easier for cancer patients to access specialist treatments. He revealed that a new committee is due to meet tomorrow to discuss how best to move forward the plans and it is hoped applications for treatments will be considered from early next year. Schools in Northern Ireland are to provide better support to transgender pupils under new guidance being drawn up by the Education Authority (EA). (stock picture) Schools in Northern Ireland are to provide better support to transgender pupils under new guidance being drawn up by the Education Authority (EA). At the request of schools, the EA has appointed a steering group to draw up the guidance which will focus on practical issues such as name changes, uniform policy and the use of toilets. The guidance is also designed to help schools assess the impact of changes in practice on other pupils. It will be finalised and distributed to schools in mid-2019. The steering group is made up of education stakeholders, clinical leads and voluntary sector organisations. The EA has also liaised with schools and parents of transgender children. Organisations represented on the steering group include the Children's Law Centre, the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, the EA's educational psychology department, the NI Council for Integrated Education and Transgender NI. Alexa Moore from Transgender NI said the move will address the current guidance vacuum facing schools today. "The process of developing and finessing the guidance will take some time," he said. "But it will result in improved confidence from schools to support trans children and young people within their walls, and will undoubtedly benefit the many hundreds of families across Northern Ireland who currently have trans children and young people in them. "We look forward to helping this guidance be the best it can be, and to the significant benefits it brings to schools, families and young people themselves upon its release." Last year, Department of Education research on the experiences of LGBTQ+ pupils in post-primary education found that the majority of transgender respondents did not feel safe at their schools in Northern Ireland, while only a small minority of schools covered transgender topics in their curriculum. The EA said: "Research has highlighted a range of barriers to education and high levels of homophobic and transphobic bullying which can have a knock-on effect on young people's mental health, attendance at school and attainment. "In developing the guidance, the Education Authority aims to increase the professional capacity and confidence of staff in supporting transgender children and young people and assist schools and youth services in promoting an inclusive environment where all children feel welcomed, safe and valued." Prime Minister Theresa May has said the agreement with the European Commission on the draft political framework represented the "right deal" for the UK. European Council president Donald Tusk announced on Thursday that the text had been agreed in draft form by EU and UK negotiators and "agreed in principle at political level". The declaration outlines how trade, security and other issues will work following Brexit. Read More The announcement clears the way for a special Brexit summit to go ahead in Brussels on Sunday, when leaders of the 27 remaining EU states are expected to give their stamp of approval to the declaration alongside the 585-page withdrawal agreement setting out the terms of the UK's departure. It follows a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday evening between Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, and is the first indication that the pair reached political agreement in principle on the text. Mr Tusk said in a tweet: "I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the Leaders." Read More Speaking outside No 10 on Thursday Mrs May said: "This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the vote of the referendum, it brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws and it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister said the draft declaration was between the UK and officials in Brussels, adding: "It is now up to the EU member states to examine this agreement in the days leading up to the special EU Council meeting on Sunday." She added: "I will be speaking to my counterparts over that time including speaking to Chancellor Kurz of Austria here in Downing Street later today. "Last night I spoke to the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and I'm confident on Sunday that we'll be able to agree a deal that delivers for the whole UK family, including Gibraltar. Expand Close European Council president Donald Tusk AP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp European Council president Donald Tusk "On Saturday I will return to Brussels for a further meeting with President Juncker where will discuss how to bring this process to a conclusion in the interest of all our people." The PM finished by saying: "The British people want this to be settled, they want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future. "That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver on it." According to the draft declaration agreed by the United Kingdom and the European Commission, the "parties envisage having a trading relationship on goods that is as close as possible, with a view to facilitating the ease of legitimate trade." The draft declaration will now be screened by national envoys of the remaining 27 EU states meeting in Brussels on Thursday. Both the EU and Britain "should aim to deliver a level of liberalisation in trade in services well beyond the parties WTO commitments," according to the draft declaration. The transition period, which Britain and the EU hope will begin once Britain leaves the EU on March 29, can be extended "for up to one or two years," according to the draft declaration. Mrs May is to make a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday afternoon on the latest developments and was speaking to members of the Cabinet in a conference call ahead of that. She will need the backing of the House of Commons before the deal can be approved. Her party remain split over the deal with hardline Brexiteers attempting to organise a leadership challenge against Mrs May. The Prime Minister remains adamant that her deal is the right one for the whole of the UK. The DUP is unhappy that the deal will see Northern Ireland aligned with EU rules and remain part of the single market with checks on some goods coming in from the UK to Northern Ireland, if the Brexit backstop is implemented. Senior DUP figures have expressed concern that Mrs May's Brexit plan could lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister's plan has put her confidence and supply agreement with the DUP under threat. Mrs May currently relies on the ten DUP MPs to support her government in key votes in order to pass legislation. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said his party will be voting against Mrs May's Brexit deal, calling it a one-way agreement in which the EU calls all the shots. A church usher who sexually assaulted a teenage girl on two separate occasions after hugging her at a Sunday service has been made the subject of a three-year probation order. Paul Kyle (54) used his position as part of the welcoming team at the New Life City Church in the Shankill area of Belfast to inappropriately touch the 15-year-old. Belfast Crown Court heard Kyle sexually assaulted her in June 2017 and again in November of the same year. He has since been asked to stay away from the church. Judge Patricia Smyth said she felt the public would be better protected by placing Kyle on probation for three years and recommended that he attend a sexual offending programme to address his "distorted thinking". Judge Smyth heard that the teenager went to the police with her parents on November 22, 2017 to report that she had been sexually assaulted in the June and again on November 19. The schoolgirl's parents told police that concerns about Kyle's behaviour were first raised with the church's pastor in June last year, when they said Kyle had made "inappropriate physical contact" with the teenager. The girl said that after giving her a hug, Kyle had touched her breast. The matter was reported to the pastor who in turn spoke to Kyle and warned him not to touch the schoolgirl again. Five months after the incident, the girl was again abused in the same way. She told her parents that she was hugged by Kyle and as he was releasing himself from the hug, he felt her breast then put his hand between her legs. All three assaults involved sexual touching over clothes. It also emerged that following the second incident in November, hours later Kyle tried to contact the teenager via Facebook messenger, but she did not respond. When Kyle, from the Highfield area of the city, was interviewed by police, he said that while he knew the complainant, he was not friendly with her. He also admitted hugging her at the church service and said it was "just a hug and nothing more". While Kyle continued to deny the offences initially, he later pleaded guilty to the charges, which Crown lawyer Kate McKay said was an indication he "now accepts what she said about each of these incidents". The prosecutor said Kyle's actions impacted on the girl's education, adding that while the offences themselves were at the "lower end of the scale", they still had a negative affect on her. Ms McKay also pointed out that despite being spoken to by the church pastor following the June 2017 incident, Kyle "did the same thing again" five months later. Defence barrister Ciaran Harvey told Judge Smyth that Kyle accepts what he did and "fully apologises and recognises the hurt and pain this has caused her". Mr Harvey said that since the incidents - which he said occurred when Kyle was experiencing "difficulties in his life" - his client has turned to alcohol and is now consuming a litre of spirits every day. The defence barrister also revealed Kyle has a very low IQ, suffers from stress and has experienced "anxiety about the prospect of a prison sentence". Sparing Kyle jail, Judge Smyth noted his low IQ - which places him in the bottom 2% of the population - that she said may explain "to some degree" his offending. Addressing Kyle, the judge said that while she noted he had lost the social network that the church provided to him as he had been told to "stay away", he used his position within the church to touch the schoolgirl. She also spoke of the impact his behaviour has had on the girl, particularly with regard to her schooling, and her wish to attend church. In addition to the three-year probation order, Kyle was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for five years. Lysette McHendry has hit out at the process for applying for Personal Independence Payments A mother of two with terminal cancer has refused to complete a benefits form declaring she has only six months to live. Lynette McHendry was told it would end the need for lengthy assessments for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). She told BBC NI's Stephen Nolan Show how over the past three years, she had undergone numerous procedures since being diagnosed with incurable breast cancer. When she was assessed for benefits, she was told she could "save some time" if her GP or oncologist completed a form to say she had just six months left to live, as there would be no need for her to complete another assessment. The 40-year-old mum of two boys aged 11 and 14 outright refused, saying it would be like signing a "death warrant". "I was diagnosed with terminal cancer at 37 years of age and no matter what age you are, you always have hope you are going to live," she said. "It's totally unfair - I don't want to think of my last six months of living, and I certainly don't want to think I will be spending those months filling out forms to get a payment to support. It is cruel." An independent review of PIP assessments published yesterday recommended the requirement for the terminal illness form to be completed be abolished. The Department for Communities said the process was aligned to the model in Great Britain and it would require a minister to be in place to make the decision on the matter. The SDLP's Nichola Mallon said given there was political consensus on the matter, all the report's recommendations should be implemented. Lynette said she had first been on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) after her diagnosis in 2015. After completing a 90-minute assessment for PIP, which replaces DLA, she was told there was not enough information and she would have to go through a second one. She said there was no indication of what information was required. A former civil servant, Lynette reluctantly took the decision to take medical retirement. But she claims she knows of people who had been forced into signing the form. "I am lucky I have the safety net of my Civil Service pension, but many don't," she told the Belfast Telegraph. "I try to be positive. I've never asked my doctor to estimate how long I have left. I know of girls who asked and are told they have six months and are gone almost to the day. "You fill out that form and it's almost like you are a step closer, you can get it in your head. I never considered filling out the from. I would rather do without the money." Under the benefit, Lynette receives a car which her relatives are able to use to transport her to the doctors. Lynette said it was a lifeline, given that she lives in a remote rural location where there is poor public transport and her self-employed husband only has his work van. "I push myself... I don't want my kids to see me sick. They ask if you can feed or dress yourself. I will until I am on my death bed and physically can't. "One form can not adequately address how I live as well as say a paraplegic person or a blind person. It just seems there is no consideration." Lynette said doctors say there is "no activity" of her cancer. "I just try getting on with life the best I can and make life for my kids as normal as possible. I try to do a lot myself, like taking supplements or oxygen therapy - to keep fighting. "I understand PIP is not about the condition you have, but about how it affects your life. "Having had bilateral breast cancer, bilateral mastectomy, secondary cancer in the brain, three tumours removed from the brain, 19 blood transfusions, 12 months of chemo, the list goes on and they make you go through this process. "Anyone that thinks what I have been through in the past three years has not affected me, mentally or physically, is deluded. But I have to go through this form to get some sort of entitlement." The heavy traffic in some parts of Manila during the two-day state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Manila this week should be understandable, the Palace said on Thursday amid public uproar over the traffic congestion. I think that should be understandable given the fact that [in] the Manila area, the work was suspended, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a Palace press briefing. The Palace official made the remark after the public complained about the unnaturally heavy traffic that was aggravated by unannounced road closures in some of the main roads in Manila. All the motorists would not be passing here because of the security, so they had to converge in the Makati area and other places, and there will be traffic, all of us, me too, he said, stressing that even him had to endure the traffic. We have to live with that because the concern of the state would be the security of the visiting head of state [Xi], he continued, adding that he was not aware of any comment coming from President Rodrigo Duterte himself about the traffic situation. In November 2015, Duterte, who was then Davao City Mayor, lambasted Pope Francis for causing heavy traffic in Manila during the Catholic leaders visit in the country in January. But Panelo defended the Presidents previous remark, emphasizing that there was a huge difference between the traffic jam caused by Xis two-day state visit to that of the Popes five-day visit. I guess if you compared the traffic the other day as against the Popes visit, there is a whale of a difference, Panelo said in the same briefing.That time really took us six, seven, eight, nine, 10 hours; not this one. This one, over two hours only. It took me about that in coming here, he added. On Wednesday, Dutertes security group and the Metro Manila Development Authority seemingly pointed fingers with each other over the road jams during Xis visit. Presidential Security Group said the move to close roads in Metro Manila, which caused traffic congestion during the second day of Xis state visit, was the call of the Metro Manila Development Authority and the Philippine National Police. In connection with the visit, we appeal to the understanding of those who may have been affected, PSG spokesperson Capt. Zeerah Blanche Lucrecia said in a statement. As host to our State Guest, we provided the necessary hospitality and security to ensure the smooth flow of their movement, she added. MMDA Spokesperson Celine Pialago, meanwhile, said that the lockdown of some roads was instructed by the PSG, maintaining that they were just merely following instructions from the countrys security agency. In a bid to strengthen ties with the Philippines, Xi, together with his delegation, visited the country on Nov. 20 to 21. During his visit, at least 29 deals were inked between the Philippines and China. Remembrance: The Haunting Soldier depicting a weary World War I soldier stands six metres high in St Stephens Green, Dublin. It commemorates the centenary of the ending of the war. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Gardai have launched an investigation after a statue to commemorate the ending of the First World War was vandalised with red paint overnight. The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, expressed her disappointment about the vandalism to 'The Haunting Soldier' sculpture, which she unveiled in St Stephens Green earlier this month. This installation honours all those who died in the terrible suffering of World War 1, Ms Madigan said. It is incredibly moving and has been proved immensely popular. There is no bravery in throwing paint at a statue in the middle of the night. My Department has been in touch with the OPW in relation to the damage and I understand that the installation will be cleaned up today. A team of cleaners were this morning tasked with removing the red paint from the installation. They worked using solvents, brushes and power washers to remove the gloss paint, which cannot be removed by water alone. Gardai also remained at the scene this morning after the incident. The sculpture was made from scraps of metal, including horse shoes, spanners, car jacks and brake discs. It was brought to Ireland by Dublin-based solicitor Sabina Purcell, who discovered that she had a family connection to those who had served in the Great War. This led Ms Purcell to explore how the nation could remember and commemorate the soldiers from Ireland who gave their lives in World War I and also those who survived and returned home. The six-metre high sculpture arrived in St Stephens Green park in Dublin on November 4. The ghostly figure, depicted as a weary soldier returning from battle, was created by Martin Galbravy and constructed by Chris Hannam at Dorset Forge and Fabrication. A garda spokesperson confirmed that they are investigating the criminal damage to the sculpture done overnight. Gardai are investigating criminal damage caused to a statue in the St. Stephens Green area of Dublin on 22nd November 2018 at approximately 2am, a spokesperson said. No arrests have been made at this stage. A scene is currently in place at the statue. Investigations are continuing. The statue is due to remain in St Stephen's Green until Monday November 26, coinciding with the centenary commemorations to mark the ending of World War I. The vandalism of a sculpture erected in Dublin to mark the Armistice centenary has been branded an embarrassment to Ireland. The solicitor who spearheaded efforts to bring the Haunting Soldier artwork to the city said the attack would prove counterproductive, predicting even more people would go to pay their respects. Red paint was thrown over the six metre-high sculpture in St Stephens Green at around 2am on Thursday. Irish gardai are investigating. Remembrance wreaths and flowers laid at the base of the sculpture were also damaged, among them one laid by the New Zealand All Blacks ahead of their rugby match with Ireland last Saturday. The laurel wreath was in tribute to the first captain of the All Blacks, Dave Gallaher. Donegal-born Gallaher was killed in action at Ypres in 1917. Expand Close Cleaning work in St Stephens Green, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cleaning work in St Stephens Green, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) Last months installation of the towering sculpture in a prominent city centre location was indicative of changing attitudes in Ireland to the tens of thousands of Irishmen who fought and died in the First World War. Soldiers once shunned by the state for fighting for British forces in the years just before Irish independence have been afforded greater recognition in the peace process era. Expand Close A laurel wreath laid next to the sculpture by New Zealand All Blacks players (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A laurel wreath laid next to the sculpture by New Zealand All Blacks players (Niall Carson/PA) Sabina Purcell, who had the idea to bring the piece to Ireland for the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, securing a state grant and private sector sponsorship for the project, said she was very upset. This does not reflect who we are or what we have become and whoever did this is an embarrassment to us, she told the Press Association. This was given to us on loan as a gift and they just simply didnt seem to appreciate that or even care. If I had my time to do it again, I would do it all over again. Im not going to be dictated to by these people who did this. The people of Ireland have responded in their thousands coming to see it every day. Expand Close Sabina Purcell (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sabina Purcell (Niall Carson/PA) All Blacks stars Sam Whitelock, Liam Squire and Nepo Laulala laid wreaths at the foot of the sculpture last week. The artwork portrays a weary soldier returning from war. Designed by Dorset-based artist and blacksmith Martin Galbavy, it is made from scraps of metal including horse shoes, spanners, car jacks and brake discs. It has been loaned to Ireland and its final day in Dublin is Monday. This does not reflect who we are or what we have become and whoever did this is an embarrassment to usSabina Purcell Ms Purcell expressed anger that the All Blacks wreath had been damaged. Its very, very disrespectful, she said. But we are keeping it as a symbol, because its not who we are. The solicitor hailed the repair work carried out by the Office of Public Works (OPW) on Thursday morning. The OPW have done a marvellous job, they have more or less got it all back to how it was, she said. Its marvellous what they have done. Its spectacular and itll be here until Monday. She added: I am so honoured by the respect shown to it by the public that what this person did is just a nothing, because the respect and support and response has been phenomenal, and therell be even more visitors now, turning an horrendous negative into an absolute positive. So its been totally counterproductive. Irish Culture Minister Josepha Madigan voiced disappointment about the attack. Expand Close Josepha Madigan (Niall Carson/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Josepha Madigan (Niall Carson/PA) This installation honours all those who died in the terrible suffering of World War One, she said. It is incredibly moving and has been proved immensely popular. There is no bravery in throwing paint at a statue in the middle of the night. The Haunting Soldier is designed to evoke the fragility and suffering of those who survived the war and returned home to an uncertain and difficult future. The ghostly figure was constructed by Chris Hannam of Dorset Forge and Fabrication. Protester Stacie Ellen Murphy walks in her underwear along Grafton Street, Dublin, in support of victims of sexual violence (Niall Carson/PA) A campaigner who has started a daily walk through Dublin in only lingerie to demand rape trial reform has vowed not to stop until she gets 50 more people joining her to force law change. Wearing prominent body paint, Stacie Ellen Murphy, 26, expressed delight that two other women in underwear Alanna Cassidy and Lena Seale joined her on Thursday to walk along busy shopping streets in the city. Ms Murphys protest is linked to the controversy around a recent case in Co Cork, where a defence barrister referred to the 17-year-old complainants thong during a trial, in which a man was acquitted of rape. It has sparked an intense public and political debate in Ireland on whether it is appropriate to place relevance on what an alleged victim was wearing during sex crime trials and whether there is culture of victim blaming. Expand Close (Left to right) Stacie Ellen Murphy, Alanna Cassidy and Lena Seale (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (Left to right) Stacie Ellen Murphy, Alanna Cassidy and Lena Seale (Niall Carson/PA) There were protests in cities and towns across Ireland earlier this month, during which thongs and placards were held aloft with the words this is not consent. The case also sparked a popular social media campaign with women from the island and abroad posting pictures of their underwear with the hastag #thisisnotconsent. Dubliner Ms Murphy, who attracted cheers, hugs but also some negative comments from onlookers as she braved bitter temperatures on Thursday, said she wanted to lead a march of 50 people in their underwear to the gates of the Dail in a bid to force law changes in how trials are conducted. I not going to be stopping until I get a change, she said. Until its talked about in the Dail. Until I get to the Dail. Until changes are made. Im not going to stop until Ive a crowd of 50 people walking toward me every single day doing this walk, until theres a change in the judicial system about underwear being brought up in a case or court trial. It doesn't matter what you wear, where you go, who you go with or whether you have taken alcohol or drugs - no one asks to be rapedTaoiseach Leo Varadkar On Monday, Ms Murphy went to the courts in Dublin wearing her lingerie and hugged a rape victim on the steps outside after the jailing of her attacker. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he has commissioned an eminent person to examine the rules around evidence in the courts. Whether you are a man or a woman, if you are a victim of rape or sexual assault, you are never to blame for it, he said at the weekend. It doesnt matter what you wear, where you go, who you go with or whether you have taken alcohol or drugs no one asks to be raped. The British academic accused of spying in the United Arab Emirates was sentenced to life imprisonment (Daniela Tejada/PA) The Government is facing calls to take immediate action against the United Arab Emirates after a British academic accused of spying with absolutely no evidence was jailed for life. The Foreign Office has been accused of handling the case of PhD student Matthew Hedges appallingly after the 31-year-old was handed the life term during a five-minute hearing on Wednesday. Jeremy Hunt is due to meet with the Durham University students wife, Daniela Tejada, on Thursday and the Foreign Secretary has threatened the UAE with serious diplomatic consequences if Mr Hedges is not freed. Ms Tejada, who was at the Abu Dhabi court, has demanded the British Government take a stand now. The British government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens Matthew is innocent. The Foreign Office know this and have made it clear to the UAE authorities that Matthew is not a spy for them, she told The Times. This whole case has been handled appallingly from the very beginning, with no-one taking Matthews case seriously. The British government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens. They say that the UAE is an ally but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matts case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price. This is ridiculous. Our Defence assistance, mentoring and intelligence relationships alone with this country should preclude absurd things like this happening. From a friend and partner, simply unacceptable. Consequences must be immediate until he is released. Resilience required pic.twitter.com/ouvxfjJIBH Johnny Mercer (@JohnnyMercerUK) November 21, 2018 Ms Tejadas call for immediate action was echoed by Tory MP Johnny Mercer, who condemned the academics jailing and called for the Government to be resilient. He wrote on Twitter: This is ridiculous. Our Defence assistance, mentoring and intelligence relationships alone with this country should preclude absurd things like this happening. From a friend and partner, simply unacceptable. Consequences must be immediate until he is released. Expand Close Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned of diplomatic consequences (Victoria Jones/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned of diplomatic consequences (Victoria Jones/PA) Mr Hunt said the UK will do everything we can to get him home. We see absolutely no evidence for any of the charges laid against him. Were very concerned for his welfare, he told Sky News. The UAE is supposed to be a friend and ally of Britains. Weve given them repeated assurances about Matthew. If we cant resolve this there are going to be serious diplomatic consequences, because this is totally unacceptable. The Middle Eastern studies specialist was arrested at Dubai Airport on May 5. Expand Close The Government should state that the British academic accused of spying in the United Arab Emirates is innocent of the charges, his wife has said (Daniela Tejada/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Government should state that the British academic accused of spying in the United Arab Emirates is innocent of the charges, his wife has said (Daniela Tejada/PA) A family representative said he had since been held in solitary confinement for over five-and-a-half months, during which his mental and physical health seriously deteriorated. Lawyer and human rights campaigner David Haigh said he was encouraged by Mr Hunts public stance, but warned securing Mr Hedges release quickly was important. He told the BBCs World Tonight: Its urgent. I know what he will be going through. Hell be in some form of national security jail and its horrific there. Mr Haigh, a former managing director of Leeds United, says he was tortured and raped while he was held in a Dubai jail over a fraud conviction that was later overturned. Expand Close Former Leeds United director David Haigh has said the UAE was not safe to go as a tourist (Martin Rickett/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former Leeds United director David Haigh has said the UAE was not safe to go as a tourist (Martin Rickett/PA) He warned that Mr Hedges ordeal and other similar cases showed the UAE isnt a safe country to go to as a tourist. Nothings changed. Its getting worse and worse and worse, and why is it getting worse? Because no-one is doing anything about it. The governments are ignoring it, Mr Haigh said. Theresa May said she was deeply disappointed and concerned by Mr Hedges jailing and told MPs the UK will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis. Mr Hunt was urgently seeking a call with Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, the Prime Minister added. There has been no information given on what basis Matt was handed this sentence and no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic research At Prime Ministers Questions, Tory MP Crispin Blunt told Mrs May she should make clear to the UAE that if he is not released, I dont see why we should be committed to their defence. Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University, said he was devastated by the sentence. He said: There has been no information given on what basis Matt was handed this sentence and no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic research. A Foreign Office spokesman did not say what form any possible diplomatic consequences could take, but said a number of options are available. Nicola Sturgeon has warned Brexit could result in another Tory sell out for fishermen (Owen Humphreys/PA) Theresa May is lining up Scotlands fishing sector to be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Europe post-Brexit, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was warned. The SNP leader accused the UK Government of preparing for another Tory sell out of Scottish fishermen after a political declaration on post-Brexit relations was agreed with Brussels. Mrs May has insisted the agreement reached is the right plan for the UK which will set the country on course for a brighter future. But Ms Sturgeon argued it included lots of unicorns taking the place of facts about the future relationship. The PM has fiercely resisted the efforts of EU States to make an explicit link between access to our waters and access to markets. We will negotiate and decide, as an independent coastal state, on access and quota on an annual basis just like Norway and Iceland do now 2/2 David Mundell MP (@DavidMundellDCT) November 22, 2018 She claimed the agreement left difficult issues unresolved and would lead to a blindfold Brexit, which could see Britain leave the European Union without knowing the full details of their future relationship will look like. With David Mundell having threatened to quit the Cabinet if the UK remains tied to Europes Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) after the end of the Brexit transition period, Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Secretary would have forfeited forever any last remaining scrap of principle or credibility that he had if remained in his post. Scottish Tory MP Ross Thomson branded the political declaration unacceptable, as he said the UK must be a normal independent coastal state like Norway. He tweeted the political declaration commits UK to establish a new fisheries agreement on, inter allia, access to waters and quota shares and added: This means sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal. But Mr Mundell said he was not taking lessons on standing up for fisherman from Nicola Sturgeon, saying SNP policy would keep the sector within the CFP. Scots Tory MPs letter to PM on 14/11 says specifically that access and quota shares cannot be included in the Future Economic Partnership. Political Declaration now agreed shows they have been. The 13 therefore cant support Mays #Brexit deal ( including @DavidMundellDCT ) pic.twitter.com/KpqFQ1oM9a Michael Russell (@Feorlean) November 22, 2018 Meanwhile the UK Government stressed the declaration text states explicitly that the UK will be an independent coastal state. However Ms Sturgeon mounted her attack at First Minister Questions, saying: The political declaration that has been agreed between he UK Government and the European Commission this morning represents another Tory sell out of Scottish fisher men. What we see is that the Scottish fishing industry will be used as a bargaining chip in wider trade talks. She recalled last week all 13 Scottish Tory MPs sent a letter to Mrs May, making clear that after Brexit the UK must be able to negotiate access and quota shares on an annual basis without any pre-existing arrangement being in force and this means that access and quota shares can not be included in the future economic partnership. But she said paragraph 75 of the declaration stated: Within the context of the overall economic partnership the parties should establish a new fisheries agreement on access to waters and quota share. She added: There is no mention of annual negotiations, which I happen to know the UK Government was trying to secure and they failed. In terms of David Mundells position I would simply say this his position is a matter for him but if David Mundell is still in office by the end of today in light of this political declaration he will have forfeited forever any last remaining scrap of principle or credibility that he had. Expand Close Scottish Secretary David Mundell is facing calls to quit. (Victoria Jones/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scottish Secretary David Mundell is facing calls to quit. (Victoria Jones/PA) Labours shadow Scottish secretary Lesley Laird also called for Mr Mundell to resign with immediate effect. But the Scottish Secretary insisted the political declaration was a good deal for the fishing industry, which would allow the UK to become an independent coastal state and leave the hated CFP. Speaking during a visit to an Edinburgh school, he said Britain would be able to negotiate its own agreement on access and quotas with the EU just as Iceland and Norway do at the moment. The Tory MP added: There will be no pre-existing arrangements in the political declaration. Quotas and access will be discussed but there will be no predetermined arrangements as to what those quotas and access will be. It will be decided annually. He said those negotiations would be tough but Mrs May had stood steadfastedly by fishing interests and future talks would be equally robust. Questioned on the First Ministers call for him to resign, he said: Nicola Sturgeons position is to create as much chaos and division in this country as she possibly can because she feels that thats best backdrop for her independence referendum agenda. She revels in the soap opera of resignations and division over Brexit, thats why shes proposing a no-deal Brexit so Im not going to take any notice of her calls in that regard because I remain committed to my overriding objective. Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermens Federation, said: The declaration gives the UK the power to assert its position as an independent coastal state with practical sovereignty over our waters and natural resources. However we know that several EU nations will not give up their attempts to link access with trade in order to retain absolute rights to fish around our coastline. So we will continue to seek assurances from the UK Government that it will remain steadfast. We will not rest until the future arrangements are signed, sealed and delivered and we secure this critical control over access to our waters and who catches what stocks, where and when. Fiona Onasanya is accused of perverting the course of justice (PA) A jury has retired in the trial of a Labour MP accused of lying to avoid a speeding charge. Fiona Onasanya, 35, allegedly colluded with her brother Festus to escape prosecution for doing 41mph in a 30mph zone on July 24 last year. A Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) was sent back to authorities claiming a Russian man was behind the wheel of her Nissan Micra when it was clocked speeding in the village of Thorney, near Peterborough. But inquiries revealed he was in Russia with his parents at the time. Expand Close Festus Onasanya pictured arriving at the Old Bailey during the trial (John Stillwell/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Festus Onasanya pictured arriving at the Old Bailey during the trial (John Stillwell/PA) Festus Onasanya, 33, from Cambridge, has admitted three charges of perverting the course of justice, including over the July 24 incident. His sister, elected as Peterborough MP in June last year, denies one charge of perverting the course of justice. Judge Nichola Hilliard QC sent the 11-strong Old Bailey jury out to deliberate on its verdict just after 10.30am on Thursday. Prime Minister Theresa May giving a statement to the House of Commons in London on November 22, 2018. Pic PA wires Measures to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland make a "complete nonsense of Brexit", Theresa May has been told, as she faced a backbench backlash over her agreement on future relations between the UK and EU. Several Tory MPs criticised the political declaration on post-Brexit relations agreed with Brussels, with many citing concerns over the customs backstop which keeps the UK in the customs union to prevent the return of a hard Irish border. But the Prime Minister repeatedly insisted her deal meets the demands of Brexiteers. Conservative former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said: "We should junk forthwith the backstop, upon which the future economic partnership - according to this political declaration - is to be based, and which makes a complete nonsense of Brexit." Mrs May said her deal delivers what Mr Johnson wants, telling him: "The future relationship we have set out in the political declaration ends free movement, ends sending vast sums of money to the European Union every year and ends the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the United Kingdom, and it enables us to hold an independent trade policy and to negotiate trade deals around the whole of the world." DUP chief whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson called on the Prime Minister to dump the backstop and come forward with the alternatives set out in the political declaration instead. Sir Jeffrey said his party agreed with Chancellor Philip Hammond, who had said he did not think the backstop would be good for the UK economy or its union. He added: "If she wants to have the support of my party for the withdrawal agreement then we need to see an end to the backstop and those alternative arrangements put in place." Mrs May responded: "None of us want to see the backstop being used. The best way to ensure the backstop is not used is to get the future relationship into place." Read More Tory former Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers warned the EU would be "unlikely to agree" a future trading agreement with the UK as the backstop in the withdrawal agreement offered more favourable terms. The Brexiteer said: "There are clearly parts of this document which are positive and which I welcome, my grave worry with it is that it'll never come into effect anyway because the EU is unlikely to agree a new economic partnership with us because the withdrawal agreement locks us in to paying the 38 billion and also commits us to a backstop which has us obeying their rules and applying their customs rules without any say over them." Read More And former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab said Mrs May's backstop would do the opposite of the will of the people by giving control away. He told the Commons: "The backstop ties the UK to the customs union and single market rules with no voice and an EU veto over our exit whilst paragraph 23 of the political declaration makes that the starting point for future relations to build on. "The top reason people voted to leave the EU was to take back control over our laws. Isn't it the regrettable but inescapable reality that this deal gives even more away?" Remain supporting Tory MPs also added their voice to criticism of the backstop, including former attorney general Dominic Grieve. He said: "The backstop is a constitutional anomaly of the first order because it makes the EU the guarantor of a bilateral treaty between ourselves and Ireland, of which the people have never been consulted." Read More And former education secretary Justine Greening added: "I don't believe this is a good deal for Britain," and asked about a referendum if the vote on the deal was lost. Tory Brexiteer Sir Bill Cash told Mrs May the Commons European scrutiny committee, which he chairs, would be holding an inquiry into "the Government's handling and outcome of these negotiations". He said: "This declaration cannot be reconciled with the repeal of the 1972 act nor the referendum vote." Brexiteer and Tory former leader Iain Duncan Smith also added to the criticism, asking Mrs May to consider amending the Withdrawal Agreement "so that any arrangements we make strip out that backstop and leave us with that positive open border that we talked about". Former Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson later warned that inclusion of the backstop meant "the horror of Northern Ireland being split off" from the UK remained. Mrs May responded saying the backstop was not "automatic", adding: "There are alternatives to the backstop and the United Kingdom can choose those alternatives, there are pros and cons in these and when the time comes obviously that choice will measure those pros and cons." Tory former minister Mark Francois also said: "Prime Minister, why have you repeatedly made commitments at the despatch box and then done the opposite?" Meghan is marking her her first royal Thanksgiving (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA) The Duchess of Sussex is celebrating her first Thanksgiving as a member of the royal family. American former actress Meghan, who on Wednesday made a return visit to the Hubb Community kitchen which inspired her collaborative work on a Grenfell charity cookbook, is expected to mark the much-loved US holiday with the Duke of Sussex. Expand Close Meghan and Harry on their recent tour of New Zealand (Phil Noble/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Meghan and Harry on their recent tour of New Zealand (Phil Noble/PA) Meghan and Harry have no official engagements confirmed for November 22, leaving them free to enjoy the occasion together for the first time as a married couple. They are expecting their first child in the spring. With the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis living next door to the couples Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, the Cambridges might be invited round for a Thanksgiving meal. Or Harry and Meghan could head to the sanctuary of their Cotswolds retreat instead. It is not known whether the duchess has invited her mother, Doria Ragland, to spend the day with her. Expand Close Doria, Meghan and Harry (Ben Stansall/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Doria, Meghan and Harry (Ben Stansall/PA) In 2016, Meghan, who was still starring in the legal drama Suits at the time, posted a picture of herself on Instagram with a large cooked turkey, adding: Oh, that time I roasted a pretty perfect Thanksgiving turkey! The question is, can I do it again? The pressure is on! Harry was away on a Caribbean tour on board a Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker ship, so the couple spent that Thanksgiving apart with Harry having no internet or mobile phone signal, and only the ships radio available for essential communications. The duchess has previously described how her parents, who came from little, taught her to care about others, and led by example during her childhood, buying turkeys for homeless shelters at Thanksgiving. On Wednesday, the duchess put on an apron and a pair of gloves and began mixing vegetables with her hands when she visited the Hubb Community Kitchen in west London. Meghan helped to prepare some rainbow veg while she was there and sipped ginger tea as she listened to the womens plans for the future pic.twitter.com/XhGiSV2Ocq Aine Fox (@aine_fox) November 21, 2018 Chef Clare Smyth, the duchesss friend who was introduced to the volunteers, said Meghan had spoken with passion about the kitchen. Shes really into food, shes a real foodie, she added. Harry proposed to Meghan over a roast chicken dinner in 2017, and later revealed how all the stars were aligned when he first fell for her after they met on a blind date. Traditional Thanksgiving dinners include a roast turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie for dessert. American presidents are required to pardon a turkey ahead of the holiday. Today, President Trump participated in a classic White House tradition: the pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey. Americans voted online for our two very qualified candidates. Find out which was crowned National Thanksgiving Turkey in 1600 Daily: https://t.co/xb9E3Be3a3 pic.twitter.com/5yyNXYqv98 The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) November 21, 2018 Thanksgiving can be traced back to 1621 when Europeans, known as Pilgrims, invited the local Native Americans to a harvest feast after they experienced a successful season of produce growth. Kensington Palace has yet to comment. The Metropolitan Police is urging more women to join the force (PA) Women should not be put off joining the Metropolitan Police despite a recent violent attack in which a female officer was kicked, the deputy assistant commissioner has said. Lucy DOrsi said two suspects have been charged following the incident in which two police officers were assaulted in Merton, south London, on Saturday. Footage of the violent struggle, which was shared hundreds of times online, shows a male officer being dragged around the road, while his female colleague took a flying kick to the chest. We have been and will continue to be trailblazers in terms of equality.Lucy D'Orsi, Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ms DOrsi was speaking as Scotland Yard marked a century of having female officers on the force, and launched a drive to recruit more women. Fortunately, I feel that extremity of violence is still rare. I would encourage people, and for it not to put them off joining policing, that is not what we are faced with all the time, she said. She stressed none of her colleagues within the force come to work and expect to be assaulted, condemning the attack as absolutely despicable. She added: That level of violence in my view is completely unacceptable. Expand Close Lucy DOrsi joined the Met in 1992 and said she is not aware of her gender ever holding her police career back (Met Police/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lucy DOrsi joined the Met in 1992 and said she is not aware of her gender ever holding her police career back (Met Police/PA) It is also really disappointing that people chose to just film it or drive by, and for me it is important people do think about calling the police and try and get help for officers. A century ago on November 22, then commissioner Sir Cecil Macready officially announced the Met would employ female officers. Known as the women patrols, they took to the streets of London for the first time in February 1919. Almost 8,000 women now make up the force across a number of roles. But women account for just 27% of officers, and as the campaign was launched Commissioner Cressida Dick said the long-term aim is to reach a target of 50%. Ms DOrsi said she is optimistic the target is achievable. She said the range of opportunities for a fabulous career in policing is absolutely outstanding, adding that the campaign to diversify the Met is needed because the more the force represents the communities they serve, the better. Agreeing with Ms Dick that there is no better time for women to be in policing, Ms DOrsi stressed no roles within the force are closed to them. Policing, and specifically the Met, have very much led the way in terms of being accessible to women and all roles being accessible to women, she said. Highlighting the diversity within specialist roles, such as firearms, counter-terrorism and protection officers, she said there is a wealth of choice for women. We have been and will continue to be trailblazers in terms of the equality, she added. She said the force is keen to improve the representation of women within its firearms command, and admitted it has some way to go on the issue. Asked what she would say to those who believe women are not as physically capable as their male counterparts, she said that is absolute nonsense. She added: Ultimately this is about catching people that are intent on committing crime and harming people I think women are equally capable of that. Ms DOrsi joined Scotland Yard in 1992, and said she has never been conscious of being disadvantaged because she is female, and has not witnessed any overt discrimination. Describing the Met of today, she added: Male colleagues are as quick to call out unacceptable behaviour as female officers, and I think for me that is really refreshing. CUSTOMS PROBE. Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Senator Richard Gordon fields questions to BOC Commissioner Rey Guerrero (left). Also in photo is former BOC Commissioner Isidro Lapena during the continuation of the Senate public hearing on the 6.4 billion worth of shabu shipment from China. Lino Santos For failing to attend the Senate hearing on the P11-billion shabu shipment that slipped past the Bureau of Customs, former Senior Superintendent Eduardo Acierto and three others were ordered arrested after they were cited for contempt. Senate Blue Ribbon chairman Senator Richard Gordon said that aside from Acierto, others to be arrested were SMYD trading owner Marina Signapan, dismissed Director Ismael Fajardo of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and Emily Loquingan, ex-wife of Pony Chan, also known as Chun Chung, one of the Chinese individuals spotted at the Cavite warehouse where the emptied magnetic lifters containing shabu were discovered.Former BOC intelligence officer Jimmy Guban tagged Acierto as the one who facilitated the smuggling of billions of pesos worth of shabu in the country. Guban, who had been placed under the governments witness protection program, also earlier testified that he and Acierto worked with Fajardo in the smuggling of the shabu. On the other hand, PDEA has named Signapans SMYD Trading as the consignee of the four magnetic lifters containing the billions of pesos worth of shabu. The contempt order is now formal. We are now going to issue contempt orders so we can get these people back here, said Gordon. Gordon also warned that if they still fail to show up in the next hearing on December 4, they will be detained inside the Senate detention facility. We cant allow them to run circles around us. This is not a good day to fool around, he said. In fact, he said Acierto should have been long arrested. I dont know why there is a lot of foot dragging on his case, Gordon said. The senator also lamented the failure of Fajardo to show up in the hearing. He noted that Fajardo stopped attending the Senate hearings after his name was dragged in the alleged shabu shipment. He said Acierto has not also been attending the hearing. Signapan, meanwhile, did not attend Thursdays hearing, claiming she was sick. Gordon looked for Signapans medical certificate, but she apparently only sent a text message.This meeting was called almost two or three weeks ago... A text is not sufficient, you know that, he said. Shes been trying to evade us. The chair declares her in contempt. Were not going to let anybody run circles around us, he said. Signapan was earlier cited in contempt during the committees hearing on Sept. 19 because Gordon said she had consistently lied in her testimonies. During the hearing, Gordon also presented a picture showing Acierto and Fajardo attending a party when they were consistently absent during the panels past hearings. Fajardo, Acierto, and Guban initially investigated the shabu shipment after receiving information on the case. However, it was later alleged that they had facilitated the release of the magnetic lifters containing the illegal drugs. During the hearing, Gordon again slammed Customs and PDEA officials for alleged incompetence as he sought a deeper investigation on the matter. Meanwhile, self-declared broker Meg Santos has denied being involved in the shabu, belying Gubans claims. She denied the accusation of Guban that she was among those who had conspired to smuggle the billions worth of shabu by hiring Signapan as the consignee together with Acierto. There is no truth to the statement of Jimmy Guban. I dont know Colonel Acierto. I never talked to Guban. I havent talked to them about the shipment, said Santos. But Santos later backpedalled and admitted knowing Signapan but insisted they are not involved in drug smuggling. A total of 11kg of the Class A substance was recovered on Wednesday (Paul Faith/PA) More than 1 million worth of heroin has been seized from a property in Edinburgh. Officers recovered 11kg of the Class A drug during a raid at an address in Captains Drive on Wednesday. Police also found a large amount of cutting agent. Around 11,000 in cash was also found later that day during a search of an address in Leving Place, Livingston. A 28-year-old male is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday over drug offences. Detective Inspector Dougie Telfer said: Once again, the vital assistance of the public has resulted in another significant drugs recovery, this time ensuring that 1.1 million worth of heroin was seized before it could be sold within our communities. Tackling organised crime, which includes drug offences, remains one of Police Scotlands top priorities and as Wednesdays enforcement activity demonstrates, any intelligence we receive relating to crimes of this nature is swiftly and robustly acted upon. The father of a man killed in Edinburgh has called for a victims commissioner to be established to help people hit by crime as he held a meeting with Scotlands Justice Secretary. Kevin Woodburn said he wants the post to be created so victims going through the legal system have somewhere they can turn to for help and advice. He described his meeting with Scotlands Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf on Thursday as very productive, saying: Ive come away with an open mind that its still something that is on the table. Hugely encouraging meeting with @HumzaYousaf to make the case for a Scottish Victims Commissioner at the side of @kevinwoodburn . A man who has many reasons to be proud tonight. Delighted government set to look seriously at the issue again. Kezia Dugdale (@kezdugdale) November 22, 2018 Mr Woodburns son, father-of-one Shaun, 30, died after being attacked by a teenager outside Gladstones pub in the Leith area of Edinburgh in the early hours of January 1 2017. The teenager was sentenced to four years detention after being convicted of culpable homicide. Mr Woodburn said his experiences have led him to feel there was a lack of transparency within the overall legal system. There was nobody to actually speak to about anything, he said. There was nobody to actually turn to to understand the legalities of the situation that we found ourselves in. He praised the work of victims support groups but said their expertise is in emotional, rather than legal, issues. In our situation, our case, we had nobody to turn to for help, to ask for advice, he said. I feel very strongly that a victims commissioner role is required, particularly when you look at England, Wales, Northern Ireland. London has its own victims commissioner, but we are lacking in that role. It was a very productive meeting. Nothing was out of bounds. Ive come away with an open mind, going forward, that its still something that is on the table and hasnt been taken off the table yet. Meeting the Woodburn family later today along with @kezdugdale - this protocol change is testament to the Woodburn family's tireless campaigning for positive change, after suffering such a tragedy. I know there are many more issues they wish to discuss - look forward to meeting. https://t.co/A5NwNuFQL9 Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) November 22, 2018 Labour MSP Kezia Dugdale, who has been supporting Mr Woodburn in his campaigns, also hailed the positive meeting with Mr Yousaf. She said: He sees a real role for the victims taskforce in considering whether a victims commissioner would be a helpful addition to it. I think he was quite persuaded by some of the arguments we offered. She described the role as an independent voice to help victims and added: Im utterly compelled by the arguments as to why a Victims Commissioner is long overdue. Mr Yousaf said: I was pleased to meet with Mr Woodburn this afternoon and Im grateful to him for sharing his experiences. We are committed to improving the experience of victims in Scotlands justice system and the new Victims Taskforce will strengthen the support available to those affected by crime and ensure that their voices are heard. Mr Woodburn has also welcomed recent changes to the rules surrounding post-mortems on the bodies of people who have been killed. Earlier this year, Mr Woodburn hit out at barbaric and medieval post-mortem rules and told how the familys plans to hold a funeral for his son were delayed when the defence requested a second post-mortem examination. The new protocol means examinations for the defence should only take place if absolutely necessary and the authorities should aim to hold a body for no longer than a month. Mr Woodburn said: Effectively youve now got a situation where second post-mortems are only ever going to be in exceptional cases. Its a major, major, major step forward. I cannot tell you how delighted I am that effective common sense has prevailed here. Describing the new rules as Shauns Law, he said it would be a fantastic legacy in his sons name. A terminally ill motor neurone disease sufferer who wants to die a peaceful and dignified death will go to the UKs highest court in a bid to change the law on assisted dying. Noel Conway vowed to continue his legal fight after losing a Court of Appeal challenge in June and a panel of three justices will decide on Thursday whether he can appeal to the Supreme Court. The 68-year-old retired lecturer from Shrewsbury says that being forced to choose between unacceptable options to end his life is barbaric. He wants help to die which the law prevents when he has less than six months left to live, still has the mental capacity to make the decision and has made a voluntary, clear, settled and informed decision. On Thursday, Noel Conway will apply to take his fight for assisted dying to the Supreme Court. Its going to be a crucial day in a long legal battle. so lets show Noel that thousands of people are behind him.#ImWithNoelhttps://t.co/00h60EISMs Dignity in Dying (@dignityindying) November 20, 2018 During a hearing in May he proposed that he could only receive assistance to die if a High Court judge determined that he met all three of those criteria. Challenging an earlier High Court rejection of his case, his lawyers argued the blanket ban on assisted dying was an unjustified interference with his human rights. But his appeal was rejected by three senior judges. Announcing the decision, Master of the Rolls Sir Terence Etherton said the court concluded it is not as well placed as Parliament to determine the necessity and proportionality of a blanket ban. I will keep fighting for myself and all terminally ill people who want the right to die peacefully, with dignity and on our own termsNoel Conway In a statement after the ruling, he said: I am naturally disappointed by todays judgment, though it was not unexpected. I fully intend to appeal it with the support of my legal team. He added: I will keep fighting for myself and all terminally ill people who want the right to die peacefully, with dignity and on our own terms. I want to thank my family, friends and members of the public who have shown such overwhelming support and who continue to spur me on in this fight. He cites his current options as to effectively suffocate by choosing to remove his ventilator or spend thousands travelling to Switzerland to end his life and have his family risk prosecution. Lady Hale, Lord Reed and Lord Kerr will decide whether Mr Conway should be given permission for an appeal to the Supreme Court. A statement on the courts website said it is aware of the urgency of the matter. If Mr Conway is granted permission, a date will be set for a full hearing, but if he is refused an appeal his case will come to an end. Mr Conway, who is supported by the campaign group Dignity in Dying, is too unwell to travel to London for the Supreme Court hearing. He is now dependent on a ventilator for up to 23 hours a day and only has movement in his right hand, head and neck. The wife of a British academic jailed for life in the United Arab Emirates on an allegation of spying is to plead with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to take action to bring her husband home. The Foreign Office has been accused of handling the case of PhD student Matthew Hedges appallingly after the 31-year-old was handed the sentence during a five-minute hearing. Mr Hunt has threatened the UAE with serious diplomatic consequences if Mr Hedges is not freed, saying he has seen absolutely no evidence to support the charge. The Durham University students wife, Daniela Tejada, was due to land back in Britain on Thursday morning ahead of a meeting with the Cabinet minister. It is understood she will quiz him over what efforts the Government will take to secure Mr Hedges safe release, and expects reassurances that officials have been acting. The Government has been facing calls to rebuke the UAE. Ms Tejada, who was at the Abu Dhabi court when he was sentenced on Wednesday, demanded that ministers take a stand now. They say that the UAE is an ally but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matts case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high priceDaniela Tejada Matthew is innocent. The Foreign Office know this and have made it clear to the UAE authorities that Matthew is not a spy for them, she told the Times. This whole case has been handled appallingly from the very beginning, with no-one taking Matthews case seriously. The British Government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens. They say that the UAE is an ally but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matts case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price. This is ridiculous. Our Defence assistance, mentoring and intelligence relationships alone with this country should preclude absurd things like this happening. From a friend and partner, simply unacceptable. Consequences must be immediate until he is released. Resilience required pic.twitter.com/ouvxfjJIBH Johnny Mercer (@JohnnyMercerUK) November 21, 2018 Ms Tejadas call for immediate action was echoed by Tory MP Johnny Mercer, who condemned the academics jailing and called for the Government to be resilient. He wrote on Twitter: This is ridiculous. Our Defence assistance, mentoring and intelligence relationships alone with this country should preclude absurd things like this happening. From a friend and partner, simply unacceptable. Consequences must be immediate until he is released. Expand Close Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned of diplomatic consequences (Victoria Jones/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned of diplomatic consequences (Victoria Jones/PA) Mr Hunt said the UK will do everything we can to get him home. We see absolutely no evidence for any of the charges laid against him. Were very concerned for his welfare, he told Sky News. The UAE is supposed to be a friend and ally of Britains. Weve given them repeated assurances about Matthew. If we cant resolve this there are going to be serious diplomatic consequences, because this is totally unacceptable. The Middle Eastern studies specialist was arrested at Dubai Airport on May 5. Expand Close The Government should state that the British academic accused of spying in the United Arab Emirates is innocent of the charges, his wife has said (Daniela Tejada/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Government should state that the British academic accused of spying in the United Arab Emirates is innocent of the charges, his wife has said (Daniela Tejada/PA) A family representative said he had since been held in solitary confinement for more than five-and-a-half months, during which his mental and physical health seriously deteriorated. Lawyer and human rights campaigner David Haigh said he was encouraged by Mr Hunts public stance, but warned that securing Mr Hedges release quickly was important. He told the BBCs World Tonight: Its urgent. I know what he will be going through. Hell be in some form of national security jail and its horrific there. Mr Haigh, a former managing director of Leeds United, said he was tortured and raped while he was held in a Dubai jail over a fraud conviction that was later overturned. Expand Close Former Leeds United director David Haigh said the UAE is not safe to visit as a tourist (Martin Rickett/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former Leeds United director David Haigh said the UAE is not safe to visit as a tourist (Martin Rickett/PA) He warned that Mr Hedges ordeal and other similar cases showed the UAE isnt a safe country to go to as a tourist. Nothings changed. Its getting worse and worse and worse, and why is it getting worse? Because no-one is doing anything about it. The governments are ignoring it, Mr Haigh said. Theresa May said she was deeply disappointed and concerned by Mr Hedges jailing and told MPs the UK will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis. Mr Hunt was urgently seeking a call with Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, the Prime Minister added. There has been no information given on what basis Matt was handed this sentence and no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic researchProfessor Stuart Corbridge, Durham University At Prime Ministers Questions, Tory MP Crispin Blunt told Mrs May she should make clear to the UAE that if he is not released, I dont see why we should be committed to their defence. Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University, said he was devastated by the sentence. He said: There has been no information given on what basis Matt was handed this sentence and no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic research. A Foreign Office spokesman did not say what form any possible diplomatic consequences could take, but said a number of options are available. Nissan Motor fired Carlos Ghosn as chairman in a dramatic end to the powerful executives nearly two decade long reign at the Japanese carmaker after his arrest for alleged financial improprieties. In an hours-long meeting, the companys board of directors voted unanimously to dismiss Mr Ghosn as chairman and as a representative director, Nissan said in a statement. It said its own internal investigation, prompted by a whistleblower, found serious misconduct including under-reporting of his income and misuse of company assets. It was a stunning downfall for one of the biggest figures in the car industry, a man who helped drive turnarounds at both Frances Renault SA and at Nissan and then managed an alliance between them that sold 10.6 million cars last year, besting its rivals. Expand Close Carlos Ghosn (foreground), during a visit to Nissans Sunderland factory (Rod MInchin/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Carlos Ghosn (foreground), during a visit to Nissans Sunderland factory (Rod MInchin/PA) Nissan said in a statement filed to the Tokyo Stock Exchange that its investigation uncovered misuse of company investment funds and expense money for personal gain. Earlier this week, Renault voted to keep Mr Ghosn as its chief executive but appointed Thierry Bollore, its chief operating officer, as its interim chief. Another Nissan executive, Greg Kelly, was arrested on suspicion of collaborating in the wrongdoing and also will be dismissed as a representative director, Nissan said. Their replacements will be decided later, it said. Mr Ghosn, 64, is suspected of under-reporting 44.6 million US dollars in income from 2011 to 2015, according to Tokyo prosecutors. Nissans board consists of nine members, including Mr Ghosn and Greg Kelly. Expand Close A security guard stands near the logo at Nissan Motor HQ (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A security guard stands near the logo at Nissan Motor HQ (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) The seven other board members voted at the meeting, including two members from Nissan and two from Renault. Mr Ghosn and Mr Kelly will remain on Nissans board for now as that decision will be up to shareholders. No date has been set yet for a shareholders meeting. Mr Ghosn is also chairman at Mitsubishi Motors Corp, a smaller Japanese carmaker that is partnering with the Renault-Nissan alliance and plans to hold a board meeting next week. Mr Ghosn has been held since his arrest on Monday at a Tokyo detention centre, under the same Spartan conditions as other detainees, Tokyo deputy prosecutor Shin Kukimoto told reporters. Expand Close The logo of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance (Thibault Camus/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The logo of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance (Thibault Camus/AP) He gave few details about the case. Under Japanese law, suspects can be held for 20 days per possible charge without an official indictment. Additional charges can be tagged on, resulting in longer detentions. Neither has been charged so far. The maximum penalty upon conviction for violating finance and exchange laws is 10 years in prison, a 10 million yen fine (69,000), or both. A French citizen born in Brazil, Mr Ghosn became something of a corporate superstar in Japan as he led Nissans revival from near bankruptcy after Renault sent him to help in 1999. Mr Ghosn served as Nissans chief executive from 2001 until last year. Expand Close A general view of the Nissan Factory in Sunderland (Owen Humphreys/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A general view of the Nissan Factory in Sunderland (Owen Humphreys/PA) He became chief executive of Renault in 2005, leading the two carmakers simultaneously. In 2016, he also became chairman of Mitsubishi Motors after Nissan took it into the alliance. Mr Kelly, 62, joined Nissan, maker of the Leaf electric car and Infiniti luxury models, in the US in 1988. He became a board member in 2012. His background is in human resources and alliance management. Analysts say the future of Nissans alliance with Renault may be at stake, though Nissans statement Thursday said the companys leadership was determined to minimise the impact from Mr Ghosns case on the partnership. Expand Close People walk by Nissan Motor headquarters (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp People walk by Nissan Motor headquarters (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) Renault owns 43% of Nissan, and Nissan owns 15% of Renault. The longstanding alliance partnership with Renault remains unchanged, the Nissan statement in English said, stressing the alliance rather than the misdeeds. It also said the board will study setting up a third-party committee to beef up governance in management and compensation at Nissan. Chief executive Hiroto Saikawa, in a lengthy news conference on Monday, said too much power had been concentrated in Mr Ghosn, with too little credit given to the many others working for the companys success. Expand Close Carlos Ghosn (Kin Cheung/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Carlos Ghosn (Kin Cheung/AP) Janet Lewis, managing director and head of industrial research, Asia, at Macquarie Capital Securities in Tokyo, said in an interview that an adjustment was needed to give Nissan more say in the alliance with Renault. The partnership remains crucial for both companies, she said, since apart from financial ties the companies share technology and parts. The carmakers need to be more like roommates than a married couple, so they have to find a way to share their house and share all of their expertise because its very necessary in terms of new automotive technology, new platform development, Ms Lewis said. They need to figure out how they can continue this and still live happily together in the same house. A pigeon flies near where the border structure that separates Mexico from the US (Ramon Espinosa/AP) President Donald Trump has threatened to close the US border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines that its southern ally has lost control on its side. Mr Trump cited the situation involving migrants camped in Tijuana, Mexico, after travelling in a caravan to reach the United States. Mr Trump called it a really bad situation there and said if we find that its incontrollable, then we will close entry into the country for period of time until we can get it under control. The whole border. Expand Close Central American migrants gather at a temporary shelter, near barriers that separate Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico (Rodrigo Abd/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Central American migrants gather at a temporary shelter, near barriers that separate Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico (Rodrigo Abd/AP) The president also said he has given American troops at the border the OK to use lethal force against migrants if they have to. Mr Trump told reporters: I hope they dont have to, but he said: I have no choice because youre dealing with rough people. Renae Lawrence is escorted as she leaves Bangli prison in Bali (Dana Pradana/AP) A convicted Australian drug mule returned to her homeland early on Thursday hours after she was deported from the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, where she had served nearly 14 years in prison for smuggling heroin. Renae Lawrence was the only woman among nine Australians who were arrested in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Bali to Australia. Lawrence, 41, wearing black sunglasses and a black T-shirt, was escorted on Wednesday afternoon through a crush of reporters outside Bangli prison on Bali into a waiting car. She made no comment. She faced a throng of media when she and her mother, Beverley Waterman, landed at Australias Brisbane Airport, where they are expected to take a domestic flight to their hometown of Newcastle. Lawrence faces potential arrest in Newcastle on outstanding warrants that predate her ill-fated journey to Bali. Asked by reporters in Brisbane if she wanted to comment on her return to Australia, Lawrence looked teary-eyed and declined. Her mother explained: Its very overwhelming. Asked later if she had anything to say, Lawrence told reporters in the Bahasa Indonesia language: Thanks to the government of Indonesia. Thats it. Lawrence faces potential arrest in Newcastle on warrants including one that alleges the former panel beater was involved in a high-speed police chase in a stolen car a month before her arrest in Bali in April 2005. New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has indicated a deal with Lawrences lawyers to hand herself in to police was more likely than her being arrested at Newcastle Airport. From our perspective, we will make a time reasonable with her legal team to bring her in to have those warrants satisfied, Mr Fuller told reporters on Tuesday. Maryoto Sumadi, head of Balis justice and human rights office, said Lawrence is banned from ever re-entering Indonesia. She may be the only member of the group dubbed the Bali nine by Australian media to walk free from prison. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders, were executed by a firing squad in 2015, causing a diplomatic row between Indonesia and Australia. Five others had their sentences increased to life on appeal and another member, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died from cancer in May. The Rock of Gibraltar as seen from the sea (Ben Birchall/PA) Gibraltars chief minister Fabian Picardo has said he is willing to discuss directly with the Spanish government their bilateral relations after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. But Mr Picardo warned on Thursday that the sovereignty of the British territory at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula is non-negotiable. Spain has never dropped its claim of jurisdiction over the rocky outcrop, and its government has baulked at the possibility of its post-Brexit future being decided between London and EU authorities without direct Spanish involvement. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has threatened to vote against the planned Brexit agreement unless Spains misgivings are addressed. Mr Picardo told Gibraltars parliament that as long as issues such as sovereignty, jurisdiction and control of the territory are off the table, he is happy to discuss close cooperation with Madrid. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One (Carolyn Kaster/AP) President Donald Trumps embrace of Saudi Arabia has exposed a foreign policy rift in the Republican Party, as some of his colleagues warn that not punishing the kingdom for its role in killing a US-based columnist will have dangerous consequences. Many Republicans, even senators Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul, who share their views on the matter with the president, have denounced Mr Trumps decision not to levy harsher penalties on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the death and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday he was astounded by Mr Trumps statement and likened it to a press release for Saudi Arabia. It is a delicate situation when we have a long-term ally that weve had for decades, but we have a crown prince that I believe ordered the killing of a journalist, Mr Corker told Chattanooga TV station WTVC in his home state of Tennessee. We dont have a smoking gun. Everything points to the fact that he knew about it and directed it. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended Mr Trumps decision, saying the US has already placed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials suspected of involvement in the October 2 killing of The Washington Post columnist, who had been critical of the royal family. I fully realize we have to deal with bad actors and imperfect situations on the international stage. However, when we lose our moral voice, we lose our strongest asset. Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 20, 2018 Weve sanctioned 17 people, some of them very senior in the Saudi government, Mr Pompeo said in a radio interview with KCMO in Kansas City, Missouri. We are going to make sure that America always stands for human rights. Expand Close Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Yui Mok/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Yui Mok/PA) Mr Graham is not convinced. When we lose our moral voice, we lose our strongest asset, he said. Members of both parties have accused Mr Trump of ignoring US intelligence that concluded, according to one official, that it was likely the crown prince ordered the killing. Several politicians have indicated that the US has no smoking gun that proves he was responsible, but they have called on the CIA and other top intelligence agencies to publicly share what they told the president about the killing. Hey @realdonaldtrump: being Saudi Arabias bitch is not America First. Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) November 21, 2018 In his statement on Tuesday, Mr Trump argued that punishing Saudi Arabia by foolishly cancelling Saudi arms deals worth billions of dollars to the US would only benefit Russia and China. Critics, including high-ranking officials in other countries, accused Mr Trump of ignoring human rights and giving Saudi Arabia a pass for economic reasons. It is America First, Mr Trump said. That unleashed a tweet on Wednesday from Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii who wrote: Being Saudi Arabias bitch is not America First.' Expand Close A woman holds a poster with the image of murdered Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi (Emrah Gurel/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A woman holds a poster with the image of murdered Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi (Emrah Gurel/AP) Mr Trump also said the US needs Saudi Arabias help to counter Iran in the region, fight extremism and keep oil prices steady. The US, Russia and the Saudis have boosted oil production in anticipation of sharply lower exports from Iran due to U.S. sanctions reinstated after Mr Trump exited the Iran nuclear deal. Mr Trump publicly thanked Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for plunging oil prices. However, Opec, the cartel of oil-producing countries, could announce production cuts at its December 6 meeting in Vienna, nudging prices upward. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but lets go lower! he wrote from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending Thanksgiving. Criticism of the president will likely resume after the holiday when politicians return to Capitol Hill early next week. Locsin and Panelo UNDER THE UMBRELLA. Chinese President Xi Jinping waves to officials Wednesday as he prepares to take his flight back to Beijing after a two-day state visit when an agreement with China, drafted by the latter, on oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea had come under fire from Manilas Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin. READ: Most Filipinos scoff at government inaction on WPS READ: DFA chief crafting SCS oil exploration deal with China Theresa May is struggling to sell her deal to parliament and the people of the UK The day after the Peoples Vote, David Cameron resigned and was succeeded by Theresa May. In her first speech, she declared: The full title of my party is the Conservative and Unionist Party and that word unionist is very important to me. It means we believe in the Union, the precious, precious bond between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Writing in The Guardian that day, Anne Perkins said: It emphasises her determination to preserve the United Kingdom through the vicissitudes of the Brexit negotiations. Read More Later that year, the PM said: People talk about the sort of Brexit that there is going to be actually, we want a red, white and blue Brexit. Those are all heart-warming words. But has Theresa May honoured her promises and pledges? Does her deal fulfil what she promised? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Theres nothing red, white and blue about her deal. Instead, she has raised the white flag of surrender and settled for what she sees as the least worst surrender. She told us that no deal would be better than a bad deal, indicating that she would be prepared to walk away from the table if an acceptable deal could not be agreed. However, the EU negotiators didnt really believe her and were convinced that they could coerce her into accepting a bad deal. They were determined to enforce a deal that would deter any other country that might consider leaving. Worst of all, she failed to challenge the key strategy of Brussels and Dublin in weaponising the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. That was one of her biggest mistakes. This has always been a manufactured issue, magnified out of all proportion, and yet she bought into it and allowed it to dominate the discourse. As a result, she has been forced to accept a draft deal which concedes a regulatory border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Now, she is trying to sell her deal to the parliament and people of the United Kingdom and she is struggling. So, it is time for her to call on the business sector and any other sector that will ride to her aid. Thats what happens when the Government is trying to sell us something that is unpalatable. We saw that in 1998 with the Belfast Agreement, we saw it again with Camerons Project Fear and we are seeing it again. Already, several business organisations have jumped in to back Theresa Mays deal, but its worth reflecting on that term British businesses. Many of the businesses that are backing Theresa Mays deal are, in fact, foreign-owned multinationals, which have factories all around the world. To describe them as British businesses is somewhat misleading. For example, Cadbury, which is associated with Bournville in England, was bought over by the American firm Kraft Foods (now Mondelez International) in 2010. It is, in one sense, a British company, but it is wholly owned by an American multinational and the owners look at things in that multinational way, favouring internationalisation and globalisation. Cadbury has been producing some of its chocolate in Eastern Europe for the past 20 years and Mondelez has seven factories in Poland, with the largest producing six Cadbury products. It is certainly worth remembering that when some businesses talk of moving post-Brexit from the UK to the EU. Long before Brexit and long before the Peoples Vote, many of these businesses had set up in Eastern Europe, with its lower wages and worse working conditions. Some people may be swayed by this lobbying, but the one thing Theresa May cannot get round is the fact that her government is a minority government and, on this issue, a significant number of her MPs, both Leavers and Remainers, are opposed to her. So, it is hard to see how she can get her deal through a meaningful vote in parliament. I can well recall being in a BBC studio on the night of the last election and hearing, just a few minutes before the polls closed, that they were predicting a hung parliament. I knew that the arithmetic would be important, but I didnt realise just how important it would be. This appointment is driven by Roquettes strategic plan to implement a new high performance distribution network to support its position as a world leading pharmaceutical excipients company Roquette, a global leader in plant-based ingredients for Food, Nutrition and Health markets, has appointed Barentz as the preferred distribution partner for Roquettes pharmaceutical product range in Europe. Barentz and Roquette have been successfully working together for many years in several European countries by developing distribution channels backed by a strong technical expertise. This appointment is driven by Roquettes strategic plan to implement a new high performance distribution network to support its position as a world leading pharmaceutical excipients company. Having worked together successfully at the logistics and strategic levels for many years, the preferred distributor status is a logical step in the cooperation between Roquette and Barentz. Laurent Cousin, Head of Global Distribution Management at Roquette says: Roquette is committed to providing its customers with high quality plant-based ingredients as well as an excellent level of service and we have strong growth ambitions to better serve our customers worldwide. Barentz has been a key partner for years with added value in terms of their specialized expertise, research teams and local labs. Thanks to their knowledge of our products and strategy, we are able to operate together in perfect harmony. Anthony Litchfield, Director of the Pharmaceutical Division at Barentz, is also proud of the deeper collaboration: We are pleased and proud that we will be supplying and providing solutions to more customers in even more European countries with Roquettes comprehensive and high quality product range for Pharma and Nutra companies. We see it as the next chapter in our alliance. High quality products available in almost all European countries The collaboration between Roquette and Barentz is expanding to countries including Austria, Cyprus, France, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This is in addition to the Baltic States, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the Scandinavian countries, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. This means that Barentz will soon be able to offer and supply Roquettes extensive product range to customers in most European countries. Between now and the end of 2018 both companies will work together to ensure alignment in all countries with the exception of the UK, Ireland and France where co-operation will officially start from the 1st of July 2019. Focus on increasing notification from private doctors The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has recently highlighted various efforts to achieve the Government of Indias vision to End TB as part of a joint collaboration with the Government to reach out to every private doctor and through them to every TB patient in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The press conference focused on the importance of involvement of private doctors in the overall effort for an increase in the notification of TB cases which is an important tool in the fight against the dreaded disease. The annual number of TB cases notified by private providers needs to increase ten-fold, from 0.2 to 2 million annually by 2020. As per the latest available data, the number of TB patients notified in MP during 2017 was 1,34,333 with 1,870 drug resistant TB cases were diagnosed. Out of this, 12% TB patients were notified from private sector. Services have been expanded in the state to cater to all forms of TB patients with 818 microscopy services, state-of-the-art 73 Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT) laboratories, 4 culture and DST laboratories and 24 drug resistant TB centers. IMA will galvanize the private doctors to increase notification and work toward the cause of ending TB by optimal utilization of the Governments notification system, NIKSHAY. The IMA will inform and encourage private doctors to take advantage of the various facilities made available by the Government under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) for the benefit of patients seeking care from the private sector, including free diagnosis, drugs and NIKSHAY Poshan Yojana under which every TB patient gets Rs.500/- per month towards nutrition support till completion of treatment. Addressing the media, Dr. Ravi Wankhedkar, National President, IMA said, India has the largest burden of Tuberculosis in the world. Notification of every TB patient is the single most important intervention to meet the Governments vision of a TB free India. The state branch of IMA will address this and encourage all private doctors to notify every TB patient in order to achieve goal of End TB in Madhya Pradesh.If patients are detected early and accurately, it gives an opportunity to treat them early and prevent infection further. Highlighting a successful intervention in the city of Indore, Dr. Wankdhekar said, The city has been able to detect more pediatric cases at 9% of all notified cases which is a positive sign. This has resulted from the successful Government project targeting TB in children in Indore where doctors from public and private sectors were supported to utilize CBNAAT for diagnosis of TB in children which is otherwise difficult due to failure of children to expectorate or spit out. For treatment, child friendly dispersible and flavored fixed dose combinations (FDCs) are made available for children. IMA will be conducting targeted CMEs in Madhya Pradesh over the next few months to sensitize private doctors on newer updates in management of TB and various benefits provided by the Government for patients and providers. Patient notification through the Nikshay app has multifold benefits for the patient, including patient home visits, counseling of the TB patient and family members and follow ups on adherence to treatment plans. Notification also benefits the doctors with access to free drugs and diagnostic tests as per the Standard for TB Care in India. Expanding on the efforts to increase notifications by the private sector, Dr. R V Asokan, Chairman IMA End TB Initiative said, NIKSHAY has been upgraded to amore user friendly version 2.0 that is compatible with both web based and app based platforms. Private doctors can also use other methods including the Governments call centre at 1800-11-6666 for notification of TB patients. A significant challenge faced in eradicating tuberculosis is the premature stopping of treatment by patients. Incentive schemes for the patients and doctors are available in this regard. The NIKSHAY Poshan Yojana also targets this through monetary support for patients. Chemists can also do Schedule H1 reporting through a mobile app initiated by the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Dr. R V Asokan, took the media through the initiatives to tackle drug resistant TB. He said, Madhya Pradesh has increased drug resistance TB treatment centers from 9 to 24 taking it to the district level. Universal Drug Susceptibility Testing has been introduced for TB patients before initiation of treatment for early diagnosis of drug resistance cases. As a result, all drug resistant TB patients are treated now with shorter regimen of 9-11 months as compared to conventional 24 months treatment which ensures better compliance and complete treatment. The new drug, Bedaquline is now available for patients with resistance to fluoroquinolone or injectable drugs. Through CMEs and key messages through social media communication, the IMA and the Government will collaboratively reach out to private doctors for universal coverage of these services in the stateand ensure all TB patients are notified, linked with these services and provided benefits. LONG QUEST FOR JUSTICE. Families of Ampatuan massacre victims visit the National Museum Thursday to mark the ninth year of the tragedy that sent shock waves across the nation of more than 100 million, reflecting the families desire that history will be made when justice is finally served. Norman Cruz The families of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre on Thursday urged the government to redouble its efforts to arrest more than 70 of the 197 suspects who are still at large but expressed relief that a decision on the multiple murder charges against the prime suspect, Andal Ampatuan Jr., might come early next year.In a statement released on the eve of the commemoration of the ninth anniversary of the massacre of 58 people including 32 journaliststhe families of those slain said news that the case against Andal Jr. has been submitted for resolution by Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes of the Quezon City regional trial court Branch 211 was a welcome development. READ: Ampatuan furlough denounced; Justice for Maguindanao vowed We meet this news with renewed vigor and relief, for we have waited too long and have given so much to the case over the years. We have full confidence that the evidence presented is enough to prove Datu Unsays guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and we await the verdict with cautious hope, they said, referring to Andal Jr. by his nickname. They said the decision would go down in Philippine history as one of the most significant legal decisions, regardless of the outcome. Early this week, acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said he received the information from prosecutors handling the case against Andal Jr. that it is now submitted for decision. With this development, the court is expected to set the promulgation of the case, where Solis Reyes will decide whether to convict or acquit Ampatuan and the other accused. The court has yet to set the date of promulgation, which will cover Unsay and all other accusedexcept those who were belatedly arrested, Fadullon said. Earlier, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra expressed confidence that the case remained on track to be completed this year. Prosecutors were confident they had built a solid case, despite the recantation of one of their witnesses, Thonti Lawani, on Ampatuans involvement in the massacre. Lawani claimed he was pressured by the family of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu into saying that he saw Ampatuan giving orders to his commanders at a crossing in Sitio Masalay, Ampatuan town on the day of the massacre and that he also saw the convoy of vehicles going toward the hilly portion of the area where the killings took place. Mangudadatu lost his wife, Bai Genalyn and several other relatives in the massacre. Guevarra played down the recantation, saying it would not weaken the governments case against Ampatuan and his co-accused. Gilbert Andres, one of the victims lawyers, urged the government to find and arrest the suspects who were still at large, nine years after the massacre.Seventy suspects in the Ampatuan massacre are still at large. We are calling on the Philippine National Police and the DILG for their arrest, so that we can have a complete trial of all the accused in the Maguindanao massacre case, Andres said. The lawyer said it was important for the victims families that evidence has been presented against the accused who have been arrested and tried. As to what will happen, we just leave it... to providence and to our courts of justice. We leave it up to God because we can only do so much,, he added. Aside from Andal Jr, also facing the same charges are Zaldy Ampatuan and another sibling, Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan though he was allowed to post bail by the court in January 2015. The court also allowed 42 policemen-suspects to post bail, each set at P11.6 million, but only Sajid was able to come up with the amount and gain his temporary liberty. Another accused, former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. died in detention on July 17, 2015. Nena Santos, a private prosecutor for the relatives of the victims, said she believed the judge would rule in favor of the victims. A source from Branch 221 handling the Maguindanao murder charges told the Manila Standard that the judge would come up with a summary of the case over the week, affirming that Judge Jocelyn Reyes would come up with a summary of the case over the week, indicating that it was close to being wrapped up. Ampatuan Jr., former Datu Unsay mayor; his late father Andal Ampatuan Sr., former Maguindanao governor; Zaldy Ampatuan, ex-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor, and the other Ampatuan family members were tagged as the principal suspects behind the deaths of 58 people. On Nov. 23, 2009, the wife, sisters and election lawyer of then Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, along with the other victims, were on their way to Shariff Aguak to file his certificate of candidacy in the 2010 gubernatorial election when they were attacked, killed and buried in mass graves. READ: Massacre suspect allowed to join daughters wedding A Goat Gives Birth To Half-pig Half-human Creature Sparking Curse Fears Pulse oi-Syeda Farah Noor There are so many cases of genetic mutations, and the results are quite disturbing. This is one such case where a farmer got a shock of his life when he discovered what his family goat had given birth to. The farmer discovered a 'half-pig half-human' animal when his goat gave birth and he claims that the birth of this strange looking creature would bring in bad luck. Check out the details of this bizarre incident. The Incident Happened In Philippines The incident was reported from a smallholding in Sultan Kudarat, Philippines. In the farm, a goat had given birth to an unusual-looking animal, which literally looked like a 'half-human, half-pig' creature. Most Read: Disgusting Viral Video Of A Man Eating Live Snake! Yikes!! The Vet Performed A Caesarian Section The farmer named Josephine Repique had apparently called in a vet who had performed a Caesarian section on the pregnant goat. The vet removed one healthy kid while the other one left the vet and others baffled as it looked half-human, half-pig. Most Read: This 'Half-human Half-Beast' Sheep Image Is Viral The 'Half-human, Half-pig Looked Like The young creature was born without fur, and it seemed to have shiny, pale skin. It even had trotters and a remote-looking belly button. It was much bigger than the other litter-mate. Sadly, after giving birth, both the newborn babies and the mother died. This created a fuss among the villagers as they believe the strange-looking animal would bring in bad luck to its owner and the entire village. Most Read: WHAT!! CCTV Footage Shows Restaurant Owner Urinating In Rival's Soup The Researchers Claim The researchers claim that this case is a perfect example of a genetic mutation. It is believed that the pregnant goat had contracted a disease called "Rift Valley fever" from mosquito bites and as a result, this had caused the impaired development of the infant. GET THE BEST BOLDSKY STORIES! Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 12:51 [IST] Guru Nanak Jayanti 2021: Reasons Why Sikhs Celebrate Gurpurab Festivals oi-Sanchita Chowdhury The day of Kartik Purnima is of great significance. A lot of communities gather for festivities on this day. It is especially momentous for the Sikh community as they celebrate the birth anniversary of their first Guru, the founder of Sikhism: Guru Nanak Dev. This year this special day will be celebrated on 30 November. The festivities in the Sikh religion revolve around the anniversaries of the 10 Sikh Gurus. These Gurus were responsible for shaping the beliefs of the Sikhs. Their birthdays, known as Gurpurab (or Gurpurb), are occasions for celebration and prayer among the Sikhs. Akhand Path Sikhs celebrate Guru Nanak's birthday and the other Gurpurbs with an Akhand Path. This involves reading the Sikh holy scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, continuously from the beginning to the end. This is done by a team of Sikh men and women, each reading for 2-3 hours over 48 hours, beginning two days before and ending early on the morning of the birthday. Nagarkirtan A day before the Gurpurab, a procession known as the Nagarkirtan is taken out in which all men, women and children of the community participate. This procession is led by the Panj Pyares (Five Beloved Ones). They carry the Sikh flag (Nishan Saheb) and a palanquin which has the Guru Granth Saheb. Devotees follow them singing hymns in the praise of the Gurus. WHY IS KARTIK PURNIMA SO SIGNIFICANT? Prabhat Pheri On the day of Gurpurab, a Prabhat Pheri or early morning procession is held. The time is usually from 4 to 5 am, which is known as the Amrit Vela. The day begins with singing hymns, followed by Kathas or stories from the holy book. Langar During the later part of the day, Langar or free community lunch is organised at the Gurudwara. Everyone, irrespective of caste, creed or class sits together and food is served to them by the volunteers with the spirit of Seva (service) and Bhakti (devotion). Rehras In the evening, Rehras or the evening prayer is recited which is followed by Kirtan till late at night. At 1.20 am, which is the actual time of Guru Nanak's birth, Gurbani is sung and the festivities conclude by 2 am. Guru Nanak Jayanti is an important celebration because Guru Nanak Dev is believed to be the founder of Sikhism and the first Guru. He was a great seer, saint and mystic. He was a prophet of peace, love, truth and renaissance. His universal message is as fresh and true even today as it was in the past. Sikhs, all over the world, practise what Guru Nanak Dev preached to reaffirm their beliefs in the teachings of their founder. It is the birth anniversary of this great saint why Sikhs celebrate Gurpurab. Most Read: Immense Significance Of Kartik Shukla Purnima In Sikhism 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 PR Newswire LAVAL, Quebec, Nov. 21, 2018 LAVAL, Quebec, Nov. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BHC) ("Bausch Health," the "Company" or the "Offeror") announced today the results to date of its pending cash tender offer (the "Tender Offer"), to purchase any and all of its outstanding 7.500% Senior Notes due 2021 (the "Notes"), as well as the anticipated early settlement date for the Tender Offer on Nov. 27, 2018 (the "Early Settlement Date"). In conjunction with the Tender Offer, the Company also commenced a solicitation of consents (the "Solicitation") to certain proposed amendments to the indenture governing the Notes to eliminate substantially all of the restrictive covenants and events of default and related provisions contained in the indenture (the "Proposed Amendments"). The terms and conditions of the Tender Offer and the Solicitation are described in an O?er to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement dated Nov. 7, 2018 (the "Statement") and the related Letter of Transmittal and Consent. All terms and conditions of the Tender Offer and the Solicitation remain unchanged as set forth in the Statement. The following table sets forth the aggregate principal amount of Notes and related Consents that were tendered and not withdrawn on or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Nov. 21, 2018 (the "Withdrawal Deadline") and the aggregate principal amount of Notes expected to be accepted for purchase on the Early Settlement Date. Issuer Series of Notes 144A CUSIP/ISIN Number Reg S CUSIP/ISIN Number Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding Prior to the Tender Offer Aggregate Principal Amount of Notes Tendered Total Consideration1 Bausch Health Companies Inc. 7.500% Senior Notes Due 2021 92912EAA1 / US92912EAA10 C96715AA2 / USC96715AA29 $1,500,000,000 $1,482,552,000 $1,022.50 1 Per $1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase in the Tender Offer (exclusive of any Accrued Interest, which will be paid by the Offeror in addition to the Total Consideration to, but not including, the Early Settlement Date). As of the Withdrawal Deadline, the aggregate principal amount of Notes and related Consents validly tendered and not validly withdrawn is $1,482,552,000. The Offeror expects to accept for purchase all of the Notes and related Consents validly tendered prior to the Withdrawal Deadline, subject to the satisfaction of the conditions to such Tender Offer. The Offeror expects that the conditions to the Tender Offer and Solicitation, including the Financing Condition, will be satisfied as of the Early Settlement Date. The total consideration for each $1,000 principal amount of Notes is set forth in the table above (the "Total Consideration") and is expected to be paid on the Early Settlement Date to the holders of Notes tendered and accepted for purchase as of the Withdrawal Deadline. The Total Consideration includes a consent payment of $30.00 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes and related Consents accepted for purchase as of the Withdrawal Deadline. In addition to the Total Consideration, all Holders of Notes accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer and the Solicitation will also receive accrued and unpaid interest on the Notes from the last interest payment date to, but not including, the Early Settlement Date. Adoption of the Proposed Amendments requires the consents of the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding Notes (the "Requisite Consents"). As of the Withdrawal Deadline, the Company has received the Requisite Consents from holders of the Notes. As a result of receiving the Requisite Consents, the Company entered into a supplemental indenture, dated Nov. 21, 2018, to the indenture governing the Notes effecting the Proposed Amendments which is binding on all remaining holders of the Notes and will become operative on the Early Settlement Date when the Company accepts for purchase all of the Notes validly tendered prior to the Withdrawal Deadline pursuant to, and subject to the conditions set forth in, the Statement and the Letter of Transmittal and Consents. The Tender Offer remains open and will expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on Dec. 6, 2018 (such date and time, as it may be extended, the "Expiration Date"). No tenders will be valid if submitted after the Expiration Date. The Offeror expects to purchase any remaining Notes tendered following the Early Settlement Date that have been validly tendered at or prior to the Expiration Date and accepted for purchase, subject to all conditions to the Tender Offer and the Solicitation having been either satisfied or waived by the Offeror, promptly following the Expiration Date (the date of such acceptance and purchase, the "Final Settlement Date"). The Final Settlement Date is expected to occur on the second business day following the Expiration Date, assuming the conditions to the Tender Offer and the Solicitation have been either satisfied or waived by the Offeror at or prior to the Expiration Date and all of the outstanding Notes are not purchased on the Early Settlement Date. The Tender Offer and the Solicitation are subject to, and conditioned upon, the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions described in the Statement, including the completion of the Company's previously announced incremental term loan facility. The deadline for holders to validly withdraw tenders of Notes and related Consents has passed. Accordingly, Notes and related Consents that were already tendered at the Withdrawal Deadline and any additional Notes and related Consents that are tendered at or prior to the Expiration Date may not be withdrawn, except in certain limited circumstances where additional withdrawal rights are required by law. If, following the consummation of the Tender Offer and the Solicitation, any Notes remain outstanding, the Offeror intends to redeem such Notes in accordance with terms of the Notes and the indenture, dated as of July 12, 2013 (as amended or supplemented), among Bausch Health (as successor to VPII Escrow Corp.), the subsidiaries signatory thereto and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as trustee, under which the Notes were issued. Barclays and J.P. Morgan are acting as the dealer managers and solicitation agents in the Tender Offer and Solicitation. Global Bondholder Services Corporation has been retained to serve as both the depositary and the information agent for the Tender Offer and Solicitation. Persons with questions regarding the Tender Offer and Solicitation should contact Barclays Capital Inc. at (collect) (212) 528-7581 or (toll free) (800) 438-3242 and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC at (collect) (212) 834-3260 or (toll free) (866) 834-4666. Requests for copies of the Statement, the related Letter of Transmittal and Consent and other related materials should be directed to Global Bondholder Services Corporation at (toll-free) (866) 470-4200 or (collect) (212) 430-3774. None of the Offeror, its board of directors or officers, the dealer managers and solicitation agents, the depositary, the information agent or the trustee with respect to the Notes, or any of their respective affiliates, makes any recommendation that holders tender or refrain from tendering all or any portion of the principal amount of their Notes, and no one has been authorized by any of them to make such a recommendation. Holders must make their own decision as to whether to tender their Notes and, if so, the principal amount of Notes to tender. The Tender Offer is made only by the Statement and related Letter of Transmittal and Consent. This news release is not an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any notes in the Tender Offer nor a solicitation of consents with respect to the Notes or any other securities. The Tender Offer and the Solicitation are not being made to holders of Notes in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction in which the Tender O?er and the Solicitation are required to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Tender O?er and the Solicitation will be deemed to be made on behalf of the Offeror by the dealer managers and solicitation agents or one or more registered brokers or dealers that are licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction. About Bausch HealthBausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BHC) is a global company whose mission is to improve people's lives with our health care products. We develop, manufacture and market a range of pharmaceutical, medical device and over-the-counter products, primarily in the therapeutic areas of eye health, gastroenterology and dermatology. We are delivering on our commitments as we build an innovative company dedicated to advancing global health. Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information and "Safe Harbor" StatementThis news release may contain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the Tender Offer, the Solicitation, the details thereof and other expected effects of the Tender Offer or the Solicitation and the proposed incremental term loan facility and the use of proceeds therefrom. Forward-looking statements may generally be identified by the use of the words "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "should," "could," "would," "may," "will," "believes," "estimates," "potential," "target," or "continue" and variations or similar expressions. These statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of management and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the aggregate amount of notes tendered (which could lead to repurchases of other notes), the successful closing of the incremental term loan facility and risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company's most recent annual and quarterly reports and detailed from time to time in Bausch Health's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators, which factors are incorporated herein by reference. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Bausch Health undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release or to reflect actual outcomes, unless required by law. Investor Contact: Media Contact: Arthur Shannon Lainie Keller [email protected] [email protected] (514) 856-3855 (908) 927-0617 (877) 281-6642 (toll free) View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bausch-health-announces-early-tender-results-and-early-settlement-date-for-cash-tender-offer-and-consent-solicitation-for-any-and-all-of-its-7-500-senior-notes-due-2021--300754533.html SOURCE Bausch Health Companies Inc. PR Newswire HOUSTON, Nov. 21, 2018 HOUSTON, Nov. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Yeco Media&Consultant, a marketing and research company serving companies in the electronics industry and beyond, has released some tips to help consumers shop more easily for smart televisions this Black Friday. With so many brands available, making the right selection can be a challenge. Even more so, there are many types of TV options, resulting in numerous specifications in which consumers can choose. "Industry experts use multiple dimensions of data to comprehensively evaluate TV products as well as analyze the market," says Sherry Liu, CEO of Yeco Media& Consultant. "They suggest using five standards for selecting a smart TV, including screen body, image quality, sound quality, user experience, and craft." First, more than 60 percent of the TV cost is in the screen body. Today, the most advanced TV screen technology on the market is OLED, followed by 4K liquid crystal (including quantum dots), and finally the projection (laser) TV. Image quality is also paramount for consumers who are often concerned that the quality of the TV is not clear at home. The reason is that the demonstration source is a special high-definition signal source instead of an ordinary cable TV source. At present, the most advanced image processing chip on the market is an independent development chip with the image quality repair function. Intermediate level products have integrated image quality chip while the primary have the ordinary image quality chip. YECO notes consumers should also be focused on sound quality. Many brands today have Dolby panoramic sound effects, but they need a Dolby panoramic sound source for consumers to truly experience the effects of Dolby Atmos. Therefore, the most advanced product on the market is Dolby panoramic sound technology plus Dolby panoramic sound source area. Intermediate products are the only Dolby panoramic sound technology while the primary offers ordinary sound effect. When buying a TV, consumers also need to see if its interactive functions are the most convenient. At present, the most advanced TV interaction method on the market is full-time AI control (response at anytime and anywhere). Intermediate products are equipped with far-field voice while primary products are remote voice. Lower-end products without voice function tend to be the least desirable. The fifth standard consumers should take note of is craft, according to YECO. When purchasing a TV, consumers should assess appearance, materials, design and other processes. The most advanced process recognized by the global market is the German-Japanese process, followed by the common process. YECO Media&Consultant notes that when consumers know and understand the five major color TV standards globally it will make it easier for them to make a selection. Consumers should then better understand the complex and complicated brands as well as updated iterative technology, providing an objective, fair and professional guidance to make every consumer become an "expert" in TV purchases. About YECO Media&Consultant YECO Media&Consultant is a comprehensive consulting agency that acts as the middle-man to fill in a company's needs, minus the overhead. YECO offers a range of marketing, public relations, advertising and development services, the company is equipped with a rolodex of award-winning agencies ready to matchmake. For more information, visit www.yecomediaconsultant.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/highlights-of-five-major-standards-for-purchasing-a-smart-tv-ahead-of-black-friday-shopping-300754513.html SOURCE Yeco Media&Consultant A suspected Islamic State operative who was linked to the foiled bombing of the United States Embassy in Manila in 2016 was killed in a military-police operation in Ormoc City on Thursday. Army Capt. Salvacion Evangelista, Civil Military Operations head of the 8th Infantry Division, said Joseph Anulga, alias Dawud, was killed after he resisted arrest during a buy-bust operation in Sitio Lawis in Airport village in Ormoc City around 8 am. He said Anulga was killed after closing a deal with a police poseur for a .45-caliber pistol in exchange for P12,000. The police anti-narcotics agent was handing the money to Anulga, but Anulga drew his gun and fired at the poseur, hitting his bulletproof vest and sparking a shootout that led to Anulgas death. Anulga was an Islamic Convert who has already pledged allegiance to Daesh and its recognized Calip Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi, Evangelista said in a report. He was set to go on Hirjrah," join the local terrorist groups at any camp in Mindanao and intended to die as martyr of Islam. Evangelista said the presence of Anulga in Ormoc City was traced by military and police intelligence operatives based on a tip-off.He said Anulga was reported recruiting locals in Ormoc to convert to Islam. He said Anulga was an associate of the late Yusuf Macuto who was involved in a foiled plot to bomb the US Embassy in November 2016 and the main suspect in the Hilongos bombing in December 2016. Macuto was eventually killed during the battle to liberate Marawi City. Anulgas death shows the governments conviction in protecting the people from these lawless elements, said Brigadier General Lope Dagoy, commander of the 802nd Brigade. This is a clear message that your AFP and PNP will not tolerate terror groups in our midst. RomeThe Leaning Tower of Pisa is now stable and has even straightened slightly, thanks to engineering work to save the world-renowned tourist attraction, experts said on Wednesday. The towers Surveillance Groupset up to monitor restoration progresssaid in a statement that after 17 years of observation the Tower of Pisa is stable and very slowly reducing its lean. Engineering professor Nunziante Squeglia of Pisa University said that the 57-meter (186-feet) monument had straightened by four centimeters (1.5 inches), Italian media reported. The so-called Surveillance Group was set up after Michele Jamiolkowski, an engineer of Polish origin who adopted Italian nationality, coordinated an international committee to rescue the landmark between 1993 and 2001.The Tower was closed to the public in January 1990 for 11 years over safety fears, as its tilt reached 4.5 meters (15 feet) from the vertical. It has since been straightened by more than 40 centimeters. The medieval tower, a symbol of the power of the maritime republic of Pisa in the Middle Ages, has leaned to one side ever since building started in 1173. "I am not for a splayed-legs national security policy." If Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo cant seem to say anything right, his best contribution would be to keep his silence on matters outside his area of competence. Speaking in the aftermath of the two-day state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Panelo said no nation, not the US nor the United Nations, can enforce The Hague arbitration ruling in favor of the Philippines. That sounds like abject surrender of our sovereign right in the West Philippine Sea where China is staring down our Navy and shooing away Filipino fishermen. As it is, many Filipinos protesting Chinas aggression in our territorial waters and pushing its boundaries through a nine-dash line in the South China Sea were aghast that Panelo seems to be speaking more for Xi Jinping rather than for the Philippines. Im not advocating a saber-rattling stand against China but lets also not convey a splayed legs national security policy. Even if its true that the US nor the UN cannot enforce The Hague ruling rejecting Chinas sweeping claim of nearly the entire South China Sea, why should Panelo publicly concede it? That would embolden further Chinas aggressive stance in the region. Why not keep the Chinese guessing whether the US or the UN will step in to intercede in this incendiary issue? If Panelo has an iota of knowledge of international relations, he should know that the US or the UN are not the only ones who would help defend the Philippines. Countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia also have stakes in the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea lanes for their commercial cargo vessels. International issues are best left to Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teddy Locsin, the former Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. But Locsin was kept busy by the two-day state visit of the Chinese President so it was Panelo who answered questions on the enforcement of The Hague ruling.Aside from the sensitive oil and gas joint exploration deal, the Senate wants to review the 28 other Memoranda of Understanding signed between Manila and Beijing. I cannot comment on these MOUs since I am not privy to their details. Vice President Leni Robredo also urged Malacanang to be transparent and make public the contents of the MOUs. Somehow the 60-40 sharing scheme of the oil and gas joint exploration was leaked by whistleblowers inside Malacanang. Critics pounced on the deal despite the 60-40 sharing in favor of the Philippines. Why should the Philippines share with China oil and gas exploration when it is in the West Philippine Seaour sovereign territory? Since the equipment and other technical tools in the exploration will surely be provided by China, what is the guarantee the Philippines will get its stipulated bigger share of the deal? The critics question, not mine. Malacanang officials point to the countrys railway, bridges and other infrastructure projects China is financing as the benefits we are reaping in the close ties with Beijing. But critics claim the Philippines is falling into Chinas debt trap. Acting Supreme Court Chief Justice Antonio Carpio disputed Chinas historic claim to the entire South China Sea which cited Chinese explorer Zheng Hes visits to Manila, other parts of Luzon and the Visayas way back in the old days of pre-Philippine-China relations. But just because Zheng He visited these parts of the Philippines does not mean China can lay claim to the waters well within our territory. Carpio, a staunch defender of Philippine territorial sovereignty, insists the country also has ancient maps disputing Chinas historic claim. Maps are better evidence than self-serving claims written by Chinese historians, he said. Senator Risa Hontiveros also urged President Duterte to assert Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine and not kowtow to Xi Jinping. But of course her concern and of the opposition Liberal Party will simply be dismissed by the administration as obstructionist reaction. Fortunately, the Senate decision to review these deals is a bipartisan action. We can expect Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to be in the hot seat to answer the senators probing questions. A Westman tailor has found a creative outlook to explore her fandom, while also establishing her own business. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 22/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Westman tailor has found a creative outlook to explore her fandom, while also establishing her own business. Striking a balance between school and her regular job, Onix Collette is becoming a titan of the furry community with her custom fur suit business Onix Angel Creations. CHELSEA KEMP/BRANDON SUN Onix Collette, local fur suit designer, shows off one of her favourite creations, Beez the demon goat, on Nov. 14. Furries are people who are fans of cute animals with human characteristics, like one sees in a Disney movie, Collette said. Often members of the community will don suits of their favourite anthropomorphic animals. "This is weird, well flat out admit that," Collette said. "Its not something you see every day and thats OK ... Its just a hobby." A creative process, fur suit characters can be a real animal, mythical or even made up. A recent grad from Assiniboine Community College in Interactive Media Arts, Collette is using her skills as a graphic designer and with a sewing machine to establish a recognized brand within the furry community. PHOTOS BY CHELSEA KEMP/THE BRANDON SUN Onix Collette, local fur suit designer, shows off a selection of her custom designed fur suit heads on Nov. 14. Collette, 20, began making fur suits when she was 13. She got her start after designing her own Halloween costumes, wanting something that wasnt available in stores. Her first fur suit was a cute white dove named Avianna who was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force. She launched Onix Angel Creations soon after, jumping right into fur suit design. She has made more than 20 other suits for both herself and customers since then. However, not all costumes are cute there is a small segment of the community that creates scary costumes. They are not as common because they are less approachable. Collette herself has a demon goat named Beez who has toured across North America. A self-taught fur suit designer and maker, Collette has become a master of her trade through years of trial and error. "Its a long journey," she said. Running her own business can be stressful, largely because most of her clients are generated through self promotion. Justin Zinger, a.k.a. Toasty the Avocado Snep snow leopard, puts on his fur suit on Nov. 14. Complicating matters, the majority of her clients are from the United States. Finding clients can be hit and miss, but Collette has found that her client base is slowly growing. "People from the States, they like the Canadian dollar; its cheaper," Collette said. To get the measurements, clients send in a "duct tape dummy," where using a paint suite one duct tapes their entire body to form a mould. The dummy is then sent to Collette, who uses the measurements to make a custom form-fitting fur suit. "I then stuff that like a custom mannequin of you," Collette said. The construction of a suit offers limitless opportunities, where one can add fans, animatronics, lights, sounds, moving jaws and more. Collette uses resin or upholstery foam to sculpt the costume into an animal shape. "Theres no limit to these costumes," Collette said. "Its a completely open and creative thing." Using fake fur, Collette imports most of her materials from the United States. Given recent tariffs imposed by the U.S., Collette has faced the difficult task of increasing her prices. Onix Collette, local fur suit designer, adds some final touches to a custom fur suit on Nov. 14. "Its a struggle," Collette said. Made by hand, the suits take at least six months to create and cost any where upward of $1,200. Given the price of the suits, not every furry owns a costume. "You dont have to own a fur suit to be a furry," Collette said. The creation of suits is a collaboration between Collette and her clients. Justin Zinger, aka Toasty Avocado Snep snow leopard, is one of Collettes most recent clients. Zinger is a computer tech posted in CFB Shilo. "I own a house, Im a well respected member of the community and well known on base," Zinger said, "Im 100 per cent human, I just really love this snow leopard; hes adorable." Justin Zinger, a.k.a. Toasty the Avocado Snep snow leopard, puts on his fur suit on Nov. 14. When Zinger first became interested in the community, he called himself a closet furry because he was a afraid of what people would think, based on the misconceptions he had heard about furries. Coming out of the closet as a furry two years ago, he did face some razzing at first for it, but Zinger said that the snow leopard has since become a staple within the community. Prior to making the suit, Zinger commissioned a character reference sheet from an artist which includes multiple detailed renderings of the character Collette then used to bring Toasty to life. He went through three different designs before he found the perfect one. "I gave my paper to Onix and said please bring this to life Her pieces are absolutely amazing," Zinger said. Working together, the duo was able to make Toasty a reality over the course of eight months. Officially breaking in the full suit in October, Zinger has found it to be the highlight of his life. "Onix did a fabulous job," Zinger said. "I got really giddy and excited." When Zinger puts on his Toasty costume, he become the character. He does not talk, and although he will meow or hiss on occasion, he instead expresses himself with his hands and tail. Onix Collette, local fur suit designer, works on her latest fur suit design on Nov. 14. Collette currently has eight pieces, although she mainly uses five, and every one has a completely different personality. These personalities can be completely created from the aether, while others can be based on family pets. "Its a very important escape," Zinger said, "Being a furry is fun." The key, Collette said, is the ability to use body language to be expressive. For Zinger, Toasty comes from a love of big cats and how they are majestic and deadly, but also goofy. "When Im in Toasty Im a huge brat," Zinger said. Attending the Wild Prairie Fur Con in Winnipeg in August in a partial suit, which included the head, paws and tail, Zinger introduced Toasty to the public. The convention was the first furry event of its kind in Winnipeg, and had more than 180 guests. Justin Zinger, a.k.a. Toasty the Avocado Snep snow leopard, puts on his fur suit on Nov. 14. Collette and Zinger hope to see this passion for furries expand into the Westman region. "Brandon is like a ghost town," Collette said. "Thats my goal; to get a lot of activity going on here." Creating the Facebook group "Westman Furries" in 2014, Collette has been able to foster a group in Westman, gaining close to 70 members. The community is welcoming, and they encourage anyone interested in learning more about the group to come to an event. The only thing they ask is for respect, and that one ask permission before touching or hugging a furry. "Pretty much anyone can be a furry. Theres people that are lawyers, police officers, students, young kids," Zinger said. The headspace created by the suit is what draws the majority of people to the furry community, as it offers a chance for one to become someone else forgetting about everyday stresses and worries. The suits can even help one deal with anxiety, shyness and depression, Collette said. "Its like your happy place," Collette said. "It feels amazing." Donning the suit is a liberating experience, giving one the chance to slip into a second skin that helps the worries of the world wash away, Zinger said. "I get to go out have fun, jump around and forget about life," Zinger said. One of the aspects that has hampered the growth of the furry community is the fear some have in coming out, largely due to the misconceptions that surround the group. Many furries face accusations of being gay or pedophiles, Collette said. Zinger has faced some soft ribbing from his military counterparts, but is happy to explain what it means to be a furry. A weird myth Collette has encountered is the assumption that furries are basement dwellers that literally live in their suits. "Its general misconceptions, just like anything in the world." Zinger said, "Furries are probably the most amazing, understanding and caring people that I have met in my life." Using their costumes, one of the best parts of being a furry is the joy they bring to the community. Zinger and Collette cited going to Shoppers Mall at Halloween as an exciting experience, where they had the opportunity to bond with the community, take photos and have a fun time. Kids especially love the giant animals. "The feeling that you get from seeing people smile is so freaking great," Zinger said. ckemp@brandonsun.com Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp Cork Airport has welcomed the news that Ryanair has added over 45,000 additional seats on return flights to France, Italy and Spain for its Summer 2019 season. The airlines new service to Naples, Italy for Summer 2019 will also launch a month early due to high demand. Over 45,000 extra seats will be added to routes across Barcelona Girona, Barcelona Reus, Bordeaux, Carcassonne and Milan Bergamo, for travel between June and August 2019. The recently announced twice-weekly service to Naples, originally due to commence in July 2019, will now run from June to August next year, adding over 1,700 seats. In 2019, 2.6 million passengers are forecasted to travel through Cork Airport. Over 50 routes will be on offer, including the recent Ryanair announcements of Naples, along with Poznan, Budapest and Malta. Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport said: Todays announcement to extend these very popular summer sun routes underlines the ongoing investment Ryanair is making in their extensive network from Cork Airport. These destinations offer Ryanair customers in Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Waterford, and the entire South of Ireland region, the opportunity to enjoy a great summer holiday next year while experiencing the award-winning customer service synonymous with Cork Airport. We will deliver our fourth consecutive year of growth in 2019 with a further increase of 7%. I am confident of further positive announcements as our business development team is working continuously to make that growth happen. Ryanairs Robin Kiely said: With the weather getting colder, its the perfect time to start planning a summer escape and Ryanair is pleased to launch extra flights from Cork during June and August 2019. These extra flights at amazing low prices will be quickly snapped up, so we advise early bookings to avoid missing out. For more information visit Cork Airport's website. - Digital Desk "What's wrong with this one?" A memorandum of understanding is a formal agreement between two or more parties. Companies and organizations can use MOUs to establish official partnerships. MOUs are not legally binding but they carry a degree of seriousness and mutual respect, stronger than a gentlemens agreement. Often, MOUs are the first steps towards a legal contract. In US law, a memorandum of understanding is synonymous with a letter of intent which is a non-binding written agreement that implies a binding contract is to follow. I had to refer to a legal dictionary to get the above definition of a memorandum of understanding just to ensure that I do not err on the side of ignorance in tackling what has become the most abused word this part of the globe during the two-day state visit of Chinese President Xi Jiping. Yes, MOU and MOUs were in vogue, on occasion disparagingly, by a lot of folks many of whom should have known better than even utter it. Such was the contrived toxicity which anti-Chinese critics of the Duterte administration brought to the forefront in a mean effort to deflate the value of this visit. To no avail. The visit went well without any untoward incident and the initiatives agreed to by the parties on a number of fronts may be considered breakthroughs following the cooling of our relations with the worlds second-biggest economy and regional powerhouse during the past administration. Indeed, the contrivance was so disgustingly hollow it only showcased the narrow-mindedness of those who have it a habit of opposing President Duterte no matter what. Which does not, of course, speak well of the standing of these people as leaders of note. For how can one be so tricky and unforgiving to the point of being unpatriotic shoving off the countrys interest in order to put Duterte and our relations with China in a bad light. What should have been a major coup of sorts for the country as we navigate the tricky waters of international diplomacy with what was billed as a major, even historical, visit by the most powerful Chinese leader in recent memory was dragged to the gutters on the issue of MOUs. Using transparency as defined by them as their cover, Vice President Leni Robredo and some senators went to town demanding that all the MOUs and other agreements signed during the Xi visit be reviewed, insinuating in the process that China is a duplicitous partner and will only take advantage of us. Or, worse, that President Duterte cannot be trusted to stand his ground and work for the countrys best interests. And all because they need to check whether the two- or three-page MOUs will redound to our best interests. Come on, how can a two- or three-pager compromise our interests?Take the case of the MOU on the Joint Maritime Oil and Gas Exploration between China and the Philippines which some senators have already judged as disadvantageous to the country. These guys even went to the extent of suggesting that the same will compromise our national security. How, we dont know and they did not elaborate. Only that they think or maybe even believe that the same will not redound to our best interest. Well, heres the catch. These guys were waving a so-called Chinese draft which, if the reports are correct, was titled Framework Agreement on Joint Maritime Oil and Gas Exploration between China and the Philippines. Nothing definite, just like a letter of intent as advised by the administration. In fact, DFA Secretary TeddyBoy Locsin even ignored this so-called Chinese draft saying if there is going to be any draft MOU on the subject it will have to be written by us not the Chinese. So, he advanced the information that, indeed, he wrote the final draft on a piece of cloth which was what was signed by the parties. Not the earlier one prepared by the Chinese which was the basis for the senators outburst. It was Philippine ambassador to China Chito Sta. Romana who confirmed that indeed what was signed was essentially the Philippine counter-draft with some new revisions and is significantly different from what Senator Trillanes released, the same draft which Secretary Locsin said he did himself on a cloth. So Trillanes and the senators including Robredo have no place to go except take cover for their harsh and premature exertions. And Ambassador Sta. Romana is rightthe draft was a prelude to a more specific agreement for exploring and finding out if there really is oil and gas that can be exploited in the future. He advisedly noted that an effort has been made to come to an agreement and to be able to present it to the public and to be able to face the test of judicial scrutiny and constitutionality, And I might add this, on whether the possibility of a joint undertaking would be legal and constitutional. At this point, no one can even suggest any kind of malice, stupidity or duplicity on the part of the signatories to this MOU. So, what are these guys raising hell over? Even professor Jay Batongbacal, who heads the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and who is one of the loudest critics of the Duterte administrations conciliatory gestures to the Chinese noted that the document doesnt amount to a contract and is more like a record of what they talked about and agreed on in principle. He had early advised that both sides would sign some kind of general statement/s or framework with legal and implementation details left out for later. Which is what happened in the case of this MOU on oil and gas exploration. There is no question that apart from the loan and commercial agreements as well as consultancy and grants agreements, all MOUs remain as suchan agreement in principle a little more than a gentlemens agreement to be fleshed out at some future date. Whats wrong with that? Migrant fisherman working on Irish registered trawlers claim they were exploited, underpaid, racially abused, worked to exhaustion and in some cases have been assaulted to a degree that their working conditions are akin to "modern slavery," the High Court has heard. The court also heard that the investigations carried out by migrants' rights groups have revealed on average fishermen from non-EEA countries worked an average of approximately 116 hours per week, yet were only paid an average of 2.83 per hour. Arising out of complaints made by fishermen, the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) has brought proceedings against the State over a work permit scheme it claims is allowing the fishermen to be exploited. The ITF says there are over a dozen cases of potential human trafficking arising from the scheme that are the subject of criminal investigations. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has been joined to the case as an 'Amicus Curiae' or friend to the court. Its counsel Feichin McDonagh SC for the Commission told the court today the case raised "important human rights issues." In a preliminary application, the Federation which represents unions and transport workers all over the world wants injunctions including one preventing any work permits under a scheme known as Atypical Working Scheme for Non-EEA Crew in the Irish Fishing Fleet by the State be granted or renewed. The scheme was introduced by the Government in 2016 following the exploitation of workers within the Irish fishing industry exposed in a British newspaper report. The ITF claims the scheme does not protect workers from exploitation and human trafficking and wants the injunction to be kept in place until it's case against the scheme has been decided. The action is against the Minister for Justice and Equality, Ireland and the Attorney General. Represented by Sara Moorhead SC it has opposed the application for an injunction on grounds including that the ITF does not have the locus standi or legal standing to bring the action. Counsel said that ITF's claims concerning the scheme were hotly contested. While emotive language was being used in court it was not the case that Minister or the Stae was complicit in any alleged trafficking or exploitation of persons. Opening the case Matthias Lynn SC said the scheme in the way it is framed had the unintended effect of not protecting workers who come from mainly African and Asian countries. He said the action was urgent as the ITF wanted to ensure no more workers ended up being exploited adding that there is a positive obligation on the state to prevent human trafficking. Mr Kelly said the ITF and many other bodies, ranging from the Irish based groups that deal with migrants to EU bodies and the US State Department, have raised concerns about the effect the scheme has on human trafficking and the exploitation of workers. A report by the Irish Migrant Centre had revealed that exploitation of non-EEA fishermen in the Irish fleet was "widespread." These men counsel said were working an average of 116.9 hours a week and yet only received an average hourly wage of 2.83. Sworn statements given by a number of the fishermen who claim they have been exploited while working in Ireland were read to the court. They were given contracts by fishing boat owners which allow them to work legally in Irish fishing fleet. However, the men said they were paid well below the minimum wage which they are legally entitled to. The men said they were let go from the vessels despite being owed from between 7,000 to 45,000 euro for hours they worked and were paid far less than Irish or EU fishermen. The men gave details of the physical and racial abuse they endured while working. They said boats they worked on were often under-crewed, and expressed concerns at the level of health and safety standards. One said the vessel he worked didn't have a fully functioning radar, and there were another of near misses at sea. They all complained of working long hours, up to 20 hours a day at sea and complained of exhaustion. They said that they were often asked to sign documents that contained false information, hide fish that exceeded the boat's fishing quotas and given more dangerous work at sea than their EU crewmates. If they complained the man said they were threatened with deportation, and in one case one of the men says he was assaulted. The injunction application, which is before Mr Justice Tony O'Connor, continues. Chinese consumers are calling for a boycott of Dolce & Gabbana after the Italian fashion house posted videos that are being criticised as racist and insensitive, setting off a social-media drama that led to the postponement of a Shanghai runway show hours before it was due to start. The storm intensified after screenshots of incendiary messages sent from co-founder Stefano Gabbanas Instagram account leaked on the platform and top Chinese talent pulled out of the event. By Eamon Quinn The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), the umbrella body for unions across Ireland, has warned of a catastrophe if the UK crashes out of the EU, while the Governments National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said Irish bonds have already been affected by concerns over a no deal Brexit. And the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development also warned about a disorderly Brexit, adding that any spike in property prices could lay the foundation for another boom-and-bust cycle in the Irish economy that is growing robustly. Meeting in Belfast, Ictus governing executive said it supported the Brexit draft withdrawal agreement struck between the UK and the EU because a no deal would be catastrophic. Our objective has been, and remains, the defence of the interests of working people on the island of Ireland economically, politically, socially and culturally. It is our view that the best way to achieve this is to negotiate as close as possible a relationship between the UK and the EU; preferably with the UK as a whole remaining in the single market and a customs union in the longer term. Only by achieving this can we arrive at a situation where the rights of citizens and workers, and where jobs and trade will not be impacted to a detrimental extent by this Brexit, it said. The announcement comes after almost all the business groups in the North and the Republic last week urged UK politicians to approve the draft deal when the House of Commons votes on it next month. Meanwhile, the NTMA said the so-called spread between Irish bond yields and benchmark German bonds had widened, reflecting fears over a no deal Brexit. This has been particularly pronounced over the past week as Brexit risks have come to the fore, its director of funding and debt management, Frank OConnor said. Capital Market in London said the risk of a no deal was running around 50:50. As Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg struggles to garner enough support to oust UK prime minister Theresa May, one of his investment firms wagers is also looking questionable. Somerset Capital Management, which the MP founded, massively increased its long position in Alpha Bank this year. However, the Greek lender has seen its stock price plunge around 40% in 2018 amid lingering doubts about its mountain of bad loans. The investment firms misjudgement comes as Mr Rees-Moggs political reputation as the darling of the Conservative Partys right wing takes a knock. Concerned residents in a Co Donegal town claim it will lose more than 200 local jobs and 10m in revenue each year after plans were announced to by-pass it. The people of Ballybofey and Stranorlar are outraged by plans to build a road from Sligo to Letterkenny. The local Chamber of Commerce says the road will have a devastating effect on the local community. The towns are home to Donegal GAA's MacCumhaill Park and Finn Harps' home ground Finn Park as well as McElhinney's Stores and the Balor Theatre. Chairman of the chamber, Charlie Ferry said: We have consulted widely with our members all of them are expecting a significant drop in turnover with those in the Hospitality sector expecting a drop of up to 25% if the TEN-T route corridor proceeds as planned. Ballybofey and Stranorlar are effectively service towns shops, hotels and other catering outlets. These are all highly dependent on passing trade and cross-border trade. "The hospitality sector provides 30% of the jobs in the Twin Towns whereas the figure nationally is 10%. "Many of the 34 businesses operating in this sector in the Twin Towns are of the view that they will be forced to shut down if the route corridor proceeds as planned. "Many permanent jobs will be lost and part-time and seasonal employment will be seriously impacted. "Reduced spending by businesses will have an impact across the whole community service providers such as tradesmen, cleaners, professional services and others will be directly impacted." He added that if the bypass goes ahead as planned it will turn Ballybofey and Stranorlar into ghost towns. Sinn Fein has introduced a Bill to protect the rights of students who are renting. The Residential Tenancies (Student rents, rights and protections) Bill 2018 is aimed at giving clarity on licence agreements for student accommodation. The party is welcoming the Housing Committee's support for the Bill as it went through the pre-legislative scrutiny stage this morning. The Bill has been proposed by Eoin O Broin and Kathleen Funchion. Earlier today, the Union of Students in Ireland made a special presentation to the Oireachtas Committee on Housing in relation to the Bill. They reiterated previous declarations that Purpose Built Student Accommodation is not fit for purpose. The USI said that rent pressure zones are "the very least" that should be considered to ease the strain. The union said that the crisis has had an impact on students' ability to fully access their education, with some sleeping in cars, couch-surfing, and commuting hours to get to lectures. USI VP for Campaigns, Michelle Byrne, told the committee: "On the night of the census in 2016, there were 429 homeless students in Ireland, making up over 8% of the total homeless numbers. "When the Governments student accommodation strategy was launched in July 2017, there was an excess demand in purpose built student accommodation of over 23,000 beds. This is expected to increase to almost 26,000 by 2019. This means we are still 16,000 beds short even if all PBSA which is projected is successfully completed. It is important to note that the bill at hand applies to some student specific accommodation but may not apply to all of it. The Residential Tenancies Act, at section 3(1)(c), states that the act does not apply to accommodation let by or to a public authority. "At section 4(1) a public authority is defined as (among other things) 'a recognised educational institution, namely, any university, technical college, regional technical college, secondary or technical college or other institution or body of persons approved of, for the purpose of providing an approved course of study, by the Minister for Education'," she said. Digital Desk Gardai have reached out to police forces overseas about alleged child sexual abusers who had been involved with Scouting Ireland, the Dail has been told. Speaking during Leaders' Questions, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said that reports had been made to police forces in jurisdictions where many of the alleged abusers may be living. He was responding to questions from Fianna Fail's deputy leader Dara Calleary after revelations on Wednesday that 108 sexual abuse cases involving 71 alleged abusers mainly from the 1960s and 1980s were found within Scouting Ireland. During exchanges, Mr Flanagan said that none of the alleged abusers were still with Scouting Ireland. Reports of the cases identified to date had been made to the Child Protection Agency Tusla and An Garda Siochana, he said. Mr Calleary queried what the Government was undertaking to allow people who have so far remained silent to come forward. He demanded a special helpline be established to enable them to come forward in confidence. Mr Calleary in highlighting the scale of the issue, said the revelations opened a new and insidious and grotesque litany of sexual abuse over many decades in Scouting Ireland. A review in the wake of allegations by a young woman led to the resignation of the board of the scouting body and the temporary withdrawal of State funding to Scouting Ireland Calling into question the ability of Scouting Ireland to effectively get on top of the scandal, Mr Calleary said the drip drip of information has to be stopped to help restore confidence to the scouting in Ireland. He said that people who had been abused while part of Scouting Ireland would have to have confidence to come forward. In response, Mr Flanagan said he was appalled at the abuse and added that every support would be made available in order to ensure that victims could come forward and be assisted in their pursuit of justice. The Minister acknowledged the new board in Scouting Ireland and the review of governance issues conducted by former senator Jillian van Turnhout whose report was completed in June this year. Mr Flanagan stressed that the board had pledged to fully implement all the recommendations. He said there would be due process and my department will assist in any way possible with the other departments and State agencies as appropriate. An 81-year-old Dublin woman was afraid to leave her home for six months after she was robbed on her way home from the shops, a court has heard. The woman had had a pacemaker installed shortly before the incident where she was followed home by a man who stole her purse, containing around 300. Vasile Marin (24) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery at Sutton Grove, Sutton on September 10, 2016. The court heard that the father-of-two with an address at Foxborough Close, Lucan was identified on CCTV standing behind the elderly woman at Eurospar in Bayside on the day in question. Garda Cian Daly told Grainne O'Neill BL, prosecuting, that the woman had gone to the Eurospar and paid for her groceries in cash. She put her groceries and her purse containing around 300 into her shopping trolley and began making her way home. A short distance from her house, a man came from behind, putting one hand around her back and the other into her trolley. He took her purse and ran away. The woman told gardai she had recently undergone heart surgery and was so shocked and terrified that she was unable to open her front door and had to get help. In a victim impact statement read out on her behalf, the woman said she still doesn't like talking about the ordeal and that she had been terribly frightened. I was shaking for the day; I was in bits. It was six months before I went outside again, she said. The woman said she eventually made a decision not to let the robbery take over her life and that she is now fully over it but that she doesn't deal with cash anymore and that her home help generally does the shopping. Marin has two previous convictions for theft. His defence counsel said Marin had been motivated by desperation as he owed money for a gambling debt. Marin made full admissions on arrest and told gardai he was sorry for what he had done. He said he had been a bit drunk and wasn't aware of what he had been doing. His barrister provided a number of references including one from Marin's pastor where he attends church regularly. The court heard that Marin was born in Romania and came to Ireland with his family in 2002. Judge Melanie Greally adjourned the case for sentencing to February 27 next and ordered a probation report to be prepared. She warned Marin to expect some element of custody when he is sentenced. The Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has sought an investigation into allegations surrounding surveillance in prisons. Mr Flanagan was responding to the claims detailed in today's Irish Examiner which said that there was "covert surveillance" on the nation's prisons. According to a sworn affidavit given to the Minister by a whistleblower working in the prison service, tracking devices have been placed on prison officers cars and conversations between solicitors and prisoners have been monitored. The document also alleges that a private detective agency was hired to carry out the bugging so that the prison service would be protected from any potential legal ramifications. Those people working for the agency were provided with false identities in order to install surveillance cameras, it is claimed The affidavit also alleges that a van containing drugs and telephones connected with a major criminal gang was allowed into a prison campus. Mr Flanagan said that while he was limited in what he could say regarding the allegations, given that legal proceedings are before the court, there were "serious issues" raised by the claims which need to be examined. "While I am constrained in what I can say about proceedings before the courts, and nothing I say should be taken as a comment on these particular proceedings, these allegations raise serious issues which need to be addressed," he said. "I have therefore asked the independent Inspector of Prisons, Patricia Gilheaney, to carry out an urgent preliminary investigation into the allegations to determine as far as possible the facts. "I have also requested a meeting today with the Acting Director of the Irish Prison Service, Don Culliton." Mr Flanagan said the inquiry would be a statutory investigation under Section 31 of the Prisons Act 2007. Under this type of investigation, prison governors and all staff have a statutory obligation to cooperate with the inspector. Additionally, there is a provision under the statute for the report to be presented to the Houses of the Oireachtas. "Surveillance can be necessary to prevent illegal trafficking of substances into prisons, but this must of course be carried out in accordance with the law," Mr Flanagan said. It must be stressed that these are allegations, and we must in the first instance determine if they are factual. "This preliminary investigation will put us in a better position to consider whether further steps need to be taken, such as a more formal inquiry, as has been called for," he said. A Dublin man has pleaded guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court to helping a criminal organisation carry out the murder of David Douglas over two years ago. Mr Douglas (55) was shot six times as he took a meal break at the counter in his partners shop, Shoestown, on Bridgefoot Street in the south inner city on July 1, 2016. Nathan Foley (20), with an address at Rosary Road, Maryland, Dublin 8, admitted today (Thurs) to participating in or contributing to activity intending to facilitate the commission by a criminal organisation or any of its members of a serious offence, namely the murder of David Douglas (55) at Bridgefoot Street in Dublin 8 between July 1 and July 4, 2016. The offence is contrary to organised crime legislation brought in by Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006. Mr Foley is also charged with damaging a car at Strand Road, Dublin 4 three days later, on July 4, 2016. State solicitor Michael ODonovan told the three-judge court today that the DPP had directed that Foley be brought before the court and charged with this scheduled offence. Detective Sergeant Paul Murphy gave evidence that he met Foley this morning and handed him a copy of the charge sheet, explaining the the content of the charge to him. Mr O'Donovan said that Foley could be arraigned on the new charge. Dressed in a black sleeveless jacket and a blue long-sleeved top, Foley stood up and faced the court. When the registrar read the indictment to Foley and asked him how he was pleading, he replied, Guilty. A book of evidence was then served on the defendant. Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, told the court that they will need video-playing facilities for the sentence hearing. Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Sinead Ni Chualachain and Judge Cormac Dunne, remanded Foley in custody until December 5, when he will be sentenced. Frederick "Freddie" Thompson (37), with an address at Loreto Road, Maryland, Dublin 8 was found guilty of Mr Douglass murder in August of this year and sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment. The man accused of murdering a 38-year-old woman gave evidence of meeting the deceased on a 10-week course called Effective Communication for Better Relationships. He also described her cutting herself with a knife in his flat and that it was like a game to her to get him to try and get the knife from her. Cathal O'Sullivan, 45, who is originally from Charleville, County Cork, is on trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork and denies murdering Nicola Collins on March 27, 2017 at a flat at 6A Popham's Road, Farranree, Cork, over the Gala store. He gave two hours of evidence today about the days before Nicola Collins died. He has yet to testify about the moments around her death in the early hours of Monday, March 27. He spoke about how they met, their on-again/ off-again relationship and Nicola Collins coming over to stay in his flat on the Thursday night before her death. He said he was on medication for anxiety, depression and social phobia and sought out the course on effective communication where he met Nicola Collins for the first time in October 2015. Two weeks into the New Year 2016 we got kind of intimate She helped me to be a lot better as a person. She used to get outbursts. She would not know what she was doing. You would be scared for her, not of her Alcohol-related emotional outbursts of aggression is a good way to describe it, Cathal OSullivan said. In the course of the few days together from Thursday into the weekend they drank and watched Netflix including the movies of Young Offenders and Inbetweeners and the Planet Earth series. Referring to the deceased drinking cider on the Friday night he said: When it goes over the two-litre and goes to the third litre, things get very vibrant, emotional, uncontrollable She started to lash out (physically). She was trying to scrape me (when they were on the bed). I am used to pushing her hands to one side. She is getting on to her knees coming towards the middle of the bed. I am pushing her hands away. That kind of annoyed her. He motioned in the witness box holding his hand and arm in front of himself in a blocking position and said she lunged at him. My hand kind of snapped back into her eye, nose and mouth. It was an accident no one tried to make it happen, he said. He said a temporary cap fell from her tooth and that during the night the remaining piece of tooth cut her lip so she asked him for dental floss so that she could pull out what remained of the tooth. She pulled it out herself on the Saturday morning because her lip had been cut during the night from it. She asked me for dental floss for it. She pulled it out. There was blood dripping. There was quite a lot of blood, he said. As he told gardai in an interview which was read to the jury earlier in the trial he repeated again that Nicola Collins told him she had a miscarriage and put the deceased baby in a freezer and people told her to take it out so, he said she told him she put it in a shed. Defence senior counsel Tom Creed stood up and said he did not want to interrupt the direct examination by Colman Cody SC but Mr Creed said, We have lots of hearsay that is a denigration of her character. Cathal OSullivan said the bed kept falling apart and when they were fixing it, the doubled over mattress sprang back causing a lat to strike the deceased in the stomach which caused bruising. In another alleged incident when he said she had a knife that he was trying to get from her, I pushed her throat and chin area. Because I was pushing there, I could leave a mark there, like. It was just a game to Nicola, he testified. The trial before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and the jury of nine men and three women at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork continues tomorrow. Former Ireland international rugby player Mick Galwey took an article comparing a former junior minister to a highway robber to be a "complete joke", the High Court has heard. Mr Galwey will be giving evidence in the defamation case against the publishers of the Kilkenny People January 2016 article which the former minister, now Senator, Paudie Coffey claims has caused him to be ridiculed and damaged his reputation. The publishers, Iconic Newspapers, deny the claims. The court has heard the article arose out of controversy over proposals to extend the Waterford boundary into Kilkenny which Sen Phelan, who is from Waterford, supported but which is strongly opposed by Kilkenny People. The article quoted verbatim a press release from Sen Coffey's Kilkenny FG colleague, John Paul Phelan TD, who claimed the then Deputy and minister Coffey was trying to rob part of Kilkenny with the support of then Environment Minister Alan Kelly. Deputy Phelan said an 18th century highwayman who hid in the Comeragh Mountains was known as "Crotty the Robber" and his colleague was now "Coffey the Robber", which was the headline used for the article. The article was first brought to Sen Coffey's attention by a cousin who received an email from mutual friend Mick Galwey with a picture of the newspaper page and the comment: "Is this the best headline ever in the Kilkenny People this week, class, not even the Bomber will get ye out of this!!!!!!" Sen Coffey also complained Mr Galwey used the words "here comes Coffey the robber" when the pair met among friends at a Thomond Park rugby match subsequently. It was that incident which finally prompted him to bring legal proceedings. At the end of day long cross-examination by Rossa Fanning SC, for Iconic, today counsel put to Senator Coffey that Mr Galwey will say "he took it as a complete joke". Sen Coffey replied: "I did not take it as a joke when my name was called out in a crowded area and my name was being pulled into the muck". Counsel showed the court a photo of Mr Galwey at that same rugby match with Mr Galwey in the middle and his arms around Sen Coffey and the senator's cousin When counsel put it to him it didn't look like Mr Galwey didn't want to be associated with him and would say it was "all banter", Sen Coffey replied that it was causing hurt to him. "I want to suggest all this meant you are taking it all too seriously and taking yourself too seriously," counsel said. Sen Coffey said he thought that unfair. "You might think its a joke and Mick Galwey might think it a joke. Senator Paudie Coffey "The match where that photo was taken was just one of many incidents where people consistently referred to me as a robber as a result of that article and I was highly embarrassed". Although he "laughed off" the Galwey remark, it was after that weekend he decided to do something about it following a number of similar incidents at other sporting and social events. He said he was a long time in politics and could take criticism but any reasonable person would see this article was damaging and was continuing to damage him. He might have got three words wrong in one of his own press releases about a boundary commission set up to look at the Kilkenny/Waterford issue, but that did not mean "for the rest of my life my name is garbage" because of the unprofessional way a newspaper dealt with another politician's opinion. Becoming emotional he said: "I am putting everything on the line here but I am going to fight for my good name". Waving his finger towards Mr Fanning, he added: "And you can look me in the eye, barrister, but I will fight for my good name." Earlier, Sen Coffey accepted that he had "jumped the gun" when he issued a press release in June 2015, seven months before the Kilkenny People story, saying he had worked to establish the boundary commission. He said it was Minister Alan Kelly who set up the commission. He accepted he may have overstated the matter but he did not intend to deliberately mislead anyone. He accepted politicians are prone to exaggeration in an attempt to get attention. He agreed when former minister Kelly recently compared the Government's strategic communications unit to the activities of Hitler's propaganda minister it caused a kerfuffle but he did not see the relevance to this case. Asked did he know what Mr Kelly's nickname is, he replied he was "not into nicknames" and he was "not going to denigrate him, I know him as Alan Kelly". Was it news to him that his nickname was AK-47, after a rifle. He replied: "I don't deal in nicknames." The case continues. The daughter of Noel Duck Egg Kirwan who was murdered in the driveway of his Dublin home has told the Special Criminal Court that the only thing her dad was guilty of was showing his respect at a childhood friends funeral. People like this should remember its not the people who are killed that suffer its the families who are left behind, she said. Donna Kirwan described her dad as a grafter and said that while some of his friends chose to make money the easy way by selling drugs, her father chose to work for a living because that was how he was raised. The three-judge court also heard that Mr Kirwans son and daughter talked about ending their lives in the aftermath of their fathers death because neither of them could see another way out of the pain and suffering. The testimony was heard as part of a victim impact statement read by a woman from victim support on behalf of Donna Kirwan to the court during Jason Keating's sentence hearing today. The non-jury court also heard that the defendant Jason Keating was present at the scene of the murder in Clondalkin and had facilitated the man who discharged the firearm. A 'Gotek7 tracking device was put under Mr Kirwan's car in the weeks leading up to his killing and this could be linked to Keating. Mr Kirwan was sitting in his new Ford Mondeo car on December 22, 2016, when a gunman shot him six times with a Makarov handgun which was later recovered at the scene. The 62-year-old, a long-time friend of Gerry the Monk Hutch, suffered eight gunshot wounds in total to his head, right arm, chest and abdomen. The murder of Mr Kirwan arose from a "notorious feud" between two criminal factions but the deceased had no connection with either side. Jason Keating (27), of Lower Main Street, Rush, Co Dublin admitted last month to participating in or contributing to activity intending to facilitate the commission by a criminal organisation or any of its members of a serious offence, namely the murder of Mr Kirwan at St Ronans Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 between December 20 and 22, 2016, both dates inclusive. The offence is contrary to organised crime legislation brought in by Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006. Keating was originally tried for the murder of Mr Kirwan but midway through his trial on October 18 he pleaded guilty to facilitating a criminal organisation in committing murder and this plea was accepted by the DPP. Paul Greene SC, prosecuting, asked the court to enter a nolle prosequi on the original charge of murder. This means the State will not be proceeding with the prosecution in relation to the count of murder. The deceaseds partner, Bernadette Roe, was in the passenger seat of Mr Kirwans car at the time of the attack. They had just returned from a Christmas lunch in a restaurant in Crumlin with Ms Roes daughter. Donna Kirwan, Mr Kirwans daughter, said in her victim impact statement today that December 22 started off as a normal day for the family but it turned into their worst nightmare. Ms Kirwan said she was expecting a call from her father that day but instead she received a call from Bernadettes daughter, Carolyn, who sounded in a state of panic and told her she had to come straight out to Clondalkin as Noel had been shot. I just remember screaming for somebody to help and a man who works on my floor came running towards me, he grabbed his keys and we ran to his car. I felt like we were in traffic for hours because everyone was out doing their Christmas shopping. I rang Carolyn on the way and said they were working on him in the ambulance, she said. Ms Kirwan said she jumped from the car when they arrived at the scene and began screaming asking people to tell her dad that she was there. I asked them where my dad was and Carolyn said Im so sorry Donna he didnt make it. I couldnt take in what she was saying to me. I begged the police men to let me see him but they said they were sorry that they couldnt, she said. Ms Kirwan said she was carried into a neighbours house and told not to look to her left as her dad was lying on the ground. They just kept saying dont look, she remarked. I remember standing there later on watching his body being removed from the scene. The pain I felt that night will never leave me. I kept asking people over and over is this really happening, is this real. "I remember thinking in the middle of it all how am I going to tell Kristopher my brother who lives in Manchester, how will he react and how will I get him home, the court heard. Ms Kirwan said Kristopher was in work waiting to finish his job for the Christmas holidays when he received a message from a friend to call him straight away. When his friend told him, he laughed and said my dads a 62-year-old man who would want to shoot him, you must be mistaken. It was then he called me and asked if it was true, I will never forget his screams for as long as I live, said Ms Kirwan. 'It was like being in a horror film' Ms Kirwan said she organised a lift to pick her brother up from the airport the following day but the airport was full of people being greeted by family members coming home for Christmas. My brother was coming home to identify his fathers body, she said. It wasnt until Christmas Eve that Ms Kirwan got to see her father in the morgue. The guilt we felt that day having to leave him there. We made our way from there to Liffey Valley Shopping Centre to pick the last of my sons Christmas toys up. What was supposed to be one of the happiest days of the year for my family was like being in a horror film for us, painting smiles on our faces trying to make the day as special as we could for my little boy who had just been told the day before that his grandad had died, trying to shield him from the true facts of what had happened knowing it was going to be all over the papers,. Ms Kirwan said her brother managed to make a Christmas dinner but they felt too guilty to eat it. Instead we sat looking at each other in complete and utter shock, she said. This was the first Christmas in eight years since Ms Kirwans mother had passed away and everyone was looking forward to celebrating it, she said. Instead of ringing in the new year with her neighbours, she and her brother were inside looking at her father in a coffin saying their final goodbyes. Ms Kirwan said she knows what losing a parent feels like as they lost their mother ten years ago to cancer but this pain was different. This pain was unbearable, so unbearable that we both sat down and talked about ending both our lives because neither of us could see another way out of this pain and suffering. "But then we thought, how could we inflict such pain on our loved ones when we know too well what it feels like. Our dad was all we had, he was our friend and our safety net, he was supposed to walk me down the aisle one day, she said. Growing up her father always had two jobs, she said, and he worked morning and night to make sure his family had everything they needed and never went without. He would give a helping hand to anyone who needed it. He was a very kind man who would give you the clothes off his back if he thought you needed them," she said. We have been stripped of everything. We are a shell of the people we both once were. It has destroyed us. We struggle to close our eyes at night without visualising what went on that night and what he felt in those last moments. We will never get our heads around this nightmare, she said. The court heard that Bernadette Roe had also prepared a victim impact statement but asked for it not to be read aloud and instead be handed into the court to be considered by the three judges. A pathologist has told the trial of a man accused of murdering his partner that the deceaseds injuries were not consistent with a simple fall down the stairs. Renars Veigulis (32) of Old Bridge Street in Freshford, Co Kilkenny has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering Rita Apine (29) at their home on or about May 14, 2017. Mr Veigulis maintains that his partner fell down the stairs, while the jury has heard evidence that her injuries were inconsistent with a simple fall. State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan gave evidence today to Vincent Heneghan SC, for the prosecution, that she attended the scene at Old Bridge Street on May 15, 2017 and subsequently conducted a post mortem examination on the body of Ms Apine. Dr Mulligan said the there was extensive blood staining in the hallway of the apartment as well as shoe prints and foot prints in blood. The stairs was covered in a worn blue carpet and at the bottom of the stairs, there was blood staining all over a child-proof gate. She said a blood-stained slipper was at the bottom of the stairs and another slipper was on the 10th step. The rest of the house was neat and tidy with no sign of disturbance, Dr Mulligan said. Dr Mulligan concluded that the deceased died from massive blood loss as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. There were three separate full thickness lacerations over the right side of Ms Apines head. They were in close proximity but all had different shapes and different impact surfaces . There was no skull bone fracture. She said the deceased had bruising to both eye areas which were usually caused by direct trauma to that area of the face. She said the deceased had bruising to both forearms which indicated blunt force trauma and possibly represent defensive injuries. However, when the bruising to the forearms was considered in conjunction with injuries to Ms Apines legs, she said a fall down the stairs could not be excluded as the cause of those bruises. Overall, Dr Mulligan said Ms Apines injuries were not consistent with a simple fall down the stairs. She said citalopram, an anti-depressant drug, was found in the deceaseds body at therapeutic levels. She said Ms Apine had a tattoo on one of her arms which read through pain comes strength. Under cross examination from Michael Bowman SC, for the defence, Dr Mulligan agreed with Mr Bowman that a person falling down the stairs might naturally put their arms out to break their fall. Dr Mulligan accepted that there were injuries consistent with a fall down the stairs. However, she said there were other injuries, such as the direct impact to both of Ms Apines eyes, that could not easily be explained by a fall down the stairs. She said she had "never" seen those injuries from a fall down the stairs. In terms of scenarios, Mr Bowman said it was an "unobserved" fall and one hypothesis for the cause of Ms Apine's death was the alleged use of a weapon. Dr Mulligan said the three lacerations to the right side of Ms Apine's head had three different shapes and three different impact surfaces. "I don't know how they were caused. She said the bruises were sustained in the 24 hours prior to death. She accepted that the tram line bruising found on Ms Apine's body may have been caused by the long bars of the child-safety gate located at the bottom of the stairs. She agreed that two common side effects of the antidepressant, found in Ms Apines system, were dizziness and drowsiness. However, Dr Mulligan said you wouldn't expect side effects from the levels of the drug found in Ms Apine's body. Mr Bowman said there were any number of ways to fall down a stairs. He said one could lose ones balance, for whatever reason, and fall forwards or backwards. He said one could fall "end over end" and one could "flip over but the result was always a fall. Dr Mulligan agreed with Mr Bowmans proposition that a 5ft 3inch women, standing on the tenth step of a staircase, wearing slippers, would first fall five feet and three inches. She agreed that once the person passes the horizontal plain, they're going to fall further until they hit a step and continue falling until theyre fall is broken by a collision with something. She said she wasn't provided with measurements or the gradient of the stairs or the height of the steps. The jury also heard today evidence of text messages sent between Mr Veigulis and Ms Apine in the days and weeks before her death. The texts were translated from Latvian to English for the jury. Garda Michael Corcoran, from Kilkenny garda station, confirmed to Mr Heneghan, for the prosecution, that Ms Apine sent a number of separate texts to Mr Veigulis on April 3, 2017 which read: Fuck. Im so tired of you; Please leave as quickly as possible; I cant stand you anymore. I hope you will go your own way; Youre using bad language in the childs presence, when will this come to an end?. Garda Corcoran confirmed a subsequent text exchange between Ms Apine and Mr Veigulis. Ms Apine told Mr Veigulis that he would benefit from military service as it would make him a man. In reply, Mr Veigulis told his partner: Im not as good or brave as your ex-military husband. Im just a rug to wipe your feet on. In another text message, he told her: You like to smile and laugh while talking to other men. Garda Corcoran agreed, under cross examination from Mr Bowman, for the defence, that from the end of March to May, the couple were unpleasant to each other from time to time. But there was nothing overtly menacing or overtly threatening, the garda agreed, and only twice were expletives used, by Ms Apine. Garda Corcoran accepted that the messages were not entirely representative of the relationship. He confirmed a number of other exchanges, some sent on the same day as the ones read previously, contained pleasantries and enquiries on how one anothers day was going. The garda accepted that whatever had gone on between them, by May 11, the couple were preparing to travel to buy a car the following day, the 12th. Mr Bowman said it would be for the jury to make a judgment call on the text messages. The trial continues tomorrow before a jury of seven men and five women with Ms Justice Tara Burns presiding. A woman whose ex-partner attacked her, breaking several bones in her face and tearing out clumps of her hair has told a court that the terror and torture she suffered would be with her forever. John Brennan (44) of Dun Emer Place, Lusk, Dublin, was sentenced to three years in prison with the final 12 months suspended today. The father-of-one pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm of his then-girlfriend at his home on August 31, 2014. He has one previous drink-driving conviction. The court heard that Brennan hit the woman after a verbal disagreement. She tried to take refuge in his car, but he struck her head off the steering wheel, dragged her by her hair from the car, back inside the house, and continued to punch her in the face until she managed to escape. In a victim impact statement read out in court on her behalf, the woman said she remembered the first punch to her face as clearly as if it were yesterday. I remember the bones in my face cracking and the blood rushing, I was in agony and could hardly move. She said that afterwards she couldn't eat for months due to her broken facial bones and the stitches in her mouth, and was completely dependent on the care of her son. The woman said she was once a strong, independent person who raised her three children alone and worked as a nurse caring for sick people, but that now she was on medication and couldn't make plans. She said she just gets through each day, one at a time. I really thought he was going to kill me, she said. Judge Melanie Greally set a headline sentence of four years but reduced it on account of Brennan's early guilty plea, his previous good character, his expressions of remorse and his good employment record. The judge pointed out that due to an administrative error on the part of the gardai, there was a significant delay in bringing the case to court, leaving Brennan with a reasonable expectation that no action was going to be taken. Judge Greally said it was unfortunate that the victim was subjected to a lengthy and anxious wait for court proceedings and she hoped the conclusion of the case would help in her recovery. The judge noted that while the woman still had some residual physical consequences including back pain, the most lasting and serious effect had been on her mental health. The court heard that the woman suffers from severe anxiety, panic attacks, night terrors and flashbacks where she remembers being punched and hearing her bones crack. She lives with those memories and finds it extremely difficult to shed them, said the judge. David Gray has announced that he's set to return to Cork as part of the 2019 Live at the Marquee line-up. Over his career, David has enjoyed phenomenal popularity in Ireland so we can imagine that there will be a very warm welcome for him when he takes to the stage of the Cork venue on July 7. A court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has sentenced to life in prison Matthew Hedges, a British PhD student charged with spying. An Abu Dhabi court Wednesday read out the verdict giving the 31-year academic 30 days to appeal the ruling. Matthew Hedges from Durham University in northern England was detained early May in Dubai on his way back home after spending several days in the Gulf country where he was conducting a research on foreign and internal security policies of the Arab country post the 2011 Arab Spring. Upon arrest, Hedges was charged with spying for a foreign state. Emirati authorities have not named the country but the British government lambasted the charges. The researcher was released temporarily end of October on bail but barred from leaving the country. Following the verdict, his wife, Daniela Tejada and supporters said the trial was void of normal procedure noting that Hedges was not provided with a lawyer during the five-minutes hearing. The entourage added that the British citizen was forced to sign a document in Arabic which he cannot understand and which appeared to be an admission. Tejada called on London to take a stand on her husbands case. UK Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt warned that the condemnation will bear repercussions for the relations between the two countries. The UAE is one of the UKs trade allies and is one of the leading buyers of British defense industry. I am deeply shocked and disappointed, said Jeremy Hunt. Todays verdict is not what we expect from a friend and trusted partner of the United Kingdom and runs contrary to earlier assurances. Update 12:00pm:Tickets are now sold out! Dublin is SOLD OUT. Thank you! We cant wait to see you #SpiceWorld2019 pic.twitter.com/BwA5Ryuo34 Tickets for the Spice Girs' Croke Park gig went on sale this morning and judging by social media it looks like a lot of fans were left disappointed. Well, it's time to turn those zig-a-zig-awwhhs into zig-a-zig-ahhhs as there are still tickets available, despite reports that it sold out in minutes. Grab tickets for the Upper Hogan and Cusack stands from 69.50 or if you're fast, a handful of Lower Cusack are also available from 89.50. The band will kick off their reunion tour in Croke Park on May 24 2019. It will also be bandmates Mel B, Mel C, Geri Halliwell and Emma Bunton's first time performing on our shores in 21 years. Update - 2.13pm Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he hoped the Brexit deal would soon be finalised as he arrived in Downing Street for talks. With Austria currently holding the rotating presidency of the EU, Mr Kurz told the PM: "And, of course, we are trying our best as presidency to keep the unity of the EU27. Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement about Brexit outside 10 Downing Street, London. Photo credit: David Mirzoeff/PA Wire. "There are some issues now regarding Gibraltar with Spain, but I hope that we can keep the unity among the 27. "And I hope that we will be able to finalise the Brexit and make sure there will be a strong cooperation between the UK and the European Union afterwards. Mrs May told the Austrian leader: "Last week we agreed the terms of our withdrawal from the European Union with the (European) commission. "And we now have an agreed text of the political declaration on the future relationship which, obviously, will be considered by leaders when we meet on Sunday at the special EU council." Earlier: Brexit deal within 'grasp' as draft document on UK-EU relationship agreed Theresa May has declared that final agreement on Brexit is "within our grasp" following a breakthrough agreement on future relations between the UK and EU. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister said a political declaration on post-Brexit relations agreed with Brussels is "the right plan for the UK" which will set the country on course for a brighter future. The draft declaration was agreed in principle on Thursday morning after negotiators worked through the night on new directions issued by Mrs May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker when they met in the Belgian capital on Wednesday evening. The breakthrough cleared the way for a special summit in Brussels on Sunday, at which leaders of the remaining 27 EU states are expected to give their stamp of approval to both the future framework and a separate withdrawal agreement setting out the terms of the UK's departure. Mrs May briefed members of her Cabinet on the new text in a conference call and was addressing MPs in a statement to the House of Commons later in the day. Speaking outside Number 10, she said: This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the vote of the referendum, it brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws and it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom. Confirming that she would return to Brussels on Saturday for further talks with Mr Juncker ahead of the summit, she added: "The British people want this to be settled, they want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future. "That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver on it." Earlier: Theresa May's Brexit plan clears another hurdle Theresa May's plan for Brexit has cleared another hurdle, after negotiators in Brussels agreed a text for the proposed political declaration on future EU/UK relations. European Council president Donald Tusk announced that the text had been agreed in draft form by EU and UK negotiators and "agreed in principle at political level". The announcement clears the way for a special Brexit summit to go ahead in Brussels on Sunday, when leaders of the 27 remaining EU states are expected to give their stamp of approval to the declaration alongside the 585-page withdrawal agreement setting out the terms of the UK's departure. It follows a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday evening between the Prime Minister and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, and is the first indication that the pair reached political agreement in principle on the text. Downing Street has repeatedly made clear that agreement is needed on the future framework - setting out aspirations in areas like trade and security co-operation and believed to run to a few dozen pages - in order to press ahead with the legally-binding withdrawal agreement. In a tweet, Mr Tusk said: "I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the Leaders. - PA Former Retail Food Group chief executive Tony Alford will have to pay the commonwealth's costs after his request to stay an order to appear at an inquiry into franchising was dismissed by the High Court. Ruling on the action brought by Mr Alford and business associate Alicia Atkinson on Thursday before the High Court, Justice Michelle Gordon said concerns the parties had about appearing before a joint parliamentary committee into the effectiveness of the franchising code were "ill defined and hypothetical". Tony Alford was previously head of Retail Food Group. Mr Alford and Ms Atkinson's legal representatives argued it was unconstitutional for a parliamentary committee to force individuals to attend the hearings. The attorney-general's office strongly denied this in a hearing on Wednesday in Melbourne, arguing the powers of committees were clear under the Australian Securities Commission Act. Mr Alford's legal representatives also argued he should not be forced to attend the hearing because this could have an impact on current defamation proceedings. "Viewble is meeting all obligations and has not broken any agreements to any client," Mr Reid said. He said the collapse of The Shoppers Network was to blame and he was trying to find an alternative advertising partner. "Viewble has spent great time and money to engage and find a new third party media partner and it will be the client's choice if they wish to drive ad revenue through their commercial display boards and this offer will be presented to them as soon as possible," he said. Mr Reid said he "travelled constantly" and was currently overseas but would be back in Australia in the next few days. Finance companies cash in Multipli was the main financier under the scheme and a well-placed source told Fairfax Media it received more than $3 million a month in payments from small business with ASX listed finance company Flexigroup, which operates Flexirent, receiving a similar amount. "This is Robin Hood in reverse this is the rich taking from small business owners," the source said. Rich Lister Christian Beck holds a 30 per cent stake in Multipli. Credit:Arsineh Houspian Multipli's major shareholder is rich lister Christian Beck who holds a 30 per cent stake and was awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year last year. Mr Beck told Fairfax Media his investment in Multipli is passive and he is not a director of the business. "It is something I am aware of from the press, but I don't know a lot," he said. A spokesperson for Multipli declined to comment on the amount of unpaid debt Multipli is dealing with as small businesses cancel their direct debits. The spokesperson said Multipli was approached by Viewble in 2016 which sought to refer customers seeking finance for the television systems that Viewble sells. "During that time we approved a number of Viewble Media customers for finance but that is the extent of our relationship with those customers," the spokesperson said. "We are a finance company only and had no knowledge about any other arrangements the customers may have made regarding their equipment." A spokesperson for Flexigroup said it was unaware of a relationship between Viewble and The Shoppers Network until October 18. The spokesperson said Flexigroup was aware of the issues some Viewble customers were experiencing and was corresponding with the small business ombudsman "on a case by case basis" to reach a satisfactory resolution. Small business ombudsman Kate Carnell has received over 380 complaints. Credit:Louie Douvis 'Systemic and serious' contraventions Small businesses are now turning to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority which is processing complaints against financiers Multipli and Flexigroup. A spokesperson for AFCA said the authority was seeking further information as part of its investigation. Loading "AFCA has received a number of complaints about this issue and has referred the issue to ASIC, as is our obligation in regards to reporting systemic and serious contraventions of financial services laws," the spokesperson said. Multipli and Flexigroup are both members of AFCA and so must abide by its complaint process, however many small businesses have also obtained finance through Northern Managed Finance and Grenke which are not members of AFCA. A spokesperson for Grenke said the company only supplied finance for less than a dozen Viewble customers. "For us it is not pleasant or nice to having customers complaining," he said. "We are still waiting to see if Viewble will take care of them and if they don't we will sit down with the ombudsman." Louis Trent, director at Northern Managed Finance, said the finance company wrote more than $5 million through Viewble but stopped dealing with the business more than two years ago. "Their volumes started increasing at a certain point very suddenly and when you see a businesses activity grow so quickly as a finance house you want to make sure they are doing the right thing by their clients and following the right processes," Mr Trent said. "I flew to the Sunshine Coast to see David Reid and asked him to open his books and give me an understanding of exactly how he was running his business." Mr Trent said he became alarmed when he realised Viewble's clients thought they were receiving the television for free because they would receive a rebate through advertising. "I asked him to open his books and show me where the advertising money was coming from and he could not provide that so once I saw that I thought there was a significant issue and major problem brewing," he said. "I told him we could not keep going." Mr Trent said Northern Managed Finance still had a "couple of hundred contracts" with Viewble customers. The Italian police Wednesday said it arrested an Egyptian man aged 22 on terror-related charges. He is accused of being the Islamic State group (ISIS) sympathizer. Issam Elsayed Elsayed Abouelayem Shalabi, a former McDonald cleaner according to the police, used social media chats to spread jihadist propaganda and led a small group of ISIS sympathizers, reports say. The man according to the Italian security authorities shared with the small group videos of the terror group on the Telegram app and a claim of responsibility by the terror group for a July ISIS attack in Tajikistan that killed four western cyclists. He is indicted for association with the aim of international terrorism and instigation of terrorist acts. The police also said a second Egyptian who has not been named is facing deportation after authorities ruled for his expulsion. The police is after a third Egyptian who is on the run. Diaz in the clear You will recall the controversy at the Sydney Writers Festival in early May when Junot Diaz was accused by fellow writer and guest Zinzi Clemmons of forcibly trying to kiss her six years earlier. Cue the almost immediate departure from Australia of Diaz, statements from other writers in support of Clemmons, and debate about the nature of subsequent statements issued both by the festival and Melbourne's Wheeler Centre where Diaz had been due to speak after his Sydney engagement. Diaz resigned as chairman of the board of the Pulitzer prize. Since then MIT, where Diaz teaches creative writing, has cleared him of sexual misconduct and The Boston Review has retained him as fiction editor. Now the Pulitzer people have decided that he can resume his duties as no allegations have been proven. Its independent investigation handled by a Washington law firm "lasted five months, involved interviews with dozens of witnesses and analysis of hundreds of pages of documents (as well as audiotapes, where available), and examined the steps taken by other relevant institutions to investigate this matter", the board said in a statement. Diaz has returned to the board, which he joined in 2010, until his term runs out in April. What odds on him getting another? The really long longlist The longlist for the International Dublin Literary Award formerly known as the Impac and won in its inaugural year of 1996 by David Malouf must be the longest such list in the world, consisting of 141 books. There are 14 Australian novels up for the 100,000 ($157,000) prize that aims to promote excellence in world literature. To get on the longlist you have to be nominated by a library. Some librarians are parochial in their choices, others not at all. So, for example, Michelle de Kretser's The Life to Come was nominated by the State Library of NSW, while Richard Flanagan's First Person was nominated by Tasmanian Libraries. But Flanagan's was also nominated by libraries in Ireland and New Zealand. Four Australian libraries SA, Victoria, Tasmania and the National Library in Canberra nominated Sofie Laguna's The Choke, while Mohsin Hamid's fable about refugees, Exit West, received the most nominations nine from libraries in Barbados, Germany, Canada and the US. The prize has not been won by a woman writer since 2000 when it went to Nicola Barker, who was only the second after Nobel winner Herta Muller in 1998. Perhaps Dublin is in need of a Stella prize. David Harold Eastman's bid to sue the ACT government for wrongful imprisonment is back on. An ACT Supreme Court jury on Thursday returned a not guilty verdict on whether Mr Eastman had murdered Colin Winchester in January, 1989. Lawyers have speculated Mr Eastman could be eligible for up to $20 million in compensation if he were to win a payout via the courts. The ACT government could, however, settle the matter out of court and provide Mr Eastman with an ex gratia payment. The retrial of David Harold Eastman for the assassination of ACT police chief Colin Stanley Winchester has cost about $6.5 million, new figures show. The former ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner said justice could not be measured in monetary terms. Mr Eastman was on Thursday found not guilty of the murder after a five-month trial in the ACT Supreme Court. The ACT government said costs associated with Mr Eastman's retrial, including pre-trial and other related proceedings, were about $4.1 million in 2017-18. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size On June 4, 2018, David Harold Eastman began a second chance at justice. The scene where the man formerly convicted of the cold-blooded killing of Canberra's most senior police officer would begin this once unthinkable scenario was an unceremonious back entrance at the rear of Yarralumlas Albert Hall, among the garbage bins. The former public servant was ushered inside by his lawyer while hundreds of potential jurors queued at the front. The first trial in 1995 was a shambles, marked in part by the chaos Eastman himself brought upon it. As the trial judge remarked at the time, Eastman had committed forensic suicide, dooming himself to conviction. A judicial inquiry nearly 20 years later found there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice. Acting Justice Brian Martin declared a retrial would neither be feasible, nor fair. He made that conclusion and another - that while he was almost certain of Eastman's guilt, he retained a nagging doubt. The 2018 jury also had a doubt, and on November 22, on their seventh day of deliberations, they returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty to the murder of Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester. David Eastman at court this year accused of the 1989 murder of police chief Colin Winchester. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong The man Eastman's temper is infamous, perhaps one explanation for why tension grew around his name as the trial crept closer. There is a long list of people he has offended or physically assaulted, including a fellow student while at university. He once assaulted a female journalist and punched the deputy registrar of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (he had an assault conviction overturned on appeal on a technicality), and another time crushed a secretary's hand in a door. A sketch of David Eastman's first trial. Credit:Ian Sharpe Advertisement In September 1992, Eastman forced staff to wheel him from the court after he refused to move in protest. During the first trial, Eastman routinely attacked his lawyers, in one particularly vitriolic stream of abuse describing one barrister as "this evil, twisted little dwarf". In fairness to Eastman, it has been a long time since his poor behaviour, or his rage and anger, made headlines. But the courts memory is slow to fade. During the retrial this year the question that was often on the mind of those familiar with his in-court antics was how was the notorious disrupter behaving now? In the event, the former Treasury official was a model defendant, at least in public. An unexplained turnaround from his former theatrics.. With newfound discipline, he did not sack one lawyer, at odds with the carnage of a case he left behind after sending his defence team packing 11 times during his first. Instead of throwing a jug at a judicial officer, as he did to one magistrate in 1992, he sipped water from a plastic cup. Where he once abused the corrupt shit of a judge and swore at the prosecutor, this time he was silent and restrained. He thanked the jury and judge at the verdict. David Eastman in court. Credit:David Pope Eastmans intemperate actions at the first trial gave way to a studied if never fully relaxed ability to sit back and let his lawyers do the talking this time around. That meant trial number two was professional, smooth, and mostly uneventful. The 73 year old, in his daily uniform of black sneakers, neat cuffed jeans, pressed collared shirt, and navy sweater, sat placid and alone at the back of the court, each day unpacking a bottle of water and a notebook from a tattered plastic Aldi bag, and jotting on the occasional Post-It note for his lawyers. Advertisement Was this almost timid, elderly man the same one who spent 19 years in jail for the brutal murder of a respected police chief? The public will only ever know a portion of why this jury came to the conclusion it did. Eastman - whom one witness described as suffering a persecution complex before the defence objected to the opinion - still had grievances and sought to communicate them, but now it was via a delicate word from a sheriff or lawyer. A complaint about a sniffing journalist in the public gallery, and another about a member of the public sitting too close behind him. Eastman the accused was emotionally inscrutable but when it came to the evidence his steely gaze did not waver, even when graphic images of Colin Winchesters slain body paused on the screen in front of him. One witness had to be ushered from the room by the sheriffs while complaining loudly about why Eastman was allowed to eyeball him but he couldnt return the favour. The question about Eastman's behaviour at the first trial was whether he was deliberately acting out to get a retrial on appeal, believing the bad press would mean a second trial would never take place, or whether he was simply out of control, a product of his mental health. Loading Maybe he was out of luck when the ACT director of public prosecutions in office at the time made the unpopular and unlikely decision to prosecute Eastman for a second time. Advertisement The unanswered question now is what tamed him? Was it age and weariness? Treatment of his mental health? Or was it the base fear of being sent back to jail? The jury When this latest jury was empanelled on June 4, Acting Justice Murray Kellam, a retired member of the Victorian judiciary, told the 500-odd crowd that whoever did not think they could perform their duties as a juror on this case could leave. The tactic must have been effective because the 16 finally chosen were dedicated to the enormous task before them. Their impassive faces would break only to share the occasional joke with the judge or lawyers. They sat patiently for months absorbing the mountains of material before them. Inside the court room during David Eastman's trial. Credit:David Pope They also became friends. Three months into the trial, the jurors asked whether they could meet socially, outside of courtroom hours. There was talk of a picnic in Tidbinbilla. A diplomatic Acting Justice Kellam let them down gently, while thanking the members for their integrity and honesty. The jury lost one of their number early on after a member of the public dobbed her in. Despite all his warnings not to talk about the case outside the jury room, a note to the judge from the anonymous citizen suggested the juror had been boasting about her role in the Eastman trial at a local massage joint and about how she had already made up her mind - not guilty. The juror was dismissed, the remaining members left to guess why. Another juror later fell sick and was also excused. Advertisement The jurors to their credit remained attentive until the last moment. When it came time for the ballot and for the jury to be whittled down from the remaining 14 to 12, in a sad moment, one of the more studious jurors was selected to leave. She shook her head in bitter disbelief. October 11 was the last day the trial was to sit in the old Supreme Court building and a constant buzzing noise gave one juror a headache. It could not be fixed and the other jury courtroom was just as bad. The old building seemed to have given up so the judge abandoned the days work and sent everyone home for an extra long weekend. On October 15, the trial moved into the new court room. It was fitting that Eastman, whose history is intertwined with the ACT Supreme and Magistrates Court, should also appear as defendant in the new building. David Eastman. Credit:Lukas Coch The trial There were many reasons not to hold a retrial after the first miscarried, damaged irreparably by deeply flawed forensic evidence. There was the exorbitant cost to the taxpayer, Eastmans age (he turned 73 during the trial) and the time since Winchester's murder, to name a few. Acting Justice Martin, the head of a judicial inquiry that found Eastmans 1995 conviction should be quashed, considered a retrial would be both unfeasible and unfair. Advertisement Hours after Renae Lawrence touched down in Australia for the first time in more than 13 years, the NSW Police Commissioner has confirmed the convicted drug smuggler would be taken to court over her outstanding arrest warrants in coming days. Ms Lawrence, 41, was allegedly involved in a police chase using a stolen car on the Central Coast on March 26, 2005. Renae Lawrence touches down in Brisbane on Thursday morning. Credit:AAP Gosford Local Court issued two warrants for her arrest in June that year, although she was already in an Indonesian prison awaiting trial. On Thursday, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said that, despite believing Ms Lawrence had "paid the price for her sins", the outstanding matters would be resolved via "arrest by appointment" in the coming days. Parents will be able to choose between ethics and religious education on a single form next year after the NSW government moved to scrap a system that made it harder to opt out of scripture classes. The new form will inform parents of all the options available at a school. It will replace a version that didn't suggest ethics classes as a possibility, and forced parents to contact the school if they preferred a non-religious alternative. A new form will let parents choose between religion and ethics during scripture classes. Credit:AP "We are seeking to resolve the long-standing concerns about transparency relating to parental choice between religious or secular ethics, or nothing at all," said Education Minister Rob Stokes. "This will also make it simpler for schools. "With the existing process, you are required to effectively label your child. You identify what religion you would like them to be instructed in. Why should governments be collecting data about religious preferences in an education context?" A driver accused of killing a teenage girl and a heavily pregnant newlywed in a Sydney car crash had allegedly been drinking for about eight hours in the lead-up to the collision, a court has heard. Police allege Richard Moananu was driving more than 45 km/h over the speed limit when his Mazda 3 crossed to the wrong side of the road in Orchard Hills and collided with a Nissan Tiida in September. Katherine and Bronko Hoang married just months before the tragic crash. Credit:Facebook Both the 17-year-old learner driver and 23-year-old passenger Katherine Hoang, who was heavily pregnant with twins, died at the scene. Her unborn babies didn't survive and her husband Bronko Hoang, who was also a passenger, was taken to hospital in a critical condition. The $650 million Kingsford Smith Drive project will be delayed by up to one year after what was described as a "retaining wall" was found in the Brisbane River. The road project was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2019, but on Thursday while lord mayor Graham Quirk was announcing the nearing completion of the 1.2 kilometre riverwalk, it was revealed the road would be delayed by between six months to a year. The joint Brisbane City Council and federal government project aims to increase the capacity of Kingsford Smith Drive, reduce traffic congestion and improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. Lord mayor Graham Quirk and councillor Amanda Cooper at Kingsford Smith Drive. Credit:Jocelyn Garcia, Fairfax Media Cr Quirk said geotechnical work by a contractor had revealed a section of the project was causing a problem for council. How do we know our money is going to a good cause? This is the time of year when we think not only about ourselves and what we would like for Christmas, its also the time we think about donating money to charity. It's the season of giving but how do we know our money is going to a good cause? Credit:Andrew Quilty So heres a little primer on how to be a good donor, how to be a good charity; and what companies should do to make sure they are also supporting good causes. And, most importantly, how to make sure that the charities you support are doing the best they can do with the money they receive. That last one is hard because sometimes it can be really difficult to separate what a charity says its doing with what it is really doing. Earlier this year, news broke that Oxfam Great Britain aid workers had exploited women in Haiti, that male aid workers had sex with women for money. My own view isnt that sex work is bad but whats bad is that these women were also beneficiaries of the aid Oxfam was distributing, so the power relationships were corrupted. It made these women so much more vulnerable at a time of great upheaval. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:James Ross From north of the Murray it has been depressing to watch the Liberal opposition's irresponsible scare campaign about African gangs in the lead up to the Victorian state election to be held on Saturday. The opposition has trumpeted the slogan that Victoria is a "state of disorder" and highlighted crimes, such as acts of public disorder captured on video, by a tiny group of about 200 young men of Sudanese background. Former Federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, imagining himself in Mogadishu and not Melbourne, joined the hustings with the laughably paranoid claim that people in Melbourne were scared to go out to dinner. This is dangerous race-based politics and should not be allowed to spread north of the border. Prosecutors had alleged both Ban and Wan "acted together in the murder" of Ms Chen. It had been alleged the murder was carried out in the bedroom of Ms Chen's Mosman Park home. During the trial the father and daughter both blamed each other for the killing and each claimed they were only an accessory. On the opening day of the trial prosecutors conceded the case against the pair was "circumstantial" and that no motive for the murder had been established. But in his sentencing remarks on Thursday Justice Joe McGrath said Ban had inflicted the fatal wounds on Ms Chen during a heated argument in her bedroom, while Wan remained downstairs. Justice McGrath said Ban had flown into Perth to meet with Ms Chen not with an intention to kill her, but to discuss Ms Wan's upcoming university graduation ceremony. Justice McGrath said sometime during that discussion in the upstairs bedroom, an argument began and Ban killed Ms Chen with a blunt object. "You murdered your former spouse in her own home," Justice McGrath said. "After inflicting the brutal attack...you displayed a callous indifference to the body of the deceased. "You appear to have shown no remorse at anytime." Justice McGrath ruled Ban put Ms Chen's body in the suitcase and dumped it in the Swan River by himself. Ban had previously admitted to losing his reading glasses in the river while disposing of the body, by balancing the suitcase on a cutting board which was tied to a scooter. The glasses which were found by police divers. Credit:WA Supreme Court Justice McGrath said Wan had helped her father in covering up the murder by washing his clothes, removing footprints from Ms Chen's home and sending text messages to her mother, even though she knew she was dead. Justice McGrath said Wan did this due to some "misguided loyalty" to her father. "Your assistance was prolonged and sustained," Justice McGrath said of Wan's conduct. "You told persistent lies to the police...you knew your mother was dead." The court heard Wan had offered to plead guilty to accessory before the trial started this year, but that offer was rejected by the state. During the trial both Ban and Wan gave evidence. Ban had claimed both he and his daughter disposed of Ms Chen's body in the Swan River, only after he was confronted with a "horrible scenario" once he arrived in Perth on June 30 via Singapore. That scenario, he had claimed, involved an argument between his daughter and ex-wife on June 27 or 28 at her home, which resulted in her death. "She (Tiffany) dragged me into this situation," Mr Ban testified during the trial. Wan's defence lawyer Simon Freitag put it to Mr Ban in the witness stand that he "could take responsibility" for what he had done and that he had killed Ms Chen in the bedroom of her home. "That is not true sir ... I wouldn't do that," Ban responded. "I didn't kill Annabelle, that is a true fact." In her evidence Wan insisted she would never hurt her mother, rejecting claims she painted over a wall in Ms Chen's bedroom to conceal the crime or that she begged her father for help. She cried in the witness box when she admitted sending Ms Chen messages after she knew her mother was dead, saying she had "trouble accepting the whole thing", and also admitted lying in her police statement. Outside court on Thursday Wan's defence lawyer Simon Freitag spoke briefly to the media. UPDATED: The police officer central to the fatal shooting of a man in Beechboro last week has been stood down from duty as Homicide Squad investigates. A WA Police statement confirmed on Thursday the officer had been stood down, pending the results of the investigation. "The investigation is ongoing and WA Police Force will not be making further comment at this time," the statement read. The scene in Beechboro. Credit:9 News Perth. Reports in the wake of the man's death on Thursday last week suggested he may have been holding a knife when he was shot. The nation's peak business group has slammed the Morrison government's energy plan as "ad hoc and extreme" in a warning on the need for a policy to deal with carbon emissions as well as prices. The Business Council of Australia declared the government's proposed new powers over the energy market set a "dangerous precedent" and threaten the country's ability to attract investment raising concerns about sovereign risk. The rebuke to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Energy Minister Angus Taylor is especially powerful because it warns of long-term damage to electricity reliability and affordability the two problems the politicians are claiming to fix. The sharp criticism, lodged in a detailed submission on Thursday, urges the government to proceed with the National Energy Guarantee and its scheme to reduce emissions, despite Coalition declarations that the policy is "dead". Agents of foreign powers will be forced to reveal their activities in a new regime to begin within weeks, as the federal government toughens rules on lobbyists and others who could influence the next election. The Morrison government will launch the scheme on December 10 after warnings from security agencies that Australia is "susceptible" to the foreign interference experienced in the US presidential election two years ago. Attorney-General Christian Porter. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Attorney-General Christian Porter will take changes to Parliament in the next fortnight to make sure the new regime is in place before the federal election, cutting short a "grace period" for those who act for foreign governments. Mr Porter said the new powers were strong enough to allow security agencies to act against any interference during an election campaign, so they could refer matters for prosecution without needing a ministerial decision during caretaker mode. Australian-born extremists convicted of terror offences could soon be stripped of their citizenship, under radical legal changes bound for federal parliament. The proposed new laws would allow a minister to strip Australian citizenship from a convicted terrorist if they were "reasonably satisfied" the person was entitled to foreign citizenship in another country. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also wants to introduce "temporary exclusion orders" of up to two years for foreign fighters returning from conflict zones in the Middle East. Mr Morrison will introduce new laws within weeks allowing the minister to strip citizenship from dual nationals convicted of terrorism, regardless of the length of their sentence. While Labor did not reveal the cost of its financing plan, similar schemes in the past have incurred significant expenses including the interest paid on the debt. Mr Shorten said his policy was to inject another $10 billion into the Clean Energy Finance Corporation over five years from next year, if Labor won the election. The initial investment of $10 billion in the corporation when it was established in 2011 cost $312 million in expenses over four years. The $10 billion was not counted as an expense because the investments are treated as assets. Energy Minister Angus Taylor warned that the electricity grid was already seeing a surge of investment in renewable power projects that could not deliver reliable power around the clock. "This is just a policy without balance," he told Fairfax Media. "They are encouraging huge investments in intermittent power over and above the $15 billion that is already being spent, which is at record levels. Loading "Thats why we have to take a break and absorb the investment we have now, not layer another $15 billion on top." Mr Taylor is developing similar plans to underwrite new projects but wants them to provide "dispatchable" power such as gas, hydro or coal-fired electricity as well as solar and wind with battery storage. Minerals Council of Australia chief Tania Constable said the Labor policy "discriminated" against other forms of energy and chose to "pick winners" by subsidising renewables. Former chief executive of the CEFC Oliver Yates, a Liberal Party veteran and former Macquarie banker, said Labors $10 billion investment boost to the organisation was "very sensible" and would ensure the cost of capital did not rise as a result of stimulating investment in the renewable sector. "Given the build out [of new projects] that is required by 2030 to get to 50 per cent renewables, that means the demand for capital is high in that sector," he said. "If you want to actually lower the power price ... you want to inject capital into that market. Having another lender come into the market will actually help hold down borrowing costs." Mr Yates said federal Labors plan for reverse auctions to attract new projects at the lowest cost was a proven way to provide investor certainty and had worked well in the ACT and Victoria. He said this approach would provide stability and the lowest-cost electricity following years of national energy policy upheaval. "This market has been trashed with uncertainty. That means investors are requiring a higher risk premium because of the uncertainty government policy has provided, Mr Yates said. Loading "What a reverse auction does is, because the government provides a long term contract, it removes that risk from the project so the project can bid at the lowest price possible." Mr Yates said if Labor was to rely solely on reviving the National Energy Guarantee, an investor would be "still subject to worrying a future government could come in and throw it out the window". Mr Yates said while taxpayers paid the cost of interest on government borrowing used to fund CEFC investments, this was less than the average returns the corporation generated, meaning taxpayers were not worse off. The corporation was established to be "a sustainable institution and [that] means trying not to burn your money or cost the taxpayer money," he said. Australian Energy Council chief executive Sarah McNamara, whose organisation represents major generators, said Labors decision to resurrect the National Energy Guarantee correctly identified that stable policy was the key to greater investment and lower energy prices. Greens climate change and energy spokesman Adam Bandt said Labors policy was timid and "will keep coal in the system for decades". Parliamentary Library analysis commissioned by the Greens last month showed Australia would need to shut 12 of its coal power stations by 2030 to do its share to avoid the worst global warming impacts predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "Scavenging a policy from the Liberals rubbish bin is not good enough. As a climate policy, this will do nothing to stop the planet burning," Mr Bandt said. Premier Daniel Andrews says the $15.8 billion North East Link toll road first promised a decade ago will be fully funded by the Victorian government if he is re-elected on Saturday. And Mr Andrews said work on tendering the project to construction companies would start on Monday if Labor wins office at this week's poll. An artist's impression of a proposed North East Link interchange. Credit:North East Link Authority At a press conference next to the Metropolitan Ring Road, Mr Andrews talked above the noise of traffic to promise the freeway around Melbourne that was started 30 years ago would be completed by the North East Link. Both Labor and the Liberal Party have promised to deliver the North East Link, although Opposition Leader Matthew Guy whose seat of Bulleen is affected by the current proposed route has vowed to review it if he wins office on Saturday night. Labor would borrow more than $25 billion, doubling Victoria's debt level from 6 per cent to 12 per cent of gross state product, to pay for three of its key election promises. But the treasurer, Tim Pallas, insists the states AAA credit rating is under no threat. In contrast, the Coalition insists it can afford its own commitments while shaving back net debt. It would also defer a series of level crossing removals until beyond the next four years if elected to cut down on costs. Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas. Credit:Eddie Jim Both major parties announced their final campaign costings on Thursday afternoon, 48 hours before the close of polls. They were once seen and not heard, but a new generation of well-paid government spin doctors are now taking to social media to defend their political masters, ridicule opposition MPs and confront journalists. Traditionally the role of political staffers was to assist the Premier and his ministers to respond to requests for information from the media. Premier Mark McGowan speaks at a media conference alongside his communications director Daniel Pastorelli. Credit:Nathan Hondros But Premier Mark McGowan's Director of Communications Daniel Pastorelli courted controversy yesterday when he took to Twitter to liken opposition tourism spokeswoman Libby Mettam to folk tale character Chicken Little. He accused her of "negativity" after she questioned the government's decision to sell naming rights to Optus Stadium ahead of next year's visit by UK football team Manchester United. Athens: A Greek cleaning lady has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for fibbing about her elementary school record in a court ruling which has provoked uproar in the country. The 53-year-old woman had worked at a publicly-funded nursery for 15 years until a review in 2014 revealed she had doctored a certificate documenting her primary education. A regional court handed down the sentence this month on charges of defrauding the public, according to the semi-official Athens News Agency. "This decision is not simply inhuman. It is another very indicative sign of permanent pathogens in the criminal justice system," the Hellenic League for Human Rights said in a statement. Based on the indictment, the woman - who has not been named - altered the certificate to show she had completed six years of elementary school, a requirement which helped her get hired as a cleaner, whereas she had finished only five. A Ghanaian policewoman on Monday won an International Female Police Peacekeeper Award from the United Nations Mission in Somalia. Chief Superintendent of Police, Mrs. Phyllis Ama Tebuah Osei, was selected for the Award as her policing work directly and positively impacted the community and the host state police in Jubaland, Somalia, the UN said. According to the UN, her contributions to enhancing the protection of women and girls, as well as her initiatives to promote womens rights in the host state police, embody the spirit of the Award. Officer Osei has been particularly successful at initiating adult literacy training for 49 female police officers in Jubaland. The trainings overall goal is to improve their literacy and increase their chances for future promotions. She also formed a Female Peacekeeper Network (FPN) within UNSOM and AMISOM to provide support to female peacekeepers. It is an honor to work for UNSOM, where I assisted in strengthening activities on gender and child-related issues, said Osei. I also support the police in Jubaland on issues of Justice and Human Rights, she added. United Nations Police Adviser, Commissioner Luis Carrilho, praised the awardee for her exemplary conduct. Ms. Osei was deployed to Somalia in February 2018, he said. Known as the United Nations Female Police Officer of the Year Award (formerly the International Female Police Peacekeeper Award), the gong is awarded annually. 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 India's biggest state-owned crude oil refiner Indian Oil Corp Ltd aims to lift full volumes under its 2018/19 annual contract with Iran, a company official said on Thursday. The company has a deal to buy 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) Iranian oil this financial year. He said India's overall oil imports from Iran could surpass last year's level. Indian state refiners cut imports from Iran in the last financial year due to a dispute over the development rights of a large gas field. ALSO READ: India's crude oil import jumps 10.5% in Oct, hits highest ... on Thursday said it has plans to increase its manufacturing capacity to 44-45 million tonnes per annum by 2030 from the present 19 million tonnes. "We have plans for our Vijayanagar Works unit, where already work is on to take the capacity from 12 MTPA to 13 million (by August 2019) and on our drawing board we are preparing how we can build this unit for 18 MTPA (by FY 22)," Deputy Managing Director Vinod Nowal said. Speaking to reporters here, he said, the Vijayanagar plant has the potential to grow up to 23-24 MTPA, becoming thelargest steel producer at a single location in the world, in the years to come, with the availability of more "Likewise has plans to go for 44-45 MTPA by 2030, this is part of expansion plan," he added. ALSO READ: JSW Steel to invest over Rs 50 bn for boosting downstream manufacturing According to company officials, JSW Steel is the largest producer of steel in India, with a capacity of 19 MTPA. The largest contributor to the company's overall capacity is from its plant at Vijayanagar in Ballari district in Karnataka, which is about 12 MTPA. There were plans to increase capacity at various other plants like Salem, Dolvi, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Nowal said adding it had a plan to build a total 5-8 million tonne steel capacity abroad, at its plants in the US and Italy. Noting that JSW Steel has implemented Total Quality Management (TQM) at its Vijayanagar Works steel-making unit as part of its journey towards quality excellence, the company officials said, TQM implementation has enabled JSW Steel, over the past five years, to drive operational efficiency and strengthen its customer service operation. In October 2018, JSW Steels's Vijayanagar works unit was awarded the highest global quality honour, "The Deming Prize", for its TQM practices. The company now intends to implement TQM across all its steel manufacturing units, the officials said adding that TQM implementation at its Salem Works in Tamil Nadu is on track and its implementation at Dolvi Works in Maharashtra is expected to be completed by 2020. Stating that India is rich in iron ore, whether it is Odisha, Chattisgarh or Karnataka- there are good reserves, Nowal in response to a question, urged that the government has to properly formalise the policy. "...there is no meaning (in)-we should not use our Whatever we have today, their requirement will be for next 20-25 years. After that whatever steel is there will get recycled, and then the dependence on iron ore is going to be reduced," he said. Noting that when there is iron ore in India, and there was no need to import it, Nowal said, "we are importing because of lesser production." Referring to the situation in Ballari as example, he said "...requirement of the industry is 32 million tonnes, production is 28 million, and there is shortage of 4 million, which is being sourced from outside Karnataka like Odisha or imports. I can say it is very funny, when we have so many reserves." There is need for more and more exploration, more mining so that industries come and there are value additions, instead of importing or bringing from other states, he added. Largest ATM supplier on Thursday called for multi-stakeholder talks like the ones carried out during the demonetisation days to resolve the problems being faced by the cash vending machines industry now. The industry body, Confederation of ATM Industry (Catmi), had on Wednesday warned that nearly half of the 238,000 machines closing down due to regulatory changes making the business, which saw a reduction in the number of new ATMs installations this year, unviable. "There is a need for the banks, managed service providers (MSPs) and the regulators to discuss and resolve the issues, just like we had done during demonetisation," managing director Navroze Dastur told PTI here. Dastur said there can be a working group or a committee to sort out issues. It is the MSPs and white-label ATM operators which are the most impacted as the costs have gone up without a corresponding increase in revenues as most of their contracts are linked per transaction, he explained. Typically, ATMs next to branches are installed and managed by the banks themselves, while the "offsite" ones are done by the MSPs, he said. also has a MSP vertical and takes care of 25,000 ATMs, he said, affirming commitment to continue with it. He warned that cash is back in the system and ATMs and cash worth over 26 per cent of GDP is routed through the ATM network at present. "We cannot afford any disruption in ATMs," he said. Dastur said there has been a reduction in the number of new ATMs installed this year, and pointed out that the demand for replacements is keeping suppliers like it busy. Up to 12,000 new machines will be installed in 2018, said Dastur, whose company has a 50 per cent market share in the segment. The Catmi had warned that closure of the ATMs will impact thousands of jobs and also the financial inclusion efforts of government, the industry body said in a statement. A majority ATMs which can be shut down will be in the non-urban areas, it said, underlining that this can impact the financial inclusion efforts as beneficiaries use the machines to withdraw government subsidies. The industry body said that recent regulatory changes, including those on hardware and software upgrades, coupled with mandates on cash management standards and the cassette swap method of loading cash, will make ATM operations unviable, resulting in the closure. It is estimated that new cash logistics and cassette swap method will alone result in costs of Rs 30 billion for the industry. In his first interaction after the merger of the two companies, chief executive Balesh Sharma said on Thursday that all the three operators were burning cash and no one could expect them to invest in such a situation. Blaming the low Arpu, or average revenue per user, for the cash flow troubles that the domestic telcos face and the resultant ... 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 Malawi gold rush has gained momentum as thousands of prospectors are digging, shoveling and sifting soil in the age-old search for a nugget that will transform their lives. The miners many of them women head back down the deep holes dug on the riverbanks in the southern African nation. An informal system of bosses and employees has also sprung up, alongside a makeshift collection of plastic shelters offering basic accommodation. Malawi is an exciting new gold producing country in Africa, with most of its gold resources still unexplored, experts say. According to Africanews, gold mined from villages is currently fetching around $34 per gram. Most of the gold is sold in neighboring countries including Mozambique, Tanzania or Zambia. It is proving to be a lifeline for the thousands of villagers who have flocked to the area to mine the mineral Illegally. Local media reported that artisanal and small-scale miners (ASMs) who are mining gold in different areas of the country have defied an order from the government to stop the illegal mining activities, which have been associated with a myriad of health, social and environmental problems. The International Monetary Fund, has ranked Malawi as the third-poorest country in the world. Almost a month after 60 people lost their lives, the probe by Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS) into the on Vijaya Dashami day has blamed the "negligence" and "trespassing" of people standing near the railway tracks for the disaster. "In his report, the CCRS S K Pathak has concluded that the reason for the accident is negligence of persons who trespassed on railway tracks," official sources said. The CCRS has noted that there were around 50 policemen on duty for the Dussehra function near Joda Pathak in Amritsar where the burning of the effigies of Ravan and others was on. "Some of the policemen tried to move the crowd away from tracks but the crowd did not listen to them," they said quoting from the report. The probe report found that the spot of the accident was not visible till the train was within 250 meters of the crowd of revellers due to a S-curve on the route. The incident took place at around 7 p.m. and there was smoke in the atmosphere due to fire-crackers and burning of Ravan's effigy. "Otherwise visibility on straight track with headlights on is 200 meters," the report said. The CCRS also pointed out that the permissible maximum speed on the route was 100 kmph and at the time of the accident the train was running at a speed of 82 kmph when the loco-pilot of the DEMU saw the crowd and applied emergency brakes. "In trial, it was seen that braking distance of the DEMU (Diesel Engine Multiple Unit) at this speed is 389 meters for similar speed," the source said. Pathak also reported that no information was given about the Dussehra event to the railways by the organisers or the local administration. The Railway ministry had ordered a CCRS probe on November 2 after Amritsar MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla met Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on October 23 and demanded an investigation. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had already ordered a magisterial probe. The magisterial probe report on the tragedy was submitted to the Punjab government on Wednesday. Pathak took the statements of numerous witnesses including those of Railway officials and the public. He also examined the technical aspects before preparing the report on the tragedy in which about 60 people were also injured when the DEMU train ran over the crowd that had gathered on the railway tracks near Joda Phatak in Amritsar on October 19 for watching the Dussehra proceedings. The agitation will continue in the island citys maidan till the demands of the protesting farmers are met, according to a report in The Week. The key demands of the farmers are the fulfilment of the promises that were made by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis after the long march from Nasik to Mumbai in March this year. We have been consistently asking the state government to fulfil our long-standing demands, but ... 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 The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by beleaguered businessman seeking a stay on a request made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to declare him a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties. The ED had filed an application before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court seeking the 'fugitive' tag for Mallya under the Fugitive Economic Offenders' Act, 2018. Under the provisions of the Act, once a person is declared a fugitive economic offender, then the prosecuting agency has the powers to confiscate the accused persons' properties. Mallya had filed an application in the lower court seeking a stay on the hearing on the ED's plea till November 26 when the appellate tribunal functioning under the PMLA would hear matters filed by a consortium of banks seeking their dues back. The special court had on October 30 rejected Mallya's application, following which the liquor baron had approached the high court. Mallya's counsel Amit Desai Thursday told a division bench of Justices R M Savant and V K Jadhav that his pleas should not be misunderstood as a ploy to run away from the proceedings. "We are also anxious to clear the dues and to see to it that the creditors get their dues back. We only do not want the properties to be seized by the Enforcement Directorate, which would then hamper the process of clearance of dues," Desai said. ALSO READ: Vijay Mallya faces setback in saving his posh London home from foreclosure The high court, however, said it was not inclined to grant any relief. "The application has been filed at the threshold and at a very premature stage when the lower court is still hearing the prosecuting agency's request to declare him (Mallya) a fugitive economic offender," the court said in its order. The bench, while dismissing the plea filed by Mallya, said the lower court shall hear the application filed by the ED on merits. The Supreme Court Wednesday closed contempt proceedings against BJP MP for breaking the civic agency's seal on premises in New in September even as it slammed him for levelling frivolous allegations against the court-mandated committee, saying it shows how "low he can stoop". The court, however, reprimanded him severely, calling him a rebel without a cause and termed his action misplaced bravado. A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said the court was "extremely pained" due to his conduct as he is an elected representative and deprecated his action of taking into his own hands. The bench said Tiwari levelled frivolous allegations against court-mandated committee on sealing, which shows how "low he can stoop". The apex court also said that "misplaced political propaganda has no place" and "such practices should be deprecated". Tiwari, a member of parliament from Northeast Delhi, had broken the lock of a house sealed by EDMC in his constituency on September 16. The property in question housed an illegal dairy owing to which it was locked by the authorities. Tiwari had later justified breaking the lock and questioned as to why only one house had been sealed when there were 1,000 other such houses in the locality. Taking note of a complaint of the Supreme Court set-up monitoring committee, the top court had on September 19 issued contempt notice against him and slammed him for taking into his own hands. It had also asked him to come up with the list of 1,000 unauthorised properties and offered to make him the sealing officer. Though Tiwari later said he did not mean to disrespect the court, he justified his action by saying it was forced to do a symbolic affirmative protest against the sealing as the monitoring committee had overstepped its jurisdiction. An FIR was also lodged against Tiwari by the EDMC for allegedly breaking the seal of the premises in Gokalpuri area in north-east on September 16. The court had on October 30 reserved its order after hearing arguments in the matter during which Tiwari had accused the court-mandated monitoring committee of "terrorising" people of ALSO READ: Supreme Court summons Manoj Tiwari The panel, however, had claimed that he was trying to make the court a "political battleground". Tiwari had claimed before the top court that monitoring committee has exceeded its jurisdiction and conducted sealing drive in unauthorised colonies here that were protected under the Tiwari's counsel had said a mob of around 1,500 people had gathered at the spot and if the MP had not broken the seal in a "token protest", any untoward incident could have happened there. He had also argued that there was no violation of the top court order in the matter, as projected by the committee. The top court had earlier ordered restoration of its 2006 monitoring committee to identify and seal unauthorised structures in Delhi. The monitoring committee, comprising K J Rao, former advisor to the Election Commissioner, Bhure Lal, chairman of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, and Major General (Retd) Som Jhingan, was set up on March 24, 2006, by the top court. Pakistan on Thursday welcomed India's decision to build a corridor from Punjab to Pakistan's Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, the final resting place of Guru Nanak. Calling the Indian cabinet decision a victory for the peace lobby in both countries, Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry said New Delhi's move was an endorsement of Islamabad's proposition on the issue. "It is a step in the right direction and we hope such steps will encourage voice of reason and tranquility on both sides of the border," Chaudhry tweeted. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shahd Mehmood Qureshi said that Prime Minister Imran Khan will lay the foundation stone for on November 28. ALSO READ: India to build corridor from Gurdaspur to IB to facilitate Sikh pilgrims The corridor's opening will form part of Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary celebrations. "We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion," the Minister added. Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, which is three kilometres from the India-Pakistan border, is the final resting place of Guru Nanak, who founded Sikhism. The on Thursday said it would make a non-bailable and cognisable offence in the state punishable with life imprisonment. While the state Legislative Assembly passed the bill making necessary amendments for this, it was yet to be cleared by the Legislative Council. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat informed the Legislative Council earlier in the day the government would amend the existing law to provide for life imprisonment to offenders. Prevention of (Maharashtra Amendment) Act will be tabled in the House during the current winter session, he had said. Responding to a calling-attention notice by Congress' Bhai Jagtap, the minister said the government was aware of the consequences of and is committed to stop it. Jagtap said milk processing companies collect milk from farmers but it turns "poisonous" by the time it reaches consumers. "Substances like detergent powder, urea, skimmed milk powder, caustic soda, glucose, refined oil, salt and starch are mixed in milk to preserve it, thereby endangering the lives of people who consume it," he said. People cannot detect adulteration easily and despite surprise checks by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), such malpractices continue unabated, he said. Later in the day, the Assembly passed the bill by a voice vote amid din by opposition members on Maratha and Dhangar quota issue. It amended sections 272 to 276 of the Indian Penal Code and the first schedule of the Criminal Procedure Code. The bill said that adulteration of milk and other food products, as well as medicines, is a serious threat to people's health. Until now, the offences are punishable with imprisonment up to six months or fine which may extend to Rs one thousand or both, it said. As the offences were non-cognisable and bailable, the police, food safety officers and drug inspectors could not arrest the accused easily which affected probe, it said, explaining the rationale behind the amendment. Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have passed similar legislations. The bill is yet to be tabled before the Legislative Council. Thursday said the second accused in the Amritsar grenade attack, which left three people dead and over 20 injured, will be arrested soon. Two motorcycle-borne men threw a grenade on a religious congregation on the outskirts of Amritsar on Sunday. An alleged operative of militant organisation Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), identified as Bikramjit Singh (26) was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the attack. The second accused has been identified as Avtar Singh. Senior Superintendent of Police Amritsar (Rural) Parmpal Singh said Avtar Singh will be nabbed soon as various police teams are looking for him. He said Avtar Singh's father, Gurdyal Singh, had deserted the Indian Army after Operation Blue Star in 1984. Mediapersons visiting Avtar Singh's house in Ajnala town's Chak Misri Khan village found numerous pictures of slain militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale pasted on walls. Bikramjit Singh's mother, Sukhwinder Kaur, expressed shock over his arrest and claimed her son was innocent. According to police, Bikramjit Singh was driving the motorcycle while Avtar Singh hurled the grenade at the gathering. To check and fraudsters from fleeing the country, the government has now authorised CEOs of public sector banks (PSBs) to make request for issuance of look-out circulars (LOCs) against suspects. The move comes against the backdrop of defaults by Vijay Mallya, and and thereafter, fleeing the country. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently made changes in the circular by including CEOs of PSBs in the list of officials who can make request for issuance of LOCs to the ministry. The inclusion by MHA was done following the recommendation of an inter-ministerial panel under Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar that made a case for empowering the heads of PSBs to request for the opening of LOCs. When asked about the changes made in the circular of MHA, Kumar said it was a continuation of the government's clean-up drive of the banking sector. Soon after the emergence of the PNB fraud and perpetrator Nirav and his uncle Choksi fleeing the country, the Finance Ministry asked PSBs to collect passport details of all those borrowers, who have borrowed loans of more than Rs 500 million. However, possession of mere passport detail was not enough but this circular has empowered banks to take a decisive action against and fraudsters by requesting for issuance of LOC by the concerned authority, thereby thwarting any move by them to flee the country, Kumar said. "It will act as a big deterrent for and also bring about fundamental change in the creditor-debtor relationship," he said. The Department of Financial Services has also issued advisory to heads of all PSBs to take note of the changes in the circular and act as and when required in the specified manner. Pursuant to the amendment of the MHA circular last month, the list now includes the chairman or managing director and CEO of all PSBs, the circular said. Thus, the heads of PSBs have now been empowered to issue requests of opening of LOCs for wilful defaulters as per the above-mentioned guidelines of MHA against whom an FIR is yet to be filed, it said. Earlier this year, the government formed an inter-ministerial panel to look into various issues, including how to put a check on wilful defaulters fleeing the country. Mallya had fled the country in March 2016 after defaulting on loans given to Kingfisher Airlines, which was promoted by his group. Moreover, Parliament passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018, giving authorities powers to attach and confiscate the proceeds of crime and properties of economic offenders, like bank fraudsters or loan defaulters fleeing the country. The law is aimed at quickly recovering losses to exchequer or PSBs in cases of frauds. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his Budget speech for 2018-19 said the government was considering bringing a new law to confiscate assets of such absconders. India and signed five agreements on Thursday to boost investments and enhance cooperation in key sectors like disability, agricultural research and education as met Australian Prime minister in Sydney. Kovind, the first-ever Indian head of state to visit Australia, arrived in Sydney on Wednesday on the second leg of his two nation trip. Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that during the state visit of Kovind to Australia, five agreements were exchanged in the presence of Marise Payne, Foreign Minister of and Anantkumar Hegde, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, by High Commissioners of both countries. The first agreement was for cooperation in the area of disability and to deliver services to the differently-abled. The second one was between Invest India and Austrade to facilitate bilateral investment. The third agreement was signed between the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, Ranchi, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation, Canberra, to foster scientific collaboration and innovation. The fourth one between the Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, and the University of Western Australia, Perth, for cooperation in agricultural research and education while the last one was between the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, New Delhi, and the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane for a joint Ph.D agreement. Following the meeting with Kovind, Prime Minister Morrison announced the release of Australia's response to the India Economic Strategy, a blueprint to transform the economic engagement. "This report provides a roadmap for our economic future with India," Morrison said. India is the world's fastest growing major economy and offers more opportunity for Australian business over the next 20 years than any other single market, he said. The Australian said it endorsed the report and provides in-principle support to its 20 priority recommendations. "Our work will focus on greater economic engagement targeting 10 Indian states and 10 key sectors, while providing practical support for Australian businesses entering or expanding operations in India," Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said. also pinpointed the initial implementation plan with key actions for next one year which will include agreements forged between Austrade and Invest India, the establishment of an Australia-India Food Partnership, opening up new opportunities for agri-tech and service companies and Australia-India Strategic Research Fund grants of up to Australian dollar 500,000. The fund is designed to help researchers solve challenges shared by both nations, including energy storage, marine science and plant genomics. Other actions include the expansion of the Australia-India Mining Partnership at the Indian School of Mines, connecting Australian companies to India's mineral-rich northeastern states, supported by the new Consulate-General in Kolkata, engagement with airlines to increase direct flights through the Australia-India air services agreement. Ministers across education, agribusiness, resources and tourism will oversee progress of the government's response and ongoing implementation of the India Economic Strategy. Morrison along with the ministers for trade and resources will join President Kovind at the launch of the Australian chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry India Business Forum, which will serve as a platform for networking and policy advocacy for Indian businesses in Australia. "I look forward to continue discussing the opportunities presented in the India Economic Strategy with President Kovind, and how we can continue to work together to develop enhanced economic ties," Morrison said. "Today's steps are only the first on a long journey that will see Australia and India grow together," he said. Kovind, who was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour by Governor General Peter Cosgrove in Sydney, will be visiting on Friday to address university students. With opinion polls predicting a tough time for the BJP in Rajasthan, Prime Minister is all set to address around a dozen election meetings in the state ahead of the December 7 Assembly polls, where the party is seeking a second consecutive term. Party officials said Modi will begin campaigning on November 25 from Alwar district which has 11 Assembly constituencies. The BJP has axed seven out of the nine sitting MLAs including minister Hem Singh Bhadana in the district. The BJP lost the by-poll in Mundawar, one of the nine seats, which was held after the death of its MLA Dharmpal Chaudhary. The saffron party had also lost badly in the by-poll to the Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency held earlier this year. Modi starting his election campaign from Alwar is seen as an effort to give a big boost to the party's prospects in the region. The Prime Minister will address three election rallies in Bhilwara, Banswara and Kota on November 26 while two days later, he will address election rallies in Nagaur and Bharatpur. Modi will address his next election rally in the state on December 3 in Jodhpur. Former Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has filed his nomination for the Sardarpura Assembly constituency in the district. On December 4, the Prime Minister will address rallies in Hanumangarh, Sikar and Jaipur. He may address a few more meetings in the state where the party is said to be facing a strong anti-incumbency mood. BJP President Amit Shah and Chief Minister have travelled across the state extensively. Polls for the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will be held on December 7 and the results will be declared on December 11. ALSO READ: Rajasthan polls: Will decide Congress CM after victory, says Sachin Pilot (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.) The Congress Party on Thursday approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking withdrawal of the pink colored ballot papers that were to be used in the upcoming assembly polls in Telangana. The Congress backed their demand with the fact that pink is the official colour of the state's Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) and that ballot papers of the same colour will give the party "an undue advantage" over others. The party's memorandum to ECI stated that the colour is synonymous with TRS in the state. "Party colours are of great significance for representation of parties and its ideologies, inter alia, they also create a bias in the mindset of the voters," read the Congress memorandum. The Congress party, in its memorandum, cited an example of the recent Greater Hyderabad Municipal Elections, stating that TRS had filed an immediate protest with authorities over usage of pink colour for the "NOTA" or "None of the Above Category" vote button in the polls. "TRS had filed an immediate protest with the relevant authorities on the grounds that their voters would confuse the button for the TRS and press the NOTA button inadvertently. The ECI had acceded to this request. But this action also validates our current proposition. The usage of pink coloured ballots without doubt will give the TRS party an undue advantage over other contesting parties." the memorandum read. The party urged Election Commission of India to take immediate note of this issue and withdraw the decision by ECI, Telangana with immediate effect. "It would be against the spirit of conducting fair and free in Telangana if any part of the process seeks to favour, even inadvertently and without malice, one party over the other," said the Congress party. The Telangana Assembly are scheduled to be held on December 7 to elect representatives of 119 constituencies. The counting of votes will take place on December 11. If there is anyone in Mizoram anxiously waiting for the counting of votes of the assembly elections on December 11, it is Zoramthanga. For a decade, the president of the states principal opposition party, the Mizo National Front (MNF), has been waiting to recapture power, lost to the Congress in 2008. Will the tide turn in his favour this time? Like the incumbent chief minister Lal Thanhawla snatched power from him after two consecutive terms in 2008, will he be doing the same to him after the November 28 polling? The veteran Mizo leader shrugged his shoulders, smiled that ... Calls for Saudi Crown Mohammed bin Salman to be held accountable for the murder of Jamal are a "red line", Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has said. In a BBC television interview, Jubeir said on Wednesday any disparaging discussion about Mohammed or his father, the Saudi monarch, would not be tolerated. "In Saudi Arabia, our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown are a red line," Jubeir said. "They represent every Saudi citizen and every Saudi citizen represents them. And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince." Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince. Jubeir insisted that Prince Mohammed had not been involved in the killing. "We have made that very clear. We have investigations ongoing and we will punish the individuals who are responsible for this," he said. He called on to come forward with all its evidence about the slaying and stop leaking out information. The foreign minister said the murder was a "rogue operation" by intelligence officers. Jubeir also said any possible US sanctions on would be short-sighted. US on Wednesday ignored criticism that he gave a free pass on Khashoggi's murder, instead praising the Islamic kingdom for keeping low. President Trump released an exclamation-point-filled statement on Tuesday about the assassination of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. It took him some time to get to Mr. Khashoggi. But bear with it. The statement is a fascinating journey into the mind of the president. Mr. Trump, when he is not obfuscating, is sometimes startlingly transparent about why he makes decisions. Here is the presidents statement, as released by the White House, with additional context. Statement from President Donald J. Trump on Standing with Saudi Arabia America First! The world is ... The economies, a group of developed and developing countries, have imposed as many as 40 new trade-restrictive measures such as high customs duties and import bans between 16 May and 15 October this year, according to a WTO report. This represents an average of eight restrictive measures per month, which is higher than the almost six measures recorded during the previous review period (mid-October 2017 to mid-May 2018), it said Thursday. "A total of 40 new trade-restrictive measures were applied by economies during the review period, including tariff increases, import bans and export duties," the report said. Director General of Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO) said the report's findings should be of serious concern for governments and the whole community. "Further escalation remains a real threat. If we continue along the current course, the economic risks will increase, with potential effects for growth, jobs and consumer prices around the world," he said. He added that the WTO is taking steps to support efforts to de-escalate the situation, but finding solutions will require political will and it will require leadership from the G20. The report, too, stated that the proliferation of trade restrictive actions could place economic recovery in jeopardy. It also said that these countries continued to initiate a higher number of new trade remedy investigations, including anti-dumping probes, compared to the number of such terminated by them. However, it said that these nations implemented 33 new measures, including eliminating or reducing import tariffs and export duties, to facilitate trade during the review period. The G20 economies are India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, the US, and the European Union. US President has doubled down on his partnership with Saudi Arabia, calling it an indispensable ally after a journalist's grisly murder, but critics say his position ignores Washington's enormous leverage over Riyadh. Trump on Tuesday gave Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a pass on Jamal Khashoggi's murder, glossing over the Central Intelligence Agency's reported conclusion that the kingdom's de facto ruler had authorised the killing. "Maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" Trump said, implying Prince Mohammed's culpability in Khashoggi's killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 hardly matters. What does, he asserted, is the Gulf kingdom's role as a bulwark against rival Iran, its multi-billion dollar investments in the United States including several arms deals and its perceived stranglehold on global oil prices. Trump was widely pilloried for what critics called his mercantile priorities that made him appear more like a lobbyist for the oil-rich kingdom, raising the prospect of strong congressional action against Saudi Arabia. ALSO READ: Donald Trump stands with Saudi Arabia despite Jamal Khashoggi killing But Trump's firm backing of the kingdom in the face of global outrage reinforced what officials in Riyadh often say: the US-Saudi relationship is too big to fail. "Structural ties intelligence, counterterrorism cooperation and energy really are too big not only to fail but to place at risk," said Hussein Ibish, a scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. "But transactional aspects of the relationship weapons sales, investments that are valued by Trump shouldn't become an excuse to make a Faustian pact and turn a blind eye to justice." Trump's stance ignores what the Washington-based Center for Policy says is America's "substantial leverage over Saudi behaviour". "The Saudis need US weapons and equipment more than we need to sell them," former US Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller wrote for CNN's website. "It would be very difficult and expensive for the Saudis to make good on their periodic threats to 'buy foreign' if they can't get what they want from the United States." Experts say Riyadh is more susceptible to American pressure than Trump asserts, as its economy is intertwined with that of the US. Seeking to diversify its oil-reliant economy, the kingdom's vast Public Investment Fund has multi-billion dollar stakes in a host of US firms from global ridesharing giant Uber to virtual reality start-up Magic Leap. Largely lacking business expertise outside of its oil and petrochemical industries, Riyadh has poured millions of dollars into consultancy firms such as McKinsey and the Boston Consulting Group. US fact-checking website PolitiFact disputes Trump's claim that Saudi Arabia has agreed to invest USD 450 billion including $ 110 billion worth of arms deals in the United States. Many of the investments exist only on paper, it says. And US arms sales to Saudi Arabia have accounted for fewer than 20,000 American jobs a year, a far cry from the hundreds of thousands of jobs claimed by Trump, according to the Center for Policy. Prince Mohammed is likely to weather the crisis over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the de-facto ruler, and could rule Saudi Arabia for the next half century. The kingdom appears emboldened by Trump's support. Its top diplomat said the fate of the crown prince is a "red line" and that calls for him to be held accountable would not be tolerated. "In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told the BBC. "We will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince." Trump has won strong backing in Saudi Arabia for his stand. Dozens of what appear to be Saudi bot accounts have lionised the US president with messages of gratitude peppered with heart emojis. "There's a feeling that we can buy anything, that we can buy the world," a Saudi analyst in Riyadh told AFP following Trump's statement. Shrugging off the global pressure, Prince Mohammed is expected to attend the Group of 20 summit this month, raising the electrifying prospect of face-to-face encounters with world leaders who have strongly condemned the murder. "I think in some ways this typifies the crown prince's approach, which is... to say 'no, we're going to double down'," said Jon Alterman, from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Studies. "If you're going to deal with Saudi Arabia, you will be dealing with the crown prince." But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who says the orders for Khashoggi's killing came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government, appears unlikely to follow Trump's lead. The same for the CIA. In leaking its assessment that Prince Mohammed authorised the murder, the CIA showed it was willing to "take on Trump", said James Dorsey, a fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The move also suggested "the agency does not believe Prince Mohammed's survival as king-in-waiting is crucial to US national security or the stability of the kingdom," he added. Michelle Obama's "Becoming" has become a massive hit. Crown Publishing told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the former first lady's memoir has sold more than 1.4 million copies in print and digital formats in the US and Canada in the seven days since it was released November 13. Based on demand from retailers across all channels, the publisher has printed 3 million hardcover copies in North America. On its first day, the book sold more than 725,000 copies, making it one of the year's biggest debuts. Crown also said that "Becoming" is currently the No. 1 adult nonfiction title in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Holland, Spain, Denmark and Finland. In Germany, some 200,000 copies have been sold, prompting a second printing of 100,000 copies. In the United Kingdom, "Becoming" is published by Viking and it has had five press runs with a total of 575,000 copies in print. In Holland, the Dutch-language edition is the best-selling book in the Netherlands, with the English-language edition ranked second. "Becoming" is well exceeding the pace of previous memoirs by first ladies. In 2003, Hillary Clinton's "Living History" had first week sales of around 600,000 copies. Reviews of the book, which traces Obama's journey from Chicago's South Side to the White House, have been positive, with The Washington Post praising its "impressive balance in telling the truth of her challenges while repeatedly acknowledging her lucky life. Pakistan reacted angrily on Monday to criticism by President Trump that the country had not done enough in return for years of United States military aid and that the government had harbored Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda. In an interview with Fox News Sunday this weekend, Mr. Trump defended his decision early this year to withdraw hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid to Pakistan. I ended it because they dont do anything for us, they dont do a damn thing for us, he said. Mr. Trump also alleged that the Pakistani ... The Punjab Police on Thursday arrested one person in connection with the grenade attack on a religious congregation killing three people and around 20 injured here on November 18. The arrested person, Bikramjit Singh, was produced before the court today and sent for five days police remand. The attack was allegedly carried out by a bike-borne person at the religious congregation inside the Nirankari Bhavan at Adhiwala village near Rajasansi area. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday assured that the investigating agencies had already got "some leads" and culprits would soon be caught. Speaking to media, after visiting the blast site, Singh had said: "We are taking this blast very seriously. A full investigation is going on. Some leads have been found and I am hopeful that we will soon catch the culprits." "The Investigation Agency (NIA) and the forensic team are already at the blast site. It is difficult to say anything before the investigation is completed," he added. Taking cognisance of the prevailing situation, the Punjab government provided free treatment to all those who sustained injuries. The administration also announced to provide jobs to the victims of the incident. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Seven people have been arrested in connection with the alleged killing of a US citizen, John Allen Chau, in North Sentinel Island of Andaman. "On the basis of the information received by an email of the US Consulate, Chennai on 19 November, the Andaman and Nicobar police immediately lodged a missing report. The police have apprehended seven people who supported John Allen Chau and actively facilitated him to go to north Sentinelese Island," said Andaman and Nicobar Director General of Police Deependra Pathak. Two cases have been registered on the perception and complaint of a fisherman who saw John dead. "The entire act of the deceased, as well as others, can be termed as a misdirected adventure into a restricted area to meet the uncontacted tribe who vigorously rejects any kind of external contact," said Pathak. The deceased was allegedly killed in North Sentinel Island, Andaman which is home to the Sentinelese, a native tribe which is completely against outsiders' intervention in their life. The seven arrested have been sent to judicial custody for the time being and likely to be taken to police custody later. "We are in touch with best of the academics and the forest people and those who know more about the tribe. We are handling the case with utmost sensitivity towards this human treasure," he said. A detailed investigation in the matter is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Alliances Galore is hosting the 4th edition of 'Gourmet Fest' in partnership with Axis Bank. The Bank's cardholders can now enjoy the specially curated menus by the chefs of over 150 leading restaurants across 7 cities such as Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. The Gourmet Fest is a Fine Dining experience exclusively curated for the Axis Bank cardholders and will offer them specially designed pre-fixe menus across 150 restaurants at special prices of Rs. 799 per person at Five Star hotels and Rs. 599 per person at premium standard restaurants. The Gourmet Fest campaign is available from November 23rd to December 9th, 2018. With the launch of Gourmet Fest, this year Alliance Galore will be celebrating its 10 years anniversary. Over the last decade, the company has partnered with over 50k merchants in 12 countries and has been closely working with the Cards, Wallets, Telecom, Automobile companies to create strong offer based platforms for constant customer engagement. Alliances Galore has always innovated the way it executes the customized and evolving curated promotions for its clients and their customers. The core thought at such Intellectual Properties, is to have a customer centric approach of delivering experiences and personalised engagement to further ensure effective communication and brand recall by its customers. The experiences have led to Alliances Galore effectively executing the most premium and exclusive Programs for its customers across the globe. "Alliances Galore is of a strong view that the customer today is ever evolving and needs constant engagement to ensure maximum recall and benefits," quotes, Vikul Chander, Co-founder & CEO, Alliances Galore. Alliances Galore is committed to raise its benchmark of the Customer Experience and lead as an innovative Dining Program platform provider in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison shot off a series of tweets on Wednesday criticising some leaders of the Muslim community for boycotting a meeting that he called on Thursday to find ways of de-radicalising members of the Muslim community. Morrison's strategic presence instead at the unveiling of the Gandhi statue today is sure to make great optics. He met with President Ramnath Kovind this morning which again was not the first engagement in the president's initial schedule for the day. Morrison will accompany the Indian President at three events today. Besides his first bilateral delegation level meeting, Morrison will be in Paramatta, a Sydney suburb, for the unveiling of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and then in the evening he will attend the Australian Financial Review India Business Summit. President Kovind's earlier schedule had him inaugurating the statue on Wednesday but with Morrison deciding to participate as well, the unveiling was pushed to Thursday. Coincidentally, perhaps, it was also to be the day that Morrison was to extend the olive branch to the Muslim community whose leaders have been smarting after Australian Prime Minister's blunt comments after the Melbourne terror attack. After visiting Pellegrini's cafe in Melbourne where the owner Sisto Malaspina was stabbed to death last week allegedly by Islamic terrorists, Morrison called for Imams and other members of the Muslim community to be better at identifying radicalised people in their congregations and alerting the authorities. "I won't cop the excuses," Morrison warned. "For those who want to stick their head in the sand, for those who want to make excuses for those who stick their head in the sand, you are not making Australia safer. You are giving people an excuse to look the other way and not deal with things right in front of you," he said. "If there are people in a religious community, an Islamic community, that are bringing in hateful, violent, extremist ideologies into your community, you've got to call it out," the Australian Prime Minister added. A group of nine, including the Grand Mufti, have now told him they're deeply disappointed by his comments and want the meeting deferred until their concerns have been addressed. The Imams called for a boycott of the Thursday peace meeting, criticising Morrison's comments. "These statements have achieved nothing to address underlying issues, but rather, have alienated large segments of the Muslim community," the group wrote. But the war of words continued late on Wednesday with the Prime Minister tweeting sharply. In such a charged atmosphere, Morrison's presence at the unveiling of a statue of a man of peace and non violence who dedicated his life to integrating people of all faiths will send out a strong signal to his people that he is for inclusiveness in Australian society and polity. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for the dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly. However, the senior politician added that they have no complaints against state governor Satya Pal Malik. Speaking to ANI, Azad alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to break the MLAs of other parties over the last five months- ever since they pulled out of the alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)- to form their own government. "We do not have any complaints against the Governor. He is a very nice man. We have complaints against the central government that if they had to dissolve the assembly, they should have done it 4-5 months ago when they withdrew support from the PDP. When they (BJP) saw that another government could have been formed, the BJP dissolved the assembly. It is their mentality that only the BJP will form the government and not any other party," the senior Congress leader said. On Wednesday, PDP leader Altaf Bukhari had said that his party, along with the Conference (NC) and the Congress, were in talks to form an alliance to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir to protect the special status of the state. While PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote a letter to the state's Governor staking claim to form the government, Malik issued immediate orders to dissolve the state assembly late on Wednesday night. Dissolution of the assembly implies the necessity to conduct elections in the state within the next six months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of the rallies of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Telangana, a group of senior party leaders met rebels here to convince them to withdraw their nominations and continue working for the party. Sonia will address a poll rally on November 23. The senior party leaders including Jairam Ramesh, Ahmed Patel, D K Shivakumar, and others met the rebels on Wednesday. After the meeting, they said that all the rebels would withdraw their nominations soon. They assured them of justice in the party and also promised them suitable responsibilities if the Congress is voted to power in the state. Jairam Ramesh met rebel T. Jangaiah Yadav, who has filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Medchal assembly constituency after the Congress party did not give him the ticket. In the meeting, which was held on Wednesday night, Ramesh assured Yadav of support and respect from the party. Talking to media persons, Ramesh said, "Janagaiah Yadav is a very important backward class leader of our party. The Congress party believes in social justice, and there is a lot of deliberation before giving the tickets. The party wants him to take back his nomination. I want to assure him that the party will take care of him and will give full respect to him. He is a very strong young leader of our party, and has a very long way to go." The Congress seniors also met Bikshapathi Yadav. Ahmed Patel said that Yadav is an integral and very important part of the party. The other rebel leaders whom Congress seniors met included Marri Sasidhar Reddy, Ramesh Reddy, and Suresh Yadav. Telangana will go to polls for 119 Assembly constituencies on December 7. The counting of votes will take place on December 11. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC) president on Wednesday subdued the speculations on Congress chief ministerial candidate and asserted that the party will decide on the name of the chief ministerial candidate for Rajasthan after the electoral victory. He said, "Chief Minister will be elected from Congress party only. People of Rajasthan have already made their mind. Our party has a policy that we fight elections unitedly. After the victory, the legislators along with Congress party will decide on who would be the Chief Minister. We have never declared Chief Minister ahead of elections and won't do now as well." Pilot further criticised the Vasundhara Raje-led Rajasthan government and claimed that people of the state are disappointed with her governance. "The election is very important for the people of Rajasthan. They have to make choice for their future. People of Rajasthan are upset with the governance of Vasundhara Raje. People want change now, they will vote for Congress for sure," he said. Elaborating on the priorities of the Congress party and the agendas that it has set for polls, Pilot said, "We are fighting the election with all positive agendas. The main agenda is to solve the crisis of agriculture. To resolve the problems of farmers is our main aim. Corruption is on the peak in Rajasthan. We have to fight against the corruption. The government is announcing MSP which is very little. Farmers are not getting proper fertilizers. We have to do something to restart everything." Pilot is contesting Assembly poll from Tonk constituency of the state and filed his nomination on November 19. The assembly elections in the state will take place in a single phase for all 200 seats on December 7. The counting of votes will take place on December 11. Newlyweds Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are back in Mumbai after throwing a grand reception in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Continuing their Sabyasachi spree, Deepika looked gorgeous in a pastel pink flowy floor-length Anarkali paired with a matching floral embroidered dupatta, while her prince charming looked absolutely suave in pastel pink bandhgala detailed with intricate embroidery around the neck. The couple, who got hitched last week, will host another wedding reception in Mumbai at The Grand Hyatt on November 28, which will be attended by their industry friends. The invite of the Mumbai reception reads, "Please join us at a reception to celebrate the wedding of our son Ranveer and Deepika." Deepika and Ranveer took off for their destination wedding on November 3. They tied the knot in Lake Como, Italy in a traditional Konkani ceremony on November 14, while a Sindhi wedding was organised on November 15, both of which were attended by close-knit relatives of the two actors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress party leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said that demonetisation and 'flawed' Goods and Service Tax (GST) implemented by the central government, are responsible for the stress on Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and real-estate sector. Referring to a report published in a leading daily, which stated that the Centre might highlight the stress in the real estate sector at the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Central Board meeting, Chidambaram wrote on Twitter, "A news report says 'After MSME, Government will flag stress in the real-estate sector to RBI'. What caused the stress in the two sectors? Demonetisation and a flawed GST." He further said that if by any means the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would not be able to revive the two sectors then the government would blame the central banking institution for everything. "Who caused the stress in the two sectors? Everyone knows it was the government and its quack advisers. Now, Government wants RBI to rescue the two sectors and will blame RBI if the two sectors do not revive! Familiar story of killer, victims and scapegoat!" he Tweeted. As per the media report, after highlighting the shrinking credit to MSME, the Centre might raise the issue of stress in the real estate sector that threatens job losses at the at the RBI's Central Board meeting, which is scheduled to be held on December 14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thousands of farmers under the aegis of Lok Sangharsh Morcha on Thursday marched towards Azad Maidan here to press for their demands, which include farm loan waiver and land ownership. Farmers from across Maharashtra, beginning their march on Tuesday, reached Byculla Bridge in the city on Thursday morning. They are also scheduled to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis later in the evening. They are also likely to take up the issue of the implementation of Forests Rights Act with the Chief Minister. Speaking to ANI, general secretary of the Lok Sangharsh Morcha Pratibha Shinde said, "We will definitely meet the Chief Minister and put forward our demands. Only after the meeting, we will be able to decide whether the government and we are on the same page or not. In the last six months, the government has not even done even two per cent of the works they promised to us." On Wednesday evening, Maharashtra's Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan met the protesters and asked them to hold a meeting with Chief Minister Fadnavis to which the farmers agreed. Last night, farmers had stayed at Shivaji Maidan in Chunabhatti. This is the third mass protest of farmers in Maharashtra within a year. Earlier in March this year, around 25,000 farmers under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha carried out a protest march, demanding a complete farm loan waiver. In July, dairy farmers too protested, seeking a hike in milk prices. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Hyderabad task force police on Wednesday busted a gang and arrested three people for cloning fingerprints of faculty members of various educational institutions. Briefing press about the arrests, Anjani Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad city said, "The Commissioner's Task Force, East Zone Team, Hyderabad city has apprehended three persons who were involved in illegal preparation and selling of cloned fingerprints to faculty members of various educational institutions and tweaking the online biometric attendance illegally." "During the interrogation, one of the accused Ramakrishna confessed that he is pursuing regular Ph.D. and simultaneously working as an Associate Professor at SCET, West Godavari District. Another accused Sriram Prasad is an engineering graduate who previously worked as an Administrative Officer in an Engineering College," the police official added. The third accused has been found to be working as a Vice-Principal of an Institution. The arrested trio was running a business of cloning and selling fake fingerprints to subvert the mandatory biometric online attendance system introduced by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) officials and government of Telangana. As per details, Ramakrishna designed a technique of cloning fingerprints with the help of internet and. He met Sriram Prasad who requested him to prepare cloned fingerprints for the staff of few colleges. Prasad later contacted different institutes to get orders for more fingerprint cloning. They used to charge Rs.4,000 for each cloned fingerprint. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Australia exchanged five Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in the presence of Foreign Minister of Australia Marine Payne and Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Anantkumar Hegde during President Ramnath Kovind's maiden visit to the island nation. The MoUs were exchanged by High Commissioner of India to Australia Ajay M. Gondane and High Commissioner of Australia to India Harinder Sidhu. Of five, one of the MoUs was signed by Indian and Australian envoys Gondane and Sidhu for cooperation in the field of disability sector. The MoU deals with the exchange of information regarding disability policy, delivery of services, cooperation in early identification and intervention to mitigate various disabilities including mental illness, community outreach, education, and training; exchange of information on promoting investment in the disability sector, capacity building for persons with disabilities. With the objective of facilitation of bilateral investment flows in each other's countries, a MoU between Australian Trade and Investment Commission (AUSTRADE) and INVEST India was inked by Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of INVEST India Deepak Bagla and Chief Executive Officer of AUSTRADE Stephanie Fay. Another Memorandum of Understanding between Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDI), India, and The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia for furthering Scientific Cooperation was signed by K.K. Mishra, Director (Technical), CMPDI and Hua Guo, Research Director-Coal Mining, CSIRO. The objective of MoU is research cooperation in various aspects of coal mining. A MoU between Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India and The University of Western Australia, for cooperation in agricultural research and education, was also signed by the Vice Chancellors of the two universities. The objective of this MoU is the exchange of scientists, technologists, students; exchange of germ plasma and breeding material; exchange of scientific literature, information and methodology and other areas as mutually agreed. With the objective to develop a Joint PhD programme whereby research students are enrolled in a PhD course at each university and perform coordinated research studies at both universities, the two South Asian countries also inked a Joint PhD agreement. The agreement was signed by Director of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIITD) Ranjan Bose and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Arun Sharma. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said that India was the world's "fastest-growing major economy" and offers "more opportunity for Australian business for over next 20" years. "India is the world's fastest-growing major economy and offers more opportunity for Australian business over the next 20 years than any other single market," Prime Minister Morrison said. Referring to a report titled "India Economic Strategy," Morrison said, "It is a blueprint that transforms Australia's economic engagement with India. This report provides a roadmap for our economic future with India." The report, released in July 2018 by the Government of Australia, recommends practical measures to cement India as its top economic partner. The report recognizes India as one of its key international trading partners. "Our work will focus on greater economic engagement, targeting 10 Indian states, and ten key sectors while providing practical support for Australian businesses entering or expanding operations in India," Senator Simon Birmingham further noted. "India and Australia are both committed to strengthening regional institutions and ensure markets remain open and facilitate the free flow of trade, capital, and ideas," Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs, was quoted saying. "India is set to become the world's third largest economy by 2030 and reaching this goal will see India as a key driver of continued global economic growth," Payne added. In order to achieve a set target for next 20 years (2035), the Australian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Australian trade agency Austrade and Invest India to promote bilateral investment flows. It has also established an Australia-India Food Partnership which would open new opportunities for agri-tech and services companies. In addition to this, the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund would be granting up to US $ 500,000 that has been designed to help researchers solve challenges shared by both nations, including energy storage, marine science, and plant genomics. The plan also looks forward to the expansion of Australia-India Mining Partnership at the Indian School of Mines, connecting Australian companies to India's minerals-rich North Eastern states, supported by the new Consulate-General in Kolkata, India. Also, an engagement has been signed with airlines to increase direct flights through the Australia-India air services agreement. Ministers across education, agribusiness, resources, and tourism will oversee the progress of the Government's response and ongoing implementation of the India Economic Strategy, the report said. President of India Ram Nath Kovind is on his maiden visit to the island nation as the Head of Indian State. The Prime Minister, along with the Minister for Trade, and Minister for Resources joined President Kovind at the launch of the Australian chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry-India Business Forum, which will serve as a platform for networking and policy advocacy for Indian businesses here in Australia. "I look forward to continuing discussing the opportunities presented in the India Economic Strategy with President Kovind, and how we can continue to work together to develop enhanced economic ties," the Australian Prime Minister said. "Today's steps are only the first on a long journey that will see Australia and India grow together," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Andhra Pradesh has topped the list of states with the highest employability followed by Rajasthan and Haryana, as per the India Skills Report 2019. The employability levels of B.Tech/B.E have increased across all the sectors, touching a new high of 63.11 per cent, which remained at 42.08 last year. However, the employability levels of MBA and polytechnic stand low between 47.18 per cent and 45.90 per cent. Despite the lack of renowned institutions like IITs/IIMs, the growth trend can be seen in tier II and tier III cities. Further, the report stated that Andhra Pradesh is one of the preferred hiring destinations in India, which offers equal space to both male and female workers. The students from ITIs, polytechnic and engineering colleges are identified and ranked for their top skills, including work ethics, verbal communication, analytical and critical thinking, problem-solving, interpersonal skills, written communication skills. "The increase in employability in Andhra Pradesh is a good sign for the market. But we have a long way to go and entire ecosystem should focus on bridging the employability gaps, enhancing the talent pool thus taking measures from school level to professional level focusing on learning," said Founder and CEO - Wheebox, Nirmal Singh. "Educational institutes should work on the skills of students and they should be given a proper platform to explore and develop their skills as it would help them to follow a right direction towards their career," he added. The India Skills Report 2019 further held that around 70 per cent of the youth face problem due to lack of professional guidance in finding desirable jobs that worth their skills. The report also highlights the fact that from FMCG to startups, every industry offers paid or unpaid internship programmes to youth. According to the report, a small percentage of students in all states have done at least one internship in the past twelve months. Another insight from the report shows that 80 per cent of assessed candidates are willing to explore internship opportunities as they believe that it would assist them in getting employed in reputed firms, whereas 85 per cent candidates feel they lack proper information or guidance to take a thought-out career decision. For the employability test, the team reached out to more than 3 lakh students across 29 States and 7 Union Territories. Moreover, the key sectors for hiring employees are artificial intelligence, design, analytics, research and development. The report also says that apart from domain expertise and skills, organisations usually prefer to hire those candidates who possess better communication skills and are willing to learn and adapt to changing business environment. Around 60 per cent recruiters feel that the right candidates are not available as many of them don't meet the required skills. The survey was conducted jointly by Wheebox, PeopleStrong, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and supported and backed by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Association of Indian Universities (AIU). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a landmark decision, on the eve of Guru Nanak Gurupurab, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved building and development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to India-Pakistan International Border. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the Kartarpur corridor project, with all modern amenities and facilities, will be implemented with Central Government funding to provide smooth and easy passage to the pilgrims. The Indian government, which made the first move on the development of the Kartarpur corridor, will also urge Government of Pakistan to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory as well. During the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet passed a Resolution to celebrate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Devji, which falls in the year 2019, throughout the country and across the globe, in a grand manner along with the State Governments and the Indian Missions abroad. A High-Level Committee under the chairmanship of the Union Home Minister will review, monitor and oversee the implementation of these activities. The development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the international border will facilitate pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river, in Pakistan, where Shri Guru Nanak Devji spent eighteen years. With this infrastructure development, pilgrims would be able to visit the holy shrine throughout the year. The Union Cabinet also decided to develop the historic town of Sultanpur Lodhi, associated with the life of Shri Guru Nanak Devji, as a heritage town and on the Smart City principles, including energy efficiency, to highlight Shri Guru Nanak Devji's emphasis on sustainability and reverence for nature. As a major attraction for pilgrims and tourists, a heritage complex at Sultanpur Lodhi, "Pind Babe Nanak da" will be established to depict life in the times of Shri Guru Nanak Devji. Sultanpur Lodhi railway station will be upgraded and developed with all the modern amenities. The Ministry of Railways will run a train passing through the various holy places associated with Shri Guru Nanak Devji, for pilgrims and tourists. A centre for interfaith studies will be set up at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Chairs on Shri Guru Nanak Devji will be set up in one University each in the United Kingdom and Canada. In addition to this, an international seminar on the life and teachings of Shri Guru Nanak Devji will be organised in New Delhi. The union government will also request all the States Governments and Union Territories to celebrate 550th Birth Anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Devji in a befitting manner. The Indian missions overseas will also organise special events on the occasion. A commemorative coin and postage stamps will be released by the Government of India to mark this occasion. Besides, religious activities will be organised throughout the country. Doordarshan will telecast programmes on Shri Guru Nanak Devji and the Gurubani. Book Trust will publish Gurbani in different Indian languages. UNESCO will be requested to translate and publish an anthology of Shri Guru Nanak Devji's writings in world languages. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mission for Clean Ganga, in association with GIZ India, organised an International workshop in New Delhi on River Basin Management at different levels and the role of River Basin Organisations (RBOs) in support of Ganga Rejuvenation. It focused on institutional set-ups that are needed for RBOs to achieve and implement effective river basin management towards joint objective. It brought together around 60 representatives from various large river basins and River Basin Organisations around the world including India as well as of key authorities in the Ganga River Basin. This exchange between different stakeholders aimed to demonstrate how river basin management processes are coordinated in other large river basins making use of River Basin Organisations and related institutional set-ups at all implementation levels. The workshop was a combination of presentations, plenary and panel discussions as well as break-out groups in order to achieve the best possible exchange and outcomes. While taking about significance of workshop, Director General of Mission of Clean Ganga, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra said "When you look at River Basin Mangaemnet, there will be multiple aspects and if some country has done very well in one aspect then we can pick up that. So, if we will study many experiences and then look at them in a intelligent way as simply copying the aspect will not help us, then we can adapt them properly and it will be very useful in achieving our mission of 'Namami Gange'." To this, Martina Burkard, Project Director of GIZ India added "A lot has already been done regarding the Integrated River Basin Management plans for Ganga but now it's about implementation and facing the challenges by learning from the experiences of other River Basin Organisations in the world." In India, many institutions at and state level are currently involved in the work and efforts to rejuvenate the river Ganga but such discussions will further trigger ideas towards an institutional set-up of NMCG towards optimised Ganga River Basin Management. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after Governor Satyapal Malik dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to hold an internal brainstorming meeting on Thursday to discuss the future course of action. The party's state unit is in favour of holding assembly polls and Lok Sabha elections simultaneously in 2019. Party's state unit president Ravinder Raina told ANI, "The BJP has called for an important meeting with all its MLAs today and we will decide the future course of action. We wish that the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir should be conducted along with Parliament elections." BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta hit out at political parties which have decided to join hands to stake claim to form a government. According to him, these parties perhaps have decided to come together at the behest of Pakistan. These parties might have got instructions to "do so from across the border", said Gupta. Until the Governor's rule was imposed in the state in June this year, BJP was a coalition partner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which staked claim last night saying that it had the support of the Conference (NC) and the Congress. Subsequently, the Governor dissolved the Assembly. The Governor's rule was imposed after BJP pulled the strings. Meanwhile, terming the dissolution of the assembly "unfortunate", Congress leader Kapil Sibal said that "satya (truth)" has been turned into "asatya (untrue)". He went on to say, "The Governor should not have done so especially when he knew the ground situation that three parties have come together to form the government." Ravinder Sharma, another Congress leader, also termed the decision of the Governor as "unconstitutional". PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote a letter to the Governor yesterday, staking a claim. She mentioned that she failed to get through the Governor via fax and hence she shared a copy of the letter on Twitter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hours after Indian government urged Pakistan to improve infrastructure and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in its territory from the International Border to Gurudwara Kartapur Sahib in order to facilitate easier access and smooth passage of India pilgrims through the year, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan would be breaking ground for the Kartarpur corridor on November 28. "Pakistan has already conveyed to India it's decision to open Kartarpura Corridor for Baba Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary. PM Imran Khan will do break ground at Kartarpura facilities on 28th November. We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion," Qureshi tweeted. His tweet comes a day after Pakistan denied Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, access to Indian Sikh pilgrims. It is learnt that Bisaria was stopped from meeting Indian Sikh pilgrims visiting Nankana Sahib on Wednesday and Thursday. According to Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, over 3800 Sikh pilgrins have been given visas to visit Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur. However, despite this, Pakistan batted for opening of Kartarpur route. "Indian Cabinet endorsement of Pakistan's proposition on #KartarPurBorderOpening is victory of peace lobby in both countries, its a step towards right direction and we hope such steps ll encourage voice of reasons and tranquility on both sides of the border," Pakistan's Minister of Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry tweeted. Construction for the corridor on Pakistan's side would be completed by next year, according to The Express Tribune, which also mentioned that a survey regarding the project has already been undertaken. Around 2.5 kilometres of the corridor will be built inside Pakistan's territory. Earlier, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a Note Verbale to the Pakistani Government, urging it to develop a corridor with suitable facilities in its territory from the International Border to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib to facilitate the easy access and passage of Indian pilgrims throughout the year. Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu had implored Khan to take reciprocal steps after the Cabinet's decision on Twitter, following which announcements by Qureshi were made. "I welcome this auspicious step by the Union Cabinet, it will be a cup of joy for 12 Crore 'Nanak Naam Laivas.' It will build bridges, burn animosity and will act like a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries... I thank the Govt. of India from the core of my heart and take a bow! I request the Hon'ble PM of Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI Sahib to take reciprocal steps for opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and spread Baba Nanak's message of universal brotherhood and peace across the Globe," Sidhu tweeted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday announced that a special session of the Assembly will be held on Monday to discuss the alleged attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and stand of the Centre and Delhi police in the matter. Apart from a discussion on the attack, Sisodia said that the Assembly will also discuss "deletion" of 30 lakh names from Delhi's voter list. "A special session of the Assembly will be held on Monday to discuss the attack on the Chief Minister and stand of the Centre and Delhi police. Besides this issue, the deletion of 30 Lakh voters in Delhi, done by the BJP along with the EC, will also be discussed," Sisodia said. On November 20, the Delhi Police arrested the man who allegedly attacked Kejriwal with chilli powder in the Delhi Secretariat. The police further informed that 40-year-old Anil Kumar Sharma, the attacker, was found to be "unstable and incoherent". The Delhi Police, in a statement, had said that the chilli powder, which was found on the floor of the Delhi Secretariat, may have fallen out of Sharma's hand and the attack may have been unintentional. The Delhi government and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had blamed the Delhi Police for the security breach and accused them of lying on record. Sisodia had even alleged that the attack was carried out at the behest of the BJP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Musician Brad Fischetti, the member of American Pop band LFO, is mourning the death of his friend and bandmate Devin Lima. Fischetti is the last surviving member of the band. He spoke about the recent death of his friend and said, "It is with a truly broken heart that I confirm that Harold 'Devin' Lima passed away early this morning after a valiant battle with cancer," reported E! Online. He continued speaking fondly of Lima, "Devin, as the world knows him, was an extraordinary talent, a doting father to his six children, and a loving partner to their mother. He was a beloved son and brother and a friend to so many. On behalf of the LFO family, thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love from friends, family, fans, media, and those in the music industry." The 41-year-old artist died on Wednesday after a prolonged battle with stage four adrenal cancer. The team also lost bandmate Rich Cronin, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 36 after battling leukemia. Fischetti also revealed the last conversation he had with Lima, "A few days before he passed away he said to me, 'Bro, when it's over, just tell them I disappeared.' My friends, Harold 'Devin' Lima has disappeared," the statement concluded. In 2017, Fischetti and Lima had performed as an LFO duo, they had released the single 'Perfect 10' and toured together. "We were in the midst of planning the 2nd and 3rd legs of the tour when Devin was diagnosed with a very large tumor in his abdomen," Fischetti mentioned on his website last year. Lima became a part of the pop band in the late 90s, joining founding members Fischetti and Cronin. The group gained popularity for singles like 'Summer Girls' and 'Girls on TV'. Lima had joined the band after the departure of the third original member, Brian Gillis. Gillis too grieved the death of Lima on social media on Wednesday. "Lost for words!! "God takes the great ones I guess. I am in awe," he wrote on his Facebook account. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Elsevier, the information analytics specializing in science and health, today announced that the Honorable Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu, presided over the 12th NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Awards 2018 at a gala ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in the nation's capital. The Awards recognize young early career researchers from the scientific community who have contributed towards bolstering key flagship national programs through their body of research work such as the "Make in India", "Digital India", "Healthy India" and "Clean India" initiatives. The NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Awards, currently in its twelfth year, is a joint collaboration between Elsevier and National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) to celebrate the best and brightest young scientists in India, whose works cut across a broad spectrum of key research disciplines. The Awards program is part of Elsevier's global initiative to support young researchers in India to enable and encourage them to expand the frontiers of science in their chosen areas of study leading to excellence in their respective disciplines. India's Vice President and Guest of Honor, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, said: "At a time when the world has become a global village and boundaries of different disciplines are blurring, the role of science and technology becomes far more important than ever before. I compliment the National Academy of Sciences India and Elsevier for instituting these Awards to promote scientific excellence among the youngsters." "For the last ten years, we have seen the increase in human development indicators, such as life expectancy, maternal mortality rate, infant mortality rate, and the Indian scientific fraternity has played a huge role in improving the social indicators, as well as advancing India's scientific progress," Mr. Naidu concluded. "India has a rich and strong foundation in scientific research, and we've seen some outstanding submissions from India's best and brightest scientists this year," said Gino Ussi, Executive Vice President, Elsevier. "Elsevier has a critical role to play in contributing to the continuity of India's scientific endeavors and raising the visibility of young scientists and their contribution. We commend all the winners for their extraordinary work." The winners of the NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Awards 2018 are: Agriculture, Plant Sciences and Rural Development Dr. Jitender Giri, National Institute of Plant Genome Research, NewDelhi Biomedical Research and Healthcare: Dr. Maddika Subba Reddy, Group Leader and Staff Scientist-V, CDFD, Hyderabad Environmentally Sound Sustainable Development: Dr. Vimal Chandra Srivastava, Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee, Roorkee Innovation in Engineering and Physical Sciences: Dr. Ajay S. Karakoti, Associate Professor, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad Women in Science: Dr. Zhumur Ghosh, Bose Institute, Kolkata The Award winners each received a citation and a plaque, along with a cash prize of INR 75,000 for outstanding contribution in categories related to key areas of national priorities. This year's award program attracted more than 750 submissions from premier research institutions across India such as IITs, IISc, NIPGR, CSIR and JNU among others, and applications were judged by a panel of 19 subject experts from India's academic community based on the following criteria: The quality and number of publications; the nature and uniqueness of research; outcomes of research; impact on society; and vision of the researcher. "Science is one of the greatest enablers in transforming the lives of humankind," said Prof. Anil Kakodkar, President of NASI. "The NASI-Scopus Young Scientist of the year award recognizes the efforts of young scientists in the country, thus encouraging them to pursue their work with greater vigor and others to take up careers in science and technology." "This is important because nurturing our immensely talented scientific and technical human resource is not only critical for a developing country like India, but if harnessed well, could meet many of the daunting challenges that the world-at-large faces today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed Vijay Mallya's appeal for a stay on proceedings under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) on the pretext that the Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange had ordered status quo in respect of attachments in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case filed against him while adjudicating the State Bank of India's (SBI) plea. An application was filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) before the Special Court for the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, Session Court, Mumbai for declaring Mallya a Fugitive Economic Offender and ordered for the confiscation of his properties. The Counsel for Vijay Mallya, during the hearing before the FEOA Special Court, requested for maintaining status quo of the case till the matter before the Appellate Tribunal of PMLA in New Delhi is heard and disposed off. However, the FEOA Special Court rejected the plea of the Counsel for Mallya. This order of the FEOA Special Court was challenged today before the High Court of Bombay by way of filing a Criminal Appeal at the last moment. During the hearing, the Counsel for Mallya tried to convince the court to grant a stay on the order of the FEOA Special Court as per the order of the Ld. Appellate Tribunal. However, the Court declined the same stating that the Fugitive Court's Order was an Interlocutory Order and not a final one as no right or issue has been decided. Further, on the passing of a final rider, the appellant has got every right to file an appeal before the appropriate judicial forum as envisaged under the provisions of the F.E.O.A., 2018. SBI had earlier filed an intervening application before the Appellate Tribunal for PMLA cases in New Delhi against the confirmation order of provisional attachments made by the ED in Kingfisher/Vijay Mallya case by the PMLA Adjudicating Authority on grounds that the banks are the sufferers and attached properties shall be restituted to the banks against the outstanding loans. The Appellate Tribunal had ordered for maintaining status quo of the attached properties by way of direction to Mallya and the ED in the interim. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pained at Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Madhav's comment on stitching together of a proposed alliance in Jammu and Kashmir at the behest of Pakistan, the state's former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed her anguish at the "baseless allegations". In series of tweets, Mehbooba said: "Shocked to see baseless allegations against mainstream parties in JK following dictates from Pakistan levelled by @rammadhavbjp ji." "Sad to see what the political discourse of our country has been reduced to. How does one define a party's nationalistic credentials? Nationalistic and patriotic only if you are with the Centre and Pakistan sponsored and anti nationalistic otherwise?" she reacted in another tweet. Having staked claim to form government with the support of Congress and arch rival Conference (NC), Mehbooba in normal course was expected to stay away from controversies. Instead, she threw her hat into the ring raising the debate of why PDP and NC's credibility were not questioned when they were in alliance with the BJP. "Both PDP and NC have been allies of BJP at some point. Strange that our credentials werent questioned then. But just because our MLAs had enough integrity to stand up to your failed attempts of defection, they are now anti nationalistic? India is a great country and democracy is a battle of ideas. Lets not make a mockery of those very institutions and people," she added. Explaining the logic behind PDP's decision to form an alliance with the BJP, she emphasised that it was to change the "pernicious mindset". She tweeted, "Undoubtedly Pakistan has an impact on the situation in J&K. But its upto our country to change that from negative to positive and tread the path that was taken by Vajpayee ji." Demanding an apology, state Congress chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir challenged the BJP General Secretary to prove the allegations, saying: "You have CBI, IB, RAW, Governor. So, you will have to prove this charge or else you must apologise." Madhav had said that PDP and NC are planning to come together to form government as they "probably had instructions from across the border to come together and form government." In a spring of surprise on Wednesday, rivals PDP, NC along with Congress confirmed that they stitched up an alliance to form government in the fragile state which has been under Governor's Rule since June following BJP pulling the strings and ending its ruling with alliance partner PDP. As they went into huddle to cobble up numbers, Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Assembly. The move came hours after Mehbooba sent a letter to him staking claim. In the fast moving development as the three political parties were setting the chess board, BJP-backed People's Conference Chief Sajjad Lone also staked claim to form the government. However, he too failed to get through to the Governor's fax like Mehbooba. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Manju Verma, the former social welfare minister of Bihar, on Thursday was sent to a one-day police remand by a Begusarai court in connection with an Arms Act case. Verma had surrendered before a Begusarai court on Tuesday. Earlier this month, a non-bailable warrant was issued against her after 50 live cartridges were seized from her residence during a raid by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case. Verma had been evading arrest in the Arms Act case. The Supreme Court on October 31 had also rapped Bihar Police for its failure in arresting the ex-minister. Verma came under scrutiny after the disclosure that her husband Chandrashekhar Verma allegedly had links with Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes. The case pertains to the alleged sexual harassment of 44 girls residing at the state-run shelter home. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Conference (NC) leader and the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, slammed the reasons cited by the governor for dissolving the state assembly. Abdullah also criticised Governor Satya Pal Malik's remarks of money exchange and horse-trading. "No one can blame us for money, we have 16 or 18 MLAs and we are just trying to save the state people and democracy," Abdullah asserted. The NC leader further said that one should question the governor that "who did horse trading and who bought MLAs." "This isn't justice to us. The allegation of money exchange and horse-trading were written by the governor himself. It is his duty to explain it to the people of the state. He should come forward with evidence, showing that who has used the money, and where it is," Omar stated. On Wednesday, arch rivals Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), NC along with Congress confirmed that they stitched up an alliance to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir, which had been under Governor's Rule since June when the BJP ended its ruling alliance with the PDP. Hours later, Malik dissolved the Assembly. In a statement, the governor said, "I have been receiving complaints for past 15 days of horse-trading and that Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are being threatened. Mehbooba Ji herself complained that her MLAs are being threatened. The other party said there is planning of distribution of money. I could not have allowed this to happen." Clearing his stand over the formation of the alliance with PDP and Congress, Omar said that he knew it would cost his party politically but he was confident that this would save the state from "crisis-like" situation. "For last one month, people have been telling us that aren't happy with the on-going situation like rather than defending 35 A, the present government tried to weaken it by going against it in the court, communal harmony of the state is on stake and some are trying to degrade Kashmiri people's image not only in India but across the world," he added. He also said that he rejected the offer to be the chief minister of the alliance as he was happy to support them from outside. "The PDP asked for a letter of support, but I told them that I can only take a decision after discussing it with my party members, so we confirmed them that we would need a day or two to get everything organised," stated the former chief minister. PDP president and former Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, on Wednesday had said that she tried to fax the letter to the Governor, claiming to form the government, but couldn't. BJP-backed People's Conference Chief Sajjad Lone also staked claim to form the government but he also failed to get through the Governor's fax. Omar took a dig on the fax machine, stating that PDP's 'letter of claim' didn't reach to the governor as the fax machine works on someone's command. "The letter for dissolution of assembly by the governor reaches on time. It's a unique fax machine that needs an investigation as it doesn't accept an incoming fax," he added. He further said that the governor has no basis to say that parties with different ideologies cannot work together. The former chief minister further questioned that If an alliance was formed in 2015 then why not now. While commenting on if the party would challenge governor's call in the court of law, Omar said, "Legally, we don't have a case to make. As I don't have a document on which to claim Guv ignored what we had to say. My conversation was with PDP. It's for PDP to decide whether it wants to take legal recourse. I didn't provide documentary support." "We don't want to create a situation like 1987 where all political parties in Diwali come together and the only space that remains is for fringe. As I said to Mehbooba Mufti Ji on Twitter yesterday, we have to fight another day, good luck to her, good luck to us," he stated. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan has once again stopped Indian High Commission officials from meeting Indian pilgrims visiting Gurudwara Sacha Sauda in Farooqabad near Lahore. Even as the Sikh community observes the 550th birthday of Sri Guru Nanak Dev at Nankana Sahib and Gurudwara Sacha Sauda, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials masquerading as Sikhs stopped the entry of Indian diplomats from Islamabad led by Ranjit Singh (in black Band Gala Suite) and Sunil Kumar. They were also insulted outside the holy place. The officials were stopped from entering the Gurudwara and a group of ISI sponsored Sikhs walked the diplomats out of the Gurudwara premises. In a video, the Indian diplomat, who himself is a Sikh was found saying, "There are many gurudwaras in India and other parts of the world, but there are no restrictions on anywhere. We have witnessed this for the first time that someone is being stopped from entering Guru's House. This is a violation of sanctity of Gurudwara". When the Indian diplomat asked Pakistani officials to allow them to enter the gurudwara premises as a normal pilgrim, Gopal Singh Chawla, Chairman of Punjabi Sikh Sangat kept arguing with him and asked him to come some other day. Others who were in the group including Ramesh Singh Arora, ex-MPA and Tara Singh Pardhan, told the Indian diplomats that "they are helpless" and that they cannot allow them to enter the gurudwara. While Pakistan prevented Indian High Commission officials to meet Sikh pilgrims visiting Pakistan, India recently allowed Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood to travel to 'Sirhind Sharif' to take part in the chaddar-laying ceremony, along with the pilgrims from Pakistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has disappointed the people, despite having a great mandate. "People have given a great mandate to Prime Minister Narendra Modi but he has disappointed them," said Kalyan. Kalyan, who has formed Jana Sena, has also decided to maintain equal distance from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "When the BJP came to power, they repeated the mistakes committed during the Congress regime and thus hurt the people," he said. He also stated, "Northern Indian political elites try to understand southern India through representatives, which is not a holistic knowledge. North Indian political elite should have a deeper understanding of southern India." 'Tammudu' star had recently announced to quit acting due to some personal reasons. "Currently we have identified the issue. We have identified the corruption, an individual or a political party. I'm just trying to correct the system. So I came out and I have quit films. It is not an easy journey for me. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), lauded the governments of India and Pakistan's decision to open the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims on Thursday. Zardari claimed that his mother, late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had first proposed to grant a visa-free corridor to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib from the International border with India. "Recognising the decision as the fulfillment of the dream of former Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto after a quarter century, he recalled that Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had first proposed to grant a visa-less free corridor to Kartarpur shrine from the Indian border. Since then Sikh devotees had been impressing upon the Government of India to accept Pakistan's proposal and facilitate Sikh pilgrims visiting their holy shrine," the media cell of PPP stated. Quoting the Chairman, the media cell further mentioned, "Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that PPP always stood for people to people contact between the two neighbouring countries and every government led by PPP had taken significant steps to facilitate the Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims from India and the over, to visit their sacred places." The Union Cabinet earlier today passed the resolution on the Kartarpur Corridor- from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to India-Pakistan international Border - after many weeks of internal consultations and preparation within the government earlier in the day. . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On the second day of this three-day visit to Australia, President Ramnath Kovind unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Jubilee Park in the town of Parramatta, which is a bustling suburb of Sydney. The bronze statue designed by Indian sculptors Ram and Anil Sutar was presented to the Indian President by Andrew Wilson, the Mayor of Parramatta. Also present at the event was Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The unveiling of the statue is part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Father of the Natio, which is being observed in different parts of the world. The life-size statue, which is a gift from the Indian government, is identical to the one presented to the city of Brisbane in Australia in 2014. Moments after ribbon-cutting to unveil the statue, President Kovind presented a book titled 'Hind Swaraj' to Australian Prime Minister Morrison and Parramatta's Mayor Wilson. The book was penned by Gandhiji in 1909. In this opus, Gandhiji inscribed his nationalistic views on independence, modern civilisation and mechanisation, among other topics. The talented artists from Australia also revealed vivid colours of their culture and art by their mesmerising dance performance, which left the dignitaries and other guests in awe. They showcased a traditional dance performance, adjacent to the site of the inauguration stage as a part of the statue-unveiling ceremony. Speaking to media prior to the arrival of the Indian President, Mayor Wilson said "As home to the largest population of people of Indian descent in Australia, the City of Parramatta is overjoyed to be marking this momentous anniversary with our wonderful community. We give our sincere thanks to President Kovind and the people of India for this precious gift, which will stand proudly in our city from this day forward." President Kovind was accompanied by his wife Savita Kovind, daughter Swati, Minister of State Anant Kumar Hegde, Members of Parliament Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Dr Heena Gavit. High Commissioner of India to Australia Dr A M Gondane and other officials of the Ministry of External Affairs were also present on the occasion. Several members of the Indian community also participated even as the ceremony was in the middle of a working day. As per current estimates, Indians top even the Chinese among the largest number of immigrants to Australia. Parramatta, where the Gandhi statue was unveiled today, is among the more popular suburbs where Indians choose to live in Sydney, the other being Harris Park, which is often described as Little India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ichalkaranji's largest weaver and quality fabric manufacturers Ramkrishna (Jhanwar) Group (RK) commenced its new display centre and corporate office at A to Z Industrial Estate, Lower Parel, Mumbai. It was inaugurated on 21st November 2018 by Padma Vibhushan Pujya Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swamiji Shree Rambhadracharyaji and Visionary Mr. Dilip Gaur, Managing Director of Grasim Industries Ltd. Deendayal Jhanwar, Managing Director of Ramkrishna (Jhanwar) Group informed that, "For 'Ultrafine Luxury Cotton Fabric Made with Giza Cotton in 232's Double Yarn', we are the only weaver in decentralized sector to manufacture it for the first time in India. We can state that it is 'Cotton in Silk Like Fineness & Luxury Like Never Seen Before'. This has boosted our export and opened doors of entry to the Elite Premium Fashion Brands in the World." Ramkrishna (Jhanwar) Group is having a product range from 40 gsm to 300 gsm with more than 3500 varieties of fabrics in 100% cotton and multi fibre fabrics like poly cotton, poly-viscose, cotton lycra, 100% modal, 100% excel, 100% tencel, 100% viscose, cotton - modal, cotton-viscose, lyocell-linen, cotton-linen etc. it has an annual production capacity of 16.20 million meters of fabrics per year. The RK Group specializes in fine count and value-added fabrics manufacturing with different weaves like lenos, dobbies, buttas, jacquards, misdent, plains, twills, drills, satins, reversible satin, cord, herring bones, oxford, matty, sheeting etc. its core strength is fine counts fabrics manufacturing up to 140s giza cotton yarn & 2/170 giza double yarn. Ramkrishna (Jhanwar) Group has tied up with 'Liva', the fashion brand of Aditya Birla Group. Ramkrishna (Jhanwar) Group has been honored with 'Best Innovator Award' for 2017 as well as 2018 by Grasim Industries Ltd., for two years consecutively. The Group has the distinction of presenting its super-premium cotton fabric to Shri Ram Nath Kovind, President of India on 8th January 2018. The Group is supplying fabrics to top brands like Marks & Spencer, H&M, American Eagle, Ralph Lauren, Esprit etc. It is also supplying fabrics to domestic mills, garment exporters, buying houses on Pan India basis. It has a vast presence in export field, exporting fabrics to countries like Sri Lanka, Spain, Dubai, Mexico, Bangladesh etc. RK Group's weaving division is having 98 Rapier & Air Jet Looms. The Group is a Master Weaver of 350 looms. It is having 2 sizing machines and 6 warping machines as well as processing facilities. The Group produces 55,000 meters of fabrics per day. Mr. Deendayal B. Jhanwar, Managing Director of the Group further stated that the Group Turnover is Rs. 125 Crore per annum. The Group has plans to bring IPO after one year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five unidentified persons on Thursday looted Rs 52 lakh from a cash van in Sarai area, Muzaffarpur, Bihar after shooting at the security guard. The guard was later admitted to a hospital for the treatment. The incident took place on Thursday afternoon when the van carrying cash to a branch of Axis Bank. According to informed sources, a white Scorpio approached the van. One of the occupants of SUV opened fire. They managed to flee after looting the cash. Police have reached the spot. Investigations are underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Deputy First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney, will visit India next week to further strengthen ties between the two countries. His visit will be aimed at enhancement of trade and investment along with bolstering educational and cultural links. A statement released by the British High Commission in New Delhi on Thursday said that the Scottish Minister would be accompanied by a delegation of senior leaders from Scotland's higher education sector. "India is an important international partner to Scotland and we have successfully collaborated on hundreds of different projects in recent years - from the Ganga River Health Project to delivering cost-effective precision medicine solutions for diabetes," Swinney was quoted saying. Swinney would be holding a series of meetings between November 23 to 29 in New Delhi and Bangalore, along with businessmen and industry leaders as well as representatives from the Indian Government. "There is much we can learn from India, a country highly regarded for its spirit of creativity, entrepreneurship and young ambitious workforce," he added. The Deputy First Minister of Scotland further mentioned that Scotland, in a similar manner, can offer a lot of expertise in areas that the Indian Government has identified as important, such as clean water and data-driven innovation. "Scotland already has a strong history of engineering and innovation and Edinburgh has been named as the best European place to start a tech business thanks to its top facilities, strong international connections, world-class universities and fantastic quality of life." India is Scotland's fourth biggest international market for further and higher education students. As per records, 1,425 higher education students from India enrolled in Scottish universities in the academic year 2016-17. Working with the delegation from our world-renowned universities we will highlight the strengths and achievements of Scotland's higher education sector and promote the exciting opportunities for Indian students to visit, work and study here, he said. His trip will also include an official reception at the British High Commission in New Delhi to celebrate St Andrew's Day and a separate celebration with alumni from Scottish universities in Bangalore. The programme has been organised in partnership with Scottish Development International, Universities Scotland, the British Council and Visit Scotland. Talking in terms of trade, Scottish direct exports to India were worth 235million in 2016. Also, in 2016 visitors from India spent a total of 334,000 nights in Scotland and spent 17 million. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after the United States issued fresh sanctions against Russia due to its alleged role in supplying oil to the Assad regime in Syria, Russia released a statement ridiculing the sanctions, mentioning that such moves were only reflective of the political discord in the USA. "Their recent expansion was the eleventh during the last three and a half months, while the practice itself is increasingly becoming a matter of routine. But the main reasons for the sanctions lie in America's domestic political discord, where each of the parties involved seeks to score points by any means, including on the international arena," a statement released by Russiaa Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. "The result is awkward," the statement went on to ridicule. The nation further went on to question US' intentions and said, "Their attempts to charge Russia with complicity in supplying oil to Syria, whose armed forces have fought against terrorist aggression for more than seven years, look like a statement in support of the terrorists and at the same time suggest a wish to hamper the restoration of that devastated country where many residents are without light and heat. Does the US really want this?" "Moreover, in trying to pressurise Russia, Washington repeatedly demonstrates its inability to force our country to change its independent international line," Russia highlighted in the scathing attack against the USA. The statement concluded with a cautionary note to the US. "US politicians should abandon the illusion of America's "omnipotence," of which they have convinced themselves. Self-delusion is a dangerous thing," the statement mentioned, highlighting the worsening relations between the nations in recent times. On November 20, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo had announced that the US had imposed sanctions on an Iran-Russia-Syria network which sold oil to Syria's Assad regime and generated funds for terrorist outfits like Hizballah and Hamas. This was the US' latest sanctions against Russia in a string of sanctions that have already been imposed this year, including additional sanctions pertaining to Russia's annexation of Crimea. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], Nov 22 (ANI): While we all love winters, there are some who are left tormented by the allergies that are part and parcel of this season. For such people, the transition from autumn to the coldest season of the year is not a smooth one. Therefore, to avoid catching cold and flu, it is imperative to pay attention to your immunity and lifestyle habits, say doctors. "Winter is a time of allergies and some common allergens include dust and mites, pollen, pet dander, perfumes, and mold. The allergy can even continue for days and months causing runny nose, sneezing and sniffling, watery eyes, itchiness, and persistent cough," Dr KK Aggarwal, President, Heart Care Foundation of India told ANI. But, aren't allergens present in the air all round the year? "They are," said Dr Chanchal Pal of Moolchand Hospital. "But in winters, they tend to become more active since people shut all the windows and switch on their room heaters to avoid the cold. This warm temperature is ideal for the breeding of mold and mites." Not taking adequate precautions, according to Pal, can trigger severe broncho-constriction, especially in those with existing conditions like asthma. Padma Shri Awardee, Dr KK Aggarwal also stressed that such people need to be even more cautious in the winter season. "The situation can become worse for people with existing conditions such as asthma as it can worsen wheezing and other issues in them." Here are some precautionary measures that one ought to keep in mind: "Keep your house dust free. It is also a must to ensure that dampness is avoided as it can cause molds to grow inside the house," said Aggarwal. "While most nasal allergies can be cured with antihistamines, people with asthma or other ailments must use inhalers without fail and seek medical help in case the symptoms become worse. Also, to build immunity, eat foods rich in Vitamin C," he signed off. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man was brutally murdered by unknown attackers with a sickle in Telangana's Medchal town last night. According to Medipally police, the deceased, identified as Raji Reddy, was travelling to Parvathipuram by car when a few unknown men attacked his car. The miscreants pulled Reddy out of his car and attacked him with a sickle, following which Reddy died on the spot. The police has registered a case in this matter under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the body of the deceased has been sent to a local hospital for postmortem. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fugitive Indian businessman Vijay on Thursday faced a major setback in his battle to save his luxurious house from foreclosure by Swiss after the United Kingdom (UK) rejected scores of the arguments presented by his legal team during the trial of the matter. The judicature has issued an order asking to pay a hefty amount of 88,000 pounds to Investment Bank, which had issued 20.4 million pounds in the mortgage loan for his property. The property was referred to in the UK as a "high-class home for Dr Vijay and his family members and United Breweries Group corporate guests". The former liquor baron, who is on bail on an extradition warrant after his arrest in April 2017 is also facing trouble from New Delhi, after the led by Prime Minister made an attempt to get him extradited from the UK on charges of laundering to the tune of Rs 90 billion. Mallya is residing in the UK from the past two years. His extradition case is reportedly in its final stage at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court which is expected to deliver it ruling by the year-end. Dismissing reports that the victim, John Allen Chau, was involved in missionary works, the source said: "There was also no confirmation that the victim was involved in any evangelical activities." It was further spelt out that the photographs which the deceased possessed indicated that he was an adventure sportsperson. However, the source underlined, "Chau violated all the norms. Moreover, he had also not informed the hotel (that he was visiting the area)." Describing the danger Chau took upon himself by entering the island which is inhabited by the world's most reclusive tribes, who reject any kind of contact with the outside world, the source said: "He was to a place which was highly sensitive and restricted from every point of view." Before entering the island, it is mandatory to clear three filters including permissions from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs Ministry, Ministry of and Forests and the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO). Access to North Sentinel Island and its buffer zone is strictly restricted under Protection of Aboriginal Tribe (Regulation), 1956 and Regulations under Indian Forest Act, 1927. The Ministry of Home Affairs through its recent circulars also restricted movement of foreigners in these areas. There are 29 inhabited islands in the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands that have been excluded from the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) regime which include the North Sentinel Island where the incident took place. The source, however, stressed that "the government, as of now, is not thinking of imposing RAP despite the incident". He said that investigation is going on, and the Andaman and Nicobar Police have registered a case against unknown persons, and the mother of the victim had already been informed. "We have no idea as to why he went there. It can only be found after investigation and interrogation of those who have been arrested," the source said. The police have arrested seven people including Chau's local friend, Alexander, an electronics engineer and fishermen. The victim visited Andaman and Nicobar Islands a few times earlier. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three of seven fishermen who were arrested earlier in the day in connection with the alleged killing of American Tourist John Allen Chau were taken into police here custody on Thursday. Police will interrogate the accused to investigate various aspects of the case including the sequence of events, the sea route followed for North Sentinal Island, the location where the victim landed and the place of incidence, the location where John Allen Chau was last seen. Further, the personal journal of Chau will be analysed afresh accordingly. It will also be ascertained whether the victim had taken the help of the fishermen or others to venture to the North Sentinal Island on an earlier occasion. To make the picture clearer, one another police team is being sent to the North Sentinal Island waters. As the case pertains to the ultra-sensitive tribal group-Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), the police are also taking help of Anthropologists, Academics, Forest department experts etc to guide and assist the police during the investigation of the case. The deceased was allegedly killed in North Sentinel Island of Andaman which is home to the Sentinelese, a native tribe which is completely against outsiders' intervention in their life. "On the basis of the information received by an email of the US Consulate, Chennai on 19 November, the Andaman and Nicobar police immediately lodged a missing report. The police have apprehended seven people who supported John Allen Chau and actively facilitated him to go to north Sentinelese Island," said Andaman and Nicobar Director General of Police Deependra Pathak. Two cases have been registered in the connection. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a bid to revive the Ram Temple movement, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Shiv Sena have once again decided to come together to accelerate the construction of the temple. The VHP and Shiv Sena had, in 1990, launched a similar movement which eventually led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. The movement was led by Bal Thackrey (Shiv Sena) and Ashok Singhal (VHP). The two organisations are all set to begin separate events in various states to pressure the central government to kick-start the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday visited the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to collect the soil, which he plans to carry to Uttar Pradesh on his visit to Ayodhya. The Shiv Sena supremo, at the Vijayadashami meet of his party last month, had announced that he will visit Ayodhya and urge the Narendra Modi government build the Ram Temple. The VHP, on the other hand, will be holding three major rallies- in Ayodhya, Nagpur and Mangalore- later this month. Led by the head of its international chapter, Alok Kumar, the VHP met the governor of Himachal Pradesh Acharya Devvrat on Thursday. During the meeting, the Hindu organisation submitted a memorandum to the governor demanding the state government to raise the matter with the Union government to make a law to build the temple in Ayodhya. The Supreme Court on October 29 had adjourned the Ayodhya title suit till next year to fix a date for the hearing. The court was hearing the matter which challenged the 2010 ruling of the Allahabad High Court that divided the disputed land into three parts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said he was asked to resign from his post by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He further said that he would obey the instructions of Banerjee as her command is "above all". "I was asked to resign. I will do what Mamata says. Her command is above all. Whatever happens politically will come in the forefront," he said. Commenting on the controversy in his personal life and his relationship with his wife, he said, " Someone else (Wife Ratna Chatterjee) cannot blame my well wisher (Baishaki Banerjee) for doing all this against me. She is not responsible for my personal or political decisions." Chatterjee and his wife separated earlier in the year. The latter blamed her estranged husband's closeness to Baishaki Banerjee for the alleged indifference in his attitude towards his work. Sovan had resigned as West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services and Housing minister on November 20, following which State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim took charge of both departments. Allegedly, Chatterjee was spending more time with a woman with whom he is alleged to have an affair, and the happenings in his personal life did not seem to go down well with the party. If sources are to be believed, the problems had emerged in the party from quite some time. However, the final trigger was pulled on Tuesday, resulting in the minister tendering his resignation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two person were killed after suspected militants belonging to the anti-talk faction of United Liberation Front of Asom's (Ulfa) triggered a blast in Assam's Sivsagar district on Thursday evening, police said. Police said the blast took place at a hardware store belonging to one Kamal Agarwala. "While Agarwala was seriously injured in the blast, a customer who was present in the store died on the spot. Agarwala was rushed to a hospital immediately but he succumbed to his inuries," police said. The police is investigating the matter and will detail "the exact nature of the blast after preliminary investigation", said Sivsagar Superintendent of Police Subodh Kumar Sonowal. Locals said that Agarwala and his brother had earlier received an extortion demand from the anti-talk faction of Ulfa militants. The anti-talk Ulfa faction had on November 1 shot at a group of Hindu Bengalis in Tinsukia district in which five persons were killed. Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal strongly condemned the act and said that miscreants responsible for the killing will not be spared. The Chief Minister, who is in New Delhi, termed the incident as an act of cowardice. He said that the state police chief has been directed to take immediate measures to nab the culprits involved in the incident. --IANS ah/shs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two persons were killed in West Bengal early on Thursday when a container-trailer collided with a gas tanker on the Kona Expressway in the Howrah district, an official said. "The crash took place around 3.50 a.m. There was an explosion and both the vehicles caught fire. Charred remains of both drivers were recovered," a Jagacha police station official said. Seven fire tenders worked for about an hour and half to put out the blaze, a fire official said. The expressway traffic was affected. Officials temporarily suspended vehicular movement to clear the road. --IANS bdc/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The battle for 2019 is not about replacing one government with another, says former Minister in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government Manish Tewari in his new book, and asks whether it will herald the demise of national ethos and the rise of a different vision of India. The book, "Fables of Fractured Times", a compendium of his published articles on subjects ranging from governance, media, economy, democracy and geopolitics, carries a new Introduction in which Tewari writes about the events leading up to the partition of India and then traces the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in mainstream He mentions that after UPA's 10-year tenure, people were looking for a change and voted for "the Shangri La that the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate" promised. He claims that after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rise, "the ideological godfathers of the BJP and its myriad fellow travellers on the right" saw an opportunity to reopen the fundamental debate of 1947. "For in their minds it had never been done and dusted, it had only been put in the backburner awaiting an opportunity to be resurrected at an opportune moment," he writes, before mentioning that India had turned into an "informal majoritarian" state. He says that the creative community was the "first to feel the heat" as they were compelled to self-censor because of an "environment of intimidation and coercion", which resulted in the Award Wapsi campaign of returning the national honours in 2015 by leading artistes, scientists and writers. "Concurrently, insidious tendencies to perpetuate this reign of fear started manifesting themselves through Ghar Wapsi, Love Jihad and Bahu Lao, Beti Bachao paradigms." All through Modi government's rule, Tewari maintains, lynchings continued unabated, while Modi's silence was deafening. Tewari alleges that the NDA government at the centre "chose to do nothing and has allowed an atmosphere of hate and polarization to perpetuate itself". "Those who dared to raise their voice against this disturbing new normal in the country were sought to be browbeaten and intimidated. A new vocabulary was deployed to muzzle dissent. It was almost decreed as anti-national to question the ruling party, seditious to query the government of the day and downright treasonous to ask questions of the establishment," Tewari adds in the book from Konark Publishers. --IANS ss/vsc/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court in Punjab on Thursday sent Bikramjit Singh, who was arrested by the Punjab Police on Wednesday for the grenade attack on a prayer meeting of the Nirankari sect, to five days in police custody. The opposition Shiromani Akali Dal on Thursday asked Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and the state police to provide "unquestionable truth" about Bikramjit's involvement. Bikramjit was produced before a court in Ajnala town, around 30km from Amritsar, on Thursday. Bikramjit's accomplice, Avtar Singh, who threw the hand grenade at the religious congregation, continued to elude the police for the fifth day after the incident. Three people were killed and 15 others injured when the grenade was lobbed at the prayer meeting being held in the hall of the NIrankari Satsang Bhawan in Adliwal village in Rajasansi area of Amritsar on Sunday. Within 72 hours of the terror incident, the Punjab Police claimed that it had arrested Bikramjit, 26, a resident of Dhariwal village near Rajasansi, for the terror act. Bikramjit had reportedly stood at the gate of the Nirankari Bhawan premises, holding the gate attendants at gun-point. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh blamed Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and the Pakistan-based masterminds of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) for the terror attack. The Chief Minister said the grenade used in the blast was Pakistan made. Amarinder said it was a "terror incident" and there was no religious link to it. Senior Akali Dal leader and MP, Prem Singh Chandumajra, asked the Chief Minister "to bring the complete unquestionable truth about the involvement of Dhariwal resident Bikramjit Singh before the people of the state to allay apprehensions raised by residents of his village that he was being framed in the case". The family of the arrested man has disputed the police claim. In a statement here, Chandumajra said: "History has recorded that the Congress trampled upon innocents and implicated them in false cases which led to two decades of turmoil in the state." There should not be any doubt, he said, about the intentions of the government in solving the Amritsar grenade blast case. The villagers of Dhariwal, he noted, had emphasized that Bikramjit, one of the alleged assailants, was tilling his fields when the blast occurred. "This raises a question mark over the entire investigation and now the Punjab Police are duty-bound to give irrefutable proof to the villagers that Bikramjit was involved in the bomb blast case," Chandumajra said. --IANS js/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Paris, Nov 22 (IANS/WAM) Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and a group of businessmen as part of his visit to Paris. The meeting, which took place at Matignon Palace on Wednesday in attendance of Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the two parties discussed ways of bolstering distinguished ties of friendship and cooperation across cultural, educational, economic, investment and political spheres. The two sides expressed their determination to further advance joint cooperation and work. The Crown Prince and Philippe took stock of the latest regional and global developments and exchanged views on a wide range of issues of mutual concern. Philippe lauded the evolving UAE-France ties and the joint cultural projects which, he said, strengthen bilateral friendship and cooperation. He said he was looking forward for a more constructive, qualitative partnership with the UAE so as to realise the aspirations of the peoples of both countries. --IANS/WAM ksk/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund has sued Goldman Sachs for losses linked to Malaysia's state investment fund scandal. International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), and its subsidiary, Aabar, on Wednesday filed a summons in a New York state court naming the investment bank as a defendant, reports CNN. Goldman Sachs played a "central role" in implicating IPIC in the scheme to launder money from Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the fund said in a statement. 1MDB and IPIC had been business partners before the scandal came to light. The Abu Dhabi fund claimed that Goldman conspired with others to bribe former executives of IPIC and Aabar, inducing them to "misuse the companies' names, networks, and infrastructures to further the criminal schemes and to personally benefit Goldman Sachs" and others, according to the court filing. It did not say how much in damages IPIC was seeking. Meanwhile, the bank said it intended to fight the claims. "We are in the process of assessing the details of allegations and fully expect to contest the claim vigorously," a Goldman Sachs spokesman said in a statement late Wednesday. The IPIC suit also named as defendants former Goldman Sachs bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, as well as Andrea Vella, who he bank has placed on leave. Earlier this month, the US Justice Department announced that Leissner, Goldman's former chairman of Southeast Asia, had pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money and conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act through the payment of bribes to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, CNN reported. The government also filed charges against Ng, and Jho Low, the Malaysian financier who US officials say was behind much of the embezzlement plot. Ng was arrested in Malaysia and Low remains at large. In 2012 and 2013, Goldman Sachs arranged three large bond offerings for 1MDB. The bond sales, which raised a total of $6.5 billion, earned Goldman Sachs about $600 million in fees, according to court documents. But more than $2.7 billion of the proceeds from those offerings was stolen from 1MDB, according to the Justice Department. The bank, which has reportedly been meeting Justice Department officials, maintains that the accused employees misled its legal and compliance teams about the deals. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As mainstream parties on Thursday attacked the decision of Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik to dissolve the Assembly, he defended his action saying the alliance between the former rival parties was opportunistic and not in the interest of the state. However, a major row broke out over BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav's allegations that the PDP, NC and the Congress came together at the behest of Pakistan, a remark he withdrew following stiff opposition. Addressing the media in Srinagar, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of the National Conference said that since it was the PDP and not his party that had sent a letter to the Governor claiming majority in the Assembly, it was for the PDP to challenge Malik's Wednesday night action. The National Conference reacted angrily against Ram Madhav's comment that the National Conference and PDP had boycotted the urban local bodies' polls at Pakistan's behest and were now trying to forge an alliance under directions from Islamabad. "It is unfortunate that a senior BJP leader has said that we got instructions from Pakistan. I challenge Ram Madhav and his associates to prove this with evidence. "You are disrespecting the sacrifices of my colleagues who refused to dance to Pakistan's instructions and died," he said. In a lighter vein, Abdullah said this was for the first time that a fax machine did not work in a Governor's office and became responsible for the death of democracy. "This fax machine is a one-way fax, it has only outgoing and no incoming. This is a unique fax machine and an investigation should be done." The comment was in response to PDP chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's statement that her party had sent a fax to the Raj Bhawan claiming support of 56 MLAs but it did not reach Raj Bhawan. Mehbooba Mufti in response to Madhav's tweet said she was shocked to see "baseless allegations against mainstream parties in the state. "We had aligned with the BJP to change this pernicious mindset. Undoubtedly Pakistan has an impact on the situation. But it is upto our country to change that from negative to positive and tread the path that was taken by (Atal Bihari) Vajpayeeji." She added that "just because our MLAs had enough integrity to stand up to your (BJP) failed attempts of defection, they are now anti national? Both PDP and NC have been allies of BJP at some point. Strange that our credentials weren't questioned then. "Sad to see what the political discourse of our country has been reduced to. How does one define a party's nationalistic credentials? Nationalistic and patriotic only if you are with the Centre and Pakistan-sponsored and anti-nationalistic otherwise?" Rattled by the attack on him, Madhav tweeted "...I take back my comment, but, now that you proved it was genuine love between NC and PDP that prompted a failed government formation attempt, you should fight next elections together. Mind you it's political comment, not personal." Meanwhile, Governor Malik in the winter capital defended his decision to dissolve the Assembly, saying an impending alliance between the PDP, Congress and the National Conference was "opportunistic". The Governor told the media that his Wednesday night decision was taken as per the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. "In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, I don't need to take permission from Parliament. I just need to inform the President about the decision," he said. On Wednesday night, in a dramatic development, the Governor dissolved the Assembly after the PDP staked claim to form a government along with the Congress and with the outside backing of the National Conference. In no time, Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone made a counter claim to power with the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and rebel Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLAs. Asked about the charge that the PDP and the National Conference got instructions from Pakistan to form a government, Malik said: "I don't say such things. I am in a responsible post. I won't say anything without evidence. "This grand alliance was opportunistic. There was no agreement. Even one party was saying that there was no formal interaction among them to form the government." Malik denied that he acted at the behest of the BJP. "They (PDP, NC and Congress) know well what the BJP headquarters wanted. The BJP had a candidate here. If I would have heard the BJP, then I would have called their side. But I did what I thought was best according to the Constitution." Malik alleged that for the last 15-20 days he was getting reports on horse-trading of MLAs. "I had said this in the beginning that I would not support anybody underhand or by defection or who has been threatened. I wanted an elected government here. "I had decided to dissolve the Assembly as the legislators of these parties were indulging in horse-trading... MLAs were being threatened... If I would have given an opportunity to anyone, more horse-trading would have been done. And the entire political and judicial system of the state would have been ruined," he said. --IANS sq-ahm/vsc/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As Kerala struggles towards normalcy post devastating floods which left scores dead, AIIMS, New Delhi employees on Thursday donated their one-day salary towards Kerala Flood Relief Fund. The employees at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), new Delhi including faculty members, residents, nurses and officers collected Rs 1.77 crores. The check was handed over to Kerala minister A.C Moideen by AIIMS DElhi Director Randeep Guleria. "It will take a lot of time, efforts and resources and support, small and big, from one and all, to rebuild Kerala, "AIIMS, New Delhi solicit itsfull support in thie effort and is ready to extend all support," said a statement from AIIMS. --IANS som-kd/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking its presence in India a notch higher, food delivery platform Uber Eats announced the appointment of actress Alia Bhatt as its brand ambassador. India will be the first country for the brand globally to have appointed a brand ambassador. "My work hours and plans keep changing, so the freedom/flexibility to get what I'm craving for whenever I want, right at the tap of a button, almost seems magical. I'm delighted to be associated with a young, innovative and energetic brand like Uber Eats," Alia said in a statement. Bhavik Rathod, Head of Uber Eats India and South Asia, said that Alia is an inspiration to Indian millennials and they are thrilled to have her on board. "The youth today relates to her easy-going, carefree and energetic personality. She is known for her unique style and agility as an actor - the same qualities are an integral part of the Uber Eats DNA, thus making her the perfect fit to represent our brand in India. We are excited to have Alia on board, as we stay focused on building and strengthening our presence in India," said Rathod. --IANS nv/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With their choice of words on Twitter, Americans appear to be living up to their national stereotype as negative and assertive, while Canadians tend to be nice and polite on the microblogging platform, suggests an analysis of nearly 40 million tweets. Canadians were far more positive on Twitter, using words such as great, thanks, good, amazing, and happy. Americans tended to use more negative words like hate, miss, mad, feel, swear, tired, said the study published online in the journal PLOS ONE. "The Twitter behaviour we observe doesn't actually reflect the real underlying personality profile of an average American or Canadian," said study co-author Daniel Schmidtke from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. For the study, the researchers isolated the words, emoticons, and emojis used most disproportionately on Twitter by individuals from each country. The findings suggest national stereotypes are grounded - at least partially - in the words we choose. "The most distinctive word choices of Americans and Canadians on Twitter paint a very accurate and familiar picture of the stereotypes we associate with people from these nations," Schmidtke said. However, there is not any hard evidence to support that an average American's and average Canadian's personality traits are different. The team argues that their results show an identity construction strategy in action: Canadians and Americans may create their national character stereotype through their language use. --IANS gb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A month after Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi asked all political parties to form an Internal Complain Committee (ICC), only the CPI-M has confirmed that it has done so. According to the Ministry, all major national political parties including the Bhartiya Janata Party and Congress have failed to provide any update on the formation of ICC under the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act. "Neither state nor national parties apart from the CPI-M has reverted to us on ICC. We have not yet decided the next step," an official said. Currently, there are seven national, 59 state and more than 2,000 registered unrecognized political parties in India, according to the Election Commission. The CPI-M told the Ministry that an ICC was formed after the Party Congress every three years. Last month, following the MeToo movement, Gandhi urged all political parties to set up an internal committee to investigate sexual harassment charges. --IANS som/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To give a boost to development of the jute sector, the government on Thursday made it mandatory to pack 100 per cent of food grains in diversified jute bags, up from 90 per cent earlier. Also, 20 per cent of the sugar products would continue to be mandatorily packed in jute bags, the government said. The decision to expand the scope of mandatory packaging norms under the Jute Packaging Material (JPM) Act, 1987, was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The CCEA approved that 100 per cent of the food grains and 20 per cent of the sugar shall be mandatorily packed in diversified jute bags. The decision to pack sugar in diversified jute bags will give an impetus to the diversification of the jute industry," an official statement said. The government said the decision was important considering that nearly 3.7 lakh workers and several lakh farm families were dependent for their livelihood on the jute sector. "The jute industry is predominantly dependent on government which purchases jute bags of value of more than Rs 6,500 crore every year for packing foodgrains. This is done in order to sustain the core demand for the jute sector and to support the livelihood of the workers and farmers dependent on the sector," it said in a statement. "The decision will benefit farmers and workers in the eastern and north-eastern regions of the country particularly in the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura." --IANS vv/ksk/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China and Brazil will launch a new Earth resource satellite next year, according to an official with the China National Space Administration. "The new satellite, the China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite-4A, or CBERS-4A, will be launched in the second half of 2019," said Li Guoping, the secretary-general of the China National Space Administration, reports Xinhua news agency. The CBERS satellites are Earth remote sensing satellites, specifically designed for Earth observation from orbit for non-military use, such as monitoring, meteorology and map making. According to Li, CBERS-4A, the new satellite to be launched, is assembled and currently going through tests in Brazil. It is set to replace CBERS-4. CBERS-4, launched in December 2014, is currently in great condition although under extended service. "The two countries will also start the final design and research of CBERS-5 and CBERS-6. The two satellites will be successors to CBERS-4A, which is designed to serve for five years," Li said. China and Brazil inked the agreement establishing the joint research and production of the CBERS series in July 1988. --IANS mr/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet on Thursday extended till May 2019 the tenure of the committee set up to examine the issue of sub-categorization of OBCs. A Cabinet meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the extension as the Committee sought time to have a round of discussion with the states and their Backward Classes Commissions before finalizing the sub-categorized lists and the report. This is the fourth extension granted to the commission for submission of its politically crucial report on creating quotas within quotas. In August, the Committee was given extension till November 30, 2018. The President had on October 2, 2017, appointed the Commission to examine the sub-categorization of Other Backward Classes. Its report was to be submitted within three months (i.e. by January 2018). But since then, it has sought and was granted extensions citing voluminous nature of its task. Sub-categorization of the OBCs will ensure that the more backwards among the OBC communities can also access the benefits of reservation in educational institutions and government jobs. "The Commission has held extensive meetings with stake holders including the state governments, the State Backward Classes Commissions, various community associations and general public belonging to various Backward Classes and Commissions and also obtained records, caste-wise, of OBCs admitted in higher educational institution as well as similar caste-wise data of recruits in Central Departments, Central Public Sector Undertakings, Public Sector Banks and Financial Institutions," an official release said. --IANS bns/mag/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said on Thursday that it was for the PDP to challenge the Governor's decision to dissolve the state Assembly. Addressing the media here, Abdullah said that since it was the PDP and not the National Conference that had sent a letter to the Governor claiming majority support in the Assembly, it was for the PDP to challenge Satya Pal Malik's Wednesday night move. "We never sent any letter to the Governor. The primary decision to challenge the Governor rests with the PDP," he said. The National Conference reacted angrily against BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav's comment that the National Conference and PDP had boycotted the urban local bodies polls at Pakistan's behest and were now trying to forge an alliance under directions from Islamabad. "It is unfortunate that a senior BJP leader has said that we got instructions from Pakistan. I challenge Ram Madhav and his associates to prove this with evidence. "You are disrespecting the sacrifices of my colleagues who refused to dance to Pakistan's instructions and died," he said. In a lighter vein, Abdullah said this was for the first time that a fax machine did not work in a Governor's office and became responsible for the death of democracy. "This fax machine is a one-way fax, it has only outgoing and no incoming. This is a unique fax machine and an investigation should be done." The comment was in response to PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti's statement that her party had sent a fax to the Raj Bhawan claiming support of 56 MLAs but it did not reach Raj Bhawan. --IANS sq/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Ray Donovan" star Eddie Marsan says he loves to play characters which are going through incredible difficulties. "I love to play characters who are going through incredible difficulties but can't articulate it. That is a fascinating thing for an actor to do," Marson told IANS. And that is the thing that attracted him towards "Ray Donovan", which is aired in India on AXN. The crime drama follows life by Ray Donovan (Liev Schreiber) who works for a powerful law firm as a "fixer" representing the rich and famous. Marsan essays role of his brother Terry. "What was fascinating for me as an actor was to be part of the family that has gone through an incredible trauma and they couldn't articulate it. They dealt with the trauma in a very dysfunctional ways," he said. Marson is very proud of the show. "I am very proud of the people with whom I make the show with --the cast, the crew and the writing team. They are very much like a family to me. It it is great writing, very addictive television. It is well-structured and well-crafted." --IANS sug/nv/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Germany on Thursday submitted its final feasibility report for the 435-km high speed rail (bullet train) corridor between Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai to the Indian Railways. The report was handed over to Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani by German Ambassador to India Martin Ney at the Railway Ministry here. Speaking about the report, the German Ambassador said: "The key results of the study is that the high speed railways on the route is not only feasible but also manageable." He said the report was completed in 18 months and is fully funded by the German government. Lohani said the report is doable but before taking further steps, it will be studied. According to Railway Ministry officials, the estimated cost of the 435-km route will be around $16 billion (about Rs 1 lakh crore). The official said out of 435 km, about 84 per cent of the track would be elevated while 11 per cent will be in a tunnel. "Rest five per cent will be on grade." "The bullet train will take about two hours and 25 minutes to travel the 435-km distance between Chennai and Mysore at maximum speed of 320 kmph," he said. --IANS aks/mag/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet on Thursday decided to develop a Kartarpur Corridor from Gurdaspur in Punjab to the international border to facilitate pilgrims' passage to Kartarpur Sahib gurudwara in Pakistan as part of the 550th birth year celebrations of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, next year. The government will also develop Sultanpur Lodhi in Punjab, the city associated with Guru Nanak's early life, as a heritage town conforming to all principles of smart cities, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said a press conference after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at which the decisions were taken. It will also run special trains to sacred places and gurudwaras associated with the Sikh Guru's life, he said. "The government will develop a Kartarpur Corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, Punjab to the international border to facilitate pilgrims from India to visit the holy Gurudwara Darbaar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of Ravi river in Pakistan where Guru Nanak Devji spent 18 years," he said. The Minister said since many pilgrims visit the location on the international border from where the gurudwara in Kartarpur is visible, the government decided to set up the special corridor with all modern facilities at the border terminal including visa and customs facilities for those who are permitted to cross the border. "Pilgrims would then be able to visit the holy shrine throughout the year," a Home Ministry official said. Meanwhile an External Affairs Ministry official said India has urged Pakistan to complete building the corridor on its side with suitable facilities. "In keeping with the resolution adopted by the Cabinet today to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji in 2019, we have approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of Sikh community and build a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India to Kartarpur Sahib throughout the year," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to queries. "Government of India has already decided to build the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the International Border with all modern amenities on our side," Kumar said. Kartarpur Sahib is the place where the holy gurdwara, built on the site where Guru Nanak died in 1539, is located. Earlier in November, Pakistan issued over 3,800 visas to Sikh pilgrims for the ongoing celebrations of the 549th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. India and Pakistan share a bilateral Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines that was signed in 1974. Jaitley further said at the Sultanpur Lodhi, a heritage complex would also be developed called "Pind Baba Nanak Da" to depict the life journey and teachings of the Sikh Guru. "We have also decided to establish a Centre for Interfaith Studies in Amritsar and chairs in foreign universities including in the UK and Canada," he said. He added that all states, union territories and foreign missions of India will hold special events to commemorate the 550th birth year of the Sikh Guru. "Coins and postal stamps will also be released. Doordarshan and All India Radio will telecast special programs and gurbani on life and teachings of Guru Nanak Devji. The National Book Trust will publish texts on his life in all Indian languages," Jaitley said. He added the government will also request Unesco to translate those texts in various world languages. --IANS vv-rak-ab/in/vsc/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday defended his decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, saying an impending alliance between the PDP, Congress and the National Conference was "opportunistic". The Governor told the media that his Wednesday night decision was taken as per the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. "In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, I don't need to take permission from Parliament. I just need to inform the President about the decision," he said. On Wednesday night, in a dramatic development, the Governor dissolved the Assembly after the PDP staked claim to form a government along with the Congress and with the outside backing of the National Conference. In no time, Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone made a counter claim to power with the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and rebel Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLAs. Asked about the charge that the PDP and the National Conference got instructions from Pakistan to form a government, Malik said: "I don't say such things. I am in a responsible post. I won't say anything without evidence. "This grand alliance was opportunistic. There was no agreement. Even one party was saying that there was no formal interaction among them to form the government." Malik denied that he acted at the behest of the BJP. "They (PDP, NC and Congress) know well what the BJP headquarters wanted. The BJP had a candidate here. If I would have heard the BJP, then I would have called their side. But I did what I thought was best according to the Constitution." Malik alleged that for the last 15-20 days he was getting reports on horse-trading of MLAs. "I had said this in the beginning that I would not support anybody underhand or by defection or who has been threatened. I wanted an elected government here. "I had decided to dissolve the Assembly as the legislators of these parties were indulging in horse-trading... MLAs were being threatened... If I would have given an opportunity to anyone, more horse-trading would have been done. And the entire political and judicial system of the state would have been ruined," he said. The Governor praised the security forces for bringing the situation under control in the state. "The forces are safeguarding us and they have brought the situation under control in the Valley. There has been a drastic fall in the number of stone-pelting incidents." --IANS sq/mr/ahm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The otherwise warring PDP, National Conference and Congress may have tried -- though failed -- to cobble a coalition in Jammu and Kashmir but they are unlikely to come together again. Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday night disappointed the hopes of the three parties which overcame decades of confrontation with one another to join hands to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Peoples Conference of Sajad Lone away from power. In the process, however, the Governor has put an end to the lingering political turbulence in the state. being the art of the possible was demonstrated amply when arch rivals Peoples Democratic Party, Congress and National Conference chose to shake hands to provide a coalition government in a state with a hung Assembly. The neck breaking speed with which political events took shape on Wednesday had many media persons running from pillar to post to know what was happening. Senior PDP leader and former Minister Altaf Bukhari emerged as the dark horse for the Chief Minister's post in the intended alliance between the PDP and the Congress with the National Conference's outside support. Both Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah declined to take the Chief Minister's post in a highly fluid situation. Even when PDP leader and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti wrote to Governor Satya Pal Malik claiming the support of 56 MLAs in the 87-member Assembly, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that discussions were on to form an alliance. Azad said the idea of the three parties coming together was still at its infancy as serious deliberations were yet to be undertaken to work out the contours of such a "grand alliance". The fear of poaching had already rattled the PDP, with at least four to five of its MLAs rising in open rebellion against Mehbooba Mufti. There were reports that some MLAs in the Congress and National Conference were also weighing options to join a third front headed by Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference backed by the BJP, the PDP's foe-turned-friend-foe. To the extent of applying breaks on probable flight of their MLAs, the dissolution of the Assembly has come handy for the PDP, Congress and the National Conference. Pundits say that it is highly unlikely that a grand alliance of this kind would be formed by the three parties to fight the next Assembly elections. Wednesday's one off decision was dictated by political expediency that momentarily forced the three mainstream players to sink their differences -- for a while. --IANS sq/mr/ahm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday advised the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) to raise the issues faced by the minorities more effectively and take steps to redress their grievances in a concerned manner. Kejriwal, who met a delegation of DMC led by Chairman Zafarul-Islam Khan, released the Annual Report of the activities and initiatives of the Commission for the year 2017-18, an official statement said. Releasing the report, the Chief Minister "asked the Commission to be more vocal and proactive in raising the issues faced by the minorities and to redress their grievances in an effective and concerned manner," it reads. In the report, the DMC details various activities of the Commission among the minority communities, awareness camps held and various schemes of the state and Central governments implemented for their welfare, as well an evaluation of the implementation of certain schemes of minorities' financial inclusion, seminars and meetings of the DMC advisory and peace committees, the statement added. Formed to look into specific complaints regarding deprivation of rights and safe-guards of the minority communities, the DMC takes up such matters with appropriate authorities for necessary action. The minority communities in Delhi are the communities which were notified by the Central government as per the provisions of National Commission for Minorities Act 1992 and includes Islam (Muslims), Sikhism (Sikhs), Christianity (Christians), Jainism (Jains), Buddhism (Buddhists) and Zoroastrianism (Parsis). --IANS nks/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Known for controversial remarks, Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Surendra Singh on Thursday said "if need be, 1992 would be repeated in Ayodhya on November 25". The ruling party legislator from Beria in Ballia district referred to the demolition of the Babri mosque at the disputed site in the temple town by 'kar sevaks' on December 6, 1992. "If the situation so warrants, we will take law in our hands and ensure that the Ram temple is built at the very site" he said. The temple, he said, would be built at all costs -- "constitutionally, legally or some other way." "Lord Ram is put up under a tent and 'puja' is being performed every day, so why delay," the legislator said. The lawmaker took part in a bike rally under the aegis of the Vishwa Hindu parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh (RSS), Bajrang Dal and Hindu Yuva Vahini and exhorted people to turn up in large numbers for the Sunday 'Dharam Sabha' at Ayodhya. Thousands of people are likely to reach Ayodhya on Sunday where the VHP and Hindu seers are slated to gather to demand an early construction of the Ram temple. --IANS md/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's decision on Thursday to build a corridor from Gurdaspur in Punjab to Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan for the Sikh pilgrims ahead of the 550th birth year celebrations of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak next year is not in response to any proposal from Islamabad. The Union Cabinet passed the resolution on the Kartarpur corridor project after many weeks of internal consultations and preparations within the government. Official sources said this was in an apparent bid to scotch reports that the government initiative came after Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's recent visit to Pakistan, where he had raked up the issue. The resolution is a comprehensive document that contains detailed information on the plans for the celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, not just on the corridor. "Any suggestion that the corridor or the celebrations are being planned as a response to a Pakistani proposal is not only preposterous, but hurtful to the sentiments of the Sikh community," the sources said. Following India's decision, Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry said New Delhi's move was an endorsement of Islamabad's proposition on the issue. "It is a step in the right direction and we hope such steps will encourage voice of reason and tranquility on both sides of the border," Chaudhry tweeted. The proposal for a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib, the place where the holy gurdwara, built on the site where Guru Nanak died in 1539, is located, has been a longstanding demand from India for 20 years, but Pakistan refused to acknowledge this all these years. Earlier in the day, India urged Pakistan to complete construction of the corridor on its side with suitable facilities. --IANS ab/ahm/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Other than food and water, shelter forms the third most important component of the basic human requirements. It was fitting that the government turned its attention to that. It wasnt for the first time, though, and will definitely wont be the last. For years, Indian cities have been clogged by ever-growing population and the inability to shelter them. "Housing for All", or the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY), was intended to solve this issue. But will it? Launched with much fanfare in 2015, three years down the line, the achievement is anything but satisfactory. The four components of the scheme include a credit-linked subsidy, in-situ development of slums, 35 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) and an opportunity to build individual houses. While the intentions look noble, at least on paper, in practice it's far from it. The scheme has many glaring loopholes. Take, for instance, the slum rehabilitation scheme. This component allows private builders to redevelop slums and, subject to certain conditions, avail benefits from the state government for each housing unit built. It basically involves taking a portion of a slum, building multi-storey flats on it and then moving the displaced people into those flats. With frequent demolitions and evictions, it is almost impossible to provide paperwork to prove the permanent residency of a particular plot in a slum. Even if it is assumed that the evicted person rebuilds his house on the same exact plot each time it is demolished, the amount of effort required to produce documents like electricity or water bills to prove this is asking for too much. Though not mentioned explicitly, these dwellings are in many ways informal shanties and where basic amenities like electricity and water connections aren't provided -- they are managed illegally. Official documents, in many cases, just don't exist. The provision of a cut-off date to be eligible for availing the benefit means that people don't have enough time to put all documents in place. Instead of getting rehabilitated, they are on the verge of getting evicted to make way for people who have documents to show. Corruption? Now take a look at the credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS). The scheme provides for varying credit-linked subsidies to home buyers up to an income of Rs 18 lakh. The provision defines LIG (low income group) as someone with annual income between of Rs 3-6 lakh and an EWS (economically weaker section) individual as one with annual income below Rs 3 lakh. As per the Minimum Wages Act, the most that an unskilled sweeper can manage per annum is below Rs 1 lakh (monthly wages are pegged at Rs 8,238) and with the prices of most dwelling units much higher than this, they are surely going to be left out. They can neither afford them on their own, nor are they eligible for any subsidies. Even for the ones who can get subsidies, the amount is too low to afford even a single room in big cities, forcing them to look for houses far from the city - which has its own problems. Finally, individual house construction is just not happening. PMAY is also designed to help people repair or rebuild their homes, provided they can prove that the land on which their house rests is their own. It's a well-known fact that most of the houses in slums have been built on government land and there is no way, other than a forged document, to prove otherwise. The government may very well claim that land for itself. Another component of the scheme involves building affordable housing units on government land with or without the partnership of private developers. In such cases, where private parties are engaged, the subsidy is provided to the developers once they reach the plinth level. On completion of their project, they can sell half of their stocks in the open market and rest to the EWS and LIGs at government-sponsored rates, during which the subsidy received by them is passed on to the buyers. It doesn't take much time to figure out that, ultimately, the subsidies are going to lie with builders, as, even with aid, EWS and LIGs can't afford houses close to the cities. Other than these loopholes, there are at least two more drawbacks to the scheme. One is its inherent design which makes it almost impossible to build affordable dwelling units in close vicinity of cities, and the other is the time involved. With high land prices and low incomes, builders will be forced to move farther away from the main city to become affordable. But, people who work in cities cannot afford to live too far from their workplaces. The additional costs involved will negate any gain that they might have, which is negligible to begin with. The other is the time required to get approvals. Despite all the hype about Ease of Working, the process still remains too complex and time-consuming. It takes anywhere between six months to a year to get all the necessary approvals. If the land is yet to be acquired, the project could take years, leading to cost over-runs and erosion in profits. As a policy framework, PMAY needs a lot of fixing, some big and some small. While providing housing for all should be a priority, this cannot be achieved by a shoddy scheme. In its three years of existence, the scheme has not been as successful as it was envisioned by the Prime Minister. Most of the projects have been stuck at different stages. If the government wants the policy to work, it will have to clear the roadblocks with regard to capital, land, approvals and documentation. Unless that's done, PMAY will remain a pipe dream. The scheme should be made implementable in the way the Prime Minister intended it to be. (Neh Srivastava is Under Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and President, Central Secretariat Service Officers Society, CSSOS. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at President@cssos.org ) --IANS neh/vm/sac/hs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday met Governor P. Sathasivam and pledged to improve amenities for the pilgrims visiting the Sabarimala temple, as the two-month season to pay obeisance to Lord Ayyappa peaks. "During the half-an-hour meeting that began at 12.30 p.m., they discussed the measures taken to address complaints regarding lack of basic amenities like drinking water, toilets and restrooms at Nilackal, Pampa and on way to Sanidhanam," according to a statement released by the Governor's office. The need to improve transport facility between Nilackal and Pampa was also discussed. The Governor also highlighted the grievance expressed by Pon Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping, said the statement. The two dignitaries also discussed complaints about police action and the possibility of lifting the restrictions imposed through Section 144. "The Chief Minister has assured the Governor that all these issues will be looked into and acted upon as soon as possible," added the statement. The Governor had received written petitions from Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala, Sabarimala Karma Samithy and a delegation of the Kerala Congress on Wednesday. An uneasy calm prevails in the temple town as Hindu groups and devotees have been protesting against the September 28 Supreme Court order that allowed women of all ages to enter the temple, ending the practice of not allowing girls and women aged 10-50. The apex court on November 13 refused to stay the September verdict, three days before the temple opened this season. The Left Democratic Front government led by the CPI-M has been trying to implement the apex court's verdict even as the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and several Hindu groups are up in arms against it. On Wednesday, 72 pilgrims who were sent to jail for breaching prohibitory orders and protesting against the entry of women in the menstruating age, were released on bail. A week after the Sabarimala temple opened for a two-month pilgrimage season, the number of pilgrims has touched a new low due to the protests as well as tight security. According to official figures, while five lakh pilgrims visited the temple during the opening week in the last season, this time the figure is just 1.42 lakh. --IANS sg/shs/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after stepping down from West Bengal Fire and Housing Ministry, Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Thursday tendered his resignation from the post of the city municipal corporation. "He has sent his resignation through a representative," Kolkata Municipal Corporation Chairperson Mala Roy told reporters here. Asked about the reasons cited by Chatterjee for his resignation, she declined to make any comment. "The (Trinamool Congress) party will decide the next course of actions. A detailed information on future course of action will be announced after the councillors' meeting to be held in the evening," she said. Chatterjee on Tuesday resigned from Mamata Banerjee-led government and he was asked to step down from Mayor's post by the party supremo. He had previously lost the Environment portfolio to fellow Trinamool Congress leader Subhendu Adhikari. He was also removed from the position of party's South 24 Parganas district President. Chatterjee, once one of Banerjee's most trusted lieutenants, reportedly fell from grace after disputes with his wife became public earlier this year. --IANS bdc/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday invited Australian companies and investors to step up their business with India taking advantage of the growing opportunities and the conducive atmosphere. "Business sector after business sector, from aviation to mining to defence production, has had doors thrown open to global players and investors," he said at the Australian Financial Review India Business Summit. "Our countries (Australia and India) have been among the beneficiaries of globalisation... In recent years, India has renewed its commitment to a liberal, transparent and globalised economy," he pointed out. Asserting India is the first major economy to seek industrialisation while combating climate change, he said the country is committed to globalisation. Addressing Australian industrialists at the newspaper's summit, attended by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Kovind said India is in the top league in terms of openness to foreign capital and international investors. He said India is in the midst of an "infrastructure push of unusual urgency" as it constructs highways, rolls out broadband, creates new railway and freight corridors, upgrades ports and high-speed train networks, expands air connectivity and industrial corridors. "Large cranes and armies of workers in hard hats dot the Indian landscape. India is in business," he said, adding the country has chosen a different growth path. "India's growth is different from that of many others. We are the first major country that is seeking to make that leap into industrialisation while also combating climate change, and while reducing the intensity of dependence on fossil fuels," he said. India has set a target of 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022, of which 100 gigawatts will comprise solar energy, and is on course to exceed the target. The President talked about the fiscal and regulatory reforms including Goods and Services Tax (GST), which brought India's 29 states on a common tax platform, and the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business where India jumped 65 positions to 77th rank in the past four years. While India's digital economy, its e-commerce companies, its technology start-ups and its fin-tech innovators are attracting foreign direct investment, he said Australia seems missing in the India investment story. "This is a gap we need to address. Australia and India have too much at stake in each other to not up their game... It's not that Australian companies are not present in India, it's just that there is still enormous room for us to work together," he said. Kovind said the Australian super-funds or pension funds will find Indian infrastructure space worthy. "Let us put our heads together and create investment products that works for Australian super-funds and Indian infrastructure and for Australian pensioners and Indian consumers and that lead to a win-win situation," he said. India-Australia trade, valued at $21 billion in 2018, has grown but remain below potential, he said, adding that India is positively engaging in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and will contribute to its conclusion by 2019. Kovind also said the two countries shared the vision for peace and prosperity of a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific Region. --IANS mgu/mag/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An association of Maharashtra forest officials has demanded criminal prosecution of Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde and his supporters for allegedly insulting and roughing up a senior forest officer and vandalizing his office here on Thursday. The Indian Forest Service Association Maharashtra (IFSAM) has shot off a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's Office, Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police Datta Padsalgikar and others highlighting the November 19 incident in Thane. That day, Shinde along with some 250 supporters including women barged into the office of the Chief Conservator of Forests, Thane, Rajendra Kadam, to highlight certain grievances. They protested against what they termed as alleged "inaction by Kadam to protect plantations of around 100,000 sapling carried out by the Kalyan MP" which were reportedly found burnt by some miscreants a few days ago. Irked by this, Shinde - son of Maharashtra Minister Eknath Shinde - and his activists abused Kadam, threatened him and threw ink and ashes at the officer in his chambers. "Shinde along with the mob not only assembled unlawfully in the office premises of the CCF but also went to the extent of insulting verbally and throwing ash ... on his body," the IFSAM said. Later, the police arrived on the scene and arrested the MP and around 45 of his party supporters. They were released after a few hours on bail. Kadam later told the media that the attack could be 'pre-planned' since he was only informed that a delegation would call on him that day. "This act on the part of the MP is absolutely uncalled for and stands unlawful by any standard. This shocking incident shows that the MP not only crossed the limits imposed on him by the democratic system but also acted criminally by intimidating an officer belonging to the All India Service while on official duty," the IFSAM said. IFSAM demanded criminal prosecution of the MP and his supporters besides ensuring adequate safety and security of the officers performing their duties. On Tuesday, thousands of forest department officers and employees all over Maharashtra protested by sporting black bands. The Maharashtra Forest Rangers Association has threatened to go on a strike if the MP and his men are not booked by December 2. --IANS qn/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinammol Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said there is "no crisis" in the government after party's senior leader Sovan Chatterjee resigned from the cabinet and city Mayor's post. "We do not have any differences among us. He had wanted to resign earlier, but we did not accept. Now, he resigned probably due to some of his problems," Banerjee said at a meeting of the party's 122 councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Chatterjee who had stepped down from the Ministry of Fire and Emergency Services and Housing on Thursday, tendered his resignation from KMC's Mayor post. "There is no crisis at all. One can always resign and there are provisions. There is no misunderstanding either. Someone can have personal problems," Banerjee said at the state assembly during the discussion on Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill 2018. She said all the 122 councillors of the corporation have the capability of taking up task of the Mayor. The state Assembly on Thursday approved the bill which would enable a person, who is not an elected councillor, to be made the mayor of a corporation, but he or she would have to be elected within six months to continue in the post. West Bengal Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim was elected as the new mayor of the civic body and Atin Ghosh, one of the councillor, was also elected as Deputy Mayor. --IANS bdc/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) While digitisation and have helped small and medium businesses (SMBs) to a great extent, three in 10 SMBs still use old-generation personal computers (PCs) putting them at increased cyber risks and massive productivity loss, a joint and study said on Thursday. According to the research by SMB and mid-market research firm Techaisle commissioned by and Intel, PCs which are older than four years significantly increases maintenance costs of up to $1,279 (over Rs 90,000) per device -- enough to replace the ageing hardware with three or more new PCs. India is home to more than 51 million SMBs, which have a workforce of over 114 million and contribute over 30 per cent to India's GDP. It constitutes 95 per cent of the enterprises in the country. ALSO READ: Future of jobs with robotic process automation "If this segment becomes productive and profitable, they will truly create and craft a way for a GDP transformation in the country," Priyadarshi Mohapatra, Country General Manager-Consumer & Devices Sales, India, told IANS. The study surveyed 556 SMBs in 21 cities in India. For most SMBs, "PCs are the productive engines... where organisations rely heavily on their devices for their day-to-day tasks," Mohapratra added. More than 61 per cent of PCs used in SMBs in India are still on older versions of Windows, said the study. The research showed that 43 per cent of SMBs have experienced PC security and data theft breaches in 2018 but only 12 per cent of them actually reported these attacks, while others refrained. "With changing technology, hackers are always two steps in advance. Besides enabling modern workplace, the new devices prove a secured and productive computing experience to SMBs," noted Rahul Malhotra, Director-Retail, India. The new PCs can support complex tasks and enable expansion, as well as "improve efficiency powered by cloud and mobility solutions, provide better security and data protection and importantly reduce overall maintenance costs", Malhotra added. SMBs who embraced a modern workplace strategy have experienced better productivity, reduced costs, and enhanced security. Adopting newer PCs reduced overall maintenance costs for 58 per cent of SMBs, while employees at 41 per cent of SMBs felt more productive. ALSO READ: Why govts need to support workers during their transition to automation The study, that surveyed 2,156 SMBs across India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea, establishes a direct cost implication for SMBs from loss in productivity and security risks resulting from outdated devices. The study highlighted that SMBs are looking at IT as a response to address their business issues. The top IT priorities included investing in mobility as well as cloud solutions and managed services. AOver 1,800 candidates remained in the fray for the next month's Assembly elections in Telangana as the deadline to withdraw nominations ended Thursday, officials said. A total of 1,824 candidates in 119 constituencies will test their political fortunes in December 7 polls. With the major parties succeeding in their efforts, many rebels withdrew their nominations on the last day. Several independents also withdrew their names. This significantly brought down the total number of contestants. A total of 3,584 candidates had filed their papers when the deadline to file nominations ended on Monday. Nominations of about 500 candidates were rejected during scrutiny on Tuesday. Elections to 119-member Assembly are scheduled to be held in a single phase while counting would take place on December 11. The Assembly was dissolved on September 6, eight months before its term was to expire, as the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) opted for early elections. TRS is contesting all seats on its own while Congress is leading 'Mahakutami' or grand alliance of opposition, which also includes Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and Communist Party of India (CPI). Bharatiya Janata Party is also going it alone in the polls. According to Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar, the total number of voters in the state is 2,80,64,680 including 7,46,077 new voters. Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner O. P Rawat along with two election commissioners and other senior officials reached Hyderabad Thursday evening to review the poll arrangements. The poll panel team will hold meetings with district election officers, superintendents of police and other senior officials to review the arrangements. It will also meet representatives of political parties on Friday. --IANS ms/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Defence Secretary James Mattis has said that the joint military exercises between Washington and Seoul scheduled for early next year would be reorganised. Foal Eagle, the code name of the annual joint military drills, "is being reorganised a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy", Mattis told the media on Wednesday, indicating that the drills might be reduced in scope. "We continue to look at multiple aspects of future exercises to include their size and scope," Xinhua news agency quoted Chris Logan, a Pentagon spokesperson, as saying. Logan also said Mattis and South Korean Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo agreed during talks last month to conduct military activities, including exercises, in a way that complemented diplomatic efforts on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and sustained the readiness of the allied forces. This initiative could be seen as an embodiment that Washington and Seoul seek to mitigate tension on the Korean Peninsula. --IANS ksk/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indo-French automotive joint venture PSA AVTEC Powertrain Pvt Ltd on Thursday inaugurated its powertrain and engine plant at Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The equal joint venture company PSA AVTEC Powertrain is promoted by AVTEC Ltd of India's CK Birla group and Groupe PSA of France. In a statement issued here by the two promoters of PSA AVTEC, the initial manufacturing capacity of the greenfield plant will be about 300,000 units per year for the transmissions and 200,000 units for the BS-VI compliant engines. The plant will manufacture gearboxes in Phase-I to support both the India project as well as Groupe PSA needs. The peak investment in this manufacturing set-up would go up to Rs 600 crore and will generate a direct employment for around 800 people, the statement said. "With this inauguration, we have taken another critical step towards the execution of our 'Push to Pass' strategic plan and commitment towards the Indian customers. The quality of the relation with our partner, the CK Birla Group, is paramount to the success of our common project, with the creation of a complete eco-system in India," Carlos Tavares, Chariman, Groupe PSA, was quoted as saying in the statement. "We have always striven to evolve with the ever-changing needs of our customers and partners. This partnership that brings together latest technology from Groupe PSA and the manufacturing excellence of the CK Birla Group is a step in the same direction. We are confident that this new plant will create long-term value and fulfil future market needs better," C.K. Birla, Chairman of the CK Birla group, was quoted as saying in the statement. --IANS vj/shs/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Interpol has elected South Korean Kim Jong-yang as its president, rejecting the controversial Russian frontrunner. Kim was chosen by Interpol's 194 member states at a meeting of its annual congress in Dubai, BBC reported on Wednesday. He beat Russia's Alexander Prokopchuk, who has been accused of using Interpol's arrest warrant system to target critics of the Kremlin. Russia blamed the outcome of the voting on "unprecedented pressure and interference". The election follows the disappearance of Interpol's former president Meng Hongwei, who vanished on a trip to China in September. Beijing has since confirmed he has been detained and is being investigated for allegedly taking bribes. Kim, 57, beat Prokopchuk, also 57, by 101 votes to 61 at Interpol's General Assembly meeting on Wednesday, media reports say. Interpol confirmed the South Korean's victory, without revealing the breakdown of the results. Kim is a former South Korean police officer who once served as head of police in Gyeonggi, the country's most populous province. He was already senior vice-president of Interpol and had been serving as acting president since Mr Meng's disappearance. He will serve out the remaining two years of Meng's term. Moscow said Prokopchuk would remain an Interpol vice-president representing Europe and "focus on strengthening the position of Interpol in the international police community and increasing the efficiency of the organisation's work". --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision to approve construction of a corridor up to the Punjab border to facilitate the journey of pilgrims to the historic gurdwara Katarpur Sahib in Pakistan. SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal thanked the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision taken at a cabinet meeting on Thursday. "We are grateful to the Modi government for this historic decision. The 70-year-old demand of the Sikh community to have a corridor to offer prayers at the gurdwara has been finally acceded to," Badal, flanked by his wife and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, told the media in New Delhi. The construction of the corridor will be undertaken by India from the border town of Dera Baba Nanak to the international border with Pakistan. The government has decided to urge Pakistan to construct the remaining part of the corridor in its territory. The gurdwara, which is significant for the Sikh community since the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, spent 18 years of his life in Kartarpur till he died in 1539. The All India Sikh Students' Federation also on Thursday welcomed the decision. Federation President Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad said: "The recent decisions by the Pakistan government to open the corridor and the Indian government to build the corridor respectively is commendable and praiseworthy. "These decisions will gradually and eventually lead towards long lasting peace. Both the governments should work on the corridor together and send the message of peace in the world, which would be in coherence with the teachings of Sri Guru Nanak dev ji." Guru Nank's 550th birth anniversary will be celebrated next year. The Punjab Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution on August 27 seeking uninterrupted opening of the corridor. --IANS js/ksk/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision to approve construction of a corridor up to the Punjab border to facilitate the journey of pilgrims to the historic Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan. SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal thanked the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision taken at a cabinet meeting on Thursday. "We are grateful to the Modi government for this historic decision. The 70-year-old demand of the Sikh community to have a corridor to offer prayers at the gurdwara has been finally acceded to," Badal, flanked by his wife and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, told the media in New Delhi. The construction of the corridor will be undertaken by India from the border town of Dera Baba Nanak to the international border with Pakistan. The government has decided to urge Pakistan to construct the remaining part of the corridor in its territory. The gurdwara, which is significant for the Sikh community since the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, spent 18 years of his life in Kartarpur till he died in 1539. The All India Sikh Students' Federation also on Thursday welcomed the decision. Federation President Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad said: "The recent decisions by the Pakistan government to open the corridor and the Indian government to build the corridor respectively is commendable and praiseworthy. "These decisions will gradually and eventually lead towards long lasting peace. Both the governments should work on the corridor together and send the message of peace in the world, which would be in coherence with the teachings of Sri Guru Nanak dev ji." Guru Nank's 550th birth anniversary will be celebrated next year. The Punjab Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution on August 27 seeking uninterrupted opening of the corridor. --IANS js/ksk/vm/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Thursday declined an urgent hearing of a plea by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MLA K.M. Shaji challenging his unseating and disqualification by the Kerala High Court for making communal overtures during his election campaign. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi refused to hold an early hearing and said that the matter can come up in due course, after Shaji's lawyer sought an urgent hearing. The bench, also comprising Justice K.M. Joseph and Justice M.R. Shah, asked the lawyer for Shaji if he wanted to continue to remain an MLA by getting a stay on the High Court order. Shaji in his plea sought ad interim ex parte stay of the operation of the November 9 order of the High Court unseating him and disqualifying him from contesting election for six years. The IUML is a part of the Congress-led United Democratic Front, which is in the opposition after its defeat in the 2016 Assembly elections. The IUML is the second biggest constituent of the UDF. The High Court, while unseating Shaji for corrupt practices in breach of the election code of conduct under the Representation of the People Act, disqualified him from contesting elections for six years. Shaji won from Azhikode constituency in Kannur district in a bitterly fought battle by a margin of 2,462 votes. Contending that the High Court had committed a "grave error", Shaji said: "Section 98 and Section 99 of the R.P. Act read with Section 8A make it amply clear that the High Court does not have the requisite power to disqualify him" for six years. He has contended that under Section 8A of the R.P. Act "it is the President of India who is the competent authority to determine whether the petitioner is to be disqualified". --IANS pk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Thursday lashed out at the Centre and states over "pathetic condition" in jails and observation homes for children across the country, saying everything has been reduced to a "joke". "Please visit jails and observation homes for children to see the condition. Ask your officials to get out of their offices...taps are not working, toilets are not working... they are all blocked...they are in a pathetic condition," said the bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta. The court expressed serious concern over the media reports that real estate major Unitech's Managing Director Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay currently lodged in Tihar Jail have been provided with TV, crates of mineral waters and the household matters. "Let the people go to jail. Enjoy life and have a good time", the court said pointing to several instance of powerful people getting all the facilities they are not authorised otherwise. The court also referred to the report prepared by an additional session judge blaming the Tihar jail authorities for allowing TV, crates of mineral waters and the household matters to Chandra brother - who are in jail for allegedly cheating house buyers. Asking if a "parallel system" was operating in the jails, Justice Lokur referred to reports from other states where bigwigs and powerful people were getting all the facilities in connivance with the jail staff. "Every now and then articles are appearing .. in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, inmantes possessing mobile phones, running show from the jail", said Justice Lokur "You have converted the whole thing into a joke," Justice Lokur said, taking umbrage to the "callous and insensitive approach" of the government machinery towards improving conditions in the jails and observation homes. Taking a dig at the way the Centre and the state governments were addressing the issue of ameliorating the conditions in jails, Justice Lokur said: "That is why two judges of this court felt agitated because they saw what is happening." Justice Lokur was referring to the visit of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel (since retired) and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit to jails and observations homes in Haryana that triggered judicial scrutiny of the conditions in jails and observation homes across the country. The court also pulled up the Centre for its indifferent approach towards the three-member committee headed by former top court judge Justice Amitava Roy set up to oversee the implementation of prison reforms. --IANS pk/prs (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.) Sulabh International on Thursday said it will remove obscene graffiti from all its public toilets situated inside the Delhi Metro stations and issue an advisory to lavatory attendants to keep a watch on the vandals and scrub off any noxious text the moment they come across them. The social service organisation, which is contracted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) to run the public toilets inside its stations, agreed to wipe out obscene scribbling after complaints were raised with it of women falling victim to the pernicious activity. A woman (name witheld on request) has been getting calls for the last six months from men, most of whom abruptly ask her: "How much does she charge?". It was quite sometime before she forced one of the persistent callers to tell her from where he got the number. "It so happened that some man, possibly in an act of revenge, wrote my name and number inside the public washroom at one of the metro station, linking me to prostitution. I have been getting these calls for months now. I have no option but to change my number," she told IANS. She said along with her name, there was a list of numbers with other women's names, all were linked to the same trade. Though these fake 'calling cards' inside the public washrooms should not come as a surprise to most of us, since they are so common, what ruinous effects such mischief can lead to should be alarming. A spokesperson for Sulabh International said he will issue an advisory immediately to the staff who attend the public toilets at metro stations. "I will issue order immediately to clean all such texts inside the toilets. They will all be cleaned within two-three days. I will also issue an advisory to the staff on how to be vigilant against these acts," Kashi Nath Jha said. He also spoke about limitations one is faced with when one considers possibility of punitive action against the culprits, one of which is to identify them. "We cannot install CCTV cameras inside the washroom," he said, describing it as the main handicap. The DMRC said all walls and doors at the station washroom where the defamatory content was written was cleaned up immediately after the complaint. "DMRC takes all possible care to ensure that the toilets within its compund are clean and free of any unwarranted grafitti or writings. Whenever any such thing is noticed, it is immediately removed. "The Sulabh and other staff at the toilets are also instructed accordingly. At the same time, we would also request the users to refrain from writing on the toilet walls. Such misconduct would be liable for stern action," Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, Corporate Communication, DMRC, said. Of more than 200 stations on Delhi Metro network, Sulabh has its facility at 196 of them. (Vishal Narayan can be contacted at vishal.n@ians.in) -- IANS vn/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Thursday approached the Election Commission (EC) seeking withdrawal of pink ballot papers pasted on EVMs for the Telangana Assembly polls contending that the colour was associated with the ruling TRS and voters may get influenced. In its memorandum to the EC, the Congress pleaded for withdrawal of a direction to procure 9 lakh pink ballot papers for the December 7 Assembly elections. "Pink is the official colour of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), it is synonymous with the party. The usage of pink coloured ballots without doubt, will give the TRS an undue advantage over other contesting parties," the Congress said in the memorandum. "The EC is tasked with the conduct of free and fair elections under the Constitution. We are certain that it will agree as this is an important issue that needs immediate redressal. Party colours are of great significance for representation and its ideologies, inter alia, they also create a bias in the mindset of the voters," it said. The party also pointed out that during the recently concluded Greater Hyderabad Municipal polls, TRS had objected to the proposal of electronic voting machines having a pink button to designate the "NOTA" or "None of the Above" category vote, saying their voters would mistake the button "for the TRS and press the NOTA button inadvertently". "So great is the TRS' association with the colour that they acknowledged the electoral harm that any confusion would cause them," said the Congress seeking immediate withdrawal of the direction to procure pink ballot papers. The state Congress has also challenged the decision before Chief Electoral officer Rajat Kumar. However, the state's top poll panel official has said the pink-ballot papers pasted on EVMs were in accordance to the provisions of the Representation of People Act. --IANS and/ksk/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British police have opened a counter-terror probe after two improvised explosive devices were found in a flat in London, the media reported. The suspicious bombs were found at a flat in Craven Park, Harlesden, on Wednesday morning and are believed to be improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday. The bombs were "made safe" and taken away from the flat for forensic examinations. The flat was in the process of being refurbished and was evacuated while detectives from London police's Counter Terrorism Command launched an investigation, Xinhua news agency reported. Police are still at the flat where the devices were found as they continue carrying out their inquires. "No arrests have been made and enquiries continue," said Metropolitan police in a statement. They have carried out precautionary searches in the surrounding area to make sure there was nothing else of a similar nature nearby, according to the statement. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Trouble has been brewing in the Kerala unit of the Janata Dal (S) - the third largest ally of the CPM-led government, prompting the party president to intervene. JD (S) National President and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda has called his three legislators to Bengaluru on Thursday to meet him at 8 p.m. The three include Mathew T. Thomas, State Minister for Water Resources, former State Minister C.K. Nanu and K. Krishnankutty. While Thomas continues to remain in the state, both Nanu and Krishnankutty have already left to meet the party chief. The present impasse began when the Pinarayi Vijayan government completed its two-and-a-half years in office. According to a section of the JD (S) owing allegiance to Krishnankutty, there was an agreement that Thomas would relinquish the ministership in Krishnankutty's favour once the government completed the half-way mark of its 5-year term. However, this claim has been refuted by the Thomas camp. While Nanu remained aloof for a while, Krishnankutty has now managed to swing him to his side, and both are travelling together to meet their national president. --IANS sg/shs/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump has approved a memorandum that grants new authority to US troops on the Southwest border to protect Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel from migrants if they engage in violence, according to the Pentagon. Department of Defence spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza told CNN on Wednesday that the Pentagon had received the memorandum. The White House memo authorises the troops to conduct activities such as "crowd control, temporary detention and cursory search", according to the memorandum. It allows troops to use "a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary)" in order to perform these protective activities. While some have questioned whether active duty troops detaining and searching people on US soil constitutes law enforcement, the memo, which is signed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, said that US troops "shall not, without further direction from the President, conduct traditional civilian law enforcement activities, such as arrest, search, and seizure". "On detention we do not have arrest authority, detention -- I would put it in terms of minutes, in other words if someone's beating on a border patrolman and if we were in a position to have to do something about it we could stop them from beating on them and take them over and deliver them to a border patrolman who would then arrest them for it," Secretary of Defence James Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday. The decision comes as a large group of migrants is arriving at the US-Mexico border. More than 2,000 Central American migrants arrived in the border city of Tijuana in recent days, and about 3,000 more migrants were estimated to be in Mexicali, Mexico, another border city about 100 miles away. Until this new authority was granted, troops were not allowed to intervene if CBP personnel came under attack unless they needed to act in their own self-defence. The Pentagon has been working for the last several days on options for how troops can protect CBP. There are 5,800 to 5,900 troops assigned to the border mission, CNN said. Trump has said he will deploy as many as 15,000 troops if needed to push back against the group of migrants who are planning on asking for asylum. On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that the troops "are proud to be on the border. They are proud to be defending our nation. And we are not letting people in". --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces says she is "optimistic" about the Security Council reforms even though its pace has not matched her initial expectations. She said at a news conference here on Wednesday, "What we need now is the political will to have progress, really look at the pieces of the puzzle and see where we want to go." "Perhaps, we need to be more creative on the forum rather than on the content" of the negotiations, she added. She said that about ten years ago when the General Assembly passed the resolution creating the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) process for Council reforms, she had naively believed that it would accomplished in two or three meetings. While that did not happen, she said, "ten years later, when you look at the scenario, it is really not discouraging at all because this is a very contentious, complex issue". There are several interested parties with very strong positions, she said. On the prospects of a negotiating text that has eluded the IGN and is the primary hurdle, she said without using the term, she said, "If you put together all the (statements of) different groupings, and all the different positions, then you come up with a document that tries to put together all the different views and just point out the parts and aspects of the reform that have larger agreement, not to speak about consensus, but perhaps larger agreement". During the Assembly session on Council reforms on Tuesday she said she heard the current positions of different groups and what they were asking for. "We have seen slight changes and new new elements, and we have countries that are providing a list of issues to consider that are extremely important," she added. Overall, she said, "I wouldn't be that pessimistic. I think that there are some very clear strong elements, and that it is not that we are lacking ideas." But progress "would depend heavily on the willingness and the rhythm and the pace that the member states want to provide to this process," she added. To reboot the process for the current Assembly session, she appointed Permanent Representatives Lana Zaki Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates and Christian Braun of Luxembourg as the co-facilitators of the IGN on Tuesday. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) --IANS al/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has taken the extraordinary step of rebuking President Donald Trump's criticism of a federal judge. Trump on Tuesday called a jurist who ruled against his asylum policy an "Obama judge". The President's gibe provoked a stern statement from the head of America's highest court. Trump has defended his comments, saying Chief Justice Roberts is wrong. It is the first time the chief justice has spoken against Trump. "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Chief Justice Roberts said, BBC reported. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them." Speaking on the eve of America's Thanksgiving holiday, he said an "independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for". Trump responded on Twitter on Wednesday, saying the top justice was wrong and that "Obama judges...have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country". He suggested that the 9th Circuit Court, where a federal judge blocked his recent immigration proclamation, opposed his his policies on border and safety. It is extremely rare for a senior member of the judiciary to clash with a US president. Chief Justice Roberts' Supreme Court colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been a far more outspoken critic of Trump. In 2016, the liberal judge apologised for calling Trump a "faker" in an interview after coming under fire for commenting on a candidate as a jurist. Trump has previously lambasted federal judges for ruling against his policies. In 2017, he called a federal jurist who reversed his controversial travel ban a "so-called judge" with a "ridiculous" opinion. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US military said on Thursday that it conducted two airstrikes in central Somalia on Wednesday, killing six al-Shabab terrorists and destroying a weapons cache. The US Africa Command (Africom) said the drone strikes, carried out in coordination with the Somalian government, was conducted in the vicinity of Haradhere in central Somalia. "We currently assess the first airstrike killed six al-Shabab militants and the second airstrike destroyed a weapons cache," Africom said in a statement. The US military said the airstrikes did not injure or kill any civilians but targeted the militant group which has been fighting to establish an Islamic state in Somalia for almost a decade. It added that the airstrikes reduce al-Shabab's ability to plot future attacks, disrupt its leadership networks, and degrade its freedom of maneuver within the region. The Al Qaeda-allied terrorist group continues to hold parts of the country's south and central regions after being chased out of Mogadishu several years ago. Somali and African Union peacekeeping forces have also intensified military operations against the insurgents, flushing them in their Lower and Middle Shabelle region bases as part of efforts to stabilize the Horn of Africa nation. --IANS mr/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leaders at the Climate Vulnerable Forum on Thursday called on world's governments to raise the ambition of their climate targets by 2020 in order to save vulnerable nations threatened by warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius. Chairing the first-of-its kind online Virtual Summit of more than 40 government leaders, President Hilda C. Heine of the Marshall Islands said: "Today we make history together. We are showing that more can be done with tools and means on hand than we might think. "We are demonstrating that we can succeed in breaking from the past to face a new future." Through the summit's "Jumemmej Declaration", the forum's leaders committed to strengthening their national climate efforts by 2020 in order to pressure world governments to act. "Jumemmej" is a Marshallese word of seafaring origin calling for vigilance to keep a watch against threats. The carbon-free summit brought together leaders of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), which represents many of the countries most threatened by climate change. During the 24-hour online event, which featured interactive debates and live statements from leaders around the world, the Marshall Islands also announced a new and enhanced climate target, or Paris Agreement NDC, highlighting the conviction of the most vulnerable "to move from words to action". President Emmanuel Macron of France responded to the plea of the vulnerable nations in his statement to the Virtual Summit. "In 2020 our countries should present new, more ambitious national contributions and increase the pace of their implementation. France will stay on course," adding "we must raise our ambitions." "Decisions that affect our survival are being taken now" said President Heine, while referring to findings of the October Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Special Report on 1.5 Degrees which indicated that surpassing this level of warming would create unmanageable and existential risks. "We invite all nations, and all non-state actors, to rise with us and join our Jumemmej Declaration. We need the world to be on watch with us -- we need to see each other through the storm together." Speaking at the summit, United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres said: "Climate Change is still moving faster than we are. As those witnessing its impacts cannot afford any more delays. The world counts on all nations to ensure that the next month's climate conference in Poland is a success. We need ambitious climate action now." Speaking at the Virtual Summit, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet highlighted that "states must strengthen their mitigation commitments and nationally determined contributions, this is a human rights obligation." The more than 40 heads of state, government and delegation also constituted the first global gathering of leaders of nations most threatened by climate change. --IANS vg/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese handset maker Xiaomi on Thursday launched Redmi Note 6 Pro in India for Rs 13,999 for the 4GB+64GB and Rs 15,999 for the 6GB+64GB variants. The device would go on a Black Friday sale on Mi.com, Flipkart and Mi Home on November 23 at a discounted price of Rs 12,999 (for 4GB+64GB variant) and Rs 14,999 (for 6GB+64GB variant). "Redmi Note 6 Pro provides meaningful upgrades to the Redmi Note 5 Pro and we hope Mi Fans would be able to enjoy a truly innovative product from Xiaomi," said Anuj Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Xiaomi India. The Redmi Note 6 Pro comes with a 6.26-inch FHD+ IPS display with a 19:9 aspect ratio and Corning Gorilla Glass. There's a 20MP+2MP AI dual camera on the front and a 12MP+5MP AI dual camera setup on the rear with large 1.4m pixels. The Redmi Note 6 Pro comes with Xiaomi's own MIUI 10 based on Android 8 Oreo. "MIUI 10's optimisations mean that Redmi Note 6 Pro offers a bump in battery life as well as features including Wi-Fi passthrough and a completely revamped recent menu that makes best use of available screen space," the company said. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 octa-core processor and fuelled by a 4000mAh battery with support for Qualcomm "Quick Charge" 3.0. The dual VoLTE feature in the device means that users would be covered on the connectivity front as well. Both variants would be eligible for a discount of Rs 500 via HDFC credit and debit cards and EMI only during the Black Friday Sale. Meanwhile, Reliance Jio would offer a cashback of Rs 2,400 and up to 6TB of 4G data on the purchase of the device. --IANS ksc/na/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) This refers to Half of Indias ATMs face shutdown by March (November 22). The news is rather disturbing as it comes at a time when withdrawing our savings from banks have already become difficult. My observation is that customers are no longer welcome inside the branches for withdrawal or any kind of transaction in person, thanks to the digitisation push over the last few years, which the present government took to the next level by the sudden announcement of demonetisation in the name of taking out black money from under the beds of the rich and powerful. However, the ATM ... The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday allowed UltraTech Cements purchase of bankrupt Binani Cement to go through, backing an order by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). This is a victory for UltraTech and for the committee of creditors of Binani Cement but a severe blow to the integrity of the process embedded in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, or IBC. It is unfortunate for the sanctity of the auctions in the IBC that the apex court has chosen to uphold a decision by the NCLAT that will set the quality of the bankruptcy process back and is not in keeping with the ... The has criticised Jai Ram Thakur-led government in for its decision of restoring prime land near Sadhupul in Solan district to guru Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust. The government in its cabinet meeting here Tuesday decided to lease out 28 acres land to the Trust at Rs 23.9 million as one-time concessional lease money for 99 years, according to a state revenue official. Talking to Wednesday, senior Kaul Singh Thakur, who was revenue minister in previous Virbhadra Singh-led government which cancelled the lease in 2013 initially executed by P K Dhumal government in 2011-12, accused the state government of providing "undue" benefit to "The Thakur government is providing undue benefit to for its open support to the BJP in the last general elections by leasing out the valuable land to his Trust at a meagre lease money," Kaul Singh Thakur said. The former minister alleged that the Thakur government was "selling out" state's interests by leasing out the valuable land at a "throwaway price". Thakur government's decision of leasing out the prime land at a meagre amount will incur a huge loss to state exchequer, he added. A government spokesperson said the state cabinet approved the lease amount of Patanjali Yog Peeth as per lease rules. Kaul Singh Thakur said that instead of deciding to restore the prime land to Ramdev's Trust, BJP government should have cancelled the lease as the Trust failed to deposit the revised lease amount despite repeated reminders by Solan district administration. Meanwhile, Solan Deputy Commissioner Vinod Kumar told that he had sent several notices to the Trust to deposit initial lease money of Rs 1.17 crore and sign the new lease agreement. However, instead of depositing the amount, the Trust preferred to write to state government to provide the land at concessional rate, the revenue official said. Earlier, cancelling in 2013 the initial lease executed by the Dhumal government at Rs 1.7 million per year in 2011-12, then CM Virbhadra Singh alleged that the state cabinet had approved a different land but in reality the prime land at Sadhupul was transferred. A case was also registered against Ramdev's close aide Bal Krishan, who had signed the lease on behalf of the Trust. However, taking a U-turn in February 2017, the Virbhadra Singh government allegedly decided to restore the land to the Trust on the condition that a writ petition filed by the Trust should be withdrawn. "Our government restored the land to the Trust considering the market value at that time," Kaul Singh Thakur said. As per the proposal, Patanjali Trust wants to set-up a herbal medicine farm-cum-Ayurveda medical research centre. Following a fresh representation by the Trust, the Thakur government decided to return the land to the Trust at Rs 2.39 crore one-time lease, the revenue official said. The cabinet restored the land with a discount of 20 per cent under section 8 (D) of the HP Lease Rules. The Trust has been told to deposit Rs 2.22 crore as one time concessional lease money as it had already deposited Rs 17 lakh under earlier decision of the cabinet, the official added. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Thursday slammed Governor for dissolving the state assembly, saying he was attracted to the "Gujarat model" of government not the Westminster model. The former Union home and finance minister said the governor was "happy" to keep the assembly under suspended animation as long as no one staked a claim to form a government. ALSO READ: Governor Malik defends his decision to dissolve Jammu and Kashmir Assembly "The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly! Parliamentary democracy standing on its head! "The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K Governor," he tweeted. The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K Governor P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 22, 2018 The governor abruptly dissolved the state assembly Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress. This was followed by another bid at forming a government by the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the and 18 legislators from other parties. The assembly was in suspended animation since June 19 when Governor Rule was imposed in when PDP chief resigned as Chief Minister after the withdrew from the PDP- government. A bitter war of words broke out on Thursday over the abrupt dissolution of the Assembly with the Governor being pilloried by the PDP, NC and for citing their "ideological differences" in stalling their bid to form a government and a furious Omar Abdullah daring BJP leader Ram Madhav to prove his charge his party joined hands with arch rival PDP at the behest of on his part claimed "extensive horse-trading" was going on in the state and dismissed allegations he was acting at the behest of the Centre, as he held a rare press conference for a Governor over the issue of the dissolution to defend his decision. Malik maintained he was well within his right under the J&K Constitution to dissolve the Assembly. As the political drama continued and triggered speculation whether Assembly polls will be held along with the Lok Sabha polls, Madhav, who is BJP's point person for the state, withdrew his words relating to after exchanges with Abdullah on Twitter. Abdullah also demanded an apology from Madhav. At a press conference in Srinagar, Abdullah questioned Malik's rejection of the move for a PDP-NC- government on grounds of "different political ideologies" and asked why the same principle was not applied when the PDP joined hands BJP in 2015. "That time, it was dubbed as the coming together of the north pole and the south pole... Today, you are telling other parties that you cannot come together even though the difference on some important issues between PDP, the NC and the are small compared to the BJP and the PDP," the Conference(NC) leader said. Abdullah also said his party and the PDP will fight the next Assembly polls separately. Former Lok Sabha secretary general and constitutional expert P D T Acharya said it is for the first time that an Assembly has been dissolved after the Governor concluded it was impossible to form a stable government by parties with "opposing political ideologies", dubbing it "not credible". Abdullah asked the governor to make public reports about the use of money and horse trading in government formation in the state as was mentioned by him in a press communique on Wednesday night. People have a right to know who was buying MLAs and who was funding it, he told reporters. In Jammu, the winter capital of the state, the Governor was addressing the press at the Raj Bhavan around the same time when Abdullah was having a media interaction in Srinagar and training his guns at Malik. "I have taken this decision as per the Constitution of There is a mechanism that I do not have to look towards New Delhi or move to Parliament or seek permission from the president. I just had to inform them," Malik said rejecting suggestions he took the decision at the behest of the Centre. "For the past 15 to 20 days, I have been getting reports of large-scale horse trading. MLAs are being threatened and several types of underhand dealings are going on," Malik said. "Had he given any side the opportunity to form government, it would have created a a bigger mess," he claimed. As Madhav and Abdullah exchanged sharp words on Twitter, PDP chief also questioned the BJP leader's comment alleging regional parties were working at Pakistan's behest. Mehbooba was responding to Madhav's allegation that the PDP and the NC had boycotted local body polls in the state earlier because of instructions from "Shocked to see baseless allegations against mainstream parties in JK following dictates from Pakistan levelled by @rammadhavbjp ji," Mehbooba, a former chief minister, said in a series of tweets. Shocked to see baseless allegations against mainstream parties in JK following dictates from Pakistan levelled by @rammadhavbjp ji. 1/8 (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018 Sad to see what the political discourse of our country has been reduced to. How does one define a partys nationalistic credentials? Nationalistic and patriotic only if you are with the Centre and Pakistan sponsored and anti nationalistic otherwise? 2/8 (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018 All mainstream parties in JK have taken grave risks to bridge the trust deficit that exists between people of the state vis a vis the country. 3/8 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018 Both PDP and NC have been allies of BJP at some point. Strange that our credentials werent questioned then. 4/8 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018 But just because our MLAs had enough integrity to stand up to your failed attempts of defection, they are now anti nationalistic? 5/8 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018 India is a great country and democracy is a battle of ideas. Lets not make a mockery of those very institutions and people.6/8 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018 We had aligned with the BJP to change this pernicious mindset. Undoubtedly Pakistan has an impact on the situation in J&K. But its upto our country to change that from negative to positive and tread the path that was taken by Vajpayee ji. Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018 Mehbooba said all mainstream parties in have taken grave risks to bridge the trust deficit that exists between people of the state vis-a-vis the country and it was strange their credentials were not questioned when the NC or the PDP was in alliance with the BJP. Madhav had alleged that "fresh instructions" were given to the two regional parties from across the border to come together and form a government. The NC and PDP, he alleged, had boycotted local body polls in the state earlier because of instructions from Pakistan. "You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Don't practice shoot & scoot politics," Abdullah, a former chief minister said. I dare you @rammadhavbjp ji to prove your allegation. You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Dont practice shoot & scoot politics. https://t.co/KEbOo0z6O2 Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 22, 2018 Madhav responded, "Just take it in your stride Omar Abdullah. Not questioning your patriotism at all. But the sudden love between NC and PDP and the hurry to form government leads to many suspicions and political comments. Not to offend you." In the tweet, he added an emoji with a toothy smile. Defending his decision to dissolve the Assembly, Governor on Thursday claimed "extensive horse-trading" was going on and it would have been impossible for parties with "opposing political ideologies" to form a stable government. Malik said he had acted in the state's interest and according to its Constitution. He dismissed allegations that he was acting on the Centre's directions and said had this been the case, their side (BJP, People's Conference) would have been called for government formation. On the Opposition's threat to move court, he said those who wanted to move court, could do so as it was their right. 'No fax operator because of Eid' Wednesday was Eid, he said when asked about the fax not working in the Raj Bhavan, resulting in his office not receiving the PDP's letter staking claim to form government as well as the NC's letter of support. "Both of them (Mufti and Abdullah) are devout Muslims. They should know offices are closed on Eid. Even my cook was in his house, leave aside the fax operator. There was no system. They should have sent a man with the letter. These are lame excuses," he said. The governor said even if someone had delivered him the letter, the decision to dissolve the Assembly was his stand. "I have taken this decision as per the Constitution of There is a mechanism that I do not have to look towards New Delhi or move to Parliament or seek permission from the president. I just had to inform them," he said. ALSO READ: Horse-trading was on, dissolved assembly in state's interest: J&K Governor Horse-trading "For the past 15 to 20 days, I have been getting reports of large-scale horse trading. MLAs are being threatened and several types of underhanded dealings are going on," Malik told reporters at Raj Bhawan here. "Mehbooba (Mufti) Ji told me a week before that her MLAs were being threatened through the NIA. Another side said MLAs were being lured with large-scale money. Horse trading had started 20 days ago," he claimed. "Had I given any side opportunity (for government formation), it would have created more mess. The value system of would have been destroyed as is been happening in the rest of the states. I could not afford that," the governor said. 'Impossible to form a stable government' He said it would have been impossible for parties with "opposing political ideologies" to form a stable government. "We would have altered this situation, had we given an unstable government (to the state). An opportunist government would have been the outcome of this process. We never wanted instability in a sensitive state," Malik said. He said the NC, PDP, Congress would have fought with each other and it would have created a mess. "I have no personal interest and for me the interest of the state is prime. For that, I acted and dissolved the Assembly as per the Constitution of It was the best action as per my wisdom and I have not been partial," he said. ALSO READ: Mehbooba Mufti stakes claim to form govt in J&K with NC, Congress' help The governor said when he came to the state he had made his stand clear that he would not be involved in any underhanded dealing or defection and would not approve government formation on the basis of threat. He said he wanted polls to be held and an elected government formed. Double standards? He hit out at the PDP and the NC, claiming they had told him that they had a majority but he was not given any proof for it. No list was given and no parade of MLAs took place, Malik said. Malik said the PDP, NC and Congress staked claim to form government when just one month was left for the governor's rule to end. "Why did they not act before and why did no one come from their side or the other side. I did not accept the claims of both sides. The decision that was necessary for the state, it was taken by me", he said. He claimed both Mufti and Conference leader wanted dissolution of the Assembly and had been demanding it for the past five months. "Why are they adopting double standards now? They should be happy that it has happened," he said. He said the would decide on the Assembly elections. ALSO READ: Jammu and Kashmir Governor dissolves Assembly after PDP, Lone stake claim 'Don't tweet, don't see tweets' Asked about Mufti's letter staking claim that was available on social media, he asked if social media forms the government. "I neither tweet, nor do I see tweets. Before yesterday, they had time. There are several flights from Srinagar, why did not they sent their man. It is all wrong," he said. 'Wasn't following BJP's instruction' On another question about allegations that he acted on BJP's instruction, he said, "The NC, PDP and Congress knew what the headquarters wanted." "The headquarters was one contender. If I followed the BJP's instruction, I would have called their party but I did not call any party. I acted in best interest of the Constitution". On leader Kavinder Gupta's allegation that the PDP-Congress-NC tie up was formed on the directions of Pakistan, he said he could not comment on it without proof. "But this grand alliance is opportunistic and they have no understanding between them," he claimed. The governor abruptly dissolved the state Assembly on Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress. This was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference, which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. Suspected ULFA(I) militants carried out a grenade attack, killing one person and injuring several others, in Assam's Sibsagar district on Thursday evening, police said. The grenade exploded at a hardware shop in the district's Demow area, the police said, adding that the owner of the shop was critically injured in the blast. The deceased was yet to be identified, a police officer said. Several others were injured in the explosion that was suspected to be the handiwork of ULFA (Independent) militants, the police officer said. Senior police officials went to the spot immediately after the explosion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fourteen people have been arrested in connection with clashes between members of two communities in Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur town over two days, police said Thursday. Violence erupted on Tuesday night when a 'Dharma Dhvaj' being carried in a procession of right-wing group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) broke an overhead light in Mukeri Bazar area. Two persons were injured in the clash. Stone pelting took place in the same area between the two communities on Wednesday during a Barawafat procession. Three policemen were injured in similar incidents that took place in other areas of the city. Cross FIRs were filed against 40 people, of which 14 have been arrested and the remaining 26 are being identified through CCTV footage, Inspector Katra Kotwali Bhuvaneshwar Pandey said. Those arrested include the district vice president of BJP youth wing Ashwani Kumar Gupta and his two brothers, he said. Superintendent of Police Shalini said the situation in the area is normal and under control. A meeting of the peace committee was held and a peace march was also taken out, she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An overcrowded bus rolled down a mountain highway in Nepal on Thursday, killing at least 16 people. The accident occured at Raduwa in Dadeldhura district, police said. Ten people died on the spot while other six persons succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at the Dadeldhura District Hospital, it said. More than 20 passengers were also injured in the accident. According to police, the over-crowded bus was en route to Doti from Dadeldhura. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dambar Bahadur KC said the ill-fated bus was carrying revellers returning home after attending a fair at Ugratara Temple in the area. Road accidents are common in Nepal due to pathetic road conditions, poorly maintained vehicles, mountain terrain roads, poor executions of traffic rules and sheer negligence of drivers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two people were killed and several more injured in a grenade attack by suspected ULFA(I) militants in Sibsagar district of upper Assam on Thursday evening, police said. The grenade exploded at a hardware shop in the Demow Chariali area of the district, killing a customer, Anup Gupta, and the shop owner, Kamal Agarwal, they said. Several bystanders also suffered minor injuries. The ULFA(Independent) had allegedly served an extortion notice on the shop owner a few days ago, police said, adding that the militants had also hurled a grenade at his shop about three years ago. The ULFA(I) has stepped up its activities in upper Assam districts, and during the recent past, there has been a spurt of killings and kidnappings attributed to the outfit, including the killing of five people at Dhola in Tinsukia district. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal condemned the incident and said the culprits would be brought to book. Sonowal, who is currently in New Delhi, directed Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia to take immediate measures to nab those involved in the incident. He termed the attack an "act of cowardice" and expressed his deepest sympathy to the bereaved families, an official release said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Six wanted criminals were arrested in four separate encounters with police in Gautam Buddh Nagar Thursday, officials said. Three of the face-offs between police and the accused, some of whom wanted in multiple cases of loot and robbery, took place in Noida while one in Greater Noida, the officials said. The first incident occurred under Greater Noida's Kasna police station limits in which two men were arrested, Gautam Buddh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Pal Sharma said. Four men travelling in a car were intercepted by Sector 39 police on suspicion. "When gestured to stop for checking, the occupants opened fire on the police team. Two of them were injured in the firing and arrested, while two others managed to flee," the police said. Another man, Sonu Sharma, a resident of Ghaziabad, was arrested by the Phase 3 police during a security check in the area. "The accused has over a dozen cases of loot and robbery and was held after a gunfight, while his accomplice managed to flee," police said. Late Thursday night, an encounter broke out in Sector 54 under Sector 24 police station limits in which Sabir, a resident of Delhi, was held with firearms and a stolen motorcycle, the officials said. SSP Sharma said the injured were taken to hospital and legal proceedings were being carried out against them at respective police stations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The sixth edition of the Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival aiming to promote cinema of the Northeastern region will begin here on November 28. The four-day festival will showcase films from the region and a few from the rest of the country this time besides bringing great story tellers under one roof. A short film contest has been organised as part of the festival and will be open to filmmakers from the Northeast, films shot in the region or those featuring stories from the region, festival director Tanushree Hazarika told reporters Thursday. Over 300 short films have been received for the contest out of which the top 15 will be screened at the film festival. Renowned film personalities such as actor Boman Irani, filmmaker Shakun Batra, writer, director and producer Rajesh Mapuskar are scheduled to attend the film festival, she said. The festival will also include interactive sessions, film quiz-cinemascope, panel discussions and the award ceremony. 'Spring Thunder', directed by Sriram Dalton, will be the opening film and Assamese Film 'Bornodi Bhotiai', directed by Anupam Kaushik Borah will be the concluding film of the festival. Some of the films from the region to be screened at the festival include 'Nani Teri Morni' from Nagaland, 'Ralang Road' from Sikkim, 'Chor' from Assam and 'Bornodi Bhotiai' from Assam. Some of the other feature films to be screened at the estival are 'Devil', 'Rockumentary-Evolution of Indian Rock', 'The Lost Idea', 'IYE: the Others' among others. Assamese film director Pulak Gogoi will be honoured wuth the Lifetime Achievement Award on December 1, she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After the 182-meter tall 'Statue of Unity' of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gujarat may get a gigantic Buddha statue. Sanghakaya Foundation, a non-profit Buddhist organisation, said Thursday that it has demanded land from the government for installing an 80-feet high statue of Lord Buddha in Gandhinagar district. It has roped in Ram Sutar, the sculptor behind the Statue of Unity, for the project, it said. "We are expecting to get land soon," president of the foundation Bhante Prashil Ratna told reporters here. The Statue of Unity, inaugurated in Narmada district of the state on October 31, is the tallest statue in the world. Bhante Prashil Ratna also said that the foundation is planning to set up a Buddhist University in Gujarat. "Contrary to the belief that ancient Buddhist sites exist only in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and further to the north, Gujarat too has been blessed with such sites," he said. "Like Nalanda and Takshashila, records of Chinese traveller Xuanzang mention that there was a big Buddhist university called Vallabhi at Bhavnagar in Gujarat," he said. "As (ancient) Nalanda university has been revived, we wish to revive Vallabhi university here," he said. "The state government has given us land in Gandhinagar where we are planning to start a university on Buddhism," he said. The foundation also plans to build a grand monument at Dev Ni Mori, a Buddhist archaeological site in Sabarkantha district of north Gujarat, he said. "During the excavation at Dev Ni Mori, two km from temple town of Shamlaji, they found ashes of Lord Buddha.... The government has sanctioned the land and a monument will be built at the cost of Rs 1,200 crore," he said. A Buddhist monastery was also found during excavation in Vadnagar, the hometown of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Air India plans to utilise its engineers posted in foreign countries for carrying out random checks of facilities and other non-engineering activities, according to a communication. As the debt-laden carrier works on ways to revive its financial fortunes, its Chairman and Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola has mooted a proposal to utilise engineers "more efficiently" for the airline's business overseas. Currently, Air India has posted engineers in Hong Kong, Austria and Australia where they mainly carry out certification of aircraft. In rest of the foreign stations, the airline has outsourced aircraft certification duties, as per a senior official. Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the national carrier, has around 5,000 employees. Out of them, 500 are engineers who carry out aircraft certification work. In an internal communication, Kharola said that engineers proceeding to foreign stations for aircraft certification are often under-utilised, especially where the flight operation is limited to three to four flights. "I feel that this highly skilled manpower can be utilised more efficiently and add value to the Air India business at that station," he said in the communication dated November 16. The Air India chief has suggested that such engineers can involve themselves in carrying out the random checks/ audits of the facilities/ equipment with the service providers that are used for the airline at the foreign stations concerned. Another suggestion is to engage the engineers in efforts to improve ground handling and catering services at those places. Air India, which has a debt burden of more than Rs 50,000 crore, is staying afloat on taxpayers' money and has been making efforts to reduce costs and optimise human resources. Kharola said another area of activity could be replies to the passenger complaints. "On the days these engineers are not required to attend the aircraft, they can make themselves available in the booking offices and associate with the officers at the station for expeditious replies," as per the communication. Further, Kharola has said that he would expect the engineers to be associated with some of the other marketing/ administrative activities at the foreign stations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh welcomed Thursday the Centre's decision to build and develop a corridor to facilitate Sikh pilgrims from India to visit holy Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan. Kartarpur Sahib, located just across the International Border, is the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev and one of the holiest shrines of Sikhs. "The move will facilitate lakhs of pilgrims desirous of visiting the Kartarpur gurdwara," Singh said in a statement here. He hoped that the Pakistan government would also supplement the effort by opening the corridor on its side of the boundary. The centre Thursday said it will build and develop corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims from India to visit holy Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur,which is on the banks of the Ravi river. Singh also hailed the Centre's move to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev on a grand scale, globally, and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for acceding to his personal requests in this regard. In a statement issued here, the chief minister hailed the resolution passed by the Union cabinet to celebrate the historic occasion in a befitting manner, in response to the various letters and submissions he had made to the prime minister on this issue. Singh also expressed happiness at the Cabinet's decision to develop the historic town of Sultanpur Lodhi, associated with the life of first Sikh master Guru Nanak Dev, as a heritage town, on the lines of a smart city. He also appreciated other decisions of the Cabinet to promote the ideology and message of Guru Nanak Dev, including the development of 'Pind Babe Nanak da' museum, upgradation of Sultanpur Lodhi railway station, creation of a centre for inter-faith studies and chairs in foreign universities, release of commemorative coin and postage stamps etc, as was demanded by the state government in its memorandum to the Centre. The chief minister lauded the Centre's decision to celebrate the event through a series of activities across the country and globally. These measures would give a significant boost to the state government's plans and programmes to commemorate the auspicious occasion through year-long celebrations, which he was all set to kick off on Friday, to coincide with Gurpurab, Singh said. The chief minister urged the Centre to release funds for the approved projects at the earliest to facilitate their completion in a year's time. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Andhra Pradesh has emerged on top in terms of employability among the states with the engineering graduates having the highest level of employability, according to India Skills Report-2019. Employability level of B.Tech and B.E graduates from the state shot up significantly to 63.11 per cent this year from 42.08 per cent last year, a release here said Thursday. MBA and polytechnic graduates' employability increased to 47.18 per cent and 45.90 per cent respectively against 44.90 per cent and 35.85 per cent respectively the previous year. The report is a joint initiative of Wheebox, a global talent assessment company, PeopleStrong, a leading HR Tech company and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Andhra Pradesh was one of the preferred hiring destinations and one of the most preferred states of work by both men and women job-seekers, said the report, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Association of Indian Universities. The India Skills Report-2019, which is the sixth edition, captured insights and trends from the largest employability test that was spread out to 3200 universities and professional institutions in the country, the release said. Commenting on the report, the Andhra Pradesh Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) CEO and MD K Sambasiva Rao said the the corporation's initiatives in providing market-driven training programmes were leading to creation of a readily available talent pool. "This is helping in effectively meeting the skilled manpower needs of various sectors. Our focus is on structuring and delivering high-quality, industry-relevant training courses to students and unemployed youth to enhance their employability quotient, he said in the statement. The APSSDC had drawn up plans to further expand its activities in collaboration with academia, industry and training agencies to create top-class skilling infrastructure and make the state as the skills capital of the country, Rao added. According to the report, a small percentage of students in all states have done at least one internship in the past 12 months. Another insight from the report was that close to 80 per cent of candidates assessed were keen to explore internship opportunities as they believed it would help them in being more employable. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Surviving Cyclone Gaja and several other challenges, Indian Army's first-ever Indian Peninsula Wind Sailing Expedition entered its final leg Thursday after reaching the Goa coast. The voyage aboard 44-feet-long German-built SV Frama was kicked off on October 21 from Haldia Port near Kolkata, and will end on November 30. From Goa, it will head for Porbandar in Gujarat, the final destination, said Major Sahil Dua, assistant leader of the expedition. Speaking to reporters, Major Dua said it is the first sailing expedition to cover the entire peninsula. Led by Major Alok Kumar Yadav, a team of 50 sailors has embarked on the expedition to spread awareness about ocean pollution. Along the route, participants are collecting evidence of seawater pollution. The expedition was incident-free so far except when the boat's sail was torn while docking in Chennai, Major Dua said. The team also encountered rough weather in the wake of Cyclone Gaja when they were at Mangalore on November 16, he said. The basic principle of sailing is 'never fight nature', Major Dua said. "So we took a break for a day and then continued," he said. So far, the team has clocked 3,850 nautical miles over 31 days, sailing at an average speed of 120 nautical miles a day, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Karnataka government is organising a one-of-a-kind drone racing contest as part of a three-day 'Tech Summit' to be held in Bengaluru from November 29, state IT and industries minister K J George said Thursday. Another major attraction would be human code' hackathon, an effort of global coding communities to solve humanitarian problems. The hackathon will culminate at the summit, he added. The summit with the theme 'Innovation and Impact' will witness participation of 13 countries including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Japan, Australia, Czeck Republic, among others. About 3,000 delegates and up to 5,000 visitors are expected to participate in the event. "The Karnataka government has always been on a continuous quest to encourage innovations and this summit is one step to ignite that spark and enthuse people about entrepreneurship," George told reporters here. The event also aims to leverage new technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, big data, Blockchain as a catalyst to boost entrepreneurship in the state and enable business-to-business meetups, he said. Two major attractions at the summit would be the 'drone racing' contest and 'virtual human code hackathon'. There will also be a startup zone in which over 200 startups will participate, he added. Elaborating on drone racing contest, state's Principal Secretary for IT Gaurav Gupta said such a competition is going to take place for the first time at the summit this year. The human code' hackathon will culminate at the summit. A total of 4,157 teams from 68 countries have participated in the event and it was one of the largest hackathons held globally till date, he added. This is the 21st edition of the state government's flagship technology event. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dalit outfit Bhim Army announced that its founder Chandrashekhar Azad alias Ravan would address a rally in Pune on December 30, ahead of the 201st anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon on January 1. On Wednesday, the organisation said over 30,000 people were expected to attend the "Bhima Koregaon Sangharsh Mahasabha". The rally would be held on SSPMS grounds here and besides Azad, several other leaders of the outfit would be present for the event. Datta Pol, the district president of Bhim Army, said that during the three-day programme, Azad would address the rally on December 30 and interact with some students of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) the next day. He would visit the memorial at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, Pol said. "On January 1, Azad will first visit the obelisk at Bhima Koregaon and later shower flowers on it from a helicopter," he said. Pol added that they had applied to the city and rural police for permission to hold the 'Mahasabha' in Pune and also for the visit to the memorial. "We are confident that we would get permissions... there is no reason for the police to deny permission for the events," he added. He said apart from Azad, other Bhim Army leaders, including Vinay Ratan Singh and Manjit Notiyal, would also be present at the Pune rally. Last year, Dalit organisations had organised 'Elgar Parishad' on December 31 at Shaniwarwada in Pune to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Bhima Koregaon battle. Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, JNU students leader Umar Khalid Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar and Bhim Army's Vinay Ratan Singh were among the speakers there. The police claim that the speeches at the conclave had played a role in instigating the violence on January 1 this year, in which one person was killed and several injured. The Pune Police, investigating Maoist links in the Elgar Parishad, in their charge sheet against 10 activists stated that the months-long preparation of the conclave and speeches made during there "aggravated" the violence the next day at Bhima Koregaon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao alleged on Thursday both the BJP and Congress indulged in centralisation of power at the cost of ignoring interests of the states. The caretaker Telangana Chief Minister urged the people to vote his party back to power in the December seven assembly elections and also make it victorious in next year's Lok Sabha polls to make the Centre agree to the state's demands. Addressing campaign meetings at Ichhoda, Nirmal, Armoor, Khanapur and Bhainsa, Rao said the NDA government did not cooperate though the state government had sent assembly resolutions seeking increase in reservation for Scheduled Tribes and Muslims. "The Centre has kept with it (resolutions). That's why I appeal to you. The Congress or BJP, they don't solve these problems. They cannot do it. They don't want to do it. All power should be centralised in Delhi, wield influence (on states). That is the attitude of these parties," he said TRS has to play a role in national as well, Rao said. "Not only assembly elections today. Tomorrow, in parliament elections also, if we win all MP seats, then only we can bend Delhi's neck," he said. A "federal front" needs to come to power at the Centre for protecting the states' rights and to address their problems. Rao said he has nothing much to lose even if the TRS was defeated in the coming elections. It is the state that suffers, he added. "If the TRS loses, there is nothing much I lose. What is there. (We) will work hard if win. Otherwise, (we) will take rest at home... Will do farming or something. But, who will lose? Telangana state. People," he said. Speaking at Nirmal, Rao referred to AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi's allegation that a Congress nominee offered Rs 25 lakh to his party to cancel a rally proposed to be addressed by him and said "Asaduddin Owaisi would not be sold, not for Rs 25 lakh but even for Rs 25 crore". AIMIM and TRS are working together, he said. The Congress candidate A Maheshwar Reddy had rejected the allegation by Owaisi and dared him to prove the charge made at a public meeting on Monday. In his rallies, Rao spoke extensively on the various welfare schemes of his government and fresh promises, including free power, investment support and insurance schemes to farmers, eye screening programme for all citizens and increase in social security pensions. Rao, who has been critical against TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu, asked people whether Telangana still needs Naidu who is opposed to irrigation projects in the state (in his capacity as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister). Dismissing Rao's allegations, Revanth Reddy, Working President of the Congress in Telangana, asked how can Telangana have problems with Andhra Pradesh which is a lower riparian state in water sharing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nobody knows exactly when girls and women of reproductive age were forbidden from offering prayers at Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala, but a 19th century British survey report says the ban was in place even 200 years ago. Amid the rancour-filled debate and protracted protests over allowing girls and women in the 10-50 years age group into the temple, the colonial era document compiled by two British military officers is considered a vital document by those who believe the ban was part of a centuries-old tradition and should continue. The Supreme Court's historic September 28 verdict lifting the ban, hailed by rights activists but panned by traditionalists, has set off intense protests by the Hindu right as also political parties like the Congress and the BJP. According to the "Memoir of the Survey of the Travancore and Cochin States", published in two volumes by the then Madras government, women of menstruating age were denied entry into the Sabarimala temple even two centuries ago. Though Benjamin Swain Ward and Peter Eyre Conner, lieutenants of the Madras Infantry, completed the survey by the end of the year 1820 after nearly five years of research, it was published in two volumes in 1893 and 1901. "Old women and young girls may approach the temple, but those who have attained the age of puberty and to a certain time of life are forbid to approach as all sexual intercourse in that vicinity is averse to this deity (Lord Ayyappa)," the report said. Justice Indu Malhotra, the lone woman judge and the only dissenting voice on the 5-judge Constitution Bench that overturned the ban dubbing it as unconstitutional, had in her order referred to the Ward and Conner's survey. Noting that the report is an authentic historical document on the erstwhile princely states of Travancore and Cochin (Kochi), historian M G Sasibhooshan said the ban was an "unwritten law" for a long time. "As mentioned in the report, there were restrictions for women belonging to a particular age group in Sabarimala. It was informal but unwritten law for decades," he told PTI. The restriction, however, got legal ratification and acceptance following a Kerala High Court judgement in 1991, he said. Sasibhooshan, however, said on "very, very rare" occasions some women in the traditionally barred age group visited the hill shrine unaware of the custom. The survey report has detailed discription of "Chowrymulla", as the place was referred to by the two officers. At one place the report says the hill shrine was dedicated to "Chowrymulla Shasta" (Lord Ayyappa), while in another the document calls it the "temple of mountain deities". The Memoir says the small temple covered with copper plates was built on an elevated mound faced with stone. It also has references to the flight of 18 granite steps called 'pathinettam padi'. The sacred steps were later covered with plates made of 'panchaloha', an alloy of five metals--gold, silver, copper, iron and tin--during the 1980s, according to temple sources. The survey report says even in those times the temple attracted a huge inflow of pilgrims. "The annual festival takes place on the 12th of January and continues for a period of 5 days. Devotees from the most remote parts of India visit it, the number yearly amounting to 10,000 to 15,000," it said. Reprinted by the state-run Kerala Gazetteers Department in the year 1994, the Memoir also talks about people making gold and silver offerings at the steps in times of distress like sickness. Besides, the Memoir talks about the large flocks of elk, buffaloes, wild sheep and elephants in the "swelling hills" of Sabarimala, located on the mountain ranges of the ecologically fragile Western Ghats. While the survey report suggests existence of the ban on entry of women of reproductive age group into the shrine, rights activists insist there were several instances of them visiting the place. T K A Nair, a career civil servant and adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, said his 'choroonu', the first rice feeding ceremony of a baby, was performed at Sabarimala with his mother feeding him in her lap in 1939. Kannada actress Jayamala's claim that she had touched the idol of Lord Ayyappa, the shrine's eternally celibate deity, when she was 27 had sparked a row. There were also claims that the queen mother of the erstwhile Travancore princely state Sethu Parvathy Bayi had visited the temple when she was in the barred age group. Sasibhooshan, however, said the Travancore royal family had already clarified the matter. "It is true that the queen mother had visited the shrine at the age of 42 years. But the royal family had made it clear that her uterus had been removed and so she was eligible to go and offer prayers at Sabarimala even at that age," he said. Akkeeraman Kalidasa Bhattathirippad, a former president of Yogakshema Sabha, an organisation of Namboodiri Brahmins of Kerala origin, said the restriction was a centuries-old custom. Bhattathirippad, who is also the patron of Thantra Vidya Peeth, said purification rituals were carried out whenever the head priest came to know that women and girls in the age group of 10 and 50 had entered the temple because of lack of awareness about the custom. Though 55 days have gone by since the Supreme Court delivered its historic verdict, no woman or girl of the barred age group has been able to set foot in the hallowed precincts of the temple. Several women made valiant but vain efforts to treck to the hill shrine but were turned back by obstreperous protesters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Cabinet was Thursday appraised about a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Russia for promotion of science and technology through exchange of students, researchers and scientists. The pact between the Atal Innovation Mission and Talent and Success Fund of Russia was signed on October 5 during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India. "The MoU will facilitate promotion of science and technology, strong foundation to the collaborative work through exchange of students, teachers, researchers and scientists between India and Russia," an official statement read. The MOU will provide a mechanism for establishing relationships with schools, universities, cultural institutions, science and technology and specialised institutions, high-tech companies, start ups and innovation centres in both countries. The activities are expected to promote creation of new scientific knowledge, generation of intellectual property, innovations and products development in both the countries. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia in December, it was proposed to invite Russian students to India to work with Indian students. As a prelude to the visit of Putin last month, 10 Russian students visited India to work with 10 Indian students from five Atal Tinkering Lab schools in an 'Innovation Boot Camp' at IIT-Delhi during October 1-4. The students worked on innovative concepts for exploring development of new prototypes in five sectors -- healthcare, space technology, clean technology, agri-technology and smart mobility. The Cabinet was also apprised of an agreement between India and Uzbekistan on cooperation in the field of science, technology and innovation. The agreement was signed on October 1 here in the presence of Modi and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirayoyev. "Signing of the agreement will open a new chapter in bilateral relations, as both sides will now leverage complementary strengths spurred by a significant convergence of mutual interests in science and technology," the statement read. The objective of the pact is to promote cooperation in the fields of science, technology and Innovation between the two countries. The stake-holders will include researchers from scientific organizations, academia, R&D laboratories and industries from India and Uzbekistan. Agriculture and food science, engineering sciences, information and communication technology, applied mathematics and data science, health, materials sciences, life sciences and biotechnology, physics and astrophysics and energy, water, climate and natural resources were identified as potential areas for immediate collaboration. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara Thursday said the discussion on cabinet expansion has not taken place because of congress president Rahul Gandhi's busy election schedule in five states. Gandhi is busy with elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram, and Telangana. "The discussion over cabinet exansion has not taken place with Rahul Gandhi as he is busy with elections in five states," he told PTI here. Talks on expansion gained pace last week following AICC general secretary incharge of Karnataka Venugopal's discussions with KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao and other state leaders. The state party leadership, Parameshwara said, had urged the high command to expand the cabinet before the winter legislature session beginning at Belagavi from December 10. "We have already conveyed this to K C Venugopal..he is supposed to discuss the matter with Rahul Gandhi," he said. Asked when can the state leaders expect a discussion on the issue, Parameshwara said he was not in a position to make any guess, but hoped that it would happen sometime soon. Recently, state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said the much awaited expansion of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition cabinet would take place within this month. There are as many as eight vacancies in the cabinet, of which six would be alloted to the Congress and two to JDS, as per quota. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The central trade unions have boycotted a scheduled tripartite meeting on labour code on occupational safety, health and working conditions, organised by the Labour Ministry on Thursday. In a letter to Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Gangwar, the trade unions said they had received a mail signed by the under secretary of the ministry about the tripartite consulting meeting on November 20 afternoon and have decided to boycott it. "We are constrained to convey to you that the tripartite consultation exercise with the stakeholders has been practically reduced to a ritualism, which the central trade unions cannot put up with," they said in the letter. The central trade unions have opposed the move of the government to integrate 13 different laws relating to labour into one, which they said should be industry specific and not generalised. "It will not be possible for us to respond to your call for tripartite consultation on a 70-page voluminous draft within such a short notice of less than one-and-half day," added the central trade unions -- INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC. The letter proposing the tripartite meeting to be held on November 22 was signed on November 9, but it reached to the unions on November 20, they alleged. The trade unions also alleged that the largest trade union, INTUC, had not been invited to the meeting "The central trade unions cannot accept such discriminatory and vindictive approach of the government," they added in the letter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre will set up a medical college in Dadra and Nagar Haveli to improve tertiary care facilities available to the people of the union territory and the adjoining areas. The decision to build the medical college at a cost of Rs 189 was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, here Thursday, an official release said. The medical college at Silvassa in the union territory administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli will be set up at a capital cost of Rs 189 crore in two years with yearly intake of 150 students. The project will be completed by 2019-20 and the construction and capital expenditure will be incurred as per the norms of Medical Council of India (MCI) and extant guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The annual recurring expenditure for the medical college will be managed within the budget provision for the union territory. The medical college will increase the availability of doctors and address the issue of their shortage. It will enhance medical opportunities to students of the two union territories, the release said. It will also result in optimal utilisation of the existing infrastructure of district hospitals and improve tertiary care facilities for the people of the union territory and adjoining areas. The medical college will benefit the students, especially those of tribal and rural areas of the union territory, which will promote social equity. Health equity will be promoted by provision of better services through improvement in the strength of doctors in the union territory, the release said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thursday asked to apologise or prove his allegation that the Conference boycotted the local polls in at Pakistan's behest, to which the BJP general secretary suggested he take the remarks in his stride. The two leaders clashed on Twitter, a day after Governor dissolved the Assembly. The surprise move came hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress, followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. Madhav reportedly alleged that the PDP and the NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Fresh instructions were given to both parties from across the border to come together and form government in Jammu and Kashmir, he was quoted as saying. Countering Madhav's allegation, Abdullah said he dared the BJP's pointsman for the state to prove his allegation. "You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Don't practice shoot & scoot politics," Abdullah tweeted. The former chief minister's remarks prompted a response from Madhav, who said he was not questioning Abdullah's patriotism. "Just take it in your stride @OmarAbdullah Not questioning your patriotism at all. But d sudden love between NC n PDP n d hurry to form government leads to many suspicions n political comments. Not to offend u," Madhav tweeted and added an emoji with a toothy smile. Abdullah did not seem amused. "No, misplaced attempts at humour won't work. You HAVE claimed my party has been acting at the behest of I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pak behest in public domain," he tweeted. Addressing a press conference in later in the day, the NC leader repeated his demand for an apology from Madhav. "You cannot undermine the sacrifices made by Conference workers in protecting the sovereignty of this country. He must apologise," he said. China on Thursday rejected a US government report that accuses Beijing of stepping up efforts to steal technology ahead of a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. The Commerce Ministry dismissed the US Trade Representative's report as "new unwarranted accusations" and said Washington was wrecking economic relations. The two sides have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's goods in a fight over US complaints that Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology in violation of its market-opening obligations. The USTR report said Chinese computer hacking attacks aimed at stealing American technology have increased this year while Beijing made no basic changes to policies its trading partners consider improper. "This is completely unacceptable to China," said a Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng. "We hope the US side will stop the words and deeds of destroying bilateral economic and trade relations." Gao called on Washington to "create favourable conditions" to get economic relations "back on the right track." Tuesday's report added a potential new irritant before Trump and Xi meet in Buenos Aires during a gathering of the Group of 20 major economies. Economists say there is little chance the meeting by itself will produce a settlement to a dispute companies worry will chill global economic growth. The Trump administration is pressing Beijing to roll back plans for state-led development of Chinese competitors in robotics and other fields. Washington, Europe, Japan and other trading partners say those violate China's trade obligations. Communist leaders see them as a route to prosperity and global influence. American and Chinese officials have been talking in preparation for the Trump-Xi meeting. reports say Bejiing has sent written proposals but no details have been released. Beijing has tried without success to recruit France, Germany, Japan and other governments as allies against Trump. They dislike his tactics but echo US complaints. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Syro Malabar Church has warned and sought explanation from Father Augustine Vattoly, a priest, for extending support to the nuns who had protested against Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, facing rape charges. The Church, in a letter to Vattoly, has warned him of "ecclesiastical" consequences for organising a dharna in front of the Secretariat at Thiruvananthapuram in support of the nuns. Mulakkal was accused of repeatedly raping a nun and was arrested in September, but was released three weeks later on conditional bail. In her complaint to the Kottayam police in June, the nun had alleged that Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions. However, Mulakkal has denied the charges. "I am told that such actions by a priest will seriously injure the good of the Church in public and will cause scandal among the faithful," said the letter by Mar Jacob Manathodath of Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly. "I strongly prohibit you from organising and attending dharna and similar activities. Disobedience will incur ecclesiastical actions as per norms of Church law," the letter said and asked Vattoly to give a written explanation for his "actions". Kerala had witnessed massive protests in September demanding the arrest of Mulakkal. Four nuns had defied the Church and joined protests even as their congregation publicly condemned them for standing up for the victim nun. However, Mulakkal was welcomed by his supporters with garlands and rose petals when he arrived in Jalandhar after he was granted conditional bail in the case. He had given up his pastoral duties of Jalandhar diocese of the Missionaries of Jesus and transferred his administrative powers to Bishop Agnelo Gracious. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The commerce ministry is not in favour of cutting or eliminating customs duties on seven categories of ICT products, including high-end mobile phones and smart watches, as demanded by the US citing revenue loss and adverse impact on Make in India initiative, sources said. Moreover, the duty cut will not have any tangible benefit for American manufacturers as the US is not a major exporter of these products to India. India and the US is negotiating a mutually agreeable bilateral package on a number of contentious issues. Under these talks, the US is pressing for reduction or elimination of customs duties on these seven ICT (information and communication technologies) products. "However, the US demand would have adverse implications for revenue generation, forex reserves, and also on the Make in India drive," they said. In 2017-18, India's imports of these seven tariff lines (or product categories) stood at $20.5 billion and the duty revenues generated on these imports amount to about $3.2 billion. On the other hand, America's exports of these items to India in 2017-18 were only $415 million, which is about 2 per cent of India's total imports of these products in that fiscal. The other items on which the US is demanding reduction includes telecom network equipment such as switches and routing equipment; radio receivers; high-end mobile phones costing over Rs 10,000; mobile phone parts, certain print circuit assemblies and smart watches. The sources also stated that under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms, it would be not possible for India to extend these benefits only for the US. "In this background, there is a need to workout some other mechanism to resolve the issue as the current proposal made by the US would not have the desired outcome or any fundamental advantage to America," they added. India has in the recent past increased customs duties on these products with a view to promote domestic manufacturing. In October, the government hiked import duty on certain communication items, including base stations, to up to 20 per cent as part of efforts to check a widening current account deficit by curbing non-essential imports. India has also announced to increase customs duty on 29 products, including pulses, iron and steel products, imported from the US as a retaliatory action against the tariff hike by Washington on certain steel and aluminium products. The Union Cabinet Thursday approved the extension of term of the commission examining the issue of sub-categorisation of other backward classes (OBCs) in the central list till May 31, 2019, according to an official statement. This is the fourth extension of term given to the commission, formed in October last year. The commission has held extensive meetings with all stakeholders, including state governments, state backward classes commissions, community associations and general public, since its formation. It has also obtained records, caste-wise data of OBCs admitted in higher educational institution as well as similar caste-wise data of recruits in central government departments, central public sector undertakings, public sector banks and financial institutions. "Based on the emanating information from the data as processed and analysed, the commission has expressed that a round of discussion with the states and their backward classes commission was required before finalising the sub-categorised lists and the report," the statement said. The cabinet had in August extended the term of the five-member panel headed by Justice (retd.) G Rohini till November 31. The commission was formed with the approval of President Ram Nath Kovind in October last year and was mandated to examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities in the central list of OBCs. It was also tasked with working out a mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters for sub-categorisation within such OBCs and taking up the exercise of identifying castes, sub-castes and communities and classifying them into respective sub-categories. It was stipulated to submit its report within 10 weeks from assumption of charge by the chairperson. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani on Thursday accused the Congress of dividing communities and creating a rift among "brothers". Irani's statement came in the backdrop of circulation of a purported video in which Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath is allegedly asking a group of Muslims to ensure his party gets 90 per cent of votes in their booths. In another video that surfaced early this month, Nath was purportedly seen urging Muslims to be wary of the RSS agenda. The Congress leader had termed this video as fake. Addressing an election rally here, Irani said "A Congress leader sitting among Muslim brothers was heard saying that come with us and he will deal with Hindus...Congress leader doesn't know that when one brother meets another, he doesn't ask his caste and religion." The BJP leader did not name Nath. Irani alleged the Congress wanted to create a rift among "brothers" and division on communal lines. She taunted the Congress for not declaring its chief ministerial candidate before the elections in Madhya Pradesh. "At least they (Congress) should tell the people whether Kamal (Kamal Nath) is blossoming or Jyoti (Jyotiraditya Scindia) will burn bright. What can we expect from a party which is unable to decide its leader," she said. Irani also took potshots at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying he is "not able to see the development of Madhya Pradesh and the country (under the BJP)". "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a gift of 22,000 houses for the poor in Amethi (Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh). There are two lakh beneficiaries of government schemes there," she said. Irani addressed another election rally in support of the BJP at Barwah in Khargone district. Madhya Pradesh will have a single phase polling on November 28 for its 230-member assembly. Counting of votes will take place on December 11. The BJP is seeking a fourth straight term in office in the state, while the Congress is eyeing return to power in its erstwhile bastion after 15 years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reiterating that the congress is playing into the hands of anti-national forces along with the NC and the PDP, Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP Thursday said Governor Satya Pal Malik foiled their "sinister design" by dissolving the state assembly. The governor dissolved the assembly Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form government with the backing of rival NC andthe Congress. "Congress is playing into the hands of anti-nationals. The Congress along with the NC and the PDP conspired against the democratic forces. The governor has foiled their sinister design," BJP state president Ravinder Raina told reporters here. BJP senior leader Kavinder Gupta had Wednesday accused the three parties - the Congress, PDP and NC - of forging an alliance to form a government in the state on "directions of Pakistan." Following the BJP charges, J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president G A Mir Thursday asked the BJP to either apologise or make public the evidence on its allegations. Lauding Malik's decision to dissolve the assembly, kept in suspended animation since June 19 after imposition of the Governors Rule, Raina said the conspiracy was against nationalistic forces, but it failed. Raina said the whole conspiracy was hatched against the people of Jammu and Laddakh regions at the behest of Congress bosses in Delhi, but their designs have been exposed, he added. Raina said the masterminds of the whole conspiracy were Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad and other senior state leaders of the party. "This has also come to the notice that the Congress party has conspired along with other anti-National forces on the directions of Pakistan," he added. Raina said the NC and the PDP on behest of the Congress tried to sabotage the grass root level democratic process in the recent civic body polls, but miserably failed. He said their grassroots workers were about to contest the civic body polls, but they boycotted it in the name of protecting Article 35 A of the Constitution. Raina said the democracy has been strengthened in the state of by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special court here convicted a notorious criminal in a case of loot and murder and sentenced him to ten years imprisonment. Additional District Sessions Judge Arun Pathak also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the accused, Sanoj Kumar, after holding him guilty under the gangster act. According to prosecution, Kumar and his gang members shot dead two farmers, who were returning after selling their produce, and looted cash from them near Kadikheda village here on January 26, 2010. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Tamil Nadu government Thursday sought about Rs 15,000 crore as central assistance towards relief and rehabilitation activities in Cyclone Gaja affected districts in the state. Chief Minister K Palaniswami met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi with a plea for central assistance for various sectors in the affected districts, the state government said here. "I have submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister detailing the extent of the damage caused by the cyclone," Palaniswami told reporters in Delhi, adding the state has sought about Rs 15,000 crore. He said he had also urged Modi to depute a central team to assess the damage, besides seeking an immediate release of nearly Rs 1500 crore towards "temporary renovation" activities. According to the abstract of the memorandum submitted to Modi by the Chief Minister which was released here, Tamil Nadu has sought a total sum of Rs 14,910 crore towards permanent renovation activities in various areas, including the power sector which has been badly hit. Over one lakh electric poles had been uprooted and a significant number of power sub-stations damaged, with reports suggesting that many parts are still without power. Cyclone Gaja had crossed the Tamil Nadu coast early on November 16 between Nagapattinam, about 300 km from here, and nearby Vedaranyam. It had claimed 46 lives and left a trail of destruction in over ten districts, including Nagapttinam, Thiruvarur, Puthukottai and Thanjavur which suffered severe damage. The Tamil Nadu government has already released a sum of Rs 1000 crore for immediate relief and rehabilitation efforts in the affected areas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Thursday accused the Modi government of pushing Jammu and Kashmir into a cycle of violence, "bereft of democratic institutions", and slammed the decision of the Governor to dissolve the state assembly as "unconstitutional and unethical". The opposition party also demanded early elections in the state to set in motion the democratic process so that the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions get a people's government. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram took a swipe at Governor Satyapal Malik over the decision to dissolve the J-K Assembly, saying that parliamentary democracy was standing on its head and the "Gujarat model" has appealed to him more than the "Westminster model" that India follows. "As long as no one staked a claim to form government, J-K governor was happy to keep Assembly under suspension. The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly. Parliamentary democracy standing on its head," he tweeted. "The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K governor," Chidambaram added. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged the decision to impose Governor's rule is nothing short of the BJP "ruling forcibly" through proxy in the state while party leader Manish Tewari termed it as "unconstitutional, immoral and unethical". Tewari said that after the PDP, the NC and the Congress staked claim to form government, the governor's decision to dissolve the assembly without giving them a chance to form government and prove a majority "is murder of democracy and must be challenged in court". "Dissolution of assembly in this manner is unconstitutional, immoral and unethical. A dangerous harbinger of things to come. Thank God founding fathers were wise enough not to provide for president's rule at Centre? Shudder to think what could have happened when BJP loses 2019," he tweeted. Surjewala tweeted: "Modi Government has pushed Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh into an unending cycle of violence bereft of democratic institutions." "The Congress demands that the people of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh deserve a rule by people - a people's Government. For that, democratic process must be set in motion and early elections must be held which is the only way of restoring normalcy and to end the unending cycle of violence that Modi Government has pushed it into," he said. Responding to the Governor's statement, he asked, "Is the Governor of J&K Satyapal Malik speaking as a representative of BJP, Spokesperson of BJP or as a protector and defender of the Constitution of India in Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, which is his primary responsibility." "Will Satyapal Malik answer was it not an unholy alliance when Modi Ji entered into an alliance with PDP," he said, adding neither PDP nor BJP had got majority to rule at that time. The Congress leader also responded to BJP leader Ram Madhav, saying he was the architect of that PDP-BJP alliance. "Did he receive instructions from across the border when he constituted that unholy alliance when in the presence of Modi Ji and Ram Madhav Ji, thanks were given to separatists and Pakistan for elections in Jammu and Kashmir, instead of our Army and people of J&K were they getting instructions from across the border," he asked. Tewari also challenged the BJP to name even one leader "martyred in the fight against terror", after it accused the Congress, the National Conference, and J&K People's Democratic Party of being "terror friendly". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The on Thursday decided to convene a one-day special session of on Monday to discuss the recent attack on Chief Minister and other issues. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told reporters that the legislators will also discuss the alleged deletion of names in voters list in the city. "The Delhi Cabinet has decided to hold a one-day special session of on Monday to discuss recent attack on the CM and deletion of 30 lakh names in voters list across the city," Sisodia said. The deputy chief minister also said the government has decided to convene the session in view of the attitude of the Centre and the Delhi Police over the incident involving the chief minister. On Tuesday, a man threw chilli powder at Kejriwal outside his office in the Delhi Secretariat. The chief minister's spectacles broke but he was not injured in the attack. The attacker, identified as Anil Kumar Sharma, has been arrested. The and the (AAP) had blamed the Delhi Police for the security breach. Sisodia had even alleged that the attack was carried out at the behest of the BJP. Kejriwal had claimed on Wednesday that his political rivals were conspiring to get him eliminated. The Delhi BJP had termed the incident as a "drama" and demanded a "high-level" probe into it. The AAP government on Thursday decided to convene a one-day special session of Delhi Assembly on Monday to discuss the recent attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other issues. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told reporters that the decision has been taken in view of the "attitude" of the Centre and the Delhi Police over the incident involving the chief minister. The legislators will also discuss the alleged "mass deletion" of names in voters list in the city, Sisodia said. The special session is likely to be stormy as legislators of both the ruling AAP, which enjoys a brute majority, and BJP will seek to corner each other. In the past, the Kejriwal government has used such special sessions to launch pointed attacks at the BJP-led central government. "The Delhi Cabinet has decided to hold a one-day special session of Delhi Assembly on Monday to discuss recent attack on the CM and deletion of 30 lakh names in voters list across the city," Sisodia said. On Tuesday, a man threw chilli powder at Kejriwal outside his office in the Delhi Secretariat. The chief minister's spectacles broke but he was not injured in the attack. The attacker, identified as Anil Kumar Sharma, has been arrested. The Delhi government and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had blamed the Delhi Police for the security breach. Sisodia had even alleged that the attack was carried out at the behest of the BJP. Kejriwal had claimed on Wednesday that his political rivals were conspiring to get him eliminated. The Delhi BJP had termed the incident as a "drama" and demanded a "high-level" probe into it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) People from Delhi NCR shopped the most during Diwali sales on Paytm Mall, a joint report of UC Media Lab and Paytm Mall said. "Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad are the Top 6 cities that contributed biggest sales on Paytm Mall during the same time," the report said. While both Paytm and UC are subsidiaries of Chinese internet major Alibaba, they operate separately in India. "Citizens of Bangalore and Pune consumed the most articles on shopping deals and offer-related content on UC Browser during its Diwali and Double Eleven Shopping Fest," the report added. According to data from Paytm Mall, mobile phones, appliances, laptops, fashion, groceries, automobiles and gold were the top six categories with biggest sales during the period. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Pune-bound GoAir flight from New Delhi was diverted to the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) Thursday for refuelling due to airspace restrictions in Pune, the airline said. Flight G8173, operating on Pune-New Delhi route, later took off from Mumbai for its destination at 1230 hours, it said. "Flight G8173, Delhi-Pune, was diverted to Mumbai because of Air Force movement at Pune air space," GoAir said in a statement. Anticipating delayed landing, the crew decided to divert the flight to Mumbai for refuelling as a safety measure, it added. There were 176 passengers on board the Airbus A320 aircraft. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) managing director on Thursday described the launch of the 100-cc variant of the commuter bike Discover as the "biggest blunder" of his career as it stunted the company at the No 2 position. He noted that the Discover was a differentiating product when it was launched in 125-cc format, "offering mileage with a little fun," which was evident from the rising volumes. However, Bajaj rued that the company is still the No. 2 player (in terms of bikes volumes) in the country because of the mistake it had made with the lower variant launch of the Discover and that things would have been different if it hadn't done so. "Greed came in. Marketing people said if the 125-cc Discover sells so much then how many would a 100-cc Discover sell? We went ahead and made the 100-cc Discover. We lost our position and five years later we lost our performance too... "We started off as a point of difference, with a different perception and a USP, but we ended up being a 'me too' product. Me too is bad in life and marketing," he said, speaking at an event in the city. He, however, sounded upbeat about the prospects of the KTM, an Austrian racing brand that the company had invested in 2007. He recalled that when invested in KTM in 2007, it was making only 65,000 motorcycles, and was still the second largest European motorcycle brand. On the other hand Harley Davidson was averaging 305,000. But the not any longer as Harley has been declining since the is estimated to finish at 204,000 units this year, whiled KTM will finish with 207,000 units, he said. is also planning to enter the e-vehicle space next year, even though he lamented that the industry has been given a step-motherly treatment to e-vehicles, by launching cheap variants. "We could have made a Tesla on two-wheels or a Tesla on three-wheels and created different news.... we will try and do that in 2019 now," he said. Realty major DLF Thursday said it has been awarded by the British Safety Council for achieving highest standard in health and safety risk management in 11 of its commercial projects. The 'Sword of Honour' award recognises companies that have implemented global best practices in the management of health and safety risk. DLF's MD (Rental Business) Sriram Khattar said these awards cover 80 per cent of the company's rental portfolio. The company has more than 30 million sq ft of rent yielding commercial assets with annual rental income of over Rs 3,000 crore. The 11 projects include DLF Office Complexes (17 buildings) and Cyber Hub at Gurugram. Among others, DLF's corporate office in the national capital and various properties in Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chandigarh have also won the award. "Being recognised for setting global benchmarks reaffirms our commitment to ensure that our workplaces have the highest health and safety standards," Khattar said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Thursday pulled up the Centre for the pathetic condition prevailing in jails across the country and wondered whether prisoners were considered as humans "in the eyes of the authorities". A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur also took note of huge vacancies of around 48 per cent in forensic science laboratories (FSL) in India and asked the Centre how it would ensure speedy trial for the undertrials in such a situation. "This whole thing have been converted into a joke. Do prisoners have no rights? I do not know whether they (prisoners) are considered to be humans in the eyes of the authorities," Justice Lokur observed. "Tell your officers to go and see (condition in jails). White washing have not been done for years. Taps are not working. Toilets are not working. There are no sewage and the situation is pathetic in jails," the bench, also comprising Justice Deepak Gupta, told the Centre's counsel. The court was hearing a matter related to deficiencies in jails as highlighted by two apex court judges, one of whom has retired, during their visit to Faridabad jail and an observation home in June this year. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aman Lekhi, appearing for the Centre, said the government has received responses from 19 states only about the court's earlier query on whether observation homes, where minors in conflict with law were kept, and juvenile justice boards (JJBs) were equipped with video-conferencing facilities. The bench observed that in case of minors, provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were not adhered to and in places such as Guwahati, JJB was situated at quite a long distance from the observation home forcing the authorities and minors to travel long distance. "Just because they happen to be children, you cannot say that provisions of CrPC will not apply to them. Are children not citizens of this country?" the bench said. On the issue of vacancies in FSLs across the country, the ASG said a process was underway to fill up the vacancies. To this, the bench observed, "The process is underway for the past 20 years. In Rajasthan, 50 per cent posts are vacant. In Gujarat, one-third posts are lying vacant. In Bihar, 126 out of 191 posts are vacant." Lekhi told the court that this reflected a "dismal state of affairs" and the government would deal with this issue. "These are sanctioned posts so money is not an issue. People are dying in jails. How long are we going to continue like this?" the bench said, adding, "It is total chaos." An advocate, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, said the issue of vacancies could be dealt with like the top court has been dealing with issues related to filing up of vacancies in higher judiciary by taking five states at one go. "We are not going to appoint people. Persons who are supposed to do this are not doing it. Forget about judicial vacancies, we are talking about governmental vacancies," Justice Lokur observed. The court then asked about the functioning of undertrial review committees (UTRCs). The UTRCs, set up in every district, deliberates and recommends the release of undertrial prisoners and convicts who have undergone their sentences or are entitled to be released from jail on bail or remission granted to them. When the issue of UTRCs cropped up, the amicus curiae said that it was being dealt with by a committee under the chairmanship of retired apex court judge Amitava Roy which has been constituted to look into the issues related to jail reforms in the country. To this, the bench asked, "What facilities are being given to Justice Roy?" The bench was told that the committee has been provided with space at the office of Bureau of Police Research and Development here. "This is the way the government of India is treating a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge," the bench said. At the fag end of hearing, the bench told the ASG to get responses from all the states on the issue of vacancies in FSLs and also on video-conferencing facilities in JJBs. The ASG told the bench that he would request the officer concerned of the Centre to communicate with the states on this. The bench has posted the matter for hearing on November 29. On July 13, the top court had taken note of lack of facilities in jails, leading to delayed trials and prolonged incarceration of undertrials in the country and had sought assistance of the Attorney General in the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Kaala" may have redefined the symbolism of colours black and white in cinema but its director, Pa Ranjith says if that were true the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) would have selected the film for the ongoing gala's Indian Panorama section. The Rajinikanth-starrer was touted to be India's "Black Panther" in the reviews for its political message highlighting the struggle of Dalits and Ranjith says it was difficult for him to understand that "Tiger Zinda Hai" be chosen but not "Kaala". "Unfortunately, they have not selected the film at IFFI. I don't understand why 'Tiger Zinda Hai' was selected and 'Kaala' was not. "I don't know what's happening. 'Tiger Zinda Hai' was not even critically acclaimed. But 'Kaala' was. That's why I have to fight more and more," the director told PTI on the sidelines of the 49th edition of IFFI. Ranjith was present at the screening of his production "Pariyerum Perumal BA BL" on Wednesday. Directed by Mari Selvaraj, the story of the Tamil language film revolves around the eponymous character who is devastated when his hunting dog is suddenly killed. The murderer is now on a killing spree and starts lurking around Perumal. The more he tries to evade the war, the more he is sucked into it. Like his directorials, Ranjith says he wants to use his productions to discuss the caste divide that runs deep across the country. The filmmaker, best known for "Kabali", "Madras" and "Atthakathi", says he wants both mainstream and parallel cinema to address casteism. "They (the producers) are not ready. They are still not letting the audiences get used to different types of cinema. Producers tend to not take risks thinking they will challenge the set pattern. I want to make it clear for other producers that such a story needs to be put out. Let 'Perumal' be an example for others," he says. "I believes that the audience has an open mind and as creative people we should not hold things back from them. I want to break all the rules," he adds. Ranjith says he does not need to join politics as he already considers himself a politician. "I am in politics. Cinema is a very political medium. I'm a politician," he says. The director, who received a rockstar's welcome with the chants of 'Jai Bhim' by the audiences at the screening of the film at a jam-packed hall here, says it is his politics that resonates so strongly with the people. "I think I'm most honest to my political ideas. This is the core that connects me with the audience." The director will soon be making his Hindi directorial debut with the biopic on tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda. Without giving away much, Ranjith says Munda is one such leader that the country needs today. "He was the premier leader and it was the tribals that led the freedom movement from the front as they were the first ones to be affected with all the land grabbing that started with the British and it still continues. "Adivasis are facing so much struggle with their lands being snatched away even today. I think India needs Birsa Munda now. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : A 11-member team of election officials headed by Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat, on a visit to poll-bound Telangana, Thursday held discussions with political party representatives on December 7 elections. The team, which arrived here today, held separate meetings with representatives of various political parties, a state government official said. Vinod Kumar, MP (TRS), M Shashidhar Reddy (Congress), and N Indrasena Reddy (BJP) were among those who met Rawat, an official press release said. On Friday, the team would hold a meeting with the district electoral officers, superintendents of police and senior government officials in all the districts of the state, the release said. This was the Chief Election Commissioner's second visit after the schedule for the poll was announced and the first visit after the notification for the election was issued. The team was expected to meet with the Chief Secretary SK Joshi and DGP Mahendar Reddy also. Elections are scheduled to be held on December 7 and counting would be on December 11. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Seven employees of a French mineral and water drilling firm and a local official were killed early Thursday when gunmen attacked their site in southeastern Niger, the company said. "A group of terrorists attacked the building where a team of Foraco drillers and technicians were resting in the village of Toumour, in southeastern Niger," the company said in a statement. "The assailants opened fire on the sleeping personnel and killed eight people," it said, adding that five others were wounded, two seriously. The victims, all Nigerien, were drilling two water wells to supply a camp for displaced people at a refugee camp at Toumour, near the borders with Chad and Nigeria. Foraco, based near the southern French city of Marseille, said the site had been chosen in conjunction with the Niger armed forces escort protecting the workers. The company did not identify the attackers, but Toumour was the site of a fierce firefight in September 16 between the military and Boko Haram jihadists which left 38 of the insurgents dead. "We know that Boko Haram is active in the region but for now we've had no claim of responsibility, neither official or unofficial," Thierry Merle, Foraco's vice president in charge of Europe and the Middle East, told AFP. "We've been operating in Niger for 20 years, and at this site since a month ago," Merle said. "We hadn't received any threat in particular," he added, and the company had not previously suffered similar attacks. Boko Haram fighters have carried out a series of attacks in northeast Nigeria in recent days, the latest in a nine-year insurgency in the country which has driven 1.8 million people from their homes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the Nirankaris' upcoming annual congregation in Haryana's Samalkha town, days after an attack on a religious gathering of the sect in Amritsar. Three people, including a preacher, were killed and over 20 injured when two-motorcycle borne men threw a grenade on the congregation on the outskirts of Amritsar on Sunday. "Elaborate security arrangements have been made in view of the 71stannual Nirankari Sant Samagam to be held at Samalkha in district Panipat from November 24 to 26," Haryana's Director General of Police (DGP) B S Sandhu said. Police personnel have been deployed in large numbers as a heavy turnout of followers is expected. Apart from senior police officers, additional police force, traffic police personnel, commandos and SWAT teams have also been deployed to keep an eye out for miscreants during the congregation, Sandhu had said on Wednesday. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Mohd. Akil reviewed the security arrangements at the venue on Monday, he said. "He is constantly in touch with the Range ADGPs and other senior police officers in the field involved in security arrangements," Sandhu said. Akil said security in and around the venue has been strengthened and around 1,000 police personnel have been deployed to prevent any untoward incident. Areas around the venue have been thoroughly sanitised. Quick Reaction Teams would also be deployed, he added. He said an alert has also been sounded in other districts in view of the 'Nirankari Sant Samagam'. An alleged operative of militant organisation Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) was arrested Tuesday in connection with the Amritsar grenade attack. He has been identified as Bikramjit Singh (26), a resident of Amritsar's Dhariwal village. The second accused, who allegedly hurled the grenade, has been identified as Avtar Singh Khalsa (32). He is absconding. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 72-year-old man was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by a city court Thursday for molesting a minor girl who worked as a help at his residence. The retired engineer was accused of molesting the girl and peeping into the bathroom when she was taking bath at his residence in Phoolbagan area of east Kolkata. Special judge (POCSO) at Sealdah Court Jimut Bahan Biswas sentenced Tapan Bhattacharyya to three years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed on him a fine of Rs 20,000 for the offence. The girl had filed the complaint with the Phoolbagan police station on October 31 this year with the help of a local woman to whom she had narrated her ordeal, special public prosecutor Vivek Sharma said. The 14-year-old girl had been sent by her family to work as a help at Bhattacharyya's home owing to abject poverty, Sharma said. Bhattacharyya was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court Thursday extended till December 14, the interim protection from arrest to activists Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde and Stan Swamy, in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case. A bench of Justices B P Dharamadhikari and Sarang Kotwal also directed the Pune Police to file an affidavit by December 5 this year on its probe into the case. The bench's direction came after the state's counsel, additional government pleader Aruna Pai opposed a plea filed by Navlakha seeking that the FIR in the case against him be quashed. Pai told the bench that while the police had "enough material evidence against Navlakha, it could not yet make the same information public". She added that at the present stage, Swamy and Teltumbde were merely "suspects" in the case and that the police's probe against the two, and the other activists was still ongoing. The bench, however, took a strong exception to Pai's statement and said that the prosecution was bound to place on record all the relevant information in the case. "File an affidavit putting on record whatever stage your investigation is right now. Since you are saying you can't make the details public, or known to the other party, place the reasons behind your inability to make it known, also in the affidavit. All that is necessary and relevant to the case must be brought on record," the bench said. The bench also directed the three petitioners to file their counter-affidavits within a week from the date that the police files its affidavit. Navlakha has challenged before the Bombay HC, an FIR registered against him and some other activists on January 1 this year in connection with the Elgar Parishad event held on December 31, 2017. According to police, the Elgar Parishad event was funded and supported by Maoists. At the event, held a day before the January 1 clashes at Bhima Koregaon near Pune, the activists allegedly made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements that contributed to the Koregaon Bhima violence, the police said. Several activists were named in the FIR. Some of them, including Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj, P Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha, were initially put under house arrest on the directions of the Supreme Court. However, all of them, except Navlakha, were recently re-arrested and taken into custody by the police. In October this year, another FIR was registered by the Pune Police on the same issue, naming eight more activists, including Teltumbde and Swamy. Teltumbde and Swamy are yet to be arrested in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The erstwhile royal family of Tonk has extended support to Congress candidate Sachin Pilot who is contesting the upcoming Assembly election from Tonk constituency in Rajasthan. The titular nawab of Tonk, Aftab Ali Khan, urged the members of his clan to vote for Pilot. The family has a significant influence in the town but it is not politically involved. The BJP has fielded Transport Minister Yoonus Khan, who is the party's only Muslim face in the elections, against Pilot on the Tonk seat. "The future belongs to youths and...we are with Pilot. The public is wiser than any political leader and they know the ethos and problems of Tonk town. Pilot has represented Ajmer Lok sabha constituency and he too understands Tonk well," Khan told PTI. He said there was no industry in the town and education was also a problem. "I believe Pilot is the most suitable candidate for resolving these issues," Khan, who is the patron of Anjuman (society) Khandan-e-Amiria Tonk, said. Anjuman is the official body of the clan which has 8,500 registered members. Dominated by Muslims, Tonk is one of the keenly watched constituencies, where the Congress's state president and Yoonus Khan are pitted against each other in the election. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The European Union and Britain agreed Thursday a draft declaration on their post-Brexit relations that sets out an "ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership," officials said. The two sides have also agreed a draft deal extending the transition period by one or two years beyond the end of 2020, a final sticking point of the divorce deal. European Council President Donald Tusk said the EU executive, the European Commission, informed him it has agreed the political declaration on the future ties with Britain. "I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK," said Tusk, who represents the 27 remaining EU member countries. "The Commission President (Jean-Claude Juncker) has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level," Tusk tweeted. He said EU leaders still have to endorse the draft declaration, which is due to accompany a draft of agreed terms for Britain's withdrawal from the bloc on March 29. The EU leaders are due to meet at a summit in Brussels on Sunday to endorse both documents. "The declaration establishes the parameters of an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic cooperation" and other areas, according to a copy of the document seen by AFP. The other areas cover law enforcement, criminal justice, foreign policy, security and defence and wider areas of cooperation, according to the draft. In an update of the withdrawal agreement, both sides have agreed to extend the post-Brexit transition period from December 31, 2020 "for up to one or two years." The transition period is designed to allow governments and businesses to adjust to a new relationship after more than four decades of close ties. Following the announcement of the draft declaration, the British parliament said Prime Minister Theresa May will make an "emergency statement" to MPs on Thursday. Downing Street said the prime minister was holding a teleconference with cabinet ministers about the deal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former FBI director James Comey and former attorney general Loretta Lynch have been subpoenaed to testify before Congress next month before Republicans relinquish control of the House, documents have shown. Comey confirmed on Thursday he had received a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee but said he would resist if made to answer questions behind closed doors. "I'm still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions," he said on his Twitter account. "But I will resist a 'closed door' thing because I've seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Let's have a hearing and invite everyone to see." Lynch, who served under former president Barack Obama, did not immediately comment, but copies of the subpoenas made public Thursday show she was summoned to testify on December 4. Comey was ordered to appear before the committee on December 3. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused Comey and Lynch of covering for Hillary Clinton in an investigation into her use of a private server for emails while she was secretary of state. He has often leveled charges of bias in countering a probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into whether the Trump campaign colluded with a Russian effort to sway the 2016 elections in the Republican's favour. Clinton, the Democratic candidate, lost the election despite winning the popular vote. The chairman of the House Judiciary Bob Goodlatte is reported to have indicated earlier this week he planned to force Comey and Lynch to testify on political bias at the Justice Department before Democrats take over leadership of the House in January. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : Chennai metropolitan area would be second after the National Capital Region in terms of geographical size if the plan on expansion of the city takes off, according to a study undertaken by a city-based think-tank. The Mylapore Institute for Policy Research promoted by India Cements Limited released the findings of the study here Thursday. The metropolitan area of the city would grow seven-fold to 8,878 sq km as the whole of Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur and parts of Arakkonam and Nemili taluks in Vellore district would be included in its limits, the study said. "If the proposed expansion goes through, only the National Capital Region will be bigger than the southern metropolis with a total area of 53,817 sq km," it said. Currently, the area of Chennai is 1,189 sq km, Mumbai 4,354 sq km, Hyderabad 7,100 sq km and Bengaluru 8,005 sq km. The primary objective of the expansion was to ensure development takes place in a planned manner, the report said adding that the expansion would improve the living standard of people in the region. The Tamil Nadu government had in July 2017 announced a proposal to turn Chennai into a mega city and a few months later, the government notified the plan, the report said. The area of the city, which was just 426 sq km, grew more than four-fold to reach 1,189 sq km in 1975, it said. "With the Tamil Nadu government expanding the metropolitan area to include Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and parts of Vellore, we felt it was timely to assess the potential impact," president of Mylapore Institute for Policy Research Shiv Kumar said. The report has been compiled after extensive on-ground interviews with administrators, planning experts, industrialists and people living in the region, co-promoter and director of How India Lives John Samuel Raja said. If the expansion plan was implemented, it would ensure uniform development of the entire region, steady flow of investment and availability of basic infrastructure, among others, the report said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Thursday assured tribal farmers that their forest land rights claims will be settled by December this year. Fadnavis gave this assurance to representatives of protesting farmers who marched to Azad Maidan here for redressal of their grievances, which include compensation for drought and transfer of forest rights to tribals. A delegation of the protesting tribals met Fadnavis at Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai, where the winter session of the state legislature in underway. Tribal welfare minister Vishnu Savra said 3.6 lakh claims were received, of which 1.74 lakh have been settled in favour of the tribals. Similarly, 12,000 claims for community forest activity were also received, of which7,700 have been settled, he said. Fadnavis assured the delegation that the remaining claims would be settled by December this year. The march reached Azad Maidan early Thursday, eight months after a similar protest was held at the venue. The farmers and tribals who began the two-day march from Thane to on Wednesday had halted for the night at the Somaiyya Ground in Mumbai's Sion area. The march traversed through Dadar and the JJ flyover before reaching the Maidan, adjacent to the municipal corporation headquarters. Magsaysay award winner Dr Rajendra Singh, also known as Waterman of India, was among the marchers. He blamed the government for the drought, which he termed as "man-made". The farmers are demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, which suggested that farmers must have assured access and control over resources such as land and water. They are also demanding an increase in the minimum support price and a judicial system to ensure its implementation. The farmers, struggling to cope with the agrarian crisis, are demanding proper implementation of the loan waiver package announced by the BJP-led government in the state last year, land rights for farmers and compensation for farm labourers. "We have been consistently asking the state government to fulfil our long-standing demands, but the response has been lukewarm. We were forced to launch this agitation," said Pratibha Shinde, general secretary of Lok Sangharsh Morcha, which is organising the protest. In March, thousands of farmers, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, took out a 180-km long march from Nashik to in March to press for their demands. That protest saw a sea of red, formed by farmers in red caps, converge in Mumbai from across A Delhi-based father-son duo, accused of killing a woman here, were remanded in police custody till November 30 by a court Thursday. The accused, Shivlal alias Shivaji Rao (39) and his son Mukesh Rao (19), are residents of Uttam Nagar in Delhi, Pune Police said. They allegedly shot Ekta Brijesh Bhati (37) dead at a housing society in Chandannagar here Wednesday morning. In the evening, when a police team traced them at Pune Railway Station, Shivlal allegedly opened fire, injuring inspector Gajanan Pawar of the Crime Branch. While other policemen nabbed him, Mukesh, who managed to board a moving train, was held at Daund railway station. Seeking their police custody, prosecution told the court that they were contract killers. Police wanted to find out at whose instance they killed the woman, it said. Judicial Magistrate (First Class) G K Nandanwar remanded both in police custody till November 30. Inspector Pawar, who had two bullet injuries, was out of danger, police sources said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Finolex Cables Ltd, manufacturer of electrical and communication cables, plans to set up 50 brand retail stores 'Finolex House' by 2019, the company said. The first exclusive store was formally inaugurated by the company's Executive Chairman, Deepak Chhabria here Thursday. Finolex House would serve as a one-stop shop for consumers offering end-to-end electrical solutions. "Our goal is to provide complete electrical solutions to our customers across India. We are happy to launch the first Finolex House in Chennai," Chhabria said after formally inaugurating the store. "Finolex plans to launch 50 Finolex Houses by 2019 with exclusive stores in key cities," a company statement said. Experts would be available at the stores to help customers with appropriate products for safe and secure homes. Finolex Cables has 3,500 channel partners and 40,000 dealers across the country. The company has manufacturing facilities in Pune, Goa and in Uttarakhand, the release added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A fire broke out on the third floor of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India building on ITO road here on Thursday, the Delhi Fire Service said. No casualty has been reported. A call about the fire was received at 9.10 am. Four fire tenders and another vehicle was rushed to the spot. The fire was controlled by 9.30 am, a senior Delhi Fire Service officer said. Stationery items and furniture were damaged, the fire officer said. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five Iranian security personnel, who had been held by jihadists for a month, have been flown home after Pakistani forces secured their release, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday. The five were part of a mixed unit of 12 border guards, militiamen and Guards intelligence agents who were captured by jihadists of the Pakistan-based Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) group during an operation near the border on October 16, a state television-run agency reported. The Pakistani foreign ministry announced on November 15 that police and troops had secured the release of five of the captives and were still trying to free the others. "Following efforts and interactions with the Pakistani side to free the border guards and militiamen," five of them "were released and returned to Iran last night", the Guards said. The Guards website carried photographs of the five being welcomed home by generals as they got off the plane. Sistan-Baluchistan province, where the men were captured, has long been a flashpoint, with Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and jihadists carrying out cross-border raids. The province has a large, mainly Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchi community which straddles the border. Jaish al-Adl, which claimed the capture of the Iranian personnel and is labelled a "terrorist" group by Iran, was formed in 2012 as a successor organisation to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God) which waged a deadly insurgency against Iranian targets over the previous decade. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif visited Islamabad twice in a month for briefings on the progress of the efforts to secure the captured unit's release. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi blamed the kidnapping on "our common enemies unhappy with the existing close, friendly relations between Pakistan and Iran". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Health Ministry has made it mandatory for foreign nationals seeking in India to be registered in the waiting list of hospitals following reports claiming they were being given preferential treatment by some private institutions. The registered transplant centre has to intimate the Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisations (ROTTOs) and the list of foreign nationals seeking organ donation in India has to be shared with the NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation) in advance, officials said here. Also, an organ can be allotted to a foreign national only if there is no Indian recipient available to receive the donated organ at that time, said Dr Vasanthi Ramesh, Director of NOTTO. Among the patients from abroad, NRIs and persons of Indian origin will be given preference. "The issue of foreign nationals being preferred over Indian nationals for undergoing heart transplantation from an Indian donor was raised in Tamil Nadu after which a meeting was held in the ministry. "It was decided that such foreign nationals have to be registered with a transplant hospital in India and the list of such people seeking organ donation in India has to be shared with NOTTO in advance," Dr Anil Kumar, National programme officer in the Ministry of Health, said. According to the data shared by the NOTTO, the number of organ donation has witnessed a decline as compared to last year. "This is mainly because the states do not share the complete data," said Dr Ramesh. In 2018, there have been 4,805 kidney transplants (deceased- 892 and living 3913), 180 heart transplants and 1,130 (deceased 459, living -671) liver transplants, 145 lung transplants, 13 pancreas transplants, five hand transplants and one small bowl transplant so far. Also, the total number of deceased donors is 571 so far. In 2017, there were 1,684 kidney transplants, 339 heart transplants, 708 liver transplants, 125 lung transplants, 14 pancreas transplants and the total number of deceased donors was 905. Dr Kumar also informed that only 14 states including Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand Maharashtra, Punjab, Assam, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Kerala and seven UTs have adopted the amended Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act. The amended Act provides for a national networking between hospitals, states, regional bodies and the NOTTO through an online system for establishing a national registry and ensuring that procurement and distribution of organs and tissues to the waiting patients can be done in a transparent manner. The biggest drawback behind the states not adopting the amended Act is that they will be under no obligation to share their data, officials said. Future Group eyes Rs 30,000 crore worth transactions on its e-wallet next year, Future Group chief executive Kishore Biyani said Thursday. Future Pay is an app-based wallet introduced for shopping across Future Group stores. Biyani further said the company is getting into another round of technology innovations and is building digital financial services business based only on technology/digital. "In the last few years we have built a product called Future Pay. It will do a business of Rs 30,000 crore next year. It is running at a run rate of Rs 10,000 crore. We have 40 lakh active users every month and close to 80-85 lakh members on Future Pay," he said at the Ascent Conclave. On the retail front, Biyani said the company is opening small store formats targeting the 50,000 population towns. "If you look at Future Group we operate on three levels. One is Big Bazaar which is our largest store and we are operating in the population range of one-lakh plus. We are within 5 km of consumers in 13,000 pincodes. We are now working on opening small stores in every part of India, which is up to a population of 50,000. We are planning to open 10,000 stores over the period of next 7-8 years, he said. "We are opening three stores a day. We think we will be in 2 km distance of every customer and consumer in India," he added. The retailer further said they plan to open Aadhaar Retail in eight states, having already commenced in three states. "We have started in 3 states Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan, wherein we are opening our franchise stores which is serviced by our wholesale centres in population of less than 50,000. Most of the stores we have opened is in population of 10,000. We believe there is a market every where in this country, he said. Future group operates stores like Big Bazaar, fbb (fashion at big bazaar), Ezone, HyperCity, Central, Easyday, Heritage, Nilgiris and Brand Factory. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The car plowed into a group of pupils in front of a school in Huludao, Liaoning province. The social imbalance created by the One-Child policy could be the underlying cause of attacks on children of the past few months. Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - A car plowed into a crowd of children outside a school in Huludao, a city in the Chinese province of Liaoning, killing at least 5 children and seriously injuring 18, Chinese state TV reported. CCTV footage shows a line of children crossing the street in front of the school as the car approaches, which then changes lanes and swerves into children. The driver was taken into custody, but it is still unclear whether this was a deliberate attack. In recent months, several episodes of this kind have occurred in China. Last month, a knife-wielding man drove a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians in the eastern city of Ningbo, killing two people and wounding 16. In September, 11 people were killed and 44 hospitalised after a man drove an SUV deliberately into people at a plaza in the central province of Hunan, before jumping out and attacking victims with a dagger and shovel. For decades, China experienced a radical drop in the birth rate due to the infamous One-Child policy, adopted by Deng Xiaoping, which allowed couples only one child. This has led to a social imbalance, which according to some estimates left 40 million men without any possibility of finding a wife and having children. This, psychologists warn, may be the cause behind hatred towards children by mentally unstable people. At the same time, it has permanent damaged the countrys pension and healthcare system. Travel time between Chennai and Mysore will be cut down by more than five hours by 2030 if the Railway Board approves a plan for a high-speed rail network between the two cities proposed by the German government. The feasibility study for the 435 km route was submitted to Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani by German Ambassador Martin Ney on Thursday. The report envisages covering the 435 km distance with a maximum speed of around 320 kmph resulting in an overall reduction in time between Chennai and Mysore from the present seven hours to two hour and twenty minutes. "The study was both commissioned and financed by the German government. The route was found to be not only extremely viable, but also prove to be the most effective solution to manage traffic growth," Ney said. The report states that the estimated infrastructure cost of the project to be around Rs 1 lakh crore and an additional cost of Rs 150 crore for rolling stock. According to the German report, the route - Chennai-Arakkonam-Bangalore-Mysore - will be 85 per cent elevated and have 11 per cent tunnels. It will reduce travel time between Chennai and Bangalore by 100 minutes and between Bangalore and Mysore by 40 minutes. While the report has suggested that India integrate its existing conventional railway line with the high-speed line instead of a dedicated high-speed corridor in order to not only reduce costs but also minimise land acquisition issues, the Railway Board rejected the plan stating that India's present network was too over-saturated and complicated for this. "The proposal is an exciting one and we are reviewing it at the moment. The Germans studied both mixed modes and dedicated mode and we decided that a detailed study of dedicated mode was more viable. "We are expecting that we will be able to ground some passengers from airlines when they see that the travel time has been reduced so drastically. Unless one lives near to the airport, trains will be faster than airlines once this kind of high speed rail network is introduced," Lohani said. While none of the officials wanted to come on record on the fare structure of the proposed high-speed train to be introduced on the line, sources say that a journey between Chennai to Mysore will be comparable to airfares on that route. The report has stated that after a planning period of three years and a construction period of nine years, the route will be operational by 2030. Other routes on which feasibility studies are being conducted include New Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Nagpur and Mumbai-Nagpur. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : Gold worth Rs 1.42 lakh was seized from two people who arrived at the airport here Thursday by a Sri Lankan Airlines flight from Colombo, directorate of Revenue Intelligence said. Acting on inputs, the officials checked the baggage of the two people, hailing from Ramanathapuram, and the search revealed the yellow metal weighing 1.2 kg. The duo has been detained for interrogation, the officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Thursday that Jammu and Kashmir Governor had every right to take appropriate decision in view of the "uncertain" political situation in the state. Governor Satya Pal Malik's decision Wednesday to dissolve the J&K Assembly has created a political furore. Talking to reporters here, Prasad said, "The political situation in Jammu and Kashmir is sensitive and uncertain. In such a situation, the Governor has every right to take appropriate decision." He, however, did not reply when asked about Malik's claim that horse-trading was underway in the state. It would not be appropriate to react on this issue, he said. Taking potshots at PDP, National Conference and Congress, Prasad said, "In Jammu and Kashmir, these three parties suddenly changed their stand in the darkness of night. These parties came out with a claim to form government. Can any political party be a bigger opportunist than them?" Prasad refuted Congress president Rahul Gandhi's allegations of corruption in Rafale deal. "Rahul has not spoken anything authentic on the issue so far. We executed this deal in the national interest. We can not constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the issue only to satisfy Rahul's ego," he said. On the Ram temple issue, he said, "It has been BJP's resolve from day one that a Ram temple should be built at Ayodhya. It is not an election issue for us but a matter of faith. Our government will take all steps in this regard within the Constitutional limits." In reply to a question about the Sabrimala temple case, the Law Minister said, "This is a matter of faith. Fundamental ideas of any religion are based on thousands of years old traditions. If a court is to analyse the basic ideas of a religion, such analysis should be done for all religions. The Union minister also demanded that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi clarify their stand on triple talaq. On former prime minister Manmohan Singh's accusation that the Narendra Modi government wants to capture every national institution, Prasad said, "Congress is an undemocratic party, and it should not play advocate for democracy. Manmohan Singh should tell us during whose tenure the apex court had termed CBI as a caged parrot." Talking about 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he also asked the Congress leadership why did it remove senior leader Kamal Nath from the post of Congress general secretary. Nath is currently Madhya Pradesh Congress chief. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan is creating legal channels for its overseas citizens to send their remittances home, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said as his cash-strapped government combats money laundering. Addressing the Pakistani diaspora here in the Malaysian capital on Thursday, Khan said his government has a strategy to pull the country out of its "quagmire of loans". He said the government wants to create legal channels for overseas Pakistanis to send their remittances through. He said that the finance minister Asad Umar was working on an incentive programme to make routing of remittances easier. "Currently, we receive USD 20 billion in remittances," he said. "We (the government) think that if all the money sent in remittances [is sent via legal channels], then we will receive at least USD 10-12 billion n addition. "Right now, we are facing a shortfall of USD 12 billion. If we start receiving all our remittances [through legal channels] then this problem will be solved," Khan, who has got aid from close allies like Saudi Arabia and China to overcome the financial difficulties faced by his government. Khan said he was determined to drag the country out of the economic mess was ending the practice of money laundering. He said that Rs 10 billion was sent abroad through money laundering every year but assured that every agency in Pakistan is now working diligently to make it hard for people to move funds abroad illegally. "We have signed MoUs (Memorandums of Understanding) with different countries," he said. "And gradually, we are also getting details of the money that has been sent abroad illegally," he was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper. Khan, who met Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, during his two-day official visit, said his government was committed to uplift the living standard of the poor by improving governance and ending corruption. The first step towards ridding the country of its chronic loan dependency is to increase exports, said Khan. "If Malaysia, with a population of 30 million people, has exports worth USD 220 billion, and we, with a population of 201 million people have exports worth USD 24bn, then clearly we are doing something wrong," he said. Khan also emphasised the importance of attracting investments, particularly from foreign businesses. "We will continue to face a shortfall of dollars if we do not attract foreign investments," he warned. He vowed to facilitate investments from overseas Pakistanis by fixing the governance system in the country. He also promised to create an "ease of doing business" for investors both foreign and domestic. "There will be a designated office within the PM Office and its sole purpose will be to solve any problems being faced by investors," he said. Khan said that the recent aid packages secured by his government from "friendly countries" was just a temporary solution to Pakistan's economic woes. "We have acquired loans from friendly countries in order to repay instalments of loans that were borrowed earlier," he said. "Even now we are trying that we have to borrow the least amount of money possible from the IMF (International Monetary Fund), with whom we are in negotiations right now. But this is temporary. This is like treating cancer with Disprin," Khan added. The IMF delegation, which concluded discussions with senior Pakistani officials on Tuesday said, "productive discussions" were held on economic policies and reforms that could be supported by a financial arrangement with the global lender. There has been broad agreement on the need for a comprehensive agenda of reforms and policy actions aimed at reducing the fiscal and current account deficits, bolstering international reserves, enhancing governance and transparency and laying the foundations for a sustainable job-creating growth path, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A top official of the West Bengal department would survey the progress of the work in the Presidency University's Hindu Hotel, which is under renovation, on November 26, minister Partha Chatterjee said Thursday. A section of the Presidency students have been protesting against the prolonged renovation of Hindu Hostel affecting the outstation students. The hostel, located beside the university building is being repaired by the state PWD for over three years, while its boarders have been accommodated in a rented premises at New Town, which is quite far. A delegation of the agitating students met Minister Partha Chatterjee at the state Assembly when he assured them that the secretary would review the progress of works in the hostel on November 26. Chatterjee had on Monday said the demand by students for being accommodated in the Hindu Hostel at the earliest is just and cannot be ignored for long. The state public works department (PWD) had missed the November 15 deadline for hostel renovation, following which the students started a sit-in demonstration in the main building of the university. Chatterjee had also said the government would look into the reasons behind the delay in renovation work. University Vice-Chancellor Anuradha Lohia recently said, while the government had wanted to complete the work of the two wards of hostel by November 15, the PWD gave a report that some work related to safety and security issues still remained to be completed. On October 12 students had called off their 10-day-long hunger strike after authorities gave them a written assurance that they would be provided accommodation at the Hindu hostel, adjacent to the institute's campus, by the middle of November if the PWD gave the clearance. The students had held sit-in protests on the institute since August 3 seeking room allotments at two wards of Eden Hindu Hostel but called off the sit-in along with fast on October 12. The Hindu Hostel was shut down for repairs in July, 2015 and 150 boarders were shifted to a rented accommodation at New Town, which is quite far from the university. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The decision of Governor Satya Pal Malik to dissolve Jammu and Kashmir assembly was taken in haste and not keeping in mind the constitutional spirit, CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami said here on Thursday. The governor abruptly dissolved the state assembly Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress. This was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. "The decision was taken in haste and not keeping in mind the constitutional spirit. Why was not the Assembly dissolved when the previous coalition government fell in June?" Tarigami told reporters. The MLA from Kulgam said the aim of keeping the assembly in suspended animation was probably to find possibilities to form a new alliance. "But no party came forward for forming the government till yesterday and the Assembly continued to remain in suspended animation. When major political parties started consultations for the government formation and when PDP, which was the single largest party in the outgoing Assembly, reportedly staked claim to form the government, the Assembly was dissolved in haste," he said. Tarigami said the options before the Governor were to provide an opportunity to the new alliance to be heard and discuss the contours of the new alliance with them. "But the BJP Government in Delhi got so unnerved with the talks for formation of a popular government in infancy stage, that they dissolved the state assembly," he claimed. "Unfortunately, constitutional procedures were not followed. The Governor, who had declared days ago that the assembly would not be dissolved, lost no time in going for dissolution," he added. Defending his decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Governor Satya Pal Malik Thursday claimed "extensive horse-trading" was going on and it would have been impossible for parties with "opposing political ideologies" to form a stable government. Malik said he had acted in the state's interest and according to its constitution. He dismissed allegations that he was acting on the Centre's directions and said had this been the case, their side (BJP, People's Conference) would have been called for government formation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after the dissolution of the Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress demanded on Thursday that elections be held in the state as early as possible to "restore" democracy, as it termed the Governor's rule in the state as "Modi rule". Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala termed the Governor's rule in the state as a "de facto Modi rule". "The Governor's (Satya Pal Malik) rule in Kashmir is (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi rule. It is BJP rule," he told reporters in Bhopal. "BJP, in collusion with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ran the show in J&K and Ladakh from behind the curtain. It is all the more important today that democracy is restored there," Surjewala said. "Only elections can pave the way for formation of people's government in J&K," he said, adding, "So Modi-ji and the Governor should get elections held as soon as possible." "This is our direct and clear demand," Surjewala said. The Governor abruptly dissolved the Assembly on Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress. This was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference, which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. Besides slamming the move, Surjewala also targeted the Modi government for "pushing J&K and Ladakh into deep violence". Neither the Pakistan-exported terrorism stopped nor did violence cease, Surjewala alleged. "Neither ceasefire violation by Pakistani Army stopped nor was the prime minister with 56-inch chest able to stop Pakistan from exporting extremists," the Congress leader added. Patidar quota stir spearhead Hardik Patel is pushing for a survey to establish "social and economic backwardness" of the community in Gujarat so that they qualify for reservation in jobs, days after Marathas were granted reservation in Maharashtra after a similar exercise. Patel led a delegation on Thursday to meet chairperson of the OBC Commission of Gujarat and demanded a survey of the Patidar (Patel) community by the panel. "We met chairman of OBC Commission Sugnaben Bhatt and handed an 11-page letter asking her to conduct a survey that the entire Patel community is socially and educationally backward," he told reporters after the meeting. "We have demanded that survey be started as soon as possible. It is mandatory to prove in a survey that a community is backward and after that only it (community) becomes eligible to receive reservation," he said. The move of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) led by Hardik Patel comes after Maharashtra's State Backward Class Commission gave a report on backwardness of the Marathas after which the government announced quota for the community. The reservation will be granted to the community under a new category, 'Socially and Educationally Backward Class', as per the recommendation of the commission, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said Sunday. On his meeting Thursday with Sugnaben Bhatt, 25-year-old Hardik Patel said, "The commission heard us and gave a positive feedback. They will give us a reply in a week's time." He said the BJP is in power in Gujarat for over two decades, but it has still not taken a decision on granting quota to the Patidars, who have been agitating over the issue. "After only 3.5 years of being in power, The BJP government in Maharashtra has decided to give reservation to Marathas, while the BJP government of Gujarat which is in power for the last 25 years is not giving anything to us," he said. "We got a ray of hope after the decision of the Maharashtra government," Hardik Patel said. This is the first time since 2015, when the PAAS launched its agitation for reservation, that Hardik Patel has gone to the OBC Commission with a demand for survey of the Patidar community. Earlier, some sub-groups of the Patel community had approached the commission for such a survey. "Our application is for the entire Patidar community. We represent the entire community," Hardik Patel said in response to a question regarding earlier application submitted to the panel by some sub-groups of the community. Hardik Patel had started his agitation for reservation for the Patel community in August 2015 by organising a mega rally in the GMDC Ground in Ahmedabad. However, violence broke out in different parts of the state after the rally. At least 14 people lost their lives in clashes with police, while protesters damaged public properties worth crore of rupees. To pacify the influential community, the government came out with an ordinance declaring 10 per cent reservation for the poor among upper-castes in Gujarat, including the Patels. The PAAS had been demanding quota for the Patels under the OBC category. However, the Gujarat High Court struck down the ordinance, terming it as "anti-constitution". The state government had appealed against the ruling in the Supreme Court, where the case is pending. During the 2017 Gujarat assembly elections, the Congress had promised reservation to the Patel community if elected to power. Hardik Patel had openly supported the main opposition party over the reservation issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court on Thursday issued non-bailable warrants (NBW) against 12 ex-policemen of Uttar Pradesh after they failed to surrender before it to serve life term awarded to them for the killing 42 people of a minority community in Hashimpura locality of Meerut in 1987. The Delhi High Court had awarded life imprisonment to 16 ex-policemen, all of whom have retired, and had directed them to surrender on or before November 22. Additional Sessions Judge Smita Garg sent the remaining four convicts to Tihar central jail after they surrendered before the court as per October 31 directions of the High Court. The convicts -- Jaipal Singh, Mahesh Pratap Singh, Sami Ullal Khan and Niranjan Lal -- were taken into custody after they surrendered before the court. "Since the remaining 12 convicts have failed to surrender in compliance of the order dated October 31, passed by the High Court, let NBW (non-bailable warrant) be issued against them and notice to their respective sureties," the court said. The HC had on October 31 sentenced the 16 former Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel to life imprisonment in the case, reversing a trial court's verdict which had acquitted the accused. They were convicted for murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code. The high court had on September 6 reserved its verdict on the appeals filed by Uttar Pradesh, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and some private parties including a survivor of the massacre, Zulfiqar Nasir. It had also reserved its judgement on BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking further probe to ascertain the alleged role of the then Minister of State for Home P Chidambaram in the case. The court had on February 17, 2016, tagged Swamy's plea with the other petitions in the matter. On March 21, 2015, a trial court here had acquitted the 16 former PAC personnel giving them benefit of doubt, saying their identification could not established due to lack of evidence. Nineteen people were named as accused and charges were framed against 17 of them for offences of murder, attempt to murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy, by the court here in 2006. The case was transferred to Delhi on a Supreme Court direction in September 2002 following a petition by the families of the massacre victims and survivors. Of the 17 accused, the trial court had acquitted 16, while one died during the trial. The NHRC had intervened in the matter seeking further probe into the massacre in the Hashimpura locality of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. A trial court had on March 8, 2013, dismissed Swamy's plea for further probe to ascertain the role of Chidambaram, saying he has no locus standi and it is only the police which can move an application for further probe. Thereafter, Swamy had approached the high court with the appeal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) If the press is gagged for publishing news, democracy in this country will be in utter peril and India will become a Nazi State, the Madras High Court has observed while quashing a defamation case filed against a magazine by the AIADMK government in 2012. Justice P N Prakash allowed two petitions filed by the management of India Today Tamil Magazine challenging the prosecution proceedings initiated against it before the Principal Sessions Court, Chennai. Ruling that the proceedings before the lower court were an abuse of process of law, the judge said the the court will be failing in its duty if such attempts by the "mighty State" to "trample the press for no good reason" are not resisted. The matter relates to an article published by the magazine dated August 8, 2012, in which it was alleged that at the instance of Sasikala the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa removed Sengottaiyan as minister, following which the City Public Prosecutor filed a defamation case. "For publishing a news, if the press is gagged, democracy in this country will be in utter peril," the court observed "India is a vibrant democracy and the fourth estate is indubitably an indispensable part of it. If the voice of the fourth estate is stifled in this manner, India will become a Nazi State and the hard labour of our freedom-fighters and makers of our Constitution will go down the drain. "There may be some occasional transgressions by the press. However, in the larger interest of sustaining democracy, those aberrations deserve to be ignored," Justice Prakash said. In his order, the judge said, "On a reading of the aforesaid portions, this court is not able to find even an iota of material to show that there is any imputation intending to harm the reputation of Jayalalithaa, the then Chief Minister." The judge refused to accept the arguments of public prosecutor A Natarajan that on reading of the entire article, the public could draw an inference that Sengottaiyan was removed from ministership only at the instance of Sasikala and this would amount to imputation. "Nobody is invited with platters for coming into public life. Therefore, after voluntarily coming into public life, one cannot be heard to feign sensitiveness and trample the press for no good reason. "This constitutional court will be failing in its duty if such attempts by the mighty state are not resisted," the judge said in his order last week. Justice Prakash said even on a reading of the entire article, "the court is not able to draw such an inference as argued by the public prosecutor." "Further, it is not open to this court to strain the language employed in the article or to read between the lines, for arriving at such an inference. "That apart, for maintaining a complaint of defamation via section 199 (2) to (4) CrPC, the imputation should be in respect of the conduct of the public servant in the discharge of his public functions. "The impugned paragraphs extracted from the article only refer to the gaining of influence by Sasikala in the party affairs after a brief period of hibernation and coming back into the party fold," the judge said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) MELBOURNE, Australia - Three men who allegedly plotted "chilling" terror attacks in Melbourne were charged early Tuesday, November 20, less than two weeks after a stabbing rampage inspired by the Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS or the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq) group left two dead in Australia's second city, police said. Investigators had been monitoring the terrorist suspects since March, he said, and they had been in the process of acquiring of a.22 semi-automatic rifle. "They were trying to focus on trying to have a place where they could kill as many people as possible", Graham Ashton, Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, told the media. "Certainly, in our view, while a specific location was not finalised there was a view towards a crowded place, we allege, to kill the maximum number of people possible", he said. Two of the men have no criminal history while the third was picked up in 2007 for the minor offence of failing to display L plates. Mr Ashton said the accused were using encrypted communications and police acted when they had gathered enough evidence. Shire Ali, like the 3 men arrested Tuesday, had his passport cancelled to keep him from joining ISIS in the Mideast, and Ashton said this may have led to their actions at home. Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) were all involved in the operation. All three are Australians of Turkish background and had their passports cancelled by federal agencies in January, March and October. "If we had not acted earlier in preventing this attack, we allege the consequences could have been chilling". "We're getting to a busy time of the year as you know with a lot of mass gatherings occurring ... as we start to head into Christmas time, there's places where mass gatherings occur, Christmas parties and that sort of thing", he said. Authorities said the men were influenced by ISIS to carry out the plot. The arrests came less than two weeks after a man set fire to a pickup truck laden with gas cylinders in the centre of Melbourne and stabbed three people, killing one, before he was shot by police. Those in custody are a 30-year-old man from Dallas, a 26-year-old man from Campbellfield and a 21-year-old man from Greenvale. Premier Daniel Andrews said the plot could have been "potentially deadly" had police and agencies not intervened. Tuesday's arrests coincided with a state funeral for the victim of that attack: Sisto Malaspina, 74, the owner of a local Italian cafe and a popular figure in Melbourne's vibrant restaurant scene. "The seriousness of this potential incident should not be underestimated", he said. Speaking to reporters today, the Joint Counter Terrorism Team said the three men had "become energised" after Ali's attack. The Madras High Court Thursday reserved orders on petitions challenging a Tamil Nadu government order transferring the probe into idol theft cases to CBI as it orally observed that the decision amounted to contempt of court since a court-appointed team was investigating the matter. A special division bench comprising Justice R Mahadevan and Justice PD Audikesavalu, dealing with idol theft cases, reserved the order after state Advocate General Vijay Narayan stoutly defended the August 1 G.O transferring the cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The court had on August 8 stayed the G.O in its interim orders on the petitions filed by advocate Elephant Rajendran and social activist Traffic Ramaswamy, seeking to quash the order transferring the case. Taking a serious view of the theft of antique idols, the court had in July last year directed the transfer of all pending cases in the state to a court in Kumbakonam, in Thanjavur district, from where a number of idols had been stolen, for effective and speedy disposal on day-to-day basis. It had also quashed the transfer order of Inspector General of Police Pon Manickavel from the Idol Wing and directed him to constitute a team and continue investigation of the cases. Meanwhile, the government on August 1 issued an order transferring the probe to the CBI, saying it was a policy decision. When the matter came up for hearing Thursday, the bench took a serious view and observed that as the high court had entrusted the investigation to the state Idol Wing CID, the government should not have transferred the cases to the CBI. Narayan, however, contended that there were enough and sufficient grounds for transferring the investigation. He said in some cases, there were international and interstate ramifications and the investigation needed the cooperation of the central government agencies such as the Customs, embassies and foreign governments. And in some, the accused might need to be extradited from foreign nations. The AG further submitted that the government was well within its powers in issuing the order and it was not for the court to decide the manner and agency to probe a case. Wondering how many idol theft cases out of 113 needed the Centre's co-operation, the bench observed that the state should have consulted the Idol Wing CID and prepared a list of the cases that needed such assistance. The state government was not justified in transferring all such cases to CBI, it said. The Union government was supposed to inform the court on Friday of its decision on the CBI probe ordered by the state government. However, its standing counsel said it needed more time to discuss the matter with the officials of CBI to arrive at a conclusion. Refusing to give any more time, the bench reserved the order, granting liberty to the state to inform the court about the Centre's decision any time before the order was passed. IG Manickavel, who is superannuating on November 30, thanked the court for providing the task to him and said he and his team members had discharged their duties to the best of their abilities. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Irked by non-compliance of its order to clean up the Kushak drain under the Barapullah flyover, the Delhi High Court on Thursday directed all concerned PWD officials of AAP government to appear before it and explain why action be not taken against them. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao directed that all the Public Works Department (PWD) officials who were responsible for ensuring compliance of its September 27 order, to clean up the drain, be present in court on November 27 morning. "The officials of the authorities responsible be present before us on November 27 to explain why action be not taken against them for non-compliance of court orders," the bench said. The direction came after a resident of the area adjoining the Kushak nullah showed to the court photographs of construction debris heaped inside the drain. Initially, Delhi government's additional standing counsel Naushad Ahmed Khan disputed the correctness of the photographs and showed the court pictures taken by PWD officials of a cleaner drain. However, as the bench proceeded to appoint a commission of lawyers to inspect the site and ascertain the factual position, Khan conceded that the photographs shown by the resident, Manjeet Singh Chugh, were correct. While the issue of cleaning up the drain was taken up on its own by the court in 2012 after debris and garbage in Kushak nullah had led to waterlogging of South Extension-II and surrounding areas during monsoons, Chugh moved a plea in 2016 seeking contempt action against the officials concerned for not complying with high court's orders on the issue. The court since 2012 has been issuing directions from time-to-time to clean up the drain. The PWD has on several occasions in the past few years assured the court that it will clean the drain of all garbage and construction debris after construction of the Barapullah flyover is completed. However, the deadline for completion of work kept getting extended even as residents of the areas, especially South Extension-II, near the nullah complained of waterlogging in their colonies during monsoon due to garbage and debris in the drain. In its last order of September 27, the bench had termed as "unacceptable" and "deplorable" the condition of the Kushak drain and had directed the PWD to clean it up to ensure it does not become a mosquito breeding ground. It had also ordered PWD that water in the drain be treated and proper filtration system be installed in the 'nullah' before handing it over to the local municipal corporation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Health Ministry has proposed providing "social support" of up to Rs five lakh to the dependents of an organ donor in cases of cadaver organ donation. The social support will be provided not in the form of cash but by sponsoring medical treatment or education of dependents, said Dr Vasanthi Ramesh, Director National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO). The proposal under the National Organ Transplant Programme currently is under consideration of the Finance Ministry. The Health Ministry will provide Rs one lakh to the hospitals for maintenance of the donor who has been declared brain dead till the organs are retrieved, the official said. Such patients who are in ICU require to be infused with fluids and medication to maintain the organs so that they can transplanted. According to a senior health ministry, the gap between the number of recipients and donors is very wide and thousands of people spend years hoping for a donor who would give them a new lease of life. The official said that as per estimates, the annual requirement of kidney transplant for new cases is around two lakh with merely 8,000 transplants happening annually. The figure is only for the new cases which means the number of people awaiting transplants over the years could be huge, she said. Similarly, the requirement of liver per year is 30,000, and only 1, 500 end up receiving the organ while the requirement for heart is 50,000 and only 250 recipients. Around five lakh people are estimated to die each year in India waiting for organ transplant, said a health ministry official. All these are estimated figures based on the information received from the states which are not complete as the data of not all the hospitals are included, a ministry official said. Concerned over lower rates of organ donation in India, the Ministry of Health is considering inclusion of step-parents, step-siblings and extended family members in the definition of "near relatives" in the Human Organs and Tissues Transplantation Act, 1994 (as amended in 2011) to ensure that patients find donors. The move comes after it received scores of grievances concerning the Act, apart from requests for organs due to non-availability of "near relative" donors or blood group mismatches with near relatives. "There is lack of awareness about organ donation and also a lot of superstitions because of which people do not receive transplants despite their name being on a waiting list," the official said. Elaborating on the procedure, NOTTO director Dr Ramesh said that when a person requires an organ transplant, the patient's name is enrolled in the waiting list by the hospital. "We still don't have the exact figure of patients who require organ transplant at national level as some private hospitals do not communicate their waiting lists to NOTTO. We have been consistently writing to the states seeking details of persons who need transplants as we are in the process of creating a National Registry," She said. Every hospital having a waiting list is supposed to get their data added to the centralised website of NOTTO, the country's apex organ donation agency. Waiting lists for kidney transplants are the longest in the country, followed by those requiring liver transplants. There are three types of donors --- a living related donor, an unrelated living donor and SWAP donors -- besides cadaveric donations. Under the the living related donor category, only immediate blood relations like parents, siblings, children, grandparents and grandchildren can donate their organs. Spouse is also accepted as a living donor in the category. Under the unrelated living donors, anybody can donate only for the reason of affection and attachment towards the recipient. Such donations are first permitted by a hospital committee and then by a state appointed committee to ensure that the donation is non-commercial. It is this category which gets misused and opens doors for trading of organs as it gives hospitals power to decide on the donor. In cases where the living near-relative donor is incompatible with the recipient, provision for swapping of donors between two such pairs exists. Besides, there are cadaver or deceased organ donations. Recipients on this waiting list receive organs from those patients who have been declared brain dead and or who have died of cardiac arrests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The HRD Ministry has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) to grant it deemed university status. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had in August recommended the HRD Ministry to grant deemed university status to the IIMC. "An LoI has been issued to the IIMC and certain anomalies have been pointed out. Once they are removed, the institute will be granted deemed university status," HRD Higher Secretary R Subramanyam told PTI. The institute, one of the prestigious journalism schools in the country which functions under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, offers postgraduate diploma courses in journalism, advertising and public relations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The HRD Ministry has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) to grant it deemed university status, an official said Thursday. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had in August recommended the HRD Ministry to grant deemed university status to the IIMC. "An LoI has been issued to the IIMC and certain anomalies have been pointed out. Once they are removed, the institute will be granted deemed university status," HRD Higher Secretary R Subramanyam told PTI. The institute, one of the prestigious journalism schools in the country which functions under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, offers postgraduate diploma courses in journalism, advertising and public relations. The deemed university status will enable the institute to grant degrees instead of diplomas. The UGC had last year formed a four-member committee headed by B K Kuthiala, the vice-chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi University in Bhopal, to analyse the proposal by the IIMC. The panel was later disbanded and two committees -- one headed by Sachidanand Joshi, member secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and other headed by M S Parmar, vice-chancellor, Kushabhau Thakre University of Journalism -- made the recommendation. Based on the committee's recommendation and inspection team's feedback, the UGC has recommended that the ministry should issue an LoI to the journalism school under the 'De Novo' category. 'De Novo' refers to an institution which focuses on teaching and research in emerging areas of knowledge. The idea to grant deemed university status to the IIMC is not a new one. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had also approved the plan in 2016. The IIMC has expanded from two campus in Delhi and Dhenkanal to six campuses across the country -- Jammu, Amravati, Kottayam and Aizawl being the new ones -- over the last five years. During a review of higher institutes by the Niti Aayog in June, it was recommended that the IIMC be merged with either Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Media Studies or Jamia Millia Islamia's AJK Mass Communication Research Centre. However, the institute as well as the Information and Broadcasting and the HRD ministries rejected the idea. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- HxCentral by SapphireIMS to set up a healthcare center of excellence to accelerate innovation in improving the patient safety and healthcare quality through technology HxCentral, a healthcare experience management solutions provider, today announced its partnership with Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR), Bangalore, a premier healthcare research institute, to collaboratively improve the healthcare technology solutions that help hospitals in ensuring high rate of patient safety, improve quality compliance and overall healthcare experience. Indian healthcare industry is on the cusp of digital transformation. Digitization and automation of healthcare processes is becoming a critical need for hospitals to efficiently serve more patients, ensure their safety, comply with complex standards and importantly offer affordable healthcare to the public. IIHMR will bring its years of healthcare research experience that will enable the HxCentral solutions to be even more relevant to the current and future needs of the hospitals. Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) was established in 1984, with a fundamental purpose of creating new knowledge and developing alternate modes of improving healthcare to management research, education and training in India and other parts of the world. Baiju VY, Vice President, at HxCentral is also selected as the Academic Advisory Council of IIHMR, Bangalore. In this role, Baiju will collaborate with the IIHMR experts in advancing the curriculum to set new standards for healthcare professionals of the future. As part of the agreement, HxCentral will set up its solution in IIHMR for the students to get a practical understanding of healthcare experience solutions and also to give them the exposure to real-world issues and challenges in managing the healthcare operations. Dr. S. D. Gupta, Trustee Secretary, IIHMR, Jaipur said, "Healthcare in India needs a different and a comprehensive approach to digital transformation. An approach led by healthcare institutes, solution providers, hospitals and academics. I am glad that this partnership between HxCentral and IIHMR will be pioneering this change." Baiju VY, Vice President at HxCentral said, "IIHMR is a premier healthcare research institute and I am confident that, together we will advance the innovation possibilities on healthcare digital transformation. Healthcare standards and regulations, such as NABH, JCI, HAAD-JAWDA are complex and takes a lot of understanding and preparedness to implement in everything we do at hospitals. Our idea is to integrate the standards mindset into the solutions and not as an afterthought. The healthcare CoE is one of its kind and am happy for the students as it will give them valuable exposure to the real industry needs."Dr. Usha Manjunath, Director, IIHMR said, "We are very excited to partner with HxCentral. There is still a lot of work to be done in the healthcare digitization space and such collaborations will help both the industry and the students, who are the future of this industry. A deep association with HxCentral will give us the right balance and direction to our research efforts that can have direct impact on patient safety and healthcare compliance."About HxCentralHxCentral, a SaaS-based healthcare solution of SapphireIMS, digitizes the core processes of a hospital, such as incident management, quality management, healthcare asset management, patient feedback management and infection control management to drive the patient experience and safety. Implemented in over 120 hospital units across India and Southeast Asia, the solution dramatically transforms the healthcare organization by enhancing patient safety, improving efficiency and earning patient loyalty. The SaaS solution rapidly enables the hospitals to be compliant with regulations, such as National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH), Joint Commission International (JCI) and The Health Authority - Abu Dhabi (HAAD - JAWDA). For more information: Visit our website: www.hxcentral.com and www.sapphireims.com Twitter LinkedIn YouTube About IIHMR - Bangalore IIHMR Bangalore is a premier Institute for Hospital Management, Public Health and Health Information Technology Management education, Research & Consultation activities, MDP trainings in South India. IIHMR, Bangalore was previously known as the Indian Institute of Health Management Research, Bangalore. IIHMR, Bangalore established in 2004; has a legacy over a decade for imparting Health and Hospital management education, Trainings and Research activities in South India. The campus is in Silicon Valley at Electronic City, surrounded by organizations like Wipro, HP, Infosys, and many others leading IT and allied companies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after accusing the media of misconstruing his remark against a woman farmer, an upset Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Thursday said he would not address the press hereafter "for any reason." The chief minister, who has often hit out at the media for "misintepreting" his comments, said he would "limit the media to what I speak from the stage." Kumaraswamy said he would remain the CMuntil he enjoyed the "confidence" of the Congress MLAs and till the time God has written it in his fate. "From here on I will limit the media to what I speak from the stage. I have decided. I will not address the press for any reason. If you want, write or else leave it," he said. Addressing an event here, he alleged that his words were often interpreted differently, "so these days I don't understand what to speak. I may in the future have to speak, based on thesuggestions made by a committee that will be formed about what chief minister has to speak. I'm in such a situation,"Kumaraswamy said. "An advisory committee should be formed consisting of media friends. It will be good. On the suggestion they give I will speak. I'm ready for that. With great pain I'm saying allthis," he said. Since coming to power, Kumaraswamy has repeatedly blamed the media for "misinterpreting" his statements and "misleading" the people. Recently, during the sugarcane farmer's protest too, hehad accused the media of instigating protesters and blamed the scribes for wrongly interpreting his statement against a woman farmer. Kumaraswamy had earlier courted controversy following his government's decision to impose certain restrictions on the entry of visitors, including the media, to the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state legislature and secretariat here. He had cited police inputs regarding security as alsoincrease in the number of people visiting it everyday besidescomplaints about inconvenience caused to ministers andofficials to carry out their work as reasons for the move then. Hitting back at state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa, who had Wednesday said his party would fight till the Kumaraswamy-led administration is brought down and people get justice, the chief minister said he was ready to face the saffron party leader during the winter session of the assembly at Belagavi commencing fromDecember 10. He said, "I will not run away. I and my government have that strength and moral right." Asserting that he was honestly working for the people ofthe state and would not run away from the responsibility fearing criticism, Kumaraswamy said he would stand strong and was ready for anything. "I will stand strong, I may have 38 MLAs. Because 80 MLAs under the leadership of Parameshwara (Deputy Chief Minister) have supported me, Governor has called me (to form the government) and manage the affairs of the state," he said. "Until I'm there without any compromise, I will work honestly....let the 6.5 crore people of the state decide in the future," he added. Noting that power was not permanent for anybody, Kumarswamy said, 22 people "have come and gone as Chief Minister." He said, "Parameshwara and MLA friends from his party (Congress) have given support and cooperation, until I enjoytheir confidence I will be (in the post). I will work from this position until the time god has written it in my fate. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Noted India-born Pakistani poet and human rights activist Fahmida Riaz has passed away following a prolonged illness at the age of 73 here, media reports said. Riaz, who fled Pakistan during former military dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq's rule and lived in self exile in India for nearly seven years, had been unwell for the past few months. Born into a literary family of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh in July, 1945 and settled in Hyderabad following her father's transfer to Sindh province, always raised her voice for women rights and democracy in Pakistan, The International reported. Riaz, a well-known progressive Urdu writer, poet, human rights activist and feminist, worked with Radio Pakistan and BBC Urdu service (Radio), the report said. Her Urdu publication Awaz grabbed the attention of Zia for its liberal and politically-charged content after which she and her second husband were charged with various cases and the magazine was shut down, it said. After her husband was arrested, she fled to India with her two children and sister, and got asylum. Her children went to school in India. Her husband later joined her in India after his release from jail, it said. The family spent almost seven years in exile in India before returning to Pakistan after Zia's death, the report said. Riaz had been a poet in residence for Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. She was a prominent voice in the feminist struggle in Pakistan, the report added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- Hiring intent in 2019 is expected to be strongest after a gap of four years on the back of bullish employment opportunities in Software & Hardware, Automotive and Travel and Hospitality sectors, according to India Skills Report 2019. The appetite for fresh hiring can be gauged from the fact that the intent for 2019 has more than doubled to 15% from a mere 7% in 2017. India Skills Report 2019 is a joint initiative by PeopleStrong, India's fastest growing HR solutions, and HR Technology Company, and Wheebox, a Global Talent Assessment Company, in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) along with partners like UNDP, AICTE, and AIU. Driving the growth in hiring intent in 2019 is the Software Industry, which is emerging from the shadow of de-growth, turbulence and freeze in hiring after a gap of two years. While design and analytics jobs would be the most sought-after ones in the overall set, the demand would increase for almost all profiles especially specialist technologies in the space of AI/machine learning. The report says even though hiring volumes might not reach the scale of 2010-11, the situation would still be better than what it was in the last 2-3 years. Apart from software, Engineering, Automotive, Travel, and Hospitality will see a considerable upswing in their hiring numbers next year. The survey this year revealed that almost 64% of employers have a positive outlook on hiring. While almost 20% of employers said they will hire the same number of people as 2018, only handful have a negative outlook for 2019. Mr. Pankaj Bansal, Co-founder, and CEO of PeopleStrong said, "It is encouraging to see a positive hiring intent this year and even more to see tech hiring getting back in action. It is also heartening to see that the increase in hiring intent is not limited to organizations of a certain size, but it is spread across companies of different sizes and sectors." The year 2019 marks the second consecutive year of job market revival. After a high of 23% in 2015, the year on year increase in hiring intent had slipped to 14% in 2016 and further to a low of 7% in 2017. There was, however, a revival in 2018 when the intent had risen to 10%. On gender diversity, the survey says female employability this year has increased to 46% from 38% last year. Male employability score has grown marginally to 48% from 47% last year. Of all the new hiring in 2019, almost 15-20% would comprise of women, the report further said. Indian economy can grow at the rate of 9% to 10% if there is gender parity in the country, and the share of women workforce is increased to 48% from the current 24%, it said. The report also consists of an in-depth study of employability amongst the fresh candidates joining the workforce and shared that of all students passing out this year, more than 48% are employable. According to the nationwide study, the top three states in terms of employability is Andhra Pradesh followed by West Bengal and Delhi. While engineers continue to be most employable, Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) & Information Technology (IT) have the highest employability rate. The report was launched by Senior Government officials at CII's event in Lucknow today. The 6th edition of India Skills Report captures insights and trends from the largest employability test that was spread out to 3200 Universities and Professional Institutions in India. The test reached out to more than 3 lakh students across 29 states and 7 Union Territories on the talent supply side, along with India hiring intent - a primary research survey on the talent demand side that reached out to over 1000+ employers across sectors like Manufacturing, Core, ITES, IT, BFSI etc. to get an idea of job demand and potential hiring intent for the coming year. About PeopleStrong: PeopleStrong is a leading human resource (HR) Solutions and Technology company from India, that is enriching experience at work for over 200+ customers and over 600,000 users. With the vision to simplify work life, PeopleStrong delivers its technology and services in one offering, using its on-demand technology product PeopleStrong Alt, which has distilled tens of thousands of hours of 'natural research and development (R&D) - a decade long experience of servicing the HR functions of top Indian companies. Known for its penchant to innovate, PeopleStrong has many firsts to its name, the recent one being the application of Machine Learning in Recruitment (through Match Making) and Employee Experience (through India's first HR Chatbot Jinie). PeopleStrong is the first company in the space to be successfully assessed on SSAE18. For more information, visit https://www.peoplestrong.com/. About Wheebox: Wheebox is India's leading online talent assessment company headquartered in India and spread across 5 countries globally. Wheebox partners' corporations for finding and retaining best talent using validated, reliable and standardized test for pre-hiring and measuring learning initiatives using robust assessment tools and online video proctored secured solutions. Wheebox benchmarks over 3 million users annually across globally. Staying aligned to the vision of Wheebox to "Measure World's Talent", it partners over 5000 higher and vocational education campuses for conducting its proprietary "Wheebox Employability Skill Test" for final year graduates to benchmark competencies that matter the most for being employable in corporations. Wheebox partners many fortune 180 large corporations and hundreds of small and medium enterprises to power their hiring and competency development assessment needs globally. Wheebox also powers "India Skills Report" skill supply side study and complements thousands of colleges to identify, benchmark and spot areas of competencies and supplementing with Institution wide and candidate report for developing competencies for employment. Wheebox partners many Indian states to design and deploy State Skills Report and Ministry of and Employment with its proprietary BARO Career Interest Report for suggesting careers to candidates across Model Career Centers in India. Source: PeopleStrong HR Services Pvt. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) University of NSW legal expert Melissa Crouch, who specialises is south-east Asian legal systems, said that Lawrence was being released because of a series of remissions, which are handed out twice a year in the Indonesian legal system to prisoners who are serving a fixed term in jail. Renae Lawrence (C) of Australia is escorted after being released from Bangli prison in Bangli regency on Bali island on November 21, 2018. The immigration department said Lawrence must be immediately deported from Indonesia following the release. Another family member - Lawrence's cousin - added that the group of four had only a limited amount of time with Lawrence before she flew home and that "you can appreciate that". Police video footage of Renae Lawrence. "This is the paper that shows she is now a free woman", he said, indicating the document. In chaotic scenes outside the Bangli Prison, she made no comment to a huge press pack as she was bundled into a waiting auto by several dozen Indonesian police. Earlier on Wednesday, Lawrence had finally been freed by Indonesian authorities. They quickly boarded an airport bus to transfer from the global to the domestic terminal where they sat quietly at the departure gate waiting for their flight to Newcastle. She will be the only member of the Bali Nine to win their freedom so far. Image Australian drug smuggler Renae Lawrence seen in 2010 When she returns home, she is expected to face a NSW court over an alleged high speed chase in a stolen vehicle on the NSW Central Coast in March 2005. The group has a total of nine Australians. When she returns, Lawrence is facing two arrest warrants from NSW police that have been outstanding since 2005. /Indonesian police mugshot of Renae Lawrence taken in April 2005. She had been arrested alongside the eight other members of the group in 2005, after they were caught attempting to smuggle heroin out of Bali's worldwide airport and into Australia. Lawrence will be released back to Australia soon after serving a 13-year jail sentence. A local doctor who visits Bangli prison is reported to have prescribed anti-depressants to help Lawrence cope with anxiety before her long-awaited chance for a new start in life. With gradual reductions for good behaviour, she managed to whittle away at the time she needed to stay behind bars. The most recent was Bangli Prison, in mountainous eastern Bali. It is considered less tough than Kerobokan prison. Lawrence is being allowed to take personal possessions, including handicrafts she made inside Bangli, back to Australia. Head bowed, Lawrence knocked two reporters over on her way out and sprinted toward a auto waiting outside. A 22-year-old Indian-origin man in the US has been arrested and charged with sexual enticement of a minor girl through social media, authorities have said. Sachin Aji Bhaskar, a resident of New York's Buffalo city, faces a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, maximum of life in prison and a USD 250,000 fine. Assistant US Attorney Wei Xiang said Tuesday that Bhaskar, using a social media application in August, contacted the 11-year-old girl in Buffalo claiming to be 15. He picked her up by car and returned her home approximately three hours later after having sex with her. He made an initial appearance before US Magistrate Judge Kenneth Schroder and is being held pending a detention hearing. The criminal complaint is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Child Exploitation Task Force. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian tourist arrivals to Greece has more than doubled to 38,046 in the first nine months of the current calender year. Around 17,376 Indian tourists visited Greece in the same period of 2017, according to a data by Greece National Tourist Office (GNTO) and Athens International Airport. "Greece as a destination has gained momentum over the years and we are glad to witness the rising interest of Indians for Greece as a popular holiday destination across the country. Our approach is to target the captive audience across various age groups simply by appealing to every kind of travel need," said Konstantinos Tsegas, secretary general, GNTO. He said, GNTO has leveraged diverse platforms based on specific characteristics of the Indian market. The strategy, according to Tsegas, is to also promote 365-day tourism in Greece and create awareness about lesser known cities of Thessaloniki, Xanthi and Kavala, which have great geophysical, historical and cultural importance, along with Athens. "We are closely working with our partners in India for growth across segments like families, FITS (first time travellers segment), MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events), destination weddings, honeymoon and films," he said. Greece had registered an overall 15.5 million tourist arrivals in 2017 and 14.6 million in 2016, of which 9.7 per cent travellers were from India each year, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 38-year old Indo-Canadian woman has lost her appeal against a six-month jail term, months after being found guilty of using a fake degree to practice medicine in the UAE, according to a media report. The Court of First Instance in April convicted her of charges of practicing medicine with a licence she had wrongfully obtained and committing forgery, the Khaleej Times reported. Public prosecution records showed that she managed to have the licence to work as a dermatologist issued for her after filling in her application form with false information. The Canadian national has not been named. She used forged general medicine degree and diploma in specialisation when applying for the permit, the report said on the case which dates back to March 6, 2016. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The date had been picked, the location too, and the plan was penciled in: President Donald Trump would be whisked from the White House to Camp David on a quiet winter Saturday to answer questions from special counsel Robert Mueller's team. But as the January 27, 2018, date neared and Mueller provided the topics he wanted to discuss, Trump's lawyers balked. Attorney John Dowd then fired off a searing letter disputing Mueller's authority to question the president. The interview was off. Nearly a year later, Trump has still not spoken directly to Mueller's team and may never. Through private letters, tense meetings and considerable public posturing, the president's lawyers have engaged in a tangled, tortured back-and-forth with the special counsel to prevent the president from sitting down for a face-to-face with enormous political and legal consequences. The prolonged negotiation speaks to the high stakes for Trump, Mueller's investigation of his campaign and the presidency. Any questioning of a president in a criminal investigation tests the limit of executive authority. Putting this president on the record also tests his ability to stick to the facts and risks a constitutional showdown. The process took a significant step forward this week when Trump's lawyers handed over the president's written answers to some of Mueller's questions. The arrangement was a hard-fought compromise. Trump answered only questions about Russian interference in the 2016 election and not questions about whether he has tried to obstruct the special counsel's investigation. It's unclear whether Mueller intends to push for more either in writing or in person. Special counsel spokesman Peter Carr declined comment. Even those written answers were months in the making. In the months following Mueller's May 2017 appointment, the White House pledged its cooperation, believing it the fastest way to end the investigation. The administration produced thousands of documents demanded by the special counsel and made close Trump aides including his legal counsel, chief of staff and press secretary available for questioning. White House lawyer Ty Cobb said he expected the investigation to conclude by the end of that year. But it soon became clear that Mueller would want to interview Trump, given his involvement in several events under scrutiny. The president had fired FBI Director James Comey, harangued his attorney general over his recusal from the Russia investigation and dictated a misleading statement about a Trump Tower meeting involving his son and a Kremlin-connected lawyer. But Trump lawyers Dowd and Jay Sekulow moved cautiously. The last time a president is known to have been interviewed in a criminal investigation was nearly 15 years ago, and a commander-in-chief has not been subpoenaed before a grand jury since 1998, when President Bill Clinton was summoned in the Whitewater case. Trump's lawyers were mindful such an interview would be a minefield for a president who often misstates the facts. They set out to avoid it however possible, even if it could lead to resisting a subpoena and bringing on a court fight over presidential power. But first they tried to head off a request. Trump's lawyers staked out a bold constitutional argument, declaring they considered all his actions as president outside a prosecutor's bounds. Mueller had no right to question the president on any of his decisions made at the White House, they argued, saying any outside scrutiny of those choices would curb a president's executive powers. At the same time, they worked to undermine Mueller's case should he choose to challenge that argument. They furnished a trove of White House documents about key moments in the investigation in hopes of undercutting any claim that he could only get the information he needed by questioning Trump, according to people familiar with the strategy. Trump had other plans. As his lawyers plotted to dig in against any interview, he pushed for one, believing it would exonerate him. In January, he burst into a reporters' briefing with chief of staff John Kelly and insisted he was eager to speak to Mueller. He might do so in weeks, he said, "subject to my lawyers and all of that." "I would love to do that I'd like to do it as soon as possible," Trump said. What he didn't mention was that his attorneys had already discussed, and scuttled, the planned interview with Mueller. That process had even progressed to discussing logistics with Kelly, who had advised of ways White House officials could be ferried to Camp David without the press knowing. But the interest cooled after Mueller team prosecutor Jim Quarles dictated over the phone 16 topics Mueller wanted to cover, including Trump's interactions with Comey, his knowledge of national security adviser Michael Flynn's interview with the FBI and his involvement in the Trump Tower statement. Dowd responded that the answers could all be found in documents and witness statements provided to Mueller, according to a person familiar with the exchange. He then cancelled the interview and days later drafted a feisty letter contesting the interview's appropriateness and offering extensive explanations on the incidents in question. The investigation has been "a considerable burden for the president and his office, has endangered the safety and security of our country, and has interfered with the president's ability to both govern domestically and conduct foreign affairs," Dowd wrote. In the following months, Trump told some of his closest confidants that he still wanted to interview with Mueller, according to four White House officials and Republicans close to the White House who asked for anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss private conversations. The president repeatedly insisted he had done nothing wrong and believed he could convince Mueller of that. He told one confidant last spring he was frustrated his lawyers didn't believe he should do it and snapped that he didn't understand what was taking so long, according to one Republican in contact with the White House. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Is there a parallel system running in jails?," the Supreme Court asked Thursday while referring to media reports that LED TV, sofa and other prohibited items were found in a Tihar jail cell where Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay have been lodged. A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur asked the Centre as to what action has been taken in the matter. It said a report by Additional Sessions Judge, who carried out inspection in the jail on September 4 following complaints from inmates that the Chandra brothers and others were enjoying "luxurious lifestyle", was already available. "Report of a judge says that Unitech officials are enjoying facilities in Tihar. Is there a parallel system running in jails? Do they have special rights in jails? What have you done about it?," the bench, also comprising justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, asked the Centre's counsel. "These persons are enjoying TV. God knows what all they are enjoying. They are sitting on sofas," the bench observed. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aman Lekhi, appearing for the Centre, said that action must be taken in such cases and such instances have to be "tackled seriously". When the ASG said the top court was dealing with the issue related to speedy trial for undertrial prisoners, the bench observed, "We are dealing with something which is shocking". "What is your government planning to do?," the bench asked Lekhi, who said he would get back to the court on this issue. The court also flagged the issue raised in recent media reports about use of mobile phones inside jails in several states, including Bihar. The issue cropped up in the court when it was hearing a matter related to deficiencies in jails as highlighted by two apex court judges (one of them has retired) during their visit to Faridabad jail and an observation home in June this year. Chandra brothers are presently lodged in Tihar jail for allegedly cheating home buyers. The Additional Sessions Judge, who had carried out inspection in Tihar jail, had said in his report submitted to the Delhi High Court that the circumstances indicated "corruption" and "grave misuse of power" on the part of Director General (DG) Prisons and Tihar Jail officials. The judge has recommended that an FIR be lodged against DG Prisons and officials of Tihar Jail as such activities also pose an "extra burden on the public exchequer". He had said in his report that apart from household amenities, including mattresses, mustard oil, foot-mats and stools, in their cell, the Chandra brothers also enjoyed a separate "office" room having a computer with internet, a printer as well as eatables and mineral water. The high court has taken suo motu cognisance of the report and the letter written by the inmates and turned it into a public interest litigation. A division bench of the high court has also issued notices to the Delhi government, Director General (DG) Prisons and senior officials of Tihar Jail seeking their response in the matter by February 1 next year. The inmates in their letter to the court had claimed that while those arrested for financial crimes, like the Chandra brothers, were "enjoying an extra luxurious life in Tihar Jail" with a "separate VIP ward" for them, other prisoners were allegedly not getting sufficient food, drinking water, fruits and other necessities, including medical treatment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Veteran politician Sharad Yadav Thursday called the dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir assembly a "murder of democracy". J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik abruptly dissolved the state assembly Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with backing of the rival NC and the Congress. The state assembly had been put in suspended animation since June 19 after the BJP withdrew from the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government. "Democracy has been murdered in J&K by dissolving the assembly. I oppose and condemn the dissolution," said Yadav, currently heading his political outfit Loktantri Janata Dal, which he formed after parting ways with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led janata Dal (United) in 2016. The seven-term Lok Sabha MP said the governor's action was evidently biased when an alliance of the major parties had staked claim to form the government. Yadav also found fault with the government's decision to hold the urban and rural civic body polls in the state, terming it as a "mockery of democracy" as, he said, the elections had been held without participation of major political parties in the state. Yadav said the BJP neither cares for the Constitution nor it has any respect for various institutions of the country. "What is the meaning of an election when the people's mandate was to be butchered by dissolving the assembly? Similarly there is no meaning of the local bodies polls when the major political parties did not participate in it," he added. He said whatever is happening during the BJP's regime is against the democracy and mandate of the people. "People are fed up with the state of affairs in the country. I am unable to understand why the ruling party is not mending its way despite criticism of their actions by people from all walks of life," he added. He said he would like to advise the government of India and the ruling party to adhere to the norms laid down in our Constitution and do not play petty for the sake of being in power. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jammu and Kashmir Crime Branch arrested two persons from New Delhi, including a foreign woman, for fraudulent transfer of over Rs 94 lakh from Jammu and Kashmir Bank account of a private company, a CB officer said Thursday. A case was lodged regarding the fraudulent transfer of Rs 94.10 lakh from the official account of TRG Industries Private Limited with J&K Bank Town Hall branch in Jammu between June 1, 2016 and June 9, 2016, the officer said, adding that one Vikram Singh Barnala was arrested from New Delhi Thursday. Based on Barnala's disclosure, it surfaced that an international gang of fraudsters was behind the transfer of the amount, he said. Barnala also revealed that a woman of Ghana, Suzain Zenat Makaco, who frequently used to change her name and residence in order to hide her identity, was also a member of the gang which targeted the company's account, the crime branch officer said. Later, after the completion of legal formalities, the woman was arrested from New Delhi, he said. The woman is being interrogated and the investigation into the matter is on, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress national spokesperson Manish Tewari condemned Thursday the dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, saying Governor Satyapal Malik acted on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his office. The governor abruptly dissolved the state assembly Wednesday night, hours after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference (NC) and the Congress. This was followed by another bid by the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. "The Jammu and Kashmir governor has played with the Constitution of the country. The act to dissolve the assembly has been taken on the directions of the prime minister and the PMO," Tewari said at a press conference here. He said that the "unethical and unconstitutional" act taken by the Jammu and Kashmir Governor is condemnable.It reflects the mentality of the BJP and its leaders. They can go to any extent to form their government and strangulate democracy if any other political party forms government, he added. Tewari alleged that the BJP in the last six months tried to lure legislators of various political parties, but it remained unsuccessful in its attempts. The PDP, the NC and the Congress wrote to the Governor about their intent to form the government but he dissolved the assembly in a hurry, saying that his office fax machine was not working, he said. Tewari challenged the BJP to name any one leader from the party who lost life in fight against terrorism. "I am ready to name 500 people from the Congress. The BJP should name any one leader who was martyred in fight against terrorism," he said. Replying to a question on the Ram temple issue, he said, "People in the BJP do not have faith in Ram or the Ram temple. The relation is limited only to encash votes on their name. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan Thursday to attend a wedding, a police official said. Trump's daughter, did not accompany Kushner who landed in Jaisalmer on a chartered plane Thursday evening. US president son-in-law has arrived in Jaisalmer alone. He is here to attend a wedding ceremony of an industrialist friend who studied with Kushner, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajeev Dutta told PTI. Police officials said Kushner was attending the wedding ceremony of a New Delhi-based industrialist. The Jaisalmer district administration had earlier received confirmation of Kushner's visit only. There was speculation that he will be visiting 'Sun City' along with his wife. In view of the visit from November 22 to 25, security arrangements have been beefed-up in the city. "Additional force has been deployed with trained commandos and advanced weapons for a private visit of the US president's son-in-law," a police officer in Jaisalmer, Jagdish Chandra Sharma, said. The Uttar Pradesh government has approved a fund of Rs 1,260 crore for acquisition of land for the proposed Jewar airport in Gautam Buddh Nagar, according to an official document. The amount, released for acquisition in the first phase of airport construction, is to be spent for land acquisition and payment to the farmers concerned, the letter stated. A total of 5,000 hectare land is required for the development of the proposed Greenfield international airport and cost Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore, officials said. For the first phase of theairport the second in the National Capital Region (NCR) 1,334 hectare land is required. 1,239 hectare land from six villages (Rohi, Dayanatpur, Parohi, Kishorpur, Ranhera and Banwariwas). "The Governor has approved sanction of Rs 1,259 crore for the acquisition of land for the Jewar Airport in the financial year 2018-19," Special Secretary Surya Pal Gangwar wrote in a letter to the director of state Civil Aviation Ministry. At a meeting held in Lucknow to discuss the progress of the project on November 14, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed officials of the Noida International Airport Limited and the Gautam Budh Nagar administration to expedite work on the airport. On October 30, the state government had issued a notification for the acquisition of land for the greenfield project in the district under Section 11 (1) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The district administration had on October 17 completed the proceedings at its level and sent a proposal to the government for the acquisition of 1,239 hectare of land from six villages in Jewar. The Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), formed by the government to develop the airport, will invite bids to rope in a concessionaire to execute the project. Some landowners, including farmers, had initially resisted the land acquisition citing various reasons such as an "inadequate" compensation amount and related benefits, besides the resettlement policy. The proposed airport, which will be the second in the NCR after Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, is expected to go operational by 2022-23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier arrived in Hong Kong waters with two destroyers, the USS Benfold and USS Curtis Wilbur, and guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville. Prior to the Navy's arrival, senior People's Liberation Army commander Lt Gen Tan Benhong and other officers were invited to visit the USS Ronald Reagan on the deck as it sailed to Hong Kong, the newspaper reported. The Reagan battle group was recently involved in exercises in the Philippine Sea and joint drills with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force, the sort of activity that normally angers China. The intriguing aspect of the flight was that China apparently did not complain about it. This week's port call is likely to be seen as a move to tamp down tensions ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese Leader Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 meeting of the world's developed economies in Buenos Aires from November 30 to December 1. Ahead of that meeting, tensions between Washington and Beijing over the South China Sea continued to be on display. Earlier this month, Chinese officials told their USA counterparts to stop sending ships and military aircraft close to islands claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea. "This recent mission is consistent with worldwide law and United States' long-standing commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific", the he US Pacific Air Forces said in a statement. "This recent mission is consistent with global law and the United States' long-standing commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific", it added. "The development is interesting given Bombay Reef's strategic location, and the possibility that the structure's rapid deployment could be repeated in other parts of the South China Sea", the report said. Deployed from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the planes flew "in the vicinity" of the region in the Pacific Ocean, where China has been accused of building militarised islands to assert territorial claims. The strategic waterway is claimed nearly in its entirety by China, whose continued building of military and other installations on artificial islands and reefs there has unnerved the region and angered Washington. This file aerial view taken on July 27, 2012 shows the island of Yongxing, also known as Woody Island, in the disputed Paracel chain, which China now considers part of Hainan province. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies said the "modest new structure" appears to be anchored on Bombay Reef, and is topped by solar panels and a radome. The new structure on Bombay Reef has been spotted in satellite photos. The goal of the structures was unclear, but it could be for military use, it said. Compared to dredging and reclamation, the installation of a modest platform would be "harder to prevent at the time and more difficult to rally worldwide condemnation against after the fact", the report said. "This is indisputable. China's construction on its own territory is beyond reproach", Geng said. The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration issued a statement rubbishing the varsity's students' union allegations about reduction in the library funds. Last week, the students' union had accused the varsity administration of cutting down library funds from Rs 8 crore to Rs 1.7 crore. "Reports in the media that the annual budget for the Dr BR Ambedkar (Central) Library of JNU has been reduced from Rs 8 crore to Rs 1.70 crore are completely baseless," the varsity said in a statement. The university has been allocating to the library every year an amount of Rs 1.70 crore for the books and journals from its grant received annually from the UGC, the JNU said. "However, in the year 2012, the UGC gave one time bulk grant to JNU under the 12th Plan fro five years from which an extra amount was allocated for the next five years. Now that the 12th plan has ended the library is running with its regular annual grant," the varsity said. However, the JNU has already made a request to the UGC to release additional funds to meet the increasing requirements of the library. The JNUSU accused the financial officer of the varsity for hiding that the UGC had released Rs 20 crore. "Both UGC and JNU knew Planning commission had paved way for Niti Aayog. If the planned grant was ending why wasn't sufficient planning done on part of both UGC and administration regarding funds? "JNU VC Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar is member of UGC, so if UGC has cut down the funding why didn't he dissent then?" the JNUSU said in a statement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A local court admitted on Thursday a petition against Twitter CEO over an "anti-Brahmin" post shared by him on the micro-blogging site, a lawyer said. The petition was filed by vice president of Vipra Foundation's youth wing, Rajkumar Sharma, over a photo shared by Dorsey in which he posed with women holding a placard reading 'Smash Brahminical Patriarchy'. The photo was taken during Dorsey's recent trip to India. "Metropolitan Judge Rachan Bissa has admitted the petition and listed the matter for hearing on December 1," the petitioner's counsel H M Saraswat said. Sharma said the post was "anti-Brahmin" and used coarse language, which was humiliating and thus, intolerable for the community. Twitter has tendered an apology in the matter and said the post did not reflect its views or those of its CEO. Sharma said Dorsey had not apologised. Even if he apologises, it would not mitigate his crime, he added. Saraswat said the petition has been filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 500 (defamation) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy). "He (Dorsey) has committed the crime of triggering hatred for a community and we would proceed against him in the court," he added. The Delhi High Court Thursday expressed anguish over the comments made by an editor of a Chennai-based magazine against a sitting high court judge and said the case concerns the judicial system. A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and I S Mehta said journalistic licence does not give a person the right to make unsavoury allegations. "We are all in for free press but don't attribute motive to us," the bench said. The court was hearing a contempt plea filed against Swaminathan Gurumurthy, editor of Tamil weekly magazine 'Thuglak' by the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA). The bench said the present case does not concern a specific judge but the judicial system and observed, "We are not supposed to defend ourselves on social media. Judges don't defend themselves. Is this fair comment that you attribute motive to the judiciary? We are dismayed." The counsel for Gurumurthy, also a chartered accountant and an economic analyst, sought time to file reply to the rejoinder given by the DHCBA. The court, however, said there can be no reply to a rejoinder and asked the counsel to proceed with his defence. Gurumurthy's advocate said he was an eminent journalist and the tweet was merely a question and claimed that the petition filed by DHCBA was not maintainable. The court listed the matter for further hearing on December 4. The contempt petition had sought punishment for the editor for "lowering the authority" of the court by posting certain tweets in connection with its decision to protect senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's son Karti from arrest till March 20. It alleged that the editor never tendered an apology for making "scandalous" allegations against a judge of the division bench which had passed the order. "The respondent (Gurumurthy) continues to instigate other misinformed followers by encouraging and supporting the opinions criticising the order of the division bench, and has also failed to tender to this court and judiciary as a whole an unconditional public apology," it had said. A bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta had on March 12 taken up the issue on its own after judges from Tamil Nadu forwarded the tweets in question to it. The bench had dubbed as "mischievous" certain tweets by Gurumurthy saying the tweets, posted within a few hours of the court's March 9 order in the INX media case, immediately invited responses. It had also noted that despite the tweets by others in response to the innuendo and clarifying the correct position, "he (editor) cared not to withdraw the mischievous and false tweet". The court, which had taken suo motu cognisance of the issue, said while it was conscious that such tweets were "ill informed" and were "best ignored", but since the person in question was an editor of a popular magazine having over 2,59,000 followers, it considered it appropriate to place the correct information. Another bench of the high court had earlier issued contempt notice to Gurumurthy and sought his response on a plea for his tweets against the same judge after it passed an order on October 1 releasing rights activists Gautam Navlakha from house arrest in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case. The court had directed two social media platforms to block the weblinks of the offending article levelling "scandalous" allegations against the judge. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A senior official of the Kerala High Court N Jayasree was found dead inside her house near here Thursday morning, the police said. The body of the the 55-year-old Registrar (Judicial) was found hanging inside her house thismorning by her husband, they said. The death occurred between 1am-6 am, police said. Jayasree is the first woman to have been appointed to the post in the state. The Kerala High court has three Registrars and a Registrar General. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US military on Thursday announced the latest of several deadly airstrikes this week against al-Shabab extremists in Somalia as it targets a region well north of where the al-Qaida-linked fighters control large parts of the country. The US Africa Command statement said two new strikes killed six fighters and destroyed a weapons cache on Wednesday near Harardere. That al-Shabab-controlled community last month was targeted by the deadliest US airstrike in almost a year, with dozens of extremists killed. The US has now carried out 35 airstrikes this year against al-Shabab, Africa's deadliest Islamic extremist group, which continues to stage deadly attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and other cities. Two airstrikes on Monday killed 37 extremists and one on Tuesday killed seven. This week's airstrikes have been carried out in Mudug region, well north of Mogadishu and the south and central areas where al-Shabab continues to hold large parts of rural land. Al-Shabab recently relocated to Harardere as a key training and planning base after the U.S. and allies increased pressure and surveillance further south. Somali intelligence officials last month told The Associated Press that last month's US airstrike near Harardere largely destroyed a training camp where recruits were preparing to graduate. The officials said more than 75 people were killed, while the U.S. said about 60 extremists were killed. The Mudug region, however, is a more difficult hideout for al-Shabab as its fighters prefer the shrubbier ground further south. The US military has said the airstrikes are aimed at reducing al-Shabab's ability to plan attacks, disrupting its leadership networks and limiting its freedom of movement in the Horn of Africa nation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Any suggestion that India cleared the Katarpur corridor project as a response to a Pakistani proposal is not only preposterous, but hurtful to the sentiments of the Sikh community, government sources said Thursday. They also said India favoured keeping the proposed Katarpur corridor, linking a historic Sikh shrine in Pakistan with India's border district of Gurdaspur, open for pilgrims round-the-clock throughout the year. The sources said India was for facilitating easy movement of Indians to the shrine in Pakistan and that there must be no restrictions on the number of pilgrims. They also said there must be free and readily available consular access for Indian citizens on the Pakistani side. The sources said India's proposal for the corridor had been pending with Pakistan for more than 20 years. It was Pakistan that had refused to acknowledge the request, they said. The response came after there was an indication from Pakistan that Islamabad was eager to build the corridor irrespective of India's stand. The Union Cabinet Thursday cleared the proposal to build a corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the international border as part of celebrations of Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary next year. Following the Cabinet decision, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson said India has urged Pakistan to build the corridor to Kartarpur Sahib on the Pakistani side to facilitate visit of Indian pilgrims to the shrine -- the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev. Hours later, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Islamabad has conveyed to India its decision to open the Kartarpura corridor. Kartarpur Sahib is situated in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province and there have been demands to build a corridor linking it with Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. The sources said India wants the corridor to be kept open for 24 hours on all days. They said despite the harassment that pilgrims face on the Pakistani side, with the display of Khalistani posters or through the lack of access to consular officials, Sikh pilgrims continue to make the difficult journey. "Our proposal is such that the burden of pilgrims can be eased significantly," saifull-fledged The sources said India's intention is that the corridor must be a full fledged one that allows for maximum movement and that it should be open not just on special occasions but throughout the year. ALSO READ: India to build corridor from Gurdaspur to IB to facilitate Sikh pilgrims They said the cabinet passed a resolution on the project after many weeks of internal consultations and preparation within the government. The resolution is a comprehensive document that contains detailed information on the plans for the celebration of 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, not just on the corridor, the sources said. Earlier, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India has approached Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of the and build the corridor, in keeping with the resolution adopted by the Cabinet to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year. "... We have approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of and build a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India to Kartarpur Sahib throughout the year," he said. NC leader Omar Abdullah's dare to BJP general secretary Ram Madhav Thursday to prove his charge that the alliance to form government in Jammu and Kashmir was at Pakistan's behest has prompted the saffron party leader to withdraw his words. The BJP and National Conference (NC) leaders exchanged sharp words on Twitter, a day after the state's governor dissolved the assembly, with Madhav asking Abdullah to fight the next polls together with the PDP if "genuine love" between the two parties promoted a "failed government" formation attempt. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had Wednesday written to Governor Satya Pal Malik that she will stake claim to form government with the support of the Congress and the NC. It was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. As Malik dissolved the assembly, Madhav, who is his party's points man for the state, alleged that "fresh instructions" were given to the two regional parties from across the border to come together and form a government. The NC and PDP, he alleged, had boycotted local body polls in the state earlier because of instructions from Pakistan. Both regional parties have been arch political rivals in the state. Abdullah took to Twitter to hit out at the BJP leader. "You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Don't practice shoot & scoot politics," the former chief minister said. Ram Madhav responded, "Just take it in your stride Omar Abdullah. Not questioning your patriotism at all. But the sudden love between NC and PDP and the hurry to form government leads to many suspicions and political comments. Not to offend you." In the tweet, he added an emoji with a toothy smile. Abdullah did not seem amused. "No, misplaced attempts at humour won't work. You HAVE claimed my party has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pak behest in public domain," he tweeted. Ram Madhav then responded with a tweet which appeared to be aimed at defusing the tensions. "Now that you deny any external pressure I take back my comment, but now that you proved it was genuine love between NC and PDP that prompted a failed government formation attempt, you should fight next elections together. Mind you it's political comment and not personal," he said, adding a laughing emoji. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, the NC leader repeated his demand for an apology from Madhav. "You cannot undermine the sacrifices made by National Conference workers in protecting the sovereignty of this country. He must apologise," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A senior leader of the opposition Mizo National front (MNF) today demanded that the Congress government in the state provide details of expenses to help the people affected by the natural disaster last year. At least 13 people were killed, 172 domestic animals perished and over 3,000 houses destroyed in the landslides and flood between May and July 2017, Lalhming Liana, a former Rajya Sabha member, said. Liana also accused Chief Minister Lalthanhawla of ignoring disaster affected people of his own state while sending Rs 2 crore for the flood-hit population of Kerala. "The Centre had released Rs 35.97 crore on March eight, 2018 for the disaster affected people of Mizoram. But how the fund was utilised was never known," Liana, also chairman of MNF's internal vigilance committee, said. He demanded that the government make public the details of how it has utilised the central fund. The state government disbursed Rs 2 crore as relief for the Kerala flood victims and 34 ruling legislators were asked to contribute Rs 1 lakh each separately, he said. But the ruling party legislators did not immediately pay the amount from their local area development scheme and Rs 34 lakh was sent to Kerala from the account of the state Disaster Management and Rehabilitation department, he claimed. The Congress government promptly helped people of another state but failed to provide compensation and relief to Mizoram's own people, Liana alleged. Election to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly will be held on November 28. Mizoram is the only state in the northeastern region where the Congress is in power. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mizo National Front (MNF) candidate Lalrinliana Sailo, who switched over from the Congress a month ago, has declared that his total assets ballooned by a whopping 797 per cent in the past five years, according to a report by two civil society organisations on Thursday. Analysing the assets of contesting candidates for the November 28 Mizoram Assembly election, the Mizoram Election Watch (MEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have found that Sailo has declared total assets of Rs 3,22,85,100 in his affidavit for the forthcoming elections. He had total assets of Rs 36,01,219 as per the affidavit filed by him during the 2013 Assembly polls. While the MNF leader has declared his source of income as "politician", that of his spouse is mentioned as "monthly salary from Government of Mizoram", the report said. Sailo, a former health minister, resigned from the state Assembly on October 3 this year and also stepped down as the member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), General Secretary of the Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee and quit the primary membership of the ruling party on the same day. He later joined the MNF and is contesting the Assembly poll from Chalfilh constituency. For the 40-member Mizoram Assembly, 32 candidates from 2013 elections are recontesting in 2018 and during this period, their assets have seen an average rise of 11.56 per cent at Rs 3,57,61,158.90 as against Rs 3,20,55,193.51 five years ago. Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla's total assets have increased by 33.29 per cent to Rs 12,20,19,747 in 2018 from Rs 9,15,45,980 in 2013, the report said. Thanhawla said that his source of income is "salary and rental income", his wife's earnings are attributed to "licence from quarry at Sakawrtuichhun", it said. The report found that another Congress leader R Vanlalvena's assets jumped by 133.30 per cent to Rs 67,73,320 from Rs 29,03,257 during the comparable five-year period. As per the analysis, MNF candidate K Beichhua's income soared by 128.55 per cent to Rs 3,13,77,608 compared to Rs 1,37,29,000 five years ago. Congress candidate Lal Thanzara's assets, too, rose by 103.79 per cent to Rs 2,39,93,835 in 2018 from Rs 1,17,73,796 in 2013, the report said. The assets of four candidates, however, saw a decline in their total values between 2013 and 2018. Ruling Congress candidates Ngurdingliana and Zodintluanga Ralte's assets value dipped by 66.17 per cent and 7.72 per cent, respectively, in the last five years. Former Speaker Hiphei, who left the Congress and joined the BJP earlier this month, saw his assets falling by 52.32 per cent in the same period. The value of MNF's K Sangthuama's total assets have declined by 51.96 per cent, the report highlighted. The Congress has been in power in Mizoram since 2008 and is eyeing a third consecutive term. In the 2013 Assembly elections, the Congress won 34 seats, while the MNF had five and Mizoram People's Conference bagged one. The Congress and the MNF are contesting in all the 40 constituencies this time, while the BJP is fighting in 39 seats with an aim to open its account for the first time in Mizoram. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission has set up over 11,000 new polling booths in Madhya Pradesh, the maximum among the five states having assembly polls, as part of its efforts to ensure a high voter turnout during the elections slated next week, the state's chief electoral officer said on Thursday. CEO V L Kantha Rao also said the state has witnessed more than double the seizure of suspect cash, drugs and other illegal inducements used to lure voters, as compared to the last polls of 2013. "A total of 11,421 new polling booths have been opened in Madhya Pradesh this time. This is about 21 per cent more than the last time and with these new ones we will have around 65,000 booths in all. "In 2013, the total polling booths in the state were about 53,000," Rao said in in an interview to PTI. "I can assure you that with this increase in the number of polling booths, no voter in Madhya Pradesh will have to travel more than 2 kms to vote," Rao said. The number of polling booths has increased by 14 per cent in Rajasthan, by 11 per cent in Telangana and 3 per cent in Mizoram -- the other three states were voting will take place in coming days. In Chhattisgarh, where voting took place in two phases on November 12 and November 20, the number of polling booth rose by 10 per cent this time. Counting of votes for all five state assemblies would take place on December 11. While Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram will vote on November 28, Rajasthan and Telangana are scheduled for polling on December 7. Taking about the poll panel's action against illegal inducements being used to lure voters in Madhya Pradesh, Rao said suspect cash, drugs and other items worth over Rs 63.45 crore have been seized in the state till now as compared to more than Rs 27.61 crore of such seizures during the entire poll period in 2013. Madhya Pradesh will vote for its 230-member assembly on November 28 in a single phase and the seizure figures may rise further in the next few days. These seizures are from the period beginning October 6, when the Election Commission (EC) in Delhi announced the polls for the five states. The seizures made by the EC-appointed surveillance teams this time include over Rs 28.25 crore suspect cash, more than Rs 8.89 crore worth of gold and jewellery, over 5.22 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 12.39 crore and over 63-kgs of drugs worth Rs 5.49 crore, the CEO said. As many as 1,847 FIRs have been registered for various poll-related offences in the state till now, out of which 1,288 criminal complaints are regarding defacement of property, he added. "The officers have been very strict in enforcing the law and the rules mandated by the Election Commission," the CEO said. Rao, a 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, said the poll body is targeting to ensure "80 per cent voter turnout" as compared to the 72.66 per cent last time. "To achieve this (target) and to ensure inclusive, accessible, credible and ethical voting we undertook a huge exercise for ensuring purity of the electoral rolls and creating awareness about the right to vote for the electors. "We have deleted 35 lakh names from the electoral rolls out of which 14 lakh were dead or duplicate ones," Rao said. He said 16 lakh new voters have been added to the electoral rolls and the number of registered women voters has also gone up. As a result, the CEO said, there are 917 women per 1,000 men in the electoral list now as compared to 898 females per 1,000 males during the last polls. To undertake awareness measures for the voters, the state EC has doubled its budget from Rs 14 crore in 2013 to Rs 27 crore this time, Rao said. He said the election authorities have taken measures that in case of any glitches in the electorinc voting machines (EVMs) during the polling day, a reserve of 10 per cent of fresh EVMs will be with the sector officers for quick dispatch to any location witnessing such problems. The central Indian state has been ruled by the BJP government for the last 15 years and the main opposition political party Congress is leaving no stone unturned to regain power at Vallabh Bhawan in Bhopal (state secretariat) where it has held the power seat for the maximum time since Independence. The poll campaign will end on November 26 in the state which has 5.05 crore registered voters, out of an estimated population of 7.5 crore people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A US government report ahead of a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping accuses China of stepping up hacking aimed at stealing American technology as a tariff dispute escalated. The renewed accusations from President Donald Trump's administration come as markets grow pessimistic that the world's two largest economies can resolve their burgeoning trade war any time soon. In retaliation, China has slapped tariffs on $110 billion in imports from the USA and effectively shut off its purchase of key American agricultural exports including soybeans. The highly critical report released on Tuesday in Washington was an update to the US Trade Representative's "Section 301" investigation into China's policies involving transfer of technology and intellectual property released in March this year. "China fundamentally has not altered" its technology policy "and indeed appears to have taken further unreasonable actions", Lighthizer's report said. That include a "sharp rise" in hacking against manufacturers in the three months up to September - "a type of attack that has been frequently tied to Chinese economic espionage", Lighthizer said. Chinese experts told The Straits Times on Wednesday the latest U.S. report was meant to exert pressure on China and did not portend well for the upcoming meeting between Mr Xi and Mr Trump. -Chinese trade relations were "mutually beneficial" and it was "natural to have trade frictions". "The key is to conduct dialogue and consultation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and integrity", Geng said. In October, the Justice Department also announced charges against Chinese intelligence officers and agents accused of overseeing the cyber-theft of intellectual property and confidential information from aerospace and high-tech companies. USA companies and consumers will only pay 4.5 percent more after the nation imposed 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods, and the other 20.5 percent toll will fall on Chinese producers, according to authors Benedikt Zoller-Rydzek and Gabriel Felbermayr. After China repeatedly failed to respond to the Trump administration's demands that it change its practice, the administration imposed tariffs on Chinese exports. The U.S.is due to raise duties on the largest $200 billion tranche of goods to 25 percent from 10 percent on January 1. US stocks have fallen hard this week, pushed lower in part because of a standoff at the weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that revived worries about the US-China trade rift. 1 meetings at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires. IAS officer and Nashik Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has been transferred to the Maharashtra government secretariat in Mumbai, his third posting in just two years. Mundhe, known for his uprightness and integrity, has been appointed Joint Secretary (Planning) at Mantralaya (secretariat), according to an order issued Thursday by Sitaram Kunte, Principal Secretary (General Administration Department) here. Mundhe's abrupt transfer, announced Wednesday, triggered a protest in Nashik, where a large number of people gathered in front of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) headquarters Thursday demanding cancellation of his transfer order. The protesters shouted slogans against Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, who is also the Guardian Minister of Nashik district, local BJP MLA Balasaheb Sanap and Mayor Ranjana Bhansi, holding them responsible for Mundhe's transfer. When Mundhe was Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner, the NCP-headed civic body had passed a no- confidence motion against him in October 2016. Soon after taking over as the Navi Mumbai civic chief, the bureaucrat had ordered action against unauthorised constructions in the satellite city. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had suspended the civic body's decision against Mundhe, known for his no- nonsense approach towards issues of public interest. In early 2017, he was transferred from Navi Mumbai and posted as Chairman and Managing Director of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML). In February this year, Mundhe took charge as the Nashik civic commissioner. The 2005-batch IAS officer is said to have been transferred nearly a dozen times in the last 13 years. Meanwhile, the protesters, who gathered in front of the NMC office under the banner of 'Amhi Nashikkar' (We are Nashikites), hailed Mundhe as an able administrator. They said soon after taking charge as the NMC chief, the IAS officer had ensured discipline and accountability in functioning of the civic body. According to the protesters, Mundhe had launched a drive against encroachments in Nashik and punished erring civic employees, among other things. Mundhe had started a public contact programme, 'Walk With Commissioner' - held every Saturday - where he would interact with the people of Nashik and address their grievances. This had made him popular among local residents. Osmanabad Collector Radhakrishna Game has been named the new NMC commissioner. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 25-year-old Nigerian was arrested from Uttam Nagar for allegedly duping people on the pretext of selling second hand cars at very cheap rates, police said Thursday. The accused - Okoye Ejike Kennedy who was posing as a German, is a permanent resident of Nigeria, they added. A K Singla, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) said, a person named Sudhakar Manda, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase-III, has filed a complaint against the accused. According to the complainant, he had seen an advertisement of a Nissan Terrano car being sold at Rs 4.5 lakh at an online e-commerce website of second hand cars. Manda then contacted the mobile number provided in the advertisement and talked to Kennedy who introduced himself as Paul Heinz, a German citizen posted as an officer in the German Embassy in the national capital. Kennedy told Manda he was going back to his country which is why he wanted to sell his car. The accused assured Manda that if he transfers 10 per cent of the amount to his secretary's bank account, then he would be allowed to see the car, Singla added. But Manda instead transferred him Rs 45,000. Kennedy then sent a fake scanned appointment letter through which Manda was supposed to get entry into the Embassy. Once the money was transferred, Kennedy changed his SIM card, the senior officer said. After getting the complaint, police started collecting the information. On Tuesday, the police got a tip-off about the whereabouts of the accused and he was apprehended from Uttam Nagar where he was living in a rented accommodation, Singla added. During interrogation, the accused revealed that he came to India in November 2013 on a business visa and after his visa expired, he continued to stay in Uttam Nagar illegally. In order to make easy money, he started cheating people on the pretext of selling used cars, police said. He used to copy pictures of cars from already posted advertisements on websites or applications and posted his own fake advertisement of Embassy cars in new-like condition at very cheap prices, they said. The people who used to provide fake SIM cards and bank accounts to the accused are yet to be identified, police said, adding that a mobile and a laptop among others were recovered from his possession. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nissan board members appeared poised to oust disgraced tycoon Carlos Ghosn as chairman Thursday, after his spectacular arrest for financial misconduct stunned the car industry and the business world. Ghosn stands accused of under-reporting his income by millions of dollars and a host of other financial irregularities, in a stunning fall from grace for the once-revered titan of the auto sector. The 64-year-old Brazil-born tycoon is credited with turning around the Japanese brand and forged an alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi Motors that last year sold 10.6 million cars between them more than any other firm in the world. Ghosn's fate appears all but sealed after his hand-picked replacement as CEO, Hiroto Saikawa, launched an astonishing broadside at his mentor following his arrest Monday at a Tokyo airport as he landed in his private jet. Saikawa said "too much authority" had been placed in the chairman's hands and lamented the "dark side of the Ghosn era", as he called the board meeting to fire him. Seven board members will vote on the motion to dismiss Ghosn, which needs a simple majority to pass. Insiders say Saikawa would likely not have suggested the ouster unless he were sure of support from his fellow board members. "This would not have been proposed if there had been any doubt and the results of the investigations have already been presented to the board members," a source close to the company told AFP. Appointing a new chairman will take some time as it has to be approved by shareholders, but Saikawa is seen as front-runner. Even if removed as chairman, Ghosn will technically remain on the board as a shareholders' meeting is required to oust him. Ghosn is being held in a Tokyo detention centre and has not been seen in public nor made any comments since his arrest. He received a visit from Brazilian consul Joao de Mendonca on Thursday who told AFP that Ghosn "sounded very well, in good health". On Wednesday, prosecutors successfully applied to extend his custody for an additional 10 days as they step up their questioning. Authorities believe Ghosn and an American executive Greg Kelly "conspired to understate Ghosn's income five times between June 2011 to June 2015", reporting a total of five billion yen in income ($44 million) instead of the actual 10 billion yen. Deputy chief prosecutor Shin Kukimoto said that the type of crime Ghosn is accused of is "one of the most serious types of crime" under Japan's Financial Instruments Act. Under the law, companies themselves can also be held accountable for the falsified documents, Kukimoto said, following reports that prosecutors believe Nissan also has a case to answer. Public broadcaster NHK said Nissan had paid "huge sums" to provide Ghosn with luxury homes in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam "without any legitimate business reason". Ghosn had a reputation as a hard-nosed workaholic with had no qualms about closing factories and slashing jobs earning the nickname "Le Cost Killer" in France, where 47,000 employees work for Renault. But his exorbitant salary and flashy lifestyle at odds with Japanese corporate culture drew fire and his current accommodation will be a far cry from his usual expensive surroundings. He is thought to be alone in his detention cell in northern Tokyo, with 30 minutes of daily exercise and two baths a week. The arrest has sparked questions over whether the alliance of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors can survive without Ghosn, seen as the glue holding together his fractious creation, which globally employs around 450,000 people. According to the Financial Times, the fall from grace came as Ghosn was working on a full-blown merger of Nissan and Renault. This was opposed by executives in the Japanese firm that has ended up being the most profitable player in the partnership and the FT said Ghosn's departure could be used as a pretext to rebalance the alliance in Nissan's favour. Renault has held off jettisoning Ghosn, pointedly saying Nissan had failed to share the evidence it had gathered with its sister company. Governments in Paris and Tokyo have been scrambling to contain the fallout from the arrest, with President Emmanuel Macron saying France would be "extremely vigilant" about the stability of Renault and the alliance. Analysts said that despite clear tensions between the two firms headquartered 10,000 kilometres apart, neither company has the financial might alone to make the heavy investments in electric vehicles considered to be the industry's future. "It would be like a couple divorcing after 20 years it would be complicated, very expensive and not easy to do," said Gaetan Toulemonde, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. "Honestly, I don't know if it's even possible. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday paid glowing tributes to "Mountain Man" Dashrath Manjhi, the legendary villager who had flattened a hillock by toiling for 22 years with just a hammer and chisel. The Chief Minister recalled Manjhi's Herculean feat - which had reduced the distance between two blocks of Gaya district by 40 kms - while inaugurating a new complex for a labour planning and research institute named after the latter. A poor daily wage earner, Manjhi had undertaken the task, ignoring the derision of fellow villagers, in 1960 when his wife succumbed to injuries received in an accident since the remoteness of his village, Gehlaur, came in the way of timely medical help. "Manjhi's life underscores the fact that every individual is endowed with immense potential. It is only a question of when someone gets an idea to harness that potential. He will be a source of inspiration for posterity. We have named the institute after him as a mark of respect for his efforts as also the labour class in general", Kumar said. He also felicitated, on the occasion, Bhagirath Manjhi, who is the son of the "Mountain Man", and expressed delight over his presence at a function associated with his late father. "Manjhi possessed unbelievable will power. Besides having flattened the hillock, we learn that he had also once travelled on foot from his native district of Gaya to New Delhi with the desire to meet the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi", Kumar said. "I have deep reverence for Manjhi. When he had once came to meet me at my Janta Durbar programme, I had made him sit on my chair as a token of respect", the Chief Minister recalled. "This institute will go a long way in helping our workers upgrade their skills. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the Chanakya Law University so that our labourers have adequate knowledge of rules and regulations which would help them perform their jobs more efficiently", Kumar added. "Workers from Bihar have made a mark for themselves in every part of the world. People from Bihar comprise more than half of the population of Mauritius. They are going to the remote Bhutan to earn livelihood through their labour", the Chief Minister added. Kumar also underscored that many schemes brought in by his government like ban on liquor and construction of toilets was having a direct impact on the well-being of those from the working class. Others who spoke on the occasion included Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, labour minister Vijay Kumar Sinha and minister for building construction Maheshwar Hazari. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday ruled out any crisis in the government following the resignation of cabinet minister and Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee. Chatterjee, a senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, resigned from the post of Kolkata mayor as directed by Banerjee. He had quit as the housing and the fire services ministers on Tuesday. "There is no crisis at all. One can always resign and there are provisions. There is no misunderstanding either. Someone can have personal problems," Banerjee said while speaking during the discussion on Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill 2018. Banerjee was replying to a question by BJP MLA Dilip Ghosh on the necessity of bringing in the amendment bill. The amendment would enable a person, who is not an elected councillor, to be made the mayor of a corporation, but he or she would have to be elected within six months to continue in the post. "Even in your party M J Akbar had resigned (from the post of minister of state for external affairs). In our party, all the 122 councillors of KMC have the capability of taking up the post of Mayor," she said. "Why Amit Shah is your party president? Is there no other capable person in your party," she said. Stating that the person who will be next mayor was a councillor previously and is currently a public representative, Banerjee said the final call will be taken by the party. On the Bill, the chief minister said provisions are there in Parliament and assemblies to enable an unelected person to become a minister. "We have decided to bring the same provision in the KMC. It will be extended to other municipalities and panchayats too," she said. After Sovan Chatterjee resigned as cabinet ministers on Tuesday evening, the chief minister sought his resignation from the post of mayor as well. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a significant move, the Haryana Election Commission has decided to treat 'none-of-the-above' or NOTA option as a fictional candidate in upcoming municipal polls, making it must for winning candidates to secure more votes than those cast for NOTA. Elections to the municipal corporations of Karnal, Panipat, Yamunanagar, Rohtak and Hisar and municipal committees of Jakhal Mandi in Fatehabad and Pundri in Kaithal will be held on December 16, Haryana Election Commissioner Dalip Singh said Thursday. In another first, the mayors of the five municipal corporations too will be elected directly for which the electors would cast votes, not only to elect ward councillors but also the mayor, through unique "multi-post electronic voting machines", he said. NOTA will be treated as a fictional electoral candidate. If in the election, all the contesting candidates individually receive less votes than those cast for the fictional candidate, NOTA, none of the candidates will be declared elected. The polls will be cancelled and held afresh," he explained. Singh said while declaring the results, NOTA will be treated as a fictional electoral candidate for the first time in the electoral history of the country. He said the candidates securing lesser votes than NOTA would not be eligible to file nominations for fresh polls to be held later. If a contesting candidate and the NOTA both receive equal valid votes, the candidate, and not the fictional candidate, shall be declared elected, he said. But, in the case of re-election, if NOTA again gets the highest number of votes, the candidate with the second highest votes will be declared elected, he added. The voting for the five municipal corporations will be held from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm, he said. The results will be declared on December 19. As many as 1,092 polling booths will be set up in 136 wards of the five municipal corporations. All main political parties in the state have said they would fight polls on their respective party symbols. The nominations for the corporations and committees going to polls can be filed from December 1 to 6, except December 2 when it is a holiday. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be undertaken on December 7, while the last date of withdrawal of candidature has been fixed to be December 8, Singh said. He said out of ten municipal corporations in the state, polls have already been held in Gurugram and Faridabad. As far as Sonipat MC goes, the delimitation process is yet to be completed. Once it is done, polls will be held there too," he said. About Panchkula and Ambala municipal corporations, he said, though the delimitation has already been completed there, it has been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and is pending there. Singh pointed out that with the announcement of the poll schedule, the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect within the municipal limits of all the civic bodies going to polls. About direct elections of mayors, he said, it will be ensured through "multi-post EVMs" which would enable voters to vote separately for the mayor and the councillors. He said elaborate security arrangements were being made for smooth conduct of elections in free, fair and transparent manner. The Haryana police will take care of the law and order and security arrangements, he said, adding the sensitive and hyper sensitive booths are being identified. Singh said the state poll panel would also appoint independent observers from among senior IAS, IPS and revenue officers for strict enforcement of the model code and to keep a check on the use of money and liquor in the polls, besides monitoring the expenditure by candidates and parties. "The observers would report directly to me," he said. The state poll panel has fixed an expenditure ceiling of Rs 20 lakh for mayoral candidates, Rs 5 lakh for councillors and Rs 2 lakh for municipal committee members. All candidates are required to maintain an account of their poll expenditures and submit it to the deputy commissioner concerned within 30 days after declaration of the results, failing which a candidate would be liable to be disqualified for contesting polls for five years, he said. He said 531 such candidates who had contested civic polls in 2013 were disqualified for failing to give their expenditure details. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Openly batting for the party he founded, Mulayam Singh Yadav Thursday asked Samajwadi Party workers to create a situation in which no government can be formed at the Centre without its support. The leader is often seen balancing his relations with son Akhilesh Yadav who now heads the SP and his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, who has floated a rival party. Both parties organised separate events Thursday to mark the patriarch's 79th birthday. "I ask you to fix my programmes at the commissionerate level, I will be there, he told SP office bearers, hinting at his willingness to campaign for the party. I ask you all to take a pledge that in the days to come, besides forming the government in UP, we have to create such a situation in Delhi that no government can be formed without the SP. This is my request to you," he said at the SP headquarters where he also cut a cake. Asking SP workers to adopt the habit of reading and writing, he said, There is collection of my speeches in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and as a defence minister, and the workers should read them." He said when he was defence minister, we chased away China and Pakistan. It needs courage, he said. You all should follow the path of justice and stand up wherever there is injustice against anyone," he said. Party president Akhilesh Yadav was not present at the event as he is campaigning in the Madhya Pradesh elections, but he tweeted a photograph with father Mulayam Singh Yadav wishing him on his birthday. "I congratulate 'Netaji' on his birthday. He taught us all to follow Gandhiji's path of truth and non-violence, Lohiaji's ideology of identifying ills to remove them and also that trust is the biggest wealth in human relations," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister tweeted. Shivpal Yadav's newly formed Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) celebrated the birthday at its headquarter in Lucknow, and in the districts. PSPL workers organised blood donation, sweets distribution and other events, observing the day as "Dharma Nirpekshta Divas" (Secularism Day). The party also organised a wrestling 'dangal' in Mulayam Singh Yadav's native Saifai in Etawah district, honouring the leader as a former wrestler. Shivpal Yadav was there as chief guest. While wishing his brother on his birthday, he reiterated that he had formed the new party with Mulayam Singh Yadav's blessings. Both factions have repeatedly claimed that Yadav's "blessings" are with them. Shivpal Yadav has announced that the PSPL will contest all Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, except Mainpuri from where his brother is likely to contest. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (ONGC) has been ordered to pay about Rs 2.42 billion to the Port Trust (MbPT) as wharfage compensation for the of through the two pipelines the company had laid within the limits of the state-run port. In a regulatory filing, state-owned said it is examining the admissibility of the claim. The Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) passed an order for wharfage compensation payable by on October 3, 2018. TAMP order stated that " shall pay to MbPT a compensation at one half of wharfage rate as applicable on the per tonne of which will be imported into the port of through all or any of the ONGC pipelines." As per the order, "a sum of Rs 1.73 billion has to be paid to MbPT by ONGC in lieu of wharfage compensation charges since 2013-14," the company said. MbPT, it said, on October 31 sent a demand of Rs 2.41 billion after including interest at the rate of 18 per cent since 2013-14. "The issue is being examined for admissibility of the claim and further course of action," ONGC said. ONGC said the dispute between the company and MbPT was pending for a long time over payment of wharfage for the supply of to local refineries in through the pipelines and to coastal refineries through tankers loaded from (JNPT). Also, payment of 'way leave' charges for pipelines passing through port limit was pending. "ONGC had objected to the payment of Way Leave Fee for pipelines and wharfage compensation on crude oil in various forums. No payment was made till 1989 although the pipelines were laid way back in 1978. In 1989, ONGC made a provisional payment of Rs 100 million as per the decision of inter-ministerial meetings," the filing said. The company said it entered into an agreement with MbPT "under duress on January 28, 2005, in order to receive permission for laying new pipelines." The agreement lacked clauses for a duration, exist and arbitration and was a "unilateral agreement," it said. "ONGC has been making payment to MbPT as per the agreement without receiving any services for levy of compensation for crude oil supplied to local refinery through ONGC's own pipelines (for which way leave fees is being paid regularly) and marine tankers loaded at JNPT," it said, adding ONGC had so far made Rs 2.31 billion payment to MbPT. The company said it has over the years written several letters to the government for resolving the dispute on wharfage compensation and way leave charges but an amicable solution to the problem could not be reached. A proposal of MbPT for a prescription for wharfage compensation payable by ONGC was sent to TAMP in April 2018. TAMP passed an order on October 3. A 55-year-old auto rickshaw driver died and a woman was injured after they were hit allegedly by an over-speeding car near Sabzi Mandi in North Delhi on Thursday, police said. The incident took pace at around 7 am, they said. An over speeding car first hit a 58-year-old woman who was waiting to cross the road near Baraf Khana at Subzi Mandi and then hit an auto rickshaw driver and eventually slided over the footpath after hitting a tree, a senior police officer said. Fearing the consequences, the driver of the car fled from the spot, he said. The auto rickshaw driver and the injured woman were rushed to a nearby hospital where the driver was declared brought dead by the hospital authorities. The woman is being treated for her injuries, the officer said. The deceased has been identified as Riyasat, police said, adding they have seized the car and are on the look out for the accused driver. A case has been registered and further investigation is underway, the officer said. However, there are no CCTV cameras installed in the area so the sequence of event will be ascertained after the accused is arrested, the officer added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan on Thursday rejected allegations of its involvement in the Amritsar terror attack in which three people were killed amidst Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's accusation that the grenade used was similar to the ones being manufactured by the Pakistan Army. Singh said that the grenade attack, in which three people were killed and over 20 injured, seemed to carry Pakistan's signature. Initial investigations indicated that the "grenade used was similar to the ones being manufactured by the Pakistani Army Ordinance factory," he said. Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal rejected Singh's allegations in his weekly press briefing. "Pakistan categorically rejects these allegations. India is a serial alleger and it has become its second nature to blame Pakistan for any negative development without blinking an eye," Faisal said. The purpose of "such severe and unfounded allegations" by the Indian authorities was to cover up their won failures and drag Pakistan in India's domestic political affairs during election season, he claimed. Faisal said that India should hold talks with Pakistan if it was serious in solving different issues including Kashmir. "We have said time and again that our restraint should not be mistaken for weakness," Faisal added. Three persons including a preacher were killed and over 20 injured when two-bike borne men threw grenade on a religious congregation in Amritsar on Sunday. Singh said that prima facie, this appears to be an "act of terror" by separatist forces, organised with the involvement of ISI-backed Khalistani or Kashmiri terrorist groups. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Noted Pakistani progressive Urdu writer, poet and rights activist Fahmida Riaz, who spent nearly seven years in exile in India, has died in Lahore following a prolonged illness. She was 73. Fahmida breathed her last at a local hospital in Lahore on Wednesday night, according to her family. She had been suffering from illness for the past few months. Born in 1945 in a literary family of Meerut, UP, India her family settled in Pakistan's Hyderabad following her father's transfer to Sindh province. She was hailed by many as a pioneer in feminist literature. She authored more than 15 books on fiction and poetry. Her first literary work 'Pather Ki Zuban' was published in 1967. Her collection of poetry includes 'Dhoop', 'Pura Chand', 'Admi Ki Zindagi' and more. Her novels include Zinda Bahar', Godaavari' and Karachi'. She was famous for her revolutionary and contrary to tradition poetry. On her second collection of verse - Badan Dareeda -- published in 1973, she was accused of using erotic and sensual expressions in her poetry. The liberal and politically charged content of 'Awaz' grabbed the attention of the regime of military dictator General Zia-ul Haq in early 1980s and both Fahmida and her husband Zafar were charged with various cases. The magazine was shut and Zafar was imprisoned. Fahmida was faced with challenges due to her political ideology. More than 10 cases were filed against her during Zia's dictatorship. She was charged with sedition under Section 124A of the Pakistan Penal Code. Fahmida and her husband were arrested. Her fans bailed her out. Soon after her release on bail, she fled to India with her two small children and sister on the excuse of a Mushaira invitation. Her friend renowned poet Amrita Pritam spoke to the then prime minister (late) Indira Gandhi which got her asylum. Her children went to school in India. She had relatives in India and her husband later joined her there after his release from the jail. The family spent almost seven years in exile before returning to Pakistan after Zia's death on the eve of Benazir Bhutto's wedding reception. She was greeted with a warm welcome upon her return from exile. During her exile, Fahmida had been poet in residence for Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi and it is during this period that she learnt to read Hindi. After completing her education, she began working as a newscaster for Radio Pakistan. Fahmida was encouraged and persuaded by her family to step into an arranged marriage after her graduation from college. She spent some years in the United Kingdom with her first husband before coming back to Pakistan after a divorce. During this period, she worked with the BBC Urdu service (Radio) and got a degree in film making. She has one daughter from that marriage. She has two children from her second marriage with Zafar, a leftist impressive political worker. She was not only an eminent progressive writer, considered as pioneer of feminist literature in Pakistan, but also a forceful voice of human rights and democracy. Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari paid tributes to Fahmida's literary contribution. "Her poetry challenged traditionalism at so many levels as she reflected the voice and emotions of women unchained. Her sensitivity and often sensuality of expression was unique," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Forward Party chief and Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai suggested on Thursday that the ailing Chief Minister wanted to resign, but the BJP high command vetoed it. "He wanted to give up the CM's post altogether. He had even shown inclination to give away his portfolios (to other ministers) when he was admitted to a hospital during Ganesh Chaturthi festival," Sardesai said here. "But then several things happened. BJP high command stepped in....it (to resign or not) is not in his (Parrikar's) hands entirely," Sardesai told reporters. Parrikar, 62, has been recuperating at his residence here since he was discharged from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi on October 14. He is suffering from a pancreatic ailment. Asked about independent MLA and Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte's remark that the administration has become sluggish in Parrikar's absence, Sardesai said, "I have always been saying that CM's ill-health has had some sort of impact, and it is showing." To a question on another alliance partner Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) filing a petition against two former Congress MLAs who joined the BJP, the minister said it was surprising. MGP has moved the Bench of Bombay High Court, seeking to disqualify Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte, former Congress MLAs who recently joined the BJP. "It is a matter between two constituents of the alliance -- BJP and MGP. So we are not concerned with it," Sardesai said. "As far as MGP is concerned, its decision to go to the court is surprising....I can believe it is a preemptive move, they (MGP) have not lost anything, Congress has lost two MLAs," Sardesai said in a cryptic remark. Speculation was rife earlier that MGP MLAs might join the BJP which does not have a majority on its own in Assembly. BJP spokespersons were not available for comment on Sardesai's remarks. : A case has been registered against a family here for alleged negligence in leaving their pet dog tied in an apartment without without food and water for nine days "resulting" in its death, police said Thursday. The case was registered under IPC Section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle) and relevant sections of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act on complaint by Humane Society International-India against the family, the police said. The dog died due to possible starvation in the absence of the family who were reportedly on a holiday, the complainant alleged. According to the complainant, HSI India consultant, Teja Panneru, the matter came to light on the social media on November 17, when the residents of the building complained about the dog being in an unconscious state. Police said the neighbours had also complained of a 'foul' smell emanating following the dog's death and further claimed that the family was given notice on the ill-treatment of the dog earlier. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Security at the Delhi Secretariat was beefed up and visitors and employees were being thoroughly checked by the Delhi Police, two days after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was attacked at the high-security building with chili powder. Police said they have tightened the security arrangements at the Delhi Secretariat. Visitors and employees were being thoroughly checked to ascertain if they were carrying any harmful items, including tobacco products and matchboxes. Even the files being carried by individuals were checked, a police official said. The secretariat houses office of the chief minister and top bureaucrats. This comes after a man flung chilli powder at Kejriwal outside his office in the Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday. The accused had brought the powder to the secretariat in packets of 'khaini' or chewing tobacco, an attack the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) described as "politically motivated", while asserting that the BJP was hatching a conspiracy in collusion with the Delhi Police to attack the chief minister. Even as the AAP alleged that it was the third attack on Kejriwal, the Delhi Police, however, issued a statement recounting the incident but did not specify whether the man threw chilli powder or not. The statement mentioned that the man, Anil Kumar Sharma, possessed a pouch which apparently contained chilli powder. The Delhi Police registered a case against Sharma at the IP Estate police station, a senior police officer said. He, however, added that no formal complaint was received from the secretariat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Polish driver Robert Kubica will return to Formula One for Williams in 2019, eight years after he was seriously injured in a rally crash, the team said Thursday. Kubica, who has not taken part in a grand prix since his right arm was partially severed in the accident in 2011, joins Englishman George Russell at the British team in 2019. The 33-year-old Polish driver has done several practice sessions for Williams and his return to the sport was announced in Abu Dhabi, the venue of his last race back in 2010. Kubica said: "Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me during what was a difficult period of my life over these last few years. "It has been a challenging journey to make it back to the Formula One grid, but what seemed almost impossible is now beginning to feel possible, as I am excited to be able to say that I will be on the Formula One grid in 2019. "It will not be easy, but, with hard work and dedication, both George and myself will work together to try and help the team get in better shape to move further up the grid." Kubica's right arm was partially severed in the rally crash in Italy in February 2011 which brought a dramatic halt to his F1 career that had already produced one grand prix victory. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Officials in Poland say that a 110-year-old woman believed to be the world's oldest nun and a rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust, has died. Father Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, spokesman for Poland's Roman Catholic Church, on Thursday confirmed the death of Sister Cecylia Roszak last week at a Dominican convent in Krakow. He described her as "probably the oldest nun in the world" and someone remembered as saying that "life is so short and passes so quickly." Born March 25, 1908, Roszak joined the convent at age 21. During the German occupation of Poland during World War II, when she was in her 30s, she was one of several nuns who set up a new convent near Vilnius, today in Lithuania, sheltering Jews who had escaped the ghetto there. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone of the Kartarpur Corridor at Dera Baba Nank in Gurdaspur on November 26, the Punjab government said. The decision to build the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the international border was taken Thursday morning at a meeting of the Union cabinet. The Chief Minister said the development of the corridor will facilitate lakhs of pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river in Pakistan, where Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years. Singh, in an official statement, also welcomed the decision of the Pakistan government to allow the pilgrims to visit Kartarpur on the occasion of the 550th 'Parkash Purb' of Guru Nanak Dev and said this gesture could go a long way in improving relations between the two countries. After the decision of the Union government to build the Kartarpur corridor, Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi tweeted, "Prime Minister Imran Khan will break ground at Kartarpura facilities on 28 November. Meanwhile, in a letter, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba has asked the state government to make all preparations for the foundation laying ceremony on November 26. Union Home Secretary has also written to Yudhvir Singh Malik, Secretary, Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, seeking necessary steps for preparation of the project and for laying the foundation stone, the statement said. A copy of the letter has been sent to the Punjab Chief Secretary with the request to extend all possible cooperation and support for the project and to the Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 30-year-old property dealer was shot at by an unidentified bike-borne assailant in Simlapuri locality here Thursday, police said. The incident took place near the victim's house here. Dharmpal Singh was rushed to a nearby hospital with critical head injury, police said. A probe into the matter was underway and CCTV footage of the area was being examined, Ludhiana Police Commissioner Sukhchain Singh Gill said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor-politician Kamal Haasan Thursday said the amount sought by the Tamil Nadu government as central assistance towards rehabilitation activities in Cyclone Gaja-hit districts seems to be an "arbitrary figure." The Makkal Needhi Maiam founder wanted the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and central ministers to visit the affected areas for an on-the-spot assessment. During his meeting with Modi in New Delhi Thursday, Chief Minister K Palaniswami sought Rs 15,000 crore as central assistance towards relief and rehabilitation activities in Cyclone-hit districts in the state. "The quantum of funds being requested from Centre seems to be an arbitrary figure. No information has been released about Post Disaster Need Assessment for this disaster which is the basis to determine the required amount of funds," Haasan said in a statement. The Prime Minister and other Central Ministers concerned need to visit the affected regions, rather than the chief minister of the affected state visiting Delhi, Haasan said. Haasan said his party had collected relief material worth Rs 1.2 crore and dispatched it to the affected areas in 60-70 vehicles Thursday alone by party members. Waiver of crop loans for the affected farmers and grant of crop insurance award at the earliest were some relief measures suggested by the party. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eminent scientist R A Mashelkar exhorted students of the prestigious Banaras Hindu University (BHU) here to focus on right and pursue lifelong learning. Addressing the 100th convocation of BHU, Mashelkar told the students, "...pursue lifelong learning and if you do this, I am sure each one of you will reach great heights." He said that in view of the great disruption that technology is going to bring, India will have to move from "right to education" to "right education". A former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Mashelkar also congratulated parents and teachers for giving students the "best gift of their life, education". On the occasion, as many as 31 medals were presented to students for securing first position under various faculties in the year 2017 and 2018. In his address, BHU Vice Chancellor Rakesh Bhatnagar highlighted the glorious past and development of the varsity. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress President Rahul Gandhi Thursday expressed sympathy with the kin of those killed and injured in a bus accident in Madhya Pradesh. Gandhi took to Twitter to express his feelings and said he was pained to hear about the incident in Satna district. "Pained on hearing the of the bus mishap in Madhya Pradesh. I pray to God for early relief to the injured. My deep sympathies with the parents of the children," he tweeted in Hindi. Six school children and a driver were killed while 11 others were injured when a bus collided with a school van at Birsinghpur in Satna on Thursday. Five children were among those injured and two of them are in a critical condition, police said. Police had earlier claimed that eight people, including seven schoolchildren, were killed in the accident. Six children -- four boys and two girls -- aged between 10-15 years, travelling in the school van and its driver were killed on the spot, Satna district Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Singh Gaur said. The accident took place around 8.30 am, he said, adding the school van was completely damaged in the collision. The deceased children were students of Lucky Convent School in Birsinghpur, about 40 km from the district headquarters, Gaur said. According to the officer, due to the impact of the collision, both the vehicles turned turtle. The bus was going to Chitrakoot from Rewa. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray Thursday said the Ram temple issue is raked up before every election and wondered for how long will people be 'fooled' with the 'mandir wahi banayenge' slogan. Thackeray said that during his visit to Ayodhya on November 25, he would "seek an answer" as to how many more elections will people be fooled with the slogan. The Sena chief collected soil from Shivneri fort in Junnar tehsil of Pune district, where Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born. He told reporters that he will carry the soil to Ayodhya during his visit on Sunday. Thackeray had announced during the Shiv Sena's Dussehra rally in Mumbai that he will visit Ayodhya on 25 November and "question" Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of the construction of the Ram temple. "The soil where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born carries with it sentiments of all Hindus and collecting these sentiments will speed up the process of the construction of Ram temple," he said. "The issue of Ram temple is raked up before every election. I will seek an answer as to for how many more elections will the people be fooled with the slogan Mandir wahi banayenge," he said. The slogan is used by Hindutva groups, who aim to build a Ram temple on the site of the demolished Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Asked if permissions were granted for his public rally in Ayodhya, Thackeray said his original programme includes visit to the site to seek Lord Ram's blessings, as announced in the rally. "Seers there had expressed their desire that I should visit the site, so I will take their blessings and also take part in the evening aarti on the banks of the Sarayu river," he said. In a bid to intensify his party's campaign for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Thackeray has given a new slogan-- 'Pehle mandir, fir sarkaar' (first the temple, then the government). A Sena functionary said a special train has been booked to ferry Shiv Sena members to Ayodhya for Thackeray's visit. Women party workers and Yuva Sena cadres have been asked not to come to Ayodhya for want of accommodation, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Retired employees of state-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL on Thursday held a one-day hunger strike to protest against non-revision of their pension as per the Seventh Pay Commission, the organisers said. "BSNL and MTNL pensioners who were absorbed from Department of Telecom under the banner of Committee of BSNL and MTNL Pensioners' Associations observed fast today throughout the country demanding pension revision from January 1, 2017 with 32 percent fitment factor which was given to central government pensioners numbering more than 60 lakh from January 2016," Convener, Joint Forum of Retirees, S S Nanda said. The pension of nearly 62 lakh central government pensioners were revised with effect from January 1, 2016 as per recommendation of the 7th central pay commission, he said. "BSNL/MTNL retirees are also covered under the same rules of central government pensioners but not getting similar benefits," Nanda said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Xiaomi Thursday said rupee's slide against the US dollar is adding to pricing pressure for the Chinese tech major in India, particularly in the handset market that is witnessing stiff competition. Xiaomi, earlier this month, hiked prices of two of its handsets Redmi 6 and Redmi 6A as well as that of power banks and some television sets on account of the depreciation of the rupee against the greenback. "The rupee has depreciated by about 15 per cent since the beginning of the year. While we do make our phones and power banks in India but raw material and PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) is bought in dollars. "This (depreciation) is adding pressure on us... we want to continue to offer 'honest' pricing to customers," Xiaomi Vice-President and India Managing Director Manu Jain told reporters here. To offset the impact, prices of various products were raised ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 2,000 with effect from November 11. In April this year, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun had said the company will keep its net profit margin at under 5 per cent to earn the "long-term support" of its customers. India is a key market for Xiaomi and the company is aggressively ramping up its product portfolio and offline presence (through Mi Homes, Mi Preferred Partners and Mi Stores) as it aims to continue its dominance in the Indian market. As per research firm IDC, Xiaomi led the intensely competitive Indian smartphone market with 27.3 per cent share, followed by Samsung (22.6 per cent share), Vivo (10.5 per cent), Micromax (6.9 per cent) and Oppo (6.7 per cent). Xiaomi Thursday launched its Redmi Note 6 Pro -- priced Rs 13,999 onwards -- that features artificial intelligence-powered quad-camera setup. Successor to its Note 5 Pro, the latest device comes with 6.26-inch display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 octa-core processor, 64GB internal memory and 4,000 mAh battery. It will come in two variants -- 4GB and 6GB RAM. "With each generation, we have improved the overall smartphone experience and brought the best specs together -- be it battery, camera or performance. Redmi Note 6 Pro provides meaningful upgrades to the bestselling Redmi Note 5 Pro," Xiaomi India Chief Marketing Officer Anuj Sharma said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Akali Dal and AAP Thursday hailed the Centre's move to build and develop the Kartarpur corridor to provide easy passage to Sikh pilgrims visiting a historic gurudwara in Pakistan. Kartarpur Sahib, located just across the International Border, is the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev and one of the holiest shrines of Sikhs. India will build and develop a corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river in Pakistan, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Thursday. Welcoming the Centre's initiative, SAD patron and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said, "This is indeed a befitting tribute to the great Guru Nanak Dev ji's cosmic vision transcending all kinds of barriers among human beings of different castes, creeds and countries. India Thursday also urged the Pakistan government to build a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib to facilitate easy movement of Indian pilgrims to the shrine. Akali Dal patriarch said the NDA government's formal request to Pakistan should decisively remove all hurdles in the path of fulfilling the long-cherished dream of every Sikh to pay obeisance at the historic 'Gurudham'. Badal thanked thePrime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for honouring the sentiments and wishes of the Sikh masses all over the world. "This is their historic and unprecedented tribute to the Sikh sentiments contained in our daily 'Ardas' (prayer), seeking unrestricted 'Darshan Deedar and Seva Sambhal' (paying obeisance) of all historic shrines from which the Sikh community was weaned away following the partition in 1947, said Badal. He also appealed to the Pakistan government to reciprocate the Indian government's great initiative and respect the sentiments of the Sikh 'Sangat'all across the world in this regard. Former CM also recalled his Pakistan visit in 1999, when he accompanied the late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had acceded to SAD-BJP government's request to startthe process of fulfilling the daily Sikh prayers at the historic shrines all over the world. The late Prime Minister had taken up the issue with his counterpart in Pakistan then but there had been no response from across the border so far, he said. "I hope that the Pakistan government fully respects and joins in the atmosphere of devotion and religious fervour in this year of the 550thParkash Utsav of the great Guru and opens the borderfor unrestricted and hassle free pilgrimage to the historic shrine at Kartarpur Sahib, he said. Badal also thanked the Centre fordeciding torun a special train which will pass through all holy places linked with Guru Nanak Dev, and to release commemorative coins and postage stamps on the sacred occasion of 'Parkash Utsav'. Hailing the Union government's move, opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said it has fulfilled the wish of Sikh 'sangat' (community) residing around the globe. In a joint statement, the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Harpal Singh Cheema and chief spokesperson MLA Baljinder Kaur, also appealed to the Centre to simplify visa requirements to visit other religious places in Pakistan as well. The leaders also demanded to set up an office of External Affairs ministry at Amritsar to assist the pilgrims visiting the religious places exclusively. Meanwhile, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa also welcomed the union cabinet's decision to develop the Kartarpur corridor. However, he also viewed the announcement with a certain degree of reservation. "The Government of India has been oscillating on its position on the opening of the Kartarpur corridor. Earlier this year, the Government of India categorically rejected holding any discussion with the Pakistan government on this issue. Such a policy flip-flop yields a degree of uncertainty to the issue," Bajwa said in a statement. I do hope that the Government of India is sincere in its intent and genuinely seeks to work towards the opening and development of the corridor which is of immense importance to the Sikh community across the world," he said. Bajwa asked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use his good offices and persuade the Pakistani establishment to ensure smooth access from their end. "A denial of access from the Pakistani side will render the cabinet decision meaningless and will appear as a ploy to play with the sentiments of crore of Sikhs, said Bajwa. Kartarpur Sahib is situated in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province and there have been demands to build a corridor linking it with Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bollywood superstar Salman Khan on Thursday declared the 6th edition of Adventure at Mechuka festival in presence of Aruncahal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Union minister Kiren Rijiju. Admiring Arunachal's natural beauty, the actor promised to shoot his upcoming film in the state Welcoming Khan, Khandu thanked him for his contribution in promoting tourism in the state. Khandu said the strength of Arunachal lay in its diversity offering great many unexplored natural paradise and cultures. He said the state government has recently signed MoU with 17 private investors and majority of them are related to the tourism sector. About hundred bikers from 10 countries including the USA, Portugal, Canada, Germany, the UK, Nepal and Bhutan took part in the Dalmia MTB (Mountain Terrain Biking) Arunachal Mountain Bicycle race that would cover a distance of 650 km. The Bollywood superstar took part in the 10km bicycle ride from Dorjeeling to Mechuka along with the chief minister and Union Minister of State for Home Rijiju culminating at the festival ground. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has embarked on a regional tour starting with the United Arab Emirates, his first official trip abroad since critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder tipped the country into crisis. Prince Mohammed will visit a "number of brotherly" Arab states at the request of his father, King Salman, the royal court said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, without naming the countries. Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed welcomed him on his first stop in the UAE on Thursday, a close ally that is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen, according to the Emirati state agency WAM. The prince is also set to travel to the Tunisian capital on Tuesday, a presidential source in Tunis told AFP. The regional tour, just before the crown prince is expected to attend the G20 summit in Argentina next week, comes as international pressure has mounted on Riyadh over the grisly murder of Washington Post columnist Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. The Saudi insider-turned-critic was killed and dismembered in what Saudi Arabia said was a "rogue" operation, but CIA analysis leaked to the US media pointed the finger at Prince Mohammed. US President Donald Trump on Tuesday glossed over the CIA's reported conclusion that the crown prince, the kingdom's de facto ruler, had authorised the killing. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet with Prince Mohammed on the sidelines of the G20 summit, according to Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin. Such a meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between the two since the killing that has tainted the image of both the crown prince and the kingdom. Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed. Saudi authorities are seeking the death penalty against five men over the killing, but international attention remains focused on the crown prince despite an official insistence that he was not involved. The European Union on Thursday called for those "really responsible" to be held to account. Calling for a "completely transparent and credible investigation", the EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said: "For us accountability does not mean revenge." Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Wednesday said criticism of Prince Mohammed is a "red line", and that calls for him to be held accountable for the murder would not be tolerated. Separately, the French foreign ministry said Thursday that it would impose sanctions against 18 Saudi citizens over Khashoggi's murder. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Thursday declined urgent hearing on a plea by Indian Union Muslim League legislator K M Shaji, challenging his disqualification by the Kerala High Court on the ground that he made communal remarks in the run-up to the assembly polls in the state in 2016. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the matter will come up for hearing in regular course. In the petition, Shaji, who was disqualified as MLA of Azhikode, had sought a stay on the high court verdict. "Do you want to continue as an MLA by virtue of a stay order (of this court)," asked the bench, also comprising justices K M Joseph and M R Shah. The high court on November 9 disqualified Shaji for six years and directed the Kerala Assembly speaker and the Election Commission to take appropriate action. The high court had delivered the judgement on a plea filed by LDF candidate M V Nikesh Kumar, who contested the election against Shaji. The IUML is a partner of the opposition United Democratic Front that is led by the Congress party in the state. In his petition, Nikesh Kumar had alleged that Shaji secured a win by a margin of 2,287 votes using corrupt practices and violated norms prescribed under various sections of the Representation of the People Act to win the elections. Nikesh had alleged that an appeal was made to voters by Shaji, who belongs to the Muslim community, his agents and other persons to vote for the UDF candidate on grounds of his religion. He had also charged that pamphlets were circulated in the constituency urging people not to vote for a candidate who is not a believer of the Islamic faith. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Thursday summarily dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to organisations and public at large to "behave" and not air their views that can spoil the atmosphere till it decides the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case. The apex court had on October 29 fixed the Ayodhya case for the first week of January before an "appropriate bench", which will decide the schedule of hearing. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices K M Joseph and M R Shah refused to entertain the PIL filed by Bankim K Kulshrestha seeking a direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs that different organisations and persons be restrained from airing their views, which can spoil the atmosphere, till the apex court decides the case. The moment Kulshrestha opened his submissions, the bench intervened by saying, "With due respect, please look at your prayer, you want people to behave before the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case is decided. Dismissed". Earlier, the apex court, on November 12, had declined an early hearing of the petitions in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case and had said that they have already been listed in January next year. A three-judge bench of the top court had on October 29, by a 2:1 majority, refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue of reconsideration of the observations in the 1994 judgement of the Allahabad High Court that a mosque was not integral to Islam. The matter had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute. As many as 14 appeals have been filed against the high court judgement, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77 acre land be partitioned equally among three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the Madras High Court order awarding 196 grace marks to the NEET-UG 2018 aspirants who had opted to write the test in Tamil language on account of error in translation. The top court directed that from year 2019-20, NEET-UG examination will be held by the newly constituted National Testing Agency instead of the CBSE. A bench of justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao said that "the method adopted by the Madurai bench of Madras High Court is manifestly arbitrary and unjustified and cannot be sustained". "For these reasons, we set aside the impugned judgment of the High Court of Madras dated July 10, 2018. We direct that from the year 2019-20 onwards the NEET-UG Examination will be conducted by the National Testing Agency and the bilingual examination will be conducted after the question paper is translated...," the bench said. It noted that the list of students who opted to give the NEET-UG, 2018 Examination in Tamil after the addition of 196 marks is "startling". Referring to the list, the bench said that a student who got 260 marks has been awarded a total of 456 marks and a student with 137 marks becomes entitled to 333 marks and the student who got 92 marks becomes entitled to 288 marks. "Even students who have 21 marks been entitled to 217 marks. It is clear that the High Court lost sight of the primary duty of Court in such matter that is to avoid arbitrary results," the bench said. The bench further said that the High Court has made no attempt to see whether the students have in fact attempted answers to the questions, which were claimed to be imperfectly translated and has proceeded to award the full marks for 49 questions to all candidates who had opted to write the examination in Tamil. "We see no attempt in the impugned judgement to have the marks evaluated by an independent expert body instead the High Court resorted to blind allocation of full marks for each of the questions," the bench said. The total number of students that appeared in the NEET-UG, 2018 was 13,23,672 and approximately 10.5 lakh took the test in English language while about 1.5 lakh opted for regional languages and of them nearly 24,000 candidates had taken it in Tamil language. "Because of a mistake in translation which could have been detected and avoided by the students, we find it unjust that all the students across the board who took the examination in Tamil have been awarded four marks for all the 49 questions without any reference to the answer of those questions," the bench said. It said that the consequence is "equally unjust" and "unacceptable" as the students who gave the examination in Tamil were "unduly benefited" only because they opted to give examination in Tamil. Noting that there were some students who might have otherwise failed but for the addition of marks by the High Court most of the students who opted Tamil language have scored higher than those who gave the examination in English and other regional languages. "This was mainly due to the blind allocation of 196 marks to every student who gave the exam in Tamil," the bench said. On July 20, the apex court had stayed an order of the high court awarding 196 grace marks. It had then said that prima facie it appears that after the judgment of the high court, the students who had opted for the Tamil language are in an advantageous position over others. The Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) which conducted the examination has challenged the high court order and contended that 24,000 students who had opted Tamil language will now be getting around 750 marks out of 720 marks in total. The Madras High Court had on July 10 ordered the CBSE to grant 196 marks -- 4 marks each for 49 erroneously translated questions -- in the Tamil version of this year's NEET-UG examination to the students who took the exam in the regional language. The high court had directed the CBSE to consequently revise the list of eligible candidates and publish it afresh. The petitioner, senior CPI(M) leader and Rajya Sabha MP T K Rangarajan, had moved the high court seeking full marks for the 49 questions, saying key words in Tamil questions were wrongly translated from English and this caused confusion among the students. There were 180 questions with a total mark of 720 in the NEET. The high court had said that the students who took the NEET for admission to medical and dental colleges in Tamil should be suitably compensated to provide a level-playing ground. The CBSE conducted the NEET on May 6 in 136 cities in 11 languages, the results of which were announced on June 4. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has assured that he will not be a candidate for his own succession during the next presidential elections scheduled in 2019 as required by the Constitution. The Mauritanian Constitution limits the number of presidential terms to two. The President who was in Oualata (in the South) for the launch of the 2018 edition of the cultural festival of ancient cities, earlier this week said he would run for this office when his countrys law would authorize him to. I am sensitive to all calls. There are some who also call for the limitation of the presidential terms. Anyway, I am here to respect and ensure that the countrys economy is respected and, this constitution says that I cannot run for another term beyond two, he said. I will continue to commit myself to Mauritania and involve in politics. I am here and I am not leaving the country. I will continue on the same track. Once the constitution will allow me to run again, I will do it. So, if I can not run for a third term, I will run later. The constitution does not forbid me to do so, he added. According to some observers, Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz could be thinking of a Russian Putin-Medvedev scenario. In that case, he would become the Prime Minister of a president he would have chosen, like Russian president Vladimir Putin alternating with his Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. This is more likely as his party Union pour la Republique (UPR), won the absolute majority of the seats in the national assembly (89 out of 157 seats), all thirteen regional councils, and majority of the municipal councils during the legislative, regional and municipal elections of September 1, 2018 and September 15, 2018. Elected in 2009 and reelected in 2014, Ould Abdel Aziz will complete his second term in 2019. The opposition has long suspected him of wanting to amend the constitution to be able to seek a third term, as did several African heads of state who wanted to stay in power beyond their presidential term. Scotland's Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, will begin a week-long visit to India on Friday to strengthen bilateral ties with a focus on trade and investment and to boost cooperation in technology and life sciences, the UK Foreign Office said Thursday. Swinney, the deputy head of the devolved Scottish government, will be joined by a delegation of senior leaders from Scotland's higher education sector during the visit from November 23 to 29. The deputy first minister is set to hold a series of meetings in Delhi and Bangalore with business and industry leaders, as well as representatives from the Indian government. "India is an important international partner to Scotland and we have successfully collaborated on hundreds of different projects in recent years from the Ganga River Health Project to delivering cost effective precision medicine solutions for diabetes," Swinney said, on the eve of his India visit. The visit will focus on technology and life sciences, promote trade and investment, and strengthen education and cultural links, according to the UK Foreign Office said. "Scotland already has a strong history of engineering and innovation and Edinburgh has been named as the best European place to start a tech business thanks to its top facilities, strong international connections, world class universities and fantastic quality of life. "There is much we can learn from India, a country highly regarded for its spirit of creativity, entrepreneurship and young ambitious workforce," he said. The senior minister stressed the two-way prospects of the relationship, as Scotland can offer a lot of expertise in areas that the Indian government has identified as important, such as clean water and data driven innovation, will be priority subjects for talks during his visit. "Working with the delegation from our world-renowned universities, we will highlight the strengths and achievements of Scotland's higher education sector and promote the exciting opportunities for Indian students to visit, work and study here," he added. The tour will include an official reception at the British High Commission in Delhi to celebrate St. Andrew's Day Scotland's official National Day and a separate St. Andrew's Day celebration with alumni from Scottish universities in Bangalore. The visit programme has been organised in partnership with Scottish Development International, Universities Scotland, the British Council and Visit Scotland. According to official data, in 2016-17 there were 1,425 higher education students from India enrolled in Scottish universities. India is Scotland's fourth-biggest international market for further and higher education students. Scottish direct exports to India were worth GBP 235 million in 2016 and visitors from India spent a total of 334,000 nights in Scotland and spent GBP 17 million in 2016. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least seven school children and a driver were killed when a bus collided with a school van at Birsinghpur in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, a police official said. At least eight others were injured in the accident, police said. "As per reports, at least seven school children travelling in the school van and its driver were killed in the accident," Satna district Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Singh Gaur told PTI. The deceased children were students of Lucky Convent School in Birsinghpur, police said. Senior police and government officials, including Collector Rahul Jain, have rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. Further details are awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has been pitching for opening of a corridor for Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan, Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision to develop passage from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur to the shrine in the neighbouring country. I welcome this auspicious step by the Union Cabinet, it will be a cup of joy for 12 crore 'Nanak Naam Laivas'. It will build bridges, burn animosity and will act like a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries, Sidhu said in a tweet. I thank the Govt of India from the core of my heart and take a bow! I request the Hon'ble PM of Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI Sahib to take reciprocal steps for opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and spread Baba Nanak's message of universal brotherhood and peace across the Globe, Sidhu said in another tweet. Sidhu is at present in Madhya Pradesh, campaigning for state assembly polls. The Union Cabinet Thursday cleared a proposal for building and developing the Kartarpur corridor to provide easy passage to Sikh pilgrims to the historic gurdwara in Pakistan. The government will build and develop the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpurwhich is on the banks of Ravi river. Sidhu had earlier raised this issue with Union External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in connection with the opening of Kartarpur corridor. He had said it was the responsibility of the Indian government to make a formal request to Pakistan for it. Sidhu's visit to Pakistan to attend Imran Khan's swearing-in ceremony as prime minister of Pakistan in August this year had come under fire from the Opposition for his hug to Pakistan army chiefGen Qamar Javed Bajwa. Sidhu had claimed that the Pakistan army chief had told him about making efforts to open the Kartarpur corridor. Even Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had ticked off his Cabinet colleague for hugging the Pakistan army chief. Kartarpur is located in Shakargarh in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab. Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism, had spent over 18 years of his life here. The Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is located about three to four km from the Indo-Pak border in Pakistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Six school children and a driver were killed while 11 others were injured when a bus collided with a school van at Birsinghpur in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, a police official said. Five children were among those injured and two of them are in a critical condition, police said. Police had earlier claimed that eight persons, including seven school children, were killed in the accident. "Six children- four boys and two girls- aged between 10 and 15-years, travelling in the school van and its driver were killed on the spot when they were on their way to school," Satna district Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Singh Gaur told PTI. The accident took place around 8.30 am, he said adding the school van was completely damaged in the collision. The deceased children were students of Lucky Convent School in Birsinghpur, about 40-km from the district headquarters, Gaur said. According to the officer, due to the impact of the collision, both the vehicles turned turtle. The bus was going to Chitrakoot from Rewa. "Five students and half a dozen passengers of the bus were injured and admitted to a hospital. While the bus passengers suffered minor injuries, two of the students are in a critical condition," he said. The SP said that a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the accident. Senior police and government officials, including Collector Rahul Jain, rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. The district collector announced an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured, an official said. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed condolences to the families of the victims. In a tweet, Congress president Rahul Gandhi expressed grief over the incident and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday attacked BJP chief Amit Shah over a key CBI investigator's testimony in a Mumbai court on a alleged fake encounters case, following which Union Minister Smriti Irani accused him of being a "lie machine". Gandhi used a report quoting the chief CBI investigator into the "fake encounters" of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleging that Shah was a "key conspirator" in the case. He also took a swipe at the BJP, saying it is "completely appropriate" for the party to have such a person as its chief, who has been called a "key conspirator" in an investigative officer's testimony in court. "The Gita says you can never escape the truth and so it has always been. Sandeep Tamgadge has called Amit Shah a 'key conspirator' in his testimony. It's completely appropriate for the BJP to have such a man as its President," he said on Twitter. Irani hit back saying, "JhoothKiMachine" Rahul Gandhi is back in action. He knows that after following due process, court discharged Mr Shah in 2014. Court had also held that Amit bhai was implicated by CBI for political reasons." "Will Rahul answer who in the UPA ordered this political witch-hunt," she asked. "Does National Herald Loot 'Bail Dharak' Rahul Gandhi not remember that he had dispatched Sibal to challenge Amitbhai's discharge and petition was summarily dismissed," she asked in a tweet. Irani also hit out at Gandhi's Gita barb, saying, "Am convinced - had Mr Gandhi opened the Gita even once in his life, he wouldn't be indulging in such brazen lies." Chief investigation officer (CIO) Sandeep Tamgade deposed in a CBI court that BJP chief Amit Shah and three IPS officers were the main conspirators behind the alleged fake encounters of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati. He, however, conceded that that his claim was not supported by any documentary evidence in the charge sheet filed by him. "From the investigation done by us, we found the principal conspirators were Amit Shah, D G Vanzara (former Deputy Inspector-General Gujarat Police), Rajkumar Pandian (SP, Intelligence Bureau) and M N Dinesh (IPS officer, Rajasthan Police)," Tamgade said. All four have been discharged by the trial court in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after recording the statement of a chief investigating officer in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter cases, the prosecution said Thursday that it was closing its case. Special prosecutor B P Raju informed trial court judge S J Sharma here that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has completed the examination of all its witnesses. The prosecution examined 210 witnesses, of which 92 turned hostile. Its last witnesses were chief investigating officers Amitabh Chaudhary and Sandeep Tamgadge. Besides, the CBI examined about 40 other officials. Other key witnesses included Sohrabuddin's brother Rubabuddin Shaikh and Azam Khan, an associate of Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram. Sohrabuddin Shaikh, a suspected gangster with terror links, was shot dead on November 26, 2005 while he was in the custody of Gujarat Police in an alleged fake encounter. His wife Kausar Bi was allegedly killed later. Prajapati, an aide of Shaikh who was said to be a witness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by Gujarat and Rajasthan police officials at Chapri in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in December 2006. Of the 38 people charged by the CBI for the alleged fake encounters, 15, including BJP chief Amit Shah (who was minister of state for home in Gujarat then) and all senior police officials have been discharged. The judge will now examine the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Under this provision, the accused can personally explain any circumstances appearing in the evidence against him or her. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sovan Chatterjee resigned from the post of the mayor of Kolkata Thursday on the directions of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Chatterjee, who was also the housing and fire services minister, had resigned from the cabinet Tuesday evening. Banerjee has ruled out any crisis in the government following Chatterjee's resignation. He sent his resignation letter through a messenger to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Chairperson Mala Roy on Thursday. Roy, accepted the resignation letter and held a high-level meeting at her office later. "Received Mr Sovan Chatterjee's resignation from the post of mayor through his messenger. I have accepted it. The other formalities will be followed as per rules, after a Trinamool Congress councillors' meeting convened by party supremo Mamata Banerjee is held this evening," Roy said. Chatterjee also told newsmen that he was ready to quit as KMC councillor and also as an MLA of the TMC if the party wanted him to. "It depends on the decision and direction of the party supremo," he said, adding that he continued to be a "loyal soldier" of the party and his "complete loyalty" is to party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. "If my party wants, I will quit as councillor to enable someone else to get elected. If needed I can also quit as MLA. However, I don't know if my party will take my suggestion," Chatterjee said. Expressing his gratitude to Banerjee for keeping faith in him and grooming him as a politician, he said he would extend all support and cooperation. "Since yesterday was a holiday, I had to wait till office reopens. Today, I sent my resignation letter through my representative for the acceptance by KMC chairperson Mala Roy. On Tuesday, I had resigned from the post of minister," Chatterjee said. Without replying to a question about the causes behind the chief minister's direction for his resignation, Chatterjee said "I don't know the reasons". To a question about an alleged setback in his personal life, Chatterjee said, "Some people are intentionally spreading nuisance." KMC Commissioner Khalil Ahmed has been asked to look after the operations of the civic body till a new mayor was appointed. Chatterjee's resignation from the ministry has been forwarded to Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, the chief minister said. Earlier this year, he had been removed from the post of the environment minister by the chief minister. "There is no crisis at all. One can always resign and there are provisions. There is no misunderstanding either. Someone can have personal problems," Banerjee said while speaking during the discussion on Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018. The amendment would enable a person, who is not an elected councillor, to be made the mayor of a corporation but he or she would have to be elected within six months to continue in the post. "Even in your party, M J Akbar had resigned (from the post of the minister of state for external affairs). In our party, all the 122 councillors of KMC have the capability of taking up the post of mayor," she said in response to questions by BJP MLA and the party state unit president Dilip Ghosh. "Why is Amit Shah your party president? Is there no other capable person in your party," she asked. Stating that the person who will be the next mayor was a councillor previously and is currently a public representative, Banerjee said the final call will be taken by the party. The rift between Banerjee and Chatterjee, who was once considered her trusted aide, had started growing after reports of problems in his conjugal life hit the headlines. There were also allegations that Chatterjee was not taking his responsibilities seriously, neither as a mayor nor as a minister. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sovan Chatterjee resigned from the post of Kolkata mayor on Thursday as directed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Chatterjee sent his resignation letter through a messenger to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) chairperson Mala Roy. Roy, accepting the resignation letter, held a high-level meeting at her office Thursday. "Received Mr Sovan Chatterjee's resignation from the post of mayor through his messenger. I have accepted it. The other formalities will be followed as per rules, after a Trinamool Congress councillors meeting convened by the party supremo Mamata Banerjee is held this evening." Chatterjee, who was holding two important portfolios of the housing and fire service department, had resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday. Accepting his resignation letter, Banerjee had asked him to also quit the post of mayor. The resignation letter had been forwarded to Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, the chief minister had stated. KMC Commissioner Khalil Ahmed was asked to look after the operations of the civic body till the new mayor was appointed. Earlier this year, Banerjee had removed Chatterjee from the post of the Environment minister. The distance between Banerjee and Chatterjee, who was once considered a trusted aide of the chief minister, started growing after reports of problems in his conjugal life surfaced. There were also allegations that Chatterjee was not taking his responsibilities seriously, either as a mayor or as a minister. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lanka has abandoned plans to raise money through sovereign bonds and will pursue badly-needed revenue elsewhere after Moody's downgraded its credit rating amid political turmoil, an official said Thursday. President Maithripala Sirisena's economic advisor said "alternative finance" raised locally would service much of Sri Lanka's USD 4.5 billion in foreign debt repayments in 2019. Lalith Samarakoon said the credit downgrade by Moody's on Tuesday would result in higher borrowing costs for Sri Lanka in the international markets. He said Sri Lanka would seek to extend a USD 1 billion loan from China by an additional USD 500 million, but would only turn to international markets for cash "as a last resort". "We have arranged certain other financing options such as raising USD 1 billion through state banks," he said. Moody's said its decision was "exacerbated most recently by a political crisis which seems likely to have a lasting impact on policy even if ostensibly resolved quickly." The South Asian nation has been gripped by an unprecedented political crisis since Sirisena sacked his prime minister on October 26 and appointed former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place. Sirisena dissolved parliament and called snap elections on January 5 but the legislature, restored by court order, voted twice to topple Rajapaksa. He has refused to step down, leaving Sri Lanka without a government since November 15. The unrest also prompted the International Monetary Fund to suspend a tranche of a USD 1.5-billion bailout loan agreed to in 2016. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lanka's Parliament would meet again on Friday, amidst a power struggle set off by President Maithripapala Sirisena's controversial move to sack prime minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe and appoint Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place. The first business on Friday would be to appoint a select committee comprising representatives from all political parties to conduct parliamentary affairs. Both Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa claim to be the prime ministers. Wickremesinghe says his dismissal is invalid because he still holds a majority in the 225-member Parliament. "We should have the majority in the committee with ex-officio members," said Mahinda Smarasinghe, a minister. Rajitha Senaratne, a former minister, said that since ousted prime minister Wickremesinghe's United National Front (UNF) coalition had the majority they should have the most number of representatives. So far President Sirisena's United People's Freedom (UNF) has nominated seven members to the 15-member committee. The Marxist JVP and the main Tamil minority party, TNA have made two nominees each. The committee composition assumes significance due to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya's refusal to recognise the government of Rajapaksa until it proved its majority. Sirisena's party accuses the speaker of being bias towards his political party, the UNP. Last week, Sri Lanka's Parliament witnessed unprecedented violence as lawmakers threw furniture and chilli powder at each other. Sri Lanka is witnessing a political crisis since President Sirisena abruptly sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe on October 26. Sirisena later dissolved Parliament, almost 20 months before its term was to end, and ordered snap election. The Supreme Court overturned Sirisena's decision to dissolve Parliament and halted the preparations for snap polls. Speaker Jayasuriya then ordered a floor test in the 225-member assembly to end the ongoing political crisis, a move which invited the wrath of the government of Rajapaksa. The UNP has already moved two motions of no trust against Rajapaksa and they are to move a third vote again, perhaps Friday. Rajapaksa, however, has refused to step down. On Wednesday, Wickremesinghe's UNP handed Parliament another motion demanding suspension of funds of all ministry secretaries whom they claim had been illegally appointed since October 26. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Students of SRM University at Kattankulathur area in the outskirts of Chennai staged a demonstration inside the campus Thursday night, alleging inaction by the administration on a sexual harassment complaint by a woman student of the varsity. SRM University Vice Chancellor Sandeep Sancheti, however, denied the allegations of inaction and said the administration would look into the complaint. "Students are discussing with us. Whatever the matter is, it will be taken care of. If there is a matter, it will be inquired," Sancheti told PTI. According to a third year software engineering student who took part in the protest, a second year undergraduate student of the university was allegedly sexually harassed by a male sanitation worker inside a women's hostel lift on Thursday afternoon around 3 pm. "The man masturbated in front of the woman student in the hostel lift, following which she reported the issue to the authorities," the student told PTI. According to another protester, the hostel warden, with whom the student had raised the issue, allegedly delayed access to the CCTV footage of the elevator and the registering of a complaint by over two hours. "The employee was identified by the student in the CCTV footage. However she was asked to stay mum about the incident by the authorities," the protester said, adding that the hostel authorities allegedly blamed the victim. Local police officials who reached the protest spot told PTI that the protesters dispersed after assurances from the university administration to look into the matter. However, they added that no complaint had been registered yet. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Just days after raising concerns over stress in the sector, Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla Thursday held another round of talks with Secretary Aruna Sundararajan. Birla, who was flanked by other senior officials of and Himanshu Kapania, vice-chairman at Grasim Industries (also Board member of Ltd) met Sundararajan for nearly 30 minutes. Emerging from the meeting, Birla, however, refused to comment on the deliberations. This is the second such meeting between the industry honcho and the communications ministry over the last few days. Birla had earlier expressed concerns over the severe liquidity crunch in the industry and has sent an SOS to the government for deferring statutory payments in a sector that is not generating enough cash to even service loans. The has been battered by falling tariffs, eroding profitability, and mounting debt in the face of stiff competition triggered by disruptive offerings of Reliance Jio, owned by richest Indian Mukesh Ambani. Birla, who heads Vodafone Idea -- the country's largest mobile operator, had also raised issues around high spectrum payouts and levies during his meeting, earlier this month, with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha as well as Sundararajan. A temple in Kerala has been suspended after he allegedly posted abusive comments on against Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surerdran over the Sabarimala issue. Action was taken against T Madhavan Namboothiri, the 'melsanthi' (chief priest) of the Madiyan Koolom Kshetra Palaka temple at Kanhangad near here, after the objectionable comments on his page were noticed. The temple comes under the Malabar Devaswom Board, an apex temple body which manages a number of Hindu shrines in Malabar (north Kerala) region. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Board here on Wednesday and the suspension order was handed over to the by its executive officer P Vijayan, Board sources said. ALSO READ: Sabarimala board says ready to discuss with anybody to resolve standoff However, the claimed that he is a hereditary trustee of the shrine and so he cannot be suspended. The priest had allegedly posted abusive comments against the minister after BJP state general secretary K Surendran was arrested by police as he defied police orders not to go to the Lord Ayyappa shrine. Surendran along with two others had been arrested on November 18 from Nilackal as he tried to proceed to the Lord Ayyappa Temple despite being advised by police personnel against visiting Sabarimala due to law and order issues. However, a Pathanamthitta court Wednesday granted conditional bail to 72 people, including Surendran, arrested in connection with the row. The state government has clamped prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code banning assembly of four or more people in Sabarimala and surrounding areas in view of protests by devotees over the government's decision to implement the verdict allowing entry of women of all ages into the hill shrine. British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday said that a "good" post-Brexit deal with the EU was "within grasp" and she was determined to deliver it, as the European Commission confirmed an in-principle agreement over trade, security and other issues after Britain leaves the economic bloc. In a statement at Downing Street after briefing her Cabinet over the Political Declaration that supplements the Withdrawal Agreement, or divorce arrangements, with the European Union, May described the minor breakthrough in Brexit negotiations as the right deal for the UK. The UK and the EU expect to use the Political Declaration as the basis for a detailed post-Brexit trade agreement, to be thrashed out during a 21-month transition period already agreed to kick-in after March 29 next year, when Britain is set to formally exit the EU after a referendum in June 2016 in favour of Brexit. "It delivers on the vote of the referendum. It brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws. And it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom," she said in a statement. The agreement reached is between the UK and the European Commission and it will now be up to the 27 leaders of the other EU member-states to examine the draft in the days leading up to the special EU Council meeting on Sunday, when they are expected to formally sign off on the agreement. "The British people want this to be settled. They want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future. That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it," said May, who heads back to Brussels on Saturday for further meetings with European Commission President Jean-Claude ahead of the crucial summit on Sunday. Last week, amid an open war of words from rebelling pro-Brexit Conservative Party MPs, the UK and the EU agreed a 585-page legally-binding withdrawal agreement, covering the UK's GBP 39-billion "divorce bill", citizens' rights after Brexit and the thorny issue of the Northern Ireland "backstop" to be activated to keep the border with EU member-country Ireland open if trade talks with the UK stall at a later stage. The separate, non-legally-binding, Political Declaration sets out broad aspirations for the kind of relationship the UK and EU will have after Brexit. "I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the leaders," European Council President Donald Tusk said in a Twitter statement earlier on Thursday. While May seems to have overcome a brewing rebellion within her own party ranks for the moment, tensions remain over some parts of the withdrawal agreement. Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has said his government is "annoyed" over the issue of Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the Spanish coast, and France is understood to have sought amendments to the wording on fishing rights in UK waters. May stressed she was "confident that on Sunday we will be able to agree a deal for the whole of the United Kingdom family, including Gibraltar". If she is right on that count, the British prime minister then faces the tough task of getting the deal through Parliament where MPs in the House of Commons have already been plotting its defeat. Labour and the other UK Opposition parties have said they will vote against the withdrawal agreement, as have May's partners, the Democratic Unionist Party, who she relies on for her majority in the Commons. Many of her own Conservative MPs are also against it, arguing that it will keep the UK tied too closely to the EU and is not a "proper" Brexit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court Thursday directed the CBI and the Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID) to take concrete steps to trace the absconding persons wanted in connection with the killings of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare. A bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre said since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the CID had dedicated teams to probe the killings of Dabholkar and Pansare respectively, they must make major headway in the cases in a time-bound manner. The directions came after both the probe agencies submitted their respective progress reports in sealed covers before the bench. The CBI is handling the Dabholkar case, while the CID is probing Pansare's killing. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who appeared for the CBI, told the bench that the agency was waiting for a prior sanction from the state government to prosecute some persons in the case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). He said waiting for the sanction was one of the reasons for some delay in the CBI probe. CID counsel Ashok Mundargi told the bench the state agency had secured the custody of Amol Kale, one of the alleged key conspirators in the murders of anti-superstition activist Dabholkar and journalist Gauri Lankesh, on November 15 this year. Mundargi said Kale is also an accused in the Pansare case and that the CID was still in the process of questioning him. At this, the bench said while Kale's custody was one positive step, the authorities must also make more effort towards tracing the other absconding accused persons. "What are the steps taken to trace other accused persons? You must make more sincere efforts to trace other accused persons. You have dedicated teams to investigate both the cases and therefore, more is expected out of you," the bench said. It directed both the CBI and the CID to submit their reports of further progress by December 14. Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013, in Pune during a morning walk. Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015, in his hometown Kolhapur and he succumbed to injuries on February 20. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump has hinted he might soon visit American troops in Afghanistan for the first time. Addressing service members in a Thanksgiving telephone conference on Thursday, the president told one colonel deployed to the country: "I'll see you back when you're in the United States or maybe I'll see you over there." Questioned later by journalists on whether he would make the trip, the president simply said: "At the appropriate time, we'll be doing some very interesting thing." While 14,000 US military personnel remain deployed in Afghanistan 17 years after the war began in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Republican president has yet to make a visit after nearly two years in office. Presidential trips to conflict zones are usually kept secret until the last minute. Trump also said the US is currently in "very, very strong negotiations" regarding Afghanistan. "We are talking about peace," he said, without explicitly confirming if those talks were directly with the Taliban. "If something happens, that would be a great thing. I would be very happy about that," he added. The Taliban say they have had at least three meetings with US officials in Qatar in recent months, but the US has neither confirmed nor denied these direct talks. The US special adviser to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said recently he was cautiously optimistic about the possibility of a peace agreement ahead of the country's election on April 20. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump has entered an extraordinary row with the chief justice of the Supreme Court, claiming "shocking" bias against his policies in parts of the judiciary. He on Wednesday singled out the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, whose jurisdiction includes left-leaning California, tweeting that its rulings "are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!" Earlier, Chief Justice John Roberts, who rarely makes political statements, rebuked criticism of the courts by Trump, insisting that the judiciary is "independent." Responding to complaints by Trump that judges appointed by Democratic presidents act against the current White House, Roberts told the Associated Press: "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.""What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them," Roberts said. "That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for," the chief justice added in a brief statement. Trump, who is on holiday in Florida, fired back on Twitter. "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," he wrote. He said that "a vast number" of cases concerning his controversial priorities, like a harsh crackdown on illegal immigration, had been overturned. "Please study the numbers, they are shocking," Trump wrote. The row came one day after Trump criticized a federal judge who temporarily blocked the administration from its decision to deny the right to political asylum applications for people who enter the country illegally. US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump move, which comes as a large group of Central American migrants, frequently described by Trump as dangerous, is heading on foot for the US southern border. On Tuesday, Trump lashed out at the judge's ruling, calling it a "disgrace." "This was an Obama judge, and I'll tell you what, this is not going to happen anymore," Trump said. "People should not be allowed to immediately run to this very friendly circuit and file their case." "We will win that case in the Supreme Court of the United States," Trump said. Trump has repeatedly attacked the judiciary when cases have gone against him in the past but this was the first time that Roberts, a conservative jurist who was appointed to the nation's highest court by Republican president George W Bush, has responded publicly. During the 2016 presidential election campaign, Trump attacked the Mexican-American heritage of a judge who ruled against him in a case involving Trump University. The US federal government consists of three branches - the executive headed by the president, the legislative comprising the House of Representatives and Senate and the judicial made up of the courts. The judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, is meant to be above the political fray. Critics of the Trump immigration crackdown say that by restricting asylum seekers to border crossing points the government is effectively shutting the door on people who may truly be fleeing for their lives. Trump's administration has argued that he has the executive power to curb immigration in the name of national security - a power he invoked after taking office last year with a controversial ban on travellers from several mostly Muslim countries. The final version of the order was upheld by the Supreme Court on June 26 after a protracted legal battle. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts clashed in an extraordinary public dispute over the independence of America's judiciary, with Roberts bluntly rebuking the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an "Obama judge." There's no such thing, Roberts declared Wednesday in a strongly worded statement contradicting Trump and defending judicial independence. Never silent for long, Trump defended his own comment, tweeting defiantly, "Sorry Justice Roberts." The pre-Thanksgiving dustup was the first time that Roberts, the Republican-appointed leader of the federal judiciary, has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who has several times blasted federal judges who have ruled against him. Before now, it has been highly unusual for a president to single out judges for personal criticism. And a chief justice's challenge to a president's comments is downright unprecedented in modern times. It seemed a fight that Trump would relish but one that Roberts has taken pains to avoid. But with Roberts' court feeling the heat over the president's appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Roberts and several of his colleagues have gone out of their way to rebut perceptions of the court as a political institution divided between five conservative Republicans and four liberal Democrats. Trump's appointments to the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have themselves spurred charges that the courts are becoming more politicised. As the justice widely seen as closest to the court's middle, Roberts could determine the outcome of high-profile cases that split the court. The new drama began with remarks Trump made Tuesday in which he went after a judge who ruled against his migrant asylum order. The president claimed, not for the first time, that the federal appeals court based in San Francisco was biased against him. Roberts had refused to comment on Trump's earlier attacks on judges, including the chief justice himself. But on Wednesday, after a query by The Associated Press, he spoke up for the independence of the federal judiciary and rejected the notion that judges are loyal to the presidents who appoint them. "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them," Roberts said. On the day before Thanksgiving, he concluded, "The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for." Trump hit back from his resort home in Florida, questioning the independence of federal judges appointed by his predecessor and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He especially criticized judges on California's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," the president tweeted. If the 9th Circuit judges are independent, he said, "why are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. ... these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!" Trump has never been reticent about criticising the judiciary. Last year, the president scorned the "so-called judge" who made the first federal ruling against his travel ban. During the presidential campaign, he criticised Roberts himself for the chief justice's decisive vote in 2012 to preserve President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Trump also referred to an Indiana-born judge of Mexican descent, who was presiding over a fraud lawsuit against Trump University, as a Mexican who would be unable to rule fairly because of Trump's proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. The president's remarks on Tuesday came when a reporter asked for his reaction to a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco that put the administration's asylum policy on hold. Under that new policy, Trump declared no one could apply for asylum except at an official border entry point. That tends to back migrants up for weeks if not months. A number of migrants remain in Tijuana after travelling in a caravan to reach the U.S. Trump complained that his opponents file lawsuits in courts that are part of California's liberal-leaning 9th Circuit. It's not unusual for those challenging a president's policies to sue in courts they consider likely to back their claims. Conservative groups tended to bring challenges to Obama-era policies in Texas, part of the conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. "Every case that gets filed in the 9th Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won," Trump said. The president went on to say about the asylum ruling: "This was an Obama judge. And I'll tell you what, it's not going to happen like this anymore. " The initial travel ban ruling in 2017 was issued by U.S. District Judge James Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush in Washington state. Roberts, too, was appointed by Bush. It was unclear what Trump meant when he said things would change. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Only one of these men is in the military chain of command. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The first casualty of President Trumps deployment of active-duty troops to our southern border or maybe the second, if you count the line between military policy and naked partisanship as the first has been clarity. Over the last ten days, weve had reports that troops were finishing their mission and leaving the border, and then reports that they werent. The administration changed the rules to limit where would-be refugees could apply for asylum, until a court said it couldnt. Now theres been another bewildering development. According to Military Times Tara Copp, a memo came down from the White House on Tuesday evening authorizing active-duty troops at the border to fulfill some functions of law enforcement for the protection of border agents including searching and detaining people, crowd control, and lethal force, where necessary. National security lawyers all over the country lifted their heads from their Thanksgiving preparations in alarm. It has been very settled law for more than a century that active-duty troops may not be used for law enforcement functions within U.S. borders. That law, the Posse Comitatus Act, was passed just after the Civil War and Reconstruction, specifically to protect state governments from having policies they didnt like enforced by federal military personnel on their soil. The exceptions are extreme: the president can use military force to suppress insurrection or enforce federal authority, per the Congressional Research Service. Its worth noting that service members always have the right to use force for self-defense but the idea is that troops are not to be used in roles where they might choose to use force for other reasons. There are several strange things about this document that immediately jump out. It was called a Cabinet order, but the Cabinet has no constitutional authority to make orders, and certainly not of the military. Sometimes in past administrations, the White House has sent Cabinet memos but those merely enumerated explicit presidential guidance. This memo, instead of invoking the presidents authority, was signed by Chief of Staff John Kelly but chiefs of staff have no authority to command anyone except White House employees. (And in my experience from the Clinton White House, thats certainly not a group you would want to put in charge of crowd control.) The fact that Kelly is a retired four-star general is irrelevant; no chief of staff fits anywhere in the military chain of command. Legal and defense experts on Twitter came up with several theories as to why Kelly might have signed the document. National security lawyer and Hill veteran Mieke Eoyang wondered whether the relevant legal advisers had refused to sign off on such an order. Former Pentagon senior official Brian McKeon theorized that the document was a deliberate ploy by Kelly, to mislead Trump into thinking that he had ordered that lethal force be used without the Pentagon ever executing the move. Lawfare editor Scott Anderson asked whether Trump might be protecting himself by having Kelly sign because violations of the Posse Comitatus Act can carry criminal penalties. This might be a bit funny another crazy Trump spectacle except that it concerns the presidents most solemn responsibility, and thus threatens to put the worlds strongest fighting force crossways of our democratic practices. Veterans groups have said all the way along that the deployment of roughly 5,900 troops to the border enmeshes them in American politics and is a waste of their training and skills. Now were in a situation where some authority figures seem to be saying troops can act as law enforcement officers, while others disagree. Secretary Mattis took time with a press gaggle Wednesday afternoon to stress that the military would not violate the Posse Comitatus Act. I have the authority, Mattis said when asked about the Cabinet order, noting that pictures of troops at the border show theyre unarmed. Relax. Dont worry about it. Nevertheless, this is still a recipe for confusion, and potentially for tragedy what happens if stressful, chaotic situations arise on the border, like demonstrations? Lawyers had another concern: was the White House asserting its right to skip legal review or, even more broadly, was it saying that the presidents responsibility to defend the country allows him to ignore laws he doesnt like? Thats a precedent that could affect lives and freedoms all across the country, and far from the border, from surveillance to search to immigration and more. Its worth noting that there are American clergy, activists, and media traveling with the Central American migrants. Its very likely that, in the case of a confrontation at or near the border, U.S. troops would be pointing their weapons at U.S. citizens. The idea that you could use Americans who swore an oath to defend their country to attack and kill other Americans whose political views you dont like is the very thing the Posse Comitatus Act was intended to protect us from. Members of Congress from both parties should be speaking up to demand clarification. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Argentina next week amid tensions between Ankara and Riyadh, the Turkish presidential spokesman said Thursday. "We are looking at the programme," spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in Ankara. "There could be" a meeting between the two men, he said. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are clashing over the murder of Riyadh critic and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, 59, inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul last month. Such a meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between Erdogan and the crown prince since the killing that tainted the image of Prince Salman, known as MBS, who is seen as the driving force in day-to-day rule of the kingdom. The two men previously spoke on the phone last month where they discussed joint efforts to shed light on what happened to Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a US resident and Saudi citizen, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and dismembered, according to Turkish prosecutors. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince. Turkey has repeatedly called for those who ordered the murder to be held accountable but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uber Eats, the food delivery arm of ride-hailing major Uber, Thursday said it has appointed actor Alia Bhatt as its brand ambassador in India. India is the first country for Uber Eats globally where the company has appointed a brand ambassador, Uber Eats said in a statement. "Alia is an inspiration to Indian millennials and we are thrilled to have her on board. The youth today relates to her easy-going, carefree and energetic personality. "She is known for her unique style and agility as an actor - the same qualities are an integral part of the Uber Eats DNA; thus making her the perfect fit to represent our brand in India," Uber Eats India and South Asia Head Bhavik Rathod said. Uber Eats was launched in India in May 2017. The food delivery service is available across 37 cities compared to 31 cities where the American company operates its rides business. Uber Eats started in 2014 as a small delivery pilot in Los Angeles and was launched as a separate application in Toronto in December 2015. It is now available as a stand-alone app in over 350 cities globally. The US-based company has been aggressively investing in its Uber Eats business globally. Earlier this month, Uber said gross bookings from Uber Eats grew more than 150 per cent in September quarter to USD 2.1 billion (excluding Southeast Asia and Russia) over the year-ago period. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United Nations envoy will visit Yemen's embattled city of Hodeida this week, a UN source said Thursday, ahead of peace talks set for December in Sweden. Martin Griffiths, who arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Wednesday, was in the country to lay the groundwork for the upcoming negotiations aimed at ending almost four years of devastating conflict. The British diplomat is expected to visit the lifeline port city of Hodeida on Friday, a UN source told AFP. The purpose of Griffiths's visit was to encourage the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition to remain calm ahead of the talks in Stockholm, the source said. Both sides have in the past week expressed support for the envoy and his mission to hold discussions, but military officials have said intermittent clashes continued to erupt in the Red Sea city of Hodeida. Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the Huthi rebels' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, tweeted Thursday that he "hopes there is no escalation in military operations by the coalition following Griffiths's visit to Hodeida". UN agencies say up to 14 million Yemenis are at risk of starvation if fighting closes the port of Hodeida, from which nearly all imports and humanitarian aid pass. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Unani doctors Thursday held a protest here demanding reservation in government jobs in Maharashtra and parity with ayurvedic physicians. The protest was organised at the Azad Maidan in South Mumbai by the Integrated Medicine Practitioners Association (IMPA). IMPA General secretaryZubair Shaikh saida 2014 Government Resolution (GR) had assured jobs to Unani doctors in state-run primary health centres (PHCs). However, the decision has not been implemented yet, he said. "We only want respect and parity (with ayurvedic doctors). BUMS (Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery) practitioners, too, play a major role in the society," he said. Shaikh,who is also vice-presidentof the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), said in India there are 1.5 lakh Unani doctors of which around 9,000 are from Maharashtra. "The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) needs to establish a post of deputy director for Unani medicine," he said. Shaikh said the government has declared a plan to set up a medical hub in Jalgaon, North Maharashtra. However,the government has not approved a Unani medical college there, though it has announced that ayurvedic, allopathic and homoeopathic colleges will come up at the medical hub. "For the past four years our pleas have remained unanswered," he said and addedthat Unani doctors have not been included in the National Health Mission's health and wellness programmes. "There should be a Unani technical advisor in FDA (food and drug administration) like Ayurvedic technical advisors. Unani graduates also need to be included in ESIS (Employment State Insurance Scheme) panels," he added. Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the Congress visited the protest site and expressed support to the agitating Unani doctors. Speaking to reporters, Vikhe-Patil said if the Congress comes to power in the state, it will immediately implement the GR on jobs to Unani doctors in PHCs. "This is a biased government and therefore, we cannot expect anything from it. However, the moment we come to power we will implement the GR," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States and South Korea have scaled down an annual joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. "Foal Eagle is being reorganised a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis said, adding that it would be "reduced in scope." Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies, and has always infuriated Pyongyang, which condemned it as preparations for invasion. But the drill -- one of the world's largest field exercises involving 200,000 South Korean and some 30,000 US soldiers -- was delayed and scaled down last year as diplomatic detente took hold on the peninsula. And following a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would stop holding joint exercises with the South, calling them expensive and "very provocative". Since then the two allies have suspended most of their major joint exercises including the Ulchi Freedom Guardian in August and Vigilant Ace, slated for next month. But more recently progress in talks with the North has stalled, with the US pushing to maintain sanctions against it until its "final, fully verified denuclearisation" and Pyongyang condemning US demands as "gangster-like." Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South to defend it from its nuclear-armed neighbour, which invaded in 1950. But differences are beginning to emerge between Seoul and Washington. The South's dovish president Moon Jae-in has long favoured engagement with the North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. He has dangled large investment and joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearisation, while the US has been adamant pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programs. Seoul's defence ministry said Mattis' comments were in line with their shared view on the need to back diplomacy -- but a spokeswoman added that the question of whether the exercises will take place at all was "still under discussion." Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the South's state-run Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said reducing the exercise was largely expected. "The Trump administration claims Pyongyang's suspension of nuclear and missile tests as the key achievement of its North Korea policy and the joint drills have been postponed as a kind of corresponding measure," Kim told AFP. "As long as talks continue, postponing or reducing major US-South Korea joint exercises has become a fait accompli," he said. Earlier this month Pyongyang threatened to "seriously" consider returning to its weapons drive if Washington did not end its tough economic sanctions. And last month, the North's state media carried a near 1,700-word commentary accusing the US of playing a "double game", implicitly criticising Trump for comments aimed at barring Seoul from lifting sanctions against Pyongyang. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday defended Washington's strategy on the peninsula, noting that North Korea had halted missile launches and had not conducted a nuclear test in over a year. "And I do hope there'll be a summit between the two leaders early in 2019," he said in an interview with KCMO radio. Pyongyang has declared its nuclear and missile development complete, saying it has no further need for testing. Trump has also said he hopes to have a second meeting with Kim early next year, but talks between Pompeo and a top North Korean official, partly to prepare for the meeting, were cancelled. The US said the North axed the talks because they weren't ready, and Trump insisted he was in "no rush. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As the VHP gears up to hold on Sunday what it is touting as the largest congregation of 'Ram bhakts' in Ayodhya since the 1992 kar seva' when the Babri Masjid was demolished, Muslim leaders see a design to woo voters. The motive is political and there is no doubt about it. The ground is being prepared for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Zafaryab Jilani told PTI. As activists gather in Ayofhya, some Muslim leaders have also expressed fears over the safety of their community in Ayodhya during the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Dharma Sabha'. Shiv Sena workers too are expected in Ayodhya around this time. Another AIMPLB member Khalid Rashid Farangimahli also linked the VHP event to elections. "Even a small child knows that there is an attempt to spoil the atmosphere in the country to reap benefits at the time when assembly elections are being held in some states, and the Lok Sabha elections are due early next year," he said. Zafaryab Jilani said as it becomes certain that the Ayodhya verdict will not be delivered before the Lok Sabha polls, there is an attempt to keep intact the vote of the people who participated in the last elections hoping for a Ram temple. "People were getting disenchanted with those who had promised a temple in Ayodhya, and this is yet another attempt to keep their hopes in such forces alive and befool them for some more time," Jilani said. Both leaders said the government should ensure the security of Muslims and Hindus living in Ayodhya when the VHP event takes place, keeping in mind the 'kar seva' in 1992 which ended with the demolition of the Babri mosque on the disputed site. "It is the responsibility of the government and the administration to make foolproof arrangements for the security of the common people in Ayodhya to ensure that no untoward incident like that in 1992 takes place again," Farangimahli said. He said some statements ahead of the Dharma Sabha had created apprehension among the Muslims in Ayodhya, but did not elaborate. Three Muslim plaintiffs in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit -- Iqbal Ansari, Haji Mahboob and Mohammad Umar -- recently claimed that the community felt insecure in Ayodhya. "As the VHP and Shiv Sena gather their activists in large numbers in Ayodhya, the Muslim community here is feeling very insecure. We might leave Ayodhya," Ansari had said. "We demand from the government to deploy special forces to protect the lives and properties of Muslims against the hooliganism of VHP and Shiv Sena activists. They may attack us to serve their hidden agenda of making Ayodhya free of Muslims," he said. "The Muslims of Ayodhya still remember December 6 when they were attacked, Haji Mahboob said. It is a fact that the Muslim population here is in the grip of fear over a possible attack by activists of the two outfits. They are feeling quite insecure," he said. Another plaintiff, Mohammad Umar, agreed. "We do not want any disturbance here as we want to live in peace, he said. Ayodhya is our birthplace, we are here since generations. But we still remember how the VHP and Shiv Sena activists attacked Muslims after the demolition of Babri Masjid here on December 6, 1992," he added. Faizabad City Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar Singh has, however, assured the community's safety. "No one needs to be afraid of anything. We are arranging heavy security on the days of the proposed functions," he has said. The VHP has said it expects a crowd of over one lakh people for the Dharma Sabha. In a similar event later in New Delhi, over five lakh people are expected, the VHP has claimed. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is visiting Ayodhya a day before the VHP event to pay obeisance to Ram Lalla. VHP vice president Champat Rai recently said that Hindus have faith that the Supreme Court will rule in favour of construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. "The struggle for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya has been going on for 500 years and now the wait is unbearable," Rai said. The Supreme Court had on November 12 declined early hearing of petitions in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The West Bengal Assembly Thursday approved a bill which paved the way for appointment of a person as Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation along with the existing provision that only elected person could occupy the chair. The person, however, after being appointed as Mayor has to get elected as a councillor of KMC within six months of the nomination. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018 was introduced in the state Assembly by Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim. BJP extended support to the Bill which was passed by the voice vote. The Left Front and Congress MLAs were not present in the House as they had earlier decided to boycott the Assembly. The existing law allowed only elected members of the Municipal council to occupy the post of the Mayor. The Amendment to the KMC law was carried by the state government to enlarge the ambit of chosing a person on the important post of Mayor of the city's civic body. Following directions from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to step down from the post of Mayor, incumbent Sovan Chatterjee quit from the post on Thursday. Chatterjee had earlier resigned from the post of Housing and Fire Services minister on Tuesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla Thursday said the ruling Congress would consult the churches on the state's liquor policy if the party is voted to power again in the upcoming Assembly election. Liquor has become a contentious issue in Mizoram which goes to polls on November 28 for its 40 Assembly seats to decide who will form the next government in this highly-literate and Christian-majority state. Mizoram is the only state in the northeastern region under a Congress government. In a statement, Lal Thanhawla said the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Act, 2014 was initiated by his government since the total prohibition regime since February 20, 1997, failed to fulfil its desired objective. Liquor was available abundantly in the state during the past 20 years, he said in the statement. "If the MLPC Act, 2014 is not good for Mizoram and the people, we would determine our liquor policy by consulting the church," he said. The MLPC Act had replaced total prohibition and the powerful Presbyterian Church had organised mass prayers in all member churches across the state twice that year against the repeal of the prohibition. Lal Thanhawla also apologised to church leaders for the statement of former excise and narcotics minister R Lalzirliana that the state government would not consult the church on the liquor policy at the time when the MLPC Bill was being mooted. The MLPC Act came into force from January 15, 2015, while the first wine shop under the new law was opened on March 16, 2015. Currently, one requires a permit to buy liquor. One can buy six bottles of hard liquor and 10 bottles of beer or wine in a month, official sources said. While the Congress is against total prohibition, the main opposition MNF wants a complete ban. The BJP has taken a middle path by proposing to ban liquor coming from outside the state and encourage only locally produced ones. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Battle lines are drawn for the December seven Assembly elections in Telangana with the withdrawal of nominations coming to an end Thursday. Several leaders from Congress and other major parties, who filed nominations as independents after failing to obtain party tickets to contest, have withdrawn in favour of official candidates, sources in Congress and others said. Election officials said the final number of candidates left in the fray would be known after receipt of information from the constituencies. Elections to the 119-member assembly will be held on December 7 and the counting would be on December 11. Senior Congress leaders, including Ahmed Patel and Jairam Ramesh, met those who were unhappy over being denied tickets and persuaded them to work for the party's success at the hustings. Campaigning for the polls would hit top gear now with top leaders from different parties scheduled to address public meetings in the state. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi are scheduled to address a public meeting here Friday. Sonia Gandhi is visiting Telangana for the first time after the state's formation in 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Telangana on November 27 and December 3 to address rallies for the assembly elections. "The prime minister is coming on November 27 and December 3," Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao told PTI. He, however, said the number of rallies and locations would be finalised soon. Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) president M Kodandaram told reporters Thursday that his party would plunge into hectic electioneering to end the "autocratic rule" of TRS. TJS is part of the "grand alliance" for the elections. The alliance also comprises Congress, TDP and CPI. CPI released its manifesto for the polls Thursday, while the TDP did so on Wednesday. Congress has already announced its slew of promises, including farm loan waiver and financial assistance to women Self Help Groups, on various occasions. The party is likely to formally unveil its manifesto soon. The partners of the "grand alliance" were preparing a common agenda for the elections. The ruling TRS is already into hectic campaigning with its president and caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and other leaders addressing a series of rallies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Are you lost in the wild? Sorry, but the page you're looking for has not been found Try checking the URL for errors, goto home or try to search below. The OECD Observer online archive takes you on a journey through half a century of public policy and world progress. Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions. Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs. (Corrects paragraph 4 and second bullet to show Japan's industry minister, not finance minister, is meeting France's finance minister)By Maki Shiraki and Chang-Ran KimTOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co will hold a board meeting on Thursday to oust Chairman Carlos Ghosn after the shock arrest of its once-revered leader, starting what could be a long period of uncertainty in its 19-year alliance with Renault.The Franco-Japanese alliance, enlarged in 2016 to include Japan's Mitsubishi Motors, has been rattled to its core by Ghosn's arrest in Japan on Monday, with the 64-year-old group chairman ... By Gabriela BaczynskaBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's 27 national ambassadors will try on Thursday to finalise an outline declaration of future ties between the bloc and the United Kingdom ahead of a planned summit on Sunday.Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, but the sides must yet approve a divorce deal and the accompanying outline of their new ties in the future. EU leaders hope to rubber-stamp the accord at Sunday's summit.British Prime Minister Theresa May failed to close all the gaps with the EU side in talks in Brussels on Wednesday and said she would return on ... By Jan StrupczewskiBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Trade tensions between the United States and China are likely to dominate the G20 summit of the world's 20 biggest economies next week, according to a senior European Union official who said the EU was keen to act as a bridge-builder.The United States and China have been imposing tariffs on each others goods in an escalating dispute over market access, forced technology transfer, intellectual property rights and state subsidies to certain sectors that distort competition.The European Union, Canada and Japan are also involved because of U.S. tariffs on ... By David Ljunggren, Rod Nickel and Julie GordonOTTAWA/VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Canada's federal government is considering a proposal from its main oil producing province of Alberta to share the cost of buying rail cars to move oil stuck in the region because of a lack of pipeline capacity, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The lack of pipelines has caused Western Canadian oil producers to struggle to move oil to refineries in the United States, resulting in record low prices for Canadian crude. That has prompted the Alberta government to take urgent measures to shore up the ... By Karin Strohecker and Tom FinnLONDON (Reuters) - Libya's sovereign wealth fund will appoint auditors within weeks and conclude a wide-ranging examination of its assets by 2019 as part of its efforts to get billions of dollars of assets unfrozen, the fund's head told Reuters. Ali Mahmoud Hassan Mohamed, the chairman and chief executive of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), said financial auditing and consulting company PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was one of the firms the fund was considering. About 70 percent of the LIA's $67 billion worth of assets have been frozen under United Nations ... PARIS (Reuters) - French energy group Total has agreed to buy some businesses of Brazil's Grupo Zema to expand in the biofuels sector.Total said it would be buying fuel distribution company Zema Petroleo, reseller and retailer arm Zema Diesel and importation company Zema Importacao. Financial terms were not disclosed.Zema Petroleo runs 280 dealer-operated service stations and several oil products and ethanol storage facilities. Total added it planned to expand its activities in the area and hoped to double the number of branded stations within five years, particularly in south-east and ... BERLIN (Reuters) - The heads of Volkswagen , BMW and Daimler are ready to attend a meeting at the White House with the Trump administration, but have not yet received a formal invitation, industry sources said on Thursday.The Handelsblatt newspaper on Wednesday cited industry and diplomatic sources as saying the meeting could possibly take place as soon as next week. The paper said it was not known whether U.S. President Donald Trump would attend the meeting."It's clear that the meeting is planned, and that the CEOs will attend," said one industry source.A second industry source confirmed ... DUBAI (Reuters) - The Indian rice samples offered in Egypt's first rice purchasing tender for 2018 have all failed a cooking test required for approval for purchase, three trade sources with direct knowledge said on Thursday.All Chinese rice samples were accepted while one Vietnamese rice sample was accepted and the other rejected, they said. Egypt, which has turned from a rice exporter to an importer because of water shortages, has in the past purchased rice from India. The samples are being tested by a research centre at before approval of offers. (Reporting by Maha El Dahan, editing by ... BERLIN (Reuters) - Lufthansa's Chief Financial Officer Ulrik Svensson wants to step down from his job at the German carrier, Germany's Manager Magazin said on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.Svensson has told colleagues he didn't want to extend his contract which expires in about a year. The 57-year-old, citing personal reasons for his decision, would like to return home to Sweden, the magazine said. Svensson was not immediately available for comment and a Lufthansa spokesman declined to comment on the report. (Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Douglas Busvine and ... By Henning GloysteinSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Thursday after U.S. crude inventories swelled to their highest level since December 2017 amid concerns of an emerging global glut, although the potential for a supply cut by OPEC prevented further drops.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, were at $54.35 per barrel at 0534 GMT, 28 cents, or 0.5 percent below their last settlement.Front-month Brent crude oil futures were at $63.25 per barrel, down 23 cents, or 0.4 percent.U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose by 4.9 million barrels to 446.91 million barrels last ... MOSCOW (Reuters) - A draft G20 communique covers trade and issues related to the World Trade Organisation, among other topics, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said on Thursday.The Group of 20 leading world economies is due to meet on Nov. 30-Dec. 1 in Argentina.Storchak told reporters there were major disagreements with the United States over the draft communique and that Argentina was asking all member countries to get actively involved in the drafting of the document. (Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; Writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Gareth Jones)(This story has not ... By Shihar AneezCOLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's three state banks will borrow up to $1 billion from foreign sources before the end of 2018 and use the money to pay off maturing foreign loans, Finance Ministry Secretary S.R. Attygalle said on Thursday.The move comes as Sri Lanka faces a worsening political crisis with a newly appointed government refusing to resign despite losing two confidence votes in parliament. The government is now trying to shore up a badly shaken investor confidence which is reflected in the decision by Moody's Investors Service to downgrade its rating deeper into junk ... (Reuters) - Nokia will merge its mobile networks and fixed networks business groups into a new unit called Access Networks as it takes aim at 5G opportunities, the Finnish firm announced on Thursday."By creating a single Access Networks organisation that includes both fixed and mobile, we can improve our customer focus, simplify our management structure, and more efficiently leverage our full portfolio," Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said in a statement.Nokia also announced management changes with Tommi Uitto appointed president of Mobile Networks and Marc Rouanne, who has been serving as ... (Reuters) - Major Japanese wireless carriers are planning to cut the price of Apple Inc's iPhone XR as early as next week, the Wall Street Journal reported https://on.wsj.com/2BqEtKU on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.The iPhone maker will offer subsidies to mobile network operators in Japan to boost the sales of iPhone XR, the Journal reported. Apple did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.Earlier this week, the WSJ reported that Apple had cut production orders in recent weeks for all three iPhone models launched in September.Apple shocked ... Britain has secured no improvements to its proposed future trading relations in financial services with the European Union after Brexit, according to a draft document, disappointing some executives who expected concessions. The three paragraphs on future relations in financial services, one of its most important export sectors, are little changed from an initial draft released last week, the document seen by Reuters showed. Britain, Europe's biggest financial centre, is offered EU market access based on the bloc's "equivalence" system, which is available ... The September hike in import duties on white goods like air-conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines as well as on compressors has given a big boost to domestic manufacturing in the white goods sector. Investments topping Rs 6,500 crore have already been lined up for the next two years in this sector, and there's more in the pipeline, The Economic Times reported. Consider the Rs 30,000-crore appliances industry, where only entry- to mid-segment products have typically been manufactured locally. Where premium models and critical components such as heat exchange coils and compressors are concerned, the segment has so far relied on imports. For example, over 50% of air conditioner components are currently imported. "After the recent import duty hike by the government, it is no more a question whether to locally produce or import and sell," Gunjan Srivastava, managing director of BSH Household Appliances, which sells Bosch and Siemens machines in India, told the daily. "We need to invest in local manufacturing and create a Make in India base, otherwise it will be difficult." So BSH is planning to invest 100 million euros (about Rs 800 crore) for setting up a refrigerator factory near Chennai after having recently started making washing machines. The government, effective September 27, had doubled duties on import of 19 items, including air conditioners, household refrigerators and washing machines (less than 10 kg), to 20 per cent in an attempt to contain the widening current account deficit and check the rupee fall. Import duties on compressors for air conditioners and refrigerators were also hiked from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent. This had led to a 10 per cent increase in the price of imported appliances. No wonder foreign and domestic companies are now looking to set up manufacturing infrastructure in India and invest in backward integration. The buzz is that Shanghai Hitachi Electrical Appliance Co., a joint venture between Hitachi Japan and Shanghai Highly Group of China, is expanding its compressor unit in Gujarat. Then, another Chinese player, Guangdong Meizhi Compressor Co, a Midea Group company that boasts a 34 per cent global market share, is setting up a new Rs 1,350-crore manufacturing facility in Maharashtra. This facility will reportedly be its first outside China, of which almost half will be for compressors. Not to be outdone, China's top appliance maker Haier has finalised plans to invest Rs 3,000 crore in its new plant in Greater Noida that will reportedly manufacture components and premium models. The company signed an MoU with the Uttar Pradesh government for this project in September, just 10 months after it shelled out Rs 600 crore to upgrade its Pune plant. Mike Chen, Country Manager - TCL India, told the daily that they plan to start manufacturing appliances and its components from next year at their upcoming Rs 2,000 crore plant in Tirupati, where it will also produce televisions. The booming consumer durables segment, estimated to have reached Rs 1 lakh crore ($15.5 billion) last year, is also seeing the entry of new players. In September, Tata group firm Voltas and Arcelik, a part of Koc Holding which is the largest industrial conglomerate in Turkey, announced a 50:50 joint venture, Voltbek Home Appliances Pvt Ltd. Voltas MD Pradeep Bakshi told the daily that Arcelik is investing over Rs 250 crore to start manufacturing in Gujarat, which will also include backward integration, and the investment will go up in phases. Significantly, it's not just the import duty angle that is making the white goods sector wake up to the potential of Make in India. "Brands importing even from countries with which India has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) have realised that local manufacturing may be cheaper due to lower labour costs and not having to pay for high freight costs from overseas," Kamal Nandi, Godrej Appliances business head and president of the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) lobby group, told the daily. Given that the industry feels that a further customs duty hike could be on the cards, as in the case of televisions and smartphones, India's long-ailing manufacturing sector is clearly headed for a revival, giving a fillip to employment generation in the bargain. Edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal with PTI inputs Last November, a herd of eight donkeys had to spend four days in detention at Uttar Pradesh's Urai district jail. Their crime? Munching on and destroying plants allegedly worth Rs 5 lakh that were planted outside the jail. Previously, in 2015, two birds found themselves on the wrong side of the law - in Maharashtra, a foul-mouthed parrot was detained by the police for repeatedly swearing at an 85-year-old woman, while a pigeon with a "stamped message" in Urdu on its body was called a spy and arrested in a Kashmir village near the Pakistan border. But such bizarre instances of arresting animals are not limited to India. Last Friday, the British police locked up a four-month-old chow-chow puppy for biting an officer on his hand and arm, The Daily Mail reported. The dog named Bungle, arrested in Northamptonshire, has been booked under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and could reportedly face up to nine months in custody. While Bungle's arrest has rubbed the public the wrong way - over 2,500 supporters have joined a Facebook group calling for the pet's immediate release - the police are staunchly defending the decision. According to the daily, a response from a police chief inspector said the dog had been holding up traffic when the officer tried to catch it and was bitten on the dog and arm, but not seriously hurt. "Public safety is the priority concern in such situations; the owner was not present and the officers deemed that there was continued risk, both to the safety of the dog and members of the public who were present at the time," the officer reportedly said. "I am sure we would have had significantly more public anger had the dog bitten a child rather than a police officer or if it had caused a serious accident on a busy road." But Bungle's supporters are having none of it and called the warden's actions 'callous' and 'heavy-handed', the daily added. In the meantime, the pet's owners, David Hayes and his wife Susan, who are said to be millionaire bankers, are believed to have appointed lawyers to look into the matter. A look at Bungle's image certainly makes the invocation of the Dangerous Dogs Act seem an overkill. According to the UK's official legislation website, this Act prohibits persons "from having in their possession or custody dogs belonging to types bred for fighting". It further seeks to enable restrictions to be imposed in relation to other types of dogs that "present a serious danger to the public" and make provision for "securing that dogs are kept under proper control". In the case of the eight donkeys arrested in Uttar Pradesh a year ago, the owner had to seek the help of a local BJP politician to get the police to release them. Let's see if public opinion alone will be enough to help Bungle. #FreeBungle already has the Twitterati buzzing. Edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal US president Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who also are his two senior advisors, may visit India this week. The couple will visit Jaisalmer to attend the wedding ceremony of a member of an industrialist family, a report by The Times of India said. The marriage Ivanka and Jared will be attending is from November 22 to 25. According to reports, Ivanka and Jared will reach Jaisalmer in a special chartered plane on November 22 and will head back on November 25. The report suggested that the couple might also spend a night in the desert, enjoying the sand dunes of the west Rajasthan. Neither the American embassy, nor the White House has confirmed Ivanka and Jared's plan to visit India. Meanwhile, the city administration has bolstered security arrangements in ahead of their visit. A team of 50 American embassy officials and security personnel have assessed Jaisalmer, the daily reported. ALSO WATCH: (Eds: Adding more quotes) New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday accused the Modi government of pushing Jammu and Kashmir into a cycle of violence, "bereft of democratic institutions", and slammed the decision of the Governor to dissolve the state assembly as "unconstitutional and unethical".The opposition party also demanded early elections in the state to set in motion the democratic process so that the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions get a people's government.Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram took a swipe at Governor Satyapal Malik over the decision to dissolve the J-K Assembly, saying that parliamentary democracy was standing on its head and the "Gujarat model" has appealed to him more than the "Westminster model" that India follows. "As long as no one staked a claim to form government, J-K governor was happy to keep Assembly under suspension. The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly. Parliamentary democracy standing on its head," he tweeted. "The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K governor," Chidambaram added.Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged the decision to impose Governor's rule is nothing short of the BJP "ruling forcibly" through proxy in the state while party leader Manish Tewari termed it as "unconstitutional, immoral and unethical".Tewari said that after the PDP, the NC and the Congress staked claim to form government, the governor's decision to dissolve the assembly without giving them a chance to form government and prove a majority "is murder of democracy and must be challenged in court"."Dissolution of assembly in this manner is unconstitutional, immoral and unethical. A dangerous harbinger of things to come. Thank God founding fathers were wise enough not to provide for president's rule at Centre? Shudder to think what could have happened when BJP loses 2019," he tweeted.Surjewala tweeted: "Modi Government has pushed Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh into an unending cycle of violence bereft of democratic institutions." "The Congress demands that the people of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh deserve a rule by people - a peoples Government. For that, democratic process must be set in motion and early elections must be held which is the only way of restoring normalcy and to end the unending cycle of violence that Modi Government has pushed it into," he said.Responding to the Governors statement, he asked, "Is the Governor of J&K Satyapal Malik speaking as a representative of BJP, Spokesperson of BJP or as a protector and defender of the Constitution of India in Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, which is his primary responsibility.""Will Satyapal Malik answer was it not an unholy alliance when Modi Ji entered into an alliance with PDP," he said, adding neither PDP nor BJP had got majority to rule at that time.The Congress leader also responded to BJP leader Ram Madhav, saying he was the architect of that PDP-BJP alliance. "Did he receive instructions from across the border when he constituted that unholy alliance when in the presence of Modi Ji and Ram Madhav Ji, thanks were given to separatists and Pakistan for elections in Jammu and Kashmir, instead of our Army and people of J&K were they getting instructions from across the border," he asked.Tewari also challenged the BJP to name even one leader "martyred in the fight against terror", after it accused the Congress, the National Conference, and J&K People's Democratic Party of being "terror friendly". PTI SKC RT (Eds: Adds quotes) Lucknow, Nov 22 (PTI) Openly batting for the party he founded, Mulayam Singh Yadav Thursday asked Samajwadi Party workers to create a situation in which no government can be formed at the Centre without its support. He also warned against attempts to break the SP, from which his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav has already distanced himself. The patriarch is often seen balancing his relations with son Akhilesh Yadav who now heads the SP and his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, who has floated a rival party. Both parties organised separate events Thursday as the patriarch turned 79. They billed it as his 80th birthday, marking it as the beginning of that year of his life. "I ask you to fix my programmes at the commissionerate level, I will be there, he told SP office bearers, hinting at his willingness to campaign for the party. I ask you all to take a pledge that in the days to come, besides forming the government in UP, we have to create such a situation in Delhi that no government can be formed without the SP. This is my request to you," he said at the SP headquarters where he also cut a cake. An SP statement quoted him as saying that some people are involved in breaking up the party. We have to strengthen the party more. We should try to work for people and ensure that no one remains unhappy with us," he said. Asking SP workers to adopt the habit of reading and writing, he said, There is collection of my speeches in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and as a defence minister, and the workers should read them." He said when he was defence minister, we chased away China and Pakistan. It needs courage, he said. You all should follow the path of justice and stand up wherever there is injustice against anyone," he said. Party president Akhilesh Yadav was not present at the event as he is campaigning in the Madhya Pradesh elections, but he tweeted a photograph with father Mulayam Singh Yadav. "I congratulate 'Netaji' on his birthday. He taught us all to follow Gandhiji's path of truth and non-violence, Lohiaji's ideology of identifying ills to remove them and also that trust is the biggest wealth in human relations," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said. Shivpal Yadav's newly formed Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) celebrated the birthday at its headquarter in Lucknow, and in the districts. PSPL workers organised blood donation, sweets distribution and other events, observing the day as "Dharma Nirpekshta Divas" (Secularism Day). The party also organised a wrestling 'dangal' in Mulayam Singh Yadavs native Saifai in Etawah district, honouring the leader as a former wrestler. Shivpal Yadav was there as chief guest. While wishing his brother on his birthday, he reiterated that he had formed the new party with Mulayam Singh Yadavs blessings. Both factions have repeatedly claimed that Yadavs "blessings" are with them. Shivpal Yadav has announced that the PSPL will contest all Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, except Mainpuri from where his brother is likely to contest. He launched the new party, complaining that he was being ignored in the SP after Akhilesh Yadav took over as its president, ousting Mulayam Singh Yadav. PTI ABN ASHASHASH The government is planning to introduce amendments to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 which will provide compensation to patients if they are sold a faulty medical device by a manufacturer or importer. The decision has been taken in the backdrop of the uproar caused earlier this year in India and abroad over defective hip implants from US-based Johnson & Johnson. The proposal to reimburse people affected by faulty medical devices will be taken up at the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), scheduled a week from today, Business Standard reported while quoting sources. If the proposed amendments get the green flag from DTAB, they will be tabled before the health ministry for approval. While in a nascent stage, a decision could be taken on the proposal by the end of this fiscal, the report added. While some stakeholders believe amending the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to include compensations is a quick and much-needed step, others have called for compensations to be governed by a separate Act altogether, the daily reported. The proposal comes on the back of the controversy surrounding faulty hip implants sold by US-based Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to 4,700 patients in India. Earlier this year, the articular surface replacement (ASR) hip implants manufactured by DePuy International Ltd - a subsidiary of J&J - were found to be faulty which resulted in higher instances of revision surgeries globally including India. The whole controversy began after Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration registered an FIR against Johnson & Johnson following an anonymous complaint in March 2011. The complaint was registered for importing and marketing the faulty hip devices in India despite recalling the product in several other countries. Two years later, when reports emerged that J&J had agreed to pay compensation to around 8,000 American citizens who had sued the company for its faulty devices, the FDA received three more complaints from Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad seeking similar compensation for the faulty implants. Later, the company received hundreds of complaints from its Indian patients. A committee, led by former dean of Maulana Azad Medical College Dr Arun K Agarwal, looking into the matter recommended that DePuy International Ltd be made liable to pay at least Rs 20 lakh to each affected patient and the reimbursement for revision surgeries should continue until August 2025. Edited by Vivek Punj Xiaomi is all set to launch Redmi Note 6 Pro today. The launch event will take place in New Delhi, starting 12 pm (IST). Redmi Note 6 Pro is the successor to the hugely popular Redmi Note 5 pro and comes with a notched display. Buyers will be able to buy the phone from tomorrow. The phone will be available on both Flipkart and Mi.com via flash sale. The biggest USP of Note 6 Pro is its camera. It will sport two cameras on its back and two in front. The Redmi Note 6 Pro comes with a main 12-megapixel sensor on the back with Dual Pixel autofocus and f/1.9 aperture, and a secondary sensor of 5-megapixel for depth sensing. On the front, the Redmi Note 6 Pro have a primary sensor of 20-megapixel and a secondary camera with 2-megapixel sensor for portrait shots. Redmi Note 6 Pro will have a bigger and brighter display when compared to its predecessor, Note 5 Pro. It features a 6.26-inch full-HD+ IPS LCD full screen display with a resolution of 1080x2280 pixels. The Note 6 Pro screen has an aspect ratio of 19:9 and has a notch that can be hidden by changing the display settings. The Redmi Note 6 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm's Snapdragon 636 SoC clocked at 1.8GHz and paired with Adreno 509 GPU. It will have two variants India. The base version of the phone comes with 4GB RAM/64GB storage, while the top variant packs in 6GB RAM with 64GB of internal storage. Note 6 Pro supports Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) connectivity and runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box with the latest version of MIUI skin on top. The new MIUI 10 skin supports gesture based experience. It has a new UI and natural sound system. Other features like PiP, autofill, quick pay, improved screen recording etc are also supported. The Redmi Note 6 Pro comes with a bigger 4000 mAh battery and supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0. It will be available in red, blue, black, and rose gold colours. Just like Redmi Note 5 Pro, Note 6 Pro is expected to be competitively priced at Rs 15,999 for the 4 GB variant & Rs 16,999 for the 6 GB variant. Xiaomi will be live streaming the event on its official website. Also Read: Xiaomi to launch Redmi Note 6 Pro: Here are 5 reasons why it'll be a winner Indian tourist arrivals to Greece has more than doubled to 38,046 in the first nine months of the current calendar year. Around 17,376 Indian tourists visited Greece in the same period of 2017, according to a data by Greece National Tourist Office (GNTO) and Athens International Airport. "Greece as a destination has gained momentum over the years, and we are glad to witness the rising interest of Indians for Greece as a popular holiday destination across the country. Our approach is to target the captive audience across various age groups simply by appealing to every kind of travel need," said Konstantinos Tsegas, secretary general, GNTO. He said GNTO has leveraged diverse platforms based on specific characteristics of the Indian market. The strategy, according to Tsegas, is also to promote 365-day tourism in Greece and create awareness about lesser known cities of Thessaloniki, Xanthi and Kavala, which have great geophysical, historical and cultural importance, along with Athens. "We are closely working with our partners in India for growth across segments like families, FITS (first-time travellers segment), MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events), destination weddings, honeymoon and films," he said. Greece had registered an overall 15.5 million tourist arrivals in 2017 and 14.6 million in 2016, of which 9.7 per cent travellers were from India each year, he added. The European Union's 27 national ambassadors will try on Thursday to finalize an outline declaration of future ties between the bloc and the United Kingdom ahead of a planned summit on Sunday. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, but the sides must yet approve a divorce deal and the accompanying outline of their new ties in the future. EU leaders hope to rubber-stamp the accord at Sunday's summit. British Prime Minister Theresa May failed to close all the gaps with the EU side in talks in Brussels on Wednesday and said she would return on Saturday, hoping a last-minute intervention will be enough to push the accord over the line. Britain's disputed territory of Gibraltar is the biggest sticking point, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez digging his heels in before a local election in Andalusia. Raising the stakes, German diplomats told their EU colleagues in Brussels that Chancellor Angela Merkel would not come to Brussels on Sunday for any further negotiations, meaning a text must be ready beforehand. One diplomat said that was a message aimed as much at Britain - where May's plans have come under heavy fire from within her ruling Conservative Party - as at the bloc's own "nitpickers" such as Spain or France, which has sought more assurances of future access to Britain's rich fishing waters. France and other countries have also asked for better guarantees that Britain would not be able to place products on the EU's single market after Brexit at lower prices due to undercutting labor, competition or labor standards. From her side, May must also decide on a potential extension of a transition period after Brexit, which the bloc said could last until the end of 2022 at the latest. Britain was also seeking frictionless trade in goods after Brexit, which the EU does not allow without also following its rules on the free movement of people and services. The ambassadors of the other 27 EU member states were due to meet at 1000 GMT in Brussels to work on the outline declaration. This declaration, running above 20 pages, has yet to be agreed and published. It is due to form a package with Britain's withdrawal agreement, nearly 600 pages of a legal treaty, that was published last week and prompted several of May's ministers to quit. Pressure often builds up ahead of sensitive EU summits and the bloc is also known for sometimes missing its self-imposed deadlines. Diplomats warned, however, that the longer the Brexit deal remained unfinished, the bigger the risk it could unravel. "It may just be posturing on both sides, everyone wants to look like a real fighter," one diplomat said on Thursday. "But they should keep in mind not to rock the boat too much." (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Sterling traded flat on Thursday after Prime Minister Theresa May failed to secure a blueprint for Britain's future ties with the European Union at a meeting with the head of the bloc's executive. May will return to Brussels on Saturday to try and agree an outline for Britain's withdrawal from the EU. All EU leaders are due to meet on Sunday to approve the deal. Just over four months before Britain's departure from the EU, Brexit negotiations and political uncertainty in Britain remain the key drivers for the pound, and many analysts are cautious about its prospects. "With the UK and EU rushing to dot i's and cross t's on a Brexit deal, there's some support for sterling at the moment and some upward pressure on the front end of the rates market," said Societe Generale strategist Kit Juckes. "Though it won't take long before we refocus on the challenge facing the Prime Minister in getting House of Commons support for her Brexit deal," he added. The pound was up 0.1% to $1.2784 at 0900 GMT but down 0.1% against the euro to 89.19 pence Growing opposition to May's draft arrangement has hit sterling hard in recent weeks, pulling it down nearly 3% from a Nov. 7 high of $1.3176. Raising the stakes, EU diplomats said they had been told that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was not willing to come on Sunday for any more talks, meaning a text must be ready beforehand. Outstanding issues include a Spanish threat to block the so-called political declaration over Gibraltar and problems from other states on fishing rights and future trade ties. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie By Teng Jing Xuan / Nov 22, 2018 06:13 PM / Environment Dead sharks tell no tales but a man who went to jail for shipping them has told his. A crew member of the Chinese vessel caught off the coast of Ecuador last year with over 6,000 sharks onboard has admitted that his company had caught the fish, solving the months-old mystery of how the carcasses had ended up onboard a storage ship with no fishing equipment in the first place. The loot of the Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999, intercepted within the Galapagos Marine Reserve in August 2017, had included baby sharks and endangered species. Its crew was sentenced by an Ecuadorean court to prison terms and a multi-million dollar fine for illegally transporting wildlife. Galapagos authorities and Chinas Ministry of Agriculture initially said the catch had been obtained from two Taiwan-flagged fishing vessels. But a Caixin investigation at the time showed there were no registered vessels in the world fitting the description given by the authorities, and instead pointed to the involvement of Fuzhou Honglong Ocean Aquatic Products, a company registered in Fujian province. Fuzhou Honglong denied at the time that it had caught the fish. Huang Zhiqiang, who returned to China recently after a year in an Ecuadorean prison, has confirmed that the Taiwan boats were a fabrication. The sharks on board (the Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999) had been caught by Honglong, he said, referring to the company's fleet of fishing vessels. Detailed coverage to come on Caixin Global. Read more: How Did 6,223 Sharks End Up on Ship With No Fishing Equipment? Fishing Company Punished for Vessel Caught With Dead Sharks China Struggles to Reel In Its Illegal Fishing Abroad November 22, 2018 Ottawa, ON A new administrative arrangement has been signed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), the United Kingdoms Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and its Office for Nuclear Regulation. The arrangement implements the provisions of the nuclear cooperation agreement (NCA) between Canada and the United Kingdom that assures the peaceful use of nuclear items and technology. Nuclear cooperation between Canada and the United Kingdom is currently governed by the Canada-Euratom (European Atomic Energy Community) NCA. On March 29, 2017, the United Kingdom formally notified the European Commission of its intention to withdraw from the European Union (EU) and Euratom. A new Canada-United Kingdom NCA, similar in scope, was also signed on November 2, 2018, to allow current and future nuclear trade between the two countries to continue. Upon the UKs withdrawal from the EU and Euratom, the new Canada-UK NCA and the administrative arrangement will come into effect. Quote Canada is proud to continue its long and fruitful collaboration with the United Kingdom for the use of nuclear energy. This new administrative arrangement reflects our countrys strong commitment to nuclear safety, security, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Rumina Velshi, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission news, crime The family of Colin Winchester is "extremely disappointed" following David Eastman's acquittal of the ACT police chief's murder. Mr Eastman was on Thursday found not guilty at trial of Mr Winchester's 1989 murder. Mr Winchester's family issued a statement via Victim Support ACT, and delivered by former ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner John Hinchey, outside court. "We are extremely disappointed," the statement said. "We acknowledge the DPP and the AFP for their professionalism and determination, in particular [lead investigator and former detective commander] Ric Ninness and his team," the statement said. Mr Hinchey said the family had been through "hell and back" since the January 10 murder. "Twenty-three years ago the late Gwen Winchester stood outside this court after the first trial had a finding of guilt, and said that her late husband Colin can rest in peace," Mr Hinchey said. "Today, that small consolation has been taken from the Winchester family. "Thirty years next January, Colin Winchester was murdered, that's a long time to carry, not only grief but two trials, a full commission of inquiry, an appeal to the federal court, an appeal to the High Court." Mr Hinchey said the federal police, broadly, would also feel the pain of the verdict. "[The AFP] would be heartbroken I believe, and grieve stricken again, it's another day of mourning for the AFP and the Winchester's," he said. "[The AFP] have stood side-by-side with the Winchester family, they have been loyal supporters as a group of people and as a profession. "I pray that at some stage in the future, the family finds some peace." Separate statements from the federal police and director of public prosecutions also noted the impact of the cases on the Winchester family. The Winchester family's grief has often been played out in the public spotlight, and frequently overshadowed by decades of court wrangling and speculation over Mr Eastman's 1995 murder conviction. The family has spurned the spotlight and declined to speak publicly, save for issuing a rare statement on significant occasions. Mr Winchester's widow, Gwen, will never know the outcome of the trial, having died in 2015 aged 78, only months after Mr Eastman's release from custody. Tributes to Mrs Winchester recalled her "incredible strength and character" after the assassination of her husband, the hunt for his killer, a trial, appeals and inquiries. The Australian Federal Police and ACT Policing statement said they acknowledged the verdict, and members' thoughts were with the Winchester family. "Chief police officer for the ACT, Assistant Commissioner Ray Johnson recognises the dedication and significant efforts of all those officers who have investigated this matter over almost 30 years. The AFP continues to have full confidence in the capabilities and professionalism of our investigators both now and in those who initially brought this case before the court," it said. "This matter has placed strain on the Winchester family over a long period and they will continue to receive our support. Similarly, former and current members involved in the case will be supported both professionally and personally. "In light of todays outcome, the AFP will consult with its partners on any future actions." The Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White also issued a brief statement on the case. "After a trial in which both parties presented their cases fully and professionally, the justice system has delivered its verdict," he said. "I would like to compliment the prosecution team led by Murugan Thangaraj SC for their dedication and professionalism. I would also like to acknowledge the investigating officers in this most challenging investigation. "My thoughts are with the Winchester family who have displayed great forbearance in the face of unimaginable tribulations. There will be no further comment at this time." One of Mr Eastmans former lawyers and the man who helped spark the inquiry that overturned the 1995 conviction, Terry O'Donnell, was in court when the verdict was returned. Outside court, he said he had feared his former client would be convicted again. "It was a very long fight the first trial was an absolute disgrace, it was a shambles, it was a misscarriage," he said. "He spent 19 terrible years in prison, and all I can say he is now in a much better state than he was 27 years ago when I first represented him. "I'm relieved for him [but] the result was for Mr Eastman and Mr Eastman alone." /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/7d4082c1-8b4f-48ee-9951-b0b45bd3eec6/r0_16_320_197_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, latest-news David Eastman spent 19 years in prison for the murder of ACT police chief Colin Winchester. In August 2014, he was released. David Eastman is a free man, released on bail after his conviction for murdering ACT police chief Colin Winchester was quashed. After serving more than 19 years of a life sentence, he was driven out of the Alexander Maconochie Centre about 6pm, covered with a blanket in the back of a maroon sedan. It is not known where Eastman will be taken or whether the government will provide housing, however, ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell said he would receive all the assistance normally given to released prisoners and he would not go homeless. Despite his newfound freedom, the prospect of a retrial for the 1989 murder of Commissioner will hang over Eastman's head. ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White issued a statement on Friday afternoon saying the new trial was under consideration. Meanwhile, ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner John Hinchey spoke on behalf of the Winchester family, saying they were up for a retrial. "The Winchester family remain steadfast and resolute in their pursuit of justice for Colin Winchester and would support any retrial of David Eastman," he said. The ACT Supreme Court on Friday ordered Eastman face a new trial over the assassination. The spotlight is now on the Director of Public Prosecutions, who has the ultimate say over whether Eastman will be hauled back before court for a second trial. Eastman was released from the Alexander Maconochie Centre after agreeing to abide by bail conditions. The conditions include that he not approach a list of more than 200 people, including the Winchester family. He will also need to give authorities at least 48 hours notice if he intends to leave the ACT. He will return to court on September 11, although a new trial - if it goes ahead - will not happen until at least 2015. In a judgment published on Friday, the court, comprised of Justices Steven Rares, Michael Wigney and acting Justice Dennis Cowdroy, found Eastman did not receive a trial according to law. The judges said a fair trial was a fundamental right of every person charged with a criminal offence. "It would be an affront to justice to permit the conviction to stand. We have concluded that the conviction be quashed," Justice Rares said. The judges said a new trial had been necessary as a strong circumstantial case of murder of a senior police officer existed against Eastman. The court heard he should not "escape having a jury decide whether or not he is guilty of that crime". "Weighing all the relevant factors and considerations, we have concluded that the interests of justice require that we order a retrial," Justice Rares told the court. A retrial was thought by many to be an impossibility as witnesses are dead, forensic evidence has been destroyed, and finding a jury free from the taint of prejudice after so many years of media coverage would be difficult at best. Eastman's lawyers say trying to defend the case decades down the track would put him at a severe disadvantage. But the court on Friday said it had not been convinced that a new trial would be unfair. "We are satisfied that an order for a new trial would not deprive Mr Eastman of the capacity to protect his position ... there was no evidence of any damage from publicity to Mr Eastman's position before us and any retrial would not occur immediately," Justice Rares told the court. "Whether the director decides to present Mr Eastman for trial again will be a matter for the exercise of his prosecutorial discretion. "If that occurs, it will be open to Mr Eastman to make any application for a stay to the trial judge." The ACT DPP has previously argued that an overwhelming case still points toward Eastman's guilt. They say the evidence shows he had a clear motive, was linked to the murder weapon, was seen casing out the scene prior to the killing, and was unable to explain his whereabouts the next day. Prosecutors say there is still evidence that Eastman made threats against Mr Winchester and uttered confessional-type statements, picked up on police bugs placed in his home. Whatever comes next, this momentous decision closes a long-running chapter in the interminable Eastman saga. It also means another of Australia's most infamous criminal convictions has fallen over because of shoddy forensic work. The gunshot residue analysis, so critical in proving Eastman's guilt in 1995, was completely discredited in an inquiry into the former Treasury official's conviction, presided over by former Northern Territory Chief Justice Brian Martin. Earlier this year, Acting Justice Martin found a "substantial miscarriage of justice" had occurred and called for Eastman's conviction to be quashed. Eastman will be freed in the face of a finding by Acting Justice Martin that he is fairly certain of his guilt, but holds a "nagging doubt". The inquiry's recommendations came before a full bench of the ACT Supreme Court, who ultimately held Eastman's fate in their hands. Prosecutors last month made a last-ditch attempt to convince the court to keep Eastman behind bars. But, as a packed courtroom watched on, the three Supreme Court judges ruled in the prisoner's favour on Friday afternoon. Experts have said Eastman may struggle to re-adjust to life outside, after spending so long in the highly-regimented and controlled environment of a prison. He may eventually get a shot at compensation for wrongful imprisonment, which some lawyers have estimated could reach into the millions. He was convicted on a circumstantial case, to which the forensic evidence was central. Victorian-based expert Robert Collins Barnes strongly linked gunshot residue found in Eastman's Mazda boot with the murder scene. Even Eastman's trial judge, Ken Carruthers, paid tribute to the strength of the forensics when sentencing Eastman to life in November 1995. "This investigation must surely rank as one of the most skilled, sophisticated and determined forensic investigations in the history of criminal investigation in Australia," he said at the time. That statement was left in tatters by the Eastman inquiry. A covert recording between the supposedly-independent Mr Barnes and a senior detective was played to the inquiry in which he described himself as a "police witness", and attempted to stymy attempts to have his work thoroughly reviewed. Any serious investigation of Mr Barnes would have found he lacked objectivity, overplayed the strength of his evidence, and became emotionally involved in the case, the inquiry found. The provenance of critical evidence was either non-existent or highly doubtful, and fundamental data was not produced by Mr Barnes prior to trial. "In some instances it is apparent that Mr Barnes could not have undertaken the organic analyses upon which he claimed to have based his opinions," Acting Justice Martin found. "In other respects, the contemporaneous accounts strongly suggest that such analyses were not carried out and that Mr Barnes' report was wrong." /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/cfe45884-7efc-4e38-8c49-748fe06de1ca.jpg/r0_98_1702_1060_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, latest-news Palming a deck of cards in the courtyard of his teak house in Bangkok that doubles as a bookstore, Sulak Sivaraksa doesnt look like a threat to the fabric of Thai society. But for nearly 50 years, a succession of military dictatorships has thought otherwise. Sulak, 85, was forced into exile twice and had his life threatened and bookstore burnt in decades of political upheaval. He has also faced five serious prosecutions for lese-majeste royal defamation, each punishable by up to 15 years in jail and escaped without a single conviction. I hope I am not prosecuted again, Sulak says. I cannot keep my mouth shut, that is my problem. Throughout it all, the devoted Buddhist, scholar, publisher, grassroots activist and occasional protester has remained a monarchist. He believes the lese-majeste law, Article 112, should be abolished for the sake of keeping the royal family strong. He also speaks highly of the new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, who he says is not only responsible for his freedom but for no new lese-majeste charges being laid against anyone in a year. The present king is impatient, he said no more, Sulak says. Thailand has the worlds harshest lese-majeste law, and record sentences have been handed down since the 2014 coup. Australian writer Harry Nicolaides was pardoned after receiving a three-year sentence in 2009 for 12 lines in a novel deemed to defame the then-crown prince, while more recently the ruling junta has tried to persuade New Zealand to extradite suspects to no avail. Dr Patrick Jory, senior lecturer in South-east Asian history at the University of Queensland, says the frequency of its use and severity of the punishment set it apart from similar laws in Europe, which were rarely invoked, or Saudi Arabia. He suspects the coming election and Vajiralongkorn's coronation, on a date yet to be set, have both played a part in the year-long moratorium on new charges. It spikes when theres a political crisis, particularly one in which the monarchy is involved, Jory says. One of the arguments made, even by monarchists, is that the lese-majeste law is abused by people for ulterior purposes, or political purposes. Human Rights Watch senior researcher Sunai Phasuk says despite the changes under the new king, there has been no improvement in freedom of expression. While there has been a sharp drop in lese-majeste prosecutions, Thai authorities have switched to using other laws, such as the Computer-Related Crime Act and sedition law, to prosecute critics of the monarchy, Sunai says. The most recent, and most notorious, case brought against Sulak was for questioning the propaganda surrounding an elephant battle King Naresuan led against the Burmese army in the late 16th century. He used a lecture at a university to suggest scholars look at the firsthand accounts from Burmese and Persian sources instead of relying on the Thai armys version of events, which have been popularised in film. All I said was Thai history is different from mythology, Sulak says. He was the 93rd of 94 people to be charged under Article 112 since the junta seized power in 2014, according to the legal advocacy group iLaw. Existing cases continue to proceed; the next due for a hearing involves a factory worker who clicked like on a social media post about the late kings dog. One young activist was recently jailed for sharing a BBC Thai biography of Vajiralongkorn, while another wanted on the same charge was this month granted political asylum in South Korea. Like most others, Sulaks case had been bound for a secret military tribunal instead of open court. However, his caught widespread attention when rights groups such as Amnesty and PEN International campaigned on his behalf. The initial complaint was lodged by junior officers, but Sulak is convinced it was prosecuted at the behest of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who he calls mediocre. Hes the worst of the dictators weve had, Sulak says, before clarifying that he thinks Prayuth is the least competent. Sarit [Thanarat, who ruled from 1959-63] was the worst as a dictator, yet he knew how to run a country. He appointed a lot of technocrats. Prayuths afraid of me. Hes a hypocrite. He used this case to silence me. Every dictator hated me. Suchinda [Kraprayoon, whose brief tenure in 1992 was marked by a massacre] was very bright compared with Prayut. He tried to kill me. Its no exaggeration: Suchindas troops blockaded a sympathetic embassy 1991 where Sulak sought refuge. He escaped via a side alley, through a series of safe houses over the border to Laos and on to an Aeroflot jet bound for Europe. Among those who helped was Sombath Somphone and his wife Ng Shui Meng; Sombath disappeared at a police checkpoint in Vientiane on December 15, 2012, and has not been seen since. Born into wealth and a well-connected Chinese family and receiving higher education in England, Sulaks first prominent role in the maelstrom of Thai politics came in the late 1960s. He started Social Science Review, a landmark publication that was often critical of the government, although also featured work from princes and nobility. Intended to spark discussion, it is also said to have helped inspire the 1973 student rebellion that briefly ended military rule. Three years later when the military launched a massacre at Thammasat University, Sulak was overseas: friends were killed and his bookstore was razed. He stayed in exile for two years, making connections that would prove useful in his social activism and with figures who would come to his aid when charges were laid. The help would go both ways: one of Sulaks non-government organisations worked in Myanmar in the darkest days of military rule after the 1988 crackdown. For all the help from lawyers and appeals from international agencies, it was a 90-minute audience with Vajiralongkorn which solved Sulaks latest legal woes. Pouring tea while a team from the council prunes the giant trees that block out the nearby concrete pillars of commerce, Sulak is circumspect about what the king is like in person. He has a bad public image, he acknowledges. Hes shy, but hes very knowledgeable. Hes very concerned with the survival of the monarchy, and very concerned about whether this country could be really democratic. I think the king is wise. He wants the monarchy to be more open and more transparent. He has gained a lot of confidence [since he assumed power]. Opening the institution up for criticism would only strengthen it, in Sulaks view. It should be abolished if they have the political will, but I dont think they have. A compromise would involve lowering the minimum and maximum sentences and raising the threshold for prosecution; now anyone can lodge a claim the police must take seriously. Jory says the new king is very unpopular, particularly compared to his father, and with too many skeletons in the monarchys closet he does not expect the lese-majeste law to be reformed any time soon. They will hold on as long as they can, he said. It would be hugely damaging to the reputation of the monarchy. Everyones really gone underground [but] the monarchy has lots and lots of enemies. This issue in the medium term wont go away. Early comments from the new army chief, the son of the armed forces commander who helped Suchinda stage the 1991 coup, give little comfort to reformers. General Apirat Kongsompong suggested anti-monarchists had mental disorders and had no place in Thailand: I will protect the monarchy with everything I have, its the armys duty. Sulak has little time for the men in uniform. Thai generals think this country is the centre of the universe and they have a dim view of their neighbours because of this belief Thailand was never colonised. They view their neighbours as inferior, and its not so. He is not expecting much to change with the election expected in February. A lot of young people are dedicating themselves to politics. They want to stand for the election, and I am afraid they will be brokenhearted. The army will not lose its grip. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/4fe3389d-1a2f-4ed9-87a8-43e83d81228a/r0_111_2000_1241_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg 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. Photo: The Canadian Press Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will call three byelections, including in the B.C. riding where NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh hopes to win a seat in Parliament, early in the new year for votes in early February. A fourth riding may yet be added to the mix but a fifth riding, due to be vacated on Jan. 22 by Montreal Liberal MP Nicola Di Iorio, is likely to remain without representation until the general election due next October. Trudeau was criticized last month when he called one byelection in the eastern Ontario riding of Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes for Dec. 3, while leaving three other ridings vacant. Singh was particularly critical, accusing the prime minister of disrespecting voters in Burnaby South, where the NDP leader plans to run, the Montreal riding of Outremont and the Ontario riding of York-Simcoe. At the time, Trudeau argued that the other three had only recently been vacated, whereas Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes had been without an MP almost six months, since the death of Conservative Gordon Brown. Insiders now say Trudeau will set a date in early February for the other three byelections. He will wait until early January to call them so candidates won't have to campaign over the Christmas holiday season. If New Democrat MP Sheila Malcolmson resigns her British Columbia seat of Nanaimo-Ladysmith by the new year, Trudeau could call that byelection at the same time. Malcolmson, who is making a leap to provincial politics, has announced her intention to resign once a byelection is officially called in the provincial riding of Nanaimo. The current MLA, Leonard Krog, was elected mayor of Nanaimo last month but has not yet resigned his legislature seat. After weeks of debate in Trudeaus inner circle, insiders say the prime minister has decided the Liberals will run a candidate against Singh, rather than stand aside to give him a better shot at victory. They say the decision is based on the wishes of grassroots Liberals in B.C., who have been nearly unanimous in wanting to put up a fight in Burnaby South. 3,000 Sikh Yatrees reached Lahore LAHORE: Over 3,000 Sikh Yatrees reached Lahore via special trains on Wednesday to celebrate the 549th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji from November 21-30. According to details, the pilgrims were received by the officials of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) including Chairman Tahir Ehsan, Secretary Board Muhammad Tariq Wazir, Pardhan Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) Sardar Tara Singh and other Pakistani Sikh leaders at the Wagah Border railways station. ETPB Chairman Tahir Ehsan said that the government has made foolproof security measures for the pilgrims who have arrived in Pakistan, adding that they will be provided with free food, medication and conveyance. Read more: Over 1,500 Indian Sikh pilgrims in the town to celebrate Baisakhi Sikh Party leader, Sardar Amarjeet Singh stated that they get a lot of respect in Pakistan and the opening of the Kirtarpur Border for Guri Nanak birth anniversary is a gift to the Sikh community by the governments on both sides. More than 10,000 Sikh pilgrims are expected to visit Pakistan on the occasion. The main ceremony will be held on November 23rd at Nankana Sahib. New shiploading system at Salalah Port ICR Newsroom By 22 November 2018 The Port of Salalah, Oman, has taken delivery of a new mobile shiploading system, which it expects to commission later this year for use at its General Cargo Terminal (GCT). The equipment, supplied by Northern Ireland material handling systems producer Telestack, will provide a boost to the Dhofar Governorates plans to increase exports of limestone, gypsum and clinker via Salalah Port. Weighing around 560t, the shiploaders are mainly designed to load limestone, gypsum and clinker, which account for the majority of the volumes handled by the GCT. They will increase mobility, flexibility as well as achieve a lower cost per tonne as production rates are increased and cycle times and labour costs are reduced, said the company. The recently-received mobile ship loaders are expected to improve productivity, said Ahmed bin Nasser al Mehrzi, chairman of the Board of Directors at Salalah Port Services Co SAOG. As the volumes continue to grow in the GCT we will review and look at ways to modernise the operations,' he stated in the hubs 9M18 directors report. The GCT handled 11.4Mt of cargo in the 9M18, up from 10.27Mt in the previous-year period. Revenues were up by 24 per cent. Published under CJP met British parliamentarians of Pakistani origin Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who is in the United Kingdom for a week-long visit, has said that construction of dams is imperative for Pakistan, Radio Pakistan reported on Thursday. The chief justice while, talking to British parliamentarians of Pakistani origin in London, said that funds are required to construct Diamer Bhasha Dam. He said that the unresolved water crisis will force the people to migrate from the country if not addressed. Justice Saqib Nisar also visited the British Parliament yesterday. Separately, he participated in a reception held in his honour by the lawyers of central London. He praised the role of overseas Pakistanis for their parent country and told the audience of the reception that overseas Pakistanis play a crucial role to stabilise the country's economy. Talking about Pakistan's current situation, the chief justice said that the country is prospering and justice is available on equal basis to all castes and creeds. He added that he is the chief justice of the entire country and not of a particular party or sect. "Requirements of justice are being fulfilled in the country," he added. Justice Saqib Nisar's visit to the UK is aimed at raising funds for construction of the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams. He is expected to return on Nov 28. The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams fund has so far received Rs7.9 billion. On July 4, the apex court had issued directives that the construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams should start immediately, and appealed to the Pakistanis including those residing abroad to donate for the cause. The court had formed a committee to monitor the progress of construction and directed that an account be opened with the SC's registrar in which all donations will be collected. It also said that all those donating for the cause will not be asked of their sources of income. The chief justice had initiated the donation process by announcing Rs1 million donation for the cause during the hearing of a case pertaining to the construction of Kalabagh dam. "It was said that 'even the Supreme Court's father' cannot construct dams," the CJP had noted, reminding the naysayers that the Constitution had given the court the power to make it happen. Govt signed agreements with 10 countries to bring looted money back: Shehzad Akbar Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shehzad Akbar has said that the government has signed agreements with 10 countries to bring "the looted money of the nation" back, Radio Pakistan reported on Thursday. Akbar, while speaking to a private news channel, said that the government has gathered important information about the money and that the details about the Rs700 billion "looted public money" will be shared with the nation through media in due time. He said that the government will continue the due process of accountability and that a legal process is underway to "bring back the looted money stashed away abroad". The prime minister's special assistant also said that the government will protect the interests of overseas Pakistanis and the business community will be facilitated for boosting economic activities in the country. A day earlier, while addressing overseas Pakistanis in Malaysia, Prime Minister Imran Khan had also spoken about the efforts being made to facilitate expats in contributing to the country's economy. Dr. Jessica Howell was honored as the 2018 Distinguished Alumna for Lee Universitys Department of History, Political Science, and Humanities at a department breakfast during Homecoming festivities earlier this month. Jessica Howell is the epitome of what I would hope a history graduate from Lee should represent, said Dr. Robert Barnett, distinguished professor of history at Lee. She excelled in her graduate studies at Florida State and has gone on to chair a successful academic program at Flagler College where she directs 22 faculty teaching in a variety of disciplines. She has made a name for herself as a fine teacher, good scholar and, perhaps for me, most importantly, a caring and dedicated mentor. Dr. Howell, originally from Kennesaw, Ga., graduated from Lee in 2000 with her Bachelor of Art in history. She went on to Florida State University, where she received her masters and doctorate degrees in Russian history. I met Jessica my very first year at Lee in 1998, said Dr. Randy Wood, department chair. She was in my Renaissance and Reformation class, and I have been proud of her accomplishments ever since. Dr. Howell is now the chair of the Department of Humanities at Flagler College, where she began as an assistant professor of history and director of online learning in 2015. The following year, she was awarded the Deans Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Howell and her husband Stewart, also a Lee alum, reside in St. Augustine with their four children, Olivia, Kemp, Addi, and Izzy. The New Colossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"Emma LazarusNovember 2, 1883Dear People of Our Country,The above words are inscribed on that powerful gift of France to the young United States, The Statue of Liberty. She has stood there in silence and yet still she beckons the poor, the suffering, the unwanted to come to her, to come to the United States in search of freedom, liberty and justice for all. There are no mentions of port of entries, no mention of years of waiting in line to immigrate, no mention of religious tests and definitely no mention of bans to specific countries. She is a symbol for all people and it is her words that we should honor for our country was founded by illegal immigrants to a forested continent that yet held its own civilizations.But it is not just for the topic of immigration that I sit down tonight to write to you. It is the topics of justice, of the Constitution, of democracy and of decorum that I must now take a stand. When the President was elected, I wrote a letter to him asking him to remember that he was elected by his supporters but that he is President of all Americans. I begged him to remember that pride goes before a fall, that quiet dignity will gain more than bombastic promises and that he would on Inauguration Day swear to uphold the principles enshrined in the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence.In the two short years of his presidency he has insulted women, judges, the intelligence agencies of our country, our allies, the press, minorities and anything and anyone that does not bow to his own idea of his importance and his view of this country. "America First!" and "Make America Great Again!" he proclaims to his masses and they repeat it back to him in their voices. Every president has put this country first. Most citizens have put or would put this country first. Those who do not agree with the President are no less entitled to claim to be patriots or to be the most American of citizens. We are one nation. We all should adhere to the declaration that ALL men (humans) are created equal. But not in the world of our President. Democrats, "intelligentsia", immigrants, the "fake news", anyone that disagrees are not patriots, do not love the United States and will suffer.He allies himself with certain news organizations while castigating others as "fake news". How is this to be condoned as Freedom of the Press? He accuses judges of liberal bias because they rule against his laws or orders while promoting other judges as righteous because they are conservative and presumably will lean his way. How is this to be condoned as an independent judiciary? He allies our country with some of the most repressive regimes in the world (Saudi Arabia) because they will spend money here (much less than he actually has said). How is this to look to our citizens and to the free people of the earth? He pulls out of international economic, environmental and military treaties because he says they are bad for America First. How are we to be trusted by allies or by the future when all he sees are dollar signs?America has a history of being first. It started when we broke away from England and founded a country based upon the radical ideas that all people are equal and could be free. We fought a bloody civil war and still came back together as Americans. We have fought countless wars, lost countless lives all in the name of saving freedom around the globe. We put mankind on the moon and said it was "One giant leap for mankind". Why does it feel like we have taken so many steps backward to today?We can be first. We can be accepting of others. We can and we must do better. What I see on tv, in the press, at rallies......this is not American First. This is America the Bragging. We lead by example not by telling others how good we are.The streets of America are full of the illegal, the homeless, the cold, the hungry, the unwashed, the unwanted. Let us be mindful of the Statue that sits in New York Harbour and welcome the challenge to do better. Darkness is falling again but we can shine light and push it away. Please listen and stand for a better America not America First.Richard Scott Milner * * * Wow, what a stretch from 1883 to 2018! The words spoken in the previous post seems to ring positive on allowing any/every one into this country...words spoken like someone who doesn't have a clue what chaos illegal immigration causes in border states. Why should he? He's tucked away here in God's country where every place you look has rolling hills, farms, and trees! It's not the desert here with miles and miles of nothing but cactus and concrete buildings posing as neighborhoods, where jobs are few and far between and getting national attention is way down on the list of things to do. In 1883 there were 14 people per square mile (as opposed to the now 14 people per the general housing lot). The gunfight at the OK Corral has just happened, electric lights were just coming into being and shortly 50,000 settlers were headed west for the golden ticket. It's difficult if not impossible to compare the current situation on the border with what happened 150+ years ago. Yes immigrants built this country, yes my ancestors came over on boats as well as the vast majority of the population but they rolled their sleeves up and went to work. There wasn't welfare, assistance, medicare. unemployment insurance, food stamps etc. They had to literally work to live! And work they did, building a country that had religious freedom and equality, coming together when the going got tough. I grew up in a neighborhood that was literally taken over by illegals and you can trust me when I say it's a heartbreaking thing to watch. To buy a home and raise a family only to become surrounded by people who don't speak (or won't speak) English, who sell tamales on the corner and at night the helicopters circle the whole neighborhood with bright lights warning everyone to stay inside because some idiot has gone rogue. Oh it doesn't happen overnight, it takes years to lose your neighborhood but it happens every single day. A legal immigrant brings his family in and they bring their aunts, uncles etc., the men go to work and you might have 20 living in one house. When they've saved back enough money another legal buys up another home on the block and the scene repeats itself until all the houses are sold and no one you recognize lives there any longer. Then they eye the next block, and the next one after that until the part of the city that was gang free turns into an area you never enter again. Muslims do the same thing only they're smarter, the run for political office so that they can take over entire sections of a city and then a state. The big secret they know and you don't is that they know it takes time, patience is definitely one of their highest attributes. Look at Los Angeles, Phoenix, Minnesota...states that think they're doing the right things when the whole time they're being taken to the cleaners. So if you're the liberal who believes everyone belongs here who wishes to enter illegally, you're as big a problem to this country as they are. Sue White Below Deck charter guests appear to be living the good life as chief stew Kate Chastain pours delicious drinks. Or chef Ben Robinson whips up an exquisite four-course meal for 12. Show guests also have the benefit of traveling to glamorous destinations like the Caribbean, Tahiti and Naples, Italy. But guests are also paying a decent amount of dough for an excursion, plus have to deal with a camera and crew following their every move. Want a peek behind the Bravo curtain to find out what it is really like to be a guest on a Below Deck charter? Is a Below Deck voyage cheaper? Renting a superyacht can run from $140,000 a week for a smaller Below Deck vessel to $331,000 a week for the largest yacht, featured on season six. Some season rentals are more expensive than others with summer typically being costlier. However, guests score a deal if they agree to be on Below Deck. In 2014, Yacht Charter Fleet helped Bravo advertise for guests to appear on season three. Charter guests could cruise the Abacos Islands in the Northern Bahamas aboard a 161 ft luxury charter yacht. Not only could guests flee the winter blahs in the Bahamas, but they could also pay significantly less than the usual charter guest. Most charter vacations this season will be 3 days, 2 nights and the charter fee will be $35,000 as opposed to the usual $87,500 for three days or $175,000 per week it costs to hire the yacht, according to Yacht Chater Fleet. The normal cash gratuity of 15% of the full weekly rate will however be expected on departure. A cruise on a Below Deck Med superyacht might cost $11,000 per person, according to The Forward Cabin. Does the crew attend to your every whim? One of my favorite things about this charter that you didnt see was how every time Master Pearson and Lady Tiernan left their stateroom, wed set up a fun surprise arrangement of their dolls for them to return to. #BelowDeck pic.twitter.com/9DKUtYJf0B Kate Chastain (@Kate_Chastain) November 14, 2018 Guests say the world-class service seen on the show is accurate. Linda Jones, who was a guest on Below Deck Med, season one dedicated a blog about her experience. Whats it like? Its like being a queen! The crew rushes to please you and take care of your every wish, they anticipate your desires, and whatever you say goes its heaven! She revealed that the crew was as awesome as they seemed on the show. The crew was amazing, she blogged. We had a great time with them all. We laughed and joked and really appreciated the hard work they did for us. Bobby creating the stunning campfire really impressed us. He must have worked a long time to get it all so perfect! She added, Bryan was very professional taking us on a ride in the tender and Tiffany packed cold drinks even though we didnt ask for it. They anticipate your every want and it is very impressive! Recent guest Torrie Jasuwan and her family were the first charter guests to bring small children on the show. The interior crew went that extra mile to make sure the experience was exceptional for both the adults and the children. One of my favorite things about this charter that you didnt see was how every time Master Pearson and Lady Tiernan left their stateroom, wed set up a fun surprise arrangement of their dolls for them to return to, Chastain posted to Twitter. Jasuwan responded, They loved the yacht fairy and still talk about her/him! Is the food really that good? Jones raved about Chef Ben Robinsons food in her blog. Bens food is better than you think from watching the show. The salmon truly was the best Id EVER had, and Ive had a LOT of salmon being from Seattle! Robinsons food tasted as good as it looked on the show. Chef Ben produced a delicious BBQ and we loved it. Everything he made was not just delicious, but the best wed ever had! Chef Ben was a nice surprise to have as our chef, Jones adds. His cooking was delicious and his interpretation of our likes and dislikes was right on track. He went above and beyond to make us feel special and to create something unique and original. It was all presented beautifully, fresh and to die for! Current Below Deck chef Adrian Martin is crushing it too. He consistently nails it for every meal on the show and has a dedicated fan in Captain Lee Rosbach and other crew members. Do guests see the drama? In Jones podcast, she says she and her friends didnt realize there was another deckhand named Danny because he was ill. She adds she didnt know about any of the charter romances either. And the entire crew was extremely professional. But when they finally watched the show they were shocked. We had no idea of the fights, of romantic interests, the relationships, she says. But what happens when guests are involved in the drama? In a recent episode of Below Deck, third stew, Caroline Bedol accidentally drops several champagne flutes and glass covers the floor. She radios the crew that glass was on the floor but no one hears her warning. One of Jasuwans children steps on the glass and cuts his foot. Drama happens One of Jasuwans Twitter followers asked how she could let her son step on the glass, to which she wrote, My son and I did not hear anyone mention broken glass, my daughter was walking with a friend. Obviously I would never drag my child through glass. She could also tell how terrible Bedol felt too. I felt bad that she was so upset. Accidents happen, I know how guilty Id feel if I were in her position. She also raved about how comforting Rosbach was to her son while he was dealing with a painful situation. What they didnt show is [Rosbach] running to my injured child, consoling him and being the best Grandpa in the world! We love you @capthlr !!!! But she took issue when bosun Chandler Brooks allowed a member of her party to slip on a rock and sustain an injury. An apology would have been nice! He set her on a slippery surface and didnt hold her until she was stable. Either way he couldve shown more concern. She adds, The entire crew was magicalthen there was Chandler. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Pakistan has done much more for peace in Afghanistan than any other country: COAS ISLAMABAD: A day after United States President reiterated allegations that Pakistan was not doing enough to fight terrorism, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday called on the world to acknowledge the military, economic, political and social costs paid by Pakistan in its successful fight against terrorism. Pakistan has successfully fought against terrorism while also contributing to regional peace. Pakistan has done much more for peace in Afghanistan than any other country, the army chief said in a statement released by the militarys media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). General Bajwa reminded the world that Pakistans contributions towards peace in neighbouring Afghanistan would not come at the cost of its own honour or security. We have paid the highest military, economic, political and social cost and the world should acknowledge that. We shall continue to contribute towards peace in Afghanistan but Pakistans honour and Pakistans security shall always stay premier, he said. Earlier in the day, Pakistans Foreign Office summoned the United States Charge daffaires earlier to lodge a protest over US President Donald Trumps unwarranted and unsubstantiated allegations against the country. Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua conveyed her governments disappointment on the recent tweets and comments by the US president and told the US charge daffaires that such baseless rhetoric about Pakistan was totally unacceptable, a statement issued by the FO read. Rejecting the insinuations about Osama Bin Laden, the foreign secretary reminded the US charge daffaires that it was Pakistans intelligence cooperation that provided the initial evidence to trace the whereabouts of OBL, it added. Foreign Secretary told the US charge daffaires that no other country had paid a heavier price than Pakistan in the fight against terrorism. The US leadership had acknowledged on multiple occasions that Pakistans cooperation had helped in decimating the core al Qaeda leadership and eradicating the threat of terrorism from the region, the FO further said. The US must not forget that scores of top al Qaeda leaders were killed or captured by active Pakistani cooperation. Pakistans continued support to the efforts of international community in Afghanistan through ground/ air and sea lines of communication was unquestionably critical to the success of this Mission in Afghanistan, the statement added. In the wake of recent US pronouncements to seek political settlement in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US were working in close coordination with other regional stake holders in order to end the prolonged conflict. At this critical juncture, baseless allegations about a closed chapter of history could seriously undermine this vital cooperation, it said. On Monday, Trump doubled down on his fresh tirade against Islamabad, saying: Of course we should have captured Osama Bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center, he continued. President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan Billions of Dollars & they never told us he was living there. Fools! In his interview on Sunday, the US president had said he cancelled assistance worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Pakistan earlier this year because they dont do anything for us, they dont do a damn thing for us. Following his anti-Pakistan rant, Prime Minister Imran Khan hit back at Trumps, calling on the US president to name an ally that had sacrificed more against militancy. The prime minister in a series of tweets lashed out at Trump, saying: Record needs to be put straight on Mr Trumps tirade against Pakistan: 1. No Pakistani was involved in 9/11 but Pak decided to participate in US War on Terror. 2. Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war & over $123 bn was lost to economy. US aid was a miniscule $20 bn. A 26-year-old American missionary was killed on a remote island off the coast of India, where he attempted to share the gospel with the most isolated tribe in the world. All Nations, a Christian missions agency based in the US, confirmed that John Allen Chau traveled to North Sentinel Island after years of study and training to evangelize its small indigenous population, who remain almost entirely untouched by modern civilization. [Update (Nov. 28): All Nations shared more details on CTs Quick to Listen podcast.] According to news reports based on Chaus journal entries, the Oral Roberts University graduate shouted, My name is John, and I love you and Jesus loves you, to Sentinelese tribesmen armed with bows and arrows. He fled to a fishing boat when they shot at him during his initial visit, with one arrow piercing his Bible. The young missionary did not survive a follow-up trip on November 17. You guys might think Im crazy in all this but I think its worth it to declare Jesus to these people, the native of Washington state wrote the day before in a letter to his parents obtained by the Daily Mail. Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed. Indian police have not retrieved the young missionarys body and, since contact with the indigenous tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is prohibited, cannot prosecute his murderers. The Sentinelese were known to refuse outside contact and attack anyone who stepped on their island. Some have declared Chau a martyr and compared him to Jim Elliot, who was famously killed at age 28 while attempting to evangelize an isolated indigenous group in Ecuador. [Update (Nov. 28): A biographer of Elisabeth Elliot assessed the analogy for CT.] John was a gracious and sensitive ambassador of Jesus Christ who wanted others to know of Gods great love for them, said Mary Ho, international executive leader of All Nations, which says it trains and supports 150 missionaries in 31 countries, including India. As we grieve for our friend, and pray for all those who mourn his death, we also know that he would want us to pray for those who may have been responsible for his death. This was Chaus third visit to the Andaman and Nicobar island chain. Its police chief called his recent trip misplaced adventure, but his family and friends insist that he knowingly violated protocol to enter the dangerous territory for the sake of sharing the gospel. His alma mater, ORU, released the following statement on Wednesday: Oral Roberts University alumni have gone to the uttermost bounds of the earth for the last 50 years bringing hope and healing to millions. We are not surprised that John would try to reach out to these isolated people in order to share Gods love. We are deeply saddened to hear of his death. According to All Nations, Chau joined their organization last year, after serving on mission in Iraq, Kurdistan, and South Africa. The agency described him as a seasoned traveler who was well-versed in cross-cultural issues. His family posted a tribute on Instagram, saying they forgive those responsible for killing Chau and requesting that charges be dropped against the fishermen accused of endangering his life by helping transport him to North Sentinel Island. The Joshua Project, a ministry dedicated to tracking unreached ethnic groups, reports that little is known about the Sentinelese due to their isolation and hostility, but asks supporters to Pray that the Indian Government will allow Christians to earn the trust of the Sentinelese people, and that they will be permitted to live among them. Correction: This article originally identified Chau as 27 years old, but All Nations revised its initial release about his death to say that he was 26. John Piper celebrates 50 years of Christian hedonism Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Bethlehem College & Seminary Chancellor and Desiring God founder John Piper recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of when he discovered a concept he calls Christian hedonism. In a column posted to DesiringGod.org on Friday, Piper described how 50 years earlier he came to realize that he could reconcile the idea of pursuing happiness and pursuing the Glory of God. According to Piper, this came with his first semester in the fall of 1968 at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California, and a course taught by the son of the seminarys founder. I had never heard before about the relationship of divine glory and human happiness. Fuller pointed me to Jonathan Edwards, Blaise Pascal, C.S. Lewis and the Bible, wrote Piper. This was new to me. I knew about my duty to live for the glory of God. But I had never heard that God lives for the glory of God. I had never heard that Gods command that I glorify Him was an invitation to join Him in His zeal for His own glory. Piper went on to recall that the moment it all clicked for him was on Nov. 16, 1968, specifically at Vromans Bookstore on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, while reading The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis. This was a wind from another land, Piper explained. It was the exact opposite of the counsel from T.W. Manson. Manson told me not to live for the sake of Christs promised reward. Lewis told me that I wasnt living for the reward enough! The problem is not the desire for happiness, but that we settle for mud pies when we are promised paradise. The great problem with mankind is that we dont desire happiness with nearly enough knowledge and passion. Piper explained that he didn't consider himself the best example of Christian hedonism, but nevertheless he was a witness to the spiritual practice. we do not make a god out of joy. We show, rather, that whatever we find greatest joy in is our God. And the greater the joy in Him, the greater the glory we give, noted Piper. A longtime champion of the concept of Christian hedonism, Piper defined the term in a 2015 piece as "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." He has credited various Christian intellectuals as well as his own father as being the ones who led him to embrace the concept. "My father was probably the happiest man I have ever known, and yet he was filled and consumed with the glory of God," wrote Piper at the time. "So there was this both-and in my father's life that had to have a resolution or explanation someday. Abundant joy and total commitment to the glory of God had to go together in some way." In their entry on the topic of Christian hedonism, the website Got Questions identified the theological concept as "biblical" and having "much to commend it." "Christian hedonism is not the pursuit of our own happiness as the greatest good; rather, Christian hedonism is the pursuit of the highest good (God's glory), which will ultimately result in our greatest happiness," noted Got Questions. Craig Groeschel on why Hell exists, says most Americans believe Satan's lies about afterlife Craig Groeschel on why Hell exists, says most Americans believe Satan's lies about afterlife Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Life.Church Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel recently discussed the harsh realities of Hell and argued that one of the most dangerous lies Satan tells humans is that such a place does not exist. In a sermon titled The Horrors of Hell, Groeschel contended that its important to discuss the afterlife from the pulpit because what you believe about eternity determines how you live today. If you believe that youre an accident, that youre going nowhere, then why not just live for now, live for yourself? he asked. If you were created by a good God, for His glory, and believe that youll live somewhere forever, it will change the way you live today. Groeschel cited statistics revealing that while 74 percent of Americans believe in Heaven, just 1 in 4 believe that those who do not know Christ will spend eternity in a place called Hell. Most people, if they do believe in Hell, believe its for the really, really, bad people, like the murderers and rapists, terrorists and such, but probably not me, he said. But Jesus said something that might imply otherwise, the pastor argued, citing Matthew 7:13-14: Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Groeschel said that if he were the devil, he would try to convince humans that there is no Hell. But if it is real, lets not take it seriously and lets believe that most people would not be going there. If I could convince you of that, then you would probably live however you want, he explained. You would justify your sin, you would reject Christ, you would live with no real fear of God. If you are a follower of Christ and I can convince you that Hell is not real or not that important, you would live ridiculously self-centered lives, he continued. You would very likely idolize comfort and fall in love with this world, you would reject sacrifice, you would avoid persecution, you would love now, and you would not likely share your faith with very many people and have no real sense of spiritual urgency. Unfortunately, this is the way so many of us live today, the pastor lamented. If God is loving, why does Hell exist? First, Hell exists for God to deal righteously with Satan, Groeschel said. Many of us, when we think of Satan, we tend to think of some harmless dude in a red suit with a pitchfork and horns, the pastor said. But Scripture tells us the devil is the embodiment of all evil. Behind every addiction is our spiritual enemy, every bit of fear or pain or shame, it comes from the prince of darkness, he said. Hes the destroyer, the deceiver, the dragon, the dark angel. Hes called your adversary, the tempter, your enemy, the wicked one, the thief, the father of lies, the prince of darkness, he is the angel of the abyss, he is the thief that comes to steal your joy. The second reason Hell exists is for God to deal righteously with unbelievers. While this may not seem fair, the pastor pointed out that it is impossible for God to be holy without being just. God will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, he said. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord. This is no fun to talk about, he added. I'm sure it's no fun to hear about, but if we don't accept the reality of Hell, we will never appreciate the glory of the Gospel and the goodness of Jesus. Some people joke about Hell as if its a party, the pastor said. But according to Scripture, Hell will be a horrible place of isolation and hopelessness where people are eternally separated from Christ. [Those in Hell] will drink the wine of God's fury which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath, he said. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of holy angels and of the lamb and the smoke of their torment will rise forever. Hell, he added, is a nonstop eternal fire with torture or suffering and unending pain. While so many people have a problem with the idea of a good God sending good people to hell, its important to understand that no one is good. If you, for a moment, stood in front of the holiness of God, you would recognize the depth of your wickedness, he said. By nature, we're sinful. We've all sinned. We have to recognize this about God. He is holy and He is just. He cannot be holy without being just, and because He is just, He must punish wrongdoing. But God is also love, the pastor emphasized, and demonstrated His love by sending Christ to die for humanity while we were still sinners, while we still rejected him, while we didn't know Him, while we were spitting in His face. What did Jesus, His death and resurrection do? It paid the price for our sins, satisfying God's justice, and simultaneously displaying His amazing grace and unquenchable love, the pastor said. Jesus didn't come for the perfect; He came for sinners. He didn't come for the healthy; He came for the sick. Satan is a thief, and he is a liar who comes only to steal, kill and destroy, Groeschel concluded. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life and life to the full. That's why we want people to know Him, not just to avoid the horrors of Hell but to experience the grace, goodness, the power, the love, the mercy, holiness, the righteousness, and the love of a good God. Megachurch pastor Jamal Bryant to lead Eddie Longs New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Controversial Baltimore megachurch pastor Jamal Bryant will take over as senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, once led by former benefactor Eddie Long, church officials announced Monday. A report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Bryant, who currently leads the 10,000-member Empowerment Temple, was chosen from a pool of 138 candidates to take the reins of a church that once boasted 25,000 members in its heyday. Membership at New Birth has since dropped to about 10,000 after Long was hit in 2010 by a series of sex scandals involving allegations from multiple young men that haunted him until his death in January 2017. When asked why he chose to leave Empowerment Temple for New Birth, Bryant told the AJC: Because its New Birth. I realize weve got some work to do. By myself, I cannot. Together we will. A representative at Empowerment Temple said "we have no information on that right now," when asked by The Christian Post on Tuesday about the announcement. Bryant, who has preached at New Birth since Longs death, will reportedly deliver his first official sermon as New Births pastor on Dec. 9. Bishop Stephen A. Davis, who took over leadership of New Birth shortly after Longs death, resigned from the church in June. Bryant was among several pastors to serve as guest preachers as the church looked for a replacement. He delivered a spirited sermon at the church about a month ago. Bryant revealed that Long was a benefactor who helped pay his way at Morehouse College shortly after his death but also criticized New Birth for the way the sexual misconduct allegations against him were handled. "I do not know how in this hour, there are those who are crying out and we do not recognize the tears or the cry for help, that the body of Christ has said nothing about ministering to victims. I know people are gonna be upset with me. I know you don't want to talk about this. But here's the reality, we didn't talk about it in bishop's life ... and at this point, many would argue, it is inappropriate to deal with it on the day after his death, and maybe, I don't know," Bryant said to apologists of Long's ministry. "I do know the church has to deal with it." Bryants own ministry at Empowerment Temple was almost destroyed after he admitted to an extramarital affair while he was married to now ex-wife Gizelle Bryant, who stars on Bravo TVs Real Housewives of Potomac. Since his divorce, he was also alleged to have fathered a child with 34-year-old Latoya Shawntee Odom. Bishop Neil C. Ellis of Bahamas-based Global United Fellowship who was also a close friend of Long, admitted that Bryant is flawed but gifted for the role at New Birth. Hes made some missteps, but Ive made them too, said Ellis, who called Bryant a gifted young man who, over time, will speak for himself. Ellis, according to the AJC, was involved in New Births search for a new pastor and told the congregation in a message on Sunday that he is fully aware that not everyone would be pleased with Bryants selection. In the midst of it, Ive found more than I wanted to know, but what I do know is, you need a pastor, he said. Heres my appeal to you (members). I need all of New Birth to guard your spirit, settle your emotions, eliminate your criteria. A lot has gone into this. Is everybody going to be happy about the appointment? I doubt it. No matter who we put in front of you, some people are going to have a challenge and you may be deserving of those challenges, but you have to trust somebody, Ellis said. Thomas W. Dortch Jr., chairman of the churchs board, told the AJC that the person they would select for the job needed to be visionary and energetic and someone who can inspire our congregation and rebuild those various community ministries and missions that we used to have at New Birth. Members like Tracy Johnson, who has been a member at New Birth for more than 20 years, said she was happy with Bryants selection. I believe hes that pastor who will reignite the fire that New Birth had for a long time, she said. Another member, Peggy Rice, called Bryants appointment a new beginning. A teen sex 'recession'? Blame porn, stagnating marriage rates, experts say Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Young Americans are having less sex despite the hook-up culture and liberalized attitudes about its moral dimensions, a phenomenon some attribute to porn and others to falling marriage rates. One of the reasons for a documented "recession" in sex now occurring in the United States is because marriage rates have stagnated, argued the Washington Free Beacon's Charles Fain Lehman, in a blog post for the Institute for Family Studies Monday. He noted that demographers have found, via statistics in the General Social Survey which has tracked particular behaviors and other important social trends among Americans since 1972 that 22 percent of adults reported having no sex in 2016, an uptick from 18 percent in the late 1990s. This is mostly due to millennials having less sex than both their parents and grandparents did at the same age. Generation Z appears to be even less sexually active, he continued, highlighting CDC data showing that 40 percent of high school students have ever had sex, a decrease from 54 percent in 1991. "Americans have conspicuously transitioned en masse from a more sexually active group married people to a less sexually active one the unmarried. Any talk of a 'sex recession' must acknowledge this marriage stagnation," Lehman said. "Today, there are fewer Americans married, and more Americans single, than at any point in at least the past 140 years." Many Americans are also marrying much later in life. More than 80 percent of adults ages 25 to 34 were married in 1960 whereas less than half of that are today, the statistics show. And with less marriage, less sex occurs. Falling marriage rates, however, do not completely account for young people foregoing sex yet "if there is a glut of young people who dont have sex, that group is overwhelmingly clustered among the unmarried," Lehman said. "The implication is that those people are sexless in no small part because they are not participating in humans most reliable avenue to sex." Talk of such a "recession" was the subject of the latest cover story for The Atlantic, which explored many reasons for why sexlessness is now more common in the modern era than many realize. Despite the prevalence of apps like Tinder where with a few clicks and swipes a casual sexual encounter can be arranged, actual sex is not happening as often as many think it is, writer Kate Julian explained at length in the article. Teenagers are having less sex now partly because of the easy accessibility of online pornography, she noted, referencing a 2017 study in the Journal of Population Economics which examined the introduction of broadband Internet at the county-by-county level. The study found that with the arrival of high-speed Internet, the teen birth rate fell 7 to 13 percent from 1999 to 2007. "Maybe adolescents are not the hormone-crazed maniacs we sometimes make them out to be. Maybe the human sex drive is more fragile than we thought, and more easily stalled," she mused. The Christian Post reported on this phenomenon in August 2016 days after the release of a study from the demographers both Lehman and Julian referred to in their analysis of the issue. Jennifer Roback Morse, author of The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives and Why the Church Was Right All Along believes young people have seen the heartache that rampant casual sex has caused and have begun wisening up. "I think a lot of them are watching the adults around them and concluding that sex without limits is not making people happy. Parents with multiple marriages and divorces, etc.," she said in a statement to CP at the time. Jamal Bryant says God told him to leave Empowerment Temple; church shocked Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Controversial Baltimore preacher Jamal Bryant revealed on Tuesday that God told him to leave Empowerment Temple, the megachurch he founded, for New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia. Many of his parishioners, however, were caught off-guard because they were kept in the dark about his new assignment as senior pastor of New Birth. In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bryant revealed that he told his parishioners at the 10,000-member Empowerment Temple in Baltimore that he was resigning on Sunday but did not tell them it was to take over as senior pastor of the church once led by his former benefactor, Eddie Long. The news did not go over well, at all, Bryant said. There was a great gnashing of teeth. Nobody was expecting it. When The Christian Post contacted Empowerment Temple on Tuesday to ask about the announcement that their pastor would be moving to lead the Georgia church, an official replied, "We have no information on that right now." Bryant, 46, explained what he heard from God about his leadership at Empowerment Temple: This is not your church; it belongs to the people." I had a sense of ownership that had leaped into entitlement. I began to think this (Empowerment Temple) is me, but God tapped me on the shoulder and said hold on. Not so fast, he said. I had no reason to leave Baltimore but for the prompting of God. He said his father, John Richard Bryant, a retired presiding bishop in the AME Church, also advised him that when God called him to preach he didnt call you to a denomination, he called you to service. That meant the world to me as a third-generation AME. Bryants ministry at Empowerment Temple was almost destroyed after he admitted to an extramarital affair while he was married to now ex-wife Gizelle Bryant, who stars on Bravo TVs Real Housewives of Potomac. Since his divorce, he was also alleged to have fathered a child with Latoya Shawntee Odom. Thomas W. Dortch Jr., an Atlanta businessman and chairman of New Births board, told the AJC that they believe the mistakes Bryant made in life have helped him grow. Yes, he made some mistakes in life, but hes learned from them and grown to understand he has to move forward, Dortch said. If you cant find redemption in the church, then where do you find it? Bryant was chosen from a pool of 138 candidates to take the reins of a church that once boasted 25,000 members in its heyday. Membership at New Birth has since dropped to about 10,000 after Long was hit in 2010 by a series of sex scandals involving allegations from multiple young men that haunted him until his death in January 2017. Bishop Stephen A. Davis, who took over leadership of New Birth shortly after Longs death, resigned from the church in June. Dortch told the AJC that New Births board had asked applicants to come up with solutions to reduce the churchs $31 million debt and suggested that Bryant had a plan. He didnt come in talking off the cuff, Dortch said. This is one guy whos an architect for religion. For now though, Bryant hopes to build on New Births legacy of community involvement and guide the church into a place of healing and direction. Weve got to rebuild trust and bring the church collective through the grieving process that I dont believe they have really gone through. Its just been shock after shock. They dont need a speaker, but a shepherd to help lead and guide, he said. New Jersey Supreme Court Rules Taxpayer Grants for Historic Houses of Worship Unconstitutional Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the use of taxpayer dollars to fund church repair projects that support religious activities is unconstitutional, even for historic preservation. The decision comes after a longstanding legal battle between the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Wisconsin-based atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation. Through its taxpayer-funded historic preservation trust fund, Morris County had granted $4.6 million to a dozen churches that used the money to repair stained glass windows with religious imagery, slate roofs, building towers and ventilation systems, according to NJ.com. Since at least 2015, the FFRF has sued to stop Morris County freeholders from awarding grants to historic churches for restoration or repairs by arguing that it violates Article I, paragraph three of the state constitution that reads, in part: "Nor shall any person be obliged to pay tithes, taxes or other rates for building or repairing any church or churches, place or places of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right or has deliberately and voluntarily engaged to perform." Despite legal action from the FFRF, last July a review board recommended to Morris County freeholders that several churches be included in an award of $2.9 million in grants to help preserve 25 historic sites. "These preservation funds, overwhelmingly approved by county taxpayers, help finance the protection [of] our county's heritage, to ensure that we maintain important links to our past,'' Freeholder Director Doug Cabana said in a statement about the recommendation in July. Freeholder Christine Myers added: "The restoration and preservation work done with the help of these grants allows future generations to enjoy and treasure these historic sites, to allow us to better understand our county's history and preserve our roots, and to enhance the quality of life for all residents of Morris County." The court's opinion on the issue delivered by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said that "the plain language of the Religious Aid Clause bars the use of taxpayer funds to repair and restore churches, and that Morris County's program ran afoul of that longstanding provision." Attorneys for the court and churches had argued that disqualifying churches from the grant program would violate their own rights under the First Amendment's protections on religion, NJ.com reported. Months earlier, Becket, a nonprofit public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions, also filed a friend-of-the-court brief defending Morris County's grant program and in support of the Catholic, Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches whose buildings have benefited from it. "This case presents one of the first opportunities for a state supreme court to interpret the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, decided on June 26. Trinity Lutheran rejected a state's interpretation of its constitutional provision that would have 'categorically disqualif[ied]' churches and other religious groups from government aid programs," Becket argued in their brief in 2017. Preservationists told NorthJersey.com that a historic church's inability to access public funding could potentially lead to a loss of history in communities where they serve as landmarks that add character. "I feel that it will have a detrimental effect on the character of municipalities," Tim Adriance, a leader in historic preservation in Bergen County, said. "I understand the argument to keep the distinction [between church and state]. But architecture is part of our community and belongs to all the people, not only the congregants." Rod Leith, Rutherford borough historian and vice chairman of the Rutherford Historic Preservation Committee, told the publication that churches are among the borough's oldest historic structures. The significance of historic churches, he argues, is architectural, not religious. That's why the committee hosted a lecture series on "Houses of Worship" he said. "We didn't feel we were supporting religion; we were promoting and supporting historic preservation," he noted about the lecture series. "This [court] decision is unfortunate because we look at the churches, especially in Rutherford, as examples of historic preservation. Are you going to allow these buildings to fall down, or are you going to help them?" Shanghai (Gasgoo)- BMW Group became the first international carmaker that nabs a license to deploy ride-hailing service in China, confirmed by BMW China's public relation department. It is a prelude for the Germany premium carmaker to launch ride-hailing services in Chengdu from December 14. BMW Mobility Service Co.,Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BMW Group founded in April, was given the ride-hailing license from the authority of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, BMW said. It is reported that the automaker will deploy 200 BMW Series 5 sedans in Chengdu during the early days after the mobility service subsidiary starts operation. Those vehicles, including fueling-burning cars and PHEVs, will be allocated exclusive drivers as part of BMW's efforts to offer luxury ride-hailing service. Traditional car makers are speeding up deployment of ride-hailing businesses in the world's largest automobile market. Earlier this month, SAIC Group announced its ride-hailing service brand dubbed Xiangdao Chuxing (in Chinese) that provides an overall solution to the ride-hailing business, including technical platforms, fleet operation, vehicle maintenance and financial credit. Daimler Mobility Services GmbH and Geely Group Company, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group's new business subsidiary, claimed on October 24 that they will build a joint venture in China to provide premium ride-hailing services. On September 27, Ford Smart Mobility, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor, and Zotye Automobile Co., Ltd signed the final contract for a 50/50 joint venture which will work on providing tailored intelligent EV mobility solutions for ride-hailing service providers and drivers. Writer Fahmida Riaz passed away Noted poet and prose writer Fahmida Riaz passed away on Wednesday evening in Lahore. She was 72. Her funeral will be held after Asr prayers in Lahore's Askari 1 area on Thursday. The eminent progressive writer, who was also hailed by many as a pioneer in feminist literature, had been suffering from illness for the past few months. Apart from authoring more than 15 books on fiction and poetry, she was also a human rights activist. Her first literary work was published in 1967, titling Pather Ki Zuban. Her collection of poetry includes Dhoop, Pura Chand, Admi Ki Zindagi and more. Her novels include Zinda Bahar, Godaavari and Karachi. She was famous for her revolutionary and contrary to tradition poetry. When Badan Dareeda, her second collection of verse, appeared in 1973, she was accused of using erotic and sensual expressions in her poetry. The themes prevalent in her verse were, until then, considered taboo for women writers. Fahmida Raiz also contributed to the Urdu literature as a translator. Whether it was Ismail Kadare from Albania or Maulana Rumi, she was knowledgeable about world fiction and classical poetry. Born into a literary family of Meerut (India) in July 1946, Fahmida Riaz, in addition to her literary pursuits, always played an active role in social and political activities. She lived in self-exile for over six years in India when former military dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq ruled over Pakistan. She was appointed managing director of what was then the National Book Council of Pakistan during the first PPP government (1988-90). In Benazir Bhutto's second tenure as prime minister, she became associated with the ministry of culture. In 2009, she was appointed the chief editor of the Urdu Dictionary Board in Karachi. PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb expressed sorrow over the demise of Fahmida Riaz and termed it a loss not only for literature but also for democracy. The former information minister praised the progressive writer for her work. Fahmida Riaz had worked sincerely throughout her life for the rights of women, she said. Famous writer Kamila Shamsie also expressed grief over the death of Riaz, calling her "one of the brightest of lights in the dark days" of dictatorship. PPP Senator Sherry Rehman on Thursday expressed sadness at Riaz's passing. "She was a poet, activist and feminist in times of profound darkness for the free, creative voice. Her challenge to patriarchy was never ambiguous. May she rest in peace," shared Rehman on Twitter. Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari also paid tribute to Riaz's work, saying: "Her poetry challenged traditionalism at so many levels as she reflected the voice and emotions of women unchained. Her sensitivity and often sensuality of expression was unique." PE teacher threatened with punishment for objecting to trans student in locker room, law group claims Superintendent says teacher was never punished: 'there haven't been any issues' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Christian physical education teacher in Florida says he's been threatened with punishment for not agreeing to watch over and supervise a trans-identified student in the boys' locker room. Dozens of residents in Pasco County Florida voiced their outrage at a school board meeting on Tuesday over the school districts stance allowing trans-identified students to use locker rooms and showers consistent with their gender identity instead of their biological sex, The Tampa Bay Times Reports. Many of the residents at the meeting go to the same church congregation as Robert Oppedisano, a PE teacher at Chasco Middle School in Port Richey. The pro-bono conservative Christian legal nonprofit Liberty Counsel has voiced concerns about what it describes as an unwritten policy instituted by county school administrators in a letter to school board chair Cynthia Armstrong in late September. The legal group has accused the county of violating the conscience rights of physical education teachers who objected to the policy. Both of the P.E. teachers, Robert O. and Stephanie C., objected to administrators orders to allow the girl into the bathroom, with no forewarning of the boys, or their parents, so that the boys could take steps to protect their privacy, the letter explained. Administrators told them that informing the boys so they could take steps to protect their privacy would be discriminatory, and subject them to discipline. The letter explained the Oppedisano objected to an order to supervise the locker room even though a biologically female student began using the boys locker room on Sept. 27. He was reportedly told by administrators that the student had every right to use the locker room. Within the right to use the locker room are the rights to disrobe and shower in open showers, the Liberty Counsel explained. Robert will not knowingly place himself in a position to observe a minor female in the nude or otherwise in a state of undress, the letter explained. Now, Robert has been told by administrators that he will be transferred to another school as a discipline for not doing your job in the locker room. Oppedisano claims to have been told by the school district's lawyer that this might cost you your job. Your teacher certificate might be taken from you, to where you can no longer teach, the teacher claims to have been told, according to Liberty Counsel. Kathy Scalise, director of the Office for Employee Relations, threatened in an email to send the teacher home on administrative leave. I think it sends a clear message that we will not tolerate his behavior, she was quoted as writing. At the school board meeting on Tuesday, Superintendent Kurt Browning clarified that Oppedisano has not been disciplined at all, in any way shape or form. Browning also said that Chasco Middle School administrators have actually monitored the locker room in place of Oppedisano, The Tampa Bay Times notes. The superintendent also contended that students "do not undress in the locker room and that even though there are showers in the locker rooms, no one takes showers. There have not been any issues on this at Chasco Middle, Browning asserted. Browning then asked school board attorney Dennis Alfonso to explain the districts transgender-inclusive locker room policy. Alfonso reportedly cited federal guidelines, laws and court precedents, including a federal court ruling this year allowing a transgender student to use locker rooms and bathrooms consistent with his gender identity in another Florida county. It should be noted that while the Obama administration advised public school districts to create transgender-inclusive bathroom and locker room policies, the 2016 guidance was rescinded under the Trump administration. According to The Tampa Bay Times, many opponents of the school districts policies who attended the school board meeting didn't believe the districts response and some even suggested that officials were lying. Critics have called on the board to adopt a policy requiring students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with the sex on their birth certificate. They also asked for the installation of single-stall restrooms to aid transgender students or others who might feel uncomfortable. "Create policy with privacy for all in mind," parent Deena Driver was quoted as saying. The opponents of the policy called for teachers to be protected from having to supervise students of the opposite biological sex in locker rooms if they have objections. They also called on the board to require parental approval for students to participate in after-school activities like the Gay-Straight Alliance. The Federalist reports that the Pasco County School District implemented its transgender-inclusive policy after it hired school psychologist Jackie Jackson-Dean as its LGBT liaison. Jackson-Dean is the primary author of the school districts best practices guide that lists locker room and bathroom access for transgender students as a right." The guide also advises school staff not to disclose a childs gender identity to his or her parents. The guide also pushes the Obama-era interpretation that federal laws that protect citizens on the basis of sex extend those protections on the basis of gender. Additionally, The Federalist notes, the guide calls on the school district to ignore the Trump administrations reversal of Obama's Department of Education guidance. Rider U. rejects student survey asking for Chick-fil-A, says company's values 'haven't progressed' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A New Jersey college is refusing to bring Chick-fil-A on campus because its values "have not sufficiently progressed" despite it being the most preferred option among the students. In a Nov. 1 email obtained by Campus Reform, Rider University, a private institution in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, explained that they would not be bringing the popular chicken sandwich restaurant since "their corporate values have not sufficiently progressed enough to align with those of Rider," articulating that their decision was to promote "inclusion for all people." During the spring semester, Rider surveyed the student body to inquire which restaurants they would like to see come to campus. When the students responded that Chick-fil-A was their top choice, the university paid no attention to the results. There are a number of factors that contribute to a campus decision to invite a retail partner on campus, Rider Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Jan Friedman-Krupnick told the outlet. While Chick-fil-A is among other restaurants preferenced by Rider students, there are members of the community (faculty, staff, and students) who strongly opposed the option as well. He added: "In all of our campus decisions, we carefully weigh benefits, risks and voices representative of all of our campus constituents." The fast-food chain has drawn the ire of LGBT activists in recent years because of the socially conservative views of the Cathy family, who own and operate the company. Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy said in an interview in 2012 that they unapologetically believed in the historic Christian teaching on marriage as between one man and one woman, and criticized same-sex unions. The company has also donated to Christian nonprofit organizations that believe as they do. The restaurant has remained a point of contention in culture wars. Some mocked Rider University's defense of acting out of tolerance for everyone. "You mean a value like tolerance of opposing viewpoints?" tweeted Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman and radio host. This is not the first time where the restaurant has faced such hostility from college environments, where the same line of argument about "inclusion" and "diversity" was used. Last year, students at Duquesne University, a Catholic school in Pennsylvania, argued that having Chick-fil-A on campus posed a "risk" to LGBT-identified students and said that they would not be safe. "Chick-fil-A has a questionable history on civil rights and human rights," said Niko Martini, a student senator at the university, said at the time. "I think it's imperative [that] the university chooses to do business with organizations that coincide with the [university's] mission and expectations they give students regarding diversity and inclusion." In 2015, the Johns Hopkins University student government passed a resolution against Chick-fil-A, with demands of "non-discriminatory alternatives" to the restaurant chain, arguing its support of traditional marriage amounted to a "microaggression." In June, it was announced that Americans selected Chick-fil-A as their favorite fast food restaurant, according to the The American Consumer Satisfaction Index. The restaurant has held the top ranking for the past three years. Stephen Colbert reveals what brought him back to Jesus from atheism, shares who God is to him Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Late Show host Stephen Colbert says a chance encounter with a person handing out Bibles on the street is what brought him back to faith when he was an atheist. Colbert, a Roman Catholic, spoke last week with the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor at America magazine, and said he was a convicted atheist in his 20s. I had lost my faith in God, to my own great grief, Colbert said. I was sort of convinced that I had been wrong all this time, that I had been taught something that wasnt true. In past interviews, Colbert has opened up about the tragedy of his childhood, describing how his father and two brothers died in a plane crash when he was 10 years old. In his interview with Martin on the "Faith in Focus program, he said that it was a cold night in Chicago, Illinois, when one stranger handed him a little green pocket Bible. He was 22 then. That Bible was indexed by topics, and so Colbert turned to the page about anxiety. Jesus words at the Sermon on the Mount were presented: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ... Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? The talk show host revealed that he was absolutely, immediately lightened by Christs words. I stood on the street corner in the cold and read the sermon. And my life has never been the same, he added. In another exchange posted online, Martin asked Colbert to tell him who is God for you? Its Jesus Christ, Colbert immediately replied. Not an old man with a beard." The comedian went on to say that physically, he thinks of Jesus when someone asks him that question, but that image dissolves, as I try to subsume that image into the Trinity." He added that one of the things he prays about is the ability to love. "If I can love, I can be free, he said. When I think of love, I think of God, and when I think of God, I think of love." Colbert has featured several segments and comedy bits revolving around religion on his CBS "Late Show program. He has also debated some notable atheist celebrities, such as comedian Ricky Gervais, on the topics of Creation, God, science, and religion. He has also challenged some conservative Christian leaders, such as megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. After Jeffress suggested last year that God has granted U.S. President Donald Trump the authority to "take out" North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, Colbert featured a comedy bit where a white-haired spoof version of God suggested that he agreed with Jeffress' comments. "Oh yeah, I'm always on America's side when it comes to blowing stuff up," the spoof version of God said. Colbert then pointed out, "But that goes against your whole message of peace and forgiveness," to which the character said that such thinking comes from his "hippy" son Jesus. Watch Colbert's interview on faith here. Prison reform bill has strong bipartisan support; Will a few Republicans block it? Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A prison reform bill has strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate, and the support of President Donald Trump, but a few Republicans could be blocking the measure. "There's 80 votes for this. It's the most-important bipartisan piece of legislation in the Congress today," U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." A version of the bill, the FIRST STEP Act, passed in May in the U.S. House, 360-59. The Senate version adds sentencing reform to the mix. A number of Christian groups have backed the legislation, including the National Association of Evangelicals, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Prison Fellowship and the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. On Aug. 1, a group of about 20 black pastors met with Trump in the White House to encourage him to back the bill. Despite the super-majority support in both houses, the bill may not pass this year during Congress' lame duck session. The bill's most outspoken opponent is Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. In a Thursday USA Today op-ed, Cotton accused the legislation of being a "misguided effort to let serious felons out of prison" and of going "soft on some of the worst crimes." Citing an unnamed senator quoted in Politico, Meet the Press host Chuck Todd noted Cotton is rumored to have the support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "Do you believe the majority leader is trying to quietly kill this bill in the lame-duck?" Todd asked Graham. "No, not really," Graham answered. "Because Tom Cotton's had this view from day one." Yet, by the end of Graham's answer, he urged President Trump to call McConnell to demand he bring the bill to the floor for a vote. "And I'm urging Mitch McConnell, put this bill on the floor. If you put it on the floor, we'll get 80 votes. We'll get most Republicans and almost all Democrats. And let's do it before the end of the year. And the president's behind it. So Mr. President, pick up the phone and call the Republican leadership of the House and the Senate and say, 'We still run this place.' Bring this bill to the floor. Senator Cotton can have his say. And we'll vote him down," he said. Todd then asked for clarification: "You believe the president is going to have to start lobbying Mitch McConnell?" "Yes," Graham answered. After again urging Trump to call McConnell, Graham added, "The Republicans are the problem here, not the Democrats." The FIRST STEP Act contains a number of measures aimed at turning prisons into centers for rehabilitation, rather than simply for punishing and locking up prisoners. The sentencing reforms that were added into the Senate version would reduce sentences for some non-violent and first time drug offenders, and reduce mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenders. These reforms are aimed at reducing racial disparities in prison sentences. Anne Graham Lotz on finding strength in 1 Samuel 16:7 after 'humiliating trauma' of losing hair to chemo Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Evangelist Anne Graham Lotz has shared images of her shaved head after losing her hair due to chemotherapy treatments, and expressed her thankfulness that God values other things above outward appearance. On Monday, Lotz posted an update on her battle against breast cancer, revealing that she has drawn inspiration from 1 Samuel 16:7 in the Bible, which reads: "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." "I have been reminded of this in a very fresh, personal way as a result of hair loss due to chemotherapy. When my hair began to fall out in large amounts, I went to my beloved Christian brother and hairstylist extraordinaire, Doug David, owner of The Douglas Carroll Salon," Lotz revealed. "Looking on were his wife, my daughters, and two of my granddaughters who helped to turn a dreaded event into something that was actually fun. Under their watchful eyes and with their affirming comments, he shaved my head," she added. "For those of you who have been through this, you know that it is also a humiliating trauma. I was almost shocked to hear the familiar sound of my own voice coming from the face under the shorn head I saw reflected in the salon mirror! My immediate reaction was to quote Gods wordsthat God looks on the heart, not the outward appearance. I am so thankful!" The Christian speaker and author said that David also cut and styled a wig for her, one that matches the length and color of her own hair. "What about you? If your outward appearance has been scarred, altered, deformedor if your outward appearance is flawlessly spectacularremember. God looks on the heart. The real treasure is on the inside," she said. In September, following surgery, Lotz admitted that there had been complications with her cancer treatment which were not what she "prayed for." "Yesterday I had my one-week checkup after breast cancer surgery. While there are some issues to be expected, the doctor believes that all seem to be healing nicely, for which I praise God. The surgeon then revealed, with compassion in her eyes, that she had the pathology report," Lotz revealed back then. "As she went over the numbers, it became evident that the results were not what I had prayed they would be. A trace of cancer was found in the lymph nodes which alters the follow-up treatment significantly," she added. Earlier in November, marking what would have been Billy Graham's 100th birthday, Lotz vowed to fight for her father's message of the importance of preaching the Gospel through her cancer journey. "I am committed to faithfully pass it on to those with whom I come in contact, whether through this blog, or those I pass at the hospital during chemo treatments or doctors' visits. Because Daddy's message is God's message. And it's a message of genuine hope for the future, of love for the present, of forgiveness for the past," Lotz wrote. Group suspends $1 million donation to Catholic Church for delaying action on sex abuse scandals Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Michigan-based organization of Catholic business owners has decided to withhold a $1 million donation to the Roman Catholic Church due to a delay on a vote to combat sex abuse in the Church. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was recently told by the Vatican that it was halting any actions on the issue of clergy sex abuse until after a global summit at the Holy See is held in February 2019. Legatus, the international organization of Catholic business leaders, explained in a letter sent to members that in response to the delay order, they were revoking their tithe for 2019 to the Holy See. Legatus' founder and chairman Tom Monaghan noted in the membership letter that the annual tithe has been an important part of Legatus membership since the organization was founded. Thus, it is the intent of the board to reinstate this practice once we have sufficient communication regarding the specific accountability related to the use of these funds. The board will revisit this topic by the fall of 2019 in order to chart a plan related to the 2020 dues, wrote Monaghan, as reported by the National Catholic Register. the Church is most certainly in crisis, but it is not a crisis of faith. As an organization, Legatus continues to pledge its devotion to and solidarity with holy mother church; this is a time when we need to live the mission of Legatus more than ever. In August, the Catholic Church was again rocked by a clergy sex abuse scandal following the release of a lengthy Pennsylvania Grand Jury report. The 1,300-plus page report detailed how 301 priests abused over 1,000 children over the past several decades and how the hierarchy shielded the perpetrators from accountability and covered up their crimes. The grand jury report came weeks after former cardinal and archbishop of Washington D.C., Theodore McCarrick, was stripped of his title, following "credible and substantiated" evidence that he was involved in sexual abuse. Some American Catholic bishops, including the head of the USCCB, expressed dismay at the order from the Vatican to delay action. "We are not, ourselves, happy about this," stated Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the USCCB. "We're disappointed, because we were moving along on this." In August, actress Patricia Heaton said she will no longer be giving any donations to the Catholic Church until the institution removes from its ranks those who have engaged in sexual abuse or covered it up. "Bottom line the Catholic Church will have zero moral authority until everyone who abused or abetted is gone. No excuses. Until then, no more money to this corrupt syndicate," tweeted Heaton at the time. I ran the gauntlet to get my previous marriage annulled - interview, tracking down ex, re-consecrating my marriage - to be able to receive Eucharist. Meanwhile these guys are buggering little boys, covering up, hiding money, running out statutes of limitations. Done, done, done. Jack Phillips' nephew becomes a Christian after seeing uncle withstand hate attacks, death threats Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The nephew of Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips says that he found faith and turned to the Bible after seeing his uncle withstand hate and death threats when he declined to bake a same-sex wedding cake. Alliance Defending Freedom, the law group that successfully represented Phillips in his Supreme Court case concerning his refusal on religious grounds to design custom cakes for gay weddings, pointed out that the baker had hate mail, nasty phone calls, and death threats pouring in. At one point, Jack even received a death threat when his daughter and granddaughter were in the store. He sent them in the back to hide while he called the police. The threats got so bad that Jacks wife, Debi, was too afraid to go into their own shop, the law group revealed. At the time, Sean, Phillips nephew, didnt have a personal relationship with Jesus, ADF said. He saw that his uncle was willing to take a stand for his beliefs, however, and continue to serve and engage with various members of the community, including homeless people. ADF says that Sean became angry and shocked at the hateful messages sent against the Colorado baker. But in observing and talking with Jack, he saw a quiet example of what it looks like to live a life in obedience to Christ, the group stated. Over time, Sean let go of his anger. He dug into the Bible to understand the comfort that Jack had in Christ and how he could withstand such hardship with grace and peace. And eventually, God drew Sean to Himself. Today, Sean is "walking with Jesus" and "is a changed man. Phillips said that others have told him their lives have also been changed by his witness. [We] have been blessed to see countless other Christians, whove watched the effect of this case on our lives, stand up boldly and with greater confidence. Some werent standing up at all, and now they are firm in Gods teachings, the baker revealed. Thats deeply encouraging to us, and I think it is one of the most beautiful things that could happen to anyone in a similar situation to know that other people will be encouraged and, in turn, will encourage others. That really has made all of this worthwhile. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in June that "religious and philosophical objections to gay marriage are protected views and in some instances protected forms of expression." Just two months after his Supreme Court victory, however, Phillips was again taken to court in August for refusing to make a transgender-themed cake. The case concerns an incident where Phillips was accused by the state of Colorado of violating the law by refusing to make a cake celebrating a gender transition. "After Phillips defended himself all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won, he thought Colorado's hostility toward his faith was over. He was wrong," reads ADF's latest lawsuit on behalf of Phillips. "Colorado has renewed its war against him by embarking on another attempt to prosecute him, in direct conflict with the Supreme Court's ruling in his favor. This lawsuit is necessary to stop Colorado's continuing persecution of Phillips." Kim Davis may enter ministry after losing election: 'It's where the Lord is leading her,' says lawyer Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Kim Davis, the Kentucky official jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, may go into the ministry after losing her re-election as Rowan county clerk, her lawyer has revealed. During a recent appearance on the conservative radio program "Crosstalk," Mat Staver, who also co-authored a book with Davis, said he has spoken with the former Kentucky county clerk "quite a bit" through the summer and believes her future lies in ministry. "Frankly, I think what she's going to do and where she's been wanting to go is in some form of ministry," Staver said. "And so I think that's where the Lord is leading her at this time." In 2015, Davis made national headlines when she cited her Christian beliefs as the reason for her refusal to sign marriage licenses for gay couples. She was subsequently jailed for five days for defying a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples. While praised for the decision by many in the Christian arena, Davis received much backlash from the LGBT community and national media. Last week, she lost during midterms to Democratic challenger Elwood Caudill by about 600 votes. The 53-year-old had taken over the job from her mother, who served as the county's clerk for 37 years. "She is someone who loves her job and wants to serve the people," Staver said. "And so she spent her waking hours, really, working on her job. And people in the community did her campaigning for her." Earlier this year, Davis told The Christian Post that she's still receiving hate for her decision, especially as the media continues to paint an "unfair picture" of her. "The only mean or negative thing I ever said to a same-sex couple who wanted a marriage license was 'no,'" she said. "Instantly, the mainstream media painted an unfair picture of me as a terrible person and most of the time, they didn't even talk to me." "I get emails and you can usually tell by the header if it's going to be a good email or a bad email," she said. "If it's bad, I put it into a 'hate file' because I don't want to feed that fire or frenzy because I want to remain positive and I want positive things in my life." But amid all the attention she has received over the last few years both positive and negative God's grace has remained "strong and prevalent." "His presence was there every single day," she said. "I would still go into work whistling and singing with a smile on my face, because I knew He was by my side even amid all the media frenzy. I had such peace, because I knew God's grace is sufficient." Although controversial, Davis said she hopes her story encourages others to stand up for their beliefs and understand that God is able to redeem even the worst of sinners. "The main thing that I would suggest to a millennial or any other Christian that is unsure of how to stand up for their beliefs is, mean what you say, say what you mean, and say it with love," she said. "And remember, God is able, and God will use you for His glory." "You have to trust him," she continued. "If you never step out in faith, your faith never grows. I want to be an encouragement to those who have a sordid past like I have, that when you're sold out to God, there's no limit to what He can do in you and through you." Pastor of Texas towns only black church charged for shining light off property Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment [UPDATE: Nov. 20, 2018, 3:00 p.m.] This story has been updated to include a response from Manvel City Manager Kyle Jung. Leaders of Manvel, Texas only predominantly black church are now claiming harassment and discrimination from city officials after they were charged then exonerated in a trial for shining light too brightly off their property. Pastor Patrick Williams of Overflow Church was criminally charged with a class-B misdemeanor for a code violation related to parking lot lights, according to KHOU. At a one-day trial last week, Williams was acquitted by a jury of his peers but said the harassment over the churchs lights continued. And thats why he, backed by his congregation, began speaking out on Sunday. "We came back here [the night of the acquittal] and the harassment started all over again," Williams told KHOU. "We just got to the point where we're not dealing with it anymore. We've got our attorney." In an interview with The Christian Post Tuesday, Manvel City Manager Kyle Jung said even though Williams was acquitted, the lights are still a problem for the neighbor. He also doesnt see the citys request that he turn down the lights in the churchs parking lot as harassment. We had gone to the pastor and asked him if he could simply adjust them down and shine down on the parking lot as opposed to into the neighbors property and into their house. He said no, if she doesnt like the lights she just needs to buy thicker shades. I dont know anything about that (harassment), said Jung when asked about the claims from the pastor and his wife that the city was harassing the church. Were simply asking him to be a good neighbor and he wont do that. Jung said Williams was acquitted of violating a city ordinance because at least two jurors at his trial felt he had done no wrong. He insisted, however, that if he keeps getting complaints about the lights, the city will be forced to act. Since the trial, the city has not taken any action against the church or Williams. They are hoping he would settle the dispute in a Christian manner. If we continue to get complaints from the neighbors then we have to enforce that. Nothing has been done though about that. We simply are asking him to adjust the lights and then the issue goes away. I would think that would be something the church would understand the Christian thing to do would be not to shine your lights in somebody elses house, Jung said. Calls made to Overflow Church were not answered. Williams told the Houston Chronicle that three months before charges were filed against him for the parking lot lights, they were adjusted to address concerns from at least one neighbor. The pastor also told the publication that Manvel does not have a lighting ordinance and the church is the only building the city does not allow to shine light off of its property. In a Facebook Post on Sunday night, Overflow Church accused the city of orchestrating a personal attack on Williams with the charges. The City of Manvel, Texas continue to harass and discriminate against Pastor Pat Williams and information came out in the trial on Nov. 8, 2018. Michael Dumas is the Manvel Fire Marshall. There was an SUP submitted to Council and the documents was changed after the adoption so that they could file criminal charges for parking lots lights against Pastor Pat (Personally) When there is no Light ordinance in Manvel and no other business has this language in their Special Use Permit. Also information came out that the Fire Marshall Michael Dumas had a Confederate Flag as his profile picture, the post said. We are being harassed and discriminated against, Williams declared Sunday at his church with his congregation behind him. If the policy is only for us, then thats unfair, his wife, Marilyn, added. Laurie Cimrharzel, who lives behind the church and has been affected by their bright light, told the Houston Chronicle that the church was not facing discrimination. Rules are rules, she told the publication Sunday. Whether its a church or a business. Cimrharzel said her backyard faces the church, she has to tape down the edges of the fabric blinds in her bedroom to keep the light from the church out so she can sleep. She noted that she could be the only one affected by the churchs light but added that it is still wrong for their light to flow on her property. They have been better, but theyre not fixed, she said of the adjustments the church made. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment One observation that I have noticed since starting my annual Thanksgiving blog entry five years ago is that no matter neither the administration in office nor the state of the economy, the national news tone remains everything is terrible. Each year nonetheless there is good news to share and for which Evangelicals can offer our gratitude to the Almighty. A look back over the Juicy Ecumenism archives reveals the same is true for 2018. To offer our readers a helpful reminder, here are seven things Evangelicals can extend our gratitude to the Lord for what He has done this year through the working of His Church: 1) Christianity Continues to Spread in China, Despite Persecution A report released by the Council on Foreign Relations revealed tens of millions of Chinese now identify as Christians. The report also estimates that China is on track to have the worlds largest population of Christian by 2030. This spectacular spread of the Gospel is occurring despite intense persecution and increased oversight by the atheist Chinese Communist Government. Thank the Lord that no amount of government regulations and intolerance can stop His Churchs witness and sharing of His Good News! 2) Pastor Andrew Brunson Released from Turkish Prison On October 12, 2018, news spread that a Turkish court determined American pastor Andrew Brunson had adequately served his sentence for allegedly aiding terrorists in a failed coup against President Tayyip Erdogan. Pastor Brunson was arrested and jailed for the false allegations on October 7, 2016. Brunson is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and had lived and ministered for 23 years in Izmir, located along Turkeys Aegean coast. He was the pastor of Resurrection Church in Izmir before his arrest. We praise God for shortening Pastor Brunsons sentence and ensuring his stable health and safe return to his wife and children in North Carolina. 3) Asia Bibis Death Sentence Overturned, Seeking Asylum Not long after Pastor Brunsons release, we received more good news from abroad. Pakistans Supreme overturned the death penalty conviction of Aasiya Noreen, commonly known as Asia Bibi, a Christian Pakistani woman falsely accused of blasphemy against Islam. Bibi, a wife and mother of five children, was imprisoned in a Pakistani jail in 2010. We praise God for delivering justice to Bibi and offer our gratitude for his protection over her life. Despite Bibis freedom, her life is under threat in Pakistan. She remains in protective custody and is currently seeking asylum outside of her native country. As we offer our thanksgiving, we also pray that God would quickly grant asylum and safely deliver her and her family out of Pakistan. 4) Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Christian Bakery Owner On June 4, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jack Phillips, the Christian bakery owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court affirmed that the state of Colorado discriminated against Phillips for operating his small business per his religious convictions concerning marriage Phillips legal battle started in 2012 after he politely declined to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Phillips expressed he would happily create any other type of cake for the two gentlemen. But by using his skills to craft their wedding cake, Phillips felt he would be violating his deeply-held religious convictions. Praise be to God for granting courage and endurance to Jack Philips and his Alliance Defending Freedom team of attorneys. We give God thanks for the Supreme Courts just decision. 5) Billy Grahams Christian Witness Remembered, Continues On On February 21, 2018, renowned evangelist Billy Graham went home to be with his Savior. His passing generated a national commemoration of Grahams extraordinary Christian witness. Testimonials spoke of his ministrys impact around the globe on behalf of the Kingdom of God. Grahams sermons replayed over the airwaves. His body even laid in honor at the U.S. Capitol, recalling to the nations mind a remarkable Christians life-long service and devotion to Jesus Christ. For the ever-inspiring and faithful Christian legacy Graham leaves behind, we offer our gratitude to God. 6) Pro-Abortion California Governor Vetoed Pro-Abortion Bill Earlier this year a California bill was introduced that would have required public universities to provide students with drug-induced abortions. The bill passed the state Senate in August, but in September some unexpected good news occurred when the states pro-choice Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the bill. Because the services required by this bill are widely available off-campus, this bill is not necessary, Brown wrote in a public statement. Even for this seemingly small pro-life victory, we can give God thanks. 7) Supreme Court Decided in Favor of Crisis Pregnancy Centers A big pro-life victory was handed down by the Supreme Court in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra in June 2018. In a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled it unconstitutional for California to force its crisis pregnancy centers to post information advertising abortion services. The decision held that the government could not force citizens to express messages with which they disagree. These centers exist pro-life alternatives to abortion clinics for women. Many of the staff and volunteers who operate crisis pregnancy centers are Christians. States forcing them to advertise for abortion services would violate their conscience. Again, we offer the Almighty our thanks for a just Supreme Court ruling and gratitude for the diligence of Alliance Defending Freedom. Originally posted at juicyecumenism.com Chelsen Vicari serves as the Evangelical Program Director for the Institute on Religion and Democracy. She earned her Masters of Arts in Government from Regent University and frequently contributes to conservative outlets. Follow her on twitter @ChelsenVicari. 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 Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus. This week, millions in the Western world will celebrate an American holiday in the name of thankfulness. This treasured tradition was birthed in the application of spiritual disciplines such as fasting, prayer, and thanksgiving. In 1621, when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, they were grateful just to be alive. Not long after, they faced decimation by the inhospitable environment and frigid winter temperatures. The native Wampanoag Indians helped them to acclimate to their new world. After many trials, they survived and celebrated with a three-day feast thanking God for all He had done. From Praises to Pumpkin Pie Today, in a post-Christian America, Thanksgiving looks much different. Like many other aspects of our culture, the secularization of this once consecrated holiday has descended into a shallow form of itself. It's safe to assume that as a nation, weve never been more ungrateful. Consumerism has consumed us, the Internet has desensitized us, and our appetites for godlessness is even bigger than it is for Turkey. Instead of glory, honor, and praise to God for lavishly pouring out grace on His people, the concern has shifted to NFL, food, and Black Friday. Unlike the Pilgrims who were forced to till the ground for physical and spiritual food, modern America has grown fat by being the apathetic benefactors of others' labor. No longer are we a people desperately leaning on God and each other for provision. Instead, we have grown increasingly proud and entitled. A sin that has driven us far from the humble beginnings of the brave men and women whose blood and tears laid the foundations of this great country. I Am, I AM Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Of all the fleshly and worldly compulsions that confront a believer, there is hardly a more polarizing offense to the Lord than ingratitude. Ingratitude suffocates the life of joy and freedom available through the great sacrifice of Jesus. Christians often act more like spoiled children than a peculiar people and royal priesthood. We pout and whine as self-love coaxes us into a false sense of entitlement before God. Who do I think I am? And therein lies the problem; I think that I am, I AM. No matter how godly a person is, on some level we all think this way. Even the most pious believers still struggle with a deep-rooted pride that results in the self-aggrandizing that deceives us into thinking we are the center of the universe. Before Christ, the world told us that we could be the masters of our lives. This old-school tactic is precisely how the Devil deceived Eve and we still havent completely abandoned this notion. We pray to God to use us according to His will but feel slighted when He doesnt do it our way. Whether your ingratitude manifestation is subtle or overt, the time to tackle it is now. Here is a non-exhaustive list of Scripture application for you to battle ingratitude if: 1. You're likely thinking too highly of yourself Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 2. You struggle to view circumstances that challenge you as an opportunity for growth from God James 1:2-4 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3. You think God hurts you out of anger or condemnation. He is the only one who knows what you truly need. If youve prayed, Lord, make me like Jesus, He may just be answering your prayer. Lamentations 3:33 For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow. 4. You struggle with this life being full of fleshy trials, not perfect happiness. That place is coming. Its called heaven. Job 2:10 You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? A Forgivable Offense By way of great grace, the Holy Spirit will help you realize that your ingratitude can be repented of and used for His glory. A believers ungrateful heart is a place God wants to heal, sanctify, & conform. Despite personal failures, rejoice because God is not done with you yet (Philippians 1:6). Though at times you may naturally bend to the low place of ingratitude, youve been given the power to choose whether or not to remain there. When confronted with ingratitude, its helpful to expand our perspective. It is hard to be ungrateful when we consider the prisoners in North Korean labor camps who are beaten and killed for their faith. Would we dare be so presumptuous to call one of them to complain about the obnoxious co-worker we're choosing avoid? Or would we be so dense to call a friend with a handicapped child to complain about your childs poor report card? When something rises against our perception of the most ideal circumstances, our flesh begins to hoist the banner of mutiny it has sewn together in the dark places of our hearts. When it does, we must stand and prepare to fight. Too be purposed in choosing gratitude. To wield a thankful heart as a weapon against discontentment. After all, to give thanks is the will of God in Christ. Troy Fink is a staff-servant at New Hope Philly. He loves to eat sushi with his wife and training Jiu-Jitsu. troy@newhopephilly.com Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A millennial, she introduced herself to me as my server at one of my favorite restaurants where Im a regular. I asked her a few questions about her background to get acquainted, one of which was: Where are you from? She said she was from Upstate New York, an answer that prompted my follow-up question: What precipitated your move to North Carolina? She replied, Well, you might find this hard to believe, but I was eager to move away and experience the world. So I closed my eyes, randomly pointed to a place on the map and it turned out to be Raleigh. Wow, I replied, That was a gutsy thing to do. I then welcomed her to the Tar Heel state and said, Im glad providence led you here. Providence? she said, Whats that? As I was trying to explain the meaning of Providence, she interrupted me, saying, Oh, now I know what you mean. Youre talking about fate. I wanted to tell her that providence is more than just impersonal fate, something much more, but the conversation was cut short by her need to serve other customers. Providence? Whats that? Her question was a disturbing reminder of the biblical illiteracy of our times. Providence is such an invaluable concept to know and understand. Merrill F. Unger wrote, Belief in the providence of God, according to the whole purport of Scriptures, is of the highest importance, because of its connection with a life of trust and gratitude and patience and hope. The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us. How can anyone understand this celebratory time aside from gorging themselves on a traditional Turkey dinner, and gathering with friends and family, without apprehending the unceasing activity of a benevolent Creator God? It is from His bounty and goodwill towards us that he upholds and sustains us in an ordered existence, guiding all of lifes events, great and small, directing each to its appointed goal, for his own glory and the good of those who trust and believe in Him. This is providence. Our lives are not simply the result of chance and unintentional forces. There is meaning behind it all. God categorically rules over everything natural and the human race does only that which He has ordained; yet we are truly free agents, in the sense that our decisions are our own, and we are morally responsible for them. Nevertheless, a good God in his sovereignty is never complicit with evil, but superintends over the whole lot and uses it to accomplish his own gracious and perfect ends. This is the space we live in a world of providence something of which most are completely unaware. J. Wallace Hamilton has brilliantly described our unfortunate common condition, saying: Actually we are in the midst of a providential arrangement all the time; every moment is sustained by providence, whether we recognize it as such or not. Oh, where is the sea? the fishes cried, As they swam the Atlantic waters through; Weve heard of the sea and the ocean tide. And we long to gaze on its waters blue. -Anonymous All around us are little fishes looking for the sea; people living, moving, having their being in an ocean of Gods providence, but who cant see the ocean for the water. Maybe it is because we call it by another name. The ancient Hebrews from whom the Bible came were a religious people. They thought in religious patterns, they spoke in religious phrases, they saw in every event the direct activity of God. If it rained, it was God who sent the rain. When crops were good, it was God who yielded the increase. But that is not our language, nor the pattern of our thought. We think in terms of law chemical, natural law. When it rains, we know that it is the natural condensation of vapor. When the crops are good, we credit it to the fertilizer. An amazing thing has happened in our way of thinking. In a world that could not for one moment exist without the activity of God, we have conditioned our minds to a way of thinking that leaves no room for Him. So many of our wants are provided by what seems natural and impersonal forces that we have lost sight of the great Provider in the midst of providencethus our sophistication steals away our sense. What is behind this prideful sophistication that diminishes our sensitivity to God and his providential ways? It is our unrighteousness. In our rejection of his absolute rule over us, our consciousness of his endless graces becomes dull. Hamilton also notes that the unrighteousness of men is the bottleneck of providence. In other words, if we set ourselves against Gods order, then we only work against ourselves. God will overrule our sin to accomplish His purposes in the earth. Nonetheless, we will tragically impede and obstruct the way Gods divine decrees were meant to function for our eternal joy. True thankfulness depends entirely upon our view of God. As is our God, then so is our gratitude.If we embrace the evolutionary, naturalistic, and secularistic understanding of life, then everything that comes our way is just the luck of the draw, and there is no reason to be grateful. If we think of God as a cold and distant spirit in the cosmos and not actively engaged with a personal interest in our lives, then all we can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. If we see ourselves as the sole arbiter of our present and future, then we are as limited as human reason and resolve, which more often than not leaves little or no reason for which to be thankful. But it is the Gospel of Christ which informs us that there is a big God of amazing grace that has always remained upon his throne. His kindness and generosity stooped from His majestic place of holiness and unequivocal power to the humility of the Cross of Jesus Christ. He did this to save us from our sins and harmonize our lives with a destiny of spiritual fortune and eternal bliss. Whenever we repent of our rebellion to Gods sovereignty, then we are awakened to see His providential mercies in the common and everyday experiences of life, His doting intentions in the dark hours, and His redemptive reign in everything. We see that we belong to Him and He is perfect love. And from this soil of the heart, the truest and deepest gratitude springs. Unger has also written, Broad observation and right reason preclude the idea of a government of the world by chance or blind force, and sustains the belief that there is a power in the world that makes for righteousness. This power is indeed unlimited and includes everything that takes place in the universe, every natural event, every creature, every person, and every nation. This power can never be defeated and justice and godliness will prevail in the end forever and ever. This is providence!Belief in it is essential to even the most basic attitudes of virtue and goodness, none of which are more important than Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving! God is good all the time. All the time God is good. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment In an age of complaint, accusation, protest, grievance-laden lamentation, and non-stop grumbling, we must whistle a time out! and come aside for real Thanksgiving. Certainly, we should be grateful for material blessings brought to us by the hand of God. However, we must not allow the focus on the hand of God divert us from concentration on Gods face, revealing His transcendent glory. Real thanksgiving is the linkage in our minds and hearts of both the hand and face of God, joined by a feast that brings the body into the celebration. Real Thanksgiving is the whole person celebrating the wholeness of God. Historic Thanksgiving proclamations recognized Gods transcendence, as these samplings show: On November 29, 1623, Governor William Bradford recognized that the Great Father had given the abundant harvest the Pilgrims enjoyed. George Washington, on October 3, 1789, proclaimed the coming November 26 as a day of service to that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be... In 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday, and noted how the focus tends to drift more to Gods hand than His face: To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart that is insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God... The worldview of real Thanksgiving and its recognition of Gods transcendence carried over into the philosophy of American government. The Articles of Confederation adopted November 15, 1777, included this statement: And whereas it pleased the Great Governor of the world to incline the hearts of Legislatures, we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said articles of confederation and perpetual union. Russell Kirk, a twentieth century historian and philosopher, reflected on Americas foundations in his book, The Roots of American Order. Kirk believed a transcendent moral order rested necessarily on religious faith, noted Professor Forest McDonald. A principle difference between the American and French Revolutions was that, according to Kirk,the American revolutionaries in general held a biblical view of man and his bent toward sin, while the French revolutionaries ... attempted to substitute for the biblical understanding an optimistic doctrine of human goodness advanced by the philosophies of the rationalistic enlightenment. The outcomes: The American view led to the Constitution of 1787; the French view to the Terror and to a new autocracy. The American Constitution, said Kirk, is a practical secular covenant, drawn up by men who (with few exceptions) believed in a sacred Covenant, designed to restrain the human tendencies toward violence and fraud... One of those men was Thomas Jefferson, whose erstwhile support of enlightenment rationalism was balanced by regard for Gods transcendence, and the accountability of humans and their governments to it. Jefferson, a troubled soul because he was a slaveholder, recognized the evil institution existed because people had forgotten Gods transcendence. Jefferson wrote: And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? I tremble for my country when I remember that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever... The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest... Jefferson brought that understanding of the transcendence of God into the Declaration of Independence. Fundamental human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are from God. Government does not give those foundational freedoms, but exists to protect them. But, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 6:23, words Jefferson would have known), politicians are sinners too, and therefore the institutions of governance they oversee must have checks and balances. Without recognition of Gods transcendence, the United States would not have had such a government. The greatest threat now is that as the sense of transcendence fades, government is becoming increasingly domineering and controlling. In 1952, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was concerned that the recognition of Gods transcendence would be pushed aside in American society through an extremist interpretation of the separation of church and state. We are a religious people, and our institutions presuppose a Supreme Being, wrote Douglas. No constitutional requirement makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against the efforts to widen the scope of religious influence. This Thanksgiving, thank God for the blessings flowing from His hand on the immanent scale, and pray with all your fervor that we will not lose sight of His glorious Face, revealing His transcendent majesty and holiness. Wallace Henley is senior associate pastor at Houston's Second Baptist Church, and Chair of Belhaven University's Master of Ministry Leadership degree. He is a former White House and Congressional aide, and co-author of "God and Churchill", with Winston Churchill's great-grandson, Jonathan Sandys. Bulgarian Parliament revises proposed rules that could have forced churches to close Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Bulgarian parliament is revising controversial draft amendments to a national religion law that critics say would have asserted state control over churches and ministries and could have resulted in the closure of evangelical Christian schools and congregations. Following protests last week from faith groups, parties in Bulgarias Parliament are working to revise amendments that were proposed to the Balkan nations Religious Denomination Act, according to the Sofia Globe. The proposed law would have required Bulgarian citizens who want permission to preach to complete their theological education in Bulgaria or at a foreign school approved by the Bulgarian government. The proposal would have also made it so only Eastern Orthodox and Muslim institutions recognized by the government would be able to train clergy and run faith-based schools in the country. The law would have banned religious activities from taking place outside of buildings designated for religious activity and would have made it so only religious groups with 300 people or more would be granted legal status. Additionally, the amendments would have required foreigners looking to preach to do so in the presence of a Bulgarian-ordained minister. As well, foreign donations to churches would have needed government approval. The proposed draft amendments, which passed on first reading in October, received immense backlash from many Christians across denominational lines who believe that the amendments threaten the freedom of local churches and the independent nature of the training of church leaders. Critics feared that the law would force churches and institutions to close or face unbearable and discriminatory burdens. Along with evangelicals, Baptists and Catholics, the majority Orthodox community has also voiced concern with the proposed law, which supporters say intends to crackdown on the spread of radical Islam. Thousands of Christians took the streets in cities across the country to protest the law last week. We will continue the protests and prayer meetings in Bulgaria until the suggested changes to religious laws are completely withdrawn or until we see realistic proposals which guard religious freedoms and the right to a belief of everyone in Bulgaria. the Rev. Teodor Oprenov, pastor at First Baptist Church in the nations capital of Sofia, told the Transform Europe Network. According to the Sofia Globe, the revised bill eliminates the proposed ban on foreigners conducting religious services without the approval of the government. Reportedly, the revised version would allow foreigners with a short-term residence to conduct services while a foreign cleric in Bulgaria on travel would have to notify the government of his presence. The revision also eliminates a rule that would have made it so that only Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Muslim minority would be eligible for state subsidies. Additionally, the revised version of the bill will allow for foreign donations to religious groups. Although the proposal to change the Religious Denomination Act was an attempt by parliamentary parties to deal with the spread of radical Islam in Bulgaria, faith organizations and alliances at both the national and international levels have raised concern about the implications such a law would have on religious freedom rights of Bulgarians. "The proposed law legalizes state interference in the affairs of religious communities, which invariably comes at the expense of religious freedom," World Evangelical Alliance Secretary General Bishop Efraim Tendero said in a statement this month. "At a time when governments worldwide face the challenge of strengthening freedoms while maintaining security, we call on Bulgaria and other democratic countries to lead by example and to strengthen the right to religious freedom rather than to weaken it." The bill has been tabled for further review before a second reading. No date has been set for the second reading, the Sofia Globe reports. home World Christian White magazine owners say they've been forced to close over same-sex marriage views The Christian owners of a wedding magazine in Australia have made the decision to close it down after facing backlash for refusing to feature same-sex couples. Luke and Carla Burrell, publishers of White magazine, said they had experienced a 'a flood of judgement' over their views on same-sex marriage, which became legal in Australia last year. 'White Magazine has always been a secular publication, but as its publishers, we are Christian,' they wrote in their 'farewell' statement. 'We have no agenda but to love. We have no desire to create a social, political or legal war, which only divides people further and does more damage than good. To us, our faith is anchored in love without judgement. Recently we've experienced a flood of judgement.' The couple claimed they were the victims of a targeted campaign by people who objected to their view and said advertisers had abandoned them to the point where the magazine was no longer economically viable. They said couples who had featured in the magazine had been the subject of online abuse. The Burrells were also critical of the lack of freedom of belief around the issue of same-sex marriage and said there should be space to ask questions. 'Instead of allowing us the space to work through our thoughts and feelings, or being willing to engage in brave conversations to really hear each other's stories, some have just blindly demanded that we pick a side. We're not about sides, we're about love, patience and kindness,' they said. The publication faced criticism earlier this year when a former contributor said they were not accepting photo shoots of gay weddings. Photographer Lara Hotz, who is in a same-sex marriage, accused the magazine of working with members of the LGBT community while refusing to represent them, something she said she was 'extremely hurt' by. 'It appears they are happy to take money, content and photographs from LGBTQI advertisers and contributors, but are yet to support and represent us in the same way as heterosexual couples are represented in the magazine,' she said. The Burrells went on in their statement to say that it was clear to them they would not be able to operate the magazine in the way they wanted to. They concluded with a plea to society to allow different views. 'We hope that one day soon our society can learn to accept people's differences and different points of view and love each other no matter what. That's where real positive change begins,' they said. Courtesy of Christian Today home World Christians living in fear of Islamic radicals after Christian mom's death sentence acquittal Christians have been dragged out of their cars and beaten, and said they are "haunted" with fear of Islamic radicals as the blasphemy case of Christian mother Asia Bibi tears Pakistan apart. Romana Bashir, a Christian rights activist in Islamabad, said in an interview with CNN that blasphemy laws have been used to target followers of Christ in the Muslim country for years, but the fallout of Bibi's acquittal has been truly severe. Hardliners have blocked the streets, burned cars, and rioted through cities, angry at what they perceive to be the Pakistan Supreme Court's giving in to pressure by deciding to free the Christian mother, instead of confirming her 2010 death sentence. Peter Jacob, the executive director for the Center for Social Justice in Lahore, said that there have been cases where rioters have asked people in cars to tell them their religion. If they were found to be Christian, "they were taken out of their cars and beaten up." He warned that "the mental and psychological scars" that the Christian community are suffering will endure in the "current climate of fear." Large-scale Islamic radical attacks in Pakistan have decreased in the past year, though some church-going believers, such as those at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Rawalpindi, have admitted that they are constantly having to be careful. One gatekeeper at St Joseph, who didn't wish to share his name, said that he is "grateful for the presence of the military close to the church," but that the sense of fear has "begun to haunt him" since Bibi's acquittal. Christians face discrimination in Pakistan in a variety of different ways, such as being offered only low-skilled jobs and kept at the bottom of society. The blasphemy laws, which, such as in Bibi's case, can put believers on death row even if they claim to be innocent, create a whole new dimension of terror, Bashir explained. She said that one of the biggest problems is that when non-Muslims are accused of blasphemy, "the entire community is branded and labeled with the crime." "When you are accused you cannot live in the same place, your family is under threat, your entire locality is under threat, you must run, you must leave everything you love behind. The impact is very severe," she explained. Bashir, who in 2012 was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to serve as adviser for the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims, said that progress in terms of trust between Muslim leaders and Christians is being broken apart due to the blasphemy controversy. "People on both sides are now afraid to come forth, there is no middle ground for discussion, there is no air for reconciliation, it's like the bridges of harmony have been burnt in the aftermath of acquittal," she said. Bibi's fate meanwhile remains uncertain, with the Christian mother of five not yet allowed to leave Pakistan, due to the pressure hardliners are putting on the government. Several Western countries have said that they are looking into ways of helping Bibi and her family, though it is not yet clear who will offer her asylum. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was the latest on Monday to suggest his country might step up. "We are in discussions with the Pakistani government," Trudeau told AFP in France. "There is a delicate domestic context that we respect which is why I don't want to say any more about that, but I will remind people Canada is a welcoming country," he added. Courtesy of The Christian Post home US Instagram apologizes after removing 'hate speech' post about pastors The social networking giant Instagram is admitting that it made an error when it removed a Reformed Baptist ministry's post promoting an op-ed contending that women shouldn't be pastors and has restored the post in question. Founders Ministries, a Reformed group within the Southern Baptist Convention, posted to its Instagram account on Nov. 7 a screenshot of an article posted to the Founders webpage by Founders board member Tom Hicks titled "Only Men May Be Pastors." On Nov. 11, Founders Executive Director Tom Ascol took to Twitter to sound an alarm that the Nov. 7 Instagram post had been removed. Ascol posted a screenshot of the notification received from Instagram informing the ministry why the post had been removed. Instagram's initial explanation stated that the post did not comply with the platform's community guidelines on "hate speech or symbols." In the article, Hicks quotes 1 Timothy 2:12a14, which states: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet." "We want to keep Instagram a safe place for everyone and we ask that you treat other members of the community with respect," the message from Instagram to Founders Ministries explained. Ascol, who also pastors at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida, told his followers on Twitter that Instagram had "censored" the post. "Big Brother can't tolerate biblical truth in the marketplace of ideas," Ascol wrote. Earlier this week, Hanah Ascol told The Christian Daily Reporter that the post had received great engagement and was the "second best post engagement for this year" on the ministry's Instagram account. "There was good discussion and agreement in the comments. Then Sunday evening, Nov. 11, I got the notice that the post had been reported by a viewer, reviewed by Instagram and then deleted," she explained. "The reason given was that the post 'doesn't follow our Community Guidelines on hate speech.' Included was a warning that if we violated the guidelines again then our account could be restricted or disabled." On Wednesday, a member of Instagram's communications team, Fiona Brown, told The Christian Post that the post had been restored. "We mistakenly removed this piece of content, and we apologize for the inconvenience caused, Brown wrote in an email. "We worked to rectify the mistake as soon as we were notified and have already taken steps to prevent this from happening in the future." Founders Ministries did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Founders Ministries was initially founded as the Southern Baptist Founders Conference and is committed to "encouraging the recovery of the Gospel and the biblical reformation of local churches." Founders Ministries has a goal to establish doctrines of grace and a Calvinist understand in Baptist churches. Founders publishes The Founders Journal four times per year, which highlights a wide range of "pertinent theological and ecclesiological issues." Founders also holds national and regional conferences and publishes books through Founders Press. The organization also played a role in the conservative resurgence within the Southern Baptist Convention. Social media sites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are regularly facing backlash from conservatives who say that the organizations are censoring their content. In July, Instagram was criticized by Ryan Bomberger, the African-American co-founder of the pro-life Radiance Foundation, for removing his meme comparing the blacks lynched by the Ku Klux Klan to the babies aborted by Planned Parenthood. Earlier this year, Facebook again banned Ohio conservative Christian mommy blogger Elizabeth Johnston, also known as "the Activist Mommy," for "hate speech." Johnston was told a day later after she complained that her post was mistakenly flagged and deleted. Johnston was also suspended from Facebook in 2017 for a period of three days because of comments she made about homosexuality. Courtesy of The Christian Post home US Mother of Chris Watts victim says she is praying God will have mercy on him The Colorado man convicted of killing his wife and two daughters heard heartbreaking testimonies from his victims' family as he was sentenced to life in prison for their deaths. Chris Watts was found guilty of murdering Shanann Watts and their daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. He was also found guilty of the unlawful killing of an unborn child as Shannan Watts was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her death in August. Watts had initially claimed that his family had gone missing and even made appeals in the media for their safe return. However, he changed his story when their bodies were discovered three days later and claimed that he had killed his wife in a fit of rage after seeing her smother Celeste. Shanann Watt's family was in court for the sentencing on Monday, where they told Watts of their grief in moving impact statements. Her father Frank Rzucek said Chris Watts had 'carried them out like trash'. 'I trusted you to take care of them, not kill them. And they also trusted you,' he said, before adding, 'You disgust me.' Her mother Sandra Rzucek said she was praying for healing for her family after their ordeal. She also said she was praying for Chris Watts, whom she said she had loved 'like a son'. 'We trusted you,' she said. 'Your faithful wife trusted you. Your children adored you. 'I didn't want death for you because that's not my right,' she added. 'Your life is between you and God and I pray that he has mercy for you.' She said the family would 'never get over' the deaths of their daughter and grandchildren. 'I am still struggling to understand how and why this tragedy occurred. I may never be able to understand and accept it, but I pray for peace and healing for all of us,' she said. Courtesy of Christian Today A working toilet could mean freedom for Dalits in India This past Monday, November 19, was World Toilet Day an official United Nations observance that I'm guessing most people probably did not mark on their calendar. The truth is most of us don't think twice about having access to a bathroom. The only times we worry or panic depending on the situation is when we are in public and can't find one. But for the 4.5 billion people in the world who don't have proper access to safe sanitation, not having a toilet carries severe health, economic, educational and social repercussions. Lack of access to safe sanitation often leads to open defecation, which in turn leads to contaminated water sources and ultimately waterborne diseases. Additionally, millions of men, women and children spend countless hours, which could be used for work or schooling, walking to public latrines or cleaning dry toilets. And of course, there is the shame and discomfort of having no privacy when going to the bathroom. All of these are urgent reasons why we all should care about this issue. But coming from India, I know of another reason we would be remiss to ignore: for India's Dalits sometimes called 'untouchables' improving safe sanitation is literally a matter of freedom. Due to the inordinate amount of attention the media gave to the hearings for Brett Kavanaugh's contentious Supreme Court confirmation process, most Americans missed a story that went viral on the other side of the world. It was told by the heartbreaking picture of a boy mourning his stepfather's death. 'The boy walked up to his father's body at a crematorium, moved the sheet from the face, held the cheeks with both hands, just said "papa" & began sobbing,' wrote Shiv Sunny, the Hindustan Times journalist who posted the image on Twitter. 'The man was yet another poor labourer who died in a Delhi sewer on Friday,' he added. 'Family did not have money even for cremating him.' Manual scavenging cleaning sewers and dry toilets in rural areas has been outlawed in India for 25 years, yet an estimated 182,505 families participate in this unofficial industry, according to a 2011 government census. Cleaning sewers in India's cities is extremely dangerous. Often, employers do not provide workers the proper safety gear for the job, as it happened with the man above. In 2017, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment admitted more than 300 scavenger deaths were registered in India. But according to Safai Karmachari Andolan (Sanitation Workers Movement), an organisation that tracks deaths of scavengers and seeks compensation for victims' families, the annual death toll is likely closer to 500. Manual scavenging is not as much a career choice as it is a birth curse. You see, virtually all manual scavengers and sanitation workers in India are from the Valmiki community, which belongs to the Dalit caste, and there's a reason for it. According to the ancient caste system, all Indians are born into a predetermined social class according to their ancestry. The purer your blood, the higher you rank in the system. Dalits are considered so impure they are not even officially part of the social structure. In fact, if you belonged to a higher caste and came into contact with a Dalit, you were made impure. This is why untouchability physical and social was practised for millennia in India. It wasn't until the advent of the Indian Constitution in 1950, which was drafted by the Columbia-educated BR Ambedkar, a Dalit himself, that untouchability was banned. Yet nearly 70 years later, the lingering effects of the caste system still impact the lives of millions of Indians. To this day, Dalits are ostracized, exploited, raped and murdered. They are literally treated as if they were below animals, murdered and beaten for the mere rumour of hurting cows considered holy by many Hindus or even for ludicrous reasons such as sporting a moustache. Young Dalit men are assassinated for marrying women from higher castes. This happened not too long ago in Telangana, where the angry father of a bride ordered the murder of her Dalit husband. The young woman was five months pregnant, and as if murdering her husband wasn't enough, the father wanted her to terminate the pregnancy. Millennia of this enduring violence and discrimination has resulted in educational backwardness, poverty and even a shortening in life expectancy. The average Dalit woman dies 14.6 years younger than women from a higher caste, reported a UN study. Though estimates vary, it's widely agreed that there are at least 220 million Dalits in India. That's two-thirds of America's population. Put in perspective, the plight of the Dalits easily the greatest human rights abuse in history may seem overwhelming, but initiatives such as the UN's World Toilet Day make us realize there are attainable ways to help men and women find freedom from cultural bondage. For many Dalits, a working toilet could mean freedom. Most Rev Joseph D'Souza is an internationally renowned human and civil rights activist. He is the founder of Dignity Freedom Network, an organisation that advocates for and delivers humanitarian aid to the marginalised and outcastes of South Asia. He is archbishop of the Anglican Good Shepherd Church of India and serves as the president of the All India Christian Council. Christian charity launches emergency appeal to help thousands of fair trade producers put at risk by Brexit A Christian development charity is appealing for donations to support fair trade producers facing economic uncertainty and hardship as a result of Brexit. Traidcraft Exchange said the fallout from Britain's decision to leave the European Union is hurting fair trade suppliers in poorer parts of the world who have traditionally sold their products to the British market. It is now seeking donations to help cushion the impact on suppliers experiencing a sudden drop in orders. The launch of the appeal comes not long after the charity's sister business Traidcraft plc warned that its future was in question unless it could find a sustainable alternative model. It blamed the crisis on the uncertain economic conditions caused by Brexit as it revealed that it would be significantly downsizing and cutting the number of product lines it sells in the UK. Over 8,000 artisans and producers stand to lose their jobs or experience a decline in their income as a result of the losses at Traidcraft plc, with producers from India and Bangladesh among the worst affected. Hand-embroidered card manufacturer Swajan, based in Bangladesh, employs over 750 people, many of them women. Traidcraft Exchange said the company faces a 65 per cent fall in orders. 'For years artisans from poor and isolated regions have been able to sell to the UK fair trade market. Now that existing deals are coming to an abrupt end we owe it to them to cushion the blow and help them chart a new future,' said Kate Dixon, spokesperson for Traidcraft Exchange. 'Every supplier has different needs some will need help finding alternative fair trade buyers and some will need short term direct financial support. Donations to the urgent producer appeal can be made via the Traidcraft Exchange website www.traidcraft.org.uk/producers and over the phone at +44 (0)191 497 6445 Faith leaders urge zero-emissions energy target as risks from global warming rise UK faith leaders have come together to support calls for a net zero emissions target in law, amid fears that not enough is being done globally to prevent climate change. Representatives from the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist communities called on the UK government yesterday to set an example for the rest of the world by strengthening its commitment to zero emissions before 2050. The representatives were speaking ahead of an event to mark the tenth anniversary of the Climate Change Act attended by MPs from all parties and hosted by Simon Clarke MP and Mary Creagh MP in partnership with The Climate Coalition. Their statements came as the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) revealed that concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are driving up global temperatures reached a new high in 2017. In its annual greenhouse gas bulletin, the WMO said there is no sign of reversal in this rising trend. This coming Monday, November 26, will mark 10 years since The Climate Change Act became law in the UK. It is credited with reducing the UK's emissions by 40 per cent since the 1990s, but evidence published last month concluded that the international risk level at current levels of warming is critical, and that the world needs to move to net zero emissions as soon as possible. In the UK, more than 200 MPs and peers have signed a cross-party letter calling for a net zero emissions target before 2050. The Bishop of Salisbury, Nicholas Holtam, said: 'Ours is the first generation to know that people are causing climate change and may be the last to be able to do anything meaningful about it. Climate Change affects the poorest the most. What we want is Climate Justice.' The Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, also representing the Church of England at the event, added: 'Climate change is a clear and present danger to the world and the greatest challenge facing future generations. There is a way to prevent further global warming. It is for the whole world to commit to the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to align our lifestyles, policies and investments with that aim. 'An ambitious Government can make the UK a leader in this movement. As we mark the achievements of 10 years of climate action, our commitment must now be to go further and faster, while there is still a chance to avert the crisis facing our global community.' Chris Walker, Sustainability programme manager for Quakers in Britain, said: 'Quakers in Britain are led by faith to urge the UK to build a truly sustainable economy and help avert climate breakdown. This is vital for a peaceful and just future. But this demands bold leadership from government to cut carbon and keep fossil fuels in the ground. It's time to commit to a net-zero emissions economy.' Hillsong Church says documentary into Frank Houston's sex abuse is 'misleading' Hillsong has issued a statement refuting claims made in an Australian current affairs show about the church and founder Brian Houston over his handling of sex abuse committed by his father while he was an Assemblies of God minister. Channel Nine's 60 Minutes said it wanted to 'tell the story of the actions that protected the pedophile' Frank Houston. It extensively interviewed Brett Sengstock, who previously testified before the Royal Commission about his experience of abuse using the pseudonym AHA. For the 60 Minutes documentary, Sengstock waived his anonymity to speak about the abuse he suffered between the ages of 7 and 12, and to challenge Hillsong founder Brian Houston on how Frank Houston's crimes were dealt with. He accused the Assemblies of God of not doing enough to support him spiritually after the abuse came to light and questioned why Frank Houston's actions had not been reported to the police. 'I would have expected some godly assistance, some help, maybe some counselling. It's just like it's been brushed under the carpet,' he said. Brian Houston acted as National President of the Australia division - now called Australian Christian Churches - between 1997 and 2009, during which time claims of abuse against his father surfaced. Frank Houston, who died in 2004, was the head of Assemblies of God in New Zealand until 1971 and remained active in the denomination until he was removed from ministry by Brian after he confronted him about the allegations in 1999. 60 Minutes details how Assemblies of God dismissed Frank Houston after the abuse surfaced but it alleges that it 'never revealed the awful truth of Frank's crimes'. In a statement, Hillsong Church said the claims in the documentary were 'misleading' and it denied any wrongdoing. 'Hillsong vehemently denies there was a lack of transparency or 'hiding' by its leadership of any of the issues surrounding the abuse committed against minors by Frank Houston,' it said. The statement repeated previous assertions that the abuse was not reported to the police because it allegedly was not the wish of the victim. As previously detailed, it is abundantly clear, through available evidence, that the victim was an adult in mid 30's when Hillsong Church and Brian Houston became aware of the abuse, and the victim did not want the matter reported to the police,' the statement read. Brian Houston previously told the Royal Commission during its inquiry in 2013 that he did not report the abuse to the authorities at the time because he felt that this should be done by the victim. 'Rightly or wrongly, I genuinely believed that I would be preempting the victim if I were to just call the police at that point,' he said. In previous statements, Brian Houston said he reported the abuse to seniors in the Assemblies of God Australia as soon as he became aware of it, and immediately removed his father from ministry. In its conclusions, the Royal Commission cited the failure of the Assemblies of God national executive and Brian Houston to report Frank Houston to the police, and said Brian Houston had a 'conflict of interest' in handling the abuse claims but no action was taken against him. According to AOL.com, a police investigation into the Hillsong founder over his decision not to report his father has now been re-opened. Houston police believe a man who was found dead in a southwest Houston apartment Wednesday evening was killed through blunt force trauma. Detectives with the Houston Police Department said officers were dispatched to an apartment at 10222 S. Gessner around 6 p.m. Wednesday for a welfare check and death investigation. Officials said the door to the man's apartment was unlocked and that he had appeared to have been deceased for several days. Dayton city council voted unanimously to hire Robert Vine from the city of Gladewater in East Texas to lead the Dayton Police Department into the future. After several months of sorting through applications, interviews and numerous questions of some 60-plus candidates, a panel recommended Vine as the next chief. He has worked with City Manager Theo Melancon during his tenure at Gladewater and is happy to be a part of the future of Dayton. We got along really well, Vine said of his former boss. Hes a very good communicator and a skilled leadertwo things I have appreciated in a supervisor, he said. Vine will not only lead the police department but was also hired as a deputy city manager to oversee public safety. As I understand it, there are very few [positions] like that, but Im looking forward to that side of it, he said. It will be a learning curve, but I have a good mentor. His wife Kristy was with him at the council meeting and they have five children. I couldnt do anything without her, he said of his wife. He knew his wife had to be willing to move as well. Vine began his law enforcement career in Mount Pleasant in deep northeast Texas as a patrol officer and ascended through the ranks to become the police chief. I did pretty much every job I could do, he said, gaining invaluable experience. After 16 years of service there, he took the leadership role at Gladewater and has served there the last five years. He and his wife already have their eye on a home here in Dayton. He comes from both a larger and similar sized town populations. Leadership is the same whether youre in a big city or a small one, he said. As far as the servant leadership and how you treat people, that wont change, he said definitively. Im comfortable in a smaller and larger environment. Im comfortable where Dayton is now and will be as they grow, he said. Vine emphasized team-building. The main thing is communication. Its not about me as chief, but about those who work for me and those I serve. So, if we work together and build a good team, it will work for whatever size we are, he said. His tentative start time is Jan. 7, 2019. I will stay on with Gladewater to help with the transition and take care of the team that we developed. Its hard to walk away from them, he said. He hasnt met with the rank and file in Dayton yet but said it would be one of the first things he does when he comes. I think that hes going to be a blessing to Dayton, said City councilwoman Sherial Lawson. Lawson said she was excited for what the future held for Dayton. There were three finalists: Vine, Michael Boese of Venus, Texas and Anthony Solomon of Prairie View. Of the more than the 60 applicants, most came from Texas but there some from Missouri, South Dakota, Nebraska, and as far away as North Carolina. The job posting was listed on the Texas Muncipal League, city of Dayton, and several Bamboo HR function websites. We were all over the place. I feel good that the reach was there, Melancon said. A committee was formed that included the interim chief Charles Wedemeyer, Capt. John Coleman, Asst. City Manager Kim Judge, City Secretary Shannon OKeefe, Asst. City Manager Rudy Zepeda, and City Councilman Alvin Burress. The committee met weekly to review applications and discard those that didnt meet the criteria and profile required in the search. With any search, you always have applications that dont meet the criteria. Its candidates just throwing their application in there to see if they get considered, Melancon said. The first step was to cull through those. The committee narrowed their search down to six viable candidates who, the city manager said, had the experience, met initial background checks, and interviews. Zepeda, assisted by Coleman, conducted phone interviews with each of the candidates with human resources screening questions and were able to eliminate three more and select three finalists. Those three were brought onsite beginning the day with a breakfast with some city officials and then they were taken to city hall where they were quizzed by a panel comprised of council members and the committee. Melancon was not part of the process other than to join them for breakfast. Following the meeting with the panel, they were treated to lunch and a tour of facilities with Fire Chief Murphy and Lt. Shane Burleigh. After the tour, each candidate met privately with Melancon who had gathered the information and the general consensus from the committee to inform them of their unanimous decision for Vine. Melancon said they were still defining Vines responsibilities as deputy city manager of public safety, but said he would assess facility needs for his and the other departments and training. We want to make sure that were looking at public safety as a holistic thingnot just police, or fire, or EMS, or emergency management. All those things work together and in conjunction with one another. His first job will be police chief, but over time build a repertoire of updating emergency management protocols with fire and police working together, the city manager said. dtaylor@hcnonline.com Kurt Russell was born to play Santa Claus. Maybe not your fathers Santa Claus but one whos cooler and more subversive. Its a bit of casting karma that may not have been all that evident before his appearance in the clever and captivating new fantasy-adventure The Christmas Chronicles. Russell, he of the shaggy mane and those twinkly, crinkly eyes, digs into the classic role with a sleighful of energy, humor and gusto, deftly making the character his own with guidance from Matt Liebermans inventive, myth-bending script. His performance is a gas. Although Russells all-seeing, all-knowing St. Nick looms large, hes here to support and inspire the films co-protagonists: 10-year-old optimist Kate (Darby Camp) and her surly teen brother, Teddy (an especially good Judah Lewis), bickering, suburban Boston siblings adjusting to their first Yuletide since the death of their beloved dad (Oliver Hudson), a brave firefighter and Christmas devotee. On Christmas Eve, Kate and Teddys nurse mom, Claire (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), is called into work (I know, convenient), leaving Kate and Teddy to their own devices: Kate wants to do something Christmasy with the brother she misses hanging out with; budding car thief Teddy is not interested. Until, that is, Kate finds evidence that Santa Claus may truly exist and, before you can say Jingle Bells, actually proves it. Though, of course, you have to believe in Santa and in yourself which is one of the films evergreen themes. What follows is a night on the town or many, many towns it will turn out as Kate and Teddy, after almost derailing Christmas, join up with Santa to surmount a host of largely magical and quite entertaining obstacles, help him deliver a planets worth of gifts and, yknow, save the whole dang holiday. Think Adventures in Babysitting but with a hopped-up sleigh and speed-demon reindeer. (Not for nothing, Babysitting helmer Chris Columbus is a producer here.) Director Clay Kaytis (The Angry Birds Movie) keeps things moving apace as he hurtles through a string of well-executed, often visual effects-heavy set pieces. These include more than one breakneck sleigh ride, rapid-fire chimney dives, a wild car chase, Teddys clash with a trio of this-could-be-you crooks, an amusing face-off with Chicago cops that lands Santa behind bars, and his subsequent and enjoyably rousing rendition of the bluesy Santa Claus Is Back in Town, with a first-rate assist from his cellmates: none other than Little Steven (as in Van Zandt) and the Disciples of Soul. Meanwhile, Kates Alice in Wonderland-like tumble through Santas bottomless sack of presents and into a fanciful world filled with even more vibrantly wrapped gifts and Santas eclectic army of troll-like, CGI elves (they speak a comical, vaguely Scandinavian language called Elvish) is an imaginative, gorgeously designed standout. The movie is certainly not without its logic gaps (Claire never calls the entire night to check on her kids? Really?). But, lets face it, anytime Santa Claus rears his red-suited self on film, all credibility bets are off, so best to focus on the copious fun and creativity on display. Oh, and theres a sweet cameo appearance at the end that definitely wraps things up with a bow. Not long ago, a movie as ambitious and audience-friendly as The Christmas Chronicles would have been a splashy theatrical holiday release with all the festive promotional trimmings. However, it being 2018, the film is bypassing the multiplex for release via Netflix. Its a tack, one hopes, that will help this comedy attract a wide and appreciative audience and perhaps distinguish from the rest of the watch-at-home barrage of Christmas movies. Still, for this one, the bigger your screen, the better. Houston federal immigration agents have deported five undocumented fugitives including four MS-13 gang members wanted for serious crimes in El Salvador including murder and kidnapping, the agency confirmed. The five were flown by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's removal operations Friday on a charter flight from George Bush Intercontinental Airport to El Salvador, according to a press release from ICE. Small Business Saturday traditionally is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving to promote shopping at local businesses and Katy Budget Books again will observe the event. The store at 2450 Fry Road will host Small Business Market on Saturday, Nov. 24, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The store parking lot will be closed for the day to feature local crafters and direct sales distributors. The event also will feature a food truck serving barbecue. Parking will be available in the lot of a nearby church. American Express is credited for creating the event on Nov. 27, 2010, to stimulate the local economy and support nonprofits. Were looking forward to it, said Richard Deupree, Katy Budget Books store manager. We have a lot of fun. Its a great day for us. This is probably the fourth or fifth year that the store will be hosting the market. He credits the store founder/owner Tamra Dore as setting the pace for the event. One of the things Tamra has always done is she prefers to use local businesses. She buys from local, family-owned businesses in the community, said Deupree. He explained that Dore is a Katy native who graduated from Katy High School. Shes really spent all her business career reinvesting in the Katy community. I wish more people would do that. Its really important that you support your local community, he continued. People smarter than I say the majority of money stays in the community rather than buying online. We use local vendors for everything that we can. Its beneficial to the community youre living in. Downtown Katy merchants dont have an organized observance of Small Business Saturday. Were all doing small little independent sales for small businesses, said Betsy Proctor, who organizes the monthly Katy Market Day which in downtown Katy. the Nov. 17 Katy Market Day featured about 60 vendors in downtown Katy, plus all the stores were open, said Proctor. And shes looking forward to the ninth annual Katy Old-Fashioned Christmas Festival in downtown Katy, which focuses on small businesses. The Dec. 1 event will have 180 vendors and 15 food trucks and be open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., she said. The event is organized by Katy Market Day and No Label Brewing Co. The traditional Small Business Saturday will receive some attention in Sugar Land, too. Sugar Land Town Square, Texas 6 at U.S. 59, is participating in American Express Small Business Saturday from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24. It invites people to support local shops and restaurants in the community. Visit www.sugarlandtownsquare.com for information. We have quite a few small businesses here, said Taylor Scott, Town Square event and marketing manager. American Express sends a box of items that includes shopping bags and stickers to promote Small Business Saturday, she added, and individual merchants have their own promotions. Town Square has participated in the event in prior years, she added. karen.zurawski@chron.com The Lone Star College Small Business Development Center named its 2018 Small Business of the Year Award winners. The winners, representing of variety of small businesses, were announced at the LSC SBDC 32nd Annual Small Business of the Year Award Luncheon held at the Lone Star Community Building Star of Texas Ballroom, Thursday, Nov. 15. The event included more than 270 guests and business owners who were welcomed by Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., LSC chancellor. Tim Jeffcoat, district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration Houston District Office and Linda Leto Head, LSC senior associate vice chancellor External and Employer Relations also spoke at the luncheon on the importance of supporting small businesses in our community. More than half of Americans own, or work for a small business, said Miguel Lopez, LSC SBDC executive director. The Lone Star College Small Business Development Center is proud to recognize these successful owners. The 2018 32nd Annual Small Business of the Year awards were given to: Family-Owned Flying M Feed & Company (Trace Menchaca, Lea Menchaca, Max Menchaca and Mike Menchaca) Franchise Owner Primrose School of Conroe (Jennifer Millington) Home-Based Home Exterior Systems, LLC (Patrick McCollim and Caleb McCollim) Minority-Owned Petra Oil Company, Inc. (Arnold Gacita) Small Business Norris Training Systems, Inc. (David Norris and Linda Hampton Norris) Veteran-Owned Hanigan + Johnson Orthodontics (James B. Hanigan and Daniel H. Johnson) Woman-Owned Animal ER of Northwest Houston (Dr. Jennifer Hennessey-Bremseth) Young Entrepreneur Pretty Little Things Boutique (Nikole Davis) The awards ceremony was hosted by Leslie Martone, CyFair Houston Chamber of Commerce president and Brian Bondy, Conroe Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce president. The LSC SBDC Advisory Council recognizes successful small businesses that make an impact in the local community each year. More than 200 nominees were submitted from the community and narrowed down to the 23 finalists. The finalists were selected by the members of the voting committee, which is a sub-committee of the SBDC advisory council, on the basis of leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, business growth and contribution to the community. A man was killed Wednesday night while trying to cross a north Houston road. The unidentified, 35-year-old pedestrian was at North Shepherd and Granville around 9:40 p.m., walking in an area with no crosswalks. Just as the man came out from behind the trees, a driver approached heading south on Shepherd. The driver didn't see the man in time to stop before he crashed into him, he later told Houston police. HOMICIDE: Police find body in SW Houston apartment The pedestrian died at the scene. There's no indication of drunk driving and no charges are expected. NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. A necklace found at the scene of a fatal shooting earlier this month in the Braeswood area led investigators to a Dickinson man now charged with capital murder. Wilfred Boudine, 25, is accused of killing 63-year-old Anthony Anderson as he walked down the street in the 3700 block of Wood Valley, near Stella Link and the South Loop. A witness told police that at 11 a.m. on Nov. 2, Anderson and another person were arguing in a driveway of a vacant property before Anderson started walking away. The other person then pointed a pistol and fired multiple shots at Anderson, who continued walking down the street, according to charging documents. GANG-THREAT WARNING: Mother says her son was threatened before he was killed The other person, later identified as Boudine, then got in Andersons 2013 silver Toyota Corolla, pulled up next to Anderson and shot him two more times before fleeing, the witness told police. Anderson had multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he died. Two days later, Texas City police conducted a traffic stop on the stolen vehicle, and Boudine was arrested and charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, according to Galveston County arrest records. During a questioning, Boudine told a Houston Police Department investigator that he bought the car on Nov. 2 and that he wasnt aware of a murder, the charging documents show. He said he bought the car from a man at a gas station in Dickinson, but the investigator found no video evidence that that occurred, police said. The investigator later found a photo on Boudines girlfriends Facebook page, showing Boudine wearing a necklace that matched one found at the scene of the killing. Boudines sister told police that she saw her brother at a friends house with the Corolla and a pistol, trying to get new paper tags for the car. She also said shed seen her brother wearing that necklace. On Nov. 13, Boudine told investigators that he and another friend met Anderson at a gas station and were going to get him drugs in exchange for letting them use his car for the weekend, police said. The three of them ended up at Wood Valley, Boudine told police. He blamed the shooting on the other friend who was allegedly in the car, but said he drove the stolen vehicle away, according to the charging documents. The witness who saw the shooting said the person driving the car shot Anderson, however, and Boudine was identified as the suspect. Police said its believed that Boudine also stole Andersons cell phone. Houston police said Boudine is in custody. This story has been updated to reflect that the shooting took place in the Braeswood area. NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. Collin Clemons and his wife lost their jobs just weeks before Thanksgiving. Me and my wife, we lost our job a couple weeks ago because they had downsized our company and we work at the same place, Clemons said. We didnt know how we were going to be able to take care of this since this happened. The unemployment (benefits are) only so much. With children to take care of and Thanksgiving around the corner, Clemons was grateful when Harris County Precinct 4 Constables Office stepped in to make sure his family had a meal for the holiday through the Operation Turkey Day initiative. Constable Mark Herman and deputies visited homes on Wednesday, delivering food to families struggling financially. Operation Turkey Day has been an annual tradition of the Pct. 4 Constables Office for 15 to 20 years, said Herman. The goal is to ensure families like the Clemons are able to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal. A lot of these people out here dont have the resources to have good Thanksgivings and good Christmases, and as good stewards to our community we want to do this to give back, Herman said. This is an opportunity for us at Pct. 4 to give back to the less fortunate in our community. We will be delivering 40 to 50 turkey dinners with all of the trimmings to our citizens. The meals included oven-roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey gravy, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, a bottle of soda and a pumpkin pie. After the food deliveries were complete, the agency stated in a news release that six to eight families had benefited from this years meal distribution. Beneficiaries of Operation Turkey Day are selected by Precinct 4 officers, Herman said. We have our deputies that work in communities and know these folks and work with them on a daily basis, Herman said. They were basically identified that way. We probably could have gotten more than what we had but were limited on resources. The event was largely funded by John Peacock with Sunrise Helicopters, Inc., who fully funded 40 dinners this year and in past years. To help cover other costs, Herman said he uses his own personal funds and that no county funds were used to buy the dinners. I can tell you that our deputies hearts are bigger than their badges when it comes to stuff like this, and we do a lot of community outreach programs throughout the year, Herman said. Several recipient families expressed their gratitude upon receiving a full meal, including Ruth Espinoza, who said she and her daughter Kimberly Frias were not expecting as much food as they received. I am happy, she said. Its a good experience. I was not expecting so much. For one of Hermans deputy constables, Lucas Paige, getting to help community members made the experience worthwhile. Paige delivered dinners to both Espinoza and Clemons. Its a cool way to give back to them, the community, he said. Paige delivered dinners to Espinoza, as well as to Clemons, who said he is thankful for the constables delivery of the Thanksgiving dinner a day before the holiday. Its just a blessing for us to be able to use this, Clemons said. We had to downsize to a one-bedroom townhome. We have kids. Were really just very lucky to have this and just so thankful. chevall.pryce@chron.com As the air grows crisper and the days grow shorter, the Glade Art Gallery will be slowly and quietly overrun by a magical forest. The Enchanted Forest, a multimedia performance installation celebrating the natural beauty of the township it calls home, opens on Nov. 29. We all live here, in the middle of this forest, Glade Artistic Director Jodie Brooke said. Most of the time we dont pay attention to the fact that were in the middle of this planned community amidst the chaos of Houston. The site-specific work merges lights, sound, mystical set design, woodland characters and several different modalities of dancing into a fantastical production that defies description. Its like an art installation with characters, costume designer Macy Lyne said, Its not just theatre, its not just dance its all of it. As the 150 guests in each tour arrive at the venue, theyre greeted by a guide the exact species of whom is a surprise until visitors arrive and journey through a forest built from metal frames and vines intertwined with dancers and actors who openly engage in dialogue with the audience. The space itself invites the audience in, Brooke said. You become part of it. The production team also devised two sensory-friendly performances on Dec. 16 and 27 with adjusted lights, sound production and cast/audience interaction to curb the often-exclusionary nature of holiday light shows for community members with more sensitivity . For the small, but sophisticated, population of The Woodlands, the production was a long time coming, said Glade gallery co-owner Dragos Tapu. Theres been a resurgence in arts in The Woodlands the last couple of years, Tapu said. I think the community has matured enough as a whole where a production like this was needed and expected. The building that is now home to the Glade Art Gallery and the Glade Arts Foundation was originally built as The Woodlands Information Center the first stop for any potential resident or business owner. On opening night, the building will host the first such immersive installation in the townships history. Theres a delicious circularity to doing it in the building where The Woodlands was initially sold to people, Brooke said. Through the Arts Foundation, The Woodlands Arts Council and other organizations, The Woodlands is coming into its own and gradually closing the gap in performance and visual arts between the township and Houstons famed residential companies, Brooke said. The entire cast of Enchanted Forest is local, with performers brought in from programs in Hunstville, Conroe, The Woodlands and Houston. Hiring locally could helped stem the leak of talented artists who leave after college to seek roles in bigger markets, she added. Theres a lot of really great theatre training in the Houston area, Brooke said. But compared to the amount of people actually trained in those areas, the work available is actually fairly limited. Tapu said the enthusiastic initial reception of the production at the seven-month-old gallery makes it clear that The Woodlands is quickly becoming known as a hub for creatives. It was time for something cultural to happen here, he added. Were just getting started. The Enchanted Forest takes over the Glade Art Gallery beginning Nov. 29. mrincon@chron.com Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration, as preserved by the Library of Congress. Timothy Warren was driving his FedEx truck through a Portland, Oregon, neighborhood when a man screamed at Warren that he was going too fast. Warren stopped his truck. He was exhausted, he tried to explain to Joseph Magnuson that night in late September, and just wanted to get done with his work. Magnuson was unrelenting and hurled insults and racist slurs at him, a report said. Warren, who is black, stepped out of the truck, and both men yelled at one another. Magnuson took a swing. Warren swung back, connecting a single blow above Magnuson's left eye that sent Magnuson tumbling to the ground, according to reports. Magnuson, 55, briefly lost consciousness, then died later that evening. Prosecutors have decided not to charge Warren with a crime. He did not intend to kill Magnuson and acted in self-defense during the Sept. 26 incident, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office said in a memo released Monday. Magnuson's death from the fall was precipitated by "extremely poor health," a medical examiner concluded, and the punch itself was not fatal, Senior Deputy District Attorney Adam Gibbs wrote. More for you Racist incidents flare in federal facilities as hate crimes rise; Trump blamed for divisiveness Warren was within his legal right to challenge Magnuson's "racist vitriol," Gibbs noted, and said Warren's decision to confront Magnuson - rather than ignore him - was not legally significant. Oregon law does not carry a "duty to retreat" provision that would have required Warren to reasonably remove himself from danger, Gibbs wrote. Prosecutors and police pieced together events using accounts from six eyewitnesses, three of whom saw the entire incident. They all maintained that Warren had driven an acceptable speed and that Magnuson started the incident, and then escalated it. "Mr. Magnuson's actions, as reported by all three witnesses and Mr. Warren, gave rise to a reasonable belief on Mr. Warren's part that a limited use of force was necessary to prevent injury to himself," Gibbs wrote. Magnuson was living in a van near the park where the deadly encounter occurred, district attorney spokesman Brent Weisberg told The Washington Post. Warren, whose age wasn't released, could not be reached for comment. The announcement by the prosecutor's office on Monday was the first public mention of Magnuson's death and the ensuing investigation, the Oregonian newspaper reported; it was unclear why prosecutors had only recently released information about the incident. It's unclear whether Warren still works for FedEx; the company declined to comment on his status. The company, which said it cooperated fully during the investigation, extends "condolences to those affected," FedEx Ground spokeswoman Nikki Mendicino said in a statement. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Cai Jianjun, vice president of Baoneng Auto and senior vice president of Qoros Auto has reportedly left Qoros Auto after he joined the automaker on March 20. Yet, his future decision remains unknown. Cai Jianjun joined Changan Automobile in 1998 after he completed his master degree. Before he was employed by Baoneng Auto, he has held senior positions at BAIC Motor from October 2015, presiding over the marketing business of the automaker's self-owned brands. In December last year, Baoneng Group officially became the strategic investor of Qoros Auto who had suffered continuous loss in both profits and sales. Holding 51% stake in the latter, Baoneng Group made a commitment to supply RMB10 billion per year as capital of R&D. Powered by Baoneng Group's investment, Qoros Auto not only gained a new management team in place, but also saw its sales performance visibly improve. For the first ten months this year, Qoros Auto witnessed its cumulative sales tremendously grew 447.9% from the previous year to 53,987 units, achieving year-on-year increase for 8 consecutive months. Moreover, the dealership network also gets substantial advancement. Dealers partnering with Qoros Auto have exceeded 200 nationwide, according to relevant reports. Especially, new dealers for the collective contract signing in June and August totaled 81. More than a month after three men ganged up to rape a woman in a wooded area north of Houston, authorities are still offering a $5,000 reward to help crack the case. Late on the evening of Oct. 3, three attackers abducted a woman near Rushcreek and Northborough, taking her away in a dark-colored four-door sedan and driving her to a wooded, swampy area nearby. Baytown firefighters who spent the last week battling deadly blazes in California arrived back home Wednesday in the most Houston way possible late, because of traffic. But the hour-or-so delay was nothing compared to the nine days that the four-man crew from Baytown Fire Department Station 7 was away from home. The crew was just a small part of nearly 200 firefighters around the state who were deployed to help fight the wildfires in the country's most populous state. The firefighters were part of the Texas A&M Forest Service's Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, known as TIFMAS. They spent most of their time tapping out hot spots in the wake of the Woolsey Fire near Los Angeles. Now that the Baytown firefighters are back on their home turf, they're eager to get back into protecting life and property in the 76,000-person city east of Houston. But before they sign back on for their shift, there's one thing standing in the way Thanksgiving with family. For Baytown firefighter Aaron McNeil, who arrived back in town from California on Wednesday, that means even more driving to his hometown of Orange. "We're all glad to be home," he said as other Baytown firefighters greeted him and his three fellow firefighters. He and the three others Engineer Operator Robert Hebert, firefighter Kevin Lowell and Lt. Alfred Duran encountered heavy fire damage in some areas like nothing they've ever seen. "It was a lot of destruction," McNeil said. "It was different. Down here, we're used to a lot of flooding. Up there, there are a lot of fires." Crews from the North Montgomery County Fire Department in Willis also returned home Wednesday, just in time for the holiday with their families. "It was pretty devastating," North Montgomery County Fire Department Battalion Chief Bill Derks said, of the "For miles, it was just burned up country, structures (burned down), and lots of people who didn't have places to go." In all, 81 people have been found dead as a result of the Camp Fire in Northern California as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press. Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message The state is seeking a death sentence for the Texas prison inmate who allegedly confessed to strangling his cellmate earlier this year at a Brazoria County lock-up. Alfred Brosig, who was indicted in September, was already serving a life without parole sentence for capital murder when he admitted to killing 57-year-old Kenneth Johnson at the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon, officials said. Its highly disturbing, said Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne. Though he has no possibility of release from prison, the court set $3 million bail. Prison officials found out about the slaying late in the evening of Jan. 17, when the 48-year-old Bexar County killer approached staff to tell them hed killed his cellmate, a prison spokesman said at the time. READ MORE: Convicted killer admits to slaying cellmate in Houston-area prison A fellow inmate wrote in a letter to activists that the alleged killer blew farewell kisses to an imaginary audience as he was escorted out of his cell. Staff called 911 and paramedics tried saving Johnson, authorities said. He still had a radio cord wrapped around his neck when medical staff arrived, according to prisoner Jason Renard Walker. Authorities still haven't revealed a motive for the slaying. Afterward, Brosig was transferred to the Jester IV psychiatric prison, but currently hes at the McConnell Unit in Beeville. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice did not respond to a request for comment. Brosig first came to the Texas prison system in 1990, after a pair of convictions for burglary of a vehicle and unauthorized use, according to court records. Then, he picked up a drug charge while behind bars in 2000. Four years later he was convicted on the capital murder charge, and records show that in 2017 he got a new case for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Even as the state puts together its case against Brosig, prosecutors are also preparing for a murder trial in an unrelated case of another prison slaying set to go before a Brazoria County jury in April. Last spring, Ramiro Fuentez, Jr. was accused of killing his cellmate at the Darrington Unit in Rosharon, Yenne said. Its not clear what sparked the violence, but prosecutors allege the 46-year-old strangled Bobby Leon Randolph with his hands. The accused killer had previously served prison time for burglary, robbery, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Most recently, he was sent to TDCJ in 2004 to serve a 15-year sentence for a gun charge. He was expected to get out in 2019, according to prison records. keri.blakinger@chron.com President Trumps extraordinary response to the horrifying murder of Jamal Khashoggi has renewed attention to what is widely described as his America first doctrine. But an error of logic has seeped into the coverage of this alleged doctrine and the bearing it has on the Khashoggi killing - and many other matters, as well. Its a subtle error, but a serious one. In the media discussion of Trumps response to the murder, you often see variations of the claim that Trump has revealed an unpleasant, unstated truth about his worldview - that Trump will put America first even if it requires sanctioning the most reprehensible conduct, or doing things that are necessary even if people find them deeply unsettling. The lead story on Trumps response in The New York Times, for instance, describes it as a stark distillation of the Trump worldview, which is heedless of the facts (correct!), but also remorselessly transactional and determined to put Americas interests first. A Post piece claims Trump is prioritizing Americas bottom line. A CNN analysis notes that America first means Trump will look the other way as long as a foreign power enriches the United States, adding: Perhaps Trump should get marks for frankness. The suggestion here is that we are now seeing what America first really looks like. That is, when Trump says America first, he means it. But this concedes too much. In an inadvertent but pernicious way, it supports Trumps preferred framing of his presidency. In this case and many others, Trump is not being frank about his real priorities, and he is not putting America first. Hes putting his own naked self-interest over whats good for America, and prioritizing the real-world policy realization of his own prejudices over any good-faith, fact-based effort to determine, by any discernible standard, what might actually be in the countrys interests. Trumps core claim that we must overlook the killing to maintain our current relationship with the Saudis, and that this is good for us, is itself mostly nonsense. As a Post editorial points out, the failure to sanction those responsible for the killing - including the Saudi kingdom, per the conclusion of the CIA - buttresses a world in which dictators know they can murder their critics and suffer no consequences. Trumps response to this notion is the idea that the world is a very dangerous place! and that he will pursue our national interests in this dangerous world. But Trumps statement on the killing relies on falsehoods to depict maintaining our relationship with the Saudis as in our national interests. As weve noted: The Saudis did not agree to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States, a number Trump seems to have just made up; they did not order $110 billion in military equipment; and they will not be creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States. But Id like to take this further and point out that here Trump is not actually operating from any meaningful conception of what is good for the country. It isnt just those lies. Its also Trumps insistence that well never know whether the crown prince actually ordered the killing, which breaks from the intelligence communitys conclusion, and the subtle slandering of Khashoggi via the floating of the Saudi claim that he was an enemy of the state. I challenge you to read those things as driven by any conception of whats good for the country. They are arguably damaging to the country, since they weaken faith in efforts to determine the truth, and could further distress Americans who are deeply upset by the killing. But whats undoubtedly true is that they can only be about making Trumps current stance politically easier for himself. The bigger idea at stake here in Trumps response is the notion that our commitment to international standards of human rights are to be jettisoned when they get in the way of our interests. Its true that the United States has a long history of turning a blind eye to Saudi human rights abuses. But this does not preclude responding to this particular atrocity, and merely claiming Trump is revealing the truth about our previous realpolitik does not justify the current absence of any response. More to the point, Trump is not merely acquiescing to this unfortunate truth. Hes actively weakening our commitment to human (and civil) rights on many other fronts as well, both at home and abroad. The idea that adherence to international standards on human rights - but also international commitments other matters, such as reducing climate change and taking in asylum seekers and refugees - is a zero-sum negative for America is of course supposed to be foundational to Trumps worldview. But the administration has never actually defended this proposition on any of these fronts in a fact-based manner. This is most glaringly true on asylum seekers and refugees. Limiting their entry is also foundational to America first Trumpism. But Trump has not merely tried to reduce asylum seeking; he has justified this with all manner of lies about the supposed threat they pose to us. Trump has not just slashed refugee levels to historic lows and employed bureaucratic chicanery to reduce those levels further. His administration deep-sixed internal data showing them to be a net economic positive. The point here, again, is that Trump is placing his prejudices - his determination to implement a white nationalist agenda - over any good-faith effort to determine what the actual impact of this agenda will be on the country. On the migrants, the self-interest runs even deeper than this. The lies about the caravan were all about keeping the House in GOP hands - he even used the military as a prop in this exercise - to prevent Democrats from taking the House and subjecting him to accountability. Other aspects of Trumps white nationalism underscore the point. Trumps many sides comment after Charlottesville, which emboldened white nationalists rather than calming racial tensions; his pardoning of racist Joe Arpaio; his attacks on African-American athletes - Trump reportedly believed these things would help him politically, never mind that they stoked civil conflict that harmed the country. Over and over, Trumps prejudice and naked self-interest trump (as it were) any conception of the national interest. Need more? The New York Times reports that Trump privately wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute Hillary Clinton and James Comey. There is no possible way this is based on any conception of the national good, unless Trump is totally delusional, which would itself mean theres no such operative conception here. Everyone knows Trump appointed Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general not because of his qualifications, but for the sole purpose of protecting him from the special counsel. There is no big and unpleasant truth at the core of Trumps vision of whats good for the country. That vision is largely a void filled with unchecked self-interest, both disguised and sustained by lies. You won't find this gorgeous Spanish Revival home in Los Angeles on many lists of Marilyn Monroe's known residences. However, those who've lived in the neighborhood for decades have tales to tell of America's most glamorous movie star and her second husband, New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio. The celebrity couple were seen in the home before and during their brief marriage in 1954. The scoop comes from listing agent Neal Baddin of Coldwell Banker, who's been selling real estate for decades in the Outpost Estates area, which is known for old Hollywood glamour. According to Baddin, one neighbor says she remembers the star couple living in the home, which is now on the market for $2.7 million. Confirming these stories is an authenticated check, written by Monroe herself, for a $237.82 rental payment on the property. That check was auctioned off for $1,000 in 2015 with the following description: "Marilyn Monroe signed this check in blue ballpoint pen. The check pertained to her lease at 2393 Castilian Drive, a home she shared with Joe DiMaggio. Marilyn moved into the house on December 15, 1952, when she was seeing Joe DiMaggio and he was still married. He became a permanent feature there inviting friends over for meals while Marilyn was beginning to learn to cook, trying to show Joe how she was settling down." Monroe and DiMaggio married in 1954, but rumors of relationship problems plagued them before they finished their honeymoon in Japan. They divorced in October of that same year, just 274 days after tying the knot. The kitchen has been remodeled a number of times since Monroe learned to cook there, but the room's stunning views the couple enjoyed still remain. "You feel like you're living in the Italian Riviera, with vistas of the canyons and hills that are reminiscent of the beautiful Amalfi Coast," says Baddin. Original features include the vaulted wood-beam ceilings, a tile roof, plaster walls with arched doorways, tile floors, and balconies and terraces. All of those elements contribute to the Mediterranean aesthetic, according to the agent. The house measures 3,335 square feet and has four bedrooms and 4.5 baths. It sits on almost an acre of land, which is quite sizable for this historic neighborhood in the hills north of Hollywood Boulevard. Baddin says in the 1970s a grotto-style pool and spa were added out back, positioned to appear wedged into the cliff side , another detail reminiscent of the hills of Italy. "You won't find a better value for a home in this neighborhood," says Baddin. The sellers, who bought the home in July for $2.2 million, were planning a major renovation, but changed their minds. "It's quite an enchanting home," says Baddin, who adds that many of the same features that attracted Monroe and DiMaggio in the '50s can still be appreciated by a buyer today. The post Storied Love Nest of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio Is Listed for $2.7M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Aisha Fraser Mason wrote in a 2015 email delivered to the judge who would sentence her husband Lance Mason to prison for brutalizing her in front of her children that she feared Mason could seek retribution against her unless he underwent aggressive counseling and supervision upon his release. I feel there is a possibility that Lance may retaliate against me if he is not properly treated and supervised upon release, following his incarceration period, Fraser Mason wrote in the email to Judge Patricia Cosgrove. My desire is to see him have extensive, aggressive counseling so that he can understand how to treat me/women." Cleveland.com obtained a copy of the email on Wednesday, just before Mason was booked into Shaker Heights city jail and held without bond as a suspect in Fraser Masons fatal Saturday stabbing. The message, which until Wednesday was kept private, brings into ineluctable focus Fraser Masons fear over her then-husbands ability to deal with anger and willingness to get help, and stands in stark contrast to letters written by influential judges, politicians and lawyers who insisted that Mason was not a violent person and that the attack was a one-off incident unlikely to be repeated. Fraser Mason sent the email days before Cosgrove sentenced Mason to prison for two years after he pleaded guilty to attempted felonious assault and domestic violence charges for beating his wife so badly she needed facial reconstruction surgery on Aug. 2, 2014. Fraser Mason wrote in the email that she did not want the letter read aloud at Masons sentencing hearing, but wanted Cosgrove to consider it. Ten months later, in June 2016, Cosgrove approved Masons request for early release and placed him on probation for five years under the supervision of the Lorain County Adult Probation Department, which is run by the Lorain County Common Pleas Court. Cosgrove could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But she told WKYC Channel 3 that Fraser Mason did not oppose her husbands early release at the time, citing financial strain. Then-Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGintys Office also wrote in court filings that it did not object to Masons early release as long as Cosgrove ordered him to get a job, pay full child support and complete anger management counseling. Cosgrove did impose those orders. She barred Mason from having contact with Fraser Mason directly or indirectly, ordered him to withdraw money from his pension to pay $22,000 in child support he owed at the time, and ordered him to complete a counseling program dealing with anger management and emotional issues, including any issues involving paranoia or depression at the direction of the probation department, according to her June 27, 2016 order. Records show she held two hearings on Masons compliance with terms of his probation after his release, both within three months of his release. In a court filling after the first hearing, which was exactly one month after his release date, Cosgrove wrote that Mason completed an anger management program, but did not specify which program. Lorain County Common Pleas Court Deputy Administrator Deborah Tensey said in an interview Wednesday that Mason was labeled as a very low risk probationer, which would have required him to report to his probation officer once every three months. His supervisor, Deputy Chief Probation Officer John Machovina, required Mason to report once every month, to make sure he was paying his child support and maintained employment, Tensey said. Tensey said she did not know whether Mason completed any anger management counseling programs. He showed up every time, on time, and said all the right things and did all the right things, Tensey said. It was obviously a shock to all of us. Tensey said that the probation department would only report to the judge if the person being supervised violated their probation, and Mason did not. She said the department has requested a hearing to ask a judge to find that Mason violated the terms of his probation in the Saturday incident. Fraser Mason wrote in the Aug. 25, 2015 email that she and her children suffered from post traumatic stress disorder from the attack, and that the left side of her face remained without feeling from the nerve damage Mason caused. She also said that Mason had mentally and emotionally abused her for years, and that the couples daughters will suffer from losing their father during his time in prison. My husband is not a bad person, she wrote. I feel he is not capable of being a husband, father or active member of society until he receives aggressive treatment. It is my belief that Lance is not aware of his need for treatment and I fear that he may continue to make poor decisions and display poor behavior until he realizes how to manage stress and anger." She added, My girls need their father and I hope the system can help him receive proper anger management treatment. What treatment Mason undertook and how seriously he took it was at the heart of the legal battle last year over Masons law license. While in prison, Mason enrolled in victims awareness and a thinking skills class provided by the mental health department. He also enrolled in something called Thinking for a Change and Cage Your Rage. He was also active in church and Bible studies, and attended AA meetings for the sole purpose of supporting the other inmates. Mason testified at his March 2017 hearing before a panel of the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct, the disciplinary arm of the Ohio Supreme Court, that he had met 11 times with a social worker and three times with a psychologist in the nine months since he was released from prison, according to the boards report. He met with a psychiatrist every two weeks, he said. But none of those medical professionals testified at the hearing to corroborate Masons claims, and the records of the counseling Mason submitted were vague, the board wrote in its report. Further, Mason never came up with an explanation as to what drove him to snap and brutalize his wife in front of their children. Masons lawyers in court filings cited his disintegrating marriage, the death of his aunt and the wares of raising a special-needs child as presenting a unique set of stressors that proved too much for the former judge to handle. Likewise, dozens of character letters from current and former judges, respected defense attorneys and from U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge painted the incident as out-of-character," or a loss of temper, and the letters assured the board that Mason would never commit such an assault again. But the panel didnt buy it. It is important to note that [Masons] attack of his wife on August 2, 2014, was not a mere loss of temper resulting in a single strike or even two. It was a crazed attack involving multiple strikes, multiple bites, and pursuit, Board of Professional Conduct Director Richard Dove wrote in a July 2017 filing. When those who knew [Mason] would not have believed him capable of the acts he committed on August 2, 2014, and the evidence presented does not sufficiently explain the acts of that date, the reasonable conclusion is that, in the right circumstances, the events of that date could very well happen again." The board recommended that the Ohio Supreme Court permanently revoke Masons law license. The court instead opted in December to indefinitely suspend Mason, who at that time had already began working at the City of Cleveland as the minority business development director. Mason was fired from that job upon his arrest Saturday. To comment on this story, please visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio Four robbers pistol-whipped a man and took two cars at gunpoint during a Monday carjacking in the citys Buckeye-Shaker Square neighborhood. A 32-year-old man suffered minor injuries in the carjacking on East 123rd Street near Buckeye Avenue, according to a police report. The 32-year-old man and his 19-year-old coworker were leaving work about 10:45 p.m. when a woman and three men pulled up beside them in a silver four-door car. Two men jumped out of the car and pointed handguns at the 32- and 19-year-old men, police reports say. One of the robbers ordered the 32-year-old man to empty his pockets. The man dropped several items on the ground before the robber pistol-whipped him in the head, police reports say. Another robber forced the 19-year-old man out of his Ford 500 at gunpoint, police reports say. A third robber also got out of the silver car to rifle through the 32-year-old mans pockets. He then got back into the silver car before the woman drove away. The other two robbers drove away in the Taurus and the 500, police reports say. Cleveland police officers found both stolen cars approximately five hours later on Hope Avenue near West 70th Street. Both were unoccupied and locked, police reports say. The cars were towed to a police department lot to be searched for evidence. To comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Smokey The Bear advises that one way to prevent forest fires is to not listen to Dopey The Donald. President Trump has responded to the catastrophic California wildfire by blaming it on "gross mismanagement of the forests," specifically, a failure to properly rake the forest floor the way he claims Finland does. As a result, Fire Commander-in-Chief Trump is threatening to revoke Federal funding for California wildfire relief. During a recent tour of the fire devastation in Paradise, California, Trump claimed the President of Finland had recently told him they don't have a wildfire problem because the Finns rake their forest floors. "You gotta take care of the floors. You look at other countries where they do it differently, and it's a whole different story. I was with the president of Finland, and he said we have a much different-- 'we're a forest nation.' He called it a 'forest nation.' And they spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don't have any problems." The Associated Press reports that Finland President Sauli Niinisto admitted to briefly discussing forestry with Trump in Paris during the Armistice anniversary, but didn't recall talking about raking the forest floors. Did Trump discuss waxing them? Finns responded by mocking Trump on social media with pictures of themselves raking and vacuuming in Finland's forests. Firefighters were in a less jovial mood in responding to a Trump tweet last week threatening to pull relief funding over what he claimed was poor land management. Trump tweeted: "There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments.! With Trump, whether it's catastrophic California wildfires killing and leaving hundreds homeless, or the Saudi Crown Prince killing a Washington Post writer, it always comes back to money. California Professional Firefighters president Brian Rice called Trump's attacks on California "shameful" in a statement. "The president's message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is Ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines. At a time when our every effort should be focused on vanquishing the destructive fires and helping the victims, the president has chosen instead to issue an uninformed political threat aimed squarely at the innocent victims of these cataclysmic fires." Rice also pointed out that 60% of the California forests Trump claims are mismanaged are under federal control. "Wildfires are sparked and spread not only in forested areas but in populated areas and open fields fueled by parched vegetation, high winds, low humidity and geography. It is the federal government that has chosen to divert resources away from forest management, not California." On this Thanksgiving day my thoughts are with all the families of all those who have lost their lives and homes, those that are missing. I'm thankful I will be able to spend Thanksgiving Day in an intact home with an intact family. I'm thankful for the California firefighters, first responders and volunteers. I'm thankful to live in country where a president who isn't thankful for them can be voted out of office. CLEVELAND, Ohio In response to a scathing report that found Cuyahoga County Jail inmates are routinely deprived of basic necessities and medical and mental health care, jail administrators promised to hold the jail command staff accountable if they contributed to the conditions that the U.S. Marshals Service called inhumane. Sheriff Clifford Pinkney and interim jail director George Taylor said the county will determine which people are responsible for the glaring problems in the jail. As the sheriff has said we dont have a problem disciplining people, we dont have a problem giving them days off, we dont have problem firing them, Taylor said. We dont have a problem holding people accountable once we know who to hold accountable. Dealing with the command staff is but one of the ways Budish and his administration will seek to reform the jail. Budish said he is setting up a plan to make wholesale reforms, which could involve bringing in a consultant familiar with best practices for jails. Budish also is taking three immediate steps for improvement -- having MetroHealth Systems take over all medical operations in the jail beginning in January, working with the marshals service to make sure the countys Euclid satellite jail complies with federal regulations and having the countys internal auditor and sheriffs office review all policies related to inmate records. For the immediate future, it will be up to Taylor to try and bring order to the jail. Taylor was assigned to the job on Monday, days after the former jail director, Ken Mills, abruptly resigned, after the marshals service shared preliminary results of its report with Budish. Seven jail inmates died between June 10 and Oct. 2, prompting Budish to ask the marshals service to conduct a review of operations. In the report released Wednesday, investigators describe a facility overwhelmed by deplorable conditions. Budish, Pinkney and Taylor laid blame on leadership inside the jail. They said the jail command staff never communicated the serious problems to the administration. Warden Eric Ivey is named in the report as personally deciding which inmates are deprived of food as a punishment, a practice that Budish said ended this week. Ivey on Wednesday remained the warden despite that finding. Pinkney, who said he was still digesting the report Wednesday after receiving it Tuesday, said Iveys employment with the county might be definitely an issue that we address. However, Pinkney said that food deprivation was not used as a punishment, but more of a deterrent. Inmates in segregation or isolation were still provided meals, but they did not receive dessert. When inspectors told the jail staff that they could not do that, the practice was stopped, Pinkney said. Crucial to changing the culture at the jail is the ability to get corrections staff on board with whatever reforms will be implemented. A few members of the jail command staff have been promoted to newly-created associate warden positions in recent months. They will be pivotal in implementing a culture change, and if they fail to do so, there will be consequences to pay, Taylor said. Budishs administration also promised to provide weekly updates about how issues at the jail are being addressed, so the public will know what is being changed as it happens. One notable finding from the marshals was the intimidation and fear used by the jails Special Response Team, who wear riot gear, use excessive force, and deprive inmates in isolation of toilet paper and basic hygiene supplies, according to the report. Pinkney said the team is a depicted in the report as a goon squad. He said the team was originally created to handle crises such as fights, and he blamed jail leadership for allowing SRT officers actions to evolve into the abuse described in the report. Most of the findings came as a surprise to both Budish and Pinkney. Budish said that when his administration is made aware of problems in the jail, they contact jail leaders. who have regularly assured them they investigate. While the county relied heavily on annual state inspections that failed to find serious issues in the jail other than severe crowding of inmates, Budish and Pinkney said the county does conduct investigations when his administration learns of problems the state didnt identify. Typically what happens is, lets say someone comes in about not getting toilet paper. (The complaint) would usually go to the corporal, to the sergeant, and then up to the warden and then director. At that point, its resolved. If it gets past them, then theres an investigation conducted, Pinkney said. If the issue is still not resolved at that point, then inmates or staff members can file a grievance. In most cases, complaints never made it to Pinkney or Budish, meaning Mills did not pass those concerns on to his bosses, Pinkney said. That led to Budish and Pinkney remaining in the dark about many of the concerns raised, they said. Budish said some of the problems in the jail related to inmates healthcare arose from a very awkward and somewhat dysfunctional division of responsibility of medical care. Currently, MetroHealth provides doctors and support staff, while the county provides nurses. Beginning in early 2019, Cuyahoga County will partner with MetroHealth to take over all medical operations inside the jail, including the nursing. The county will also immediately start work with the U.S. Marshals to bring on the Euclid Jail into compliance with federal standards. The marshals pay the county $1.3 million a year to house 60 federal inmates in the countys jails. The countys internal auditor will work with the sheriffs office to review all policies and procedures related to inmate records and other important documentation. The marshals said files in the jail were unorganized and several important policies about inmate care were not documented. CLEVELAND, Ohio Hundreds of cleveland.com readers commented about a story Monday in which Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson talked about his administrations decision a year ago to hire convicted wife-beater Lance Mason. Jackson granted the interview days after Mason was accused of fatally stabbing his estranged wife in Shaker Heights. Jackson called the slaying a tragedy, but saying he remained committed to his police of giving felons a second change. The administration hired Mason as a $45,000-a-year minority business development administrator about 14 months after the former judge was released from prison after serving nine months for beating his wife, Aisha Fraser Mason. Jackson said Mason had done a good job for the city and reiterated his belief that giving felons a second chance allows them to become productive members of society. Our readers sounded off on the case. Their opinions ranged from support for Jacksons policies to outrage that Mason had ever been considered for employment. Heres what some of them said: Wonders270: We constantly say, Once you have served your time ' but the reality is that they are not free of the sin. Unless we can find a way for ex-cons to find meaningful work all we have done is to create an in and out carousel. MorePerfectUnion: The country is all about second chances. However, I question the wisdom of putting Lance Mason in such a high-profile job inside City Hall. Masons deterioration began long before he violently beat his then-wife inside that SUV. That no one saw it except for Mrs. Mason is, in itself, another tragedy here. A serious part of Masons probation should have been long-term mental health counseling and a chance to pull himself together then, perhaps, a job inside City Hall. LF: Theres a time to take the risk, and this time it yielded much worse. Markymark911: I'm no fan of Frank Jackson and at first, I was ready to criticize him but then I thought about it for a second. If no one hires felons, they will be likely to return to a life of crime. So, it does make sense for them to hire ex-cons. Second if this guy was a city employee and had no record and had killed his ex would people still be mad at Jackson for employing the man? Truthsayer51: As a taxpayer, I have no problem with the second chance program. This monsters employment had nothing to do with his hideous crime. We should not deny every person a second chance at a decent life because of the actions of one person. If you want to be upset with anyone then focus on the people who gave this guy an early release from his jail sentence. We cannot make every jail sentence a life sentence where a person cannot vote or obtain sustainable employment. All it does is ostracize the person from decent society. Mendax: I can see a second chance for nonviolent felons, but a guy who beat his wife so bad, in front of the kids? cmon Starfire87: I believe the issue is him being paid with taxpayer funds. Another issue is being a city representative having contact with the public and developing minority businesses. I personally would not want to shake the man's hand or schedule appointment. How effective can he be in that position when the man is just a despicable person. Maybe he should be a landscaper or labor or maybe even open his own business. ButtonsTheClown: It took me a long time to come around to agreeing with second chance policies, but even if you are in favor of them, not all criminals are created equal. A man who violently assaults a woman is not someone that is deserving of a city job. T: So, what is the purpose of being a law-abiding citizen? What is my award for not being a felon? I think I will go out and commit a felony right now because I am assured a higher paying job with greater benefits than I had as a non-criminal. Sure, makes sense to me. Metal In The CLE: Frank Jackson is LAUGHING at his constituents practically daring them to show some sort of rage. No one could do a worse job than this clown. Well Cleveland, What sayeth you? Jd: Second chance? Fine. But for the position that this guy had? No way. You arent even allowed to APPLY as a firefighter or police officer with a felony and some misdemeanors. But to actually run the city? No problem. You dont see any issues with that? Theusualsuspect: Once youre hired, if you commit another crime, thats on you now, Jackson said." So, who is it on when you commit the first felony, Frank? Content Disabled: He should be in jail with his criminal hires. If hes not giving millions away, hes hiring criminals. Why did this guy get re-elected? MIDDLEFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio Multiple people, including children, have been taken to area hospitals for injuries they suffered in a house fire Wednesday in Geauga County, authorities said. The fire broke out just after 6:20 p.m. at a home on Peters Road near Hayes Road in Middlefield Township, a community of approximately 4,500 residents in southwestern Geauga County, the county sheriffs office said. Eleven members of an Amish family, ranging in age from 1 year old to early 40s, were hurt in the fire, according to WKYC-Channel 3. Three or four people were flown to a hospital by helicopter, and several others were taken to hospitals in an ambulance, the sheriffs office said. Updates on their conditions were not immediately available. Several fire departments were at the scene to assist in knocking down the fire, the sheriffs office said. To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments page. If Booster Fuels CEO Frank Mycroft has his way, gas stations will one day be obsolete. His start-up, founded in 2014, is filling up cars in parking lots, so drivers don't have to wait in lines or make extra trips. Booster is now operating across twenty U.S. cities, and in the parking lots of at least 300 different companies, Mycroft said. The service is available in Orange County, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Dallas - Fort Worth region. Booster generates $180,000 in revenue daily, according to Mycroft, and has already delivered fuel more than 1 million times to customer cars. To make delivery possible, Booster designed a tanker truck that can navigate the tight lanes of parking lots. The trucks can both load up fuel and deliver it, cutting out the costs of the middle man and allowing the start-up to procure fuel wholesale from providers like Exxon and Shell. Facebook, PayPal, Pepsi and others offer the service for employees. They give the company access to their employee parking lots, and help make sure their workers know about the service. An Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs over an alleged conspiracy involving Malaysia's 1MDB fund. International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and its subsidiary Aabar Investments filed a lawsuit against the investment bank at New York state court on Wednesday. The court summons states that the firms are seeking "damages and other appropriate relief for the significant financial exposure and losses suffered as a result of fraudulent and illegal acts." Goldman Sachs Group is named as a defendant, as are three of its subdivisions in Asia. Goldman Sachs is accused in the document of engaging in an international conspiracy to embezzle millions of dollars from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund, which was set up by the Malaysian government to improve the country's domestic economy. U.S. authorities claim $4.5 billion was laundered from 1MDB over six years by Malaysian government officials and others. It is alleged that as part of that scheme, Goldman Sachs bankers bribed former IPIC and Aabar executives to join the conspiracy and act against the companies' interests. Former IPIC Managing Director Khadem Abdulla Al-Qubaisi and former Aabar CEO Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny are named as defendants in the summons. The companies claim both men "agreed to manipulate and mislead" their employers by misusing the firms' names, networks and infrastructure. The amount of compensation to be awarded if Goldman Sachs is found liable will be determined at trial. According to the court document, IPIC and its subsidiary are also seeking legal costs, punitive damages and further awards as the court sees fit. Goldman Sachs and its fellow defendants have 30 days to respond to the summons, either by submitting a notice of appearance or a complaint. In a statement emailed to CNBC on Thursday, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson said: "We are in the process of assessing the details of allegations and fully expect to contest the claim vigorously." Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department arrested two former Goldman Sachs bankers on multiple criminal charges in relation to the 1MDB scandal. "IPIC will take any and all legal action necessary, now and in the future, to protect its business interests against the financial exposure and damages it has suffered as a result of this international conspiracy," said Michael Carlinsky, one of IPIC's attorneys, in a statement emailed to CNBC. China's local governments have almost exhausted their annual quotas for new debt issuance in the first ten months of the year, with sales of bonds in the third quarter picking up sharply as part of the central government's effort to shore up the economy. Issuance of new special bonds, targeted for specific funding needs such as land development, came to 1.32 trillion yuan in January-October, reaching 98 percent of the annual quota of 1.35 trillion, data from the finance ministry showed on Thursday. New general purpose bond sales meanwhile stood at 798 billion yuan in the same period, accounting for 96 percent of the target set by the government for the year. China has in recent months instructed local governments to accelerate these bond issuance in the face of a sharp slowdown in infrastructure investment, as many of them grapple with financing constraints brought on by a nationwide crackdown on speculative debt. Total local government bond issuance was at 4.1 trillion yuan in the first ten months of the year, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website. Outstanding local government debt reached 18.4 trillion yuan at end-October, the ministry added. China has capped outstanding local government debt issuance at 21 trillion yuan for 2018. Some analysts remain unimpressed with overall credit growth, pointing to sharp cooling in October as a risk factor for the economy despite state efforts to ramp up fiscal supports. "The upshot is that lower interbank rates and on-budget fiscal support have so far been insufficient to drive a sustained turnaround in lending," Capital Economics wrote in a note last week. "With credit growth still cooling, economic activity looks set to come under further pressure in the coming months. We expect officials to step up policy easing in response, including benchmark lending rate cuts and off-budget fiscal stimulus." In October, China's local governments issued 256 billion yuan ($36.94 billion) in debt, according to the ministry, down from 748.5 billion yuan in September and was the lowest since March. While the slowdown in bond sales was significant, it follows a historic pattern of a seasonal lull in the last three months of the year. Outstanding local government special bonds reached 7.48 trillion yuan at end-October. Local government debt swaps reached 148.3 billion yuan in October, the ministry said, compared with 44.1 billion yuan in September. An aerial view of Paradise, California off of Clark Road on Nov. 15, 2018. The Camp Fire has burned more than 7,000 structures in Paradise. The first significant rain in months in northern California helped firefighters battle the deadliest wildfire in the state's history on Wednesday, but raised the risks of flash flooding that could hinder teams searching for human remains. Between 4-6 inches (15 cm) of rain was expected to fall through the weekend in areas around the town of Paradise, the community of nearly 27,000 people 175 miles (280 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco that was largely incinerated by the Camp Fire. The blaze killed at least 83 people, and 563 are still unaccounted for, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told a press briefing on Wednesday. "The rain is a concern for us and there is the potential for mudflows," Honea said, adding that he would pull searchers out of areas if they faced any risk of being caught in mudslides. The rain added to the misery of evacuees camped out in a Walmart parking lot in nearby Chico, where local residents donated freight pallets and tarps to help evacuees shelter from overnight temperatures just above freezing. "I'll get a pallet and get my tent up off the ground," said Mitchell Manley, who evacuated from the village of Concow and managed to get his elderly mother out of nearby Magalia. Warehouses were being opened up in Chico to provide evacuees protection from the cold and rain and to move them out of the Walmart car park, said Manley's partner, Carol Daugherty. An aerial view of Paradise, California off of Clark Road on Nov. 15, 2018. The Camp Fire has burned more than 7,000 structures in Paradise. The first significant rain in months in northern California all but extinguished the deadliest wildfire in the state's history on Wednesday but also raised risks of flash flooding that could hinder teams searching for human remains. Between 4-6 inches (102-152 mm) of rain was expected to fall through the weekend in areas around the town of Paradise, the community of nearly 27,000 people 175 miles (280 km) northeast of San Francisco that was largely incinerated by the so-called Camp Fire. The blaze killed at least 83 people and 563 remain unaccounted for, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told a news briefing. "The rain is a concern for us and there is the potential for mudflows," Honea said. Searchers would be pulled out of areas threatened by mudslides, he said. The storm added to the misery of evacuees camped out in a Walmart parking lot in nearby Chico. Mitchell Manley was cold and wet but thankful he persuaded his elderly mother to evacuate. He said most of the dead were retirees who thought they could ride out the flames in their homes. "I was lucky to get her out, she was going to sit it out," said Manley, who was camping at Walmart while he waited to go back to his home in Concow. Warehouses were opened in Chico to provide evacuees protection from the cold and rain as celebrity chef Jose Andres prepared to cook hundreds of Thanksgiving meals for evacuees. Some 830 people had signed up to spend their Thanksgiving combing through ash and rubble in forecast heavy rain, searching for human remains, Honea said. British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal is the "worst of all worlds," opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said in the House of Commons on Thursday. His comments came soon after the publication of the political declaration on the framework for the U.K.'s future relations with the European Union. "These 26 pages are a testament to the failure of the (Conservatives') bungled negotiations. Nineteen extra pages but nothing has changed," Corbyn said, adding that it fell short of his party's tests to support the deal. "It represents the worst of all worlds: no say over the rules that will continue to apply and no certainty for the future." Following her statement to Parliament, May was then forced to defend her deal from all sides of the political spectrum. Sir Bill Cash, a Conservative Brexiteer and chair of the European scrutiny committee, said the document is "self-contradictory" as European judges would still have a role in deciding British laws. Cash announced that the committee that he heads will now hold an inquiry into the government's handling of the Brexit talks. Several Brexit supporting lawmakers also called on May to remove the "backstop agreement" from the withdrawal agreement. The backstop is a safety net that has been put in place to ensure that no hard border is erected between the Republic of Ireland, which is staying in the European Union, and Northern Ireland, which will leave in March as part of the United Kingdom. Sir Jeffery Donaldson, the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) chief whip, said the backstop is unacceptable to his party. Without the support of the DUP, May would likely fail to get parliamentary approval for her withdrawal deal when a vote is held at some point in December. Dubai, U.A.E. Getty Images On a stage in front of a few hundred people, nervous entrepreneurs prepare to pitch their business ideas to a panel of five "sharks" seasoned investors and veterans of Middle East business in the hope of getting funding. "I'm looking for something disruptive in the marketplace," Ganesh Iyer, one of the sharks and a longtime investor in the region, tells the contestants. "An idea which is completely different from what the market already has to offer." The United Arab Emirates' commercial capital of Dubai launched the pilot of "Equity Room" Wednesday, a Middle Eastern version of "Shark Tank," a show produced by MGM Television in association with Sony Pictures Television. "Shark Tank" lets start-up founders bid for funding from high-net worth sharks and angel investors. The contestants either walk away with a deal, or get eliminated often after being verbally cut down to size by the judges. Out of 16 "Equity Room" contestants, just a few managed to score funding in exchange for equity in their venture, landing hundreds of thousands of dollars rather than the few million that some were hoping for. The field of entrepreneurs spanned a number of nationalities and ages, with the youngest just a year out of graduating from college. Business ideas ranged from the areas of e-commerce and data monetization to artificial intelligence (AI) and gaming. A contestant pitches his business idea to the Equity Room sharks, hoping for funding in exchange for equity in his company. Dubai, November 21, 2018. Photo courtesy of PSAV One contestant, presenting an online platform aggregating shops and inventories that could serve as a commercial search engine for small businesses, was eliminated within the first few minutes of her presentation. Arif Saiyad, shark and CEO of Dubai-based venture capital firm ASA Ventures, told her: "I've tried this before, it's called Google. Your idea isn't new... I'm out." Some others had more success. Aditya Parmar, a 24-year-old raised in the UAE, pitched Zon, an artificial intelligence-driven e-commerce platform seeking to improve 24-hour instant product deliveries and integrating small businesses that lack an online presence. Initially asking for $2.2 million in exchange for 20 percent equity in his company, he walked away with $500,000 in funding, which he saw as a success. "I didn't exactly get what I wanted in terms of valuation, but seeing that there were four sharks on board, I had to take the opportunity because they're very respected and I know they can get me far," Parmar told CNBC after the show. "So I was willing to trade a lot of valuation for the network and reach that they provide." Challenges to entrepreneurship While the show is an effort to spotlight the UAE's young and promising entrepreneurs, they still face high barriers compared to some of their counterparts elsewhere in the world, local investors say. "The entrepreneurial spirit and energy is certainly there with young and old budding entrepreneurs," Adnan Haider, chief executive of Regal Group AG, the first company in the Middle East to receive a crypto trading license, told CNBC. However, he said, the UAE scene has three primary issues holding it back. The CEO described these as "limited funding resources, limited visionaries to think about global impact solutions or scaleability of their respective businesses, and general lack of polishing when presenting to the investor community." "Some of the business ideas were neat, but were neither able to address key business risks nor financial investment highlights to make it attractive for funders," he said. Locally-based investors say there are "only a handful" of venture capital (VC) firms in the area, and that there is so little competition between them that funding offers for start-ups are able to remain fairly low. Parmar, one of the show's successful contenders, disputed the lack of money claim, but noted a mindset still firmly anchored to traditional investing. "Actually there is a lot of money, it's just that the mindset hasn't set in yet to go into the VC world," he said. "Investors are more real estate-focused or more traditional, as opposed to going into VC where the risk is quite a bit higher. So what you need to do is convince investors who do have the capital, by the way that your idea is the next best thing." Regional risk Carlos Ghosn, chairman of Nissan Motor Co., speaks during an interview in Yokohama, Japan, on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. Nissan will hold a board meeting on Thursday to oust Chairman Carlos Ghosn after the shock arrest of its once-revered leader, ushering in a period of uncertainty for its 19-year alliance with Renault. The Franco-Japanese alliance, enlarged in 2016 to include Japan's Mitsubishi Motors, has been rattled to its core by Ghosn's arrest in Japan on Monday, with the 64-year-old group chairman and industry star accused of financial misconduct. Ghosn had shaped the alliance and was pushing for a deeper tie-up including potentially a full Renault-Nissan merger at the French government's urging, despite strong reservations at the Japanese firm. Japanese prosecutors said Ghosn and Representative Director Greg Kelly, who has also been arrested, conspired to understate Ghosn's compensation at Nissan over five years from 2010, saying it was about half the actual 10 billion yen. Nissan's board meeting will be held sometime after 4:00 p.m. (0700 GMT) at its headquarters in Yokohama and the company is likely to issue a statement afterwards, one senior Nissan official told reporters on Wednesday, requesting anonymity as the details were confidential. Renault executives are expected to join by video conference. Japanese media said that given Nissan's board composition Ghosn's removal from the post is expected to be approved. Nissan executives have five seats on the nine-member board, Renault loyalists have two seats and the remaining two are held by unaffiliated outside directors, a former bureaucrat and a race driver. With Ghosn and Kelly still in detention, neither of the men will be able to vote or defend themselves at the meeting. A majority vote by the remaining seven members of board will be sufficient to strip them of their positions. Renault has refrained from firing Ghosn as chairman and CEO, although he remains in detention along with Kelly, whom Nissan also accuses of financial misconduct. But Mitsubishi Motors plans to remove Ghosn from his post of chairman at a board meeting next week. Amid growing uncertainty over the future of the alliance, Japan's industry minister and France's finance minister are due to meet in Paris on Thursday to seek ways to stabilise it. "For me, the future of the alliance is the bigger deal," said the Nissan official, when asked about Ghosn's arrest. "It's obvious that in this age, we need to do things together. To part would be impossible." Retailers are apprehensive about the U.S.-China trade war, an executive at a Hong Kong cosmetics chain said Thursday, calling the conflict the biggest risk to his company's business. Guy Look, chief financial officer and executive director at Sa Sa International, said that while the Hong Kong retail chain has benefited this year from increased mainland Chinese tourist numbers, concerns are rising. "Coming in to the second half, of course, the trade war, it's really very much in the spotlight," Look told CNBC's Emily Tan on "Squawk Box" Thursday. "For us retailers, we are really exchanging notes ourselves," he said. "We don't really have a crystal ball. And we really want to see what is in store for us." First it was Vine, then Yik Yak, then HQ Trivia: Mobile apps that shot up in downloads and took the digital world by storm. Almost just as suddenly, they all fell from public favor and off the top charts. TikTok, the latest app to skyrocket in popularity, recently unseated Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat as the top free app in Apple's App Store. As of Nov. 6, the app ranked first among photo and video apps in daily iPhone downloads in the U.S., according to industry research firm App Annie, a global provider of mobile data and insights. TikTok users create and post short videos, occasionally with artistic filters and always set to music. Videos can earn hundreds of thousands of likes, garner followers for the poster and land on public feeds. It's something like a mix of Vine, Snapchat and Musical.ly, a lip-syncing app that sold to TikTok's parent company last year and merged with TikTok this summer. It's the sort of gamified social app that hooks younger demographics, at least at first. Gaming apps and social apps are the most likely to "come in very quickly and leave that kind of flash in the pan," Lexi Sydow, a markets insights manager at App Annie, told CNBC. "Part of the appeal with a social networking app is that network effect, the more friends and family you get on the app itself, the more benefit you can derive from the app and that kind of increases that stickiness," Sydow said. Lauren, a 29-year-old YouTuber who asked her last name be withheld for privacy reasons, spent hours on TikTok the first time she downloaded it. The app opens onto an endless feed of videos. Just swipe up and you're watching another, and another. "The majority of what I saw was just people lip-syncing songs or comedy acts, cool editing cuts to beats of a song, animals being funny or kids just being their weird selves," she told CNBC. "Most made me laugh, some made me cringe and a couple made me question the platform. But I mean that's pretty much the internet to me in a nutshell anyway." Lauren said she came across sexualized or dark videos on TikTok. She also witnessed some online harassment of posters, but said it accounted for a "tiny fraction" of the videos she saw. The app learns a user's preferences through the videos they "like" and customizes a personal feed. Most users are quick to call the app addictive. Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST Bazaar Corporate Radar Bazaar Corporate Radar is your window into the minds of top CEOs, Boardrooms, global economists, fund managers and sector analysts. If it?s making news, you?ll find it on Bazaar Corporate Radar. By Jagannath Adhikari Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has ambitions to reshape the global economy by connecting more than 60 countries across Asia, Europe and Africa through trade and infrastructure projects. All told, its envisioned that nearly two-thirds of the worlds population will in some way be connected through BRI projects in the future. Some economists estimate BRI could increase global trade by 12%. Despite these benefits, many questions have been raised about Chinas motivations for the initiative, and whether Beijing can afford the US$1 trillion it has committed to infrastructure projects and its partners can afford the debt they are taking on. Some fear BRI could be a Trojan horse for global domination through debt traps. Sri Lanka is often cited as a cautionary tale. Unable to repay the loans on a US$1.5 billion port construction project, the Sri Lankan government agreed to give China a 99-year lease on the port instead. The ports and shipping minister said at the time: Nepal takes the plunge Despite fears over loans they cant pay back, many small countries have accepted BRI as an alternative pathway to economic prosperity. Nepal is one of them it entered into BRI last year with great enthusiasm. Then in June of this year, Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli travelled to China to sign agreements worth US$2.4 billion on everything from infrastructure and energy projects to post-disaster reconstruction efforts. The highlight of the deals is an audacious plan to build a railway line through the Himalayas. The line will link the Tibetan border town of Kerung with the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, and tourist towns of Pokhara and Lumbini (Buddhas birthplace). The railway is being trumpeted as a potential windfall for Nepals tourism industry, with some 2.5 million Chinese tourists expected to visit annually. If the rail line is developed as proposed, Nepal would also be well placed as a major transit hub for trade between China and its rival, India. One study estimates Nepals trade could be boosted by 35% to 45% when the rail line and other BRI infrastructure projects are completed. The Chinese government has already conducted a pre-feasibility study on the Kerung-Kathmandu railway. It estimated the 72.25km line from the Chinese border to Kathmandu would cost US$2.25 billion. (Other estimates say the cost might be much more.) Nepali railway officials say an incredible 98.5% of the line would run through tunnels and across bridges due to the forbidding, mountainous terrain. Is Nepal falling into a debt trap? The main debate in Kathmandu now is whether this proposed rail line is technically and financially feasible, and if it is someday completed, whether its destined to become a white elephant an expensive but vastly underutilised transportation line. Then there is the question of cost. Besides Sri Lankas struggles to pay back the US$8 billion in total it now owes Chinese firms, many other countries are in similar straits. Economists worry that Laos, which has seen its debt reach 68% of GDP, will have difficulty paying off its share of a US$6 billion rail line being built by China. And in the Maldives, the opposition claims the country is facing a looming debt trap, with US$92 million in annual payments due to China to pay off an airport upgrade and bridge project roughly 10% of the entire budget. In Nepal, the burning question has been whether the trans-Himalayan rail line and other infrastructure projects would be built with similar loans, or if the government would be able to secure grants from China instead. Economists and planners in Nepal believe the rail line would be beneficial to the countrys development, particularly because it would end Nepals reliance on its traditional ally, India, for trade, fuel, food and medical supplies. A two-month blockade of the main trade route between Nepal and India in 2015 gave Nepali politicians greater rationale for diversifying the countrys trade partners and becoming better connected to global trade routes. The greater connectivity with China is also expected to boost Nepali exports of special herbs and agricultural products that are in high demand in China. 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. Encryption may sound like a subject best left to hackers and tinfoil hat wearers, but don't be fooled: It's a critical part of contemporary life and something that's important for everyone, especially business users, to understand. And one of the places where encryption is most relevant and misunderstood is in the realm of email. If you're using Gmail for electronic communication be it for business purposes, for personal use, or some combination of the two it's well worth your while to know how the service does and doesn't secure your information and what steps you can take to make sure you're getting the level of privacy you need. Ready to dive in? [Get fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Friday with JR's Android Intelligence newsletter. Exclusive extras await!] Gmail encryption: How Google protects most messages Google's standard method of Gmail encryption is something called TLS, or Transport Layer Security. As long as the person with whom you're emailing is also using a mail service that also supports TLS which most major mail providers do all messages you send through Gmail will be encrypted in this manner. What that basically means is that it'll be incredibly difficult for anyone to look at a message while it's en route from point A to point B. It doesn't, however, guarantee that the message will remain private or available only to the intended recipient once it reaches the destination mail server. Google itself, for instance, has the ability to see messages associated with your account, which is what allows the company to scan your email for potential spam and phishing attacks and also to offer advanced features like Smart Reply, which suggests responses based on an email's contents. (Google used to scan messages for ad targeting, too, but it stopped doing that in 2017. And if you'd rather not have those smart suggestion features in the picture, by the way, you can always turn them off in your account though that won't have any direct effect on the Gmail encryption approach or when and how that extra layer of security is applied.) If the person with whom you're corresponding is using a mail server that doesn't support TLS, meanwhile, messages won't be encrypted at all. With paid Google Workspace accounts, administrators can opt to allow only messages with TLS encryption to be sent or received though that'd come with its own set of undesirable consequences, as you could imagine, in terms of having your outgoing messages bounce or having certain incoming messages never reach your inbox. Gmail encryption: A next-level option Beyond that basic form of encryption, Gmail supports an enhanced standard known as S/MIME or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (gesundheit!). It's available only for paid Google Workspace Suite accounts, so if you're using a regular free Gmail account, it doesn't apply to you. For folks with enterprise-level Workspace setups, though, S/MIME (which may or may not have been invented by a mime) allows emails to be encrypted with user-specific keys so that they remain protected during delivery and can be decrypted only by the intended recipient. Like TLS, S/MIME works only if both the sender and recipient are using a service that supports it and, in an extra layer of complication, only if both parties have exchanged keys in advance so that the encryption can be properly configured. Like TLS, it also doesn't do anything to keep a message secured once it's reached its actual destination server (and so again, within Gmail, Google itself will be able to scan messages in its usual automated way). Last but not least, S/MIME has to be enabled by a Workspace admin before it'll work. Gmail encryption: End-to-end encryption Google's been talking about adding end-to-end encryption into Gmail since 2014, but all of that talk hasn't amounted to much so far (and may not ever, according to some analyses). The only way to get that level of protection in Gmail right now is to rely on a third-party service such as FlowCrypt, which is available as a Chrome or Firefox extension on the desktop and also as its own standalone mail client for Android. (An iOS app is also available in a pre-release testing form.) FlowCrypt adds a special "Encrypt and Send" button into your inbox interface, which allows you to send encrypted messages using the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy yes, that's actually what it's called) standard. Your recipient will need to have FlowCrypt or another PGP system set up and will also need to have your personal PGP key in order to decrypt and view your messages. Alternatively, you can use the app or extension to encrypt a message with a password, which you'd then have to provide to the recipient in some way. So, yeah: It isn't exactly simple, and the third-party add-on implementation isn't entirely ideal. But it can get the job done. And it's free to a degree: If you want to unlock the service's full set of features and remove all of its restrictions, you'll have to pony up $5 a month for a premium subscription. Company plans are also available, with rates varying based on the total number of users involved. Wait, what about Gmail's Confidential Mode? Yeah, don't put much stock into that. Confidential Mode is a feature Google added into Gmail as part of its 2018 revamp of the service. The idea is that it lets you prevent someone from forwarding, copying, printing, and downloading anything you send 'em and, if you want, it lets you set an expiration date after which your message will no longer be accessible. You can also create a passcode, delivered via email or text message, that's required in order to open the message. That all sounds nice enough on the surface, but the problem is that it doesn't really do a heck of a lot when it comes to actual security. Messages still aren't encrypted in any end-to-end manner, meaning Google and other mail services are still able to view and store them. The "no forwarding, copying, printing, and downloading" bit doesn't mean much, either, since anyone can still take a screenshot of a message if they're so inclined. (Google has said the feature is less about that level of security and more about simply discouraging people from accidentally sharing sensitive info where they shouldn't.) The same applies to the message expiration dates as does the fact that an "expired" message continues to exist in your own Gmail Sent folder. All in all, Confidential Mode has the potential to be useful for what it is, but it doesn't involve encryption or any sort of meaningful, higher-level privacy. In fact, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has gone as far as to say the mode could create a false sense of security and discourage users from finding more serious solutions. So what other options are there? If native end-to-end encryption and the highest possible level of privacy is what you're after, your best bet is to look outside of Gmail and toward a standalone email app called ProtonMail. ProtonMail is among the best privacy and security apps on Android and for good reason: It makes privacy a top priority in ways no form of standard Gmail encryption can match. First, ProtonMail uses an open-source method of end-to-end encryption that ensures no one beyond your intended recipient not even the folks at ProtonMail can ever see your messages. Beyond that, the app doesn't require you to provide any personal information to use it, and the company maintains no records of IP addresses or anything else that could associate your identity with your account. Its servers are also hosted in Switzerland in a "bunker 1000 meters under the Swiss alps," no less which has its own apparent set of security benefits. So here's how it works: When you sign up, ProtonMail gives you a custom email address at its domain. You can then use that address to send secure messages within the ProtonMail Android app, iOS app, or web interface. Whenever you email someone else with a ProtonMail address, encryption is automatic. If you email someone who isn't using ProtonMail, you can choose to send the message unencrypted just like any regular ol' email or you can click a button to create a password and a hint that the recipient will need in order to decrypt and read your message. ProtonMail is free at its most basic level, which gives you a single ProtonMail address, 500MB of storage, and up to 150 messages per day. You can get more storage, more messages per day, and access to advanced features such as email filters, an auto-responder system, and support for custom domains starting at $48 a year. It isn't technically Gmail encryption, of course, but you can import your Gmail messages or set up Gmail to forward to ProtonMail or just use ProtonMail as a supplement to Gmail for the times when you need the strongest possible level of protection. When privacy is a priority and you don't want to take any chances, it's an excellent option to have. Sign up for my weekly newsletter to get more practical tips, personal recommendations, and plain-English perspective on the news that matters. [Android Intelligence videos at Computerworld] India, Singapore to hold trilateral exercise with Thailand in Andaman Sea Trilateral maritime exercise with Thailand in the Andaman Sea is in the offing after Indian and Singapore have successfully held naval drills SIMBEX for the last 25 years in the region. Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen (fourth from left) with Indian Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman (third from right) at the third India-Singapore Defence Ministers' Dialogue in Visakhapatnam, India. Photo courtesy: Mindef This has emerged in a joint statement released by Singapore's Minister of Defence Dr. Ng Eng Hen and Indian Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman after the third Defence Ministers Dialogue(DMD) between the two countries held here in New Delhi. Appreciating Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision for the Indo-Pacific region articulated in the 2018 Shangri-La Dialogue, Dr Ng said Singapore strongly supports Indias deep engagement with ASEAN member states participating in patrols along the Straits of Malacca and is looking forward to trilateral maritime exercise with Thailand. "As littoral countries astride key sea lanes of communication, the ministers underscored the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight consistent with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS, The Hague court]," the joint statement said. Sitharaman affirmed Indias full support and active participation in the regional security architecture of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM)-Plus and its many initiatives. As an ADMM Plus member, India supports the adoption of the Guidelines for Air Military Encounters framed for the regional militaries. Notably, after the rejection of Hague court ruling in 2016 on the illegality of China's occupation of abandoned islands in the South China Sea and their conversion into military bases, smaller littoral countries, including many in the ASEAN, huddle around India in hope to strike some balance of power. Indian defence minister also reaffirmed New Delhi's position that disputes should be resolved through peaceful means, and in accordance with the universally recognized principles of international law. The annual defence ministers dialogue with Singapore helps set strategic direction for our defence partnership. Welcome the renewal of bilateral agreement. Navy cooperation agreement last November and logistics support agreement this June. https://t.co/5xsTfBB2hT Jawed Ashraf (@JawedAshraf5) November 20, 2018 Both ministers agreed on the importance of international cooperation in tackling transnational security threats and in particular measures to collectively tackle the threat of terrorism. The two sides also agreed to step up intelligence and information sharing, particularly in the areas of maritime security and counter-terrorism and expand collaboration on submarine safety and rescue. Dr Ng (left) and Ms Sitharaman with a plaque commemorating the Army Bilateral Agreement between Singapore and India. Photo courtesy: HCI Singapore The ministers also commended the progress in defence technology collaboration under lndia-Singapore Defence Technology Steering Committee and the India-Singapore Defence Industry Working Group. These joint R&D collaborations include areas such as Combat Care and Vehicle Armour. The ministers' meeting saw renewal of the bilateral agreement for the conduct of joint army training and exercises in India. It brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws. The Prime Ministers Downing Street statement full text Throughout these difficult and complex negotiations with the European Union I have had one goal in mind: to honour the vote of the British people and deliver a good Brexit deal. Last week we achieved a decisive breakthrough when we agreed with the European Commission the terms for our smooth and orderly exit from the EU. Alongside that withdrawal agreement we published an outline political declaration setting out the framework for our future relationship. Last night in Brussels, I had a good, detailed discussion with President Juncker in which I set out what was needed in that political declaration to deliver for the United Kingdom. We tasked our negotiating teams to continue working overnight and as a result, the text of that declaration has been agreed between the European Union and the United Kingdom. I have just updated the Cabinet on progress and I will be making a statement to the House of Commons later this afternoon. This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the vote of the referendum. It brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws. And it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom. The agreement weve reached is between the UK and the European Commission it is now up to the 27 leaders of the other EU member states to examine this agreement in the days leading up to the special EU Council meeting on Sunday. I will be speaking to my counterparts over that time, including meeting Chancellor Kurz of Austria here in Downing Street later today. Last night I spoke to the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, and I am confident that on Sunday we will be able to agree a deal that delivers for the whole UK family, including Gibraltar. On Saturday I will return to Brussels for further meetings with President Juncker where we will discuss how to bring this process to a conclusion in the interest of all our people. The British people want this to be settled. They want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future. That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it. Garvan Walshe: A famous hawk suspicious of Iran and a school reformer. And he wont resign. No, Im not talking about Gove Garvan Walshe is a former National and International Security Policy Adviser to the Conservative party. He runs TRD Policy. An embattled prime minister under attack because of a troubled mission extricating their country from a decades long foreign entanglement. The responsible Cabinet minister resigned, believing the Prime Minister has gone soft, conceding to technocrats and selling the people short. All eyes turned to a famous hawk, deeply suspicious of Iran and known for his divisive work at Education. Yet, confounding expectations, this minister has refused to resign. But enough about Theresa Mays troubles and Michael Goves decision to support her. This government crisis is taking place in Israel. The resigned minister is Avigdor Lieberman, the former defence minister who wanted a more aggressive policy in Gaza than the Israeli army thought wise. The unresigned minister is Natfhali Bennett. Unlike Gove, who refused the post of Brexit Secretary and stayed at Defra, Bennett wanted to be moved to the vacant defence ministry, and threatened to resign if he didnt get it. In Israels proportional system, parties are small and coalitions are formed after elections rather than within parties. Lieberman and Bennett both lead right-wing parties and were once rivals to lead a broad right-of-centre coalition. Prime Minister Netanyahu has learned to master the system, tacking sufficiently to the right to compete for voters who prefer the red meat that Bennett in particular promises, while remaining acceptable at least to centre-right politicians like Moshe Kahlon, the finance minister. As long as Israels strategic situation stayed uppermost in voters minds this was enough to keep him in the lead. Israeli voters do not, by and large, believe theres a viable peace process, and the Palestinians have been unable to convince them otherwise. Their traditional Arab allies are either distracted or hostile preferring indeed a discreet anti-Iranian alliance with Israel and the United States and EU, who might otherwise devote some attention to imposing an arrangement less to Israels advantage than the status quo, are otherwise occupied. All this makes Netanyahus pose as Mr Security less relevant. The focus has shifted to corruption and the web of police investigations closing in on Netanyahu himself. After Lieberman pulled his party out, he was left with a one seat majority. Had Bennett left the government as well, elections would have followed. Netanyahu had until recently thought new elections to be an advantage. Electoral politics after all is his favourite pitch. A new election and endorsement by the people could buy him time before the law might catch up with him. Indeed, the political landscape appears to favour Netanyahu. Polls suggest his Likud party would be by far the single largest, with around 30 seats. Bennetts nationalist Bayid Yahudi (Jewish Home) is useful to him because there was no chance of them forming a coalition with anyone else, yielding a right-wing bloc of about 40 seats. A centrist group, including Kahlons Kulanu (currently in the government), a new party formed by Orly Levy (who left Bennetts party to start her own movement) that refuses to position itself on the traditional left-right security spectrum, and the explicitly centrist Yesh Atid, would together win another 30. The Left, comprising the Zionist Union (led by Tzipi Livni and Avi Gabbay), Meretz and the Joint (Arab) List, secures another 30. (Religious parties the Israeli DUP if you like traditionally support whichever side gives them the largest subsidies, and command around 15 seats.) That leaves Yisrael Beitenu, a party with its base among immigrants from the former Soviet Union led by the just-resigned Lieberman, and traditionally leaning rightwards, to make up the balance. Lieberman is a right-winger, but it would be perverse (if hardly unIsraeli) for him to resign from a government only to return to it after elections left the distribution of seats pretty much where it had been before. Though Netanyahu himself can only rely on about 40 seats a third of the Knesset, including Bennetts party, to which the Prime Minister can now consider himself hostage his opponents lack a unifying figurehead. The search is on, and, as is traditional, is zeroing in on the Army barracks. The decoy general is Ehud Barack, the former Prime Minister. A polarising figure, he is simultaneously Netanyahus former commander, the man who beat him decisively in a direct election for Prime Minister in 1999, and someone despised with such intensity in many parts of the political spectrum that he could be called Israels Hillary Clinton. The officer Likud actually fear is Benny Gantz, recently Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces and already under attack from culture minister (and member of Likud) Miri Regev. Mark him. He could be the man to end Netanyahus decade in power. Hammond and Johnson set to appear at DUP conference One of the big stories this week has been the apparent disintegration of the Governments working majority in the House of Commons, with the Democratic Unionists vowing to fight dirty to defeat the Prime Ministers Brexit deal. In turn, Theresa May has appointed to the Northern Irish Office a new minister whose only rebellion in this Parliament was on the question of abortion in the Province just last month. Clearly, relations with Downing Street are fraying. Yet the Ulster party have made pains to stress that their arrangement is with the Conservative Party, rather than Theresa May, and despite the mounting tensions it appears that at least two senior Tories are scheduled to address the DUP conference this weekend. The Belfast Telegraph reports these to be Boris Johnson and, much more surprisingly, Philip Hammond. The Chancellor will surely face questions about his remarks this week that the backstop, upon which the Governments deal appears to be foundering, is not a good arrangement for our Union. Meanwhile Leo Varadkar, the Irish leader, has accused the DUP of prioritising the integrity of the United Kingdom even at the expense of a lesser world. Jones criticised for shielding ministers from independent scrutiny Carwyn Jones has come in for more criticism over his handling of the Carl Sargeant scandal this week, after deciding that complaints against his top team shouldnt be treated like complaints against normal AMs. Wales Online reports that the proposal was one of a number of recommendations from a report into how the Welsh Assembly can improve its handling of complaints. At present, complaints against regular AMs are investigated by the Standards Commissioner. But as the BBC explains, when the individual in question is a minister it is up to the First Minister to decide whether or not they have breached their code of conduct. Defending the decision, the Welsh Government claimed that involving the Standards Commissioner in the oversight of ministers would lead to ambiguity of accountability. Oversight of the executive has come under scrutiny in Cardiff in the aftermath of the Carl Sargeant scandal, during which the First Minister was alleged to have misled AMs and presided over a culture of bullying inside the government. Mundells strange attack on unionist carpet baggers One of the stranger sub-plots of the ongoing pile-up that is the Governments withdrawal deal is the strange tale of David Mundell and the carpet-baggers. The Scottish Secretary used this phrase to attack Dominic Raab and other former ministers who resigned in protest against the backstop. As The Times reports: In an extraordinary statement, Mr Mundell said that he was not taking lessons on standing up for our United Kingdom from carpet-baggers who had a new-found concern for the integrity of the UK. If this were just one of the Cabinets higher-profile unionists attacking converts to a cause which needs as many as it can get, it would be strange enough. But in fact, both Mundell and Ruth Davidson actually threatened to resign themselves if the Governments withdrawal deal involved differential treatment for Northern Ireland and just last month, too. As I set out on Twitter, no adequate explanation for this u-turn has been forthcoming and the very thing the Scottish Conservatives were most concerned about Scottish (and Welsh!) nationalists using the backstop to bolster the case for independence is underway If the Scottish Secretary really did share Raab et als concerns about the backstop, and has since had those concerns assuaged, he would surely to greater service to the Government by explaining his reasoning and reassuring anxious colleagues than mounting over-the-top, ad hominem attacks on people who have, after all, only done what he himself said hed do in response to the deal we face. In happier news, a new poll on Scottish independence using the same wording as the 2016 referendum on EU membership found Scots would reject separation from the United Kingdom by a wide margin, according to the Scotsman. This comes as Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, met with both her Welsh counterparts (institutional, and political) to discuss Brexit strategy ahead of the upcoming crunch vote on the Withdrawal Agreement. Kathmandu, Nepal: At least 18 people killed and 10 others seriously injured when a school bus met with an accident on Thursday evening at Raduwa Khola of Amarghadhi municipality-11 of Dadheldhura district. According to the police, the ill-fated school bus with registration number Se 1 Cha 293 of peace zone academy met with the accident while returning from a pilgrimage site. It is said that ten people killed on the spot while eight killed while receiving treatment at hospitals. It is suspected that the death toll would increase as some injured passengers are reported to have critical in condition. Romania, once given the reputation of the sick man of Europe, is now the 41st biggest economy in the world, the 10th largest in the EU, and one of the fastest growing economies of 2018. So, asks Michelle Reilly, CEO of overseas contractor compliance firm 6CATS, is one UK contractor snapping up a Bucharest contract simply a sign of things to come? As that ContractorUK reader will soon find out, the economic growth in Romain is so aggressive that the nation is referred to a Tiger, and current EU predictions suggest Romania will hit 1 trillion of USD Purchasing Power Parity before 2035. Excelling in beauty and tech too In addition to this, the tech sector is booming. Fitbit founder James Park has just invested millions into the companys Romanian operations, stating the tech talent here is amazing. The sector, which employs around 150,000 people, is projected to double its share of GDP to 12% by 2025, aided by one of the fastest broadband speeds on the planet. Despite this, there are huge skill shortages in Romania, with a survey from international recruiter Manpower showing that more than four in five of its employers were facing difficulties in finding the talent they need. That makes the country fertile ground for skilled UK contractors. Outside the workplace, Romania is a genuinely beautiful country with a rich history and a variety of cities and landscapes to visit. The eight UNESCO World Heritage sites in Romania range from places such as the Churches of Moldavia - masterpieces inspired by Byzantine art -- to the stunning Danube Delta, the second largest river Delta in Europe Theres certainly no doubt that Romania offers a multitude of opportunities for contractors both personally and professionally. However, there is a raft of legislation that professionals need to be aware of, particularly concerning employment and tax. Any man can be accused of tax evasion The Romanian tax system is notoriously complicated, and while there has been moves to reform the system, this has not stopped people such as the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Liviu Dragneu, from being heavily critical of the law. In May 2018, Dragneu stated that the legislation is not clear, and described it as so complicated, so dangerously drafted, that any businessman in Romania, in this second, can be accused of tax evasion. This mix of a complicated legal system, plus heavy government crackdowns on those who fall foul of it, makes contractor compliance more important than ever. Even the likes of Ioan Niculae, one of Romanias richest men, was recently sentenced to three years in prison for crimes including tax evasion. Therefore, its clear that contractors need to be well-informed on the legal requirements for working in Romania. Heres what you need to know as a British contractor seeking to work in the country. Contracting in Romania: the legal bit Foreign nationals will require a temporary residence permit if they intend to stay in Romania for 120 days or more. This must be obtained before they arrive from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the area they wish to reside. Contractors must also register with the Trade Register for income tax, social security and VAT. There is a plethora of documents required to complete registration. This consists of, but is not limited to: a passport, notarised degree certificate, signed power of attorney, a criminal record certificate obtained in Romania, residence permit, medical certificate, address of the client where services are to be performed and a rental contract. Contracting in Romania: the taxing bit Income tax is levied at a flat rate of 16%. In year one this is payable quarterly and is based on projected income. Before May of the following year, an income tax return must be submitted in which any adjustments will be made. Standard VAT is 20%, however, if your annual income is below 65,000 (GBP 58,000), it is voluntary to pay. VAT returns can be done quarterly in year one. Social security is considered to be very high in Romania, the 7th highest in Europe according to Deloitte Romania. Contractors and self-employed workers need to be aware of two components. Firstly, CAS (Pension), which is 31.3% calculated on a minimum base of 35% of the average monthly gross salary and a maximum base of five times the average gross salary. Then, there is CASS (Health), which is 5.5% on taxable income with no ceiling to the contribution. Please note, the above is merely an overview, and the deeper youll need to delve for your temporary work opportunity in the country, the more complicated matters can get. With the complex and sometimes murky world of tax and compliance in Romania, we strongly recommend contractors consider engaging the services of an expert contractor management organisation. We are analyzing the site. Please wait a few seconds.. Costa has expanded its food donation program to Barcelona with an agreement with Banc dels Aliments to distribute extra food that is not served aboard. Costa said that across its fleet, it prepares some 54 million meals a year, and has developed this project as a way of limiting food waste. That has also included training kitchen staff, adding scales in the galleys to help standardize servings and other initiatives. The company has also developed an awareness campaign onboard, Taste don't Waste, which encourages responsible behavior, especially in the buffet area, the company said. Despite that, some prepared food is still not served to guests, and the Italian line has been donating that food in select ports as part of the 4GOODFOOD program. Cities included Savona, Civitavecchia, Marseille, Bari and Palermo, and now Barcelona. The food is placed in aluminum containers which are sealed and labeled for traceability and are kept in cold refrigerated rooms until delivery. In Barcelona, the containers are then handed over to the Banc dels Aliments volunteers who distribute them to different associations: Fundacio Acollida i Esperanca and the Hogar Nuestra Senora de Lourdes, which, in turn, offer the collected food to people in need. "At Costa, we understand that it is essential to recognize the indispensable value of food and today we can take a new step in the fight against food waste. In this sense, and in accordance with the objectives set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we intend to halve the surplus food generated aboard our ships by 2020, ten years before the United Nations established date. We are very grateful to the Banc dels Aliments de Barcelona for making it possible in Barcelona, the most important port in the Mediterranean, and we are confident that the collaboration will be a success," said Stefania Lallai, director of sustainability and external relations for Costa. BRIDGEPORT The school districts Roosevelt School could become the next member of the states Commissioners Network for really one reason: the money. The school boards three-member Teaching and Learning Committee advanced the idea to the full board, even though expressing disdain for the program and skepticism over its value. They were sold after school officials and Schools Superintendent Aresta Johnson said joining the network was the best way for the cash-strapped district to get extra funding to raise student achievement at a school that is showing promise in most other areas. This is not locking us into anything, Johnson said. It is an opportunity for support and additional dollars. If accepted, Roosevelt would become the 25th school statewide to enter the Network and the fifth from Bridgeport since the program began in 2012. A dozen schools are in the Network now. The idea for the Network was to infuse extra support and cash to the 25 worst performing schools in the state for between three and five years. In many cases, that involves changing the staff and the instructional model and bringing in outside consultants. Overall, while some schools in the Network have seen modest improvements in climate, student performance has not greatly improved. In others, the results proved to be disastrous. When Dunbar entered the Network in 2013, FUSE, the state recommended consulting firm put in charge of the school, turned out to be run by a felon who lied about his credentials and failed to do background checks on staff members. City Assistant Superintendent Janet Brown Clayton, who was principal of Lincoln Bassett, a Commissioners Network in New Haven, said what is being planned for Roosevelt is different. (We) are talking about enhancement, Clayton said. It is about infusing funding into a school that is already moving in the right direction. To grease the wheels. Clayton called it more a transformational than turnaround model. Roosevelt is a Pre-K-8 school with 580 students of which 20 percent are English Language Learners and 16 percent receive special education. The student body moved to a new building on the southern portion of Park Avenue four years ago, gaining a new principal and assistant principal who have handpicked their staff. Teacher attendance is up, chronic student absenteeism and student suspensions are down. Jamie Balisciano, the assistant principal at Roosevelt, said the improved state climate has allowed the school to turn its focus on academics. Test scores remain abysmal. In 2018, 14 percent of Roosevelt students passed the states Smarter Balanced Test in Language Arts and 6.4 percent scored at or above grade level in math. Balisciano said the state has no interest in changing leadership or staff at Roosevelt but instead to help it hone in on instruction. Declining this opportunity would be a great mistake, Balisciano said. If (the state doesnt) give it to us, they are going to give it to another school. Johnson told the committee that while she doesnt need board approval to pursue the grant, she would like the boards support. It is expected to be discussed by the full board on Monday. Board member Maria Pereira has been a staunch opponent of the program, saying it strips the district of local control and so far has not resulted in student academic growth. Its been a disaster at Marin. A disaster at Dunbar, Pereia said. Still she said she would support it this time, but only because of Johnson. Ben Walker, chairman of the committee and a retired Greenwich music teacher, said he doesnt feel the need for the state to tell the district how to make the school better but would support it for the injection of cash. How much is not at all certain. Most schools that enter the Network start off with a $100,000 planning grant, followed by several hundred thousand dollars for the next two to four years. The amount is determined annually by the legislature. Kathmandu, Nepal: Nepali Congress (NC) senior leader Sujata Koirala has accused the government of failure to deliver to meet the expectations of the people. Speaking at an interaction program organized in Kathmandu on Thursday, NC leader Koirala said the government has failed even to fulfill its own commitment made during the elections. The government has with two-thirds majority but it is failing to deliver to the people, Koirala said. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump defended his daughter Ivanka's use of a personal email account for government business Tuesday as newly empowered House Democrats vowed to investigate whether she violated federal law. Trump dismissed comparisons of his daughter to Hillary Clinton, whom he criticized throughout the 2016 presidential campaign for use of a personal email server for her work as secretary of state in the Obama administration. "They weren't classified like Hillary Clinton. They weren't deleted like Hillary Clinton, who deleted 33,000. She wasn't doing anything to hide her emails. I looked at it just very briefly today and the presidential records - they're all in presidential records. There was no hiding," Trump told reporters at the White House as he departed for Florida. "There was no server in the basement like Hillary Clinton had," he continued, "you were talking about a whole different, you're talking about fake news. So what Ivanka did, it's all in the presidential records. Everything is there." Questioned on whether he would allow congressional Democrats to interview her, Trump answered: "Ivanka can take care of herself." Ivanka Trump sent hundreds of emails last year to White House aides, Cabinet officials and her assistants using a personal account, many of them in violation of federal records rules, according to people familiar with a White House examination of her correspondence. She first used her personal email to contact Cabinet officials in early 2017, before she joined the White House as an unpaid senior adviser, according to emails obtained by American Oversight and first reported by Newsweek. When she joined the White House, Trump pledged to comply "with all ethics rules." But she continued to occasionally use her personal email in her official capacity, people familiar with an administration review of her email use told The Washington Post. In a statement Tuesday, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who is poised to lead the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the panel launched a bipartisan investigation last year into White House officials' use of personal email accounts, but the White House did not provide the requested information. "We need those documents to ensure that Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and other officials are complying with federal records laws and there is a complete record of the activities of this administration," Cummings said. In what appeared to be an acknowledgment of the risk of backlash against Democrats for aggressively probing the Trump administration, Cummings also emphasized that his focus upon becoming chairman of the committee will be to address the everyday issues affecting Americans. "My goal is to prevent this from happening again - not to turn this into a spectacle the way Republicans went after Hillary Clinton," he said. House Republicans created a special committee to investigate the deadly 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, and it was that panel that uncovered Clinton's use of a personal email server for government business. Republicans excoriated Clinton during her 2016 bid for president, prompting an FBI investigation that found that she had been "extremely careless" but that there was no intention to violate laws on handling classified information. During the Benghazi panel's years-long investigation, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., had acknowledged the political impact, saying the committee's inquiry had hurt Clinton's poll numbers. The Washington Post contacted representatives for all Republicans still in office who served on the Benghazi committee or as chairmen of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee about Trump's email use. Of those, only one - a spokesman for Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind. - replied: "No comment." American Oversight, the liberal watchdog group whose records requests led to the discovery regarding Trump's use of her personal email, said in a letter to the top members of the panel and the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier Tuesday that "it is incumbent on Congress to investigate this matter immediately." "The parallels between Ms. Trump's conduct and that of Secretary Clinton are inescapable," Austin Evers, the group's executive director, said in the letter. "In both her use of personal email and post-discovery preservation efforts, Ms. Trump appears to have done exactly what Secretary Clinton did - conduct over which President Trump and many members of Congress regularly lambasted Secretary Clinton and which, they asserted, demonstrated her unfitness for office." Evers added that "while much of the rhetoric surrounding Secretary Clinton's use of personal email was hyperbolic and untethered to the law or facts, the extensive use of personal email by a senior public official raises important questions that merit investigation." The White House has been bracing for the new revelation to spur a deeper investigation next year by House Democrats of Ivanka Trump's correspondence in her personal, official and business life. In a statement Monday, Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Ivanka Trump's attorney and ethics counsel, Abbe Lowell, said that her email use was different from that of Clinton, who had a private email server in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, New York. At one point, an archive of thousands of Clinton's emails was deleted by a computer specialist amid a congressional investigation. Behind the scenes, White House officials urged supporters and allies to defend Ivanka Trump and make the case publicly that her personal email use was different from that of Clinton, according to two people familiar with the administration's talking points. The core of their argument: the volume of private emails she sent was much smaller, the messages did not contain classified material, and she did not delete them, they said. The White House is urging surrogates to make the case that it would be Democratic overreach to investigate her, the people added. A few Trump allies had spoken out on her behalf by Tuesday afternoon, including Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who tweeted: "There are over 30,000 BleachBit reasons why the Hillary Clinton email scandal isn't even close to the Ivanka email issue." Democratic lawmakers criticized Ivanka Trump over the matter Tuesday, with some arguing that it pointed to larger ethical problems within the Trump administration. "There's no way that she had no knowledge of the rules," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said on CNN. "But really there's a larger story here, which is the mixing of public and private, as with her clothing brand and her public position, the blending and mixing of emails. . . . There should be some kind of investigative effort." In the wake of the news, several lawmakers ridiculed President Trump for having attacked Clinton over her email use. "Cue the chant?" tweeted Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, in a nod to Trump supporters' frequent cries of "Lock her up!" at the president's rallies. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., tweeted a story about Ivanka Trump's email and commented, "Karma has a sense of humor." Some former Trump White House officials also chastised Ivanka Trump over the matter. "It's hypocritical, and, certainly, it looks bad. And I'm sure the media will have a field day with it today," Marc Short, who served as President Trump's legislative affairs director, said on CNN. He added that there are "some important distinctions" between the Clinton and Ivanka Trump cases, such as the fact that thousands of Clinton's emails were deleted. Anthony Scaramucci, who served as White House communications director for 11 days last year, told CNN that the error was so glaring that Ivanka Trump herself would have to acknowledge it if asked. "Certainly, I think it's hypocritical," he said. "I think even Ivanka, if she was interviewed about it, she'd have to say that it was a mistake. You can't do that in that position." US & Singapore Agree Cybersecurity Pact Singapore and the United States will join hands to conduct cybersecurity training workshops in Singapore and around the region, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (pictured) and visiting US Vice-President Mike Pence announced after their bilateral meeting on Frida16th November. Talking about the new initiative at a joint press engagement with Mr Pence at the Istana, Mr Lee said: Im pleased that our Cyber Security Agency and the US State Department will be working together on a technical assistance programme to conduct cyber security training workshops in Singapore and regionally. In his remarks, Mr Pence said expanding commerce in the 21st century required safe and reliable digital access. This new initiative will leverage American business expertise to help our Asean partners to defend their digital border. Mr Pence, who arrived in Singapore to participate in the recent East Asia Summit and the Asean-US meeting on behalf of President Donald Trump, is on his first official visit to Singapore. He was given a guard of honour at the Istana and held a private meeting with Mr Lee before embarking on extended discussions, along with their delegations, over breakfast. Mr Lee and Mr Pence reaffirmed the robust and enduring partnership between the two nations and the importance of the US presence in the region. The US plays an important and constructive role in our region and hence Singapore hopes to continue developing our ties with the US as well as strengthen the Asean-US relationship, Mr Lee said in his remarks after the meeting. Economically, Mr Lee noted that Singapores investments in the US and US exports to Singapore support more than a quarter of a million American jobs. The US is also Singapores largest foreign investor, with many American companies choosing to base their Asian headquarters in Singapore." Even Shake Shack is opening its first burger outlet in Singapore very soon, he quipped, to chuckles from the audience. Which is the most important investment of all. Both leaders also noted the strengths of their economic, defence and security ties. Our security cooperation keeps open the lanes of commerce, Mr Pence said. In a reference to Chinas growing presence in the region and the efforts under way by Asean to manage differences on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, he said: The US encourages Asean to continue to move forward to a meaningful and binding code of conduct on the South China Sea. The countries of this region must be able to explore and develop their own resources, navigate their own waters and establish partnerships of their own choosing. The South China Sea does not belong to any one nation. Mr Lee noted that Mr Pences visit was the latest in a series high-level engagements with the Trump administration this year. Mr Lee had hosted Mr Trump during his visit to Singapore for the historic US-North Korea summit in June. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited in August for the Asean ministerial meetings and Defence Secretary James Mattis made a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in June and participated in meetings with Asean defence ministers last month. The cybersecurity agreement, which was among a clutch of MOUs signed between the two nations, will deliver three training workshops on various aspects of cyber security capacity building annually. The workshops will take place in Singapore and around the region in partnership with some Asean nations. Other MOUs include one on the renewal and expansion of a 2016 collaboration platform to promote cooperation in energy, advanced manufacturing and tech partnerships. Others pertained to two tax agreements for better information sharing and compliance. Straits Times: You Might Also Read: Singapores Giant Healthcare Hack: Singapore: The Place To Launch Cyber Attacks From: In order to maintain this blog I have to pay for its upkeep including a hosting company, support services, virus and other malicious hackers. If you appreciate what I write please make a donation. GUATEMALA CITY: A Guatemalan court sentenced a former soldier to 5,160 years in prison on Wednesday for the massacre of 171 people in what is considered one of the worst atrocities in that countrys 36-year civil war. Prosecutors said Santos Lopez participated in the 1982 mass killings of nearly all of the men, women and children in the farming village of Dos Erres. Lopez was accused of being part of the elite Special Patrol of Kaibiles that was sent to Dos Erres to find members of a guerrilla group that had ambushed a military convoy. When the patrol failed to find the guerrillas or guns, they pulled villagers from their homes and raped many of the young girls, according to prosecutors. To cover up the rapes, they killed nearly everyone living there. Dear Editor: As the Democrats swept the election, turning New York into a total blue state, I made a few observations. People in New York City stood in line for up to four hours to re-elect the people whose incompetence caused the lines. They voted for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose closest allies are in jail for corruption. Andy denies any knowledge of their crimes. Remember what Andys father, Mario, said: A fish rots from the head back. If he knew, hes crooked. If he didnt, he should have and is incompetent. Other failures of those re-elected: schools among the most costly with poorest results, subway trains that either dont run or run late, failure to clear the recent snow, and a housing authority that failed to eliminate lead paint in its apartments and then lied about it. Now that New York is a blue state, Im going to follow the advice of U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Hillary Clinton and resist get in the face of Democrats and their supporters (anyone know where U.S. Rep.-elect Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, takes his family for dinner?) and refuse to be civil to people who dont agree with me politically. Just kidding. Im a Republican, not a Democrat. John Habersberger New Paltz, N.Y. Westminster has witnessed many political pantomimes over the years, but few as comical as Jacob Rees-Mogg and his cast of Dads Army Brexiteer plotters on Tuesday. Five days after announcing he was writing a letter demanding Theresa Mays resignation, expecting his Tory MP comrades to answer his call to arms, Rees-Mogg looked behind and found most had deserted him. He put a brave face on it all at a press conference with a handful of faceless lieutenants, but was reduced to a laughing stock when he compared himself to clottish Captain Mainwaring from the 1970s TV comedy. Inside Number 10, Mrs Mays aides joined the guffaws as they watched the Rees-Mogg farce unfold. But those close to the Prime Minister believe it had a greater significance: they are convinced that by over-playing his hand and failing, so far at least, to get the necessary 48 Tory MP signatures to trigger a vote of no confidence in her, Rees-Mogg may turn out to be not her conqueror, but her saviour. Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, businessman David Ord (right), and former trade minister Lord Lilley (left) attend a meeting of the pro-Brexit European Research Group in London on Tuesday Their hopes were boosted by a poll yesterday which suggested there has been a surge of support for her. A week ago, only one in three voters wanted her to stay in Downing Street now the number has leapt to one in two. Mrs Mays supporters believe the more voters see her doing her best in near-impossible circumstances plugging away to win a concession here and a concession there from Brussels, holding five-hour Cabinet meetings and waiting to see if any of those present plunge the knife in her back the moment they walk out of Number 10 the more they admire and sympathise with her. By contrast, the more they see of the hardline Brexiteers treacherous antics and Rees-Moggs contrived courtesy, the more sceptical they have become of the Eurosceptics. He called the press conference in a spirit of defiance. Instead, in the double-breasted suit he has worn since he was out of short trousers, and with a bunch of pale, male and stale colleagues on either side, it all looked disorganised, disloyal and, in the eyes of many, downright odd. It took seasoned political observers back to 1995 when another ragtag army of anti-Brussels would-be Tory guerillas gathered to bring down a Prime Minister and ended up as chumps. John Redwood resigned from John Majors Cabinet and, at a press conference in Westminsters historic Jubilee Room, announced he intended to oust Major. Former Brexit Secretary David Davis (far left) listening to Jacob Rees-Mogg speaking at the European Research Group (ERG) media conference in Tuesday The spark was the EUs 1992 Maastricht Treaty, which Redwood claimed was a betrayal of British sovereignty. Ring any bells? Like Rees-Mogg, Redwood surrounded himself with a close-knit group of diehard Eurosceptics. The aim was the same: to show he and they were serious contenders for high office. They were greeted with mockery and worse. The usually intense Redwood wore a manic grin and was reduced to cracking jokes about his Vulcan nickname from Star Trek. His Tory line-up included maverick Essex MP Teresa Gorman dressed in lime-green and rabidly anti-gay rights MP Tony Marlow in a garish blazer. The rest were every bit as lacklustre and stale as Rees-Moggs superannuated band of Brexit brothers. One of Majors aides called them Ward 8 from Broadmoor. No one in Number 10 has been as rude about Rees-Mogg and his team. They dont need to be: the Brexit camp is doing it for them in a bitter schism over who is to blame for the failed coup attempt. Six months ago, no one outside Westminster had even heard of Rees-Moggs European Research Group of Tory MPs. With its innocent name, the ERG sounded like a group of MPs whose only aim was to carry out academic research into Europe. Five days after announcing he was writing a letter demanding Theresa Mays resignation, expecting his Tory comrades to join him, Rees-Mogg found most had deserted him But all that has changed now the ERG has revealed its true colours it is a Conservative cell intent on destroying Mrs May. Like Momentum, the hard-Left fanatics determined to make Labour ideologically pure by banishing all moderates, the ERGs purists are determined to crush all opposition to Brexit. In pursuit of crushing Mrs May too they have shown a vicious streak. Few doubt the unnamed MPs who made threats against Mrs May such as telling her to bring a noose to a meeting of MPs and warning she was entering the killing zone were ERG members. No ERG members have tried harder to bring her down than its zealous self-styled shop steward, High Wycombe MP Steve Baker. Having rashly announced that he had the required 48 signatures only to find he had nothing of the sort, Baker led a desperate bid to persuade more to sign up. A born-again Christian, he was baptised by full body immersion in the sea; he said he joined the RAF in the 1990s to fight totalitarian communism as a technician, not a pilot. When Baker arrived at Westminster in 2010, he was seen as nice but naive. These days, he is seen as just naive. The ERG knives once poised over Mrs Mays jugular are now directed at each other with anger targeted at older members who have savaged her Brexit deal but refused to put in no-confidence letters. At a press conference Rees-Mogg put a brave face and compared himself to clottish Captain Mainwaring from the 1970s TV comedy Founder member and senior Conservative Sir Bernard Jenkin was targeted over claims he led an ERG revolt to stop Rees-Mogg and Baker toppling Mrs May. A source said of him: It seems God bestowed him with extra ego to replace the lack of balls and brains, while another added: The trouble with Bernard is he sits on the pot but he never pi**es. And, writing on the ERG WhatsApp group, backbencher Nadine Dorries accused MPs including Owen Paterson and former leader Iain Duncan Smith of badly letting the ERG down while they hid under the covers, The 1995 attempted coup by John Redwood was seen off by John Major, who survived in Downing Street for two more years. Right now, Mrs May would probably settle for the same. But the story may not have a happy ending for the party. Majors Tories were swept out of power in a Labour landslide fuelled by voters sick of internal squabbling. Jeremy Corbyn will be hoping the same disgust with Conservative Brexit feuding will hand him the keys to Number 10. Theresa May already has enough problems on her hands with the Democratic Unionist Party and Tory Brexiteers proclaiming they will vote against her deal in the Commons next month. Just when she least needed another set of anxieties, the Spanish government has tossed a potentially lethal grenade in her direction. It is threatening to scupper the Brexit agreement because it is unhappy with a section of the draft withdrawal agreement concerning Gibraltar. At the same time, its foreign minister, Josep Borrell, has let fly by suggesting that Brexit could split apart the United Kingdom. He claims to be very much more worried about the unity of the UK than of Spain. The Democratic Unionist Party and Tory Brexiteers proclaim they will vote against Theresa May's deal in the Commons next month. Pictured, Theresa May outside No 10 Downing Street. And, in a move bound to cheer Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP, he says Spain has dropped its historic opposition to Scotland joining the EU as an independent country. Madrid had hitherto tried to discourage nationalists in Catalonia by insisting that it would block Scottish membership of the Union. I must say that, on the eve of Sundays planned EU summit, none of this is very friendly or helpful. By announcing that Scotland would be welcomed with open arms, Mr Borrell seems almost to be willing the disintegration of the United Kingdom. What is the Spanish government playing at? Gibraltar has of course long been a bone of contention, with Madrid laying claim to the Rock, which was ceded to Britain in 1713. Here one must say, with all possible courtesy, that Spains obsession with Gibraltar sometimes verges on the deranged. In a 1967 referendum, 99.6 per cent of Gibraltars citizens voted to remain British. In 2002, a proposal for joint sovereignty was rejected by 98 per cent of Gibraltarians. Some people might have got the message by now that pretty well everyone in the tiny territory would prefer to stay British, thank you very much. But a succession of testosterone-driven Spanish politicians will not listen. One of the ironies of this story, so grotesque that it is hard not to be amused, is that Madrid vehemently defends its right to retain two historic enclaves in Morocco, called Ceuta and Melilla. The Moroccan government periodically grumbles about this anomaly. Spains sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla is, to its way of thinking, beyond reproach, even though its not at all clear that all the inhabitants of the two enclaves are joyful subjects. But Gibraltar, whose people are thoroughly happy being British, should belong to Spain. Get it? All this has blown up because Gibraltar will leave the EU on March 29 next year along with the UK, though it should be said that 96 per cent of its citizens voted Remain on an 82 per cent turnout. However, theres no evidence that any of them are hankering after rule from Madrid. Why is the Spanish government so upset? Because it believes that Article 184 of the draft withdrawal agreement implies that the future of the territory will be decided by the EU and the UK, without Spain necessarily being involved. This is a case of paranoia. Spain is certain to be consulted by both parties, and is constantly talking about Gibraltar with the British Government. The truth is that politicians in Madrid are puffing out their chests with characteristic machismo. I would be surprised if they do upset the deal, though one cant be sure. In a narrow sense, this is a squabble about virtually nothing, since, as I have said, Spain will continue to be included in discussions. But the outburst reminds us just how fixated all Spanish governments (the present one is Left-wing) are on Gibraltar, and how weak is their adherence to democratic principles. So far as Madrid is concerned, Gibraltar should be Spanish because it is part of the Spanish mainland, and was inveigled by Perfidious Albion a very long time ago. It seems hardly to weigh with them that the vast majority of people in the territory understandably see themselves as British. Spain has threatened to block the Brexit deal if it does not get a veto over how any future trade deal applies to Gibraltar (pictured) In this view of things, sovereignty has its roots in land, not in the hearts of citizens. This idea was perfectly demonstrated last autumn, when the Catalan government in Barcelona decided to call a referendum on independence, which resulted in a large Leave majority on a relatively small turnout. Arguably, the Catalan nationalists overplayed their hand. But nothing can excuse the response of the Madrid Government. Its police bludgeoned and assaulted defenceless voters who were simply trying to exercise their democratic right. Some 900 people were said to be injured. After the vote, the Spanish government summarily dissolved the Catalan Parliament and arrested leading Catalan politicians. President Puigdemont and others managed to escape to Belgium, but were forced to flee to Germany after Madrid issued European arrest warrants alleging crimes of rebellion and sedition. These warrants have now been suspended but Puigdemont and his colleagues dare not return to Spain for fear that they will be arrested and thrown into jail. None of this sounds very civilised, does it? And so when Josep Borrell says that he thinks Spain will remain a united state for longer than the United Kingdom, I cant help shaking my head in disbelief. Spain which, lets face it, is a very young democracy, though of course a great country refused to allow a referendum on independence in Catalonia. When the Catalans went ahead and held one of their own, the Spanish state cracked down on them in a pretty brutal way. Spain's Foreign Minister, Josep Borrell, has let fly by suggesting that Brexit could split apart the United Kingdom. He claims to be very much more worried about the unity of the UK than of Spain By contrast, Westminster a very much older democracy acceded to the SNPs request for a referendum on independence in 2014. No one can doubt that if a majority of the Scottish people had voted to leave the UK, their wish would have been honoured. The Spanish way, pretty openly endorsed by Brussels, was to rely on coercion. The British way, at any rate in the 21st century, was to rely on persuasion and open debate, and to accept the powerful democratic idea that people should be governed with their consent. Only a fool would deny that the United Kingdom faces challenges to its survival as a unitary state. But I venture to suggest that consent is likely to keep it together longer than Spain will be held together by force. What has happened in Catalonia is that a long-established longing for independence has been quelled, but it has not been extinguished. Sooner or later it will rise again. What will politicians in Madrid then do? As for Gibraltar, in the unlikely event of a majority of its people ever wanting to exchange their British citizenship for Spanish, I have no doubt that their desire would be granted. It is partly the sure knowledge that it would be that makes them want to stay British. How we flagellate ourselves at the moment during these wrangles over Brexit. We are said to be the laughing stock of Europe. Our democracy is spoken of as dysfunctional. Many of us feel a bit down in the dumps. But when I look at Spain, and hear its foreign minister cheerfully prophesying the break-up of the United Kingdom; when I see Spanish politicians casting avaricious eyes on the Rock of Gibraltar why, then I am still very glad to be British. A woman who was raised in a cave and hunted by jaguars returned to her home to reflect on her unusual upbringing and visit the barren wilderness where she was brought up. Christina Rickardsson's childhood bears resemblance to the Disney classic the Jungle Book though what she describes is far from a fairy tale. The 35-year-old grew up in a cave in the depths of the jungle with her mother for five years on the outskirts of the town Diamantina in Brazil. Pictured: Christina Rickardsson, 35, has shared the story of her childhood growing up in a cave The return: She was raised by her mother for five years in a cave (pictured) on the outskirts of the town Diamantina in Brazil Forever changed: Christina was adopted in 1991 and moved to Sweden where she grew up with a middle-class family Fresh start: Christina was put in an orphanage before she was adopted In her new book Never Stop Walking, she has shared stories about hunting birds to eat and at one point was embroiled in a violent clash with a street child who she killed to survive. She reveals her and her mother hid from jaguars before making their way to Sao Paulo to beg for food. But her life all changed when she was adopted in 1991 and moved to Sweden where she grew up in a middle-class family. An extract of her book was published on News.com.au this weekend where she remembered: 'The growling was enough to make my mother and me shake with fear. Reunited: In 2015, Christina returned to Brazil to find her mom and see where she was rasied Survivors: 'Achingly poor, we would eat birds killed by slingshot and regularly hike to Diamantina to sell dried leaves and flowers and buy rice,' she wrote in her new book Fleeing: Her mother took her to the caves at just 15 days old to run away form an abusive family Reflection: Christina wrote a book about her experience and what she found when she returned to Brazil 'And then we saw it a jaguar on top of our cave, hunting for prey.' Her mother Petronilia, brought her to the caves in April 1983 when she was just 15 days old after running away from her abusive family. She recalled in the book: 'Achingly poor, we would eat birds killed by slingshot and regularly hike to Diamantina to sell dried leaves and flowers and buy rice. 'I gained confidence from hunting and scavenging and still recall my immense pride when I claimed my first bird, which we grilled over our tiny fire pit.' Charity work: Christina's life changed after she was adopted in 1991 by a middle-class family in Sweden Giving back: She created an charity called Coelho Growth Foundation The pair begged on the streets of Sao Paulo for money where they were spat at and called cockroaches. And at the age of seven, she got in a fight with a street boy over a piece of bread from a bin. She wrote: 'Grappling on the ground, I heard a clinking sound next to me a big piece of a glass bottle. I picked it up in my hand. 'He turned around, and without thinking, still moving, I jabbed that piece of glass at his belly as hard as I could. 'At first I felt nothing. Then my hand got warm. Blood gushed from the wound. I took the bread from the boy as he screamed and doubled over in pain. 'After I'd run a fair way, I started eating. But then I started vomiting. The realization of what I'd done hit me.' Christina heard the rumor days later that the boy had died. Sad: Christina revealed she got in a fight with another boy when she was younger over a piece of bread in a trash can Saved: The incident with the boy was before Christina was adopted by her family Warrior: 'But I will keep on doing my thing, I will continue to tell my story and the story of so many children around the world,' Christina wrote A new life: Christina Rickardsson is pictured as an adult on the streets of New York Eventually Christina was put in an orphanage, and in 1991 they were adopted by a middle-class family in Sweden. In 2015, she returned to Brazil for the first time in 24 years and tracked down her long-lost mother. Christina went on to found the children's charity, Coelho Growth Foundation. Speaking out has not been easy for the charity boss. Taking to Instagram back in May, she revealed she had been threatened for revealing the truth about her childhood. She wrote: 'I have been called murderer and I have been called communist for telling my truth. For speaking up and trying to give millions of street children a voice. For talking about integration and that we all have the same human value. 'But I will keep on doing my thing, I will continue to tell my story and the story of so many children around the world. 'I will keep on fighting for human rights and for equality in my own way, by giving lectures and keep on writing and addressing these problems. 'I will keep on walking! So thanks for your love and support. Without it I wouldnt have made it this far.' A young nurse who travelled to Bali to undergo a breast augmentation has spoken of the horrific experience of waking up from surgery to discover she'd be left with 'disgusting' breasts. Kara Antonio had her first boob job in 2013 - but she decided to get them done again after they were left uneven from breastfeeding her daughter. So on November 14, the 24-year-old mother from Perth, Western Australia, flew to Bali and paid a surgeon $8,500 to fix them. But when she woke from the procedure, she was left devastated by what the doctors had done. 'I was distraught, my breasts were disgusting,' Ms Antonio told Daily Mail Australia. 'All he'd done was move my nipples and put bigger implants in thinking my boobs would be lifted. I started crying as soon as he took the bandages off. 'I didn't pay for my nipples to be moved up, I paid for a breast revision with a lift and bigger implants. My boobs are ruined.' A 24-year-old nurse who travelled to Bali to undergo a breast augmentation has spoken of her horror after she was left with a 'botched' boob job The young mother, from Perth in Western Australia, jetted off to Indonesia to pay a surgeon $8,500 to fix her asymmetrical breasts on November 14 She had her first boob job in 2013 - but she decided to get them done again after her breasts were left uneven from breastfeeding her daughter She claimed when she complained about her new breasts, she was told there was 'nothing wrong with them' and they 'looked fine'. 'No one in their right mind would tell someone their boobs looked good when clearly they are f***ed,' she said. Ms Antonio was then offered a 'complimentary' corrective surgery to fix her breasts. 'I was desperate to have them fixed so I accepted the offer,' she said. However, the personal trainer said she was still not satisfied with her breasts after going under the knife in a second procedure two days later. 'My boobs are still saggy, they are still too low and they aren't closer together, they are still far apart. I hate looking at them,' she said. 'They haven't even apologised or offered to fix the issue. I have paid a lot of money for this. I'm a single mother so I have been saving for months.' The mother taking a picture of her breasts (left) before the procedure - and (right) standing with her new breasts after undergoing a second boob job this month in Bali By sharing her story, she wanted to warn other women about the potential dangers of undergoing plastic surgery abroad The personal trainer said she travelled to Thailand in 2013 to undergo her first breast augmentation. 'Everything went well... It was a great experience,' she explained. But the mother has now demanded a full refund from the Bali clinic or her money to be 'transferred' to Thailand so they could 'fix up my botched boobs'. By sharing her story, she wanted to warn other women about the potential dangers of undergoing plastic surgery abroad. 'I wouldn't recommend anyone wanting a breast augmentation to go to Bali,' Ms Antonio said. 'Please girls, don't make the same mistake as I did and believe everything they tell you because you never think it's going to happen to you.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Bali clinic for comment. The Duchess of Sussex has made the chic caped dress one of the staples of her regal wardrobe, and the look seems to becoming a fast favourite with royal women of Europe for high octane glamour. There's one designer in particular that Queens and Princesses turn to for the ultimate caped dress, and that's Stella McCartney, one of Meghan's favourites. Variations of her simple caped gown have been worn by the Duchess of Sussex, Queen Letizia of Spain and most recently Princess Caroline of Monaco. However, it seems that former journalist Letizia was the one to kick off the royal rend as she was the first to wear Stella's floor-length red caped dress in April 2017 to a birthday party for King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands. She stepped out in a shorter version of the same dress in khaki in February this year, a full month before Meghan embraced the look. Celebrity stylist and designer Lucas Armitage told Femail: 'Capes and royalty have a long history, so it's not a total shock royals are loving the Stella McCartney called dress look right now. The Duchess of Sussex debuted her navy caped Stella McCartney dress at a concert marking the Queen's 92nd birthday at the Royal Albert Hall in London Queen Letizia of Spain kicked off the trend for wearing Stella's caped dresses when she sported a showstopping floor-length scarlet gown to King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands' birthday celebrations in The Hague in April 2017 'Royal protocol requires modest dressing so a cape dress is perfect for adhering to this whilst having a serious fashion moment as well as been super flattering. 'The cape covers problem areas such as upper arms whilst creating drama and movement so it's a great addition to a fitted gown. Meghan wore her 1,147 navy Stella McCartney dress, which Letizia has in khaki, to attend Spain's National Sport Awards in February this year. The Duchess hasn't yet recycled many of her outfits, but her Stella dress is one of the few items that's seen two outings. It made another high profile appearance at the Invictus Games Opening Ceremony in Sydney last month during her first major overseas royal tour. Princess Caroline of Monaco was the latest royal to embrace the look at the principality's National Day celebrations last weekend. Queen Letizia reprised the caped look in a shorter khaki number by Stella McCartney at the Spanish National Sport Awards in Madrid in February 2018 Princess Caroline of Monaco was the latest to embrace one of Stella's caped dresses when she attended a gala to mark National Day earlier this month The royal chose the same showstopping red number, previously worn by Letizia, featuring a cape detail on the right shoulder. It's no surprise that British designer Stella is becoming such a hit with royalty, as her designs offer an added extra that goes beyond style. The 47-year-old is known for her using sustainable materials in her clothing and refuses to use fur or leather in her designs. It's this stance that helps to give the designer the edge with royal women such as Meghan who want to look elegant, and also show their ethical credentials. Guests of honour: Stella McCartney also designed outfits for royal wedding guests Amal Clooney (left) and Oprah Winfrey (right) - and the viscose used to make Clooney's dress took three years to develop, she revealed this week in an interview with Elle magazine Stella McCartney designed Meghan's halterneck gown for her evening wedding reception (pictured: the bride and groom leaving Windsor Castle for Frogmore House on May 19) Stella, who designed the halterneck gown Meghan wore to her evening reception at Frogmore House, previously revealed to Elle that her ethos was what attracted the Duchess to her designs. She also dressed high profile guests on the big day in May such as Amal Clooney and Oprah Winfrey. 'I think Meghan chose me for reasons other than just a beautiful dress plenty of people can do that. She is not a difficult client to make look beautiful. Stella McCartney, 47, pictured at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2018 in London believes her ethical stance is what attracts celebrities and royalty to her brand Amal called me and asked me to do it, as did Oprah. I look at that Amal dress, and it is made of sustainable viscose that took us three years to develop. And I think, obviously I am a British designer, but I think being a woman and being a womens woman played a part. The designer, a lifelong vegetarian and animal rights campaigner, says she bonded with Meghan from the moment they met over their shared interest in environmental issues and the pair have since become friends. Before you get rid of that old Ikea lamp, coffee table, chair or sofa, take a look online you could be sitting on a fortune. Since its arrival in the UK in the Eighties, Ikeas low-priced products have become, well, part of the furniture. It seems almost every home in the country now contains an item from the flat-pack giant. But while many of its products are cheap, workaday pieces, a select few have gained cult status among collectors. Jenny Wood revealed a selection of Ikea items which have increased in value over the years including the quirky Duett pendant lights (pictured) which now fetch between 200 and 350 Prices at auction for some designs have rocketed in recent years, with chairs in particular demand. The Nineties Vilbert chair originally sold for 60 but is now worth more than 750; while a good condition Ake armchair, designed by Philip Arctander in 1944 which cost well under 10 originally could make 50,000. So, what current products should savvy investors buy now, in the hope they might become classics? Pontus Silfverstolpe, co-founder of Barnebys, an art, antiques and collectibles search service, says: I think Ikeas PS series will be in demand, and the Sinnerlig collection designed by Ilse Crawford last year could be a future hit. Meanwhile keep your eyes peeled at car boot sales for any of these covetable items. THE LIGHT FANTASTIC Constructed of six stacked cones in red, green, blue or monochrome, the quirky Duett pendant lights were created in the Seventies by Bent Gantzel Boysen. Good condition examples now fetch between 200 and 350. SHELLING OUT Ikea's 'mushroom' chair (pictured) has become one of the most coveted items, with collectors willing to pay up to 50,000 Possibly the most coveted vintage Ikea item, this Ake clam or mushroom chair was designed by Danish architect Philip Arctander in 1944, a year after the store was founded. Collectors now pay up to 50,000 for versions in good condition. CHINA IN YOUR HAND A full collection of Ikea's Nejlika terrines (pictured) are now worth around 1,180 In the Nineties, Swedens National Museum suggested Ikea recreate 18th-century homeware. The results were great quality, but werent profitable. A full collection of these Nejlika terrines is now worth around 1,180. ROLL WITH IT Original versions of Ikea's PS movable toy storage bench (pictured) can be sold for up to 270 The PS movable toy storage bench was created in 1995 by Tomas Sandell. Original versions fetch 170 to 270. However, the design is going to be re-released for 90 next month. STYLISH SHELFIE Ikea's teak bookshelf and cabinet (pictured) designed by Gillis Lundgren attracts collectors willing to pay up to 3,000 Created by one of Ikeas most successful designers, Gillis Lundgren (who also designed the Billy Bookcase), this teak bookshelf and cabinet now fetches up to 3,000 at auction. SLOTTING COMFORTABLY Despite not being a hit when it was first unveiled, a set of six Vilbert chairs now cost 9,000 Danish lighting designer Verner Panton created the slot-together Vilbert chair in 1993. It sold for 60 but wasnt a hit only 3,000 were made. Now, a set of six costs 9,000. HAVING A MOMENT The Moment sofa (pictured) which was on the cover of Ikea's 1985 catalogue sells for up to 2,500 A cover star of the 1985 Ikea catalogue, the Moment sofa now sells for up to 2,500 at auction. CRAZY FOR CHROME The impala armchair (pictured) attracts bids of more than 275 at auction A groovy Seventies design with low-slung seats and a curvy chrome frame, the Impala armchair was the brainchild of Gillis Lundgren in 1972. The chair cost 40, but collectors now bid more than 275 at auction. WIRED UP The Jarpen metal wire chair (pictured) has been relaunched for 45, however originals are worth between 75 and 175 per pair Launched in 1983, the Jarpen metal wire chair was created by designer Niels Gammelgaard, who wanted to see if it was possible to make an armchair comfortable without filling or fabric. Eighties versions now sell for between 75 and 175 per pair, but make sure youre buying an original Ikea has now relaunched the chair as the Raane, for 45. FLAT-PACK PIONEER Ikea's first ever flat-pack product, the three-sided Lovet table (pictured) now sells for over 1,000 In 1953, the three-sided Lovet table was Ikeas first ever flat-pack product. Originals sell for over 1,000, but Ikea has just relaunched it as the limited edition Lovbacken table, for just 45. LEATHER LOOKS Collectors are willing to pay more than 1,300 for a pair of Ikea's chrome and leather Amiral armchairs (pictured) Instantly recognisable for its Seventies style, the chrome and leather Amiral armchair was dreamt up by Karin Mobring one of Ikeas most collectable designers. Buyers can expect to pay upwards of 875 (or more than 1,300 for a pair) at auction. BLOOMING EXPENSIVE Dutch designer Hella Jongerius created the Jonsberg vase in pink, white, black, or terracotta in 2005. Just 30 at the time, fans will now pay double or triple that, particularly to collect a full set. Great-Auntie Isobel greets Oliver with a hug and the ten-year-old responds with an affectionate grin. The pair have an easy rapport as they spend a relaxed afternoon together at her care home, and Oliver knows without doubt that she is pleased to see him. But then she asks him his name again, and again, and again. It can be quite annoying, the ten-year-old admits, but he knows Auntie Isobel has dementia, so hes patient. If she keeps asking me the same question, I just keep saying the answer. Its not her fault she cant remember. They do jigsaws special, simple patterns designed for adults with dementia and talk about their lives. Its a relationship that enriches both octogenarian and little boy. Oliver, in turn, is learning how to listen, that life isnt always perfect and that you have to look after those you love when they need you most. An expert on dementia claims every child growing up now is going to know an adult with the condition. Oliver, ten, (pictured with his Great-Auntie Isobel) shared how he interacts with his great aunt who has dementia Kids get it, says TV broadcaster Angela Rippon, who leads the Alzheimers Societys rapidly expanding youth programme. They dont have the fear, and the word stigma is not in their vocabulary. Deciding how much to tell children about a relatives dementia or whether to tell them at all is a dilemma faced by increasing numbers of parents, as I discovered when I was researching the condition for a radio programme. Oliver is among many thousands of children dealing with dementia in the family. Once comparatively unusual, as Britains population ages, the condition is rapidly becoming an unavoidable part of day-to-day life. Even those who dont have a close relative with dementia are more and more likely to encounter it in elderly neighbours, or on a trip to the shops. Some 850,000 people are living with dementia in the UK, and this figure will top a million in the next eight years, reaching two million by 2051 when Oliver will be in his early 40s. Every child growing up now is going to know an adult with dementia, says Professor Clive Ballard, leading expert on the condition and head of Exeter University Medical School. And if they live past 80, they have a one-in-four chance of developing it themselves. So its a really important thing for children to know about. I believe it should be on the national curriculum. A lot of our attitudes are set in childhood. It is absolutely pivotal that they learn about dementia. He sees this as one of the key ways to reduce the lingering stigma that surrounds the illness. People are often pushed out of society, isolated from friends and family, because we dont know how to cope with them. The world we live in including shops, banks, cafes, certainly websites and even most medical centres and hospitals is not dementia-friendly. When someone starts behaving strangely, we tend to shy away, afraid of what we dont understand. Kathryn Smith (pictured with her son Oliver) believes it's important to talk to children about dementia before it's in the family Experts believe we can change this for the better by educating people especially children, whose minds are open and receptive about the illness. Were beginning to destigmatise it, but theres a long way to go, says Professor Ballard. In Olivers case, his mother, Kathryn Smith, was already knowledgeable about dementia through her work, and she read bedtime stories about dementia to her children Oliver, Jacob, 14, and Kian, 18. It meant it was relatively easy to explain to them what was happening to their great-aunt. But she admits many parents feel reluctant to raise such a sensitive issue with their children, fearing upsetting them. Ideally, its best to talk to them about it before its in the family, she says. That way, awareness grows with the child. Isobel was diagnosed when Oliver was five, so hes grown up accepting her for who she is, rather than being afraid. How common is dementia? Some 225,000 people will develop dementia this year thats one every three minutes Advertisement People with dementia are still individuals the same person underneath, says Kathryn, who points out that if you are not honest with children, they will conjure up something in their imagination that is often far worse than the reality. They may even believe it is their fault when a relative becomes unsettled, or they are no longer taken to visit. Most importantly, though, their presence does the person with dementia so much good, Kathryn stresses. Even if they dont remember who you are, a visit can still make them happier. They may forget the facts but not the feeling of being loved. I tell the children never to lie. If you are asked a straight question, answer it. But if Auntie says something wrong, dont correct her. And that includes when shes complaining, Ive been stuck in here for months and nobodys visited, even though you know you have! Each time they visit, Kathryn takes a photo of the group, which she prints out and brings along on their next trip. Pictures, she says, are great conversation-starters. While its natural to want to correct a person with dementia when they get things muddled, many experts now say its better not to contradict them, as this can cause greater distress. Oliver says although it can be frustrating when his Auntie Isobel (pictured) repeats questions, it doesn't mean that it's not worth speaking to her April Dobson, head of dementia care for Hallmark Care Homes, explains: Go where they are; dont try to drag them into our reality. Young children are often better at this than adults, she adds, as they can feel less upset or embarrassed by awkward comments. Still, dementia is not easy to understand even for an adult. So what does a child think about it? Oliver tells me confidently that the condition is a brain disease that is slowly getting rid of their memories. You should keep reminding them that you love them, he says seriously. He adds that, while his Auntie Isobels repeated questions can be frustrating, that doesnt mean its not worth speaking to her. Take a stress ball to squeeze if you get annoyed! he advises other youngsters. While children can be ideal visitors, you do have to take into account the character of both the child and the older relative. People with dementia are still individuals the same person underneath - Kathryn Smith Kathryns grandfather was diagnosed with dementia in the same year as her great-aunt. But while Isobel had always adored children and still derives great pleasure from seeing them, for her grandfather it was different. He wasnt a child person before he had dementia, says Kathryn. And as the illness progressed, he showed his irritation more openly. The childrens visits werent beneficial for them or him, so I stopped taking the boys to see him some time before he died. Emma Crozier worked hard to make sure her seven-year-old son Matty maintained a loving and meaningful connection with his grandfather, Alan. Emmas father, who died last year, developed dementia in his mid-50s. This is not as unusual as you might think: more than 40,000 people under 65 have a diagnosis of dementia, and many more go undiagnosed. Kathryn's grandfather (pictured left) was diagnosed with dementia in the same year as her great-aunt My dad had always been fit and good-looking, a sportsman, a geologist who travelled the world, says Emma. Then he started losing parts of himself and his behaviour could be quite challenging. He sometimes got angry with himself when he was unable do simple things like make a cup of coffee and could seem impatient with those around him. To help Matty understand his grand-fathers behaviour, Emma told stories about Alans past life and explained why he got frustrated when he couldnt do something. She chose activities her son and father could do together. They read books, coloured in, played with toy cars and kicked a ball between them. My father could kick a ball almost until he died, she says. It was instinctive for him. You need to find things to help the person interact in familiar ways. Leah Hearnshaw, aged eight, has found her own ways to connect with her grandfather. He can no longer see or talk much, but hes always loved nature, so she made him a basket of crunchy leaves and shiny conkers so he could hear and feel the autumn. He liked it, she says. He was smiling quite a lot. Leah also feeds her grandfather little chocolates and takes his arm as he walks around. When intellectual ability is gone, the sense of touch remains. It is a way to interact with someone even in the advanced stages of dementia, and can be reassuring at any time. Some children, like Leah and Matty, will offer a hug instinctively. Others are more wary and a shared toy or game may provide a good way to make contact. Leahs mum, Cate, explains that her little girls involvement isnt just good for Grandpa, it helps Leah deal with his illness, too. Finding ways for children to join in makes them feel less helpless. Kathryn stopped taking her children to visit her grandfather (pictured) before he died as the illness caused him to openly show irritation Leah and her mother recently gave a presentation at Leahs school. I told them dementia is a disease, says Leah, but you dont catch it like a cold. I said you can die from it, but you can live a very long time and there are lots of things we can do to help. Professor Ballard stresses that although some children may find unpredictable behaviour frightening, these worries may be overcome with reassurance and by finding a way to play together. Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, but educating children and teenagers so that they better understand what is happening to elderly relatives will help. After five years, the Alzheimers Society education programme is in some 600 schools and has reached a quarter of a million children. If we can help them to understand dementia at an early age, Angela Rippon says, they will take the knowledge forward into maturity. They will recognise dementia in their families or people they meet in the street. They wont be impatient or unkind. They will know how to deal with it, and they will pass that understanding on. The goal is nothing short of societal change, and the creation of a dementia-friendly generation. John Ramsay also believes this is of paramount importance. He grew up in a family affected by dementia and is evangelical about helping children stay close to relatives who have the condition. His grandmother was diagnosed when he was very young and died when he was ten. His father then developed early-onset dementia, and died when John was 22. When I think of Grandma Clare, I remember a lady who knew nothing, remembered nothing and behaved bizarrely. We were told to be kind to her, and we were, and shed laugh and laugh at anything we said. I remember sitting on my fathers knee when I was very small and saying: Promise you wont turn into Grandma Clare. Its harrowing to remember that. He now travels around care homes selling Tovertafel (Dutch for magic table), a colourful game with projected lights designed for people with dementia and children can play, too. My research on the condition for articles and a radio programme led me to write a childrens picture book that gives parents a simple way to explain to the very young why someone with dementia is behaving oddly. Travels With My Granny follows an older woman who voyages in her mind revisiting her exciting past in Rome, Jerusalem, London and New York and the grandchild who, through Grannys reminiscences, travels with her. The grown-ups think Granny is confused and doesnt know where she is, the grandchild says. I think she knows exactly where she is; it just isnt where the grown-ups are. Its this simple acceptance of different ways of seeing the world that could make children the key to changing societys approach to people with dementia. Travels With My Granny by Juliet Rix, Otter-Barry Books, 11.99. Offer price 9.59 (20 pc discount) until November 29, 2018. Order at mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640; p&p free on orders over 15. Spend 30 on books and get FREE premium delivery. For further information, contact Alzheimers Society, alzheimers.org.uk; helpline 0300 222 1122. A 12-year-old girl was overcome with joy after her mother's fiance surprised her with a diamond ring and asked her to be his daughter. Tia Warner, 28, from Delmar, Maryland, took to Facebook earlier this year to share a video of the heartwarming moment her husband-to-be Andrew Mast, 33, proposed to her daughter TeKia Reid. In the clip, Andrew, an Air Force master sergeant from Ohio, sits down next to Te'Kia on the couch and asks her about that 'little secret' they had regarding her mom. 'Look at your mom's hand': Tia Warner's fiance Andrew Mast, 33, surprised her daughter TeKia Reid by revealing that they were engaged Second surprise: Andrew then got down on one knee and presented Te'Kia with her own diamond ring 'What was our secret?' he asks. The tween hesitates for a second before saying that Andrew is going to marry her mom. 'I was going to ask her, right? Look at your mom's hand,' he tells Te'Kia, and her eyes go wide when she spots the diamond engagement ring on Tia's finger. 'I asked her last night,' he explains. 'So, now, here's the thing though. You are already my kid. When I marry your mom, it's like legal that you're my kid, like in a legal sense, right? So it's not just your mom that I proposed to.' Adorable: The Air Force master sergeant asked Te'Kia to be his daughter before slipping the ring on her finger Look of love: Tia, 28, and Andrew have been together for a year and a half after meeting online Big day: After Andrew proposed over the summer, they planned their wedding for June 8, 2019 Andrew then reaches in his back pocket and tells Te'Kia that he wants to ask her a question. He gets down on one knee and presents her a ring box, saying: 'I want to see if you will be my daughter.' 'Yeah,' Te'Kia says, with a bright smile on her face. The ring features three small diamonds, and after he slips it on her finger, she gushes about how much she likes it and starts to squeal with joy. 'Come give me a hug,' he tells her, and they share a warm embrace. All smiles: Tia said she was glad that her daughter was so 'happy and excited' about their engagement Close as can be: 'He wanted to ensure that she knew she was his daughter as well. We dont believe in "step" in our family,' she explained 'I love you, sweetie,' he says. Tia, who is originally from Salisbury, Maryland, now lives in Delmar with Andrew and her daughter. The couple has been together for a year and a half after meeting online, and their wedding is planned for June 8, 2019. 'I didnt know what her reaction would be, honestly, but Im so glad she was happy and excited,' Tia said of Andrew asking Te'Kia to be his daughter. 'As he takes me as his wife, he wanted to ensure that she knew she was his daughter as well. We dont believe in "step" in our family,' she explained. 'Its not about who your birth parents are its about who raised you. We are all blessed to have one another.' In recent years, thousands of mothers have congregated in private groups to share their ingenious 'hacks', crafty ideas and stylish creations. They are the self-described 'Kmart mums' who get together to talk about all things they have discovered at the Australian discount department store. But a founder of one of many popular Kmart fan groups, which are not associated in any way with Kmart stores, has made an explosive claim about the dark side of the much-loved discount chain. Taking to Instagram, the administrator for 'Kmart Hacks' announced she will shut down the page amid an ongoing toxic 'bullying' culture on social media. Some Kmart fan groups have been re-posting people's 'hacks' and mocking their creations. Kmart Australia has no affiliation with these Facebook and Instagram fan groups In recent years, thousands of mothers have congregated in private groups to share their ingenious 'hacks', crafty ideas and stylish creations Taking to Instagram, the administrator for 'Kmart Hacks' announced they will be shutting down the page amid an ongoing toxic 'bullying' culture on social media In a lengthy rant, the admin said: 'I'm shutting this account down permanently. I can't do this anymore. I'm not even going to fully elaborate why. 'Other than to say the larger Kmart influencers are a bunch of bullies. If they're not bullies then they stand by and not say anything which to me is the same thing. So f*** them. F*** all of them. 'If you're considering trying to become an influencer for Kmart. Don't. Unless you can stand fake people and a bunch of bullies and their b****y behaviour. Then go for your life. These "women" aren't the people they portray themselves to be on your story feed. If you don't fit into their mean girls club then get used to being an outsider. 'If it weren't for accounts like mine, these Becky's wouldn't exist. Pathetic.' One Australian mother told Daily Mail Australia she was bullied by another Kmart fan group for sharing her creations on social media. 'They take screen shots of photos people post into styling groups and then mock the people and their decor and encourage their followers to do the same,' she explained. 'I've had two or three of my posts used by them in this way and it made me feel horrible. Last night I had a panic attack and struggled to get to sleep after they did it again.' Hundreds of mothers have been revealing on Facebook how they were 'blocked and deleted' from fan groups for no apparent reason. One Australian mother told Daily Mail Australia she was bullied by another Kmart fan group for sharing her creations on social media. Kmart Australia has no affiliation with these Facebook and Instagram fan groups The trend has seen thousands of others share their amazing creations on social media Four years ago, the admin of Kmart Hacks launched the fan group as a way to cope with the tragic loss of her daughter. But this week, she claimed leading the life as 'social influencer' attending promotional events has spiralled out of control and she couldn't handle the 'bullying' any longer. 'I refuse to be a part of it,' the admin said. 'The way I was treated by these bullies at the last event was disgusting so I wouldn't go to another event with them there so I'm not bothered. 'Who wants to go somewhere where they are deliberately ignored anyway? They all pretend I am attacking them unfairly and as if they've done nothing wrong. Ha! Believe that if you wish. I know the truth. 'From this point on I will have nothing to do with Kmart as a 'social influencer'. I'm actually embarrassed I spent four years of my life on this. My excuse is I needed a distraction for my grief when I lost my little girl. But I let it go on too long. It's over.' Shortly after sharing her explanation behind the closure of the page, another fan group slammed her rant as a 'dummy spit'. But the Kmart Hacks admin responded, saying: 'It wasn't a dummy spit. It was giving the people the respect of explaining why I was shutting the group down. 'It also wasn't anything to do with the bigger groups. The bullies live on Instagram. You should know, you're one of them,' she said. 'You're a bunch of idiot bullies who need a hobby. Or a man. Something in your life is missing and you're just sad lonely people.' For the first eight months of her son Elijah's life, Deianna Mawad never put him down. The deep attachment followed a near-fatal pregnancy and a lifetime of anxious tendencies for the Sydney-based primary school teacher which would only come into full-effect after she became a mother. 'Our bassinet was like a dust collector,' she told FEMAIL of what followed her son's birth in 2017. 'When he was born, we were so excited and so relieved that he was alive, I just cuddled him so much. For the first eight months of her son Elijah's life Deianna Mawad never put him down 'But because we had held him for so long, when we did try to put him down, it didn't happen and that was when the worries started.' The worries she speaks of were ever-present and despite being in her own words 'irrational', created anxiety that dictated her every move. 'I was worried that if I put him in the pram, someone might knock the pram or something would happen,' the 31-year-old said. 'Or I wouldn't hear him cry because the shops were too loud or if I put him down he would stop breathing. 'At that point, my irrational worries were real worries and they were things that were going to happen if I didn't do what I was doing.' The deep attachment followed a near-fatal pregnancy and a lifetime of anxious tendencies for the Sydney-based primary school teacher which would only come into full-effect after she became a mother 'Our bassinet was like a dust collector,' she told FEMAIL of what followed her son Elijah's birth last year (pictured with Elijah and her husband, Fady) Compounding this anxiety-fuelled existence was not knowing what was wrong, where to turn and a lack of support from those in the position to do something. 'Nobody noticed what was going on because I was still going out, but as he got bigger and became harder to hold I started pulling back and stopped going to things,' Deianna said. 'I went to his six-month vaccinations and the GP asked "how are you going?" and I bawled my eyes out and just said "I'm so tired" and she just said "oh, make sure you get some sleep".' 'And that was the only time I ever showed anyone that I wasn't okay and the doctor just missed the window completely. Compounding this anxiety-fuelled existence was not knowing what was wrong, where to turn and a lack of support from those in the position to do something A hospital admission followed a break-down while at her local mother's group where she 'bawled' soon after arrival 'I remember walking out and knowing if she had asked me how (Elijah) slept she would have found out that he slept on my chest and I slept on a recliner every night.' Following a break-down while at her local mother's group where she 'bawled' soon after arrival, another woman confided in Deianna about her stay at the Mother and Baby Unit at a hospital in Sydney. Despite initial resistance from her family, she soon called the hospital and requested an admission to its mental health ward, where she stayed for three weeks. 'The first night I was there I cried for hours because I didnt have him in my arms to fall asleep for the first time ever,' she said. 'Gradually though, he got better and then I got better and they taught me how to do all that.' Despite initial resistance from her family, she soon called the hospital and requested an admission to its mental health ward, where she stayed for three weeks One year on and Deianna is more aware than ever of the anxiety's warning signs, especially after recently giving birth to her second son, Benjamin However, despite her willingness to receive treatment grappling with the diagnosis of lesser-known post-natal anxiety, opposed to its depressive counterpart. 'I loved my baby, I wasn't detached I didnt want to be away from him for even a second.' 'In treatment I learned I had to take care of myself and realise Elijah needed time away from me and I needed time away from him.' One year on and Deianna is more aware than ever of the anxiety's warning signs, especially after recently giving birth to her second son, Benjamin. 'The biggest thing I had to do was remove myself from situations which made my anxieties worse - and know what was best for me, and my children,' she said. If you or someone you know is suffering from antenatal and postnatal anxiety or depression, contact PANDA on 1300 726 306. A Channel 4 documentary on transgender teenagers has sparked fury on social media after the psychotherapist presenting it appeared to dismiss being transgender as 'a phase'. Television presenter India Willoughby, 51, who transitioned in 2015, joined hundreds of people on Twitter to complain about the programme. The documentary, Trans Kids: It's Time to Talk, saw psychotherapist Stella O'Malley, 44, from Offaly, Ireland, spending time with several transgender teenagers and recounting her own experience of wanting to be a boy during childhood. Some viewers were so incensed that they warned young trans teenagers not to watch it calling it 'unethical' and 'ignorant'. Scroll down for video In Channel 4 documentary Trans Kids: It's Time to Talk, which aired last night, Stella O'Malley, 44, speaks to trans man Cole, who says he felt more hopeful about transitioning after watching YouTube videos online as a youngster. During the show O'Malley, a psychotherapist, shares that she had been confident she was a boy as a child but now dismisses that period of her life as a 'phase' Willoughby wrote: 'Going through a "phase" is not being trans Stella. That's why nothing permanent happens to those taking the medical route for a long time. 'Dreadful Ch4. Dreadful. Totally weighted. Televised Mumsnet #TransKids'. MailOnline has contacted Channel 4 for comment. Others sent around a link to Ofcom, the television regulator, urging people to complain. Ofcom told Mailonline 15 people had complained to the television regulator about the show. During the show O'Malley shared how she had believed she was a boy until puberty hit. She told viewers that had she been a young child living in today's society she is 'absolutely certain' that she 'would have transitioned'. She added that her time making the programme had left her feeling trans teens are 'lost', saying: 'They are lost and I think they are being led.' She adds: 'At the start it was way more intellectual presuming that maybe there was something I didn't know and what I am finding is that I know this world well and deeply, profoundly. I think they are lost and I think they are being led.' O'Malley, now a married mother-of two, examines how the experiences and options open to transgender children today compared to during her own childhood - but viewers were left irate by the programme's suggestion that being transgender 'is a phase'. While watching the show, one viewer, @djjeny, wrote: 'Quite uncomfortable watching #TransKids - the presenter comes across as ignorant and insensitive. 'She was a tomboy child and now happy as a woman yet telling dysphoric kids she was just like them. Err no, that's not how this works. Also very inappropriate questioning/interrogation.' Anger: One viewer said that O'Malley appeared 'deeply ignorant' towards trans people The show sees the parents of Matt, a transgender boy, expressing their fears about their son's decision to stop puberty, saying they hope he won't regret it when he's an adult O'Malley questions Matt's parents on puberty blockers, which will effectively stop their son from going through female puberty. She asks them: 'Did you decide on puberty blockers? Did you just suddenly say 'let's do it'! When you first heard of them, did you say give them to me?' @MsSevenVictor added: 'I'm sending a huge hug to all the #TransKids out there who may be unfortunately watching this and feeling like s***. You are right. You are worthy. They dont know you. Be strong. Ask for help if you need it. #YouAreNotAlone #TransKidsItsTimeToTalk is TRASH!' During the show, the presenter says she's worried that experts are readily turning to the option of transitioning as a 'solution' to gender dysphoria, as in the past nine years there has been a 2,500 increase in the number of children accessing theNHS's gender service. O'Malley adds that while medicine isn't necessarily wrong for those who want to become a different gender, there isn't enough research into the long-term effects hormones may have. Tearfully saying of younger people seeking treatment: 'I think they are lost and I think they are being led.' On social media, @parislees disagreed strongly with the programme's approach, saying: 'Journalists and broadcasters have completely failed trans people and their families in this country. Failing to inform the public about the facts is one thing. But this relentless, mean, obsessive campaign of misinformation is unforgivable. #TransKids' @MrMatthewTodd added: 'Hope actual trans young people know we support you. This nastiness will eventually die away. We will get there in the end. You have the right to be who you are - not what other people say you should be. They used to tell us being gay was a phase, how could we know etc! #transkids'. The psychotherapist revealed she believed if she been a young child living in today's society she is 'absolutely certain' that she 'would have transitioned' Viewers watching the show criticised the approach taken by O'Malley when interviewing transgender teenagers saying it felt like she was 'interrogating' them. Matt, who is autistic, (pictured right with him mum) declined to answer any questions except to answer that his own experience wasn't a phase A conversation with trans man Kenny, now in his twenties, saw him share his fears about the medication he'd taken as a teenager to stop the puberty process Kenny began transitioning eight years ago, but confessed he had 'no clue' back then what to expect when he started taking hormone blockers and testosterone In the documentary the psychotherapist hopes to open a conversation about allowing those with mental health issues have more time to understand and digest the process. But she admits to finding it difficult to present a fully balanced argument because after approaching transgender charities, lobby groups, NHS and private doctors, they are all refusing to engage with the documentary. She stresses: 'It's right to ask legitimate questions about people who may regret transitioning, or the lack of research into the drugs to make sure we are not doing harms to kids. 'Fundamentally you can't help but think they don't like the fact that I exist,' she questions. 'They don't like the fact that I had gender dysphoria, I was that kid and I have grown up to be this woman. On some level that is threatening as far as I can say.' Speaking out: Cole speaks with Stella about documenting his transition on YouTube and in the past two years how he doesn't mind being a 'guinea pig' because his quality of life is better She adds: 'I never realised quite how hard it would be to make a film about transgender kids. 'I feel it is so important as a society that we can have a real conversation about the best way to support kids like I was who are confused about their gender.' Among the people Stella speaks to is Kenny, who began transitioning eight years ago, but confessed he had 'no clue' what to expect when he started taking hormone blockers and testosterone. Kenny said he 'found out along the way', only learning recently that there was even a possibility he could still get pregnant, or equally that he could already be infertile. Although he had a double mastectomy, he decided not to go through with bottom surgery because after learning at a surgical consultation that he may lose all sensation during sex. 'I only knew about the bottom surgery when I went to a consultation to talk to a surgeon. I was 21. 'I think it's unfortunate that there wasn't as much information. When you start taking testosterone chances of children and things like that basically become non-existent.' Stella also meets with a 13-year-old named Matt who has already started taking puberty blockers with his parents' consent. But they are terrified that he could change his mind in the future and put the blame solely on them. YouTuber Cole, 24, who lives with his mother in Bristol, began taking hormone blockers when he was 22 and has been documenting his transition online. Reflective: Stella, pictured, sees herself in one woman she meets and ponders whether her path might have been different if she'd lived as a child in today's society He believes that YouTube videos are helping: 'My generation are the ones that are transitioning all at the same time.' While he acknowledges the lack of evidence of the long term effects of testosterone, and that he is essentially taking untested drugs he doesn't mind: 'But because of my quality of life before, I am OK with being a guinea pig.' Cale, who lives in south London, was 15 when she decided she wanted to become a boy, believing it was a solution to her feelings of not being able to fit in. However after years on hormones and surgery, including a double mastectomy, Cale decided to de-transition when she couldn't see a future as a man. She now identifies as a woman: 'What's done is done. I wouldn't undo it because I went through a lot of self-reflection, a lot of learning about myself and I grew as a person. 'I went through a lot of bad stuff and a lot of good stuff it's just how it is. I don't regret it.' Stella reflects on her own journey, and admits she sees something of herself in Cole but they both where on different paths because of the options open to them at the time. 'I went through a kid thing and then I came out of it and I went through lots of other things in my life and came to this position,' she says. When I see a trans kid by god everything gets raised up again. 'I'm sure some of them will go on to transition and live happily ever after and I'm sure other ones will have more complicated roles and I just think what if a huge amount of those kids are me. 'What if they got this wrong, what if everything I had is what they are feeling because it certainly sounds very, very like it. 'All I've felt is recognition and that has made me way more freaked out than I was at the beginning of this.' She adds: 'At the start it was way more intellectual presuming that maybe there was something I didn't know and what I am finding is that I know this world well and deeply, profoundly. I think they are lost and I think they are being led.' Channel 4 responded to the criticism, telling MailOnline: 'Trans Kids: Its Time to Talk, is a thoughtful one-hour authored programme in which Psychotherapist and author Stella OMalley, reflects on the rise in numbers of young people embarking on gender transition, through the prism of her own lived experience as a child with gender identity issues. 'The programme hears from those who have transitioned, including those who have done so from a young age and are happy with their decision, as well as parents and academics, with a range of views and experiences of gender identity in relation to young people. 'It is part of a year of programmes on Channel 4 looking at gender from many different perspectives, which has also included an authored documentary by Transgender model and activist Munroe Bergdorf and Genderquake, looking at gender fluidity and attitudes to gender among a group of British young people. Still to come is Trans Mission (w/t) giving a group of people the opportunity to share their own journey to transition over two years.' A thrifty mother-of-one claims you can whip up gourmet meals for as little as 60p per head - while still using high-end ingredients like free-range chicken and organic eggs. Jane Ashley, 50, from London, has published her second cookbook to help fellow parents master the art of feeding two people on a shoestring budget - without any wasted leftovers. Her frugal meals for two include roasted butternut squash risotto for 60p per serving, chorizo omelette with potato wedges and coleslaw salad for just 1 per portion, aubergine katsu curry with rice and Japanese salad for 1.20 each and slow-cooked beef and ale pie or even Jambalaya for under 2 per person. Jane has shared some of the scrumptious recipes from her new book, 'Home Economics 2.0 Cooking for two on a budget'. Mother-of-one Jane Ashley, pictured, has published her second cookbook to help fellow parents master the art of feeding two people on a shoestring budget - without any wasted leftovers Vegetable Biryani made by Jane Ashley, which costs just 75p per person (left), and chicken Kievs with loaded potato skins and salad which cost just 2 per person (right) Graphic designer Jane was inspired to write the book after her daughter Emma left home for university and she had to cook for just herself and her husband again. Jane - who lives with her photographer husband Phil - said: 'When our daughter went off to university, it was a real challenge to get used to just cooking for two again without spending a fortune. 'We had a lot of wasted food or overate to use it up. It reminded me of before we were parents, with our meals mainly consisting of expensive-ready made dishes you shoved in the oven or a dodgy takeaway. 'With a few I wanted to show that you don't need to spend a fortune or spend ages to make healthy and delicious food for two people. 'In my book, I've also only used high-quality produce such free range chicken and eggs and included vegan, low-carb as well as gluten free recipes.' Chorizo Omelette with potato wedges and coleslaw salad, a meal made by Jane Ashley, which costs just 1 per person and appears in her second cook book, available to buy now. Graphic designer Jane was inspired to write the book after her daughter Emma left home for university and she had to cook for just herself and her husband again Tarka Dal with garlic naans and onion bhajis, a meal made by Jane Ashley, which costs just 1.30 per person. Her fans asked her to 'produce a cheap cookbook for couples'. Jane - who lives with her photographer husband Phil - wrote her book after her daughter flew the nest Jane's fish and chips, costing just 1.45 per person. She says of her cooking: 'Budget recipes for two don't need to be boring or meat-free. With a few tricks and a bit of planning, you can eat satisfying and varied meals - without being tempted to reach for the takeaway menu' Jane's 1.50 per head gluten free beef lasagne. 'A lot of younger people haven't started families yet but still want to save money on their food as rents are so high and wages are low,' says Jane of her budget approach to booking for two A typical day of meals from Jane's cookbook could include a lunch of tarka dal with garlic naans and onion bhajis for lunch at 1.20 per person and homemade chicken kievs for dinner with loaded potato skins and salad for dinner for under 2.50 per portion. She said: 'After publishing my first book [Home Economics 2:0 How to eat like a king on a budget] which was designed to feed families on small budgets, a lot of people have asked me if I could produce a cheap cookbook for couples. 'A lot of younger people haven't started families yet but still want to save money on their food as rents are so high and wages are low. Jane, pictured in her kitchen at home, says: 'I always advise putting the money you save from not buying lunch or coffees and see it soon mount up! A couple can save over 2,000 per year by making their own lunches' Star on the rise: Home Economics 2.0 Cooking for two on a budget is available to buy for 14.99 through Jane's website, eatnotspend.wordpress.com 'However they don't want to resort to just eating rice every day to cut costs - whilst others have had difficulty persuading their partners to not eat meat every day. 'Budget recipes for two don't need to be boring or meat-free. With a few tricks and a bit of planning, you can eat satisfying and varied meals - without being tempted to reach for the takeaway menu. 'I always advise putting the money you save from not buying lunch or coffees and see it soon mount up! A couple can save over 2,000 per year by making their own lunches.' Home Economics 2.0 Cooking for two on a budget is available to buy for 14.99 through Jane's website, eatnotspend.wordpress.com Jane's top tips for cooking for two 1. Always try to buy the supermarket's cheaper own brand products. There really isn't much difference in flavour. Why pay 3 times as much for the same raw ingredients? 2. I don't tend to bother with the food with discounted yellow stickers. Write up a meal plan and stick to it - you'll end up saving a lot more than the odds and ends with those deals. 3. I try to buy seasonal vegetables when they're cheaper, and use them to make soups to freeze. But buying frozen vegetables is another way to save money. You only need to take out what you're using, so there won't be food waste. Frozen vegetables will also have a higher nutritional value as they'll have been frozen close to picking. 4. Don't get too hung up on the dates. The only date you really need to worry about on food labelling is* the use-by date. The sell-by date is for the shop's own turn around, the best before date is when it's at its optimum freshness. Take a sniff first if you're not sure, just don't mess around with meat or fish. Put them in the freezer to last longer, and cook on the same day you defrost. 5. Batch cook if you have space. Put aside one day a month to cook lots of delicious meals ready for the coming weeks.You're less likely resort to a takeaway after a busy day if you have a tasty homemade meal in the fridge or freezer waiting for you. Advertisement Jambalaya for 2 per head Ingredients 2 free-range chicken legs and wings 250g rice 1 tablespoon oil 1 onion, diced 1 red pepper, diced 1 green pepper, diced 1 stick of celery (optional) 2 bay leaves (optional) 2 garlic cloves, crushed 100g sliced chorizo 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper Pinch of salt and pepper 400g tinned tomatoes 350ml chicken stock 1 chilli 40g raw prawns, halved Handful of chopped parsley Jambalaya, a meal made by Jane Ashley, which costs just 2 per person. Jane has published her second cookbook that shows how to make remarkably cheap meals Method Season the chicken with salt, pepper and the cayenne. Pour oil into a large saucepan and brown the chicken pieces over a medium heat. After 5 minutes add the chorizo. Once nicely browned on all sides, add your onion, peppers and celery as well as your bay leaves and another pinch of salt and pepper. Stir, then fry on a medium heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring ever y now and again. Once the vegetables have softened, add your garlic and chillies, stir around for a minute, then stir in the tinned tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring everything to the boil, then turn the heat down, put the lid on the pan and simmer for 25-30 minutes. When you can pull the meat off the bone and shred it easily, the chicken's ready. Feel free to remove the chicken skin and bones at this point if you like, then add your rice. Give it all a good stir, then put the lid on. Give it a stir every few minutes so it doesn't stick to the base of the pan. Let it cook for about 15-20 minutes until the rice is cooked. Stir in the prawns and if it needs it, add enough water to make it a kind of porridgey consistency. Put the lid back on and cook for another 3-4 minutes to cook the prawns, while you chop the parsley. Stir the parsley through, check the seasoning and serve. Advertisement Squash risotto for 60p per head Ingredients 1/2 litre of fresh, hot stock, plus extra hot water if needed 150ml white wine (optional) 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 small onion, peeled and cut into small cubes 1 stick celery, finely cut 1 carrots, peeled and cut into cubes 125g Arborio risotto rice Knob of butter 50g freshly grated cheese Salt and pepper, to taste 1/4 large butternut squash, pre-cooked Bunch of fresh sage, leaves picked (optional) Roasted butternut squash Risotto, a meal made by Jane Ashley, which costs just 60p per person. Jane has published her second cookbook that shows how to make remarkably cheap meals Method Firstly heat your stock, either by boiling a kettle for the stock cube or boiling your homemade stock in a pan. Then fry your chopped onions, carrots and celery gently for 15 minutes.Add the rice and turn up the heat to cook for a minute stirring so as not to burn it. Add the wine if using and cook for about 1 minute, then turn down and start adding the stock a ladleful* at a time and stir.You are looking for each ladleful of stock to be absorbed before adding the next. Don't be tempted to stir the rice too much - you want the grains to cook but not break up. The rice should take around 15 minutes to cook, with regular additions of stock and a little stir. The grains should still have a little bite to them and the dish itself will have become naturally creamy. While this is cooking, scoop out the flesh from the skin of the pre-roasted butternut and add this to the half cooked risotto. When the rice is cooked and creamy turn off the heat, add the cheese and let it rest for a couple of minutes with a lid on. Meanwhile, gently fry the picked sage leaves in a little hot oil. Serve in bowls and scatter the sage Advertisement Beef and ale pie for 2 per person Ingredients (serves two) 300g braising steak, cut into chunks and dusted in flour 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 beef stock cubes 300ml strong ale 2 teaspoons mixed herbs 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard 4 garlic cloves, crushed 2 large onion, chopped roughly 2 large carrots, chopped into discs 3 stalks of celery, sliced Pepper and salt, to taste 150g mushrooms 1 egg, beaten lightly, to glaze 200g of the puff pastry 3 large potatoes Frozen peas Beef and Ale pie, a meal made by Jane Ashley, which costs just 2 per person. Jane has published her second cookbook that shows how to make remarkably cheap meals Method Save back 100g of the 400g braising steak for another meal. Toss the remaining 300g beef in flour and gently fry for a few minutes to caramelize the meat and add flavour. Mix the stock cubes in a little boiling water then add to the slow cooker with the ale and herbs, give it a good stir then add the rest of the pie ingredients. Cook on low for about 4 hours until the meat is tender. Check if the seasoning is just right. After the 4 hours are up, preheat your oven to 200C. To make the pies, take out half the meat with a bit of the gravy and set aside to cool for another recipe. Fill two small dish or one larger dish with the rest of the meat, vegetables and ale flavour gravy. Brush a little egg around the top of the pie dish to help to stick the pastry. Quickly roll out the puff pastry and sit on top of the meat, press around the edges to help it seal. You don't want*to take too long as the pastry will get warm once it's in contact with the filling. Brush over a little more egg and pop in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is golden. As you've not got to heat the filling it won't take as long to bake. While the pies are cooking, peel and dice the potatoes, then boil them for about 20 minutes until soft. Drain them, then mash with butter, salt and pepper and a little grated cheese if you want. Serve with frozen peas or any other vegetables you fancy. Advertisement She gripped Meghan's hands and said she was 'so happy' about baby news One of the women asked about visit to Australia, Meghan said it was 'all good' The Duchess of Sussex enjoyed a sweet moment with women from the Hubb Community Kitchen as they shared their joy over pregnancy for the first time. Meghan, 37, visited the kitchen in West London yesterday to meet with survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy who she collaborated with on the Together: Our Community Cookbook. And as she caught up with one delighted woman who embraced the Duchess and asked about her pregnancy, she admitted: I wanted to tell you last time I saw you! As soon as the Duchess got inside, she abandoned formality and threw her arms around each of the women and kissed them, chattering excitedly about what they had been up to since she last saw them. One delighted woman who embraced the Duchess during her visit to the Hubb Kitchen in West London said she was so happy, prompting Meghan to admit she'd wanted to share the news previously One of the women was eager to find out how Meghan was coping with her pregnancy and asked her: 'How was your journey to Australia?' 'Yes it was great, it was all good,' she replied. Glancing at Meghan's baby bump, she gripped the Duchess' hands and told her: 'I'm so happy.' At that point, Meghan smiled and admitted that she'd previously struggled to keep the news to herself. One woman asked Meghan about her recent trip to Australia and gripped Meghan's hands as she congratulated her on her baby news Meghan speaks with chef Clare Smyth (right) as they visit the Hubb Community Kitchen in West London this morning Meghan warmly hugs Ms Sufyaan, the kitchen coordinator and one of her collaborators on the book The Duchess is in the second trimester of her pregnancy and is looking forward to welcoming her first child with Prince Harry in the Spring. Meghan went to the Hubb Community Kitchen, not far from the site of the deadly tower block blaze in West London, to see first hand the progress made since the Together cookbook went on sale in September. Wearing a burgundy dress and coat by Club Monaco, a Canadian company now owned by US fashion giant Polo Ralph Lauren, Meghan soon put on an apron, rolled up her sleeves and got stuck into helping prepare food. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex posed for a group photo with members of the Hubb Community Kitchen in London after making private visits to the group and collaborating on a charity cookbook She said to a group of women: 'It starts from one idea and from this one idea starts so much. I'm so proud of you.' The book - full title Together: Our Community Cookbook - took the number one spot on Amazon within hours of being unveiled two months ago and has since sold nearly 40,000 copies in the UK, raising 210,000. Bumper sales of the cookbook, which features more than 50 recipes from women whose community was affected by the fire, have allowed a total makeover of the kitchen as well as longer opening hours. Meghan, whose first baby with Prince Harry is due in the spring, held her bump as she chatted to the chefs at the Hubb Kitchen Meghan, who suggested the idea of a fundraising cookbook when she first met the women, has previously described it as a 'tremendous labour of love'. The kitchen, redesigned with the women's input to capture its spirit as a place for the community to come together over meals, now opens seven days a week, up from just two when it began last year. Those involved have also been able to obtain food hygiene qualifications and been empowered to start their own projects for the benefit of the wider community. Budget supermarket chain Aldi sparked a shopping frenzy at its stores up and down the UK today after fans of the store's festive character, Kevin the Carrot, scrambled to buy merchandise. Crushing queues formed as shoppers desperate to get their hands on the cheery soft toy made a dash for the till. And there were even reports of a fight breaking out in a Bootle branch as the battle to bring home a Kevin got heated. As crowds gathered at an Aldi in Skegness, people space-saved in queues and then got friends and family to pass giant versions of Kevin the Carrot - one of the most desirable products - down to them over the crowds. For those who didn't manage to get their hands on the stuffed toys, there was disappointment, with many taking to Twitter to criticise the lack of stock, after merchandise sold out within hours of being put on sale. Online, thousands of shoppers waited for the Kevin range of products, including festive decorations and entire vegetable families of stuffed toys, to be released only to find their payments couldn't be processed due to high demand. Scroll down for video Kevin crazy! At this Aldi store in Skegness, shoppers faced lengthy, crushing queues as fans of Kevin the Carrot merchandise flew off the shelves Very special buy: Large soft-toy versions of Kevin were passed over shoppers to the front of the tills as people saved spots at the check-out in Bootle's Aldi Pile 'em high: However, despite Aldi appearing to have plenty of stock to go around, tales of disappointed fans soon circulated on Twitter, with many expressing their frustration that Aldi hadn't been better prepared for the Carrot rush Hundreds of people shared their success - and their disappointment - on social media this morning after Aldi released Kevin the Carrot merchandise, which quickly sold out online and in store Within hours of the range appearing online, Kevin the Carrot merchandise appeared on ebay, with one plucky seller putting a 5ft version of the root vegetable up for 950 Some shoppers were so dedicated they decided to turn up at Aldi stores ahead of opening time, with queues forming around the entrance as shoppers became ever more determined to try and take a Kevin home with their weekly groceries. Within hours of the merchandise selling out, it began appearing on ebay, with the most inflated price appearing to be a five-foot-tall Kevin being paraded for the princely sum of 950. Twitter had a field day with the sight of people lining up, with some suggesting 'the world had gone mad'. This afternoon, #Kevinthecarrot was trending. Elsewhere, plenty of satisfied customers shared their joy at actually getting their hands on the toy. @LaurenKaayy penned: 'Cant believe Ive just stood in a queue for 20 mins to wait for a #KevinTheCarrot !!! Definitely worth it as I now have a life size Kevin.' @CuriosityRocks added: 'The Americans queue for televisions. The British queue for #KevinTheCarrot' @tifflouclark was one of the unhappy ones, after she tried and fail to buy online, explaining: '@AldiUK no response to my last tweet and your website is still not fit for purpose this morning! Apparently the decorations are in stock online but when you click on them they say they are sold out.' Savvy shoppers looking to earn an extra few pounds towards their Christmas shopping put their giant Kevin the Carrot toys on eBay, with prices ranging from 52.99 up to 149.99 @Alihalfpint was equally dispirited: 'Thought this year We had a chance of purchasing Kevin, Katie and Family but no sold out already, should be used to it by now but still have an upset youngster @AldiUK #KevinTheCarrot'. Mailonline has contacted Aldi for comment. Earlier this month, Aldi unveiled its Christmas advert for 2018, stirring up interest in the character. The budget supermarket won over viewers with a heart-warming fairytale style story seeing the return of the much-loved carrot. In his third appearance Kevin is forced to battle evil Pascal the Parsnip to save his carrot family from becoming part of the Christmas roast. Kevin's comeback comes after viewers were left in suspense when a launch advert, which was compared to the Coca Cola advert, saw him teetering on the edge of a cliff in a literal cliff-hanger. Aldi has unveiled its Christmas advert for 2018, as retailers battle it out with their festive offerings. Featuring its trademark character Kevin the Carrot, he is forced to battle evil Pascal the Parsnip to save his carrot family from becoming part of his Christmas roast The official advert sees him making a comeback, battling Pascal, (seen) who is on a mission to cause misery to Kevin's carrot family However the official advert sees him making a comeback, battling Pascal, who is on a mission to cause misery to Kevin's carrot wife Katie and their three children: Chantenay, Baby Carrot and Jasper. Award-winning actor Jim Broadbent returns to narrate the festive adventures of Kevin and his family and viewers may also recognise the soundtrack from Edward Scissorhands. With his fatherly instincts at the root of Kevin's bravery, he is seen breaking into the snow-covered castle in a deserted wood at the top of a cliff. 'Kevin! Just in time for diner', Pascal exclaims, swinging from the top of the cage trapping his family, and above a banquet showing a delicious Christmas feast, adding: 'In fact, you are dinner'. With his fatherly instincts at the root of Kevin's bravery, he is seen breaking into the snow-covered castle in a deserted wood at the top of a cliff. Kevin's carrot wife Katie and their three children: Chantenay, Baby Carrot and Jasper watch in horror as he tries to save them Keven bravely navigates the spread in front of him, as vicious Pascal pelts him with Brussels sprouts and the like, while his caged family watch on in horror. Dodging all of the obstacles, Kevin risks becoming grated carrot as he propels himself at his family's swinging cage from a popping champagne bottle. But his bravery is not in vain, as he lands on the cage, knocking evil Pascal off and freeing his carrot family in the process. Keven bravely navigates the spread in front of him, as vicious Pascal pelts him with Brussels sprouts and the like, while his caged family watch on in horror 'Kevin! Just in time for diner', Pascal exclaims, swinging from the top of the cage trapping his family, and above a banquet showing a delicious Christmas feast, adding: 'In fact, you are dinner'. Dodging all of the obstacles, Kevin risks becoming grated carrot as he propels himself at his family's swinging cage from a popping champagne bottle But his bravery is not in vain, as he lands on the cage, knocking evil Pascal off and freeing his carrot family in the process. Angry Pascal lands in a bowl of nuts, with Kevin cheering: 'Right in the nuts!' Escaping his wrath, the the terrified five-some are seen rushing to a window at the castle, before spotting a passing Father Christmas on a sleigh Angry Pascal lands in a bowl of nuts, with Kevin cheering: 'Right in the nuts!'. Escaping his wrath, the the terrified five-some are seen rushing to a window at the castle, before spotting a passing Father Christmas on a sleigh. 'A fairytale ending for the carrots so brave, with a sleigh ride from Santa, Christmas was saved!', the happy tale concludes, as the carrot family ride off into the distance. The advert ends with Kevin and the family safely in their home as they read the fairytale, with Kevin reassuring them that the parsnip had 'moved further afield'. Her late mother-in-law was queen of the so-called Sloane Rangers who ruled Chelsea in the 80s - often sporting over the top hair accessories. But according to style experts the new velvet hair bow Kate wore to visit UCL on Wednesday wasn't a retro nod to Princess Diana, but rather an unusually fashion forward touch from the Duchess. Kate, 36, recycled a burgundy skirt suit by the French label Paule Ka to visit the university's neuroscience unit on Wednesday, and wore her hair tied back in a low ponytail, secured with a black velvet ribbon. Celebrity stylist Rochelle White told FEMAIL the accessory was a 'welcome surprise' from the royal, pointing out that the once 'old school and uncool' bow is now a must-have, having sprung up all over the runways in recent seasons. It's already migrated from the catwalk to stylish stars like Sienna Miller and Margot Robbie, both of whom have accessorised with velvet bows on the red carpet in recent months. According to celebrity stylist Rochelle White, the hair bow was a fashion forward touch from the Duchess of Cambridge, seen on her visit to University College London on Wednesday New look: The Duchess of Cambridge had her hair tied back in a low ponytail secured with a new accessory - a plush velvet bow Kate may have taken inspiration from one of her favourite designers, Emilia Wickstead, who sent models down the runway with giant bows in their ponytails at her SS19 show. The Duchess dressed up her wavy ponytail with a chic black velvet bow - a trend we've seen on the catwalks this year. 'Hair accessories are a big thing and have a seen more on various catwalks this year, from bows, ribbons and clips all being on trend,' said celebrity stylist Rochelle White. 'Kate wearing the velvet bow is something that is a welcome surprise. This colour is very popular this time of year and so is the material. I think Kate is carrying it off well and it is a subtle change to her usual style. 'Dressing up the hair is the new thing to do, playing a big part into fashion looks. Red carpet ready: Sienna Miller, 36, wore a black ribbon in her hair, similar to Kate's at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles Actress Margot Robbie, 28, smartened up her bun with a velvet ribbon for this year's Critics' Choice Awards in Los Angeles The original Sloane Ranger set - led by Princess Diana and the Duchess of York (seen on the Isle of Wight in 1986) in the Eighties, favoured over the top hair accessories Designer Emilia Wickstead featured double bow ponytails on the Spring Summer catwalks during London Fashion Week in September. Kate has often worn one of the designers ensembles. Rochelle added 'The old and uncool hair accessory is now a must have. Various brands such as Gucci, Farfetched and Tom Ford have launched their own ranges. 'They have brought this to catwalks and even Victoria Secret models have been seen rocking the look.' Emilia Wickstead, of of the Duchess' favourite designers, showcased models wearing double bows during her Spring Summer 2019 show The Duchess of Cambridge, seen earlier this month on a visit to the BBC with Prince William wearing Emilia Wickstead. A favourite of the royal's; Emilia sent models down her SS19 runway wearing giant velvet hair bows Models walk the Tory Burch catwalk during New York Fashion week sporting ponytails with giant black bows Duchess Kate, 36, dressed up her ponytail with a velvet bow accessory. She teamed it with a burgundy double breasted blazer and skirt by French label Paule Ka as she visited University College London on Wednesday Advertisement Every year dog groomers from all around the country gather to showcase their multicolored, pimped-out pooches at a competition in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The Groom Expo sees pet owners competing to wow a panel of judges and nab the winning title, and with a $2,500 cash prize up for grabs, groomers certainly go all out with their designs. Some of this year's wacky designs included a pumpkin carved into the side of a poodle, a giraffe, elephant, lion and gazelle carved around the circumference of a dog, and a transformation of a pooch into a variety of Looney Tunes characters. A dog's day out: Every year the Groom Expo is held in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Dog groomers from all over the country gather to compete for the winning title and a $2,500 cash prize Safari-inspired: Dog groomer Milena Kon (pictured), and her poodle Soleit, are regular contestants at the competition. Her design featured an elephant, a giraffe, a gazelle and a lion A work of art: Milena used different colored hair dye and cutting techniques to create a variety of safari animals on Soleit's fur, including an elephant with tucks on the dog's hind legs Poodle-pro: Milena has been competing in creative dog grooming for approximately three years The competition sees dog owners showcasing their most outrageous designs as displayed on their dogs. On the day of the contest, owners are given just three hours to shave, trim and color their pets hair, with the aim of creating a showstopping design. Once the time is up, contestants must showcase their masterpiece to the judges and the audience. Judges choose their winner based on various criteria including consistency in the hair dye and the standard of the cuts. Professional dog groomer Milena Kon and her poodle, Soleit, are regular contenders at the competition. Milena told Barcroft TV: 'I have been grooming for about six years but I got into creative grooming about three years ago, when I came here in Hershey. 'I told my husband that I am going to be up there one day with the girls, and here I am today,' she added. Milena has been competing with an 'African' theme since March, which features a giraffe, elephant, lion and gazelle designed using Soliet's fur. Poodles are a popular choice of show dog due to their thick, long hair that tends to grow continuously. Milena, however, has a second show dog that she alternates with Soleit every second year. This allows enough time for Soleit's hair to fully grow out the dye to fade out after a competition. A popular choice: Poodles long, thick hair makes them one of the most popular choices for creative dog grooming competitions Winner winner! Cindy Oliver and her dog Paisley (pictured) won this year's competition with a design inspired by 1980s cartoon The Wuzzles Stiff competition: A 'seasonal' design featured a carving of a pumpkin on the side of a dog and Santa Clause on one of its legs She said: 'I love the creativity, I love what you can do with hair - it's just amazing. 'And I always say that the dogs love it too, they love the attention.' But despite Milena's efforts in this year's competition, she and Soleit failed to place in the competition. The first-place title was given to Cindy Oliver and her dog Paisley. The winning design was based on 1980s cartoon The Wuzzles. Milena said: 'When you compete you want to be number one, everybody wants to be number one. 'There is always going to be competition, but fortunately enough we are all groomers and we are friends with each other, and I am happy for anybody that places above me.' Emily Myatt, one of the judges for the competition, said the creative dog grooming business is a serious competition. Childhood memories: Contestant Cheryl Grain created a Tweety and Sylvester design on her dog Whats up, Doc? Cheryl's design also included a carving of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck into her dog's fur Some states in the US, including Florida, have laws that prohibit coloring pets hair. Similarly, creative dog grooming is banned in countries like Belgium, because it is seen as animal cruelty. However, despite this, Emily insists that the dogs are not harmed during the process. 'All of the products that we use are completely pet safe and they are made for dogs hair and skin so we dont have to worry about the safety aspect. 'It becomes the case that people ridicule because they dont appreciate art. She added: 'I think if you have appreciation of any art, sculpture or painting then you will have a genuine appreciation of what girls do here, and they are doing it on something that can move which adds an element of difficulty.' Peru Two drug mule Michaella McCollum looks set to share her side of the story in a new tell-all book. The former jailbird was snapped carrying papers scribbled with 'potential titles' as she worked outside on a park bench in Belfast on Thursday. The mother-of-two, who welcomed twin sons in May, is apparently in the planning stages of a memoir, with the phrases 'the truth behind Peru', 'Ibiza to Peru' and 'Michaella McCollum's story' all jotted down on the sheet. Hard at work: Former jailbird Michaella McCollum was working outside on a park bench in Belfast on Thursday, pictured Next bestseller? The Peru Two drug mule was snapped carrying papers scribbled with 'potential titles' Brainstorming The phrases 'the truth behind Peru', 'Ibiza to Peru' and 'Michaella McCollum's story' were all jotted down on the sheet It comes months after rumours first emerged that McCollum and been offered a 250,000 publishing deal to pen her version of the events that led to her being arrested with Melissa Reid in Lima airport in August 2013. While little has been heard of the memoir, it appears the writing is now underway. Dressed in jeans, a leather jacket and thigh high boots, McCollum was seen typing on a laptop while working on a bench. She was seen picking up a small pile of papers - topped with the 'book titles' note - before striding off into the park, handbag in tow. Working remotely: McCollum on the park bench today. It comes months after rumours first emerged that McCollum and been offered a 250,000 publishing deal Deep in concentration: The mother-of-two pulled her hair back as she read over her work Packing up: McCollum was seen putting away her laptop and papers after the writing session Plenty to write about: The former drug mule is understood to be penning a tell-all memoir Hands-on mother McCollum is often seen with her six-month-old sons Rio and Raphael, however she left the twins at home as she headed out for some quality work time today. McCollum made headlines in 2013 when she was arrested in Peru alongside Melissa Reid. The pair had travelled to the country from Ibiza, where they had been employed by a drug-dealing gang to smuggle cocaine 1.5million worth of cocaine across the world. Her side of the story: McCollum, who was arrested in 2013, could shed light on the global story Early stages: The writing on McCollum's paper suggest she still has some way to go before the book is published They were caught arriving at Lima airport and sentenced to six years and eight months inside a grim jail in the Peruvian capital. However, they were released after serving three years, with McCollum returning to Northern Ireland in June 2016. Since her release from prison, McCollum has become something of a public figure, attending events and escaping the chilly British weather on a string of sun-kissed holidays last summer. By contrast her former accomplice Reid landed a charity job at Citizens Advice after she was released from jail in South America in June 2016. Woman on the go: Clutching a coffee, McCollum headed home from the park in Belfast Deep in thought: The mother-of-two appeared pensive as she made her way home Dozens of members of an isolated Amazonian tribe have died from measles after an outbreak swept through the spiritual community. Local reports state there are 14 Yanomami victims in Brazil and 'well into the double figures' in Venezuela, where the 35,000-strong tribe reside. Experts fear the outbreak in the border region of the two countries - where the tribe live - could 'wipe out' the Yanomami living in the world's biggest rainforest. Local reports state there are 14 Yanomami victims in Brazil and 'well into the double figures' in Venezuela, where the 35,000-strong tribe reside Experts fear the outbreak in the border region of the two countries - where the tribe live - could 'wipe out' the Yanomami living in the world's biggest rainforest The Brazilian Health Ministry only confirmed the first death, a nine-month-old baby, last week, but tribal organisations are adamant the figure is much higher. Health officials in the Brazil also declared 67 cases among Yanomami, of which 60 had arrived from over the Venezuelan border. But Hutukara, a Yanomami organisation based in Brazil, claims at least 14 members of the tribe have died from measles. Reports of deaths have now reached 'well into double figures' on the Venezuelan side of the border, Survival International said. Horonami, an organisation for the tribe in Venezuela, said measles has 'affected several communities, causing several deaths, particularly among adults'. It added: 'This is a huge threat to our people. We have demanded that the authorities take the necessary action to protect the lives and health of the Yanomami people.' However, Survival International, a campaign group for tribal people's rights, has so far been unable to verify the reports from Venezuela conclusively. Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, said earlier this month: 'These tribes are the most vulnerable peoples on the planet. The Brazilian Health Ministry only confirmed the first death, a nine-month-old baby, last week, but tribal organisations are adamant the figure is much higher 'These tribes are the most vulnerable peoples on the planet,' said Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, a campaign group for tribal people's rights 'Urgent medical care is the only thing standing between these communities and utter devastation. 'When tribal people experience common diseases like measles or flu which theyve never known before many of them die, and whole populations can be wiped out.' Survival International said a measles outbreak among the Yanomami in the 1960s killed nearly 10 per cent of those infected. The tribe are also under threat from thousands of gold-miners working illegally on their land, transmitting diseases and polluting the rivers and forest with mercury. Almost 500 cases of measles have been confirmed this year in two Brazilian states that border Venezuela, Roraima and Amazonas. The outbreak in Brazil, home to 207 million people, comes two years after the World Health Organization declared the Americas free of measles. Officials fear the cases have been imported from Venezuela, where health services have collapsed and cases of measles have soared. Survival International said a measles outbreak among the Yanomami in the 1960s killed nearly 10 per cent of those infected Hundreds of thousands have fled the crisis-ridden South American nation as its economy has been left ruined. More than 2,000 cases have been recorded in Venezuela since the infection began spreading last year, official figures show. Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that spreads easily through the air, by coughing, sneezing or even just breathing. Symptoms of measles include fever, runny nose, cough, sore throat and a rash that spreads over the body. It can be life-threatening in one in 15 cases. Brazilian health officials battling to contain the outbreak have offered vaccinations to both unprotected locals and refugees who register with the police. Some 200 cases of measles have been confirmed in Roraima, and a further 263 in Amazonas. But hundreds more are being investigated. It comes after Public Health England issued another warning for people to check they have had both doses of the MMR jab as the infection continues to spread. Some 1,717 people have been diagnosed with the contagious infection in England this year, and there are large outbreaks across Europe. There were more than 13,000 reported cases of measles on the continent in the year leading up to April, with the most in Italy, France, Greece and Romania. PHE said it is important for travellers to make sure they are vaccinated because adults who catch measles are more likely to end up in hospital than children. Thousands of children as young as two are being diagnosed with mental health disorders, according to a landmark report. One in 18 pre-schoolers are being treated for problems including oppositional defiance disorder, NHS mental health figures show. While some traditional parents may scoff at such terms for conduct they would simply blame on the terrible-twos, experts insist the cases are at the extreme end of the behavioural spectrum. Controversial treatments include families going on parenting courses to help them handle their offspring. Todays report on the mental health of children and young people in England is the first in more than a decade. The findings, based on a survey of 9,117 children, include those aged two to four and 17 to 19 for the first time. It shows a worsening picture for young peoples welfare, with one in eight five- to 19-year-olds suffering a mental health disorder in 2017. The rates of illness increased with age, affecting one in ten by the time they finished primary school, one in seven by 16 and one in six by age 20. Some 12.8 per cent of all people aged between two and 19 have some form of mental disorder and a quarter of teenagers with mental health problems have self-harmed or tried to kill themselves, according to figures released today by NHS Digital (stock image) Women aged between 17 and 19 are the worst affected age group, with almost a quarter of them (22.4 per cent) suffering from an emotional disorder. And one in three gay, lesbian or bisexual teenagers suffer from mental health problems, compared to one in seven heterosexuals. Shockingly, a quarter of teenagers with a mental disorder have self-harmed or tried to kill themselves, and this rose to almost half of 17 to 19-year-olds. The figures have coincided with concerns hundreds of children are being given high-strength antidepressants by doctors going against guidelines to prescribe them. Experts called the figures 'shocking' and said inadequate mental health and support services leave many young people stuck in a 'vicious circle of solitude and suffering'. 'These figures are shocking,' said Denise Hatton, chief executive of YMCA England & Wales. 'And while progress has been made to normalise conversations about mental health and successive governments have made additional funding for NHS services available, todays figures are a wake-up call that this clearly hasnt gone far enough.' Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2017, published today by NHS Digital has laid the figures bare. For the first time it has included those aged between 15 and 19, and between the ages of two and four. The number of five to 15-year-olds with mental health problems rose from 9.7 per cent in 1999 to 11.2 per cent in 2017. Even pre-school children don't escape the scourge of mental health problems affecting the nation's youth 5.5 per cent of under-fives have a disorder of some kind. Experts offering their insight into the figures suggest social media could be partly to blame. Dr Dennis Ougrin, a senior psychiatrist at Kings College London, said: 'Children with mental disorders are heavier users of social media and are affected by the social media more significantly, than the children without mental disorders.' Teenagers aged between 17 and 19 have the highest rate of emotional disorders, with one in six of them suffering (16.9 per cent), and 6.4 per cent having more than one. The YMCA's Ms Hatton added: 'To end this crisis that is ruining young lives, its crucial that action and investment goes into preventing young people from experiencing poor mental health in the first place. 'From preventative youth and community services, to education in schools, mental health must be incorporated in every aspect of daily life to stop young people from reaching crisis point. 'Without preventative services and with the NHS struggling to cope, too many young people are still left alone to deal with their mental health difficulties by themselves, leading to a vicious circle of solitude and suffering.' WHERE DO THE MOST CHILDREN HAVE MENTAL DISORDERS? East of England (15.6%) South West (15.5%) North West (14.7%) Yorkshire and the Humber (14.7%) East Midlands (12.2%) South East (11.7%) West Midlands (11.7%) North East (11.6%) London (9%) Source: NHS Digital Advertisement The British Medical Association a leading doctors' union has also called for more investment in mental health services. NHS psychiatrist and deputy chair of the consultants' committee, Dr Gary Wannan said: 'These findings are extremely concerning yet not at all surprising given that the BMA has for a long time warned of the need for greater investment in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) to be able to meet the rising demand. 'Prevention where possible or early intervention is by far the most effective and beneficial means of treating children and young peoples mental health.' It was also revealed today that almost 600 children, including some aged 10 or under, are being given strong anti-depressants which raise their risk of suicide. Figures unveiled by The Guardian showed 597 under-18s were given 'last resort' drugs by doctors going against NHS guidance. The meds, paroxetine and venlafaxine, should not be given to children under normal prescribing circumstances, the paper reported, because they are believed to increase the risk of suicidal thoughts among young people. Use of the super-strength depression drugs came as the number of under-18s taking anti-depressants rose from around 69,000 in 2016 to 71,365 last year. Oxford University psychiatrist Andrea Cipriani told The Guardian: 'Paroxetine and venlafaxine should not be prescribed as first-line treatment, that is for sure.' She added: 'Medications are not a quick fix for depression.' 'COUNSELLING WASN'T CUTTING IT AND I DIDN'T REALLY KNOW WHERE TO GO' Catherine Nixon felt she'd had a mental health problem from the age of seven but didn't seek expert help until she was 16 years old when it began to take over her life. She told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme she would get up at 7am and spend seven hours in the bathroom on her compulsive 'morning routine'. Not feeling like her condition was severe enough to seek help from the NHS, Miss Nixon waited for years before getting professional support. Catherine Nixon suffered with mental health problems for years but never felt like she was severe enough for help until she was 'in and out of A&E' 'It started to get worse during the first bit of year 12,' she said. 'I'd had counselling and low-level CBT but that wasn't really cutting it and I didn't really know where to go. 'It wasn't until things got to its absolute worst when I was in and out of A&E that I eventually got into [NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service] and they were like "you're a bit too severe for us, we're going to have to send you to a psychiatric unit", where I was for six months.' Advertisement Mental disorders measured in today's NHS figures included emotional, behavioural and hyperactivity disorders, as well as other, less common disorders. The most common problem among pre-school children was something called oppositional defiance disorder, which is characterised by defiant behaviour. Data breaking down rates by region revealed children in the East of England and the South West are worst affected, with nearly 16 per cent of them suffering. Whereas those in London have the fewest mental disorders, with nine per cent of them suffering. 'We need to support the children who are most vulnerable while making children and young peoples mental health a consistently high priority, and everyones business,' said the Mental Health Foundation's chief executive, Mark Rowland. He added children in low-income homes or who have parents with mental health problems are at a heightened risk of suffering from disorders. Alana Ryan, senior policy officer at the NSPCC said: 'When a generation of children are struggling with their mental health with many having self-harmed or attempted suicide, we are fundamentally failing our young people. 'Our own research shows even if children are referred for specialist mental health treatment there is a slim chance they will receive it, which is totally unacceptable.' The British Psychological Society warned the rising number of mental health problems are proof the current treatment system isn't working. Chief executive, Sarb Bajwa, said the statistics confirm 'what psychologists who work with this group have known for years that the mental health challenges children and young people face are increasing.' He added: 'We need to prioritise prevention and early intervention and psychological approaches that are proven to work with children and their families, peers, schools and communities.' A woman is forced to live in the dark due to a one-in-a-million condition that has made her severely 'allergic' to the sun. Fatima Perez, 54, who suffers from Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), has to spend all day inside due to her being extremely sensitive to UV light. The condition caused her to lose her hair and eyesight by the time she was 20, and she lives in fear that one day the sun could kill her. Ms Perez, whose brother died of the same condition, is forced to repeatedly reapply sun cream every two hours even while inside her home in Waterford, Connecticut, where in the summer months days are 15 hours long. Fatima Perez, 54, has lived most of her life inside due to having Xeroderma Pigmentosum Ms Perez grew up in the Dominican Republic. Her condition baffled her family, and her brother died of the same condition aged nine. Pictured on her 15th birthday Even when Ms Perez is inside, she has to apply suncream every two hours to protect her skin Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, the condition was a mystery to her family. Here, she lived exposed to the sun for 23 years. She said: 'The first thing I felt was a lot of itching and burning. At this point skin wouldn't even grow on me. 'Doctors told my parents that my disease was Xeroderma Pigmentosum. But they never told us that the sun could kill me.' Her brother died of the same condition when he was nine, and feeling unsupported in her country, she left for the US. 'Twenty-three years in the Dominican Republic and 11 in the US until I learnt how my condition works. That's when I finally stayed out of the sun.' On the rare occasions she has to leave her home, which has tinted windows and the blinds always down, she covers her entire body in protective attire that weighs around five pounds. 'I put on a poncho made of two layers of the thickest denim covering me down to my knees', she wrote on website XP Grupo Luz de Ezperanza, the charity she founded. 'The hood attached to the poncho covers my face almost completely. 'I wear dark wrap around sunglasses and a hat made of sun protection material with an extra large visor in the front. 'Finally, I put on gloves to protect my hands... This outfit must be worn whenever I go outside, regardless of how hot the temperature is.' When Ms Perez leaves her home, in Connecticut, USA, she must completely cover up with thick clothes, a hood and gloves. Pictured walking with her sister, shaded by an umbrella Ms Perez has suffered a lifetime of skin cancer, and has lost her sight and hair Ms Perez has had 'hundreds of skin cancers' removed from her whole body Ms Perez must measure the light in a room with a special device WHAT IS XERODERMA PIGMENTOSUM? Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is an inherited condition that causes extreme sensitivity to UV rays from the sun. It has been described as a 'one-in-a-million' condition. XP is brought on by a genetic mutation. Sufferers require complete protection from the sun, including clothing, sun cream and dark sunglasses. Eighty-to-90 per cent of sufferers also experience: Joint pain Cognitive problems Teeth abnormalities Due to sufferers being at high risk of sunburn, skin cancer is extremely common among patients. There is no cure for XP. Management of the condition includes protection from UV light, frequent skin examinations and prompt removal of any cancerous tissue. Source: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Advertisement Ms Perez said: 'From any kind of light like fluorescent light halogen light is the one that has the most ultraviolet rays. 'Sometimes I can be under a light and not be able to see, I don't notice it's burning me.' The disorder also means Ms Perez has suffered a lifetime of skin cancer. She explained: 'I have had hundreds of skin cancers removed from me from my whole body. 'My feet, my thighs, my legs. Only in this leg from here to my feet I have had nine skin cancers removed.' XP is caused when DNA in a cell is unable to repair itself after exposure to ultraviolet light. Without this repair mechanism working, the skin is left vulnerable to radiation damage which could lead to both benign and malignant skin cancers. Ms Perez carries a light meter wherever she goes, to measure how much UV light is in each source and determine whether she is safe to be near it. XP has been described as a 'one-in-a-million' condition. Body Bizarre is on Saturdays at 10pm on TLC UK. A Danish study found women on the pill were more likely to try to kill themselves And there are thought to be links to depression and suicide attempts Experts say there is a small increase in the risk of breast cancer and blood clots Dr Zoe Williams presented an episode of Horizon exploring effects of the pill More than three million women in the UK take the contraceptive pill but fears of it causing depression and even leading to suicidal thoughts are common. Two thirds of women taking the pill (66 per cent) admit they don't actually know what the hormones it contains are doing to their body. And a quarter of users polled in a new episode of the BBC's Horizon said taking the contraceptive has damaged their mental health. A study done in Denmark claims taking the pill increases a woman's chance of needing antidepressants by 70 per cent, and makes women between the ages of 15 and 19 twice as likely to try and kill themselves. So TV doctor Zoe Williams, in a new episode of the BBC's Horizon, has spoken to experts and pill users to dig out the facts on how safe the drug really is. Dr Zoe Williams has spoken to experts from around the UK and in Denmark to get to the bottom of claims the contraceptive pill is bad for women's health, exploring its links to breast cancer, blood clots and depression 'Side effects can range from mildly inconvenient to potentially fatal,' Dr Williams said in the documentary, which aired on BBC Two last night. The contraceptive pill was first introduced in the UK in 1961 and works by controlling a woman's menstrual cycle with synthetic hormones. In essence, the programme explained, the pill puts the ovaries to sleep, stopping it from releasing any eggs and preventing women from becoming pregnant. But Dr Williams went on a mission to find out whether changing the body's hormone balance in this way can have unwanted health effects. One of the most serious claims is that the pill can cause depression and even lead to suicide attempts something which has been backed up in theory by studies. Some 25 per cent of the women in Horizon's survey of 1,000 18 to 45-year-olds on the pill said taking the drug had negatively affected their mental health. Vicky Spratt, a 30-year-old journalist for Grazia magazine, used the contraceptive when she was younger and said it made her brain feel 'mouldy'. She said: 'It's very difficult to know when you're a teenager whether the emotions you're experiencing are your own because of your naturally fluctuating hormones or as a result of the synthetic hormones in the pill you're taking. 'At that point in your life you don't have an emotional point of reference. 'I felt like my brain had gone off, it felt mouldy. I remember thinking if this is what the rest of my life is going to be like, I don't know if I can live it.' Ms Spratt said her doctors didn't think to make the link between her crumbling mental health and the pill, but said she returned to normal 'within weeks' of stopping taking it. Another woman, Danielle, 31, called the effects of the pill on her mental health 'terrifying'. Danielle said: 'I had never experienced any mental health problems prior to that and I went from being fine to having suicidal thoughts within about six months.' Dr Williams then spoke to a doctor in Denmark who did a study looking at the medical records of 1.8million Danish women taking the pill over a 20-year period. Professor Ojvind Lidegaard, from the University of Copenhagen, found the pill increased the likelihood of a woman using antidepressants by 70 per cent, from eight in every 100 to 14 per 100. He said: 'On average all [pill] users from the start had a 70 per cent higher use of antidepressants compared to never users. 'When we look at teenagers between 15 and 19 they more than doubled in depression among hormonal contraception users than never users.' And the risk of attempting suicide increased, too 15 to 19-year-olds were twice as likely to try and kill themselves if they were taking the pill. 'The increase in risk of suicide attempt was 100 per cent and the increase in risk of suicide ... was three-fold,' he added. Dr Williams explained there is no scientific evidence to prove the pill was directly causing the depression or suicide attempts, just that there is a correlation. US STUDY DENIES THE PILL CAUSES DEPRESSION Hormonal birth control does not increase women's risk of depression, research by Ohio State University suggested in February 2017. Contrary to popular belief, contraceptive pills, implants or injections do not make women more likely to suffer from the mental-health condition, the study said. Lead author Dr Brett Worly said: 'Depression is a concern for a lot of women when they're starting hormonal contraception. 'Based on our findings, this side effect shouldn't be a concern for most women, and they should feel comfortable knowing they're making a safe choice.' The researchers blame platforms such as social media for making contraception complications seem more common than they are. Dr Worly said: 'We live in a media-savvy age where if one or a few people have severe side effects, all of a sudden, that gets amplified to every single person. 'The biggest misconception is that birth control leads to depression. For most patients that's just not the case.' The scientists add, however, certain women are at a greater risk of the mental-health disorder and should be monitored closely. Dr Worly said: 'Adolescents will sometimes have a higher risk of depression, not necessarily because of the medicine they're taking, but because they have that risk to start with. 'For those patients, it's important that they have a good relationship with their healthcare provider so they can get the appropriate screening done - regardless of the medications they're on.' The researchers reviewed thousands of studies investigating the link between contraceptives and people's mental health. Such studies included various methods of contraception, including injections, implants and pills. Participants in the trials were made up of teenagers, women with a history of depression and those who had given birth in the past six weeks. Advertisement It isn't possible to carry out a scientific study using placebo pills, she said, because women would get pregnant by accident. But she added women don't have to put up with a pill which harms their mental health they should speak to their doctor about any concerns. Dr Williams also explored claims the pill can increase the risk of breast cancer by 20 per cent. Professor Philip Hannaford, a contraceptive safety researcher at the University of Aberdeen, confirms it can cause a rise of around 20 per cent, but he explained the relative risk and calls it 'a small increase on a small risk'. Among women not taking the pill, Professor Hannaford said, scientists expect there to be 55 cases of breast cancer per 100,000 women. Whereas among 100,000 women all taking the pill, there would be an average of 68 cases of cancer. There are 13 extra cases per 100,000 women because of the pill. Professor Hannaford explained: 'This additional risk comes about due to the oestrogen in the pill. Oestrogen can in some cases stimulate breast cancer cells and cause them to grow. But 13 is a low number'. This extra risk begins to fall back to average levels when women stop taking the pill, Professor Hannaford added. And the contraceptive can protect against ovarian, endometrial and colorectal cancer, with these benefits continuing for decades after the pill is stopped. Nearly half (48 per cent) of women in a survey of 1,000 18 to 45-year-olds said they were worried about the increased risk of blood clots caused by the pill. Blood clots are cause for concern because if they break up and travel to the heart they can cause a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism by clogging up an artery. But another expert, Professor Roopen Arya, from King's College Hospital, explained smoking, obesity, and not exercising are all much more likely to cause blood clots than the pill. And even the one thing the pill is designed to prevent being pregnant causes a far larger increase in risk. While women not taking the pill have an average risk of 20 women out of 100,000 getting a blood clot, this rises to up to 120 per 100,000 among those taking newer versions of the contraceptive. But pregnant women have a much higher 290 per 100,000 risk, and in the weeks after childbirth the risk skyrockets to 4,000 clots per every 100,000 mothers. A misunderstanding of blood clot risk in 1995 led to huge numbers of women stopping the pill. As a result there were 13,600 extra abortions and a 25 per cent rise in births the following year, costing the NHS an estimated 67million. Dr Williams explained doctors can identify women who are at high risk of developing blood clots and reduce the danger to their health by changing pills or offering them alternative contraception. Professor Ojvind Lidegaard, from the University of Copenhagen, found taking the pill almost doubled the use of antidepressants from eight per cent of women to 14 per cent. The programme also investigated claims the pill can cause women to put on weight, by visiting scientists at Nottingham Trent University. There, Professor Philip McTernan, head of biosciences, explained hormones can affect fat distribution in the body, but it's hard to separate the effects of the pill from natural changes. He said oestrogen and progesterone can increase the number of fat cells in the body, but they were likely only immature cells which don't lead to weight gain. And the pill can increase the amount of water a woman's body retains, which could be seen from the outside as weight gain. '[By] being on the pill, you're changing how much water is retained in your tissue so you're going to put on what is perceived as some more weight,' Professor McTernan said. 'Maybe as much as 2kg.' He said all types of the pill seem to have the same effect. And on the subject of gaining fat he added: 'Studies also indicate that as you age you will also gain more weight so it's very difficult to tie this specifically to contraceptives.' The episode of Horizon is available on BBC iPlayer. California may be the source of the E. coli-infected romaine lettuce sickening people across the US and Canada. A third of the 32 cases reported on Tuesday were reported in Los Angeles County, CBS reports. Most of the lettuce bought and sold in Southern California is grown in the state, industry figures told the site. 'Given the harvest cycle at that time, I think there's a good possibility that it came from California, yes,' Scott Horsfall, CEO of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA), told CBS. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO This time, 32 people in 11 states have been struck down by lettuce-linked E. coli - 13 of whom are receiving hospital treatment. The CDC told anyone with romaine at home to throw it away The LGMA was formed in 2007 after a particularly aggressive E. coli outbreak which sickened 200 people. The group, made up of farmers across California, created guidelines and surveillance to spot infection issues earlier. Unfortunately, Horsfall said, it's going to be a tall order tracing this infection right back to the exact source. '[B]y the time they're actually doing trace-back, there is no packaging left, there's no product left,' he said. The strain causing the current outbreak - E. coli O157:H7 - is the same as the one which caused an outbreak last year from romaine and unspecified leafy greens grown in Canada. It is not the same strain as the one from Yuma, Arizona, which sickened dozens and killed five earlier this year. This time, 32 people in 11 states have been struck down by lettuce-linked E. coli - 13 of whom are receiving hospital treatment. In all previous outbreaks this year the agency has been careful with its wording, saying officials couldn't be sure which romaine we should be concerned about. But now, they aren't taking chances: the CDC said anyone with romaine at home should throw it away - even if you're not sure it's romaine but suspect it might be. 'Do not eat any romaine lettuce, including whole heads and hearts, chopped, organic and salad mixes with romaine until we learn more,' the agency said on Tuesday afternoon. 'If you dont know if its romaine or cant confirm the source, dont eat it.' Most people infected with E. coli develop diarrhea and vomiting. More severe infections can lead to kidney failure. The cases in the current outbreak started emerging on October 8. Thus far, cases have been identified in California, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Another 18 people have been sickened by romaine lettuce in the same time period in Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Beyond warning consumers, the agency has told all retailers and restaurants to stop serving and selling romaine until they learn more about the outbreak. 'This investigation is ongoing and the advice will be updated as more information is available.' Experts say the warning could have disastrous consequences for all agriculture companies that deal with salad - whether they produce romaine or not. Michael Droke, a partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney devoted to the areas of agriculture and cooperative law, told DailyMail.com: 'A [warning] of this magnitude especially during the holiday week will impact not only romaine, but other leafy green vegetables such as spinach. 'Retailers will be pulling romaine and possibly all other lettuce/leafy greens from their shelves (a process called quarantining) until the source is found.' Electric cars should be made easier to own by being able to be plugged into any public charge point in the country, one MP has advised ministers in the House of Commons this week. Bill Wiggin, conservative representative for North Hertfordshire, presented his Electric Vehicles (Standardised Recharging) Bill to ministers, which highlighted the importance of a single connector type for plug-in cars. He's called for current law to be amended to create an industry standard, so that all electric models can access the public network of almost 20,000 charging points currently available in the UK. A warning was sounded that failure to do so could leave significant hurdles preventing the uptake of ultra-low emissions vehicles. Easier life for electric car owners: An MP has presented a new bill to the House of Commons calling for new laws to be introduced to demand electric car makers and charge point providers use a single universal connector type Introducing his bill to ministers on Wednesday, Mr Wiggin told the Commons: 'The main problem is the charging points. 'Our goal must be for every car to be able to recharge at every charging point. If we can achieve this, we will allow more people to switch to electric vehicles.' He went on to clarify the difficulties electric vehicle owners face today when they want to charge their zero emissions cars away from home. 'The first problem with the charging points is that there are various different connectors to attach an electric vehicle to the charging points,' he explained. 'The two main connectors are the type 1 five-pin connector and the type 2 seven-pin connector. The combined charging system used in the rest of Europe is not currently in widespread use in the UK. 'Charging points are often tethered, which means they already have cables attached to them, and that is great if someone does not have the right sort of cable, but it is no use if they have the wrong sort of card to pay with. 'Even when charging points are untethered, car owners have to go to great lengths and significant expense to be able to charge their car publicly.' There are two types of electric vehicle connectors, with this seven-pin version seen here in the Renault Zoe being the type 2 version Mr Wiggin said the difficultly in easily charging an electric car away from home was one of the biggest hurdles restricting the uptake of greener models The second issue highlighted was the multitude of public charger providers in the UK - many of which require drivers to subscribe if they want to access electricity in public places. 'Each charging point is owned by a particular company, and each requires a particular card or key fob to operate it,' Wiggin went on. 'This may be linked to a membership with a monthly or annual fee. 'Electric vehicle users in the UK are currently disadvantaged compared with our European neighbours due to our lack of an interoperable payment system for EV charging. 'EV drivers in the Netherlands, for example, are able to charge their cars using a common payment card system. 'I believe that we could make the current British model more effective and efficient by introducing a similar scheme here.' He also called for the advent of contactless and mobile payment technology to allow for pay-as-you-go charging that doesn't require a membership or key fob. There are around 15 different major charge point provides already in the UK, most of which require a subscription to use their network Mr Wiggin said the government has the power to create such uniformity through the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 Mr Wiggin said these problems could be easily solved by replicating what is currently happening in the technology sector. He commented: 'Mobile phones, computers, cameras, all manner of computer accessories have individualised ports on the device but they all connect to the power in through a USB port we should apply this to electric vehicles and create a universal standard for car chargers.' There is legislation in place that could make a universal connector requirement a reality. The government has the power to create such uniformity through the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018, which states: 'Regulations may impose requirements on operators of public charging or refuelling pointsin connection with the components of public charging or refuelling points that provide the means by which vehicles connect to such points.' There are almost 20,000 individual public charge points in the UK, according to Zap Map AA president called the bill a 'breath of fresh air in a complex market' The AA has welcomed the parliamentary motion by Bill Wiggin, describing it as a 'breath of fresh air' in a complex market. Edmund King, president at the Automobile Association, said: 'How to pay for a charge at different charging stations can be baffling. 'Many charging networks require their own Apps or RFID cards which are necessary to start a charge. 'Some of these require a subscription; others require pre-loading with funds while some make a separate 'connection charge' as well as payment for the energy purchased. 'A few charging networks accept a contactless debit or credit card as well as a network RDID card and surely this is by far the simplest method. AA president Edmund King said charging an electric car can be baffling, even for current owners 'There is nothing more frustrating than arriving at a charger for which you don't have the appropriate App and then spending time finding, installing, registering and perhaps loading with funds before you can plug in and charge assuming your smartphone is itself charged and has a signal. 'Meanwhile the operator has retained your deposit and you may never use that charging network again.' Mr King warned that the complexity of charging an electric car can be a 'disincentive to prospective EV buyers' and more simple charging methods, as suggested in the bill, could remove barriers for their adoption. 'Drivers simply want to fill their car's battery with energy as simply as filling a conventional car's tank with petrol and pay for what they take,' the AA president added. The next stage for the bill is a second reading in the House of Commons. This has been scheduled to take place on Friday 8 March 2019. Demand for cleaner cars which filter harmful sooty pollutants out of exhaust fumes has helped chemicals business Johnson Matthey soar. Sales in the clean air division were up 11 per cent, well ahead of global vehicle production, helping its revenue climb 10 per cent to 7.1billion in the six months to September. Chief executive Robert MacLeod also said the batteries division was gearing up for growth, and was on track to make its new low-cost battery material widely available soon. A move into batteries should sustain Johnson Matthey as drivers shift towards electric cars, which will remove the need for the anti-pollution catalysts the company has focused on. Sales in Johnson Matthey's clean air division were up 11 per cent, well ahead of global vehicle production, helping its revenue climb 10 per cent to 7.1bn in the six months to September Nicholas Hyett, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'The ball's rolling on commercial production, but we've still got years to wait before it's at scale.' In the meantime, stricter global rules around air pollution and an economic boom in the US, which has boosted the use of heavy duty vehicles, has kept the clean air division ticking over. Shares climbed 13.1 per cent, or 364p, to 3141p. As the tech sell-off eased on Wall Street, Britain's own software giant Sage Group edged higher. The company, which has formerly been famous for providing businesses with software to organise their payroll, is hoisting the 'For Sale' sign over that division. Through partly or fully selling a number of unwanted divisions, it hopes to raise around 350million. Stock Watch - Ubisense London-listed Ubisense is soon to change its name, after selling one of its divisions and the Ubisense brand to Bahrain-based investor Investcorp for up to 35million. It sold its Smartspace business, which connects industrial machines over the internet and tracks activities to allow efficiency to be assessed. Renaming itself IQGeo, the firm will keep the MyWorld business which allows companies to track all their systems and machines. Shares shot up 14.9 per cent, or 9p, to 69.5p. It now wants to focus on its cloud business, where clients use its software over the internet and Sage continues to manage the service and provide assistance. This means Sage can charge customers a continuing subscription, rather than a one-off charge. Sage said it would spend a hefty 60million to improve its cloud technology and persuade more firms to use the service. Chief executive Steve Hare, who took over from Stephen Kelly this month, said: 'The renewed focus on high-quality subscription and recurring revenue has generated momentum as we exited the year.' Revenue climbed 7.6 per cent to 1.8billion and profit lifted 16.4 per cent to 398million, causing shares to nudge up 2.2 per cent, or 12p, to 548.2p. United Utilities, which provides water to the north-west of England, also crept up 2 per cent, or 15.4p, to 778p, as revenue climbed 4.6 per cent to 916million. Although profit sank from 341.8million to 339.1million in the six months ending September 2018, it rose when taking out the impact of extreme weather and United's shake-up efforts. With more positive notes struck at a number of FTSE 100 companies, investors in Britain's blue-chip index received some respite. It ended higher for the first time since last Thursday, up 1.5 per cent, or 102.31 points, to 7050.23 points. Challenger bank Paragon provided some buoyancy, climbing 8.2 per cent, or 33.8p, to 445.2p. The mortgage, savings and business loans specialist said profit jumped 25.3 per cent to 181.5million, as it grew mortgage lending by 10.8 per cent to 1.6billion. While several builders have raised concerns that Brexit could affect the market, Paragon said it was looking to avoid uncertainty by taking a 'robust approach' when it valued properties. It has hired its own in-house team to conduct valuations, in the hope that they will not overprice houses and leave the bank vulnerable in the event of a slump. Waste company Biffa was rubbished by investors, as China's crackdown on imported foreign garbage hurt. China says it poses environmental and health risks, and Biffa has had to find other countries to export its recycled waste to. Revenue climbed 4.2pc to 501.8m, while profit after tax slumped 19.8pc to 19m. Your future healthcare needs: Why it is so important to plan your finances - and how to go about it Seguin, TX (78155) Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. Slight chance of an afternoon shower. High 78F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Rain likely. Thunder possible. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Stricken retailer Mothercare blamed 'market uncertainty' and negative press coverage today for another six months of falling sales. The baby specialist's UK sales crashed 14.3 per cent in the last six months - news that sent its languishing shares down a further 8 per cent to just 16p in early trading. Mothercare warned that its performance will remain 'volatile' in its domestic market while it ploughs ahead with store closures. Mothercare, founded in 1961, now operates 1,268 stores across 48 countries The retailer embarked on a 32.5million share issue earlier this year and fired the starting gun on 60 store closures as part of an urgent plan to get the firm back on track. The closures, which it said today are tracking ahead of schedule, will leave it with fewer than 80 UK stores. Boss Mark Newton-Jones who was re-instated in May and is trying to pick up where he left off Boss Mark Newton-Jones, who was fired and swiftly re-hired earlier this year, today bemoaned a 'very challenging' UK retail environment. Declining footfall, as well as challenges around 'supplier restrictions on stock availability' have taken their toll. 'Given the ongoing uncertainty with consumer confidence, alongside the short-term impacts of our operational changes and restructuring programme, we expect performance in the remainder of our financial year to remain volatile,' Newton-Jones said. Mothercare posted losses of 14.4million for the period, a slight narrowing from the 16.8million recorded last year. The embattled boss was quick to point out green shoots at its international division, however. He said this arm is 'showing signs of recovery after a difficult few years', with some core markets, including Russia, China and Indonesia, moving into growth. Total group revenue, including international, was down 13.1 per cent to 295million. Retail experts did not mince their words in response to today's update. 'Poor old Mothercare is still spiralling down in the UK,' surmised retail analyst Nick Bubb. And Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, said Mothercare has become 'a byword for trouble on the High Street'. 'Today's results highlight some home truths as its financial difficulties show no sign of improving,' Traynor said. 'With the rise in competition from retail giants including Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's, parents now have multiple options for affordable maternity and baby products. 'The baby specialist has already axed 200 jobs from its head office, with further plans to close nearly half of its 137 stores as part of its restructuring. The baby may well have to be thrown out with the bath water if these measures don't work!' Bundled into boots and perched on the back seats - these bizarre pictures show the novel way tenacious Brazilian motorists got these pigs to market. Minutes earlier, a lorry had crashed on its way to a swine selling site in the South American country, tipping out the 120 porkers worth about 8,000 inside. Dozens were killed in the carnage on June 10. Many were left stranded by the motorway. Locals rush to help pluck the pigs from the upturned lorry, which was on its way to market in Brazil But quick-thinking locals stepped in to make sure the remaining pigs got to market on time, bundling the 15-stone porkers into the back of their cars. One driver decided to plonk a pig in the boot. It can be seen perching in the small compartment with the lid open, pricking its ears up as it sails through traffic. Jaw-dropping images show the motorists fishing out the swines from the wreckage. The farmer behind the wheel of the lorry had been making the 1312km trip from Uberlandia to Chapeco in Parana, south Brazil. This pig, perched on the back seat of a car, looked pleased to be out of the wreckage One of the pigs caught up in the carnage was bundled into a boot of a small silver car As he rounded a corner he swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle, according to detective Joao Gustavo Spenzowski who investigated the accident. He lost control and ended up careering down an embankment. He suffered minor injuries and was discharged from hospital after 24 hours. What was supposed to be a happy snap capturing a fun-filled Valentine's Day boat trip has in fact become a chilling postcard of a Brazilian woman and her ex-lover, who has since been accused of her murder. In a boat trip to Perth's Swan River in 2013, Cecilia Haddad and Mario Marcelo Santoro appear friendly, as Haddad cosied up to her then husband, Felipe Torres. Ms Haddad was reportedly murdered in her apartment on April 28, her body weighed down by rocks and dumped in a river, The Daily Telegraph reported. Her body was found floating by shocked kayakers in Lane Cove River in Woolwich, Sydney, on April 29. The next day her ex-boyfriend Mario Santoro - who is now a suspect - flew home to Brazil where he remains as police fight to extradite him with an arrest warrant. All five of the individuals pictured together allegedly studied engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio De Janeiro, and were reported to continue to maintain a close relationship, despite Haddad's divorce with her husband. 'They were always getting together, having a good time. It must be horrifying for them to see that photo today,' a friend said. Mario Marcelo Santoro (pictured) is officially a suspect of interest the murder of Cecilia Haddad following a warrant for his arrest being secured by NSW Police Mr Santoro reportedly flew to Rio de Janeiro to visit his sick father in the hours between Ms Haddad (pictured), 38, going missing and her body washing up on April 29 Detectives now suspect that Miss Haddad, 38, was killed in her unit (pictured) in Ryde, north-west Sydney They are reportedly investigating several crime scenes including her unit, the building's garage and her red Fiat 500 car, which was found locked at West Ryde railway station. A witness has apparently given a statement to police in which they claim they saw Santoro throw a set of keys into the Parramatta River from Gladesville Bridge. Police divers are yet to find them. Santoro, 40, reportedly flew to Rio de Janeiro to see his sick father on the day Miss Haddad's body washed up. Police found Ms Haddad's distinctive red Fiat 500 parked at a train station near her home Police are understood to have submitted a request to the federal Attorney-General's Department to have Mr Santoro, 40, extradited. The federal government is also understood to have been asked for assistance to contact Brazilian authorities to see if they can help with the investigation. Santoro would now become a fugitive if he arrives in Australia. Complications surrounding Brazil and Australia's extradition agreement could draw out the process. Canberra is also understood to have been asked for assistance to contact Brazilian authorities to see if they can help with the investigation (crime scene where Ms Haddad's body was found) No charges have been laid against Santoro. He said last month from Rio De Janeiro that he had spoken with Australian police and told them he was 'at their disposal'. 'I have nothing to say about this, you will have to speak to my lawyer,' he said. Santoro and Ms Haddad had previously been in a relationship, but separated in the weeks before her death. His family this week told media Santoro would return to Sydney at some stage to answer questions from detectives. Police are understood to have submitted a request to the federal Attorney-General's Department to have Mr Santoro, 40, extradited (Ms Haddad pictured) Mr Santoro and Ms Haddad (pictured together) had previously been in a relationship, but separated in the weeks before her death Speaking to Daily Mail Australia exactly a month on from her death, Ms Haddad's friend told of her desperation for police to arrest the person responsible - and how she hopes Santoro will follow through and speak to detectives. 'I know he has stated that he (Mr Santoro) was making himself available to police, but to my knowledge that hasn't happened,' the friend said. 'We do hope he will come to talk to police and help us understand what happened... because obviously he plays a big part in explaining some of her last movements. 'As someone who has known her for over 20 years... you would hope he would invest his time and effort into helping police with their investigation. His family this week told media Mr Santoro would return to Sydney at some stage to answer questions from detectives (Mr Santoro and Ms Haddad pictured together) Ebony (right), a close friend of murdered Brazilian woman Cecilia Haddad (left), called on Mr Santoro to return to Australia to face police questions Dozens gathered by the water at Woolwich to share stories and throw flower petals into the river Ms Haddad and Mr Santoro had first met in 1995, studying together at a university in Brazil. Almost two decades later she moved to Australia with her husband Felipe Torres and took up a role with mining giant BHP. She lived in Western Australia for close to a decade before moving to Sydney in 2016. Friends, family and homicide detectives gathered on the banks of the Lane Cove River in Woolwich last month, for a final memorial to Ms Haddad. At the exact spot where her body was found they told stories and threw flower petals into the water. They also hope to one day have a plaque remembering her 'legendary smile and love'. But just hours later her ex-boyfriend's aunt went on the attack, accusing Ms Haddad of being involved romantically with other men and never actually dating her nephew. A Brazilian model is suing an Embassy Suites hotel in California after claiming her room was infested with bed bugs that left her body covered in bites and welts. Sabrina Jales St Pierre, who has worked for the likes of Victoria's Secret, Versace, and Valentino, said she noticed the bed bug bites on her very first night. St Pierre had been staying at the Embassy Suites in Palm Desert in 2016 when she saw the red bites spread across her legs, shoulders, and back. Brazilian model Sabrina Jales St Pierre is suing Embassy Suites in Palm Desert, California, claiming her room was infested with bed bugs that left her covered in bites (pictured) 'Eventually she was massacred by bites covering pretty much her entire body,' Brian Virag, the model's attorney, told the Palm Springs Desert Sun. St Pierre has filed a lawsuit against Hilton Worldwide Inc and Embassy Suites management, claiming she suffered physical and emotional distress St Pierre has filed a lawsuit against Hilton Worldwide Inc and Embassy Suites management, claiming she suffered physical and emotional distress. She is seeking an unknown amount of monetary and punitive damages. Virag claims St Pierre has had 'nightmares about the experience' and continues to experience 'psychological trauma and fear of bed bugs today'. 'This was especially traumatic for Sabrina because her body is her work, so this severely affected her work and her career,' he added. 'She had to continue working during the hotel stay, but the bite marks all over her body made her feel embarrassed, ashamed, and humiliated.' Virag, who specializes in bed bug cases, has claimed that St Pierre's bites were among the worst he has seen in nearly a decade. St Pierre had been staying at the Embassy Suites in Palm Desert in 2016 when she saw the red bites spread across her legs, shoulders, and back The model, who has worked for the likes of Versace and Valentino, said the bites have also affected her career He added that the model had to seek medical attention for the bites 'for an extended period of time'. Meanwhile Carlos Mendoza, the Palm Desert hotel's general manager, claims no evidence of bed bugs were ever found. On the day St Pierre reported the bites, Mendoza said the hotel's chief engineer and housekeeping manager investigated the room for bed bugs. When none were found, he said the hotel had an outside pest control company perform a second investigation that also did not find bed bugs. And St Pierre (pictured with her husband and child) claimed she had to seek medical attention for the bites for 'an extended period of time' The model has claimed that she suffered 'psychological trauma' and 'nightmares' from the experience at the hotel 'We did all the proper protocols and found no evidence,' he said. 'Now we have to go through the lawsuit to defend the reputation of the hotel.' Mendoza said that the hotel still agreed to dry clean St Pierre's clothes because 'the comfort and health and safety of our guests is most important'. 'Our experience with bed bugs though is that people travel with them and bring them to hotels,' he added. 'Once they are in our rooms, we take corrective actions.' A famous Brazilian actress has used Instagram to help catch the suspected killer of her childhood friend, Cecilia Haddad, whose body was dumped in a Sydney river. Dani Suzuki, who has over one million followers and is Instagram verified, shared the post in a plea to capture the 'monster'. The accused killer, Mario Marcelo Santoro, is wanted by police after his ex-lover, Cecilia Haddad, 38, was found lifeless in Sydney's Lane Cove River in April. Dani Suzuki (pictured) has called for public assistance in locating the former partner of her childhood friend Cecilia Haddad Ms Haddad's (pictured) fully-clothed body was found dumped in the Lane Cove River in Woolwich on April 29 An international arrest warrant has been issued for Mr Santoro, who is hiding in Brazil. Suzuki said she grew up with the murder victim and they were best friends in ballet. 'She became a beautiful woman of success and lived in Australia until she was BRUTALLY MURDERED !!!' the translated social media post reads. The second-generation Japanese Brazilian has been credited 18 times as an actress on IMDB and also hosted The Voice Brasil. The Instagram post continues to read: 'It hurts my heart just to think that the murderer, Brazilian, can get away with this !!! I ask your help for this monster to be found !!!!!' Suzuki names Mr Santoro, drawing attention to his international arrest warrant. She tells her followers to share the photo to ensure that justice can be achieved. 'Friends, the world is already very difficult and seeing the justice being done has become something distant, but I think that together we can make a great movement and we can end with so much COWARDING !!' The post, shared with Suzuki's million Instagram followers (pictured), has almost 7,000 likes Suzuki (pictured) grew up with the murder victim and believes her friend deserves justice The post has almost 7,000 likes and more than 250 comments. Mr Santoro broke his silence about the accusations yesterday, saying that 'his life is completely devastated,'Nine News reported. Mr Santoro, who flew to Brazil a day after Ms Haddad's body was found, has also claimed people are trying to 'hurt' him. He said he was aware a warrant had been issued for his arrest. 'My mind is so confused. It's many, many reporters and many, many people call me,' Mr Santoro said in a phone call with a Nine News reporter. 'My life is completely devastated. 'Direction one way of the story and that's why many people try to call me and try to understand and to, to hurt me. I believe in it.' Mr Santoro's exact whereabouts remain a mystery, days after an international warrant was issued for his arrest. Neighbours of his Rio de Janeiro apartment block, where he reportedly lived with his parents, said the family had moved out weeks ago. But Brazilian authorities are believed to be close to making an arrest, after Interpol issued a red notice allowing Brazilian police to detain him. The Australian government is currently in contact with Brazilian authorities in determining the next step towards extradition and arrest. Mario Marcelo Santoro (pictured right), who is wanted by police after the body of his ex-lover Cecilia Haddad (pictured left) was found, told a reporter 'My life is completely devastated' A substitute teacher who was having problems getting paid was overwhelmed with emotion after students organised a collection to help him. Though he has only been working at the Balbina Viana Arrais State School in Brejo Santo, Brazil, for just two months, Bruno Rafael Paiva struck up a rapport with the group of students. The 28-year-old music teacher had been summoned to the school for emergency cover after a staff member had fallen seriously ill. Bruno Rafael Paiva comes into the class but the pupils appear to be up to something They then start to play a game of 'Quente Ou Frio' (Hot or Cold) with the 28-year-old However, as a result of complications with his contract, Bruno was locked in a battle with the state to obtain the first three months of his salary. As a result of his financial difficulties he had been forced to sleep rough in the classroom. Bruno put on a brave face for his students and continued to work but it wasn't long before one of his pupils caught wind of his misfortunes and altered their fellow classmates. Walking into his lesson on May 15, Bruno is immediately drawn into a game of 'Quente Ou Frio' (Hot or Cold) with the whole class, oblivious to what has secretly been arranged. Guided toward his desk, Bruno opens the small box placed in the centre and immediately bursts into tears. Peering into to see $400 Brazilian dollars (80) inside - roughly about two-thirds of his monthly salary - the tears continue to fall from Bruno's face as the class run over to comfort him in a collective group hug. Eventually he is led to the front of the classroom where there is a bag and a box on the desk In the box is 80 the pupils have raised for their beloved teacher after he ran into financial problems After seeing the money inside the box, Bruno is unable to hide his emotions The teacher makes an emotional address to the class as the tears run down his face After becoming overwhelmed with emotion, the pupils all gather round to give Bruno a hug Bruno, who has been teaching for four years, said the humbling experience reaffirmed his love for teaching. 'After working for two months and receiving no pay, I was told I needed to stay for three months before receiving my pay cheque,' said Bruno 'Everything was so bleak - I felt like I was sinking with no idea of what the future may hold. '[As I couldn't afford rent] the school let me sleep in the classroom - they helped me a lot. 'I thought I was going to have to leave the job - which I loved so much - because I couldn't physically afford to stay any longer. 'That's when two of my students Aylon and Gennifer stepped in - they organised for the whole class to donate $10 each into a fund to surprise me with. 'I felt so emotional, it was something I never expected. 'I was paralyzed - in disbelief it was happening. I was trembling with emotion and crying a lot - it was a shower of strong feelings. 'I felt so protected by the students I love. This day changed my life. 'The are the strength in the world that I want to see and they gave me the belief I needed to continue in my work. 'I love teaching, it's a part of me - I didn't want to be anything else in life except from that, a teacher. 'I have no been working for almost four months and have finally received my first month of pay. 'I have set up a GoFundMe page to try to give back to those that helped me and to also help me through the difficult months ahead.' The father of murdered mining executive Cecilia Haddad and her ex-husband are locked in a legal battle over her estate. The body of the 38-year-old Brazilian national was discovered floating in the Lane Cover River on Sydney's North Shore on the morning of April 29. Both Ms Haddad's Brazil-based father, Jose Ibrahim Haddad, and ex-husband, Felipe Torres, have applied to the court claiming 'an interest in her estate', the Daily Telegraph reported. The father of Cecilia Haddad (pictured) and her ex-husband are locked in battle over her estate Neither of the men are suspected by police to have any involvement in Haddad's death. Last month the NSW Supreme Court granted an application to have an administrator appointed to protect Ms Haddad's estate and for efforts to be made to locate a will. On Monday Mr Torres, who married Ms Haddad after they met while both working for BHP Billiton in Western Australia, appeared in front Justice Geoff Lindsay against Mr Haddads lawyer, Maria Talacko. The judge ordered that both sides 'use her or his best endeavours to ensure that both parties are kept fully informed' in relation to administration of Ms Haddad's , according to Newscorp. Mario Marcelo Santoro, 40, is wanted by police in relation to Ms Haddad's death after her fully-clothed body was found by kayakers. But one day after an international warrant was issued for his arrest, there was reportedly no sign of him at his Rio de Janeiro apartment. The former mining executive (left) broke up with her boyfriend Mario Marcelo Santoro (right) because she grew tired of financially supporting him, her mother claims The murdered Brazilian woman's mother alleges her daughter broke up with her boyfriend because she grew tired of financially supporting him. Milu Muller claimed Santoro sponged off her Sydney-based daughter and even had his family travel to Australia from Brazil at her expense. 'They finished the relationship because Mario did not work and Cecilia provided all the money,' Ms Muller claimed to The Australian. 'Some months ago, his family, mother, father and two daughters went to visit him in Australia and stayed at Cecilia's home and she paid for everything. 'That is one of the reasons they broke up,' she claimed. Santoro, her former business partner and lover, moved forward his flights home to Rio de Janeiro to see his sick father in the hours she was missing. Ms Haddad's (left) body was found on April 29. Mr Santoro (right), her former business partner and lover, moved forward his flights home to Rio de Janeiro to see his sick father in the hours she was missing On the weekend Ms Haddad died, friends raised the alarm after she failed to turn up to a series of appointments - including to care for a disabled client. Ms Haddad is pictured with her former lover, Mario Marcelo Santoro 'Her disability clients loved her because she treated them like real people... she had plans to provide assistance to one on that weekend,' a friend told Daily Mail Australia last week. Ms Haddad attended a 'brief' barbeque with friends on the Friday before heading home for an 'early night'. The next morning, she was in touch with friends, until they were suddenly unable to reach her after 9.30am. She was never heard from again. A group of kayakers found her fully-clothed body floating in the river a day later, with police initially ruling her death as not suspicious. They later backflipped after finding Ms Haddad's distinctive red Fiat 500 parked at a train station near her home. Police found Ms Haddad's distinctive red Fiat 500 parked at a train station near her home 'They finished the relationship because Mario did not work and Cecilia (pictured) provided all the money,' Ms Haddad's mother claimed Mr Santoro's sudden departure to Brazil was called 'obviously suspicious' by a police source. 'We definitely would like to speak to him but there's definitely other people in Sydney we would like to talk to,' the source told Daily Mail Australia. Mr Santoro recently claimed he had 'placed himself at the disposal' of NSW police, but Daily Mail Australia understands he is yet to be formally interviewed. A top-ranking police officer has sworn to never stop searching for Cecilia Haddad's killer - even if Brazilian authorities refuse to extradite the number one murder suspect. Mario Marcelo Santoro is wanted by police after Ms Haddad, a 38-year-old mining executive and Santoro's ex-lover, was found dead in Sydney's Lane Cove River in April. Santoro reportedly flew from Sydney to his native Brazil the day after his ex-girlfriend's body was discovered. A top-ranking police officer has sworn to never stop searching for Cecilia Haddad's (pictured) killer - even if Brazilian authorities refuse to extradite the number one murder suspect Mario Marcelo Santoro (pictured) is wanted by police after Ms Haddad, a 38-year-old mining executive and Santoro's ex-lover, was found dead in Sydney's Lane Cove River in April. He has since fled to Brazil An international warrant has since been issued for his arrest. Australian police fear the manhunt is failing to gain traction in the South American nation, where 60,000 people are murdered every year and only 10 per cent of cases are prosecuted, Nine News reports. Scroll down for video 'It will never be over from our perspective,' said police commissioner Mick Fuller (pictured) With no extradition treaty to force Santoro back to Sydney, it's understood Australia's embassy in Buenos Aires is barracking for a diplomatic solution. 'It will never be over from our perspective,' said police commissioner Mick Fuller. 'We owe it to the victim, and the family, and the people of NSW to solve it.' It is believed Santoro may have left Rio to escape the Australian media, and could now be in Petropolis, Tereosopolis or Marica, where his family owns property. It is believed Santoro (pictured: right) may have left Rio to escape the Australian media, and could now be in Petropolis, Tereosopolis or Marica, where his family owns property Santoro spoke out on the matter of Ms Haddad's death on Sunday. 'My life is completely devastated,' he told 9 News. He said he was aware a warrant has been issued for his arrest. 'My mind is so confused. It's many, many reporters and many, many people call me,' Mr Santoro said. 'Direction one way of the story and that's why many people try to call me and try to understand and to, to hurt me. I believe in it.' Days after an international warrant was issued for Mr Santoro's arrest, there was no sign of him at his Rio De Janeiro apartment complex (pictured) Ms Haddad and Mr Santoro first met in 1995 while studying at university in Brazil (pictured together) Brazilian authorities are believed to be close to make an arrest, after Interpol issued the red notice allowing Brazilian police to detain him (Pictured is his family's apartment complex in Rio) Ms Haddad and Mr Santoro first met in 1995 while studying at university in Brazil. Almost two decades later, Ms Haddad moved to Australia with her husband Felipe Torres and took up a role with mining giant BHP. She lived in Western Australia for close to a decade before moving to Sydney in 2016. Mr Santoro and Ms Haddad had previously been in a relationship, but reportedly separated in the weeks before her death. Last month, friends and family of the victim gathered on the banks of the Lane Cove River for a final memorial to Ms Haddad. Locals gathered by the water at Woolwich to share stories and throw flower petals into the river last month to pay tribute to Cecilia Haddad A mutant calf has shocked locals after being born with two heads at a farm in Brazil. An astonishing video of the two-headed cow has emerged from the farm in Caiaponia, Brazil. The animal, which has four eyes and two mouths, can be seen lying on the ground. in a video clip, as workers at the farm feed one of its mouth with milk using an modified bottle. Zica Soares, the wife of the farm-owner, said: 'I never imagined a calf like that would be born on the farm, we are surprised.' The calf was hand-fed milk for five days by workers at the farm before dying. Local veterinarian Daniel Ribeiro Camargos told reports: 'It was probably a case of inbreeding that caused the calf to be born with the anomaly. It is a very rare situation.' Hours before the death, Ms Soares had told local media: 'The vet says that we need to either put the calf down or look after him until the end. 'He is very bad, really weak, but I am looking after him.' A mutant calf has shocked locals after being born with two heads at a farm in Brazil Just last week, another mutant calf was born in Poland. Local vet Karolina Szarowska was stunned as she described helping with the delivery of the two-headed calf in the village of Kowalewo Pomorskie. She wrote: 'Two heads are better than on. To bring THIS out alive was a true miracle.' The mother survived the difficult birth and both heads of the male calf had the sucking reflex. The calf died after a few hours. The father of a murdered Brazilian executive has revealed the heartbreaking final phone call he received from his daughter before she was killed. Cecilia Haddad's father Jose Ibrahim Haddad broke his silence on his the 38-year-old's death this week. Fighting back tears, Mr Haddad claimed Cecilia was scared of her ex-boyfriend Mario Marcelo Santoro, and begged him to stay on the line during their last phone call. Scroll down for video Haddad's father Jose Ibrahim Haddad (pictured) has broken his silence on his daughter's death Cecilia Haddad's (pictured) fully-clothed body was found floating in the Lane Cove River, north of the Sydney CBD, in late April 'She called me and said, 'Dad, stay on the line because I'm arriving home and I'm not sure if he has left because he could have made a copy of the keys and he could be inside so please stay on the line',' Mr Haddad told Seven News. He said he waited on the phone until his daughter said 'everything is fine'. It would be the last time he would ever speak to her. Mario Marcelo Santoro, 40, was arrested in Rio de Janeiro's Botafogo district on Saturday. He reportedly told arresting officers 'I've ended my life', but refused to speak as he was led through a frenzied media pack to a police station. Santoro flew back to his native Brazil on the same April weekend the fully-clothed body of the 38-year-old mining executive was found in Sydney's Lane Cove River. Ms Haddad's mother Milu said she feels 'no relief at all' since Santoro's arrest. 'It's still very early, this is just the beginning and there is still a long way to go,' she told News Corp. 'Only when he is sentenced and sent to jail will I be able to breathe. 'But I will never get my daughter back. I'll never feel happy again and I have no strength to follow what is happening, he took away my reason for living.' New South Wales Police and the Australian Government were working to extradite Santoro, possibly by having him stripped of his Brazilian citizenship. Mario Marcelo Santoro (pictured), 40, Haddad's former boyfriend, was arrested in Brazil over the weekend Australian detectives fear the arrest could affect those plans, and say it took place before an evidence brief had been fully translated, The Daily Telegraph reported. Brazilian homicide police chief Dr Fabio Cardoso said Santoro had been 'swinging between normality and depression' since he was apprehended. 'It's a sign that points to something he has in his head. He's calm, then there's the issue of him crying,' Dr Cardoso said. Dr Cardoso claimed Brazilian police had not received Australian assistance, but their New South Wales counterparts say they submitted a 1000-page brief. 'The police investigating the murder have important information, witness statements, forensic and physical evidence, that will help us build up a case and bring a successful prosecution,' Dr Cardoso said. 'That is why we are requesting the transfer of the case to Brazil. I don't know what the police in Australia have not yet made contact with us or replied to our request for cooperation. We have already made two requests and this week we will try again.' Mr Haddad said he waited on the phone until his daughter said 'everything is fine'. It would be the last time he would ever speak to her Santoro was arrested a day after police searched his home in Rio de Janeiro as well as the homes of his parents and relatives, after a warrant for his arrest was issued on Thursday. New South Wales Homicide Squad detectives are preparing to travel to Brazil 'as soon as international protocols have been met', a police spokeswoman told AAP. 'NSW Police Force is continuing to work through commonwealth processes in order to bring a successful conclusion to their investigation,' the spokeswoman said. Dr Cardoso said police believe Ms Haddad was killed by asphyxiation. 'In April, by not accepting the break-up, he [Santoro] allegedly killed her by asphyxiation by pressing her neck and dumping her body in the river,' Mr Cardoso told the Seven Network in Brazil. 'We know he had the key to her house because he lived there for a while.' Brazilian police have arrested Mario Marcelo Santoro (right) over the death of his former girlfriend Cecilia Haddad (left) NSW Police issued a warrant for the 40-year-old's arrest last month, but there are concerns Santoro will never be extradited to Australia to face charges because of Brazilian laws and customs. However, homicide detectives have said they are ready to travel to Brazil as soon as 'international protocols' have been met. 'NSW Police Force is continuing to work through Commonwealth processes in order to bring a successful conclusion to their investigation,' a spokeswoman told AAP. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Australian government 'is working very closely with the Brazilian government'. 'We are just hoping for the best outcome where justice can be achieved and so we will work closely with other authorities to ensure that the right outcome is achieved,' she told Seven on Monday. Santoro's arrest was noted by Ms Haddad's friends, including South American actress Dani Suzuki. 'Here or in another world, all your actions will have consequences and all justice will be done,' Ms Suzuki posted to Instagram. 'Justice starts now,' another friend posted to Facebook. Ms Bishop said on Monday the federal attorney general Christian Porter wants to see justice. The ex-boyfriend of mining executive Cecilia Haddad, whose body was found in a Sydney river, has been charged with her murder. Brazilian police formally charged Mario Marcelo Santoro, 40, with the murder of his former girlfriend on Tuesday - Monday night Brazil local time. Santoro reportedly told arresting officers 'I've ended my life', but refused to speak as he was led through a frenzied media pack to a police station. Santoro flew back to his native Brazil on the same April weekend the fully-clothed body of the 38-year-old mining executive was found in Sydney's Lane Cove River. Brazilian police formerly charged Mario Marcelo Santoro, 40, (centre) with the murder of his former girlfriend on Tuesday - Monday night Brazil local time Santoro reportedly told arresting officers 'I've ended my life', but refused to speak as he was led through a frenzied media pack to a police station Santoro will now be transferred to a Brazilian prison where he will await trial over Ms Haddad's murder. Brazilian homicide police chief Dr Fabio Cardoso said Santoro had been 'swinging between normality and depression' since he was apprehended. 'The police investigating the murder have important information, witness statements, forensic and physical evidence, that will help us build up a case and bring a successful prosecution,' Dr Cardoso said. Brazilian police have charged Mario Marcelo Santoro (right) over the death of his former girlfriend Cecilia Haddad (left) Cecilia Haddad's (pictured) fully-clothed body was found floating in the Lane Cove River, north of the Sydney CBD, in late April The Rio de Janeiro police department said Santoro was arrested at a relative's home in the city's Botafogo district on Saturday, the Associated Press reports. Local footage shows Santoro being led through a frenzied media pack on his way into a police station. He was arrested a day after police searched his home in Rio de Janeiro as well as the homes of his parents and relatives, after a warrant for his arrest was issued on Thursday. Mario Marcelo Santoro (pictured) was arrested a day after police searched his home in Rio de Janeiro Ms Haddad (pictured), a 38-year-old former mining executive, was allegedly killed by asphyxiation NSW Homicide Squad detectives are preparing to travel to Brazil 'as soon as international protocols have been met', a police spokeswoman told AAP. 'NSW Police Force is continuing to work through commonwealth processes in order to bring a successful conclusion to their investigation,' the spokeswoman said. Fabio Cardoso, from Rio's homicide division, said police believe Ms Haddad was killed by asphyxiation. 'In April, by not accepting the break-up, he (Santoro) allegedly killed her by asphyxiation by pressing her neck and dumping her body in the river,' Mr Cardoso told the Seven Network in Brazil. 'We know he had the key to her house because he lived there for a while.' NSW Police issued a warrant for the 40-year-old's arrest last month, but there are concerns Santoro will never be extradited to Australia to face charges because of Brazilian laws and customs. Foriegn Minister Julie Bishop last week told reporters Australian authorities were 'working closely' with Brazilian counterparts to ensure an 'appropriate' outcome. The ex-boyfriend of mining executive Cecilia Haddad is awaiting trial in a small, dingy Brazilian prison cell with three accused murderers. Mario Marcelo Santoro arrived at the Benfica penitentiary complex, one of Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous prisons, at 10pm on Monday after three days of interrogation. On Tuesday, Brazilian police formally charged Mario Marcelo Santoro, 40, with the murder of his former girlfriend, whose body was found in a Sydney river. Brazilian police formerly charged Mario Marcelo Santoro, 40, (centre) with the murder of his former girlfriend on Tuesday - Monday night Brazil local time He is currently awaiting trial in a cramped five-square-metre cell with three men It is understood Santoro is now being held in the basement of the homicide division inside a crammed, five-square-metre cell with a ceiling so low that he is unable to stand, the Daily Telegraph reported. The three men being held with him are also accused of murder; one allegedly killed his wife, another is accused of murdering a policeman and the third is reportedly behind a series of taxi driver deaths. Police chief Dr Fabio Cardoso revealed Santoro initially was surprised he had been arrested. Ms Haddad (pictured), a 38-year-old former mining executive, was allegedly killed by asphyxiation 'He had studied the laws and was confident that he would never be extradited, and that police here wouldn't be able to investigate a crime that happened so far away. 'The problem he's got himself in is beginning to sink in,' Dr Cardoso said. Santoro reportedly told arresting officers 'I've ended my life', but refused to speak as he was led through a frenzied media pack to a police station. Santoro flew back to his native Brazil on the same April weekend the fully-clothed body of the 38-year-old mining executive was found in Sydney's Lane Cove River. Santoro will now be transferred to a Brazilian prison where he will await trial over Ms Haddad's murder. Brazilian homicide police chief Dr Fabio Cardoso said Santoro had been 'swinging between normality and depression' since he was apprehended. 'The police investigating the murder have important information, witness statements, forensic and physical evidence, that will help us build up a case and bring a successful prosecution,' Dr Cardoso said. Brazilian police have charged Mario Marcelo Santoro (right) over the death of his former girlfriend Cecilia Haddad (left) Cecilia Haddad's (pictured) fully-clothed body was found floating in the Lane Cove River, north of the Sydney CBD, in late April The Rio de Janeiro police department said Santoro was arrested at a relative's home in the city's Botafogo district on Saturday, the Associated Press reports. Local footage shows Santoro being led through a frenzied media pack on his way into a police station. He was arrested a day after police searched his home in Rio de Janeiro as well as the homes of his parents and relatives, after a warrant for his arrest was issued on Thursday. NSW Homicide Squad detectives are preparing to travel to Brazil 'as soon as international protocols have been met', a police spokeswoman told AAP. 'NSW Police Force is continuing to work through commonwealth processes in order to bring a successful conclusion to their investigation,' the spokeswoman said. Fabio Cardoso, from Rio's homicide division, said police believe Ms Haddad was killed by asphyxiation. 'In April, by not accepting the break-up, he (Santoro) allegedly killed her by asphyxiation by pressing her neck and dumping her body in the river,' Mr Cardoso told the Seven Network in Brazil. 'We know he had the key to her house because he lived there for a while.' NSW Police issued a warrant for the 40-year-old's arrest last month, but there are concerns Santoro will never be extradited to Australia to face charges because of Brazilian laws and customs. Foriegn Minister Julie Bishop last week told reporters Australian authorities were 'working closely' with Brazilian counterparts to ensure an 'appropriate' outcome. Twin brothers have been found locked inside a tiny a wooden cage by police in southeastern Brazil. When questioned by authorities, the three-year-old children's parents said they had locked their sons in the crate so they could carry out farming and housework undisturbed. Police in the town of Aparecidinha, in Espirito Santo state, made the shocking discovery after an anonymous tip that the parents would regularly lock their children in the box. Locked up: The twin boys were found locked inside this tiny wooden cage in Brazil A photo of the moment the two young children were found shows them peering out from behind wooden planks with the cage secured with a padlock and chain. Their mother, 37, and father, 40, have been arrested on suspicion of infant mistreatment, while the boys are in the care of the local social services. The two boys have been taken to a shelter whilst the parents, both farmers, were arrested and taken to a police station on suspicion of infant mistreatment. The twins did not show any sign of being victims of physical abuse, police said. Police in Aparecidinha, Espirito Santo, were told by the parents that they locked the children up to be able to do farming and housework. Pictured is a town in Espirito Santo A local police chief, only named as Captain Sonimarcos, told reporters: 'The parents said they kept the boys in the box so they could carry out their tasks in the home and in the fields. 'But the space was very small and was even split into two so the brothers did not touch each other. 'Without toys, without a pillow and without any comfort.' The parents were taken to a local police station where they gave statements before being released. An off-duty cop in Brazil, who had just dropped his girlfriend home, reacted quickly during a surprise late night hijacking, using a distraction to shoot dead a teenage gunman and injure his armed accomplice. The 18-year-old, named locally as Pablo Pereira Gomes, was shot in the groin and died on the spot. The other bandit, Lucas Matos de Oliveira, 22, ran off but was hit twice in the stomach. This is the moment an off-duty police officer in Brazil uses a distraction - a van driving past - to shoot dead a teenage gunman He was taken to Santa Casa de Misericordia Hospital and placed under police arrest following emergency surgery. The cop and his girlfriend escaped unharmed. The officer, who has not been named for security reasons, was held up by the teen assailant who did not realise his target was a serving policeman carrying a loaded weapon. The officer, who has not been named, was driving a Kawasaki Ninja, above, and had dropped off his girlfriend (left), when the pair were approached in the street A weapon is brandished at the off-duty officer, above right While the off-duty officer was lying on the ground, the bandit's accomplice wandered across While the cop lay on the ground (left) the second bandit climbed on to the bike The incident occurred in Vitoria, south east Brazil Video surveillance cameras situated on an apartment block in Vitoria, south east Brazil, show the officer sitting on his Kawasaki Ninja motorbike on May 10. He had just dropped his girlfriend home when a bandit suddenly appeared brandishing a weapon and demanding the bike. The cop calmly followed the orders issued by the attacker and climbed off his bike then got down on the ground. When a van drove nearby, the bandits were distracted, and the off-duty officer pulled out his gun, right The man's accomplice can be seen running away, right, after the 18-year-old is shot (left) The cop's Kawasaki Ninja, that the pair tried to steal in the street While the young thug kept his pistol trained on him, his side-kick lifted up the motorbike, which had been dropped on its side, and climbed on. Despite the cop showing no resistance, he was hit repeatedly over the head with the butt of the gun as the hoodie-wearing accomplice joined in the assault. But in the middle of the assault, a van rounded the corner at the bottom of the road and the headlights appeared to blind the gangsters, which is when the officer sprang into action. While the passing van momentarily distracted the pair, the cop jumped up, drew his weapon and rapidly fired off three shots, all of which hit the pair. According to investigators, the cop shouted a warning to the hoodlums to drop their weapons, but Gomes apparently turned as if to fire and Oliveira reportedly reached for a gun in his waistband while jumping off the bike. It later emerged the teen was carrying a replica. He was felled by a single shot to the groin and died where he was despite paramedics efforts to save him. Detectives said the adolescent had a criminal record with 16 arrests for drug trafficking. Crane operator Jose Conceicao, who was visiting a friend in the building heard the commotion and rushed down to see what was going on. He said to reporters: 'Suddenly we heard a few gun shots and came down to see what had happened and to see if we could help. 'The boy was already down on the ground at that point and the other one had run off. 'It was very scary. I don't live in the area but in a neighbourhood that doesn't have this level of violence so I'm not accustomed to seeing this type of incident. 'But my friend told me the area has been hit by a crime wave which has made him scared to go out.' An update on the injured suspect's state of health has not been released. Advertisement Captivating footage has emerged of the last known survivor of an Amazonian tribe who has wandered the rainforest alone for 22 years - after the rest of his people were wiped out by murderous land-grabbing cattle ranchers two decades ago. The half-naked man in his fifties uses an axe to chop down a tree in the footage taken by Brazilian government officials in the remote state of Rondonia. There are believed to be 113 uncontacted tribes living in the Amazon, 27 of which have been sighted by experts who attempt to track their movements. This tribesman is known as 'the indigenous man in the hole' and was first caught on camera in 1998. He spends most of his time hunting forest pigs, birds and monkeys with a bow and arrow, and lives in a hut surrounded by papaya and corn plantations. Experts from the Brazilian agency for native tribes, called FUNAI, believe the man belonged to a tribe of six - five of whom were murdered by farmers in the 90s. Survivors of other indigenous groups have told how invading farmers shot them in the back while taking their land during the period. And Funai has publicly blamed cattle ranchers for the deaths of his fellow tribespeople. The half-naked man in his fifties uses an axe to chop down a tree in the footage taken by Brazilian government officials The house built by the indigenous man in Rondonia, He was spotted for the first time in 22 years by researchers Captivating footage has emerged of the last known survivor of an Amazonian tribe who has wandered the rainforest alone for 22 years - after the rest of his people were wiped out by murderous land-grabbing cattle ranchers two decades ago. He is pictured hacking at a tree in the dense rain forest of Brazil Conservation groups have been monitoring his behaviour since 1996, but he has only been seen on film once before now - in a Brazilian documentary called Corumbiara shot in 1998 (pictured). The half-naked man in his fifties has since been seen using an axe to chop down a tree in footage taken by Brazilian government officials in the remote state of Rondonia The so-called 'indigenous man in the hole' survives by hunting in the forest and previous footage revealed one of the homemade huts where he once lived (pictured). He was left alone when his other tribesmen were reportedly killed in 1995 The indigenous tribesman lives in the Rondonia state of Brazil in the Amazon rainforest (shown above). There are believed to be 113 uncontacted tribes living in the Amazon, 27 of which have been sighted by experts who attempt to track their movements It is thought that he managed to survive when farmers and land grabbers killed and expelled indigenous Amazonians throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Funai said in a newspost: 'In the 1980s, disorderly colonisation, the establishment of farms and illegal logging in [the Rondonia region] led to repeated attacks on the isolated indigenous peoples who had lived there until then, in a constant process of expulsion from their lands and death. 'After the last farmer attack in late 1995, the group that was probably already small from reports, the local staff believed [it] to be six people became one person. The guilty were never punished.' Funai has a strict policy of leaving isolated groups in the region alone, but they have monitored his activity from a distance since he was first spotted in 1996. They do not know his name or the name of his tribe, but have worked to extend the area of his jungle home to 8,070 hectares so he can maintain his lifestyle. An indigenous reserve known as Tanara was set up in the 1990s as part of moves to protect his territory. Traditional weapons like axes and machetes have been left by Funai workers for him to find, but they never allow themselves to be seen by him. WHO IS THE INDIGENOUS MAN IN THE HOLE AND WHAT TRIBE WAS HE PART OF? The 'indigenous man in the hole' or 'the last man' was first seen living a solitary life in the Amazon jungle of Rondonia in 1996. Experts believe he was left on his own when the other five members of his tribe were killed by farmers in an attack on the land the year before. Funai, Brazil's governmental agency for indigenous affairs, has strict rules that limit interaction with isolated and uncontacted tribesmen, so they do not know what his real name is or that of his original group. Members of the research and conservation group have been monitoring his behaviour since 1996, but he has only been seen on film once before now - in a Brazilian documentary called Corumbiara shot in 1998. They regularly check to see if he is still alive and often find him building holes in the earth, which is how he got his nickname, to trap animals or hide in himself. He spends time felling trees, hunting animals to eat and walks around half-naked covered only by a loin cloth. The last man, aged in his 50s, has his own mini plantation where he grows papaya and corn. The area where the man lives is around 8,070 hectares, but surrounded by ranches on all sides. It is 'extraordinary' he has been able to keep himself cut off from mainstream society for so long, given land grabbers and farmers are keen on his jungle land, according to research non-profit group Survival International. They have helped expand his land and lay down handmade weapons for him to use. Funai believe there are 113 uncontacted tribes living in the Brazilian Amazon, 27 of which have been sighted. There are also said to be 15 uncontacted tribes in neighbouring Peru and others deep in the forests of Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador. Source: Survival International Advertisement Experts regularly check to see if he is still alive and often find him building holes in the earth, which is how he got his nickname, to trap animals or hide in himself. He spends time felling trees, hunting animals to eat and walks around half-naked covered only by a loin cloth. Altair Algayer, a local coordinator for Funai, said: 'This man, unknown to us, even losing everything, like his people and a series of cultural practices, has proved that, even then, alone in the middle of the bush, it is possible to survive and resist allying with society.' Fiona Watson, of research group Survival International, told The Guardian the video clip of the man is 'extraordinary' given his land is surrounded by ranches on all sides. She said: 'Funai has a duty to show that he is well and alive. The crucial thing is Funai has managed to keep his territory.' 'The fact he is still alive gives you hope. He is the ultimate symbol, if you like.' Solitude: The indigenous man is seen half naked attempting to fell a tree and is thought to have his own papaya and corn plantations. Experts regularly check to see if he is still alive and often find him building holes in the earth, which is how he got his nickname, to trap animals or hide in himself Known as 'the indigenous man in the hole', the tribesman has been captured on video by Government officials in the Brazilian state of Rondonia. Experts do not know his name or the name of his tribe, but have worked to extend the area of his jungle home to 8,070 hectares so he can maintain his lifestyle WHAT IS FUNAI AND HOW DOES IT PROTECT TRIBES? FUNAI, the National Indian Foundation, is the Brazilian government body that establishes and carries out policies relating to indigenous peoples. They are responsible for mapping out and protecting lands traditionally inhabited and used by these communities. The group is charged with preventing invasions of indigenous territories by outsiders. All over Brazil, indigenous peoples are living in differing degrees of isolation. Illegal miners, ranchers, loggers and other groups pose a risk to Indians' lives and well-being and destroy their natural resources. FUNAI's task is to ensure that their rights are respected as set out in the Brazilian Constitution and the Indian Statutem according to Survival International Its work is wide-ranging and includes opposition to 'Hakani', the controversial evangelical missionary film which promotes intervention by the authorities in tribal communities. Advertisement Funai, who works to protect the rights of indigenous people and isolated groups, claims there are 113 uncontacted tribes in the Brazilian Amazon, 27 of which they have confirmed sightings of. Survival International says there may be as many as 300 uncontacted Indians living in the Massaco territory in Rondonia. It is thought many tribes have chosen to avoid contact based on previous encounters which have resulted in the destruction of their forest homes. Experts say tribes have been known to fire arrows at outsiders or aircraft or simply retreat deeper in to the rainforest. However, other uncontacted groups are facing extinction with no more than a handful of individuals left, the group says. They are coming under increasing threat from infrastructure and road building projects and are increasingly abandoning their territory to avoid the noise and air pollution that comes with it. Having avoided contact with the outside world, tribes are vulnerable to diseases like flu or even the common cold. Tiny clusters living mainly in Rondonia, Mato Grosso and Maranhao states 'are the survivors of brutal land grabs when they were targeted and murdered by loggers, ranchers, and others', according to the organisation, which works to protect tribal peoples' rights. In 2016, extraordinary photographs taken from a helicopter flying over the Amazonian jungle showed members of one of the world's last uncontacted tribespeople. One man appeared to aim a bow and arrow at the aircraft In 2008, an incredible set of pictures emerged of tribesmen hurling spears and firing bow and arrows at an aircraft buzzing overhead Aerial shots in 2016, captured the confusion of an uncontacted tribe in Brazil as they watched an aircraft flying overhead Survival International said: 'The uncontacted peoples of Brazil must be protected and their land rights recognised before they, along with the forests they depend on, vanish forever.' The Amazon rain forest spans 2,100,000 square miles with huge areas still thought to remain unexplored. In 2016, extraordinary photographs taken from a helicopter flying over the Amazonian jungle showed members of one of the world's last uncontacted tribespeople. When the helicopter first appeared low overhead earlier this month, they were panic-stricken fleeing from their thatched shelters in a clearing to hide under the foliage. Then the men took courage and fired volleys of primitive arrows at the noisy interloper. The Indians exist in isolated nomadic groups in the depths of the Brazilian rainforest near the Peruvian border. 'To think that in the 21st century, there are still people who have no contact with civilisation, living like their ancestors did 20,000 years ago it's a powerful emotion,' Photographer Ricardo Stuckert told National Geographic magazine. In 2008, an incredible set of pictures emerged of tribesmen hurling spears and firing bow and arrows at an aircraft buzzing overhead. Their skin was painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the plane. A baby has miraculously survived a horrific road accident that saw her ripped from her mother's womb and thrown on the grass. The heavily pregnant woman was a passenger in a truck carrying planks of wood. The driver lost control and capsized on a motorway near Cajati, between Sao Paulo and Curitiba in southeast Brazil, it was reported yesterday. A baby, named Giovanna by hospital staff, has miraculously survived a horrific road accident that saw her ripped from her mother's womb and thrown on the grass As a result of the impact the mother was thrown from the truck's cabin before being crushed by the wood that the truck was carrying. This tore the baby from the womb, leaving shocked medics to discover a crying baby girl on a grass verge metres away from her mother, according to reports. The infant was found without a scratch and her umbilical cord appeared to have severed during the crash. The girl is now being treated at Pariquera-Acu regional hospital's neonatal intensive care ward. Her mother was 39 weeks pregnant at the time and without any documents. Police and social services are reportedly trying to identify the child's dead mother. They have appealed for relatives of the woman. If none are found, she will be buried as unidentified and the baby girl will be sent to an orphanage and put up for adoption, according to police . The girl's mother was travelling in a truck loaded with wood when the driver lost control of the vehicle Elton Fernando Barbosa, the paramedic who was first on the scene of the accident on the BR-116 highway on Thursday, told Brazil's A Tribuna newspaper that the accident was serious. Mr Barbosa said that the driver was seen to by first-aid and he looked for the deceased. He said: 'I went looking for the fatal victim who was underneath the wood, when I heard the cries of a baby. It was which total apprehension, because there had been no reports of a third victim.' He said he found the baby several metres away from the mother, and quickly called for an ambulance to take her to hospital. He even said it was a miracle that the little girl survived. The driver, Jonathan Ferreira, has been charged with manslaughter. He told rescue crews that he didn't know the woman and was only giving her a lift Mr Barabosa said: 'I'll be honest. It was God. By what I saw, I have no idea how she came out alive. The mother was underneath several planks of wood. I don't know how this child got out of their with her life.' He said it was emotional and while they couldn't save the mother they did save the child. Staff have given the baby the name Giovanna which means 'protected by God', according to Solange Batista, a nurse at the Pariquera-Acu hospital. The driver, Jonathan Ferreira, has been charged with manslaughter. He told rescue crews that he didn't know the woman and was only giving her a lift. Advertisement Astonishing footage shows the moment a thrill-seeking hiker is saved after getting stuck dangling from an extremely high cliff edge. The video was shot by a professional climber who saw the scene unfold as the man clings to the edge of Pedra da Gavea in Rio De Janeiro while other tourists try to pull him to safety. The rock is the end point of a hiking trail for thrill-seekers who pose for photos on it and post them to social media Amazingly, the group can be heard laughing as the man struggles to hold himself up but they are eventually able to pull him to the surface. It is said that the men were trying to capture the perfect picture on the top of Pedra da Gavea when a man came into their shot and started hanging from the rock. Fortunately they are able to lift him back to the surface. Hundreds of super-fit and fearless tourists brave the climb through the Tijuca Forest to the top of Pedra da Gavea The man can be seen dangling from the rock which stands at an altitude of 2,769ft above the ground. He is helped by other tourists as he is seen struggling to hoist himself back up to safety In a stunning snap for Instagram, this man is seen hanging from the rock as someone takes the pic looking down onto the massive drop A man sits on the edge of the rock. There are thousands of posts involving people posing in precarious positions on the mountain A man appears to hang from the edge in a particularly dangerous move. The shots are taken from Pedra De Gavea in Rio De Janeiro A man appears to dangle from the edge in a daredevil move. Some say that the images are a trick and set up to look more dangerous than they actually are The video was taken by Alencar Amaral, a professional climber, he said: 'The day was perfect for us, a lot of sunlight where we could clearly see the 'Bairro de Sao Conrado' down below us. There are thousands of posts involving people posing in precarious positions on the mountain, which is one of the highest coastal mountains in the world. A woman sits on the edge of the cliff. The hike to the top takes three hours each way. Hundreds of super-fit and fearless tourists brave the climb through the Tijuca Forest to the top A stunning view of the mountain, which reaches an altitude of 2,769ft. The spot has become a popular trail for hikers The mountain is seen from the coastal bike path connecting the neighborhoods of Ipanema and Sao Conrado in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Hundreds of super-fit and fearless tourists brave the climb through the Tijuca Forest to the top to take adrenaline-pumping shots on the side of the mountain. It takes about three hours each way to hike to Pedra da Gavea. The rock stands 2,769ft above the ground but the drop below the ledge that people are photographed hanging off is much less. However, it is still a drop of at least 100 ft. Advertisement Fascinating photos have emerged of the home of the the last known survivor of an Amazonian tribe who has wandered the rainforest alone for 22 years The man, known as 'The Man in the Hole', has been surviving on his own in the remote state of Rondonia, Brazil, since the rest of his people were murdered by land-grabbing cattle ranchers two decades ago. The tribesman spends most of his time hunting forest pigs, birds and monkeys with a bow and arrow, and lives in a hut surrounded by papaya and corn plantations. Photos from his home shows a wooden spear and bamboo sticks thought to be used for hunting, and another taken nearby shows one of the holes which has given him his nickname. Lonely road: The hut in a clearing in the Amazon rainforest where the tribesman, known as 'The Man in the Hole', has been living on his own since the rest of his tribe were murdered in the 1990s This photo shows one of the holes dug by the tribesman, thought to be used to trap animals and for himself to hide in According to local officials he digs the holes to trap animals, or to hide in himself while out hunting in the Amazon jungle. Earlier this month, footage shot by Brazilian government officials was released, showing the man, who is in his fifties, using a hand-made axe to chop down a tree near his hut. There are believed to be 113 un-contacted tribes living in the Amazon, 27 of which have been sighted by experts who attempt to track their movements. Experts from the Brazilian agency for native tribes, called FUNAI, believe the man belonged to a tribe of six - five of whom were murdered by farmers in the 1990s. Tools: A wooden spear and bamboo sticks are seen near the home of the 'Man in the Hole' Survivors of other indigenous groups in Rondonia state have told how invading farmers shot them in the back while taking their land during the period. And Funai has publicly blamed cattle ranchers for the deaths of family of 'the man in the hole'. It is thought that he managed to survive when farmers and land grabbers killed and expelled indigenous Amazonians throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Funai said in a newspost: 'In the 1980s, disorderly colonisation, the establishment of farms and illegal logging in [the Rondonia region] led to repeated attacks on the isolated indigenous peoples who had lived there until then, in a constant process of expulsion from their lands and death. 'After the last farmer attack in late 1995, the group that was probably already small from reports, the local staff believed [it] to be six people became one person. The guilty were never punished.' Funai has a strict policy of leaving isolated groups in the region alone, but they have monitored his activity from a distance since he was first spotted in 1996. They do not know his name or the name of his tribe, but have worked to extend the area of his jungle home to 8,070 hectares so he can maintain his lifestyle. An indigenous reserve known as Tanara was set up in the 1990s as part of moves to protect his territory. Traditional weapons like axes and machetes have been left by Funai workers for him to find, but they never allow themselves to be seen by him. The half-naked man in his fifties uses an axe to chop down a tree in the footage taken by Brazilian government officials The house built by the indigenous man in Rondonia, He was spotted for the first time in 22 years by researchers Captivating footage has emerged of the last known survivor of an Amazonian tribe who has wandered the rainforest alone for 22 years - after the rest of his people were wiped out by murderous land-grabbing cattle ranchers two decades ago. He is pictured hacking at a tree in the dense rain forest of Brazil The indigenous tribesman lives in the Rondonia state of Brazil in the Amazon rainforest (shown above). There are believed to be 113 uncontacted tribes living in the Amazon, 27 of which have been sighted by experts who attempt to track their movements WHO IS THE INDIGENOUS MAN IN THE HOLE AND WHAT TRIBE WAS HE PART OF? The 'indigenous man in the hole' or 'the last man' was first seen living a solitary life in the Amazon jungle of Rondonia in 1996. Experts believe he was left on his own when the other five members of his tribe were killed by farmers in an attack on the land the year before. Funai, Brazil's governmental agency for indigenous affairs, has strict rules that limit interaction with isolated and uncontacted tribesmen, so they do not know what his real name is or that of his original group. Members of the research and conservation group have been monitoring his behaviour since 1996, but he has only been seen on film once before now - in a Brazilian documentary called Corumbiara shot in 1998. They regularly check to see if he is still alive and often find him building holes in the earth, which is how he got his nickname, to trap animals or hide in himself. He spends time felling trees, hunting animals to eat and walks around half-naked covered only by a loin cloth. The last man, aged in his 50s, has his own mini plantation where he grows papaya and corn. The area where the man lives is around 8,070 hectares, but surrounded by ranches on all sides. It is 'extraordinary' he has been able to keep himself cut off from mainstream society for so long, given land grabbers and farmers are keen on his jungle land, according to research non-profit group Survival International. They have helped expand his land and lay down handmade weapons for him to use. Funai believe there are 113 uncontacted tribes living in the Brazilian Amazon, 27 of which have been sighted. There are also said to be 15 uncontacted tribes in neighbouring Peru and others deep in the forests of Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador. Source: Survival International Advertisement Experts regularly check to see if he is still alive and often find him building holes in the earth, which is how he got his nickname, to trap animals or hide in himself. He spends time felling trees, hunting animals to eat and walks around half-naked covered only by a loin cloth. Altair Algayer, a local coordinator for Funai, said: 'This man, unknown to us, even losing everything, like his people and a series of cultural practices, has proved that, even then, alone in the middle of the bush, it is possible to survive and resist allying with society.' Fiona Watson, of research group Survival International, told The Guardian the video clip of the man is 'extraordinary' given his land is surrounded by ranches on all sides. She said: 'Funai has a duty to show that he is well and alive. The crucial thing is Funai has managed to keep his territory.' 'The fact he is still alive gives you hope. He is the ultimate symbol, if you like.' Solitude: The indigenous man is seen half naked attempting to fell a tree and is thought to have his own papaya and corn plantations. Experts regularly check to see if he is still alive and often find him building holes in the earth, which is how he got his nickname, to trap animals or hide in himself WHAT IS FUNAI AND HOW DOES IT PROTECT TRIBES? FUNAI, the National Indian Foundation, is the Brazilian government body that establishes and carries out policies relating to indigenous peoples. They are responsible for mapping out and protecting lands traditionally inhabited and used by these communities. The group is charged with preventing invasions of indigenous territories by outsiders. All over Brazil, indigenous peoples are living in differing degrees of isolation. Illegal miners, ranchers, loggers and other groups pose a risk to Indians' lives and well-being and destroy their natural resources. FUNAI's task is to ensure that their rights are respected as set out in the Brazilian Constitution and the Indian Statutem according to Survival International Its work is wide-ranging and includes opposition to 'Hakani', the controversial evangelical missionary film which promotes intervention by the authorities in tribal communities. Advertisement Funai, who works to protect the rights of indigenous people and isolated groups, claims there are 113 uncontacted tribes in the Brazilian Amazon, 27 of which they have confirmed sightings of. Survival International says there may be as many as 300 uncontacted Indians living in the Massaco territory in Rondonia. It is thought many tribes have chosen to avoid contact based on previous encounters which have resulted in the destruction of their forest homes. Experts say tribes have been known to fire arrows at outsiders or aircraft or simply retreat deeper in to the rainforest. However, other uncontacted groups are facing extinction with no more than a handful of individuals left, the group says. They are coming under increasing threat from infrastructure and road building projects and are increasingly abandoning their territory to avoid the noise and air pollution that comes with it. Having avoided contact with the outside world, tribes are vulnerable to diseases like flu or even the common cold. Tiny clusters living mainly in Rondonia, Mato Grosso and Maranhao states 'are the survivors of brutal land grabs when they were targeted and murdered by loggers, ranchers, and others', according to the organisation, which works to protect tribal peoples' rights. In 2016, extraordinary photographs taken from a helicopter flying over the Amazonian jungle showed members of one of the world's last uncontacted tribespeople. One man appeared to aim a bow and arrow at the aircraft In 2008, an incredible set of pictures emerged of tribesmen hurling spears and firing bow and arrows at an aircraft buzzing overhead Survival International said: 'The uncontacted peoples of Brazil must be protected and their land rights recognised before they, along with the forests they depend on, vanish forever.' The Amazon rain forest spans 2,100,000 square miles with huge areas still thought to remain unexplored. In 2016, extraordinary photographs taken from a helicopter flying over the Amazonian jungle showed members of one of the world's last uncontacted tribespeople. When the helicopter first appeared low overhead, they were panic-stricken fleeing from their thatched shelters in a clearing to hide under the foliage. Then the men took courage and fired volleys of primitive arrows at the noisy interloper. The Indians exist in isolated nomadic groups in the depths of the Brazilian rainforest near the Peruvian border. 'To think that in the 21st century, there are still people who have no contact with civilisation, living like their ancestors did 20,000 years ago it's a powerful emotion,' Photographer Ricardo Stuckert told National Geographic magazine. In 2008, an incredible set of pictures emerged of tribesmen hurling spears and firing bow and arrows at an aircraft buzzing overhead. Their skin was painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the plane. Advertisement An artist has taken some of the defining historical moments of the past 150 years and brought them to life in 'colourised' photos. Brazilian artist Marina Amaral has transformed photos from around the world. The stunning collection of images capture emotive moments from both the past, including Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in traditional German lederhosen intended to encourage national pride. Ms Amaral has also breathed new life into celebrity photos, such as those of Elvis and of key historical figures. The following picutres are extracted from The Colour Of Time by Dan Jones and Marina Amaral, to be published on August 9. KNOBBLY KNEED NAZI: During the early 1920s, when this picture was taken, the Nazis and their leader Adolf Hitler were a rising force in Bavaria. Traditional German folk costumes such as the lederhosen Hitler is wearing here were co-opted by the fascists to help encourage national pride GI BLUES: In March 1958, Elvis Presley the king of rock was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving in West Germany with the 3rd Armoured Division. This photo dates from the end of his military career by which time he had been promoted to sergeant. Elvis was honourably discharged in 1960 A bad, bad Monk: Rasputin was the piercing-eyed, womanising mystic credited with healing Russias haemophiliac royal heir, 11-year-old Alexei. Rasputin held great power over the Romanovs until, on December 30, 1916, he was killed by noblemen in St Petersburg Dancing spy: Erotic dancer, circus performer, mistress and courtesan, Mata Hari was born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in the Netherlands. She claimed to be a Hindu princess steeped in the art of dance. In truth, Mata Hari was more of an upmarket stripper. Shes pictured here aged 29 or 30 in 1906, just 11 years before she was accused of being a German spy and executed by French soldiers during World War I Egypt's golden boy: In November 1922 British Egyptologist Howard Carter stunned the world when he and his team found the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun. Carter is pictured examining the gold sarcophagus that held the 19-year-old rulers remains Plutonium paradise: the detonation of a plutonium bomb nicknamed Helen of Bikini in the Marshall Islands on July 25, 1946. The remote Bikini Atoll in the Western Pacific became a favourite location for U.S. nuclear tests. Its 167 inhabitants never returned to their contaminated homeland The Palace of wonders in 1851, Britain launched the Great Exhibition. More than 100,000 items were displayed in a Crystal Palace erected in Londons Hyde Park. Over more than five months, nearly six million visitors viewed objects that included rare china, locomotives, porcelain and silks, a folding piano, a set of Cossack armour, jewels such as the huge Koh-i-Noor diamond and a 50kg lump of Chilean gold. Pictured here are two plaster-of-Paris colossi made from casts taken at the temple of Abu Simbel in Egypt Disastrous end to airship travel: The German airship LZ 129 Hindenburg had crossed the Atlantic in three days, carrying 36 passengers and around twice as many crew, when it came in to dock at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in New Jersey on May 6, 1937. Dozens of reporters and cameramen were waiting to capture a masterpiece of engineering. Instead, they watched in horror as the Hindenburg filled with highly flammable hydrogen gas caught fire, pitched backwards and crashed to the ground. Those on board leapt to escape, but in less than a minute the airship was destroyed, killing 13 passengers and 22 crew Extracted from The Colour Of Time by Dan Jones and Marina Amaral, to be published by Head Of Zeus on August 9 at 25. Dan Jones and Marina Amaral. To buy this book for 20 (20 per cent discount), call 0844 571 0640 or go to mailshop.co.uk/books. Offer valid until August 10, 2018, p&p free. A Brazilian plastic surgeon known as 'Dr BumBum' has been charged with murder following the death of one of his patients. The celebrity surgeon, whose real name is Dr. Denis Furtado, initially went on the run following the death of his patient Lilian Calixto, 46, last month. Prosecutors claim he used too much acrylic filler during the procedure, and had chosen a chemical which Brazilian Plastic Surgery Society has warned against using. Death by surgery: Lilian Calixto (right) travelled to Rio de Janeiro to undergo the procedure at the home of renowned surgeon to the stars Dr Denis Furtado (left) The charge sheet states that Dr Furtado 'had attracted women with the false promise of quick and immediate beauty', BBC reports. It also emerged that he was not licensed to practice medicine in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Dr Furtado was arrested a few days after Mrs Calixto's death, along with his mother, maid and girlfriend. The three women had reportedly been assisting Dr Furtado during the surgery which took place in his own home in Rio de Janeiro. Dr Furtado and his mother Maria Barros were pictured in handcuffs as they were led away for questioning. Dr Furtardo (centre) was pictured being led away by police in front of baying journalists after his capture last month Bank manager Ms Calixto had travelled to Rio de Janeiro from Cuiaba, central Brazil, specifically to be operated on by the 'surgeon to the stars' Arrested: Police arrested both Dr Bumbum and his mother, who reportedly helped him during the procedure along with his girlfriend and his maid Bank manager Ms Calixto had travelled to Rio de Janeiro from Cuiaba, central Brazil, specifically to be operated on by the 'surgeon to the stars'. The married mother-of-two reportedly arrived at Furtado's apartment in the upmarket Barra da Tijuca district of Rio on Saturday July 14. It is believed she had booked to have PMMA acrylic fillers injected to increase the size of her buttocks, as well as a hormone implant to treat symptoms of the menopause. Soon after receiving the injections at 10pm, she reportedly fell ill and started gasping for air, and her condition quickly deteriorated. Furtado and his mother reportedly took her to the local Barra D'Or hospital, where she was admitted at 11pm in an 'extremely severe condition, unresponsive to manoeuvres'. Despite the efforts of hospital staff, she died at 1am the next morning. Married mother-of-two Ms Calixto reportedly arrived at Furtado's apartment in the upmarket Barra da Tijuca district of Rio de Janeiro on July 14 Dr Furtado regularly makes appearances on Brazilian TV and has more than 647,000 followers on Instagram. He boasts of performing more than 8,000 butt enlargement surgeries, with the rich and famous among his clients. On his Instagram page, Furtado has posted dozens of 'before and after' photos of bottoms of women on whom he has performed butt lift surgery. A recent video shows him with Flavia Tamario, a contestant on last year's popular Miss Bumbum competition. He kisses Flavia and calls her his 'most grateful patient' after she says: 'I'm here with Dr Bumbum. I'll be this Wednesday on the Superpop channel, realising my dream'. Russian military forces are preparing for massive war games involving China and Mongolia in what Kremlin officials have called the country's largest show of power in nearly 40 years. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said five days of military drills will pave the way for the Vostok (East) 2018 military exercise. Those manoeuvres, set for next month, will be the largest since the massive Soviet war games in 1981, he said. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said President Vladimir Putin could attend the exercise. Russian military forces are preparing for massive war games involving China and Mongolia in what Kremlin officials have called the country's largest show of power in nearly 40 years (file picture) The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said President Vladimir Putin (pictured, yesterday) could attend the exercise Speaking to the top Russian military brass, Shoigu said army, air force and navy units will take part in the exercise that will be held across the Far East and Siberia. He added that military units from China and Mongolia will also take part. As part of a smaller, separate military exercise this week under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security group dominated by Moscow and Beijing, Chinese warplanes landed Monday at a Russian air base in the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural Mountains. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the five days of military drills will pave the way for the Vostok (East) 2018 military exercise. Those manoeuvres, set for next month, will be the largest since the massive Soviet war games in 1981, he said The Russian military has increased both the scope and frequency of its maneuvers amid tensions with the West. It also has expanded military ties with China. Moscow and Beijing have conducted a series of joint military maneuvers, including exercises in the South China Sea and navy drills in the Baltics last summer. The two countries have forged what they described as a 'strategic partnership,' expressing their shared opposition to the 'unipolar' world - the term they use to describe perceived U.S. global domination. A controversial proposal to tax Chinese couples without children has sparked public outcry. As China faces faltering birth rates and an ageing population, Hu Jiye (), a finance professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview that the Chinese government should consider imposing a 'no child tax' on DINK (Dual Income, No Kids) families for future social support funds. 'These DINK couples have no offspring to take care of them once they grow old and therefore will consume social resources,' Hu told Chinese online portal Sohu's think tank on Thursday. 'That's why DINK families should be taxed.' Hu also supported the idea of a 'fertility fund' floated by two academics where the government should tax working adults below the age of 40 to subsidise families having a second child. A professor at China University of Political Science and Law said in an interview that the Chinese government should consider imposing a 'no child tax' on families without children The childbirth fund proposal was published on Tuesday in Xinhua Daily, a government-backed newspaper in east China's Jiangsu province and was co-authored by Nanjing University economic professors Liu Zhibiao and Zhang Ye. The article, titled 'Boosting fertility: a new task for China's population development in the New Era', stated that all citizens below the age of 40, regardless of gender, should contribute a certain percentage of their salary each year to the birth fund. 'Families having a second child can apply to draw money from the fund as compensation for the income loss the woman and her family incur during the maternity period,' the authors proposed. 'If a family decides to not have a second child, the couple can withdraw the money deposited in the fund upon retirement,' the article stated, adding that the government should immediately remove all birth limits as a short-term response to the country's declining birthrate. The suggestions come amid a nationwide campaign to encourage families to have more children in a country that has just stepped away from a four-decade long one-child policy. The Chinese government is now encouraging families to have more children in a bid to tackle the country's demographic crisis with falling birth rates and an ageing population The proposals sparked furious debates on social media among Chinese citizens, who were growing tired of drastic changes in the country's family planning policies. Many slammed that the 'no child tax' is outright unreasonable while others condemned that the fertility fund is unfair to families who prefer having less than two children. 'People were fined and forced to get abortions when the country didn't want children. Now, they're forced to have more children and could even get taxed. What a ridiculous proposal!' one commented. 'Should people who were fined during the one-child policy era get their money back?' 'What kind of expert is this? There are many reasons for a couple to decide against having a second child, such as health, wrong timing, etc. He is overgeneralising.' The topic page with the title 'Taxation on DINK families' received more than 83 million views on Twitter-like Weibo. State broadcaster CCTV on Friday criticised the idea of a fertility fund, calling it an 'unreasonable' and 'absurd suggestion' in an online opinion piece. A new stamp (above) with three piglets has sparked speculation of a new birth-control policy 'We can encourage birth through promotion or formulating incentive policy, but we cannot punish those families with no kid or few kids in the name of 'establishing a birth fund,' the commentary said. 'Taxation is not the answer to everything.' Beijing abandoned the controversial rule in 2016 to allow all families to have two children, but the country's birth rate last year dropped to a 'shockingly low level' instead, contrary to the government's expectations. Currently, even if parents are permitted by law to have more children, many decided against doing so because raising a child has become too expensive. The surprising outcome has prompted the government to roll out policies including government subsidies and tax reductions in recent months for eligible couples in a bid to rejuvenate its greying population and shrinking workforce that could threaten its economy. For example, all of the 'second child' in Xianning in central China could enjoy free tuition fees when they go to the kindergarten, according to a latest government document released in early August. China abandoned its one-child police in 2016 to allow families to have two children (file photo) Couples in Xianning could enjoy extra housing benefits from the government and a better mortgage rate when buying a new home, reported BJNews. Second-time mothers there could also have an extended maternity leave up to six months, the report said. The Shihezi city in north-west China's Xinjiang Province launched five new incentives in June for families who are having a second child, including up to 1,000 yuan (113) subsidisation to help pay off the mother's hospital bills, reported The Paper. Speculations emerged last week after China Post released a set of new zodiac stamps depicting a happy pig family with three piglets. Critics claimed that parents might soon be able to have three children. Last year, the number of births in mainland China slipped 3.5 per cent to 17.23 million, compared with 17.86 million in 2016; while the birth rate - the number of live births per thousand of population per year - dropped from 12.95 in 2016 to 12.43, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China. In comparison, the birth rate of India - the world's second populous country after China - was 19 per thousand people in 2017. India's population is expected to surpass that of China in 2024, according to a UN forecast. A Chinese nurse has been hailed as a hero after trying to save an injured elderly woman while still wearing her wedding dress. Bride-to-be Xie Dan, rushed to perform CPR on the pensioner after witnessing a traffic accident on her way to have her wedding photos taken on Saturday, according to media reports. The nurse later told the press modestly: 'I only did what I should have done.' Xie Dan, a nurse from north-east China, squats to give the injured woman resuscitation. She has been hailed as a hero after trying to save the woman still wearing her wedding dress The heart-warming scene took place in north-east China's Dalian city, according to a video report by Xinhua. The elderly woman, in her 70s, had been knocked off her tricycle by a car and was seriously injured, Dalian traffic police told the local Peninsula Morning Post. The woman died in the hospital later after doctors failed to save her. Nevertheless, Ms Xie's kind attempt to save her became widely reported in China. It is said that Ms Xie's car happened to be passing the scene of the accident in Dalian's Wafangdian, and Ms Xie immediately jumped off her vehicle and started giving the pensioner resuscitation. Peninsula Morning Post reported that Ms Xie is a nurse at the Wafangdian Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. She left the rescue scene quietly after the paramedics arrived, it is reported. Ms Xie later told the paper that she only did what she should have done. A witness of the event told Xinhua that Ms Xie said if she hadn't stopped to try to save the woman, she would feel guilty. The injured pensioner sustained severe injuries on the head and was taken to the hospital by an ambulance. She passed away in the hospital, Xinhua reported. The heart-warming incident took place on Saturday in cosmopolitan Dalian (file photo) Pictures and footage of Ms Xie's selfless act have been widely shared by media in China. The public has praised Ms Xie for her kindness and sent her warm wishes. One user commented on Twitter-like Weibo: 'She is the prettiest bride.' Another said: 'She has a beautiful face and an even more beautiful heart. I wish her happiness for the rest of her life.' A third one said: 'Her charity would be rewarded.' A man in China had to be rescued after getting his finger stuck in a sex toy vending machine. The man, known by the pseudonym of Zhu, said he was trying to reach a product he had paid for through a small hole when his hand was jammed, according to Chinese media. Zhu was trapped for 20 minutes or so before being freed on Sunday night. A firefighter tries to break a panel on the sex toy vending machine to free Zhu in China The man became stuck after trying to reach a product he had bought through a small hole The incident took place near a clinic in the city of Cixi in Zhejiang Province, said Zhejiang Firefighting Department which rescued Zhu. Zhu claimed that he had paid for the unspecified product on his mobile phone, but the product failed to drop to the vending machine's receiving slot. He claimed to the police that he called the machine's customer service hotline, but the representatives weren't able to help, therefore he had to solve the problem by himself, reported Zhejiang Youth Daily. The customer claims that he had paid for the product on his mobile phone, but it failed to drop One firefighter uses a special polishing machine to cut through the panel in a bid to free Zhu The picture, released by the local firefighting department, shows the hole after Zhu was saved After seeing a small hole on a panel of the machine, Zhu decided to put his right ring finger into the hole in a bid to reach the product, the report said. But his finger got firmly stuck. Zhu had to call firefighters for help. The report said the rescuers used a special polishing machine to cut through the panel before using a stick to crack it. Zhu was freed after a 10-minute rescue effort. A critically ill woman has been selling her smiles in the street in China to raise money for a kidney transplant. Zhu Ya, 26, says on a signboard that she will smile at the pedestrians for one minute as long as they give her one yuan (11p). The former art teacher also sells stickers showing smiley faces while begging near a metro station in Chongqing. She told MailOnline that she had no other ways to fund the operation, which is her only hope of a cure and will cost around 500,000 yuan (56,625). Scroll down for video Zhu Ya, who has uremia, smiles at people in exchange for one yuan (11p) in Chongqing, China The former art teacher says life is difficult, but she would never give up hope or stop smiling Ms Zhu, who suffers from uremia, said because she was born into a farming family, she was only entitled to a type of national health care scheme that would cover 20 to 30 per cent of the medical costs. And that means if Ms Zhu wish to proceed with the transplant, the operation would leave her with an astronomical bill. She added that before she fell ill, she smiled a lot; and that was why she thought of the idea in order to save herself. Ms Zhu also enjoys drawing, having graduated from an art school in Shanghai. She is now making extra money by drawing portraits for other people at home in exchange for donations. She said people would call her to order drawings and she would send the finished products back to them in post. 'I want to carry on living optimistically, for my mother and my husband who love me so much; and more importantly for myself,' she said. 'I won't stop smiling.' Zhu draws portraits for people before sending the sketches to them in exchange for donations Zhu enjoys drawing (a drawing from her on the right) and wants to raise the funds for her kidney transplant with her own hands. Despite her illness, Zhu is still smiling at life Ms Zhu's life was changed overnight when she was diagnosed with uremia three months ago. When someone has uremia, it means there is a build-up of urea - a toxic waste product usually found in urine - in the blood. Healthy kidneys should filter urea away. The condition is a symptom of kidney failure, and the only hope of a cure is a kidney transplant. A sick Ms Zhu, her husband and her mother moved to a rented flat in the city from the suburbs so that she could seek treatment at Xinqiao Hospital. They pay 1,100 yuan (124) per month to rent two rooms in a three-bedroom flat. Her husband of two years is a farmer from Sichuan Province and the only source of income in Ms Zhu's family. Ms Zhu said he used to make a living by picking up odd jobs, such as construction and restaurant works, but after she became sick, he had to quit all his jobs to take care of her full time. She was previously given the treatment at the South-west Hospital in Chongqing Zhu Ya needs to undergo peritoneal dialysis four times a day and she has dozens of empty plastic bags at home, which contained the cleansing fluid needed for each session As the Chinese saying goes, 'prolonged illness can turn a patient into an amateur doctor'. WHAT IS DIALYSIS? Dialysis is a way to remove wastes from a patient's blood and acts as a substitute for the normal function of the kidney. It is a vital treatment for patients who suffer from uremia. There are two types of dialysis: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. During a hemodialysis session, the patient's blood is pumped out of their body to an artificial kidney machine before being returned to their body via tubes. While in peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of a patient's belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are removed by means of a cleansing fluid called dialysate. The fluid is washed in and out of a patient's belly in cycles. It is possible for patients to carry out peritoneal dialysis at home. Source: National Kidney Foundation of America Advertisement Ms Zhu even learnt how to give herself daily peritoneal dialysis treatment to save money - each session in hospital costs 52 yuan (5.9) and she needs it four times a day to stay alive. Ms Zhu said she learnt the process from doctor Zhang Ling, who had treated her at the South-west Hospital in Chongqing. Speaking to MailOnline, Dr. Zhang confirmed Ms Zhu's accounts of her illness. 'She could come to the hospital three times a week, four hours a time for hemodialysis, but considering she is young and her financial situation is poor, I've taught her how to do peritoneal dialysis so she could survive,' Dr. Zhang said. 'I hope that the public could help her,' she added. Ms Zhu's biggest wish is to raise enough money as soon as possible so she could have a kidney transplant. She said both Xinqiao and South-west hospitals were working with the Chinese Red Cross Society to find her a suitable donor. Ms Zhu's mother is also willing to offer Ms Zhu one of her kidneys if needed. The strong-willed woman has raised about 80,000 yuan (9,049) through friends, relatives and kind strangers, and is looking for 420,000 yuan (47,508) more. Zhu weeps while trying to sell her smiles near a metro station to raise money for her treatment Faced with the difficult situation in life, once-smiley Ms Zhu is still optimistic and has never given up her hope of living. She said she had thought about what she would do if she recovers. 'I would like to work as a volunteer to cheer for other patients and to pass on hope and smiles to them,' she said. 'I also wish to travel to Tibet with my mum and my husband.' With the help of volunteers from Chinese crowd-funding app Shui Di Chou, Zhu Ya has set up an account on the app to raise money. Advertisement Two window cleaners had to be rescued after they were trapped in a dangling basket near the top of a 61-storey skyscraper in south China. The workers were stuck 200 metres (660 feet) above the ground outside the 56th floor of the Huayuan Hua Centre in Changsha city after their gondola had broken down. Firefighters were finally able to lift the men to safety in a dramatic three-hour rescue operation on Tuesday. The workers were stuck at 660ft high on the side of the Huayuan Hua Centre in China after their gondola broke down One of the two cleaners trapped in the dangling basket outside of the hotel in Changsha, Hunan is being pulled up to the top Video footage of the terrifying ordeal in Hunan province shows the workers dangling between the 56th and 57th floor in the scaffolding unit under the scorching heat at about 1:40pm. The wires of the platform had derailed at about noon, causing the cradle to suddenly malfunction in mid-air, according to the Hunan Fire Department in a news release on Wednesday. 'Temperatures had reached almost 36 degrees Celsius and the two men were directly under the sun,' the fire department said in their statement. Strong winds were blowing against the platform and the workers were almost like sitting in a swing, rescuers later said The wires of the platform had derailed at about noon, causing the cradle to malfunction in mid-air (left), according to rescuers. The two men were rescued at 3:54pm and 4:35pm respectively (right) after being trapped for four hours 'Strong winds were blowing against the basket and the workers were almost like sitting in a swing,' they added. 'It was a difficult situation.' The team of 15 firefighters on scene transported two sets of safety harnesses as well as food and water to the workers while they discuss the safest method to rescue the men. The window panels of the hotel were installed from the outside and could not be removed from inside the building, leaving rescuers the option of breaking the glass. However, after considering that the falling glass shards could risk the safety of the trapped workers as well as passing pedestrians and vehicles below, the team decided to come up with a different plan. Temperatures had reached almost 36 degrees Celsius on Tuesday afternoon and the two men were directly under the sun Firefighters decided to employ the spare rescue hook on the support arm of the basket to set up a rescue line on the top floor The team of 15 firefighters on scene transported two sets of safety harnesses to the workers while they discuss the safest method to rescue the men. They were finally able to pull them up outside of the building to the top floor after several hours In the end, firefighters decided to employ the spare rescue hook on the support arm of the basket to set up a rescue line on the top floor. After attaching the safety harnesses onto the workers, rescuers carefully hauled them up outside of the building to the top floor. The two men were pulled to safety at 3:54pm and 4:35pm respectively after being trapped in the cradle for four hours. It is believed that the workers were unhurt. A boy has narrowed escaped death after large chunks of concrete fell from heights and smashed to the ground just inches away from him. It is reported that the concrete had collapsed from the side of a high-rise residential building. The boy was trying to leave the building before he saw the debris came crashing down on him on Sunday in a Chinese city. The boy stands at the gate of the high-rise building in China before the concrete collapses He runs as quickly as he can after seeing large slabs of the exterior wall falling off the building A video, shared by Shanghai-based Shine.cn, shows that the child hesitated a little before deciding to run out of the building. The concrete slabs landed by his feet as he made the dash for life to the other side. Several residents were seen sitting and relaxing outside the building, but they made a quick escape after seeing that part of the exterior wall was about to fall. The incident took place in the Xiyinmen Estate in Bengbu in east China's Anhui Province, according to Anhui Net. It is said that there are 30 buildings in the estate, and six of them have seen part of its outer walls crumbling and falling off. Residents in the estate have expressed serious concerns of their safety, according to the report. It is said that the insulation material in the wall is faulty, which causes the wall to crack and collapse (left). The debris smashed to smithereens after falling dozens of feet (right) A spokesperson from the management company of the estate told Anhui Net it was likely that the insulation material in the wall was faulty, which caused the wall to bulge and crack. Wu Changfei, the manager of the Bengbu Urban Construction Investment Company, said the residential towers were built five years ago by the government. Mr Wu agreed that the quality of the insulation material was not up to standard. He suspected that the material had failed to sustain the changes of temperature between seasons. The construction company is set to start renovation works on the relevant buildings as soon as possible. A new report claims that a Chinese company was able to insert code into the programming for Hillary Clinton's private email server and managed to forward her emails to a third party in real time. The claim was made by Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert, who has put forward complex conspiracy theories, as well as by an anonymous former intelligence official who spoke to theDaily Caller, which reported the story. According to the report, two officials with the inspector general for the Intelligence Committee, identified as investigator Frank Rucker and lawyer Janette McMillan, warned FBI officials about the Chinese intrusion, to no avail. Hillary Clinton's emails were automatically forwarded to a Chinese firm located in Virginia, a report claimed Tuesday A former member of the IG's office told the publication: 'When [the ICIG] did a very deep dive, they found in the actual metadata the data which is at the header and footer of all the emails that a copy, a 'courtesy copy,' was being sent to a third party and that third party was a known Chinese public company that was involved in collecting intelligence for China.' 'The [the ICIG] believe that there was some level of phishing,' the source said, according to the report. 'But once they got into the server something was embedded,' he said. 'The Chinese are notorious for embedding little surprises like this.' Clinton's email server became a top topic of discussion during the 2016 elections The claim of an 'anomaly' was referenced by Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert at a public hearing. He said it related to a country other than Russia But the official failed to identify the company, which would provide one way to verify the authenticity of the claim. ''We do know the name of the company. There are indications there are other 'cutouts' that were involved,' the official said. 'I would be in a lot of trouble if I gave you the name,' the person said. At a public hearing in July, Gohmert grilled former FBI official Peter Strzok on why he wasn't able to recall more about a meeting with the IG and other officials about ' an anomoly they had found on Hillary Clinton's emails that were going to and from the private unauthorized server that you were supposed to be investigating.' Strzok remember the meeting, but little more, prompting Gohmert to express astonishment why he didn't know about each Clinton email going to an 'unauthorized source' that he said was a 'foreign entity unrelated to Russia.' Clinton's emails got forwarded in real time, according the press report sourced to anonymous officials Former Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill trashed the report as well as the publication when it sought comment. 'This is the most combed over subject in modern American political history,' Merrill said. 'The FBI spent thousands of hours investigating, and found no evidence of intrusion. That's a fact.' Gohmert has also made claims about the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating the U.S. and the Russians tipping the election to Harry Truman in 1948. He drew media ridicule for holding up a chart last year at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that connected Justice Department officials, a Uranium company, former attorney general Eric Holder, Benghazi, political intelligence firm Fusion GPS, Clinton's secret server, Bill Clinton, the IRS targeting scandal, and other topics. In a late-night tweet, President Donald Trump has called on the Department of Justice and FBI to investigate claims that the Chinese government hacked Hillary Clinton's infamous private email server. 'Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China,' Trump tweeted shortly after midnight, referring to the claim made earlier Tuesday in a Daily Caller report. 'Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!' the President continued, referring to a list of his familiar grievances with DOJ. The report claimed that a Chinese company known to conduct government espionage was able to insert code into Clinton's homebrew server, and managed to forward her emails to a third party in real time. 'Hillary Clintons Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China,' Trump tweeted shortly after midnight, referring to a report making that claim Tuesday Trump had also tweeted about the China hacking allegations earlier Tuesday evening, in a more lighthearted tone. 'Report just out: China hacked Hillary Clintons private Email Server. Are they sure it wasnt Russia (just kidding!)?,' Trump wrote. 'What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!' he continued. The bombshell report on the Chinese hacking allegations cited two sources: an anonymous intelligence officer and Republican Rep. Louie Gomert, who has put forward complex conspiracy theories in the past. According to the report, two officials with the inspector general for the Intelligence Committee, identified as investigator Frank Rucker and lawyer Janette McMillan, warned FBI officials about the Chinese intrusion, to no avail. A former member of the IG's office told the publication: 'When [the ICIG] did a very deep dive, they found in the actual metadata the data which is at the header and footer of all the emails that a copy, a 'courtesy copy,' was being sent to a third party and that third party was a known Chinese public company that was involved in collecting intelligence for China.' Hillary Clinton's emails were automatically forwarded to a Chinese firm located in Virginia, a report claimed Tuesday 'The [the ICIG] believe that there was some level of phishing,' the source said, according to the report. 'But once they got into the server something was embedded,' he said. 'The Chinese are notorious for embedding little surprises like this.' But the official failed to identify the company, which would provide one way to verify the authenticity of the claim. ''We do know the name of the company. There are indications there are other 'cutouts' that were involved,' the official said. 'I would be in a lot of trouble if I gave you the name,' the person said. At a public hearing in July, Gohmert grilled former FBI official Peter Strzok on why he wasn't able to recall more about a meeting with the IG and other officials about ' an anomoly they had found on Hillary Clinton's emails that were going to and from the private unauthorized server that you were supposed to be investigating.' Strzok remember the meeting, but little more, prompting Gohmert to express astonishment why he didn't know about each Clinton email going to an 'unauthorized source' that he said was a 'foreign entity unrelated to Russia.' The claim of an 'anomaly' was referenced by Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert at a public hearing. He said it related to a country other than Russia Former Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill trashed the report as well as the publication when it sought comment. 'This is the most combed over subject in modern American political history,' Merrill said. 'The FBI spent thousands of hours investigating, and found no evidence of intrusion. That's a fact.' Gohmert has also made claims about the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating the U.S. and the Russians tipping the election to Harry Truman in 1948. He drew media ridicule for holding up a chart last year at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that connected Justice Department officials, a Uranium company, former attorney general Eric Holder, Benghazi, political intelligence firm Fusion GPS, Clinton's secret server, Bill Clinton, the IRS targeting scandal, and other topics. Advertisement A jaguar has been caught on camera snatching a vulture out of the air in a breath-taking fight for survival. After spotting the scavenger bird resting in the shade, the female wildcat pounced on her prey in an incredible tug-of-war. The jaguar jumped to catch the fleeing black vulture, ripping it out of mid-air and wrestling it back to the ground as its huge wings flapped at full stretch. Vultures are usually known as the opportunistic scavengers of the animal kingdom and do not expect to be attacked by Jaguars. The unfortunate bird was caught completely unaware as it sat by a stretch of water at The Pantanal, Encontro das Aguas State Park in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The incredible images were captured by tourist Khanh Le, 54, from Austin, Texas, who said: Ive been told jaguars rarely go for birds since its too much effort for too little in return, so it is rare to have witnessed something like this. You're not getting away that easily: Catching sight of the hungry Jaguar, the bird quickly took flight but only managed to get a couple of feet into the air before the prowling predator clawed at the vulture and sunk its teeth into her prey I've got you! The epic battle for survival was captured at The Pantanal, Encontro das Aguas State Park in Mato Grosso, Brazil, by tourist Khanh V Le, 54, from Austin, Texas The take down: As the desperate vulture attempted to free itself from the clutches of the jaguar it was slammed back into the water Ready to lunch: Spotting the vulture in the shade, the wild cat pounced on her unsuspecting victim. The photographer said: 'We had been following jaguar for about an hour along the riverbank. We knew she was hunting because she was dodging in and out of the vegetation and looking down at the river.' Come back here! Rare photographs of the fight for survival show the jaguar's huge paws grab on to its helpless prey. Khanh V Le said: 'It was fun and exhilarating to be able capture my first kill, albeit a bird instead of the usual caiman. Though I have been told that jaguars rarely go for birds since it's too much effort for too little in return, so it is a rare event to have witnessed something like this and captured it.' You're mine: The snarling animal grabbed the vulture in its mouth and wrestled it back to the ground. 'The pictures show the dynamic of a tug-of-war with jaguar pulling downward while the black vulture desperately pulls upwards and away,' the photographer said Inches from death: The scavenger bird was caught completely unaware as it rested in the shade by a stretch of water Not flying quite high enough: Jaguars are thought not to hunt birds as it is a lot of effort for very little meat A grisly end: The scavenger bird was then slammed into the water as the tug-of-war comes to a close Squawking for help: Jaguars are the third largest big cat and the species which lives in Brazil can weigh on average 24.5st (136kg) This is the sickening moment a cruel fisherman sits on a sea turtle and rides the distressed animal along the deck of a ship. The clip, thought to have been captured in China, shows a man cheering as he puts his whole crushing weight on the turtle's back, jams his fingers under its shell and begins to shuffle along. He then drags it back along deck before letting out another crazed scream and lifting the terrified creature up by the hind flippers. Other fishermen watch on and do nothing as the helpless reptile thrashes around. The fisherman tries to flip the turtle around but twice drops it on its head on the metal deck after struggling with the weight. Sickening footage shows a cruel fisherman sitting on a sea turtle and riding the distressed animal along the deck of a ship Cruel: The thug drags the turtle back along deck before letting out another crazed scream and lifting up the terrified creature by the hind flippers Heartless: Eventually, the unnamed man picks the turtle up and begins to stagger around the ship with the animal waving its front flippers around Eventually, the unnamed man picks it up and begins to stagger around the ship with the animal waving its front flippers around. It is not yet clear exactly when the footage was taken but it is believed to have taken place in the seas off China. The video has sparked outrage online after it was posted on Instagram. 'This is just so hard for me to watch. How can human beings be so cruel?' wrote one Instagram user. 'The poor animal they dont harm a soul - didnt deserve that,' wrote another under a version of the clip posted on Liveleak. It comes after about 300 endangered sea turtles were found dead off the southern coast of Mexico on Tuesday, trapped in fishing nets, shortly after more than 100 dead turtles were recovered. Fishermen in the southern state of Oaxaca discovered the turtles in the seaside community of Barra de Colotepec, said Heliodoro Diaz, the coordinator of the state's civil protection agency. The clip, thought to have been captured in China, shows a man cheering as he puts his whole crushing weight on the turtle's back, jams his fingers under its shell and begins to shuffle along It is not yet clear exactly when the footage was taken but it is believed to have taken place in the seas off China. The video has sparked outrage online after it was posted on Instagram The fisherman tries to flip the turtle around but twice drops it on its head on the metal deck after struggling with the weight Images captured by a Reuters videographer showed dozens of dead turtles, many beginning to decompose, caught in what appeared to be a net. The olive ridley turtles, which Mexican authorities say are at risk of extinction, measure about 29.5 ins in length and weigh some 99 pounds. From May to September, they descend on various Mexican states along the Pacific Ocean to lay their eggs. Mexico, which is home to six of the world's seven species of sea turtles, has a permanent program to protect the reptiles, including criminal penalties for those who kill them. The office of the federal attorney for environmental protection (PROFEPA) said it would investigate the case. Earlier this month, authorities said they were investigating the deaths of 113 sea turtles at risk of extinction - 102 olive ridley turtles, six hawksbill, and five belonging to the green turtle species - in a sanctuary in the southern state of Chiapas. Experts said asphyxiation, fish hooks or harmful algae could have killed the turtles, but the cause is still being investigated, PROFEPA said. A toddler who went missing in the woods in south China has been found unharmed after spending five days alone with no food or water. 20-month-old Xiaojiao wandered into the forest behind her home in Guangxi region last Monday and her father, Chen Qingran, reported her missing the next day after he could not find her. The little girl was finally discovered on Friday by a local power station worker, who saw her lying on the ground in the bushes near a canal. 20-month-old toddler Xiaojiao who went missing in the woods in Guangxi region's south China has been found unharmed on Friday after spending five days alone with no food or water A local power station worker saw Xiaojiao lying on the ground in the bushes near a canal The missing girl's home (left) and the location where she was found (right) in the woods Xiaojiao is the youngest daughter of Chen and was reportedly playing with her six-year-old brother and four-year-old sister near their home but later wandered away. Video footage of the search shows officers wielding torches and tools searching for the girl on foot tirelessly, day and night. They also deployed sniffer dogs during the operation. The police completed a search radius of about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) and more than 700 people including officers and volunteers were involved in Xiaojiao's search, according to Hangzhou Daily. Doctors also speculated the girl might have survived on rainwater while lying on the ground When Xiaojiao was discovered, the tot was severely dehydrated and covered with insect bites The police completed a search radius of about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) and more than 700 people including officers and volunteers were involved in looking for Xiaojiao When she was finally discovered, the tot was severely dehydrated and covered with insect bites - but she was miraculously alive despite having no access to food or water for five days. She was immediately taken to hospital, where doctor Li Dejian of the Yulin Orthopedics Hospital said Xiaojiao's case was a 'miracle'. Dr Li also speculated that the girl might have survived on sipping rainwater while lying on the ground. 'All our officers are relived by the happy news. Xiaojiao has been given a second chance in life!' the Guangxi Rong County Security Bureau said it its official Weibo account. Doctors of the Yulin Orthopedics Hospital said Xiaojiao's case was a 'miracle' Xiaojiao is the youngest daughter of Chen and was reportedly playing with her six-year-old brother and four-year-old sister near their home but later wandered away on Monday An impatient driver in central China was arrested after he was filmed tackling and breaking a traffic light in the middle of a road. The man felt that he had been waiting too long at the red light in Jinshi city and decided to take matter into his own hands, according to local police. The 36-year-old man, later identified by his surname Xin, was filmed running up to the traffic light island and smashing the pole violently. An impatient driver in Jinshi city, central China was arrested after he was filmed wrestling and breaking a traffic light in the middle of the road. He was detained and fined by the police Local police finally nabbed the suspect on Wednesday following a two-week manhunt The bizarre incident happened at about 11pm on August 20 in Hunan province, with local police finally nabbing the suspect on Wednesday following a two-week manhunt. The man had been waiting at the light for about two minutes before getting impatient. Prior to the incident, he told police that he was involved with an argument with a friend and was 'in a bad mood'. Traffic cameras at the crossroads between Jiuli Avenue and Shuangji Road captured the suspect running up to the temporary traffic light in the middle of the intersection. The seemingly content driver then struts back to his vehicle and drove away Traffic cameras at the crossroads between Jiuli Avenue and Shuangji Road captured the suspect violently breaking the temporary traffic light in the middle of the intersection The man had been waiting at the light for about two minutes before getting impatient He leaps up and hooks the pole with his right arm, bringing it down with force, causing it to crash to the ground. The seemingly content driver then struts back to his vehicle out of camera shot and drove away. Xin was found guilty of vandalising state property and detained for five days. He was also fined, according to a news release by Jinshi Security Bureau. The police has also warned the public against any irrational behaviour that could jeopardise other people's safety. A divorce lawyer to the rich and famous has revealed how her tangled love life, including having four children with three men, has inspired her to be fierce, subtle and clever for her millionaire clients. Ayesha Vardag has told how she loved and lost her first husband after having an affair, had a baby during a romance with a much younger man and has now finally found happiness with her latest husband, becoming a mum again at 50. Speaking for the first time in a searingly-honest interview, the mother-of-four cradles seven-week-old son Orfeo with her astrophysicist entrepreneur husband Stephen Bence, 46, as she says: 'I've had lots of relationships and I've been a single mother so there's nothing that my clients tell me that I haven't been through myself. 'I bond with them over that during meetings, but now I've come full circle and I'm the happiest that I've ever been in my personal life.' Top divorce lawyer Ayesha Vardag has revealed how her tangled love life, including having four children with three men, has inspired her to be fierce, subtle and clever for her clients Ayesha told MailOnline how she uses her life story to help her clients: I have to be fierce, subtle and the cleverest person in the room' Ayesha has told how she lost her first husband after having an affair, had a baby during a romance with a much younger man, a colleague, and has now finally found happiness with her latest husband Stephen Bence (pictured) by becoming a mum again at 50 with baby Orfeo Ayesha, who lives in a 2.2m home in Hants with her second husband Stephen Bence (pictured), had her eldest sons two eldest sons Jasper, 23, and Felix, 21, (pictured) with her first husband and daughter Helena, 14, (pictured) from a romance with a colleague ten years her junior Ayesha told MailOnline how she uses her life story to help her clients: I have to be fierce, subtle and the cleverest person in the room. 'l have to use the best tactics to win cases, not just to get the best deal for my clients, but also so that their families aren't completely destroyed in the process and they can be still be a family in the future. Speaking from her stylish 2.2 million farmhouse in Hampshire, one of her four homes with others in London, Italy and Dubai, Ayesha is impeccably turned out thanks to her army of staff, a nanny, two housekeepers, a personal assistant and her mother who helps out. She describes how her turbulent personal life began in 1999 when she split up from her first husband Xavier Hunter with whom she had her two eldest sons Jasper, 23, and Felix, 21. 'I'd always thought that my first marriage break-up was my lowest point. 'I'd always thought he was the love of my life. He was my handsome and funny boss who was three years older than me when I was starting out and he became the father of my two sons. 'Over time though things weren't right between us. I met someone else and I told him that I wanted out. Then he met someone else and suddenly I was devastated about losing him. Ayesha, pictured with her seven-week-old son told MailOnline how she uses her life story to get the best deal for clients: I have to be fierce, subtle and the cleverest person in the room.' She describes how her turbulent personal life began in 1999 when she split up from her first husband Xavier Hunter who was her 'handsome and funny' boss with whom she had two sons Now she has finally found lasting happiness with her second husband Stephen Bence, whom she married at Winchester Cathedral in 2014 and with whom she shares five stepchildren She recalls with irony how her divorce ended up launching her own legal career when her lawyer Roger Tooth was so impressed with her preparation for the case that he hired her as his assistant. Fifteen years ago she set up her own firm and now oversees 500 divorces a year, representing some of the countrys wealthiest people. 'My relationship with my ex-husband has ebbed and flowed over the years. We had fun together recently at our son's graduation when we hadn't been friendly for a long time. 'We were able to laugh and remember why we got together in the first place. But it certainly hasn't always been like that. 'When we split up, our five-year marriage had broken down. I had become so extremely unhappy. I went off with an old flame who said he'd always loved me and wanted to look after me and my children. 'It was so attractive to me to be loved that I told my husband that I was having this relationship, and didn't know what I wanted to do. 'After a while I decided to leave him but then he found somebody else, which made me very upset. It all suddenly felt very final and the new relationship I'd embarked on had started to crumble by then. 'But the marriage had fallen apart because we were just incompatible. He was an amazing man in many ways, and I really had thought that he was the love of my life, but he was just not the man for me. I was madly in love with him and I was really heartbroken when I left. 'Now I have these conversations with my clients who've reached rock bottom and are despairing as I was. Now I say to them, 'look, I know, I've been there'. Ayesha puts her dysfunctional relationships with men in her early in her life down her complex relationship with her charming but absent father that shaped the course of her life. Ayesha puts her dysfunctional relationships with men in her early in her life down her complex relationship with her charming but absent father that shaped the course of her life She says her latest husband Stephen (pictured together on holiday) 'loves me for who I am' and says its different this time with him and their new baby Orfeo has cemented their relationship Her children Felix, Helena and Jasper have been getting to know their new baby brother Orfeo Growing up in Oxford with her single mother, her father had a secret family in Pakistan and she was left thinking she was not good enough to deserve his love. After her first marriage Ayesha embarked on a romance with a much younger man named Miles, a colleague, who was ten years her junior and with whom she had her daughter Helena, 14. She went on: It seemed very different when I met Miles. He was a colleague in the office where I was working as a solicitor. Lawyer Xavier Hunter was Ayesha's first husband before she had an affair, ending the marriage - but was upset when he moved on 'But it ended up fundamentally following the same path.' Now finally she says she has started a new, happy chapter in her life with her 'sweet, shy husband Stephen Bence, who she married at Winchester Cathedral in 2014 and who 'loves me for who I really am'. She says its different this time with him and their new baby has cemented their relationship. 'I'd always gone for dashing, charming people but they hadn't given me the emotional sustenance that I needed so these relationships would always burn out. But Stephen was sweet, shy, intellectually fascinating and he loves me for who I really am, even when I'm grumpy. He doesn't want me to be smaller in any way and he isn't intimidated by me. 'We've had a tempestuous relationship until the last year really, because we've both got tempers and we're both leaders. Ayesha, a lawyer to the rich and famous who oversees 500 divorces a year says her new baby son is a 'gift' that has brought her closer to her second husband, Stephen 'I've had a much less successful relationship history than him so in the past I'd usually just get out when it got tough. But he's got a much more steadfast approach where he works through any stormy waters so that's what we do. 'We've now got so much more on the inside going on between us and we've just started really understanding each other so much better. 'My pregnancy and having Orfeo, who's so very sweet, has been such a gift that he's also brought us so much closer together as a couple. Motherhood fourth time around and 14 years on is infinitely more relaxed. ' She added: 'Having grown up as an only child, I'd had quite a solitary existence. 'I'd never experienced such companionship and I dreamed of having a big, bustling, noisy, loving family one day with at least six children. Counting my stepchildren, I've achieved that now that Orfeo is here. 'Babies are such a joy and make me so immensely happy that I'd have a dozen if I could!' Death row inmate Patrick Murphy is challenging the state of Oklahoma's jurisdiction in the 1999 murder he admitted to committing. Murphy contends that the state of Oklahoma had no jurisdiction because he is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, committed the crime on native land - and a federal court has found the U.S. never formally disestablished the reservation A death row inmate who admitted to committing a grisly murder in 1999 could undo as many as 1,000 criminal convictions and change legal jurisdictions across nearly half of the state of Oklahoma after his case is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court next week. As a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation who committed a crime on what is potentially tribal land, Patrick Murphy contends that the state of Oklahoma had no jurisdiction when it convicted him in 2000 and sent him to death row for the mutilation and killing of a man named George Jacobs. His case is headed to the Supreme Court on November 27, and a win for Murphy could have far-reaching implications for criminal justice in Oklahoma, ultimately placing criminal and possibly civil jurisdiction over more than 4,600 square miles of land under federal or tribal authority. 'If the decision is upheld, every person who is a Native American and (was convicted of) a crime that occurred on native land would be entitled to challenge their conviction,' said Erik Grayless, first assistant district attorney for Tulsa County. 'It would be a flood of old cases that would need to be retried,' he told DailyMail.com. The swath of territory in the balance the Muscogee Creek Nation's boundaries as defined in 1866 includes 750,000 people and most of the city of Tulsa, according to the American Bar Association Journal. Currently, the tribe is the fourth largest in America with 86,100 citizens. An 1892 map of the Oklahoma tribal territories, including the Muscogee Creek Nation (listed as 'Creek Nation' on the map) and its 1866 boundaries. The Carpenter v. Murphy case is going before the U.S. Supreme Court November 27 and could revert the Muscogee Creek Nation's lands back to tribal authority, potentially raising massive jurisdictional issues for law enforcement Murphy was convicted and sentenced to death in Oklahoma state court, and a higher court upheld the decision in 2002. His attorneys have since appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, arguing that the land where Murphy killed Jacobs was defined as part of the tribe's reservation in an 1866 treaty, and that the federal government never actually disestablished the reservation. The state has argued that Congress terminated the Muscogee Creek lands and the tribe's authority when it dismantled tribal governments in the early 1900s. However, the 10th Circuit Court ruled in Murphy's favor in August 2017 a decision that Murphy's lawyers say means he should have been tried in federal court. The state is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the ruling of the 10th Circuit Court. Murphy's case could lead to the unraveling of hundreds or more cases over jurisdictional issues. These maps illustrate the historic boundaries of the Muscogee Creek Nation (top) and the original territories of the Five Tribes, which includes Muscogee Creek and covers more than 40 percent of the state of Oklahoma. A case heading to the U.S. Supreme Court next week could revert jurisdictional authority to the Muscogee Creek Nation and lead to the rest of the Five Tribes launching their own jurisdictional challenges to regain authority over the land When a serious crime is committed by a member of a federally recognized tribe on tribal land, the case is tried in federal court. Less serious crimes go to tribal court, while crimes committed by non-natives would go to state court. 'The tribal courts are utterly unprepared to deal with this,' Grayless said. 'They would have to hire a massive amount of personnel. The downstream consequences are pretty vast.' How nearly half of Oklahoma could return to tribal authority If Patrick Murphy wins before the U.S. Supreme Court and the justices uphold a decision that the federal government never actually disestablished the Muscogee Creek Nation's reservation, it could be just the beginning of jurisdictional woes in Oklahoma. The Muscogee Creek is part of the Five Tribes, a cohort that also includes the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole and Choctaw in Oklahoma. Each of the Five Tribes have land that is in similar legal limbo - with questions about whether the federal government officially disestablished each of their reservations more than 100 years ago. A Murphy victory could create legal precedent that would allow the other four tribes to attempt to regain their historic boundaries. If all of the Five Tribes were successful in those legal bids, 43 percent of the state of Oklahoma would become Indian country encompassing 48 percent of its population. Advertisement It would also mean a high number of criminal cases could be required to go through federal courts and the consequences of retrying a thousand or more cases would be far-reaching, he added. 'There are great concerns,' Grayless said. 'Because if a crime occurred 20 years ago and you have to retry the case, you have witnesses who may have died, evidence has likely been destroyed because these cases have already been in final conviction status files may be missing and just memories fade. Even if people are alive, you're asking a police officer to remember who he saw and what he saw decades ago. It would be an extreme challenge.' In addition, unraveling jurisdictional authority at the level of policing could become wildly complicated because it's not always obvious who has enough Muscogee Creek blood to qualify as a member of the tribal nation. 'Let's say you get a DUI and the guy is obviously drunk and he's passed out at the wheel,' Grayless said. 'You open his wallet and he just has an Oklahoma driver's license. Where does the officer take that person? The officer could be transporting him to the wrong jail or the wrong jurisdiction because the officer doesn't know if he's a member of the tribe.' A Murphy victory could also lead to four other Oklahoma tribes seeking to regain their historic boundaries. Collectively, the Muscogee Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole and Choctaw are known as the Five Tribes. All have tribal land that is in a similar legal limbo in which an explicit cession of land never took place at the federal level. Erik Grayless, first assistant district attorney for Tulsa County, says that the case of Carpenter v. Murphy could have massive jurisdictional consequences for the state of Oklahoma if Patrick Murphy's conviction is overturned If Muscogee Creek regains its territory as defined in 1866, the other four tribes would likely launch their own legal challenges to do the same. If all of the Five Tribes were successful, 43 percent of the state of Oklahoma would become Indian country encompassing 48 percent of its population. Lindsay Dowell, first assistant attorney general for the Muscogee Creek Nation told the American Bar Association that each tribe would have to individually do a 'historical deep dive' into their own treaty circumstances to determine whether they would also regain historic boundaries. 'If it extends to anyone, it extends to them,' Dowell told the ABA. 'But that would still have to be litigated.' Judith Royster, a professor of Indian law at the University of Tulsa, told the ABA that tribes would still have to prove they have a right to regulate specific activities under federal law. For example, a law passed in 2005 prohibits Oklahoma tribes from making environmental laws without the states permission. 'There may be some increase in tribal jurisdiction, but it is not going to be the kind of "the sky is falling" reaction that you sometimes see,' she said. They have been immortalized as the genius siblings to successfully build and fly the first airplane, but a new book has revealed the truth about how one of the Wright brothers exaggerated his role in the groundbreaking invention. Orville Wright was just a 'glorified mechanic' who took credit for what was mostly his older brother Wilbur's creation, according to William Hazelgrove's Wright Brothers, Wrong Story: How Wilbur Wright Solved the Problem of Manned Flight - due December 4. After Wilbur's death from typhoid fever in 1912, Orville for years spun the myth that he was as smart and talented as his sibling. The younger Wright, who lived until 1948, approved a one-sided biography of himself in which he claimed to have come up wing warping, a technique for controlling wing roll that was his brother's big breakthrough. The reality was that Orville's heart was not in aviation and would have just as happily gone back to their business building bicycles. Famous brothers: Orville Wright (right) was actually a 'glorified mechanic' who took credit for what was mostly his older brother Wilbur's (left) creation, according to a new book Wilbur (left, background) had a true passion for aviation which enabled him to envision mankind taking to the air. Above both brothers are pictured attempting to fly their glider He lacked the genius and imagination of his brother Wilbur and was not even as good a pilot because he caused the first air passenger death during a crash in 1908. After Wilbur's death Orville revealed his true self and got bogged down in petty rows including one with the Smithsonian Institute. He spited them by sending the Wright Flyer, which carried out the first flight in 1903, to a British museum where it remained for decades. The new book, published by Prometheus Books, seeks to shatter many myths about the Wright brothers. It reveals neither of the men had a sexual encounter with the opposite sex for much of their lives and both lived at home with their father and sister for years. The author blames this tough upbringing for Orville's behavior, though ego and ambition also played their part. The brothers grew up in Dayton, Ohio and their father Milton, a bishop, forced them and their sister Katharine to stay home with him rather than venturing out on their own lives. William Hazelgrove's Wright Brothers, Wrong Story: How Wilbur Wright Solved the Problem of Manned Flight is due December 4 Hazelgrove describes Milton as an 'ogre' who 'turned his daughter into his dead wife' after she died from tuberculosis in 1889. He says that Milton 'foisted upon her the role of servant in waiting while admonishing his three children that the world was evil and only the family could be trusted.' The message Milton drummed home was that the family always had to be united, giving them an 'unspoken agreement that nothing should come between them.' In their personal lives, Orville and Wilbur showed no interest in the opposite sex and when Katharine did marry later in life Orville punished her by refusing to see her until she was on her deathbed. Against this background it's perhaps not surprising that Orville should claim an equal part in everything which his brother did - he saw it as an extension of himself. His rewriting of history came in 1943 when journalist Fred C. Kelly, a close friend of Orville's for 20 years, published, The Wright Brothers: the Biography Authorized by Orville Wright. In the book Orville laid claim to everything his brother had done alone, even the idea that Wilbur was inspired by a toy helicopter his father gave him. According to Orville's version, they had an 'equal interest in the toy and wondered how mankind might fly one day' - a total lie. The most striking rewrite of history was of Wilbur's idea for wing warping. The brothers grew up in Dayton, Ohio and their father Milton, a bishop, forced them and their sister Katherine to stay home with him rather than venturing out on their own lives Orville (second from the left), Wilbur (third from the left), and Katherine Wright, with others. The two men did not show interest in the opposite sex and when Katherine did marry later in life Orville punished her by refusing to see her until she was on her deathbed The Wright family home in Dayton, Ohio. The children's mother died in 1889 from tuberculosis The reality is that he was fiddling around with the inner tube of a bike and had a eureka moment. But in Kelly's made-up version Orville had the same idea. Kelly's book reads: 'Why he (Orville) asked himself, wouldn't it be possible for the operator to vary the inclination of the sections of wings at the tips and thus obtain force for restoring balance from the difference in the lifts of the two opposite wing tips?' Kelly knew that his biography was essentially propaganda for Orville because he only agreed to take part if he could approve every single word. Even Kelly had his suspicions about Orville - the book calls them a 'creeping virus' - but if he voiced those feelings the book would be canned so he stayed silent and it became the accepted version of events. But as Wright Brothers makes clear, the real genius of the two was always Wilbur whose fierce imagination enabled him to envision mankind taking to the air. In his youth he 'lived largely in his own world', his father's library becoming his escape as he educated his young mind about literature, science and history. By contrast Orville was described by one of his teachers as 'not strikingly different from the rest' of the pupils. Even Milton knew that Wilbur was smarter and in a letter to him once admitted that 'alone Orville would be crippled and burdened'. In 1892 the brothers started a bike repair shop, capitalizing on the popularity of what was then a new invention but Wilbur had another interest that he was reading about every day in the newspapers: aviation. Wilbur was on his own as well when he built a kite to test out his theory which gave him enough confidence to want to build a large scale glider. Above he is pictured on the damaged machine, on the ground after an unsuccessful trial on December 14, 1903 In 1900, Wilbur set off on his own for Kitty Hawk, North Caroline with the boxes of materials which made up his glider. He settled on a desolate sand dune called Kill Devil Hills - above he is pictured in his glider with Dan Tate running alongside Their first tests with a 17ft long glider made of French sateen fabric covering a wooden framework flew about 300ft and reached 30 or 40mph. Wilbur is pictured gliding down a steep slope It was only when Wilbur arrived in Kitty Hawk, NC to test his flight that the boys' father Milton sent Orville to help him. Pictured is the 1903 flying machine on the launching track The first flight on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Pictured is the Kitty Hawk life-saving station crew that assisted in the 1903 flight It was an exciting time for flight and in 1896, Samuel Langley, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution at the time, flew an unmanned fixed wing model aircraft to 3,000ft. It was the first time a powered, heavier than air machine achieved sustained flight. That same year German inventor Otto Lilienthal flew a glider and American inventor Octave Chanute, who became a close friend of Wilbur, held a conference of budding aviators. Wilbur was enthralled and began to write to the Smithsonian Institution to request any information that they could give him. Hazelgrove writes that in his letters Wilbur uses 'I' and not 'we', a fact Orville would desperately try to work around decades later. Hazelgrove argues that Wilbur got the idea for wing warping, which allows the maintenance of balance on an aircraft, by playing with an inner tube of a bicycle. Wilbur was on his own as well when he built a kite to test out his theory which gave him enough confidence to want to build a large scale glider. Orville would later claim that after the kite 'we felt that the model had demonstrated the efficiency of our system of control' - but he wasn't even there at the time. Wilbur wrote to Chanute, the Chicago based inventor, to seek his advice and the letters, which were later published, show that for six months he did not mention Orville. The mere fact that he became penpals with Chanute shows that his brother was not his equal in the scientific field. In their correspondence, Wilbur's typical phrasing was 'I feel that', 'I have been trying', 'I can' and, most damning, 'I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible to man.' Nowhere does it say that Orville was involved. As he sought a location for a test flight, Wilbur wrote to the National Weather Service which advised him that Kitty Hawk in North Carolina had the optimum conditions. Rear view of the Wright brothers' four-cylinder motor as installed in their 1903 airplane Wilbur gliding in level flight, with the single rear rudder clearly visible Close-up view of the damaged 1903 machine, with its rudder frame broken in landing, on the ground at the end of its last flight Then he wrote to Chanute that it was 'my intention' to move ahead, not 'ours'; Hazelgrove writes that at this stage 'Orville was not involved' in Wilbur's plans. In 1900, Wilbur set off for Kitty Hawk - on his own - with the boxes of materials which made up his glider. He settled on a desolate sand dune called Kill Devil Hills and it was only then, after being pressured by his father who wanted the boys to always be equal, that he sent for Orville to help him. Hazelgrove writes: 'If things didn't work out (for Orville) and the flying machine didn't leave the ground he would simply return and continue manufacturing bicycles. It is the difference between the assistant and the doctor'. Their first tests with a 17ft long glider made of French sateen fabric covering a wooden framework flew about 300ft and reached 30 or 40mph. Over the next few years the brothers returned to Kitty Hawk to do more tests which culminated in the Wright Flyer, a 40ft long, engine powered craft that went into the air on December 17 1903, the world's first airplane flight. Wilbur may have been the brains behind the craft but it was Orville who was flying when the moment was captured by photographer John Daniels in one of the most famous images in history. Without this photograph Orville's contribution would have been far less significant, Hazelgrove argues. If Daniels had photographed the next flight, in which Wilbur flew further and longer, he would been 'etched in history as the first man to fly' instead of his brother. Hazelgrove writes that what happened was a 'cruel joke' because Orville did not have any control during his 12 seconds in the sky. Wilbur was in total control during his 59 seconds of flying, an even more impressive achievement. Wilbur spent his final years in a legal feud with aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss (left) who refused to pay the Wright brothers a license fee of $1,000 per plane to manufacture his own aircraft. Curtiss eventually carried out a successful flight with a 1903 plane developed by Samuel Langley (right) the former secretary of the Smithsonian. He cheated by fitting it with newer parts for the flights and then returning it to its original condition when he gave it back Wilbur's letters to his friend and fellow inventor Octave Chanute (left) show Orville was not involved in any of his plans Orville's lack of technical expertise was demonstrated in 1908 when he crashed during a flight in Fort Myer, Virginia while demonstrating to the US Army. Orville suffered a fractured leg and several broken ribs and his passenger Lt. Thomas Selfridge had a fractured skull and died in hospital. Wilbur later admitted that pilot error was to blame and if he had been flying there would not have been a crash. Wilbur's untimely death in 1912 at the age of 45 would be the 'nail in the coffin' of the truth of what happened between the brothers. The newspapers covered the story with the headlines that were entirely accurate: 'Inventor the airplane, father of flight.the man who made flight possible'. Rather than allowing his brother's legacy to endure in peace, Orville perpetuated a string of legal feuds which had worn his brother down. The Wright brothers had filed a patent in 1906 for 'new and useful improvements in Flying Machines' which they claimed gave them the exclusive right to any airplane technology. The result was that Wilbur spent his final years in a legal quagmire, the most bitter of which was with aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss who refused to pay the Wright brothers a license fee of $1,000 per plane to manufacture his own aircraft. Orville thought he had won for good when a US Circuit Court awarded the Wright brothers a pioneer's patent which could not be contested. But Curtiss got around this by carrying out a successful flight with a 1903 plane developed by Samuel Langley, the former secretary of the Smithsonian. Curtiss cheated by fitting it with newer parts for the flights and then returning it to its original condition when he gave it back. His deception meant the Wright brothers could not claim a pioneer patent because Langley had built the first viable airplane, even if it had not flown at the time. The 'cover-up' also restored the honor of the Smithsonian and it restored Langley's reputation. Orville got his revenge in 1925 by refusing to allow the Smithsonian to display the Wright Flyer from 1903 when they requested it. Instead he sent it to the Science Museum in London in breathtaking act of spite. Orville said in a letter that it was the 'only way of correcting the history of the flying machine which by false and misleading statements has been perverted by the Smithsonian Institution'. Orville said that putting the Wright Flyer in a foreign museum would be a 'constant reminder of the reason for its being there.' He wrote: 'After the people and the petty jealousies of this day are gone, the historians of the future may examine the evidence impartially and make history accord with it.' Letters of protest poured into the Smithsonian and the aviator Charles Lindbergh tried to change Orville's mind but he failed. The Wright Flyer would remain in London as the first bombs fell during World War II and only returned to the Smithsonian in 1948 on the condition they did not claim another aircraft had flown before it. To mark the occasion, Orville was asked to take part in an award ceremony in Washington but he hated it and refused to speak, causing an uncomfortable moment of dead air on the radio broadcast. Hazelgrove writes that Orville arrogantly 'viewed all planes as his' because they 'all used his technology.' Looking at Second World War he thought to himself: 'It doesn't matter what the courts or the government said, those bombers were flying with his rudders, his elevators.' The truth was that Orville still hated the Smithsonian, he still hated Glenn Curtiss who he blamed for killing his brother and the Wright Flyer could 'stay in London, for all he cared.' Bikie boss Erkan 'Eric the Wolf' Keskin has served as a soldier, been targeted by crime squads and stared down serious jail time over charges including trafficking ice. But when the former national president of the Lone Wolf outlaw motorcycle gang faced court this week his only fear was his wife learning he has a secret younger lover. Keskin appeared in Downing Centre Local Court to help his glamorous girlfriend Erin Burazer have an apprehended violence order (AVO) altered so the couple could spend more time together. They arrived and left the building separately within minutes of each other but while inside did little to hide their affection. Erin Burazer appeared in Downing Centre Local Court seeking the variation of an apprehended violence order preventing her from spending time with her bikie boss boyfriend Erkan Keskin Bikie boss Erkan 'Eric the Wolf' Keskin has served as a soldier, run with gangsters and faced serious charges including kidnapping. But he has not told his wife in Dubai about his girlfriend A court heard Erin Burazer (pictured) and Erkan 'Eric the Wolf' Keskin had been in a relationship for 'some time'. Keskin's wife Kristen usually lives in Dubai with the couple's four children Outside court the man also known as the 'naked bikie' initially denied any knowledge of the AVO when photographed by Daily Mail Australia. 'I'm not here for an AVO,' he said. 'I'm here for kidnapping.' Shown a picture of Ms Burazer, the bikie boss asked if she was likely to feature in a story about him and if that story would run online. 'I'm married,' Keskin said. 'This is going to bring me unstuck.' Keskin's wife Kristen, 39, and their four children are usually based in Dubai, while Keskin lives in a luxury high-rise apartment at The Rocks in Sydney's inner-city. The court heard that Keskin, 41, and Ms Burazer, 30, were in a relationship and both wanted AVO conditions that he not approach or contact her removed. 'They've had a relationship for sometime,' a solicitor acting for Ms Burazer told magistrate Jane Mottley. '[Ms Burazer] wants to reconnect.' Erin Burazer's solicitor told a magistrate the 30-year-old 'wants to reconnect' with 41-year-old boyfriend Erkan Keskin, former national president of the Lone Wolf outlaw motorcycle gang Erkan Keskin earned his 'naked bikie' nickname after being found running down a western Sydney street without clothes and brandishing a handgun one night in July 2015 (pictured) Already this year Erkan Keskin has had charges of drug trafficking and possessing child pornography dropped. The pornography charges related to innocent photographs of his kids An AVO was imposed against Keskin in December 2017 for a period of two years preventing him from assaulting, threatening, stalking, harassing or intimidating Ms Burazer. He was also ordered not to destroy or damage her property or contact her for the same period. Keskin, who made no admissions of any wrongdoing, was originally charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault but those matters were withdrawn when the AVO was imposed. Ms Burazer's solicitor told the court: 'It's been almost 12 months since the incident without any further incident.' A prosecutor initially objected to the AVO being varied and Ms Mottley said she would need to hear evidence, however police withdrew their objection on Wednesday. The pair can now be together without risk of him breaching the AVO. Ms Burazer recently posted a popular affirmation about love on her Facebook page. 'I have been broken, betrayed, abandoned and rejected but I'm still walking proud,' it says. 'I smile, I laugh, I live life without fear and when I love, I love hard.' Erin Burazer has a fondness for designer clothing and accessories. She and boyfriend Erkan Keskin entered and left Downing Centre Local Court separately on Wednesday morning Outside court Keskin initially denied any knowledge of the AVO or that he had been in court to assist Ms Burazer's application. 'I'm not here for an AVO,' he said. 'I'm here for kidnapping' Keskin earned his 'naked bikie' nickname after running down a western Sydney street, without clothes and brandishing a handgun, one night in July 2015 and has rarely been out of the news since then. Last month the former Turkish army conscript had charges of supplying large amounts of the drug ice dropped in the Queensland Supreme Court. Keskin had been charged more than two years earlier by the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission with trafficking ice to a cross border ring. He had been facing a maximum 25 years in jail for allegedly trafficking ice between November 2013 and April 2015 on the Gold Coast. Keskin also had child pornography charges related to his own children dropped in a New South Wales court in August. Those pictures, seized during a police raid, had been described by Keskin's barrister Avni Djemal as innocent images that could be found in any family album. 'The evidence in the brief would lead to the conclusion that all of the photographs were taken by the mother of the children and the context of the photographs are part of an array of numerous family photographs of the defendant's family held on his wife's computer,' Mr Djemal said. The Lone Wolf outlaw motorcycle gang has a snarling wolf at the centre of its club patch Three days before the charges were withdrawn, Keskin's wife was pulled off a Dubai-bound flight at Sydney Airport and charged with producing child pornography, also in relation to photographs of the couple's children. Mrs Keskin will vigorously defend those charges while her husband has said he intends suing the State of NSW for malicious prosecution. News of the pornography charges against Keskin made front page news in April. 'They put my life at risk,' he told the Sunday Telegraph in September. 'I got accused of something I didn't do. The charges were outrageous and unwarranted.' While on bail over those charges Keskin lived in his city apartment, which boasts a wrap-around balcony with stunning harbour views. Keskin is due to appear in Penrith Local Court next month on charges of kidnapping and demanding property in company with menaces. The Greens have directed members to raise the banned West Papuan flag on December 1, breaking decades of political silence on a hot-button political issue. A message sent to supporters including state and federal MPs urged them to raise the Morningstar to mark their independence day. 'The Australian Greens Global Issues Group (GIG) is asking you for your assistance to bring attention to the on-going oppression of West Papuans by Indonesian police and military,' the request said. A West Papuan supporter waves the Morningstar flag from the safety of neighbouring Papua New Guinea. The flag is banned in Indonesia and those who wave it are jailed 'The people of West Papua have been resisting violent and oppressive Indonesian occupation for 55 years now ... Since Indonesian rule, hundreds of men and women have been detained as political prisoners.' Australia's two major political parties have given bipartisan support to Indonesia's annexation of the territory since its takeover was recognised by the UN in 1969. For decades all major political parties have been silent over the repression of West Papuan activists, including the 1998 Biak Massacre where Indonesian soldiers shot unarmed villagers gathered around a Morningstar flag raised over a water tower. The western half of New Guinea, formerly a Dutch colony, was annexed by Indonesia in 1969 Survivors were tortured and killed, and their bodies dumped at sea, according to the findings of a citizen's tribunal held in Sydney and presided over by former NSW attorney-general John Dowd. A report published by Yale Law School in 2004 found Indonesia had killed roughly one seventh of the 1961 population either directly or through starvation and sickness from forced relocations. Indonesia is highly sensitive over its claim to the disputed region, which is rich in gold and resources. Drummers from Biak wave the Morningstar from the safety of Papua New Guinea. The Greens have called on their supporters in Australia to raise the banned flag in solidarity on December 1 More than a million Indonesian settlers have been shipped in since 1969 under a program called Transmigrassi, almost outnumbering the indigenous population, according to research by Sydney University's West Papua Project. Indonesia has banned the Morningstar flag, symbol of West Papuan independence, and jails those who fly it for up to 20 years. The majority Muslim nation is already irritated over Australia's proposal to move the Australian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and the December 1 flag raising is likely to enrage it further. More than 100 members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a group campaigning for an independence vote, were arrested by Indonesian police on Monday Indonesia is not Australia's largest trading partner but it is the most important neighbouring military power and sits strategically on Australia's northern border. Australia's military is dwarfed by Indonesia which has almost a million active personnel compared to Australia's 80,000, and more equipment, according to comparison website globalfirepower.com. Jakarta is now building military bases every 10km along the rugged, remote border with Papua New Guinea, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute reported on Friday. Papuans hold a self-determination rally on Wednesday in the disputed region. Picture: courtesy KNPB Papua New Guinea's military is not able to defend its border, which cuts New Guinea in half from north to south. It relies instead on Australia's security guarantee. Further unrest was reported from the disputed region on Monday when Indonesian police arrested 107 West Papuan activists from an organisation called the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) which is campaigning for a referendum on independence, the Jakarta Post reported. The Papuans were arrested after a meeting in the regional capital, Jayapura, which was called Hollandia before the Indonesian takeover. Australia has signed an agreement with Indonesia called the Lombok Treaty promising not to allow 'separatists' to use Australian territory to campaign. Executive members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) at their second congress, Jayapura, October 2018. The group is campaigning for a vote on independence When asked about the December 1 flag-raising, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian Government respects the right of people to speak publicly and protest lawfully about political issues. 'Australia has long recognised Indonesia's sovereignty over the Papua provinces. This is a bipartisan position in Australia, underlined by the 2006 Lombok Treaty between Australia and Indonesia. Indonesian sovereignty is also widely recognised by the international community,' a spokesperson from DFAT who declined to be named said in an emailed response. Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Indonesian embassy for a response via email. A youthful portrait of British writer Charles Dickens that went missing for 150 years will go on display in London this week after being found covered in mould next to a metal lobster at a market in South Africa. The miniature watercolour and gouache portrait by Margaret Gillies, valued at 220,000 pounds was painted in 1843 as the young Dickens, then in his early 30s, was writing 'A Christmas Carol'. The painting shows the Victorian writer clean shaven, with long, wavy hair, looking over his left shoulder, a contrast to the more common image of an ageing Dickens, with long bushy beard and messy, balding hair. The portrait was last on public display in 1844 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, only to then disappear some time after, with Gillies writing in a letter in the 1860s that she was unsure of its whereabouts. After a fruitless search, she reported it unaccounted for in 1886. How the portrait got to South Africa may never be fully known but new research suggests it was given to one of two brothers-in-law of Gillies adopted daughter who both emigrated to South Africa in the 1860s. Lost Charles Dickens portrait found in South Africa after 174 years. It was painted by Margaret Gillies in autumn 1843, while Dickens was writing A Christmas Carol The five-and-a-half inch (14cm) high oval portrait was found late last year in KwaZulu-Natal by an unknown buyer and has since been restored. London Art dealers Philip Mould and Company now own the painting, which will go on display at the Charles Dickens Museum this week. 'Dickens was a celebrity, people followed him down the street and so with that dramatic twist of the head she has caught that, she has caught the man that turned heads himself,' Philip Mould told Reuters. Charles Dickens (1812- 1870) was an English writer and social critic who wrote some of the world's best known fictional characters into life It is unknown how exactly the portrait moved from London to South Africa. One theory offered by the dealers is that the portrait was taken to South Africa by family friends of the Dickens and Gillies family. The Dickens Museum, situated at the author's former home, is trying to raise money to buy the portrait at a reduced price of 180,000 pounds. 'This must never escape again. This is such an important, emotive face at such a critical time in his career,' Mould added. Michelle Obama's 'Becoming' has become a massive hit. Crown Publishing told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the former first lady's memoir has sold more than 1.4 million copies in print and digital formats in the U.S. and Canada in the seven days since it was released November 13. Michelle and former President Barack Obama each have been working on memoirs this year, for which they negotiated a $65million dollar deal with Crown Publishing Group/Penguin Random House. His book is expected in 2019. 'I've spent the last year and a half reflecting on my story as deeply and honestly as I could, and now I'm thrilled to travel the country and do the same with readers,' Michelle previously said in a statement. Former first lady Michelle Obama kicks off her 'Becoming' book tour with signing at the Seminary Co-op bookstore on November 13, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois Crown Publishing said on Wednesday that the former first lady's memoir has sold more than 1.4 million copies in print and digital formats in the U.S. and Canada in the seven days since it was released November 13 Obama signs copies of her memoir Becoming at the Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Chicago, Illinois on November 13, 2018 Michelle Obama and Ellen Degeneres head to Costco supermarket for a chaotic Becoming book signing for The Ellen Show segment Based on demand from retailers across all channels, the publisher has printed 3 million hardcover copies in North America. On its first day, the book sold more than 725,000 copies, making it one of the year's biggest debuts. Crown also said that 'Becoming' is currently the No. 1 adult nonfiction title in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Holland, Spain, Denmark and Finland. In Germany, some 200,000 copies have been sold, prompting a second printing of 100,000 copies. In the United Kingdom, 'Becoming' is published by Viking and it has had five press runs with a total of 575,000 copies in print. In Holland, the Dutch-language edition is the best-selling book in the Netherlands, with the English-language edition ranked second. 'Becoming' topped the Amazon chart this week on bestselling biographies 'Becoming' is well exceeding the pace of previous memoirs by first ladies. In 2003, Hillary Clinton's 'Living History' had first week sales of around 600,000 copies. Reviews of the book, which traces Obama's journey from Chicago's South Side to the White House, have been positive. The Washington Post praising its 'impressive balance in telling the truth of her challenges while repeatedly acknowledging her lucky life.' 'Becoming' topped the Amazon chart this week on bestselling biographies. 'The Magnolia Story' by Chip Gaines followed behind Obama, Trevor Noah's 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' and Tara Westover's 'Educated: A Memoir.' In this November 17, 2018 file photo, the former first lady Michelle Obama speaks to the crowd as she presents her anticipated memoir 'Becoming' during her book tour stop in Washington Oprah Winfrey, who visited Obama during her book tour, told the Associated Press earlier this month she had selected 'Becoming' for her book club. She said: 'This book is everything you wanted to know and so much you didn't even know you wanted to know. I believe it's going to spark within you the desire to think about your own becoming. 'It's so well-written I can hear her voice; I can hear her expressions; I can feel her emotion. What she allows us to see is how she was able to discover, define and then refine her voice.' In this book, Obama shares such deeply personal revelations such as suffering a miscarriage and sharply criticizes President Donald Trump for promoting the false 'birther' rumor that Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen. This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world. A truckie with a reputation for seducing dozens of women online before conning them out of thousands of dollars could now face more than three years in prison. David Maxwell Moore has earned himself the name 'Casanova Truckie' and yesterday pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $50,000 in multiple offences across Queensland. At Gympie Magistrates Court, Magistrate Chris Callaghan said only a higher court could adequately punish him, and Moore has been remanded in custody to appear in Gympie District Court next year. David Maxwell Moore (pictured) has earned himself the name 'Casanova Truckie' and yesterday pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $50,000 in multiple offences across Queensland Mr Callaghan talked in particular of the damage caused to the vulnerable women who trusted him, and predicted a sentence of more than the three-year magistrates court maximum, The Gympie Times reports. 'Society needs to be protected. Vulnerable women need to be protected for a significant amount of time,' Mr Callaghan said. The 'Casanova Truckie' allegedly stole the money in a series of nearly 40 offences which included multiple counts of theft, fraud, forgery, receiving and possessing tainted property and disqualified driving in southern Queensland. Moore also pleaded guilty to misusing a phone service to menace, harass or offend and fraudulently falsifying a document. The 'Casanova Truckie' allegedly stole the money in a series of nearly 40 offences which included multiple counts of theft, fraud, forgery, receiving and possessing tainted property and disqualified driving in southern Queensland At Gympie Magistrates Court, Magistrate Chris Callaghan said only a higher court could adequately punish him, and Moore has been remanded in custody to appear in Gympie District Court next year A woman known as Jess told 9news earlier this year she was the latest victim of the truckie's alleged scam. The grandmother-of-two thought she had hit the jackpot when she spotted Moore's profile on Plenty of Fish. 'He said he was looking for someone and I was exactly what he was looking for,' Jess said. After initiating an online relationship, Jess said Moore began asking about her financial situation. She claims he offered to refinance her home if she sent him $5000 as a brokerage fee, which she did. The grandmother said it wasn't until she received a call from police saying they had arrested Moore that she realised the money was gone. 'I just thought it was too good to be true of course, like anybody would,' she said. Moore's long list of offences also include stealing $7000 worth of equipment from his employer in Moonie and stealing jewellery and cash from a women he met online at a Surfers Paradise hotel room. A woman known as Jess told 9news earlier this year she was the latest victim of the truckie's alleged scam Other offences read to the court included those for stealing and using a fuel card at Arundel, dishonestly obtaining $9000 at One Mile, disqualified driving on six occasions on the Gold and Sunshine coasts, stealing two motorcycles and falsifying a Queensland Transport document amongst others. To his long list of charges Moore simply repeated: 'I'm guilty your honour.' Prosecutor Mick Phillips told the court there was 'quite a degree of planning in some of the fraud offences', and said police would seek $47,832.45 restitution on behalf of a number of the victims. Moore also has more than 90 previous convictions, mostly in Victoria, and police told the court he had served significant periods of time in jail for dishonesty and disqualified driving offences. The heartbroken family of a pregnant woman whose body was found on a remote beach fear she was murdered. Sonam Shelar, 26, was last seen at her home at 8.30am in Khandallah, Wellington, on Saturday. Her body was found at a remote beach in the Wairarapa on Wednesday. Sonam Shelar, 26, (pictured left) went missing four days ago. Her body was found on a remote beach. Her husband Sagar Shelar (pictured right) said he is the police's first suspect White Rock Beach in the Wairarapa is about an hours drive from Martinborough. The winding road is not widely known and the beach is mainly used by surfers Her husband Sagar Shelar told Stuff the pair had never been to the beach, which is about an hour's drive from Martinborough. Family spokesman Harshal Patkar told the New Zealand Herald the family was devastated. Mrs Shelar was five months pregnant with her first child. 'It might be a murder, that is what I'm saying, that is what her family thinks, especially her mother,' Mr Patkar said. When Mrs Shelar went missing, Mr Shelar said his wife had been upset by the results of a recent ultrasound. He said she cried as soon as they got in their car because she was desperate for a boy and the sex of their baby was not yet known. Mr Patkar said on the day of the scan Mrs Shelar had called her family in India and sounded 'normal'. Mr Shelar said the results of the ultrasound before she went missing were not able to confirm the sex of the child which left Mrs Shelar (pictured) upset because she wanted a baby boy The family does not believe Mrs Shelar would harm herself. They described her as a 'strong-willed' woman. Mrs Shelar regularly called her mother, sharing with her the difficulties at home. Mrs Shelar had worked as a personal trainer in India, but when she moved to New Zealand in April to be with her husband and fell pregnant she had stopped working. Ms Shelar's husband Sagar, an Indian national from Mumbai, told NewsHub police were not ruling him out as a suspect. When Mrs Shelar (pictured) went missing, Mr Shelar said his wife had been upset by the results of a recent ultrasound 'I know that I'm their first suspect, but I know that I haven't done anything wrong.' The matter has been referred to the Coroner. The investigation is still ongoing and Police are working closely with the family of the deceased to ascertain further facts. Mrs Shelar was last seen at 8.30am on Cashmere Avenue in Khandallah, and was wearing a brown jacket with fur on the hood, as well as white, black and orange trainers. Detective Senior Sergeant McKee said police were also seeking CCTV from any businesses or residences on Cashmere Avenue, Onslow Road, Box Hill, Burma Road, Agra Crescent. The father of two men accused of plotting a terror attack previously called for Sharia law to be imposed in Turkey. Armagan Eriklioglu, the father of accused terror plotters Ertunc and Samed Eriklioglu, allegedly posted several incendiary messages on social media in 2014. Among the series of Turkish-language messages were comments that allegedly promoted global conflict between Islam and the West, The Australian reported. Mr Eriklioglu (pictured centre) recently came to the defence of his sons, Samed (pictured left) and Ertunc (pictured right), and denied a family happy snap showing himself and his son displaying a distinctive one-fingered hand gesture was the salute of ISIS 'As long as Muslims continue fighting each other, obituaries and sorrowful songs will be in Kurdish, Turkish and Arabic and joyful songs will be in English and Hebrew,' one Facebook message allegedly stated. The father posted several photos at the peak of the Syrian conflict - one of which allegedly urged Muslims to go against any law that challenged the Muslim faith. 'We will obey whatever religion of Islam says, even if it is a crime,' the accompanying caption in the Facebook message stated. Another image allegedly showed a crusader with a US, NATO and UN symbols, along with the words 'Stupid Muslims, keep on sleeping'. Mr Eriklioglu purportedly posted a Facebook message that was directed towards President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey about his stance on Sharia law. 'The time you stop, waste is a bad deed, we demand that you bring sharia,' he allegedly wrote at the time. Ertunc Eriklioglu (pictured centre) is accused of plotting a terror attack in Melbourne along with his brother Samed Deakin University professor Ihsan Yilmaz, who has been researching the radicalisation of Turkish diaspora in Western nations' said Mr Eriklioglu's comments suggest a 'deep immersion in Turkish politics'. Mr Yilmaz said there is a potentially dangerous new development emerging as the Erdogan government abandons secularism in favour of a forced Islamist stance. He said Mr Eriklioglu has repeatedly wrote about how Mr Erdogan - who has been accused of passively supporting Islamic State fighters - should lead the world. Mr Yilmaz said Mr Eriklioglu has repeatedly wrote about how President Erdogan - who has been accused of passively supporting Islamic State fighters - should lead the world One of Mr Eriklioglu's Facebook posts allegedly also included a link to a Turkish-language ISIS propganda page. News of the incendiary messages comes after Mr Eriklioglu came to the defence of his sons and denied a family happy snap showing himself and his son displaying a distinctive one-fingered hand gesture was an ISIS salute. Mr Eriklioglu said the gesture was commonly used by Muslims long before it was hijacked by the terrorist organisation. 'No no. That's not an ISIS salute. It means one creator. Everyone does that. We don't know anything about a ISIS salute. Nothing at all. Not us. No way,' he said. 'All we know is from hadith, prophet Muhammad done that 1 finger,' he later clarified via text. 'You can read hadiths about it. So ISIS has been around few years. That flag finger don't belong to those idiots. We have been around more than 1440 years. Whoever made ISIS, they're showing Islam bad.' The gesture was widely adopted by the Islamic militants as a propganda symbol for their cause. The photo was among a bundle of family happy snaps provided to Daily Mail Australia by Mr Eriklioglu during a visit to his Campbellfield home on Wednesday. This is the shocking moment police officers scramble to help a stabbing victim with a knife still lodged in his back after a vicious daylight attack in London. Footage shot in Hackney, east London, on Thursday last week shows the unidentified victim writhing around in a pool of his own blood as passers-by attempt to help him. As the camera zooms in, a large cleaver can be seen sticking out of the victim's back through his jacket. The blade could be seen sticking out of the victims back as passers-by stopped him from rolling onto it The stunned cameraman is heard saying 'where is the knife?' before quickly adding 'that's it there, in his back'. Locals rushed to try and help the man and screamed 'don't move, don't move' when he tried to roll over. Three women were caught on tape trying to help the man, who was said to have survived the horrifying stabbing after being rushed to a nearby hospital. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson later confirmed two men had been arrested. A spokesperson said: 'Police were called at approximately 11:00hrs on Thursday, 15 November to reports of a man stabbed in Homerton Road, E9. 'Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and found a man, aged 25, suffering stab injuries. A police officer could be seen holding the man steady as he writhed around in pain on the floor Three women helped the man who was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and later survived 'He was taken to an east London hospital where his injuries were assessed as not life threatening. 'It has been established that the man sustained his injuries in Kingsmead Way before making his way to Homerton Road where he was found. 'Two men - aged 19 and 23 - have been arrested. Both have been bailed pending further enquiries to a date in mid-December.' The disturbing footage emerges as police forces battle a year of violence around the country, with the number of murders in London soaring past 120 earlier this month. On Wednesday it was revealed that the number of children admitted to hospital with stab wounds has risen by more than 80 per cent in the last three years. In the year up to September this year, 813 people aged 18 and under received treatment for knife attacks in England, NHS figures show. A driver who flashed his high beams to warn a passing motorist about a parked police car ahead says he was instantly pulled over for the act and fined. Braedon McGuinness noticed a highway patrol car pulled over on the side of a rural road, and decided to flash his high beams at an oncoming car to warn them as a common courtesy. The car he flashed appeared to be an orange sedan, but within moments of flicking his high beam lights on and off he realised it was in fact another highway patrol. Both marked police cars turned their sirens on and pulled him over. Braedon McGuinness noticed the highway patrol car pulled over on the side of a rural road, and decided to flash his high beams at an oncoming car to warn them FINES RELATING TO FLASHING HIGH BEAMS While there are no fines directly relating to warning other motorists of police ahead, there are laws relating to the use of high beam lights. Road Rule 219: A driver must not use, or allow to be used, any light fitted to or in the driver's vehicle to dazzle, or in a way that is likely to dazzle, another road user. Fine: $110 and one demerit point. Road Rule 218: The driver of a vehicle must not use headlights on high-beam if the driver is: (a) less than 200 metres behind a vehicle travelling in the same direction as the driver, or (b) less than 200 metres from an oncoming vehicle. Fine: $110 and one demerit point. Source: NRMA Advertisement There are currently no laws in New South Wales, Queensland or Victoria that prevent drivers from flashing a warning to other road users of police ahead. But a NSW police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia they can distribute fines for offences relating to flashing high beam lights in close proximity to oncoming traffic. The fine is upwards of $110 and carries one demerit point. In Queensland, police can nab drivers for obstructing an officer - an offence that carries a sentence of six months in jail. Meanwhile in 2013, Dean McWhirter, the Victorian Traffic Superintendent at the time, said he was happy for drivers to flash others to warn them of an upcoming speed camera. 'If that occurs I am comfortable with that because it means actually people are getting the message,' Supt McWhirter said. Mr McGuinness shared a photo of his blunder online, saying: 'I just accidentally courtesy flashed this orange highway patrol car to warn him about the blue highway patrol car parked on the side of the road.' Users were quick to come to his defense, offering up a slew of excuses that he should have used, ranging from lying and saying he 'saw a kangaroo' to claiming his mate 'drives the same car.' Amazon has backflipped on its shipping policy and will deliver to Australia for the first time since GST changes came into affect. The online giant lifted the ban on shipping on Thursday, four months after Australians were blocked from buying goods on primary site Amazon.com. The move comes just before Black Friday and the start of the busy Christmas shopping period. Amazon's backflip on the shipping ban this week is good news for Australian customers The Federal Government in July imposed a 10 per cent levy on all low-value overseas purchases and businesses with a turnover of more than $75,000 in an attempt to level the playing field between local and international retailers. Amazon decided to stop shipping to Australia in response. The backflip change will now allow Australians to buy goods sold by Amazon on Amazon.com but not by third-party sellers. Amazon was launched in Australia late last year and has warehouses in Melbourne (pictured) and Sydney that also ships goods to customers 'Earlier this year, Amazon assessed changes to the Australian GST law... and, in order to remain compliant with the legislation, made the difficult decision to suspend exports from our international stores to Australia,' Amazon said in a statement. 'Following the announcement of these changes, we listened to the customer feedback and assessed how we could respond. Since that time, our teams have continued to focus their efforts on building the complex infrastructure needed to enable exports of low-value goods to Australia and remain compliant with GST laws.' The shipping ban was lifted just in time for the Black Friday sales on November 23 Amazon vowed to continue to work with Australian government to ensure it complies with the new legislation. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Amazon Australia for further comment. Amazon has two warehouses in Melbourne and Sydney that also ship goods to customers. About 73 per cent of Australians spent a combined $5.8 billion on purchases from online international retailers in the last two years, according to finder.com.au research. The Schoolies 'ledging' crisis has reached new heights as teenagers have now been caught on camera drinking beer out of their shoes on the edge of a balcony. Snapchat footage shows two teenage boys drinking shoes full of beer while standing on a balcony at night on the Gold Coast. The wind is blowing steadily and the aim seems to be to drink the beer in the fastest time. Captioned 'shoeys for schoolies', the person filming is heard cursing as the two boys, both wearing pink Schoolies lanyards, drink. 'Holy s***,' the cameraman says. 'That's f***ed!' Both boys empty their shoefuls of beers looking both impressed and slightly repulsed. Snapchat footage shows two teenage boys drinking shoes full of beer while standing on a balcony at night on the Gold Coast This footage is one in a string of balcony-related antics filmed by this year's Schoolies. Yesterday, shocking footage obtained by Daily Mail Australia showed dozens of teenagers dangling over balconies to drink from beer bongs. In the footage, dozens of teenagers from multiple different apartments within one complex can be seen hanging over the edge of their balconies cheering on their mates. Schoolies filmed drinking from beer bongs One teenager is seen angling a long beer bong down a friend's throat, encouraging a group on the balcony of the floor above them to pour the beer down the pipe. The troubling act was greeted by cheers from surrounding Schoolies. The Queensland government has released guidelines for safety reminding people that failure to comply could lead to eviction from buildings or police arrests. The advice specifically warns against 'leaning over, sitting on, climbing or hanging off balconies.' But that hasn't stopped Schoolies posting for selfies on the edge of hotel balconies. The warnings were implemented in response to an alarming amount of balcony hopping activities in recent years. School leavers celebrating the end of an era at Schoolies festivities on the Gold Coast have been filmed dangling over balconies to drink from beer bongs The first tip issued by the Queensland government was to avoid 'leaning over, sitting on, climbing or hanging off balconies' Isabelle Colman, 17, died after falling from a 26th floor balcony at the Chevron Renaissance towers in 2012 while celebrating Schoolies. BALCONY SAFETY DURING SCHOOLIES Dangerous behaviour on balconies can lead to eviction and even police arrests. The Queensland Government issued tips on balcony safety. Don't sit on, lean over, climb or hang off the side of balconies. Accidents happen you could slip and fall Never 'room hop' from balcony to balcony. One wrong move could prove fatal Avoid overcrowding. Take it inside or head down to the beach party Don't throw objects Schoolies is a very busy time and there may be people walking below. Objects thrown or dropped from a height can become dangerous projectiles when they reach the ground Source: QLD Government Advertisement In 2016, another 17-year-old was injured falling from a balcony as he leaned over to reach for something he dropped. Another four Schoolies in the same year were fined for balcony hopping. The latest craze of draping beer bongs over balconies comes only a day after footage surfaced of a party-goer willingly getting bashed over the head with a glass. The teen is seen doubling over in pain after his friend whacks him with what appears to be a champagne flute on their balcony. Shirtless and dangerously close to the edge, the party-goer stumbles, having to grab onto the railing for support to steady himself. His mates are then heard laughing in the background, before asking him to 'go again'. Two more teenagers showed disregard for their lives after standing close to the edge of a high-rise apartment. Dozens of teenagers from multiple different apartments within the one complex can be seen hanging over the edge of their balconies cheering on the activity Schoolies have been urged to take care and be sensible while hanging out on balconies A young man could be seen opening a window in the footage before teetering on what appeared to be the window sill of the multi-storey balcony. He was accompanied by a girl with her arms stretched wide trying to get him to come back inside. Over 20,000 school-leavers will flock to the Gold Coast over the two-week festivities to celebrate the end of their final exams. Three female revellers are seen standing on their balcony during this year's Schoolies on a Gold Coast high-rise apartment A British hacker who joined ISIS top ranks carried out global cyber attacks to leak the identity of US military personnel for the terror group's 'kill list'. In 2015 Junaid Hussain became the Number Three leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and was on the American governments most wanted list. A British terrorist of Pakistani descent who was based in Syria, he recruited a Kosovan hacker to enable attacks on American servicemen and women inside the United States. Junaid Hussain became the Number Three leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and was on the American governments most wanted list Hussain helped encourage Isis leaders to start posting chilling videos of beheadings in Syria At one point he carried out cyber attacks against the US every week with FBI surveillance teams determined to track him down and bring him to justice. Hussain was killed with two of his bodyguards in a drone strike on a car in a Raqqa petrol station on August 24, 2015. Hussain, 21 at the time of his death, was married to the White Widow Sally Jones, 45, a fellow Briton who had joined ISIS in 2014. She had denied his death through IS-linked Twitter accounts. His story is now the subject of a book titled Dawn of the Code War: Americas Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat by John Carlin. Carlin was a former Assistant Attorney General for the US Department of Justices (DOJ) National Security Division. According to an interview he gave in 2012, Hussain, who originally went online by the moniker TriCK, said he started hacking at around age 11. He began playing a game online when another hacker knocked him offline. 'I wanted revenge so I started googling around on how to hack', he explained. 'I joined a few online hacking forums, read tutorials, started with basic social engineering and worked my way up. 'I didnt get my revenge, but I became one of the most hated hackers on this game. By 15, he became more interested in politics and found himself sucked online into watching videos of children getting killed in countries like Kashmir and Pakistan and swept into conspiratorial websites about the Freemasons and Illuminati. Hussain (left) was married to White Widow Sally Jones (right), a fellow Briton who had joined ISIS in 2014. She had denied his death through IS-linked Twitter accounts Sometime soon after his release, he made his way to ISISs territory in Syria and married another British national Sarah Jones. There, he threw himself into ISISs online propaganda war, remaking himself as Abu Hussain al-Britani with a Twitter avatar that showed him, his face half-covered by a mask, aiming an AK-47-style rifle at the camera. Marlin notes that online Terrorism presented a new threat as the United States was now involved in a conflict where the enemy could communicate from overseas directly with the American people. Hussain was now using the internet internet to turn the jihadist movement into a networked global threat, with a reach far beyond the war zones of Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria. Hussain represented the same threat as Osama Bin Laden (pictured) due to his highly sophisticated cyber attacks on US military websites and on social media sites As ISIS advanced on Baghdad in 2014, social media showed photos of its black flag flying over the Iraqi capital, and the terrorist army tweeted 40,000 times in just a single day. ISISs large and sophisticated propaganda arm understood how to command the publics attention. They did this by showing horrific graphic executions of Syrian fighters, hostages and almost anyone else who crossed ISISs path. ISIS eluded all of FBI's well-placed trip wires; by switching to encouraging would-be recruits to remain at home, in the United States or Europe. 'Someone can do it in their pajamas in their basement,' then FBI director James Comey told Congress in the fall of 2014. 'These are the homegrown violent extremists that we worry about, who can get all the poison they need and the training they need to kill Americans, and in a way that is very hard for us to spot'. Former FBI director James Comey (left) warned of the threat posed by Islamist cyber terrorists which is examined in detail by John P Marlin (right) Hussain is now the subject of a new book by John P Carlin, a former Assistant Attorney General for the US Department of Justice Working among a dozen cyber jihad recruiters, Hussain and his fellow terrorists declared themselves the head of the CyberCaliphate in mid-2014 and defacing websites and seizing control of home pages and social media accounts. He played a constant cat-and-mouse game with Twitter, which suspended or deleted his accounts only to have him pop up with a new one. He promised online that the ISIS flag would fly over the White House and called for the murder of Israelis. In February 2015, ISIS hackers accessed accounts belonging to Newsweek, among other sites. He tweeted out threats against First Lady Michelle Obama. They were trying hard to enable and inspire attacks far from the Middle East, posting in March 2015 a 'kill list' of 100 airmen from two US Air Force bases. Hussain tweeted out threats against Former First Lady Michelle Obama and other figures In April 2015, Hussain helped encourage a 30-year-old from Arizona, Elton Simpson, to embark on a homegrown jihad. On August 11, 2015, Hussain posted a series of tweets that, at first, seemed just his normal bellicose rhetoric. He announced: 'Soldiers will strike at your necks in your own lands!', Then he followed up with a surprise: 'NEW: U.S. Military AND Government HACKED by the Islamic State Hacking Division!'. He linked to a 30 page document that made instantly clear this was something different. Hussains document began with a warning designed to chill: We are in your emails and computer systems, watching and recording your every move, we have your names and addresses. 'We are in your emails and social media accounts, we are extracting confidential data and passing on your personal information to the soldiers of the [caliphate], who soon with the permission of Allah will strike at your necks in your own lands'. U.S. military forces operating far overhead fired a single Hellfire missile at his vehicle on August 24 2014. The blast killed Hussain instantly. President Donald Trump slammed the California-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, hours after venting at Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts over what he sees as a liberal court there packed with partisan judges. Complaining about 'criminals in the caravan,' the president used flawed federal court statistics in complaining about criminals embedded in a caravan of would-be migrant asylum seekers looming at the U.S. Mexico border. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco sided on Monday with immigrant-rights groups who said Ameircan immigration law permits asylum claims no matter where people enter the U.S. or whether they do so legally. The move infuriated the president, who called the famously liberal-leaning circuit a 'disgrace' a day later as he left the White House, and scoffed: 'This was an Obama judge.' On Wednesday amid his tiff with Roberts who insisted '[w]e do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges' he tweeted a claim that the Supreme Court has overturned '79% of these [Ninth Circuit] decisions,' attributing it to an unnamed Fox News Channel broadcaster. President Donald Trump complained bitterly on Tuesday about a court decision from a Ninth Circuit District judge that hamstrung his ability to limit asylum claims from migrants, and he suggested on Wednesday that 79% of the Ninth Circuit's decisions are overturned in the Supreme Court Trump hinted that the Ninth Circuit appeals court should be broken in order to dilute the power of Obama-appointed liberal judges; but he confused the lower-court judge who ruled against him with an appeals court that has irked him in the past. He also got the statistics wrong The president claimed that the Ninth Circuit which includes federal courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon and Washington has become a dumping ground for certain lawyers looking for easy wins and delays. Much talk over dividing up the 9th Circuit into 2 or 3 Circuits. Too big!' Trump has long asserted that the Supreme court overturns Ninth Circuit decisions more often than those from any other appeals court. But in the past five years that hasn't been true. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco sided Monday with immigrant-rights groups who said Congress was explicit when it wrote asylum laws to encompass even illegal aliens; Trump lumped him in with the appeals judges on a higher court He wrote also on Wednesday that '[t]here are a lot of CRIMINALS in the Caravan. We will stop them. Catch and Detain! Judicial Activism, by people who know nothing about security and the safety of our citizens, is putting our country in great danger. Not good!' The Department of Homeland Security said this week that more than 500 criminals were part of the Central American migrant caravan that arrived at the San Ysidro border crossing on Monday. Officials would not reveal how they identified the criminals, but said most of the individuals were adult men and teenage boys. City officials in Tijuana, Mexico warned on Wednesday that members of the caravan are considering mounting a stampede across the border fence to overwhelm U.S. Border Patrol agents. And White House Chief of Staff John Kelly signed an order late Tuesday that allows U.S. troops stationed at the border to use lethal force, if necessary, to stop illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States. Trump claimed that 'a lot of CRIMINALS' are embedded with a caravan of Cengtral American migrants massing on the U.S.-Mexico border; that's borne out by Homeland Security reports The president's latest dose of fury over the border concerns his ability to refuse asylum to illegal immigrants he believes are up to no good Trump has long claimed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the most-overturned circuit among Supreme Court cases; in the past five years that hasn't been true at all The president appears to have confused the federal appellate courts with the lower district courts in criticizing Tigar, none of whose cases have been appealed directly to the Supreme Court. The question of which circuit court is the most fallible is equally clear-cut. Data from SCOTUSblog.com show that Supreme Court cases originating in three other federal appeals court circuits, the third, ninth and eleventh, had a higher rate of reversal. Ninth Circuit cases were overturned 77.4 per cent of the time. The First Circuit had the best batting average, with a 50 per cent record. Just a single case of 13 that came from the Third Circuit survived a 92.3 per cent reversal rate. The Supreme Court agreed to hear more cases from the Ninth Circuit than from any other during its past five sessions, the data show. But even that number is misleading: The high court receives thousands of applications each year, and accepted barely 60 per year since 2013. Still, a White House official told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that the president is 'fixated on the Ninth Circuit.' 'It's this thing that he believes, that they're the most flawed,' the official said. Trump groused on his way out of the White House Tuesday that 'I'm going to put in a major complaint because you cannot win' there. 'That's not law,' he said. 'That's not what this country stands for. Every case that gets filed in the Ninth Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court.' Central American migrants leave from Mexicali in their way to Tijuana , Mexico on Tuesday Trump issued a proclamation on Nov. 9 that said anyone who crossed the southern border between official ports of entry would be ineligible for asylum. As the first of several caravans of migrants started arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump said an asylum ban was necessary to stop what he's attacked as a national security threat. But in his ruling Monday, Tigar ruled '[w]hatever the scope of the President's authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden.' His fiery rhetoric was backed up by a salvo from his press secretary. 'At this very moment, massive numbers of aliens are arriving at our southern border, threatening to incapacitate our already overwhelmed immigration system,' Sarah Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. 'Yet now, a single district judge has issued a nationwide temporary restraining order preventing the executive branch from performing its Constitutional duty to enforce our borders and control entry into the United States. This decision will open the floodgates, inviting countless illegal aliens to pour into our country on the American taxpayer's dime,' she said. Sanders added: 'This temporary injunction is yet another example of activist judges imposing their open borders policy preferences, which are rejected by the overwhelming majority of the American people, and interfering with the executive branch's authority to administer the immigration system in a manner that ensures the Nation's safety, security, and the rule of law. We will take all necessary action to defend the executive branch's lawful response to the crisis at our southern border.' Advertisement An exhausted Renae Lawrence has set foot in Australia for the first time in more than a decade after her early release from prison for being a member of the infamous Bali Nine. The 41-year-old touched down at Brisbane Airport at about 5am local time Thursday morning before boarding a flight to her hometown of Newcastle, north of Sydney. Before catching a shuttle bus to the domestic terminal to catch her flight home, she appeared teary and overwhelmed, adjusting to her newfound freedom as she pushed through throngs of media and security with her mother. An overwhelmed Renae Lawrence (pictured at the time of her arrest) has set foot in Australian for the first time in 13 years Throngs of media met the weary 41-year-old as she waited for a domestic flight bound for her hometown of Newcastle She (pictured arriving in Brisbane) had a life sentence reduced to 20 years and then redacted to 13 after 'good behaviour' The convicted drug smuggler was freed from Bangli Prison, Bali, on Wednesday evening after having her 13 year sentence reduced for 'good behaviour'. Though she didn't speak to reporters at the airport on Thursday morning, she did speak to Bali's justice chief shortly before her release, saying: 'I'm rather scared but I'm fine.' She was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to life in jail in 2005. That life sentence was reduced to 20 years after a successful appeal, with another six years redacted after good behavior. She originally was kept in Bali's notorious Kerobokan prison with other Bali Nine members caught trying to smuggle eight kilograms of heroin back to Australia. She was later transferred to Bangli prison in 2014 where she remained for the past four years. Ms Lawrence was convicted for attempting to smuggle heroin into Bali in 2005 She spent 13 years behind bars at Bangli Prison in Bali, where she developed friendships with other inmates Upon her release, Ms Lawrence told the Balinese chief justice she was 'rather scared but I'm fine' Ms Lawrence arrived on board a Virgin Australia flight from Bali's international airport, ushered by a pair of immigration officials on the hour-long drive from the prison. She was met by about 50 airport security personnel, as well as her mother Beverley Waterman, stepbrother Allan Waterman and a cousin in an immigration room. She sat in the economy section of the aircraft, though towards the front. Ms Lawrence is the only member of the Bali Nine to be released from prison, with the others still facing life sentences, while three have died. Ms Lawrence is the only member of the Bali Nine to be released from prison, with the others still alive facing life sentences Her freedom could be short-lived, as she faces outstanding charges for an alleged Sydney car theft in 2005 Ms Lawrence was met at the airport by members of family, including her mother Beverly Waterman (right) The former prisoner apologised to Fairfax Media when they asked her to speak on her time in jail - claiming she was not ready to share the story. 'I'm sure, I'm positive,' she said when asked if she was sure she did not want to be interviewed. Her mother added to this that speaking to the media 'always gets misconstrued'. Maryoto Sumadi, Justice Ministry chief, spoke in Indonesian before holding up Ms Lawrence's release papers and saying: 'She is a free woman'. Her freedom could be short-lived, as she faces outstanding charges for an alleged car theft in 2005, only weeks before she was jailed for trafficking heroin. Long Hau is a green industrial park that is highly interested in the solutions for wastewater management and energy saving. The industrial park has attracted more than 170 domestic and foreign enterprises, including firms from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the US, India and Europe. Japanese companies accounted for approximately 50 percent of the total foreign-funded firms at the park, creating 21,000 job opportunities for local people. Forbes Asia's Best Under A Billion list aims to highlight the 200 high-performing Asia-Pacific companies with revenue under US$1 billion. By MINH HAI - Translated by Kim Khanh Britain's long-running current affairs show, The Today Program, has a history of inviting political heavyweights, religious leaders, leading scientists and even royalty to guest host it early morning radio slot. But it appears that bosses at the prestigious BBC Radio 4 show are taking a break from politicians and experts this Christmas as they announce that Angelina Jolie will be taking the coveted role. The Hollywood actress, 43, will take the reins on December 28, when she will highlight the issues of violence against women in conflict zones and the refugee crisis. The theme is one close to Jolie's heart and something she has campaigned on during much of her career. Jolie, 43, will take the reins on December 28, when she will highlight the issues of violence against women in conflict zones and the refugee crisis But the appointment of a relatively 'lightweight' celebrity guest-editor will come as a surprise to fans of the 61-year-old show which typically focuses on the issues, not it's famous hosts. Since 2003 the flagship current affairs show has invited prominent public figures to become the editor for a day during the festive period. Last year the Duke of Sussex was among the guest editors of the show, interviewing his own father, the Prince of Wales, and former US president Barack Obama. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow, Sir Lenny Henry and Professor Stephen Hawking have also previously steered Today for special Christmas editions. Britain's long-running current affairs show, The Today Program, has a history of inviting political heavyweights, religious leaders, leading scientists and even royalty to guest host it early morning radio slot (pictured are hosts John Humphrys and Mishal Husain) Barack Obama and Prince Harry once appeared on the show which typically has politicians and world leaders as its guest hosts However, Jolie is no ordinary actress and has a long history of humanitarian work, and acting as a spokeswoman on issues such as violence and rape against women, as well as the refugee crisis. She will speak to refugees and survivors of conflict directly during the show. The mother-of-six, actress and campaigner has already begun work on her stint at Today. Her spokesman said she is grateful for the opportunity to draw on the BBCs global expertise and network to explore practical solutions to a number of pressing issues of our time. He added: She has already begun working with the Today program team and is looking forward to engaging a broad and diverse range of voices in the program. Jolie's spokesman said she is grateful for the opportunity to draw on the BBCs global expertise and network to explore practical solutions to a number of pressing issues of our time (pictured in West Mosul during a visit to Iraq, on June 16, 2018) Jolie has spent the past decade visiting war-torn countries and refugee camps all around the world, and founded her own organization, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, with ex-husband Brad Pitt, to help children and refugees overseas. She also set up the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation after adopting son Maddox from Cambodia to help combat poverty and provide more opportunities in the nation. Jolie was appointed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador in 2012 which saw her visit several refugee camps around the world including those in Syria, Jordan, Thailand, and Iraq, and help advocate for refugees and find solutions for the crises. The Salt star also cofounded the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative with former British Foreign Secretary Lord William Hague of Richmond in 2012, to combat sexual violence in global conflict zones and joined forces with designer Stella McCartney in 2014 to launch the Draw Me to Safety Campaign to highlight sexual violence in such areas. Meanwhile, the subject of outer space will be explored in a separate, theme-based episode of the Radio 4 program. The long-running early morning news and current affairs shows broadcasts on BBC's Radio 4 in the UK, from 6am to 9am Monday to Friday, and 7am to 9am on Saturday. It's one of the most popular shows across BBC radio. A new Medicare SMS phone scam is costing unsuspecting clients thousands of dollars. Scammers are sending out fake text messages pretending to be from the government healthcare service. The phishing messages encourage them to click on a link leading to a fake Medicare website offering a phony rebate. The fake messages sent out in large numbers aim to steal personal information for malicious purposes. Australians are being hit with a new Medicare SMS phone scam encouraging users to provide personal information to claim a rebate Stay Smart Online, an initiative of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, is urging people not to click on links in emails or text messages claiming to be from myGov or Medicare. myGov, a platform to access government online services will never send a text, email or attachment with hyperlinks or a web address. The fake messages sent out in large numbers provide a link, which lead to a fake Medicare website Australians are advised to log into their official myGov account by typing the direct web address 'my.gov.au' into their browser for legitimate Medicare emails. 'https://' should always appear at the beginning of the address bar when you land on the site. Messages that don't use the correct person's name or are from an unexpected unknown sender should not be opened. Department of Human Services General Manager Hank Jongen has said the department is working closely with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Australian Federal Police. 'People who have received this text and provided their personal details should contact our Scams and Identity Theft Helpdesk on 1800 941 126,' Mr Jongen told Daily Mail Australia. A spokesperson from the Australian Cyber Security Centre confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the scam text messages are originating from a UK-based website. 'The ACSC is aware of a Medicare-themed phishing campaign via SMS, with scammers seeking elicit information from members of the public. 'The ACSC is working closely with our colleagues in the United Kingdom to take-down this malicious website domain as soon as possible.' The fake myGov and Medicare websites end in .net instead of .au Victims of cybercrime such as fraud should report the incident to the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN). SMS continues to be a popular medium for criminals to fool unsuspecting victims into handing over financial and personal information. 'This scam serves as a timely reminder to be vigilant about scam messages and to always think twice, before providing your personal information online,' said the ACSC spokesperson. A video emerged today of chow-chow puppy Bungle in happier times, before he was seized by police under the Dangerous Dogs Act after he nipped an officer's hand. Animal lovers raged today over the treatment of the 16-week-old puppy from Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire, who now faces up to nine months in custody. The dog - seen in an exclusive video happily playing with brother Mister Chow - was dragged from beneath a lorry where it was cowering after escaping from its home. Bungle, who was bought by the Hayes family for 2,000, escaped from the driveway of the familys 2million property last Saturday before the electric gates could shut. He was later found under the lorry. The dog then twice bit a police officer who tried to grab him, but his owners believe he reacted that way out of sheer fright. Chow-chow puppy Bungle is seen in a video playing with his brother Mr Chow in happier times Animal lovers raged over the treatment of the 16-week-old puppy from Northamptonshire Thousands of people have now joined an online campaign to free Bungle, slamming 'callous and heavy-handed' police and wardens, while thousands have signed a petition to 'return the imprisoned pup to his family.' Experts have warned the puppy was likely to have been 'frightened and teething' and said time away from his family in kennels could permanently affect his temperament. Social media users have hit out at police, claiming, 'taxpayers' money is being used to lock Bungle up' and arguing 'humans get less for worse offences.' But police have defended their decision, maintaining the public reaction would have been different if the dog had bitten a child or caused an accident when the officer tried to restrain it on a busy road. David Hayes, the dog's owner, said his son Joseph had broken down at school and had to be taken out of lessons when he heard the pet had gone. Mr Hayes wrote in the Bungle Facebook group: 'We are massively regretful that Bungle was able to sneak out of our gates, and especially that a police officer was injured while on duty and trying to resolve the situation. 'We feel hugely comforted though that it is not just us that feels the outcome of this accident is grossly draconian and disproportionate.' The four-month-old dog, named Bungle, pictured, could face up to nine months in custody after it was seized by police in Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire, last Saturday There is an outpouring of anger on social media today as people call on police to free Bungle Bungle was found cowering beneath a truck on the A508 after running form his home 'We are, as ever, respectful of the police doing their job and understand that, given very sad and unacceptable outcomes of some prior dog attack cases, the treatment of any incident needs to be taken seriously. Thousands of people have joined a Facebook campaign to free Bungle the dog 'However, the inflexibility of this 'zero tolerance' stance seems poorly thought through. 'Keeping a young puppy, that has not done anything unexpected or unacceptable in the circumstances, from a 15-year-old boy over Christmas seems callous.' The family's gardener today said Bungle has been moved to another kennel, adding police 'will not give the address to the family'. More than 2,500 supporters have joined a Facebook group calling for Bungle's immediate release. Mr Hayes and his wife Susan, who are said to be millionaire bankers, have appointed lawyers to look into the matter, The Sun reported. One neighbour who wanted to remain anonymous said today: 'It's absolutely horrible. It's totally been blown out of proportion. The police should be worrying about more important things. Bungle, pictured relaxing left and in the arms of owner Susan Hayes, right, was locked up under the Dangerous Dogs Act after biting a police officer A response from a police chief inspector said the dog had been holding up traffic when the officer tried to catch it but was bitten on the dog and arm '[Bungle] is a cute little thing, when you see it you just want to pick it and give a big cuddle. 'They've got electric gates and I guess when it was opened, the dog saw an opportunity and ran. 'He was found later under a van and was scared - so had a little nip at the officer - but I've heard it wasn't serious. 'It's upsetting knowing that the family could be without their dog on Christmas - that's the time when you most feel it. 'I've not heard anything about when they are going to get it back. But keeping the poor thing locked away can't be good. Bungle was taken to Forest Lodge Kennels in Northampton on Saturday by police Forest Lodge Kennels, where Bungle was temporarily kept following the incident 'It will effect the dog in terribly in the long-term. I hope it will be over turned soon and bungle can come back to his home.' Bungle was taken to Forest Lodge Kennels in Northampton on Saturday by police. Owner Barbra Austin said they looked after Bungle for three days before he was moved on, adding he 'grumbled a few times because he's young and was in an environment he didn't know.' She said: 'We don't know where he's gone now. He came in to us on Saturday afternoon. 'We got a phone call from the police to say they were bringing a dog in. They brought the dog in, we held him. 'The owner phone up prior and asked if we had Bungle and we told them yes we do. I told them we can't release him because he came in through the police. Thousands have taken to Twitter and Facebook calling for Bungle's release 'I tried to get ahold of one of the officers but they weren't working over the weekend. The owners phone again on the Sunday and asked if they could see him, I said no unfortunately. 'The police came up on the Sunday morning and brought his food up. He was ok, no problem - he was eating and drinking just fine. 'Then we were told he was being moved on the Monday morning - but we weren't told where too. 'All I know was that an officer was bitten and was badly bruised on there arm. 'The officer was out on another job by the A508 and noticed traffic was being held up. He had a look and saw that the dog was under lorry. 'We are only a holding kennel and we don't have dog wardens anymore. They pick them up, bring them and a couple of days later they get moved on.' In correspondence with police shared in the group, a local councillor said the 'unbelievably heavy-handed' action taken by the dog warden had left the animal 'fretting and very scared'. David Hayes, the dog's owner, said his son Joseph had broken down at school and had to be taken out of lessons when he heard the pet had gone A response from a police chief inspector said the dog had been holding up traffic when the officer tried to catch it but was bitten on the dog and arm. The chief inspector said the dog was being investigated under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. They said: 'The officer was not seriously hurt but attended hospital for precautionary checks, antibiotics and tetanus vaccination. 'Public safety is the priority concern in such situations: the owner was not present and the officers deemed that there was continued risk, both to the safety of the dog and members of the public who were present at the time. 'I am sure we would have had significantly more public anger had the dog bitten a child rather than a police officer or if it had caused a serious accident on a busy road'. A poster shared on the Facebook page dedicated to freeing Bungle from police custody. More than 2,500 people have joined the online group RSPCA dog welfare expert Dr Samantha Gaines said: 'Many dogs find being kennelled and away from their families challenging. For young dogs this is especially difficult as they can be exposed to events which can have long-term, negative effects on their behaviour. 'In investigating this case, the circumstances under which Bungle bit and the reasons why dogs use aggression need to be taken into consideration. 'Reports describe Bungle as being frightened at the time he was found and just because he bit on this occasion does not mean he is an aggressive dog. 'We hope that, as happens in other cases, he can be returned to his owners pending any decision. 'In the meantime, we hope that the police will do all they can to ensure Bungle's needs are met for the duration of his seizure. The RSPCA has produced a set of guidelines to help ensure dogs' welfare needs are met during kennelling.' A man who spent 19 years in jail for the murder of a federal police assistant commissioner has been found not guilty on appeal of his sentence. Former Treasury official David Eastman, 73, was charged with the murder of Colin Winchester in 1993, but has always maintained his innocence. In 2014 concerns arose about problems with original evidence and a new trial began in July 2018. Scroll down for video Former Treasury official David Eastman (pictured) was charged with the murder of Colin Winchester in 1993 but has always maintained his innocence An ACT Supreme Court jury found Mr Eastman not guilty of the murder after a lengthy - and costly - retrial involving 36,000 pages of evidence and over 100 witnesses, costing taxpayers $6.5 million. Mr Eastman said 'thank you' to the judge after the verdict was read out. Mr Winchester was shot twice in the head as he parked on the driveway next to his Canberra home about 9.15pm on January 10, 1989. The prosecution alleged Mr Eastman developed a murderous hatred of Mr Winchester, who he blamed for hindering his bid to rejoin the commonwealth public service. Mr Eastman, a former Treasury official, was charged with the murder in 1993. He pleaded not guilty but in 1995 he was sentenced to life in jail. He spent 19 years behind bars before being released in 2014 when his conviction was quashed. David Eastman was pictured arriving in court - where he was later found not guilty of murdering Colin Winchester in 1989 An ACT Supreme Court jury found Mr Eastman not guilty of the murder after a lengthy - and costly - retrial, involving 36,000 pages of evidence and over 100 witnesses, costing taxpayers $6.5 million The defence counsel told the ACT Supreme Court there were too many unknowns and gaps for the jury to find Eastman guilty. However, the court heard listening devices placed in Eastman's flat revealed him whispering to himself: 'He was the first man, the first man I ever killed.' There were audible gasps in the packed courtroom on Thursday as the jury's verdict was read out. The Winchester family's statement said it had been an arduous experience for them over many decades. John Hinchey, a spokesman for the family, said the Australian Federal Police would also be feeling pain at the verdict. 'They would be heartbroken, I would believe, and grief stricken, again. It is another day of mourning for the AFP and the Winchesters,' he told reporters outside court. The United States is alleging that a man from suburban Chicago who was arrested after trying to detonate a fake bomb wanted to become a martyr for jihad and then plotted to assassinate an FBI agent from jail. Adel Daoud, 25, has been confined to a federal jail cell in Chicago since he was arrested by the FBI in September 2012. The federal government alleges that Daoud first caught the attention of investigators in October 2011, when he began sending emails to distribute extremist messages about violent jihad and killing Americans. In new documents revealed by U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday, Daoud allegedly shared jihad songs which were translated into English, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Adel Daoud, 25, has been confined to a federal jail cell in Chicago since he was arrested by the FBI in September 2012 He is alleged to have sent the songs to two people, one of whom, Abdella Tounisi, is serving a 15-year prison sentence for terrorism-related offenses. Get up and shake off your slumber, because Islam is back, the lyrics to one of the songs reads. We have come for the sake of Allah and we have declared Jihad. We have returned with sub-machine guns. Daoud allegedly posted message on YouTube approving of the songs. I listen to these on my ipod! he wrote. Including the terrorist one! I say I want to be a terrorist! Daoud is also alleged to have commented on a cartoon mocking the interrogation of Faisal Shahzad, the man who is serving life in prison after he was convicted of planning to detonate a car bomb in Times Square in 2010. The solution is simple. Stop killing Muslims and trying to destroy Islam and NO ONE WILL BOMB YOU, Daoud wrote. Federal authorities also allege that Daoud wrote critically of the U.S. government for what they are doing against my brothers and sisters. Daoud is also alleged to have looked into buying an AK-47 assault rifle. His Kindle showed a download of the Improvised Munitions Handbook, authorities allege. After his online activity was noticed, it is alleged that Daoud was contacted by undercover FBI agents. The federal government alleges that Daoud he began sending emails to distribute extremist messages about violent jihad and killing Americans in 2011. His attorney, Thomas Durkin (center), is flanked by Daoud's parents - Mona (left) and Ahmed (right) in October 2015 They exchanged messages whereby Daoud allegedly sought the means to carry out terrorist attacks against Americans. In June 2012, Daoud was introduced to a cousin of one of the undercover agents. This cousin was said to be an operational terrorist from New York, according to the Justice Department. Daoud then confided in the cousin, who was also an undercover agent, sharing with him a list of more than two dozen potential targets for an attack in the Chicago area, including military recruitment centers, bars, malls, and other tourist attractions. On September 14, 2012, Daoud was led by an undercover agent to an area in downtown Chicago, where a Jeep that was supposedly wired to explode stood parked in front of a bar. Daoud walked to an alley a block away and tried to detonate the bomb without realizing it was a dummy explosive, according to authorities. After he was sent to jail, authorities allege that Daoud plotted revenge against the FBI agent who helped arrest him. He asked another inmate to help him kill the agent in exchange for $20,000. Daoud is alleged to have referred to the agent as a hypocrite and a spy. He suggested either stabbing, shooting, or even beheading him, according to prosecutors. On September 14, 2012, Daoud was led by an undercover agent to an area in downtown Chicago, where a Jeep that was supposedly wired to explode stood parked in front of a bar. Daoud walked to an alley a block away and tried to detonate the bomb without realizing it was a dummy explosive, according to authorities I could let things go, like I dont hold grudges, Daoud allegedly said. But he still has to die. Federal authorities also allege that in May 2015, Daoud tried to arrange the killing of another inmate at Metropolitan Correctional Center over a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad. Daoud allegedly planned to use a razor blade attached to a toothbrush to kill the inmate, whom he once attacked before, in his sleep. He allegedly referred to the weapon as a jailhouse shank. Meanwhile, it appears that Daoud will avoid trial after a federal judge on Wednesday approved his attorney's request to enter an Alford plea. Alford pleas aren't admissions of guilt but acknowledge prosecutors have enough evidence to convict. Prosecutors cited defense statements that they intend to put 'the FBI on trial' for entrapping Daoud in a sting, arguing that accepting the plea would let those claims stand. Daoud's attorneys have alleged that he was entrapped by FBI agents. A court hearing is set for Monday. In March, Daoud was declared fit to stand trial. Daoud was sent to a mental health facility in 2016 after a federal judge found him incompetent to stand trial. A government psychiatrist declared him rehabilitated after six months of treatment, but defense attorneys objected, saying issues remained. The pro-European Tory veteran Ken Clarke gave Theresa May a boost by announcing he will support her Brexit withdrawal agreement in Parliament. The former chancellor told BBC2s Newsnight that the Prime Ministers deal was a bit of a dogs breakfast but backing it was better than risking a no-deal Brexit. The grandee said it delivered continuity for business and laid the ground for critical future trade negotiations with Europe. Support from the Conservative Partys most high-profile Remain supporter could persuade other MPs such as Nicky Morgan and Anna Soubry to follow suit. Last night another pro-European Tory MP, former minister Nick Boles, said he would follow Mr Clarke and support the deal. Mr Clarke told the programme on Tuesday night: I will support the deal because at least it gets us through to the transition... and then we can decide what our future economic relations are. Ken Clarke gave Theresa May a boost by announcing he will support her Brexit withdrawal agreement in Parliament Its a bit of a dogs breakfast. I think if she hadnt made so many efforts to appease she could have got a slightly better one. 'We could have just stayed in the single market and customs unions on the date of withdrawal before we go into the big negotiations on what the long-term aim is, but I will settle for this. He also hit out at the holding of referendums in the first place, describing them as a silly way of running a modern country. Mr Clarke later told Sky News: It keeps the borders as they are, it keeps everything continuous for British business, industry and investment and it paves the way for the transition period, because the serious negotiations start now really, about what are the long-term arrangements going to be, which will affect all our children and grandchildren. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss also took to the airwaves to make the case for the deal, telling Tory MPs they face a choice between Mrs Mays Brexit deal or not leaving the EU at all. She told BBC Radio 5 Lives Emma Barnett Show: I am very, very worried about what the alternative looks like, because Im a democrat. I believe that people voted in good faith to leave the EU and we need to deliver that. Miss Truss said she was confident weve got a good deal to send before Parliament. The man accused of raping a seven-year-old girl in a dance school toilet breached his parole conditions just weeks before the alleged assault Ray Hadley has launched a scathing attack on police after it was revealed the man accused of sexual assaulting a seven-year-old girl in a dance school toilet breached his parole conditions weeks before the alleged assault. Anthony Sampieri was last month interviewed by police about an offensive phone call he allegedly made to a woman, but detectives didn't take action - despite knowing he was on parole over a violent sexual assault in 2012. Four weeks after he was questioned, the 54-year-old allegedly abused the child for up 30 minutes at dance studio in Kogarah, Sydney's south, before stabbing a man who came to her rescue. Hadley on Thursday described the police inaction as a 'horrific bungle' and accused authorities of 'going into hiding' following the revelations. 'There's obviously a great disconnect between parole officers and police officers concerning offenders on parole,' the 2GB Radio host said. Ray Hadley launched a scathing attack on NSW Police, described its inaction as a 'horrific bungle' '[Sampieri] allegedly made lewd phone calls to a woman, but the information was never conveyed to his parole officer by police... it's just a complete failing of the entire system.' NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller phoned Hadley on Thursday to speak live on air, admitting officers 'may have dropped the ball' - but he denied anyone was 'hiding'. 'Just to set the record straight, on Tuesday afternoon my office was notified that there could be a problem - that police may have dropped the ball in this matter,' he said. 'I ordered an urgent investigation into that. Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy personally made contact with a number of victims in relation to the matter. 'We don't have all the answers but NSW Police and Mick Fuller are not hiding from anything.' Pictured: The Kogarah dance studio bathroom where a seven-year-old girl was allegedly sexual assault Commissioner Fuller said an alleged offence relating to an offensive phone call made by Sampieri was reported on October 26. 'It appears that an officer has, at best, failed to notify the parole board of the activities of Sampieri,' he said. 'And, at worst, an officer may have significantly neglected their duty... I promise the community we'll get to the bottom of it.' Asked whether the attack could have been prevented, Deputy Commissioner Loy said on Wednesday: 'Nobody can predict the future or the future actions of any person.' Investigators are now appealing for anyone else who may have been contacted by Sampieri to come forward. NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller admitted officers 'may have dropped the ball' - but he denied anyone was 'hiding' His parole, which began in September 2017 after a jail term for a violent sexual assault on a 60-year-old woman, was revoked within hours of his arrest. 'He is a danger to the public and that's why he's under corrective services guard in hospital,' the deputy commissioner said. Police Minister Troy Grant has urged the deputy commissioner to complete the investigation as soon as possible. 'The initial indications are that police could have done more, and if that is the case, I'll expect swift action to be taken,' Mr Grant said in a statement. NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott on Wednesday said he was 'horrified' that the man had been granted parole. He also took aim at the state's parole board. 'The mere fact that I have taken parole board decisions to the Supreme Court in the past is good evidence to suggest that I'm not comfortable with a lot of parole board decisions,' he said. Sampieri is accused of abusing the girl for up to 30 minutes before stabbing a man who confronted him Sampieri was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in July 2013 and ordered to serve at least four years behind bars, backdated to the day of the crime. According to Mr Elliot, Sampieri was subject to a number of strict parole conditions, and his most recent attack has left the minister deeply troubled. 'I am deeply troubled by the events under investigation at the Kogarah dance studio,' he said in a statement given to Daily Mail Australia. 'This offender was on parole and was subject to a number of strict conditions. 'As community safety is paramount, I have asked for an urgent brief on all the circumstances which led to the offender being granted parole.' Sampieri's non-parole sentence expired just over two years before he allegedly snatched the young girl from her dance class about 8pm last Thursday. Wollongong District Court previoulsy heard Sampieri was drunk and high on prescription drugs when he invited the 60-year-old woman into his home in Fairy Meadows in 2012. The woman thought she was going to inspect two second-hand tables he had for sale, but was lured into his room after seeing the first one. He pulled out a 25cm knife and told her 'now we're going to have some fun' before forcing her to strip and repeatedly raping her, the Illawarra Mercury reported in July 2013. Police later raided his unit and found duct tape and a role of wire on his bed and cable ties and nylon rope under his pillow. The alleged sexual assault was thwarted by a parent, 46, from the class at St George Dance Centre in Kogarah. Police are pictured at the scene The judge at the time noted Sampieri showed remorse for his crimes. Last week's alleged sexual assault was thwarted by a parent, 46, from the class at St George Dance Centre, who heard a commotion and ran to help. But Sampieri allegedly lashed out with a surgical scalpel, with a man stabbed in the abdomen and neck. Kogarah MP Chris Minns said authorities better have some 'good answers' on why the alleged offender was granted parole and that the community was 'very shook up'. Close to 100 people have been diagnosed with the deadly swine flu in Australia's Northern Territory this month, sparking fears a fresh pandemic is on the horizon. The 2009 outbreak of the H1N1 virus claimed around 191 Australians lives, and this time it has cropped up in the remote Daly River region, south west of Darwin. Around 45 cases of the virus were reported in just one week, according to The Northern Territory Centre for Disease Control, with authorities calling the outbreak 'odd'. November has seen 80 people diagnosed with swine flu in Australia's Top End, and experts fear a fresh pandemic is on the horizon 'What's unusual about this one is its November, it's not the usual time we get a flu season,' Head of Disease Surveillance Peter Markey told ABC Radio Darwin. 'It's early days, but it looks like it's going to be a proper flu season.' Dr Markey also noted it had been some time since the Northern Territory recorded a spike in the H1N1 virus. A number of people have already been hospitalised in the region but while what's being reported is swine flu, Dr Markey said it's a different strain to that of the 2009 pandemic. The 2009 outbreak of the H1N1 virus claimed around 191 Australians lives, and this time it has cropped up in the remote Daly River region, south west of Darwin Around 45 cases of the virus were reported in just one week, according to The Northern Territory Centre for Disease Control, with authorities calling the outbreak 'odd' 'It has drifted so it's not the actual same virus that was around in 2009,' he said. The best method of protection against the deadly disease is vaccination, which can take a couple of weeks to kick in. Local authorities are urging communities to ensure their vaccinations are up to date, with pregnant women, the elderly and those with chronic illnesses are most at risk. The 2009 pandemic in Australia recorded more than 37,000 cases of the H1N1 virus, with Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales the hardest hit. The best method of protection against the deadly disease is vaccination, which can take a couple of weeks to kick in Local authorities are urging communities to ensure their vaccinations are up to date, with pregnant women, the elderly and those with chronic illnesses are most at risk Swine Flu Pandemic in Australia 2009 Australia's 2009 Swine Flu pandemic claimed 191 lives, according to data from the Department of Health The actual number of deaths is likely much higher as the 191 figure does not include suspected cases In December 2009, a staggering 37,537 cases of the H1N1 virus were recorded in Australia The first case was recorded on May 9 2009 in a 33-year-old woman who had arrived from Los Angeles to Brisbane The first confirmed death from swine flu was a 26-year-old Aboriginal man from Western Australia on June 19 2009 A large scale immunisation effort against the disease started on September 28 2009 Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales recorded the highest number of cases with 11,528, 8,944 and 5,078 respectively In August 2010, the World Health Organization declared that swine flu had entered the post-pandemic period. The virus gets its 'Swine Flu' name as it is a respiratory disease of pigs, caused by type A influenza viruses, most commonly the H1N1 subtype Advertisement Legendary DJ Tony Blackburn was kicked in the head and bloodied as he fought off three muggers during a terrifying ordeal. The 75-year-old former BBC disc jockey revealed yesterday how he was attacked by a gang trying to steal his phone while walking the streets of London. He was pushed to the floor and battered but the resilient broadcaster managed to fight them off and they fled with nothing. Legendary DJ Tony Blackburn revealed he was mugged three years ago in London Blackburn said he was mugged three years in London Blackburn revealed his own attack as he praised Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid for chasing a mugger who stole her handbag at knife-point in Brixton, South London. Following the debate on how witnesses are more likely to film a shocking incident rather than intervene, Reid tweeted: 'Not sure it was brave. Was acting on instinct.' He replied: 'Very true. You do act on instinct. I was mugged about three years ago in London. 'I was attacked by three people, knocked to the ground, kicked in the head, blood was everywhere. 'And I fought back and they didn't get my phone. It's a horrible thing to happen.' Mr Blackburn did not disclose on Twitter whether the muggers were arrested by police. Eurosceptics may lose their Brexit if they vote down the final deal, senior ministers warned yesterday. Until now, Theresa May has insisted she is ready to walk away without an agreement unless the EU makes a good offer. But in a series of interventions yesterday a string of ministers including the PM played down the prospect of walking away without a deal. The move appeared to be a switch in tactics by Downing Street aimed at pressuring Brexiteers to back the vote. Some 56 Eurosceptic MPs have now signed up to the Stand up for Brexit campaign, which commits them to voting against any deal based on Mrs Mays Chequers proposals. Theresa May is welcomed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker prior to a meeting in Brussels yesterday Officials are also drawing up plans for a possible second vote on the deal if MPs vote it down the first time. Some allies of the PM believe a no vote would spark economic chaos that would pile the pressure on rebel MPs and Labour to back down. We would be in uncharted territory, said a Government source. MPs would have to think carefully about what they did next. But others believe it would be dangerous to risk an economic meltdown in the run up to Christmas in the hope of getting the deal through. One Tory MP said: If No.10 think this is a good idea, they need their head examined. Mucking around with financial markets is simply lunacy. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd yesterday said there was no chance of the UK leaving without a deal. She told the BBC: It is my view that the House of Commons will stop no deal. There isnt a majority in the House of Commons to allow that to take place. Miss Rudd said she expected MPs to back Mrs Mays plan after peering into the abyss and pulling back. A string of ministers including the PM played down the prospect of walking away without a deal to put pressure on Brexiteers to accept her deal But she added: If it doesnt get through, anything could happen. The Brexiteers may lose their Brexit. Hours later, the Treasury chief secretary Elizabeth Truss stepped up the warning, saying: If my colleagues in Parliament dont vote for this then were in grave danger of not leaving at all. Mrs May, who arrived in Brussels yesterday for talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, also appeared to pull back on the threat to leave without a deal. Asked in the Commons whether she was dropping such a prospect, the PM said: The point that has been made by a number of my colleagues in relation to the vote a meaningful vote on a deal from the European Union is very simple. If we look at the alternative to that deal with the European Union, we see that it will either be more uncertainty and more division, or it could risk no Brexit at all. But asked whether the UK would leave the EU next March come what may, the Prime Minister replied: I can give her the assurance that the United Kingdom will leave the European Union on March 29, 2019. Yesterdays comments appear to mark a significant shift in tone. Unveiling the deal in the Commons last week, Mrs May warned MPs that voting down her proposals would mean we will leave with no deal, or no Brexit at all. Labour Brexit spokesman, Sir Keir Starmer, said, 'its time for the Government to drop the false choice between a bad deal and no deal' But the ministers comments were seized upon by Labour, whose Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said there was an overwhelming majority opposing anything that smacks of being no deal. Labour Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer said: After these comments from Amber Rudd, its time for the Government to drop the false choice between a bad deal and no deal, and to come forward with a plan that can command the majority support of Parliament. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon added: Amber Rudd exposes the falsity of the PMs tactics it is not a choice between her bad deal or no deal. There are better alternatives. Chancellor Philip Hammond told ITVs Peston: Its clear that if the deal is not approved by Parliament we will have a politically chaotic situation. And, we dont know what the outcome of that will be. It came as experts warned the economy will shrink by 40billion if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal. Crashing out of the bloc without an agreement would leave the economy 2 per cent smaller after two years than it otherwise would be, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). That is equal to around 40billion slightly more than the 39billion divorce bill the UK is due to pay the EU if we leave by mutual agreement. The OECD said a no-deal scenario would trigger widespread disruption and create damaging uncertainty. A report said: The failure to come to a withdrawal agreement with the EU is by far the greatest risk in the short term. The Friendship Order is a service award of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam given to non-Vietnamese individuals or organizations that have made great contributions to building, consolidating and developing the friendship between Vietnam and other countries and organizations in the world. Dr. Shin has walked hand in hand with the Government of Vietnam as we strengthened our primary health care system. He had direct engagement in policy dialogues not only within the health sector, but also with the National Assembly and provided strategic guidance that had played a critical role as we continue to advance our journey towards universal health coverage, said Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien. During his term as WHO Regional Director, Dr Shin has actively advocated for the enhancement of primary health care in Vietnam through an increased health insurance funds allocation. In 2018, health insurance coverage has been expanded to 87 percent from 60 percent in 2010). Dr Shin also supported the countrys work in strengthening grassroots health network as foundation for primary health care, scaling up hospital management, and improving health financing. It is wonderful to see the progress that has been made towards universal health coverage in Vietnam over the last decade thanks to political commitment at the highest levels. From 60percent of people with health insurance coverage, we are now at 87 percent. I hope that Vietnam will reach 100 percent in the not too distant future", Dr Shin said. Dr Shin has served as the WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific since 2009. By UYEN PHUONG Hundreds of baby formula boxes are being hoarded every day at a self-storage warehouse as Australian mothers struggle to find infant milk for their babies. Pallets of a2 Platinum formula have been stored at a Kennards Self Storage shed at Auburn, in Sydney's west, every morning for the past two months. A visitor to this warehouse has supplied Daily Mail Australia pictures of the milk powder boxes being stacked 10-high on two pallets. Hundreds of baby formula boxes are being hoarded (Kennards Self Storage at Auburn pictured) every day as Australian mothers struggle to find infant milk for their babies With each pallet able to hold up more than 120 boxes, the image appeared to show at least 250 boxes of formula being unloaded into the self storage warehouse. The photo, taken a fortnight ago, showed the extent of the baby formula racket, where buyer networks, also known as daigous, buy the infant formula in bulk and sell it at inflated prices in China. Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting any wrongdoing on the part of Kennards Self Storage or the a2 Milk Company, which exports to China. With Australian supermarket shelves often depleted of baby formula as customers queue for supplies, these Chinese daigou networks have obtained the product in bulk by other means. Pallets of A2 formula have been stored at a Kennards Self Storage shed (pictured) at Auburn, in Sydney's west, every morning for the past two months A 38-year-old western Sydney mother, who declined to be named, said the images she had obtained of the Kennards Self Storage warehouse from a visitor were very disturbing. They were taken at 10am during one morning in November, with a regular visitor to this warehouse documenting how this was occurring on a daily basis. The mother, who obtained the images from a trusted friend, said the baby formula storage racket had angered her. 'It's in the morning, everyday,' she told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday. 'I just got the s***s, that's enough.' This image was taken at 10am during one morning in November, with a regular visitor to this warehouse documenting how this was occurring on a daily basis The pregnant woman, who has an 11-month old son, said that as a mother who was unable to provide breast milk, she relied on baby formula. Like other mums in her part of western Sydney, she has driven from supermarket to supermarket at night trying in vain to find A2 formula, with even regular a2 milk sold out. 'It's really bad out here,' she said. 'I can't begin to tell you. I've seen mums driving around at night trying to look for it - it's ridiculous.' She also said the lack of baby formula, which can sell for more than $35 a tin, was putting the health of infants at risk. Like other mums across Australia (empty shelf at Coles in Melbourne pictured), she has driven from supermarket to supermarket at night trying in vain to find a2 formula The pregnant woman, who has an 11-month old son, said that as a mother who was unable to provide breast milk, she relied on baby formula (a2 Platinum tin pictured) A visitor to this Kennards Self Storage at Auburn (pictured) has taken pictures of a2 Platinum milk powder boxes being stacked 10-high on two pallets 'My child's got eczema, he needs a certain type of formula,' she said. 'A lot of babies have that same situation that, due to health reasons, they can't have breast milk. 'I couldn't produce breast milk so I have no choice but to give formula.' The mother was advised by an immunologist of the need for her son to have formula. 'They said that if the baby doesn't have formula for 11 months, or milk, in the beginning they're prone to having stomach issues and anemia,' she said. Struggling to find a2 baby formula, she tried finding a2 milk only to find that too had sold out. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Kennards Self Storage for comment. Facebook officials admitted asking an opposition-research company to investigate billionaire George Soros and other rivals over their criticism of the social network. Elliot Schrage, Facebooks head of communication and policy, published a blog post detailing the companys decision to hire Definers Public Affairs, a Republican opposition research firm. It outlined why it aimed its effort at the companys critics, including Soros. Facebooks head of communication Elliot Schrage (left) admitted hiring a PR firm billionaire philanthropist George Soros (right) to orchestrate a smear campaign against him Schrage published a blog post detailing the companys decision to hire Definers Public Affairs, and why it aimed its effort at the companys critics He wrote: 'In January 2018, investor and philanthropist George Soros attacked Facebook in a speech at Davos, calling us a menace to society. We had not heard such criticism from him before and wanted to determine if he had any financial motivation. Definers researched this using public information. Later, when the Freedom from Facebook campaign emerged as a so-called grassroots coalition, the team asked Definers to help understand the groups behind them. Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied having any knowledge of the companys PR campaign against Soros until it was made public by a New York Times Investigation. Sheryl Sandberg, the companys chief operating officer, also denied having knowledge of the hiring of Definers. However, in a statement supplementing Schrages blog post, she said she recently learned that the PR companys work had 'crossed my desk'. Schrage defended its attacks on Soros as a response to the liberal financier calling the company a 'menace to society' during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January. Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg said he has no intention of stepping down despite the company being embroiled in several controversies recently 'We had not heard such criticism from him before and wanted to determine if he had any financial motivation,' Schrage said Wednesday. 'Some of this work is being characterized as opposition research,' Schrage wrote. 'But I believe it would be irresponsible and unprofessional for us not to understand the backgrounds and potential conflicts of interest of our critics. A New York Times investigation, published Wednesday, delves into the social media giants handling of the controversy and chaos following the discovery of targeted disinformation campaigns. Definers later distributed a document suggesting Soros, a major donor to liberal causes, bankrolled the anti-Facebook campaign, playing into anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Soros. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg have denied knowledge of the Definers efforts and she has employed Nick Clegg as the company's new head of communications Facebook has since cut ties with Definers. In the memo, Schrage said the blame lies with him and Facebooks communications team. Over the past decade, I built a management system that relies on the teams to escalate issues if they are uncomfortable about any project, the value it will provide or the risks that it creates I knew and approved of the decision to hire Definers and similar firms. Im sorry I let you all down. I regret my own failure here. Schrage said Facebook did not ask Definers to create or distribute fake news. Schrage announced in June he would be stepping down, in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but has stayed on during the search for a replacement. Schrage (left) also partly blamed company culture as the company has been criticized for a series of scandals in the past two years In early 2018, it emerged that Cambridge Analytica had harvested the personal data of millions of people's Facebook profiles without their consent and used it for political purposes. It has been described as a watershed moment in the public understanding of personal data and precipitated a massive fall in Facebook's stock price and calls for tighter regulation of tech companies' use of data. But Schrage also partly blamed company culture, having been criticized for a series of scandals in the past two years. Im deeply disappointed that so much internal discussion and finger pointing has become public. This is a serious threat to our culture and ability to work together in difficult times. 'Our culture has long been to move fast and take risks. Many times we have moved too quickly, and we always learn and keep trying to do our best,' he said. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Zuckerberg said he had no intention of stepping down as chairman of Facebook. While some Facebook shareholders and analysts have called for Zuckerberg to step down as chairman, he said Tuesday 'Thats not the plan'. He told CNN on Tuesday that he hopes to work with Sandberg "for decades" to come. Sarah Lea (pictured) has paid tribute to Prince William after the Duke tried to save her son Robbie who died last year The mother of a teenager who drowned in a river while swimming with friends has paid tribute to Prince William for trying to save him in an air ambulance. Robbie Lea was found under almost 15ft of water in Lee Valley Park in Hertfordshire, after he had gone swimming with school friends in May last year. The Duke of Cambridge piloted an air ambulance to the scene as emergency services desperately searched for the 16-year-old boy. His mother Sarah Lea, 33, praised Prince William for his 'bravery' and for opening up about the 'trauma' of dealing with medical emergencies. Speaking to the Mirror, Mrs Lea said: 'I can't thank Prince William enough. For what he did to try to save my son on that terrible day and for now speaking out on mental health issues. 'I've struggled to get the right support for Mason. But I certainly haven't been let down by Prince William.' 'It shows our future king is human. It was a brave thing to do.' Mrs Lea said she was still in bereavement counselling and felt 'let down by the system' in the aftermath of her son's death. Rescuers found Robbie an hour after the search began, close to where he was last seen struggling in the water. He was pronounced dead at the scene in Hertfordshire. Mrs Lea said Robbie had swimming lessons when he was younger, but that he 'was not a strong swimmer'. Robbie had been out with friends Kieran Cook and Jayden Baldwin, and the friends went to the River Lea on May 25 last year where the teenager drowned, an inquest heard. His mother said she still spoke to Kieran and Jayden, saying they were 'good boys' and that she bore 'no ill will towards them'. Prince William is pictured at the scene (left) where he piloted an ambulance in a desperate bid to save teenager Robbie Lea (right) who drowned while swimming with friends last year She added: 'It's comforting to know he was with his best friends having fun on a sunny day.' Prince William said this week he was lucky to have worked for the RAF and the East Anglian Air Ambulance, because of their good mental health working practices. Speaking about his time with the air ambulance, he said: 'Talking was really important, but even that wasn't quite enough for one particular incident for me. 'I worked several times on very traumatic jobs involving children, and after I had my own children I think the relation between the job and the personal life was what really took me over the edge, and I started feeling things that I have never felt before, and I got very sad and very down about this particular family.' Talking to colleagues helped him to 'come to terms with the enormous sadness' of what had happened, he added. While taking part in a panel discussion, William added: 'We spend a vast amount of our time at work. 'There should be a much more open, supportive and compassionate working environment to deal with those sorts of problems. The Duke of Cambridge piloted this air ambulance to the scene where Robbie was pronounced dead after an hour-long search for his body The Duke of Cambridge has opened up about his experiences of feeling 'very sad and very down' during his time serving in the Air Ambulance Robbie Lea was found under almost 15ft of water in Lee Valley Park (pictured) in Hertfordshire, after he had gone swimming with school friends in May last year 'There's still a stigma about mental health. We are chipping away at it but that wall needs to be smashed down.' William campaigns alongside the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex for mental health initiative Heads Together. In October, His Royal Highness launched 'Mental Health at Work', the latest initiative from Heads Together and the mental health charity Mind, which provides free resources to companies wanting more help to support their employees' wellbeing. At Robbie's inquest senior coroner Geoffrey Sullivan said his first conclusion was 'simply one of an accident'. 'Im satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Robbie died as a result of a tragic accident,' he said. A post-mortem conducted by consultant pathologist Dr Anju Agarwal found that Robbies lungs 'were filled with lots of fluid', but that there were no signs of external injury. Dr Agarwal said the lungs were 'all puffed up', which often signifies submersion. She confirmed the conclusion of the examination was 'death by drowning'. Mr Sullivan recorded the medical cause of death as 'drowning'. Lee Valley Regional Park is a 10,000-acre 26 miles long linear park which runs through the northeast of Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire. The duke was speaking at the inaugural This Can Happen conference at The O2 in London on Tuesday, which aims to address mental health issues in the workplace The wife of terror accused Artunc Eriklioglu believes her husband's arrest is part of a political conspiracy just days out from the Victorian state election. Ertunc, his brother Samed Eriklioglu, 26, of Campbellfield and Hanifi Halis, 21, of Greenvale were arrested on Tuesday and have been charged with one count each of act in preparation for, or planning of terrorist acts. Habiba Ba - the wife of Artunc - maintained the men were innocent and may be pawns in a sinister political game. 'It's been done to, you know, get votes,' she said. Habiba Ba (left), mother-in-law Yasemin Eriklioglu and baby Firdius A court sketch of Ertunc Eriklioglu, Hanifi Halis and Samed Eriklioglu Ertunc Eriklioglu and his daughter in a family happy snap With Victorians going to the polls on Saturday, Premier Daniel Andrews has already come under fire for trying to score political points off the raids after he showed up at a police press conference hours after the early-morning raids took place. Mr Andrews insisted he attend the conference where he did little more than thank police for their efforts. A week earlier, the Premier and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy had come under scrutiny as to how they would respond to the Bourke Street terror attack, which left one dead. Mr Andrews then denied Melbourne was 'terror central' and defended his handling of recent attacks in Victoria while facing a grilling on radio and TV on Wednesday morning. Ms Ba maintained her husband was completely innocent and had never shown any indications that he had been radicalized. Police allege the men planned to buy a black market semiautomatic rifle and carry out a Melbourne massacre. The men were allegedly using the encrypted app Telegram to communicate and police pounced when they allegedly attempted to buy the .22 rifle. Ms Ba spoke to Daily Mail Australia in the hope people could understand that she lived in a normal family with a genuine family man. The couple had only months ago had baby Firdius, whom Ms Ba's mother-in-law cradled for a photo. Even then, Ms Ba asked to cover her eyes and requested a photo that showed her hair be erased. Habiba Ba (left), mother-in-law Yasemin Eriklioglu and baby Firdius Habiba Ba (left), mother-in-law Yasemin Eriklioglu and baby Firdius She has tried desperately to see her husband since his arrest and imprisonment in the Melbourne Custody Centre, without success. 'They say not at the moment. I'm not sure how long it's going to be,' Ms Ba said. 'He is a good father, a good husband, he's helpful and he was just praying. He didn't do anything. People just came and took him for no reason and now Allah give him justice upon him and Allah help our family.' Armagan Eriklioglu - the father of Samed and Ertunc - asked how could the boys carry out a massacre with a rifle that carried only 10 bullets. 'And they wanted to kill hundreds of people? They haven't even listened to all of the tapes,' he said. Armagan Eriklioglu - the father of Samed and Ertunc - assess his son's bungalow for damage Armagan Eriklioglu (centre) and son Artunc (right) give a one-fingered salute. Samed (left) Yasemin Eriklioglu and son Samed proudly display the Australian flag during a trip to Turkey At a brief court hearing this week, it was revealed police had 17,000 telephone intercepts and 10,000 text messages to assess and 7800 hours of recordings captured on various listening devices to collate. Mr Eriklioglu said many people could be accused of making crazy threats everyday, but aren't arrested. 'Sometimes people even say they want to kill someone in anger. Even I say it in anger and then I stop and we be friends. It's said dozens of times a day. Even I'd be caught by now,' he said. He told Daily Mail Australia his sons had now had an opportunity to speak with Victorian Legal Aid appointed lawyers and hoped to soon make an application for bail. His youngest son Samed was sleeping in a bungalow at the rear of his Campbellfield property when police smashed their way in. His elderly grandmother Yeukaci was sleeping in the front room when police burst in. 'We would of just opened the door for them,' Mr Erikioglu said. Yasemin Eriklioglu (left) was in the bungalow when police crashed their way into it The elderly woman still wore the scars of her traumatic ordeal, with her eye bloodshot red from stress. The brothers' mother Yasemin Eriklioglu described her sons as gentle, caring souls who enjoyed trips to the family's holiday home in Phillip Island. She said the family had received overwhelming support from the local Muslim community, who remain in shock over the terror arrests. The family spent Thursday cleaning up the mess left by police when they stormed Ms Ba's Dallas property in the early hours of Tuesday. The Dallas garage of Artunc Eriklioglu that was trashed by police has since been tidied-up The garage as it looked after being raided by police on Tuesday The garage where the men used to gather to pray has been tidied up after being completely trashed by police searching for evidence. The family hoped to meet with their sons' lawyers today in the hope of gaining access to them in jail while they await trial and learn more about the allegations against them. The men are all due to reappear in court next year. A year ago today our 24-year-old son, Jack, took his own life in Hanoi, Vietnam, where he was working as an English teacher. Hed spent the day gambling online, an addiction hed been fighting since he was 17. For 18 months hed been pretty much free of gambling, but days before his death he was lured back in we suspect by an advert from an online gambling company with a free offer. In his suicide note to us, he wrote: Im past the point of controlling myself and Im not coming back from this one. His death came out of the blue. One of us (Liz) is a retired consultant psychotherapist, who has worked with people contemplating suicide. She knows the risk factors to look for, but they werent there. Liz & Charles Ritchie said they believed their son fell victim to his gambling addiction after seeing an advert for a betting firm We are marking today quietly with our other two children, but we are also turning our grief and anger into something positive. As co-founders of the pressure group Gambling with Lives, we are working alongside other families bereaved by gambling-related suicides to get this issue higher on the national agenda. Illegal As the Mail reported yesterday, the number of problem gamblers aged 11-16 has quadrupled in two years to 55,000, with 70,000 more judged at risk, according to the Gambling Commission. They bet on fruit machines, on bingo, online or in betting shops all of which are illegal for the under-18s. Two in three children say theyve seen gambling adverts on TV, and almost a million have been exposed to gambling themes in computer games or smartphone apps. Jacks problems started when he was at school in Sheffield and went into a betting shop with friends during his lunch-break to play on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). Back then, he saw it as fun. They are not fun, and neither are their online equivalents. They have been designed with great sophistication, drawing on the expertise of neuroscientists to make the chemical hit in the brain stronger, and the addiction deeper. FOBTs are specifically intended to undermine the thinking processes and to make players more impulsive by the speed of play, and the sounds, lights and messages about near misses. You are made to think that youve so nearly won, and so you carry on . . . and on. Jack had lost 1,000 in the year before he told us what had been happening. And that is how the gambling companies want it. They are constantly working to find ever better ways to lure our children into gambling. Gambling bosses are, we believe, implicated in the targeting of young people to get them hooked on an addiction that like drugs and alcohol, with which it is grouped by the American Psychiatric Association can kill them. Which is why we find it particularly upsetting to read today that the Bet365s chief executive, Denise Coates CBE, already Britains best-paid boss, this year received a 48 million rise, taking her annual pay to 265 million. These companies know they are peddling addictive, potentially lethal products as independent research confirms. Even William Hills website warns that gambling addicts are four times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than the rest of the population. This is beyond immoral. We see it is a double form of abuse. First Jack was abused when he went into a betting shop, where he was groomed and turned into an addict. And then he was told, in effect, by the gambling industry that he was somehow weak, that he was to blame for being addicted as a young person. It is reminiscent of the antics of the tobacco industry years ago, and is meant to divert attention from the fact this industry is based on designing products that are highly addictive and damaging. Suicide: Jack Ritchie, from Sheffield (pictured with his mother Liz) killed himself at just 24 Our son did not conform to the stereotype of a gambler. If he was vulnerable, it was because he was bright, outgoing, impulsive and male. These are qualities that help young men get on, but can also cause their downfall when they are exposed to gambling. This issue has to be taken more seriously by government. The other one of us (Charles) is a retired senior civil servant who would like to see responsibility for gambling moved from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport where the gambling industry is regarded as an economic asset via the taxes generated and the urban regeneration potential of supercasinos to where this health crisis really belongs, the Department of Health. Jack consulted his GP on several occasions when he relapsed and began gambling again at university. He had put blocking software on his computer to stop access to online gambling sites but he knew this, and his own inner resources, were not sufficient. Addiction There is almost no treatment available for gambling addiction on the NHS, and what there is aims to return the sufferer to a responsible level of gambling. We need, as a matter of urgency, to take gambling addiction just as seriously as alcohol or drug addiction and develop effective treatments. Gambling is not something that goes away with a bit of will power. We are guilty of having thought that once. Now we know better. If it was, Jack would have beaten it. GPs need much more training around this. Yes, it will be expensive at a time when the NHS is hard-pressed, but we firmly believe the gambling industry should contribute to the costs through a statutory levy of one per cent (rather than the current 0.1 per cent voluntary contribution) of their profits in recognition of the damage they do. They wont accept it easily. We have seen how powerful the gambling lobby is recently after the Governments U-turn on limiting stakes on FOBTs a delay of six months in slashing the maximum stake from 100 to 2. Fortunately, the courage of minister Tracey Crouch, who resigned over the matter, plus huge cross-party and public support, saw off the threat. We need to build on that. Our main demand is for a public health campaign to warn about the tragedies gambling can cause, for unsafe gambling products to be removed from the market, for more independent research and more regulation. Risks Jack Skyped us three days before he died. Hed been in Hanoi for three months and was loving it, as his Facebook posts show and his large circle of friends there have confirmed to us. He had given us no grounds to worry. But during that Skype call he told us that the old problem is back. Hed lost 1,500 online gambling. We spoke to him for an hour. He reassured us he was all right, and not depressed. We thought wed cheered him up. Then came the email with the suicide note attached something that as a parent you cannot begin to imagine. We will remember that experience today as we do every day and it is why we want to warn other parents of the risks. Jack thought he had beaten his gambling addiction but it had beaten him. He blamed himself. But we know who is really to blame, and it is time that, as a society, we took on the gambling industry that is destroying young lives. The Democratic Unionist Party will still get 1billion for Northern Ireland despite a vow to fight dirty against Theresa May, it has emerged. Downing Street yesterday insisted the money had been promised to the people of Ulster and would be paid. The DUP, which has a voting pact with the Government, is deeply unhappy with Mrs Mays Brexit deal. DUP MP Jim Shannon has vowed to fight dirty to block Theresa May's Brexit plan MP Jim Shannon told Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley at a Commons committee meeting that ministers had not shown the same honour as the DUP over Brexit. He added: Im going to fight quite dirty. Why do you feel the need to pursue something that is so against the agreement we have with your party? A woman allegedly fleecing kind-hearted shoppers out of their cash by telling a sob story about her sick mother has been charged with fraud. The 49-year-old was arrested in Penrith, in western Sydney, about 11.30am on Wednesday and granted conditional bail. NSW Police opened an investigation after Daily Mail Australia published reports of the woman's alleged activities last week. Well-intentioned people claim to have been conned out of their hard-earned cash by this middle-aged woman peddling a sob story about her sick mother This was despite police saying at the time they did not believe a crime had been committed. The woman, from Kingswood in Sydney's west, will face Penrith Local Court on December 18 charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception. Dozens of people flooded social media with tales about the same woman working her alleged scam throughout car parks in Sydney's western suburbs. Dylan Kelaart claimed he encountered the middle-aged woman last Sunday in the carpark of a Hungry Jacks in Minchinbury. He claimed she asked him for money to pay for parking at a hospital because her mother had just been rushed there. 'She was well presented and very convincing, which led me to believe she was genuinely in need,' he said. 'I honestly felt bad for her and felt the right thing to do was to help her with some money.' Dozens of people flooded social media with tales about the same woman working her alleged scam throughout car parks in Sydney's western suburbs Mr Kelaart didn't have any cash on him so he got $20 from an ATM after his children finished their ice creams and drove to the next door Bunnings to meet her. As he arrived, he saw the woman accepting $10 from another stranger, but assumed she thought he wasn't coming back and asked someone else. 'I gave her the benefit of the doubt and gave her the $20. She was thankful, I wished her well and we parted ways,' he said. 'I felt good, I was actually quite happy that I helped someone in need, and a 20 was not going to be missed.' The wife of a man who claimed to have been conned got a photo of the woman's white Holden Commodore, which she gave to police However, his warm glow turned to fury when his wife Angela called him last Wednesday claiming the woman was at St Marys Village shopping centre using the same story to ask for more money. 'I was so disgusted,' he said. 'Not for me but there are kind people in this world that would gladly give money they cannot afford to help someone in this scammer's apparent position.' Ms Kelaart snapped a photo of the woman and told her to stop asking people for money, and claimed she was told to 'f**k off' before the woman ran back to her car. The alleged scammer then drove to Revolution Fitness St Marys and Ms Kelaart followed her and claimed to see her trying the same routine. 'The worst person in the world, is the one that preys on the kind nature of others, and that's what's most disturbing about this,' Mr Kelaart said. 'Scammers like this are the reason people don't help one another any more, because so many have been duped and they no longer trust.' Dylan Kelaart said he encountered the middle-aged woman on Sunday in the carpark of a Hungry Jacks in Minchinbury Mr Kelaart didn't have any cash on him so he got $20 from an ATM and drove to the next door Bunnings to meet her Mr Kelaart said his wife and a worker at the gym reported the woman to St Marys police station. The outraged father shared his story on social media and got hundreds of replies, many of which claimed to have also seen or been scammed by the same woman. 'My girlfriend gave her $20 at the twin servos on the M4, the exact same story but she needed to get to the Newcastle hospital,' one man wrote. 'She only asked for $5 but my girl is very empathetic and was heartbroken when she didn't use it for fuel but to buy smokes and Macca's.' Another wrote: 'She approached my 79-year-old dad at Centro Penrith. He didn't have cash on him but he said she had tears in her eyes and was very convincing.' But days later his wife called him to say the woman was at St Marys Village shopping centre using the same story to ask for more money Dozens of other alleged victims claimed to have seen the woman at Nepean Village shopping centre and other shops across western Sydney A third said they gave her $10 outside the Minchinbury Bunnings because they were told the woman's mother had been rushed to John Hunter Hospital. 'She explained that the reason she was at Bunnings was to return an item hoping to get money back but Bunnings said no and just gave her a credit voucher,' they said. 'I offered to buy the voucher but she said her partner had it and was in trying to sort it out with management.' Another man told Daily Mail Australia she approached him with the same story at a Bunnings car park in Alexandria, south of Sydney's CBD. 'I don't usually give money to strangers and the fact she was slightly slurring her words and had a drink bottle in her hand that was slightly covered made me a little suspicious,' he claimed. Others claimed to have seen her in other locations across western Sydney, asking for either parking or petrol money to see her sick mother. Public begging is illegal and most Australian states but not in NSW unless the begger is breaking the law, behaving in an anti-social manner, or blocking a pedestrian thoroughfare. A German town has threatened to ditch its traditional ceremony where children hang their Christmas wishlists on a tree in the market blaming new EU privacy laws. Children in Roth, Bavaria, were said to be heartbroken after council officials ruled they can no longer leave their public letters to Santa. The council lawyer said Brussels red tape introduced in May had left them with no choice to avoid risking a fine. This is because the tradition involves children writing details including their name, age and address so that Father Christmas knows where to deliver their presents. But under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the local authority must obtain written permission from the parents of the 4,000 children who usually take part, making it clear their data could be shared with third parties. Children in Roth, Bavaria, were said to be heartbroken after council officials ruled they can no longer leave their public letters to Santa on a Christmas tree in the town (file photo) The town near Nuremberg has previously used the notes to organise visits to the local fire station and for meetings with the mayor. Melanie Hanker, Roths events manager, said: There wont be any sparkling childrens eyes in front of the Christmas tree. However, last night local radio station Antenna Bayern said it has worked with experts to create a GDPR-compliant form in a bid to save the event. Tory MEP Daniel Dalton criticised the cancellation of the festive fun. But a European Commission spokesman said Roths interpretation of the GDPR rules had been in no way correct. They said: Santa Claus should have the contact details of a family in order to deliver the presents indicated on the wish list he received provided the parents agree, in the case of minors.' These have been the rules for the past 20 years and the General Data Protection Regulation has not changed this situation. The EC have also released a statement confirming that the Bavarian town of Roth will go ahead with their annual Christmas tradition as usual. Every hospital death will be examined and protections for NHS whistleblowers bolstered in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the Gosport deaths scandal, it was announced last night. Health Secretary Matt Hancock unveiled changes, including a review of laws regulating the prescription of potentially lethal drugs and new legislation forcing NHS trusts to publically report how they have addressed staff concerns. Health Secretary Matt Hanock announced the move following the publication of a report into the Gosport scandal It follows an inquiry into the Gosport War Memorial Hospital in Hampshire where 456 patients, mainly elderly, died prematurely between 1987 and 2001, after being given heavy doses of opioid painkillers. Mr Hancock reiterated the Governments profound and unambiguous apology to families affected by the scandal. Hundreds of patients died early at the hospital (pictured) in Hampshire The death toll could have been reduced by hundreds had whistleblowers been listened to, he told MPs. Many were shocked when a mistrial was declared in Karina Vetrano's murder trial on Tuesday, barely a day after jurors began to deliberate 22-year-old Chanel Lewis' fate. And now one juror has revealed that the jury was not in agreement to end deliberations just 13 hours after they began this week. 'We were all not in agreement to end it where it ended,' the juror told the New York Post. 'Some of us wanted to think about it some more. That note was sent and people were not ready to end it there. People felt like there could have been more deliberations.' The juror revealed that while the panel agreed there wasn't enough evidence to convict Lewis of sexual assault, their minds were not made up when it came to the murder charge. A juror has revealed that the jury was not in agreement to end deliberations in Karina Vetrano's murder trial. Chanel Evans, 22, is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering Vetrano Many were shocked when a mistrial was declared in Vetrano's murder trial on Tuesday evening after just 13 hours of deliberation 'We were looking into the murder. Everyone had doubts,' the juror said. At one point it was seven people who believed Evans was not guilty, while five people believed he was guilty. But that number completely switched when the jurors asked to watch his confession video again. 'I got angry,' Lewis can be heard saying in the tape. 'I saw red. I never meant to do anything. Yeah, I just lost it.' At one point Lewis tells investigators that he hit Vetrano 'five or so times' before he 'finished her off'. The juror said the forewoman sent a message to the judge saying that the jurors were split - even though four of them didn't want her to send the note. 'A lot of people were upset that the note was sent to the judge at the time,' the juror said. 'People felt like there could have been more deliberations - the same way that two people changed their mind after seeing the video.' 'Some of us were shocked too, like what the hell just happened? It was upsetting,' the juror added. Vetrano's parents, Phil and Cathy Vetrano, are seen leaving Queens Supreme Court after the mistrial was declared on Tuesday evening 'I'm not going to say I wasted my time, but I just feel like it should have been more time. It was kind of traumatic for me, because I feel it was like a tragedy and I really wanted to see justice.' Veteran lawyers were likewise shocked when Queens Supreme Court Judge Michael Aloise excused the jurors so quickly on Tuesday night. 'We are split,' the forewoman wrote in a note to the judge. 'It doesn't seem we are able to make progress one way or the other.' Lewis' attorney then moved for a mistrial and Aloise granted it, saying 'I'm inclined to agree even though it's only been a day and a half. There were extensive deliberations. They covered issues central to the debate.' Defense attorney Sally Butler said it was the first time she had seen a mistrial granted without an 'Allen Charge', an instruction by the judge that encourages the jury to keep deliberating until they are able to reach a verdict. 'Whenever you get that note, that's the first thing the judge does,' Butler told the New York Post. 'There was something definitely up. The Allen charges normally work.' Civil rights lawyer Rob Kuby said he had never seen a first note resulting in a hung jury 'unless there is physical violence' among the jurors. 'Given the amount of deliberation compared with the length of the trial, it was not a particularly long deliberation,' he added. Butler said the prosecution will now be at a disadvantage when they retry Lewis, who will remain in custody until he is due back in court in January. Vetrano was hit in the back of the head, dragged off a path, sexually assaulted and then strangled to death as she fought for her life during the horrific August 2016 attack 'Now the defense attorneys already know what the witnesses are going to say,' she said. 'If the witnesses screw up, they can say, "Wait a second, you said this before."' But an alternate juror has revealed that she would have voted to acquit Evans, saying she believed the prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lewis murdered Vetrano while she was out for a jog. The juror, who was not involved in the deliberations, remained unconvinced of Lewis' guilt following the trial. 'I don't want to say it's just on the prosecution,' the alternate juror told the New York Daily News. 'Also, the defense had some reasons why as well (to vote for acquittal). Yes, I thought there was reasonable doubt.' Prosecutors had told the jury that Lewis' own DNA matched up with genetic evidence removed from Vetrano's neck and cell phone after the murder. They said Lewis had no girlfriend, no friends, no job and was 'angry all the time' when he decided to vent that anger on Vetrano, 30, and kill her in the brutal and random August 2016 attack. Lewis had no job, no friends and no girlfriend when he decided to vent his anger on Vetrano as the pair crossed paths in an otherwise random attack, prosecutors claimed 'On this day he took his anger out on a pretty young woman, a girl in a halter top', District Attorney Brad Leventhal said. One of Vetrano's family members was heard exclaiming 'Oh my God' in the courtroom after the mistrial was declared on Tuesday night. Vetrano's parents left the courtroom in tears but did not comment on the mistrial. Philip Vetrano went for a jog in the same park where he found his daughter's body on Wednesday morning. Lawyers for Lewis argued that DNA evidence linking him to the crime scene, including some found under his fingernails, was not reliable. Attorney Robert Moeller said the crime scene had been corrupted by various people, including Vetrano's father, and therefore couldn't be trusted. When Lewis appeared to be confessing the crime to police along with details of the grisly murder, he was actually just repeating information he learned from the news, Moeller claimed. Lewis faces life in prison if convicted of murdering Vetrano, who was killed while jogging in Spring Creek Park not far from her home in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens. Phil and Cathy Vetrano are seen in court on the final day of summations before the jury began deliberating Evans' fate Lewis' mother Veta leaves Queens Supreme Court after hearing evidence in her son's trial Vetrano was punched in the face, thrown to the ground, violently sexually assaulted and then strangled in a marsh, about a block away from her house. Authorities said that the victim fought for her life until the very end, biting her attacker so hard that her teeth cracked. Vetrano's mother and father have been present in court throughout the trial, stoically bearing witness as the prosecution laid out its evidence for the jury. On Tuesday, prosecutors introduced evidence taken from Lewis' black ZTE cell phone, which they found at his Brooklyn home, according to the New York Daily News. Josue Rivera, a detective with the NYPD's Computer Crimes Squad, testified in Queens Supreme Court that investigators recovered the device from Lewis' dresser in his bedroom. The phone contained two photos of the victim, Vetrano, 30, as well as a photo of the crime scene, Rivera testified. Philip Vetrano (left) found his daughter's body in the woods. He has been present every day throughout the trial alongside wife Cathy (right) The pictures were taken from online news articles about the crime. Prosecutors said that the phone contained a search history of 137 searches, among them the Wikipedia page for the Catholic Sacrament of Penance. It is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church in which adherents obtain absolution for sins committed against others. Lewis is also alleged to have searched a news article titled 'After a Crime, the Price of a Second Chance,' as well as 'Miranda warning,' 'arraignment,' and 'what happens after a felony conviction?' Rivera was asked by Lewis' defense attorney, Julia Burke, whether the name 'Karina Vetrano' was ever searched by Lewis on his cell phone. 'You can't testify that the name Karina Vetrano was ever searched by the user, is that correct?' she asked. 'That is correct,' the detective said. Lawyers for Lewis say DNA evidence linking him to the crime is untrustworthy and that during an apparent police confession, he was actually repeating evidence he heard from the news Despite making a videotaped confession, in which he admitted to killing Vetrano, saying he spotted her at random and snapped, Lewis pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and aggravated sex abuse. His lawyers have argued that the confession was coerced by keeping Lewis isolated during his six-hour interrogation. Lewis reportedly refused to speak with white detectives and only confessed when a black detective was brought in. His remarks to detectives that he didn't like people 'over there', referring to the largely Italian-American Howard Beach neighborhood, led to speculation that the attack may have been racially motivated. In February, a judge decided to let DNA evidence and the videotaped confession be used at trial. Lewis' attorneys previously questioned the validity of his DNA sample from a consensual cheek swab, which was compared to DNA evidence recovered from under the victim's fingernails, and the manner in which his confession was gained. On December 16, 2017, a fishing boat from central Binh Dinh province was sunk by strong waves in a location about 280 nautical miles from the shore, in the vicinity of Vietnams HoangSa (Paracel) archipelago. Four fishermen on this boat only had enough time to send a distress signal and then moved onto a small coracle. Receiving the signal, Tran Thanh Ron, a 25-year-old fisherman from Duc Pho district of Quang Ngai, and three others steered their boat to the place of the boat in distress to save the four. Ron, bringing robes along, jumped down to the sea to help the four fishermen. In January, the Chairman of the Quang Ngai provincial Peoples Committee also presented a certificate of merit to the boats crew to honour their action. Vietnamnews A teacher who admitted having a sexual relationship with a student branded the boy with a cigarette and threatened self harm when he went home, a court has heard. Sonia Mackay, 43, faced the Adelaide District Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to the persistent sexual exploitation of a 17-year-old boy. In a victim impact statement read to the court, the boy said he was an 'above-average student' who dreamed of becoming a dentist before he began receiving personal attention from Mackay. Sonia Mackay, 43, has admitted to having sex with a 17-year-old student. The court heard she would brand his skin with cigarettes and threaten self-harm when he left her home 'Over the following months, we spent more and more time talking and texting and I lost all focus on my studies,' he said. 'A life of sex and alcohol with Sonia Mackay was more appealing than reading a book and writing assignments.' He said he withdrew from friends and family in fear of being caught and, when the relationship was discovered, he felt ashamed and embarrassed. The boy said he had been left with emotional, financial and physical impacts of Mackay's crime, including painful scars where she burnt his flesh with a cigarette. 'These scars were inflicted as a way of marking me and showing that I belong to her,' he said. The boy's mother told the court Mackay had called her and asked for his phone number under the guise of helping him with his school work. She said she became worried when her son stopped coming home for days at a time. 'I had no idea where he was sleeping, who he was with, was he safe or worse,' she said. 'When he attempted to come home she bought him expensive underwear and gifts so he had no excuse but to stay with her.' In a victim impact statement read to the court, the boy said the scars from the cigarette marks were a way of Mackay (centre) 'marking' him The boy's mother recounted one incident when he did come home and Mackay called him and threatened self harm. 'I saw my son terrified... he believed it was his fault for leaving her alone.' Reading a letter of apology, Mackay sobbed and said she was 'deeply sorry' for her actions. 'Through my indecent actions I have brought great distress to (the victim) and his family,' she said. 'I know I abused (the victim)'s caring nature at a time he needed support. 'I am deeply regretful of my actions.' Judge Liesl Chapman continued Mackay's bail to reappear before the court in December. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 Nissan's chairman of nearly 20 years has been sacked by board members just days after he was arrested for financial misconduct. Once-revered boss Carlos Ghosn, 64, seen as the man who saved Nissan, is accused of under-reporting his income by millions of dollars, as well as a host of other financial irregularities. Prosecutors intercepted the Brazil-born tycoon on Monday as he landed in Tokyo on a private jet, accusing him and executive Greg Kelly of understating the chairman's income by around $44 million between June 2011 and June 2015. He is now being held in a Tokyo detention centre in 'spartan conditions' and faces up to ten years in prison. Carlos Ghosn was the chairman of Nissan for almost two decades and was revered in Japan. He has now been removed from his role His arrest stunned the car industry and the business world and has plunged an alliance between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi motors, which he forged, into doubt. Nissan board members voted unanimously to sack Ghosn as chairman, the Japanese car giant said in a statement on Thursday. The statement said: 'After reviewing a detailed report of the internal investigation, the board voted unanimously ... to discharge Carlos Ghosn as Chairman of the Board.' The claims against Ghose come after a month-long internal Nissan probe following a whistleblower report. Hours after his arrest, his hand-picked successor as CEO, Hiroto Saikawa, launched an impassioned broadside at his former mentor, muttering about a 'dark side' to the Ghosn era and urging his sacking. However, even after being removed as chairman, Ghosn remains a member of the board as a full shareholders' meeting is required to remove him. Ghosn is seen as being responsible for the revival of Nissan, as well as the alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, which sold a combined 10.6 million cars last year - more than any other firm. The alliance, which employs 450,000 people globally, is now thought to be under threat as Ghosn was believed to be the glue holding it together. His sacking comes after he was arrested for financial irregularities. Ghosn is being held in spartan conditions at a Tokyo detention centre (pictured) The disgraced boss is being held in custody in a Tokyo detention centre and has not been seen in public nor made any comments since his arrest. He received a visit from Brazilian consul Joao de Mendonca on Thursday who told AFP that Ghosn 'sounded very well, in good health'. However, his conditions are likely to be a far cry from what the millionaire businessman is used to. Inmates at the centre are typically allowed 30 minutes exercise per day and only two baths a week. Ties and strings are removed to prevent suicide attempts and former guards and lawyers said Ghosn was almost certain to be held in a cramped cell on his own. On Wednesday, prosecutors successfully applied to extend his custody for an additional 10 days as they step up their questioning. Deputy chief prosecutor Shin Kukimoto said that the type of crime Ghosn is accused of is 'one of the most serious types of crime' under Japan's Financial Instruments Act and Ghosn could face a 10-million-yen fine and/or a 10-year prison sentence. Under the law, companies themselves can be held accountable for the falsified documents, following reports that prosecutors believe Nissan also has a case to answer. The crisis appeared to be going from bad to worse for Nissan, as the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that prosecutors believe the firm also had a case to answer. Both Nissan and the authorities declined to comment Public broadcaster NHK said Nissan had paid 'huge sums' to provide Ghosn with luxury homes in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam 'without any legitimate business reason'. Ghosn had a reputation as a hard-nosed workaholic with no qualms about closing factories and slashing jobs -- earning the nickname 'Le Cost Killer' in France, where 47,000 employees work for Renault. But his exorbitant salary and flashy lifestyle - at odds with Japanese corporate culture - has long been criticised. According to the Financial Times, Ghosn's fall from grace came as he was working on a full-blown merger of Nissan and Renault. Ghosn's departure could now be used as a pretext to rebalance the alliance in Nissan's favour, according to reports. Renault has held off on removing Ghosn, saying that Nissan had failed to share the evidence it had gathered with its sister company. Governments in Paris and Tokyo have been scrambling to contain the fallout from the arrest, with President Emmanuel Macron saying France would be 'extremely vigilant' about the stability of Renault and the alliance. Analysts said that despite clear tensions between the two firms headquartered 10,000 kilometres apart, neither company has the financial might alone to make the heavy investments in electric vehicles considered to be the industry's future. 'It would be like a couple divorcing after 20 years -- it would be complicated, very expensive and not easy to do,' said Gaetan Toulemonde, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. 'Honestly, I don't know if it's even possible.' The PM called Peppa Pig World 'my kind of place' and it has since emerged that his bodyguards queued up for the Johnsons but the PM did pay for his family's 85 ticket after a series of controversial freebie holidays this year. Speaking to MailOnline today, Neville Astley (left), one of the show's creators, said: 'We don't get involved in politics. Peppa is apolitical. The only politics she knows is that within her family, mainly Grandpa Pig and Daddy Pig, over a broken lawnmower or something. I'm quite proud that he called us geniuses though. It means I can go down the pub later and wear a badge that says 'genius' on it.' The Tory leader was photographed with young Wilf at the wheel of a bright blue toy car on Sunday afternoon (right). Boris, his new wife and their son were also pictured having fun on a water ride. But others also there for the day admitted most failed to recognise him. George Bell, who was there with his family, said that in order to keep a low profile at Grampy Rabbit's Sailing Club, the PM's security queued up for them with 'seven jotted around and spaced out' wearing ear pieces before the Johnsons jumped in. Another woman told MailOnline that later a 'rather scruffy' Mr Johnson was seen browsing toys and games in the gift shop. A Melbourne dentist who sexually exploited his patients and a nurse has been jailed for seven years. Nashaat Michael, 60, has been sentenced to seven years and three months in jail after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting eight patients and a staff member between 1996 and 2015. 'They were essentially captive in your chair. It was quite brazen offending,' County Court Judge Andrew Tinney said on Thursday. Nashaat Michael (pictured) who sexually exploited his patients and a nurse has been jailed for seven years In one case, Michael rubbed a woman's stomach and put his hand down her pants, touching her pubic hair. She tried to make a sound but had dental equipment in her mouth, and pushed him away. Michael then put his hand down her jeans, below her underpants and made circles of her pubic area, the court was told. He would often strike when a nurse was present but unaware and on one occasion when his wife, who worked at the practice, was in the next room. Michael's offending dated back to 1997 and continued for decades, Judge Tinney noted. Michael denied the first three offences and was committed to stand trial in 2017, before six more women came forward, prompting his guilty plea. 'It was the sheer weight of the numbers that has brought about your case,' Judge Tinney said. 'It is clear the additional six complaints was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.' Disgraced dentist Nashaat Michael (pictured, left) has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting his female patients Victims described treatment being prolonged so 'you could bring them back ... grooming them essentially', the judge added. 'You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself and you are not.' Michael has already been barred from treating women by the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency in November 2016. His registration has been suspended after a man died following a wisdom teeth removal last August. A forensic pathologist linked the death to the dental surgery and the coroner is investigating. Michael must serve at least four-and-a-half years in prison before being eligible for parole. A woman whose husband was mowed down by a bus while the pair were on holiday in New Zealand has slammed the country's legal system for letting the driver off. American Kate Jurow was holidaying with her husband, Richard Hyde, when he was struck by a reversing tourist bus and killed near Queenstown in April, 2016. In a open letter to PM Jacinda Adern, the grieving widow has slammed New Zealand's 'casual' legal system for failing to protect tourists, NZ Herald reported. American Kate Jurow was holidaying with her husband, Richard Hyde (pictured), when he was struck by a reversing tourist bus and killed near Queenstown in April, 2016 'I wish I could say that I respect the New Zealand justice system and that Rich's death was accorded the attention and gravity that it deserved. 'But that was not the case,' Ms Jurow wrote in the letter. The widow said despite a guilty verdict, the bus driver who caused her husband's death, as well as the tour company, walked away with 'barely a slap on the wrist'. 'There were no fines or monetary recompense imposed at all,' she said. Mr Hyde, 73, died after he was struck by a reversing 20-seater Southern Discoveries tourist bus while on tour at Mt Nicholas Station, Otago Daily Times reported. A passenger who gave evidence at the trial said, despite being severely injured, the 73-year-old was initially conscious and asked to call his wife, NZ Herald reported. Before he died, Mr Hyde reportedly told his wife on the phone he had been run over and that he loved her. The bus tour company wasn't prosecuted, but the 63-year-old driver was convicted of careless driving causing death and sentenced to 150 hours of community service. The woman's driver's license was also suspended for six months and she was granted permanent name suppression. Mr Jurow said following the tragic circumstances that led to her husband's death, she struggled to find legal representation in New Zealand. 'I could find no lawyer willing to help me, to simply provide knowledge of a totally unfamiliar legal system - a circumstance which in itself was bizarre and very upsetting,' she wrote. The grieving widow said when she eventually received something from the government, the undisclosed amount wasn't appropriate for the circumstances. In the letter, Ms Jurow provided a number of suggestions to improve the system - including Coroner Anna Tutton's recommendation that all tourist-operated buses have reverse cameras or mirrors. Ms Jurow said she was never given information about New Zealand's legal system and urged the government to provide advocates for family members of victims. 'A country presenting itself as a world-class tourist destination must be prepared to provide clear and meaningful assistance to visitors in severe distress,' she said. A young girl penned an award-winning essay about gun violence in her hometown just two years before she was shot dead in her own bedroom by a stray bullet. Sandra Parks, 13, was in her bedroom Thursday night in Milwaukee when someone shot into her house and killed her instantly, Pix 11 reports. In an essay she wrote two years before her death, she talked about hoping to see an end to violence in her neighborhood. Sandra Parks (left) was shot dead as she sat in her bedroom and her mother Bernice (right) said the young girl hated violence and wrote a series of essays about how to prevent it Isacc Barnes (left) and Untrell Oden (right) have been charged over the death of the girl 'We shall overcome has been lost in lies of who we are. Who we have become. 'We need to rewrite our story so that faith and hope for a better tomorrow is not only within us. But we believe it and we put it into action'. Sandra's essay took third place in her school district. In it she called for more empathy and less negativity, and emphasized the importance of getting an education to make the world a better place. She described a world where 'little children are victims of senseless gun violence' and 'there is too much black-on-black crime'. 'Sometimes, I sit back and I have to escape from what I see and hear every day, she wrote. 'When I do, I come to the same conclusion we are in a state of chaos'. She penned an award-winning essay about gun violence in her hometown of Milwaukee She told Wisconsin Public Radio that she chose to write about violence because 'all you hear about is somebody dying' Sandra, then a sixth grader, told Wisconsin Public Radio that she chose to write about violence because 'all you hear about is somebody dying or somebody getting shot and people do not just think about whose father or son or granddaughter or grandson who it was that was just killed'. On Friday night friends and family came together to remember the young girl who had dreams of changing the world and trying to eliminate gun violence. Her mother Bernice Parks said: 'My baby was not violent. My baby did not like violence. 'She was a star that was trying to get out by didnt know how/ Dont never forget my baby', she told Pix 11. She set up a Gofundme page to help raise money to hold a memorial service for her daughter. Bernie wrote: 'Sandra was shot while at home. The shooter shot through the house November 19, 2018.She was a eight grader and had hope for going to college to be writer. She was just a innocent child. Sandra's mother Bernice is inconsolable over the loss of her daughter to gun violence Sandra's friends and family gather on Friday to remember the little girl who 'hated violence' 'This situation has been very hard on me as a mother, family and friends'. Two men are facing homicide charges in the shooting death of Sandra Parks. Isaac Barnes, 26, and Untrell Oden, 27 and prosecutors say Barnes was the gunman in this case and Oden helped him hide his guns. It is thought that Barnes, 26, and may have been planning to shoot his ex-girlfriend, prosecutors allege. According to the complaint, Isaac Barnes' ex-girlfriend said Barnes approached her wearing a black mask and 'holding a large AK-47 style firearm'. He told her: 'I was going to fan you down, but didn't because she had her kids in her parked car. She was visiting her sister at a home Monday night near where Sandra Parks lived. It wasn't clear from the criminal complaint whether Parks had already been shot by then. On Friday night friends and family came together to remember the young girl who had dreams of changing the world and trying to eliminate gun violence Sandra's essay took third place in her school district. In it she called for more empathy and less negativity, and emphasized the importance of getting an education Barnes faces charges of first-degree reckless homicide, discharging a gun into a building, and possession of a firearm by a felon. The reckless homicide charge is punishable by up to 60 years in prison. Oden faces two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon. Parks' mother had gone to bed at around 7 pm and was 'awoken by the sound of gunfire', prosecutors said in the complaint. 'The next thing she heard was (Sandra) yelling: 'I'm shot! I'm shot!', prosecutors said. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett had said Tuesday Sandra Barnes was in her bedroom when she was shot, but according to the criminal complaint her mother found her bleeding on the living room floor, where her siblings had been watching television. Prosecutors also charged an acquaintance of Barnes with two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, alleging that he had safeguarded two guns belonging to Barnes. Barnes and Oden did not yet have attorneys listed and haven't had a bond hearing. Police found Barnes hiding a closet in a home where they also located Oden. In that home, police recovered one firearm in the garbage can of the living room and another gun in a bedroom, according to prosecutors. They say Oden told detective he saw Barnes 'shooting at an unknown target as they walked from the store'. A section of Adelaide Airport has been shut down as the bomb squad responds to reports of a suspicious package. The package was found a goods screening point, and a 'small area' of Terminal One has been closed to the public. Access to flights had not been affected by the closure, an airport spokesman told the Advertiser. A section of Adelaide Airport (pictured) has been shut down as the bomb squad responds to reports of a suspicious package South Australia police were helping with traffic redirection outside the terminal. 'The Australian Federal Police asks for the patience of the travelling public at this time,' an AFP spokesperson said in a statement. 'After initial assessment by the AFP Bomb Appraisal Officers, the item is now being assessed by South Australia Police Bomb Response Team.'' The package has since been assessed and deemed non-hazardous. 'The cordon has been lifted and there is no further disruption to the travelling public,' AFP said in a statement. A Florida drug suspect whose mugshots went viral earlier this month because of his unusually large neck, has been arrested yet again. Charles Dion McDowell, 31, who has become known online as the 'neck guy', was arrested in Lee County early Wednesday morning and booked into the Lee County Detention Center in Opelika. He was charged with attempting to elude, second-degree marijuana possessions, driving with a revoked license, reckless driving and improper lane usage, jail records showed. McDowell was being held on $5,400 in bonds, but made bail this morning. Police released this mugshot of McDowell on Wednesday after he was arrested again The previous, undated mugshot of Charles Dion McDowell, 31, has attracted thousands of comments from social media users He had just been let out of jail in Florida, where he was busted on numerous charges, one of them being evading police. But he did not learn his lesson. McDowell was arrested earlier this month on a number of charges including fleeing police, possession of meth, possession of cocaine and a number of other charges including intent to sell, manufacture or deliver. His mugshot almost immediately went viral online, with online users making fun of his neck. 'Dude is up to his neck in charges,' wrote Dustin Gilland. 'That neck tattoo cost $6000. They charge per square foot,' joked Brian White. Another user named Barry Jacobs: 'His neck is still at LARGE!!!' The post has been shared more than 260 thousand times, with nearly 300 thousand comments, most of which involved a series of puns and jokes surrounding McDowells neck. 'You should be ashamed of yourselves, all this neckativity isnt right at all', Ramon Ross posted. Another user named Noble McGregor wrote: 'They gonna put him in jail and throat away the key. People poked fun at the drug suspect's unusually large neck (pictured in an old mugshot) The serial criminal's older mugshots have now surfaced (pictured left and right), following the popularity of his most recent one McDowell was booked into the Escambia County jail and is now being held on a $57,000 bond Keidra Brewer also wrote: 'What they charge this guy with? Neckless Endangerment? Shat!' Earlier this month Charles was taken into custody after attempting to flee police. Moshae Elise commented: 'Somebody said he was neckligent.' 'He's not from my neck of the woods,' wrote Heather-Jeremy Peoples Dallas Payne replied: 'What Snapchat filter is that?' Jamie Lee Bloodworth said: 'Looks like he was transforming into the Hulk but only his neck got angry.' New South Wales Police's top cop has admitted officers made 'errors' in handling a complaint about a convicted rapist just three weeks before he allegedly sexually assaulted a girl at a Sydney dance studio. Police Commissioner Mick Fuller confirmed that a woman reported an offensive call she allegedly received from Anthony Sampieri, 54, who was on parole for a serious sexual assault - to a St George Police Station officer in Sydney's south on October 26. But the parole board was not told of the breach, which could have seen his parole revoked, which would have sent him back behind bars. 'At worst an officer has neglected their duty to a victim of NSW,' NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller (right) told reporters in Sydney on Thursday Sampieri allegedly physically and sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl in the toilet of a dance studio in Kogarah and stabbed a man who confronted him last week. The police response to the woman's concerns about Sampieri made on October 26 are currently being investigated internally. 'At best an officer or the organisation potentially has failed to notify the parole board of a potential parole breach, and at worst an officer has neglected their duty to a victim of NSW,' Commissioner Fuller told reporters. The commissioner said the officer being investigated regarding last month's complaint is struggling. 'My understanding is that he is stressed, he is concerned and we are giving him welfare services,' he said. 'We still have an obligation for that officer's welfare but if there needs to be accountability the community would expect there is accountability.' He added that the family of the girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted last week have been kept updated with the latest developments. 'They were the first people we contacted Tuesday,' Commissioner Fuller said. Anthony Sampieri, 54, was released on parole last year after he served five years in jail for the sexual assault of a woman, 60, on the NSW south coast in 2012 Sampieri remains under guard in hospital, while police investigations into last Thursday's incident are continue. Commissioner Fuller was joined at the press conference by NSW Police Minister Troy Grant, who said he was 'very very disappointed' last week's alleged assault would have been avoided if Sampieri had been behind bars. 'It makes me sick in the guts, I think the whole community feels that way,' Mr Grant told reporters. 'The first thought of the Premier and I is with the victims. We have reached out we are absolutely respecting their wishes in terms of contact from us. We are there for them, they know that and they have told us that they appreciate that. They've asked for their privacy to be respected I can't imagine how they would be feeling.' Sampieri allegedly stabbed a father who tried to intervene, before a dentist who worked nearby heard the commotion and punched the convicted rapist in the head Mr Grant acknowledged the community are desperate for answers. 'No one is trying to hide from this but we also don't want to undermine or jeopardise any legal proceedings because that would be the worst thing to do to these victims,' he said. Sampieri was granted parole last year after he served five years in jail for the sexual assault of a woman, 60, who believed she was meeting him for a private furniture sale in Wollongong the NSW south coast in 2012. Anthony Sampieri, 54, allegedly sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl in the bathroom of a dance school (pictured) in Kogarah in Sydney's south last week He was jailed for a maximum seven years but had his sentence reduced for good behaviour. 'I am deeply troubled by the events under investigation at the Kogarah dance studio,' Corrections Minister David Elliott said in a statement to 9 News. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian apologised to the victims when she addressed the matter during question time in state parliament on Thursday. 'On this occasion, getting it wrong may have resulted in the most terrible of circumstances and we are deeply deeply sorry to everybody affected,' Ms Berejiklian said. Australian-born extremists convicted of terror offences could soon be stripped of their citizenship, under radical legal changes bound for federal parliament. The proposed new laws would also allow a minister to strip Australian citizenship from a convicted terrorist if they were 'reasonably satisfied' the person was entitled to citizenship in another country. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also wants to introduce 'temporary exclusion orders' of up to two years for foreign fighters returning from conflict zones in the Middle East. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also wants to introduce 'temporary exclusion orders' of up to two years for foreign fighters returning from conflict zones in the Middle East Under the current law, citizenship can only be stripped from people who have been sentenced to six years in prison. 'We will be removing that requirement,' Mr Morrison said at a press conference on Thursday. 'It will only be if they are convicted of a terrorist offence, the current wording of the law, we believe it is unrealistic and needs to reflect the genuine threat that has been posed by those engaged in this activity. 'For those who would engage in this sort of activity, and they have citizenship elsewhere, and we have reason to believe they do, they can go.' The announcement comes after beloved cafe owner Sisto Malaspina was killed in a deadly rampage carried out by ISIS-inspired knifeman Hassan Khalif Shire Ali The announcement comes after beloved cafe owner Sisto Malaspina was killed in a deadly rampage carried out by ISIS-inspired knifeman Hassan Khalif Shire Ali in Melbourne's Bourke Street on November 9. Together with Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, Mr Morrison said he hoped Parliament's intelligence and security committee would finish considering new laws allowing police to access encrypted messages. 'I would insist on seeing (the laws) passed before the end of the next sitting fortnight,' he said. Regarding the IT field, the two winners of second prizes are Vietnamese Text to Speech of Vbee Services and Data Processing Solutions Joint Stock Co.; and Stringee - Communication APIs for Voice, Video, SMS of Stringee Joint Stock Co. As to the science - technology field, the award was given to the project Application of Synchronous Mechanized Technology in Coal Mining to Improve Productivity at Ha Lam Coal Joint Stock Co. Vinacomin of Engineer Le Minh Chuan and partners. The award winner in the field of medicine was the project New Advances in the Diagnosis, Treatment and Improvement of Breast Cancer Treatment by Professor Dr. Tran Van Thuan and partners in the K Hospital. The Environment Award was granted to the project Toxic Waste Incinerator and Solutions for Designing Green Works in Vietnam by Professor Dr. Pham Ngoc Dang from the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment. 6 excellent individuals also received the Talent Encouragement Awards. Taking part in the ceremony were Head of the Communist Party of Vietnam's Central Committee Commission for Publicity and Education Vo Van Thuong ; former Vice State President and Chairman of the Vietnam Study Promotion Association Nguyen Thi Doan; as well as leaders of ministries, industries, and local regions. By TRAN BINH Translated by Yen Nhi President Donald Trump on Wednesday once again called into question whether climate change was real. Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming? the president tweeted late Wednesday. Trump was referring to the Arctic blast which will drive temperatures into the twenties throughout the Northeast United States this Thanksgiving holiday. Boston may endure the coldest Thanksgiving on record. A forecast high of 21 degrees Fahrenheit would break the record of 24 degrees Fahrenheit set on Thanksgiving Day in 1901. On Wednesday, light snow will fall in New York, though it is not expected to stick, while a couple of inches will likely accumulate in Boston. Wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour could affect Thanksgiving parades in the Northeast, including the world-famous Macys Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City, but not travel itself. Trump came into office after an election campaign in which he claimed that climate change was a Chinese hoax. President Donald Trump on Wednesday once again called into question whether climate change was real. Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming? the president tweeted late Wednesday Trump was referring to the weather forecast for this weekend, which calls for record low temperatures throughout the Northeast One of Trumps biggest decisions since becoming president last year was withdrawing from the Paris Accords, an agreement in which 196 countries committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Trump has also appointed officials to government posts who are on record as denying climate change. Earlier this month, as parts of California were devoured by two deadly and fast-moving wildfires that killed dozens, Trump blamed the blazes on gross mismanagement of the forests while dismissing the role of climate change. Trump in the past has blamed environmental regulations for fires in California and promoted tree clearing to stop blazes. Last week, he took to Twitter again, saying, There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. The president was pilloried by firefighters and California Governor Jerry Brown, whose spokesman called Trump uninformed. Nearly 60 percent of Californias 33 million acres of forests are under federal control, Trumps critics said, noting the importance of climate change in causing more frequent and destructive fires. With a warming climate, rising temperatures and an increase in dry conditions in already-dry areas lead to a higher likelihood of drought. During an interview with CBS 60 Minutes last month, Trump somewhat backed off his climate change denial, though he said he did not know if it was man-made. Trump said he does not want to put the U.S. at a disadvantage in responding to climate change. 'I think something's happening. Something's changing and it'll change back again,' he said. 'I don't think it's a hoax. I think there's probably a difference. But I don't know that it's manmade. I will say this: I don't want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don't want to lose millions and millions of jobs.' Earlier this month, as parts of California were devoured by wildfires that killed dozens, Trump blamed the blazes on gross mismanagement of the forests while dismissing the role of climate change. A view of Paradise, California is seen above last Thursday Trump called climate change a hoax in November 2012 when he sent a tweet stating, 'The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.' He later said he was joking about the Chinese connection, but in years since has continued to call global warming a hoax. 'I'm not denying climate change,' he said in the interview. 'But it could very well go back. You know, we're talking about over a millions of years.' Temperature records kept by Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that the world has not had a cooler-than-average year since 1976 or a cooler-than-normal month since the end of 1985. Trump also expressed doubt over scientists' findings linking the changing climate to more powerful hurricanes. 'They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael,' said Trump, who identified 'they' as 'people' after being pressed by 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl. She asked, 'What about the scientists who say it's worse than ever?' The president replied, 'You'd have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda.' Trump's comments came just days after a Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a warning that global warming would increase climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth. The report detailed how Earth's weather, health and ecosystems would be in better shape if the world's leaders could somehow limit future human-caused warming. Segregated swimming pools and university safe spaces could all be banned in Sydney next year. Former Labor leader Mark Latham stands a strong chance of being elected to the New South Wales Parliament in March 2019 as a One Nation candidate. Mr Latham, who is running for the upper house with the right-wing party, has released 10 key policies to overhaul state anti-discrimination laws. He has proposed 'creating a new criminal offence' for segregating people on the basis of race, gender, sexuality or religion in public spaces. Scroll down for video Segregated swimming pools, university safe spaces and gay-only nightclubs could all be banned in Sydney next year (pictured is the Ruth Everuss Aquatic Centre in Auburn) The policy manifesto referenced university 'safe spaces' and 'segregated municipal swimming pools'. One Nation's election policy has been released 18 months after Cumberland Council, in Sydney's west, introduced women's only sessions at the Ruth Everuss Aquatic Centre in Auburn. At the time, Mr Latham blasted the council for putting up curtains around Ruth Everuss Aquatic Centre in Auburn on Wednesdays in an area where Islam is practised by 43 per cent of residents. The One Nation policy document has accused the council of pandering to ultra-conservative Muslim values that were 'inconsistent with the values of Western civilisation'. One Nation's election policy has been released 18 months after Cumberland Council, in Sydney's west installed a curtain around its Auburn pool to shield Muslim women 'Public swimming pools have practised Sharia law, with curtained off areas for Islamic women,' it said. Mr Latham, a former western Sydney-based federal MP, who has campaigned against identity politics since leaving Parliament in 2005, has also taken aim at hard-left university students by proposing to ban 'safe spaces'. Minority students on campus have created so-called 'safe spaces' which ban people from expressing views deemed to be 'triggering'. This includes the University of Sydney's Queer Action Collective, which last year passed a motion backing 'safe spaces' on the grounds they provided 'an autonomous space for marginalised individuals to communicate regarding their oppressions and create a space void of harassment, violence, hate speech and anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric'. University safe spaces (like the one run by the University of Sydney's Queer Action Collective pictured) would be banned under the One Nation policy Releasing the One Nation policy document, Mr Latham said this kind of practice needed to be stamped out. 'We must bring people together, with the toughest possible laws against identity-based public segregation,' he said in the policy manifesto. The One Nation policy on eradicating segregation would make an exception for 'private commercial ventures such as female-only gyms'. To be elected to the NSW Legislative Council, Mark Latham (right with One Nation founder Pauline Hanson) ould only need to achieve a 4.22 per cent quota, after preferences The NSW Anti-Discrimination Act already has exemptions for gay sex-on-premises venues. To be elected to the NSW Legislative Council as a One Nation candidate, Mr Latham would only need to achieve a 4.22 per cent quota, after preferences, to serve an eight-year term. The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party and the Christian Democrats already share the balance of power in the NSW upper house and have the power to amend government legislation. Mr Latham could combine with these minor parties, including veteran upper house MP Fred Nile from the Christian Democrats, to seek his own laws in exchange for passing Coalition or Labor policy. A man who murdered his ex-wife, forced her corpse into a suitcase and dumped it in a river has been given a life sentence in jail. Singaporean native Ah Ping Ban, 69, killed his former partner Annabelle Chen, 58, whose half-naked body was found by a pair of fishermen in a suitcase floating in Western Australia's Swan River in July 2016. Ban was convicted with her murder in September this year, and was sentenced to life behind bars with a minimum serving time of 20 years on Thursday. His 27-year-old daughter Tiffany Yiting Wan was also jailed for four years and ten months after she was acquitted for murder but convicted for being an accessory to the killing. Ah Ping Ban and his daughter Tiffany Yiting Wan (pictured together) have been jailed over the murder of Annabelle Chen The killer's of Western Australian woman Annabelle Chen (pictured) have been jailed Ms Chen was found in 2016, two days after she was killed in her Mosman Park home, southwest of Perth. A post-mortem found her face had been beaten 25 times with a blunt object and had left her with a fractured skull. Justice Joseph McGrath said the murder was 'a brutal attack', saying Ban had shown 'callous indifference' to the corpse of his ex-wife, ABC reports. After killing her, he stuffed her body into a blue suitcase and transported it to Swan River, where he disposed of it. He filled the suitcase with ceramic tiles to ensure that it sunk. The court heard that his glasses fell off during the dumping and were later recovered by divers. Ms Chen's daughter, Tiffany Wan (pictured) covered for her father because she idolised him Ms Chen's body was found stuffed in a blue suitcase, floating in Fremantle's Swan River After her body was recovered, Ms Chen's identity remained a mystery for two months, until Wan reported her missing. Covering for her father, she told police a false story about the last time she had seen her mother. The young woman said the last time she saw her mother alive was when she walked out of her home and got into a car that was driven away by an Asian-looking man. She stopped covering for her father in early 2018, when she was charged with murder alongside Ban. WA Supreme Court heard she offered to plead guilty to being an accessory to the murder, but her offer was declined by the state. Divers scoured the scene after the body was recovered, discovering a pair of glasses The glasses (pictured) belonged to Ban and were lost when he was dumping his wife's corpse The pair blamed each other, testifying in the WA Supreme Court that the other was responsible for the murder. In a tearful August testimony, she claimed her father had beaten Ms Chen across the face with an iron paperweight in a heated argument over money. While she denied she had any involvement in the killing, Wan did admit she had sent messages to her mother in the months after her death to distract police. She said she covered for her father because she idolised and loved him. In retaliation, Ban told the court that his daughter confided she had killed Ms Chen during a fight in her bedroom over her upcoming university graduation ceremony. By the time Wan did graduate, her mother was already dead. Judge McGrath admitted that Ban would not have much quality of life should he successfully apply for parole in 2036, but said he showed no remorse for the killing. He would be 87 years old should he be released from prison. Wan will be eligible for parole in July 2019 after time already served. A Queensland woman accused of sparking a national food safety panic by inserting needles into strawberries allegedly mentioned the idea of doing so two years earlier. My Ut Trinh, 50, has been granted bail after being charged earlier this month when police allege they found her DNA on a needle in a strawberry punnet in Victoria. Prosecutors allege the former strawberry farm supervisor was seeking revenge over a workplace grievance when she contaminated the fruit. My Ut Trinh, 50 (pictured), has been granted bail after being charged earlier this month when police allege they found her DNA on a needle in a strawberry punnet in Victoria She allegedly told a co-worker: 'If I hate anyone, I would put the needle in the strawberry and make them go bankrupt', Brisbane Magistrates Court heard on Thursday. The co-worker claimed she made the comments 'one or two years ago'. Trinh's lawyer Nick Dore argued the evidence was circumstantial and statements against her were 'littered with hearsay and innuendo'. 'There is no motive. There has been no suggestion why this would occur,' Mr Dore said. 'That's the strength of the case - a conversation that maybe occurred maybe one or two years ago. 'They say it's to create financial harm. In the statement by the complainant ... there's no threat, 'I'm going to do this'. There's not, 'if you don't pay me X, I will do Y'. Prosecutors allege the former strawberry farm supervisor was seeking revenge over a workplace grievance when she contaminated the fruit 'Where's the disagreement? He (the complainant) in fact says there's no disagreement.' Trinh was working at Berrylicious in her hometown of Caboolture, north of Brisbane, between September 2 and 5 when she allegedly inserted needles into the fruit. She has since been charged with seven counts of contamination of goods with intent to cause economic loss. DNA found on one of the needles was '100 billion times likely' to be Trinh's, police prosecutor Cheryl Tesch told the court. Growers like Trinh's boss suffered financial losses of about $160 million, according the prosecution, as they were forced to destroy crops. 'It's alleged the offences committed by the defendant had serious economic consequences ... not just for the complainant farmer in this case ... but for the Australian economy as a whole,' Ms Tesch said. The first needle was discovered on September 9 when a man bit into a contaminated strawberry he bought at a supermarket. Trinh almost immediately became a person of interest to police, the court had previously heard. As more needles were discovered around the country - with many believed to have been planted by copycats - strawberries were stripped from shelves. Police have said 230 needle contamination incidents were ultimately reported nationwide, affecting 68 strawberry brands. Trinh will relinquish her passport and has been barred from speaking to former farm worker colleagues as part of her bail conditions. She faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted. A police officer who shot an injured kangaroo seven times in a desperate attempt to put it down has been slammed by animal rights activists. A South Australian Police officer was filmed trying to kill the animal at Stuart High School oval in Whyalla Stuart, South Australia, 82km south of Port Augusta on Wednesday. The 90-second video uploaded on Facebook has users calling out the cop's actions as 'disgraceful'. 'That was absolutely disgraceful, that clown should not be allowed to carry a gun if he can't use it. I feel sorry for the roo that was wounded and left in agony, if you can't kill it quickly don't try,' one user wrote. Scroll down for video Animal rights activists took to social media and expressed their fury at the officer's actions The officer's action was labelled out with an array of criticisms such as 'useless', 'cruel' and 'sadistic'. 'What a torturing c***!!!! Cops out of anyone know how to shoot to kill... bored sadistic cop! We all know he won't sleep well at night!' another user wrote. A spokesman for South Australia Police told Daily Mail Australia the officer was called to the oval by school staff and wildlife rescue crews after the kangaroo was found with a severely broken front right leg. The confronting footage shows the police officer shoot the kangaroo, which barely flinches, before he lines up and shoots the animal again. By the third shot it looks as though the officer is shooting over the kangaroo but South Australia police confirmed the officer had to shoot the animal a number of times. 'A number of attempts were made by the officer to destroy the kangaroo but each situation is different with some animals more resilient than others - even to bullets fired at close range,' the spokesman said. 'The kangaroo was destroyed by the officer. When any police officer uses their firearm a mandatory report must be submitted and the actions assessed. A final assessment has yet be completed on this incident.' Footage has emerged of the moment a police officer was forced to shoot a kangaroo multiple times on a high school oval as people watched on and filmed A spokesman for South Australia Police said the officer was called to the oval by school staff and wildlife rescue crews after the kangaroo was found with a severely broken front right leg Some people were hopeful the officer was only trying to frighten animal away from the public school. The South Australia Police spokesman said the incident was one of the many responsibilities of the police force. 'Police have the authority for the lawful destruction of birds or animals in circumstances where it is believed the bird or animal is in distress due to injury,' the spokesman said. 'In this situation this was the belief of the police officer after SAPOL were contacted by a wildlife rescue group that the kangaroo had a broken leg.' The video ends before the kangaroo is killed. A mother is suing a Texas Roadhouse in Louisville, Kentucky after a restaurant manager told her to cover up while breastfeeding her infant at the table following a customer complaint. David Mitchell, who has worked 20 years at the Shelbyville Road branch, was put on paid leave after the November incident where plaintiff Sadie Durbin says he tried laying a napkin over her seven-week-old daughter's face, prohibiting her lawful right by the state to breastfeed her baby without interference. She said in a Facebook post that after politely explaining it was against the law for him to to approach her about the matter, 'he didn't apologize'. Scroll down for video Sadie Durbin was told to stop breastfeeding at a Texas Roadhouse in Louisville, Kentucky. Her post about the ordeal has gone viral and was shared 33,000 times 'He didn't acknowledge he was wrong. He said 'well as a manager I am obligated to tell you we are getting complaints and ask you to cover up', threw the napkin down in front of me, and angrily walked away with a huff,' she said in the viral post that has had approximately 33,000 shares. Durbin noted that the woman who complained appeared to be treated 'sweetly' by Mitchell in comparison to her but she was grateful for the three different servers who approached afterward and 'apologized while shaking their heads in disbelief of his actions'. She declared that when she asked her server what other complaining patrons there were he returned to table, 'threw his hands up and said angrily "I'm not at liberty to tell you that. Listen lady, I've done nothing wrong".' Despite regarding herself as a 'strong woman and even a stronger mother' she admitted in the social media post that she couldn't help but cry about how she was humiliated in the chain restaurant. However she told followers she was glad it happened to her rather than a new parent who may have been shamed off the idea of feeding her daughter Isla in public. Durbin says manager David Mitchell put a napkin over her child's face after a customer had complained during the dinner service last Thursday 'I try to find the good in every situation- I am so glad this happened to ME and not a new mother perhaps testing the waters breastfeeding in public for her first time, hoping to find the busy restaurant's atmosphere would bring less attention to her nursing baby,' Durbin continued. 'My heart aches for that sweet mama. I will continue to nurse my baby anywhere and everywhere she needs, that poor mama would not have come out of this experience with the same attitude.' Durbin added a special message to those who have a problem with public breastfeeding. Adding that breastmilk is the 'biologically normal food for infants' and that it has to come from breasts, she recalled the horrifying moment she once saw a parent feeding her infant in public bathroom. 'I breastfeed in public for the sweet new mama I once met at Mark's Feedstore trying to breastfeed her baby while sitting on a disgusting toilet while she explained to me she feared she'd be judged for feeding her baby in public,' she explained. 'I breastfeed in public because my baby is not on a timed eating schedule. I respond to her need to nurse wherever and whenever she needs. That's called mothering through breastfeeding and it is BEAUTIFUL.' Pointing out how feeding is not sexual conduct or obscene, she hinted that those who have an adverse reaction might want to look within to find out why. 'I DO NOT breastfeed in public to try and seduce your husband with my giant, veiny, dripping with milk breast. If that sort of thing gets him going, you've got much bigger problems with his sick ass than me feeding my baby,' she wrote. 'I DO NOT breastfeed in public to draw attention to myself in any way, shape, or form. It is a necessity and a part of our everyday life.' On Saturday nearly 40 people protested with signs outside the branch on Shelbyville Road Durbin added that much worse happens at restaurant tables but rarely is a cause for complaint. Those who wish not to see it should simply focus on something else. 'I think it's gross to blow your nose at the table, but I don't tell the manager that he needs to tell you not to do that,' she said in the post. 'If my nursing baby somehow offends your weird ass, I suggest you look away or close your eyes. The best breastfeeding covers ever made were the back of your eye lids. Use them.' On Saturday nearly 40 people, including people from La Leche of Louisville nursing group protested with signs outside the branch. Now Texas Roadhouse claims to be planning fundraisers to educate the public on the matter. They said the offending manager was now on paid leave and had been receiving threats. 'We sent out information to all other restaurants and said, "hey, this is an issue. Lets use this issue as a learning experience for everybody not just our employees",' spokesperson Travis Doster told Whas11.com. Managing partner Jeff White posted an apology on the branch's Facebook page. 'We sincerely apologize to Mrs. Durbin and all nursing mothers for how this situation was handled,' the post read. 'We would like to thank the members of La Leche League of Louisville for meeting with us today at the restaurant and educating us on the struggles facing nursing mothers. 'As we discussed, we will use this incident to educate our employees to the rights of nursing mothers as part of our commitment to a providing a welcoming and family-friendly dining experience for everyone.' But Durbin has now filed a lawsuit claiming severe emotional distress and assault. After hiring Brenton Stanley from Morgan and Morgan she said she is not looking for money but to prevent it happening again. 'They think, well I covered, so why can't she cover? Well, ask me why I can't cover. I'll gladly tell you why I can't, you know,' Durbin said referring to her daughter having had two tongue surgeries, Khou.com reports. 'But they don't care about that. It's just, go to car or go to the bathroom. No, I'm not going to nurse my baby in the dirty bathroom. I'm not.' Bali Nine's Renae Lawrence might be free for the first time in more than a decade but her past will continue to haunt her. Lawrence was arrested in 2005 for drug smuggling and passed critical information about her co-accused to officials and was rewarded a shorter sentence. Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the only two not caught with heroin, were sentenced to death. There are now concerns that she might face reprisals as her intelligence also led to several arrests of senior drug dealers in Australia. Renae Lawrence has tasted freedom for the first time in 13 years but her past will continue to haunt her She is the only member of the notorious Bali Nine to walk free - two were executed, one died from cancer and five remain locked up for life (pictured at Newcastle Airport on Thursday) Lawrence co-operated with Indonesian officials immediately after her 2005 arrest for smuggling 8.3 kilograms of heroin out of Indonesia. She offered critical information to officials about the Bali Nine and named those involved in the drug plot. Seven News reporter Chris Reason told 2GB radio that 50 Indonesian police escorted the convicted drug smuggler to the airport on Wednesday evening - for her own protection. About a dozen of the officers were armed with weaponry, body armour and full-face masks. 'A very high contact in one of the ministries said: ''We just want to see her get out of here alive. What happens in Australia is not our problem'',' Mr Reason said. 'If she hadn't given that intel, theoretically, Andrew Chan wouldn't have been convicted in Indonesia and faced the death squad.' Mr Reason believes that Lawrence will be forced to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life. 'She's felt that threat and fear for some time. Some of these guys are now out of prison, the ones who were imprisoned in Australia as a result of the Bali Nine operation,' he said. Lawrence co-operated with Indonesian officials after her arrest while ringleaders Andrew Chan (left) and Myuran Sukumaran (right), who were eventually executed, denied wrongdoing 'If she hadn't given that intel, theoretically, Andrew Chan wouldn't have been convicted in Indonesia and faced the death squad,' Seven News reporter Chris Reason told 2GB radio The convicted drug mule served 13 years and seven months in prison in Indonesia. Originally handed a life sentence, Lawrence was given a shorter sentence of 20 years for her honesty before receiving numerous reductions for 'good behaviour'. She is the only member of the notorious Bali Nine to walk free. Lawrence touched down in Brisbane on Thursday morning where she caught another flight to her hometown Newcastle, New South Wales. After her release from Bali's Bangli Prison on Wednesday, Lawrence was deported and banned from re-entering Indonesia. Renae Lawrence, pictured a week after her arrest in 2005, has outstanding criminal offences awaiting her arrival in Australia Mr Reason said Lawrence has enemies in the drug world as her evidence also lead to several senior drug operatives in Australia The taste of freedom could be short lived as NSW Police have two arrest warrants for Lawrence which have been outstanding since 2005. One warrant alleges she was involved in a high-speed chase in a stolen car with fellow Bali Nine member Matthew Norman. On Wednesday, Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he has 'no sympathy' for Lawerence, and suggested she face the full extent of the law. 'If you commit that kind of offence, there is a heavy penalty to pay, and it doesn't give you credit when you get back to Australia,' he told Sky News. But NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller suggested a deal with Lawrence's lawyers was more likely than a fresh set of handcuffs on the tarmac. Renae Lawrence (pictured) days after her arrest in Bali on April 17, 2005 - she was released from jail on Wednesday Daily Mail Australia understands Lawrence will be given a few days to 'settle in' at her Newcastle home before she responds to the outstanding police charges from over a decade ago. Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in 2015 and Tan Duc Thahn Nguyen died of stomach cancer in May earlier this year. Martin Stephens, 42, Michael Czugaj, 32, Scott Rush, 33, and Si Yi Chen, 33, and Matthew Norman, 31, remain in prison where they are serving life sentences, with little chance of release. Casey Anthony, the mom infamously acquitted of murdering her toddler daughter in 2011, is currently in a relationship with a father-of-one who has said he couldn't care less about Anthony's past. Antony Karagiannis is pictured on his Facebook account, that has recently been deleted, posing next to his beloved daughter in several social media snaps. Anthony's new beau was reportedly born in Michigan and resides a few miles south of West Palm Beach, Florida, his bio states. Karagiannis previously studied at Palm Beach State College and is employed at a local pub. The 38-year-old was newly spotted on a date with Anthony in Bru's Room in West Palm Beach. Anthony was found not guilty of murdering two-year-old Caylee in 2011 following a highly publicized trial that shook America to its core. Karagiannis has said that the accusations of murder and the fact that she was found guilty on four other counts including lying to law enforcement are 'none of my business'. Casey Anthony's new beau, Antony Karagiannis, 38, is pictured on his Facebook account posing next to his beloved daughter and dog. He captioned it: 'Just the three of us!' The bartender wrote in another post with his child: 'This is my heart, I'll never let anything happen to her!' Karagiannis (pictured left and right) has said that the accusations of murder and the fact that she was found guilty on four other counts including lying to law enforcement are 'none of my business' His Facebook page, which has been deleted, carried many images of his daughter and his struggles as a father 'I don't know anything about it,' Karagiannis told Radar. 'She's very friendly. When I first met her, I knew the name, but I never really read into it. I don't really care!' One reason Karagiannis might be unperturbed by Anthony's past is that he has been involved in a number of misdemeanors himself. In 2005, he was arrested on suspicion of a battery offence involving his roommate, a Del Ray Police Department clerk told Radar, but files related to the incident were destroyed in a chlorine leak. Then, according to a 2014 police report obtained by Radar, Karagiannis posed as a law enforcement officer multiple times to park in the best spot outside his ex-girlfriend's apartment complex in West Palm Beach. Casey Anthony, 32, who was famously acquitted of murdering her two-year-old daughter in 2011, is seen out with her new man Karagiannis 'Each time he [was] confronted about the parking issue he advises security that he is a Miami Dade Police Officer and his weapon is in the vehicle,' police said according to the report. Charges were never filed however. Anthony's father George confirmed that his daughter had been 'seeing someone', and the couple were pictured together in the Florida bar last month, although Karagiannis has claimed he is 'not dating' her officially. Anthony was branded the most hated mom in America during her high-profile six-week trial in 2011. Her daughter, Caylee, went missing on July 15, 2008 and had not been seen by her mother for a month when she was eventually reported missing by her grandmother, Cindy. Anthony listens to testimony about forensic evidence during her murder trial at the Orange County Courthouse on Friday, June 10, 2011 Anthony was acquitted of murder on July 5, 2011. She is pictured two weeks later with lawyer Jose Baez Initially, Anthony claimed the child had been kidnapped by a nanny. However, her skull was discovered in a wooded area only a few blocks from away from Anthony's home in Orlando, Florida on December 11 2008. Anthony's daughter Caylee went missing on July 15, 2008. The two-year-old's remains were discovered on December 11 only a few blocks from away from Anthony's home in Orlando, Florida Anthony changed her story several times before her trial. Her defense team ultimately claimed that Caylee drowned in the pool and her grandfather George buried her nearby. As well as implicating him in Caylee's death, Anthony also claimed her father George molested her as a child. George Anthony has vehemently denied having any involvement in his granddaughter's death and ferociously disputed the sexual assault allegations. He believed she killed Caylee accidentally with chloroform, traces of which were found in Anthony's abandoned car during police investigations. But Anthony has always said she has no idea how the toddler died and does not 'give a s***' what people think of her, since she 'sleeps pretty good at night'. Anthony peared comfortable holding the child as others enjoyed sangria and beer Although she was acquitted in 2011 of first-degree murder, she was convicted of four counts relating to providing false information a police officer. She has since admitted this, but described herself as 'one of the unfortunate idiots who admitted they lied'. She has been spotted multiple times at Florida bars and in February was pictured holding a friend's baby at a restaurant, eight years after Caylee's death. Casey's father George believes she killed her daughter with chloroform. He is pictured above with his wife Cindy in 2009 Anthony poses for a portrait next to a photo of her daughter, Caylee, in her West Palm Beach, Florida, bedroom The 32-year-old was pictured holding the infant on her lap at a restaurant in Clearwater, Florida, at lunchtime, looking relaxed surrounded by glasses of beer and sangria jugs. The following month Anthony said she would be open to having another child. George said he will never speak to his daughter again, and after hearing that she was ready to settle down and perhaps start a family again, he has a few choice words. 'Knowing now that she could be a mom again, I hope she does better this time around than she did last time,' he said. Matthew Cringle, a 29-year-old from Los Altos, is alleged to have created a number of fake Facebook accounts over the years which he then used to send threatening messages A California man was arrested on Monday after police said he stalked a woman online for 12 years after she asked him to cover his mouth while coughing during a high school class. Matthew Cringle, a 29-year-old from Los Altos, is alleged to have created a number of fake Facebook accounts over the years which he then used to send sexually explicit and threatening messages to the woman. Cringle, who had already once been convicted of stalking the same woman years ago, was arrested without incident on Monday. He is being held without bail in Santa Clara County jail. This is the first holiday season in over a decade where the victim can relax and not worry about looking over her shoulder, Mountain View police Sgt. Tim Dahl told Mountain View Voice. She shouldn't have to live in fear. Police said Cringle took advantage of Facebook, which in years past allowed users greater anonymity and made it harder for police to track down fake accounts. There was a lot of messages that were coming from many different people, but they were all very similar, Mountain View Police Department spokesperson Katie Nelson said. This poor woman was receiving it repeatedly over the course of about 12 years. Cringle, who had already once been convicted of stalking the same woman years ago, was arrested without incident on Monday. He is being held without bail in Santa Clara County jail (seen in the above stock image) The victim told police she believes Cringle began to nurse a grudge against her after she asked him to cover his mouth while coughing during a high school class they took together. Cringle had already been convicted of stalking the same woman years ago. Now authorities are trying to understand how he was able to continue the alleged behavior after his conviction. Cringle faces charges of felony stalking, stalking under a prohibited restraining order, stalking following a prior felony conviction, and making criminal threats. Police are also investigating if there are other potential stalking victims. Cringle worked for a ride-sharing company, which gave him access to peoples names and data. The unbelievable incident was caught on the restaurant's CCTV camera An armed robber was left running for the door after a botched attempt to steal from a pizzeria in Auckland. The would-be man shouted 'give me the f****** money' after entering Lena Urban Eatery, brandishing a large knife. But he quickly turned on his heels when he saw co-owner and chef Vaughn Wilkinson coming out of the kitchen holding two much larger knives. A chef proved he was no coward when he fended off a knife-wielding burglar who entered his restaurant The armed burglar stormed Lena Urban Eatery in Sandringham late in the evening on Saturday, November 10 Mr Wilkinson rushed at the man who fled the premises. the NZ Herald reported. The amusing incident was caught on the restaurant's CCTV camera. Mr Wilkinson uploaded the CCTV footage of the thwarted robbery to Facebook, with the simple caption: 'Never try to rob a chef.' The botched robbery happened late at night at the Sandringham restaurant on Saturday, November 10. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's Regular Press Conference on November 22, 2018 2018/11/22 Q: President Xi Jinping just wrapped up his visit to the Philippines, during which the two sides agreed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic and cooperative one. Can you give us more information? A: From November 20 to 21, President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to the Philippines. The Chinese side has already released relevant readouts, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi also briefed on the outcomes of the visit. Here, I would like to briefly make a few points. China and the Philippines are friendly close neighbors facing each other across a strip of water. China has been developing cooperative and friendly relations with the Philippines on the basis of mutual respect, treating each other with candidness, equality and mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. Just as you may have noted, President Xi Jinping just concluded his visit to the Philippines. This is his first visit to the Philippines and a first one to that country by Chinese head of state in 13 years. During the visit, the two heads of state jointly charted the course for bilateral relations going forward and reached important consensus, deciding to elevate the relationship to a comprehensive strategic cooperative one. This demonstrates the two sides' determinations to adhere to good neighborliness and advance mutually beneficial cooperation. During the visit, the two sides also achieved a series of key outcomes on strengthening practical cooperation. We agreed to advance cooperation in three pillar areas of security, development and people-to-people exchanges, signed a MOU on the Belt and Road and cooperation documents on maritime oil and gas development, and concluded around 30 cooperation agreements in such areas as infrastructure, energy, agriculture, finance and telecommunications. China will continue to help the Philippines with more of its poverty relief and other social and livelihood projects, expand communication and cooperation in education, culture and tourism and build a new arena for the two peoples to understand and forge friendship with each other. The China-Philippines cooperation has demonstrated vitality and taken on a new look unprecedentedly with the structure of cooperation continuously improving, which will surely bring more tangible benefits to the two peoples. China is willing to take this visit as an opportunity to build the traditional friendship and deepen cooperation with the Philippines to achieve shared development and prosperity. Q:As far as we know, a delegation from the UN Security Council will visit China this week. So can you give us some details about this visit? Will they meet President Xi Jinping or any other Chinese leaders and what does China expect from this visit? A: As far as I know, China has invited the permanent representatives of all member states and the member states-elect of the UN Security Council, the main troop contributing countries of the UN peacekeeping operations and senior officials of the UN Secretariat to visit China in the second half of this month. By then, the two sides will exchange views on such issues as the role of the UN under the current international situation and China's cooperation with the UN. In addition, the delegation will visit the China peacekeeping standby force. But I'm not aware of the specific schedule and I can try to check on that for you later. Q: The Filipino Foreign Secretary disclosed details today about the oil and gas MOU signed this week with China, saying that the two sides had pushed for a full joint exploration deal previously. How does China comment on that? He also said that the Philippine side would not release the full text without Chinese approval. Will China approve the publication and if not, why not? A: The signing of this MOU between China and the Philippines signals a new step forward by the two sides in joint oil and gas exploration and development. The two sides will continue with further discussions on relevant specific issues. China looks forward to advancing the maritime practical cooperation between the two sides in an all-round way and reaping harvests at an early date to benefit the two countries and peoples. In the meantime, China also looks forward to conducting such cooperation with other littoral countries of the South China Sea so as to make the South China Sea a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation. The Chinese side has consistently advocated "shelving disputes and joint development" in the South China Sea and promoted cooperation in relevant fields including oil and gas to truly benefit the littoral countries and their people. China is willing to continue to maintain communication and cooperation in this regard with relevant countries in the South China Sea, including the Philippines, and strive for substantial progress in joint development in the South China Sea at an early date. As for whether the content of the MOU will be disclosed as you mentioned, as far as I know, during the visit of President Xi Jinping to the Philippines, China and the Philippines signed a series of cooperation documents. Each document was signed on the basis of full consultation and consensus between the two sides. Which document can be made public depends on the understanding reached between the two sides in the negotiations as well as the relevant provisions in the terms of the document itself. Follow-up: The Filipino Foreign Secretary said that he is perfectly willing to publish it and he just needs the go-ahead from the Chinese side. A: I have just said that which document can be made public depends on the understanding reached between the two sides during the negotiation process and whether that is clearly provided in the text of the document itself. Q: According to reports, recently Zambian President Edgar Lungu criticized the false accusations against China-Zambia cooperation when talking about the China-related riot in the Copperbelt province not long ago. Do you have any comment on that? A: Early this month, some people in Kitwe of the Copperbelt province were misled by the false allegation about the takeover of the Zambia's state-owned timber company by the Chinese side and took to street to protest, causing a minor disturbance. Some Chinese shops were looted but no one was injured. After that happened, the Chinese side immediately lodged representations with Zambia, and the Zambian side said it would take measures to safeguard the safety of the Chinese in Zambia. Recently, Zambian President Lungu openly refuted the false accusations against China-Zambia cooperation and clarified the facts of the riot, calling on the Zambians to boycott those false China-related reports and provide enabling environment for foreign investors, including Chinese ones, to operate in Zambia. Previously, Zambian Vice President Inonge Wina also pointed out that the protests in the Copperbelt province recently were caused by false allegations and that Zambians should not be misled. The Chinese side appreciates the above-mentioned remarks by Zambian leaders. The traditional friendship between China and Zambia has withstood the test of time and the changes in the international landscape. In recent years, the practical cooperation between the two countries has achieved remarkable outcomes and brought benefits to the two peoples. The Chinese enterprises' investments in Zambia have generated enormous job opportunities and boosted the socio-economic development locally, to which we all bear witness. Any responsible person will make objective evaluation of all these efforts, and any words and deeds intended to spoil China-Zambia friendship will never win the hearts of the people in the two countries. China stands ready to continue to work with Zambia to stay committed to win-win cooperation and common development and cement and deepen the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries. Q: According to reports, on November 21, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers of the White House Kevin Hassert said that China had "misbehaved" as a member of the WTO and that we should consider whether to pursue evicting China from the WTO. Analysts say that has implied something. What's China's comment? A: The WTO is a multilateral institution, one that is not run by the US. WTO members are all equal, rather than dominated by the US. Certain individual in the US hinting "evicting" China from the WTO, though a fool's talk, fully exposed the bullying features and self-important mindset of the US. According to incomplete statistics, recently, the US has withdrawn from such international organizations as UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Council, the Universal Postal Union, and pulled out of a series of international instruments including the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Global Compact on Migration, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Optional Protocol on Disputes. The international community has a fair judgment of the US acts of scrapping pacts and quitting international organizations under the pretext of "America First", raising deep concerns over the US practice of approaching multilateral institutions and applying multilateral treaties in a selective way. If my memory serves me right, not long ago the US even threatened to withdraw from the WTO, and now it hinted evicting China from the WTO. How ridiculous! The differences between the WTO members can surely be resolved through negotiation and consultation, and the wanton threat of "evicting" others is very dangerous. China is the largest trader in goods and the second largest economy in the world. If the US now can threaten to evict China from the WTO, then what about the other countries? Who will be the next? Since its accession into the WTO, China has actively fulfilled its commitment. In last July, the WTO reviewed China's trade policies. The WTO Director-General and other parties have spoken positively of China's supports and contributions to the multilateral trading system and highly appreciated China's increasing role in the WTO. China has been committed to building an open world economy, firmly supports the WTO-centered multilateral trading system and stands ready to work with various parties to promote the WTO reform based on its own core values and basic principles in keeping with the times. In the meantime, China steadfastly upholds multilateralism and the rules-based international order and is willing to work with other members of the international community to build a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice and win-win cooperation and forge a community with a shared future for mankind. Q: Can you provide details on the program of President Xi Jinping going to the G20 meeting next week? A: Just hold on and the information will be coming soon. Please wait for that. Q: An Italian fashion designer of Dolce&Gabbana caused a protest in China for some insulting comments online, and he claimed it was because his social media account was hacked. What is you comment on the episode? A: This is not a diplomatic question in essence, nor do we hope it will escalate into a diplomatic one. So I believe it's better for you to ask the Chinese people instead of the Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry for how the incident is viewed in China. A massive fire engulfed a bus depot in south London, destroying seven vehicles and leaving another four severely damaged. More than 60 firefighters rushed out to battle the blaze after it broke out in the early hours. Explosions woke nearby residents in Farnborough Hill, Orpington at about 3.30am this morning, with large plumes of smoke visible in the sky from several miles away. Eleven buses caught alight, with emergency services receiving upwards of 40 calls from panicked members of the public. Scroll down for video Firefighters survey the damage after a huge blaze tore through a bus depot in Orpington, south London this morning The London Fire Brigade said seven buses had been completely destroyed in the fire, while a further four had severe damages The cause of the fire is not yet known, but the cost of damages is expected to run into the millions of pounds More than 60 firefighters raced to the scene at about 3.30am this morning amid reports of explosions at the depot Officials said the fire is now under control, but crews will remain in the area for some time damping down the effected vehicles. Crews battled to stop the blaze from spreading to more buses and around 30 vehicles were moved to safety. The cause of the fire is not known at this time, London Fire Brigade officials said, while commuters and motorists have been warned to avoid the area. Amy Spencer wrote on Twitter: 'Woken up by 10 huge explosions and what looks like a big fire near Sevenoaks road in Orpington.' A massive fire engulfed a bus depot in south London , destroying seven vehicles and leaving another four severely damaged More than 60 firefighters rushed out to battle the blaze after it broke out in the early hours Eleven buses caught alight, with emergency services receiving upwards of 40 calls from panicked members of the public Crews battled to stop the blaze from spreading to more buses and around 30 vehicles were moved to safety The cause of the fire is not known at this time, London Fire Brigade officials said, while commuters and motorists have been warned to avoid the area London Fire Brigade added: '60 firefighters tackled a fire at a bus depot on Farnborough Hill in Orpington this morning. 'At the height of the blaze, eleven busses were alight and Brigade control officers took around 40 calls to the incident which was very visible. 'Crews worked hard to stop the blaze from spreading to more busses and around 30 vehicles were moved to safety. 'Seven buses were complete destroyed by the fire and a further four are badly damaged. 'While the fire is now under control, crews will remain in the area for some time damping down the effected vehicles. 'The Brigade were called at 0336 and the fire was under control at 0631.' Explosions woke nearby residents in Farnborough Hill, Orpington at about 3.30am this morning, with large plumes of smoke visible in the sky from several miles away Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he went to pick up some papers required for his upcoming wedding The CIA are reportedly in possession of a damning recording of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman giving the order to murder Jamal Khashoggi. The de facto Saudi leader can be heard calling for journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be 'silenced as soon as possible' in a 'smoking gun' audio recording, Turkey's Hurriyet Daily news reported. The audio is said to be from phone call wiretapped by the US between Crown Prince Mohammed and his brother Khaled bin Salman, who is the gulf kingdom's ambassador to the United States. According to Hurriyet news, CIA Director Gina Haspel 'signalled' the existence of the highly incriminating tape during her trip to Ankara last month. Hurriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi claimed that a if thorough international investigation into the murder were opened, it would reveal even more 'jaw-dropping evidence' because the CIA has tapped many more phone calls than the public knows about. Saudi Arabia has made clear that it will not toelrate criticism of its leadership - The custodian of the two holy mosques King Salman (left) and the crown prince Mohammad bin Salman (right) The Turkish President Recip Tayepp Erdogan has previously said he shared recordings of the 59-year-old's murder with the UK and the US. Erdogan may meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to Argentina for the G20 summit, his spokesman said today. State-owned Anadolu news agency quoted Ibrahim Kalin as saying, 'We're looking at the programme. It could happen', in response to a question whether the two leaders would make contact during the summit. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said Wednesady: 'In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line' In previous recordings Khashoggi, a mild critic of the Saudi regime, reportedly says: 'Release my arm! What do you think you are doing?,' shortly after entering the consulate, and later: 'I'm suffocating... Take this bag off my head, I'm claustrophobic'. The Turkish media also reported that in a taped conversation between members of the 'hit squad', one of them shouts to the journalist: 'Traitor! You will be brought to account,' and other complains about having to wear his clothing to act as a decoy after his murder. Saudi Arabia today warned criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a 'red line' as western countries' continue to probe into Khashoggi's murder. This CCTV photo, obtained by the Washington Post, shows the last moment Jamal Khashoggi is seen alive, walking into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday The large black van with tinted windows was driven all the way up to the entrance of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where it had been claimed Khashoggi was murdered and his remains dismembered and dumped A man seen on CCTV a few hours after Khashoggi entered the consulate in Istanbul appearing to be wearing Khashoggi's clothing Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Wednesday that calls for the crown prince to be held accountable for the grisly killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month would not be tolerated. Meanwhile US President Donald Trump heaped praise on the kingdom in defiance of warnings he was giving Riyadh a pass on a journalist's grisly murder. Trump praised Saudi Arabia for keeping oil prices low - the main strand of his argument against punishing Riyadh even though the CIA reportedly found strong evidence that the crown prince, the de facto Saudi leader, was involved in the murder. The former government adviser, pictured outside the BBC in London, had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since last year to avoid possible arrest 'In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line,' Jubeir told the BBC. 'They represent every Saudi citizen and every Saudi citizen represents them. And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince.' Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. It has reportedly called for the death penalty against five men connected to the killing but repeatedly denied involvement at the top echelons of its leadership. Donald Trump (right) has made it clear he will not sanction the crown prince (front left) even if he was involved in the murder of Khashoggi because of what he said were more important US interests including billions of Saudi investment However, their claims have been met with scepticism from western countries. In a thinly veiled comment aimed at the Saudi royals, the EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said on Thursday that all those 'really responsible' for the murder should be brought to justice. 'Those responsible, really responsible for this terrible murder have to be accountable,' she told a news conference in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. A CIA analysis leaked to the US media went even further, reportedly pointing the finger directly at the crown prince. But Trump, on holiday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago Club on Wednesday, doubled down on a statement from Tuesday that he was essentially ignoring the killing of Khashoggi because of what he said were more important US strategic and commercial interests. 'Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82,' he tweeted. 'Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let's go lower!' Jubeir insisted that Prince Mohammed had not been involved in the killing. Criticism of the Saudi royals is banned in the gulf kingdom, and Jamal Khashoggi's son Salah was brought to meet Mohammed bin Salman (right) amid speculation that the prince ordered his father's murder 'We have made that very clear. We have investigations ongoing and we will punish the individuals who are responsible for this,' he said. He called on Turkey to come forward with all its evidence about the slaying and stop leaking out information. The foreign minister said the murder was a 'rogue operation' by intelligence officers and any possible US sanctions on Saudi Arabia would be short-sighted. Advertisement The iconic Triumph motorbike which Hollywood legend Steve McQueen roared to freedom on in the cult movie The Great Escape, is set to return to the stage. The TR6R motorbike from the 1963 war epic was sold to a farmer, who used it to herd cows before it languished in a barn for decades until it was rescued from the scrapheap by Dick Shepherd. Mr Shepherd found the motorcycle - which was used for the famous fence jump scene in the movie - on a Norfolk farm before he set about restoring it to its former glory. And it will enjoy a reprisal when historian Dan Snow brings it to the stage on the 75th anniversary of the legendary real-life escape. Hollywood legend Steve McQueen on the iconic Triumph motorbike in the cult movie The Great Escape Historian Dan Snow will bring the bike to the stage on the 75th anniversary of the legendary real-life escape Immortalised in the film The Great Escape, the mass breakout from PoW camp Stalag Luft III was swiftly followed by terrible retribution the cold-blooded murder of 50 recaptured prisoners, on Hitler's direct orders. On the night of March 24-25, 1944, it was planned that 200 Allied airmen should escape through the tunnel nicknamed 'Harry'. Seventy-six men made it out before the escape was rumbled by guards. All but three of the 76 men were recaptured. The escape caused chaos in the German high command and 50,000 soldiers had to be deployed to search for them. Hitler gave the execution order which saw Gestapo field officers, who had the job of escorting small groups of the men back to the camp, stop off in remote woodland and shoot them. Each hit squad had to file a report to Berlin stating the 50 men were shot while trying to escape. In 1945, a small top secret investigation team was set up and was headed by Squadron Leader Frank McKenna, who had been a police detective before the war. Their job was to identify those involved in the mass murder and bring them to justice. On the 75th anniversary of the daring attempt, Dan Snow will host a gala screening of The Great Escape at the Eventim Apollo Hammersmith in March 2019. The event will feature music from Britain's Got Talent stars The D-Day Darlings and Dan will hear from veterans of the escape which took place at the German prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III Fifty of the Allied airmen who tunnelled out of Stalag Luft III were executed in chilling scenes like this. In 1946, RAF Special Investigation Branch officers reconstructed the murders of Squadron Leader Thomas Kirby-Green and Flying Officer Gordon Kidder near Zlin, Moravia, (above). Gestapo officer Erich Zacharias was hanged for his role Stalag Luft III: The notorious PoW camp was the scene of a mass breakout in March 1944 HOW WW2'S GREATEST POW STORY GOT A HOLLYWOOD MAKEOVER THE HOLLYWOOD FILM The 1963 film The Great Escape was based on real events, and although some characters were fictitious many were based on real people, or amalgams of several of those involved. The film starred Steve McQueen as Captain Virgil Hilts, James Garner as Flight Lieutenant Robert Hendley and Richard Attenborough as Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett, and was based on a book of the same name by Paul Brickhill. Contrary to the film no American PoWs were involved in the escape attempt, and there were no escapes by motorcycle or aircraft. Hilts' dash for the border by motorcycle was added by request of McQueen, who did the stunt riding himself except for the final jump. Advertisement The TR6R motorbike from the 1963 war epic was sold to a farmer, who used it to herd cows before it languished in a barn for decades until it was rescued from the scrapheap by Dick Shepherd Murdered in cold blood: A list of the escapees, with photos, who were shot. Among the dead were 25 Britons, six Canadians, three Australians, two New Zealanders, three South Africans, four Poles, two Norwegians, one Frenchman and a Greek 1959 Triumph TR6 Trophy Years produced: 1956-1973 Claimed power: 42hp @ 6,500rpm Top speed: 110mph (approx.) Engine: 649cc overhead valve, air-cooled parallel twin Weight: 180kg (396lb) Source: Motorcycle classics Advertisement The event will feature music from Britain's Got Talent stars The D-Day Darlings and Dan will hear from veterans of the escape which took place at the German prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III on the night of 24-25 March 1944. Also attending will be 95-year-old Air Commodore Charles Clarke, who spent time at Stalag Luft III as a POW. He arrived a month before the escape and recalls hearing the shot fired when prison guards found the escape tunnel. The historian will also explore the history and science behind the operation with renowned historian Paul Beaver and Dr Hugh Hunt of the University of Cambridge. The film will be shown in 4k definition and the event will also be screened in cinemas across the country. Tickets will be available to buy soon at thegreatescape75.co.uk. Dan said: 'We will remember the extraordinary bravery of the men who participated in the most daring escape of the Second World War and bring back to the big screen one of the greatest films of all time. 'Thanks to the RAF Benevolent Fund, it's going to be a truly momentous occasion.' Too short: Richard Attenborough and Steve McQueen in iconic film The Great Escape. 76 PoWs made it out through 'Harry' but the tunnel fell short of the vital woodland cover Prisoners who escaped but were returned to the camp were taken to the Planning Committee for a debrief, when they shared information on the outside world, gave tips to improve future attempts, and revealed any flaws in forged papers The huts at Stalag Luft were built up on stilts (remains, pictured), to make tunneling easier to detect. Despite this the British escapees were able to dig three of them - code named Tom, Dick and Harry Former Stalag Luft III prisoners of war Frank Stone and Stanley King (on the right) pictured, in 2011, beside the memorial to the fifty airmen executed after the Great Escape The deadly toll of the escapees brutally executed In the spring of 1943, RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bushell conceived a plan for a major escape from the German Stalag Luft III Camp near Sagan, now Zagan in Poland. With the escape planned for the night of March 24, 1944, the PoWs built three 30ft deep tunnels, named Tom, Dick and Harry, so that if one was discovered by the German guards, they would not suspect that work was underway on two more. Bushell intended to get more than 200 men through the tunnels, each wearing civilian clothes and possessing a complete range of forged papers and escape equipment. In the spring of 1943, RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bushell conceived a plan for a major escape from the German Stalag Luft III Camp (pictured) near Sagan, now Zagan in Poland To hide the earth dug from the tunnels, the prisoners attached pouches of the sand inside their trousers so that as they walked around, it would scatter. The prisoners wore greatcoats to conceal the bulges made by the sand and were referred to as 'penguins' because of their supposed resemblance to the animal. When the attempt began, it was discovered that Harry had come up short and instead of reaching into a nearby forest, the first man in fact emerged just short of the tree line, close to a guard tower. Plans for one man to leave every minute was reduced to 10 per hour. In total, 76 men crawled through to initial freedom, but the 77th was spotted by a guard. In the hunt for the entrance one guard Charlie Pilz crawled through the tunnel but after becoming trapped at the other end called for help. The prisoners opened the entrance, revealing the location. Of the escapees, three made it to safety, 73 were captured, and 50 of them executed. Advertisement Horrifying CCTV footage shows a teenager fighting for his life as he is attacked by two hooded thugs moments before they stab him to death. Ozell Pemberton, 16, throws a series of punches as he struggles to fend off the duo in the assault at a bus stop in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. During the struggle one of the men drops the knife, before the other picks it up and plunges it into Mr Pemberton's chest. The teenager then tried to run for help following the attack in May, but the pair continued to pursue him before he collapsed in front of members of the public and died. The brutal murder is the latest example of the violence gripping Wild West Britain as police forces struggle to control a crime-wave of stabbings and shootings. Footage capturing the moments before Ozell Pemberton (pictured) was stabbed to death in broad daylight have been released by police Mr Pemberton (wearing the sunglasses) grapples with his hooded attacker who is armed with a knife Oscar Ingram, 21, and Mohammed Amir Hussain, 17, were found guilty of Ozell Pemberton's murder at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday. A judge ordered Ingram, from Erdington, to serve a minimum of 24 years while Hussain, of Lozells, Birmingham, was told he will serve at least 16 years. In a statement issued after the guilty verdicts, West Midlands Police said both offenders had travelled to Sutton Coldfield 'intent on getting revenge' for an incident that had taken place in a park on the same day. In a statement, Ozell's family said: 'Our lives have not been the same since the day we lost Ozell. We've been robbed of the best part of our family. The knife is dropped by Ingram (marked 1 in this image) before it is picked up by Hussain (2) who then stabs Mr Pemberton in the chest The family of Ozell Pemberton (pictured) said his death had 'robbed' them of the 'best part of our family' 'It's just so hard to comprehend. We can't ever understand that our best boy won't return home. 'Ozell, who had so much going for him and so many dreams and aspirations ahead of him, now can't achieve them because of the selfish actions of others.' Detective Chief Inspector Edward Foster said: 'This was a cowardly and shocking attack on Ozell, who had his whole life ahead of him. 'It is always a choice to carry a knife and I cannot stress enough the dangers and implications that carrying a knife has. This has destroyed three young people's lives as well as their families and friends. Oscar Ingram, 21, (right) and Mohammed Amir Hussain, 17, (left) were found guilty of Ozell Pemberton's murder at Birmingham Crown Court 'My thoughts remain with Ozell's family and friends at this difficult time.' The killing is the latest in a string of stabbing and murders that have rocked Birmingham this year. Recent figures show that knife crime in Birmingham is at its highest in eight years - up 19 per cent since 2017. And the West Midlands has seen the biggest increase in knife crime of any part of the country outside London, with almost 3,000 incidents reported last year. Killers Ingram (marked 1) and Hussain (2) are caught on CCTV on a bus minutes before they launch their attack NHS statistics reveal the number of 16 to 18 year olds treated for stab wounds has rocketed (left). The number of under-16s with knife wounds has also risen to 163 in the last year Meanwhile, knife possession offences have also rocketed by 159 per cent, according to figures from police. A vigilante mob made up of families frustrated with apparent police inaction over the crime wave has had its ranks bolstered by more than 1,000 new members in just 24 hours. The crime crisis has sparked a furious debate between the Government and senior police over the link between deep funding cuts and rising crime. Crime reported to police in Wild West Britain has soared to a 13-year high of 5.6million offences in the year to June an average of one every six seconds. Last week the Met Police investigated its 120th murder of the year more than in the whole of 2017. It prompted Home Secretary Sajid Javid to urge Scotland Yard to get the situation under control. Violence in 'Wild West' Britain has seen 69,000 children hurt Nearly 70,000 children have been wounded in stabbings and beatings in just one year as violence on the streets of 'Wild West' Britain continues to spiral. Jackie Sebire, assistant chief constable of Bedfordshire police, revealed the shocking statistic in October 2018 as she lamented the 'constant torrent' of murders and knife attacks unfolding in the UK. Mrs Sebire said police forces face a 'constant and sustained' demand, adding: 'Wild West? It can be... it's happening in broad daylight, they're in public spaces.' Stats released earlier this month showed a wide range of offences showing dramatic increases In the year to June there were 69,000 child woundings, where a youngster aged 10 to 15 was stabbed or seriously injured, a rise of 4,000 on the previous year. Mrs Sebire, the National Police Chiefs Council spokesman for serious violent crime, said: 'I've worked in some really challenging London boroughs. This is different, this level of violence, this constant torrent of every single day there is another stabbing, that we can't seem to get ahead of.' Police chiefs believe they are at a turning point, after years of struggling to meet high public expectations and soaring demand. Recorded crime has risen by 9 per cent including rocketing levels of knife crime and robbery as 22,000 officers were lost from the frontline. Statistics released earlier this month show the number of homicides nationwide is up from 630 to 719, with overall recorded crime up by almost 10%. The number of offences registered as involving a knife or sharp instrument, 39,332, was the highest since 2011, when comparable records started. Advertisement Vigilante mob becomes overnight ARMY as more than 1,000 new recruits join ranks to crack down on crime and street violence A vigilante mob made up of families frustrated with apparent police inaction has had its ranks bolstered by more than 1,000 new members in just 24 hours. Created on social media just three weeks ago, 'We Stand Determined' is a group that patrols the streets of Birmingham day and night to record and report any criminal offences that take place. Initially 400-strong, the group has seen its numbers swell to 1,500 after it attracted national headlines. Organisers Wayne, Tracy and Michael created the group after discovering a friend had been attacked in his home in Birmingham by thieves armed with hammers. Wayne, 47, a college lecturer from Solihull, has never revealed his real surname for fear of retribution from criminals. He now says that he is 'blown away' by the popularity of the group: 'We didn't expect to get such a huge response, but it just goes to show that we're not the only people that feel the need to come together and take care of our community. 'We've had members join from all over the world - Germany, Australia, China, America and the British Virgin Islands. 'We want to thank everyone for supporting us and we hope to continue to make a difference within our community and others alike.' Another reason for the creation of 'We Stand Determined' was after a campaign to increase local police presence failed. The group now organise twice-weekly patrols across the city and insist that they are non-violent. They claim to see a working partnership with the police rather than against them. However, they believe that UK crime is getting of hand and something needs to be done to protect citizens. London has been hit by a string of murders over the past year and Birmingham has also recently been blighted by a wave of stabbings, shootings and murders. A gang chase a victim with huge machetes and hammers on Trinity Road, Perry Bar, Birmingham, before carrying out a vicious attack Wayne said: 'The way our group started, and the reaction we've had, has showed us how much local communities need groups like us to fill in the gaps the authorities simply don't have the funding for. 'There has been a recent spate of crime in Birmingham recently and Solihull in particular has fallen victim to an increase of just under 1,500 more cases so far this year. 'People needed someone to turn to, someone who will listen and visit them in their home if a constituent is fearful for their own safety. 'We're vigilantes, but we're vigilantes with a twist, working within the law and not against it. 'Our group is a central place for the local community to come together to log crimes, comment and help stop crime in the area. 'I just want to make a big difference to the area, and help anyone, anywhere, who needs it. Crime here is getting out of hand. 'We're so proud of our community, for standing up to what we believe is an ongoing issue that's yet to have a solution.' Fellow organiser Tracy, 48, also insisted that 'We Stand Determined' is not against West Midlands Police, and understand that the force is limited by budget issues. However, she admits that the group intends to solve the issue of cuts in policing numbers. They plan to do more than just patrol and want to organise buddy systems for the elderly and defence classes for anyone who feels they need to be able to protect themselves. They also hope to eventually have representatives based in every area of the country. Tracy said: 'We stress to our members that if they see something, they should notify the police first. 'We would like to join up with the police, but we want to be able to make our own decisions on where the help is really needed, and not where the police tell us to be.' A spokesman for West Midlands Police said officers were aware of multiple groups but advised members to join police-approved Streetwatch programmes instead. Fears are growing for trapped residents as bush fires rage in parts of the New South Wales Hunter Valley region. Locals in Salt Ash have been warned that it is too late to evacuate as the out-of-control fire blazes through bushland. Residents are instead being urged to take shelter where possible. NSW Fire and Rescue Service have issued an emergency warning: 'If you are in the area of Salt Ash, particularly Salt Ash Ave, Hideaway Drive and Shady Ave, it is too late to leave. Seek shelter as the fire front arrives, protect yourself from the heat of the fire.' Fears are growing for trapped residents as bush fires rage in parts of the New South Wales Hunter Valley region Locals in Salt Ash have been warned that it is too late to evacuate as the out-of-control fire blazes through bushland NSW Fire and Rescue Service have issued an emergency warning A warning was issued this afternoon for Weston, a town in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. Strong winds have since blown the bushfires towards the town of Pelaw Main. The fire has so far burned through more than 94 acres of bushland, 9 News reported. Firefighers are currently battling to bring the huge blaze under control. A number of waterbombing aeroplanes have been deployed as well as large air tankers. Another out-of-control fire is burning in the local government area of Port Stephens. The fire has forced the closure of Nelson Bay Road in both directions with no access to or from Nelson Bay area. Strong winds have since blown the bushfires towards the town of Pelaw Main A pensioner has been killed by a giant icicle that speared her through the head after snapping off the roof of an elite apartment block in Kazakhstan. A security camera caught the appalling moment the ice spear crashed down on top of Natalia Shamuzova in the city of Almaty. The 60-year-old fell immediately to the ground. A passer-by close to the accident saw what happened but appeared to walk away. A pensioner has been killed by a giant icicle that speared her through the head after snapping off the roof of an elite apartment block. The victim is pictured walking moments before she was killed A security camera caught the appalling moment the ice spear crashed onto her head (pictured) in the Kazakhstan city of Almaty The victim, named as Natalia Shamuzova, 60, fell immediately to the ground. A passer-by close to the accident saw what happened but walked away A man - apparently in shock from the tragic accident - is seen calling the emergency services on his mobile close to the woman's body. Witness Rustem Tolemis said: 'I came up and saw that there was almost nothing left of her head.' Reports said the pensioner died 'instantly' from the large icicle. Her body was seen on the street as people walk by as if nothing has happened. Later the scene was sealed off. Reports say the pensioner's family are preparing to sue the municipal authorities which are responsible for removing potentially lethal icicles hanging from buildings. Contractors named as Verny Vybor had cleared this building but evidently missed the killer icicle. A man - apparently in shock from the tragic accident - is seen calling the emergency services on his mobile close to the woman's body. Pictured is the icicle that killed her Reports say the pensioner's family are preparing to sue the municipal authorities which are responsible for removing potentially lethal icicles hanging from buildings Separate footage shows other uncleared icicles hanging from the building. Tolemis said: 'Icicles were crashed by the municipal workers but it looks like they did not clean up all of them.' Local police registered the incident at Adal Residence as a 'tragic accident'. But the local administration in Bostandyksky district claimed the contractor was 'responsible'. Officials were 'in touch with the relatives of the dead woman and is ready to provide all the necessary help with organising the funeral'. The authorities have promised to support the family. But KTK TV reported the family intended to sue over the woman's death. Bali Nine's Renae Lawrence was confronted with a media scrum as she arrived in her home town of Newcastle on her first day of freedom. Lawrence, 41, who spent over 13 years behind bars in Indonesia for drug smuggling touched down on Australian soil on Thursday morning. At the arrival gates of Newcastle Airport, Lawrence was met by a media frenzy of reporters shouting questions and cameras flashing. Scroll down for video Bali Nine's Renae Lawrence has been thrown into a media storm amid her first full day of freedom The 41-year-old moved through a media scrum after stepping into the terminal, before she started running Lawrence had stepped off the plane at Newcastle Airport wearing sunglasses but removed them in the terminal Hanging her head and pushing her arms forward, the former prisoner was forced to make a made dash through the terminal in a bid to escape the media spotlight. She was chased by unrelenting media crews as she made her way to a vehicle parked outside the airport. In chaotic scenes captured on camera, a member of the media fell to the floor during the race to interview Lawrence. The man, who wearing beige pants, rolled on the ground as a trail of people continued to follow the convicted drug smuggler. She had been given priority boarding and special attention as she made the trip to her hometown Newcastle, New South Wales, with a transfer flight leaving from Brisbane, Queensland. But nothing could prepare Lawrence for the media storm on arrival. In chaotic scenes captured on camera, a member of the media fell to the floor during the race to catch Lawrence (pictured) Lawrence's mother Beverley Waterman was closely by her daughter's side to help her navigate through the media scrum Lawrence was ushered onto her Virgin Australia flight at Brisbane Airport on Thursday morning, bound for Newcastle, north of Sydney, where she is expected to stay with her mother, Beverley Waterman. The convicted drug mule was seen with her mobile phone in-hand and appeared to have made a last-minute phone call before boarding her flight home. Lawrence had earlier sparked speculation she is married after arriving back in Australia wearing a ring on her wedding finger following her release from Bali's Bangli prison. She had been issued with a travel document for her travel back to Australia, not a passport. The man, wearing beige pants, rolled on the ground as a trail of people continued to follow the convicted drug smuggler Lawrence had numerous reporters and camera crew following in her wake, who were also forced to run to keep up with her Lawrence is pictured outside Newcastle Airport, the first time she has been back in her hometown in more than a decade She covered herself with a towel inside an awaiting car which took her from the airport to the family home Lawrence had touched down at Brisbane Airport about 5am local time on a Virgin Australia flight from Bali where she flew economy but sat towards the front of the plane. She was freed from Bangli Prison on Wednesday evening - where she had spent 13 years behind bars - after her sentence was reduced for 'good behaviour'. Lawrence, the only member of the notorious gang to be released, clashed with media as she exited the airport's international terminal, pushing past a reporter. She refused to answer questions as she navigated her way through the airport, supported by family members including her mother. Lawrence appeared to have made a last-minute phone call before boarding her flight to Newcastle Lawrence stepped off the plane at Newcastle Airport surrounded by members of her family, including her mother 'We don't want to comment. We've got nothing to say. Please just leave us,' Ms Waterman told reporters. Lawrence, who appeared teary and overwhelmed, boarded a bus to the domestic terminal, to catch the transfer flight to her Newcastle. Prior to her release from jail, Lawrence's secret romance with an ice addict jailbird was revealed. Lawrence had struck up a turbulent relationship with 38-year-old lesbian lover Agus Erna Wijayanti, known as Erna, behind bars. Lawrence (pictured) arrived back in Australia on Thursday after spending 13 years in an Indonesian prison Lawrence did not answer questions from journalists after she exited Brisbane Airport's international terminal following her arrival in Australia The 41-year-old later boarded a bus to the airport's domestic terminal, to catch a transfer flight to her hometown of Newcastle, north of Sydney, where she is expected to stay with family Erna, who has been jailed twice for possessing ice, met Lawrence in Bangli prison and had been reportedly 'spoiling her like a child' ahead of her release. The pair first met in 2012 when Erna was given a prison sentence on drug charges, and grew closer when Lawrence was transferred from Kerobokan prison to Bangli jail in 2014. Lawrence had been arrested at Bali's main airport in April 2005 with 2.7 kilograms of heroin strapped to her body as part of a failed bid to smuggle a total of eight kilograms of the drug into Australia with a number of other mules - later dubbed the Bali Nine. The taste of freedom could be short lived as New South Wales Police have two arrest warrants for Lawrence which have been outstanding since 2005. She was supported by her mother Beverley Waterman as she returned to Australia following a lengthy absence from the country 'We don't want to comment. We've got nothing to say. Please just leave us,' Ms Waterman told reporters Lawrence touched down on Australia soil for the first time in 13 years following her release from Bali's Bangli prison The 41-year-old had left Australia for Bali in 2005, where she was arrested with eight others and convicted of drug smuggling One warrant alleges she was involved in a high-speed chase in a stolen car with fellow Bali Nine member Matthew Norman. Lawrence was released at about 5pm on Wednesday evening after officials held a press conference at the prison doors. Maryoto Sumadi, Justice Ministry chief, spoke in Indonesian before holding up her release papers and saying: 'She is a free woman'. Mr Sumadi said Lawrence would be deported and banned from re-entering Indonesia for life. Lawrence's secret romance with ice addict jailbird Agus Erna Wijayanti (left) was revealed just prior to her release from jail Lawrence was supported by family members including her mother as she walked out of Brisbane Airport's international terminal Lawrence is pictured waiting at Brisbane Airport for her flight back to her hometown of Newcastle, north of Sydney Lawrence (right) touched down at Brisbane Airport about 5am local time on Thursday on a Virgin Australia flight from Bali The 41-year-old (centre) was provided with a much different view at Brisbane Airport compared to the one she had experienced in jail Lawrence was surrounded by cameras and reporters after disembarking her flight from Bali and making her way through Brisbane Airport 'We have also conducted a hand over between Bangli and the immigration office in Denpasar,' he said. 'Because she is a foreigner, therefore, the person is deemed to be in Indonesia without permission, therefore she needs to be released from prison and into immigration office custody.' Justice Department officials conducted a health check and said Lawrence was found to be in good health. At the conclusion of the conference, guards and media flooded the prison door in anticipation for the release of Lawrence. The convicted drug smuggler, 41, was released from Bangli Prison, Bali, on Wednesday evening after her sentence was reduced for 'good behaviour' Renae Lawrence has spent her first moments of her uncertain future with her mother and step-brother after spending over 13 years locked up in prison Lawrence appeared after a media conference concluded, flooded by guards and wearing sunglasses at about 5pm on Wednesday evening Lawrence eventually walked from the doors, covered by a heavily armed mobile brigade police. She wore sunglasses and hung her head as she was swept into a black SUV with dark-tinted windows. The convicted drug smuggler remained silent and ignored questions journalists shouted at her. There was speculation Lawrence would speak at the media conference, ahead of her release. The convicted drug smuggler remained silent and ignored questions journalists shouted at her There was originally speculation Lawrence would speak at a media conference On Wednesday, Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he has 'no sympathy' for Lawrence (centre), and suggested she face the full extent of the law On Wednesday, Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he has 'no sympathy' for Lawerence, and suggested she face the full extent of the law. 'If you commit that kind of offence, there is a heavy penalty to pay, and it doesn't give you credit when you get back to Australia,' he told Sky News. But NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller suggested a deal with Lawrence's lawyers was more likely than a fresh set of handcuffs on the tarmac. Lawrence was originally sentenced to life in prison but her sentence was reduced to 20 years on appeal. She served 13 years and seven months after numerous reductions for good behaviour. Renae Lawrence (pictured a week after her arrest in 2005) flew home from Bali on Wednesday night but she has outstanding criminal offences awaiting in Australia Renae Lawrence (pictured) days after her arrest in Bali on April 17, 2005 - she was released from jail on Wednesday Daily Mail Australia understands Lawrence will be given a few days to 'settle in' at her Newcastle home before she responds to the outstanding police charges from over a decade ago. A court date will likely be set for December in Gosford, on the NSW central coast. Lawrence is the only Bali Nine member to be released. Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in 2015 and Tan Duc Thahn Nguyen died of stomach cancer in May earlier this year. Martin Stephens, 42, Michael Czugaj, 32, Scott Rush, 33, and Si Yi Chen, 33, Matthew Norman, 31, remain in prison where they are serving life sentences, with little chance of release. A man was forced to wait for a package for two months after the parcel was sent t to Austria five times. His brother took to Reddit to share the photo online with the tag line 'my brother waited 2 months for this package to arrive'. He used a highlighting tool on his phone to show how the package had been 'missent' to Austria on five separate occasions. After two months it finally arrived at its correct destination in Australia. Next to the fifth 'missent' stamp a worker from Austria had written 'again' and underlined it in frustration. A Reddit user has taken to the online forum to show the package his brother waited two months for and highlights that it was mistakenly sent to Austria five times A number of fellow users commented on the post and shared similar incidents they had experienced. 'In South Australia we have a stamp for stuff meant for South Africa,' one user wrote. 'I live in Austria and my family add EUROPE to my address due to Christmas presents having been sent to Australia instead, several times, so this definitely goes both ways,' another added. Other users looked at the incident in a more abstract way. 'I wonder what kind of adventures this package has had, If only you could watch a 2month (sic) video of a gopro (sic) attached to it so see what crazy shit it's been getting up too,' one user wrote. A couple got drunk and left a 16-year-old to die after he took ecstasy during a camping trip. Joanne Pownall and Natalie Horridge have been condemned by a coroner over their lack of ''moral and ethical responsibility'' after they failed to call an ambulance or offer help when Joshua Connolly-Teale collapsed and had a seizure. Police were only called the next morning after the teenager was found dead, with tests later showing he had taken the MDMA product known as Red Teddy Bears. The youngster's heartbroken mother told an inquest Powell and Horridge 'got away' with her son's death and 'left him to die alone in a tent' because they 'didn't want to get into trouble'. Joshua's father spoke to care worker Miss Pownall when he could not get hold his son, only to get the response: 'I will get him to ring you back in a minute.' Natalie Horridge (right) and Joanne Pownall (left) left Joshua to die after he took drugs Joshua Connolly-Teale, 16, died while on a camping trip in Rochdale Mother tells inquest her son was 'left to die alone' Joshua, from Rochdale, was described as a 'funny, caring, loving and witty lad' who was due to sit his GCSEs at St Cuthbert's High School. Joshua's mother Joanne Teale told the hearing her son struggled to settle in at school and had been a victim of bullying by two boys had been warned about tormenting him. She said he later made friends, adding: 'But those friends, who I let in my home, started using Josh and they would punch him and bully him. 'I always wanted him to go out with money because I wanted him to be able to get home. But these lads would take his phone if him, beat him up and use his phone. 'He was vulnerable and was somebody who had no real friends, but he would hang around with those boys who were not his friends. 'We could see it, but he couldn't; he was very naive. On May 25, he said to me that his friends are going camping and he wanted to go. I didn't say yes and I didn't say no. 'I tried contacting him during the evening but I couldn't get through, but it was late so we thought he was asleep. 'As soon as I woke up the following morning, we didn't have a message. I was ringing him, but I kept getting the engaged tone, so I thought he might be on the phone.' She added that the boys who attended the trip also went to Joshua's funeral, where they 'sat laughing during the service'. 'At the funeral, the boys turned up and they were sat there laughing during the service. If they're old enough to take drugs, then they're old enough to ring an ambulance - but an ambulance wasn't called. 'One of the boys turned up at my house and he said that he asked Ms Pownall and she told him to take him back into the tent. I think it would have been obvious at that point that he needed help. 'The adults got away with it, they could've called 999. I am going to start a campaign or something because I don't want anybody else to through what I went through. My son was left to die alone in that tent.' Advertisement Joshua was 'steaming' during his camping trip with Pownall, Horridge and Paul Dalton - who are all in their 30s - and three other boys, an inquest heard. Coroner Lisa Hashmi criticised the trio after they admitted failing to help Joshua on the trip on May 25 in Syke Moor in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Miss Powell said she 'was having fun and listening to music' while Mr Dalton refused to do CPR because he had 'never done it before'. Geoffrey Teale, Josh's father said: 'The only reason that Josh was allowed to go was because there was going to be adults there. 'I was ringing him too, and at 11.18am, a young boy answered the phone. I could tell he was a child, but I didn't recognise who he was. 'This boy said 'hello' and I said that I need to speak to Josh. Then I was passed to an adult and she said to me "I will get him to ring you back in a minute." 'But, he had already passed away at this point. 'I kept ringing and ringing and nobody answered that phone. Then, not long afterwards, I saw the two police officers walk up the path and instantly my heart sank. 'I was ready to say 'what has he done?' but I knew then what they were going to tell me. They didn't even get the chance to speak before I lost it.' Miss Pownall said: 'I didn't ring his parents because I didn't want him to get into trouble with them. 'I don't know why I didn't think to take him to the hospital. I told the boys to put him in the tent and we would check on him later. One of the other boys went to check on him; I know I should've checked on him though, I hold my hands up to that. 'He came back and said Josh was asleep, so I left it at that. That night I had five or six Carslbergs, but I had a pretty clear head. 'I thought everything was alright, nobody raised any alarms or said there was anything wrong. I woke up mid-late morning and I heard "Josh is not breathing, Josh is not breathing." 'Natalie unzipped the tent and we ran over to theirs. I put my hand on Josh's leg and I already knew that it was too late. I didn't perform CPR because I already knew it was too late.' Under cross examination Joshua's mother said to Miss Pownall: 'You had full responsibility over those children and it's disgusting that you told those boys to put Josh in the tent. You said one of the boys told you that he was OK, but I know he told you that he needed help. 'If that was me, I would have called the parents or an ambulance. In your statement, you said that you were having fun and listening to music. My son was left in that tent to die on his own. 'My husband got through to you and you said to him that Josh would call him back. That gave us false hope that Josh was still alive.' Joshua's mother said Natalie Horridge (left) and Joanne Powell 'got away with it' and could have called 999 instead of leaving her son to die Joshua struggled to settle in at school and had been a victim of bullying by two boys had been warned about tormenting him Recording a verdict of misadventure, Miss Hashmi said: 'Whilst parental responsibility stops at 16, I would say there was a moral and ethical responsibility to not only give assistance but to keep a far closer eye on Josh. Joshua was described as a 'funny, caring, loving, witty lad' who was due to sit GCSEs 'I do not accept that the adults bore no responsibility over the young people - they were wholly irresponsible. 'Knowing there were young people in the camp, they should have set a better example to those boys. 'They should not have been so drunk they didn't know what was going on. I find it really sad that a wonderful young person as Josh has died in these tragic circumstances. 'Josh died consumed an Ecstasy tablet and he needed medical assistance but a call was not made - it could have been and it should have been. 'I think it was his susceptibility and his need to belong in a group of peers that led him to take that tablet. 'There probably was an element of peer pressure there and him wanting to feel a part of that group. 'I think there was a failure to provide medical care and I make it clear in my findings that the actions or inactions of those adults on that campsite were irresponsible and unacceptable.' Miss Horridge said: 'I was an adult at the campsite, but I went up to there to enjoy myself. 'I had been drinking all day and I will admit that I smoke cannabis, that was mine in the tent, I smoke it to get myself to sleep. 'When we found out about Josh, I rang the ambulance straight away, but I didn't do any first aid, Joanne said it was too late. My concerns was my nieces, they are very young and I didn't want them to see anything.' Pownall (right, with Horridge) said: 'I didn't ring his parents because I didn't want him to get into trouble with them' Police are still investigating how Joshua and his two friends acquired the ecstasy tablets. Det Insp Lee Hopwood, of Greater Manchester Police said: 'We spoke to the boys and they had painted this picture that Josh had phoned and bought the drugs, but we know now that's not the case. 'Legally, because Josh was 16 years old, he was responsible for himself - if he had been 15, then I would have arrested the adults. 'It is really difficult to hear and I feel the same way, but I am not allowed to confuse moral obligations and legal obligations.' Colette Hughes took her own life in 2014 four months after being deemed at 'no risk' of suicide The family of a mother who jumped to her death from the roof of a shopping centre have won compensation after a string of failings by mental health professionals in charge of caring for her. John Hughes believes the death of his wife Colette, a former model and dancer, could have been avoided were she 'treated with care rather than drugs.' Mrs Hughes had no history of mental illness but went to her Upper Norwood GP in December 2013 claiming she was struggling with menopause symptoms and handling the estate of her late father. The 50-year-old, from Crystal Palace, requested therapy but was prescribed at least six different psychiatric drugs. These included one which Croydon University Hospital advised her to stop taking after she collapsed in her local supermarket two days after taking it. In 2014 Mrs Hughes jumped from the top of the multi-storey Centrale Shopping Centre carpark in Croydon, four months after being deemed at 'no risk' of suicide. Mr Hughes, now a single parent to their 12-year-old daughter Ruby, has now been awarded a six-figure payout by the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. John Hughes, now a single parent to their 12-year-old daughter Ruby, has been awarded a six-figure compensation payout by the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Mr Hughes hopes to prevent further tragedies by offering NHS trusts a workshop on the importance of care and compassion. He said: 'Care is a magic medicine, I believe it would have made such a difference to Colette if she had been listened to instead of being handed drug after drug. 'It was like watching the Keystone Cops approach to medicine. At every point she was given drugs rather than treatment and care. 'Colette has left a huge hole in my life, but I have Ruby who is doing amazingly well and I want to carry on with positivity, which is why teaching the importance of care in medicine would be a phenomenal tribute to Colette.' Mrs Hughes was deemed at 'no risk' of suicide and put her on a waiting list for group therapy and a workshop, even though she had a family history of mental health issues and scored in the 'severe' category for patient health and anxiety. She was told to keep taking Setraline, which can lead to suicidal thoughts as a potential side effect. She told her husband she experienced thoughts of jumping off a building shortly after taking it. The 50-year-old, from Crystal Palace, requested therapy but was prescribed at least six different psychiatric drugs Mrs Hughes went missing on June 2, having failed to pick her then eight-year-old daughter up from school. She was found 13 hours later sitting in her car with the hazard lights on, reporting that she had thought of killing herself all day and was seeing spontaneous images of slashing wrists. Her husband arranged for her to see a psychiatrist but when she reported to the MAP East Assessment and Treatment Team she was instead seen by a nurse, who she described as 'cold and uncaring'. The nurse did not complete the risk assessment within the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust's policy and did not refer her to a psychiatrist, enquire about her family history or provide intervention strategies or a care plan, the inquest heard. Mrs Hughes instead received a prescription for another anti-depressant drug. Mrs Hughes went missing on June 2, having failed to pick her then eight-year-old daughter up from school. She died days later The same nurse saw her two weeks later on June 19, when Mrs Hughes said that she had thoughts of jumping to her death 'most days'. But no further action was taken other than reiterating the crisis services offered and fixing another appointment. Mrs Hughes jumped from the car park three days before she was due her next appointment. An inquest in 2015 at South London Coroner's Court recorded a verdict of suicide. An internal mental health investigation report in October 2014 identified six failings on the part of the MAP team, including the nurse's failure to properly risk assess her. South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has been contacted for comment. Director of Nursing Beverley Murphy said: 'On behalf of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, I would like to offer my sincere condolences to Mr Hughes and his family in respect of the very sad death of his wife Mrs Colette Hughes. 'Following Mrs Hughes' death a full internal investigation was conducted and an inquest was concluded in May 2015. 'We would want to reassure Mrs Hughes' family and others that our trust continues to work very hard to improve the quality of our services for patients and ensure lessons are learned.' For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, or see samaritans.org for details. 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. A woman bit a sex attacker's penis when she awoke to him forcing her to perform oral sex after being beaten unconscious, the NYPD said. Nickoloas Samaroo, 21, was out drinking with his aunt when he met the 39-year-old alleged victim on November 8. A group returned to the aunt's apartment on 101st Avenue, by Richmond Hill, according to the New York Daily News. Scroll down for video The NYPD say they are hunting Nickoloas Samaroo, 21, from Trinidad and Tobago, last seen fleeing the scene in the early hours of November 9 Stills from video footage of the suspect Nickoloas Samaroo, 21, looking down the street in Forest Hill, Queens, as he leaves bare chested and with no shoes on But his aunt and one of her friend's left when Samaroo became belligerent, sources told the paper. The young man from Trinidad and Tobago locked the doors and unleashed his violence on the victim, beating her senseless in the early hours of Friday morning. Police say she woke up to the 6ft, 180 pound beast undressing her and she tried to run away, but Samaroo got hold of her and battered her unconscious for a second time. She next awoke to a blade inches from her face and Samaroo forced her to take his penis in her mouth, police sources told the New York Post. But she bit his penis and as he reeled in agony she was able to scarper. A police manhunt is underway after the alleged attacker was last seen leaving the apartment shirtless and barefooted. A man has been charged with stealing after his online date fell from a balcony and impaled himself. Police were called to a unit block at Brisbane Street in Sydney's Surry Hills before 4pm on November 4. On their arrival they found a Swedish/American IT worker impaled on a table leg after he fell three floors from his balcony. A man has been charged with stealing after his online date fell from a balcony and impaled himself He remains in a critical condition and is currently in intensive care at St Vincent Hospital. Surry Hills detectives believe the 37-year-old victim had met up with another man earlier through the dating app, Grindr. Detectives later arrested a 27-year-old Abdul Tabbaa at his home on Railway Parade at Macquarie Park in Sydney's north on Wednesday. He was taken to Campbelltown Police Station and charged with steal property in a dwelling house. Police have alleged the man stole items from his online date's unit. Charges of larceny for thefts in October were also brought against the man. He was refused bail and will front Central Local Court via audio visual link on Monday. Police have alleged the man stole items from his online date's unit He fronted Campbelltown Local Court on Thursday after he was refused bail (stock photo) Police were called to a unit block at Brisbane Street in Sydney's Surry Hills before 4pm on November 4 (stock photo) Police say the IT man appeared to climb over the rail of his own balcony at the time of the incident. They are still puzzled as to why he might have made the decision to do so. Surry Hills Commander Detective Superintendent Gavin Wood said earlier this month the 37-year-old stayed at the victim's apartment for a while. He went on to warn users of dating apps to always be cautious. 'Know who you are meeting, where youre meeting them, what their intentions are and perhaps establish some safeguards beforehand such as providing close friends with those details,' Supt Wood said. Victims called on the government to 'take the gloves off' when dealing with terrorists and the internet companies that help them after a report found a series of failures ahead of last year's terror attacks. Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee said social media websites were being used as a 'safe haven' by extremists and called for an advertising boycott. They also uncovered failings in how terrorists were handled by authorities, including how Manchester bomber Salman Abedi was allowed to visit an extremist in prison and travel back and forth to Libya before he killed 22 concert-goers. Victims of the Manchester attack called for stronger action in the wake of the report. Dan Hett, whose brother Martyn was killed in the attack, said: 'Of course we understand that mistakes will sometimes be made but the litany of mistakes in 2017 must urgently be learnt from. 'As survivors we echo the importance of social media companies playing a more active part in combating terror. We urge the government to take the gloves off in addressing their roles both as a safe haven and as a platform for spreading hate.' Salman Abedi (left) went to see Abdalraouf Abdallah (right) who was jailed after trying to help other Manchester-based fanatics join extremists in Syria Medics treat the injured after the suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena in May 2017 The report found: Internet firms are failing to remove extremist material from the web and should do more to help authorities tackle terrorism. Prisons need to be more alive to potential extremism among inmates. The Home Office has failed to hand over key documents relating to the asylum seeker who set off a bomb in Parsons Green. Chances to catch the Manchester bomber were missed. Delays in identifying suspects and getting foreign documents translated can hamper investigations. Manchester bomber Salman Abedi, 22, visited a category A extremist inmate in prison - previously identified as ISIS recruiter Abdalraouf Abdallah - but 'no follow up action was taken', the report found. The report found police had not alerted prison authorities about the risk posed by Abdallah, meaning his visitors were not security checked. Counter-terror police were also alerted to Abedi frequently travelling to Libya from 2014 onwards but he was not made the subject of travel restrictions or monitoring. Abedi's case was also flagged for review, but was not re-examined before he slaughtered parents and children at the Ariana Grande concert, today's report found. Dan Hett (left), whose brother Martyn (right) died in the Manchester attack, called for tougher action against social media companies who help extremists spread hate After the report was published, Martin Hibbert, who was injured in the blast, tweeted: 'It is heartbreaking and very frustrating when you see what [Abedi] was doing and where he was travelling to weeks before the bomb. 'We've known this for a while now and it's good to see people now admitting failings and mistakes were made.' Robby Potter, who narrowly avoided death when shrapnel from the bomb struck his heart, told the BBC he was considering legal action against MI5, adding: 'I'd have more respect for them if they had said immediately after "we made a mistake - we underestimated this man". Robby Potter (left) is pictured with his wife Leonora Ogerio. The couple were waiting for their children after the concert. Mr Potter was just a millimetre from death after a nut was shot through his heart, while Miss Ogerio's legs were fractured in the explosion 'I love my country but I was let down. This could have been stopped, and we're finding out now that it should have been stopped.' ISC chairman Dominic Grieve said: 'What we can say is that there were a number of failures in the handling of Salman Abedi's case and, while it is impossible to say whether these would have prevented the devastating attack, we have concluded that, as a result of the failings, potential opportunities to prevent it were missed.' Mr Grieve noted that both MI5 and counter-terror police have been 'thorough in their desire to learn from past mistakes', adding: 'The lessons from last year's tragic events must now result in real action.' MI5 has accepted it 'moved too slowly' to review Abedi's case after an investigation into him was dropped in 2014. Khalid Masood (pictured, left) murdered Pc Keith Palmer (right) in last year's Westminster terror attack. He was known to MI5 before the attack Masood is shot outside Parliament. The report found it took weeks to identify him after his phone number was handed to authorities The terrorist regularly went to see Abdalraouf Abdallah, who was jailed after trying to help other Manchester-based fanatics join extremists in Syria. Despite this, Abedi was not considered for a referral to the Prevent anti-terror scheme, MPs revealed. Thirty-six people died in five terror attacks on UK soil last year, with four striking the capital, prompting today's Parliamentary report. MPs hit out at 'fundamental failings' in the handling of the case of Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan, and delays by the Home Office in handing over information, prompting a separate review in his case. Officers shot the attackers dead during their rampage through London Bridge and Borough Market in south-east London last year One of the three men who carried out the London Bridge attacks had been under investigation On the Parsons Green attack, committee chair Mr Grieve said: 'There were fundamental failings around this young man's arrival in the UK and how he was handled thereafter. 'There was clear evidence that he had been with IS, that he had witnessed or participated in acts of violence. His behaviour showed signs if disturbance.' The committee also made broader recommendations in relation to all five terror attacks last year. MPs castigated internet firms for failing to tackle the scourge of extremism online and call on large firms to boycott advertising with them until more is done to take down hate speech and bomb recipes. The report states: 'We recommend that pressure is out on Communications Service Providers (CSPs) by the business community, following the example of companies such as Unilever. 'We strongly consider that action which affects CSPs' profits will hit home harder than an appeal to them to 'do the right thing' and could force them to take action on this crucial issue.' Unemployed father-of-four Darren Osborne from Cardiff (left) killed Makram Ali, 51, (right) in the Finsbury Park Mosque attack Fury over 'fundamental failings' in the handling of the Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan (right) have led MPs to order a separate report after he left an IED (left) on a Tube train The reports also criticises authorities to failing to learn lessons from the 7/7 attacks and the killing of Lee Rigby, adding: 'The lessons from last year's tragic events must now result in real action.' In response to the report, Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick told LBC radio: 'I am very confident that we actually have implemented a huge number of changes since last year. 'I am equally confident that in this country, thanks to persistent investment and learning over the last many many years, we have a very powerful counter terrorist machine, which includes the police and the government, and the security services, and we will strive with every sinew to improve and improve.' How the five terror attacks which claimed 36 lives last year exposed blindspots for police and security services Westminster: Criminal converted to Islam in prison didn't meet threshold for re-investigation Khalid Masood was radicalised in prison Khalid Masood, 52, an Islamic convert living in Birmingham, drove car over Westminster Bridge on March 22 2017, mounted the pavement and killed five pedestrians before entering the gates of parliament and fatally stabbing PC Keith Palmer. He had an extensive criminal history dating back to 1978, with his most notable offences for violent crimes between 2000 and 2003. Between 2004 and 2013, Masood was known to MI5 due to his participation in extremist circles and he was actively investigated by MI5 between 2010 and 2012. He was assessed to be a distributor of extremist material and possibly involved in facilitating the travel of individuals of concern to the tribal areas of Pakistan. During the period between 2012 and 2016, MI5 observed 'intermittent contact' between Masood and other individuals of interest but nothing that met the threshold for re-investigation. The committee said that MI5's failure 'fully to take into account the cumulative effect of individuals appearing on the periphery of numerous investigations' appeared to be relevant Masood's case, just as it was with Salman Abedi, the Manchester bomber. Victims (left to right) Pc Keith Palmer, Aysha Frade, Leslie Rhodes, Andreea Cristea and Kurt Cochran They also noted that prisoners who convert to Islam in jail, like Masood, are around four times more likely to be convicted of an Islamist-related offence than the general British Muslim population. Counter-Terrorism Policing accepted: 'The data would tend to suggest, that people who have converted are more vulnerable to radicalisation and potentially even I don't think there is a scientific way of saying this but potentially not just being radicalised but becoming violent.' The ISC said: 'Prison officers must be trained to identify instances where someone has converted following association with extremists, to assess whether that conversion is therefore part of a positive journey or a negative one for an individual, and to be able to take action in the latter case.' Advertisement London Bridge: Investigation into one attacker was suspended while intel on Italian killer took 49 days to be translated Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba used a van to run over pedestrians on London Bridge on June 3 2017 before launching a knife attack in Borough Market, killing eight people. Despite the attack on Westminster Bridge in March 2017, the report noted that 'hostile mitigation barriers' were not installed on the eight Thames bridges in central London until after the London Bridge attack three months later. Remarkably, Counter-Terrorism Policing told the committee: 'Westminster Bridge, that was not considered an attack on a bridge, it was just one of the crowded places in an attack on parliament.' Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba killed eight people in last year's attack on London Bridge Butt first came to the attention of authorities in relation to investigations into the banned extremist group al-Muhajiroun (ALM) and he was actively investigated by MI5 between mid-2015 and 2017 following reports of 'aspirations' to conduct an attack in the UK. The investigation into Butt, 27, from Barking, East London, remained open at the time of the attack, but MI5 never detected any signs of attack planning. 'Operation Begonia' included a 'significant amount of coverage' the ISC said, but it was suspended twice from February to April 2016 and from March to May 2017 due to competing pressures from higher- priority investigations. It was downgraded in September 2016 and on May 5 2017, MI5 were minded to close the investigation, but decided first to increase coverage in order to ensure they had a full picture of the risk posed by Butt. Discussions were continuing about how he would be managed and what ongoing investigative actions were required at the time the attack took place. MI5 had received one piece of intelligence on Zaghba in June 2016 from Italian liaison regarding Zaghba's attempted travel from Italy to Istanbul in March 2016. Victims (top row left to right) Christine Archibald, James McMullan, Alexandre Pigeard, Sebastien Belanger, (bottom row left to right) Kirsty Boden, Sara Zelenak, Xavier Thomas and Ignacio Echeverria The Italian authorities assessed that he wanted to travel onwards to Syria and requested traces on Zaghba from MI5. Zaghba had attempted to fly from Marconi airport, Bologna, to Istanbul on March 15, telling he was going to Istanbul 'to be a terrorist' before immediately correcting himself to 'tourist'. MI6 was informed on April 15 and traces were requested for any contacts he had in the UK with individuals linked to Islamist extremism. The note was 'triaged' but was not translated by MI6 until 49 days later and, as a result, MI5 did not receive the note until six days after that. The committee heard there was no record of an MI5 response, and the note was not filed in MI5's corporate system. The report said that 'regardless of operational demands, an eight-week delay between the receipt of a trace request from a partner agency and onward dissemination is far too long.' MI5 had also received a number of strands of intelligence regarding a Moroccan male named Rashid, who they assessed to be a social associate of Butt, now thought to be Redouane. Advertisement Manchester: Suicide bomber visited extremist in jail and went to Libya unchallenged Salman Abedi, seen on CCTV a few days before the attack Salman Abedi, 22, from Manchester, detonated a homemade bomb in the foyer of Manchester Arena on May 22 2017 at the end of a concert by Ariana Grande. The report criticised how he was able to visit a prisoner who was a known extremist and travel back and forth to Libya before the attack. Abedi was briefly investigated by MI5 in 2014 when he was suspected of being an individual who had been observed acting suspiciously alongside an existing Subject of Interest (SOI). The investigation into Abedi ended due to his limited contact with the SOI and because he was assessed as 'not identical with the individual mentioned in the original reporting'. Between 2015 and 2017, the authorities received further reporting about Abedi's activities and an internal MI5 process raised his case in March 2017 for potential further investigations. However final decisions had not taken place by the time he launched his attack. Dominic Grieve, chairman of the ISC said: 'There were a number of failures in the handling of Salman Abedi's case and while it is impossible to say whether these would have prevented the devastating attack on 22 May, we have concluded that, as a result of the failings, potential opportunities to prevent it were missed.' Abedi's victims were youngsters who had gone to a pop concert and never came home Advertisement Finsbury Park: Loner had no known links to far-right groups Darren Osbourne was not known to security services Darren Osbourne, 48, from Cardiff drove a vehicle into a group of people gathered near a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London on June 19 2017, killing Makram Ali. He was said to have had an extensive criminal history dating back to 1984, including 33 convictions for 102 offences ranging from offences against the person to drugs and theft. The ISC report said the post-attack investigation indicated that Osborne acted alone. He had not been investigated by MI5 or Counter-Terrorism Police before launching his attack and was 'not known to be a member of, or have links to, any extremist right-wing groups.' Advertisement An adopted Welsh coal worker who discovered his father was Malaysian royalty is stepping up his fight for his inheritance. Keith Williams, 66, of Carmarthenshire, decided to look for his biological family a few years ago - but could never have imagined what he'd find. After tracing his DNA to south east Asia he was completely astounded to find he is the illegitimate firstborn son of the 33rd Sultan of the Malaysian state of Perak. His birth mother Elizabeth Rosa was just 17 when she fell pregnant. She was working as a trainee nurse in Carshalton, Surrey when she met Idris Iskandar Al-Mutawakkil Alallahi Shah, who was studying in the UK at the time. When news of her pregnancy broke she was forced to return home to Swansea where she gave him up for adoption and the Sultan back to Malaysia to avoid any unwanted scandal. Keith Williams, 66, of South Wales (pictured) is the firstborn illegitimate son of the 33rd Sultan of the Malaysian state of Perak. After tracing his roots he wants his inheritance By the time the father-of-three found out what had happened it was too late, as his father died of a heart attack in 1984. But now, despite not wanting to take the throne, he believes he has a claim to his father's inheritance, but his living relatives have shut him out. He told the The Mirror: 'It is a shame they have decided to close ranks on me. I understand if they feel threatened but it's not like I am claiming the throne. 'I am sure my father knew about me and if he did I am sure he would have left something behind for me and I think it is only right I know about it.' There are no precise figures on the family's net worth, but the current Sultan of Perak's daughter Eleena Azlan Shah was listed by Forbes as being worth 151million in 2012. Malaysia has nine Sultans whose families live luxurious lifestyles in royal palaces across the country. Mr Williams's father was Idris Iskandar Al-Mutawakkil Alallahi Shah, the 33rd Sultan of the Malaysian state of Perak (pictured). He died in 1984 Who was the 33rd Sultan of Perak? The Malaysian royal family is made up of nine Sultans and one 'super Sultan'. Of its 13 states, nine have Sultans, who act as leader of the region and head of Islam there. The king or 'super Sultan' is known as Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. Idris Iskandar Al-Mutawakkil Alallahi Shah was the 33rd head of Perak, a state on the northwestern peninsula. His father was Sultan Iskandar of Perak, which meant he was renamed Raja Idris Shah at birth in 1924. Upon the death of his cousin Sultan Yussuff Izzuddin Shah in 1963 he was made the 33rd Sultan of Perak. He had six legitimate children, one who died in infancy, as well as an illegitimate son before he assumed his status - Keith Williams, who grew up in South Wales after his mother gave him up for adoption. He was a front runner to become the eighth king of the country, but died suddenly of a heart attack in January 1984 after 21 years in his position. Advertisement When the current Sultan of Perak Nazrin Shah dies, he will be replaced by Mr Williams's estranged younger brother. He has been to Malaysia to visit his father's tomb, which is where he met his half sister Ku Ess. But now, he says, they don't even pick up the phone and his bid to claim Malaysian citizenship has been ignored. He told the Mirror: 'To be honest, I find it sad and a little annoying they are ignoring me. 'At one point we were in touch all the time and they even agreed to a DNA test. But now they cannot even return an email.' Mr Williams was adopted as a two-year-old and had no idea about his bloodline 6,000 miles away. He said after he found out: 'When I was 13 my mother told me I was adopted. I'd never given it a thought. I never imagined I was related to a royal family from the other side of the world. 'It's like a story from a Disney film, and if someone had told you this story in the cafe or by the bar you'd tell them to get out.' He traced his mother Elizabeth Rosa to Peterborough, which is where she told him about his royal connections. On a trip to Malaysia Mr Williams met his half sister Ku Ess (pictured together in 2016) but now he says, the family are not replying to his messages Mr Williams visited the tomb of his father in Malaysia (pictured) for an S4C documentary called Fy Nhad y Swltan (My Father the Sultan) in 2016 He explained: 'When she was doing her training, she met this man. He was studying in London. They went out together for quite some time. 'She found out she was pregnant, expecting me. Because she was there under the council's care she had to come home as soon as she discovered she was pregnant. 'So she came back to Llanelli. Trying to find the man she loved, but he'd gone. 'She gave me photographs which show how he lived out there. He was connected to the royal family and was made a sultan back in 1963.' Mr Williams, known as Keith y Glo (Keith the Coal) was born in Llanelli and spent more than 20 years working in his adoptive father's coal business, but in later years embarked on his voyage of discovery in a bid to trace his biological roots. After he found out he and his son Timothy went to Malaysia as part of a documentary called Fy Nhad y Swltan (My Father the Sultan). He says he is not prepared to give up his fight for what he might be owed and is planning to write a book on his remarkable story. A group of friends crammed 140 farm hens into their car in a last-minute attempt to save them from being 'gassed' to death. Two female animal rights activists from 'Adelaide Animal Save' drove past a free-range egg farm and noticed the chickens being thrown into large bins. When they realised the hens were about to be culled, they decided to cram as many of the birds as possible into their car. A group of friends crammed 140 farm hens into their car in a last-minute attempt to save them from being 'gassed' to death Two female animal rights activists from 'Adelaide Animal Save' drove past a free-range egg farm and noticed the chickens being thrown into large bins Chloe Walker, 26, and her friend Sheridan drove past the farm in south Adelaide on Thursday. They noticed a farm worker throwing the chickens into large bins and decided to find out what was going on. 'I asked him what exactly was happening to the chickens in the bins and he informed us that they were being put into the bins to be gassed to death,' said Ms Walker. On-farm euthanasia is considered the most humane way of killing an egg-laying chicken once it is spent and is no longer able to produce eggs. The practice involves asphyxiating the chickens with carbon dioxide gas or Modified Atmosphere Killing (MAK). After learning the chickens' fate, the women asked the farmer if they could take some of the birds away in their car. 'At first the farmer was confused and hesitant, but eventually agreed to let us take eight chickens,' Ms Walker told Daily Mail Australia. The women drove away but began 'feeling guilty' they had only managed to save eight chickens out of hundreds. So the women enlisted the help of two friends to help save the hens. The women drove away but began 'feeling guilty' they had only managed to save eight chickens out of hundreds Shocked that the animals were about to meet their death, the women enlisted the help of two other animal welfare activists in a last-ditch attempt to save the spent hens With the consent of the farm owner, the group took it upon themselves to cram as many chickens as possible into the back of their car - 140 in total. The group then spent the rest of the night delivering the hens to animal sanctuaries. After posting about the incident on Facebook, Ms Walker said she has also been flooded with messages from Facebook users offering to take in a few of the chickens. According to Chloe, it is routine practice for chickens on egg farms to be killed at 18 months of age when they are considered 'spent' and are no longer producing enough eggs. 'Just by chance, we happened to stumble across this culling in process,' she said. A US Border Patrol agent was acquitted of manslaughter after shooting a Mexican teenager dead through a border fence, sparking protests in Tucson. An Arizona jury found Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Wednesday but didn't come to a decision on voluntary manslaughter. Border Patrol agents are rarely criminally charged for using force but the killing of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez in 2012 sparked outrage on both sides of the border at a time when the agency was increasingly scrutinized for its use of force. Swartz has said he was following his training and defending himself and other law enforcement officers from rocks, which he said could be deadly. Prosecutors acknowledge that Elena Rodriguez was throwing rocks at agents while two smugglers made their way back to Mexico, but they said that wasn't justification for taking his life. An Arizona jury found Lonnie Swartz (left) not guilty of involuntary manslaughter after shooting dead 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez (right) They say he lost his cool and fatally shot Elena Rodriguez. Swartz fired about 16 rounds, and the boy was hit at least 10 times in the back and head. Swartz has said he was following his training and defending himself and other law enforcement officers from rocks, which he said could be deadly. Prosecutors acknowledge that Elena Rodriguez was throwing rocks at agents while two smugglers made their way back to Mexico, but they said that wasn't justification for taking his life. Swartz's attorney, Sean Chapman, said Elena Rodriguez endangered the lives of the agents and a police officer who was on scene. Wednesday's verdict comes months after Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder by another jury that had deadlocked on manslaughter charges, allowing prosecutors to pursue the case again. 'My client is very relieved. He has had to live with the burden of this case hanging over his head for years. He is glad that it is finally over,' Chapman, said. Outside the courthouse, a small group of activists protested the verdict, and one man was detained, media outlets reported. The protest grew later in the day as scores of demonstrators shut down an intersection, snarling traffic in downtown and prompting authorities to briefly close several freeway ramps. Protesters march through downtown in response to a jury finding Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter Protesters scatter glue in the intersection of Granada and Congress to paste 'Jose Antonio Presente!' signage to the asphalt A protester stands in the middle of Congress Street in front of the federal courthouse in Tucson, Arizona, on Wednesday One sign protesters carried said, 'Abolish Border Patrol,' while another read, 'No justice, no peace' in both English and Spanish. 'We fully respect the jury's decision, and we thank every member of the jury for the time and attention given to this trial,' Elizabeth A. Strange, first assistant US attorney for the District of Arizona, said in a statement. 'This was a difficult case, and I commend the trial team and law enforcement officers who assisted in the prosecution.' Prosecutors said Swartz was frustrated over repeated encounters with people on the Mexico side of the border fence who throw rocks at agents to distract them from smugglers. Protesters march through downtown Tucson, with one carrying a portrait of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez Protesters stand in the middle of Congress Street in front of the federal courthouse in Tucson Araceli Rodriguez, the mother of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, a Mexican teenager shot dead in 2012 by a US Border Patrol agent, speaks to supporters, on Wednesday Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez's grandmother Taide Elena is consoled by supporter Isabel Garcia at the federal courthouse The verdict comes as President Donald Trump has deployed troops to the border to support US authorities in response to a migrant caravan from Central America. The troops have been given authority to protect Border Patrol agents and other personnel, even though there have been no instances of violence against U.S. authorities. Swartz still faces a civil rights lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the teen's mother. A spokeswoman for the US attorney's office said prosecutors haven't decided whether to try Swartz again on the voluntary manslaughter charge. Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has been dropped from a Tory fundraising dinner in the wake of his botched coup to oust Theresa May. As the bitter Tory civil war escalates, the Eurosceptic has been axed from the speakers list and been replaced with Stephen Barclay - the ultra loyal new Brexit Secretary. But Mr Rees-Mogg, who declared all out war on the PM last week when he publicly said she had lost his confidence, was not told he had been ditched. He also appeared to back Boris Johnson to be the next Tory leader, saying he is the only figure who 'incited any enthusiasm' among the party grassroots. The sniping comes as Cabinet ministers have warned that Mrs May's hugely controversial Brexit deal stands zero chance of getting through Parliament. A staggering 84 Tory MPs, including Brexiteers and Remainers, have publicly indicated they will not back the divorce package. While a seething DUP - whose ten MPs prop Mrs May up in No10 in a confidence and supply deal - have raged against the deal and said they cannot back it. Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured in Westminster on Tuesday) has been dropped from a Tory fundraising dinner in the wake of his botched coup to oust Theresa May But she is staring at what looks set to be a humiliating Commons defeat which could plunge her premiership into a fresh crisis. Mogg appears to back Boris for the Tory leadership, but rules himself out Jacob Rees-Mogg said Boris Johnson (pictured at Tory party conference in Birmingham last month) is the only name which illicit enthusiasm Tory Brexiteer and plotter-in-chief Jacob Rees-Mogg has appeared to back Boris Johnson to be the next Tory leader. Mr Rees-Mogg - who has spearheaded the botched coup to topple the PM - ruled himself out of taking a run at the top job. But he said that having spoken to some Tory party associations at the weekend, Mr Johnson was the only name who 'incited any enthusiasm'. Writing in The Spectator magazine, Mr Rees-Mogg said: 'At both associations I asked the audience who they would like to see as the next party leader. 'I did it by a voice vote followed by a show of hands if the result were not clear. 'Other than the fact that they cheered, quite rightly, their own MP the loudest, only Boris incited any enthusiasm. 'This is not to say there was universal approval, but the volume of the responses was many decibels louder than for any other name, and at the show of hands there were almost no abstentions. 'He certainly makes politics interesting and has the qualities of leadership. Surprisingly, some well-known names were met with near silence.' But he ruled himself out of being Theresa May's successor. He said: 'If there were a leadership election, which I hope there will be, I would not throw my hat into the ring as I fear it would be thrown back Oddjob style.' The James Bond villain killed his enemies by throwing his metal rimmed hat at them. Advertisement One Cabinet minister told the BBC that No10 has become blind to the reality of the overwhelming opposition they face. They said Downing Street is like 'a couple stuck in a bad marriage'. The minister added: 'They are the only people who can't see that it isn't working and they should just admit it and split up. When they do they say to everyone they know, 'why didn't you tell us?' Tory MP John Whittingdale, a Brexiteer who has sent a letter of no confidence in Mrs May in, today said that unless something drastically changes, the deal will fail in Parliament. Mrs May is facing a frantic 48 hour race to finalise her Brexit deal amid raging rows over fishing, trade terms and Gibraltar. She is engaged in a frantic round of diplomacy amid fears the package painstakingly assembled over nearly two years could be on the verge of collapse. There are growing signs of anger with Spain after it threatened to torpedo the process unless the UK concedes to demands over Gibraltar. EU diplomats said Madrid was 'all alone' in its bid to reopen the text of the Withdrawal Agreement - while Irish deputy PM Simon Coveney warned that that part of the deal was 'closed'. The push comes after she failed to finalise the deal in talks with EU President Jean-Claude Juncker last night. She has just days before EU leaders gather for the summit in Brussels on Sund ay where they had been expected to approve the deal. But the agreement appears to be fraying, and Germany's powerful Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned she could boycott Sunday's meeting if the agreement is not fully finalised. And the PM is under huge pressure from Cabinet ministers and her whips to get her own concessions on the Brexit divorce package. One Cabinet minister suggested this could be in the form of appendages to the 583-page Withdrawal Agreement which would give Brexiteers assurances Britain would not be stuck in an EU customs union forever. But short of a major win in Brussels, MPs are expected to vote down her deal when it comes to Parliament in the second week of December. If the deal is voted down, Mrs May is expected to try to launch a fresh round of talks with the EU and bring it back to Parliament, perhaps in the New Year. But it is unclear if Brussels would budge and offer any major new concessions on the deal. Theresa May met EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured together last night) for two hours in Brussels last night, but emerged with no apparent breakthrough Remainers would certainly ramp up the pressure to push for a second referendum, with Jeremy Corbyn expected to come under huge pressure from his backbenchers to throw the party's weight behind a 'People's Vote'. But No10 hope that as the weeks ticked on and the prospect of crashing out of the EU with no deal at all became starker, they could convince enough Tory MPs and some on the Labour benches to back the PM's deal as the only option to save the UK from financial meltdown. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, used an appearance before MPs earlier this week to warn a no deal Brexit would be the worst shock to Britain's economy since the 1970s. That decade saw Britain plunged into economic turmoil, including the three-day week, power cuts and the winter of discontent. A hardcore dominatrix was found dead in her own dungeon. Koulla Kakoulli, 56, known professionally as Mistress Dometria, ran a private 'erotic boudoir' and dungeon for paying clients from her home in Brighton. The mum-of-five was a competitive bodybuilder, regularly competing in international events, and had also appeared on the covers of fetish magazines and in hardcore fetish films. An inquest in the city heard the 56-year-old used steroids to bulk up for competitions. Mistress Dometria was well-known in the fetish community and considered one of its most hardcore members and performers. Koulla Kakoulli, 56, known professionally as Mistress Dometria, was found dead in her flat - which she billed as the Brighton Dungeon or the Brighton Erotic Boudoir - this August News of her death this August was met with an outpouring of sympathy from hundreds of members of the communtiy. One Twitter user wrote: 'Mistress Dometria was one of the worlds great Dominas - and also a great Lady. She was an inspiration to me and so many others.' One said she had been looking forward to meeting "the Legend" when passing through Brighton. Another said: 'My encounters with Mistress Dometria were all too brief but in that time she showed so much kindness and support, she had a very caring and considerate heart, a lovely person and one phenomenal Domme, one of a kind' Despite her strict training regime and daily trips to the gym, a pathologist told the court the grandmother also had cocaine, diazepam, ketamine and mephedrone, known as Meow Meow, in her system when her body was found. She found was lying on the floor of her bedroom in the same flat as her torture chamber, The Brighton Dungeon, also known as the Brighton Erotic Boudior. A client with an evening appointment failed to turn up, and the last time Miss Kakoulli was seen alive was on CCTV the night before her body was found on August 3 this year. Ms Kakoulli was also a competitive bodybuilder who was known to take steroids to prepare for competitions worldwide. Brighton and Hove Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley described the dominatrix as 'one of the most amazing' people she had met She was dressed in black shorts and a black crop top lying on the floor of her bedroom. The room smelled strongly of bleach and it is thought she may have been cleaning when she collapsed. Paramedics said her body was too cold to record a temperature and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Her inquest heard she was asthmatic and her heart was enlarged. Traces of white powder, believed to be Ketamine, were found under her left nostril. Pathologist Dr Mark Taylor said her cause of death was un-ascertained. 'Bottom line is, there is no definitive cause of death,' he said. The expert said it was most likely her heart went into a fatal arrhythmia and death would have been very quick. He went on: 'I have done research on body builders who have died. You can say use of unregulated medication is potentially not safe.' The post-mortem found that the grandmother had cocaine, diazepam, ketamine and mephedrone - known as Meow Meow - in her system when her body was found. He agreed that the use of steroids could have contributed to her death. There were no signs of struggle in the flat or evidence of injury to her body, and DS Joe Jardine of Brighton CID said Sussex Police were satisfied there was no third party involvement in her death. Koulla Kakoulli was born in the Forest Hill area of Lewisham in south east London. She moved to Brighton after successfully getting off heroin and methadone. Brighton Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley described the dominatrix and bodybuilder as an extraordinary woman and recorded an open verdict. Ms Hamilton-Deeley said: 'Her death remains something of a mystery. 'She was extremely professional in her work. She was an athlete. 'I cannot rule out one of the significant contributing factors was body building with the use of steroids. Many deaths are the result of a perfect storm.' The coroner went on: 'Of the many people I've met, Koulla was one of the most amazing.' She said that Ms Koulla 'led her life as she wanted to', and added that she had been, 'extraordinarily well organised with a huge number of people who loved her.' A driver accused of killing a teenage girl and a heavily pregnant newlywed in a Sydney car crash had allegedly been drinking for about eight hours in the lead-up to the collision, a court has heard. Police allege father-of-four Richard Moananu, 29, was driving more than 45 km/h over the speed limit when his Mazda 3 crossed to the wrong side of the road in Orchard Hills and collided with a Nissan Tiida in September. Both the 17-year-old learner driver and 23-year-old passenger Katherine Hoang, who was heavily pregnant with twins, died at the scene. Scroll down for video A driver accused of killing a teenage girl and a heavily pregnant Katherine Hoang (pictured left) had allegedly been drinking for about eight hours leading up to the crash Both the 17-year-old learner driver and 23-year-old passenger Katherine Hoang (pictured), who was heavily pregnant with twins, died at the scene Her unborn babies didn't survive and her husband Bronko Hoang, who was also a passenger, was taken to hospital in a critical condition. A wheelchair-bound Moananu, who suffered leg injuries in the crash, appeared in the NSW Supreme Court via video link for a bail application on Thursday. The 29-year-old is charged with numerous offences including manslaughter, aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and unlicensed driving. Justice Natalie Adams, in refusing his bail application, said he had a 'somewhat poor' driving history and there was an unacceptable risk he'd drive again. She said a letter from Moananu's partner, which police found in his vehicle after the crash, suggested he'd already been 'on notice' about his lifestyle. The letter read: 'I'm at the age where being settled is what I need ... you like to drink and gamble and be with your friends 80 per cent of the time.' 'I want you to think and ask yourself what is important to you.' Richard Moananu (left) was charged with 10 offences over the crash. Police also allege the 29-year-old was unlicensed, on the wrong side of the road and travelling 45km/hr over the speed limit. A second victim of the crash (right) cannot be identified as she was underage Justice Adams said that on the evidence, Moananu had been drinking from 10.30am to 6.45pm that day and returned a .204 blood alcohol reading at the time of the collision. It's also alleged traces of cannabis were found in his blood. Moananu during his application said he was only getting one physiotherapy session a week at Long Bay Hospital and his mental health in custody was 'not good' as he tended 'to keep things inside'. The court also heard Bronko Hoang remains in hospital about eight weeks after the crash. He and his wife had only recently married after meeting and falling in love at the Western Sydney University Taekwondo club. Mrs Hoang's husband, Bronko Hoang, was left fighting for his life in a hospital bed when he learnt of his family's death. 'He screamed so loudly, 'Why Katherine? Please not the babies',' his aunt, Pham Crawford, told the Daily Telegraph. Pregnant newlywed Katherine Hoang, 23, (pictured) was just days from giving birth to twins when she was killed in a horror car crash The couple, who married in May, were due to become parents to two twin boys A terminally-ill husband whose cheating wife was jailed for plotting his murder has revealed he has already forgiven her as he vowed to continue visiting her in prison. Ray Weatherall said he still loves his wife Hayley, 32, despite her scheming with secret lover Glenn Pollard, 49, and his daughter Heather to kill him. The trio were jailed this week after a string of attempts to murder Mr Weatherall, 53, including one instance in which they tried to blow him up in a heating explosion. Mr Weatherall, of Ash near Canterbury in Kent, was oblivious of the secret affair between his wife and best friend of 20 years. Despite a judge calling Mrs Weatherall 'cold and calculated' and 'impatient' for her husband to die, her husband claimed she was 'made out to be worse than she is'. Scroll down for video Ray and wife Hayley Weatherall pictured together. Hayley plotted to have Ray killed with the help of her lover, and Ray's best friend Glenn Pollard, and Pollard's daughter Heather Glenn Pollard, left, and his daughter Heather (right) who now goes by the name Arthur, were both jailed for life yesterday Speaking to Good Morning Britain, he said: 'I'd much love her to come home, but I know that she isn't going to, not in my lifetime. 'So I've got to deal with the future as it's fed to me now. 'She's always been a loving wife, really good mother so I don't think she's as bad as she's being made out to be as she never actually done anything.' Mr Weatherall was diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2015 and the following year was given only 18 months to live. Asked by a shocked Susanna Reid if he forgave his wife, he added: 'Yes, most definitely. 'She apologised for what she got herself tangled up in and there's not much we can do about it now. 'All I can do is continue to visit her and continue to take the children up to visit. I've already visited her last weekend. 'She knows how I feel and she's telling me that she still loves me and would love to be back home with her husband and children.' Hayley Weatherall (pictured) plotted to kill cancer stricken Ray Weatherall by shooting, drowning and even blowing him up Ray Weatherall said he still loves his wife Hayley, 32, despite her scheming with secret lover Glenn Pollard, 49, and his daughter Heather to kill him Ray had been told he had months to live when Heather, who goes by the name Arthur, shot him in the face like a 'sniper' after a string of failed attempts on his life. They included a swimming pool heater explosion which left him with second degree burns, drowning him while fishing and poisoning him with insulin. Mr Weatherall remained ignorant that his wife and his best friend of 20 years were trying to kill him after they planned a new life together. At their trial, Maidstone Crown Court was told the non-fatal shooting triggered a long and intricate Kent Police investigation, which uncovered a string of other unsuccessful attempts on the man's life, planned before and after the shooting. Mr Weatherall told Good Morning Britain that Glenn had been the main instigator of the plot, and that his wife was 'dragged into it'. He said: 'I'm disgusted with Glenn and his daughter. Glenn was most certainly the driver of it all. I'm disgusted that my wife for getting involved with it all. 'It was probably two or three months prior to me finding out what was actually going on. She started being a little bit cold towards me. 'Up until that point we never had any issues whatsoever. I still don't understand how she got involved in it all.' From left to right: Heather Pollard, Hayley Weatherall, who were both jailed for 15 years, and Glenn Pollard, who was jailed for 17 years An X-ray of Mr Weatherall's jaw, with a bullet visible to the top right where he was shot in the face A handout photo of a seized firearm that experts believe could have been used in the shooting of Mr Weatherall Their schemes began unravelling in January after Ray's niece Emma Worsfold tipped off police that they were trying to kill Ray, after she learned of the affair. Kent Police raided their homes and quickly recovered the bolt-action rifle that was used to shoot him. Electrical devices were analysed and hundreds of messages were discovered between Glenn and Heather, including about how they planned to kill his love rival. Mr Weatherall pictured during a hearing outside Maidstone Crown Court in Kent The jury was also told about other events that had threatened the victim's life between the summer of 2017 and the spring of 2018, which was just chalked up to accidents. Mr Weatherall was blown up when his burner exploded, was set up to be drowned during a fishing trip with Pollard, and an incidence of suspected poisoning. Glenn Pollard got life with a minimum of 17 years while the other two were jailed for life with a minimum of 15 years. Heather Pollard was seen laughing in the dock with her father before the sentence was handed down. Jurors heard treacherous Pollard had a gun license and 'brainwashed' his daughter - who was Mr Weatherall's great-niece - to fire the 'sniper' shot last November. He was shot in the face at Sandwich Marina in Kent but survived when the bullet hit his right cheekbone. Ray had been diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2015 and the following year was given only 18 months to live on to of daily insulin injections for his diabetes. Ray and Glenn Pollard had been friends for more than 20 years and went shooting together. It was only when he was shot in the face - the bullet passing through his right cheek and out of the left cheek - in November last year that the police became involved. Even at the point of the shooting the trail remained cold until the affair was revealed in January this year. The two children of the British glider pilot killed on his 60th birthday in South Africa are 'devastated' and considering flying out to join their widowed mother. Guy Reading, 28, and his sister Gemma, 26, are 'in a state of shock' after hearing the news of their father's tragic death, according to friends. Their father Peter, a top British glider pilot, was killed when his aircraft slammed into a rocky hillside at 150mph whilst celebrating his 60th birthday with a solo flight over the plains of South Africa. Highly experienced Peter was on his ninth day of pleasure flights during a gliding holiday with wife Ingrid when tragedy struck as he went up to fly alone. Peter Reading, 60, was one of Britain's top 100 gliders having competed frequently in long distance races Highly experienced pilot and Peter Reading, 60, (in glasses) died after his glider stalled on a solo flight over the plains of South Africa A Jonker JS-1 Revelation glider that is capable of speeds of up to 175mph in normal flight, identical to one Peter was flying The father-of-two from Godalming, Surrey, had been launched from an airfield in a Jonker JS-1 Revelation glider that is capable of speeds of up to 175mph in normal flight. 'We spoke to his grown-up children last night and they are in a state of shock,' pensioner Joan Withers, a neighbour, told MailOnline. 'They are thinking about flying out there. Both of them have taken time off work. It's one of those truly devastating things and we are all terrible sorry.' Mrs Withers remembered pilot Peter Reading, from Surrey, as sociable and friendly. 'He was just a lovely, chatty man,' she said. 'He has a passion for flying and was always telling us all about the places he'd flown to.' Charlie Hogarth, 20, who lived next-door to the pilot all her life, said: 'He was a nice, considerate guy and very smart. 'He always had a friendly word to say and loved all the dogs on the road. He was devoted to his poodle cross, Dougle. 'When my mum passed away, he did a lot for my dad in terms of having him over for drinks and giving him support.' Wreckage of the glider after it slammed almost vertically into the ground killing professional airline pilot Peter instantly at an estimated 150mph Flybe airline captain Peter got into difficulties as he tried to climb and is believed to have stalled the glider and gone into a deadly spin and was unable to pull up the nose before crashing. He was trying to correct a full speed dive when the carbon and kevlar high performance glider hit the ground and disintegrated into bits on impact killing tragic Peter instantly. The previous day he had taken Ingrid, 59, up in a two seater glider for a flight over the wild African Karoo and South Africa's biggest dam near Norvalspout in the Free State. But on Monday he chose to fly alone with plans to glide for over five hours to celebrate his 60th birthday and was launched from the airfield next to the Gariep Dam after dawn. A glider being prepared at Gariep Dam. Club chairman Manni Voigt said that their club was extremely popular with British pilots as it was one of the best long distance and soaring centres anywhere in the world Eye witnesses said he got into difficulties shortly after take-off and it is thought the glider stalled due to lack of speed and it went into a deadly spin heading earthwards. It is believed he had corrected the spin and was trying to pull up but ran out of height and slammed into the rocky hillside overlooking the Gariep Dam Airfield at high speed. It slammed almost vertically into the ground killing professional airline pilot Peter instantly at an estimated 150mph. Rescuers raced to the scene but the glass fibre shell of the glider had shattered into hundreds of pieces and Peter's body was found amongst the scattered wreckage. It is thought wife Ingrid was relaxing at the airfield cafe awaiting the return of her husband who had clocked up over 40 hours of flying so far during their gliding holiday. A glider pictured at Gariep Dam where Peter Reading had his fatal accident on his 60th birthday The mother-of-two was said by members of Gariep Dam Gliding Club to be 'inconsolable'. Club chairman Manni Voigt said that their club was extremely popular with British pilots as it was one of the best long distance and soaring centres anywhere in the world. Manni, 55, said: 'Peter and Ingrid had visited South Africa before to glide but this was their first time at our club I believe and he was hiring gliders from a Dutch member. 'He is a very experienced glider pilot with over 6000 flying hours under his belt and a further tragedy is that he had gone up to fly to celebrate on his 60th birthday. 'Peter was launched by winch and wanted to fly for as long as he could on his big day but tragically it wasn't to be. 'We don't know exactly what happened but it would seem he was flying too slow and lost lift on a wing and stalled and he went into a spin and spiralled down into the hill. 'If you have enough height you can stop the spin and dive to regain lift but if you are too close to the ground say 1000 feet or less then it is very hard to get out of trouble. Peter's wife of 31 years, Ingrid with their cockapoo Dougal. The mother-of-two was said by members of Gariep Dam Gliding Club to be 'inconsolable' and is now having to make arrangements to bring her husband's body back home Gliders at Gariep Dam awaiting launch. Gliding over the Karoo in Africa is very different to gliding in the UK as the weather is very strong due to the heat and the thermals, said club chairman Manni Voigt 'We don't fully know what happened but something went very wrong. These gliders pick up enormous speed very quickly when they go into a vertical dive. He would have been doing 250kph. 'Just the day before he Peter was killed he took Ingrid up in a two seater glider and they had a marvellous flight. For her to lose her husband in this way is just absolutely heart breaking. 'Gliding out here over the Karoo in Africa is very different to gliding in the UK as our weather is very strong due to the heat and the thermals and you have to be very wary. 'We have daily safety briefings and we stress all the time 'weather, weather, weather'. 'Flying here at Gariep Dam we can experience very strong winds and turbulence as there is a lot of energy out there over the slopes because of the heat this time of year. 'You get incredible lift but have to be very wary of it and constantly on the alert. I have been flying gliders here for 33 years and I am wary of it on every single flight' he said. Peter, a commercial airline pilot, is ranked among the top 100 glider pilots in the UK and regularly competes in long distance cross country races. It is thought that Peter's glider was going too slow and lost lift on a wing and stalled and he went into a spin and spiralled down into the hill The previous day Peter had taken his wife Ingrid, 59, up in a two seater glider for a flight over the wild African Karoo and South Africa's biggest dam near Norvalspout in the Free State He has flown gliders all over the world and competes in the British Nationals supported by wife of 31 years Ingrid who works as an exam invigilator in Surrey. Highly experienced Peter is a member of the Lasham Gliding Society in Alton, Hants, where he instructs and has also been their vice chairman and media spokesman. The South African Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that a fatal glider accident occurred near Gariep Dam on Monday morning and that it is being investigated. Provincial police spokesperson Sgt Yang Ngckana confirmed one person died who was the pilot flying solo and said that an inquest docket had been opened. Head of Safety Fred Bebington of the Soaring Society of South Africa confirmed that a pilot had died whilst flying at Gariep Dam but was awaiting more information. Peter and Ingrid married in 1987 and had son Guy, 28, who is an informatics scientist with llika in Southampton and a daughter Gemma, 26. The South African Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that a fatal glider accident occurred near Gariep Dam on Monday morning and that it is being investigated A coroner's report is being prepared along with a request for permission to return the body to the UK where the much loved pilot is being mourned in the gliding community. The Chairman of Lasham Gliding Society where Peter was a member said that his passing would leave a huge gap in the gliding community. Mike Clark said: 'On 19th November Peter Reading, a highly experienced member of Lasham Gliding Society, sustained fatal injuries while flying a JS1 glider out of Gariep Dam Airfield in South Africa. 'Peter joined Lasham in December 1983 and was our Chairman in 2014. 'A well-known Lasham personality and expert professional and glider pilot, he was a key member of our Airspace Team bringing massive technical knowledge of how airliners and other commercial traffic use the airspace in and around us. 'He was given a Life Membership in 2017 in recognition of his work for Lasham. 'The accident is currently under investigation by the South African Civil Aviation Authority and the provincial police. Glider sheds at Gariep Dam. Peter was launched from the airfield next to the Gariep Dam after dawn to celebrate his 60th birthday 'Our thoughts at this stage are with Peter's family.' he said. Chief Executive Officer of the British Gliding Association Peter Stratten said:' Peter was a very experienced pilot and was both a professional commercial pilot and a recreational glider pilot. 'He did a lot of voluntary work as well for his club at Lasham and would be in amongst the top 100 glider pilots in the UK. 'It is a tragic loss that will be hard felt among the gliding community. We don't know what happened yet. It is under investigation. 'Peter was married with two children and was an airline captain with Flybe. 'At the end of the day gliding is an adventurous activity and people understand the risks they are taking but sometimes, fortunately very rarely, things can go tragically wrong' he said. An Alaskan volcano which fired a dark cloud of ash into the air, visible to a small native community, has prompted an aviation warning. Mount Veniaminof produced a sooty cloud of ash which was spotted by inhabitants of the Aleut village of Perryville yesterday nearly 25 miles away. Officials have warned that the emissions could create dangerous flying conditions for planes travelling through the airspace over the volcano Observatory geophysicist Dave Schneider said that level of emissions would affect mostly smaller aircraft. A black ash cloud from Alaska's Mount Veniaminof passes the community of Perryville, Alaska, on Wednesday If the ash were to rise about 6,100 meters it would pose as a dangerous threat to jet airplanes as well. The residents of the 101 strong community have been unaffected by the plume as the wind has pushed it away from them. Victoria Tague, who has lived with the group her whole life, described it as being a 'big, black, ugly cloud.' The volcano (pictured), which is 480 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaskan peninsula has only become active again since early September Alaska Volcano Observatory scientists said the ash rose only rose 4,572 meters overnight and therefore isn't currently a threat to larger aircraft. The volcano, which is 480 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaskan peninsula has only become active again since early September. Perryville had been dusted by drifting ash around a month ago and when residents noticed Wednesday's ash cloud it caused 'alarm' in the community, said the president of the community's tribal government Gerald Kosbruk. He said: 'This is the most ash I've seen come out of it. People also heard rumbling noises coming from the volcano overnight, he said. Kosbruk warned others via radio that locals should wear masks and stock up on water in case the wind shifted direction. Veniaminof didn't keep people from holiday preparations, however. Around noon, people began heading toward the village school, where a community Thanksgiving potluck was being held, Kosbruk said. The volcano erupted for several months in 2013. Other recent eruptions occurred in 2005 and between 1993 and 1995. Perryville residents are used to living near a volcano. The village itself was founded in 1912 as a refuge for Alutiiq people displaced by the eruption of another volcano. The wife of the young British academic jailed in the UAE for 25 years today revealed the 'heartbreaking' moment she was stopped from seeing him as he was dragged to prison. Daniela Tejada, 27, fought back tears as she described the ordeal of seeing Matthew Hedges given a life sentence in Abu Dhabi and said: 'We didn't even get to say goodbye'. Ms Tejada spoke outside the Foreign Office in London after meeting Jeremy Hunt and begged: 'I cannot win this fight alone', adding: 'He has assured me that he and his team are doing everything in their power to get Matt free and return him home to me'. She said: 'This has been an incredibly difficult time for myself, for the rest of Matt's family and friends, but especially for Matt, who is an innocent victim in all this. 'You cannot imagine what he has been through. Seeing him shaking in court after being handed a life sentence and then being made to leave was beyond heartbreaking'. Her defiant and emotional statement came hours after the UAE denied Matthew was tried in a 'kangaroo court' and insisted he has been treated 'fairly'. Fighting back tears Daniela Tejada, 27, described the ordeal of seeing Matthew Hedges given a life sentence in the UAE and said: 'We didn't even get to say goodbye' Ms Tejada, wife of Matthew Hedges, gave a statement to reporters outside the Foreign Office, calling her husband an 'innocent victim' Ms Tejada sobbed as she was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 about her husband's case Matthew Hedges, 31, was convicted of being a spy in a 'kangaroo court' hearing lasting just five minutes. He is pictured with his wife Mr Hedges, 31, was convicted of espionage and given a life sentence in a secret hearing that lasted just five minutes in Abu Dhabi yesterday. 'He's an innocent victim': Jailed academic's wife gives moving statement Daniela Tejada (pictured) spoke on the steps of the Foreign Office after meeting Jeremy Hunt today. She said: 'Thank you all for your continued support. 'As you can imagine, this has been an incredibly difficult time for myself, for the rest of Matt's family and friends, but especially for Matt, who is an innocent victim in all this. 'We really appreciate all the positive support that has been shown to Matt, you cannot imagine what he has been through. Seeing him shaking in court after being handed a life sentence and then being made to leave was beyond heart-breaking, we didn't even get to say goodbye. 'I really appreciate the Foreign Secretary taking the time to meet me at this crucial point in mine and Matt's life. He has assured me that he and his team are doing everything in their power to get Matt free and return him home to me. This is not a fight I can win alone and I thank the Foreign Office for now standing up for one of their citizens. 'Thank you all once again. I'm sorry I cannot grant you all individual interviews but I am sure you understand how difficult a time this has been for me.' Advertisement Theresa May has called the case 'deeply disappointing' as Matthew's wife accused the UK government of putting the UAE's billions above his liberty. Ms Tejada cried today as she described how her husband was shaking in the dock as the devastating life sentence was handed down in Arabic, with Mr Hedges repeatedly asking: 'Did I hear that right?'. Now the Gulf state's foreign ministry has responded and said in a statement: 'Matthew Hedges has been treated fairly and according to the constitution of the UAE'. The spokesman also said Mr Hedges was provided with translators and 'it is not true that he was asked to sign documents he did not understand.' He added: 'Officials from both countries have discussed the matter regularly over recent months. Both sides hope to find an amicable solution to the Matthew Hedges case'. UAE's attorney general has also insisted this 'sentence is not final' and promised him an appeal - 24 hours after the oil-rich state claimed Mr Hedges, who was denied a lawyer, had confessed to being a British spy. Ms Tejada will meet with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in London this afternoon having accused his officials of 'appalling' handling of his case and ignoring her repeated pleas to help her husband. Earlier her voice broke as she said the judge refused to let Matthew look at his wife and revealed as he was taken away to the cells he asked an interpreter: 'Did I hear that right?'. Wiping away tears she said: 'He was very, very scared. He started shaking when the translator told him the sentence, he actually had to ask to double-check if he heard right. He's just as distraught as I am'. 'I asked him to look at me if he was feeling too nervous and he tried to do so on a couple of occasions but was asked to face the judge'. She added: 'We were separated by about 10 to 20 metres and as soon as the sentence was given we were both made to leave the room immediately'. Ms Tejada insists her husband is innocent and fears for his safety, and said: 'I was under the impression they [the UK Government] were putting their interests with the UAE above a British citizen's rightful freedom and his welfare. 'They just disregarded my requests, they said it wasn't part of their job, it wasn't part of their duty. On one occasion one of the case workers said the Foreign Office did not have a duty of care so weren't obliged to make such representations'. She told the BBC's Today programme: 'Why would the UK want to have a good relationship with a country that does not want to reciprocate in the good treatment of its fellow citizens?', and urged the government to get him freed 'at any cost'. After arriving at Heathrow on Thursday morning, she told Today that they were separated during the sentencing hearing and that she does not know where he is being held. Mr Hedges has been jailed for life in the UAE and will be deported after a minimum term of 25 years. Amid pressure from Britain the UAE Attorney General has said today that his sentencing should not be seen as being a 'final' judgement. Dr Hamad Al Shamsi said: 'Today's sentence is not final. The accused has the right to appeal ahead of the federal supreme court'. Immediately after the hearing Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned the United Arab Emirates of 'serious diplomatic consequences' and he will try to reassure his wife today (pictured) Daniela (pictured at Heathrow today) will meet with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt today and accused his officials of ignoring her repeated pleas to help her husband Jeremy Hunt has promised retaliation and will explain what he means when he meets Daniela Tejada later. UAE says Matthew Hedges can appeal his life sentence - 24 hours after the regime claimed he admitted being a spy The UAE has promised Matthew Hedges an appeal amid mounting pressure over his 'kangaroo court' ordeal. Attorney general Hamad al-Shamsi said yesterday that Mr Hedges was handed a life sentence after 'the defendant admitted before the court to the charges brought against him by the public prosecution'. He added: 'The defendant confessed in detail to his crimes during investigations whereby he was accorded his full rights and assurances as per the UAE Constitution and state laws to fair and transparent trial' But despite the regime claiming Matthew admitted being a spy - a claim his wife says is an utter lie - the UAE says he will have the chance to appeal. He added: 'Today's sentence is not final. 'The accused has the right to appeal ahead of the federal supreme court. 'This is one of the most important guarantees of the UAE's just courts' and is according to the UAE's doctrine.' Advertisement Miss Tejada, 27, said: 'I am in complete shock and I don't know what to do. Matthew is innocent. I am very scared for him. I don't know where they are taking him or what will happen now. Our nightmare has gotten even worse.' Immediately after the hearing Mr Hunt warned the United Arab Emirates of 'serious diplomatic consequences'. The Foreign Secretary later said: 'I thought I had some understanding that this was going to be resolved in a satisfactory way. That hasn't happened.' Mr Hunt met Mohammed Bin Zayed, the Emirati Crown Prince, last week and assured him that Mr Hedges was not a spy. Whitehall sources have given the same assurance to the Daily Mail. British options are believed to include ending military cooperation with the Gulf state. UK universities with a campus in the UAE are preparing a boycott. The Government is 'shocked and deeply disappointed' by the jailing for life of a British academic in the United Arab Emirates on an allegation of spying, peers have been told. Baroness Goldie said ministers were raising the case of 31-year-old PhD student Matthew Hedges with the UAE authorities at the 'very highest level'. Answering an urgent question in the Lords, Lady Goldie said: 'We are conveying in the starkest and bluntest terms possible what the reaction has been within the UK to Mr Hedges' situation.' The Durham University student was arrested at Dubai airport on May 5 at the end of a two-week research trip for his PhD thesis on the security strategies of Gulf states following the Arab Spring. He was held in solitary confinement for six months and forced to sign a confession written in Arabic during interrogation. This confession together with his research notes was enough for the court in Abu Dhabi to pronounce him guilty yesterday of espionage on behalf of Britain. Mr Hedges played no part in his five-minute 'trial' and had no lawyer present. In the House of Commons, Theresa May announced she was 'deeply disappointed and concerned'. Mr Hunt said: 'Today's verdict is not what we expect from a friend and trusted partner of the United Kingdom and runs contrary to earlier assurances. 'We see absolutely no evidence for the charges laid against him. 'We will do all we can to get him home. I have repeatedly made clear that the handling of this case by the UAE authorities will have repercussions for the relationship between our two countries, which has to be built on trust. 'I regret the fact that we have reached this position and I urge the UAE to reconsider.' Mrs Tejada, a Colombian-born marketing and PR executive, said after the hearing, which she attended: 'This has been the worst six months of my life, let alone for Matt who was shaking when he heard the verdict. The UAE authorities should feel ashamed for such an obvious injustice. 'The Foreign Office have made it clear to the UAE authorities that Matthew is not a spy for them. 'This whole case has been handled appallingly from the very beginning with no one taking Matthew's case seriously. 'The British Government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens. They say the UAE is an ally, but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matt's case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price.' Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi receiving Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt at the Presidential Palace in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi UAE suspect's lecturer insists his student is not working for MI6 The university supervisor of British academic Matthew Hedges, who has been jailed for spying in the United Arab Emirates, has said there had been nothing clandestine about his research in the country. Professor Clive Jones of Durham University said Mr Hedges had been working on a thesis about civil-military relations in the UAE since the Arab Spring based on readily accepted literature. 'There was nothing clandestine or covert in any of the material he had been using up to date in the thesis,' Prof Jones told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. 'He went to the United Arab Emirates to conduct a series of interviews to help flesh out some of the theories and some of the empirical evidence that he had actually collected.' He added: 'If we had any inkling that Matt in any sense shape or form was going to be in danger, then of course we would not have agreed to let him go. 'Matt was no stranger to the United Arab Emirates. He had lived there on and off since the age of nine. 'He knew many of the people he was going out to interview so again it is utterly bizarre and indeed perverse and indeed a miscarriage of justice that this has befallen him.' Advertisement Last night Miss Tejada was flying back to the UK for her own safety, according to her MP Ben Bradshaw. The Labour MP, whose constituency covers Exeter University where the couple met as students, said: 'It is unbelievable. I went to see the UAE ambassador and he said Matthew had made a mistake and been naive, and that it would all be sorted out, so this has come as a complete shock. 'The diplomatic strategy of the Foreign Office has failed. It is quite clear that the softly-softly behind-the-scenes talking to the Emiratis has not worked. 'We have very close economic, military and educational ties with the Emiratis, and we need to start using those to ensure my innocent constituent can come home. 'When a British citizen is treated like this abroad, the full weight of the British Government needs to come down in support.' Miss Tejada is due to meet Mr Hunt today. Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said the situation was gravely worrying, adding: 'The UAE are supposed to be allies.' Crispin Blunt, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, suggested Britain should end military cooperation. Staff at Birmingham University are due to vote today on an academic boycott of its 100million Dubai campus, which opened in September. Hopes were high when a depressed Mr Hedges was released on bail two weeks ago with an electronic tag, and allowed to stay in Dubai. His wife flew out to look after him and try to build up his poor health in the run-up to yesterday's hearing. Last night the country's attorney general, Dr Hamed Saif Al Shamsi, claimed Mr Hedges had 'confessed to the court the charges against him ... and acknowledged in detail the crimes he committed'. He reportedly said Mr Hedges tried 'to secure confidential information to potentially pass to a foreign agency'. Gulf News, an English language paper loyal to the regime, said Mr Bridges was reported by an Emirati who thought he was 'acting suspiciously, asking sensitive questions about some sensitive departments, and seeking to gather classified information on the UAE'. Dr Al Shamsi conceded that an appeal would be allowed. Radha Stirling, of the campaign group Detained in Dubai, called the hearing a 'kangaroo court' and said the verdict had sent shockwaves through the ex-pat community. Professor John Williams, who is Mr Hedges' supervisor at Durham University's school of government and international affairs, said: 'We are desperately worried about Matt's welfare. He's an innocent man who's been subjected to a terrible period of detention. 'The process of the trial has lacked any legitimacy or credibility and his health is not good.' More than 650 academics worldwide recently signed a letter declaring that 'scholars can no longer regard the Emirates as a safe place for legitimate academic research'. Durham's vice-chancellor Stuart Corbridge said the court's judgement had been 'delivered in the absence of anything resembling due process or a fair trial'. Mr Hedges has described his PhD as 'researching the effects of the Arab Spring on the Gulf States' adding: 'The research specifically examines the region's evolving national security strategy.' More than a million Britons visit the UAE every year, with Dubai's beaches a major attraction. Mr Hedges grew up partly in Dubai with his mother and step-father and had jobs there before taking up his academic research. The UAE's authoritarian regime tolerates little public criticism of its monarchy or policies. Last year Mr Hedges co-authored an article in an academic journal on the Muslim Brotherhood, political movement the UAE regards as an enemy. But his wife said he fully understood the sensitivities of the region and would not have done anything to offend his hosts. It is thought the regime grew suspicious of him during his two-week research trip when he was interviewing sources for his thesis. While his lawyer says the information he gleaned was not controversial, the Emiratis might not have seen it that way. How the UAE's billionaire royals are among the biggest spenders in the UK The UAE's links with the UK are strengthening every day because of the huge piles of cash the emirate is pumping into Britain. The president of the United Arab Emirates is believed to have amassed a UK property empire worth 1.2billion, financed by 97billion barrels of oil and a 800billion sovereign wealth fund. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan's (pictured with the Queen) purchases in central London include the BHS building on Oxford Street and properties in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, where tenants include Annabel's nightclub. The Abu Dhabi Royal family, the Al Nahyans, are now the largest landowner in Mayfair after the Duke of Westminster. Their portfolio includes the 400million Berkeley Square Estate, purchased in 2001, which consists of the square and surrounding buildings. Abu Dhabi is also funding the 200million conversion of the former U.S. Naval Headquarters in Grosvenor Square which will be redeveloped into luxury apartments and penthouses. Sheikh Mansour, half brother of the current President of UAE, Khalifa, owns Manchester City. British service personnel train with UAE troops and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson in April celebrated the nation's help fighting the Islamic State terror group. Estimates vary, but the UK has licensed hundreds of millions of pounds in arms sales to the UAE, while the Government says the nation is the Royal Navy's 'most visited port globally'. In 2016 Britain exported nearly 10billion of goods and services to the UAE, a record figure which made it the 13th most significant market for the UK. In anticipation of Brexit, Britain has worked to forge closer trade links with the UAE, which is home to about 100,000 Britons. There is also historic co-operation on intelligence among other defence areas, which prompted Tory MP and former Army officer Johnny Mercer to call the jailing 'simply unacceptable'. Sports provide another tie, with the final Formula One Grand Prix of the season to take place in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Advertisement UK universities with multi-million pound campuses in the UAE are preparing a boycott Staff at Birmingham University are due to vote today on an academic boycott of its 100million Dubai campus, which opened in September. City University, the London Business School, Birmingham, Middlesex and Heriot-Watt also have sites in the UAE. Piers Morgan has also called on a boycott of Manchester City, which is owned by Sheikh Mansour. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a former LSE academic and Middle East said Mr Hedges' case reflected the UAE's attitudes to human rights. Staff at Birmingham University are due to vote today on an academic boycott of its 100million Dubai campus (pictured), which opened in September He told the Guardian: 'The message from this verdict is that the UAE is not a safe place to conduct research in. Western universities with connections to the UAE will now find it extremely hard to justify them. 'They urgently need to reconsider any research plans by staff and students and assess the very considerable risk that research may pose. The gap between this case and the glossy image of tolerance that the UAE tries to project has become impossible to reconcile'. The University and College Union's head of policy and campaigns, Matt Waddup, said: 'British universities may be keen to launch overseas campuses in places like the UAE, but this case demonstrates that they need to seek stronger assurances on human rights and the treatment of academics.' How could this brilliant British student be locked up for life by a kangaroo court in just five minutes? UAE jailed academic on flimsy 'evidence' of 'spying' they refuse to even release, writes Guy Adams Should Matthew Hedges really be one of MI6's top secret agents, he has a funny way of showing it. Like most of his generation, the 31-year-old PhD student chooses to chronicle his daily existence on the distinctly un-spy-friendly medium of social media, detailing academic and professional achievements on LinkedIn, while recording more personal milestones via Facebook. His homepage on the latter site is dominated by a photograph of his country house wedding to Daniela Tejada, a Colombian he met during their time as undergraduates at Exeter University, and married in January last year. Hedges was wearing a kilt, a buttonhole, and a contented smile. His bride boasted a bejewelled dress and hairband, and in the picture was leaning forward to deliver a dutiful peck on the cheek. Over recent weeks, Tejada, an occasionally outspoken PR and marketing executive, has mounted a very public campaign for her husband's release. Together: Matthew Hedges and his partner Daniela Tejada tied the knot in 2017 In common with most Western observers, she regards the notion that this outwardly normal and demonstrably unsecretive young man could be a real-life James Bond as patently absurd. If his current fate wasn't so serious, she says, the whole idea of him working as a spook would be utterly laughable. 'He wouldn't make a good spy at all,' Tejada told the Mail. 'He would be too conspicuous.' Moreover, she says, her husband doesn't even speak Arabic. That not only makes him an odd candidate to carry out intelligence work in the United Arab Emirates, but also, tragically, means he's 'unable to communicate fully with the court-appointed lawyer' who was supposed to represent his interests at yesterday's bizarrely short court hearing. Of course, the authorities in the UAE see things differently. They regard those same social media profiles as part of a carefully constructed cover story. What's more, they apparently also take any protestations of his innocence by the British Government as yet more evidence of guilt. To a degree, therefore, Hedges can't win. But so it goes in a country which, despite its status as a tourist hub, is justifiably regarded by the Emirates Centre for Human Rights, a leading pro-democracy pressure group, as a brutal dictatorship with 'one of the most repressive governments in the world'. True to this form, the UAE hasn't yet disclosed the specific evidence that led to Hedges being jailed for life in yesterday's hearing. However senior figures in the regime have provided some clues. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, the UAE's attorney general, has reportedly said Hedges spent a fortnight-long trip to the country in late April 'attempting to secure confidential information to potentially pass to a foreign agency'. Matthew Hedges with his wife Daniela Tejada. Today she spoke movingly of his plight Anwar Gargash, its foreign minister, meanwhile claims to have heard 'unusual and embarrassing revelations' about the visit. Gulf News, an English language paper loyal to the regime, has told readers Hedges was initially reported to the authorities by an Emirati man who thought he was 'acting suspiciously, asking sensitive questions about some sensitive departments, and seeking to gather classified information on the UAE'. The paper claimed that during interrogation Hedges admitted the charges of spying for the British government. Diplomatic rumblings date back to May 5, when Hedges was seized at Dubai airport as he waited to board a plane home. His arrest was witnessed by his mother. Although she has not been formally named, she is believed to be a member of the ex-pat community. Hedges, who was born in Croydon in 1987 (his father is not named on the birth certificate), spent a hefty portion of his childhood in Dubai. There, he attended a local outpost of Cranleigh, the Surrey public school which (along with Repton and Brighton College) may now be pondering the wisdom of opening lucrative educational offshoots in this Middle Eastern dictatorship. After studying at Exeter, where he gained not only a future wife but also an MA in international relations his thesis was on the UAE's military spending post 9/11 he returned to Dubai to work as a researcher for a think-tank called INEGMA. It researches the region's 'military and strategic affairs', and is regarded as having close links to the UAE's military. In 2014, he was joined in the country by Tejada, who having completed her own studies, secured jobs with two PR firms: Grace and Garbo, and Four Communications. Hedges then went back to the UK and began studying for his PhD at Durham's Hatfield College in September 2015, aged 28. He worked out of the Al-Qasimi building, home to the school of government and international affairs, which was named after Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi, a former student who now rules over an UAE province, where he's been accused of human rights abuses. Daniela Tejada has been a vocal supporter for her partner, picturred above on social media, to be released To finance the studies, Hedges helped compile reports on the Gulf region for three consultancy firms: Gulf State Analytics, Babylon Communications and Optimum Business Consultants. Although he and Tejada's marital home is in Exeter, he has largely spent term-time in a 105-a-week student accommodation block, a fact that has only added to his wife's grief: 'It breaks my heart that we have been married for nearly two years and only been able to spend four months together,' she has said. Earlier this year, Hedges flew to the Middle East for a fortnight. Tejada says he intended to interview a number of experts who could inform his PhD studies on 'Emirati security policies in the aftermath of the Arab Spring'. At some point, this endeavour obviously raised suspicion. Following his arrest in Dubai on May 5, he was flown to Abu Dhabi and held in solitary confinement. His fate remained secret until October when Tejada tired of following Foreign Office advice not to publicise the case. She gave a series of interviews claiming he was being held in inhumane conditions, with no access to reading material or any way of passing the time. An initial one shower a fortnight had been increased to one a week, and he had recently been given a mattress to sleep on, she revealed, but he was still suffering anxiety attacks and had suicidal thoughts. 'His only mechanism to let go of nerves is self-induced vomiting,' she said. 'His rights are violated on a daily basis and I am shocked that more has not been done to get him out.' Daniela Tejada had, at that point, been allowed to meet her husband just once, with their contact restricted to weekly five-minute telephone calls in which they were forbidden from discussing the case. During that face-to-face encounter, she says: 'He was constantly shaking. He clearly did not expect to see me. He seemed to be very cautious about what he said and what he didn't say, which leads me to think he might have been coerced into saying or not saying certain things.' Last month Hedges was released on bail, on condition that he wore an ankle tag, in order to prepare for yesterday's trial. Given Britain's supposed links to the UAE, which is home to tens of thousands of ex-pats and attracts hundreds of thousands of our free-spending tourists each year, many analysts expected the case to be quietly abandoned. But it was not to be. 'I have a lot of breakdowns. But when you love someone the way I love Matt, you pull strength from where you never thought you had it,' Tejada has said. 'Every time I cry, and I crumble, I give myself ten minutes, wipe my tears off, and keep on going and fighting.' As of yesterday, it is plain this fight now has a long way to run. Trial condemned as an affront to justice Matthew Hedges' trial has been condemned as an affront to justice. He was not allowed to give evidence at the closed hearing before being sentenced to life in jail inside five minutes. His court-appointed lawyer, who does not speak English, was not even there when the shocking verdict came in. The UAE authorities insist the trial was fair and transparent and the accused admitted spying. But Mrs Hedges' confession was allegedly signed under duress and written for him in Arabic, a language he does not speak. The secretive state security court does not allow journalists or the public to attend hearings. Radha Stirling, of the campaign group Detained in Dubai, said: 'We have dealt with in excess of 10,000 cases over the past decade. 'The UAE has become so confident that it believes throwing money around the UK and US is a licence to jail, torture, kidnap and kill. If the UAE is allowed to continue in this manner, like the recent Khashoggi murder, nobody is safe.' A tattooed jailhouse killer swears he is innocent of a brutal murder of a teenage girl and has offered to take a lie detector test to prove it. Armed robber Allan McQueen is a prime suspect in the 1989 murder of Annette Mason, The Courier Mail reported. He faced the coronial inquest at Brisbane today to give evidence on the cold case murder of Queensland's Toowoomba girl. Armed robber Allan McQueen is a prime suspect in the 1989 murder of Annette Mason, The Courier Mail reported Allan McQueen faced the coronial inquest at Brisbane today to give evidence on the cold case murder of Queensland's Toowoomba girl Annette was bludgeoned to death in her family's Queensland home in November 1989. She suffered massive head injuries after she was bashed across the face, possibly with a piece of wood. Police investigations and a coronial inquest failed to bring up any charges for the murder. Another inquest into her death was opened on Monday. McQueen was sentenced to life in prison 24 years ago for bludgeoning a fellow inmate to death, and was granted parole earlier this year. McQueen was not required to give evidence on Thursday because it may have incriminated him. But he began addressing Annette's family anyway. 'Can I just say one thing to the family,' he said. Though McQueen brushed aside the dismissal and directly told Annette's family (Annette Mason's mother Jean, sister Linda and father Mick Mason pictured) he would take a lie detector test Annette (left and right, pictured with sister Linda) was bludgeoned to death in her family's Queensland home in November 1989 'In 2003 I made an offer to take a lie detector test and you refused that offer. I dont understand why you refused that offer.' Counsel assisting the coroner Adrian Braithwaite tried to intervene and said McQueen was not in the 'appropriate forum' to address the family. McQueen hit back and said the family were 'looking for answers'. Speaking for Annette's family, solicitor Leanne McDonald said McQueen's outburst was the first time the family heard the prime suspect had been offered a lie test. Three witnesses have already said they heard McQueen admit to the murder. Earlier this week Kylie Nothdurft told the Coroner's Court that she was at a barbecue with Alan MacQueen just a few weeks after the 15-year-old was killed. She heard him say that he had killed Mason, but she was too frightened to tell the first inquest into Annette's death in 1991 because MacQueen was in attendance. The inquest continues. This touching footage shows a group of excited dogs being rescued from a wildfire that raged through California. Daniel Sauvageau was one of the people who went to rescue the animals in Magalia, California, USA earlier this month and stayed for three days while also filming everything on his phone. He said: 'I was tipped off by my friend Shaun who is working with PG&E (electrical company in the US) in the area - he is my eyes up there and tells me whenever he or his crew sees animals needing rescuing. The rescuers helped save 17 dogs in total with 13 of them happily wagging their tails together 'We have rescued 17 dogs, 12 cats, 6 goats and a donkey named 'Waffles.' Daniel also showed the devastation the fire has wreaked on human life. He shows a condo in Paradise that was untouched by the wild fire, he then pans to the site of another condo 20 feet away which was completely destroyed. The initial blaze started on the 8th of November and has levelled Paradise, destroying more than 13,000 homes. These two excited hounds were found just 20 feet away from a house that was destroyed by fire As Daniel approached them, they couldn't contain their excitement and began licking him Heart-breaking images emerged last week of animals that weren't so lucky. Urgent evacuation orders have seen many animals abandoned, including horses and other farm animals, with residents potentially underestimating how damaging the fire would become. Among the abandoned animals was a cat dubbed Billiegirl on social media after the road where she was found last Sunday. Billiegirl waits for animal control to arrive after they were called by responders who discovered her near Bille Road in Paradise, Calif Her image was shared all over the world as a miracle rescue, but unfortunately the animal did not survive its injuries. Estimates suggest there are several thousands of animals left homeless because of the fires, like the dogs in the video. Others have managed to escape or have been rescued, but the blazes have had a devastating impact on wildlife. Volunteers and professionals have bandied together to try to rescue as many as possible, helped by donations from animal lovers - including Hollywood actress Sandra Bullock. The Oceans 8 actress has donated $100,000 donation to The Humane Society of Ventura County, which announced the generous boost on their Facebook page. 'Our efforts for rescuing and caring for evacuated animals from the Hill and Woolsey fires had caught her [Ms Bullock's] attention and her team reached out to the shelter to show their support,' the organization, which operates in southern California, wrote. A California sheriff said yesterday that two more sets of human remains were found Wednesday, bringing death toll from the wildfire to 83. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea also said that more than 560 names remain on the missing list. Police hunting for a woman who has gone missing with her five-year-old son have recovered two bodies in a reservoir. The discovery comes hours after officers found Emma Sillett's black Peugeot 308 at the Valehouse reservoir, near Tintwhistle, Derbyshire. The man-made lake is less than three miles from her home in the village of Dinting, near Glossop. Ms Sillett, 41, was last seen with little Jenson Spellman at a McDonald's just a few miles from her home on Tuesday lunchtime. Emma Sillett (pictured, left) has not been seen since Tuesday when she was spotted with Jenson Spellman (pictured, right) at a McDonald's in Hattersley Police cordon off an area alongside Valehouse reservoir, near Tintwhistle, Derbyshire, where her black Peugeot 308 was discovered In a statement, Derbyshire Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable Kem Mehmet said: 'At 11.35pm on Tuesday, November 20, we received a call to report Emma Sillett and Jenson Spellman as missing. 'Since then extensive inquiries have been carried out by police and external agencies to locate 41-year-old Emma and five-year-old Jenson safe and well. 'After a detailed search by specialist officers, it is with great sadness, that the bodies of what are believed to be Emma and Jenson were located at Valehouse Reservoir earlier today.' Mr Mehmet said there is no indication anyone else was involved in their deaths. The mother and son lived at this address in the village of Dinting, where neighbours described them as a 'great family' Emma Sillett's black Peugeot 308 was discovered at the Valehouse reservoir, near Tintwhistle, Derbyshire (pictured) Friends say the mother has recently been dealing with 'underlying problems'. Officers have appealed for the public's help to find the pair. Her son is understood not to have been seen by staff at Simmondley Primary since Tuesday morning. A neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said: 'I'm crying over it, look at my eyes. He was a smashing little lad, this community looks out for one another - they were a great family. 'It is really really sad and my heart goes out to them.' When she was reported missing worried friends also took to social media urging Emma to contact them. A map showing where Emma Sillett was last seen and where her black Peugeot 308 was discovered today at Valehouse reservoir The pair were last seen on Tuesday at this McDonald's in Greater Manchester and friends are increasingly concerned Maggie Hunt wrote: 'I'm so sad for her, I want her to know it's ok to come home.' Jodie Vitti said: 'I haven't slept just hoping & praying she just needs a couple of days to clear her head xx' Another added: 'I can't sleep for thinking about them. Praying they turn up safe. It's heartbreaking.' The United Nation's environment chief has resigned after being accused of 'obscene CO2 hypocrisy' for the expenses he claimed while flying around the world to give lectures on climate change. Erik Solheim has stepped down from his role after an internal audit revealed that he had spent 390,000 on flights and hotel stays in just 22 months and had spent 80% of his time away from his base in Nairobi. It is believed that Solheim was asked to resign by the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres and a UN staff union leader branded some of his expenses as 'mind-blowing'. Countries like the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden were so incensed at Solheim's attitude that they were withholding tens of millions of dollars in funding to the UNEP, the UN's environment programme, threatening a financial crisis. Erik Solheim stepped down from his role as the United Nation's environment chief after being accused of 'obscene CO2 hypocrisy' Solheim, a former Norwegian diplomat, politician and environment minister, announced on the UN Environment Program's website that he quit on Thursday, after he had received the final report on the audit of his official travel by the UN's internal watchdog. The audit said that Solheim was a 'reputation risk' for the UN and also said that he had 'no regard for abiding by the set regulations and rules'. Other damning statements to come out of the audit include the fact that Solheim did not properly account for some of his trips abroad and even let staff work in Europe rather than Kenya. The official findings of the final audit were not disclosed following Solheim's resignation. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has accepted Solheim's resignation. 'The secretary-general is grateful for Mr. Solheim's service and recognizes he's been a leading voice in bringing the world's attention to critical environmental challenges,' Dujarric said. 'He has led advocacy at the highest levels of government, business and civil society to drive the transformational change needed to make a real difference in the lives of people and promote the cause of environment.' His resignations comes after an internal audit revealed that he had spent 390,000 on flights and hotel stays in just 22 months Asked for Guterres' reaction to 'the scandal' that led to Solheim's resignation, Dujarric said, 'The secretary-general is pleased to see that UNEP is committed to implementing the recommendations ... on the travel office' made by the UN watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Dujarric said UNEP's Deputy Executive Director Joyce Msuya of Tanzania would serve as acting executive director while Guterres launches a search for Solheim's replacement. Solheim expressed hope that his resignation, 'after deep reflection and in close consultation with the secretary-general,' proves to be in the best interest of UNEP 'and the wider UN.' Solheim urged UNEP staff to take pride in the agency's achievements, pointing to India's phasing out of single-use plastics, the growing list of countries ratifying the Kigali Amendment on limiting the use of hydrofluorocarbons that are depleting the ozone layer, and 'the remarkable signing of an agreement by 12 countries guaranteeing environmental rights in Latin America and the Caribbean' as well as others. Some countries like the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden were believed to be so incensed at Solheim's attitude that they were withholding tens of millions of dollars in funding to the UNEP In a farewell tweet, Solheim said: 'I am sad to be leaving @UNEnvironment as we have achieved so much together. I will continue to champion the cause of the environment!' The Guardian previously revealed in September that Solheim had to recuse himself from professional dealings with his own wife and a Norwegian company that employed her shortly after it signed a deal with Unep in April. At a meeting between Solheim and staff in Nairobi in September, of which the Guardian has seen a recording, Tim Christophersen, the head of the freshwater, land and climate branch at Unep, said: 'Some of the work in my branch basically has hit a bit of a wall, because the donors we speak with are freezing their contributions to the environment fund. 'None of us individually is more important than the UN,' Christophersen told Solheim. 'What should not happen in this organisation is that people are allowed to put their personal agenda ahead of the organisation, whether this is where you prefer to live, how you prefer to travel.' Boris Johnson was paid an eye-watering 95,000 for giving a speech which lasted just two hours, shock new figures reveal. The ex Foreign Secretary was handed the bumper pay cheque for addressing the American financial firm GoldenTree Asset Management, earlier this month. It means that in just a couple of hours he pocketed more than his entire annual MP's salary, which is 77,379. The US asset management fund also paid for him to fly over to the US and put him up in a hotel for the trip, which was revealed in the MP's register of interests. Mr Johnson - who has penned a biography of Sir Winston Churchill - also raked in 9,500 in royalties from his books. His big pay cheques have been revealed as Westminster remains awash with rumours that Mr Johnson is gearing up for a leadership challenge if Theresa May is ousted. Boris Johnson (pictured in Westminster last week) was paid an eye-watering 95,000 for giving a speech which lasted just two hours, shock new figures reveal The leading Eurosceptic quit the Cabinet earlier this year in fury at the PM's Brexit plans and has become one of her fiercest critics since returning to the backbenches. He has repeatedly lashed her plan as a 'betrayal' of the Brexit referendum and warned her deal would turn the UK into a 'vassal state'. Mogg appears to back Boris for the Tory leadership, but rules himself out Mr Rees-Mogg - who has spearheaded the botched coup to topple the PM - ruled himself out of taking a run at the top job Tory Brexiteer and plotter-in-chief Jacob Rees-Mogg has appeared to back Boris Johnson to be the next Tory leader. Mr Rees-Mogg - who has spearheaded the botched coup to topple the PM - ruled himself out of taking a run at the top job. But he said that having spoken to some Tory party associations at the weekend, Mr Johnson was the only name who 'incited any enthusiasm'. Writing in The Spectator magazine, Mr Rees-Mogg said: 'At both associations I asked the audience who they would like to see as the next party leader. 'I did it by a voice vote followed by a show of hands if the result were not clear. 'Other than the fact that they cheered, quite rightly, their own MP the loudest, only Boris incited any enthusiasm. 'This is not to say there was universal approval, but the volume of the responses was many decibels louder than for any other name, and at the show of hands there were almost no abstentions. 'He certainly makes politics interesting and has the qualities of leadership. Surprisingly, some well-known names were met with near silence.' But he ruled himself out of being Theresa May's successor. He said: 'If there were a leadership election, which I hope there will be, I would not throw my hat into the ring as I fear it would be thrown back Oddjob style.' The James Bond villain killed his enemies by throwing his metal rimmed hat at them. Advertisement And today leading Tory Brexiteer and plotter in chief Jacob Rees-Mogg came close to endorsing Mr Johnson for the leadership. Mr Rees-Mogg - who has spearheaded the botched coup to topple the PM - ruled himself out of taking a run at the top job. But he said that having spoken to some Tory party associations at the weekend, Mr Johnson was the only name who 'incited any enthusiasm'. Writing in The Spectator magazine today, Mr Rees-Mogg said: 'At both associations I asked the audience who they would like to see as the next party leader. 'I did it by a voice vote followed by a show of hands if the result were not clear. 'Other than the fact that they cheered, quite rightly, their own MP the loudest, only Boris incited any enthusiasm. 'This is not to say there was universal approval, but the volume of the responses was many decibels louder than for any other name, and at the show of hands there were almost no abstentions. 'He certainly makes politics interesting and has the qualities of leadership. Surprisingly, some well-known names were met with near silence.' But he ruled himself out of being Mrs May's successor, saying: 'If there were a leadership election, which I hope there will be, I would not throw my hat into the ring as I fear it would be thrown back Oddjob style.' The James Bond villain killed his enemies by throwing his metal rimmed hat at them. But while the Tory Brexit rebels are still circling, their attempted coup against the PM looks to have flopped. Die-hard Tory Brexiteers were last week predicting the PM would face a no confidence vote 'within days'. But just 26 Tory MPs have publicly announced they have sent their no confidence letters in - far short of the 48 needed to trigger the crunch ballot. While Mrs May has quelled her Brexit rebellion at home, for now, she faces a frantic 48 hour race to finalise a Brexit deal amid raging rows over fishing, trade terms and Gibraltar. The Prime Minister is engaged in a fresh round of diplomacy amid fears the package painstakingly assembled over nearly two years could be on the verge of collapse. There are growing signs of anger with Spain after it threatened to torpedo the process unless the UK concedes to demands over Gibraltar. EU diplomats said Madrid was 'all alone' in its bid to reopen the text of the Withdrawal Agreement - while Irish deputy PM Simon Coveney warned that that part of the deal was 'closed'. The Libyan Army say they have captured terrorists responsible for the deaths of the US Ambassador in the Benghazi attack in 2012 and a US teacher in 2013. The Libyan National Army said they detained Islamists responsible for the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in 2012 and US chemistry teacher, Ronnie Smith, also murdered in Benghazi in 2013. A spokesman for the Libyan National Army tweeted: 'Some of those involved in the attack on the U.S. consulate in #Benghazi and killed Ambassador #Stevens are in custody and will be prosecuted for this crime.' Ambassador Stevens was murdered along with three other Americans by Islamic militants in an attack which shocked the world on September 11 2012. Ronnie Smith, 33, left behind his wife and young son after he was gunned in 2013 He also said: 'In the case of the American teacher #RonnieSmith, assassinated in Benghazi in 2013, we announce that those who took part in this crime are in custody.' They added that the chief who ordered the attack, Ahmed Bokhatala, was already in prison in the US. There was no further information on the number of suspects or their identities. Smith, from Texas, believed his Christian faith would guide and protect him when working in the volatile region. The 33-year-old, who had a wife and young son, was brutally taken down while jogging in a drive-by with the killers riding in a Jeep in December 2013. Libyan Army Spokesman General Brigadier Ahmed Al-Mesmari gives a press conference in Benghazi on November 14; they have been locked in a power struggle to rid the scourge of Islamist terror from their war torn country since the death of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 Smith's death came a year after the terrorist attack at the US consulate in Benghazi, as al-Qaeda's boss urged Libyans to attack Americans. Ambassador Stevens was murdered along with three other Americans by Islamic militants in an attack which shocked the world on September 11 2012. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and has been heavily criticized by Donald Trump who feels diplomatic personnel were left completely exposed at the compound. In 2016, the Republican members of the House Benghazi committee issued a blistering 800 page report which accused Clinton and President Obama of lying to the American people over what caused the attack. It took more than 18 hours for a rescue mission to arrive at the Libyan city, but Clinton testified that they had done everything possible. Trump went after Clinton for her use of a private email server which he believed covered the traces of her failing in 2012. A month ago Trump told a rally in Montana: 'Thirty-three thousand e-mails. She gets a subpoena from the United States Congress. 'Forget about all the other things forget about it, and you can never forget about Benghazi,' he said. 'Never forget, Benghazi, but forget about all the other things.' The Libyan National Army has sought to purge the country of Islamist militants after the country was torn apart by civil war after the death of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Chancellor Angela Merkel has appointed a Turkish immigrant to fill the second-highest position in Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). Pictured: The building of the BfV in Berlin. (Image source: Wo st 01/Wikimedia Commons) "The Federal Government is going so far as to reorganize its internal organizational structure in order to adapt it to Turkish wishes. The Turks have agreed to a 'new common mechanism' in the fight against terrorism, with Sinan Selen, of Turkish origin, appointed as the responsible authority at the Federal Interior Ministry.... "Selen is an experienced civil servant who has worked mainly in the field of organized crime; but the fact that such a high-profile position is being created for him has only one explanation: the Turks are to believe that when discussing counter-terrorism with Berlin, they will be speaking with one of their own." "We have video footage about the fact that there were hunts, that there were riots, that there was hatred on the street, and that is unacceptable in our constitutional state." "There is a small right-wing mob in our country that will take its violent fantasies of civil war to our streets. That in the Bundestag [German parliament] a party applauds these excesses against foreign fellow citizens as legitimate self-justice, shows that the majority of our country must become even louder when it comes to rule of law, democracy and cohesion in our society." "I will not have a semantic debate here over a word. Of course, if the Attorney General's office says so, I will take note. However, it remains that a video shows how people of foreign origin were chased and how they were threatened. It remains true that there were statements that were threatening, close to the call for vigilante justice. So, in my opinion, there is nothing to talk about." "We saw pictures that very clearly revealed hate and the persecution of innocent people. One must distance oneself from that. That is all there is to say." "There is no evidence that the video circulating on the internet for this alleged incident is authentic. According to my cautious assessment, there are good reasons to believe that the video is targeted misinformation, possibly in order to distract the public from the murder in Chemnitz." "I'm seen in Germany as a critic of idealistic, naive and leftist foreign and security policy. I can imagine a life outside public service, for example in politics or business." "There was no hunt on August 26, 2018 in Chemnitz.... The research confirms the testimony of Hans-Georg Maaen, who has since been dismissed as president of the BfV because he denied the authenticity of the video and thus got in Merkel's way: This alleged piece of evidence is targeted misinformation. Maaen dared to contradict the Chancellor. The result: a government crisis." Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. Chancellor Angela Merkel has appointed a Turkish immigrant to fill the second-highest position in Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).As the BfV's new vice president, Sinan Selen, a 46-year-old Istanbul-born counter-terrorism expert, will be the first Muslim to fill a top leadership position within Germany's intelligence community.The appointment comes just weeks after Merkel fired BfV President Hans-Georg Maaen for publicly defending the anti-mass-migration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) against attacks from Merkel and her junior coalition partner, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).By choosing Selen, Merkel appears to be trying to achieve several objectives. First, she seems to be attempting to save her floundering government by placating the SPD, which has demanded that the domestic intelligence agency begin monitoring the AfD party, and which has called for more people with a "migration background" in leadership positions at federal agencies.Selen's appointment also seems to be a symbolic move aimed at reaching out to Germany's Turkish community, which has long complained of "institutionalized racism" within the German security apparatus. Finally, by appointing an ethnic Turk, Merkel appears to be trying to mollify Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has repeatedly pressed for her to crack down on anti-Turkish Kurdish elements in Germany.Selen studied law at the University of Cologne and in 2000 began his career at Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), where he was promoted to head of the counterterrorism investigation unit. In 2006, he became deputy head of the cross-border crime unit at the Federal Police (). In 2011, he was named head of the counter-terrorism unit at the Interior Ministry.In May 2016, reported that Merkel had appointed Selen to lead apparently at Erdogan's behest a special counter-terrorism task force at the German Interior Ministry. The concession was part of the March 2016 EU-Turkey migrant deal , which was designed to halt the flow of migrants from Turkey to Greece. In a lengthy article that examined Erdogan's growing leverage over Merkel,As leader of the task force, Selen was a key interlocutor with senior Turkish security officials and hashed out a bilateral agreement aimed at improving intelligence cooperation and information sharing. Turkish commentators have posited that Merkel's appointment of Selen is aimed at sending a message that she wants to continue working with Erdogan's government in security matters.Some in the German blogosphere have speculated about Selen's ideological background. What is known is that throughout his government career, Selen has been resolute in confronting Islamic fundamentalists in Germany. He also led BfV efforts to monitor the Turkish nationalist Milli Gorus (Turkish for "National Vision"), an influential Islamist movement strongly opposed to Muslim integration into European society.The leadership changes at the BfV were spurred by a cellphone video that purportedly showed right-wing mobs attacking migrants over the murder of a German citizen in Chemnitz by two failed asylum seekers.The protests erupted after a 35-year-old German-Cuban man, Daniel Hillig, was stabbed to death by two migrants during the annual festival in Chemnitz on August 26.Police initially refused to reveal the identities of the perpetrators, but on August 27 a police report since scrubbed from German websites but still remaining on a Russian site was leaked on social media. The police report showed that the murderers were illegal migrants from Iraq and Syria. Both had extensive criminal histories but were allowed by German authorities to roam free on German streets. Police later confirmed that the leaked document was authentic and said they had opened an investigation into a suspected "violation of official secrets."Thousands of people took to the streets for several days to protest both the murder and the government's inaction on spiraling migrant crime. The protests brought together a broad spectrum of German society, including members of the so-called "far-right scene" as well as counter-protesters.Near the end of one of the marches, some of the protesters became violent and began insulting migrant passersby. This incident then transformed the narrative in the media from one of the Germans protesting migrant crime to one of far-right attacks on innocent migrants.Few if any of Germany's mainstream politicians condemned Hillig's murder. They were, however, quick to denounce attacks on migrants.On August 27, Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, in a national press conference, condemned the "hunting of humans of a different appearance, of different origins" on the streets of Chemnitz. Chancellor Merkel echoed him:It later emerged that all of the government's allegations had been based on a single 19-second video entitled "Hunting for Humans in Chemnitz" that had been posted on Facebook by an "anti-fascism" group called Antifa Zeckenbiss and later broadcast by the public television channel ARD.The video simply shows one individual chasing another in what appears to be an isolated incident. The narrative, however, had already been set in motion.The chairman of the German Parliament's Internal Affairs Committee, Burkhard Lischka (SPD), warned of the danger of a civil war:Bundestag Vice President Thomas Oppermann (SPD) demanded that the BfV domestic intelligence service begin monitoring the anti-mass-migration AfD: "The refugee question divides society and the AfD rides ever more radically on this wave."German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) countered that he saw no basis for monitoring the AfD. On the sidelines of a closed-door meeting of his political party in Brandenburg, Seehofer defended the Chemnitz protesters: "Just because someone protests, that does not make him a Nazi." Seehofer added : "Migration is the mother of all problems."Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) later contradicted the government's claims: "There was no mob, there was no hunting down of people, there was no pogrom in this city."Saxon Attorney General Spokesman Wolfgang Klein added : "After examining all of the material available to us, there was no hunt in Chemnitz."When asked to rectify his claims, Seibert doubled down Like Seibert, Merkel refused to back down:On September 7, Maaen cast doubt on the authenticity of the video:Maaen's refusal to support the government's false narrative unleashed a fury of condemnation from Merkel and her coalition partners in the SPD.On September 18, Maaen was fired from the BfV intelligence agency, but the conservative Interior Minister Horst Seehofer stood behind Maaen and promoted him to a better-paid position in the Interior Ministry.On November 5, however, Maaen was fired from government service altogether, after delivering a closed-door speech to other European intelligence chiefs. In it, he condemned the "naive and leftist" policies of Merkel's government and that added that "radical-left forces" in the SPD were determined to get him fired:The Social Democrats welcomed Maaen's dismissal. "It was long overdue," said SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil. "He has just given yet another indication of his penchant for rightist conspiracy theories."Meanwhile, on November 16, a leading German blog, reported that it had located and questioned the creators of the video:According to, the video provided an incomplete picture of what actually occurred. It was filmed by a German couple who were participating in Hillig's funeral procession when the march was attacked by migrants. The video shows someone in the procession fending off the migrants. In other words, the video documented migrants attacking Germans, not Germans "hunting" migrants.The video, falsely interpreted by the guardians of German multiculturalism, set into motion a wave of politically correct hysteria, which plunged the government into "permanent crisis mode" and led to the firing of intelligence chief Maaen for refusing to toe the line.Maaen's successor , Thomas Haldenwang, has already announced that under his leadership, the BfV will focus on "right-wing extremism." Speaking to the Parliamentary Control Board (PKGr) of the German Bundestag on November 16, Haldenwang who previously was the BfV's second-in-command, and whose position will now be filled by Selen said that although Islamist terrorism poses the greatest threat to German security, the BfV will keep "the possible development of right-wing terrorist structures firmly on the radar." He also promised to make a "professional assessment of how to deal with the AfD party." Advertisement A father-of-two, who weighs 21-stone, managed to keep smiling despite being pulled from chest-deep mud by mountain rescuers after he got stuck when he went in to help his fiancee and dog. Shaun Taylor, 64, was on the cusp of hypothermia after he was swallowed by five foot deep mud at the Peak District's Ladybower Reservoir, Derbyshire. The pharmacy worker sunk when he went to rescue his fiancee Julie Taylor, 57, whose feet became stuck after she went in after their cocker spaniel Charlie. But despite his dog and partner getting free, Mr Taylor stumbled backwards into a sinking 'mud hole' - and then slipped deeper until it was up to his chest. Shaun Taylor, 64, managed to keep smiling as he was pulled from the five foot deep mud at the Peak District's Ladybower Reservoir, in Derbyshire with the help of two strangers, park rangers and Edale Mountain Rescue The father-of-two (pictured during the rescue) had gone onto the mud to help his fiancee Julie whose feet had become stuck after she went in after their cocker spaniel Charlie Walkers and local rangers tried to help Mr Taylor, and after an hour Edale Mountain Rescue arrived to the scene, pulling the dad out the mud. He said: 'I'm the type of person that, if I'm quite distressed, I start laughing and joking. 'I didn't want to upset Julie who was already quite worried but I was pretty terrified. 'When we realised we didn't have any signal on our phones that's when we were banking on a stranger walking by. Luckily there were two of them. 'Charlie wouldn't leave my side - he must have sensed something wasn't right. 'By time the emergency workers came started to get dark and I could feel the hypothermia setting in. 'I was completely lodged in. When one of the rescue workers started using a spade to help dig me out I could feel it but couldn't do anything about it. Mr Taylor's fiancee ran to the rangers station, a 45 minute walk away, for help after two strangers stopped to assist the couple. She said: 'When I left him the mud was up to his thighs. When I returned an hour later he was waist deep' Mr Taylor, who works at a pharmacy, said he is still 'completely bruised' even three weeks later after from being pulled out of the mud and has warned over walkers to 'watch where they step' 'I'm still completely bruised by it. 'When I was pulled out I remember my legs shaking but this incredible burst of adrenaline. 'I was aching for days - and I still am almost three weeks on. I'm incredibly thankful for my rescuers. We even made a donation to the volunteers just to say a big thanks. 'I would just tell other visitors to watch where they step. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.' The accident happened when Julie ran over 'the mosaic looking mud' after seven-month-old cocker spaniel Charlie. Mr Taylor rushed to help his partner of 13 years out of the mud but after pulling her left leg out, stumbled backwards into a sinking mud hole. Neither of the pair had signal on their mobile phones, but ten minutes later two strangers spotted the couple and ran over to help. The two men helped Mr Taylor while Julie ran to the rangers station, a 45 minute walk away, for help. The couple, from Sheffield, have thanked rescue workers for their help and are warning others to be vigilant. Julie said the mud (pictured) looked like a 'floor of mosaics' and she chased after seven-month-old dog Charlie to put him back on the lead before her leg plunged into some mud Julie said: 'We're regular visitors, we often go there two or three times a month so it's not as if we don't know the area. 'I took Charlie off of the lead while we were walking but an hour in he started to wander. I didn't give it a second thought. 'The mud looked like a floor of mosaics so I just went off after him. 'I chased after him so I could put him back on the lead but before I knew it I felt my leg plunge into some mud. Before I knew it, it was up to my thighs. 'I was worried I wouldn't make it out so I threw Shaun my mobile phone. 'He came rushing over but in playing the hero Shaun ended up walking backwards and sinking within seconds. 'He's 6ft 5 and is 21 stone so he was sinking at a faster rate than I was. 'I knew I couldn't help get him out in the same way so there was nothing I could do. 'But I didn't want to leave him as I could see he was sinking. Say if I went away he could 'Luckily after ten minutes these two men had spotted us and were incredibly eager to help. 'When I left him the mud was up to his thighs. He's also a diabetic which made me even more worried. When I returned an hour later he was waist deep.' Edale Mountain Rescue Team used specialist equipment designed to spread an weight over a muddy surface to help free Mr Taylor and it took around 30 minutes of digging to get him back on solid ground Liam Adkins, 32, one of the walkers who helped Mr Taylor, said: 'When I first clocked eyes on Shaun I just thought 'Oh my god'. 'He was completely wedged in. He seemed in good spirits but at times he did look pretty terrified. 'He could hardly walk when he was pulled out. He was shaking all over. I'm just glad he was alright and we were able to help.' Dry conditions in recent months low water levels at Ladybower Reservoir have exposed the remains of Derwent, an abandoned WWII village. The rare sight of the 'exposed village' has attracted many people to the reservoir, which has lead rescue workers to issue warnings. A spokesman for Edale Mountain Rescue Team said: 'We were called to an incident on 3 November. 'The team was able to access the casualty with a variety of specialist equipment designed to spread an individual's weight over a muddy surface. 'After approximately 30 minutes of digging was able to free the gentleman and walk him back to solid ground 'We've had over 100 incidents this year and while we do welcome people to admire the sights we do ask visitors to pay heed to the warnings. 'Some of the surface looks like 'rice pudding with skin on' and may look solid it's not. 'We invite visitors to come and see the ruins but advise them stick to the shore.' Posters that show a woman tied to train tracks and about to be run over as part of an advert for high-speed trains, do not promote violence against women. A French court made the ruling after feminist groups brought a legal challenge against the poster, which was also condemned by France's equality minister. The advert was displayed in Beziers, south France, in December last year to promote the arrival of TGV trains service. This poster used to advertise a train service does not promote violence against women, a French court has ruled The poster was captioned: 'With the TGV, she would have suffered less.' It shows a screaming woman tied to train tracks and moments away from certain death. Some rope can be seen tied around her wrists, torso and legs. It came in for severe criticism from feminist groups who accused it of promoting violence against women. Robert Menard, the far-right mayor of the town, defended his controversial campaign and accused critics of being too politically correct. Opposition had demanded that the mayor tear the posters down. The poster campaign came months after mother-of-two Emilie Hallouin's body was found in pieces on train track. She was killed by her husband, who tied her to the train tracks before killing himself in a murder-suicide earlier this year. Robert Menard, the far-right mayor of Beziers, in southern France, defended his controversial campaign and accused critics of being too politically correct French equality minister, Marlene Schiappa, called the posters 'odious' and asked for their removal. Menard, elected with the support of the Front National, refused to take the posters down and said that similar photos were used in films, cartoons and music videos. He later tweeted: 'The outrageous and paranoid reactions to our poster speak volumes about the moral order that plagues the country.' Montpelier administrative court ruled that the posters showed 'a doubtful and provocative humour' but did not 'promote violence against women and do not target any type of person in particular'. The judgement continued: 'These posters are not an attack on human dignity and do not constitute a form of harassment with regard to those of a female sex.' The recent acquittal of Asia Bibi, a 53-year-old Christian who spent eight years on death row for 'insulting the Prophet Muhammad' sparked protests from hardline Islamists in Pakistan The family of Asia Bibi, a Christian who was recently acquitted after spending eight years on death row for insulting the Prophet Muhammad, have said they are being stalked by Islamists calling for their murder. Bibi was cleared of blasphemy by Pakistan's Supreme Court three weeks ago, but has been forced to remain in protective custody ever since after the ruling prompted an outcry among ultra-religious Muslims calling for her execution. Her family are also in hiding but are reportedly constantly on the move to avoid the band of extremists who are pursuing them and even going door-to-door with their photographs. Her legal team and supporters are also in danger and although several countries - including Spain, France and Canda - have indicated a willingness to offer them asylum, nothing has yet materialized. John Pontifex, of Aid to the Church in Need UK (ACN) who has supported Bibi since her blasphemy conviction in 2010, told the Guardian that the family is extremely frightened. Supporters of different Islamic groups shout slogans during a protest against Asia Bibi during a rally to mark the Prophet Muhammad's birth anniversary, in Karachi, Pakistan, 21 November 2018 Pakistani supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a religious political party, chant slogans and gestures while waving the party falg during a protest following the Supreme Court decision to acquit Christian woman Asia Bibi of blasphemy 'They have told me that mullahs had been reported in their neighbourhood going from house to house showing photos of family members on their phones, trying to hunt them down,' he told the Guardian. 'The family have had to move from place to place to avoid detection. Sometimes they can only operate after sundown. They have had to cover their faces when they go out in public. 'They have had to remove the rosary that hangs from their car rear-view mirror for fear of attack.' What is next: Ms Bibi freed from prison, but the family has said it is too dangerous for them to stay in Pakistan and they are being hunted door-to-door by hardliners The Pakistani government has struck a deal with a fundamentalist Islamic party, under which the party would call off violent protests at her acquittal while a review of the court's decision is taking place. The deal has led to accusations of appeasement and capitulation being levelled at Pakistan's prime minister, Imran Khan. 'There will be a war if they send Asia out of country,' hardline Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leader Cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi said after the deal was reached. Pontifex told the Guardian that Bibi's family were relying on their faith to get them through each day, and that they hope they might have a future one day outside Pakistan. A Pakistani supporter of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), a hardline religious party, holds an image of Christian woman Asia Bibi during a protest rally following the Supreme Court's decision to acquit her A total of 19 MPs and Peers, including former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, have written to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt urging him to allow her to Britain, but the government has refused to answer questions on whether it will consider asylum. Some reports suggest ministers are worried about a possible backlash from British Pakistani Muslims, though the The Muslim Council of Britain has strongly denied this. Labour MP Mary Creagh, one of the signatories to the letter, said: 'I think the world has been shocked by the awful treatment of Asia Bibi and her unjust imprisonment. Ms Bibi's husband Ashiq Masih, pictured with their daughter Eisham, has asked Donald Trump and Theresa May to grant the family asylum. They are constantly on the move as they are being hunted down by religious hardliners 'Several countries have offered her asylum and it is a mark of shame that Britain has failed to do so given our large Pakistani community here and our historic ties.' John Woodcock, an Independent MP on the home affairs select committee, said: 'The UK should be proud to be a sanctuary for those being persecuted because of their religion so it would be appalling if Asia Bibi is genuinely being denied asylum because of fears she could be targeted by Islamist hardliners over here.' The Muslim Council of Britain wrote on Twitter: 'There are unfounded media reports that Pakistani national Asia Bibi is being denied asylum into the UK because of concerns from British Muslims. The protests only subsided after Khan's government made a deal with hardline Islamist that they could appeal her release, and that Ms Bibi would have to stay in the country A supporter of a radical Islamic group stands guard as protesters block a main road to condemn a Supreme Court decision that acquitted Asia Bibi 'We find such insinuations to be as nonsensical as they are divisive. We see no reason why Asia Bibi should be denied asylum into the UK.' The allegations against Ms Bibi date back to 2009, when she was working in a field near her home village in Sheikhupura, Punjab and was asked to fetch water. The Muslim women she was labouring with objected, saying that as a non-Muslim Ms Bibi was unfit to drink from the same water bowl as them. Ms Bibi would later say that the women insulted her religion, to which she responded: 'I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to save mankind?' Asia Bibi, 53, was sentenced to death in 2010, after being accused of insulting Islam during an argument over a water bowl with a group of Muslim women in Punjab This prompted the Muslim women to go to a local imam and accuse Ms Bibi of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed. Before Ms Bibi could be arrested on any official charges, a violent mob descended on their family home, and beat Ms Bibi up in front of her children. The abuse was so violent, police were called to the scene, but after rescuing the mother-of-five, they arrested her and threw her in jail - and a year later she was convicted of blasphemy. Blasphemy is a charge so sensitive in Pakistan that anyone even accused of insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes. The charge is punishable by a maximum penalty of death under legislation that rights groups say is routinely abused by religious extremists as well as ordinary Pakistanis to settle personal scores. The law does not define what blasphemy constitutes, and evidence is often not reproduced in court for fear of committing a fresh offence. Despite this, calls for reform of the blasphemy law have regularly been met with violence and rejected. A Chinese state journalist who was arrested and charged by British police after allegedly slapping a Tory has seen her case dropped. Prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to convict Kong Linlin (), who allegedly assaulted a volunteer during an event at the ruling Conservative Party's conference in Birmingham in late September. It was claimed that an altercation broke out when Ms Kong, 48, had a disagreement with the event's organisers regarding the political situation of Hong Kong. A CCTV new clip shows Ms Kong, a correspondent, reporting about Brexit to audience in China Ms Kong is a London-based correspondent for China's national broadcaster China Central Television Station (CCTV), covering UK current affairs such as the Brexit. She was arrested by West Midlands Police on September 30 after the incident and held overnight. She was charged with common assault by the police in October and was due to appear at Birmingham Magistrates Court on November 7. In a statement to MailOnline, a spokesperson at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: 'This case was originally charged by the police. 'The CPS subsequently reviewed the available evidence and determined it was insufficient to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and therefore discontinued the case.' The Chinese journalist (left) allegedly attacked the volunteer (right) at a Tory conference The alleged assault occurred at an event co-hosted by Hong Kong Watch, a British-based organisation which promotes human rights in Hong Kong, as well as the UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission. Ms Kong is said to have become enraged after Benedict Rogers, Chair of Hong Kong Watch, made a speech about the political freedom of the former British colony. Footage, posted by the conference's co-host on Facebook, showed organisers wrestling with Ms Kong as an altercation broke out. In the video, a Hong Kong-born volunteer called Enoch Lieu can be heard telling Ms Kong 'can you please go' and 'if you hit me again I will call the police' while Ms Kong said to him 'you, Hong Kong puppet' and 'shame on you'. The journalist, who was held back by another worker at the conference, also repeatedly told Mr Lieu 'leave me alone' before telling him and his colleague 'I am a journalist here', 'I have my right to protest' and 'UK have [sic] democratic [sic]'. The event organisers previously told MailOnline that Ms Kong had screamed at Mr Rogers before the altercation. Staff at the conference had to hold back the woman before police arrived at the scene. The 48-year-old has been charged with common assault and is due to appear at court next month The journalist was said to have yelled: 'You are a liar. You are anti-China. You want to separate China. And you are not even Chinese. The rest are all traitors!' Shortly after the footage emerged, Chinese Embassy in London demanded an apology from the event's organisers. The Embassy insisted that Ms Kong had 'simply raised a question' and the way she had been treated was 'puzzling' and 'completely unacceptable'. Ms Kong's employer CCTV said Ms Kong was carrying out normal duty at the time and the behaviour of the meeting's organisers was inappropriate. After the news reached China, the public voiced support for Ms Kong for her defending the country's sovereignty. People call her 'heroic', 'brave' and 'excellent' on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter. Asked if the party planned to apologise, a Conservative Party spokeswoman said on a previous occasion: 'The individual concerned was removed from the conference centre and has had their pass revoked. This is the notorious Abu Dhabi prison where British academic Matthew Hedges could be incarcerated after he was sentenced to life in prison for 'spying' in the UAE. The 31-year-old Durham University student attended a five-minute court hearing in the city yesterday and his wife Daniela Tejada watched on as the sentence was handed down. Al Wathba prison, Abu Dhabi's biggest, is just a 40 minute drive from the court room and while it is not yet clear where Mr Hedges will be taken, the jail has frequently appeared in reports of foreigners locked up in the country. Some have described horrific 'hellhole' conditions in the lock-up, with one Briton describing its 'rotten garbage' food and likening it to 'Dante's Inferno'. This is the notorious Abu Dhabi prison where it is feared British academic Matthew Hedges will be sent after he was sentenced to life in prison for 'spying' in the UAE The 31-year-old Durham University student (left, with his wife Daniela Tejada) attended a five-minute court hearing in the city yesterday Daniela Tejada (pictured at Heathrow Airport today) said her husband was shaking as the sentence was handed down in Abu Dhabi Others have described having to sleep on the ground with no mattress, 50 degree heat, broken air conditioning units and having to share cells with up to 18 inmates. Ex soldier John Murphy spent six weeks in the jail while awaiting a court hearing this year and called it the 'most terrifying experience I have ever had'. Mr Murphy was facing a three year sentence over an altercation with two hotel security guards. He attended court and protested his innocence only to be told the judge was ready to sentence him. Rather than protract his time in the country he agreed to pay a fine of 4,000 and was spared jail. But describing his time spent in the prison, he said: 'There was incessant noise, I felt my life was in danger and I honestly didn't expect to get out alive. Ex soldier John Murphy (pictured) spent six weeks in the jail while awaiting a court hearing this year and called it the ' most terrifying experience I have ever had' 'It was baking hot all the time, the food was rotting garbage, and the place was so overcrowded that people had to take it in turns to sleep. 'It smelled powerfully of sweat, faeces and sewage. The sanitary conditions were shocking and people were always sick. 'The slightest cut would quickly lead to infection and there was no chance of any medical attention. 'I finally got bail six weeks later, and I believe I'm still suffering from PTSD. I can't sleep, and have the most awful flashbacks.' Al Wathba was built 35 years ago and is the biggest and oldest of the emirate's five prisons. In a British government fact sheet about the unit, there is information on visitor hours, transferring spending money and various facilities at the jail. There is a warning of long waits to make calls from the prison, with one extract saying: 'Hundreds of prisoners want to make phone calls at the same time so be prepared for a long wait and the likelihood of disappointment.' While there is a library in the jail, there is no gym and educational facilities are 'only available to UAE nationals'. Irish construction boss John White spent five years in the jail after being left 1million short by clients and unable to pay the 500,000 he owed creditors. His sister Eileen told the Mirror in 2017: 'It was as horrendous [in prison] as you can imagine, 50 degrees, but they had air-con on 24/7 so he always had a cold or the flu. 'It would break down and be off for days and days and he said that water would be running down the walls and he'd be just drenched, he couldn't sleep or anything. 'He could be moved to another room on a minute's notice and be lying on the floor with no mattress. He lost an awful lot of weight and got older looking, it definitely took its toll on him. I was shocked when I saw the picture of him.' Christopher Ashie-Nikoi, from Ilford, Essex, was accused and then acquitted of smuggling the synthetic drug 'spice' into the country but was thrown in to the jail for nine months as he awaited trial. The father-of-two was arrested in February 2016 shortly after arriving in Dubai with friends to celebrate his 29th birthday. He has always maintained his innocence. Mr Hedges, 31, was sentenced after being accused of spying. Pictured: A Federal Supreme Court building in Abu Dhabi Daniela Tejada, who attended the hearing yesteday said their 'nightmare has gotten even worse' and she is 'very scared for Matt' after he received a life sentence Haunted by the time he spent in the jail, he could only tell The Sun: 'It was terrible in there.' At times he said there were 18 people crammed into his cell with the prison over-capacity. Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper, however, paints a different picture of the jail, describing it as being 'closer to a residential detention centre, with living quarters, a clean and well-kept kitchen, a library, a theatre and a workshop.' In 2014, Col Mohammed Al Zaabi, manager of Abu Dhabi's punishment and corrections department, told the newspaper that the prison was subject to random visits from human rights departments and public prosecutors. Men and women were separated by large gates and right security with 80 per cent of inmates incarcerated for 'petty crimes', he said. 'We live in a globalised world and most of our prisoners are deported after their sentences. If they had been abused at our correctional facilities in any way then they would speak about it when they went home.' 'We follow specific guidelines to ensure that (prisoners) all receive their full rights in rehabilitation, medical care, nutrition, communicating with their families and their lawyers. They have the complete freedom and support of the facility and are not prevented from any of their rights.' He said every prisoner has their own bed, adding: 'We have cells for two, four and a few for eight inmates it all depends on the size of the room and its capacity.' 'Everything we provide and all services are for expatriates and nationals. At our facilities there is no difference in nationalities. Even how they are distributed in their cells. The concept of separating UAE nationals from expatriates does not exist. Everyone is in the same ward and same cell.' This is the moment that seven desperate migrants risked their lives crossing the English Channel to make it to Britain. The group, including a woman in a red headscarf, were rescued this morning near the Port of Dover in Kent after shocked passengers spotted them drifting past ferries. The group, packed into a tiny inflatable dinghy, travelled overnight in freezing temperatures and were in a state of shock when they were found at about 8.20am. They are the latest asylum seekers to arrive in recent days - with 80 migrants, including children, reaching the coasts of Dover and Folkestone in the last fortnight. The group appeared to be wearing neon lifejackets and could be seen frantically waving, shouting and blowing whistles as the choppy sea batters the boat. All of those rescued claimed to be Iranian, along with the other 64 people rescued in the Channel since November 9. Many migrants who arrive across the Channel are from the likes of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq or Syria. A man travelling to Dover on a Danish DFDS shipping ferry filmed the rescue and said the group got in trouble after mistakenly getting stuck in the Dover Strait. He said it was 'incredibly dangerous' and praised the rescuers for their heroics in what is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The group of seven desperate migrants were rescued near the Port of Dover in Kent today He said: 'The Coastguard arrived within ten minutes as they were clearly in trouble and in the shipping lane. They were shouting for help. It was heartbreaking to watch.' It was one of two incidents this morning that saw a total of 14 suspected migrants rescued from two dinghies off the coast of Kent. The first boat, with seven people on board, was spotted at 3.30am, before a second dinghy, also carrying seven people, arrived at 8.45am. Kent Police said Home Office immigration enforcement officers are dealing with the matter. It is not yet known whether any children were on board either boat. The South East Coast Ambulance Service said the migrants were treated at the Western Docks in Dover, but none required further medical assistance. Nine suspected migrants were rescued in nearby Folkestone on Sunday, while seven were picked up in Dover last Friday. The group appeared to be wearing neon lifejackets and could be seen frantically waving On one day alone last week, 24 people were intercepted in three separate incidents in Kent. 'We have stepped up deployments of our coastal patrol vessels along the South-East coast in light of recent events,' said a Home Office spokesman. 'Nobody should put their life at risk attempting to smuggle themselves into the UK across the Channel and despite recent events, crossing the Channel in this way thankfully remains relatively rare,' a statement added. Local MP Charlie Elphicke said that 'not enough is being done', calling the numbers 'unprecedented and deeply concerning.' Controversy erupted earlier this month when it emerged just two UK Border Force cutter vessels are being used to patrol the 11,000 miles of British coastline. One is kept on standby and two have been deployed to aid rescue efforts in the Mediterranean and and Aegean Seas in response to the migrant crisis there. A Border Force patrol boat is pictured at Dover Marina today after the migrants were rescued HM Coastguard said it had assisted Border Force officials with the Dover incidents. French rescue striken migrants from boat heading towards UK French maritime authorities were involved in the rescue of 18 migrants from boats in the English Channel as they tried to illegally reach UK shores. The regional maritime service said in a statement that a helicopter and rescue ships saved 11 migrants overnight whose boat was in distress off the coast of the French town of Wimereux. Four migrants were taken to hospital with hypothermia and the others handed over to border police in Calais. It said a patrol ship discovered another boat carrying seven migrants and alerted British authorities who intercepted it near the British coast. Authorities shut down a sprawling migrant slum in Calais in 2016, but migrants continue to cluster there. Most try to get to Britain on lorries travelling on ferries or in the tunnel under the Channel. Advertisement Razia Sharif, chief executive of migrant charity Kent Refugee Action Network, said that the group would look to support the alleged asylum seekers. She said: 'We are aware of a number of incidents involving migrants arriving onto the Kent coast in small craft. 'This is an extremely hazardous journey and we are glad that the occupants have arrived safely. 'Under the UN Refugee Convention the UK has a responsibility to accept all asylum seekers while their claims are processed. 'We will work to support these new arrivals in the same way we work to support all of our other beneficiaries by providing language support and life skills, mentoring and advocacy.' According to UNHCR statistics from the end of 2017 there were 121,837 refugees, 40,365 pending asylum cases and 97 stateless persons in the UK. The vast majority stay in their region of displacement, and consequently are hosted by developing countries. Turkey now hosts the highest number of refugees with 3.5million, followed by Pakistan with 1.4million. A British woman who was left stranded in Sri Lanka after her toy boy husband was murdered has finally returned home - without a penny to her name. Diane De Zoysa, 60, spent her entire 90,000 life savings on her husband Priyanjana De Zoysa, 26, but now admits that he 'obviously didn't love her'. She sold her home in Musselburgh, East Lothian, two years ago, using the cash to build a house in Sri Lanka and buy her husband a minibus in Ahungalla, south of the capital Colombo. Priyanjana was killed by gangsters last year, leaving Diane stranded in the country and she finally landed at Edinburgh Airport on Tuesday night after a 20-hour journey. Diane De Zoysa, 60, has finally returned to the UK (pictured at Edinburgh airport) after being stranded in Sri Lanka Speaking about her husband's death, Diane said that she was left stranded, with Priyanjana's family keeping her 'under house arrest', refusing to let her sell her house and demanding cash from her pension. She told the Daily Record: 'I just couldn't stay there any longer. I kind of feel stupid now that I didn't listen to my family and my friends because they said it was just about the money. 'I thought he did really love me but obviously he didn't. 'My husband's family virtually had me under house arrest for two years. I couldn't go anywhere not even to the beach.' Diane paid 57,000 for the house, which was built close to her husbands family home and a further 31,000 for a minibus for him to drive as employment. She said she managed to get away from her husband's family and stay with some friends. Diane spent her entire 90,000 life savings on her husband Priyanjana De Zoysa, 26, but now admits that he 'obviously didn't love her' She added that she invested all she had into the move and still owes 4000 on her credit card. She now says that she will try and rebuild her life after returning to Scotland. Former council worker Diane admits she can't live on her pension and will contact her local council and a lawyer to see if they can help her. She also suspects her husband had a second wife after she found some paperwork in his personal belongings. She said that she sold her home in Musselburgh, East Lothian, two years ago, using the cash to build a house in Sri Lanka and buy her husband a minibus She initially met husband Priyanjana while on holiday in 2011, enjoying a whirlwind romance with the hotel worker. Diane ended up marrying him after returning to Sri Lanka seven months later, before moving to the country full-time in 2015. However, she has previously described how she believes that the marriage was all about the money. Speaking to MailOnline, she said: 'I should have realised it was just about the money. My friends thought that he was just marrying me for the money. She had initially met husband Priyanjana while on holiday in 2011, enjoying a whirlwind romance with the hotel worker 'Once I came out here he wanted money all the time.' Diane revealed her family and friends were concerned about their relationship - but she wanted to 'prove them wrong'. She said: 'All my friends didn't think it was a good idea. But I really loved him and I thought he really loved me and I wanted to prove them wrong. 'I've never loved anybody the way I loved him. He was always affectionate to me. He was desperate for me to move out here.' Priyanjana died after being shot by gangsters last May and his family refused to help Diane sell the house that she had bought for him Priyanjana died after being shot three times in May last year. Diane previously explained how she believes her husband was killed by men trying to extort him for cash.she said: 'His friend told me they were jealous because he was rich. They were jealous because he had a nice a house, a minibus and a tuk-tuk. 'They blackmailed him. He did give them some money but they wanted more. Because they didn't give him more, they shot him. They must have gone looking for him.' A nurse dubbed the 'angel of death' who killed 100 patients has told victims' families 'If there was a way to help you, I would do it' as he addressed them in court today. Speaking at a court in the north western German city of Oldenburg, Niels Hoegel said he was now convinced he owed an answer to the relatives of each victim. The 41-year-old had earlier told the court he initially was not moved by the killings, which occurred over a decade ago at two hospitals in northern Germany. Niels Hoegel, a nurse dubbed the 'angel of death' who killed 100 patients, has told victims' families 'If there was a way to help you, I would do it' as he addressed them in court today (pictured) Speaking at a court in the north western German city of Oldenburg, Niels Hoegel (left, entering court today) said he was now convinced he owed an answer to the relatives of each victim The 41-year-old (pictured, today) had earlier told the court he initially was not moved by the killings, which occurred over a decade ago at two hospitals in northern Germany He was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders for intentionally bringing about cardiac crises by injecting patients with medication because he enjoyed being able to resuscitate them. 'If I knew a way that would help you, then I would take it, believe me,' Niels Hoegel said at his trial, according to national news agency DPA. 'I am fully convinced now that I owe every relative an explanation,' said the bearded, heavyset defendant. 'I am honestly sorry.' Hoegel, Germany's worst post-war serial killer, has already spent nearly a decade in prison on a life term for six other patient deaths but has now admitted to 100 more killings. He has confessed to giving patients drug overdoses because he enjoyed the thrill of trying to reanimate them at the last moment. Hoegel, Germany's worst post-war serial killer, has already spent nearly a decade in prison on a life term for six other patient deaths but has now admitted to 100 more killings He has confessed to giving patients drug overdoses because he enjoyed the thrill of trying to reanimate them at the last moment Prosecutors say he was motivated by vanity, to show off his skills at saving human lives, and by simple 'boredom'. At the start of the trial last month in the northern city of Oldenburg, presiding judge Sebastian Buehrmann said the main aim was to establish the full scope of the murder spree that was allowed to go unchecked for years at two German hospitals. Prosecutors say at least 36 patients were killed at a hospital in Oldenburg where he worked, and about 64 more at a clinic in nearby Delmenhorst, between 2000 and 2005. More than 130 bodies of patients who died on Hoegel's watch have been exhumed, in a case investigators have called 'unprecedented in Germany to our knowledge'. Investigators say the final toll could top 200 but fear they might never know because the bodies of many possible victims were cremated. An animal rights group has been roundly mocked after suggesting the Dorset village of Wool change its name - as it currently promotes cruelty to sheep. Instead PETA want the 1,000 year old village to be called Vegan Wool - to the derision of residents. Elisa Allen, a director at PETA, has written to Wool Parish Council with the ridiculous request. She said the change in name would promote kindness to sheep. The activist said they would give a cruelty-free woollen blanket to all 2,000 households in the village if they agree to the suggestion. PETA claim to have uncovered cruelty shown to sheep in the British wool industry that includes animals being punched in the face, trampled on and beaten with electric clippers. Ms Allen said that the people of Vegan Wool would show an act of kindness to sheep if they changed the name of the village. Animal rights group PETA asked Wool in Dorset to change its name to Vegan Wool so as to stop 'promoting cruelty to sheep'. The name derives from an ancient word for a well or spring Because PETA has made the suggestion in writing members of Wool Parish Council are obliged to list it on the agenda at their next meeting - but the matter is likely to be laughed out of the room. Local councillor Cherry Brooks said: It is a ridiculous request and its caused quite a stir in the village. A few people are quite offended but most people seem to find it amusing. The proposal will now need to be discussed at the next council meeting, which will be interesting. Mrs Brooks also accused PETA of getting its facts wrong on Wool as the village name is derived from the ancient word welle, a water spring, and has nothing to do with the wool industry. Other villagers took to social media to defend the name of Wool and slam PETAs suggestion. Members of the parish's Facebook group wasted no time in sharing their thoughts on the suggestion, many of which were not positive Jayne Merchant said: The name Wool should remain as it is, the idea of renaming the village is utterly ridiculous. Its the most idiotic idea I have come across in a long time. Leanne Welsh wrote: "So Cheddar Gorge could be Vegan Cheddar Gorge? Burgar in Scotland could be Veggie Burgar!" Jo Holloway added: Its not April 1st yet surely! And Anne Vincent said: The name Wool has nothing to do with sheep. It comes from the Saxon word for spring (welle). In her letter Ms Allen said: Im writing on behalf of PETA with a suggestion that would put Wool in the spotlight and promote kindness to sheep: renaming the village Vegan Wool. Why make this animal-friendly update? Unlike wool that is stolen from sheep, vegan wool is good for animals and the environment. Sheeps wool, on the other hand, has been shown to be a product of extreme cruelty. A recently released PETA Asia eyewitness investigation of the British wool industry revealed that shearers punched sheep in the face, stamped and stood on their heads and necks, and beat and jabbed them in the face with electric clippers. Fast, rough shearing left sheep with large, bloody wounds that shearers crudely stitched up using a needle and thread - and no pain relief. Holy Rood church in Wool sits near the centre of the 1000-year-old Dorset village Wool Bridge over the River Frome in Dorset might be renamed Vegan Wool Bridge if the activists' request is granted - but councillors say consideration of their letter is a formality Several sheep even died during shearing from possible shock - or what one farmer called a heart attack. With a simple name change, your village can take a stand against this cruelty and remind everyone that its easy to stay warm and be warmhearted to sheep by choosing vegan wool and other animal-free materials. Wool has a population of 5,310 and has its origins in the 11th century. On its outskirts is Woolbridge Manor House which was the location of Tesss honeymoon in Thomas Hardys beloved novel Tess of the DUrbervilles. Earlier this week it emerged a pub in York changed its name from Shoulder of Mutton to Hemworth Inn to attract more vegans to eat there. A dad-of-two was meant to be enjoying a holiday of a lifetime but ended up fighting for his life in hospital after contracting a mystery infection. Brisbane couple Adam and Kate Coard booked a holiday to Perth for their 25th wedding anniversary and couldn't wait to get away. They had planned everything down to the last detail but were only two days into the holiday when Mr Coard developed a strange leg infection. His health rapidly declined and he was admitted to the St John of God Midland Public Hospital on October 11. Adam Coard (pictured) fell dangerously ill on holiday for his 25th wedding anniversary and had to be put into an induced coma and now his family desperately want him closer to home Doctors found that he was suffering from two types of blood infections and put him on a course of antibiotics But the treatment led to a rash developing on Mr Coard's chest before it spread over his whole body. Mr Coard had contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare condition where the immune system attacks the nerves. Symptoms start as weakness and tingling in the feet and legs that spread to the upper body. The condition causes paralysis which patients can recover from, but the process can take years. The family has set up a GoFundMe page with the hopes they can get Mr Coard back to Brisbane. 'On the 11th (of October) he got hospitalised for cellulitis in his leg, an issue he'd had before, but only usually put him in the hospital for a couple days,' the family statement read. 'He was also told he had two bacterial infections in his body, which was unusual, but something they could treat with antibiotics.' His family have taken to social media in the hopes they can raise the funds required to transport Mr Coard home to Brisbane so he can recover closer to his home and family 'While this was going on, he felt very weak, he couldn't walk and was constantly exhausted.' Mr Coard was put into an induced coma and when he woke almost completely paralysed. 'He could move one finger and that was all. He had a trachea in his throat and was being fed through his nose with tubes,' the family statement read. 'Through extensive physical therapy he's improved quite quickly. His trachea was removed on the 12th of November and began eating pureed food around this time.' Mr Coard started to see improvement in his condition by November 20. 'He's sat up by himself once, is breathing by himself, can move his hands (though, they're swollen) and can partly speak.,' the family statement said. 'Often having to use a chart to point out letters to help him speak. He's also lost a lot of weight during this period.' The family started a GoFundMe page to help raise the $65,000 needed to transport Mr Coard back to Brisbane to be closer to family. 'Guillain-Barre syndrome can take well over two years to even get back to 80% functionality, sometimes taking around twelve years before the person is fully healed,' the statement read. 'This is going to be a very, very long road for all of us.' A man suspected of fatally shooting his girlfriend posted a picture of himself posing with a gun hours before her death. Harry Watson was taken into police custody over the death of mother-of-four Emily Miller at Whittington in Victoria's Geelong on Wednesday night. Hours before the shooting, Mr Watson posted an an image of himself holding what appears to be a gun, the Herald Sun reported. Harry Watson (pictured) was taken into police custody over the shooting death of mother-of-four Emily Miller at Whittington in Victoria's Geelong on Wednesday night Emily Miller (pictured) was found in her home with a gunshot wound to her abdomen Mr Watson had captioned the photo: 'You know what time it is? Time for this b---- to get cut off.' The picture was posted using Ms Miller's Snapchat account. A close friend to Ms Miller, Simone Trench said she had started a relationship with Mr Watson three months before her death. The pair had been living together with Ms Miller's children at a commission house. The children are reported to have been nearby when the shooting happened. Social media pictures suggest Mr Watson was friendly with the children as one photo showed him holding the youngest girl on his lap. Ms Miller for her part referred to herself as a 'proud mummy' who flooded her Facebook page with pictures of her family. Ms Miller for her part referred to herself as a 'proud mummy' who flooded her Facebook page with pictures of her family A Facebook post made in July showed the 31-year-old to be a real shot at life Emily Miller said in a Facebook post made in July: 'Those who died yesterday had plans for this morning. And those who died this morning had plans for tonight' Homicide Squad detectives searched the home on Thursday for the missing gun, with the investigation ongoing and charges yet to be made. Friends have heaped tributes to the mother on social media. 'I love you Emily Miller you are the bestest friend I could of ever of had,' one friend said. Friends have heaped tributes to the mother on social media. 'I love you Emily Miller you are the bestest friend I could of ever of had,' one friend said Harry Watson and Emily Miller had been living together with Ms Miller's children at a commission house Homicide Squad detectives searched the home today for the missing gun, with the investigation ongoing and charges yet to be made 'Rest in peace Emily Miller. Gone way to soon. We had some good times girl. Your beautiful children will be taken care of, I promise you that. Until we meet again fly high my friend,' another friend said. 'My heart aches for her children,' a family member told the Daily Mail. Another person posted, 'All I want to do is call you and tell you why Im upset, then Im reminded of the living nightmare this is. 'I have no words, but the fact Im writing the words I do have like this is f***ing ridiculous and makes me sick to my stomach. 'To say I love you isnt enough, to say I miss you doesnt feel real and the immense pain Im in trying to accept that this is in fact real is unbearable. 'I love you so much Emmy and my life as I knew it will never be the same.' Friend Bliss Tannenberg said everyone was in shock over Ms Miller's death. Any witnesses or anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au. An American woman hasn't been told her newborn baby is dead after she allegedly threw the infant from a moving car in Bali before jumping out herself. Nicole Stasio, 32, of California, jumped out of the car without warning at an intersection in Denpasar on the Indonesian island of Bali on Tuesday evening. Villagers found the baby with severe injuries less than a mile from where Stasio leapt out of the vehicle. The baby died in hospital about seven hours later. Nicole Stasio (pictured) jumped out of the car without warning at an intersection in Denpasar on Tuesday evening, police said Police officers said they haven't told Stasio (pictured, during her pregnancy) that her baby has died because of her mental state Stasio, who is suffering from severe postpartum depression, has been detained at Sanglah Hospital but officers are still waiting to question her. Because of her mental state, they have yet to tell her that her two-month-old daughter who she named Arya Rose has died. South Denpasar police chief Nyoman Wiarajaya told a news conference on Wednesday that officers haven't been able to question Stasio because she is hospitalized in a severe state of depression. 'With this condition, it is unlikely we will make her a suspect. A driver and guide told police they had taken Stasio and her daughter to Bali's international airport on Tuesday evening But Stasio changed her mind about returning to the US and told them to take her back to Ubud, a town popular with tourists for its traditional crafts and culture 'We are still guarding and protecting her, so she will not be more shocked and even more depressed knowing that her baby also died.' Wiarajaya said the woman, who was born in California, traveled to Bali with her parents in July. The parents stayed in Bali for about 10 days and Stasio gave birth on the island in September after her parents had left. 'She refused to answer when they (the parents) asked about her baby's father,' Wiarajaya said, quoting information from the driver and tour guide who had accompanied the family since they arrived. 'But she gave the impression that she was unmarried and her family preferred that she give birth to a child abroad, like wanting to avoid something,' he said. Police said a driver and guide said they had taken Stasio (pictured) and her daughter to Bali's international airport on Tuesday evening but she changed her mind about leaving Police said the woman, who was born in California, traveled to Bali with her parents in July Stasio's driver, Wayan Siaja, and a guide, Made Arimbawa, told police they had taken Stasio and her daughter to Bali's international airport on Tuesday evening. But Stasio changed her mind about returning to the US and told them to take her back to Ubud, a town popular with tourists for its traditional crafts and culture. They said she sat silently in the car before the tragic events unfolded, according to Wiarajaya. Police found Stasio in a distressed state but were initially unaware of what had happened to the baby. But villagers found the infant with severe injuries and the baby died at Bali Mandara hospital. The baby died at Bali Mandara Hospital (pictured) about seven hours after villagers found the infant with severe injuries A nurse at the hospital told local media: 'Baby Arya Rose finally died early this morning. We have tried our best but God has other plans.' Friends on Facebook also said Stasio was suffering from post-partum depression after the birth of her child. They also revealed that she practiced yoga and was interested in spirituality and meditation. She posted a picture of her cradling her pregnant belly in August, writing: 'Falling in love with my baby'. A 'bucket list' of activities for children to tick off each primary school year is part of new measures planned to be released by the Department for Education. These goals are set to include learning to knit, exploring a cave and climbing a tree and are designed to build character and resilience in children. Education Secretary Damian Hinds, who was appointed in January, hopes the list will push schools to realise that what 'you do academically is only part of the story.' He told the i: 'It's about doing stuff that doesn't involve looking at a screen. It's about getting out and about.' Mr Hinds added that he hopes the new initiative will build resilience and help children 'bounce back from the knocks that inevitably come to all of us.' Mr Hinds is said to have been inspired by St Werburgh's Primary School in Bristol which already has a 'product list' of 20 enrichment activities for each year group. Here's the list of suggested yearly goals from St Werburgh's Primary School... Reception - children aged four to five 1. Visit a farm 2. Paint a self portrait 3. Plant some bulbs and see them grow 4. Go on an autumn walk and make leaf rubbings Bucket list goals for children in each year are hoped to make young people more resilient (stock) 5. Make a sandwich 6. Taste a new fruit 7. Visit a place of worship 8. Fly a kite 9. Make a boat and see if it floats 10. Perform a song 11. Re-tell a story to an audience 12. Post a letter 13. Look after an animal 14. Watch a chrysalis hatch 15. Take a photograph On the checklist for reception children is posting a letter and dressing up as a pirate (stock) 16. Make a treasure map 17. Dress up as a pirate 18. Look up where you live on google earth 19. Have a teddy bears picnic 20. Go to see wild animals Year One - children aged five to six 1. Record a sound journey 2. Make gingerbread people 3. Make and taste chapattis 4. Make a puppet 5. Put on a shadow puppet show Children will also be encourage to cook and make things as well as playing outside (stock) 6. Make a Chinese lantern 7. Go pond dipping 8. Create a piece of art for an exhibition 9. Visit a Planetarium 10. Perform a dance 11. Go on a mini-beast hunt 12. Make a home for a ... 13. Create a class collage At St Werburgh's school in Bristol Year One pupils are encouraged to watch a puppet show during the school year (stock picture) 14. Write/draw a comic strip 15. Take part in play day 16. See an aeroplane up close 17. Watch a puppet show 18. Be part of a club 19. Build a den 20. Perform in front of the school Year Two - children aged six to seven 1. Plan a party 2. Learn a poem off by heart 3. Go to the seaside 4. Bake a cake 5. Buy something and check your change Education Secretary Damian Hinds said the bucket list is about 'getting out and about' by doing things like playing at the seaside (stock picture) 6. Write a weather report for St Werburghs radio 7. Build a bridge and test its strength 8. Be a nature detective 9. Dress up as a superhero 10. Make a film 11. Eat something you have grown 12. Pick blackberries 13. Get soaking wet Dressing up as a superhero is on the list for Year Two pupils in Bristol (stock picture) 14. Go on a boat 15. Learn a French song 16. Walk barefoot on the sand 17. Experience a Victorian school room 18. Walk over the suspension bridge 19. Make a mask 20. Go to the cinema Year Three - children aged seven to eight 1. Compose a piece of music 2. Take part in a Roman banquet 3. Eat something new 4. Create a mosaic 5. Design and make a board game 6. Climb a tree Trying yoga is one of the aspirations listed for seven to eight year olds (stock picture) 7. Create a soundtrack for a piece of film 8. Make a pinhole camera 9. Make a musical instrument 10. Light a candle 11. Learn a new game 12. Make something out of wood 13. Cook outdoors 14. Bury treasure and make a map Mr Hinds said he hopes the bucket list will build character and resilience in children (stock) 15. Program a character on the computer 16. Produce rubbings of fossils 17. Try yoga 18. Start a vegetable patch 19. Visit an art gallery 20. Stay away from home for a night Year Four - children aged eight to nine 1. Make chocolate 2. Set up a museum 3. Write a play 4. Perform in a play 5. Watch a play or a dance production at the theatre Many of the goals used by St Werburgh's Primary school are about getting outside and trying something new (stock picture) 6. Use a camera to document a performance 7. Choreograph a dance 8. Make a sculpture 9. Create a sculpture trail 10. Go in a cave 11. Walk through a forest 12. Visit a Gurdwara 13. Make up your own game and teach it to someone 14. Visit a museum 15. Take photographs of dance 16. Create an outdoor sculpture 17. Swim outside 18. Learn to sew on a button 19. Go on a hike 20. Go on a treasure hunt Year Five - children aged nine to ten 1. Take part in a debate 2. Vote in a school election 3. Learn how to moon walk 4. Make and launch an air powered rocket 5. Use an OS map Children will also be encouraged to explore by reading maps and going orienteering (stock) 6. Go orienteering 7. Learn how to use a compass 8. Visit a temple 9. Make a huge class model 10. Visit a Science laboratory 11. Write and perform a poem 12. Write a book for the Reception class 13. Put on a performance 14. Make papier mache planets 15. Learn to climb 16. Go abseiling 17. Write in hieroglyphics 18. Watch a sunset 19. Plan and cook a meal 20. Design and make a model with electricity Year Six - children aged ten to eleven 1. Go on an open top bus 2. Go on a train 3. Send an email 4. Learn to knit 5. Write a speech 6. Use a local map Learning how to play an instrument is also encouraged by the school to help children grow 7. Plan a tour around Bristol 8. Interview someone 9. Have a charity week 10. Go on a demonstration/start a campaign 11. Pitch an idea for enterprise to a visiting dragon 12. Learn to play an instrument 13. Write and record/broadcast a radio play 14. Sleep under canvas 15. Make scones 16. Organise a cream tea for parents and carers 17. See the sun set 18. Go on a picnic 19. See the sun rise 20. Go to London Sydney terrorist Ahmed Merhi has begged Australia to help him after he was sentenced to death by hanging in Iraq. Merhi, 27, was convicted for being a member of Islamic State in the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad. The former Granville Boys High School student, from Sydney's west, travelled to Syria in 2014 or 2015. Sydney terrorist Ahmed Merhi (pictured) has begged Australia to help him escape the death sentence he has been handed in Iraq Merhi claimed he travelled to the warn-torn country for aid work but Judge Suhail rejected the claims. The 27-year-old told News Corp he wanted to come home to Australia and argued he had been wrongly convicted. 'I'd like to go back to Australia,' he said. Merhi said Iraq had no right to prosecute him as there was no justice and no evidence or witnesses. 'I'm a good person,' Merhi told News Corp. He pleaded for Australia to intervene despite turning his back on the country. Merhi claimed he travelled to the warn-torn country for aid work but Judge Suhail rejected the claims 'I'd like them to help me, by getting me justice and getting me released,' he said. The Australian Government is not expected to take steps to assist Merhi, a high profile Australian Islamic State supporter. He previously shared numerous photos to his social media accounts displaying weaponry and dressed in military uniform. Merhi compared taking photos with guns to people who take photos with Ferraris - arguing it doesn't mean you own them. In another comparison Merhi said taking a photo with a model didn't mean it is your wife. The 27-year-old told News Corp he wanted to come home to Australia and argued he had been wrongly convicted Merhi was arrested by Kurdish soldiers in December 2017 when he was trying to escape to Turkey. He was given to American troops who took him across the boarder and passed him on to Iraqi authorities. Merhi, who lost a leg in an air strike in 2016, complained about torture at the hands of Iraqi counter-terrorism officials but a medical examination found no marks of torture. Within ten days Merhi's case will be automatically appealed and his lawyers have 30 days to present to an appeals court. The former Sydney builder could wait up to two years to have his case finalised. Merhi was arrested alongside his cousin Tarek Khayat who is accused by Lebanese and Australian authorities of plotting to bring down an Etihad Airways flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi. Merhi was arrested by Kurdish soldiers in December 2017 when he was trying to escape to Turkey Khayat, 46, admitted to being a financial officer for the terror group Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria, and was ordered to face death by hanging. Australian police allege Merhi was involved with extremists in Australia who were involved in a number of terror plots. This included the murder of police accountant Curtis Cheng who was shot dead after he left work in Parramatta, Sydney, by a 15-year-old. The teenager, Farhad Mohamad Jabar, was shot by police. Merhi said his cousin's case was starting from scratch following investigation from the appeals court and hoped the same would happen with his case. Detectives were tonight hunting for a woman who went on the run after stabbing a community support worker in an NHS hospital car park. Patients and staff at Ailsa Hospital in North Ayrshire were told to stay in their rooms as it was put into lockdown while a police helicopter circulated overhead. The health worker was attacked in the grounds of the hospital just after 10am by the woman, who was said to have been a patient being treated for an addiction. Patients and staff at Ailsa Hospital (pictured today) in North Ayrshire, Scotland, were told to stay in their rooms, while a police helicopter circulated overhead Police Scotland initially locked down the hospital and surrounding area while searches were carried out - but the facility reopened three hours later at 1pm. The worker was taken for treatment and was believed to be in a critical condition, but her injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. Detectives released a description of the suspect, who was said to be a slim woman around 5ft 3in tall, dressed in a dark woolly hat and dark jacket. Officers were reviewing CCTV and carrying out door-to-door enquiries today as they urged anyone who witnessed the attack to get in touch. The suspect was allegedly a patient in the addictions unit, reported Radio Tay. How Aisla Hospital helps patients with menthal health issues The stabbing took place in the grounds of the Ailsa Hospital, which houses wards for patients with mental health and addiction problems. Its website says that it 'provides a slow stream rehabilitation ward and older adult inpatient services for people living in South Ayrshire and parts of East Ayrshire'. The hospital's provisions include adult and acute mental heath, rehabilitation and forensic mental health, older adult mental health and addiction services. The grand building backs on to the larger University Hospital Ayr, which houses A&E services in the town around 35 miles south of Glasgow. The hospital has had its current name since 1958 - and was previously known as the Ayrshire District Asylum and Glengall District Asylum. Advertisement Ayr MSP John Scott raised the incident at First Minister's Questions (FMQs) in the Scottish Parliament, saying: 'I understand a nurse has been stabbed by a patient'. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was receiving reports about the incident as she entered the chamber for FMQs. She said: 'Our understanding - and let me stress this is our understanding, the first I will do when I leave the chamber will be to get a full update on this - our understanding is that injuries sustained by a nurse are not life-threatening injuries and that police are fully involved in this incident. 'Obviously, the safety of staff and patients is of the utmost importance.' Police confirmed no arrests have been made. Detectives do not believe the suspect to still be in the grounds of the hospital. Superintendent Brian Shaw said: 'I am urging anyone who witnessed the attack to get in touch with us. 'I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who was in the area around 10am and has information about a woman who was seen leaving the area shortly after the 42-year-old woman was stabbed. 'She is described as being around 5ft 2in to 5ft 3in in height, slight build and pale complexion. Officers were today hunting for the culprit and no one was allowed out of the hospital site 'She was wearing a dark woolly hat and a dark jacket. If you recognise her description or have information about her identity please call Police Scotland. 'It is important that the public is aware that the hospital is open as normal. 'Officers remain at the hospital and we have increased high-visibility patrols in the area to reassure patients, staff and the wider public.' 'Officers are reviewing CCTV and carrying out door-to-door enquiries in the area in an effort to identify the woman responsible.' Ailsa Hospital, which is on the same site as University Hospital Ayr, was put on lockdown today A hospital source said: 'We got a message saying the hospital is in lockdown and not to leave our rooms as there's been a stabbing. The helicopter is out overhead. It doesn't seem real.' NHS Ayrshire and Arran earlier said no patients, staff or visitors would be able to leave the site but some restrictions were later relaxed. Billy McClean, associate director for the health board, added: 'NHS Ayrshire and Arran is aware of an incident in the grounds of Ailsa Hospital this morning. 'We are assisting Police Scotland with their investigations, and to ensure the safety of staff, patients and visitors.' Moira O'Hara outside the High Court in London last week, where she is fighting to win back money Paul Markham owes her A high-flying lawyer who handed her 'charming and convincing' lover more than 1million is still fighting for her money back more than a decade after they split. Moira O'Hara lavished a fortune on 'confidence trickster' film director, Paul Markham, now 75, during the course of their six-year relationship. A judge ordered him to pay back hundreds of thousands of pounds she lent him, saying she was 'deeply in love' with Markham' but his 'charm, persuasion and lies clouded her reason and common sense'. But at the High Court in London, Mr Justice Males heard that Miss O'Hara, 56, has so far only retrieved a small fraction of the cash her ex-lover owes her. In a bid to wriggle off the financial hook, Markham accused his ex of holding onto a 900,000 hoard of his treasured possessions. He threatened to 'devastate' Miss O'Hara's life if she failed to hand over his stash of fine art and furnishings, Mr Justice Males told the court. He wrote to one of her work colleagues 'referring to taking the necessary steps for her to be debarred and imprisoned for fraud'. The judge added Markham's behaviour 'points strongly to the fact that the current proceedings are part of a course of conduct intended to harass Miss O'Hara.' The former couple met when Miss O'Hara - who was once married to a judge - was doing voluntary work at a Citizen's Advice Bureau in 1999. The High Court in London heard that Miss O'Hara, 56, has so far only retrieved a small fraction of the cash her ex-lover owes her She helped Markham out with advice but within weeks of meeting him, was ploughing massive sums of cash into his account. They lived together between 2003 and 2005 and Markham promised he would pay her back when a French film project paid off. But Miss O'Hara finally confronted the truth after finding out that he had been spending her money on a collection of fine art. He claimed she had 'given' him the cash but in 2009, Judge Philip Raynor QC described him as a 'convincing and effective confidence trickster.' Markham was ordered to pay her back 850,000, plus nearly 300,000 in interest which has continued to build since then. He was also ordered to hand over a property in Notting Hill - then already worth over 1million - which he held on trust for Miss O'Hara. 'Her conduct was extraordinary but she was deeply in love with Mr Markham,' Judge Raynor said at the time. 'I find that love and Mr Markham's charm, persuasion and lies clouded her reason and common sense.' Markham later lost an appeal against the ruling and was hit with an asset freezing order. Moira O'Hara lavished a fortune on 'confidence trickster' film director, Paul Markham (pictured) during the course of their six-year relationship She managed to obtain a seizure order from a French court over a flat owned by Mr Markham in Rue St Louis, Paris, in 2014. But her barrister Daisy Brown, said Mr Markham still owes more than 1 million 'outstanding on the judgment debt' from 2009. 'His conduct is obsessive and part of a wider campaign to cause distress to Miss O'Hara,' the barrister claimed. Mr Markham, however, insisted she had held onto his valuable furniture and works of art worth 900,000 and demanded that she either hand over his possessions or that their value be set off against his colossal debt to her. He claimed the items included an 18th century Chinese pot, six 1940s French bridge chairs, a 1950s Russian painting, and 16 Indian statues of deities. Insisting that Miss O'Hara has none of his possessions, Miss Brown said he left her home in 2006 with a 'truck full of items'. Throwing out Mr Markham's claim as being 'totally without merit', Mr Justice Males said his valuation of the antiques was 'entirely fanciful'. Mr Justice Males (right) said Markham threatened to 'devastate' Miss O'Hara's life The judge added: 'It is quite clear he has no intention of paying anything to Miss O'Hara in respect of the judgment sum and outstanding costs. 'The only money she has received is in respect of a property owned by Mr Markham in France. 'It is somewhat ironic that he should bring this application out of curiosity to know how much he owes when he clearly has no intention of paying whatever sum that is.' The judge said Mr Markham has no known address and 'says that he has no assets or income'. But he ruled: 'I conclude that the current application is an abuse of process and should be struck out.' The judge stopped short of issuing a 'civil restraint order' barring Mr Markham from making further court applications without judicial permission. He added: 'The court will be minded to make a civil restraint order if a similar application is made in the future'. Describing the case as 'truly extraordinary' in his 2009 ruling, Judge Raynor said 'Miss O'Hara's heart had ruled her head.' Mr Markham claimed she had given him the money in return for business advice, emotional support and help in looking after her three children. But Judge Raynor described much of his case as 'incredible', 'untrue', 'extraordinary', 'fiction' and 'unbelievable'. John Arthur Getreu, from Hayward in Alameda County, was brought in on suspicion of killing 21-year-old Leslie Perlov A 74-year-old man has been arrested for a murder committed 45 years ago after his DNA was submitted to a public genealogical website. John Arthur Getreu, from Hayward in Alameda County, was brought in on suspicion of killing of 21-year-old Leslie Perlov in Palo Alto on Tuesday. Perlov, who was 21 when she died, was last seen at her place of work as a law clerk at around 3pm on February 13 1973. The victim's orange Chevy Nova was discovered the day she died abandoned at the entrance of an old quarry near Stanford University's campus, where she had recently graduated from. Three days later her body was discovered by officers under a tree at the side of a mountain west of Stanford. Perlov's death was ruled a homicide following an autopsy, due to the fact she had been strangled and left with a pair of tights stuffed into her mouth. Leslie Perlov, 21, was allegedly murdered by John Getreu, after she was found strangled with a pair of tights in her mouth close to her alma mater, Stanford University The police released this photograph of Perlov's orange Chevy Nova, discovered the day she died abandoned at the entrance of an old quarry Her death remained a mystery until cold case detectives looked into the old case and submitted DNA evidence to the county crime laboratory, reports Sf Gate. The results showed the profile of an unidentified man, who was only found when they the investigators collaborated with Virginia-based DNA technology company, Parabon NanoLabs. The organisation, which contracts with police when DNA profiles do not match those stored on the national database, conducted a more thorough investigation. Parabon looked into finding the unknown suspect's relatives through DNA as a way of tracking down the unidentified person's name. A Sheriff's office statement read: 'Parabon submitted a genetic data profile created from the unknown crime scene DNA sample to a public genetic genealogy database for comparison in hopes of finding individuals who share significant amounts of DNA with the unknown subject.' The car was discovered near Stanford University's campus, where she had recently graduated from (pictured) Getreu was identified after genetic matches helped the agency gather a list of possible offenders before obtaining his DNA. It was not specified how they managed to acquire his DNA, but it is standard practice for the team to use items such as a used tissue. The suspect was previously arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting and strangling the daughter of a U.S. Army chaplain, who was 16 at the time, AP reported at the time. At the time he was an 18-year-old staying with his father, a sergeant major in the Army in Germany, and was considered a juvenile during the case. Getreu faced a maximum jail term of 10 years however it is unclear how the case was resolved. Detectives are currently looking into whether Getreu is linked to any other unsolved cases. This arrest comes after the Golden State Killer suspect Joseph James DeAngelo was apprehended by cops just outside of Sacramento, which used the same DNA matching process. As did the case which led to the arrest of accused NorCal Rapist Roy Charles Waller in September of this year. This identification method doesn't always give one possible suspect, but it does produce possible offenders and offers detectives new leads. In Geutreu's case and that of the Golden State Killer officers used GEDmatch, which is a public website for tracing family members. Although GEDmatch claimed that it does not work with police, the company's terms suggest it can be used for a range of purposes. An 18-year-old boy was stabbed to death by his younger brother after a fight over a TV remote control. The younger boy, 16, has been arrested for the attack which took place on November 20 at their family apartment in Kirikkale, Anatolia in Turkey. The teenagers argued over which TV channel to watch with the younger boy going into the kitchen in anger. A 16-year-old boy has been arrested for stabbing his older brother to death over an argument about a TV remote at their family apartment in Kirikkale, Anatolia in Turkey While there, he picked up a knife and returned to the living room to stab his older brother. The 16-year-old, identified only by the initials BK, fatally wounded his sibling in the attack. According to local media, the family called an ambulance who rushed the injured boy, identified as IBK, to the Kirikkale Ihtisas Hospital. However, despite the best efforts of emergency staff, the 18-year-old later died of his injuries. His brother has been detained by the police, according to reports. This is the latest disturbing story in a series of deaths over TV programmes. Last month, a 13-year-old girl killed herself at her home in Nakuru County in western Kenya after she argued with her cousin about what programme to watch on TV. In July, a young student from Kenya's Muranga County also killed himself after rowing with his cousin about what to watch on TV. He reportedly hanged himself after his cousin switched over the television channel from what he was watching. They rowed before the boy stormed out of the living room. The boy's mother found his body hanging from his bedroom ceiling later that evening. Outgoing New York State Senator Jose Peralta, 47, died from a heart attack on Wednesday New York State Senator Jose Peralta has died from a heart attack at the age of 47. The Democrat was pronounced dead on Wednesday at 8pm at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. His family was with him at the time. He had served as the State Senator for New York's 13th District since 2010, when he became the first Dominican-American politician elected to the State Senate. He served for eight years but was unseated in the recent election by fellow Democrat Jessica Ramos earlier this month. She was among those who paid tribute to him after his death on Thursday, writing on Twitter: 'Jose Peralta is gone too soon. 'When I met him in 2003 I saw a world of promise for our community & though years later wed disagree on tackling the issues, I know in his heart he loved his community. 'He was a true public servant. Strength & love to his wife, sons, and loved ones.' Details of what Peralta was doing when he suffered the heart attack remain unclear. A spokesman for the late politician told Pix 11: 'I can confirm that Senator Jose Peralta passed away on Wednesday. Jessica Ramos, who unseated Peralta in the recent elections, was among those to pay tribute to him after news of his death emerged 'We have no further details to release at this time and ask that the family's privacy be respected. 'Thank you to all who have reached out with words of kindness and support.' Neither Mayor Bill de Blasio nor the Governor Andrew Cuomo has yet paid tribute to him or commented on his death. In October, Peralta's Queens office was shuttered after a staff member opened an envelope which contained white powder. It had not been addressed to him and was intended for Sen. Michael Gianaris but somehow ended up at Peralta's office. The family of a boy who was diagnosed with bone cancer are desperate to send him on a dream holiday to Paris after he relapsed for the second time this year. Little Remi Vulich, from Victoria, kept complaining of a sore arm two years ago when his mother decided to take him to the GP. After a series of tests Remi was diagnosed with a type of cancer called Osteosarcoma in March 2017. After relapsing for a second time this year, his family have set up a GoFundMe page to help Remi fulfill his wish of 'going to Paris to visit the Eiffel tower'. Little Remi Vulich was diagnosed with cancer after originally complaining of a sore arm Little Remi Vulich from Victoria has been battling with Osteosarcoma since his diagnoses in March 2017. The brave 7-year-old spent much of 2017 undergoing tough cancer treatment including major surgeries to his shoulder and arm to remove the bone tumor and to replace bone from his upper arm with parts of his fibula. 'In an eight-hour operation surgeons removed his humerus, where the tumour was located, and replaced it with his left fibula,' his mother Susy told 7 News. Medics declared that Remi had entered remission, but in July this year doctors sadly found he had relapsed and had lung metastasis. Once again, Remi was forced to undergo major surgery. He was able to attend school again but 10 weeks later two mediastinal masses were discovered on the outside of his lung, marking his second relapse. Medics declared that Remi had entered remission, but in July this year doctors sadly found he had relapsed and had lung metastasis His cousins have now started a GoFundMe page to help Remi's family save enough money for a holiday in Paris. Remi expressed a strong desire to visit the French capital city and his cousin's are trying to make that dream a reality at the end of March. 'Remi is the bravest little boy with the most beautiful and cheekiest smile,' his cousins Lara and Liam wrote on the fundraising page. 'He takes everything in his stride and is always ready and accepting of any challenge that comes his way.' 'Remi you are an inspiration to us and to everyone around you.' Gerard Butler has traveled to Haiti to meet the children who benefit from the help of a Scottish charity just weeks after his home was destroyed by the California wildfires. The actor, 49, visited the Caribbean country to highlight the work of Mary's Meals who feed school children from some of the poorest country's in the world. In Haiti alone, Mary's Meals feeds more than 40,000 children every day, while also providing food for pupils in 17 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. Scroll down for video Gerard Butler has traveled to Haiti to meet the children who benefit from the help of a Scottish charity just weeks after his home was destroyed by the California wildfires The charity feeds 1,361,586 children every school day and Butler shared one of these meals with a group of pupils from Ecole Communautaire Saint Michel de Morne Mouton in the town of Mirebalais in Haiti's Central Plateau. Butler visited the school with Mary's Meals founder and global chief executive, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, to see the charity's work first hand. He said: 'Mary's Meals is such a simple idea. I'm inspired by the genius behind it, and how it promotes responsibility in everybody. The actor, 49, visited the Caribbean country to highlight the good work of Mary's Meals (pictured with the school children) Butler spent time playing games with the children and getting to know them over lunch 'It's a very efficient way to essentially enhance the lives of so many in poor countries and it can be developed and extended so cheaply. 'I've been cheered up no end by these beautiful souls who, despite living in a country that has gone through so much hardship, have nothing but love to give. 'Communities are transformed by what Mary's Meals does to feed children in a place of education. I've seen it in action in Liberia and now Haiti.' The pupils welcomed the actor to their school with a banner as they posed outside the school Butler took videos and photographs during his visit with the children who benefit from Mary's Meals In Haiti, local volunteers prepare a nutritious school meal of rice and beans with a tasty sauce made from vegetables and fish for 41,831 pupils every school day. The charity began feeding 200 children in Malawi in 2002 and has since expanded around the world, beginning school feeding in Haiti in 2006. Following the recent visit Mr MacFarlane-Barrow said: 'It's been a very moving few days meeting the children of Haiti whose lives are being changed by Mary's Meals.' In Haiti, local volunteers prepare a nutritious school meal of rice and beans with a tasty sauce made from vegetables and fish for 41,831 pupils every school day Butler was one of a host of celebrities who recently lost their homes in the fires which spread rapidly across California. On November 10 he returned to his home to find it completely destroyed by the fast-moving Woolsey fire. He shared an Instagram of the devastation as he stood in front of the remains of building and his burned out truck. The 48-year-old captioned it: 'Returned to my house in Malibu after evacuating. Heartbreaking time across California. 'Inspired as ever by the courage, spirit and sacrifice of firefighters. Thank you @LosAngelesFireDepartment. ' And he ended with a heartfelt plea saying: 'If you can, support these brave men and women at SupportLAFD.org. A bizarre incident on a flight from Washington DC to Atlanta on Wednesday night resulted in the arrest of a Jewish man after passengers claimed he launched into an 'anti-Semitic' rant. The video shows the man, who has been identified as David Toaff, trying to avoid police while they attempt to take him into custody. Toaff, 37, who is seen wearing a backpack and tallit, starts to question the officers at one point, asking: 'What did I do wrong?' That is when someone off-camera yells: 'You're a Nazi.' Scroll down for video Outnumbered: Video shows Atlanta Airport Police arresting David Toaff at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Wednesday night (David Toaff above with police) Confusion: Passengers claimed he went on an 'anti-Semitic tirade' during flight by demanding 'all Jews raise their hands' so he could 'identify them' (police cuffing Toaff) Eyewitness: The video was captured by Jordan Dale (above) a passenger on the plane The entire incident was captured on camera by one of the passengers on the flight, Jordan Dale. 'Today a man on my plane went on an anti-Semitic tirade and demanded "all Jews raise their hands" so he could indentify [sic] them. Later, during the arrest he protested and resisted arrest,' wrote Dale on Twitter. 'Incredible work by Atlanta police, I highly recommend watching the whole video.' Toaff was eventually booked into the Clayton County Jail, but has not been charged with making any sort of hate speech. He has instead been charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing or hindering law enforcement. Toaff (above) was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing or hindering law enforcement Toaff's inmate details reveal that he lives in Washington DC and that his middle name is Shlomo. The video seems to show that the charges Toaff is facing are the result of his behavior after the flight landed, and not any remarks he made while the flight was in the air. Atlanta Airport Police can be seen doing their best to try and reason with Toaff, but he refuses to cooperate. 'You're making it worse for yourself,' one of the officers says at one point in the video. A defiant Toaff responds: 'I'm not doing anything wrong.' He was booked at 10:30pm and is being held on a $1500 bond and $350 fee for the disorderly conduct charge, while there is no cost attached to the second count. DailyMail.com reached out ot Delta who confirmed that police meet an individual after the flight landed but would not offer any further detail as to what happened before the plane landed in Atlanta. President Trump launched another attack on the 9th Circuit on Thanksgiving and dismissed Chief Justice Roberts' strong rebuke one day on from their extraordinary row over judicial independence. Labeling the 9th Circuit a 'complete and total disaster' that is 'out of control', the president demanded judges not be allowed to 'legislate security' in his early morning attack on Thanksgiving. The new criticism comes one day after the almost unprecedented row between the Supreme Court Chief Justice and the president of the United States following a strong rebuke from Roberts over Trump calling the 9th Circuit 'Obama judges'. Doubling down: Trump dismissed the criticism from Chief Justice Roberts and intensified his assault on the 9th Circuit Demands: Trump is furious with the 9th Circuit and believes it to be too liberal and affects the nation's security The row began earlier this week when the president complained about a different judge, Obama-appointed US District Judge Jon Tigar, who has ruled against him in his attempt to stop illegal immigrants applying for asylum once they cross the border. Tigar said the president's 'scope' did not reach far enough for him to 'rewrite' immigration laws. When asked about Tigar's decision on Tuesday, the president took aim at the liberal-leaning 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which previously also ruled against his travel ban. 'Every case that gets filed in the Ninth Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won,' Trump said. Row continues: President Trump and Supreme Court Chief Justice have engaged in a extraordinary row over the 9th Circuit Court U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, a Barack Obama appointee whose courtroom is in San Francisco, struck down the administration's new asylum policy this week. That is what started Trump's complaints about an apparently politicized judicial system He then said of Tigar: 'This was an Obama judge.' Roberts, who is a Republican and was nominated to the Supreme Court by George W. Bush in 2005, weighed in angrily the next day, issuing a statement to say that politics played no part in the judicial system. He said: 'We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. 'What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. 'The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.' Trump hit back on Twitter afterwards, saying: 'Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country.' Roberts (left) is the highest ranking jurist on the Supreme Court. His remarks this week signal his first criticism of the president. They are pictured with Trump's controversial appointee Brett M. Kavanaugh (right) after he was sworn in in November Lina Tantesh (pictured outside court today) was jailed for four years for two counts of stalking A stalker who accused a college tutor of breaking a 21-clause 'love contract' and left him on the brink of suicide was today jailed for four years. Lina Tantash, 43, embarked on a 'sinister and sustained' campaign against Jarlath Rice, 50, bombarding him with messages and demanding that he see her after she claimed to have lent him up to 50,000. She even hired a private detective to track him down and contacted his friends, family and work colleagues. Jordanian-born Tantash even ordered hundreds of pounds of takeaway pizza and had it sent to his office during a work event. She accused Mr Rice of breaching a deal in which she loaned him cash in return for him signing the contract. Tantash was sentenced to four years in prison after she was convicted of two counts of stalking today. Her mother broke down in court and begged the judge to show mercy toward her daughter at Lewes Crown Court. The saga began in 2007 when the 'highly intelligent' project manager met Mr Rice, a 50-year-old Irish filmmaker, when they were both working in Dublin in 2007. They had a brief sexual relationship but Mr Rice ended it after a few weeks when Tantash began to make demands on him. Tantash (pictured, left) claimed that he had lent Mr Rice (right) up to 50,000 in a contract that meant he had to spend time with her in return for the cash When she continued to contact him he told her he no longer wanted a relationship with her and asked her to leave him alone. But she refused saying he owned her more than 50,000 euro and even drew up a 'love contract' which stipulated he should stop denying they were in a relationship. It also stated he should live with her three days a week, speak to her on the phone for at least 15 minutes every evening and be nice to her. Mr Rice desperately fought to escape her attentions and eventually moved from Dublin to Brighton, East Sussex where he started work as a college tutor. But Tantash, then a 'highly-respected'project manager at prestigious Trinity College Dublin, followed him from Dublin, taking up a new role in London. Her campaign of harassment escalated after she suspected Mr Rice, who was working as a tutor at DV8 College in Brighton, had started a relationship with work colleague, Sarah Bolland. She began bombarding Miss Bolland with abusive phone calls and emails at the college demanding she stop seeing Mr Rice. Miss Bolland, who was not romantically involved with Mr Rice, was devastated by the abusive calls. Lantash (pictured arriving at Lewes Crown Court) made abusive phone calls to a woman who was known to Mr Rice On one occasion Tantash called her and said: 'Stay away from him, whore! Stay away from Jarlath, bitch. I'm going to f******g kill you.' On another she said 'You don't see him, you don't date him and don't f**k him. I'll kill myself. Would you rather have my blood on your hands?' And in another Tantash was recorded saying: 'You look like a horse and you're an ugly f******g bitch.' In an email to her she told Miss Bolland she had 'disgusting frizzy hair, skin like curdled yoghurt and buck teeth' and that she hoped she had a 'heartbroken, horrid end'. Tantash also sent abusive emails from several anonymous accounts to friends, family and work colleagues demanding Mr Rice's mobile number, his home address and other details. She bombarded one colleague with 137 phone calls in one evening asking that he hand over Mr Rice's mobile phone number and even offered him 1,500 for the information. On the evening of an open night at DV8 College Tantash ordered around 200 of takeaway pizzas and had them delivered to the college. She was eventually arrested and charged with one count of stalking Mr Rice between July 2015 - February 2018 and one count of stalking Miss Bolland. She was convicted after a trial at Brighton Magistrates' Court. In a victim impact statement Mr Rice said the campaign of stalking left him on the brink of suicide and had been in 'despair'. He said: 'For over 10 years I've had to live with verbal, mental and physical abuse. The aggressive and abusive dismantling of my life has left me vulnerable, frightened and exhausted.' He said: He had been 'pushed deep into depression' adding: 'At my worst I have gone through periods of despair with suicide ideation.' In her defence, Tantash said she came from a stable, upper middle class family but was suffering from a mental condition. She claimed to have paid Mr Rice's sizeable debts and supported his career in return for a romantic commitment. In a victim impact statement Mr Rice said the campaign of stalking left him on the brink of suicide and had been in 'despair'. He said: 'For over 10 years I've had to live with verbal, mental and physical abuse. The aggressive and abusive dismantling of my life has left me vulnerable, frightened and exhausted.' He said he had been 'pushed deep into depression' adding: 'At my worst I have gone through periods of despair with suicide ideation.' Miss Bolland said: 'It's a strange and terrible experience when someone psychologically harasses you like this. It's an awful feeling. It's astonishing how much it can impact your life, your mood, your thoughts.' Teresa Mulrooney, defending, said: 'Miss Tantash deeply regrets her behaviour and has come to understand the impact it has had.' Sentencing her, Recorder Stephen Lennard, said: 'You were never prepared to accept it was over and thereafter carried out a sustained and vicious campaign of stalking and harassment that lasted 10 years. 'In my opinion you are vicious, devious and manipulative woman. You should be thoroughly ashamed of what you have done to Mr Rice and Miss Bolland.' He also handed her a restraining order. Felicity Lineham, from the CPS, said: 'Lisa Tantash carried out an orchestrated campaign of stalking over a prolonged period of time, which had a massive impact on the lives of her victims. 'As a result of Tantash's obsessive behaviour, her ex-boyfriend moved country and addresses to escape her and has had to change his contact details numerous times. Tantash was relentless in trying to contact him, even offering money to people he worked with in exchange for his new number. 'Tantash became obsessed that her former partner had started a new relationship and then persistently targeted the woman in her workplace, making her life a misery. 'Her behaviour was carefully planned to cause maximum distress but all the time she saw nothing wrong with what she was doing or the impact it was having on her victims. We hope today's sentencing allows both victims to move on with their lives.' Advertisement A couple who sold all of their possessions to live out their dream of traveling the world with their two children in tow have shared photographs from their envy-inducing travels so far. Rodrigo Sanchez 31, and his wife Jessica, 33, raised $65,00 dollars to uproot their lives and go on the journey of a life time with their kids Santiago, six, and Nora, three. The idea first sprung when the couple were in Mexico in March 2017 and began posting images of their trip on Instagram, pitching to hotels and tourism boards their photography services to promote their locations all around Colorado - where they are from. A couple who sold all of their possessions to live out their dream of traveling the world with their two children in tow have shared photographs from their envy-inducing travels so far Rodrigo Sanchez 31, and his wife Jessica, 33, raised $65,00 dollars to uproot their lives and go on the journey of a life time with their kids Santiago, six, and Nora, three The idea first sprung when the couple were in Mexico in March 2017 and began posting images of their trip on Instagram and have since documented their trip which pictures such as this stood in front of an incredible sunset with their campervan Their venture took off and they decided to travel the world, beginning their adventure in the in the city of Maui and Honolulu in Hawaii in June 2018, just over a year later Since then the adventurous brood have visited thirty cities in the past five months alone, ensuring that they document their travels on their Instagram page Their venture took off and they decided to travel the world, beginning their adventure in the in the city of Maui and Honolulu in Hawaii in June 2018, just over a year later. Since then the adventurous brood have visited thirty cities in the past five months alone, ensuring that they document their travels on their Instagram page. The next month they flew across the ocean to Manila in the Philippines before hopping to Bali in Indonesia, clearly loving their new-found sense of freedom. The next month they flew across the ocean to Manila in the Philippines before hopping to Bali in Indonesia, clearly loving their new-found sense of freedom Rodrigo and Jessica home-school their son, Santiago, and the family have received some backlash from their friends and family who think their new lifestyle is irresponsible However that hasn't appeared to stop them from making the most of their new life, in August they traveled to Asia and visited Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Penang in Malaysia They are quick to move from place to place, as by the end of September they had also visited Koh Yao Noi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in Thailand They are quick to move from place to place, as by the end of September they had also visited Koh Yao Noi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in Thailand Rodrigo and Jessica home-school their son, Santiago, and the family have received some backlash from their friends and family who think their new lifestyle is irresponsible. However that hasn't appeared to stop them from making the most of their new life, in August they traveled to Asia and visited Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Penang in Malaysia. They are quick to move from place to place, as by the end of September they had also visited Koh Yao Noi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in Thailand. In October they went to Siem Reap, Mekong River Cruise, Phnom Penh and between October and November, they travelled to Cairns, Townsville, Airlie Beach, Rosslyn Bay, Noosa, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Byron Bay and Sydney. In October they went to Siem Reap, Mekong River Cruise, Phnom Penh and between October and November, they travelled to Cairns, Townsville, Airlie Beach, Rosslyn Bay, Noosa, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Byron Bay and Sydney Despite traveling with their who young children Jessica and Rodrigo are clearly still able to keep the romance alive as they are pictured embracing in the middle of a street Nora appears to have made some new friends on her travels including a baby kangaroo she met during their time in Australia Many of the couple's Instagram posts feature the children by themselves enjoying incredible scenery and experiences, another image shows Jessica sat with their son in a wicker hut The family beam as they pose on the bow of a white boat while sailing on the water surrounded by lush vegetation Three young surfers unearthed the body of a pregnant young woman on a beach. Sonam Shelar's body was found on White Rock Beach, in Wairarapa, in New Zealand on Wednesday, four days after she went missing. Stuff reported that the three teenagers found the body while looking for a good surf break. The manager of nearby business White Rock Station, who did not wish to be named, said the surfers came in to inform him of their grim discovery. When Mrs Shelar (pictured) went missing, Mr Shelar said his wife had been upset by the results of a recent ultrasound 'Their car was parked up by the gate and they came up and said a body was washed up on the beach,' he said. 'When they said it was a lady I put one and one together and thought it might be the lady that went missing in Wellington.' 'One [of the surfers] was pretty shaken, but they'll be alright. They may still be in shock and they might be a bit sad in a couple days.' Mrs Shelar's family were informed of her death by police. The 26-year-old mum-to-be was last seen at her home at 8.30am in Khandallah, Wellington, on Saturday. Sonam Shelar, 26, (pictured left) went missing four days ago. Her body was found on a remote beach. Her husband Sagar Shelar (pictured right) said he is the police's first suspect Her husband Sagar Shelar told Stuff the pair had never been to the beach, which is about an hour's drive from Martinborough. Family spokesman Harshal Patkar told the New Zealand Herald the family was devastated. Mrs Shelar was five months pregnant with her first child. 'It might be a murder, that is what I'm saying, that is what her family thinks, especially her mother,' Mr Patkar said. When Mrs Shelar went missing, Mr Shelar said his wife had been upset by the results of a recent ultrasound. White Rock Beach in the Wairarapa is about an hours drive from Martinborough. The winding road is not widely known and the beach is mainly used by surfers He said she cried as soon as they got in their car because she was desperate for a boy and the sex of their baby was not yet known. Mr Patkar said on the day of the scan Mrs Shelar had called her family in India and sounded 'normal'. The family does not believe Mrs Shelar would harm herself. They described her as a 'strong-willed' woman. Mrs Shelar regularly called her mother, sharing with her the difficulties at home. Mrs Shelar had worked as a personal trainer in India, but when she moved to New Zealand in April to be with her husband and fell pregnant she had stopped working. Ms Shelar's husband Sagar, an Indian national from Mumbai, told NewsHub police were not ruling him out as a suspect. Mr Shelar said the results of the ultrasound before she went missing were not able to confirm the sex of the child which left Mrs Shelar (pictured) upset because she wanted a baby boy 'I know that I'm their first suspect, but I know that I haven't done anything wrong.' The matter has been referred to the Coroner. The investigation is still ongoing and Police are working closely with the family of the deceased to ascertain further facts. Mrs Shelar was last seen at 8.30am on Cashmere Avenue in Khandallah, and was wearing a brown jacket with fur on the hood, as well as white, black and orange trainers. Detective Senior Sergeant McKee said police were also seeking CCTV from any businesses or residences on Cashmere Avenue, Onslow Road, Box Hill, Burma Road, Agra Crescent. An elderly man has been arrested after threatening to detonate explosives during a police siege in Perth, police said. Heavily armed officers managed to bring the man to his knees after he threatened to blow up a home in Perth's north-east9 News reported. The Western Australian Police's Tactical Response Group were called out to the home at Elmridge Parkway in Ellenbrook just before 5pm on Thursday. Heavily armed officers managed to bring the elderly man to his knees after he threatened to blow up a home in Perth's north-east 9 News reported The bomb squad, paramedics and officers from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services also showed up in a massive police response. Seven streets surrounding the property were closed to the public and residents turned away from the area. A police command post was set up at the nearby Malvern Springs Primary School. After a two hour long standoff and intense negotiating, the officers managed to place hand cuffs on the elderly man. They also managed to confirm he did not have any explosives. He was led into the back of an ambulance and it is believed he was taken to hospital. Western Australia Police told News.com the fiasco was likely a 'mental health event'. The bomb squad, paramedics and officers from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services also showed up in a massive police response Seven streets surrounding the property were closed to the public and residents turned away from the area The online media outlet said a dispute between residents in a public housing estate may have sparked the threats. The saga followed on from an unrelated shooting earlier that day, where police shot dead a man. Police were called out to a domestic dispute in Beechboro, in Perth's north east at 4.30pm. A spokesman for the force said the incident was 'family related' and an officer had fatally shot a knife-wielding man. Furious Scottish Tories accused Theresa May of selling out Britain's fishermen today claiming her new Brexit pact paved the way for EU states to be given rights to trawl in UK waters. The Prime Minister has repeatedly vowed to take the UK out of the hated Commons Fisheries Policy and reclaim its rights as an independent coastal state. But the Brexit political declaration commits the UK to thrash out a new fishing agreement that is set to include access to waters and quotas. The concession has sparked anger with Scottish Tory MPs and the SNP forging a rare alliance to condemn it. Scottish Tory MP Ross Thomson, a Brexiteer, lashed it, saying: 'This means sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal. 'That is unacceptable. We must be a normal independent coastal state like Norway.' Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkins also blasted the fisheries pact, saying the deal effectively means that if the UK don't give the EU access to the country's waters 'then we don't get a deal'. Scottish Tory Ross Thomson (pictured, left, outside Westminster) and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon (pictured right, in Dundee on Monday) have both lashed the PM Brexit deal for betraying fishermen - but the claims have been furiously denied by sources at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Scottish Tory MP Ross Thomson lashed Theresa May's Brexit blueprint, warning it sacrifices the UK's sovereignty over it own waters. The PM is facing the political battle of her life to get her deal through an overwhelmingly hostile Pariament Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP and Scotland's First Minister, also lashed the PM's Brexit deal just minutes after it leaked out SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon also joined the chorus of criticism - accusing the PM of using fishermen as a 'bargaining chip' in the trade talks. She warned that Britain may not pull out of the CFP until after the transition period - meaning EU boats will be able to trawl in UK waters for years to come. She said: 'Looks to me like fishing will be a bargaining chip in wider trade negotiation (within the context of the overall economic partnership). 'The UK Government was trying to get a commitment to annual agreements on access - looks like they failed. Another Tory sell out of fishing on the cards. 'And if wider trade negotiation not agreed by July 2020, nor will fishing agreement (best endeavours not a guarantee) - and possibility of 2 year transition kicks in. 'So not guaranteed to be out of CFP by end 2020.' But while Scots were screaming betrayal, Scottish Secretary David Mundell fiercely defended the deal. He said: 'The PM has fiercely resisted the efforts of EU States to make an explicit link between access to our waters and access to markets. 'We will negotiate and decide, as an independent coastal state, on access and quota on an annual basis just like Norway and Iceland do now.' And sources at Michael Gove's Environment Department were insisting they had won some hard-fought concessions and delivered on promises to reclaim Britain's sovereign rights overs its waters. Sources said the UK's 'red lines' on fishing had been protected, and that a push by the EU to keeps its current access to UK waters had been defeated. The furious row erupted after Mrs May today dramatically sealed her Brexit deal with Brussels after talks ran late into the night. The Prime Minister (pictured outside No10 today) has repeatedly vowed to take the UK out of the hated Commons Fisheries Policy and reclaim its rights as an independent coastal state The PM addressed the country on the steps of Downing Street- hailing her deal as the best one for Britain. She said: 'This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the result of the referendum.' In a stark message to MPs as an historic Commons showdown looms, Mrs May added: The British people want this to be settled. They want to get a deal that sets us on a course for a brighter future. That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it. The rallying call came after EU Council President Donald Tusk said the 'future framework' outlining terms of a trade deal had been agreed by negotiators. It has now been sent to EU capitals ahead of a summit in Brussels on Sunday - which could yet be derailed by last-minute wrangling from Spain over Gibraltar. In possible concessions to help Mrs May get the deal through the Commons, the 26-page document makes clear that Britain will have an 'independent trade policy'. And it stresses both sides' 'determination to replace the backstop' for the Irish border with alternative plans in future - potentially reviving the 'Max Fac' technological solution favoured by Brexiteers. Hundreds of residents have been evacuated from an apartment block after smoke engulfed the building. The large blaze damaged a number of apartments in the complex in Zetland, an inner-eastern suburb of Sydney, on Thursday evening. Emergency services were called to the scene on Bindon Place at about 6.20pm after reports of a fire in a number of bins next to the apartment block. The large blaze damaged a number of apartments in the complex in Zetland, an inner-eastern suburb of Sydney, on Thursday evening The fire was amplified by extreme weather conditions as wind spread the blaze from the bins and to the complex. About 250 residents were evacuated from the building as about 50 firefighters extinguished the blaze. One person who attempted to assist putting out the blaze was treated by paramedics for smoke inhalation. An elderly woman, who was distressed, was also treated. The first level suffered structural damage and the second and third level received minor damage from the fire and smoke. About 250 residents were evacuated from the building as about 50 firefighters extinguished the blaze Emergency services were called to the scene on Bindon Place at about 6.20pm after reports of a fire in a number of bins next to the apartment block A police spokeswoman said three units were significantly damaged and those residents wouldnt be able to return on Thursday evening. The fire is now under investigation by detectives from Redfern Police Area Command and is being treated as suspicious. Anyone with information is urged to contact police - especially sightings of anyone acting suspiciously around Bindon Place, or Defries Avenue in Zetland, between 6pm and 6.20pm. The police officer who was poisoned in the Salisbury nerve agent attack has been forced out of his home and had his possessions sealed away over fears of contamination, he has revealed. Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey has told of the 'emotional battering' he has suffered after he became an accidental victim of the attempt to kill former spy Sergei Skripal. Mr Bailey, who was left fighting for his life after visiting the Skripal home in Salisbury in March, said tonight: 'We lost everything.' Speaking to BBC's Panorama programme tonight he revealed how his whole body was 'juddering' and was 'dripping with sweat' after he was poisoned in the Salisbury novichok attack. Russian double agent Mr Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were targeted with the deadly nerve agent Novichok in a failed assassination attempt in March. The latest revelations came as police released new CCTV footage of the two suspects taking photos in Salisbury. Police warned last night there could still be hazardous materials in the city. Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey has broken his silence on his horrifying ordeal that left him fighting for life in hospital and is interviewed for Panorama on BBC One tonight The home of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury (left) that DS Nick Bailey (right) visited after the pair were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury city centre Speaking tonight, the Wiltshire Police officer said: 'I describe it as emotional battering and psychological impact. 'It's taken longer to deal with just because of everything that has happened to us. Not only did we lose the house, we lost all of our possessions, including everything the kids owned, we lost all that, the cars. 'We lost everything. And yeah it's been very difficult to kind of come to terms with that.' In the hours that followed the attack Mr Bailey became gravely ill as medics faced a race against time to save him from the affects of the poison. He said: 'Everything was juddering. My whole body was just dripping with sweat. I was petrified.' It was not until 15 days after the attack that detectives realised the Skripals and Nick Bailey had come into contact with Novichok when it was sprayed on the door handle of the former spy's home. Mr Bailey said: 'I didn't understand how it had happened, scared because it's the fear of the unknown because it's such a dangerous thing to have in your system. 'Knowing how the other two [Yulia and Sergei Skripal] were or how badly they'd been affected by it, I was petrified. A specially made model of the counterfeit 'Nina Ricci' perfume bottle, released by police tonight as they continue to appeal for information about the attempted assassination Wiltshire Police officer Nick Bailey (pictured) said he had suffered an 'emotional battering' after he was accidentally caught up in the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal Russian poison bottle 'had enough Novichok to kill thousands' The detective leading the Salisbury investigation has said the Novichok bottle had enough poison to kill thousands of people. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon said: 'We started off with not knowing anything at all so it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. 'But actually at that stage we didn't even have a haystack so we had to build the data from literally the start.' 'We had seized over 11,000 hours of CCTV, that was a massive task. We were sifting through the CCTV and we had a kind of gotcha moment of we identified the attackers. 'We were now onto them. I don't think they expected to be captured on CCTV in the way that they were.' 'When we found it there was a significant amount of Novichok contained within the bottle.' Asked how many people it could have killed he said: 'It's difficult to say, you know, possibly into the thousands 'The amount that was in the bottle and the way it was applied to the Skripals home address was completely reckless.' Advertisement 'I don't know whether, if it's gone through the gloves, I don't know whether I could have adjusted my face mask and my goggles whilst I was in the house with it being on my hand. 'It's such an outrageous, dangerous way of doing something that it angered me as well because any number of people could have been affected by that.' Describing his time in intensive care, he said: 'I was conscious, throughout the whole time. 'It was painful at the beginning. I had lots of injections. I had five or six infusions at any one time in my arms. 'One of the Skripals was in the room right next to me. It was all guarded by the police.' Last night police released further footage of the two men and a model of the counterfeit perfume bottle used to target the Skripals. One clip shows Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov arriving at Salisbury railway station while another shows them walking past a petrol station near Mr Skripal's home. Police are still urging the public to come forward with any information and warned people not to handle potentially dangerous unknown objects. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon said: 'We remain as determined as ever to identify and bring to justice all those responsible for the reckless acts that left four people critically ill and, tragically, saw Dawn Sturgess lose her life. Alexander Petrov (pictured right) has now been revealed as Dr Alexander Mishkin. Ruslan Boshirov (pictured left) was revealed two weeks ago as Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga 'We are progressing a number of active lines of enquiry but one of the key things we are still to identify is where the counterfeit perfume bottle was between the time we think it was discarded on the afternoon of 4 March, to when Charlie Rowley says he found it on 27 June. 'If you think you saw the pink box or bottle anywhere in the Salisbury area during that time, then please get in touch with us.' Warning of a possible continued danger, police said: 'Despite meticulous and painstaking searches, and although unlikely, it is impossible to guarantee that there are no other materials present in the Salisbury area. 'As such, we continue to repeat the advice from Public Health England; that people should not pick up items which do not belong to them.' In the BBC programme investigators speak to scientists and police involved in the investigation, along with DS Bailey and a friend of Dawn Sturgess who died months later, after she and partner Charlie Rowley came in contact with the nerve agent in a perfume bottle. Mr Bailey told the programme: 'I was in absolute shock when I heard about what happened to these two people and my heart goes out to Dawn and her family because I was able to walk out of hospital and sadly she wasn't.' An aerial view of police on the scene in Salisbury as forensic investigators looked for clues in the aftermath of the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal Korobov was reportedly blamed for the response to the deaths of Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia who were poisoned by the chemical agent novichok in Salisbury in March Officers wearing chemical protection suits secure the forensic tent over the bench where the former Soviet spy fell ill Asked if Mr Bailey should have been better protected, Wiltshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills said: 'I guess hindsight's a wonderful thing. 'The emergency services, they will respond to what's in front of them. 'Unless there's something obvious which would indicate that actually they should be wearing personal protective equipment which gives them that higher level of protection, then we take things as we find them.' A scientist at the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down has also spoken about the moment he identified the Novichok. Professor Tim, whose surname cannot be revealed for security reasons, said: 'It was a jaw dropping moment. 'I went through a number of emotions from disbelief to anger. It's one of the most dangerous substances known. It's quite unique in its ability to poison individuals at very low concentrations.' In September Theresa May revealed that two Russian nationals had been identified as suspects over the attack. British spy agencies concluded the men, who travelled to the UK under the aliases of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were officers for Russian military intelligence unit the GRU. The Prime Minister described the agency as a 'highly disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command'. Following a widely-dismissed television denial, in which the pair claimed they were simply tourists visiting the cathedral city, their 'real' identities were revealed weeks later. Dawn Sturgess, left, who died following exposure to the nerve agent, and her partner Charlie Rowley, right What is the Novichok nerve agent used against the Skripals? Novichok was secretly developed by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold war in the 1970s and 1980s. Communist scientists developed the poison so it would not be able to be detected by Nato's chemical detection equipment. They come in the form of a ultra-fine powder, Novichok is up to eight times more potent than the deadly VX gas. Victims who are poisoned by the powder suffer muscle spasms, breathing problems and then cardiac arrest. There is a known antidote to the nerve agent - atropine can block the poison. But doctors find it very tricky to administer the antidote because the dose would have to be so high it could prove fatal for the person. Advertisement Investigative website Bellingcat said it had established Boshirov's true identity, reporting he was actually Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga, a highly decorated officer in the GRU. Bellingcat later said Petrov's real identity was Alexander Mishkin, a military doctor in the GRU. Both men had been awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation from Mr Putin, the investigators said. The Bellingcat claims followed the president's assertion that the men were civilians and had been discounted as members of his security network. Mr Skripal was given refuge in the UK in 2010 after a 'spy-swap' which saw 10 Russian sleeper agents expelled from the United States. Accused of acting as a double agent after leaving the GRU in 1999, he was serving a 13-year prison sentence for allegedly working for MI6. Russia has continuously denied attempting to kill him. Panorama's investigation comes as the head of Russian military intelligence, which stands accused over the fatal Salisbury Novichok attack, has died. General Colonel Igor Korobov had suffered a 'serious and long illness' and died on Wednesday, the Russian Defence Ministry told the state-backed Tass news agency. CCTV image of Russian nationals Dr Alexander Mishkin (right) and Anatoliy Chepiga (left), pictured in Salisbury General Colonel Igor Korobov (pictured), the chief of Russia's spy agency has died - weeks after he collapsed following a dressing down from Vladimir Putin The 63-year-old was hailed as a 'true son of Russia' and had led the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces - also known as the GRU - for several years. The agency is believed to be Russia's largest foreign intelligence outfit, with agents deployed all over the world, and is suspected of using cyber warfare and disinformation campaigns to achieve its goals. Panorama: Salisbury Nerve Agent Attack The Inside Story, is on tonight at 8pm, BBC One Now looking even more shaky... The 'farcical' RT interview that saw the would-be assassins claim they were innocent civilians Revelations about the military background of Colonel Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga make the interview he gave to RT in September alongside the second suspected assassin Alexander Petrov appear even more farcical. Observers quickly pointed out a number of gaping holes in their story, including: The 'accidental' visit to Skripal's home CCTV released by police places the two suspects at Sergei Skripal's suburban house. Today the men admitted they may have ended up there - but claimed it was an accident. The property, which had Novichok smeared on the door, is 25 minutes away from the city centre and its cathedral - which the men said they were there to see. Ruslan Boshirov said: 'Maybe we passed it, or maybe we didn't. I'd never heard about them before this nightmare started. I'd never heard this name before. I didn't know anything about them'. The hotel 127 miles from Salisbury Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were guests at the City Stay Hotel in Bow, East London, before poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The Metropolitan Police confirmed today that 'low' levels of the nerve agent were found in the two-star 48 a night hotel in May. The men chose a spot some distance from Waterloo - the main rail route to Salisbury - despite making the Wiltshire city the focus of their visit. It is 127 miles from Salisbury. The 'bad' weather Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov claimed that they only stayed in Salisbury because of heavy snow. The pair visited days after the Beast from the East hit Britain bringing unseasonably cold weather. Describing the condition Boshirov said: 'It was impossible to get anywhere because of the snow. We were drenched up to our knees'. But CCTV pictures of the men shows the pavements were largely clear of snow. They also told RT that it snowed in the city that afternoon, but weather maps from that day show sunshine and clear skies. The missing luggage The men went straight from Salisbury to Heathrow for the evening flight. But CCTV suggested that they did not have any luggage with them on their way home. Advertisement Spain doubled down on its threat to 'veto' Brexit today insisting an EU-brokered compromise was not enough. Madrid is insisting the divorce deal is reopened to add new guarantees on Gibraltar, a British territory on the southern Spanish coast. Britain has insisted there will be no concessions and Brussels has called for calm in a bid to stop the last minute flare up from botching Sunday's summit to seal the deal. But Spanish government sources warned today: 'We don't have enough guarantees on Gibraltar and the future relationship with the EU, and our veto to the Brexit deal and the political declaration remains.' The latest intervention comes after a top Spanish bureaucrat compared British sovereignty over Gibraltar to the Soviet Union's control of East Germany during angry exchanges over Brexit. Pablo Garcia-Berdoy 'shouted' at his German counterpart as permanent representative to the EU, Michael Clauss, as Mr Clauss urged Madrid not to derail Brexit over Gibraltar. Theresa May (pictured today in Downing Street) spoke to the Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez last night in a bid to end the diplomatic flare up that has rocked the final phase of the negotiations Madrid made clear today it remained deeply unhappy with the future status of the Rock (file), insisting any future UK-EU trade must not apply there without a Spanish say. Last night tensions over The Rock rose as Spain's Prime Minister vowed to 'veto' Brexit unless the UK made concessions before a summit of Eu leaders on Sunday. Mr Garcia-Berdoy's disagreement came on Tuesday as officials worked behind the scenes to secure an agreement that would provide the framework for Sunday's meeting. One diplomat present told The Times the Spaniard told his German colleague: 'We supported the unification of Germany. Where is the solidarity now?' Spain's Prime Minister last night warned he would 'veto Brexit' unless the withdrawal deal was changed to offer new guarantees on Gibraltar. The Rock has become a last-minute sticking point in Brexit talks as Madrid warned a future UK-EU trade deal could not apply in Gibraltar without a Spanish say. Pedro Sanchez, who has spoken to Theresa May in a bid to make a breakthrough ahead of Sunday's EU summit, said tonight: 'Our positions remain far away. 'My Government will always defend the interests of Spain. If there are no changes, we will veto Brexit.' Luis Marco Aguiriano, Spanish minister for the EU, earlier accused Theresa May and the EU of 'acting under the cover of darkness' over Gibraltar. Britain's PM has vowed to deliver a deal for the 'whole UK family' including Gibraltar and other overseas territories. Spain cannot outright veto the Brexit deal at Sunday's summit to sign off the divorce but Brussels will be desperate to get unanimous agreement from EU leaders. Mr Aguiriano said an article in the draft Brexit text had been added 'under the cover of darkness and with treachery' behind Spain's back. Madrid has vented its anger at article 184 of the draft deal, which says the EU and the UK will seek to 'negotiate rapidly the agreements governing their future relationship' between the official day of withdrawal on 29 March 2019 and the end of a transition period in December 2020.' EU sources have made clear irritation at Spain's decision to try and reopen the issue of Gibraltar at the 11th hour of the talks. Brussels spokesman Margaritis Schinas confirmed today 'work is continuing' to resolve differences over Gibraltar, the tiny territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula that was ceded to Britain in 1713 but is still claimed by Spain. 'There are ideas, contacts are ongoing,' Schinas said, without providing further details. Last year's EU guidelines on the Brexit negotiations effectively gave Spain veto powers over future relations between the bloc and the British overseas territory. Mr Sanchez had said on Tuesday that his government 'cannot accept' Gibraltar's future being determined by negotiations at the EU level. Spain 's Prime Minister tonight warned he would 'veto Brexit ' unless the withdrawal deal was changed to offer new guarantees on Gibraltar Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (pictured) said on Tuesday that his government 'cannot accept' Gibraltar's future being determined by negotiations at the EU level Following the call between Mr Sanchez and Mrs May on Wedneday night, a Downing Street spokesman said: '(Mrs May) said there had been good engagement between the UK, the Government of Spain and the Government of Gibraltar in order to come to an agreement in the Withdrawal Agreement and associated package of Memoranda of Understanding relating to Gibraltar. 'She said that the UK and Government of Gibraltar looked forward to these discussions continuing as we discuss the future relationship. 'The Prime Minister reiterated her commitment to agreeing a deal that works for the whole UK family including Gibraltar, the other UK Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies.' Best for Britain champion and former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron MP said: 'This spat over Gibraltar could potentially sink Theresa May's bad Brexit deal once and for all. 'The people of Gibraltar must not be used as pawns in a political game between Whitehall and Brussels. 'The political declaration released today did not mention Gibraltar once. It seems to me that this declaration is all about unicorns and the never never rather than about facts. With issues with Scottish Tories and the DUP on one side and the Spanish government on the other the government looks like it is stuck between a rock and a hard plaice. 'I worry that in this messy divorce we might be leaving one of the children behind.' Paedophile Vanessa George has changed her name ahead of her possible release from prison in the New Year Britain's most notorious female paedophile Vanessa George has changed her identity ahead of being released from prison, it has emerged. The child abuser, from Plymouth, Devon, was jailed in 2009 after taking 64 pictures of herself harming babies and toddlers at a city nursery. George is now eligible for parole and has changed her name in prison, reverting to her maiden name of Vanessa Sylvia Marks, it was revealed today. The change comes after her divorce from husband Andrew who has said he would 'jump for joy' if she killed herself. It is likely George, who was jailed alongside four others, will take on yet another identity for her own protection when she is released from her Surrey prison. She has been eligible for parole since December 2016 and a hearing is expected in the New Year, meaning she could be set free at the start of 2019, the Plymouth Herald reported. It comes after her divorce from husband Andrew, who had disowned his ex-wife and says he would be happy if she were dead. Her daughters Grace and Pearl say they'll never talk to her The mother of two described herself to her internet lover Colin Blanchard as a 'paedo whore mum'. She worked at Little Teds nursery in Efford, Plymouth, until her arrest on June 9, 2009 on suspicion of sexually assaulting a number of pre-school children in her care. In all she admitted to a total of seven sexual assaults of young children and six counts of distributing and making indecent pictures of children. She is thought to have sent pictures to her internet lover. During her sentencing Judge Mr Justice Royce said the case had caused 'widespread revulsion and incredulity' and had 'rocked the city of Plymouth'. Videos of a Taiwanese Buddhist master having drug-fuelled gay sex parties have been leaked. Buddhist master Kai Hung, once an aspiring figure in Taiwan's religious world, is seen saying 'do you want more', 'I love my husband' and 'my husband is super amazing' in an incoherent manner in one of the clips released by local news outlet Mirror Media on Monday. While two other clips show the monk, reported to be 29 years old, taking drugs and having sex with different men. Footage released by Taiwan's Mirror Media shows Buddhist master Kai Hung saying 'I love my husband' and 'my husband is super amazing' during an alleged drug-fueled sex party So far, three explicit clips have been published, but Mirror Media reported Kai Hung had had a total of 200 gigabytes of footage filmed of his wild gatherings. Kai Hung is said to lead a 'chaotic' lifestyle involving sex and meat, which are strictly prohibited by the Buddhist philosophy. According to Mirror Media's report, the footage was leaked by another monk as an act of revenge. The other monk, called Shan Zhi, was said to be Kai Hung's jilted ex-lover who had become a monk in order to be with Kai Hung. The article also said the couple fell out when Kai Hung was expelled from Tongshan Temple in eastern Taiwan's Miaoli County in September because of his 'behavioural problems'. Mirror Media's investigation discovered that Kai Hung had the long-term habit of using drugs and often organised sex parties with monks and other men at the temple. Afterwards, Kai Hung reportedly moved to another temple in the same county, called Chongfo, to 'study Buddhist doctrine'. The monk, said to be 29 years old, has also been accused of taking drugs during the party. Mirror Media reported his act had been caught on one of his leaked sex tapes (pictured) Kai Hung was previously the secretary-general of the Chinese Young Buddhist Association, and was regarded as an up-and-coming Buddhist star, reported Taiwan's Liberty Times Net. Prosecutors and police on Tuesday launched a raid into the Chongfo Temple after the scandalous footage had emerged on the internet, reported Taipei Times today, citing Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau. Officers reportedly found 19 grams of amphetamine tablets in Kai Hung's chamber as well as Viagra and condoms. They also discovered that Kai Hung had replaced the holy water in his room with lubricant, reports said. Kai Hung was arrested. Kai Hung was reportedly the secretary-general of the Chinese Young Buddhist Association Investigators said Kai Hung had admitted to using drugs and filming sex acts. But contrary to what Mirror Media reported, Kai Hung reportedly confessed to the investigators that he had posted the videos onto the internet himself. Kai Hung denied providing drugs to others or taking people to the temple to consume drugs, it is reported. Taiwan authorities are also looking into possible criminal breaches of privacy following the appearance of Kai Hung's videos online. Kai Hung was released on bail of NT$100,000 (2,512) yesterday. Further investigation is underway. The crocodile tears of a former EastEnders actress who protected the partner guilty of murdering her six-year-old daughter have been laid bare for the first time. Jennie Gray used her acting skills to fake sadness in a police interview after tragic Ellie Butler was killed in a fit of rage by her violent and abusive father Ben Butler. Body language experts have now revealed Gray gave away crucial clues that she was lying during the interrogation - including holding a tissue as a prop without shedding any tears and her failure to say her daughter's name in any of her answers. Jennie Gray used her acting skills to fake sadness in a police interview after tragic Ellie Butler was killed in a fit of rage by her violent and abusive father Ben Butler Ellie was found dead on her bedroom floor in October 2013 with 'catastrophic head injuries' compared to car crash victim and Butler was jailed for 23 years in 2016 Ellie was found dead on her bedroom floor in October 2013 with 'catastrophic head injuries' compared to car crash victim and Butler, 38, was jailed for 23 years in 2016. Gray, 38, was convicted of perverting the course of justice after trying to 'cover-up' to protect the sadistic Butler, in footage which can be seen here for the first time. In a new documentary, Faking It: Tears Of A Crime, experts in psychology, body language and speech analyse the footage of Gray, who claims: 'I don't believe Ben's done anything to her'. While the experts also reveal how a tiny head nod and a brief smile gave away the truth, and even suggest Gray gets a kick out of trying to deceive the police. Body Language analyst Cliff Lansley said there is no doubt that Butler killed Ellie. 'I'm pretty convinced the damaged was created by contact with a hard surface of the floor [sic]. His body has told us that.' Gray, 38, was convicted of perverting the course of justice after trying to 'cover-up' to protect the sadistic Butler, in footage which can be seen here for the first time In a new documentary, Faking It: Tears Of A Crime, experts in psychology, body language and speech analyse the footage of Gray, who claims: 'I don't believe Ben's done anything to her' Ellie's tragic story began in 2009 when Butler had taken her to St Helier Hospital in south London with serious head injuries when she was just six weeks old. Doctors quickly diagnosed bleeding on the brain, bleeding in the eye and swelling of brain tissue - all indicators of a deliberately shaken baby. The little girl was also found with burn injuries on her forehead and hand, which Butler claimed were the result of her rolling off a pillow and hitting a radiator while he was looking after her. Ben Butler had Ellie (pictured in his arms) taken away at six weeks after she was apparently shaken and put into care - only to be returned to him later Police investigated and the couple were arrested. But although Gray was later told she faced no further action, Butler was convicted in March 2009 at Croydon Crown Court of grievous bodily harm and cruelty. Butler's excuses: How Ellie's father tried to blame Peppa Pig and a Jack Russell for her injuries Ben Butler caused Ellie Butler's horrific injuries by hitting her over the head with a blunt object or flinging her against a hard surface, according to the jurors' verdict. Here are some of the alternative scenarios put forward as Butler desperately tried to avoid responsibility: Peppa Pig. Butler's defence team suggested the children's DVD was playing in Ellie's bedroom. They said Ellie could have copied the cartoon character who jumps in puddles. In the 999 call, Butler says Ellie has 'fallen down'. Minnie the Jack Russell puppy. Butler said he was convinced Ellie suffered her head injury around October 10 or 11 when she fell chasing Minnie on the stairs. He suggested this injury caused her later death on October 28. Pink Disney Princess child's stool. The 24in high three-legged chair was found upturned by Ellie's body. A defence expert suggested it was possible for her to fall from such a height and suffer a fatal injury - but not two. The prosecution said the scene had been staged. Butler claimed Ellie was physically more fragile than other children. He alleged she had a skull fracture while in the care of others, including her maternal grandparents. A medical expert could not say how old the fracture was. The police. Butler accused investigators of trying to frame him as he had embarrassed them by winning his appeal over the 2007 baby-shaking case. However, Detective Inspector Dave Reid rubbished Butler's claim, saying the evidence against him was 'overwhelming'. Medical bias. Butler ranted about the 'medical Mafia', saying the establishment was set against him. Advertisement Almost immediately after being sentenced to 18 months behind bars, Butler launched an appeal. Three months later, he was released so he could fight his case, which was based largely on the findings of the second team of medics. The conviction was quashed in 2010, with Lord Justice Moses criticising the original trial judge for failing to properly explain to the jury that Ellie had made a full recovery. After Butler's victory, his confidence grew. By this point, Ellie had been taken into the care of the London Borough of Sutton before being placed with her maternal grandparents. Butler was only allowed supervised access to Ellie for two hours, twice a year, at a social services contact centre, while Gray was only allowed access six times a year, because of her continual support of her abusive husband. The pair then fought an audacious and very public battle to win back their little girl. In a series of interviews about their alleged ordeal, they lambasted officials for 'stealing' their child without any justification. It then led to the the family courts where in October 2012 Mrs Justice Hogg made court order exhonerating Butler and Gray and returning Ellie to their care. At the time, Mr Gray, who had cared for Ellie since she was a baby, warned the judge she would have 'blood on her hands'. After Ellie was returned to her parents she suffered a series of bumps to the head which the couple put down to 'clumsiness' and falling on the stairs. In October 2013, she broke her shoulder bone but neither Butler nor Gray sought medical treatment for her. And weeks later she was murdered in an 'extreme' and 'catastrophic' beating Butler had claimed Ellie sustained the horrific injuries when she hit her head as she was jumping up and down in her bedroom while watching Peppa Pig. But prosecutors insisted Ellie's injuries were too 'extreme' and 'catastrophic' to have been caused by an accidental fall. The back of Ellie's head was a 'boggy mass', the court heard, and a post-mortem examination attributed her death to Butler either beating her over the head with a heavy object or throwing her against the floor or wall. The homeless father charged with killing his baby girl 'sung' his young university-educated girlfriend forcing her to stay by him, according to friends of the couple. Edy Johnson, 53, a woman who lives at Jack Evans Boat Harbour in Tweed Heads, on the New South Wales and Queensland border, explained that being 'sung' to means you can't move on past the relationship. 'They can put a song in that person's head and it makes them come back to that person that sung them,' she told The Australian. 'Once you are sung, you can't get out of that relationship and that's what happened here'. Scroll down for video The woman, 23, who cannot be named for legal reasons, studied for a Bachelor of Psychology Services at Deakin University in Victoria The startling comments come after revelations the parents of the nine-month-old girl, who washed up on Surfers Paradise Beach on Monday, had very different lives. She had what you would consider a very normal upbringing. But shes battle mental issues and has unfortunately just got mixed up with the wrong people, a member of the girl's family told Daily Mail Australia. The 23-year-old mother had a middle-class upbringing and attended private school. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attended the fee-paying Clonard College, in Geelong. She was a model student in 2011 while he was in court in north Queensland - a troubled homeless man who was addicted to alcohol. She went on to study for a Bachelor of Psychology Services at Deakin University in Victoria, where she was a model student. The father of a baby girl found dead after washing up on a Gold Coast beach has been charged with murder According to what the accused murderer told his relatives, the couple met during her studies in Melbourne. A cousin of the accused said he liked to visit places and met the 23-year-old after he saw her in a park. He approached her and began a conversation before the pair quickly 'hit it off'. The cousin said he met other girlfriends of the accused murderer but something seemed off about this pairing. They tried to give their baby girl to relatives about three months ago but not their two-year-old son. Friends of the mother said the birth was a shock but claimed the 23-year-old adored being a mum. It is known the family lived rough and used a rundown black van The 23-year-old attempted to continue her studies before deferring and moving to Queensland. Close friends of the woman reportedly don't know the full details surrounding how the couple came to meet. The 48-year-old father was charged with murder at Tweed Heads Local Court on Thursday. He was extradited from Queensland to NSW on Wednesday night. He did not give an address as he appeared via videolink and did not enter a plea. He was remanded in custody until February 25. When they weren't using the van, they were camping out in makeshift shelters The little girl was found dead in the water (pictured) by a passerby in the early hours of Monday morning Paramedics desperately tried to revive her but she was pronounced dead at the scene The nine-month-old girl was allegedly thrown into the Jack Evans Boat Harbour in Tweed Heads, NSW, and her empty pram left alongside the waterway. The girl's body is believed to have drifted 30km in the current for two days before being washed up at a Surfers Paradise beach. She was found naked on the beach with her nappy nearby after emergency services were called to the scene on Monday. The couple were homeless and living with their baby in a hut made of sticks close to the beach where the girl's body was found. 'This is an extremely complex investigation as it crosses jurisdictional boundaries, time zones,' Tweed Police Detective Inspector Brendan Cullen told reporters. The girl's body is believed to have drifted 30km in the current for two days before washing up at Surfers Paradise beach where she was found by passers-by early on Monday The girl, her father, mother and two-year-old sibling were tracked on CCTV travelling from the Gold Coast to Tweed Heads on Saturday, sources familiar with the case told AAP on Wednesday. Queensland Police later captured images of the parents and the two-year-old catching a bus at Coolangatta and returning to Queensland. Queensland Police Service launched an investigation with NSW Police Force detectives assisting. The matter was handed over to NSW Police Force once it was deemed the death happened in that state. Homicide Squad and Tweed/Byron Police District detectives now lead the investigation under Strike Force Palua. Tributes have been laid out for the nine-month-old girl who was found dead on Monday morning One included a touching letter lamenting that more was not done to save her young life Queensland Police made several formal notifications to the Department of Child Safety about the baby, who was living rough. The family had been placed into emergency accommodation, but the parents chose to leave. At an extradition hearing on Wednesday the baby's father faced the court wearing just a white hospital gown. The hearing was briefly delayed because the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faced a number of charges that had to be dealt first. Southport Magistrates Court was told he was a violent schizophrenic who had previously tried to attack a Gold Coast City Council officer who was warning him not to camp in the sand dunes with his family. The discovery of the nine-month-old baby at the Surfers Paradise beach has sent shockwaves across the country and left a pair of local women in mourning Police established a crime scene at the Surfers Paradise beach (right), a far cry from the glitz and glamour that is normally associated with Surfers Paradise (left) He had hurled abuse at the officer, calling him a 'c***', and threatened him with an 1.5 metre stick. The enraged man had also thrown bottles at the terrified council worker. Defence lawyer Sunil Dutt told the court the father was trying to protect his family and that he had a history of alcoholism, drug addiction and violence. Mr Dutt went on to make clear his client was also on a disability pension. Mr Costanzo sentenced the man to 12 months' jail after he pleaded guilty to public nuisance. It is understood the girl's mother, a 23-year-old transient, has been released from police custody without charge and may be treated as a witness. She is now under the care of Queensland mental health services. Her eldest child is also in state care. Queensland detectives have been 'deeply distressed' by the circumstance of the child's death, the sources said. Thomas Fallon, 25, admitted child abduction but walked free from court after a judge said he 'behaved entirely properly' during the trip A man who took a 15-year-old girl on a seven-day 'excursion' has walked free from court after a judge said he 'behaved entirely properly' during the trip. Police launched a week-long manhunt for Thomas Fallon, 25, after he went missing with the girl in September. She was reported missing after failing to return home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire after telling her mother she was on the way back from Harrogate. Fallon, who has been on remand since he was caught by police, admitted child abduction and was told by Judge Jeremy Richardson that he had been 'very foolish'. However the judge praised Fallon for his behaviour during his time with the girl, adding that his punishment from the court should be in 'proportion' to the crime. He told Sheffield Crown Court: 'According to her, he behaved entirely properly towards her in a way that's, perhaps, unusual in this day and age. 'It's most unfortunate that it's actually a crime but it's an unhappy situation, for everybody concerned.' Police launched a week-long manhunt for Thomas Fallon (pictured) after he went missing with the girl earlier this year Fallon was jailed for three months by Judge Richardson, but released immediately due to the amount of time he had spent on remand. Judge Richardson told him: 'You must be punished but I must keep a sense of proportion.' He said: 'You have been more than adequately punished over the last few weeks.' As he left the dock, Fallon said to the judge: 'I think you've been fair, thank you'. Fallon was jailed for three months by Judge Richardson on Thursday, but released immediately due to the amount of time he had spent on remand Neil Coxon, prosecuting, described how the 15-year-old girl met Fallon and they started what she told police was 'a sort of relationship' which involved some kissing and cuddling but no sexual activity. Mr Coxon said she was having some issues in the area where lived, which the judge summarised as being 'fed up with her situation'. He said she left home on September 22 and travelled by train and taxi to Harrogate, where she met Fallon. The pair then travelled to Edinburgh where they stayed until a cafe owner called the police on September 30. Mr Coxon said the pair stayed with friends of Fallon in Edinburgh, with the girl taking a bed and the defendant sleeping on the sofa, but also camped for some of the nights. The judge was told that the girl's mother had outlined her deep concerns in a victim personal statement which was not read out in court. Judge Richardson said he understood that the mother was 'understandably very troubled by what has happened', but hoped his comments in court would help her understand what happened. He said Fallon and the girl appeared to have 'run off together' and she had a 'level of infatuation' with the defendant. Fallon admitted child abduction and was told by Judge Jeremy Richardson (pictured) that he had been 'very foolish' The judge said to the defendant: 'This girl went entirely voluntarily. There was no coercion on your part. Furthermore, there was no sexual impropriety. It was, however, very foolish.' He said there was evidence that Fallon had encouraged the girl to return home during the 'excursion to Scotland' but she did not want to go back. He said: 'You have committed a crime but it's important, however, that I look at this case realistically.' Fallon, of Harrogate, has previous convictions for theft and drugs offences, the court heard. In 2012, Richardson spared a sex attacker who stalks schoolgirls from jail after telling the court he sympathised with his frustration that he had never had a 'full sexual relationship'. Andrew Jackson, was told that he deserved a prison sentence but, as he has Aspergers syndrome, sending him to jail would be 'utterly cruel'. Jackson was known to follow young girls on his moped and cause them distress, often by striking up sexual conversations with them. Jackson was given a two-year supervised community order designed to change his behaviour and was ordered to sign the sex offender register. Judge Richardson said justice demanded he took a 'thoroughly exceptional course and show that the courts were not without compassion' by ignoring sentencing guidelines and sparing Jackson the ordeal of prison. Passing sentence at Hull Crown Court, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, told him: 'You have never had a full sexual relationship it must be very frustrating. 'I wish to make it plain you deserve to be sent to prison. But you are very much to be pitied. 'I have a public duty, but it would be quite wrong to impose a cruel punishment.' In August this year, Judge Richardson jailed a woman for two years after she seduced a schoolboy after giving him a sedative pill at a party. Jamie Garrett, 22, gave the 14-year-old boy the party drug Xanax before engaging in a 'variety of sexual acts' with him. Sheffield Crown Court heard the offences happened in August 2016 when Garrett was aged 22 and had been drinking, smoking weed, and taking Xanax herself. A fish and chip shop owner has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife after she died of burns from boiling oil. Grandmother Mavis Bran, 69, died after 320F (160C) liquid fell on her at the takeaway she owned with her husband Geoff, 70, in the Welsh village of Hermon on October 23. She died six days later after sustaining burns to 30 per cent of her body. Her husband, of Carmarthenshire, was arrested on suspicion of assault after her death, but has been re-arrested on suspicion of her murder. Grandmother Mavis Bran, 69 (pictured) died after 320F (160C) liquid fell on her at the takeaway she owned with her husband Geoff, 70, in Hermon, Wales Her husband Geoff Bran, 70, was originally arrested on suspicion of assault but has now been re-arrested on suspicion of her murder Neighbours told of their shock saying the couple were devoted to each other and they had never seen them arguing. One villager said: 'It has come as a surprise, they always seemed a loving couple. 'We heard she slipped and pulled the deep fat fryer onto herself.' The couple came out of retirement after moving to their 550,000 home in the Welsh countryside and getting 'bored' in January, so they decided to open up their own takeaway, calling it Chipoteria. The couple worked hard to build the tiny takeaway in the grounds of their home, which was sealed off by police and a sign saying 'closed due to illness' after the incident last month. Neighbours said they had heard screams after Mrs Bran sustained her horrific burns. They said she had slipped in the kitchen and grabbed the deep fat fryer to steady herself, which saw the burning liquid pour over her. A Dyfed-Powys Police spokesman said today: 'We have re-arrested a 70-year-old man in connection with the death of a 69-year-old woman from Hermon. 'The man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody at this time.' Mrs Bran was known for cheering up the elderly and vulnerable with hearty meals - and not charging a penny. She and her husband had owned several pubs and restaurants in their time, where she was the chef and he looked after the bar. The couple built the log-cabin style restaurant in the grounds of their house and Mrs Bran came up with the name Chipoteria. Within weeks people were driving from miles around to sample her menu. Just a month before the tragedy, Welsh language TV channel S4C filmed a feature on the quirky wooden shack next to the couple's eight-bedroom home. Tragic: Mrs Bran (pictured when she was younger) was known as a 'wonderful cook', making meals for the elderly for free Shocked next-door neighbour Vee Gower, 78, who was with Mrs Bran just 45 minutes before she was burned, said: 'We had just got back from Spain and because she's so lovely and neighbourly we bought her a bottle of brandy. 'She was her usual bouncy self, full of life and asking us about our holiday. 'My husband and Mavis had a little nip of the brandy just to have a taste.' 'She was an amazing cook and fed some of the elderly folk here in the village. 'At Christmas she would have 15 family members around but she would cook enough for 50 people.' Pensioner Bronwen Evans, 83, who lives in the village paid tribute to the grandmother's kindness while she was receiving from a knee operation. Mrs Evans said: 'She was a fantastic cook and so kind to everyone. 'She bought me a meal every day and was always so full of fun - she was very good to everyone here and will be a huge loss to the community.' The couple had both been married before - Mr Bran had a daughter and Mrs Bran a son, but they had no children together. The fish and chip shop has stayed closed since Mrs Bran's death. It is understood there was no customers in the chip shop at the time but Dyfed Powys police want to speak to anyone who visited between 12pm and 3pm on October 23. Six men escaped murder charges, and another three walked free, as an American tourist's father says 'life here in Greece doesn't mean anything' after his son was beaten to death last year. Bakari Henderson, 22, was set upon by the group of mostly Serbs after he was seen talking to a Serbian waitress at the bar in the Laganas resort on Zakynthos in July 2017. Footage showed the youngster chased and body-slammed to the ground outside Bar Code as heavy blows collided with his head from all sides. After the sentencing his father Phil Henderson told CBS News 'a man's life here in Greece doesn't mean anything.' Scroll down for video Soft justice: Jill cries into her husband Phil Henderson's chest, as she spoke of her anger that the men had not been convicted of murder, outside the court house in Patras, Greece University of Arizona student Bakari Henderson (left and right, with a female friend) died from fatal head injuries on the Greek island of Zakynthos Three of the nine suspects are escorted from a prison bus in cuffs earlier today in Patras, Greece Bakari Henderson's family members wait outside court where they hoped to see harsher sentences His mother, Jill Henderson, told the broadcaster: 'You should not be able to chase a man down and beat him to death and not go to jail.' The men punched and kicked him repeatedly for 20 seconds until a woman passer-by stepped in and told them to stop. Henderson was from Austin, Texas, and in May 2017 graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson where he studied Business Finance and Entrepreneurship. His family said he was in Greece with friends doing a photo shoot to launch his own fashion line. They spoke of their dismay at the lenient sentences handed down at the court in the western city of Patras. 'I don't feel that it was justice for a murder,' said Jill Henderson, the victim's mother, outside court. Greek police flank three suspects in handcuffs as they arrive at the court house in Patras, Greece today Another suspect is taken into court by police as he is pulled out of a prison van into a street full of media crews Jill and Phil Henderson leave the court in Patras deeply disappointed with the judgement 'It was more than a simple beating that killed a man and they killed him brutally. They kicked him several times in the head. 'You do not kick a person in the head and in the torso if you don't intend to kill them.' She continued: 'If someone can murder, and there's no justice served, what makes you think that you can send your child to another country and then be safe?' The Hendersons' lawyer, Andreas Patsis, said the family viewed the outcome as too soft on the perpetrators. 'It's a decision that shocked the family. Because, according to our opinion and the prosecutor ... the sentences handed out weren't proportionate to the brutality of the act,' Patsis said. Henderson was left bleeding to death in the street as the attackers milled around his body after raining violent blows into his skull. After five minutes paramedics arrived and Henderson was rushed to hospital, but he was left no chance to survive after the devastating injuries. A Greek coroner ruled that Henderson died from severe injuries to the head and the blows were so severe he could not defend himself. The parents of the victim are surrounded by reporters as the world was shocked by the sickening killing last year The parents of the victim Jill and Phil Henderson arrive at court this morning with a large group of their relatives His college friend Alyssa White said after his death: 'He was the guy who walked around campus and knew everyone. 'He was so determined in life, I mean he had dreams of starting a clothing line and opening his own business and he inspired me to work harder.' Tyler Pittman, another of Henderson's friends, said: 'I guess I'll never meet someone as inspirational and influential as that man. 'He was always positive, always happy, always smiling, laughing, joking...it was always a beautiful day'. One Greek, seven Serbs and a British citizen of Serbian origin were accused of involvement and stood trial. The prosecution had been seeking the conviction of six of the suspects for deliberate homicide, which carries a life sentence, but the court reduced the charge to deliberate bodily harm. The British citizen of Serbian origin was sentenced to 15 years in prison. One of the Serb suspects was sentenced to 10 years, three received seven-year sentences and one other a five-year sentence. Friends and family said Henderson was an aspiring entrepreneur and he was 'so determined in life' and that it was 'always a beautiful day' when was around The court dropped charges against three of the suspects, including the Greek barman who had been accused of blocking Henderson's escape route but not of participating in the beating. The barman was released from prison, where he had been held in custody since his arrest last year. The other two who had charges against them dropped were released on bail and returned to Serbia. They were handed sentences ranging from five to 15 years on reduced charges of deliberate bodily harm. Bizarre footage shows a traffic cone take revenge on a resident of the city most famous for their misuse. The clip from Glasgow shows a young woman with her foot firmly stuck inside a cone on a night out. The woman is seen shrieking and hopping about the streets as various volunteers, including doormen, try unsuccessfully to remove the cone. Clip from Glasgow shows a young woman with her foot firmly stuck inside a cone on night out Glasgow residents are widely acknowledged to be the UK's biggest abusers of traffic cones, with the head of the Duke of Wellington statue in Royal Exchange Square the number one target. But the cones are biting back if the clip anonymously uploaded to social media on Tuesday is anything to go by. The video, which was filmed near the nightclub SWG3, begins with the woman standing in the middle of the road in front of a car, trying to manoeuvre around on one foot. Various people, some who appear to be security staff, try to help woman with her predicament She can then be heard saying: 'I cannae move, I've got a cone stuck on my foot, get to f***'. She then continues to hop down the street. The clip then cuts to her leaning on a wall as a man tells her 'you are a f****** muppet' before she says: 'Gonnae you get this aff my foot, are you a specialist, gonnae get that cone of my f****** foot'. After being asked why did she do this, she says: 'Cos I thought I was heavy wide, didn't!' At one point in the bizarre clip the woman can be seen hopping down the middle of the road When another man comes over to try and help her she then says: 'How the f*** have I ended up like this?' As he asks her to sit down she says: 'Am I f****** sitting doon in that.' On social media, many Facebook users were tagging their friends to see the hilarious footage. The Duke of Wellington Statue is pictured on November 18, 2013 in Glasgow, Scotland One user said: 'Daftie!' It is not known whether she was ever freed from the grip of the traffic cone. The Duke of Wellington statue, located outside the Gallery of Modern Art on Queen Street, is well known for bearing the brunt of the traffic cone humour. Earlier this year, the statue had a total of ten cones on it, as one Twitter user said 'we've hit peak cone'. Last year, the Duke of Wellington's normal orange cone was replaced with a rainbow cone to help celebrate Glasgow Pride. In 2013, the council proposed to raise plinth in an attempt to put off the cone bearers. However, after a 'Keep the Cone' Facebook page gained 72,000 fans within a day, the council dropped the plans. Visa free travel to Europe for holidays and business trips will survive Brexit despite the axing of free movement, the plans for the UK-EU trade deal confirmed today. The political declaration on the final deal said 'short term visits' would be allowed under the law of both Britain and EU states. Students are also likely to be allowed to take places on either side, subject to agreement of the trade deal due to kick in from 2021. Visa free travel to Europe for holidays and business trips will survive Brexit despite the axing of free movement, the plans for the UK-EU trade deal confirmed today (pictured is a short haul flight at London Gatwick) Existing travel links by plane, train and road will also be preserved beyond the Brexit transition. The agreement allows Theresa May to say she has regained control of the border by explicitly getting a permanent end to EU free movement. The draft declaration was agreed in principle today, after negotiators worked through the night. Mrs May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker issued new instructions to negotiators following talks last night. The breakthrough cleared the way for a special summit in Brussels on Sunday, at which leaders of the remaining 27 EU states are expected to give their stamp of approval to both the future framework and a separate withdrawal agreement setting out the terms of the UK's departure. The political declaration on the final deal said 'short term visits' - such as holidays to Paris (pictured) would be allowed under the law of both Britain and EU states Mrs May briefed members of her Cabinet on the new text in a conference call and was addressing MPs in a statement to the House of Commons later in the day. Speaking outside Number 10, she said: 'This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the vote of the referendum, it brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws and it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom.' Confirming that she would return to Brussels on Saturday for further talks with Mr Juncker ahead of the summit, she added: 'The British people want this to be settled, they want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future. 'That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver on it.' The swearing-in ceremony for Wilton Manors newly elected mayor and two commissioners on Nov. 13 drew a standing-room only crowd, media coverage and much applause. But as Justin Flippen, Gary Resnick and Paul Rolli were sworn in as mayor and commissioners respectively, it was also a bittersweet night of farewells: beloved Commissioner Scott Newton lost his bid for re-election on Nov. 6 in the four-way race for two commission seats and would leave the dais for the first time in 18 years. His voice broke with emotion as he said his final goodbyes. I love this community not just because of who we all are but who weve become in these 18 years, said Newton, 60, blinking back tears. Its been a heckuva ride. I love you all and thank you and Ill see you around town. Newton was the only straight member of the Commission and had served as mayor from 2004-2008 and commissioner from 2000-2004 and 2010 to present. Also defeated were Katharine Kat Campbell, 43, who sought a commission seat, and city activist Boyd Corbin, 50, who lost his bid for mayor. Incoming Commissioner Paul Rolli, who had vowed to represent all residents in his quest for office, noted that the citys LGBT population is large, but not a majority. The fact that we now have an all LGBT commission is a historical marker but not necessarily a defining moment, Rolli stated after being sworn in. I ran as a regular resident to represent all residents without any special interests or personal agent. Palm Springs, California became the first city in the nation last year to have an all gay commission, according to the Victory Fund, which tracks LGBT candidates and elected officials. Wilton Manors has the second highest rate of same sex couples in the U.S. and the first highest rate of any city in Florida, according to UCLAs Williams Institute. The city has 125 gay couples per 1,000 compared to San Francisco, which has 30, the Institute said. Wilton Manors resident Emily McCrater, 47, attended the swearing-in ceremony with her 7-year-old son in a show of support. McCrater, who is straight, grew up in Wilton Manors and was thrilled about the citys new distinction. I think its great. Were an inclusive city and we are raising our children here to be inclusive of everyone, straight or gay, she said. We are here because these are the people we voted to represent us. I do think its amazing we are being recognized. Resident Frank Caplan, 72, who identifies as gay, said the new commission represents a greater acceptance. It expresses that things are changing, Caplan said. Im not sure how many voters were aware of who was straight or gay. Im sure there was an element who was concerned about the sexuality of their commissioners but there were many that werent concerned and thats whats encouraging to me. Former Wilton Manors Mayor John Fiore, who was the first gay elected official and first gay mayor in Broward, said having an all-gay commission is a non-event. Besides the honor and uniqueness of the historic significance, it will make no difference, Fiore said. There is no gay way to fix a pothole. The job of running the city is still running the city. During the election, Flippen touted his longtime ties to Wilton Manors and his lifelong connection to Broward County as reasons to elect him mayor. When he ran for office in 2014, he positioned himself as The Peoples Commissioner, because of his grassroots approach to public service, popular appeal and city connections. A project manager with the Greater Fort Lauderdale Conventions and Visitors Bureau, Flippen grew up in Wilton Manors. Hes served six years on the commission from 208-2010 and 2014 to present. Resnick, a lawyer who served as commissioner from 1998-2008 and mayor from 2008 to present, is Floridas longest serving openly gay elected official. Rolli is a retired director of overseas operations for the IRS. The mayors post is a two-year term and the two at-large commission seats are each four-year terms. Have you joined the Gazette's Facebook group? Visit Facebook.com/groups/WMGazette to join the discussion. The Gazette welcomes feedback for its community initiative. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with comments, suggestions, etc. Advertisement Four lions who were born into freezing captivity in a circus in Ukraine have been rescued and taken to Africa after spending three days travelling nearly 8,000 miles by car and plane - where they even enjoyed an adorable snooze together. After the 76-hour journey from crate to enclosure, the big cats arrived in South Africa, where they took their first steps of freedom today. Lioness twins Charlie and Kai, four, and their younger sister Luca, three, have only ever known bars and cages since being born into the circus. Nathan, then a tiny lion cub, joined them just over a year ago and also faced a life of captivity and performing for the amusement of humans. But in a heartwarming twist, the lions were rescued by an animal activist, South African expat Lionel De Lange, 53, from the Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization Ukraine (LAEO). Lioness twins Charlie and Kai, four, and their younger sister Luca, three, have only ever known bars and cages since being born into the circus (pictured together). Nathan, then a tiny lion cub, joined them just over a year ago The four lions have now been rescued from captivity and taken nearly 8,000 miles by car and plane to their new home, a nature reserve in South Africa Mr De Lange, who now lives in Ukraine, has made a career of rescuing animals in eastern Europe, and has already rescued some bears since arriving arriving in the country and meeting his wife Anya. To save the lions, he raised nearly 32,000 to fly and drive them nearly 8,000 miles to South Africa. People from around the world contributed to Mr De Lange's efforts, buying T-shirts, prints and pledging donations. Animal relocation specialists Intradco Global, along with Turkish Cargo, helped the lions make the 10-hour flight from Istanbul to Johannesburg on Tuesday. And today the animals took their first steps on African soil at the Kragga Kamma Game Reserve. Video and pictures show lioness Kai enjoying the enclosure before being joined by the others. At Kragga Kamma the lions now have 14,000 square metres of lush African bush, a huge contrast from the 40 square metre cage they used to call home. Speaking today, Mr De Lange, who traveled down with his wife Anya and Ukrainian vet Mikhail, said the four lions took their first ever steps on Africa soil after having a breakfast of impala served up for them. The lions were all sedated as they were flown to South Africa. Pictured are the vets who travelled with the lions to the Kragga Kamma Game Reserve Here, you can see two of the three lioness taking their first steps in Africa today at Kragga Kamma Game Reserve after travelling 76 hours from Ukraine Lioness Kai, pictured, was the first big cat to walk on African soil after their arduous journey, with excited locals watching the animals stretch their legs He said: 'It was at 8.45am this morning, under an African sky and after a breakfast of impala. It was unbelievable, I almost can't put it into words. 'It was a hard trip but the vet checked them over and once the anaesthetic wore off they were ready, after travelling for more than 76 hours from crate to enclosure. 'Six weeks ago, I didn't think we'd get this far, and six months ago I didn't think we'd make it, but we have. Mr De Lange said that excitement about the lion arriving had spread across the local area. He said: 'On the flight down from Johannesburg we even had air traffic control calling us asking where we were because so many people were waiting for us. 'It was incredible from the plane we could see all the people waiting for us. 'In the end we landed on a beautiful air strip by the sea and we put the lions into utes and got them to the park.' The lions were rescued by an animal activist, South African expat Lionel De Lange, 53, from the Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization Ukraine Nathan, pictured as a cub, was rescued alongside the other three lionesses. He formed a bond with transport worker Paul Ketchell, 51, who helped Mr De Lange Mr De Lange and his wife Anya pictured standing with the crates the lions were transported in. Mr De Lange is already planning to launch another rescue of bears and lions in Ukraine Mr De Lange thanked the 'amazing generosity' and donations from individuals, sponsors and companies around the world. He said: 'As everyone says here, it takes a village, and everyone just banded together. Just the flights six months ago was at 27,000 and I think we negotiated that and got that down. 'I think we are sitting at around 32,000 for flights and everything, plus another 14,000 at this end. 'All over the world people have banded together to give big donations, small donations, everyone has worked together. 'I've got one lady in the US who gives two dollars a month for the last three years, I say thank you to everyone for their donations, but I write that lady a little message every time, because it's those two dollars that help make up the big money.' Despite his mammoth journey rescuing the lions, Mr De Lange is already planning to launch another rescue of bears and lions in Ukraine. The lions have only ever known bars and cages since being born into the circus and faced a life of captivity and performing for the amusement of humans They were kept in freezing and appalling conditions with the snow and the cold a world away from the African game reserved they have been moved to Nathan the cub hasn't been introduced to the lionesses yet and Mr De Lange said: 'We hope that Nathan and three girls will bond, otherwise we will have to fight to find a mate for Nathan' He said: 'For now the future for these for lions is to be what they were born to be, just lions, lie around in the sun, get fed and just relax and not have to live in their own urine and faeces. 'They've got a monster enclosure here, 14,000 m2, so 1.4 hectares, it's probably one of the biggest and nicest enclosures that I've seen for the number of lions that are in it. 'We hope that Nathan and three girls will bond, otherwise we will have to fight to find a mate for Nathan because he needs somebody, he just wants company.' Ayesha Cantor and her husband Mike run the Kragga Kamma Game Reserve, and Mike is actually an old school friend of Mr De Lange. The couple have invested R250,000 (around 14,000) building the new enclosure for the lions which has been dug into the earth to allow the public to view and learn about the big cats. Mr De Lange, who now lives in Ukraine, has made a career of rescuing animals in eastern Europe, and has already rescued some bears since arriving arriving in the country and meeting his wife Anya Mr De Lange says Nathan (pictured), who has now grown from being a tiny lion cub, 'needs somebody, he just wants company' Mrs Cantor said: 'It was not something that we initially saw ourselves doing, all our other wildlife is free roaming and when Lionel first contacted us we said we didn't want to have captive animals. 'But Lionel is quite persuasive and once he'd filled us in on the stories of these lions it was easy for us to say let's do this and brings these cats home and give them a good life. 'My husband has done an amazing job of building the enclosure in such a way that he's actually dug the earth away in places so the fences are below human eye level. 'So people have a great view of seeing the lions without fences between them. 'The lions have rocks and trees so they can be up high, when they eventually get to that point and properly start exploring. So it's a great facility for the lions and it makes for awesome viewing for the public.' She added that the reserve worked a lot with schools with some travelling for five hours to see animals they would never have seen before. She said: 'These children are the generation that are really going to turn things around for our planets wildlife so it's important to get these kids in and make them wildlife ambassadors for life.' Photo shows the four lions being loaded onto a Turkish Cargo flight in Istanbul on Tuesday before being flown to South Africa Dane Riecker, from animal transport experts Intradco Global said it was an honour for the firm to help transport the four lions nearly 8,000 miles from Ukraine to their new home in South Africa They used Turkish Cargo because Istanbul has an animal station that allowed the lions to be fed and watered during the journey Dane Riecker, from animal transport experts Intradco Global said it was an honour for the firm to help transport the four lions nearly 8,000 miles from Ukraine to their new home in South Africa. He said: 'We love having the opportunity to help our various relocation clients, such as Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization for this movement. 'The reality is that there are animals suffering all over the world, but there are champions out there dedicating themselves to giving these animals a better future. 'For this specific project we were able to fit them into a lower deck position which allowed us to use a passenger flight with Turkish Cargo, who had the shortest possible connection from Kiev to Johannesburg. 'Istanbul has an animal station that allowed the lions to be fed and watered during the transit period, which really made this route viable. 'Combined with access to the travelling animal attendants it was a real VIP service for these special passengers. 'For obvious reasons, lions are among some of the more tricky animals to transport. Like all animals, they all have their specific conditional and environmental conditions that they feel comfortable in. At Kragga Kamma the lions now have 14,000 square metres of lush African bush, a huge contrast from the 40 square metre cage they used to call home 'Our job is to ensure they travel with the minimal level of stress, and arrive in healthy condition. That being said, there is no project that isn't possible with the right level of planning prior to each flight, and then a well experienced team professional vets and animal attendants to ensure the plans manifest correctly on the day.' Transport worker Paul Ketchell, 51, originally from Brisbane, Australia, met Mr De Lange and the lions in Ukraine around a year ago and decided to help out by making the lion transport crates and larger metal enclosures with his welding skills. Mr Ketchell, who is married to a Ukrainian woman and has two step-children there, said he remembers the day he first met Nathan as a cub. He said: 'I met Nathan the first time I went up with Lionel and it's kind of funny I just fell in love with him. 'He was rather stressed as animals get when they are shifted and I tried to spend every moment I could with him, I'd just go an talk to him and he'd settle down. I really just connected with him. 'From then on whenever he got stressed, I'd sit and talk to him with my face up close to the bars and he'd put his nose up to them and then just lay down and relax. 'Lionel said ''you and Nathan just know each other''. 'Animals don't have a voice but people like Lionel give them one. I think Nathan is going to love his new home.' Cooper William Riswick had been drinking heavily at a family wedding on the night A drunken wedding guest fell 90ft to his death after climbing out of his hotel window for a cigarette. Cooper William Riswick, 23, was staying in a non-smoking room on the fourth floor at the luxury resort hotel. An inquest heard the university graduate had been drinking heavily at a family wedding earlier in the night. He got back to his room and climbed onto the roof to have a cigarette under the stars when he fell. Shocked wedding guests found 'ever-smiling' Mr Riswick with fatal head and chest injuries in the early hours of the morning. The tragedy happened on August 10 at the four-star Vale of Glamorgan resort at Hensol in South Wales. The hotel was used by Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool when the FA Cup final was played in Cardiff while Wembley Stadium was being rebuilt. Mr Riswick, with his mother Arlene Evans-Riswick, who died in the tragedy on August 10 Coroner Andrew Barkley said: 'Cooper was visiting the hotel with his family celebrating a wedding when he fell from the roof.' Forensic tests revealed Mr Riswick had a high alcohol level at the time of the tragedy. A verdict of accidental death caused by alcohol was recorded. Tributes were paid to fun-loving Mr Riswick, who was from Aurora in Ontario, Canada. A family spokesman said at the time of the tragedy: 'We tragically lost our Cooper to an accident while concluding a family Vacation in Europe. Mr Riswick (right) with his mother Ms Evans-Riswick (front centre) and brothers Austin (back centre) and Joshua (back left) The four-star Vale of Glamorgan resort at Hensol in South Wales was used by Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool when the FA Cup final was played in Cardiff 'Cooper lived his short life with a powerful zest for friendship, family and fun. 'His spirited nature and infectious smile were his trademark as the smile lit up the room wherever he was.' Mr Riswick's body was flown home to Canada for his funeral. His parents Steven and Arlene, brothers Austin and Joshua and sister May did not attend the inquest in Pontypridd. A GoFundMe page titled 'Continue the Smile' raised more than 18,500 for Cooper's family. President Donald Trump slammed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the Thanksgiving Day, while on a call with U.S. troops based in Afghanistan. 'We got a lot of bad decisions from the Ninth Circuit, which has become a big thorn in our side. We always lose, and then you lose again and again, and you hopefully win at the Supreme Court, which we have done,' he said on a call with U.S. troops based in Afghanistan. 'It's a terrible thing when judges take over your protective services, when they tell you how to protect your border. It's a disgrace. So we're winning,' he added. President Donald Trump slammed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the Thanksgiving Day, while on a call with U.S. troops based in Afghanistan 'It's a terrible thing when judges take over your protective services, when they tell you how to protect your border. It's a disgrace. So we're winning,' Trump said The president was responding to a Air Force soldier in Afghanistan who told Trump troops there never want the Taliban or ISIS to reach American shores. 'Every airman here is dedicated to keeping this fight away from our shores. A stable Afghanistan is good for Afghanistan, but we do what we do for America,' the soldier told Trump. 'You said it better than anybody could have said. Keep them away from our shores. That's why we're doing the strong borders,' Trump told him. He went on to praise the U.S. military, noting they were deployed at the border, and went on to talk about the importance of border security. 'I don't know if it's ever or certainly there's never been a presence like this, but we have a very powerful border right now,' Trump said. 'We have the fencing and things people don't even believe. We took old broken wall and we wrapped it with barb wire plus. I guess you could really call it barb wire plus. This is the ultimate. Nobody is getting through these walls.' After he spoke to members of each of the U.S. five service branches, Trump took questions from reporters for nearly 30 minutes. He slammed the Ninth Circuit yet again. 'Essentially they're legislating,' he said of the court which put a hold on his asylum ban on illegal immigrants. We are doing really well considering the laws are a disaster. And if we had the right laws, it would be a lot less expensive and we would do it a lot easier, but we don't have the right laws and we have people interpreting the laws and they always give us a bad interpretation. So hopefully we have shown some light on the Ninth Circuit, he said. Trump also acknowledged his spat with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. I know that Chief justice Roberts, John Roberts, has been speaking a little bit about it. And I think - I have a lot of respect for him. I like him and respect him, but I think we have to use some common sense. It's Ninth Circuit, everybody knows it, it's totally out of control. What they're doing, what they're saying, the opinions are very unfair to law enforcement. They're very unfair to our military. And they're very unfair, most importantly, to the people of our country, he said. Trump acknowledged his spat with Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, who administrated the oath of office at his January inauguration Trump had a script of papers in front of him when he spoke to the troops on the phone Trump had launched another attack on the 9th Circuit earlier in the day and dismissed Chief Justice Roberts' strong rebuke one day on from their extraordinary row over judicial independence. Labeling the 9th Circuit a 'complete and total disaster' that is 'out of control', the president demanded in a tweet judges not be allowed to 'legislate security' in his early morning attack on Thanksgiving. The new criticism comes one day after the almost unprecedented row between the Supreme Court Chief Justice and the president of the United States following a strong rebuke from Roberts over Trump calling the 9th Circuit 'Obama judges'. President Trump made calls to U.S. troops on Thanksgiving Day Doubling down: Trump dismissed the criticism from Chief Justice Roberts and intensified his assault on the 9th Circuit Demands: Trump is furious with the 9th Circuit and believes it to be too liberal and affects the nation's security The new criticism comes one day after the almost unprecedented row between the Supreme Court Chief Justice and the president of the United States following a strong rebuke from Roberts over Trump calling the 9th Circuit 'Obama judges'. The row began earlier this week when the president complained about a different judge, Obama-appointed US District Judge Jon Tigar, who has ruled against him in his attempt to stop illegal immigrants applying for asylum once they cross the border. Tigar said the president's 'scope' did not reach far enough for him to 'rewrite' immigration laws. When asked about Tigar's decision on Tuesday, the president took aim at the liberal-leaning 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which previously also ruled against his travel ban. 'Every case that gets filed in the Ninth Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won,' Trump said. Row continues: President Trump and Supreme Court Chief Justice have engaged in a extraordinary row over the 9th Circuit Court U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, a Barack Obama appointee whose courtroom is in San Francisco, struck down the administration's new asylum policy this week. That is what started Trump's complaints about an apparently politicized judicial system He then said of Tigar: 'This was an Obama judge.' Roberts, who is a Republican and was nominated to the Supreme Court by George W. Bush in 2005, weighed in angrily the next day, issuing a statement to say that politics played no part in the judicial system. He said: 'We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. 'What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. 'The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.' Trump hit back on Twitter afterwards, saying: 'Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges', and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country.' Roberts (left) is the highest ranking jurist on the Supreme Court. His remarks this week signal his first criticism of the president. They are pictured with Trump's controversial appointee Brett M. Kavanaugh (right) after he was sworn in in November The new owners of a London off-licence have been condemned by charities and local businesses for rebranding the shop 'Alcoholic'. Yesterday the sign above Corner Express in Crouch End was replaced with one which reads 'Alcoholic' and features a picture of a drunk man with three cartoonish stars above his head. Alcohol abuse charity Drink Aware called the branding astonishing, and said it would cause widespread distress. One local businessman compared it to a pharmacy rebranding itself 'Drug Addicts'. The local council has immediately insisted the 'inappropriate' sign be changed, saying licensing regulations forbid any promotion of alcohol that glamorises drunkenness. MailOnline understands the premises passed into new ownership very recently, and after several days of work on the shopfront, the new signage was revealed yesterday. It is already causing a stir in the north London community. The Crouch End off-licence, formerly known as Corner Express, has faced a storm of criticism after unveiling its new signage yesterday Several local business owners panned the change but asked not to be named. One told MailOnline: 'Corner Express was a perfectly nice local name, and then I saw this new one, with a picture of a drunk chap with the stars above his head and thought 'this is going to get a lot of complaints'. 'I think it's in very bad taste, it doesn't do the area any favours. 'It's like a pharmacy calling itself 'Drug Addicts'. 'A lot of people in a family are affected, when someone suffers from alcoholism, and this is absolutely not appropriate.' Another local businesswoman said: 'I was in shock when I saw it. It was quite dark when I saw it, and you really notice it because it's lit at night so if you drive past your eye is drawn to it. 'I don't approve of it at all.' Ben Patey, 35, said: 'I definitely did a double-take. Lots of people were commenting on it as they walked past. 'I can only assume it's an honest error of judgement unless they're working on the premise of 'build it and they will come'. The unit traded as Corner Express for many years which one Crouch End businessman described as a 'perfectly nice local name' Ben Butler of alcohol abuse charity Drinkaware said: 'It's astonishing that anyone would want to make light of alcoholism or encourage it, even in jest. 'It's in very bad taste and will cause distress to the individuals and families affected by alcohol dependence across the country. 'The NHS estimates that just under one in 10 men in the UK and one in 30 UK women show signs of alcohol dependence, sometimes known as 'alcoholism'. 'Being dependent on alcohol means you feel you're not able to function without it, that drinking becomes an important, or sometimes the most important, factor in your life. It's extremely important that excessive drinking isn't normalized or promoted.' After photos of the Crouch End off-licence's new shopfront started to be shared online, some predicted a 'mutiny' but others on the thread said they loved the new design But online reaction was more mixed with several Instagram users voicing their support. Instagram user 'eatwithlovedaily' posted a picture of the new shopfront and wrote: 'My mother sent me this today, a new off licence in Hornsey, she is waiting in anticipation for the back lash from the community. I personally love their innovative attention to detail.' One reply read: 'I have to see this tomorrow! Too brilliant!' while a number of other users said they loved it. A man who identified himself as the new owner: 'Ty [thank you] for share I am the owner in this place with my brother hope we can see you all in there x'. He received a reply to say: 'Don't let anyone tell you to change the name!' But a spokesman for Haringey Council said: 'Our Enforcement team have taken immediate steps, requiring the sign to be amended in line with requirements under the legislation. 'Licensing regulations forbid any irresponsible promotion of alcohol that encourages anti-social behaviour or glamorises the effects of drunkenness. 'The sign is inappropriate and does not portray the kind of responsible image that we would expect from one of our premises licence holders.' A gigantic dust storm swirled over eastern Australia on Thursday, turning the sky pale red and prompting health warnings from the authorities. The 310-mile wall of dust stretched almost the entire length of the state of New South Wales and closed in on its capital Sydney, causing poor visibility and travel disruptions. It was driven towards the coast by strong winds barrelling across the drought-stricken interior and whipping up masses of dirt. A road is shrouded in a cloud of dust as a gigantic 300-mile dust storm descends upon New South Wales, Australia Clouds can be seen above the dust storm that descended upon the city of Sydney in Australia on Thursday The skies over Sydney are expected to turn a deep red by late morning, as the dust storm moves east from western NSW A tourist poses with Sydney in the background while the dust clouds can be seen overhead on November 22 Authorities warned residents New South Wales who had respiratory or cardiovascular conditions to limit their time outdoors until the dust settled. Adam Morgan of the Bureau of Meteorology said a low pressure system over South Australia and Victoria states had pushed powerful winds across areas of western New South Wales that have experienced one of the worst drought seasons in years. 'This is the typical time of year for dust storms through inland Australia, but it is quite rare for dust to reach the east coast,' he said. Residents woke on Thursday to find a pale red haze in the skies over Sydney, with air quality readings in some suburbs described as 'hazardous'. However, the dust had mostly cleared by the afternoon. Residents woke on Thursday to find a pale red haze over Sydney and air quality readings in some suburbs were described as 'hazardous' The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House are shrouded in a red hazy due to the dust whipped up from the dry interior of Australia and brought eastwards by strong winds A dust storm that has swept across drought-stricken parts of New South Wales has shrouded Sydney's landmarks and sparked an air quality warning from the State Government Strong winds from a low pressure system has whipped up masses of dirt across the drought-stricken state, which is steadily heading to the coast New South Wales Health issued a warning that dust will likely reduce air quality and urged children, older people and those with respiratory conditions to take extra care. 'If possible, stay in air-conditioned premises where filtration systems can help to reduce dust particles in the air,' environmental health director Richard Broome said in a statement. 'Dust may aggravate existing heart and lung conditions and cause symptoms like eye irritation and cough.' The conditions bear a striking resemblance to 2009's 'red dawn' - one of the worst dust storms in Australia's history. Though spectacular, Mr Narramore warned such events can be potentially deadly. 'Just blew the town red!' White Cliffs Hotel Manager Olivia Probyn told Daily Mail Australia the storm had a 'mad max/apocalyptic' feel to it Tourists take photographs against the backdrop of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House as a dust storm descends on the coastal capital of New South Wales, Australia, 22 November 2018 One witness said the storm had an 'apocalyptic' feel to it with the skies over Sydney turning first red and then black on Thursday 'The dust can get in [the lungs] and you start coughing and wheezing. Be careful about that out and about,' he said. 'Especially later today... There'll be a fair bit of dust blowing around as we move into late morning hours.' Footage of the storm, filmed from inside the White Cliffs Hotel in far west New South Wales on Wednesday, shows the swirling dust turn everything in sight a husky red colour. White Cliffs Hotel Manager Olivia Probyn told Daily Mail Australia the storm had a 'mad max/apocalyptic' feel to it. 'Just blew the town red, bright red! And although it was bright it was that thick I couldn't see across the road to the general store!' she said. A number of dust storms have already hit western parts of New South Wales in recent weeks The storm left dust piles everywhere and the clean up was quite the task, she added. '[It's] still gritty but what can you do, we love [it] out in the bush... That was today...next couple of days will be interesting!' she said. In 2009, the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge were barely visible and flights in and out of the city were cancelled as the dust storm swept across the city. Sydney has been blanketed by a thick red haze as a dust storm sweeping across New South Wales tears its way towards the Harbour City Weather experts have warned anyone with asthma or other respiratory problems to stay indoors The 500km wall of dust stretching almost the entire length of NSW has prompted warnings from health authorities Bureau of Meteorology weather services manager Jane Golding said its computer model had suggested Thursday's event could be comparable to 2009. 'A frontal system generates some really strong westerly winds, and that frontal system ends up producing a low pressure system to the south of the country which picks up even more vigorous winds,' Ms Golding told the ABC. She said however that the dust storm's reach would depend on the strength of the winds. An Airservices Australia spokesperson said Sydney Airport has advanced procedures to allow for landing and taking off in low visibility conditions. However, there were delays to some flights from the airport. Clint Hill (pictured in May) revealed he will forever be haunted by what he saw on the day JFK was assassinated The heroic Secret Service agent who leapt into action in a brave bid to save John F Kennedy from being assassinated has revealed he is still haunted by what he saw that day. Clint Hill leaped out of a car and hurled himself onto the back of the presidential limousine seconds after a bullet hit Kennedy in the neck on November 22, 1963. But he was seconds too late. Before he could create a human shield between President Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy, another shot was fired by Lee Harvey Oswald as the limousine traveled through Dealey Plaza in Dallas. This one hit Kennedy in the head, splattering his brain matter and blood all over his car and on Jackie's pink Chanel suit, which she famously insisted on wearing on the flight back to Washington with her husband's body. Now, on the 55th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination, Hill has revealed to the Sun Online that he still blames himself for the president's death because 'he should have been faster.' John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy are pictured on the day of his assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1953 'One thing that I've never been able to erase from my mind is being on the back of the car looking down at the president who was lying with his face in Mrs Kennedy's lap,' Hill told the website. Now 86, he said he would always remember seeing the inside of Kennedy's skull after the shot blasted through it. 'In the room that's in the skull, I can see that there is no more brain matter left,' he said. Although he earned an award for his bravery, Hill has always felt he failed to do his job that day and protect the president. Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon (left) presents Clint Hill with an award for bravery in December 1963 It was decades before he could even talk about it or realize there was nothing more he could've done. In the immediate wake of Kennedy's assassination, Hill accompanied Kennedy's body to Parkland Memorial Hospital. He was then tasked with buying a casket and ensuring it safely transported Kennedy's body back to the White House. Hill protected Jackie Kennedy before being assigned to protect Kennedy's successor, President Lyndon Johnson. Clint Hill wrote a book on JFK's assassination called Five days in November Yet it wasn't until after he retired from the Secret Service in 1975 that what how deeply traumatized he was. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and spent six years in seclusion, according to the Sun. From 1976 until 1982, he drank heavily and rarely saw anyone besides his wife and two children. 'I just didn't care about anything and I didn't want to have contact with anybody,' he said. As a result, he says his children were forced to grow up 'pretty much without a father.' But finally in 1982, he realized he needed to change if he wanted to live after a doctor friend warned he would die early if he didn't stop his pattern of destructive behavior. In 1990, he was able to return to Dallas, where he walked around Dealey Plaza and looked up at the sixth floor window where Oswald fired his shots. Five years ago, his book - Five Days in November - was published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. A London investment bank boss has won a divorce court fight with his estranged wife over how a fortune of more than 25 million should be split. The pair, who are in their 40s and have two children, were married for eight years. He argued that he should get 60 per cent on the basis that he had generated money since they separated more than two years ago. A banking boss has won his divorce fight to keep 60 per cent of a more than 25million fortune at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London (stock picture) His estranged wife, who used to work in an investment bank, wanted assets shared evenly. A judge ruled in the man's favour after analysing evidence at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. Mrs Justice Roberts concluded the man's 'proposed outcome' would leave the woman with more than 10 million and was 'entirely appropriate'. The judge said the pair could not be identified in media reports. However she said the man is American. This is the man accused of murdering a three-year-old boy at his home two-and-a-half years ago - pictured with the child's mother now also accused of allowing or causing her own son's death. Kyle Campbell, 26, appeared at Leeds Crown Court today charged with killing Riley Siswick on February 6, 2016. He was in the dock with Rileys mother, Kayleigh Siswick, who is charged with causing or allowing the death of a child. The toddler was found dead at his home in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and a court previously heard that he had suffered blunt force trauma. Campbell has been charged with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child, as well as two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on another child. Kyle Campbell, 26, appeared at Leeds Crown Court charged with Riley Siswick's murder in February 2016. Rileys mother, Kayleigh, is charged with causing or allowing his death (pictured together) Riley was pronounced dead at his home by paramedics after suffering a 'blunt force trauma' Campbell and Siswick, also 26, both of Huddersfield, spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth and nationalities this morning. The charges have not yet been put to the couple so they have not formally entered pleas. Siswick indicated a not guilty plea at Leeds Magistrates Court yesterday. They are expected to formally enter pleas at a plea and trial preparation hearing on December 20. A trial date was provisionally listed for May 20 next year and the court heard it would be expected to last six weeks. Campbells barrister, Anastasis Tasou, made an application for bail on behalf of his client, but it was rejected by the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Guy Kearl QC. Campbell was returned to custody. Siswick was released on conditional bail again, this time with the condition to live and sleep at a new address that was not read out in open court. Riley Siswick, three, died in Huddersfield, West Yorks on February 6, 2016 but charges have only been brought two years on The other bail conditions include not to directly or indirectly contact her co-accused or members of the Bray family. Campbell was first arrested in connection with the case in April 2017. Siswick was interviewed five times over a period of the two-and-a-half years in connection with the death of her son. The court heard the charges came as a shock to the couple. Alison Wilson, prosecuting, told Leeds Magistrates' Court yesterday: 'The victim was the son of the defendant. 'On February 6 2016, he was found dead at his home address. 'A call was made to emergency services but it was understood he had been dead for some time.' She added that he suffered a 'blunt force trauma'. It was not revealed to the court how exactly Riley allegedly suffered his injuries. President Donald Trump defended his daughter Ivanka Trump's private email use on Thanksgiving Day, saying it was 'much different' from Hillary Clinton's. It's 'much different from the other situation I've talked about for a long time,' he said to reporters after calls with U.S. troops for the holiday. He said Ivanka's use was 'very innocent.' 'It's another fake news story,' he added. 'There was no deletion of e-mails like the 33,000 plus probably another 100,000 that Hillary Clinton did after she got a subpoena,' Trump said. 'There was no bleach bit. There was no anything. Just innocent e-mails. No classified e-mails. A much different deal.' President Donald Trump defended his daughter Ivanka's private email use on Thanksgiving Day 'much different' from Hillary Clinton's Ivanka Trump joined her father in Mar-a-Lago, riding on Air Force One with her children and accompanied by her sister Tiffany Trump He also argued his daughter was a privately employed person until she took a job in his administration as an adviser. 'She is a private person and ultimately she transitioned out from private to government. And I believe all of her records are in the historical society, the historical records,' he said. His defense comes as Democrats' incoming House majority threatened to probe her use of a personal Internet domain to conduct government business and insisted the case is nothing like Hillary Clinton's infamous private email server. Trump on Tuesday all but dared House Oversight and Government Reform Democrats, including their top dog Rep. Elijah Cummings, to investigate her. 'Ivanka can handle herself,' Trump told DailyMail.com as he left the White House for the Thanksgiving break, responding to a question about whether he would ever let partisan Democrats interview his elder daughter. He said the emails Ms. Trump sent and received on her personal account to conduct government business 'weren't classified like Hillary Clinton. They weren't deleted like Hillary Clinton, who deleted 33 [thousand] she wasn't doing anything to hide her emails.' 'They're all in presidential records,' he said, confirming that his daughter's lawyer has forwarded the messages from her personal account to her government account. President Donald Trump defended his daughter Ivanka on Tuesday as Democrats threaten to probe her use of a personal Internet domain to conduct government business The president took pains to insist the case is nothing like Hillary Clinton's infamous private email server, and insisted 'Ivanka can take care of herself' if Democrats demand answers from her In what may have been a slip of the tongue, the president twice referred to phone calls, not emails, when comparing his Ivanka's practices Hillary Clinton's. 'There was no hiding. There was no deleting like Hillary Clinton did. There was no servers in the basement like Hillary Clinton had. You're talking about a whole different you're talking about all fake news ... What it is is a false story,' he said. In what may have been a slip of the tongue, the president twice referred to phone calls, not emails, when comparing his daughter's practices with those of his former political nemesis. 'This was just early on when she came in. These calls were not classified, unlike Hillary Clinton's calls which were classified,' he said. 'And it's all fake news.' A White House official who fields reporters' calls about Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner did not respond to a request for comment about the discrepancy. House Oversight Democrats are gearing up to draw Ivanka into an investigation next year. 'We want to know if Ivanka complied with the law,' a Democratic aide told DailyMail.com on Tuesday. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, likely to be led by Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings (left) in 2019, plans to investigate her email use and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal (right) said the first daughter's actions should be examined The president said Ivanka's emails 'weren't classified like Hillary Clinton. They weren't deleted like Hillary Clinton, who deleted 33 [thousand] she wasn't doing anything to hide her emails' The panel, likely to be led by Cummings in 2019, plans to revive an investigation into the White House's use of private emails, which can violate federal records-retention laws. The powerful committee has investigative oversight of the executive branch and the power to subpoena witnesses and documents. 'We plan to continue our investigation of the Presidential Records Act and Federal Records Act,' the aide said. And Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said on Tuesday there 'should be some kind of investigative effort.' Blumenthal, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would have oversight on an investigation, told CNN the first daughter's actions should be examined. 'There is no way that she had no knowledge of the rules,' he said. 'But really there is a larger story here which is the mixing of public and private as with her clothing brand and her public position, the blending and mixing of e-mails on her private account, her public account. It raises the issue of whether there has been anything improper. There should be some kind of investigative effort,' he noting, adding it should be done 'through the Office of Government Ethics or through the Congress.' He pointed out: 'Congress can hold the president accountable for putting himself above the law, which is essentially in a sense what Ivanka Trump has done with these e-mails.' The first daughter has even come under fire from fellow Republicans. 'It's hypocritical and certainly it looks bad and I'm sure that the media will have a field day with it today,' Marc Short, who had served as legislative director in the Trump White House, told CNN. And former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci agreed with that assessment. 'Certainly I think it's hypocritical,' he told CNN. The White House declined to offer an official comment on the allegations against the president's daughter. And Larry Kudlow, the president's chief economic adviser, defended her in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday morning. 'I think the absolute world of Ivanka Trump. She is a brilliant woman and a really important adviser to the president, period,' he said. Trump used her personal email account to send hundreds of emails last year to White House aides, government officials and her assistants - most of which were in violation of federal rules, it was revealed on Monday by The Washington Post. The revelation sparked immediate comparisons to Hillary Clinton, who famously used a private email server while secretary of state that became subject of a federal investigation and the target of criticism from President Donald Trump, who dubbed her 'Crooked Hillary' and said he would lock her up for it. But Ivanka Trump's lawyer's office slammed any comparisons to Clinton. 'Ms. Trump did not create a private server in her house or office, no classified information was ever included, the account was never transferred at Trump Organization, and no emails were ever deleted,' Peter Mirijanian, a spokesperson for Trump's attorney and ethics counsel, Abbe Lowell, to The Washington Post. Clinton had denied having classified emails on her private server. 'I did not send classified material, and I did not receive any material that was marked or designated classified,' she said on the campaign trail in August 2015. The FBI investigation later found that 110 messages contained information that was classified at the time it was sent. White House ethics officials learned of Ivanka Trump's personal email use when reviewing emails gathered last fall by five Cabinet agencies to respond to a public records lawsuit, sources familiar with the matter told The Post. Trump said she was not familiar with all the rules. The private email account came from a domain she shares with her husband, Jared Kushner. They set up personal emails with the domain 'ijkfamily.com' through a Microsoft system in December 2016, after Trump won the presidency and the couple was preparing to move to Washington D.C. Mirijanian said her use was mainly around her logistics and her family's schedule. The couple, both of whom serve as advisers to President Trump, have three children. 'While transitioning into government, after she was given an official account but until the White House provided her the same guidance they had given others who started before she did, Ms. Trump sometimes used her personal account, almost always for logistics and scheduling concerning her family,' he said in a statement. He noted she had turned over all her government-related emails months ago so they could be stored permanently with other White House records as part of requirements by federal law under the Presidential Records Act. Austin Evers, executive director of the liberal watchdog group American Oversight, whose record requests sparked the White House discovery, said it difficult to believe she would not know the rules. 'There's the obvious hypocrisy that her father ran on the misuse of personal email as a central tenet of his campaign,' he told The Post. 'There is no reasonable suggestion that she didn't know better. Clearly everyone joining the Trump administration should have been on high alert about personal email use.' American Oversight wrote to the top members of the House Oversight Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that 'it is incumbent on Congress to investigate this matter immediately.' 'The parallels between Ms. Trump's conduct and that of Secretary Clinton are inescapable,' Evers wrote in the letter. 'In both her use of personal email and post-discovery preservation efforts, Ms. Trump appears to have done exactly what Secretary Clinton did - conduct over which President Trump and many members of Congress regularly lambasted Secretary Clinton and which, they asserted, demonstrated her unfitness for office.' Those close Ivanka Trump said she never intended to use her private email to hide her government work and only used her private email less than a hundred times, mainly to reply to those who emailed her. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner set up personal emails with the domain 'ijkfamily.com' through a Microsoft system after Trump was elected president Ivanka Trump's lawyer's office slammed any comparisons to Hillary Clinton President Trump attacked Clinton's email server during the 2016 campaign as his supporters shouted 'Lock her up' After she told White House lawyers she was unaware that she was breaking any email rules, they discovered that she had not been receiving White House updates and reminders to all staff about prohibited use of private email, sources told the newspaper. Revelations about Clinton's email server led to an FBI investigation, which ultimately concluded she had been reckless but had not broken the law. Clinton had a private email server in the basement of her Chappaqua, N.Y., home. Thousands of her emails were deleted by a computer specialist amid a congressional investigation. She, like Ivanka Trump, had said she didn't understand the rules. President Trump made Clinton's email use a favorite campaign weapon in the race against her, leading crowds of supporters to chant 'lock her up.' Even after he defeated her and won the White House he publicly asked on multiple occasions and in tweets why he was the target of an investigation on whether or not his campaign colluded with Russia while Clinton was not being investigated. 'I look at what's happening with the Justice Department, why aren't they going after Hillary Clinton with her emails and with her dossier and the kind of money? I don't know,' President Trump said in a radio interview last November. 'Hillary Clinton's Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China,' the president tweeted in August without providing any evidence. After discovering her private email use in September 2017, White House lawyers relied on Lowell to review which were personal and which were official business. The White House Counsel's Office did not have access to her personal account. Lowell forwarded emails that he had determined were related to official business to Ivanka Trump's government account, sources told The Post. An ATM which mysteriously turned up in snow-filled woods earlier this week on Deer Isle, Maine, was a prank directed at neighbor. Hancock County police said they had been called by a woman who spotted the machine while out walking her dog on Tuesday morning. It had been deposited about half a mile from the road, and had footprints around it, the police told the Portland Press Herald. The bright blue ATM stands starkly in the snow-filled woods on Deer Isle in Maine, it was a mystery until a woman called and said it had been place there as a joke Detective Steve McFarland told WGME: 'The lady was out for a walk, like she does every day, and saw it standing upright on the edge of the woods right where she walked, and she called us.' The chief said on Wednesday, 'She said, "This does not look right."' But yesterday a dispatcher told the Herald the case had been solved while the detective was off work. 'Weve just heard from the owner, who said she picked the ATM out of the trash. She told us she put it there as a joke, to her neighboring property owners.' The dispatcher told the Herald. McFarland had been trying to trace the machine to its owner using the serial number, WGME said. Nobody has yet been charged and McFarland said earlier he would rather not have to escalate to that as long as whoever left the cash machine would collect it. 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. A British woman is stranded in India and fighting for her life after falling ill with meningitis while on holiday. Balvinder Singh, 35, flew out to India last month to attend a family wedding and a month-long holiday but fell ill just two days before she was due to return home. The mum-of-three suffered vomiting and diarrhoea and was rushed to hospital when she started having seizures, where she had a heart attack and organ failure. Scroll down for video Balvinder Singh (pictured in hospital), 35, flew out to India last month, but while there she suffered vomiting and diarrhoea and was rushed to hospital. She later had a heart attack and organ failure Balvinder Singh (left), 35, with her children (left to right) Jasmet Kaur, 10, Harmeet, 12 and Amanieet, 13 and husband Sukvinder. Her family are desperately trying to raise 75,000 to bring Ms Singh home to Dulwich, South London Two weeks on, her distraught family claim she's trapped there and they need 75,000 to being her back to her home in Dulwich in South London, for better treatment. Her cousin Chandni Singh, 28, who is currently looking after her three kids, said: 'It's been an absolute shock for the family. 'The kids have been affected the worst and have been crying out for their mum and are in a desperate shock, it's very heartbreaking. 'We don't know when she is going to come back to the UK, we really want to know but just cannot at the moment. 'We are praying that she will pull through, we are getting about 50 phone calls a day about her.' Doctors have told the family of Ms Singh (pictured) that she may have contracted meningitis TB from a mosquito bite Ms Singh flew out to New Delhi for her cousin's wedding on October 7 and had been due to return on November 9, and didn't take out travel insurance. Just a week in, she started to experience vomiting and diarrhoea and thought it was just due to drinking the water. Chandni said: 'She didn't take out travel insurance because she never thought that anything could go wrong.' But she started having seizures in bed on November 7 and was rushed to hospital, and has since been diagnosed with meningitis TB. Doctors have told her family that they believe she contracted it following a mosquito bite. 'After she was admitted, doctors found that the seizures were due to her becoming hypoxic (deprived of oxygen) and has also suffered a heart attack and had to be heavily sedated as a result,' said Chandni. 'This could have now possibly left her with brain damage. 'We found out that the vomiting and diarrhoea had led to her vital organs, such as kidney and liver, to overcompensate which led to the partial organ failure.' Doctors are yet to give a full explanation of how Ms Singh (pictured in hospital) became ill. She is currently on ventilation to support her breathing and her husband Sukvinder has flown out to be at her side Her husband Sukvinder, 37, has flown out to be at his wife's bedside in Chandigarh in the Punjab region of India, leaving the children in the care of cousin Chandni and her sister Rajani. What is meningitis TB and how can it be contracted? Meningitis is usually caused by a viral or bacterial infection. Tuberculous (TB) meningitis occurs when tuberculosis bacteria invade the membranes and fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Claire Wright, Evidence & Policy Manager at Meningitis Research Foundation told MailOnline that it was unlikely to be caught from a mosquito bite. She said: 'We are sorry to hear about Balvinder and our thoughts are with her. Our support service is here for anyone affected by meningitis. 'TB bacteria can be passed from person to person through coughing and sneezing. 'Its uncommon in the UK but more prevalent in some countries.' Advertisement Chandni said: 'After their dad left, the kids have been constantly panicking about what each day will bring. 'When I take them around the local area, they tell me 'mummy used to take us here.' After numerous tests, doctors diagnosed her with meningitis TB on November 14. Chandni said: 'Since the diagnoses, she has been put on ventilation to support her breathing. 'Doctors have told us that it may be caused by a mosquito bite, however, they have not fully explained what she has suffered from.' Since receiving the news, the family has set up a JustGiving page to help raise funds to support her treatment. Chandni said: 'It's costing 800 a day for her treatment abroad after 12 days and we are now running out of money. 'We need to raise money so that the treatment can carry on out there so once she is stabilised and taken off the ventilator we can bring her back home to her kids and she can receive treatment here with all her family around her.' Ms Singh's children (pictured left to right are Jasmet Kaur, 10, Harmeet, 12 and Amanieet, 13) are now in the care of cousin Chandni and sister Rajani while their father travels out to India Her son Harmeet, 12, has pleaded for help via an emotional YouTube video. He said: 'My mum, she went abroad and got really sick. 'She is in hospital in India and very critical and nearly died. 'For her treatment to keep her alive she needs money and my family have given us all they can and it's not enough. 'We need more money. Please donate and share this video. 'Anyone who knows me knows what I am going through.' A Foreign Office spokesman: 'We are assisting a British woman and her family following her hospitalisation in India, and are in contact with staff at the hospital she has been admitted to.' William Reeve (pictured outside the Court of Appeal today) collapsed while he fought for the Lincolnshire estate A millionaire aristocrat collapsed in court as he launched a battle with his lay canon mother over the future of their family's 230-year-old country estate. Old Etonian William Reeve, 38, says the future of the 18th Century Leadenham Estate, in Lincolnshire, is at risk due to a family row. His brother, James Reeve, is currently locked in a row with single mother Georgina David, who has accused him of letting them bring up their baby alone despite his family owning the 20-bedroom home. The estate was owned by his father, Peter Reeve, having been passed down through generations of the family. But after Peter's divorce from wife Henrietta in 2013, an order was made to sell it and split the proceeds. It was subsequently decided that the estate would instead be 'partitioned', with his mum owning 40 per cent and his dad the rest. However, desperate to keep the family estate intact, William is now fighting a Court of Appeal battle which he says could save it. Representing himself, Mr Reeve collapsed as he began to argue his case and had to be assisted by his mother's lawyers during a 10-minute adjournment. The Old Etonian and his mother are fighting over this estate, which is set in the Lincolnshire countryside 'The goal of my case is to keep the estate together,' said William, who currently manages the estate. 'My primary aim is securing the future.' The court heard Henrietta Reeve, 62, a lay canon of Lincoln Cathedral, petitioned to divorce her aristocrat husband Peter in 2011. Following negotiations in 2013, it was agreed that the estate would be sold and 1million paid to each of their four children. Lay canon Henrietta Reeve (pictured) is locked in a legal battle with her son over the 230-year-old estate Money left over would then be split between the former couple, with Peter, 71, receiving 60 per cent and Henrietta 40 per cent. But the order was later changed so that, instead of being entitled to the cash proceeds, the ex-couple would own the estate in those shares. In 2015, however, William, one of four children, launched his own claim to the estate, alleging that his parents held it on trust for him. He said he was entitled to it because it had been promised to him and that his parents had 'acted in an unconscionable manner'. His case was heard in Birmingham by Judge Jane-Anne Evans-Gordon, who rejected his claim in July last year. However, he now says that, because the same judge heard his parents' divorce case, she may have been biased against him. As the divorce was heard in private, he was not allowed to be present, he told two senior judges at the Court of Appeal. It meant there was a chance that things had been said about him which might have influenced the judge against him. Georgina David says she and her baby (right) were ditched by David Reeve (left) who is the brother of William He said he had seen a document from the divorce which painted him in a 'negative' light, and questioned whether more had been said that he did not know about. 'It is a pattern, I say, where I get referenced so frequently, and generally negatively, by my mother in the matrimonial proceedings,' he said. William said the problem meant a fair-minded observer might consider the judge was potentially biased against him when dismissing his claim. He said that, as it stood, with the estate 'partitioned' between his parents, it would probably have to be sold off as he could see no way of keeping it intact. Henrietta (pictured) saw her son collapse in court today as he fought for the estate Grade 2-listed Leadenham House has been in the Reeve family since it was built in the 1790s and is at the heart of the 3,000-acre estate. And William argued that, with the estate divided, there simply wouldn't be enough income to maintain and repair the historic pile. He told the court: 'Even now, the threat on Leadenham House is still huge.' Representing Mrs Reeve, Christopher Lundie argued Judge Evans-Gordon's ruling could not be faulted and William's appeal should be dismissed. 'The fair-minded and informed observer would not conclude that the conduct of the judge disclosed bias,' he added. William's father Peter was a defendant to the claim on the estate, but has not responded to the appeal. Lord Justice Floyd and Lord Justice Baker reserved their decision on William's challenge until a later date. Lord Justice Baker told him: 'It is obviously a tragedy for your family what has happened. It is very sad, indeed.' It comes as the Department for Work and Pensions investigated Ms David's claim that she has been left to fend for herself. The Child Maintenance Service is monitoring the case after being contacted by Ms David's local MP, who is supporting her claims. Speaking to MailOnline, Ms David, who lives in a rented flat in Chelsea, West London, said: 'We've just been left to fend for ourselves and it's been a nightmare. 'I have hardly any money, we are only managing to survive as it is thanks to financial help from my family, who are helping me pay the bills, yet he lives in a huge stately home and owns his own polo club. 'He's also a direct descendant from Edward III apparently. I would have expected more honourable behaviour coming from such nobility.' The 34-year-old legal aide said she has suffered Alopecia and has endured sustained stress and anxiety while attempting to care for her young son alone. President Donald Trump said the U.S. has shut down its border with Mexico because it's 'out of control' but he didn't elaborate on the details in his comments on Thursday. 'Actually, two days ago, we closed the border. We actually just closed it. We say nobody is coming in because it was out of control,' he said to reporters after he called U.S. troops to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. 'It's not that big a deal,' he said. The president said he signed an order closing the border two days ago. When reporters asked if they could get a copy of the order, he responded: 'You don't need it.' President Trump said the U.S. has shut down its border with Mexico because it's 'out of control' He did not say what he meant by border closing It's unclear what the president meant by a border closing. Asked to clarify what he meant, Trump said if 'it gets to a level where we are going to lose control or where people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control. The whole border. I mean the whole border.' Asked again to detail what he meant by closing the U.S. Souther border, Trump responded: 'I have already shut it down. I already shut it down for short periods. I shut down parts of the border because it was out of control. With the rioting on the other side in Mexico. And I just said shut it down.' In his remarks, the president also got in more slams at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against his asylum ban for illegal immigrants last week. We are doing really well considering the laws are a disaster. And if we had the right laws, it would be a lot less expensive and we would do it a lot easier, but we don't have the right laws and we have people interpreting the laws and they always give us a bad interpretation. So hopefully we have shown some light on the Ninth Circuit, he said. The president also said the government may shut down this fall if he doesn't get funding for his border wall Trump also acknowledged his spat with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Trump also acknowledged his spat with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. I know that Chief justice Roberts, John Roberts, has been speaking a little bit about it. And I think - I have a lot of respect for him. I like him and respect him, but I think we have to use some common sense. It's Ninth Circuit, everybody knows it, it's totally out of control. What they're doing, what they're saying, the opinions are very unfair to law enforcement. They're very unfair to our military. And they're very unfair, most importantly, to the people of our country, he said. Trump had launched another attack on the 9th Circuit earlier in the day and dismissed Chief Justice Roberts' strong rebuke one day on from their extraordinary row over judicial independence. Labeling the 9th Circuit a 'complete and total disaster' that is 'out of control', the president demanded in a tweet judges not be allowed to 'legislate security' in his early morning attack on Thanksgiving. The new criticism comes one day after the almost unprecedented row between the Supreme Court Chief Justice and the president of the United States following a strong rebuke from Roberts over Trump calling the 9th Circuit 'Obama judges'. The row began when Trump railed against the Ninth Circuit and its Obama-appointed judge, Jon Tigar, who ruled against him in his attempt to stop illegal immigrants applying for asylum once they cross the border. 'Every case that gets filed in the Ninth Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won,' Trump said after the ruling. Roberts, who is a Republican and was nominated to the Supreme Court by George W. Bush in 2005, weighed in angrily the next day, issuing a rare statement to say that politics played no part in the judicial system. He said: 'We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. 'What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. 'The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.' Trump hit back on Twitter afterwards, saying: 'Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country.' Trump said he signed an order closing the border but wouldn't make a copy public Trump has been railing against a band of migrant immigrants making their way to the U.S. Trump also slammed Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, saying their stance on border security would hurt them politically. 'I think it's bad for them politically. I think the fact that they're weak on the border is very, very bad for them politically. But you know, I have only been a politician for three years so maybe they know better than me,' he said. He also said there 'certainly could' be a government shut down this fall if he doesn't get the funds for his border wall. 'Could happen over border security,' he said. His remarks came after it was revealed White House Chief of Staff John Kelly signed an order late Tuesday that allows U.S. troops stationed at the border use lethal force, if necessary, to stop illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States, it was revealed. Trump said he didn't want the military 'taken advantage of.' 'If they have to, they have to use lethal force. I hope they don't have to, but you're dealing with a minimum of 500 serious criminals. So I'm not going to let the military be taken advantage of. I have no choice,' he noted on Thursday. Kelly's move, done to combat a caravan of migrants making their way from Central America to the United States, could be illegal. The brave men and women at Customs Border and Protection willingly put themselves in extremely dangerous situations every day to protect Americans and their families. The Presidents authorization ensures the Department of Defense can step in to protect those who protect us, Deputy White House Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement. Kellys aggressive stance comes amid reports he and his protege Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen could be on their way out the door with President Donald Trump said to be particularly angry that Nielsen is not tough enough on illegal immigration. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly signed an order late Tuesday that allows U.S. troops stationed at the border use lethal force, if necessary Central American migrants remain in a shelter at the Sports Center Benito Juarez, in Tijuana A White House official told DailyMail.com the authorization came from the president and Kelly was merely communicating the instructions. The official also said the military is not doing law enforcement but will be there to protect border agents should the situation require it. Law enforcement could violate the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the U.S. military as a police force. The order, set forth in a Cabinet memo, will likely be challenged in court. It comes after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against the administrations ban on asylum for illegal immigrants, a decision that infuriated President Trump. Trump did not sign the Cabinet memo allowing the use of force, but the president did sign an earlier decision memo that included similar recommendations, according to Newsweek. United States President Donald J. Trump, center left, and First Lady Melania Trump, center right, listen while speaking to Marines with John Kelly, White House chief of staff, left, at Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., U.S, on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Special Response Team (SRT) officers stand guard The order allows troops to perform activities Defense Secretary James Mattis deems necessary to protect border agents, such as a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention. and cursory search, according to the Military Times. Experts say the authorized authority could cross the legal line. They are pushing DoDs authority right up to the line of what is permitted without violating the restrictions of Posse Comitatus. Active duty personnel can respond in self-defense of border officials but the perfect world does not exist in factual reality in which this subjective concept can be neatly applied to the environment of border enforcement, Brad Moss, a Washington, D.C. based attorney specializing in national security, told Newsweek. There are approximately 5,900 active-duty troops and 2,100 National Guard forces deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border. In the Cabinet memo that he signed, Kelly justified the action by arguing credible evidence and intelligence had suggested the migrants may prompt incidents of violence and disorder. Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday troops would not violate the Posse Comitatus Act. Retired United States Marine Corps general and White House Chief of Staff John F Kelly visits the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in Belleau, on November 10, 2018 as part of commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the 11 November 1918 armistice, ending World War 1 The president has done little to tamp down speculation Kelly's days in the White House could be numbered. The order, set forth in a Cabinet memo, will likely be challenged in court I now have the authority to do more. Now well see what she asks me to do, Mattis said, referring to Nielsen. Trump has also advocated for greater force from the military, saying at an event earlier this month: Anybody throwing stones, rocks, like they did to Mexico and the Mexican military, Mexican police, where they badly hurt police and soldiers of Mexico, we will consider that a firearm. Were not going to put up with that. They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. I told them to consider it a rifle. Around 3,000 people from the first of the caravans have arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, California. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that it closed off northbound traffic for several hours at the San Ysidro crossing. It has also installed movable, wire-topped barriers, apparently to stop a potential mass rush of people. Trump has been trying to make a virtual wall of U.S. troops and barbed wire to stop the immigrants as he fights with Congress to get his billion dollar border wall built. Trump has been railing against a migrant caravan making its way from Central America toward the United States. He made it a huge issue in the midterm elections, particularly as he campaigned for GOP Senate candidates running in states he won in 2016. Republicans were able to knock off four Democratic senators in these red states. A man has been arrested after allegedly shooting dead a woman who he had forced into the back of a Catholic store in Missouri along with two others after she refused to perform a sex act on him. Thomas Bruce , 53, was arrested after allegedly attacking the three women at the Catholic Supply store in St. Louis on Monday. He allegedly entered the store at around 3.30pm, pretending to be a customer then forced Jamie Schmidt, a 53-year-old married mother-of-three, and two other women who have not been named into the back at gunpoint where he forced them to take off their clothes. It is unclear if the other women were employees of the store of customers. Thomas Bruce , 53, is accused of murdering 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt. Schmidt was one of three women forced into the back of a Catholic Supply store in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday. She was shot dead when she refused to perform a sex act on the gunman After forcing them into the back room, Bruce is said to have ordered them to perform unspecified sexual acts and when Schmidt refused, he shot her dead. The other two women complied. Police would not specify what they were made to do beyond saying they were forced to 'continue performing deviant sexual acts on him.' Afterwards, the gunman fled the scene. Bruce was arrested at his trailer on Wednesday after a tip from a member of the public led police to him. He has been charged with murder, kidnapping, multiple counts of sodomy, armed criminal action, burglary and tampering with evidence. The killing happened inside this Catholic Supply store in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday Schmidt's husband described her as an 'angel'. The other two women have not been named He is yet to enter a plea and he is being held without bail. Bruce lived in the trailer with his wife Diane, according to neighbors. He has no criminal record and police have never been called to their house before. According to The St. Louis Dispatch, neighbors saw 100 police officers surround the trailer on Wednesday before he was taken into custody. Schmidt's grieving family has paid tribute to her since, describing her as an 'angel' who was committed to the church. 'She was my angel, my partner, my best friend and the love of my life. 'I'm sorry if you never got to hear her sing recently because it gave me chills,' her husband Gregg wrote on Facebook after her death. Hillary Clinton warned Europe to get a handle on immigration or it could lead to the election of a Donald Trump of its own. The former presidential candidate told the Guardian that immigration was inflaming voters and contributed to Trump's election in the United States and Britains' vote to leave the European Union. She called on European leaders to send a strong signal showing they are 'not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support'. Hillary Clinton warned Europe to get a handle on immigration or it could lead to the election of a Donald Trump of its own Clinton said her rival Donald Trump won because he played on voters' fears 'I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame,' Clinton said to the newspaper. She praised German leader Angela Merkel, who has been struggling with the wrath of voters in her country, who are furious over Merkel's open-door policy. 'I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like Angela Merkel, but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message 'we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support' because if we don't deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic,' Clinton said. The former secretary of state, who lost to Trump in a bitter fight in the 2016 presidential election, urged leader not to neglect race issues that she said were behind her loss. She charged Trump with exploiting racial politics in order to the win the election and continuing that policy while he is in office. 'The use of immigrants as a political device and as a symbol of government gone wrong, of attacks on one's heritage, one's identity, one's national unity has been very much exploited by the current administration here,' she said. Clinton praised German leader Angela Merkel's handling of the immigration issue Theresa May (pictured giving a statement on the steps of Downing Street) has struggled with the Brexit issue 'There are solutions to migration that do not require clamping down on the press, on your political opponents and trying to suborn the judiciary, or seeking financial and political help from Russia to support your political parties and movements,' she added. Brexit, described by Clinton as the biggest act of national economic self-harm in modern history, 'was largely about immigration,' she said. Brexit talks have divided the United Kingdom and seen officials exit British PM Theresa May's cabinet. May declared she had 'honoured the referendum' after dramatically sealing a Brexit deal with Brussels that would bring an end to free movement and allow Britain to strike trade deals around the world. Protesters were once again on the streets of Dublin city centre today to highlight injustices in how rape trials are conducted in Ireland. The resumed demonstration is a response to a recent case in Co Cork that sparked outrage after a defence barrister referred to the 17-year-old complainant's underwear during a trial in which a 27-year-old man was acquitted of rape. Activists wore revealing outfits to protest against the shaming of victims for their clothes and painted slogans such as 'this is not consent' and 'I'm not asking for it' on their bodies. Protestors Stacie Ellen Murphy, Alanna Cassidy and Lena Seale walk in their underwear along Grafton Street, Dublin, in support of victims of sexual violence (Left to right) Protestors Stacie Ellen Murphy, Alanna Cassidy and Lena Seale launched a fresh protest today a week after the initial demonstration where feminists protested the result of a court case that saw a man, 27, acquitted of raping a 17-year-old in Cork Since the not guilty verdict in the Cork rape trial, dozens of women have shared pictures of their underwear online under the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent The defendant's lawyer suggested to jurors that the teenager's lacy underwear meant she was 'open to meeting someone and being with someone.' The young woman's thong was then passed around the courtroom, leading a female Irish MP to hold up a lace thong in parliament to highlight 'routine victim-blaming'. Today's renewed protest follows on from last week's mass demonstration organised by a number of feminist organisations, in which participants held up underwear and placards that read 'Stop victim blaming in courts' while chanting 'Clothes are not consent'. Since then, dozens of women have shared pictures of their underwear online under the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent to express solidarity with the teenager in Cork and protest against the verdict. Protestor Stacie Ellen Murphy points to a slogan on her chest while protesting along Grafton Street, Dublin on Thursday Protestor Stacie Ellen Murphy walks in her underwear along Grafton Street, Dublin, on Thursday in support of victims of sexual violence after a jury was given a 17-year-old's underwear which was offered as proof that she was 'open to meeting someone' A man takes a selfie with feminist protestors Stacie Ellen Murphy, Alanna Cassidy and Lena Seale Meanwhile minister Ruth Coppinger held up a pair of frilly underwear in parliament. She asked lawmakers: 'Why is nothing yet being done to stop the routine use of rape myths in trials, and how concerned is this Government about the chilling effect this is having on victims coming forward? 'It might seem embarrassing to show a pair of thongs here in this incongruous of the Dail. The #ThisIsNotConsent protest went viral online after the rape trial and was even used by minister Ruth Coppinger (pictured, Lena Seale at the Dublin protest today) 'But the reason I'm doing it: how do you think a... woman feels at the incongruous setting of her underwear being shown in a court? 'How heroic do you have to be to pursue a rape trial in this country?' Tweeting about her decision afterward, she added: 'I hear cameras cut away from me when I displayed this underwear in Dail. 'In courts victims can have their underwear passed around as evidence and it's within the rules, hence need to display in Dail. #ThisIsNotConsent.' The protests started in a private Facebook group called Mna na hEireann - meaning Women of Ireland - after the case concluded. Hundreds of women marched in Dublin last Wednesday carrying banners with the hashtag 'ThisIsNotConsent' on them, after an online campaign started the movement Women took to the streets across Ireland brandishing thongs, including in O'Connell Street in Dublin (pictured) This year marks the coldest Thanksgiving day in decades for most of the Northeastern United States, while freezing rain has struck the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest is inundated with snow, leading to dangerous driving conditions. An Arctic blast of air is pushing temperatures 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit colder than the holiday, one year ago, in the greater New York City area. High temperatures were forecast at record lows in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Vermont, as well. The National Weather Service in Seattle warned travelers to check road conditions before heading out on roadways, as more snow was expected to fall after 11am Pacific. And in Kentucky, freezing rain came to the region early, icing over plants and outdoor lights. This year marks the coldest Thanksgiving day in decades for most of the Northeastern United States, while freezing rain has struck the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest is inundated with snow, leading to dangerous driving conditions Thursday's forecast for New York City showed a high of 27 degrees Fahrenheit and lows of 19 degrees, with winds blowing up to 25mph and gusts up to 30mph, marking Manhattan's coldest Thanksgiving in over a century. The last time Turkey day that was this cold in the Big Apple was more than a century ago on November 28, 1901, when temperatures were a freezing 26 degrees, according to ABC7's Accuweather-Alert. Temperatures in 1871 were as low as 15 degrees in New York, with a high of 22. High temperatures for Thanksgiving day were forecast at record lows in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Vermont, as well as in New York Burlington, Vermont was expected to see temperatures well below freezing, with a forecasted high of 16 degrees Fahrenheit, beating its previous record for lowest high temperature of 19 degrees on Thanksgiving day in 1938, according to the Weather Channel. In Boston, Massachusetts, the high was forecast at 21 degrees Fahrenheit, which would overtake the record set in 1901 for the holiday, which was 24 degrees. Providence, Rhode Island expected to break its record from 1996 by eight degrees, with temperatures only forecast to reach 22 degrees on Thursday, and Philadelphia's record high of 30 degrees set in 1996 was expected to be just slightly edged out with a forecasted high of 29 degrees. In Kentucky, residents on Twitter shared a discussion about the lack of snow for the day of giving thanks, though there was no shortage of frozen precipitation. '[D]ont worry about the snow, it came to Kentucky in the form of freezing rain which usually falls in the beginning of February!,' wrote Nikolay Stankov, from an account with the username @Lithronix. Over on the west coast, Seattle and its surrounding areas saw blanketed roadways on Thursday morning; Conditions at Snoqualmie are shown from 7.43am Pacific on Thursday 'Chains are required at Snoqualmie and Stevens Pass this morning,' the NWS Seattle tweeted; Conditions at Stevens Pass are shown from 7.45am Pacific on Thursday Over on the west coast, Seattle and its surrounding areas saw blanketed roadways on Thursday morning, with more snow expected, prompting a warning from the local National Weather Service office. 'Chains are required at Snoqualmie and Stevens Pass this morning,' the NWS Seattle tweeted. 'Heavier snow is on the way after 11am. If you must travel, check road conditions before you go [here] and prepare for longer travel times!' Snoqualmie is about 30 miles east of Seattle. This is the moment a powered paraglider comes tumbling from the sky and crashes into a terrified man on a river bank. Footage captured in Saudi Arabia shows the glider hurtling to the ground, while four people filming by the water frantically try to escape. The person in the glider drops to the beach while one of the people on the ground lies badly injured under an SUV, breaking his leg and needing hospital treatment. The terrifying clip was captured on the banks of the Wadi al-Rummah river, near the city of Buraidah in the central Saudi Arabian province of Al-Qassim. According to local media, the powered paraglider landed on one man, breaking his leg and causing various minor injuries. According to a Red Cross statement, the glider crash took place at 4.15pm on Wednesday. In the video footage, a powered paraglider is seen landing on the other side of the drying-out river bed next to a white van. But a paragliding colleague overshoots the mark, and plummets from the sky on the side of the river nearest the camera. The glider descends upon a group of four people filming from the riverbank, and crashes into a man wearing a black top. The pair go hurtling behind a black SUV and people rush to lift the seated paraglider up. The man in black, heard crying in pain, is last seen lying under the SUV. The emergency services were immediately sent to the scene and the injured man received first aid before being transferred to hospital. The powered paraglider is seen hurtling down to the river bank in Saudi Arabia as the terrified people on the beach scatter and try to stay out of its way A prolific fraudster with 12 different identities has been jailed for a 3.8 million VAT scam - after spending a decade on the run. John Dalton, who committed the multi-million pound fraud using numerous fake identities, skipped bail and fled abroad after his arrest in 2007. The 54-year-old scam artist, formally from Canterbury, was nabbed again for fraud offences in France but skipped the country before his prison term could start. He resurfaced in Spain in November 2017 where he was detained by authorities and finally brought back to the UK. John Dalton, who was born Paul Kemp, was said to have used 12 different aliases to carry out his frauds Dalton, who was born Paul Kemp, has used at least 12 different names throughout his life. He was sentenced to five years and four months' imprisonment at Inner London Crown Court on Wednesday, 21 November, having pleaded guilty to conspiring to cheat the public revenue. Three other members of his criminal enterprise were jailed for a total of nine years and ten months back in 2010. Dalton and another man were the main offenders in the conspiracy, which was mainly focused around falsely claiming 3.8 million worth of VAT repayments from HMRC. They set up several sham companies using forged documents to show that because their business transactions were carried out overseas, they did not receive VAT payments from their customers. Police released some of Dalton's aliases which showed how he changed haircuts and passport photos to avoid detection But most of the businesses never legitimately traded and the offices where they were supposedly based were rarely occupied and were changed on a regular basis. Kent Police officers travelled to Madrid on January 10 of this year in order to facilitate his return to the UK. Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Steve Payne of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: 'John Dalton is a career criminal who has cheated his way through life by creating numerous false identities and businesses in order to make money that he was not entitled to. 'I hope this case demonstrates that crime does not pay and that we do not forget about people who try to escape justice, no matter how many years have passed. 'We will now use legislation under the Proceeds of Crime Act to target Dalton's assets and ensure he is not allowed to enjoy any further luxuries following his eventual release from prison.' Police have sparked outrage by urging motorists not to use London roads blocked by climate change activists rather than move the protesters on. In an effort to bring gridlock to the city, members of Extinction Rebellion are blocking roads for several minutes at a time in Westminster, Tower Bridge, Elephant and Castle, and Earl's Court. The group, who have armed themselves with placards and banners, began the 'swarming protests' from 7.30am on Wednesday during rush hour. Climate change activists are blocking roads across London to cause gridlock. Pictured, one of the demonstrations on the A5 in London Police have advised motorists to avoid driving through London until Saturday - sparking anger from motorist who are demanding officers move them on. Pictured, one of the demonstrations on the A5 in London The Metropolitan police published details of protests on Twitter and are expected to continue until Saturday and have advised against driving in the city. Drivers across the city have hit out at the police for allowing the protesters to cause traffic chaos. The Guardian reported during one of the protests at the south end of Lambeth Bridge, a passerby who asked police why they could not clear the roadblock, was told the activists had a right to protest. 'You're part of the problem and all,' he shouted back at them. Jim Davidson, an English comedian and former TV presenter, was spotted angrily remonstrating against protesters from his car. It is claimed Davidson angrily shouted at police: 'Why aren't you moving them?' Davidson reportedly shouted at police, before telling demonstrators who tried to approach him he did not talk to 'lefties' The Met also warned people that attempting to drive through the demonstrations was 'very dangerous and illegal'. Demonstrators are blocking roads for seven-minute periods, stepping aside for two minute intervals before repeating the cycle. The protests are part of a co-ordinated week of action organised by the group. As part of the protests, dozens of demonstrators blocked five Thames bridges in London on Saturday afternoon. Following the protests at the weekend police made 82 arrests. There were no arrests following the latest round of protests. The Met Police used its Road & Transport MPS Twitter account to warn drivers to avoid the roads in a Tweet which was later removed. It now claims that the tweet was posted in error as it 'contained confusing content'. A spokesman for the Met said: 'It is usual practice when dealing with protests that Road & Transport MPS twitter account publishes the location of the protest and advises motorists that their journeys may be disrupted and to avoid the area. 'Due to the 'sporadic' 'swarming' nature of the current round of protests Roads & Transport MPS twitter account asked all motorists to be aware of the potential delays and if possible avoid bringing cars and motorbikes into the capital as protest locations had not been disclosed. The tweet was reviewed shortly after release and was felt to contain confusing content and so was removed. 'The MPS encounters many protests throughout the year. Continued efforts are made to balance the requirements of individuals with regards to lawful protest and freedom of movement within the context of the law; as well as mitigating the associated risks to road users and the public at large. We will continue to work with partners and public to put public safety at the heart of everything we do. ' Banking giant Goldman Sachs has offered staff emergency nannies to look after ill children and elderly relatives as part of their latest push to reduce its gender pay gap. London employees of Goldman will receive an extension of the US investment bank's backup care programme. Part of the scheme will see nanny care for ill children and same service for dependent family members who need help unexpectedly. Goldman, which employs around 6,000 people in the UK, has been on a drive to reduce its gender pay gap, partly caused by many senior positions being taken by men. London employees of Goldman will receive an extension of the US investment bank's backup care programme (stock image) Recently it has offered free gender reassignment surgery and IVF fertility treatments. The latter has been seen as a ploy to keep female staff, as typically many women walk away from the job due to its unsocialable lifestyle. It also launched a programme to ship new mothers' breast milk back to their children if they worked overseas. Goldman was one of the first corporate firms to introduce 'lactation rooms' for women to express milk and it also runs free pre-natal fitness classes at its office gym. It also has an on-site daycare where employees' children are cared for 20 days each year for free. Goldman's US offices will deliver freezing kits to nursing bankers' hotel rooms, and that the expressed milk will be delivered by courier. In a statement regarding the new nanny service for London workers, Goldman said: 'The firm recognises that backup care is an essential benefit when your usual care arrangements break down.' Workers will have access to 20 days of in-home care per child or dependent adult each year. Staff will have to pay just 4 per hour to use the service, while free on-site childcare is also on offer. Goldman has signed up to the UK women in finance charter, which aims to raise the proportion of women in senior positions to at least 30 per cent by 2023. The move is part of a ploy to help balance the gender pay gap in the firm (stock image) Commenting on its recently released gender pay gap figures in the UK, Goldman said lower pay for women was due to its 'current reality that there are more men than women in senior positions in our organisation'. The mean pay gap across Goldman Sachs International was 55.5%, based on hourly pay over the 12 months to April 2017, while the median pay gap was 36.4%. Sally Boyle, the bank's international head of human capital management, said the policy was a result of continuing conversations with staff. She said: 'Providing care to children, elderly parents or other dependants is a significant part of many employees' lives. It's important we recognise the challenges that can come from balancing these commitments with work and do everything we can to support our employees and their families when the need arises.' Advertisement Dozens of mourners have lined the streets to pay their respects to a five-year-old boy who lost his battle with cancer. Charlie Procter was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour three years ago but passed away in November in the arms of his parents Amber and Ben. Just hours before his death Amber posted a heartbreaking final picture of her son after he told his mum 'I don't know what to do anymore' and 'Mummy, I'm so sorry for this'. Dozens of mourners lined the streets to pay their final respects to Charlie Procter outside the St Paul's Church in Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire Charlie Procter lost his three-year battle against cancer earlier this month. Pictured: Charlie with his mother Amber The hearse was covered with floral tributes reading 'Charlie' and his green-coloured coffin was covered in superheroes from the children's television series PJ Masks Family and friends gathered outside St Paul's Church in Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire to pay their respects Charlie. The hearse was covered with floral tributes reading 'Charlie' and his green-coloured coffin was covered in superheroes from the children's television series PJ Masks. Before the service, his mum Amber Schofield posted on Facebook: 'We've had a lot of people asking if they can pay their respects to Charlie and there is so many amazing people who have supported and helped try to save our Charlie that we would like to welcome everyone. 'Although everyone is welcome to the service, after this, we ask that only those who are close to Charlie join us in Charlie's celebration of life. Charlie's parents raised 360,000 for life-saving treatment in the United States but last month were told he was too ill to receive treatment and that his cancer was not curable. Pictured: pallbearers carry in Charlie Procter's coffin ahead of his funeral this afternoon 'Thank you again to everyone who has support my baby. I will never forgot how much not only our town came together but also how much the world came together. 'We are forever grateful. You all given me strength at my hardest times.' Charlie, from Church, Accrington, died on November 9 and devastated Amber said Charlie was her 'best friend' and 'biggest inspiration'. The couple had raised 360,000 for life-saving treatment in the United States but last month were told he was too ill to receive treatment and that his cancer was not curable. The Oswaldtwistle St Andrew's primary school pupil was first diagnosed with Hepatoblastoma in February 2016. Charlie went into remission from liver cancer after undergoing surgery at Birmingham Children's Hospital but passed away not long after. Fundraising appeals were held to get Charlie to America and the Accrington Stanley-mad fan appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show last year to raise awareness. Pictured: a floral arrangement which spelled Charlie's name was visible from the hearse Fundraising appeals were held to get Charlie to America and the Accrington Stanley-mad fan appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show last year to raise awareness. In recent months hundreds of thousands of pounds had been raised in a last-ditch bid to raise the money needed, and was supported by celebrities including pop star Pink. Last month his family brought forward Charlie's birthday by six months because he desperately wanted to reach the milestone. Advertisement Theresa May tonight vowed there would never be a new referendum on Brexit while she is Prime Minister despite facing an impossible mission to get her deal through the Commons. The Prime Minister ridiculed demands from Remain supporters on both sides of the House to accept her divorce deal will be destroyed by MPs next month. Mrs May insisted that far from being a 'people's vote' on whether Brexit should go ahead it would be a 'politicians vote' symbolic of failure in Westminster. Her spokesman said a new referendum would never happen while Mrs May is in Downing Street. Rebel MPs could pass a motion demanding a new vote but only the Government could pass laws to make it happen. The defiant message came during a bruising two and a half hour confrontation with MPs in the Commons after Mrs May unveiled the second part of her deal, a 'political declaration' on the final UK-EU trade deal. It took almost 40 minutes for any MP to voice support for the document at all and by the end of the session the Prime Minister was left with just a handful of supporters on her own side. As she fought to make the case it was her deal or a disastrous no deal, Mrs May said: 'This is a good deal for our country, for our partners in the EU,' she told MPs. 'It ends free movement once and for all.' She told MPs: 'Any second referendum would not be a people's vote it would be a politicians' vote.' She added: 'If this House were to stop Brexit, the British people would feel it was a gross betrayal of the trust that we had shown in them and they had shown in us.' She said a new immigration system would give people access based on 'what they can contribute to the UK', there would be no more 'sending vast sums of money to the EU', and the jurisdiction of the European court will end. Boris Johnson said the inclusion of an Irish border backstop that would lash the UK to EU rules 'makes a complete nonsense of Brexit'. Former Cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson, and DUP chief whip Jeffrey Donaldson also insisted the backstop must be scrapped altogether, warning: 'None of this is going to work.' Dominic Raab, who quit as Brexit Secretary last week, railed at the commitment to 'build and improve on' the customs provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement. He said the public had voted to regain sovereignty in 2016 but this deal 'gave more away'. In concessions designed to help Mrs May get the deal through Parliament, the 26-page document - which is not legally binding but sketches out the arrangements that could come into force after the end of a mooted transition period in December 2020 - makes clear that Britain will have an 'independent trade policy'. And it stresses both sides' 'determination to replace the backstop' for the Irish border with alternative plans in future - potentially reviving the 'Max Fac' technological solution favoured by Brexiteers. The pact confirms that free movement will end, which could be seen as a win for the PM - but also states that the UK will not discriminate between nationals from different EU countries. There would be visa free travel for all citizens making short trips, which will be a relief for holidaymakers. There are fears that Spain could still threaten to derail the deal by opposing it at an EU summit on Sunday, amid demands for concessions over the status of Gibraltar. The Pound surged on the developments, with markets concluding the chances of no-deal Brexit have receded. Theresa May (pictured today in Downing Street) tonight vowed there would never be a new referendum on Brexit while she is Prime Minister despite facing an impossible mission to get her deal through the Commons The draft of the declaration was published today after intense horse-trading between the UK and EU nations The political declaration released today outlines the terms of the UK's relationship with the EU after Brexit. But if ratified by both sides it would not come into force until the end of a transition period in December 2020, or even later if the implementation period is extended. The legal text of a treaty - which will be crucial - will not be hammered out until after Britain formally leaves the bloc in March next year. The political declaration has been fleshed out from just seven pages to some 26 since an earlier version was released last week. Among the main points in the draft document are: The UK and EU 'agree to develop an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced economic partnership', but many of the key issues have been fudged. Britain appears to have accepted Brussels' demands for a 'level playing field' - which could mean mirroring EU rules on the environment, safety and labour market rules. There is no specific reference to Mrs May's Chequers blueprint for frictionless trade with the EU - but it clearly indicates a deeper relationship than the Canada-style model favoured by Brexiteers. The package will include a 'free trade area as well as wider sectoral cooperation where it is in the mutual interest of both Parties'. In a nod to the EU's red line against 'cherry picking' of membership benefits, the document says the future deal will 'facilitate trade and investment between the Parties to the extent possible, while respecting the integrity of the Union's Single Market and the Customs Union'. But it also tries to assuage Brexiteer fears about 'vassalage' by making clear the UK's 'internal market' must be respected and 'recognising the development of an independent trade policy by the UK beyond this economic partnership'. The possibility of 'alternative' arrangements to avoid the need for the Irish border 'backstop', potentially reviving the 'Max Fac' technological solution favoured by Eurosceptics. It highlights trusted trade schemes as among the techniques that could be deployed. The row over access to the UK's fishing waters appears to have been kicked back to be resolved in the detailed trade negotiations starting after Brexit day. In a rowdy Commons sessions, Mrs May said: 'The negotiations are now at a critical moment and all our efforts must be focused on working with our European partners to bring this process to a final conclusion in the interests of all our people.' She added: 'The British people want Brexit to be settled, they want a good deal that sets us on a course for a brighter future, and they want us to come together as a country and to move on to focus on the big issues at home, like our NHS. What does the Brexit political declaration say and will it appease the Brexiteers? Theresa May has thrashed out more commitments with the EU for the Brexit political declaration - which sets out the plans for the UK's future relationship with Brussels. The PM was under massive pressure from Tory Brexiteers to come back with major wins in order for it to stand any chance of getting it through Parliament. Here are some of the key points in the document: The Irish border: This is the crunch issue in the talks. The UK has committed to keeping Britain in a customs union backstop if no free trade deal is done in time which keeps the Irish border soft. This has sparked Brexiteer fury, and leading Tory Eurosecptics Iain Duncan-Smith and Owen Paterson have held private meetings with the PM to press her to change the plan. The document tries to calm Brexiteers by stating that both sides have restated their 'determination to replace the backstop solution on Northern Ireland by a subsequent agreement that establishes alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland on a permanent footing'. On the UK striking free trade deals In a concession to the UK, the EU appears to have conceded Britain must be able to pursue its own trade deals. The document states: 'It must also ensure the sovereignty of the United Kingdom and the protection of its internal market, while respecting the result of the 2016 referendum including with regard to the development of its independent trade policy and the ending of free movement of people between the Union and the United Kingdom.' But it does little to flesh out the details. Customs Union / free trade area Both sides have stressed their commitment to a new free trade a deal. But Brexiteers have already erupted in fury as the document suggests the future deal will look a lot like a customs union. The document states there will be 'deep regulatory and customs cooperation'. Fleshing out what a future trade deal will look like, it states: 'The economic partnership should ensure no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors'. It says the two sides should have 'ambitious customs arrangements that, in line with the Parties' objectives and principles above, build and improve on the single customs territory' in the divorce deal. Tory MP and arch Eurosceptic Bernard Jenkin branded the clause 'worse than Chequers'. Immigration Free movement of people from the EU will end. But the document suggests high levels of EU immigration to the UK is set to stay as new routes to settle in Britain are set up. The UK has agreed to consider letting EU nationals move to the UK for research, study, training and youth exchanges. And it says both sides will explore how to open borders for 'legitimate travel'. But immigration after Brexit from EU states must be 'based on non discrimination' - this effectively means the UK must have the same immigration rules for each of the 27 countries, rather than negotiating different ones state by state. There will be visa free travel for short term trips by EU nationals and vice versa. Benefits: Britain could still pay benefits to EU nationals after Brexit, and vice versa. The document states: 'The parties also agree to consider addressing social security coordination in the light of future movement of persons.' Fishing: Talks on what access the EU will have to fish in Britain's waters after Brexit have been delayed. It says the deal should be agreed by 1 July 2020. The document states: 'Within the context of the overall economic partnership the Parties should establish a new fisheries agreement on, inter alia, access to waters and quota shares.' This has sparked massive alarm among fishermen and Brexiteers that EU will be given rights to fish in UK waters even after Brexit. Tory MP and Brexiteer Ross Thomson lashed the proposal, warning it means 'sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal. That is unacceptable.' The two sides have also agreed to cooperate on deciding fishing quotas in the future. The document states that 'the United Kingdom will be an independent coastal state' - but it is doubtful this will do enough to appease the Brexiteers. EU judges: EU judges will still have a role in formulating laws in Britain after Brexit - but it will be far less than they have now. Britain and Brussels have agreed to set up a disputes panel which will have officials from Britain, member states and an independent country on each case. While EU judges will not sit on the panel, when disputes concerns areas of EU law, judges in Brussels will be consulted on the meaning of this law. Space: The UK and the EU have pledged to 'consider appropriate arrangements for cooperation on space'. This comes in the wake of a major over the Galileo satellite programme, which the EU has threatened to boot Britain out of despite the country sinking many millions into the project. Advertisement 'The deal that will enable us to do this is now within our grasp. In these crucial 72 hours ahead, I will do everything possible to deliver it for the British people.' Earlier, the PM updated Cabinet on the developments in a conference call, and then made a statement to cameras in Downing Street. She said: 'This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the result of the referendum.' In a stark message to MPs as an historic Commons showdown looms, Mrs May added: 'The British people want this to be settled. They want to get a deal that sets us on a course for a brighter future. 'That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it.' A No10 spokesman said a 'good' two-hour meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels last night had allowed Mrs May to give 'further instruction to negotiators' who then resolved the remaining issues. EU council chief Donald Tusk then broke cover this morning to announce that a draft text had been finished and was being sent to ambassadors from member states, ready for sign off at the summit on Sunday. Senior government sources said there had been 'significant progress since the outline political declaration in building up the text'. They said: 'The PM thinks we are towards a place where we have a good deal for the UK.' The source pointed to specific lines in the text about 'alternative arrangements for Northern Ireland' as a win since the first draft. They also highlighted language about Britain having an 'independent trade policy' after Brexit. But there was an immediate backlash from Remainers and Eurosceptics, with Nicola Sturgeon saying it was 'blindfold Brexit' with fishing left as a 'bargaining chip' for the detailed negotiations. 'Just read Political Declaration. Lots of unicorns taking the place of facts about the future relationship. Fair play to the EU for pushing it as far as possible...but it adds up to a blindfold Brexit. Difficult issues unresolved - so extended transition/backstop almost certain,' Mrs Sturgeon wrote. Brexiteer ringleader Steve Baker suggested the rebels would not be persuaded by language about an 'independent trade policy' tweeting: 'Fool me once'. Tory MP Bernard Jenkin agreed with David Davis' ex chief of staff Stewart Jackson the commitment to build on the divorce deal was bad news for Britain's freedom to trade. He said: 'This commits the UK in principle to 'build and improve on the single customs territory provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement which obviates the need for checks on rules of origin'. 'Which means at least Chequers or worse.' Former Aid Secretary Priti Patel said: 'Everything the EU wanted from the negotiations has ended up in the Withdrawal Agreement which is a legally enforceable international treaty. 'That's why we're going to stay in the EU customs union, remain subject to judgments of the European Court, imperil our Union and allow the EU to have a veto over when we can leave the backstop. 'Everything the UK wanted has been put in an unenforceable, meaningless declaration. And it's cost us 39billion. 'This is a costly surrender by the UK Government.' Scottish Tory Ross Thomson condemned the settlement on fishing. He said: 'The political declaration commits UK to 'establish a new fisheries agreement on, inter allia, access to waters and quota shares'. 'This means sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal. That is unacceptable. We must be a normal Independent coastal state like Norway.' Mrs May made a dash to Brussels last night for talks with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, but it took all-night negotiations between officials to secure a breakthrough. She is planning to return to the EU capital on Saturday to set the stage for the leaders' summit the next day. EU diplomats said today Madrid was 'all alone' in its bid to reopen the text of the Withdrawal Agreement - while Irish deputy PM Simon Coveney warned that that part of the deal was 'closed'. There is speculation Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez is taking a hard line for domestic reasons, as key regional elections are looming. But it is not yet clear that the issue will be settled. Alongside the political declaration, it was confirmed today that the Withdrawal Agreement will contain a contingency for the transition period to be extended for 'up to one or two years' after December 2020. That could potentially mean it finishing after the schedule date of the next general election in May 2022 - and the UK paying contributing billions of pounds more to Brussels coffers. Mrs May will hope that the progress on future trade can help her get on the front foot, after suffering a welter of criticism from all sides over her divorce plan. Pressures intensified today after it emerged Jeremy Hunt warned at Cabinet last week that the Irish border backstop had become a 'Turkey trap' that could tie the UK down for decades. The declaration states that the UK and EU 'agree to develop an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced economic partnership'. Britain appears to have accepted Brussels demands for a 'level playing field' - which could mean mirroring EU rules on the environment, safety and labour market rules. The package will include a 'free trade area as well as wider sectoral cooperation where it is in the mutual interest of both Parties'. 'It will be underpinned by provisions ensuring a level playing field for open and fair competition, as set out in Section XIV of this Part. In a nod to Brussels red line against 'cherry picking' of membership benefits, the document says the future deal will 'facilitate trade and investment between the Parties to the extent possible, while respecting the integrity of the Union's Single Market and the Customs Union'. Dominic Raab (left), who quit as Brexit Secretary last week, railed at the commitment to 'build and improve on' the customs provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement. Former Cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith (right) insisted the backstop must be scrapped altogether, warning: 'None of this is going to work.' Boris Johnson (pictured) said the inclusion of an Irish border backstop that would lash the UK to EU rules 'makes a complete nonsense of Brexit' But it also tries to assuage Brexiteer fears about 'vassalage' by making clear the UK's 'internal market' must be respected and 'recognising the development of an independent trade policy by the UK beyond this economic partnership'. There is also a reference to the possibility of 'alternative' arrangements that could avoid the need for the Irish border 'backstop', potentially reviving the 'Max Fac' technological solution favoured by Eurosceptics. The document says both sides 'envisage making use of all available facilitative arrangements and technologies' to smooth border issues. Spain could STILL derail summit amid bitter row over Gibraltar Spain today insisted it would vote against the Brexit deal without new guarantees on Gibraltar. Theresa May spoke to the Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez last night in a bid to end the diplomatic flare up that has rocked the final phase of the negotiations. But Madrid made clear today it remained deeply unhappy with the future status of the Rock, insisting any future UK-EU trade must not apply there without a Spanish say. The Prime Minister has vowed to deliver a deal for the 'whole UK family' including Gibraltar and other overseas territories. Spain cannot outright veto the Brexit deal at Sunday's summit to sign off the divorce but Brussels will be desperate to get unanimous agreement from EU leaders. EU sources have made clear irritation at Spain's decision to try and reopen the issue of Gibraltar at the 11th hour of the talks. Advertisement 'To this end, they intend to consider mutual recognition of trusted traders' programmes, administrative cooperation in customs matters and mutual assistance, including for the recovery of claims related to taxes and duties, and through the exchange of information to combat customs fraud and other illegal activity,' it says. There is no specific mention of Mrs May's Chequers plan to make trade as frictionless as possible - but hints at something deeper than the Canada-style deal favoured by Brexiteers. 'The Parties envisage that the extent of the United Kingdom's commitments on customs and regulatory cooperation, including with regard to alignment of rules, would be taken into account in the application of related checks and controls, considering this as a factor in reducing risk,' the document says. 'This, combined with the use of all available facilitative arrangements as described above, can lead to a spectrum of different outcomes for administrative processes as well as checks and controls, and note in this context their wish to be as ambitious as possible, while respecting the integrity of their respective markets and legal orders.' In a passage that will alarm Brexiteers, the document states: 'The economic partnership should ensure no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors, with ambitious customs arrangements that, in line with the Parties' objectives and principles above, build and improve on the single customs territory provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement which obviates the need for checks on rules of origin.' Mrs May held talks with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz - who holds the rotating presidency of the European Council - in Downing Street this afternoon before her Commons statement. The delay over both the Withdrawal Agreement and the political declaration had been threatening to derail the entire process, with Berlin warning yesterday that Chancellor Angela Merkel will pull the plug unless Britain, France, Spain and other countries end the last-minute horse-trading over the details. German sources had said Mrs Merkel would not attend Sunday's summit unless the deal was finalised by tomorrow. The stand-off raised fears about a repeat of the disastrous Salzburg summit in September, when EU leaders publicly derided Mrs May's Chequers proposals after initially indicating they would consider them. Speaking after a two-hour meeting with Mr Juncker in Brussels last night, Mrs May admitted there were 'further issues that need resolution'. It has emerged that Mr Hunt told last week's crucial Cabinet meeting that Turkey had been negotiating with the EU for 31 years and Britain risked the same. He said the 'backstop' that will keep Britain in a customs union with the EU could become a 'front stop'. He also called for 'incentives' to avoid the status of a satellite of the EU. As the Brexit talks enter their final days, EU officials have been struggling to balance a string of conflicting demands. May's 'Max Fac' compromise plan fails to win over senior Tory Brexiteers Theresa May confirmed today that government officials are developing plans for a technological solution to solve the Irish border problem. The PM has been playing up the possibility in a bid to buy off some senior Brexiteers and quell a burgeoning Tory coup attempt. Iain Duncan Smith Smith and Owen Paterson are among those who have been pushing the government to pursue the so-called 'Max Fac' solution. The Withdrawal Agreement and the political declaration both include reference to 'alternatives' being preferable to the backstop. However, the EU has previously dismissed 'Max Fac' as 'magical thinking'. But Mr Duncan Smith and Mr Paterson both told the Commons this afternoon that the concession did not mean much as the the 'backstop' is still the final position in the legal text. Advertisement EU Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis had said a final text must be agreed before a meeting tomorrow of EU diplomats who are due to brief their national governments before Sunday's summit. But Spain yesterday stepped up threats to vote down the deal unless it is altered to give Madrid a veto over Gibraltar's future. Responding to the brinkmanship, Mr Coveney told Euronews: 'The withdrawal treaty text is agreed, it's closed 'If you reopen for one issue, well then there is an avalanche of other asks, I am sure, that different countries will have.' An EU diplomat told Politico: 'We are following the latest developments with growing concern and incomprehension. 'Among the EU27 our Spanish friends are all alone on this.' France, meanwhile, had been demanding guaranteed access to British fishing grounds on the current terms - an issue that appears to have been put on hold in the declaration text. With the Withdrawal Agreement and political declaration now seemingly close to sealed with the EU, attention will turn to the impending showdown in Parliament. More than 80 MPs have already publicly pledged to oppose the package in a meaningful vote due to be held next month. Three Tory MPs challenged the Prime Minister over the issue in the Commons yesterday, with environment committee chairman Neil Parish telling her the draft deal was 'not good enough as it stands'. Mrs May insisted the Irish backstop was designed to be 'temporary' if it was used at all but sources confirmed she recognises the need to secure a clearer exit route out of it. One Cabinet minister said: 'It is about giving MPs enough comfort so that they can say 'the deal is not what I first thought it was'.' The minister suggested that rather than redrafting the deal, appendices or explanatory notes could be added to make it more palatable. 'There are lots of ways of changing something without changing something,' the source said. What is the Brexit Political Declaration, what does it change, and what happens next? Q: What is the Political Declaration that Theresa May has agreed with the EU? A: The document is a series of commitments on the future relationship the UK will have with Brussels after Brexit. It is simply a political declaration and has no legally binding weight in and of itself. Q: How is it different from the EU Withdrawal Agreement agreed last week? A: The Withdrawal Agreement runs to 585 pages covers the UK's divorce from Brussels - so areas such as the amount of money the UK will pay the EU, the rights of EU nationals in the UK after Brexit and vice versa, and what happens to the Irish border if a free trade deal is not done in time. In stark contrast to the Political Declaration, it is a legally binding document. Q: What areas does the Political Declaration cover? A: The declaration includes immigration, fishing rights, trade policy, cooperation on security, and how disputes between the UK and EU will be settled after Britain quits the Brussels bloc and with it the European Court of Justice. Q: What has changed from the draft Political Declaration last week? A: Today's Political Declaration runs to 26 pages - far longer than the 7-page draft which was published last week. It includes extra clauses which stress commitments to try to use technology and a free trade deal to keep the Irish border soft, rather than relying on the controversial backstop which would keep the UK tied to an EU customs union. Q: Why are Brexiteers angry at the deal? A: Furious Tory Brexiteers have lined up to condemn the document. They say that new clauses on using technology to keep the Irish border soft are toothless because they are not in the Withdrawal Agreement, which is the document which dictates the terms the UK leaves the EU on. They have also accused the PM of betraying fishermen by agreeing to do a new deal with the EU which could see European countries given rights to fish in Britain's waters. Q: Why are Remainers angry at the deal? A: The PM is also facing a barrage of attacks from Remainers, who say that the deal is not as good as staying in the EU and are pushing for another referendum which could see the Brexit result overturned. Q: What happens to the Political Declaration now? A: MPs will vote on the Political Declaration along with the EU Withdrawal Agreement in Parliament next month. But the PM is facing overwhelming opposition from rebellious Tory Brexiteers, Labour, the DUP and the SNP. In the face of this barrage of attacks, the Brexit deal is expected to be voted down. Q: What happens if the Brexit deal is voted down? A: Theresa May would probably go back to Brussels and try to negotiate further - perhaps getting more guarantees in the political declaration and concessions in the Withdrawal Agreement. But it remains to be seen if the EU would be willing to change the document. Advertisement EU Council President Donald Tusk said the 'future framework' outlining the plans for the final UK-EU trade deal had been agreed by negotiators this morning and sent to EU capitals (left). But there was anger from some Tories about the plans, with Ross Thomson claiming Mrs May had breached faith over fishing rules (right) Theresa May (pictured giving a statement on the steps of Downing Street today) has secured a breakthrough in the negotiations over a political declaration Mrs May visited a parent and baby centre in North London this morning before making her dramatic statement on the steps of Downing Street Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, pictured in Westminster yesterday, is said to have warned privately that Mrs May's deal could be a 'Turkey trap' Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street today) has secured agreement with the EU on the second half of her Brexit deal Theresa May appealed over the heads of her rebellious MPs yesterday as she urged business and the public to back her Brexit deal. In another defiant message outside Downing Street the PM announced she had secured agreement with the EU on the second half of her Brexit deal, as she set out plans for the UK's future relationship with Brussels. But Mrs May faces an uphill battle to sell it to her own party, with 88 Tory MPs about half of her backbench publicly committed to rejecting it when it comes before Parliament next month. The PM declared she had 'delivered on the result of the referendum' with a political declaration that allows Britain to strike its own trade deals and end the free movement of people into the UK. The deal also stresses both sides' 'determination to replace the backstop' for the Irish border, reviving hopes of a 'Max Fac' solution using technology to track goods crossing in or out. The PM took to the steps of Number 10 to hail success in the talks, an an attempt to re-launch her Brexit deal after the first part triggered an attempted coup last week. But she once again came under attack from Brexiteers who condemned the package as a 'costly surrender'. A string of Tory MPs have warned Mrs May they would join forces with Labour to vote down the deal unless she scraps the controversial Irish 'backstop', which could keep the UK locked in a customs union for years. Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the Irish border backstop, which would keep the UK tied to EU rules, 'makes a complete nonsense of Brexit'. Former Cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson, and DUP chief whip Jeffrey Donaldson also insisted the backstop must be scrapped altogether, warning: 'None of this is going to work.' There was also anger that the issue of access to UK fishing waters appeared to have been kicked back to be decided after the UK's exit date in March. The pact confirms that free movement will end, but also states that the UK will not discriminate between nationals from different EU countries. Under the deal there would also be visa-free travel for citizens making short trips on holiday. Boris Johnson (pictured) said the inclusion of an Irish border backstop that would tie the UK to EU rules 'makes a complete nonsense of Brexit' Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the Government had to 'do a better job in selling this deal' to Tory MPs including Brexiteers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg. Mr Rees-Mogg was among the Tory rebels to submit a letter of no confidence in Mrs May last week but the plotters have not collected enough signatures to force a vote. Meanwhile Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told the Commons that Mrs May had returned from Brussels with '26 pages of waffle'. 'It represents the worst of all worlds, no say over the rules that will continue to apply and no certainty to the future,' he said. In her brief address to the nation, Mrs May declared: 'This is the right deal for the UK. 'It delivers on the vote of the referendum. It brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws. Fish and chips 'under threat' if UK blocks access to waters Fish and chips could be off the menu if the UK refuses access to its fishing waters post-Brexit, Michel Barnier's deputy suggested last night. Sabine Weyand, the bloc's deputy chief Brexit negotiator, hinted that the national dish would disappear because Britain imports the majority of the cod and haddock it consumes and they could become subject to tariffs if Britain chooses not to allow access to its waters. Both sides have agreed to leave negotiations over fishing rights until after Britain leaves on March 29 next year, but aim to strike a new deal by July 2020. Despite the political declaration stating Britain would become 'an independent coastal state', the idea it could trade access to waters for tariff-free access to the EU's market sparked a political row. Ross Thomson, Tory MP for Aberdeen South, said: 'This means sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal. That is unacceptable.' Sheryll Murray, Tory MP for South East Cornwall, said: 'In the EU referendum people voted to take back control of our fish. Yet now the Prime Minister wants to commit us to stay in the Common Fisheries Policy in all but name. She seeks to enter a new fisheries agreement on access to waters and quota shares. This is a betrayal of Brexit.' Downing Street insisted it had 'fiercely resisted' the efforts of EU states to make an explicit link between access to British waters and access to markets. Advertisement 'And it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom.' The PM concluded: 'The British people want this to be settled. They want to get a deal that sets us on a course for a brighter future. 'That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it.' However there are fears that Spain could still derail the deal by opposing it at an EU summit on Sunday, amid demands for concessions over the status of Gibraltar. The Rock has become a last-minute sticking point in Brexit talks as Madrid warned a future UK-EU trade deal could not apply in Gibraltar without a Spanish say. Spain's Prime Minister tonight warned he would 'veto Brexit' unless the withdrawal deal was changed to offer new guarantees on Gibraltar. Pedro Sanchez, who has spoken to Theresa May in a bid to make a breakthrough ahead of Sunday's EU summit, said tonight: 'Our positions remain far away. 'My Government will always defend the interests of Spain. If there are no changes, we will veto Brexit.' And the PM still faces a fierce battle to get her deal through the Commons when it votes next month. Ministers have warned that Brexit would be thrown into chaos, and might not happen altogether, if the deal is voted down. In a sign of danger the PM's DUP allies, without whom she does not have a Commons majority, once again slammed last week's withdrawal agreement. DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said: 'Today's document has been drafted to help the Prime Minister rather than mitigate the very damaging and dangerous draft withdrawal agreement. Theresa May (pictured giving a statement on the steps of Downing Street today) has secured a breakthrough in the negotiations over a political declaration 'The Prime Minister must accept that it is not a pure choice for MPs between her withdrawal agreement and a so-called no deal. Rather it is time to work for a better deal.' Nonetheless Mrs May tonight vowed there would never be a new referendum on Brexit while she is Prime Minister. She added: 'If this House were to stop Brexit, the British people would feel it was a gross betrayal of the trust that we had shown in them and they had shown in us.' In a stark message to MPs as the historic Commons showdown looms, Mrs May added: 'The British people want this to be settled. They want to get a deal that sets us on a course for a brighter future. 'That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it.' Downing Street has stressed that the 585-page legally binding withdrawal agreement can only be finalised alongside the shorter declaration setting out the two sides' aspirations for their future relations. If ratified by both sides it would not come into force until the end of a transition period in December 2020, or even later if the implementation period is extended. Here are some of the key points in the document: The Irish border This is the crunch issue in the talks. The UK has committed to keeping Britain in a customs union backstop if no free trade deal is done in time which keeps the Irish border soft. This has sparked Brexiteer fury, and leading Tory Eurosecptics Iain Duncan-Smith and Owen Paterson have held private meetings with the PM to press her to change the plan. The document tries to calm Brexiteers by stating that both sides have restated their 'determination to replace the backstop solution on Northern Ireland by a subsequent agreement that establishes alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland on a permanent footing'. On the UK striking free trade deals In a concession to the UK, the EU appears to have conceded Britain must be able to pursue its own trade deals. The document states: 'It must also ensure the sovereignty of the United Kingdom and the protection of its internal market, while respecting the result of the 2016 referendum including with regard to the development of its independent trade policy and the ending of free movement of people between the Union and the United Kingdom.' But it does little to flesh out the details. The draft of the declaration was published today after intense horse-trading between the UK and EU nations Customs Union / free trade area Both sides have stressed their commitment to a new free trade a deal. But Brexiteers have already erupted in fury as the document suggests the future deal will look a lot like a customs union. The document states there will be 'deep regulatory and customs cooperation'. Fleshing out what a future trade deal will look like, it states: 'The economic partnership should ensure no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors'. It says the two sides should have 'ambitious customs arrangements that, in line with the Parties' objectives and principles above, build and improve on the single customs territory' in the divorce deal. Tory MP and arch Eurosceptic Bernard Jenkin branded the clause 'worse than Chequers'. Immigration Free movement of people from the EU will end. But the document suggests high levels of EU immigration to the UK is set to stay as new routes to settle in Britain are set up. The UK has agreed to consider letting EU nationals move to the UK for research, study, training and youth exchanges. And it says both sides will explore how to open borders for 'legitimate travel'. But immigration after Brexit from EU states must be 'based on non discrimination' - this effectively means the UK must have the same immigration rules for each of the 27 countries, rather than negotiating different ones state by state. There will be visa free travel for short term trips by EU nationals and vice versa. Benefits Britain could still pay benefits to EU nationals after Brexit, and vice versa. The document states: 'The parties also agree to consider addressing social security coordination in the light of future movement of persons.' Theresa May started the crucial day in her Premiership at a health centre in north London to launch new policy Fishing Talks on what access the EU will have to fish in Britain's waters after Brexit have been delayed. It says the deal should be agreed by 1 July 2020. The document states: 'Within the context of the overall economic partnership the Parties should establish a new fisheries agreement on, inter alia, access to waters and quota shares.' This has sparked massive alarm among fishermen and Brexiteers that EU will be given rights to fish in UK waters even after Brexit. Tory MP and Brexiteer Ross Thomson lashed the proposal, warning it means 'sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal. That is unacceptable.' The two sides have also agreed to cooperate on deciding fishing quotas in the future. The document states that 'the United Kingdom will be an independent coastal state' - but it is doubtful this will do enough to appease the Brexiteers. EU judges EU judges will still have a role in formulating laws in Britain after Brexit - but it will be far less than they have now. Britain and Brussels have agreed to set up a disputes panel which will have officials from Britain, member states and an independent country on each case. While EU judges will not sit on the panel, when disputes concerns areas of EU law, judges in Brussels will be consulted on the meaning of this law. Space The UK and the EU have pledged to 'consider appropriate arrangements for cooperation on space'. This comes in the wake of a major over the Galileo satellite programme, which the EU has threatened to boot Britain out of despite the country sinking many millions into the project. President Donald Trump's legal team handed over written answers to a limited number of questions put forth by special counsel Robert Mueller as the Department of Justice's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election continues without any sign of a face-to-face interview between the two men. Less than one year ago, it seemed a sit-down conversation between Trump and Mueller might actually take place. The date and location had both been picked, and the plan was penciled in: Trump would be whisked from the White House to Camp David on a quiet winter Saturday to answer questions from Muellers team. But as the January 27 date neared and Mueller provided the topics he wanted to discuss related to his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trumps lawyers balked. Attorney John Dowd then fired off a searing letter disputing Muellers authority to question the president, and the interview was off. Now, 10 months later, Trump still has not spoken directly to Muellers team, and may never do so. President Donald Trump's legal team handed over written answers to a limited number of questions put forth by special counsel Robert Mueller as the Department of Justice's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election continues without any sign of a face-to-face interview between the two men; Trump is pictured while taking questions from the media after speaking via teleconference with troops from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday Through private letters, tense meetings and considerable public posturing, the presidents lawyers have engaged in a tangled, tortured back-and-forth with Mueller to prevent the president from sitting down for a face-to-face with enormous political and legal consequences. The prolonged negotiation speaks to the high stakes for all aspect invovlved, including Trump, Muellers investigation of his presidential campaign and the presidency. Any questioning of a president in a criminal investigation tests the limit of executive authority. Putting this president on the record also tests his ability to stick to the facts and risks a constitutional showdown. The process took a significant step forward this week when Trumps lawyers handed over the presidents written answers to some of Muellers questions. The arrangement was a hard-fought compromise. Trump answered only questions about Russian interference in the 2016 election and not questions about whether he has tried to obstruct the broader investigation into potential coordination between Russia and his presidential campaign. With the written answers months in the making, its unclear whether Mueller intends to push for more, either in writing or in person. (Special counsel spokesperson Peter Carr declined comment.) In the months following Muellers May 2017 appointment, the White House pledged its cooperation, believing it the fastest way to end the investigation. The administration produced thousands of documents sought by the special counsel and made close Trump aides, including his legal counsel, chief of staff and press secretary, available for questioning. White House lawyer Ty Cobb predicted the investigation could conclude by the end of that year. Now, 10 months after a scheduled sit-down between special counsel Robert Mueller (pictured_ and Trump was taken off the table, Trump still has not spoken directly to Muellers team, and may never do so; Mueller is pictured departing after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on June 21, 2017 But it soon became clear that Mueller would want to interview Trump, given his involvement in several events under scrutiny. The president had fired FBI Director James Comey, harangued his attorney general over his recusal from the Russia investigation and dictated a misleading statement about a Trump Tower meeting involving his son and a Kremlin-connected lawyer. But Trump lawyers Dowd and Jay Sekulow moved cautiously. The last time a president is known to have been interviewed in a criminal investigation was nearly 15 years ago, and a commander-in-chief has not been subpoenaed before a grand jury since 1998, when President Bill Clinton was summoned in the Whitewater case. Trumps lawyers were mindful such an interview would be a minefield for a president who often misstates the facts. They set out to avoid it however possible, even if it could lead to resisting a subpoena and bringing on a court fight over presidential power. But first they tried to head off a request. Trumps lawyers staked out a bold constitutional argument, declaring they considered his actions as president outside a prosecutors bounds. Mueller had no right to question the president on any of his decisions made at the White House, they argued, saying any outside scrutiny of those choices would curb a presidents executive powers. At the same time, they worked to undermine Muellers case should he choose to challenge that argument. They furnished a trove of White House documents about key moments in the investigation in hopes of undercutting any claim that he could only get the information he needed by questioning Trump, according to people familiar with the strategy. But Trump appeared to have other plans, at first. As his lawyers plotted to dig in against any interview, he pushed for one, believing it would exonerate him. In January, he burst into a reporters briefing with chief of staff John Kelly and insisted he was eager to speak to Mueller. He might do so in weeks, he said, 'subject to my lawyers and all of that.' 'I would love to do that. Id like to do it as soon as possible,' Trump said. What he didnt mention was that his attorneys had already discussed, and hurried, the planned interview with Mueller. That process had even progressed to discussing logistics with Kelly, who advised of ways White House officials could get people in and out of the building without the press knowing. But the interest cooled after Mueller team prosecutor James Quarles dictated over the phone 16 topics Mueller wanted to cover, including Trumps interactions with Comey, his knowledge of national security adviser Michael Flynns interview with the FBI and his involvement in the Trump Tower statement. Dowd responded that the answers could all be found in documents and witness statements provided to Mueller. He then canceled the interview and days later drafted a feisty letter contesting the interviews appropriateness and offering extensive explanations on the incidents in question. The investigation has been 'a considerable burden for the president and his office, has endangered the safety and security of our country, and has interfered with the presidents ability to both govern domestically and conduct foreign affairs,' Dowd wrote. In the following months, Trump told some of his closest confidants that he still wanted to interview with Mueller, according to four White House officials and Republicans close to the White House who asked for anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss private conversations. The president repeatedly insisted he had done nothing wrong and believed he could convince Mueller of that. He told one confidant last spring he was frustrated his lawyers didnt believe he should do it and snapped that he didnt understand what was taking so long, according to one Republican in contact with the White House. Tensions were on display at a March meeting where Dowd and Sekulow met with Mueller to discuss the need for an interview. Mueller said he needed to know if Trump had a 'corrupt intent' when he fired Comey, such as by intending to stymie the investigation, according to a person familiar with the encounter. Dowd responded that the question was ridiculous and the answer was obviously no. Investigators at the same meeting raised the prospect of a subpoena if Trump didnt cooperate, Dowd has said. In making a case for an in-person interview, Mueller said he needed to know if Trump had a 'corrupt intent' when he fired Comey, such as by intending to stymie the Russian election interference investigation, according to a person familiar with the encounter; Mueller is shown speaking during a Bloomberg Government cybersecurity conference in Washington, DC, on June 3, 2014 Later that month, Muellers team produced its most detailed list of questions yet, with dozens of interrogatories in different categories from Trumps time as a candidate, through the transition period and into his presidency. Trumps own views soon began to shift. He had his first misgivings in mid-April after FBI raids on his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, thinking they were a sign that he could 'not trust' Mueller, according to one of the Republicans close to Trump who spoke with the Associated Press. As Rudy Giuliani joined Trumps legal team in April, the White House settled into a new strategy: Drag out the interview drama for months, and use that time to ratchet up attacks on Muellers credibility and complaints about the cost and time of the probe, according to the officials and advisers familiar with the strategy. Giuliani led the charge, though his scattershot arguments sometimes frustrated others in the White House, as he frequently moved the goalposts as to what would be required to have an interview. But the effect was to ensure the process would drag out longer. Trump, meanwhile, continued complaining about the investigation even as his lawyers quietly negotiated acceptable interview terms. A key breakthrough occurred earlier this fall when Muellers team said it would accept written answers on Russian election interference and collusion. The concession ensured that Mueller would get at least some on-the-record response from Trump. Prosecutors tabled questions about obstruction, reserving the right to return to that area later. Giuliani seemed to foreclose future dialogue on Tuesday, saying, 'It is time to bring this inquiry to a conclusion.' Whether Mueller agrees is a different story. A convicted rapist accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl at a Sydney dance school used meth while on parole over a previous assault - but authorities did nothing, despite knowing it was a direct breach of his release conditions. Anthony Sampieri, 54, said smoking ice led him into 'sex binges' and made him feel 'sexual' when pleading guilty to the horrific rape of a 60-year-old woman in 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported. He reportedly told Community Corrections in September this year he was still using the drug - a breach of a key condition of his parole, which was granted last year. 'At the time, the offender was already taking part in a drug program and other professional support to manage his addiction,' a Corrective Services spokeswoman told the paper. Annthony Sampieri, 54, used meth while on parole over a previous assault - but authorities did nothing, despite knowing he had breached his release conditions. Last Thursday, he allegedly sexually abused a seven-year-old girl in a toilet in Sydney's south 'Community Corrections used their lawful discretion to not breach the offender because the drug use was self-disclosed and he was already in active treatment.' The revelation comes after it emerged Sampieri was interviewed by police four weeks before he allegedly assaulted the girl inside a toilet cubicle in Kogarah last Thursday. Sampieri was questioned about an offensive phone call he allegedly made to a woman, but detectives didn't take action - despite knowing he was on parole over the 2012 rape. Had police notified the parole board of the phone call complaint, Sampieri's release could have been revoked and he would have been behind bars last Thursday, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said. Instead, Sampieri went on to allegedly physically and sexually assault the girl inside a toilet cubicle for up to 30 minutes. The series of missed opportunities to revoke Sampieri's parole before last week's alleged attack has prompted politicians and police top brass to promise it won't happening again. Pictured: The Kogarah dance studio bathroom where a seven-year-old girl was allegedly sexual assaulted Commissioner Fuller admitted police 'may have dropped the ball' - but vowed to 'get to the bottom of it'. 'Just to set the record straight, on Tuesday afternoon my office was notified that there could be a problem - that police may have dropped the ball in this matter,' he told 2GB Radio on Thursday. 'I ordered an urgent investigation into that... We don't have all the answers but NSW Police and Mick Fuller are not hiding from anything.' Commissioner Fuller said an alleged offence relating to an offensive phone call made by Sampieri was reported on October 26. NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller admitted officers 'may have dropped the ball' 'It appears that an officer has, at best, failed to notify the parole board of the activities of Sampieri,' he said. 'And, at worst, an officer may have significantly neglected their duty... I promise the community we'll get to the bottom of it.' Asked whether the attack could have been prevented, Deputy Commissioner Loy said on Wednesday: 'Nobody can predict the future or the future actions of any person.' Sampieri's parole was revoked within hours of his arrest on Thursday night. 'He is a danger to the public and that's why he's under corrective services guard in hospital,' the deputy commissioner said. NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott on Wednesday said he was 'horrified' that the man had been granted parole in the first place. Sampieri is accused of abusing the girl for up to 30 minutes before stabbing a man who confronted him He also took aim at the state's parole board. 'The mere fact that I have taken parole board decisions to the Supreme Court in the past is good evidence to suggest that I'm not comfortable with a lot of parole board decisions,' he said. Sampieri was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in July 2013 and ordered to serve at least four years behind bars, backdated to the day of the crime. According to Mr Elliot, Sampieri was subject to a number of strict parole conditions, and his most recent attack has left the minister deeply troubled. 'I am deeply troubled by the events under investigation at the Kogarah dance studio,' he said in a statement given to Daily Mail Australia. 'This offender was on parole and was subject to a number of strict conditions. 'As community safety is paramount, I have asked for an urgent brief on all the circumstances which led to the offender being granted parole.' Wollongong District Court previously heard Sampieri was drunk and high on prescription drugs when he invited the 60-year-old woman into his home in Fairy Meadows in 2012. The woman thought she was going to inspect two second-hand tables he had for sale, but was lured into his room after seeing the first one. He pulled out a 25cm knife and told her 'now we're going to have some fun' before forcing her to strip and repeatedly raping her, the Illawarra Mercury reported in July 2013. The alleged sexual assault was thwarted by a parent, 46, from the class at St George Dance Centre in Kogarah. Police are pictured at the scene Police later raided his unit and found duct tape and a role of wire on his bed and cable ties and nylon rope under his pillow. The judge at the time noted Sampieri showed remorse for his crimes. Last week's alleged sexual assault was thwarted by a parent, 46, from the class at St George Dance Centre, who heard a commotion and ran to help. But Sampieri allegedly lashed out with a surgical scalpel, with a man stabbed in the abdomen and neck. Sampieri remains under guard in hospital and police are waiting for medical professionals to grant his release when he will likely be hit with fresh charges. Former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed to testify in a closed hearing about his actions during the 2016 Presidential Election before the House Judiciary Committee but is resisting it and has instead called for a public interview so Republicans cannot 'leak and distort' anything he might say about it. On Thursday, Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch both received subpoenas signed by the Committee's Republican chair Bob Goodlatte. Comey has been asked to appear at a private session on December 3rd and Lynch the following day to answer questions about their actions during and in the run-up to the election. After the subpoenas emerged, Comey responded on Twitter to say he was open to answering questions but would not do so in a closed-door setting because, he said, the Republicans in charge would 'selectively' leak parts of it to promote their agenda. 'Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. James Comey embraced the invitation to speak before the committee but said he would only do so in a public setting and accused the Republicans leading it of leaking Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before congress in June 2017 about his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server which Republicans said was deliberately dropped to boost her chances during the election 'But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. 'Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see,' he said. He previously testified in front of a congress about his handling of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State and declined an invitation by the Committee to speak. COMEY STATEMENT 'The House Judiciary Committee is investigating any oversight FBI and Department of Justice's Late yesterday, former FBI Director James Comey was served with a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee to testify on December 3, 2018, in a closed door interview concerning 'decisions made and not made by the FBI and DOJ concerning the 2016 election.' The subpoena was issued by outgoing Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte. As Representative Goodlatte and his colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee have repeatedly demonstrated, the interviews they have conducted in closed session concerning Russia and the Clinton email investigations are solely for the purpose of selectively leaking statements made by witnesses in order to fit and promote the Committee's false narrative. While the authority for Congressional subpoenas is broad, it does not cover the right to misuse closed hearings as a political stunt to promote political as opposed to legislative agendas. Mr. Comey embraces and welcomes a hearing open to the public , but the subpoena issued yesterday represents an abuse of process, a divergence from House rules, and its presumption of transparency. 'Accordingly, Mr. Comey will resist in Court this abuse of process Advertisement The subpoenas were signed by Goodlatte on Wednesday but became public knowledge on Thursday. They are the strongest effort yet by Republicans to condemn Comey for his handling of the FBI's probe into Clinton's email server at a crucial point during the election. In 2016, Comey insisted that the FBI was not going to investigate Clinton for keeping a server in the basement of her home - a move which Republicans say was intentionally to boost her chances against Donald Trump. Days before the polls opened, the FBI dramatically reneged on the announcement and Comey said he was, once again, investigating her. Lynch has also been accused of misconduct for meeting with former President Bill Clinton on the tarmac of an airport in June 2016, when his wife was a presidential candidate and the subject of an FBI investigation and she was the Attorney General. They spoke on the plane for about 20 minutes but both insisted they never discussed the investigation into Clinton. The subpoenas come three weeks before the House Judiciary Committee switches hands. It is presently controlled by Republicans but the recent mid-term elections means it will soon be led by Democrats. After his tweet, Comey's lawyer David Kelly issued a statement to Politico which intensified his rebuke of Goodlatte and the entire committee investigation. 'The House Judiciary Committee is investigating any oversight FBI and Department of Justice's 'Late yesterday, former FBI Director James Comey was served with a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee to testify on December 3, 2018, in a closed door interview concerning 'decisions made and not made by the FBI and DOJ concerning the 2016 election.' Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch was also subpoenaed by House Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte 'The subpoena was issued by outgoing Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte. As Representative Goodlatte and his colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee have repeatedly demonstrated, the interviews they have conducted in closed session concerning Russia and the Clinton email investigations are solely for the purpose of selectively leaking statements made by witnesses in order to fit and promote the Committee's false narrative. 'While the authority for Congressional subpoenas is broad, it does not cover the right to misuse closed hearings as a political stunt to promote political as opposed to legislative agendas. 'Mr. Comey embraces and welcomes a hearing open to the public , but the subpoena issued yesterday represents an abuse of process, a divergence from House rules, and its presumption of transparency. 'Accordingly, Mr. Comey will resist in Court this abuse of process,' it read. Lynch is yet to respond. In the past, she has insisted her meeting with Clinton was innocent and that they did not discuss the ongoing probe into his wife. Russia has announced plans to ban controversial 'whale jails' after footage emerged of over 100 rare species crammed into enclosures earlier this month. The Russian government's environment agency, Rosprirodnadzor, said in a report published on Thursday that the catching of killer whales and belugas will be halted from 2019 onwards. Earlier this month, footage emerged showing a crane lifting one of the mammals out of a tank at a fenced off facility near the city of Nakhodka - on Russia's Pacific Coast and not far from the Chinese border. Prosecutors are probing whether 11 killer whales - which could sell for 4.6 million or more each - and 90 belugas are being held illegally in the temporary enclosures. Local activists claim they are being sold to Chinese aquariums. A 'whale jail' where more than 100 of the creatures are kept in small enclosures before 'being sold to Chinese aquariums' is being investigated in Russia. Footage has emerged showing a crane lifting one of the mammals out of a tank at a fenced off facility near the city of Nakhodka According to the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, some of the animals have been at the compound since July while local media claim the footage suggests preparations were being made for sending them to another destination. Novaya Gazeta's report said four companies renting enclosures at the facility exported as many as 13 orcas across the nearby boarder to China between 2013 and 2016. 'The scale of what is happening here is shocking,' said campaigning journalist Masha Netrebenko. From the air 'we saw that there are loads of white (Beluga) whales in enclosures built in the water. 'The helicopter couldn't go very low - because when it was less than 100 metres above the ground, it was entirely loosing control. 'Apparently these businessmen are so prepared that they even installed jammers. 'But the picture I have seen has deeply shaken me.' According to the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, some of the animals have been at the crowded enclosures since July while local media claim the footage suggests preparations were being made for sending them to another destination Netrebenko claimed that nearby there is also a facility trading in seals. The four companies reportedly involved in the 'whale jail' had permission to catch 13 orcas this year. But prosecutors in Vladivostok believe this was based on catching the animals for conservation or educational purposes. Checks are also underway on the legality of the tanks where the whales - many of them infants - are held. Capturing such young whales is banned. Investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta alleged this is the largest number of sea creatures ever to be held in such small temporary enclosures. China is reported to have some 60 marine theme parks with another 12 under construction. This summer the Russian prosector general's office called on the Interior Ministry to launch a fraud probe on the capture and sale to China of seven orca whales between 2012-15. There are also claims of a scam by which whales are loaned rather than sold to evade tough environmental laws. Greenpeace has described such enclosure facilities as 'torture' for orcas (file picture) Greenpeace Russia described the conditions shown as 'torture'. The campaigning organisation's research coordinator Oganes Targulyan was quoted as saying: 'Catching them at this tempo, we risk losing our entire orca population.' He stressed that 'the capture quota now is 13 animals a year, but no one is taking into account that at least one orca is killed for every one that is caught.' There is high security around the 'whale jail'. One photographer Nina Zyryanova said she had her camera taken and its memory card stolen on Saturday as she investigated the site. Netrebenko said: 'I have seen orcas, white whales and whales in the ocean many times .and can be confident that only the ocean can be their home, not these tiny enclosures where intelligent creatures are stuffed like fish in a tin. 'I don't know who you need to be to put them here and . to allow trading them as soulless pieces of meat'. She claimed the trade was for 'big money' and is a 'profitable business tied to people particularly close [to the Kremlin]'. However exact links to high places in Russia are unclear. She said orcas are 'the only living creatures apart from humans' with such strong family instincts. 'Orcas also feel very strongly about each other and can even die from sadness if something happens to a member of their family.' Keeping them in oceanariums is cruel, she said. Matthew Smith, 37, told police he had been studying the factory and was planning to commit mass murder. He remains in custody A mass shooting at a Kentucky factory was thwarted on Monday when police arrested a man who had a modified AR-15, several handguns and multiple rounds of ammunition in his pick-up truck. Matthew Smith, 37, was arrested at the LB Manufacturing factory in Springfield on Monday at around 2pm. Police were called there by employees who said he was acting suspiciously in his truck in the parking lot. It remains unclear if Smith worked at the factory or if he had targeted it at random. When officers arrive and approached him, he pointed one of his handguns at one officer's chest. The cop was able to grab it from him and put him on the ground without any shots being fired. As they handcuffed him, Smith reached for another gun in his waistband. Once he was detained, they searched his car and found an AR-15 which had been modified to be fully automatic. In total, there were three rifles, 19 loaded magazines, four handguns and a sniper's training manual in the car. When questioned, Smith told police that he had bee planning a mass shooting and had been studying the building. These are all the weapons that were found inside the 37-year-old's car including an AR-15, two other rifles, four handguns and multiple loaded magazines. The AR-15 had been illegally modified and he had a scope Among the items in the man's car was a sniper's training manual. No details of his background - including what he did for work - have been released 'He made statements that indicated he had been analyzing the building layout to include entrances/exits, approaches, and even the air vents on the roof,' a statement on the police Facebook page said. They did not reveal if he gave a motive for the shooting. Smith was charged with Attempted Murder on a Police Officer, Resisting Arrest, Criminal Trespassing, and Wanton Endangerment. The FBI and the Federal Bureau for Alchohol, Tobacco and Firearms have both launched invesigations into the incident. It is unclear if Smith owned the guns legally. He remains in custody. The Springfield Police Department praised the employees who raised the alarm, saying: 'They're heroes among us. 'This is proof that the see something, say something movement pays off because of the proactive approach that LB Mfg. officials took in immediately notifying our Police Department. 'It is commendable that our officers were quickly able to apprehend this suspect professionally to divert what could have been a tragedy.' Facebook has hired a top antitrust attorney as President Donald Trump has commented that his administration has been 'looking at' potential action against Facebook, Google and Amazon. The social networking site created by Mark Zuckerberg has hired Department of Justice veteran Kate Patchen as its Director and Associate General Counsel of Litigation, according to an update to her LinkedIn profile in November. Also in November, Facebook posted a job listing on the career site seeking Washington, DC-based lead counsel in the area of competition. 'This position will manage investigations and inquiries related to antitrust matters and help develop the companys legal position and strategy on competition matters throughout the world,' the job description read. Mark Zuckerburg's (right) Facebook has hired a top antitrust attorney Kate Patchen as President Donald Trump's (left) administration has commented that it has been 'looking at' potential action against Facebook, Google and Amazon Patchen's new position at Facebook comes after her role as chief of the Department of Justice's antitrust division in San Francisco. She has 14 years of experience working within the DOJ, with particular expertise in prosecuting price-fixing cartel cases in the computer-memory-chip industry, Business Insider reported. E. Kate Patchen (pictured) was hired as Facebook's Director and Associate General Counsel of Litigation, according to an update to her LinkedIn profile in November In September, Capital Forum reported that Trump's administration had circulated a draft executive order calling for more stringent policing of online platforms. The order was titled, 'Executive Order to protect competition and small businesses from bias in online platforms,' according to Business Insider. It was written in two parts, with one part focusing on policy and another part containing directives to federal agencies, including an order to 'thoroughly investigate whether any online platform has acted in violation of the antitrust laws.' In July, Google was fined nearly $5 billion (4.3 billion euros) by the European Union for antitrust violations. Though that's a larger number than any fine issued by US, Chinese, or any other antitrust authorities, the total sum is equivalent to what Google-owner Alphabet, Inc. made every 16 days in 2017, according to Bloomberg. While being interviewed on the HBO news series, Axios, Trump said: 'You look at the European Union, they fined I guess it was Google, billions of dollars, and frankly I don't like that they're doing that because that's an American company. 'I don't think it's good that they're doing that. But if anybody does that, it should be us doing it.' President Donald Trump said on Thursday that U.S. troops at the border will use 'lethal force' to combat illegal immigrants if 'they have to.' 'If they have to, they have to use lethal force. I hope they don't have to, but you're dealing with a minimum of 500 serious criminals. So I'm not going to let the military be taken advantage of. I have no choice,' he noted after speaking to U.S. troops to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. He noted he didn't want the military 'taken advantage of.' President Donald Trump said troops at the border will use 'lethal force' to combat illegal immigrants if 'they have to' Members of the U.S. military install multiple tiers of concertina wire along the border His remarks came after it was revealed White House Chief of Staff John Kelly signed an order late Tuesday that allows U.S. troops stationed at the border use lethal force, if necessary, to stop illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States. Trump also said on Thursday the U.S. has shut down its border with Mexico because it's 'out of control.' 'Actually, two days ago, we closed the border. We actually just closed it. We say nobody is coming in because it was out of control,' he said to reporters after he called U.S. troops to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. 'It's not that big a deal,' he said. The president said he signed an order closing the border two days ago. When reporters asked if they could get a copy of the order, he responded: 'You don't need it.' It's unclear what the president meant by a border closing. Asked to clarify what he meant, Trump said if 'it gets to a level where we are going to lose control or where people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control. The whole border. I mean the whole border.' The president has been railing against the migrant caravan that has been making its way from Central America to the U.S. border. About 3,000 have arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, which is across the border from San Diego. He has been pushing his administration to do more to enforce border security, an issue he touted in the recent midterm election. Kelly's move, done to combat a caravan of migrants making their way from Central America to the United States, could be illegal. The White House defended the order. 'The brave men and women at Customs Border and Protection willingly put themselves in extremely dangerous situations every day to protect Americans and their families. The President's authorization ensures the Department of Defense can step in to protect those who protect us,' Deputy White House Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement on Wednesday. The order, set forth in a 'Cabinet memo,' will likely be challenged in court under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the U.S. military as a police force. There are approximately 5,900 active-duty troops and 2,100 National Guard forces deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border. In the 'Cabinet memo' that he signed, Kelly justified the action by arguing 'credible evidence and intelligence' had suggested the migrants 'may prompt incidents of violence and disorder.' White House Chief of Staff John Kelly signed an order late Tuesday that allows U.S. troops stationed at the border use lethal force, if necessary Closed border crossing lines are seen at San Ysidro port of Entry, at the US-Mexico border It comes after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against the administration's ban on asylum for illegal immigrants, a decision that infuriated President Trump. Troops have installed movable, wire-topped barriers, apparently to stop a potential mass rush of people. Trump has been trying to make a virtual wall of U.S. troops and barbed wire to stop the immigrants as he fights with Congress to get his billion dollar border wall built. He said on Thursday the government could shut down this fall if his wall isn't funded. There 'certainly could' be a government shut down this fall if he doesn't get the funds for his border wall, he warned. 'Could happen over border security,' he said. Many were shocked when a mistrial was declared in Karina Vetrano's murder trial on Tuesday, barely a day after jurors began to deliberate the fate of 22-year-old Chanel Lewis. But an alternate juror has revealed that she would have voted to acquit Lewis, saying she believed the prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect sexually assaulted and murdered Vetrano while she was out for a jog in August 2016. The juror, who was not involved in the deliberations, said she remained unconvinced of Lewis' guilt following the trial. 'I don't want to say it's just on the prosecution,' the alternate juror told the New York Daily News. 'Also, the defense had some reasons why as well (to vote for acquittal). Yes, I thought there was reasonable doubt.' On Wednesday, another juror revealed that the jury was not in agreement to end deliberations just 13 hours after they began this week. Scroll down for video An alternate juror has revealed that she would have voted to acquit Chanel Lewis (pictured), saying she believed the prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect sexually assaulted and murdered Karina Vetrano in August 2016 The juror, who was not involved in the deliberations, said she remained unconvinced of Lewis' guilt following the trial 'We were all not in agreement to end it where it ended,' the juror told the New York Post. 'Some of us wanted to think about it some more. That note was sent and people were not ready to end it there. People felt like there could have been more deliberations.' The juror revealed that while the panel agreed there wasn't enough evidence to convict Lewis of sexual assault, their minds were not made up when it came to the murder charge. 'We were looking into the murder. Everyone had doubts,' the juror said. At one point it was seven people who believed Lewis was not guilty, while five people believed he was guilty. But that number completely switched when the jurors asked to watch his confession video again. 'I got angry,' Lewis can be heard saying in the tape. 'I saw red. I never meant to do anything. Yeah, I just lost it.' At one point Lewis tells investigators that he hit Vetrano 'five or so times' before he 'finished her off'. The juror said the forewoman sent a message to the judge saying that the jurors were split - even though four of them didn't want her to send the note. 'A lot of people were upset that the note was sent to the judge at the time,' the juror said. 'People felt like there could have been more deliberations - the same way that two people changed their mind after seeing the video.' 'Some of us were shocked too, like what the hell just happened? It was upsetting,' the juror added. Vetrano's parents, Phil and Cathy Vetrano, are seen leaving Queens Supreme Court after the mistrial was declared on Tuesday evening 'I'm not going to say I wasted my time, but I just feel like it should have been more time. It was kind of traumatic for me, because I feel it was like a tragedy and I really wanted to see justice.' Veteran lawyers were likewise shocked when Queens Supreme Court Judge Michael Aloise excused the jurors so quickly on Tuesday night. 'We are split,' the forewoman wrote in a note to the judge. 'It doesn't seem we are able to make progress one way or the other.' Lewis' attorney then moved for a mistrial and Aloise granted it, saying 'I'm inclined to agree even though it's only been a day and a half. There were extensive deliberations. They covered issues central to the debate.' Defense attorney Sally Butler said it was the first time she had seen a mistrial granted without an 'Allen Charge', an instruction by the judge that encourages the jury to keep deliberating until they are able to reach a verdict. 'Whenever you get that note, that's the first thing the judge does,' Butler told the New York Post. 'There was something definitely up. The Allen charges normally work.' Vetrano was hit in the back of the head, dragged off a path, sexually assaulted and then strangled to death as she fought for her life during the horrific August 2016 attack Civil rights lawyer Rob Kuby said he had never seen a first note resulting in a hung jury 'unless there is physical violence' among the jurors. 'Given the amount of deliberation compared with the length of the trial, it was not a particularly long deliberation,' he added. Butler said the prosecution will now be at a disadvantage when they retry Lewis, who will remain in custody until he is due back in court in January. 'Now the defense attorneys already know what the witnesses are going to say,' she said. 'If the witnesses screw up, they can say, "Wait a second, you said this before."' Prosecutors had told the jury that Lewis' own DNA matched up with genetic evidence removed from Vetrano's neck and cell phone after the murder. They said Lewis had no girlfriend, no friends, no job and was 'angry all the time' when he decided to vent that anger on Vetrano, 30, and kill her in the brutal and random August 2016 attack. Lewis had no job, no friends and no girlfriend when he decided to vent his anger on Vetrano as the pair crossed paths in an otherwise random attack, prosecutors claimed 'On this day he took his anger out on a pretty young woman, a girl in a halter top', District Attorney Brad Leventhal said. One of Vetrano's family members was heard exclaiming 'Oh my God' in the courtroom after the mistrial was declared on Tuesday night. Vetrano's parents left the courtroom in tears but did not comment on the mistrial. Philip Vetrano went for a jog in the same park where he found his daughter's body on Wednesday morning. Lawyers for Lewis argued that DNA evidence linking him to the crime scene, including some found under his fingernails, was not reliable. Attorney Robert Moeller said the crime scene had been corrupted by various people, including Vetrano's father, and therefore couldn't be trusted. Phil and Cathy Vetrano are seen in court on the final day of summations before the jury began deliberating Lewis' fate Lewis' mother, Veta, leaves Queens Supreme Court after hearing evidence in her son's trial When Lewis appeared to be confessing the crime to police along with details of the grisly murder, he was actually just repeating information he learned from the news, Moeller claimed. Lewis faces life in prison if convicted of murdering Vetrano, who was killed while jogging in Spring Creek Park not far from her home in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens. Vetrano was punched in the face, thrown to the ground, violently sexually assaulted and then strangled in a marsh, about a block away from her house. Authorities said that the victim fought for her life until the very end, biting her attacker so hard that her teeth cracked. Vetrano's mother and father have been present in court throughout the trial, stoically bearing witness as the prosecution laid out its evidence for the jury. On Tuesday, prosecutors introduced evidence taken from Lewis' black ZTE cell phone, which they found at his Brooklyn home, according to the New York Daily News. Josue Rivera, a detective with the NYPD's Computer Crimes Squad, testified in Queens Supreme Court that investigators recovered the device from Lewis' dresser in his bedroom. The phone contained two photos of the victim as well as a photo of the crime scene, Rivera testified. Philip Vetrano (left) found his daughter's body in the woods. He has been present every day throughout the trial alongside wife Cathy (right) The pictures were taken from online news articles about the crime. Prosecutors said that the phone contained a search history of 137 searches, among them the Wikipedia page for the Catholic Sacrament of Penance. It is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church in which adherents obtain absolution for sins committed against others. Lewis is also alleged to have searched a news article titled 'After a Crime, the Price of a Second Chance,' as well as 'Miranda warning,' 'arraignment,' and 'what happens after a felony conviction?' Rivera was asked by Lewis' defense attorney, Julia Burke, whether the name 'Karina Vetrano' was ever searched by Lewis on his cell phone. 'You can't testify that the name Karina Vetrano was ever searched by the user, is that correct?' she asked. 'That is correct,' the detective said. Lawyers for Lewis say DNA evidence linking him to the crime is untrustworthy and that during an apparent police confession, he was actually repeating evidence he heard from the news Despite making a videotaped confession, in which he admitted to killing Vetrano, saying he spotted her at random and snapped, Lewis pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and aggravated sex abuse. His lawyers have argued that the confession was coerced by keeping Lewis isolated during his six-hour interrogation. Lewis reportedly refused to speak with white detectives and only confessed when a black detective was brought in. His remarks to detectives that he didn't like people 'over there', referring to the largely Italian-American Howard Beach neighborhood, led to speculation that the attack may have been racially motivated. In February, a judge decided to let DNA evidence and the videotaped confession be used at trial. Lewis' attorneys previously questioned the validity of his DNA sample from a consensual cheek swab, which was compared to DNA evidence recovered from under the victim's fingernails, and the manner in which his confession was gained. Daniel Hernandez, known to many as Tekashi 6ix9ine, had reason to be thankful this holiday after being released from federal prison. Records show that Hernandez was discharged from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday, just days after a grand jury indicted him and five other members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods on racketeering charges. There is no transfer facility listed however for Hernandez, as is standard when a prisoner is released from the MDC. The 22-year-old 'FeFe' rapper has not been cleared however in that racketeering case, and is still facing six counts and a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for his alleged involvement in multiple acts involving murder, robbery, extortion, and distribution of controlled substances. DailyMail.com reached out to Hernandez's lawyer Lance Lazzaro over the holiday, who did not respond to a request for comment. Scroll down for video There are conflicting reports as to where Hernandez has been moved at this time. TMZ first broke the story on Thursday and reported that the rapper was being housed in a facility for individuals who agree to cooperate with authorities. Soon after DJ Akademiks, who worked with Hernandez on his now-delayed album Dummy Boy, offered up his own theory. He posted a lengthy diatribe on his YouTube channel in which he conjectured that Hernandez may have been used as a pawn to get the other five defendants indicted on RICO charges. The producer cited the decision by law enforcement officials to quickly indict the group and pointed out that it all happened after Hernandez disbanded his team, a move that would have made it harder to show the connection between members of the group. That would ultimately make it difficult to prosecute on racketeering charges, so his belief is that prosecutors are hopsing hernandez will flip and therefore put him in a ghang-free facility. The indictment alleges that the violent episodes involving 6ix9ine included the July shooting of a bystander in Brooklyn and the gunpoint robbery of one of the gang's rivals last spring. Hernandez was initially held without bail after an initial appearance before a Manhattan federal magistrate judge Monday. On Wednesday, defense attorney Lance Lazzaro said in a statement that his client was 'completely innocent of all charges.' 'An entertainer who portrays a "gangster image" to promote his music does not make him a member of an enterprise,' said Lazzaro. 'Mr. Hernandez became a victim of this enterprise and later took steps by firing employees and publicly denounced this enterprise through a morning show. Threats were then made against his life which resulted in this case being brought immediately.' At Monday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Longyear pointed out that the rapper did not renounce his membership in the gang while appearing on a radio show last week. He said Hernandez would have been arrested this week anyway, but the timetable was speeded up when authorities learned that he planned to go to a Connecticut casino where it would be harder to protect him from the threats. Longyear said the threats were overheard on phone calls intercepted Saturday by investigators, including one in which an individual was heard saying that gang members wanted to 'super violate him.' The prosecutor noted that violence seemed to surround the entertainer. He said 10 shots were fired into a Beverly Hills, California, home where he was filming a music video a week ago. Hernandez had previously been kidnapped outside his Brooklyn residence as well in a bizarre incident this past July in which three men alleged robbed and beat him before making off with $750,000 worth of jewelry and $35,000 in cash. His ex-manager Kifano Jordan, aka Shotti,Faheem Walter, aka Crippy, Jamel Jones, aka Mel Murda, Jensel Butler, aka Ish, and Fuguan Lovick, aka Fu Banga, were also indicted. Prosecutors described Nine Trey as a 'criminal enterprise involved in committing numerous acts of violence, including shootings, robberies, and assaults in and around Manhattan and Brooklyn'. 'Members and associates of Nine Trey engaged in violence to retaliate against rival gangs, to promote the standing and reputation of Nine Trey, and to protect the gang's narcotics business,' the press release continues. The group 'enriched themselves by committing robberies and selling drugs, such as heroin, fentanyl, furanly fentanyl, MDMA, dibutylone, and marijuana.' Nine Trey was established in the early 90s at Rikers and operates in other areas of the country, including California. In 2015, 6Hernandez pleaded guilty to one felony count of using a child in a sexual performance. Authorities said the rapper had sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl when he was 18 and distributed videos of the incident online. Hernandez recently pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Brooklyn Criminal Court in connection with a May traffic stop. Last week the rapper revealed in an Instagram clip that he had dismissed his entire staff, including his manager and booker. 'I fired everybody on my team,' the Gummo artist said in the clip, imploring his fans that he was not going to be performing live in the near future, even in cases where he might be advertised. 'I don't got no manager, I got no booking agent, no PR, no publicist, I don't got nobody on my team - it's just me.' The thick haze left by a 500km wall of dust is expected to linger into the weekend as dry, . The air in Sydney remained 'dangerous' on Friday as authorities advised people to be cautious, especially those with lung and heart conditions. A 'second pulse' of dust storms are brewing in New South Wales and the haze is expected to linger for at least the weekend. Meanwhile, a bushfire burning near Newcastle, north of Sydney, has increased in strength overnight and residents living close by have been urged to seek shelter. Scroll down for video Hot and windy conditions have stirred up bushfires which have forced an emergency response and almost destroyed a hospital Meanwhile, a bushfire burning near Newcastle, north of Sydney, has increased in strength overnight and residents living close by have been urged to seek shelter The thick haze left by a 500km wall of dust in Sydney is expected to linger into the weekend NSW director of environmental health Dr Richard Broome said people living in Sydney needed to be cautious for at least another day due to the dust storm. Dr Broome told news.com.au that NSW was enduring several spots of hazardous weather, as extreme conditions brought bushfire warnings in some areas and snow in others. The NSW Rural Fire Service issued an emergency warning due to the bushfire burning at Salt Ash in the Hunter region, which is moving towards homes. More than 1300 hectares of land has been scorched by the blaze, which has also spread across Pacific Dunes and Campvale. Wild winds are expected to lash the area, whipping up the flames and hindering response efforts. Another bushfire in the same region came close to torching a hospital in Kurri Kurri. The NSW Rural Fire Service issued an emergency warning due to the bushfire burning at Salt Ash in the Hunter region, which is moving towards homes Yesterday's dust storm was caused by strong winds from a low pressure system whipping up masses of dirt across NSW The blaze was eventually brought under control by the fire service, who downgraded it to a non-emergency level on Thursday. Rural Fire Service Inspector Rolf Poole told residents to keep away from any active fires. 'If people are in the immediate area and they can see the smoke we are asking them to avoid this area completely,' he told Nine News. 'Especially whilst we've got these strong wind conditions.' Yesterday's dust storm was caused by strong winds from a low pressure system whipping up masses of dirt across NSW, which steadily headed to the coast on Thursday morning. The skies over Sydney turned a pale red by late morning, as weather experts warned anyone with asthma or other respiratory problems to stay indoors A man stands on the roof of his house as an out-of-control bushfire approaches in Salt Ash The skies over Sydney turned a pale red by late morning, as weather experts warned anyone with asthma or other respiratory problems to stay indoors. Sydney will have a maximum temperature of 25C on Friday, with strong winds of up to 60km/h. The city will have a very high fire danger and an air quality forecast alert has been issued due to poor conditions. Melbourne will have a high of 15C and showers on Friday, with up to 5mm of rain expected. Sydney will have a very high fire danger and an air quality forecast alert has been issued due to poor conditions Brisbane's sunny weather is set to continue on Friday with clear conditions and a high of 30C. Looking west, Perth will be partly cloudy with a chance of rain and a high of 24C. Morning showers are possible in Adelaide with southwesterly winds of up to 25km/h becoming light in the evening. Hobart will be rainy and windy on Friday, with a maximum temperature of 16C. Cloud cover is expected in Canberra, with a chance of rain and a high of 17C. In the north, Darwin will have a high of 34C with possible storms on Friday. Sydney will have a maximum temperature of 25C on Friday, with strong winds of up to 60km/h President Donald Trump has again harped on the Navy's switch to electromagnetic catapults on aircraft carriers instead of steam. Trump used a Thanksgiving Day call with a naval officer serving overseas to gripe about the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, which is replacing steam-driven catapults on Ford-class carriers. The catapults are used to help propel aircraft off of the deck of the carrier during take-off, helping to compensate for the limited length of the flight deck. 'Would you go with steam or would you go with electromagnetic? Steam is very reliable. Electromagnetic unfortunately you have to be Albert Einstein to really work it properly,' Trump said to the officer, who is apparently serving on a carrier. Trump speaks via video teleconference with troops from Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. He used the conversation as a chance to harp on his pet peeve about an aircraft carrier upgrade project The naval officer responded: 'Yes sir. You sort of have to be Albert Einstein to run the nuclear power plant that we have here as well, but we're doing that very well.' 'Sir, Mr President, I would go electromagnetic,' the officer continued. 'We do pay a heavy cost for transiting the steam around the ship.' Trump thanked the officer for his candid reply, adding 'I'm actually happy about that answer, because at least they're doing what they're doing. That's actually a very good answer.' It is not the first time that Trump has seemed to obsess over the Navy's plans to upgrade to EMALS. In May of 2017, Trump blindsided Navy officials by declaring in an interview with Time magazine that he was ordering the carrier fleet to stick with 'godd**ned steam'. 'The digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it's no good,' Trump said, apparently referring to the EMALS. An F/A-18F Super Hornet jet flies over the USS Gerald R. Ford as the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier tests its EMALS magnetic launching system, which replaces the steam catapult, and new AAG arrested landing system in the Atlantic Ocean July 28, 2017 Nevertheless, plans for EMALS, which is at the center of a multi-billion dollar carrier project, went forward, with the first tests in July of 2017 aboard the USS Gerald Ford. In September 2017, Trump again blasted the new system as too complex, using a colorful metaphor. 'It's like when you get a new car and you have to be a computer genius to fix your seat,' Trump told the Washington Post. 'The seat's moving all over the place, it's unbelievable.' On Thursday, Trump visited a Coast Guard station near his Mar-a-lago property in Florida, delivering sub sandwiches for the Thanksgiving holiday. He also spend part of the morning making phone calls to troops serving overseas. Motorists will save up to $13 on their compulsory third party green slips from next year as part of the government's plan to slash the cost of premiums. From January, the statewide average cost of green slip premiums will come down to $501 - the lowest it's been for New South Wales motorists since 2011. State Finance Minister Victor Dominello told The Daily Telegraph without the Motor Accident Injuries Bill 2017 reform the cost of premiums would have skyrocketed. Motorists will save up to $13 on their compulsory third party green slips from next year as part of the government's plan to slash the cost of premiums State Finance Minister Victor Dominello (pictured) said without the Motor Accident Injuries Bill 2017 reform the cost of premiums would have skyrocketed 'Under the old Labor scheme, average premiums hit a record high of $654,' Minister Dominello said. 'The last time the average CTP premium was $500, Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger was No 1 on the Australian pop charts.' The reduced premiums are a welcomed treat for motorists as fuel prices continue to soar and the policy is just one way the government plans to entice voters in the lead up to the next election in March. The NSW CTP Green Slip Scheme reform was passed by NSW Parliament in an attempt to reduce cost of living, which they polled as the most influential issue. Labor's leader Michael Daley is also tackling the issue, by announcing free transport for school kids. Minister Dominello said the bill would reduce premiums and ensure injured motorists get the support they need. The NSW CTP Green Slip Scheme reform was passed by NSW Parliament in an attempt to reduce cost of living, which they polled as the most influential issue 'Over the past decade Green Slip premiums have increased by over 85 per cent in Sydney, and further hikes were expected unless we took action to overhaul the scheme,' Minister Dominello said. 'This is a big win for motorists and fulfills a Government promise to deliver a fairer and more affordable scheme. 'The new scheme will deliver cheaper Green Slips, stamp out exaggerated claims and eliminate insurer 'super profits'.' Since the green slip overhaul was implemented, the government has handed back savings in the form of refunds to motorists who had already paid their premiums. Already, an estimated $136million has been handed back to more than two million motorists as of September. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Minister Dominello's office and the Roads and Maritime Service for comment. Budget airline Tigerair has delighted customers on 'Black Friday' by offering $1 return flights across Australia - but you will need to get in quick. Bargain savvy customers can snap up return fares from Sydney to Coffs Harbour ($69.95), Gold Coast ($71.95), Brisbane ($79.95), Melbourne ($83.95) and Cairns ($144.95). Earlier return flights to Adelaide, the Whitsundays and Perth quickly sold out. Bargain hunters seeking cheap fares for domestic flights will be delighted with Tigerair's Black Friday promotion (stock image) Budget airline Tigerair are offering $1 return flights across Australia as part of a Black Friday promotion (stock image) The promotion, which began on Wednesday, ends at 12pm on Friday (AEST). Black Friday - the day after America celebrates Thanksgiving - has become a worldwide sales event, with the shopping frenzy a growing phenomenon in Australia. And some of the biggest savings up for grabs are on travel. Internationally, booking site Expedia is promoting savings of up to 50 per cent off some flights, and Australians can save up to 75 per cent off selected hotels when they book via the Expedia app. 'The retail event is definitely gaining momentum in Australia and is a sensational opportunity for Aussies to nab some travel bargains,' Alex Ozdowski, Expedia's Australia director, told escape.com.au A massive police operation is underway after two people were shot in Sydney's south. Emergency crews rushed to a home in Engadine at about 7am on Friday, responding to reports of gunfire following a domestic dispute. Two people have been taken to hospital, with one man, in his 80s, fighting for life. That man was found in a vehicle outside the home with a self inflicted gunshot wound, a police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia. A massive police operation is underway after two people were shot in Sydney's south 'We heard a loud bang but we didn't know if it was a car or a gun,' a neighbour told the St George Shire Standard. 'Around here we don't know what a gun sounds like, it's not Merrylands.' The elderly man will be flown to St George Hospital in a critical condition. Another person suffered minor injuries, according to NSW Ambulance. Police have established two crime scenes and investigations are ongoing, the police spokesman said. More to come. A rainy Friday evening in March 1997 and I was alone in the house. Our daughters were on a school trip, my husband Shaun at a conference and our two boys had been at boarding school for two terms. Their headmaster was on the telephone, very shaken. Alexander, our ten-year-old, had been found on the school roof where hed climbed with the intention of throwing himself off. I was puzzled that the headmaster seemed so surprised. Alexander was found on school roof age 10 and wanted to throw himself off. Pictured Alexander with his mother Anne in 1991. Id been telling the school for months how unhappy Alex was. Wed had a disturbing conversation in which hed actually asked me what would happen if he jumped out of the dormitory window. Then his academic performance dropped off a cliff. I knew it wasnt boarding itself that was the problem. Alex had been very excited about going. It was the fitting in, getting things right, and not annoying his teachers that was beyond him. But Alex is fine, his housemaster insisted when I brought it up with him weeks before the near-suicide. He always looks so happy. So happy he wanted to kill himself, aged ten? I was numb with grief. We hadnt yet heard of Asperger syndrome, the developmental disorder characterised by difficulties in social interaction that affects one in 100 people in the UK and, unbenknown to us, our eldest son. He was just our Alexander, a meticulous, extremely clever, delightful little boy, with gorgeous golden hair and big blue eyes, who filled us with pride and baffled exasperation in equal huge measure. But when I look back at that day, and what drove him to such despair that he saw ending his life as the logical solution, Im amazed no one spotted it for so long. Alex was in his mid-20s before he was formally diagnosed. By then Id long come to see his Asperger syndrome not as a disability, but as a unique gift. I wouldnt change him for the world. I would have changed the world for him, though. I can still hear the whick-whack of the windscreen wipers along the rain-washed M4 as I drove to his school that wet Friday night. After Alex was shown in, the head left the room. We simply held each other on the sofa and cried, before I drove him, and his brother, home. Alex was in his mid-20s when he was formally diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. Today he works for top city firm Golman Sachs. Pictured, Anne and Alex enjoying a boat ride The next night we talked. It seemed Alexander had approached his desperate unhappiness as rationally as he would a maths puzzle. He was obviously the problem none of the other children was shouted at or unable to fit in and the answer was to remove the problem. So he climbed up to the highest point he could, with a view to jumping. Fortunately, he continued to be rational once there. He wasnt sure it was high enough. Spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair would only compound his difficulties. He calculated the consequences. First he would suffer severe pain and months of hospitalisation. His teachers might make allowances for a while but, eventually, they would go back to bullying him, just as before. And hed be quadriplegic. He also considered how much we love him, and the terrible loss wed suffer. Besides, its quite difficult to kill yourself, he explained in his matter-of-fact way. For years afterwards, I would shake uncontrollably at the thought of my gorgeous boy weighing up the end of his life so objectively. How could anyone fail to see this child as anything but a wonder? A psychiatrist rang soon afterwards and, with staggering insensitivity (he hadnt even met Alex) told me not to worry because these people dont marry thank goodness! They can sometimes find a simple, clerical job though. And he was deeming Alex socially incompetent! Alex was much less disabled than the adults supposedly caring for him. For years I worried as mothers do that the circumstances of his birth might be responsible for making my son the way he was. It had been different from his siblings (he has two elder sisters, now in their 30s, plus a younger brother, Ben, and 15-year-old sister, Rose). The midwife, who had delivered his two older sisters, told me to push too soon. By the time she realised her mistake, Alexs birth had been delayed by an hour or two. Eventually, I asked Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge. He agreed there is evidence of a link between autism and a more complicated birth . . . but we dont know which is cause, and which effect. How much more characteristic and funny that, even before he was born, Alex wasnt conforming to a neurotypical (non-autistic) timetable. I imagine him working something out in the womb, too preoccupied to be born. As a tiny child, Alex was fascinated by everything. Aged two, he saw me stirring the bath, and suggested the labour-saving solution of placing the shower head at the other end to mix the hot water with the cold. His piano teacher, when he was three, propped up the lid and asked him if he knew how a piano worked. Well you thee, Tharlotte, he explained assuming that she didnt know: otherwise, why ask? Then he climbed into the piano to show her how the hammers hit the strings. She called him The Prof. He was meticulously thorough and oh-so slow. At nursery school, they were given a line drawing to colour of a child in bed. The others scribbled over theirs in minutes. When Alex finished, the other children applauded. Partly because it had taken him two days. But also because the bedroom had intricate patterned wallpaper, every petal drawn and coloured . . . as well as the childs tiny measles spots. At that age, he made friends easily: a kind child, very fond of his siblings and extremely keen to please. So it was devastating that he was always in trouble for being late or slow, or thinking about something else. His life improved the day I told him to look at the floor when he was told off. Until then, teachers thought this boy who was hurting terribly, but hadnt learned how to communicate this was almost psychopathically defiant when he looked straight at them. So they shouted louder and punished him more. I find Alex endlessly fascinating. So much that I have written two novels with the same hero, Theo, modelled on him down to his speech patterns and idiosyncrasies: answering a question he had been asked long before; forgetting everyones names, forgetting to have lunch, while being exceptionally kind and unselfish. Autistic people are popularly thought to be poor at reading others emotions. Alex could read emotions well enough to know that most of his teachers were annoyed with him. Meanwhile, they thought this suicidal child perfectly happy. So who really had the disability here? Mental health professionals claim a child who has thought of suicide will return to it, but I knew Alex would never try again because I had told him it was wrong, so hed ruled it out. You only ever had to teach Alex something once: how to read music; the rules of chess. Alexander aged 15 while he was on safari in Botswana. Anne Atkinss latest novel, An Elegant Solution, is published by Malcolm Down on December 6. A proportion of all royalties will be donated to the new Cambridge Autism Centre of Excellence I said something else after that incident on the roof, which I never needed to say again. If youre unhappy, Alex, you must tell someone. Us, preferably. Or a teacher. Even another child. Someone. What I didnt realise was that he didnt know when he was unhappy. It is not a clearly defined term. So he spent the next decade studying himself, and everyone else, to work it out. Consequently, Alex can now be far more aware of others emotions than anyone. He has picked up on my being upset even when I havent noticed myself. It can be like living with Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion; she had to learn upper-middle-class English very precisely and analytically, because it wasnt natural to her. As a result, she could eventually speak it better than the people she was imitating. Yet much of Alexs schooling was extremely unhappy. We should never have sent him back to that school, but we assumed they would look after him better. For sixth form he moved to St Pauls School in London, where he performed even worse, and was so miserable he was heading for disastrous A-level results. In utter despair, we let him drop out for his last term and I rang Professor Baron-Cohen out of the blue (Id heard him give a lecture), begging for advice. He met us out of pure kindness, and wrote an open letter advising that Alex should never be judged in a timed context. Despite dire (timed) A-levels, he won a place at Cambridge on a brilliant interview and I thought at last he would be happy, studying maths and computer science. But he eventually had to leave after the university failed to provide appropriate disability support, though his supervisor said he was in the top 150 mathematicians in the UK for his year. Instead, he went to Bristol where he found a wonderfully supportive tutor who allowed him to do everything, including exams, untimed. He graduated with a 2:1. When my first novel based on him came out, a reviewer said the boy in my story was utterly unbelievable and could never exist. When Alex read it nearly ten years later, he said it was accurate to the last detail. The sequel is coming out on December 6, 20 years on. Same hero, 20 years older just like Alex. Ive written with much more of Alexs proactive help and support. He is enthusiastic about his alter ego, Theo. After a childhood full of pain and misunderstanding, it must be encouraging to think of readers seeing the world through his Aspergic eyes. Six months ago, Alex was made redundant from the IT department of a small start-up, for a very Alex reason: he told his line manager not to sack a colleague because he himself was thinking of moving on. We felt like knocking his head against a wall! He applied for numerous jobs and sailed through every exam . . . but failed, each time, at interview. After several weeks, his older sister, with whom he has bought a house, asked if it might be the awful ponytail half way down his back and his crushed and scruffy clothes? Really? he said, astonished. With a suit and short-back-and-sides, he was offered every job he went for, and now works for the top City firm Goldman Sachs. That long-ago consultant was even more wrong, I know, about Alexs marriage prospects. He will make the best husband imaginable to someone who doesnt mind him forgetting lunch. Hes even joked about me arranging a marriage for him, so he can get it right! Would I make Alexander neurotypical? Never. Because he would never choose it for himself. In his case, Asperger syndrome is not a disability at all. It is his very genius. After all, asked recently whether he saw himself as abnormal, he said, Not at all. I see the rest of the world as non-Aspergic. Theresa May has thrashed out more commitments with the EU for the Brexit political declaration - which sets out the plans for the UK's future relationship with Brussels. The PM was under massive pressure from Tory Brexiteers to come back with major wins in order for it to stand any chance of getting it through Parliament. Here are some of the key points in the document: The Irish border: This is the crunch issue in the talks. The UK has committed to keeping Britain in a customs union backstop if no free trade deal is done in time which keeps the Irish border soft. This has sparked Brexiteer fury, and leading Tory Eurosecptics Iain Duncan-Smith and Owen Paterson have held private meetings with the PM to press her to change the plan. The document tries to calm Brexiteers by stating that both sides have restated their 'determination to replace the backstop solution on Northern Ireland by a subsequent agreement that establishes alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland on a permanent footing'. On the UK striking free trade deals In a concession to the UK, the EU appears to have conceded Britain must be able to pursue its own trade deals. The document states: 'It must also ensure the sovereignty of the United Kingdom and the protection of its internal market, while respecting the result of the 2016 referendum including with regard to the development of its independent trade policy and the ending of free movement of people between the Union and the United Kingdom.' But it does little to flesh out the details. Customs Union / free trade area Both sides have stressed their commitment to a new free trade a deal. But Brexiteers have already erupted in fury as the document suggests the future deal will look a lot like a customs union. The document states there will be 'deep regulatory and customs cooperation'. Fleshing out what a future trade deal will look like, it states: 'The economic partnership should ensure no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors'. It says the two sides should have 'ambitious customs arrangements that, in line with the Parties' objectives and principles above, build and improve on the single customs territory' in the divorce deal. Tory MP and arch Eurosceptic Bernard Jenkin branded the clause 'worse than Chequers'. Immigration Free movement of people from the EU will end. But the document suggests high levels of EU immigration to the UK is set to stay as new routes to settle in Britain are set up. The UK has agreed to consider letting EU nationals move to the UK for research, study, training and youth exchanges. And it says both sides will explore how to open borders for 'legitimate travel'. But immigration after Brexit from EU states must be 'based on non discrimination' - this effectively means the UK must have the same immigration rules for each of the 27 countries, rather than negotiating different ones state by state. There will be visa free travel for short term trips by EU nationals and vice versa. Benefits: Britain could still pay benefits to EU nationals after Brexit, and vice versa. The document states: 'The parties also agree to consider addressing social security coordination in the light of future movement of persons.' Fishing: Talks on what access the EU will have to fish in Britain's waters after Brexit have been delayed. It says the deal should be agreed by 1 July 2020. The document states: 'Within the context of the overall economic partnership the Parties should establish a new fisheries agreement on, inter alia, access to waters and quota shares.' This has sparked massive alarm among fishermen and Brexiteers that EU will be given rights to fish in UK waters even after Brexit. Tory MP and Brexiteer Ross Thomson lashed the proposal, warning it means 'sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal. That is unacceptable.' The two sides have also agreed to cooperate on deciding fishing quotas in the future. The document states that 'the United Kingdom will be an independent coastal state' - but it is doubtful this will do enough to appease the Brexiteers. EU judges: EU judges will still have a role in formulating laws in Britain after Brexit - but it will be far less than they have now. Britain and Brussels have agreed to set up a disputes panel which will have officials from Britain, member states and an independent country on each case. While EU judges will not sit on the panel, when disputes concerns areas of EU law, judges in Brussels will be consulted on the meaning of this law. Space: The UK and the EU have pledged to 'consider appropriate arrangements for cooperation on space'. This comes in the wake of a major over the Galileo satellite programme, which the EU has threatened to boot Britain out of despite the country sinking many millions into the project. Headquartered in San Francisco, the Ninth Circuit is the largest of the thirteen federal Court of Appeals in the United States. Its reversal rate in cases that go the Supreme Court is the third highest among all the appeals courts, coming in after the Sixth Circuit based in Ohio and the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. The Ninth Court typically sends the most cases to the Supreme Court of all the Appeals Courts. Here are some of the biggest cases out of the Ninth Circuit the Supreme Court has overturned along with some cases awaiting judgement. CASES OVERTURNED The Travel Ban In December, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals - all of whom were appointed by President Bill Clinton - ruled President Donald Trump's travel ban policy should be partially blocked because the president appears to have exceeded his authority in issuing the directive. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, upheld the Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that the president has the statutory authority to make national security judgments in the realm of immigration. Immigrant Bond Hearings The Supreme Court in February that immigrants, even those with permanent legal status and asylum seekers, do not have the right to periodic bond hearings, overturning a Ninth Circuit decision. Excessive Force by Police The Supreme Court ruled that Andrew Kisela, an Arizona police officer who shot a knife-carrying woman four times outside her home, could not be sued on claims that he used excessive force. In its overturn, the Supreme Court rebuked the 9th Circuit, stressing that it had repeatedly told courts - and the Ninth Circuit in particular - not to define clearly established law at a high level of generality. Pledge of Allegiance In 2002, the Ninth Circuit ruled the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because of its use of the words under God. The Supreme Court unanimously overruled that decision. Pregnancy Crisis Centers The Supreme Court ruled in June the state of California may not require religiously oriented crisis pregnancy centers to supply women with information about how to end their pregnancies, overturning a Ninth Circuit decision. CASES AWAITING JUDGEMENT The Asylum Ban Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the administration will file an appeal the Ninth Circuit's decision to bar the Trump administration from refusing asylum to migrants who cross the southern border illegally. Whatever the scope of the presidents authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, a nominee of former President Barack Obama, said in his ruling on the ban. Dreamers Earlier this month, the ninth court upheld a nationwide injunction against the administrations attempt to revoke deportation protections for some 700,000 Dreamers, illegals who were brought into the United States as children by their parents. The move brings the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program closer to being heard by the Supreme Court. Transgender Troops In July, the Ninth Circuit denied another attempt by the administration to implement its plan to ban transgender people from serving openly in the U.S. Armed Services. The court's move enables transgender people to continue enlisting in the military until the opposing parties go to trial, expected in April 2019. Hydrogen should be used to power our homes without producing greenhouse gases, according to an influential report. Heavy goods vehicles could also be cleanly powered by hydrogen the report said - overcoming the problem that existing electric batteries are not powerful enough for lorries travelling long distances. The UK is legally committed to cutting its carbon dioxide emissions - but a big stumbling block is Britains reliance on gas for cooking and heating. Hydrogen should be used to power our homes without producing greenhouse gases, according to an influential report. Pictured, a Linde hydrogen plant in Leuna, eastern Germany Around 80 per cent of UK homes use gas boilers - but these produce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide when they burn. Hydrogen would be an alternative as it burns cleanly producing only water vapour. Now the governments advisory body, The Committee on Climate Change, has urged the government to produce pilot projects to convert Britains gas supply to hydrogen for domestic heating, transport and industry. Pilot schemes and public engagement will also be needed to communicate the need to cut carbon from heating and reassure people hydrogen is safe, the report said. Lord Deben, Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), said: Hydrogen has the potential to contribute to near-zero carbon energy emissions if used strategically. The Government must now decide whether it wishes to develop a UK hydrogen option, taking decisions now that will see the first deployment in the 2020s. Hydrogen could be generated from natural gas using technology which removes the carbon dioxide from natural gas and then stores it underground. One stumbling block stopping the conversion to hydrogen is there is currently not enough of the gas to switch supplies. The CCC said a called a hybrid heat pump could come to the rescue. These devices - which look like air conditioning units and currently cost around 5,000-9,000 - are powered by electricity and provide heat by drawing warmth from the outside air. They can be used to heat water when fitted to existing boilers, and do not require changes to radiators. The system has been tested in a pilot in Bridgend, South Wales, with positive feedback from house-holds, the committee said. Lord Deben said: Most exciting of all is the prospect of producing low-carbon heat; using smart hybrid heat pumps in combination with natural gas in the short-term, with the potential for hydrogen in the long-term. The Committees deputy chairman Baroness Brown said the hybrid heat pumps are a solution to a knotty problem that would allow people to carry on heating their homes using conventional boilers until sufficient hydrogen could be produced. She said: When we were able to do this modelling it was a bit of a light bulb moment for us. Responding to the report, Mike Childs, Friends of the Earths Head of Policy, said: With catastrophic climate breakdown looming, too little has so far been said about the way we all heat our homes and the need to move heating systems away from polluting fossil fuels. Which is why the Committee on Climate Change is right to point to hydrogen as part of our low carbon future, because it can replace natural gas and is an excellent way of storing energy. Three autonomous vehicle projects are set to receive backing from a share of a 25 million government fund, as the UK edges closer to seeing self-driving cars on its roads. The new cars are set to 'revolutionise' the way Brits travel across the country and could even help to improve transport services for those who struggle to access public transport. All of the new projects will include social behavioural research in order to understand how driverless technology can be seamlessly integrated into society. The findings will then be applied to the development for future autonomous service models. Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark is set to announce the public trials in Oxford, after trying a self-driving vehicle firsthand, which is being tested around the city. Autonomous vehicle trials are already under way in parts of the UK (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Greg Clark (pictured above), Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy sits in a self-driving pod at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders 'Self-driving cars will revolutionise the way we move goods and people around the UK,' Mr Clark said. 'These Industrial Strategy projects and investments are exciting examples of our long-term plan in action ensuring we build on our strengths to reap the rewards as we accelerate towards our ambition to have autonomous vehicles on UK roads by 2021. 'Autonomous vehicles and their technology will not only revolutionise how we travel, it will open up and improve transport services for those who struggle to access both private and public transport. 'The UK is building on its automotive heritage and strengths to develop the new vehicles and technologies and from 2021 the public will get to experience the future for themselves.' The MP will be taken in a test vehicle run by autonomous vehicle software company Oxbotica, the first person outside its technical team to try the autonomous mode on the streets of the UK. Co-founder Paul Newman will travel alongside, explaining how the system works. Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark (pictured) will announce the public trials in Oxford The Government's Centre for Connected Autonomous Vehicles was established in 2015, in a bid to make the UK a world leader in self-driving technology, with 250 million, match-funded by industry, being invested so far. Trials are already under way in parts of the UK, including Bristol, Coventry, Greenwich and Milton Keynes. 'The UK is a world leader in transport innovation, and our work on the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge will ensure this long continues,' said future of mobility minister Jesse Norman. 'Automated driving technology is advancing rapidly, and the UK market for connected and autonomous vehicles is forecast to be worth up to 52 billion by 2035. 'This pioneering technology will bring significant benefits to people right across the country, improving mobility and safety, and driving growth across the UK.' Scientists studying the Pacific Ocean have discovered a bacteria that absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) and could potentially turn itself into a food source for other sea creatures. The bacteria was discovered in one of the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean, the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ), a trench which extends 2.5 miles beneath the surface. Scientists have been exploring the area due to its deep sea mining potential. Trials are set to be carried out and if successful, it could mean 200 million tonnes of CO2 is being turned into biomass every year. Contractors from Korea, Germany and the UK believe the site to be a promising source of polymetallic nodules, which contain metals like nickel, copper and cobalt. Researchers have carried out tests on the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean Biomass found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean could potentially become a food source for animals in the deep sea Researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh carried out a series of experiments of the sediments located in the CCFZ and discovered the bacteria, findings were then published in the Limnology and Oceanography. Andrew Sweetman, who was part of the research team said: 'We discovered that benthic bacteria are taking up large amounts of carbon dioxide and assimilating it into their biomass through an unknown process. 'Their biomass then potentially becomes a food source for other animals in the deep sea, so actually what we've discovered is a potential alternative food source in the deepest parts of the ocean, where we thought there was none.' Prior to the study, researchers had believed that the biggest source of biomass on the ocean seafloor was organic matter, like dead fish and plankton, that had floated down. The Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ) is located in the the Eastern Pacific Ocean The team has highlighted the importance of more research being carried out before any mining activities begin. Mr Sweetman added: 'This equates to approximately 10 percent of the CO2 that the oceans remove each year, so it's possibly an important part of the deep-sea carbon cycle. 'We found the same activity at multiple study sites separated by hundreds of kilometres, so we can reasonably assume this is happening on the seabed in the eastern CCFZ and possibly across the entire CCFZ.' Speaking to Newsweek, Sweetman said each mining contract could disturb hundreds of square miles of seafloor every year. Projects are being led to learn how disturbing the ecosystem could impact the climate more widely 'Small scale disturbance experiments that have been carried out in the abyss have shown limited recovery of animals and microbes over long periods. 'Therefore deep-sea mining may significantly impact seafloor microbes that are actively removing CO2. If a significant amount of CO2 is removed each year by the microbial communities within mining areas, mining may inadvertently affect important ecosystem services in the deep sea.' Mr Sweetman is now leading a project to understand what impact disturbing this ecosystem could have on the climate more widely and he highlighted the need to explore the process in greater detail. A study had previously been carried out into bacteria beneath a lake in the West Antarctic 'At present, we don't know where the energy is coming from for CO2 fixation, and what microbes are fixing C into their biomass. Once we've figured this out, we can start interrogating the available data on microbial diversity in the deep-sea to assess where this process is happening in the ocean.' Earlier this year a study had been carried out beneath a lake in the West Antarctic, which found that an ice sheet was consuming methane, which is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. Researchers found the bacteria was digesting methane and preventing it from entering the water and eventually escaping into the atmosphere. Car giant BMW is set to expand its business as it prepares to launch ride-hailing services in China. The launch of service, which is set to take place in December, will make the German car manufacturer the first global automaker to obtain such a license in the ever-growing market. BMW Mobility Service Ltd, is a fully-owned subsidiary of the BMW Group and had obtained its ride-hailing licence in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in China's southwest. The new permit will enable BMW to provide online booked taxi services in the city, however the firm did not reveal details of the expected fleet size. BMW has obtained a ride-hailing license in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province Earlier this year, BMW Group said it would increase its stake in its Chinese joint venture with partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd to 75 percent from 50 percent. China's ride-hailing market is worth $23 billion, more than all other ride-hailing markets combined, with China's Didi Chuxing dominating with 90 percent of all bookings. However the firm has previously been criticised as it urged residents in China to delete popular app Uber, in favour of theirs. Despite this Didi Chuxing is currently the world's largest ride hailing app and is worth around $56billion. Didi had also suffered a public relations and regulatory crisis earlier this year after two of its passengers were murdered while using its services. BMW Group said it would increase its stake in its Chinese joint venture with partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd Germany's Daimler said in October it was setting up a ride-hailing venture in China with Geely Group, in a sign the Chinese firm was making progress in its drive for closer relations with the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars. China has become the worlds largest mobility market after unprecedented growth over the past three years, according to a survey by consultancy Bain & Company. It found 62 percent of respondents in mainland China hail rides online, compared to 29 percent in Germany and 23 percent in the US. BMW has not yet revealed the size of the fleet which is set to launch later this year Dinosaurs roaming the earth more than 200 million years ago could have had some serious competition from an ancestor which was the size of an elephant. During the Triassic period (252-201 million years ago) mammal-like reptiles called therapsids co-existed with ancestors to dinosaurs, crocodiles, mammals, pterosaurs, turtles, frogs, and lizards. Now, researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden, along with colleagues in Poland, have discovered fossils from a new genus of gigantic dicynodont. The new species, Lisowicia bojani was a reptile with mammalian traits and had co-existed with dinosaurs. Fossil bones discovered in Poland belonged to a huge toothless plant-eater that stood on four legs Fossil bones discovered in Poland belonged to the huge toothless plant-eater, which stood on four legs and weighed nine tons. Other known dicynodonts have ranged in size from rat-like burrowers to browsers as big as cows. The discovery has overturned the idea that dinosaurs were the only really large land animals around during the Triassic period. Despite their reptilian heritage, dicynodonts and their relatives were the ancestors of all modern mammals, including humans. One of the researchers from the Polish Academy of Sciences, Dr Tomasz Sulej said: 'The discovery of Lisowicia changes our ideas about the latest history of dicynodonts, mammal Triassic relatives. 'It also raises far more questions about what really makes them and dinosaurs so large.' 'The discovery of such an important new species is a once in a lifetime discovery.' Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden, together with colleagues in Poland, have discovered fossils from a new genus of gigantic dicynodont Researchers from the University of Uppsala in Sweden along with colleagues from Poland, inspecting the fossils which were found in Poland The earth is around 4.5 billion years old and in that time has gone through many geological periods and dramatic change. During the Triassic period, all land on Earth came together and formed the massive continent called Pangea. During this time, the first dinosaurs came into being as well as ancestors to crocodiles, mammals, pterosaurs, turtles, frogs, and lizards. A comparison between Lisowicia bojani (right) and a modern elephant (left) All species of dicynodonts were herbivores and their sizes ranged from small burrowers to large browsers. Most of them were also toothless. They survived the Permian mass extinction and became the dominant terrestrial herbivores in the Middle and Late Triassic. They were thought to have died out before the dinosaurs became the dominant form of tetrapod on land. Dr Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki, from Uppsala University in Sweden said that the fossil development was hugely exciting 'because it blows holes in many of our classic ideas of Triassic 'mammal-like reptiles'. 'Dicynodonts were amazingly successful animals in the Middle and Late Triassic. Artist's impression of the Lisowicia bojani, an early ancestor of modern mammals that lived more than 200 million years ago 'Lisowicia is the youngest dicynodont and the largest non-dinosaurian terrestrial tetrapod (four-legged animal) from the Triassic. It's natural to want to know how dicynodonts became so large.' The fossils were found in the Polish village of Lisowice, and a German comparative anatomist named Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus who worked in Vilnius and is known for making several important anatomical discoveries. A study of the bones, published in the journal Science, shows that Lisowicia was about 4.5 metres (14.7ft) long and 2.6 metres (8.5ft) high - around the size of a modern elephant. It was 40% larger than any dicynodont identified before. Lisowicia stood upright in a similar way to large present-day mammals such as rhinos and hippos, unlike many of its relatives which had a tendency to sprawl like Lizards. The fossils are the first to reveal that large dycynodonts were alive at the same time as early long-necked sauropod dinosaurs. During this period dinosaurs had not yet evolved to their biggest heights. One of the earliest big dinosaurs, a sauropod from what is now Argentina called Ingentia prima, only weighed about 10 tons and was not much heavier than Lisowicia. Later on sauropods, such as diplodocus and brachiosaurus, included the largest land animals that ever lived. Dicynodonts are all thought to have died out before dinosaurs reached the pinnacle of their 200 Therapsids are thought to have had naked skin rather than scales like reptiles and were probably warm-blooded. The findings from Poland are the first substantial finds of dicynodonts from the Late Triassic in Europe. Climate change - not human hunters - led to the extinction of Africa's largest mammals, according to new research. It had been thought that early humans hunted the 2,000 pound (900 kg) beasts to extinction 50,000 years ago after they learned to build tools and weapons. But new research suggests deforestation and the spread of grasslands cause by climate change started their demise long before humans began to eat them. The changing landscape stripped many of the animals of food and shelter, meaning they died out millions of years earlier than previously thought, scientists said. Scroll down for video Pictured is an artist's impression of a Gomphotherium pyrenaicum, an ancestor of the modern elephant that roamed Earth millions of years ago. Scientists suggest this species and other megaherbivores were wiped out by a changing climate Africa still has the greatest diversity of large-bodied mammals but this was not always the case. As recently as 50,000 years ago, virtually all of Earth's continents were populated with a great variety of species rivalling Africa's present-day diversity. North America and Eurasia were home to Ice Age icons like woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats, while giant kangaroos and wombats roamed the Australian outback, and gorilla-sized lemurs ambled across the forest floors of Madagascar. Yet these creatures disappeared during the last 50,000 years as our tooled up species - Homo sapiens - spread out of Africa and across the globe. The extinctions then occurred in virtually every region of the world except Africa, where most large mammals survived to the present-day. It had been argued because human ancestors have been present in Africa for nearly seven million years - much longer than any other region of the world - they likely caused extinctions earlier in Africa than anywhere else. This artist's impression depicts a Hyrachyus, an ancient ancestor of the modern horse, tapir and rhino Researchers found that the sudden expansion of grassland beginning 4.6 million years (left) led to a sharp drop in Africa's megafauna population (right) But new research suggested long term climate change drove the decline of giant mammals in Africa over the last 4.6 million years. Falling atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels saw forests disappear and grasslands take over long before early man emerged. Study leader Assistant Professor Tyler Faith, of the University of Utah and curator at the Natural History Museum of Utah, said: 'Despite decades of literature asserting that early hominins impacted ancient African faunas, there have been few attempts to actually test this scenario or to explore alternatives 'We think our study is a major step towards understanding the depth of anthropogenic impacts on large mammal communities, and provides a convincing counter-argument to these long-held views about our early ancestors.' A fossil tooth of a hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) (left) and a fossil tooth of a white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) (right) , two of the few surviving megaherbivores The US researchers compiled a seven-million-year record of herbivore extinctions in eastern Africa, focusing on the very largest species, the so-called 'megaherbivores' over 2,000 lbs. Though only five megaherbivores exist in Africa today - hippopotamus, giraffe, elephant, white rhino, and black rhino - there was a much greater diversity in the past. For example, three-million-year-old 'Lucy' (Australopithecus afarensis) shared her woodland landscape with three giraffes, two rhinos, a hippo, and four elephant-like species at Hadar, Ethiopia. When and why these species disappeared has long been a mystery for archaeologists and paleontologists. The team analysed more than 100 sites in East Africa with rich fossil records to track the longterm decline of megaherbivore diversity Prof Faith said: 'Our analyses show that there is a steady, long-term decline of megaherbivore diversity beginning around 4.6 million years ago. 'This extinction process kicks in over a million years before the very earliest evidence for human ancestors making tools or butchering animal carcasses and well before the appearance of any hominin species realistically capable of hunting them, like Homo erectus.' The study was based on fossil remains in eastern Africa and climate data to find over the last seven million years substantial megaherbivore extinctions occurred - 28 lineages became extinct, leading to the present-day communities lacking in large animals. Yet this decline also began roughly 4.6 million years ago, and that the rate of diversity decline did not change following the appearance of Homo erectus, a human ancestor often blamed for the extinctions. The decline of African megaherbivore diversity (gray curve) over the last seven million years was driven by falling atmospheric carbon dioxide and the expansion of grasslands, not hunting by ancient hominins Though only five megaherbivores exist in Africa today - hippopotamus, giraffe, elephant, white rhino, and black rhino - there was a much greater diversity in the past Postdoctoral scientist Dr John Rowan, of University of Massachusetts Amherst, added: 'The key factor in the Plio-Pleistocene megaherbivore decline seems to be the expansion of grasslands, which is likely related to a global drop in atmospheric CO2 over the last five million years. 'Low CO2 levels favour tropical grasses over trees, and as a consequence savannas became less woody and more open through time. 'We know that many of the extinct megaherbivores fed on woody vegetation, so they seem to disappear alongside their food source.' And our ancestors may not be to blame for the downfall of carnivores rivals over the last few million years. Professor Paul Koch, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, said: 'We know there are also major extinctions among African carnivores at this time and that some of them, like sabre-tooth cats, may have specialised on very large prey, perhaps juvenile elephants 'It could be that some of these carnivores disappeared with their megaherbivore prey.' Prof Faith added: 'Looking at all of the potential drivers of the megaherbivore decline, our analyses suggest that changing climate and environment played the key role in Africa's past extinctions. 'It follows that in the search for ancient hominin impacts on ancient African ecosystems, we must focus our attention on the one species known to be capable of causing them - us, Homo sapiens, over the last 300,000 years.' The study was published in the journal Science. Astronaut Tim Peake has revealed the biggest challenges new recruits face when it comes to travelling to outer space. He said budding astronauts must face a gruelling day of tests that evaluates your concentration, memory and spatial awareness. But the 46-year-old, who spent 185 days aboard the International Space Station between 2015 and 2016, says he found learning Russian the toughest challenge. He revealed in a new interview that grappling the language was the area he had to work hardest at, as he needed to be fluent in order to keep his Russian colleague's aboard the space station safe. Astronaut Tim Peak appeared on This Morning to talk about what it takes to become an astronaut Despite finding it the hardest challenge, Peake said it was one requirement which had helped him to keep his colleagues safe. 'In the space craft only Russian is spoke, all the documentation is in Russian and on board the space station I had to help my two Russian colleagues do a space walk. 'So to get them out safely and get them back in safely, their lives were in my hands. 'I came from a very technical scientific background and so I didnt really have a problem with those aspects but languages were never my strong points so learning Russian was really quite hard.' In the interview with This Morning's Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes, Peake said it was important for current astronauts to bust the myths surrounding how you actually become an astronaut, and also highlighted how this had been one of the inspirations behind his new book titled 'The Astronaut Selection Test Book'. The 46-year-old admitted that one of his biggest challenges had been to learn Russian 'You have to demystify the process of how we select astronauts and what we expect of astronauts and more importantly the next generation which is going to be fascinating, looking at returning to the moon, and then going on to missions to mars and they are the skills we need for the next bunch of recruits.' However, those who are keen on embarking on a career as an astronaut will have to have that certain something in order to be successful and Peake said it's not always about the skills you may already posses. 'Hard skills are the non-trainable skills you have either got it or you havent to some degree. Rochelle and Phillip interviewed Tim Peake at the ITV studios in London 'It's a very very intensive day, there are a whole bunch of test thrown at you, mostly computer based testing things like concentration, memory retention special awareness and all of these kinds of aspects that I found very challenging.' As well as having to learn Russian, in order to become an astronaut, Peake said that you have to take part in a gyroscope test. We sometimes use them in the selection and training process and it helps acclimatise to you to the perception that you might have in space. 'For example when you re-enter the earths atmosphere the space craft is tumbling for the initial stages fairly out of control and at that same time you are also having to focus and concentrate in the space craft on what the systems are dong and getting ready for re-entering. 'So we are asking people to have mentally demanding skills where there are also physical challenged.' The supercomputer HAL 9000, which is best remembered for killing astronauts in the '2001: A Space Odyssey' has been recreated by scientists to aid astronauts in space. The new prototype, which has been developed by Texan company TRACLabs Inc, has successfully controlled a simulated planetary base for hours and can display information such as life support and robot status. In the movie, HAL 9000 is the artificial intelligence controlling the nuclear-powered Discovery One spaceship. In the novel by science-fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke written alongside the film, the computer is described as capable of talking with astronauts 'in the perfect idiomatic English he had learned during the fleeting weeks of his electronic childhood.' In the movie, HAL 9000 is the artificial intelligence controlling the nuclear-powered Discovery One spaceship Artificial intelligence researcher Pete Bonasso at TRACLabs had first saw '2001: A Space Odyssey' in his senior year at West Point university, where he programmed the academy's lone computer to play a virtual version of pool, and since then has set about trying to create something just like it. In a study in the journal Science Robotics Bonasso said: 'When I saw '2001,' I knew I had to make the computer into another being, a being like HAL 9000.' The new technology can visually display information such as people who need life support and robot status, but can also converse with people so they can ask questions, send commands and be warned about any problems. Instead of murdering astronauts the software is designed to carry out plans only after sharing them with people and getting consent for action. The new software that Bonasso and his colleagues have designed, branded the 'cognitive architecture for space agents,' or CASE, is composed of three key layers. The new software has three layers and was developed by researchers and scientists in Texas The first layer is a continuously running control that connects to and runs hardware such as robotic hands and eyes, as well as controlling a simulation of a planetary base. The second layer focuses on what some would call the mundane and carries out procedures underlying routine activities such as connecting power to batteries, controlling oxygen-generation and carbon-dioxide-removal systems, and charging and sending rovers to retrieve samples of planetary rock. The third layer consists of automatic planning software that decides how to achieve CASE's programmed goals for the day and the order in which to perform them. 2001 - A Space Odyssey as originally released in 1968 by director Stanley Kubrick It can also automatically reschedule activities when problems arise, such as gas leaks, broken motors or planetary dust storms, Bonasso said. The layers are linked to an ontology server a database that can reason about its data. If someone moves a toolbox from the equipment locker to the crew quarters, the ontology server reasons that all of the tools in the box will change location as well, the researchers said. Speaking to Space.com Bonasso said: 'Our colleagues and NASA counterparts are not concerned that our HAL might get out of control. 'That's because it can't do anything it's not programmed to do.' The group have conducted trials and CASE managed a simulated planetary base for about four hours. However, the researchers stressed more work is needed before it can run an actual base. 'Though CASE is impressive, it's not the fully realized HAL from '2001: A Space Odyssey,' nor is it Lt. Commander Data from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' 'Its capability is very narrow, focused on events occurring on a planetary base. While it can keep the life support systems running, it has no idea who won the last presidential election.' The group is now working with what NASA calls analogs places where volunteers pretend they are living on a distant world. The aim is to incorporate CASE into the analogs to see how the software can help improve future space expeditions. Bonasso added he sometimes loses track of how this work aims to create a real-life version of HAL for distant astronauts. 'When you're deep in the workings of software, you forget sometimes that you're actually imagining what it would be like to live on Mars or the moon. 'Sometimes we have to step back and say, 'Hey! This is pretty cool.'' Google has released its artificial intelligence chat agent, Duplex into the wider world despite initial criticism over the technology. Google has expanded the remit of the chat agent, which can arrange appointments over the phone from a 'small set of trusted users', to a 'small group' of Google Pixel phone owners, who are able to use the service in order to secure restaurant reservations in 'select cities'. Other users can still access the app, but only 'trusted' testers are able to use the full system. If you're not in the group it is likely you will get an error message which says: 'Sorry, I can't call to make reservations for you yet, but here's their phone number.' Google had been accused of faking a demo back at its May investor conference A spokesperson from Google had confirmed the update to VentureBeat, but clarified that the technology is not what was debuted at the company's conference in May. Google Assistant can only place calls in English, however it is no longer limited to businesses with which Google has explicitly partnered. 'We're currently ramping up the ability to book restaurant reservations through the Google Assistant over the phone using Duplex technology. 'To help deliver a good experience to Pixel users and to businesses, we're starting with a slow rollout and will expand to more Pixel users as we continue to ramp up.' When Google first introduced its phone-calling digital concierge in May, some thought it sounded too human, while others worried that it would secretly record calls with people. Buyers of Google's new Pixel 3 handset in some US cities will be the first to get access to Google Duplex, an AI that can make calls to restaurants and other firms on behalf of users The AI's first demonstration at a Google Developer conference prompted a massive backlash against the technology. In October the firm pledged to address the concerns and to implement changes. 'Pixel users in the U.S. will also be the first to get access to an experimental new Google Assistant feature, powered by Duplex technology, which helps users complete real-world tasks over the phone, like calling a restaurant to book a table,' the firm said at the unveiling of its Pixel 3 handset in October. 'This feature will initially be available later this year in New York, Atlanta, Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area to help people book restaurant reservations and will roll out to other U.S. cities in the future, Google said. However, it admitted it had dramatically redesigned the system following the earlier backlash. Duplex debuted at a conference in May when it was tasked to book a hair appointment over the phone in front of a live audience. Pictured is the screen shown to the audience during the demo, in which the receptionist seemingly failed to notice she was speaking to a robot 'As we develop new calling technologies, we believe it's critical that we help people understand the context of the conversation,' 'We'll disclose to businesses receiving the call that they're speaking to an automated system, and we have developed controls to protect against spam and abuse, as well as the ability for a business to opt out of receiving calls.' Google previously said human operators will be standing by as backup should a call go off the rails. The technology was first unveiled in May and the firm later face backlash as it had been accused of faking the presentation it delivered to investors. During the demo, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said: 'What you're going to hear is the Google Assistant actually calling a real salon to schedule an appointment for you.' Duplex seemingly put on such a good impression of a human that the person it called failed to notice they were speaking to a robot. The creepy demo made headlines across the world, but reports suggested that Google faked the phone call and misled viewers and investors. Advertisement It's wobbly screen time for some of Britain's most impressive ruined castles - because they've been rebuilt using digital wizardry. Here we present current pictures of six UK castles along with animated reconstructions that show them in all their former glory. Scroll down for a fascinating glimpse into the past. Dunluce Castle, Northern Ireland The iconic ruin of Dunluce Castle on the dramatic coastal cliffs of north County Antrim in Ireland bears witness to a tumultuous history It was first built by the MacQuillan family around 1500 and was later seized by the MacDonnell clan, which set about stamping its mark on the castle under the leadership of the famous warrior chieftain Sorely Boy MacDonnell The ruin of Dunluce Castle on the dramatic coastal cliffs of north County Antrim in Northern Ireland bears witness to a tumultuous history. It was first built by the MacQuillan family around 1500 and was later seized by the MacDonnell clan, which set about stamping its mark on the castle under the leadership of the famous warrior chieftain Sorely Boy MacDonnell. According to the castle's website, it was Sorley Boy's grandson, the 2nd Earl of Antrim, and his wife who finally decided to abandon Dunluce. The site notes: 'In 1639 as they were waiting for dinner one evening the kitchen, along with kitchen staff, fell into the sea. This is thought to have been the final straw.' Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland Dunstanburgh Castle, which stands on a remote headland in Northumberland, was built by Earl Thomas of Lancaster in 1313 during a time when his relationship with King Edward II had become openly hostile Unfortunately the earl failed to reach the fortress when his rebellion was defeated, and he was taken and executed in 1322. As the Scottish border became more stable, King James I sold the property to private owners in 1604 but it was neglected and subsequently fell into decay Dunstanburgh Castle, which stands on a remote headland in Northumberland, was built by Earl Thomas of Lancaster in 1313 during a time when his relationship with King Edward II had become openly hostile. Unfortunately the earl failed to reach the fortress when his rebellion was defeated, and he was taken and executed in 1322. The castle was later passed onto John of Gaunt, who strengthened it against the Scots by converting the great twin towered gatehouse into a keep. During the Wars of the Roses the fortress was twice besieged and captured by Yorkist forces. As the Scottish border became more stable, King James I sold the property to private owners in 1604 but it was neglected and subsequently fell into decay. Bothwell Castle, Scotland Bothwell Castle, which sits on a steep bank above the River Clyde, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, owes its origins to Walter of Moray, a northern aristocratic family that acquired Bothwell in 1242 The family designed the grand castle as a display of feudal pride, but their dreams were never completed with the outbreak of the Wars of Independence in 1296 delaying progress Bothwell Castle, which sits on a steep bank above the River Clyde, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, owes its origins to Walter of Moray, a northern aristocratic family that acquired Bothwell in 1242. The family designed the grand castle as a display of feudal pride, but their dreams were never completed, with the outbreak of the Wars of Independence in 1296 delaying progress. After the wars, Bothwell Castle passed to another powerful noble family, the Black Douglases, and they rebuilt the fortress following an updated design. After the Black Douglases were overthrown in 1455, Bothwell Castle changed hands several times, with it slowly deteriorating along the way. It is now managed by Historic Scotland as a monument. Goodrich Castle, Herefordshire Standing in open countryside above the River Wye in Herefordshire, Goodrich Castle is said to be one of the finest and best preserved examples of an English medieval castle Experts believe it was initially built as a wooden structure after the Norman invasion and that it was replaced by a stone keep in the mid-12th century. It later became the seat of the powerful Talbot family before falling out of favour as a residence in late Tudor times. By the end of the 18th century, Goodrich had fallen into disrepair and was noted for being a picturesque ruin Standing in open countryside above the River Wye in Herefordshire, Goodrich Castle is said to be one of the finest and best preserved examples of an English medieval castle. Experts believe it was initially built as an earth and wooden structure after the Norman invasion and it was replaced by a stone keep in the mid-12th century. It later became the seat of the powerful Talbot family before falling out of favour as a residence in late Tudor times. By the end of the 18th century, Goodrich had fallen into disrepair and was noted for being a picturesque ruin. It is now owned by English Heritage and open to the public. Caerlaverock Castle, Scotland Caerlaverock Castle in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, is a moated triangular fortification first built in the 13th century by the Maxwell family It was besieged by the English during the Wars of Scottish Independence, and underwent several reconstructions over the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1640, the fortress was besieged for the last time and was subsequently abandoned Caerlaverock Castle in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, is a moated triangular fortification first built in the 13th century by the Maxwell family. It was besieged by the English during the Wars of Scottish Independence, and underwent several reconstructions over the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1640, the fortress was besieged for the last time and was subsequently abandoned. It is now in the care of Historic Scotland and remains a popular tourist attraction. Kidwelly Castle, Wales Kidwelly Castle is a Norman castle overlooking the River Gwendraeth in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Created as a defence against the Welsh, the castle fell to the Welsh several times in the 12th century. It started out as a wooden structure but was later rebuilt in stone In 1403, its strength was put to the test during the rebellion of Owain Glyn Dwr. The town of Kidwelly fell to the attackers but the castle held out. The National Museum of Wales notes that the old town never recovered from the attack and in the centuries that followed, the castle's fortunes also declined Kidwelly Castle is a Norman castle overlooking the River Gwendraeth in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Created as a defence against the Welsh, the castle fell to the Welsh several times in the 12th century. It started out as a wooden structure but was later rebuilt in stone. In 1403, its strength was put to the test during the rebellion of Owain Glyn Dwr. The town of Kidwelly fell to the attackers but the castle held out. The National Museum of Wales notes that the old town never recovered from the attack and in the centuries that followed, the castle's fortunes also declined and, in 1609, it was described as 'greately [sic] decayed'. Sharpen those elbows: Black Friday is nearly here and travellers looking to snap up a holiday bargain are in luck. There are hefty discounts and many companies are keeping the deal window open until Cyber Monday (November 26th) and beyond. Here are some of the best breaks on offer: HALF PRICE MALDIVES: Holidays has chopped 50 per cent off seven-night breaks for families at the swish Six Senses Laamu resort in the Maldives on stays between April and September next year. On sale from 9am on Friday until 5pm on Monday, holidays now cost 5,895 per family (two adults and two children) including free half-board and free transfers (turquoiseholidays.co.uk, 01494 678 400). Turquoise: Surf and snorkel at half price at the Six Senses Resort on Laamu, the Maldives CUT-PRICE CAMPING: A week-long break next May at the beach-side Escale St Gilles campsite in Brittany, staying in a pre-erected tent, has been cut to just 98 (usually priced at up to 567) with Canvas Holidays. Available from Black Friday to Tuesday 27th November, the offer is accommodation only and must be taken before May 24 2019 (canvasholidays.co.uk, 0345 268 0827). CORNISH MINI-BREAK: Five-star holiday village Retallack Resort, in Cornwall, has snipped 20 per cent off all its 2019 holidays in luxury lodge and apartment accommodation. A four-night break booked between Black Friday and November 30 using offer code BLACKFRIDAY20 now costs 415, down from 519 (ariaresorts.co.uk/retallackresort, 03333 700 555). SRI LANKA SAVINGS: Treat yourself to Sri Lanka's west coast in December and save 50 per cent on a three bedroom private riverside villa with Fleewinter. Flee Winter's three bedroom Apsara Villa is close to Bentota Beach on Sri Lanka's west coast A week's stay before December 15 now costs from 1,050pp (based on four people sharing), including flights, transfers, use of a private chef and a cookery lesson. Book on Black Friday only (fleewinter.com, 020 7112 0019). SPRING SAIL-AWAY: DFDS has cut prices on mini-cruises from Newcastle to Amsterdam, offering 66 per cent off sailings before March 31, with two nights on board and five hours in Amsterdam. Available from 8am on Friday until 5pm on Monday, deals start from just 30pp, based on two sharing an ensuite cabin (dfdsseaways.co.uk, 0871 522 9955). Mini-cruise: Dash around Amsterdam as you stop off in the Dutch capital TUCK INTO TURKEY: Opening for the first time during winter, the Hilton Dalaman Sarigerme Resort and Spa, on south-west Turkey's sizzling Turquoise Coast, has 15 per cent off holidays booked between Black Friday and November 30. A one-week all-inclusive stay starts at 542pp, including return flights from London Gatwick (dalaman.hilton.com). What are you waiting for? Sizzling! The Hilton Dalaman is open now for the first time during winter ABU DHABI DEAL: Book by November 30 and save 40 per cent on a stay at the Saadiyat Rotana Resort and Villas in Abu Dhabi. Best At Travel is offering a five-night holiday in a classic room on a half-board basis from 1,199pp. Price includes flights with Etihad from Heathrow (Scottish flights also available). Travel between January 10 and March 31, and book between Friday and November 30 (bestattravel.co.uk, 020 3811 5629). Rooms at the Saadiyat Rotana Resort and Villas in Abu Dhabi are 40 per cent off FLORIDA'S A STEAL: Theme park specialist Ocean Florida has slashed prices on a week's stay at the three-star Champions World Resort in Kissimmee. Based on four people sharing a standard room, the price is 319pp including BA flights from Gatwick, departing September 12, 2019. Available at 9am on Friday, (ocean-florida.co.uk, 020 7939 7775). FESTIVE FRANCE: Hit the French Alps for Yuletide and save 120pp if you book on Black Friday. Ski Beat has weeklong stays at Chalet Bouquetin in Plan Peisey, close to La Plagne, departing December 22. At 799pp (was 919pp), prices include flights from London and Manchester, transfers, full-board and Christmas dinner (skibeat.co.uk, 01273 855 100). Save 120pp on stays at Chalet Bouquetin, perched high in the French Alps LONDON CALLING: See London in a whole new light. You can ride a penny farthing around Trafalgar Square, sip tea on a classic Routemaster or go behind the scenes of the Old Bailey. MakeMyDay - a curated collection of urban adventures - is offering 25 per cent off tours and experiences booked from Black Friday to Sunday (makemyday.travel). New perspective: Get a fresh take on the London experience with Make My Day AFFORDABLE FJORDS Sail north for a bargain; Celebrity Cruises has a 50 per cent discount for second passengers booking Norway cruises for travel in April 2019. A weeklong Fjords trip from Southampton on the Celebrity Silhouette now costs 1,110pp based on two people sharing an Ocean View Stateroom. Book between Friday and Monday (celebritycruises.co.uk, 0800 441 4054). Sail Norway's spectacular fjords with Celebrity Cruises for half price FIVE-STAR CITIES: Luxury hotel brand Corinthia Hotels has up to 40 per cent off its properties. Destinations include St Petersburg, Lisbon and Budapest, with a double room at the Corinthia Hotel in the Hungarian capital now costing from 97 a night. Rates are available from Thursday until next Tuesday. Travel before April 30 2019 (corinthia.com/en/black-friday). RIVER REDUCTIONS: Emerald Waterways is promising guests who book a 2019 European river cruise free drinks for the duration of their sailing, plus big savings on eight-night cruises. A whirl around the Danube from Budapest to Munich costs 1,495pp, down from 2,245pp. Flights are not included. Book between Black Friday and November 30 (emeraldwaterways.co.uk, 0808 115 6269). Advertisement An ex-surveyor who was sick of the rat race has spent 15,000 converting a former horse box into a plush 'log cabin van' to live in. And now Guy Williams, 39, is travelling the world inside the vehicle, spending less than the cost of buying a London parking space. The converted horse box boasts beautiful upholstery, stunning Douglas fir woodwork and a panoramic window next to a cosy dinner table. Former surveyor Guy Williams has converted a wrecked horse box into a stunning mobile home. Pictured is the living and dining area, which boasts beautiful upholstery, stunning Douglas fir woodwork and a panoramic window Mr Williams is now living in the van and is travelling around Europe. Pictured is the kitchen, which has a full sized cooker and a spacious fridge Mr Williams has spent a total of 15,000 converting the horse box into a home. He undertook the project after becoming disaffected with his former career Incredibly the stunning mobile home also has all mod cons - with an indoor cinema, full-size cooker, shower, spacious fridge and a fully-upholstered sofa. Mr Williams hit the road after becoming disaffected with a 10-year career in surveying before he moved into hotel management. After a pay-out from his last job he bought and converted the van in just a year and is now travelling across Europe with his six-month-old cockapoo puppy, Ethel. Mr Williams, who is currently in Portugal, said: 'Basically I was sick of it. 'I used to be a charted surveyor in Bristol and I quit that because I didn't want to be in a nine-to-five everyday until I was 70. 'I looked around me and all the people there were rotting behind their desks. Mr Williams used a pay-out from a previous job to buy the vehicle and carry out the transformation. Pictured is the van when Mr Williams bought it It took Mr Williams around a year to carry out the complete transformation of the van and convert it into a place to live 'I left and I started living in my other van and rented out my flat in Bristol and I was earning more money doing that than I was surveying.' He added: 'After doing that for a while I wanted to do something a bit bigger and I ended up buying this horse box from Holland and driving it back. 'I kitted it out with the intention of living in it. I did it over a year but I reckon I could've done it in just two months. 'We were going for a log-cabin style and we were inspired by the Alps - it is basically a log cabin in a van. 'It is more kitted out than a lot of flats, it has everything I need. Mr Williams said: 'Back in the day people would call you a crusty if you live in the back of a van and people would look down their noses at you, but now it is cool to live in a van' The van is kitted out in a log cabin style with Mr Williams saying he was inspired by the Alps during the conversion Mr Williams with his cockapoo, Ethel, who is accompanying him on his travels. When his trip is over, the intrepid explorer plans to refurbish vans into homes after his unusual abode sparked interest in the UK 'This is a house on wheels and it cost just 15,000 and you can park up anywhere. 'You can't even put a deposit down for that.' After finishing building the van earlier this year Mr Williams set off in early September - with plans afoot to head to Morocco and finish up by celebrating his birthday in the Alps. When his trip is over, the intrepid explorer plans to refurbish vans into homes after his unusual abode sparked interest in the UK. Several conversions have been lined up and he will take them on after returning in the spring. He added: 'I'm not doing the conversions to make loads of money I'm doing them because I enjoy it. After finishing building the van earlier this year Mr Williams set off in early September. He is currently in Portugal and he plans to travel to Morocco Mr Williams says he is able to park up anywhere and all he needs is fuel and food. Bills aren't something he needs to worry about 'Back in the day people would call you a crusty if you live in the back of a van and people would look down their noses at you, but now it is cool to live in a van. 'It is not mainstream, but it is not to rebel - it is free living and you are off grid. 'All you need is your fuel and cost of the food, there is no worries of paying bills or a red letter. 'Van life is so cheap and you have the bonus of being able to go anywhere you want to go and you have everything you need in a box.' The finally put the rumours to rest after making their new relationship Instagram official last week. And Priyanka Chopra was on hand to show support to her boyfriend Nick Jonas as he wowed the crowd at the VillaMix Festival in Brazil on Saturday. The stunning actress, 35, screamed in delight at seeing her musician beau, 25, on stage, and proudly captured his energetic performance on her phone. Raise the roof! Priyanka Chopra, 34, showed her support to beau Nick Jonas, 25, as he rocked the stage at Brazil's VillaMix Festival on Saturday Priyanka gave a glimpse of her taut stomach in sparkling red crop top and matching floral mini skirt. The Indian screen queen upped the glamour ante with layers of shimmering silver accessories and accentuated her natural beauty with ravishing red lips and lashings of mascara. Priyanka styled her glossy chocolate locks in soft curls as she cheered on the former Disney star from the sidelines. Stellar performance: Nick rocked a pair of tiger stripped Zubaz-style slacks and a khaki brown jumper while rocking out on stage with his guitar Stylish display: Priyanka gave a glimpse of her taut stomach in sparkling red crop top and matching floral mini skirt Capture this: Priyanka accentuated her natural beauty with ravishing red lips and lashings of mascara as she proudly filmed some of his concert Clearly very excited by the performance, the Quantico star couldn't help but smile as Nick belted out his hits for the crowd. Priyanka made sure to capture some moments from the festival, and shared a snippet of his stage set via Instagram, captioned simply with 'Him' adorned with the heart-eyes emoji. Meanwhile, the Jonas Brother rocked a pair of tiger stripped Zubaz-style slacks and a khaki brown jumper while rocking out on stage with his guitar. Looking on: Priyanka styled her glossy chocolate locks in soft curls as she cheered on the former Disney star from the sidelines Elated: Clearly very excited by the performance, the Quantico star couldn't help but smile as Nick belted out his hits for the crowd Loved up: Priyanka made sure to capture some moments from the festival, and shared a snippet of his stage set via Instagram, captioned simply with 'Him' Earlier this week, they made their relationship Instagram official after months of swirling rumours. The Quantico actress, who hails from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India, shared a shot of the entertainer alongside her sibling, writing, 'My favourite men,' accompanied by an emoji of lovelorn heart eyes. The Baywatch beauty and Jonas have been vacationing in the South Asian country, where Nick was stated to meet Chopra's mother, according to People. The Bollywood beauty and crooner are 'very happy' in their relationship, and things are 'getting serious,' a source told the publication. Belt it out: Nick put on a dazzling performance for the adoring crowd, and held up a Brazilian flag during his set Chilled out: The performer rocked a pair of chic shades as part of his act Talented: Nick rocked both the mic and his guitar as he sent the fans crazy with his music Nick, who shot to fame with brothers Joe and Kevin as The Jonas Brothers singing group, has been equally enthusiastic about sharing his new romance with the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador via social media. In a clip he shared on his Instagram Stories last week, he wrote, 'Her' with a heart emoji, showing off a shot of a beaming Chopra during their international travels. The new celebrity couple have been spotted all over the globe in the budding days of their romance, most notably at the recent New Jersey wedding of his cousin, Rachel Tamburelli, which a source told the magazine was considered 'a huge deal' in light of the heartthrob''s romantic history. 'Hes dated a lot over the last couple years but its never been anything serious,' the source said. 'So this is a big step.' Advertisement She gave birth to her second son Ariel less than a full month ago. And Victoria's Secret Angel Candice Swanepoel has already achieved a spectacularly svelte post baby body, with only the slightest vestige of her bump remaining. The 29-year-old, who also shares a one-year-old son called Anacan with her fiance Hermann Nicoli, put her figure on display in a peekaboo one-piece as she gamboled across a beach in Victoria, Brazil. Less than a month on: Victoria's Secret Angel Candice Swanepoel has already achieved a spectacularly svelte post baby body, with only the slightest vestige of her bump remaining Her black bathing suit offered a generous view of her cleavage and highlighted her sculpted derriere, and she accessorized with a barely-there ankle bracelet. The modeling sensation, who was born in the small South African town Mooi River and discovered professionally in Durban, was not afraid to get her sumptuous hair drenched. She swept her sopping wet locks behind her head as she emerged from the water and strode across the sand, eventually tying her hair tightly into a bun. She looks fabulous: The 29-year-old, who also shares a one-year-old son called Anacan with her fiance Hermann Nicoli, put her figure on display in a peekaboo one-piece as she gamboled across a Brazilian beach When you got it, flaunt it: Her black bathing suit offered a generous view of her cleavage and highlighted her sculpted derriere, and she accessorized with a barely-there ankle bracelet Lady in the water: The modeling sensation, who was born in the small South African town Mooi River and discovered professionally in Durban, was not afraid to get her sumptuous hair drenched Model on the move: She swept her sopping wet locks behind her head as she emerged from the water and strode across the sand, eventually tying her hair tightly into a bun Once she was up on dry land, Candice wound a charcoal wrap skirt around her waist, keeping it low enough that the midriff-flashing gap in her swimsuit was still partly visible. Without the wrap on, she spread a towel across a grassy area and lay down on her stomach, checking her phone through a pair of yellow-rimmed sunglasses. Hermann, who reportedly first met Candice in Paris when she was all of 17 years old, has been with her since 2005 and happens himself to be from Brazil - so she learned Portuguese from him. Back in Brazil: Hermann, who reportedly first met Candice in Paris when she was all of 17 years old, has been with her since 2005 and happens himself to be Brazilian - so she learned Portuguese from him Layering up: Once she was up on dry land, Candice wound a charcoal wrap skirt around her waist, keeping it low enough that the midriff-flashing gap in her swimsuit was still partly visible Keeping up with the world: Without the wrap on, she spread a towel across a grassy area and lay down on her stomach, checking her phone through a pair of yellow-rimmed sunglasses Candice gave birth to Anacan, their first child, in October of 2016 and announced on June 19 this year that she had welcomed little Ariel into the world. The model had to use her Insta Stories to respond to people who lambasted her for some of her post-baby bikini photos 'This is me 12 days after having my son. If you have something bad to say about it Check yourself,' she said. Proud mama: Candice gave birth to Anacan, their first child, in October of 2016 and announced on June 19 this year that she had welcomed little Ariel into the world Answering back: The model had to use her Insta Stories to respond to people who lambasted her for some of her post-baby bikini photos, Page Six reported this Thursday Defiant: 'This is me 12 days after having my son,' she said, adding: 'If you have something bad to say about it Check yourself' 'Society can be so cruel to one another. Beauty standards are sometimes impossible for women these days. I am not ashamed to show my post-partum tummy, I am proud actually.' The mother of two shared: 'I carried my son for nine months in there, I think Ive earned the right to have a little tummy.' She made it clear to her more than 12 million Instagram followers that in spite of being a Victoria's Secret Angel 'We are normal people too, so let me enjoy the beach in peace please.' Fighting back: 'Society can be so cruel to one another,' she argued, saying: 'Beauty standards are sometimes impossible for women these days' and insisting: 'I am not ashamed to show my post-partum tummy, I am proud actually' Self-assured: The mother of two shared: 'I carried my son for nine months in there, I think Ive earned the right to have a little tummy' Enjoy it she will: She made it clear to her more than 12 million Instagram followers that in spite of being a Victoria's Secret Angel 'We are normal people too, so let me enjoy the beach in peace please' Said Candice: 'I dont have to hide my stomach just because people have unrealistic standards of women. We create life What can you do?' She told British Vogue last year that in the wake of new motherhood 'I cant watch movies, or even commercials, where kids are in any kind of danger now.' When little Anacan was still an infant, he was already co-starring with his mother in a Gap photo-shoot, resulting in what Candice confided was 'definitely a different dynamic on set to what Im used to!' The way things change: She told British Vogue last year that in the wake of new motherhood 'I cant watch movies, or even commercials, where kids are in any kind of danger now' Adjusting: When little Anacan was still an infant, he was already co-starring with his mother in a Gap photo-shoot, resulting in what Candice confided was 'definitely a different dynamic on set to what Im used to!' 'Lovely to be back on set': Explaining: 'It was a definite shift because I was thinking about him instead of myself,' she recalled: 'It wasnt long after I arrived back in New York so I hadnt really seen anyone yet' The doting mother shared: 'Hes actually so good and I think weve taken so many pictures of him since he was born that hes actually quite used to the camera.' Explaining: 'It was a definite shift because I was thinking about him instead of myself,' she recalled: 'It wasnt long after I arrived back in New York so I hadnt really seen anyone yet, so it was lovely to be back on set with other mums and babies.' Parenthood was 'all so new to me and I think, especially in the beginning, that everything is such a joy; youre excited about every moment.' Exhilarating: Parenthood was 'all so new to me and I think, especially in the beginning, that everything is such a joy; youre excited about every moment' The bombshell, who has been an Angel since 2010, maintained: 'Becoming a mother makes the world feel so much better,' rhapsodizing that 'Nothing can get me down.' She gushed: 'I just look at him and see him seeing the world for the first time, and its just such a pleasure to see it through his eyes. 'Im loving being a mum and this new stage in my life,' said Candice, adding: 'Its always been about me, and my career, and its so nice to have this shift and put all my love and energy into something else.' She said of her firstborn's name: 'Weve added the "n" because the original spelling was Brazilian and doesnt have the "n" and it was a little confusing for everyone over here, and I didnt want him to have issues, but hell still have his original name in Brazil.' Shes plays a hologram in her most prominent feature to date, but there was nothing transparent about Ana de Armas as she filmed her latest project in Brazil on Sunday. The Cuban born actress, best known for her role in Blade Runner, 2049, sported an emerald green swimsuit while shooting scenes with a male co-star on a picturesque beach in Rio de Janeiro. Ana, 30, appeared to be at the heart of the action as they waded into the ocean, where cameraman filmed the actress as she straddled a surf board. What a vision: Shes plays a hologram in her most prominent feature to date, but there was nothing transparent about Ana de Armas as she filmed her latest project in Brazil on Sunday The actress later returned to the beach during a break between scenes, and she was in high spirits while mingling with members of the production team. Ana currently has two films in the pipeline, an as yet untitled Danny Boyle project and forthcoming thriller The Night Clerk, in which she stars alongside Helen Hunt and john Leguizamo. The Latina actress found fame after starring starring alongside Ryan Gosling as hologram Joi in Blade Rummer 2049. Quiet on set: Ana, 30, appeared to be at the heart of the action as they waded into the ocean, where cameraman filmed the actress as she straddled a surf board Don't mind me: The actress later returned to the beach during a break between scenes, and she was in high spirits while mingling with her co-star and members of the production team In an interview with James Corden, she talked about having hair negotiations before shooting the film, a sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 classic. 'I said can we get a wig? I'm not okay with cutting it,' she recalled telling director Denis Villeneuve when asked if they could cut and color her hair a darker colour. 'Then I met Ryan Gosling and I said 'I'm fine with anything you want to do, I just want to be in this movie.'' Striking: The Cuban born actress, best known for her role in Blade Runner, 2049, sported an emerald green swimsuit while shooting scenes The actress also admitted co-star Gosling didn't disappoint as her co-star. 'Hes wonderful,' she said in her interview with Vera Magazine. 'Hes really an amazing partner. Ive been looking at him and his work for so long that I was kind of scared. 'Its not easy to have this man in front of you, for many reasons. But hes so talented, and hard-working and professional. And he set the mood on set every day, bringing a charming sensitivity and humor.' Success: The Latina actress found fame after starring starring alongside Ryan Gosling as hologram Joi in Blade Rummer 2049 Former Victoria's Secret model Bridget Malcolm has bravely revealed the extent of the sexual assault she suffered while working in the fashion industry. In a blog titled 'The Fantasy Woman' on Monday, the Australian beauty, 26 detailed the traumatising encounters she experienced on set in the very personal essay. 'I got assaulted,' she wrote, 'but it wasnt OK to speak up about boundary crossing on set. 'You had to be okay with unsolicited flirting and touching': Former Victoria's Secret model Bridget Malcolm reveals sexual 'assault' she suffered in the fashion industry while being forced to portray 'the fantasy girl' 'You had to be the 'fantasy girl', who was OK with unsolicited flirting and touching. You had to put up with having parts of your sense of self shut off. She added: 'It was never OK to be a nuisance.' The revelation comes after Bridget slammed Karl Lagerfeld in April for claiming he is 'fed up' with models and actresses speaking up about the sexual harassment they have faced over the years. Powerful: The 26 year-old hit the big-time when she walked for the lingerie giant in 2015 (pictured) and again in 2016 Hitting out at Lagerfeld on Instagram with the hashtag #metoo, she wrote: 'I have been sexually assaulted on set multiple times. I wonder @Karllagerfeld what existence is like when you are part of the ruling class in society. 'Women will not be dressed by misogyny anymore. Shame on you,' she added with. Speaking to the publication, the creative director of Chanel and Fendi controversially defended former Interview magazine creative Karl Templer, who has been accused of 'aggressively' pulling down models' underwear without asking them. Beef: The revelation comes after Bridget slammed Karl Lagerfeld in April for claiming he is 'fed up' with models and actresses speaking up about the sexual harassment they have faced over the years 'If you don't want someone pulling down your panties, don't become a model,' he said. 'Join a nunnery, there'll always be a place for you in the convent. They're recruiting even!' Bridget has previously used her celebrity status to bring attention to sexual assault in the fashion industry, and penned a blog post earlier this year titled How To Protect Yourself As A Woman In The Fashion Industry. Hitting out at Lagerfeld on Instagram, she wrote: 'I have been sexually assaulted on set multiple times. I wonder @Karllagerfeld what existence is like when you are part of the ruling class in society In the lengthy piece, Bridget opened up about her own experiencing while claiming models who refused to go along with the whims of 'handsy photographers' are often branded as 'hard to work with' and 'cold'. 'We all know who the worst perpetrators are in the fashion industry. We all know whose names inflict a sense of dread on the call sheet,' she wrote. 'As an 'older' (26) model, I know how to protect myself from unwelcome advances. But these behaviours were learnt forced into being from multiple assaults.' The Bachelorette's Ali Oetjen and Taite Radley have finally set the record straight about those baby rumours. The pair appeared on The Project on Wednesday, awkwardly shooting down the rumours that they're pregnant and expecting twins. Ali, 32, who appeared rather giggly during the live interview, confirmed: 'No, we're definitely not pregnant guys!' Setting the record straight: The Bachelorette's Ali Oetjen and Taite Radley finally set the record straight on THOSE baby rumours... in a cringeworthy interview on The Project (pictured) 'I don't know why you're saying congratulations for,' Ali added. When asked about supposedly having twins, Ali joked: 'That's great, because I always wanted twins. I didn't know I was pregnant but it's news to me.' When asked about the New Idea headline: 'Honey Badger and Ali: Yes! It's true,' one stand-in host joked: 'Are you even sure Taite's the father?' Awkward! When asked and out the New Idea headline: 'Honey Badger and Ali: Yes! It's true,' one stand-in host joked: 'Are you even sure Taite's the father?' Ali and Taite, 28, laughed as Taite joked: 'I went for a walk last night.' They also discussed baby names during the appearance, saying they liked the name Heidi but didn't like the name Tali, which is a mix of Ali and Taite's names. The pair also claimed that they couldn't care less about the rumours. Ahead of going on The Project, Taite teased fans on his Instagram story, sharing a picture of a pregnancy test and telling fans they'd be appearing on the show. Cheeky! Ahead of going on The Project, Taite teased fans on his Instagram story, sharing a picture of a pregnancy test and telling fans they'd be appearing on the show He also shared a video of himself with Ali, joking: 'Can't wait to tell the world.' After the appearance, he recorded a video of himself with Ali having a drink. 'We just addressed the rumours and Ali is,' he trailed off, before Ali cut in, saying: 'Not pregnant.' He added: 'She's drinking, so she's not pregnant.' Having a laugh: He also shared a video of himself with Ali, joking: 'Can't wait to tell the world.' After the appearance, he recorded a video of himself with Ali having a drink On Monday, Woman's Day magazine claimed that Ali displayed a 'hint of a bump' during a sighting in Sydney earlier this month. While Ali did not confirm or deny the baby rumours, she did tell the publication that her new boyfriend 'would make an amazing father' one day. 'He would give [our kids] so much time and love,' she added. Ali also said she was hoping to have twins in the future, preferably 'one boy and one girl'. Keen for a family: On Monday, Woman's Day magazine claimed that Ali displayed a 'hint of a bump' during a sighting in Sydney earlier this month. She told the publication that her new boyfriend 'would make an amazing father' one day Taite, 28, added that twins are a possibility for the couple due to his family history. Meanwhile, the reality TV lovebirds did little to quash baby rumours when speaking to NW magazine this week. The pair even discussed what names they will give their children in the future. Ali said excitedly: 'I want two kids! I'd ideally like twins [and] I would like one to be called Heidi.' 'And then maybe "Tali" - a mix between Taite and Ali!' Taite added. Throughout the latest season of The Bachelorette, Taite expressed doubts about getting married and having children. But despite these misgivings, Ali 'took a risk' and chose him in favour of runner-up Todd King, who made it clear he was ready to settle down. Ali Oetjen and Taite Radley have portrayed their relationship as picture perfect since The Bachelorette finale aired last Thursday. But it looks like the couple's romance may not be the fairytale it seems. A Bachelorette producer told Who magazine on Thursday that Ali, 32, and Taite, 28, will split 'in less than six months'. 'They will be over in six months': A Bachelorette producer has revealed Ali Oetjen and Taite Radley are heading for a split after he 'went on the show for fame and didn't expect to win' According to the anonymous insider, the bank manager only applied to be a contestant because he wanted to be famous. Apparently, his long-term plan was to place second in the competition, attract public sympathy and then become next year's Bachelor. 'Mark my words, [the split] will be framed in such a way that Ali ended it and that he is the one who is devastated so he can still try to win public support and get The Bachelor gig,' the source claimed. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel 10 and Taite Radley for comment. Oh, no! It looks like the couple's romance may not be the fairytale it seems In too deep! Apparently, Taite's long-term plan was to place second in the competition, attract public sympathy and then become next year's Bachelor. Pictured with Ali in the finale episode Fame-hungry! It comes after Daily Mail Australia revealed bombshell texts exchanged between Taite and his ex-girlfriend, Geordie Shore star Dee Nguyen (right), which strongly suggested he applied for The Bachelorette to get back on TV following a brief appearance on First Dates It comes after Daily Mail Australia revealed bombshell text messages exchanged between Taite and his ex-girlfriend, Geordie Shore star Dee Nguyen. The leaked messages strongly suggested that Taite had applied for The Bachelorette just to get back on TV, following his brief appearance on First Dates in 2017. Taite and Dee first met after being matched on the Channel Seven dating show, later going their separate ways following a short-lived fling. First shot at fame! Taite (right) and Dee (left) first met after being matched on Channel Seven's First Dates in 2017, later going their separate ways following a short-lived fling After Dee was then cast in Geordie Shore's seventeenth season, which was filmed on the Gold Coast, Taite asked her to help him get back on television. He texted her: 'I have been looking online, I'd love to apply for a few other [shows].' When Dee then mentioned Channel 10's Bachelorette franchise, Taite responded: 'I want to apply for that too. How funny would that be?' No stranger to the spotlight: Melbourne bank manager Taite, 28, is a former bodybuilder 'It's better to be famous than a nobody': On the night of the Bachelorette finale, it also emerged that Taite had wanted to be a celebrity for at least three years. Pictured: A Facebook post from 2015 in which Taite expressed a desire to become 'famous' On the night of the Bachelorette finale, it also emerged that Taite had wanted to be a celebrity for at least three years. A Facebook post from 2015 resurfaced in which he expressed a desire to become 'famous'. 'I give Facebook permission to spread my photos across the internet and make me famous. It's better to be famous than a nobody,' he wrote. A worthy winner? Taite declared his love for Ali in the Bachelorette finale, which aired on Channel 10 last Thursday. However, a producer has confirmed he didn't expect to win the show Mandy Moore caught a thief on camera stealing packages from her driveway on Tuesday. The 34-year-old, who got married on Sunday, shared a picture of the robber on Instagram before putting FedEx on blast for making it so easy for him. Busted: Mandy Moore caught a thief on camera stealing packages from her driveway on Tuesday Didn't try: A second screen-grab revealed the three parcels had been dropped off just ten minutes earlier 'People that steal are the worst. Bad karma, folks,' she shared with her 3.1million followers on Wednesday, along with a still of the villain in the act. A second screen-grab revealed the three parcels had been dropped off just ten minutes earlier. 'Not to be petty but @fedex you did't even try to ring the doorbell. I was home,' she admonished. 'You just left it for someone to take 10 mins later. It's the holidays! You know this is happening everywhere be better.' On blast: 'People that steal are the worst. Bad karma, folks,' shared the actress, who just got married on Sunday It was another low note in what has been a 'roller-coaster week' by her own admission, having gotten married and losing her beloved cat over the weekend. On Sunday the actress wed musician Taylor Goldsmith; held at sunset in front of just 50 guests, including Mandy's co-stars Milo Ventimiglia and Chrissy Metz, the Pearson matriarch tied the knot in a pink gown. Minka Kelly, Sterling K. Brown and even Mandy's former flame Wilmer Valderrama were also among the famous faces who turned out for the couple's big day. Sadly just hours before the wedding, Mandy suffered a tragic loss when her rescue cat Madeline suddenly passed away. Mandy and Taylor met on Instagram back in July 2015, with the musician proposing in the summer of 2017 after two years of dating. Just married: On Sunday the actress wed musician Taylor Goldsmith Dark cloud: Hours before the wedding, Mandy suffered a tragic loss after her beloved cat Madeline passed away Heartbroken: The 34-year-old paid tribute to her pet on Instagram At work: Later, Mandy was spotted on set as she left her trailer in Los Angeles Faced with a young and growing population, which is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, Africa must produce more food in the context of diminishing natural resources and climate change impacts, such as shifting seasons, droughts, and floods. It is imperative that Africas food production systems not only produce more, but also do it in a more sustainable, carbon neutral way, which does not contribute to further environmental degradation and global warming. For the continent to achieve food security, production systems need to be integrated to fully utilise available evidence and capacities to drive sustainable production and build the resilience of farmers and the systems that support them. Given the pressure to increase agricultural productivity, is it possible for farmers to improve their resilience to climate change without increasing global emissions? Is it possible for Africa to feed itself while also meeting its commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Evidence tells us that it is indeed possible, but it will require deliberate and planned action. Growing more, using less Agriculture by its very nature alters the natural environment through the clearing and cultivation of land for food production; this has been one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in Africa. The pursuit of sustainable agricultural intensification is, in part, to reduce the environmental footprint of the expansion of agricultural land. Sustainable agricultural intensification demands a concentrated approach to maximise the outputs of existing cultivated spaces without necessarily cutting down more trees. This approach relies on the introduction of technologies and practices that increase efficiency and catalyse higher productivity in agriculture. The use of multi-nutrient fertilisers or improved and certified seed are typical examples of such technologies, which are used to promote efficient crop growth. From 2010 to 2015, the rate of deforestation in Africa was 2.8 million ha per year (FAO, 2016). Researchers estimate that approximately 95 million ha of land in Africa has been degraded, leading to declining agricultural productivity as soils continue to lose nutrients (AGRA, 2016). The booming population and increasing demand for food exacerbates this situation, as African farmers continue farming crops in degraded soil without efforts to counter the drain of nutrients. This has led to an expansive agricultural system, which causes severe and lasting damage to the environment, creating a vicious cycle of adverse climate and economic impacts on the most vulnerable rural populations. Healthier soils, on the other hand, not only increase productivity but also have considerable capacity to store carbon. The promotion of technologies to improve soil health, such as biofertiliser microdosing, therefore have the potential to increase carbon sequestration, as well as boost yields and food security. Sustainable agriculture intensification will not stop the continued demand for more agricultural land; it can, however, reduce the rate at which it is being degraded. Transforming Africas agricultural systems Africa can adapt its agricultural practices to become more climate-resilient, while at the same time following a path of low emissions through a sustainable approach to agricultural intensification. Certainly in the near future, both the expansion and the intensification of agricultural practices will continue in Africa. However, with current limitations on biodiversity stock and increasing global temperatures, which are causing climate change, there is an urgent need to integrate an evidence-based approach that will usher in sustainable agriculture intensification approaches to food production systems. Through its work in Africa, AGRA is supporting countries to catalyse the transformation of agricultural systems, which will see increased productivity, food security, and incomes for famers, in an ecological and sustainable way. The Alliance is promoting partnerships between the private and public sectors, in the development of capacities for end-to-end systems in both input and output markets. It is envisioned that through the promotion of improved seed, the judicious use of fertilisers, and the integration and mainstreaming of youth, gender, market access and resilience-building approaches, Africas agricultural systems can be transformed via low carbon emission pathways to become productive, inclusive and sustainable. Diane Kruger shared a touching note about her boyfriend Norman Reedus with her Instagram fans ahead of Thanksgiving. The 42-year-old actress, welcomed her first child at the beginning of this month, revealed she was very grateful to have met the Walking Dead star, 49. Thankful: Diane Kruger took to Instagram on Wednesday to share her affection for her boyfriend Norman Reedus, 49 'Favorite time of the year,' she began the caption. 'Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have A LOT to be thankful for this year and I count my lucky stars to have met you @bigbaldhead and for sharing lifes many blessings with you.' Kruger sported a black newsboy cap in the image, which she apparently took while in the driver's seat. She kept warm in a fuzzy, light brown coat and had a white turtleneck on underneath. Happy couple: In the post, the 42-year-old actress gushes about the 49-year-old actor and her love of Thanksgiving At the beginning of November, the couple welcomed their first child. People magazine confirmed the news, but the couple have not revealed whether the child was a boy or girl, or release the name or birth date. The baby is the firstborn for Diane, but a second child for Reedus, who has 19-year-old son Mingus with ex-partner Helena Christensen. Welcome: At the beginning of November, the couple welcomed their first child Diane and Norman have been dating for just over two years, after meeting on the set of 2015's Sky. The actress ended a decade long relationship with actor Joshua Jackson the same year. Meanwhile, Diane and Norman recently moved into an impressive new home in Manhattan that set them back $11.7 million. The four-story, 3,800 square foot brownstone, built in the 1800s, will give the duo plenty of room for their newborn. It's been two decades since her iconic Miseducation album dropped. And French fans who waited that long to hear it live were furious on Tuesday night when she turned up two hours late, before performing for just 30 minutes. Belgian fans only had it slightly better over the weekend, receiving a 40-minute performance after she reportedly arrived to that show 1 hour and 40 minutes late. Sorry: Lauryn Hill apologized to fans on Tuesday after turning up for her Paris gig two hours late and performing for just 30 minutes The 43-year-old, who is somewhat notorious for being tardy or indeed absent from scheduled appearances, apologized to fans via Twitter. 'Dear, Brussels and Paris, We apologize for the late start,' she told her 205k followers. 'Were working through the kinks of moving production to Europe, with time changes and curfew restrictions, weve had a few challenges in these early shows. 'With deep gratitude I come on stage to perform an album that means so much to so many. Every day we push past inertia to present something sincere. 'Thank you for coming, supporting and for your patience and understanding. We're excited about this entire European run, and looking forward to the show tomorrow! Track record: The 43-year-old, who is somewhat notorious for being tardy or indeed absent from scheduled appearances, apologized to fans via Twitter She concluded: 'Merci Beaucoup de votre amour' (Thank you so much for your love). The North American leg of the The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill 20th Anniversary Tour was filled with setbacks, reschedules and cancellations. Her recent Twitter feed is a collection of apologies and excuses for the bad luck that befell the tour so far. On Oct 12 she apologized to Nashville, claiming her concert there was cancelled because Hurricane Michael had prevented her band and crew from flying; she revealed she tried to wrangle local musicians to fill in but couldn't in time. On September 29 she apologized to Houston, cancelling her gig there after straining her voice due to a cold. She welcomed her second child, a daughter named Banks Violet, nearly one month ago. And Hilary Duff didn't appear to be fazed with transitioning into newborn mom life once again when she stepped out to run some errands in Studio City, Los Angeles. The 31-year-old actress kept things casual in a beige colored sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. All taken care of: Hilary Duff appeared as if she had mom life under control when she stepped out for a solo errands run in Los Angeles on Wednesday to pick up some juice Hilary appeared to be a woman on a mission, rolling up her sleeves as she made a quick stop to pick up a large bottle of apple juice. The beauty teamed the look with a pair of distressed denim jeans that had cut outs on one knee and on the other leg of her upper thigh. She completed her look with a pair of white sneakers and accessorised with a $1600 Gucci cross-body bag. Got it under control! Hilary appeared to be a woman on a mission, rolling up her sleeves as she made a quick stop to pick up a large bottle of apple juice Gorgeous: Hilary appeared makeup free for the outing and had her blonde locks styled out naturally Hilary appeared makeup free for the outing and had her blonde locks styled out naturally. The Younger star's outing comes as she's been sharing snippets of what her mom life at home is like. On Wednesday afternoon she posted a cute Instagram snap showing her cradling Banks in a wrap baby carrier as she prepared for Thanksgiving. 'The bean helping me in the kitchen... getting ready for Thanksgiving.' she captioned the selfie. Earlier, Hilary took to the social media to post a video of her messy kitchen, assuring fans that it never looked that messy before welcoming the newborn. Snug: Hilary cradled baby Banks close to her chest as she prepared for Thanksgiving Little baby girl: Hilary will mark the one-month birthday since having Banks later early next week on Sunday 25th It's tough! Hilary took to the social media to post a video of her messy kitchen, assuring fans that it never looked that messy before welcoming the newborn 'Who's kitchen looks like this?' she rhetorically asked her 10.5 million followers. 'I really hope I'm not alone cause it's just a da*n disaster.' Hilary will mark the one-month birthday since having Banks later early next week on Sunday 25th. The beauty welcomed the bub into the world alongside her on-and-off musician boyfriend Matthew Koma. It's his first child. The new addition makes Hilary a mother of two, as the actress also shares six-year-old son Luca with her ex-husband Mike Comrie. She is a talented actress who has proved a popular addition to the Australian jungle. And Emily Atack paid homage to one of the jungle's most iconic exits as she impersonated former campmate Gemma Collins during Wednesday's episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! The GC, now 37, was hit with a wave of criticism after she left the show a mere 72 hours after entering the camp, after enduring an emotional rollercoaster during the first days. Got ya: Emily Atack paid homage to one of the jungle's most iconic exits as she impersonated former campmate Gemma Collins during Wednesday's episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Rough ride: The GC, now 37, was hit with a wave of criticism after she left the show a mere 72 hours after entering the camp, after enduring an emotional rollercoaster during the first days Paying tribute to Gemma, Emily left her fellow campmates, and fans, in stitches as she treated them to the uncanny impression of the self-proclaimed diva. Channeling her inner GC, Emily had the girls in hysterics as she drawled in an Essex accent: 'At the end of the day I'm the GC, you're boring babe. 'You know what I don't need the money babe, I don't need it. I'm a celebrity get me out of here!' Sair Khan did an impression of Love Island's Dani Dyer, with Emily doing her own version, saying: 'at the end of the day, he thinks hes gonna make me a cheese and ham croissant every morning, he's gotta think again'. Lol: Paying tribute to Gemma, Emily left her fellow campmates, and fans, in stitches as she treated them to the uncanny impression of the self-proclaimed diva Fun in the sun: Channeling her inner GC, Emily had the girls in hysterics as she drawled in an Essex accent: ' At the end of the day I'm the GC, you're boring babe Laugh out loud: You know what I don't need the money babe, I don't need it. I'm a celebrity get me out of here!' Talking in the Bush Telegraph, Rita Simons said 'Emily is a very talented young lady, I just love impressions and accents.' Rita also treated the girls to her Denise Van Outen impression and told the girls about the time she did it to Denise in person. Talking in the Bush Telegraph, Emily said 'Today was just glorious, this is what it's about.' Emily's eerily similar impersonation of Gemma had fans rolling in the aisles as they praised her acting ability. Gemma sensationally quit the 2014 series of Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! just three days after entering the Australian jungle. Funny: Emily's eerily similar impersonation of Gemma had fans rolling in the aisles as they praised her acting ability A spokesperson said at the time: 'We're sorry to see Gemma go but respect her decision and wish her well.' The TOWIE star hoped to emulate the success of former cast-mates Mark Wright and Joey Essex, but her jungle experience got off to a bad start when she broke down ahead of a helicopter ride into camp. Shortly after she found herself banished to the 'Celebrity Slammer' with Coronation Street star Craig Charles, 'Allo 'Allo actress Vicki Michele and Irish model Nadia Forde. Surviving on a basic ration of rice and beans, an emotional Gemma complained of feeling unwell on Monday evening - hours before making the decision to leave. Oh dear: Gemma sensationally quit the 2014 series of Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! just three days after entering the Australian jungle Oh no: The TOWIE star hoped to emulate the success of former cast-mates Mark Wright and Joey Essex, but her jungle experience got off to a bad start when she broke down ahead of a helicopter ride into camp Speaking to Vicki, she admitted: 'Im f**king p****d off. I want to go. Im not going to be able to do it.' The reality star previously vowed to stay until the end, telling the Mirror ahead of her jungle adventure: 'I think that I'm going to find it extremely tough; like every time I think about it, I feel sick, actually. 'It's going to be difficult for me, but, you know, no one takes the GC down. Yeah, every time I feel down, I'm just going to take a deep breath, and go, "You can do this. You can do it."' She added: 'That's what I'm going in with, that mindset. Nothing can kill me.' Gemma later donated her 4,800 jungle fee to Save The Children. I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! continues on Thursday November 22, ITV1 at 9:00pm. She's heading to Johannesburg next month to host the Global Citizen Festival. And Naomi Campbell was keen to enjoy some African cuisine on Wednesday night while still in London, heading to hot spot Ikoyi. The iconic model, 48, looked chic in a black leather tassel skirt and shades as she strutted to the Michelin-starred eatery. Chic: Naomi Campbell was keen to enjoy some African cuisine on Wednesday night while still in London, heading to hot spot Ikoyi Naomi chose an unusual tassel skirt for her dinner date, layered over opaque tights. She added a cropped black tuxedo jacket and boots, while wearing shades despite the darkness. A pop of colour came from her snakeskin bag and she completed the ultra glam ensemble with a flawless face of makeup. Dinner date: The iconic model, 48, looked chic in a black leather tassel skirt and shades as she strutted to the Michelin-starred eatery Naomi has a big event coming up in South Africa, co-hosting the Mandela 100 festival, which features the likes of Beyonce and Coldplay on the bill. Meanwhile the model has admitted she only started working out in her 40s. Posing for the cover of Vogue Arabia for the first time last month, she said: 'I got into working out about a year ago.' She laughs when asked to clarify that she in fact began going to the gym only in her Forties, saying: 'I dont do machines, I do circuit training and I like it.' Naomi, once famed for her fiery temper, also spoke about the calming influence of yoga. She said: 'I wanted to find out more about the origins of yoga. Its something Ive never done before. Only two people knew I was there, in case of an emergency. She welcomed a baby boy with her husband Tim Loden in mid-October. And on Friday, The Handmaid's Tale star Yvonne Strahovski made her first public appearance post birth in Los Angeles. The 36-year-old looked radiant, showing off her incredible post-pregnancy figure in a chic black frock and matching trench coat while mingling with guests at Hulu's holiday party. One hot mama! The Handmaid's Tale star Yvonne Strahovski looked radiant in a chic black frock, as she stepped out to attend a red carpet event in Los Angeles on Friday, a month after giving birth For the night out, Yvonne opted for a monochrome calf-length dress featuring a bold white panel down one side. The Australian actress teamed the look with a matching black silk trench coat and perspex black studded heels. She added a statement black clutch and styled her blonde locks in a deep side part and soft waves. Chic: The blonde beauty teamed the calf-length number with a black silk trench coat and perspex black studded heels Beaming for the camera, the first time mother showed off a radiant complexion and a neutral makeup palette. Yvonne recently gave birth to her first child with husband Tim - a baby boy - whose name is yet to be revealed. The blonde beauty confirmed the happy news via an Instagram post on October 16. Social: Yvonne added a black statement clutch and styled her locks in a side part and soft waves. Pictured with Elisabeth Moss, 36 Dazzling: Elisabeth highlighted her slender figure in a black sequinned blazer dress and styled her blonde locks out and in relaxed waves Yvonne uploaded a sweet photo of her bundle of joy and wrote in the caption: 'My heart has melted into a billion pieces a thousand times already.' 'We have been blessed with the greatest joy of our lives, our baby boy. Welcome to the world Peanut, your parents love you beyond measure and you are already my little dream boat. My heart has been stolen!' she added. In the photo, the Dexter star is seen cradling her precious newborn on her chest and gazing down adoringly at him. 'Welcome to the world Peanut, your parents love you beyond measure': Yvonne shared a sweet picture of her bundle of joy to Instagram mid last month It is unknown the exact date when the baby was born. Yvonne announced she was expecting her first child with Tim in May this year after the pair tied the knot in 2017. The Aussie actress rose to fame thanks to her role as Serena Joy Waterford in The Handmaid's Tale. It's been a decade since Taylor Lautner played the werewolf with long flowing hair, Jacob Black, on the hit fantasy film Twilight. And now the actor is celebrating the film's 10 year anniversary by hilariously revealing the inspiration behind his character's long mane. The actor, 26, announced Kendall Jenner hair inspiration for his character as he shared a silly side by side photo of himself as Jacob alongside the model. 'Thank you Kendall': Taylor Lautner hilariously revealed Kendall Jenner was the hair inspiration for his Twilight character, Jacob Black, on Wednesday 'It's been 10 years exactly since twilight was released in theaters,' he wrote in the caption. 'I thought I should take this moment to thank every single fan who has supported the franchise over the last decade but also to thank Kendall Jenner for being my hair inspo back in 07'. Thank you fans. And thank you Kendall. #headandshoulders.' In the photo, Kendall was the 'Expectation of hair behind ears', while Taylor was the 'reality.' Taylor also tagged the photo's location as Forks, Washington, the city where Twilight is set. Picture perfect: The photo Taylor posted of Kendall was actually taken in 2014, six years after the release of the original Twilight film Big role: It's been a decade since Lautner played the werewolf with long flowing hair, Jacob Black, on the hit fantasy film Twilight Love triangle: Taylor played werewolf and Bella Swan's on-off love interest Jacob Black from 2008 to 2012 Location, location: Taylor also tagged the photo's location as Forks, Washington, the city where Twilight is set The photo Taylor posted of Kendall was actually taken in 2014, six years after the release of the original Twilight film. Taylor played werewolf and Bella Swan's on-off love interest Jacob Black from 2008 to 2012. Nowadays he stars in the comedy series Cuckoo opposite Greg Davies and Helen Baxendale. Taylor also recently confirmed he's dating Taylor Dome, after posting photos of their couples costume on Halloween last month. They have been good friends for years and are regularly spotted together living the high life. And IMG models Jordan Barrett and Tahnee Atkinson jetted into Sydney on Thursday after a luxury holiday in the Philippines. The friendly pair looked to be in high spirits as they made their way through airport terminals with photographer, Jessica Aleece. Back to reality! Model pals Jordan Barrett (left) and Tahnee Atkinson (right) jet into Sydney after a luxury holiday in the Philippines Jordan, 21, cut a low-key figure in an all-black ensemble as he wheeled two suitcases to a waiting car. He was dressed comfortably in a hoodie, sweats and sneakers and carried two bags over his shoulders. Former Australia's Next Top Model winner Tahnee, 26, showed off her post-holiday glow in a thigh-skimming sweater dress and sandals while shielding her eyes with designer shades. Low-key: Jordan, 21, cut a low-key figure in an all-black ensemble as he wheeled two suitcases to a waiting car High spirits: The friendly pair looked to be in high spirits as they made their way through airport terminals with photographer, Jessica Aleece (centre) Relaxed: Former Australia's Next Top Model winner Tahnee, 26, showed off her post-holiday glow in a thigh-skimming sweater dress and sandals while shielding her eyes with designer shades She carried two carry-on bags and scrolled though her smartphone while simultaneously chatting to her pals. The trio exchanged laughs while no doubt reminiscing about their boating adventures in the picturesque province of Palawan. Earlier this week, they shared stunning snaps of their luxury vacation on Instagram which showed them relaxing on boats and posing amongst greenery. And they're off! The pair eventually made their way into a waiting car before driving off 'Just leave us here, uh,' Jordan captioned one photo. Jordan launched his modelling career seven years ago, at the tender age of 14. Western Australia-native Tahnee won Australia's Next Top Model in 2009 and is the co-founder of bikini label KENNI & KAI. They've been marred in a bitter custody battle for the what seems like an eternity. But Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are apparently close to an agreement regarding their six children, according to a report from The Blast. According to the outlet's sources, the 54-year-old actor and 43-year-old actress are wrapping things up because, they 'realized the ongoing fight is only hurting the children.' Moving forward: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are apparently going to be settling the matter soon, according to reports from The Blast According to the report, their goal is 'to wrap up negotiations before the private custody trial begins.' Despite Jolie fighting for Pitt to receive minimal custody, the deal 'will include a substantial amount of time given to the World War Z star.' However, the two sides still have not signed the agreement. Next up for the duo, they will have to hash out their finances. It remains unclear how the two will divide up their millions of dollars in cash and property. The couple did not sign a prenup when they wed on August 23, 2014 in France. For the kids: According to the outlet's sources, the 54-year-old actor and 43-year-old actress are wrapping things up because, they 'realized the ongoing fight is only hurting the children.' According to US Weekly reports on Tuesday, Pitt had reached out to his estranged wife asking to settle out of court. The A River Runs Through It actor hoped 'persuade' her that a 'hearing will cause lasting psychological damage' to their kids, the outlet's source revealed. They are parents to six children: Maddox, 17; Pax, 14; Zahara, 13; Shiloh, 12; twins Knox and Vivienne, 10. US Weekly's insider added: 'There will be no winners, no matter what the judge decides.' No trial: According to the report, their goal is 'to wrap up negotiations before the private custody trial begins' The couple got engaged in April 2012, and married on August 23, 2014, after nine years together. Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt on September 19, 2016, citing irreconcilable differences. Just days before the filing there was an alleged 'altercation' that involved Brad and Maddox aboard a private jet that was heading from Nice, France to Los Angeles, California. Brad was cleared of any wrongdoing. The tension between Teresa Giudice and her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga simmered to the boil on The Real Housewives Of New Jersey this Wednesday. Giacinto Gorga, the father of Teresa and of Melissa's husband Joe Gorga, had been complaining that his son does not make enough time for him. When the Real Housewives took a trip to Oklahoma on this week's episode, Teresa, 46, made waves by laying the blame at Melissa's feet - in front of the other women. Letting her have it: The tension between Teresa Giudice (pictured) and her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga simmered to the boil on The Real Housewives Of New Jersey this Wednesday Margaret Josephs was going to Oklahoma in aid of her pediatric hospital gown line, and she brought her fellow Housewives with her to stay on a cattle farm. Dolores Catania quipped in one of her confessionals that people in Oklahoma might assume that she and her friends were connected to the mafia. Before leaving New Jersey, Teresa called her brother to ensure that during her trip, he would spend time with their father - who lives in Teresa's home. Trouble: Giacinto Gorga, the father of Teresa and of Melissa's husband Joe Gorga (pictured), had been complaining that his son does not make enough time for him Knives out: When the Real Housewives took a trip to Oklahoma on this week's episode, Teresa, 46, made waves by laying the blame at Melissa's (pictured) feet - in front of the other women On the move: Margaret Josephs was going to Oklahoma in aid of her pediatric hospital gown line, and she brought her fellow Housewives with her to stay on a cattle farm Adjusting: The 'Jersey girls' were apparently quite aware of the cultural difference between their home state and the one they were traveling to Ready for anything: Dolores Catania quipped in one of her confessionals that people in Oklahoma might assume that she and her friends were connected to the mafia Focal point: Before leaving New Jersey, Teresa called her brother to ensure that during her trip, he would spend time with their father - who lives in Teresa's home Joe used his typical explanation that his busy work life made it 'harder than ever' for him to be with Giacinto, insisting that 'my business takes all my friggin' time.' In her confessional, Teresa made it clear that she was 'so over' this type of dodge, pointing out that 'The whole world has to work.' Joe Gorga told his wife before she left: 'So when you go to Oklahoma, make sure you tell my sister she's getting out of control,' but Melissa refused to involve herself. She worried that if she did, Teresa would blame the whole situation on her - flashbacks then showed a years-old fight between Teresa and Joe that involved Teresa implicating Melissa in the tension between the siblings. Stress: Joe used his typical explanation that his busy work life made it 'harder than ever' for him to be with Giacinto, insisting that 'my business takes all my friggin' time' Hands off: Joe Gorga told his wife before she left: 'So when you go to Oklahoma, make sure you tell my sister she's getting out of control,' but Melissa refused to involve herself Travel: In the Sooner State, the Housewives all got into the van that would take them to the cattle ranch of Margaret's pal, and Teresa started to lightheartedly complain about Oklahoma Not amused: Melissa said in a confessional that while the other women might consider Teresa's remarks to be all in fun, she 'can smell her passive-aggressiveness from miles away' After arriving in the Sooner State, the Housewives all got into the van that would take them to the cattle ranch of Margaret's pal, and Teresa started to lightheartedly complain about Oklahoma. Melissa said in a confessional that while the other women might consider Teresa's remarks to be all in fun, she 'can smell her passive-aggressiveness from miles away.' Not mincing words, Melissa said of her sister-in-law: 'She's p***ed at her brother, and she's ready to take it out on me, and I am not taking the bait.' The women cooed over the sprawling house they would be staying in at the cattle ranch, where their hostess informed them the cattle were for beef. What digs: The women cooed over the sprawling house they would be staying in at the cattle ranch, where their hostess informed them the cattle were for beef Quick wit: Teresa seemed relieved at not having to milk a cow, joking that the 'Last time I saw something white come out of that was' from her husband Joe Giudice Teresa seemed relieved at not having to milk a cow, joking that the 'Last time I saw something white come out of that was' from her husband Joe Giudice - who was in prison on multiple counts of fraud. While at the house, Margaret FaceTimed her husband Joe Benigno and mother Marge Sr., who had recently had plastic surgery. Margaret saw her mother's face surrounded by bandages and wittily likened her Sister Bertrille, Sally Field's character on the sitcom The Flying Nun. 'So cute': While at the house, Margaret FaceTimed her husband Joe Benigno (pictured) and mother Marge Sr., who had recently had plastic surgery Uncanny: Margaret saw her mother's face surrounded by bandages and wittily likened her Sister Bertrille, Sally Field's character on the sitcom The Flying Nun At one point, Teresa and Dolores sat down at a one-on-one conversation about Melissa and Joe, where Teresa introduced another grievance into the mix. On the recent one-year anniversary of the death of Teresa and Joe's mother, Joe and Melissa were away on vacation in the Bahamas for the weekend. The ladies eventually sat down to a luxurious dinner, but Teresa, who was preparing her figure for a swimsuit contest, had brought her own healthier food. Holiday snap: On the recent one-year anniversary of the death of Teresa and Joe's mother, Joe and Melissa were away on vacation in the Bahamas for the weekend Spot the Chanel: When the ladies stepped out onto a veranda and marveled at the dazzling sunset, Jennifer Aydin, a new Housewife, compared it to the view from her home Unimpressed: 'What's worse than a Debbie Downer is a one-upper,' said Margaret in a confessional, clearly mildly irritated by Jennifer's behavior How to live: The ladies eventually sat down to a luxurious dinner, but Teresa, who was preparing her figure for a swimsuit contest, had brought her own healthier food Vulnerable: New Housewife Jackie Goldschneider told the dinner table the story of her struggle with anorexia, which she developed in her 20s Looking back: Her problem progressed to the point she would take her own food to restaurants and 'was weighing every single little thing that I would eat' Throwback: Jackie had been so skinny at her wedding that her father informed her his friends had expressed concerns to him about her health New Housewife Jackie Goldschneider told the dinner table the story of her struggle with anorexia, which she developed in her 20s. Her problem progressed to the point she would take her own food to restaurants and 'was weighing every single little thing that I would eat.' Jackie had been so skinny at her wedding that her father informed her his friends had expressed concerns to him about her health. Realizing that she was at risk of passing on her own ailment to her children, she took steps to treat her anorexia - and her candor left Melissa very 'inspired.' Table talk: Upon becoming a mother, she began weighing her children's food as well - which a nutritionist immediately told her to stop doing Touching tale: Realizing that she was at risk of passing on her own ailment to her children, she took steps to treat her anorexia - and her candor left Melissa very 'inspired' Flashback: At that same dinner, Melissa shared that she had recently visited Concetta, a medium her husband and sister-in-law had consulted to speak to their late mother At that same dinner, Melissa shared that she had recently visited Concetta, a medium her husband and sister-in-law had consulted to speak to their late mother. Melissa was 17 when she lost her own father to a car crash, and although as far as she knew she only had two sisters, Concetta told her that she in fact had three. This prompted Melissa to recall that at her 'colorful' and 'promiscuous' father's funeral, she had seen a mystery woman weeping profusely and sitting alone. Melissa shared: 'I don't wanna hurt my mom, but if I have a sister, I wanna know her,' and it looked like the whole table was very moved - except for Teresa. 'I wanna know her': Melissa was 17 when she lost her own father to a car crash, and although as far as she knew she only had two sisters, Concetta told her that she in fact had three Unmoved: As seen in a confessional, Teresa was livid at Melissa tearing up over a sibling she does not know, while Giacinto, whom she does know, is not a 'priority' for her Center of it all: Teresa theorized that Joe did indeed have time for Giacinto - but only when his wife was out of town, meaning that Melissa was keeping the father and son apart As seen in a confessional, Teresa was livid at Melissa tearing up over a sibling she does not know, while Giacinto, whom she does know, is not a 'priority' for her. The next morning, Teresa called back home and learned that Joe would be spending some quality time with his father the following night. Teresa theorized that Joe did indeed have time for Giacinto - but only when his wife was out of town, meaning that Melissa was keeping the father and son apart. J'accuse: At breakfast, Teresa confronted Melissa about this suspicion, while Melissa countered that Joe spends time with Giacinto 'all the time during the week' In front of everyone: Dolores brings up the Bahamas trip to Melissa, who snaps: 'I think that's none of your business' - but Teresa seizes on the subject Not letting it go: 'Like, out of all weekends you had to pick, you had to pick that weekend?' Teresa asks Melissa, who is incensed at the implication Joe did not care enough for his mother At breakfast, Teresa confronted Melissa about this suspicion, while Melissa countered that Joe spends time with Giacinto 'all the time during the week.' Dolores brings up the Bahamas trip to Melissa, who snaps: 'I think that's none of your business' - but Teresa seizes on the subject. 'Like, out of all weekends you had to pick, you had to pick that weekend?' Teresa asks Melissa, who is incensed at the implication Joe did not care enough for his mother. Fighting back: Melissa says it's easier for Teresa because she doesn't have to 'cater' to the imprisoned Joe Giudice Fireworks: While Melissa insists that Teresa talk to her brother about this problem, otherwise he is liable to 'explode,' Teresa counters that Melissa should exercise sway over her husband Melissa says it's easier for Teresa because she doesn't have to 'cater' to the imprisoned Joe Giudice - an argument that Dolores points out is illogical, since it is highly unlikely that becoming a 'single mother' would leave Teresa more free time. While Melissa insists that Teresa talk to her brother about this problem, otherwise he is liable to 'explode,' Teresa counters that it is Melissa who should exercise some sway over her husband, whom Melissa says she is unable to 'control.' After Teresa left the room, the remaining women discussed the fight and Jackie took Melissa's side - while Margaret suggests that they get out for their planned activities. Unfiltered: Melissa in a confessional once again threw Joe Giudice's legal problems into the mix, arguing that Teresa's influence over her own man was clearly ineffective Post-game: After Teresa left the room, the remaining women discussed the fight and Jackie took Melissa's side - while Margaret suggests that they get out for their planned activities Frame of mind: Teresa, Jen, Margaret and Dolores went fishing and the others went target-shooting - but Melissa was 'scared to touch a gun right now, 'cause I'm so frickin' aggravated' Teresa, Jen, Margaret and Dolores went fishing and the others went target-shooting - but Melissa was 'scared to touch a gun right now, 'cause I'm so frickin' aggravated'. Margaret took a walk on the ranch with Melissa, who laid her soul bare, complaining that 'no matter what I do, it's never good enough.' Margaret counseled her to address this with Teresa herself, and upstairs in the ranch house before dinner, that is exactly what Melissa did. Facing her: Margaret counseled her to address this with Teresa herself, and upstairs in the ranch house before dinner, that is exactly what Melissa did Soul bare: Explaining she felt 'embarrassed' by by the breakfast fight in front of their friends, Melissa said that 'you tolerate me as opposed to, like, really, truly, like, accept me' Explaining she felt 'embarrassed' by by the breakfast fight in front of their friends, Melissa said that 'you tolerate me as opposed to, like, really, truly, like, accept me.' Teresa was completely unmoved in her confessional, saying that Melissa's feelings on this matter were irrelevant to the Giacinto situation. They eventually shared a hug and decided to enjoy their trip, though it was clear from their confessionals that the tension was still lurking right below the surface. The Caribbean landscape is littered with small farmers who are at the frontline of the fight to combat climate change. But with the 3 Us of climate change its unprecedented nature, its unpredictability and the need for urgency stacked against them, the question begs: Is it possible for farmers to improve their resilience to climate change without increasing global emissions? The small farmers of the region live and work on their mixed crop farms, which provide the farmer and their family with a steady income throughout the year. But most of these farms are 5 ha or less and they are usually perched on hillsides prone to erosion. Climate change is impacting the lives and livelihoods of these farm families in unprecedented ways as they grapple with the issue of maintaining their income streams. The climate has become unpredictable with differing weather patterns and in some cases this leads to changes (shorter/longer) in growing seasons. So, farmers have to change the way they do agriculture and they have to adjust their production systems in an effort to cope. There is an urgency to look back at the de-modernisation of small-scale agricultural systems in order to assist the farmers in moving forward, to build their resilience to climate change. The resources that the farmer uses to produce are the land (soil), water (stored or rainfed) and labour (manual or mechanical). This means that farmers can increase their production efficiency by smartly managing and using these resources in a changing climate, which will enable them to build their resilience without increasing emissions. Farmers have to become climate-smart and climate proof their operations. However, I hasten to caution that there are no quick fixes to the impact of climate change, particularly those caused by a slow onset event, such as the increasing temperature. Being climate-smart demands that farmers take a holistic and systematic approach to the management of farm resources. To achieve these goals there is a need to also understand the resources at their disposal. My top four recommendations for farmers to better manage available resources are: Soil is one of the largest carbon sinks. Lowering soil disturbance on small farms by removing mechanical weeding and resorting to hand weeding can be a win-win solution, as it can increase carbon storage and the greenhouse gases (GHGs) sequestered can lead to healthier plants and higher yields. However, this can be labour intensive and therefore demands the use of innovative practices, such as the use of mulch to control weeds and conserve soil moisture. is one of the largest carbon sinks. Lowering soil disturbance on small farms by removing mechanical weeding and resorting to hand weeding can be a win-win solution, as it can increase carbon storage and the greenhouse gases (GHGs) sequestered can lead to healthier plants and higher yields. However, this can be labour intensive and therefore demands the use of innovative practices, such as the use of mulch to control weeds and conserve soil moisture. Water harvesting and conservation should be prioritised. Farmers should catch and use every drop of water that falls with a gravity feed. This eliminates the need for pumped water and reduces the use of fuel used to power the pumps. harvesting and conservation should be prioritised. Farmers should catch and use every drop of water that falls with a gravity feed. This eliminates the need for pumped water and reduces the use of fuel used to power the pumps. Fruit trees are also good carbon sinks. Farmers should plant more to provide water, food and shade from the extreme heat (which is increasing with climate change). are also good carbon sinks. Farmers should plant more to provide water, food and shade from the extreme heat (which is increasing with climate change). Crops can be food and fuel. Farmers need to start to look seriously at planting crops for fuel as well as food. Instead of sugarcane they should look at varieties of energy cane, which provide both energy and sugar. This will help to reduce the use of fossil fuels to produce energy. Being climate-smart demands that the farmers of today recognise that climate change is now an undeniable challenge that they must contend with. They need to become innovators with a willingness to experiment to build their resilience and lower GHG emissions. A-list actor Cate Blanchett will take to the stage in London in January, but tickets will be available via ballot only, given anticipation of high demand. As reported by the Independent, Cate, 49, will star alongside Game Of Thrones' Stephen Dillane in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other. According to the National Theatre, the play 'explores the messy, often violent nature of desire and the fluid, complicated roles that men and women play'. In demand! Cate Blanchett (pictured) is set to star in a play in London in January and tickets will be available by ballot only The play is based on Samuel Richardson's 1740 novel, Pamela, during which 'six characters act out a dangerous game of sexual domination and resistance'. The production, written by Martin Crimp, will run for six weeks at the Dorfman Theatre from January 16 to March 2 next year. The ticket ballot opens at midday on Thursday 22 November and runs until midday on Thursday November 29, and ticket prices will be between AU$18 to AU$102 (between 10 to 58). Treading the boards! As reported by the Independent on Wednesday, Cate, 49, will star alongside Game Of Thrones' Stephen Dillane in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, produced by the National Theatre in London It has been a busy creative period for Cate, with the two-time Oscar winner recently signing on to star in the new FX limited series Mrs America. Created and written by Mad Men co-producer Dahvi Waller, the nine-episode series will feature Cate as conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, who led the fight against the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA is a proposed amendment to the US Constitution stating that equal rights may not be denied on the basis of one's sex. Exciting new role: According to the National Theatre, the play 'explores the messy, often violent nature of desire and the fluid, complicated roles that men and women play' The amendment was passed by the US Congress in 1972 but failed to win the backing of enough states. 'Through the eyes of the women of that era ... the series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the '70s helped give rise to the Moral Majority and forever shifted our political landscape,' FX said in a statement. Mrs America, which will begin production next year, will mark the Australian actress' first role in a US television program. Works in progress: It has been a busy creative period for Cate, with the two-time Oscar winner recently signing on to star in the new FX limited series Mrs America 'I feel privileged to have this opportunity to collaborate with Dahvi, Stacey (Sher) and Coco (Francini) under the robust and fearless FX umbrella,' Cate recently said in a statement. 'I am extremely excited about delving into the material as there couldn't be a more appropriate time to peel back the layers of this recent period of history, which couldn't be more relevant today.' Brandi Redmond and LeeAnne Locken's bitter feud moved from Copenhagen to Texas on Wednesday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Dallas. The 40-year-old reality star remained furious with LeeAnne, 51, even as the housewives returned from their Danish getaway. However the former pageant contestant had her own axe to grind after accusing Brandi of stealing her phone. Still going: Brandi Redmond and LeeAnne Locken's bitter feud moved from Copenhagen to Texas on Wednesday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Dallas During the episode, titled Game Of Phones, tensions are running high at dinner in Copenhagen, with Brandi still upset about LeeAnne recording her topless dip in the Baltic Sea without permission. Then Brandi takes it a step further by lashing out at all the Housewives, announcing 'All of you have been a bunch of fake b***hes'. Brandi then storms off and 49-year-old D'Andra Simmons follows her, leaving LeeAnne stung by the perceived betrayal by her new ally. 'Choice made' says LeeAnne, cryptically. Meanwhile Cary Deuber, 42, seems amused by the drama, admitting during a confessional: 'For me it's expected that these guys are gonna pitch a fit at dinner'. The 40-year-old reality star remained furious with LeeAnne, 51, [pictured] even as the housewives returned from their Danish getaway Epic feud: During the episode, titled Game Of Phones, tensions are running high at dinner in Copenhagen, with Brandi [pictured] still upset about LeeAnne recording her topless dip The women then all fly back to Texas, where LeeAnne prepares for her upcoming fashion show, where she will debut her 'ultimate little black dress' called L'Infinity. Meanwhile Cary and Kameron debrief, discussing an incident in Copenhagen in which Brandi 'found' LeeAnne's phone down in the bar. Naturally, LeeAnne thinks Brandi stole her phone to check she'd deleted the video. They then discuss a rumor spread by LeeAnne that she took Brandi's phone as retribution and 'cloned' it, thereby stealing all of her rival's data. Cary finds the notion preposterous, saying the whole scenario 'is CSI on crack'. Talking it out: Meanwhile back in Dallas, Cary and Kameron debrief, discussing an incident in Copenhagen in which Brandi 'found' LeeAnne's phone down in the bar She said WHAT: Cary finds the notion preposterous, saying the whole scenario 'is CSI on crack' Later, the women arrive at LeeAnne's fashion show - all except for Brandi, who wasn't invited, and Stephanie, who cancels because she doesn't want 'to hear about the phone situation'. The models show off Brandi's dress, which can be modified to be worn 175 different times. However, Cary remains unimpressed, saying the dress 'is not my cup of tea. I'd rather buy 175 different dresses than wear one dress 175 different ways'. Catwalk: Later, the women arrive at LeeAnne's fashion show - all except for Brandi, who wasn't invited, and Stephanie, who cancels because she doesn't want 'to hear about the phone situation' Diverse: The models show off Brandi's dress, which can be modified to be worn 175 different times That don't impress me much: However, Cary remains unimpressed, saying the dress 'is not my cup of tea. I'd rather buy 175 different dresses than wear one dress 175 different ways' After the show, the women debrief about the situation, with LeeAnne practically screaming 'DON'T STEAL PEOPLE'S F**KING PHONES!' Cary shushes her friend, whose performance is drawing attention from the other guests. In a confessional, LeeAnne calls Brandi a 'b**ch, but says the younger woman 'gets away with it cause she's just a little ginger'. Davey Lloyd is very persistent. The 28 year-old was seen catching a flight to Fiji on Thursday, for the second time this month - fuelling speculation he will appear on Bachelor In Paradise again. The reality star could be set for a reunion with former love interest Florence Alexandra, who is also rumoured to be filming season two of the Channel Ten dating show. Fourth time's the charm? Bachelor in Paradise's Davey Lloyd flies back to Fiji amid speculation he will appear on Bachelor In Paradise again Making his way through Sydney airport, Davey cut a casual figure for the journey in cut-off denim shorts and a dark red short sleeve shirt. He accessorised with white trainers, silver jewellery and headphones around his neck. Holding a black backpack and plastic water bottle, the reality star cut a cheery figure as he wheeled a grey suitcase. Casual: Making his way through Sydney airport, Davey cut a casual figure for the journey in cut-off denim shorts and a dark red short sleeve shirt Jetsetter: Holding a black backpack, the reality star cut a cheery figure as he wheeled a grey suitcase Davey made his reality TV debut on Sam Frost's season of The Bachelorette in 2015. After failing to win over the blonde beauty, the construction worker returned to screens on this year's season of Bachelor In Paradise. Despite a brewing romance, he was left shattered in March this year when Florence Alexandra, 28 left him without a rose. Passport to love: The construction worker stood patiently while his details were inputted into the system What started as a love triangle was quick to become a love square after he kissed villain Leah Costa before regretting his decision and expressing his desire to pursue his relationship with Florence once again. But his antics soon backfired, failing to get a rose from either of the girls. Heavy baggage: Davey was seen lifting his luggage on to the conveyor belt Filming is underway for the second season of the Bachelor spin-off in Fiji. And after jetting out to the tropical isle last week for a third shot at love, Davey was spotted days later at the Maxim Hot 100 party in Sydney on Friday, prompting speculation he failed to make a connection again. There continues to be fallout amid the split between Paris Hilton and her fiance, Chris Zylka. The 33-year-old model/actor, according to Page Six had hoped to retrieve the $2 million engagement ring he presented the 37-year-old socialite in his proposal to her earlier this year on the slopes in Aspen, Colorado. Complicating the matter is that Zylka apparently didn't spend any money on the 20-carat ring, insiders told Page Six. Scroll below for video No returns: Paris Hilton's former fiance Chris Zylka, 33, had hoped to retrieve the $2 million engagement ring he presented the 37-year-old socialite with, but insiders say didn't pay for it. The two were snapped in Mexico last year The actor, who's been seen on The Leftovers and The Amazing Spider-Man, received the sparkler free of charge from Michael Greene, a jeweler-to-the-stars who's close with the Stars Are Blind songstress, sources told the outlet. The 5ft8 socialite is going to keep the expensive piece of jewelry, sources told the outlet, adding, 'The ring is her's.' The outlet reported that Zylka has a net worth of around $4 million, a fraction of the $300 million the hotel heiress's empire is estimated to be valued at. Zylka had raised the funds to pay for the ring by selling 'very valuable and lucrative' art pieces he'd created, a spokesperson for the former couple told the outlet earlier this year. Selfie queen: The wealthy heiress was snapped earlier this month in Mexico City Magic moment: Chris proposed to Paris earlier this year on the slopes in Aspen, Colorado 'He has very high-end clients from all over the world who continuously seek out his work,' the rep said. In the wake of the news this week, an insider told the outlet that Hilton had not 'been happy in a while' in the relationship with Zylka, adding that 'she always paid for everything. 'Most of her friends thought she would realize at some point that she was too good for him. They came from two different worlds.' Zylka's rep told Page Six in response to their report that their 'info on the ring [was] wrong,' adding, 'Chris has his own money. Do your homework.' SAG Award nominee Kate Beckinsale emerged from her car still sweaty from her pre-Thanksgiving gym session in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The 45-year-old mother-of-one - who relies on fitness trainer Gunnar Peterson - was sporting her signature perky ponytail with obvious glue-in hair extensions. The London-born Brit hauled what appeared to be two pet carriers while clad in two tank tops beneath a knit cardigan, black leggings, and leather buckled boots. All puffed out: SAG Award nominee Kate Beckinsale emerged from her car still sweaty from her pre-Thanksgiving gym session in Los Angeles on Tuesday On Wednesday morning, Kate (born Kathrin) pampered herself with an 'amazing' Hollywood EGF facial by Georgia Louise, which she joked was made of 'liquified cloned foreskins.' 'After a long flight I do like to lie down and be covered in a mask of liquified cloned foreskins,' Beckinsale - who boasts 3.1M social media followers - captioned her selfie. 'Frankly who doesn't? Thank you @georgialouisesk for an amazing facial. I especially liked you reassuring me it would be "light on penis" as it was my first time.' The wisecracking brunette has been hard at work filming her role as 'a Hollywood starlet' in Charlie Day's directorial debut, El Tonto. Hollywood magic: The 45-year-old mother-of-one was sporting her signature perky ponytail with obvious glue-in hair extensions Dog and cat owner: The London-born Brit hauled what appeared to be two pet carriers while clad in two tank tops beneath a knit cardigan, black leggings, and leather buckled boots 'Covered in a mask of liquified cloned foreskins': On Wednesday morning, Kate (born Kathrin) pampered herself with an 'amazing' Hollywood EGF facial by Georgia Louise John Malkovich, Edie Falco, Ken Jeong, Ray Liotta, Jason Sudeikis, and Adrien Brody also star in the 2019 comedy about a mute simpleton who becomes a celebrity - according to Deadline. Missing from the Northern Ireland abortion activist's side was her Nutcracker and the Four Realms beau Jack Whitehall, last seen enjoying Sunday roast at Brinkley's in London. Kate and the 30-year-old British comedian were photographed making out with each other inside WeHo karaoke bar Blind Dragon back on November 2. 'No one would expect someone like Jack to bag one of Hollywood's hottest actresses. You couldn't get a more unlikely romance,' a source told The Sun. BTS: Beckinsale has been hard at work filming her role as 'a Hollywood starlet' in Charlie Day's directorial debut, El Tonto (pictured November 6) 'Theres something very special happening in downtown LA!' John Malkovich, Edie Falco, Ken Jeong, Ray Liotta, Jason Sudeikis, and Adrien Brody also star in the 2019 comedy about a mute simpleton who becomes a celebrity (pictured November 14) 'They were like a pair of loved-up teenagers and weren't trying to hide their feelings. As the night progressed, he seemed to be growing in confidence and put his arm around her and gave her a hug. 'Then he decided to put his hand around the back of Kate's neck and pulled her across him, where they started to passionately kiss.' It's unclear if Beckinsale's 19-year-old daughter Lily Mo, who attends NYU, will be spending Thanksgiving with her mother or father Michael Sheen. 'Gravy slut': Missing from the wisecracking brunette's side was her Nutcracker and the Four Realms beau Jack Whitehall, last seen enjoying Sunday roast at Brinkley's in London They welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Theodore, 11 weeks ago. And Vogue Williams and her husband Spencer Matthews were enjoying a date night at the VIP launch of Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, London on Wednesday evening. The Irish presenter, 33, and the former Made In Chelsea star, 30, looked just as loved up as ever, sharing a sweet kiss as they sat side-by-side on a ride. Date night: Vogue Williams and her husband Spencer Matthews attended the VIP launch of Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, London on Wednesday evening Sealed with a kiss! The Irish presenter, 33, and the former Made In Chelsea star, 30, looked just as loved up as ever, sharing a sweet kiss as they sat side-by-side on a ride Vogue looked super cosy, wrapping up warm in a soft cream coat worn over a bright pink jumper. She donned a statement pair of patent leather boots and accessorised with a coordinating shoulder bag. The down-to-earth beauty wore her blonde locks pulled into a messy top knot and matched her lipgloss to her top. New parents: The couple welcomed their first child, a boy named Theodore, 11 weeks ago Cute: The new parents, who tied the knot this summer, looked madly in love during their fairground outing Fun for all: The pair enjoyed a rare night off from parenting duties, letting their hair down all all the rides Spencer was also bundled up against the cold in a black jacket with a fur-lined hood. The pair enjoyed a rare night off from parenting duties, letting their hair down all all the rides. The new parents, who tied the knot this summer, looked madly in love during their fairground outing. Cosy: Spencer was also bundled up against the cold in a black jacket with a fur-lined hood Cute: Spencer was looking at something on his phone, giggling with glee Spencer recently told MailOnline about his upcoming fly-on-the-wall series with his wife, Spencer and Vogue Adult(ish). 'They've finally given me my own show. And unfortunately, for legal reasons I have to share it with my wife,' the star joked about the show, set to air on E4 in the new year. He explained: 'It's shot more in a docu-series type way, really. It's very different to Made In Chelsea. If anything, it's the precise opposite to it. It's more like [mockumentary sitcom] The Office. Having a ball: Vogue looked to be enjoying the experience, while Spencer seemed a little nervous about the rides Defying gravity: The thrill-seeking duo were having a great evening with their friends 'There is zero structure to it and it's very free-flowing. It's almost a bit like unscripted comedy. It's funny. And it's great to be back on E4.' Spencer rose to fame on Made In Chelsea when it began in 2011, and, although he still feels fondly about it, the TV personality admits he has 'moved on' - and that the format of Adult(ish) is very different. 'I wanted to refrain from structured reality,' Spencer went on, commenting on MIC's format, originally made famous by the likes of The Hills in America. 'Chelsea was a big part of my life but that's over now. I have moved on from that. Now I'm all about enjoying the next 10 years watching my son grow up.' Chic: The presenter wore her blonde locks pulled up into a top knot Rose tinted: The down-to-earth beauty matched her lipgloss to her top Shortly after their trip to Winter Wonderland, Spencer was pictured buying a weekend bag from London-based brand Gandys, founded by brothers inspired by travel and fuelled by giving back. Beaming in a snap with his new purchase, Spencer looked ready for action as he sported the brand, which has just launched its fourth London store and is currently placing emphasis on the rise of the Instagram travelling woman. Citing Holly Willoughby in her I'm A Celebrity jungle attire as inspiration, Gandys has been highlighting women embracing solo travel culture. Co-Founder Robert Forkan of the brand, which is also endorsed by Ben Fogle, said: 'We are finding more and more women who discover us on Instagram and Social Media are becoming increasingly travel-wear savvy.' I'm A Celebrity: Extra Camp star Joel Dommett returned to his hosting duties on Wednesday evening following his freak on-set head injury. One day before the funnyman, who appeared on the 2016 series of the show, was rushed to hospital with a head injury after a part of the show's set crashed onto his head in windy conditions leading to a dramatic headdress. While fans were delighted to see the star return to screens, his bandages did tickle audiences as one fan noted on Twitter that he looked like a pirate while others lauded him for returning to screens so swiftly after his accident. Shocker: I'm A Celebrity: Extra Camp star Joel Dommett returned to his hosting duties on Wednesday evening following his freak on-set head injury On Tuesday, Joel posted a snap of himself receiving seven stitches in hospital, and revealed he had been forced to miss Tuesday's show. He wrote: 'Unfortunately due to unforeseen windy circumstances blowing the set onto my head during rehearsals, i won't be able to present Extra Camp this evening. I had seven stitches like a big brave boy and I'll be back tomorrow. 'To be honest I'm less worried about my health and more worried that the show will be better without me. Half a day off school to go home and watch neighbours! Woo!' Taking to Twitter upon his return, viewers wrote: 'Loved #ExtraCamp tonight! Really nice to see you back again Joel even if you have seven stitches in your head and are still slightly concussed Loving the series so far guys keep it up!... Ouch! One day before the funnyman, who appeared on the 2016 series of the show, was rushed to hospital with a head injury after a part of the show's set crashed onto his head in windy conditions leading to a dramatic headdress Ouch! On Tuesday, Joel posted a snap of himself receiving seven stitches in hospital, and revealed he had been forced to miss Tuesday's show Ahem... While fans were delighted to see the star return to screens, his bandages did tickle audiences as one fan noted on Twitter that he looked like a pirate while others lauded him for returning to screens so swiftly after his accident 'So glad @joeldommett was back on #extracamp tonight wasnt the same without him #imaceleb Also excited for Noel Edmunds... So glad your back @joeldommett #ExtraCamp isnt the same with out your witty banter and epic content #ImACeleb... 'I think @joeldommett head injurys have made him slightly crazy?! #ExtraCamp... Loved tonights episode! John is an absolute icon but cant get over the fact that @joeldommett looks like a pirate on a budget tonight bless him... '@imacelebrity so glad that @joeldommett is back. Missed him last night and Im happy youre feeling better. #ImaCeleb #ExtraCamp'. Happy days: Discussing how he sustained the injury in an Instagram video, he said: 'Thank you for all your concerns. I'm OK, got this cartoon bandage on and I was wearing Scarlett's hoodie, which I got blood all over. Sorry Scarlett, I will wash it' Discussing how he sustained the injury in an Instagram video, he said: 'Thank you for all your concerns. I'm OK, got this cartoon bandage on and I was wearing Scarlett's hoodie, which I got blood all over. Sorry Scarlett, I will wash it! 'I can't actually watch the show because I'm in Australia so let me know what's going on. Joe and Scarlett are the best. Genuinely I fainted and I woke up and Joe was kissing my face. 'He was taken to a hospital in a production car and given seven stitches. The team wish him well and look forward to him returning to the show soon.' An ITV spokesman said: 'A freak gust of wind blew over the Extra Camp signpost and it caught Joel on the back of the head'. She has been left heartbroken after her fiance John Noble was filmed getting close to a bevy of beauties while on a lads' holiday to Dubai. But Vicky Pattison put on a brave face as she marked the start of the festive season with a trip to London's Winter Wonderland on Wednesday - while fans spotted love rat John had liked Jess Wright's sizzling bikini snaps on Instagram. John's latest antics will no doubt be a further blow to the television personality, 31, who broke down in tears earlier this week while speaking at a body confidence event. Heartache: Vicky Pattison put on a brave face as she marked the start of the festive season with a trip to Winter Wonderland in London on Wednesday Joined by Love Island's Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen, Vicky cut a stylish figure in camouflage trousers and a tailored black coat. She complemented the look with a white shirt, a simple black jumper and a baker boy hat. The former Geordie Shore star wore her brunette hair in a loose ponytail and opted for a bronzed make-up look with a nude pink lip. He's a fan! Meanwhile love rat John was spotted liking Jess Wright's sizzling bikini snaps on Instagram Upsetting: John's latest antics will no doubt be a further blow to the television personality, 31, who broke down in tears earlier this week while speaking at a body confidence event Brave face: Vicky cut a stylish figure in camouflage trousers and tailored black coat and smiled amid her heartache Despite her romantic woes, Vicky appeared to enjoy her evening out with pals as she beamed for the cameras after indulging in mulled wine. Meanwhile John, 30, liked TOWIE star's Jess Wright's latest Instagram snap as she soaked up the sun on a beach on her Dubai break. The 33-year-old reality star flaunted every inch of her toned figure in a black and floral mismatched bikini, before slipping into a chic green two-piece. Ring free: Vicky didn't appear to be wearing her engagement ring following her heartache Gone: Vicky hasn't been sporting her ring ever since pictures emerged of John getting close to a series of mystery women in Dubai Smiling through: Despite her difficult time of late, Vicky made sure not to let her romance woes get her down She braved the cold in a pair of suede court heels and toted her essentials in a designer bag Putting her best foot forward: The beauty showed no signs of heartache as she made the most of her time in London It comes after Vicky was left devastated when her fiance John was filmed looking intimate with a bevy of women during a trip to Dubai. The Sun reported John grew close to a brunette named Supriya, a London estate agent, during his flirty night out without his fiancee. Onlookers told the publication that John, also 31, had his arms around her waist on the dancefloor before inviting her over to his private booth. Racy display: Meanwhile John, 30, liked TOWIE star's Jess Wright's latest Instagram snap as she soaked up the sun on a beach on her Dubai break Celeb pals: Vicky spent the evening indulging in festive treats with Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen Adding: 'They were kissing throughout the night at the White Club venue.' John was also linked to two other women on the same night. Vicky was seen without her engagement ring hours after discovering her fiance's betrayal. And so it comes as little surprise that Vicky broke down in tears while on stage at a body confidence event held at Hornchurch leisure centre in Essex, on Sunday. The reality TV star struggled to maintain her emotions at the event, although it is not yet known what specifically triggered her emotions. It's believed Vicky and John have not officially split as of yet but she's clearly upset over his actions. Megan Gale has once again denied having cosmetic work. The 43-year-old stunner revealed she has not had any 'injectables' and shared her age-defying secrets. The mother-of-two told fans on Thursday that her youthful good looks are purely down to not smoking or doing drugs, eating well and staying hydrated, as well as dermasweeps and deep heat treatments. Scroll down for video 'People assume I can't be 43 and look the way I do without injectables!' Megan Gale denies getting cosmetic work and reveals her surprising age-defying secrets (pictured L in 2004 and R, this month) Taking to her Instagram story, Megan answered some questions from followers. 'You have such natural beauty, do you have cosmetic work done?' one question read. Megan replied: 'If by cosmetic you mean injectables no.' Her secrets: 'I'm not a smoker, don't do drugs and don't drink regularly. These things age you horribly,' Megan said Candid: Taking to her Instagram story, Megan answered some questions from followers She looks after her skin: 'I eat well and drink heaps of water. I get dermasweeps, deep heat treatments (LED/thermage) regular deep cleanses and my Mama gave me some nice skin,' she said 'I often get "accused'' of it (LOL) I think people assume I can't be 43 and look the way I do without it but I've no reason to fib.' She then listed her secrets to looking so young. 'I'm not a smoker, don't do drugs and don't drink regularly. These things age you horribly.' 'I eat well and drink heaps of water. I get dermasweeps, deep heat treatments (LED/thermage) regular deep cleanses and my Mama gave me some nice skin.' Opinions: In July, Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon Dr. Randal Haworth weighed in on Megan's age-defying appearance, claiming that he believes she hasn't had surgery but may have undergone non-surgical procedures such as Botox and dermal fillers (pictured L in 2002 and R in 2015) She's flawless! Dr. Haworth, who has not treated Megan himself, described several small, non-surgical procedures she may have undergone to maintain her supermodel look In July this year, Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon Dr. Randal Haworth weighed in on Megan's age-defying appearance, claiming that he believes she hasn't had surgery but may have undergone non-surgical procedures such as Botox and dermal fillers. 'I understand Megan has denied "going under the knife" and, based solely on her photographs, I tend to believe her,' Dr. Haworth told Daily Mail Australia at the time. Dr. Haworth, who has not treated Megan himself, described several small, non-surgical procedures she may have undergone to maintain her supermodel look. 'Though not surgery per se, it is possible she may have received fillers (such as Juvederm or Voluma) to maintain her naturally full lips, control her under-eye circles [and] augment her naturally flat anterior cheekbones,' he claimed. He likes her au naturale! In 2016 she told New Idea in 2016 that she would never consider surgery as her former AFL star partner Shaun Hampson, 30, (pictured) would 'kill her' Dr. Haworth also believes that Megan may have had some Botox 'here and there' to subtly smooth out her crow's feet. Megan has spoken candidly about her attitudes toward cosmetic work in the past. In 2016 she told New Idea in 2016 that she would never consider surgery as her former AFL star partner Shaun Hampson, 30, would 'kill her'. 'I think he would kill me if I did that,' she said. 'Shaun is very anti-cosmetic surgery, which is one of the things I love about him. 'I have just turned 41, but I feel comfortable and confident about the way I'm ageing.' It's been a difficult time for the actress, who lost both of her parents within the last two years. But Tara Reid put on a warm-hearted display, flashing a self-effacing smile as she arrived at Italian restaurant Madeo in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles on Wednesday. The American Pie star, 43, looked chic in a pair of figure-hugging black velvet leggings, which clung to her lithe legs. Low-key: Tara Reid, 43, put on a warm-hearted display, flashing a self-effacing smile as she arrived at Italian restaurant Madeo in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles on Wednesday Tara teamed her trousers with a three-quarter-length sleeved top, and added height to her slim frame with a pair of sky-high black stiletto ankle boots. The Sharknado actress ensured she kept warm with a luxe fluffy navy blue wrap draped around her shoulders. Tara carried her belongings in a structured Gucci canvas bag with a leather top and gold-tone key lock closure. The star scraped her blonde locks up into a simple bun atop her head, and drew attention to her features with a heavy slick of eyeliner and a vibrant pink lip. Stylish: The American Pie star, 43, looked chic in a pair of figure-hugging black velvet leggings, which clung to her lithe legs Elegant: Tara teamed her trousers with a three-quarter-length sleeved top, and added height to her slim frame with a pair of sky-high black stiletto boots The outing comes a month after Tara shared the devastating news that her mother Donna Reid had passed away. She took to Instagram to reveal her mother's passing with a throwback photo of her parents on their wedding day. 'Today has been one of the most heartbreaking days of my life,' Tara began the caption. 'My mother Donna Reid just passed away. My heart breaks - who am I gonna call everyday, what do I do?' Wrapped up: The Sharknado actress ensured she kept warm with a luxe fluffy navy blue wrap draped around her shoulders Designer duds: Tara carried her belongings in a structured Gucci canvas bag with a leather top and gold-tone key lock closure The unsettling news came just two years after Tara had lost her father Thomas Reid, making the demise of yet another parent all the more difficult. The blonde beauty continued to stress that though she's heartbroken by the passing of her mother, she assures herself that Donna can finally be reunited with the socialite's father. '2 yrs ago I lost my father and I never felt such a pain.' 'now I just lost my mom. But the one thing I know is they are together again. Mom & Dad, I love you! RIP, your baby girl Tara.' Canadians, along with scores of others across the globe, have sat back and watched the deadly blazes that have made The Golden States 2018 wildfire season the most destructive on California record. To this point, a total of more than 7,500 reported fires have burnt over 1.6 million acres and caused in excess of $2.9 billion in damages. More than 80 human lives have been lost and 500 people are still unaccounted for. Horses have not been spared from the devastating situation. Equine stories of all types have been coming out in the media. Stuntmen are doing what they can to save horses hemmed in by the flames, while equine themselves are finding wherever they can to escape life-or-death situations. One Canadian horseman in particular, Albertan Darrel Glover, wasnt willing to sit back any longer. The stories of Californians being forced to abandon their horses and flee for their own lives resonated with Olds-area rancher. The haunting news has spurred Glover, who is now a retiree, into action. Darrell Glover (Image courtesy Darrell Glover/Facebook) According to an article by CTV News Calgary, Glover monitored social media content about how people were saving the distressed horses and doing what they could to help. As a horse owner, that created some emotional moments for us, said Glover, so we started thinking that with all those horses, and there are hundreds of them, running free in the hills and people are picking them up, somebody had to help and try and feed these horses. Thats when Glover put his plan into motion. We contacted Camelot Equestrian Park down in Orville, California. They had the fire just about 100 metres from their front gate, so they almost lost their place as well. Those folks have taken in a couple hundred horses, so what were going to do is take down [a] trailer load of feed and help them out. Glover has compiled 14,000 pounds of food and a few thousand dollars worth of medical supplies and tack. He also wants to get down to business once he arrives. Once my trailer is empty, then I plan to offer any assistance I can with the empty trailer. I might be able to pick up more horses or help them go and get some feed somewhere; bring some supplies. When I get down there, I plan to stay a few days. Glovers action has not been taken for granted. Hes planning to embark on the journey this coming Monday (Nov. 26), much to the delight of the operators and horses at the Camelot Equestrian Park. To Darrell Glover and all our Canadian friends, there are no adequate words to express our gratitude for all of your compassion and generosity, the organization has said via social media. It is awe inspiring that our neighbours to the north are willing to put this very special delivery together. (With files from CTV News Calgary headline image courtesy Getty/Hollywood Reporter) She's known for her youthful good looks and stunning sense of style. But Susanna Reid, 47, was dealt some serious shade on Good Morning Britain on Thursday when co-host Richard Arnold, 48, suggested she has had a face lift. It all started when the panel discussed what is and isn't an acceptable present for someone to give their partner at Christmas. Harsh! Susanna Reid was left red-faced on Good Morning Britain on Thursday when Richard Arnold made an outrageous suggestion that she's had a face lift Ben Shephard, 43, argued he'd be perfectly happy to gift his wife a stapler and a packet of staples. He then produced four staples and put them in Susanna's hand. But she wasn't impressed. Susanna could be heard saying: 'What is going on?' Debate: It all started when the panel discussed what is and isn't an acceptable present for someone to give their partner at Christmas and Ben Shephard gave Susanna four staples Ben replied: 'I just think it's important to share the love, Susanna Reid. I am very generous with my love. I am from Essex' Naughty: When Susanna spoke about him giving her a measly four staples, Richard Arnold said: 'They'll go with the ones in your neck' Ben replied: 'I just think it's important to share the love, Susanna Reid. I am very generous with my love. I am from Essex.' 'Not very generous. I've just been given four staples.' 'They'll go with the ones in your neck,' Richard sat, leaving the panel reeling. I don't feel like dancing: Susanna also interviewed Scissor Sisters singer Jake Shears, who spoke about a letter he received from the late David Bowie after he came to one of his shows Mover and groover: Ballet dancer Wayne Sleep also appeared on the show As Susanna was left red-faced for a minute, she chastised Richard telling him he was very naughty. Seeing the error of his ways, he spluttered: 'She's had no work done.' The Good Morning Britain social media team were obviously amused by the playful on-air spat as they posted a clip of the moment on Twitter on Thursday. They captioned it with the words: 'Do you want some ice for that burn?' He has been focusing on family life in recent months, following his vow to stay sober after a drunken row onboard a plane in July. And cutting a happier and healthier figure, Jonathan Rhys Meyers was seen helping out with a homeless shelter in Skid Row, Los Angeles on Wednesday. The actor, 41, supported the Los Angeles Mission as he stopped by to get involved and serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless ahead of the US holiday. Smile: Jonathan Rhys Meyers cut a happy and healthy figure as he was seen helping out with a homeless shelter in Skid Row, Los Angeles on Wednesday Happy to lend a land, Jonathan was seen donning a red apron as he stepped into the kitchen to serve up the food. The Tudors star appeared to be enjoying his time with the charity as he flashed a smile alongside another volunteer while they took a selfie together. Casually clad for his time with the shelter, Jonathan stepped out sporting jeans and a leather bike jacket that he paired with a plain white t-shirt underneath. Seeming in great spirits, he was seen sharing a joke with the volunteers and keeping himself hydrated with a bottle of water as he worked. Doing his bit: The actor, 41, supported the Los Angeles Mission as he stopped by to get involved and serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless ahead of the national holiday Jonathan has vowed to stay sober after being detained following a drunken row with his wife onboard a plane in July. In an interview on Larry King Now, the actor admitted drinking doesn't 'suit' him as he spoke about the incident, which led to him being detained at Los Angeles' LAX airport when his plane touched down on the runway. The Dracula star, who was accompanied by his wife Mara and their one-year-old son on the flight from Peru, recalled: 'My wife and I had been travelling since 3 o'clock in the morning from Peru back to Los Angeles. And they gave away our tickets it was just a problem with the airline. 'We had our baby, who was teething at the time, and it was all kind of frustrating. So we eventually got on the flight and my wife went to sleep and I very stupidly decided to order a drink. Great spirits: The Tudors star appeared to be enjoying his time with the charity as he flashed a smile alongside another volunteer while they took a selfie together Happy to lend a land: Jonathan was seen donning a red apron as he stepped into the kitchen to serve up the food 'When my wife found that I'd ordered a drink, she got very, very angry with me because I shouldn't drink. It doesn't suit me and I had been sober for a long time.' Jonathan admitted he was 'upset' by his actions but had apologised to all involved in the incident and thanked police for being 'incredibly kind and understanding'. He continued: 'And so I felt that mistake and I got upset and I took out an e-cigarette. And the airline staff told me that I wasn't allowed to smoke an e-cigarette so I put it away. 'Then I spoke to the Los Angeles police once we got there, who were incredibly kind. Incredibly understanding. I apologised for my behaviour, and that's the entire story.' Jonathan's battle with alcoholism has been well documented over the years and he is believed to have had six stints in rehab - first checking into a rehab centre in Malibu in 2005 seeking treatment for alcohol abuse, before returning two years later in 2007. Back on track: Jonathan has vowed to stay sober after being detained following a drunken row with his wife Mara (pictured above) onboard a plane in July He and wife Mara share son Wolf Rhys Meyers, one. They welcomed their first child in December 2016, with Mara crediting Jonathan for 'being a natural' when it comes to fatherhood in the months that followed Wolf's birth. Mara revealed in September last year that she had suffered a miscarriage with the couple's second child. At the time, she had shared a video of the moment she was told her baby had no heartbeat - telling fans that she and Jonathan wanted to be 'transparent' with their grief and help others in similar situations. She revealed that the couple chose to bury their baby, Willow, under a tree at their home. Mara explained: 'I have been given peace and Baby Willow is now planted in the tree in front of our home that has weeping long branches and leaves so we can brush our faces in soft leaves in passing or we can see the baby dance with the wind in the branches as they sway. 'It is helping me process the situation as Nature does.' They forged a tight-knit friendship after filming in the recording same booth for their latest movie. And Sarah Silverman and John C. Reilly looked close when they attended the Ralph Breaks the Internet premiere at the Lighthouse Cinema, in Dublin on Wednesday. The actress, 47, paired her quirky print blouse with a trendy orange corduroy skirt as she posed with her dapper co-star, 53, on the red carpet. Sarah twirled to best show off her legs in her mini skirt and chunky heeled boots when she worked her magic on the red carpet among the stars of the movie. John dressed to impress in his three piece suit, including tails, which he accessorised with a smart hat and a burgundy tie. The pair reprised their roles as now-BFFs Ralph and Vanellope in the sequel to Disney's Wreck It Ralph animated movie. Ralph Breaks the Internet takes place six years later when the duo discover a wi-fi router in their arcade which leads them on an exhilarating adventure. Every angle: Sarah twirled to best show off her legs in her mini skirt and chunky heeled boots when she worked her magic on the red carpet Stars for animated movies often record on their own and rarely meet their co-stars until they join forces to promote the film on the red carpet. However, John was insistent on recording his lines in the same booth as his co-star Sarah to ensure they forged a close bond which they could bring to their characters. During his Good Morning America appearance, the actor gushed over his co-star saying she was both 'fun' and 'creative'. So sweet: They forged a tight-knit friendship after filming in the recording same booth for their latest movie Looking fabulous: John dressed to impress in his three piece suit, including tails, which he accessorised with a smart hat and burgundy tie He said: 'I figured if you're gonna work with someone as fun and as creative as Sarah Silverman, why not have them in the room there with you? 'A lot of the time actors go in for animated movies they're just alone, they're playing someone's best friend but they never lay eyes on them, and I thought, "We gotta be in the room together so we can find stuff and improvise". 'Sarah and I definitely did a lot for this movie, so I think this movie has an extra soulful quality because we're actually in there looking at each other, talking to each other. We riffed like crazy!' He's a firm favourite on the pantomime scene and will be returning to the stage in Aladdin this Christmas. And Wayne Sleep was putting in an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Thursday to discuss his love of panto and his friendship with Freddie Mercury. The 70-year-old former ballet dancer left viewers concerned, however, and they rushed to Twitter to ask whether he was OK due to his 'slurred' speech. TV appearance: Wayne Sleep was putting in an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Thursday to discuss his love of panto and his friendship with Freddie Mercury - but sparked concern among viewers Viewers at home expressed concern about Wayne, posting, 'Is Wayne Sleep ok? Hes slurring .....' and 'Hope Wayne Sleep is OK. He sounds a little bit slurry #gmb'. Others posted: 'Is Wayne Sleep a bit tipsy this morning?? @GMB' and 'Wow Wayne Sleep seemed a bit tipsy this morning on #GMB I hope hes alright'. Fans throughoughly enjoyed the chat, however, with one branding a 'breath of fresh air'. '@GMB @benshephard what a great interview with Wayne Sleep a breath of fresh air and makes a change from debates, Brexit , women empowerment etc etc etc', one tweet read. Concern: The 70-year-old former ballet dancer left viewers concerned as they rushed to Twitter to ask whether he was OK and to point out his 'slurred' speech In conversation: Wayne was chatting to Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard MailOnline has contacted Wayne's representatives for comment. The choreographer - who is playing the villain Abanazar in the Cambridge Arts Theatre's production of Aladdin this Christmas - chatted about his favourite roles. He laughed: 'I enjoy playing roles that frighten children at the moment! What I do is I love panto. Concerned: Viewers at home expressed concern about Wayne, posting, 'Is Wayne Sleep ok ? Hes slurring .....' and 'Hope Wayne Sleep is OK. He sounds a little bit slurry #gmb' 'I played the Childcatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and I got a penchant for frightening kids. But of course its tongue in cheek.' Explaining his love for panto, Wayne said: 'Theres always been for the parents a little bit of a twink within the innuendo of a sentence but for the kids they never know what it is and you have to drive the story through. 'A lot of people ad-lib and do their own show in the middle of it and its rubbish. We want them to come back dont we? Panto king: The choreographer - who is playing the villain Abanazar in the Cambridge Arts Theatre's production of Aladdin this Christmas - chatted about his favourite roles 'But if something goes wrong, like I had a watch once and the watch fell off, we kept it in the show every night. Anything that goes wrong that works we keep in.' Wayne spoke about his friendship with the late Freddie Mercury in the light of the new Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. He also sent his well-wishes for pal Noel Edmonds, who has just entered the I'm A Cebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! jungle. Biffy Clyro drummer Ben Johnston has laughed off Nick Knowles' stories about how the rock group 'jammed' with the DIY:SOS presenter on a roof in Soho, leading to Nick landing a record deal. The TV presenter hadn't been in the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! jungle for 24 hours before he began spinning yarns about impressing the group with his musical talents - a story that has since led to him topping the iTunes charts this week. Ben called into Greg James' Breakfast Show on Radio 1 on Thursday morning to set the record straight. Fast and loose: Biffy Clyro drummer Ben Johnston [R] has laughed off Nick Knowles' [L] stories about how the rock group 'jammed' with the DIY:SOS presenter on a roof in Soho, leading to Nick landing a record deal After @MrNickKnowles claimed on #ImACeleb that @BiffyClyro started his music career we thought we'd find out their side of the story @gregjames spoke to Ben from the band and it turns out not all is as it seems... pic.twitter.com/ve5bLBTEIc BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) November 22, 2018 He told the radio host: 'I think he was being a bit fast and loose with the truth there. It wasnt quite the Kumbaya situation he made it out to be.' He explained: 'We were at the same party in Soho after an awards ceremony and Nick bought a bottle of champagne. There might have a been a guitar there but I dont know. 'I wont say a bad word against him hes a nice guy but it wasnt quite like that.' Greg then suggested Nick support Ben's band on their next tour, which Ben agreed was a good idea. Star caller: Ben called into Greg James' Breakfast Show on Radio 1 on Thursday morning to set the record straight Shock rise: The TV presenter hadn't been in the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! jungle for 24 hours before he began spinning yarns about impressing the group with his musical talents - a story that has since led to him topping the iTunes charts this week 'Yeah he could put up and take down the stage with his DIY skills,' he joked. Biffy Clyro seemed to encourage the rumours before Ben's appearance on Radio 1. After Holly Willoughby and Declan Donnelly suggested the nation get '#BiffyClyroNotEmbarrassedTheyJammedWithNickKnowles' trending, the band were quick to tweet with the hashtag. Nick originally dropped the band's name when he told campmate Emily Atack: 'I've always played, my brother's a really good musician and I've always played along with him and a couple of years ago. His version: Ben [L] told Greg, 'I think he was being a bit fast and loose with the truth there. It wasnt quite the Kumbaya situation he made it out to be' [pictured with bandmates Simon Neil and James Johnston] Number one: Nick's song topped the iTunes download charts on Wednesday 'Somebody heard me, I was playing on a rooftop bar in Soho with some other bands... it was Biffy Clyro. 'Somebody from a record company saw me doing it and I got a phone call saying, "I'm from Universal, want to do an album?"' While one breakfast show was doing it's bit to sabotage Nick's music career, another was championing it. Chris Moyles spearheaded a campaign on Radio X to get crooner Nick in the charts, which lead to his single, Make You Feel My Love, overtaking the likes of Cheryl, Lady Gaga and P!nk on Wednesday. Kind: Nick's generosity in giving autistic campmate Anne Hegerty, 60, his pillow in the jungle, also won him an army of new fans When Nick was at the top of the charts on Wednesday, Cheryl was perched at number 11 on iTunes. P!nk sat at number two, while Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's Shallow dropped down to position four after weeks of success. But not everyone's a fan. Last year, Noel Gallagher slammed Nick's singing skills in an interview with Alan Carr's Chatty Man which aired on Christmas day. He said: 'My delivery is better than that. I don't sound like I'm having a stroke when I'm singing it.' Lagging behind: Cheryl currently sits at number 11 in the same chart despite lots of hype Popular: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's Shallow has dropped down to position four after weeks of success Joining in on the digs, boisterous Chatty Man host Alan, added: 'His delivery was less album, more audiobook.' Of his move into singing, Nick told MailOnline last year: 'I used to be the guitarist at school in a band but it was never going to turn into a career. 'And then I started to do acting. That then led to TV work - mostly factual and news stuff. So I was busy trying to build a TV career. 'But with my TV work I went to Australia and Africa and I took my guitar with me, to the ass-end of nowhere. I was always playing. It kept the wildlife awake.' DIY make-up: Nick had an interesting look to promote his music back in 1996 Getting wiggy with it: A red hairpiece and backing dancers was all Nick needed back in the day In his younger days, Nick also hosted gigs on Friday nights in one of the rooms of a local pub in London, when people leaving the West End shows would come and watch afterwards. He continued: 'Music has always played a big part of my life,' he said. 'With DIY:SOS, we are always away on location. So I'd take my guitar and whoever's on location with me, I'll play for them. We have had some great nights.' 'I didn't seek this path, it found me really,' he said. 'Im a story teller. I write scripts too. I have written a movie that toured around the world. These are all creative areas. 'It's a very British thing to stay in lanes. I got a tweet from a teacher about why I'm moving into music, and I was like "are you going to teach your students to only ever do one thing with their lives".' His new single, Make You Feel My Love, he thinks compliments his deep voice, and 'raised eyebrows' because he'd chosen to cover an Adele track. 'Actually it was written by Bob Dylan,' he said. 'So it was written for a male voice.' Olivia Munn has hilariously called out a pilot, after learning he failed to ask her for a photo at his wife's request. Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the actress, 38, shared screenshots of a text exchange between the married couple fan-girling over her being onboard the pilot's flight. He had told his wife he'd seen Olivia, but couldn't quite muster up the courage to ask her for a picture together, prompting the X-Men: Apocalypse star to reach out to the pair on social media. Amusing: Olivia Munn has hilariously called out a pilot, after learning he failed to ask her for a photo at his wife's request In the screenshots, the pilot can be seen telling his wife that Olivia is on his flight, with his wife then urging him to take a snap with the star or she wouldn't believe that he had seen Olivia. Her husband wasn't so keen on tracking down the actress for a snap, telling his wife he 'didn't know what to say' to Olivia, as he sent her a selfie of him looking nervous at the thought of approaching the famous face. His wife's reply read: 'Just say 'hey my wife is a big fan' that way you don't look like a creep lol,' before adding: 'Invite her to see the cockpit.' Hilarious: The actress, 38, shared screenshots of a text exchange between the married couple fan-girling over her being onboard the pilot's flight Missed his chance: The pilot was later publicly called out by Olivia as she shared the text exchange, penning across it: 'Adam!! You never asked for a pic, but I definitely would've taken one with you!' If only! It then came to light that the pilot was so nervous to approach Olivia as she is his 'free pass' celebrity crush The pilot assured his wife that he would try his best, but was later publicly called out by Olivia as she shared the text exchange, penning across it: 'Adam!! You never asked for a pic, but I definitely would've taken one with you! Thanks for the safe flight. Happy Thanksgiving.' Olivia shared another screenshot of a tweet the wife had posted sharing her messages with her husband with The Ellen DeGeneres Show's Twitter account. She revealed her husband had freaked out at seeing Olivia as she was his 'free pass celebrity crush'. The wife tagged Olivia into the post and wrote: 'My pilot husband's "free pass" celebrity crush was on his flight last night and he froze,' adding a slew of crying emojis. Olivia responded: 'Omg this is the cutest.' Vocal: The amusing exchange comes after Olivia has been using her platform to raise awareness for the #MeToo movement The amusing exchange comes after Olivia has been using her platform to raise awareness for the #MeToo movement - recently declaring that she will continue to speak up, even if it hurts her career. She made the statement in an interview for Cosmopolitan's December issue, as she called for a change in Hollywood to abolish the 'unfair stigma' surrounding women. It comes after she fought to have her former co-star Steven Wilder Striegel - a registered sex offender - removed from new movie The Predator and bravely spoke out about disgraced director Brett Ratner, accusing him of sexual harassment. The #MeToo movement has garnered much attention since last year, after famed Hollywood director Harvey Weinstein was faced with multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Determined: She declared she will continue to speak up, even if it hurts her career - as she called for a change in Hollywood to abolish the 'unfair stigma' surrounding women Many of Hollywood's leading ladies have come forward, recalling their own experience with sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace, as part of the wide-spread campaign across social media to raise awareness. And having her say, Olivia has been vocal in her crusade to speak out against the unequal power at play in the movie industry. She told the publication: 'I'm not for sale... if speaking up costs me my career, I don't want it anyway.' Olivia fought to have actor Striegel removed from movie The Predator after discovering he was a registered sex offender. Striegel spent six months in prison in 2010 after pleading guilty to risk of injury to a child and enticing a minor by computer. He was accused of attempting to lure a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship. Striegel's scenes from The Predator were removed, following pressure from Munn on Warner Bros bosses, and she claimed following the decision, director Shane Black - who had been a friend of Striegel - 'has not spoken to her since'. The victim of the actor has since publicly thanked Olivia for 'standing up for her'. She tweeted: 'I am also eternally grateful for Olivia Munns action. She spoke up for me. She took a stance for me. In turn she stood for all who have suffered like I have. 'To be acknowledged by a stranger, on a public platform about this issue is incredibly empowering. The positive feedback from social media towards Olivia Munn is uplifting and feels incredibly supportive for me personally. 'I have no shame for what was done to me. I am not the one who needs to carry that shame. My name is Paige Carnes, former Jane Doe. I hope anyone who has suffered like I have regains their voice and their humanity.' Olivia replied telling the girl she had been an 'inspiration' and thanked her for her 'courage' and 'fearlessness'. He's already expected to ruffle feathers when he finally arrives in camp on Thursday. And John Barrowman's husband Scott Gill has hinted the larger-than-life actor will clash with new arrival Noel Edmonds on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, as he rang into spin-off Extra Camp on Wednesday night. Speaking about his spouse, Scott hinted that the person most likely to rile up John is yet to enter the jungle, as Noel prepares to join the camp as their leader and Emperor. At odds: John Barrowman's husband has hinted that the actor will clash with new arrival Noel Edmonds on I'm A Celebrity, as the presenter is set to enter the jungle on Thursday Scott - who married John in 2013 after 20 years together - spoke to hosts Joel Dommett and Scarlett Moffatt about the Doctor Who star's time in camp so far, saying he's surprised how well he's taken to the camping side of things. But the British architect then hinted that John will butt heads with Noel after he arrives in jungle, especially as the veteran presenter will expected to stir up the drama. Asked whether there's anyone in camp that will irritate John, he said: 'Not yet. I think there may soon be. 'I don't know but I think he's really liking the balance of people in there, they're all meshing really well. When you throw something new into the mix it's always gonna stir, I don't know how he's gonna react to that.' Controversial: John's husband Scott rang into sister show Extra Camp, where he hinted that the person most likely to irritate the Doctor Who star is yet to enter the jungle Explosive: Fans will see Noel's dramatic arrival in the jungle on Thursday night, as he takes on the role of jungle emperor Scott added: 'Noel's a big character, so there is the possibility they're gonna clash which makes for great telly! Sit back and see what happens.' Fans will see Noel's dramatic arrival in the jungle on Thursday night, as he takes on the role of jungle emperor, pitting the other ten celebrities against each other as gladiators. The 69-year-old legendary entertainer was confirmed as this year's late arrival on Tuesday, with bosses reportedly offering a 600,000 salary to sign him. Glamorous: It comes as 2017 jungle champion Georgia Toffolo was on Thursday's This Morning to provide all the latest jungle gossip It comes as 2017 jungle champion Georgia Toffolo was on Thursday's This Morning to provide all the latest jungle gossip. The ex-Made In Chelsea star showed off her quirky sense of style in a silky cream ruffled blouse and gold snake necklace, teamed with skinny blue jeans and jeweled slippers. With her blonde hair in effortless curls, Georgia showed off her pretty complexion in au naturelle makeup as she gave hosts Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes the I'm A Celebrity news. Darryn Lyons has raised fresh doubts about the official details of the death of Princess Diana, saying he has 'huge questions' about what happened in the infamous Paris car crash. The former king of the paparazzi told The Daily Telegraph that the official account of her tragic 1997 accident, 'isn't necessarily the truth.' The 53-year-old told the paper: 'Everyone says it was a tragic accident... some very strange things happened that night and I was a part of many of the strange things that happened that night.' 'I was a part of many of the strange things that happened that night': Photographer Darryn Lyons (pictured) says the official details of Princess Diana's death aren't 'necessarily the truth' The former head of Big Pictures photo agency, which used paparazzi photos said he 'fears' what he makes public as he went through some 'some very funny things' after Diana's passing. However Darryn admits he has 'no proof that the Princess of Wales was murdered'. 'I don't think we'll ever get to the bottom of the truth of the story. I don't even think her sons know .... they would have been told the story but it isn't necessarily the truth,' he said. The flamboyant photographer said the princess' death was the 'most traumatic' moment in his life, in his column in The Geelong Advertiser. Claims: The infamous paparazzo has told The Daily Telegraph that the official account of her tragic 1997 accident, 'isn't necessarily the truth'. He goes on to say he 'fears' for what he says as he went through some 'some very funny things' during his involvement after Diana's passing He claims 'hell broke loose' after the 1997 crash in a Paris road tunnel which left photographers locked up, offices raided and papers were seized. 'I feel lucky I wasn't killed in all the cloak-and-dagger stuff that was going on at the time,' he wrote. 'There were death threats against me, and my staff were abused on the street. The aggression shocked me.' The 53-year-old said: 'Everyone says it was a tragic accident... some very strange things happened that night and I was a part of many of the strange things that happened that night'. Pictured in 1996 Darryn, who was accused of selling photos of dead Princess Diana through his company Big Pictures, said his office was raided and his phone lines were tapped. The situation escalated when the former mayor of Geelong, Victoria, heard a ticking noise believed to be an explosive device in his office which had no power but surrounding buildings did. Princess Diana suffered fatal injuries and died along with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and her driver and security guard Henri Paul on August 31, 1997. Tragic: Princess Diana suffered fatal injuries and died along with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and her driver and security guard Henri Paul on August 31, 1997. Pictured: Aftermath of the accident 1997 Controversy: Darryn, who was accused of selling photos of dead Princess Diana through his company Big Pictures, said his office was raided and his phone lines were tapped. Pictured: Aftermath of the accident 1997 No evidence: Darryn admits he has 'no proof that the Princess of Wales was murdered'. Pictured in 1987 An inquest, which Darryn gave evidence in, was held in London and ended in 2008. It found Princess Diana died unlawfully, blaming negligent driving by Henri Paul affected by paparazzi, which contributed to the crash. Darryn's photographer in Paris, Laurent Sola, took photos of the late princess dead in her car, which he still owns. However the gallery owner said he has not sold the photos and never will despite once being offered a quarter of a million pounds ($444K AUD) by British and American news publications. Holding on: Darryn's photographer in Paris, Laurent Sola, took photos of the late princess dead in her car, which he still owns. However the gallery owner said he has not sold the photos and never will. Pictured: Darryn Lyons Princess Diana's final days Who was really responsible for Princess Diana's death? Seven conspiracy theories Everything you need to know about Princess Diana's funeral He spent his summer in Portofino shooting scenes for the new Netflix comedy Murder Mystery. And Luke Evans revealed on Thursday's Lorraine that he spent the time eating 'a lot of good pasta' with his co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in the idyllic Italy location. The Beauty and the Beast actor, 39, admitted that he had the 'best summer ever' as he filmed Murder Mystery with the Friends actress, 49, and Big Daddy actor, 52. Fun times: Luke Evans revealed on Thursday's Lorraine that he spent the time eating 'a lot of good pasta' with his co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in the idyllic Italy location He said: 'I was in Italy last summer, I basically had the best summer ever because I did a movie with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston who are awesome. 'We had the most glamorous locations I have ever worked on. It was amazing!' Lorraine went on to ask if the stars 'guzzled' a lot of delicious pasta during their summer in Italy. Idyllic summer: The Beauty and the Beast actor, 39, admitted that he had the 'best summer ever' as he filmed Murder Mystery with the Friends actress, 49 (pictured), and Big Daddy actor, 52 Glamorous: He said: 'I was in Italy last summer, I basically had the best summer ever because I did a movie with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston who are awesome.' To which Luke revealed: 'We did. We had many evenings in our very beautiful hotel in Portofino where we ate a lot of good pasta. I didn't want it to end!' In Murder Mystery, Jennifer and Adam play a New York-based couple who are eyed in the killing of an older billionaire in Europe. James Vanderbilt wrote the script, and Kyle Newacheck of Workaholics fame directed, according to Variety. Netflix stardom: In Murder Mystery, Jennifer and Adam (pictured) play a New York-based couple who are eyed in the killing of an older billionaire in Europe Talented: James Vanderbilt wrote the script, and Kyle Newacheck of Workaholics fame directed, according to Variety Jennifer and Adam previously appeared in the 2011 romantic comedy Just Go With It, this will be the actress' first movie with Netflix. As well as Luke joining the duo in the star-studded cast, David Walliams and Gemma Arterton also have cameos in the film. There is no set release date for Murder Mystery just yet, but it is expected to be released at some point in 2019. She recently hit back at tabloid claims of a feud between her and Fixer Upper star Joanna Gaines. And Christina El Moussa was all smiles as she was back on set filming her HGTV series, alongside ex-husband Tarek. The now-divorced pair were spotted in Anaheim Hills, California, on Wednesday, filming Flip or Flop. Shaking off feud claims: Christina El Moussa was all smiles as she was back on set filming her HGTV series The blonde beauty looked ready for action in a grey peplum top, which made the most of her curves. She showcased her slender legs in skintight blue jeans, and added extra inches with stacked ankle boots. Christina - who is now dating British former policeman Ant Anstead, 39 - looked delighted to be back on set as she displayed a giant grin. Still colleagues: She was spotted alongside ex-husband Tarek in Anaheim Hills, California, on Wednesday, filming Flip or Flop To keep up the glamour, she covered her eyes with oversized dark glasses. The star recently hit back at tabloids for fabricating fake a 'beef' story against fellow HGTV star Joanna Gaines. The supposed clash came after it was announced that Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip Gaines are launching their own network with Discovery, which owns HGTV. Blonde beauty: To keep up the glamour, she covered her eyes with oversized dark glasses El Moussa, 35, didn't pull any punches regarding the InTouch report, opening a recent Instagram post with, 'What a load of bulls**t.' 'Ive never commented on a tabloid EVER (and have swallowed a load of s**t from these tabloids),' she said, adding that what the tabloid did, 'is disgusting.' 'I have always been a huge supporter of female entrepreneurs... #girlboss is my motto,' El Moussa added. 'Nothing but respect for @joannagaines,' she concluded, along with the heart emoji and #goodvibesonly hashtag. Good vibes only: The Instagram post also included a photo from the original tabloid report, which featured an 'insider' who claimed that, 'Christina can't help feeling out-shined by Joanna, especially now that she's getting her own network' No feud: News of this supposed feud came after it was announced that Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip Gaines (pictured in October) are launching their own network with Discovery, which owns HGTV El Moussa tagged Gaines in her Instagram post, but Gaines has not yet responded publicly to El Moussa's post. The Instagram post also included a photo from the original tabloid report, which featured an 'insider' who claimed that, 'Christina can't help feeling out-shined by Joanna, especially now that she's getting her own network.' Christina still hosts Flip or Flop with her ex-husband Tarek El Moussa, and also will be going solo with her new spin-off Christina on the Coast. Christina and Tarek married in 2009, and have two kids together, eight year old daughter Taylor and three year old son Brayden. The couple split in 2017 citing irreconcilable differences, following a 2016 incident where Tarek fled their home with a gun, and finalized their divorce in January this year. Christina has been dating British TV presenter Ant Anstead since November 2017. She managed to avoid an awkward run-in with her ex-boyfriend Sam Bird at the reality star-studded event. Yet Georgia Steel appeared to have an animated conversation with her former co-star Adam Collard after his girlfriend Zara McDermott's Lasula clothing launch on Wednesday night. The Love Island stars, aged 20 and 23, seemed to be having an intense chat as the brunette beauty had her arms folded and stared down to the floor as they waited outside with friends. Busy bee: Georgia Steel appeared to have an animated conversation with her former co-star Adam Collard after his girlfriend Zara McDermott's Lasula clothing launch on Wednesday night Yet there's nothing to suggest that things were heated between the pair as Georgia appeared to say goodbye to Adam and hugged one of her friends goodbye later in the evening. MailOnline has contacted both Georgia and Adam's representatives for comment. The brunette beauty looked effortlessly chic for the event, as well as the Winter Wonderland launch which she also attended on the same night. Georgia wore a black and white polka dot dress with a pair of leather looking thigh-high heel boots, a tailored camel coat and Burberry scarf. Intense catch up: The Love Island stars, aged 20 and 23, seemed to be having an intense chat as the brunette beauty had her arms folded and stared down to the floor Awkward: Earlier in the evening, she managed to avoid an awkward run-in with her ex-boyfriend Sam Bird at the reality star-studded event Pals: Yet there's nothing to suggest that things were heated between the pair as Georgia appeared to say goodbye to Adam and hugged one of her friends goodbye later in the evening The former barmaid styled her glossy brunette locks into her signature half back hairdo, she added a slick of glamorous make-up. Just last month, Georgia split from her boyfriend Sam Bird after meeting in the 2018 Love Island villa over the summer. However, the pair confirmed their split in October, with Georgia insisting she is a 'happy single pringle' in the weeks that followed. The 'loyal' reality star confessed she's enjoying living alone and working on her career in the weeks after her relationship with Sam came to an end. Chic: The brunette beauty looked effortlessly chic for the event, as well as the Winter Wonderland launch which she also attended on the same night Stylish: Georgia wore a black and white polka dot dress with a pair of leather looking thigh-high heel boots, a tailored camel coat and Burberry scarf Signature hairdo: The former barmaid styled her glossy brunette locks into her signature half back hairdo, she added a slick of glamorous make-up Georgia hit headlines when Sam claimed he broke off his relationship with her after finding a secret selfie of her in bed with her ex-boyfriend - although she staunchly denied the shock claims. Sam claimed his suspicions were aroused after Georgia didn't return home from a PA, and went onto find secret messages to her ex on her phone. It comes after Georgia exclusively told MailOnline she did spend the night at her ex's but in the spare room, confessing she felt 'trapped' in their relationship and only stayed with Sam to prove a point to the public. Georgia said she fell out of love with Sam and that led to the split, admitting that she stayed in the 'loveless' relationship just to prove a point to the public. Heartbreak: Just last month, Georgia split from her boyfriend Sam Bird after meeting in the 2018 Love Island villa over the summer Not meant to be: However, the pair confirmed their split in October, with Georgia insisting she is a 'happy single pringle' in the weeks that followed She said: 'There was NO third party involved in the break up between him and I. Sam thinks I cheated because he went through my phone and threatened to sell the screenshots to the press. 'He read and took screen shots of banter I had between me and my best mate. The banter was about my ex boyfriend from which he's then put two and two together and come up with an imaginary scenario.' Meanwhile, Adam and Zara's romance has gone from strength-to-strength since leaving the villa over the summer, with the two recently enjoying a romantic holiday in the Bahamas. Care-free: The 'loyal' reality star confessed she's enjoying living alone and working on her career in the weeks after her relationship with Sam came to an end Reports: Georgia hit headlines when Sam claimed he broke off his relationship with her after finding a secret selfie of her in bed with her ex-boyfriend - something she denies High profile split: Sam claimed his suspicions were aroused after Georgia didn't return home from a PA, and went onto find secret messages to her ex on her phone The duo are just one of four couples that have remained together since leaving Love Island, with a collection of their co-stars splitting. Samira Mighty and Frankie Foster finished after a video of the hunk smooching a mystery brunette in a Kent club emerged. Ellie Brown was said to have found out Charlie Brake was putting an end to their romance when he made a public statement on social media. It's over: It comes after Georgia exclusively told MailOnline she did spend the night at her ex's but in the spare room, confessing she felt 'trapped' in their relationship (Georgia and Sam pictured together in September) Paul Knops claimed Laura Anderson wasn't wife material and he stressed the pair were never exclusive when he decided to break things off with her. Laura Crane and Jack Fowler had a low-key break up following their departure from the Love Island villa just days before the final. While Sam claimed to have discovered a picture of Georgia in bed with her ex-boyfriend and the 'heartbroken' star terminated their love affair. Smitten: Meanwhile, Adam and Zara's romance has gone from strength-to-strength since leaving the villa over the summer His husband hinted that he will clash with new arrival Noel Edmonds as he rang into spin-off Extra Camp on Wednesday night. And that prediction seemed to be coming true for John Barrowman as he endured an awkward encounter with the presenting legend on Thursday's episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! The former Deal or No Deal host, 69, invoked the ire of actor John, 51, on his first day in the camp, as the 'emperor' accused him of scratching his groin as he delegated campmates duties. Fuming: John Barrowman (L) came to blows with Noel Edmonds on Thursday's episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Noel had already ruffled feathers with his late arrival into the camp, with the star appointed Emperor and setting his fellow campmates to work in a Roman gladiators inspired challenge. After John stood up to ask Noel a question, the star asked John not to scratch his groin when he spoke to him. An incensed John said he wasn't scratching his groin and was not impressed with the comment. Talking later in the Bush Telegraph, John let rip at Noel, after his sensational late arrival into the jungle. Oh dear: The former Deal or No Deal host, 69, invoked the ire of actor John, 51, on his first day in the camp, as the 'emperor' accused him of scratching his groin as he delegated campmates duties Rage: After John stood up to ask Noel a question, the star asked John not to scratch his groin when he spoke to him. An incensed John said he wasn't scratching his groin and was not impressed with the comment He said: 'I know he was trying to make a joke and be funny but it didn't land well with me and for that moment I'm probably being overly sensitive and it's at this exact time that my husband would say I need a sandwich. 'It's not his fault and I'm an adult, I know that, it was just that moment and some of us are feeling 'arhhh'.' This comes after John's husband Scott Gill hinted that the person most likely to rile up John will be the ex Noel's House Party host. 'Didn't land well with me': Talking later in the Bush Telegraph, John let rip at Noel, after his sensational late arrival into the jungle At odds:This comes after John's husband Scott Gill hinted that the person most likely to rile up John will be the ex Noel's House Party host Scott - who married John in 2013 after 20 years together - spoke to hosts Joel Dommett and Scarlett Moffatt about the Doctor Who star's time in camp so far, saying he's surprised how well he's taken to the camping side of things. But the British architect then hinted that John will butt heads with Noel after he arrives in jungle, especially as the veteran presenter will expected to stir up the drama. Asked whether there's anyone in camp that will irritate John, he said: 'Not yet. I think there may soon be. 'I don't know but I think he's really liking the balance of people in there, they're all meshing really well. When you throw something new into the mix it's always gonna stir, I don't know how he's gonna react to that.' Controversial: John's husband Scott rang into sister show Extra Camp, where he hinted that the person most likely to irritate the Doctor Who star is yet to enter the jungle Explosive: Fans will see Noel's dramatic arrival in the jungle on Thursday night, as he takes on the role of jungle emperor Scott added: 'Noel's a big character, so there is the possibility they're gonna clash which makes for great telly! Sit back and see what happens.' Fans will see Noel's dramatic arrival in the jungle on Thursday night, as he takes on the role of jungle emperor, pitting the other ten celebrities against each other as gladiators. The 69-year-old legendary entertainer was confirmed as this year's late arrival on Tuesday, with bosses reportedly offering a 600,000 salary to sign him. Glamorous: It comes as 2017 jungle champion Georgia Toffolo was on Thursday's This Morning to provide all the latest jungle gossip It comes as 2017 jungle champion Georgia Toffolo was on Thursday's This Morning to provide all the latest jungle gossip. The ex-Made In Chelsea star showed off her quirky sense of style in a silky cream ruffled blouse and gold snake necklace, teamed with skinny blue jeans and jeweled slippers. With her blonde hair in effortless curls, Georgia showed off her pretty complexion in au naturelle makeup as she gave hosts Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes the I'm A Celebrity news. Eve Hewson revealed a policeman once looked up her skirt while she filmed a sex scene in a candid interview with Story + Rain. The daughter of U2 star Bono and activist Ali Hewson touched on how the #MeToo movement impacted her past experiences in the acting industry, insisting that she now has the power to 'speak up'. Recalling the shocking incident, the Robin Hood actress, 27, said: 'I had to do a sex scene once outside in a car and like the policeman was there to help us film. He kept like walking into the shot and looking up my skirt. Shock: Eve Hewson revealed a policeman once looked up her skirt while she filmed a sex scene in an interview with Story + Rain 'After a while I got out of the car and went up to him and said, I know what youre doing, I see what youre doing! 'Ive been on set where crew members say things to you, whisper in your ear, follow you around', she shared. MeToo is a social media movement against sexual harassment which grew following a wave of allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Candid: The daughter of U2 star Bono and activist Ali Hewson touched on how the #MeToo movement impacted her past experiences in the acting industry, insisting that she now has the power to 'speak up' (pictured in Robin Hood with Taron Egerton) Before the movement, Eve admitted she used to 'brush off' situations while filming on set, but now feels like she's gained 'the power and needs to speak up'. 'Im over it and now I feel like I not only have the power to speak up but I need to speak up'. Meanwhile, the Paper Year actress stars in Robin Hood as Marion, the protagonist's love interest and girlfriend of Will Tillman. Speaking up: 'After a while I got out of the car and went up to him and said, I know what youre doing, I see what youre doing!', the screen star recalled on the shocking incident Robin Hood tells the timeless story which charts a legendary heroic outlaw and his Moorish commander rising against the corrupt English crown. Taron Egerton takes on the leading role as the infamous Robin Hood, Jamie Foxx plays his mentor Little John and Jamie Dornan stars as Hood's half-brother Will. This is the latest incarnation of the character who derives from folklore, following on the back of a dark adaptation with Russell Crowe in 2010. Before that came the version of the tale with Kevin Costner but by far the most famous version is Walt Disney's animated 1973 flick. Honest: Before the movement, Eve admitted she used to 'brush off' situations while filming on set, but now feels like she's gained 'the power and needs to speak up' Eve is the second eldest child of Bono, 58, and Ali, 57, who also share daughter Jordan, 29, and sons Elijah, 19, and John, 18. Although having a rockstar as a father has its advantages, Eve previously told the Toronto Star that it's been 'hard' for her to establish herself from out of his shadow. She shared: 'Its been hard for me to establish myself independent from him, but I do think your work kind of speaks for itself. People respond to you. That all sort of fades away. 'Im hoping that happens with Paper Year and with the next few movies that come out.' Famous family: Eve is the second eldest child of Bono, 58 (second from left), and Ali, 57 (left), who also share daughter Jordan, 29 (far right), and sons Elijah, 19, and John, 18 (pictured together in November 2016) He's played the muscular ripped Wolverine character for 18 years. And Hugh Jackman, 50, looked as fit as ever this week amid speculation he could reprise his role as the Marvel superhero. Spotted leaving his New York condo on Wednesday, it's believed The Greatest Showman star was hitting the road for Thanksgiving celebrations with his family. Hollywood appeal! Hugh Jackman, 50, looks as buff as ever as he leaves New York to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family... amid speculation he could reprise Wolverine The father of two cut a casual figure in jeans, a black T-shirt and a navy jumper zipped up over his buff frame. Looking every bit the Hollywood star, Hugh added to his look with stylish shades, boots and a luxury watch. Hugh was joined by his wife Deborra-lee Furness and their two children - son Oscar, 18, and daughter Ava, 13. Family man: Hugh was joined by his wife Deborra-lee Furness, 62, and their two children - son Oscar, 18, and daughter Ava, 13 Keeping it cosy! Looking chic in an all-black ensemble, Hugh's wife Deborrah-Lee wore loose-fit trackpants and a jumper, while holding a puffer jacket Hugh's wife Deborrah-Lee, 62, who he married in 1996, kept cosy in multiple layers as she left the condominium. Looking chic in an all-black ensemble, she wore loose-fit trackpants and a jumper, while holding a puffer jacket. Despite a suited male flanking the group from the door to their car, Hugh appeared hands on while packing the vehicle for their trip. 'Oh, Wolverine will be back': The sighting comes after Hugh promised Sunday Today that his is iconic long-running character Wolverine will return to the big screen The sighting comes after Hugh promised Sunday Today that his is iconic long-running character Wolverine will return to the big screen. However, he refused to work with the 'relentless' Ryan Reynolds on a movie encompassing both his character Wolverine and his pal's screen alter ego Deadpool. Confident on Wolverine's comeback, he told TV host Willie Geist: 'Oh, Wolverine will be back. Someones going to buy him, I dont know.' Hugh put on Wolverine's claws for the first time when he landed his breakthrough role in The X Men franchise in 2000. Over the last 18 years, the Hollywood actor went onto reprise the role for the follow-up films in the superhero franchise as well as the Wolverine spin-off movies. Vicky Pattison was left heartbroken earlier this month when her fiance John Noble was caught partying with a bevy of beauties during a lads' trip to Dubai. But the reality star, 31, put on a brave face as she stepped out in London to celebrate the festive season on Thursday evening. The beauty was dressed to impress as she showcased her svelte legs in a pair of sleek black trousers. Strong: Vicky Pattison put on a brave face as she stepped out in London on Thursday... after it was revealed that she and fiance John Noble started filming a reality wedding special Vicky added a pop of colour to her ensemble with a red, white and black printed top, while she boosted her height in red pointed heels. She styled her brunette locks into sleek waves and accentuated her features with a glamorous palette of make-up. Looking good: The beauty was dressed to impress as she showcased her svelte legs in a pair of sleek black trousers which she paired with red stiletto heels Glamorous: Vicky styled her brunette locks into sleek waves Her outing comes after it was exclusively revealed to MailOnline that Vicky and John had kicked off filming a special bridal programme ahead of their nuptials and before John's betrayal. After scooping the show to follow their journey to the big day, the couple had begun filming just two days before John embarked of his fateful holiday - however insiders have now revealed brave Vicky will continue filming to show 'her next chapter'. Vicky and John were first pictured together in the X Factor audience in October 2016, having already dated 10 years previously, when she was just 20. Heartache: Vicky was left heartbroken earlier this month when her fiance John Noble was caught partying with a bevy of beauties during a lads' trip to Dubai After confirming their romance in November 2016, they went on to announce their engagement in July last year, when Vicky proudly flaunted her 3.6-carat marquise-cut diamond engagement ring before easing herself into wedding planning. Despite the fairy-tale aspects of their romance, sadly things came crashing down earlier this month when John was exposed for his love rat ways when a number of images and videos came to light showing her beau mingling with other revellers. To add to her heartache, the betrayal will see the end of the wedding lead-up show however it has been revealed she will tackle the programme solo. Moving on: She pulled a sultry pose on Instagram as she moved on from her drama Lights, camera, action: It has now been exclusively revealed to MailOnline that the couple had kicked off filming a special bridal programme ahead of their nuptials and before John's betrayal (pictured on Wednesday with camera crews in tow) Shock: John was pictiured with host of images following a trip to Dubai - which left Vicky heartbroken Insiders told MailOnline: 'Vicky and John had a wedding special confirmed and started filming just a few days before John went on the boys' trip to Dubai. 'Obviously it was devastating for Vicky to have all this come out just after they started shooting. Vicky has decided to carry on filming with the crew. She's a professional and didn't want to let anyone down. 'It goes without saying it won't be a wedding show, but will follow Vicky on the next chapter as she bounces back from John's betrayal. She was excited to be starting wedding planning and looking at venues, but life has changed now.' Loved-up: After confirming their romance in November 2016, they went on to announce their engagement in July last year, when Vicky proudly flaunted her 3.6-carat marquise-cut diamond engagement ring before easing herself into wedding planning Shocking: Vicky and John frequently enjoyed public displays of affection, meaning their woes will be further shocking to fans (picture at Wimbledon in July last year) Vicky and John's ill-fated romance Around 2008: Vicky and John first enjoyed a brief romance October 2016: The couple were spotted together at The X Factor sparking romance rumours November 2016: After joining Vicky in Australia during her I'm A Celeb commitments, the couple confirmed their romance July 2017: The couple confirmed their romance with a dramatic magazine spread where Vicky flashed her 3.6-carat marquise-cut engagement ring January 2018: Vicky revealed she had postponed their wedding 'by a year or two' as she 'wasn't ready to be a wife' despite having planned a lavish 175,000 ceremony this summer November 2018: Images surfaced of John getting close to a bevy of women during a trip to Dubai, throwing the furture of their romance into question Advertisement Vicky also scooped a number of other wedding-themed projects. Prior to John's Dubai trip, Vicky had launched her inaugural bridal column with The Sun, while she also created an Instagram page to follow her body transformation ahead of the big day. The page, Vicky's Bridal Bod has not been used since November 8, just two days before the imagery of John partying with other women was unearthed. Additionally, Vicky appeared on TLC's Say Yes To The Dress last year in a bid to find her perfect gown for the big day that never was. John's betrayal was not the first time the couple's romance was dragged to a halt as in January Vicky confessed she has postponed her wedding by up to two years because she doesn't feel 'ready to be a wife'. She revealed her plans to tie the knot in a lavish 175,000 ceremony this summer, yet told OK! magazine she and John did not leave enough time to plan their perfect nuptials, and so have decided to delay the proceedings by 'a year or two'. Pain: After scooping the show to follow their journey to the big day, the couple had began filming just two days before John embarked of his fateful holiday - however insiders have now revealed brave Vicky will continue filming to show 'her next chapter' Shocking: Following this, Vicky's best friend Paul Burns passed away aged 37 in June, leading to the star confessing her grief was preventing her desire to walk down the aisle Following this, Vicky's best friend Paul Burns passed away aged 37 in June, leading to the star confessing her grief was preventing her desire to walk down the aisle. She revealed she had to push back her wedding by a year after Paul's shock death and her fiance John's grandparents suddenly passed away. Prior to the Dubai incident, Vicky told MailOnline: 'John has been an amazing support for me, after our summer, it's been very difficult to enjoy planning a wedding, as you know, it ground to a halt throughout the summer because he lost both his grandparents, I lost a best friend.' He's best known for the role of chimney sweep Bert in the 1964 classic Mary Poppins. But Dick Van Dyke revealed that he had to pay Walt Disney to land a cameo in the original, as the banker Mr. Dawes Sr. The actor - who turns 93 next month - explained in a Special Edition of 20/20 on Thursday, that he had to persuade his film boss to give him the second role in the movie. Financial incentive: Dick Van Dyke revealed that he had to pay Walt Disney to land a cameo in the original, as the banker Mr. Dawes Sr. Speaking to Lin Manuel Miranda - who plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert in forthcoming movie Mary Poppins Returns - Dick told him had to financially persuade Disney to allow him to portray the film's banker, Mr. Dawes Sr., as well as Bert. 'You know, when they made me up as the old man in the old one, I had to go to Walt [Disney] and ask him for the part, he didnt give it to me,' the veteran actor explained. 'I said, "Ill do it for nothing." Actually, I had to give him $4,000 dollars. I had to pay him to do the part,' he recalled. Worth it! Speaking to Lin Manuel Miranda - who plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert in forthcoming movie Mary Poppins Returns - Dick told him had to financially persuade Disney to allow him to portray the film's banker Much loved: He's best known for the role of chimney sweep Bert in the 1964 classic Mary Poppins That's also him! He paid to play a cameo in the original, as the banker Mr. Dawes Sr. 'And Id do it again,' he added. Lin pointed out to the much-loved star that many viewers don't realise he is also the grumpy old banker, who is George Banks' boss. In the upcoming sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, Van Dyke returns to play the son of Mr Dawes Snr. Revelation: The actor - who turns 93 next month - explained in a Special Edition of 20/20 that he had to persuade his film boss to give him the second role in the movie Paid Walt! I had to give him $4,000 dollars. I had to pay him to do the part,' he recalled Excitement: He told Hamilton creator Miranda of his delight of a sequel being created He explained: 'I got excited, of course, that there was going to be one, and, of course, my first question was: "Can I be in it?"' He told Hamilton creator Miranda of his delight of a sequel being created. 'I got excited, of course, that there was going to be one, and, of course, my first question was: "Can I be in it?"' Taking place years after the original, the musical sequel, which is due for release next month, follows the lives of grown-up Jane (Emily Mortimer) and Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw). He's back! In the upcoming sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, Van Dyke returns to play the son of Mr Dawes Snr After the death of Michael's wife, Poppins - played by Emily Blunt - returns to help raise the new generation of Banks children, enlisting help from street lamplighter Jack (Miranda). The Rob Marshall-directed film also stars Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Pixie Davies, Joel Dawson, Nathanael Saleh, Angela Lansbury and David Warner. Mary Poppins Returns: Behind the Magic A Special Edition of 20/20 will air on Thursday, Nov. 22 on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. Dick Van Dyke has four children, and is married to second wife Arlene Silver, 46. The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star has also won five Primetime Emmys, a Tony and a Grammy Award. Kenya Moore has plenty to be thankful for on Thanksgiving, particularly her 'miracle baby' Brooklyn. The Real Housewives of Atlanta star took to Instagram on Thursday to share a new snap of her holding the newborn Brooklyn, who was born premature on November 4. 'Thank God for my miracle baby, my husband and my life,' she said, referring to Brooklyn and her husband Marc Daly. 'When you have faith in Him all things are possible.' Thankful Kenya: Kenya Moore gives thanks for her 'miracle baby' on Thanksgiving 'Happy Thanksgiving from the Dalys,' she added, along with the hashtags #love, #family, #brooklyndaly Brooklyn Doris Daly was born on November 4, weighing 5 lbs. and 12 oz. She was conceived through in vetro fertilization with an emergency C-section after she tested positive for the pregnancy complication preeclampsia. Healthy mom: Brooklyn Doris Daly was born on November 4, weighing 5 lbs. and 12 oz Moore told People in early November that her daughter Brooklyn Doris Daly was named after two important people in her life. 'Brooklyn because thats where we met and fell in love, and Doris after my grandmother who passed away last year and who raised me,' Moore said. She took to Instagram just before the birth, sharing a new photo and a heartfelt message. Happy and healthy: Moore told People in early November that her daughter Brooklyn Doris Daly was named after two important people in her life 'If you want to make God laugh have a plan... won't be long now. Pray for us,' Moore said, adding the hashtag #babydaly #weloveyou #prayers. She also took to Instagram after the birth, thanking People for sharing their story. 'She's so perfect and strong! Marc was incredible in the deliver room,' she said. 'I lost a lot of blood so I'm very weak but they both were strong for me. New mom: She also took to Instagram after the birth, thanking People for sharing their story 'God is so good. We are blessed and doing well,' Moore added. 'My heart is so full at the abundance of love for our family! We love you all,' she concluded. Moore started modeling at just 14 years of age before becoming just the second African-American woman to win the Miss USA pageant in 1992. From sleek red column gowns to sharply-tailored suits, Cate Blanchett is the ultimate sartorial maverick. And the Ocean's 8 actress cemented her style credentials on Thursday evening, as she opted for boy-meets-girl chic while hosting the screening of Cold War at The Soho Hotel in London. The Australian star, 49, put a fresh spin on the androgynous look in a black tuxedo embellished with intricate multi-coloured beading. Looking good: Cate Blanchett, 49, cemented her style credentials on Thursday evening, as she opted for boy-meets-girl chic while hosting the screening of Cold War in London Letting her statement two-piece do all the talking, the Notes On A Scandal actress layered a simple white shirt underneath. Sticking to a monochrome palette, she added height with a vertiginous pair of black stilettos. The Lord Of The Rings star styled her golden tresses in a sleek side-parting and framed her features with smokey eyeshadow and matte, taupe lipstick. She seemed to be in good spirits while posing with Pawel Pawlikowski, who is the director of Cold War - which is a romance set in 1950s Poland. Chic: The Australian star, 49, put a fresh spin on the androgynous look in a black tuxedo embellished with intricate beading (pictured with Cold War director Pawel Pawlikowski) Glam: The Lord Of The Rings star styled her golden tresses in a sleek side-parting and framed her features with smokey eyeshadow and matte, taupe lipstick Meanwhile, two-time Oscar winner Cate has become the latest Hollywood celebrity to switch to TV, signing on to star in the new FX limited series, Mrs America. Created and written by 'Mad Men' co-producer Dahvi Waller, the nine-episode series will feature Blanchett as conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, who led the fight against the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA is a proposed amendment to the US Constitution stating that equal rights may not be denied on the basis of one's sex. Stylish: Letting her statement two-piece do all the talking, the Notes On A Scandal actress layered a simple white shirt underneath (pictured with Pawel and Tanya Seghatchian) The amendment was passed by the US Congress in 1972 but failed to win the backing of enough states. Blanchett joins other Hollywood A-listers who have made the jump to television in recent years, including Meryl Streep, Tom Hardy and Julia Roberts. Elsewhere, Cate recently revealed she goes to her own children for career advice, telling Who magazine she 'seeks their opinions all the time'. Candid: Cate recently revealed she goes to her own children for career advice, telling Who magazine she 'seeks their opinions all the time' The actress shares four kids - Dashiell, 16, Roman, 14, Ignatius, 10, and Edith, four - with her theatre director husband Andrew Upton. 'I seek their opinions all the time. Particularly with a film like [The House with a Clock in Its Walls], you want to know, "Is this something you want to go and see?"' she said. Her eldest son, Dashiell, is 16 and she has apparently learnt a lot from him. 'When I was sent the script, I said to him, "They're going to get Eli Roth to direct this. Isn't he the guy that does all the horror?" And he goes, "Oh my god. You put Eli Roth on an Amblin film? That's combustible",' she revealed. A tech giant whose clients include Telstra, Westpac and Australian governments will expand its workforce by 25 per cent by 2020 despite the nation's IT skills shortage. Indian multinational IT consultancy and services firm Infosys has promised to add 1200 jobs to its 4500-strong workforce, develop three innovation hubs, and forge closer relationships with Australian universities. But it expects only 40 per cent of its new recruits to be Australian university graduates. "Quite frankly, there is a shortage of skilled resources in Australia," Infosys Australia and New Zealand senior vice president Andrew Groth told AAP. He pointed to a 2018 Australian Computer Society report that said the nation needs 20,000 extra IT jobs each year but only turns out 5000 IT graduates. But there is hope for those with non-IT degrees. Mr Groth has maintained a focus on liberal arts graduates, saying their creative minds can ensure IT companies spot problems, not just solve them. "(Especially in hands-on customer roles), you need creativity, you need teamwork, you need curious," he said. "We teach people around design thinking which isn't about problem solving but about problem finding. "There is a shortage of talent and in terms of looking at these graduates, we are going to draw them from different disciplines and give them the training they require." Mr Groth said Infosys and the wider industry had a job to do in piquing young kids' interest in science, technology, engineering and maths. He said the company, whose second-largest market globally is Australia and New Zealand, had a highly rated university internship program and operated a 12-week "finishing school" for hired graduates. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy are set to face off for the second time in 12 hours, with just two days to go to the state election. The major party leaders went head-to-head on Wednesday in front of an audience in Frankston, a marginal seat in Melbourne's outer suburbs, thrashing out issues including policing resources, hospital services and religious freedoms in schools. The pair will meet again on Thursday for a debate hosted by the ABC, where they will hope to sway undecided voters as Saturday's polling day looms. Mr Guy, who has billed himself as the tough-on-crime candidate, offered a rare personal insight during the Sky News event on Wednesday, sharing details of his wife's premature labour. "My wife's waters broke at 27-and-a-bit weeks, with our first (baby). We were interstate," Mr Guy said in response to a moving first question on the availability of neonatal intensive care beds. "We didn't know what would be with our son, would he suffer any issues, would there be problems with his growth." Mr Guy said upon arriving at the hospital in Queensland, he was shown to an incubator where his son would be cared for, and described the issue as "deeply personal". After an emotional start to the debate, tensions rose as Mr Andrews and Mr Guy clashed on bail laws and the defunct East West Link toll road, which cost the state more than $1 billion when Labor came to power in 2014. The cost of living, energy and regional Victorian issues are among those that could be addressed by the leaders on Thursday, having been noticeably absent from the Sky News debate. How an army of Torrance-area pet lovers came together to find Mr. Pickles, the wayward cat Queensland police investigating the suspicious death of a baby girl are waiting on the results of a post-mortem and toxicology tests. The four-month-old died of critical injuries in a hospital on Tuesday and a man, 37, and a woman, 35, are assisting police with inquiries. They have not been arrested or charged. It's understood the pair are not the baby's parents but have a familial connection to the four-month-old girl. She was taken to Logan Hospital on Monday with undisclosed life-threatening injuries before being taken to the Queensland Children's hospital where she died on Tuesday afternoon. Officers from the Logan Child Protection and Investigation Unit as well as homicide detectives are investigating. The infant's death came just a day after another baby girl was found dead on a Gold Coast beach in an unrelated case. That nine-month-old's body was found washed up on the beach at Surfer's Paradise on Monday, after having apparently drifted 30km from Tweed Heads. Her homeless 48-year-old father is to be extradited to NSW to be charged with her murder. Australia must act to stop its growing animal extinction crisis, environmental campaigners say. National laws should be overhauled and independent groups established to ensure legislation is implemented in a bid to reverse a worrying trend, the Wilderness Society says. The call comes ahead of a Senate committee hearing in Melbourne on Thursday, part of an ongoing inquiry, titled Australia's Faunal Extinction Crisis. "Australia has one of the world's worst records for extinction and protection of animal species," the Wilderness Society said in its submission to the upper house's Environment and Communications References Committee. "Australians depend on thriving ecosystems for their well-being and prosperity, and extinction fundamentally threatens the healthy functioning of these ecosystems." The Wilderness Society said it "strongly recommends a complete overhaul of Australia's national environment laws" to better protect threatened species. It is also calling for enhanced protection for the habitats of at-risk animals and a national environment plan to set objectives for state and federal governments, which would be reviewed every five years. "Australia needs to act quickly to stem the tide of extinction," the organisation said. The senate's inquiry is examining the impact of faunal extinction, the adequacy of Commonwealth environment laws and current practices. Australia is experiencing an ongoing decline in the population and conservation status of nearly 500 threatened fauna species, the committee says. Representatives from The Wilderness Society Australia, Victorian National Parks Association and VicForests, the state government's logging agency, are among those giving evidence to the inquiry on Thursday. The chair of Australia's peak big business lobby has told Prime Minister Scott Morrison he laments the coalition's failure to pass "sensible energy and environment policy". Business Council of Australia chairman Grant King mourned the scrapped National Energy Guarantee during a speech on Wednesday night at the council's annual dinner. With the prime minister on the head table, Mr King told the dinner many of his members had worked hard on the NEG. "This is a matter that many of our members feel very strongly about," he said. "Whilst we certainly know the importance of competitive energy prices for companies and the community, the issues are more complex than this. "The community expect all jurisdictions across all levels of government to work with business to deliver leadership on this issue." The NEG, the coalition's one-time signature energy plan, was abandoned when Malcolm Turnbull was ousted as prime minister. Mr Morrison insisted in October the government was still pursuing a reliability guarantee with state and territory governments, a feature of the NEG. Mr King said "sensible energy and environment policy" was one of the two most significant policy issues the BCA advocated for in 2018. The other - a more competitive tax rate for big business - also failed to make it to law. "This (tax) issue will not go away and it will certainly be addressed by a future parliament," he said. Mr King said he feared that in the absence of major economic reform, the prospects for Australia's future will diminish. "In short, growth matters and we need good policy to drive growth," he said of the BCA's 2019 agenda. Scott Morrison will meet with Muslim leaders in an effort to tackle extremism, after a deadly terror attack in central Melbourne. But some leaders who were invited to the private meeting on Thursday have opted to boycott it, after the prime minister told them they should be doing more on the issue. A group of leaders, including Grand Mufti IbrahimAbuMohamed, signed a letter on Tuesday night telling Mr Morrison they won't be attending. "ManyintheMuslimcommunity... aredeeplyconcernedand disappointed withstatementsmadebysenior government ministersandthe prime minister intherecentpast, whichinferthatthecommunityiscollectivelyculpablefor thecriminalactionsofindividuals andshouldbedoingmoretopreventsuch actsof violence," the letter said. "Thesestatementshaveachievednothingtoaddressunderlyingissues,but rather,havealienatedlargesegmentsoftheMuslimcommunity." Mr Morrison tweeted in response that the meeting would be going ahead, with those who want to seriously deal with the issue "rather than look the other way". "Some have chosen to publicly boycott this meeting. Continuing down a path of denial only lets their communities down. It makes their communities less safe and more vulnerable," he wrote. Mr Morrison told Islamic leaders they need to do more to combat extremism after a man stabbed another man to death in Melbourne's Bourke Street on November 11. Labor MP Jason Clare, whose seat of Blaxland has a significant Muslim population, said the leaders should talk to Mr Morrison. "If people have decided to boycott it I think that is a mistake. Take the opportunity and tell the prime minister what you think," Mr Clare told Sky News. "Nothing beats dialogue. If you have got a difference of opinion then tell the person face to face, but never walk away from an opportunity to talk to the prime minister of Australia about the issues that you have got." Marcus Stoinis can add death bowler to his resume's list of skills after the all-rounder restored order for Australia in their series-opening Twenty20 win over India. The visitors had looked set to chase down the 174 for victory at the Gabba on Wednesday night before faltering, then kick-starting again in a see-sawing run chase. Needing 13 off the last, after Andrew Tye had just been hit for 47 from his three overs, captain Aaron Finch threw Stoinis the ball. And the 29-year-old delivered, mixing up his pace and bowling to his field to pick up two wickets and concede just four runs from the first five balls to secure victory. "Finchy spoke to me earlier in the day and he said it (him bowling in the final overs) could be an option if (leg-spinner Adam Zampa) plays," Stoinis said. "It was a pretty simple plan - take the pace off the ball, make them hit to the long side and just commit to that one hundred per cent. So it was a clear plan." Finch said it was a task that may come Stoinis's way more often after he had shown an interest in taking it on. "Very confident," Finch said when asked how he felt throwing Stoinis the ball. "He's been practising it a lot; it's one string he wants to add to his bow. "His plans were nice and clear and simple and he executed well under pressure." Stoinis said slippery conditions and the ground's dimensions meant yorkers weren't the best idea in Brisbane, but that they remained part of their arsenal in the remaining games in Melbourne and Sydney this Friday and Sunday. If Australia persist with the short stuff it won't bother form Indian bat Shikhar Dhawan (76 off 42), who will return to his adopted city full of confidence despite the loss. The left-hander was quick to pounce on anything short, superbly pulling one Billy Stanlake bouncer over square leg for six before being caught trying to upper-cut another short ball over the fence at third man. "I feel that that thing (about not playing the short ball well) has less impact on us, especially with our batsmen now," Dhawan, who lives in Melbourne, said. "We haven't any (negative) thoughts about playing the short ball; we're prepared to go and face it." Transgender activists will brief members of Tasmania's upper house on Thursday in a push to remove gender from birth certificates in the state. Landmark transgender rights reforms, put forward by the Labor opposition and the Greens, passed the Tasmanian lower house on Tuesday night. The changes weren't supported by the Liberal state government but were passed on the casting vote of rogue Liberal Speaker Sue Hickey, who voted against her party. The reforms allow parents to decide whether their child's gender is recorded on birth certificates, and people aged 16 or older to change the gender on their birth certificate by filling out a statutory declaration. The bill must now pass Tasmania's 15-member upper house, nine of whom are independents, to become law. Labor MP Ella Haddad has indicated the party's four legislative council members will support the legislation. "It's not going to impact anyone in Tasmania who's not gender diverse. But for those of us who are, it's going to make our lives so much easier and so much safer," said Roen Meijers, spokesperson for Transforming Tasmania, a transgender and gender-diverse rights group. "When young people want to apply for jobs, and they have to show their birth certificate to show their age, they won't immediately be outed to everyone they're working with." Meijers said Transforming Tasmania had spoken to members of the upper house several months ago and would conduct more briefings on Thursday. The state government has said the changes to the Births, Deaths and Marriage Act are poorly drafted, with Health Minister Michael Ferguson describing it as a "social experiment". Prime Minister Scott Morrison tweeted Labor's plan to remove gender from birth certificates was "ridiculous". In a statement, Catholic Archbishop of Hobart Julian Porteous said the legislation "takes us down a road where the law is not based on objective biological or historical facts and reality but on subjective criteria based in human feelings". An upper house vote isn't expected until next week. Improving trade and investment ties will be on the agenda for a meeting between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indian President Ram Nath Kovind in Sydney on Thursday. The president will receive a ceremonial welcome before attending a community event and addressing, with Mr Morrison, the Australian Financial Review India Business Summit. India is on track to be one of the world's largest economies, and a recently completed report detailed ways Australia can take advantage of the growth. Senior business leaders will also discuss the need to boost economic ties with India as it grows. The president will head to Melbourne on Friday. Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer has warned the economics of banks operating large-scale financial advice businesses are "getting very difficult". Despite scandals across the industry requiring compensation to customers given inappropriate advice or charged fees for no service, Mr Hartzer believes the banks should be in the advice business. He told the banking royal commission it was possible for a bank to operate a large-scale financial advice business in a way that delivered compliant high-quality advice. "My view is that yes, we can, and yes we should," Mr Hartzer said. "However, the economics of doing that are getting very difficult." Mr Hartzer said it was inherently challenging to monitor advice because it involved a subjective conversation between two people. "Investing inevitably has a level of subjectivity around it which can mean that with the best will in the world, results don't necessarily come out the way you expect them to." He said the standards of documentation and proof the industry was expected to meet were very high as were the costs of measures such as training and auditing, relative to the revenue associated with providing the advice. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is splitting its wealth management and mortgage broking businesses into a separate company that will also include its financial advice businesses Count Financial and Financial Wisdom. CBA will continue to employ financial advisers through Commonwealth Financial Planning. CBA CEO Matt Comyn said the bank did not want to vacate financial advice entirely but was exploring the best long-term model. "I do wonder if there's a better way to be able to provide a low cost, high quality, safe, affordable advice for Australians," he told the inquiry this week. During a meeting with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in May, Mr Comyn said it felt wrong to exit financial advice and not provide the service to customers but the current model provided for too much conflict of interest. He told the royal commission the demerger of the wealth management business simplified the overall proposition. Part of the commission's focus is on vertically integrated entities that manufacture and sell financial products while at the same time advising clients which products to use or buy. Mr Hartzer will continue his evidence on Thursday before Macquarie Group's outgoing CEO Nicholas Moore appears, the first time Australia's largest investment bank has been called before the royal commission. Malcolm Turnbull has hit back after being criticised for following a social media campaign to oust his old political rival Tony Abbott from the seat of Warringah. Mr Turnbull raised eyebrows earlier this week after following an Instagram account called "Vote Tony Out". "It's pretty obvious really but following someone on Instagram or Twitter does not imply support approval or endorsement - simply that you are for whatever reason currently interested in seeing the followed person's posts in your feed," he tweeted on Thursday. "And another equally obvious point. The more you try to bully people into NOT reading something the more they will do so. Freedom matters." Meanwhile, a small but vocal Liberal Party branch in Sydney has passed a motion calling for Mr Turnbull to be expelled by the NSW division. The Roseville branch on the north shore voted 16-2 in favour of the motion urging the party to kick the former prime minister out. Party sources said the motion wasn't binding and doesn't reflect the view of the broader NSW party. Some Liberal party members have accused Mr Turnbull of not supporting their candidate in the by-election for his old Sydney seat of Wentworth, which was lost by the Liberals to Independent Kerryn Phelps. Roseville is in the federal electorate of Bradfield, held by cabinet minister Paul Fletcher. Freed Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence has garnered sympathy from some Australians after being hounded by the media as she touched down on home soil for the first time in more than 13 years. Dozens of reporters, photographers and camera crews were waiting as the 41-year-old flew in to Brisbane airport early on Thursday morning after being released from a Bali prison overnight. TV morning shows crossed live to the airport as an anxious looking Lawrence, her mother and step-brother, dodged the media pack as they made their way from the international arrivals hall to the domestic terminal so they could board a flight to Newcastle. The media coverage left many viewers less than impressed and sparked calls for Lawrence to be left alone as she had already served more than 13 years in jail for her role in a 2005 plot to import more than 8kg of heroin to Australia from Indonesia. Many took to social media to accuse the media of harassing Lawrence and question whether there was actually any public interest in the return of a convicted drug smuggler. "Given Renae has completed her sentence of 13 years which is substantially more than she would receive in Australia and has made it clear she does not want to speak to the media, at what point does that behaviour from the media become bullying and abuse," Peter Bax tweeted. Former broadcaster Mike Carlton blasted the media scrum. "Hey gang ! Let's all pile on to Renae Lawrence. Stick microphones and cameras in her face, chase her down the street, camp outside her house. Not because there's any news in it ... but just because WE CAN !" Carlton tweeted. Former Greens leader Christine Milne called on the media to leave Lawrence alone and cover other more worthy stories. "Leave Renae Lawrence alone #auspol. Decent people don't want her subjected to media scrums and stake outs. Earth is burning, that is news." Another woman, @Kylie80933023 tweeted: "It really is vile watching the media molest Renae Lawrence. They're like mozzies at a bbq." While Nine's Today Show and Seven's Sunrise programs attracted plenty of outrage on Twitter for their coverage of Lawrence, several viewers of the ABC's News Breakfast program attacked the public broadcaster for "hounding" Lawrence. "@abcnews @BreakfastNews Instead of insisting Renae Lawrence have some 'dignity' why don't your reporters display it and stop hounding her like the commercial networks?" Diana Gaye tweeted. Linda Betts added: "Shame on the ABC for harassing Renae Lawrence and her family at the airport. As Bad as Current Affair style journalism Not up to your standards surely." Australian batsman Usman Khawaja will aim prove his fitness for next month's first Test against India in Adelaide after being named for Queensland's Sheffield Shield clash with Victoria. The left-hander hasn't played since undergoing knee surgery on a meniscus tear suffered during warm ups for the second Test against Pakistan in the UAE last month. Should Khawaja come through next week's clash with the Bushrangers at the Gabba without complications, he's almost certain to face India at the Adelaide Oval in the first Test starting on December 6. Kim Jong-yang at the Interpol General Assembly in Dubai Interpol named South Korea's Kim Jong-yang as its new president on Wednesday, in a blow to Russia which denounced "unprecedented pressure" against its own candidate to lead the global policing body. There had been growing Western calls for Interpol to reject Alexander Prokopchuk -- a Russian interior ministry official and current Interpol vice president -- over fears Moscow could abuse the role to target political opponents. US-backed Kim, Interpol's acting president, was picked at a meeting of delegates from member nations in Dubai to replace Meng Hongwei, who went missing in his native China in September. Beijing later said Meng resigned after being charged with accepting bribes. The Kremlin expressed dismay that Prokopchuk, who had been seen as the frontrunner, was beaten. "The election took place in the atmosphere of unprecedented pressure and interference in these elections," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Interpol presidents The meeting was Interpol's largest to date with 180 member states present, its secretary general Jurgen Stock said. Describing the agency as "neutral and independent", he said a breakdown of the secret ballot would not be made public. Kim's election was "democratic, transparent, free and clear," Stock said at a Dubai press conference. - 'Unprecedented changes' - On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threw his weight behind Kim, who will serve out Meng's term until 2020. "We encourage all nations and organisations that are part of Interpol and that respect the rule of law to choose a leader with integrity. We believe Mr. Kim will be just that," Pompeo told reporters. Critics have raised concerns over Russia's previous applications for Interpol "Red Notices", or international arrest warrants, to target those who have fallen foul of the Kremlin. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt welcomed the vote's "excellent" outcome. "Very important news for rule of law internationally and encouraging that in a secret ballot this was so widely recognised," he wrote on Twitter. Interpol's president chairs its General Assembly while day-to-day operations are handled by Stock. In remarks posted on Interpol's official Twitter account, Kim said after his election: "Our world is now facing unprecedented changes which present huge challenges to public security and safety. "To overcome them, we need a clear vision: we need to build a bridge to the future." - 'Political persecution' - In an open letter this week, a bipartisan group of US senators said choosing Prokopchuk would be like "putting a fox in charge of a henhouse". Jurgen Stock, secretary general of Interpol, said the agency remains "neutral and independent" "Russia routinely abuses Interpol for the purpose of settling scores and harassing political opponents, dissidents and journalists," they wrote. Russian spokesman Peskov dismissed the US senators' letter as a "vivid example" of an attempt to interfere in the vote. Anti-Kremlin figures had also raised concerns, including Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who has been repeatedly jailed by authorities. "Our team has suffered from abuse of Interpol for political persecution by Russia," Navalny wrote on Twitter. "I don't think that a president from Russia will help to reduce such violations." The controversy comes amid security concerns over accusations of Russian agents attempting to poison an ex-spy in Britain and trying to hack the network of the global chemical weapons watchdog. Ukraine, deeply at odds with Moscow over its annexation of Crimea and support for separatists, threatened to pull out of Interpol if Prokopchuk prevailed. Lithuania also said it would consider withdrawing from the network. The Ukrainian foreign ministry welcomed Kim's selection, saying it had campaigned not to allow Moscow to use Interpol to help Russian special services on foreign soil. "This battle is won," Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov tweeted. Interpol vice president Alexander Prokopchuk (L) had been seen as the favourite to take over from Meng Hongwei of China Two foes of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have been targeted by international arrest warrants sought by Moscow, said Tuesday they were launching a bid to get Russia suspended from Interpol for abusing the agency. The legal challenge was announced by financier Bill Browder, named in multiple Interpol warrants, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky -- a former oil baron who spent 10 years in a Russian jail and now lives in exile in London. "The Interpol constitution has very specific rules which forbid countries who are serial abusers from using the system," Browder told reporters. Briefly arrested in Spain this year under a Moscow-issued Red Notice, Browder said the Russian candidacy was an attempt by Putin to "expand his criminal tentacles to every corner of the globe". Sophia Floersch flew off the track on Sunday, hurtling into marshals and photographers, before being rushed to a Macau hospital A 17-year-old racing driver who fractured her spine in a horrifying crash at the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix has vowed to return to the sport after surviving surgery lasting nearly half a day. German Sophia Floersch flew off the track on Sunday, hurtling into marshals and photographers, before being rushed to a Macau hospital in a stable condition. "I survived the operation which took 11 hours. Hope from now on it only gets better," she wrote in a Facebook post late Tuesday. "I'm going to come back!" she added. Floersch said she had to stay "a few more days" in Macau until it is possible to transport her elsewhere. She thanked the medical staff who treated her as well as the people who helped at the scene of the crash for their "encouraging, calming words in these tough minutes in my car". Dramatic footage captured gasps from the crowd as the Van Amersfoort Racing driver's car flew through the air and into safety netting at the Guia Circuit's Lisboa bend, a sharp right-hander. Running 16th, she lost control in a contact down the straight, launched off a kerb and bounced off Tsuboi's TOM's Racing car. "My thoughts are also with everyone who was involved in the accident. I hope everybody is healthy," Floersch said in her post. - Circuit 'not dangerous' - The International Motoring Federation (FIA) has opened an investigation but FIA race director Charlie Whiting said it is "too soon" to say what caused the accident. Whiting also insisted that the Macau Grand Prix circuit is not dangerous. "It is too soon to try and establish what the cause was," Whiting told AFP. "We know the initial cause for her loss of control but we need to analyse very very carefully. "It takes a few weeks to analyse data from the car, analyse video very carefully and try and establish exactly how the two cars made contact, how they interacted and what played which part and where. We have to do it right. "When an accident like that happens, our thoughts are with the people involved and the injured people. "We look to try and understand why they were injured and then we need to find out what we can learn and what improvement can be made to insure that if the same accident happened again, we would have zero injured." At least three people have died on the Macau Grand Prix circuit. British rider Daniel Hegarty died last year after hitting a barrier at Fisherman's Bend during the Macau Grand Prix's motorcycle race. In 2012, Portuguese motorcyclist Luis Carreira and Hong Kong driver Phillip Yau were killed within two days of each other during the Macau Grand Prix. Whiting says the fatalities were not the fault of the course. "Macau is not a dangerous circuit," he said. "In common with all street circuits the incident rate is higher than a normal circuit but there is no evidence to say that the circuit is dangerous. "There are far fewer run-off areas on this type of circuit. However, where cars do hit the walls it is generally at a very low angle which imparts lower forces into the car and driver. "The guardrails, crash barriers and debris fences have been systematically upgraded over the past few years with significant improvements in a number of areas." US President Donald Trump has shunned the White House Correspondents' Dinner since taking office US President Donald Trump hinted Tuesday he may drop his boycott of the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner because there'll be no comedian on the program. "So-called comedian Michelle Wolf bombed so badly last year at the White House Correspondents' Dinner that this year, for the first time in decades, they will have an author instead of a comedian. Good first step in comeback of a dying evening and tradition! Maybe I will go?" Trump tweeted. Wolf delivered a controversial star turn at the latest dinner, mercilessly -- some argued cruelly -- sending up White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, who was seated on the dais with her. The day after Wolf's searing monologue, the then president of the White House Correspondents' Association, Margaret Talev, said the comedian's efforts were "not in the spirit of the mission" of celebrating a free press and "honoring civility." And the April 27, 2019 event will break with the tradition of featuring a comedian, with the guest speech instead coming from historian and biographer Ron Chernow, who is best known for his biographies of Alexander Hamilton and two former US presidents. Wolf responded to Trump by pointing to his decision this week to ignore evidence of involvement by US ally and de facto Saudi leader Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. "I bet you'd be on my side if I'd killed a journalist," Wolf said. The annual gala dates back to 1921, and from 1980 until 2017, presidents from both parties had attended, except for 1981, when president Ronald Reagan was recovering from being shot. Presidents usually give a speech filled with self-deprecating comments and jabs at the press, after a comedian has taken aim at the commander-in-chief. While Trump has not gone to the event since taking office, he did attend as a guest in 2011, when he was subjected to a blistering roast by then-president Barack Obama, who mocked the reality TV star for peddling the conspiracy theory that the Hawaii-born leader lacked a valid US birth certificate. Contact with several tribes on the Andaman islands, set deep in the Indian Ocean, is illegal in a bid to protect their indigenous way of life and shield them from diseases Members of one of the world's last tribes untouched by modern civilisation have killed an American who ventured illegally onto their remote island, Indian police said Wednesday. John Allen Chau, 27, was hit by a hail of arrows as he set foot on North Sentinel Island, part of the Indian Andaman Islands, last Saturday, official sources told AFP. "He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body," the source said. "They were scared and fled but returned next morning to find his body on the seashore." North Sentinel is home to the Sentinelese people, believed to number only around 150. To protect their way of life, foreigners and Indians are banned from going within three miles (five kilometres). Chau had offered local fishermen money to take him to the island, the source said. They took him some of the way and he paddled the rest in a canoe. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India Some Indian media suggested that Chau was a missionary seeking to convert the islanders to Christianity but a local policeman told the News Minute website this was inaccurate. "He was on a misplaced adventure in (a) prohibited area to meet uncontacted persons," Dependra Pathak told the website. Media reports also said the fishermen told a preacher in the main town of the Andamans, Port Blair, about the incident and the preacher contacted Chau's family in the United States. A spokesperson for the US consulate in the southern Indian city of Chennai told AFP only that they were aware of "reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands". - Hostile hunters - The Andamans are also home to the 400-strong Jarawa tribe who activists say are threatened by contact from outsiders. Tourists have previously bribed local officials in a bid to spend time with them. But the Sentinelese still shun all contact with the outside world and have a record of hostility to anyone who tries to get close. In 2006, two Indian fishermen who moored their boat to sleep were killed when the vessel broke loose and drifted onto North Sentinel, according to Survival International, a group protecting tribal people's rights. The Sentinelese hunt and gather in the forest, and fish in the coastal waters. The island was hit by the devastating 2004 tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean but not much is known about the impact it had on the reclusive inhabitants. After the tsunami one member of the tribe was photographed attempting to fire an arrow at an Indian Coast Guard helicopter. Indian authorities make periodic checks on the tribe from boats anchored at a safe distance from shore. Survival International, based in London, said that the "tragedy" of the American's death "should never have been allowed to happen". "The Indian authorities should have been enforcing the protection of the Sentinelese and their island for the safety of both the tribe and outsiders," it said. "Instead, a few months ago the authorities lifted one of the restrictions that had been protecting the Sentinelese tribe's island from foreign tourists, which sent exactly the wrong message, and may have contributed to this terrible event." - Arrests - Since the Indian authorities keep away from the island, it was unclear whether Chau's killing will have legal repercussions. Indian police said a murder case had been registered against "unknown" tribespeople and that six fishermen and one other person were arrested. "The investigation in this matter is on," senior police officer Deepak Yadav said in a press release. Police official Pathak said the authorities were consulting "anthropologists and tribal welfare experts" to work out how best to retrieve the victim's body. DR Congo President Joseph Kabila won't stand for a third term After two years of setbacks, broken promises and delays, the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday effectively opened the starting gates for a crucial election that could alleviate -- or perhaps worsen -- the decades-long crisis gripping the vast central African nation. "May the best person win," the head of the electoral board, Corneille Nangaa, said, pre-empting the official start of campaigning by a day. Voters on December 23 will choose a successor to outgoing President Joseph Kabila, who has constitutionally remained in power as caretaker leader even though his second and final elected term ended nearly two years ago. At stake in the vote is political stewardship of a mineral-rich country that has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. Eastern DR Congo is ravaged by decades of inter-ethnic bloodshed and militia violence, as well as a deadly Ebola outbreak, testing a large UN peacekeeping mission. Twenty-one candidates are registered by election officials to vie to replace the 47-year-old Kabila, who has ruled since January 2001, after his father, president Laurent-Desire Kabila, was assassinated. Under international pressure against him seeking a third term, Kabila threw his support behind a chosen successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, in August. Shadary is one of 15 Congolese individuals under European Union sanctions, accused of human rights violations when he was interior minister between December 2016 and early 2018. One of Shadary's main rivals is Martin Fayulu, a little-known lawmaker who earlier this month was named the joint candidate of several -- but not all -- opposition parties that form a coalition in the parliament. Fayulu was expected to arrive in the capital Kinshasa on Wednesday from Europe to drive his campaign to take the presidential Palais de la Nation. Around half of DR Congo's population of 80 million are eligible to vote. The electoral board is standing by its decision to use 106,000 touchscreen electronic voting machines bought from South Korea, despite some opposition demands -- notably by Fayulu -- for paper ballots. The government, which has a thorny relationship notably with the United Nations, has rejected all forms of international financial or logistical assistance for the election in a country nearly five times the size of France. The UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO has proposed using its helicopters and planes to ferry imported voting machines to polling stations nationwide. But Kinshasa wants to see MONUSCO gone by 2020, ending a 20-year presence including more than 16,000 pairs of boots on the ground at an annual cost of more than a billion dollars. Romania's President Klaus Werner Iohannis vetoed the appointment of Ilan Laufer as development minister Romanian President Klaus Iohannis hit back Wednesday at accusations of anti-Semitism after he vetoed the appointment of a Jewish businessman as development minister in a cabinet reshuffle. In the changes announced earlier this week, Iohannis -- a centre-right politician at loggerheads with the ruling Social Democrats -- refused to approve the choice of Ilan Laufer, describing the appointment as "unsuitable". Laufer, who founded a real estate company and was previously minister of business affairs in 2017, angrily attacked Iohannis on Tuesday, describing his veto as "a new act of anti-Semitism". Laufer accused the president of regularly making anti-Semitic statements, blocking the appointment of a Romanian ambassador to Israel, and opposing the move of Bucharest's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In a statement Wednesday, Iohannis dismissed Laufer's comments as "irresponsible", saying it was "inadmissible for the memory of the Holocaust to be sullied via such attacks". A number of historians and representatives of Jewish organisations, such as the head of Romania's Elie Wiesel Institute, Alexandru Florian, also dismissed Laufer's comments as "cheap politicising", pointing out that Iohannis had been awarded the "Light Unto Nations" honour from the American Jewish Committee in 2017. In another move that was likely to ratchet up tension between Iohannis and the government on Wednesday, he rejected the justice minister's new pick for head of the country's anti-corruption task force, the DNA. Justice Minister Tudorel Toader had nominated Adina Florea to replace Laura Kodruta Kovesi, who was sacked as head of the DNA in July. Iohannis did not say why he objected to Florea being appointed. Prosecutors have had some success in clamping down on corruption in Romania, one of the EU's most graft-ridden countries, but the government accuses them of overstepping their power. Marc Ravalomanana's TIM party withdrew fraud complaints "for the peace and sovereignty of Madagascar", his lawyer said Madagascan presidential hopeful Marc Ravalomanana on Wednesday withdrew his legal complaints over alleged irregularities in the first round of the election, his lawyer said. Neither Ravalomanana nor his arch-rival Andry Rajoelina -- both former presidents -- won the 50 percent of votes required for a first-round victory in the November 7 ballot. A run-off vote is scheduled for December 19. "For the peace and sovereignty of Madagascar, the TIM (Ravalomanana's party) have decided to withdraw all their complaints," Hasina Andrianadisaona, Ravalomanana's lawyer, told reporters. Rajoelina took 39.19 percent of the first-round vote and Ravalomanana took 35.29 percent. Rajoelina has lodged complaints with the courts and accused election officials of "manipulation". The election commission issued a statement in response to Rajoelina's allegations insisting that it had "ensured the transparency of the electoral system at all times". Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who is seeking to hold on to power, secured only 8.84 percent in the first round. Madagascar is one of the world's poorest countries, according to World Bank data, with almost four in five people living in grinding poverty. The former French colony off the southeastern coast of Africa also has a long history of political instability and coups. President Joseph Kabila should have stepped down at the end of 2016 when he reached a two-term limit The United States called Wednesday for credible and peaceful elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, ahead of the start of campaigning for next month's key presidential vote. The central African nation will go to the polls on December 23 to replace President Joseph Kabila, who has been in power for 18 years. "The DRC has a historic opportunity to carry out a credible election leading to a peaceful, democratic transfer of power," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. "Credible and transparent elections will help alleviate the DRC's humanitarian and development challenges, improve the country's ability to attract investment, and reinforce stability across the DRC and the region." Hailing the countries' "deep and longstanding" relations, Nauert added that a legitimate election would spell a "positive new chapter" in their relationship. "As the election campaigns begin on November 23, we encourage all actors to remain engaged in the process, conduct their activities in a peaceful manner, and commit to respecting human rights, fundamental freedoms, and democratic values," she said. The elections are critical for the future of the DR Congo, a sprawling, mineral-rich country that has never experienced a peaceful transition of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960. Kabila should have stepped down at the end of 2016 when he reached a two-term limit. But he stayed on thanks to a constitutional clause enabling the president to remain in office until an election is held, sparking protests that were bloodily repressed. US President Donald Trump sees Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a key strategic partner in the Middle East US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ignored criticism that he gave Saudi Arabia a free pass on the murder of a dissident journalist, instead praising the Islamic kingdom for keeping oil prices low. Trump, on holiday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago Club, doubled down on an unusually worded statement from Tuesday that he was essentially ignoring the killing of Jamal Khashoggi because of what he said were more important US strategic and commercial interests. "Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82," he tweeted. "Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let's go lower!" The fulsome praise for Saudi Arabia's help in maintaining cheap oil built on comments he made Tuesday at the White House, saying that "if we broke with them, I think your oil prices would go through the roof." "They've helped me keep them down," he said. - Guns and money - The focus on oil prices is one strand of Trump's argument against punishing the US ally for Khashoggi's death, even though the CIA reportedly found strong evidence that de facto Saudi leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was involved. Saudi Arabia under scrutiny Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at Prince Mohammed, who has especially close contacts with the Trump White House. In a formal statement Tuesday -- released just after nearly the entire White House press corps had left to cover the lighthearted annual ritual of the president sparing a turkey from the Thanksgiving table -- Trump said the prince "could very well be" in on the crime. But he then went on to flatly reject any suggestion of punishing the Saudi leader, saying Washington "intends to remain a steadfast partner." Trump's reasoning was that Saudi Arabia and the United States are partners in opposing Iran and the Saudis have committed to $450 billion in weapons contracts and other investments, as well as being a major oil producer. "Very simply it is called America first!" Trump concluded. This was in contrast to previously stated positions where Trump promised a tough response, warning in an October interview with The Wall Street Journal, for example, that the US-Saudi relationship "would take a while to rebuild." - 'Crazy' prince - Republican Senator Bob Corker, pictured in July 2018 on Capitol Hill, demanded that the Trump administration issue a clear statement on whether Prince Mohammed was involved in Jamal Khashoggi's murder Trump's posture has provoked rare dissension among the ranks of senior Republicans. Senator Lindsey Graham said on Fox News that Prince Mohammed is "crazy." "It's not too much to ask an ally not to butcher a guy in a consulate," he said. And Senator Bob Corker, the Republican leader of the foreign relations committee, tweeted scathingly: "I never thought I'd see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia." Corker and the senior Democrat on the committee, Bob Menendez, demanded that the Trump administration issue a clear statement on whether Prince Mohammed was involved. Another prominent Republican, Senator Rand Paul, added "Let's put America first, not Saudi Arabia," while Khashoggi's old employer the Post said in an editorial that Trump's position meant "a world where dictators know they can murder their critics and suffer no consequences." US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, pictured at the State Department on November 20, 2018, says Saudi Arabia is making progress on human rights Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back in a radio interview Wednesday, saying: "We are going to make sure that America always stands for human rights. We've watched the Saudis actually move in that direction during our time in office as well. "It's not an unblemished record, but there certainly have been steps forward." A Palestinian family watches as Israeli authorities demolish a structure they say was built illegally in Jerusalem's Shuafat refugee camp on November 21, 2018 Palestinian officials condemned Israel's demolition on Wednesday of 21 businesses and petrol stations authorities said were built illegally in Jerusalem's Shuafat refugee camp. Israeli police confirmed in a statement authorities had demolished "18 illegal businesses and three illegal petrol stations" in annexed east Jerusalem's Shuafat refugee camp, where an estimated 24,000 Palestinians live. Israeli authorities entered the camp with excavators to destroy the structures as police formed a security perimeter, an AFP journalist reported. "The municipality will continue to carry out activities with the support of the police against illegal business in the different areas," the police statement said. Ahmad Abu Holy, head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's refugee department, condemned the demolitions that he said were "under the illegal pretext of building without a permit". He made the comments to official Palestinian news agency WAFA. Palestinians in east Jerusalem and in parts of the West Bank say its nearly impossible for them to obtain the required building permits from Israeli authorities. Khader Dibs, an official from the camp, which is surrounded by Israel's separation wall and is the only refugee camp within Jerusalem, also condemned the demolitions and said the shops had been built in 2007. Shop owners said they had been given only 12 hours' advance notice. Shuafat camp receives little from Jerusalem's municipality. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, operates there and provides various services to residents. The outgoing mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, said recently he wanted to remove the UN agency from the city and replace its services with those from the municipality. The issue is a highly sensitive one as it touches on the rights of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem, both key issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel argues the number of Palestinian refugees is inflated, since those eligible for the status include the original refugees' descendants. Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community. It claims the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians see the eastern sector as the capital of their future state. A new approach to housing is needed, say experts, after the town of Paradise was engulfed in the Camp Fire With the embers still raining from blackened skies choked by California's massive wildfires, the effort turns to rebuilding Paradise -- a town of almost 30,000 that was wiped off the map. But experts warn that with megafires the new normal in a warming global climate, housing in the western United States is going to need a revolutionary rethink along the lines of villages dotting Europe's wooded slopes. "I think people are thinking about if there is a way we can design the new Paradise that can look like more of a European village or a ski town, and not have houses out in the forests," said Bill Stewart, co-director of the Center for Forestry at the University of California, Berkeley. Stewart suggests the approach seen in the Pyrenees mountains straddling France and Spain -- villages surrounded by pastures with the forest further beyond -- may be the model for California's future. "It would be a lot safer if we didn't have people basically living in the fuel," he told AFP. The death toll in and around Paradise -- in the tinder-dry northern foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains -- stands at 81, with hundreds still missing and more than 12,600 homes destroyed since the giant Camp Fire broke out on November 8. Climate change, poor management of forests by the US government and sharp increases in housing in the woods have all made such megafires more likely and more deadly, said Stewart. - 'The new abnormal' - More than 12,000 homes were destroyed by fire in Paradise European countries such as France, Portugal and Spain lose a higher percentage of their forests to fire each year. But they rarely suffer the destruction and death seen regularly in California and its neighboring states, says Stewart, because "people don't live in the forests." From the wealthy enclaves of southern California to the rural grandeur of Yosemite National Park, this year California has seen an unprecedented four megafires -- defined by emergency services as infernos that burn more than 100,000 acres (40,500 hectares). Among them, the Camp Fire has scorched an area larger than Chicago, while another two infernos that burned more than 96,000 acres were just short of the megafire category. "This is a faster increase than even the most pessimistic researcher had a decade ago. It's even shocking to most grizzled observers," Stewart told AFP. "There are things to do, but even if we did those we might only have four megafires a year instead of eight." California Governor Jerry Brown made the point even more starkly in an address to the media as the Camp Fire was at its peak, warning: "This is not the new normal, this is the new abnormal. "And this new abnormal will continue certainly in the next 10 to 15 to 20 years. Unfortunately, the best science is telling us that dryness, warmth, drought, all those things, they're going to intensify... Things like this will be a part of our future." - Mediterranean climate - A home is overshadowed by towering smoke plumes in Paradise, which was wiped off the map by the Camp Fire Matt Dias, executive officer of the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the state has allocated about $1 billion over the next five years for fire prevention. Much of the cash will go on education and suppression activities such as clearing grasses and other vegetation. "The patterns we're experiencing seem to indicate these megafires are likely to keep occurring, but there are ways of pushing back," he said. "Suppression plays a key role in the fire prevention program." But many experts are calling for more restrictions on housing being built in forests as means of eliminating danger before the blazes even break out. A recent study found that one third of all US houses now are located in what researchers refer to as the wildland-urban interface, where houses and forest vegetation intermingle. "We folks who live in California need to understand we live in a Mediterranean climate," said Dias. "Fire is a natural part of our forest lands. As we move forward in time, it seems issues associated with climatic challenges will persist, so these issues with large fires will likely continue." DR Congo President Joseph Kabila won't stand for a third term After two years of setbacks, broken promises and delays, the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday kicked off the campaign for a crucial election that could alleviate -- or perhaps worsen -- the decades-long crisis gripping the vast central African nation. "May the best person win," electoral board chief Corneille Nangaa said. Voters on December 23 will choose a successor to outgoing President Joseph Kabila, who has constitutionally remained in power as caretaker leader even though his second and final elected term ended nearly two years ago. At stake in the vote is the political future of a mineral-rich country that has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. Eastern DR Congo is ravaged by decades of inter-ethnic bloodshed and militia violence, as well as a deadly Ebola outbreak, testing a large UN peacekeeping mission deployed in the country. The United States called on the African nation to seize its "historic opportunity" to hold a "credible election" that could ease its humanitarian problems and boost stability. - Opposition candidate - Twenty-one candidates are registered to vie to replace the 47-year-old Kabila, who has ruled since January 2001, after his father, president Laurent-Desire Kabila, was assassinated. Under international pressure against him seeking a third term, Kabila threw his support behind a chosen successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, in August. Shadary is one of 15 Congolese individuals under European Union sanctions, accused of human rights violations when he was interior minister between December 2016 and early 2018. Several opposition parties have put forward Martin Fayulu, a little-known lawmaker (centre), as their joint candidate One of Shadary's main rivals is Martin Fayulu, a little-known lawmaker who earlier this month was named the joint candidate of several -- but not all -- opposition parties that form a coalition in the parliament. Fayulu arrived in the capital Kinshasa from Europe on Wednesday -- which also happened to be his 62nd birthday -- to launch his campaign to take the presidential Palais de la Nation. "The joint (opposition) candidate is here. I am here," Fayulu told reporters. He was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers at the airport, and thousands more hailed his return in the streets of Kinshasa. In a sign of possible election-linked violence, three political activists drumming up support for Shadary have been killed in the troubled central province of Kasai, family and party members said on Wednesday. Around half of DR Congo's population of 80 million are eligible to vote. The electoral board is standing by its decision to use 106,000 touchscreen electronic voting machines supplied by South Korea, despite some opposition demands -- by Fayulu in particular -- for paper ballots. - UN peacekeepers - The government, which has a thorny relationship notably with the United Nations, has rejected all forms of international financial or logistical assistance for the election in a country nearly five times the size of France. The UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO has proposed using its helicopters and planes to ferry imported voting machines to polling stations nationwide. But Kinshasa wants to see MONUSCO gone by 2020, ending a 20-year presence including more than 16,000 pairs of boots on the ground at an annual cost of more than a billion dollars. DR Congo wants to end a UN peacekeeping mission that has been deployed for two decades In Beni, a town in the east near the border with Uganda that has seen some of the fiercest conflicts in DR Congo as well as borne the brunt of the Ebola outbreak, residents expressed hope the election would bring better days. "Whoever is elected could maybe help us. The massacres might stop and we could return to our fields," said one local woman, Zawadi Kavugho. Dieme Bumbere, a 21-year-old man unable to find work in Beni's moribund economy, said: "I think that if Kabila leaves power peace could come back." Since September, Beni and its surrounding area has suffered a spike in raids by Allied Democratic Force (ADF) rebels, jihadist militiamen who kill, rob, kidnap and lay waste to villages. Seven MONUSCO peacekeepers and a dozen Congolese soldiers have been killed in recent days while conducting a joint operation against the ADF, which has no identified leader or strategic goal. Doctors Without Borders is one of several organisations fighting the Ebola epidemic in DR Congo The Ebola epidemic, which has claimed more than 200 lives, has only added to the rage and feeling of impotence. Those fighting the outbreak -- Congolese health officials, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, and Doctors Without Borders -- say their work is being hampered by villagers suspicious of vaccination programmes who throw stones and hit workers. US and South Korean marines take part in a joint landing operation, part of the annual Foal Eagle exercises, near the southeastern port of Pohang The United States and South Korea have scaled down an annual joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. "Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis said, adding that it would be "reduced in scope." Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies, and has always infuriated Pyongyang, which condemned it as preparations for invasion. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, pictured at the Pentagon in August 2018, said Foal Eagle was being scaled back to a level that would "not be harmful to diplomacy" But the drill -- one of the world's largest field exercises involving 200,000 South Korean and some 30,000 US soldiers -- was delayed and scaled down last year as diplomatic detente took hold on the peninsula. And following a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would stop holding joint exercises with the South, calling them expensive and "very provocative". Since then the two allies have suspended most of their major joint exercises including the Ulchi Freedom Guardian in August and Vigilant Ace, slated for next month. US and South Korean forces have been training together for years, and routinely rehearse everything from beach landings to an invasion from the North and even "decapitation" strikes But more recently progress in talks with the North has stalled, with the US pushing to maintain sanctions against it until its "final, fully verified denuclearization" and Pyongyang condemning US demands as "gangster-like." Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South to defend it from its nuclear-armed neighbor, which invaded in 1950. - 'Fait accompli' - But differences are beginning to emerge between Seoul and Washington. The South's dovish president Moon Jae-in has long favored engagement with the North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. South Korean and US soldiers wrestle during a joint winter exercise in Pyeongchang in 2017 He has dangled large investment and joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearization, while the US has been adamant pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programs. Seoul's defence ministry said Mattis' comments were in line with their shared view on the need to back diplomacy -- but a spokeswoman added that the question of whether the exercises will take place at all was "still under discussion." Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the South's state-run Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said reducing the exercise was largely expected. "The Trump administration claims Pyongyang's suspension of nuclear and missile tests as the key achievement of its North Korea policy and the joint drills have been postponed as a kind of corresponding measure," Kim told AFP. North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump met at a historic summit in Singapore in June "As long as talks continue, postponing or reducing major US-South Korea joint exercises has become a fait accompli," he said. - 'No rush' - Earlier this month Pyongyang threatened to "seriously" consider returning to its weapons drive if Washington did not end its tough economic sanctions. And last month, the North's state media carried a near 1,700-word commentary accusing the US of playing a "double game", implicitly criticizing Trump for comments aimed at barring Seoul from lifting sanctions against Pyongyang. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday defended Washington's strategy on the peninsula, noting that North Korea had halted missile launches and had not conducted a nuclear test in over a year. "And I do hope there'll be a summit between the two leaders early in 2019," he said in an interview with KCMO radio. Pyongyang has declared its nuclear and missile development complete, saying it has no further need for testing. Trump has also said he hopes to have a second meeting with Kim early next year, but talks between Pompeo and a top North Korean official, partly to prepare for the meeting, were cancelled. The US said the North axed the talks because they weren't ready, and Trump insisted he was in "no rush." Canadians were more likely to use words like "great, thanks, good, amazing, happy," on Twitter than Americans It's a tired cliche but on Twitter, it rings true: Canadians are more polite than Americans, saying words like "great" and "thank you" more often, a scientific study said Wednesday. The report in the journal PLOS ONE, led by three researchers at McMaster University, analyzed 37 million tweets from 2015-16. Canadians were more likely to use words like "great, thanks, good, amazing, happy," said the findings. Americans, on the other hand, tended to commonly write words like "hate, love, miss, mad, feel, swear, tired." Americans were also far more likely to use emojis than Canadians, like the laughing-while-crying one and the hearts-for-eyes face, and to resort to internet acronyms like lol and idk. Other word preferences showed a "clear prevalence of negative outputs in American tweets over Canadians," said the report. "American lexical choices show a clear relative preference for taboo words, including swear words, expletives, and racial slurs." The findings came as a surprise to researchers, who noted that other sociological research over the years has shown that Canadians really are not nicer than Americans, despite the commonly cited stereotype. "The Twitter behavior we observe doesn't actually reflect the real underlying personality profile of an average American or Canadian," said Daniel Schmidtke, co-author of the study and a post-doctoral researcher at McMaster. What may be happening, linguists argue, is what they call an "identity construction strategy." In other words, Canadians and Americans may create and even reinforce their national character stereotypes with the words they type on Twitter. It's a hypothesis that remains to be proven. US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued an extranordinary rebuke of President Donald Trump US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued an extraordinary rebuke of Donald Trump on Wednesday after the president criticized a ruling he said was handed down by an "Obama judge." "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts said in a statement to the Associated Press. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them," Roberts said. "That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for," the chief justice added in the brief statement released on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday. Roberts' remarks were a rare public criticism of a sitting president by a Supreme Court chief justice. The statement came one day after Trump criticized a federal judge who temporarily blocked the administration from denying asylum to people who enter the country illegally. Trump issued a proclamation earlier this month saying that only people who enter the United States at official checkpoints -- as opposed to sneaking across the border -- can apply for asylum. But US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump move. Trump lashed out at the ruling on Tuesday, calling it a "disgrace." "This was an Obama judge, and I'll tell you what, this is not going to happen anymore," Trump said. "People should not be allowed to immediately run to this very friendly circuit and file their case." Trump has repeatedly attacked the judiciary when cases have gone against him but this was the first time that Roberts, who was appointed to the court by president George W. Bush, has responded to his criticisms. Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. pictured in 2017, is a close ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Rights activists filed two complaints in France against a visiting Abu Dhabi prince on Wednesday, accusing him of being complicit in torture as well as in war crimes in Yemen. Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who is a close ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was in Paris for a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron. The October 2 killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi loomed large over the meeting, with US President Donald Trump admitting Tuesday that the Saudi prince may have been behind his brutal murder in Istanbul. Macron's office said the French leader and the Abu Dhabi crown prince discussed stability in the Middle East, the war in Yemen and Iran, among other issues, without giving details. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), of which Abu Dhabi is the capital, is part of the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen for the past three years. One of the complaints against the Abu Dhabi prince was brought by three nationals of Saudi arch-foe Qatar, who claimed they had been detained and tortured by UAE security officials between February 2013 and May 2015, according to their lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur. The trio said they had been subjected to "physical and psychological torture", including beatings, sleep deprivation and threats of rape, hanging and death, Sur said in a statement. The second complaint, for "complicity in torture and war crimes" in Yemen, was brought by six Yemenis and the French-based International Alliance for the Defence of Rights and Freedoms. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led intervention began, according to the World Health Organization, and 14 million people are at risk of starvation. The complaint filed in Paris accuses the Saudi-backed coalition of "mass torture, indiscriminate bombings and a blockade leading to a famine," and says that Prince Mohammed bears responsibility as deputy chief of UAE's armed forces. Prince Mohammed did not respond to the allegations. He was not scheduled to speak to the media during his visit to France. Abdolfattah Soltani, pictured in 2004, was granted conditional release after serving more than half of a 10-year prison term Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani was released from prison Wednesday after spending more than seven years behind bars, the official IRNA news agency reported. "The authorities agreed yesterday to my client's conditional parole and he was released today," Soltani's lawyer Saeed Dehghan said, according to IRNA. Soltani was jailed in 2011 over charges of "spreading propaganda against the system" and "setting up an illegal opposition group", Amnesty International said at the time. He was granted conditional release after serving more than half of a 10-year term, IRNA said. A previous parole request on July 8 had been denied, according to his lawyer. Soltani was a co-founder of the now outlawed Defenders of Human Rights Centre alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and others. The human rights lawyer's release could not be immediately confirmed with his family or legal team. Soltani was briefly released from prison in August to attend the funeral of his 30-year-old daughter, Homa, who died of a heart attack. US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued an extranordinary rebuke of President Donald Trump President Donald Trump entered an extraordinary row Wednesday with the chief justice of the Supreme Court, claiming "shocking" bias against his policies in parts of the judiciary. He singled out the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, whose jurisdiction includes left-leaning California, tweeting that its rulings "are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!" Earlier, Chief Justice John Roberts, who rarely makes political statements, rebuked criticism of the courts by Trump, insisting that the judiciary is "independent." Responding to complaints by Trump that judges appointed by Democratic presidents act against the current White House, Roberts told the Associated Press: "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges." "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them," Roberts said. "That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for," the chief justice added in a brief statement. Trump, who is on holiday in Florida, fired back on Twitter. "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," he wrote. He said that "a vast number" of cases concerning his controversial priorities, like a harsh crackdown on illegal immigration, had been overturned. "Please study the numbers, they are shocking," Trump wrote. - 'Disgrace' - The row came one day after Trump criticized a federal judge who temporarily blocked the administration from its decision to deny the right to political asylum applications for people who enter the country illegally. US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump move, which comes as a large group of Central American migrants, frequently described by Trump as dangerous, is heading on foot for the US southern border. On Tuesday, Trump lashed out at the judge's ruling, calling it a "disgrace." "This was an Obama judge, and I'll tell you what, this is not going to happen anymore," Trump said. "People should not be allowed to immediately run to this very friendly circuit and file their case." "We will win that case in the Supreme Court of the United States," Trump said. - First time - Trump has repeatedly attacked the judiciary when cases have gone against him in the past but this was the first time that Roberts, a conservative jurist who was appointed to the nation's highest court by Republican president George W. Bush, has responded publicly. President Donald Trump shakes hands with US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts During the 2016 presidential election campaign, Trump attacked the Mexican-American heritage of a judge who ruled against him in a case involving Trump University. The US federal government consists of three branches -- the executive headed by the president, the legislative comprising the House of Representatives and Senate and the judicial made up of the courts. The judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, is meant to be above the political fray. Critics of the Trump immigration crackdown say that by restricting asylum seekers to border crossing points the government is effectively shutting the door on people who may truly be fleeing for their lives. Trump's administration has argued that he has the executive power to curb immigration in the name of national security -- a power he invoked after taking office last year with a controversial ban on travelers from several mostly Muslim countries. The final version of the order was upheld by the Supreme Court on June 26 after a protracted legal battle. Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), participate in a military parade during the funeral of a fellow fighter; Syria's Kurdish minority has established a semi-autonomous region in the north of the country which has been at war since 2011 The US military will install observation posts along Syria's northern border with Turkey to help minimize tensions between the Turks and Washington's Kurdish allies in the fight against the Islamic State group (IS), defense secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. "We are putting in observation posts in several locations up along the... northern Syrian border," Mattis told reporters. He added that the goal was to ensure the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, "are not drawn off that fight," so "that we can crush what's left of the geographic caliphate." "They will be very clearly marked locations day and night so that the Turks know where they're at," he added, noting that the decision was taken in close cooperation with Turkey. The SDF announced on November 11 it would resume its offensive against IS after having previously called it off due to new tensions with Turkey, which had shelled its positions in northern Syria. The violence caused embarrassment for the United States, which is a key partner of the SDF, while Turkey is a NATO member and strategic ally. Syria's long-oppressed Kurdish minority has established a semi-autonomous region in the north of the country, which has been wracked by conflict since 2011. Turkey refuses to recognize the territory on its border, fearing it will exacerbate separatist ambitions of Kurds in its own country. Ankara has carried out two operations against Kurdish forces since 2016, the last against the border enclave of Afrin, which it seized in March and is now controlled by pro-Turkish Syrian rebels. Renae Lawrence (C) of Australia was the only female member of the Bali Nine drug-smuggling group An Australian woman held in Indonesian prisons for 13 years for being part of the "Bali Nine" drug-smuggling gang returned home Thursday, facing more possible jail time for alleged crimes committed before her overseas ordeal. Renae Lawrence, 41, arrived in Brisbane shortly after dawn and then flew on to her home town of Newcastle in New South Wales state. She is the only member of the group to find freedom. Lawrence was met by a large crowd of reporters, photographers and TV cameras at both Brisbane and Newcastle airports, but ignored their questions. She ran from the Newcastle terminal and jumped into a waiting vehicle to escape the media swarm and was driven off. Police want to question Lawrence about outstanding arrest warrants dating from before her ill-fated departure for Bali in 2005, but did not prevent her from leaving the airport with family members. Australian media reports said Lawrence faces two outstanding charges relating to a high-speed chase involving a stolen vehicle. It was unclear if Newcastle police would pursue the charges, but federal Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton argued that she should not be given "credit" for her time in Indonesian prison. "If you've committed offences in our country, you need to face the justice system here," he said prior to her return. Lawrence, the only female member of the Bali Nine, was caught with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin strapped to her body as she tried to board a flight back to Australia from Bali. "Bali Nine" She was initially handed a life term, but her sentence was later reduced to 20 years and then further cut due to good behaviour. Of the nine in the original group, ringleaders Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were executed by firing squad in 2015, sparking a diplomatic row between Australia and Indonesia, which has some of the world's strictest drug laws including the death penalty. Another member, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died in prison in June from stomach cancer, while the remaining five are currently serving life sentences. Some critics have lashed out at the Australian police for tipping off their Indonesian counterparts about the gang and putting its members at risk of execution in Indonesia. A Yemeni woman holds a child suffering from malnutrition at a treatment centre in the city of Taez Peace talks aimed at ending the war in Yemen have been set for early December in Sweden, between Huthi rebels and the UN-recognized government, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. He said the Saudis and United Arab Emirates -- who have militarily backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in the brutal three-year-old war -- "are fully on board, by the way." "It looks like that very, very early in December, up in Sweden, we'll see both the Huthi rebel side and the UN-recognized government, President Hadi's government, will be up there." Mattis last month made a surprise call for a ceasefire in Yemen and urged warring parties to enter negotiations within the next 30 days. The United Nations has now pushed that deadline back to the end of the year. Mattis' latest comments came as the US State Department said talks must not be delayed any longer, and UN envoy Martin Griffiths was in Sanaa for talks with rebel leaders to push them to join the peace talks in Sweden. Griffiths is spearheading the biggest push in two years to end the war, which has sparked what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It also comes a day after US President Donald Trump vowed to stick with Saudi Arabia as an ally despite the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul October 2. The CIA has reportedly concluded that the murder was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but Trump chose to overlook that in favor of the larger relationship with the kingdom. "On the Khashoggi affair, presidents don't often get the freedom to work with unblemished partners in all things," Mattis said. "If you want to end the war you're going to deal with Saudi. You can't say I'm not going to deal with them," he said. - US weapons - Yemeni fighters, pictured in the capital Sanaa and loyal to the Shiite Huthi movement, which failed to show up to peace talks in Switzerland in September Washington has been providing bombs and other weapons, as well as intelligence support, to the Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi, but recently ended its refueling support for Saudi warplanes. The Huthis failed to show up to peace talks in Switzerland in September, leading to the collapse of that effort to end the fighting. The Huthis have said repeatedly that they need stronger security guarantees from the international community that they will be given safe passage through the crippling air and sea blockade the coalition has enforced since March 2015. UN agencies say up to 14 million Yemenis are at risk of starvation if fighting closes the port of Hodeida, a gateway for humanitarian aid. "All parties must not delay talks any longer, or insist on travel or transport conditions that call into question good faith intentions to look for a solution or to make necessary concessions," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. "The time for direct talks and building mutual confidence is now." Nauert said the US welcomes the coalition's Tuesday announcement of $500 million to address Yemen's food security crisis. "In addition to this, Hodeida port must be turned over to a neutral party to accelerate the distribution of aid to address the acute humanitarian crisis, and to prevent the port from being used to smuggle weapons and contraband into the country or to finance the Huthi militia," Nauert said. "It is time to end this conflict, replace conflict with compromise, and allow the Yemeni people to heal through peace and reconstruction." Years of United Nations-backed peace efforts have failed to end Yemen's fighting, which has killed nearly 10,000 people -- mostly civilians -- since the Saudi-led coalition intervened. Bahrain's King Hamad has urged voters to take part in the elections but one analyst said many citiziens will either boycott the vote or simply not bother Bahrainis head to the polls Saturday, but experts have questioned the value of a parliamentary election in which dissolved opposition groups have been banned from taking part. The country's two main opposition groups, the Shiite Al-Wefaq and secular Waad, were barred from fielding candidates, prompting renewed calls for a boycott. The tiny Gulf kingdom has been hit by ongoing unrest since 2011, when security forces crushed Shiite-led protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. The Sunni-ruled country of around 1.4 million people has a majority Shiite population, according to unofficial estimates contested by the government. Neil Partrick, a specialist in Gulf Arab politics, said Bahrain's elections "have lost all practical and political meaning" since the 2010 boycott by Al-Wefaq -- the main movement representing the country's Shiite population. "The subsequent outlawing of Al-Wefaq, and of the relatively liberal, cross-sect, Waad trend, has merely underlined the meaninglessness of Bahraini elections," he told AFP. "Elections can still serve as a prestige vehicle for individuals seeking to present themselves as representative of the wider national community, however they have no political or practical substance regardless of whether boycotts are called for or adhered to." - Opposition leader imprisoned - Opposition parties shunned the last elections in 2014, the first since the 2011 crackdown, denouncing the vote as a "farce". A court banned Al-Wefaq in 2016 for "harbouring terrorism", inciting violence and encouraging demonstrations which threatened to spark sectarian strife. Bahrain, a key ally of the United States and home to the US Fifth Fleet, regularly accuses Shiite Iran of provoking unrest in the kingdom, which Tehran denies. Bahrain's interior ministry said in a statement Wednesday that authorities had "taken all required steps" to make sure the vote passes off safely. King Hamad in September urged voters to take part in the vote, in which officials say 293 people are running for parliament. A municipal poll coincides with the parliamentary vote. Since 2011, authorities have imprisoned hundreds of dissidents -- including top Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, who headed Al-Wefaq -- and stripped many of their nationality. Salman was sentenced to life in prison on November 4 for spying for rival Gulf state Qatar, in a ruling rights groups have called a travesty. Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, severed ties with Qatar in 2017, banning their citizens from visiting or communicating with the emirate over its alleged ties to both Iran and radical Islamist groups. - Boycott calls - At least six people were detained and charged this month for "obstructing the electoral process", according to statements released by Bahrain's public prosecutor. One of the six was Ali Rashed al-Asheeri, a former member of parliament with Al-Wefaq, according to the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. Asheeri had tweeted that he and his family would boycott the polls. Al-Wefaq called for a boycott of this year's parliamentary poll after a law issued in June barred "leaders and members of political associations dissolved for violating the kingdom's constitution or its laws" from standing. The 40-seat lower house has the authority to examine and pass legislation proposed by the king or cabinet. However, the upper chamber, or Consultative Council, appointed by the king, has the power to block legislation passed by the lower house. Jane Kinninmont, an analyst specialising in Gulf politics, said many citizens will either boycott or "simply not bother to vote" in this year's elections. "The elections will not change much as almost all the opposition parties are now banned and their leaders in jail," she told AFP. Abdullah Abdullah downplayed any suggestion of a pre-election breakthrough with the Taliban The Taliban in Afghanistan have not yet shown any sign they are serious about ending their 17-year insurgency despite US efforts to push a fresh peace process, the country's de facto prime minister told AFP. Abdullah Abdullah, who serves as "chief executive" of the unity government in Kabul, struck a far more sceptical tone about the prospects of a deal than his political rival, President Ashraf Ghani, and his Western counterparts. Ghani said earlier this month it was "not a question of if, but when" an agreement would be reached with the Taliban, while the US envoy to the country even raised the possibility of a breakthrough before presidential elections in April. "Recently there are renewed efforts in terms of the international community and especially the US," Abdullah told AFP during a wide-ranging interview in Paris that also covered his own political ambitions. "We are not judging it too prematurely, but I would say that our experience as of now has been that they (the Taliban) have not shown any intention to get seriously engaged in the peace negotiations," he added. The latest atrocity targeting civilians in Kabul saw a bomber kill 55 people at a banquet hall The comment on Wednesday came after the latest atrocity targeting civilians in Kabul when a bomber killed 55 people at a banquet hall at a ceremony to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed. Abdullah, a political veteran of the fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s and Taliban rule in the 90s, called it "beyond comprehension." Beleaguered Afghan security forces are also suffering an unprecedented level of casualties across the country where the Taliban and the Islamic State group are stepping up attacks. - Presidential candidate? - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said earlier this month it was "not a question of if, but when" an agreement would be reached with the Taliban Returning to Kabul on Thursday after a three-day trip to France, Abdullah said he expected to be briefed fully about the latest round of talks between US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban, which are believed to have taken place in Qatar last week. Whatever the outcome, he argued that Afghanistan should hold its presidential election as scheduled next April despite a recent upsurge in violence and suggestions from some that it should be delayed. "My idea is to stick to the timing, make it work, because it's part of the system and legitimacy of the system depends on the elections," he said. "At the same time, continue the efforts on peace with full vigour." He downplayed any suggestion of a pre-election breakthrough with the Taliban. "It will be very surprising if that happens, but should it happen ... that would be welcomed by the people of Afghanistan," he added. Abdullah has kept up suspense about his own political ambitions after twice running for president in 2009 and 2014 in campaigns that ended bitterly amid accusations of fraud. After being beaten in 2014 by Ghani, Abdullah agreed to become prime minister of the unity government in a US-brokered deal -- but the rivalry between the two men continues. "I will actively be involved one way or another, but I have not made that final decision," Abdullah said when asked if he would run in 2019. - Fraud fears - An Afghan policeman searches voters waiting to cast their vote during polls last month Looking ahead to next April's vote, Abdullah was candid about the lack of progress made in correcting the weaknesses in Afghanistan's fraud-plagued electoral system. He said he was "disappointed" by parliamentary elections in October, which were marred by a shambolic rollout of new biometric polling technology and missing or incomplete voter lists. "Our expectations for the parliamentary elections and the conduct of them was much higher, and the people's expectations were much higher," he said. There were thousands of complaints lodged against the Independent Electoral Commission, although four million voters did defy the security worries to turn out and cast a ballot. The unity government had pledged to tackle problems that have repeatedly undermined faith in Afghan elections since the US-led invasion in 2001 overthrew the Taliban government in Kabul. But Abdullah suggested that these efforts, like in other areas, have been hit by the fractious nature of decision-making in the multi-party government. "It was the commitment of the unity government in 2014... that we will start implementing reforms. We started very late. Why did we do that?" he asked. Abdullah's defeats in 2009 and then again in 2014 -- when he won the first round but slumped to a surprise defeat in the second -- led to political crises which threatened to unravel the country's fragile political system. Should observers fear another tainted poll? "There were a lot of lessons from the parliamentary elections. Should we and other relevant institutions deal with them thoroughly and seriously we can have and we should have better elections than in 2014," he said. The WTO's Dispute Settlement Body will hear complaints concerning US President Donald Trump's steel and aluminium tariffs from a string of countries The World Trade Organization agreed Wednesday to hear complaints from a range of countries over new US steel and aluminium tariffs, as well as complaints from Washington over retaliatory duties. The WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) agreed to establish panels to review US President Donald Trump's decision to hit a long line of countries with tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium. The DSB will create separate panels for the complaints by the European Union, China, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Russia and Turkey, after the US said it would not agree to a single panel to hear all of them. The DSB agreed Wednesday to Washington's request for three panels to rule on the legality of retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada, China, Mexico and the European Union. It also agreed to a US call for a panel to be created to review "certain Chinese measures pertaining to the protection of intellectual property rights." Marking a departure from a decades-long US-led drive for free trade, Trump has justified the steep tariffs with claims that massive flows of imports to the United States threaten national security. Washington invoked a rarely used WTO exception that allows a country to take "any action which it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests." Speaking at Wednesday's meeting, US Ambassador Dennis Shea warned of the "risks posed to the WTO dispute settlement system when a member challenges measures taken for the protection of essential security interests." The US delegation also cautioned that any review of measures taken for national security reasons would undermine the "legitimacy" and "even the viability of the WTO as a whole". The tariff spat has escalated into an all-out trade war between the US and China and growing trade tensions between Washington and many of its traditional allies. The decision to establish the panels follows rounds of failed consultations between the parties and mark an escalation in an ongoing showdown at the WTO around Trump's controversial trade policies. The first requests to establish the panels were rejected last month, prompting the sides to file second requests. Under WTO regulations, parties in a dispute can block a first request for the creation of an arbitration panel, but if the parties make a second request, it is all but guaranteed to go through. The creation of a DSB panel usually triggers a long and often costly legal battle that sometimes takes years to resolve. Martin Griffiths (C), the UN special envoy for Yemen, descends from his plane upon his arrival at Sanaa international airport on November 21, 2018 The United Nations envoy will visit Yemen's embattled city of Hodeida this week, a UN source said Thursday, ahead of peace talks set for December in Sweden. Martin Griffiths, who arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Wednesday, was in the country to lay the groundwork for the upcoming negotiations aimed at ending almost four years of devastating conflict. The British diplomat is expected to visit the lifeline port city of Hodeida on Friday, a UN source told AFP. The purpose of Griffiths's visit was to encourage the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition to remain calm ahead of the talks in Stockholm, the source said. Both sides have in the past week expressed support for the envoy and his mission to hold discussions, but military officials have said intermittent clashes continued to erupt in the Red Sea city of Hodeida. Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the Huthi rebels' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, tweeted Thursday that he "hopes there is no escalation in military operations by the coalition following Griffiths's visit to Hodeida". UN agencies say up to 14 million Yemenis are at risk of starvation if fighting closes the port of Hodeida, from which nearly all imports and humanitarian aid pass. Martin Griffiths (C), the UN special envoy for Yemen, descends from his plane upon his arrival at Sanaa international airport on November 21, 2018 A United Nations envoy met Yemen's rebel chief Thursday to nail down details of peace talks expected in December, a day before a planned visit to the battleground port city of Hodeida. Martin Griffiths, who arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Wednesday, is pushing for negotiations early next month in Sweden to help end years of conflict that have left Yemen facing famine. The diplomat's visit to Hodeida on Friday is aimed at encouraging Iran-aligned Huthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition to keep a lid on hostilities ahead of the talks in Stockholm, a UN source said. The conflict in Yemen, which escalated when the Saudi-led alliance intervened in 2015, has killed thousands and left up to 14 million Yemenis at risk of starvation according to UN agencies. Destruction in Yemen Both sides have in the past week expressed support for the envoy's mission to hold discussions, and violence in the Red Sea city of Hodeida has diminished despite intermittent clashes. The port city has a crucial role as the entry point for nearly all of the country's imports and humanitarian aid. Griffiths and Yemeni rebel chief Abdulmalik al-Huthi during their meeting addressed "what can facilitate new discussions in December", rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam said on Twitter. Abdelsalam said that included "procedures needed to transport injured and sick for treatment abroad and bring them back", a key sticking point during a previous failed attempt at talks in September. Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the rebels' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, said the rebels were ready for peace. "We support peace. We are ready for peace if that is what they (the Saudi-led coalition) want," he said after also meeting Griffiths. Humanitarian organisations are desperate to see the current peace push translate into a more permanent halt to the bloodshed. The heads of the UN's humanitarian and children's agencies said the "recent de-escalation in fighting in Hodeida is providing a desperately needed respite to hundreds of thousands of civilians". "We urge all parties to maintain it," a statement by Mark Lowcock and Henrietta Fore said. - 'Fully on board' - United States Defence Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed on Wednesday peace discussions between the Huthis and the internationally-recognised government look set for "very, very early" in December. He said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- which is also a key member of the military coalition supporting the loyalists -- were "fully on board". UN agencies say up to 14 million Yemenis would be at risk of starvation if fighting closes the port of Hodeida Kuwait's Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid al-Jarallah said that the talks may happen on December 3. He added that his country -- which is currently a non-permanent UN Security Council member -- will offer "logistical support" at Sweden's request, without elaborating. Mattis last month made a surprise call for a ceasefire in Yemen and urged warring parties to enter negotiations within the next 30 days. The US has been providing bombs and other weapons, as well as intelligence support, to the Saudi-led coalition backing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, but recently ended its refuelling support for Saudi warplanes. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate has increased scrutiny of Western support for the coalition, and ramped up pressure on Riyadh. On Monday, Britain presented to the UN Security Council a draft resolution urging an immediate truce in Hodeida. The draft, circulated to the 14 other council members, and seen by AFP, sets a two-week deadline for the warring sides to remove all barriers to humanitarian aid. - UN peace efforts - The current peace push by Griffiths is the biggest effort in two years to end the war. A Yemeni supporter to the Shiite Huthi movement, attends a rally marking the birth anniversary of Islam's Prophet Mohammad in the capital Sanaa, on November 20, 2018. In September, a previous round of UN-led peace talks faltered when the Huthis refused to travel to Geneva, accusing the world body of failing to guarantee their delegation's return to Sanaa or secure the evacuation of wounded rebels to Oman. Previous talks broke down in 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to yield a deal and left rebel delegates stranded in Oman for three months. A UN panel of experts has accused both the Huthis and the Saudi-led coalition of acts that could amount to war crimes. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, though some rights groups estimate the toll could be five times higher. Massud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), speaks during an electoral rally on September 20, 2018 Prominent Kurdish leader Massud Barzani met with Iraqi premier Adel Abdel Mahdi in Baghdad on Thursday during his first visit to the capital in over two years. Barzani's visit is seen as another sign of an improvement in relations between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan that deteriorated sharply after the autonomous region held an independence referendum last year. The prime minister's office announced the meeting just after noon on Thursday, sharing a photograph of Barzani dressed in a dark grey suit instead of his usual Kurdish garb. Barzani previously served as the Iraqi Kurds' president and now heads the prominent Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which emerged victorious in regional parliamentary elections in September. Last year's independence vote saw more than 92 percent of Kurds back secession, but the federal government rejected the poll as "illegal," imposed economic penalties and seized the disputed Kirkuk oil fields, halting exports. But since Abdel Mahdi was appointed premier in October, relations appear to have improved between Baghdad and Kurdish leaders in the regional capital Arbil. Barzani's favoured candidate Fuad Hussein was appointed Iraq's minister of finance later that month, and the two sides announced a deal last week to resume Kirkuk oil exports. "It's very important for us to have good, smooth relations between Arbil and Baghdad. We've seen a huge improvement on all levels," Abdel Mahdi told reporters on Wednesday. According to an Iraqi official with knowledge of the visit, the pair are expected to discuss the lagging government formation process and the Kurdistan region's share of the federal budget. "An initial agreement has been reached on the budget," the official told AFP. Iraq's parliament in March passed a budget that saw Kurdistan's slice of the federal budget drop from 17 percent to 12.6 percent. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's embrace of Saudi Arabia has exposed a foreign policy rift in the Republican Party, as some of his GOP colleagues warn that not punishing the kingdom for its role in killing a U.S.-based columnist will have dangerous consequences. Many Republicans - even Sens. Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul, who share their views on the matter with the president - have denounced Trump's decision not to levy harsher penalties on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the death and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday he was "astounded" by Trump's statement and likened it to a press release for Saudi Arabia. "It is a delicate situation when we have a long-term ally that we've had for decades, but we have a crown prince that I believe ordered the killing of a journalist," Corker told Chattanooga TV station WTVC in his home state of Tennessee. "We don't have a smoking gun. Everything points to the fact that he knew about it and directed it." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended Trump's decision, saying the U.S. has already placed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials suspected of involvement in the Oct. 2 killing of The Washington Post columnist, who had been critical of the royal family. "We've sanctioned 17 people - some of them very senior in the Saudi government," Pompeo said Wednesday in a radio interview with KCMO in Kansas City, Missouri. "We are going to make sure that America always stands for human rights." President Donald Trump speaks to the media before leaving the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, to travel to Florida, where he will spend Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Graham, R-S.C., isn't convinced. "When we lose our moral voice, we lose our strongest asset," he said. Members of both parties have accused Trump of ignoring U.S. intelligence that concluded, according to one U.S. official, that it was likely the crown prince ordered the killing. Several lawmakers have indicated that the U.S. has no "smoking gun" that proves he was responsible, but they have called on the CIA and other top intelligence agencies to publicly share what they told the president about the slaying. In his statement Tuesday, Trump argued that punishing Saudi Arabia by "foolishly canceling" Saudi arms deals worth billions of dollars to the U.S. would only benefit Russia and China. Critics, including high-ranking officials in other countries, accused Trump of ignoring human rights and giving Saudi Arabia a pass for economic reasons. It's "America First," Trump said. That unleashed a tweet Wednesday from Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii who wrote: "Being Saudi Arabia's bitch is not 'America First.'" Trump also said the U.S. needs Saudi Arabia's help to counter Iran in the region, fight extremism and keep oil prices steady. The U.S., Russia and the Saudis have boosted oil production in anticipation of sharply lower exports from Iran due to U.S. sanctions reinstated after Trump exited the Iran nuclear deal. Trump publicly thanked Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for plunging oil prices. However, OPEC, the cartel of oil-producing countries, could announce production cuts at its Dec. 6 meeting in Vienna, nudging prices upward. "Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let's go lower!" he wrote from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he's spending Thanksgiving. Criticism of the president will likely resume after the holiday when lawmakers return to Capitol Hill early next week. "Congressional Republicans will have to do a gut check," Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Wednesday. "The Republican Party has believed for more than 50 years that morality was one of the reasons why the United States won the Cold War. And the president walked away from that." Some lawmakers are already fighting back. Twenty-two members of the Senate - 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats -have triggered investigations into Khashoggi's death and specifically whether the crown prince was responsible. The investigations were requested under provisions of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. The act requires the president to report back to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee within 120 days - in this case by Feb. 7 - on whether the crown prince was responsible for an extrajudicial killing, torture or other gross violation of internationally recognized human rights against an individual exercising freedom of expression and the administration's decision on whether sanctions are warranted. Moreover, three Democrats and three Republicans, who say sanctions, which include a ban on travel to the U.S., imposed so far are insufficient, have introduced the Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen Act of 2018. Among other things, the bill calls for suspending weapon sales to Saudi Arabia and imposing mandatory sanctions on all those responsible for Khashoggi's death and those blocking humanitarian access to Yemen. Democrats going against the president is expected, but Republican outrage will be more difficult for Trump to shrug off. Before leaving for the holiday, Paul, R-Ky., lamented to The Associated Press that Trump didn't accept the counsel he received from both him and Graham - two Republicans often at odds on foreign policy. Graham has said the crown prince is "irrational" and "unhinged" and warns there will be strong, bipartisan support in Congress for harsher sanctions against Saudi Arabia and members of the royal family. Paul typically eschews U.S. intervention abroad, but views Khashoggi's death as one in a long line of malign activities by Saudi Arabia topped by its war in neighboring Yemen where civilians are being killed by Saudi airstrikes. "He's been hearing from both myself and from Lindsey Graham - two different sides of the foreign policy spectrum - and yet we get this," Paul said about Trump's statement in support of Saudi Arabia. "We really have to reconsider what we're doing." ___ Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Maria Danilova and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. President Donald Trump waves after speaking to the media before leaving the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, to travel to Florida, where he will spend Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2014, file photo, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press conference in Manama, Bahrain. President Donald Trump says the U.S. will not levy additional punitive measures at this time against Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump frequently credits himself with accomplishing more for the military and veterans than any other president in recent memory. But he has yet to embark on what has long been a traditional presidential pilgrimage important to the military: a visit to troops deployed in a war zone. As he departed Tuesday for Florida to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday at his private club in Palm Beach, Trump said he'd soon correct the oversight. "I'm going to a war zone," he said in response to a reporter's question about his support for the troops. He did not say when he would be making the trip or where he planned to go. An official said a White House team recently returned from beginning to plan for such a visit. The omission is one of a long list of norm-breaking moves that underscore the Republican president's increasingly fraught relationship with the military, which has celebrated Trump's investments in defense spending but cringed at what some see as efforts to politicize their service. Just this week, Trump leveled criticism against the storied commander of the 2011 mission that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, retired Adm. William McRaven. "Wouldn't it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that, wouldn't it have been nice?" Trump said. President Donald Trump points as he greets supporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base and on to n route to Palm Beach International Airport, in West Palm Beach, Fla., and onto Mar-a-lago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) The latest controversy followed a pattern of concerns raised by former senior military officers about Trump's grasp of the military's role, and it comes as White House aides and defense officials have raised alarm about what they view as the president's disinterest in briefings about troop deployments overseas. Shortly after taking office, Trump appeared to try to deflect responsibility for the death of a service member, William "Ryan" Owens, in a failed operation in Yemen, saying planning for the mission began under his predecessor and was backed by senior military commanders. "They explained what they wanted to do, the generals, who are very respected," he told "Fox & Friends" at the time. "And they lost Ryan." Trump won the White House on a platform of ending U.S. military commitments abroad, but he's been bedeviled by many of the same challenges as his predecessors. More American troops are now deployed in conflict zones than when he took office. Aides have suggested that Trump is wary of traveling to conflict zones where he doesn't fully support the mission. Trump begrudgingly backed a surge of troops in Afghanistan last year and boosted U.S. deployments in Iraq, Syria and Africa to counter the Islamic State and other extremist groups. Trump said last week in a "Fox News Sunday" interview that he was "very much opposed to the war in Iraq. I think it was a tremendous mistake, should have never happened." Trump, in fact, offered lukewarm support for the invasion at the time but began offering public doubts about the mission after the conflict began in March 2003. At home, some assert that Trump's decision to send thousands of active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border shortly before the Nov. 6 midterm elections was a political stunt. And Defense Department officials said they rejected requests by the Department of Homeland Security - and backed by the White House - for armed active-duty troops to bolster Border Patrol agents, saying it ran afoul of federal law. Trump also drew criticism for his decision not to visit Arlington National Cemetery to mark Veterans Day, following his trip to Europe. He said later he "should have" visited the cemetery but was too busy with official business. His public schedule that day listed no events. In the "Fox News Sunday" interview, Trump was asked why he hadn't visited the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in the two years he's served as commander in chief. "Well, I think you will see that happen," he said. "There are things that are being planned." He also touted his support for the men and women in uniform. "I don't think anybody's been more with the military than I have, as a president," Trump said. "In terms of funding, in terms of all of the things I've been able to get them, including the vets, I don't think anybody's done more than me." Trump received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War, four for education and one for a diagnosis of bone spurs - though he later told The New York Times he could not remember which foot was affected by the malady or how long it lasted. Trump told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he doesn't think visiting troops in a war zone is "overly necessary." "I've been very busy with everything that's taking place here," he added. ___ Associated Press National Security Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Gunmen firing indiscriminately into a coastal trading center kidnapped an Italian woman and wounded several other people in the first kidnapping of a foreigner in Kenya in several years, authorities and witnesses said Wednesday. Silvia Costanza Romano, a 23-year-old volunteer working with Kenyan students, had begged for help before she was violently taken away by the attackers who stormed the Chakama trading center on the coastal county of Kilifi at around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, police and witnesses said. Romano, who studied linguistic mediation in Milan, had told friends back home how happy she had been in Kenya and had planned to stay at least until the end of the year because she felt enriched "like never before in my life." Five people were wounded in the attack, including three children, said Kenya's police chief, Joseph Boinnet. The motive for the abduction isn't clear and the identity of the attackers is not yet known, he said. Romano had been working for the Italian-based humanitarian group Africa Milele, according to Boinnet and Italy's foreign ministry. The gunmen came looking for a white woman, according to Ronald Kazungu Ngala, 19, who said he witnessed Romano's violent kidnapping. Ngala's high school education is being sponsored by Africa Milele and he had gone to the NGO's offices to present his grade 10 end of year report card to Romano, he said. Villagers look up as a Kenyan police helicopter flies above the scene of an attack by gunmen who kidnapped an Italian volunteer, in the village of Chakama, in coastal Kilifi county, Kenya Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Gunmen shot indiscriminately, kidnapped the Italian woman and wounded a number of Kenyans late Tuesday according to police. (AP Photo) He heard gunfire which prompted all the shops in the area to close and many people in the trading center to hide. At around 7.30 p.m. six men, some armed with guns and others with machetes and clubs stormed into the Milele offices and demanded to know where is the "mgeni" (Swahili for visitor). "I told them she had left to go and get a power bank, but they didn't believe me and surged into the room where they found her," he said. Ngala said he followed them and heard one gunman ask the other if she is the one and when he was answered in the affirmative, he proceeded to "slap her very hard until she fell." "Ronald please, please! Ronald, please help," Romano said, according to Ngala. "I tried to push away a man who was smothering her while holding her down for her hands to be tied behind her back, but someone hit me in the head with a club and I got dizzy. She told me to help myself and I ran for the man at the door with a club and pushed him away and escaped." He said two of the gunmen who were outside the room shot at onlookers. Ngala said the gunmen took Romano across the Galana River. He said the gunmen looked and spoke like members of a local herding community known as Orma. Many herding communities in Kenya that live near the border areas are armed to protect themselves against rivals, who may come across the border to steal their livestock. In one of her latest postings on Twitter, Romano said she was grateful to the kids she was working with for showing her how to live without material things. "These children, these people have taught me to live with no material things but with love, Joy, gratitude, smiles, sincere eyes ... and be happy in such simple way. Thank you Kenya, thank you Chakama. This has been the deepest experience of my Life," she said. In Milan, where Romano lived, friends and her former employer said she had found fulfillment in Kenya and had even delayed a planned return to Italy. "She told me about the beautiful people that she met, people who although they had nothing were always joyful, ready to smile at you," said Silvia Cirstaldi, a friend who worked at the Zero Gravity gym where Romano taught gymnastics. "This is what I think pushed her to go back." Gym manager Francesco Pisani said he had heard from Romano in September, when she called to say she wouldn't be coming back as planned. He played for The Associated Press a WhatsApp audio file Romano sent him, where she said she has been offered a position through November or December. "It has to do with what I have studied and anyway in these two months I found it very fascinating and I have felt really satisfied and happy inside," Romano said. "I feel as though it is the right decision for my future and it will enrich me a lot as it has in the past two months like never before in my life and well, big hugs and let me know." Somali-based Islamic extremists have been blamed in the past for a spate of kidnappings of foreigners along Kenya's coast. Kenya said it was prompted to send troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabab militants after the kidnappings of four foreigners. One of the foreigners, a cancer-stricken quadriplegic Frenchwoman kidnapped off a Kenyan resort island, died in captivity in Somalia. Confronted by a slump in tourism following the kidnappings, Kenya deployed troops to Somalia later in October, 2011, to fight the militants. Al-Shabab has since carried out numerous attacks in Kenya, saying it is vengeance for the country's troop presence in Somalia. ___ AP photographer Antonio Calanni contributed from Milan and AP writer Nicole Winfield contributed from Rome. ___ This story has been corrected to show how the kidnap victim's name is spelled by the Italian foreign ministry. It was also corrected to show that mgeni is a Swahili word for visitor. This photo shows Italian volunteer Silvia Costanza Romano, left, with local resident Ronald Kazungu Ngala, 19, in August 2018 in the village of Chakama, in coastal Kilifi county, Kenya. Around eight gunmen kidnapped Silvia Costanza Romano late Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018 and wounded several people, including three children, Kenyan police said Wednesday. (AP Photo) This photo taken on June 2018 shows Silvia Costanza Romano, 23, the Italian volunteer that was kidnapped Tuesday evening, Nov. 20, 2018, in Chakama, in the county of Kilifi, Kenya. Silvia, who was working with Africa Milele Onlus, was kidnapped by a group of gunmen who also wounded several people when they opened fire in the trading center. (Silvia Cristaldi/UGC via AP) Silvia Cristaldi shows a photo she has taken on June 2018 of her friend Silvia Costanza Romano, the Italian volunteer that was kidnapped Tuesday evening, Nov. 20, 2018, in Chakama, in the county of Kilifi, Kenya, in Milan, Italy, Nov. 21, 2018. Silvia, who was working with Africa Milele Onlus, was kidnapped by a group of gunmen who also wounded several people when they opened fire in the trading center. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) A woman walks past the house where an Italian volunteer who was kidnapped was living, according to villagers, in the village of Chakama, in coastal Kilifi county, Kenya Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Gunmen shot indiscriminately, kidnapped the Italian woman and wounded a number of Kenyans late Tuesday according to police. (AP Photo) Villagers look up as a Kenyan police helicopter flies above the scene of an attack by gunmen who kidnapped an Italian volunteer, in the village of Chakama, in coastal Kilifi county, Kenya Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Gunmen shot indiscriminately, kidnapped the Italian woman and wounded a number of Kenyans late Tuesday according to police. (AP Photo) Villagers gather near the scene of an attack by gunmen who kidnapped an Italian volunteer, in the village of Chakama, in coastal Kilifi county, Kenya Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Gunmen shot indiscriminately, kidnapped the Italian woman and wounded a number of Kenyans late Tuesday according to police. (AP Photo) Kenyan Samini Garama Dadu, who was shot during an attack by gunmen who also kidnapped an Italian volunteer, is treated in hospital in Malindi, Kenya Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Gunmen shot indiscriminately, kidnapped the Italian woman and wounded a number of Kenyans late Tuesday in the village of Chakama in coastal Kilifi county. (AP Photo) Villagers point to footprints in the mud outside a small house where they claimed the suspected kidnappers of an Italian woman had been staying in recently, in the village of Chakama, in coastal Kilifi county, Kenya Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Gunmen shot indiscriminately, kidnapped the Italian woman and wounded a number of Kenyans late Tuesday according to police. (AP Photo) CHICO, Calif. (AP) - Amy Sheppard packs her belongings into a plastic garbage bag as rain drips around her, readying to move on from a field by a Walmart where thousands of evacuees had taken refuge from a deadly Northern California wildfire. Sheppard, 38, her sister and niece, who is 1, are looking to move into a dry hotel after camping in the field for four days. They lost their home in Magalia and the jewelry-maker tears up as she thinks about what's next. "This rain is making it so hard," she said. Rain falling Wednesday in some areas of Northern California could help crews fighting a deadly wildfire. But it could also raise the risk of flash floods, complicate efforts to recover remains and make life even more difficult for people like Sheppard who have nowhere to go. Heavier rain is expected later in the day in the Paradise burn area, which is about 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of San Francisco, where the Camp Fire has killed at least 83 people, including two victims who were found Wednesday in burned homes. The blaze also destroyed more than 13,000 homes. "The rain is really a double-edged sword for this fire," said Rick Carhart, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. He said searchers have "been able to sift through this really fine ash and when rain gets onto that really fine ash, it turns it into sort of a muddy muck and makes it a lot more difficult." Amy Sheppard packs up items outside her tent in a Walmart parking lot in Chico, Calif., that's been a makeshift campground for people displaced by wildfire, Wednesday morning, Nov. 21, 2018. Sheppard lost her home in Magalia to the Camp fire. She was staying in the tent for four days with her sister and 1-year-old niece. They are moving to a motel because of rain that began Wednesday. (AP Photo/Kathleen Ronayne) Farther south, residents of communities charred by a Los Angeles-area fire stacked sandbags as they prepared for possible downpours that threaten to unleash runoff from hillsides left barren by flames. Residents were mindful of a disaster that struck less than a year ago when a downpour on a fresh burn scar sent home-smashing debris flows through Montecito, killing 21 people and leaving two missing. The 151-square-mile (391-square-kilometer) Woolsey Fire in the Los Angeles area was almost entirely contained after three people were killed and more than 1,600 structures destroyed. In Northern California, the wildfire that started two weeks ago has torched an area in Butte County about the size of Chicago - nearly 240 square miles (622 square kilometers) - and was 85 percent contained. A spokesman for the Governor's Office of Emergency Services says state officials will start removing hazardous waste from the burn area "beginning next week." "This will take several months," Eric Lamoureux said. "That ash is still toxic." Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a surprise visit to weary firefighters on Wednesday, providing encouragement and helping serve breakfast. "I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate all the work that you do," he told firefighters during a brief speech. The 71-year-old actor also slammed President Donald Trump for blaming the wildfire on poor forest management. He told firefighters, "you are tough to not only fight the fires, but you are tough to listen to all this crap." Officials said 563 people were still unaccounted for. A spokeswoman for ANDE, the company doing rapid DNA tests on remains, said Wednesday the family members of missing people who live outside the state can give a DNA swab at their local sheriff's office to be sent to California. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Paradise and nearby communities and for those areas charred by wildfires earlier this year in Lake, Shasta, Trinity and Mendocino counties. Butte County officials said all students will be able to return to school on Dec. 3. "We're on it," said Deputy Superintendent Butte County Office of Education Mary Sakuma. ___ Associated Press journalists Haven Daley in Chico, Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco, and Christopher Weber and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report. Amy Sheppard accepts banana bread from Margarita and William Bradbury as she packs up items outside her tent in a Walmart parking lot in Chico, Calif., that's been a makeshift campground for people displaced by wildfire, Wednesday morning, Nov. 21, 2018. Sheppard lost her home in Magalia to the Camp fire. She was staying in the tent for four days with her sister and 1-year-old niece. They are moving to a motel because of rain that began Wednesday. (AP Photo/Kathleen Ronayne) People cross the California Street cable car tracks in the rain Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in San Francisco. Light rain falling Wednesday in some areas of Northern California could aid crews fighting a deadly wildfire while raising the risk of flash floods and complicating efforts to recover the remains of those killed. The rain also brought an end to the unhealthy air from wildfires in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger serves breakfast to firefighters Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Chico, Calif. Schwarzenegger has made a surprise visit to firefighters battling a deadly blaze in Northern California, helping serve them breakfast while providing encouragement. Schwarzenegger said Wednesday he was in Budapest, Hungary, when he heard the fire had leveled the town of Paradise. He said he wanted to visit the scene and show his appreciation for firefighters who risk their lives. (Destiny Lestenkof via AP) A weather front bringing rain moves in behind Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in San Francisco. Light rain falling Wednesday in some areas of Northern California could aid crews fighting a deadly wildfire while raising the risk of flash floods and complicating efforts to recover the remains of those killed. The rain also brought an end to the unhealthy air from wildfires in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 file photo, messages are shown on a bulletin board at The Neighborhood Church in Chico, Calif. Numerous postings fill the message board as evacuees, family and friends search for people missing from the northern California wildfire. Officials say the search to find the missing and identify victims could take months given the size and scope of the deadly wildfire that swept Northern California's Gold Rush country. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File) FILE - In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 file photo, firefighters battle the Camp Fire as it tears through Paradise, Calif. Rain in the forecast starting Wednesday, Nov. 21, could aid crews fighting Northern California's deadly wildfire while raising the risk of debris flows and complicating efforts to recover remains. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch Wednesday for the decimated town of Paradise and nearby communities. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File) FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 file photo, search and rescue workers search for human remains at a trailer park burned out from the Camp fire in Paradise, Calif. Officials say the search to find the missing and identify victims could take months given the size and scope of the deadly wildfire that swept Northern California's Gold Rush country. The Camp Fire in Butte County that started two weeks ago has killed multiple people and hundreds of names are on a fluctuating list of the unaccounted. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah's Mia Love was tabbed as a rising star in the GOP when she became the first black Republican woman in Congress with her 2014 victory. But she became the latest Republican incumbent to fall in the midterm election's Democratic wave that has seen more than three dozen Republican-held seats flipped across the country. Ben McAdams, a Democratic mayor of Salt Lake County, defeated Love by fewer than 700 votes in a back-and-forth race that took two weeks to sort out in deep-red Utah, according to final results released Tuesday. Love had a built-in advantage with Republican voters outnumbering Democrats nearly three-to-one in the mostly suburban Salt Lake City district, but she never seemed to catch on with voters the way other Republican incumbents have in the state, said Damon Cann, a political science professor at Utah State University. McAdams, 43, touted himself as a moderate, and not a typical Democrat, in a pitch that seemed to resonate in the district where nearly four in 10 voters are independents. He also benefited from record voter turnout that was driven in part by a medical marijuana ballot proposal that spurred progressive voters to the polls, Cann said. Love, 42, tried to walk a tightrope regarding her support for President Donald Trump in a state that elected him 2016 but where the mostly-Mormon electorate has long been uncomfortable with his brash style and his comments about women and immigrants. FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2018, file photo, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams answers a question as he and U.S. Rep. Mia Love participate in a debate in Sandy, Utah, as the two battle for Utah's 4th Congressional District. McAdams declared victory Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, in the tight race, but Love didn't concede and The Associated Press has not called the race. (Scott G Winterton/Deseret News, via AP, Pool, File) She tried to distance herself from Trump on trade and immigration. She highlighted the times she stood up to the president, like when Trump used an expletive to describe her parents' home country of Haiti. But she backed Trump on the GOP-supported tax reform and appealed to voters to keep the House of Representatives in Republican hands. Trump didn't appreciate her approach, calling her out by name in a news conference the morning after Election Day, where he also bashed other Republicans who he said lost because they didn't fully embrace him. Jill Hanauer, a Denver-based Democratic strategist, said Love couldn't shake the association with Trump despite her efforts. "You can't have it both ways. It was a little too late," Hanauer said. "Mia Love lost because she ran in the shadow of Donald Trump." Jason Perry, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, said he doesn't think Love did anything wrong while in office or during the campaign. He said Love simply ran up against a unique set of factors in facing a good candidate in McAdams who had previously served many of the district's voters as mayor and who benefited from the bump of the ballot propositions that brought more Democratic-leaning voters to the polls. . The race proved yet again that the district that covers a string of Salt Lake City suburbs stretching south along the Wasatch Front to Sanpete County in central Utah is very difficult to continually win, Perry said. "It's just not a safe seat," he said. McAdams will have to hold tight to his "blue-dog Democrat persona" and make good on his vow to work across the aisle with Republican members of the House to hold onto the seat in 2020, Perry said. He predicted Love, was mayor of a small Utah town before winning the U.S. House seat, won't be done with politics. Love hasn't yet talked about her defeat, but she is scheduled to speak Monday morning at a news conference in Salt Lake City. She said she was traveling with family for Thanksgiving and issued a statement through a campaign spokeswoman saying that she had planned to call McAdams and thanking voters for participating in the process. She didn't concede or congratulate McAdams, but she also didn't signal that she would challenge the results. During the race, she sued a county to halt votes, but a judge threw out the lawsuit. Love finished about 20 votes short of being able to request a recount in a race where about 269,000 votes were cast. This is the second time she has lost a bid for Congress by a razor thin margin. In her first run in 2012, Love lost to incumbent Democrat Jim Matheson by 768 votes. She went on to defeat Democrat Doug Owens in 2014 and again in 2016. For McAdams, it's a victory that validates his reputation as an emerging political force in Utah. He becomes the first Democratic member of Utah's congressional district since 2014 when longtime Rep. Jim Matheson retired after seven terms. "This race was about connecting with Utah," McAdams said. McAdams is an attorney who graduated from Columbia Law School and practiced in New York before returning to his home state of Utah. He has been a political figure in the state for a decade. He was elected as one of the few Democrats in the GOP-dominated state Legislature in 2008 and successfully ran for the Salt Lake County mayor's seat four years later. McAdams said during the campaign he would not support California Rep. Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker and insisted he would be able to work with the president. He has already signed a letter along with 15 other Democrats vowing to oppose Pelosi. ___ Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report. FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2018, file photo, U.S. Rep. Mia Love answers a question as she and Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams participate in a debate in Sandy, Utah, as the two battle for Utah's 4th Congressional District. McAdams declared victory Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, in the tight race, but Love didn't concede and The Associated Press has not called the race. (Scott G Winterton/Deseret News, via AP, Pool, File) Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams stands with his family as he speaks at a news conference, Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, in Millcreek, Utah. McAdams declared victory Monday night in the tight race for a U.S. House seat in Utah, but his opponent, Republican Rep. Mia Love, didn't concede and The Associated Press has not called the race. (Steve Griffin/The Deseret News via AP) Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams stands with his family as he speaks at a news conference, Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, in Millcreek, Utah. McAdams declared victory Monday night in the tight race for a U.S. House seat in Utah, but his opponent, Republican Rep. Mia Love, didn't concede and The Associated Press has not called the race. (Steve Griffin/The Deseret News via AP) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department's track record for prosecuting Indian Country crimes has not significantly changed in recent years, even amid programs and attempts to boost both public safety and prosecutions on tribal lands, according to federal figures released Wednesday. In an annual report prepared for Congress, the department's statistics showed U.S. attorneys' offices declined to prosecute 37 percent of Indian Country cases they deemed resolved in 2017, usually citing insufficient evidence. The percentage of cases dropped by prosecutors or sent to other courts was up three points from 2016. The report on prosecution rates marks the first since a government watchdog report from the Office of Inspector General last year issued a critical analysis of U.S. attorneys' prosecution of Indian Country cases. It cited data that must be collected under a 2010 law for the annual reports on investigations and prosecutions. The report also comes amid heightened concerns in Congress and tribal communities over crimes against Native American women , who are disproportionately victimized by sexual assault and domestic assault. More than half of Native American women have encountered sexual and domestic violence at some point during their lives, according to a National Institute of Justice survey published in 2016. "This report only confirms that Native victims continue to fall through the cracks of our justice system," U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, said in an email. "We badly need to commit greater resources to combatting violence in Indian Country and ensuring that those who victimize Native women and families are brought to justice." FILE - In this July 11, 2018 file photo, Roxanne White, whose aunt was murdered in 1996, sings and drums a women's warrior and honor song created for missing and murdered indigenous women, before joining a search in Valier, Mont., for Ashley HeavyRunner Loring, who disappeared last year from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Federal figures show the number of Indian Country crimes that the U.S. Justice Department prosecutes has not shown significant change in recent years, despite new programs and attempts to boost public safety on reservations and prosecution rates sexual assaults and other crimes. The Justice Department report released Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, shows U.S. attorneys' offices declined to prosecute 37 percent of the total number Indian Country cases they considered resolved in 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) In the Justice Department report, a quarter of cases U.S. attorneys declined to prosecute stemmed from reported sexual assaults. A third resulted from other reported assaults, a category that includes domestic violence cases. Udall, who is the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, said limited data collection and lack of clear protocols for authorities' handling of cases have, in part, hampered investigations, prosecutions and strategic crime-fighting in Native American communities. Trent Shores, who is Choctaw and the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, echoed Udall's calls for more funding, saying resources were needed across the board to support more investigators, tribal courts and forensic work in crime laboratories - which would help with prosecutions. More than 70 percent of unprosecuted cases were dropped because of a lack of evidence. While frustrated with the persistent statistics showing Native Americans victimized at alarming rates, Shores said he also believed the report shows some promising findings. He said that some of the cases categorized as being declined by federal prosecutors received the designation because they were sent to tribal courts - which actually represents recognition of tribes' sovereignty and ability to handle cases at a local level. About 13 percent of the declined cases were referred to different jurisdictions, according to the report. "I am seeing continued improvement in the department's ability to better capture the data - to prosecute crimes," he added. Shores, who was appointed to his post last year by President Donald Trump, chairs a Justice Department committee on Native American issues and contributed to the prosecutions report. He said he and others are committed to carrying out a range of initiatives meant to improve policing and prosecutions in tribal communities. They include an Obama-era program that has been expanded under the Trump administration and calls for numerous U.S. attorneys to staff their offices with special prosecutors who must focus on Indian Country cases. The prosecutors also can handle cases in both tribal and federal courts. "It certainly is not for a lack of effort, for a lack of want or will," Shores said of the stagnant crime and prosecution statistics. FILE - In this July 11, 2018 file photo, Kimberly Loring, from right, Roxanne White, Lissa Loring and George A. Hall, cross a creek looking for clues during a search for the Loring's sister and cousin, Ashley HeavyRunner Loring, who went missing in 2017 from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Valier, Mont. The number of Indian Country crimes that the U.S. Justice Department decided to prosecute has not shown significant change in recent years, despite programs and attempts to boost both public safety and prosecutions of sexual assaults and other crimes on reservations, according to federal figures Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) FILE - In this July 14, 2018, file photo, Kenny Still Smoking touches the tombstone of his 7-year-old daughter, Monica, who disappeared from school in 1979 and was found frozen on a mountain, as he visits her grave on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Mont. The number of Indian Country crimes that the U.S. Justice Department decided to prosecute has not shown significant change in recent years, despite programs and attempts to boost both public safety and prosecutions of sexual assaults and other crimes on reservations, according to federal figures Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) QAIM, Iraq (AP) - More than a year after the Iraqi town of Qaim was freed from the Islamic State group, booms from airstrikes still echo and columns of smoke rise beyond the berms and concrete walls marking the border with Syria. There, on the other side, the fight is raging to capture one of the militants' last enclaves. Iraqi troops and Shiite militiamen outside Qaim watch over a giant earth barricade topped with barbed wire that runs along the long, featureless desert border, trying to prevent IS infiltration. Iraqi artillery and U.S.-led coalition warplanes bombard IS positions inside Syria, while Iraqi militiamen along with allied Iranian troops cross the border to back Syrian government forces there. The battle on the doorstep means life in Qaim is still on hold, with residents waiting for their town to be rebuilt. There is still no central electricity, and running water works only intermittently. On the outskirts lie the wreckage of houses, their walls blasted open and roofs collapsed from bombardment during the assault a year ago by militias and U.S.-backed Iraqi troops who retook Qaim from IS. The dusty, quiet streets are dotted with security checkpoints, manned by the military and the government-sanctioned, Iranian-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, who are viewed with deep suspicion by many in this Sunni Muslim town. Many checkpoints fly both Iraqi national flags and the militias' banners proclaiming Shiite slogans. On the main commercial road, militiamen and Iranian fighters shop in the markets. One fruit seller, Nabil Mashhad, said that since he doesn't speak Farsi, he shows the Iranians the prices on his cellphone's calculator. "The situation is bad," Mashhad said. "Where are the services? The schools? There's no life. We're working just trying to get by." In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, an Iraqi soldier watches smoke rising after an airstrike by US-led International coalition warplanes against ISIS, on the border between Syria and Iraq in Qaim, Anbar province, Iraq. More than a year after this Iraqi town was freed from the Islamic State group, booms from airstrikes still echo and columns of smoke are visible, rising beyond the earthen berms and concrete walls marking the border with Syria. On the other side, the fight is raging to capture one of the militant group's last enclaves. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) The fight next door underscores the tenacity of the Islamic State group, a year after it was driven out of almost all the territory it once held, which at its height encompassed nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria. The IS enclave across the border is the last area with a significant population that it holds, a 30-kilometer (20-mile) stretch of towns on the east bank of the Euphrates River. The militants are surrounded. On one side are the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by American warplanes, who have been waging an offensive since mid-September. On the west bank of the river is the Syrian military, backed by Russian airpower along with Iranian troops and Iraqi militiamen. IS has fought back ferociously. Last month, it attacked under cover of a sandstorm and captured a number of villages from the SDF. During the fighting, the militants drove explosives-packed cars through tunnels to emerge at their opponent's lines and at one point lured SDF fighters into an ambush by sending a woman to cry for help, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors Syria's war. The extremist group is estimated to have several thousand fighters, including many Iraqis, in the enclave. The Iraqi military believes senior IS leadership are among them, possibly top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. IS holds one other pocket in Syria, but that is a largely uninhabited desert expanse surrounded by government-held territory. "We never thought or said this fight would be easy. These are some of ISIS's most determined fighters, and they've had a lot of time to prepare," the deputy commander of the U.S.-led coalition, British Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, told The Associated Press. Retaking the enclave has also been slowed by the rivalries among the various forces besieging it, said Iraqi Gen. Qassim Mohamed, commander of Iraqi forces in the Qaim area. Each must move carefully to avoid friction with the other. Meanwhile, IS has turned to insurgent tactics inside Iraq. Last week, it claimed an attack on the home of a tribal leader that killed nine members of the security forces in Anbar, the province that includes Qaim. There has been an uptick in bombings and kidnappings elsewhere in the country, though not all are claimed by IS. A reminder of the group's presence came last week when the U.S. military announced that American and Iraqi forces killed more than 50 militants in October in the Makhmour Mountains of north-central Iraq. "The security situation is under control," Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi told a televised press conference. "It's natural that Daesh is trying to recover its strength," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the group. "Our forces monitor them, repel them and are in control of all the crossings." In Qaim, the border crossing is sealed by a concrete wall with a metal gate. Militiamen cross into Syria using a gap in the earth berm south of the town. The town was once a thriving stopover on the highway between Damascus and Baghdad. Long before a hard border materialized in the latter half of the 20th century, tribes sent their grooms and brides across the frontier to marry, extending the branches of their families on both sides. When IS overran the town in 2014, it linked the group's holdings in both countries and connected them to key highways leading to multiple parts of Iraq. Many of Qaim's 120,000 residents fled IS. A third of them still have not returned. Security forces issue passes to allow residents to move in and out, a measure against infiltrators. But to apply for an ID, residents must be vetted by both the army and the militias, raising uncomfortable questions about who is in control. Among Iraq's Sunnis, the Shiite militias are widely resented, and relations between the two communities have been poisoned ever since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Qaim resident Talal Obeid said he had been hesitant about returning home because of reports of militia abuses. "We are more scared of the yellow flags than the black ones," he said, referring to the yellow banners of the Kataeb Hezbollah militia and the black flags of IS. "I worry if they stay, there will be friction and provocations." ___ Issa reported from Baghdad. In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, Iraqi soldiers patrol along the border between Syria and Iraq in Qaim, Anbar province, Iraq. More than a year after this Iraqi town was freed from the Islamic State group, booms from airstrikes still echo and columns of smoke are visible, rising beyond the earthen berms and concrete walls marking the border with Syria. On the other side, the fight is raging to capture one of the militant group's last enclaves. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, Syrian soldiers sit on the Syrian side of the Iraq-Syria border in Qaim, Anbar province, Iraq. More than a year after this Iraqi town was freed from the Islamic State group, booms from airstrikes still echo and columns of smoke are visible, rising beyond the earthen berms and concrete walls marking the border with Syria. On the other side, the fight is raging to capture one of the militant group's last enclaves. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, a fish seller cleans fish at a market in Qaim, Anbar province, Iraq. More than a year after this Iraqi town was freed from the Islamic State group, booms from airstrikes still echo and columns of smoke are visible, rising beyond the earthen berms and concrete walls marking the border with Syria. The town was once a thriving stopover on the highway between Damascus and Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, Iraqi soldiers stand guard with their weapons on the border crossing with Syria, in Qaim, Anbar province, Iraq. More than a year after this Iraqi town was freed from the Islamic State group, booms from airstrikes still echo and columns of smoke are visible, rising beyond the earthen berms and concrete walls marking the border with Syria. On the other side, the fight is raging to capture one of the militant group's last enclaves. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) In this Monday, Nov. 12, 2018 photo, Gen. Qassim Mohamed, commander of Iraqi forces in the Qaim area speaks with The Associated Press in Qaim, Anbar province, Iraq. More than a year after this Iraqi town was freed from the Islamic State group, booms from airstrikes still echo and columns of smoke are visible, rising beyond the earthen berms and concrete walls marking the border with Syria. On the other side, the fight is raging to capture one of the militant group's last enclaves. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, an Iraqi soldier stands guard with his weapon as he patrols on the border crossing with Syria at the Iraqi town of Qaim, Anbar province, Iraq. Life in Qaim has been put on hold as just across the border in Syria, fighting rages against one of the last major enclaves of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) In this Tuesday, Nov. 13 2018 photo, Iraqi soldiers stand on the Iraqi side of the border with Syria, in the town of Qaim, Anbar province, Iraq. Life in Qaim has been put on hold as just across the border in Syria, fighting rages against one of the last major enclaves of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) In this Monday, Nov. 12, 2018 photo, a street vendor sells chickpeas, in Qaim, Anbar province, Iraq. Life in Qaim has been put on hold as just across the border in Syria, fighting rages against one of the last major enclaves of the Islamic State group. The town was once a thriving stopover on the highway between Damascus and Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the fallout from the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi (all times local): 3:10 p.m. Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is lashing out at President Donald Trump after the president argued that cancelling Saudi arms deals worth billions of dollars to U.S. defense companies would only benefit Russia and China. Some of Trump's GOP colleagues have warned that not punishing Saudi Arabia for its role in killing a U.S.-based columnist will have dangerous consequences. Critics have accused the president of ignoring human rights and giving the kingdom a pass for economic reasons. Trump said his rationale for his decision was "America First." President Donald Trump speaks to the media before leaving the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, to travel to Florida, where he will spend Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Gabbard tweeted Wednesday that "being Saudi Arabia's bitch is not 'America First.'" Messages left with the Hawaii Democrat's office seeking further comment were not immediately returned. ___ 8:45 a.m. President Donald Trump is thanking Saudi Arabia for plunging oil prices amid criticism over his decision not to further punish the kingdom for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi (jah-MAHL' khahr-SHOHK'-jee). Trump tweeted Wednesday from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida it's "Great!" oil prices are getting lower and it's "Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World." The international crude benchmark has fallen under $65 per barrel from a four-year high of more than $86 in October as the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia have increased output. Trump writes, "Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let's go lower!" Trump made clear Tuesday he believes the benefits of good relations with the Saudis outweigh the possibility the kingdom's crown prince ordered Khashoggi's killing in Turkey. Critics say Trump is ignoring human rights. Saudi prosecutors say agents sent to Istanbul dismembered Khashoggi's body. ___ 3 a.m. Turkey's foreign minister says the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi should not be covered up for the sake of maintaining trade ties with Saudi Arabia. Mevlut Cavusoglu also told Turkish journalists during a visit to Washington that Saudi Arabia's cooperation over the investigation into the killing is not "at the desired level." He added that Turkey would take formal steps to seek an international investigation if it reaches an "impasse" with Riyadh. His comments came Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump made clear that the benefits of good relations with Saudi Arabia outweigh the possibility that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing. Cavusoglu said: "This is a humanitarian issue. It concerns a murder. It is not possible to say 'our trade will increase, let's cover this up, let's ignore it.'" ___ 1:40 a.m. Iran's foreign minister has mocked President Donald Trump's announcement that he will not punish the Saudi leadership for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate last month. In a tweet sent late Tuesday, Mohammad Javad Zarif noted that Trump "bizarrely devotes the FIRST paragraph of his shameful statement on Saudi atrocities to accuse IRAN of every sort of malfeasance he can think of." He went on to joke that "perhaps we're also responsible for the California fires, because we didn't help rake the forests- just like the Finns do?" He appeared to be referring to recent remarks in which Trump suggested raking the forest floor prevented fires in Finland and would have helped to prevent California's devastating wildfires. Trump has adopted a hardline stance on Iran since taking office, withdrawing from the landmark 2015 nuclear accord and imposing tough sanctions against the country. The White House views Saudi Arabia as a key partner in confronting Iran. ___ 12:30 a.m. President Donald Trump is defying calls from U.S. lawmakers to punish the Saudi crown prince for the slaying of U.S.-based columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump made clear Tuesday that the benefits of good relations with the kingdom outweigh the possibility that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky says it's a sign of weakness not to stand up to Saudi Arabia. Republican Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator who is close to Trump, also disagreed with the president, saying America must not lose its "moral voice" on the international stage. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the crown prince must have at least known about the plot to kill Khashoggi. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before leaving the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, to travel to Florida, where he will spend Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2014, file photo, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press conference in Manama, Bahrain. President Donald Trump says the U.S. will not levy additional punitive measures at this time against Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) CAIRO (AP) - A leading international aid group said Wednesday that an estimated 85,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 may have died of hunger and disease since the outbreak of the country's civil war in 2015. Save the Children based its figures on mortality rates for untreated cases of severe acute malnutrition, or SAM, in young children. The United Nations says more than 1.3 million children have suffered from SAM since a Saudi-led coalition went to war with Yemen's Houthi rebels in March 2015. The aid group said its "conservative estimate" was that 84,701 children may have died, based on historical studies that find that 20 to 30 percent of untreated cases lead to death. Save the Children says it calculated the figure based on the number of cases reported in areas where aid groups were unable to intervene. "For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and it's entirely preventable," said Tamer Kirolos, Save the Children's Yemen director. "Children who die in this way suffer immensely as their vital organ functions slow down and eventually stop." The war has given rise to the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Three-quarters of Yemen's people require life-saving assistance and more than 8 million are at risk of starvation. Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the fighting. The Associated Press has reported from areas of Yemen that are on the brink of famine. FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2018, photo, a malnourished boy sits on a hospital bed at the Aslam Health Center, Hajjah, Yemen. An estimated 85,000 children under age 5 may have died of hunger and disease since the outbreak of Yemen's civil war in 2015, an international aid group said Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File) Save the Children blamed the widespread starvation on a Saudi-led blockade that was tightened a year ago after the Iran-aligned rebels fired a ballistic missile at the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The charity also cited recent fighting in and around the port city of Hodeida, a lifeline through which Yemen imports some 70 percent of its food and humanitarian aid. It said commercial imports through the rebel-held port have fallen by more than 55,000 metric tons a month - enough to meet the needs of 4.4 million people. Save the Children said it had been forced to bring supplies for the northern Yemen through the southern port of Aden, slowing aid deliveries. The overwhelming poverty in Yemen, the Arab world's most impoverished nation, has compounded the situation. Children "have no access to food although it's available on the market .... families cannot provide for their children and cannot afford it," said Sukaina Sharafuddin, a Save the Children employee in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. The fallout from the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's Istanbul consulate has drawn renewed attention to the war and devastation in Yemen. The United States has scaled back its support for the coalition and called for a cease-fire by the end of this month. U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths says both sides have agreed to attend peace talks "soon." Griffiths arrived in the Houthi-held Sanaa later Wednesday for meetings with rebels, including their leader, Abdul-Malek al-Houthi. But the fighting is still raging in Hodeida and other areas, and previous peace efforts have failed to produce any agreement to stop the violence. FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2018, file, photo, a severely malnourished boy rests on a hospital bed at the Aslam Health Center, Hajjah, Yemen. An estimated 85,000 children under age 5 may have died of hunger and disease since the outbreak of Yemen's civil war in 2015, an international aid group said Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File) FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2018, file, photo, a doctor measures the arm of malnourished girl at the Aslam Health Center, Hajjah, Yemen. An estimated 85,000 children under age 5 may have died of hunger and disease since the outbreak of Yemen's civil war in 2015, an international aid group said Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File) BEIRUT (AP) - Amnesty International said Wednesday it's enlisting the help of thousands of online activists to speed up its investigation into the U.S.-led campaign that drove Islamic State militants from their self-styled capital of Raqqa but left the Syrian city in ruins. The London-based rights group said the new phase of its investigation enables thousands of online activists, using satellite imagery of the city, to map out the destruction over the four-month campaign, which ended in October 2017. The U.N estimates that more than 10,000 buildings were destroyed- or 80 percent of the city. Amnesty's Strike Tracker campaign, in partnership with Airwars, would help narrow down when and where coalition air and artillery strikes destroyed buildings. Amnesty hopes to compel the U.S-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group to take greater responsibility and conduct its own investigation into the deaths of hundreds of civilians. The coalition says it worked to avoid civilian casualties in Raqqa. Col. Sean Ryan, a spokesman for the coalition, said it is "always willing to review if new evidence is reported." Amnesty said the scale of devastation in Raqqa is "too large" for its teams to do it alone. FILE - In this Thursday, April 5, 2018, file photo, a Syrian man stands between buildings destroyed last summer during fighting between the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters and Islamic State militants, in Raqqa, Syria. The rights group Amnesty International is enlisting the help of thousands of online activists to expand its investigation into the U.S-led campaign against Islamic State militants that ended the group's presence in the Syrian city of Raqqa but left it in utter devastation. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File) By enlisting thousands of activists for the month-long project, Amnesty said it can save years of work by a small team of researchers processing endless amount of data. "The Strike Tracker asks people around the world to join us to analyze one building at a time and establish when it was destroyed in a strike," said Milena Marin, senior adviser on Amnesty's Crisis Response team. The data would then be corroborated with other evidence, such as videos and strike and casualty reports. "We are hoping to build a comprehensive picture of what happened last year and with the evidence to advocate the coalition, to again, admit responsibility in their operations," she said. In an earlier phase of Amnesty's investigation inside Raqqa, the group provided new evidence that compelled the coalition to acknowledge 77 civilian deaths. In total, the coalition has acknowledged 104 civilian deaths from the hard-fought campaign. "With bodies still being recovered from the wreckage and mass graves more than a year later, this is just the tip of the iceberg," said Marin. Some 2,500 bodies have been pulled from the rubble and uncovered in mass graves, and searches are still underway. Amnesty suspects hundreds of civilians died in the campaign. Amnesty hopes to publish results of the research early next year. Raqqa was the capital of the Islamic State group's self-styled caliphate, which once encompassed a third of Syria and Iraq. In recent years the group has been driven from virtually all the territory it once controlled, and holds just a few small, remote pockets in Syria. ___ On the net: https://decoders.amnesty.org/projects/strike-tracker FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, file photo, an image made from drone video shows damaged buildings in Raqqa, Syria. The rights group Amnesty International is enlisting the help of thousands of online activists to expand its investigation into the U.S-led campaign against Islamic State militants that ended the group's presence in the Syrian city of Raqqa but left it in utter devastation. (AP Photo/Gabriel Chaim, File) FILE - In this file photo released Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian security force members check human remains at the site of two mass graves believed to contain the bodies of civilians and troops killed by the Islamic State militants, in the village of Wawi north of Raqqa, Syria. The rights group Amnesty International is enlisting the help of thousands of online activists to expand its investigation into the U.S-led campaign against Islamic State militants that ended the group's presence in the Syrian city of Raqqa but left it in utter devastation. (SANA via AP, File) BANGLI, Indonesia (AP) - A teary and largely silent convicted Australian drug mule returned to her hometown on Thursday hours after she was deported from the Indonesian tourist island of Bali where she had served nearly 14 years in prison for smuggling heroin. Renae Lawrence was the only woman among nine Australians who were arrested in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms (18.3 pounds) of heroin from Bali to Australia. Lawrence, 41, wearing black sunglasses and a black T-shirt, was escorted Wednesday afternoon through a crush of reporters outside Bangli prison on Bali into a waiting car. She made no comment. She faced a throng of media when she and her mother, Beverley Waterman, landed at Australia's Brisbane Airport from where they took a domestic flight to their hometown of Newcastle. Lawrence faces potential arrest in Newcastle on outstanding warrants that predate her ill-fated journey to Bali. Asked by reporters in Brisbane if she wanted to comment on her return to Australia, Lawrence looked teary-eyed and declined. Her mother explained: "It's very overwhelming." Asked later if she had anything to say, Lawrence told reporters in the Bahasa Indonesia language: "Thanks to the government of Indonesia. That's it." Australian Renae Lawrence, center, is escorted as she leaves Bangli prison in Bali, Indonesia, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Lawrence Indonesia has freed an Australian woman who served nearly 14 years in prison for smuggling heroin into the tourist island of Bali. (AP Photo/Dana Pradana) Lawrence faces potential arrest in Newcastle on warrants including one that alleges the former panel beater was involved in a high-speed police chase in a stolen car a month before her arrest in Bali in April 2005. New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller had indicated a deal with Lawrence's lawyers to hand herself in to police was more likely than her being arrested at Newcastle Airport. "From our perspective, we will make a time reasonable with her legal team to bring her in to have those warrants satisfied," Fuller told reporters on Tuesday. Lawrence was again surrounded by journalists and cameras on arrival in Newcastle but said nothing as she walked from the airport to a waiting car. Maryoto Sumadi, head of Bali's justice and human rights office, said Lawrence is banned from ever re-entering Indonesia. She may be the only member of the group dubbed the "Bali Nine" by Australian media to walk free from prison. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders, were executed by a firing squad in 2015, causing a diplomatic furor between often testy neighbors Indonesia and Australia. Five others had their sentences increased to life on appeal, and another member, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died from cancer in May. Lawrence, whom Customs caught with 2.2 kilograms (4.8 pounds) of heroin strapped to her body, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined 1 billion rupiah ($68,000). She didn't appeal and almost every year her sentence was reduced during holiday remissions that are customary in Indonesia for inmates with good behavior, except those on death row or sentenced to life. Lawrence's sentence was completed in May but was extended by six months because she couldn't afford to pay the fine, Bangli prison chief Made Suwendra said. Another convicted Australian drug smuggler, Schapelle Corby, whose trial and imprisonment on Bali mesmerized her country for more than a decade, returned home last year. Corby was arrested in 2004 at the age of 27 with more than 4 kilograms (9 pounds) of marijuana inside her boogie board bag, sparking a media frenzy in Australia on par with America's O.J. Simpson trial. Corby's insistence that the drugs were planted by baggage handlers was dismissed as a lie by Balinese prosecutors. A court sentenced her to 20 years in prison, though that was later reduced. ______ Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk, in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report. LONDON (AP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday that she has made fresh progress in Brexit talks at a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, as negotiators try to pin down an agreement that EU leaders can rubber-stamp this weekend. The U.K. and the European Union agreed last week on a 585-page document sealing the terms of Britain's departure, but are still working to nail down a separate political declaration on their future relations after Brexit on March 29. "Further progress has been made," May said in a brief statement after her meeting in Brussels with Juncker, but she added that "there are some further issues that need resolution." May said the two sides have "given sufficient direction to our negotiators. I hope to be able to resolve the remaining issues, and that work will start immediately." The meeting with Juncker lasted just over 90 minutes. May said she will return to Brussels on Saturday for more talks, including with the Commission President, "to discuss how we can bring to a conclusion this process and bring it to a conclusion in the interests for all our people." An EU summit is planned for Sunday, but May shed no light on whether it will still go ahead. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, greets British Prime Minister Theresa May at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in a bid to finalize a Brexit agreement as she continues to battle domestic critics of the draft deal. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) As wrangling continued over issues including Gibraltar and fishing rights, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said Wednesday that the text on future relations was "not there yet." He said diplomats would meet Friday to prepare Sunday's summit, and "they will need to see a final text before then." "The Commission stands ready to consider the text and take any action at any time," he said. At home, May is under intense pressure from pro-Brexit and pro-EU British lawmakers, with large numbers on both sides of the debate opposing the divorce deal. Brexiteers think it will leave the U.K. tied too closely to EU rules, while pro-Europeans say it will erect new barriers between Britain and the bloc - its neighbor and biggest trading partner. May fended off a barrage of criticism from both opposition and government legislators Wednesday during her weekly Commons question-and-answer session dominated by Brexit. Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn branded the agreement "half-baked" - and said his party could negotiate a better one - while Conservative Andrew Rosindell urged May to ditch the plan and remove "the tentacles of the EU over our cherished island nation." May replied that "we want to ensure we continue to have a close trading relationship with the European Union" after Brexit. She said the alternative to the agreement was either "more uncertainty, more division or it could risk no Brexit at all." Madrid has raised objections to wording in the agreement about Gibraltar, the tiny territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula that was ceded to Britain in 1713 but is still claimed by Spain. Last year's EU guidelines on the Brexit negotiations effectively gave Spain veto powers over future relations between the bloc and the British overseas territory, and the Spanish government says it will vote against the Brexit deal if Gibraltar's future isn't considered a bilateral issue between Madrid and London. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday that his government "cannot accept that what will happen to Gibraltar in the future depends on negotiations between the U.K. and the EU." But May reassured British lawmakers that "we will not exclude Gibraltar from our negotiations on the future relationship." Spain's EU Affairs State Secretary, Luis Marco Aguiriano, said there was still time to "legally clarify" the agreement before Sunday. The deal also needs to be approved by the European and British Parliaments - a tough task for May, whose Conservatives lack a majority in the House of Commons. May won a reprieve from some of her Conservative Party foes after pro-Brexit rebels acknowledged that a bid to trigger a no-confidence vote in May had failed, for now. But Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party - whose 10 lawmakers prop up May's minority government - has begun abstaining on votes in the House of Commons as a sign of their displeasure at the deal. The DUP opposes plans for keeping the border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland open after Brexit, saying it weakens the ties binding the U.K. by creating separate trade rules for Northern Ireland. The prospect of Parliament rejecting the deal when it comes up for a vote - likely next month - has increased fears among businesses that Britain could crash out of the bloc without a plan to keep trade running smoothly. Conservative lawmakers loyal to May also warned that defeating the agreement could mean that Brexit never happens, because Parliament would halt Britain's departure rather than accept a chaotic "no-deal" exit. "I think people will take a careful look over the abyss ... and consider whether they think it is in the best interests of the whole country," Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said. "The Brexiteers may lose their Brexit," she added. ___ Cook reported from Brussels. Aritz Parra in Madrid, and Frank Jordans in Berlin, contributed to this story. ___ See the AP's Brexit coverage at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, pats British Prime Minister Theresa May on her back upon her arrival at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) A Union flag, left, flaps in the wind alongside EU flags in front of European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday evening in a bid to finalize a Brexit agreement as she continues to battle domestic critics of the draft deal. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, greets British Prime Minister Theresa May at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in a bid to finalize a Brexit agreement as she continues to battle domestic critics of the draft deal. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, greets British Prime Minister Theresa May on arrival at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker arrives for a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) British Prime Minister Theresa May gets in a car as she leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) LONDON (AP) - The Latest on negotiations over Britain's exit from the European Union (all times local): 8:35 p.m. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says his government is "annoyed" that the divorce agreement being prepared for Britain's exit from the European Union doesn't specify that Gibraltar's future must be decided directly by officials in Madrid and London. Sanchez told a news conference during a visit to the Spanish city of Valladolid on Wednesday that the issue is a bilateral matter and is "essential" for Spain. He repeated his threat made Tuesday that Spain will vote against the planned agreement unless its interests are taken into account. Britain insists Gibraltar is part of the United Kingdom, but Spain argues that it is not. Madrid has never dropped its claim of sovereignty over the rocky outcrop at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula. The issue has grown into a foreign policy test for Sanchez's 5-month-old minority government. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, greets British Prime Minister Theresa May on arrival at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) ___ 8:05 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May says she has made progress in Brexit negotiations at talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, but that outstanding issues remain. May said Wednesday that "further progress has been made" in drawing up a political declaration on future relations between Britain and the EU after Brexit on March 29. She said the two sides have "given sufficient direction to our negotiators, I hope to be able to resolve the remaining issues and that work will start immediately." The meeting with Juncker lasted just over 90 minutes. May said she will return to Brussels on Saturday for more talks, including with the Commission President. An EU summit is planned for Sunday, but it remains unclear whether it will go ahead. ___ 4:30 p.m. A top Spanish diplomat says negotiations are underway to find ways to formally address Madrid's demands about Gibraltar's future relation with the European Union after Britain leaves the bloc. EU Affairs State Secretary Luis Marco Aguiriano told reporters on Wednesday that there is still time to "legally clarify" the Brexit draft agreement and "avoid interpretation" before European leaders vote to finalize it on Sunday. Spain maintains a claim to the tiny territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula, ceded to Britain in 1713. Last year's EU guidelines on the Brexit negotiations effectively gave Spain veto powers over future relations between the bloc and the British overseas territory. The Spanish government says it will vote against the Brexit deal if the agreement's wording doesn't specify that Gibraltar's future should be decided directly between Madrid and London. ___ 12:35 p.m. Germany is working to make it easier to fire top bankers in return for a severance payment, as part of an effort to make the country a more attractive location for banks seeking to leave London after Brexit. The finance ministry confirmed a report Wednesday by newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung that a draft bill is currently being discussed within the government. Germany has much more restrictive rules on dismissing workers than Britain. This is seen as a disincentive for Britain-based banks to shift operations to Germany's financial hub of Frankfurt when the U.K. leaves the European Union. The draft foresees dropping the requirement for banks to justify why they're ending a contract with a highly-paid employee deemed to be "bearers of risk," such as heads of department or high-volume traders. ___ 12:25 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May says that if Parliament rejects the draft divorce deal with the European Union, the U.K. could end up not leaving the bloc at all. The withdrawal agreement has drawn strong opposition from U.K. lawmakers - especially pro-Brexit politicians who want Britain to make a clean break with the EU. They say the agreement will keep Britain bound to EU rules over which it has no say. Andrew Rosindell, a lawmaker from May's Conservative Party, urged her Wednesday to change course and cut away "the tentacles of the EU over our cherished island nation." During the prime minister's weekly House of Commons question period, May replied that Britain wanted "a close trading relationship with the European Union" after Brexit. She warned that if Parliament rejected her deal it could mean "more uncertainty, more division, or it could risk no Brexit at all." ___ 10:30 a.m. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she hopes Spanish reservations about the status of Gibraltar after Britain leaves the European Union can be overcome by the time EU leaders meet Sunday to sign off on the draft Brexit deal. Speaking to lawmakers in Berlin, Merkel said that while her government backs the agreement "we still have the reservations of Spain and I can't say how we will solve this issue." The deal, which spells out the conditions of Britain's exit next year, needs to be approved by the European and British Parliaments. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday that his country would vote against the divorce agreement if Gibraltar's future isn't considered a bilateral issue between Madrid and London. ___ 9:45 a.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May is flying to Brussels to meet European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in a bid to finalize a Brexit agreement between the U.K. and the European Union. The two sides agreed last week on a document sealing the terms of Britain's departure, but are still working to nail down agreement on future relations. EU leaders are due to meet Sunday to rubber-stamp the deal, but sticking points remain. Spain has said it will vote against if Gibraltar's future isn't considered a bilateral issue between Madrid and London. May is under intense pressure from pro-Brexit and pro-EU British lawmakers opposing the divorce deal. Before leaving for Brussels, she will face opponents of the agreement Wednesday during the prime minister's weekly question-and-answer session in the House of Commons. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, front center, casts her vote during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) British Prime Minister Theresa May gets in a car as she leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech during the budget debate of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) JERUSALEM (AP) - A top Israeli Cabinet minister says President Donald Trump is wasting his time trying to push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked says that reaching peace is currently impossible and that Trump should focus his energy elsewhere until the Palestinians are ready to compromise. Shaked spoke at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference on Wednesday. She says: "I think, personally, it is a waste of time." The U.S. is preparing to release its long-anticipated Mideast peace plan, which Trump calls the "Deal of the Century." Trump's Mideast team, headed by his adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been working on a peace proposal for months but hasn't said when it will be released. The Palestinians consider the plan a non-starter, accusing Trump of being unfairly biased toward Israel. BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Commission warned Italy on Wednesday that its budget plans are in serious breach of the rules underpinning the euro single currency and said that the country should face sanctions. The European Union's executive arm, which supervises national budget plans, has invited eurozone countries to examine its assessment in two weeks and, if they agree with it, the Commission would launch an "excessive deficit procedure" that could result in fines for Italy. The warning, while not rare in EU terms, has been marked by tensions between the Commission and Italy's populist government, which has vowed to resist any pressure from Brussels and continue with its spending plans. "It is with regret that today we confirm our assessment that Italy's draft budget plan is in particularly serious non-compliance," EU Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters. "The situation in Italy is of common concern. Euro area countries are in the same team and should be playing by the same rules. These rules are here to protect us, to provide certainty, stability and mutual trust." He said that launching an excessive deficit procedure is "warranted." European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. A top EU official says Italy's draft budget for next year is in breach of the rulebook underpinning the euro and he is signaling the start of a legal procedure against the country over the spending plan.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Dombrovskis said Italy's debt load of 131 percent of GDP forecast for the next two years puts 37,000 euros ($42,300) of debt burden and 1,000 euros of debt servicing on each Italian every year. Sanctions can be launched when countries breach, or are in risk of breaching, the deficit threshold of 3 percent of GDP or when they violate the debt rule by having a government debt level above 60 percent. "We cannot see how perpetuating this vulnerability will increase economic serenity," Dombrovskis said. "Instead, I believe it could result in more austerity down the road." Italy's debt load is the second-highest in Europe, after Greece. Many are concerned about new financial turmoil in Europe should Italy lose control of spending, but the government in Rome says a sharp increase in spending is needed to jumpstart growth. Italy has the eurozone's third-biggest biggest economy. Saving Greece was hard enough; bailing out Italy would be all but impossible. But its government argues the spending is necessary to relaunch economic growth after years of austerity. It wants to boost social welfare programs that will benefit mostly young job seekers and restore pensions that had been slashed by a previous government. The Commission's analysis says the measures will not boost growth but will rather necessitate new budget cuts in the future. "This step which we take today is the logical and unavoidable consequence of the decision taken by Italy's authorities not to modify their fiscal targets," said EU Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici. Eurozone and EU finance ministers meet in Brussels on Dec 3-4. So far, they have been reluctant to criticize a partner government, preferring instead to say that it's up to the Commission to police the rules. In Rome, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini indicated he would not back down on plans to roll-back the unpopular pension reform, which would allow thousands to retire in the coming months. "A letter arrived from Brussels? I was expecting one from Santa Claus," said Salvini, who leads one of the two ruling populist parties, The League. "We will discuss it politely as we always have. We will exchange opinions. I will continue. If someone wants to persuade me that the pension reform was right, I will not be persuaded." Analyst Lorenzo Codogno of Macro Advisers said that EU finance ministers could decide to grant Italy more time - possibly several months - to show that it's taking "effective action" to address the problem. He predicted that with elections for the European Parliament due in May and a new Commission starting work in a year, "the debate on Italy will stall for a while at the European level." ___ Barry reported from Milan, Italy. European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. A top EU official says Italy's draft budget for next year is in breach of the rulebook underpinning the euro and he is signaling the start of a legal procedure against the country over the spending plan.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. A top EU official says Italy's draft budget for next year is in breach of the rulebook underpinning the euro and he is signaling the start of a legal procedure against the country over the spending plan.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. A top EU official says Italy's draft budget for next year is in breach of the rulebook underpinning the euro and he is signaling the start of a legal procedure against the country over the spending plan.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The U.S. military says it has carried out an airstrike in central Somalia targeting al-Shabab that killed seven extremists. The U.S. Africa Command statement says Tuesday's airstrike occurred in Quy Cad in the Mudug region. The strike was carried out a day after two other U.S. airstrikes killed 37 extremists with the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab. Like the previous statement, this one says it believes no civilians were killed or injured. The U.S. has carried out 33 airstrikes this year against al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa. The military says the airstrikes are aimed at reducing al-Shabab's ability to plan attacks, disrupting its leadership networks and limiting its freedom of movement in the Horn of Africa nation. Al-Shabab often targets the capital, Mogadishu, and other cities with deadly bombings. CHICAGO (AP) - Moments before her ex-fiance fatally shot her in the parking lot of the hospital where she worked, a Chicago doctor called 911 to report that she had spotted the man and feared for her life. As investigators tried to piece together the events that ended with the deaths of the doctor, a police officer, a hospital employee and the gunman, they were able to fill in details about the attack Monday at Mercy Hospital on the city's South Side. Dr. Tamara O'Neal had recently called off her engagement to Juan Lopez so when she saw him, she called for help. She also told an acquaintance in the parking lot that she was afraid before that person retreated to the hospital to call 911 as well. When Lopez confronted her, the former couple argued about O'Neal calling off the engagement, and Lopez demanded that she return the engagement ring. Then, police said, people inside and around the hospital heard gunfire. O'Neal fell to the ground. Witness James Gray looked out of the hospital window to see where the gunshots had come from and watched as Lopez "stood over her and shot her three more times," he told reporters. As a squad car pulled up, Lopez turned his Glock semi-automatic handgun on police, striking the vehicle multiple times before he ran into the hospital. Officers gave chase. CORRECTS DATE TO NOV. 19, NOT NOV. 11 - In this Nov. 19, 2018, photo, Juan Lopez stands over the body of his ex-fiancee, emergency room doctor Tamara O'Neal, after gunning her down in a parking lot near Mercy Hospital in Chicago. Lopez later fatally shot two people inside the hospital. Lopez died of gunshot wounds following the shooting. (Sam Akkadian via AP) Once inside the medical center, he kept firing at officers and at one point turned and fired at Dayna Less, a first-year resident in the hospital's pharmacy, when the doors of the elevator she was on opened. Officer Samuel Jimenez was struck in the neck, just above the bulletproof vest he was wearing, and soon died. Jimenez had been delivering his station's mail to the post office when he turned and followed other squad cars racing to the hospital. There were indications that Lopez wanted to shoot even more people, including an account from one witness, Jennifer Eldridge, who was hiding in the pharmacy, when she heard the gunfire and the sound of the gunman jiggling the handle of the locked door, an apparent effort to get in. During the exchange of gunfire, Lopez was shot once in the abdomen. It was then that Lopez, who fired a total of more than 30 shots and had reloaded his weapon, put the gun to his head and killed himself, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Tuesday. Investigators said they found nothing to indicate that Lopez had a criminal record. At the time of his death, he was an employee with the Chicago Housing Authority, and officials there said there had been no reports of any problems in his nine months on the job. But there were other signs of trouble in recent years. In 2014, Lopez was kicked out of the city's firefighting academy after threatening a female cadet. When the fire department learned of the threats, Lopez was told he would be disciplined. But instead of returning to the academy to meet with department officials, Lopez went AWOL and was fired, fire department spokesman Larry Merritt said Tuesday. Records from that same year indicate that a girlfriend of Lopez sought an order of protection against him because he was incessantly texting her. When she reported the texts to police, officers told her to change her phone number and seek an order of protection. Records show that she sought the order but not whether she ultimately received one, Guglielmi said. Lopez had a permit to possess a concealed firearm, and it was unclear if officials knew about the 2014 complaint when the permit was granted, said Guglielmi, who said Lopez had legally purchased four guns in the last five years. It was also unclear whether an order of protection, if granted, would have forbidden Lopez from owning weapons. When it was over, the Chicago Police Department was grieving just days before Thanksgiving for the second officer in less than a year to be killed in the line of duty. Cmdr. Paul Bauer was fatally shot in February while pursuing a suspect in the Loop business district. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson wanted the city to know just how heroic Jimenez and the other officers who chased Lopez were. "They saved a lot of lives because we just don't know how much damage he was prepared to do," Johnson said late Monday. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, speaking at the same news conference at the hospital, reminded the city of what had been lost. The three victims were "all going about their day, all doing what they loved," he said. "This just tears at the soul of our city. It is the face and a consequence of evil." ___ Associated Press Writer Michael Tarm contributed to this report. This undated photo provided by the Chicago Police Department shows Chicago Police officer Samuel Jimenez, who was fatally shot Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, at Mercy Hospital on the city's South Side. Jimenez joined the department in February 2017 and had recently completed his probationary period. The shooter, Juan Lopez, also killed an emergency room doctor and a pharmacist. Lopez also died at the scene. (Lew Arceo/Chicago Police Department via AP) In this September 2017 photo provided by Monte Gerlach Photography Dr. Tamara O'Neal poses for a photo. O'Neal, an emergency room physician at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, was shot and killed by a gunman outside the hospital Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. (Monte Gerlach Photography via AP) This May 2018 family photo provided by Brian Less shows his daughter Dayna Less at her graduation from Purdue University. Dayna was one of three people fatally shot by gunman, Juan Lopez, at Chicago's Mercy Hospital on Monday, Nov. 19. (Brian Less via AP) This undated photo posted on his Facebook page shows Juan Lopez, who police say fatally shot his ex-fiancee and two other people at Chicago's Mercy Hospital on Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. Lopez, who repeatedly shot his ex-fiancee outside the hospital before killing two people inside the building, was the subject of a protection order request filed four years ago by another woman, yet he had legally purchased several guns in recent years, police said Tuesday. (Juan Lopez Facebook page via AP) Photo from video of a worker hanging purple and black bunting outside Chicago Police District 2 Wentworth headquarters in Chicago, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in memory of slain Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez. Jimenez was killed during Monday's shooting at Mercy Hospital in Chicago. (Annie Costabile/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Photo from video of Dr. Michael Davenport, Chief Medical Officer at Mercy Hospital, center, Stephanie Louden, Nurse Manager at Mercy Hospital, left, and Patrick Connor, Chairman and Emergency Department Director at Mercy Hospital, right, address the media Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, after Monday's shooting at Mercy Hospital in Chicago. (Annie Costabile/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Rebecca Martin hangs blue ribbons on Northwest Highway in Chicago's Edison Park neighborhood to honor fallen Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. Jimenez was one of the people shot and killed by a gunman at Mercy Hospital, a day earlier. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune via AP) Chicago Police Officer Anthony Jahns bows his head during a moment of silence for fellow police Officer Samuel Jimenez, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, at Firewater Saloon in Chicago's Edison Park. Jimenez was one of the people shot and killed at Mercy Hospital on Monday. Jahns said he became friends with Jimenez during their time together in the police academy. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune via AP) Money is slipped into a container as the Edison Park community raises funds for the family of Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez at Firewater Saloon, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in Chicago. Jimenez was shot and killed at Mercy Hospital in Chicago on Monday. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune via AP) Glenda O'Neal, mother of of Dr. Tamara O'Neal, shows a photo of her family at their home in LaPorte, Ind., Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. Dr. Tamara was one of the three people fatally shot Monday at Mercy Hospital, a Chicago hospital. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune via AP) MIDLOTHIAN, Ill. (AP) - A federal judge has refused to order the release of the name of a suburban Chicago police officer who fatally shot a bar's security guard. U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow denied the request Tuesday by the family of 26-year-old Jemel Roberson . Roberson, who was black, was working security at Manny's Blue Room in Robbins, southwest of Chicago, when he was fatally shot outside the bar Nov. 11 by a white Midlothian officer. Roberson was holding someone at gunpoint who had been involved in an earlier shooting when he was shot and killed. The Daily Southtown reports an attorney for Roberson's family said Illinois State Police should disclose the officer's name and the name of witnesses it has interviewed. An Illinois State Police attorney asked Lefkow to deny the motion. ___ FILE - This file photo provided by Avontea Boose shows her baby Tristan Roberson and the boy's father Jemel Roberson. Jemel Roberson, an armed security guard at a bar in Robbins, Ill., was fatally shot outside the bar Nov. 11 by a white Midlothian police officer. A federal judge on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, refused to order the release of the name of a suburban Chicago police officer who fatally shot Roberson. (Avontea Boose via AP, File) Information from: Southtown Star, http://southtownstar.chicagotribune.com/ SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - The Bulgarian Parliament has approved the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Valeri Simeonov after a month of street protests over his remarks about disabled people. In a 116-62 vote on Wednesday, the chamber approved Simeonov's resignation and elected Mariana Nikolova to replace him. Simeonov stepped down last Friday after continuing protests by mothers of disabled children, whom he had called "shrill women with allegedly sick children." Simeonov was in charge of economic and demographic policy in the center-right government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov that took office in May 2017. He is also one of the leaders of an alliance of three nationalist parties that together form the junior coalition partner in the government. Nikolova, a lawyer, was Simeonov's chief of staff. CAIRO (AP) - An Egyptian rights group says the country's Christians are suffering increased discrimination despite official efforts to address their grievances. The finding comes in a report issued on Wednesday by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. The group tracks government efforts to tackle disputes around Church-building in the Muslim majority country. It concluded that "the general situation of the right to practice religious services and build houses of worship is deteriorating" and that a committee established last year to facilitate church-building hasn't brought justice. Since then, nine churches have closed under pressure from authorities or the public in Egypt. The group also noted several other cases of sectarian tensions over church-building and urged the government to readdress the current legislation surrounding church-building, which it says is highly regulated. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe (all times local): 7 p.m. Cyprus police say 47 Syrian migrants have arrived by boat to the east Mediterranean island nation after setting sail from Turkey. Police say the migrants including two women and two children were dropped off Wednesday on a remote beach on the island's northwestern coastline. The boat then departed, evading Cypriot authorities. Police said the migrants were transported to a reception center on the outskirts of the capital. They have expressed their intention to apply for political asylum. European Parliament President Antonio Tajani adjusts the microphones during joint press statements with Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila at the Victoria Palace in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) The Cyprus government says the tiny country of 1.1 million people is barely coping with sharp increase in asylum applications from arriving migrants. ___ 5:05 p.m. Two men have been convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison for smuggling Albanian migrants into Britain across the choppy English Channel in a small inflatable boat. Kent Police said 32-year-old Feim Vata and 24-year-old Xhemal Baco were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday for conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. Police say they used "extremely unsuitable and overloaded" boats for the operation. The men were arrested on Oct. 20 after Baco was seen picking up six Albanian migrants in France and taking them across the English Channel to Britain. Det. Insp. Clair Trueman said the migrants were cold and wet and had traveled across a busy shipping lane in total darkness without life jackets or navigation equipment. ___ 4:55 p.m. Spain's Civil Guard says the bodies of a woman and a man have separately washed up over the past 24 hours on beaches in the southern province of Cadiz. The body of a woman apparently from Sub-Saharan Africa was found on a beach near Vejer de la Frontera on Tuesday afternoon, not far from the remains of an inflatable boat. An adolescent who claimed to be a survivor of the wreck told civil guard officers that nine people were traveling in the boat. Separately, the law-enforcement agency recovered a male body Wednesday morning around 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest along the coast, in Chipiona. Another wreck in the area earlier this month killed 23 migrants. Nearly 57,000 migrants have reached Spain this year, most of them by sea via the increasingly popular Western Mediterranean route. ___ 2:20 p.m. A top European Union official says Romania's government has agreed to back EU reforms to overhaul the bloc's migration system. European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said Wednesday that Romanian Premier Viorica Dancila had promised to support seven proposals on migration that would reform the Dublin Regulation, the EU's current asylum system. Under that system, the majority of asylum applications have been submitted in Germany, Italy and France, causing tensions among EU members. The European Parliament initiated reforms this year aiming to more fairly distribute migrants among EU members and better police the EU's external borders. Romania's support is important as it assumes the EU's rotating presidency on Jan. 1. Like other East European countries, Romania's isn't keen on increasing the relatively low number of migrants it takes. European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, left, shakes hands with Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila at the Victoria Palace in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) European Parliament President Antonio Tajani gestures during a joint press statement with Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila at the Victoria Palace in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) European Parliament President Antonio Tajani gestures during joint press statements with Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila at the Victoria Palace in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, right, walks with Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila at the Victoria Palace in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) NEW YORK (AP) - The defense attorney for Brooklyn rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine says his client is "completely innocent" of federal racketeering and firearms charges. The rapper, whose legal name is Daniel Hernandez, is among five people indicted this week on charges that he directed or participated in violent acts as part of a deadly gang known as the 9 Trey Bloods. The indictment alleges that the violent episodes involving 6ix9ine included the July shooting of a bystander in Brooklyn and the gunpoint robbery of one of the gang's rivals last spring. 6ix9ine was held without bail after an initial appearance before a Manhattan federal magistrate judge Monday. On Wednesday, defense attorney Lance Lazzaro said in a statement that his client was "completely innocent of all charges." "An entertainer who portrays a 'gangster image' to promote his music does not make him a member of an enterprise," Lazzaro said. This April 3, 2018 still image from a surveillance video, provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, was released by federal prosecutors to document alleged involvement by rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine in several violent incidents and to support their request to a judge that the rapper be denied bail. Authorities say this frame shows 6ix9nine - whose legal name is Daniel Hernandez - carrying a firearm into a building near Times Square where Hernandez and others participated in a gunpoint robbery of a rival. (U.S. Attorney's Office via AP) "Mr. Hernandez became a victim of this enterprise and later took steps by firing employees and publicly denounced this enterprise through a morning show. Threats were then made against his life which resulted in this case being brought immediately," he added. At Monday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Longyear said the rapper did not renounce his membership in the gang on the radio show last week. He said 6ix9ine would have been arrested this week anyway, but the timetable was speeded up when authorities learned that he planned to go to a Connecticut casino where it would be harder to protect him from the threats. Longyear said the threats were overheard on phone calls intercepted Saturday by investigators, including one in which an individual was heard saying that gang members wanted to "super violate him." The prosecutor noted that violence seemed to surround the entertainer. He said 10 shots were fired into a Beverly Hills, California, home where he was filming a music video a week ago. ___ Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister contributed to this report. NEW YORK (AP) - He's had his hand in two of the year's biggest pop culture moments - with the film "Black Panther" and the song "This Is America" - but unlike Michael B. Jordan or Childish Gambino, Ludwig Goransson can easily walk down the street like a regular dude. At just 34, the talented and skilled composer from Sweden is having the best year of his career. He completed the film score for the uber-successful "Black Panther," even traveling to Senegal for three weeks and South Africa for a week to learn about African music and work with local musicians. He earned three nominations at this year's Grammy Awards for his production and songwriting work on Gambino's 2016 album, "Awaken, My Love!," and the duo reached even greater heights with the epic "This Is America" - and its heralded video - which went viral and became an instant No. 1 smash in May. Goransson also composed music for "Venom," released last month, and returned to the "Creed" franchise to do its film score ("Creed II" hits U.S. theaters on Wednesday). "It definitely feels like I'm living a dream. But I try not to pinch myself because I don't want to wake up," the long-haired, easygoing musician said, sitting comfortably on a couch at a hotel in New York City. Oh, and he's even worked with Beyonce and Jay-Z. "I worked on a little trailer for the tour," said Goransson, who is signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation. "It was just a short little thing but still it was Beyonce and Jay-Z. It doesn't get bigger than that." In this Nov. 15, 2018 photo, Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson poses for a portrait in New York. At just 34, Goransson is having the best year of his career. He completed the film score for the uber-successful "Black Panther," and earned three nominations at this year's Grammy Awards. He also composed music for the film "Venom," released last month, and returned to the "Creed" franchise to do its film score. (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP) Goransson is clearly booked, and busy. He worked for months on "Creed II," starring Jordan, Sylvester Stallone and Tessa Thompson, saying the franchise "is so close to my heart" because the 2015 film was one of the first studio features he composed music for. Goransson moved to America to study at the University of Southern California over a decade ago, where he met Ryan Coogler and composed music for the director's student film. When Coogler directed the critically-acclaimed independent, "Fruitvale Station," he called on Goransson. "Creed" and "Black Panther" soon followed. "What's really great is that it was a very natural progress for us. Every time we worked together it was always like stepping stones together," Goransson said of his relationship with Coogler, who didn't direct "Creed II" but is credited as an executive producer. "We're developing and we're getting to know each other more for every project." Goransson, who now lives in Los Angeles, grew up in Linkoping, a small town two hours south of Stockholm. He started playing guitar at 7 - his father is a guitar teacher - and when he was 9 he fell in love with Metallica. "That's when I was like, 'OK, I want to spend 10 hours a day practicing guitar for the rest of my life,'" he said. "I wanted to be the best guitar player in the world. And then my dad got me a portable recorder, so I started writing my own music." He got a job assisting composer Theodore Shapiro - first working on the 2008 comedy "Tropic Thunder" - after graduating from USC. "From the very first submission of materials that he sent to me in applying for the job, it was immediately clear that he had his own voice as a composer, and that's really rare," said Shapiro, who has scored "Destroyer," ''The Devil Wears Prada" and "Blades of Glory" and also wrote music for "The Wolf of Wall Street." "You can find a lot of people who are very proficient at doing other styles, but it's very rare that you find somebody who really arrives with a very unique sensibility and that it's always been clear that he had that. He just thinks a little bit differently than everyone else." Shapiro's busy schedule wouldn't allow him to compose music for a then-new TV series called "Community," which debuted in 2009. So he recommended Goransson. "They gave me a chance," Goransson said. It was where he met Gambino, then mainly known as Donald Glover. Working on a song together for the show led to Goransson and Glover trading ideas about for Gambino's 2010 mixtape, "Culdesac." They have worked tightly ever sense. "It's a similar journey that I did with Ryan (Coogler). We started on a mixtape, then we started on a smaller project. What's really fun, working with Donald, is he's such a Renaissance man. You never know where he's going to go, what he's going to do. Every project is musically very different from each other, but I still feel like they're emotionally very connected," said Goransson, who has also produced for Chance the Rapper and HAIM. "I think we just keep pushing each other and I keep learning, keep challenging myself. It keeps getting better and better." Alongside Gambino, Goransson earned Grammy nominations for album of the year for "Awaken" and record of the year and best R&B song for the hit, "Redbone." The song won Gambino his first Grammy - best traditional R&B performance - a category only awarded to performers, not producers or songwriters. But this awards season, Goransson is looking like a white-hot contender, from the Grammys to the Oscars, thanks to "Black Panther" and "This Is America," which he and Gambino started working on three years ago. The work for "Black Panther" was also intense and long - and rewarding. Goransson said composing music for the top-grossing Marvel Studios project came with "extreme pressure." "Being white and from Sweden, scoring a movie like this, there was a big pressure. Knowing Ryan, having a collaborator that you worked with over 10 years ... his trust and his confidence in me really turned the pressure into more of an inspiration," he said. "After I read the script, I knew the only way that I could score this movie was to go to Africa, do my research, learn and train with some of the greatest musicians I've ever met. It was incredible journey for me." Shapiro said Goransson going the extra mile for "Black Panther" is "what separates that score from everything else and makes it special." "He didn't have to do that. He could have stayed at home and done the research. But he ... really dove in to an extraordinary degree and that commitment clearly came out in the music that he wrote," he said. Going the extra mile is common for Goransson, even on a lighter level. On this day, for a photo shoot, the composer with a fun fashion sense (he wore a forest green crushed velvet suit to the 2018 Grammys) shows up with three coat options, including a furry, brown number. He is even game to jump in the freezing snow to take photos. Shapiro said apart from being talented, Goransson is simply a fun and kind dude. "He has this easy confidence about him that is really magnetic, but also a real kindness to him, and that's an incredible combination. And obviously it draws people to him and makes them want to collaborate with him," Shapiro said. In this Nov. 15, 2018 photo, Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson poses for a portrait in New York. At just 34, Goransson is having the best year of his career. He completed the film score for the uber-successful "Black Panther," and earned three nominations at this year's Grammy Awards. He also composed music for the film "Venom," released last month, and returned to the "Creed" franchise to do its film score. (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP) FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2018 file photo, Childish Gambino, left, and composer Ludwig Goransson arrive at the 60th annual Grammy Awards in New York. At just 34, Goransson is having the best year of his career. He completed the film score for the uber-successful "Black Panther," and earned three nominations at this year's Grammy Awards. He also composed music for the film "Venom," released last month, and returned to the "Creed" franchise to do its film score. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) In this Nov. 15, 2018 photo, Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson poses for a portrait in New York. At just 34, Goransson is having the best year of his career. He completed the film score for the uber-successful "Black Panther," and earned three nominations at this year's Grammy Awards. He also composed music for the film "Venom," released last month, and returned to the "Creed" franchise to do its film score. (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP) Interpol has a new president after an unusually contentious vote. Here's a look at how the international police agency works: WHAT IT IS Interpol is an international body that connects police from 194 countries. A country hunting a terrorist, drug trafficker or other criminal outside its borders can use Interpol's "red notice" and other systems to alert police in other countries and seek arrests. Interpol also coordinates cross-border police operations, for example to break up human trafficking networks or pedophile online pornography rings. It's funded by member governments. WHAT IT ISN'T Interpol, based in the French city of Lyon, doesn't have its own police force. Instead, it has experts and senior officials who coordinate police officers in various countries. Interpol doesn't have the power to arrest or prosecute anyone - that job falls to national authorities. FILE - In this Nov.8, 2018 file photo, people walk on the Interpol logo of the international police agency in Lyon, central France. South Korea's Kim Jong Yang was elected as Interpol's president on Wednesday Nov.21, 2018, edging out a longtime veteran of Russia's security services who was strongly opposed by the U.S., Britain and other European nations. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File) WHO RUNS IT Interpol's operations are run by the secretary general, currently German police official Juergen Stock. Interpol also has a president who plays a less hands-on role, presiding over the organization's general assembly and executive committee and in charge of general oversight. The new president is South Korean Kim Jong Yang, who defeated Russian Alexander Prokopchuk in Wednesday's vote amid U.S.-led warnings that Russia would try to use the position to hunt down political opponents and fugitive dissidents. Interpol's charter says the organization is not to be used for political reasons. COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - The company failing to end a 14-year-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico can be required to perform more underwater drilling and excavation work to stop the flow of crude, a federal regulatory board has ruled. The Interior Board of Land Appeals refused to excuse Taylor Energy Co. from requirements to permanently plug oil wells that could be the source of the leak. The board's Oct. 30 decision wasn't made public until Tuesday. One week before the board ruled, the Coast Guard ordered the New Orleans-based company to design and install a new containment system to capture and remove leaking oil until a permanent solution can be developed. The company faces daily civil penalties of up to $40,000 if it fails to comply with the agency's Oct. 23 order. Federal regulators haven't ordered Taylor Energy to resume a long-dormant drilling operation to plug a cluster of wells at the site where a company-owned drilling platform toppled during Hurricane Ivan in 2004. But that remains an option now that the Arlington, Virginia-based appeals board has upheld a May 2015 decision by the Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The bureau concluded Taylor Energy may need to do more drilling work to end the leak. Government lawyers recently disclosed a new estimate that approximately 10,500 to 29,400 gallons (39,747 to 111,291 liters) of oil is leaking daily from the site where slicks often stretch for miles off Louisiana's coast. That's much higher than previous government estimates and dwarfs the company's own assessment of the leak's volume. FILE- In this March 31, 2015 aerial file photo, the wake of a supply vessel heading towards a working platform crosses over an oil sheen drifting from the site of the former Taylor Energy oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. A federal regulatory board has ruled that a New Orleans company can be required to perform more underwater drilling and excavation work to end a 14-year-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The Interior Board of Land Appeals refused to excuse Taylor Energy Company from requirements to permanently plug wells that could be leaking oil and gas. The board publicly released its Oct. 30 decision on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File) Oil has been leaking from the site since waves whipped up by Hurricane Ivan triggered an underwater mudslide that wrecked Taylor Energy's platform. The mudslide also buried a cluster of wells under mounds of treacherous sediment, preventing the company from employing traditional techniques to plug them. Taylor Energy plugged nine wells, leaving 16 unplugged. Federal regulators believe oil and gas is leaking from at least one unplugged well. They have warned that the leak could last a century or longer if left unchecked. The company, however, has insisted there is no evidence any wells are still leaking. It claims residual oil is oozing from sediment on the seafloor. And, in a court filing several years ago, Taylor Energy said experts concluded in 2014 that the sheens contained an average volume of less than 4 gallons per day. But a 2015 investigation by The Associated Press revealed evidence that the leak is worse than the company, or government, had publicly reported during their secretive response. Presented with AP's findings that year, the Coast Guard provided a new leak estimate that was about 20 times larger than the company's estimate. In 2015, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement refused to grant Taylor Energy a "departure" from regulations requiring it to permanently plug the 16 remaining wells. The company also asked for permission to leave contaminated sediments in place at the leak site, but the bureau also rejected that request. Taylor Energy warns that drilling more "intervention wells" to plug any of the remaining 16 wells could do more environmental harm than good. A company statement this week accuses the government of ignoring "sound science" and expressed concern that regulators are "leading the response down a dangerous path that will create an environmental impact that currently does not exist." "If there were anything legally permissible and effective that Taylor Energy could do in an environmentally responsible manner to stop the sheen, we would have already done it," the statement adds. Administrative Judge James Jackson, who wrote the Interior Board of Land Appeals' decision, said the board knows about the environmental risks of more drilling work. "However, we disagree with Taylor's view that this issue has been decided, once and for all, because estimated environmental costs currently outweigh anticipated environmental benefits," Jackson wrote. Taylor Energy sued the federal government in 2016 to recover millions of dollars it set aside for leak-related work, including the drilling operations. The suit claims regulators violated a 2008 agreement requiring the company to deposit approximately $666 million in a trust to pay for leak response work. The company argued the government must return the remaining $432 million. During a hearing in Washington on Sept. 27, the government asked a federal judge to dismiss the company's suit. The judge hasn't ruled on that request yet. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian media say authorities have released a prominent human rights lawyer after eight years in prison. The semi-official ISNA news agency reported Wednesday that Abdolfattah Soltani was reunited with his family after a Revolutionary Court ruled to release him the day before. Soltani co-founded a human rights group with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in 2011 on charges of anti-government activities during the rule of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Under Iranian law, convicts can be granted conditional freedom after serving at least half of their prison terms. Soltani was briefly released from prison to attend the funeral of his 30-year-old daughter Homa who died in August of a heart attack. Iran has jailed scores of lawyers and activists on similar charges. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The fate of the long-running criminal case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has faced securities fraud charges since 2015, was thrown into further uncertainty Wednesday after a court ruled against prosecutors who have threatened to quit if they're not paid. The decision is a victory for Paxton, a Republican, who was re-elected in November and has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging that he duped investors in a tech startup. Special prosecutors have previously suggested they would drop the case if they're not paid $200,000 they say they're owed. They had been making an hourly rate of $300, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that prosecutors should have instead been hired under a fixed rate under the law. Prosecutors issued a statement expressing disappointment over the ruling, but they didn't say whether or not they would remain on the case. "While we are disappointed with the majority's ruling and are exploring all legal options available to us, it does not alter the fact that Ken Paxton remains charged with three serious felony offenses," said Brian Wice, a Houston attorney who is one of the special prosecutors. Pushing back on the fees were elected commissioners in Collin County, near Dallas, which is Paxton's hometown and is responsible for paying the prosecution team. A onetime political donor to Paxton had also previously sued, calling what prosecutors made exorbitant and unfair to taxpayers. FILE - In this May 1, 2018, file photo, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, handed a loss to prosecutors trying to bring the indicted Paxton to trial on charges of securities fraud, throwing the long running-criminal case into new doubt. The court ruled that payments approved to special prosecutors were set beyond legal limits. Prosecutors have previously threatened to quit the case if they're not paid more than $200,000 they say they're owed. (Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File) "Attorney General Paxton is extremely grateful for the court's decision," Paxton spokesman Jordan Berry said. It was a 5-3 decision by the court, which only includes Republican judges and is the same court that threw out abuse of power charges against former Texas Gov. Rick Perry in 2016. The court didn't say how much prosecutors should be paid, but Judge Elsa Alcala, in a dissenting opinion, argued that abiding strictly by a fixed rate under the law would pay out $2,000 at the most. If convicted, Paxton faces 5 to 99 years in prison. But the prospects of him ever standing trial appear to have dimmed with the case in a standstill for nearly a year. Prosecutors have accused Paxton's conservative allies of trying to derail the case by challenging their fees and making it impossible for them to eventually put on a fair trial. Among those they have singled out was Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator and GOP presidential candidate, who told a Dallas television station last year that the case against Texas' top prosecutor was a witch hunt. A judge moved the trial to Houston, but the case has languished. In the meantime, Paxton has regained his footing within the GOP after many top Texas Republicans kept a distance following his indictment in August 2015, just eight months after he took office. His office has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, who singled out Paxton as doing a "great job" during an October a rally ahead of the midterm elections. Paxton won re-election by fewer than 4 percentage points, making it a relatively close race in Texas, where Republicans for a decade have comfortably cruised to double-digit wins for statewide office. His opponent, Democrat Justin Nelson, staked his campaign on reminding voters about Paxton's indictment and plastered the attorney general's mugshot on highway billboards. The charges against Paxton stem from 2011, when he was a state lawmaker and lined up investors for a tech startup called Servergy Inc. without telling them the company was paying him. Paxton has argued that he was under no obligation to do so and a federal judge agreed with him last year, throwing out a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that was nearly identical to the criminal case. ___ Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pauljweber NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - A rare, 1,500 year-old mosaic depicting St. Mark has joined other repatriated pieces that were looted from the ethnically split Cyprus' breakaway north, a Cypriot Orthodox Church official said Wednesday. Together the pieces will create a Swiss government-funded reproduction of an apse that adorned a 6th-century church in the island's north. The mosaics were stolen by Turkish art dealer Aydin Dikman from the Church of the Virgin of Kanakaria about four decades ago and sold abroad. Cyprus' Byzantine Museum Director Ioannis Eliades said the apse will go on display at the museum until it can return to the Kanakaria church. "This is a major project that we had envisioned for many years to restore these pieces and now we have the last piece," Eliades told The Associated Press. "Especially such a mosaic which dates to the same period as the Ravenna mosaics is of particular importance, of great architectural value and ... also has a very high religious value." A rare mosaic depicting Saint Mark is displayed at the Byzantine Museum after its return to Cyprus, in Nicosia, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Like an intricate 1,500 year-old jigsaw puzzle, a rare mosaic depicting Saint Mark will join other repatriated pieces that were looted from a 6th century church in ethnically split Cyprus' breakaway Turkish Cypriot north to reconstitute the church's apse. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) The Kanakaria mosaics are among a few early Christian works that survived the iconoclastic period in the 8th and 9th centuries when most of such works were destroyed. The St. Mark mosaic returned to Cyprus after Dutch investigator Arthur Brand tracked it down in Monaco and handed it over to authorities at the Cypriot Embassy in the Netherlands last week. The Cyprus Antiquities Department said that initial information about the mosaic's whereabouts was provided to Cypriot authorities two years ago by the Greek-American organization AHEPA. The department said pieces of the mosaics including those of Saints Luke, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, Thaddeus, Thomas and Andrew as well as the upper part of the Virgin Mary and Christ were gradually repatriated since 1983, but more pieces are still missing. Director of Byzantine Museum Ioannis Eliades stands by a rare mosaic of Saint Mark displayed at the Byzantine Museum after its return to Cyprus, in Nicosia, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Eliades told the AP Wednesday that the Swiss government-funded restoration project will see the apse exhibited at the museum until it can be returned to the Church of the Virgin of Kanakaria from where it was stolen and sold abroad four decades ago by Turkish art dealer Aydin Dikmen. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) A rare mosaic depicting Saint Mark is displayed at the Byzantine Museum after its return to Cyprus, in Nicosia, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Like an intricate 1,500 year-old jigsaw puzzle, a rare mosaic depicting Saint Mark will join other repatriated pieces that were looted from a 6th century church in ethnically split Cyprus' breakaway Turkish Cypriot north to reconstitute the church's apse. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - When Texas Rangers called Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott to let him know one of their prisoners had confessed to shooting a woman in the head 40 years ago in his county, Lott knew immediately what case they were talking about. Back then, the sheriff was finishing his first year as an investigator. He examined 19-year-old Evelyn Weston's body that muggy night in September 1978, noting she had been shot in the head. Then he went to work to find her killer, a search that went on unsuccessfully for four decades. "I'm not going to say they haunt you. But they're always in the back of your mind," Lott said of the violent cases he hasn't solved in his county of 410,000 people, which he first started patrolling in 1975. Samuel Little, 79, began confessing to crimes across the country, telling investigators he may have killed as many as 90 people, after he lost an appeal to the life sentences he is serving for strangling three women in California. All across the U.S., authorities are getting calls from a Texas Ranger who developed a rapport with Little while investigating a cold case, giving details about long-ago killings that were never released publicly, Lott said. Weston's death matches Little's pattern of roaming the country, preying on drug addicts and troubled women, often near military bases, Lott said. This undated photo provided by the Ector County Texas Sheriff's Office shows Samuel Little. A Texas prosecutor says Little, convicted in three California murders but long suspected in dozens of deaths, now claims he was involved in about 90 killings nationwide. The prosecutor says Little is now charged in the 1994 death of a Texas woman. He says investigations are ongoing, but Little has now provided details in more than 90 deaths dating to about 1970. (Ector County Texas Sheriff's Office via AP) Little, a former boxer, would punch the victims until they were unconscious, strangle them, dump the bodies and leave town, detectives in Texas said. Weston was found naked on a dirt road just off Interstate 20, according to newspaper accounts at the time. Lott said he didn't want to share any additional details about the death until investigators firm up the link between Little and Weston. He said they are looking to see if any DNA can be found on saved evidence. Genetic evidence didn't become vital to investigators for another decade after Weston's death. Lott's hand-written notes from 40 years ago, saved in the case file, show other ways policing has changed. After checking the body in 1978, Lott got in his car and drove to measure the 9 miles (14 kilometers) from where Weston's body was found to the restaurant and bar where she was last seen, driving a steady 45 to 50 mph and pacing with his watch to determine how long it might have taken the killer. Today, that information would pop up instantaneously through GPS and a mapping program. The sheriff, now 65, said he kept all the evidence he gathered in the first hours after the slaying, and he is proud to be able to show his deputies how it could help resolve the case so long afterward. "Now all those years later we can go back and match things up," Lott said. One other memory came back to Lott after the phone call about Weston. It was one of the first homicides he caught as an investigator. He found the body of 14-year-old Carlotta Hartness in October 1977 in almost the same place. He testified the teen had been shot in the head, she was lying on top of her clothes, and it was obvious she had been sexually abused. A man at the scene testified Hartness begged for her life after she was attacked. The man convicted of killing her was executed. "These things you never forget," Lott said. ___ The headline of this story has been edited to clarify that Little told investigators he may have committed as many as 90 homicides. ___ Follow Jeffrey Collins at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP. Read his work at https://apnews.com/search/jeffrey%20collins Richland County Sheriff's Capt. Maria Yturria holds up Sheriff Leon Lott's handwritten notes from the 1978 killing of Evelyn Weston on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Columbia, S. C. Weston was likely killed by Samuel Little, who investigators say has confessed to as many as 90 killings across the United States. Lott was a rookie investigator assigned Weston's death and said he never forgot the case. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins) Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott talks to reporters about a 19-year-old woman killed in South Carolina in 1978 who is likely linked to Samuel Little, a prisoner who told investigators he may have killed as many as 90 people across the United States, at a news conference Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins) HOUSTON (AP) - Forced into exile in the U.S., Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh is without her homeland but not without hope. Quynh and her family are beginning their lives anew in Houston after she was released last month from prison in Vietnam on the condition that she left the country. She had been serving a 10-year sentence for documenting various human rights abuses in Vietnam, including civilian deaths in police custody and environmental disasters. Quynh says her eyesight was affected by months in solitary confinement, with her cell kept in darkness during the day and flooded with blinding light at night. "In Vietnam, I read in the newspaper that the people in the U.S. have freedom, but it belongs to the U.S. government. My government said that," Quynh recently said in an interview with The Associated Press. "When I came here ... I found out the people here, the citizens in the U.S., they really have" freedom. What she has so far seen as she settles into her new life in Houston has given Quynh the belief that her homeland - criticized by groups such as Amnesty International for restricting freedom of speech, the press and religion - will one day be transformed and she will be able to return. "I believe if all the people raise their voice, fight for freedom, Vietnam will be changed," she said. In this Oct. 26, 2018, photo, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, an exiled Vietnamese blogger, talks in Houston about her release from prison in Vietnam on the condition she leave the country. Quynh, known by her pen name Me Nam, or "Mother Mushroom," co-founded a network of bloggers and is very popular in Vietnam. She says she'll continue highlighting human rights abuses and other problems in her home country as she and her family settle into their new life in the U.S. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Quynh said she will continue highlighting abuses in Vietnam as she and her 12-year-old daughter Nam, her six-year-old son Gau and her 62-year-old mother settle into their new lives. Since arriving in the U.S., Quynh has traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet U.S. government and European Union officials as well as journalists. On Tuesday, she was one of five journalists who received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists at a ceremony in New York. The 39-year-old blogger known by her pen name Me Nam, or "Mother Mushroom," co-founded a network of bloggers and that is very popular in Vietnam. Posts about the release of toxic chemicals by a Taiwanese-owned factory that killed thousands of fish in one of Vietnam's worst environmental disasters were some of her best known. But her reporting made her a target of the Vietnamese government. More than four decades after communist North Vietnam prevailed in 1975 over the U.S. and South Vietnam in the long and bloody Vietnam War, the government promotes an image of an open, globalized economy. But it has maintained a firm grip over the country through strict controls of the media and other forms of communication. "In a country where the mainstream press is fully under the government's control, her independent reporting provided a crucial public service," said Shawn Crispin, the Committee to Protect Journalists' Southeast Asia representative. In June 2017, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her Facebook posts that the government considered anti-state propaganda, as part of a larger crackdown on bloggers and activists. In October, Quynh was released in a freedom-for-exile deal. Crispin says the Vietnamese government increasingly uses such agreements to silence critics. Quynh says she and her family are still dealing with the effects of her incarceration. Her daughter has become quiet and reserved. Her son is always nervous, believing that police in the U.S. will try to take his teddy bear as Vietnamese police did when they arrested his mother. Quynh said she plans to highlight the harsh prison conditions activists and others still incarcerated in Vietnam face, including a lack of proper health care and for female prisoners, a lack of privacy where they essentially have to shower in view of male guards. "When I was in prison, the Vietnamese authorities always tried to convince me that ... I was totally forgotten. I will be rotting in here for life and nobody will care," Quynh said. In Houston - which has the third-largest Vietnamese population in the U.S. behind Los Angeles and San Jose, California - she is staying with a member of her blogging network and is receiving support while her application for asylum is reviewed by the U.S. government. "If the (activists) who are behind bars right now, if they just know that (they're not forgotten), that will help fuel their spirit, lift them up and give them more strength." ___ Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter at www.twitter.com/juanlozano70 In this Oct. 26, 2018, photo, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, an exiled Vietnamese blogger, wipes away tears as she speaks in Houston about her release from prison in Vietnam on the condition she leave the country. Quynh, known by her pen name Me Nam, or "Mother Mushroom," co-founded a network of bloggers and is very popular in Vietnam. She says she'll continue highlighting human rights abuses and other problems in her home country as she and her family settle into their new life in the U.S. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) In this Oct. 26, 2018, photo, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, an exiled Vietnamese blogger, talks in Houston about her release from prison in Vietnam on the condition she leave the country. Quynh, known by her pen name Me Nam, or "Mother Mushroom," co-founded a network of bloggers and is very popular in Vietnam. She says she'll continue highlighting human rights abuses and other problems in her home country as she and her family settle into their new life in the U.S. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) In this Oct. 26, 2018, photo, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, an exiled Vietnamese blogger, talks in Houston about her release from prison in Vietnam on the condition she leave the country. Quynh, known by her pen name Me Nam, or "Mother Mushroom," co-founded a network of bloggers and is very popular in Vietnam. She says she'll continue highlighting human rights abuses and other problems in her home country as she and her family settle into their new life in the U.S. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) In this Oct. 26, 2018, photo, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, an exiled Vietnamese blogger, talks in Houston about her release from prison in Vietnam on the condition she leave the country. Quynh, known by her pen name Me Nam, or "Mother Mushroom," co-founded a network of bloggers and is very popular in Vietnam. She says she'll continue highlighting human rights abuses and other problems in her home country as she and her family settle into their new life in the U.S. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) - President Donald Trump said he may attend next year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner now that organizers have scrapped the usual format featuring a comedian. But he may not be thrilled with the replacement. The correspondents' association announced this week that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow - biographer of presidents and statesmen including George Washington and Alexander Hamilton- will serve as the 2019 dinner's featured speaker. But Chernow, like many of his fellow historians, strongly opposed Trump's candidacy in 2016 and labeled him a "demagogue." That didn't stop Trump from declaring victory Tuesday night after he arrived in Florida for a Thanksgiving-week break. "So-called comedian Michelle Wolf bombed so badly last year," he tweeted. "This year, for the first time in decades, they will have an author instead of a comedian." "Good first step in comeback of a dying evening and tradition!" he wrote, adding: "Maybe I will go?" Presidents have traditionally attended the dinner. But Trump, who has an especially contentious relationship with the press, has skipped it the last two years. FILE - This April 18, 2011, file photo shows author Ron Chernow at his home in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The White House Correspondents' Association has announced that author Ron Chernow will speak at its annual dinner in April. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano, File) Wolf's sharply anti-Trump performance in 2018 was criticized by some as too pointed in its shots at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other White House staff. Chernow, for his part, in 2016 joined with other historians in expressing alarm at Trump's campaign rhetoric. "Like many other historians, I have been deeply disturbed by the Trump campaign - more deeply disturbed than by any other presidential campaign in our history," he said in a video statement, expressing alarm that Americans might "forget who we are as a people and succumb to historical amnesia." "We've all been horrified by the many shocking statements this man has made, but no less frightening have been the omissions," he went on to say, citing the then-candidate's reluctance to say words like injustice and tolerance or express emotions like kindness, compassion and empathy. Chernow said in a statement released by the association that he'd been asked "to make the case for the First Amendment" in his speech and was "happy to oblige." "Freedom of the press is always a timely subject, and this seems like the perfect moment to go back to basics," he said, adding that, "While I have never been mistaken for a stand-up comedian, I promise that my history lesson won't be dry." Chernow declined comment further when asked if his speech would include criticism of Trump. __ Associated Press National Writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report. LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) - Families in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts are facing a challenging Thanksgiving more than two months after natural gas explosions and fires leveled homes and left thousands without heat or hot water. More than 2,000 homes are still without gas service in Lawrence, North Andover and Andover after gas lines were overpressurized during an otherwise routine pipeline replacement project, triggering dozens of explosions and fires. While some residents have chosen to tough it out in chilly homes, more than 1,500 families are spending the holiday in hotels, apartments and trailers paid for by Columbia Gas. The utility is responsible for the Sept. 13 fires that killed one, injured dozens and destroyed or damaged more than 100 structures. At the trailer park set up on Lawrence's South Common, Jose Grullon said his family's holiday would be more subdued than usual. The 45-year-old, his pregnant wife and two young children moved into a trailer last month after it became too cold in their apartment. In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo Samantha Jusino, right, and her 3-year-old niece Aria, below left, both of Lawrence, Mass., speak with a reporter from The Associated Press outside an entrance to a temporary trailer camp in Lawrence, for people displaced by the Sept. 13, 2018 natural gas line failures and gas explosions. Samantha stayed at the camp following the gas line failures, while Aria stayed at the camp during the day with her grandparents as her mother worked. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Like most affected homes, theirs didn't suffer any fires or explosions, but the hot water heater, boiler and other gas appliances were compromised by the overpressurization and need to be replaced before gas service can be restored. Grullon said the family's trailer is simply too small to host the festive party he normally throws for family and friends, with food from his native Dominican Republic, dancing and music. The family will instead eat the turkey dinner Columbia Gas is providing to trailer residents. "It's not going to be a happy mood at all," he said. "It's going to be a sad situation." But fellow trailer park resident Socorro Guzman had a more positive outlook. Guzman, 72, said she'll be thanking God because her family survived. She'll be hosting about a dozen people. "It's a small place, but we have to celebrate." Complicating matters is that temperatures are forecast to drop into the teens. Officials are concerned about water pipes and tanks freezing, so they're adding insulation under trailers and making sure every unit has sufficient propane for heating. "We knew it was going to be cold, but most people don't spend the winter in an RV," said Scott Ferson, a spokesman for Columbia Gas. "So it has provided some unique challenges." In the meantime, utility crews are pressing on with restoration work throughout the affected communities. After missing a Nov. 19 deadline, Columbia Gas now says the region's gas service should be fully restored by December. Columbia Gas, which also faces federal probes and class-action lawsuits, quickly replaced some 50 miles (80 kilometers) of old gas lines, but restoring service to individual buildings has been more arduous. Most appliances using natural gas are being replaced and the region's old housing stock presents additional challenges. "We're finding a lot of code issues," said Ferson. "Each house needs to be addressed almost individually." But even after heat and hot water was restored to their homes, many residents say they still face an incomplete Thanksgiving. Patty McCloskey got her gas service back in her Andover home earlier this month after workers spent three days removing and replacing her old boiler and hot water heater. She's grateful she no longer has to wear multiple sweaters to keep warm inside, but won't be hosting Thanksgiving as usual because her damaged stove won't be replaced for weeks. McCloskey said her husband and her two grown daughters will instead take the gas company up on its free meal. "This has been the most unusual experience of our life," the 71-year-old retiree said. "The most draining part wasn't so much the cold. It was the anxiety of not knowing what was going to happen next and how it was going to be resolved. It was exhausting. I'm exhausted." ___ Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. ___ This story has been updated to change the third paragraph to note that the 1,500 figure refers to the number of families, not residents. In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, 4-year-old Isairis Grullon, right, looks at a mobile device as her father Jose Grullon, 45, left, and her 1-year-old brother Jadiel Grullon, behind center, are seated at a table in a trailer home at a trailer camp in Lawrence, Mass., for people displaced by gas line failures and explosions on Sept. 13, 2018. Families in Massachusetts' Merrimack Valley are facing a challenging Thanksgiving following September's natural gas explosions and fires. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo Patty McCloskey, of Andover, Mass., is emotional while talking about the period of time following the failure of natural gas lines in her community that occurred on Sept. 13, 2018. Following a gas line failure in Lawrence federal investigators have confirmed that over-pressurized natural gas lines were the source of a series of explosions and fires in communities north of Boston, in Sept. of 2018. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo, natural gas contract worker Jary Pena, of Andover, Mass., center, and a co-worker remove a boiler from the home of Patty and Barry McCloskey in Andover. Following a gas line failure in Lawrence federal investigators have confirmed that over-pressurized natural gas lines were the source of a series of explosions and fires in communities north of Boston on Sept. 13, 2018. Many appliances using natural gas were condemned in the wake of the over-pressurized lines. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo, Patty McCloskey, of Andover, Mass., center, speaks with natural gas contract workers after they removed a boiler and hot water heater from her home in Andover. Following a gas line failure in Lawrence, federal investigators have confirmed that over-pressurized natural gas lines were the source of a series of explosions and fires in communities north of Boston on Sept. 13, 2018. Many appliances using natural gas were condemned in the wake of the over-pressurized lines. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo, people ride and push bicycles as they return to temporary housing in trailers at a camp in Lawrence, Mass., set up for those displaced by natural gas explosions and gas line failures that occurred on Sept. 13, 2018. Families in Massachusetts' Merrimack Valley are facing a challenging Thanksgiving following September's natural gas explosions and fires. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo, 3-year-old Kendrick Enriquez, of Lawrence, Mass., leaps through an entryway to a temporary trailer camp for people displaced by natural gas explosions that shook communities on Sept. 13, 2018, in Lawrence and nearby towns. Families in Massachusetts' Merrimack Valley are facing a challenging Thanksgiving following September's natural gas explosions and fires. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo, natural gas contract worker Jary Pena, of Andover, Mass., left, places his foot on a damaged boiler as he and co-workers prepare to remove it from the basement of a home in Andover. Following a gas line failure in Lawrence, federal investigators have confirmed that over-pressurized natural gas lines were the source of a series of explosions and fires in communities north of Boston on Sept. 13, 2018. Many appliances using natural gas were condemned in the wake of the over-pressurized lines. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo, natural gas contract worker Jary Pena, of Andover, Mass., behind top right, and co-workers remove a boiler from from the home of Patty and Barry McCloskey in Andover, Mass. Following a gas line failure in Lawrence, federal investigators have confirmed that over-pressurized natural gas lines were the source of a series of explosions and fires in communities north of Boston on Sept. 13, 2018. Many appliances using natural gas were condemned in the wake of the over-pressurized lines. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo, a natural gas contract worker applies a sticker to a boiler unit that says the appliance has been condemned, in the basement of a home belonging to Patty and Barry McCloskey in Andover, Mass. Following a gas line failure in Lawrence, federal investigators have confirmed that over-pressurized natural gas lines were the source of a series of explosions and fires in communities north of Boston on Sept. 13, 2018. Many appliances using natural gas were condemned in the wake of the over-pressurized lines. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 photo, natural gas contract workers remove a boiler from the home of Patty and Barry McCloskey in Andover, Mass. Following a gas line failure in Lawrence federal investigators have confirmed that over-pressurized natural gas lines were the source of a series of explosions and fires in communities north of Boston on Sept. 13, 2018. Many appliances using natural gas were condemned in the wake of the over-pressurized lines. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo Sonia Geha, left, and her mother Laila Eid, second from left, both of Lawrence, Mass., carry belongings as they depart a trailer camp for people displaced by gas line failures and explosions on Sept. 13, 2018. Families in Massachusetts' Merrimack Valley are facing a challenging Thanksgiving following September's natural gas explosions and fires. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Mass shootings, hurricanes, fires - for many people across the nation, 2018 was a year of loss unlike any other. As the quintessentially American holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, some will abandon traditions or choose not to mark the holiday at all. Others will celebrate new friendships forged in the wake of tragedy. Here's how some of the survivors will spend Thanksgiving: PARKLAND, FLORIDA: "A HARD WEEK" Fred Guttenberg will start his Thanksgiving morning at a cemetery. His 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was one of 17 people killed in the Valentine's Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. "This Thanksgiving is about loss," said Guttenberg who will visit Jaime's grave with his wife, his son and their two dogs. "It's my first Thanksgiving without my daughter, and we're not going to leave her out of it." In this Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018 photo, a makeshift memorial of flowers rests on bushes outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Mass shootings, hurricanes, fires - for many people across the nation, 2018 was a year of loss unlike any other. As the quintessentially American holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, some will abandon traditions or chose not to mark the holiday at all. Others will celebrate new friendships forged in the wake of tragedy. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) After that, the family has no plans to celebrate or eat a turkey dinner. None of their past traditions seems appropriate. Jaime loved the holidays, her dad said. She looked forward to decorating the house and helping her mom with the cooking. "This is going to be a hard week," Guttenberg said in a phone interview. He's been a vocal advocate for stricter gun laws and started Orange Ribbons For Jaime, an organization that raises money for gun reform and for causes that were important to his daughter, including animal welfare and dance scholarships. The grieving father made national headlines when he was one of the first parents to speak out after the shooting at a candlelight vigil. During his gut-wrenching recap of his last moments with Jaime, he worried whether he had remembered to say "I love you" as she rushed out the door for school. "I sent her to school yesterday. She was supposed to be safe. My job is to protect my children," he told the crowd. Now, nine months later, Guttenberg says his family is facing a season of firsts without Jaime, whom he described as the energy in the room. He had a request for families who have not lost any loved ones to gun violence. "Remember those who maybe aren't there this holiday and be part of the change that needs to happen in this country so it doesn't happen to them next." PITTSBURGH: "WE MUST NOT FORGET" Rabbi Jeffrey Myers had just begun Shabbat service at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh when the shooting began. Now, less than three weeks after the deadliest attack on Jews in the United States, he plans to celebrate Thanksgiving and encouraged others to do so too. "People are looking forward to Thanksgiving because there is a lot to be thankful for," he said. The day of the attack, Oct. 27, "will remain a constant wound," Myers said of the shooting that killed 11 people. But in his weekly blog post to his congregants, he wrote: "For me, just being able to sit in the same room with my family is immensely rewarding, something I was not certain I would ever have the opportunity to do again. That is why something so simple is so powerful and meaningful for me." However, that is not enough, Myers said. He urged people to be aware of the less fortunate, those in the community who need food and shelter. And he suggested "one simple, yet meaningful gesture" that would make an impact. He asked people to count the number of friends and relatives gathered around their tables at Thanksgiving and donate that sum to charities that feed the hungry. People could also give more, or less. "It is called tzedakah for an excellent reason: The root word, tzedek, means 'righteousness.' It is the right thing to do, and you know that. The needs of others did not disappear on Oct. 27. They remained, and we must not forget them." CALIFORNIA: FACEBOOK ANGELS Athenia Dunham and daughter Natalie will spend Thanksgiving at the home of a woman they met less than two weeks ago, surrounded by new friends. Athenia call them "angels." The Dunhams barely escaped their home in Paradise, California, on Nov. 8 as a deadly wildfire swept through. They were awoken by their pitbull, Luna, and flames were already burning the home next door. They made it out and to a hotel in nearby Redding, paying for the room with money from a homeowner's insurance payout. On a normal Thanksgiving, Athenia said, she would be cooking for a few friends and preparing to "pig out and veg." But this year the holidays are the last thing on her mind. "To be honest, I really don't even know what day it is - it feels like this just happened yesterday," she said Tuesday. But an army of super volunteers who connected via Facebook have come together to help give the two women as normal a Thanksgiving as possible. Beyond providing a meal, the volunteers have provided the mother and daughter with clothing, gift cards and a laptop computer so Natalie can keep up with her education. One volunteer even did their laundry. "They're our angels - and angels have been with us since we left our driveway," Athenia said. MEXICO BEACH, FLORIDA: THANKFUL TO BE ALIVE The Rev. Eddie LaFountain of the First Baptist Church in Mexico Beach, Florida, plans to welcome 300 people to the parking lot of his storm-damaged church for Thanksgiving dinner. He's held worship services in the lot since Hurricane Michael destroyed most of the community on Oct. 10. Since that Category 4 storm, the church has become one of the town's hubs for supplies, necessities and love. Thanksgiving Day is no different, LaFountain said. "We just felt like we wanted to open it up to everybody that's here. Because some don't have ovens, some are here volunteering. Anybody's invited," he said. "Just to be thankful that God's given us life." LaFountain's other job as a landscaper dried up since the hurricane, as did his wife's job cleaning condos. But he feels blessed that his apartment was unscathed, his children are safe and that he has firsthand evidence of the good in people every day. Just a few days ago, volunteers put a new roof on the church. Inside, the donations of shoes, groceries, clothing and other items are free for the taking. "We can barely walk through the church sometimes," he said. Volunteers from Wild Olive, a Panama City restaurant, are cooking the Thanksgiving meal for the hundreds expected to stop by. "We're going to pray with them and love on them," LaFountain said. "If you ever want to experience God, he's here." ___ Associated Press writers Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Ramesh Santanam in Pittsburgh; and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report. FILE - In this Oct. 12, 2018, file photo, Hector Morales, left, is hugged by friend Matthew Goss, a fisherman, as they reunite after Hurricane Michael which destroyed Morales' home and Goss' boat in Mexico Beach, Fla. Mass shootings, hurricanes, fires - for many people across the nation, 2018 was a year of loss unlike any other. As the quintessentially American holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, some will abandon traditions or chose not to mark the holiday at all. Others will celebrate new friendships forged in the wake of tragedy. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2018, file photo, residences leveled by a wildfire line a neighborhood in Paradise, Calif. Mass shootings, hurricanes, fires - for many people across the nation, 2018 was a year of loss unlike any other. As the quintessentially American holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, some will abandon traditions or chose not to mark the holiday at all. Others will celebrate new friendships forged in the wake of tragedy. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File) FILE- In this May 24, 2018 file photo, Fred Guttenberg speaks at a news conference, in Miami. Guttenberg speaks next to photos of his daughter Jaime Guttenberg, who was one of 17 killed in the Valentine's Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Fred Guttenberg will start his Thanksgiving morning at a cemetery. "This Thanksgiving is about loss," said Guttenberg who will visit Jaime's grave along with his wife, son and their two dogs. "It's my first Thanksgiving without my daughter and we're not going to leave her out of it." (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) ST. LOUIS (AP) - A man was charged Wednesday with killing one woman and sexually assaulting two others after herding them at gunpoint into the back room of a suburban St. Louis religious supplies shop. The arrest of 53-year-old Thomas Bruce, of Imperial, ended a two-day manhunt that followed the brazen Monday afternoon attack at a Catholic Supply store in another St. Louis suburb, Ballwin. The attack frightened the region and led some schools, churches and businesses to close. Bruce is charged with 17 counts, including first-degree murder, sodomy and attempted sodomy, kidnapping and other crimes. He is jailed without bond, and it wasn't clear if he had an attorney yet. At a news conference announcing the arrest, St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch called the crime "heartbreaking," a sentiment that was echoed by the county's police chief, Jon Belmar. "It shocked the senses," a somber Belmar said. Authorities allege that Bruce entered the store and said he was shopping, then left briefly before returning with a handgun. He forced the three women into the back room, told them to strip, exposed himself and ordered them to "perform deviant sexual acts on him," detectives wrote in the criminal complaint. Authorities investigate the scene at a Catholic Supply store where a gunman went into the religious supply store, sexually assaulted at least one woman and shot a woman in the head, Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, in Ballwin, Mo. (Johanna Huckeba/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) Two of the women complied but the third, 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt of nearby House Springs, refused, so he shot her in the head, they wrote. The attacker ordered the other women to continue performing the sexual acts on him, and he later fled, apparently able to blend in along the busy street in broad daylight. McCulloch said there was no indication the store was targeted because of its religious affiliation. "It seems to me a guy like this saw an opportunity - three women in the store alone," McCulloch said. Bruce, who claimed to be a Navy veteran on his LinkedIn page, had no previous criminal record in Missouri beyond a traffic ticket in 2001. McCulloch said his office is checking with other states. Belmar said tips from the public helped lead to Bruce's arrest, though he declined to elaborate. McCulloch said the aggravating circumstances make the crime eligible for the death penalty, but he said that decision will be up to the man who replaces him in January. McCulloch, the county's prosecutor for nearly three decades, lost to Wesley Bell of Ferguson in the August Democratic primary. Bell ran unopposed in the November general election. Dan Stutte, president of Catholic Supply store, which operates three stores in the St. Louis area, said the company was "deeply relieved" by the arrest. Schmidt, of House Springs, was a married mother of three who worked as a secretarial assistant at St. Louis Community College's campus in Wildwood, Missouri. Two of her children are adults and the third is in high school. Several members of her parish, St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in High Ridge, gathered for a memorial service Tuesday to remember Schmidt, who sang in the church choir. A friend told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Schmidt may have been at the store to buy supplies to make rosaries for fellow parishioners. The towering metal fence that divides the United States and Mexico at the edge of the Pacific Ocean has an imposing new feature: row upon row of razor wire. The wire that's typically used in battlefields and on prison barriers is the most visible result of the $210 million military deployment along the U.S.-Mexico border, creating an imposing sight for the crowd of Central American migrants gathering in Tijuana. Soldiers and contractors have been installing different versions of the sharp wire barriers all along the border - on the fence, at ports of entry and on the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas to name a few. "This is what it really looks like - no climbers anymore under our administration," President Donald Trump tweeted along with a photo of the fortified section in Southern California. Military officials say they have more than 150 miles (240 kilometers) of wire available to string up at strategic locations. Here are some questions and answers about the wire: ___ File - In this Nov. 16, 2018 file photo, concertina wire lines the top of a wall at the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego. The dividing line between the United States and Mexico at the edge of the Pacific Ocean is now more than just a towering metal wall that cuts through the sandy beach. Overnight, workers stacked up rows of coiled wire, hoping to discourage the Central American migrants gathering in Tijuana from crossing illegally. It marks one of numerous spots along the U.S.-Mexico border where soldiers and contractors have been installing different versions of sharp wire barriers. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File) WHAT IS THE WIRE? It is called concertina wire, named after the musical instrument and its expanding and contracting bellows. It resembles barbed wire that's commonly used to corral cattle, but it comes in flat coils that can quickly expand like its namesake, making it easier to store, transport and install. It has been the wire of choice for militaries around the world since World War I. Made in factories today using galvanized steel, concertina wire consists of sharp flat blades. It's used to secure businesses, prisons and other government installations. Critics have blasted Trump's military deployment at the border as an expensive political stunt - and question why active duty troops are needed for tasks that contractors could perform. According to figures reported to Congress on Tuesday, the Pentagon estimates the cost of the military's mission on the U.S.-Mexico border will be about $210 million under current plans. That includes money for active-duty troops and National Guard troops. What's not clear is how much has been spent on materials like razor wire. A ton of razor wire can go for several hundred dollars while a single roll can be bought online for as little as $30. ___ WHERE IS IT BEING INSTALLED? An initial 22 miles (35 kilometers) of concertina wire was shipped to the border when the first troops began to deploy to California, Arizona and Texas a month ago. Military officials said at the time they had more than 150 miles (240 kilometers) of wire available. It's clear it won't be strung along every mile as it would take 13 times that amount to span the U.S.-Mexico border. The border stretches about 1,950 miles (3,138 kilometers) from the Pacific Ocean to South Texas where the Rio Grande dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. It's up to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to tell the military where to put the wire. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said the short-term objective has been to get enough wire and other barriers in place as requested by border officials. A Defense Department spokesman, Army Col. Robert Manning, told reporters earlier this week that more than 4 miles (6.8 kilometers) of wire obstacles had been installed by soldiers in Arizona and California. The focus has been in the San Diego area, where it can be seen by migrants waiting on the south side of the border. It also has been put up at the Otay Mesa port of entry in California and at less populated spots near crossings in Nogales and Douglas, Arizona, and in Laredo, Hidalgo and Brownsville, Texas. ___ HOW IS IT INSTALLED? Combat engineers - whose duties on the battlefield include setting up tactical obstacles to prevent the enemy from moving freely - are using their expertise to string wire on border walls and to erect temporary fencing. Forklifts, tractors and other heavy equipment are used to move the coils to where the wire needs to be installed. Wearing heavy gloves, crews space out the coils as if they were stretching a toy Slinky and the concertina is then affixed to the tops of walls or fences using bits of wire. In some spots, metal stakes are driven into the ground and used to support the wire. ___ DOES IT WORK? U.S. Customs and Border Protection released video last week showing a man cutting through wire that border agents had placed just hours before on a fence near Yuma, Arizona. Arizona Border Patrol agents for several months have been overwhelmed by the arrival of large numbers of Central American migrants traveling as families. During a 48-hour period last week, agents in the Yuma area apprehended more than 650 people who crossed illegally. Customs and Border Protection officials have argued that additional barriers and the deployment of National Guard and military troops have helped to free up agents. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, center in blue shirt, speaks with San Diego Sector Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott, left, next to a section of the border wall fortified with razor wire Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in San Diego. Nielsen says an appeal will be filed on the decision by a judge to temporarily bar the Trump administration from refusing asylum to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally. Speaking in San Diego, Nielsen said it would be filed as soon as possible. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2018, photo, members of the U.S. military install multiple tiers of concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande near the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas. The Pentagon is estimating the cost of the military's mission on the U.S.-Mexico border will be about $210 million under current plans. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) A woman in Tijuana, Mexico, looks through a section of the border wall lined with concertina wire Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, seen from San Diego. Many Central American migrants camped in Tijuana after crossing Mexico in a caravan said Monday that a protest over the weekend by residents demanding they leave frightened them and left them even more anxious while they try to get into the United States. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Concertina wire partially lines the border wall separating Tijuana, Mexico, behind, and San Diego Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) People line up to cross into the United States from Tijuana, Mexico, seen through barriers topped with concertina wire at the San Ysidro port of entry Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, in San Diego. The United States closed off northbound traffic for several hours at the busiest border crossing with Mexico to install new security barriers on Monday, a day after hundreds of Tijuana residents protested against the presence of thousands of Central American migrants. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Workers add barbed wire to the U.S. border fence in San Ysidro, California, seen from Tijuana, Mexico, Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. The United States closed off northbound traffic for several hours at the busiest border crossing with Mexico to install new security barriers on Monday, a day after hundreds of Tijuana residents protested against the presence of thousands of Central American migrants. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) Mild weather and falling gasoline prices are helping Thanksgiving travelers get where they're going while saving a few bucks. Airports around the country were busy Wednesday, leading to about 2,700 delayed flights by early evening on the East Coast. Only about 100 flights were canceled, however, with nearly half of those in San Francisco, according to tracking service FlightAware. "It has been a good day so far. The weather has been very cooperative," said American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein. "It's busy, but this Sunday and Monday will be busier travel days for us." The military again opened some of its airspace to airline flights during the holiday-travel period - last Saturday through Wednesday, and again the upcoming Saturday through Monday. The practice began about a decade ago. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said 39,000 flights took advantage of the extra airspace last year. Holiday revelers traveling by car were able to take advantage of a big decline in gasoline prices caused by lower oil prices. The nationwide average pump price on Wednesday was $2.60 a gallon, down 25 cents from a month ago. GasBuddy, a price-comparison site, said prices were under $2 a gallon in nine states, with several others hovering just above that mark. Travelers line up for a security checkpoint at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in New York. The airline industry trade group Airlines for America expects that Wednesday will be the second busiest day of the holiday period behind only Sunday, when many travelers will be returning home after Thanksgiving. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) "We will see the national average go lower because there are still drops in the pipeline," said GasBuddy analyst Patrick DeHaan. He estimated that U.S. motorists are spending $100 million less each day on gasoline than they were a month ago. AAA is forecasting the busiest Thanksgiving travel period since 2005. Most people who will travel at least 50 miles from home are going by car, according to the auto club. AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair credited a strong economy and rising consumer confidence, "and when we have a little time built into our schedules, we take advantage of it." Much of the country was blessed with mild weather, but that was expected to change in some areas. Rain was moving in along the West Coast, contributing to delays in places including San Francisco, where the FAA said arriving flights were running nearly two hours late on average. In the Northeast, frigid temperatures were forecast for Thanksgiving Day, although the holiday itself is traditionally a light travel day. Aside from the weather, American Airlines airport kiosks were knocked offline briefly on Wednesday morning. The airline said no flights were delayed because of the problem, which appeared to be fixed by midday. The day before Thanksgiving was a more difficult travel day in the past. Many Americans who travel over the holiday now start earlier and return later, spreading crowds over several days. The busiest day ever for Transportation Security Administration airport screeners was the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2004, but seven of the top 10 days occurred during summer, including five days this past June. Travelers check in for flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in New York. The airline industry trade group Airlines for America expects that Wednesday will be the second busiest day of the holiday period behind only Sunday, when many travelers will be returning home after Thanksgiving. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) A traveler walks with a suitcase through the terminal at Washington Reagan National Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Arlington, Va. The airline industry trade group Airlines for America expects that Wednesday will be the second busiest day of the holiday period behind only Sunday, when many travelers will be returning home after Thanksgiving. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Travelers check in for flights at Orlando International Airport before the start of the Thanksgiving holiday Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) Anthony Navarro, left, an Amtrak Ambassador assisting travelers, helps a woman find the platform for her train, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in New York's Penn Station. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) A traveler catches up on some sleep while waiting for a flight at Orlando International Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Orlando, Fla., before the start of the Thanksgiving holiday. (AP Photo/John Raoux) Travelers wait in line to go through a security checkpoint at Orlando International Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Orlando, Fla., before the start of the Thanksgiving holiday (AP Photo/John Raoux) Anthony Navarro, second from left, an Amtrak Ambassador assisting travelers, helps a passenger find the platform for his train, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in New York's Penn Station. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) Amtrak passengers wait to take an escalator to a train platform, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, at New York's Penn Station. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) A traveler naps at he waits for his flight at Indianapolis International Airport in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. The airline industry trade group Airlines for America expects that Wednesday will be the second busiest day of the holiday period behind only Sunday, when many travelers will be returning home after Thanksgiving. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) TSA officer, Cedric Belvin, and German short-hair pointer, "Angus," search departing passengers for explosives at Miami International Airport, Concourse J, South TSA checkpoint. TSA handled MIA holiday passenger traffic well by using sniffing dogs and letting everyone keep their shoes and electronic on their person on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP) Travelers enter a cab at a cab stand in Denver International Airport Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Denver. Mild weather in parts of the country and lower gasoline prices have potentially created one of the busiest Thanksgiving Day travel periods since 2005, according to AAA. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Women exchange farewells at the curbside baggage checkpoint outside the west gates of Denver International Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Denver. Mild weather in parts of the country and lower gasoline prices have potentially created one of the busiest Thanksgiving Day travel periods since 2005, according to AAA. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Travelers checkin in at American Airlines kiosks at Washington Reagan National Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Arlington, Va. The airline industry trade group Airlines for America expects that Wednesday will be the second busiest day of the holiday period behind only Sunday, when many travelers will be returning home after Thanksgiving. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) In this photo taken with a long exposure, traffic streaks across the John F. Kennedy Expressway at the start of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Chicago. Mild weather and falling gasoline prices are helping Thanksgiving travelers get where they're going while saving a few bucks. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato) Travelers wait in long lines to pass through a security checkpoint in Denver International Airport Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Denver. Mild weather in parts of the country and lower gasoline prices have potentially created one of the busiest Thanksgiving Day travel periods since 2005, according to AAA. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Travelers wait in long lines to pass through a security checkpoint in Denver International Airport Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Denver. Mild weather in parts of the country and lower gasoline prices have potentially created one of the busiest Thanksgiving Day travel periods since 2005, according to AAA. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Passengers make their way through the terminal at Indianapolis International Airport in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. The airline industry trade group Airlines for America expects that Wednesday will be the second busiest day of the holiday period behind only Sunday, when many travelers will be returning home after Thanksgiving.(AP Photo/Michael Conroy) Travelers wait in long lines to pass through a security checkpoint in Denver International Airport Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Denver. Mild weather in parts of the country and lower gasoline prices have potentially created one of the busiest Thanksgiving Day travel periods since 2005, according to AAA. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Travelers wait for their luggage to arrive in Denver International Airport Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Denver. Mild weather in parts of the country and lower gasoline prices have potentially created one of the busiest Thanksgiving Day travel periods since 2005, according to AAA. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) NEW YORK (AP) - Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker erroneously told an audience of law enforcement officials Wednesday that a terrorist who set off bombs in New York City and New Jersey had two co-conspirators overseas and that one was in custody. Whitaker, who took over as the head of the Justice Department this month, made the remarks about the case of convicted bomber Ahmad Rahimi while addressing members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a team of police officials and federal agents who cooperate on terrorism investigations. He told the group that Rahimi, who was sentenced February to life in prison, had "two alleged co-conspirators overseas." "One of them attempted to buy a plane ticket to come here and participate in those attacks. Now he's getting a plane ride back to America but it's care of an extradition order," Whitaker said. No mention of co-conspirators was made at Rahimi's trial, where he was convicted of detonating bombs that exploded in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and at a running event in New Jersey. After receiving media inquiries about the comments, a Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency was issuing a "correction." Whitaker's comments on Rahimi having co-conspirators were included in a copy of his prepared remarks sent to reporters, but stricken from the version posted on the Justice Department website. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker addresses law enforcement officials at the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) The Justice Department later clarified that Whitaker's prepared remarks originally included references to a defendant other than the Chelsea bomber, but those statements were removed from the speech after a sentencing was postponed. The department did not identify the other case but said a reference to it "was inadvertently" left in the speech. Whitaker's talk to the Joint Terrorism task force came during a two-day visit to New York. He also visited the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center Wednesday morning and met with U.S. attorneys for the region Tuesday evening. In his address Wednesday, Whitaker also announced $56 million in grant funding for local law enforcement around the country, a disbursement that includes $29 million for bulletproof vests and $12.2 million for body-worn cameras. "This is just a small way of saying thank you to the officers who take care of us every day," Whitaker said. "We understand the sacrifices that you make- and so we want you to have the right equipment and the right training." Whitaker said counterterrorism remains the priority of the Justice Department, and he praised the Joint Terrorism Task Force's work on a number of recent cases in New York. "Terrorists are going to continue to target us," he said. "So we've got to keep targeting them." ___ Balsamo reported from Washington D.C. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, framed by a photograph of lower Manhattan, addresses law enforcement officials at the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker addresses law enforcement officials at the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona jury on Wednesday acquitted a U.S. Border Patrol agent of manslaughter in the shooting of a Mexican teen through a border fence, sparking a protest in downtown Tucson following the second loss for federal prosecutors in the second trial over the 2012 killing. Jurors in Tucson found Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter but didn't come to a decision on voluntary manslaughter. The verdict comes months after Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder by another jury that had deadlocked on manslaughter charges, allowing prosecutors to pursue the case again. "My client is very relieved. He has had to live with the burden of this case hanging over his head for years. He is glad that it is finally over," Swartz's attorney, Sean Chapman, said in an email to The Associated Press. Outside the courthouse, a small group of activists protested the verdict, and one man was detained, media outlets reported. The protest grew later in the day as scores of demonstrators shut down an intersection, snarling traffic in downtown and prompting authorities to briefly close several freeway ramps. One sign protesters carried said, "Abolish Border Patrol," while another read, "No justice, no peace" in both English and Spanish. Protesters march through downtown in response to a jury finding U.S. Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the cross-border shooting death of Mexican teen Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Tucson, Ariz. It was his second trial after another jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and deadlocked on the manslaughter charge earlier this year. (Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Star via AP) "We fully respect the jury's decision, and we thank every member of the jury for the time and attention given to this trial," Elizabeth A. Strange, first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, said in a statement. "This was a difficult case, and I commend the trial team and law enforcement officers who assisted in the prosecution." Border Patrol agents are rarely criminally charged for using force. But the killing of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez sparked outrage on both sides of the border and came at a time when the agency was increasingly scrutinized for its use of force. Prosecutors said Swartz was frustrated over repeated encounters with people on the Mexico side of the border fence who throw rocks at agents to distract them from smugglers. They say he lost his cool and fatally shot Elena Rodriguez. Swartz fired about 16 rounds, and the boy was hit at least 10 times in the back and head. Swartz has said he was following his training and defending himself and other law enforcement officers from rocks, which he said could be deadly. Prosecutors acknowledge that Elena Rodriguez was throwing rocks at agents while two smugglers made their way back to Mexico, but they said that wasn't justification for taking his life. Chapman said Elena Rodriguez endangered the lives of the agents and a police officer who was on scene. The verdict comes as President Donald Trump has deployed troops to the border to support U.S. authorities in response to a migrant caravan from Central America. The troops have been given authority to protect Border Patrol agents and other personnel, even though there have been no instances of violence against U.S. authorities. Swartz still faces a civil rights lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the teen's mother. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office said prosecutors haven't decided whether to try Swartz again on the voluntary manslaughter charge. File - In a Wednesday, March 21, 2018 file photo, Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz, left, makes his way to the U.S. District Court building in downtown Tucson, Ariz. A jury in Arizona has acquitted a U.S. Border Patrol agent of manslaughter in the cross-border shooting death of a Mexican teen six years ago. Jurors found Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. It was his second trial after another jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and deadlocked on the manslaughter charge earlier this year. (Ron Medvescek/Arizona Daily Star via AP, File) FILE--This file photo taken Monday, Dec. 4, 2017 shows the boundary in Nogales, Mexico, with the United States and a poster of Juan Antonio Elena Rodriguez, a teen who was shot and killed across the line by a Border Patrol agent in 2010. A jury in Arizona has acquitted a U.S. Border Patrol agent of manslaughter in the cross-border shooting death of a Mexican teen six years ago. Jurors found Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. It was his second trial after another jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and deadlocked on the manslaughter charge earlier this year. (AP Photo/Anita Snow, file) Protesters scatter glue in the intersection of Granada and Congress to paste "Jose Antonio Presente!" signage to the asphalt in response to a jury finding U.S. Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the cross-border shooting death of Mexican teen Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Tucson, Ariz. It was his second trial after another jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and deadlocked on the manslaughter charge earlier this year. (Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Star via AP) A protester stands in the middle of Congress Street in front of the federal courthouse in response to a jury finding U.S. Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the cross-border shooting death of Mexican teen Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Tucson, Ariz. It was his second trial after another jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and deadlocked on the manslaughter charge earlier this year. (Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Star via AP) Protesters march through downtown in response to jury finding U.S. Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the cross-border shooting death of Mexican teen Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Tucson, Ariz. Border Patrol agents are rarely criminally charged for using force. But the killing of 16-year-old Elena Rodriguez sparked outrage on both sides of the border and came at a time when the agency was increasingly scrutinized for its use of force. (Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Star via AP) NEW YORK (AP) - Avoid all romaine lettuce, but don't worry about your turkey. With two food poisoning outbreaks making headlines before Thanksgiving, the messages about what's safe to eat can be hard to keep straight. Here's what you should know before you sit down for dinner. WHAT LETTUCE OUTBREAK? On Tuesday, U.S. health officials issued an unusually broad warning against all types of romaine lettuce amid an E. coli outbreak. They asked restaurants and grocers to stop selling it, people to stop eating it and everyone to throw it all out. Thirty-two illnesses in 11 states have been linked to romaine. Canada also was affected, with 18 illnesses in Ontario and Quebec. No deaths have been reported. WASN'T THERE ALREADY A ROMAINE OUTBREAK THIS YEAR? Romaine Lettuce still sits on the shelves as a shopper walks through the produce area of an Albertsons market Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in Simi Valley, Calif. Health officials in the U.S. and Canada told people Tuesday to stop eating romaine lettuce because of a new E. coli outbreak. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Yes. The strain of E. coli in the current outbreak differs from the one linked to romaine earlier this year that sickened about 200 people and killed five. But it appears similar to the strain identified in a 2017 outbreak that happened around the same time of year. That outbreak was linked to "leafy greens," but a specific supplier or vegetable was never identified in the U.S. This time, officials were able to issue an alert earlier and specifically warn against romaine because of information collected through interviews with people who got sick, said Laura Gieraltowski, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ARE VEGETABLES CAUSING MORE FOOD POISONING? Improved detection may be driving up the number of outbreaks tied to produce. But the way food is produced is another consideration. Timothy Lytton, a professor of law at Georgia State University, noted that large cattle feeding lots could be a contributing factor. WHAT DO COWS HAVE TO DO WITH E. COLI GETTING INTO LETTUCE? Huge numbers of cows produce large quantities of animal waste. And bacteria from cattle feces can migrate into the water used to irrigate produce fields, Lytton said. In fact, tainted irrigation water was identified as a likely source of this year's previous E. coli outbreak linked to romaine from the Yuma, Arizona, region. WHAT'S BEING DONE? After the Yuma outbreak, growers in California and Arizona increased the buffer zones between animal lots and produce fields, from 400 feet to 1,200 feet. Teressa Lopez, an administrator with the Arizona Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, also noted that growers in the state started treating water that runs near animal lots. The treatment, which kills pathogens, is used on water that is going to be used on produce. IS MORE REGULATION COMING? The Food and Drug Administration has new rules to step up the safety of produce, but the implementation is staggered and began just recently. The agency has said inspections won't start until next year. Sarah Sorscher of the Center for Science in the Public Interest noted the importance of measures such as testing irrigation water. But a water-testing requirement has been contested and postponed, given the limited availability of tests that can specifically detect the harmful types of E. coli. Ultimately, that rule may not be implemented, Sorscher said. WHY CAN'T I JUST WASH MY ROMAINE? Washing doesn't kill germs like the heat from cooking does. That's why health officials are warning against all romaine. According to a 2013 U.S. government report , leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach are the biggest source of food poisoning. "Any product that we don't have a cooking step is a bigger issue," said Martin Wiedmann, a professor of food safety at Cornell. THEN WHEN CAN I HAVE SALAD AGAIN? It's not clear when it will be OK to eat romaine again. Public health officials would want to be able to identify the source of the contamination or see the reported illnesses stop. Romaine has a shelf life of 21 days. Romaine sold in the U.S. comes from different regions at different times of year. So while the romaine lettuce linked to the E. coli outbreak earlier this year was from Arizona, romaine lettuce on shelves now is mostly from California, regulators said. Harvesting just recently began shifting back to southern California and Arizona, though most of that product has not started shipping, according to Lopez of the Arizona Leafy Green Marketing Agreement. She said suppliers were asked to withdraw products until health officials are confident the pipeline is clear of contaminated romaine. WHAT ABOUT TURKEY? Besides the romaine outbreak, there's a long-running widespread salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey in the U.S. Raw meat and poultry is allowed to have salmonella because it's assumed that people will cook it. That's why regulators aren't telling people to avoid it, they're just reminding people to properly handle and cook their holiday birds. ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Lisa Dennis of Regent Square selects a head of green lettuce from the vegetable shelves at the East End Food Co-op Federal Credit Union Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in Pittsburgh. Due to a recent consumer alert regarding a multi state E.Coli outbreak the Co-op has replaced their fresh and bagged romaine lettuce with blue signs reading, "The CDC has issued a Consumer Alert for romaine lettuce due to a multi state E.Coli outbreak." (Jessie Wardarski/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP) Romaine lettuce is removed from the shelves of the East End Food Co-op and other local grocery stores due to a recent consumer alert regarding a multi state E.Coli outbreak at the East End Food Co-op Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in Pittsburgh. The Co-op has replaced their fresh and bagged romaine lettuce with blue signs reading, "The CDC has issued a Consumer Alert for romaine lettuce due to a multi state E.Coli outbreak." (Jessie Wardarski/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP) Romaine lettuce still sits on the shelves in the produce area of an Albertsons market Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in Simi Valley, Calif. Health officials in the U.S. and Canada told people Tuesday to stop eating romaine lettuce because of a new E. coli outbreak. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) MOSCOW (AP) - A group of Russian lawmakers asked the Kremlin Wednesday to review the nation's rules for the use of nuclear weapons, amid tensions with the West. Participants in the hearings organized by the upper house's defense committee suggested that the presidential Security Council should draft a new version of the nuclear doctrine. The lawmakers said in their proposals cited by Russian news agencies that the revised doctrine should in particular spell out a response to an attack on Russia with hypersonic and other strategic non-nuclear weapons. The current Russian military doctrine states that Russia can use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack on it or its allies or an aggression involving conventional weapons that threatens "the very existence of the state." The state RIA Novosti news agency quoted an upper house member, Franz Klintsevich, as saying that the proposal to review the nuclear doctrine had been driven by the deployment of NATO forces closer to Russia's borders. "All that is aimed at threatening Russia," he said. Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting with military officials to discuss a response to the planned U.S. withdrawal from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during their meeting with officials in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A judge has dismissed a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of an Idaho rancher who was fatally shot by deputies in a dispute that occurred after one of his bulls was hit by a car. The judge tossed the lawsuit Tuesday after an apparent settlement was reached between the family of rancher Jack Yantis, Adams County, its sheriff and the two deputies. Widow Donna Yantis said Wednesday she couldn't comment about specifics of the case. However, she said the end of the legal action didn't bring closure. "No amount of money can replace him," she said of her husband. Jack Yantis, 62, was killed in 2015 after one of his 2,500-pound bulls was struck by a car and then charged emergency crews on a highway near the tiny town of Council. Yantis arrived with a rifle just as deputies decided to put down the animal. Authorities have said there was an altercation, and Yantis and the two deputies all fired their weapons. FILE - This Aug. 15, 2016, file photo shows a damaged vehicle belonging to Dori and Jack Garner. The couple suffered life-threatening injuries in a collision with rancher Jack Yantis' bull on Nov. 1, 2015. Jack Yantis died in 2015 after one of his bulls was hit by a car. Two deputies responded to the crash and Yantis arrived with a rifle. Authorities say there was an altercation and everyone involved fired their weapons. A federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of an Idaho rancher who was fatally shot by sheriff's deputies has been dismissed. A judge tossed the lawsuit Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, amid an apparent settlement. (Katy Moeller/Idaho Statesman via AP, File) Two years ago, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden decided there was not enough evidence to charge deputies Brian Wood and Cody Roland. Both later left the sheriff's office. The lawsuit filed last year named Adams County, Sheriff Ryan Zollman and the deputies as defendants. It alleged nine violations of the Fourth Amendment right to due process, including wrongful death, assault and battery, and false imprisonment. Zollman didn't return a call Wednesday, and the county declined to comment. Attorneys for the defendants and the family also didn't return calls. The lawsuit says Jack Yantis had received a call from an Adams County sheriff's dispatcher asking him to help with the bull that had been struck. His wife, Donna Yantis, nephew Rowdy Paradis and a family friend all went to the highway. The lawsuit said Jack Yantis stood behind the bull with his rifle aimed at the back of the animal's head before Roland pulled him backward. Yantis' rifle went off, and the deputies shot at least 14 times, with 12 bullets hitting the rancher, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit maintains that Jack Yantis posed no threat and that deputies didn't ask him to put down his rifle or make any other requests, commands or warnings. The lawsuit also said the deputies arrested Donna Yantis and Rowdy Paradis. It accuses Wood of placing the barrel of his AR-15 to the back of Paradis' head. Donna Yantis had a heart attack at the scene and spent more than two weeks in a hospital. The Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, which insures local governments, declined to comment about a possible settlement without a public records request. LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles district attorney declined to prosecute attorney Michael Avenatti on felony domestic abuse charges on Wednesday and referred allegations that he roughed up his girlfriend to the city attorney for a possible misdemeanor case. Avenatti, 47, was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence last week after his girlfriend told police he abused her at his Los Angeles apartment following an argument. A restraining order against Avenatti was issued after actress Mareli Miniutti said he dragged her by the arm across a bedroom floor. Avenatti, who had called the allegations "completely false" and a fabrication, said in a statement he was thankful the district attorney had rejected the charges and was "especially grateful for justice" at Thanksgiving. "I am completely innocent. I have absolute faith in the system that I will be fully exonerated," Avenatti told The Associated Press. "This whole thing is bogus." A spokeswoman for the district attorney would not say why prosecutors declined to take the case from Los Angeles police. Documents supporting the decision were not released because the case was referred to the city attorney and was still under investigation. FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, file photo, attorney Michael Avenatti speaks to the media outside the Los Angeles Police Department Pacific Division after being released from police custody following his arrest on a felony domestic violence charge in Los Angeles. Los Angeles prosecutors have declined to charge attorney Avenatti with a felony for allegedly abusing his girlfriend. The Los Angeles district attorney's office said Wednesday, Nov. 21, it referred the case to city prosecutors to consider misdemeanor charges. Avenatti was arrested on a felony domestic violence charge last week after his girlfriend told police he roughed her up at his apartment. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker, File) The city attorney's office will review the case, a spokesman said. Avenatti, who is mulling a presidential run, is best known as the attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels, who has said she had an affair with President Donald Trump in 2006, a claim Trump denies. As Daniels' lawyer, Avenatti has pursued the president and those close to him relentlessly for months, taunting Trump in interviews and baiting him and his lawyers in tweets. Miniutti said in her request for a restraining order that she was wearing only a T-shirt and underwear when Avenatti grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the bed. She said she was scratched on her side and leg. Court papers include photographs that appear to show bruises. The order was granted Monday. Attorneys for the legal aid group that represents Miniutti declined to comment. Avenatti said that he would be vindicated once footage from security cameras in the building was reviewed, even though the violence described by Miniutti would not have occurred in the building's public areas. ___ Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey and Michael Balsamo contributed to this report. FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, file photo, attorney Michael Avenatti, left, leaves the Los Angeles Police Department Pacific Division after posting bail for a felony domestic violence charge. Los Angeles prosecutors have declined to charge Avenatti with a felony for allegedly abusing his girlfriend. The Los Angeles district attorney's office said Wednesday, Nov. 21, it referred the case to city prosecutors to consider misdemeanor charges. Avenatti was arrested on a felony domestic violence charge last week after his girlfriend told police he roughed her up at his apartment. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker, File) In this September 2018 photo, attorney Michael Avenatti, right, poses with Mareli Miniutti for a photo at a party in New York. Miniutti alleges that Avenatti dragged her across the floor of his Los Angeles apartment after an argument over money, according to court documents obtained Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, by The Associated Press. Avenatti, who was arrested the week before on a felony domestic violence charge, called the allegations "completely false." He's scheduled to appear in court in December 2018. (Marion Curtis/StarPix via AP) PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A Haitian government car went out of control into a group of people on Wednesday, killing at least six and further inflaming unrest in a capital wracked by violent protests. Police spokesman Michel-Ange Louis-Jeune told The Associated Press that one of the car's wheels had come off. Protesters later set fire to the car, which remained on the scene in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Louis-Jeune said he didn't know how many people died, but an AP journalist on the scene counted the bodies of four men and two women on the ground. The deaths came as Haiti faced a fourth day of protests to demand that President Jovenel Moise resign for not investigating allegations of corruption in the previous government over Petrocaribe, a Venezuelan subsidized energy program. Moise said in a brief televised address on Wednesday night that people have the right to protest but that he is not stepping down. "The Haitian people have elected me as president in free and fair elections," he said, adding that his opponents need to wait for the next election if they want to seize power. Residents walk amid road blocks placed by anti-government protesters along Boulevard Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a main commercial artery, during a strike against alleged government corruption in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Demonstrators have demanded that the president resign for not investigating allegations of corruption in the previous government over a Venezuelan subsidized energy program, Petrocaribe. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) Moise did not address the allegations of corruption but said he was keeping all victims in his thoughts, especially the police officers who were killed. He also made an appeal for dialogue and said the government will take all necessary measures to ensure people's safety and restore peace to Haiti. At least 10 people have died in the protests, not including those hit by the car. The two most recent deaths were reported on Wednesday. Police spokesman Frantz Lerebours told the AP that authorities discovered the body of a young man while clearing street barricades in the southern department of Nippes. In addition, a police officer was fatally shot in the southern coastal town of Grand Goave, the second one killed in recent days. Schools and government offices remained closed on Wednesday, as did many banks and grocery stores. However, hundreds of people stood outside one bank that opened in the neighborhood of Petionville, and public buses were running again. Government trucks also cleared many streets blocked by barricades of tires, although some remained burning in parts of the capital. A man who was helping to create a roadblock puts his leg up after he was shot in the foot by shooters on a moving motorcycle, who bystanders allege were government supporters, outside his home during anti-government protests and strike in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Demonstrators have demanded that the president resign for not investigating allegations of corruption in the previous government over a Venezuelan subsidized energy program, Petrocaribe. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) An armed civilian carries a weapon on during a shootout between rival gangs to take control of the Croix-des-Bossales market, on Boulevard Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a main commercial artery, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. The fight for control of the market, where vendors pay the controlling gang regular payments, erupted amid days of protests and a strike against alleged government corruption. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Northern California authorities said Wednesday that they have cracked a 45-year-old murder case using the same publicly available DNA database that led to the arrest of alleged serial killer Joseph DeAngelo. Officers arrested John Arthur Getreu, 74, on suspicion of killing a 21-year-old Palo Alto woman in 1973, the Santa Clara County sheriff's department spokesman Richard Glennon said. Investigators were led to Getreu after recently submitting DNA evidence to the Virginia-based DNA technology company Parabon NanoLab, which uses the public genealogical database GEDmatch to generate a number of family trees connected to the sample. Two scientists launched the database in 2010 to help amateur and professional genealogical researchers. The database doesn't collect DNA samples directly, instead it aggregates results from commercial sites like 23andMe submitted by users. Researchers upload their DNA samples to GEDmatch in search of matches, which usually comes in the form of several family trees rather than one individual. A growing number of investigators across the country are turning to GED database for help after the FBI's national DNA database fails to find a match. DeAngelo was the first suspect arrested using the company's database in September. DeAngelo has been charged with raping and killing 13 women decades ago. Police arrested Getreu on Tuesday at his Hayward, California, home about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco. He is suspected of killing Leslie Marie Perlov in February 1973. In this Nov. 20, 2018 photo released by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office is John Arthur Getreu. Northern California authorities say they have cracked a 45-year-old murder case using the same publicly available DNA database investigators accessed to arrest alleged serial killer Joseph DeAngelo. The Santa Clara County sheriff's department said Wednesday that officers arrested 74-year-old John Arthur Getreu on suspicion of killing 21-year-old Leslie Perlov in 1973. (Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office via AP) Perlov's body was found under an oak tree near Stanford University, and her panty hose were stuffed in her mouth. She had been strangled and the case went unsolved for decades. Investigators taking another look at the case in July found an unknown man's DNA among the evidence. They sent the DNA sample and returned with several possible families to investigate, which ultimately led them to Getreu. He is being held in the Santa Clara County jail with no bail. Jail records don't indicate if he's represented by an attorney. HOTAN UNITY NEW VILLAGE, China (AP) - In this corner of China's far west, rows of identical white concrete houses with red metal roofs rise abruptly above the sand dunes of the harsh Taklamakan Desert. A Chinese flag flutters above the settlement, and a billboard at the entrance says, "Welcome to the Hotan Unity New Village." This is a Communist Party showcase for its efforts to tame the Xinjiang region, the heartland of China's often restive Uighur Muslim minority and an unforgiving terrain. The free or low-cost houses are assigned alternately to Uighurs and Han Chinese, who work side-by-side in greenhouses and send their children to school together. It is the future the party envisions for Xinjiang after a massive security crackdown that has sent by some estimates more than a million Muslims to internment camps, and many of their children to orphanages. But a closer look at what the party calls "ethnic unity" reveals what isn't there: mosques for Muslim worshippers, or traditional Uighur brick homes, often adorned with pointed arches and carved decorations. In their place are colorful murals of what authorities consider to be scenes of unity, such as a Uighur man and his family holding a Chinese flag. In the village's new public square, Uighur children banter with Han Chinese children in fluent Mandarin, the language of the Han majority, rather than in their native tongue. Young Uighur women wear Western clothing without the headscarves that are part of traditional Muslim dress. While these are voluntary settlements with economic benefits, experts and Uighur activists believe they are part of an aggressive government campaign to erode the identities of the Central Asian groups who called the region home long before waves of Han migrants arrived in recent decades. "'Ethnic unity' is a euphemism for taming, breaking the Uighur people," says Joanne Smith Finley, an expert in Uighur identity at Newcastle University in the U.K. "This is putting flowery bright wallpaper over a damp wall, a rotting wall." In this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, an Uighur child plays alone in the courtyard of a home at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. Hotan Unity New Village is a Communist Party showcase for its efforts to tame Xinjiang province, the heartland of China's often restive Uighur Muslim minority and an unforgiving terrain. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) Construction of the village began in 2014 with a planned investment of 1.7 billion yuan ($247 million). The goal was to build 5,000 homes and 10,000 greenhouses, according to local reports, to turn a large swath of desert into farmland and create a shared prosperity among Uighurs and Han Chinese. Around the same time, the Communist Party came forth with a new strategy focused on ethnic mingling. Subsequently, at least one county offered financial incentives for Uighur-Han intermarriages, while others have launched programs encouraging Uighur families to move into Han Chinese residential areas. China is building several such mixed settlements in Xinjiang. A similar village is under construction as a tourist attraction near Kuqa, around 600 kilometers (372 miles) from Hotan. A concrete yurt known as the "solidarity farmhouse" already has been completed, and a giant sculpture of a pomegranate is prominently placed at the center of the village to symbolize unity. In Hotan, there are signs that the government's experiment is making inroads. Uighur farmers toil alongside Han Chinese to farm crops in what was once barren desert land, and both groups live in modern houses equipped with gas, electricity and water. A billboard displays a picture of President Xi Jinping and a group of Uighur elders joining hands and, according to the caption, "linking hearts." Yet there are also signs of enduring mistrust. As elsewhere in Xinjiang, high walls around homes are topped with barbed wire, and police officers stand guard from behind fences at the entrance of the village. Adults don't mix socially - at night, a group of Han Chinese dance in the square while the Uighur residents chat among themselves on the sidelines. A Uighur farmer who moved to the village last September says authorities provided him with free housing and utilities, two greenhouses, a small orchard with grapevines and a barn with sheep, chickens, and pigeons. But the crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang has made it risky for ordinary Muslims to discuss their religious practices, and when speaking to reporters in front of government observers, he insists he was never a Muslim. Another Uighur farmer in his early seventies, Muzitohtahon, says he is no longer a Muslim. Uighur and Han villagers do seem united by at least one factor - their desire to escape poverty. Rural areas in Xinjiang, including Hotan, rank among the poorest in China, with many families lacking even the most basic utilities and food. The financial incentives are also a key draw for Han Chinese from other impoverished regions of China. Last May, 58-year-old Xiao Erying, who is Han Chinese, moved to this village from her hometown in the southern province of Hunan, over 4,000 kilometers away. "It is better than our hometown," she says, as she rakes sheep, chicken and cow manure inside her greenhouse. For 60,000 yuan ($8,700), her family bought a two-bedroom home with a small orchard and two greenhouses. The two grandchildren she lives with are given free tuition, school lunches, and even a free set of clothes. Xiao admits she doesn't speak Uighur and cannot communicate with her Uighur neighbors, but she says the layout encourages interaction. In a greenhouse a few dozen meters away, Uighur Abudu Mijiti has just begun planting chili with his wife. He moved to the village three years ago to make a more stable living. Two of his three children go to the local school and are fluent in Chinese, he says, as a government minder looks on. "For us, it's good, it helps learning our national language," he says. "And because our next-door neighbor is Chinese, as we go in and out, it helps improve ethnic unity." On the surface, the picture presented at the Hotan Unity New Village reflects the government's vision of an "idealized place," says David O'Brien, an expert at the University of Nottingham. "Every single part of it is the official narrative," O'Brien says. "The narrative is, water will flow to the desert. The narrative is, if you come here great opportunity awaits you. The narrative that people will be secular, they will learn Mandarin." Yet the settlement remains only partly inhabited. The city says there are 534 households in the compound, but most of the houses are empty. A drive through reveals rows of empty greenhouses and house after house with a sign that says "sealed off" patched onto padlocked or chained gates. Under the sweltering desert sun, one Han Chinese farmer tending to her plot of Chinese chives complains that water is scarce and her previous batch of chives had to be thrown out. Even when the crops work out, the chives sell for less than one yuan (14 cents) per kilogram. "Not even enough for food," she grumbles. "You cannot feed yourself just working on greenhouses." In the absence of government minders, the woman goes on. "Ordinary people are not able to eat meat. The officials can, but not the ordinary people," says the woman, who declines to give her name out of fear of retaliation. As dusk approaches and temperatures fall, residents slowly make their way out onto the streets to enjoy the evening breeze. On the Uighur side of the street, a young Uighur woman rests on an electric bike after a day's work, looking at her cell phone. Asked what she thinks of unity, she looks up. "Unity?" she asks. Silently and slowly, she shakes her head, and returns to her phone. ___ This story has been corrected to show Xinjiang is a region not a province. In this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, an Uighur woman uses an electric-powered scooter to fetch school children as they ride past a picture showing China's President Xi Jinping joining hands with a group of Uighur elders at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, a mural showing Uighur and Han Chinese men and women carrying the national flag of China decorates the wall of a home at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, Uighur children play while their relatives rest outside their house, decorated with Chinese lanterns and barbed wire at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, an Uighur man, center, watches Han Chinese dance in front of restaurants and shophouses operated by Uighur people at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, an Uighur woman looks back as Han Chinese dance in front of restaurants and shophouses operated by Uighur people at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, an Uighur woman stands in the light outside a restaurant at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) n this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, a drawing of China's President Xi Jinping is seen on the wall of a house in the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 21, 2018, photo, Uighur drivers have their vehicles checked at a police check point in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 21, 2018, photo, Han Chinese ride in a tricycle passing by farmhouses at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 21, 2018, photo, Uighur women use carts to transport cement for home renovations at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, an Uighur woman prepares food at her store at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 21, 2018, photo, a Han Chinese woman tends to her crops at the Unity New Village in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) In this Sept. 20, 2018, photo, elderly Uighur men chat outside shophouses in Hotan, in western China's Xinjiang region. While thousands of Uighur Muslims across China's Xinjiang region are forced into re-education camps, China's fledgling vision for ethnic unity is taking shape in a village where Han Chinese work and live alongside Uighur minorities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) WASHINGTON (AP) - The date had been picked, the location too, and the plan was penciled in: President Donald Trump would be whisked from the White House to Camp David on a quiet winter Saturday to answer questions from special counsel Robert Mueller's team. But as the Jan. 27, 2018, date neared and Mueller provided the topics he wanted to discuss, Trump's lawyers balked. Attorney John Dowd then fired off a searing letter disputing Mueller's authority to question the president. The interview was off. Nearly a year later, Trump has still not spoken directly to Mueller's team - and may never. Through private letters, tense meetings and considerable public posturing, the president's lawyers have engaged in a tangled, tortured back-and-forth with the special counsel to prevent the president from sitting down for a face-to-face with enormous political and legal consequences. The prolonged negotiation speaks to the high stakes for Trump, Mueller's investigation of his campaign and the presidency. Any questioning of a president in a criminal investigation tests the limit of executive authority. Putting this president on the record also tests his ability to stick to the facts and risks a constitutional showdown. The process took a significant step forward this week when Trump's lawyers handed over the president's written answers to some of Mueller's questions. The arrangement was a hard-fought compromise. Trump answered only questions about Russian interference in the 2016 election and not questions about whether he has tried to obstruct the broader investigation into potential coordination between Russia and his presidential campaign. It's unclear whether Mueller intends to push for more - either in writing or in person. Special counsel spokesman Peter Carr declined comment. FILE - In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. In the months following Mueller's May 2017 appointment, the White House pledged its cooperation, believing it the fastest way to end the investigation. The administration produced thousands of documents demanded by the special counsel and made close President Donald Trump aides _ including his legal counsel, chief of staff and press secretary _ available for questioning. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Even those written answers were months in the making. In the months following Mueller's May 2017 appointment, the White House pledged its cooperation, believing it the fastest way to end the investigation. The administration produced thousands of documents sought by the special counsel and made close Trump aides - including his legal counsel, chief of staff and press secretary - available for questioning. White House lawyer Ty Cobb predicted the investigation could conclude by the end of that year. But it soon became clear that Mueller would want to interview Trump, given his involvement in several events under scrutiny. The president had fired FBI Director James Comey, harangued his attorney general over his recusal from the Russia investigation and dictated a misleading statement about a Trump Tower meeting involving his son and a Kremlin-connected lawyer. But Trump lawyers Dowd and Jay Sekulow moved cautiously. The last time a president is known to have been interviewed in a criminal investigation was nearly 15 years ago, and a commander-in-chief has not been subpoenaed before a grand jury since 1998, when President Bill Clinton was summoned in the Whitewater case. Trump's lawyers were mindful such an interview would be a minefield for a president who often misstates the facts. They set out to avoid it however possible, even if it could lead to resisting a subpoena and bringing on a court fight over presidential power. But first they tried to head off a request. Trump's lawyers staked out a bold constitutional argument, declaring they considered his actions as president outside a prosecutor's bounds. Mueller had no right to question the president on any of his decisions made at the White House, they argued, saying any outside scrutiny of those choices would curb a president's executive powers. At the same time, they worked to undermine Mueller's case should he choose to challenge that argument. They furnished a trove of White House documents about key moments in the investigation in hopes of undercutting any claim that he could only get the information he needed by questioning Trump, according to people familiar with the strategy. Trump had other plans. As his lawyers plotted to dig in against any interview, he pushed for one, believing it would exonerate him. In January, he burst into a reporters' briefing with chief of staff John Kelly and insisted he was eager to speak to Mueller. He might do so in weeks, he said, "subject to my lawyers and all of that." "I would love to do that - I'd like to do it as soon as possible," Trump said. What he didn't mention was that his attorneys had already discussed, and scuttled, the planned interview with Mueller. That process had even progressed to discussing logistics with Kelly, who advised of ways White House officials could get people in and out of the building without the press knowing. But the interest cooled after Mueller team prosecutor James Quarles dictated over the phone 16 topics Mueller wanted to cover, including Trump's interactions with Comey, his knowledge of national security adviser Michael Flynn's interview with the FBI and his involvement in the Trump Tower statement. Dowd responded that the answers could all be found in documents and witness statements provided to Mueller. He then canceled the interview and days later drafted a feisty letter contesting the interview's appropriateness and offering extensive explanations on the incidents in question. The investigation has been "a considerable burden for the president and his office, has endangered the safety and security of our country, and has interfered with the president's ability to both govern domestically and conduct foreign affairs," Dowd wrote. In the following months, Trump told some of his closest confidants that he still wanted to interview with Mueller, according to four White House officials and Republicans close to the White House who asked for anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss private conversations. The president repeatedly insisted he had done nothing wrong and believed he could convince Mueller of that. He told one confidant last spring he was frustrated his lawyers didn't believe he should do it and snapped that he didn't understand what was taking so long, according to one Republican in contact with the White House. Tensions were on display at a March meeting where Dowd and Sekulow met with Mueller to discuss the need for an interview. Mueller said he needed to know if Trump had a "corrupt intent" when he fired Comey, such as by intending to stymie the investigation, according to a person familiar with the encounter. Dowd responded that the question was ridiculous and the answer was obviously no. Investigators at the same meeting raised the prospect of a subpoena if Trump didn't cooperate, Dowd has said. Later that month, Mueller's team produced its most detailed list of questions yet - dozens, in different categories from Trump's time as a candidate, through the transition period and into his presidency. Trump's own views soon began to shift. He had his first misgivings in mid-April after FBI raids on his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, thinking they were a sign that he could "not trust" Mueller, according to one of the Republicans close to Trump who spoke with the AP. As Rudy Giuliani joined Trump's legal team in April, the White House settled into a new strategy: Drag out the interview drama for months, and use that time to ratchet up attacks on Mueller's credibility and complaints about the cost and time of the probe, according to the officials and advisers familiar with the strategy. Giuliani led the charge. His scattershot arguments sometimes frustrated others in the White House, as he frequently moved the goalposts as to what would be required to have an interview. But the effect was to ensure the process would drag out longer. Trump, meanwhile, continued complaining about the investigation even as his lawyers quietly negotiated acceptable interview terms. A key breakthrough occurred earlier this fall when Mueller's team said it would accept written answers on Russian election interference and collusion. The concession ensured that Mueller would get at least some on-the-record response from Trump. Prosecutors tabled questions about obstruction, reserving the right to return to that area later. Giuliani seemed to foreclose future dialogue Tuesday, saying, "It is time to bring this inquiry to a conclusion." Whether Mueller agrees is a different story. MURCIA, Spain (AP) - Watching from a distance as police surrounded a group of protesters yelling "Fascists go home!" Encarna Sanchez hesitated over whether to join a political rally held by Spain's far-right Vox party. "I'm not a racist or a fascist," said the 62-year-old housewife who lives in a neighborhood in the southern Spanish city of Murcia that has seen a significant community of migrants move in. "I'm just here to listen to what Vox has to say about how to make our city safer. No other politicians take an interest in how to defend our home." Neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment are where the Euroskeptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party is trying to enlist support that could lift it out of the shadows in a country that has been slow to embrace the extreme right. The last far-right Spanish lawmaker lost his seat in parliament in 1982. Academics have attributed their absence since then to painful memories of the country's long right-wing dictatorship and the prominence of the conservative Popular Party across all the political space from center to right. Only more recently has the PP ceded ground to the Citizens party, a new center-right group that surged in popularity as an opposition to regionalist parties in Catalonia and other areas. But some saw that barrier falling when Vox garnered a 1.4-percent share of votes in official polls last month, setting the four-year-old party on track to enter the lower house of parliament in general elections due before 2020. "Even one seat would be enough to use it as a platform for our message to reach all Spaniards," Vox President Santiago Abascal told The Associated Press, outlining a plan to use a regional Andalusian election in 10 days' time and the European Parliament ballot in May next year as stepping stones. In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, Spain's far-right Vox Party President Santiago Abascal, centre, takes part in a party rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, as polls are widely predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party is on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) "There is no such thing as the glass ceiling that many place upon us by saying we are on the fringes or political extremists," the 42-year-old Abascal added defiantly. "We just defend what many families are discussing at the table but has become politically incorrect in the political arena." The scion of a family targeted by the separatist militant group ETA in his native Basque region, Abascal refuses to waste time fending off criticism that he is a fascist, racist, fear-monger or far-right populist, all of which he dismisses as attempts to stigmatize his movement. Vox politicians are frequently ridiculed by mainstream media for their defense of everything Spanish, from bullfighting to the monarchy, and nostalgia for historical events - such as the 15th-century ousting of Muslims from the Kingdom of Castile and the colonization of the American continent. Speaking in Murcia to a packed auditorium of some 1,500 sympathizers, Abascal went one step further, urging "rich Arabic countries" to take in Muslim migrants "who think like them and want to impose Islamic law." "We will stand against them coming here to tell us that in our schools we can't eat ham," Abascal said, eliciting wide applause from the audience. Outside, police dispersed protesters waving rainbow flags and signs supporting gender equality. Spain's foreign population, which started growing at the turn of the century, now makes up 10 percent of the 46.7 million residents, with Moroccan, Romanian and British nationals topping the list. Much like other populist leaders, Abascal proposes a weaker European Union where migration is controlled "according to national economic interests and cultural proximity," which draws him to rule out "Muslims who don't blend well with Europe's Judeo-Christian values." "All the liberal-minded leftists already do it in their mansions. They first look through the peephole before opening the door," he said. "We want to do the same in what is Spanish people's private property: our country." A 100-issue party manifesto begins by stating that the northeastern Catalonia region should lose its self-government after last year's attempt to split from Spain and that separatist parties should be outlawed. Vox also advocates changing laws on domestic violence and restricting abortion. But their two flagship issues, a stronger hand on migration and the defense of Spain's unity, could also be Vox's main obstacle as it tries to grab a foothold, said Carmen Gonzalez, a researcher with the Elcano Royal Institute, an official think tank. "These are policy proposals that other mainstream parties are already ready to execute," says Gonzalez, adding that polls show corruption, inequality and the future of pensions worry Spaniards more than migration does. "Statistically speaking, the real source of votes in Spain is in the center." Reporting about Vox has picked up in the media, however, and the party's propagandists have been skilled enough to magnify that attention using social media and messaging apps to stir debate and reach new constituents. In a widely shared video last week, Abascal and a well-known bullfighter rode horses, accompanied an epic soundtrack. Some party leaders also earned fame two years ago by swimming back to Spain to escape arrest in the disputed British overseas territory of Gibraltar after raising a Spanish flag. One of those, Vox's secretary general Javier Ortega, acted as a prosecuting lawyer in the judicial probe against the Catalans who organized an illegal independence referendum in October 2017. That presence in the public sphere has helped earn Vox more than 16,000 paying members. Last week's rally sold out in Murcia, where Abascal's previous visit drew only enough people to fill the outdoor space of a coffee house. The party says it has received separate invitations from the Europe of Nations and Freedom, the smallest group in the European Parliament, and the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, linked to the Republican Party in the United States. But the party is finding it difficult to connect with other European peers because some of them have expressed sympathy for Catalan separatists, a no-go zone for Vox. Notes have been compared with Steve Bannon, but Abascal also doesn't plan for now to join the wide coalition of Euroskeptic movements led by the former White House adviser - even though U.S. President Donald J. Trump inspired the "Make Spain great again" slogan used by Vox in early campaigning. "Our references are not international, because the issues that we fight for are national," said Abascal, who also is not concerned about voter mood changes over parties like his. "Movements like ours," he said, "are going to become permanent in Western societies." In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, a woman waves a Spanish flag as demonstrators take part in a protest at the entrance of a hotel, where the newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party is holding a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, Spain's far-right Vox Party President Santiago Abascal, arrives at a party rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, demonstrators take part in a protest as police officers protect the entrance of a hotel where the newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party holds a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, a demonstrator is detained by national police, during a protest at the entrance of a hotel where the newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party holds a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, demonstrators take part in a protest as Spanish police officers protect the entrance of a hotel where newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party is holding a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, a demonstrator is detained by national police, during a protest at the entrance of a hotel where the newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party is holding a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, a demonstrator is detained by national police, during a protest at the entrance of a hotel where the newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party is holding a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, a demonstrator is detained by national police, during a protest at the entrance of a hotel where newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party is holding a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, demonstrators take part in a protest as police officers protect the entrance of a hotel where the newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party holds a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, a woman looks at demonstrators taking part in a protest outside a hotel where the newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party holds a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, supporters of Spain's far-right Vox party, the newcomer to the right of Spanish politics, wave flags during a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) In this Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 photo, Spanish police officers clash with demonstrators at the entrance of a hotel where the newcomer to Spanish politics, the far-right Vox party is holding a rally in Murcia, Spain. Vox is reaching out to the neglected, working-class suburbs and rural areas with high unemployment, with polls predicting the Eurosceptic, anti-feminist and staunchly patriotic party on track to enter the country's parliament in elections due before 2020.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) BANGKOK (AP) - All the usual rituals of international summits were there: the group photos, the gala dinners, the noticeably vibrant shirts leaders force themselves into. But eclipsing all of that at Asia's two big meetings was some unusually forthright criticism that exposed deepening divisions rattling the region. Front and center was the rivalry between the U.S. and China. The two countries are locked in a widening trade war and their representatives used the summits to exchange barbs and maneuver to expand their influence. Competition between the great powers is not new to the region. But over decades of war, financial crises and other setbacks, countries across Asia and the Pacific Rim have used these annual meetings to talk through such problems, usually opting to sideline disagreements in a show of unity. Consensus, not conflict, is typically the norm. This year is different. The clash between the world's two biggest economies is shaking the bedrock of regional amity and leaving some countries worried they will be forced to choose between Beijing and Washington. It also may bode poorly for compromise between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping when they meet this month at the Group of 20 gathering in Argentina. The antagonisms kicked off last week at a Southeast Asian summit in Singapore, where U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, standing in for Trump, declared that "empire and aggression have no place" in the region, a clear reference to Chinese expansion in the disputed South China Sea. FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2018, file photo, Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and U.S. Mike Pence, right, stand with other APEC leaders during the Economic Leaders Meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. All the usual rituals of international summits were there _ the group photos, the gala dinners, the noticeably vibrant shirts leaders are asked to wear. But eclipsing all of that at two recent meetings was some unusually forthright criticism that exposed deepening divisions rattling the Asia-Pacific region. The disharmony largely centered on the U.S. and China, who are locked in a widening trade war and whose representatives used the summits to exchange barbs with one another and maneuver to expand their influence. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File) The discord carried over to the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Papua New Guinea, where leaders failed for the first time in nearly 30 years of such gatherings to endorse a final joint statement. China apparently pushed back hard against U.S. demands for strong language against unfair trade practices. Pence and Chinese leaders sparred at both summits, with the vice president describing China's militarization and expansion in the South China Sea as "illegal and dangerous." He accused Beijing of threatening the sovereignty of many nations and said it "endangers the prosperity of the world." Chinese Premier Li Keqiang smacked back, urging fellow leaders to send a positive message to markets ruffled by the trade war, which has seen both sides imposing punitive tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's exports and has the potential to unravel supply chains across the globe. The acrimony may be somewhat less apparent at the G-20 gathering in Buenos Aeries, which will include leaders from across the globe and the focus will be global, not regional. But the strains between the U.S. and China were painful enough in Singapore that the gathering's urbane host, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, appealed for a bit less candor and greater camaraderie, saying it would be easier if everybody was "on the same side." Across Asia, countries worry they will have to "choose one or the other," he said. "I hope it does not happen soon." Most Asian nations are loath to make such a choice because they benefit from the rivalry, whether economically, militarily or both. For most, China is their largest trading partner. But they are wary of China's military might and see the U.S. and its presence in the region as a welcome counterbalance. China's footprint was everywhere in the Papuan capital, Port Moresby, from a showpiece boulevard and international convention center built with Chinese help to bus stop shelters sporting "China Aid" plaques. A huge billboard showed Xi gazing beneficently beside Papua New Guinea's leader. At that meeting, Pence took aim at China's global infrastructure drive, known as the "Belt and Road Initiative," suggesting that Beijing was drowning its partners in debt and infringing on their sovereignty. He also announced the U.S. would join ally Australia's plan to develop a naval base in Papua New Guinea. That followed a hush-hush working level meeting in Singapore of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which involves the U.S., Japan, Australia and India and is viewed as a challenge to China's expanding military reach. Xi, the Chinese president, suggested the U.S. was bending the rules of global institutions set up after World War II, such as the World Trade Organization, and using them for "selfish agendas." This year's friction wasn't confined to jousting between the U.S. and China. In Singapore, Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who usually is not put on the spot by the other leaders, appeared grim and weary after she was sharply criticized by Pence and by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed over the Buddhist majority-nation's treatment of ethnic Muslim Rohingya. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled killings and other violence in Myanmar and are crowded in dire conditions in camps in Bangladesh. True to form, China saw an opportunity and responded to the criticism by having Li reach out and reaffirm Beijing's support for Myanmar's efforts to maintain domestic stability. As China and the U.S. maneuver for influence across a region stretching from India to the tip of South America, the biggest worry is that the jousting could escalate into a full-blown confrontation as Chinese and U.S. warships and aircraft prowl the region. A near collision of a Chinese destroyer and the USS Decatur near a disputed reef in the South China Sea in late September added to those concerns. Still, the jostling for supremacy comes with mixed signals. The regional summitry over, two U.S. B-52 bombers on Monday flew over the South China Sea in what U.S. Pacific Air Forces said was a "routine training mission." But on Wednesday, the aircraft carrier USS Reagan docked in Hong Kong in what was viewed as a friendly gesture - it required Beijing's approval. ___ Elaine Kurtenbach is the Asia business editor for AP and has reported from across the region since 1987. PARIS (AP) - France is deploying soldiers to calm violence on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion after protests over fuel tax hikes degenerated into looting and rioting. Schools on the island are closed for a third day Thursday because protesters' roadblocks prevent teachers, children and food supplies from reaching them, according to a statement from the regional administration. Gas price protests have simmered in France and its overseas territories since Saturday. On Reunion, a verdant island cherished by tourists, the protests unleashed broader anger over poverty, which is much more widespread than on the French mainland. French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday night defended government efforts to boost the economy on Reunion but also ordered troops to the area, calling the violence "unacceptable." The French military could not provide details on the deployments. The prefecture said 123 people have been arrested on Reunion since Saturday and some 30 police officers injured. Nationwide, the gas price protests have left two people dead and hundreds injured. They are led by drivers who dub themselves the "yellow jackets" for the neon vests that all drivers are required to carry in their cars in case of car trouble. France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during a meeting with French mayors at the Elysee Palace, in Paris Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, Pool) A new wave of protests is planned for sites around the country Saturday. After tensions around an unauthorized protest attempt in Paris last week, the Interior Ministry agreed to allow a gathering on the Champ de Mars, the field stretching out beneath the Eiffel Tower. Police are under orders to remove drivers blocking sites critical to the French economy such as oil depots and train stations. The drivers are protesting taxes that the government is hiking as part of efforts to wean France off fossil fuels. Gasoline currently costs about 1.64 euros a liter in Paris ($7.06 a gallon), slightly more than diesel. Protesters called the "yellow Jackets" face riot police officers as they block a crossroads to protest against the rising of the fuel and oil prices, in Fos-sur-Mer, southern France, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. The protests reflect broader frustration at President Emmanuel Macron, whose government is sticking to the fuel tax rise as part of efforts to clean up the environment. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Stranded vehicles stand in a line as protesters, called the "yellow Jackets", block a crossroads to protest against the rising of the fuel and oil prices, in Fos-sur-Mer, southern France, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. The protests reflect broader frustration at President Emmanuel Macron, whose government is sticking to the fuel tax rise as part of efforts to clean up the environment. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina mayor knows that state law won't allow him to take down a monument to a white supremacist killed during a Reconstructionist era riot. Instead, Mayor Bob Pettit is fighting to put up memorials for the eight black men who were also killed. Mayor Bob Pettit of North Augusta has lived in the city since 1991. But he never paid much attention to the obelisk of Thomas Meriwether or the history behind it. Meriwether was killed during the Hamburg Massacre of 1876, which was launched by white supremacists seeking to seize local political control from blacks and carpetbaggers. Meriwether was hailed at the time as a hero of white independence, and his death prompted South Carolina lawmakers to dedicate a monument to him in 1914. It holds the following inscription: "In life he exemplified the highest ideal of Anglo-Saxon civilization. By his death he assured to the children of his beloved land the supremacy of that ideal." There was no mention of the eight black men who were killed, and the incident lay dormant until a constituent came to a city council meeting in the wake of white supremacist violence that led to the death of a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia in September 2017. "I challenged them," community activist Ken Makin said. "I said, 'You can denounce racist violence and remove that statue.' " Pettit took up the challenge. He established a committee that met for more than a year to research and study the area's history. The result was a 352-page report that leaves no doubt about the racist motives behind the memorial. This undated photo shows the Meriwether monument in Calhoun Park in North Augusta, S.C. North Augusta Mayor Bob Petitt wants to add memorials to the eight black men who were killed by white supremacists in 1876 to the monument honoring the only white man killed in the gunfight. (Lindsey Hodges/The Aiken Standard via AP) "Certainly it (the memorial to Meriwether) is not appropriate in today's North Augusta," Pettit said. "Doing nothing is totally unacceptable." Removing the statue would probably need an unlikely two-thirds vote from South Carolina's conservative, Republican-dominated General Assembly under a state law called the Heritage Act, passed in 2000 when the Confederate flag was removed off the capitol dome. The law bans removing historical monuments. So Pettit thinks he has a workaround. He wants North Augusta to partner with private groups and put up some kind of memorial to the eight black men killed on the same site - in a park along one of the city's busiest streets. The mayor said the new memorial must be comparable to the existing one and complete the story of how Red Shirts like the ones involved in the Hamburg Massacre went around South Carolina in 1876 intimidating voters to try to boot blacks from power. They won in an election so close that for months, the state had dueling governors and House Speakers until Wade Hampton and the white supremacists muscled others out of the government. The attack also made a hero of "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, who led the white mob. Tillman would ride the notoriety from driving blacks out of power to the South Carolina governor's office and later the U.S. Senate. Most of the black men killed in the Hamburg Massacre were executed after the riot was over. Tillman left little doubt the goal was to terrorize African-Americans, saying at a reunion of his Red Shirts in 1909 that "bloodshed and a good deal of it could answer the purpose of redeeming the state from negro and carpetbag rule." Pettit said the first step to adding to the Meriwether Monument is getting North Augusta City Council to pass a resolution agreeing to study the issue. The mayor also hopes the Attorney General's Office will eventually weigh in on whether adding to a monument violates the Heritage Act. The law only says memorials cannot be "relocated, removed, disturbed, or altered." Makin appreciated the mayor's work, even if he thinks anything short of removal is a nod at South Carolina's long, violent racist past. "I understand the city is looking for unity, but to me, with a new monument, you equate two dueling ideals that shouldn't be equal," Makin said. ___ Follow Jeffrey Collins at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP . Read his work at https://apnews.com/search/jeffrey%20collins This undated photo shows the Meriwether monument in Calhoun Park in North Augusta, S.C. North Augusta Mayor Bob Petitt wants to add memorials to the eight black men who were killed by white supremacists in 1876 to the monument honoring the only white man killed in the gunfight. (Lindsey Hodges/The Aiken Standard via AP) BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo soared on Thursday after Kosovo slapped a 100 percent tax on all goods imported from Serbia. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic blamed the European Union and the West for allegedly failing to prevent Kosovo's move. He also claimed Kosovo's special troops were prepared to attack the Serb-populated regions of Kosovo. The claim was denied by Kosovo authorities. Vucic, a former ultranationalist who now seeks EU membership, said the West has always blamed "both sides" for tensions in Kosovo, "while in fact they support only one, and that is not Serbia." "There is no end to it," said Vucic referring to the alleged Western double standards. "Should we allow for the Serb children to have no milk from Serbia to drink? . We will fight and we will not let that to happen so easily," he warned. After a bloody war in 1998-99 war that was only stopped after a U.S.-led NATO intervention, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia and its ally Russia do not recognize Kosovo's statehood, while the U.S. and most Western countries do. In this photo taken Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic arrives at a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia. Serbia's president has blasted the European Union and the West for allegedly failing to prevent Kosovo from triggering a trade war as tensions soar between the wartime foes. Vucic's claims came Thursday, a day after Kosovo's government slapped a 100-percent import tax on all goods imported from Serbia and Bosnia. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) The EU, which is mediating the Serbia-Kosovo peace talks, has told the two sides they must normalize relations as a precondition to entering the bloc. Despite diplomatic tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, business ties have grown and Serb imports to Kosovo amount to about 400 million euros ($460 million) a year, while Kosovo's exports to Serbia are much lower. The latest taxes are likely to hurt mostly Serbs who live in the north of Kosovo. Kosovo's prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, said he sent a letter to the EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and all ambassadors in Kosovo to clarify the tariffs hike. "I believe that such steps (taxes) on products coming from Serbia should be permanent until the recognition," he told a Kosovo parliament session. Vucic said that Haradinaj's stand is the result of "big (Western) powers that are behind this." "We have to prepare ourselves for a long and tough battle because we will not recognize (Kosovo's) independence," he said. Maja Kocijancic, the spokeswoman for Mogherini, said Kosovo violated the regional trade agreement, but reiterated a general EU position that the two sides should refrain from provocations and turned to EU-mediated dialogue. "We call on the two leaderships to bring to an immediate end these provocations and focus on completing normalization of relations without further preconditions," she said. Although seeking EU membership, Serbia has lately been drifting toward Russia. ___ Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania, and Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this report. MOSCOW (AP) - Russia could deploy missiles on the territory of its allies if the U.S. stations similar weapons in Europe, a senior Russian lawmaker warned Thursday. Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, said the U.S. intention to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty could herald the way for deployment of missiles banned by the pact to Europe. He warned that if such deployment happens, Russia will target U.S. missiles with its weapons. Kosachev added that Russia may also respond to such a move by deploying similar missiles closer to its neighbors and, "if necessary, on the territories of our allies." Kosachev noted that those options are hypothetical and Russia still hopes that the INF Treaty can be saved. "We are actively working with all those who are ready to work with Russia to raise the pressure on the U.S. in order to preserve the treaty," he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, center right, visit a military technological center in Anapa, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. Putin said the new center would play an important role in developing advanced weapons technologies. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) He didn't spell out which nations could potentially host Russian missiles. Russia has strong military ties with western neighbor Belarus, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, and the two allies held joint maneuvers amid tensions with the West. U.S. President Donald Trump declared his intention last month to withdraw from the INF Treaty over alleged Russian violations. Moscow has denied breaching the pact and accused Washington of violating it. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the INF Treaty and other arms control issues will likely top the agenda of his planned meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina next week. On Thursday, the Russian leader chaired a meeting on arms industries in Anapa in southern Russia that focused on production of ammunition for the military. "We need smart precision munitions that would increase the capability of both existing and prospective weapons," Putin said. The INF Treaty, signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, prohibited the U.S. and Russia from possessing, producing or test-flying ground-launched nuclear cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (300 to 3,400 miles.) Such weapons were seen as particularly destabilizing since they take only a few minutes to reach their targets, leaving little time for political leaders to ponder a response and raising the threat of a nuclear war in case of an erroneous attack warning. Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, and head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia and First Deputy Defense Minister Valery Gerasimov, second left, visit a military technological center in Anapa, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. Putin said the new center would play an important role in developing advanced weapons technologies. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visit a military technological center in Anapa, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. Putin said the new center would play an important role in developing advanced weapons technologies. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Around eight gunmen kidnapped an Italian volunteer along Kenyas coast and wounded several people, including three children. Five people were injured by the attackers, who shot indiscriminately at around 8pm on Tuesday in the Chakama trading centre in the county of Kilifi, said Kenyas police chief, Joseph Boinnet. The gunmen abducted Silvia Costanza Romano, 23, an Italian woman working for Africa Milele Onlus, according to Mr Boinnet and Italys foreign ministry. The motive for the abduction is not clear and the identity of the attackers is not yet known, he said. The National Police Service wishes to inform the public that last evening at about 8pm, a gang of men armed with AK 47 rifles attacked Chakama Trading centre in Chakama, Makongeni sub location in Kilifi county, about 80 kilometres west of Malindi town. 1/6 National Police Service-Kenya (@NPSOfficial_KE) November 21, 2018 The gunmen came looking for a white woman, said Ronald Kazungu Ngala, 19, who said he witnessed Ms Romanos violent kidnapping. He heard gunfire which prompted all the shops in the area to close and many people in the trading centre to hide. At around 7.30pm six men, some armed with guns and others with machetes and clubs stormed into the Milele offices and demanded to know where is the mgeni (Swahili for visitor). Sylvia Constanza Romano, left, with local resident Ronald Kazungu Ngala (AP Photo) I told them she had left to go and get a power bank, but they didnt believe me and surged into the room where they found her, Mr Ngala said. He said he followed them and heard one gunman ask the other if she is the one and when he was answered in the affirmative, he proceeded to slap her very hard until she fell. Ronald please, please! Ronald, please help, Ms Romano said, according to Mr Ngala. I tried to push away a man who was smothering her while holding her down for her hands to be tied behind her back, but someone hit me in the head with a club and I got dizzy. She told me to help myself and I ran for the man at the door with a club and pushed him away and escaped. He said two of the gunmen who were outside the room shot at onlookers. Villagers gather outside a small house where they claimed the suspected kidnappers of an Italian woman had been staying in recently, in the village of Chakama (AP Photo) Mr Ngala said the gunmen took Ms Romano across the Galana River. He said the gunmen looked and spoke like members of a local herding community known as Orma. Many herding communities in Kenya that live near the border areas are armed to protect themselves against rivals, who may come across the border to steal their livestock. In one of her latest postings on Twitter, Ms Romano said she was grateful to the kids she was working with for showing her how to live without material things. These children, these people have taught me to live with no material things but with love, Joy, gratitude, smiles, sincere eyes and be happy in such simple way. Thank you Kenya, thank you Chakama. This has been the deepest experience of my Life, she said. Somali-based Islamic extremists have been blamed in the past for a spate of kidnappings of foreigners along Kenyas coast. Kenya said it was prompted to send troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabab militants after the kidnappings of four foreigners. A majority of businesses in Edinburgh support the introduction of a tourist tax, according to a study. Research carried out by the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce indicates 69% of nearly 200 businesses and organisations across the city would back a Transient Visitor Levy (TVL). The survey was conducted among businesses in a range of sectors, including hospitality, financial services, creative industries and transport. Respondents said they would most favour a per person, per night charge a form of levy currently employed by several European countries, including Spain and France. Results were more split in the hospitality and tourism sector, with only half of the 28 businesses which responded indicating support for a TVL. Edinburgh attracts more than four million visitors each year, contributing more than 1.4 billion to the local economy. A tourist tax has been proposed for Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA) The number is expected to grow, generating an additional 485 million for the city by 2020. Proposals to introduce a TVL in Edinburgh have long been discussed at local government and national level. The City of Edinburgh Council has previously called for the Scottish Government to introduce such a measure. Edinburghs consultation on our Transient Visitor Levy is now live. This is your chance to have your say. Show your support for it. Help shape it. & help us deliver it for our Capital! #TouristTax https://t.co/t3zpcQIlh8 pic.twitter.com/aytvlt1Q1G Cllr Adam McVey (@adamrmcvey) October 17, 2018 Earlier this year, ministers announced a national consultation on the issue. Liz McAreavey, chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: The potential introduction of a TVL in Edinburgh is one of the most significant issues being discussed in our city and it is only right that business has its say. After an extensive consultation with our members, we have found broad support for the principle of a levy, which increases further if funds were dedicated to improving the citys infrastructure. We look forward to seeing the City of Edinburgh Councils proposals for the use of funds raised by a TVL and we remain committed to improving the environment for the businesses that serve as the backbone of our local economy. We will be submitting to the Scottish Governments consultation, articulating our own position and that of Edinburghs business community, in due course. Scottish Green MSP Andy Wightman said: These are encouraging findings, which support the Scottish Greens case for renewed local democracy, with our cities and communities having greater control of the funds they raise. What level is charged is a local matter; the principle of devolving this power is what the Scottish Government must decide on. Its an obvious solution to boosting the funding of local infrastructure and services and is the least SNP Ministers could do if they expect Greens to enter into discussions over the coming years budget. Local discretion over a visitor levy would bring Scotland into line with other normal European democracies. City of Edinburgh Council Leader, Adam McVey, said: These findings give yet more weight to our current plans and consultation, which is giving everyone the chance to have their say. With an increasing volume of visitors to the city, which brings substantial benefits, not least economic growth, there also comes a greater requirement for the city to invest in managing the impacts of that success for businesses, visitors and residents. Were determined to co-produce a scheme that works best for the whole city, including our local hospitality industry, in order to create a TVL proposal which is fair, simple and workable. Theresa May faced Tory demands to renegotiate her Brexit deal at Prime Ministers Questions, as Jeremy Corbyn also warned the agreement was dead. Brexiteer Andrew Rosindell told the Prime Minister he was deeply unhappy with the withdrawal agreement and urged her to lead the country in a new direction by completely cutting away the tentacles of the EU. Neil Parish, chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, also warned the Irish border backstop threatens the integrity of the UK and advised Mrs May to listen to concerns raised by MPs. The pointed remarks came during PMQs as Mr Corbyn pushed Mrs May over the detail of her plans although the PM countered by claiming the Labour leader had not read the draft Brexit deal, adding: Never mind a second referendum, he hasnt got a first clue. At #pmqs, @jeremycorbyn picks up on @AmberRuddHR's claim that Parliament will not permit a no deal #Brexit Andrew Woodcock (@AndyWoodcock) November 21, 2018 Opening PMQs, Mr Rosindell said: I agree with the people of Romford who are deeply unhappy by the proposed EU deal, which they believe does not represent the Brexit they voted for. Will she now, even at this late stage, please think again and instead lead our country in a new direction completely cutting away the tentacles of the EU over our cherished island nation once and for all? Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons (PA) Mrs May responded by saying her deal delivered on the promises of Brexit and ensured a continued close trading relationship with the EU. Mr Corbyn began by referencing comments from Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd that no-deal could be prevented by Parliament. .@jeremycorbyn at #pmqs: "Parliament will reject this bad deal and if the Government can't negotiate an alternative they should make way for those who can" #Brexit Andrew Woodcock (@AndyWoodcock) November 21, 2018 He said: A number of Government ministers have confirmed this morning that leaving the EU with no-deal is not an option, does the Prime Minister agree there are no circumstances under which Britain would leave with no-deal? Mrs May responded: The point that has been made by a number of my colleagues in relation to the vote that will come before this House on a meaningful vote on a deal from the European Union is very simple. If you look at the alternative to having that deal with the European Union it will either be more uncertainty, more division or it could risk no Brexit at all. Mr Corbyn argued the PM did not answer the question before saying Mrs Mays idea of taking back control of our money is to hand the EU a blank cheque and added the UK would have no rebate after 2020. The Prime Minister hit back by claiming Mr Corbyn hasnt even read the draft Brexit deal and also criticised his interpretation of it. Mr Corbyn said the Government had got Britain into this shambles before repeating Labour has not ruled out all options. Concluding his remarks, Mr Corbyn labelled the deal a failure and told the Commons: It fails the Prime Ministers red lines, fails Labours six tests, and it fails to impress the new Northern Ireland minister (John Penrose), who just hours before he was appointed said the deal is dead. Instead of giving confidence to the millions of people who voted both Leave and Remain, this half-baked deal fails to give any hope that it can bring the country together again. Isnt it the case that Parliament will rightly reject this bad deal, and if the Government cant negotiate an alternative then it should make way for those who can and will. Mrs May replied: He is opposing a deal he hasnt read, hes promising a deal he cant negotiate, hes telling Leave voters one thing and Remain voters another whatever (Mr Corbyn) will do, I will act in the national interest. Tory Mr Parish later told the PM: I am a great supporter of yours and I accept what a difficult and tough job you have. The Northern Irish backstop threatens the integrity of the UK and weakens our negotiating position and my farming instincts tell me you do not hand over 39 billion before you get a deal. Please can I ask you to listen to these concerns and renegotiate the deal before you put it onto the floor of this House? DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds later accused the Prime Minister of deleting previous assurances over the Irish border issue. He said: In the December joint report agreed between the European Union and the United Kingdom it was agreed that Northern Ireland would have the final say on whether or not it diverged from the UK single market and was subjected to single market European rules with no say, why has the Prime Minister deleted all reference to that in the withdrawal agreement. Did she push the delete button? Mrs May responded saying he was absolutely right about the December report, but added: The December joint report referred to a decision being taken by the Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly which sadly we do not have in place today. More than 1,000 vehicles incinerated in a New Years Eve inferno on Liverpools waterfront are being removed as demolition of the car park begins. The 1,000-centigrade blaze at the multi-storey car park in the final hours of 2017 destroyed most of the 1,200 vehicles inside and the building will be demolished once all the cars have been removed. The blackened and smoke-logged eyesore has been left standing next to the citys conference centre and arena until agreements were reached between the council, motorists and insurers over claims and to plan the demolition safely as the building was so severely damaged. Around 1,000 of the cars were completely burnt out leaving insurers with an estimated 20 million bill. The fire broke out at around 4.30pm on New Years Eve, with thousands of tourists visiting Liverpool for the New Year festivities left stranded. Burnt-out vehicles on the multi-storey Liverpool Waterfront Car Park, destroyed by fire on New Years Eve 2017 (Peter Byrne/PA) Around 4,000 people were also evacuated as the final event of the Liverpool International Horse Show was abandoned at the nearby Echo Arena. Residents living in nearby apartments were also forced to leave as 21 fire engines battled the huge blaze. No one was seriously injured and a number of horses and dogs were rescued. The blaze is believed to have stared with a fire in a Land Rover car and fire chiefs said if the council-run car park had been fitted with a sprinkler system the blaze might have been stopped. A replacement car park to be built nearby will have a sprinkler system. Most of the seven-storey building will be demolished by Christmas. Vehicles burning during the blaze (Peter Byrne/PA) It follows an agreement with insurance companies and liaison with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) including over the process and the procedure for the removal of the vehicles not burnt out. These vehicles will be taken to a secure compound and the relevant insurance companies will be liaising with the owners regarding the removal of any belongings from these vehicles. Many of these vehicles will have suffered water, heat and smoke damage during the blaze. No vehicles could be removed prior to the demolition process due to safety concerns regarding the fragile nature of the building, Liverpool City Council said. Demolition work gets under way (Peter Byrne/PA) Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: Establishing a series of plans and procedures to dismantle the existing car park has been a hugely complex and detailed piece of work which has prioritised the safety of people. We have been in a constant dialogue with insurers and have been carrying out a robust set of enabling works that will ensure we can minimise disruption to the site during the demolition. An incredible amount of hard work has gone in to coming up with a temporary facility to enable ACC Liverpool to continue functioning as normal but also designing and submitting plans for a new car park. We must not forget that it has been a traumatic process for those whose cars were inside and have had to go through the process of negotiating an insurance claim. Once demolished the car park site will be levelled and made safe before being incorporated into a wider plan for the Kings Dock area. Planning permission for a new, nine-floor car park for 1,650 vehicles at Monarchs Quay was recently granted. The new car park will be fitted with CCTV, electric vehicle charging points, and a sprinkler system. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she is deeply disappointed and concerned about the case of a British academic jailed for life in the United Arab Emirates. Matthew Hedges, 31, who is accused of spying on behalf of the British Government, was shaking as he was sentenced to life imprisonment in a five-minute hearing at an Abu Dhabi court on Wednesday, his wife Daniela Tejada said. She said the couples nightmare has gotten even worse as Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt threatened the UAE with serious diplomatic consequences if leaders do not reconsider. Matthew Hedges with his wife Daniela Tejada (Daniela Tejada/PA) Mrs May told MPs: The Foreign Office will remain in close contact with Matthew, his family and his lawyer. We will continue to do all we can to support them as they consider the next steps and we will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis. Mr Hunt said consular officials had been in contact with Mr Hedges family and added he was deeply shocked at the verdict, having personally raised the case with the UAE government. News on Matthew Hedges extremely worrying. We have seen no evidence to back up charges against him. FCO will do ALL we can to get him home & I will meet his wife Daniela tmrw. UAE claim to be friend & ally of the UK so there will be serious diplomatic consequences. Unacceptable. Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) November 21, 2018 We will continue to do everything possible to support him, Mr Hunt said. I have repeatedly made clear that the handling of this case by the UAE authorities will have repercussions for the relationship between our two countries, which has to be built on trust. Mr Hunt added that his department will do all we can to bring Mr Hedges home over the extremely worrying matter while he said the UAE has shared no evidence with the UK to back up the charges. Mr Hedges wife Daniela Tejada, who was in court during the hearing, said: I am in complete shock and I dont know what to do. Shocked & appalled by the life sentence passed on my innocent constituent, Matt Hedges, by a court in the UAE. Horrified by reports sentence passed at five minute hearing with no lawyer present. Am seeking urgent clarification & update from the FCO Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) November 21, 2018 Matthew is innocent. The Foreign Office know this and have made it clear to the UAE authorities that Matthew is not a spy for them. This whole case has been handled appallingly from the very beginning with no one taking Matthews case seriously. The British Government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens. They say that the UAE is an ally, but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matts case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price. This has been the worst six months of my life, let alone for Matt, who was shaking when he heard the verdict. The UAE authorities should feel ashamed for such an obvious injustice. I am very scared for Matt. I dont know where they are taking him or what will happen now. Our nightmare has gotten even worse. The Middle Eastern studies specialist from Durham University visited the country to research his PhD thesis and was arrested at Dubai Airport on May 5. His familys representative said he was held in solitary confinement for over five and a half months, during which his mental and physical health seriously deteriorated. Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-Chancellor of Durham University, said they were devastated by the sentence. He said: Following a period in which he was detained in conditions which breached his human rights this judgment has been delivered in the absence of anything resembling due process or a fair trial. There has been no information given on what basis Matt was handed this sentence and no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic research. We are committed to doing what we can to get Matt home safely and swiftly and we will offer Daniela and Matts family our full support during the appeal period and thereafter, at what is an unimaginably difficult time for them. Ben Ward, acting UK director at Human Rights Watch, said: Human Rights Watch is deeply alarmed by the verdict against Matthew Hedges given the inhumane conditions he was held in prior to his release on bail, the serious due process violations that marred his trial, and the UAEs disturbing record of mistreating state security detainees. British authorities should closely monitor Hedgess appeal and insist upon his humane treatment in prison, proper access to a lawyer, and that coerced statements not be used as evidence against him. At the last hearing on October 24, a court-appointed lawyer maintained Mr Hedges innocence, arguing that the evidence brought forward did not contain anything confidential. He suggested the court should review the evidence before passing judgment, and the hearing was postponed until Wednesday. Mr Hedges was released from detention on October 29 and had been staying in Dubai, with an ankle bracelet monitoring his movements. A Foreign Office spokesman did not say what form any possible diplomatic consequences could take, but said a number of options are available. Theresa May has rejected a call to renegotiate for a softer Brexit. Speaking during Prime Ministers Questions, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford appealed for her to listen to alternatives to her Brexit deal, but was firmly rebuffed. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met opposition leaders to try and forge a softer Brexit option on Tuesday, before meeting Mrs May to urge her to change course. Mr Blackford said: The First Minister made it clear there are other alternatives to her Governments Brexit plan. Was the Prime Minister listening? Mrs May said of course she had heard Ms Sturgeon, but she would not be acting on her advice. She said: The First Ministers alternative is for the UK to stay in the single market and stay in the customs union and that is what we will not do. Mr Blackford said the situation was exasperating because the SNPs alternative at least has support in this place. Theresa May during PMQs (PA) He referred to a UN report on poverty, highlighting how up to a quarter of people in the UK were living in poverty, and asked why Mrs May did not recognise the scale of the challenge that Brexit is only going to make worse. He added: For once start to listen go back to Brussels, recognise we all have an interest in this. Lets all work together to make sure we protect the interests of people in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK. Lets make sure we go back and negotiate, lets keep us in the single market and customs union. Mrs May said it was the SNP that needed to listen to the people who had voted for Brexit and against independence. She said: He says lets work together on this issue but the position he and his party have would frustrate the will of the British people in relation to leaving the EU. He talks about protecting jobs and that is exactly what the deal were proposing does. He talks also about listening well perhaps the SNP should listen to the people of Scotland who gave a very clear view that Scotland should remain in its most important economic market, the internal market if the UK. The dangers of the flammable material used in the cladding panels on Grenfell Tower have been known for decades, an expert has said. Professor Luke Bisby concluded the primary cause for the rapid and extensive spread of the blaze up and around the building was the presence of polyethylene (PE)-filled panels. The fire expert said the material, on exposure to heat, will melt and drip possibly flowing whilst burning or generating flaming droplets. In a report prepared for the public inquiry into last Junes disaster, which killed 72 people, he said the reaction to fire of PE is written about in decades-old literature, including publications from 1975 and 1976. Prof Bisby said information about how material within the cladding reacts to fire is in literature dating back to 1975 (PA) Prof Bisby told the inquiry, in central London, on Wednesday he would be surprised if fire safety professionals were aware of the specific papers. But he added: The general principle that a thermoplastic will melt and drip and burn quite vigorously is very clearly highlighted in any of the reference texts that one would expect a competent fire safety professional to have at least skimmed if not know quite well. Counsel to the inquiry Richard Millett QC suggested there has been a body of opinion since 1988 of the dangers of thermoplastic materials from a safety perspective. The professor of fire and structures at the University of Edinburgh replied: Absolutely. The inquiry heard the Reynobond 55PE aluminium composite material (ACM) panels, also referred to as cassettes, which formed the outer shell of Grenfells cladding system following a refurbishment completed in 2016, left PE exposed. Mr Millett asked: Does that mean any flame emanating from the window set could get up through that crack and melt or burn the exposed PE? The witness said: Absolutely. The tower burned for several days in a tragedy which left 72 people dead (PA) The inquiry has heard how a small kitchen fire which broke out in Flat 16, on the 24-storey buildings fourth floor, took around 11 minutes to spread to the outside. Prof Bisby said he believes the fire spread to the cladding through a hole in the window or out though the materials in the side or around the surrounds of the windows. He agreed it was likely that if there was a fire anywhere near the window it would break out of the window and into the cladding. Video footage, submitted as evidence by Prof Bisby, shows the blaze taking hold before spreading up the east side of the tower as debris rains down. In my opinion, the primary cause of rapid and extensive vertical and horizontal external fire spread was the presence of polyethylene-filled ACM rainscreen cassettes in the buildings refurbishment cladding system and in the architectural crown detail, the expert concluded in his report. The Duchess of Sussex told cooks at a community kitchen of her pride in their work, as they lovingly told her that her baby will be considered their grandchild. Meghan made a return visit to the west London kitchen which inspired her collaborative work on a Grenfell charity cookbook. It was her first official trip to the Hubb Community Kitchen, not far from the site of the deadly tower block blaze in west London. She had previously paid a number of secret visits before the cookbook was published in September. Meghan cradles her bump during her to visit the Hubb Community Kitchen (Chris Jackson/PA) It was the first time many of the women had seen the expectant mother since her pregnancy was announced, and they were quick to congratulate her on the happy news. Ahlam Saeid, whose family recipe of rainbow roasted vegetables Meghan helped prepare at the kitchen, told of her of her joy. The Duchess has made regular private visits to the kitchen since January, which was set up by women from the community affected by the Grenfell Tower fire. Through the power of cooking, the women have been able to connect, heal and look forward. #CookTogether pic.twitter.com/l1BKghndB1 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) November 21, 2018 After meeting Meghan the 61-year-old grandmother, who is originally from Iraq, said: I told her this is our grandchild, we are so happy. The whole community. And she is so happy. Meghan, who spent about 45 minutes at the kitchen, was also given a traditional Ugandan cloth to wrap around her stomach in the months after she gives birth. Munira Mahmud said she explained briefly to Meghan what the navy blue fabric was before she left the kitchen. Meghan talks to chef Clare Smyth (left) during her to visit (Chris Jackson/PA) She said: Much of what we are doing is based on tradition. I thought what could be better to get her than the wrap. She was over the moon, she was really happy. The mother-of-two, 34, is one of the women motivated by the growing kitchen project to start up a new scheme, providing new mothers with healthy, fresh and nutritious meals. She said: I told her I cant wait to cook for you after you have the baby. One of my projects is cooking good food for mothers after they have their babies. The inclusive ethos of Together has resonated all over the world, and inspired people not just to buy the book, but to cook, eat and gather in their own communities. #CookTogether pic.twitter.com/vmgH6q9XGU The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) November 21, 2018 She added that Meghan said she would be happy to enjoy her meals. During the visit, to see first hand the progress made since the Together cookbook went on sale, Meghan was keen to lend a helping hand. She took off her Club Monaco burgundy coat and rolled up the sleeves of her matching dress, put on an apron and a pair of gloves and began mixing vegetables with her hands. Bumper sales of the cookbook, which features more than 50 recipes from women whose community was affected by the fire, have allowed a total makeover of the kitchen as well as longer opening hours. Meghan, who suggested the idea of a fundraising cookbook when she first met the women, has previously described it as a tremendous labour of love. The book took the number one spot on Amazon within hours of being unveiled two months ago and has since sold nearly 40,000 copies in the UK alone, raising 210,000. Meghan visited to see how the funds raised are making a difference (Chris Jackson/PA) The kitchen, redesigned with the womens input to capture its spirit as a place for the community to come together over meals, now opens seven days a week, up from just two when it began last year. Those involved have also been able to obtain food hygiene qualifications and been empowered to start their own projects for the benefit of the wider community. Projects, supported by the social entrepreneur foundation UnLtd, include a group for women affected by domestic violence and a project to produce healthy treats for children. The Duchess of Sussex said the project was exciting (Chris Jackson/PA) Sipping ginger tea as she listened to some of the womens plans for the future Meghan said: Im so proud of you. Its really exciting. On Wednesday 200 meals being prepared in the kitchen were destined for local groups, including elderly peoples homes, homeless shelters and womens refuges. The dishes included Egyptian lamb fattah, Persian chicken and barberry rice, and Meghan helped box and label slices of chocolate cake as well as the mixed vegetables. She also introduced chef Clare Smyth, a friend, to the volunteers in the kitchen. The Co Antrim-born chef, who now lives in London and has a restaurant near the community facility, described the people involved in the kitchen as incredible. She said: If everyone took care of their community like this there would be no issues in the world. Ms Smith said Meghan had spoken with passion about the kitchen. Shes really into food, shes a real foodie. Ms Mahmud said she hoped Meghan would continue to be involved in the project. She said: She makes you feel you are part of her. She is so down to earth. The European Commission has warned Italy that its budget plans are in serious breach of the rules underpinning the euro single currency and that the country could face legal action. The European Unions executive arm, which supervises national budget plans, has invited eurozone countries to examine its assessment in two weeks and, if they agree with it, the commission would launch a so-called excessive deficit procedure against Italy. It is with regret that today we confirm our assessment that Italys draft budget plan is in particularly serious non-compliance, EU Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters. European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) With what the Italian government has put on the table, we see a risk of the country sleepwalking into instability, he said, adding that the Commission remains open to dialogue. Mr Dombrovskis said Italys debt load of 131% of GDP forecast for the next two years puts 37,000 euro (33,000) of debt burden and 1,000 euro (890) of debt servicing on each Italian every year. We cannot see how perpetuating this vulnerability will increase economic serenity, he said. Instead, I believe it could result in more austerity down the road. The move ramps up tensions between the commission and the populist government in Rome, which has refused to give up its spending plans, despite repeated warnings from Brussels. Italy argues the spending is necessary to relaunch economic growth after years of austerity. It wants to boost social welfare programmes that will benefit mostly young job seekers and restore pensions that had been slashed by a previous government. The commissions analysis says the measures will not boost growth but will necessitate new budget cuts in the future. EU Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said: This step which we take today is the logical and unavoidable consequence of the decision taken by Italys authorities not to modify their fiscal targets. Through the past months, the commissions commitment to dialogue with Italy has been genuine. And it will always be genuine. Eurozone and EU finance ministers meet in Brussels on December 3-4. In Rome, Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini indicated that he would not back down on plans to roll back on the unpopular pension reform, which would allow thousands to retire in the coming months. A letter arrived from Brussels? I was expecting one from Santa Claus, Mr Salvini said. We will discuss it politely as we always have. We will exchange opinions. I will continue. If someone wants to persuade me that the pension reform was right, I will not be persuaded. My mailbox is nearly full because of compulsive letter writers who spend their time writing little letters, he said. A cross-party group of MPs has called for political parties to publish the number of women they put forward for election to end the diversity deficit in Parliament. Several senior politicians signed a letter urging the UK Government to enact Section 106 of the Equality Act (2010) that would ensure parties reported their gender gap among election candidates. The call comes in the week marking 100 years since women first gained the right to stand for election to the House of Commons. Since then, there have only been 491 female MPs just 50 more than the number of men currently sitting in Parliament. On this day 100 years ago in 1918, the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act was passed which allowed women to become MPs for the first time. Allowing them to sit and vote in the @HouseofCommons #Vote100 pic.twitter.com/Oa3SdBet6p UK Parliament (@UKParliament) November 21, 2018 Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, Shadow Equalities Minister Dawn Butler, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and SNP MP Hannah Bardell were among the politicians to add their name to the letter. Organisations and individuals including Dr Helen Pankhurst, Centenary Action Group, the Fawcett Society, Womens Aid and the Electoral Reform Society have all campaigned for Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt to implement Section 106. Campaign groups and politicians have called for the `gender deficit to be addressed (Mark Duffy/UK Parliament) In a piece for The Times newspaper on Wednesday, Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP wrote: It appears in the economic sphere we might finally be on the long-road to achieving fair pay. But for this to last and to reduce discrimination in all walks of life there must be political progress too. It would be a fitting way to make the centenary year of some womens right to vote for this simple change to be made. In fact, it is the least we could do. Hannah Bardell MP said: The SNP are working hard to make politics an attractive destination for women, but we are far from complacent and will continue to support women interested in elected office. The SNP are making positive strides in equality amongst elected members in Parliament, with women making up 43% of SNP MSPs. More than a third of our MPs are female and Scotlands first female First Minister is our party leader, Nicola Sturgeon. Ms Bardell highlighted the 500,000 funding announced by the Scottish Government earlier this year to encourage more women to become involved in politics. The fund was established to help provide grants for local initiatives across the country. Ms Bardell added: We are committed to real change in the political makeup of Parliaments across the UK. Birthday wishes Call 281-422-8302 or email david.bloom@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun. Happy Birthday Wishes A man who was shipped to Canada in the 1940s under the child migrant programme has described the experience as a living hell. Edinburgh-born Roddy Mackay, who waived his right to anonymity, left for Canada in 1941 from Liverpool. A medical examination prior to his emigration described him as suitable to work as a labourer. He was aged six. The 84-year-old spoke of routine beatings during his time at Fairbridge Farm School in British Columbia, as well as sexual abusers who preyed on children. Mr Mackay told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry on Wednesday: We went through these white gates, which one of my school mates described as the pearly gates of Hell. (My house mother) made my life a living hell. Lady Smith, the chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (Nick Mailer/PA) She took the shirt off our back and took a belt (to us), lock us up in the basement. She was more than strict. I was praying with all my heart for God to do something. Whenever she lost her temper we didnt know what we were going to get. I would be pleading please stop, mom. It was often enough to get burned into your mind forever. Fairbridge Farm was opened in 1935 as an orphanage, which Mr Mackay said was used to teach boys to work on farms and girls to work as domestics. Children were shipped there under the UK Governments child migration policy. Other punishments described include being confined to small area, as well as persistent name-calling such as guttersnipe. It was heard the house mother would eat nice food off of china, while the orphans had porridge with worms in it for breakfast. The witness told how older children would bully the younger ones, while he himself was close to being sexually assaulted by a teenage boy. He said it was lucky another child walked in to the room before anything more serious happened. Mr Mackay also spoke of a convicted sexual abuser who had worked at the orphanage that was allowed to return after prison and went on to assault more children. Trouble caused by older teenagers would be blamed on the younger ones, according to the witness. This meant they would take it in turns to admit to acts they had not done and be beaten for it by the house mother. But Mr Mackay said it was being separated from his family which has had the most last impact on him. It was not until 1976 when his brother Rob visited him in California, USA that he learned he had two younger brothers. He was unable to trace them until 1999. Mr Mackay, who left the orphanage aged 17 and joined the army, said: One of the things I get bitter, bitter feelings about is the fact that they had these records. I was in my late 60s before I was able to obtain records that could have assisted me in reconnecting with my brothers. People ask me have you got any closure now you have met you family?. I say no, I cant say I have closure here Im looking at the years that we missed over some stupid records, that nobody told us existed. Mr Mackay went on to become a spokesman for child abuse survivors in Canada. He met Gordon Brown in 2010 when the former prime minister apologised on behalf of the UK Government to people who had suffered through the countrys migration scheme. The inquiry before Lady Smith continues next week. Skincare obsessives and make-up mavens, listen up Black Friday is almost here and there are some amazing discounts on offer. Shine a light on Black Friday beauty deals (Thinkstock/PA) Some have already started, in fact, and most are available online so you dont even have to brave the shops to stock up on your own favourite products or find gorgeous gifts for a loved one. Ready to shop? These are the best Black Friday beauty deals Glossier Cult American brand Glossier will be offering 20% off everything on site so you can try the new Generation G lipsticks or stockpile old favourites like Boy Brow, Cloud Paint cream blusher and Lash Slick mascara. Boots Boots is focusing on gifting with its Black Friday offers youll find gift sets and beauty gadgets from brands including No7, Benefit, Babyliss and Braun with big reductions, some better than half price. Theres also 50% off all beauty Advent calendars from November 23 to 29. Blow Ltd At home beauty service Blow Ltd will be offering 20% off all treatments on Friday and up to 35% off products online. Plus, there are discounts on gift cards, if youre looking for a present for a fellow beauty junkie. Eyeko The make-up brand known for its magnificent mascaras has 30% off everything on the website on Black Friday. Armani Beauty Giorgio Armani make-up isnt cheap, so the 15% site-wide discount on Friday means cult hits like the Kardashian-approved Luminous Silk Foundation, currently 42, will be a bit more affordable. Benefit From Black Friday until Monday, there will be 20% off everything on the Benefit website, plus a selection of other offers. On Thursday, brow kits will be 20 (reduced from 31.50) and today Theyre Real eyeliners are half-price at 10 each. IT Cosmetics Much-loved American make-up brand IT Cosmetics recently launched in the UK and will be offering 25% off everything online, including its hero Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream, currently 30. La Roche-Posay French skincare specialists La Roche-Posay is offering 1/3 off everything on the site from now until November 26, so you can stock up on the acne treatment that fans swear by, Effaclar Duo+, 10.66 (was 16). Foreo Black Friday is the perfect day to invest a high-tech beauty gadget that youve had your eye on for a while, like a Foreo cleansing device. From November 23 to 29 the Luna 2 cleansing brush will be 118.30 (was 169) and the UFO smart mask device will be 186.75 (was 249). Face Halo Said to replace up to 500 disposable face wipes, Face Halo is a fabric make-up removing pad that can be washed and reused. From Friday to Monday you can get 30% off on the website. St Tropez Fake tan-aholics, this ones for you. St Tropez Extra Dark Self Tan Bronzing Mousse is 22 at Boots from now until November 26, reduced from 34. Escentual Beauty website Escentual has got half-price deals on a range of premium products from the likes of Benefit, Vichy, Caudalie, Guerlain and more over the Black Friday weekend. Our top pick? Benefit Most Wanted Mascara Line Up Gift Set, 14.75 (was 29.50), lets you try all of the brands beat-selling mascaras. Superdrug Superdrug has got big discounts running throughout this week including five exclusive deals, like the three-piece ELF All Over Glow Makeup Gift Set, 10 (was 16) and Revolution 40 Spectrum Face & Cheek Palette, 14 (was 28). A judge has rejected calls for an inquiry into the activities of undercover police officers operating in Scotland. Tilly Gifford, an environmental activist who claims she was spied upon by such officers, had gone to the Court of Session in Edinburgh to challenge the Scottish Governments decision not to set up a public inquiry into the matter. She said afterwards the result was massively disappointing. Labour MSP Neil Findlay, who has repeatedly raised the issue in Holyrood, said he too was deeply disappointed with the ruling from Lady Carmichael. With an inquiry into undercover policing taking place in England and Wales, he added: How can it be fair that victims of unethical and illegal undercover policing in England and Wales will get access to an inquiry but Scottish Victims wont? This is unjust and wrong. A judge at the Court of Session has rejected a challenge to the Scottish Governments decision to to stage a public inquiry into undercover policing (Jane Barlow/PA) Ms Gifford also challenged the decision by the UK Government not to extend its inquiry to include the activities of undercover police in Scotland, arguing the decision breached her right to private and family life, as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). But Lady Carmichael said she had not demonstrated either government acted incompatibly with her Convention rights on this basis. Ms Gifford had also argued the decision taken by former justice secretary Michael Matheson not to set up a separate Scottish inquiry was were irrational, and, separately, disproportionate, and therefore unlawful. I am deeply disappointed that Tilly Giffords judicial review has been rejected. How can it be fair that victims of unethical and illegal undercover policing in the rest of the UK get access to an inquiry but Scottish victims wont. This is unjust and wrong. Neil Findlay (@Neilsocialist) November 21, 2018 But the judge ruled: The decision is one which in my view falls within the range of responses reasonably open to the second respondents, and cannot be categorised as irrational. At the time Mr Matheson concluded a separate inquiry into the use of covert police officers in Scotland was not necessary or justified. He made that decision after a review by Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) had found the use of such officers can not be considered to be widespread north of the border although it stated the Metropolitan Polices controversial Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) and National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) had both deployed officers to Scotland. The report by HMICS also deemed the use of undercover officers to be a legitimate policing tactic. It stated: Operational activity has primarily focused on drug-related offences, child sexual abuse and exploitation, human trafficking and exploitation and serious organised crime. There was no evidence that undercover officers from Police Scotland had infiltrated social justice campaigns or that officers had operated outwith the parameters of the authorisation. After the legal opinion was published Ms Gifford said: This is a massively disappointing decision by the Court. Our evidence is clear and sound there has been undercover policing in Scotland, and it needs to be investigated by an independent transparent public inquiry, not just for my sake but for the blacklisted builders, the campaigns, political parties and organisations striving for social justice who have been spied upon. A Scottish Government spokesman said: Ministers welcome Lady Carmichaels opinion in this case, where the Court has dismissed the petition on all counts. The Scottish Governments decision was reached after full and detailed consideration of this issue and that is reflected in the Courts judgement. A veteran Labour MP claims society is reluctant to convict young men of date rape and has called for a major review of the jury system for rape cases. Ann Coffey said rape myths and stereotypes were dominant in society, including views that women invite rape by what they wear or real rapes are done by strangers in alleyways. She said juries took these views into court and also lacked understanding about consent in date or acquaintance rape cases, leading to falling conviction rates. A perfect storm was brewing as a result, Ms Coffey said, in which prosecutors were reluctant to pursue cases and police were reluctant to lay charges. The result of this is that victims will stop coming forward and justice in the criminal justice system will be denied to young women, she said in a House of Commons motion on Wednesday. The danger is we will be thrown back to the dark days, where victims of abuse were silenced and dared not speak out. Ms Coffey, the Member for Stockport since 1992, called for an urgent independent inquiry into the use of juries in rape cases in the UK in a bid to forge a better public understanding of rape myths. Labour MP Ann Coffey has called for a major review of the jury system for rape cases (PA) She said the inquiry should consider judge-alone trial options, jury vetting, specialist rape courts and a review of the rules around the disclosure of a complainants sexual history and mobile phone data. Ministers need to take strong action, including I believe a fundamental review of the whole system, she said. Myths existed around the way rape victims were expected to behave after an assault, while some believe flirting on a date indicates consent, Ms Coffey said. Juries take these attitudes into the courtroom with them, and defence lawyers play up these myths in an attempt to rubbish the witness, she said. Ms Coffeys motion came after she made a request for statistics from the Crown Prosecution Service regarding rape cases. She said the number of men charged with rape in England and Wales had fallen to its lowest level in a decade, but police reports had risen in recent years. Less than a third (32%) of prosecutions brought against men aged 18 to 24 in England and Wales resulted in a conviction in 2017/18, the figures showed. By comparison, successful prosecutions against men aged 25 to 59 were significantly higher at 46%. Ms Coffey noted the German and French court systems had a collaborative model for rape cases, with judges deciding cases with citizens. In reply Lucy Frazer, Under-Secretary of State for Justice, thanked Ms Coffey for her motion, saying she was right to ask the questions she asked. She said: This debate is an important one, because we need to look into these issues to ensure that when reports of rape are made they are taken seriously. As jurors are picked from society as a whole, it is quite possible that rape myths do sometimes have an impact on jury decision making. But more research is needed to firmly establish this link. For that reason I ask for the Houses patience. Two men have each been jailed for eight years for smuggling Albanian migrants into the UK in an operation so dangerous it was compared to trying to cross the M25 at rush hour on foot. Feim Vata, 32, and Xhemal Baco, 24, both of The Broadway in Farnham Common, Slough, Berkshire, were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday for conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, Kent Police said. A joint investigation between UK and French authorities found they were moving migrants from France in small inflatable boats across the Channel at night to the Kent coast near Deal. Feim Vata and Xhemal Baco (Kent Police/PA) They used the extremely unsuitable and overloaded craft in a move compared to trying to walk across Britains busiest motorway during rush hour. The pair were arrested on October 20, after Baco was seen picking up six Albanian migrants in France, driving the boat across the Channel and meeting Vata in Kent. Investigators believe they had made the trip at least three times, using an old plastic water bottle to bail out the boat as they made the crossing. A bottle to bail water out of the boat (Kent Police/PA) Detective Inspector Clair Trueman said: It is amazing that no one died during the extremely risky process. When the men and the illegal migrants were arrested, we found them cold and wet, they had travelled in an overloaded inflatable boat with no life vests or navigation equipment and across a busy shipping lane in total darkness. Experts told us that attempting to cross the channel in a boat the size Baco and Vata did is like trying to cross the M25 at its busiest time on foot. They also told us that the boat was extremely unsuitable and overloaded. The boat Baco and Vata used is not designed to cross the channel, they used empty water bottles for bailing the water out which was found with the boat. It was reckless to even attempt such a crossing and everyone is extremely lucky to have survived. A Vladimir Putin critic pursued by the Kremlin is among those celebrating after a Russian official failed, amid widespread concerns, to win a vote to be Interpols president. The British Government joined opposition of the potential election of Russian interior ministry veteran Alexander Prokopchuk on Wednesday, but he suffered a surprise loss to the South Korean candidate. Critics of Moscows man feared a mafia takeover would see Interpol act at the behest of the Russian president, with the police networks red notices used to pursue his foes. Bill Browder, a British financier who has long battled Mr Putin and has been the subject of arrest warrants, said that reason prevails in this dark world, after Kim Jong Yang was chosen by Interpols general assembly. Here is the Interpol vote: 101 for the South Korean candidate, 61 for the Russian. A total humiliation for Putin. He must be stomping around the Kremlin right now, furious. https://t.co/KXoK2kH147 Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) November 21, 2018 This is a real humiliation for Putin and a huge sigh of relief for anybody who is at odds with Putin, 54-year-old Mr Browder, of London, added to the Press Association. The idea that Russia would be in charge of the international police organisations is one of the most horrifying things anyone can imagine, but particularly so for anyone who is being targeted by the Kremlin. Alexander Prokopchuk had been seeking the Interpol role (Russian Interior Ministry via AP) But he vowed to keep up his fight to get serial abuser Russia suspended from Interpol with a legal complaint to the agency over its use of red notices, requests for arrests abroad based on national warrants. UK politicians also welcomed the election, with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt saying it was very important news for rule of law internationally. Kim Jong Yang, INTERPOL President: Our world is now facing unprecedented changes which present huge challenges to public security and safety. To overcome them, we need a clear vision: we need to build a bridge to the future.#INTERPOLGA pic.twitter.com/D4n7m61fy9 INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) November 21, 2018 Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said the result was a relief, but added that Mr Prokopchuks position as an Interpol vice-president remains an insult to the victims of the Salisbury Novichok poisonings, which have been blamed on Russia. Interpols charter states its neutrality, but its use of red notices has at times been criticised as politically motivated. The agency stressed the president is not in charge of day-to-day operations as head of the organisation, a position held by its secretary general. The latest election was sparked after previous Interpol president Meng Hongwei was arrested in China during a purge against allegedly disloyal or corrupt officials. Tadhg Beirne will be ready to stake his second-row claim when Ireland face the USA, according to Munster team-mate Niall Scannell. Potent lock Beirne impressed in Irelands 54-7 win over Italy in Chicago but has had to watch from the sidelines as Joe Schmidts men dispatched both Argentina and New Zealand. James Ryan has been released back to Leinster after starring in Saturdays 16-9 win over New Zealand, opening the door for Beirne to step back into the match squad. And Munster hooker Scannell believes his provincial colleague will be itching for action in Saturdays USA clash in Dublin. Tadhgs acquitted himself unbelievably well, especially in training, said Scannell. He brings the edge that you see every week, he provides that in training. That was obviously brilliant for the lads last week preparing for the New Zealand breakdown and the same against Argentina. Tadhg Beirne has been backed to shine if pressed into Ireland service this weekend (Graham Stuart/PA) He would have liked to have been involved more, but Im sure it wont deter him, hell be the same this week if he gets a chance. Ireland can complete a second-straight clean sweep in the November series with victory over the USA at the Aviva Stadium this weekend. The first-ever victory over New Zealand on home soil will live long in the memory, but Irelands constantly-building strength in depth leaves boss Joe Schmidts men well-placed ahead of a pivotal 2019. Beirne has thrived on his switch from Scarlets to Munster, though, offering a significant boost in depth not just at lock but also with his ability to operate on the flank. The 26-year-old could win just his fourth cap this weekend against the Americans, with Scannell tipping him to lay down a selection marker for next years Six Nations. Tadhgs been unbelievably positive; with all of us there is disappointment, but hes been in great club form in Munster, said Scannell. Same as he did against Italy, hell put his best foot forward and Im sure hell be thinking that between now and the Six Nations as well. Theresa May and senior Government ministers have warned that Britain may not leave the European Union if MPs vote down the Prime Ministers Brexit deal. The warnings came amid suggestions from Brussels that a summit to sign off on the draft withdrawal agreement on Sunday could be called off unless progress is made on finalising a political declaration on future relations, with one senior official saying: Were not there yet. Reports suggested that Germanys ambassador to the EU had said the document must be finalised by Thursday or Chancellor Angela Merkel would not attend. Asked whether the UK expected the summit to go ahead, the PMs official spokesman said only: A summit has been called, an agenda has been published and we look forward to attending. Mrs May was flying to the Belgian capital for tea-time talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, at which she will seek progress on the framework for future relations in areas like trade and security. Spain has raised concerns about the treatment of Gibraltar in the proposed text, while France is understood to be pushing for better rights of access to UK fishing waters. And Mrs Merkel set her face against Tory backbench demands for Britain to have the unilateral power to tear up a proposed backstop arrangement for the Irish border. Chancellor Merkel told the Germany Parliament: We have placed value, and I think this is right, on the fact that Britain cannot decide unilaterally when it ends the state of the customs union, but that Britain must decide this together with the EU. Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said that for Sundays summit to go ahead, we will need to have agreed beforehand the political declaration on the future relationship and we are not there yet. He added: Sherpas are due to meet on Friday. They will need to see a final text before then, and the Commission stands ready to consider the text and take any action at any time. Since unveiling her draft agreement last week, the PM has repeatedly warned MPs that failure to approve it would risk a no-deal Brexit, or no Brexit at all. But answering questions in the Commons on Wednesday, she told MPs that the alternative to her deal will either be more uncertainty, more division, or it could risk no Brexit at all. And Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: It is my view that the House of Commons will stop no-deal. There isnt a majority in the House of Commons to allow that to take place. The minister, a former Remain campaigner who replaced Leave-backing Esther McVey in the Cabinet following her resignation last week, said she expected MPs to back Mrs Mays plan after peering into the abyss and pulling back. But she added: If it doesnt get through, anything could happen. The Brexiteers may lose their Brexit. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss told BBC Radio 5 Live: If my colleagues in Parliament dont vote for this then were in grave danger of not leaving at all. Esther McVey, who quit the Cabinet last week, challenged the Prime Minister over Brexit in the Commons (PA Wire/PA Images) Mrs May was challenged by Ms McVey at Prime Ministers Questions to confirm that Brexit will happen come what may. The PM replied: I can give her the assurance that the United Kingdom will leave the European Union on March 29 2019. The PMs official spokesman said that she remained determined to deliver Brexit next March as planned and was confident of doing so, and still believed that a failure by MPs to support her deal risked either no deal or no Brexit. Amber Rudd exposes the falsity of the PMs tactics - it is not a choice between her bad deal or no deal. There are better alternatives. https://t.co/fjpuKHxTN7 Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) November 21, 2018 But the ministers comments were seized upon by Labour, whose shadow chancellor John McDonnell told an event at Reuters in London that there was an overwhelming majority opposing anything that smacks of being no-deal. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said that if Mrs Mays deal falls in the vote expected early next month, Parliament will take back control. Sir Keir said: After these comments from Amber Rudd, its time for the Government to drop the false choice between a bad deal and no deal, and to come forward with a plan that can command the majority support of Parliament. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: Amber Rudd exposes the falsity of the PMs tactics it is not a choice between her bad deal or no deal. There are better alternatives. The Peoples Vote campaign for a second referendum said Ms Rudd had torpedoed the PMs threat of no deal. (PA Graphics)Mrs May came under pressure at Prime Ministers Questions from Conservative backbenchers who fear her draft agreement will leave the UK trapped in a customs union with no way of leaving without the EUs consent. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the half-baked agreement was a failure which would be rejected by MPs. And the deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Nigel Dodds, told the PM that protections for Northern Ireland agreed last December had been deleted from the deal. Downing Street sources insisted that the arrangement under which the DUPs 10 MPs prop up Mrs Mays minority administration in the Commons remains in force, despite the smaller partys decision not to vote with the Government on Tuesday. The move, which forced the Government to cave in to a series of Labour and SNP amendments to its Finance Bill, has put huge strain on the agreement reached in the wake of last years inconclusive General Election. A senior Israeli cabinet minister has threatened to kill the leader of the militant Hamas movement ruling Gaza. Housing minister Yoav Gallant, a former military general who commanded the Gaza region, said Hamas leader Yehiyeh Sinwar should recalculate his route before the next engagement. Speaking at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference, he said: Yehiyeh Sinwars time is limited. He will not end his life in an old folks home. He has to behave himself. Israel and Hamas recently stepped back from the brink of their fourth war in a decade thanks to an Egyptian ceasefire. Palestinian militants fired 460 rockets and mortar shells into Israel last week in 24 hours, in response to a botched Israeli raid that left seven Palestinian militants and a senior Israeli officer dead. Israel responded with a wave of air strikes. Seven Palestinians, including five militants, were killed, while a Palestinian labourer working in Israel was killed by a Gaza rocket. It was the heaviest fighting since the 2014 Gaza war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the time was not right for a wider confrontation in Gaza, but he has come under heavy criticism for agreeing to a ceasefire. Benjamin Netanyahu has been criticised for having a `soft stance (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Defence minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned in protest, accusing Mr Netanyahu of being soft on terrorism, and another hardline minister threatened to do the same which would have sparked early elections before backing down. In the wake of the political crisis, and with early elections still a distinct possibility, ministers have begun talking tough about the next round of fighting. We are now close to a no-choice war against Hamas in Gaza. We must strike hard to restore deterrence, intelligence minister Israel Katz told the conference. Any attack on Israeli soil must be met with a tough response if Sinwar or (Hamas political chief Ismail) Haniyeh were to fire a bullet or a rocket at a soldier or Israeli citizens they will pay with their heads. Israel assassinated Hamas leaders Ahmad Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in 2004, and tried to kill another leader, Khaled Mashaal, in 1997. The killing of senior members of the group has had no discernible impact on its operations or ideology. Grenfell Towers stay put fire advice was unreasonable once cladding had been installed during the buildings refurbishment completed in 2016, an expert has said. Professor Luke Bisby said the dangers of the flammable polyethylene (PE) used in the panels have been known for decades. He concluded the primary cause for the rapid and extensive spread of the blaze up and around the block of flats was the presence of the material in the buildings cladding system. In a report prepared for the public inquiry into last years June 14 disaster, which killed 72 people, he said a stay put fire evacuation strategy relies on compartmentation being maintained. The inquiry has heard compartmentation could have been breached when a small kitchen fire on the 24-storey buildings fourth floor spread to the outside of the building as little as 11 minutes after it broke out in Flat 16 at around 12.54am. Prof Bisby said information about how material within the cladding reacts to fire is in literature dating back to 1975 (PA) On the basis that fire compartmentation was not a credible component of any fire safety strategy, once the refurbishment cladding had been installed at Grenfell Tower, it follows logically that a stay put policy was also not a credible component of any fire safety strategy once the refurbishment cladding had been installed, Prof Bisby wrote in his report. The Professor of Fire and Structures at the University of Edinburgh told the inquiry in central London on Wednesday: If a fire is ignited in a cladding system such as this made from these materials under any circumstances we have to expect it to spread quickly and catastrophically because of the nature of these materials. On that basis, it is unreasonable to expect compartmentation to be maintained, and, on that basis it is unreasonable to have a stay put policy in place. Now that, of course, relies on someone recognising they have got these materials on their building, which, of course, is clearly not the case apparently here. The inquiry has heard the London Fire Brigade (LFB) did not implement a change in its stay put advice until 2.47am. Prof Bisby concluded in his report: In my opinion, the primary cause of rapid and extensive vertical and horizontal external fire spread was the presence of polyethylene filled ACM rainscreen cassettes in the buildings refurbishment cladding system and in the architectural crown detail. The tower burned for several days in a tragedy which left 72 people dead (PA) He said the PE, on exposure to heat, will melt and drip possibly flowing whilst burning or generating flaming droplets, pointing out its reaction to fire is available in decades-old literature, including publications from 1975 and 1976. The general principle that a thermoplastic will melt and drip and burn quite vigorously is very clearly highlighted in any of the reference texts that one would expect a competent fire safety professional to have at least skimmed if not know quite well, he said. Counsel to the inquiry Richard Millett QC suggested there has been a body of opinion since 1988 of the dangers of thermoplastic materials from a safety perspective. Absolutely, the witness replied. The inquiry heard the Reynobond 55PE aluminium composite material (ACM) panels, also referred to as cassettes, which formed the outer shell of Grenfells cladding system following the refurbishment, left PE exposed by way of a cavity. Mr Millet asked: Does that mean any flame emanating from the window set could get up through that crack and melt or burn the exposed PE? The witness said: Absolutely. Prof Bisby said he believes the fire spread to the cladding through a hole in the window or out though the materials in the side or around the surrounds of the windows. He agreed it was likely that if there was a fire anywhere near the window it would break out of the window and into the cladding. At the end of the day there is a number of ways by which cladding of this nature could be ignited on the outside of the building and to focus too heavily on the specifics of whats happened in these particular fire scenario, I think in a way diminishes the importance of recognising the clear risks that it presents under any scenario, he said. Video footage played at the hearing shows the blaze taking hold before spreading up the east side of the tower as debris rains down. The London Fire Brigade said a jet of water was directed above the fire at 1.11am but it had no effect. However, Prof Bisby said he had not seen any evidence of this, with the first video footage showing firefighters spraying a covering jet below the window of Flat 16. He said he could not say whether a jet fired above the fire, if it had not been, would have extinguished the blaze. But Prof Bisby added: In the absence of any information its certainly worth a try. Sir David Attenborough has warned unprecedented action is needed on global warming, ahead of taking the peoples seat at United Nations climate talks. Sir David is part of an initiative launched by the UN to bring the voice of people from around the world to the international climate talks in Poland next month. The naturalist and TV presenter will take up what the UN is calling the peoples seat, and will give the peoples address to governments at the talks based on views gathered from citizens in the run-up to the meeting. Polling and the hashtag #TakeYourSeat on social media will be used to collect peoples experiences and opinions of climate change over the next few weeks. What would you say if you had a seat at the @UN #ClimateChange Conference #COP24 in Poland in December? Share your comments, videos and photos with #TakeYourSeat to have your say > https://t.co/9CzZFynwya #ClimateAction pic.twitter.com/J4WNEi4c5A UN Climate Change (@UNFCCC) November 21, 2018 There will also be the launch of the Facebook Messenger ActNow Bot on the UNs central Facebook account, which will recommend everyday actions people can take like eating less meat or taking public transport. ActNow.bot will track the number of actions to highlight the impact that collective action can have for the planet, organisers said. Sir David Attenborough will give an address at the UN climate talks in Poland (Peter Byrne/PA) Governments are meeting in Poland to discuss implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change, which was secured in the French capital three years ago, and raising ambition to meet its goals to curb global warming. It comes in the wake of warnings from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that urgent and dramatic action across the whole of the economy and society is needed to cut emissions to prevent dangerous climate change. Sir David said: We all know climate change is a global problem and for that it requires a global solution. This is an opportunity for people from across the globe, regardless of their nationality or circumstances, to be part of the most important discussion of this century; the unprecedented action needed to reach the Paris Agreement targets. I encourage everyone to take their seats and to add their voice so that the Peoples Address truly represents a mix of voices from across the world. Almost 500 jobs are to go at aircraft manufacturer Bombardier in Northern Ireland in a bitter pre-Christmas blow for workers. More than a tenth of core staff face the knife under cost-cutting measures aimed at improving the Canadian-headquartered firms long-term competitiveness. Bombardier produces the wings for its new aircraft, the Airbus A220, in Belfast. Trade union leaders pledged a global campaign against the bombshell announcement that jobs are expected to be shed by March. Bombardier is one of Northern Irelands largest employers, but with around 2,000 job losses in the space of two years there were warnings that the devastation of staff would turn to anger. Belfast trade union leader Jackie Pollock pledged a global campaign against the "bombshell" announcement that 490 jobs are expected to be shed by March. It comes less than a year after the firm fended off a bid by part of the US administration to impose tariffs on sales of the A220 which could have spelled disaster for the Belfast operation. Unite regional secretary for Northern Ireland Jackie Pollock said: This announcement is a cruel blow for the Bombardier workforce in the mouth of Christmas. Unite has feared for some time that Bombardier might be bringing forward large-scale redundancies but this news exceeds our worse fears. He said the jobs under threat ranged across all skills and occupations and excluded potential job losses among agency workers/sub-contractors and the possible future outsourcing of so-called non-core activities. Bombardier is one of the biggest employers in the country, with around 4,000 workers, and it has a large base in East Belfast. Earlier this year, threatened US trade tariffs placed a major question mark over aircraft production there and prompted the intervention of Prime Minister Theresa May. Amid a major trade dispute with rival aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing, the US administration relented at the last moment and Bombardier jobs were saved. Mr Pollock said: This workforce fully supported Bombardier in a dispute last year and the early part of this year against the American Government, against Boeing, and stood firm with the management of this company and this is how they are getting repaid. He said he expected support from unions in North America, which are going through a similar process as part of the global staffing review by Bombardier. The trade union leader added: The redundancies in Belfast seem disproportionate to other parts of the Bombardier group and we seem to be the hardest hit, with about 10% of our workforce going to be made redundant under this announcement. The Belfast plant has previously faced uncertainty over jobs which saw the Prime Minister intervene (Niall Carson/PA) Around 1,000 jobs were lost at the Belfast plant in 2016 as part of a global restructuring. Another 375 redundancies were announced last year. Michael Mulholland, GMB union organiser, said: Bombardier jobs are crucial to Belfasts economy and GMB will fight tooth and nail to save them. Bombardier Northern Ireland said it regretted to confirm the 490 job losses. We acknowledge the impact this will have on our workforce and their families and we continue to explore opportunities to help mitigate the number of compulsory redundancies. However, we need to continue to cut costs and improve the efficiency of our operations to help ensure our long-term competitiveness. A police investigation has found no evidence of criminality in relation to the handling of the investigation and prosecution of the Lockerbie bombing case. A team of detectives spent four years examining nine allegations made by the Justice for Megrahi campaign group in an investigation named Operation Sandwood. The allegations against the Crown, police and forensic officials who worked on the investigation into the 1988 bombing included perversion of the course of justice and perjury. Pan Am flight 103 was on its way from London to New York when it exploded above Lockerbie on December 21 1988, killing 270 people. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001, the only person found guilty of the bombing. He was jailed for 27 years but died of prostate cancer aged 60 in 2012 after being released on compassionate grounds in 2009. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) announced earlier this year that a full review of the case is to be carried out to decide if a fresh appeal against Megrahis conviction can be made. Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said officers carried out a methodical and rigorous inquiry. He said: The substance of the allegations were diverse in nature and the sheer scale and complexity of the task has resulted in a particularly protracted enquiry which has taken longer than originally thought. However, this reflects the hard work and professionalism of the officers involved and their meticulous approach to the inquiry. The findings and conclusions have been validated by a senior Queens Counsel, entirely unconnected with and acting independently from the Crown Office. I have written to the Lord Advocate to inform him Operation Sandwood is now complete and that there is no evidence of criminality and therefore no basis to submit a standard prosecution report. The material collated during the inquiry and the findings and conclusions reached have relevance to both the ongoing live investigation and the potential appeal against conviction lodged on behalf of the late Mr Megrahi. The materials have therefore been handed to Crown Office officials. The Crown Office said the documents will be given appropriate consideration. Megrahi flew back to Libya in 2009 after he was released on compassionate grounds (Danny Lawson/PA) A Crown Office spokesman said: The Lord Advocate has been informed by the Chief Constable of the findings of the Operation Sandwood investigation and of the Chief Constables conclusion, informed by the advice of independent senior Counsel, that no evidence of any criminality was found. The findings contain material relevant to the live investigation into the Lockerbie bombing and to the SCCRC consideration of the case. On that basis, the documents have been passed to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service team dealing with the live investigation so that they can be given appropriate consideration. Justice for Megrahi campaigners said the findings will be of importance to many of the issues being considered by the SCCRC and thanked police for carrying out their investigation with thoroughness and integrity. A spokesman said: We have confidence that the Scottish Criminal Justice System will welcome this light that has now been shone into the darkness that surrounds Lockerbie and will ensure that the truth is finally revealed to those who lost their loved ones on the 21st December 1988. Aamer Anwar, solicitor for the Megrahi family, which lodged a new bid to appeal against his conviction last year, said: What is of significance today is that Police Scotland appear to have uncovered material that they believe would be of importance to our pending application for a miscarriage of justice appeal with the SCCRC. Failure to disclose material to the defence has been a constant criticism of the Crown made by the Lockerbie defence over the years, accordingly I will be requesting that the Lord Advocate disclose all relevant material to our legal team as a matter of urgency. The Duchess of Cambridge showed an extraordinary interest in psychology as she visited researchers looking at the way in which children develop socially and emotionally. Kate chatted to students about her studies in psychology at university as she visited UCLs Division of Psychology and Language Science in London on Wednesday. Professor Eamon McCrory, co-director of the developmental risk and resilience unit, said: Her level of interest is extraordinary. She has a genuine interest and understanding. Its highly encouraging and hugely supportive. It helps to raise awareness. Kate showed a "genuine interest" in psychology during the visit (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA) Earlier this year Kate organised practitioners and academics to discuss what can be done to make a positive difference in the lives of children, focusing on their earliest stage of life, from pre-birth to infancy. The team of researchers at UCL are working to examine the effect of mental and physical trauma on children. Kate was visiting the UCL developmental neuroscience lab in central London (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA) During the visit, Kate was shown the units MRI scanning facility to learn about their research on how early experience shapes brain function. Children participating in the research play games while their brains are scanned. The magnets inside can detect subtle changes in the brain relating to traumatic experiences. Its been great to see behind the scenes, Kate said. Whats really interesting is that its all so new. Kate was shown the units MRI scanning facility during the visit (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA) Kate arrived for the visit wearing a burgundy skirt and Paule Ka jacket with a black turtle neck jumper, just hours after the Duchess of Sussex wore a Club Monaco burgundy coat and matching dress as she made a return visit to the west London kitchen which inspired her collaborative work on a Grenfell charity cookbook. The duchess, who studied psychology during her first year at the University of St Andrews, also heard from members of Prof McCrorys neuroscience research team about how they work closely with children and families to shed new light on resilience following early adversity. Kate also spoke to social workers from Camden and Islington, and praised their partnership with UCL and their work in the community. I hope this is the beginning of an increase in awareness of the critical importance of early years development, Prof McCrory said. Science is one part of rethinking our approach, but its a much wider challenge. The duchesss interest and breadth of her commitment will shine a light on an important issue. Trade unionists on both sides of the Irish border have said a catastrophic no-deal Brexit should be avoided at all costs. Northern Ireland voted Remain in the Brexit referendum and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) gave a qualified response to Prime Minister Theresa Mays draft withdrawal deal. It said if there had to be a divorce, it should be as soft as possible and added: A UK-wide backstop with the entire UK in a customs union is preferable to a Northern Ireland-only backstop. We must insist that a no-deal scenario that sees the UK crash out of the EU at the end of March 2019 must be avoided at all costs and is unacceptable. The consequences of such a no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic. On Wednesday the leadership of the all-Ireland trade union movement at its executive meeting in Belfast considered its response to the draft agreement negotiated between the EU and UK. It represents the interests of nearly 800,000 workers across the island of Ireland. Owen Reidy, assistant general secretary at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, was among those considering the draft withdrawal agreement (ICTU/PA). The organisation said: Given that unique cross-border perspective, we campaigned against Brexit. We remain firmly of the view that there is no such thing as a good Brexit for working people in Northern Ireland or in the Republic of Ireland. Any Brexit withdrawal agreement will still be less favourable than full UK membership of the EU for working people across these islands. The recent draft withdrawal agreement is essentially the end of the beginning of the UK isolating itself from the EU. It also remains to be seen if there is any real prospect of this proposed agreement commanding the support of the majority of MPs in the House of Commons. The trade union movement warned against a hardening of the border on the island of Ireland, creation of a border in the Irish Sea or an economic frontier between the islands. It is our view that the best way to achieve this is to negotiate as close as possible a relationship between the UK and the EU; preferably with the UK as a whole remaining in the Single Market and a Customs Union in the longer term. Only by achieving this can we arrive at a situation where the rights of citizens and workers, and where jobs and trade will not be impacted to a detrimental extent by this Brexit. Earlier this month, TUC general secretary Frances OGrady accused the Conservatives of negotiating a blindfold Brexit deal which did not deliver for working people. Meghan and Kate were pictured wearing the same shade of burgundy as they attended two separate engagements in London. The Duchess of Sussex visited the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by her first charity cookbook, Together: Our Community Cookbook, were being put into action on Wednesday. Meghan told cooks at a community kitchen of her pride in their work (Chris Jackson/PA) Just hours later, the Duchess of Cambridge visited a developmental neuroscience lab at University College London. Meghan was pictured getting stuck into the cooking, with the sleeves of her Sallyet dress from Club Monaco rolled up and a black apron round her waist. The duchess arrived at the event wearing a long purple overcoat by the same brand. Kate showed an "extraordinary" interest in psychology during the visit (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA) Later, Kate sported a skirt and jacket combo from the brand Paule Ka, paired with a black turtle neck and tights, in a very similar shade for her visit to the UCLs division of psychology and language science in central London. Retired Swedish racing driver Kenny Brack is fighting to stop his estranged wife getting a half share of an 11 million fortune. Anita Brack, 51, who also comes from Sweden, has asked three Court of Appeal judges to overturn decisions made by a High Court judge two years ago. She says she is entitled to half of the 11 million and has complained that a ruling by Mr Justice Francis unfairly leaves her with 500 000 and Brack more than 10 million. Brack, a 52-year-old businessman, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1999, says her appeal should be dismissed. Mr Justice Francis delivered a ruling in December 2016 after analysing evidence at a trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London. Appeal judges Lord Justice Lewison, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Peter Jackson are analysing Ms Bracks challenge at a Court of Appeal hearing due to end later this week. Retired Swedish racing driver Kenny Brack is opposing the action by his estranged wife (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Both Brack and his estranged wife were in court for the start of the hearing on Wednesday. Judges have heard that the Bracks started living together in 1994, married in 2000 and split around five years ago. They have two children and had lived in Maidenhead, Berkshire, when married. The couple signed a prenuptial agreement during a romantic long weekend at a luxury hotel near Niagara Falls, Canada, shortly before marrying, judges have heard. Ms Brack says that Niagara agreement, plus two other similar agreements, were unfair to her. Mr Justice Francis said he had concluded that Brack was mean but honest. Although I found the husband to be rather cold and matter-of-fact in the way that he gave his evidence and I find his current approach towards the wife and the knock-on effect that it would have on the children to be both mean-spirited and mean, I found him to be honest and truthful and preferred his recollection of the circumstances surrounding the signing of the agreements, the judge said in his ruling. Having heard from him and observed his attitude towards money I accept as probably correct that he told the wife he would not marry her if she did not sign a prenuptial agreement. Mr Justice Francis said he thought the prenuptial agreements were unfair on Ms Brack. But he suggested that she would need to pursue her case in a Swedish court. The judge also said Brack had money to spare and urged him to try to find a way of settling. A profile on Motor Sport magazines website says Brack became a star in America after racing in Swedish Formula 3 during the late 1980s. His career ended after he was seriously injured in an accident while racing in Texas in 2003. Motor Sport says Brack was launched into fencing while travelling at 200mph and suffered a broken back, sternum, ankles and right leg. Chief Justice John Roberts is pushing back against President Donald Trump for his description of a judge who ruled against Mr Trumps migrant asylum policy as an Obama judge. It is the first time the Republican-appointed leader of the federal judiciary has offered even a hint of criticism of Mr Trump, who has previously criticised federal judges who ruled against him. Mr Roberts said on Wednesday the US does not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. He commented in a statement released by the Supreme Court after a query by The Associated Press. Mr Roberts said on the day before Thanksgiving that an independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for. Last year, the president used the term a so-called judge after the first federal ruling against his travel ban. During the presidential campaign, Mr Trump criticised Mr Roberts himself for the chief justices decisive vote in 2012 to preserve the Obama healthcare overhaul. Donald Trump has previously lashed out at judges who have ruled against his policies (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Mr Trump also referred to a judge who was presiding over a fraud lawsuit against Trump University as a Mexican who would be unable to rule fairly because of the presidents proposal to build a wall along the US-Mexican border. The presidents latest remarks come as the Supreme Court is enmeshed in controversy over his appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Several justices have spoken out about judicial independence and the danger of having the court viewed as a political institution that is divided between five conservative Republicans and four liberal Democrats. Mr Trump had spoken on Tuesday when a reporter asked for his reaction to a ruling by US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco that put the administrations asylum policy on hold. The president complained that his opponents file their lawsuits in courts that are part of the liberal-leaning 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Every case that gets filed in the 9th Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won, Mr Trump said. The president went on to say about the asylum ruling: This was an Obama judge. However, the initial travel ban ruling in 2017 was issued by US District Judge James Robart, an appointee of President George W Bush. Mr Roberts also was appointed by Bush. The White House had no immediate response to a request for comment on Mr Roberts criticism on Wednesday. Theresa May has joined politicians from across the spectrum in calling for greater diversity in Parliament, 100 years since the law was passed allowing women to become MPs. On November 21 1918, the newly enacted Qualification of Womens Act meant that women could represent constituents in Parliament for the first time. To mark the anniversary of its royal assent, the 50:50 Parliament campaign brought hundreds of women to Westminster to encourage government to reach full equality in the number of men and women in the chamber. I want to encourage more women to become @Conservatives candidates. If someone you know would make a good MP or councillor, #askhertostand. Visit https://t.co/yVFhdiq0ZP to find out more. pic.twitter.com/qhkKfiQXmS Theresa May (@theresa_may) November 21, 2018 During Prime Ministers Questions, former equalities minister Maria Miller MP pointed out that in the last century, 4,503 men have been elected to Parliament, and just 491 women. Mrs May, responding to Mrs Miller, said: Its so important, shes absolutely right that greater diversity in this place actually means that we get better decisions. Thats the same for Parliament as it is for a business, or indeed any organisation. I think we should send a very, very clear message, from everybody across this house, about the significance of the work that an individual Member of Parliament does and the change they can make for their community. Its a great job and I encourage all the women who are here today and thinking of standing to stand for Parliament, get elected, and make a difference. 100 years ago today women were able to stand as MPs. Makes it special that Im now in women & equalities committee discussing how to get a 50/50 parliament (still only 32% women!) Sarah Champion (@SarahChampionMP) November 21, 2018 100 years ago today an act of Parliament meant women were officially allowed to stand as MPs. A great breakthrough for the time, but since then fewer than 500 women have taken a seat in the Commons, while more than 4,500 men have. Much more work to be done. #askhertostand Sam Gyimah (@SamGyimah) November 21, 2018 Today is the centenary of the Qualification of Women Act 1918 which allowed women to stand as MPs for the first time. Now we just need more to do it! #AskHerToStand pic.twitter.com/QQhBgJHzcJ Dr Philippa Whitford (@Dr_PhilippaW) November 21, 2018 Today marks 100 years since women could stand as MPs. We're proud of all the Greens who fight for equality every day, inspiring more women to stand & create a better world #AskHerToStand pic.twitter.com/x5EumIHbEl The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) November 21, 2018 On the anniversary, MPs asked their female constituents to come to Westminster using the hashtag #AskHerToStand. Women represent 32% of MPs, while black, Asian and minority ethnic women (BAME) make up 4% of MPs. Labour councillor Andrea Mann, who joined the party in 2015 at the age of 45, said: Its never too soon or too late to #AskHerToStand. We need women of all backgrounds, ages and experiences in our political system. I joined Labour in 2015, at the age of 45, and was elected as a Councillor in 2018. It's never too soon - or too late! - to #AskHerToStand. We need women of all backgrounds, ages and experiences in our political system. Andrea Mann (@AndreaMann) November 21, 2018 Together with the online campaign, MPs from across the political spectrum gathered in Westminster alongside aspiring female politicians to show them the inner workings of Parliament. Among those at the event were former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman and recently-appointed Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd. Several senior politicians signed a letter urging the UK Government to enact Section 106 of the Equality Act (2010), that would ensure parties reported their gender gap among election candidates. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Images) The first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons was Nancy Astor, after a by-election in December 1919. Ms Astor was elected as a Conservative for the Plymouth Sutton constituency after her husband, Waldorf Astor, the former MP, was elevated to the peerage. The first black woman elected to the British Parliament was Labour shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, who took her seat in 1987. A 90 year-old man who was sheltered as a child refugee by Clement Attlee after fleeing the Nazis in the run-up to the Second World War said it was an overwhelming experience as he met the former prime ministers granddaughter for the first time. Paul Willer said that he and Mr Attlees granddaughter Jo Roundell Greene hugged many times. They met at a private tea hosted by Mrs Roundell Greenes cousin Earl John Attlee in the House of Lords. Just a few other members of both families attended the small event. It came ahead of an event in the Houses of Parliament, organised by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), to mark the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport which saved thousands of children who were escaping from the Nazis. Mr Willer, who was ten when he was taken in by the then opposition leader in 1939, said: The whole day has been emotional. A beaming Mrs Roundell Greene added: We are both absolutely delighted to have met each other. It has been a very special day. Mr Willer recalled feeling immediately welcomed by Mr Attlee and his family. Paul Willer (left) said meeting Jo Roundell Greene was `overwhelming (Yui Mok/PA) Mr Attlee had sponsored a Jewish mother and her two children so they could move to the UK from Germany in 1939. Mr Willer stayed at Mr Attlees home in Stanmore, north-west London, for four months. Mr Attlee did not try to make any political gain from sheltering the child and did not go public with what he had done. Mr Willer, who now lives in Gloucestershire, arrived on Easter Sunday and felt loved by Mr Attlee, his wife Violet and their four children. Recalling his fond memories of Mr Attlee, he said: He was a very gentle fatherly figure who exuded goodwill to all us children all the time. Mrs Roundell Greene, of Somerset, said: There was a young boy who needed somewhere to stay. They had a big house and lots of children, and one more was something they wanted to do. They made him welcome. He had to take cold baths but it was just normal family life. They welcomed him and he said they loved him. Her mother Felicity helped Mr Willer, who could not speak English, communicate with the rest of the family, as they both had learned some Latin at school. Clement Attlee with his granddaughter Jo Roundell Greene, aged 5 (Family handout/PA) Mrs Roundell Greene said: He said he was very fond of my mother Felicity. I feel a great warmth towards him and I had not met him before today. Mr Willer was raised with his younger brother by his Jewish mother, Franziska, in the Bavarian town of Wurzburg. Their father, Johannes, a Christian, left their mother in 1933, began a new relationship and declared himself to be a Nazi sympathiser, according to The Guardian. Mr Willers mother struggled to find work in her profession as a doctor so she could look after her children. She decided she had to leave Germany after seeing the anti-Semitic violence of Kristallnact night of broken glass on November 9 1938. Contact with a rector in Stanmore eventually led to the link being made with the Attlees. Mr Willer was sent to school in Northern Ireland. He later went on to work as a textiles company sales director, married and had three children. AJR chief executive Michael Newman said: The AJR was thrilled to facilitate the deeply emotional meeting of Paul Willer and Jo Roundell Greene, the granddaughter of former Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who opened his home to offer sanctuary to Paul as a ten-year old child fleeing Nazi oppression. Excerpts from a letter by Prime Minister Theresa May were read at the AJR event in which she praised the Kindertransport as the best of humanity coming to the fore in the face of the very worst. Lord Dubs, who came to Britain as a six-year-old child during the Kindertransport, hoped that modern-day refugees coming to Britain would get the same warm welcome and support. A raft of MPs from different parties also read out parts of the debate which led to the Kindertransports creation. The Kindertransport brought some 10,000 children aged between three and 17 years to safety from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia and Poland in the lead up to the Second World War. Most were Jewish and more than half the children never saw their parents again. The first transport, from an orphanage in Berlin, arrived into London Liverpool Street station on 2 December 1938. Most of the children arrived at Liverpool Street station while some came by boat into Southampton. The first transport from Vienna left on 11 December 1938. (Adds new information pars 10-19) Theresa May will hold Brexit talks in Brussels on Saturday, just hours before a special summit is scheduled to sign off on the EU withdrawal agreement. The Prime Minister announced the surprise move after a meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Belgium. Mrs May said: We have had a very good meeting this evening. We have made further progress. And, as a result we have given sufficient direction to our negotiators, I hope, for them to be able to resolve the remaining issues. And that work will start immediately. I now plan to return for further meetings, including with President Juncker on Saturday to discuss how we can bring to a conclusion this process and bring it to a conclusion in the interests of all our people. The remarks came after suggestions from Brussels that the summit set to approve the draft withdrawal agreement on Sunday could be called off unless progress is made on finalising a political declaration on future relations, with one senior official saying: Were not there yet. Reports suggested that Germanys ambassador to the EU had said the document must be finalised by Thursday or Chancellor Angela Merkel would not attend. Asked whether the UK expected the summit to go ahead, the PMs official spokesman said only: A summit has been called, an agenda has been published and we look forward to attending. As talks went down to the wire, Chancellor Philip Hammond said that if the Brexit deal is rejected by Parliament it would unleash political chaos and could lead to EU withdrawal not happening. He told ITVs Peston: Its clear that if the deal is not approved by Parliament we will have a politically chaotic situation. And, we dont know what the outcome of that will be. And for those who are passionately committed to ensuring that we leave the EU on the 29th of March, 2019, one of the things that they are going to have to bear in mind is the possibility that in that chaos that would ensue there may be no Brexit. He added: It could be no deal, but it could be no Brexit, we just dont know. When we look at the economy, and the operation of the economy, getting a smooth exit from the European Union, doing this in an orderly fashion, is worth tens of billions of pounds to our economy. In other obstacles for Mrs May, Spain has raised concerns about the treatment of Gibraltar in the proposed text, while France is understood to be pushing for better rights of access to UK fishing waters. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his government is annoyed that the divorce agreement being prepared for Britains exit from the European Union doesnt specify that Gibraltars future must be decided directly by officials in Madrid and London. Mr Sanchez said the issue is a bilateral matter and is essential for Spain. He repeated his threat that Spain will vote against the planned agreement unless its interests are taken into account. And Mrs Merkel set her face against Tory backbench demands for Britain to have the unilateral power to tear up a proposed backstop arrangement for the Irish border. Mrs Merkel told the German Parliament: We have placed value, and I think this is right, on the fact that Britain cannot decide unilaterally when it ends the state of the customs union, but that Britain must decide this together with the EU. Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said that for Sundays summit to go ahead, we will need to have agreed beforehand the political declaration on the future relationship and we are not there yet. He added: Sherpas are due to meet on Friday. They will need to see a final text before then, and the Commission stands ready to consider the text and take any action at any time. Since unveiling her draft agreement last week, the PM has repeatedly warned MPs that failure to approve it would risk a no-deal Brexit, or no Brexit at all. But answering questions in the Commons on Wednesday, she told MPs that the alternative to her deal will either be more uncertainty, more division, or it could risk no Brexit at all. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: It is my view that the House of Commons will stop no-deal. There isnt a majority in the House of Commons to allow that to take place. The minister, a former Remain campaigner who replaced Leave-backing Esther McVey in the Cabinet following her resignation last week, said she expected MPs to back Mrs Mays plan after peering into the abyss and pulling back. But she added: If it doesnt get through, anything could happen. The Brexiteers may lose their Brexit. (PA Graphics) Counter-terrorism detectives are investigating after two suspected bombs were found in an empty flat. Officers were called to a property being refurbished in Craven Park, Harlesden, in north-west London, at 9.30am on Wednesday. The block of flats was evacuated and roads were closed after specialist officers assessed them as being suspected improvised explosive devices, Scotland Yard said. Both items were taken for forensic examination. Further searches took place before the area was deemed safe and the cordon was lifted at around 6pm, the Metropolitan Police said. Chief Superintendent Simon Rose said: The next stage is to investigate how and why the two devices came to be in this flat and detectives from the Counter Terrorism Command will be leading this. Police are investigating the discovery of two suspected bombs in an empty flat (Kirsty OConnor/PA) The publics safety is our top priority, and I would like to pay tribute to the specialist officers who attended and were able to safely recover the devices. I also want to reassure the local community that we have carried out precautionary searches in the surrounding area to make sure there was nothing else of a similar nature nearby. He appealed for anyone with information to come forward. There have been no arrests. Scotlands farmers have given their backing to Theresa Mays draft EU withdrawal agreement, saying it takes the prospect of a deeply damaging no-deal Brexit off the table. NFU Scotland said that, while not perfect, the deal will allow trade in agricultural goods and UK food and drink to continue largely as before throughout the transition period, and said the opportunity should be taken. NFU Scotlands president Andrew McCornick addressed the issue of Brexit while speaking at agricultural event AgriScot, staged at Ingliston near Edinburgh on Wednesday. He called on the UK and Scottish governments to make very clear and meaningful commitments to the farming industry. Eu deal on the table offers frictionless free trade and the prospect of certainty @AndrewMccornick tells #AgriScot pic.twitter.com/HI3FzbGdwx NFU Scotland (@NFUStweets) November 21, 2018 Mr McCornick said: The draft Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, while not perfect, will ensure that there are no hard barriers on the day we leave the European Union, and will allow trade in agricultural goods and UK food and drink to continue throughout the transition period largely as before. This opportunity needs to be taken as it offers free and frictionless trade, no tariffs, no non-tariff barriers and no resorting to World Trade Organisation rules on day one. Importantly, it also presents a pathway to future trading arrangements being put in place. Farmers in Scotland have backed Theresa Mays Brexit deal (Gareth Fuller/PA) That same level of certainty must also be delivered around the Agriculture Bill passing through Westminster just now. He added: To allay fears and deliver certainty, we need clarity on Scotlands ability to deliver support both in 2019 and 2020 but also to have the ability to design and implement a new, fully supported agricultural policy for Scotland beyond that date. NFU Scotland said a no deal would be deeply damaging. The UK Government welcomed NFU Scotlands support for the draft withdrawal agreement and urged the Scottish Government to back it. A spokesman said: The deal will allow for the UKs smooth and orderly exit from the EU and it works for the whole of the UK, including Scotland. Other sectors including the whisky industry have also welcomed the deal. It is increasingly clear that securing the deal and avoiding a no-deal Brexit is essential for the Scottish economy. The alternatives to this deal simply take us back to square one more division, more uncertainty, and a failure to deliver on the decision of the British people. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that continued, permanent single market and customs union membership for the whole of the UK is an alternative to the deal the Prime Minister has presented, but Theresa May has rejected a call to renegotiate for a softer Brexit. Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing MSP said: The Scottish Government has set out the most detailed proposals to provide certainty and stability on future funding for farming and food production in the UK. Our plan provides a transition period up to 2024 and today, we announced a taskforce to help shape changes which simplify the current system. We have been absolutely clear that payments will continue to be made in 2019 and in 2020. Farming is devolved and we are working hard to ensure that those powers are not grabbed by the UK Government, so that we have all the powers we need to design and legislate for a future policy and support system for the rural economy. Scotland did not choose to be in this position, and it is the UK Government which needs to provide urgent clarity on the key issue of what replaces Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding Brexit is their policy and they are the ones at the negotiating table. A convicted Australian drug mule returned to her homeland early on Thursday hours after she was deported from the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, where she had served nearly 14 years in prison for smuggling heroin. Renae Lawrence was the only woman among nine Australians who were arrested in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Bali to Australia. Lawrence, 41, wearing black sunglasses and a black T-shirt, was escorted on Wednesday afternoon through a crush of reporters outside Bangli prison on Bali into a waiting car. She made no comment. She faced a throng of media when she and her mother, Beverley Waterman, landed at Australias Brisbane Airport, where they are expected to take a domestic flight to their hometown of Newcastle. Lawrence faces potential arrest in Newcastle on outstanding warrants that predate her ill-fated journey to Bali. Asked by reporters in Brisbane if she wanted to comment on her return to Australia, Lawrence looked teary-eyed and declined. Her mother explained: Its very overwhelming. Renae Lawrence is escorted as she leaves Bangli prison in Bali (Dana Pradana/AP) Asked later if she had anything to say, Lawrence told reporters in the Bahasa Indonesia language: Thanks to the government of Indonesia. Thats it. Lawrence faces potential arrest in Newcastle on warrants including one that alleges the former panel beater was involved in a high-speed police chase in a stolen car a month before her arrest in Bali in April 2005. New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has indicated a deal with Lawrences lawyers to hand herself in to police was more likely than her being arrested at Newcastle Airport. From our perspective, we will make a time reasonable with her legal team to bring her in to have those warrants satisfied, Mr Fuller told reporters on Tuesday. Maryoto Sumadi, head of Balis justice and human rights office, said Lawrence is banned from ever re-entering Indonesia. She may be the only member of the group dubbed the Bali nine by Australian media to walk free from prison. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders, were executed by a firing squad in 2015, causing a diplomatic row between Indonesia and Australia. Five others had their sentences increased to life on appeal and another member, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died from cancer in May. Thousands of people have used Twitter to explain global warming to President Trump after he appeared to misunderstand the subject in a tweet on Thursday morning. Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS Whatever happened to Global Warming? wrote the President of the United States, on the same day the World Meteorological Organisation warned greenhouse gases had reached record highs. His fellow Twitter users ensured he wouldnt go looking for an answer. British meteorologist Laura Tobin kindly explained how global warming can lead to weather extremes in some parts of the world. She tweeted: Global warming is a warming World. This leads to more extreme weather both hot & COLD! One of the coldest #thanksgiving ever recorded in NYC but its also [very] warm in the Arctic with no snow in Lapland. President Donald Trump gestures as he walks to Marine One after speaking to media at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, November 20, 2018, for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base en route to Palm Beach International Airport Its also the same for very wet & very dry-Just look at the wildfires. Global warming is a warming World This leads to more extreme weather both hot & COLD! One of the coldest #thanksgiving ever recorded in NYC but it's also V warm in the Arctic with no #snow in #Lapland. It's also the same for very wet & very dry-Just look at the #wildfires @gmb https://t.co/32EYK2dwsq Laura Tobin (@Lauratobin1) November 22, 2018 Lars Boelen, a climate expert from Holland, pointed out the crucial misunderstanding that appeared to be at the core of Mr Trumps tweet. Dear sir, You, once again, confuse weather and climate. Greetings, The rest of the world, he replied, followed by a map showing current world temperatures. Dear sir, You, once again, confuse weather and climate, Greetings, The rest of the world pic.twitter.com/8YKkzfm9Im Lars Boelen (@LarsBoelen) November 22, 2018 Writer David Frum sent Mr Trump a string of links to recent reports from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including evidence that Arctic sea ice was the third smallest on record for October 2018, the same month recorded as the second hottest October on record. Mr Frum also added a tweet from climate scientist Zeke Hausfather debunking similar claims about local weather. The next seven days are expected to reach near-record lows in the Northeast US. At the same time, they will be quite warm globally, around 1.2C above preindustrial temperatures. Resist the temptation to make claims about long-term warming based on short-term localized weather, read Mr Hausfathers tweet. Dr Will Kirby was happy to point out that the difference between local weather and global climates is now taught in third grade, inviting the President to meet his pre-teen son for an explanation. My son just presented a report on the difference between weather and climate to his third grade class. The distinction between the two is a measure of time. I extend a sincere invitation to @realDonaldTrump to contact me so I can arrange to have my son explain it in detail, he wrote on Twitter. Other users applied the same simple logic in Mr Trumps tweet to other scientific issues. Next: if the earth is round, how come people dont fall of the bottom when theyre upside down? Hoax! wrote political analyst Jeff Greenfield. Next: if the earth is round, how come people don't fall of the bottom when they're upside down? Hoax! https://t.co/O7EGQLmOJt Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) November 22, 2018 And writer Tauriq Moosa tweeted: If the sun is real where does IT GO at night? Checkmate, athiests [sic]. In June 2017, less than six months after his inauguration, Mr Trump announced the US would stop participating in the Paris climate accords, an agreement to address rising global temperatures signed by 195 countries around the world. WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said: The science is clear. Without rapid cuts in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, climate change will have increasingly destructive and irreversible impacts on life on Earth. The window of opportunity for action is almost closed. Once upon a time, diplomacy was considered an art. But now, we live in the times of twiplomacy! To quote Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Quiet diplomacy is far more effective than public posturing. That, however, is no longer the case. While career diplomats struggle to keep the polished craft alive, heads of state fight it out on Twitter. US President Donald Trump is leading the charge. His undiplomatic use of Twitter is a constant challenge to traditional diplomacy, where words were carefully weighed and chosen before they were spoken. US President Donald Trump has redefined diplomacy. (Source: Reuters) But Trump uses his personal Twitter handle @realDonaldTrump rather than the official White House handle, @WhiteHouse, for the POTUS. Here is diplomacy looks like now. Recently, Trump called out Pakistan for not doing a damn thing for US, even as America kept pumping billions of dollars to ensure Islamabads support in its fight against terrorism. While the war against terror was being fought with apparent help from Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist whom America was looking for to avenge 9/11, was resting peacefully in Abbottabad, protected by the countrys military. Pakistans new Twitter-savvy Prime Minister, Imran Khan, took to the microblogging site to put the record straight on Trumps tirade. When President Trump accused Pakistan of not doing a damn thing for US, PM Khan hit back: Instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures, the US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 140000 NATO troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops & reportedly $1 trillion spent on war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before. Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 19, 2018 No sooner had Khan tweeted this that President Trump returned to the subject in a long tweet, whose newsworthy line is, We paid Pakistan billions of dollars and they never told us he was living there. Fools! Of course we should have captured Osama Bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center. President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan Billions of Dollars & they never told us he was living there. Fools!.. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2018 This exchange of gunfire on Twitter between the wayward allies took their relationship to a new low. This exchange had all the hallmarks of the Trump era diplomacy. Whatever goes through Trumps brain is broadcast on Twitter moments later, leaving no scope for evolved diplomacy. Countless diplomats and officials are then sent scurrying to contain the damage, as was seen recently during President Trumps France visit. The Guardian aptly described the visit as He came, He sulked, He tweeted. Is there any scope for level-headed statecraft after this? Apparently, there is! Jog your memory to the Twitter spat between Trump and Kim Jong-un. North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 The US President has been frequently insulting his opponents and mocking foreign leaders, even calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un little rocket man. The Chinese Envoy, who just returned from North Korea, seems to have had no impact on Little Rocket Man. Hard to believe his people, and the military, put up with living in such horrible conditions. Russia and China condemned the launch. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017 He also mentioned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a chemical-killing "animal. Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018 His tweets have carried unveiled threats of air strikes and wars. He had threatened North Korea with war, saying continued threats against the US would be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. Very few world leaders have replied directly to Trump to avoid a Twitter spat with the most powerful global leader on a public platform. But that did not deter Kim Jong-un. He responded by calling Trump mentally deranged. North Korea once promised thousands-fold revenge against the US. The degree to which Trump and Kim continue to temper down their rhetoric remains to be seen. Fast-forward to the moment when Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un shook hands and smiled at each other with a promise that the past does not have to define the present. It was the landmark June summit in Singapore. Despite the angry words, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have given friendship a chance. (Source: Reuters) Recently, when Pyongyangs top diplomat said there was no way the country would disarm under current conditions, hours later, Trump said he and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fell in love over the course of their on-again, off-again detente. Trump is the world leader in Twiplomacy too. He has the maximum number of followers (55.8 million) when it comes to world leaders. He has set the tone for diplomacy on Twitter others are following his standard. When India cancelled a meeting between Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UNGA, we saw Imran Khans Trump-ish outburst against India. Prime Minister Khan took to Twitter and said: Disappointed at the arrogant & negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue. However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture. Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 22, 2018 Should heads of state engage in such unrestrained public reactions? It leaves one wondering if this is really how a head of state should speak about another. It certainly is disappointing and it doesnt augur well for a more cultured and restrained diplomacy. To quote research on the subject, ninety-seven per cent of all 193 UN member states have an official presence on Twitter. Realising the potential of a tweet, when Trump decided to leave the Paris Climate Agreement on June 1, 2017, the prime ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden got together to urge @realDonaldTrump to not leave the accord. But Trumps liberal use of his Twitter account has created unease within his own administration. Diplomacy was once a fine art of communication with finesse and precision. Diplomacy, in the age of social media, especially in the times of Twitter, is beginning to leave its restrained, protected past, where it was imagined to be conducted in rarefied environs. Its now more direct, blunt and out in the open. What made good diplomacy tick was economy in the use of words and the ability to read the unsaid. Not anymore. Happy tweeting! The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), an independent think tank, recently published a research paper entitled Picking flowers, making honey: The Chinese militarys collaboration with foreign universities. The author, Alex Joske, a scholar associated with the International Cyber Policy Centre, argued: Since 2007, the PLA has sponsored more than 2,500 military scientists and engineers to study abroad and has developed relationships with researchers and institutions across the globe. This collaboration is highest in the Five Eyes countries, Germany and Singapore, and is often unintentionally supported by taxpayer funds. Scientific export The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. In order to make honey at home, the PLA is picking flowers abroad. The PLA is picking flowers abroad. (Photo: Reuters) Per capita, Australia has the highest level of PLA collaboration among the Five Eyes countries, at six times the level in the US. Nearly all PLA scientists sent abroad are Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members who return to China on time. Dozens of PLA scientists have obscured their military affiliations to travel to Five Eyes countries and the European Union, including at least 17 to Australia, where they work in areas such as hypersonic missiles and navigation technology. These countries are not Chinas security allies, but rather their main intelligence adversaries. Navigation technology, computer science and artificial intelligence (AI) are the dominant areas of exchanges and statistics on Chinese researchers who were sent abroad, says the report which quoted the example of Wang Zhenguo, deputy chief of the PLAs scramjet programme at the PLAs National University of Defense Technology (NUDT); Wang coauthored 18 papers with foreign scientists. It is also said that several researchers visited UK universities for joint research on topics such as combustion in scramjet engines, which could power hypersonic aircraft capable of flying at six times the speed of sound. Huang Wei, a NUDTs aircraft design expert, working for the PLAs General Armaments Department, did his PhD in the University of Leeds between 2008 and 2010, while Luo Wenlei, another NUDT scholar, wrote his thesis on scramjet engines at Leeds in 2014. All courtesy the British tax payers. Amazing, no? One question immediately comes to mind: what about India? While there is practically no investigative journalism in India, most of the universities are in a lethargic state and cant compare in terms of research with the Five Eyes institutions or other Western universities. Little honey can be expected in these conditions. Cyber spying It is not that China is dormant. Zee TV News, quoting Indian intelligence sources, recently reported that a PLA unit was active in India: Cyberwarfare activities have indicated that the secret PLA military Unit 61398 is responsible for cyberwarfare and is currently involved in geolocation intelligence collection, tracking information sources in cyberspace, interception and deciphering of digital communication, said the news channel. Unit 61398 is headquartered in Shanghai, and groups of hackers are suspected to be active in India, involved in cyber spying with the help of Chinese intelligence officers. The intelligence officer who spoke to Zee News said, The hackers of Unit 61398 are using malware to steal information by using Ice Bag, Hidden Lynx and APT and also different types of Trojan Malware, a professional advanced persistent threat [APT] programme. APT not only seeks access to a server, but also tries to retain a long-term, ongoing access. Unit 61398 comes under the PLA Strategic Support Force (PLASSF), the new service responsible for space and cyber warfare. According to an assessment of FireEye, a cyber-security firm, Unit 61398 has stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organisations around the world, targeting a wide range of industries such as aerospace, transportation, health care, and financial services sectors. By 2030, China wants to catch up with the United States, in the domain of defence. (Reuters photo of Zhuhai Airshow) Aggressive front The main reason for these aggressive techniques is that by 2030, China wants to catch up with the United States, in the domain of defence, literally at any cost. The recently held Zhuhai Airshow in China is an example. The PLA Air Force showed off its flagship fifth-generation stealth fighter, the J-20. Large swaths of the ensuing commentary focused on the J-20s handling and maneuverability as it performed a series of rolls and a climb. But this elides what is perhaps the most significant aspect of the J-20s Zhuhai showing: its weapons system, wrote Wendell Minnick, a Taipei-based journalist on security issues, in National Interest. The J-20 opened its missile bay doors to reveal four PL-15 missiles and two PL-10 missiles on either side. The PL-15, with a reported maximum range of 300 km, is a long range air-to-air missile using active electronically scanned radar; it is slated to enter service in 2018. Among the other new gadgets displayed there, a vehicle-based laser weapon, called LW-30 was seen on the stand of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). According to The Global Times, the LW-30 laser defense weapon system could use a directional-emission high-energy laser to quickly intercept many kinds of aerial targets, such as photoelectric guidance equipment, drones, guided bombs, and mortars. It will be installed on the Tibetan plateau and used against India, experts noted. India does not have the mindset and the means to undertake such hyper-aggressive weapon development, but a middle path approach would help to reduce the gap with China, before it becomes insurmountable. Homemade honey with Indian flowers may take some time. (Courtesy of Mail Today) Also Read: Searching for Utopia: Why it's not wise to copy China Nissan board members appeared poised to oust disgraced tycoon Carlos Ghosn as chairman on Thursday, after his spectacular arrest for financial misconduct stunned the car industry and the business world. Ghosn stands accused of under-reporting his income by millions of dollars and a host of other financial irregularities, in a stunning fall from grace for the once-revered titan of the auto sector. The 64-year-old Brazil-born tycoon is credited with turning around the Japanese brand and forged an alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi Motors that last year sold 10.6 million cars between them more than any other firm in the world. Ghosns fate appears all but sealed after his hand-picked replacement as CEO, Hiroto Saikawa, launched an astonishing broadside at his mentor following his arrest on Monday at a Tokyo airport as he landed in his private jet. Saikawa said too much authority had been placed in the chairmans hands and lamented the dark side of the Ghosn era, as he called the board meeting to fire him. Seven board members will vote on the motion to dismiss Ghosn, which needs a simple majority to pass. Insiders say Saikawa would likely not have suggested the ouster unless he were sure of support from his fellow board members. This would not have been proposed if there had been any doubt and the results of the investigations have already been presented to the board members, a source close to the company told. Appointing a new chairman will take some time as it has to be approved by shareholders, but Saikawa is seen as front-runner. Even if removed as chairman, Ghosn will technically remain on the board as a shareholders meeting is required to oust him. Ghosn is being held in a Tokyo detention centre and has not been seen in public nor made any comments since his arrest. He received a visit from Brazilian consul Joao de Mendonca on Thursday who told news agency AFP that Ghosn sounded very well, in good health. On Wednesday, prosecutors successfully applied to extend his custody for an additional 10 days as they step up their questioning. Authorities believe Ghosn and an American executive Greg Kelly conspired to understate Ghosns income five times between June 2011 to June 2015, reporting a total of five billion yen in income ($44 million) instead of the actual 10 billion yen. Deputy chief prosecutor Shin Kukimoto said that the type of crime Ghosn is accused of is one of the most serious types of crime under Japans Financial Instruments Act. Under the law, companies themselves can also be held accountable for the falsified documents, Kukimoto said, following reports that prosecutors believe Nissan also has a case to answer. Public broadcaster NHK said Nissan had paid huge sums to provide Ghosn with luxury homes in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam without any legitimate business reason. Ghosn had a reputation as a hard-nosed workaholic with had no qualms about closing factories and slashing jobs earning the nickname Le Cost Killer in France, where 47,000 employees work for Renault. But his exorbitant salary and flashy lifestyle at odds with Japanese corporate culture drew fire and his current accommodation will be a far cry from his usual expensive surroundings. The arrest has sparked questions over whether the alliance of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors can survive without Ghosn, seen as the glue holding together his fractious creation, which globally employs around 450,000 people. According to the Financial Times, the fall from grace came as Ghosn was working on a full-blown merger of Nissan and Renault. This was opposed by executives in the Japanese firm that has ended up being the most profitable player in the partnership and the FT said Ghosns departure could be used as a pretext to rebalance the alliance in Nissans favour. Governments in Paris and Tokyo have been scrambling to contain the fallout from the arrest, with President Emmanuel Macron saying France would be extremely vigilant about the stability of Renault and the alliance. Its time we do justice to Radhanath Sikdar, the man who first measured Mount Everest All of us are aware from the days of our childhood that the highest mountain peak in the world is Mount Everest and it was discovered by George Everest. It was only much later that one came to know that Sir George Everest was the Surveyor General of India and the peak was so named as he had discovered it to be the highest in the world. As the Surveyor General, he had his offices in Dehradun and used to stay in Mussoorie. He left India in 1843, almost 200 years ago, but his house in Mussoorie is still being preserved and is now a place of tourist interest. The truth, however, is somewhat different. It is a fact that Sir George Everest was the Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843, but it is also a fact that during his tenure of office, Mount Everest, that we know of today, was only known as Peak XV. Everest had neither initiated the process of measuring the height of this peak, nor was he instrumental in its naming, which was done much later, long after he had proceeded to England to enjoy his retirement after 1843. Located on the border of Nepal and Tibet, this Peak XV has been worshipped as a holy place by the Tibetans, who called it Chomolungma, the Mother Goddess of the World. In Nepal, this peak is known as Sagarmatha, meaning the peak of heavens. Even these days, this peak is addressed by its traditional names, both in Tibet and Nepal, while we have followed what was given to us by the British ie Mount Everest. In fact, the name Everest was given by Col Sir Andrew Waugh of Bengal Engineers, who succeeded Everest as the Surveyor General of India from 1844 to 1861. Circumstances under which Peak XV was named as Mount Everest are rather peculiar and reveal a very biased handling of the matter so that the entire credit goes to the British officers of the East India Company. Going through the historical records of the Survey of India Volume IV: 1830 to 1843, pertaining to the tenure of Sir George Everest, one can observe at a glance that he had shown no interest in Peak XV during this period. It was his successor, Andrew Waugh, who made the official announcement of Peak XV being the highest known peak of the world in 1856, the measurements had, of course, been initiated much earlier and finalised by our own Radha Nath Sikdar in 1849. Recognising the work of Sikdar, the Government of India had issued a postage stamp in his honour in 2004. But his work is of such a great importance that issuing a postage stamp and then forgetting about him does not do full justice to his unique and great contribution. It was Sir George Everest who had recruited Sikdar in the great trigonometrical survey and became extremely fond of him. Volume IV of the Historical records of Survey of India, pertaining to his tenure, have the following mention about Sikdar: Radanauth is high in favour with everybody, and universally beloved in the GT Survey. You will not know him for the same person when you see him again, for he is no longer a puny stripling, but a hardy energetic young man, ready to undergo any fatigue, and acquire a practical knowledge of all parts of his profession. There are few of my instruments which he cannot manage; and none of my computations of which he is not thoroughly master. Eventually he will furnish a convincing proof that the aptitude of your countrymen for the practical, as well as the theoretical, parts of mathematics is in no wise inferior to that of Europeans. Of the qualifications of the young man himself I cannot speak too highly. In his mathematical attainments there are few in India, whether European or Native, who can at all compete with him, andeven in Europe those attainments would rank very high. Later, on account of a special technique developed by Sikdar for accurate computation of heights and distances through Spherical Trigonometry, he virtually became indispensable to the organisation and rose to become the Chief Computer in the office of SGI. In that position, he moved from Dehradun to Kolkata in 1849. As to why Andrew Waugh gave the name Everest, even though he had left the scene long ago, is an interesting piece of history. Had SG Burrard, a later Surveyor General of India, not acknowledged the good work of Radhanath Sikdar through a research paper published in 1904 in the scientific journal Nature, these facts would not have come to light. He published in detail various steps taken for the measurement of Peak XV. This in a way also exposed the machinations of Andrew Waugh who had tried his level best to take credit away from, to where it truly belonged, that is Radhanath Sikdar. It is human nature that in case something important is achieved, one tries to take credit or gives credit to someone, but in this case, Waugh specifically mentioned that Sikdar had nothing to do with this work, indicating his bias. Later, he could be seen placating him by asking him that he should be happy that the peak had been named after his mentor. Andrew Waugh also gave the additional charge of the Indian Metrological Department to Sikdar, raising his salary to Rs 600 per month. This was unheard for an Indian in those days. Clearly, all these efforts were to keep him happy but away from the core of the survey work. SG Burrards publication in the Nature specifically mentioned that the Chief Computer (who was Radhanath Sikdar) from Calcutta had informed Andrew Waugh in 1852 that the peak designated XV had been found to be higher than any other highest measured peak in the world at that time. Raw data from theodolites, taken from seven observation stations at Jirol, Mirzapur, Janjpati, Ladiva, Haripur, Minai and Doom Dongi was collected at the trigonometrical survey at Calcutta. This was then processed by Radhanath Sikdar and conveyed to Andrew Waugh that Peak XV had been measured at 29,002 feet, taking the mean value of all observations. Considering that the scientific instrumentation available at that time was only of a rudimentary nature, the level of accuracy reached was almost 100 per cent, and this figure has not undergone any change, despite the current state of technological progress. Correspondence between Waugh and Sikdar reveals that Waugh did privately acknowledge the achievement of Sikdar but did not recognise his work on record and in public. In his letter dated August 25, 1856, Waugh wrote to Sikdar that he was glad to hear that naming the peak as Everest had given the latter a lot of satisfaction. Thus, it is clear that the name Everest was given to ensure that Sikdar, who could have been the rightful claimant for credit, did not object as he was extremely fond of Everest, who had recruited him in service. The situation would have remained obscure but for the research paper of SG Burrard in 1904. Later, Professor Meghnad Saha acknowledged this feat in 1938 by giving Sikdar full credit. Earlier, Kenneth Mason in 1928, recognised his work as also John Keay in his book, The Great Arc. In the given situation, changing the name of Mount Everest to Mount Sikdar Everest will perhaps do full justice to Radhanath Sikdar and give him worldwide recognition, which was legitimately his due, long time ago. We do not have to seek anybodys approval for such a change as the rationale is all well-documented. Even if the world continues to call it Everest, in India, we could still call it Sikdar Everest. On several earlier occasions, achievements of Indian scientists have not been recognised, as Sir JC Bose could have got the Nobel Prize for Physics or at least shared it with Marconi for his work on wireless and radio; SN Bose could have got the Nobel Prize way back in 1932 for his work with Einstein on Bose Einstein condensate but atleast he was recognised, though belatedly naming the God particle, Higgs-Boson after him. Naming Everest as Sikdar Everest would be a recoginition of a scientist whose work has stood the test of time. Besides it would also justifiably add to our national pride. (The writer is a retired Delhi Police Commissioner and former Uttarakhand Governor) Experience from failures and life lessons are crucial for an entrepreneur. In fact, venture capitalists have invested in those who have survived multiple troughs Failure and age are the two biggest reasons why people do not venture out of their comfort zone and try new, exciting and innovative ideas. This shows that individual or societal perception of failure is directly proportional to entrepreneurial attitude and intention in an economy. We all love to hear stories of young entrepreneurs, from Mark Zuckerberg, who changed the way we communicate with the world, to our very own Ritesh Agarwal, who is known to be one of the youngest CEOs in the Indian hotel industry besides being the first resident Indian to be awarded the prestigious Thiel Fellowship. With the advent of booming techpreneurs around the world, youth have become synonymous with entrepreneurial success. Does that mean that youth and inexperience are better than experience in both life and industry? Not really. A study by the Kauffman Foundation states that the average age of successful start-up founders is 40 with at least six to 10 years of industry experience. They are twice as likely to be launched by people over 55 as well as people of age group 20 to 34, thereby bursting all myths linking youth and entrepreneurship. Additionally, according to a recent survey by First Round, a early-stage venture capital fund, almost one-third of start-up founders are over 40. In fact, busting the myth, failure may not be a bad word in a start-up world either, since an entrepreneur, who has never experienced failure, is untested and has not learnt from adversity. Quite a few venture capitalists have been known to invest in entrepreneurs who have undergone multiple entrepreneurial failures. There could be several reasons for failures like bad timing, funding, or product-market fit. It is not failure that would matter the most but the kind of lessons an entrepreneur is able to draw from it and how many times s/he gets back up on his/her feet. This intrinsic ability of bouncing back from a failure and a never-say-die attitude makes an entrepreneur successful. Failure is a great teacher and all entrepreneurs must learn from it. We all know about the worlds most successful entrepreneurs. However, we are unaware of the failures they have faced to reach where they are. Steve Jobs was an unconventional leader and an impressive entrepreneur not only because of his tremendous innovations but his innate ability to make emphatic comebacks from almost irrecoverable failures. Having found success very early in his 20s, Jobs was fired from the very company he created, Apple, at the age of 30. Undaunted by the failure, Jobs found a new company, NeXT, which was eventually acquired by Apple. Once back, Jobs proved his capacity for greatness by reinventing the companys image and taking the Apple brand to new heights. Not many of us realise that one of the worlds wealthiest persons, Bill Gates, tasted failure early in his entrepreneurial life with his first venture, an early version of big data, Traf-O-Data, which was a complete disaster. However, the failure did not hold Gates back from exploring new opportunities, and a few years later, he created his first Microsoft product and forged a new path to success. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, who recently surpassed Bill Gates as the richest man on this planet, also has had his shares of failures. Before Amazon became a household name, the companys CEO had several failed ideas. One of the most notable was an online auction site which evolved into zShops, a brand that ultimately failed. Still, CEO Jeff Bezos re-purposed the idea into what eventually became the Amazon Marketplace. Walt Disney, one of the most creative geniuses of the 20th century, after being fired from a newspaper apparently for lacking creativity, formed his first animation company called Laugh-O-Gram Studio, which failed due to the closing of an important distributor partner. Disney achieved success later in Hollywood after facing similar criticisms and failures. The journey for making Hersheys successful was not as sweet for Milton Hershey as their chocolates taste. After his initial three candy-related ventures failed, his fourth attempt in this business started showing results, which eventually led him to create Hershey Company, one of the well-known companies in the candy industry and also led to realise the dream of milk chocolates for the masses. There are numerous entrepreneurs for whom age is just a number and one can find these examples in all industries. Colonel Harland Sanders, the man behind the world famous KFCs chicken recipe, is far from being an ideal entrepreneur. Having faced troubled early years, Sanders slowly gained popularity for his delicious chicken recipe while working at a local service station in Kentucky. In 1952, at the age of 62, Sanders franchised his Kentucky Fried Chicken for the first time. Today, KFC has over 18,800 outlets in 118 different countries and territories. McDonalds, which is highly popular in India as well as around the world as one of the leading fast food outlets, was popularised by Ray Kroc using the franchise model who finally ended up buying the company from the McDonald family for $2.7 million at the age of 52. In entrepreneurship, information networks are inefficient, which provide opportunities to the founders to use their unique prior knowledge to fill existing gaps, and experience plays a vital role in it. Often, these unique opportunities reveal themselves with time, learning and exposure to a variety of challenges to make a product better or a service more efficient, and provides compelling value proposition and the basis of a successful company. Experience also helps founders to have deeper networks, team managing capabilities and better business skills to deliver on their vision. Although failure is not being eulogised and is not a pre-requisite for success, it has its own part to play and lends the capacity to build valuable character traits for entrepreneurial success such as tenacity, perseverance and resilience, which are all vital for any kind of long-term success. There are several reasons why entrepreneurs, who start businesses later in life, have a better chance of reaching success. The first reason is experience, with the most obvious and undeniable benefit of starting a business later in life. As one grows older, the level of business acumen and hands-on experience along with patience can give a business the best chance it has at success. Over the years, there has been an economic shift from industrial to knowledge-based processes where age makes entrepreneurs more valuable as professionals because it brings more skills and knowledge to the table. This economic shift will support older entrepreneurs who decide to make a go of it later in life because one can transform experience into a highly sought-after commodity. Second, a large and diverse network of peers and colleagues provide invaluable connections to drive a business. This depth of a thriving network often takes years to build. So, age is certainly an asset in this situation. Third, goal-setting is an integral part of starting and running a business and is necessary on a consistent basis during the life of the business. Experience makes an entrepreneur a seasoned goal-setter, and the process of outlining a desired outcome as well as the actions needed to make outcome a reality, become second nature. It helps the founder move forward in a more efficient, cost-effective and productive way. An entrepreneur who has been there, done that has a better chance of being backed by investors who are looking for older, seasoned and experienced entrepreneurs who are able to make smarter investments. Fourth, as a financially secure, seasoned professional, older entrepreneurs have more options when it comes to the path to entrepreneurship buying into a franchise; leveraging the power of an already successful brand and making it their own legacy; forming a partnership with a fellow entrepreneur and splitting the costs, workload and profits or; becoming an investor, moving to the other side of the table by providing capital for someone elses business idea, in return to a percentage of the business, leaving the work for the younger lot to handle. Sustaining a business isnt easy and it takes hard work and discipline to reach success. An entrepreneur should not only learn from mistakes, reflect and accept the failure but revisit the business with passion and keep pursuing goals no matter what. So, dont count yourself out no matter what your age. Experience from failures and life lessons are crucial for an entrepreneur. (The writer is Assistant Professor, Amity University) he 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health will be held in Hyderabad next year, a global organisation working in this field announced on Wednesday. The conference 'Ending the Emergency: Science, Leadership, Action' which will be held from October 30 to November 2 next year, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease said. It will focus on what is needed to ensure commitments become action and targets are met, the organisation also called The Union said. Tuberculosis (TB), a preventable and curable disease, now kills more people than HIV/AIDS and is the world's largest infectious disease, it said. India has the highest TB burden in the world with one in four people ill with tuberculosis globally residing in the country, Prabodh Bhambal, Deputy Executive Director at The Union, said. The scale of the TB global health emergency was acknowledged by the United Nations (UN) and it held the inaugural High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis in New York in September. The meeting culminated in a political declaration signed by world leaders committed to ending tuberculosis by 2030. The Indian government has committed to eliminate TB in India by 2025. "It's time to end the global TB emergency and that will mean holding governments accountable to the Political Declaration they signed at the UN meeting, Jose Luis Castro, Executive Director at The Union, said. "In Hyderabad we need to be seeing signs that we are seeing real leadership that is translating into both investment in diagnostic tools, new drugs and a vaccine and action on the ground," he said. The 50th Union World Conference is expected to be attended by around 6,000 researchers, policy makers, health practitioners, political leaders, and UN and community representatives. The latest research into prevention, cure and vaccines will be presented at the conference. The Union has its South-East Asia Office in Delhi employing and implements the Call to Action for a TB-Free India with support from the USAID's Challenge TB project. The Union's Project Axshya, launched in 2010, engages all sectors to strengthen TB care and control in 128 districts across 14 states, Bhambal said. Financed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and partnering with local organisations across India, since 2015, Axysha has reached over 48 million people, identified and tested 643,000 people and placed 70,000 TB patients on treatment and prevented countless cases of infection, he said. The conference's theme resonates with TB, but it will also raises awareness on all threats to lung health, including air pollution and tobacco abuse, The Union said. Dr Vedant Kabra, Head of the Department of Surgical Oncology, Manipal Hospitals Groups, said an estimated seven million people across the globe die each year from exposure to ambient and household air pollution according to the WHO. India accounts for 1.6 million deaths annually, he said. On an average, Indian citizens are exposed to PM2.5 concentrations between 15 and 32 times the air quality guidelines set forth by the WHO. Dr Raj Kumar, Director, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi, emphasised that implementing stricter emissions standards in India could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year. Claiming himself as the kingmaker, Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday said no party can form a Government at the Centre in 2019 without the support from the SP. Addressing SP party workers here on the occasion of his 79th birthday, Mulayam claimed that he can turn the tide in SPs favour in 2019 general elections. You should arrange my meetings at divisional level and I will turn the tide in Samajwadi Partys favour so that no one could form the Government at the Centre without our support, Yadav told party leaders while addressing them at State SP headquarters in Lucknow. Asking party workers to start working for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the SP patron said that the party would return to power in the State but workers should work for capturing power at the Centre. Mulayam said the SPs ideology was to empower the poor, farmers and youths besides giving more opportunity to women. If women are with you, no one can stop us from forming a Government and making the party stronger, he said. However, without taking any names, Mulayam Singh Yadav said that there were some people in the party who were working against the party and trying to lead the party to isolation. "If workers go before the people with the party's ideology, no one can stop it from becoming strong," he said. "Always try to fight against injustice and support people who talk about justice. This will take the party to achieve its milestone," he said. Senior party leader Kironmoy Nanda and Ahmed Hasan were also present at the SP headquarters during the function. Earlier, SP president Akhilesh Yadav wished his father at his residence along with his children before leaving for poll-bound Madhya Pradesh for campaigning. The SP workers played drums and danced in front of the party office in Lucknow to celebrate the occasion. A hoarding war was also witnessed between Akhilesh and Shivpal factions over the celebration of Mulayam's birthday. The area near offices of both parties was covered with hoardings wishing Mulayam on his birthday. While wishing his father on his birthday, Akhilesh tweeted : "He (Mulayam) has taught me the truth of 'ahimsa' of Mahatma Gandhi and the ideology of Lohiaji which says that to end evil, you have to identify the evil." State SP president Naresh Uttam said on Thursday that Mulayam Singh's birthday was being celebrated in a grand manner in the entire state. "Party workers distributed fruits and sweets among the poor, while blood donation camps were also organised," he said. A 17-year-old youth committed suicide by hanging with ceiling at his residence in Shiva Shakti Nagar under Cholla Mandir police station on Tuesday. Mohit alias Bobby Yadav was found hanging and declared dead when he was rushed to nearby hospital. Police said that Mohit was B.A first year student and was lone son among three children. The father of the deceased works at a near Bharat Talkies who was at work in the evening when the deceased committed suicide. Police have not found any suicide note or any reason behind the suicide. Further investigation has been started. The family members failed to provide reason behind the suicide. The friends of the deceased would be questioned. After the preliminary investigation the body was sent for the post mortem and a case under section 174 of the CrPC. Police have started further investigation. The financial condition of the family was not good which could be a reason behind deceaseds suicide. The call record detail of the deceased would be investigated in the investigation. Meanwhile, a 30-year-old man committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling at her house in Vajpayee Nagar under Shahjehanabad police station on Tuesday. Police said that the deceased Gaya Prasad was found hanging with the ceiling and was rushed to nearby hospital where he was declared dead. The deceased used to work with BMC as contractual employee. The reason behind the suicide would be investigated. Police have registered a case under section 174 of CrPC and have started further investigation. The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested two more members of notorious Bhagam Bhag Gang who had duped several people in the National Capital on the pretext of providing maids for domestic work. The accused had shared one number with fictitious names from different locations of the national Capital and had cheated large number of people on the pretext of providing domestic maids, according to Monika Bhardawaj, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), West district. The modus operandi of the Bhagam Bhag gang was to send a girl to the targeted household only after taking security deposit. Once inside the house, the girl posing as domestic help used to slip away within half an hour or so from the house and not to be found again, said the DCP. However, the gang ran out of its luck once a complaint was filed against a gang member at Hari Nagar police station by a resident of the area. The accused has been identified as Lalit Mukhiya (40) alias Tejbir who hails from Maghubani in Bihar was residing in Uttam Nagar area of National Capital and Manish (40) is a permanent resident of Pargana in West Bengal was also living in Uttam Nagar area. We have received a complaint from Dr Deepa Gangwani in Hari Nagar police station that she was cheated Rs 32000 by a fake placement agency, who registered itself on Sulekha.com, on pretext of providing maid, said the DCP. In her complaint Deepa said that on November 21, a placement agency with name Three Star offered to provide a housemaid to her. A deal was finalized for Rs 32000. However, on the very next day, the said placement agent sent a maid Manisha along with a lady Reena at the house of the complainant. The complainant gave Rs 32000 to Reena. Thereafter, Reena took the money and left Manisha at the house. However, the maid absconded from the house of the complainant very next morning. Even the mobile phone of the maid as well as Tejbir, owner of the placement agency was found switched off, said the DCP. Acting on the complaint a First Information Report (FIR) was filed and accordingly raids were laid and the accused were arrested. During interrogation, accused persons have disclosed to have committed more than 50 such incidents of cheating in various parts of Delhi, Vrindavan, Gurugram and Ghaziabad. Further investigation is going on, said the DCP. Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Wednesday participated in a procession organised to mark Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. Along with sea of devotees, Das walked along with procession at Sakchi and extended his warm wishes to the participants. The Chief Minister, while on his way back to Ranchi at 10:30 am took part in the festival. He also interacted with the devotees. The organisers of Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi also felicitated Das. Meanwhile, the festival was celebrated with great fervour and special prayers were offered in mosques and shrines on the occasion across the city. The main procession emerged from Mango at 9.30 am, when thousands of rallies marched toward Sakchi by chanting slogans commemorating Prophet Mohammed. The rally first reached at Aam Bagan ground at 11.30 am. After a brief stay there, the participants started marching toward Dhatkidih, where they reached by 12.30 pm. The Eid Milad-un-Nabi was organised by Tanzib Ahle Sunnat O Jammat, a religious outfit. During the religious discourse, Manzar Mohsin, the head clergy of Mecca Masjid, Sakchi called upon the participants to follow the path of peace and humanity, which was the main thrust of Prophet Mohammed. The district administration had a tough time while managing vehicular traffic movement today as all major thoroughfares remained occupied following revellers of Prophet Mohammad took out a huge process marking his birth anniversary. People had come in small procession from places like Jugsalai, Parsudih, Makdhampur, Telco, Barinagar, Golmuri, Shastrinagar, Kadma, Bhalubasa, Agrico, Mango, Azadnagar, Kapali and Jawaharnagar and had converged at Dhatkidih Community Centre Maidan in Bistupur. On the occasion the Muslim society people came together to take out procession. In order to manage the procession 200 controllers and 500 people were made members. People from Azadnagar, Jugsalai, Golmuri, Bistupur, Shastrinagar, Kitadih, Makadmpur joined procession and lead to Sakchi Aamgbagan. Food and sweets were distributed among the poor and the needy. Moreover, contributions were made to support orphanages, asylums for the physically and mentally challenged, and widows. Special prayers are offered at mosques. Religious leaders and scholars preach the Prophet Muhammeds teachings. Senior SP Anoop Birtharay said they focussed on the procession and the festival was celebrated peacefully. A couple of days after results of the urban local body elections were declared, the Congress mayoral candidate in Kashipur, Mukta Singh and her husband were arrested by the police in a dowry harassment case. They were presented in the court by the police in the evening from where they were sent to Haldwani jail. There was an upheaval in the local political scenario in Kashipur on Thursday when Congress mayoral candidate Mukta Singh and her husband Ravindra Singh were arrested by the police on being reportedly found guilty in a dowry harassment case filed by their daughter in-law. As the news of the Singh couple being arrested and taken to Kotwali reached the local Congress members, former MP KC Singh Baba and Congress city head Sandeep Sehgal along with dozens of party members also reached the police station. Since the arrests were made shortly after the local body elections, the Congress members alleging that the action was taken under political pressure, sat outside the police station gate and staged a protest demonstration. According to the case details Priyanka Singh had lodged a dowry harassment case against her husband Shashank Singh, mother in-law Mukta Singh, father in-law Ravindra Singh and two others on September 28, 2018. The complainant has accused Mukta Singh and four other members of her family of aborting her pregnancy twice following her inability to provide dowry. Priyanka had first submitted an application in the women helpline during November 2017 stating that she had been married to Shashank Singh in December 2011. Her father had gifted a car and other valuables to her in-laws at that time. Things remained normal for sometime but later on her in-laws allegedly started harassing her for dowry. They reportedly demanded Rs 50 lakh and a car. Due to her inability to fulfill their demand, her husband Shashank, in-laws Mukta Singh and Ravinder Singh, brother in law Anurag and his wife Deepali allegedly started misbehaving and assaulting her. She was made to undergo abortion twice, she alleged. Due to these reasons she went to live with her parents in May 2015. In November 2017, a meet was reportedly held in her home which was attended by her husband and in-laws. The accused reportedly became angry due to the inability of the womans family to meet their demands and told her to return only with the demanded dowry. After counseling in the women helpline, the case was sent to the family court. A case was then lodged in the Kotwali and the probe conducted by the investigation officer found the husband guilty and others not guilty. Later, on the directions of the senior superintendent of police, the investigation officer was changed. Inspector Chanchal Sharma informed that in the probe conducted by the investigation officer, Mukta Singh, her husband Ravinder Singh and their son Shashank were found to be guilty while the other accused were found to be not guilty. After the investigation, arrest warrant was issued against Mukta Singh and her husband with the duo being arrested on Thursday. Meanwhile, Congress leaders alleged that the arrests were due to political pressure as the BJP had conspired to defeat the Congress mayoral candidate in the polls. Suspecting anomalies in counting of votes, the Congress was preparing to file a petition for recounting and on learning of this, the BJP leaders got her arrested, alleged the Congress city chief. Delhi Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday gave administrative approval for procuring low floor buses. The approval has been granted for the engagement of 1000 low floor CNG propelled air conditioned buses under the cluster scheme of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD). Significantly, Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) may be appointed as Bid Process Manager (BPM) and Integrated Machanism (IM) for these proposed clusters as well, on nomination basis. The Cabinet also decided that the transport department will specify the clusters and its associated routes for the 1000 low floor AC buses in the Request For Procurement (RFP) document so as to have informed bidding process by the prospective bidders. The Transport Minister will be the competent authority for RFP approval of this project. "After receipt of financial bids, the concern department will seed expenditure sanction for these 1000 low floor AC buses from the Council of Ministers for the entire concession period before signing the Concession Agreements with the 'L-1 bidders'. The unutilised bus depots of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) shall be utilised by the Transport Department for housing of these 1000 low floor AC buses for which Transport Department will take final decision in consultation with DTC:, the cabinet ordered. It was also approved in the cabinet meeting that the transport Department will be allowed to make modifications in the routes of the remaining clusters, as per requirement of city and rural areas. It may be noted that transport department had sought the approval for these buses in accordance earlier in May of this year . Delhi Cabinet had then directed the transport department to initiate the process for the procurement of additional of additional low floor buses. "The DTC highlighted that the main reason for failures of past tenders was procurement of buses with Annual Maintenance Contract(AMC) from the Vehicle Manufactures(VMs) for the entire life span of the vehicle(7,50,000 kms or 12 years operation whichever is later). Notably, DIMTS was assigned with a study a Route Rationalisation, "Some of the 657 approved routed are likely to be amended. Hence, the department may be allowed to make suitable modifications in the existing routes of clusters, as per the requirements of the bus passengers," an official statement from the chief minister (CMO)'s office stated. Alongwith this installation of CCTV cameras in existing buses for which consultant has been appointed and the specifications for CCTV and Automated Vehicles Tracking System (AVTS), has also been finalized in the cabinet. "Currently, VMs are executing AMC of 3775 low-floor CNG buses of DTC. Owing to suboptimal maintenance of buses, heavy deductions are being made by DTC on their AMC bills in accordance to the contract terms. It is essential that these buses will run on CNG fuel in Delhi as such buses are customised mainly for Delhi" the CMO stated. Uttarakhand is fast becoming a major destination for shooting of films thanks to the facilities the state government is providing in the matter, said the additional director Information and additional chief executive officer of Uttarakhand Film Development Board (UFDB) Anil Chandola while addressing a workshop on the occasion of the Film Bazaar-2018 organised by the Union ministry of Information and Broadcasting undertaking National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) in Goa. Notably, the workshop was organised to provide detailed information on the facilities being given for film shooting in Uttarakhand on Thursday. Eminent film producers/directors of the country and abroad and representatives of 11 states participated in the workshop. Chandola gave a detailed presentation during the workshop on the Uttarakhand film policy as framed by the state government to facilitate shooting of films. He said that the permission is being given by the state government to shoot films under a single window system. The fee for shooting of films has also been abolished, he added. He further said that Uttarakhand Film Development Council is being made more active in pursuance of the policy. The natural and picturesque sites of the state are being identified for shooting, he said and added that new shooting sites in the state are being explored and data in this regard is being collected. Chandola said that Uttarakhand has been the first preference for film producers/directors. Even before the formation of the state, big banner films had been shot in Harshil, Rishikesh, Haridwar and Nainital, he informed during the workshop. Answering the queries of the film producers/directors during the workshop, the deputy director Information/nodal officer, Uttarkhand Film Development Council K S Chauhan said that arrangements have been made to provide many attractive facilities for the film industry as part of the film policy being implemented in the state. Since the implementation of the film policy-2015, permission for shooting of about 150 films, TVs serials and documentary has been granted and they include movies and serials of the big banners as well, he said. Chauhan appealed to the NFDC authorities that the offices of the government of India based in Uttarakhand should be issued instructions at the level of the Centre to facilitate shooting at these places as well. Film and Television Producer Guild of India CEO Mumbai Kulmeet Makkar and managing director of Indian Motion Picture Association, Mumbai Uday Singh also addressed the workshop. They heaped praise on the film policy being implemented by the state government and called upon other states to emulate the lead. Among others who addressed the workshop were the director of the Indian Motion Picture Association Mumbai Lohita Sujit and head of Film Facilitation Office Vikramjit Roy. The workshop was conducted by Kavita Saini. After a grenade explosion inside Nirankari Bhavan in Amritsar's Adliwal village that killed three people and injured several others, Haryana Police has made elaborate security arrangements for the annual Nirankari Sant Samagam to be held at Samalkha in district Panipat from November 24 to 26. An alert has also been sounded in Haryana in view of the annual event. Haryana Director General of Police, BS Sandhu on Thursday said that foolproof security arrangements have been made in view of the 71st annual Nirankari Sant Samagam at Samalkha. Sandhu said that in view of the expected heavy turnout of followers, large numbers of police personnel from Police Academy Madhuban, Gurugram, Faridabad, Hisar, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Jind, Rewari, Narnaul and Palwal have been deployed to prevent any untoward incident. Apart from senior police officers, additional police force, traffic police personnel, commandos and SWAT teams have also been deployed to keep an eye on the miscreants during the function, he said. ADGP (Law & Order) Mohammad Akil said around 1000 police personnel have been put in place for security arrangements. Apart from elaborate security and traffic management, areas around the venue have also been properly sensitised and adequate deployment of police force would be ensured to avoid any untoward incident, he said. Three people were killed and 20 were injured when two masked bike-borne men had forced their way into the prayer hall of Nirankari Bhawan in Amritsar on Sunday and threw the grenade on the crowd. A day before, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had informed that one of the two accused had been arrested, claiming that ISI-backed Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) was behind the terror attack. Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand Mahesh Poddar has written to Urban Development Minister CP Singh seeking urgent action in the alleged irregularities in sewerage-drainage project in the Ranchi Municipal Corporation area. Poddar has raised questions on the irregularities and unscientific ways of the implementation of the project and has said that he had earlier also complained in writing to the Chief Secretary and Town Commissioner of the RMC. He has stated that the issues raised in the letters written earlier have not been negated by anyone and thus it is clear that there is major execution problem in the project. And, despite this the responsible people are not being identified, no action is being taken against them and the implementing agency is being paid the funds regularly, he said. The MP said that it appears clear that the people implementing the project are being patronised by some powerful people. He expressed concerned that the way the responsible people are being spared and the agency is being paid, the project may prove to be a disaster just like the Ranchi-Jamshedpur highway project. He said that he would be really happy if someone proves him wrong. Giving details of the irregularities of the project Poddar said that the basic work of the project setting up of the Sewerage Treatment Plant-- has not been done but pits have been dug on road across the Capital City. Compacting has not been done anywhere as per the set estimates and in the near future when the roads will cave in it will be a real disaster. People of the RMC have accepted that proper curing has not been done after levelling of the roads and common people are saying that curing has not been done anywhere. So, the future of the road is uncertain. If this happens then the project will be doomed and the government will attract bad name, he said adding that the peoples money will be wasted and the government will have to face peoples wrath. The MP has also marked the letter to Secretary, Department of Town Development and Housing, Mayor of Ranchi Municipal Corporation, Deputy Mayor and the Municipal Commissioner. Advocate Maya Charde is contesting assembly elections as an independent candidate from Bhopals Govindpura seat here on Thursday released her manifesto. While talking to media persons, she said that she would address problems of Govindpura Industrial Area. The BHEL should provide 50 percent work to industries in Govindpura area. With symbol Baby Walker Charade claimed that the colonies in the constituencies have problem of Sewage network which need be developed in proper manner. More emphasis would be laid on women safety and empowerment. The weekly markets would be managed properly by providing space and all arrangement for shopkeepers and customers. If required they would be shifted to another place. Every road in the constituency would be cleaned on daily basis and separate dustbins for wet and dry garbage would be provided. Door- to door garbage collection would be maintained. A Delhi court on Thursday issued non-bailable warrants (NBW) against 12 ex-policemen of Uttar Pradesh after they failed to surrender before it to serve life term awarded to them for the killing 42 people of a minority community in Hashimpura locality of Meerut in 1987. The Delhi High Court had awarded life imprisonment to 16 ex-policemen, all of whom have retired, and had directed them to surrender on or before November 22. Additional Sessions Judge Smita Garg sent the remaining four convicts to Tihar central jail after they surrendered before the court as per October 31 directions of the High Court. The convicts Jaipal Singh, Mahesh Pratap Singh, Sami Ullal Khan and Niranjan Lal were taken into custody after they surrendered before the court. Since the remaining 12 convicts have failed to surrender in compliance of the order dated October 31, passed by the High Court, let NBW (non-bailable warrant) be issued against them and notice to their respective sureties, the court said. The HC had on October 31 sentenced the 16 former Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel to life imprisonment in the case, reversing a trial courts verdict which had acquitted the accused. They were convicted for murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code. A 19-year-old maniac who had raped and murdered a three-year-old girl in Gurugram on November 11 was a repeat offender. Till now he has confessed to have raped and murdered nine minor girls in Delhi, Guurgram, Gwalior and Jhansi. Apart from the these cases, he had also molested 10 minor girls. Gurugram Police has written to the police top brass of the neighbouring States to ascertain whether he was involved in more such crime. Rajkumari, the kin of a four-year-old girl who was raped and murdered by the accused in November 2016 in Gurugram's Sector-49 alleged that the accused had molested around 10 minor girls before he targeted the victim. The accused used to sit at Shani temple near their Jhuggis in sector-49 to identify his targets. The accused used to molest young girls who came to eat at bhandaaras or collect prasad at the temple and were unaccompanied by adults. He often lured minor girls by offering them chocolates and sometime money too. We confronted him and even slapped and warned him several times to mend his ways, she said. Sunil Kumar, the accused was very silent and introvert when he was living in our locality and it is shocking that he has turned out to be such a barbaric killer, she added. The 4-year-old girl body was found in a dump yard near Omaxe Mall in November 2016. The victim was originally from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh but lived in a slum behind Uppal Southend in Sector-49 with her family. "We are very happy the local police finally arrested the accused behind the brutal crime. We didn't visit Shani temple for two years from where the accused lured our loved child and later raped and killed her. We will be satisfied once the accused get harsh punishment from the concerned authority," Raj Kumari said. In another incident, recalling his pain the father of the 5-year-old girl who was raped and murdered by the accused Sunil in January 2017 in posh civil lines area said "The victim and her younger sister were twins and born after 24 years of our marriage. He took my girl from civil lines area when she was having food in a social community kitchen and later raped and killed her." The body of the victim was recovered 20 days later from a pond in Ambedkar park near Rajeev Chowk in Gurugram. The spot where the girl's body found was ironically less than 50 metres away from state PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh's house. The deceased was a resident of Sector 15, her father was a rickshaw puller then. Now the family is running a vegetable shop in the same area. The family had been living in Gurugram for the last 24 years. "At that time I had urged the police team to search my girl only in civil lines area but they didn't pay to heed my request. Till now I can hear my girl screaming for help. She was everything for me earlier I was fit and fine but now I am very weak due to the incident. We will be happy once the demon killer gets the death penalty," the bereaved father said. Earlier, The accused was arrested on Monday afternoon for allegedly raping and murdering a three-year-old girl in Gurugram on November 11 had admitted that the child was his ninth victim and that he had committed similar crimes in Delhi, Gurugram, Gwalior and Jhansi in the past, said police. As of now the accused had raped and murdered three minor girls in Gurugram, four in Delhi, one in Gwalior and one in Jhansi. "He was produced before a local court on Tuesday and sent to eight days of police remand. On Wednesday the probe team took him to recognise multiple crime spots. Further probe into the matter is underway," said, Subhash Boken spokesperson Gurugram police. The state finance minister Prakash Pant held a detailed discussion regarding the utilisation of the share of 1 per cent for the welfare schemes for women and 1 per cent for road safety from the 2 per cent CESS being levied by the excise department while chairing a meeting with the officials of the finance, excise, women empowerment, panchayati raj, urban development departments at the Secretariat on Thursday. It is learnt that he discussed with the additional chief secretary Women Welfare Radha Raturi regarding the various proposed projects related to the women welfare, including construction of one home each in Dehradun and Almora, construction of child home for Divyang boys/girls in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar and construction of home for general boys/girls besides construction of juvenile home, resettlement and rehabilitation of children and their management. The finance minister instructed the urban development and panchayati raj secretary to prepare a scheme on the basis of changed/revised information of rural and urban areas. He said that due to the inclusion of certain rural areas in the urban areas, they would not get the funds from the 14th Finance Commission for such gram panchayats. He said that in such a situation, a comprehensive action plan should be prepared for providing development funds of the urban villages. He further said during the meeting that a detailed proposal should be made for proper allocation of the budget for infrastructure development in the rural and urban areas from the funds to be released by the State Finance Commission. This was an imperative to ensure that the development of the villages included in the urban areas is not affected, Pant said.Among those present at the meeting were the additional chief secretary Ranveer Singh, secretary Finance Amit Negi, in-charge secretary Planning Ranjit Sinha, commissioner Industries Saujanya and excise commissioner V Shanmugam. Regional Museum of Natural History, Bhopal organised Debate Competition for the students of class 11 and 12 on Thursday on the theme Plastic is a boon towards forest conservation. Total 21 students from various schools of Bhopal participated in the competition. In-charge of the museum and Scientist-B Manoj Kumar Sharma welcomed the jury members, participants and teachers. Pooja Makwana told that Plastic is a remarkable invention during her debate in favour of the motion. She also elaborated that plastic is eco-friendly, now a days many items like furniture, doors, window made up of plastic and conserved the trees. Similarly, Tanu Mishra told that Plastic changed the scenario of the world after its invention. On the other hand, against the motion Master Sachin Bedi told, We are degrading our environment due to plastic. Plastic is a curse for the environment. Similarly, Kripali Shahiwala told that plastic is destroying forest, wildlife and human life. For the motion, the first prize bagged by Payodhi Agrawal from Sharda Vidya Mandir, Barkhedi Kalan, Bhopal and Shivani Maheshwari from Carmel Convent Sr Sec School, BHEL, Bhopal jointly. Mini Susan Jose from St Raphael Co-ed School, Jatkhedi, Bhopal scored the third prize while, Mansi Singh from Mansarovar Public School, Kolar Road, Bhopal bagged the encouragement prize. For against the motion, the first prize bagged by Kripali Shahiwala from Mother Teresa Sr Sec Co-ed School, Kolar Road, Bhopal and Master Aarya Garg from Carmel Convent Sr Sec School, BHEL, Bhopal jointly. Avnish Pandey from Bal Bharati Public School, Nishatpura, Bhopal scored third prize while Jannat Javed from Canyon HS School, Bhopal and Master Sachin Bedi from Govt Naveen Girls HS School, Chunabhatti, Bhopal bagged the encouragement prize. Prizes will be awarded to prize winners on later date. Vipin Vyas, Associate Professor from Barkatullah University, Bhopal; Alok Saxena, Chief Chemist from Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Bhopal and CS Dubey, Former Deputy Conservator of Forest, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh were the Jury Members of this debate competition. Scientist-B of the museum Manik Lal Gupta was the coordinator of the programme. Sant Siddh Bhau, Chairman of the Sewa Sadan Eye Hospital Trust reviewed pre arrangements of forth coming 93rd Urology Camp at Sewa Sadan eye hospital here on Thursday. On the occasion secretary JSS Mahesh Dayaramani, Managing Trustee of Sewa Sadan LC Janiyani, staunch followers of Sant KL Tewani and Mama Bhambharam were also mainly present. The proposed camp will be organized with the financial assistance received from Jai Shiv Shakti Education and Health Foundation, Bangaluru. It was told in the meeting that all required permissions have so far been received to organize the camp. Consents to render free services of Urologists from USA and India have also been received. It was also told that Pediatric Urology surgeon Dhruti Kalsariya will perform surgeries of ailing children. Rest of the operations will be done by the group of 16 Urologists in the leadership of eminent urologist of USA Dr Gopal Badlani. Arrangements of Blood, Medicines, Surgical items, operating equipments have also been made. Periodic maintenance of Central Oxygen system, Generators and Lifts have been done. On the occasion, Sant Siddh Bhau said that the happiness can be acquired by rendering selfless services to suffering humanity. Volunteers should render their services without any individual show off. He further told that rich should donate their accumulated funds for some noble causes, otherwise that funds would be wasted in evils. He said that the happiness cannot be bought with wealth, but in real sense it can be acquired with rendering selfless services to needy persons. Secretary JSS Mahesh Dayaramani said that often he uses to meet the world wide philanthropist. USA based Dr Radha Sukhani have herself expressed desire to be associated throughout her life with our missionary organizations. Mahesh Dayaramani also told that everybody should feel the joy of giving. This joy cannot be tied in few words. Managing Trustee of Sewa Sadan Eye Hospital LC Janiyani said that the volunteer should perform their duties selflessly thus the blessings of ailing patients will bring happiness in their life. Delhi Public School, Dehradun, hosted the Scholar Badge Ceremony for the batch 2017-18 on Thursday. The ceremony was held to felicitate the meritorious students who have excelled in scholastics, the organisers of the event said. While the chief guest for the day was Savita, director FRI, vice- chancellor, FRI University R C Nagpal, Usha Nagpal and I S S Bisht were the special guests. The principal, B K Singh in his welcome address applauded the efforts of the students and said that being the best is not as important as doing the best.Savita urged the students to accept both success and failure in the same spirit. She also stressed on the importance of cleanliness and conservation of forests required for the longevity of the planet. The students were awarded with proficiency certificates, green badges, blue badges, blue tie and gold medals. Donning the mantle of glory, 172 students were awarded with scholar badges. Saumil Nagpal and Sumedha Gupta were awarded with the gold medals. BV TECH EXPO POSTPONED TO MARCH 2019 The second BV Tech Expo India and the second E-Vehicle Show India, which was to be organised by the M7 Creation from November 22-24, at the NSIC Exhibition Complex in Okhla, New Delhi, has been postponed to March 2019. The organiser of the expo, Anupreet Singh Jaggi, informed that due to unavailability of ample space for the exhibitors, they have decided to extend the expo to March 22-24, 2019. No visa fee to visit Thailand for Indians The Thai government recently approved the exemption of the visa-on-arrival fee for citizens of 20 countries. From November 15, 2018, to January 13, 2019, citizens of India, Andora, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China including Taiwan, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan will be exempted from the 2,000 Baht visa-on-arrival fee for the purpose of touring in Thailand not more than 15 days. PM to launch City Gas distribution bidding at Deoghar, Sheikhpura and Jamui The Deoghar, Sheikhpura and Jamui districts will be included within the 50 Geographical Areas under the 10th bidding round of City Gas Distribution to be launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. GAIL (India) Limited's Jagadishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra pipeline project, also popular as Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga', shall serve as the feeder source for natural gas supply to the proposed city gas project in addition to maintaining supplies to various fertiliser and industrial units enroute. Khadi once again won the accolades from the Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu, when he visited the exclusive stall of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) at the Ambedakar International Center, before chairing the commemorative event of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, organised by FICCI-Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence. Under the guidance of Dr Laique Hussain, the National School of Drama, recently organised the 14th edition of the nine-day biannual theatre festival for childrenJasnebachpan. The opening ceremony of the carnival saw the presence of the secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Arun Goel, and the eminent theatre personality-director, Rudraprasad Sengupta. The Technological Institute of Textile and Sciences (TIT&S), Bhiwani, Haryana, is celebrating its platinum jubilee on November 24. In a pre-event, the director of TIT&S, Prof G K Tyagi, informed that the member secretary of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Prof Alok Mittal, will grace the occasion as the chief guest while the vice chancellor of the Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Prof B K Punia, will be the guest of honour at the milestone event. The CRPF pavilion at the IITF 2018 at Pragati Maidan provides a glimpse into the duties, achievements, gallantry acts, training, weapons used by the CRPF, and various theaters that CRPF works in. The pavilion theme is Sarvatra Vidyaman, Satat Gatiman' which means present everywhere, perpetually moving'. The pavilion depicts historical moments and the journey of CRPF through time from the day of its raising. The Buyer-Seller-Meet of the Indian handicrafts, home furnishings, floorings and textiles, Indian house ware, decoratives and fashion accessories was inaugurated on November 19 at Copenhagen by the Ambassador of India in Denmark, His Excellency Ajit Gupte, along with the chairman of the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), O P Prahladka, and the EPCH's executive director, Rakesh Kumar. Guide to strengthen concrete structures in India The department of civil engineering, SRM University, Delhi-NCR, Sonepat, Haryana, organised a guest lecture on Deterioration Mechanism and Durability of Reinforced Concrete' on November 20, inviting the former special director general of CPWD, Er Ashok Kumar Sharma. Given his 42 years of CPWD and EIL experience, Sharma informed the students about the bad practices followed in the country which cause early deterioration of concrete structures and explained the steps one should take to ensure long life of these structures. Hunar Haat at IITF records overwhelming response The ongoing India International Trade Fair, 2018, is attracting a large crowd at Pragati Maidan to the Khadi Pavilion and Saras, on eco-friendly khadi, rural crafts and industry items. Apart from the rural handicrafts in the state pavilions, as many as 94 master artisans mainly belonging to minorities from 22 states have been making a mark with a treasure trove of their artifacts created with their traditional skills at the Hunar Haat'. Organised by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, the display profile Hunar Haat' features the legacy of Indian culture displays, beauty, dignity, form and style to enliven the home as well as the office space. Amitava Mukherjee is NMDCs new Director (Finance) Amitava Mukherjee has assumed the charge as Director (Finance) of NMDC Limited, a Schedule A' Government of India Enterprise, with Navratna status, under the Ministry of Steel. From the 1995 batch of the Indian Railway Accounts Services (IRAS), he is a Cost Accountant and holds a Master of Commerce degree from the Guru Ghasi Das University, Bilaspur. Prior to joining NMDC, he held the post of General Manager (Finance) in Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) for a period of around two and half years. During his service in IRAS, he held various key positions in the Eastern Railways from 1997 to 2016 like the head of the Standing Core Committee on Service Tax, Traffic Accounts Office and the IT Department. Before joining the IRAS, he worked in the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as Accounts Officer from 1994-1997. During his service period in the Indian Railways, Mukherjee received the National Award for outstanding services during the year 2006. He was also nominated by the Railway Board to various task groups for centralised applications of finance and accounts department of the Indian Railways for monitoring progress and to suggest improvements and enhancements to such applications and for Development of Traffic Accounts Management System. 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Beograd Savski Venac, Gimatic Czech Republic s.r.o., Gimatic France S.a.r.l., Gimatic Japan Limited, Gimatic Korea Limited, Gimatic Nordic A.B., Gimatic Otomasyon Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Gimatic Polska sp. z o.o, Gimatic S.r.l., Gimatic Sisteme RO SRL, Gimatic Sistemi industrijska avtomatizacija d.o.o., Gimatic Spain S.L., Gimatic Vertrieb GmbH, Gimatrade S.r.l., Heinz Haenggi Gmbh Stanztechnik, Industrial Gas Springs, Industrial Gas Springs Group Holdings Limited, Industrial Gas Springs Inc., Industrial Gas Springs Limited, Kar Products, Kratz-Wilde Machine Co, MTM S.r.l., Manner Hong Kong Limited, Manner USA Inc., Orflam - Nitropush Product Line, Otto Manner, Otto Manner GmbH, Otto Manner Immobilien GmbH, Otto Manner Innovation GmbH, Premier Farnell - KENT Division, Priamus System Technologies, Priamus System Technologies GmbH, Priamus System Technologies LLC, Raymond Distribution-Mexico S.A. de C.V., Resortes Argentina S.A., Ressorts SPEC SAS, Seeger-Orbis GmbH & Co. OHG, Service Plus Distributors, Sign Holdings Limited, Spectrum Plastics Molding Resources, Stromsholmen AB, Synventive Acquisition B.V., Synventive Acquisition GmbH, Synventive Acquisition Inc., Synventive Acquisition UK Ltd., Synventive Acquisition Unlimited, Synventive B.V., Synventive Fertigungstechnik GmbH, Synventive Holding B.V., Synventive Holding Limited, Synventive Holding SAS, Synventive Molding Solutions, Synventive Molding Solutions (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Synventive Molding Solutions B.V., Synventive Molding Solutions Canada Inc., Synventive Molding Solutions Co. Ltd., Synventive Molding Solutions GmbH, Synventive Molding Solutions Inc., Synventive Molding Solutions JBJ Private Limited, Synventive Molding Solutions K.K., Synventive Molding Solutions LDA, Synventive Molding Solutions LLC, Synventive Molding Solutions LTDA., Synventive Molding Solutions Limited, Synventive Molding Solutions Pte Ltd., Synventive Molding Solutions SAS, Synventive Molding Solutions SL, Synventive Molding Solutions s.r.o., Synventive Parent Inc., Teledyne Fluid Systems, The Wallace Barnes Company, Thermoplay, Thermoplay Brasil Sistemas de Injecao Ltda, Thermoplay Deutschland GmbH, Thermoplay France S.a.r.l., Thermoplay Hot Runner Systems (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Thermoplay India Private Limited, Thermoplay Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Thermoplay S.p.A., Thermoplay U.K. Ltd., Toolcom Supplie, Windsor Airmotive Asia Pte. Ltd., and manner Japan Co. Ltd.. 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. Nabors Industries Ltd. engages in the provision of platform work over and drilling rigs. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Drilling, Canada Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. The U.S. Drilling segment includes land drilling activities in the lower 48 states and Alaska, as well as offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment consists of land-based drilling rigs in Canada. The International segment focuses in maintaining a footprint in the oil and gas market, most notably in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela. The Drilling Solutions segment offers drilling technologies, such as patented steering systems and rig instrumentation software systems that enhance drilling performance and wellbore placement. The Rig Technologies segment comprises Canrig, which manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools. The company was founded by Clair Nabors in 1952 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, 2nd Road Pty Ltd., ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Ltd, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Innovation Singapore Holdings Pte, ?What If! Limited, ?What If! Shanghai Co. Ltd, ?What If! USA LLC, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD Dialeto Agencia de Publicidade SA, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Beijing) Mobile Technology Co Ltd, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co Ltd, Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (South Africa) Pty Limited, Accenture (UK) Ltd, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Azerbaijan Ltd, Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BV, Accenture Branch Holdings B.V., Accenture Bulgaria EOOD, Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc, Accenture Business Services of British Columbia Limited Partnership, Accenture Business and Technology Services LLC, Accenture C.A, Accenture CAS GmbH, Accenture Canada Holdings Inc., Accenture Capital DAC, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd., Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Ltd, Accenture Company Ltd, Accenture Consulting Services Ltd Tanzania, Accenture Consultores de Gestao S.A., Accenture Consultoria de Industria e Consumo Ltda, Accenture Consultoria de Recursos Naturais Ltda, Accenture Credit Services LLC, Accenture Customer Services Distribution SAS, Accenture Customer Services Limited, Accenture Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, Accenture Defined Benefit Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Delivery Poland sp. z o.o., Accenture Dienstleistungen GmbH, Accenture Digital France Holdings SA, Accenture Digital Holdings GmbH, Accenture East Africa Limited, Accenture Ecuador S.A., Accenture Egypt LLC, Accenture Enterprise Development (Shanghai) Co Ltd., Accenture Federal Services LLC, Accenture Finance (Gibraltar) III Ltd, Accenture Finance GmbH, Accenture Finance GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II GmbH, Accenture Finance II GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II Ltd, Accenture Finance Limited, Accenture Finance and Accounting BPO Services S.p.A., Accenture Finance and Accounting Services Srl, Accenture Flex LLC, Accenture GP LLC, Accenture Ghana Limited, Accenture Global Holdings Ltd., Accenture Global Services Ltd, Accenture Global Solutions Ltd, Accenture GmbH, Accenture HR Services Ltd, Accenture HR Services S.p.A., Accenture Healthcare Processing Inc., Accenture Holding GmbH, Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Accenture Holding GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Holdings (Iberia) S.L., Accenture Holdings B.V., Accenture Holdings France SAS, Accenture Holdings plc, Accenture Hungary Holdings Kft, Accenture Inc, Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company (Accenture Endustriyel Yazylym Cozumleri Limited irketi), Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company (Accenture Endustriyel Yazlm Cozumleri Limited Sirketi), Accenture Industrial Software Solutions Kft, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions SA, Accenture Insurance Services LLC, Accenture Insurance Services SAS, Accenture Insurance Services SpA, Accenture International BV, Accenture International Capital SCA, Accenture International LLC, Accenture International Limited, Accenture International Sarl, Accenture Japan Ltd, Accenture Korea BV, Accenture LLC, Accenture LLP, Accenture Lanka (Private) Ltd, Accenture Limited, Accenture Ltd, Accenture Ltda, Accenture Maghreb S.a.r.l., Accenture Managed Services SRL, Accenture Managed Services SpA, Accenture Management GmbH, Accenture Middle East B.V, Accenture Middle East BV, Accenture Minority I BV, Accenture Minority III Ltd, Accenture Mozambique Limitada, Accenture Mzansi (Pty) Ltd, Accenture NV/SA, Accenture NZ Limited, Accenture Newco LLC, Accenture Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Co., Accenture OOO, Accenture Operations Sp. z o.o., Accenture Outsourcing SRL, Accenture Outsourcing Services, Accenture Outsourcing Services S.A., Accenture Oy, Accenture Panama Inc, Accenture Participations BV, Accenture Participations II Limited, Accenture Peru S.R.L, Accenture Peru S.R.L., Accenture Post Trade Processing SAS, Accenture Post-Trade Processing Limited, Accenture Process Ltd, Accenture Product Lifecycle Services, Accenture Properties, Accenture Pte Ltd, Accenture Puerto Rico LLC, Accenture S.A., Accenture S.C., Accenture S.L., Accenture S.R.L., Accenture SAS, Accenture SG Services Pte Ltd, Accenture SRL, Accenture Saudi Arabia Limited, Accenture Sendirian Berhad, Accenture Service Center SRL, Accenture Services (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Services AB, Accenture Services AG, Accenture Services AS, Accenture Services GmbH, Accenture Services Ltd, Accenture Services Morocco SA, Accenture Services Oy, Accenture Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Services S.r.l., Accenture Services SRL, Accenture Services Sp. z o.o., Accenture Services Sp. z.o.o., Accenture Services and Technology Srl, Accenture Services fur Kreditinstitute GmbH, Accenture Services s.r.o., Accenture Servicos Administrativos Ltda, Accenture Servicos de Suporte de Negocios Ltda, Accenture Solutions Co Ltd, Accenture Solutions Private Limited, Accenture Solutions Pte Ltd, Accenture Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture Sp. z o.o., Accenture Sp. z.o.o., Accenture SpA, Accenture State Healthcare Services LLC, Accenture Sub II Inc., Accenture Sub Inc, Accenture Sub LLC, Accenture Systems Integration Limited, Accenture Sarl, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag KFT, Accenture Technologia, Accenture Technologia Consultoria e Outsourcing S.A., Accenture Technology Infrastructure Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions (Dalian) Co Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions (HK) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas S.A., Accenture Technology Solutions GmbH, Accenture Technology Solutions Oy, Accenture Technology Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions S.A. de C.V., Accenture Technology Solutions SAS, Accenture Technology Solutions SRL, Accenture Technology Solutions Sdn. Bhd., Accenture Technology Solutions Slovakia s.r.o., Accenture Technology Ventures BV, Accenture Technology Ventures S.P.R.L., Accenture Uruguay SRL, Accenture Vietnam Co., Accenture Vietnam Co. LTD, Accenture Zambia Limited, Accenture do Brasil Limitada, Accenture plc, Accenture s.r.o., Acceria, Acquity Customer Insight Limited, Acquity Group, Adaptly LLC, Adaptly UK Limited, AddVal Technology, Adqptly, Advantium Inc., Agave Consultants Limited, Agilex Technologies Inc., Allen International, Allen International Consulting Group Ltd, Alnova Technologies Corporation S.L., AlphaBeta Advisors, Altima, Altima Asia Ltd., Altima SAS, Altitude, Altitude LLC, Analytics 8 LP, Analytics 8 Pty Ltd, Analytics8, Aorui Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Apis, Appaloosa Technology SAS, Arca, Ariba - BPO, Arismore, Aspiro Solutions (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Avanade, Avanade (Guangzhou) Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd., Avanade (Thailand) Co Ltd, Avanade Asia Pte Ltd, Avanade Australia Pty Ltd, Avanade Belgium SPRL, Avanade Canada Inc., Avanade Denmark A/S, Avanade Denmark ApS, Avanade Deutschland GmbH, Avanade Europe Holdings Ltd, Avanade Europe Services Ltd, Avanade Federal Services LLC, Avanade Finland Oy, Avanade France SAS, Avanade GZ Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd. (SH), Avanade Guangzhou, Avanade Holdings LLC, Avanade Hong Kong Ltd, Avanade International Corporation, Avanade Ireland Limited, Avanade Italy SRL, Avanade KK, Avanade Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avanade Netherlands BV, Avanade Norway AS, Avanade Poland Sp. z o.o., Avanade Poland Sp. z.o.o., Avanade Schweiz GmbH, Avanade South Africa, Avanade South Africa Pty Ltd, Avanade Spain SL, Avanade Sweden AB, Avanade UK Ltd, Avanade do Brasil Limitada, Avanade Osterreich GmbH, AvantBiz Consulting Limited, Avenai, Axia Ltd., BABCN LLC, BCT Solutions, BCT Solutions Pty Ltd, BPO Servicos Administrativos Ltda, BRIDGE Energy Group, Beacon Consulting Group Inc., Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. Ltd., Benext, Bionic, Blue Horseshoe, Boomerang Pharmaceutical Communications, Boomerang Pharmaceuticals Communications Ireland Limited, Bow & Arrow, Brand Learning, Brand Learning Group Limited, Brand Learning LLC, Brand Learning Ltd, Brand Learning Partners Limited, Brand Learning Pte Limited, Bridge Energy Group LLC, Brightstep AB, Byte Prophecy, CAS, CRMWaypoint, CadenceQuest Inc., Capable Marketer Limited, Capgemini - North American health practice, Capital Consultancy Services Inc., Certus Solutions Consulting Services Ltd, Certus Solutions Ltd, ChangeTrack Research Pty Ltd., Chaotic Moon Studios, Chengdu Mensa Advertising Co. Ltd., Cimation, Cimation UK Limited, Cirruseo, Cirruseo SAS, Clarity Insights, Clearhead, Clearhead Group, Clearhead Group LLC, ClientHouse GmbH, Cloud Sherpas, Cloud Sherpas (GA) LLC, Cloud Sherpas (SN) (PTE.) Limited, Cloud Sherpas New Zealand Ltd., Cloud Talent Limited, Cloudsherpas, Cloudsherpas Inc., Cloudworks, Codagenic Pty. Ltd., Computer Research and Telecommunications LLC, Concrete Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Ltda., Concrete Solutions, Concrete Solutions Ltda., Context Information Security, Coritel S.A., Corliant Inc., CreativeDrive, CustomerWorks Europe SL, Cutting Edge Solutions Ltd, D5 Global Holdings LLC, DAZ Systems Inc, DAZ Systems LLC, DAZSI Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd., DMA Solutions Limited, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (Australia) PTY LTD, DayNine Consulting (Deutschland) GmbH, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting France SAS, DayNine Consulting Japan K.K., DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings, Declarative Holdings LLC, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digiplug SAS, Digital Consulting & Software Services LLC, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Ltd., Duck Creek Technologies, Duck Creek Technologies LLC, Deja Vu Security LLC, ESR Labs, Elcurator SAS, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting L.P., End-to-End Analytics, Energuia Web, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Ltd., Energy Quote Private Ltd., EnergyQuote JHA, EnergyQuote JHA Ltd., EnergyQuote Trading Ltd., Enimbos, Enkitec, Enterprise System Partners, Enterprise System Partners B.V. , Enterprise System Partners Bilisim Danismanlik Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Enterprise System Partners Global Corporation, Enterprise System Partners Limited, Enterprise System Partners PR LLC, Enterprise System Partners S.A.S., Entropia, Epylon, Ethica Consulting Group, Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Exton Consulting, Fairway Technologies Inc, Fairway Technologies LLC, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, First Annapolis International, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Focus Group Europe Limited, Formicary, Formicary Holdings Limited, Formicary Limited, FusionX, FutureMove Automotive, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, Genfour Limited, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gestion Altima Canada Inc., Gevity, Global Public Firm S.L., GlobalView SAS, GoodFilm GmbH Filmproduktion Stuttgart, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Hytracc Consulting UK Limited, Hytracc Holding AS, I-Faber S.p.A., IBB Consulting, IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INCAD, INSITUM, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Imagine Broadband (USA) Ltd, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Industrie&Co, Infoman AG, Infoman Schweiz AG, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Infusion Development Inc., Infusion Development UK Limited, InfusionDev LLC, Innoveer Solutions India Pvt Ltd, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria Brasil LTDA, Insitum Consultoria Colombia SAS, Insitum Consultoria Europa SL, Insitum Consultoria Peru SAC, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., Intrepid, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Advertisement (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inventor Technology Limited, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, Javelin Group (Bulgaria) EOOD, Javelin Group Limited (UK), Javelin Group SASU, K Comms Group Limited, KCS.net AG, KCS.net AG West, KCS.net Deutschland GmbH, KCS.net Holding AG, KCS.net Osterreich GmbH, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Ltd, Kogentix Singapore Pte. Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kunstmaan NV, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon UKI, Kurt Salmon UKI Ltd., Kurt Salmon US LLC, LEXTA, LINKBYNET, LabAnswer, LabAnswer Government, LemonXL Limited, Logistics Market Place Limited (UK), Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Corporation, Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte. Ltd., Mackevision UK Ltd, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd., Maihiro, Matter, Matter Llc, Maud Corp Pty Limited, Maxamine International, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing Corporation, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mindtribe Product Engineering LLC, MobGen, MobGen Technology S.L, Moonrise NV, Mortgage Cadence, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, N3 LLC, NBS Marketing Inc., NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile, Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Chile SpA, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda., New Energy Aborda, New Energy Associates Ltd, New Energy Group, New Energy S.r.l., NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage China Ltd., NewsPage Pte Ltd, Nice Agency Limited, Northstream, Northstream AB, Northstream Holding AB, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology LTDA, Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Octo Technology SPRL, Octoman SAS, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Openmind, Openminded, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium Consulting Ltd, Orbium GmbH, Orbium Holding AG, Orbium Inc., Orbium International AG, Orbium International sp. z o.o., Orbium Licences AG, Orbium Limited, Orbium Pte. Ltd., Orbium Pty Ltd, Orbium Services sp. z o.o., Orbium Sarl, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PCO Innovation Canada Inc., PCO Innovation EURL, PIXO PUNCH Limited, PLM Systems S.r.l, POC Holdings, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, Pach Invest SARL, Pach Invest SAS, PacificLink Group, PacificLink iMedia Ltd., Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald Inc., Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Partners Technology Mexico Holdings BV, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production K/S, Perseroan Terbatas. Accenture, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Ltd, Pragsis Technologies S.L, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Ltd, Procurian Germany GmbH, Procurian Inc., Procurian International I LLC, Procurian International II LLC, Procurian LLC, Procurian Singapore Pte. Ltd., Procurian Switzerland GmbH, Procurian USA LLC, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co Ltd, Radiant Services, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Limited, Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (Asia) Pte Ltd, Redcore (India) Private Limited (India), Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Renacentis IT Services, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Rothco, Rothco Holdings Designated Activity Company, Rothco Unlimited Company, S.C. EnergyQuote S.r.l., S3 TV Technology Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SEC Servizi, SEC Servizi S.p.A., SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Sagacious Consultants LLC, Salt Solutions, Sanchez Capital Services Pvt Ltd, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Airline Planning Group, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace Asia (Hong Kong) Limited, Seabury Aviation Consulting LLC, Seabury Cargo Advisory B.V., Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Human Capital LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Seabury Structured Finance LLC, Search Technologies BPO, Search Technologies BPO Inc., Search Technologies GmbH, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LATAM, Search Technologies LATAM S.A., Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Sente Partners LLC, Sentelis, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Shackleton, Shackleton Barcelona S.L., Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton Madrid S.L., Shackleton S.A., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., Silveo, Simian Pty Limited, SinnerSchrader, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Commerce GmbH, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., SinnerSchrader Swipe GmbH, Sistemes Consulting S.L., Solutions IQ, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Storm Digital, Storm Digital B.V., Structure Consulting Group, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Systor AG, TQuila Limited (UK), Tadata Creative Unlimited Company, Tara Insurance DAC, Tara Risk DAC, TargetST8, TargetST8 Consulting LLC, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica Ltd., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Limited, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Total Logistics Supply Chain Consultants Limited, Tquila, Trivadis AG, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Verax Solutions, Verax Solutions Corporation, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd., Vertical Retail Consulting Hong Kong, Vertical Retail Consulting Hong Kong Ltd., Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd., Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, Weblinc Pty Ltd, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wire Stone Sarl, Wolox, Workforce Insight, Yesler, Zag, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines, Zenta Global Philippines Inc., Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc., Zielpuls, Zielpuls (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zielpuls GmbH, avVenta, designaffairs, designaffairs Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., designaffairs GmbH, designaffairs group China Co. Ltd., dgroup, i4C Analytics, iDefense, and solid-serVision.com GmbH. Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company, through its subsidiaries, provides banking, financial, and insurance services to individuals, small and medium sized enterprises, and corporate customers. It offers current, savings, notice, instant access, and fixed term deposits; housing, student, consumer, business, syndicated, project, and shipping finance; and debit, credit, and prepaid cards. The company also provides hire purchase, factoring, guarantee, insurance, asset and wealth management, investment banking and brokerage, custody and depository, transfers and payment, and digital banking services. In addition, it is involved in property trading and development activities; land development and operation of a golf resort; management administration and safekeeping of UCITS units; administration of guarantees and holding of real estate properties; collection of the existing portfolio of receivables, including third party collections; and provision of card processing transaction, auction, and secretarial services. As of March 30, 2021, it operates through a network of 95 branches in Cyprus, as well as representative offices in Russia, Ukraine, and China. The company was formerly known as Bank of Cyprus Public Company Ltd and changed its name to Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company in January 2017. Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus. Read More 50 minutes ago Medtronic or Intuitive Surgical: Which is the Better Buy After Earnings? The future cant arrive soon enough for these two medical device giants Ive been bullish on both Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) at different points this year. Read Article Premium Brands Holdings Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes food products primarily in Canada and the United States. It operates in two segments, Specialty Foods and Premium Food Distribution. The company provides meat products and snacks, deli products, beef jerky and halal, sandwiches, pastries, specialty and gourmet products, salads and kettle products, entrees, panini, wraps, subs, hamburgers, burgers, muffins, breads, pastas, and baking and sushi products, as well as processed meat products. It is also involved in the distribution of food products, including meat, seafood, and halal food products, as well as operation of retail/convenience store and concessionary, and provision of food and seafood processing services. The company operates under the brand names of Harvest Meats, Hempler's, Grimm's Fine Foods, Piller's, Freybe, Isernio's, Expresco, SJ Fine Foods, McSweeney's, Made Rite, Fletcher's, Deli Chef, Belmont Meats, Conte Foods, SK Food Group, Oven Pride, Hygaard, Quality Fast Foods, HQ Fine Foods, Creekside Custom Foods, Stuyver's Bread, Bread Garden Express, Audrey's Patisserie, Duso's, Gourmet Chef, Island City Baking, Skilcor, Leadbetter's, Mclean Meats, Buddy's Kitchen, Raybern's, Partner's Crackers, Shaw Bakers, Oberto, Concord Meats, Country Prime Meats, The Meat Factory, and Golden Valley Farms. It serves chains and large format retailers, independent and specialty retailers, foodservice operators, foodservice distributors, and other food manufacturers and food brokers. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Richmond, Canada. Read More CYBG PLC, through its subsidiaries, provides retail and business banking products and services to individuals and businesses under the Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, B, and Virgin Money brands in the United Kingdom. It operates through SME Banking and Retail Banking segments. The SME Banking segment offers a range of banking products and services, including business current accounts; and secured and unsecured term loans, business overdrafts, and invoice and asset financing products and services. It also provides international trade services, such as import loans, export loans, documentary collections, currency guarantees, and letters of credit for securing trade; and current account facilities comprising debit cards, cheque books, regular statements, direct debits, and standing orders, as well as day to day and online banking services. This segment serves business customers in the small business, commercial, corporate, and structured finance markets. The Retail Banking segment offers personal current accounts, savings accounts, and term deposits; occupied mortgage loans and BTL loans, unsecured personal loans, and overdrafts, as well as credit card products; and insurance and investment products. The company was founded in 1838 and is based in Leeds, the United Kingdom. Read More KKR & Co. Inc. pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 0.74%. KKR & Co. Inc. has been increasing its dividend for 2 consecutive year(s), indicating that it does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio of KKR & Co. Inc. is 6.47%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, KKR & Co. Inc. will have a dividend payout ratio of 14.50% next year. This indicates that KKR & Co. Inc. will be able to sustain or increase its dividend. View KKR & Co. Inc.'s dividend history. Invesco Municipal Income Opportunities Trust is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Invesco Ltd. The fund is co-managed by Invesco Advisers, Inc., INVESCO Asset Management Deutschland GmbH, INVESCO Asset Management Limited, INVESCO Asset Management (Japan) Limited, Invesco Hong Kong Limited, INVESCO Senior Secured Management, Inc., and Invesco Canada Ltd. It invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. The fund primarily invests in municipal bonds rated BB or better by Standard & Poor's or Ba or better by Moody's. It employs fundamental analysis with bottom-up security selection approach to create its portfolio. The fund was previously known as Morgan Stanley Municipal Income Opportunities Trust. Invesco Municipal Income Opportunities Trust was formed on September 19, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States. Read More iShares MSCI France ETF's stock was trading at $25.23 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWQ stock has increased by 55.6% and is now trading at $39.27. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, credit cards, and other financial services to personal and small business customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt capital market services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and financial institutions. The Insurance and Wealth segment offers life, home, and car insurance products; and pension, investment, and wealth management products and services. It also provides digital and mobile banking, and telephone services, as well as advisory services for savings, investments, and planning for retirement. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, IWeb, and Agricultural Mortgage Corporation brands. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan. There is not enough analysis data for Plutus PowerGen. 4.3 Community Rank Outperform Votes Plutus PowerGen has received 112 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes Plutus PowerGen has received 65 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment Plutus PowerGen has received 63.28% outperform votes from our community. MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Plutus PowerGen and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe PPG will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe PPG will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days. Previous Next SemGroup Corporation provides gathering, transportation, storage, distribution, marketing, and other midstream services for producers, refiners of petroleum products, and other market participants. The company operates in three segments: U.S. Liquids, U.S. Gas, and Canada. The U.S. Liquids segment operates crude oil pipelines, truck transportation, storage, terminals, and marketing businesses; stores, blends, and transports refinery products and refinery feedstock through pipeline, barge, rail, truck, and ship; and operates a residual fuel oil storage terminal in the U.S. Gulf Coast. This segment has 18.2 million barrels of storage capacity on the Houston Ship Channel; and 7.6 million barrels of storage capacity at the Cushing Interchange. It also operates a 460-mile crude oil gathering and transportation pipeline system in Kansas and northern Oklahoma; 75-mile crude oil gathering pipeline system that transports crude oil from production facilities in the DJ Basin to the pipeline owned by White Cliffs Pipeline, L.L.C.; 2 parallel 527-mile pipelines that transports crude oil from Platteville, Colorado to Cushing, Oklahoma; 3 pipelines with an aggregate of 106 miles of pipe; 30-lane crude oil truck unloading facility in Platteville, Colorado; and crude oil trucking fleet of approximately 245 transport trucks and 235 trailers. The U.S. Gas segment provides natural gas gathering, processing, and marketing services. It operates 842 miles of gathering lines in Oklahoma; and a 53-mile high pressure gathering pipeline located in the STACK play. The Canada segment owns and operates natural gas processing and gathering facilities with approximately 530 miles of natural gas gathering and transportation pipelines in Alberta, Canada. SemGroup Corporation was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Read More Vermilion Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of petroleum and natural gas in North America, Europe, and Australia. It owns 81% working interest in 642,300 net acres of developed land and 87% working interest in 376,700 net acres of undeveloped land, and 613 net producing natural gas wells and 3,034 net producing oil wells in Canada; and 96% working interest in 248,900 net acres of developed land and 91% working interest in 222,100 net acres of undeveloped land in the Aquitaine and Paris Basins, and 325 net producing oil wells and 3.0 net producing gas wells in France. The company also owns 49% working interest in 930,000 net acres of land and 51 net producing natural gas wells in the Netherlands; and 36,900 net developed acres and 965,900 net undeveloped acres of land, and 61 net producing oil wells and 8 net producing natural gas wells in Germany. In addition, it owns offshore Corrib natural gas field located to the northwest coast of Ireland; and 100% working interest in the Wandoo offshore oil field and related production assets that covers 59,600 acres located on Western Australia's northwest shelf. Further, the company holds 138,000 net acres of land in the Powder River basin, and 136.6 net producing oil wells in the United States; and 951,200 net acres of land in Hungary, 244,900 net acres of land in Slovakia, and 2.4 million net acres of land in Croatia. Vermilion Energy Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of InterContinental Hotels Group: 2250 Blake Street Hotel LLC, 24th Street Operator Sub LLC, 36th Street IHG Sub LLC, 426 Main Ave LLC, 46 Nevins Street Associates LLC, Allegro Management LLC, Alpha Kimball Hotel LLC, American Commonwealth Assurance Co. Ltd., Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, BHMC Canada Inc., BHR Holdings B.V., BHR Luxembourg SARL, BHR Pacific Holdings Inc., BHTC Canada Inc., BOC Barclay Sub LLC, Barclay Operating Corp., Bristol Oakbrook Tenant Company, Cafe Biarritz, Cambridge Lodging LLC, Capital Lodging LLC, Compania Inter-Continental De Hoteles El Salvador SA, Crowne Plaza Amsterdam (Management) B.V., Crowne Plaza LLC, Cumberland Akers Hotel LLC, Dunwoody Operations Inc., EVEN Real Estate Holding LLC, Edinburgh IC Limited, General Innkeeping Acceptance Corporation, Guangzhou SC Hotels Services Ltd., H.I. (Ireland) Limited, H.I. Soaltee Management Company Ltd, HC International Holdings Inc., HH France Holdings SAS, HH Hotels (EMEA) B.V., HH Hotels (Romania) SRL, HI Sugarloaf LLC, HIM (Aruba) NV, Hale International Ltd., Hoft Properties LLC, Holiday Hospitality Franchising LLC, Holiday Inn Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Holiday Inns (China) Ltd, Holiday Inns (Chongqing) Inc., Holiday Inns (Courtalin) Holdings SAS, Holiday Inns (Courtalin) SAS, Holiday Inns (England) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Germany) LLC, Holiday Inns (Guangzhou) Inc., Holiday Inns (Jamaica) Inc., Holiday Inns (Malaysia) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Middle East) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Philippines) Inc., Holiday Inns (Saudi Arabia) Inc., Holiday Inns (South East Asia) Inc., Holiday Inns (Thailand) Ltd., Holiday Inns (UK) Inc., Holiday Inns Crowne Plaza (Hong Kong) Inc., Holiday Inns Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Holiday Inns Inc., Holiday Inns Investment (Nepal) Ltd., Holiday Inns of America (UK) Ltd., Holiday Inns of Belgium N.V., Holiday Pacific Equity Corporation, Holiday Pacific LLC, Holiday Pacific Partners LP, Hotel Inter-Continental London Limited, Hotel InterContinental London (Holdings) Limited, Hoteles Y Turismo HIH SRL, IC Hotelbetriebsfuhrungs GmbH, IC Hotels Management (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, IC International Hotels Limited Liability Company, IHC (Thailand) Limited, IHC Buckhead LLC, IHC Edinburgh (Holdings), IHC Hopkins (Holdings) Corp., IHC Hotel Limited, IHC Inter-Continental (Holdings) Corp., IHC London (Holdings), IHC M-H (Holdings) Corp., IHC May Fair (Holdings) Limited, IHC May Fair Hotel Limited, IHC Overseas (U.K.) Limited, IHC UK (Holdings) Limited, IHC United States (Holdings) Corp., IHC Willard (Holdings) Corp., IHG (Australasia) Limited, IHG (Marseille) SAS, IHG (Thailand) Limited, IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan LLC, IHG ANA Hotels Holdings Co. Ltd., IHG Bangkok Ltd, IHG Brasil Administracao de Hoteis e Servicos Ltda, IHG Commission Services SRL, IHG Community Development LLC, IHG Cyprus Limited, IHG ECS (Barbados) SRL, IHG Franchising Brasil Ltda, IHG Franchising DR Corporation, IHG Franchising LLC, IHG Hotels (New Zealand) Limited, IHG Hotels Limited, IHG Hotels Management (Australia) Pty Limited, IHG Hotels Nigeria Limited, IHG Hotels South Africa (Pty) Ltd, IHG International Partnership, IHG Istanbul Otel Yonetim Limited Sirketi, IHG Japan (Management) LLC, IHG Japan (Osaka) LLC, IHG Management (Maryland) LLC, IHG Management (Netherlands) B.V., IHG Management MD Barclay Sub LLC, IHG Management SL d.o.o, IHG Management d.o.o. Beograd, IHG Orchard Street Member LLC, IHG PS Nominees Limited, IHG Systems Pty Ltd, IHG Szalloda Budapest Szolgaltato Kft., IHG de Argentina SA, IND East Village SD Holdings LLC, Inter-Continental D.C. Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Investment Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Partner Corp., Inter-Continental Hospitality Corporation, Inter-Continental Hoteleira Limitada, Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Owning Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation, Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation de Venezuela C.A., Inter-Continental Hotels of San Francisco Inc., Inter-Continental IOHC (Mauritius) Limited, Inter-Continental Management (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental (Branston) 1 Limited, InterContinental (PB) 1, InterContinental (PB) 2, InterContinental (PB) 3 Limited, InterContinental Berlin Service Company GmbH, InterContinental Brasil Administracao de Hoteis Ltda, InterContinental Gestion Hotelera S.L., InterContinental Hotel Berlin GmbH, InterContinental Hotel Dusseldorf GmbH (Germany), InterContinental Hotels (Puerto Rico) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Canada) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Espana) SA, InterContinental Hotels Group (Greater China) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (India) Pvt. Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Japan) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (New Zealand) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Shanghai) Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Customer Services Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Healthcare Trustee Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group Operating Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group Resources Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group Services Company, InterContinental Hotels Group do Brasil Limitada, InterContinental Hotels Italia S.r.L., InterContinental Hotels Limited, InterContinental Hotels Management GmbH, InterContinental Hotels Nevada Corporation, InterContinental Management AM LLC, InterContinental Management Bulgaria EOOD, InterContinental Management France SAS, InterContinental Management Poland sp. z.o.o, InterContinental Overseas Holding Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Corporation Limited, KG Benefits LLC, KG Gift Card Inc., KG Liability LLC, KG Technology LLC, KHP Washington Operator LLC, KHRG 11th Avenue Hotel LLC, KHRG 851 LLC, KHRG Aertson LLC, KHRG Alexandria LLC, KHRG Alexis LLC, KHRG Allegro LLC, KHRG Argyle LLC, KHRG Austin Beverage Company LLC, KHRG Baltimore LLC, KHRG Born LLC, KHRG Boston Hotel LLC, KHRG Canary LLC, KHRG Cayman Employer Ltd., KHRG Cayman LLC, KHRG DC 1731 LLC, KHRG DC 2505 LLC, KHRG Donovan LLC, KHRG Employer LLC, KHRG Goleta LLC, KHRG Gray LLC, KHRG Gray U2 LLC, KHRG Hillcrest LLC, KHRG Huntington Beach LLC, KHRG King Street LLC, KHRG La Peer LLC, KHRG Miami Beach LLC, KHRG Muse LLC, KHRG NPC LLC, KHRG Onyx LLC, KHRG Palladian LLC, KHRG Palomar Phoenix LLC, KHRG Philly Monaco LLC, KHRG Pittsburgh LLC, KHRG Reynolds LLC, KHRG Riverplace LLC, KHRG SFD LLC, KHRG Sacramento LLC, KHRG Savannah LLC, KHRG Schofield LLC, KHRG Sedona LLC, KHRG State Street LLC, KHRG Sutter LLC, KHRG Sutter Union LLC, KHRG Taconic LLC, KHRG Tariff LLC, KHRG Texas Hospitality LLC, KHRG Texas Operations LLC, KHRG Tryon LLC, KHRG VZ Austin LLC, KHRG Vero Beach LLC, KHRG Vintage Park LLC, KHRG WPB LLC, KHRG Wabash LLC, KHRG Westwood LLC, KHRG Wilshire LLC, KHRG Zamora LLC, Kimpton Hollywood Licenses LLC, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group LLC, Kimpton Phoenix Licenses Holdings LLC, Kimpton Sedona Licenses LLC, Louisiana Acquisitions Corp., MH Lodging LLC, Mercer Fairview Holdings LLC, PML Services LLC, PT SC Hotels & Resorts Indonesia, Pollstrong Limited, Powell Pine Inc., Priscilla Holiday of Texas Inc., RM Lodging LLC, Regent Hotels and Resorts, Resort Services International (Cayo Largo) L.P., SBS Maryland Beverage Company LLC, SC Cellars Limited, SC Hotels International Services Inc., SC Leisure Group Limited, SC NAS 2 Limited, SC Quest Limited, SC Reservations (Philippines) Inc., SCH Insurance Company, SCIH Branston 3, SF MH Acquisition LLC, SPHC Group Pty Ltd., SPHC Management Ltd., Semiramis for training of Hotel Personnel and Hotel Management SAE, Six Continents Corporate Services, Six Continents Holdings Limited, Six Continents Hotels Inc., Six Continents Hotels International Limited, Six Continents Hotels de Colombia SA, Six Continents International Holdings B.V., Six Continents Investments Limited, Six Continents Limited, Six Continents Overseas Holdings Limited, Six Continents Restaurants Limited, SixCo North America Inc., Solamar Lodging LLC, Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (BVI) Ltd., Southern Pacific Hotels Properties Limited, Universal de Hoteles SA, White Shield Insurance Company Limited, and World Trade Centre Montreal Hotel Corporation. 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 Quest Diagnostics: AmeriPath, AmeriPath Cincinnati Inc. (OH), AmeriPath Cleveland Inc. (OH), AmeriPath Consolidated Labs Inc. (FL), AmeriPath Florida LLC (DE), AmeriPath Hospital Services Florida LLC (DE), AmeriPath Inc. (DE), AmeriPath Indianapolis PC (IN), AmeriPath Kentucky Inc. (KY), AmeriPath Lubbock 5.01(A) Corporation (TX), AmeriPath New York LLC (DE), AmeriPath Texas Inc. (DE), AmeriPath Tucson Inc. (AZ), American Medical Laboratories, American Medical Laboratories Incorporated (DE), Associated Clinical Laboratories L.P. (PA), Associated Clinical Laboratories of Pennsylvania L.L.C. (PA), Athena Diagnostics, Athena Diagnostics Inc. (DE), Blueprint Genetics, Blueprint Genetics FZ-LLC (UAE), Blueprint Genetics Inc. (DE), Blueprint Genetics Oy (Finland), California Laboratory Associates, Cape Cod Healthcare - Business, Celera, ClearPoint Diagnostic, Clearpoint Diagnostic Laboratories LLC (TX), Cleveland HeartLab, Cleveland HeartLab Inc. (DE), Clinical Laboratory Partners, Colorado Pathology Consultants P.C. (CO), ConVerge Diagnostic Services, Consolidated DermPath Inc. (DE), DFW 5.01(a) Corporation (TX), DGXWMT JV LLC (DE), Dermatopathology of Wisconsin S.C. (WI), Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma LLC (OK), Diagnostic Pathology Services Inc. (OK), Diagnostic Reference Services Inc. (MD), ExamOne Canada Inc. (New Brunswick), ExamOne LLC (DE), ExamOne World Wide Inc. (PA), ExamOne World Wide of NJ Inc. (NJ), Focus Diagnostics, HemoCue, Hoffman M.D. Associated Pathologists Chartered (NV), Institute for Dermatopathology Inc. (PA), Isabella Street Urban Renewal LLC (NJ), Kailash B. Sharma M.D. Inc. (GA), Kilpatrick Pathology P.A. (NC), LabOne, LabOne LLC (MO), LabOne of Ohio Inc. (DE), Laboratorio de Analisis Biomedicos S.A. (Mexico), Lancet Labs, MACL, Med Fusion LLC (TX), Med fusion, MedPlus, Mid America Clinical Laboratories LLC (IN), Nomad Massachusetts Inc. (MA), Nuclear Medicine and Pathology Associates (GA), Ocmulgee Medical Pathology Association Inc. (GA), Pathology Building Partnership (MD) (gen. ptnrshp.), PeaceHealth Laboratories, PhenoPath Laboratories, PhenoPath Laboratories PLLC (WA), Q Squared Solutions Holdings LLC (DE), Q Squared Solutions Holdings Limited (UK), Quest Diagnostics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (China), Quest Diagnostics Brasil Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics Domestic Holder LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics HTAS India Private Limited (India), Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Holdings Incorporated (DE), Quest Diagnostics Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (MD), Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NV), Quest Diagnostics India Private Limited (India), Quest Diagnostics Infectious Disease Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics International Holdings Limited (UK), Quest Diagnostics International LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Investments LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Ireland Limited (Ireland), Quest Diagnostics LLC (CT), Quest Diagnostics LLC (IL), Quest Diagnostics LLC (MA), Quest Diagnostics Massachusetts LLC (MA), Quest Diagnostics Mexico Holding Company Trust (Mexico), Quest Diagnostics Mexico S de RL de CV (Mexico), Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute (CA), Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute Inc. (VA), Quest Diagnostics Receivables Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics Subsidiary Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics TB LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Terracotta LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Venture LLC (PA), Quest Diagnostics Ventures LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics do Brasil Ltda. (Brazil), Quest Diagnostics of Pennsylvania Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics of Puerto Rico Inc. (PR), Quest HealthConnect LLC (CA), ReproSource, Reprosource Fertility Diagnostics Inc. (MA), Solstas Lab Partners, Sonora Quest Laboratories LLC (AZ), Specialty Laboratories Inc. (CA), Summit Health, UMass Memorial Medical Center - Anatomic Pathology Outreach Laboratory Business, Unilab Corporation, and Unilab Corporation (DE). Our portfolio of high quality UK commercial property is focused on London Offices and Retail around the UK. We own or manage a portfolio valued at A13.7bn (British Land share: A10.3bn) as at 30 September 2020 making us one of Europe's largest listed real estate investment companies. Our strategy is to provide places which meet the needs of our customers and respond to changing lifestyles - Places People Prefer. We do this by creating great environments both inside and outside our buildings and use our scale and placemaking skills to enhance and enliven them. This expands their appeal to a broader range of occupiers, creating enduring demand and driving sustainable, long term performance. Our Offices portfolio comprises three office-led campuses in central London as well as high quality standalone buildings and accounts for 65% of our portfolio. Our Retail portfolio is focused on retail parks and shopping centres, and accounts for 31% of our portfolio. Increasingly our focus is on providing a mix of uses and this is most evident at Canada Water, our 53 acre redevelopment opportunity where we have plans to create a new neighbourhood for London. Sustainability is embedded throughout our business. Our places, which are designed to meet high sustainability standards, become part of local communities, provide opportunities for skills development and employment and promote wellbeing. In April 2016 British Land received the Queen's Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development, the UK's highest accolade for business success for economic, social and environmental achievements over a period of five years. Read More Invesco India ETF's stock was trading at $16.40 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, PIN shares have increased by 73.8% and is now trading at $28.4954. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. The following companies are subsidiares of Carnival Co. &: 1972 Productions Inc., 6348 Equipment LLC, A.C.N. 098 290 834 Pty. Ltd., A.J. Juneau Dock LLC, AIDA Kundencenter GmbH, Adventure Island Ltd., Air-Sea Holiday GmbH, Alaska Hotel Properties LLC, Barcelona Cruise Terminal SLU, Bay Island Cruise Port S.A., Belize Cruise Terminal Limited, CC U.S. Ventures Inc., CCL Gifts LLC, CSSC Carnival Italy Cruise Investment S.r.L, Carnival (UK) Limited, Carnival Bahamas FC Limited, Carnival Bahamas Holdings Limited, Carnival Corporation & plc Asia Pte. Ltd., Carnival Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Carnival Corporation Korea Ltd., Carnival Corporation Ports Group Japan KK, Carnival Finance LLC, Carnival Grand Bahama Investment Limited, Carnival Investments Limited, Carnival Japan Inc., Carnival License Holdings Limited, Carnival Maritime GmbH, Carnival North America LLC, Carnival Port Holdings Limited, Carnival Ports Inc., Carnival Support Services India Private Limited, Carnival Technical Services (UK) Limited, Carnival Technical Services Finland Limited, Carnival Technical Services GmbH, Carnival Technical Services Inc., Carnival Vanuatu Limited, Costa Crociere PTE Ltd., Costa Crociere S.p.A., Costa Cruceros S.A., Costa Cruise Lines Inc., Costa Cruise Lines UK Limited, Costa Cruises Shipping Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, Costa Cruises Travel Agency (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Costa Cruzeiros Agencia Maritima e Turismo Ltda., Costa Group Digital & Strategic Services GmbH, Costa International B.V., Costa Kreuzfahrten GmbH, Cozumel Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Creative Travel Lab Ltd., Cruise Ships Catering & Services International N.V., Cruise Terminal Services S.A. de C.V., Cruiseport Curacao C.V., D.R. Cruise Port Ltd., Ecospray Technologies S.r.L., F.P.M. SAS, F.P.P. SAS, Fleet Maritime Services (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services Holdings (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services International Limited, GXI LLC, Gibs Inc., Global Experience Innovators Inc., Global Fine Arts Inc., Global Shipping Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Grand Cruise Shipping Unipessoal LdA, Grand Turk Cruise Center Ltd., HAL Antillen N.V., HAL Beheer B.V., HAL Cruises Limited, HAL Maritime Ltd., HAL Nederland N.V., HAL Properties Limited, HAL Services B.V., HSE Hamburg School of Entertainment GmbH, Holding Division Iberocruceros SLU, Holland America Line Inc., Holland America Line N.V., Holland America Line Paymaster of Washington LLC, Holland America Line U.S.A. Inc., Ibero Cruzeiros Ltda., Iberocruceros SLU, Information Assistance Corporation, International Cruise Services S.A. de C.V., International Leisure Travel Inc., International Maritime Recruitment Agency S.A. de C.V., Milestone N.V., Navitrans S.R.L., Ocean Bahamas Innovation Ltd., Ocean Medallion Fulfillment Ltd., Operadora Catalina S.r.L., P&O Princess American Holdings, P&O Princess Cruises International Limited, P&O Princess Cruises Pension Trustee Limited, P&O Properties (California) Inc., P&O Travel Limited, Prestige Cruises Management S.A.M., Prestige Cruises N.V., Princess Bermuda Holdings Ltd., Princess Cays Ltd., Princess Cruise Corporation Inc., Princess Cruise Lines Ltd., Princess Cruises and Tours Inc., Princess U.S. Holdings Inc., RCT Maintenance & Related Services S.A., RCT Pilots & Related Services S.A., RCT Security & Related Services S.A., Roatan Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Royal Hyway Tours Inc., Santa Cruz Terminal S.L., SeaVacations Limited, SeaVacations UK Limited, Seabourn Cruise Line Limited, Shanghai Coast Cruise Consulting Co. Lda, Ship Care (Bahamas) Limited, Sitmar Cruises Inc., Spanish Cruise Services N.V., Sunshine Shipping Corporation Ltd., T&T International Inc., Tour Alaska LLC, Transnational Services Corporation, Trident Insurance Company Ltd., Westmark Hotels Inc., Westmark Hotels of Canada Ltd., Westours Motor Coaches LLC, Wind Surf Limited, and World Leading Cruise Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.. 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 contact@marketbeat.com | (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. The following companies are subsidiares of Sealed Air: A.P.S. (Holdings) Limited, AFP Trading (China) Co. Ltd., AFPTOH LTD, APS Automated Packaging Systems GmbH & Co. KG, APS Verwaltungs-GmbH, Air Ride Pallets Hong Kong Limited, Austin Foam Plastics Inc. (dba AFP Inc.), Automated Packaging Systems, Automated Packaging Systems Asia Holding Company Limited, Automated Packaging Systems Comerciale Importacao do Brasil Ltda., Automated Packaging Systems Europe, Automated Packaging Systems LLC, Automated Packaging Systems Limited, Automated Packaging Systems Southeast Asia Co. Ltd., B+ Equipment, B+ Equipment SAS, Beacon Holdings LLC, Biosphere Industries, BluPack (New Zealand), Blue Dot Packaging Pty Ltd., Cactus (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Cryovac (Malaysia) SDN. BHD, Cryovac Brasil Ltda., Cryovac Holdings II LLC, Cryovac International Holdings Inc., Cryovac LLC*, Cryovac Leasing Corporation, Cryovac Londrina Ltda., Cryovac Packaging Portugal Embalagens Ltda., Cryovac-Sealed Air de Costa Rica S.R.L., DELTAPLAM Embalagens Industria e Comercio, Diversey, Diversey J Trustee Limited, Diversey Trustee Limited, Entapack Pty. Ltd., Fagerdala (Chengdu) Packaging Co. Ltd, Fagerdala (Shanghai) Foams Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Shanghai) Polymer Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Suzhou) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Thailand) Limited, Fagerdala (Xiamen) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Leamchabung Limited, Fagerdala Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Fagerdala Mexico S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Mexico Supply Chain S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Packaging Inc. (Indiana), Fagerdala Singapore Pte Ltd, Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Ltd., Getpacking.com GmbH, Invertol S. de R.L. de C.V., JSC Sealed Air Kaustik, KRIS Automated Packaging Systems Holding Company, Kevothermal LLC, Kevothermal Limited, Nelipak Holdings, Pack-Tiger GmbH, Polyrol Limited, Polyrol Packaging Systems LLC, ProAseptic Technologies S.L., Producembal- Producao de Embalagens LTDA, Reflectix Inc., SLD Air Packaging Paketleme Malzemeleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Saddle Brook Insurance Company, Sealed Air (Asia) Holdings BV, Sealed Air (Barbados) S.R.L., Sealed Air (Canada) Co./CIE, Sealed Air (Canada) Holdings B.V., Sealed Air (China) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air (China) Limited, Sealed Air (Israel) Ltd., Sealed Air (Korea) Limited, Sealed Air (Latin America) Holdings II LLC, Sealed Air (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sealed Air (New Zealand), Sealed Air (Philippines) Inc., Sealed Air (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Sealed Air (Ukraine) Limited, Sealed Air Africa (Pty.) Limited, Sealed Air Americas Manufacturing S. de R.L. de C.V., Sealed Air Argentina S.A., Sealed Air Australia (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sealed Air Australia Pty. Limited, Sealed Air Australia Real Estate Pty Ltd, Sealed Air B.V., Sealed Air Belgium N.V., Sealed Air Central America S.A., Sealed Air Chile SpA, Sealed Air Colombia Ltda., Sealed Air Corporation (US), Sealed Air Cyprus Ltd., Sealed Air Denmark A/S, Sealed Air Finance B.V., Sealed Air Finance II LLC, Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Funding LLC, Sealed Air General Trading LLC, Sealed Air GmbH (Germany), Sealed Air GmbH (Switzerland), Sealed Air Hellas SA, Sealed Air Holding France SAS, Sealed Air Holdings (New Zealand) Pty. Ltd., Sealed Air Holdings South Africa Proprietary Limited, Sealed Air Holdings UK I Limited, Sealed Air Holdings UK Limited, Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited, Sealed Air Hungary Ltd., Sealed Air Investment and Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Japan G.K., Sealed Air LLC, Sealed Air Limited (Ireland), Sealed Air Limited (UK), Sealed Air Luxembourg (I) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg (II) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Management Holding Verwaltungs GmbH, Sealed Air Multiflex GmbH, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) I B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands Holdings V B.V., Sealed Air Norge AS, Sealed Air OY, Sealed Air Packaging (India) Private Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Packaging LLC, Sealed Air Packaging Materials (India) LLP, Sealed Air Packaging S.L.U., Sealed Air Peru S.A.C., Sealed Air Polska Sp. Zoo, Sealed Air Pty Limited, Sealed Air S.A S., Sealed Air S.r.l., Sealed Air South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Sealed Air Svenska AB, Sealed Air Taiwan Limited, Sealed Air UK Limited Partnership, Sealed Air US Holdings (Thailand) LLC, Sealed Air Uruguay S.A., Sealed Air Verpackungen GmbH, Sealed Air de Mexico Operations S. de RL. de C.V., Sealed Air de Venezuela S.A., Sealed Air s.r.o., Shanklin Corp, Shanklin Corporation, TTS-Ciptec, TXAFP Asia Pacific Ltd., TXAFP GP LLC, and Trigon Industries. Guess?, Inc. engages in designing, marketing, distributing and licensing of contemporary apparel and accessories for men, women and children that reflect the American lifestyle and European fashion sensibilities. It operates through the following segments: Americas Retail, Americas Wholesale, Europe, Asia, and Licensing. The Americas Retail segment includes the Company's retail and e-Commerce operations in North and Central America and its retail operations in South America. The Americas Wholesale segment consists of the Company's wholesale operations in the Americas. The Europe segment comprises the Company's retail, e-commerce and wholesale operations in Europe and the Middle East. The Asia segment refers to the Company's retail, e-commerce and wholesale operations in Asia and the Pacific. The Licensing segment includes the worldwide licensing operations of the Company. The company was founded by Paul Marciano and Maurice Marciano in 1981 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. Read More Dougherty's Pharmacy, Inc. focuses on acquiring, managing, and growing community based pharmacies in the Southwest Region of the United States. Its flagship store is Dougherty's Pharmacy, a turn-key multi-service pharmacy located in Dallas, Texas. The company was formerly known as Ascendant Solutions, Inc. and changed its name to Dougherty's Pharmacy, Inc. in May 2017. Dougherty's Pharmacy, Inc. was founded in 1929 and is based in Dallas, Texas. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: 87 Leonard Development LLC, ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Acacia (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Accounting Solutions Holding Company Inc, Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Amber Investments S.a r.l., Ambidexter GmbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BHW Kreditservice GmbH, BNA Nominees Pty Limited, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, BTAS Cayman GP, BTD Nominees Pty Limited, Baincor Nominees Pty Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Barkly Investments Ltd., Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Biomass Holdings S.a r.l., Birch (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Blue Cork Inc, Blue Cork Inc., Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cape Acquisition Corp., CapeSuccess Inc., CapeSuccess LLC, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Career Blazers LLC, Career Blazers Management Company Inc, Career Blazers Management Company Inc., Career Blazers Personnel Services Inc, Career Blazers Personnel Services Inc., Career Blazers Personnel Services of Washington D.C. Inc. Washington D.C., Caribbean Resort Holdings Inc, Caribbean Resort Holdings Inc., Carpathian Investments Designated Activity Company, Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Asset Management Company Limited, Cathay Capital Company (No 2) Limited, Cedar (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Centennial River 2 Inc., Centennial River Corporation, Chapel Funding, Charlton (Delaware) Inc, China Recovery Fund LLC, China Recovery Fund LLC, Cinda - DB NPL Securitization Trust 2003-1, City Leasing (Thameside) Limited, City Leasing Limited, Consumo S.p.A., Consumo Srl in Liquidazione, Cyrus J. Lawrence Capital Holdings Inc., Cyrus J. Lawrence Capital Holdings Inc., D B Investments (GB) Limited, D&M Turnaround Partners Godo Kaisha, D.B. International Delaware Inc., D.B. International Delaware Inc., DAHOC (UK) Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation), DAHOC Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DB (Barbados) SRL, DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Asing) Sdn. Bhd., DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad, DB (Pacific) Limited, DB (Pacific) Limited New York, DB (Pacific) Limited New York, DB Abalone LLC, DB Alex. Brown Holdings Incorporated, DB Alps Corporation, DB Aotearoa Investments Limited, DB Asia Pacific Holdings Limited (in voluntary liquidation), DB Asset Finance I S.a r.l., DB Asset Finance II S.a r.l., DB Aster II LLC, DB Aster III LLC, DB Aster Inc., DB Aster LLC, DB Beteiligungs-Holding GmbH, DB Boracay LLC, DB Capital Investments Sarl, DB Capital Markets (Deutschland) GmbH, DB Capital Partners Inc., DB Capital Partners Inc., DB Cartera de Inmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Cartera de Inmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Chestnut Holdings Limited, DB Commodity Services LLC, DB Consorzio S. Cons. a r. l., DB Corporate Advisory (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., DB Covered Bond S.r.l., DB Credit Investments S.a r.l., DB Delaware Holdings (Europe) Limited, DB Direkt GmbH, DB Elara LLC, DB Energy Commodities Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation), DB Energy Trading LLC, DB Enfield Infrastructure Holdings Limited, DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equity Limited, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Finance International GmbH, DB Ganymede 2006 L.P., DB Global Markets Multi-Strategy Fund I Ltd., DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology SRL, DB Group Services (UK) Limited, DB HR Solutions GmbH, DB Holding Fundo de Investimento Multimercado Investimento no Exterior Credito Privado, DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB Holdings (South America) Limited, DB IROC Leasing Corp., DB Immobilienfonds 1 Wieland KG, DB Immobilienfonds 2 KG i.L., DB Immobilienfonds 4 KG i.L., DB Immobilienfonds 5 Wieland KG, DB Impact Investment (GP) Limited, DB Impact Investment Fund I L.P., DB Impact Investment Fund I L.P., DB Industrial Holdings Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, DB Industrial Holdings GmbH, DB Intermezzo LLC, DB International (Asia) Limited, DB International Investments Limited, DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited, DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Resources (US) Corporation, DB Investment Resources Holdings Corp., DB Investment Services GmbH, DB Io LP, DB Litigation Fee LLC, DB London (Investor Services) Nominees Limited, DB Management Support GmbH, DB Managers LLC, DB Municipal Holdings LLC, DB Nexus American Investments (UK) Limited (in members'voluntary liquidation), DB Nexus Investments (UK) Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation), DB Nominees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB Nominees (Singapore) Pte Ltd, DB Omega BTV S.C.S., DB Omega Holdings LLC, DB Omega Ltd., DB Omega S.C.S., DB Operaciones y Servicios Interactivos Agrupacion de Interes Economico, DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Holdings Limited, DB PWM, DB Portfolio Southwest Inc., DB Print GmbH, DB Privat- und Firmenkundenbank AG, DB Private Clients Corp., DB Private Wealth Mortgage Ltd., DB RC Holdings LLC, DB Re S.A., DB Service Centre Limited, DB Service Uruguay S.A., DB Services Americas Inc., DB Services Americas Inc., DB Servizi Amministrativi S.r.l., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Finance 1 Designated Activity Company, DB Structured Finance 2 Designated Activity Company, DB Structured Holdings Luxembourg S.a r.l., DB Structured Products Inc., DB Structured Products Inc., DB Trustee Services Limited, DB Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB U.S. Financial Markets Holding Corporation, DB UK Bank Limited, DB UK Holdings Limited, DB UK PCAM Holdings Limited, DB USA Core Corporation, DB USA Corporation, DB Valoren S.a r.l., DB Value S.a r.l., DB VersicherungsManager GmbH, DB Vita S.A., DBAB Wall Street LLC, DBAH Capital LLC, DBAH Capital LLC, DBCIBZ1, DBCIBZ2, DBFIC Inc., DBFIC Inc., DBNZ Overseas Investments (No.1) Limited, DBOI Global Services (UK) Limited, DBOI Global Services Private Limited, DBR Investments Co. Limited, DBRE Global Real Estate Management IA Ltd., DBRE Global Real Estate Management IB Ltd., DBRE Global Real Estate Management IB Ltd., DBRE Global Real Estate Management US IB L.L.C., DBRMS4, DBRMSGP1, DBUK PCAM Limited, DBUKH No. 2 Limited, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ2 S.a r.l., DBUSBZ2 S.a r.l., DBX Advisors LLC, DBX ETF Trust, DBX Strategic Advisors LLC, DBO Vermogensverwertung GmbH, DEBEKO Immobilien GmbH & Co Grundbesitz OHG, DEE Deutsche Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, DEUFRAN Beteiligungs GmbH, DEUKONA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH, DEUTSCHE BANK A.S., DG China Clean Tech Partners, DI Deutsche Immobilien Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, DIB-Consult Deutsche Immobilien- und BeteiligungsBeratungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., DISCA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DNU Nominees Pty Limited, DSL Portfolio GmbH & Co. KG, DSL Portfolio Verwaltungs GmbH, DTS Nominees Pty Limited, DWS Alternatives France, DWS Alternatives Global Limited, DWS Alternatives GmbH, DWS Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, DWS Beteiligungs GmbH, DWS CH AG, DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Far Eastern Investments Limited, DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, DWS Group Services UK Limited, DWS Grundbesitz GmbH, DWS International GmbH, DWS Investment GmbH, DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment S.A., DWS Investments Australia Limited, DWS Investments Hong Kong Limited, DWS Investments Japan Limited, DWS Investments Shanghai Limited, DWS Investments Singapore Limited, DWS Investments UK Limited, DWS Management GmbH, DWS Real Estate GmbH, DWS Service Company, DWS Trust Company, DWS USA Corporation, De Heng Asset Management Company Limited, De Meng Innovative (Beijing) Consulting Company Limited, DeAM Infrastructure Limited, Deloraine Spain S.L., Delowrezham de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Deposit Solutions, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Capital Holdings New Zealand, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Foreign Investments New Zealand, Deutsche (Mauritius) Limited Port, Deutsche (New Munster) Holdings New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Access Investments Limited, Deutsche Aeolia Power Production Societe Anonyme, Deutsche Alt-A Securities Inc., Deutsche Alt-A Securities Inc., Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (France) SAS, Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (UK) Limited, Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, Deutsche Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Asset Management (Japan) Limited, Deutsche Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, Deutsche Asset Management S.A., Deutsche Asset Management S.G.I.I.C. S.A., Deutsche Australia Limited, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, Deutsche Bank (Chile), Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Deutsche Bank (Uruguay) Sociedad Anonima Institucion Financiera Externa, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., Deutsche Bank Bauspar-Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Capital Finance LLC I, Deutsche Bank Capital Finance Trust I, Deutsche Bank Europe GmbH, Deutsche Bank Financial Company, Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency of Delaware, Deutsche Bank International Limited, Deutsche Bank Investments (Guernsey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A. - Fiduciary Deposits, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A. - Fiduciary Note Programme, Deutsche Bank Mutui S.p.A., Deutsche Bank Mexico S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple, Deutsche Bank Mexico S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company Los, Deutsche Bank Nominees (Guernsey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Nominees (Jersey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Polska Spolka Akcyjna, Deutsche Bank Representative Office Nigeria Limited, Deutsche Bank S.A. - Banco Alemao, Deutsche Bank S.A. - Banco Alemao Sao, Deutsche Bank SPEARs/LIFERs Series DBE-8011 Trust, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Limited, Deutsche Bank Services (Jersey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Sociedad Anonima Espanola, Deutsche Bank Sociedad Anonima Espanola, Deutsche Bank Societa per Azioni, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, Deutsche CIB Centre Private Limited, Deutsche Capital Finance (2000) Limited, Deutsche Capital Hong Kong Limited, Deutsche Capital Management Limited, Deutsche Capital Markets Australia Limited, Deutsche Capital Partners China Limited, Deutsche Cayman Ltd., Deutsche Colombia S.A.S., Deutsche Custody N.V., Deutsche Domus New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 1 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 2 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 3 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 4 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Foras New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Immobilien-Leasing mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Immobilien-Leasing mit beschrankterHaftung, Deutsche Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Group Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Deutsche Group Services Pty Limited, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Deutsche Grundbesitz-Anlagegesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Holdings (BTI) Limited, Deutsche Holdings (Grand Duchy), Deutsche Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Deutsche Holdings (Malta) Ltd., Deutsche Holdings Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 3 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 4 Limited, Deutsche Immobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsche India Holdings Private Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited, Deutsche International Custodial Services Limited, Deutsche Inversiones Dos S.A., Deutsche Inversiones Limitada, Deutsche Investments (Netherlands) N.V., Deutsche Investments India Private Limited, Deutsche Investor Services Private Limited, Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd., Deutsche Leasing New York Corp., Deutsche Mandatos S.A., Deutsche Master Funding Corporation, Deutsche Mexico Holdings S.a r.l., Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Limited, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Public Limited Company, Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation, Deutsche Mortgage Securities Inc., Deutsche Mortgage Securities Inc., Deutsche Nederland N.V., Deutsche New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Nominees Limited, Deutsche Oppenheim Family Office AG, Deutsche Overseas Issuance New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Postbank, Deutsche Postbank Finance Center Objekt GmbH, Deutsche Postbank Funding LLC I, Deutsche Postbank Funding LLC II, Deutsche Postbank Funding LLC III, Deutsche Private Asset Management Limited, Deutsche Securities (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Securities (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities Asia Limited, Deutsche Securities Australia Limited, Deutsche Securities Inc., Deutsche Securities Israel Ltd., Deutsche Securities Korea Co., Deutsche Securities Mauritius Limited, Deutsche Securities Menkul Degerler A.S., Deutsche Securities S.A., Deutsche Securities S.A. de C.V. Casa de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities S.A. de C.V. Casa de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Securities SpA, Deutsche Securities Venezuela S.A., Deutsche Securitisation Australia Pty Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trust Company Limited Japan, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. S.A., Deutsches Institut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.I., Elba Finance GmbH, Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, Emerald Asset Repackaging Designated Activity Company, Erste Frankfurter Hoist GmbH, European Value Added I (Alternate G.P.) LLP, Exinor SA, FARAMIR Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH, FRANKFURT CONSULT GmbH, Fiduciaria Sant' Andrea S.r.L., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Franz Urbig- und Oscar Schlitter-Stiftung Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-037, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-039, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-040, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-041, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-043, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-044, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-047, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., G.O. IB-US Management L.L.C., G918 Corp., GAC-HEL Inc., GWC-GAC Corp., Galene S.a r.l., Gemini Technology Services Inc., German American Capital, German American Capital Corporation, Gladyr Spain S.L., Global Markets Fundo de Investimento Multimercado, Global Markets III Fundo de Investimento Multimercado - Credito, Greenwood Properties Corp., Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer Landstrae GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Kerpen-Sindorf Vogelrutherfeld GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Leipzig Petersstrae GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Wiesbaden Luisenstrae/Kirchgasse GbR, HTB Spezial GmbH & Co. KG, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, IOS Finance EFC S.A., ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF I Manager S.a r.l., IVAF I Manager S.a r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, Immobilienfonds Mietwohnhauser Quadrath-Ichendorf GbR, Immobilienfonds Wohn- und Geschaftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul Inkasso GmbH, Kradavimd UK Lease Holdings Limited, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Latitude Australia Secured Personal Loans Trust, Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo III Initial GP Limited, Lindsell Finance Limited, London Industrial Leasing Limited, MEF I Manager S. a r.l., MEF I Manager S. a r.l., MHL Reinsurance Ltd., MIT Holdings Inc., MIT Holdings Inc., MPP Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgageIT Inc., MortgageIT Inc., MortgageIT Securities Corp., Motion Picture Productions One GmbH & Co. KG, NCW Holding Inc., Navegator - SGFTC S.A., Navegator - SGFTC S.A., New 87 Leonard LLC, Nordwestdeutscher Wohnungsbautrager Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentre", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungs-GmbH, OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Holding GmbH, OPB-Nona GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPB-Quinta GmbH, OPB-Septima GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM Flottenfonds V GmbH & Co. KG, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, OPS Nominees Pty Limited, OVT Trust 1 GmbH, OVV Beteiligungs GmbH, Opal Funds (Ireland) Public Limited Company, PADUS Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, PARTS Funding LLC., PB Factoring GmbH, PB Firmenkunden AG, PB International S.A., PB Spezial-Investmentaktiengesellschaft mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PBC Banking Services GmbH, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, PT. Deutsche Verdhana Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Peruda Leasing Limited, Plantation Bay Inc., Plantation Bay Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Immobilien GmbH, Postbank Immobilien und Baumanagement GmbH, Postbank Immobilien und Baumanagement GmbH & Co. Objekt Leipzig KG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank Service GmbH, Postbank Systems AG, QR Tower 2 LLC, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, REO Properties Corporation, RREEF, RREEF America L.L.C., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisors Private Limited, RREEF Management L.L.C., RTS Nominees Pty Limited, Reference Capital Investments Limited, RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables LLC, Route 28 Receivables LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SCUDO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., SEDO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., SENA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt Kamenz KG, SIFA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SOLIDO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SP Mortgage Trust, SPINO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., SPV I Sociedad Anonima Cerrada, SPV II Sociedad Anonima Cerrada, STATOR Heizkraftwerk Frankfurt (Oder) Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim Alternative Investments GmbH, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. AG & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Komplementar AG, Sechste Salomon Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Sechste Salomon Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Service Company Four Limited, Sharps SP I LLC, Singer Island Tower Suite LLC, Somkid Immobiliare S.r.l., Stelvio Immobiliare S.r.l., Structured Finance Americas LLC, Structured Finance Americas LLC, Swabia 1. Vermogensbesitz-GmbH, Suddeutsche Vermogensverwaltung Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, TAKIR Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, TELO Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, TEMATIS Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., TERRUS Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., TESATUR Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt Halle I KG i.L., TESATUR Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt Nordhausen I KG i.L., TOSSA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, TRIPLA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, TRS Aria LLC, TRS Leda LLC, TRS Maple II LTD, TRS Oak II LTD, TRS SVCO LLC, TRS Scorpio LLC, TRS Tupelo II LTD, TRS Venor LLC, TRS Walnut II LTD, Tagus - Sociedade de Titularizacao de Creditos S.A., Tasfiye Halinde Deutsche Securities Menkul Degerler A.S., Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Tianjin Deutsche AM Fund Management Co. Ltd., Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Limited, UKE Beteiligungs-GmbH, UKE Grundstucksgesellschaft mbH, UKE s.r.o., Ullmann - Esch Grundstucksgesellschaft Kirchnerstrae GbR, Ullmann - Esch Grundstucksverwaltungsgesellschaft Disternich GbR, Ullmann Ullmann Krockow Krockow Esch GbR, VCJ Lease S.a r.l., Vesta Real Estate S.r.l., VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, WEPLABeteiligungsgesellschaftmbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., Whale Holdings S.a r.l., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., World Trading(Delaware)Inc., Zumirez Drive LLC, db PBC, and norisbank GmbH. Deutsche BArse AG operates as an exchange organization in Europe, the United States, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates through seven segments: Eurex (Financial Derivatives), EEX (Commodities), 360T (Foreign Exchange), Xetra (Cash Equities), Clearstream (Post-Trading), IFS (Investment Fund Services), and Qontigo (index and analytics business). The company engages in the electronic trading of derivatives, electricity and gas products, emission rights, and foreign exchange; operating of Eurex Repo over the counter (OTC) trading platform and electronic clearing architecture; and operating as a central counterparty for on-and-off exchange derivatives, repo transactions, and OTC and exchange-traded derivatives. It also operates in the cash market through Xetra, BArse Frankfurt, and Tradegate trading venues; operates as a central counterparty for equities and bonds; and provides listing services. In addition, the company offers custody and settlement services for securities; investment fund services; global securities financing services; and global securities finance and collateral management, as well as secured money, market transaction, and repos and securities lending transaction services. Further, it develops and markets indices, as well as portfolio management and risk analysis software; markets licenses for trading and market signals; provides technology and reporting solutions for external customers; and offers link-up of trading participants. Deutsche BArse AG was founded in 1585 and is headquartered in Eschborn, Germany. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Sysco: 2234829 Alberta ULC, 2234842 Alberta ULC, A. M. Briggs Inc., A.M. Briggs, Almacen Fiscal Frionet Caldera S.A., Almacen Fiscal Frionet Limon S.A., Appert's Foodservice, Arnotts (Fruit) Limited, Asian Foods, Bahamas Food Holdings Limited, Bahamas Food Services Limited, Brake Bros, Brake Bros Foodservice Ireland Limited, Brake Bros. Foodservice Limited, Brake Bros. Holding I Limited, Brake Bros. Ltd., Brakes Foodservice NI Limited, Buchy Food Service, Buckhead Beef Co., Buckhead Meat & Seafood of Houston Inc., Buckhead Meat Company, Buckhead Meat Midwest Inc., Buckhead Meat of Dallas Inc., Buckhead Meat of Denver Inc., Buckhead Meat of San Antonio LP, Buzztable Inc., CAKE Corporation, Central Seafood Co., Christys Wine & Spirits Limited, Clafra Aktiebolag, Colorado Boxed Beef Co - Specialty meat-cutting division, Corporacion Frionet Sociedad Anonima, Crossgar Foodservice, Crossgar Foodservice Limited, Crown I Enterprises Inc., Cucina Acquisitions (UK) Limited, Cucina Finance (UK) Limited, Cucina French Holdings Limited, Cucina Fresh Finance Limited, Cucina Fresh Investments Limited, Cucina Lux Investments Limited, Curleys Quality Foods Limited (Third Party), Davigel Belgilux S.A., Davigel Espana S.A., Desert Meats & Provisions, Distagro, Doerle Food Service, Doughtie's Foods Inc., Dust Bowl City LLC, Eko Fagel Fisk o mittemellan AB, Enclave Insurance Company, Enclave Parkway Association Inc., Enclave Properties LLC, European Imports, European Imports Inc., Figg Inc., Freedman Meats, Freedman Meats Inc., Freedman-KB Inc., Fresh Direct (UK) Limited, Fresh Direct Group Limited, Fresh Direct Limited, Fresh Holdings Limited, FreshPoint, FreshPoint Arizona Inc., FreshPoint Atlanta Inc., FreshPoint California Inc., FreshPoint Central California Inc., FreshPoint Central Florida Inc., FreshPoint Connecticut LLC, FreshPoint Dallas Inc., FreshPoint Denver Inc., FreshPoint Hawaii LLC, FreshPoint Inc., FreshPoint Las Vegas Inc., FreshPoint North Carolina Inc., FreshPoint North Florida Inc., FreshPoint Oklahoma City LLC, FreshPoint Pompano Real Estate LLC, FreshPoint Puerto Rico LLC, FreshPoint San Francisco Inc., FreshPoint South Florida Inc., FreshPoint South Texas Inc., FreshPoint Southern California Inc., FreshPoint Tomato LLC, FreshPoint Vancouver Ltd., Freshfayre Limited, Fruktservice i Helsingborg AB, GHS Classic Drinks Limited, Gilchrist & Soames Inc., Gilchrist & Soames UK Limited, Guest Packaging LLC, Guest Supply, Guest Supply Asia Limited, Guest Supply Singapore Pte. Ltd., International Food Group, Isakssons Frukt & Gront AB, J & M Wholesale Meats, J. Kings Food Service Professionals, J. Kings Food Service Professionals Inc., Kent Frozen Foods, Les Ateliers Du Gout, Liquid Assets Limited, M&J Seafood Holdings Limited, M&J Seafood Limited, Manchester Mills LLC, Mayca Autoservicio S.A., Mayca Distribuidores S.A., Menigo Foodservice AB, Mitshim Etatu Supply LP, Newport Meat Company, Newport Meat Northern California Inc., Newport Meat Pacific Northwest Inc., Newport Meat Southern California Inc., Newport Meat of Nevada Inc., North Star Holding Corporation, North Star Seafood, North Star Seafood Acquisition Corporation, North Star Seafood LLC, PFS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Palisades Ranch Inc., Pallas Foods, Pallas Foods Farm Fresh Unlimited Company, Pallas Foods Unlimited Company, Pauleys Produce Limited, Promotora del Servicios S.A. de C.V., Restaurangakdemien AB, Restaurant of Tomorrow Inc., Rohan Viandes Elaboration SAS, SMS Bermuda Holdings, SMS GPC International Limited, SMS GPC International Resources Limited, SMS Global Holdings S.a.r.l., SMS International Resources Ireland Unlimited Company, SMS Lux Holdings LLC, SOTF LLC, SYY Netherlands C.V., SYY Panama S. de R.L., Serca Foodservice, Servicestyckarna I Johannes AB, Servicios Ameriserve S.A. de C.V., Shenzhen Guest Supply Trading Co. Limited, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Bianchi Montegut, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Boiseau, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Garcelles, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) J.D. Lanjouan, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Le Dauphin, Specialty Meat Holdings LLC, Stockflag Limited, Stockholms Fiskauktion AB, Supplies on the Fly, Sysco Albany LLC, Sysco Asian Foods Inc., Sysco Atlanta LLC, Sysco Autoservicio S.A., Sysco Baltimore LLC, Sysco Baraboo LLC, Sysco Bermuda Partners L.P., Sysco Boston LLC, Sysco Canada Holdings S.a.r.l., Sysco Canada Inc., Sysco Central Alabama LLC, Sysco Central California Inc., Sysco Central Florida Inc., Sysco Central Illinois Inc., Sysco Central Pennsylvania LLC, Sysco Charlotte LLC, Sysco Chicago Inc., Sysco Cincinnati LLC, Sysco Cleveland Inc., Sysco Columbia LLC, Sysco Connecticut LLC, Sysco Corporation, Sysco Corporation Director's Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Employee's 401(k) Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Good Government Committee Inc., Sysco Corporation Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Unemployment Benefits Plan Trust, Sysco Detroit LLC, Sysco Disaster Relief Foundation Inc., Sysco EI VI S. s.r.l., Sysco EU II S.a.r.l., Sysco EU III S.a.r.l., Sysco EU IV Capital Unlimited Company, Sysco EU IV S. s.r.l.., Sysco EU V S. s.r.l., Sysco Eastern Maryland LLC, Sysco Eastern Wisconsin LLC, Sysco Foundation Inc., Sysco France Holding SAS, Sysco France SAS, Sysco George Town II LLC, Sysco George Town Limited S. s.r.l.., Sysco Global Finance LLC, Sysco Global Finance LLP, Sysco Global Holdings B.V., Sysco Global Resources LLC, Sysco Global Services LLC, Sysco Grand Cayman Company, Sysco Grand Cayman II Company, Sysco Grand Cayman III Company, Sysco Grand Rapids LLC, Sysco Guernsey Limited, Sysco Guest Supply Canada Inc., Sysco Guest Supply Europe Goods Wholesalers LLC, Sysco Guest Supply Europe Limited, Sysco Guest Supply LLC, Sysco Gulf Coast LLC, Sysco Hampton Roads Inc., Sysco Hawaii Inc., Sysco Holdings II LLC, Sysco Holdings LLC, Sysco Indianapolis LLC, Sysco International Food Group Inc., Sysco International Inc., Sysco Iowa Inc., Sysco Jackson LLC, Sysco Jacksonville Inc., Sysco Kansas City Inc., Sysco Knoxville LLC, Sysco Labs Europe Limited, Sysco Labs Pvt. Ltd., Sysco Leasing LLC, Sysco Lincoln Inc., Sysco Lincoln Transportation Company Inc., Sysco Long Island LLC, Sysco Los Angeles Inc., Sysco Louisville Inc., Sysco Memphis LLC, Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Canada Inc., Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Inc., Sysco Metro New York LLC, Sysco Minnesota Inc., Sysco Montana Inc., Sysco Nashville LLC, Sysco Netherlands Partners LLC, Sysco North Central Florida Inc., Sysco North Dakota Inc., Sysco Northern New England Inc., Sysco Philadelphia LLC, Sysco Pittsburgh LLC, Sysco Portland Inc., Sysco Raleigh LLC, Sysco Resources Services LLC, Sysco Riverside Inc., Sysco Sacramento Inc., Sysco San Diego Inc., Sysco San Francisco Inc., Sysco Seattle Inc., Sysco South Florida Inc., Sysco Southeast Florida LLC, Sysco Spain Holdings SLU, Sysco Spokane Inc., Sysco St. Louis LLC, Sysco Syracuse LLC, Sysco Technologies Cayman Ltd., Sysco Technologies LLC, Sysco UK Holdings Limited, Sysco UK Limited, Sysco UK Partners LLP, Sysco USA I Inc., Sysco USA II LLC, Sysco USA III LLC, Sysco Ventura Inc., Sysco Ventures Inc., Sysco Virginia LLC, Sysco West Coast Florida Inc., Sysco Western Minnesota Inc., The SYGMA Network Inc., Upsys, Victua SAS, Walker Foods Inc., Waugh Foods, and Wild Harvest Limited. Ferguson plc distributes plumbing and heating products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Central Europe. It offers plumbing and heating solutions to customers in the residential, municipal, civil and industrial markets, and commercial sectors for repair, maintenance, and improvement (RMI), as well as new construction markets. The company also distributes pipes, valves, fittings, hydrants, meters, and related water management products, as well as offers related services, such as water line tapping and pipe fusion services. In addition, it distributes heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration equipment, and parts and supplies to specialist contractors in the residential and commercial markets for repair and replacement; and PVF products to industrial customers. Further, the company fabricates and supplies fire protection systems and bespoke fabrication services to commercial contractors for new construction and renovation projects, as well as offers products, services, and solutions to enable maintenance of facilities across various RMI markets. Additionally, it offers supply chain management solutions for PVF; and industrial maintenance, repair, and operations specializing in delivering automation, instrumentation, engineered products, and turn-key solutions. The company also sells its home improvement products directly to consumers, as well as through a network of online stores. In addition, it operates its B2B business primarily under the Ferguson brand; and B2C business under the Build.com brand. Further, the company provides products and services for maintenance of multi-family properties, government agencies, hospitality, education, healthcare, and other facilities. It operates a network of 2,194 branches and 19 distribution centers. Ferguson plc was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Wokingham, the United Kingdom. Read More President Energy Plc engages in the exploration, evaluation, and production of oil and gas properties primarily in South America. The company holds exploration assets in Argentina, the United States, and Paraguay. It also sells hydrocarbons. The company was formerly known as President Petroleum Company PLC and changed its name to President Energy Plc in September 2012. President Energy Plc was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Leeds, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of UnitedHealth Group: 1031387 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, 1070715 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, 1st Avenue Pharmacy Inc., 310 Canyon Medical, 310 Canyon Medical LLC, 4C MSO LLC, 4C Medical Group PLC, 5995 Minnetonka LLC, ABCO International Holdings LLC, ACN Group IPA of New York, ACN Group IPA of New York Inc., ACN Group of California, ACN Group of California Inc., AHJV, AHJV MSO, AHN Accontable Care Organization LLC, AHN Central Services LLC, AHN Target Holdings LLC, AMIL International, AMIL International S.a.r.l., APS Assistencia Personalizada a Saude Ltda., ARC Infusion, ASC Holdings of New Jersey LLC, ASC Network LLC, ASI Global, ASI Global LLC, Access Administrators Inc., Access HealthSource Administrators Inc., Access HealthSource Inc., Access I.V., Administradora Clinica La Colina S.A.S., Administradora Country S.A., Administradora Medica Centromed S.A., Advanced Care, Advanced Care Pharmacy, Advanced Pharma Inc., Advanced Surgery Center of Clifton LLC, Advanced Surgical Hospital LLC, Advantage Care Network Inc., Advocate Condell Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Advocate Sherman Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Advocate Southwest Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Advocate-SCA Partners LLC, Alere Health, Alere Health Improvement Company, Alere Healthcare of Illinois, Alere Wellbeing, Alere Wellology, Alere of New York, Aliansalud Entidad Promotora de Salud S.A., All Savers Insurance Company, All Savers Life Insurance Company of California, Alliance Surgical Center LLC, Aloha Surgical Center LLC, Ambient Healthcare, Ambient Healthcare Inc., Ambient Healthcare of Central Florida, Ambient Healthcare of Georgia, Ambient Healthcare of Northeast Florida, Ambient Healthcare of S. Florida, Ambient Healthcare of West Florida, Ambient Holdings, Ambient Holdings Inc., Ambient Nursing Services, AmeriChoice, AmeriChoice Corporation, AmeriChoice Health Services, AmeriChoice of Connecticut, AmeriChoice of New Jersey, AmeriChoice of New Jersey Inc., American Health Network of Indiana Care Organization LLC, American Health Network of Indiana II LLC, American Health Network of Indiana LLC, American Health Network of Ohio Care Organization LLC, American Health Network of Ohio II LLC, American Health Network of Ohio LLC, Amico Saude Ltda., Amil, Amil Assistencia Medica Internacional S.A., Amil Lifesciences Participacoes Ltda., Antelope Valley Surgery Center L.P., Analisis Clinicos ML S.A.C., Apothecary Holdings Inc., Apothecary Shop of Phoenix Inc., AppleCare Medical Management, AppleCare Medical Management LLC, Aquitania Chilean Holding SpA, Arise Physician Group, Arizona Physicians IPA, Arizona Physicians IPA Inc., AssuranceRx, AssuranceRx LLC, Athens ASC Holdings LLC, Audax Health Solutions, Audax Health Solutions LLC, Austin Center for Outpatient Surgery L.P., Avella Patient Access Program Inc., Avella Specialty Pharmacy, Avella of Austin Inc., Avella of Columbus Inc., Avella of Deer Valley Inc., Avella of Denver Inc., Avella of Gilbert Inc., Avella of Las Vegas II Inc., Avella of Orlando Inc., Avella of Phoenix III Inc., Avella of Sacramento Inc., Avella of Scottsdale Inc., Avella of St. Louis Inc., Avella of Tampa LLC, Avella of Tucson II Inc., Avella of Tucson Inc., Aveta Arizona, Aveta Health Solutions Inc., Aveta Inc., Aveta Kansas City, Aveta Tennessee, AxelaCare Health Solutions, AxelaCare Intermediate Holdings, AxelaCare Intermediate Holdings LLC, AxelaCare LLC, B.R.A.S.S. Partnership in Commendam, Banmedica Colombia SpA, Banmedica Internacional SpA, Banmedica S.A., Beach Surgical Holdings III LLC, Behavioral Healthcare Options, Behavioral Healthcare Options Inc., Belleville Surgical Center Ltd. an Illinois Limited Partnership, Benefit Administration for the Self Employed L.L.C., Benefitter Insurance Solutions Inc., Birmingham Outpatient Surgical Center LLC, Blackstone Valley Surgicare GP LLC, Blue Ridge GP LLC, Bordeaux (Barbados) Holdings I SRL, Bordeaux (Barbados) Holdings II SRL, Bordeaux (Barbados) Holdings III SRL, Bordeaux Holding SpA, Bordeaux International Holdings Inc., Bordeaux UK Holdings I Limited, Bordeaux UK Holdings II Limited, Bordeaux UK Holdings III Limited, Bosque Medical Center Ltda., Brandon Ambulatory Surgery Center LC, BriovaRx, BriovaRx, BriovaRx Infusion Services, BriovaRx Infusion Services 102 LLC, BriovaRx Infusion Services 200 Inc., BriovaRx Infusion Services 204 Inc., BriovaRx Infusion Services 209 Inc., BriovaRx Infusion Services 305 LLC, BriovaRx Infusion Services 402 LLC, BriovaRx Infusion Services Inc., BriovaRx Specialty LLC, BriovaRx of California, BriovaRx of California Inc., BriovaRx of Florida, BriovaRx of Florida Inc., BriovaRx of Georgia, BriovaRx of Georgia LLC, BriovaRx of Hawaii, BriovaRx of Indiana, BriovaRx of Louisiana, BriovaRx of Louisiana L.L.C., BriovaRx of Maine, BriovaRx of Maine Inc., BriovaRx of Massachusetts, BriovaRx of Massachusetts LLC, BriovaRx of Nevada, BriovaRx of New York, BriovaRx of New York Inc., BriovaRx of Texas, BriovaRx of Texas Inc., CDC Holdings Colombia S.A.S., CLISA Clinica de Santo Antonio S.A., CMO Centro Medico de Oftalmologia S/S Ltda., CMS Central de Manipulacao e Servicos Farmaceuticos S.A., CNIC Health Solutions Inc., COI Participacoes S.A., COI Clinicas Oncologicas Integradas S.A., Cabin Enterprises LLC, Cabin Holdings LLC, California MedTrans Network IPA LLC, California MedTrans Network MSO LLC, California Medical Group Insurance Company Risk Retention Group, Camp Hill-SCA Centers LLC, Capital City Medical Group L.L.C., Cardio Management, Cardio Management Inc., Care Improvement Plus Group Management, Care Improvement Plus Group Management LLC, Care Improvement Plus South Central Insurance Company, Care Improvement Plus Wisconsin Insurance Company, Care Improvement Plus of Texas Insurance Company, Casa de Saude Santa Therezinha Ltda., Casa de Saude Santa Therezinha S.A., Castle Rock SurgiCenter LLC, Catalyst360, Catalyst360 LLC, Catamaran Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Catamaran Health Solutions, Catamaran Holdings I, Catamaran IPA III, Catamaran Mail, Catamaran PBM of Illinois II, Catamaran PBM of Puerto Rico, Catamaran PD of Pennsylvania, Catamaran PD of Puerto Rico, Catamaran Rebate Management, Catamaran S.a.r.l., Catamaran Senior Services, Catamaran of Pennsylvania, Cedar Park Surgery Center LLC, Cemed Care - Empressa de Atendimento Clinico Geral Ltda., Cemed Care Empresa de Atendimento Clinico Geral Ltda., Central Indiana Care Organization LLC, Central Ohio Care Organization LLC, Central de Compras SpA, CentriHealth Corporation, CentriHealth UK Limited, CentrifyHealth LLC, Centro Medico Hospitalar Pitangueiras Ltda., Centro Medico Odontologico Americano S.A.C., Centro Medico PJ Ltda., Centro de Entrenamiento en Reanimacion y Prevencion Limitada (CERP), Centro de Servicios Compartidos Banmedica S.A., Centromed Quilpue S.A., Centros Medicos y Dentales Multimed Ltda., Centurion Casualty Company, Channel Islands Surgicenter L.P., Channel Islands Surgicenter Properties LLC, Charleston Surgery Properties LLC, Charlotte-SC LLC, Childrens Surgery Center LLC, ChinaGate (Hong Kong) Limited, ChinaGate Company Limited, Citrus Regional Surgery Center L.P., Clinica Oftalmologica Danilo de Castro Sociedade Simples, Clinical Partners of Colorado Springs LLC, Clinica Alameda S.A., Clinica Bio Bio S.A., Clinica Ciudad del Mar S.A., Clinica Davila y Servicios Medicos S.A., Clinica Medico Cirurgica de Santa Tecla S.A., Clinica San Borja (La Esperanza del Peru S.A.), Clinica San Felipe S.A., Clinica Santa Maria S.A., Clinica Sanchez Ferrer S.A., Clinica Vespucio S.A., Clinica del Country S.A., Coachella Valley Physicians of PrimeCare, Coachella Valley Physicians of PrimeCare Inc., Coalition For Advanced Pharmacy Services, Coalition for Advanced Pharmacy Services Inc., Coastal Physicians Management Inc., Collaborative Care Holdings, Collaborative Care Holdings LLC, Collaborative Care Services, Collaborative Care Services Inc., Collaborative Care Solutions, Collaborative Realty, Collaborative Realty LLC, Colmedica Medicina Prepagada, Colonial Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Colorado Innovative Physician Solutions Inc., Colorado Springs Surgery Center Ltd., Comfort Care Transportation, Comfort Care Transportation LLC, Commonwealth Administrators, Connecticut Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Connecticut Surgery Properties LLC, Connecticut Surgical Center LLC, Connextions, Connextions HCI, Constructora e Inmobiliaria Magapoq S.A., Consumer Wellness Solutions Inc., Country Scan Ltda., Crescent Drug Corp., Cypress Care, Cypress Care Inc., DBP Services of New York IPA, DBP Services of New York IPA Inc., DTC Surgery Center LLC, DWIC of Tampa Bay, DWIC of Tampa Bay Inc., DaVita Magan Management Inc., Danbury Surgical Center L.P., Day-Op Surgery Consulting Company, Day-Op Surgery Consulting Company LLC, Definity Health, Dental Benefit Providers, Dental Benefit Providers Inc., Dental Benefit Providers of California, Dental Benefit Providers of California Inc., Dental Benefit Providers of Illinois, Dental Benefit Providers of Illinois Inc., Derry Surgical Center LLC, Diagnostico Ecotomografico Centromed Ltda., Diasnostico por Imagenes Centromed Ltda., Dilab Medicina Nuclear Ltda., Diplomat Pharmacy, Distance Learning Network, Distance Learning Network Inc., Doctor + S.A.C., Dry Creek Surgery Center LLC, Dublin Surgery Center LLC, Duncan Printing Services, Duncan Printing Services LLC, E Street Endoscopy LLC, ELG FZE, EP Campus I, EP Campus I LLC, East Brunswick Surgery Center LLC, Electronic Network Systems, Electronic Network Systems Inc., Elual Participacoes S.A., Empire Physician Management Company, Empire Physician Management Company LLC, Employers Health Choice PPO Inc., Empremedica S. A., Endoscopy Center Affiliates Inc., Enterprise Life Insurance Company, Equian, Equian LLC, Equian Parent Corp., Esho Empresa de Servicos Hospitalares S.A., Etho Empresa de Tecnologia Hospitalar Ltda., Evercare Collaborative Solutions, Evercare Collaborative Solutions Inc., Everett MSO Inc., Excellion Servicos Biomedicos Ltda., Excellion Servicos Biomedicos S.A., Excelsior Insurance Brokerage Inc., Executive Health Resources, Executive Health Resources Inc., Executive Surgery Center LLC, Eye Clinic Oftalmologia Clinico Cirurgica e Diagnostico Ltda., FMG Holdings, FMG Holdings LLC, FOR HEALTH OF ARIZONA, Family Health Care Services, Family Home Hospice, Family Home Hospice Inc., First Rx Specialty & Mail Services, Florida MedTrans Network LLC, Florida MedTrans Network MSO LLC, For Health, For Health Inc., For Health of Arizona Inc., Fortified Provider Network Inc., Fortify Technologies Asia LLC, Fortify Technologies LLC, Foundation Financial Services Inc., Franklin Surgical Center LLC, Freedom Life Insurance Company of America, Freeway Surgicenter of Houston LLC, Frontier MEDEX Limited, Frontier Medex Tanzania Limited, FrontierMEDEX, FrontierMEDEX (RMS), FrontierMEDEX (RMS) Inc., FrontierMEDEX Government Services, FrontierMEDEX Government Services LLC, FrontierMEDEX Inc., FrontierMEDEX Kenya Limited, FrontierMEDEX US, FrontierMEDEX US Inc., Fundacion Banmedica, GRANTS PASS SURGERY CENTER LLC, Gadsden Surgery Center LLC, Gadsden Surgery Center Ltd., Gainesville Surgery Center L.P., Gainesville Surgery Properties LLC, Genoa, Genoa Healthcare Inc., Genoa Healthcare LLC, Genoa QoL Wholesale LLC, Genoa Technology (Canada) Inc., Genoa Technology Inc., Genoa Telepsychiatry Inc., Genoa of Arkansas LLC, Glenwood Surgical Center L.P., Glenwood-SC Inc., Golden Outlook, Golden Outlook Inc., Golden Rule Financial Corporation, Golden Rule Insurance Company, Golden Triangle Surgicenter L.P., Grapevine Finance LLC, Greater Hartford ASC LLC, Grove Place Surgery Center L.L.C., Guardian Health Systems Limited Partnership, H&W Indemnity (SPC), H&W Indemnity (SPC) Ltd., H.I. Investments Holding Company LLC, HCP ACO California LLC, HCP ACO Nevada LLC, HCentive Technology India Private Limited, HMI NewCo LLC, Harken Health Insurance Company, Hayes-Strub LLC, Health Business Systems, Health Care-ONE Insurance Agency Inc., Health Inventures Employment Solutions LLC, Health Inventures LLC, Health Net Insurance of New York, Health Net Services (Bermuda) Ltd., Health Plan of Nevada, Health Plan of Nevada Inc., Health Technology Analysts Pty Limited, HealthAllies, HealthAllies Inc., HealthCare Partners ASC-LB LLC, HealthCare Partners Management Services California LLC, HealthCare Partners RE LLC, HealthFirst IPA Inc., HealthMarkets Group Inc., HealthMarkets Inc., HealthMarkets Insurance Agency Inc., HealthMarkets LLC, HealthMarkets NewCo Inc., HealthMarkets Services Inc., HealthSCOPE Holdings Inc., HealthScope Benefits Inc., Healthcare Partners Plan of Nevada Inc., Healthcare Solutions Inc., Heartland Heart and Vascular LLC, Help S.A., Help Service S.A., Highlands Ranch Healthcare, Highlands Ranch Healthcare LLC, Home Care I.V. of Bend, Home Infusion With Heart, Home Medical S.A., Hospice Inspiris Holdings, Hospice Inspiris Holdings Inc., Hospitais Associados de Pernambuco Ltda., Hospital Alvorada de Taguatinga Ltda., Hospital Ana Costa S.A., Hospital Maternidade Promater Ltda., Hospital Samaritano de Sao Paulo Ltda., Hospital Santa Helena S.A., Hospital de Clinicas de Jacarepagua Ltda., Humedica, Humedica Inc., Hygeia Corporation, Hygeia Corporation (Canada), Hygeia Corporation (DE), Hygeia Corporation (Ontario), INOV8 Surgical at Memorial City LLC, INSPIRIS of New York IPA, INSPIRIS of New York Management, INSPIRIS of New York Management Inc., INSPIRIS of Texas Physician Group, IRX Financing I LLC, Illinois Independent Care Network, Imed Star Servicos de Desempenho Organizacional Ltda., Impel Consulting Experts, Impel Consulting Experts L.L.C., Impel Management Services L.L.C., Indian River Surgery Center Ltd., Indian River Surgery Properties LLC, Indiana Care Organization LLC, Infusource, Ingram & Associates, Ingram & Associates LLC, Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3001 S.A., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3600 Ltda., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo S.A., Inmobiliaria Clinica Santa Maria S.A., Inmobiliaria Vinamed Ltda., Inmobiliaria e Inversiones Alameda S.A., Inspiris, Inspiris Inc., Inspiris Services Company, Inspiris of Tennessee, Instituto do Radium de Cammpinas Ltda, International Psychological Services Pty Limited, Inversiones Clinicas Santa Maria S.A., Isapre Banmedica S.A., Isapre Vida Tres S.A., Johnston Surgicare L.P., Joliet Surgery Center Limited Partnership, LHI, Laboratorio ROE S.A., Laboratorios Medicos Amed Quilpue S.A., LifePrint Health, LifePrint Health Inc., LifeStyles Marketing Group Inc., LifeWell Ltd. Co., Lifeprint Accountable Care Organization, Lifeprint Accountable Care Organization LLC, Lifeprint East, Lifeprint East Inc., Logistics Health Inc., Lotten-Eyes Oftalmologia Clinica e Cirurgica Ltda., Louisville S.C. Ltd., Louisville-SC Properties Inc., Loyola Ambulatory Surgery Center at Oakbrook Inc., Lusiadas - Parcerias Cascais S.A., Lusiadas A.C.E., Lusiadas S.A., Lusiadas SGPS S.A., MAMSI Insurance Resources, MAMSI Life and Health Insurance Company, MD Ops, MD Ops Inc., MD-Individual Practice Association, MD-Individual Practice Association Inc., ME AHS UC LLC, MEDEX Insurance Services, MEDEX Insurance Services Inc., MGH/SCA LLC, MHC Real Estate Holdings, MHC Real Estate Holdings LLC, MIAMI SURGERY CENTER LLC, MSLA Management LLC, MXMD Centros De Cancer, Mamoeco Mamografia e Ecografia Centro de Diagnostico, Managed Physical Network, Managed Physical Network Inc., March Holdings, March Holdings Inc., March Vision Care, March Vision Care Inc., Marin Surgery Holdings Inc., Maryland Ambulatory Centers, Maryland-SCA Centers LLC, Massachusetts Assurance Company Ltd. PIC, Massachusetts Avenue Surgery Center LLC, Mat-Rx Development, Mat-Rx Fort Worth GP, MedExpress Development, MedExpress Development LLC, MedExpress Urgent Care Alabama LLC, MedExpress Urgent Care Inc. - Ohio, MedExpress Urgent Care Maine Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care New Hampshire Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care of Boynton Beach, MedExpress Urgent Care of Boynton Beach LLC, MedSynergies, MedSynergies LLC, MedSynergies North Texas, Medalliance Net Ltda, Medalliance Net Ltda., Medica Health Plans of Florida, Medica Health Plans of Florida Inc., Medica HealthCare Plans, Medica HealthCare Plans Inc., Medical Clinic of North Texas PLLC, Medical Hilfe S.A., Medical Preparatory School of Allied Health, Medical Support Los Angeles Inc., Medical Surgical Centers of America Inc., Medical Transportation Services, Medical Transportation Services LLC, Medication Management Systems Inc., Melbourne Surgery Center LLC, Memorial City Holdings LLC, Memorial City Partners LLC, Memphis-SC LLC, Memphis-SP LLC, Mesquite Liberty LLC, Metro I Stone Management, Metropolitan Medical Partners LLC, Metropolitan Medical Transportation IPA LLC, Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, Midwest Center for Day Surgery LLC, Mile High SurgiCenter LLC, Mississippi Surgery Holdings LLC, Mississippi Surgical Center Limited Partnership, Mobile Medical Professionals, Modern Medical Inc., Monarch Management Services, Monarch Management Services Inc., Montgomery Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Mountain View Medical Group LLC, Mt. Pleasant Surgery Center L.P., Multiangio Ltda., Muskogee Surgical Investors LLC, Mustang Razorback Holdings, Mustang Razorback Holdings Inc., My Wellness Solutions LLC, NAMM Holdings, NAMM Holdings Inc., NSC Fayetteville LLC, NSC Greensboro LLC, NSC Lancaster LLC, NSC Seattle Inc., NSC Upland LLC, Nashville-SCA Surgery Centers Inc., National Foundation Life Insurance Company, National MedTrans LLC, National Pacific Dental, National Pacific Dental Inc., National Surgery Centers LLC, Neighborhood Health Partnership, Neighborhood Health Partnership Inc., Netwerkes, Netwerkes LLC, Nevada Medical Services LLC, Nevada Pacific Dental, New Orleans Regional Physician Hospital Organization L.L.C., New West Physicians Inc., Newton Holdings LLC, North American Medical Management - Illinois, North American Medical Management California, North American Medical Management California Inc., North Puget Sound Center for Sleep Disorders LLC, North Puget Sound Oncology Equipment Leasing Company LLC, Northern Nevada Health Network, Northern Nevada Health Network Inc., Northern Rockies Surgicenter Inc., Northwest Surgicare LLC, Northwest Surgicare Ltd., Nutritional/Parenteral Home Care, Nutritional/Parenteral Home Care of Huntsville, OC Cardiology Practice Partners LLC, OSB Tecnologia e Servicos de Suporte Ltda., Omesa S.A., OmniClaim LLC, Oncocare S.A.C., OneNet PPO, OneNet PPO LLC, Optimum Choice, Optimum Choice Inc., Optum, Optum Bank, Optum Bank Inc., Optum Biometrics, Optum Biometrics Inc., Optum Care Inc., Optum Care Services Company, Optum Clinical Services, Optum Clinics Holdings, Optum Clinics Holdings Inc., Optum Clinics Intermediate Holdings, Optum Clinics Intermediate Holdings Inc., Optum Digital Health Holdings LLC, Optum Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Global Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Global Solutions (India) Private Limited, Optum Global Solutions (Philippines), Optum Global Solutions (Philippines) Inc., Optum Global Solutions International B.V., Optum Government Solutions, Optum Government Solutions Inc., Optum Growth Partners LLC, Optum Health & Technology (Australia) Pty Ltd, Optum Health & Technology (Hong Kong) Limited, Optum Health & Technology (India) Private Limited, Optum Health & Technology (Singapore) Pte. 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Ltd., Optum Networks of New Jersey Inc., Optum Nevada Accountable Care Organization LLC, Optum Operations (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care Inc., Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Pennsylvania, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Pennsylvania Inc., Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Texas, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Texas Inc., Optum Perks LLC, Optum Pharmacy 701 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 702 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 703 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 705 LLC, Optum Public Sector Solutions, Optum Public Sector Solutions Inc., Optum Rocket, Optum Rocket Inc., Optum Senior Services LLC, Optum Services, Optum Services (Ireland) Limited, Optum Services (Puerto Rico) LLC, Optum Services Inc., Optum Solutions UK Holdings Limited, Optum Solutions do Brasil Tecnologia e Servicos de Suporte Ltda., Optum Technology, Optum Technology LLC, Optum UK Solutions Group Limited, Optum Women's and Children's Health, Optum Women's and Children's Health LLC, Optum of New York Inc., Optum360, Optum360 LLC, Optum360 Services, Optum360 Services Inc., Optum360 Solutions LLC, OptumCare ACO Florida LLC, OptumCare ACO Holdings LLC, OptumCare ACO New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Clinical Trials LLC, OptumCare Colorado ASC LLC, OptumCare Colorado LLC, OptumCare Colorado Springs LLC, OptumCare Endoscopy Center New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Florida CI LLC, OptumCare Florida LLC, OptumCare Health Plan of California Inc., OptumCare Holdings Colorado LLC, OptumCare Holdings LLC, OptumCare Holdings New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Management LLC, OptumCare New Mexico LLC, OptumCare New York IPA Inc., OptumCare South Florida LLC, OptumHealth Care Solutions, OptumHealth Care Solutions LLC, OptumHealth Financial Services, OptumHealth Financial Services Inc., OptumHealth Holdings, OptumHealth Holdings LLC, OptumHealth International B.V., OptumInsight, OptumInsight Holdings, OptumInsight Holdings LLC, OptumInsight Inc., OptumInsight India Private Limited, OptumInsight Life Sciences, OptumInsight Life Sciences Inc., OptumRx, OptumRx Administrative Services, OptumRx Administrative Services LLC, OptumRx Discount Card Services, OptumRx Discount Card Services LLC, OptumRx Group Holdings, OptumRx Group Holdings Inc., OptumRx Health Solutions LLC, OptumRx Holdings, OptumRx Holdings I LLC, OptumRx Holdings LLC, OptumRx Home Delivery of Illinois, OptumRx Home Delivery of Ohio, OptumRx Home Delivery of Ohio LLC, OptumRx IPA III Inc., OptumRx Inc., OptumRx NY IPA, OptumRx NY IPA Inc., OptumRx PBM of Illinois, OptumRx PBM of Illinois Inc., OptumRx PBM of Maryland, OptumRx PBM of Maryland LLC, OptumRx PBM of Pennsylvania, OptumRx PBM of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumRx PBM of Puerto Rico LLC, OptumRx PBM of Wisconsin, OptumRx PBM of Wisconsin LLC, OptumRx PD of Maryland, OptumRx PD of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumRx Pharmacy, OptumRx Pharmacy Inc., OptumRx Pharmacy of Nevada, OptumRx Pharmacy of Nevada Inc., OptumRx of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumServe Technology Services Inc., Orlando Center for Outpatient Surgery L.P., OrthoNet Holdings, OrthoNet Holdings Inc., OrthoNet LLC, OrthoNet New York IPA, OrthoNet New York IPA Inc., OrthoNet Services, OrthoNet Services Inc., OrthoNet West, OrthoNet West Inc., OrthoNet of the Mid-Atlantic, OrthoNet of the South, OrthoNet of the South Inc., Ovations, Ovations Inc., Oxford Benefit Management, Oxford Benefit Management Inc., Oxford Health Insurance, Oxford Health Insurance Inc., Oxford Health Plans (CT), Oxford Health Plans (CT) Inc., Oxford Health Plans (NJ), Oxford Health Plans (NJ) Inc., Oxford Health Plans (NY), Oxford Health Plans (NY) Inc., Oxford Health Plans LLC, P2 Lower Acquisition, P2P Link LLC, PCCCV, PCCCV Inc., PCN DE Corp., PHC Subsidiary Holdings, PHC Subsidiary Holdings LLC, PHYS Holding Corp., PHYSICIANS DAY SURGERY CENTER LLC, PMI Acquisition, PMI Acquisition LLC, PMSI, PMSI Holdco II, PMSI Holdings, PMSI Holdings LLC, PMSI LLC, PMSI Settlement Solutions, PMSI Settlement Solutions LLC, POMCO Inc., POMCO Network Inc., PPH Holdings LLC, PacifiCare Health Systems, PacifiCare Life Assurance Company, PacifiCare Life and Health Insurance Company, PacifiCare of Arizona, PacifiCare of Arizona Inc., PacifiCare of Colorado, PacifiCare of Colorado Inc., PacifiCare of Nevada, PacifiCare of Nevada Inc., Pacific Casualty Company Inc., Pacifico S.A. Entidad Prestadora de Salud, Paoli Ambulatory Surgery Center, Paoli Surgery Center L.P., Parkway Surgery Center LLC, Pasteur Plaza Surgery Center GP Inc., PatientsLikeMe, PatientsLikeMe LLC, Patrimonio Autonomo Nueva Clinica - PANC., Payment Resolution Services, Payment Resolution Services LLC, Peoples Health, Peoples Health Inc., Pharmaceutical Care Network, Pharmacy Review Services, Pharmacy Software Holdco Inc., PhyServe Holdings, Physician Alliance of the Rockies LLC, Physician Care Partners, Physicians Health Choice of Texas, Physicians Health Choice of Texas LLC, Physicians Health Plan of Maryland, Physicians Health Plan of Maryland Inc., Physicians Plaza Holdings LLC, Plano de Saude Ana Costa Ltda., Plus One Health Management Puerto Rico, Plus One Health Management Puerto Rico Inc., Plus One Holdings, Plus One Holdings Inc., Polar II Fundo de Investimento em Participacoes, Polar II Fundo de Investimento em Participacoes Multiestrategia, Polo Holdco, Polo Holdco LLC, Pomerado Outpatient Surgical Center Inc., Pomerado Outpatient Surgical Center L.P., Precision Dialing Services Inc., Preferred Care Partners, Preferred Care Partners Holding, Preferred Care Partners Holding Corp., Preferred Care Partners Inc., Preferred Care Partners Medical Group, Preferred Care Partners Medical Group Inc., Premier Choice ACO, Premier Choice ACO Inc., Premier Surgery Center of Louisville L.P., Prime Health, Prime Health Inc., PrimeCare Medical Network, PrimeCare Medical Network Inc., PrimeCare of Citrus Valley, PrimeCare of Citrus Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Corona, PrimeCare of Corona Inc., PrimeCare of Hemet Valley, PrimeCare of Hemet Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Inland Valley, PrimeCare of Inland Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Moreno Valley, PrimeCare of Moreno Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Redlands, PrimeCare of Redlands Inc., PrimeCare of Riverside, PrimeCare of Riverside Inc., PrimeCare of San Bernardino, PrimeCare of San Bernardino Inc., PrimeCare of Sun City, PrimeCare of Sun City Inc., PrimeCare of Temecula, PrimeCare of Temecula Inc., ProHEALTH Fitness of Lake Success, ProHEALTH Fitness of Lake Success LLC, ProHEALTH Medical Management LLC, ProHealth Medical Management, ProHealth Physicians, ProHealth Physicians ACO, ProHealth Physicians ACO LLC, ProHealth Physicians Inc., ProHealth Proton Center Management, ProHealth Proton Center Management LLC, Procura Management, Procura Management Inc., Progressive Enterprises Holdings, Progressive Enterprises Holdings Inc., Progressive Medical, Progressive Medical LLC, Progressive Solutions, Promotora Country S.A., Pronetics Health Care Group, Pronounced Health Solutions Inc., Prosemedic S.A.C., Prospero Management Services LLC, Pueblo-SCA Surgery Center LLC, Pulse Platform LLC, QoL Acquisition Holdings Corp., Quality Software Services, QuarterMaster Newco LLC, R&H Family Fitness Unlimited LLC, Rally Health, Rally Health Inc., Real Appeal Inc., Recaudacion y Cobranzas Honodav Ltda., Redlands Ambulatory Surgery Center, Redlands-SCA Surgery Centers Inc., Reliant MSO LLC, Research Surgical Center LLC, River Valley ASC LLC, Riverside Electronic Healthcare Resources Inc., Riverside Medical Management, Riverside Medical Management LLC, Riverside Surgical Center of Meadowlands LLC, Riverside Surgical Center of Newark LLC, Rocky Mountain Health Maintenance Organization Incorporated, Rocky Mountain HealthCare Options Inc., SC Affiliates LLC, SCA Alaska Surgery Center inc., SCA Athens LLC, SCA Austin Holdings LLC, SCA BOSC Holdings LLC, SCA California Surgical Holdings LLC, SCA Capital LLC, SCA Cedar Park Holdings LLC, SCA Clifton LLC, SCA Danbury Surgical Center LLC, SCA Development LLC, SCA EHSC Holdings LLC, SCA EWASC Holdings LLC, SCA Hays Holdings LLC, SCA Heartland Holdings LLC, SCA HoldCo Inc., SCA Holding Company Inc., SCA Holdings Inc., SCA IEC Holdings LLC, SCA Indiana Holdings LLC, SCA Nashville ASC LLC, SCA Pacific Holdings Inc., SCA Pennsylvania Holdings LLC, SCA Premier Surgery Center of Louisville LLC, SCA ROCS Holdings LLC, SCA Rockledge JV LLC, SCA SSC Holdings LLC, SCA SSSC Holdings LLC, SCA Sage Medical LLC, SCA Sage Medical MSO LLC, SCA Southwestern PA LLC, SCA Specialists of Florida LLC, SCA Stonegate Holdings LLC, SCA Surgery Center of Cullman LLC, SCA Surgery Holdings LLC, SCA Surgery Partners LLC, SCA Surgicare of Laguna Hills LLC, SCA Teammate Support Network, SCA eCode Solutions Private Limited, SCA of Clarksville Inc., SCA-Albuquerque Surgery Properties Inc., SCA-Alliance LLC, SCA-Anne Arundel LLC, SCA-Applecare Partners LLC, SCA-Bethesda LLC, SCA-Blue Ridge LLC, SCA-Bonita Springs LLC, SCA-Brandon LLC, SCA-Castle Rock LLC, SCA-Central Florida LLC, SCA-Charleston LLC, SCA-Chatham LLC, SCA-Chevy Chase LLC, SCA-Citrus Inc., SCA-Colorado Springs LLC, SCA-Connecticut Partners LLC, SCA-DRY CREEK LLC, SCA-Davenport LLC, SCA-Denver LLC, SCA-Denver Physicians Holdings LLC, SCA-Derry LLC, SCA-Doral LLC, SCA-Downey LLC, SCA-Dublin LLC, SCA-Encinitas Inc., SCA-Eugene Inc., SCA-First Coast LLC, SCA-Florence LLC, SCA-Fort Collins Inc., SCA-Fort Walton Inc., SCA-Franklin LLC, SCA-Frederick LLC, SCA-Freeway Holdings LLC, SCA-Ft. Myers LLC, SCA-GRANTS PASS LLC, SCA-Gainesville LLC, SCA-Gladiolus LLC, SCA-Grove Place LLC, SCA-Hagerstown LLC, SCA-Hamden LLC, SCA-Hilton Head LLC, SCA-Honolulu LLC, SCA-Houston Executive LLC, SCA-IT Holdings LLC, SCA-Illinois LLC, SCA-JPM Holdings LLC, SCA-Kissing Camels Holdings LLC, SCA-MC VBP Inc., SCA-Main Street LLC, SCA-Marina del Rey LLC, SCA-Mecklenburg Development Corp., SCA-Memorial City LLC, SCA-Merritt LLC, SCA-Midlands LLC, SCA-Midway Management LLC, SCA-Mobile LLC, SCA-Mokena LLC, SCA-Mokena Properties LLC, SCA-Morris County LLC, SCA-Mt. Pleasant LLC, SCA-ND VBP Inc., SCA-Naperville LLC, SCA-Naples LLC, SCA-New Jersey LLC, SCA-Newport Beach LLC, SCA-Northeast Georgia Health LLC, SCA-PORTLAND LLC, SCA-Palm Beach LLC, SCA-Palm Beach MSO Holdings LLC, SCA-Paoli LLC, SCA-Phoenix LLC, SCA-Pocono LLC, SCA-Practice Partners Holdings LLC, SCA-River Valley LLC, SCA-Riverside LLC, SCA-Riverside Partners LLC, SCA-Rockville LLC, SCA-Sacred Heart Holdings LLC, SCA-San Diego Inc., SCA-San Luis Obispo LLC, SCA-Sand Lake LLC, SCA-Santa Rosa Inc., SCA-Shelby Development Corp., SCA-Somerset LLC, SCA-South Jersey LLC, SCA-Sparta LLC, SCA-Spartanburg Holdings LLC, SCA-St. Louis LLC, SCA-St. Lucie LLC, SCA-SurgiCare LLC, SCA-Swiftpath LLC, SCA-VERTA LLC, SCA-Wake Forest LLC, SCA-Western Connecticut LLC, SCA-Westover Hills LLC, SCA-Wilmington LLC, SCA-Wilson LLC, SCA-Winchester LLC, SCA-Winter Park Inc., SCA-Woodlands Holdings LLC, SCAI Holdings LLC, SCP Specialty Infusion, SCP Specialty Infusion LLC, SHC Atlanta LLC, SHC Austin Inc., SHC 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Sierra Health Services Inc, Sierra Health Services Inc., Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company, Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company Inc., Sierra Health-Care Options, Sierra Health-Care Options Inc., Sierra Home Medical Products, Sierra Home Medical Products Inc., Sierra Nevada Administrators, Sierra Nevada Administrators Inc., Sirona Infusion, Sistema de Administracion Hospitalaria S.A.C., Small Business Insurance Advisors Inc., Sobam Centro Medico Hospitalar S.A., Sociedad Editorial para la Ciencia Limitada., Sociedad de Inversiones Santa Maria S.A., Somerset Outpatient Surgery L.L.C., Southwest Medical Associates, Southwest Medical Associates Inc., Southwest Michigan Health Network Inc., Southwest Surgery Center LLC, Southwest Surgical Center of Bakersfield L.P., Space Coast Surgical Center Ltd., Specialists in Urology Surgery Center LLC, Specialized Pharmaceuticals Inc., Specialty Benefits, Specialty Benefits LLC, Spectera, Spectera Inc., Spectera of New York IPA, Spectera 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Board (Chile) SpA, The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company, The Lewin Group, The Lewin Group Inc., The Magan Medical Group, The Outpatient Surgery Center of Hilton Head LLC, The Polyclinic MSO LLC, Thomas Johnson Surgery Center LLC, Thousand Oaks Endoscopy Center LLC, Three Rivers Holdings, Three Rivers Holdings Inc., Three Rivers Surgical Care L.P., Tmesys, Tmesys LLC, Topimagem Diagnostico por Imagem Ltda., Touchpoint Health Plan, Trails Edge Surgery Center LLC, Travel Express Incorporated, TriMed LLC, Trinity Infusion, Trio Motion LLC, Tucson Arizona Surgical Center LLC, U.S. Behavioral Health Plan, U.S. Behavioral Health Plan California, UHC Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, UHC Global Health Services BC Ltd., UHC International Services, UHC International Services Inc., UHC of California, UHCG Holdings (Ireland) Limited, UHCG Services (Ireland) Limited, UHCG FZE, UHG Brasil Participacoes S.A., UHIC Holdings, UHIC Holdings Inc., UICI Funding Corp. 2, UMR, UMR Inc., USHEALTH Academy Inc., USHEALTH Administrators LLC, USHEALTH Advisors L.L.C., USHEALTH Career Agency Inc., USHEALTH Funding Inc., USHEALTH Group Inc., USMD Administrative Services, USMD Administrative Services L.L.C., USMD Affiliated Services, USMD CT (Mo), USMD Cancer Treatment Centers, USMD Cancer Treatment Centers GP, USMD Diagnostic Services, USMD Holdings, USMD Holdings Inc., USMD Inc., USMD PPM, USMD PPM LLC, USMD of Arlington GP, Ultima Rx, Unidad Medica Diagnostico S.A., Unimerica Insurance Company, Unimerica Life Insurance Company of New York, Unison Administrative Services, Unison Health Plan of Delaware, Unison Health Plan of Delaware Inc., United Behavioral Health, United Behavioral Health of New York I.P.A., United Behavioral Health of New York I.P.A. Inc., United Group Reinsurance Inc., United Health Foundation, United HealthCare, United HealthCare Services Inc., United Management Services Inc., United Resource Networks IPA of New York, United Resource Networks IPA of New York Inc., UnitedHealth Advisors, UnitedHealth Advisors LLC, UnitedHealth Group Finance Inc., UnitedHealth Group Global Healthcare Services Limited, UnitedHealth Group Global Services, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated, UnitedHealth Group Information Services Private Limited, UnitedHealth Group International Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, UnitedHealth Group International GP, UnitedHealth Group International L.P., UnitedHealth International, UnitedHealth International Inc., UnitedHealth Military & Veterans Services, UnitedHealth Military & Veterans Services LLC, UnitedHealth UK Limited, UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealthcare Benefits Plan of California, UnitedHealthcare Benefits of Texas, UnitedHealthcare Benefits of Texas Inc., UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of California, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of California Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Georgia, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Georgia Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas L.L.C., UnitedHealthcare Consulting & Assistance Service (Beijing) Co., UnitedHealthcare Consulting & Assistance Service (Beijing) Co. Ltd., UnitedHealthcare Europe S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare Europe S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare Global Canada Limited, UnitedHealthcare Global Medical (UK) Limited, UnitedHealthcare Inc., UnitedHealthcare India Private Limited, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of Illinois, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of New York, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of the River Valley, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Designated Activity Company, UnitedHealthcare Integrated Services, UnitedHealthcare Integrated Services Inc., UnitedHealthcare International Asia, UnitedHealthcare International Asia LLC, UnitedHealthcare International I B.V., UnitedHealthcare International I S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International II B.V., UnitedHealthcare International II S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International II S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International III B.V., UnitedHealthcare International III S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International III S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International IV S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International IV S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International V S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International VI S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International VII S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International VIII S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International X S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare Life Insurance Company, UnitedHealthcare Plan of the River Valley, UnitedHealthcare Plan of the River Valley Inc., UnitedHealthcare Service LLC, UnitedHealthcare Services Company of the River Valley, UnitedHealthcare Specialty Benefits, UnitedHealthcare Specialty Benefits LLC, UnitedHealthcare of Alabama, UnitedHealthcare of Alabama Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Arizona, UnitedHealthcare of Arizona Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Arkansas, UnitedHealthcare of Arkansas Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Colorado, UnitedHealthcare of Colorado Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Florida, UnitedHealthcare of Florida Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Georgia, UnitedHealthcare of Georgia Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Illinois, UnitedHealthcare of Illinois Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Kentucky, UnitedHealthcare of Kentucky Ltd., UnitedHealthcare of Louisiana, UnitedHealthcare of Louisiana Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Mississippi, UnitedHealthcare of Mississippi Inc., UnitedHealthcare of New England, UnitedHealthcare of New England Inc., UnitedHealthcare of New Mexico, UnitedHealthcare of New Mexico Inc., UnitedHealthcare of New York, UnitedHealthcare of New York Inc., UnitedHealthcare of North Carolina, UnitedHealthcare of North Carolina Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Ohio, UnitedHealthcare of Ohio Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Oklahoma, UnitedHealthcare of Oklahoma Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Oregon, UnitedHealthcare of Oregon Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Pennsylvania, UnitedHealthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., UnitedHealthcare of South Carolina Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Texas, UnitedHealthcare of Texas Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Utah, UnitedHealthcare of Utah Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Washington, UnitedHealthcare of Washington Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin, UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin Inc., UnitedHealthcare of the Mid-Atlantic, UnitedHealthcare of the Mid-Atlantic Inc., UnitedHealthcare of the Midlands, UnitedHealthcare of the Midlands Inc., UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest, UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest Inc., UpFront Insurance Agency LLC, Upland Holdings LLC, Upland Outpatient Surgical Center L.P., Urgent Care Holdings, Urgent Care Holdings Inc., Urgent Care MSO, Urgent Care MSO LLC, Urology Associates of North Texas, Urology Associates of North Texas P.L.L.C., VERTA MANAGEMENT SERVICES LLC, Valley Hospital L.L.C., Valley Physicians Network, Valley Physicians Network Inc., Vida Tres Internacional S.A., Vidaintegra S.A., Vivify Health Canada Inc., Vivify Health Inc., WESTMED Practice Partners LLC, Wauwatosa Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Wauwatosa Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Wayland Square Surgicare Acquisition L.P., Wayland Square Surgicare GP Inc., WebInsure Benefits LLC, WellMed Medical Management, WellMed Medical Management Inc., WellMed Medical Management of Florida, WellMed Medical Management of Florida Inc., WellMed Networks DFW, West Coast Endoscopy Holdings LLC, Western Connecticut Orthopedic Surgical Center LLC, WillowB Labs LLC, Wilmington ASC LLC, Winchester Endoscopy LLC, Winter Park LLC, XLHealth Corporation, XLHealth Corporation India Private Limited, Your Health Options Insurance Services, Your Health Options Insurance Services Inc., Your Partner in Health Services, divvyDOSE, eCode Solutions LLC, gethealthinsurance.com Agency Inc., hCentive Inc., inPharmative, inPharmative Inc., and ppoONE. The following companies are subsidiares of Harsco: 21st Century Environmental Management of NV LLC, 21st Century Environmental Management of RI LLC, AERC Acquisition Corporation, AES Asset Acquisition Corporation, Accelerated Remediation Kinetics LLC, Advanced Remediation & Disposal Technologies of Delaware LLC, Allied Environmental Group LLC, Allworth LLC, Altek, Altek Europe Holdings Ltd., Altek Europe Limited, Altek LLC, Altek Melting Solutions Limited, AluServ Middle East W.L.L., Alusalt Limited, Assessment & Remedial Design Technologies Inc, Ballagio S.a.r.l., Burlington Environmental LLC, CEHI Acquisition LLC, CEI Holding LLC, Calrissian Holdings LLC, Carteret Asphalt Corporation, Chemical Pollution Control of Florida LLC, Chemical Pollution Control of New York LLC, Chemical Reclamation Services LLC, Clean Earth Dredging Technologies LLC, Clean Earth Environmental Services Inc., Clean Earth Environmental Services Inc., Clean Earth Environmental Solutions Inc., Clean Earth Holdings LLC, Clean Earth Inc., Clean Earth LLC, Clean Earth Mobile Services LLC, Clean Earth Specialty Waste Solutions Inc., Clean Earth of Carteret LLC, Clean Earth of Georgia LLC, Clean Earth of Greater Washington LLC, Clean Earth of Maryland LLC, Clean Earth of Michigan LLC, Clean Earth of New Castle LLC, Clean Earth of North Jersey Inc., Clean Earth of Philadelphia LLC, Clean Earth of Puerto Rico LLC, Clean Earth of Southeast Pennsylvania LLC, Clean Earth of Southern Florida LLC, Clean Earth of West Virginia LLC, Clean Earth of Williamsport LLC, Clean Rock Properties Ltd, Czech Slag- Nova Hut s.r.o., ESOL TOPCO LLC, Environmental Soil Management Inc, Environmental Soil Management of New York LLC, Environmental Solutions (ESOL) Business, Excell Africa Holdings Ltd., Excell Americas Holdings Ltd S.a.r.L., Faber Prest Limited, Gardner Road Oil LLC, GasServ (Netherlands) VII B.V., General Environmental Management of Rancho Cordova LLC, HLWKH 517 Limited, Harsco (Australia) Pty. Limited, Harsco (Beijing) Fertiliser Co. Ltd, Harsco (Gibraltar) Holding Limited, Harsco (Mexico) Holdings B.V., Harsco (Peru) Holdings B.V., Harsco (Tangshan) Metallurgical Materials Technology Co. Ltd, Harsco (Tangshan) Metallurgical Materials Technology Co. Ltd. - GuYe Branch, Harsco (Tangshan) Metallurgical Materials Technology Co. Ltd. - Leting Branch, Harsco (Tangshan) Renewable Resources Development Co. Ltd, Harsco (U.K.) Limited, Harsco (UK) Group Ltd, Harsco (York Place) Limited, Harsco APAC Rail Machinery (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Harsco Americas Investments S.a.r.l., Harsco Belgium SRL, Harsco Brazil Investments SRL, Harsco Canada Corporation Societe Harsco Canada, Harsco Canada General Partner Limited, Harsco Canada Limited Partnership, Harsco Chile Investments SRL, Harsco China Holding Company Limited, Harsco Defense Holding LLC, Harsco Environmental S.R.L., Harsco Europa B.V., Harsco Fairways Partnership, Harsco Finance B.V., Harsco Financial Holdings Inc., Harsco France S.A.S., Harsco Holdings Inc., Harsco India Metals Private Limited, Harsco India Private Ltd., Harsco India Services Private Ltd., Harsco Industrial Grating China Holding Co. Ltd., Harsco Infrastructure B.V., Harsco Infrastructure CZ s.r.o, Harsco Infrastructure Construction Services B.V., Harsco Infrastructure Group Ltd., Harsco Infrastructure Holdings Inc., Harsco Infrastructure Hong Kong Ltd, Harsco Infrastructure Industrial Services B.V., Harsco Infrastructure Services Ltd., Harsco Infrastructure South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Harsco International Finance S.a.r.l., Harsco Investment Ltd., Harsco Investments Europe B.V., Harsco Leatherhead Limited, Harsco Luxembourg S.a.r.l, Harsco Metals (Ningbo) Pty. Ltd., Harsco Metals (Thailand) Company Ltd., Harsco Metals 373 Ltd, Harsco Metals 385 Ltd, Harsco Metals Argentina S.A., Harsco Metals Australia Holding Investment Co. Pty. Ltd., Harsco Metals Australia Pty. Ltd., Harsco Metals Belgium S.A., Harsco Metals CTS Prestacao de Servicos Tecnicos e Aluguer de Equipamentos LDA Unipessoal, Harsco Metals CZ s.r.o, Harsco Metals Chile S.A., Harsco Metals D.O.O. Smederevo, Harsco Metals Egypt L.L.C., Harsco Metals Emirates Partnership, Harsco Metals Germany GmbH, Harsco Metals Gesmafesa S.A., Harsco Metals Group Limited, Harsco Metals Guatemala S.A., Harsco Metals Holding LLC, Harsco Metals Holdings Limited, Harsco Metals Holland B.V., Harsco Metals Ilanga Pty. Ltd., Harsco Metals Intermetal LLC, Harsco Metals Investment LLC, Harsco Metals Limitada, Harsco Metals Luxembourg S.A., Harsco Metals Luxequip S.A., Harsco Metals Lycrete S.A., Harsco Metals Middle East FZE, Harsco Metals Norway A.S., Harsco Metals Oostelijk Staal International B.V., Harsco Metals Operations LLC, Harsco Metals Peru S.A., Harsco Metals Polska SP Z.O.O., Harsco Metals RSA Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Harsco Metals Reclamet S.A., Harsco Metals SRH Mill Services (Pty.) Ltd., Harsco Metals SRI LLC, Harsco Metals Saudi Arabia Ltd., Harsco Metals Slovensko s.r.o., Harsco Metals South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Harsco Metals SteelServ (Pty.) Ltd., Harsco Metals Sweden A.B., Harsco Metals Transport B.V., Harsco Metals Turkey Celik Limited Sirkety, Harsco Metals VB LLC, Harsco Metals Zhejiang Co. Ltd., Harsco Metals and Minerals France S.A.S., Harsco Metals de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Harsco Metro Rail LLC, Harsco Mexico Holdings S.A. de C.V., Harsco Minerais Limitada, Harsco Minerali d.o.o., Harsco Minerals Arabia LLC (FZC), Harsco Minerals Deutschland GmbH, Harsco Minerals Europe B.V., Harsco Minerals Technologies LLC, Harsco Minnesota Finance Inc., Harsco Minnesota LLC, Harsco Mole Valley Limited, Harsco Nederland Slag B.V., Harsco Nova Scotia Holding Corporation, Harsco Rail Emirates Maatschap/Societe de Droit Commun, Harsco Rail Europe GmbH, Harsco Rail LLC, Harsco Rail Limited, Harsco Rail Ltda, Harsco Rail Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Harsco Rail Pty. Ltd., Harsco Rail Switzerland GMBH, Harsco Steel Mill Trading Arabia LLC, Harsco Sun Demiryolu Ekipmanlari Uretim Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Harsco Switzerland Holding GmbH, Harsco Technologies LLC, Harsco Technology China Co. Ltd., Harsco Track Machines and Services Private Limited, Heckett Bahna Co. For Industrial Operations S.A.E., Heckett Comercio de Rejeitos Industriais Importacao e Exportacao Ltda, Heckett MultiServ (FS) Pty Ltd, Heckett MultiServ Bahna S.A.E., Heckett MultiServ China B.V., Heckett MultiServ Far East B.V., Heckett Multiserv MV & MS CA, Hunnebeck Group GmbH, Iductelec Limited, Ilserv S.R.L., Luntz Acquisition (Delaware) LLC, MKC Acquisition Corporation, Mastclimbers Ltd, Metal Reclamation SPV (Pty.) Ltd., Minerval Metallurgic Additives B.V., MultiServ (Sweden) AB, MultiServ Finance B.V., MultiServ International B.V., MultiServ Limited, MultiServ Logistics Limited, MultiServ Oy, MultiServ Technologies (South Africa) Pty Ltd, Nortal Limited, Northland Environmental LLC, Nortru LLC, PSC Environmental Services LLC, PSC Recovery Systems LLC, Phillip Reclamation Services Houston LLC, Protran Technology LLC, Real Property Acquisition LLC, Republic Environmental Recycling (New Jersey) LLC, Republic Environmental Systems (PA) LLC, Republic Environmental Systems (Transportation Group) LLC, Rho-Chem LLC, SGB Holdings Limited, SGB Investments Ltd., SGB Scafform Limited, Shanxi TISCO-Harsco Technology Co. Ltd., Short Brothers (Plant) Ltd., Slag Processing Company Egypt (SLAR) S.A.E., Slag Reductie (Pacific) B.V., Slag Reductie Nederland B.V., Solvent Recovery LLC, Tosyali Harsco Geri Kazanim Teknolojileri Anonim Sirketi, and United Retek of Connecticut LLC. Husky Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated energy company in the United States, Western and Atlantic Canada, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through two segments, Integrated Corridor and Offshore. The company engages in the exploration for, and development and production of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGL); marketing of the company's and other producers' crude oil, natural gas, NGL, sulphur, and petroleum coke; pipeline transportation and blending of crude oil and natural gas; and storage of crude oil, diluent, and natural gas. It is also involved in upgrading heavy crude oil feedstock into synthetic crude oil and diesel; refining crude oil; marketing refined petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, ethanol blended fuels, asphalt, lubricants, and ancillary products; and producing ethanol, as well as refining crude oil to produce and market diesel fuels, gasoline, jet fuel, and asphalt. Husky Energy Inc. was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More Varian Medical Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services medical devices and software products for treating cancer and other medical conditions worldwide. It operates through Oncology Systems and Proton Solutions segments. The Oncology Systems segment offers hardware and software products for treating cancer with radiotherapy, fixed field intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, artificial intelligence based adaptive radiotherapy, and brachytherapy, as well as quality assurance equipment. Its products include linear accelerators, brachytherapy afterloaders, treatment accessories, and quality assurance software; and information management, treatment planning, image processing, clinical knowledge exchange, patient care management, decision-making support, and practice management software. This segment serves university research and community hospitals, private and governmental institutions, healthcare agencies, physicians' offices, medical oncology practices, radiotherapy centers, and cancer care clinics. The Proton Solutions segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services products and systems for delivering proton therapy for the treatment of cancer. The company has a strategic agreement with McKesson Corp. to supply treatment delivery systems and planning, services, and radiotherapy information system solutions to its U.S. Oncology Network and Vantage Oncology affiliated sites of care; and a strategic partnership with Siemens AG to represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products to radiation oncology clinics in the United States and other select markets. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. was formerly known as Varian Associates, Inc. and changed its name to Varian Medical Systems, Inc. in April 1999. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. 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. Intu owns and manages some of the best shopping centres, in some of the strongest locations, in the UK and Spain. Our UK portfolio is made up of 17 centres, including eight of the top-20, and in Spain we own three of the country's top-10 centres, with advanced plans to build a fourth. We are passionate about creating compelling experiences, in centre and online, that make our customers smile and help our retailers flourish. We attract around 400 million customer visits and 26 million website visits a year offering a multichannel approach that truly supports retail strategies. Our strategic focus on prime, high-footfall flagship destinations, combined with the strength and popularity of our brand, means that intu offers enhanced footfall, dwell time and loyalty. This helps our tenants flourish, driving occupancy and income growth. We are committed to our local communities, with our centres supporting nearly 130,000 jobs (representing about 3 per cent of the total UK retail workforce), and to operating with environmental responsibility. We have already met or exceeded a significant number of our 2020 environmental targets. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Laboratory Co. of America: 1957285 Ontario Inc. dba Quality Underwriting Services, 2089729 Ontario Inc., 2248848 Ontario Inc., 3065619 Nova Scotia Company, 3257959 Nova Scotia Company, 896988 Ontario Limited, 9279-3280 Quebec Inc., Accupath Diagnostic Laboratories Inc., Alpha Medical Laboratory LLC, Assets of Pathology Inc, Beacon LBS IPA Inc., Beacon Laboratory Benefit Solutions Inc., CannAmm GP Inc., CannAmm Limited Partnership, Center for Disease Detection International, Center for Disease Detection LLC, Centrex Clinical Laboratories Inc., Chiltern, Clearstone Central Laboratories (U.S.) Inc., Clearstone Holdings (International) Ltd., Clipper Holdings Inc., Colorado Coagulation Consultants Inc., Colorado Laboratory Services LLC, Correlagen Diagnostics Inc., Covance Inc., Curalab Inc., Cytometry Associates Inc., Czura Thornton (Hong Kong) Limited, DCL Acquisition Inc., DCL Medical Laboratories LLC (DE), DCL Medical Laboratories LLC (FL), DCL Sub LLC, DIANON Systems Inc., DL Holdings Limited Partnership, Decision Diagnostics L.L.C. (aka DaVinici/Medicorp LLC), Diagnostic Services Inc., DynaLifeDX, Dynacare - Gamma Laboratory Partnership, Dynacare Company, Dynacare G.P. Inc., Dynacare Holdco LLC, Dynacare Laboratories Inc., Dynacare Laboratories Limited Partnership, Dynacare Northwest Inc., Dynacare Realty Inc., DynalifeDX Infrastructure Inc., Endocrine Sciences Inc., Esoterix Genetic Counseling LLC, Esoterix Genetic Laboratories LLC, Esoterix Inc., Execmed Health Services Inc., FirstSource Laboratory Solutions Inc., GDML Medical Laboratories Inc, Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratories GP Inc., Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratory Limited Partnership, HHLA Lab-In-An-Envelope LLC, Health Trans Services Inc., Home Healthcare Laboratory of America LLC, IDX Pathology Inc., Impact Genetics Corp, Impact Genetics Inc., Kaleida LabCorp LLC, Lab Delivery Service of New York City Inc., LabCorp BVBA, LabCorp Belgium Holdings Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Canada) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (China) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Singapore) Pte., LabCorp Development Company, LabCorp Employer Services Inc., LabCorp Health System Diagnostics LLC, LabCorp Indiana Inc., LabCorp Japan G.K., LabCorp Limited, LabCorp Michigan Inc., LabCorp Nebraska Inc., LabCorp Neon Ltd., LabCorp Neon Switzerland S.a.r.l., LabCorp Specialty Testing Billing Service Inc., LabCorp Specialty Testing Group Inc., LabCorp Staffing Solutions Inc., LabCorp Tennessee LLC, LabCorp UK Holdings Ltd., LabWest Inc., Laboratoire Bio-Medic Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, Lifecodes Corporation, LipoScience Inc., Litholink Corporation, MEDTOX Scientific Inc., MNG Laboratories, Medical Neurogenitics LLC, Medtox Diagnostics Inc., Medtox Laboratories Inc., Monogram Biosciences Inc., Monogram Biosciences UK Limited, Myriad Autoimmunes Vectra Testing Business, NWT Inc., National Genetics Institute, New Brighton Business Center LLC, New Imaging Diagnostics LLC, New Molecular Diagnostics Ventures LLC, Orchid Cellmark Ltd., Orchid Cellmark ULC, PA Labs Inc., Path Lab Incorporated, Pathology Associates Medical Lab LLC, Pee Dee Pathology Associates Inc., Persys Technology Inc., Pixel by LabCorp, Princeton Diagnostic Laboratories of America Inc., Protedyne Corporation, ReliaGene Technologies Inc., SW/DL LLC, Saint Josephs-PAML LLC, Sequenom Biosciences (India) Pvt. Ltd., Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine LLC, Sequenom Inc, Sequenom Inc., Southern Idaho Regional Laboratory, Tandem Labs Inc., The LabCorp Charitable Foundation, Tri-Cities Laboratory LLC, Viro-Med Laboratories Inc., Visiun, and Yakima Medical Arts Inc.. The following companies are subsidiares of Lennar: 360 Developers LLC, Alliance Financial Services Inc., Ann Arundel Farms Ltd., Aquaterra Utilities Inc., Arbor Mill Veteran Project 2018 LLC, Asbury Woods L.L.C., Astoria Options LLC, Autumn Creek Development Ltd., Aylon LLC, Azusa Associates LLC, B2 Milpitas LLC, BB Investment Holdings LLC, BCI Properties LLC, BMR Communities LLC, BMR Construction Inc., BMTD LLC, BPH I LLC, Bainebridge 249 LLC, Bay Colony Expansion 369 Ltd., Bellagio Lennar LLC, Belle Meade LEN Holdings LLC, Belle Meade Partners LLC, Black Mountain Ranch LLC, Blue Horizons Estates LLC, Bonterra Lennar LLC, Bramalea California Inc., Bressi Gardenlane LLC, Breton Park Lennar LLC, CAP IL 1 LLC, CL Ventures LLC, CML INACTIVE LLC, CML-MO HAF LLC, CML-MO HAF PARKING LLC, CP Block 6aS LLC, CP Block 8aS LLC, CP Block 9aS LLC, CP Center Apartments LLC, CP Center Garage LLC, CP Red Oak Partners Ltd., CP Vertical Development Co. 1 LLC, CP/HPS Development Co. GP LLC, CP/HPS Development Co.-C LLC, CPFE LLC, CPHP Development LLC, CalAtlantic Financial Services Inc., CalAtlantic Group, CalAtlantic Group Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Arizona Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Georgia Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Texas Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Washington Inc., CalAtlantic Mortgage Inc., CalAtlantic National Title Solutions LLC, CalAtlantic Title Agency LLC, CalAtlantic Title Group LLC, CalAtlantic Title Inc., CalAtlantic Title LLC, CalAtlantic Title of Maryland Inc., Camarillo Village Park LLC, Cambria L.L.C., Candlestick Retail Member LLC, Cardiovascular Medical Specialists LLC, Carolina Blue LLC, Carson 175 LLC, Cary Woods LLC, Casa Marina Development LLC, Central Park West Holdings LLC, Cherrytree II LLC, Club Bonterra Lennar LLC, Coco Palm 82 LLC, Colonial Heritage LLC, Columbia National Risk Retention Group Inc., Commonwealth Incentive Fee LLC, Concord Station LLP, Coventry L.L.C., Creekside Crossing L.L.C., Crest at Fondren Investor LLC, DBJ Holdings LLC, DCA Financial LLC, DTC Holdings of Florida LLC, Darcy-Joliet L.L.C., Durrell 33 LLC, EL Ventures LLC, EV LLC, Eagle Bend Commercial LLC, Eagle Home Mortgage LLC, Estates Seven LLC, Evergreen Village LLC, F&R QVI Home Investments USA LLC, FLORDADE LLC, Faria Preserve LLC, Fidelity Guaranty and Acceptance Corp., Fidelity Land LLC, Fox-Maple Associates LLC, Friendswood Development Company LLC, GDI MANAGER LLC, Garco Investments LLC, Greystone Construction Inc., Greystone Homes of Nevada Inc., Greystone Nevada Holdings LLC, Greystone Nevada LLC, Greywall Club L.L.C., HCC Investors LLC, HPS Development Co. LP, HPS Vertical Development Co. LLC, HPS Vertical Development Co.-B LP, HPS Vertical Development Co.-D/E LLC, HPS1 Block 1 LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3B LLC, HPS1 Block 50 LLC, HPS1 Block 51 LLC, HPS1 Block 52 LLC, HPS1 Block 53 LLC, HPS1 Block 54 LLC, HPS1 Block 55 LLC, HPS1 Block 56/57 LLC, HSP Arizona Inc., HTC Golf Club LLC, Hammocks Lennar LLC, Harbor Highlands Group LLC, Harveston LLC, Haverton L.L.C., Heathcote Commons LLC, Heritage Pkwy East Holdings LLC, Heritage of Auburn Hills L.L.C., Hewitts Landing Trustee LLC, Hingham Properties LLC, Huntley Venture L.L.C., Inactive Companies LLC, Independence L.L.C., Independence Orlando LLC, Isles at Bayshore Club LLC, KMC Real Estate Investors LLC, Kendall Hammocks Commercial LLC, Kentuckiana Medical Center LLC, Kingman Lennar LLC, LB/L Duc III Antioch 330 LLC, LCD Asante LLC, LCI Downtown Doral Investor LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor GP LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor LP LLC, LEN - Belle Meade LLC, LEN - OBS Windemere LLC, LEN - Palm Vista LLC, LEN BPT Investor LLC, LEN Mirada Investor LLC, LEN Notarize Investor LLC, LEN OT Holdings LLC, LEN Paradise Cable LLC, LEN Paradise Operating LLC, LEN-CG South LLC, LEN-Cypress Mill LLC, LEN-Ryan 1 LLC, LEN-Touchstone LLC, LENH I LLC, LENNAR HOMES OF TENNESSEE LLC, LFS Holding Company LLC, LH Eastwind LLC, LHI Renaissance LLC, LMC 10th & Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 144th and Grant Investor LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Holdings LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Investor LLC, LMC 360 Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 410 S Wabash Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Investor LLC, LMC 8th Avenue Apartment Investor LLC, LMC 990 Bannock Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Investor LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Holdings LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Investor LLC, LMC Block 42 Holdings LLC, LMC Build to Core III Investor LLC, LMC Build to Core III LLC, LMC Burnside Holdings LLC, LMC Burnside Investor LLC, LMC Chandler and McClintock Holdings LLC, LMC Charlestowne Holdings LLC, LMC Charlotte Ballpark Developer LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Holdings LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Investor LLC, LMC Cobalt Holdings LLC, LMC Costa Mesa Holdings LP, LMC Crest at Park West Holdings LP, LMC Denver Gateway I Investor LLC, LMC Denver Gateway II Holdings LLC, LMC Development LLC, LMC Downtown Doral South Holdings LLC, LMC Durham Gateway Holdings LP, LMC Evans School Holdings LLC, LMC Gateway Investor LLC, LMC Gateway Venture LLC, LMC Gilman Square Investor LLC, LMC Horton Street Holdings LLC, LMC Huntington Crossing Holdings LLC, LMC Inactive Companies LLC, LMC Lakeside Holdings LP, LMC Leya Holdings LLC, LMC Living Illinois LLC, LMC Living Inc., LMC Living LLC, LMC Living TRS LP, LMC Millenia Investor II LLC, LMC NE Minneapolis Lot 2 Holdings LLC, LMC New Bern Investor LLC, LMC North Park Holdings LP, LMC Parkfield Holdings LLC, LMC Parkfield Investor LLC, LMC Righters Ferry Holdings LLC, LMC River North Holdings LLC, LMC Spring Street Investor LLC, LMC Stonewall Station Investor LLC, LMC Triangle Square Investor LLC, LMC Venture Developer LLC, LMC Verbena Holdings LLC, LMC West Loop Investor LLC, LMCFX Investor LLC, LMCPNW Marymoor Holdings LLC, LMI - Jacksonville Investor LLC, LMI - South Kings Development Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle Holdings LLC, LMI - West Seattle Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle LLC, LMI Cell Tower Investors LLC, LMI City Walk Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale LLC, LMI Contractors LLC, LMI Glencoe Dallas Investor LLC, LMI Lakes West Covina Investor LLC, LMI Largo Park Investor LLC, LMI Las Colinas Station LLC, LMI Naperville Investor LLC, LMI Pacific Tower LLC, LMI Park Central Two LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners Investor LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners LLC, LMI-JC Developer LLC, LMI-JC LLC, LMV 1640 Broadway REIT-DC LP, LMV 1701 Ballard REIT-DC LP, LMV 19H REIT-DC LP, LMV 2026 Madison REIT-DC LP, LMV 85 South Union REIT-DC LP, LMV ATown REIT-DC LP, LMV Annapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Apache Terrace REIT-DC LP, LMV Block 42 REIT-DC LP, LMV Bloomington REIT-DC LP, LMV Bolingbrook REIT-DC LP (DE), LMV Central at McDowell REIT-DC LP, LMV East Village I REIT-DC LP, LMV Edina REIT-DC LP, LMV Fremont WS I REIT-DC LP, LMV Glisan REIT-DC LP, LMV Grand Bay REIT-DC LP, LMV II Grand Bay Pod V Holdings LP, LMV II Kierland Holdings LP, LMV II NoMo Holdings LP, LMV II Venture Developer LLC, LMV II Wynwood Holdings LP, LMV Kirkland REIT-DC LP, LMV Little Italy REIT-DC LP, LMV M Tower REIT-DC LP, LMV Millenia II REIT-DC LP, LMV Milpitas REIT-DC LP, LMV NE Minneapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Oak Park REIT-DC LP, LMV One20Fourth REIT-DC LP, LMV QR Build to Core Manager LLC, LMV Rio Bravo REIT-DC LP, LMV Scottsdale Quarter REIT-DC LP, LMV Tysons REIT-DC LP, LMV Vallagio III REIT-DC LP, LMV Victory Block G REIT-DC LP, LMV Warren Street REIT-DC LP, LNC Communities II LLC, LNC Communities IV LLC, LNC Communities V LLC, LNC Communities VI LLC, LNC Communities VII LLC, LNC Communities VIII LLC, LNC Pennsylvania Realty Inc., LNC at Meadowbrook LLC, LNC at Ravenna LLC, LS College Park LLC, LS Terracina LLC, LV Opendoor Investor LLC, LV Opendoor JV LLC, LW D'Andrea LLC, Lagoon Valley Residential LLC, Lakelands at Easton L.L.C., Legends Club LLC, Legends Golf Club LLC, Len - Little Harbor LLC, Len FW Investor LLC, Len Paradise LLC, Len-Angeline LLC, Len-Hawks Point LLC, Len-Land LLC, Len-Land West LLC, Len-MN LLC, Len-Verandahs LLP, LenCom LLC, LenFive LLC, LenFive Opco GP LLC, LenFive Sub III LLC, LenFive Sub LLC, LenFive Sub Opco GP LLC, Lenalto CMBS LLC, Lencraft LLC, Lennar Aircraft I LLC, Lennar Arizona Construction Inc., Lennar Arizona Inc., Lennar Associates Management Holding Company, Lennar Associates Management LLC, Lennar Avenue One LLC, Lennar Berkeley LLC, Lennar Bevard LLC, Lennar Bridges LLC, Lennar Buffington Colorado Crossing L.P., Lennar Buffington Zachary Scott L.P., Lennar Carolinas LLC, Lennar Central Park LLC, Lennar Central Region Sweep Inc., Lennar Chicago Inc., Lennar Cobra LLC, Lennar Colgate Urban Renewal Development LLC, Lennar Colorado LLC, Lennar Colorado Minerals LLC, Lennar Commercial LLC, Lennar Communities Development Inc., Lennar Communities Inc., Lennar Communities Nevada LLC, Lennar Communities of Chicago L.L.C., Lennar Concord LLC, Lennar Construction Inc., Lennar Cory Road LLC, Lennar Courts LLC, Lennar Developers Inc., Lennar Ewing LLC, Lennar Financial Services LLC, Lennar Flamingo LLC, Lennar Fresno Inc., Lennar Gardens LLC, Lennar Georgia Inc., Lennar Greer Ranch Venture LLC, Lennar Heritage Fields LLC, Lennar Hingham Holdings LLC, Lennar Hingham JV LLC, Lennar Homes Holding LLC, Lennar Homes LLC, Lennar Homes NJ LLC, Lennar Homes of Arizona Inc., Lennar Homes of California Inc., Lennar Homes of Indiana Inc., Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction Ltd., Lennar Homes of Texas Sales and Marketing Ltd., Lennar Homes of Utah Inc., Lennar International Holding LLC, Lennar International LLC, Lennar Lakeside Investor LLC, Lennar Layton LLC, Lennar Living LLC, Lennar Lytle LLC, Lennar MF Holdings LLC, Lennar MPA LLC, Lennar MPA WIP LLC, Lennar Mare Island LLC, Lennar Marina A Funding LLC, Lennar Massachusetts Properties Inc., Lennar Middletown LLC, Lennar Monmouth Redevelopers LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Victory Block G Mezz LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily Builders LLC, Lennar Multifamily Communities LLC, Lennar Multifamily Venture DC LP, Lennar New Jersey Holdings LLC, Lennar New Jersey Properties Inc., Lennar New York LLC, Lennar Northeast Properties LLC, Lennar Northwest Inc., Lennar OHB LLC, Lennar PI Acquisition LLC, Lennar PI Property Acquisition LLC, Lennar PIS Management Company LLC, Lennar Pacific Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Management Inc., Lennar Plumsted Urban Renewal LLC, Lennar Point LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core GP LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core LP LLC, Lennar Realty Inc., Lennar Reno LLC, Lennar Riverwalk LLC, Lennar Sacramento Inc., Lennar Sales Corp., Lennar Sierra Sunrise LLC, Lennar Spencer's Crossing LLC, Lennar Sun Ridge LLC, Lennar Texas Holding LLC, Lennar Ventures LLC, Lennar West Valley LLC, Lennar Winncrest LLC, Lennar at Franklin LLC, Lennar at Jackson LLC, Lennar at Marlboro 79 LLC, Lennar at Monroe LLC, Lennar.com Inc., Longleaf Acquisition LLC, Lori Gardens Associates II LLC, Lori Gardens Associates III LLC, Lori Gardens Associates L.L.C., Lorton Station LLC, Lyons Lennar Farms LLC, Madrona Ridge L.L.C., Madrona Village L.L.C., Madrona Village Mews L.L.C., Majestic Woods LLC, Maple and Broadway Holdings LLC, Menifee Development LLC, Mid-County Utilities Inc., Miralago West Lennar LLC, Mission Viejo 12S Venture LP, Mission Viejo Holdings Inc., Motomic Diagnostics LLC, Multibank 2009-1 CML-ADC Venture LLC, Multibank 2009-1 RES-ADC Venture LLC, NC Properties I LLC, NC Properties II LLC, North American Asset Development LLC, Northbridge L.L.C., OHC/Ascot Belle Meade LLC, One SR L.P., PD-Len Boca Raton LLC, PG Properties Holding LLC, POMAC LLC, PT Metro LLC, Pace Drive Holdings LLC, Palm Gardens At Doral Clubhouse LLC, Palm Gardens at Doral LLC, Palm Springs Classic LLC, Palm Vista Preserve LLC, Patuxent Infrastructure Inc., Pioneer Meadows Development LLC, Pioneer Meadows Investments LLC, Plaza Condominium Ventures LLC, Portside Marina Developers L.L.C., Portside SM Associates L.L.C., Portside SM Holdings L.L.C., Portside Shipyard Developers L.L.C., Prestonfield L.L.C., Quail Roost Lennar LLC, RCCF GP II LLC, RCCF GP III LLC, RCCF GP IV LLC, RCCF GP LLC, RES-FL EIGHT LLC, RES-FL SEVEN LLC, RES-FL VISION ONE LLC, RES-FL VISION TWO LLC, RES-GA CASCADE LLC, RES-GA DIAMOND MEADOWS LLC, RES-GA KAP LLC, RES-GA SOUTHERN PLANTATION LLC, RES-GA THIRTEEN LLC, RES-GA TWELVE LLC, RES-GA WEST LLC, RES-IL ONE LLC, RES-NC ONE LLC, RES-PA LSJ LLC, RES-PA POM LLC, RES-TX BOULEVARD LLC, RH Insurance Company Inc., RH MOA BBCMS 2017-C1 LLC, RH MOA CF 2017-C8 LLC, RH MOA LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C4 LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C6 LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 CLASS B LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 LLC, RL BB FINANCIAL LLC, RL BB INACTIVE LLC, RL BB-AL LLC, RL BB-FL ALHI LLC, RL BB-GA LLC, RL BB-GA RMH LLC, RL BB-IL LLC, RL BB-IN AA LLC, RL BB-IN KRE LLC, RL BB-IN KRE OP LLC, RL BB-IN KRE RE LLC, RL BB-MS LLC, RL BB-NC LLC, RL BB-OH LLC, RL BB-SC BROOKSA LLC, RL BB-SC CLR II LLC, RL BB-SC CLR III LLC, RL BB-SC CLR IV LLC, RL BB-SC CLR LLC, RL BB-SC CRRC LLC, RL BB-SC RACEDAY LLC, RL BB-TN BRISTOL LLC, RL BB-TN LLC, RL BB-TN RACEDAY TOWER LLC, RL BB-TX LLC, RL BB-WV LLC, RL CMBS Holdings LLC, RL CML 2009-1 Investments LLC, RL REGI ARKANSAS LLC, RL REGI Alabama LLC, RL REGI FINANCIAL LLC, RL REGI Florida LLC, RL REGI GEORGIA LLC, RL REGI INACTIVE LLC, RL REGI KANSAS LLC, RL REGI MISSISSIPPI LLC, RL REGI MISSOURI LLC, RL REGI NORTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI SOUTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI TENNESSEE LLC, RL REGI VIRGINIA LLC, RL REGI-AL HP LLC, RL REGI-AL VRC LLC, RL REGI-FL CRC LLC, RL REGI-FL ESH LLC, RL REGI-FL FT. PIERCE LLC, RL REGI-FL GDL LLC, RL REGI-FL ITALIA LLC, RL REGI-FL MRED LLC, RL REGI-FL RDI LLC, RL REGI-FL SARASOTA LLC, RL REGI-FL TPL LLC, RL REGI-FL VARC LLC, RL REGI-GA DRAD LLC, RL REGI-GA HAY DB LLC, RL REGI-GA MHU LLC, RL REGI-GA MPD LLC, RL REGI-GA RLR LLC, RL REGI-MO GMB LLC, RL REGI-MO MOSCOW MILLS LLC, RL REGI-MS Double H LLC, RL REGI-MS OCEAN SPRINGS LLC, RL REGI-NC CIL LLC, RL REGI-NC LITTLE WING LLC, RL REGI-NC MLD LLC, RL REGI-NC Mland LLC, RL REGI-NC RALEIGH LLC, RL REGI-NC SUGARM LLC, RL REGI-NM LLC, RL REGI-SC CTL LLC, RL REGI-SC LAKE E LLC, RL REGI-SC TDG LLC, RL REGI-SC TIG LLC, RL REGI-TN OAK LLC, RL REGI-TN SEVIERVILLE LLC, RL RES 2009-1 Investments LLC, RMF Alliance LLC, RMF Commercial LLC, RMF PR New York LLC, RMF Partner LLC, RMF SUB 1 LLC, RMF SUB 2 LLC, RMF SUB 3 LLC, RMF SUB 4 LLC, RMF SUB 5 LLC, RMV LLC, Raintree Village II L.L.C., Raintree Village L.L.C., Ral-Len BM LLC, Ral-Len LLC, Rannel Capital WeWork Series D LLC, Rannel Holdings LLC, Rannel Interests LLC, Rannel Investments LLC, Rannel Mortgage Investments LLC, Rannel Proprietary Investments LLC, Renaissance Joint Venture, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove II LLC, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove LLC, Reserve at River Park LLC, Reserve at South Harrison LLC, Rialto Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Rialto Credit Partnership GP LLC, Rialto Mezz Partners GP LLC, Rialto Mortgage Finance LLC, Rialto Partners GP II LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Debt LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Property LLC, Rialto Partners GP LLC, Rialto RSSF GP LLC, Riverwalk at Lago Mar LLC, Rocking Horse Minerals LLC, Rutenberg Homes Inc. (Florida), Rutenberg Homes of Texas Inc., Rye Hill Company LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada Holdings LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada LLC, Ryland Homes of California Inc., S. Florida Construction II LLC, S. Florida Construction III LLC, S. Florida Construction LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve South LLC, SPIC CPCO Inc., SPIC CPDB Inc., SPIC CPRB Inc., SPIC Del Sur LLC, SPIC Dublin LLC, SPIC Mesa LLC, SPIC NC Fremont LLC, SPIC Otay LLC, SPIC Springs LLC, San Felipe Indemnity Co. Ltd., San Lucia LLC, San Simeon Lennar LLC, Schulz Ranch Developers LLC, Seminole/70th LLC, Siena at Old Orchard L.L.C., Sierra Vista Communities LLC, Silver Springs Lennar LLC, South Development LLC, Southbank Holding LLC, Spanish Springs Development LLC, St. Charles Active Adult Community LLC, St. Charles Community LLC, Standard Pacific 1 Inc., Standard Pacific Investment Corp., Standard Pacific of Colorado Inc., Standard Pacific of Florida, Standard Pacific of Florida GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Las Vegas Inc., Standard Pacific of Orange County Inc., Standard Pacific of Tampa GP, Standard Pacific of Tampa GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Tonner Hills LLC, Standard Pacific of Walnut Hills Inc., Standard Pacific of the Carolinas LLC, Stoney Holdings LLC, Storey Lake Club LLC, Storey Park Club LLC, Strategic Holdings Inc., Strategic Technologies LLC, Summerfield Venture L.L.C., SunStreet Energy Group LLC, SunStreet Manager LLC, TCO QVI LLC, TICD Hold Co. LLC, TIH Hold Co. LLC, Talega Associates LLC, Temecula Valley LLC, Terra Division LLC, Terra/Winding Creek LLC, The Baywinds Land Trust, The Bridges Club at Rancho Santa Fe Inc., The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe Sales Company Inc., The LNC Northeast Group Inc., The Oasis Club at LEN-CG South LLC, The Preserve at Coconut Creek LLC, The Vistas Club at LEN-CG South LLC, Titlezoom Company, Treasure Island Holdings LLC, Treasure Island Member LLC, Treviso Holding LLC, Two Lakes Lennar LLC, U.S. Home Corporation, U.S. Home Realty Inc., U.S. Home of Arizona Construction Co., U.S. Insurors Inc., U.S.H. Realty Inc., UAMC Holding Company LLC, UB 2018C14 MOA LLC, USH - Flag LLC, USH Equity Corporation, USH LEE LLC, USH Leasing II LLC, USH Leasing LLC, UST Lennar HW Scala SF Joint Venture, VII Crown Farm Investor LLC, Venetian Lennar LLC, Vineyard Land LLC, Vineyard Point 2009 LLC, Vista Palms Clubhouse LLC, WCI Communities, WCI Communities Inc., WCI Communities LLC, WCI Towers Northeast USA Inc., WCI Westshore LLC, WCP LLC, WIP Lennar OHB LLC, Waterview at Hanover LLC, West Lake Village LLC, West Seattle Project X LLC, West Van Buren L.L.C., Westchase Inc., Westchase Ltd., Westfield Homes USA Inc., White Course Lennar LLC, Wild Plum JV LLC, Willowbrook Investors LLC, Winncrest Natomas LLC, Woodbridge Multifamily Developer I LLC, Wright Farm L.L.C., and YLRichards4Acres 2015 LLC. Nevada Copper has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days. According to analysts' consensus price target of C$0.56, Nevada Copper has a forecasted downside of 24.3% from its current price of C$0.74. Nevada Copper has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.67, and is based on 2 buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings. 5.0 Community Rank Outperform Votes Nevada Copper has received 340 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes Nevada Copper has received 88 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment Nevada Copper has received 79.44% outperform votes from our community. MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Nevada Copper and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe NCU will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe NCU will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days. Previous Next Oasis Petroleum Inc., an independent exploration and production company, focuses on the acquisition and development of onshore unconventional oil and natural gas resources in the United States. It operates through Exploration and Production(E&P), and Midstream segments. The E&P segment engages in the acquisition and development of oil and gas properties. The Midstream segment offers midstream services, such as natural gas gathering, compression, processing and, gas lift supply; crude oil gathering, terminaling, and transportation; produced and flowback water gathering, and disposal; and water distribution. As of December 31, 2020, the company had 401,766 net leasehold acres in the Williston Basin; and 24,396 net leasehold acres in the Permian Basin, as well as approximately 152.2 million barrels of oil equivalent of estimated net proved reserves. The company sells its crude oil and natural gas to refiners, marketers, and other purchasers that have access to pipeline and rail facilities. Oasis Petroleum Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Read More Grand City Properties S.A. engages in the residential real estate business in Germany, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company invests in, manages, and rents real estate properties in North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin; metropolitan regions of Dresden, Leipzig, and Halle; and the cities in the north of Germany, Bremen, Hamburg, and Hannover, as well as other urban centers, such as Nuremberg, Munch, Mannheim, Frankfurt, and London. Grand City Properties S.A. was founded in 2004 and is based in Luxembourg. Read More Rayonier Advanced Materials, Inc. engages in the production and sale of cellulose products, which is a natural polymer commonly used in the production of cell phone and computer screens, filters, and pharmaceuticals. It operates through the following segments: High Purity Cellulose, Forest Products, Paperboard, Pulp and Newsprint, and Corporate. The High Purity Cellulose segment manufacture and market high purity cellulose, which is sold as either cellulose specialties or commodity products in U.S., Canda, and France. The Forest Products segment manufacture and market construction-grade lumber in North America through seven sawmills located in Canada. The Paperboard segment comprises paperboard products. The Pulp and Newsprint segment involves in the production of pulp and newsprint in Canada. The Corporate segment consists senior management, accounting, information systems, human resources, treasury, tax, and legal administrative functions that provide support services to the operating business units. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. Read More Rogers Communications Inc. operates as a communications and media company in Canada. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Cable, and Media. The company offers mobile Internet access, wireless voice and enhanced voice, device and accessory financing, wireless home phone, device protection, text messaging, e-mail, global voice and data roaming, bridging landline, machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions, and advanced wireless solutions for businesses, as well as device delivery services; and postpaid and prepaid services under the Rogers, Fido, and chatr brands to approximately 10.9 million subscribers. It also provides Internet and WiFi services; smart home monitoring services, such as monitoring, security, automation, energy efficiency, and smart control through a smartphone app. In addition, the company offers local and network TV; on-demand television; cloud-based digital video recorders; voice-activated remote controls, and integrated apps; personal video recorders; linear and time-shifted programming; digital specialty channels; 4K television programming; and televised content on smartphones, tablets, and personal computers, as well as operates Ignite TV and Ignite TV app. Further, it provides residential and small business local telephony services; calling features, such as voicemail, call waiting, and long distance; voice, data networking, Internet protocol, and Ethernet services; private networking, Internet, IP voice, and cloud solutions; optical wave and multi-protocol label switching services; IT and network technologies; and cable access network services. The company also owns Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre event venue; and operates Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet World, Citytv, OMNI, FX (Canada), FXX (Canada), and OLN television networks, as well as 55 AM and FM radio stations. Rogers Communications Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of SAP: Abakus, Abakus Europe Limited, Abakus Ukraine Limited Liability Company, Adatfeldolgozasban Informatikai Kft., Altiscale, Ambin Properties Proprietary Limited, AppGyver, Ariba, Ariba Czech s.r.o., Ariba Inc. Palo Alto, Ariba India Private Limited, Ariba International, Ariba International Holdings, Ariba International Singapore Pte Ltd, Ariba Slovak Republic s.r.o., Ariba Software Technology Services (Shanghai) Co., Ariba Technologies India Private Limited, Ariba Technologies Netherlands B.V., Beijing Zhang Zhong Hu Dong Information Technology, Business Objects, Business Objects Holding B.V., Business Objects Option LLC, Business Objects Software Limited, CNQR Operations Mexico S. de. R.L. de. C.V., Callidus Software, CallidusCloud, Christie Partners Holding C.V., Clear Standards, ClearTrip Inc., ClearTrip Inc. (Mauritius), Cleartrip MEA FZ LLC, Cleartrip Private Limited, Coghead, ConTgo Consulting Limited, ConTgo Pty. Ltd., Concur (Austria) GmbH, Concur (Canada), Concur (France) SAS, Concur (Germany) GmbH, Concur (Japan) Ltd., Concur (New Zealand) Limited, Concur (Philippines) Inc., Concur (Switzerland) GmbH, Concur Czech (s.r.o.), Concur Holdings (France) SAS, Concur Holdings (Netherlands) B.V., Concur Technologies (Australia) Pty. Limited, Concur Technologies (Hong Kong) Limited, Concur Technologies (India) Private Limited, Concur Technologies (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Concur Technologies (UK) Limited, Concur Technologies Inc. Bellevue, Contextor, Coresystems, Crystal Decisions (Ireland) Limited, Crystal Decisions Holdings Limited, Crystal Decisions UK Limited, Emarsys, EssCubed Procurement Pty. Ltd., Extended Systems, Factory Logic, Fedem Technology AS, Fieldglass Europe Limited, Financial Fusion, FreeMarkets Ltda., Frictionless Commerce, Gigya, Gigya Australia Pty Ltd, Gigya Ltd., Gigya UK Ltd, GlobalExpense Limited, Highdeal, Hipmunk, Hybris (US) Corp., Hybris GmbH, Inxight Federal Systems Group, KXEN, Khimetrics, LLC "SAP Labs", LLC "SAP Ukraine", LLC SAP CIS, MaXware, Merlin Systems Oy, Multiposting Sp.z o.o., Nihon Ariba K.K., OpTier, OutlookSoft, OutlookSoft Deutschland GmbH, PLAT.ONE, PT SAP Indonesia, PT Sybase 365 Indonesia, Pilot Software Inc., Plat.One Inc., Plat.One Lab Srl, Plateau Systems LLC, Quadrem Africa Pty. Ltd., Quadrem Brazil Ltda., Quadrem Chile Ltda., Quadrem Colombia SAS, Quadrem International Ltd., Quadrem Netherlands B.V., Quadrem Overseas Cooperatief U.A., Quadrem Peru S.A.C., Qualtrics, Recast.AI, Right Hemisphere, Roambi, Ruan Lian Technologies (Beijing) Co., SAF, SAP (Beijing) Software System Co., SAP (Schweiz) AG, SAP (Schweiz) AG Biel, SAP (UK) Limited, SAP (UK) Limited Feltham, SAP AZ LLC, SAP America, SAP America Inc. Newtown Square, SAP Andina y del Caribe, SAP Argentina S.A., SAP Asia (Vietnam) Co., SAP Asia Pte Ltd, SAP Australia Pty Ltd, SAP Australia Pty Ltd. Sydney, SAP Belgium NV/SA, SAP Beteiligungs GmbH, SAP Brasil Ltda, SAP Brasil Ltda Sao Paulo, SAP Bulgaria EOOD, SAP Business Compliance Services GmbH, SAP Business Services Center Nederland B.V., SAP CR, SAP Canada, SAP Chile Limitada, SAP China Co., SAP China Co. Ltd. Shanghai, SAP China Holding Co., SAP Colombia S.A.S., SAP Commercial Services Ltd., SAP Concur, SAP Costa Rica, SAP Customer Experience, SAP Cyprus Limited, SAP Danmark A/S, SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG, SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG Walldorf, SAP Dritte Beteiligungs- und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH, SAP EMEA Inside Sales S.L., SAP East Africa Limited, SAP Egypt LLC, SAP Erste Beteiligungs- und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH, SAP Espana - Sistemas Informatica, SAP Estonia OU, SAP Fieldglass, SAP Financial, SAP Finland Oy, SAP Foreign Holdings GmbH, SAP France, SAP France Holding, SAP France Levallois Perret, SAP Global Marketing, SAP Hellas S.A., SAP Holdings (UK) Limited, SAP Hong Kong Co., SAP Hosting Beteiligungs GmbH, SAP Hungary Rendszerek, SAP India (Holding) Pte Ltd, SAP India Private Limited, SAP India Private Limited Bangalore, SAP Industries, SAP Industries Inc. Newtown Square, SAP International, SAP International Panama, SAP Investments, SAP Ireland Limited, SAP Ireland US - Financial Services Designated Activity Company, SAP Israel Ltd., SAP Italia Sistemi Applicazioni Prodotti in Data Processing S.p.A., SAP Italia Sistemi Applicazioni Prodotti in Data Processing S.p.A. Vimercate, SAP Japan Co., SAP Japan Co. Ltd. Tokyo, SAP Kazakhstan LLP, SAP Korea Ltd., SAP Labs, SAP Labs Bulgaria EOOD, SAP Labs Finland Oy, SAP Labs France SAS, SAP Labs India Private Limited, SAP Labs Israel Ltd., SAP Labs Korea, SAP Latvia SIA, SAP MENA FZ L.L.C., SAP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SAP Malta Investments Ltd., SAP Mxico S.A. de C.V., SAP National Security Services PA, SAP Nederland B.V., SAP Nederland B.V. s-Hertogenbosch, SAP Service and Support Centre (Ireland) Limited, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP d.o.o., SeeWhy, Signavio, SuccessFactors, SuccessFactors Inc. South San Francisco, Sybase, Syclo, TopTier Software, Triversity, Vimercate, Virsa Systems, Visiprise, Wicom Communications, and conTgo limited. Medtronic Plc is a medical technology company, which engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, and sale of device-based medical therapies and services. It operates through the following segments: Cardiac and Vascular Group; Minimally Invasive Technologies Group; Restorative Therapies Group; and Diabetes Group. The Cardiac and Vascular Group segment consists of products for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of cardiac rhythm disorders and cardiovascular disease. The Minimally Invasive Technologies Group segment focuses on respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, renal system, lungs, pelvic region, kidneys, and obesity diseases. The Restorative Therapies Group segment comprises of neurostimulation therapies and drug delivery systems for the treatment of chronic pain, as well as areas of the spine and brain, along with pelvic health and conditions of the ear, nose, and throat. The Diabetes Group segment offers insulin pumps, coninuous glucose monitoring systems, and insulin pump consumables. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of TE Connectivity: 999 Arques Corp., ABB ENTRELEC terminal block business, ACC Telecommunications, ADC Chile Limitada, ADC Communications (SEA) Pte. Ltd., ADC Communications (UK) Holding Ltd., ADC Communications (UK) Ltd., ADC Communications Hong Kong Limited, ADC Telecommunications Equipment (Shanghai) Co., AMP Amermex, AMP Products Pacific Limited, AMP Taiwan B.V., AMP Trading B.V., AMP de Venezuela, Acalon Holdings Limited, Advanced Fiber Products LLC, Advanced Fiber Products Limited, Advanced Tube Technologies, AdvancedCath, AdvancedCath Technologies, Alpha Technics, American Sensor Technologies, Betatherm (R&D) Limited, Brantner Holding Company, Brantner and Associates, Butterfly Management SAS, C.S. Tyco Decisive Inc., C.S. Tyco Dependable Inc., C.S. Tyco Durable Inc., C.S. Tyco Reliance Inc., C.S. Tyco Resolute Inc., C.S. Tyco Responder Inc., CII Guardian International Limited, Cablotec GmbH, Carrier Kheops Bac SAS, Catheter and Disposable Technology, Celis Eletrocomponentes Ltda., Cima de Acuna S.A. de C.V., Clarebury Pty. Ltd., Codenoll Technology Corporation, Communication Expert International Investments Limited, Compagnie Deutsch Distribution SAS, Compagnie Deutsch SAS, Comtec Systeme GmbH, Connecteurs Electriques Deutsch SAS, Corcom, Corcom West Indies Limited, Cotsworks LLC, Creganna, Creganna Captial Holding Ireland Unlimited Company, Creganna Finance (US) LLC, Creganna Finance Ireland Limited, Creganna Luxembourg SARL, Creganna Medical Devices, Creganna Medical Pte. Limited, Creganna Medical Technology Unlimited, Creganna Medical s.r.l., Creganna Regulatory, Creganna Solutions Limited, Creganna Solutions Unlimited Company, Creganna Tactx Singapore Limited, Creganna Unlimited Company, Cregstar Bidco Limited, Critchley Group Limited, Crompton Instruments (South-East Asia) Pte. Ltd., Deutsch, Deutsch Connectors Hong Kong Limited, Deutsch Connectors Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co., Deutsch Connectors Trading (Shanghai) Co., Deutsch Finance SAS, Deutsch GB Limited, Deutsch Group SAS, Deutsch India Power Connectors (Pvt) Ltd, Deutsch Israel Ltd., Deutsch SAS, Deutsch Servicios S. de R.L. De C.V., Deutsch Subco Limited, Deutsch UK, F.A.I. Technology (Hong Kong) Limited, First Sensor, Grangehurst Enterprises Pty. Ltd., Hirschmann Car Communication, Hong Kong Sensors Technologies Limited, Howard A. Schaevitz Technologies, Intercontec Connector System (Shanghai) Co., Intercontec Produkt GmbH, Intercontect Pfeiffer Industrie-Steckverbindungen GmbH, Jaquet North America, Jaquet Technology Group AG, Kemex Holding Company, Kenabell Holding Limited, LADD Distribution LLC, LADD Distribution Limited, LSA, MEAS Asia Limited, MEAS Europe SAS, MEAS France SAS, MEAS Ireland (Betatherm) Limited, MEAS Norway AS, MEAS Shenzhen Limited, MEAS Switzerland S.a r.l., MEAS US Holding, MP&E, Measurement Specialties, Measurement Specialties (Chengdu) Ltd., Measurement Specialties (China) Ltd., Measurement Specialties (China) Ltd. Production Branch, Measurement Specialties Foreign Holdings LLC, Measurement Technology (Chengdu) Ltd., Medical Engineering & Design, MicroGroup, Morlynn Ceramics Pty. Ltd., Nikkiso-Therm Co., PT KRONE Indonesia, PT. Tyco Electronics Indonesia, Pfeiffer GmbH & Co KG, Pfeiffer Verwaltungs GmbH, Polamco, Polamco Limited, Potter & Brumfield de Mexico, Precision Interconnect LLC, Precision Subsea AS, Precision Wire Components, Precision Wire Holding Company, Produxx, RAYCHEM-RPG Private Limited, Raychem (HK) Limited, Raychem (Shanghai) Trading Ltd, Raychem China Limited, Raychem Dominicana S.A., Raychem Industries BVBA, Raychem International LLC, Raychem International Manufacturing LLC, Raychem Juarez, Raychem Limited, Raychem Ltd., Raychem Pacific Corporation, Raychem Saudi Arabia Limited, Raychem Shanghai Cable Accessories Ltd, Raychem Technologies Limited, Rochester Wire and Cable LLC, SEACON Advanced Products LLC, Seacon (Europe) Limited, Seacon Global Production, Seacon Produtos e Servicos Opticos e Eletricos Ltda., Sensitive Object, Servo Interconnect Limited, Shanghai CII Electronics Co., Shenzhen Century Man Communication Equipment Co., Sibas Electronics (Xiamen) Co., TCN Holding (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., TE Connectivity (Barbados) SRL, TE Connectivity (Denmark) ApS, TE Connectivity (HKZ) Holding Limited, TE Connectivity (Kunshan) Company Limited, TE Connectivity (Netherlands) Holding S.a r.l. - Irish Branch, TE Connectivity (Schweiz) Management AG, TE Connectivity (Suzhou) Co., TE Connectivity Argentina S.R.L., TE Connectivity Australia Pty Ltd, TE Connectivity Colombia S.A.S., TE Connectivity Connectors (Suzhou) Co., TE Connectivity Distribution (Thailand) Limited, TE Connectivity EMEA Holding GmbH, TE Connectivity Germany GmbH, TE Connectivity HK Limited, TE Connectivity Holding International II S.a r.l., TE Connectivity Holding International II S.a r.l. Luxembourg (LU) Schaffhausen E-Finance branch, TE Connectivity Holding International II S.a r.l. Luxembourg (LU) Schaffhausen branch, TE Connectivity Holding International II S.a r.l. (Ireland Branch), TE Connectivity Holding International S.A., TE Connectivity Inc., TE Connectivity India Private Limited, TE Connectivity Investments Holding S.A., TE Connectivity Investments Holding S.A. Luxembourg (LU) Schaffhausen branch, TE Connectivity Ireland Limited, TE Connectivity LATAM Holding S.a r.l., TE Connectivity LATAM I S.a r.l., TE Connectivity LATAM II S.a r.l., TE Connectivity Limited, TE Connectivity MOG Europe S.a r.l., TE Connectivity MOG Holding S.a r.l., TE Connectivity MOG Inc., TE Connectivity MOG Sales GmbH, TE Connectivity Manufacturing (Thailand) Company Limited, TE Connectivity Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd., TE Connectivity Morocco SARL, TE Connectivity Nederland B.V., TE Connectivity Netherlands (Poland II) Cooperatief U.A., TE Connectivity Netherlands (Turkey) B.V., TE Connectivity Netherlands Cooperatief U.A., TE Connectivity Phoenix Optix Inc., TE Connectivity Seacon Phoenix Inc., TE Connectivity Sensors Germany GmbH, TE Connectivity Services India Private Limited, TE Connectivity Solutions GmbH, TE Connectivity South Africa Proprietary Limited, TE Connectivity Spain, TE Connectivity SubCom S.L.U., TE Connectivity SubCom Spain Holding S.L.U., TE Connectivity Technology Solutions Limited, TE Connectivity Tunisia Sarl, TE Connectivity ULC, TE Connectivity US Group Holding Inc., TE Connectivity Vietnam Holding Company Limited, TYCO Electronics Polska Sp.z.o.o., TYCO SUBMARINE SYSTEMS INC., TacPro, Tactx Medical, Taicang Speed & Spin Sensors Co., Taliq Taiwan Limited, Tappat Engineering Pty Ltd, TechDevice Costa Rica Limitada, TechDevice Holdings, TechDevice LLC, The Whitaker LLC, Transoceanic Cable Ship Company LLC, TyCom Holdings II SA, TyCom Networks (Peru) S.A., Tyco Electronics (AMP Korea) Malta Limited, Tyco Electronics (Dongguan) Ltd, Tyco Electronics (Gibraltar) Holding Limited, Tyco Electronics (Gibraltar) Limited, Tyco Electronics (Korea) Malta Limited, Tyco Electronics (Kunshan) Ltd, Tyco Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Tyco Electronics (Qingdao) Ltd., Tyco Electronics (Schweiz) Holding II GmbH, Tyco Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Tyco Electronics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Tyco Electronics (Suzhou) Ltd., Tyco Electronics (Zhuhai) Ltd, Tyco Electronics AMP Guangdong Ltd, Tyco Electronics AMP Italia Products S.R.L., Tyco Electronics AMP Italia S.R.L., Tyco Electronics AMP Korea Co., Tyco Electronics AMP Manufacturing (S) Pte Ltd, Tyco Electronics AMP Qingdao Ltd., Tyco Electronics AMP Shanghai Ltd., Tyco Electronics Austria GmbH, Tyco Electronics Belgium EC BVBA, Tyco Electronics Brasil Ltda., Tyco Electronics Canada ULC, Tyco Electronics China (Gibraltar) Limited, Tyco Electronics Componentes Electromecanicos Lda., Tyco Electronics Corby Limited, Tyco Electronics Corporation, Tyco Electronics Czech s.r.o., Tyco Electronics Del Peru S.A.C., Tyco Electronics EC Trutnov s.r.o., Tyco Electronics EC Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Tyco Electronics Eta Limited, Tyco Electronics Finance Alpha GmbH, Tyco Electronics Finance S.a r.l., Tyco Electronics Finland Oy, Tyco Electronics France SAS, Tyco Electronics Germany Holdings GmbH, Tyco Electronics Group S.A., Tyco Electronics Group S.A. (French Branch), Tyco Electronics Group S.A. (Ireland Branch), Tyco Electronics H.K. Limited, Tyco Electronics Hellas MEPE, Tyco Electronics Holding Corp., Tyco Electronics Holding France, Tyco Electronics Holding S.a r.l., Tyco Electronics Holdings (Bermuda) No. 7 Limited, Tyco Electronics Holdings (Bermuda) No. 7 Limited Taiwan Branch, Tyco Electronics Hong Kong Holdings No. 1 Limited, Tyco Electronics Hong Kong Holdings No. 2 Limited, Tyco Electronics Hong Kong Holdings No. 3 Limited, Tyco Electronics Hungary Termelo Kft, Tyco Electronics Idento, Tyco Electronics India (Gibraltar) Limited, Tyco Electronics Industrial Y Comercial Chile Limitada, Tyco Electronics Integrated Cable Systems LLC, Tyco Electronics Ireland Limited, Tyco Electronics Israel Ltd., Tyco Electronics Italia Holding S.r.l., Tyco Electronics Japan G.K., Tyco Electronics Lambda, Tyco Electronics Latin America Holding LLC, Tyco Electronics Manufacturing Singapore Pte Ltd, Tyco Electronics Mexico, Tyco Electronics Middle East FZE, Tyco Electronics Motors Ltd, Tyco Electronics NZ Limited, Tyco Electronics Netherlands (Germany Holding) S.a r.l., Tyco Electronics Netherlands (Gibraltar China) Cooperatief U.A., Tyco Electronics Netherlands (Gibraltar India) Cooperatief U.A., Tyco Electronics Netherlands (India) Cooperatief U.A., Tyco Electronics Netherlands Holding B.V., Tyco Electronics Norge AS, Tyco Electronics Philippines, Tyco Electronics Precision Engineering Ltd., Tyco Electronics Printed Circuit Group LP, Tyco Electronics RIMC Holding LLC, Tyco Electronics RUS OOO, Tyco Electronics Raychem GmbH, Tyco Electronics Raychem Korea Limited, Tyco Electronics SIMEL SAS, Tyco Electronics Saudi Arabia Limited, Tyco Electronics Services GmbH, Tyco Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd, Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications LLC, Tyco Electronics Svenska AB, Tyco Electronics Svenska Holdings AB, Tyco Electronics Technology (SIP) Co., Tyco Electronics Technology (SIP) Ltd., Tyco Electronics Tecnologias S. de R.L. de C.V., Tyco Electronics UK Holdings Ltd, Tyco Electronics UK Ltd., Tyco Electronics UK Ltd. (Kenya Branch), Tyco Electronics Ukraine Limited, Tyco Electronics Uruguay S.A., Tyco Electronics Verwaltungs GmbH, Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems B.V., Tyco Electronics de Venezuela, Tyco Elektronik AMP Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Tyco Global Networks Ltd., Tyco Iberia, Tyco International Services GmbH, Tyco Networks (Argentina) S.R.L., Tyco Networks (Italy) Srl, Tyco Networks (Netherlands) B.V., Tyco Networks Iberica, Tyco Submarine Systems, Tyco Submarine Systems C.A., Tyco Submarine Systems de Argentina S.A., Tyco Telecommunications Ltd., Wema Americas LLC, Wema Automotive System Private Limited, Wema Environmental Technologies (Shanghai) Co., Wema Environmental Technologies (Shenzhen) Co., Wema Environmental Technologies Ltd., Wema System AG, Wema System AS, Wema System Hong Kong Limited, Wema System Production and Distribution HK Limited, Xiamen Delixing Electric Equipment Businesss, and motec Montage GmbH. Grand Jury Indictments The Lamar County Grand Jury convened Nov. 15. It issued the following indictments: Derek Lane Armstrong: possession with intent to distribute between 4 and 200 grams; Bobby Earl Brooks: possession with intent to distribute between 1 and 4 grams, repeat offender; Bradley Dale Brown: burglary of habitation; Malcolm Jerome Dimes: possession of controlled substance less than 1 gram; Marissa Ann Flowers: four charges relating to credit/debit card abuse of an elderly person; Roger Wayne Green: injury to an elderly person with intent of bodily harm; Davanna Star Hunter: evading arrest with a motor vehicle; Brandon Lashaw Jones: theft of property less than $2,500 with two priors, repeat offender; Brandon Lee Lester: possession of controlled substance less than 1 gram; Ray Mason: driving while intoxicated, third or more; Tevin Moffitt: possession of marijuana between 4 ounce and 5 pounds and possession with intent to distribute between 4 ounce and 5 pounds; Talisha Diann Moore: possession with intent to distribute between 4 and 200 grams; Damon Brian Morris: aggravated assault with deadly weapon; Aaron Pool: aggravated assault with deadly weapon; Dutch Bill Shirley: theft of property between $2,500 and $30,000; Justin Ryan Sims: possession of controlled substance; Travis Nicholas Tambunga: theft of a firearm; Miranda Thomas: possession of controlled substance less than 1 gram; Wendy Marie Todd: theft of property between $2,500 and $30,000, elderly; Eric Dewayne Waller: fraudulent use or possession of ID information less than 5 items; Bobbie Jene Williams: driving while intoxicated third or more; William Robert Wood: possession of controlled substance between 1 and 4 grams. There is not enough analysis data for Tekla Life Sciences Investors. 4.5 Community Rank Outperform Votes Tekla Life Sciences Investors has received 95 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes Tekla Life Sciences Investors has received 44 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment Tekla Life Sciences Investors has received 68.35% outperform votes from our community. MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Tekla Life Sciences Investors and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe HQL will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe HQL will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days. Previous Next UniFirst Corp. engages in the design, manufacture, personalization, rental, cleaning, delivery, and sale of a range of uniforms and protective clothing. It operates through following segments: U.S. Rental and Cleaning, Canadian Rental and Cleaning, Manufacturing, Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning, First Aid, and Corporate. The U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning segment purchases, rents, cleans, delivers and sells uniforms and protective clothing and non-garment items in the United States and Canada. The Manufacturing segment designs and manufactures uniforms and non-garment items primarily for the purpose of providing these goods to the U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning reporting segment. The Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning segment sells specialty garments and non-garment items primarily for nuclear and cleanroom applications and provides cleanroom cleaning services at limited customer locations. The First Aid segment provides first aid cabinet services and other safety supplies as well as maintains wholesale distribution and pill packaging operations. The Corporate segment consists of costs associated with its distribution center, sales and marketing, informatio Read More Weatherford International plc, an oilfield service company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Western Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere. It offers artificial lift systems, including reciprocating rod, progressing cavity pumping, gas, hydraulic, plunger, and hybrid lift systems, as well as related automation and control systems; pressure pumping and reservoir stimulation services, such as acidizing, fracturing and fluid systems, cementing, and coiled-tubing intervention; and drill stem test tools, and surface well testing and multiphase flow measurement services. The company also provides safety, downhole reservoir monitoring, flow control, and multistage fracturing systems, as well as sand-control technologies, and production and isolation packers; liner hangers to suspend a casing string in high-temperature and high-pressure wells; cementing products, including plugs, float and stage equipment, and torque-and-drag reduction technology for zonal isolation; and pre-job planning and installation services. In addition, it offers directional drilling services, and logging and measurement services while drilling; services related to rotary-steerable systems, high-temperature and high-pressure sensors, drilling reamers, and circulation subs; managed pressure drilling, conventional mud-logging, drilling instrumentation, gas analysis, wellsite consultancy, and open hole and cased-hole logging services; reservoir solutions and software products; and intervention and remediation services. Further, the company provides equipment and drilling tools; tubular handling, management, and connection services; equipment rental services; and onshore contract drilling and related services through a fleet of land drilling and workover rigs. Weatherford International plc was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland. Read More Whitecap Resources has been the subject of 8 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock. According to analysts' consensus price target of $20.97, Whitecap Resources has a forecasted upside of 262.8% from its current price of $5.78. Whitecap Resources has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.00, and is based on 7 buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings. 4.5 Community Rank Outperform Votes Whitecap Resources has received 222 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes Whitecap Resources has received 101 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment Whitecap Resources has received 68.73% outperform votes from our community. MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Whitecap Resources and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe SPGYF will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe SPGYF will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days. Previous Next The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now. Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness. Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful. If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it. You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly. Summary What did you think? In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India. The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future. As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values. However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health. If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. is a supplier of precision instruments and services. The firm manufactures weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, packaging, logistics, and food retailing applications. It also manufactures several related analytical instruments and provides automated chemistry solutions used in drug and chemical compound discovery and development; and also, metal detection and other end-of-line inspection systems used in production and packaging and provides solutions for use in certain process analytics applications. Its operations are conducted by the following segments: U. S. Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations and Other. The U.S. Operations segment represents certain of the company's marketing and producing organizations located in the United States. The Swiss Operations segment includes marketing and producing organizations located in Switzerland, as well as extensive R&D operations that are responsible for the development, production, and marketing of precision instruments, including weighing, analytical, and measurement technologies for use in a variety of industrial and laboratory applications. Th Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Tenet Healthcare: 1 Subsidiaries of this entity in which Tenet Healthcare Corporation directly and indirectly held a 95% ownership interest at December 31 2020 are set forth in the table below., 25 East Same Day Surgery L.L.C., 300 PBL Development LLC, 45th Street MOB LLC, 601 N 30th Street I L.L.C., 601 N 30th Street II L.L.C., 601 N 30th Street III Inc., AHM Acquisition Co. Inc., AIG Holdings LLC, AIGB Global LLC, AIGB Group Inc., AIGB Holdings Inc., AIGB Management Services LLC, AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #1 L.L.C., AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #2 L.L.C., AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #3 L.L.C., AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #4 L.L.C., AMC/North Fulton Urgent Care #5 L.L.C., AMI Information Systems Group Inc., AMI/HTI Tarzana Encino Joint Venture, APN, ARC Worcester Center L.P., ASC Old Co. LP, ASC of New Jersey LLC, ASJH Joint Venture LLC, Abrazo Health Network EP Clinical Services LLC, Abrazo Surgical Outpatient Center LLC, Advanced Ambulatory Surgical Care L.P., Advanced Center for Surgery Vero Beach LLC, Advanced Regional Surgery Center LLC, Advanced Surgery Center of Metairie LLC, Advanced Surgery Center of Sarasota LLC, Advanced Surgery Center of Tampa LLC, Advanced Surgical Care of St Louis LLC, Advanced Surgical Concepts LLC, Advantage Health Care Management Company LLC, Advantage Health Network Inc., AdventHealth Surgery Center Celebration LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Center Mills Park LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Center Wellswood LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Center Winter Garden LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Centers Central Florida LLC, AdventHealth Surgery Centers West Florida LLC, Adventist Midwest Health/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Alabama Cardiovascular Associates L.L.C., Alabama Digestive Health Endoscopy Center L.L.C., Alabama Hand and Sports Medicine L.L.C., Alamo Heights Surgicare L.P., All Star MOB LLC, Allegian Insurance Company, Alliance Surgery Birmingham LLC, Alliance Surgery Inc., Alvarado Hospital Medical Center Inc., Ambulatory Surgical Associates LLC, Ambulatory Surgical Center of Somerville LLC, American Institute of Gastric Banding Ltd., American Institute of Gastric Banding Phoenix Limited Partnership, American Medical (Central) Inc., Amisub (Heights) Inc., Amisub (Hilton Head) Inc., Amisub (North Ridge Hospital) Inc., Amisub (SFH) Inc., Amisub (Twelve Oaks) Inc., Amisub of California Inc., Amisub of North Carolina Inc., Amisub of South Carolina Inc., Amisub of Texas Inc., Anaheim Hills Medical Imaging L.L.C., Anaheim MRI Holding Inc., Anesthesia Partners of Gallatin LLC, Arizona Care Network Next L.L.C., Arizona Health Partners LLC, Arlington Orthopedic and Spine Hospital LLC, Arrowhead Endoscopy and Pain Management Center LLC, Asia Outsourcing US Inc., Aspen Healthcare, Atlanta Medical Center Inc., Atlanta Medical Center Interventional Neurology Associates L.L.C., Atlanta Medical Center Neurosurgical & Spine Specialists L.L.C., Atlanta Medical Center Physician Group L.L.C., Atlantic Coast Surgical Suites LLC, Atlantic Health-USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Avita/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., BBH BMC LLC, BBH CBMC LLC, BBH DevelopmentCo LLC, BBH Imaging Jasper LLC, BBH NP Clinicians Inc., BBH PBMC LLC, BBH SBMC LLC, BBH WBMC LLC, BCDC EmployeeCO LLC, BHC-Talladega Pediatrics LLC, BHS Accountable Care LLC, BHS Affinity LLC, BHS Integrated Physician Partners LLC, BHS Physician Performance Network LLC, BHS Physicians Alliance for ACE LLC, BHS Physicians Network Inc., BHS Specialty Network Inc., BT East Dallas JV LLP, BW Cardiology LLC, BW Cyberknife LLC, BW Hand Practice LLC, BW Office Buildings LLC, BW Parking Decks LLC, BW Physician Practices LLC, BW Retail Pharmacy LLC, BW Sports Practice LLC, Bagley Holdings LLC, Baptist Accountable Care LLC, Baptist Diagnostics LLC, Baptist Health Centers LLC, Baptist Physician Alliance ACO LLC, Baptist Physician Alliance LLC, Baptist Plaza Surgicare L.P., Baptist Surgery Center L.P., Baptist Womens Health Center LLC, Baptist/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Bartlett ASC LLC, Baylor Surgicare at Baylor Plano LLC, Baylor Surgicare at Blue Star LLC, Baylor Surgicare at Granbury LLC, Baylor Surgicare at Mansfield LLC, Baylor Surgicare at North Dallas LLC, Baylor Surgicare at Plano LLC, Baylor Surgicare at Plano Parkway LLC, Bear Creek Surgery Center LLC, Beaumont Surgical Affiliates Ltd., Bellaire Outpatient Surgery Center L.L.P., Berkshire Eye LLC, Bloomington ASC LLC, Blue Ridge/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Bluffton Okatie Primary Care L.L.C., Bluffton Okatie Surgery Center L.L.C., Bon Secours Surgery Center at Harbour View LLC, Bon Secours Surgery Center at Virginia Beach LLC, Bozeman Health/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Bozeman MOB LLC, Briarcliff Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Bristol Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Broad River Primary Care L.L.C., Brookwood - Maternal Fetal Medicine L.L.C., Brookwood Ancillary Holdings Inc., Brookwood Baptist Health 1 LLC, Brookwood Baptist Health 2 LLC, Brookwood Baptist Health 3 LLC, Brookwood Baptist Imaging LLC, Brookwood Center Development Corporation, Brookwood Development Inc., Brookwood Diagnostic Imaging Center LLC, Brookwood Garages L.L.C., Brookwood Health Services Inc., Brookwood Home Health LLC, Brookwood Occupational Health Clinic L.L.C., Brookwood Parking Associates Ltd., Brookwood Primary Care - Homewood L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care - Inverness L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care - Mountain Brook L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care - Oak Mountain L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care - Vestavia L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care Cahaba Heights L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care Hoover L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Care The Narrows L.L.C., Brookwood Primary Network Care Inc., Brookwood Specialty Care - Endocrinology L.L.C., Brookwood Sports and Orthopedics L.L.C., Brookwood Womens Care L.L.C., Brookwood Womens Diagnostic Center LLC, C7 Technologies LLC, CGH Hospital Ltd., CHIC/USP Surgery Centers LLC, CHN Holdings LLC, CHRISTUS Cabrini Surgery Center L.L.C., CHVI Tucson Holdings LLC, CML-Chicago Market Labs Inc., CRNAs of Michigan, CS/USP General Partner LLC, CS/USP Surgery Centers LP, California Joint & Spine LLC, Camp Creek Urgent Care L.L.C., Camp Lowell Surgery Center L.L.C., Captive Insurance Services Inc., Cardiology Physicians Associates L.L.C., Cardiology Physicians Corporation L.L.C., Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Associates L.L.C., Cardiovascular Clinical Excellence at Sierra Providence LLC, CareSpot of Austin LLC, CareSpot of Memphis LLC, CareSpot of Orlando/HSI Urgent Care LLC, Carmel Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Carondelet St. Marys-Northwest L.L.C., Cascade Spine Center LLC, Castle Rock Surgery Center LLC, Catawba-Piedmont Cardiothoracic Surgery L.L.C., Cedar Hill Primary Care L.L.C., Cedar Park Surgery Center L.L.P., Centennial ASC LLC, Center for Advanced Research Excellence L.L.C., Center for the Urban Child Inc., Central California Healthcare Holdings LLC, Central Carolina Physicians - Sandhills L.L.C., Central Carolina-IMA L.L.C., Central Jersey Surgery Center LLC, Central Texas Corridor Hospital Company LLC, Central Valley Quality Alliance LLC, Central Virginia Surgi-Center L.P., Centura Ventures Surgery Centers LLC, Centura/USP Colorado Springs Surgery Centers L.L.C., Chalon Living Inc., Chandler Endoscopy Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Charlotte Endoscopic Surgery Center LLC, Chattanooga Pain Management Center LLC, Chesterfield Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Chesterfield Anesthesia Associates of Missouri LLC, Chico Surgery Center L.P., Childrens Hospital of Michigan Premier Network Inc., Citrus Heights ASC RE LLC, Clarkston ASC Partners LLC, Clarksville Surgery Center LLC, Coast Healthcare Management LLC, Coast Surgery Center L.P., Coastal Carolina Medical Center, Coastal Carolina Medical Center Inc., Coastal Carolina Physician Practices LLC, Coastal Carolina Pro Fee Billing L.L.C., Coastal Endo LLC, Colorado GI Centers LLC, Commonwealth Continental Health Care Inc., Community Connection Health Plan Inc., Community Hospital LLC, Community Hospital of Los Gatos Inc., Conifer Care Continuum Solutions LLC, Conifer Ethics and Compliance Inc., Conifer Global Business Center Inc., Conifer Global Holdings Inc., Conifer Health Solutions LLC, Conifer Holdings Inc., Conifer Patient Communications LLC, Conifer Physician Services Holdings Inc., Conifer Physician Services Inc., Conifer Revenue Cycle Solutions LLC, Conifer Value-Based Care LLC, Conroe Surgery Center 2 LLC, Coral Gables Hospital Inc., Coral Ridge Outpatient Center LLC, Corpus Christi Surgicare Ltd., Covenant/USP Surgery Centers LLC, CreAtiv Management Company Inc., Creekwood Investors LLC, Creekwood Surgery Center L.P., Crown Point Surgery Center LLC, DH/USP SJOSC Investment Company L.L.C., DH/USP Sacramento Pain GP LLC, DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital Premier Clinical Co-Management Services LLC, DMC Education & Research, DMC Harper University Hospital Premier Clinical Co-Management Services LLC, DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital Premier Clinical Management Services LLC, DMC Imaging L.L.C., Dallas Surgical Partners LLC, DeTar/USP Surgery Center LLC, Delray Beach ASC LLC, Delray Medical Center Inc., Delray Medical Physician Services L.L.C., Denton Surgicare Partners Ltd., Denton Surgicare Real Estate Ltd., Denville Surgery Center LLC, Des Peres Physician Network LLC, Desert Cove MOB LLC, Desert Regional Medical Center Inc., Desert Ridge Outpatient Surgery LLC, Desoto Surgicare Partners Ltd., Destin ASC RE LLC, Destin Surgery Center LLC, Detroit Education & Research, DigitalMed Inc., Dignity/Abrazo Health Network LLC, Dignity/USP Folsom GP LLC, Dignity/USP Grass Valley GP LLC, Dignity/USP Las Vegas Surgery Centers LLC, Dignity/USP Metro Surgery Center LLC, Dignity/USP NorCal Surgery Centers LLC, Dignity/USP Phoenix Surgery Centers II LLC, Dignity/USP Phoenix Surgery Centers LLC, Dignity/USP Redding GP LLC, Dignity/USP Roseville GP LLC, Dignity/USP/John Muir East Bay Surgery Centers LLC, Doctors Hospital of Manteca Inc., Doctors Medical Center Neurosciences Clinical Co-Management LLC, Doctors Medical Center Orthopedics Clinical Co-Management LLC, Doctors Medical Center of Modesto Inc., Doctors Outpatient Center for Surgery LLC, Doctors Outpatient Surgery Center of Jupiter L.L.C., EPHC Inc., EPIC ASC LLC, East Atlanta Endoscopy Centers LLC, East Cobb Urgent Care LLC, East Cooper Coastal Family Physicians L.L.C., East Cooper Community Hospital Inc., East Cooper Hyperbarics L.L.C., East Cooper OB/GYN L.L.C., East Cooper Physician Network LLC, East Cooper Primary Care Physicians L.L.C., East Portland Surgery Center LLC, East West Surgery Center L.P., Eastgate Building Center L.L.C., Effingham Surgical Partners LLC, Einstein Montgomery Surgery Center LLC, Einstein/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., El Mirador Surgery Center L.L.C., El Paso Center for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy LLC, El Paso Day Surgery LLC, El Paso Urology Surgery Center Curie LLC, Emanate/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Emanuel Medical Center, Emerson Surgery Center LLC, Encinitas Endoscopy Center LLC, Endoscopy Center of Hackensack LLC, Endoscopy Center of South Sacramento LLC, Endoscopy Consultants LLC, European Surgical Partners Ltd., Eye Center of Nashville UAP LLC, Eye Surgery Center of Nashville LLC, FMC Medical Inc., FMCC Network Contracting L.L.C., FPN Frisco Physicians Network, FREH Real Estate L.L.C., FRS Imaging Services L.L.C., FSC Hospital LLC, FSH IT Services LP, First Choice Physician Partners, Flatirons Surgery Center LLC, Folsom Outpatient Surgery Center L.P., Fort Bend Clinical Services Inc., Fort Worth Hospital Real Estate LP, Fort Worth Surgicare Partners Ltd., Foundation Bariatric Hospital of San Antonio LLC, Foundation San Antonio Borrower Sub LLC, Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Fountain Valley Surgery Center LLC, Franklin Endo UAP LLC, Franklin Endoscopy Center LLC, Fresno Surgery Center L.P., Frisco Medical Center L.L.P., Frontenac Ambulatory Surgery & Spine Care Center L.P., Frye Regional Medical Center Inc., FryeCare Boone L.L.C., FryeCare Morganton L.L.C., FryeCare Physicians L.L.C., FryeCare Valdese L.L.C., FryeCare Watauga L.L.C., FryeCare Womens Services L.L.C., GCSA Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Gamma Surgery Center LLC, Gardendale Surgical Associates LLC, Garland Surgicare Partners Ltd., Gastric Health Institute L.L.C., Genesis ASC Partners LLC, Geneva Surgical Suites LLC, Georgia Endoscopy Center LLC, Georgia Gifts From Grace L.L.C., Georgia Musculoskeletal Network Inc., Georgia North Fulton Healthcare Associates L.L.C., Georgia Northside Ear Nose and Throat L.L.C., Georgia Physicians of Cardiology L.L.C., Georgia Spectrum Neurosurgical Specialists L.L.C., Georgia Spine Surgery Center LLC, Glen Echo Surgery Center LLC, Golden Ridge ASC LLC, Good Samaritan Medical Center Inc., Good Samaritan Surgery L.L.C., Grapevine Surgicare Partners Ltd., Grass Valley Outpatient Surgery Center L.P., Graystone Family Healthcare - Tenet North Carolina L.L.C., Great Lakes Surgical Suites LLC, Greater Dallas Healthcare Enterprises, Greater Northwest Houston Enterprises, Greenville Physicians Surgery Center LLP, Greenwood ASC LLC, Greystone Internal Medicine - Brookwood L.L.C., Gulf Coast Community Hospital Inc., HCH Tucson Holdings LLC, HCN Emerus Management Sub LLC, HCN Emerus Texas LLC, HCN Laboratories Inc., HCN Physicians Inc., HCN Sunnyvale Holdings LLC, HCN Surgery Center Holdings Inc., HDMC Holdings L.L.C., HMA/Solantic Joint Venture LLC, HMH-USP Surgery Centers LLC, HMHP/USP Surgery Centers LLC, HNMC Inc., HNW GP Inc., HNW LP Inc., HPI Holdings LLC, HPI North LLC, HPI Physicians LLC, HSRM International Inc., HSS Palm Beach Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, HSS/USP Surgery Center LLC, HUG Services Inc., HUMC/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Hacienda Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Hagerstown Surgery Center LLC, Hardeeville Medical Group L.L.C., Hardeeville Primary Care L.L.C., Harlingen Physician Network Inc., Harper-Hutzel AHP Services Inc., Harvard Park Surgery Center LLC, Haymarket Surgery Center LLC, Hazelwood Endoscopy Center LLC, Health & Wellness Surgery Center L.P., Health Horizons of Kansas City Inc., Health Horizons of Murfreesboro Inc., Health Horizons/Piedmont Joint Venture LLC, Health Services CFMC Inc., Health Services HNMC Inc., Health Services Network Care Inc., Health Services Network Hospitals Inc., Health Services Network Texas Inc., HealthCorp Network Inc., Healthcare Compliance LLC, Healthcare Network Alabama Inc., Healthcare Network CFMC Inc., Healthcare Network DPH Inc., Healthcare Network Georgia Inc., Healthcare Network Holdings Inc., Healthcare Network Hospitals (Dallas) Inc., Healthcare Network Hospitals Inc., Healthcare Network Louisiana Inc., Healthcare Network Missouri Inc., Healthcare Network North Carolina Inc., Healthcare Network South Carolina Inc., Healthcare Network Tennessee Inc., Healthcare Network Texas Inc., Healthcare Partners Investments LLC, Healthmark Partners Inc., Healthpoint of North Carolina L.L.C., Heart and Vascular Institute of Michigan, Heritage Park Surgical Hospital LLC, Hershey Outpatient Surgery Center L.P., Hialeah Hospital Inc., Hialeah Real Properties Inc., Hickory Family Practice Associates - Tenet North Carolina L.L.C., Hill Country ASC Partners LLC, Hill Country Surgery Center LLC, Hilton Head Health System L.P., Hilton Head Regional Healthcare L.L.C., Hilton Head Regional OB/GYN Partners L.L.C., Hilton Head Regional Physician Network LLC, Hilton Head Regional Physician Network Georgia L.L.C., Hinsdale Surgical Center LLC, Hitchcock State Street Real Estate Inc., Holston Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Holy Cross Hospital Inc., Home Health Partners of San Antonio LLC, Hoover Doctors Group Inc., Hoover Land LLC, Horizon Ridge Surgery Center LLC, Hospital Development of West Phoenix Inc., Hospital RCM Services LLC, Hospital Underwriting Group Inc., Houston Northwest Partners Ltd., Houston PSC L.P., Houston Specialty Hospital Inc., Houston Sunrise Investors Inc., Hyde Park Surgery Center LLC, ICNU Rockford LLC, Imaging Center at Baxter Village L.L.C., InforMed Insurance Services LLC, Integris/USP Health Ventures LLC, International Health and Wellness Inc., Irving-Coppell Surgical Hospital L.L.P., JFK Memorial Hospital Inc., JFP UAP Sugarland LLC, Jackson Surgical Center LLC, Jacksonville Endoscopy Centers LLC, Journey Home Healthcare of San Antonio LLC, KHS Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, KHS/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Kingsport Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Laguna Medical Systems Inc., Lake Endoscopy Center LLC, Lake Health Care Facilities Inc., Lake Lansing ASC Partners LLC, Lake Surgical Hospital Slidell LLC, LakeFront Medical Associates LLC, Lakewood Regional Medical Center Inc., Lakewood Surgery Center LLC, Lancaster Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Lansing ASC Partners LLC, Lawrenceville Surgery Center L.L.C., Lebanon Endoscopy Center LLC, Legacy Warren Partners L.P., Legacy/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Leonardtown Surgery Center LLC, Liberty Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Lifemark Hospitals Inc., Lifemark Hospitals of Florida Inc., Lifemark Hospitals of Louisiana Inc., Lone Star Endoscopy Center LLC, Longleaf Surgery Center LLC, Los Alamitos Medical Center Inc., Lubbock ASC Holding Co LLC, MASC Partners LLC, MCSH Real Estate Investors Ltd., MH Memorial City Surgery LLC, MH/USP Bay Area LLC, MH/USP Brazoria LLC, MH/USP Kingsland LLC, MH/USP Kingwood LLC, MH/USP Kirby LLC, MH/USP Main Street LLC, MH/USP North Freeway LLC, MH/USP North Houston LLC, MH/USP Richmond LLC, MH/USP Sugar Land LLC, MH/USP TMC Endoscopy LLC, MH/USP West Houston L.L.C., MH/USP Woodlands Parkway LLC, MSH Partners LLC, MSV Health/USP Surgery Centers LLC, MVH/USP Surgery Centers LLC, MacNeal Management Services Inc., MacNeal Medical Records Inc., MacNeal Physicians Group LLC, Magnetic Resonance Imaging of San Luis Obispo Inc., Magnolia Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Manchester Ambulatory Surgery Center LP, Maple Lawn Surgery Center LLC, Marion Surgery Center LLC, Mary Immaculate Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Mason Ridge Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Mayfield Spine Surgery Center LLC, McLaren ASC of Flint LLC, Meadowcrest Hospital LLC, Medical House Staffing LLC, Medical Park Tower Surgery Center LLC, Medplex Outpatient Medical Centers Inc., Medplex Outpatient Surgery Center Ltd., Memorial Hermann Bay Area Endoscopy Center LLC, Memorial Hermann Endoscopy & Surgery Center North Houston L.L.C., Memorial Hermann Endoscopy Center North Freeway LLC, Memorial Hermann Specialty Hospital Kingwood L.L.C., Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Surgical Hospital L.L.P., Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Brazoria LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Cypress LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Katy LLP, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Kingsland L.L.C., Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Kirby LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Main Street LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Memorial City L.L.C., Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Northwest LLP, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Pinecroft LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Preston Road Ltd., Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Richmond LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Southwest L.L.P., Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Sugar Land LLP, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Texas Medical Center LLP, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center Woodlands Parkway LLC, Memorial Hermann Surgery Center The Woodlands LLP, Memorial Hermann Texas International Endoscopy Center LLC, Memorial Hermann West Houston Surgery Center LLC, Memorial Hermann/USP Surgery Centers II L.P., Memorial Hermann/USP Surgery Centers III LLP, Memorial Hermann/USP Surgery Centers IV LLP, Memorial Surgery Center LLC, Memphis Urgent Care #1 L.L.C., Memphis Urgent Care #2 L.L.C., Merced Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Mercy/USP Health Ventures L.L.C., Metro Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Metro Surgery Center LLC, MetroWest HomeCare & Hospice LLC, Metrocrest Surgery Center L.P., Metropolitan New Jersey LLC, Michigan ASC Partners L.L.C., Michigan Pioneer ACO LLC, Michigan Regional Imaging LLC, Mid Rivers Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Mid State Endo UAP LLC, Mid-State Endoscopy Center LLC, Mid-TSC Development LP, Middle Tennessee Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Midland Memorial/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Midland Texas Surgical Center LLC, Midwest Digestive Health Center LLC, Midwest Pharmacies Inc., Midwest Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Millennium Surgical Center LLC, Mobile Imaging Management LLC, Mobile Technology Management LLC, Modesto Radiology Imaging Inc., Monocacy Surgery Center LLC, Mountain Empire Surgery Center L.P., Munster Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Murdock Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, NHSC Holdings LLC, NICH GP Holdings LLC, NKCH/USP Briarcliff GP LLC, NKCH/USP Liberty GP LLC, NKCH/USP Surgery Centers II L.L.C., NKCH/USP Surgery Centers LLC, NMC Lessor L.P., NMC Surgery Center L.P., NME Headquarters Inc., NME Properties Corp., NME Properties Inc., NME Property Holding Co. Inc., NME Psychiatric Hospitals Inc., NME Rehabilitation Properties Inc., NSCH GP Holdings LLC, NSCH/USP Desert Surgery Centers L.L.C., NUCH of Georgia L.L.C., NUCH of Massachusetts LLC, NUCH of Michigan Inc., NUCH of Texas, Nacogdoches ASC-LP Inc., Name of Entity, National ASC Inc., National Ancillary Inc., National Diagnostic Imaging Centers Inc., National HHC Inc., National Home Health Holdings Inc., National ICN Inc., National Imaging Center Holdings Inc., National Medical Services II Inc., National Outpatient Services Holdings Inc., National Surgery Center Holdings Inc., National Urgent Care Holdings Inc., National Urgent Care Inc., Network Management Associates Inc., New Dimensions LLC, New England Physician Performance Network LLC, New H Acute Inc., New Horizons Surgery Center LLC, New Medical Horizons II Ltd., New Mexico Orthopaedic Surgery Center LLC, New Salem ASC RE LLC, Newhope Imaging Center Inc., North Anaheim Surgery Center LLC, North Atlantic Surgical Suites LLC, North Campus Surgery Center LLC, North Carolina Community Family Medicine L.L.C., North Central Surgical Center L.L.P., North Denver Musculoskeletal Surgical Partners LLC, North Fulton Cardiovascular Medicine L.L.C., North Fulton Hospitalist Group L.L.C., North Fulton Medical Center Inc., North Fulton Primary Care - Willeo Rd. L.L.C., North Fulton Primary Care - Windward Parkway L.L.C., North Fulton Primary Care - Wylie Bridge L.L.C., North Fulton Primary Care Associates L.L.C., North Fulton Pulmonary Specialists L.L.C., North Fulton Womens Consultants L.L.C., North Garland Surgery Center L.L.P., North Haven Surgery Center LLC, North Miami Medical Center Ltd., North Shore Medical Billing Center L.L.C., North Shore Medical Center Inc., North Shore Same Day Surgery L.L.C., North Shore Surgical Suites LLC, North State Surgery Centers L.P., NorthPointe Surgical Suites LLC, NorthShore/USP Surgery Centers II L.L.C., Northern Monmouth Regional Surgery Center L.L.C., Northridge ASC RE LLC, Northridge Surgery Center L.P., Northwest Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Northwest Georgia Orthopaedic Surgery Center LLC, Northwest Regional ASC LLC, Northwest Regional Surgery Center LLC, Northwest Surgery Center LLP, Northwest Surgery Center Ltd., Novant Health/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Novant/UVA/USP Surgery Centers LLC, OCOMS Imaging LLC, OCOMS Professional Services LLC, OLOL/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Okatie Surgical Partners L.L.C., Oklahoma Center for Orthopedic and Multi-Specialty Surgery LLC, Old Tesson Surgery Center L.P., Olive Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Olive Branch Urgent Care #1 LLC, Ophthalmology Anesthesia Services LLC, Ophthalmology Surgery Center of Orlando LLC, Optimum Spine Center LLC, OrNda Healthcorp, OrNda Hospital Corporation, Orlando Health/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., OrthoArizona Surgery Center Gilbert LLC, OrthoLink ASC Corporation, OrthoLink Physicians Corporation, OrthoLink Radiology Services Corporation, OrthoLink/ Georgia ASC Inc., OrthoLink/Baptist ASC LLC, OrthoLink/New Mexico ASC Inc., Orthopedic Associates of the Lowcountry L.L.C., Orthopedic South Surgical Partners LLC, Orthopedic and Surgical Specialty Company LLC, PAHS/USP Surgery Centers LLC, PDN L.L.C., PHPS Inc., PHPS-CHM Acquisition Inc., PHS/USP Health Ventures LLC, PM CyFair Land Partners LLC, PMC Physician Network L.L.C., PPRE LLC, PSS Patient Solution Services LLC, Pacific Endo-Surgical Center L.P., Pacific Endoscopy and Surgery Center LLC, Pain Diagnostic and Treatment Center L.P., Paley Institute Global LLC, Palm Beach Gardens Community Hospital Inc., Palm Beach International Surgery Center LLC, Palm Valley Medical Center Campus Association, Palos Health Surgery Center LLC, Paramus Endoscopy LLC, Park Cities Surgery Center LLC, Park Plaza Hospital Billing Center L.L.C., ParkCreek ASC LLC, Parkway Recovery Care Center LLC, Parkwest Surgery Center L.P., Patient Partners LLC, Peak Gastroenterology ASC LLC, Pediatric Surgery Center Odessa LLC, Pediatric Surgery Centers LLC, Physician Performance Network L.L.C., Physician Performance Network of Arizona LLC, Physician Performance Network of Detroit, Physician Performance Network of South Carolina LLC, Physician Performance Network of Tucson LLC, Physicians Performance Network of Houston, Physicians Performance Network of North Texas, Physicians Surgery Center at Good Samaritan LLC, Physicians Surgery Center of Tempe LLC, Physicians Surgical Center of Ft. Worth LLP, Physicians Surgery Center of Chattanooga L.L.C., Physicians Surgery Center of Knoxville LLC, Piccard Surgery Center LLC, Piedmont ASC LLC, Piedmont Behavioral Medicine Associates LLC, Piedmont Cardiovascular Physicians L.L.C., Piedmont Carolina OB/GYN of York County L.L.C., Piedmont Carolina Vascular Surgery L.L.C., Piedmont East Urgent Care Center L.L.C., Piedmont Express Care at Sutton Road L.L.C., Piedmont Family Practice at Baxter Village L.L.C., Piedmont Family Practice at Rock Hill L.L.C., Piedmont Family Practice at Tega Cay L.L.C., Piedmont General Surgery Associates L.L.C., Piedmont Internal Medicine at Baxter Village L.L.C., Piedmont Physician Network LLC, Piedmont Pulmonology L.L.C., Piedmont Surgical Specialists L.L.C., Piedmont Urgent Care Center at Baxter Village L.L.C., Piedmont Urgent Care and Industrial Health Centers Inc., Piedmont/Carolinas Radiation Therapy LLC, Placentia-Linda Hospital Inc., Pleasanton Diagnostic Imaging Inc., Point of Rocks Surgery Center LLC, Practice Partners Management L.P., Premier ACO Physicians Network LLC, Premier ASC LLC, Premier Adult and Childrens Surgery Center LLC, Premier Endoscopy ASC LLC, Premier Health Plan Services Inc., Premier Medical Specialists L.L.C., Prince William Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Professional Anesthesia Services LLC, Professional Liability Insurance Company, Pros Temporary Staffing Inc., Providence/UCLA/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Providence/USP Santa Clarita GP LLC, Providence/USP South Bay Surgery Centers L.L.C., Providence/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Pueblo Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, R.H.S.C. El Paso Inc., RE Plano Med Inc., RHC Parkway Inc., RLC LLC, Reading Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Reading Endoscopy Center LLC, Reagan Street Surgery Center LLC, Redmond Surgery Center LLC, Renaissance Surgery Center LLC, Republic Health Corporation of Rockwall County, Resolute Health Physicians Network Inc., Resolute Hospital Company LLC, Resurgens East Surgery Center LLC, Resurgens Fayette Surgery Center LLC, Resurgens Surgery Center LLC, Rheumatology Associates of Atlanta Medical Center L.L.C., Richmond ASC Leasing Company LLC, Rio Grande Valley Indigent Health Care Corporation, River North Same Day Surgery L.L.C., Riverside Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Rock Bridge Surgical Institute L.L.C., Rock Hill Surgery Center LLC, Rockwall Ambulatory Surgery Center L.L.P., Rocky Mountain Endoscopy Centers LLC, Roseville Surgery Center L.P., Roswell Surgery Center L.L.C., SCNRE LLC, SFMP Inc., SFMPE - Crittenden L.L.C., SL-HLC Inc., SLH Physicians L.L.C., SLH Vista Inc., SLPA ACO LLC, SLUH Anesthesia Physicians L.L.C., SMSJ Imaging Company LLC, SMSJ Tucson Holdings LLC, SPC at the Star LLC, SRRMC Management Inc., SSI Holdings Inc., Sacramento Midtown Endoscopy Center LLC, Safety Harbor ASC Company LLC, Saint Agnes/Dignity/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Saint Agnes/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Saint Francis Cardiology Associates L.L.C., Saint Francis Cardiovascular Surgery L.L.C., Saint Francis Center for Surgical Weight Loss L.L.C., Saint Francis Hospital Billing Center L.L.C., Saint Francis Hospital Medicare ACO LLC, Saint Francis Hospital Pro Fee Billing L.L.C., Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett Inc., Saint Francis Medical Partners East L.L.C., Saint Francis Medical Partners General Surgery L.L.C., Saint Francis Physician Network LLC, Saint Francis Quality Alliance LLC, Saint Francis Surgery Center L.L.C., Saint Francis Surgical Associates L.L.C., Saint Francis-Arkansas Physician Network LLC, Saint Francis-Bartlett Physician Network LLC, Saint Thomas Campus Surgicare L.P., Saint Thomas Surgery Center New Salem LLC, Saint Thomas/USP Surgery Centers II L.L.C., Saint Thomas/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Saint Thomas/USP Baptist Plaza L.L.C., Saint Vincent Physician Services Inc., Salmon Surgery Center LLC, Same Day Management L.L.C., Same Day SC of Central NJ LLC, Same Day Surgery L.L.C., San Antonio Endoscopy L.P., San Fernando Valley Surgery Center L.P., San Gabriel Valley Surgical Center L.P., San Martin Surgery Center LLC, San Ramon ASC L. P., San Ramon Ambulatory Care LLC, San Ramon Network Joint Venture LLC, San Ramon Regional Medical Center LLC, San Ramon Surgery Center L.L.C., Santa Barbara Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Santa Clarita Surgery Center L.P., Savannah Endoscopy Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Schertz Surgery Center LLC, Scripps Encinitas Surgery Center LLC, Scripps/USP Surgery Centers L.L.C., Seaside Surgery Center LLC, Shands/Solantic Joint Venture LLC, Shelby Baptist Affinity LLC, Shelby Baptist Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Shore Outpatient Surgicenter L.L.C., Shoreline Real Estate Partnership LLP, Shoreline Surgery Center LLP, Shrewsbury Surgery Center LLC, Sierra Pacific Surgery Center LLC, Sierra Providence Health Network Inc., Sierra Providence Healthcare Enterprises, Sierra Vista Hospital Inc., Silicon Valley Outpatient Surgery Centers LLC, Silver Cross Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Silver Cross/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Sinai-Grace Premier Clinical Management Services LLC, Siouxland Surgery Center Limited Liability Partnership, Solantic Corporation, Solantic Development LLC, Solantic Holdings Corporation, Solantic of Jacksonville LLC, Solantic of Orlando LLC, Solantic/South Florida LLC, South Carolina East Cooper Surgical Specialists L.L.C., South Carolina Health Services Inc., South Carolina SeWee Family Medicine L.L.C., South County Outpatient Endoscopy Services L.P., South Denver Musculoskeletal Surgical Partners LLC, South Florida Ambulatory Surgical Center LLC, South Fulton Health Care Centers Inc., SouthCare Physicians Group Neurology L.L.C., SouthCare Physicians Group Obstetrics & Gynecology L.L.C., Southeast Ohio Surgical Suites LLC, Southern Orthopedics and Sports Medicine L.L.C., Southern States Physician Operations Inc., Southwest Ambulatory Surgery Center L.L.C., Southwest Childrens Hospital LLC, Southwest Endoscopy LLC, Southwest Orthopedic and Spine Hospital LLC, Southwest Orthopedic and Spine Hospital Real Estate LLC, Southwestern Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Spalding Regional Medical Center Inc., Spalding Regional OB/GYN L.L.C., Spalding Regional Physician Services L.L.C., Specialty Surgery Center of Fort Worth L.P., Specialty Surgicenters Inc., Spinal Diagnostics and Treatment Centers L.L.C., Spine & Joint Physician Associates, Springfield Service Holding Corporation, St. Augustine Endoscopy Center LLC, St. Christophers Pediatric Urgent Care Center - Allentown L.L.C, St. Josephs Hospital Surgical Co-Management LLC, St. Josephs Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, St. Josephs Surgery Center L.P., St. Louis Physician Alliance LLC, St. Louis Surgical Center LLC, St. Louis Urology Center LLC, St. Lukes/USP Surgery Centers LLC, St. Marys Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, St. Marys Hospital Cardiovascular Co-Management LLC, St. Marys Hospital Surgical Co-Management LLC, St. Marys Levee Company LLC, St. Marys Medical Center Inc., St. Vincent Health/USP LLC, St. Vincent/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Stockton Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Subsidiaries of USPI Holding Company Inc., Suburban Endoscopy Center LLC, Summit View Surgery Center LLC, Sun View Imaging L.L.C., Sunrise Medical Group I L.L.C., Sunrise Medical Group II L.L.C., Sunrise Medical Group IV L.L.C., SurgCenter Camelback LLC, SurgCenter Northeast LLC, SurgCenter Pinellas LLC, SurgCenter Tucson LLC, SurgCenter at Paradise Valley LLC, SurgCenter of Deer Valley LLC, SurgCenter of Glen Burnie LLC, SurgCenter of Palm Beach Gardens LLC, SurgCenter of Plano LLC, SurgCenter of Southern Maryland LLC, SurgCenter of St. Lucie LLC, SurgCenter of White Marsh LLC, Surgery Affiliate of El Paso LLC, Surgery Center at Mount Pleasant LLC, Surgery Center at University Park LLC, Surgery Center of Atlanta LLC, Surgery Center of Canfield LLC, Surgery Center of Columbia L.P., Surgery Center of Coral Gables LLC, Surgery Center of Okeechobee LLC, Surgery Center of Pembroke Pines L.L.C., Surgery Center of Peoria L.L.C., Surgery Center of Richardson Physician Partnership L.P., Surgery Center of Santa Barbara LLC, Surgery Center of Scottsdale LLC, Surgery Center of Tempe Real Estate II L.L.C., Surgery Center of Tempe Real Estate L.L.C., Surgery Centers of America II L.L.C., Surgery Centre of SW Florida LLC, Surgical & Bariatric Associates of Atlanta Medical Center L.L.C., Surgical Clinical Excellence at Desert Regional LLC, Surgical Elite of Avondale L.L.C., Surgical Health Partners LLC, Surgical Institute Management LLC, Surgical Institute of Reading LLC, Surgical Specialists at Princeton LLC, Surgicare of Miramar L.L.C., Surginet Inc., Surgis Inc., Surgis Management Services Inc., Surgis of Chico Inc., Surgis of Phoenix Inc., Surgis of Redding Inc., Surgis of Victoria Inc., Sutton Road Pediatrics L.L.C., Sylvan Grove Hospital Inc., TENN SM LLC, TFPS IV L.L.C., TH Healthcare Ltd., TH International Services Florida LLC, THV Park Cities LLC, THVG Arlington GP LLC, THVG Bariatric GP LLC, THVG Bariatric L.L.C., THVG Bedford GP LLC, THVG Bellaire GP LLC, THVG DSP GP LLC, THVG DeSoto GP LLC, THVG Denton GP LLC, THVG Fort Worth GP LLC, THVG Frisco GP LLC, THVG Garland GP LLC, THVG Grapevine GP LLC, THVG Irving-Coppell GP LLC, THVG Lewisville GP LLC, THVG North Garland GP LLC, THVG Park Cities/Trophy Club GP LLC, THVG Rockwall 2 GP LLC, THVG Valley View GP LLC, TLC ASC LLC, TMC Holding Company LLC, TOPS Specialty Hospital Ltd., TPG Hospital LLC, TPR Practice Management LLC, TPS VI of PA L.L.C., TRMC Holdings LLC, TSPE LLC, Tamarac Surgery Center LLC, Tempe New Day Surgery Center LP, Templeton Imaging Inc., Tenet Business Services Corporation, Tenet California Inc., Tenet Central Carolina Physicians Inc., Tenet EKG Inc., Tenet El Paso Ltd., Tenet Employment Inc., Tenet Finance Corp., Tenet Florida Inc., Tenet Florida Physician Services II L.L.C., Tenet Florida Physician Services III L.L.C., Tenet Florida Physician Services L.L.C., Tenet Fort Mill Inc., Tenet Global Business Center Inc., Tenet HealthSystem Bucks County L.L.C., Tenet HealthSystem Graduate L.L.C., Tenet HealthSystem Hahnemann L.L.C., Tenet HealthSystem Medical Inc., Tenet HealthSystem Nacogdoches ASC GP Inc., Tenet HealthSystem Philadelphia Inc., Tenet HealthSystem Roxborough LLC, Tenet HealthSystem St. Christophers Hospital for Children L.L.C., Tenet Hilton Head Heart L.L.C., Tenet Hospitals Limited, Tenet Network Management Inc., Tenet Patient Safety Organization LLC, Tenet Physician Resources LLC, Tenet Physician Services - Hilton Head Inc., Tenet Rehab Piedmont Inc., Tenet Relocation Services L.L.C., Tenet SC East Cooper Hospitalists L.L.C., Tenet South Carolina Gastrointestinal Surgical Specialists L.L.C., Tenet South Carolina Island Medical L.L.C., Tenet South Carolina Lowcountry OB/GYN L.L.C., Tenet South Carolina Mt. Pleasant OB/GYN L.L.C., Tenet Unifour Urgent Care Center L.L.C., Tenet Ventures Inc., TenetCare Frisco Inc., Terre Haute Surgical Center LLC, Teton Outpatient Services LLC, Texan Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Texas Endoscopy Centers LLC, Texas Health Venture Arlington Hospital LLC, Texas Health Venture Baylor Plano LLC, Texas Health Venture Carrollton LLC, Texas Health Venture Centennial LLC, Texas Health Venture Ennis LLC, Texas Health Venture Fort Worth L.L.C., Texas Health Venture Granbury LLC, Texas Health Venture Heritage Park LLC, Texas Health Venture Keller LLC, Texas Health Venture Las Colinas LLC, Texas Health Venture Mansfield LLC, Texas Health Venture Plano Endo LLC, Texas Health Venture Plano LLC, Texas Health Venture Plano Parkway LLC, Texas Health Venture Texas Spine LLC, Texas Health Ventures Group L.L.C., Texas Orthopedics Surgery Center LLC, Texas Regional Medical Center LLC, Texas Regional Medical in Sunnyvale, Texas Spine and Joint Hospital LLC, The 6300 West Roosevelt Partnership, The Ambulatory Surgical Center of St. Louis L.P., The Healthcare Insurance Corporation, The Healthcare Underwriting Company a Risk Retention Group, The Huron Corporation, The Outpatient Center LLC, The Southeastern Spine Institute Ambulatory Surgery Center L.L.C., The Surgery Center at Jensen Beach LLC, The Surgery Center at Williamson LLC, The Tresanti Surgical Center LLC, Theda Oaks Gastroenterology & Endoscopy Center LLC, Titan Health Corporation, Titan Health of Chattanooga Inc., Titan Health of Hershey Inc., Titan Health of Mount Laurel LLC, Titan Health of North Haven Inc., Titan Health of Pittsburgh Inc., Titan Health of Pleasant Hills Inc., Titan Health of Princeton Inc., Titan Health of Sacramento Inc., Titan Health of Saginaw Inc., Titan Health of Titusville Inc., Titan Health of West Penn Inc., Titan Health of Westminster Inc., Titan Management Corporation, Titusville Center for Surgical Excellence LLC, Toms River Surgery Center L.L.C., Total Joint Center of the Northland LLC, Tower Road Real Estate LLC, Tower/USP Surgery Centers LLC, Treasure Coast ASC LLC, Trophy Club Medical Center L.P., True Medical Weight Loss L.P., True Medical Wellness LP, True Results Georgia Inc., True Results HoldCo LLC, True Results Missouri LLC, Tucson Digestive Institute LLC, Tucson Hospital Holdings Inc., Tucson Physician Group Holdings LLC, Turlock Imaging Services LLC, Turlock Land Company LLC, Tuscan Surgery Center at Las Colinas LLC, Twin Cities Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Twin Cities Community Hospital Inc., UAP Las Colinas Endo LLC, UAP Lebanon Endo LLC, UAP Nashville Endoscopy LLC, UAP Scopes LLC, UAP of Arizona Inc., UAP of California Inc., UAP of Missouri Inc., UAP of New Jersey Inc., UAP of Oklahoma Inc., UAP of Tennessee Inc., UAP of Texas Inc., UCC Tucson Holdings LLC, UMC Surgery Center Lubbock LLC, UMC-USP Surgery Centers LLC, USC/Norris Cancer Hospital, USP 12th Ave Real Estate Inc., USP Acquisition Corporation, USP Alexandria Inc., USP Assurance Company, USP Athens Inc., USP Atlanta Inc., USP Austin Inc., USP Bariatric LLC, USP Beaumont Inc., USP Bergen Inc., USP Bloomington Inc., USP Bridgeton Inc., USP Cedar Park Inc., USP Chesterfield Inc., USP Chicago Inc., USP Cincinnati Inc., USP Coast Inc., USP Columbia Inc., USP Connecticut Inc., USP Corpus Christi Inc., USP Creve Coeur Inc., USP Denver Inc., USP Des Peres Inc., USP Destin Inc., USP Domestic Holdings Inc., USP Effingham Inc., USP Encinitas Endoscopy Inc., USP Fenton Inc., USP Festus Inc., USP Florissant Inc., USP Fort Lauderdale Inc., USP Fort Worth Hospital Real Estate Inc., USP Fredericksburg Inc., USP Fresno Inc., USP Frontenac Inc., USP Gateway Inc., USP HMH Surgery Center at Shore LLC, USP Harbour View Inc., USP Houston Inc., USP Indiana Inc., USP International Holdings Inc., USP Jersey City Inc., USP Kansas City Inc., USP Knoxville Inc., USP Little Rock Inc., USP Long Island Inc., USP Louisiana Inc., USP Lubbock Inc., USP Maryland Inc., USP Mason Ridge Inc., USP Mattis Inc., USP Michigan Inc., USP Midland Inc., USP Midland Real Estate Inc., USP Midwest Inc., USP Mission Hills Inc., USP Montana Inc., USP Morris Inc., USP Mt. Vernon Inc., USP Nevada Holdings LLC, USP Nevada Inc., USP New Hampshire Inc., USP New Jersey Inc., USP Newport News Inc., USP North Carolina Inc., USP North Kansas City Inc., USP North Texas Inc., USP Northwest Arkansas Inc., USP OKC Inc., USP OKC Manager Inc., USP Office Parkway Inc., USP Ohio RE Inc., USP Oklahoma Inc., USP Olive Inc., USP Orlando Inc., USP Philadelphia Inc., USP Phoenix Inc., USP Portland Inc., USP Reading Inc., USP Richmond II Inc., USP Richmond Inc., USP Sacramento Inc., USP San Antonio Inc., USP Santa Barbara Surgery Centers Inc., USP Securities Corporation, USP Silver Cross Inc., USP Siouxland Inc., USP Somerset Inc., USP South Carolina Inc., USP Southlake RE Inc., USP St. Louis Inc., USP St. Louis Urology Inc., USP St. Peters Inc., USP Sunset Hills Inc., USP TJ STL Inc., USP Tennessee Inc., USP Texas Air L.L.C., USP Texas L.P., USP Torrance Inc., USP Tucson Inc., USP Turnersville Inc., USP Virginia Beach Inc., USP Washington Inc., USP Waxahachie Management L.L.C., USP Webster Groves Inc., USP West Covina Inc., USP Westwood Inc., USP Winter Park Inc., USP Wisconsin Inc., USP-HMH Surgery Center at Central Jersey LLC, USP/Carondelet Tucson Surgery Centers LLC, USP/SOS Joint Venture LLC, USPI Group Holdings Inc., USPI Holding Company Inc.1, USPI Holdings Inc., USPI Physician Strategy Group LLC, USPI San Diego Inc., USPI Stockton Inc., USPI Surgical Services Inc., Ulysses True Results NewCo LLC, Underwood Surgery Center LLC, United Anesthesia Partners Inc., United Real Estate Development Inc., United Real Estate Holdings Inc., United Surgical Partners Holdings Inc., United Surgical Partners International, United Surgical Partners International Inc., Universal Medical Care Center L.L.C., University Surgery Center Ltd., University Surgical Partners of Dallas L.L.P., Upper Bay Surgery Center LLC, Upper Cumberland Physicians Surgery Center LLC, Urgent Care Centers of Arizona LLC, Utica ASC Partners LLC, Utica/USP Tulsa L.L.C., VB Brownsville LTACH LLC, VBOA ASC GP LLC, VBOA ASC Partners L.L.C., VHM Services Inc., VHS Acquisition Corporation, VHS Acquisition Partnership Number 1 L.P, VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 1 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 11 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 12 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 3 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 4 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 5 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 6 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 7 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 8 Inc., VHS Acquisition Subsidiary Number 9 Inc., VHS Arizona Heart Institute Inc., VHS Brownsville Hospital Company LLC, VHS Chicago Market Procurement LLC, VHS Childrens Hospital of Michigan Inc., VHS Detroit Businesses Inc., VHS Detroit Receiving Hospital Inc., VHS Detroit Ventures Inc., VHS Harlingen Hospital Company LLC, VHS Harper-Hutzel Hospital Inc., VHS Holding Company Inc., VHS Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital Inc., VHS Imaging Centers Inc., VHS New England Holding Company I Inc., VHS Outpatient Clinics Inc., VHS Phoenix Health Plan Inc., VHS Physicians of Michigan, VHS Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan Inc., VHS San Antonio Imaging Partners L.P., VHS San Antonio Partners LLC, VHS Sinai-Grace Hospital Inc., VHS University Laboratories Inc., VHS Valley Health System LLC, VHS Valley Holdings LLC, VHS Valley Management Company Inc., VHS West Suburban Medical Center Inc., VHS Westlake Hospital Inc., VHS of Anaheim Inc., VHS of Arrowhead Inc., VHS of Huntington Beach Inc., VHS of Illinois Inc., VHS of Michigan Inc., VHS of Michigan Staffing Inc., VHS of Orange County Inc., VHS of Phoenix Inc., VHS of South Phoenix Inc., Valley Baptist Lab Services LLC, Valley Baptist Physician Performance Network, Valley Baptist Realty Company LLC, Valley Baptist Wellness Center LLC, Valley Health Care Network, Vanguard ASC LLC, Vanguard Health Financial Company LLC, Vanguard Health Holding Company I LLC, Vanguard Health Holding Company II LLC, Vanguard Health Management Inc., Vanguard Health Systems, Vanguard Health Systems Inc., Vanguard Holding Company I Inc., Vanguard Holding Company II Inc., Vanguard Medical Specialists LLC, Vanguard Physician Services LLC, Ventana Surgical Center LLC, Veroscan Inc., Victoria Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Virtua-USP Princeton LLC, WHASA L.C., Walker Baptist Affinity LLC, Walker Street Imaging Care Inc., Warner Park Surgery Center LLC, Watermark Physician Services Inc., Webster Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Wellington Endo LLC, Wellstar/USP Joint Venture I LLC, Wellstar/USP Joint Venture II LLC, West Boca Health Services L.L.C., West Boca Medical Center Inc., West Boynton Urgent Care L.L.C., West Bozeman Surgery Center LLC, West Palm Healthcare Real Estate Inc., West Suburban Radiation Therapy Center LLC, Westgate Surgery Center LLC, Westlake Hospital LLC, Westlawn Surgery Center LLC, Westminster Surgery Center LLC, Westminster Surgery Centers LLC, White Fence Surgical Suites LLC, Willamette Spine Center Ambulatory Surgery LLC, Wilmington Endoscopy Center LLC, Wilshire Rental Corp., Winter Haven Ambulatory Surgical Center L.L.C., Wisconsin Specialty Surgery Center LLC, Wymark Surgery Center LLC, and YNHHSC/USP Surgery Centers LLC. By Azernews By Leman Mammadova Winery occupies one of the most important areas in the food industry of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is famous for its high quality grape varieties. Five major wine-growing regions of the country are Shamakhi, Ismayilli, Gabala, Ganja, Tovuz. Local grape varieties in Azerbaijan include White Shani, Derbendi, Nail, Bayanshire, Gamashara, Ganja Pink, Bendi, Madrasa, Black Shani, Zeynabi, Misgali, Khindogni, Agdam Kechiemdzheyi, Tebrizi, and Marandi. The share of Azerbaijan in the wine production in the former Soviet Union has always been high. Nevertheless, the Alcoholism and Anti-Drinking Initiative of the former Soviet Union in 1985 caused the destruction of the vineyards of more than 130,000 hectares in Azerbaijan. One of the first steps towards the restoration of vineyard and winemaking in the country was the Law on Winemaking, adopted in 2001. Recently, a group of Russian journalists, bloggers and wine experts traveled to Azerbaijan to familiarize themselves with the local wine production facilities and products. The five-day visit took place on November 14-18 with the support of Azerbaijan's Trade Representative Office in Russia, especially its head, Ruslan Aliyev, and with the support of the Azerbaijan Wine Manufacturers and Exporters Association, "Support for tourism and national cuisine" Public Union. Experts familiarized with wine products of Shirvan Wines, Absheron Sharab, Ismay?ll? Sharab-2, Savalan, Goygol Sharab, Ganja Sharab-2, Yar?mada, Calilabad Sharab-2, Marandi brands and tasted them. They also visited Shamakhi, Ismayilli, Gabala, Mingachevir and Ganja where these wine production facilities are located. Based on the results of the wine tour, a video clip will be shot about the history of wine production in the country, its development phases and prospects, especially about the new wines of Azerbaijan. Organization of such events will facilitate popularization of Azerbaijani winemakers not only in Russia, but also beyond its borders. The State Program on the development of wine growing in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2018-2025, which will lead to development of wine tourism and increase the amount of loans allocated to the wine industry in Azerbaijan, has been approved in May this year to ensure sustainable development of winemaking in the country, increasing interest in wine production and exports. According to the State Program, the export of wine from Azerbaijan should increase five-fold by 2025. Azerbaijan Wine Manufacturers and Exporters Association was established to coordinate activities between producers and exporters of wine and winery products with the support of the Export and Investment Promotion Foundation of Azerbaijan (AZPROMO) in 2016. Azerbaijani Wine Houses are opened in foreign countries to promote national brands and exports of local products. The first wine house of Azerbaijan was opened in China this year. Production of wine and wine-making products in Azerbaijan exceeded 1 million decalitres in 2017, of which 375,000 decalitres were exported. Thus, wine products from the country were mainly sent to Russia (338,000 decals) and China (27,000 decals). Wine exports increased by more than 80 percent over five months of 2018 compared to the first five months of 2017. BLACK REPUBLICAN BLOG - The Republican Party is the party of civil rights and the four Fs: faith, family, freedom and fairness. The Democratic Party is the party of the four Ss: slavery, secession, segregation and socialism (Quote By Author Michael Scheuer). By Trend Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has congratulated President of the Lebanese Republic Michel Aoun. On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I congratulate you and your people on the occasion of the Independence Day of the Lebanese Republic, the president said. On this remarkable day, I extend my best regards to you, and wish the friendly people of Lebanon peace and prosperity, he said. By Trend An official welcome ceremony has been held for President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the Independence Square in Ashgabat. A ceremonial guard of honor was arranged for the Azerbaijani president at the square decorated with the national flags of the two countries. President of Turkmenistan Gurbangulu Berdimuhamedov welcomed President Aliyev. The chief of the guard of honor reported to President Aliyev. State anthems of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan were played. President Aliyev saluted Turkmen soldiers. The presidents reviewed the guard of honor. State and government representatives of Turkmenistan, foreign ambassadors, and heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Ashgabat were introduced to President Aliyev, while members of the Azerbaijani delegation were introduced to President Berdimuhamedov. The guard of honour marched in front of the presidents to the accompaniment of a military march. The presidents then posed for official photos. ASGC, one of the leading construction groups in the UAE, said it has become the first company from the Middle East region to pick up a coveted global innovation award at the Project Controls Expo 2018 in London. The award is in recognition for the companys work in developing digital-first project controls to support the UAE Vision 2021, particularly the mandate for sustainable development and infrastructure, said a statement from the company. The judges commended the advanced, widespread usage of cutting-edge systems such as building information modelling (BIM) and 4D mapping to enhance productivity, fast-track project delivery, and uphold international quality standards. Global attention turned to the UAEs construction industry this week as adoption of the newest digital technologies and applications continues to accelerate, said a company spokesman. The work done by ASGC was honoured in a particularly competitive award category, with shortlisted nominations from global companies such as Rosatom, nPlan, and LogiKal Projects, he stated. Founded in the UAE in 1989, ASGC employs more than 16,000 construction specialists in the country, and is behind landmark projects such as the Expo 2020 Sustainability Pavilion, Mohammed Bin Rashid Library, Dubai Arena, Etihad Museum, and Bluewaters island in Dubai. A vertically-integrated construction group, ASGC is best known for delivering turn-key special projects in the UAE, said the statement. The list includes City Walk, Etihad Museum, Vision Tower, JBR, The Onyx, Bay Square, Business Central Towers, Golden Mile, Nestle Factory and Waldorf Astoria which demonstrates ASGCs track record in delivering major projects in the UAE, it added.-TradeArabia News Service EDF, a world-leading nuclear operator, and the UAE's Nawah Energy Company have signed an operations and maintenance assistance agreement for the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in Abu Dhabi. Nawah is the subsidiary of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) that is mandated to operate and maintain the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, the first nuclear energy plant in the Arab World. With more than 50 years of nuclear experience and acclaimed expertise in supporting newcomer countries, EDF will provide Nawah with services in a number of areas including operational safety, radiation protection, fuel-cycle management and environmental monitoring. The EDF Group will provide expertise in the form of engineering studies, on-site support, training and benchmarking sessions, etc. These services may involve the entire EDF Group including Framatome, as well as some of EDFs legacy partners. Through the supply of targeted services, the agreement will be mutually beneficial to both companies whilst continuing to strengthen their partnership ties. Both entities strongly believe that this 10-year commitment, based on a shared vision and on common values and goals, will contribute to the quality and safety led operations of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, which is currently preparing for operations of the first of its four 1400 MW units. With safety as its overriding priority, the EDF Group will share the benefits of its continuous improvement programme, the foundation stone of its safety culture, whilst supporting Nawah to achieve even higher levels of performance, a statement said. The agreement illustrates the strengthening of the Franco-Emirati partnership within the energy sector. Dominique Miniere, EDFs senior executive vice president in charge on nuclear and thermal fleet, said: We are proud that Nawah has recognised EDF Groups expertise, the worlds leading nuclear operator, by choosing us to provide it with services for the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant. With this agreement, EDF will be strengthening its position in the UAEs low-carbon energy sector, thereby reasserting the goal of its CAP 2030 strategy which is to triple its business volumes outside of Europe by 2030. Nawah chief executive officer Mark Reddemann said: Nawah is delighted about this partnership and we are looking forward not only to bringing on board the expertise of EDF but more importantly we look forward to working closely with the team to ensure safe and secure start-up of Unit 1 at Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant. EDF has a phenomenal track record of achievements in the global nuclear industry that we are bringing to Barakah. - TradeArabia News Service As many as 55,179 non-citizen students were enrolled in Emirati universities and public and private academic institutions during the 2017-2018 school year, said Dr Ahmad bin Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills. In an interview with the Emirates News Agency, WAM, he explained that business management courses topped the list of specialisations in demand from foreign students, followed by engineering and environmental and health sciences. Al Falasi pointed out that the UAE occupies the first place internationally in terms of the percentage of foreign students in national higher education institutions, according to a report by the "Global Innovation Index 2018" that was issued by Insead in France. He also highlighted certain statistics on academic results and future employment of students for 2017, which showed that the UAE was as popular an academic destination as countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand, and surpassed other countries such as Singapore, China and South Korea. Al Falasi affirmed that the UAE is implementing its vision to invest in its human capital, empower individuals and teach them science and knowledge, to enable them to contribute to the countrys comprehensive sustainable development process. The factors that have made the UAE an attractive destination for students from around the world, include the quality of its higher education institutions, their diverse specialisations, the countrys open environment, and its efforts to strengthen the values of tolerance and happiness. Al Falasi also revealed that many students who completed their university courses in the UAE prefer to stay in the country after finishing their studies, to benefit from the diversity of the countrys job market and its available employment opportunities. Nissans board meeting will be held sometime after 4:00 pm at its headquarters in Yokohama. Tokyo: Nissan Motor Co will hold a board meeting on Thursday to oust Chairman Carlos Ghosn after the shock arrest of its once-revered leader, starting what could be a long period of uncertainty in its 19-year alliance with Renault. The Franco-Japanese alliance, enlarged in 2016 to include Japans Mitsubishi Motors, has been rattled to its core by Ghosns arrest in Japan on Monday, with the 64-year-old group chairman and industry star accused of financial misconduct. Ghosn had shaped the alliance and was pushing for a deeper tie-up including potentially a full Renault-Nissan merger at the French governments urging, despite strong reservations at the Japanese firm. Amid growing uncertainty over the future of the alliance, finance ministers of Japan and France are due to meet in Paris on Thursday to seek ways to stabilise it. Renault has refrained from removing Ghosn from his position, although he remains in detention along with Representative Director Greg Kelly, whom Nissan also accuses of financial misconduct. For me, the future of the alliance is the bigger deal, one senior Nissan official told reporters on Wednesday, when asked about Ghosns arrest. Its obvious that in this age, we need to do things together. To part would be impossible. Nissans board meeting will be held sometime after 4:00 pm. (0700 GMT) at its headquarters in Yokohama and the company is likely to issue a statement afterwards, the official said, requesting anonymity as the details were confidential. Renault executives are expected to join by video conference. Nissan said on Monday an internal investigation triggered by a tip-off from an informant had revealed that Ghosn engaged in wrongdoing including personal use of company money and under-reporting of his earnings for years. Japanese prosecutors said he and Kelly conspired to understate Ghosns compensation at Nissan over five years from 2010, saying it was about half the actual 10 billion yen. Ghosn and Kelly have not commented on the accusations and Reuters has not been able to reach them. The Asahi Shimbun said on Thursday, quoting unnamed sources, that Ghosn had given Kelly orders by email to make false statements on his remuneration. Tokyo prosecutors likely seized the related emails and may use them as evidence, the report said. The Yomiuri, Japans biggest-circulation daily, cited unnamed sources as saying that Nissans internal investigation found that Ghosn had since 2002 instructed that about $100,000 a year be paid to his elder sister as remuneration for a non-existent advisory role. Shares in Nissan were flat, in line with a broader market, ahead of the board meeting. A new look team would soon be in place at North Block to prepare Modi governments Interim Budget ahead of the general elections next year. New Delhi: A new look team would soon be in place at North Block to prepare Modi governments Interim Budget ahead of the general elections next year. Among the fresh faces would be Ajay Bhushan Pandey, chief executive officer (CEO) of UIDAI and chairman of Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN). He would succeed present revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia -- considered the prime ministers key lieutenant in framing economic policies -- who is retiring on November 30. Pandey, a 1984-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, will hold additional charge of UIDAI CEO and GSTN chairman. Girish Chandra Murmu, the 1985-batch Gujarat-cadre IAS officer who is presently special secretary at revenue department, would be the new expenditure secretary after incumbent Ajay Narayanan Jha's superannuation on January 31, 2019. The present economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg will be at the helm of Budget-making exercise, as he will become finance secretary after Jha retires. The two other top bureaucrats banking secretary Rajeev Kumar and department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) secretary Atanu Chakraborty would remain the key faces behind setting the government's economic agenda for the next financial year. Finance minister Arun Jaitley is expected to present the Interim Budget 2019 on February 1. Official sources said the government is in the process of appointing the chief economic advisor (CEA) who could soon take charge. The office of the CEA is lying vacant after Arvind Subramanian resigned from the position to return to academic research in the US. The top indirect tax authority Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) would also have a new boss as the current chairman S Ramesh is set to retire by this year-end. PK Das, member (customs), is expected to head the CBIC, which, along with state commercial tax authorities, administers and collects GST. Sushil Chandra, chief of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), would, however, continue to be a part of the Budget team, along with principal economic adviser Sanjeev Sanyal. On gender diversity, the survey says female employability this year has increased to 46 per cent from 38 per cent last year. New Delhi: Hiring intent in 2019 is expected to be strongest after a gap of four years on the back of bullish employment opportunities in IT, automotive, travel and hospitality sectors, a report said on Thursday. According to India Skills Report, almost 64 per cent employers have a positive outlook on hiring, 20 per cent said they will hire the same number of people as 2018 and only handful have a negative outlook for 2019. Besides, the appetite for fresh hiring in the coming year has more than doubled to 15 per cent from a mere 7 per cent in 2017. The report noted that even though hiring volumes might not reach the scale of 2010-11, the situation would still be better than what it was in the last 2-3 years. "It is encouraging to see a positive hiring intent this year and even more to see tech hiring getting back in action," PeopleStrong Co-founder, and CEO Pankaj Bansal said, adding that the increase in hiring intent was not limited to organisations of a certain size, but was spread across companies of different sizes and sectors. As per the report, tech hiring is expected to make a comeback in the coming year. In this space, design and analytics jobs would be the most sought-after ones in the overall set, while demand would increase for specialist technologies in the space of artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning. Besides software, engineering, automotive, travel, and hospitality will see a considerable upswing in their hiring numbers next year, the report noted. On gender diversity, the survey says female employability this year has increased to 46 per cent from 38 per cent last year. Male employability score has grown marginally to 48 per cent from 47 per cent last year. Of all the new hiring in 2019, almost 15-20 per cent would comprise of women, the report further said. According to the nationwide study, the top three states in terms of employability are Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi. While engineers continue to be most employable, electronics and communication engineering (ECE) & information technology (IT) have the highest employability rate. India Skills Report 2019, is a joint initiative by HR solutions and HR technology company PeopleStrong, and Global Talent Assessment firm Wheebox, in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) along with partners like UNDP, AICTE, and AIU. Chandigarh: Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar appeared Wednesday before a special investigation team and dismissed allegations that he arranged a meeting between former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The five-member SIT formed by the Punjab government is probing police firing at Faridkot's Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura on people protesting over the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib. Two people had died in the police firing in 2015. The self-styled godman's supporters were alleged to be involved in cases of desecration, after pages of the religious text were found torn and scattered. Akshay Kumar's counsel later told reporters that the actor denied having ever met the Dera Sacha Sauda chief, who is currently serving a 20-year jail term in two rape cases. The SIT questioned the actor as his name figured in the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on the sacrilege incidents, which was tabled in the Punjab Assembly in August. It was alleged that the actor brought together Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and the then deputy chief minister to ensure the release in Punjab of MSG-2, a controversial movie made by the sect chief. The actor was quizzed for about two hours at the Punjab police headquarters in sector-9 here. He told the SIT that he never met Dera Sacha Sauda chief in his entire life. So the question about any meeting does not arise, the actor's counsel Sant Pal Singh Sidhu told reporters. He said the claim by former MLA Harbans Jalal before the Ranjit Singh Commission about the meeting are concocted. Even the Commission report has not placed any reliance on these claims saying these are based on 'hearsay', the counsel said. Akshay Kumar has not been asked to appear again before the SIT, Sidhu said. The counsel said the actor told the SIT members that he respected all the religions, particularly the Sikh religion. The counsel was not present with Akshay Kumar when he was quizzed. Even before his SIT appearance, the actor had denied mediating between the Shiromani Akali Dal president and the sect chief. The former MLA wrote to the Ranjit Singh Commission on October 9, 2017, claiming that a meeting took place between Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and Sukhbir Singh Badal at the actor's flat in Mumbai in 2015 in connection with the release of MSG-2. The meeting was allegedly held before the Dera chief was pardoned by the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, in a 2007 blasphemy case. After arriving at Chandigarh airport, the actor headed straight to the Punjab police headquarters, reaching there at about 9.30 am. He refused to talk to the media waiting at the airport on his arrival and before his departure. Heavy security was in place outside the Punjab police headquarters, officials said. The police had earlier asked the actor to appear before the probe team in Amritsar, but later gave him to the option to come to Chandigarh. The SIT has already questioned former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. On Monday, Sukhbir Singh Badal also told the SIT that he had never met Akshay Kumar outside Punjab. The actor had also issued a denial on November 12 over the alleged meeting. It has come to my knowledge that some rumours and false statements are being loosely made on social media about my involvement with a person named Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the context of a fictitious meeting involving Sukhbir Singh Badal, the actor had tweeted. I have never ever met Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in my life, anywhere. I learnt from social media at some point that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh resided for a while at some place in my locality Juhu in Mumbai but we never crossed each other's paths, he said. He had then dared anyone to prove it otherwise. The SIT was set up by the state government in September, soon after it issued a notification taking over some of the desecration-related cases from the Central Bureau of Investigation. Mumbai: Filmmaker Nandita Das will be honoured with the FIAPF Award at the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Brisbane. Das will be presented the award in recognition of her achievement in film in the Asia Pacific region on November 29, the APSA and its founding partner FIAPF International Federation of Film Producers Associations. "It is an honour to welcome Nandita Das to Brisbane as the recipient of the 2018 FIAPF Award. Das' impressive career is a shining example of APSA's ideals and we welcome her to the APSA Academy," Michael Hawkins, chairman of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and its academy, said in a statement. The filmmaker will be attending the ceremony to receive the award which is bestowed on a film practitioner from the region whose career and actions contribute strongly to the development of the Asia Pacific film industry. "As I continue to voice my concerns through the stories I choose to tell, I feel responsible not just to my own conscience but also to the faith that organizations like FIAPF and APSA have bestowed upon me. I am grateful and honoured to receive this prestigious award," Das said. Das started her career as an actor with films like "1947 Earth", "Fire" and "Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa". She made her directorial debut with critically-acclaimed feature "Firaaq". She most recently directed "Manto", a biographical drama based on the life of celebrated Urdu author Saadat Hasan Manto. The film, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the title role, premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and released in Indian theatres in September this year. Anees Bazmee has cast Ileana D Cruz in his next Bollywood flick. Ileana, who was seen with Arjun Kapoor in Bazmees Mubarkaan, finds herself teaming up with the director again. Ileanas last two films Mubarkaan and Rustom have done well in Bollywood, but the actress is not in the numbers race. The actress does not talk much about her work, and is also tight-lipped about all things personal, including her love life. The Kumar Mangat produced film also stars John Abraham. Pagalpanti is slated to be shot in London from the month of January. London is offering a lot of subsidies again and filmmakers are making a beeline to the city to shoot their respective films, informs a source. Anees Bazmee, in the meanwhile, is also looking at directing Aankhen 2, which has been stuck in a dispute as the initial producer Gaurang Doshi did not possess the film rights and is under duress to pay back loans taken. Aankhen 2 is a sequel to Aankhen (2002) and will be produced by Eros International and Rajtaru Studios. Sanskriti Media Nicki Minaj has always been about giving back to her community and honouring her roots. The rapper, for this Thanksgiving season, went back to Queens where she grew up and distributed over 500 turkeys to the residents and fans, reports JustJared.com. Nicki with her mother, Carol, was spotted handing over turkeys and meals, while she also obliged fans with pictures and selfies. Nicki Minaj Nicki also stopped to take a photo with NYPDs Commanding Officer Jerry OSullivan, who took to Twitter to share a couple of snapshots from event. Who says rappers dont give back to the neighborhood they come from? @NICKIMINAJ came out and gave over 500 turkeys to the residence of South Jamaica (sic), the police tweeted. Sai Dhanshika of Kabali fame and one of the busiest actors in Tamil cinema celebrated her birthday in an unusual manner. The leggy actor, a martial arts exponent as well, paid her guru vanakkam (respects) to her mentor Pandian master. The Vizhithiru actor who took self-defence course and silambam training from Pandian master reached the YMCA where many of her fans and close friends had gathered to wish her. After she cut the custom-made cake, as a token of reverence to her guru, the young actor performed silambam with her bamboo staff and enthralled the gathering. The video has gone viral on Internet. With the increasing incidents of sexual abuse on women, I honestly feel all girls and women should equip themselves with self-defence practices. When parents can send their girls to learn dance and music why not self defence courses? I am planning to start a school and teach girls in silambam and other martial arts in future, the actor revealed. Actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan denied the rumours that he will be resuming his acting career. There are reports that Kalyan is doing a film with director Dolly (Kishore Pardasani), which will star one of his nephews as the lead. On Tuesday, the Jana Sena Party issued a press release that Pawan Kalyan is not interested in doing any film at this time. There is news in some sections of the media that I am acting again, which I deny. I have dedicated my life to the people and have fought for them and have raised their problems. There is no time for me to act in a film, says Pawan Kalyan in a press release. The actor is at present touring different places in Andhra Pradesh and criticising the government for neglecting to the peoples problems. This is the time for me to question the government about the problems faced by the people. I am working towards a better society and I dont have the time to even think about films, he says. GAC Group, a global provider of logistics and marine services, has appointed Daniel Young as its marketing manager for the regions including eastern US, eastern Canada, and the Caribbean. Young brings to his new role 15 years port agency and logistics experience drawn from a diverse working background that includes business development for both commercial and government customers, port operations management and freight forwarding, said a statement from the company. Youngs appointment reflects the groups continuing drive to fully understand and meet the needs of its customers by drawing on its strengths and versatile, integrated range of shipping and logistics services, it said. From his base in the Washington DC metropolitan area, he has already started his work with contacts in the region to establish a strong rapport and spread the word about how GAC can help them, it added. Young will be reporting to GAC Groups group sales director Neil Godfrey. Godfrey said: I am very pleased to have Young on board, as he brings a wealth of experience to his role with us. North America and the Caribbean represent an important customer base for GAC and there is a lot of ground to cover, he added. We therefore decided to dedicate additional resources to it. Young will work closely with Andrew Boaz, our existing marketing manager based in Houston who takes care of customers in the west, whilst he takes care of the east. We are confident that his addition to our team will further enhance GACs relationship with established, new and prospective customers throughout the territory, he concluded. TradeArabia News Service Poet and filmmaker Gulzar interacts with Manuu Vice-Chancellor Dr Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz during a seminar organised by the Urdu Department at the university on Thursday. (Photo: DC) Hyderabad: The origin of Urdu language is in India and it is an Indian language, stated renowned lyricist, poet and filmmaker Gulzar while addressing the inaugural function of a one-day national seminar, Gulzar: Ehsaas Ka Safeer (Ambassador of Emotions) Gulzar said Urdu had grown as it adopted the words from other languages. It is adorned with words from Arabic, Persian, Prakrit, Sanskrit and English,he told the seminar organised by the department of Urdu of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University. "Almost 90 per cent of the language used in Bollywood films is Urdu. People who know Hindi admire the Urdu language, but they do not know the true pronunciation, it is our responsibility to guide them. This will enhance the reach of Urdu," he said. Gulzar revealed that yesteryears heroine Vyjayanthimala used to write her Urdu dialogues in Tamil script. Gulzar rendering some of his famous poems, Kitabein, Yeh Kaisa Ishq Hai Urdu Zaban Ka, Table Lamp, Balli Maraan in his unique style. Gulzar whose regard for the famous Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib is well known, read a poem Galli Qasim Jaan to pay him glowing tribute. Gulzar regards himself as the third servant of Ghalib. Dr Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz, Manuu Vice-Chancellor, said Gulzar had penned the University tarana in 2014 in collaboration with music director Vishal Bharadwaj. It was rendered by Sukhvinder Singh. Surgical interventions were done for five years in 100 patients and their data was presented to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons which has accepted the modification in the procedure. (Representational image/Pixabay) Hyderabad: A new technique to treat ptosis or droopy eyelids by Indian plastic surgeons has been accepted where the additional procedure to create a crease in the upper eyelid is found to improve the condition, according to research published in the American Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Surgical interventions were done for five years in 100 patients and their data was presented to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons which has accepted the modification in the procedure. The accepted surgical technique is to elevate the upper eyelid so that the drooping can be curtailed. But in that technique, it was found that the eyes showed that they were operated upon. To add to this, the balanced vision in both the eyes was a challenge in patients. The common complaint was that one eye partly looked as if it operated creating an unnatural look. With these complaints, plastic surgeons decided to create an eyelid crease. Eyelid crease means that when the eyelid opens wide after the surgery, it gives a balanced look due to the crease. Droopy eyelids are when the upper eyelid sags to the lower position more than normal and it obstructs the vision of the person. The reason for this is weak eye muscles. The drooping condition makes the eyes look asymmetrical and crooked. The study was carried out from 2011 to 2016 on 100 patients and the modified surgery technique of eyelid crease helped to maintain the symmetry between the eyes. This helped to improve the aesthetic appeal and led to greater patient satisfaction, observed the study. Dr S. Nagesh, plastic surgeon at Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences explained, Ptosis is caused by many factors ranging from natural reasons like congenital factors, damage to the nerve and also medical conditions like tumour behind the eye, diabetes, stroke, neurological disorders, swelling of the eyes and other diseases. The prevalence in found in both men and women. When the vision is affected there is a need for surgical intervention. The study was conducted by facial plastic surgeon Dr Debraj Shome and researchers at their clinics in India. Dr Shome in the paper noted that the surgical intervention of the crease has allowed to obtain a balanced vision and also made the operated eye look natural which is the biggest satisfaction for the patient. When you decide to marry the partner of your dreams, it is important that your wedding reflects your values of love, devotion and promises. It is a joyous occasion when two people offer each other the highest form of commitment. Its a celebration where family and friends come together to bless your union. Most people leave no stone unturned to assure that their wedding is etched in everyones memory as a happy event of a lifetime! Destination weddings are becoming increasingly popular as they lend an air of exoticness and magnificence to the marriage event. However, every destination offers a unique platform to host a wedding. Here are some trending destinations explored by Tamarind Global, who has successfully organized turnkey destination weddings and events all over the world and received multiple awards as well as admiration- Udaipur: The most important thing while selecting a destination is its cultural backdrop, as it becomes a cornerstone of the entire wedding. The authenticity of creating something regal comes from an original, authentic setting. The historical significance of Rajasthan combined with the majestic ambience that comes with a rich heritage and a celebrated culture, helps in creating a spectacular show that doesnt overlook any traditions. Palace in Udaipur Udaipur has always been one of the most popular wedding destinations in India. It provides a royal splendour with its rich heritage, while keeping the natural beauty and colours of Rajasthan intact. The stunning lake Pichola provides the most transcendent ambience for a romantic celebration. Udaipur also provides some fabulous venues in terms of grandeur and hospitality that are truly breath-taking. Tamarind Global has organized weddings in most of the beautiful properties around Lake Pichola Udaivilas, Taj Lake Palace, Leela, Trident, Fateh Prakash, Shiv Niwas and also Fatehgarh, which is a little further away. Tamarind has expertise in handling grand celebrations with complicated movements to small luxurious private affairs. Winter brings out the beauty of Rajasthan, making the months from October to March the perfect time period to host a destination wedding. Europe: Europe with its rustic architectural edge offers one of the most romantic settings for a wedding. From the Hungarian countryside such as Budapest that is perfect for an exclusive and elegant affair, to cities like Vienna that exceeds every expectation with its characteristic venues that are at the same time big and small, imperial and civic, lively and calm, modern and historic. Paris, Europe However the thing that adds on the charm of Europe is its culture, which is a perfect blend of modern thinking and historical values. For some people, this makes Europe an irresistible destination for their wedding. Europe is an amalgamation of such destinations that makes for a truly memorable experience for your family and friends. Elegant ballrooms, beautiful terraces with panoramic views, stunning palaces, spotless beaches and lush green countryside- it is a full package of excellent choices. Multiple international and local hotels present in famous cities of Budapest, Vienna, Chantilly, Montreux, Florence, etc. offer unlimited choices for a wedding of your dreams! Apart from this the external venues in themselves are so mesmerizing that there is little need to add on to the decor expense. Europe has a lot to offer as a wedding destination, with unlimited choices- you can choose to get married in the Hungarian countryside, a quaint piazza or a heritage castle. For those who would rather have a summer wedding, but without the scorching sun blazing down from the sky, Europe is undoubtedly the best option. April to September are the best months to plan a destination wedding as there is less rainfall as compared to the rest of the year. Turkey: For those looking for tradition with exquisite architectural beauty, Bodrum is where you should be headed. Also known as the St. Tropez of Turkey, Bodrum is a popular choice for destination weddings, especially if you are looking for a peaceful milieu on your special day. Turkey Great hotels, pleasant beaches, dependable infrastructure, and the presence of famous hotels such as The Mandarin Oriental, Kempinski, Caresse, The Bodrum Edition- all add on to make Bodrum a real wedding paradise. Beach clubs like Nikki Beach are also great to explore for weddings and its related events. The best months to host your wedding in Turkey are from May to October. The article has been authored by Alisha Shirodkar (VP Business Development, Tamarind Global) of Tamarind Global. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, right, talks to people during a visit to the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar in London, Wednesday Nov. 21, 2018. (Photo: AP) LONDON - Meghan Markle, the wife of Prince Harry, chopped vegetables and packed food into boxes on Wednesday as she returned to a London community kitchen project formed after the Grenfell Tower fire last year in which more than 70 people died. Markle, officially known as the Duchess of Sussex, visited the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how proceeds from a charity cookbook she backed were being used. The project was set up by women looking for a place to prepare family meals following the June 2017 disaster. Together: Our Community Cookbook is a collection of recipes from the users of the communal kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in west London. It was published in September with a foreword written by Markle. The book has sold tens of thousands of copies, according to Kensington Palace, and made the Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller lists. The funds raised have been used to expand the project, including opening it seven days a week from two at the beginning. Markle, who married Harry in May and is expecting their first child in the spring, donned an apron and disposable gloves as she began work in the renovated kitchen, chatting with women as they prepared meals for local delivery. The 37-year-old American, a former actress, has visited the project several times this year. Hyderabad: Two members of a gang that skimmed data from credit and debit cards and robbed about Rs 15 lakh from people who paid at restaurants and pubs in the city, were arrested by the Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police on Wednesday. The police had earlier arrested two members of the gang, while another accused is yet to be nabbed. City resident, Surendra Inkollu, was the first to lodge a complaint against an unauthorised withdrawal of Rs 1 lakh from his bank account, at an ATM in Banjara Hills. Later, several such complaints were received by the cyber crime police. During the probe, police found that all the victims were once customers of a coffee shop in Jubilee Hills. When the customers gave their debit/credit cards to coffee shop employee Sachin Kumar to swipe it for payment, he (Sachin) swiped the cards in the skimming machine and noted down the PIN numbers. He further shared the details with the gangs kingpin Sumit Jhingran, who used to give him Rs 2,000 as commission for skimming one card. Sachin was arrested on August 30, last year. Another accused Kevin Jerry DSouza of Mumbai was arrested in October this year. Their interrogation helped the Cyberabad police apprehend kingpin Sumit and Gaurav Varma of Shajapur in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday. Another accused Rafiq Faruk Khan of Mumbai is still at large. Cyberabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar said accused Sumit was a native of Varanasi and an MBA dropout. He used to work at a call centre in Mumbai. Since his earnings were not sufficient, he hatched a plan to clone the debit and credit cards for unauthorised withdrawal of money. Sumit then purchased the skimmers, magnetic strips and MSR (Magnetic Stripe Reader) machines online to execute his plan. He lured the waiters and bearers at high-end restaurants and pubs in metropolitan cities with a commission of `2,000 for collecting the data of one debit/credit card along with the PIN number. When Sumit was hunting for aides, he came in contact with Kevin, a school dropout from Mumbai in 2015. The former shared his knowledge of skimming and cloning cards with Kevin and offered 15 per cent commission on the successful execution of the fraud. They lured Gaurav Varma, a Yoga trainer from Delhi to work for them and then started recruiting waiters and bearers. They approached Faruk and Sachin, working at a pub in Goa, the Commissioner said. According to Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar, the men collected the original fingerprint impressions of faculty members using glue gun and glue sticks. Hyderabad: Vivekananda Group of Institutions vice-principal and an associate professor from Narsapur were arrested by the East Zone Task Force along with another person for selling cloned fingerprints of faculty members of various educational institutions and cheating the JNTU officials with forged online biometric attendance to earn money illegally. According to Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar, the men collected the original fingerprint impressions of faculty members using glue gun and glue sticks. Officials seized Rs 3 lakh, a biometric machine, 30 glue sticks, 60 cloned prints of 29 faculty members of the BPharmacy stream of the Vivekananda Group and 20 original impressions of the same from their possession. Acting on a tip-off, the Task Force officials apprehended associate professor Bomma Ramakrishna, 35, from Narsapur, West Godavari, P. Sriram Prasad, 28, an employee from Nizampet and Poreddy Sudharshan Reddy, 35, Vivekananda group vice-principal at Batasingaram of Hayathnagar, from near the Saibaba temple kaman of Champapet, Saidabad. The prime accused, Vivekananda group secretary Gopal Reddy, is reportedly absconding. Additional DCP, Task Force, Chaitanya Kumar said police was checking on the involvement of other faculty members and students. They collect fingerprints of graduates and clone them to mark their attendance on the JNTU server. We are also probing if there is any other college involved" said the official. Ramakrishna is pursuing his PhD and working as associate professor at SCET, West Godavari. Prasad from Krishna district completed his B.Tech in 2013 and worked as an administrative officer in Nova Engineering College, Batasingaram, from 2014 to December 2017. Ramakrishna was hired by Nova Engineering College as assistant professor. As per JNTU norms, every engineering college should have one lecturer for 15 students. JNTU and the state government launched the online biometric attendance system which is linked to the JNTU server, police said. To overcome the issue of marking biometric attendance Ramakrishna designed a technique of cloning fingerprints from the internet to fudge attendance. In December 2017, Sriram left Nova Engineering College and was in need of money. He contacted Ramakrishna who requested him to prepare cloned fingerprints of the few colleges. He was to consult managements of educational institutions and get orders for cloned fingerprints. Sriram was to collect original fingerprint impressions of faculty members using glue gun and glue sticks and send them to Ramakrishna who would prepare the cloned fingerprints using ethylene vinyl acetate and other chemicals. Ramakrishna would return the cloned fingerprints for which they both charge Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per fingerprint. Mr Chaitanya Kumar said Vivekananda group's Sudershan Reddy and Gopal Reddy came to know about cloned fingerprints and contacted Sriram to cloning prints of 28 faculty members of B Pharmacy course. When Sudershan Reddy placed a fresh order for cloned fingerprints of five faculty members. When Ramakrishna came to return the cloned, they were arrested. The arrested men and the seized material were handed over to the local police. The police is in touch with JNTU regarding the attendance fudging by the accused. How to clone A court on Tuesday granted police remand of the man for eight days. (Photo: ANI) New Delhi: A jobless 20-year-old man has confessed to raping and killing at least nine girls aged between three and seven in Delhi, the national capital, and three other cities over the past two years, police said on Wednesday. The case spotlights the number of young children who go missing every year in the country and raises the question of whether the police have sufficient resources to investigate such brutal sex crimes. The confession followed Monday's arrest of the man on charges of raping and killing a three-year-old girl on November 11 in a slum area of the city of Gurugram bordering Delhi. "He used to first break the legs of the victims before attempting rape," said Subhash Boken, an assistant sub-inspector and public relations officer with the Gurugram police. "Then he would murder them." A court on Tuesday granted police remand of the man for eight days, Boken said, adding that he did not yet have a lawyer. Reuters could not reach him in prison to seek comment. Police have linked three cases of dead children to his statement and are investigating the rest, Boken added. Four of the cases are in Delhi, three in Gurugram, and one each in the northern city of Jhansi and the central city of Gwalior. He has not been formally charged and police often claim success in solving crimes before a defendant has had his day in court. The man, who was unemployed apart from occasional work as a daily labourer, said he mostly targeted community kitchens such as those distributing free food to the needy. He would target young girls who went to pick up food, offering them sweets or money, and abduct them, Boken quoted him as having told police. The man, who was arrested in Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, committed his last crime in Gurugram while visiting his sister in the same slum area where the victim lived, police said. The newspapers often carry reports of brutal rapes and murders, many involving children, despite the adoption this year of tougher laws, some of which provide for capital punishment for the rape of children younger than 12. "It is very unfortunate that such cases are still happening in India, despite the government framing a law and approving the death penalty for rape," said Priti Mahara, an official of child rights organisation CRY. "The police, government officials and society at large need to support the victims and their families." According to the police, the accused and his associates had chased the two and hacked them to death near a bar and fled. Bengaluru: The Konankunte police on Thursday evening shot at and arrested a notorious rowdy sheeter, who had murdered two members of a rival gang at Weavers colony, within hours after the crime. The accused, identified as Manjunath, 34, a rowdy-sheeter in Hulimavu police station, had killed his rivals Murugan, 34 and Palani, 30 at Weavers colony on Bannerghatta Road late Wednesday, while they were returning home from a bar. According to the police, the accused and his associates had chased the two and hacked them to death near a bar and fled. The entire incident was recorded in the CCTV camera installed near the bar. A senior police officer said that Murugan and Palani hailed from Tamil Nadu and were staying with their families in Weavers colony. The two had formed a gang and used to carry out anti-social activities. Manjunath who was also a rowdy sheeter wanted to dominate the area and he often used to have fights with Murugan and Palani gang. On Wednesday night, when Murugan and Palani along with their friends came out of a bar, Manjunath and his aides were lying in wait for them. They attacked them with lethal weapons, killing them on the spot. DCP south, Annamalai had formed three special teams to nab the culprits. The team headed by the ACP T. Mahadeva received a credible information and rushed to Anjanapura forest area, where the accused Manjunath was hiding and planning to escape to Tamil Nadu. The police surrounded him and asked him to surrender, but he attacked and injured Sub-Inspector Subramani with a dagger. The police then opened two rounds of fire at his legs and caught him. They rushed both the injured to the nearby hospital for treatment and they are said to be out of danger. The police have booked Majunath for double murder and have launched a manhunt for his associates. The woman disclosed the incident to her family members and the next day she approached the Koramangala police and lodged a complaint. (Representational Images) Bengaluru: A 22-year-old woman working with an online news portal was sexually harassed by her colleague at a pub in Koramangala, last Saturday. The victim, a resident of Bannerghatta Road, and an employee of an online news portal in Koramangala, has lodged a complaint with the police against one Ajmal Kaleem. Kaleem, who was her colleague, has been arrested by the police, produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody on Monday. In her complaint, the woman stated that after finishing work on Saturday, she along with her colleagues Akash Anand, Ajmal Kaleem, Akash Girimath, Pebin Joshy and others had gone to the Beer Cafe in Koramangala around 9.30 pm for dinner. After they had a few drinks, Ajmal started misbehaving with her and she took objection to his conduct and told him to stay away. Later Ajmal pulled her into the gents restroom and allegedly misbehaved with her. The woman informed her other colleagues about the incident, who hailed a cab and sent her home. The woman disclosed the incident to her family members and the next day she approached the Koramangala police and lodged a complaint. The police have arrested Kaleem and further investigations are underway. During interrogation, he claimed that he had tried to meet Kejriwal one-and-a-half-years ago but after he could not meet him, he broke the glass panes in the reception area of Delhi Secretariat. (Photo: PTI | File) New Delhi: The 40-year-old man, who allegedly flung chilli powder at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, had broken glass panes at the reception area of the Delhi Secretariat one-and-a-half years ago after he failed to get an audience with the Chief Minister, the police said. The accused, Anil Sharma, was arrested on Tuesday and was interrogated jointly by the local police, Special Cell and Intelligence Bureau. During interrogation, he claimed that he had tried to meet Kejriwal one-and-a-half-years ago but after he could not meet him, he broke the glass panes in the reception area of Delhi Secretariat. Police said they will be verifying his claims and are further probing the matter. He told the investigators he is married and has a daughter. His wife stays with her parents in Haridwar. He graduated from a university in Meerut and was employed as a contractual worker with a company in Gurgaon at a salary of Rs 14,000 per month, he told police. He told sleuths that he was earlier addicted to ganja but had quit drugs. The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) is organising the 13th Annual GPCA Forum, later this month, with aim of taking a lead role in the development of local talent in the Gulf region in collaboration with its members. The forum is being held from November 26 to 28, at the Madinat Jumeirah, in Dubai, UAE. Along with the forum, GPCA will also host the 9th edition of Leaders of Tomorrow, an initiative that provides university students engaged in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) an opportunity to learn about the industry and encourage them to start a career in chemistry and other allied industries, said a statement. The programme places strong emphasis on the chemical sector and the impact it has as a leading source of direct and indirect employment in the GCC region, consequently, empowering future talent. Now in its third year, it has hosted 413 participants from 50 universities across the six GCC states sponsored by 23 GPCA member companies to date. Dr Abdulwahab Sadoun, general secretary, GPCA, said: This initiative guarantees participants exposure at the starting point of their careers. The opportunity to hear from industry experts about the successes and lessons learned of established companies in their various disciplines and experience first-hand the vibrant nature of our business is one that cannot be missed. Not only will these young leaders be able to fine tune their skill sets, familiarize themselves with the latest trends and hone their networking skills, but will serve as a much-needed deep pool of talent to feed the industrys needs, he added. According to a recent GPCA report, university graduates in the GCC grew by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9 per cent per annum from 2007-2017, reaching 302,000. The number of science graduates including chemistry graduates reached more than 20,000, which accounts for 7 per cent of all university graduates. The events will tackle strategic issues and trends ranging from future core capabilities to sustainability, digitalisation, cyber security, emerging markets and the seamless move to a circular economy, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Hyderabad: First time in the recent history of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeems public meetings held to mark the Prophets birthday where speakers refrained from delivering political speeches. Every year, the MIM holds a public meeting in connection with Milad-un-Nabi at its headquarters Darussalam in which speakers, particularly party president Asaduddin Owaisi, speak on a large variety of topics and comment on political affairs with sarcastic remarks against political bigwigs. This time, however, Mr Owaisi confined his speech to the religious aspects, thanks to the Model Code of Conduct being in place for the December 7 state Assembly elections. This left quite a few of the youth, who were expecting witty remarks against political personalities, disappointed. Without referring the current controversy pertaining to the alleged offer of Rs 25 lakh for abstaining from a public meeting in Nirmal by a Congress leader, a charge which he had made on Tuesday, Mr Owaisi said being a true follower of the Prophet he would never indulge in horse-trading. He said there were those who put themselves up for sale. Last year Mr Owaisi and other speakers had harshly criticised the policies of the Congress and BJP and its leaders. Mr Owaisi at the beginning clarified that the meeting was religious in nature and he would not talk politics due to the code of conduct. He asked mediapersons to come again for political comments. He recounted a few events from the Prophets life and said his family was boycotted for three years. Now we Muslims are worried if we are were boycotted for a few days, he said. He stressed the need to maintain unity and strive for strengthening the country. He signed off by asking people to vote on December 7. Guru Nanak Devji is believed to have spent 18 years in Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river in Pakistan. (Photo: Youtube | Screengrab) New Delhi: The Union cabinet on Thursday cleared the building and development of the Kartarpur corridor aimed at providing easy passage to Sikh pilgrims to visit a historic gurudwara in Pakistan where Guru Nanak Dev is believed to have spent the last 18 years of his life. "The government of India will build and develop a corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims from India to visit holy Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river in Pakistan where Guru Nanak Devji spend 18 years," Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to commemorate 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji. New Delhi will also request Islamabad to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory as well, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in a series of tweet on Thursday. "In a landmark decision, the Cabinet approves building and development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to International Border. Kartarpur corridor project with all modern amenities and facilities to be implemented with Central Government funding," Rajnath Singh tweeted. After the cabinet decision, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said, In keeping with resolution adopted by Cabinet today to commemorate 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji in 2019, we have approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of Sikh community and build a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India to Kartarpur Sahib throughout the year. Government of India has already decided to build corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to International Border with all modern amenities on our side, MEA added. Chennai which was just 426 sq km, grew more than four-fold to reach 1,189 sq km in 1975. (Photo: File) Chennai: Chennai metropolitan area would be second after the National Capital Region (NCR) in terms of geographical size if the plan on expansion of the city takes off, according to a study undertaken by a city-based think-tank. The Mylapore Institute for Policy Research promoted by India Cements Limited released the findings of the study on Thursday. The metropolitan area of the city would grow seven-fold to 8,878 sq km as the whole of Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur and parts of Arakkonam and Nemili taluks in Vellore district would be included in its limits, the study said. "If the proposed expansion goes through, only the National Capital Region will be bigger than the southern metropolis with a total area of 53,817 sq km," it said. Currently, the area of Chennai is 1,189 sq km, Mumbai 4,354 sq km, Hyderabad 7,100 sq km and Bengaluru 8,005 sq km. The primary objective of the expansion was to ensure development takes place in a planned manner, the report said adding that the expansion would improve the living standard of people in the region. The Tamil Nadu government had in July 2017 announced a proposal to turn Chennai into a mega city and a few months later, the government notified the plan, the report said. The area of the city, which was just 426 sq km, grew more than four-fold to reach 1,189 sq km in 1975, it said. "With the Tamil Nadu government expanding the metropolitan area to include Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and parts of Vellore, we felt it was timely to assess the potential impact," president of Mylapore Institute for Policy Research Shiv Kumar said. The report has been compiled after extensive on-ground interviews with administrators, planning experts, industrialists and people living in the region, co-promoter and director of How India Lives John Samuel Raja said. If the expansion plan was implemented, it would ensure uniform development of the entire region, steady flow of investment and availability of basic infrastructure, among others, the report said. Muslims from across the city too part in rallies, which converged at YMCA ground on Nrupatunga Road Bengaluru: Eid Milad-un-Nabi processions organised in various parts of the city on Wednesday, to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad, affected the vehicular movement in the Central Business District for some time. As the city traffic police had made alternate arrangements during the procession, there were no major snarls. Muslims from across the city too part in rallies, which converged at YMCA ground on Nrupatunga Road. This affected traffic movement on J.C. Road, V.V. Puram, Lal Bagh and surrounding areas, which was immediately cleared by traffic cops. A senior traffic police official said the police had taken proper measures to divert the traffic during procession. Though there was no traffic jam, vehicular movement was slow for some time in some areas, he said. Chennai: Governor Banwarilal Purohit visited the Gaja cyclone-affected villages in Nagapattinam and Vedaranyam and met victims in temporary relief centres. After distributing assistance to people he inspected food preparations at the relief centres and interacted with doctors at a medical camp. The Governor visited cyclone-hit Nagapattinam Velankanni, Poovaithedi, Kameswaram, Vilunthavadai, Pudupalli, Vettaikaraniruppu, Dadhan Thiruvasal, Kovilpathu, Vanan Mahadevi, Kallimedu, Thamaraipulam, Semmedai Vadakku, Kothakudi Therku in Nagapattinam district. He also inspected houses ravaged by the cyclone, trees uprooted by it in the area and restoration work undertaken by Tangedco workers. Later, he inspected the houses damaged by cyclne in Vellapallam village in Thalai Gnayuru town panchayat. He met people in transit camp in government school in Palankallimedu village and listened to their grievance. Subsequently, he visited transit camp at sub-collector office in Nagapattinam and inspected mass kitchen, where food being prepared for more than 10,000 victims. While those in the relief camps are being provided with food, water and milk, those stranded in their villages could not even cook their own food because of shortage of fuel. They pleaded for speedy supply of kerosene, among other essentials. Speaking to reporters, the Governor said, "As far as food is concerned it is being supplied everywhere, rice is available and administration is doing whatever is possible. I appreciate their zeal, dedication and work." On the questions posed to him by the affected people, he said, "they wanted tarpaulins and some money." Purohit said he had told the people to be patient for a few days and that the administration would fulfil their requirements. Among others minister for handlooms and textiles O.S.Manian, additional chief secretary to Governor R. Rajagopal and collector Sureshkumar accompanied him. New Delhi: After dissolving the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Governor Satya Pal Malik addressed the media on Thursday. Governor Satya Pal Malik said, I have been saying it since day one of my appointment as Governor that I'm not in favour of any government formed in the state with underhand defection and horse trading. I would instead want that elections are held and selected government rules the state. Malik said that he has been receiving complaints for the past 15 days of horse-trading and that MLAs were being threatened. He added that Mehbooba Mufti herself complained that her MLAs were being threatened. Read: Why did J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolve House? Here's why. Talking about the fax which wasnt received by the Raj Bhavan in Jammu, J&K Governor clarified that fax was not an issue. He said, Yesterday was Eid. Both of them are devoted Muslim and should know that office are closed that day. Even my cook was on leave, let alone the person who handles fax. Even if I had received the fax, my stand would have been the same. On Wednesday late night, when the fax was unable to reach the Raj Bhavan, Mehbooba Mufti tweeted the letter to Jammu and Kashmir Governor. Governor Malik questioned, Are governments formed through social media? I neither tweet nor see the tweets. I selected yesterday for the decision (dissolution of the assembly) as it was a holy day, it was Eid. Election Commission will decide when polls will be held. Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik late on Wednesday night dissolved the assembly after the PDP staked claim to form the government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress, followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. The dissolution was announced by the Governor in a communique released by the Raj Bhavan. The war of words began with Ram Madhav alleging that Omar Abdullah's National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti's PDP had joined hands on instructions from 'across the border'. (Photo: ANI/ PTI) New Delhi/ Srinagar: Politics in Jammu and Kashmir is taking new turns every minute. Hours after Omar Abdullah dared Ram Madhav to prove his allegations or be man enough to apologise for his comment that there is Pakistani hand in alliance between his party National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti led-PDP, the BJP national secretary took back his words, however, not before taking a further dig at Omar. The war of words began with Ram Madhav alleging that Omar Abdullah's National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had joined hands on instructions from "across the border". Madhav was justifying Governor Satya Pal Malik's decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly after two alliances staked claim to form government in the state. "PDP and NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form government. What they did prompted the governor to look into the whole issue," BJP national secretary Madhav told news agency ANI. Taking back his external pressure comment, Madhav threw a different challenge at Omar Abdullah to contest the next polls together with the PDP. Just landed@Aizawl n saw this. Now tht u deny any external pressure I take back my comment, bt, now tht u proved it ws genuine love btw NC n PDP tht prompted a failed govt formation attempt,u shud fight nxt elections 2gether. Mind u its pol comnt,not personal https://t.co/DsOYiwwXmo Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2018 Omar Abdullah had dared Ram Madhav to prove his allegation, saying agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), National Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau were at his command and CBI too is his parrot. "Your allegations are an insult to thousands of my workers... 3,000 workers have sacrificed for this nations. More of my party workers have sacrificed than your party ever has. Don't lecture us on sacrifice and question what we have done," Omar Abdullah said at a press conference in Srinagar, demanding an apology. "You come along with nothing but baseless allegations and say whatever you like with no evidence of it. If you have guts, prove it," Omar Abdullah added. Also Read: Dare you to prove NC acted at behest of Pak: Omar Abdullah to Ram Madhav Addressing the media after his late night decision of dissolving Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday said claimed "extensive horse-trading" was going on and it would have been impossible for parties with "opposing political ideologies" to form a stable government. The Jammu and Kashmir Governor said that he had acted in the state's interest and according to its constitution. He dismissed allegations that he was acting on the Centre's directions and said had this been the case, their side (BJP, People's Conference) would have been called for government formation. Hyderabad: With only a day left for the withdrawal of nominations, the pacification measures taken by the TRS and the Congress are yielding results as some of the rebel candidates of both parties assured that they would withdraw. Caretaker minister K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday spoke with some rebel leaders at the Telangana Bhavan. He spoke to Kottha Manohar Reddy, who had filed his nomination as a BSP candidate in the Maheswaram Assembly constituency, and assured him that he would be taken back into the party. Later, Manohar Reddy assured to withdraw his nomination. On the Congress side, TPCC chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, AICC secretary Madhu Yashki, former Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy and others convinced party rebels Rohin Reddy from Khairathabad, Adam Umadevi from Secunderabad to withdraw their nominations. With the assurance of AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu TD rebel candidate Praveen from Amberpet has announced that he will withdraw his nomination. Jaipal Reddy too held discussions with former MLA Bhikshapathi Yadav, a rebel candidate from Serilimgampally, and managed to pacify him. Vijayawada: Its not just deficiency of micronutrients in soil that is affecting human health. Excessive use of pesticides for quick and better yields is leading to serious health ailments if used on produce such as the famed Guntur Red Chilli. Next time you want to add the famed chilli powder from Guntur to your favourite dish, think twice. Chances are that the powder, famous across the country, may be laced with harmful pesticides. Due to the presence of this pesticide residue, Guntur chillies are not accepted by European countries and America. Export of these chillies is mainly to Asian countries. Tests conducted two years ago by the Pesticide Residue Research and Analytical Lab attached to the Kerala Agriculture University at Vellayani, on 51 chilli powder samples, showed that 21 samples originating in Guntur contained harmful pesticide residues. Pesticides such as Bifenthrin, Ethion, Bifenthrin, Chlorpyriphos, Cypermethrin and Malathion were found in quantities of 0.07 to 3.54 parts per million in the 21 samples of chilli powder. Experts warn that consuming such pesticide-laden chilli powder is not good for health. "Pesticides are commonly used by chilli growing farmers in Guntur. While other agri products are washed before they are used, dry chillies and powder from them can't be washed and that means the pesticide residues in the powder remain intact. This will have an adverse impact on health even if consumed in small quantities," noted agriculture scientist and founder of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu, told Deccan Chronicle. He said that chilli farmers in Guntur use pesticides indiscriminately to eliminate the sucker pest that manifests due to the excessive use of fertilisers. "While for any other agriculture variety crop around three to four bags of fertilisers are used, Guntur chilli growing farmers use at least 30 bags for a better yield. More fertiliser use leads to the prevalence of sucker pest and to eliminate it, pesticides in huge quantities are used," Dr Ramanjaneyulu said, explaining the chicken and egg nature of pesticide use. He added that farmers need to be educated about organic chilli farming which will also boost exports. European countries have strict rules on the amount of pesticide residue allowed in food products and thus consignments are often rejected by those countries, he said. Former president of the Guntur Chilli Traders Association, K Sambi Reddy agrees that the overuse of pesticides has harmed chilli exports. "It's true that due to the presence of pesticide residues we are unable to export to European countries and the US. The Agriculture department should take the initiative to discourage use of pesticides so that exports can get a boost. Plans to make chilli growing farmers adopt the organic way of farming have remained only on paper," he said. 'Every system and machine is capable to be used and misused. Doubts will be everywhere,' the bench said, while dismissing the PIL. (Photo: File | PTI) New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL seeking use of ballot papers instead of EVMs during upcoming assembly and Lok Sabha polls. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi did not agree with the contention of NGO 'Nyay Bhoomi' that electronic voting machines are capable of being misused and they should not be used in the polls to ensure free and fair elections. "Every system and machine is capable to be used and misused. Doubts will be everywhere," the bench said, while dismissing the PIL. Hotelbeds, the worlds leading bedbank, has announced the launch of a global corporate volunteering programme. The initiative, which forms part of Hotelbeds corporate sustainability plan, encourages the companys global workforce to actively participate in volunteering opportunities throughout the globe, making meaningful contributions to the communities where Hotelbeds employees work and live. Around 50 NGOs from around the globe are able to benefit from the Hotelbeds corporate volunteering programme, with the NGOs covering the following areas: the environment, health, people at risk of social exclusion, poverty and childhood. The programme was recently launched at the company's headquarters in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where more than 1,650 employees will be able to collaborate with around 20 local NGOs such as the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC), the Spanish Red Cross, the Balearic Association of people with physical disabilities (ASPROM), Mallorca against hunger (Mallorca Sense Fam), among others. The volunteering programme has also been implemented in the Hotelbeds offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Cancun, Dubai, London, Orlando, Shanghai, Singapore and Tel Aviv, reaching a total of 3,000 of the 5,000 employees of the company worldwide. Many international NGOs such as Give Kids the World or United Against Poverty in Orlando; Waterways Watch Society in Singapore; The Thai Red Cross or the Lumphini Park in Bangkok, and Food for Life in Tel Aviv, among many others, will be able to benefit from the contributions of employees. Teresa Laso, corporate sustainability lead at Hotelbeds, commented: As a leading company in the B2B tourism sector, and with more than 5,000 employees around the globe, we are increasingly aware of our impact on the communities in which we are present and, therefore, we have a great responsibility to be an example of change and to share these values with our employees. With these kinds of initiatives, we intend to improve the local communities in which our employees are present. We listened to employees in order to offer different proposals close to their hearts and within our corporate sustainability strategy. - TradeArabia News Service Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who has often hit out at the media for "misinterpreting" his comments, said he would 'limit the media to what I speak from the stage.' (Photo: File) Bengaluru: Days after accusing the media of misconstruing his remark against a woman farmer, an upset Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday said he would not address the press hereafter "for any reason." The chief minister, who has often hit out at the media for "misinterpreting" his comments, said he would "limit the media to what I speak from the stage." Kumaraswamy said he would remain the CM until he enjoyed the "confidence" of the Congress MLAs and till the time God has written it in his fate. "From here on I will limit the media to what I speak from the stage. I have decided. I will not address the press for any reason. If you want, write or else leave it," he said. Addressing an event in Bengaluru, he alleged that his words were often interpreted differently, "so these days I don't understand what to speak. I may in the future have to speak, based on the suggestions made by a committee that will be formed about what chief minister has to speak. I'm in such a situation," Kumaraswamy said. "An advisory committee should be formed consisting of media friends. It will be good. On the suggestion they give I will speak. I'm ready for that. With great pain I'm saying all this," he said. Since coming to power, Kumaraswamy has repeatedly blamed the media for "misinterpreting" his statements and "misleading" the people. Recently, during the sugarcane farmer's protest too, he had accused the media of instigating protesters and blamed the scribes for wrongly interpreting his statement against a woman farmer. Kumaraswamy had earlier courted controversy following his government's decision to impose certain restrictions on the entry of visitors, including the media, to the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state legislature and secretariat here. He had cited police inputs regarding security as also increase in the number of people visiting it everyday besides complaints about inconvenience caused to ministers and officials to carry out their work as reasons for the move then. Hitting back at state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa, who had Wednesday said his party would fight till the Kumaraswamy-led administration is brought down and people get justice, the chief minister said he was ready to face the saffron party leader during the winter session of the assembly at Belagavi commencing from December 10. He said, "I will not run away. I and my government have that strength and moral right." Asserting that he was honestly working for the people of the state and would not run away from the responsibility fearing criticism, Kumaraswamy said he would stand strong and was ready for anything. "I will stand strong, I may have 38 MLAs. Because 80 MLAs under the leadership of Parameshwara (Deputy Chief Minister) have supported me, Governor has called me (to form the government) and manage the affairs of the state," he said. "Until I'm there without any compromise, I will work honestly....let the 6.5 crore people of the state decide in the future," he added. Noting that power was not permanent for anybody, Kumarswamy said, 22 people "have come and gone as Chief Minister." He said, "Parameshwara and MLA friends from his party (Congress) have given support and cooperation, until I enjoy their confidence I will be (in the post). I will work from this position until the time god has written it in my fate." Ichoda: Adivasis boycotted caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Raos meetings held at Ichoda and Khanapur on Thursday, obeying the instructions issued by community leaders and village elders a few days ago. This is the first time that Adivasis have boycotted Mr Raos meetings openly. Generally, political leaders use Adivasis Gussadis to invite the top leaders to the meeting, but this time Gussadis wearing hats made of peacock feathers were not seen in the meeting at Ichoda. Not more than 200 Adivasis were seen at the meeting in Ichoda and the same was the case with the meeting in Khanapur. However, some TRS leaders attended both the meetings. Congress leader and ticket aspirant Kotnak Ramesh and his sister who defeated MLA Marsakola Saraswati joined the TRS in the presence of Mr Rao at the Khanapur meeting. An Adivasi student who is studying in Ichoda attended the Mr Raos meeting and pleaded with this correspondent not to take his photographs since his community would kill him if his photograph appeared in a newspaper. He said he had come to the meeting to see Mr Rao as he had never seen him, but his community from his native Sirikonda mandal had boycotted the meeting. Hyderabad: The Congress has adopted a strategy of not attacking the MIM directly but is attempting to tarnish its credentials by questioning its decision to support the TRS. The Congress fears that if it attacks the MIM directly, it would lose the support of a section of Muslims. This forced a change in the party strategy. In meetings outside Hyderabad, Congress leaders have been saying that supporting the TRS is like supporting the BJP indirectly. On the other hand, MIM has had to defend the TRS because it is supporting the ruling party. The MIM this time has not fielded its candidates outside Hyderabad in a bid to support the TRS. As a part of the Congress plan, TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy asked, Asaduddin Owaisi should reveal what he got by selling out to KCR. Replying to the question, Mr Owaisi tweeted, Education for 50,000 Muslim girls and boys in residential schools. 800 minority students, who have received overseas scholarships. No communal riots in Telangana. Peace, safety and security for the weak. Your presumption that you can buy us with money is an insult to every Hyderabadi. In election meetings, Mr Owaisi has appreciated the work of the TRS government, while criticising the Congress and the BJP. CM H.D. Kumaraswamy presents a cheque to a beneficiary during the inauguration of Badavara Bandu scheme at Yashavanthapura APMC Yard in Bengaluru on Thursday. Dy CM Dr G. Parameshwar, Minister Bandeppa Kashempur, Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjuna were also present Image: DC Bengaluru: The coalition governments ambitious programme Badavara Bandhu (caretaker of the poor) was rolled out by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy here on Thursday. After launching the programme at a function held near APMC Yard Yashwanthpur, Mr Kumaraswamy handed over seed money to a few street vendors. To prevent the street vendors and push-cart sellers from being exploited by private money lenders, the government had announced the scheme in the budget. Under the scheme, Rs 10,000 will given to flower and fruit vendors and other micro businessmen to run or expand their business activities. They will be provided three months time to repay. Once the loan is repaid, the beneficiary is eligible for a fresh loan. There are over 4.5 lakh street vendors in the state and over 80,000 operate within BBMP limits. Now, we have decided to help 5,000 such traders in Bengaluru and around 3,000 in other city corporation limits and in district head quarters. Over 1,000 street vendors will get the loan amount between `2,000 and `10,000. If the beneficiary repays it within stipulated time, they are eligible for fresh loans, Mr Kumaraswamy said. He, however, cautioned that any business activity which pollutes the city would not be supported under this scheme. A nodal bank would be announced to operate in every city and district headquarters and a committee led by DCC bank president would decide locating the mobile banking units. Deputy Chief Minister Dr G. Parameshwar and city Mayor Gangambika Mallikarjuna were also present on the occasion. The SHRCs are important independent bodies overseeing human rights violations in a country where human rights are routinely violated in one way or another. Hyderabad: For over two years now the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), an autonomous body, doesnt have a permanent judge. This slows down the complaint redressal process and causes loss of confidence in the commission. The SHRCs are important independent bodies overseeing human rights violations in a country where human rights are routinely violated in one way or another. Every day, around 30 to 40 petitions come to the commission. Reportedly, there is no chance of appointing a judge-chairman till the formation of the new government. Activists say it is the negligence of the government and a measure of how little it cares that such an important body has no head. There are two petitions pending in the courts, one in the Supreme Court and the other in the Hyderabad High Court, requesting the court to look into the matter. Mr R. Karunakar, High Court advocate and former president of All India Human Rights Protection, a non-partisan, non profit, said, "SHRC has become a body without a head. Common people who filed petitions are roaming around the SHRC relentlessly but in vain." Most cases in recent times were heard by a temporary judge, whose tenure ended on October 31. According to the tenth schedule of the bifurcation act, the SHRC should have been divided into AP and TS branches but four years after the state was bifurcated this is still pending. The chairman of SHRC is to be appointed by a committee which includes the Chief Minister, home minister, Speaker, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council. Mr Nisar Ahmad Kakru was the last SHRC chairman and completed his term in 2016 and since then the SHRC has had no permanent chairman-cum-judge. Mr Subramanyam, secretary, non-judicial, has been looking into the petitions and giving his judgements. High Court advocate R. Karunakar said the Karamchedu-Neerukonda massacres of 1985 and 1987, and similar incidents, led to the formation of the SHRC as it was feared that people were likely to approach the praja courts being run by Maoists in villages to get justice. But the situation is such that the SHRC, which has to protect the rights of common people, has become a place where rights are denied," Mr Karunakar said. New Delhi: In a major breakthrough, both India and Pakistan will create a corridor in their respective territories for Indian pilgrims from Dera Baba Nanak (in Gurdaspur district of Indias Punjab) to the famous Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara (close to the international border in Pakistans Punjab), where the founder of Sikhism and the first guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak, had spent the last years of his life in the first half of the 16th Century. The move holds special significance for Indian Sikh pilgrims as the corridor will enable easy and smooth travel to Kartarpur Sahib for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak that will take place in November next year. Both countries also seemed eager to take credit for the corridor in their respective territories. New Delhi said the Indian government has already decided to build the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the international border with all modern amenities on our side, while Pakistan said it had already conveyed its decision to India that it would set up a corridor on the Pakistani side, adding that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan would perform the ground-breaking ceremony for the corridor and facilities for Kartarpur on November 28 this year. Meanwhile, Punjab government sources said that President Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to lay foundation stone of the corridor at Dera Baba Nanak on November 26. While Islamabad tried to claim credit, saying New Delhi had endorsed Pakistans proposition, New Delhi had set the record straight a few months ago, noting that it was Pakistan which had stonewalled Indias suggestion in this regard on two previous occasions in 1999 and 2004-05. New Delhi on Thursday said it had urged the Pakistan to build a corridor across the border in Pakistani Punjab to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India to Kartarpur Sahib (Gurdwara) throughout the year. Pakistan, meanwhile, hailed Thursdays developments as a victory of the peace lobby in both countries, adding it hopes such steps encourage the voice of reason and tranquility on both sides of the border. According to media reports over the past few months, Pakistan had been considering giving Indian Sikh pilgrims visa-free access to Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara through the creation of a corridor, provided they return the same day. But it is yet to be seen whether Islamabad will eventually allow visa-free access or insist on visas. On Thursday, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi tweeted: Pakistan has already conveyed to India its decision to open Kartarpura Corridor for Baba Guru Nanaks 550th birth anniversary. PM Imran Khan will do break ground at Kartarpura facilities on 28th November. We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion. Hyderabad: Caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao who began his election campaign in earnest three days ago, appeared to be in a jovial mood in the Praja Ashirwada Sabha in Nirmal on Thursday. In his address, Mr Rao ridiculed the ignorance of most political leaders about the Imam-e-Zamin (guarantor for return), the red cloth that he ties on his right arm. He spoke about its prominence and narrated the story behind it. Imam-e-Zamin is wrapped on the right hand by Muslims while undertaking any journey and also during religious functions and marriages. He said, One of the holy Imams was as on his journey in a jungle and came across a hunter who was about to kill a deer. The deer was trying to get away and when she saw the Imam she said something to him. The Imam asked the hunter to free the deer so that she could go and feed her little baby deer who was very hungry. The Imam told the hunter that once the deer had fed her babies she would come back. Though the hunter was reluctant he allowed it to because the Imam had told him to, but he did not think the deer would come back. The Chief Minister said the Imam wrapped a cloth on the leg of the deer and allowed her to feed the babies. He waited with the hunter until the deer returned with her young ones. The hunter was amazed on witnessing this miraculous event and set the deer free as a mark of respect for the Imam, Mr Rao said. Hyderabad: Former Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy said he would not be in the race for the Chief Ministers post if the Congress won the elections, citing his age. Age is the factor, we cannot hurry up things like earlier, Mr Jaipal Reddy, 76, said. He was speaking to mediapersons after sucessfully persuading Mr M. Venu Goud, a disappointed Congress aspirant who had filed his nomination papers from Rajendranagar, to withdraw from the contest. The former Union minister said, The Congress will announce the Chief Minister candidate after the election results are out. Whoever may be the Chief Minister, seniors like us will extend our full support. On other issues, Mr Jaipal Reddy said, Im the one who fought for introducing the Telangana Bill in Parliament. Earlier, speaking at a Meet the Media programme, Mr Jaipal Reddy slammed the TRS government saying that caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has looted the state through commissions. He said, The estimates were increased for the Kaleshwaram project by redesigning it and money was looted by collecting commissions. No promise made by the TRS was fulfilled after it came to power. Mr Jaipal Reddy said the Mahakutami would win at least 75 seats. Nizamabad: Caretaker Chief Minister and TRS founder president K.Chandrasekhar Rao has warned that electricity supply will be adversely affected if the Congress comes to power. Telangana is the only state in the country supplying uninterrupted power, he said. We have been supplying 24x7 power with hourly monitoring and great commitment he said. Speaking at the meeting, Chandrasekhar Rao said that people, employees and intellectuals should not confuse over the vicious campaign by Kutami leaders. He said that struggle for Telanganas self respect is a continuous one and the bright future for the new state is assured if support continues for TRS. The TRS supremo assured that they will take decision on changing retirement age from 58 to 60 or 61 years. Better fitment will be given to the employees, he said. 2BHK housing scheme will be extended to the land owners, he said. `2,016 hike in pensions and unemployment allowance for youths will be provided. KCR said bidi pensions will be extended to those who enrol in Provident Fund till 2018. Hyderabad: Mahakutami leaders used caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Raos comment, If defeated, I will happily take rest to criticise him on Wednesday. TPCC working president A. Revanth Reddy said, KCR and KTR are afraid of Sonia Gandhis tour. Their disappointment can be seen on their faces. Referring to Mr Rao saying he would take rest if defeated, Mr Revanth Reddy said, He will not serve the people without power. If he is defeated he will be in his farmhouse and his son will return to America. They will not fight for the people. We will not allow them to run away after they are defeated in the elections. The Mahakutami government will take out all the money they have earned through commissions. KTR is an economic offender and a red alert should be issued against him, he said. He accused Mr Chandrasekhar Rao and Mr Rama Rao of rousing sentiments by criticising Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. KCR and KTR should concentrate on their MPs and MLCs, who are ready to join the Congress. I am challenging KTR to contest against me in the general elections from Mahbubnagar where his father was an MP earlier, he added. Telangana Jana Samithi president M. Kodandaram said, KCR has come up with the idea saying that he will take rest, if defeated in the elections. KCR has worked for these four years, but only to increase his assets. He said he was invited for the public meeting of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at Medchal on Friday. He said he would be working on the common minimum programme and would be campaigning across the state. Dubai-based airline Emirates was named Best Airline in the World and Best Airline in the Middle East at the prestigious 2018 ULTRAs. In a vote taken by over 500,000 readers of The Telegraphs luxury travel magazines Ultratravel UK and Ultratravel Middle East, the awards recognise the worlds best providers of luxury travel experiences. Sir Tim Clark, president Emirates Airline, received the awards at a ceremony in Dubai at the iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel. In Russia, Emirates was recognised for its operational excellence and outstanding customer service last night, when it scooped two prestigious awards as Best International Airline at the eighth National Geographic Traveller Awards 2018, and Best Middle Eastern Airline at the Business Traveller Russia and CIS Awards 2018. The National Geographic Traveller Awards ceremony was attended by industry leading figures as well as media representatives from across Europe. Earlier this week in Belgium, Emirates was named the Best Long Haul Airline 2018 at the Travel Magazine Awards 2018. The ceremony was attended by 700 industry leading figures, travel professionals and media representatives. This is the 21st Travel Magazine travel Awards where global brands are recognised as best hospitality providers in Belgium. - TradeArabia News Service Hydrogen balloons carried by the TRS workers explode minutes before caretaker minister K.T. Rama Raos road show was scheduled to start near Uppal metro station where hundreds of TRS party supporters have gathered. Hyderabad: Minutes before minister K.T. Rama Raos roadshow at Uppal, hydrogen balloons carried by TRS workers exploded in the crowd, leaving six persons with burns. They were rushed to a nearby private hospital for treatment, Rachakonda police official said. The use of hydrogen, which is inflammable, in such balloons, is dangerous. The gas to be used is helium, which is stable and non-combustible. The incident took place near the Uppal Metro Rail station when hundreds of TRS supporters gathered to attend Mr Rama Raos roadshow. They were carrying hundreds of pink helium-filled balloons and party flags waiting for the ministers arrival. At 3.58 pm, a party worker identified as Raghupathi Reddy released some balloons into the air. These exploded in a ball of flame that lasted less than a second. Police personnel immediately shifted the injured persons to Siva Sai Hospital for treatment. All the injured were residents of Uppal, Ramanthapur and Medipally. Four of them were identified as Reguri Vinay, K. Badrinath, Nikhil, Sandeep, a minor boy and an old man were also injured. Mr Vinay, 19, who works at Kamineni Hospital canteen, lodged a complaint with the Uppal police station who registered a case against Mr Raghupathi Reddy, the party worker who released the balloon. Mr Shekhar, who witnessed the explosion, said It lasted for just for a second. There was fire with a sound. An Uppal police officer said that based on Mr Vinays complaint, a case was registered against Raghupathi Reddy under IPC Sections 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by a public servant) and 337 (causing hurt). A similar explosion had taken place during Congress president Rahul Gandhis rally at Jabalpur on October 8. In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, tipplers are easy to lure, if there is an attractive price drop in the products of other brands whereas in Telangana, tipplers can be called hard core brand loyalists due to their nature of sticking to one brand. Hyderabad: In Telangana, tipplers are known for their label loyalty where they prefer only one particular brand and do not change their preference of brand frequently. Rival companies, however, try very hard to attract customers to choose their brand, but they hardly ever succeed, according to liquor associations. In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, tipplers are easy to lure, if there is an attractive price drop in the products of other brands whereas in Telangana, tipplers can be called hard core brand loyalists due to their nature of sticking to one brand. M. Kameshwar Rao, General Secretary of Association of Liquor and Beer Supplies said, Particularly in Telangana region to change the customer preference from one brand to another is extremely difficult. The loyalty for a particular brand is very strong. In a price sensitive market like Andhra Pradesh, if the customer gets the alcohol of a particular brand for Rs 10 less than the brand which he was consuming he will try it. If a brand gets acceptance by the customers in Telangana region it will run successfully for many years irrespective of new brands coming into the market. Cigars are no different, in gaining brand loyalty from the smokers and some of the experts mention that this has been a growing phenomenon across all kinds of objects, be it clothes, gadgets and other electric appliances these days. Vikram Mansingh, who is the owner of a liquor outlet in Mehdipatnam said, In Hyderabad, generally brand loyalty is common for every article. The brand loyalty especially for cigarettes and liquor is very high. The scenario of a Hyderabad customer is changing in recent times, especially in the high price range. The reasons for a shift in the customer preference are due to his attitude for trying something new. Secondly, it is due to the increase in spending power where a customer can afford more. However, here people are flexible. Telangana will go to polls for 119 Assembly constituencies on December 7. The counting of votes will take place on December 11. (Photo: ANI) Hyderabad: Ahead of the rallies of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Telangana, a group of senior party leaders met rebels here to convince them to withdraw their nominations and continue working for the party. Sonia will address a poll rally on November 23. The senior party leaders including Jairam Ramesh, Ahmed Patel, D K Shivakumar, and others met the rebels on Wednesday. After the meeting, they said that all the rebels would withdraw their nominations soon. They assured them of justice in the party and also promised them suitable responsibilities if the Congress is voted to power in the state. Jairam Ramesh met rebel T Jangaiah Yadav, who has filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Medchal assembly constituency after the Congress party did not give him the ticket. In the meeting, which was held on Wednesday night, Ramesh assured Yadav of support and respect from the party. Talking to media persons, Ramesh said, "Janagaiah Yadav is a very important backward class leader of our party. The Congress party believes in social justice, and there is a lot of deliberation before giving the tickets. The party wants him to take back his nomination. I want to assure him that the party will take care of him and will give full respect to him. He is a very strong young leader of our party, and has a very long way to go." The Congress seniors also met Bikshapathi Yadav. Ahmed Patel said that Yadav is an integral and very important part of the party. The other rebel leaders whom Congress seniors met included Marri Sasidhar Reddy, Ramesh Reddy, and Suresh Yadav. Telangana will go to polls for 119 Assembly constituencies on December 7. The counting of votes will take place on December 11. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj is something of an exception in this government. She has steered clear of either rabble-rousing on polarising agendas or following the rabble brigades on the social media. She is the only member of the Narendra Modi Cabinet to have served in the first 13-day Cabinet of the late Atal Behari Vajpayee, whose national concerns and sensibilities she had shared, unlike the BJPs top guns today. In those days, the BJP was not on a temple-building trip. It was also not sworn to the idea of smashing opponents. On the whole, Ms Swaraj has been constructive and moderate, and anything but vicious in her politics, unlike the shining stars of the government and the BJP today. Small wonder she became a fading star in the government and the BJP, long before her kidney transplant in 2016, which appeared to visibly slow her down. From the start of the Modi Sarkar in the summer of 2014 it was sad to see her thoroughly sidelined, and probably it is just as well that she has decided to call it a day in electoral politics. Prior to that, she had been Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and was a debater and speaker of the highest grade. But her capabilities were not utilised by the government and her party even before her surgery. In Indore on Tuesday, Ms Swaraj made it plain she did not desire to fight the next Lok Sabha election. She cited health reasons. Those will be valid grounds indeed. But since she has been a respected political figure of the first rank, it is difficult to avoid political readings altogether. The first question that comes to mind is whether she feared that she might be overlooked in securing a party nomination for 2019. Even if that is not the case, there may be concerns that in the event of the BJP winning again she might be sidelined altogether. The next question is whether any others would follow Ms Swarajs example. A few months ago, the minister came under attack by the RSS-BJPs vicious social media troll army for helping out a Muslim couple from UP in getting passports. No one in the ruling party or the government rose to her defence. Not long after, the Prime Minister went on to praise social media activists for expressing themselves freely, though this wasnt in the context of the minister being trolled. But the two events were proximate and many drew political inferences. Ms Swaraj rose to the top through her abilities, and not by trying to pander to communal agendas. That underlines her uniqueness in todays BJP, not just among its women leaders. If the moment is right, fortunes could turn again, of course. Burdened with nearly Rs 1 lakh crores in bad debts, the public sector banks breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday as the Reserve Bank agreed to extend the stiff capital conservation buffer completion by a year. The CCB is an additional hedge against risks. This was an exigent need and is estimated to reduce the burden of stressed banks by around Rs 35,000 crores this fiscal. Flush with this liquidity, banks will hopefully tilt in favour of the medium, small and micro sectors while keeping due diligence. That this was done only after an unseemly public row shows the lack of statesmanship and signs of immaturity on the part of both the government and the central bank. The government, already strapped for funds, will now benefit as its contribution towards bridging the capital shortage in stressed PSUs will be reduced. Hopefully, the government will not squander this on non-productive schemes like statues. The equally pressing problems of dealing with fraudsters is yet to be tackled. The governments own data shows that there were over 8,670 fraud cases totalling Rs 6,12,600 crores over the past five years, upto March 31, 2017. Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan had given the government a list of high-profile fraud cases after he had set up a fraud monitoring cell. It is disconcerting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had said he would not be corrupt, nor allow others to be corrupt, is shielding these fraudsters by not revealing their names. The efforts of the government and the RBI to save the PSUs would become irrelevant if these fraudsters are allowed to bleed the system. While industry has a significant role in checking air pollution, civil societys role is crucial in monitoring implementation and creating mass awareness for the prevention of air pollution and related health impacts. It is that time of the year when air pollution in Delhi is a central preoccupation for all. An unprecedented health hazard is looming upon us, particularly impacting the health of our children and elderly ones. A World Bank report highlights that environmental damage due to air pollution not only causes health hazards, but also costs three per cent of Indias GDP, with outdoor air pollution accounting for 1.7 per cent and indoor air pollution adding up to 1.3 per cent. It is important for all stakeholders to come together to find solutions to the major sources of air pollution in the national capital region. These sources may be primarily classified under transportation, industries, fuel, crop residue burning and domestic sources. There is much that we can learn from Beijing, the Chinese capital, which took drastic measures to improve its air quality index. China rapidly scaled back the capacity for coal-fired power and steel, whose production threatened respiratory health. With stringent implementation of policies such as a nationwide air quality monitoring system, limiting the number of cars, enabling well-integrated public transport, and dramatically reducing the consumption of coal, China has been able to cut down on pollution levels radically. The country is also soliciting foreign investment in green energy technologies and has intensified inspections of major polluters around Beijing. In India, Delhi and other cities are slowly but steadily moving towards tackling the air quality index. For the second year in a row, the Graded Response Action Plan is being implemented in Delhi to battle the increasingly thickening envelope of polluted air during the winter season. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee has already ordered industries in the city to switch to cleaner fuels, which include BS-VI diesel and petrol, natural gas, LPG and biogas. Several other measures like banning import of polluting fuels such as pet coke, imposing restrictions on the use and sale of crackers, and short-term bans on construction and excavation work have also been instituted. But the journey of cleaning air requires more stringent steps, while engaging a wide range of stakeholders in the process. Indian industry, over the years, has adopted various measures to control emissions caused by industry pollutants. Much more needs to be done to shift to cleaner fuels such as natural gas. In particular, there is a need to ensure ready supply of LPG and piped natural gas to industrial clusters in Delhi-NCR, introduce better taxation strategy for cleaner fuels and implement better distribution mechanisms for clean fuel in all towns/areas falling under NCR. The use of clean fuel in power and transportation must be promoted as well. For curbing pollution due to construction activities, some construction companies are using water sprinklers, curtains, barriers and dust suppression units. This needs to become a universal construction practice. To combat the air pollution caused due to transportation, allowing retailing of bio-fuels, promoting electric mobility, decongesting traffic hotspots and retrofitting solutions are necessary action points. One of the contributors of air pollution in Delhi-NCR, especially at this time of the year, is stubble burning in the adjoining states. The government announced a Rs 1,151-crore scheme over two years for subsidising farm tools that improve in situ straw management. The impact of this subsidy is visible from recent Nasa reports, which suggest that there is a decrease in the frequency of crop residue burning compared to last year. Still there are numerous red outlines in the paddy cultivating states showing active burning, adding to the problem of air pollution. Industry can assist in this effort. In CII, we are working on a pilot field intervention in Punjab with farmers in partnership with the government to enable solutions to the problem of farm stubble burning. We are enhancing farmers knowledge and capacity on sustainable cropping systems, financially supporting them to procure and adopt new tools and technologies, and ensuring regular monitoring. The project has adopted 19 villages in Ludhiana and Patiala districts of Punjab, covering over 16,000 acres of farmland, and it is being noticed that most of the 3,000 farmers are now using alternative methods of managing straw over burning. Companies can support farmers in the affected states, particularly Punjab and Haryana, through a two-pronged approach. First, companies can contribute through their CSR funds to support on-ground interventions in procuring the farm machinery for in situ management of straw, supporting the operational cost and sensitising farmers. Second, going beyond financial support, corporates can create innovative business models to promote a sustainable value chain of straw. Value addition to straw can be an avenue of income for farmers. Companies can support farmer producer groups and village-level entrepreneurs to pilot small-scale ventures at the village level. This will help entrepreneurs to establish a marketing system and enable selling of these products at best prices. While industry has a significant role in checking air pollution, civil societys role is crucial in monitoring implementation and creating mass awareness for the prevention of air pollution and related health impacts. Lower use of firecrackers during Diwali indicates the potential of such civil society action. The serious problem of air pollution cannot be addressed by any one group in isolation. The best solutions and inspiring acts can be implemented when all stakeholders join hands towards a common vision of change. We can unmask our cities only when the corporates, governments and farmers work together and act now. Rating: Xiaomi has been pulling off price-to-performance value smartphones for quite some time now. The Chinese company still possesses the supremacy badge in the budget segment by following the same formula of offering more for a lot less. Xiaomi displayed the Redmi Note 5 Pro earlier this year, which is still one of the top valued smartphones in the budget menu. The device is an all-rounder smartphone that offers an overall good performance with a wallet-friendly price ratio. ASUS took a shot at it with its ZenFone Max Pro M1, which overtook the Redmi Note 5 Pro with its sheer performance and a longer running 5000mAh battery by a small margin. However, the Note 5 Pro still outshined the ASUS counterpart in terms of sheer camera performance. Other rival brands that tried to replicate the recipe also managed to deliver a good smartphone (such as the Realme 2 Pro, Honor 8X, Nokia 6.1 Plus and Motorola One Power) with now fashionable features. Now, to tackle the aggressive competition and to cement its budget crown, Xiaomi has shown off the successor to the Note 5 the Redmi Note 6 Pro. The smartphone isn't actually a massive upgrade over its predecessor, but offers a larger display and four cameras, coupled with the same beefy battery and Snapdragon chipset. So, does the Xiaomi's latest device have what it takes to be on top of the budget smartphone menu? Read on to find out. Design, Build Xiaomi seems to be keen on adhering to its signature design. While looking at the smartphone, it reminded us of the Redmi 6 Pro (to be specific), and it is a replica of all the other Redmi devices. The Chinese company should seriously now consider changing its smartphones design as we have seen the same type of design throughout the year on its different smartphones. When compared to the Redmi Note 5 Pro, the difference here is the slightly larger display and the inclusion of the huge notch along with a second camera unit on the front. There is also a tiny notification LED, which is white-only though. Xiaomi has also shaved the bezels and the chin by a small margin. Its exterior is identical with a dual camera setup in the fashionable vertical arrangement. The ergonomics are spot on in typical Xiaomi style. The handset is built really well and offers a metal-plastic sandwich design. The new handset also gets the same arc design that Xiaomi states worked well with the Redmi Y2. It calls for a better grip. The Redmi Note 6 Pro is equipped with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack as well as the IR blaster. However, the device still offers a hybrid dual-SIM tray and you still have to choose between one nano-SIM/microSD card option. Display The Note 6 Pro features a larger 6.26-inch 19:9 notched display with bigger pixel count and the screen-to-body ratio. It has a 1080x2280 resolution for a pixel density of 403ppi. The panel pumps out a maximum 500nits of brightness, which is impressive. The display is protected by a Gorilla Glass. It renders good contrast levels with vivid colours. The viewing angles are also great and the sunlight legibility is above average. The panel is by default set to the Automatic contrast mode, and one can switch to Increased Contrast or to Standard mode, in case you didn't like the Auto mode. Performance The Redmi Note 6 Pro is built around the same 14nm Snapdragon 636 octa-core chipset that we have witnessed on the Note 5 Pro, which is probably disappointing. Xiaomi could have employed the Snapdragon 660 or the MediaTek P60 Helio as an upgrade, considering that the competition is already a step ahead by offering better chipsets at an almost similar price. The Realme 2 Pro already offers the SD660 SoC and the Honor 8X runs on Huawei's in-house midrange Kirin 710 chipset, which has already knocked out the SD660. However, the company is confident about the 636s power-performance ratio and is banking on customer satisfaction here. The reasonably powerful Snapdragon 636SoC packs in enough punch and delivers pretty smooth overall performance. The chipset is aided by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The smartphone performs its day-to-day chores smoothly, and 4GB RAM should be sufficient for multitasking. While switching between the apps, we didn't notice any lag. The phone can launch the apps quickly enough. However, if one wants to play any heavy titles, they may not be as delighted, but will get a playable experience nevertheless. Users can play casual games with ease without any interruption. Additionally, the handset doesn't come with any IP-rating; however, it offers P2i-certified hydrophobic nano-coating, which is claimed to provide a high level of water protection. This P2i coating is layered on almost the entire phone. Right from the main PCB to the touchscreen, the coating provides a hydrophobic layer that prevents water from touching the sensitive circuitry, preventing it from water damage. Xiaomi claims that this additional treatment to the smartphone will help customers have a longer lasting smartphone and will also help lower the after-sales issues, with respect to moisture and water damage. Good move Xiaomi! Moving on, there is a rear fingerprint sensor as usual, which is quick enough as before. You also have the face recognition feature, which works moderately well. The smartphone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box and not on the latest Android 9.0 Pie. Xiaomi is yet to reveal the official timeline of the MIUI update. The Note 6 Pro gets MIUI 10, which is mainly focused on gestures, camera enhancements and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The UI feels pretty fluid and offers a host of customisation options and features, similar to other heavily modified MIUI skin. Though the device comes pre-loaded with a set of bloatware, including Facebook, Opera News, Opera Mini, Daily hunt, ShareChat, PhonePe, Netflix and much more, Xiaomi reasons out as being a business model requirement. Camera The beauty of the budget smartphone is its AI-powered quad cameras with a few cosmetic improvements. While the smartphone still features the 12MP+5MP rear camera setup, it now offers a larger pixel size and a wider f/1.9 aperture, which theoretically captures more light and helps produce better shots. In short, the sensor size has marginally increased to accommodate a larger pixel requirement in order to capture better night shots. Xiaomi claims that they are highly focused with what the consumers need and stated that Indians are more inclined towards night photography, and hence the move. The camera setup is accompanied by a dual-tone LED flash, and uses Dual Pixel PDAF technology. The camera app also offers a separate AI mode, similar to that on the Honor 8X, for enhanced results. Sadly, unlike the Honor 8X, the AI cannot be applied or removed post the shot. The AI applied here is live and the user can take a call on the imaging only when clicking, and not after. There is also Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS) here, which will help deal with video shootings in a better way. As for selfies, there is a dual front shooter, including a 20MP f/2.0 camera sensor and a 2MP camera for depth sensing. The front setup is also supported by AI Portrait and AI Scene Detection. In daylight, the images turn out to be really good, considering the price point. The device manages to capture more than sufficient levels of details and sharpness with natural colours. One can use HDR mode for much better results, further improving the overall dynamic range, details and sharpness. The AI mode does recognise the scenes as accurately; however, doesn't help deliver much to get better shots one can clearly notice that the AI shots and the regular photos are almost identical, except in a few occasions. However, one can only tell the difference after a few too many shots under various lighting conditions. When it comes to low-light photography, the handset delivers decent quality photos and above average night shots. There is adequate amount of details present, but not without visual some noise. While clicking Portrait shots, we did notice that the camera struggles at times to appropriately define edges, but most of the times it worked pretty well. The portrait camera now gets a better update too you can choose the amount of blur in the background and also have blur effects, in motion, to your static image. Great for showing off your artistic portraits to your friends on social media by converting them to Gif or video. As for selfies, the 20MP front shooter manages to take some good shots and renders nice colours; however, the Beauty mode makes it too artificial and unnatural. One can turn off the Beauty and Advanced mode to get natural shots. The second 2MP depth sensor also helps capture slightly better portrait images. Overall, the Redmi Note 6 Pro offers a better camera experience than its predecessor and definitely good in this segment. Battery The Redmi Note 6 Pro offers the same 4000mAh battery as its predecessor and supports the same 10W of charging. The smartphone manages to deliver more than 25 per cent of battery life after a whole day of basic-to-moderate usage. However, this will completely vary from user to user. Verdict Yes, Xiaomi seems to have done it again. The Redmi Note 6 Pro can be stated as yet another great offering for the price. It offers a large FHD+ 19:9 notched display, punchy panel, pretty powerful chip, four cameras and great battery life, making it a good deal. However, the smartphone offers the same old design and hardware as on the Note 5 Pro. The smartphone is priced at Rs 13,999 for the 4GB variant and Rs 15,999 for the 6GB variant. However, on the Black Friday sale, it will be available at a price of Rs 12,499 and 14,499 respectively. There are other rival brands in the same budget space who offer really good smartphones with a better chipset, good design, cameras and battery. There is also the Xiaomi Mi A2, which now comes with a price label of Rs 15,999, which offers an optimised and stock Android experience with regular updates, better cameras, same design and much powerful chipset. But the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro still does get our recommendation for those seeking an all-rounder smartphone on a cost-effective budget. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Trump, on holiday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago Club, doubled down on an unusually worded statement from Tuesday that he was essentially ignoring the killing of Jamal Khashoggi because of what he said were more important US strategic and commercial interests. (Photo: AP | File) Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ignored criticism that he gave Saudi Arabia a free pass on the murder of a dissident journalist, instead praising the Islamic kingdom for keeping oil prices low. Trump, on holiday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago Club, doubled down on an unusually worded statement from Tuesday that he was essentially ignoring the killing of Jamal Khashoggi because of what he said were more important US strategic and commercial interests. "Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! USD 54, was just USD 82," he tweeted. "Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let's go lower!" The fulsome praise for Saudi Arabia's help in maintaining cheap oil built on comments he made Tuesday at the White House, saying that "if we broke with them, I think your oil prices would go through the roof." "They've helped me keep them down," he said. Guns and money The focus on oil prices is one strand of Trump's argument against punishing the US ally for Khashoggi's death, even though the CIA reportedly found strong evidence that de facto Saudi leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was involved. Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at Prince Mohammed, who has especially close contacts with the Trump White House. In a formal statement Tuesday -- released just after nearly the entire White House press corps had left to cover the lighthearted annual ritual of the president sparing a turkey from the Thanksgiving table -- Trump said the prince "could very well be" in on the crime. But he then went on to flatly reject any suggestion of punishing the Saudi leader, saying Washington "intends to remain a steadfast partner." Trump's reasoning was that Saudi Arabia and the United States are partners in opposing Iran and the Saudis have committed to USD 450 billion in weapons contracts and other investments, as well as being a major oil producer. "Very simply it is called America first!" Trump concluded. This was in contrast to previously stated positions where Trump promised a tough response, warning in an October interview with The Wall Street Journal, for example, that the US-Saudi relationship "would take a while to rebuild." 'Crazy' prince Trump's posture has provoked rare dissension among the ranks of senior Republicans. Senator Lindsey Graham said on Fox News that Prince Mohammed is "crazy." "It's not too much to ask an ally not to butcher a guy in a consulate," he said. And Senator Bob Corker, the Republican leader of the foreign relations committee, tweeted scathingly: "I never thought I'd see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia." Corker and the senior Democrat on the committee, Bob Menendez, demanded that the Trump administration issue a clear statement on whether Prince Mohammed was involved. Another prominent Republican, Senator Rand Paul, added "Let's put America first, not Saudi Arabia," while Khashoggi's old employer the Post said in an editorial that Trump's position meant "a world where dictators know they can murder their critics and suffer no consequences." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back in a radio interview Wednesday, saying: "We are going to make sure that America always stands for human rights. We've watched the Saudis actually move in that direction during our time in office as well. "It's not an unblemished record, but there certainly have been steps forward." Washington: US President Donald Trump has defended his daughter Ivanka Trump who is being criticised for using her private email for official purposes in a possible violation of federal record-keeping laws, saying the mails did not contain classified information and have not been deleted. President Trump, in the run-up to the US Presidential election in 2016, had slammed former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for using a private email server during her term as the top US diplomat. The Washington Post on Tuesday reported that Trump's daughter Ivanka, in her capacity as the presidential advisor, sent hundreds of emails about government business from a personal email account last year to White House aides, Cabinet members and her assistant. Trump said that these emails were not classified like those of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Just so you understand, early on and for a little period of time, Ivanka did some emails, Trump told reporters when asked about the charges from his political opponents. They weren't deleted like Hillary Clinton, who deleted 33(000) she wasn't doing anything to hide her emails, he said. Though Britain should have very close economic relations with us, Merkel did underscore the difficulties that may arise in any attempt to keep services seamless. Brussels: The European Union and Britain have agreed a draft declaration on their future relations after Brexit, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Thursday, a development that paves the way for an EU summit this weekend to rubber-stamp the deal. The 26-page draft declaration was agreed upon at a technical level by negotiators and endorsed on Thursday by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, which is overseeing Brexit negotiations. The (EU) Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level, Tusk said in a tweet. Tusk, who chairs meetings of EU leaders, said he has sent the draft political declaration to Britain's 27 European partners and that it till requires the endorsement of the leaders. EU heads of state and government are due to meet in Brussels on Sunday to approve the declaration and a separate divorce deal. British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to return to Brussels on Saturday for more talks on the eve of the summit, including with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Representatives from all 28 EU countries are due to meet on Friday to prepare for the summit, which is seen as a pivotal moment in the Brexit process. May is facing widespread opposition in the British Parliament over the divorce agreement, which was agreed last week. That 585-page legal treaty deals with the terms of Britain's departure, including what the country owes the EU. Britain officially leaves the EU - the first country ever to do so - on March 29, 2019, but a withdrawal agreement needs to be sealed soon to leave enough time for the European Parliament and the U.K. parliament to endorse it. As opposed to the withdrawal agreement, the draft declaration on future ties is a political, not a legal, text. This declaration establishes the parameters of an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic cooperation, law enforcement and criminal justice, foreign policy, security and defense and wider areas of cooperation, according to the document. It also talks about the close ties that have been cemented after 45 years of Britain's membership of the EU as well as the sizes of the two economies and their geographic proximity, which have led to complex and integrated supply chains. It notes that the parties envisage having a trading relationship on goods that is as close as possible, with a view to facilitating the ease of legitimate trade. The actual legal text will have to be negotiated after Brexit on March 29, and that could well be even more complicated than what has come so far. In a speech in Berlin before Tusk's announcement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined that Britain should remain a partner, remain a friend. Though Britain should have very close economic relations with us, Merkel did underscore the difficulties that may arise in any attempt to keep services seamless. We have to say honestly that, in the services sector, we don't have a great deal of experience with international free trade agreements, she said. The road ahead European Union heads of state and government are due to meet in Brussels on Sunday to approve the declaration and a separate divorce deal. Representatives from all 28 EU countries are due to meet Friday to prepare the summit, seen as a pivotal moment in the Brexit process. Britain officially leaves the EU - the first country ever to do so - at midnight on March 29, but a Brexit deal must be agreed on in coming weeks to leave enough time for the European Parliament and the parliament in Britain to endorse it. The draft declaration on future ties is a political, not a legal, text. President Ram Nath Kovind and First Lady Savita Kovind unveil a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Jubilee Park in the town of Parramatta, in Sydney on Thursday, November 22, 2018. Mayor of Parramatta, Andrew Wilson, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison are also seen. (Photo: PTI) Parramatta (Sydney): On the second day of this three-day visit to Australia, President Ramnath Kovind unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Jubilee Park in the town of Parramatta, which is a bustling suburb of Sydney. The bronze statue designed by Indian sculptors Ram and Anil Sutar was presented to the Indian President by Andrew Wilson, the Mayor of Parramatta. Also present at the event was Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The unveiling of the statue is part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Father of the Nation, which is being observed in different parts of the world. The life-size statue, which is a gift from the Indian government, is identical to the one presented to the city of Brisbane in Australia in 2014. Moments after ribbon-cutting to unveil the statue, President Kovind presented a book titled 'Hind Swaraj' to Australian Prime Minister Morrison and Parramatta's Mayor Wilson. The book was penned by Gandhiji in 1909. In this opus, Gandhiji inscribed his nationalistic views on independence, modern civilisation and mechanisation, among other topics. The talented artists from Australia also revealed vivid colours of their culture and art by their mesmerising dance performance, which left the dignitaries and other guests in awe. They showcased a traditional dance performance, adjacent to the site of the inauguration stage as a part of the statue-unveiling ceremony. Speaking to media prior to the arrival of the Indian President, Mayor Wilson said "As home to the largest population of people of Indian descent in Australia, the City of Parramatta is overjoyed to be marking this momentous anniversary with our wonderful community. We give our sincere thanks to President Kovind and the people of India for this precious gift, which will stand proudly in our city from this day forward." President Kovind was accompanied by his wife Savita Kovind, daughter Swati, Minister of State Anant Kumar Hegde, Members of Parliament Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Dr Heena Gavit. High Commissioner of India to Australia Dr A M Gondane and other officials of the Ministry of External Affairs were also present on the occasion. Several members of the Indian community also participated, even though the ceremony was in the middle of a working day. As per current estimates, Indians top even the Chinese as the largest number of immigrants to Australia. Parramatta, where the Gandhi statue was unveiled on Thursday, is among the more popular suburbs where Indians choose to live in Sydney, the other being Harris Park, which is often described as Little India. While Mallya's team claims the bank had called in the loan ahead of an agreed period, the bank has claimed that it is within its rights to call in the mortgage for non-payment. (Photo: File) London: Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya on Wednesday faced a setback in his battle to save his posh London home from foreclosure by Swiss bank UBS after the UK High Court rejected many of the arguments relied on by his legal team. The bank has sought repossession of the property at Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regent's Park in central London, over the non-payment of a 20.4-million pounds mortgage loan. The property was referred in the UK High Court as a "high class home for Vijay Mallya and his family members and United Breweries Group corporate guests". While a trial in the case has been set for May next year, the High Court on Wednesday ruled on the UBS' application to strike out parts of the defence and found substantially in favour of the bank. "UBS is pleased with the decision. Given that proceedings are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further," UBS said in a statement. In his judgment following a two-day hearing last month, Judge Chief Master Marsh concluded that he can see no basis upon which the defendants should be given an opportunity to amend their defence. "They have had an ample opportunity to explain their case in answers to UBS' request for information. The case they put forward is not curable by simple amendments," he said. "The language of the contractual terms in this case could not be more stark. The loan was made on an uncommitted basis and repayable on demand," the judgment notes. The judge also expressed his displeasure at the way Mallya's defence team had conducted itself during the case, which meant avoidable delays for the court. There was a breakdown in the relationship between Mallya's previous law firm, Blake Morgan LLP, "including in relation to fees", which was one of the factors flagged by the court. "I accept that the change of solicitors put the defendants' legal team under considerable pressure. However, I am not satisfied that the defendants (Mallya) have shown a good reason for seeking an adjournment. It seems to me that the defendants are largely the authors of their current misfortune," the judgment reads. The case relates to a mortgage taken out by Rose Capital Ventures, one of Mallya's companies, with the 62-year-old businessman, his mother Lalitha and son Sidhartha, listed as having the right of occupancy on the property. While Mallya's team claims the bank had called in the loan ahead of an agreed period, the bank has claimed that it is within its rights to call in the mortgage for non-payment. The application relating to the judgment this week was filed by the bank to strike out claims that any rights to remain in the property by the defendants take priority over the mortgage before a full trial in May 2019. Meanwhile, Mallya remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard last year on fraud and money laundering charges brought by the Indian government, amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore. A ruling in his extradition case is expected at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London next month. The extradition trial, which opened at the London court on December 4 last year, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against Mallya and establishing there are no bars to him being extradited to face Indian courts over the allegations relating to loans made out to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. In separate legal proceedings, the businessman had also lost his appeal in the UK's Court of Appeal against a High Court order in favour of 13 Indian banks to recover funds amounting to nearly 1.145 billion pounds. The High Court order, earlier this year, in favour of the State Bank of India (SBI) led consortium had reinforced a worldwide freezing order against Mallya's assets. An armed gang abducted an Italian woman from a village in southeast Kenya, shooting and wounding five residents in the raid, police said Wednesday. "The attackers fired indiscriminately at residents" before kidnapping the 23-year-old, who worked as a volunteer at an orphanage, during the attack after dark on Tuesday evening at Chakama, a small village in the coastal Kilifi county, police said in a statement. Three children were among those injured, with one, a 10-year-old boy, shot in the eye, according to police. The wounded have been taken to hospital and police "deployed to track down the criminals". The National Police Service wishes to inform the public that last evening at about 8pm, a gang of men armed with AK 47 rifles attacked Chakama Trading centre in Chakama, Makongeni sub location in Kilifi county, about 80 kilometres west of Malindi town. 1/6 National Police Service-Kenya (@NPSOfficial_KE) November 21, 2018 The village is about 60 kilometres (40 miles) inland from the coastal town of Malindi, which is popular with Italian tourists and expatriates. Police warned against speculation, rife in the local Kenyan press, that Shabaab militants from Somalia might be behind the abduction. Police chief Joseph Boinnet said he did not yet know who the attackers were. "We are investigating, but people should stop speculating," he told reporters. Another police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity about the ongoing investigation, said "we understand that there has been a dispute at that orphanage and that is what we are looking at." Kidnappings of foreigners are rare in Kenya, but have a damaging effect on the country's crucial tourist economy. A spate of abductions on the coast in 2011 saw a British man shot dead and his wife kidnapped from a resort island, while weeks later a French woman was abducted from her home on the Lamu archipelago. Soon afterwards Shabaab gunmen abducted two Spanish aid workers from the Dadaab refugee camp close to the Somali border in the only confirmed case of kidnapping inside Kenya by the jihadists. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision to build and develop a corridor to facilitate Sikh pilgrims from India to visit holy Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan. Kartarpur Sahib, located just across the International Border, is the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev and one of the holiest shrines of Sikhs. "The move will facilitate lakhs of pilgrims desirous of visiting the Kartarpur gurdwara," Singh said in a statement here. He hoped that the Pakistan government would also supplement the effort by opening the corridor on its side of the boundary. The centre Thursday said it will build and develop corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims from India to visit holy Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, which is on the banks of the Ravi river. Singh also hailed the Centre's move to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev on a grand scale, globally, and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for acceding to his personal requests in this regard. In a statement issued here, the chief minister hailed the resolution passed by the Union cabinet to celebrate the historic occasion in a befitting manner, in response to the various letters and submissions he had made to the prime minister on this issue. Singh also expressed happiness at the Cabinet's decision to develop the historic town of Sultanpur Lodhi, associated with the life of first Sikh guru, as a heritage town, on the lines of a smart city. He also appreciated other decisions of the Cabinet to promote the ideology and message of Guru Nanak Dev, including the development of 'Pind Babe Nanak da' museum, upgradation of Sultanpur Lodhi railway station, creation of a centre for inter-faith studies and chairs in foreign universities, release of commemorative coin and postage stamps etc, as was demanded by the state government in its memorandum to the Centre. The chief minister lauded the Centre's decision to celebrate the event through a series of activities across the country and globally. These measures would give a significant boost to the state government's plans and programmes to commemorate the auspicious occasion through year-long celebrations, which he was all set to kick off on Friday, to coincide with Gurpurab, Singh said. The chief minister urged the Centre to release funds for the approved projects at the earliest to facilitate their completion in a year's time. In a quirk of irony, the railway tracks that connect Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhans constituency of Budhni to Mumbai and Delhi have divided the residents into two territories and residents are unhappy that despite pursuing it for two decades, the demand for an underpass has not been met. Citing the Dussehara disaster at Amritsar, where a moving train mowed festival revellers, residents argue that a tragedy is in the waiting as hundreds of students and residents from Budhni cross the railway lines daily to go to the other side to their institutions or factories. "The only other way is to travel via road and reach Mana through Hoshangabad. A distance of 500m will take a journey of 10 km. So, people prefer crossing the railway line. Every morning, streams of children cross the tracks on the busy rail traffic route risking their lives. Our constituency is represented by Chief Minister Shivraj Chouan and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (in Lok Sabha) but this small demand is not being met," says Surjeet Rajput. There are also complaints that there is no proper X-ray machine at the Primary Health Centre in Budhni and despite factories dotting the constituency, local youths do not get jobs. Then why is Chouhan still such a force in Budhni? "We get 24-hour power, roads are clean and wide. And above all we are happy that we are electing the chief minister," says Vikas Pandey, a youth who spoke to DH about the problem's constituencies. This is fourth time Chouhan is contesting from Budhni, having won it earlier in 1990, 2006 and 2013. "If BJP fields a candidate other than Chouhan, the party will definitely lose now," said Deepak, another youth. However, while there is no strong sentiment against the chief minister himself, fatigue seems to have set in against 15 years of BJP rule. Not that the chief minister is not aware of the changing winds. For the first time, even though Chouhan himself is not campaigning in Budhni, his wife and son will be on a door-to-door campaign mode. This week both had to face the ire of villagers during the campaign, which Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has interpreted as showing a decline in Chouhan's popularity. The Congress has fielded former Union Minster and two-term Lok Sabha MP Arun Yadav from the seat, who seems to be clear about his fate even as his supporters flag "rising anger" against Shivraj. It's not going too well for Yadav. A video, in which a group of villagers from the constituency repeatedly ask why they should vote for the Congress and shout slogans in Chouhan's favour, has gone viral. While this has led some BJP leaders to declare that Chouhan will top his 2013 margin of 84,000, many believe that even if Chouhan wins, the margin is going to come down. At a time when it is planning to give its India strategy a push, the Australian government is pinning its hopes on the increased influx of Indian students in the country as a diplomatic channel. As with any overseas market, but perhaps even more so for vast and diverse India, knowing the right people can make all the difference. This is where our deep and growing education relationship with India bodes so well for a rich and vibrant future, Simon Birmingham, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Government of Australia, said here at the opening remarks of his speech at the AFR-India Business Summit 2018 More than 75,000 Indian students enrolled in Australian education institutions last semester alone, according to Birmingham. Of late, India has seen an increase in the number of students who want to study in Australian Universities and colleges. In fact, education-related travel contributed A$ 3,431 million (approximately Rs 17,700 crore) to Australian services exports in 2017, highest in the services category. In its India Economic Strategic Strategy-2035, on which Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to make an announcement by today afternoon, Australia has stated, Australian education services can help train the next generation of Indians. 75,000 students in one semester: thats a lot of friendships, a lot of contacts, a major brains trust and a cultural understanding that will transcend our business, commercial, cultural, governmental, diplomatic and security contacts and relations for years to come, Birmingham told the gathering here. There had been concerns in India after the racial attacks on students in Sydney, but according to the officials in New South Wales (NSW) Police Department, they have taken many measures to engage foreign students, including from India. In fact, several Indian students that DH spoke to are of the opinion that the city is safe. "I had a hard time convincing folks back home when I decided to go to Sydney for higher education. But then, contrary to perception, I have not faced any racial discrimination here. In fact, this city seems very multicultural," said an Indian student studying at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). ALSO READ: Infosys starts localisation drive in Australia Three days ahead of its much publicised 'dharm sabha' (religious meeting) in Ayodhya, which it claims, will be attended by over one lakh 'Rambhakts' (disciples of Lord Rama), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday threatened that there could be serious consequences if the seers were ignored and Ram Temple was not built. The saffron outfit also took a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi and others, who were ''opposed'' to Ram Temple, and said that the 'dharm sabha' was the ''last message'' for them as well. ''This will be the last dharm sabha for a grand Ram Temple...after this the construction of Ram Temple will start,'' senior VHP leader Bholendra said on Thursday. Striking a threatening tone, the VHP leader likened the Sunday's 'dharm sabha' to the last ditch attempt by Lord Rama to prevent a war with the demon king Ravana by sending 'Angad' (the monkey, who was a member of Lord Rama's army) as an emissary to the court of Ravana to persuade him to send Sita back to her husband. ''The dharm sabha is also a message for those, who wear janeu (a sacred thread worn by the Hindus) and go on pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar (read Rahul Gandhi) but oppose the Ram Temple,'' Bholendra said. The VHP leader claimed that a large number of Hindus would be reaching Ayodhya to attend the 'dharm sabha' on Sunday. Saints and seers from across the country would also be there. It cannot be denied that the decision of the governments of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal to withdraw the general consent given to the CBI for operations in the two states has a political dimension. The chief ministers of the two states, Chandrababu Naidu and Mamata Banerjee, have said that they have deep distrust in the CBI which, they fear, may be used by the central government against them in the coming weeks before the general elections. The CBI, which functions under the central government, needs permission from state governments to investigate offences in states. This is in accordance with the salutary federal principle which limits the powers of the central government in dealing with issues related to crime and law and order, which fall within the purview of the states. The general consent was based on the existence of trust between the Centre and the states. Now that this has been withdrawn, the CBI will need specific permission from the two states to investigate individual cases. AP withdrew the general consent as it suspected that the Centre was planning CBI raids on leaders of the state government and the Telugu Desam Party. It has a special reason for this apprehension because Chandrababu Naidu has taken the initiative to forge an alliance of parties to fight the BJP in the next elections. Mamata Banerjee has felt that instructions are being sent to CBI from the BJP office. Karnataka minister DK Shivakumars premises were raided after he hosted Congress MLAs from Gujarat before the 2017 Rajya Sabha elections there. It is well-known that the CBI is used to put pressure on opposition leaders, to harass them and to punish them. Many others are sought to be brought into submission by threats of CBI action. All governments have used the CBI as their handmaiden, inviting the Supreme Courts well-known description that it is a caged parrot. Neither the Supreme Courts efforts nor public opinion has been able to ensure that the CBI gets disassociated from politics and the interests of the government of the day. The situation has steadily deteriorated and now the misuse is most brazen and blatant. Some recent unprecedented developments in the agency, which are before the Supreme Court now, are further proof of that. Naidu is also planning to approach the Supreme Court to curb the powers of the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate before the elections. It is unfortunate that national agencies and institutions are put to partisan and political use. When that happens the response from those who are targeted also tends to become political. Caught in the crossfire, the authority and credibility of these institutions suffer, as it is happening now. Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next. WASHINGTON One of the worst things about our awful political moment is its historical forgetfulness. Many Europeans seem to have forgotten where chauvinistic nationalism and the demonization of minorities can lead. Many Americans seem to have forgotten that a foreign policy of America First allowed international malignancies to grow that made war inevitable and resulted in the deaths of tens of millions. And many in Western countries seem to have forgotten the difficult, desperate project of building a moral and legal structure around the principle of human dignity in the aftermath of World War II. Anti-Semitic attacks in Europe and the U.S. are both atrocities and reminders. They ring with distant but unmistakable echoes of the nightmarish events of the 1930s and 1940s: the racial purity laws, the economic indignities, the despairing suicides, the liquidation of the disabled, the digging up of Jewish graves in cemeteries, the deportations, the ghettos, the shootings in batch after batch, the pits of corpses, the emptied orphanages, the terrified walk to the gas chamber. It is worth trying to recall how shocking these events were to the conscience of the world. The institutions of the modern state bureaucracy, propaganda, military power had been harnessed to the purposes of sadism and mass murder. This indicted a highly sophisticated and educated European society along with the very idea of sophistication and education as brakes on evil. It indicted other nations who did little, even after the crimes became obvious. It indicted many German Christians who were indifferent or complicit. For some, it even indicted God, who seemed uncaring on a distant throne. But the response was ultimately an idealistic one. The Allies would institute a new order of justice and human rights. The Tokyo tribunals and the Nuremburg trials were both legal and moral enterprises. The chief counsel for the prosecution, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, said he would not seek convictions for "mere technical or incidental transgression of international conventions. We charge guilt ... that involves moral as well as legal wrong. ... It is their abnormal and inhuman conduct which brings them to this bar." The moral response to World War II-era crimes found expression in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which speaks of "inherent dignity" and "equal and inalienable rights." There were many influences on this document, from President Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms to the Declaration of Independence. But the theory was simple: The Axis powers not only lost, they were wrong. Their vision of nation, race and culture would be replaced by an assertion of universal human rights and dignity. It was, however, more of an assertion than an argument. French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain, who was involved in the debates surrounding the Universal Declaration, said, "We agree on these rights, providing we are not asked why. With the 'why' the dispute begins." Some of the challenge to this vision of inherent dignity has come from arguments associated with academic liberalism. It has become common to deny that human beings have natures that can be separated from their cultural circumstances. And without a human nature, it is hard to define a set of human rights. Without some standard from outside the culture some statement by God or reason that every human life is sacred we are left only with the current consensus of our culture. And we are left with no good reason to tell our children why they should hold to that consensus rather than abandon it. But the most urgent, comprehensive attack on the universality of human rights now comes from the nativist right. In places such as Hungary, Romania, Germany, Poland and the United States, politicians are attempting to define nationality based on the dehumanization of cultural outsiders Muslims, migrants and refugees. This type of politics is dangerous wherever it is practiced. In the United States, it also requires the renunciation of responsibilities rooted in the postwar acceptance of human dignity as the basis of global order and peace. This is the cost of historical amnesia the cost of electing an American president who is both ignorant of and indifferent toward the lessons of the last century, or any century. A president who always turns, by feral instinct, to an organizing message of bigotry and exclusion. A president who is throwing away an inheritance he does not value and unleashing forces that can easily move beyond control. SALT LAKE CITY A century ago, President Woodrow Wilson issued a Thanksgiving proclamation that focused on the blessings of peace. If you know your history, World War I had ended only a few days earlier. He characterized the war as a righteous cause and added this hopeful note: We have cause for such rejoicing as revives and strengthens in us all the best traditions of our national history. Those best traditions have been on my mind lately. You may wonder, given the nasty tone of politics, whether they persist a century later. I would argue they do, which is why I offer the following few things for which Im thankful this season: The tradition of honoring democracy Utahs 4th Congressional District race this year was about as tight as the proverbial new pair of dress shoes on a rainy day. At times, it seemed as if ballots were being transported via a stubborn burro from the polls to counting locations, and we all had to deal with news reports that variously had one candidate, then the other, taking a narrow lead. McAdams won by a margin barely wide enough to avoid a recount. I can predict one thing with confidence. People generally will accept the outcome. Thats how it is on a national level, and its how it is locally. No one riots. No one storms the halls of government. What is remarkable is how unremarkable this handling of power has come to seem for Americans. We hear a lot these days about elections being rigged, or about Russians or foreign operatives trying to influence the vote. Few things are more important to safeguard than the general public acceptance of the integrity of the democratic process. Losing that would unravel authority, lead to civil unrest, coups and lots of things that might threaten your Thanksgiving Day tranquility. Ultimately, it would harm all basic rights, including the freedom to worship and speak freely. The rule of law One of the biggest local stories this year involved the start of an Inland Port Authority in Salt Lake City. The law establishing the authority said no one on the board could own property, other than a personal residence, within 5 miles of the ports boundaries. That led to the resignations of two board members, including House Speaker Greg Hughes. This was just one example of many where laws are bigger than people, no matter how powerful, and we should be thankful it is so. Public servants who work hard While House Speaker Hughes may have hit a snag with the inland port, his work on helping the states homeless cannot be ignored. Hughes and other leaders have led a multijurisdictional effort to clean the crime-ridden area near the Road Home shelter on Rio Grande Street and establish three new shelters around Salt Lake County. I havent always agreed with their plans, but its hard to quibble with their intent. They changed the scope of homelessness here from a Salt Lake City problem to a statewide problem, which gives us a more accurate view of the least fortunate among us. Next year, the plan will hit a critical stage as the Road Home is scheduled to close and the new shelters to open. A cynic would say politicians are interested only in padding their resumes for the next election. A better choice is to be grateful those politicians are finally turning their attention toward those who suffer, and that includes not only the homeless but the business owners who have endured years of crime and disruptions around the old shelter. Over the river and through the woods Travel experts predict 54 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles this weekend to celebrate the holiday. That means two good things. First, these are prosperous times and people are blessed with the means to travel freely. Second, family still matters. Americans will gather with those they love and focus on giving thanks. As long as they carry on that tradition, there is hope for all the nations ills. It may be hard to imagine what life was like a century ago, with many people mourning the war dead and others battling a deadly influenza pandemic at home. But we should feel thankful that those best traditions Wilson spoke of in those difficult times endure. SALT LAKE CITY Utah high school students are encouraged to enter the fifth annual Utah Senate Visual Arts Competition for a chance to win up to a $5,000 scholarship and have the artwork shown in the state Capitol. This years theme is Inspired Utah, which encourages students to explore the people, cultures, communities, landscape and all that inspires them as residents of the Beehive State. Most visual arts mediums are accepted, except for photography or 3D. The competition is open to all Utah students in grades nine through 12, including those attending a private, parochial, charter or home school. The competition is sponsored by Utah Senate President-elect Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and administered by the Utah Division of Arts & Museums. Entries are due on Friday, Jan. 11. Students will have a chance to win one of 25 scholarships of $5,000, $3,000, $1,000, $500 and $300 that will be deposited into accounts for the students at the Utah Educational Savings Plan. The winning entries will be featured on the third-floor corridor of the Capitol through the 2019 Utah Legislative Session. The first-place work will remain in the Utah Senate suite. Students will receive their awards on Arts Day on the Hill, Thursday, Feb. 21. Competition guidelines are available online at artsandmuseums.utah.gov. Now that the dust is settling on the 2018 elections, here are a couple of lingering clouds over which to muse: Competitive much? The two closest races in the state involved the 4th Congressional District and Proposition 4, an initiative designed to end political gerrymandering in the state. Watch closely to see whether one affects the other in coming years. Proposition 4 passed by a narrow margin, 50.34 percent to 49.66 percent. In a column last month, I urged voters to support it. Too many political districts in Utah have been drawn with little more than preserving a Republican seat in mind. However, I also said the proposition was imperfect, and one of those imperfections is that it doesnt aim to make political races more competitive in Utah. Rather, the new commission it sets up to redraw political boundaries after the 2020 Census will be charged with keeping communities together and preserving traditional neighborhoods. Those are two quite different things. If communities of interest are divided into several districts, the thinking goes, natural groups, such as neighborhoods that are heavily Hispanic, end up under-represented, particularly in the Legislature. As a result, their mutual concerns arent heard when bills are discussed. Thats a compelling argument, and it points out a real need in a state that is growing increasingly diverse. But political observers also have long been worried about the lack of competitive races in Utah. In years past, many incumbent state lawmakers have run unopposed, going to bed early on election night and waltzing into office without much worry about facing different ideas from any loyal opposition. The number of one-candidate legislative races was lower this year than two years ago, as more Democrats and United Utah Party members signed up. That doesnt mean their races were competitive, however. And still, Democrats were completely absent in 12 legislative races. Three of the four congressional races were pretty much wipeouts. But the 4th Congressional District consistently is competitive. In 2012, Republican Mia Love lost to Jim Matheson by 768 votes, or 0.29 percent of the votes cast. In 2014, she beat Doug Owens by 4,225 votes, or 3.29 percent. This year, after two excruciating weeks of ballot counting, she lost to Democrat Ben McAdams by 694 votes, or 0.26 percent. Only in 2016 did Love win by the comfortable margin of 34,184 votes. The question is: What will Proposition 4 do to the 4th District? If you redraw congressional boundaries with communities and neighborhoods in mind, will it remain competitive? Competitive races ensure that voters gain a better understanding of differing political philosophies (even if the ads tend to be nasty). They tend to keep people from becoming insular and comfortable in their belief systems. The 4th District seems to be exactly what the state needs. The overriding question is: Can districts be drawn with both competitiveness and communities of interest in mind? If not, which is most important? Up in smoke? Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has signaled he may sue on behalf of a group that wants to stop the Legislature from holding a special session to alter Proposition 2, the initiative that legalized medical marijuana in Utah. He has a steep hill to climb. Utah is one of 11 states that puts no restrictions on its Legislature changing a law passed through a voter initiative. Some states put time limits, requiring lawmakers to wait somewhere between two and seven years before making changes. But clearly, state lawmakers are the final lawmaking authority in any state, and even their decisions can be changed by a future Legislature or struck down by the courts. But Anderson also claims The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints violated the state Constitution by helping to craft the compromise lawmakers will consider. That compromise was crafted by a long list of organizations on both sides of the initiative, including groups such as the Utah Medical Association, the Libertas Institute and the Utah Patients Coalition. Should a church not be allowed to join the dialogue on a matter it sees as an important moral issue? More importantly, isnt the community best served by a compromise solution with broad support, rather than the all-too-familiar one-sided solution that divides people and breeds resentment? The answers seem obvious to anyone who cares about good public policies. Clearly, however, last Tuesdays final canvass of votes didnt put the 2018 election completely to rest. SALT LAKE CITY Utah radio station 103.5 The Arrow is once again encouraging drivers to take a pledge to drive sober during the holidays and every other day of the year. According to the station, someone in the United States will be injured in a drunken driving crash every two minutes, and someone will die as a result of an impaired driving incident every 51 minutes. Thats why the station is joining forces with the Utah chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving for the campaign, which runs through Jan. 2. To make the pledge, drivers can pick up a red ribbon to display in their vehicles at the offices of Robert J. Debry and Associates, any Technaglass location, and Riverton Chevy. According to the station, its a simple way motorists can show their support for MADD and let other drivers know theyre doing their part to keep roads safe during the holidays. The station is owned by Bonneville International, a sister company to the Deseret News. SALT LAKE CITY Jacksons Food Stores has kicked off its annual Gift of Peace campaign to help end domestic violence in six Western states, including Utah. Between now and Christmas Day, Utah customers will be able to contribute to the campaign by purchasing paper doves at Jacksons Food Stores for $1, $5 and $10. The company, which is based in Meridian, Idaho, has more than 200 Chevron, Texaco or Shell convenience stores in the six states. The company will provide matching funds to leverage customer donations to the nonprofit Utah Domestic Violence Coalition, as well as similar organizations in five other states. Last year, Jacksons Gift of Peace campaign raised over $6,500 from the generosity of Jacksons customers. That number was then matched by Jacksons Food Stores to give the coalition a grand total $13,000 to stop domestic violence in Utah communities, and this year, we are excited to provide even more support, Katrina Lemmon, advertising and promotions manager for Jacksons Food Stores, said in a statement. Free and confidential help for Utahns affected by domestic violence can also be accessed on a 24/7 basis by calling 1-800-897-LINK (5465) or visiting udvc.org. SALT LAKE CITY The assistant chief of the Kanosh Fire Department has been charged in connection with the rape of a second alleged victim. Austin James Corry, 26, of Kanosh, Millard County, was charged Wednesday in Millard County's 4th District Court with rape, a first-degree felony. Corry already faces two counts of rape and two counts of object rape, first-degree felonies; five counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony; and five counts of sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor, for allegedly assaulting a woman at the Kanosh Fire Station several times dating back to 2015, according to charging documents. The new charges accuse Corry of assaulting another woman at the fire station. In November 2016, Corry ordered cookies to be delivered to the fire station, charging documents state. When the woman making the delivery arrived, Corry locked the station door behind her, the charges state. "As she tried to leave, he grabbed her and pushed her against the wall," according to charging documents. "The victim told him to stop several times before and during the encounter, but the defendant ignored her." In September when Corry was first arrested, the Kanosh Fire Department issued a statement saying, "Firefighter Corry has been placed on administrative leave from all his duties, suspended until the outcome of the investigation." Corry is represented by noted Salt Lake defense attorney Ron Yengich. A scheduling hearing for his first case was held Tuesday. SOUTH SALT LAKE As part of an effort to curb Utah suicides, the Salt Lake County Library is partnering with the state to hand out free gun locks with no questions asked. "We believe firearm owners want to make sure their firearms aren't abused and that people's lives are protected," said Liz Sollis, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake County Library. "This just gives one more tool to make sure that happens." The aim is to encourage gun safety and prevent suicide by increasing access to gun locks. All 18 library branches within the county system will hand out gun locks to anyone who asks, Sollis said. Because libraries are embedded in communities and are "trusted" places, Sollis said county and state officials decided they would be the perfect places where people "can come in and have no shame" with no questions asked, or request additional information if they want it. Utah currently ranks fifth in the nation in suicide deaths. Although Sollis said there are many contributing factors to Utah's rate, "we know that access to firearms increases the chances" of successful suicide attempts. A recent Harvard study showed self-inflicted gunshot wounds account for half of suicide deaths and a mortality rate of 87 percent when firearms are used in a suicide attempt. The Utah Department of Public Safety donated 800 locks to the county library system to start the program, Sollis said. The program was also the result of a partnership with the Salt Lake Suicide Prevention Coalition. The gun locks will work with nearly all handguns, as well as magazine-fed and bolt-action rifles and shotguns, according to county officials. "By restricting access to functional firearms with the addition of cable locks, we hope to prevent both suicides and accidents," said Scott Baker, an agent with the Utah Department of Public Safety in a prepared statement. Baker said it's important to "always store your firearms properly" unloaded, in a locked cabinet or safe, inaccessible to children. Ammunition should also be locked away separately, he said. "A free gun lock could literally save your child, husband, wife or friend," Baker said. EMORY, Summit County A semitrailer fire stopped traffic on I-80 Wednesday afternoon, officials said. The semitrailer hauling products bound for Walmart, including canned goods, was driving west on I-80 in Emory, Summit County, about 1:20 p.m. when the driver smelled smoke, the Utah Highway Patrol said. The semitrailer then caught fire and became fully engulfed in flames. Officials said the fire spread across the road and burned grass in the center median but did not affect eastbound traffic. Photos of the semitrailer after the fire show thousands of singed food cans spilled onto the roadway. Westbound I-80 was closed in the area while firefighters battled the blaze. SALT LAKE CITY Utah State Court Administrator Rick Schwermer has announced he will retire in January. Schwermer has served with the Utah State Courts since 1990, and as assistant state court administrator since 1995. Among other duties, he has served as the judiciary's representative to the Utah Legislature; coordinated the development, funding, and certification of Utah's drug courts and other problem solving courts; and served as Utah's justice court administrator. Schwermer obtained his undergraduate degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. Chief Justice Matthew Durrant has assigned retired Judge Mary T. Noonan to perform the duties of a court administrator while a search for a new court administrator is conducted. Noonan is a seasoned jurist with over 15 years of experience on the bench. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Noonan served as clerk of the Utah Court of Appeals and division chief of the Utah Attorney General's Office Child Protection Division. From 1994 through 1998, Noonan worked for the Utah Department of Human Services as the director of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services and as the director of the department's Office of Legal Counsel. SALT LAKE CITY The compromise medical marijuana bill intended to supersede Proposition 2 early next month was updated for a second time Wednesday. The bill now permits the state to license up to seven medical marijuana pharmacies, rather than five as previously proposed in the compromise. It also increases the number of such licenses which may be granted in the event that a state-run central fill pharmacy is not operational by Jan. 1, 2021, upping that number to 10. The bill now also removes a restriction on landlords prohibiting them from refusing to rent to a person solely because they have a medical cannabis card, or penalizing them in some other way on that basis. The updated measure requires any patient under 21 years old to get secondary approval, beyond that of their doctor, from a state-appointed panel made up of medical professionals called the Compassionate Use Board. In Proposition 2, that board is made up of five medical providers, but the new version of the compromise expands that to seven and requires that two members be pediatricians. The latest version of the compromise bill decreases the number of allowed state-issued cannabis growing facility licenses, from 15 to 10, though it allows for an additional five such facilities at the discretion of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. The measure limits marijuana growing facilities to 100,000 square feet for those that are indoors, and 4 acres for those that are outdoors, though growers may apply each year to increase their size limit by up to 20 percent. Libertas Institute, a libertarian think tank and advocacy group which worked closely with the Proposition 2 campaign and was its largest in-state donor, characterized the latest update as a measured adjustment to the original compromise. "The latest round of edits largely incorporates feedback we received from doctors, patients, legislators, attorneys, and other advocates. They are mostly minor changes that are fairly consistent with previous modifications made to Prop. 2," said Connor Boyack, president of Libertas Institute, who played a central role in the negotiations to reach the original compromise. Boyack said in a statement that Libertas is "especially pleased that there will be an additional two dispensaries to help alleviate patient access and a potential bottleneck that might come from having a more limited distribution system" under the compromise. The Utah Medical Association, which has been fervently opposed to Proposition 2 and which also played a central role in negotiations over the contents of the compromise, touted the bill's latest version. "We appreciate the opportunity we have had to work on the compromise bill and feel that it is turning into a pretty good bill between all the input that has been received from all of the different groups and agencies," said Michelle McOmber, CEO of the Utah Medical Association, in a statement. "Again, our intent has been to put appropriate parameters around a new drug we are allowing into our state to be used for medical purposes and to make sure that drug will only be allowed for medical purposes, that the medical marijuana will be appropriately recommended, appropriately dosed, appropriately tracked and appropriately dispensed and that law enforcement will be able to track what is legal and what is not." But some advocates on opposing sides of Proposition 2 have been unhappy with the contents of the compromise, and have vowed to turn up the pressure on state lawmakers not to accept it as is. Among those are pro-Proposition 2 group Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education, or TRUCE, which has argued the compromise brings sweeping changes to what was passed in the ballot initiative and represents an improper usurpation of the will of Utah voters. The group on Wednesday said on its Facebook page that it was disappointed the compromise was being advanced "during the hectic holiday season while few are paying attention." TRUCE said on its Facebook page Wednesday that "the replacement was still being written YESTERDAY and is a bill which will thus never be really read let alone debated by many legislators." The group also complained that the compromise bill will not be adequately "vetted with the Utah public." Multiple attempts to reach TRUCE on Wednesday were not successful. Gov. Gary Herbert announced last month he would call a special session in order to get a compromise passed, after key players both for and against Proposition 2 agreed to support the text of a compromise bill drafted with the help of legislative leaders over the course of dozens of hours of negotiations. Besides Libertas Institute, the Utah Medical Association and state legislative leaders, groups included in those discussions were the Utah Patients Coalition, which was the Proposition 2 campaign itself, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an influential opponent of Proposition 2. Those groups agreed to de-escalate their campaign efforts prior to the election urging Utahns how to vote on Proposition 2, and Niederhauser and Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes promised to do everything in their power to get the compromise bill passed regardless of its outcome. Proposition 2 went on to pass with the support of 52.75 percent of voters. Since the compromise bill was first announced, lawmakers have met on a handful of occasions at times in closed caucus meetings, at other times taking public comment to discuss making further adjustments to it. The latest version of the compromise comes on the heels of another update to that bill which was made public on Nov. 5. Sen. President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, said earlier this month the bill would undergo another update before the special legislative session that is anticipated to be held Dec. 3. Niederhauser said Wednesday that he believes the bill "continues to be improved based upon feedback from a variety of sources." The latest iteration of the compromise will be up for public discussion at a meeting of the Health and Human Services Interim Committee on Monday afternoon. That meeting represents "another opportunity for the public to provide input prior to the special session," Niederhauser said. Boyack is confident the compromise bill will gain enough support among state lawmakers to pass. "We are very confident that this proposal will have widespread support in the Legislature, allowing a broad medical cannabis program get enacted an implemented quickly," he said. Even prior to the recent changes to the text of the compromise, it already proposed significant changes to what is in Proposition 2. Still, the compromise kept some weighty parts of the initiative, including a couple which had been hotly contested by Proposition 2 opponents. Some of the most notable proposed adjustments impact how medical marijuana could be sold, consumed, and recommended for use by doctors. In an effort to lower its costs by INR140 billion ($1.97 billion), Vodafone Idea has brought forward its target date for integrating its component firms by two years. Following the recent completion of Vodafone India and Idea Cellulars merger to create the new Indian market leader, Vodafone Idea reported a loss of INR49.7 billion for its first quarter as a company, and is pushing to reduce costs and bring in as much as INR250 billion in new capital. The Economic Times reports that the operator has brought forward the proposed completion date for integrating Vodafone India and Idea Cellulars operations from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2021. Vodafone Idea has stated that this will save it INR84 billion, while the consolidation of equipment and spectrum from the two firms operations will save a further INR62 billion by reducing costs. For its fiscal 2019-20, Vodafone Idea will operate on a capex budget of INR270 billion. The operator has a debt burden of INR1.26 trillion, of which over 70% was accrued through acquiring spectrum. To reduce this, Vodafone Idea is planning to sell its 11% stake in Indus Towers, worth around INR50 billion. Vodafone Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has asked the countrys finance ministry to extend the operators March 2019 deadline to repay INR9 billion ($126 million) in spectrum charges. The Economic Times reports that Birla is seeking to pay back the sum in 12 instalments, as he was worried that the company would fail to meet the March deadline. The Indian government may relax the payback terms for spectrum fees across the industry, as it is concerned about operators defaulting on payments. The advent of Reliance Jio to the Indian mobile market in 2016 sparked fierce competition that has driven down profitability, and operators have warned their debt levels are spiralling. Three parties have reportedly lodged bids for the Serbian and Montenegrin units of Telenor that were recently acquired by investment group PPF. Business site Investitor.me named the three candidates as operators Telekom Austria and Telekom Srbija, along with UK investment fund BC Partners. The latter has a footprint in the region via local firm United Group, while Telekom Austria operates Vip Mobile in Serbia. Telekom Srbija intends to merge the businesses with its m:tel unit in Montenegro. PPF acquired Telenors CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) mobile units in July for 2.8 billion, with the deal also including Telenor operations in Hungary and Bulgaria, along with the Nordic groups regional network infrastructure and IT business. Numerous operators had been implicated as potential buyers before PPF and Telenor reached an agreement, and Investitor.me noted that even after the deal was agreed the investment group had received several casual enquiries regarding an acquisition of the units. A Telekom Srbija source told Investitor.me that the company had expressed its interest in an acquisition but was holding out for a response from PPF, saying they [PPF] do not have a clear answer, and we wait patiently. Several Russian telecom operators are holding talks over creating a 5G consortium to deploy networks more cost-effectively using locally manufactured equipment and infrastructure. Kommersant reported that operators Rostelecom and MegaFon are in discussions with state-owned Rostec, and that a joint venture could launch as early as March 2019 although it appears that the operators are keen for cooperation whether Rostec is involved or not. Alexander Gorbatko, the deputy head of the Department of Information Technologies of Moscow, warned Kommersant that such a venture could come to monopolise the market. Gorbatko said: the unified platform carries the risks of lack of competition and, as a result, high prices for residents and consumers, lack of operator flexibility and monotonous services. However, he acknowledged that creating communication networks on the basis of a single infrastructure operator will allow all market players to reduce costs. Google has announced its Asia-Pacific Innovation Challenge in India under its News Initiative. The aim of the challenge is to get proposals from publishers and journalists that are aimed at increasing the revenue from readers. The projects that are selected will be funded by Google and the company will not only provide up to $300,000 but also finance up to 70 percent of the total project cost. Read the complete press release below In Asia-Pacific, journalists and publishers are increasingly grappling with questions over how quality journalism can thrive in the digital age. From Yangon to Manila, Sydney to New Delhi, they are experimenting with fresh approaches to reporting and new business models. Weve been working hand in hand with publishers to understand those challenges, and over the past year weve supported Asian newsrooms and publishers through the Google News Initiative (GNI). To help build a stronger future for journalism in Asia-Pacific, we created the Asia-Pacific GNI Innovation Challenge, which will fund projects that inject new ideas into the news industry. How does the challenge work? We are inviting proposals for projects aimed at increasing revenue from readers, including subscriptions, membership programs, contributions and/or new digital products and services. A panel of Googlers and other tech industry executives will review the submissions and fund selected projects up to $300,000 and finance up to 70 percent of the total project cost. The funding will be reviewed against several criteria, including a sharing component - for example by publishing any findings or holding a seminar - so grantees can pass their knowledge onto others in the industry. For more information on eligibility, rules and criteria, sample projects and funding details, head over to our website. How to apply? Given the pace of change in the news industry, innovation has never been more important. We want to make sure that all organizations, large and small, in the Asia-Pacific news ecosystem have the opportunity to suggest new ideas around this critically important topic. Applications open on November 28, and the deadline to submit is January 9. If you have any questions, tune into our APAC town hall on Monday, December 11 at 3.00 pm Singapore time. We are ready to help put your ideas into action and look forward to seeing what you submit! The Samsung has launched the worlds first quad rear camera setup smartphone Galaxy A9 in India on Tuesday. The Phone will come in two variants 6GB/128GB and 8GB/128GB. On the other hand, we have one of the most reasonable flagship smartphone the OnePlus 6T, which is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. The smartphone is available on Amazon at Rs 37,990. Lets compare these two flagship smartphones to see which one provides the best value of your money in terms of specifications. As you can see in the sheet above, the Samsung Galaxy A9 has a slightly smaller display than the OnePlus 6T. Not just that, OnePlus 6T also offers a better resolution than the Samsung Galaxy A9. However, the difference is not major but can be taken into consideration. When it comes to the processor, the OnePlus 6T comes with a better Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor than the Samsung Galaxy A9, which is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor. The cameras are the main USP of the Samsung Galaxy A9 as it is the first device to come with a quad camera setup at the back. It is equipped with 24MP + 10MP + 8MP + 5MP units on the back along with a 24MP sensor at the front. On the other hand, the OnePlus 6T have a dual 16MP + 20MP rear camera with a 16MP on the front. The Samsung Galaxy A9 is available for pre-booking on Amazon at Rs 36,999, while you can get OnePlus 6T at a price of Rs 37,999 in India. In February, Google announced that the Google Assistant will expand and support more than 30 languages by the end of the year, and at the Google for India event, the company said that Google Assistant will soon be updated with support for Marathi as well as seven more Indian languages. The first concrete evidence of Googles announcement has been accessed and leaked by a developer associated with XDADevelopers. The folks have found a mention of 14 new languages that Google is said to be testing for the Google Assistant. The tech news platform says that the latest beta version of the Google App that rolled out over the weekend has clues about the development. The 14 new languages are Arabic (Egypt, Saudi Arabia), Bengali, English (India, Indonesia, Ireland, Philippines, Thailand), German (Austria), Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Polish, Spanish (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru), Tamil, Telugu, Turkish and Urdu. The Assistant already has Hindi language support. Google is yet to make an official statement and it has almost 40 days to complete its promised quota of 30 language support on Google Assistant. Google also announced that Assistant will also be multilingual. Were also making the Assistant multilingual later this year, so families or individuals that speak more than one language can speak naturally to the Assistant. With this new feature, the Assistant will be able to understand you in multiple languages fluently. If you prefer to speak German at work, but French at home, your Assistant is right there with you. Multilingual will first be available in English, French and German, with support for more languages coming over time, Google had announced. Recently, Google said that its translate service can now interpret and convert 13 more languages, the new 13 languages including, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali Arabic, Thai and Vietnamese, into one that a user easily understands. The company rolled out the update for both Android and iOS app users worldwide. The addition of Arabic, Bengali, Hindi and Punjabi to the list means that the camera in the Google Translate app now knows how to recognise four of the top 10 most spoken languages on Earth, according to Babbel - a language-learning platform. Why, it seems like it was only yesterday that NASAs Martian rover InSight covered half the distance to Mars and sent back a selfie of its insides as proof that it was doing all right. InSight is now only days away from landing on Mars. Come next week it will hit Mars atmosphere, where it must slow down drastically without breaking apart for a nice, soft landing on Mars surface. InSight must do all this by itself in a span of six and a half minutes. Launched on May 5 from California, InSight will face terrific forces and temperatures on its way through Mars atmosphere: upon reaching the atmosphere at a tremendous speed of 19,800 kmph, InSight will run pre-programmed steps to slow itself down to less than 1,600 kmph and protect itself from immense heat. During the ride through Mars atmosphere InSights heat shield will have to face an extreme temperature of about 1,480 degrees Celsius. The big problem NASAs experts had to tackle was Mars relatively thin atmosphere, reports The Verge. Because Mars atmosphere has less than one-hundredth the density of Earths, NASA engineers had to come up with a more effective solution than the supersonic parachute thats used for reentry into Earth. So, theyve used thrusters that fire downward to reduce speed. Similar thrusters were used on the Curiosity rover back in 2012. Mission controllers over at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory will monitor InSights landing process with bated breath but will be able to do little to control it in case things go wrong. A signal from Earth to Mars takes approximately eight minutes to reach. By the time were understanding whats happening with the landing, theres a large enough delay that we cant actually control the vehicle from Earth, said Rob Grover, the Systems Lead for InSight in a statement to The Verge. Once InSight lands safely on Mars, it will begin studying the interiors of the Red Planet. InSight will send back information that will help us better understand the planets internal temperature and composition. Inline and cover image courtesy: NASA Netflix. Spotify. Hello Fresh. What do these companies have in common? They provide a service you need (or at least, use) every day. One Californian airline, however, is testing the subscription model waters (airspace?), by flogging all you can fly memberships for $2,950 a month. The company started in 2013, but as any start up knows, it takes a while to get the ball rolling (and the propellers spinning). Which is why they only managed to expand their operations beyond the US in July 2017, and why earlier this year they were pleased to announce they would be adding 10 new routes to their European operation. So how do they justify the price tag? After all, even the most frequent flyers dont fly every day. Well, as one journalist at The Economist points out, Surf Air havent just improved the pre-flight experience; theyve essentially removed it (being a private airline, it does not require passengers to go through the full check-in, security, and boarding process). Londons Luton airport is not renowned for its quick boarding. But now it is possible to show up there and in 15 minutes be on a plane bound for Zurich. Surf Air claims to be the worlds first all-you-can-fly airline, The Economist correspondent continues, For a monthly fee, members can travel on as many flights as they want among the airlines growing list of destinations. Surf Air currently offers flights between 11 different destinations in California, as well as (separately) between London, Cannes, Ibiza and Zurich. In addition, LA Biz reported earlier this year that 20 new destinations (other sources claimed 10), including Milan, Munich, Luxembourg, Brussels, Vienna, Geneva, Basel and Nice are soon to be added, thanks to a JetClass partnership. As it stands, Surf Air offer three tiers of membership to their American network, starting out at US$208 a month for an a la carte subscription (which allows subscribers access to any flight, at any time, for a flat rate of US$445), US$1,950 a month for an all you can fly subscription, which gives subscribers access to an unlimited number of flights (at no extra cost), and US$5,000 a month for a group subscription, which gives companies and families monthly recurring packs of 10 flights, available to be shared among an unlimited number of fliers. In Europe, until the full spectrum of destinations is available, the pricing is a little different, working out to be $4,155 per month for unlimited flights, or about $2,000 to fly only on routes under 600km. In Australia, unfortunately, they are yet to expand. In terms of its target market, many of its customers are business travellers who fly two or three times a month, Angela Vargo, Surf Airs director of communications, last year told The Economist. And although some of these customers are corporations (with group memberships), most, she said, are individuals, such as entrepreneurs and consultants, Who cherish the extra hours they gain. Surf Air arent the first to introduce a scheme like this (many airlines have tried, and failed with such an approach). But with the spread of digital nomads, and an increasing acceptance of subscription based models for practically every other product we consume, whether or not it works out for Surf Air, we reckon there is a future in all you can fly airlines. For Australians looking for a similar offering a little closer to home, check out AirAsias ASEAN Pass, or SkyTeams Worldwide Pass. RELATED: The Cruise Ship Industry Has A Bizarre New Way To Make Your Next Holiday Fling Unforgettable J-K assembly dissolved, new alliance plan stymied A dream of a PDP-NC-Congress alliance to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir that would effectively keep the BJP out of power was nipped in the bud after governor Satyapal Malik dissolved the state assembly. The move that comes as a respite for political watchers after a day of political speculation about the banding together of divergent groups that are friendly to terror groups and their supporters, however, is likely to be challenged by these parties in the Supreme Court. The dissolution of the 87-member assembly comes after five months of governors rule in the state, ahead of the six-month deadline. The new alliance is a combination of terror-friendly parties, says BJP Jammu and Kashmir unit, adding that polls id the best way out of rival ideologies forming new allies. Mehbooba Mufti, on the other hand, said BJP is spending money to buy loyalty. The dramatic developments that unfolded on social media and WhatsApp began with news of the PDP, the Congress and the NC being in a huddle to form the government in the state. As former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter to state that her fax to the Raj Bhawan in Jammu was strangely not received and Governor Satya Pal Malik remained unavailable on his phone, Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone claimed the blue tick on WhatsApp to indicate his letter staking claim at government formation had been acknowledged. The days developments forced all political stakeholders, including the states lone CPI(M) legislator M Y Tarigami, who reportedly met National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah, to take sides in the tug of war between former allies PDP and BJP. Altaf Bukhari, a senior PDP leader and former finance minister under the PDP-BJP coalition government and Jammu and Kashmirs richest legislator, was expected to be the new chief minister under the new disposition. The PDP had 28 MLAs in the dissolved assembly, followed by NC with 15 and Congress with 12, which would have give them a clear majority with 44 members in the 87-member assembly. The parties decided to gang together allegedly for foiling BJPs efforts to poach legislators from Mehbooba Muftis party and prop up a government headed by Sajjad Lone's People Conference, reports quoting sources said. If the coalition talks help form a new front opposed to BJP, it would trigger far-reaching realignment of political forces in Jammu and Kashmir, bringing back the days of Congress-PDP government of 2002-2007, perhaps with participation by the National Conference as well. Reports quoting National Conference sources said the party is not interested in joining a coalition government but would not be averse to giving outside support to a PDP-Congress coalition. Donegal must come together as one voice to tackle the growing concerns about the impact of Brexit on the county, according to a county councillor. Dungloe-based councillor Marie Therese Gallagher told the Donegal Democrat at the annual budget meeting that she was calling for a Donegal Day where all the representatives of the county should come together with one voice to face the huge threat of Brexit. We are sitting in here today trying to agree a Budget for 2019 in the most uncertain time that we have had in 20 years, she said. This goes back to Partition and it is frightening to think of whats out there has huge consequences for Donegal. But we as a council need to be meeting with our Dail representatives, our European representatives, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Taoiseach to voice our concerns. If there is a hard or no deal Brexit and all these different things goes on, where are we going to be? We are going to be cut off. And that was what this county suffered from for nearly 100 years. We have been getting back on our feet slowly. I am calling for a Donegal Day, whether we meet in Leinster House or in the Council Chambers to say that we are not going to be left behind again. Hard Brexit It will be all public representatives, the members and the management of Donegal County Council as a hard Brexit could have serious consequences. For all the good work that has been done with Derry and Strabane District Council could be gone in a flash. This was never an Irish problem it was a British creation. We will go anywhere for this meeting and we need to have this meeting as soon as possible. There has been a great message over the past five or six years that the border was gone and all that good work could be undone very quickly. Cllr Gallagher told the meeting earlier that as British prime minister Theresa Mays plan is increasingly looking like it will not go through, Donegal County Council should get together and start lobbying. This is a time of extraordinary uncertainty and a lot of it is because we have a border on the island. Partition has always been the problem and we need one voice coming from Donegal to talk to our Ministers, TDs and various representatives. It is also a huge issue for the Six Counties but it is the biggest single threat to our county because of our geographical location. And we need to be meeting with the powers in Dublin to put our case for the county. Council praised Meanwhile Fianna Fail councillor Ciaran Brogan paid tribute to the council for not increasing commercial rates in the county. The council has established a rate of 78.81 for the county and former council areas of Letterkenny and Bundoran for 2019. It has established a rate of 54.29 for former town council areas of Buncrana. There will be no increase in the rates this year. I am delighted that there will be no increase in the commercial rate this year. This is very encouraging for businesses all over the county and I want to commend the council on this. It is very important for the growth of businesses in the county. Cllr Brogan added that it was important that the recently established business unit should have a huge role to play in the face of Brexit. We want the message to go out loud and clear that Donegal is open for business and that is very important. Decrease The proposed budget for 2019 is 145,979,803, down from 148,795,554 in 2018. The main costs are payroll (57m), Pensions and Gratuities (9m) and Loans/Financial Charges, Contracts (10m) and main sources of of income are Commercial Rates (35m), Local Govt Fund/Local Property Tax (25m of which 16m comes from an equalization fund transfer, Grants 35m, Housing Rent (13m), and Irish Water (16m). Donegal native, Clodagh Shortt, owner of successful Belfast based boutique Honey is celebrating 15 years in business this month. Following Clodaghs decision to introduce new European clothing lines a year ago to add to the boutique's high-end shoe and bag ranges, the business has experienced a 40% increase in turnover. Renowned for providing fashion-savvy shoppers with designer footwear and accessories, the boutiques founder Clodagh Shortt, who is originally from Quigleys Point, made the decision a year ago to launch a new clothing offering at Honey, which has seen the introduction of international clothing brands including Charli, Jumper 1234, POM and Oakwood. This decision has paid off dividends and contributed to a 40% increase in turnover for the boutique over the last 12 months and its most successful year in business so far. Substantial growth Clodagh explains: This year marks a significant milestone for Honey and represents substantial growth and success for the business. Our key offerings at Honey included designer shoes, accessories and lingerie, but a year ago I made the decision to stop the lingerie offering and focus on introducing new clothing ranges. Fashion has always been a passion of mine and this was the natural next step for Honey and thankfully it has really taken off. Clodagh adds:At Honey, we strive to provide our customers with the latest trends and styles, including designs from the popular See By Chloe, Chie Mihara and Crime London, all of which add to the overall unique shopping experience. Although the shop is based in Belfast, our customer base extends to the North West and I would like to thank all of our customers for their support over the last 15 years and look forward to more success in the years ahead. For more information on Honeys full range of boutique offerings visit www.honeycollection.co.uk. You can also follow Honey on Facebook and Instagram. Irish Water is holding an information evening at the Foyle Hotel Moville on Monday next, November 26 from 5.30-7.30pm to present plans for the Moville Sewerage Scheme. Irish Water is working to end the unacceptable practice of discharging untreated wastewater into Lough Foyle and the Bredagh River by developing a sewerage scheme for Moville. The public are invited to attend the information evening to meet the project team and learn more about Irish Waters plans to progress this important project. Untreated effluent is currently being discharged into the Bredagh River and Lough Foyle at five locations in Moville. Moville is one of the areas the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified as having no treatment. The EPA has also highlighted the untreated discharges as a significant pressure causing pollution in the Bredagh River. The discharge of untreated wastewater threatens water quality, the environment and detracts from the amenity value of the river and the coastal waters around Moville and environs. A new wastewater treatment plant and collection system is needed to end this practice. Irish Water expects to submit a planning application to Donegal County Council next year. It is envisaged that planning, design and construction will take approximately 4 years and will be undertaken between 2019 and 2022 (subject to statutory approvals). Anyone interested in receiving further information or in asking questions about this project are invited to attend the information evening. Social Innovation Ireland (SIFI), in partnership with Louth County Council and all 31 Local Authorities across Ireland officially launched the second year of the 1.6m Social Enterprise Development Fund. The Fund is financed by the Department of Rural and Community Development, from the Dormant Accounts Fund and IPB Insurance. The fund will continue to provide critical support to the most innovative and impactful social enterprises in Ireland so that they can sustain and scale their impact across the country. This year, social enterprises will have a chance to win cash grant amounts ranging from 10,000 up to 50,000. Sixteen successful applicants will each win a cash investment and a place on Irelands only National Accelerator Programme for social enterprises. The Accelerator Programme provides training from best-in-class experts across the private, non-profit and public sectors and is designed to equip social enterprises to expand their business skills and deepen their impact within their communities and across the country. This year, the Accelerator Programme will include an Accelerator Fund, whereby each participant will have an opportunity to pitch for a share of an additional 100,000 in funding on completion of the 6-month programme. Deirdre Mortell, CEO, Social Innovation Fund Ireland said: To date, we have supported 22 social enterprises through the Social Enterprise Development Fund and it was been so rewarding to watch each organisation develop their business skills and grow their impact across the country. "We were very pleased with the quality of applications we received last year and we now have proof that there is a national pipeline of innovative and impactful social enterprises in Ireland. Following on from last years success, we are really pleased to call for applicants for the second year of the fund. The fund is now open for applications from social enterprises in Louth. Joan Martin, Chief Executive of Louth County Council, said: The Social Enterprise Development Fund presents a great opportunity for social enterprises to achieve their goals and ultimately create measurable social impact in their communities and across Ireland. We hope to see all of Louths innovative social enterprise projects apply to be part of this excellent funding initiative in 2019. The fund is now open for applications from social enterprises until 25th January 2019. Further details are available on www.socialinnovation.ie Singapores Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli and the Netherlands Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Sigrid Kaag signed an agreement to enhance cooperation on environmental and water management. Both countries want to stimulate new technologies that contribute to a fully circular economy without waste. The signing ceremony took place at innovation hub Prodock of the Port of Amsterdam on 21 November. It was witnessed by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Singapore president Halimah Yacob, who is in The Netherlands for a two-day state visit. Minister Kaag offerted to explore circular concepts together On the occasion of the signing Dutch minister Kaag memorised the shared values and shared interests of both countries, especially mentioning the area of water, entrepreneurship and innovation. According to Kaag both countries are regional gateways. "That has generated prosperity and knowledge. It helps us now to co-create solutions to the challenges of the 21st century". Kaag praised the achievement by Singapore to meet its water needs independently, and the development of plans on urban agriculture and circular economy. "The Netherlands wants to share by combining the best brains and letting start-ups and scale-ups work together towards a circular economy." "Let us make waste a thing of the past and let a house have carbon-neutral heating", she said. Minister Masagos Zulkifli explained Singapore's ambition to maximise resource efficiency and minimise waste. Enormous potential to share practises Singapores minister Masagos Zulkifli on his turn confirmed the mutual challenges for both countries and the need for transitions in the field of waste and energy to make cities sustainable in the long term. Zulkifli explained that Singapore has closed its water cycle, reusing waste water. We are now changing our attention to the waste loop, he said, mentioning the Tuas nexus treatment plant that will be based on an integrated process to treat waste water and to convert the sludge into energy. We are keen to partner with international businesses to share solutions and technologies in Singapores transition towards a circular economy Zulkifli said. There is immense untapped potential in the sharing of best practices, and cross-border transfer of knowledge and technologies. President Yacob and King Willem-Alexander at the mobile van of Waternet to demonstrate the concept of a decentralised water system to citizens. Decentralized water system At the innovation hub Prodock both Singapore President Yacob and Dutch King Willem-Alexander were shown some examples of smart solutions under development at the hub. Amsterdam water utility Waternet showed its decentralised water system to be installed in 8,000 homes in a new built city district on a reclaimed land. The houses will have two separated water systems: the grey water from the shower and washing machines of which the heat will be recovered; and the black water from vacuum toilets that will be collected locally for digestion into biogas. Another development shown by Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) at Prodock, was the Roboat, an autonomous vessels for the Amsterdam inner city canals. Both president and king could see the first scaled prototypes that are already operational in the canals to gain experienced with the autonomous collection household waste transport of people, distribution of food/goods, self-assembly of water-infrastructures (such as temporary bridges) and monitoring of water quality. Read also on this website EWTW2018: Six prominent water technology hubs gather at WaterCampus Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, 25 September 2018 Singapore International Water Week 2018: ReCirc Singapore explores joint r&d and business agenda on engineering zero waste systems, 17 July 2018 Salutions Collab joins Urban Farming Partners initiative on irrigation issues, 7 May 2018 Singapore International Water Week 2016: Waternet Amsterdam and PUB Singapore enter into a partnership for knowledge sharing, 12 July 2016 More information Prodock Amsterdam, the Netherlands +31 20 523 4700 www.prodock.nl Waternet Amsterdam, the Nether;ands +31 889 39 4000 www.waternet.nl/en Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) Amsterdam, the Netherlands +31 20 665 1350 www.ams-institute.org Video by MIT Senseable City Lab showing special digitalised images of a trip through Amsterdams canals. The images are part of the Roboat project that develops fully automated vessels to navigation through the inner citys waterways transporting people or collecting solid waste. The Top10 Dynamic Entrepreneurs celebrate Australias leading entrepreneurs in the start-up space, recognising the brightest talents in the industry. Four esteemed judges worked hard to choose the Top10 from nominations provided; Amanda Price from KPMG, Anthony Sochan from Think & Grow, Nicola Farrell from muru-D and Terry Paule from Findex. All four judges are experts in the startup space and are renowned for their business acumen. The nominations were of a very high standard and we thank all our nominees for taking the time to apply. The judges had a tough task of choosing the Top10. We are proud to announce this years Top10 Dynamic Entrepreneurs: 1. Julie Mathers, Founder, Flora & Fauna I wanted to change the way we shop. Retailers have not focused on running a responsible business for too long and that includes what products are sold, how they are sourced, what team members are paid, how they are recruited, transparency and environmental impact. Customers have not been empowered or educated to make the best decisions for them. I wanted to change this and that was the reason I started Flora & Fauna. We are a business centred on ethics and values and we put purpose before profit. We are a proud BCorp and we look at everything we do with an aim to be better and to make a difference. 2. Ben Thompson, Co-founder, Employment Hero Nearly two decades ago, as an employment lawyer, I witnessed how difficult it was for SMEs to grow their business with confidence because they struggled to stay compliant with Australian employment laws. I spent years helping SMEs become compliant so they could offer more quality employment opportunities within society. After many years working as a lawyer I realised that the problem I was trying to solve was massive (in August 2018 the Fair Work Ombudsman reported that 74% of SMEs audited in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane were non-compliant) and that solving it required a very different approach. The best way to help SMEs and their employees at a meaningful scale was to create a technology platform that completely automated HR and payroll compliance. Employment Hero is such a platform. 3. Tom Amos, Co-founder, Sidekicker I had the idea for Sidekicker while working at Deloitte fresh out of Uni, with the idea that hiring temporary staff should be as simple and easy as ordering an Uber. There was currently no one in Australia who had digitalised the traditional phone and email process of recruiting temps. Sidekicker is now the fastest way to hire temporary staff, taking less than 30 seconds to post a job, 90% of jobs are filled in under an hour. 4. David Freeman , Founder, H2coco While in New York City in 2008, after a hot Bikram yoga session I was given a fresh coconut by the teacher which went down a treat. The teacher explained the health bene ts but said these words, its just so hard to open. That lightbulb moment was the catalyst to starting H2coco at a time when packaged coconut water didnt exist in Australia or New Zealand. Established as an authentic, progressive, on-trend lifestyle brand, H2coco is targeted towards high socio-economic 18-35 year olds, who more than any prior generation, are driving demand for better for you food and beverage options. Since launch, H2coco has maintained market leadership across various channels and has grown to be the number one coconut water brand in Australia and leader in the better for you category. 5. Anna Wright, Original Founder, BindiMaps I want to make the world a better place for everyone, but especially for people with a vision impairment. BindiMaps is an information and navigation smart phone app for internal spaces that is optimized for people with a vision impairment. 6. *Adrian Johnstone, Co-Founder, Practifi Practifi was crafted from an in-depth understanding of the product and compliance constraints within which the industry operates to offer a platform solution that the wealth management industry can rely on. We created Practifi not only to provide a technological solution to help advice rms keep up with the industrys changing demands, but to also partner with every client to support their growth ambitions. Much more than your average CRM, Practifi provides the ecosystem and support to ensure every advice rm ful lls their growth potential. 7. *Alex Badran & Mario Hasanakos, Co-Founders, Spriggy (Rivva Pty Ltd) We were always inspired by the idea that technology could help people be self-sufficient and better. Our collective experiences within technology, nance and academia triggered a fascination with the intersection of technology, nance and education. A product that helped improve the issues we saw in nance was appealing, particularly when we had both seen the way nancial services actually operated. We had just spent the last seven years coming out of the nancial crisis, caused by reckless banks poorly managing their customers money and we felt this was unlikely to change anytime soon. We fell in love with the idea that we could build an alternative to a bank that replaced all the daily tools you used, but helped you get happier about money along the way. 8. * Sabri Suby, Founder, King Kong I got into sales and marketing as a teenager and quickly found my niche. I spent a number of years honing my craft in London, becoming the top salesperson at the company. After returning back to Australia, and prior to starting King Kong, I ran and sold a number of successful businesses alongside a few failed ventures, all in the digital space. Customer acquisition has always been my responsibility. Many times in my businesses I was quoted for the types of digital marketing services King Kong now offers and all quotes came back in ridiculous tens of thousands of dollar ranges for simple things like banner ads. I realised no digital agency in Australia would talk about what the return on investment would be for a business. 9. *Tim Moylan, Co-Founder, Shootsta The video industry has needed a shake-up for a long time now. We started Shootsta because we saw a niche in the market where corporate content was expensive and time-consuming. We wanted to change the way people produced content and release the agency from being the centre point of all video content. Our goal was to make video production more accessible by giving people the option to create good quality content themselves. Everyone has the ability to shoot content these days, so we designed a camera kit that had all the necessary items that would allow our clients to shoot their own videos, and with some training and our good quality gear we would take the post-production headache away from them by branding their video and returning it to them in 24 hours. 10. Sean McCreanor, C0-Founder, Assignar I own a construction sub-contracting business with over 200 employees in Sydney, AU. When I went out to market to look for a solution for my business and couldnt find one, being an old IT/ tech guy, I built the original platform and put it into my company. *6,7,8, 9 all ranked the same. When starting a business, its always exciting to talk about your ideas and plan how youll put them into action. When it comes to the legal side of it, not so much. Its understandable why people dont want to preoccupy themselves with making sure every legal requirement has been met, but if anything falls through the cracks then its on you. In this article well discuss the common traps new business owners fall into and how tackles these early on so that you can spend more time on the stuff that matters to you. Not registering it the right way Its important to understand what you want to register your business as. You may have been told that you can choose to be a sole trader, partnership or company, but many people underestimate just how different they are. Your business will have different reporting requirements, protections and tax obligations depending on how you register. Its also not the easiest process to alternate between the structures. If you decide later on to change your business structure, it can be a time-consuming and costly process. The most common business structure is a sole trader. This is less expensive and less complex that registering a company. Conversely, sole traders are liable for all their businesss debts and are taxed within their individual income. To be a sole trader, you have to register for an Australian Business Number (ABN) and a business name if you choose not to trade under your individual name. A partnership brings other people into your business, and has to register for a separate Tax File Number (TFN) than the partners involved. To establish a partnership, the partners need to have a partnership agreement. A partnership agreement provides security to both partners by outlining how the business will work, how profits will be distributed, termination and how a dispute will be handled. Once a partnership has been established, both partners will be liable for any debts. A company is an entirely different beast. A company pays tax under corporate tax rates. However, directors of a company are not ordinarily held liable for company debts. A company is considered a separate entity from those who run it and is identified by both an ABN and an Australian Company Number (ACN). Different to sole traders and partnerships, companies have reporting requirements to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Companies also have more financial reporting requirements, many of which are available on public record. Not protecting your Intellectual Property Depending on what your business does, intellectual property can form a significant part of its value. People come up with ideas all the time, so if your business is based on an idea or something that youve invented its important to have a patent. Similarly, business names, logos and slogans can also be protected by registering a trademark. If you dont have these protections, it may be difficult to enforce your intellectual property rights. Not having adequate insurance Things go wrong sometimes, without it being anyones fault. Thats especially true for businesses. Your insurance needs will differ depending on what your business does. The most common forms of business insurance include public liability, professional indemnity, contents, workers compensation, and others. Its likely that you will need a combination of these, if not more. Businesses often find themselves in trouble when something happens and their insurance policy doesnt provide enough to cover their losses. Not understanding your tax obligations Although weve already covered the different business structures, its important to have a comprehensive understanding of your tax requirements. The taxes involved in running a business can be individual, company and also can include other taxes such as GST, Payroll Tax, PAYG and others. Further, businesses which have registered for GST (those that make over $75,000 per annum) need to lodge Business Activity Statements (BAS) with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) . These are due 4 times per year, and there are penalties for those who lodge them late or not at all. Jackie Olling is the Content Manager at LawPath and manages the content team. The reliance on contingent workers by businesses of all shapes and sizes has grown substantially over the past several years, leading to a rise in freelancing among professionals from all types of industry sectors. Indeed, the way many people choose to work today is changing, thanks in part to the proliferation of new technology, changing business demands, growing specialisation and new expectations around work flexibility. So it should come as little surprise that an increasing number of skilled professionals are viewing freelancing as a viable option for ongoing work. For businesses, the ready availability of professional freelancers means they can immediately tap into additional skills or capacity they may not have the resources to keep internally on a full-time basis. The acceptance and growing desirability of this new way of working is evident in the number of large enterprises getting work done via online freelancing marketplaces. For example, more than 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies now use Freelancer.com to get work done. This is great news for skilled professionals who decide to work in a more flexible way by freelancing online. Here are some ways freelancers can make the most of their decision to freelance and win more work with potential employers: 1) Show you know the job Make it easy for potential clients to choose you for the job by showing that you actually understand what they are after. Unique projects need unique proposals. So, when pitching for a job, freelancers should take the time to work out precisely what the employer wants and tailor your response accordingly. 2) Polish your pitch When it comes time to pitch for a job, it should not be a one-size-fits all approach. Freelancers should take the time to craft a personalised submission that speaks directly to the needs and requirements of the potential client, establishes credibility by demonstrated past successes and shows an innate understanding of the skills field within which the job sits 3) Display your talent Freelancers are often judged on the strength of their existing body of work. Creating a strong and complete online freelancingprofile with an easily accessible showcase of existing work is an essential factor in winning over potential clients. Additionally, a prominent history of positive reviews and ratings by previous employers can encourage potential clients to hire a particular freelancer. 4) Know your market One of the best ways to build up a strong freelancing practice is to branch out into other areas that may overlap with an existing skill-set. Doing some research to work out precisely what it is that clients in particular segments of the market are looking for can greatly improve the chances of a bid hitting the spot. 5) Build new skills Strategic upskilling can be another effective and targeted way to branch out into different areas that may be underserviced and improve the chances of winning new work with new clients. A good way to begin this process is to look at new skills that may be tangentially related to an existing skill-set and area of work. Leon Spencer is Director of Communications at Freelancer.com, the worlds largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplaces by total number of users and jobs posted. Europe: a work in progress political integration and economic convergence in Monetary Union Speech by Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the Banking and Corporate evening organised by the Hauptverwaltung in Bayern der Deutschen Bundesbank, Munich, 22 November 2018 Ladies and gentlemen, Europe has no problem with identifying the issues it faces; it has a problem with implementing solutions. Many of the weaknesses and shortcomings of the European framework have long been known. And the measures required to address these issues have repeatedly been discussed for some time now. Unfortunately, national interests and complacency have consistently dampened the momentum that Europe needs to become a true Economic and Monetary Union. Electoral machinations extending to the regional level and rising populism have recently added to the problem. The latest proposal was in June. At a meeting in Meseburg Palace, the leaders of France and Germany issued a joint declaration in which they stated their objective to strengthen and deepen the euro area further, and make it a genuine economic union. Their statement that sharing the same currency entails specific needs in terms of economic coordination and integration[1] is correct and it is something that has long been known. As far back as 1970, the committee of experts chaired by the then Luxembourg Prime Minister Pierre Werner, which drew up the first meaningful plan for a European monetary union, stressed that insufficient economic convergence and the absence of a common fiscal policy would give rise to the need for greater economic policy coordination. Later proposals, including the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, unfortunately failed to sufficiently tackle the inherent tensions of a currency without a state. The spirit of Meseberg stems from the original European idea and the pledge of prosperity that brought the single currency into being: the euro benefits Member States. They profit from having a credible and stable currency and a larger, competitive market. But the crisis demonstrated that the euro area is susceptible to negative shocks and that greater economic and political convergence is needed. Today, I would like to focus on three areas in which it is vital to make progress. First, we have to more actively pursue fiscal and structural reforms. Second, we need to further reduce risks and fragmentation in the financial sector. And third, we must decisively strengthen the institutional architecture of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Structural reforms and fiscal policy Unlike countries that have their own currency, euro area members cannot use the exchange rate to tackle asymmetric shocks. Instead, they must undertake structural adjustments to ensure that their economies are competitive and resilient. If some Member States adjust more slowly than others, economic differences may become permanent. And to the extent that this endangers the effectiveness of monetary policy and the cohesion of the Union, it has potentially damaging consequences for all Member States. It is thus vital that Member States push ahead with structural reforms to make labour and product markets more flexible, thereby enabling the factors of production to move more quickly between sectors. To this end, national reform requirements are determined in the context of the European semester with a view to strengthening the coordination of economic policies at the EU level. Country-specific recommendations need to be implemented in the interests of all parties to avoid persistent imbalances. But progress in implementing the reforms has been slow. The European Commission concluded that the overwhelming majority meaning more than 90% of country-specific recommendations had only been implemented to some or a limited extent in 2017, similar to the previous year.[2] The European Commission suggests supporting countries reform efforts through the EU budget. In principle, this could create positive incentives to implement reforms. However, for that to work in practice, the Commission proposal would need to be significantly strengthened in three ways. First, reforms should be selected on the basis of their implications for macroeconomic prospects. Second, the funding should be distributed on the basis of a quality assessment rather than in proportion to a countrys entitlement to a slice of the pie. Third, powerful clawback mechanisms should be built in so that funds could be recuperated if reforms are reversed.[3] The implementation of structural reforms is only one of the factors that helps strengthen the resilience of Member States. Another factor is sound fiscal policy. Here common fiscal rules are important to ensure that Member States do not take on excessive levels of debt, because low levels of debt and larger buffers give countries greater fiscal space to mitigate economic downturns. Aggregate debt and deficit ratios in the euro area are currently lower than those in any other major economy, which demonstrates that our common fiscal rules are having a certain effect. But the rules have repeatedly been called into question in recent months, in particular by countries with high levels of debt. To this one can only say that consistently breaching the rules will not only make them less effective in the long run, it could also worsen financing conditions for some or all Member States. It is thus imperative that countries, especially those with the highest debt levels, use the ongoing expansion to build up fiscal buffers and reduce debt. This is not only crucial to strengthen resilience, it is also a precondition for strengthening the solidarity between Member States in times of crisis. As such, the Meseburg declaration represents a turning point, as the German government is now recognising the need, in principle, for a stabilisation facility at the European level. The recent proposal for an EU unemployment insurance scheme put forward by the German finance minister, Olaf Scholz, is also to be welcomed. The fund, which the Member States would pay into, would grant loans to particularly crisis-stricken social security systems, without any transfer payments taking place. In addition, the European Commission is proposing a European investment stabilisation function to mitigate large asymmetric shocks in the euro area. And a few days ago, France and Germany agreed on a proposal for a limited euro area budget by 2021. Two elements are essential for the effectiveness of such instruments. First, a central fiscal capacity should be designed to increase the euro areas ability to counter severe area-wide recessions, thereby supporting monetary policy. Second, it should set appropriate incentives for sound fiscal and economic policymaking. On both counts, the proposals made so far fall short. They are limited in size and designed to counter asymmetric shocks. However, asymmetric shocks are extremely rare, and there is a lack of analytical concepts and normative answers to help distinguish between difficulties affecting a country through no fault of its own (bad luck) and those that are the result of the wrong economic policy choices (bad policies). Whats more, existing EU Treaty provisions already allow for financial assistance to a Member State threatened with severe difficulties.[4] In addition, the proposals do not sufficiently counteract moral hazard. The recent Franco-German proposal takes some of these issues into account, for example by suggesting that the euro area budget only be made available to countries that fully respect the European framework, including the fiscal rules. It also explicitly states the aim of fostering competitiveness and economic convergence. At the same time, any attempt to set up an intergovernmental decision-making structure to manage a federal sub-budget is likely to be difficult to implement in practice, and the effectiveness of a financial transaction tax as the central source of funding is overrated. However, I dont want to pick too many holes in the idea indeed, I warmly welcome the fact that the European debate is picking up speed again. Reducing risks and fragmentation in the financial sector Let me now turn to the second set of challenges faced by the euro area: risks in the financial sector. The financial crisis demonstrated that an unstable and highly fragmented financial sector represents an existential threat to Monetary Union. Europe has translated key lessons of the crisis into a more solid framework by establishing the banking union. The euro areas largest banks are now supervised at the EU level and their failure is addressed centrally. The improved regulatory and supervisory framework has allowed considerable progress to be made in terms of reducing risks. The Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of large banks has increased from 9.7% in 2008 to over 14% today. Leverage ratios have risen from 3.7% to 5.8%. And banks have much more stable liquidity and funding. At the same time, insufficient progress has been made in creating a European banking market. Euro area banks largely operate in their home markets, leading to overcapacity and making the Union more susceptible to fragmentation. Fragmentation along national lines and overcapacity are also visible at the aggregate European level if we compare some key figures for the sector with those of other currency areas. From 2013 to 2017, the average return on equity for the euro area banking sector was 4.5%, while it was 9% in the United States. Over the same period, European banks had a cost/income ratio of 69%, while that of US banks was just 60%. The euro area had 44 bank branches for every 100,000 inhabitants, almost twice as many as in the United States, which had 26. In the euro area, only 52% of banks total assets are publicly traded, while the figure is close to 80% in the United States.[5] An integrated financial market offers risk-sharing mechanisms that can be used to mitigate country-specific shocks. Banks that have more geographically diversified loan and deposit portfolios are more resilient to local shocks and can keep their lending activity more stable. We must hence continue enhancing the conditions for cross-border banking in the euro area. The first step is to reduce the legacy non-performing loans on banks balance sheets which have hampered cross-border lending and M&A transactions over the past few years.[6] That would then pave the way for the completion of the banking union, which we need to reinforce in order to boost confidence in the resilience of the whole financial sector. Financial market fragmentation may be exacerbated by perceived or actual differences between the national safety nets for banks which undermine the banks capability and willingness to expand their cross-border activities. The introduction of a common and credible fund for the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) would inspire confidence that banks can be resolved more efficiently, regardless of their location. Likewise, the creation of a European deposit insurance scheme (EDIS) would enhance depositor confidence throughout the euro area and create a level playing field for banks. The main benefit of EDIS is that it will generate confidence in the financial system as a whole. Provided that the standards on minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL), total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) or other risk reduction measures are not eroded, EDIS will probably never be deployed at all. At the same time, we should not fail to mention that especially smaller institutions have next to no experience in accessing capital market funding. This makes it more difficult to rigorously apply the MREL requirements. Moreover, the introduction of such security mechanisms at European level could give national governments less incentive to restrict the free flow of capital and liquidity; this would in turn promote cross-border activity. But EDIS must be incentive-compatible. Its introduction must not result in any retrospective sharing of the burden of legacy non-performing loans. And in order to avoid systematic transfers between banking sectors, the banks contributions to the fund should be structured to reflect banks risk appetites. Strengthening the institutional architecture of Economic and Monetary Union These economic and fiscal reforms are essential in order to make the euro area more resilient. However, they cannot fully prevent the risk of severe economic shocks. In the future too, effective crisis management will be indispensable to protect the Member States from serious imbalances. In this respect, I am very much in favour of strengthening the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). However, the reorientation of the ESM should be coupled with its integration into EU law. If the ESM were to remain an intergovernmental institution, any transfer of tasks must be consistent with the allocation of responsibilities between the EU and its Member States as laid down in EU law, as a transfer of powers from the European level (European Commission) to the intergovernmental level (ESM) would amount to a throwback to national models and self-interests. By analogy, this also applies to a Euro area budget. We also need more clarity with regard to the political framework for Monetary Union. We must identify problems with countries debt sustainability at an earlier stage. The ESM needs to be able to distinguish between liquidity and solvency problems early on.[7] That would allow us to pick up the can early rather than kicking it down the road. Similarly, we need to do more to break the bank-sovereign nexus. We need regulatory instruments to curb the excessive accumulation of sovereign risks on bank balance sheets without triggering market disruptions. In that sense, ensuring the adequate regulatory treatment of sovereign risk and facilitating orderly debt restructuring are two sides of the same coin. We should be aware that market-imposed discipline often comes suddenly, creates cliff-edge effects and can have negative consequences for financial stability. The recent Franco-German proposal to introduce single-limb collective action clauses and moves to align the roles of the ESM and the International Monetary Fund in debt restructuring negotiations are sensible first steps towards creating a more reliable framework for orderly debt restructuring.[8] This brings me to my final point: democratic control. Progress in completing Economic and Monetary Union needs to evolve in lock-step with appropriate democratic control to meet the test of constitutionality. What matters is that liability and control are aligned. When taxpayers money is involved at European level, a European control function is called for. Any confusion over the assignment of responsibilities and accountability arrangements threatens the efficiency and legitimacy of European measures. The task is complicated by the particular architecture of Economic and Monetary Union. The distinction between the euro area and the EU means that it is more difficult to fully tailor accountability to euro area tasks. In particular, the European Parliament does not sit in euro area composition when discussing euro area matters. And of course it leaves a sour taste when representatives of countries that neither belong to the euro area, nor will remain in the EU in the long term, actively fill central positions in the European Parliament or its committees. At the same time, responsibilities and accountability also need to be proportionate in areas of shared competence between the EU and Member States. This holds true for the ESM and for fiscal policies, where the situation is more complex and blurred. The ESM, for example, was created on the basis of intergovernmental arrangements and for tasks where the EU only has a coordination role, and where the European Parliament is not yet a counterpart in terms of accountability. We need to strike a balance here. On the one hand, accountability should be assigned to national parliaments for decisions that are fully in the hands of national authorities. On the other hand, the ESM needs to be equipped with swift and credible decision-making procedures. This will never be fully possible in an intergovernmental setting that is hampered by national vetoes and operates outside the constitutional safeguards of the acquis. Against this backdrop, the ESM should be turned into a body that is governed by EU law and is accountable to the European Parliament. This would ensure that the ESM is better placed to act in the sole interest of the euro area. A similar logic, necessitating Treaty change, must be applied in any further discussions regarding a euro area fiscal capacity and the possible introduction of an EU investment facility or a European finance minister. If a euro area budget is established, it should be part of an ongoing debate on a euro area finance ministry and a euro area composition of the European Parliament. We should avoid undermining established Union methods. This also holds true for parallel financial structures aiming to bring separate funds under the same umbrella, in case they would hamper the efficiency of established federal institutions. We should neither succumb to the appeal of relying on secondary legislation in areas where primary law is unambiguous, nor use semantic tricks to subjugate the letter and spirit of the Treaty to secondary legislation. The central bank must keep its distance from politics rather than constantly pushing its way into new fields of action under cover of financial stability. Conclusions The euro area is a special construct. 19 countries share a common currency, but responsibility for their economic and fiscal policies still lies in national hands. Convergence in these areas is, however, crucial for the success of Monetary Union. So it is imperative for all Member States to adhere to the common rules. The resilience of the euro hinges on the implementation of the necessary economic and fiscal reforms. And further steps must be taken to boost private and public risk-sharing. At the same time, as we progress towards completing Economic and Monetary Union, we should keep in mind two principles that are at the heart of effective policy in a democratic society. First, liability and control must be aligned, with important decisions taken only by those who will bear their consequences. Second, the discharge of democratic control must lie at the level at which policy decisions are taken. Given the current state of our Economic and Monetary Union, further efforts to deepen it through political and economic convergence are clearly indispensable. California Super Fire Special Literally choking on smoke, radio host Maria Gilardin reports from fire-struck Northern California. Washington Post meteorologist Jason Samenow on climate & fire. Libbe HaLevy tips Woolsey fire at nuclear lab site 30 miles from LA. Wildfire experts Mark Cochrane, John Betts, & firefighter Lou Paulson. Radio Ecoshock 181121 Listen to or download this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB) ********************************************************************************************************** PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO HELP SUPPORT RADIO ECOSHOCK Radio Ecoshock is a public service, getting out the news and science of climate change and other environmental threats. I pour my life into this show, hoping it will help. The Radio Ecoshock bank account is getting low. I need your help to keep going. The wonderful folks who donate $10 a month are paying the phone and internet bills. But I have other costs, so please subscribe with a monthly donation, or send what you can. Its easy on this page. We have a great opportunity here to discover new science and get it out to the whole world free of charge by syndicated radio, podcast, and the internet. I hope you will help if you can. Alex *************************************************************************************************************** CLIMATE TRAGEDY STRIKE CALIFORNIA The savage wildfires in California became a national tragedy, and a global worry. Its still early days, but we have the potential for hundreds dead in these strange November mega-fires. They struck after a long-standing drought, pumped up by climate change, withered vegetation and killed 129 million trees in the State. This fire reporting is stirring up my own unresolved angst about fires near my home in British Columbia Canada over the past three summers. Like when I went out on the porch and saw a fire coming unannounced over the crest of the hill right opposite us. That makes a man feel nervous. I almost wept on hearing the situation in California. There could be hundreds dead. Tens of thousands of people are temporarily homeless, and it sounds likely maybe 5,000 of them will remain homeless. Any facilities in nearby Oroville and Chico California have overflowed. Those who made it out by car are living in their cars, whole families. They are the lucky ones. Others are in tents or under tarpaulins. As the Sacramento Bee reports: Big picture, we have 6,000, possibly 7,000 households who have been displaced and who realistically dont stand a chance of finding housing again in Butte County, county housing official Mayer said. I dont even know if these households can be absorbed in California. Maria Gilardin tells us the city of Paradise, population around 27,000, was mostly poor people. Few bought or could afford fire insurance. Even if they had it, the insurance would not be enough to rebuild. That is because these city fires erupt with so many toxic chemicals from our burning homes and cars. When fire torched homes in Redwood Valley last year, people returning were required to clean up the soil around the homes, some going two feet deep over the whole lot. Once it burns, a neighborhood begins to sound like a super-fund site. That is the toxic way we live now. Lurking behind all these fires, unseasonably late, driven by hot Santa Anna winds, moving faster than cars, is the big one: climate change. I dont need to phone up more scientists to get the facts. Back in 2013 I posted my first show. It was called The Age of Superfires. Two years later I collected 3 key fire science interviews for a new program. Since then Ive interviewed at least a dozen fire experts and climate scientists. It all adds up, and for Western North America, and apparently now for Scandinavia, Russia and Australia, super-fires are the new normal. Perhaps mega-fires seem distant to you. Maybe youve been flooded out or loaded with snow instead. But we know the smoke will travel thousands of miles, a new wave of carbon has been released from the trees to the sky, and the worlds fifth largest economy has been rocked by a fearful new reality. Earth has become an unstable and more risky place to live. Thats where we have come, in our gas cars, our oil machines, our coal power. Climate change has arrived. It has many frightening faces, and one is fire. From Mendocino County, dont miss my talk with Maria Gilardin, recorded November 14th, 2018. In the interview, Maria gives us a snapshot of what those great forests of Northern California looked like when the first Spanish explorers came. She talks about how the original native people had their own way of forest management and fire control. Now Maria has just released her recordings from 1996, as she documents the Native American approach to forests in that area. Radio Producer Maria Gilardin Just posted! Here is Maria Gilardins description of this timely mini-documentary. Fire and the Underground Life in the Forest with Peter Wohlleben and Suzanne Simard As California tries to come to terms with the largest and deadliest fires of 2018, attention falls on forests. Logging companies want more clear-cuts. Donald Trump says the forest floor should be cleaned with rakes. Indigenous elders and visionary foresters say that nobody is asking the trees what they want and need. Especially now as the heat is rising, water becomes scarce and winds are fiercer. Peter Wohlleben is the author of: The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World. He is a German forester who became disenchanted by the technologies he was expected to employ. He now manages a 4000 year old beech tree forest in Germany. He was interviewed by Steve Paikin on The Agenda in October, 2016. Wohlleben referred to research by colleagues and scientists that he benefited from. Important among them is Suzanne Simard, professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia. She has tested theories about how trees communicate with other trees. Simard also helped identify something called a hub tree, or mother tree. Mother trees are the largest trees in forests that act as central hubs for vast below-ground mycorrhizal networks. Get that new TUC Radio program here. You can find all of Marias programs on TUC radio right here on her web page. Sign up for her podcast, or order from her extensive back catalog (going back to the 1990s). Listen to or download this 25 minute Radio Ecoshock interview with Maria Gilardin in CD Quality or Lo-Fi JASON SAMENOW FROM THE WASHINGTON POST After his career at the EPA, meteorologist Jason Samenow leads the Capital Weather Gang at the Washington Post. He is one of the most influential climate-aware weather journalists in the United States. We steal a few minutes from one of Americas busiest weather desks, to talk about how climate influenced the California fires. I appreciate Jason sharing his time with us. Jason Samenow, Washington Post Weather Editor Listen to or download this 10 minute Radio Ecoshock interview with Jason Samenow in CD Quality (only) I was inspired to call Jason following this great article in the Post: The weather and climate behind the California infernos that wrecked Paradise and torched Malibu. LIBBE HALEVY COVERS THE NUCLEAR RISK BEHIND A CALIFORNIA FIRE Another long-time radio host works tirelessly to get the truth out. Shes Libbe Halevy, and shes got the best regular program on nuclear danger in America. I dont say that lightly. Its the best. I check it out every week. The show is called Nuclear Hotseat. You can get Libbes show from her web site, or listen on some Pacifica radio stations. Libbe is a survivor of radiation from the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania. Check out her book about that here. This week Libbe was quick to produce this NUCLEAR FIRE SPECIAL: CAs deadly Woolsey fire started at Santa Susan Field Labs, site of the infamous 1959 nuclear meltdown; has radioactive contamination from site been dispersed in smoke, ash? Interviews w/Physicians for Social Responsibilitys Denise Duffield, Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds.org, San Onofre Safetys Donna Gilmore, & local Mom/activist Melissa Bumstead on this weeks Nuclear Hotseat with host Libbe HaLevy. In that show, Arnie Gundersen tells listeners how to collect dust samples from their vacuum cleaners to help with citizen monitoring after the fire! You probably did not know Americas biggest reactor accident happened near LA in 1959. It was kept secret for 20 years, and only discovered by a team of students investigating. It turned up in archived notes from a former employee at the site, deposited at UCLA. You can find out more in this YouTube video L.A.s Secret Meltdown; Simi Valley, CA(1959)Largest Nuclear Incident in U.S. history. Physicians for Social Responsibility refute media claims that wildfire ash poses no radiation health problem. (When the announcement was made, there was no monitoring and no real assessment. Libbe Halevy continues: Southern Californias deadly Woolsey fire started at the exact site of a 1959 nuclear meltdown. How deadly and radioactive is the resulting smoke, and who can we trust to tell us the truth? Four experts who dont agree with the official line provided by the government and nuclear industry offer insights and personal experiences of the Santa Susana Field Lab, as well as a way to test for radiation in their homes on this weeks Nuclear Hotseat. Libbe points us to another key group: Committee to Bridge the Gap. Read their story Massive Woolsey Fire Began On Contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory as posted November 12, 2018. THE ECONOMIC HIT OF THE CALIFORNIA FIRES Lets think for a minute about what this fire means to the overall economy. As you heard from Maria, there is plenty of talk about equipment from California power companies starting these latest fires, the most deadly in the States history. There are signs that the Camp fire in Northern California, where the town of Paradise burned, began at a utility power line. CNN reports: PG&E disclosed in a regulatory filing earlier this week that it experienced an outage on a transmission line just 15 minutes before the Camp Fire broke out. The New York Times reported California Utility Customers May Be on Hook for Billions in Wildfire Damage. In Northern California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, PG&E, could go bankrupt. The lawsuits for damages could be billions of dollars more than the companys insurance. We learn from Libbe HaLevy that at 2:22 pm on Thursday, just two minutes before the Woolsey fire was spotted at the Santa Susana nuclear site, the Chatsworth substation, owned by Southern California Edison, had a power outage incident. California Edison and PG&E were already saved once by legislation signed by Governor Jerry Brown this September. That law let the utilities pass fire damaged on to customers, and it was passed to prop up the state electric grid after more than 10 billion dollars in damages from the previous record fires in 2017. The new law does not cover 2018 damages, which are expected to go way over the previous $10 billion. Just imagine all those multi-million dollar mansions that burned in the canyons. The schools and hospitals burned out. Roads melted. Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated. A whole town burned over, possibly with hundreds dead. These fires of November 2018 are going to open a whole new chapter of costs, at a time when state and federal debt is already into the trillions. That is the start of a slow climate-driven collapse. Eventually, in some soon-coming year, we will be unable to pay to rebuild, to repair, to recover. Then, whole cities slip away, stumble, and we still have unheard of, staggering costs to transition our society away from fossil fuels, trying to save whatever is left.For now, the State of California has hinted they will bail out the two major utilities, again, just as Japan had to bail out the bankrupt Tokyo Electric Power Company after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. That is just the power companies. Countless thousands of Californians are now homeless, and only some of them will struggle back into housing. The social bill to support fire victims will be huge. Companies have been hard hit. At this time, some do not know where there employees and customers are. Some will require cleanup of toxic properties before they can start up. Others have no buildings or truck fleets left. Farms, including giant farms that partly feed the nation, were blackened. Orchards and timber were lost. The list is long. Of course, nobody will try to count the loss of the wild spaces and the things that lived in them. Or the gorgeous spiritual places that are now barren black spots. Fire is cruel. - EXCELLENT TWEET ON CALIFORNIA FIRES FROM DANIEL SWAIN If Northern California had received anywhere near the typical amount of autumn precipitation this year (around 4-5 in. of rain near #CampFire point of origin), explosive fire behavior & stunning tragedy in #Paradise would almost certainly not have occurred. (1/n) #CAfire #CAwx pic.twitter.com/2LBKjSVBMF Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) November 10, 2018 If Northern California had received anywhere near the typical amount of autumn precipitation this year (around 4-5 in. of rain near #CampFire point of origin), explosive fire behavior & stunning tragedy in #Paradise would almost certainly not have occurred. (1/n) Rainy season has started late this year in Californiaagain. While autumn precipitation isnt usually huge fraction of overall annual average, its hugely important to ecosystems & in bringing fire season-ending moisture. This yr, autumn precip was <20-30% of avg. #CAwx (2/n) Daniels thread on climate influence on fires in Calif is here: What is abundantly clear is that we have big, rapidly accelerating problemboth in California & elsewhere. And my point is not that it's all due to climate change. But we have to start having more nuanced conversations on societal risk. Clearly, status quo is not working. (17/n) Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) November 10, 2018 What is abundantly clear is that we have big, rapidly accelerating problemboth in California & elsewhere. And my point is not that its all due to climate change. But we have to start having more nuanced conversations on societal risk. Clearly, status quo is not working. (17/n) HEARING THE VOICES OF EXPERIENCE Later in the program we enter the radio time warp. I play 5 minutes from my 2013 show The Age of SuperFires. That sounds like what we are experiencing now. The interview is with a leader in the Silviculture Association here in British Columbia: John Betts. John doesnt pull any punches, and he was among the first to explain why we are entering the Age of Superfires for Radio Ecoshock listeners. I made a YouTube video of the full 26 minute interview, and you can watch that here. Next we hear a bit on the climate drivers of superfires, from Dr. Mark Cochrane, climate scientist and expert on wildfires and global climate change then at South Dakota State University. This comes from a teleconference held by Climate Nexis, and broadcast on Radio Ecoshock September 2nd, 2015. Dr. Mark Cochrane recently joined the faculty of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences (UMCES) Appalachian Laboratory. Mark is also a co-author of this paper published in Nature Communications: Climate-induced variations in global wildfire danger from 1979 to 2013. Dr.Mark Cochrane Finally I play a short clip from the firefighters. Captain (Retired) Lou Paulson was then President of the California Professional Firefighters. This is from the same Radio Ecoshock show, with some interviews originally recorded by Climate Nexis. Incredibly, the situation Paulson describes three years ago, would be right on the news today. Here are some of my notes from the Lou Paulson talk. He says the state is on fire, the West is on fire. Everyone is being trained to be a wildfire fire fighter, even the downtown San Francisco crew. This is the future. Local governments will become more stressed (while they are out fighting fires, maybe in N. Cal, there are still emergencies, or even fires, locally). Problems to fill capacity, sometimes have to call in International aid. He talks about high winds pre-heating fuel, and spotting fires across the fire lines; plants weakened by drought become part of the fuel. Now fire is becoming a year-round problem. Thats it for Radio Ecoshock this week. Let us remember those who lost so much in California in November 2018. Hear it as a warning for the future, and change away from the way of life that is burning through our time to come. Thank you for listening to Radio Ecoshock, and caring about our world. Did you make a donation? I seriously need your financial help at this time. PREVIOUS RADIO ECOSHOCK SHOWS ON WILDFIRES Original The Age of Super Fires Posted on May 2, 2013, by Radio Ecoshock The new age of super fires in N. America, Europe, Australia, Asia. Silviculturist John Betts explains strange unstoppable forest fires. Then Nicole Rycroft, Exec Dir of enviro group Canopy. Why they quit talks with industry, as logging ravages the Canadian Boreal forest. Plus MD Donald B. Louria says loss of faith in the future can kill. Radio Ecoshock 130501 1 hour. Listen to/Download the John Betts interview on super fires (24 minutes) in CD Quality or Lo-Fi World on Fire Posted on July 9, 2015, by Radio Ecoshock Wild fires from climate change cause still more warming. Three experts from American Academy for the Advancement of Science meeting February 19th recorded in Vancouver by Alex Smith. Michael Flannigan, U of Alberta on fire and climate. From UBC medical unit, Dr. Michael Brauer on health impacts and personal protection during smoke events. Tasmanias Fay Johnston estimation of global annual deaths from landscape fire smoke. Best of Radio Ecoshock replay from 120418 1 hour. You can download that here. - New Age of Super Fires Posted on July 16, 2015, by Radio Ecoshock Three key interviews on new role of fire during global warming. John Betts on super fires and what we can do. Tom Gower on science of burning north lands. Marc-Andre Parisien on mega-fires in Canadian North. As forest fires rage across the Western half of North America, Ive prepared a special show for your summer listening. Last week we heard 3 experts speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meet-up. This week Ive pulled three of our best Radio Ecoshock interviews on the new age of super fires. Burned Out Climate change and the Western wildfires: scientists and a firefighter talk latest. Plus NASAs Benjamin Cook on the decades-long drought coming to the American Southwest and Central Plains. Radio Ecoshock 150902 in CD Quality (56 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB) ONE MORE LINK TO EXPLORE RE THE CLIMATE/FIRE CONNECTION Scientists Find Strong Link Between Climate Change and Wildfires BY By Lauren Holland and Albert Kyi February 7, 2018 For years, scientists have suspected a number of causes for wildfires, but recent evidence from Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, published in 2016, suggests that human-caused climate change (anthropogenic climate change) is one of the primary causes of the increase in wildfires. [The recent evidence is: Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests by John T. Abatzogloua, and A. Park Williams 2016.] La Paz, Nov 22 (efe-epa).- The international airport in El Alto, located outside La Paz, was forced to temporarily close Thursday when a Peruvian Airlines plane blew a tire and ended up on its side, the Bolivian Airport Service (SABSA) said. The landing strip will be closed until 3:00 pm to "comply with international regulations, standards and protocols," SABSA said. The aircraft experienced problems and one of its rear tires burst, and the passengers had to be evacuated by SABSA personnel, Bolivian daily Pagina Siete reported. Photos and videos posted on social media show the airplane lying on its side on the landing strip, surrounded by the foam used to prevent fires in emergencies. The General Aeronautics Administration held a press conference to provide details about the accident, such as the origin of the flight and the number of passengers. The airport in El Alto, which serves the Bolivian capital, is one of the Andean nation's main aviation facilities and is at an altitude of 4,000 meters (13,114 feet). Tynwald rejects refugee motion Tynwald has rejected the possibility of accepting Syrian refugees on the Isle of Man by one vote. The Tynwald motion was unanimously backed by the upper chamber, but was defeated in the House of Keys. Daphne Caine MHK had called on politicians to investigate participating in the Syrian vulnerable persons resettlement scheme. Chief Minister Howard Quayle said donating funds to the UN mission in the country was the "most effective and efficient way" to help. Mrs Caine had asked members to set up a committee to look into the issue. AK Party-MHP alliance 'looks positive' urkey's ruling AK Party spokesman said that a possible coalition in the local elections with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) "is looking positive." After the meeting of President Erdogan and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli in the Presidential Complex, AK Party spokesman Omer Celik spoke to the media organs in capital Ankara. I can say that we are in a positive position for collaboration with MHP in the upcoming local elections, " stated Celik. Celik said deputy chairmen of the two political parties will gather in the upcoming days to present their reports to the party heads on the possible alliance in the local elections and then Erdogan and Bahceli will meet again. The spokesman also said AK Party will unveil its mayor candidates for Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, as well as for 40 other provinces on Saturday. "NOTHING WILL HARM THE SPIRIT OF THE ALLIANCE" Last month, Erdogan praised People's Alliance and said: "We see the People's Alliance as one of the most important gains of our country recently, and we want to carry it into the future." The president said they never did anything which will harm the spirit of the alliance, adding that his party will not be involved in any action against it. The Peoples Alliance -- formed early this year, ahead of June general elections -- includes the AK Party and MHP. US aircraft carriers are within range of Iran An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said that US bases in Afghanistan, the UAE and Qatar, and US aircraft carriers in the Gulf were within range of Iranian missiles. As tensions rise between Tehran and Washington, Iran got into a bind over US sanctions. Iranian administration tries to resist with threat expressions against US pressures. "THE MISSILES COULD HIT US BASES" They are within our reach and we can hit them if they (Americans) make a move, Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards airspace division, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Hajizadeh said the Guards had improved the precision of their missiles and specifically said they could hit the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Al Dhafra base in the United Arab Emirates and Kandahar base in Afghanistan that host U.S. forces. U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement on Irans nuclear programme in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. He said the deal was flawed because it did not include curbs on Irans development of ballistic missiles or its support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq. HARWELL, UK (November 22, 2018) - A new supercomputer designed to speed up research on two of the UK's most important battery research projects has been installed at University College London (UCL). Named Michael, after the UK's most famous battery scientist, Michael Faraday, the supercomputer will reach 265 teraflops at peak performance. Michael will flex its computing muscle to assist over 110 researchers focused on creating new models for battery systems and researching next-generation, solid-state batteries. The supercomputer offers much needed capacity to UK researchers who today are working to solve some of the thorniest problems in energy storage. The Faraday Institution, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the UK Government's Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, purchased the 1.6 million supercomputer. UK Research and Innovation Chief Executive, Professor Sir Mark Walport, said: "This new supercomputer will be a valuable resource for the UK's battery researchers, providing them with the insight necessary to improve battery performance and lifetime and reduce costs. "UK Research and Innovation recognises the importance of access to world-leading infrastructure for academia and industry, and that resources such as the Michael supercomputer are central to our mission of pushing the frontiers of human knowledge and delivering economic and societal impact." Dr Jacqueline Edge of Imperial College London, and project lead of the Faraday Institution's Multi-scale Modelling project, said: "Our team is excited to have access to this new high-performance computer, fully dedicated to accelerating our battery research. "This state-of-the-art facility will be crucial in accelerating the step-change improvements in the UK's battery modelling capability that our project is targeting. "Michael Faraday was one of the most impactful researchers of the UK's past. Michael is set to be a hugely productive virtual researcher in energy storage science in the 21st century." Developing more accurate simulations of batteries will give researchers and their industry partners the ability to design advanced batteries without the cost of creating numerous prototypes to test every new material, or new type and configuration of the cells that make up a battery pack. Simulations also offer valuable insight into how existing materials work, enabling scientists to identify the limiting processes and develop rational strategies to overcome them. Models for control will enable battery lifetime and performance to be improved and reduce the cost of existing and future packs. Of note to prospective owners of electric vehicles, improved computer simulations of battery performance will increase the rate at which improvements, for example, to vehicle cost, charging rates or range, are made to commercial models, accelerating the rate of mass-market adoption. Using Michael, researchers will routinely be able to run their simulations overnight, rather than having to wait, in some cases, weeks or even months, before being able to do so. As such, Michael will accelerate the research process and shorten the timescale over which advances can be made. The first challenges to be tackled by the team include the fast-charging of batteries, low temperature operation and thermal management of cells within battery packs. The new supercomputer will be exclusively dedicated to Faraday Institution projects. Around 85% of the available computing time initially has been allocated to researchers on the Multi-scale Modelling project, who will access the facility from UCL, Imperial College London, and five other universities in the UK. The aim of the Faraday Institution's battery modelling system project is to advance current computer models and develop design tools that can accurately predict the performance and lifetime of existing and future batteries. While computer models already exist from the atomic scale up to the dimensions of a battery pack, assessing processes that occur from nanoseconds to the years over which an electric vehicle operates, these models are not linked together and often lack the accuracy required for understanding the unique phenomena occurring within batteries. Michael is being housed alongside the EPSRC Hub for Materials and Molecular Modelling (known as Thomas). While the Faraday Institution's supercomputer will be on a separate platform, it will share the same architecture and software stack as Thomas, making it easier for researchers to move existing models and research over to the new platform. "One of the key legacies of the Faraday Institution will be in the area of capability development," said Neil Morris, CEO of the Faraday Institution. "Much of this initiative is focused on developing a pipeline of talent as we raise the next generation of battery scientists and engineers. But having the right facilities and infrastructure in place to enable and empower researchers is also key. Both initiatives will be pivotal in delivering our goal to make the UK the go-to place and world leader for battery technology research to ensure the country is well placed to take advantage of the future economic opportunities from this emerging technology." ### For more information on the Faraday Institution, visit faraday.ac.uk and follow @FaradayInst on Twitter. Powering Britain's battery revolution, the Faraday Institution is the UK's independent institute for electrochemical energy storage science and technology, supporting research, training, and analysis. Bringing together expertise from universities and industry, the Faraday Institution endeavours to make the UK the go-to place for the research and development of the manufacture and production of new electrical storage technologies for both the automotive and wider relevant sectors. The first phase of the Faraday Institution is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of UK Research and Innovation through the government's Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). Headquartered at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, the Faraday Institution is registered charity with an independent board of trustees. To learn more, faraday.ac.uk and follow @FaradayInst on Twitter. The 'Faraday Battery Challenge' is to develop and manufacture batteries for the electrification of vehicles - 246 million over four years - to help UK businesses seize the opportunities presented by the move to a low carbon economy. The challenge will be split into three elements: research, innovation, and scale-up. It is among the first of six investment areas announced by the government to be funded through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. EPSRC is the main funding body for engineering and physical sciences research in the UK. By investing in research and postgraduate training, we are building the knowledge and skills base needed to address the scientific and technological challenges facing the nation. Our portfolio covers a vast range of fields from healthcare technologies to structural engineering, manufacturing to mathematics, advanced materials to chemistry. The research we fund has impact across all sectors. It provides a platform for future UK prosperity by contributing to a healthy, connected, resilient, productive nation. Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund: The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund aims to bring together the UK's world leading research with business to meet the major industrial and societal challenges of our time. The fund was created to provide funding and support to UK businesses and researchers, part of the government's 4.7 billion increase in research and development over the next 4 years. It was designed to ensure that research and innovation takes centre stage in the Government's modern Industrial Strategy. It is run by UK Research and Innovation. UK Research and Innovation is a new body which works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. We aim to maximise the contribution of each of our component parts, working individually and collectively. We work with our many partners to benefit everyone through knowledge, talent and ideas. Operating across the whole of the UK with a combined budget of more than 6 billion, UK Research and Innovation brings together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and a new organisation, Research England. Probiotics are a multibillion-dollar industry with marketing claims of being an effective treatment for a multitude of ailments, including diarrhea. However, findings from a new study from the University of Calgary show the popular product has no effect on gastroenteritis, commonly yet erroneously called the stomach flu, in children. "We studied the effects of giving probiotics to hundreds of children whose parents brought them into emergency departments across the country suffering from vomiting and diarrhea," says Dr. Stephen Freedman, MD, pediatric emergency medicine physician with Alberta Health Services, holder of the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation Professorship in Child Health & Wellness and member of Cumming School of Medicine's Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute. "We found no evidence that probiotics had any effect on reducing symptoms, or helping with recovery." Freedman led a six-site Canadian study that included almost 900 children. He was also the co-principal investigator on a 10-site, concurrently conducted study in the United States, led by Dr. David Schnadower, MD that recruited almost 1,000 children. Findings from both studies will be published in the New England Journal of Medicine Thursday, November 22. "There were smaller trials that had shown promising results. We wanted to replicate these findings on a large scale to see whether the age of the patient, the type of infection, and the use of antibiotics or length of time a child had the illness would affect the response to probiotics," says Schnadower, MD, who conducted the research as a professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and is now a professor at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. "The findings in both studies were consistently negative regardless of how the data were analyzed." Researchers tested two commercially available brands of probiotics. Recruitment for the Canadian double-blind randomized study began in 2013. Children ranged in age from three to 48 months. Half of the children received probiotics while the other half received a placebo. "These findings, taken together, are very powerful. The findings show that children treated with probiotics have the exact same outcomes across a large range of symptoms, as those given placebo -- the probiotics had no effect," says Freedman, who is also a member of the O'Brien Institute for Public Health at the Cumming School of Medicine. "The results deliver a clear message that we need to question the role and benefits of probiotics for other health applications using large, patient oriented, rigorous clinical trials." Probiotics are generally considered safe to use. They are classified as food ingredients in Canada and can be sold as natural health products. As such, they do not require the same rigorous scientific testing that medications require, such as multiple clinical trials, in order to make beneficial claims. "Until now, most studies into the effects of probiotics have been small and industry funded," says Freedman. "In order to better serve families we need independent research to either prove or disprove the claims marketers are making on health care products." ### The Canadian research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The U.S. study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). An international study lead by University of Manchester scientists has discovered the identity of genes that predispose people to chronic kidney disease. The discovery is a major advance in understanding of the significantly under-diagnosed disorder which, if left undetected, can lead to failing kidneys that need dialysis or kidney transplantation. The discovery of 35 kidney genes is an important step forward to the future development of new diagnostic tests and treatments for the disease that affects around one in ten adults. The team, based in Poland, Australia and the UK publish the Kidney Research UK funded study in Nature Communications today. Lead researcher Professor Maciej Tomaszewski from The University of Manchester said: "Chronic kidney disease is known for its strong genetic component. "Our limited knowledge of its exact genetic mechanisms partly explains why progress in the development of new diagnostic tests and treatments of chronic kidney disease has been so slow. "The findings were made possible by using a state-of-the art technology known as "next-generation RNA sequencing" applied to one of the largest ever collections of human kidneys. "We hope that some of the kidney genes we discovered may become attractive targets for the development of future diagnostics and treatment for patients with chronic kidney disease." Co-author Professor Adrian Woolf from Manchester Children's Hospital and The Universality of Manchester said: "One of the genes - mucin-1- is especially interesting. "It makes a sticky protein called mucin that coats urinary tubes inside the kidney. Mutations of this gene have already been found in rare families with inherited kidney failure" Professor Fadi Charchar from Federation University Australia said: "We hope that early prediction by genetic testing even before the development of symptoms will in the future be the first line of defence against one of the world's top killers." "Early detection followed by treatment using kidney-protective medication or avoidance of drugs which can damage the kidneys is the key to healthier kidneys later in life." Director of research operations at Kidney Research UK, Elaine Davies said: "Nearly 2 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with moderate-severe CKD by their GP but it is estimated that a further one million people remain undiagnosed. We refer to CKD as a silent killer because it is common for it to have little or no symptoms until the consequences of the disease have taken hold. "The findings of this research are hugely important as they bring us a step closer to being able to understand, diagnose earlier and prevent kidney disease." ### NOTES FOR EDITORS Professor Maciej Tomaszewski is available for comment An embargoed copy of the paper Molecular insights into genome-wide association studies of chronic kidney disease-defining traits is available. For media enquiries contact: Mike Addelman Media Relations Officer Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health University of Manchester 0161 275 2111 07717 881567 New research disputes a long-held view that our earliest tool-bearing ancestors contributed to the demise of large mammals in Africa over the last several million years. Instead, the researchers argue that long-term environmental change drove the extinctions, mainly in the form of grassland expansion likely caused by falling atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels. Tyler Faith, curator of archaeology at the Natural History Museum of Utah and assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah, led the study. The research team also includes John Rowan from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Andrew Du from the University of Chicago, and Paul Koch from the University of California, Santa Cruz. The study is published today in the journal Science. "Despite decades of literature asserting that early hominins impacted ancient African faunas, there have been few attempts to actually test this scenario or to explore alternatives," Faith says. "We think our study is a major step towards understanding the depth of anthropogenic impacts on large mammal communities, and provides a convincing counter-argument to these long-held views about our early ancestors." To test for ancient hominin impacts, the researchers compiled a seven-million-year record of herbivore extinctions in eastern Africa, focusing on the very largest species, the so-called 'megaherbivores' (species over 2,000 lbs.) Though only five megaherbivores exist in Africa today, there was a much greater diversity in the past. For example, three-million-year-old 'Lucy' (Australopithecus afarensis) shared her woodland landscape with three giraffes, two rhinos, a hippo, and four elephant-like species at Hadar, Ethiopia. When and why these species disappeared has long been a mystery for archaeologists and paleontologists, despite the evolution of tool-using and meat-eating hominins getting most of the blame. "Our analyses show that there is a steady, long-term decline of megaherbivore diversity beginning around 4.6 million years ago. This extinction process kicks in over a million years before the very earliest evidence for human ancestors making tools or butchering animal carcasses and well before the appearance of any hominin species realistically capable of hunting them, like Homo erectus," says Faith. Taking a Closer Look Faith and his team quantified long-term changes in eastern African megaherbivores using a dataset of more than 100 fossil assemblages spanning the last seven million years. The team also examined independent records of climatic and environmental trends and their effects, specifically global atmospheric CO 2 , stable carbon isotope records of vegetation structure, and stable carbon isotopes of eastern African fossil herbivore teeth, among others. Their analysis reveals that over the last seven million years substantial megaherbivore extinctions occurred: 28 lineages became extinct, leading to the present-day communities lacking in large animals. These results highlight the great diversity of ancient megaherbivore communities, with many having far more megaherbivore species than exist today across Africa as a whole. Further analysis showed that the onset of the megaherbivore decline began roughly 4.6 million years ago, and that the rate of diversity decline did not change following the appearance of Homo erectus, a human ancestor often blamed for the extinctions. Rather, Faith's team argues that climate is more likely culprit. "The key factor in the Plio-Pleistocene megaherbivore decline seems to be the expansion of grasslands, which is likely related to a global drop in atmospheric CO 2 over the last five million years," says John Rowan, a postdoctoral scientist from University of Massachusetts Amherst. "Low CO 2 levels favor tropical grasses over trees, and as a consequence savannas became less woody and more open through time. We know that many of the extinct megaherbivores fed on woody vegetation, so they seem to disappear alongside their food source." The loss of massive herbivores may also account for other extinctions that have also been attributed to ancient hominins. Some scientist suggest that competition with increasingly carnivorous species of Homo led to the demise of numerous carnivores over the last few million years. Faith and his team suggest an alternative. "We know there are also major extinctions among African carnivores at this time and that some of them, like saber-tooth cats, may have specialized on very large prey, perhaps juvenile elephants" says Paul Koch. "It could be that some of these carnivores disappeared with their megaherbivore prey." "Looking at all of the potential drivers of the megaherbivore decline, our analyses suggest that changing climate and environment played the key role in Africa's past extinctions," said Faith. "It follows that in the search for ancient hominin impacts on ancient African ecosystems, we must focus our attention on the one species known to be capable of causing them - us, Homo sapiens, over the last 300,000 years." ### this news is not available Italy Could Face Fines of up to 0.7% of GDP Calling on the wider EU to respect the Italian people; Italian Deputy PM, Matteo Salvini, says he is ready to confront the EU following the EU Commissions second rejection of their proposed 2019 budget. The main sticking point in the budget remains Italys proposal to run at a deficit target of 2.4% of GDP, representing non-compliance of the EUs debt criterion and which looks increasingly likely to result in the excessive deficit procedures being imposed. Italys Public Debt Stands at 2.3tn As it stands, continued defiance to revise the proposed budget could see Italy face initial fines of 0.2% GDP, adding a further 8bn to the nations already woeful public debt. In an article by The Guardian, they suggest The penalty could rise to 0.7% if it still refuses to comply. Italy Unlikely to Succumb to Pressure Alongside Italian politicians predictions that the proposed budget is required to stimulate growth in the currently stagnant economy, speculation remains that anti-EU figures within Italy are exploiting the standoff to whip up anti-EU anger before Mays European parliamentary elections. Co-president of the research firm Teneo Intelligence, Wolfgang Piccoli, thinks its unlikely that the Italian government will adopt meaningful changes to the budget but also points out that the consequences are likely to be a while off yet, Given the complexity of the overall procedure Italy is not expected to face sanctions until late spring at the earliest, if they materialise at all. What This Means for the Euro Exchange Rates For the Euro, despite the growing uncertainty, the markets have so far taken the news in their stride. The fact remains that the Italian Government could still strike a conciliatory note and revise their budget in line with EU regulations, however unlikely the rhetoric of outspoken Italian politicians make that seem. Privacy Settings This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit. NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt's recent visit to Iran is not likely to result in much unless the UK can help the Iranians soften the blow from US sanctions. TRT World reports in its article Can the UK help find common ground between Iran and the US? that the British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, went to Iran on Monday with a long list of regional and international issues to discuss including Irans role in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, the US sanctions on Iran, and the ongoing cases of detained British-Iranian dual nationals. Yet, he is unlikely to have heard anything new. The only interest Iran presently has in meeting European officials is in finding out what they can do to ease the burden of US sanctions which are devastating the economy and the everyday living conditions in Iran. Iran is disappointed with European Union efforts to set up what is referred to as the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), a device that could enable companies to continue to trade with Iran but avoid US sanctions. Most European countries have refused to host SVP, and Britain had all but announced it dead on arrival under the pressures of Brexit. Some countries have been proposed to host the SPV, but they declined, saidIrans foreign minister, Javad Zarif while hosting Jeremy Hunt in Tehran. Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, last week expressed confidence that almost no European firms were willing to risk US sanctions. Seven hundred Iranian officials and entities are on the US sanctions list; Iran is unable to sell the lifeline of its economy, oil, in the international markets or attract foreign investment for its stagnating economy. Iran is frustrated because it has been abiding by the terms of its nuclear deal as the latest report from the UN atomic watchdog indicated last week, days after fresh US sanctions hit the country. Iranian officials are therefore in no mood to discuss any other issue until solutions can be found for Iranian trade on the world market. Even if they were, Britain would perhaps be the least likely partner for such talks. Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has never trusted Britain nor hidden Irans historical enmity with the country. History is unkind The dilemma of Iran-UK relations is not dissimilar to that of Iran-US relations. Iran puts the two countries in the same basket when it comes to pouring insults and accusations. And this is not limited to the Islamic Republic or the present day Iran. The collective memory of relations with Britain dates back to the late 19th and early 20th century when the first king of the Pahlavi dynasty, Reza Shah, was both allegedly brought to power and then toppled by the British in the mid-1940s. In the next decade Irans oil industry was brought to the point of collapse in 1951 when the Iranian parliament decided to nationalise its oil and deny the UK its 50 percent share of the profits a decision that eventually led to the most bitter memory of all: the toppling of Irans popularly elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh in a joint UK-US coup in 1953. The first impression is the last impression To this day the Iranian establishment regards Britain as having designs on Iran. The BBCs Persian TV, which began its programs to Iran in 2009, is viewed as Britain's soft war against Iran. BBC was denied permission to set up in Iran and experts and officials banned from giving interviews to the channel. Any cooperation is regarded as spying for Britain. Iran has since continued to detain, intimidate, and threaten BBC staff, their families and their contacts in Iran. Nazanine Zaghari-Ratcliffe whose fate was one of the subjects discussed by Jeremy Hunt, is in jail, accused of working for the BBC. The British minister has only come to release the [British] spy not to talk about JCPOA, says the hardline Keyhan newspaper referring to the Iran nuclear deal. Keyhan condemns the red carpet treatment for the arrogant British minister. Despite the hostility, since 2015 and the signing of the Iran nuclear deal, relations have improved, and Britain has remained supportive of the 'Iran deal' despite putting in jeopardy its relations with the United States. Britain has reopened its embassy in Tehran and encouraged trade with Iran. A year ago many British firms were eyeing investment in Iran but not any longer given the new US sanctions. So if the British Foreign Secretary was received cordially on Monday and allowed to walk the streets of Tehran and drink pomegranate juice in the Grand Bazaar, it does not mean that Iran is willing to comply with its wish-list. Instead, Iran is hoping the UK would host the SPV or in the very least mediate over the sanctions or even possible talks with President Donald Trump. Iran is likely to believe that Britain would be best placed to influence change vis a vis the relentless US pressure on Iran. Small birds are having a big moment. Tiny turkeys will increasingly grace Thanksgiving tables next week, thanks to the millennial generation's ongoing campaign to remake American gastronomy. The holiday depicted by Norman Rockwell-Grandma showing off a cooked bird so plump it weighs down a banquet plate-is still common. But smaller families, growing guilt over wasteful leftovers and a preference for free-range fowl have all played roles in the emergence of petite poultry as a holiday dinner centerpiece. "People are starting to understand it's not natural to grow turkeys up to 30 pounds," said Ariane Daguin, co-founder and owner of D'Artagnan, a wholesale and e-commerce food company in Union, New Jersey. "In general, that means they were penned up with no room to move around, and that's why they're fat like that." There are signs that wee birds are in greater demand. Inventories of whole hens, which are smaller than males, are down 8.3 percent from a year ago, the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. Whole toms, the males, are up 6.9 percent. Don't call them capons. They're not castrated chickens. Nor are they chicks. They're not babies. They're just turkeys that weigh in the neighborhood of six pounds. Bell & Evans is working with a breeder to make tiny turkeys that consumers will eat all year. Owner Scott Sechler said the new breed, which isn't yet sold publicly, "fills out nicely," unlike other undersized birds, which can be bony. Still, 12- to 14-pound turkeys remain the biggest holiday seller, Sechler said. That may be because some millennials are "still going to Mom's," he said. Even Butterball, which sells 30-plus-pound heavyweights, also offers a Li'l Butterball that can be as small as six pounds. HelloFresh SE, in its first Thanksgiving box this year, is selling 12- to 14-pound turkeys from Cargill Inc. designed to serve 10 people who've filled up on appetizers. And while Amazon.com Inc.'s Whole Foods said its most popular sizes are a classic 14 to 18 pounds, it also has a smaller version to feed four non-vegan customers. Smaller families are fueling the trend. Last year, 62 percent of American households had just one or two people, compared with 41 percent in 1960, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The proportion of single-person homes has risen, too. Karen Bell, owner of Bavette La Boucherie butcher shop in Milwaukee, said she sold half her tiny-turkey supply by Halloween. The organic birds are as little as six pounds, Bell said, because customers want less meat. "Family sizes are smaller," she said. "Celebrating Thanksgiving isn't like 20-people extended families." Families are also more spread out than they used to be, an additional reason cooks are considering alternatives such as turkey breasts, which can be just a few pounds, or roasted chicken. Honey Baked Ham Co. has a 2.5-pound baked turkey breast for $34.95. D'Artagnan sells a six-pound capon for $80 to feed five to six people. "The whole bird is not necessarily on everyone's Thanksgiving table the way it used to be," said Russ Whitman, a senior vice president at commodity researcher Urner-Barry. With smaller birds, there's less chance of tossing uneaten meat. Each year, about 200 million pounds of turkey is trashed during Thanksgiving week, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Food waste is becoming an increasingly concerning issue," said Michael Averbook, a food and drink analyst at Mintel Group. "Leftovers are part of the fun and tradition of the holidays, and this may be a small step for individuals to feel less wasteful and socially responsible." Meanwhile, home cooks are getting more adventurous with quail-or even squab (young pigeon), a teeny, single-serve bird that makes for a nice Instagram post. Others would rather stick to tradition but just don't like the taste of poultry. For them, there's the prospect of tiny deer. "The first Thanksgiving had plenty of turkey but also venison on the table," Daguin said. "It's a traditional meat." As promotional emails flood your inbox and advertisements take over your social media feeds this weekend, watch out for scam artists. About 164 million people plan to shop between Thanksgiving Day and Nov. 26, also known as Cyber Monday, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. They predict that 75 million will capitalize on digital deals on Cyber Monday. People plan to spend more: Adobe Digital Insights predicts shoppers will shell out $23.4 billion online over the five-day holiday weekend, up 19.4 percent from last year. Online sales during Cyber Monday are projected to break records and reach an estimated $7.8 billion, a 17.6 percent uptick from 2017. Its a lucrative opportunity for cyber thieves, and attackers will capitalize, cyber security firm RiskIQ warned in a recent report. Phony mobile apps and websites will try to trick people into disclosing personal information and downloading harmful software, the report said. RiskIQ searched the term Cyber Monday in app stores and found that 4.6 percent of the 959 results were malicious. They also discovered more than 6,000 harmful apps pretending to be official sources for popular retailers. To better protect themselves and their money, people should stick to app stores like Googles and Apples and be wary of apps that ask for access to text messages, passwords and other information. Just because an app appears to have a good reputation doesnt make it so. Rave reviews can be forged, and a high amount of downloads can simply indicate a threat actor was successful in fooling a lot of victims, wrote the authors of the RiskIQ report. Before downloading an app, be sure to take a look at the developer if its not a brand you recognize or has a strange appearance or spelling, think twice. Related: Parents urged: know and avoid dangerous toys Use encrypted websites, check your credit card statements and dont buy from websites youve never heard of, even if it has the one item youve been looking for, said George Kelemen, president and CEO of the Texas Retailers Association. Parents should be aware of what purchases they might be making through gaming apps, he said. Use common sense, Kelemen said. Bret Piatt, CEO of San Antonio-based cyber security company Jungle Disk, warned people not to click on links in promotional emails. Visit the retailers website directly instead, he said. Make sure the website youre using to shop starts with HTTPS and has a lock symbol in the task bar, the Better Business Bureau cautions. Use a credit card rather than a debit card when shopping because the former offers more protection, Piatt said. Shoppers can go a step further and get a pre-paid card for the amount they plan to spend or a card with lower limits. When shopping online, have packages delivered to a place where someone can pick them up so a thief cant grab them from outside your front door, he said. There will be people who are looking to go shopping on other peoples porches, Piatt said. Forty-two percent of those surveyed recently by consulting firm Deloitte said they had experienced a digital security breach. People are becoming more cognizant of the risks, said Matt Marsh, the firms retail sector leader. The public is becoming very aware of the importance of protecting their data, he said. Its kind of happening to everybody. He advised people to be wary of using public WiFi or clicking on links in email promotions. Check the spelling of a website because cyber criminals will try to spoof sites, Marsh said. Shoppers should be ware of buying from third-party vendors because theres a higher risk of fraud, said Ana Serafin Smith, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. Wherever you shop, she recommended reading the fine print on return policies and checking what items are eligible to be returned. Do your research, she said. madison.iszler@express-news.net | @madisoniszler If snow is a prerequisite, San Antonio will seldom be mistaken for a winter wonderland. If strings of twinkling lights top your wish list, though, you can definitely get your glow on here, from the River Walk to Windcrest and beyond. Here's a guide to holiday lights in San Antonio. Christmas Tree lighting The holiday season begins Friday at Travis Park with the lighting of the citys official Christmas tree. The 50-foot blue spruce, which will be draped with more than 250,000 lights and custom ornaments, is a gift from H-E-B. The H-E-B Christmas Tree Lighting starts at 3 p.m. Festivities will include music by the Lavens, the Dirty River Dixie Band and Mariachi Las Altenas, food trucks, cookie decorating and an appearance by Santa Claus. Pet owners can take advantage of a dog run and free give-aways from H-E-B. RELATED: 11 unique places to shop for the holidays in San Antonio The tree lighting ceremony begins at 6 p.m. A screening of the movie Elf will follow at 7:30. A smaller tree, also donated by H-E-B, will be set up at Alamo Plaza, the former home of the official tree. The city moved the tree lighting to Travis Park last year in anticipation of the upcoming renovation of the historic plaza. River Walk lights and parade About the time the tree lights up in Travis Park, the Ford Holiday River Parade will get under way on the River Walk. The parade route covers the Downtown Reach of the River Walk, and depending on where your are sitting, it may start at about 6 p.m. (Convent and St. Marys streets), or as late as 7:45 (La Mansion Hotel). The parade will feature 29 illuminated floats with themes reflecting San Antonios 300-year history, such as Mariachi Mass, German Christmas and Christmas Day Spurs Game. The grand marshal is Joe Straus, speaker of Texas House of Representatives. About an hour behind him, the final float is reserved for Santa and Mrs. Claus. RELATED: 15 ways to celebrate the holidays in San Antonio The on switch on more than 2,000 strands of lights in the trees lining the river will be flipped at 7 p.m. There is free and ticketed seating all along the River Walk. Free seating is first-come, first-served, and paradegoers must bring their own chairs. Tickets for most of the 30 designated seating areas are still available at thesanantonioriverwalk.com. TV stations KABB and CW35 will air the parade live at 7 p.m. Friday. River of Lights The Museum Reach of the River Walk has its own lighting ceremony the weekend after the downtown celebration. The showpiece is a 30-foot tree made of LED pixels and designed by Matt Johnson, whose home light show was featured on ABCs The Great Christmas Light Fight. The tree, located on the Brooklyn Avenue Lock & Dam, will activate with a musical light show on the hour from 6 to 9 p.m. throughout the holiday season. The River of Lights also features multicolored underwater lights and strings of LED lights wrapping lamp posts, trees and handrails along the Museum Reach. A kickoff celebration from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 1 will include holiday vendors, ornament making, appearances by Santa Claus as well as costumed characters from Frozen and a performance by the Brooks Prumo Orchestra, a big band that plays music from the swing era. More lights Here are some more places you can go to see holiday lights in and around the Alamo City: University of the Incarnate Word: A popular drive-through display is Light the Way, which runs through Jan. 6. During this time, nearly 1 million twinkling lights illuminate the university. Windcrest: Northeast Side community goes all out for the holidays. The theme for this year's Windcrest Light Up decoration contest is Bows and Lights: a Tribute to Barbee Winn, in memory of the woman who was one of the founders of the city and created the Light Up contest. Judging takes place on Dec. 4, and lights last through New Year's Eve. Santa's Ranch: This mile-long drive through Christmas lights and festive scenes is located on I-35 between New Braunfels and San Marcos. Tickets cost $28 per vehicle or $56 per vehicle for a season pass, and the lights will last through Dec. 30. Christmas Light Fest at Enchanted Springs Ranch: The Old West Christmas Light Fest in Boerne promises to transport guests back in time for a glimpse of Christmas in an authentic Western town. Tickets start at $17 for adults and $12 for children, with a family five-pack starting at $49. Elf Acres: This 15-acre drive-through light display is located off Potranco Road outside Loop 1604 on the far West Side. It will be open every night through Dec. 30. Admission is $27 per vehicle, and fun passes are $54. Staff writer Claudia Torres contributed to this report. NEW DELHI - The night before John Chau returned for the last time to India's remote North Sentinel Island, he struggled with a sense of fear that his death might be imminent. "I'm scared," wrote the 26-year-old American from Washington State, who had traveled to the island on a clandestine mission to convert its inhabitants to Christianity. "Watching the sunset and it's beautiful - crying a bit . . . wondering if it will be the last sunset I see." His initial contacts with the Sentinelese, a tiny tribe of hunter-gatherers who reject contact with the outside world, had not gone well. One teenager shot an arrow at him, which pierced his waterproof bible. Yet Chau decided to return to the island and try again, galvanized by the feeling that he was God's instrument. "Lord, is this island Satan's last stronghold where none have heard or even had the chance to hear your name?" he wrote in a diary of his last days provided to The Washington Post by his mother. He left the 13 pages, written in pen and pencil, with the fishermen who had transported him to the island. The morning after Chau's final trip to the island's shores, the fishermen saw his body being dragged and buried in the sand. Police in the city of Port Blair, the capital of India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, this week sent a helicopter and a team of officers by boat to assess whether it is possible to recover the body. U.S. diplomats are also in Port Blair to lend assistance. Chau's diary reveals a portrait of a young man obsessed with the idea of bringing Christianity to the Sentinelese, who number in the dozens and have lived largely without contact from the outside world for centuries, protected from visitors by Indian law. It also shows that Chau knew his mission was illegal. He wrote of maneuvering to avoid the Indian authorities who patrol the waters near North Sentinel Island. "God Himself was hiding us from the Coast Guard and many patrols," he stated in a description of the boat journey. He had told no one about his plan to hire local fishermen to take him to the tribal area because "he did not want to put others of his friends at risk," one of his associates, Bobby Parks, wrote his mother after his death, according to an e-mailed she shared with The Post. Chau's fateful expedition has caused widespread outrage in Hindu-majority India, where Christian evangelicals are often viewed with anger or suspicion. Critics say his brazen violation of Indian law was selfish and put the fragile tribe at risk -- potentially exposing them to modern diseases they have no immunity for. An avid traveler who graduated from Oral Roberts University, Chau had visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands four times before and was awed by the area's natural beauty and isolation. On the boat to North Sentinel Island - traveling at night to avoid detection by authorities - Chau wrote of seeing bioluminescent plankton under a canopy of stars as fish jumped in and out of the water like "darting mermaids." After paddling in a kayak to the island, Chau tried to engage the inhabitants by offering gifts of fish, scissors and safety pins and singing "worship songs." A section of his diary is devoted to his impressions of the Sentinelese: He jotted down details of their language ("lots of high-pitched sounds") and gestures. Toward the end of the journal, Chau wondered whether he should abandon his quest or return to the island and risk the consequences. "I think I could be more useful alive . . . but to you, God, I give all the glory of whatever happens," Chau wrote. He asked God to forgive "any of the people on this island who try to kill me, and especially if they succeed." - - - Gowen reported from Washington. Without a cookbook or notes, exchange student Carlo Dell'Orco whipped up a dessert from his home country for his San Antonio familys Thanksgiving dinner. Ryan Loyd, 39, and his wife Sarah, 38, looked on Wednesday afternoon, as the 17-year-old high school senior put a unique spin on the recipe for tiramisu. He dipped ladyfingers in brewed Italian coffee. Instead of sprinkling cocoa on top, he dusted each creamy layer with the chocolate powder. The Loyds 9-year-old son Luke stretched up on his tip-toes to watch DellOrco prepare the family ancestral recipe his mother, Frida Burrone, taught him more than 5,000 miles away in Cremona, Italy. I want it to be good for them, DellOrco said, as he spooned cream over the layers of ladyfingers. I will teach this to my kids......if I have some. Rodrigo de Castro, the Loyds second exchange student peeked in the kitchen to see the cultural cuisine lesson at work. The 15-year-old from Salvador, Brazil, is scheduled to make the Brazilizian dessert, chocolate Brigadeiros, for Christmas. For more than 30 years, families like the Loyds have welcomed high school exchange students in their homes through the Aspect Foundation. The nonprofit, founded in 1985, is comprised of an inbound and outbound program that refers students around the world. According to the organization officials, each year around 500 students from 30 countries are placed in American homes. The Loyds became involved with the program two years ago. Ryan Loyd saw a flyer at the Beethoven Halle that prompted him to talk to his wife about hosting an exchange student. They submitted an application and underwent a series of interviews and background checks. In August 2016, they welcomed their first student, Kevin Miess, from Germany. They hosted their second student, Gonzalo Vilchez Rodriguez from Spain, last year. Students must be 15 to 18 when they arrive in America. The nonprofit works under the U.S. Department of State exchange visitors program. The students travel to the United States on J-1 cultural exchange visas, sponsored by the organization. Field manager Sherri Meyer said the travel ban placed by President Trumps administration on several countries hasnt had an impact upon their students. Meyer herself has hosted 14 students from countries that include Germany, Norway, Spain and Austria. She said her family has enjoyed dishes prepared by teen guests, just as Native Americans and the Pilgrims shared a bounty of food at the first Thanksgiving. Theyve had sushi, Spanish potato cakes and red sauerkraut that Meyer said tastes unbelievable with turkey. When they leave, the students tend to stay in touch. They call and Skype with their host families or like Meyer, the host families visit their former house guests in their homelands. Once a student has lived in a hosts familys home theyre family, Meyer said. They become a part of our life. In the fall, the Loyds traveled to Drabenderhohe, Germany, near Cologne, to visit Miess. Their trip just happened to be during that countrys Erntedank, celebrating the autumn harvest. They made us feel as if their house was our home, Loyd said. Thats the payoff with having a connection around the world. Sarah Loyd said hosting students has expanded their family giving Luke, their only child, a chance to be a little brother. And, she said, they get the opportunity to share traditions and introduce new ones. Today, Carlo and his host family will enoy his confection at his first Thanksgiving dinner. As far as cuisine in the United States goes, hes a fan of Mexican food, especially burritos. But the thing that he likes most about America is the diversity of the population. I like the freedom, Carlo said. We are all human. Vincent T. Davis is a reporter in the Greater San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | vtdavis@express-news.net | Twitter: @vincentdavis During the mid-1970s, water levels in the inland Caspian Sea dropped to record lows before steadily rising until mid-1990s. Since 1995, water levels began to steadily decline by seven centimeters per year. Warmer summer temperatures have increased evaporation as summer winds push the humidity south across Iran toward the Arabian Sea. A population of some 80 million people would benefit from action aimed at replenishing Caspian Sea water levels and maintaining optimal peak levels. The Maritime Executive reports in its article The Growing Need to Reverse Declining Caspian Sea Levels that while water levels of inland lakes and inland seas have risen and fallen over many centuries, this latest trend of warmer summers would likely extend into the long-term future. To the east of the Caspian Sea, irrigation caused water levels in the Aral Sea to drop to critical before efforts to replenish water levels began. The Aral Sea has begun to recover. Water levels in the Caspian Sea and Dead Sea have dropped for entirely different reasons. Recognizing a potentially critical situation, the King of Jordan initiated discussion about building a canal between Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea. By comparison, the Caspian Sea is far more critical to the economies of nations that surround that Sea than either the Aral or Dead Seas. If left unresolved, continued declining water levels in the Caspian Sea would likely spell economic disaster for nations such as Iran, Iraq, Southern Turkey and Syria. Winter winds carry moisture from the Caspian Sea to the watershed areas of rivers that flow through these nations and a shrinking Caspian Sea would produce steadily declining winter evaporation. Russian Assistance Action initiated by the Kremlin would decide the economic future of several nations located to the west and southwest of the sea. Central Russian summer rain flows into the Volga River before emptying into the Caspian Sea. The Don River flows within close proximity of both the Volga River and the Caspian Sea and supplies water to the Tsimlyansk Reservoir located west of Volgograd. Future rainfall and future Russian water requirements would determine if Russia could divert water from the Don River to the Caspian Sea. The Donets Rivers join into the Don River to the west of the dam and water requirements along that river would determine the feasibility of diverting water to the Caspian Sea. A combination of declining summer rainfall and increasing Russian water requirements could reduce the volume of water that could be diverted toward the Caspian Sea. The option of last resort would involve the construction of an underground pipeline 700 kilometers long built across or below lowland area located between the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea, to carry water to the inland sea. Pipeline Hydroelectric Power Both an above ground water pipeline and an underground water pipeline would consume a considerable amount of energy to pump water to higher elevation from the Sea of Azov and toward the Caspian Sea. However, given that the Caspian Sea surface is 28 meters below maritime sea level, there may be scope to install hydraulic turbines where the pipeline empties into the Caspian Sea. The energy generated at the Caspian Sea pipeline exit would be used to drive water pumps located at the pipeline entrance at the shore of the Sea of Azov. While the operation of the water pipeline would require much energy, there may be some excess hydroelectric power that may be diverted to a nearby Russian town located on the Caspian Sea. Construction of the water pipeline would likely require some underground tunneling to carry low-salinity water from the Sea of Azov to the Caspian Sea. Hydraulic turbines made of corrosion resistant steel should offer many years of service before replacement by newer turbines would be required. Filters installed at the pipeline entrance could prevent aquatic life from the Sea of Azov transferring into the Caspian Sea. Pipeline Capacity and Operation The volume of water the pipeline may carry would need to replenish Caspian Sea water levels and maintain traditional peak water levels. Such requirements could require an oversized pipeline that would operate for perhaps eight to 10 months per year after the inland sea reaches optimal long-term levels. During the downtime periods, maintenance crews would undertake upkeep and repairs. In the future, there would be need to develop technology that could greatly increase Caspian Sea winter evaporation that prevailing winter winds blowing from Russia could carry toward watershed areas located in mountainous areas located west of the sea. Despite its comparatively small size, winter evaporation from the Caspian Sea is the main source of moisture that precipitates into rainfall that in turn provides nations such as Iraq, Syria along with parts of Iran and parts of Turkey with water. During a period of declining water levels in the Caspian Sea, a water pipeline connecting the Sea of Azov with the Caspian Sea would likely determine the long-term economic future of these regions. The future absence of such a water pipeline could result regional political conflict over water resources and mass migration of people toward Western Europe. Maritime Transportation Declining water levels in the Caspian Sea will restrict the size of vessels that could sail to/from Caspian Sea ports and potentially restrict operation of the navigation locks that provide access to the Volga River. There have been ongoing discussions about a Eurasian Canal to trade and carry commerce between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. The route would connect across the Sea of Azov via the Don River, passing through the Tsimlyansk Reservoir and via navigation locks between the Volga River and Caspian Sea. More recent discussions have revolved around widening and deepening the canal to transit larger vessels. However, the topography along the proposed Eurasian Canal route is unsuitable to allow for the free-flow of water from the Sea of Azov into the Caspian Sea. Russias growing population would likely have increasing domestic need for water from the Tsimlyansk Reservoir. A separate water pipeline or equivalent irrigation-type canal that bypasses the Tsimlyansk Reservoir would be required to carry replenishment water from the Sea of Azov to the Caspian Sea. There appears to be support from China to include the Eurasian Canal as part of their Great Silk Road initiative connecting Europe and Asia. Persian Gulf Salinity The major rivers that flow into The Gulf are the Tigris, Euphrates and Karun Rivers that flow from mountainous watershed regions that receive winter rainfall from moisture blown in from the Caspian Sea. Several nations located along the western side of The Gulf desalinate seawater to provide potable water for their populations. Without a regular flow of saline-free water into The Gulf from the major rivers, ongoing desalination would gradually increase salinity and in the future, raise the energy requirement and cost of desalination for such nations as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. Warm summer weather exceeding 40 degrees Celcius results in Gulf water temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celcius from June to October. During this period, accelerated evaporation results in elevated levels of humidity across The Emirates region and including in heavily populated areas where demand for potable water increases as salinity in The Gulf also increases. The need for potable water in The Gulf region has actually prompted discussion about towing a portion of an iceberg from the Antarctic to provide additional potable water. A possible local solution could involve maintaining peak water levels in the Caspian Sea. A Future Micro-Climate Possible future increased winter rainfall would require construction of canals, dams and water pipelines in Southern Turkey and northwestern Iran. The realization of a future micro-climate that could provide water for population consumption, increased agriculture and waterway transportation would require cooperation among several nations. Some national leaders may need to put aside political disagreements and religious differences in the interest of cooperating to assure sufficient water for future generations in the region. The alternative may be a repeat of declining water levels in the Aral Sea on a much larger scale, except driven by climate instead of by irrigation. Caspian Sea levels have been steadily dropping for more than 20 years, with the future likelihood of further decline caused by the combination of warmer weather, increasing population along the Volga River, greater water usage by that growing population and reduced summer rainfall over the watershed area. While diverting water from the Don and Donets Rivers to the Caspian Sea might not be an option, there is the possibility of transferring water via buried pipeline from the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea. Such a pipeline could benefit a population of between 80 to 100 million people. Few images better illustrate the potential effect of climate change on San Antonios future than an urban heat island effect map that shows a 20-degree temperature difference between the central city and the northern reaches of Bexar County. The color-coded map, based on a satellite image taken on a summer night, shows much of San Antonios urban core sweltering at 88 degrees Fahrenheit, with temperatures running about 68 degrees in sparsely developed areas near Bulverde. As the city enters the final phase of drafting a climate action and adaptation plan, set for City Council consideration in April, the heat map identifies those most likely to be affected by global warming trends residents of the inner city. Older residents and working-class families who live in the heat island typically can least afford to spend more on summer air-conditioning bills. Its shocking when people have seen what the heat island looks like, said Greg Harman, clean energy organizer with the Sierra Club and member of a steering committee guiding the development of San Antonios climate plan. Those people least responsible for our climate crisis are most vulnerable to its impacts. And I think thats what the heat map shows, Harman said. On ExpressNews.com: Council OKs action on Paris Climate Accord Council members will get an update on the climate plan Monday, as the councils Community Health and Equity Committee meets at 2 p.m. in the B Room of the Municipal Plaza Building, 105 Main Plaza. The plan, being developed by the city, CPS Energy, the University of Texas at San Antonio and Navigant, a Chicago-based consultant, will recommend ways to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and help San Antonio adapt to rising temperatures. Douglas Melnick, the citys chief sustainability officer, gave an overview at a recent open house about climate projections UTSA has developed out to 2100. The big takeaway is its going to get hotter, he said. Since the 1880s, when local weather record-keeping began, average temperatures have risen about 0.2 degrees per decade, climbing 2.4 degrees. In the past 30 years, San Antonio has had an average of 16 days annually with highs at 100 degrees or more. That average is projected to climb to 40 100-degree days per year by 2040, and 64 to 110 days by 2100, Melnick said. Also predicted is more ground-moisture evaporation, affecting lawn and plant life; more problems with ground-level ozone and other air-quality issues; and an increased threat of illnesses spread by mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. Councilman Greg Brockhouse, who hosted the open house and sits on the council committee, said he supports environmental sustainability but is worried about the financial hit to businesses and people on fixed incomes. Im all for saving the planet. But how much is it going to cost? he asked. Results of an online survey completed, so far, by about 2,500 people, suggest San Antonians are willing to pay a little more on their utility bills but not much more to replace coal and natural gas with wind and solar as energy sources. The lowest level of support 2.5 on a 5-point rating scale was for an increase in bills of more than 10 percent to fund clean energy. Highest levels of support on the survey were for efforts to reduce energy consumption in homes and buildings; highway and street projects to improve traffic mobility; and safe, reliable public transit. On ExpressNews.com: Environmentalists call for CPS Energy to accelerate phase-out of coal Harman, also a member of Climate Action SA, an umbrella group of environmentalists who want CPS to eliminate coal for power generation by 2025, believes the survey unfairly assumes that coal will remain a cheaper source of energy. We need to take care in the way we frame these changes, Harman said. Other strategies being considered for the plan include full conversion of VIA Metropolitans bus fleet to electric vehicles; energy-efficient building codes or incentives; rebates on energy-friendly appliances and retrofits; construction of public charging stations for electric cars; and incentives for use of reflective roofs. One really interesting strategy thats been used in some other cities is building energy and water disclosure, Melnick said. When you sell a building or rent a property, it helps drive the market to make sure your buildings are as efficient as possible. Theres a lot of action that needs to occur by 2050, he said. Were going to need the best and the brightest to think about how were going to solve this problem. On ExpressNews.com: City seeks feedback on climate plan Councilwoman Ana Sandoval, who leads the health and equity panel, has grave concerns about coal one of our dirtiest fuels and thinks the council has yet to have a detailed discussion of cost-benefit comparisons of coal, renewables and other energy sources. That issue, along with costs tied to other parts of the plan, will be the hardest to resolve, she said. CPS Energy says it has reduced coal from 32 percent to 18 percent of its energy portfolio in the past eight years and will lower it to 7 percent by 2040. According to its website, the municipally owned utility will deactivate its coal-burning Deely plant on Dec. 31. Sandoval is hopeful that the climate plan, to be presented in draft form to council members in late January, will recommend initiatives and ordinances to not only reduce greenhouse gases but mitigate the heat island effect, air pollution and other health effects. My hope is that a lot of the measures that come forward will be things that make business sense, sense for the consumer and of course protect our climate, Sandoval said. Scott Huddleston is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | shuddleston@express-news.net | Twitter: @shuddlestonSA State and local health officials are cautiously hopeful that this years flu season will be less severe than last years, in which nearly 10,000 Texans died. Health officials look to the southern hemisphere, which just finished its winter flu season, as a possible predictor, said Jennifer Shuford, an infectious disease medical officer with the Texas Department of State Health Services. The southern hemisphere flu season was milder than last years, and the predominant strain was H1N1, which is considered less serious than the other Type A flu strain, H3N2, Shuford said. In addition, bad seasons typically occur once every four to six years, which could point toward a milder season this year, said Anita Kurian, assistant director of the San Antonio Metro Health Communicable Disease Division. During last years flu season, more than 800 people died in Bexar County, predominantly as a result of H3N2. That strain is associated with greater severity of illness, higher rates of hospitalization and more deaths, Shuford said. The strain mutates frequently, making it harder to attack with vaccines. Nevertheless, both Shuford and Kurian encouraged people to get flu shots this year. Theres not a specific treatment against flu, so prevention is your best bet and vaccination is your best tool in the toolbox, Kurian said. It is never too late. Typically, we recommend getting the flu vaccine as early as it becomes available, but ... you can get the flu vaccine as long as the flu is circulating in the community. Flu season begins Oct. 1 and ends May 31. The peak typically occurs between December and March; last year, it hit at the end of January. The vaccine needs about two weeks to take full effect, so Shuford encouraged people to get vaccinated sooner rather than later. The flu shot is available to every age group. The nasal spray vaccine was recently restored as an option for people ages 2 to 49. People ages 65 and older can consult with their doctors about age-specific vaccines. The state recommends that people wash hands a lot, clean commonly touched surfaces, stay home from work or school if sick (and) cover up sneezes and coughs, Shuford said. Most people will recover from the flu on their own. Those considered high risk pregnant women, children younger than 5, people age 65 and older and those with underlying medical conditions should contact a doctor as early as possible if they test positive for the flu. Antiviral medications work best within 48 hours, which doesnt give you much time for medical treatment, Shuford said. A call to a doctor to see if you need to go in or if something can just be prescribed over the phone is the quickest way. sarah.chavey@express-news.net | @smchavey A San Antonio man remained in Bexar County Jail on Wednesday, charged with animal cruelty for killing a community cat at a Northeast Side apartment complex. Taking aim from his balcony, police said, Donald Martin opened fire on a group of felines Nov. 12 at the Spanish Oaks Apartments in the 3000 block of Cripple Creek Street. Martin, 77, shot a 1-year-old grey tabby female in the neck, and she later died despite first aid provided by apartment residents, according to witnesses. Apartment residents cared for the colony of outdoor cats, providing food and water, officials said. Animal Care Services cruelty investigators worked with detectives from the SAPD North Patrol Property Crimes Unit, who arrested Martin on Tuesday morning. He was being held on $1,600 bail. ACS officials said the case is a state jail felony. If convicted, Martin faces a punishment of up to a $10,000 fine and two years in jail. Vincent T. Davis is a reporter in the Greater San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | vtdavis@express-news.net | Twitter: @vincentdavis Surrounded by friends, Tech. Sgt. Jamie Hash stood next to the U.S. flag and raised her right hand, prepared to commit to another six years of military service. It was a decision she didnt make lightly. Before that moment, Hash had been forced three times to consider her future in the Air Force, a career that matters to her deeply after seven years of service. The first time was in late fall 2016 when she was torn between the prospect of separating or coming out as transgender. She chose to disclose her gender identity, a decision that made her among the first service members allowed to transition without fear of retribution. The second time was in July 2017 after President Donald Trump announced his intention to ban trans people from military service and revoke the policy that had allowed Hash to transition. How his proclamation would be implemented was in question, but Hash resolved to carry out her duties to the best of her ability despite not knowing what lay ahead. Related: Future of San Antonio transgender airman now uncertain The third came this year as Hash, 31, approached the end of her service commitment. In March, the defense secretary had released his recommendations for trans service members based on the presidents directive: Individuals who had begun to transition under the previous policy could continue to serve openly, but new trans recruits would be barred from service, and active-duty service members no longer could transition while in uniform. The new policy remains embroiled in the courts, but if the administration prevails, Hash would become part of what she called a small, finite group of service members allowed to openly serve. Hash faced another choice. In October, she learned she had received an assignment that would start in August 2019 in England, where she would advise Wing leadership on resource utilization, including deployment planning, performance improvements and readiness. She submitted her re-enlistment papers quickly and secured approval to hold her ceremony Nov. 15. I feel that its critical I continue to serve for those who cannot, Hash said, and she would do so no matter what the courts decided. Some have asked her why she did not separate from the Air Force, given the scrutiny and uncertainty. I tell them that if no more transgender people are able to join the military, I will have the rare privilege and opportunity to continue proving transgender people are more than capable of answering our nations call, Hash said. In the year and a half since the trans military ban announcement, Hash has been promoted from staff sergeant to technical sergeant, named military Volunteer of the Year for the joint base and Noncommissioned Officer of the Year for her squadron and field operating agency and nominated for other awards. After Hash started transitioning, she became an ambassador of sorts to military personnel in San Antonio by helping educate them about being trans. She was thrust into that role even moreso after the ban was announced. She said shes often told by other service members that she is the first trans person they ever have met and that she has changed their preconceived notions. Hash made plans to hold her re-enlistment ceremony at a time and place that was symbolic of the rebirth shed undergone while stationed as a manpower analyst at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. That date fell during Transgender Awareness Week and shortly before Transgender Day of Remembrance, which commemorates trans people killed in the previous year. Hash picked Luthers Cafe, adjacent to the rainbow crosswalks on The Strip, home to many of San Antonios LGBTQ-friendly bars and restaurants. Read more: Life in Transition Her previous re-enlistment ceremony took place during a deployment in Southwest Asia, where she was working as an aircraft armament technician as part of a joint coalition fighting ISIS. Hash, who had not yet come out, had helped load munitions onto a fighter jet and, upon its return, recited the re-enlistment oath to the pilot. This time, Hash was joined by her partner, her dog and several close friends. They gathered on the patio, with Bacchus tethered by a rainbow leash to the leg of a table. Danny Ingram, a friend who was discharged from the Army for being gay in 1994 under Dont Ask, Dont Tell, helped unfurl a U.S. flag with Hashs colleague, Staff Sgt. Chelsea Serviss. Hash faced Capt. Dawnisha Peagler, her former flight commander, who administered the oath. Both grinned as they reached the end. They saluted and hugged, then friends broke into applause. I feel like Im able to continue serving my country and doing the thing that I love the most, but also being visible and open, compared to my first re-enlistment, is a big deal for me, Hash said after the ceremony. Hashs partner, Emily Gerson, beamed nearby. Gerson, who will move with Hash to the Cambridge area next year, said she had been somewhat skeptical when they discussed re-enlistment because of the uncertainty now associated with trans service. The conversation, however, always came back to the fact that Hashs service was not just about her, Gerson said. Im really proud of her. ... To see her be under this level of scrutiny in this current climate and to keep going and persisting, I think it takes an incredible amount of bravery, Gerson said. Leaving San Antonio will be very bittersweet, Hash said. Shes grown attached to the city where she had accepted herself. One day, she knows shell be back. Lauren Caruba covers health care and medicine in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | lcaruba@express-news.net | Twitter: @LaurenCaruba As San Antonio rolls through a six-month scooter pilot program, local luminaries are teaming with municipal officials to push a campaign on scooting safety. The awareness effort will include printed materials distributed at hotels, digital information at downtown kiosks, sidewalk stickers and a catchy series of short videos that borrow from century-old film antics to explain some key concepts. Weve really switched to using community influencers in these campaigns, and people who have a large media presence, Assistant City Manager Lori Houston said. So the campaigns youll see now have Christina Olivarez shes Social Butterfly Gal and you also have Lorenzo Gomez. Everyone knows Lorenzo. And theyre helping us use them to educate the community on the importance of scooter safety. A team from the Government and Public Affairs Department was busy this week creating the latest PSA, which will feature powerhouse public-relations couple Christian Reed-Ogba and Uche Ogba. Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Geekdom Media, and Olivarez, who owns a social-media consulting firm, are each featured in 30-second videos, shot in black-and-white and given a silent-film treatment. Narrators and music seemingly pulled from the 1950s speak directly to Gomez and Olivarez, explaining the importance of wearing a helmet, parking appropriately and riding on sidewalks only when bike lanes arent present. Olivarez is shown in running shoes, with her heels tucked away in a bag. She said she attempted to use an e-scooter in heels, but quickly determined it wasnt the best way to ride. As someone who lives near downtown and spends a lot of time traveling about the central business district, Olivarez said she was excited to participate in San Antonios public-service announcement. Scooters have enhanced her and her husbands urban lifestyle. She often meets clients at downtown coffee shops and the couple uses scooters to head over to the Pearl and to Southtown, she said. Its important to wear proper footwear, wear a helmet and know the surroundings, she said, noting that they try to avoid thoroughfares with lots of vehicular traffic. Both Houston and Gomez said that the scooters are important in diversifying San Antonios transportation options. But theyre also helping with something else. I think one thing thats changed since we last dealt with ride-share concepts is that were looking at these transportation options not just as a transportation tool, but were looking at it as an economic-development tool, Houston said. For Gomez, whos been involved in pushing urban growth, the scooters are a welcomed addition. Ive always been concerned, since the day we started doing ecosystem development, about transportation in San Antonio. I think its our Achilles heel of the city. One of the greatest barriers will always be that our city is one where youre dependent on a car to get around. And I think what I love about the scooter is that if gives people another option of how to get around. Downtown has become even smaller in a good way by the flocks of electric scooters now deployed all over the area, he said, because people can get around, sans car, much easier. But as use increases, riders need to ensure theyre following local laws and being safe. Some 75 percent of the 70-plus injuries the city has recorded, Houston said, have come from user error. So the city is pushing its #ScootSafely campaign to help make its pilot program a success. Josh Baugh is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jbaugh@express-news.net | Twitter: @jbaugh AUSTIN Special prosecutors assigned to build a case against Attorney General Ken Paxton can't be paid the $300 an hour they were promised, the state's top criminal court ruled Wednesday, leaving Paxtons personal legal case involving charges of securities fraud in limbo. The Court of Criminal Appeals ruled a trial court in Collin County exceeded its authority when agreeing to pay special prosecutors more than a county-approved fee schedule to represent the state in its criminal case against the attorney general. The appeals court told a trial court judge in Harris County to issue a new order dictating how much to pay the special prosecutors. Ultimately, what amounts to good or bad policy is not up to this Court to decide, read the ruling from Judge David Newell. If the application of the statute at issue seems too harsh in this case, it is up to our Legislature to decide if and how to address it. According to court records, Collin County limits pay to attorneys to a fixed fee of $1,000 for first-degree felony pleas, $500 for third-degree pleas, $1,000 for pretrial preparation and $500 for each half-day of trial. Special prosecutors billed the county about $200,000 in 2017. The appeals court said it didnt have to be paid. The special prosecutors have hinted they would quit representing the state in the case if not paid. Such a decision would derail or delay Paxtons criminal trial as the court searches for replacements who will agree to the limited pay schedule. Special prosecutors have not returned calls seeking comment but wrote in an e-mailed statement they are considering their next steps. On HoustonChronicle.com: Attorney General Ken Paxton beats out Justin Nelson in close race While we are disappointed with the majority's ruling and are exploring all legal options available to us, it does not alter the fact that Ken Paxton remains charged with three serious felony offenses, read the statement. Paxton was indicted in 2015 in Collin County, his home county north of Dallas. The charges stem from claims, before he was elected attorney general in 2014, that he persuaded friends and colleagues to invest in a North Texas tech company without disclosing he would make a commission. He is charged with two counts of first-degree felony securities fraud and a third-degree felony for failing to register with the state as an investment advisor. He narrowly won re-election in November. While this was a lawsuit brought by Collin County, Attorney General Paxton is extremely grateful for the courts decision, said Jordan Berry, Paxtons spokesman. The rule of law must always prevail. A trio of special prosecutors was appointed to build a case against Paxton after the Collin County district attorney recused himself because he had a personal relationship with Paxton. A trial judge agreed to pay Houston lawyers Brian Wice, Kent Schaffer and Nichole DeBorde $300 an hour to handle the case, a fee the lawyers argue is reasonable for the unusual circumstances of a complex case. Paxton and his allies in Collin County brought lawsuits to stop paying the special prosecutors, arguing the fee exceeded local limits. The court declined to determined whether the $300 per hour fee was reasonable, but found that state law bars trial courts from busting caps on locally approved fee schedules. The fee for the team of lawyers should be the same amount as an attorney providing indigent defense, the court ruled. Wice, one of the special prosecutors who appealed the issue, said last year that denying their payment would have a chilling effect on trial judges ability to appoint qualified lawyers to complex cases. On HoustonChronicle.com: Gov. Abbott pours $350,000 into Attorney General Ken Paxtons campaign The outcome of a criminal case should not depend upon how much money a defendant has. But that is not the application of the statute we are dealing with here, read the ruling, with Newell adding, any possible constitutional concerns present in an indigent defense case are not present in this case. Three judges disagreed with the ruling, writing dissenting opinions. A fourth judge wrote an opinion both concurring and dissenting. The Courts decision today will likely affect an overwhelming number of criminal cases in Texas and will possibly result in even more claims of ineffective assistance of counsel for indigent defendants, wrote Judge Elsa Alcala in her 29-page dissent. The Collin County Commissioners Court, which paid the special prosecutors $242,000 in 2016, will likely consider whether to fight to get some of the money back in light of the ruling, said Judge Keith Self, who oversees the commissioners court. If the appeals court had basically said that something was not legal, what choice do we have but to try to do whats right by our taxpayers, said Self. Under the ruling, he said, the special prosecutors will be capped at the locally approved fees. Paxton was supposed to go to trial in December 2017, but the appeal put his case on hold. Manny Garcia, executive director for the Texas Democratic Party, argued the delay is part of an orchestrated effort to benefit Paxton. The Republican Court of Criminal Appeals just shut down resources for the investigation of the Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton who is indicted on felony fraud and out on bond. This comes after Republican state lawmakers told Republican Collin County Commissioners to stop paying for the investigation. In the dictionary, this sort of behavior from government is called corruption and obstruction of justice, Garcia said. One of the worst things about our awful political moment is its historical forgetfulness. Many Europeans seem to have forgotten where chauvinistic nationalism and the demonization of minorities can lead. Many Americans seem to have forgotten that a foreign policy of America First allowed international malignancies to grow that made war inevitable and resulted in the deaths of tens of millions. And many in Western countries seem to have forgotten the difficult, desperate project of building a moral and legal structure around the principle of human dignity in the aftermath of World War II. Anti-Semitic attacks in Europe and the U.S. are both atrocities and reminders. They ring with distant but unmistakable echoes of the nightmarish events of the 1930s and 1940s: the racial purity laws, the economic indignities, the despairing suicides, the liquidation of the disabled, the digging up of Jewish graves in cemeteries, the deportations, the ghettos, the shootings in batch after batch, the pits of corpses, the emptied orphanages, the terrified walk to the gas chamber. It is worth trying to recall how shocking these events were to the conscience of the world. The institutions of the modern state bureaucracy, propaganda, military power had been harnessed to the purposes of sadism and mass murder. This indicted a highly sophisticated and educated European society along with the very idea of sophistication and education as brakes on evil. It indicted other nations that did little, even after the crimes became obvious. It indicted many German Christians who were indifferent or complicit. For some, it even indicted God, who seemed uncaring on a distant throne. But the response was ultimately an idealistic one. The Allies would institute a new order of justice and human rights. The Tokyo tribunals and the Nuremberg trials were both legal and moral enterprises. The chief council for the prosecution, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, said he would not seek convictions for mere technical or incidental transgression of international conventions. We charge guilt ... that involves moral as well as legal wrong. ... It is their abnormal and inhuman conduct which brings them to this bar. The moral response to World War II-era crimes found expression in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which speaks of inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights. There were many influences on this document, from President Franklin Roosevelts Four Freedoms to the Declaration of Independence. But the theory was simple: The Axis powers not only lost, they were wrong. Their vision of nation, race and culture would be replaced by an assertion of universal human rights and dignity. It was, however, more of an assertion than an argument. French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain, who was involved in the debates surrounding the Universal Declaration, said, We agree on these rights, providing we are not asked why. With the why the dispute begins. Some of the challenge to this vision of inherent dignity has come from arguments associated with academic liberalism. It has become common to deny that human beings have natures that can be separated from their cultural circumstances. And without a human nature, it is hard to define a set of human rights. Without some standard from outside the culture some statement by God or reason that every human life is sacred we are left only with the current consensus of our culture. And we are left with no good reason to tell our children why they should hold to that consensus rather than abandon it. But the most urgent, comprehensive attack on the universality of human rights now comes from the nativist right. In places such as Hungary, Romania, Germany, Poland and the United States, politicians are attempting to define nationality based on the dehumanization of cultural outsiders Muslims, migrants and refugees. This type of politics is dangerous wherever it is practiced. In the United States, it also requires the renunciation of responsibilities rooted in the postwar acceptance of human dignity as the basis of global order and peace. This is the cost of historical amnesia the cost of electing an American president who is both ignorant of and indifferent toward the lessons of the last century, or any century. A president who always turns, by feral instinct, to an organizing message of bigotry and exclusion. A president who is throwing away an inheritance he does not value and unleashing forces that can easily move beyond control. michaelgerson@washpost.com If there ever was a time for lawmakers to formally protect special counsel Robert Muellers ongoing investigation of possible Russian collusion and election interference, this would be it. In the weeks leading up to the midterm election, Muellers investigation had mostly faded from the publics attention. President Donald Trump was focused on the midterms, and no one expected Mueller to make any news before the election, even if the investigation continued in the background. But the midterms have passed, and Trump quickly turned his attention back to the Russia probe. First, he ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had recused himself from the investigation since he played a role in Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. Technically, Sessions resigned but only after Trump asked him to resign. Next, Trump appointed Matthew G. Whitaker as acting attorney general. This has proved problematic for a variety of reasons, the least of which being Whitakers qualifications. He did serve as a U.S. attorney in Iowa for five years during President George W. Bushs administration. But he came to that position with little experience, listing a personal-injury case and a contract dispute between a dry cleaner and grocery store as his most significant legal work. He has served on the board of a patent company that federal regulators accused of fraud. The company, which promoted the existence of Bigfoot and the possibility of time travel, has shut down. This speaks to his qualifications, or lack thereof, for such an important office. But more disconcerting for the ongoing Mueller probe is that Whitaker, who served as Sessions chief of staff, has been a vocal critic of the special counsel investigation, which he now oversees. During a 2017 appearance on CNN, Whitaker outlined different ways to undermine the investigation. This included a recess appointment to replace Sessions and then having the acting attorney general gut Muellers budget to the point it ends the investigation. He has also said there is no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, which is the central question of the investigation. Whitaker also has ties with Sam Clovis, who served as a chief policy adviser to the 2016 Trump campaign and also is a witness in the investigation. Meanwhile, Trump has continued to rage against the investigation, taking to Twitter to lambaste it, calling Mueller highly conflicted. The investigation, to date, has led to a number of indictments and guilty pleas, including from former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort; his deputy, Rick Gates; and Michael Flynn, a former general and campaign adviser who briefly served as national security adviser. And to top it all off, days ago, Trump said he would not interfere with Whitaker if he does try to limit the probe. Clearly, Whitaker should recuse himself from overseeing the probe, just as Sessions correctly did. Mueller has yet to present his findings on the question of collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, or the possibility of obstruction of justice. Its imperative the investigation is allowed to conclude, wherever the findings land. The state of Maryland has filed a motion to reappoint Rod Rosenstein as acting attorney general, which would restore independence. And certain political realities may hamstring Whitaker from derailing the investigation. But Congress could do its part by passing a law that protects Mueller. For example, outgoing Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake has supported a bill that would allow any fired special counsel to challenge that action before a panel of federal judges. But it cant get a vote. Trump has decried the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt, but the issues under investigation are central to national security and collective faith in our elections. No one should make any assumptions or draw premature conclusions about the outcomes of this investigation. But the investigation also needs to be completed, and a report submitted to Congress and, ultimately, to the American people. Re: Terror movie weather feared, front page, and Smith named Texan of Year, Metro, Tuesday: I got mental whiplash when I read Tuesdays Express-News. Having written a few letters to the editor about climate change, trying to convince readers it is real and not leftist fearmongering, I was encouraged and saddened to read the front page article by John Schwartz of the New York Times that not only is climate change real, but we have put off action to the point that we can now expect multiple climate disasters occurring at once. And 2018 fires and floods seem to be proof of that. Then the whiplash. On the next page, I read that our Texas Legislative Conference (whatever that is) has decided to honor Rep. Lamar Smith, the premier climate change denier, as Texan of the Year. The ceremony is to be in New Braunfels, my hometown, in March. It will be attended by presidents, U.S. senators, entertainers, governors, and business icons. I will be boycotting it (easy to do since I wasnt invited), and I urge any who have concern for the planet we will leave our children to do the same. Thomas Hoskings, New Braunfels Believe you inspire Re: At community colleges, a revolt, Another View, by Troy Headrick, Nov. 14: I wish to congratulate Mr. Headrick on the op-ed he wrote. I am one of those who attended a junior college, Texas Southmost College, the only option in Brownsville as Pan American University did not have a campus in the city in the 60s. I had some of the most incredible professors there, including my English and French professor who inspired me to major in English. If it werent for my parents, I would not be where I am today, an educated Hispanic. My father finished the 10th grade when there were only 11 grades. Quite a feat since he lost his mother at 2 and his father at 12. My mother went through the fifth grade, for all intents and purposes a functional illiterate. But both were highly intelligent and valued an education, making sure we stayed in school and graduated. My siblings and I struggled, but we all have college degrees. It is their push and our hard work that allowed our families to be better off economically and inspired our children and grandchildren to do better. Alas, that is not true of so many who were in my situation. I admire your ability and hard work to help those who need the extra push. We are not always aware of who we inspire to do better, but you have to believe that you do. I know. I was in the classroom for 34 years, teaching English and Spanish. So, dont despair. If you inspire one to go on to higher education, you will have done very well. Evangelina Saenz Vera Enough already Re: Blue spine on I-35 reveals big voting shift in Texas, front page, Monday: I am getting tired of reading full-page articles on how the Democrats lost their elections. It reminds me of the 2016 presidential election. Get over it. It is also comical how the Democrats wanted recounts and filed every kind of legal effort to either slow or delay the final decision on who won some elections. Another big article on how Beto lost the election, but paved the way for others to win? Really. Oh, yes, Beto for president in 2020. Bring it on. Marvin Cannon The Tao Te Ching is a Chinese ancient text, one of the famous classics of the world. It is often called simply Lao Tzu (also Laozi or Lao-Tze) after the name of its author. Its a book discussing the Tao and the Te, and it is divided into 81 chapters; the first 37 chapters are also called the Tao Ching, and the next 44 chapters the Te Ching. In modern Chinese, Tao and Te have been combined into one word TaoTe to stand for morality or ethics. However, in the book of Tao Te Ching, they are two closely related separate terms: the Tao literally means the way, but is of a dual meaning of the knowledge of the truth and the ultimate energy in the universe, and the Te is the fundamental attribute (or virtue) of the Tao, which is of behavioral significance, in addition to the cognitive and physical significances. The Tao Te Ching is the most translated classic in the world. Today if you go online to search for Tao Te Ching or Lao Tzu or Laozi or Lao-Tze, you could find hundreds of different versions of translation of the Tao Te Ching in many different languages. Although the Bible is the most printed book, but the translation of the Bible is very restricted, the same for other religious books, and thus the Tao Te Ching somehow becomes the most translated book in any category in the world. The strange thing is that for a single language there could be many different translations by different people. Unfortunately and ironically, the Tao Te Ching is also at least one of the most mistranslated classics, if not the most mistranslated one, in both western and eastern history. 1. Lao Tzu was a naturalist. As the central notion of the Tao Te Ching, the Tao seemingly points to the supernatural domain, and Lao Tzu was also portrayed as a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions. Nonetheless, from his discourse in the Tao Te Ching, especially in Chapter 28, one of the most mistranslated chapters so far, we can see that Lao Tzu was actually a naturalist, who did not believe any afterlife, but believed that human reproduction and nurturing of kids is the only channel for the ceaseless continuation of life as well as general human societal operation. In fact, one strange thing about knowing Lao Tzu is that, when chasing the shadow of Lao Tzu from the myths, all the scholars seem to have overlooked one fact that, in comparison to the speculations based on the myths or legendary stories, Lao Tzu actually talked quite a lot about himself in the Tao Te Ching. According to the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu did not live a socially active life as some legendary stories tell us, but lived a lonely life in the midst of a socially active community, which could be clearly seen from Chapter 20 of the Tao Te Ching: People all like to hang out with friends, for things like celebrating sacrificial feasts, or ascending high places in spring. But I alone wander around, without knowing where to go. Undiscerning and innocent, I am like an infant; exhaustedly drifting around, I seem to have no place to return. All others are accompanied by friends, but I am alone as if abandoned. My heart is like that of a fool. Others all live for their goals, only am I dull; others all look around and talk to each other to find out what are going on, only am I staying quiet. Besides, Lao Tzu felt sadly sorry for the fact that with no one could he share his mastery of the Tao (i.e. knowledge of the truth), as is expressed in Chapter 70 of the Tao Te Ching: My words are easy to understand and easy to follow, yet no one in the world understands or follows what I have said. Unfortunately, these self-expressions of Lao Tzu have not only been ignored but even often been contradicted with opposite comments in those mythological style or legendary style stories about him. This phenomenon indeed reflects the current awkward status of the general scholastic comprehension of the Tao Te Ching. 2. The ignorance of the structure causes more errors. The disastrous situation of translation of the Tao Te Ching would first be reflected from the discrepancy in the literal meanings (not just wording) of in all translations (including all Chinese translations from ancient language to modern language) so far. However, as we will see in this article, the ultimate root cause for the errors with the literal meanings is not its difficulty of language as has been claimed by many, but its philosophical profundity. The impact of the errors with literal meanings goes far beyond the sheer controversial about the meanings of specific verses as has been claimed by the scholars in the field. In fact, the most misunderstood part of the Tao Te Ching so far is its overall structural arrangement, because of the misunderstandings of the literal meanings, of course. The Tao Te Ching has been considered by many to be an anthology of separate proses without any logical structure across different chapters. This ignorance of the internal logical connections between different chapters of the Tao Te Ching has entailed more serious peremptory claims about the layout of the book or even the number of authors of the book. In 1973, a copy of the Tao Te Ching was found during the famous archeological discovery of a Han Dynasty tomb from more than 2000 years ago. When that copy was unearthed, instead of the Tao Ching before the Te Ching as expected, the Te Ching was placed above the Tao Ching. Even though the placement of the Tao Ching and the Te Ching in that particular case could be simply according to the personal favoritism of the buried person, some scholars in the field of the Tao Te Ching began to claim that the original order should be the Te Ching before the Tao Ching, which means the currently supposed Chapter 38 should be Chapter 1, and the currently supposed Chapter 1 should be Chapter 45. Another even bolder claim about the Tao Te Ching is that it was not written by a single author but by many authors over a span of long time. We might easily reject the first one for its scantiness of the archeological particulars as Hegel commented against the third form of Reflective History in his Philosophy of History, and disapprove the second for the reason that the involvement of many people in its composition over a period of history is basically impossible if no one has truly comprehend the text as attested by the existence of severe mistakes in the translations by all the well-known figures so far in history. Besides, both claims are against the currently best accepted knowledge about the Tao Te Ching, Nonetheless, as long as the Tao Te Ching is truly an anthology of independent proses, then any of the above claims would still have its ground of argument. That anthology assumption could be best refuted if we could identify the existence of any structural arrangement through the text across chapters, which could also be the best proof of an overall design by a single author. In fact, as one example, we might find a clear structural arrangement from the meaningful response given in the ending chapter (Chapter 81) to the opening statement of Chapter 1, in addition to the response to the contents in Chapter 25 from within Chapter 28 (as we will see a little later), and many other instances. But the ignorance of the structural arrangement is by no means the only failure for understanding the Tao Te Ching during the past two and a half millenniums. Chapter 28 provides a good example for which the naturally meaningful message delivered by the original text has been skewed by all the past translations. 3. Lets take a look at one the most mistranslated chapters. The original text of the Tao Te Ching has been surprisingly misunderstood to a great degree in the past 2500 years, which includes the ignorance of the existence of some structural arrangement through the text, the missing of the extremely valuable knowledge about knowing in the opening chapter, the confusion about some quite straightforward description of natural processes, the lack of understanding of some ontological statements, and so on, in all translations so far. Of course, the problems in the translations of all other languages are rooted in the mainstream Chinese translations in the past. We might get a sense of the severity of this disastrous situation from the English translation of Chapter 28 as an example. A critical challenge for this chapter is how to interpret a term, perpetual virtue (), in the original text, which appears three times in Chapter 28: perpetual virtue () stays (), perpetual virtue () grows to its full (), perpetual virtue () suffers no problem (). One important point that has been ignored by all the past deciphers of the Tao Te Ching is that a replacement of perpetual virtue () by the word life would perfectly fit in the contexts of those three places, while the meaning of virtue does universally exist in pure life for any language in the sense that when we speak of pure life we do sense its virtue. With this replacement, it becomes obvious that a very confusing term in that chapter, stream of the world () is actually referring to seminal fluid, and thus the meaning of the whole Chapter 28 becomes logically clear. But so far I have not seen anyone else give a correct interpretation of it. Before we further delve into Chapter 28, its worth knowing that, with Chinese logogram, sometimes a sentence might be formed with some implicated meanings. For example, in English when we say he recovers from the sickness, the only subject is clearly he (or his health); but in Chinese, the same sentence could be translated into (his)(sickness)(is well), which literally says his sickness is well, but obviously, it should mean his sickness is gone and he is well. This works the same for both modern and ancient Chinese. To save space, lets have a close look at the English translation only for the first two sentences of Chapter 28. Those two sentences are originally formed by connecting the following groups of words together (dash sign is used here within each group of words to show how the original sentences were formed with Chinese characters): (know)-(its)- (masculine), (keep, adhere)-(its)-(feminine), (being)-(of the world)-(stream). (being)-(of the world)-(stream), (perpetual virtue)-(stay with it), (return to)-(infant). A meaningful straightforward translation should be as follows (my translation): Knowing the masculine, but staying in the feminine, it is a stream of the world; Being a stream of the world, it carries life, and thus it will be reincarnated into an infant. Here the Knowing can also be replaced by Coming from. Now lets compare the above translation to one of the Barnes & Noble Classics, translated by Charles Muller: Know the Masculine, cleave to the Feminine, be the valley for everyone. Being the valley for everyone, you are always in virtue without lapse, and you return to infancy. Obviously, my translation is not only closer to the meaning of the original text but also makes a lot more sense than that of Muller. Although the deciphering measure of replacing perpetual virtue with life could critically help to understand Chapter 28, the main cause for the mistranslations of Muller and all others so far has been indeed the philosophical confusion about that chapter. Since the Tao Te Ching has been portrayed as a text of moral teachings and self-improvement craft by many, people often try to push their translations into an atmosphere of moral significance and thus ignored the fact that the whole Tao Te Ching is a discussion about the Tao, not just moral or mental or natural, and Chapter 28 offers an insight about how the Tao circulates in human society in the form of perpetual Te (life), which serves as an important fundamental part for knowing the Tao. As a matter of fact, in Chapter 25, Lao Tzu describes the Tao as, ceaselessly repeating its own cycle, could be the mother of the universe, which is manifested in Chapter 28 in a particular way. My translation of the whole Chapter 28 could be found in next section of this article, and Mullers translation of the whole Chapter 28 could be found (based on the fair use rights) in Appendix B, together with the sample translations of Le Guin and Legge, as examples to show how wrong the translations could go because of philosophically misunderstanding the original text. A common blunder in the existing translations of Chapter 28 is the missing of the sense of pure nothing for the word which is the combination of (nothing)and (extreme). Accordingly, some nowadays Chinese philosophers even claim that there is no such thing of pure nothing as in the western philosophy. This is one consequence of lacking a good overall understanding of Chapter 28. What Lao Tzu expresses in Chapter 28 is his view about how life is continued in the human world. By using the (extreme of nothing) he tells that no afterlife exists once a person dies, and thus the only way for the Tao to have life to continue in the world is through the process that he described in Chapter 28. Therefore, the (extreme of nothing) in Chapter 28 indeed refers to nothing at all (even not relating to the decaying corpus), which is the essence of pure nothing. Therefore, from his discourse in the Tao Te Ching, we can see that Lao Tzu was actually a naturalist, even though his Tao seemingly points to the supernatural domain, and he was later portrayed as a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions. 4. Lets enjoy true wisdom of the original text through correct translation. Since we dont have the original text of Lao Tzu, current (both Chinese and non-Chinese) translations are all based on the so-called original text from different versions of Chinese translation from long time ago. That means, although different modern translators might provide their own translations of the original text which could be very different from those ancient versions, the contents of the so-called original text have all been taken from this or that original text used by different ancient translators. The problem is that there are some variations in the contents of those different versions of the original text (while basically they might all look close to each other), and unfortunately, some variations change the meanings of the translations. That alone tells that the misunderstandings of the Tao Te Ching can be traced back to a couple of thousand years ago. Because of the above reason, for my translation, I have decided to use a compilation of different popularly circulating versions of the Tao Te Ching as the text of the original work. I have made decisions on which version to follow for any specific part of the text whenever I see some critical discrepancies with the original text between those versions. The following are my English translations of two sample chapters (Chapters 1 and 28) of the Tao Te Ching, which are among the most misunderstood chapters so far. Chapter 1: The original text for the following translation of Chapter 1 is a compilation of that used by the famous HeShangGong (Rivers old man) and that used by the famous Nan HuaiJin (see Appendix A). The Tao that can be said is not an eternal Tao, The name that can be given is not an eternal name; There was no name at the beginning of the universe, Naming things is the mother of the knowledge of things; So without a name, we would only perceive the nature of a being, With a name, we could discover the details and limits of (the notion of) that being; Those two things come from the same one but differ in terms of name (note: neither differ by name nor differ in name, since one of them is no name), So both are called mystery; One mystery after another, Thats the gate to the unknown knowledge of all things. Chapter 28: The original text for the following translation of Chapter 28 is a compilation of that used by the famous Wang Bi, and that used by the famous Nan Huaijin (see Appendix A). Knowing the masculine, but staying in the feminine, it is a stream of the world; Being a stream of the world, it carries life, thus it will be reincarnated into an infant. Knowing the glory (of life), yet enduring the humiliation by itself, it is the holder of the world. Being in the holder of the world, life grows to its full term, and then is reincarnated to a baby (or an unprocessed log, meaning a kid). Knowing the white (hair) in the outside world, nurturing the black (hair kids) at home, it is the common way of life. In this common way, life continues without being ruined, and the carriers of life would go back to the extreme of nothing (i.e. pure nothing). The kids (or the unprocessed log) will spread out and become implements for the society, the leaders will use them, and the outstanding ones will become officers in the society; In this way, the systematic functioning of the world is not interrupted. 5. Lets witness the disaster through examples. Appendix B provides (based on the fair use of copyrighted content) sample translations of the above two chapters by three different translators. While differing from each other in some specifics, they all share one important commonplace: none of them would correctly present to the audience the central themes of Chapter 1 and Chapter 28 as reflected in my translation. The central theme of Chapter 1 is to tell us the role of language in the creation of human knowledge system and accordingly the role of language in the learning and thinking processes of each individual, instead of talking about what is the Tao as usually assumed. The third section of Chapter 1 is of critical importance for correctly translating the whole chapter, which tells that there are two basic ways of thinking: language based thinking and language-less thinking. In fact, these two ways of thinking correspond to the different essences of arts and philosophy. So far, none of the previous translators has correctly expressing this meaning in their translations, including those of the three translators in Appendix B. As previously pointed out, Chapter 28 is about how the Tao circulates in human society in the form of perpetual Te (life), which serves as an important fundamental part for knowing the Tao. In the context, it also serves as a response to the comment he made in Chapter 25 about the Tao as, ceaselessly moving in its own recurring cycles, capable of being the mother of heaven and earth! Besides, from the use of the term (pure nothing) in Chapter 28, we could see that Lao Tzu was actually a naturalist. The misunderstandings of those three translators about the original text of Chapter 1 and Chapter 28 are only examples of the severe mistakes that have been made by thousands of translators over the past two millenniums. 6. So the Tao Te Ching has become a disaster for many translators. The root cause of the disaster is its philosophical profundity of the original text, instead of its difficulty of language as has always been falsely claimed by many in the field. Philosophy in general has been known as an open book of ciphertext, in the sense that many philosophical works have been there for hundreds or thousands of years, but still not well comprehended by institutional professionals although they are all very good at reading books. In fact, compared with ancient Chinese translators who used the ancient language every day, people with modern scientific knowledge and multicultural background might be more advantageous for comprehending some difficult philosophical insights (as shown in Chapter 1 and Chapter 28) of the original text. Furthermore, over the past 2500 years, in spite of the serious misunderstandings of the original text, some fundamentals for reading the Tao Te Ching have been well established (e.g. punctuations etc). Therefore, it is possible to have a correct new translation of the Tao Te Ching in any language directly from a reliable version of the original text without the need to follow any particular existing mainstream Chinese translation of the original text. Appendices Appendix A. The Original Work of the Translated Sample Chapters Chapter 1: The following original text for Chapter 1 is a compilation of that used by the famous HeShangGong (Rivers old man, ) and that used by the famous Nan HuaiJin (): Chapter 28: The following original text for Chapter 25 is a compilation of that used by the famous Wang Bi (), and that used by the famous Nan Huijin (): Appendix B. Samples of Existing Published Translations of the Tao Te Ching: The following are sample translations published by three different translators for the example chapters as fair use for showing the problems in the existing translations: Chapter 1: Translation of Charles Muller: The Tao that can be followed is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth While naming is the origin of the myriad things. Therefore, always desireless, you see the mystery Ever desiring, you see the manifestations. These two are the same ------ When they appear they are named differently. This sameness is the mystery, Mystery within mystery; The door to all marvels. Translation of Ursula K. Le Guin: The way you can go isn't the real way. The name you can say isn't the real name. Heaven and earth begin in the unnamed: name's the mother of the ten thousand things. So the unwanting soul sees what's hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants. Two things, one origin, but different in name, whose identity is mystery. Mystery of all mysteries! The door to the hidden. Translation of James Legge: The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. (Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things. Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see. Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful. Chapter 28: Mullers translation: Know the Masculine, cleave to the Feminine Be the valley for everyone. Being the valley for everyone You are always in virtue without lapse And you return to infancy. Know the White, cleave to the Black Be a model for everyone. Being the model for everyone You are always in virtue and free from error You return to limitless. Know Glory but cleave to Humiliation Be the valley for everyone. When your constancy in virtue is complete You return to the state of the "uncarved block." The block is cut into implements The sage uses them to fulfill roles. Therefore the great tailor does not cut. Le Guins translation: Knowing man and staying woman, be the riverbed of the world. Being the world's riverbed of eternal unfailing power is to go back again to be newborn. Knowing light and staying dark, be a pattern to the world. Being the world's pattern of eternal unerring power is to go back again to boundlessness. Knowing glory and staying modest, be the valley of the world. Being the world's valley of eternal inexhaustible power is to go back again to the natural. Legges translation: Who knows his manhood's strength, Yet still his female feebleness maintains; As to one channel flow the many drains, All come to him, yea, all beneath the sky. Thus he the constant excellence retains; The simple child again, free from all stains. Who knows how white attracts, Yet always keeps himself within black's shade, The pattern of humility displayed, Displayed in view of all beneath the sky; He in the unchanging excellence arrayed, Endless return to man's first state has made. Who knows how glory shines, Yet loves disgrace, nor e'er for it is pale; Behold his presence in a spacious vale, To which men come from all beneath the sky. The unchanging excellence completes its tale; The simple infant man in him we hail. The unwrought material, when divided and distributed, forms vessels. The sage, when employed, becomes the Head of all the Officers (of government); and in his greatest regulations he employs no violent measures. Turkey and the European Union "100 percent" agree with each other on reaching a political solution in Syria, Christian Berger, head of the EU delegation to Turkey, said. Daily Sabah reports in its article Turkey, EU on same page for reaching political solution in Syria that "the humanitarian support and other support we provide are of course important. But another subject that is equally as important is to find a political solution in Syria," Berger said during a visit to a refugee health center in Istanbul's Esenyurt district. Since the breakout of the Syrian civil war in 2011, more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees have escaped their country and moved toward Turkey as a safe haven. As the war has dragged on, Turkey shifted its policy toward refugees from simple protection and humanitarian aid to integration as only a small fraction of the overall refugee population stays in state-run camps near the border with Syria, while the rest are spread out across Turkey. Women and children make up the majority of the refugees. According to Turkey's Public Auditing Agency (KDK) a total of 276,158 Syrians were born to refugee families in Turkey between 2011 the year the war broke out and 2017. Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) has led the efforts to shelter refugees. At some 21 accommodation centers, including tent camps and modern prefabricated housing units, AFAD hosts 227,894 Syrian refugees. The rest either live in houses they rent or have bought, or at homes provided by charities throughout all of Turkey's 81 provinces. "We need to appreciate that Turkey is hosting 3.5 million Syrians and other refugees," Berger underlined, emphasizing that Turkish society, government and nongovernmental organizations welcomed people who escaped from the Syrian civil war and showed incredible support. "In last few years, we are closely working with Turkish authorities on this matter. We are trying to contribute to the works Turkey does regarding refugees," Berger indicated. Turkey and the EU signed an agreement in 2016 to solve Europe's most pressing problem, the influx of refugees to the union. The agreement foresees that in exchange for Turkey stemming the refugee flow to Europe, the EU would pay Turkey 6 billion euros in financial aid. The agreement also envisages acceleration in Turkey's EU accession talks and visa-free travel for its citizens. The EU paid the first 3 billion euros tranche for 2016-2017 and promised to pay the second tranche for 2018-2019 by the end of this year. Although Turkey did its part, taking great responsibility, the EU failed to hold up its end of the agreement. The EU has been delaying implementing visa-free travel for Turkish citizens for two years since the deal came into effect. Irregular arrivals to the EU decreased by 99 percent thanks to Turkey's efforts. Jerry Worden first got involved with the Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation after being diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer at age 39 and undergoing a double mastectomy. After treatment, Worden said her insurance company told her they werent going to pay for breast reconstruction because they considered it cosmetic surgery. Thats when Dale Eastman, one of the founders of ABCF, asked her to join the organization to help push for change at the state level. Worden spoke to legislators about reconstruction; her doctors wrote letters; and she kept going back to her insurer. The company initially said they would pay for reconstruction for the one breast that was affected, but not for the other, Worden said. But Worden and ABCF refused to relent, and eventually the Texas Legislature passed a bill requiring coverage for reconstruction, including for the nonaffected breast, she said. I think they saw we werent going to go away, said Worden, now 63. San Antonio-based ABCF was started in the early 1990s by a group of breast cancer survivors, including Eastman. Eastman struggled to find information about breast cancer and treatment after she was diagnosed in 1990. It was frustrating and worrisome. I made a pact with myself and with my faith that if I survived, Id do something to make things better for breast cancer patients in San Antonio, she told the San Antonio Express-News in 2014. The organizations goal, scrawled in pink chalk on a blackboard at its headquarters on Rivas Street, is to end breast cancer by assisting patients, informing health professionals and policymakers and expanding knowledge through education and community outreach. It focuses on legislation related to breast cancer and health care concerns and costs, sponsor mammograms for people in underserved communities, run a helpline and work with other organizations in the area to connect people with services. ABCF operates without a paid staff and does not seek grants for most of its work, Worden said. She has been a volunteer with the organization for more than two decades. Were speaking for women who cant speak for themselves, Worden said. Thats our only agenda. Research is another priority. ABCF created initiatives with the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium aimed at educating breast cancer advocates. People from around the world have come to the event through the scholarship program, Worden said. ABCF also offers an evening advocacy program during the event thats open to the public, giving people an avenue for learning about ongoing research. It tries to participate on committees and panels with local researchers and is also involved with the National Breast Cancer Coalition, where Worden is a board member. One of the biggest questions in the breast cancer community currently is how cancer can remain dormant for so many years, Worden said. Our goal is to end breast cancer and you cant do that unless you dump some money into research, she said. The organization operates a helpline run by survivors, where people can call in to speak with someone or leave a message. Some have young children and arent sure what to do, Worden said. Others have a specific type of cancer and are looking for more information, or theyre not sure what questions to ask their doctors. Sometimes they are in the midst of treatment and they are scared. That was what the helpline was intended to be, more of a psychological connection to somebody who has been through breast cancer, she said. Despite growing awareness, Worden said she is still surprised sometimes by what people dont know. For example, a friend will say they found a lump but just had a mammogram, or theyre not clear on their familys history of breast cancer, she said. Still, the questions often dont arise until people are facing breast cancer. Its becoming even more clear to me now theres still a lot of education, but are people wanting to hear it? she said. ABCF is always looking for more volunteers and accepts donations through their website, alamobreastcancer.org, Worden said. People can also reach the organization at 210-431-4415. They hope to add paid staff members in the future as they continue their work. Some of us work 24 hours a day, seven days a week on Alamo Breast Cancer stuff, she said. Theres so much to do. madison.iszler@express-news.net | @madisoniszler At the end of every year and the beginning of the next, San Antonians who live paycheck to paycheck, on the precarious edge of homelessness, cant make rent. The Rev. Ann Helmke, a Lutheran minister and the citys faith-based liaison, hears it from agencies, pastors and volunteers. It has led her to push to get more San Antonians signed up for the citys action alert system, which has become central to the Faith-Based Initiatives work. Participants text the word compassion to 55000, then watch for monthly texts, or urgent action alerts that point to an immediate need sometimes bottled water, or non-perishable food, or blankets. The system alerts volunteers to urgent human needs or services that will benefit from a concerted and well-informed effort. Helmke rejects the notion that poor people over-extend themselves at Christmas and commit to obligations they cant meet. Dawn White-Fosdick, executive director of Christian Assistance Ministries, calls the end-of-year housing crisis a funding cycle that the poor and working poor find hard to shake. During the first quarter of the new year, they recover. How? White-Fosdick has a theory: theyre the first to apply for income-tax refunds and take side jobs, often related to annual events like Fiesta or the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, which helps pay the rent. Then the summer comes around, and it gets a little worse because of high electricity bills, White-Fosdick said. By fall, theyre robbing Peter to pay Paul. Everything is in trouble. Theyre late on water and electricity bills, and their phone and car payments. They pay everything late, then everything is disconnected. By years end, they lose apartments, have to move and are the first, again, to file for tax returns in the new year, usually paying a chunk to tax preparation chains. Then the whole game starts over again, White-Fosdick said. Local agencies that provide limited rental assistance run low at the end of year, too. Some only help with the second half of a rent payment after the client has paid the first and has been served with an eviction notice. SAMMinistries provides rental aid but details vary based on funds available, an official said. Eviction notices are required, and only 20 applications a week are taken. White-Fosdick says waiting for eviction is risky and scary, and then they have to spend all day calling to get an appointment. Christian Assistance Ministries used to offer rental aid but funds were so limited it decided to focus on utility assistance, food and clothing, among other services. Helmke thinks the text alert system can be deployed against the larger problem of affordable housing. Take the week an alert went out for diapers. Helmke can draw a straight line from the need for such disposables to the ability to pay rent. Some people cant go to work because they dont have diapers, Helmke said. They cant take their kids to daycare without diapers. They stay home with their children. The alert system has a track record already. It garnered a big response from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during a cold snap, when a request went out for warm clothes and blankets. Local church leaders asked the LDS humanitarian services office in Salt Lake City for help, which responded with a truckload of supplies that arrived in large, labeled, organized bundles. The church asked Salt Lake for aid to replenish shelves at the San Antonio Food Bank, resulting in 20,000 jars of peanut butter, 10,000 of which were set aside for Catholic Charities. Spokeswoman Leisa Parsons said the LDS church also made a $76,000 donation toward a truck-trailer unit that will be outfitted with two mobile showers, two restrooms and laundry facilities for the homeless, expected to be delivered in December. It has been in response to what Ann has done, Parsons said. In 2017, the system send four action alerts starting in October. In 2018 so far, 12 action alerts have been sent, Helmke said. To date, this text messaging has driven almost 10,000 views on actions steps. About 2,000 people are signed up to receive text alerts, most of them from faith communities. Anybody can be on it, Helmke said. Theres no reason we cant be at 200,000. Helmke said the alert system also has helped migrants and refugees after their release from immigration detention centers in South Texas. Jan Olsen, a retired nurse with the Interfaith Welcome Coalition, used it to ask for over-the-counter medications. We got six months worth of medicines and diapers, Olsen said. It was an unbelievable response. During the holidays, many charities focus on gift-giving thats tangible. Thats not bad, Helmke said. Other needs are invisible, and if more San Antonians were connected to the immediacy of human needs, it would change everything, she said. Elaine Ayala covers religion and minority affairs in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyala Croatia Airlines handled its two-millionth passenger of the year yesterday, achieving the milestone for only the second time in its 29-year history. The traveller was flown on a flight between Munich and Split. The Croatian carrier welcomed its two-millionth passenger just over two weeks ahead of last year. There is not enough analysis data for El Paso Electric. 3.9 Community Rank Outperform Votes El Paso Electric has received 256 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes El Paso Electric has received 192 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment El Paso Electric has received 57.14% outperform votes from our community. MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about El Paso Electric and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe EE will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe EE will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days. Previous Next Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc. provides mission-critical flow control and compression equipment; and associated aftermarket parts, consumables, and services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. 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Read More In late October the Heydar Aliyev Palace hosted premiere of the first Azerbaijani rock opera "The Return of Sinbad". This project was prepared at the request of the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan. Author of the first rock opera in musical history of the country, vocalist and composer, representative of the classical vocal school, Rizvan Sadyrkhanov, discussed history of this rock opera's creation in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza. - Premiere of your opera is an event of a huge scale in musical and cultural life of Azerbaijan. Were you satisfied with it? - I really liked it. I didn't expect that it will turn out to be so good. I canceled this premiere twice - on May 11 and September 28. Cancellations happened due to the fact that there was no organizational progress. In order to prepare something significant, there must be material and technical base to attract people, or someone's willful decision. It was at the point where I was already ready to give up. But I have been waiting for this event for 40 years. Originally, this rock opera was supposed to last about 22 minutes, and now it lasts 1 hour and 40 minutes. It's completely different now. I wrote a new libretto, included new poems, gave this opera multicultural nature. - Did you begin writing this opera in Soviet times? - Yes. My first specialty is engineering, I'm professional driller, worked in oil business at sea, graduated from the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University. At the same time, I was studying at the Asaf Zeynalli School. I played the first chords of this rock opera at Rafael Huseynov's home. He became co-author of this rock opera. All parts in Azerbaijani language - introduction and ending - were written based on his poems. Rafael Huseynov is not only statesman, academician, chairman of the cultural commission of the Milli Majlis, he's also a brilliant poet. He's one of the main reasons why this rock opera finally took place. I'm also grateful to the Ministry of Culture, which ordered me official contract to prepare this opera two years ago. But it turned out to be so big and interesting that material support that was originally provided just wasn't enough. For example, there was no hall for rehearsals to prepare for rock opera of such scale. Rafael Huseynov found us a place for rehearsals. "Sinbad" is not just a multicultural opera, it's also people's opera. Everybody contributed somehow. My friends, including Italians, helped me financially. Most importantly, thanks to this rock opera I can say for sure that we have great people, who work not for the sake of money, but for the sake of idea. I'm also grateful to the Ministry of Culture for introducing me to director Nijat Kyazimov, who helpted to prepare a unique performance. He's a person with unique thinking, unique vision of the scene, stage settings. We have terrific dance director Jamila Bayramova, Peoples Artist of Azerbaijan. Her talent as a choreographer is priceless. We're very grateful to Azerpasha Neymatov, director of the Heydar Aliyev Palace Farhad Salimovich Babayev, who was extremely excited when he heard about the idea of rock opera. Even when I was ready to give up, he said: You know, Rizvan, it's a matter of honor. We have to finish this thing. If we dont, then we're just worthless. - Why did you decide to complete this rock opera after so many years? - In 2015, at after one of the concerts at the Kremlin Palace, where premiere of three of my songs was held, we talked about music, and I played and sang one part from this opera. There were members of the government, deputies, musicians, my friends Andrei Dementyev and Iosif Kobzon. Everyone became interested in it. And then Kobzon said: "We can organize this, it's very interesting." But neither Andrei Dementyev, nor Iosif Kobzon lived to this day when this opera premiered... - Do you plan to show this opera in the Kremlin Palace? - Artistic director of the Russian "Republic" group, a very interesting person, a brilliant musician and composer, Andrei Pryazhnikov, expressed desire to hold this opera. I hope it will be possible to show this opera not only in Moscow, but also organize a huge tour in Russia. - Your rock opera has verses of world classics in Azerbaijani, Russian, English, Italian, Czech and even Chinese. How did come up with this idea? - I sometimes write poetry In Italian, and I studied Chinese in my youth. I became interested in China's history thanks to my uncle, who worked there as an engineer. At 17, he decided to learn this language using dictionaries and self-learning manuals. It was interesting to learn hieroglyphs. It takes a whole lifetime to learn them. Three to four sentences can be written using just one hieroglyph. I studied this language, Chinese songs. I mastered this language thanks to music, wrote songs in Chinese. Everything we learn will definitely come in handy some day. And when we needed costumes for this opera, my friend suggested contacting the Confucius Institute in Baku. I also asked where I can find interesting Chinese poems for this opera. Then I came home and I thought: "I have the "Confucius Book of Hymns and Songs", which was recognized as the best book of all times in 2015 at the World Congress in Germany, where leading writers gathered. I opened the book and immediately came up with several ideas. I write music almost all the time. If I liked some poems, then I immediately come up with music. - Why did you decide to create rock opera? - I equally love rock music, symphonic music, Azerbaijani folk music, any ethnic music. Even if the music is atonal, in other words not harmonized, it's still interesting. When I was a student, revolutionary rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" was released. By the way, after this the Bible became the best-selling book in the world. It other words, after a difficult period of time religion once again became extremely popular thanks to this rock opera. I was interested in it as a music piece. This opera was released here 5-6 months after it was in the West. CDs were sold in Baku, so we spent last money on them. In addition, we also listened to the BBC, Voice of America, Radio Monte Carlo. By that time I already written quite a few songs, collaborated with outstanding Russian poet Alexei Markov, so I decided to create rock opera myself. - Why did you choose Sinbad? - His image is multicultural. This man is "omnivorous": He is always weclomed by Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim, regardless of religious and national identity. At first I didn't know that Chinese man was Sinbad's prototype. For me, he's always been Arab from Baghdad, because I thought there was no indication that he's Chinese. We began to compose rock opera with my friend Azad Hajiyev. He wrote poems, called me, and then I immediately began to compose music. Over all these years, I doesn't matter where I worked, what I did, Sinbad was always on my mind. But in order to finish this work in the USSR, you had to be a member of the Composers Union. And now everything is possible. After a concert in Moscow, I accidentally met with our Minister of Culture, spoke about this opera, and an official decision was made, contract was signed. - Your opera is already called "our response to Broadway." Do you agree with this comparison? - Of course not. Broadway production costs 10-12 million dollars. Well, it's also shown for the next five years, so millions turn into billion during this time. We have no such thing, we don't have necessary finances. There is a state law on procurement, and operas are a part of it, just in the field of culture. I signed a contract with the Ministry to create this opera, it created conditions, recommended excellent specialists. All of this also requires finances. Choreographic group alone includes about 50 people. So we got a truly united team, real team of Sinbad! - Over the past years you performed on the same stage as artists like Muslim Magomayev, Iosif Kobzon, Alexander Gradsky... - In 2002 I was invited to tour with famous musicians in Israel. There I met Iosif Kobzon for the first time. I sang "Doubts" and another song. The next morning I woke up a famous person. - What do you think about development of vocal art in Azerbaijan? - I'm optimistic about its future. Even if we take my rock opera for example, 90% of those involved in it are people who I worked with. They say that I played a huge role in their opera and vocal life. The Ministry of Culture feared that there will be problems with vocalists, but I knew all vocalists, their capabilities, so I knew what to expect. Today there's incredible development of opera, jazz, pop culture in Azerbaijan . iShares MSCI Netherlands ETF's stock was trading at $27.57 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWN shares have increased by 84.0% and is now trading at $50.73. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Tahoe Resources Inc., together with its subsidiaries, acquires, explores for, develops, and operates mineral properties in the Americas. It explores for silver, gold, lead, zinc, and copper deposits, as well as precious metals assets. The company holds interest in the La Arena gold mine located in the Huamachuco district of northern Peru; Shahuindo mine located in the province of Cajabamba in northern Peru; and La Arena II, a copper-gold porphyry deposit located in Peru. It also holds interest in the Timmins mines, including the Bell Creek and Timmins West mines, the Fenn-Gib project, the Juby project, the Vogel project, and the Gold River project located in Timmins, Ontario. The company was formerly known as CKM Resources Inc. and changed its name to Tahoe Resources Inc. in January 2010. Tahoe Resources Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada. Read More iShares MSCI Austria ETF's stock was trading at $15.26 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWO stock has increased by 63.0% and is now trading at $24.8794. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. The Boeing Co. is an aerospace company, which engages in the manufacture of commercial jetliners and defense, space and security systems. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space and Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital. The Commercial Airplanes segment includes the development, production, and market of commercial jet aircraft and provides fleet support services, principally to the commercial airline industry worldwide. The Defense, Space and Security segment refers to the research, development, production and modification of manned and unmanned military aircraft and weapons systems for global strike, including fighter and combat rotorcraft aircraft and missile systems; global mobility, including tanker, rotorcraft and tilt-rotor aircraft; and airborne surveillance and reconnaissance, including command and control, battle management and airborne anti-submarine aircraft. The Global Services segment provides services to commercial and defense customers. The Boeing Capital segment seeks to ensure that Boeing customers have the financing they need to buy and take delivery of their Boeing product and manages overall financing exposure. T Read More The Seven Beauties exhibition opened in Moscow. It is devoted to the Azerbaijani poet of the 12th century, Nizami Ganjavi. The exhibition is held in the All-Russian Museum of Decorative Art in Moscow. It consists of 60 items praising Azerbaijani culture in various aspects. The project is synthesis of the carpet art, jewellery, miniature, classic national music, classic dance, and contemporary art. The journey to Nizamis wonderful world starts with an installation by the conceptual artist Rashad Alekperov. The artist told Vestnik Kavkaza about his work. - How did the idea of the installation come to you? - I created the installation for the Azerbaijani pavilion in the Venice Biennale. It is a classic Azerbaijani miniature of Sultan Muhammad. It is colorless. I used only graphics and created a shadow installation. It depicts a young man reading a book. Today people do lack reading. - How much time do you usually spend to create such an installation? - It takes from three to seven days. For me, its a game: light is installed and metal elements are being cut. I love the process. I love working with metal. - When did you start creating such installations? - I started to work with shadows in 2001. I created the East-West installation out of waste materials. Then I created two more compositions with light. Thats how it went. I didnt expect such a positive reaction my installations were popular in many exhibitions, including ones in Moscow. I had a joint exhibition with Aydan Salakhova in the Aydan Gallery in 2009. I presented a shadow installation made of plastic sewer pipes. Later, an exhibition in the Manezh was held. I presented an installation made of ropes in the Kosmos pavilion there. - What are your artistic plans for the future? - There will be a big exhibition on Taiwan in late 2019. Artists who work only with light and shadow will come there. They are few in the world only seven people. And I am one of them. - What does inspire you in your work? - I dont know what inspires me. I just do what I want at the current moment. Gildan Activewear Inc. manufactures and sells various apparel products in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It provides various activewear products, including T-shirts, fleece tops and bottoms, and sport shirts under the Gildan, Gildan Performance, Gildan Hammer, Comfort Colors, American Apparel, Anvil by Gildan, Alstyle, Prim + Preux, and GoldToe brands. The company also offers hosiery products comprising athletic; dress; and casual, liner, therapeutic, and workwear socks, as well as sheer panty hoses, tights, and leggings under the brands of Gildan, Under Armour, GoldToe, PowerSox, GT a GoldToe Brand, Silver Toe, Signature Gold by Goldtoe, Peds, MediPeds, Kushyfoot, Therapy Plus, All Pro, Secret, Silks, Secret Silky, and American Apparel. In addition, it provides men's and boys' underwear products, and ladies panties under the Gildan and Gildan Platinum brand names; and ladies' shapewear, intimates, and accessories under the Secret and Secret Silky brands. The company sells its products to wholesale distributors, screen printers, or embellishers, as well as to retailers and consumer brand companies. The company was formerly known as Textiles Gildan Inc. and changed its name to Gildan Activewear Inc. in March 1995. Gildan Activewear Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of IDEX: ADS Corp., ADS Environmental Services Pty Limited, ADS Environmental Technologies Inc., ADS LLC, AEGIS Flow Technologies, AEGIS Flow Technologies L.L.C., AWG, AWG Fittings GmbH, Abel Pumps, Advanced Thin Films, Advanced Thin Films Inc., Airtech Group, Akron Brass, Akron Brass Company, Alfa Valvole, Alfa Valvole S.r.l., Band-It Clamps (Asia) Pte. Ltd., Band-It Company Limited, Band-It-IDEX Inc., Banjo Corporation, Banjo Europe S.r.l., BarbIDEX International SRL, CIDRA Precision Services, CVI Laser, CVI Laser LLC, CVI Laser Limited, CVI Melles Griot, Corken Inc., ERC, Eastern Plastics, FAST & Fluid Management S.r.l., FM Delaware Inc., FM Investment Inc., FMD Distribution and Service LLC, FMD Fabrication Services LLC, FTL Seals Technology Limited, Fast & Fluid Management B.V., Fast & Fluid Management Eastern Europe Sp. Z O.O., Fast and Fluid Management Australia Pty. Ltd., Flow Management Devices, Flow Management Devices LLC, Fluid Management Canada Inc., Fluid Management Inc., Fluid Management Operations LLC, Gast Group Ltd, Gast Manufacturing Inc., Godiva Limited, Godiva Products Limited, Hale Products Europe Limited, Hale Products Inc., Hurst Jaws of Life Inc., IDEX Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., IDEX Dinglee Technology (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., IDEX Europe GmbH, IDEX Health & Science KK, IDEX Health & Science LLC, IDEX Holdings GmbH, IDEX Holdings Inc., IDEX India Private Limited, IDEX Italy S.r.l., IDEX Japan GK, IDEX Korea Ltd, IDEX Leasing GmbH, IDEX MPT Inc., IDEX Mexico S.A. de C.V., IDEX Middle East FZE, IDEX Pump Technologies (Ireland) Limited, IDEX SAS, IDEX Service Corp., IDEX Sourcing Corporation, IDEX Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., IDEX Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, IDEX UK Investment Ltd, IDEX UK Ltd., IDEX do Brasil Servicos e Vendas Ltda., IETG, Isolation Technologies, KNIGHT LLC, KVT-Koenig Holding Limited, Knight (Canada) Limited, Knight Inc., Knight UK Ltd, LUKAS Hydraulik GmbH, Liquid Controls, Liquid Controls LLC, Matcon, Matcon (R&D) Limited, Matcon Group Limited, Matcon Limited, Melles Griot B.V., Melles Griot GmbH, Microfluidics, Microfluidics International Corporation, Micropump Inc., Nova Technologies, Nova Technologies Corporation, Novotema, Novotema S.p.A, OBL, OBL Srl, Oil & Gas Process Solutions LLC, PP AWG GmbH, PPE International LLC, PPE LLC, Precision Photonics, Precision Polymer Engineering Limited, Project Gold Acquisition Corp., Pulsafeeder Inc., Quadro Engineering Corp., RV Acquisition Corp., Richter Chemie-Technik, Richter Chemie-Technik GmbH, Richter EP (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., Richter Pumps & Valves Inc., Roplan AB, Roplan GmbH, Roplan Holding AB, Roplan Ltd, Roplan Machinery (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., Roplan Machining AB, Roplan Sales (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., Roplan Sales AB, Roplan Sales Inc., Roplan Trading AB, S.A.M.P.I. S.p.A., SFC KOENIG, SFC KOENIG Flow Control (Suzhou) Co. Limited, SFC Koenig AG, SFC Koenig Beteilgungs GmbH, SFC Koenig GmbH, SFC Koenig LLC, Scivex, Seals Limited, Semrock, Steridose Sales AB, The Fitzpatrick Company, Toptech Systems, Toptech Systems Inc., Toptech Systems NV, Trebor International Inc., Velcora, Velcora Holding AB, Vetter GmbH, Viking Pump Inc., Viking Pump of Canada Inc., Warren Rupp Inc., Wright Flow Technologies Limited, XAM Swiss Holding I GmbH, iPEK, iPEK International GmbH, iPEK Spezial TV GmbH, thinXXS Microtechnology, and thinXXS Microtechnology AG. Grupo Supervielle SA operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of banking services. It operates through the following segments: Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Treasury, Consumer, Insurance and Asset Management and Other Services. The Retail Banking segment involves in granting of loans and other credit products such as deposits of physical persons. The Corporate Banking segment focuses in advisory services at a corporate and financial level, as well as the administration of assets and loans targeted to big clients. The Treasury segment operates with Government Securities of the Group, syndicated loans, and financial lease. The Consumer segment consists of loans and other credit products targeted to middle and lower-middle income sectors and non-financial products and services. The Insurance segment comprises insurance products, with a focus on life insurance. The Asset Management and Other Services segment offers mutual funds and other products and services. The company was founded on October 8, 1979 and is headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Read More Unum Group is engaged in providing financial protection benefits. It operates through the following segments: Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, Closed Block and Corporate. The Unum US segment comprises of group long-term and short-term disability insurance, group life and accidental death and dismemberment products, and supplemental and voluntary lines of business. The Unum International segment engages in the operations of UK business, which includes insurance for group long-term disability, group life, and supplemental lines of business that include dental, individual disability, and critical illness products; Poland business primarily includes insurance for individual and group life with accident and health riders. The Colonial Life segment includes insurance for accident, sickness, disability products, life products, and cancer and critical illness products. The Closed Block segment consists of individual disability, group and individual long-term care, and other insurance products no longer actively marketed. The Corporate segment refers to investment income on corporate assets and other corporate income and expenses not allocated to a line of business; and interest Read More Ankara reiterated yesterday that it expects European Union member states to provide solid support in the country's fight against various terrorist groups. "It is our natural right to expect solid support from the EU, particularly in the fight against terrorism," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday in a joint press conference with Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security, and Johannes Hahn, EU Commission vice president and commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Daily Sabah reported. The press conference was held after the Turkey-EU High-Level Political Dialogue Meeting in Ankara. Welcoming the recent decision of the European Court of Justice to keep the PKK on the EU's terror list, Cavusoglu said it was a significant decision and the PKK should continue to be on the list. Yet, he underlined that it is unacceptable that the PKK continues its activities in European countries by carrying flags or symbols of the terror group. "We welcome the measures taken in some countries, such as in Germany and England; however, we find them inadequate." by Alex Murray | Heat Correspondent | Wed, Nov 21st 6:34pm EST Kyle Lowry (ankle) is good to go on Wednesday for the Raptors. (Blake Murphy on Twitter) Fantasy Impact: Because this is the back-end of a back-to-back, there was some thought that Lowry might sit out Wednesday night's game against the Hawks, but he will indeed be out there for Toronto tonight. He'll likely be playing through a bit of an ankle problem, but it shouldn't affect him too much. MANHEIM, Pa. Dairy farmer Jessica Peters, of Meadville, Pennsylvania, was one of four women honored recently with the Dairy Girl Networks newly created Forward Under 40 award. It was presented at Forward TogetHER, the Dairy Girl Network national conference, and recognized the winners industry involvement, leadership skills, innovative thinking and ideas. Also honored were Candice White from Mill Hall, Pennsylvania; Kristi Fielder, Wisconsin; and Jessica Tekippe, of Iowa. Jessica Peters. Jessica Peters grew up on her family dairy farm in Crawford County, in northwestern Pennsylvania, where they milk Jerseys. She went to Pennsylvania State University and before returning to the farm full time, she traveled to New Zealand to explore their culture and dairy industry. She is also active with her local county fair and the Pennsylvania State Jersey Association where she serves as treasurer. Peters is a Young Dairy Leaders Institute graduate and inspires others by sharing her role as a dairy farmer and their challenges to a large social media following. She writes a blog post for Hoards Dairyman, wrote a childrens nursery rhyme book and even started a national dairy dance-off challenge. Candice White. White is the dairy manager at Paul Dotterer & Sons and is a third-generation dairywoman, overseeing the milking center and all herd health as well as managing over 15 employees and 1,650 cows and heifers. White is also serving her second three-year term on the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania board of directors and also serves on the Pennsylvania Beef Council board of directors. She has been at the forefront of using social media to educate consumers, and played a role in the She-I-O music video produced by Land O Lakes. Kristi Fielder. Another recipient of the award was Kristi Fielder. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, she started as an intern with GENEX and she has held multiple roles in the company ever since. She serves as the vice president of production and manages over 125 employees in production locations throughout the USA. Jessica Tekippe. A former Iowa Dairy Princess, Tekippe has started her own dairy in partnership with her husband. As the lead for research and development for Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition North America, Tekippe has also played a big role in changing the nutritional outline of the global dairy industry. The Dairy Girl Network award will be presented again in 2020. Applicants were nominated by fellow dairy industry representatives from across the country and were judged by an outside panel of anonymous industry professionals and producers. Armenia's Public Service Regulatory Commission decided to fine Veolia Jur, a subsidiary of Frances Veolia Generale des Eaux that is the sole water distributor in Armenia, the regulator reports. The company has to pay $20,600. Veolia Jur has failed to connect customers to the water supply system in due time in a clear breach of the law, ARKA reported. The company responded that these connection delays were due to illegal connections to the water-supplying systems and the necessity of additional examination. The company can dispute the regulators decision within two months. CALDWELL, Ohio While most people were watching television to see election results on the night of Nov. 6, a group of 30 Ohioans was gathered at the Eastern Agricultural Research Station in Belle Valley for the sixth class of the 2018 Southeast Ohio Sheep and Goat School series. Instead of poll returns, these folks were watching Ohio State University Meat Science Professor Dr. Lyda G. Garcia break down both a lamb and goat carcass from primal, to sub-primal, and retail cuts. Ohio State Extension educators from southeast Ohio coordinated the series. With few resources available for goat production in Ohio, special emphasis was given to include relevant information for both sheep and goats in each program. As a whole, the program covered topics including anatomy, nutrition, animal behavior, breeding, birth, growth, predator and disease control, pasture management and marketing. The final class was tailored to address appropriate feeding methods that create a favorable meat product for the American market, with an understanding of how feeding translates to carcass quality. Following a homemade lamb dinner, Brady Campbell presented a review of alternative finishing systems for feeding out sheep and goats. Campbell, a doctoral student at Ohio State, serves as the OSU Sheep Team Program Coordinator. His current research pertains to parasite pressures in Ohio flocks and the effects of delayed weaning on pasture. Interested shepherds can get updates on the Ohio State Sheep Team website, www.sheep.osu.edu. Dr. Garcia provided the class with an overview of the primal cuts of lamb and goat. With the help of Pernell Saling, of Salings Custom Meat Processing in Caldwell, she fabricated both carcasses into retail cuts as the audience watched. Tara Voda and Scott Campbell of Noble County provided the lamb for the demonstration, and Kelley Hughes, of Washington County, provided the goat. Demand for a 2019 program is strong, according to sheep team member and Noble County Extension Educator Christine Gelley, and future classes are being planned. For information contact her at gelley.2@osu.edu. Wayne and Shirley Cooper, of Fombell, Pennsylvania, took Farm and Dairy to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the USS Intrepid. Also along were the Coopers sons Ben and Greg; Gregs wife, Marcy; 340 former crew members; and 1,000 guests. Wayne was in Radar in 1956 and 1957. Thank you for your service Wayne! STAY INFORMED. SIGN UP! Up-to-date agriculture news in your inbox! An elderly farmer from Cornwall has been banned from keeping livestock for life after being found guilty of 12 animal welfare charges. Vivian Exelby, 75, from Carnhell Green near Camborne, was sentenced at Truro Magistrates Court on Wednesday (21 November). Mr Exelby, who has lived at the same farm his entire life, admitted mistreating pigs and poultry. An inspector for the council and a vet from the Animal and Plant Health Agency visited the farm on April 30, and found under-nourished animals exposed to hazardous material and lack of light. Livestock were also found with no fresh water supply, and had contaminated bedding. (Photo: Cornwall Council) Stuart Benson, from Cornwall Council, said: It is regrettable that prosecution action had to be taken in this case against an elderly farmer. However, despite many attempts over the years to advise him, he has continually failed to provide the most basic of needs to his animals. Consequently there was no credible option but to prosecute him. Mr Exelby has since sold the remaining livestock he had. A mixed arable, beef and sheep farm based in the Highlands has been announced as Scotland's 'Arable Farm of the Year'. Rhynie Farm in Easter Ross, run by Donald Ross, has been awarded for highlighting best practice, and demonstrating the benefits of adopting new tools and techniques to drive the industry forward. Donald, a fifth generation farmer, was commended for his detailed understanding of his costs, his passion for collaboration and his zeal for soil health, as well as his drive to improve his business. Donald runs a mixed arable, beef and sheep unit. He grows approximately 50 ha winter wheat for animal/fish feed and distilling, another 50 ha is devoted spring barley for malting, with 22 ha for oilseed rape and 17ha given over to spring oats for feed and milling. There were two other finalists in the arable category: Learielaw Farm in West Lothian, owned and managed by Walter Dandie & Sons and Sweethope Farm near Kelso, family owned and managed by David Fuller-Shapcott. Peter Chapman, whose Aberdeenshire farm was awarded the Scottish Arable Farm of the Year accolade last year, assessed the competition, alongside fellow farmer, and past AgriScot Chair, Andrew Moir. Well done to Donald Ross of Rhynie Farm who takes home the 2018 Scottish Arable Farm of the Year Award, sponsored by @SoilEssentials and supported by @TheAHDB ! ?? #agriscot pic.twitter.com/ENFXGW9EtN AgriScot (@AgriScot) November 21, 2018 Peter said: We were incredibly impressed with Donald; not only is he a very capable farmer, hes also very much a cooperative, working closely with Scottish Agronomy and Highland Grain. He pushes himself to improve, has a good handle on his costs through benchmarking which helps him to keep his costs down without any detrimental impact on his yield or business. Hes also a tremendous ambassador for the industry, both locally and nationally. For co-judge Andrew, Donalds commitment to soil health stood out. He said: Donald clearly has a passion for soil and regards this as his greatest asset. One of his aims is to leave the soil in a better condition than when he took the farm on. He has also focused on integrating the arable with the livestock to create a sustainable rotation allied to a sensitivity for the environment and biodiversity. The competition, supported by AHDB and sponsored by SoilEssentials, was announced at AgriScot. Almost all farmers in the UK have measures in place to drive environmental improvements, with two-thirds planning further investment, according to new research. The research shows farmers are taking action on the environment, with an overwhelming 98% saying they have measures in place to drive environmental improvements on their farms. Two thirds say they plan further investment in the environment over the next 12 months, with improving soil and water health top priorities. The latest Farm Forward Barometer part of an ongoing research programme commissioned by McDonalds UK and conducted by the National Farm Research Unit found 62% of farmers also plan further green investments in 2019. It found farmers current priorities are improving soil management (84%), preserving the countryside (84%) and better water management (70%). Asked why the environment is such a focus, farmers are driven first by a sense of personal responsibility with more than half (53%) saying they believe improving environmental standards is the right thing to do. In comparison, a third (31%) say they are responding to increased customer demand for sustainably sourced products and only 7% say that Government moves to link subsidies to environmental improvements like planting meadows and protecting wildlife are among the main reasons they think change is important. Andrew Francis, Farm Manager at Elveden Farm Estate, told the research said: We take action to preserve habitats for rare species by managing field corners and headlands to enhance habitat, and monitor inputs like fertiliser to produce our crop as efficiently as possible. As an industry, we need to take a cross sector approach to evaluate our impact and address concerns together. Challenges The research also highlights many challenges farmers face when it comes to driving environmental standards. 79% cite high production costs, 68% say it is difficult to find viable alternative farming methods and 60% say they struggle to raise funds to make improvements. A further 40% say they cannot get access to the right skills, advice and expertise. Technology could be part of the solution. For example, 94% of farmers say they are keeping tabs on soil testing equipment like moisture and organic matter sensors to help with soil health, while 87% are interested in satellite technology and 78% in self-driving tractors which can help to apply nutrients and harvest fields more accurately. The research comes as the Government published its long-awaited Agriculture Bill in September, which seeks to steer UK farm policy towards one which invests more in the environment. Defra Secretary Michael Gove's legislation will encourage the industry to deliver a cleaner environment after nearly half a century under EU rules. Farmers and rural communities will now have a stronger voice in the management of Scottish Crown Estate assets. Under reforms passed by the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Crown Estate Bill establishes a framework to deliver wider benefits and new opportunities for local control of these assets, while recognising that some may still need to be managed at the national level. The bill represents a significant step in reforming the management of the Scottish Crown Estate and in empowering local communities. Crown Estate Scotland manages assets that stretch the length and breadth of Scotland, including agricultural and forestry land, most of the seabed, just under half of the foreshore and some commercial property. The Crown Estate owns 37,000 hectares of rural land with agricultural tenancies, residential and commercial properties and forestry on four rural estates, Glenlivet, Fochabers, Applegirth and Whitehill. Simon Hodge, Crown Estate Scotland Chief Executive, said the new bill will help estate tenants gain "clarity and certainty" about how the land and property they depend on may be managed in the future. Since starting operation in April 2017, weve worked hard to deliver wider economic, social and environmental value for Scotland, as well as returning profits to the Scottish Government," Mr Hodge said. "This includes ambitious proposals for new offshore wind leasing, a scheme to devolve management of land and property to local bodies, a 4.5m rural investment plan and much more. " The Bill, when enacted, will make various changes including: Providing for other bodies to take on management of assets to enable local control Requiring Scottish Ministers to approve sales of any seabed, recognising the strategic national importance of this asset Removing Interim Management from our title, giving us permanence and helping us plan for long-term success The Trump administration has invited the CEOs of three German automakers for talks at the White House as European and U.S. government officials try to negotiate a new trade agreement, according to people familiar with the matter. U.S. President Donald Trump is tentatively planning to meet with the chief executives of BMW AG, Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG after the November 22 Thanksgiving holiday, one of the people said on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The executives are consulting with Berlin before their meeting with Trump administration officials, the Associated Press reported. For Trump the talks could be a way to push the European Union toward a broader trade deal. Discussions between Washington and Brussels have bogged down recently as the U.S. threatens tariffs on auto imports and the EU warns of imposing a digital services tax that could hit technology companies from Apple Inc. to Amazon.com Inc. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category Ek Do Teen (Tezaab) Saroj Khan and Madhuri Dixit teamed up for many iconic numbers. One amongst them is Ek Do Teen from Tezaab. Since was her charm as Mohini that back then, when she returned to India after a family vacation in USA, she was greeted at the airport by thousands of fans, who kept on screaming "Mohini, Mohini". Later, in an interview to Simi Grewal, Madhuri recalled that after she returned from USA to greets of Mohini, Mohini' and she was travelling in her car when street children shouted that's the Ek Do Teen girl' and she gave her first autograph. Hawa Hawai (Mr India) In Sridevi's biography, 'Queen Of Hearts', Lalita Iyer mentions, "During the Mr India shoot, there was no rehearsal hall, and in the manner of someone who always does her homework, Sridevi said to Saroj Khan, "I am willing to dance in the corridor." And that's where Hawa Hawai was rehearsed." Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai (Khalnayak) Madhuri stunned everyone in this raunchy number with suggestive dance moves. Saroj Khan made sure Madhuri looked graceful and the rest is history! Tamma Tamma (Thanedaar) Saroj Khan gave Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit some intricate Michael Jackson-style moves and Tamma Tamma turned out to be a rage! Ramta Jogi (Taal) Saroj Khan gave Aishwarya Rai Bachchan some sensuous dance steps and the audience couldn't take their eyes off the former beauty queen. Nimbooda Nimbooda (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) Saroj Khan's enigmatic dance move coupled with Aishwarya's charming expressions, the latter danced her way into our hearts. Dola Re Dola (Devdas) Recently, this iconic song from Devdas was declared as the greatest Bollywood dance number in a UK poll. Saroj Khan in an interview had revealed that this was her toughest dance number. She said, "I have choreographed over 2000 dances till date. However, the Dola Re number in Devdas was the toughest. Choreographing two leading heroines for the same dance was a challenge. Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai are both brilliant dancers and I couldn't let either of them feel that they did not have good steps. I was scared that the one of them may feel left out, but luckily nothing untoward happened. Both of them loved the steps and put their heart and soul into the dance." With Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas' wedding date inching closer, there is a lot of excitement building up among the fans. After getting engaged in a roka ceremony in August, the couple are all set to tie the knot in December at the Umaid Bhawan Palace Hotel in Jodhpur. The wedding preparations are going in full swing with PeeCee's mom Madhu Chopra visiting Jodhpur to overlook the wedding preparations. This morning, we told you that Nick has flown for India for his big fat wedding and now folks, we can tell you that the dulha-to-be has reached New Delhi where his lady love is busy shooting for her film, 'The Sky Is Pink'. Priyanka took to her Instagram page to share a picture of her with Nick which she captioned as, "Welcome home baby..." After a tradtional Hindu-style wedding, Priyanka and Nick will be exchanging wedding vows in a Christian ceremony. Scroll down to read details- Priyanka-Nick's Wedding Dates According to a Mid-Day report, Priyanka and Nick will have two wedding ceremonies. They will tie the knot as per Indian traditions on 2nd December followed by a Christian wedding on 3rd December. Both the ceremonies will take place at the same venue. Priyanka Will Be Wearing A Ralph Lauren Outfit The tabloid quoted a source as saying, "While the bridal trousseau will be an Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla creation, she will sport a Ralph Lauren ensemble for the Christian wedding." Bride In Red Earlier, an Elle Magazine report had revealed that Nick will wear an ivory suit while his bride Priyanka will be clad in red. A High-Profile Wedding "Though Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, may not make it, many Hollywood names are expected. Since it will be their first brush with an Indian wedding, Priyanka wants to make it special," the Mid-Day report quoted a source. Speaking About Nick Jonas Mid-Day was further informed by a source that Nick will be performing to a medley of international songs and Bollywood chartbusters like Gallan Goodiyan and Pinga at the sangeet ceremony which will be choreographed by Ganesh Hegde. He may even croon a Hindi song for his lady love. Priyanka Chopra- Nick Jonas Pre-Wedding Ceremony: Couple To Recreate Their First Official Date? Media Asked Them To Pose Solo! When the duo was posing for the media, paparazzi asked them to pose solo too at their reception party. Ranveer, who's known for his witty replies, told media, "Abbi miyan-biwi saath hue hain, tu alag kyon kar raha hai?" DeepVeer Were Humble To Their Guests Nutritionist Pooja Makhija shared this picture on her Instagram page and captioned it as saying, "The live. The love. The laugh. The bride with the greatest humility, brightest smile and the biggest heart. With her mother - her strength her model. I heart you @deepikapadukone you are blessed and may you stay blessed with this man who stood and Smiled with each and every one of your relative and guest and staff and loved one from your home town. Total love and admiration for you @ranveersingh. Stay blessed." An Inside Picture Of DeepVeer With Pooja Makhija Pooja Makhija also shared her picture with Deepika & Ranveer and captioned it as saying, "To couple that stole the hearts of millions and to the couple that has a heart one in a million. So much love, so much warmth, such humility and simplicity that I witnessed last night - my heart loves you and blesses you a million times more today." Deepika Looked Every Bit Royal Deepika, who has played the role of a queen, a couple of times on the silver screen, looked every bit royal at her wedding reception. Fans can't stop raving about simple yet elegant look. Details Of Deepika's Look For Bengaluru Reception Deepika completed the look with multiple strings of pearl, a heavy emerald-diamond choker by Sabyasachi, matching earnings and gajra in her hair. What's Next? Deepika & Ranveer will also be hosting the reception in Mumbai on November 28 and December 1, where the who's who of the industry will be in attendance. Visitors of the 26th International Travel Show TT Warsaw in the capital of Poland told Vestnik Kavkaza that supporters of the occupation of Karabakh and other Azerbaijani territories conducted another provocation on the international platform. As can be seen in the photo, in addition to the Armenian flag on the Armenian stand, which advertises tourist trips to the republic, there is also a flag of the Karabakh occupants' puppet regime, so-called 'NKR', controlled from Yerevan. Thus, the occupiers once more time tried to present the occupied territories of the Azerbaijan Republic as a legalized part of Armenia's territory. The Azerbaijani Embassy in Poland was informed of the provocation. Vestnik Kavkaza recalls that any visit without the consent of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the occupied regions of Azerbaijan is considered as a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan and as a breach of national legislation, as well as relevant norms and principles of international law. Persons who enter these territories will be permanently banned from entering Azerbaijan and will be included on the list of "undesirable people." 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% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US, are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Vinita Is Ready To Forgive Alok! Vinita quoted by IANS as saying, "I was never in this for revenge. I want correction, not revenge. Show some remorse, show some sign of repentance. Let me know that no other woman would be violated by you the way I was. All I see right now is an attitude of defiance and shamelessness. If that's the way it is going to be, then I'll see my fight for justice to the end." The Writer Talks About The Legal Battle Regarding the legal battle, the writer said, "Actually the FIR was lodged on Tuesday. The media got wind of it on Wednesday morning and all hell broke loose. And I mean that in a good way. If it wasn't for the media my fight for justice would never have come so far. I am lucky to have such invaluable support from my friends, my family and from the media who have pitched in their trust behind my fight." Is She Ready For A Long & Lonely Legal Battle? When asked whether she is ready for a long and lonely legal battle, she says that it's not a lonely battle as her mother, family and many close friends are with her. Regarding 'long battle ahead', she said, "I am very well armed and equipped. Three of the brightest young lawyers of Mumbai -- Dhruti Kapadia, Faranaaz Kharbhari and Kunal Tiwari -- are fighting my case free of cost. They believe in my fight. Today, I can dare to face a legal battle without fearing the financial burden." Vinita Is Surprised With Aloks Reaction! The writer is surprised as Alok refuses to acknowledge the wrong he has done. She says, "He is brazening it out when he should have apologised. Instead he got his wife to speak on his behalf. That is so sad. In our society women still feel like standing by their husbands -- no matter how wrong they are -- is their dharma. Men take advantage of this unconditional spousal support." WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- James Hadley Billington-the United States Librarian of Congress Emeritus, one of the world's foremost Russian historians, and a leading American academic and author who taught at Harvard and Princeton before serving 42 years as CEO of four federal cultural institutions-died peacefully yesterday in Washington, DC, after a brief illness, surrounded by his family. He was 89 years old. Dr. Billington served as the 13th Librarian of Congress after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, an appointment unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate. He retired as Librarian on September 30, 2015. Over a 28-year period, he founded the National Book Festival with First Lady Laura Bush, the John Kluge Center and Prize for the Study of Humanity, the Gershwin Prize, and The National Audio Visual Conservation Center. Throughout a life dedicated to scholarship and service-during which he served every President and Congress since the 1960s until his retirement-Dr. Billington played a unique role in preserving, promoting, and sharing America's rich cultural heritage. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1929, he was educated in Philadelphia-area public schools. Dr. Billington was valedictorian at Lower Merion High School and Princeton University, where he graduated with highest honors in 1950. In 1953, he earned a modern Russian history doctorate from Balliol College of the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Dr. Billington received 42 honorary degrees, as well as the US Presidential Citizen's Medal, the Russian Federation's Order of Friendship, and the French Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Following U.S. Army service in President Eisenhower's Office of National Estimates, he taught history at Harvard University from 1957 to 1962, and at Princeton University, where he was a popular professor from 1964 to 1974. From 1973 to 1987, Dr. Billington was director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he founded the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, seven other new programs, and the Wilson Quarterly. Dr. Billington authored nine books, including the classic Russian cultural history, The Icon and the Axe and The Face of Russia, a companion book to the PBS television series. Dr. Billington spent more than 50 years helping America's leaders and citizens better understand the former Soviet Union and its successor states, contributing to a greater appreciation of America's values and institutions in countries stretching across one-third of the globe. He first visited Russia in 1958, and accompanied the President and First Lady, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, to Moscow in 1988 for Reagan's summit meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev. During his 28-year tenure at the Library of Congress, Dr. Billington enlarged and technologically enhanced public spaces in the Thomas Jefferson Building, re-purposing it as a national exhibition venue that hosted over 100 exhibitions, many featuring materials never before publicly displayed in America. He doubled the size of the Library's traditional analog collections to more than 160 million items and oversaw innovative preservation initiatives. Dr. Billington pioneered the reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's original library, using private funds raised from the Library's James Madison Council, which he founded. Dr. Billington also founded the Open World Leadership Center, which enabled over 27,000 Eurasian leaders to engage and learn from the democratic process. Simultaneously, he created a massive new Library of Congress online presence and launched a series of innovative Library programs to share the educational riches of the Library with millions of Americans and the world. Dr. Billington is survived by his wife of 61 years, the former Marjorie Anne Brennan, whom he described as his "indispensable full partner in every way and at every stage of his adult life"; four children, Dr. Susan Billington Harper, Anne Billington Fischer, the Rev. James Hadley Billington, Jr., and Thomas Keator Billington; and 12 grandchildren. A high-res photo of Dr. Billington is available by clicking here. Statements and testimonials from Leading National and International figures who knew Dr. Billington well: Statement from Mrs. Laura W. Bush: "President Bush and I are saddened to learn that the United States has lost Dr. James Billington. Dr. Billington served as our nation's librarian for 28 years, leading the Library of Congress' transition into the digital age. In 2001, he was instrumental in the creation of the National Book Festival, which has welcomed hundreds of thousands of book lovers to the National Mall and to the Library of Congress. Dr. Billington's lifelong passion for research and for preserving history ensures that America's most prized literary treasures will be available to all for generations to come. President Bush and I send our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Billington's wife Marjorie, and to their four children. He will be missed." Statement from Nancy Pelosi, U.S. House Democratic Leader: "The passing of Dr. James Billington is a profound loss for his family and loved ones as well as for our nation. Over the course of his long and prolific career, Dr. Billington became a tireless steward for American history, helping protect and preserve our nation's most treasured past for generations of Americans. "Dr. Billington was a public servant of exceptional intelligence, dedication and vision. His tenure at the Library of Congress saw the doubling of the Library's collection and the beginning of its now vast online resources. Dr. Billington firmly believed that the treasures of American history in his care belonged to the people, and he worked passionately to ensure that Americans across the country could access these priceless collections. "Whether teaching at Harvard or Princeton, collaborating with experts and academics, or being a trusted teacher and advisor for countless Members of Congress, Dr. Billington was a committed educator. His dedication to expanding the Library's educational programing has allowed a generation of young Americans to discover their love of history and become inspired to engage in our great democratic experiment. "Our nation has lost a true patriot and one of its most relentless defenders. Dr. Billington's life and remarkable legacy have left an indelible mark on our unique American story, allowing generations of young people to see, experience and learn from the history he so passionately promoted. May it be a small comfort to his loving wife, Marjorie, their children, Susan, Anne, James Jr., and Thomas, and the entire Billington family that so many mourn with them at this difficult time." Statement from Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice: "I am deeply saddened by the news of Dr. Jim Billington's passing. He was an original -- brilliant, thoughtful and kind. He led the Library of Congress with skill and passion. On a personal note, he was a great role model for me as a scholar and a public servant. His timeless work, The Icon and the Axe is quite literally the book that drew this failed music major to the study of the Soviet Union. Such was the reach of his influence in the field. I join all of his friends and colleagues in sending my thoughts and prayers to Marjorie and the Billington family." Statement of Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs, The New School and the granddaughter of Leonid Khrushchev, the eldest son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev "Dr Billington was such a towering figure in the Russian studies and in the field of the US-Russian relations that he would be thoroughly missed for decades to come. In his work, either as a scholar or a librarian of Congress, he brilliantly merged art and politics, all for the purposes of the United States better understanding and appreciating other cultures around the globe. Russia, his area of expertise, was particularly lucky. James Billington's book, The Icon and the Axe, was itself an icon for the generations of both the Russians and the Russianists. In the dark days of the Soviet Union we, the Russians, tried to understand our own culture through Dr. Billington's critical, knowledgeable and kind eye. At the same time, his philosophical and historical approach to the complex country of bombs, ballet and Brothers Karamazov became a road map for the study of Russian culture and politics for many scholars following in his steps. May his soul rest in peace." Statement of David M. Rubenstein on the Passing of Dr. James Billington November 21, 2018: "Jim Billington was one of the finest public servants - indeed one of the finest Americans - I have ever been privileged to meet. His dedication to our country, and in the last three decades of his life to the Library of Congress, places all Americans his debt. Jim helped transform the Library of Congress into the library of the American people - a national treasure available to and benefiting all Americans. Those of us who were fortunate to know and work with him will miss him dearly." Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788323/James_Hadley_Billington.jpg TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Alliance of Carer Organizations (IACO) is releasing a landmark report "The Global State of Care" at the International Forum on Care and Caregiving: Research, Policy and Practice in Toronto, Canada. Supported by Embracing CarersTM, the "Global State of Care Report" describes the financial and supportive programs available for unpaid carers (also known as carers and family caregivers) in nine countries - Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, UK, and the United States. Providing the first of its kind comparison of global initiatives to support carers, the Report addresses one of the most impactful public policy issues of our time. With an aging global population, OECD member countries and BRIICS (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa) are experiencing similar health and social care challenges to each other. Public spending on health and long-term care (LTC) across the world is under pressure, with its expenditure projected to more than double over the next 50 years.i Unpaid carers have become the backbone of any LTC system. Across the OECD, over 10% of adults over 50 years of age are carers, with approximately two-thirds being women.ii "The Global State of Care Report sets out a clear framework for policy makers, governments and health organizations to support carers," said Nadine Henningsen, IACO Board Chair, CEO of Carers Canada and the Canadian Home Care Association. "Through the sharing of carer-friendly policies and practices across the globe, IACO stimulates discussion and facilitates learning from best policy and practice examples toward achievable goals in addressing the vital needs of carers around the world." Four key components make up the framework for this global advocacy resource, including: Country Carer Practices provide an overview of both current practices and opportunities for governments to increase assistance to carers provide an overview of both current practices and opportunities for governments to increase assistance to carers Global Advocacy Priorities highlight five key priorities that serve as a reference for the development of legislation and policy highlight five key priorities that serve as a reference for the development of legislation and policy Case Studies showcase innovative practices making a positive impact for carers that could be replicated in other regions and countries around the world showcase innovative practices making a positive impact for carers that could be replicated in other regions and countries around the world Carer Support identifies opportunities to increase support of unpaid carers across the world through societal change Carers are gradually being recognized for the invaluable role they play in global health and social care systems. Carer organizations around the world are advocating for governmental policy changes that better support unpaid carers' needs and the challenges they face. "Merck is proud to serve as a collaborator in the creation and development of the Global State of Care Report through Embracing CarersTM," said Lynn Taylor Head of Healthcare Global Government and Public Affairs. "We're committed to working with the advocacy community to develop meaningful solutions that make a difference in the lives of both patients and carers, and an important part of fulfilling our commitment is contributing to data generation and public awareness." "The Global State of Care Report provides a foundation for the development of country specific strategies to support carers and improve their quality of life", stated Ara Cresswell, IACO Vice Chair and CEO Carers Australia. "IACO is committed to taking a leadership role in coordinated global actions to address the needs of millions of unpaid carers around the world." In our continued effort to elevate caregiving as a global health priority, IACO will also be launching Innovative Carer Practices (ICP) from France, Ireland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom throughout 2018 and 2019. ICPs are knowledge tools showcasing evidence-informed practices that address carers' need through integrated health and social care. Through the identification and sharing of leading practices around the world, countries can learn from each other and stimulate the development of effective carer policies and programs as they relate to their respective health and social care systems. To access the Global State of Care Report and Innovative Carer Practices visit www.internationalcarers.org and for more information on Embracing Carers visit www.embracingcarers.com Join the conversation @IACO_Carers, EmbracingCarers For more information, please contact: Claire Hall Communications and Engagement Lead Canadian Home Care Association & Carers Canada Tel: 905-567-7373 ext. 205 chall@cdnhomecare.ca Nick James Cullari Communications Global Tel: +44 207 947 9640 Mobile: +44 7776 258 990 njames@cullarigroup.com About the International Alliance of Carer Organizations (IACO) Incorporated in 2012, the International Alliance of Carer Organizations (IACO) is a global coalition of 15-member nations committed to building a global understanding and respect for the vital role of family carers. Recognized as an official NGO by the United Nations, IACO works to improve the quality of life and support the needs of carers, through international partnerships and advocacy that strengthens and honors the voice of carers. To learn more, visit www.internationalcarers.org. Embracing Carers Launched in 2017, Embracing Carers is a global initiative led by Merck in collaboration with leading carer organizations around the world to increase awareness and discussion about the often-overlooked needs of carers. Embracing Carers advisors include the Caregiver Action Network, Carers Australia, Carers Canada, Carers UK, Carers Worldwide, Eurocarers, National Alliance for Caregiving, International Alliance of Carer Organizations (IACO) and Shanghai Roots & Shoots, China. International Forum on Care and Caregiving (Nov 22, 2018) Hosted by the Canadian Home Care Association, Carers Canada, University of Sheffield (UK) and Centre for Global Social Policy at University of Toronto, the Forum draws on world-class research, highlights innovative policies and puts a spotlight on practical solutions that address care and caregiving. i De La Maisonneuve, C. and J. Oliveira Martins, 2013, "A projection method for public health and long-term care expenditures", Economics Department Working Papers No. 1048, OECD, Paris iiColombo, F., et al. (2011), Help Wanted?: Providing and Paying for Long-Term Care, OECD Health Policy Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264097759-en. PARIS, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In October 2011, Jean-Pierre OTELLI, a pilot and an expert on aviation safety, published Volume 5 of "Pilot Errors" (ALTIPRESSE publisher), in which he analyzed the Rio-Paris flight AF 447 crash (June 1st, 2009. Fatalities: 228.). From the black boxes data, he showed that the accident was caused by a sequence of pilot errors from one of the two First Officers. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/787079/ALTIPRESSE_Pilot_Errors.jpg ) The powerful National Union of Airline Pilots, Air France's main pilot union, initiated a first case for "defamation." After dismissal of this case, the Pilot Union then decided to initiate new proceedings for the alleged violation of the principle that court investigations are confidential, and for breach of professional secrecy. Following a lengthy investigation, the judge decided that there was no ground for prosecuting and dismissed the case. The Pilot Union appealed against this dismissal On 23 October 2018, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the dismissal of the case. The Court considered that Jean-Pierre OTELLI "expressed himself in good faith on the basis of accurate facts," that "the collected information was consistent with the course of the accident" and that the infringement of the pilot's alleged right of privacy in the cockpit "must fade away in the face of the contribution to informing the public on a question of general interest such as aviation safety." The lawyer of Jean-Pierre OTELLI and ALTIPRESSE Publisher, Maitre Philippe BLANCHETIER, explains that: "The public has an absolute right to be informed of the facts that contributed to a crash which caused the death of 228 people. Pilot errors must be known and acknowledged by everyone to better avoid them, even and particularly when those responsible also died in the accident. What happens in a cockpit before an air disaster can no longer be the subject of an 'omerta' from airline pilots who, like all citizens, are accountable in a transparent way." Conversations and flight data prior to the crash are explained in detail in Jean-Pierre OTELLI's book PILOT ERRORS (Volume 5) which is available in French, German, English, Finnish and Portuguese. http://www.editions-jpo.com LONDON, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Itiviti, the leading global provider of multi-asset trading technology and financial infrastructure, today announced that Aquis Exchange PLC, the exchange services group which operates the pan-European cash equities trading MTF, has successfully installed VeriFIX Enterprise by Itiviti, an integrated platform for automated enterprise-level testing of trading systems. VeriFIX Enterprise by Itiviti breaks down multi-protocol testing into smaller units, enabling improved collaboration, reporting, regression testing, and better accuracy when testing multiple protocols, both for single modules and when performing end-to-end testing. It offers unprecedented scalability as multiple users may test simultaneously on multiple agents. "The installation of VeriFIX Enterprise into the Aquis test environment has been smoothly concluded" said Hussam Ibrahim, Head of Quality Assurance at Aquis Exchange PLC. "We look forward to the improvements it will bring to our end-to-end testing capabilities, thereby benefitting productivity and helping us to better service our internal and third-party clients." "We are very pleased that Aquis Exchange have chosen to install and benefit from our automated end-to-end testing solution, an essential but often complex day-to-day function for financial services firms," said Lee Griggs, President EMEA Itiviti. "VeriFIX Enterprise by Itiviti has been designed to tackle these complexities head on by empowering firms with the ability for users to manage test cases, test results and reports via a web-based interface." Using a powerful enterprise approach to continuous automated testing development for trading system resilience, Itiviti's automated testing solutions are designed to protect against large-scale systematic errors, and to deliver immediate benefits in the critical areas of compliance and growth. Continuous automation allows functionality to be deployed to production faster, with higher quality and at a lower total cost of ownership. About Aquis Exchange Aquis Exchange PLC is an exchange services group, which operates a pan-European cash equities trading exchange (Aquis Exchange) and develops and licenses exchange software to third parties (Aquis Technologies). Aquis Exchange PLC (AQX.L) is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM. Aquis Exchange is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority to operate a Multilateral Trading Facility. Aquis MTF operates a lit order book and does not allow aggressive non-client proprietary trading, thus toxicity and signalling risk are lower on Aquis than other trading venues in Europe. According to independent studies, trades on Aquis are less likely to lead to price movement than on other lit markets. Aquis uses a subscription pricing model which works by charging users according to the message traffic they generate, rather than a percentage of the value of each stock that they trade. Aquis Technologies is the software and technology division of Aquis Exchange PLC. It creates and licenses cost-effective matching engine and trade surveillance technology for banks, brokers, investment firms and exchanges. For more information, please go to: www.aquis.eu and www.aquis.technology About Itiviti Itiviti is a market-leading global provider of multi-asset trading technology and financial infrastructure solutions for buy-side and sell-side market participants, including NYFIX, one of the industry's largest FIX-based trading communities. Serving around 2,000 clients worldwide, we provide consistent, reliable access to the most up-to-date and innovative order routing, connectivity and trading solutions available. Top-tier trading firms, banks, brokers, exchanges and institutional investors rely on our technology, solutions and expertise to streamline their daily operations, connect to their desired markets, and trade when and where they want. All while being able to comply with global regulation. With global offices in 18 locations covering all major financial centres, the merger of Itiviti and ULLINK in March 2018 created a full-service technology and infrastructure provider, covering all asset classes, geographies and regulatory landscapes. For more information, please visit www.itiviti.com or www.ullink.com. Itiviti is owned by Nordic Capital. For further information, please contact: Lee Griggs, President EMEA, Itiviti, Tel +44-20-7942-0958, Email: lee.griggs@itiviti.com Amal Ahmed, Senior Marketing Manager EMEA, Itiviti, Tel: +44-20-794-209-56, Email: amal.ahmed@itiviti.com Belinda Keheyan +44-07768078110 bkeheyan@aquis.eu This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/itiviti-group-ab/r/aquis-exchange-installs-verifix-enterprise-by-itiviti-for-multiprotocol-testing,c2679543 The following files are available for download: Start of industrial set up of the greenfield plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu Initial capacity of about 300,000 units per year for the transmissions in Phase 1 and 200,000 units for the BS-VI1 compliant engines in Phase 2 Regulatory News: Groupe PSA (Paris:UG) and AVTEC Ltd (a CK Birla Group Co.) today hosted the inauguration ceremony of their greenfield plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. This marks the formal start of industrial set up of this site, which will manufacture and supply technologically advanced and eco-friendly powertrain for the Global and Domestic Automotive market, in-line with the future industry norms and customer expectations. The historic ceremony has been graced by Mr. Carlos Tavares, Chairman of the Managing Board, Groupe PSA and Mr. CK Birla, Chairman, the CK Birla Group. The initial manufacturing capacity of this state-of-the-art plant will be about 300,000 units per year for the transmissions and 200,000 units for the BS-VI compliant engines. The manufacturing set up has been completed in a record time of less than 2 years. The plant will manufacture gearboxes in Phase I to support both the India project as well as supplying Groupe PSA needs. The peak investment in this manufacturing set up would go up to Rs. 600 Crore (circa 73 M) and it will generate a direct employment of around 800 people. Additionally, the performance of the industrial set-up will be supported by a significant level of localization to reach the necessary cost competitiveness. Mr. Carlos Tavares, Chairman of the Managing Board Groupe PSA said, "We want to be Indian in India. With this inauguration, we have taken another critical step towards the execution of our Push to Pass strategic plan and commitment towards the Indian customers. The quality of the relation with our partner, the CK Birla Group, is paramount to the success of our common project, with the creation of a complete eco-system in India." Commenting on the development, Mr. CK Birla, Chairman, the CK Birla Group said, "We have always striven to evolve with the ever-changing needs of our customers and partners. This partnership that brings together latest technology from Groupe PSA and the manufacturing excellence of the CK Birla Group is a step in the same direction. We are confident that this new plant will create long-term value and fulfil future market needs better." The plant is owned by PSA AVTEC Powertrain Pvt. Ltd., a 50:50 joint-venture created in 2017 between Groupe PSA, France and AVTEC. It benefits from Groupe PSA latest technology and the CK Birla Group's engineering and manufacturing excellence. About Groupe PSA Groupe PSA designs unique automotive experiences and delivers mobility solutions to meet all customer expectations. The Group has five car brands, Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall and provides a wide array of mobility and smart services under the Free2Move brand. Its 'Push to Pass' strategic plan represents a first step towards the achievement of the Group's vision to be "a global carmaker with cutting-edge efficiency and a leading mobility provider sustaining lifetime customer relationships". An early innovator in the field of autonomous and connected cars, Groupe PSA is also involved in financing activities through Banque PSA Finance and in automotive equipment via Faurecia.. Media library: medialibrary.groupe-psa.com @GroupePSA_EN About The CK BIRLA Group The CK Birla Group is a growing US$1.8 billion conglomerate that has a history of enduring relationships with renowned global companies. With over 20,000 employees, 41 manufacturing facilities and a customer base that includes some of the world's best-known companies, the CK Birla Group's businesses are present across five continents. The Group's companies operate in the sectors of Technology, Automotive, Home and Building, Infrastructure, Healthcare and Education. The companies are strengthened by shared guiding principles that include a focus on long-term value, trust-based relationships and philanthropy. For more information visit us at www.ckbirlagroup.com For more information on PSA AVTEC Powertrain Pvt. Ltd., visit www.psa-avtec.com 1 BS-VI Bharat Stage 6 norm, from April 2020 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181122005119/en/ Contacts: Media: Niharika Sneha: +91 8800861353 niharika.sneha@bm.com Ravi Arora: +91 8527782277 ravi.arora@psa-avtec.com SpendEdge, a global procurement market intelligence firm, has announced the release of their Global CAM Software Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181122005152/en/ Global CAM Software Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report. (Graphic: Business Wire) Predicting your ROI is possible once you have access to the specific knowledge and directions towards creating that perfect procurement strategy that promises maximized ROI. This procurement market research report has highlighted the critical cost drivers and other category enablers that are responsible for driving the growth as well as altering the cost structure of the CAM Software market. Request a Free Sample Report to get more insights into other factors that play key roles in creating a cost-effective procurement strategy. According to this procurement market research report, business enterprises are increasing their adoption of CAX technologies such as CAD, CAE, and FEA that enable the conversion of design data into the final product output. This is driving the demand of the CAM software category. Additionally, incorporation of newer features to improve functionality and launch of newer versions of this CAM software to increase affordability and mobility are contributing to the category demand growth. Get customized guidance on creating a risk-free and a cost-effective category management strategy that is functionally aligned to this market. "Suppliers must be assessed based on their data management capabilities as it enables them to integrate the CAM software application with integrated product data management tools," says SpendEdge procurement expert Tridib Bora. In-depth research of the CAM Software market has revealed factors which will have a prominent effect on the growth of this market and will simultaneously guide the buyers and the suppliers in shaping their procurement strategy: Spend budget is likely to grow at an average of 6.75% during the forecast period IT, cybersecurity, and rising labor costs will have the highest business impact Purchase the full reportto unlock your full market potential. SpendEdge is now offering limited-time discounts on report purchases. Buy two reports and get the third one for free SpendEdge's procurement market intelligence reports for the information technology category provide detailed information on the major costs and volume drivers that impact category growth. Such information will help procurement managers as well as the suppliers to determine the total cost of ownership and change their procurement strategies accordingly. Additionally, SpendEdge's reports provide insights into the sustainability and procurement best practices for the category. Report scope snapshot: CAM Software market Cost-saving opportunities Supplier side levers Buyer side levers Quantifying cost-saving opportunities Interested to know more about the scope of our reports? Download a FREE sample Best practices Procurement excellence best practices Procurement best practices Sustainability practices Want customized information? Get in touch Category pricing insights Total cost of ownership analysis Overview of pricing models Comparison of pricing models To view this report's complete table of contents, Download a FREE sample Do you purchase multiple reports in a year? Our subscription platform, SpendEdge Insights, provides ready-to-use procurement research reports for multiple categories. Now access latest supplier news, innovation landscape, markets insights, supplier tracking, and much more at the click of a button. Start your 7-day FREE trial now. Related Reports: Global Network Equipment Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report Global Automation and Instrumentation Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report About SpendEdge: SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. To know more, https://www.spendedge.com/request-free-proposal View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181122005152/en/ Contacts: SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager US: +1 630 984 7340 UK: +44 148 459 9299 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us WALLIX Group, the cyber security software publisher is launching a recruitment campaign to support its strong organic growth. To do so, the European privileged access management specialist has appointed Delphine Schoffler to the position of Human Resources Director. Her first task will be to strengthen the sales, marketing, R&D and innovation teams in France and internationally. This initiative is part of the "Ambition 21" strategic plan which aims to make WALLIX one of Europe's leading cyber security firms. 50 OPPORTUNITIES TO JOIN THE ADVENTURE To achieve its goal of becoming one of Europe's leading cyber security firms and to support its expansion internationally, WALLIX is creating 50 new jobs and offering individuals who are passionate about what they do -from fresh graduates to seasoned experts- the opportunity to join an exhilarating technological and human adventure. WALLIX currently has 110 employees worldwide and plans to double its workforce by 2021. Cyber security is at the heart of the digital transformation. Companies and organizations are required to comply with international regulations and must ensure the security of access to their IT infrastructure. Driven by this strong demand, WALLIX, which experienced a growth rate of 64% in its turnover internationally in the 1st half of 2018, is seeking candidates in France, Europe, EMEA and North America. WALLIX is recruiting individuals who wish to play a full part in the business and grow with it. The posts to be filled include business developers, sales engineers, pre-sales engineers, cyber security and cryptology researchers, technical consultants, project leaders, IT developers and DevOps. WALLIX's positioning as a European cyber security expert and its presence internationally in a fast-growing sector are strengths in attracting these talents. The openings (non-exhaustive list) can be viewed online on the company's website: https://www.wallix.com/en/careers-cybersecurity/ DELPHINE SCHOFFLER, WALLIX'S NEW HR DIRECTOR A graduate of HEC, Delphine Schoffler holds a Master in Employment Law and Labour Relations from the University of Paris II. She has worked for Exton Consulting, as a consultant and HR adviser for the firm, and for Boston Consulting Group as a Training and Career Development manager. Before joining WALLIX, Delphine created the HR department and managed the recruitment campaign for La Cite du Vin, inaugurated in Bordeaux in 2016. Delphine Schoffler, WALLIX HR Director says "The candidates that will thrive at WALLIX are people with passion for what they do, who want to take part in a technological, and especially human adventure. "Wallixians" share common values of humanism, passion and the desire to win." ABOUT WALLIX A software company providing cyber security solutions, WALLIX Group is a European specialist in privileged account governance. In response to recent regulatory change (NIS/GDPR in Europe and OVIs in France) and the cyber security threats affecting all companies today, WALLIX's products and solutions help users protect their critical IT assets. The WALLIX Bastion secures access to servers, terminals and connected objects. It is the first market solution to have been awarded first-level security certification (CSPN) by France's National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) and thus meets all of the criteria for regulatory compliance. The DataPeps solution protects corporate data by providing an end-to-end encryption software component in SaaS mode, enabling organizations to meet the requirements imposed under the GDPR. WALLIX assists more than 570 companies and organizations in improving their access management every single day. Its solutions are marketed through a network of more than 130 resellers and trained and accredited integrators. Listed on Euronext under the code ALLIX, WALLIX Group is a leader on the PAM market with a strong presence throughout Europe and EMEA. Alain Afflelou, Dassault Aviation, Gulf Air, Maroc Telecom, McDonald's, Michelin, and PSA Peugeot-Citroen trust WALLIX to secure their information systems. WALLIX Bastion was a winner at the 2016 Computing Security Awards and has been rated Best Buy by SC Magazine, as well as being named among the PAM leaders in the Product and Innovation categories of the KuppingerCole 2017 Leadership Compass report. The company is a member of Bpifrance Excellence, a champion of the Pole Systematic Paris Region cluster and a founding member of the Hexatrust grouping of cyber security companies. In 2017, WALLIX Group was included in Forbes France's Futur40 ranking of fastest-growing listed companies, and has joined the Tech 40 index. More information on www.wallix.com ACTUS finance & communication Investor relations Natacha MORANDI Tel. 01 53 67 36 94 / wallix@actus.fr Press relations / Finance Nicolas BOUCHEZ - Tel. 01 53 67 36 74 / nbouchez@actus.fr WALLIX Press Relations Joelle MONETTE Tel. 01 81 69 93 65 / jmonette@walllix.com ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-56076-pr_hr_wallix-22112018.pdf 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. DETROIT, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report on Composite Floor Panels Market by End-Use Industry Type (Aircraft, Rail, and Bus), by Core Material Type (Honeycomb Core, Foam Core, and Balsa Core), by End-User Type (OE and Aftermarket), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2019-2024. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660595/Stratview_Research_Logo.jpg ) This market report, from Stratview Research, studies the composite floor panels market over the trend period of 2013 to 2018 and forecast period of 2019 to 2024. The report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market. Composite Floor Panels Market: Highlights Floor panel is made by layering a core material between two thin layers that provide strength in tension and are designed to withstand high compression loads. Floor panels are usually a sandwich construction, mostly comprising honeycomb or foam as a core material and fiberglass, aluminum, epoxy prepreg, or phenolic prepreg as laminates. Both laminates and core assembly are bonded using adhesives and forms a sandwich-structured composites construction. Laminates carry the bending load, whereas the core materials carry the shear load in a sandwich panel. Composite floor panels offer high mechanical strength, pressure retaining, noise absorption, fire-resistance, and protection against deterioration. They are exposed to a wide range of challenging and operating conditions, such as high-temperature and -pressure, load-bearing, high frequency of oscillation, threat of fire and explosion. The most commonly used core materials for making composite floor panels are nomex honeycomb, aluminum honeycomb, foam, and balsa wood. As per Stratview Research, the global composite floor panels market is projected to grow at a healthy rate over the next five years to reach US$ 620.6 million in 2024. Increasing production rates of key commercial and regional aircraft programs, such as B737, B787, A320, A350XWB, and A220; upcoming commercial and regional aircraft, such as COMAC C919 and Mitsubishi MRJ; increasing demand for lightweight flooring in the aircraft and rail industries; increasing demand for high-speed and metro trains, and rising global aircraft fleet are the major factors mushrooming the growth of the market. Click Here and Run Through the Detailed TOC of the Report The aircraft industry is expected to remain the largest and fastest-growing segment of the market during the forecast period. Both the major commercial aircraft OEMs, Airbus and Boeing, are incessantly increasing the production of their best-selling aircraft programs in order to meet huge order backlogs of 13,315 commercial aircraft as of September 30, 2018. Irkut and COMAC, the newcomers in the commercial aerospace industry, also hold significant order backlogs of their upcoming commercial aircraft programs, which is likely to further substantiate the demand for composite floor panels in the coming years. Introduction of lightweight and highly durable floor panels are the focal points of the manufacturers, helping them to gain momentum in the market. Based on the core material type, honeycomb core-based composite floor panels dominated the market in 2018 and is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period. Honeycomb core majorly includes nomex honeycomb, aluminum honeycomb, kevlar honeycomb, and PP honeycomb. Nomex honeycomb is the most widely used core material in the aerospace industry, owing to its superior FST performance, higher strength-to-weight ratio, and lightweight as compared to other materials, such as aluminum honeycomb and PP honeycomb. Register Here for a Free Sample of the Detailed Report In terms of regions, North America is expected to remain the largest market for composite floor panels during the forecast period. All the major composite floor panel manufacturers have a presence in the region to address the emergent needs of the OEMs in order to be the partner for their upcoming aircraft programs. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to experience the highest growth in the global composite floor panels market in the same period. The highest growth of the region is mainly attributable to the increasing rail network, growing bus sales, increasing demand for commercial aircraft to support rising passenger traffic, opening of assembly plants of Boeing and Airbus for B737, A320 and A330 aircraft programs, increasing procurement of military aircraft, owing to rising defense budget, and upcoming indigenous commercial and regional aircraft (C919 and MRJ). The key players in the composite floor panels market are The Gill Corporation, Triumph Group, Inc., Rockwell Collins, Inc. (now UTC Aerospace System), 3A Composites, Encore Group, Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH, and Zodiac Aerospace. Development of optimized composite floor panels, regional expansion, and execution of mergers & acquisitions are the key strategies adopted by the major players to gain a competitive edge in the market. Report Features This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis. Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis. Market trend and forecast analysis. Market segment trend and forecast. Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities. Emerging trends. Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players. Key success factors. This report studies the global composite floor panels market and has segmented the market in four ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. Following are the four ways in which the market is segmented: By End-User Type Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Rail (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Bus (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) By Core Material Type Honeycomb Core (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Foam Core (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Balsa (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) By End-User Type OE (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Aftermarket (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) By Region North America (Country Analysis: The USA , Canada , and Mexico ) Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , France , the UK, Spain , Russia , and Rest of Europe ) Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China , Japan , India , and Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Rest of the World (Sub-Region Analysis: Latin America , the Middle East , and Others) Stratview Research has several high value market reports in the composites and advanced materials industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports: Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Advanced Materials Industry Related premium market report in the advanced materials industryare: Aircraft Interior Sandwich Panel Market by Aircraft Type, by Application Type, by Core Material, by End-User Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023 Aircraft Floor Panel Market by Aircraft Type, by Core Material Type, by End-User Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023 About Stratview Research Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas. We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies. Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making. For inquiries, Contact: Stratview Research E-mail: sales@stratviewresearch.com Direct: +1-313-307-4176 Head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) General Colonel Igor Korobov has died aged 63 after a serious illness, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The Defense Ministry expressed condolences to Korobov's family and friends, TASS reported. Igor Korobov was born on November 3, 1956 in Vyazma. He started serving in the military in 1973. He graduated from the Stavropol Higher Military Aviation Schoold of Pilots and Navigators of the Air Defense Forces, Military Academy of the Soviet Army and Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Korobov worked in military intelligence since 1985 and occupied different positions in the Main Directorate. Over the years of his military service, Korobov received many awards and medals. In 2016 he was appointed by a presidential decree as the head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 22, 2018 / Binance Labs, the investment and incubator arm of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has just announced a $3 million investment in cryptocurrency OTC trading company Koi Trading. Koi Trading is an OTC trading desk based in San Francisco that provides private, efficient and compliant cryptocurrency liquidity to counterparties around the world. With specialization in cryptocurrency OTC trading, global market making for crypto exchanges and high-frequency trading, Koi Trading also provides support services such as quantitative research, data science, and compliance consulting services. "Koi Trading's mission is to bridge fiat and cryptocurrencies in a compliant manner. This aligns with our broader vision at Binance to build the infrastructure which provides the freedom of value exchange globally," said Ella Zhang, Head of Binance Labs. "Koi Trading founders are long-time blockchain believers, with deep knowledge of the technology, OTC operations and regulatory space. Their team is dedicated to making a positive impact and we are excited to welcome them into the Binance Labs family." Koi Trading's founding team consists of three former core team members of HBUS, who are well-known blockchain industry investment, technology and compliance veterans. "Our team of experienced traders and sales personnel will join forces to tap into vast networks of counterparties in North America, Asia and the EU, bridging the gap that divides the current OTC landscape," said Hao Chen, founder and CEO of Koi Trading. "We are thrilled that Binance Labs recognizes our team's unique ability to deliver this vision; we cannot wait to build a reliable and professional brand around the globe in partnership with Binance Labs." OTC trading for cryptocurrency is no cakewalk business in the current cryptocurrency bear market. But even with the placid trading levels and several big players already in the field, Koi still finds underserved clientele in both China and the US. OTC trading in China boasts a significant daily volume of at least RMB 150 million despite the broad-based ban of centralized cryptocurrency trading in China. Without trusted escrow agents, most of OTC trades in China are arranged through WeChat, a Chinese instant messaging app. So the counterparties in China always find it difficult to secure a professional, trustworthy and user-friendly service provider. "With Koi's robust AML program, extensive banking relations in the US, investment from Binance Labs, and strong trust amongst counterparties in the Greater China, we aim to be the market nexus that reduces trust and information asymmetry and improves cryptocurrency OTC deal close rate," said Chen. About Koi Trading With desks in San Francisco, Hong Kong and Beijing, Koi Trading offers a private, efficient and compliant OTC pathway for institutional investors and wealth managers to start engaging with blockchain assets. Using a combination of trade algorithms and direct communication channels, Koi Trading connect OTC counterparties with deep liquidities and earn price arbitrage as a near- riskless principal. For more information, please visit https://koi.trade/. About Binance Labs Binance is a blockchain ecosystem comprised of Exchange, Labs, Launchpad, Info, Academy, Trust Wallet, Research, and Blockchain Charity Foundation. Binance Labs is an infrastructure impact fund and an initiative launched by Binance to incubate, invest in, and empower blockchain and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, projects, and communities. The mission of Binance Labs is to solve the problems that matter most to the ecosystem and change the world for the better. For more information, visit https://labs.binance.com/. Contact Jimmy Cai Koi Trading jimmy@koi.trade Leah Li Binance pr@binance.com SOURCE: Binance Labs View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/528824/Binance-Labs-Invests-3-Million-in-San-Francisco-Based-OTC-Trading-Desk VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 22, 2018 / Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. ("Cielo" or the "Company") (CSE:CMC) Cielo is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with Seymour Capital Incorporated ("Seymour Capital") that provides the framework for a joint venture agreement ("JV Agreement") pursuant to which Seymour Capital will provide 100% of the funding to build, commission and operate a Joint Venture Refinery ("JV Refinery") in Calgary, Alberta. The JV Refinery is projected to cost approximately $20 million and the parties to the MOU hope to have negotiated and finalized the terms of the JV Agreement for the JV Refinery ("Project") by February 28th, 2019, but in any event no later than April 30, 2019. The parties intend to form a joint venture company, to be owned 50.1% by Cielo and 49.9% by Seymour Capital. In consideration for the opportunity to enter into the JV Agreement with Cielo and undertake the Project, Seymour Capital has paid to Cielo a $250,000.00 upfront fee ("Fee") to secure the territory of Calgary, Alberta. Pursuant to the terms of the MOU, Seymour Capital has been granted an option that can be exercised, on or before February 28th, 2019 to enter into a follow-on contractual arrangement with Cielo, on similar terms to the MOU, to build, commission and operate another joint venture refinery to be located in an Ontario municipality, of Seymour Capital's choice, other than one that is within the Greater Toronto Area ("Option"). In the event that Seymour Capital exercises its Option, Seymour Capital will pay to Cielo an additional one-time fee of $250,000. The general terms to be incorporated into the definitive agreement include the following: Seymour Capital will be solely responsible for financing 100% of the costs, associated with acquiring the land, building and commissioning of the JV Refinery ("Project Costs"), as well as for the initial refinery contemplated to be built in Ontario, if Seymour Capital exercises its Option. Seymour Capital has a right of first refusal to enter into further agreements with Cielo to participate with Cielo on a 50.1%/49.9% basis, in favour of Cielo, to build, commission and place on production follow-on refineries in Calgary ("Follow-on JV Refineries"). Cielo will manage the Project overall, overseeing the planning, construction, commissioning and operation of the JV Refinery and Follow-on JV Refineries and will receive a management fee for the construction of the JV Refinery, equal to 7% of the Project Costs subject to certain exclusions, and will receive management fees, based on industry standards, once operations begin. Profits will be split 30% in favour of Cielo and 70% in favour of Seymour Capital, until Seymour Capital has received profits equaling 100% of the Project Costs. Thereafter profits will be split on the basis of 50.1% for Cielo and 49.9% for Seymour Capital, reflecting the respective interests/ownership of the parties. In the event that Cielo does not execute the definitive agreement for Calgary, Alberta, subject to an exclusion, by February 28, 2019, which date may be extended by either party to April 30th, 2019 ("the Execution Date") Cielo has agreed, subject to applicable laws and policies, to issue Seymour Capital common shares of Cielo in lieu of returning the Fee, valued at the greater of $0.25 per share and the average closing price of Cielo's shares during the 5 trading days prior to the Execution Date. Don Allan, President and CEO of Cielo, commented "We are very pleased to continue to advance our business model with a financially strong partner, Seymour Capital. We believe that this is another opportunity for Cielo to enter into a win/win arrangement, removing the financing and scale-up risk Cielo would otherwise face in building its next refineries." Jeff Seymour, CEO of Seymour Capital, commented "We have followed Cielo's progress for over a year and now with the confirmation that their process is able to convert waste into high grade renewable fuels, we have elected to move forward with assisting Cielo financially to build a state-of-the-art green refinery in Calgary. Once our JV refinery is up and running Cielo will be able to showcase it to the rest of the country as well as to the world. We are looking forward to creating new jobs in Calgary while at the same time providing a solution that reduces the amount of waste that goes into Calgary's landfill." UPDATE: Cielo has successfully converted the raw distillate that it has produced to date, from wood waste, using its proprietary process at its Aldersyde Alberta Refinery ("Aldersyde Refinery"), into renewable fuels consisting of naphtha, kerosene and diesel. The Company had announced the initiation of this process on November 1, 2018. The next step of the commissioning process will require the desulphurization of the renewable fuels. After reviewing multiple desulphurization solutions that are currently in commercial use, the Company has narrowed its decision to two companies. Over the upcoming weeks, Cielo is hoping to implement this equipment so that it can begin sales revenue. For more information please contact: Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. Don Allan, President & CEO (403) 348-2972 Ext. 101 donallan@cielows.com www.cielows.com Michael Yeung, CFA, VP, Business Development & Capital Markets (403) 348-2972 Ext. 103 michaelyeung@cielows.com www.cielows.com About Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. is a publicly traded company with its shares listed to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") under the symbol "CMC". Cielo holds the exclusive license for the global rights to a transformational, patent-pending, technology engineered to convert garbage-derived feedstocks to high grade renewable diesel, at a significantly lower cost than biofuel companies. With landfills being one of the world's leading contributors to Green House Gas emissions and being projected to double in size over the next 7 years, Cielo can potentially resolve this crisis, on a cost-effective basis, by converting multiple different garbage-derived feedstocks, including sorted municipal solid waste (garbage), wood and agriculture waste, tires, blue-box waste, all plastics and virtually any other cellulous waste product into high grade renewable diesel. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should" or similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes. Forward looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, 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 statements, including but not limited to: the use of proceeds of the offering, receipt of all necessary approvals of the offering, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; negotiation uncertainties and other risks of its industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are described herein. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual performance and results to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, neither the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise such statements to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise. The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. SOURCE:Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/528825/Cielo-Waste-Solutions-Announces-Memorandum-of-Understanding-to-Build-a-Renewable-Diesel-Refinery-in-Calgary-and-Announces-Production-of-Renewable-Fuels One-Chip Solution and Easy-to-Use Development Kit Simplify IO-Link-Based Applications for Industry 4.0 Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced a new IO-Link master development kit to accelerate IO-Link-based application development for industrial networked devices in a smart factory. The development kit includes a board and pre-qualified sample software provided by TMG. The board has eight IO-Link connecters allowing developers to immediately connect IO-Link slave devices and start the evaluation process. The easy-to-use development kit contributes to shorter prototype-to-production process time and helps to reduce the development burden for engineers. The solution is supported by two CPUs that operate independently and simultaneously with a large built-in SRAM. The eight-port IO-Link Master is controlled by one CPU; the other CPU features an R-IN engine architecture and supports Industrial Ethernet communication to the upper layers, such as PLC, without any external microcontroller, microprocessor, or memory like DDR. Integrating the two CPUs in a small 12mm x 12mm LFBGA package also helps with designing compact PCBs. Key Features of the RZ/N1S IO-Link Master Solution Strong development environment reduces the system evaluation period by up to six months All-in-one development kit makes it easy for users to begin evaluation immediately and accelerate their time to market. The board offers rapid prototyping with eight-port IO-Link connectivity and connections to any IO-Link slave device. Pre-qualified sample software from partner TMG TE shortens the traditional time required to move from prototype to mass production. Optimized design for limited space and industrial environments 6 MB of on-chip SRAM eliminates the need for external memory. Small 12mm x 12mm LFBGA package makes the master solution ideally suited for printed circuit boards in space-constrained industrial applications. "As a leading supplier of IO-Link master solutions, TMG has been supporting IO-Link developers since the technology has been released. The compact size, two integrated CPUs, one for IO-Link and the other one for Industrial Ethernet communication, make Renesas' RZ/N1S the ideal choice for typical IO-Link master applications. We look forward to providing our stack for IO-Link, PROFINET and EtherNet/IP to RZ/N1S users," said Klaus-Peter Willems, Managing Partner of TMG. "For more than 25 years, Renesas has been providing a variety of solutions for the industrial automation market, supporting our customers as they catch the Industry 4.0 wave," said Akira Denda, Vice President of Industrial Automation Business Unit, Renesas Electronics Corporation. "This new IO-Link Master solution, which is supported by TMG for its protocol stack, will help developers bring innovative applications to market easier and more quickly, and to expand the use of IO-Link-based applications in smart factory." Renesas is demonstrating the new IO-Link master solution in booth 130, Hall 10.1, at the 2018 SPS IPC Drives, November 27-29, in Nuremberg, Germany. For more information on the RZ/N1S IO-Link solution, please visit: https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/software-tools/boards-and-kits/eval-demo/io-link-master-development-kit.html. For more information on IO-Link, please visit: http://www.io-link.com. Availability The RZ/N1S IO-Link master solution is available now for rental. About Renesas Electronics Corporation Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live-securely and safely. A global leader in microcontrollers, analog, power, SoC products and integrated platforms, Renesas provides the expertise, quality, and comprehensive solutions for a broad range of Automotive, Industrial, Home Electronics, Office Automation and Information Communication Technology applications to help shape a limitless future. Learn more at renesas.com. (Remarks) All other names of products or services mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181122005040/en/ Contacts: Media Contacts for Renesas Electronics Corporation Jessica Kerr +415-975-2213 jessica.kerr@porternovelli.com Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 22, 2018) - Sona Nanotech Inc. (CSE: SONA) has relocated its laboratory facilities to Halifax as it seeks to capitalise on recent business success and further expand its business in the diagnostics market. Following a period of recent growth, the company agreed a three-year lease with Innovacorp on October 1 for space at the Technology Innovation Centre on Research Drive. Previously, Sona's laboratory operations had been based at Saint Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, where the company was originally founded in 2014. The recent signing of a global distribution agreement and collaborations with industry-leading businesses has led to increased demand for Sona's products and services. Sona's move to larger premises ensures customers' requirements are met while allowing continued business growth and new product development. Sona's full staff began moving into the Centre this week after several weeks of work to outfit the new facility with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment. The move was funded in part from a loan from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), which was provided to Sona in May this year (2018). Sona CEO Darren Rowles said: "This move represents a significant step towards realising our strategic plans through to 2020. Sona has achieved some incredible successes in recent months, including signing several exciting new partnerships and distribution agreements. To keep up with the growing demand for our products and services it was clear we needed larger premises to increase our manufacturing and distribution capacity to support long term growth. Innovacorp's Technology Innovation Centre fit our needs perfectly; the space is flexible and scalable, and the Centre's location, close to the airport and other transport links, is ideal for distributing our products globally. This will provide us with an excellent space in which to develop new and innovative products for the diagnostic and healthcare markets and a base from which to continue our growth as a strong, successful and sustainable business." Michael Kabalen, Manager, Properties & Incubation for Innovacorp, said: "We are delighted to welcome Sona Nanotech to Innovacorp's Technology Innovation Centre. Sona is an innovative tech company with a unique offering and we have been watching its development with keen interest. We look forward to helping take Sona's business to the next level." About Sona Nanotech Inc. Sona Nanotech Inc. is a nanotechnology life sciences firm that has developed two proprietary methods for the manufacture of rod-shaped gold nanoparticles. The principal business carried out and intended to be continued by Sona is the development and application of its proprietary technology for use in multiplex diagnostic testing platforms that will improve performance over existing tests in the market. Sona's gold nanorod particles are CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium) free, eliminating the toxicity risks associated with the use of other gold nanorod technologies in medical applications. It is expected that Sona's gold nanotechnologies may be adapted for use in applications, as a safe and effective delivery system for multiple medical treatments, pending the approval of various regulatory boards including Health Canada and the FDA. Sona is a publicly listed company on the Canadian Securities Exchange existing under the laws of Nova Scotia, with its operations in Nova Scotia. About Innovacorp Innovacorp is Nova Scotia's early stage venture capital organization. It works to find, fund and foster innovative Nova Scotia start-ups that strive to change the world. Target industries include information technology, life sciences, clean technology and ocean technology. In addition to risk capital, Innovacorp gives entrepreneurs access to world-class incubation facilities, expert advice and other support to help accelerate their companies. For More Information For more information about Sona, please contact: Darren Rowles President and Chief Executive Officer Telephone: (902) 442-7192 Email: Darren Rowles darren@sonanano.com FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION This press release contains forward-looking statements and information that are based on the beliefs of management and reflect the Company's current expectations. When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. The forward-looking statements and information in this press release includes information relating to the Amalgamation (including the structure of the Amalgamation), the Amalgamation (including shareholder approval, shareholder support, and other terms), the Private Placement (including its completion and the use of proceeds from the Private Placement), the directors and management of the resulting issuer upon completion of the Amalgamation, and the implementation of Sona's business plan. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company with respect to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with the completion of the Amalgamation and matters relating thereto; and risks associated with the marketing and sale of securities, the need for additional financing, reliance on key personnel, the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers or directors, and the volatility of the Company's common share price and volume. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements and information. Such factors include, among others, risks related to Sona's proposed business, such as failure of the business strategy and government regulation; risks related to Sona's operations, such as additional financing requirements and access to capital, reliance on key and qualified personnel, insurance, competition, intellectual property and reliable supply chains; risks related to Sona and its business generally, such as infringement of intellectual property rights and conflicts of interest. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. When relying on the Company's forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. The Company has assumed a certain progression, which may not be realized. It has also assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraph will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time. THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES TORONTO, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Casey House launches Healing House, the world's first HIV+ spa in Toronto On November 29, Casey House is launching Healing House, the world's first pop-up HIV+ spa in Toronto, Canada. A recent study commissioned by Casey House revealed that half of Canadians and almost half of Americans would be nervous to find out they'd come in contact with someone living with HIV/AIDS. Healing House will explore the power of compassion through touch to address the stigma experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS. While 88% of Canadians agree Canada is a compassionate country, more than half of the population would not be comfortable touching someone living with HIV/AIDS. Casey House was founded on compassion and this new campaign will encourage people to look inward and explore how understanding they truly are, by revealing what North Americans really think about HIV/AIDS. "Compassion is something Canadians are known for, yet as a country we lack empathy for individuals living with HIV/AIDS. It is time for compassion to win over complacency. With the launch of Healing House, we're going to lead by example and show the world how positive touch can be a form of healing for those who deal daily with misperceptions and the stigma of HIV/AIDS," said Joanne Simons, CEO of Casey House. "In 2017, 1.8 million people were newly infected with HIV, making the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS a global phenomenon." Healing House is a positive space for people to experience the healing power of touch while showing kindness to others. Lending her expertise to the cause, Melissa Doldron, RMT for the Toronto Blue Jays has trained 15 people who are HIV+, the Healers, so they can provide healing touch services like hand, neck, and shoulder massages. The one-on-one interaction will allow Canadians to see that these individuals are more than their disease and deserve compassion like everyone else. "When I was first diagnosed with HIV, one of my initial thoughts was that I would be alone forever and that I'd never be touched or loved again. When I disclosed my status, many people close to me were warm and caring, but acquaintances, medical professionals and people who didn't know me well showed obvious signs of discomfort and made excuses not to touch me," said Randy, HIV+ Healer at Healing House. "I believe in the healing power of touch and I am proud to have trained alongside 14 other Healers. My hope is that Canadians will embrace Healing House and give me faith that we are as kind and understanding as we think we are." Casey House Smash Stigma Study In partnership with Leger, the second annual Casey House Smash Stigma Study revealed concerning statistics around Canadians' perceptions of HIV/AIDS: Although 91% of Canadians believe it is in our human nature to need positive touch, only one-third (38%) said they'd be willing to share skin-to-skin touch with someone who was HIV+. 71% of Canadians would be nervous or ashamed to share health news openly if tested HIV+ which is a 1% increase from last year, indicating the stigma around HIV/AIDS is still prevalent. 44% of Canadians are complacent when it comes to negative stigma around the disease. 79% of North Americans say they are willing to share skin-to-skin contact with someone who has cancer, but only 41% say they are willing to share touch with someone who is living with HIV/AIDS. Healing House launches with a media-only day on November 29. Doors open to the public on November 30 from 12:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. and December 1 from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. All services are free of charge. To view a full-service schedule and book an appointment, you can visit: www.smashstigma.ca. You can also visit www.caseyhouse.com to donate and help support ground-breaking care based in Toronto. For high res photography of the participating HIV+ healers, :15 sec campaign video, and additional Canadian and U.S. survey findings, please visit: http://bit.ly/2PHO2hk. You can also follow along here: smashstigma. About Casey House: Casey House is Canada's first and only stand-alone hospital for people living with HIV/AIDS. In 1988, Casey House's first patient was delivered to the door by a team of medics wearing hazmat suits. Casey House greeted him with a warm embrace and gave him comfort until the end of his life. Through our innovative and comprehensive approach to health care, we remain one of the few places where people living with HIV/AIDS can seek care without judgment. We are more than a place that saves lives, we are a place that speaks up, shines understanding through compassion, and empowers our clients to get better. Although many people who live with HIV can manage their disease effectively with a support network and access to treatment, Casey House clients are not part of that majority and fall into the category of the 40% of people in Ontario not on treatment. They are vulnerable, seeking safety and need nourishment. Casey House will continue to provide unequivocal compassion to clients in need providing them with a holistic approach to their care and treatment. Survey Methodology: A survey of 1,581 Canadians residents was completed online between October 19-22, 2018 using Leger's online panel, LegerWeb. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of +/- 2.46%, 19 times out of 20. A survey of 1,501 Americans was completed online between November 1-16, 2018, using Leger's online panel, LegerWeb. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of +/-2.5%, 19 times out of 20. NOTE: North American data includes Americans and Canadians surveyed only. For Further information on Healing House, or to book an interview with Joanne Simons or the HIV+ Healers, please contact: Jessica Leroux, Narrative, Jessica.leroux@narrative.ca, +1-(416)-843-7210; Kylee Berencsi, Narrative, kylee.berencsi@narrative.ca, +1-(416)-579-0861 Infiniti Research, a world-renowned market intelligence solutions provider, has announced the completion of their latest article on the fast food industry trends shaping the future of the industry. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181122005254/en/ Fast food industry trends that are shaping the future of the industry. (Graphic: Business Wire) The food industry has been witnessing significant changes over the years. The cutthroat competition has been one of the major factors driving the growth of this industry. However, the current market scenario is witnessing some changes in consumer behavior. Consumers of today are shifting towards healthy food choices, but this isn't going to affect companies operating in the fast food industry substantially. The fast food industry still generates a revenue of more than $570 billion, which is significantly higher than the economic value of many countries. "To meet the changing consumer preferences and demands, fast food industry players are faced with the need to innovate and customize menu options as the industry is expected to have a positive outlook until the end of 2020," says a food industry expert from Infiniti Research. Fast food industry trends that are impacting the market: Speedier payment methods One of the main reasons behind the growth of the fast food industry is the reduction in the wait time for services. To make the most of this trend, companies in the fast food industry are implementing various methods and strategies to reduce the wait time for both services and payment section by enabling quicker transactions. This has led to the introduction of advanced payment options for customers. Such payment methods include mobile in-store payments and apps, digital currencies, eWallets, and payment through social media platforms. Choosing the right market intelligence company that meets your every requirement is a tumultuous task for companies. We at Infiniti Research, understand this conundrum and have made a name for ourselves when it comes to offering customized market information, Request a free proposal today! Revamped menu cards With the increasing health awareness among consumers, the demand for tasty and healthy food has increased significantly. This has forced companies in the fast food industry to revamp their menu cards and introduce items that will satisfy the demands of the customers. The intention behind revamping the menu cards is to maintain the inclination of consumers towards fast food in the years to come as well. To know how identifying key fast food industry trends can help you boost revenues for your companies, get in touch with our experts. Automation in fast food With the advancement in technology, several big players in the fast food industry have started automating their processes to reduce the risk of order errors. This has resulted in the use of self-order kiosks in outlets and minimizing the wait time for customers. Moreover, automation will help fast food industry players to increase productivity, enhance quality, and improve brand awareness by maintaining a healthy relationship with end consumers. Exotic blend in the plate To survive in this highly competitive market, fast food industry players are discovering new ways and marketing strategies to allure their customers. This has brought some exotic flavors to the platter of customers that were rarely seen or served before. These flavors include every food, fruit, spices, and leaves that were not native to a particular area. To know how Infiniti Research has helped 500+ companies in developing intelligent business strategies by analyzing the fast food industry trends in more than 100 countries, Request a free proposal! Social media Social media has increased the craze for pictures drastically. Consumers love food items that look good in photos. This has compelled fast food companies to offer items that are visually appealing. However, this doesn't mean that fast food industry players can play with the taste. Bold and Scrumptious Contrasting flavors are in demand in the fast food industry. Consumers are more open to trying new things that did not exist earlier. This is a great opportunity for fast food industry players to experiment and bring something that sets them apart from their competitors. Moreover, it is a great way to experiment something new with the ingredients and turn new customers into loyal customers. To know more about the ongoing fast food industry trends influencing the industry, consult with our industry experts. Time efficiency Consumers of today are much busier than were before. They want to be served at the earliest. This makes it vital for fast food industry players to work on their speed and convenience. Restaurants lacking in fast customer service won't be preferred by consumers in the long run. Therefore, fast food industry players need to ensure timely and easy access to food items. To know more about our food market intelligence services, visit our website! Old is the new gold Many fast food industry players are rediscovering items that have become uncommon in the current scenario. They are bringing the retro flavors back to gain an edge over their competitors by making them mainstream. For instance, food items like pastrami and corned beef sandwich are gaining huge popularity at present times. To know how Infiniti Research can help you maximize your presence in the global market by analyzing consumer preferences, price trends, government regulations, and upcoming competitors, Request Free Proposal! About Infiniti Research Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. To know more, visit: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/about-us View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181122005254/en/ Contacts: Infiniti Research Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager US: +1 844 778 0600 UK: +44 203 893 3400 https://www.infinitiresearch.com/contact-us Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 22, 2018) - Carube Copper Corp. (TSXV: CUC) is pleased to report positive results from its ongoing surface exploration program at the Company's 100% owned Main Ridge Project ("MR") in Jamaica. Assay results have been received from the soil sampling over the eastern area of MR, which has extended the gold soil anomaly further east. A grid-based soil sampling program has extended the strike length of the coherent zone of strong gold in soils to 5,500 meters and is coincident and parallel to the trend of the Bennet Gold Zone ("BGZ"). Highlights of recent exploration activities: T wo strongly anomalous gold in soil zones identified at eastern Main Ridge Up to 2110ppb gold in soils at John Austin prospect Up to 1140ppb gold in soils at Guava Ridge prospect Mr. Stephen Hughes, CEO, commented: "Sampling east of the Former Pennants Mine has confirmed more than 5.5km of anomalous gold in soils at Main Ridge Project area. Our detailed mapping and rock sampling west of the former Pennants Mine shows gold mineralization associated with quartz, carbonate and adularia veining that is controlled by two structural trends. We will now endeavour to confirm the style and controls of the gold mineralization at eastern MR area, as the exploration development of this project continues." To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2661/41206_a3f5cb59746de989_001full.jpg Figure 1: Main Ridge Project area, showing color plot of gold in soil geochemistry (Note - Pennants gold mine does not occur within Carube's Main Ridge SEPL) EXPLORATION RESULTS Grid soil sampling completed at eastern MR, carried out at 100 metre spacings over an area measuring 1500 meters by 1900 meters, for a total 326 samples. Soil lines are oriented in a north-south pattern due to the prominent northwest - southeast and northeast - southwest oriented structures that appear to control gold mineralization at MR. Assays were completed by ALS Canada Ltd, multi-element analysis done by 35-element aqua regia digestion with ICP-AES analysis using a 50-gram subsample, and gold was analyzed for by Fire Assay - Atomic Absorption using a 30-gram split. With respect to rock chip sampling, to date a total 468 samples have been collected and assayed from MR and a further 37 grab and channel samples were recently collected and assays are pending. Two prominent gold-in-soil anomalies have been identified at eastern MR, namely John Austin and Guava Ridge prospects. John Austin Prospect: Interpreted as a southeast extension and located approximately 1500 meters southeast of the former Pennants mine. The gold in soil anomaly occurs along trend of Pennants deposit and individual soil samples assays range from below detection to 2110ppb gold. Guava Ridge Prospect: The gold in soil anomaly occurs at the interpreted intersection of two major structures, a major northwest - southeast low angle fault and late stage northeast - southwest cross-cutting structures. Individual soil samples assays range from below detection to 1140ppb gold. At John Austin geologists collected numerous rock chip samples from multiple outcrops of sheared quartz veins in faults and with associated clay-limonite-goethite alteration. Rock chip grab samples from this area assayed below detection up to 1.19g/t gold, and results are pending for the latest channel samples collected across mineralized structures. At Guava Ridge intense clay-limonite-chlorite-epidote alteration is associated with an east-west trending structural zone. Grab samples returned from below detection up to 0.21g/t Au, and results are pending for the most recent channel samples collected from this area. DISCUSSION Carube is encouraged by the recent discovery of five gold prospects within the Main Ridge project area, which have been defined within ten weeks of commencement of the field activities at MR. Results to date validate the exploration team's interpretation that the gold-bearing quartz-adularia-rhodochrosite veins extend northwest and southeast of the former Pennants gold mine. The exploration team will continue mapping, sampling, and trenching west and east of the former Pennants mine. Future work will also focus on follow-up mapping and sampling to define the source of high copper in soils within the project area. ABOUT CARUBE COPPER Carube Copper is focused on creating substantive long-term value for its shareholders through the discovery and development of world class copper and gold deposits. Carube currently holds a 100% interest in 11 licenses covering 535 km2 of highly prospective copper-gold terrain in Jamaica, and a 100% interest in three porphyry copper-gold properties covering 492 km2 within the Cascade Magmatic Arc in southwestern British Columbia. Carube is actively searching for additional high potential copper and gold properties to add to its portfolio. Stephen Hughes, CEO and President +1 (647) 517-4574 shughes@carubecopper.com Jeff Ackert, Vice President, Business Development +1 (647) 957-2249 jackert@carubecopper.com www.carubecopper.com QP Statement: This press release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Shannon Baird, P.Geo., Carube Copper's Exploration Manager, in his capacity as a qualified person as defined under NI 43-101. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. DISCLAIMER & FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, and by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on currently available information, Carube Copper Corp. provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Factors which cause results to differ materially are set out in the Company's documents filed on SEDAR. Undue reliance should not be placed on "forward looking statements". IMPORTANT NOTICE: Carube Copper hereby incorporates the entire disclaimer set forth on its website at http://www.carubecopper.com/uploads/1/6/5/2/16521880/disclaimers-and-forward-statements.pdf Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 22, 2018) - Osoyoos Cannabis Inc. (the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on recent events which will have a material impact on its future operations. On October 31, 2018, following shareholder meetings of both Osoyoos Cannabis Inc. ("OSO") and LKP Solutions Inc. ("LKP"), the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement (the "BCA") disclosed on July 17, 2018 was completed. The transactions contemplated by the BCA were effected pursuant to the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) as a 'three-cornered amalgamation' among LKP, OSO and 1160546 B.C. Ltd. ("1160546"). 1160546 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LKP which was incorporated for the purposes of the BCA. For further details regarding the BCA, please refer to LKP's Management Information Circular dated September 12, 2018, which may be viewed under the Company's profile at: https://www.sedar.com. Pursuant to the BCA, LKP consolidated its common shares on a 2.5:1 basis immediately prior to the amalgamation of OSO and 1160546. The remaining entity, 1160546, continued as a 100% subsidiary of LKP. On November 1, 2018, LKP changed its name to Osoyoos Cannabis Inc., and the former OSO shareholders exchanged their shares on a 1:1 basis for shares of LKP. The new directors of the Company are the former directors of OSO, consisting of: Mr. Gerry Goldberg (CEO), Mr. John McMahon (independent), Mr. Ernie Eves (independent), Mr. Roger Dent (independent) and Ms. Sarah Lee Irwin (independent). Proposed Operations The Company will be in the business of processing raw cannabis to produce concentrated extracts which may be consumed directly or infused into a variety of recreational or medicinal products. Extracts may be packaged and sold as the Company's own branded products, or be sold to others. The Company may also 'toll' process raw cannabis supplied by others for a negotiated fee. In March 2017, Bare Root Production Osoyoos Inc. (now the 100% owned subsidiary of 1160546) made an application to Health Canada under the ACMPR for the cultivation of cannabis; however, in response to early industry trends which were emerging during the application process, the decision was made to instead focus initially on the value-added extraction sector of the emerging industry. On October 3, 2018, OSO retained Eurofins Experchem Laboratories Inc., a leading cannabis industry consulting agency, to assist it with the preparation and submission of an amendment to its original application. This work is in process and the Company will submit an application for licensing as a 'standard processor' of cannabis under section 17 of the Cannabis Regulations under the Cannabis Act (Canada). This application may be amended at a later stage to include direct sales, cultivation, analytical testing and/or research. CSE Listing Application The Company has submitted an application to list its common shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange and the application is in the review stage. There is no assurance that the securities of the Company will be listed. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OSOYOOS CANNABIS INC. "GERRY GOLDBERG" CEO For further information contact: Gerry Goldberg gerrygoldbergcpa@gmail.com (416) 460-3000 DISCLAIMER & READER ADVISORY Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "may", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the intention of the Company to become licensed in Canada to produce and sell cannabis extracts. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the parties. The material factors and assumptions include the parties being able to obtain the necessary corporate, regulatory and other third-party approvals; licensing and other risks associated with Cannabis Act (Canada) operations. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the parties are not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. Securities laws. HONG KONG, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Law (ULaw), one of the UK's longest established specialist providers of legal education, has today announced its decision to open a campus in Hong Kong by spring 2019.[1] Adding to a portfolio of eight campuses in the UK, the Hong Kong campus will mark the University's first international presence. With its wide portfolio of professional law degrees, specialist legal training and on-going professional development courses for barristers and solicitors, ULaw has ambitious goals of raising the bar in Hong Kong's provision of quality education, and ultimately creating new opportunities for the city's aspiring legal professionals to attain their career goals. Professor Andrea Nollent, Vice Chancellor and CEO at The University of Law, remarked: "We take pride in providing students with the highest quality teaching, offering students practical skills that make them stand out in the market place. Whether it is having courses taught by practising solicitors and barristers, or providing students and alumni with access to work experience, all our courses are designed with their future employability in mind. "We have impressive employability statistics - 97 per cent of LPC students secured employment, training contract, or further study within nine months of completing their course[2] - and we intend to maintain this high standard in Hong Kong." The new Hong Kong campus will receive students starting from September 2019, initially offering a portfolio of face-to-face postgraduate courses. Additional professional courses and online training courses will be available to practising legal professionals as early as spring 2019. Professor Nollent added: "We recognise Hong Kong's position as an international legal and dispute resolution service hub, and it is therefore a significant market for The University of Law. Through a multi-million pound investment, we are ultimately looking to establish a long-term presence and operations in the region that will provide the same excellence in teaching and professional services to companies." For more information on The University of Law, please visit https://www.law.ac.uk/locations/hong-kong/ [1] The University of Law is currently seeking registration under the Non-local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Ordinance, Cap. 493 for its courses. [2] 97% of The University of Law's full-time 2016/17 and accelerated 2017/17 LPC students graduating in summer 2017 secured employment, a training contract, or further study within nine months of successfully completing their course while 92% of our full-time UK LLB students graduating in 2017 secured employment or further study within six months of successfully completing their course About ULaw (The University of Law) The University of Law is one of the longest-established specialist providers of legal education and training in the UK, with campuses in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Chester, Guildford, Manchester and Leeds, as well as our GDL and LPC courses being taught in the University of Exeter, the University of Reading and the University of Liverpool. Previously The College of Law, it was granted university status in November 2012. The University of Law's dedicated Employability Service gives students access to work experience and pro bono opportunities and legal vacancies as soon as they accept their place. The result is excellent employability statistics: 97% of our full-time 2016/17 and accelerated 2017/17 LPC students graduating in summer 2017 secured employment, a training contract, or further study within nine months of successfully completing their course while 92% of our full-time UK LLB students graduating in 2017 secured employment or further study within six months of successfully completing their course. In 2017, The University of Law was awarded a gold ranking in the Government-led Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) for delivering consistently outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for our undergraduate students, making us one of the highest quality providers of higher education in the UK. https://www.law.ac.uk/about/ The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran continues to fully implement its commitments under the JCPOA, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said at a board meeting in Vienna. Amano told board members that Iran continued to abide by the deal reached in 2015 with major world powers that aimed at preventing Tehran from building atomic weapons in exchange for economic incentives. The IAEA Director General reiterated the agency's findings in a report distributed to member states earlier this month that "Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action." He stressed that "it is essential that Iran continues to fully implement" its commitments. In its full report, the IAEA said its inspectors continued to have access to all sites in Iran that it needed to visit and that inspectors confirmed Iran has kept within limits of heavy water and low-enriched uranium stockpiles. "The agency continues to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material declared by Iran under its safeguards agreement. Evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran continue," Associated Press cited Amano as saying. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 22, 2018) - Lions Bay Mining Corp. (CSE: LBM) ("Lions Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, effective at the open of market today, its common shares commenced trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") under the symbol LBM. In addition, the Company announces it has closed a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") offering of 5,000,000 units ("Units") at a price of $0.10 per Unit for gross proceeds of $500,000. Each Unit consists of one common share and one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.10 for 24 months following closing of the Private Placement. In connection with the Private Placement, the Company has issued 122,100 warrants to certain finders ("Finders' Warrants"). The Finders' Warrants have the same terms as the Warrants forming part of the Units. All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period expiring March 22, 2019. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Private Placement to support First Division Ventures Inc. in its exploration of the Fish Lake Project, consider and evaluate potential acquisitions of additional mineral properties and for working capital. Following completion of the Private Placement, the Company has 10,510,000 common shares outstanding. About Lions Bay Mining Corp. Lions Bay Mining Corp. is a mineral exploration and development company, primarily focused on mineral properties in North America. Its primary asset is the FLV lode mining claims located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA commonly referred to as the "Fish Lake Project", which are subject to an option agreement with First Divisions Ventures Inc. The Company also holds an interest in the mineral claims located in the Upper Hyland River area of eastern Yukon Territory of Canada and common referred to as the "Hy and Jay Property", as well as an interest in the mineral claims located in the Yukon Territory of Canada, commonly referred to as the "VM" and the "VBA" properties. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Signed "Jeremy Poirier" Jeremy Poirier, President and CEO FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Jeremy Poirier-- President and CEO Lions Bay - Telephone: 1-604-262-8835 Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operating or financial performance of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this press release relate to, among other things, the use of proceeds of the Private Placement. Actual future results may differ materially. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual 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 and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these times. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION INTO THE UNITED STATES OR THROUGH U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES Bagsvrd, Denmark, 22 November 2018 - Novo Nordisk today announced the headline results from PIONEER 9, a 52-week trial with oral semaglutide vs Victoza (0.9 mg liraglutide) and vs placebo, all as monotherapy, in Japanese adults with type 2 diabetes. Oral semaglutide is an investigational GLP-1 taken once daily as a tablet. PIONEER 9 was a phase 3a safety and efficacy trial investigating 3, 7 and 14 mg oral semaglutide compared with Victoza and with placebo in 243 Japanese adults with type 2 diabetes. The trial successfully achieved its primary objective[1] by demonstrating that, from a mean baseline HbA 1c of 8.2%, people treated with 3, 7 and 14 mg oral semaglutide experienced statistically significant reductions in HbA 1c of 1.1%, 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively, compared to a reduction of 0.1% with placebo after 26 weeks. Furthermore, 14 mg oral semaglutide achieved a statistically significantly greater reduction in HbA 1c compared to a reduction of 1.4% with Victoza. After 52 weeks, people treated with 3, 7 and 14 mg oral semaglutide experienced statistically significantly greater reductions in HbA 1c of 0.9%, 1.3% and 1.5%, respectively, compared to an increase of 0.5% for people treated with placebo. Furthermore, people treated with Victoza experienced a reduction in HbA 1c of 1.1%, which was not statistically significant in favour of oral semaglutide. The Japan Diabetes Society (JDS) treatment target of HbA 1c <7.0% was achieved by 50%, 67% and 80% of people treated with 3, 7 and 14 mg oral semaglutide, respectively, compared to 49% of people treated with Victoza and 12% of people treated with placebo at week 52. From a mean baseline body weight of 71.1 kg, people treated with 14 mg oral semaglutide experienced a statistically significantly greater weight reduction of 2.8 kg after 52 weeks compared to 1.0 kg with placebo and a weight increase of 0.4 kg with Victoza. People treated with 3 and 7 mg oral semaglutide experienced a body weight reduction of 0.0 kg and 0.6 kg, respectively. In this 52-week trial, oral semaglutide was well-tolerated and with a safety profile consistent with GLP-1-based therapy. The most common adverse events for oral semaglutide were constipation and mild to moderate nausea, which diminished over time. The proportion of people who discontinued treatment due to adverse events was 2-4% for people treated with oral semaglutide. "Achieving target blood glucose levels remains a challenge for many people living with type 2 diabetes," said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and chief science officer of Novo Nordisk. "In PIONEER 9, an impressive 80% of Japanese people with type 2 diabetes treated with the highest dose of oral semaglutide achieved the Japan Diabetes Society target for good glycaemic control, with a safety profile consistent with injectable GLP-1 therapies." About PIONEER 9 and the PIONEER clinical trial programme PIONEER 9 was a 52-week, randomised, double-blinded placebo-controlled and open-label active-controlled phase 3 safety and efficacy trial. It had 5 treatment arms comparing the dose-response, safety, and efficacy of 3, 7 and 14 mg oral semaglutide with placebo and with Victoza 0.9 mg in Japanese people with type 2 diabetes, treated with diet and exercise alone or in addition to an oral anti-diabetic drug as monotherapy. PIONEER 9 randomised 243 people in a 1:1:1:1:1 manner to receive once-daily treatment with either a dose of oral semaglutide 3, 7 or 14 mg, Victoza or placebo. The primary endpoint was the change in baseline HbA 1c to week 26. Key secondary endpoints included change in HbA 1c at week 52, change in plasma glucose, body weight and number of participants achieving a target of HbA 1c <7% at weeks 26 and 52. The PIONEER phase 3a clinical development programme for oral semaglutide is a global development programme with enrolment of 8,845 people with type 2 diabetes across 10 clinical trials, which are all expected to complete in 2018. Further information Media: Katrine Sperling +45 3079 6718 krsp@novonordisk.com (mailto:krsp@novonordisk.com) Investors: Peter Hugreffe Ankersen +45 3075 9085 phak@novonordisk.com (mailto:phak@novonordisk.com) Anders Mikkelsen +45 3079 4461 armk@novonordisk.com (mailto:armk@novonordisk.com) Valdemar Borum Svarrer +45 3079 0301 jvls@novonordisk.com (mailto:cnje@novonordisk.com) Kristoffer Due Berg +45 3079 2849 krdb@novonordisk.com (mailto:krdb@novonordisk.com) Company announcement No 89 / 2018 [1] Analysed by Mixed Models for Repeated Measurements (MMRM), which was the similar statistical methodology as applied in the SUSTAIN programme for subcutaneous semaglutide. PR181122_PIONEER_9_UK (http://hugin.info/2013/R/2226662/873919.pdf) This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Novo Nordisk A/S via Globenewswire MUNICH, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As the world's third largest economy, Japan is leading the way for aging societies. Therefore, the Government of Japan has launched series of roundtable events across Europe highlighting the substantial opportunities for collaboration in the healthcare sector between Europe, especially Germany, and Japan. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788659/Dr_Shinsuke_Muto.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788660/Sebastian_Krolop.jpg ) At a roundtable event titled "Open for Business: Capitalising on Japan's Digital Healthcare Economy during this Era of Aging Societies" in Munich on November 21, the discussion highlighted the shared opportunities the world's top two "super-aged" countries should embrace, and how German businesses can take advantage of new commercial benefits presented by aging societies. The event was supported by The Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Duesseldorf. The engaging discussion was moderated by Erwin Bottinger, Head of the Digital Health Center and Professor for Digital Health and Personalized Medicine at Hasso-Plattner Institute, and featured Sebastian Krolop, Partner and Industry Lead Life Sciences and Health Care, Deloitte Consulting GmbH, Shinsuke Muto, Chairman, Integrity Healthcare Co., Ltd., Yumiko Nishimura, Advisor-Japan, Health 2.0/HIMSS and Kazumi Nishikawa, Director, Healthcare Industries Division, Commerce and Service Industry Policy Group, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, who joined via video conference from Japan. The speakers discussed how Japan is well placed to serve as the world's test bed for the emerging digital healthcare economy in this era of aging societies. The country's high quality data around medical, health and long term care, generated from the country's universal healthcare system covering its 127 million citizens, is hugely attractive to scientists and businesses. In addition, advanced technology in Japan, including Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things, coupled with access to data, is opening the door to new business creation in fields such as medical devices and digital health services. This changing healthcare landscape of the country presents immense collaborative opportunities between Germany and Japan. "In Germany, there is a lot to improve: Now it is time to use the great data Japan provides to start the flow. Your data is the oil that gets the engine started." -Sebastian Krolop, Partner and Industry Lead Life Sciences and Health Care, Deloitte Consulting GmbH. "As a doctor we tend to focus on individual patients - however, to improve overall care, more comprehensive data is needed. We strongly believe that physicians will benefit and generate very valuable learnings from the analysis of Japans database," -Shinsuke Muto, Chairman, Integrity Healthcare Co., Ltd. "There are many areas Japan can work together with Germany for realizing life-long active societies through open innovation. I expect further collaboration with German companies and research institutions for value-added market creation, to solve our shared issues going forward," -Kazumi Nishikawa, Director, Healthcare Industries Division, Commerce and Service Industry Policy Group, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan The Government of Japan continues to transform its market to meet the needs of worldwide businesses by providing world-leading, high-value business environment that enables companies to expand and thrive. Germany and Japan are already considered as "super-aged," with more than one in five citizens aged 65 or older. Taking this unprecedented challenge as a transformative opportunity, the Government of Japan is working on implementing a new patient-oriented healthcare system by 2020. This initiative includes data and technological innovations to promote healthier lifestyles. Therefore, the country is generating new and exciting economic opportunities, while aligning its regulations with those of other advanced economies to enable seamless integration for companies ready to expand into new growth markets. The final event of the Government of Japan's "Open for Business" roundtable series will take place in Paris on 22 November 2018, and will focus on entrepreneurship and start-ups. Please click here to learn more about the Government of Japan. CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 22, 2018/PRNewswire/ -- The Sunhak Peace Prize Committee announced Laureates for the Sunhak Peace Prize for 2019 - Waris Dirie and Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina. Waris Dirie, a human rights activist and super-model, is widely acclaimed for raising worldwide awareness of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). As an agricultural economist, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has been promoting Good Governance in Africa through agricultural innovation for over 30 years and greatly contributed to food security in Africa. Warisi Dirie was born into a nomad family and she was subjected to FGM at the age of 5. In 1997, she shared her experience to the world and was appointed as the Special Ambassador to the UN for the Elimination of FGM. In 2002, she established the Desert Flower Foundation and in 2003, her anti-FGM campaign led 15 African Union member countries to ratify the Maputo Protocol which promotes eradication of FGM. In 2012, the UN unanimously passed a resolution banning the practice of FGM, and the UN has set a goal to eliminate FGM by 2030. Another laureate Dr. Akinwumi Adesina pioneered in expanding rice production, increasing the availability of credit for smallholder farmers, attracting private investments for the agricultural sector, rooting out the corrupt elements in the fertilizer industry, and establishing the major agricultural policies. For the 2006 Africa Fertilizer Summit, he was instrumental in developing the Abuja Declaration on Fertilizer for the African Green Revolution, stating eradication of hunger in Africa, by 2030. Dr. Akinwumi Adesina currently serves as the president of the African Development Bank Group, promoting the "High 5 Strategy", which is improving lives of millions of people throughout Africa. Dr. Il Sik Hong, Chairman of the Sunhak Committee, stated that "the Sunhak Peace Prize was established based upon the vision of 'One Family Under God' and the Sunhak Peace Prize for 2019 gives special attention to human rights and human development in Africa." The Sunhak Peace Prize honors individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the peace and the welfare of the future generations. The Sunhak Peace Prize includes a cash prize totaling one million US dollars and the Award Ceremony will take place on February 11, 2019 in Seoul, Korea. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/785992/Waris_Dirie.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/785993/Dr_Akinwumi_Adesina.jpg Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 22, 2018) - The Canadian Securities Exchange is pleased to announce that CEO Richard Carleton was honoured with the "2018 Captains of Industry" award by the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp ("ATACH"). The award, the association's most prestigious honor, was presented to Mr. Carleton at a reception at the Las Vegas Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 15 in recognition of the groundbreaking capital markets work being done by the CSE in the cannabis and hemp industry in North America. "It is an honour to have the work of the entire Canadian securities industry recognized by the leading industry trade association in the United States," said Mr. Carleton. "Although the CSE's efforts were singled out, none of the advances made by the industry would be possible without the commitment and courage of the cohort of entrepreneurs, and the investors, investment dealers, and professional advisers who have helped build and fund a vibrant and growing industry." "The work of Richard Carleton and the Canadian Securities Exchange is historic and the CSE has quickly become the world leader in providing a modern and efficient alternative for cannabis companies seeking access to public capital markets. The American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp is proud to honour the work of the exchange, its entrepreneurial mission, and the unique role that it plays in bringing companies into the public marketplace," said Michael Bronstein, president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp. In addition to the ATACH award, Mr. Carleton was recently recognized as one of the "25 Cannabis Industry Power Players" in Canada by the Financial Post Magazine. Companies in the cannabis sector have raised $2.534 billion through the end of the month of October this year on the CSE. Of this amount, the more than 50 companies with US operations raised $1.498 billion. Overall, CSE-listed companies have raised $3.59 billion in 702 financings in the first 10 months of 2018. The exchange has over 450 listed securities, with more than 110 companies operating in the cannabis sector. Trading in the cannabis sector has fueled record share volume, value traded and transactions at the CSE in 2018. About The Canadian Securities Exchange The Canadian Securities Exchange is home to more than 420 uniquely listed issues covering a broad range of industry sectors. The exchange provides trade execution, smart routing, risk management, compliance and market information services for Canadian listed securities. Recognized as an exchange by the Ontario Securities Commission, the CSE is designed to facilitate the capital formation process for public companies through a streamlined approach to company regulation that emphasizes disclosure and the provision of efficient secondary market trading services for investors. Contact: Richard Carleton Canadian Securities Exchange 416.367.7360 richard.carleton@thecse.com In April this year, the RBI had given six months' time to global payment companies to store transaction data of Indian customers within India New Delhi: Flagging issues like data localisation "restrictions" and elevated import duties, the European Commission Wednesday said it will work towards comprehensive and balanced agreements with India to boost economic ties. In April this year, the RBI had given six months' time to global payment companies to store transaction data of Indian customers within India. Data localisation requires data about residents be collected, processed, and stored inside the country, often before being transferred internationally, and usually transferred only after meeting local privacy or data protection laws. Enhancing market access for European Union (EU) companies, particularly for SMEs, will require removing existing obstacles and preventing the emergence of new tariff or non-tariff barriers, said the joint communication adopted by the EC and the high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in Brussels. The document sets out the EU's vision for a strategy to strengthen cooperation and the partnership with India. "Technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, elevated custom duties, mandatory testing and local certification requirements, data localisation restrictions, deviation from international standards and agreements, as well as discrimination based on legislative or administrative measures by India affect a wide range of sectors, including goods, services, investment and public procurement," it said. In this respect, the communication said the EU remains firmly committed to working towards comprehensive and balanced agreements with India with sufficient level of ambition to respond to each side's key interests in trade and investment and which contribute to sustainable growth and development in both the EU and India. In particular, the EU will continue to engage with India to ensure that such an agreement will be economically meaningful, delivering real new market openings in all sectors to both sides, and contain a solid rules-based component, it added. The proposals made in the joint communication will now be discussed in the European Parliament and the Council. The document further said the EU recognises privacy as a fundamental right and India is also moving in this direction. The adoption of a comprehensive data protection law by India would not only serve India's people, but also significantly facilitate bilateral data flows, including by providing the basis for a possible adequacy finding by the European Commission. This would benefit investment, trade and security cooperation, it added. The Joint Communication replaces the last Commission Communication on India of 2004, recognising that India has emerged as the fastest-growing large economy and has acquired an important geopolitical role. According to an official release, the Communication aims to strengthen the EU-India Strategic Partnership by focusing on sustainable modernisation and on common responses to global and regional issues. It also seeks to reinforce the effectiveness of the EU's external action and is coherent with the implementation of the Global Strategy. India is a key player in the interconnected world, said High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini. By Lawrence Delevingne and Koh Gui Qing MINNEAPOLIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - On the night of Aug. 30, a 21-year-old University of Minnesota student said she was in a chauffeured black car, trying to keep billionaire JD.com Inc Chief Executive Richard Liu from pulling off her clothes By Lawrence Delevingne and Koh Gui Qing MINNEAPOLIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - On the night of Aug. 30, a 21-year-old University of Minnesota student said she was in a chauffeured black car, trying to keep billionaire JD.com Inc Chief Executive Richard Liu from pulling off her clothes. "I just begged him, 'Don't do that. You have wife and you have kids,'" the Chinese woman told police in a recorded interview days after that was reviewed by Reuters. "He did not listen to me." At around 3 a.m., Minneapolis police responded to an "assault in progress" involving Liu at the womans luxury apartment, a police report showed, after a friend alerted authorities. Officers investigated and concluded that no crime had occurred. Precisely what the woman and Liu told police has not been made public, but Reuters previously reported that she was afraid that Liu would retaliate against her if she pressed charges. Less than 24 hours later, when police were summoned again with the help of a university administrator, the woman was unequivocal: She said she had been raped by Liu. The Chinese executive was arrested that night. Liu, who has maintained his innocence through representatives, was jailed for about 17 hours before being released. Hours later, he flew to China, which does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. For a timeline, click Local prosecutors are weighing evidence that would move the case beyond a he said, she said stalemate. Among the issues being considered by the Hennepin County Attorneys office: the divergent accounts of what happened that night, the initial determination by police that there was no crime, and the womans early hesitance to press charges against Liu, Reuters has learned. An attorney for Liu, Jill Brisbois, said in an emailed response that Lius innocence would become apparent once more evidence is disclosed. We are very disappointed that Reuters would choose to run a story with unsubstantiated information, from anonymous sources who clearly have an agenda, while Richard cannot defend himself out of respect for the judicial process, she wrote. Wil Florin, an attorney for the now 22-year-old woman hired four days after the alleged rape, would not make her available for comment. Florin said in response to questions that the case was "simple" - Liu used force to have non-consensual sex - and the initial hesitance to press charges was understandable. No one can fully appreciate the hurricane of initial emotions that a rape victim suffers, Florin said. Reluctance, fear and confusion are commonplace. Asked if his client planned any civil suits, Florin said, Our legal intentions with regard to Mr. Liu and others will be revealed at the appropriate time. Some legal experts say victims initial reluctance to speak out plainly can deter prosecutors from charging due to concerns about how it would be seen by a jury. The decision to prosecute has a lot to do with the initial reaction of the victim, which is unfortunate, said Roger Canaff, a former sex crimes prosecutor in New York. Others said prosecutors should still be able to make a case, for example, with the help of expert witnesses. Prosecutors can still educate jurors on issues like fear of retaliation, avoidance and shame, said Benjamin Andreozzi, a Pennsylvania-based attorney who frequently represents victims of sexual abuse. The decision by prosecutors will likely affect JD.com, whose shares have already tumbled by more than a third since Lius arrest. Also known as Liu Qiangdong, he maintains tight control of the company he grew from a humble electronics stall to an e-commerce giant with 2017 net revenue of $55.7 billion and partners such as Alphabet Inc's Google, Walmart Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd <0700.HK>. BUSINESS SCHOOL FOR BILLIONAIRES As prosecutors and the woman consider their legal options, Reuters has uncovered new details about the night and its immediate aftermath. Liu, 45, had travelled to University of Minnesota in late August to attend a doctor of business administration program directed at Chinese executives. Other students in the program include Ma Huateng, the billionaire chief executive of Tencent, and Li Hua, the billionaire chairman of Excellence Real Estate Group Ltd, according to university materials. After the alleged rape, a personal assistant for Liu turned to Li to request that he broker a peace with the woman, the woman told police in the recorded interview. Li did not respond to requests for comment. University of Minnesota representatives declined to discuss the case, citing student privacy law. The alleged rape happened hours after the student sat next to Liu at a dinner party that he had thrown at a Japanese restaurant. Near the end of the event, the woman said she was drunk and needed help getting home, according to the police interview. Alice Zhang introduced herself as Lius personal assistant, according to Florin. Zhang helped the student into a car, and got in along with Liu, the woman told police in the recorded interview. The woman said that Zhang initially tried to seat Liu and her separately in the car, but Liu told Zhang, Dont interrupt me, and began touching the student in the back seat. Zhang, who sat in front, turned up the radio and flipped up the rearview mirror, according to Florin, based on his investigation of the case, and a person familiar with the event. When Reuters called Zhang on her personal cell phone in China, a woman who answered denied she was Zhang and hung up after hearing a description of the reporting. Lius attorney did not respond to questions on the episode, or to other specific requests for comment. The woman told police she was scared, drunk and unsure where she was. She thought she could sit down and talk with Liu, and persuaded him to take her home in the car. I know you are a good person, she said she told Liu. You might calm down so that you can realize what you are doing right now. When they arrived at her building, Liu told the driver and Zhang that he would be back soon, the student told police. He ended up spending about four hours inside her apartment, according to a person familiar with the situation, showering at one point and lying naked on her bed. She said she repeatedly resisted Lius advances and tried to get him to leave. He was trying to pull me inside the shower, she told police in the recorded interview. I tried my best to battle against him. She told police that he eventually held her down and raped her with some of her clothes still on, according to a person familiar with the situation. The woman later told police she preserved his semen on her sheets as evidence. SWIFT REACTION The day after the incident, another of Lius assistants contacted the woman, according to her recorded interview with police. The student told this assistant, Vivian Yang, that she wanted to talk about things that happened yesterday, according to a Reuters review of WeChat messages which Florin said are authentic. She told Yang she hoped for justice and was considering finding a lawyer. In the subsequent police interview, the student said she thought Liu could apologise to her. Police were provided with the same WeChat messages as part of their investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter. Yang proposed that the woman meet that night with Li, the chairman of Excellence Real Estate Group, the woman said in her interview with police. You say your side, and then we say our side, Yang told the student in a conversation that was recorded by a friend of the woman's and reviewed by Reuters. By letting Boss Li speak to you first, a person who is trusted by both our sides, he can communicate a little with you first. Reuters was not able to determine what, if anything, Li was told about the event that prompted Yangs request. Reuters also could not ascertain if Li agreed to be a peacemaker, or if he knew about the plan. The woman told police that she rejected the proposal, saying she only wanted to talk to Liu. She said she wanted to do so with a friend present, according to the recorded conversation. Yang ultimately agreed to bring Liu to meet the woman at the University of Minnesotas Carlson School of Management around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, WeChat messages showed. By the time Liu arrived, the woman was giving a statement to police. They arrested Liu at around 11 p.m. Liu was released the following day, Sept. 1, at around 4 p.m., pending an investigation. Yang, reached in China, referred questions to the companys public relations department. The spokeswoman referred Reuters to past public statements. Hours after his release Liu was on a private jet, flying home to China. (Additional reporting by Blake Morrison in New York, Sue-Lin Wong in Shenzhen and the Shenzhen newsroom; Editing by Neal Templin and Blake Morrison) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Arun Jaitley is scheduled to present his sixth consecutive Budget with 2019 being vote-on-account. New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has sought inputs from different central ministries for Arun Jaitley's budget speech, which would be the last budget of the current BJP-led NDA government before the 2019 general polls. "Kindly provide the requisite information or inputs relating to your department in quadruplicate by November 30, 2018," the ministry said in a reminder to all other ministries and departments. The finance ministry has requested the ministries to send material related to their departments that may merit inclusion in the finance minister's budget speech for 2019-20. Last month, the ministry began the budgetary exercise for 2019-20. During the process, meetings were being held with ministries of steel, power, and housing and urban development, among others, to finalise revised expenditure for the current fiscal and projections for the next financial year. In view of the upcoming general elections, the government is likely to come out with an interim budget, also referred to as vote-on-account. The Union Budget is presented on 1 February. Jaitley is scheduled to present his sixth consecutive Budget with 2019 being vote-on-account. As per the practice, a vote-on-account or approval for essential government spending for a limited period is taken in an election year and a full-fledged budget is presented by the new government. While P Chidambaram had presented the previous UPA government's vote-on-account in February 2014, Jaitley presented a full budget in July that year. Narendra Modi-led government scrapped a colonial-era tradition of presenting the budget at the end of February. With the preponement of Budget, ministries are now allocated their budgeted funds from the start of the financial year beginning April. This gives government departments more leeway to spend as well as allow companies time to adapt to business and taxation plans. Previously, when the Budget was presented at the end of February, the three-stage Parliament approval process used to get completed some time in mid-May, weeks ahead of the onset of monsoon rains. This meant government departments would start spending on projects only from August-end or September after the monsoon season ended To check wilful defaulters and fraudsters from fleeing the country, the government has now authorised CEOs of public sector banks (PSBs) to make a request for issuance of look-out circulars (LOCs) against suspects New Delhi: To check wilful defaulters and fraudsters from fleeing the country, the government has now authorised CEOs of public sector banks (PSBs) to make a request for issuance of look-out circulars (LOCs) against suspects. The move comes against the backdrop of defaults by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and thereafter, fleeing the country. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently made changes in the circular by including CEOs of PSBs in the list of officials who can make a request for issuance of LOCs to the ministry. The inclusion by MHA was done following the recommendation of an inter-ministerial panel under Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar that made a case for empowering the heads of PSBs to request for the opening of LOCs. When asked about the changes made in the circular of MHA, Kumar said it was a continuation of the government's clean-up drive of the banking sector. Soon after the emergence of the PNB fraud and perpetrator Nirav and his uncle Choksi fleeing the country, the Finance Ministry asked PSBs to collect passport details of all those borrowers, who have borrowed loans of more than Rs 50 crore. However, possession of mere passport detail was not enough but this circular has empowered banks to take a decisive action against wilful defaulters and fraudsters by requesting for issuance of LOC by the concerned authority, thereby thwarting any move by them to flee the country, Kumar said. "It will act as a big deterrent for wilful defaulters and also bring about a fundamental change in the creditor-debtor relationship," he said. The Department of Financial Services has also issued an advisory to heads of all PSBs to take note of the changes in the circular and act as and when required in a specified manner. Pursuant to the amendment of the MHA circular last month, the list now includes the chairman or managing director and CEO of all PSBs, the circular said. Thus, the heads of PSBs have now been empowered to issue requests of the opening of LOCs for wilful defaulters as per the above-mentioned guidelines of MHA against whom an FIR is yet to be filed, it said. Earlier this year, the government formed an inter-ministerial panel to look into various issues, including how to put a check on wilful defaulters fleeing the country. Mallya had fled the country in March 2016 after defaulting on loans given to Kingfisher Airlines, which was promoted by his group. Moreover, Parliament passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018, giving authorities powers to attach and confiscate the proceeds of crime and properties of economic offenders, like bank fraudsters or loan defaulters fleeing the country. The law is aimed at quickly recovering losses to exchequer or PSBs in cases of frauds. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his Budget speech for 2018-19 said the government was considering bringing a new law to confiscate assets of such absconders. Hardcastle Restaurants was operating quick service restaurants under the brand name McDonald's in the Western and Southern regions of India. Mumbai: The anti-profiteering authority NAA has found Hardcastle Restaurants, a franchisee of fast food chain McDonald's, guilty of not passing on GST rate cut benefits of over Rs 7.49 crore to consumers. Hardcastle Restaurants was operating quick service restaurants under the brand name McDonald's in the Western and Southern regions of India. Complaints were filed against the restaurant accusing it of keeping the prices of the products same despite a reduction in the GST rate from 18 percent to 5 percent with effect from 15 November, 2017. The Directorate General of Anti-Profiteering (DGAP) in the course of investigation has found that the restaurant has not passed over Rs 7.49 crore worth benefit due to reduction in the rate of tax as also the benefit of input tax credit (ITC) availed by the restaurant. The amount includes the extra Goods and Services Tax (GST) which Hardcastle Restaurants "forced the customers to pay due to wrong increase in basic prices, otherwise the prices to be paid should have further got reduced by the amount of the GST illegally charged...," the NAA said. The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA), in its order, has held that Hardcastle Restaurants had resorted to profiteering by charging more price. The NAA asked Hardcastle Restaurants to reduce the prices by way of commensurate reduction, keeping in view the reduced rate of tax and the benefit of ITC which has been availed. Also since the complainants were not identifiable, the NAA asked the restaurant to deposit over Rs 7.49 crore in the consumer welfare fund, along with 18 percent interest, within a period of three months. The NAA has also issued a show-cause notice to Hardcastle Restaurants to explain why penalty should not be imposed. Iran and Italy have discussed the Special Vehicle Purpose (SPV), a payment mechanism being devised by Europe to facilitate trade with Iran in the face of US sanctions. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met his Italian counterpart Moavero Milanesi in Rome Thursday to review measures taken by the Europeans to protect the 2015 nuclear deal after the US withdrawal. The US has violated not only the JCPOA, but also the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and now it is urging others to do the same and threatens to punish the countries that respect it, Zarif said, referring to the nuclear deal and the UN resolution which endorsed it, Press TV reported. Zarif is in the Italian capital on an official visit to attend the Mediterranean Dialogues Conference (MED). The Italian foreign minister said the JCPOA helps promote international peace and security, stressing that Rome will make all-out efforts to help protect it along with other EU countries. In their Thursday meeting, Zarif and Milanesi also pointed to historic, broad and growing ties between the two countries, highlighting their political will to develop and deepen ties in various political, economic, cultural and international fields. The two sides also discussed efforts to promote economic and cultural cooperation, particularly in the fields of tourism and science, among others. Regional issues, particularly the latest developments in Syria, the disastrous situation of Yemen, and Libya developments were among other topics discussed in the meeting. By Mark Weinraub and P.J. Huffstutter (Reuters) - U.S. farmers finishing their harvests are facing a big problem - where to put the mountain of grain they cannot sell to Chinese buyers By Mark Weinraub and P.J. Huffstutter (Reuters) - U.S. farmers finishing their harvests are facing a big problem - where to put the mountain of grain they cannot sell to Chinese buyers. For Louisiana farmer Richard Fontenot and his neighbors, the solution was a costly one: Let the crops rot. Fontenot plowed under 1,000 of his 1,700 soybean acres this fall, chopping plants into the dirt instead of harvesting more than $300,000 worth of beans. His beans were damaged by bad weather, made worse by a wet harvest. Normally, he could sell them anyway to a local elevator - giant silos usually run by international grains merchants that store grain. But this year they aren't buying as much damaged grain. The elevators are already chock full. "No one wants them," Fontenot said in a telephone interview. As he spoke, he drove his tractor across a soybean field, tilling under his crop. "I don't know what else to do." Across the United States, grain farmers are plowing under crops, leaving them to rot or piling them on the ground, in hopes of better prices next year, according to interviews with more than two dozen farmers, academic researchers and farm lenders. It's one of the results, they say, of a U.S. trade war with China that has sharply hurt export demand and swamped storage facilities with excess grain. In Louisiana, up to 15 percent of the oilseed crop is being plowed under or is too damaged to market, according to data analyzed by Louisiana State University staff. Crops are going to waste in parts of Mississippi and Arkansas. Grain piles, dusted by snow, sit on the ground in North and South Dakota. And in Illinois and Indiana, some farmers are struggling to protect silo bags stuffed with crops from animals. U.S. farmers planted 89.1 million acres of soybeans this year, the second most ever, expecting China's rising demand to give them better returns than other bulk crops. But Beijing slapped a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans in retaliation for duties imposed by Washington on Chinese exports. That effectively shut down U.S. soybean exports to China, worth around $12 billion last year. China typically takes around 60 percent of U.S. supplies. The U.S. government rolled out an aid program of around the same size - $12 billion - to help farmers absorb the cost of the trade war. As of mid-November, $837.8 million had been paid out. Some of that money will pass from farmers to grain merchants such as Archer Daniels Midland Co and Bunge Ltd, who are charging farmers more to store crops at elevators where there is limited space. Bunge and ADM did not respond to requests for comment on storage fees. The storage crunch and higher fees have boosted revenues at grain elevator Andersons [ANDE.O], Chief Executive Officer Pat Bowe said in an interview. "It's paying a grain handler to store - it's the old-fashioned way to make money," Bowe said. These are also boom times for John Wierenga, president of grain storage bag retailer Neeralta. Sales of their bags - white tubes up to 300 feet now littering Midwest fields - are up 30 percent from a year ago. "The demand has been huge," Wierenga said. "We are sold out." HIGHER FEES Farmers are feeling the pinch. Those in central Illinois could pay up to 40 percent more than in previous years to store crops over the coming weeks, agricultural consultant Matt Bennett estimated. That amounts to between 3 cents to 6 cents a bushel, Bennett said, a painful expense for a crop that was already expected to deliver little income to farmers. Storage rates are swinging wildly, depending on the elevator location. Grain dealers at rivers typically charge more than their inland counterparts because they are more dependent on export markets. At some Midwest river terminals, farmers were paying 60 cents a bushel to store soybeans until the end of the year - more than twice as much as a year ago. Some commercial terminals are charging farmers to just drop off their soybeans. The trade war has only exacerbated the strain on storage, which has been a persistent problem in recent years due largely to a worldwide oversupply of grains. Even before this falls harvest, around 20 percent of total grain storage available in the U.S. was full with corn, soybeans and wheat from previous harvests, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That was the highest in 12 years for this time of year. Some grain merchants are also charging additional fees for farmers who deliver less-than-perfect soybeans, said Russell Altom, a soybean farmer and senior vice president of agricultural lending at Relyance Bank in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. "I've never seen things this bad," Altom said. "I know several farmers who hired lawyers, to see if they can sue over the pricing and fees issues." Eric Maupin, a farmer in Newbern, Tennessee, said he was facing so-called dockage rates of between 60 cents at $1.20 per bushels at Bunge Elevators in his area - more than three times as high as a year ago. "Damage can be anything - a split bean, one that's too small, one that's too big - whatever," Maupin said. Some farmers are pulling farm equipment out of barns to make room for the overflow of grains. After packing nearly half a million bushels of corn and soybeans in their usual steel bins, Terry Honselman and his family found some additional space in 35-year-old shed on their Casey, Illinois, farm. Most years, the building protects farm equipment and bags of seed. Now, it is stuffed with 75,000 bushels of corn. Like others, Honselman is banking on a resolution to the trade war before this spring - when he says he will need the space back for his planting supplies. (Reporting by Mark Weinraub in Chicago and Casey, Illinois; and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago; Editing by Caroline Stauffer, Simon Webb and Paul Thomasch) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The fallen superstar executive, Ghosn, credited with turning around Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Motors alliance is in detention over allegations he under-reported his pay by millions of dollars. Tokyo: The fate of Nissan's disgraced Carlos Ghosn as chairman of the Japanese car giant is set to be decided on Thursday when board members meet to vote on his dismissal, days after the tycoon's arrest for financial misconduct. The fallen superstar executive credited with turning around the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Motors alliance is in detention over allegations he under-reported his pay by millions of dollars. His arrest on Monday has sent shockwaves through the global car sector, corporate Japan and beyond. If Nissan's board removes the 64-year-old millionaire from his post on Thursday afternoon Japan time, it would be a staggering reversal of fortune for the once-revered manager. But it would appear his fate is all but sealed after his hand-picked replacement as CEO, Hiroto Saikawa, launched an astonishing broadside at his mentor. Saikawa said on Monday that "too much authority" had been placed in the chairman's hands and lamented the "dark side of the Ghosn era", as he called the board meeting to fire him. Japanese authorities have extended Ghosn's detention by 10 days, several media reported on Wednesday, as it emerged Nissan itself could face charges over the scandal. The Brazilian-born polyglot is being held on suspicion of under-reporting his income by about five billion yen ($44.5 million) over five years, prosecutors say. A months-long investigation prompted by a whistleblower uncovered years of financial wrongdoing, including the misuse of company assets, according to Saikawa. Public broadcaster NHK said Nissan had paid "huge sums" to provide Ghosn with luxury homes in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam "without any legitimate business reason". Prosecutors had 48 hours after Ghosn's arrest to either press formal charges, release him or request a 10-day custody extension to continue the probe. It has been a stark indictment of the man considered one of the world's most powerful auto executives and known as a hard-nosed workaholic willing to shut factories and cut thousands of jobs to get a firm on solid financial footing. Even when his reputation was sky-high, he attracted criticism for a flashy lifestyle and high salary at odds with traditional Japanese corporate culture. Ghosn is being held in a detention centre in northern Tokyo in conditions far removed from his usual expensive surroundings. "In principle, he will be all alone in a cell," lawyer Ayano Kanezuka told AFP. "There is everything you need, heating, a bed but conditions are spartan," said Kanezuka's colleague Lionel Vincent. The crisis appeared to be going from bad to worse for Nissan, as the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that prosecutors believe the firm also had a case to answer. Both Nissan and the authorities declined to comment. Renault said it was sticking with the fallen manager as chief executive but named chief operating officer Thierry Bollore as deputy CEO. "This leadership guarantees the correct functioning of the Renault company," French economy minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters on Wednesday. He added he would meet his Japanese counterpart on Thursday to discuss "prolonging" the relationship. The alliance of Renault, Nissan and since 2016 Mitsubishi has flourished, selling 10.6 million cars last year - more than any of its rivals. After an emergency board meeting earlier, Renault urged Nissan to share evidence against Ghosn from its internal investigation. Renault said it was unable to comment on the charges without this information. Paris and Tokyo have been scrambling to contain the fallout from the arrest. The scandal the latest in a string to affect Japan Inc. wiped millions off the stock value of all three companies. Nissan bounced back marginally on the Tokyo stocks exchange, after plunging following Ghosn's arrest. Ghosn was once the darling of corporate and popular Japan even having a manga comic inspired by him. He has been the glue holding the auto tie-up together since 1999. He won the nickname "Le Cost Killer" in France for his slash-and-burn approach to corporate restructuring. Under his stewardship, Nissan and Renault became deeply entwined. Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan while in turn the Japanese firm has a 15-percent stake in Renault. Nissan has become the alliance's key player however, posting sales of 12 trillion yen ($106 billion) last year compared with Renault's 59 billion euros ($67 billion). New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been ordered to pay about Rs 242 crore to the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) as wharfage compensation for the transportation of crude oil through the two pipelines the company had laid within the limits of the state-run port. In a regulatory filing, state-owned ONGC said it is examining the admissibility of the claim. The Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) passed an order for wharfage compensation payable by ONGC on 3 October, 2018. TAMP order stated that "ONGC shall pay to MbPT a compensation at one half of wharfage rate as applicable on the per tonne of crude oil which will be imported into the port of Mumbai through all or any of the ONGC pipelines." As per the order, "a sum of Rs 173.69 crore has to be paid to MbPT by ONGC in lieu of wharfage compensation charges since 2013-14," the company said. MbPT, it said, on 31 October sent a demand of Rs 241.69 crore after including interest at the rate of 18 percent since 2013-14. "The issue is being examined for admissibility of the claim and further course of action," ONGC said. ONGC said the dispute between the company and MbPT was pending for a long time over payment of wharfage for the supply of crude oil to local refineries in Mumbai through the pipelines and to coastal refineries through tankers loaded from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT). Also, payment of 'way leave' charges for pipelines passing through port limit was pending. "ONGC had objected to the payment of Way Leave Fee for pipelines and wharfage compensation on crude oil in various forums. No payment was made till 1989 although the pipelines were laid way back in 1978. In 1989, ONGC made a provisional payment of Rs 10 crore as per the decision of inter-ministerial meetings," the filing said. The company said it entered into an agreement with MbPT "under duress on 28 January, 2005, in order to receive permission for laying new pipelines." The agreement lacked clauses for a duration, exist and arbitration and was a "unilateral agreement," it said. "ONGC has been making payment to MbPT as per the agreement without receiving any services for levy of compensation for crude oil supplied to local refinery through ONGC's own pipelines (for which way leave fees is being paid regularly) and marine tankers loaded at JNPT," it said, adding ONGC had so far made Rs 231.42 crore payment to MbPT. The company said it has over the years written several letters to the government for resolving the dispute on wharfage compensation and way leave charges but an amicable solution to the problem could not be reached. A proposal of MbPT for a prescription for wharfage compensation payable by ONGC was sent to TAMP in April 2018. TAMP passed an order on October 3. Chandrashekar was of the view that the bank should have been focussing on the transition and making sure that there was an orderly transition New Delhi: Former independent director of Yes Bank Rentala Chandrashekar quit the board as he was not happy with the recent developments in the bank, which seemed non-focussed to find a successor of its MD & CEO Rana Kapoor, sources said Wednesday. The former bureaucrat wanted the bank to focus on finding a successor for Kapoor rather than indulging in issues such as shake-up in the board composition and the likes, sources said. Yes Bank, in a response, said the recent resignations bear no impact on the new managing director and chief executive officer (MD and CEO) selection process. "...the new MD & CEO selection process is on track, as per committed timelines. The Search & Selection Committee ("SSC") and the N&RC is scheduled to convene on 12 December 2018 to discuss the final shortlist for new MD & CEO appointment, " Yes Bank said in a statement Wednesday. When contacted, Chandrashekhar confirmed in the affirmative on the reason behind his departure from Yes Bank and refused to divulge anything further. He also confirmed that the management, including Kapoor, had wanted him to stay with the bank. "That's correct," said the former telecom secretary. Sources said that Chandrashekar was of the view that the bank should have been focussing on the transition and making sure that there was an orderly transition instead of having all the turbulence, including churn in the board and the selection committee to find a successor of Kapoor. They also said Chandrashekar pointed out that there is a need to focus on real problems, rather than getting into different issues that only complicate the transition. The sources said that the former government official believed in bank's inherent strength and was hopeful of tiding over the present crisis but the matter at the hand is not handled well due to non-focussed approach. Chandrashekhar had resigned from the board of the bank on Monday -- a third in the series of board level exits -- and Yes Bank attributed his resignation as "due to "personal reasons". Yes Bank in a revised press release on Tuesday said that "Rentala Chandrashekhar, Independent Director, has tendered his resignation from the Bank's Board, with immediate effect" and skipped the reason behind him putting in his papers. "The Nomination & Remuneration Committee (N&RC) of the Bank will look for a suitable replacement in the field of Information Technology and Cyber Security in terms of applicable provisions of Sebi and Banking Regulation Act," Yes Bank said. On 14 November, the bank's non-executive chairman Ashok Chawla had resigned as his name figured in a CBI charge sheet filed in the Aircel-Maxis case. Another independent director Vasant Gujarathi too had tendered his resignation on the same day over audit committee performance issues. In a late night development on Tuesday, Yes Bank said that Kapoor is in talks with co-promoter Madhu Kapur to reach a truce. "...efforts are underway for mutual resolution with Madhu Kapur and family, the co-promoter of the bank. This is intended to ensure better support and coordination by the two promoter groups (Rana Kapoor and Madhu Kapur) with the board of directors of the bank," Yes Bank had said. The lender has to find a successor for Kapoor by January-end next year as the RBI has not favoured an extension to him to continue as the head of the bank. As per sources, RBI has flagged issues related to corporate governance as well as under-reporting of bad loans to the corporate sector. The two promoter groups -- Kapoors and Kapurs -- have been warring on issues related to board nomination as the latter wants to have their say as well, which the former has been reluctant to accede to. However, following RBI diktat, reports say that the Kapoor camp is keen on resolving the issue at the earliest as it will give them a better hand in controlling the affairs of the bank with over 20 percent combined stake. Madhu Kapur and Rana Kapoor's wife Bindu Kapoor are sisters. Yes Bank was co-founded by Rana and Madhu Kapur's late husband Ashok Kapur in 2004 as a new generation private sector bank. The government treated the RBI governor and his team with dignity, making its point without hauling them over the coals despite the extremely provocative and ill-advised speech of Viral Acharya Alls well that ends well. That is how all public spats between policymakers are supposed to end. Only the prime minister is allowed to win a policy battle between the government and other public institutions. The rest have to learn to live with compromises. So, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel did not resign. That he would not should have been obvious to any experienced analyst the day he called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If his intention was to go, that was the day to go. That the meeting ended cordially with governor Patel recognising, like his 23 predecessors over the past 83 years, that the Sovereign is supreme, whatever markets and fund managers may think. For its part, the government also treated the governor and his team with dignity, making its point without hauling them over the coals despite the extremely provocative and ill-advised speech of the intemperate deputy governor Viral Acharya. Politically, the government can claim it was fighting a battle on behalf of micro, small and medium enterprises that are struggling to raise funds. A loan restructuring scheme will be launched for small businesses with a credit facility up to Rs 25 crore. Banks get a breather to bolster their capital. A committee will examine the RBIs case for retaining more of its reserves than what the government would like it to. Finally, the RBI was willing to be seen conceding a larger role to the advisory board. What happens in practice remains to be seen. As the dust settles down and the controversy goes off the front pages, as a board member put it, the prime minister is likely to admonish all concerned for allowing differences to get magnified and enter the public domain in election season. After all, as has been said by several analysts, this is not the first time that an RBI governor differed seriously with the Union ministry of finance. During one of former RBI governor Y Venugopal Reddys many stand-offs with finance minister P Chidambaram, the FM decided to take his complaints to the prime minister. When the prime minister was briefed on the advice given by the finance ministry to the governor, Manmohan Singh asked, So what did the governor say? The reply was simple. Nothing! Reddy kept his counsel. He heard his interlocutor from the North Block and neither agreed nor disagreed! The meeting ended. A few days later the governor called on the prime minister. The matter was resolved, quietly. The Patel-Acharya team, on the other hand, chose to go public with its views. They should learn to be more circumspect. The finance ministry, too, overplayed its hand. Economic affairs secretary SC Garg and financial services secretary Rajeev Kumar pushed the envelope with their Section 7 threat. The government at the highest levels is not run like that. Authority must be exercised without it being seen to be. What are the likely consequences of the resolution of this conflict? The immediate outcomes are on the policy front. The central bank may be less monetarist in its approach to monetary policy, accommodating the governments fiscal stance in the run-up to an election. The government will be more restrained and not pull out stuff like Section 7 from its dusty files. The members of the board may have to do more homework if they wish to have their views heard and appreciated. Merely asserting their viewpoint is not going to help. In the medium to long-term, however, the Patel-Acharya duo may have made the officers of the Indian Administrative Service in New Delhi decide that they should have a foot in the central bank, as was in the past. In fact, a former governor, and a distinguished one that, held the view that in the interests of smooth operation of RBI-GOI relations, there should always be an IAS officer, serving or retired, occupying one of the top jobs at the central bank. Both C Rangarajan and Bimal Jalan benefitted from the presence of YV Reddy, of the IAS, on their team. Note the fact that of the RBIs 23 governors, only a handful had never served in New Delhi before their appointment to the top job. Even the ones who did not serve in the government of India had fairly lengthy tenures within the central bank. When D Subbaraos first term as governor was coming to an end in 2011, a senior colleague of the then prime minister Singh suggested that Raghuram Rajan be invited to India and made the governor. Singh was very clear in his mind that Rajan should serve a tenure as either a deputy governor or as the chief economic adviser (CEA) before being appointed the governor. Rajan wisely opted for the CEAs job, even if for a year, knowing perhaps that a stint in New Delhi would be helpful once ensconced in Mumbai. However, his exit in 2016 may well have been a consequence of his forgetting that the buck stops with Raisina Hill. Both business and the markets expect the government and the central bank to impart more dynamism to the economy. While injecting more liquidity is one of the many solutions, equally important would be an efficient management of policy. The recent standoff will hopefully encourage governor Patel to be more communicative, infusing greater confidence among investors. (The author is a political commentator and policy analyst. He tweets at @barugaru) The department has asked the field offices to examine the books hotels and restaurants to see if there is any 'under-reporting' or 'non-reporting' of service charge collected by them. New Delhi: Service charge collected by hotels and restaurants but not passed on to staff and workers will be liable to income tax in the hands of such entities, the tax department has said. The department has asked the field offices to examine the books hotels and restaurants to see if there is any 'under-reporting' or 'non-reporting' of service charge collected by them. The missive from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) came after the Ministry of Consumer Affairs flagged that some hotels and restaurants are collecting a service charge from customers in a compulsory manner, which is in contravention with the guidelines issued by the ministry. The ministry also said that there is "every likelihood" that the service charge amount collected is not even distributed among staff and workers of the hotels and restaurants. The CBDT, which is the apex decision making body for direct taxes, asked the field offices to examine whether there is any under-reporting or non-reporting of additional income collected in the name of service charge. "The disclosure and disbursement details of service charge transactions as contained in P&L (Profit & Loss) A/c, I/E (Income/Expenditure) statement and balance sheet should be critically examined to ascertain whether receipts from service charges are fully disclosed as part of the turnover of the hotel/restaurant or not," the CBDT said. It said that in situations where it is found that the receipts have not been passed on to the staff or workers by the hotel/restaurant or there is some under-reporting or non-reporting, the receipts should be duly brought to tax in the hands of concerned hotel/restaurant. In April last year, Ministry of Consumer Affairs had issued a guideline on fair trade practices saying payment of service charge by the customer to hotel or restaurant is completely optional. The guidelines said that the bill presented to the customer may clearly display that service charge is voluntary and the service charge column of the bill may be left blank for the customers to fill up before making payment. The CBDT said that the Consumer Affairs ministry has brought to its notice that some hotels/restaurants are still pre-emptively deciding upon the service charge without allowing the customers to voluntarily decide whether they actually want to pay it or not. Nangia Advisors LLP Partner Suraj Nangia said: "These guidelines are going to increase the strain of the mischievous hotels/ restaurant owners as it points out their misdeeds. Such taxpayers would now have to act prudently by either eliminating such levy on the total bill amount or passing on its effect to the hotel/restaurant's workers". The ministry has also said that there is "every likelihood" that such amount collected as service charge from the customers in a compulsory manner does not actually reach the workers and is instead kept by the hotel/restaurant owners. Ashok Maheshwary & Associates Partner Amit Maheshwari said: "To tackle cases where there is no actual reimbursement or the service charges itself has been underreported, instructions has been issued by CBDT to field officers to exercise greater scrutiny. "However, one has to see if this would result in any tangible benefits to the tax department, since even currently non-payment of tips to staff in-spite of collecting them would definitely increase profit and consequently the taxes. One can probably expect heightened scrutiny of restaurant operators going forward." Birla, who was flanked by other senior officials of Vodafone Idea and Himanshu Kapania, vice-chairman at Grasim Industries (also Board member of Vodafone Idea Ltd) met Sundararajan for nearly 30 minutes New Delhi: Just days after raising concerns over stress in the telecom sector, Vodafone Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla Thursday held another round of talks with Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan. Birla, who was flanked by other senior officials of Vodafone Idea and Himanshu Kapania, vice-chairman at Grasim Industries (also Board member of Vodafone Idea Ltd) met Sundararajan for nearly 30 minutes. Emerging from the meeting, Birla, however, refused to comment on the deliberations. This is the second such meeting between the industry honcho and the communications ministry over the last few days. Birla had earlier expressed concerns over the severe liquidity crunch in the telecom industry and has sent an SOS to the government for deferring statutory payments in a sector that is not generating enough cash to even service loans. The telecom sector has been battered by falling tariffs, eroding profitability, and mounting debt in the face of stiff competition triggered by disruptive offerings of Reliance Jio, owned by richest Indian Mukesh Ambani. Birla, who heads Vodafone Idea -- the country's largest mobile operator, had also raised issues around high spectrum payouts and levies during his meeting, earlier this month, with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha as well as Sundararajan. (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors are investigating the systems that Japan's biggest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG), uses to track money laundering, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. The bank was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan late last year as it was locked in a court fight with the New York Department of Financial Services, according to the NYT report, citing two people who were briefed on the investigation. (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors are investigating the systems that Japan's biggest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc <8306.T> (MUFG), uses to track money laundering, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. The bank was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan late last year as it was locked in a court fight with the New York Department of Financial Services, according to the NYT report, citing two people who were briefed on the investigation. The litigation is a part of the department's attempts to punish MUFG for breaking anti-money-laundering rules, the newspaper reported. The subpoena was issued after the State of New York said in a court filing that the bank had intentionally ignored an internal filter designed to keep it from doing business with companies and people on international sanctions lists, the NYT reported. The bank was fined hundreds of millions of dollars in 2014 for misleading U.S. regulators about its transactions with sanctioned countries including Iran. MUFG and the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York were not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Bhanu Pratap in Bengaluru) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Vijay Mallya remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard last year on fraud and money laundering charges brought by the Indian government, amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore. The Bombay High Court Thursday dismissed a plea filed by beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya seeking a stay on a request made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to declare him a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties. "Bombay HC dismisses Vijay Mallya's appeal where he pleaded for stay on proceedings under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, on pretext that Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange had ordered status quo in r/o attachments in PMLA case against him while adjudicating SBI's plea": ED pic.twitter.com/gBq9ouRzE8 ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 The ED had filed an application before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court seeking the 'fugitive' tag for Mallya under the Fugitive Economic Offenders' Act, 2018. Under the provisions of the Act, once a person is declared a fugitive economic offender, then the prosecuting agency has the powers to confiscate the accused persons' properties. In September 2018, Mallya had told the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court that he was not a fugitive economic offender (FEO) under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance 2018 Act. He also said he was not involved in the scheduled offence of money laundering. On 19 November 2016 and 5 July 2017, non-bailable warrants were issued against Mallya. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance 2018 Act came into effect on 21 April 2018, the Act came into existence Mallya, accused of defaulting on loan repayments and money laundering, left India in March 2016. The 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airline boss is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering. Meanwhile, the embattled liquor tycoon on Wednesday faced a setback in his battle to save his posh London home from foreclosure by Swiss bank UBS after the UK High Court rejected many of the arguments relied on by his legal team. The bank has sought repossession of the property at Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regent's Park in central London, over the non-payment of a 20.4-million pounds mortgage loan. The property was referred to in the UK High Court as a "high class home for Dr Vijay Mallya and his family members and United Breweries Group corporate guests". While a trial in the case has been set for May next year, the High Court on Wednesday ruled on the UBS' application to strike out parts of the defence and found substantially in favour of the bank. "UBS is pleased with the decision. Given that proceedings are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further," UBS said in a statement. In his judgment following a two-day hearing last month, Judge Chief Master Marsh concluded that he can see no basis upon which the defendants should be given an opportunity to amend their defence. "They have had an ample opportunity to explain their case in answers to UBS' request for information. The case they put forward is not curable by simple amendments," he said. "The language of the contractual terms in this case could not be more stark. The loan was made on an uncommitted basis and repayable on demand," the judgment notes. The judge also expressed his displeasure at the way Mallya's defence team had conducted itself during the case, which meant avoidable delays for the court. There was a breakdown in the relationship between Mallya's previous law firm, Blake Morgan LLP, "including in relation to fees", which was one of the factors flagged by the court. "I accept that the change of solicitors put the defendants' legal team under considerable pressure. However, I am not satisfied that the defendants (Mallya) have shown a good reason for seeking an adjournment. It seems to me that the defendants are largely the authors of their current misfortune," the judgment reads. The case relates to a mortgage taken out by Rose Capital Ventures, one of Mallya's companies, with the 62-year-old businessman, his mother Lalitha and son Sidhartha, listed as having the right of occupancy on the property. While Mallya's team claims the bank had called in the loan ahead of an agreed period, the bank has claimed that it is within its rights to call in the mortgage for non-payment. The application relating to the judgment this week was filed by the bank to strike out claims that any rights to remain in the property by the defendants take priority over the mortgage before a full trial in May 2019. Meanwhile, Mallya remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard last year on fraud and money laundering charges brought by the Indian government, amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore. A ruling in his extradition case is expected at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London next month. The extradition trial, which opened at the London court on 4 December last year, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against Mallya and establishing there are no bars to him being extradited to face Indian courts over the allegations relating to loans made out to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. In separate legal proceedings, the businessman had also lost his appeal in the UK's Court of Appeal against a High Court order in favour of 13 Indian banks to recover funds amounting to nearly 1.145 billion pounds. The High Court order, earlier this year, in favour of the State Bank of India (SBI) led consortium had reinforced a worldwide freezing order against Mallya's assets. --With PTI inputs Vodafone Idea estimates that sale of 11.15 percent stake in Indus Towers can realise Rs 5,000 crore, which it will use in lowering debt. New Delhi: The country's largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea plans to invest Rs 27,000 crore in 2019-20, supported by savings of around Rs 14,000 crore that it expects to come from synergising operations of merged entities, according to a company's document. The debt-ridden company has advanced its target date to complete integration of Vodafone and Idea Cellular business to financial year 2021 from fiscal 2023. "Capex guidance of Rs 270 billion in financial year 2019-20 supported by existing co-located equipment to be redeployed, spectrum consolidation, capex avoidance and efficiencies," the document said. The company expects advancing of synergy target by two years will help it improve cash flow to the tune of Rs 8,400 crore and re-deployment of co-located equipments of Vodafone and Idea will help it save Rs 6,200 crore. The company has chalked out deleveraging plan by raising capital and sell 11.15 percent stake in Indus Towers. Vodafone Idea estimates that sale of 11.15 percent stake in Indus Towers can realise Rs 5,000 crore, which it will use in lowering debt. The merged entity's gross debt as on September 30, 2018 stood at Rs 1,26,100 crore. Around 79 percent debt on the company is net dues for spectrum payment. The European Unions foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said that she hopes the detained pro-Kurdish politician, Selahattin Demirtas, would be released soon. Speaking after talks with the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, she expressed strong concerns in talks with Cavusoglu about the recent detentions of academics, Reuters reported. The European Union's commissioner for candidate countries Johannes Hahn, in turn, said that the EU has strong concerns over the large number of journalists and academics who are still being detained in Turkey, The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has already clamped down on the financial sector due to rising levels of bad loans, has hit Yes Banks share price hard Yes Bank Ltd, Indias fifth largest private-sector lender by assets, has had a tumultuous couple of months since the countrys central bank trimmed extension to its chief executive officers (CEOs) term in September. The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has already clamped down on the financial sector due to rising levels of bad loans, has hit Yes Banks share price hard and also spurred several departures in the companys top brass. The developments since 19 September have wiped off over 290 billion rupees ($4.06 billion) from the companys market value, as of Tuesdays close. Heres how the saga unfolded: 12 June: Yes Bank's shareholders approve Rana Kapoor's re-appointment as managing director (MD) and CEO for three years from 1 September. 30 August: Bank gets here RBI's nod for Kapoor to continue as MD and CEO till further notice from the central bank. 19 September: RBI cuts short Kapoors term till 31 January 2019 21 September: On the first day of trade after RBIs announcement, Yes Bank shares tank over 30 percent, and the lender loses as much as $3.1 billion in market value. Market insiders say RBIs move exemplifies its increasingly assertive approach in tackling the bad debt problem plaguing Indias banking sector. 25 September: Lenders board decides to seek RBIs nod to extend Kapoors term until at least 30 April 2019, says it will form a committee to search for Kapoors successor. 29 September: Kapoor, in a tweet, says he remains committed to interests of the bank and its stakeholders. He also says he will never sell his promoter shares, but pass them on to his daughters. Rating firm CARE Ratings places Yes Bank's debt instruments under 'credit watch with developing implications', citing RBI's move to restrict Kapoor's term. 5 October: Bank names T S Vijayan, former chairman of Indias insurance regulator, and OP Bhatt, former chairman of State Bank of India, as external experts of the search and selection committee. 11 October: Yes Bank appoints here advisory firm Korn Ferry to help find a new CEO. 17 October: RBI refuses to give Rana Kapoor more time at the bank and asks the lender to find a new CEO by 1 February 2019. Yes Bank says it aims to complete the recruitment process by mid-December. Amit Shah made the remarks while interacting with youths at a function in Jaipur. He targeted the Congress and asked youths and party workers to ensure BJP's victory in the state for its unhindered progress. Jaipur: BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday reiterated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was committed to building a Ram temple in Ayodhya and it would not change its stand. He also exuded confidence about the ruling BJP government continuing its tenure, with a majority higher than that of the present one despite the Congress' bid to forge a grand alliance. Shah made the remarks while interacting with youths at a function in Jaipur. He targeted the Congress and asked youths and party workers to ensure BJP's victory in the state for its unhindered progress. "The BJP is committed to building the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Shah said, adding there was no question of diluting or changing the party's stand. The BJP president, however, said the matter was in the Supreme Court and the party wanted a 'nyayik samadhan' (judicial resolution) of the dispute. Shah accused the Congress of talking of forging a Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) to confuse the voters and urged the BJP workers and supporters not to be swayed by the Congress' propaganda. During his interaction with the youths at Jaipur's Tagore School auditorium, the BJP president fielded questions from participants present there as well at six other locations in Bharatpur, Ajmer, Kota, Jodhpur and Udaipur. Shah also highlighted the work of the state and the Union governments and the BJP's vision for the youths and development. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, the party's state unit president Madan Lal Saini and other leaders were also present in the programme. Later during the day, Shah held a roadshow in Bikaner in support of the party candidates. Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Arjun Ram Meghwal were also present in the roadshow from Jassusar Gate to Jungarh Fort. Even earlier, when Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was attacked with ink, doubts were raised over his security. The Delhi Police appears to have found a cosy place to hide behind the all-season cold war between the Delhi government and the Centre. On Tuesday, CCTV footage from the Delhi Secretariat showed a man, who was later identified as Anil Kumar, attempting to lunge at the feet of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and then smearing his face with some kind of substance, which turned out to be chili powder. The sequence of events captured on security cameras in the hallway is irrefutable evidence to any sane mind of a serious breach at a heavily-guarded building, where critical decisions on the national capital's governance are made. This alone should have prompted swift action by the Delhi Police, more so because it was their incompetence that allowed such an incident to occur in the first place. Instead, the police attempted to belittle it. "Anil Kumar came to meet Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at the Secretariat to share his grievances. He handed a note to the chief minister and touched his feet, and chilli powder fell down from his hand. Probe underway whether it was an attack, or the powder fell unintentionally," a Delhi Police spokesperson was quoted as saying by ANI. When Firstpost attempted to reach out to the force, they were unavailable for comment. Till Wednesday evening, there was no sign of a press conference or an official statement from the Delhi Police. Anil Kumar (pic 1) came to meet Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in the Secretariat to share his grievances.He handed a note to the CM & touched his feet, and chilli powder fell down from his hand (pic 2).Probe underway whether it was an attack or powder fell unintentionally:Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/IpoM73OtCh ANI (@ANI) November 20, 2018 The ANI report also quoted the Delhi Police official as saying: "After taking suo motu cognisance, a case has been registered. No formal complaint has been received from the chief minister or the Secretariat. A cognisable offence was made out prima facie. Therefore, a case has been registered under sections 186, 353, 332 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code." On Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Home Minister Rajnath Singh had called Kejriwal and asked him to file a police complaint. "I find it surprising that the incident happened in the presence of the police, and they expected the chief minister to file a complaint," Sisodia said. Even earlier, when the chief minister was attacked with ink, doubts were raised over his security. The Delhi Police appears to have found a cosy place to hide behind the all-season cold war between the Delhi government and the Centre. The local civilian police in Delhi functions under the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The ongoing power tussle between the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and AAP's leadership had brought governance in the National Capital Region to a standstill earlier this year and required the intervention of the Supreme Court. In Delhi, even hyperlocal disagreements between the state and Centre on the functioning of central government-controlled departments like the Delhi Police, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Anti-Corruption Branch are branded as a battle between Modi and Kejriwal. Any question on the workings of the main law and order force, the Delhi Police, ends with the answer that the agencies that control it and the ones that deal with it on a daily basis are political rivals. It takes away from the fact that the police should be accountable to its people and have greater functional autonomy. This is where all the muck lies. The Indian police is governed by archaic and colonial police laws dating back to 1861. It is in dire need of reform. The British had designed the policing structure to perpetuate its colonial rule in India, as a result of which the system concentrates power in the hands of the police whose only accountability was designed to be to the British rulers, not the Indian civil society. Recently, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had reprimanded the Delhi Police and asked them to behave sensitively with people, after which they received training in soft skills. Instances of torture, extra-judicial executions, lack of adherence to due process, impunity, corruption, bias, discrimination and instilling of public fear are not new. In 2006, the Supreme Court had addressed the issue of executive control over the police in its judgement in the Prakash Singh versus Union of India case, wherein it had sought greater functional autonomy for the police. Unfortunately, the directives of the Supreme Court on police reforms have yet to be implemented by most states. Way back in 1979, the National Police Commission was set up to report on policing and give recommendations for reform, after which the first independent police commission produced eight reports with topic-specific recommendations. In 2006, the Model State Act came into effect, entailing the creation of a State Police Board to frame broad policy guidelines to promote efficient, responsive and accountable policing. It emphasised on the functioning autonomy of the police through merit-based selection and appointment of the Director General of Police, ensuring security of tenures and the setting up of Establishment Committees to accept and examine complaints from police officers about being subjected to illegal orders. In 2016, in response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Ministry of Home Affairs had said that around 15 states had formulated their state police acts and two states, Gujarat and Karnataka, had amended their existing police act in accordance with the Model Police Act. However, state governments were not taking functional autonomy into consideration while drafting their laws, which prompted the Bureau of Police Research and Development to draft a Model Police Bill. Furthermore, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Foundation for Restoration of National Values had worked together to draft the Delhi Police Bill, 2010, based on citizens' desire to improve the state and status of the police services across the country. The bill was essentially based on the Model Police Act and aimed to incorporate the Supreme Court's directions in the Prakash Singh case. The draft also took into account the relevant recommendations of the Second Administrative Reforms and Commissions. Section 16A of the draft bill recommended the appointment of legal adviser as well as of a financial adviser, among others. It had also recommended appointing administrators "to aid and advice the office of the Commissioner of Police on legal and financial matters" as well as legal officers to advise the police, including on "the adequacy or otherwise of the available evidence, as deemed necessary". Recommendations like these deserve a fresh debate, especially when a shadow of political doubt is looming over the workings of the police in Delhi. While reforms for greater autonomy of the police from political classes are taking ridiculously long to be implemented, there's also a need to address the more fundamental concern of making the police accountable to the people. Implementing the Supreme Court judgment would include the establishment of a State Security Commission to can ensure that a state government does not exercise unwarranted influence or pressure on the police. Another recommendation of the judgment requires the setting up of a Police Establishment Board to decide transfers, postings, promotions and other service-related matters of police officers of and below the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police. A cadre system, which is also a colonial residue, can be disrupted with merit-based lateral entry. Delhi has a population of nearly 2 crore, but a sanctioned police strength of only 83,762. The Police Control Room (PCR) of the city has a fleet of 800 PCR Vans stationed across the national capital, besides 122 motorcycles. The Delhi Police Twitter handle is a clear example of a good PR effort, having become a platform to share its achievements and photos with captured convicts. But behind the white and blue walls of social media is a reality where the khakhi-clad force is in need for structural reforms to enhance its autonomy and lend it the much-needed maturity to act boldly and intelligently so that barbaric instances of crimes like the one concerning the Chief Minister of Delhi do not needlessly take the form of political rivalry, thereby piercing the national political narrative with fictitious plot twists. Dalit outfit Bhim Army's chief will also visit the memorial at Bhima Koregaon on 1 January Pune: Dalit outfit Bhim Army announced that its founder Chandrashekhar Azad alias Ravan would address a rally in Pune on 30 December, ahead of the 201st anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon on 1 January. On Wednesday, the organisation said over 30,000 people were expected to attend the "Bhima Koregaon Sangharsh Mahasabha". The rally would be held on SSPMS grounds in Pune and besides Azad, several other leaders of the outfit would be present for the event. Datta Pol, the district president of Bhim Army, said that during the three-day programme, Azad would address the rally on 30 December and interact with some students of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) the next day. He would visit the memorial at Bhima Koregaon on 1 January, Pol said. "On 1 January, Azad will first visit the obelisk at Bhima Koregaon and later shower flowers on it from a helicopter," he said. Pol added that they had applied to the city and rural police for permission to hold the 'Mahasabha' in Pune and also for the visit to the memorial. "We are confident that we would get permissions... there is no reason for the police to deny permission for the events," he added. He said apart from Azad, other Bhim Army leaders, including Vinay Ratan Singh and Manjit Notiyal, would also be present at the Pune rally. Last year, Dalit organisations had organised 'Elgar Parishad' on 31 December at Shaniwarwada in Pune to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Bhima Koregaon battle. Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, JNU students leader Umar Khalid Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar and Bhim Army's Vinay Ratan Singh were among the speakers there. The police claim that the speeches at the conclave had played a role in instigating the violence on January 1 this year, in which one person was killed and several injured. The Pune Police, investigating Maoist links in the Elgar Parishad, in their charge sheet against 10 activists stated that the months-long preparation of the conclave and speeches made during there "aggravated" the violence the next day at Bhima Koregaon. Value of Chandrababu Naidu's assets rose by just Rs 46 lakh compared to 2017 while his debt burden reduced from Rs 5.64 crore to Rs 5.31 crore on a housing loan. Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has net assets worth Rs 2.99 crore while his three-year-old grandson Nara Devaansh is richer with assets worth Rs 18.71 crore in his name. Naidu's son and state Information Technology Minister Nara Lokesh declared the family's assets at a press conference Wednesday. Lokesh's assets shot up to Rs 21.40 crore from Rs 15.21 crore in 2017. Value of Naidu's assets rose by just Rs 46 lakh compared to 2017 while his debt burden reduced from Rs 5.64 crore to Rs 5.31 crore on a housing loan. The new house he built in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, has been valued at Rs 8.96 crore against Rs 7.75 crore last year. Naidu's wife Bhuvaneswari is the richest member of the family with net assets worth Rs 31.01 crore, which rose from Rs 25.41 crore in 2017. Her "liabilities" too increased from Rs 20.90 crore to Rs 22.35 crore during the year. Lokesh's wife Brahmani saw her assets decline by half to Rs 7.72 crore from Rs 15.01 crore last year. Her liabilities shot up from 36.14 lakh to Rs 5.66 crore. Their son Devaansh, however, grew richer by over Rs 7 crore in 2018 with his assets touching Rs 18.71 crore compared to Rs 11.54 crore last year, as per the figures released by Lokesh. "This is the eighth consecutive year that we have declared our family assets and liabilities," Lokesh, who is also the Telugu Desam Party's general secretary, said. The CIO of the Tulsiram Prajapati case, Sandeep Tamgade, said that there was a politician-criminal nexus, and named Shah and Rajasthan home minister Gulabchand Kataria as the alleged politicians who had used criminals to fire at the office of Popular Builders in 2004. The 2006 killing of Tulsiram Prajapati in Gujarat made headlines once more on Wednesday after the chief investigation officer (CIO) of the case told a Mumbai CBI court that BJP chief Amit Shah and three IPS officers were the main conspirators in the alleged fake encounter. CIO Sandeep Tamgadge, however, conceded that his claim was not supported by any documentary evidence in the charge sheet filed by him. "From the investigation done by us, we found that the principal conspirators were Amit Shah, DG Vanzara (former Deputy Inspector General of Gujarat Police), Rajkumar Pandian (SP, Intelligence Bureau) and MN Dinesh (IPS officer, Rajasthan Police)," Tamgade said. As per a report from The Indian Express, Tamgadge, who investigated and supervised the case from April 2012, also said that there was a politician-criminal nexus, and named Shah and Rajasthan home minister Gulab Chand Kataria as the alleged politicians who had used criminals Sheikh, Tulsiram and another Azam Khan to fire at the office of Popular Builders in 2004. Tamgadge said that he had also interrogated Vimal Patni, a marble trader from Rajasthan. "There was some incriminating material against the trio. But those statements were not filed in the charge sheet," he said. Tamgadge's statements come a few weeks after the Bombay High Court upheld the discharge of DG Vanzara and four other police officers in the case. What happened to Tulsiram Prajapati and Sohrabuddin Sheikh? Sheikh, a criminal who allegedly had links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was shot dead on 26 November, 2005, while he was in custody of Gujarat Police in an alleged fake encounter. According to the CBI, Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi were abducted by Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad when they were on way from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra and killed in an alleged staged encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005. Vanzara, the former ATS Deputy Inspector General, said that Sheikh was suspected to be in the city to assassinate a top political figure, presumed to be the then chief minister Narendra Modi, on behalf of the LeT and the ISI. Prajapati, who was an eyewitness to the encounter, was killed by Rajasthan Police at Chapri in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in December 2006. The Supreme Court had ordered the Gujarat Police to investigate the matter after Sheikh's brother Rababuddin wrote to the Chief Justice of India a few weeks after the encounter, saying he was unconvinced about the Gujarat Police's version of how his brother was killed. He had said he was also concerned about the "disappearance" of his sister-in-law, The Quint reported. The top court then handed over the investigation to the CBI, which said that monetary and political gains were the motive behind the killings, The Wire reported. The investigation agency charged 37 people as accused in the case, including Shah, who was Minister of State for Home of Gujarat when the encounters took place. Of the persons charged for the alleged fake encounters, 15 have been discharged, including 14 police officials. The case is currently being heard at the Bombay High Court. How Amit Shah was linked to the case After initially being investigated by the Gujarat police, the case was handed over to the CBI by the Supreme Court. The CBI had alleged that Shah was the "kingpin" of the conspiracy which led to the extrajudicial killings of Sheikh and his wife, and that he had conspired with police officials to abduct them. Call records, that were accessed by Tehelka, showed that the former minister was in constant touch with the police officials involved in the murders of Sheikh, his wife and Prajapati. Shah was also accused by the CBI of running an extortion racket with police officials using gangsters like Sheikh. Following this, Shah was arrested on 25 July, 2010 and spent over three months in Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad in connection with the case. He was later granted bail by the Supreme Court, but was asked to stay out of Gujarat in order to prevent influencing the witnesses. In 2014, the CBI court dropped all charges against him . "I am of the opinion that the inference drawn by CBI is not accepted in totality and he (Shah) cannot be charged as an accused," Special CBI Judge MB Gosavi had said in a brief order pronounced in the court. Kataria, Pandian, Dinesh and Vanzara were also discharged by the trial court between 2014 and 2017. Media shut out and let back in On 29 November, 2017, as the CBI began its examination of eyewitnesses, a defence advocate moved an application seeking to ban the media from reporting the case. The court passed an order the same day, restraining the media from reporting the case "till further orders". However, on 24 January, 2018 the Bombay High Court quashed and set aside the trial court's order prohibiting journalists from reporting on or publishing the proceedings of the trial. Justice Revati Mohite-Dere minced no words in holding that the special CBI court overreached its powers in issuing the order. "The rights of the press are intrinsic with the constitutional right that guarantees freedom of expression. In reporting from an open trial, the press not only makes use of its own right, but serves the larger purpose of making such information available to the general public," she said. Such an order could be issued only in rare cases and for a limited period of time, Mohite-Dere said, adding that mere apprehension of sensationalism by the accused was not a sufficient ground for such a gag order. With inputs from PTI The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on Associated Journals Ltd's (AJL) owner of National Herald newspaper plea challenging Centre's decision which had canceled its lease and ordered it to vacate Herald House on grounds of violation of lease clauses after concluding the arguments on both sides. The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on the plea of the Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) challenging the Centre's decision to cancel its lease of the Herald House and order to vacate the premises on the grounds of allegedly violating its clauses. The court made its decision on the petition filed by AJL, which owns Congress mouthpiece National Herald, after hearing the concluding arguments of both sides. The high court had adjourned the hearing in the case on 15 November, saying that status quo should be maintained at the Herald House till the next hearing on Thursday (22 November). The National Herald is published from the Herald House, located in Delhi's ITO neighbourhood. Justice Sunil Gaur's order came on a plea filed by AJL on 12 November, challenging the Centre's 30 October order for the Herald House to be vacated. The AJL had alleged that the Centre was "illegally, unconstitutionally, arbitrarily and in a deliberate attempt" trying "to suppress and destroy the legacy of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru". The Ministry of Urban Development had claimed that the Herald House's 56-year-old lease to AJL had ended and asked the company to vacate the premises by 15 November. While hearing the petition on 15 November, AJL's counsel, senior advocate and Congress leader Abhishek M Singhvi, had told the Delhi High Court that two officials of the Land and Development Office had entered the National Herald premises. Representing the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had refuted the claim, saying he would look into it. The court had said that the Land and Development Office could not take possession of the property in such a way and would have to follow proper procedure under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act. The government had assured the court that it would not take possession of the Herald House, but that it wanted to initiate legal proceedings against having to vacate the building. The AJL had told the high court that it had been publishing the National Herald for decades. It said publishing had been suspended temporarily due to financial trouble, but the newspaper and its digital media operations had fully resumed. The weekly 'National Herald on Sunday' resumed publication on 24 September, 2017. On 14 October, the AJL resumed its weekly Hindi newspaper, as well. However, when the government reportedly inspected the premises a few months ago, it found that the area allotted to AJL had not been used to publish the newspaper for the past 10 years, the court was told. AJL, in turn, claimed that those who had come to inspect the site did not visit the rooms where the printing press was installed along with stocks of papers. Countering the allegation related to Young Indian Pvt Ltd being a shareholder of AJL, Singhvi told the court that a change in shareholding does not mean that the property had been transferred to the company, and that AJL still owned the premises. He said AJL remains the leaseholder of the building, and that the addition of a new shareholder neither violates the clauses of the lease, nor is it the sale or transfer of the property. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi each own a 38 percent stake in Young Indian. WHY DONT YOU READ THESE? Jammu and Kashmir Assembly dissolved LIVE updates: Speaking to the press, Omar Abdullah said that the National Conference was initially not in favour of forming a government. However, after meeting people we sensed that they were disillusioned and wanted a solution for their issues. Auto refresh feeds Mufti later expressed suprise that and said that "it is very strange" that "in today's age of technology,..the fax machine at HE Governors residence didnt receive our fax but swiftly issued one regarding the assembly dissolution." Her tweet came after the Governor decided to dissolve the Assembly amid the political turmoil. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter tell that even though she had sent the letter expressing her party's stake claim to form a majority government in the state, it couldn't apparently be received by the fax machine at Raj Bhavan. Mufti tagged the governor, Satya Pal Malik in her post containing the letter and wrote, "Hope you see it." She then informed that she had even tried calling the governor on phone but he was unavailable and that she also later sent the letter by email. Mufti thanked National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and Congress' Ambika Soni for their political support and in turn helping her party "achieve the seemingly impossible". "Since the past five months, regardless of political affiliations, we shared the view that the state assembly be dissolved immediately to avert horse trading and defections, she further wrote on Twitter. "The proposed alliance between the Congress and the PDP broke up even before it was formed. They have taken contradictory positions on dissolution. One supports it and the other opposes it," the BJP said. Soon after Governor Satya Pal Mallik, dissolved the Assembly amid claims by rival formations on forming a government, the BJP said that the border state cannot afford horse-trading and instability keeping its security scenario in mind. The BJP said the best option in Jammu and Kashmir is to have fresh Assembly elections the earliest as it slammed the proposed alliance of opposition parties as a "combination of terror-friendly parties". Jammu and Kashmir needs a firm administration to deal with terrorism and not a combination of terror-friendly parties, BJP said in a tweet last night. The Jammu and Kashmir assembly was abruptly dissolved by the Governor Wednesday night hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party's state president in Jammu and Kashmir Ravinder Raina said that his party was in favour of fresh elections in the state. "BJP has called for an important meeting with all its MLAs today and we will decide the future course of action. We wish that the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir should be conducted along with the Parliament elections of 2019," Raina said. In a late night move, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Singh dissolved the state Assembly just when Congress, National Congress, and People's Democratic Party announced that they will stake claim to form an alliance government. Speaking to CNN-News18, Malik said that nan unworkable alliance could not have been allowed to form a government in the state. Clarifying his move, Malik said, "An unworkable alliance cannot be given rights to make the government. It was my responsibility to save the state from a mess." The governor has cited four reasons justifying his move to dissolve the Assembly just when the NC, PDP and Congress were preparing to stake claim as an alliance. "I did not dissolve the Assembly earlier as I did not want the MLA funds to stop. But now there was no option I was getting reports that these parties are going to indulge in horse trading and thats why I dissolved the Assembly," Satya Pal Malik told NDTV . The BJP has called for an important meeting with all its MLAs today and we will decide the future course of action, BJP State president Ravinder Raina told ANI. Governor Satya Pal Malik said that he has dissolved the Assembly knowing that the state is ready to host the Assembly elections at anytime. Malik told NDTV that the terror related activities have been restricted to only one and a half distructs. "They want to destabilize the state and Governor Malik took the right decision. The decision of boycotting the municipal and panchayat polls was done on the instance of the direction of Pakistans masters. That is why they fielded proxy candidates in the ongoing panchayat elections. They did not want to upset their masters," he added. Former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and BJP leader Kavinder Gupta says that all the Kashmir based main stream political parties are pro-Pakistan and take their orders from Pakistan, to keep what he said nationalist forces out of the state. She claimed that her party, in alliance with NC and Congress would have had a clear majority, as opposed to Lone who was falling short of the magic number even with the BJP's support. Speaking to India Today, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said that what Governor Satya Pal Malik did was not expected in a democracy. She also rubbished the governor's claims that his move was to curb horse trading. She said it was Sajad Lone who was openly speaking about getting support from paties. "That is called horse trading," she added. All parties will be closing in for a huddle with their rank and file to assess the situation in state ahead of impending Assembly elections. While BJP had already announced its outgoing MLAs witll hold a crucial meeting today, National Conference also said that its core group will meet at 10.30 am. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi late on Wednesday and decided that the Lok Sabha elections and Jammu and Kashmir elections will be held together in 2019. "As long as no one staked a claim to form government, J&K Governor was happy to keep Assembly under suspension. The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly! Parliamentary democracy standing on its head!" Former finance minister P Chidambaram took a potshot on the Jammu and Kashmir Governor for his decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Twitter saying that it is the 'Gujarat model of democracy that has appealed to the Governor": Ram Madhav took on erstwhile BJP ally as well as Opposition NC in one go. Madhav accused both Kashmir-based parties of taking directions from Pakistan and said that the governor did the right thing by dissolving the Assembly Congress leader and senior advocate Kapil Sibal took to Twitter to criticise the Jammu and Kashmir governor's move to dissolve the Assembly just when three non BJP parties were in the midst of stiching together an alliance. He sadi: Minutes after BJP national secretary Ram Madhav flayed JKNC and PDP claiming they are taking orders from Pakistan to destabilise state, NC president Omar Abdullah hit back him. He asked the BJP leader to show proof for the claims he made. Speaking to the press, Omar Abdullah said that the National Conference was initially not in favour of forming a government. However, after meeting people we sensed that they were disillusioned and wanted a solution for their issues. Meanwhile, no one was defending the Section 35 A seriously in Supreme Court, and there were attempts to vitiate the communal environment in the state. He said that it was then we decided to support the attempts to form a government. He, however, added that now NC does not even have any option but to look for light humour in the situation. "But this is in no way a matter that can be laughed off," Omar said. Taking a jibe at the governor's claim that he missed Mehbooba Mufti's correspondence because his fax machine was not working, Omar Abdullah said that many things had killed democracy in Jammu and Kashmir, but this was a first when a fax machine did the job. He said that Satya Pal Malik apparently had a one-way fax machine which could send the governor's recommendation to Delhi, but failed to receive Mehbooba's letter. He said this was flawed logic and will not stand the test of history as previous NDA and UPA governments will all be found in violation of this reasoning at some point in the past. Dismissing Satya Pal Malik's arguments that the Assembly was dissolved because NC, Congress and PDP's coming together made for an unholy alliance, Omar Abdullah said, "We have lesser differences of opinion than BJP-PDP." Speaking to reporters, Omar Abdullah said, "We want evidence from Ram Madhav for his statement. He is disrespecting us and sacrifices of our workers who died for this State. Shoot and scoot politics is easy to play, bring evidence or apologies." The Peoples Conference was hoping to poach MLAs from other parties and put a team in place, which would be able to form the government with the help of the BJP. Sajad was planning to organize a northern block in Kashmirs politics and create an alternative to NC and PDP in Kashmir. From aiming at becoming the chief minister, Sajad has turned out as the biggest loser in this Game of Thrones playing out in J&K. At the heart of the ongoing developments, Sajad Lone is the loneliest and saddest man. He has lost the chance to become Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, a chance the BJP and its ally may not get in near future. Governor Satya Pal Malik has claimed that since the time he took office, incidents of stone pelting 'is almost over in the state and terrorism has gone down. "When I was made the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, I had made it clear that I will not let any underhand government to be formed and only elected government will be in power.' "Justice has not been done to us. The allegation that money was used, MLAs were bought, horse-trading was done, the governor himself has written this. This he must explain to the people of the state. Please show what evidence you have, who has used money, and where it is," Abdullah told reporters. Omar Abdullah sought to draw attention to the reason's cited by governor as he dissolved the Assembly. He said that the governor's claims should be taken seriously and they must be looked into. "We don't have any complaints from Governor Satya Pal Malik. He is a very nice man. We have complaints from central government that if they had to dissolve the Assembly, they should've done it 4-5 months ago when they withdrew support from PDP," Satya Pal Malik said. "For these four or five months, BJP tried to form their own government but they didn't have majority. So they tried to break MLAs from other parties. When they saw that another government could have been formed, BJP dissolved the Assembly," Ghulam Nabi Azad said. The dramatic situation of an out-of-order fax machine at the Governor's office and governments being formed on social media, sent Twitterati into a tizzy. What was curious was Malik's instant order dissolving the state Assembly soon after complaints of a faulty fax machine went viral. Even Mehbooba in her tweets noted that even though the fax machine was out of order, it did not take too long for the Governor to send an order on dissolving the state Assembly. He added, " I want that they go to court, it's their right, they should go." Following the controversy surrounding his decision, Satya Pal Malik said that the decision was taken in favour of the state. He said: "Are govts formed through social media? I neither tweet nor see the tweets. Why will they go to court? They were demanding this since five months. " Ram Madhav had said: "PDP and NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form the government." Omar Abdullah and Congress party had demanded that Ram Madhav either withdraws is comment that NC took orders from Pakistan or prove his comment. Speaking to reporters, Omar Abdullah said, "We want evidence from Ram Madhav for his statement. He is disrespecting us and sacrifices of our workers who died for this State. Shoot and scoot politics is easy to play, bring evidence or apologies." The Peoples Conference was hoping to poach MLAs from other parties and put a team in place, which would be able to form the government with the help of the BJP. Sajad was planning to organize a northern block in Kashmirs politics and create an alternative to NC and PDP in Kashmir. From aiming at becoming the chief minister, Sajad has turned out as the biggest loser in this Game of Thrones playing out in J&K. At the heart of the ongoing developments, Sajad Lone is the loneliest and saddest man. He has lost the chance to become Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, a chance the BJP and its ally may not get in near future. Governor Satya Pal Malik has claimed that since the time he took office, incidents of stone pelting 'is almost over in the state and terrorism has gone down. "When I was made the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, I had made it clear that I will not let any underhand government to be formed and only elected government will be in power.' "Justice has not been done to us. The allegation that money was used, MLAs were bought, horse-trading was done, the governor himself has written this. This he must explain to the people of the state. Please show what evidence you have, who has used money, and where it is," Abdullah told reporters. Omar Abdullah sought to draw attention to the reason's cited by governor as he dissolved the Assembly. He said that the governor's claims should be taken seriously and they must be looked into. "We don't have any complaints from Governor Satya Pal Malik. He is a very nice man. We have complaints from central government that if they had to dissolve the Assembly, they should've done it 4-5 months ago when they withdrew support from PDP," Satya Pal Malik said. "For these four or five months, BJP tried to form their own government but they didn't have majority. So they tried to break MLAs from other parties. When they saw that another government could have been formed, BJP dissolved the Assembly," Ghulam Nabi Azad said. The dramatic situation of an out-of-order fax machine at the Governor's office and governments being formed on social media, sent Twitterati into a tizzy. What was curious was Malik's instant order dissolving the state Assembly soon after complaints of a faulty fax machine went viral. Even Mehbooba in her tweets noted that even though the fax machine was out of order, it did not take too long for the Governor to send an order on dissolving the state Assembly. He added, " I want that they go to court, it's their right, they should go." Following the controversy surrounding his decision, Satya Pal Malik said that the decision was taken in favour of the state. He said: "Are govts formed through social media? I neither tweet nor see the tweets. Why will they go to court? They were demanding this since five months. " Ram Madhav had said: "PDP and NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form the government." Omar Abdullah and Congress party had demanded that Ram Madhav either withdraws is comment that NC took orders from Pakistan or prove his comment. Jammu and Kashmir Assembly dissolved LATEST updates: Omar Abdullah sought to draw attention to the reason's cited by governor as he dissolved the Assembly. He said that the governor's claims should be taken seriously and they must be looked into. "Justice has not been done to us. The allegation that money was used, MLAs were bought, horse-trading was done, the governor himself has written this. This he must explain to the people of the state. Please show what evidence you have, who has used money, and where it is," Abdullah told reporters. Speaking to the press, Omar Abdullah said that the National Conference was initially not in favour of forming a government. However, after meeting people we sensed that they were disillusioned and wanted a solution for their issues. Meanwhile, no one was defending the Section 35 A seriously in Supreme Court, and there were attempts to vitiate the communal environment in the state. He said that it was then we decided to support the attempts to form a government. Omar Abdullah latched on to Ram Madhav's allegations that his party, National Congress boycotted the local body polls on directions from Pakistan. Omar demanded that Madhav proves his allegations. Congress leader and senior advocate Kapil Sibal took to Twitter to criticise the Jammu and Kashmir governor's move to dissolve the Assembly just when three non BJP parties were in the midst of stiching together an alliance. He said: "When a Governor brazenly plays politics under instructions ' Satya ' becomes a pawn in the hands of ' Asatya ' . BJP's shameless power play in J&K recipe for disaster ." Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi late on Wednesday and decided that the Lok Sabha elections and Jammu and Kashmir elections will be held together in 2019. All parties will be closing in for a huddle with their rank and file to assess the situation in state ahead of impending Assembly elections. While BJP had already announced its outgoing MLAs witll hold a crucial meeting today, National Conference also said that its core group will meet at 10.30 am. The PDP will hold an internal meeting at 12 pm. Former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and BJP leader Kavinder Gupta says that all the Kashmir based main stream political parties are pro-Pakistan and take their orders from Pakistan, to keep what he said nationalist forces out of the state. "They want to destabilize the state and Governor Malik took the right decision. The decision of boycotting the municipal and panchayat polls was done on the instance of the direction of Pakistans masters. That is why they fielded proxy candidates in the ongoing panchayat elections. They did not want to upset their masters," he added. Clarifying his move, Governor Satya Pal Malik said, "An unworkable alliance cannot be given rights to make the government. It was my responsibility to save the state from a mess." Speaking to reporters, Malik said that an unworkable alliance could not have been allowed to form a government in the state. Jammu and Kashmir needs a firm administration to deal with terrorism and not a combination of terror-friendly parties, BJP said in a tweet last night. The Jammu and Kashmir assembly was abruptly dissolved by the Governor Wednesday night hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti thanked National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and Congress' Ambika Soni for their political support and in turn helping her party "achieve the seemingly impossible". "Since the past five months, regardless of political affiliations, we shared the view that the state assembly be dissolved immediately to avert horse trading and defections, she further wrote on Twitter. Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday dissolved the Assembly with immediate effect considering four main aspects, including "extensive horse-trading" and the "impossibility" of forming a stable government by coming together of political parties with "opposing political ideologies", the Raj Bhavan said in a statement Wednesday night. The assembly was abruptly dissolved by the Governor Wednesday night hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress, followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. The dissolution was announced by the Governor in a communique released by the Raj Bhavan. In a statement later, the Raj Bhavan said, "The Governor came to this conclusion based on the material available to him from multiple sources." Citing the main reasons in four points, the statement said, "The impossibility of forming a stable government by the coming together of political parties with opposing political ideologies including some which have been demanding dissolution of the Assembly; whereas the experience of the past few years shows that with the fractured mandate that is there in the Assembly, it is not possible to form a stable government comprising of like-minded parties. The coming together of such parties in a grouping is nothing but an attempt to gain power rather than to form a responsive government." "Reports of extensive horse-trading and possible exchange of money in order to secure the support of legislators belonging to widely diverging political ideologies just to be able to form a government. Such activities are not healthy for democracy and vitiate the political process," it said. The third reason cited is "serious doubts about the longevity of any such arrangement where there are competing claims of a majority". It added, "The fragile security scenario in the state of Jammu and Kashmir where there is a need to have a stable and supportive environment for security forces which are engaged in extensive anti-militancy operations and are gradually gaining control over the security situation." "The Governor came to the conclusion that, in this background, he has satisfied himself that the best course of action is to dissolve the assembly so as to provide stability and security to the state and hold elections at an appropriate time so that a government with a clear mandate is duly formed," it added. Moscow does not understand why US leadership wants to eliminate the existing international arms non-proliferation regime and is approaching the matter with concern, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Agi news agency in an interview, Sputnik reports. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that Russia and the United States have the largest nuclear potentials and thus bear a special responsibility to maintain global security, adding further that "the desire of US leadership to reformat, and in fact, eliminate the existing international regime for the non-proliferation of weapons" makes Moscow confused and concerned." Lavrov also recalled that US President Donald Trump had announced in October Washington's intention to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) noting that "some people in the US political establishment" were also calling into question the extension of the New START Treaty [Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty], which expires in 2021. Lavrov further stated that Moscow considered this 'school of thought' to be 'short-sighted and dangerous." Meanwhile, according to the minister, the number of threats and challenges requiring joint work between Russia and the United States, from combating terrorism to resolving regional crises and climate issues, is not decreasing. Was the governor's residence in Jammu empty on Wednesday evening when the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti tried to fax her claim of government-formation? Was the governor's residence in Jammu the Winter Capital of Jammu and Kashmir empty on Wednesday evening when the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti tried to fax her claim of government-formation? On Thursday, Governor Satya Pal Malik told NDTV that Wedensday was the day of Eid and there was "no one in the Raj Bhavan to even give me food". But claims made by former chief minister Omar Abdullah undermine those of Malik. The instructions for not taking "any fax or documents had come from the top BJP leadership in New Delhi", Omar said on Wednesday. "For the first time, a fax machine throttled democracy. It is such a fax machine that doesn't receive faxes, but can send a fax of dissolution of the Assembly. It was only an outgoing fax [machine] it seems," he said. He was referring to the letter sent by Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief minister, who on Wednesday staked a claim for government formation, but was unable to reach Malik. She then took to Twitter to make her claim public, propelling the fax machine onto social media where it has become the butt of jokes. After Malik arrived in Jammu from New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon, he drove straight to Raj Bhavan. His private secretary, Virender Rana, his ADC Major Vipin Yadav, and the principle secretary to the governor, Umang Narula, who issued the order of dissolving Assembly, were present at the Raj Bhavan. They stayed there till late in the evening and so did the clerical staff, many of whom have been brought from outside the state. Sources said Malik has at least seven people working as clerical staff. They have all been brought from outside the state and they too were present at the Raj Bhavan till late in the evening and left only after the dissolution order was passed. The ADC of the governor, Major Vipin Yadav, confirmed that the governor's residence house was "not empty, people were there. But many were on leave as it was a state holiday". "We were in Raj Bhavan. We did not receive any fax from her," Yadav said referring to Mehbooba's claims, "The office may not have been open at that particular time, since it was a holiday." But Malik said in an interview on Thursday, "Even if I had got the fax, my decision would have been the same. "I decided to dissolve the state Assembly and didnt allow a government to be formed because of what was going in the state since last fortnight," he said, responding to Mehbooba's allegation that he didn't receive her calls and fax, staking claim to power. A top Raj Bhavan source and other sources in the administration said that it was a "national leader of the BJP" who instructed them not to receive any documents from anyone, even if someone appeared or brought it to the Raj Bhavan. "There were instructions from the top to stop any communication from reaching Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. We were explicitly told not to receive any document from anyone. It was decided that if a document comes, we will have to avoid it and not accept it at all," the source said. The state president of the BJP, Ravinder Raina, said the decision of Malik was "the only way out" and it was the "conspiracy by anti-national elements", to form a government against the people of Jammu. He said the governor is the constitutional authority "who had to take a call on the dissolution of the Assembly... Why are they (NC-PDP and Congress) pained that the governor has taken this decision? They were demanding it [dissolution of Assembly] for the past many months, now if the governor has done it, what is wrong with that? The coming together of these people was against the people of Jammu." Raina, however, declined to comment on the issue that it was on the instruction of BJP that the governor's office was told to not to entertain any communication from parties with regards to government formation. One civilian was injured when militants attacked an army camp in Kudwani area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam. According to reports, the area has been cordoned off and a combing operation is underway. A woman was injured during an exchange of fire between security forces and militants in the Khudwani area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district. The exchange of fire ensued after militants fired upon an army camp and then fled from the scene. According to reports, the area has been cordoned off and a combing operation is underway. According to a Kashmir Reader report, the woman has been identified as Muskaan Jan, a resident of Kulgam. She has been admitted to the hospital. On 17 November, a civilian was kidnapped from Shopian and was murdered. Terrorists killed a civilian in a brutal act of terror in Shopian district after he was kidnapped earlier in the day from Saidpora area, a police official was quoted as saying by PTI. A bullet-riddled body of a civilian, who was abducted by the terrorists, was retrieved by the police from Kilora area of Pulwama district on 15 November. Early last month, a senior BJP leader and his brother were killed by militants in Kishtwar district, to derail the rural local body polls. Jammu and Kashmir is also going through a political crisis currently. The Assembly was abruptly dissolved by the Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form government in the state with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress, followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. Maharashtra is witnessing a farm unrest once again. Demanding compensation for drought and the transfer of forest rights to tribals, over 30,000 farmers and tribals are protesting in state capital Mumbai. Demanding compensation for drought and the transfer of forest rights to tribals, over 20,000 farmers and tribals reached Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Thursday. The farmers began a two-day march from Thane to Mumbai on Wednesday, eight months after a similar protest which started from Nashik. Magsaysay award winner Dr Rajendra Singh, also known as Waterman of India, is among the protesters. They started walking Wednesday afternoon towards Somaiyya Ground in Mumbai's Sion area where they halted for the night. The participants are mostly from Thane, Bhusawal, and Marathwada regions, he said. The protesters, who reached Azad Maidan in South Mumbai early on Thursday, are likely to hold a demonstration near Vidhan Bhawan, where the Winter Session of the state Assembly is underway, a leader of the march said. They are also scheduled to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis later in the evening with whom they are likely to take up the issue of the implementation of Forests Rights Act (FRA). The chief minister said that he will meet the protesting farmers and hear their demands, reported Times of India. "We have done everything to resolve the pending applications under the FRA. Some application are left, but those too are being resolved," said Fadnavis. The farmers are demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, which suggested that farmers must have assured access and control over resources such as land and water, resolving of pending claims under the FRA. They are also demanding an increase in the Minimum Support Price and a judicial system to ensure its implementation. The farmers, struggling to cope with the agrarian crisis, are demanding proper implementation of the loan waiver package announced by the BJP-led government in the state last year, land rights for farmers and compensation for farm labourers. "We have been consistently asking the state government to fulfil our long-standing demands but the response has been lukewarm. We are forced to launch this agitation," said Pratibha Shinde, general secretary of Lok Sangharsh Morcha, which is organising the protest. "We are taking maximum care to ensure that Mumbai citizens are not inconvenienced," Shinde said. The Mumbai Police also issued an advisory listing out the areas where traffic is likely to be affected. Commuters starting journey from South Mumbai using JJ flyover, Lalbagh flyover and Parel flyover towards Dadar are advised to avoid & use Slip Roads till 10 AM. Farmers agitation scheduled today. Regular Traffic movement on Dr BA Road towards CST and on these flyovers. Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) November 22, 2018 In March, thousands of farmers, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, took out a 180-kilometre long march from Nashik to Mumbai in March to press for their demands. That protest saw a sea of red, formed by farmers in red caps, converge in Mumbai from across Maharashtra. With inputs from agencies As the Narendra Modi Cabinet on Thursday approved the construction of Kartarpur corridor, Pakistan said that it has conveyed to India its decision to open the corridor on Guru Nanak 550th birth anniversary in 2019. As the Narendra Modi Cabinet on Thursday approved the construction of Kartarpur corridor, Pakistan said that it has already conveyed to India its decision to open the corridor on Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary in 2019. Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a tweet, "Prime Minister Imran Khan will break ground at Kartarpura facilities on 28 November. We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion." Earlier on Thursday, home minister Rajnath Singh said that India will build and develop the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river in Pakistan. Kartarpur Sahib is the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev and one of the holiest shrines of Sikhs. "Kartarpur corridor project, with all modern amenities and facilities, to be implemented with Central Government funding," he said in a series of tweets. The Kartarpur corridor will provide smooth and easy passage to pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib throughout the year. Government of Pakistan will be urged to reciprocate and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory. (@rajnathsingh) November 22, 2018 Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India has approached the Pakistani government to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community and build the corridor, in keeping with the resolution adopted by the Cabinet. In response, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said Imran Khan had proposed in writing to hold talks on all issues, including Kartarpura, but India refused to come forward. He said Pakistan's efforts were continuing and it issued 3,838 visas to Indian Sikhs to visit Pakistan to attend religious ceremonies. "We, on our part, will continue our efforts but we cannot do much unless there is response from the other side," Faisal said. With inputs from PTI Pinarayi Vijayan apprised the governor of the developments at the hill shrine, which has witnessed protests over prohibitory orders and restrictions imposed. Sabarimala: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Thursday met Governor P Sathasivam and briefed him on the Sabarimala temple issue, even as a fresh row broke out over alleged police "high-handedness" in stopping a vehicle in the convoy of union minister Pon Radhakrishanan. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan apprised the governor of the developments at the hill shrine, which has witnessed protests over prohibitory orders and restrictions imposed. The orders were clamped in the wake of agitations over the state government's decision to implement the supreme court's order permitting entry of women of all age groups into the temple. The governor also brought to Vijayan's notice the "grievance" expressed by Radhakrishnan, whose Sabarimala visit got entangled in a controversy after the BJP alleged that a senior IPS officer Yatish Chandra allegedly behaved arrogantly" with the minister Wednesday. The various directions of the Kerala High court on Sabarimala, complaints about police action and the possibility of lifting the restrictions imposed through CrPC Section 144 banning assembly of four or more people were also discussed, a Raj Bhavan press release said. The chief minister has assured the governor that all these issues would be looked into and acted upon as soon as possible, the release added. Dismissing reports that Radhakrishnan's vehicle was intercepted when he was returning from the shrine early Thursday, the Kerala police said another vehicle, part of his convoy, was stopped on suspicion that Sabarimala protesters were travelling in it. They said the car with the BJP workers arrived seven minutes after the minister's convoy had passed, raising suspicion. Police also released CCTV visuals in this regard. However, the BJP workers alleged that their car was stopped at multiple points by the police and they were harassed. Talking to reporters at Coimbatore, Radhakrishnan said he saw a "master plan to destroy the Sabarimala hill in Kerala." "It seems there is a master plan to destroy the temple, as with these restrictions, the government wanted no devotees to come." Radhakrishnan, who was on his way to the shrine, Wednesday engaged in a brief altercation with the police at Nilackal over restrictions on private vehicles heading to Pamba, the last entry point to the Lord Ayyappa shrine. Asked if he would approach court over the incident, the minister said "We will think about it..if this is the situation for me, what would be the fate of the common man." With barricades en route, the area appeared to be a "battle field," he said. On the pretext of preventing anti-socials, devotees were being harassed, he said. "This type of inhuman behaviour is not acceptable," he said and alleged that the police were seen moving with footwear on, leading to a suspicion that there was a "master plan" to destroy the sanctity of the shrine. Criticising the police action, BJP leader MT Ramesh, said this was a "conspiracy" hatched by the chief minister's office. BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai described the police action as "henious", "illegal" and "very unfortunate". "The CPM's efforts to silence the Sangh Parivar workers will boomerang," he said. A day after being granted conditional bail by a court for defying prohibitory orders at Nilackal, the base camp, BJP leader Surendran, was booked under IPC Section 120 B (conspiracy) along with RSS leader Valsan Thillankerry, V V Rajesh, Yuva Morcha leader Prakash Babu and RSS activist R Rajesh. Meanwhile, T Madhavan Namboothiri, chief priest of a temple at Kanhangad in Kasaragod district, who posted objectionable comments on his Facebook page against Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surerdran on the Sabarimala issue, was suspended. In another incident, police said, some miscreants threw stones at the residence of a 43-year-old woman, who participated in a press conference at Kochi recently expressing her solidarity with three other women who wanted to visit Sabarimala. Though the temple witnessed moderate crowd Thursday morning, inflow of pilgrims slowly picked up as the day progressed. The Ayyappa temple was opened on November 16 for the over-two-month-long pilgrimage season amid tension. The Travanacore Devaswom Board, which manages the shrine, said the seventh day witnessed comparatively more crowd. Though over 50 days have gone by since the Supreme Court delivered its historic verdict, no woman or girl in the traditionally barred age group of 10-50 has been able to set foot in the hallowed precincts of the temple. With VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena aligning themselves for the grand meet at Ayodhya on 25 November, the walls of cities and districts in and around Ayodhya are plastered with saffron-coloured posters, saying, Chalo Ayodhya (Let's go to Ayodhya) with an image of Lord Rama in a war mode Editors note: Since the BJP assumed power in 2014, calls to build a temple for Ram in Ayodhya have become more strident; they have been amplified following the installation of Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. A large collection of Hindutva groups will assemble in Ayodhya on 25 November to intensify the campaign further. Firstpost will run a series of ground reports to document this movement. *** With VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena aligning themselves for the grand meet at Ayodhya on 25 November, the walls of cities and districts in and around Ayodhya are plastered with saffron-coloured posters, saying, Chalo Ayodhya (Let's go to Ayodhya) with an image of Lord Rama in a war mode. Some posters also call for Shankhnaad (war cry) against the idleness of governments for Ram Temple construction. One sees small trucks with LCD projectors at many places in Ayodhya and Faizabad. These trucks roam around the city and showcase Ramayana, a 1986 television series directed by Ramanand Sagar. Ram Kishor Sharma, 44, a toy vendor, who was watching the show in one of the trucks parked on Ayodhya-Faizabad highway, says the show re-connects him to his roots. "It reminds me what a person Lord Rama was and that our gods do not belong to some tent (referring to the Ram Lala at the disputed site in Ayodhya)," he says. These posters and LCD vans are part of the preparations to kick-start fresh agitations demanding the construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. On 25 November, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has called for a "Vishal Dharma Sabha" and "Shankhnaad" for the construction of Ram Temple. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP have already extended their support to the event with the state government overseeing the management for the upcoming gathering. Shiv Sena, an outfit which played a key role in the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and reportedly in the subsequent violence, has also announced to visit Ayodhya during the same time. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will enjoy state guest status by Yogi Adityanath and will visit Ram Lala at the disputed site. He will also take a holy dip in the Saryu river. Sharad Sharma, official spokesperson at Vishwa Hindu Parishad, says they are expecting around 2.5 lakh people to attend the Vishal Dharma Sabha in Ayodhya. This, however, is too large a gathering for a small city like Ayodhya, and, is making some residents nervous. Kaushal Kumar Sharma, a 21-year-old student from Hanuman Garhi, Ayodhya, said that he is planning to shift his family to Lucknow around the time the agitation starts. "People have been saying that a lot of people will come (to Ayodhya) and create a 1992-like situation. My family is thinking to shift to Lucknow around that time. People may lose their lives, says Kaushal. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, however, says that the residents in the city have nothing to fear. "Those who say that there is fear in Ayodhya, they are either in influence of political groups or they have surely did something wrong with Ram Lala. Else, they do not have to fear. Ram's devotees have always been non-violent and will always be," says Sharad. "People must know that Ram Temple is crucial for Hindus of this country. It has suffered many setbacks in the past, but it is time we think that it should start taking shape. Ram Lala is living in a tent," he adds. Joginder Kumar, SSP of Faizabad district, says that the state police has made all arrangements to ensure law and order during the agitation. He says, "We have deployed forces everywhere in Ayodhya. Our primary concern is that the event goes without any hiccups." "We have zero tolerance policy on violence. Anyone trying to disrupt the peace will be dealt with strictness," adds Kumar. Voices from the others side Hashim Ansari, one of the key parties in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case, passed away in 2016. Soon after that his son Iqbal Ansari took up the position as one of the parties in the case. However, Iqbals name is still to be included as a party in the Supreme Court. On 15 November, Iqbal jolted the local politics by saying that his life is at risk, and if the state does not provide him enough security, he will leave Ayodhya before 25 November. The state government increased his security without any further delay and police officials have set up a camp outside his house in Ayodhyas red zone. When we reached Ansaris house, he was giving bites to a regional television channel. However, even after claims of threat to his life, no visitors or their belongings were being checked. Ansari says, Whenever mob gathered in Ayodhya on someones call, it did not end well for the local residents. He further says, It was 1990 when Karsevaks got killed. Then came the year 1992 when the historic Babri Mosque demolition took place and many innocent lives were lost with a huge loss of public as well as private property. And now 2018, when many people are gathering on call of organisations which led the demolition and further violence in 1992. I sense that it is not going to end well for me, as I am one of the parties in the case. Ansari asks everyone to follow the Supreme Court verdict on the case. He, however, is now filled with praises for Yogi Adityanath and the BJP. "Yogiji has brought law in Uttar Pradesh. With him as our chief minister, I am sure that it is not going to be easy for anyone to dismantle Ayodhyas fabric, he says. A volatile Ayodhya Ayodhya, however, is in a volatile state. While most of the people believe that the temperature inside Ayodhya has gone up again, there are some who believe that nobody will be able to cause another violence in Ayodhya. This is not 1992, and the matter is in the Supreme Court. If people believe that it's that easy to create a temple as compared to destroying a mosque for a mob, let me say that this is not possible at all, said Mohammad Arif, a 52-year-old shoe seller from adjacent Faizabad district, which was recently renamed as Ayodhya by the Adityanath government. Arif further said, "This is because the ruling BJP does not have anything to show to the voters until the next Lok Sabha election. They want to cash in the temple movement once again. Surya Pratap Singh, a former IAS officer from Uttar Pradesh cadre, questions the motive of the agitation. Singh had written several Facebook posts asking functionaries of VHP, RSS and BJP as to against whom are they blowing the shankha while also seeking their explanation with regards to the real barriers that Hindutva groups are facing in constructing the Ram Temple. Ahead of the 25 November event, Singh has been organising several rallies and public events in Ayodhya and Faizabad spreading awareness about the event. They are unclear whom they are going against (in the agitation). If they are against the government, they should protest in Lucknow or New Delhi. If they have objection to the Supreme Court, they should do it before the Supreme Court in New Delhi. And if they are against Muslims, they should go to Muslim localities and protest there, Singh said, adding, "But they are protesting in peaceful Ayodhya where no such bodies are present. What one should infer from such things? Simple, they are doing it for political gain." Singh presses on the fact that even the Opposition is silent on the issue because it does not want to suffer the loss of Hindu votes. "But someone has to do it, so I and some of my friends are taking up the job, he says. When we entered Ayodhya, the city was already flooded with several thousands of devotees who came for Panchkoshi Yatra a ritual where devotees take rounds of a sacred path in Ayodhya and giant posters of several BJP leaders and post holders were installed at several places asking everyone to take part in the 25 November gathering. One such devotee Raju Kumar Agrahari, 22, originally from Barabanki, wishes to stay in Ayodhya until 25 November, but he is also apprehensive of what is going to happen. "I want the Ram Temple to be constructed in Ayodhya and I love the tone of the agitation happening in here. I want to stay as long as possible to see what Hindu unity could bring, but I am also worried of what could possibly happen that day and onwards, he says. Several people who have come to Ayodhya say that the Sangh parivar and other Hindutva organisations are trying to cash in on the devotees, who have been arriving in the city for almost a week before the 25 November event. Vinod Kumar Yadav, a 23-year-old tea-seller at Ramghat crossing of Ayodhya, said, They have said that they will bring more than 2.5 lakh people to Ayodhya from outside, but while they are campaigning for it, they already know that Ayodhya is filled with devotees who are like blessing in disguise. Their campaign is clever. They say that people are already coming for Ram Temple, but in reality, they are just devotees who are here for Panchkosi Parikrama, added Yadav. The Bombay High Court on Wednesday fixed 14 January for a detailed hearing on petitions filed by three persons on death row for raping a photojournalist at Shakti Mills compound here in 2013. Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday fixed 14 January for a detailed hearing on petitions filed by three persons on death row for raping a photojournalist at Shakti Mills compound here in 2013. The decision was taken by a bench of Justices BP Dharmadhikari and Sarang Kotwal following the mutual consent of the state government and the trio's counsels. Three of the five accused who were convicted by the sessions court in the city in 2014 Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari had moved the high court after they were sentenced to death for being repeat offenders. The court had also found them guilty for raping another woman on Shakti Mills' premises earlier. The fourth accused, Siraj Khan, was sentenced to life imprisonment and the fifth, a minor, was sent to a correctional facility. Jadhav, Bengali and Ansari had challenged the Constitutional validity of section 376 (E) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) during the trial. The section was introduced by the Union government after the infamous 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. In March 2013, the Union government amended the rape laws in the country and introduced several stringent provisions, including section 376 (E). According to the section, if a person, who has been previously convicted for an offence of rape under various provisions of section 376 of the IPC, is subsequently convicted for a repeat offence of rape, the courts can sentence him to imprisonment for the rest of his life, or, even award a death sentence. The photojournalist, who had gone to Shatki Mills on an assignment with a male colleague, was gang-raped on August 22, 2013, sending shock waves through the city. The prosecution invoked Section 376 (E) after it was found that four of the accused had raped an 18-year-old telephone operator at the same place a few months ago. Russians are in the first place among those who arrived in Azerbaijan in January-October 2018 (752,000 tourists), according to the Azerbaijani State Tourism Agency. The number of Russian tourists increased by 3.3% compared to the same period of 2017 and made up 31% of all foreign citizens who visited Azerbaijan. In January-October 2018, in total, the number of tourists arriving in Azerbaijan increased by 6.1% and reached 2.416 million people (previously 2.277 million). In January-October 2018, the number of Asian and Middle Eastern tourists who visited Azerbaijan significantly increased. During the reported period, 330,000 tourists arrived from the countries of the Middle East, which shows an increase of 42% compared to the same period of 2017. Most tourists from this region came from Saudi Arabia, Israel and Kuwait. While the revered Ganga races to the top in the list of rivers on the verge of extinction, unchecked pollution and unsustainable human consumption of our limited resources are fast ensuring that its tributaries are reduced to the same fate. One of the lesser-known victims of this ceaseless human exploitation is the Mandakini river of U.P.s Chitrakoot district. Brown, mucky, and shrivelled to a thread-like state that is the pitiful story of most rivers unfortunate enough to be situated in the northern plains of India. While the revered Ganga races to the top in the list of rivers on the verge of extinction, unchecked pollution and unsustainable human consumption of our limited resources are fast ensuring that its tributaries are reduced to the same fate. One of the lesser-known victims of this ceaseless human exploitation is the Mandakini river of UPs Chitrakoot district. The Mandakini river is a tributary of Alaknanda, which eventually merges into the Bhagirathi to become the river Ganga. As is common amongst the rivers of this region, the Mandakini, too, is considered to be a holy river, and is reverently called Maa by the people of Chitrakoot. But no amount of appeals to godliness are enough to be able to curb mans inherent instinct to dump his garbage in the first open ground, pond, or river that he can find. Large amounts of untreated municipal waste and industrial effluents are being dumped in the Mandakini on a daily basis (not to mention the odd dead body or two), as it struggles to keep up with the harsh realities of climate change, like scorching temperatures and extreme weather conditions. As a result, the river is fast drying up, and has been reduced to a sorry reflection of its former glory. The cause of the Mandakini river has been taken up in the past by groups of various kinds from social activists and NGOs who appeal to reason, to saints and religious leaders who dont, but the situation has only been deteriorating. The Mandakini issue is now back on the local buzz though, ever since acclaimed water activist Rajendra Singh, popularly known as Jal Guru has been involved. On November 6, Singh, aka Jal Guru, became the cause for much excitement on the banks of river Mandakini at Surya Kund, as he rallied up the saints of the region to help save the dying river. The banks came alive with a few witty calls drafted especially to cite the causes of the rivers exploitation Paani dooba file mein, motor mein, mobile mein! In 42 years of his career as a social worker, 33 of which have been focused on water related issues, Rajendra Singh claims to have played an instrumental role in the revival of 11 rivers on the brink of extinction. Currently, he is working on the Ganga Sadbhavna Yatra, a project to stop the dumping of garbage and other pollutants in the river Ganga. The rally originated at the source of the river Ganga in Gaumukh, calling on people to stop dumping garbage in the river and protect it from going extinct, and will finally culminate in the river delta in the Bay of Bengal. We came to discuss our Ganga Sadbhavna Yatra with the people of this region, particularly the saints. We plan on identifying and working with a local organisation that has been tirelessly working on cleaning up the river Mandakini. It is time we all came together in saving our dying rivers, says a determined-looking Rajendra Singh. The attention on Mandakini is even more pertinent now with the demise of Guru Das Agrawal, or Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, an IIT Professor turned guru, whose 111-day hunger strike for the conservation of the river Ganga had made headlines globally. On a fast unto death since 22 June, in a bid to stop the construction of hydro-power projects as well as illegal mining in the Ganga, Swami Sanand passed away on 11 October. As for the Ganga Sadbhavna Yatra, some of its members are calling on peoples love for God to spread their message. If you truly consider the Ganga to be your mother, then I request you to stop throwing garbage on/in your mother. Because if the mother perishes, then we, her children, will also not survive, says local activist, an impassioned Anju Pathak. While others, like Rajkumar from Haryana, blame the government for the tragic state of our rivers. Earlier, when rivers, ponds etc. were the property of society at large and were taken care of by the locals and the indigenous community, they were clean. But now they come within the domain of the state since the government has made them the property of the state. Now the government is responsible for it. It is up to them to take the initiative in keeping our water bodies clean, he says. As for the Mandakini river, essential for the survival of the people of Chitrakoot, the upcoming Lok Sabha elections holds promise. The river has always been a hot election topic in this region, with votes said to turn on this issue alone. I do feel that the local administration will take up this issue seriously because it is of supreme importance in light of the upcoming elections. The Mandakini river has the potential to make or break a government, says Jal Guru Rajendra Singh. Khabar Lahariya is a women-only network of rural reporters from Bundelkhand. Dr Radha Kumar's definitive and insightful account of political developments in Kashmir in her recently released book Paradise At War could not have come at a more timely moment Dr Radha Kumar's definitive and insightful account of political developments in Kashmir in her recently released book Paradise At War could not have come at a more timely moment. Jammu and Kashmir continues to be locked in political turmoil. The latest being Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik's decision to dissolve the state Assembly after the National Conference, Congress,and PDP (on one side) and the BJP along with Sajjid Lone staked claims to form the government. Kumar is a historian and policy analyst, who apart from being appointed interlocutor in the state during the Manmohan Singh regime, has also specialised in ethnic conflicts and has written extensively on negotiating peace in conflict-ridden areas including on the Bosnia-Herzegovina conflict. Edited excerpts of an interview with her follow: Why has Kashmir become such a complex issue? Has it been so complex from its inception or has it been allowed to become so intractable over the years? Kashmir would always have been complex given its geopolitical location and the multiplicity of actors involved. Externally, two newly-independent States, India and Pakistan, laid claim to it, and after the Yalta Pact of 1945, the US and UK had a strategic interest in bringing it under their sphere of influence, if only indirectly through Pakistan. But the prolonged conflict the state has undergone (three wars and, if we include Kargil and the Pakistan-backed armed conflict in the Valley an ongoing insurgency for 30 years), added greater layers of intractability. Since 2001, the Afghan conflict has added another dimension to the conflict, with Pakistan linking its role in Afghan peace talks to support of its goals in Kashmir. What have been the limitations of the Indian government in handling this issue? Successive Indian governments too, by procrastinating over Article 370 and violating democratic processes, further added to the problem, intensifying frustration and despair. Until 2014, the overall policy was to combine peace talks, counter-insurgency and financial aid, while continuing to postpone a political settlement. Kashmiris felt that every time they raised a political grievance, they got money thrown at them. Kashmir has today the most dependent economy of any state in the country, contributing to its sense of helplessness. This is bad enough, but after 2014, the situation has worsened exponentially. The present government has combined a security-alone policy with frequent and open displays of contempt, even hatred for Kashmiris, who are labelled 'anti-national' and supporters of terrorism. What were the major lapses on the part of the Indian government that has allowed this problem to first become manifest as an insurgency and now into an Islamist jihad? Today, we must also take into account the growth of the Islamic State and the impact of social media. Could our own armed forces have been trained to be more sensitive to the Kashmiri sentiment or is this 'bludgeoning' approach inevitable in any armed conflict? I would say the armed forces have been as restrained as is possible. In general, armed forces should only be sent in for short periods with a clearly defined and restricted mandate, in this case counter-insurgency. The longer the mission of any armed forces , the greater the risk of human rights abuse and creating a counterproductive spiral in which each negative feeds another. From your book, I got the impression that Pakistan does not want a solution to the Kashmir dispute. Do you see any ray of hope that will help end this dispute or is it going to continue indefinitely? Pakistan wants a solution to Kashmir on its own terms. That is not possible. Yet there is a ray of light Pakistan cannot force a solution on its own terms and being an increasingly unstable State, it is vulnerable to external pressure. Under pressure, the Pervez Musharraf government did take substantial steps towards a resolution. If major powers such as the US, China and Russia were to jointly push for a renewal of the peace process something Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared to favour initially, conditions on the ground could improve enormously. Why have the Indian government's attempts to hold talks with different groups including the Hurriyat in Kashmir always seemed to have ended in failure? As far as armed groups are concerned, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has always ensured that no direct talks between them and Indian government representatives could be successful. The ISI has engineered the assassination of dissidents who have engaged in peace talks, such as Abdul Ghani Lone and Majid Dar. Under pressure, again, the Pakistan Army did allow some flexibility to the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq faction of the Hurriyat, and it could again have played a role as a bridge-builder for peace talks, as it had with Atal Bihari Vajapyee and Manmohan Singh in his first term. Unfortunately, the BJP opposition to Manmohan's peace initiatives succeeded in undermining them and the current government appears to think Hurriyat members are terrorists. Your book mentions how Pakistan has been giving aid to armed militant groups that has run into millions of dollars. In 1993, it was estimated that it was giving them $3 million per month. What is the amount likely to be today? I have no ideas as there is little information available on this. Kashmir is such a complex issue. Your book cites the unprecedented example of how in the early 1990s, 137 senior state officers sent a memorandum to the UN secretary-general pleading for intervention in Kashmir. What is the feeling like among bureaucrats and the public today? I don't think anyone expects international intervention today. But the anger is even greater than it was in the 1990s. How strong is the Jammu-Kashmir divide today? The Jammu-Kashmir divide has changed since 2014. Previously it was a divide between the two provinces; now several of Jammu's Muslim majority districts want closer ties to the Valley than within Jammu. It has become a purely communal divide now, undoubtedly fanned by politicians in both provinces. How has Pakistan been allowed to get away with the 1993 bombings, the 2006 train explosions and the 26 November, 2008 attacks in Mumbai? The retaliatory tools available to India are very few. We cannot engage in the kind of cross-border 'proxy war' that they do, partly because we are a democratic not authoritarian state and partly because we do not have an overwhelming military superiority. Also, they have powerful neighbourhood allies willing to supply them such as China. What is the peace with honour that the average Kashmiri wants and why has the Indian State been so unwilling to give it? I am not sure if there is an average Kashmiri! But peace with honour would mean first and foremost, honouring the agreement under which Kashmir acceded to India, combined with a redressal of the many wrongs the state has faced since then. Why has the Indian State been so unwilling to give it? One major problem has been the Pakistan factor its unwillingness to see a Government of India-Kashmir rapprochement. Without this factor, I think peace would have been achieved a long time ago. But given that there is this factor, over which India has little influence, what steps can be taken to overcome or at least limit it? My book describes several steps that were tried, with varying degrees of partial success and failure. We should learn from those to revive the more successful ones. So many rounds of talks have been held to solve this issue, and yet each round of talks seems to end in failure. You have been an interlocutor and have studied the problem here closely. You have also studied conflict situations in other countries. But there, as distinguished from Kashmir, some resolution has come about. What is stopping this from happening here on the subcontinent? As I have said in the book, the chief problem is the multiplicity of actors. In similar situations, external actors, such as the US, Europe etc, were able to come together and become a part of the solution and not the problem. In our case, this is yet to happen. China remains a part of the problem insofar as the Chinese government continues to protect armed groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Taiba in such fora as the UN anti-terror financing group. Why has the army not been used more frequently to negotiate with militants as was done in 2000 with Majid Dar? After the assassination of Dar, the armed groups are more firmly controlled by the ISI. Also, local leaders of the calibre of Dar have not emerged. This armed conflict has taken a huge toll on the youth in Kashmir. Do you feel local politicians in the Valley have also failed the public at large especially in their inability to put pressure on the Indian State to provide some long-term solution to this problem. Alas, yes. You have written extensively on negotiating peace in deeply divided societies. Can you elaborate on what mechanisms were used to bring about peace and how can we apply these to India? The multi-track process that was initiated from 2000-01 of India-Pakistan, India-Hurriyat, Pakistan-Hurriyat, along with security-CBM coordination and support for Track II initiatives was drawn from the Northern Ireland peace process, as was the framework agreement for a solution that was developed by the Lambah-Aziz back channel. As we know that was the most successful peace process, even if in our case it was brought to an abrupt halt by the Lal Masjid revolt in Pakistan. You have looked at other countries that have suffered communal partitions including Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Cyprus where scars left by partition had metamorphosed into institutional hostility. And yet they managed to bring about peace. What is stopping us? Well Bosnia and Cyprus have a stalemate rather than peace, but at least they are not in active conflict. In Bosnia's case, this uncertain peace was externally imposed through a US-Europe military intervention. In Cyprus, neither Greece nor Turkey want armed conflict, even though they are not ready to agree on a settlement. Of the three, only Northern Ireland has achieved a comprehensive settlement although implementation is still taking time, even 21 years later. Pakistan has not arrived at the point that Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia have, nor that Greece and Turkey or Britain and Ireland did. Given the anti-India (Kashmir) thrust by the Pakistan government, what choice does the Indian government have but to continue with AFSPA? India was able to resist Pakistani efforts to precipitate an armed uprising in the Valley for 40 years because the people of the Valley opposed Pakistan's efforts. The Indian government's meddling in Kashmir's political processes opened the door for Pakistan. Polling for the panchayat elections in the state have seen a fairly large turnout. What does this indicate? The panchayat polls are in contrast to the municipal polls where the turnout was very low. What it indicates is that the need for services is much higher in the rural areas. What do you feel about the Jammu and Kashmir governor's decision to dissolve the state Assembly? The timing of the governor's decision is extremely suspect, coming as it does when the PDP with National Conference and Congress support had announced it were staking a claim to form a government. He should have dissolved the Assembly months ago and announced state elections. If the state was secure enough to hold panchayat elections why not Assembly ones? Elon Musk reacts as Indian-American CEO hired woman to slap him every time he uses Facebook In a bid to keep his social media usage at bay, Maneesh Sethi went to Craigslist, so that he could hire someone who would slap him every time he uses Facebook during his office hours Fadnavis assured the tribal farmers that they will become owners of the land they are cultivating or are in possession of, according a release issued by the CMO. Mumbai: Tribal farmers called off their protest on Thursday after the Maharashtra government agreed to fulfil several of their demands, including transfer of land rights, marking the end of the second major agitation in Mumbai by cultivators in eight months. A delegation of protesting farmers met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss their demands and called off their protest after receiving a positive response from the government, a member of the team said. Thousands of tribal farmers marched from adjoining Thane district to Azad Maidan in South Mumbai over two days seeking redressal of their grievances, which include compensation for drought and transfer of land rights to tribals. Fadnavis assured them of transferring land rights within the next three months. A committee headed by the Chief Secretary will take regular review of the progress, he told the delegation. Satisfied with the assurance, Pratibha Shinde, general secretary of the Lok Sangharsh Morcha, which was spearheading the stir, announced in the evening that the agitation has been called off. As part of the agitation, tribal farmers from Khandesh and Vidarbha regions of the state reached Azad Maidan Thursday morning. They had started their march from Thane Wednesday evening and halted for the night at the Somaiyya Ground in Mumbai's Sion area. Girish Mahajan, Minister for Water Resources, tried to hold talks with protesters. However, they declined to talk to Mahajan and asked him to send Tribal Welfare Minister Vishnu Savra to discuss their demands. A delegation of 20 representatives led by Shinde later met Fadnavis and their meeting went on for over two hours. Fadnavis assured the tribal farmers that they will become owners of the land they are cultivating or are in possession of, according a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO). Their name would figure in the 7/12 extract (a key land ownership document), said the release. Along with the chief ministers, principal secretaries from tribal welfare, revenue and forest departments also took part in the discussion. Fadnavis also spoke to district collectors via video conference on issues raised by the delegation. Shinde said the government has accepted almost all the demands of the protesting tribal farmers and given assurance in writing to fulfil them. Talking to mediapersons, she said the chief minister has agreed to clear the land ownership claims made by the tribal farmers. She said there are 2,31,556 cases where land ownership is not with the tribal farmer cultivating the land or having its possession. "Because the land is not owned by the person concerned, he or she is not eligible for a bank loan, loan waiver benefits or drought relief," Shinde said. The chief minister assured the tribal farmers that suitable changes will be made in 7/12 extract to ensure they become eligible for loans, she said. The State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) will also be informed about the changes to facilitate bank loans for tribal farmers, she said. Mahajan said the chief minister has agreed to fulfil all the demands put forward by the tribal farmers, including those that need approval from the Union government. He said instead of giving 'khavti karje' (temporary loans) whose recovery is low, Fadnavis was of the view that the tribal farmers should be provided with subsidy or financial aid. Savra said 3.6 lakh claims of land rights were received by the government, of which 1.74 lakh were settled in favour of the tribals. Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh, also known as Waterman of India, was among the marchers. He blamed the government for the drought, which he termed as "man-made". The farmers were demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, which suggested that farmers must have assured access and control over resources such as land and water. They are also demanding increase in minimum support price (MSP) for crops and a judicial system to ensure its implementation. The farmers were also demanding proper implementation of the loan waiver announced by the BJP-led government in the state last year. In March, thousands of farmers, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, took out a 180-km long march from Nashik to Mumbai to press for their demands. That time too the state government had accepted most of their demands. On Sunday, a picture of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posing with a placard (designed by artist Thenmozhi Soundararajan) reading 'Smash Brahminical Patriarchy went viral. On Sunday, a picture of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posing with a placard (designed by artist Thenmozhi Soundararajan) reading 'Smash Brahminical Patriarchy went viral. What followed was a collective meltdown on the part of a large number of social media users. There were people attacking Dorsey, calling him a racist, a bigot and everything in between; there were some asking, not very nicely, what 'Brahminical Patriarchy' was or proclaiming that such a thing didn't exist. There were calls to boycott the micro-blogging platform, on the platform. Equally loud were people on the other side of the argument who said that the man did nothing wrong, explaining what 'Brahminical Patriarchy' was all about. Soon the exchanges turned into absurd "arguments" and name calling. Now, one might pass this off as just another day on Twitter, but Dorsey was not in India for just another visit. He was here as part of a PR campaign, meeting everyone from politicians to celebrities, and was now witnessing a disaster of unprecedented proportions for such a visit. Soon enough, the company released a statement saying that the picture was from a "closed door discussion" and the placard "not a statement from Twitter or our CEO". It is understandable that a company as big as Twitter would rush out to put out the fires, while also trying to not offend any of its user bases. But there appear to be contradictory accounts from those who were invited to the meet and the statement put out by the company. What really happened at the meeting and how did a "private photo" trigger so many people collectively? Since the incident, various people present at the time when the photograph was taken have put out their version of what happened at the meeting and the reaction that followed online. This includes activist Sanghapali Aruna, a Dalit activist who presented Dorsey the poster at the centre of the debate; journalists Rituparna Chatterjee and Barkha Dutt; journalist Anna MM Vetticad, who first shared the photograph on her Twitter; and of course, the employees of Twitter India. Sanghapali Aruna Writing for Firstpost, Aruna says that the poster was just a distraction, "For the real threat for trolls was my presence there in that room, an educated Dalit woman advocating for the safety of Indian caste-oppressed communities. If any lesson is to be learned from this, it is that an educated Dalit woman who knows her community's rights and fights for it is in fact the greatest threat to Brahminical Patriarchy." Recounting the sequence of events, she writes that she was part of a closed-door discussion with Dorsey. "The meeting was one of several meetings that Dorsey attended on his trip and was organised by Twitter India to better understand the challenges for women and vulnerable minority communities for India especially on the eve of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The objective of the meeting was to discuss our experience of using Twitter, as journalists, activists, women and minorities, and raise issues related to the routine harassment and trolling we face on the platform. It was also important for me that the conversation did not simply stop at trolling, but that we talk frankly about how trolling is part of an ecosystem of hate speech and disinformation." She says that giving her testimony at that meeting was a way to name the systemic violence Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Ravidassias, Buddhists and other religious and cultural communities face every day on the website. "From casteist, Islamophobic, and anti-Christian slurs to outright calls for violence, we face unspeakable amounts of harassment on the platform without any recourse, for the platform currently provides no way to report casteist hate speech and its algorithm is as yet untrained to recognise casteist slurs. At the end of the meeting, I presented Dorsey the poster that has now become the subject of national debate. The poster was part of a series of posters co-designed by our friend and Dalit sister Thenmozhi Soundararajan in 2016. The poster was intended as a gift, an act of sharing contemporary Dalit culture, as an artifact of solidarity and empathy that reflects the beauty of resilience of Dalit Bahujan Adivasi people." "That Dorsey held the poster in the group was an unintended consequence and not an act of political opportunism. It was what I suspect to be a human act on the part of the Twitter CEO, who was moved by the meeting and all of our testimonies.." she further adds. You can Aruna's full statement here. Rituparna Chatterjee Recounting what had happened, Chatterjee says that Twitter had hosted an off-the-record meeting with seven women at the Twitter office in Delhi. "The objective of the meeting was to hear Indian womens experiences of using Twitter as a platform to highlight their opinions and the problems they faced with respect to online harassment." She writes, "During the course of the meeting, several important points were raised, including the serious issue of Twitter falling short of addressing sexual harassment, loosely termed as trolling, on its platform. Its important to note that while some of us knew each other from before, many of us met for the first time on the panel. We each took turns describing our individual experiences on Twitter, including our positive experiences, while Dorsey and the Twitter team listened intently and patiently. She writes how they were given permission to share the photograph in question which was clicked by a Twitter India employee. She also disputes Twitter India's claim that it was a "private photo". "Each one of us highlighted the gaps in Twitters algorithm in addressing abusive trolling. At the end of the meeting, the Dalit activist who was part of the discussion, gifted the Twitter CEO a poster which he (Dorsey) held while posing for a group photo. The photo was clicked by a Twitter India employee and which we were given permission to share. Some of the panelists were reluctant to post the group photo in public while others exercised their agency in sharing it. Most werent even aware that the poster, gifted moments ago, was in the frame. But at no point was any of the Twitter team members asked to acknowledge the poster or share it. It was their choice alone. It wasnt a private photo as suggested. We were frankly heartened by the positive and empathetic response we received from the Twitter team in actively listening to our concerns and promising to act on them." She added that the statement by the company was a little disappointing because, "while business concerns are real for a company like Twitter, elsewhere in the world they stand up for whats right." You can read Chatterjee's full statement here. Barkha Dutt Dutt, citing "how poorly Twitter India has handled its meeting with a group of women journalists and more so, because it has been so dishonest about it", took to Twitter to recount her version of the events. In a series of tweets, she said that the group was invited to share our experience of abuse and trolling on Twitter India and given a few minutes each to make their points. "When the Dalit activist pointed out that Caste was to India what Race is to America and asked why Twitter did not see caste slurs as abuse @vijaya [Vijaya Gadde, a Twitter employee] broke into tears and apologised to this invitee. We were all a bit taken aback but reassured that Twitter was sincere." She writes that she did not see any poster at the group conversation either before the meeting, during or after it. She did not notice it with Dorsey either. Again, contrary to the company stand, she says that "It is important to note that the photo itself was both taken by and mailed to the group by a staff member of Twitter India and we were specifically encouraged to tweet it. I did not but want to underline that @vijaya [Gadde] is untruthful in calling it a "private photo" given who sent it." She also adds that from everything she knows now, Aruna never asked Dorsey to pose with the poster, and the "decision was his and his alone". Watching how poorly @TwitterIndia has handled its meeting with a group of women journalists & more so, because it has been so dishonest about it, I am taking the unusual step of sharing some details about what happened from my perspective, at the meeting w/ @jack @vijaya barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 We were invited to share our experience of abuse & trolling on @TwitterIndia & given few minutes each to make our points. I focused mine on organized bullying, rape threats etc. A Dalit activist spoke of how Caste Slurs were not part of Twitter's Report Abuse parameters barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 When the Dalit activist pointed out that Caste was to India what Race is to America & asked why Twitter did not see caste slurs as abuse @vijaya broke into tears and apologized to this invitee. We were all a bit taken aback but reassured that Twitter was sincere barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 I did not see any poster at the group conversation either before the meeting, during it or after. As we were walking out some folks mentioned a photo. Some of the invitees did not want to be photographed, others like myself didnt care. I did not notice any poster in @jack hand barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 It is important to note that the photo itself was both taken by and mailed to the group by a staff member of @TwitterIndia & we were specifically encouraged to tweet it. I did not but want to underline that @vijaya is untruthful in calling it a "private photo" given who sent it barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 Since @TwitterIndia reps cried & apologized to the Dalit activist for its platform enabling caste bias, I assume she gifted @jack the poster. But from everything I know now she never asked @jack to pose with it. That decision was his & his alone. barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 While I had no knowledge of the poster, Brahminical Patriarchy is a fair & entirely mainstream phrase in the way that we now know the intersectionality of Feminism & the critique of upper caste hegemony. It is NOT an attack on Brahmins but on hierarchy much like White Privilege barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 The wilful distortion of the phrase Brahminical Patriarchy is unfair & untruthful. As a woman of privilege I am not in a position to tell a Dalit woman that her experience of gender & caste bias is not legitimate. barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 While Brahminical Patriarchy is a phrase about bias of caste & misogny combining, personally I would not have knowingly posed with @jack holding that poster because he clearly does not know India, caste fault lines & above all he is an outsider to our country & internal issues barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 While Brahminical Patriarchy is a phrase about bias of caste & misogny combining, personally I would not have knowingly posed with @jack holding that poster because he clearly does not know India, caste fault lines & above all he is an outsider to our country & internal issues barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 So while I am happy to debate Brahminical Patriarchy I do not think @jack or @twitter had any basis to get into it with the poster. That said, it reflects on Twitters poor handling of the interaction, lack of briefing to @jack @vijaya, mailing us the photo, urging us to tweet it barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 What angers me is lies by @Twitter : @vijaya apologised & cried for being tone deaf on caste bias; in public her apology exact opposite. She says photo private. Photo taken & mailed to us by Twitter. Twitter fails to brief @jack; then transfers blame to women invited. SHOCKING barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 Upper Caste bias & sexism not separate for millions of Dalit women. That is Brahminical Patriarchy for them. Yet I would not have posed with @jack holding poster. He chose to hold it himself. Photo was mailed by Twitter Staff. @vijaya said one thing in private, another in public barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 Finally @jack @vijaya - you got a taste of what many, strong, opinionated women go through everyday. Unlike some of us who stand up to bullying and hold our own, you guys played all sides & were truthful to none, So I broke my silence. But nice you got a taste of your own meds barkha dutt (@BDUTT) November 20, 2018 Anna MM Vetticad (along with Nilanjana S Roy, Rituparna Chatterjee and Sanghapali Aruna, who were also present at the meeting) In a collective statement posted on her Twitter account, which recalls the events on similar lines of that of Dutt, Vetticad said that Twitter had asked the participants for the meeting to be off-the-record to allow everyone involved to be as candid as possible. "The objective of the meeting was to hear our experiences of using the platform, to highlight how women's movements and groups had used Twitter, and to share concerns about women's safety and online harassment," the statement read. "On hearing this [Aruna's account], Vijaya Gadde broke down in tears, and apologised for not having thought of this herself. Though we were all surprised by her reaction and her apparent lack of awareness about caste, we took it as an indicator of her sensitivity to the concerns being expressed". "At the meeting, the Dalit rights activist gifted the Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey two posters, one of which, the rest of us have subsequently learnt, said, End Caste Apartheid while the other said Smash Brahminical Patriarchy. Dorsey chose to hold the poster saying Smash Brahminical Patriarchy while posing for a group photo. "The photo was clicked by a Twitter employee, it was mailed to us and we were told it could be shared. It comes as a disappointment to all of us dealing with the abuse, harassment and legal threats that we are facing now, that Vijaya Gadde has, in a Twitter apology, chosen to claim that the photo was a private photo, has apologised to handles alleging that we were instigating hate, and in sharp contrast to her emotional, apologetic response at that private meeting publicly distanced herself from Dalit and gender concerns. This is also in sharp contrast to Twitter's strong stand in favour of women and marginalised communities in other countries. Twitter's misrepresentation and half-truths are the only reason why we have felt compelled to take the unusual step of issuing this statement. We made it clear during the discussion that we were against any individuals irrespective of their political or caste affiliations who actively threaten women. We call on Twitter to step up and not capitulate to bigotry, disinformation and bullying, and to address in serious terms the problem of trolls threatening the life and liberty of scores of women and marginalised communities (including Dalits and religious minorities) online." . @Twitter has responded with untruths & insensitivity to a backlash against a poster saying "#SmashBrahminicalPatriarchy" that CEO @jack held while posing for a pic after meeting a group of women in Delhi. Statement from me, @nilanjanaroy, @MasalaBai & @ProjectMukti pic.twitter.com/RZTEH3RKVF Anna MM Vetticad (@annavetticad) November 21, 2018 Twitter India Twitter India issued an apology which stated: "Recently, we hosted a closed-door discussion with a group of women journalists and changemakers from India to better understand their experience using Twitter. One of the participants, a Dalit activist, shared her personal experiences and gifted a poster to Jack." The tweet also said that while the statement itself was not from the CEO or Twitter itself, it depicted the "company's efforts to see, hear, and understand all sides of important public conversations that happen on our service around the world." Recently we hosted a closed door discussion with a group of women journalists and change makers from India to better understand their experience using Twitter. One of the participants, a Dalit activist, shared her personal experiences and gifted a poster to Jack. https://t.co/96gd3XmFgK Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) November 19, 2018 It is not a statement from Twitter or our CEO, but a tangible reflection of our company's efforts to see, hear, and understand all sides of important public conversations that happen on our service around the world. Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) November 19, 2018 While its employees maintained that the photograph was taken as a "private photo with a gift just given to us" and they should have been more thoughtful. Thackeray is set to visit Ayodhya on 24 and 15 November to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government that Ram Temple needs to be constructed. Ahead of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's visit to Ayodhya, the party on Tuesday said there will be no public rally in the state. However, he will take part in rituals near the Saryu river and address sainiks and others present at the venue. Uddhav is set to visit Ayodhya on 24 and 25 November to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre that the Ram Temple needs to be constructed. The party had earlier announced a rally on 25 November, but the Uttar Pradesh government has not yet given permission for the same, reported Hindustan Times. Uddhav in October had announced during the Shiv Sena's Vijayadashmi rally that he will visit Ayodhya on 25 November and "question" Modi on the issue of the construction of the Ram temple. On Wednesday, Uddhav's close aide Harshal Pradhan announced that the Shiv Sena chief will carry soil from Shivneri fort, the birthplace of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji, to Ayodhya during his visit. "Shivaji Maharaj is an idol not only for the Sena but for the entire country. Balasaheb Thackeray (late Sena patriarch) had always striven to work in accordance with his ideals, which Uddhav continues to do now. Uddhav will carry the soil from Shivneri fort with him in an urn to Ayodhya as Chhatrapati Shivaji's blessings and also because the issue of Ram temple is very close to his heart," he said. Uddhav had said on Tuesday that he had not yet decided if he would hold a rally in Ayodhya. In a bid to intensify his party's campaign for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Thackeray has given a new slogan 'Pehle mandir, fir sarkaar' (first the temple, then the government). On 29 October, the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the Ayodhya title suit case until January 2019. The apex court had adjourned the matter, which challenged the Allahabad High Court verdict of 2010 that ruled that the disputed land in Ayodhya should be divided into three parts for each party the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lala. The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished on 6 December, 1992 by a group of Hindu activists, who claim that the mosque was constructed by Mughal king Babur after demolishing a Ram Temple that originally stood there. Since then, several hearings have been held in the top court to resolve the issue. A day ahead of Guru Nanak Jayanti, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the construction and development of the Kartarpur Corridor from the Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the India-Pakistan border. A day ahead of Guru Nanak Jayanti, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the construction and development of the Kartarpur Corridor from the Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the India-Pakistan border. The decision was made at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in view of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019. The Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur shrine in Narowal in Pakistan's Punjab province is of religious importance to Sikhs as it is the site where Guru Nanak Dev settled down after his travels as a missionary. He lived there for 18 years until his death in 1539. Home Minister Rajnath Singh confirmed the news on Twitter: In landmark decision, the Cabinet approves building and development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to International Border. Kartarpur corridor project with all modern amenities and facilities to be implemented with Central Government funding. (@rajnathsingh) November 22, 2018 He also said: The Kartarpur corridor will provide smooth and easy passage to pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib throughout the year. Government of Pakistan will be urged to reciprocate and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory. (@rajnathsingh) November 22, 2018 At a press conference after the decision was announced, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley outlined the Cabinet's plan in detail, saying that the Centre is looking to expand its support for the Sikh community. He also announced the government's plan to develop Punjab's heritage town of Sultanpur Lodhi, which is of religious significance to the Sikh community. The town will also be developed on the principles of a Smart City. The central government will also set up a centre for interfaith studies at Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, Jaitley said. An international seminar on the life and teachings of Shri Guru Nanak Devji will also be organised in New Delhi, and chairs on Shri Guru Nanak Devji will be set up at one university each in the United Kingdom and Canada. The Centre will also release commemorative coin and postage stamps for the occasion, and the Indian Railways will run a train that will pass through all the holy sites associated with Guru Nanak Dev. As part of efforts to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019, Indian missions overseas will be asked to organise special events. The finance minister said the Centre will also request UNESCO to publish Guru Nanak's writings in world languages. A committee led by the home minister will regularly review, monitor and oversee the implementation of the activities commemorating Guru Nanak Dev's 550th birth anniversary. India, Pakistan move forward to make corridor The Kartarpur Corridor is a proposed project between India and Pakistan that will connect the Dera Baba Nanak Sahib Gurdwara in India's state of Punjab to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur shrine in Pakistan's Punjab province. India has urged the Pakistan government to build a corridor "with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India to Kartarpur Sahib throughout the year", the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. India has approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognize the sentiments of Sikh community and build a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy & smooth visits of pilgrims from India to Kartarpur Sahib throughout the year. pic.twitter.com/1oq0TWx7bD ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Even though Pakistan, on 19 September, had claimed that there was no formal communication with India regarding the construction of the Kartarpur Corridor, The Express Tribune reported that Pakistan has decided to begin the project later this month. India Today quoted government sources as saying that Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan will likely lay the foundation stone of the project, and that the Sikh pilgrims will also be allowed visa-free entry. Although authorities have not set a date to begin the construction, the Pakistan government was hoping to coincide the announcement with the arrival of the Sikh pilgrims celebrating Guru Nanak Jayanti at the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in the country. Sidhu lauds move Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has been a staunch supporter of the construction of the corridor, took to Twitter to welcome the Union Cabinet's decision: I welcome this auspicious step by the Union Cabinet, it will be a cup of joy for 12 Crore Nanak Naam Laivas. It will build bridges, burn animosity and will act like a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries. #GuruNanakJayanti #Kartarpurcorridor Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) November 22, 2018 He also asked the government to take into consideration the Sikh community the world over when appealing to Pakistan to continue the corridor on their side of the border. I humbly request the Government of India to dispense their duty towards 12 Crore Nanak Naam Laivas world over, by writing to the Pakistan Government. I hope the draft for the letter is ready as promised by Honble EAM Sushma Ji. Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) November 22, 2018 On 9 September, Sidhu had written to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, urging her to "make every possible effort" on the corridor to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur. He had also said that Pakistan has shown "positive intent" in providing access to the historic shrine. Sidhu had claimed that he had taken the first step towards peace and spoken to Swaraj. However, Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Union Minister for Food and Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal had accused Sidhu of "lying" on issues related to the Sikh faith to further his political agenda. While Sidhu had said that the Pakistan government was waiting for an official request from India to open the route, Badal had claimed that Sidhu had deliberately made it seem like Islamabad was ready to let Punjabi pilgrims in, and that the delay was from New Delhi's side. "I wrote to the external affairs minister that it's being portrayed that Pakistan government gave a green signal over the Kartarpur Corridor, but that our government is doing nothing from its side. However, I was shocked when I received the minister's reply, stating that there's nothing like that. There is no official communique from Pakistan on this," Badal had said. Sukhbir Singh Badal of the SAD also lauded the Centre's move. He said: "It's a historic day for the entire Sikh community and we would like to thank PM Modi and his Cabinet," adding that "this has been a wish of each and every Sikh." The lawyer Gautam Bhatia has, in a tweet referring to a paper Ambedkar presented at an anthropology seminar at Columbia University in 1916, suggested a line of inquiry Opinion is divided evenly over the use of the term 'Brahmanical Patriarchy': Is it exclusionist? Is it colonial? Does it do a disservice to other communities? Is it emblematic of the oppressive tendencies of majority communities? Should it be smashed? Is Jack Dorsey a patsy for holding up the sign? While several Firstpost authors have weighed in on these matters over the past two days, it is imperative that the debate be examined using a frame of reference defined by the man who provided intellectual scaffolding for almost all intellectual discourse about caste in India: BR Ambedkar. The lawyer Gautam Bhatia has, in a tweet referring to a paper Ambedkar presented at an anthropology seminar at Columbia University in 1916, suggested a line of inquiry. We have reproduced the sections in question: The problem of Caste, then, ultimately resolves itself into one of repairing the disparity between the marriageable units of the two sexes within it. Left to nature, the much needed parity between the units can be realized only when a couple dies simultaneously. But this is a rare contingency. The husband may die before the wife and create a surplus woman, who must be disposed of, else through intermarriage she will violate the endogamy of the group. In like manner the husband may survive, his wife and be a surplus man, whom the group, while it may sympathise with him for the sad bereavement, has to dispose of, else he will marry outside the Caste and will break the endogamy. Thus both the surplus man and the surplus woman constitute a menace to the Caste if not taken care of, for not finding suitable partners inside their prescribed circle (and left to themselves they cannot find any, for if the matter be not regulated there can only be just enough pairs to go round) very likely they will transgress the boundary, marry outside and import offspring that is foreign to the Caste. Let us see what our imaginary group is likely to do with this surplus man and surplus woman. We will first take up the case of the surplus woman. She can be disposed of in two different ways so as to preserve the endogamy of the Caste. First: burn her on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband and get rid of her. This, however, is rather an impracticable way of solving the problem of sex disparity. In some cases it may work, in others it may not. Consequently every surplus woman cannot thus be disposed of, because it is an easy solution but a hard realization. And so the surplus woman (= widow), if not disposed of, remains in the group: but in her very existence lies a double danger. She may marry outside the Caste and violate endogamy, or she may marry within the Caste and through competition encroach upon the chances of marriage that must be reserved for the potential brides in the Caste. She is therefore a menace in any case, and something must be done to her if she cannot be burned along with her deceased husband. The second remedy is to enforce widowhood on her for the rest of her life. So far as the objective results are concerned, burning is a better solution than enforcing widowhood. Burning the widow eliminates all the three evils that a surplus woman is fraught with. Being dead and gone she creates no problem of remarriage either inside or outside the Caste. But compulsory widowhood is superior to burning because it is more practicable. Besides being comparatively humane it also guards against the evils of remarriage as does burning; but it fails to guard the morals of the group. No doubt under compulsory widowhood the woman remains, and just because she is deprived of her natural right of being a legitimate wife in future, the incentive to immoral conduct is increased. But this is by no means an insuperable difficulty. She can be degraded to a condition in which she is no longer a source of allurement. The problem of the surplus man (= widower) is much more important and much more difficult than that of the surplus woman in a group that desires to make itself into a Caste. From time immemorial man as compared with woman has had the upper hand. He is a dominant figure in every group and of the two sexes has greater prestige. With this traditional superiority of man over woman his wishes have always been consulted. Woman, on the other hand, has been an easy prey to all kinds of iniquitous injunctions, religious, social or economic. But man as a maker of injunctions is most often above them all. Such being the case, you cannot accord the same kind of treatment to a surplus man as you can to a surplus woman in a Caste. The project of burning him with his deceased wife is hazardous in two ways: first of all it cannot be done, simply because he is a man. Secondly, if done, a sturdy soul is lost to the Caste. There remain then only two solutions which can conveniently dispose of him. I say conveniently, because he is an asset to the group. Important as he is to the group, endogamy is still more important, and the solution must assure both these ends. Under these circumstances he may be forced or I should say induced, after the manner of the widow, to remain a widower for the rest of his life. This solution is not altogether difficult, for without any compulsion some are so disposed as to enjoy self-imposed celibacy, or even to take a further step of their own accord and renounce the world and its joys. But, given human nature as it is, this solution can hardly be expected to be realized. On the other hand, as is very likely to be the case, if the surplus man remains in the group as an active participator in group activities, he is a danger to the morals of the group. Looked at from a different point of view celibacy, though easy in cases where it succeeds, is not so advantageous even then to the material prospects of the Caste. If he observes genuine celibacy and renounces the world, he would not be a menace to the preservation of Caste endogamy or Caste morals as he undoubtedly would be if he remained a secular person. But as an ascetic celibate he is as good as burned, so far as the material wellbeing of his Caste is concerned. A Caste, in order that it may be large enough to afford a vigorous communal life, must be maintained at a certain numerical strength. But to hope for this and to proclaim celibacy is the same as trying to cure atrophy by bleeding. Imposing celibacy on the surplus man in the group, therefore, fails both theoretically and practically. It is in the interest of the Caste to keep him as a Grahastha (one who raises a family), to use a Sanskrit technical term. But the problem is to provide him with a wife from within the Caste. At the outset this is not possible, for the ruling ratio in a caste has to be one man to one woman and none can have two chances of marriage, for in a Caste thoroughly self-enclosed there are always just enough marriageable women to go round for the marriageable men. Under these circumstances the surplus man can be provided with a wife only by recruiting a bride from the ranks of those not yet marriageable in order to tie him down to the group. This is certainly the best of the possible solutions in the case of the surplus man. By this, he is kept within the Caste. By this means numerical depletion through constant outflow is guarded against, and by this endogamy and morals are preserved. It will now be seen that the four means by which numerical disparity between the two sexes is conveniently maintained are: (1) burning the widow with her deceased husband; (2) compulsory widowhooda milder form of burning; (3) imposing celibacy on the widower; and (4) wedding him to a girl not yet marriageable. Though, as I said above, burning the widow and imposing celibacy on the widower are of doubtful service to the group in its endeavour to preserve its endogamy, all of them operate as means. But means, as forces, when liberated or set in motion create an end. What then is the end that these means create? They create and perpetuate endogamy, while caste and endogamy, according to our analysis of the various definitions of caste, are one and the same thing. Thus the existence of these means is identical with caste and caste involves these means. This, in my opinion, is the general mechanism of a caste in a system of castes. Let us now turn from these high generalities to the castes in Hindu Society and inquire into their mechanism. I need hardly premise that there are a great many pitfalls in the path of those who try to unfold the past, and caste in India to be sure is a very ancient institution. This is especially true where there exist no authentic or written records or where the people, like the Hindus, are so constituted that to them writing history is a folly, for the world is an illusion. But institutions do live, though for a long time they may remain unrecorded and as often as not customs and morals are like fossils that tell their own history. If this is true, our task will be amply rewarded if we scrutinize the solution the Hindus arrived at to meet the problems of the surplus man and surplus woman. Complex though it be in its general working the Hindu Society, even to a superficial observer, presents three singular uxorial customs, namely: (i) Sati or the burning of the widow on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband. (ii) Enforced widowhood by which a widow is not allowed to remarry. (iii) Girl marriage. In addition, one also notes a great hankering after Sannyasa (renunciation) on the part of the widower, but this may in some cases be due purely to psychic disposition. So far as I know, no scientific explanation of the origin of these customs is forthcoming even today. We have plenty of philosophy to tell us why these customs were honoured, but nothing to tell us the causes of their origin and existence. Sati has been honoured (Cf. A. K. Coomaraswamy, "Sati: A Defence of the Eastern Woman" in the British Sociological Review, Vol. VI, 1913) because it is a "proof of the perfect unity of body and soul" between husband and wife and of "devotion beyond the grave," because it embodied the ideal of wifehood, which is well expressed by Uma when she said, "Devotion to her Lord is woman's honour, it is her eternal heaven: and 0 Maheshvara," she adds with a most touching human cry, "I desire not paradise itself if thou are not satisfied with me!" Why compulsory widowhood is honoured I know not, nor have I yet met with any one who sang in praise of it, though there are a great many who adhere to it. The eulogy in honour of girl marriage is reported by Dr. Ketkar to be as follows: "A really faithful man or woman ought not to feel affection for a woman or a man other than the one with whom he or she is united. Such purity is compulsory not only after marriage, but even before marriage, for that is the only correct ideal of chastity. No maiden could be considered pure if she feels love for a man other than the one to whom she might be married. As she does not know to whom she is going to be married, she must not feel affection, for any man at all before marriage. If she does so, it is a sin. So it is better for a girl to know whom she has to love before any sexual consciousness has been awakened in her" (History of Caste in India, 1909, pp. 2-33.). Hence girl marriage. This high-flown and ingenious sophistry indicates why these institutions were honoured, but does not tell us why they were practiced. My own interpretation is that they were honoured because they were practiced. Any one slightly acquainted with the rise of individualism in the 18th century will appreciate my remark. At all times, it is the movement that is most important; and the philosophies grow around it long afterwards to justify it and give it a moral support. In like manner I urge that the very fact that these customs were so highly eulogized proves that they needed eulogy for their prevalence. Regarding the question as to why they arose, I submit that they were needed to create the structure of caste and the philosophies in honour of them were intended to popularise them, or to gild the pill, as we might say, for they must have been so abominable and shocking to the moral sense of the unsophisticated that they needed a great deal of sweetening. These customs are essentially of the nature of means, though they are represented as ideals. But this should not blind us from understanding the results that flow from them. One might safely say that idealization of means is necessary and in this particular case was perhaps motivated to endow them with greater efficacy. Calling a means an end does no harm, except that it disguises its real character; but it does not deprive it of its real nature, that of a means. You may pass a law that all cats are dogs, just as you can call a means an end. But you can no more change the nature of means thereby than you can turn cats into dogs; consequently I am justified in holding that, whether regarded as ends or as means, Sati, enforced widowhood and girl marriage are customs that were primarily intended to solve the problem of the surplus man and surplus woman in a caste and to maintain its endogamy. Strict endogamy could not be preserved without these customs, while caste without endogamy is a fake. The extract from Ambedkar's paper has been republished verbatim. It has not been edited by Firstpost staff. Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that delay in justice is bringing the judiciary into disrepute, and that he had a plan for (a) resolving the problem of arrears (3.3 crore cases in Indian courts) and (b) providing access to justice to the poverty stricken people, a plan which he would soon unfold. Speaking at a function organised by the Youth Bar Association of India on 29 September, 2018, which was a few days before he took oath as Chief Justice of India on 3 October, Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that delay in justice is bringing the judiciary into disrepute, and that he had a plan for (a) resolving the problem of arrears (3.3 crore cases in Indian courts) and (b) providing access to justice to the poverty stricken people, a plan which he would soon unfold. Many CJIs have come and gone who made similar announcements, but nothing changed. For instance, former CJI HL Dattu said that all cases will be decided within 5 years, but it seems it was only a 'jumla'. Tens of thousands of under trials are rotting in jail in India without a hearing, the Amnesty International in its 2017 report ' Justice under trial ' reported. One Nasiruddin Ahmed was acquitted by the Supreme Court but after spending 23 years in jail in horrible conditions. Similarly, one Amir was incarcerated for 14 years before being proven innocent. There are many such examples. In the Allahabad High Court, criminal appeals come up for hearing after 30 years of being filed, and in Bombay High Court original side cases have been pending for over 20 years. Anyone unluckily caught up in the web of the Indian courts knows what litigation means 'tareekh pe tareekh'. As for providing access to justice, Justice Gogoi said in his speech "enabling a person who cannot come to court to come to court, and travelling beyond legal aid and expanding the scope of legal service, to give each man his due under the law, without having to come to court ". Dimwitted as I am, I could not understand a word of what these pearls of wisdom meant. Instead of seeing Justice Gogoi's grand plan 'unfold', what we are seeing instead are things which are disturbing : (1) Personal liberty is enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, and in Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India which is a seven-judge Constitution bench judgment of the Supreme Court, the following observation of the celebrated Lord Denning in Ghani vs Jones, (1970 ) 1 Q.B. 693 was quoted with approval, "A man's liberty of movement is regarded so highly by the laws of England that it is not to be hindered or prevented except on the surest grounds ", thus becoming the law of the land in India too. Yet, in the case of Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, who was satirical on Twitter for which he, even, apologised, he was denied bail despite the settled principle laid down by the legendary Justice Krishna Iyer in State of Rajasthan vs Balchand, and repeated recently by Justice Lokur, the next in seniority to the CJI, in Dataram Singh vs State of UP, that bail, not jail, is the normal rule, unless the accused was likely to tamper with the evidence or abscond or was accused of a grave and heinous offence like murder, dacoity or gang rape, which Abhijit was not. Without adverting to these decisions and principles, the CJI summarily rejected the bail plea with the flippant and cruel remark, unexpected of a person on such a high post, that the accused was safest in jail. (2) In the case of Rohingyas sought to be deported to Myanmar, Justice Gogoi practically made the petition infructuous by refusing an early hearing. When counsel Prashant Bhushan said that it was the duty of the court to protect the lives of the petitioners, the CJI reportedly lost his temper, and said " Dont tell us our duty ". (3) A case of the Attorney General, KK Venugopal, was dismissed even before he could start arguing. The Attorney General told Gogoi that people come from far off places at heavy cost, and it was not proper to dismiss their cases even without a hearing. (4) In the CBI case, Justice Gogoi lost his temper and started fuming because of 'leakage' to a news portal. In fact, as Fali Nariman, the counsel for Alok Verma later pointed out, the portal had only published the queries by the CVC to Verma, and not the report of the CVC to the Court or Verma's response to this report, which were ordered to be kept in a sealed cover (which the portal did not have). So Justice Gogoi lost his temper over nothing, but such uncalled for tantrums, and baseless insinuations demoralise the brave and independent journalists, who are as it is rare nowadays in the country. (5) Justice Gogoi also displayed his wrath over the handing over to the media of the petition of MKSinha, the DIG of CBI, who has made allegations against a Minister and Ajit Doval. But what was wrong in it ? Once a petition is filed in the Court registry, it becomes public property, and anyone can see it and report it. What is confidential about it ? (6) Justice Gogoi's remark to the lawyers " None of you deserve a hearing " and to the staff of the Court " You should quit " were uncalled for, and totally unexpected of a judge in the higher judiciary, leave alone a CJI, who should display modesty, balance, restraint and equanimity. So, instead of seeing a grand plan unfolding to clear Court arrears, what we are actually seeing is a Chief Justice given to immodesty, petulance, impatience and bursts of irascibility. The author is a former Supreme Court judge and former chairman for the Press Council of India Bereaved women farmers have been able to articulate their problems in public after years of mobilising efforts by the Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM) Nilimas husband committed suicide in 2015. The land he tilled belonged to his father and it was a battle to get his share transferred to her name. With no support from her in-laws, Nilima lives separately near her marital home and cannot even share the electricity. I took a line for my house but they stopped me from using it and now I live in darkness, she said. Nilima and women like her have been able to articulate their problems in public after years of mobilising efforts by the Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM). On 21 November, MAKAAM organised a symbolic agitation for these women at Azad Maidan, Mumbai. It was planned as a condolence meeting for women farmers, to narrate their tribulations after their husbands committed suicide; the meeting brought over 50 women from the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions to the city. Among them was Archana, 22, who was pregnant with her second daughter when her husband killed himself in Brahmachi wadi in Osmanabad district in 2012. She works as a daily wage labourer to support her family and both her daughters are in school now. However, her husbands suicide was not eligible for compensation of Rs 1 lakh ex gratia given by the state government. She had to repay a loan of Rs 50,000 and there was no help from either the government or her in-laws. My main worry was how would I survive? What about my two little daughters? How would we manage? she said, at the meeting. She gets Rs 100 as daily wages but due to poor rains, there is little or no work and she didnt plant anything on her land. There was a lot of opposition to the land being transferred in her name and it took six years for that to be done. I have another house to live in, but I feel the government should give us our rights and what we are entitled to, she said. MAKAAM conducted a survey of 505 women in suicide-affected households in 11 districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada in Maharashtra over September and October 2018. The results indicated just how much needs to be done: It was found that 33 percent of the women had not submitted applications for the widows' pension scheme, 26 per cent had submitted the forms but the pension was not approved, and only 34 percent of the women got regular pension. The results provided a startling account of how many of the women were denied their rightful entitlements including pensions. It was not easy for the women to get the husbands land or transfer his share in their name. Of the women surveyed, 29 percent were unable to get the land transferred in their name while 43 percent couldnt get the houses registered under their name. Only 52 percent of the women had ration cards in their names. In terms of childrens education, of the 355 children enrolled in Class 1 to 12, only 43 (12 percent) were able to get fee concessions and only 88 (or 24 percent) received any help in the form of books, uniforms or stationery. Some were not aware of the governments health scheme, the Mahatma Phule Jevandayi Arogya Yojana, and some had to bribe officials to get the benefits. Even the Prerna mental health scheme, under which people in need of counselling are identified and can go to designated government hospitals for help, was not known to more than 15 percent of those surveyed. From 2015 onwards, 137 households had mental health patients but 83 didnt go for treatment. About 23 patients went to government hospitals and many of them ended up paying for treatment. Seema Kulkarni of MAKAAM says that there is a range of difficulties in getting recognition for women as farmers; the main hurdle remains whether or not the husband's suicide was eligible for compensation. Farmers who committed suicide had to have land in their name, loans from an institution, and crop failure if their families had to qualify for compensation, Kulkarni points out. If there is deviation from this criteria, women aren't entitled to the Rs 1 lakh compensation. Based on their survey, MAKAAM said that the criteria for eligibility for a farm suicide should be changed and the ex gratia should be increased by five times. The amount of pension for widows should be doubled, and remitted on time. Children must be given free education, and free healthcare made available in areas where farm suicides were rampant. Some of the women farmers demanded a health card that would entitle them to cashless and free services in public health care centers. MAKAAM's other demands: Apart from facilitating easy registration of heirs, especially the wives of the farmers who have committed suicide, the women should also get assistance in employment and sustainable agriculture. And a Kisan Mitra (friend of the farmer) helpline should be started in all suicide-affected districts. Maharashtra has the highest number of farm suicides in the country and since 2015, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has ceased updating this data on its website. Of the 3,21, 428 farm suicides recorded by NCRB from 1995 to 2015, 69,045 are from Maharashtra. Yet the government remains insensitive to improving conditions in these two regions where the suicides are taking place. Earlier studies have shown that it is not only for crops but also health reasons, apart from weddings and festivals, that farmers take loans often from money-lenders at very high rates. Credit is still hard to come by, and the government has done precious little to improve the infrastructure, either for rural banking or health in these regions. Existing welfare schemes are not reaching many people and their implementation is fraught with red tape. Saraswatis husband had borrowed Rs 4-5 lakhs for their daughters wedding. Unable to repay the loan later, he killed himself in 2016. Her two younger sons had to drop out of school and like others in her position, Saraswati had to resort to agricultural labour. Most of the women have little option but to find daily work, which is dwindling due to poor rains and the drought situation. Manda said that even after her husbands death she would be pestered by banks to repay his loan and they would cut Rs 600 every month from her ex gratia payment as loan repayment. Finally, when Manda met the chief minister along with a delegation of other women, and informed him of her situation, the "repayment" cuts stopped. My courage has increased after that and I want to give some of my courage to other women in a similar predicament, she said at the Mumbai meeting on Wednesday. The women are plagued by thoughts of how they will educate their children, repay loans and survive with very little support from the state or the community. As part of MAKAAM, they seem to have gained some strength and the conviction that they can get their rights. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has held several bilateral meetings with his CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States) colleagues yesterday, the Russian Security Council press service said. "[Patrushev] and Chief of Azerbaijans presidential staff Ramiz Mehdiyev have discussed the prospects of cooperation between various ministries and agencies of Russia and Azerbaijan, counterterrorism issues, as well as the legal status of the Caspian Sea," the message informs. Patrushev also discussed strengthening border control between Russia and Tajikistan with Tajikistans Security Council Secretary Abdurahim Qahhorov. The officials signed a cooperation plan between Russian and Tajik Security Councils for the years 2019-2020. "The two-year cooperation plan between the Security Councils has also been signed by Patrushev and Armenias Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan. The parties also discussed the issues of military and technical cooperation," TASS cited the press service as saying. The Russian official also discussed security issues with Moldovas security chief Artur Gumeniuc and Belarusian Security Council Secretary Stanislav Zas. Meena Alexander was best-known for her award-winning collections of poetry Illiterate Heart (2002) and Raw Silk (2004) among many other literary works. Renowned poet and scholar Meena Alexander passed away at the age of 67 on 21 November in New York, as reported by Scroll.in. Born in Allahabad and raised in Kerala and Sudan, Alexander received a BA Honors in French and English from Khartoum University and completed her PhD from Nottingham University. She worked as Distinguished Professor of English in the PhD programmes at Graduate Center/ Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). Alexander was best-known for her award-winning collections of poetry Illiterate Heart (2002) and Raw Silk (2004); the former won the 2002's PEN Open Book Award. Her autobiographical memoir, Fault Lines was originally published in 1993 and was later revised in 2003 with new material. It was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of 1993. Her two novels, Nampally Road and Manhattan Music were also widely accepted by readers. Her other poems have appeared in global publications like The New Yorker, Harvard Review, Kenyon Review, Threepenny Review and various other journals. On her volume of poems titled The Shock of Arrival: Reflections on Postcolonial Experience, Publishers Weekly wrote: "Many of the poems and essays in this rich, provocative collection deal with classic immigrant themes of identity, language and dislocation. Alexander starts with intimate concerns-coming to grips with life in a female body, struggling to find an emotional home-but also speaks passionately on broader political themes." She was conferred with the Distinguished Achievement Award in Literature in 2009 from the South Asian Literary Association for her contribution to American literature. In 2014, she was named a National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, adds the Scroll report. Her eighth book of poetry, Atmospheric Embroidery was published in June this year. Several poetry organisations and forums took to social media to express their grief and condolences on the poet's untimely demise. Write in the light of all the languages you know the earth contains, you murmur in my ear. This is pure transport. Meena Alexander, RIP (1951 - 2018) https://t.co/qJFDqIbbBr Poets.org (@POETSorg) November 21, 2018 So sad to see this; Meena Alexander was an exceptional person in every way, as a poet and a human being. I will miss her. https://t.co/YmPk8Q8iNC Amitav Ghosh (@GhoshAmitav) November 21, 2018 We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Meena Alexander, beloved member of the poetry community. We were honored to host her last month for the launch of her groundbreaking anthology, Name Me a Word. You can listen along on our site. https://t.co/DrCXvOWmca Poets House (@poetshouse) November 21, 2018 Hungriest heart where are you now? Wrapped in blue with starched white blouse, hair tucked into braids so tight sparrows sought you out. All your girl's equipage, sac of eggs, pouch of blood, knotted into skin. ... - Meena Alexander (1951-2018). RIP. Ranjit Hoskote (@ranjithoskote) November 22, 2018 @meenaalexander my dear friend of 35years, extraordinary poet&scholar--passed away peacefully at 8:30am in a #NewYork hospital. She was 67. RIP.--Meena. I'm gutted DearDavid, Adam Svati--my prayers are with you all. Be strong. Her words and spirit will be forever alive for us. pic.twitter.com/PaEkwUyvcs Sudeep Sen (@sudeepsennet) November 21, 2018 Rest in peace, Meena Alexander, renowned poet, scholar, & @feministpress author. "All that is here comes piecemeal, though sometimes the joints have fallen into place miraculously as if the heavens had opened & mango trees fruited in the rough asphalt of upper Broadway. pic.twitter.com/hnwGj6cJrP Feminist Press at CUNY (@FeministPress) November 22, 2018 I woke up to a world which didnt have #FahmidaRiaz & #MeenaAlexander Danish Husain (@DanHusain) November 22, 2018 may our bed be stoked with fresh cut rosemary and glinting thyme, all herbs in due season tucked under wild sheets: fit for the conjugation of joy. Meena Alexander Rest in peace, Meena. We love you!https://t.co/NH567BqwrU Kundiman (@kundimanforever) November 21, 2018 "We have poetry So we do not die of history." Peace and liberation to your spirit, Meena Alexander. Thank you for your life and your work, for the light and the worlds you left us. Rest now in poetry.https://t.co/ClOiVZN5KT Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) November 22, 2018 "The many births you have passed through, try to remember them as I do mine Memory is all you have." Excerpt from Alexander's poem Krishna, 3:29 AM. This was shared by The Asian American Writers Workshop on Twitter. In David Ebershoff's books of which there are four so far: the novels The Danish Girl, Pasadena and The 19th Wife, and a short story collection, The Rose City history and unusual protagonists come together in compelling ways. In David Ebershoff's books of which there are four so far: the novels The Danish Girl, Pasadena and The 19th Wife, and a short story collection, The Rose City history and unusual protagonists come together in compelling ways. The Danish Girl, which tells the story of Lili Elbe, among the first people in the world to undergo gender reassignment surgery, was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander. It was Ebershoff's first published novel, in 2000. However, Ebershoff has been part of the literary world for much longer; starting as a summer intern at Random House in 1995, he rose to become vice president and executive editor. He was also made publishing director for The Modern Library in 1998, a role he fulfilled for seven years. Ebershoff has edited more than 20 New York Times bestsellers and three Pulitzer Prize winners, worked with Norman Mailer and David Mitchell, among others. He also teaches the graduate writing programme at Columbia University. His life, as Ebershoff says on his website, has been "pretty much all about stories and words". At the Tata Literature Live! Mumbai Litfest recently, Firstpost interviewed Ebershoff about his career in books. Edited excerpts follow: You were an avid reader, and you began writing short stories at the age of 15. Do you remember the first moment when you felt the power of the printed word? When I was 15 I spent the summer in the library reading my way through classic queer texts. James Baldwin, Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I read and read and read. I didn't understand it at the time, but I was looking for a version of myself. This was in the '80s and at that time there was little in the media that represented gay people as we really are. I couldn't find myself in TV or even in the newspaper, so I found myself in books. What did being able to write mean to you in your teens and early adulthood? Was it a way to articulate your own experiences, and navigating questions of sexuality and identity? It was a way to understand my own experiences and my way of looking at the world. When I was younger I wrote to resolve an inner conflict, between what I thought and felt and what the world thought and felt about me. Because youve dealt professionally with the written word for so many decades now and in varied capacities, as an editor, as a writer, as a teacher, and as someone who reads a lot do you view or respond to language in a different way than say someone who only does one (or maybe two) of those things? I don't think so. I think of myself first as a reader, just like anyone else. I love stories, I love characters, I love interesting language and fresh voices. I love themes that illuminate my heart and the world around me. When I was an editor at Random House I tried to always think about the reader, what he or she or they are looking for in a book. I never tried to over-intellectualise the job. I tried to always read like I used to read when I was younger and when I was first falling in love with books. You transitioned into the world of publishing with a summer internship at Random House what to you was the headiest part of working in the books business? My favourite part, aside from working with so many interesting people, was discovering the new. Reading a new voice for the first time and helping that writer enter the world. What it was like working with Norman Mailer? Did he have rules or processes he diligently followed or was superstitious about? Norman worked very hard. He got up every day and wrote for hours and made no fuss about the process or obstacles. He just did the work until it was right. He also liked to be edited. I would go see him at his apartment in Brooklyn Heights or his house in Provincetown and I would tell him what I thought about his manuscripts and he welcomed it all. He didn't like to be coddled or praised, at least in this context. He liked to hear what I had to say. Do you, as a writer, have rules or processes you diligently follow or are superstitious about? I write in the mornings. By the afternoon my mind gets a little busy and pulled in different directions. And the other thing that is important is that I care passionately about my material and characters. What is it like when you discover a new writer or a new voice, and you know instinctively that he/she is a real find? For me, it's always been something I'm very certain of. This happened when I first read Open City by Teju Cole. I knew at once Teju was an original mind and I wanted to work with him. The same is true when I read Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. I knew this story about Cameroonian immigrants in the United States had never been told before and I wanted to be a part of that. Youve edited the works of so many Pulitzer winners when you approach a manuscript as an editor, are you also consciously or otherwise, viewing it as a writer? No, I always approach a manuscript as a reader. That's all I can do. Of course, because I'm a writer, I'm learning things from most manuscripts, but I always look at the job of editing as telling the writer what a reader might think. From The Danish Girl to The 19th Wife, do you find that how you write has changed in any major way? Is there greater confidence and are there fewer blocks, and does finding the story you want to tell become easier? No, it never becomes easier. Each book is its own challenge. I suppose The 19th Wife is a more ambitious book. I wanted to tell a number of stories in that novel. I was trying to pin down something major in American history, as well as tell a gripping tale. How closely were you involved with the big screen adaptation of The Danish Girl, and was that an interesting process for you seeing how your prose was fashioned into a script? The producer, Gail Mutrux, worked for 15 years to get the film made. She kept me updated on the major developments and I read the screenplay early and we talked about casting and directors. But it was her movie, and then Tom Hooper's movie, which is how it should be. I trusted these filmmakers to make the best movie they could. I wanted to give them their space to create something beautiful. Do you feel writers have new challenges to meet in this era that those from previous generations did not? How can they rise to these challenges? I see it as more opportunity. Today, a fresh voice can find an audience very quickly through social media. A writer can be anywhere in the world and start posting and if it's original and interesting... an audience will come. This, of course, isn't the same as writing a book, but it allows a writer to start building a relationship with readers without having to wait for a publishing contract. And what are the burdens/challenges for publishers going ahead? Must publishing houses think of their roles in new ways, and how do you think they might do that? There is so much out there, so many demands on a reader's time and money, publishers are finding it more challenging to break out new books and new writers. Readers are looking at their phones more, obviously, and that's time they might have in the past been looking at a book. Is there a lesson you always pass on to your students in your writing programme? Or is there something youve learnt from nurturing and mentoring so many writers over the years? I have two pieces of advice for writers: 1) Read a lot, and write a lot. 2) Find a good story and tell it well. While being in power is the aim of every political party in a democracy, the BJPs national footprint levies greater responsibility on the party than a wanton pursuit of power. The BJP has walked into a trap in Jammu and Kashmir. It is fair to say that troika of PDP, NC and Congress has not only succeeded in upsetting BJPs calculations, it has also notched up a tactical win over BJP by forcing the governor to dissolve the Assembly an outcome that both the NC and PDP were looking for and the BJP wanted to avoid. To understand why the states key players acted in the way they did lets rewind to 19 June this year when the BJP pulled out of the ruling coalition with the PDP, withdrew support to the Mehbooba Mufti government and the chief minister had to step down. Since then, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has been kept in a state of suspended animation. This suited the BJP for reasons more than one. It was clear to the partys top leadership that its alliance with the PDP wasnt working. Whats more, it had generated enough toxins to harm the saffron outfits Hindu base in Jammu and had allowed the Congress to eat into its political capital. But preventing an erosion of its base wasnt the only reason that motivated the BJP. It had a much larger aim. The BJP had been trying to break the duopoly of PDP and NC in Valley and engineer an alternative to the two mainstream political parties by propping up a third force in the form of Peoples Conference, whose leader Sajad Lone seems to have gained BJPs trust. PC has just two MLAs, but BJPs calculation was incumbent on an assumption that it may be able to manoeuvre a split within the PDP by encouraging some disgruntled PDP MLAs to walk out and join Lone and rewrite the script of Jammu and Kashmir politics. It obviously helped BJPs cause to keep the Assembly suspended, not dissolved, as it stepped up efforts to factionalise the PDP. This process had begun in right earnest from the moment Mufti had had to step down. Two weeks after the BJP-PDP breakup, Sameer Yasir had reported in Firstpost that PDP which has 28 MLAs is headed towards a vertical split with former minister and north Kashmir MLA Imran Raza Ansari leading the faction against Muftis dynastic rule. He claimed to have support from many MLAs. Three days later, the rebels were reportedly ready to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir with BJPs help and Lones name was proposed as the chief minister. A restive Mufti issued a warning to BJP that engineering a split in her party will have extremely dangerous consequences. In the civic body elections that were held in October and boycotted by both PDP and NC, BJP won 53 out of 132 wards in south Kashmir and gained an unprecedented control over at least four of the 20 civic bodies in the four districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian. The turnout was low in the Valley, but the polls were largely peaceful. The results were a huge setback to the NC and PDP. As ORF fellow Khalid Shah wrote, Despite the criticism on the credibility of the elections, the PDP and NC cannot ignore one stark truth: through the boycott of elections, they have ceded space to the BJP, its allies and the Congress party. Historically, the Congress party has had a considerable political foothold in the Kashmir, it is the gains made by the BJP and its ally Peoples Conference which is more worrying for the PDP and the NC. It is in this backdrop that we must place the recent developments that were triggered the moment PDP heavyweight Muzaffar Hussain Baig hinted that he may join hands with PC chief Lone and stake claim to form the government in the state. The PDP co-founder was quoted, as saying that he was hurt and disillusioned by the failure of the alliance (with the BJP) and Muftis decision to boycott the polls without consulting him when he was just a phone call away. Baigs exit from the party he co-founded would be a crippling blow to Mufti. PDPs vertical split, in that case, would be inevitable. His comments sparked a chain reaction that ended with Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolving the Assembly on Wednesday evening, moment after both Sajad Lone and Mufti had staked separate claims to form a government. While Lone claimed to have support from 18 other lawmakers along with BJPs 25, PDP cobbled up an alliance with arch-rivals NC and Congress. It is difficult to dismiss the impression that Muftis claim that was sent over Twitter since the fax machine at governors house was apparently not working was less of an attempt to give Jammu and Kashmir a stable government and more of an effort to force a dissolution of the Assembly that serves her (and PDPs) immediate political purpose. Having ceded ground to the BJP and PC in civic body polls, both mainstream regional outfits were in danger of submitting their duopoly over the Valley and falling into irrelevance with PDP facing the additional strain of an impending split. That this wasnt a serious claim was further borne by the fact that Congress is still apparently iffy about joining the alliance. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was quoted, as saying that no final decision has been taken and the proposal is only at the stage of a suggestion. NC leader Omar Abdullah, too, reportedly told The Print that PDP had made a grand alliance offer, but we turned it down. If the three parties were trying to bluff the governor into dissolving the Assembly, Malik has obliged. The BJP wont be too unhappy with the developments, considering the fact that Assembly polls in the state can now be held simultaneously with the general elections. The saffron unit clearly hopes to ride that momentum. The governors haste, though, raises a few larger questions. Few would buy Maliks claim that he wasnt acting under instructions from Delhi. His refusal to accept the purported fax from Mufti claiming that there was no one to receive it on a holiday while at the same time managing to send a fax ordering the dissolution of the Assembly is an act unbecoming of his office. The episode portrays the BJP as a party desperate to retain power and not averse to scheming for it. While being in power is the aim of every political party in a democracy, the BJPs national footprint levies greater responsibility on the party than a wanton pursuit of power. It may or may not succeed in cobbling up a third front in Kashmir, but it has ended up causing a consolidation of power among Opposition, so much so that even arch-rivals are finding common grounds. This is a double-edged sword. A far better option for the BJP would have to let Mufti form a government backed by a shaky alliance and be ready to move in when that alliance collapses under the weight of its contradictions. Through the governors actions, it has now given Opposition a stick to beat it with during the Winter Session. Moreover, Maliks assertion that he cannot allow opposing political ideologies to form an unstable government is strange, given the fact that nationalist BJP had no qualms in forming a government with soft-separatist PDP. Why wasnt this objection raised in the past? We have not reached the last chapter of Jammu and Kashmir thriller but the lesson for BJP is clear. As the dominant force in national politics, at times it needs to play the waiting game instead of rushing in. Chandrababu Naidu-led government has recently withdrawn the 'general consent' accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct raids and carry out investigations in the state. Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday accused the BJP-led NDA government of converting the Central Bureau of Investigation into a "collection bureau" and damaging the independence of the Reserve Bank of India. The state government had recently withdrawn the "general consent" accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct raids and carry out investigations in the state. "An official of the CBI himself revealed the Prime Ministers Office's interference in the agency's functioning. The official filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on the interference of (National Security Adviser) Ajit Doval and the Union Law secretary," the CM said, referring to CBI DIG Manish Kumar Sinha's petition in the apex court levelling allegations against various top functionaries in the Alok Verma case. A Telugu Desam Party release said Naidu made these remarks during a teleconference with party leaders Wednesday. Hitting out at the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, the TDP supremo accused it of converting the CBI into a 'collection bureau' and damaging the independence of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). "Rafale is the country's biggest defence scandal. The BJP is pushing the country's security into peril. There is not one great programme that the Modi government has initiated in the 54 months of its rule," he said. He alleged that the Centre failed in controlling prices of petrol and diesel while the value of rupee depreciated tremendously. "All this has left the country's economy in shambles while common people are forced to bear undue (financial) burden, leading to a decline in their purchasing capacity," Naidu said. Naidu, who is striving to bring the opposition parties on a single platform to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, asked the TDP rank and file not to claim that he would become the prime minister. "I have made Andhra Pradesh number one in every aspect. My capabilities should be useful for the state only as I want it to become number one in the world," he said. The state government withdrew the "general consent" accorded to the CBI to conduct raids and carry out investigations in the state due to the recent allegations against the top officials of the country's premier investigation agency, state Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa recently said. BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao had alleged that the Chandrababu Naidu government's decision was a "clear malafide exercise of power" to ensure that its "corruption" was not exposed. Ram Madhav and Omar Abdullah leaders clashed on Twitter, a day after Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. New Delhi: Ram Madhav took back his remarks on asking Omar Abdullah to prove his allegation that the National Conference boycotted the local polls in Jammu and Kashmir at Pakistan's behest, after the two leaders clashed on Twitter, a day after Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Just landed@Aizawl n saw this. Now tht u deny any external pressure I take back my comment, bt, now tht u proved it ws genuine love btw NC n PDP tht prompted a failed govt formation attempt,u shud fight nxt elections 2gether. Mind u its pol comnt,not personal https://t.co/DsOYiwwXmo Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2018 Earlier Omar Abdullah had asked the BJP leader to apologise for his remarks. The surprise move came hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress, followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. Madhav reportedly alleged that the PDP and the NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Fresh instructions were given to both parties from across the border to come together and form government in Jammu and Kashmir, he was quoted as saying. Countering Madhav's allegation, Abdullah said he dared the BJP's pointsman for the state to prove his allegation. "You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Don't practice shoot & scoot politics," Abdullah tweeted. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister's remarks prompted a response from Madhav, who said he was not questioning Abdullah's patriotism. "Just take it in your stride @OmarAbdullah Not questioning your patriotism at all. But d sudden love between NC n PDP n d hurry to form government leads to many suspicions n political comments. Not to offend u," Madhav tweeted and added an emoji with a toothy smile. Abdullah did not seem amused. "You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Don't practice shoot & scoot politics," Abdullah tweeted. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister's remarks prompted a response from Madhav, who said he was not questioning Abdullah's patriotism. "Just take it in your stride @OmarAbdullah Not questioning your patriotism at all. But d sudden love between NC n PDP n d hurry to form government leads to many suspicions n political comments. Not to offend u," Madhav tweeted and added an emoji with a toothy smile. Abdullah did not seem amused. "No, misplaced attempts at humour won't work. You HAVE claimed my party has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pak behest in public domain," he tweeted. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar later in the day, the NC leader repeated his demand for an apology from Madhav. "You cannot undermine the sacrifices made by National Conference workers in protecting the sovereignty of this country. He must apologise," he said. With inputs from PTI In a strange turn of events amid the political turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir, both PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and JKPC's Sajjad Gani Lone had to send the letters staking claim to form the government in the state through email and WhatsApp respectively as the fax machine at the Raj Bhavan in Jammu 'didn't receive' them. What came as a bizarre political development in Jammu and Kashmir, when official communique were sent and shared over social media Twitter and WhatsApp to be specific turned even more outlandish when Governor Satya Pal Malik said that since there was "absence of staff" due to Eid holidays, he missed Mehbooba Mufti's letter staking claim to form the government. Malik said that he would not allow a government to be formed on defections. The governor also said that he dissolved the Assembly for the interest of the state and it was in keeping with the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Let's do a quick recap of how things unfolded since Wednesday evening: PDP chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti send official communique to the Raj Bhawan (via fax) staking claim to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir A little later (time unknown), Mehbooba tweeted the letter and said: Have been trying to send this letter to Rajbhavan. Strangely the fax is not received. Tried to contact HE Governor on phone. Not available. Hope you see it @jandkgovernorpic.twitter.com/wpsMx6HTa8 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 21, 2018 Mehbooba also claimed that she had sent the letter by email too: Sending the letter also by mail https://t.co/116mpfOrpo Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 21, 2018 Soon after, Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference leader Sajjad Gani Lone also tried sending his letter staking claim to form the government (via fax) but after receiving no response, sent a copy of the letter to the personal assistant of Malik on WhatsApp. In a few minutes after the two letters were made public, Malik dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. The dramatic situation of an out-of-order fax machine at the Governor's office and governments being formed on social media, sent Twitterati into a tizzy. What was curious was Malik's instant order dissolving the state Assembly soon after complaints of a faulty fax machine went viral. Even Mehbooba in her tweets noted that even though the fax machine was out of order, it did not take too long for the Governor to send an order on dissolving the state Assembly. PS - In todays age of technology, it is very strange that the fax machine at HE Governors residence didnt receive our fax but swiftly issued one regarding the assembly dissolution. 4/4 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 21, 2018 In his defence, Malik said that his office was shut because of Eid so he got "no communication from Mehbooba". "She could have approached me any other day...On a holiday no one was sitting next to fax machine," he said. He further added that there was no one even to "give me food". We think that's when everyone was ready to call the Governor's bluff. Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference chief Omar Abdullah, while taking a jibe at Malik's claim that he missed Mehbooba's correspondence because his fax machine was not working, said that many things had killed democracy in Jammu and Kashmir, but this was a first when a fax machine did the job. He said that Malik apparently had a one-way fax machine which could send the governor's recommendation to Delhi, but failed to receive Mehbooba's letter. He, however, added that now NC does not even have any option but to look for light humour in the situation. "But this is in no way a matter that can be laughed off," he said on Thursday. Click here to follow LIVE updates on Jammu and Kashmir politics Omar also expressed surprise over the governor's decision to dissolve the Assembly minutes after the letters were sent to him. "(JK)NC has been pressing for assembly dissolution for months now. It cant be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti sahiba letter staking claim the order to dissolve the assembly suddenly appears," Abdullah tweeted on Wednesday. Further, reacting sarcastically to the situation, Abdullah share a GIF on Twitter of a fax machine receiving a document and subsequently throwing it into a shredder. Raj Bhavan Jammu fax machine at work pic.twitter.com/RyLOhvQinc Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 21, 2018 He then shared a meme to mock the Governor's silence on the political developments, until he finally decided to dissolve the Assembly. Reporters from Jammu and Kashmir, who are familiar with the functioning of the Raj Bhawan, said that the staff are predominantly Hindu and don't usually take holidays on Eid. Even if that wasn't the case, it is a difficult to believe that the first citizen of the state was left without any staff and was forced to feed himself and run basic errands such as collecting a fax from his office. But Malik mentioned that even if he had got the fax, his "decision would have been the same" since "he had decided not to allow any government on the basis of "defections or loose arrangements". The titular Nawab of Tonk, Aftab Ali Khan, urged the members of his clan to vote for Pilot. The family has a significant influence in the town but it is not politically involved. Jaipur: The erstwhile royal family of Tonk has extended support to Congress candidate Sachin Pilot who is contesting the upcoming Assembly election from Tonk constituency in Rajasthan. The titular Nawab of Tonk, Aftab Ali Khan, urged the members of his clan to vote for Pilot. The family has a significant influence in the town but it is not politically involved. "The future belongs to youths and...we are with Pilot. The public is wiser than any political leader and they know the ethos and problems of Tonk. Pilot has represented Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency and he too understands Tonk well," Khan told PTI. He said there was no industry in the town, and education was also a problem. "I believe Pilot is the most suitable candidate for resolving these issues," Khan, who is the patron of Anjuman (society) Khandan-e-Amiria Tonk, said. Anjuman is the official body of the clan which has 8,500 registered members. The BJP has fielded transport minister Yoonus Khan, who is the party's only Muslim face in the elections, against Pilot on the Tonk seat. Dominated by Muslims, Tonk is one of the keenly watched constituencies, where the Congress's state president and Yoonus Khan are pitted against each other in the election. In October, senior Congress leader Sanjay Sinh said his party never opposed the Ram temple. Congress leader CP Joshi caused controversy on Wednesday when he claimed that if any government could deliver on the promise of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, it would be under a Congress prime minister. Joshi, invoking a controversial chapter from Congress' past, said, "It was Rajiv Gandhi who opened the lock of the Babri Masjid premise and allowed religious rites inside the disputed structure. Only a Congress prime minister can get the temple built." That statement seems to be an about-turn from the party's carefully held positionat least in recent timesthat it welcomes a Supreme Court verdict on the issue. In early November, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said no Hindu text condones the use of violence to get one's way and scriptures say people should build Ram in their hearts. "In fact, if anything, there is a scripture that says build Ram in your heart. And if Ram is built in our heart it should little matter where else he is or he is not, because he is everywhere," Tharoor said in an exclusive interview to PTI. The Congress MP was responding to a question about his recent remark that no good Hindu would want a temple at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site. In October, senior Congress leader Sanjay Sinh said his party never opposed the Ram temple and wanted an 'amicable solution' to the issue, according to a report in The Times of India. However, a little over a decade ago, the Congress sang a different tune during a controversy over the Sethusamudram project, when it told the Supreme Court Valmiki's tale lacked 'historical veracity'and that there was no historical evidence to establish the existence of Lord Rama or the other characters in Ramayana. ASI in its affidavit filed through ASI Director (monuments) C Dorjee stated, "The petitioners while seeking relief have primarily relied upon the contents of the Valmiki Ramayana, the Ram Charit Manas by Tulsidas and mythological texts, which formed an important part of ancient Indian literature, but which cannot be said to be historical records to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters or the occurrence of the event, depicted therein." Interestingly, in 1993, only a month after the Babri Masjid was brought down by kar sevaks, the then Congress government brought an ordinance for a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, which was opposed by the BJP. The Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Ordinance was promulgated by then president Shankar Dayal Sharma on 7 January, 1993. Later, a bill was introduced in Parliament by then Union home minister SB Chavan. The BJP stridently opposed the ordinance and the Act, with then BJP vice-president SS Bhandari called it "partisan, petty and perverse". The times, they have changed. With inputs from PTI The governor's decision to dissolve the state Assembly reflects the enduring political uncertainty in Jammu and Kashmir In a surprising development, Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the state Assembly on Wednesday night. The governor's decision followed the staking of claims by rival coalitions Sajjad Lone of the Peoples Conference aligning with the BJP and PDP rebels on one hand, and Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP forming a grand coalition with the National Conference and Congress on the other. The attempts to form a coalition had gathered steam in the past few days, as the six month validity of Governor's Rule was coming to an end. In the event of inability to form a government, Governor's Rule would have given way to the promulgation of President's Rule. The governor's decision to dissolve the state Assembly reflects the enduring political uncertainty in Jammu and Kashmir. This is particularly true for the Kashmir Valley, where rival mainstream political parties the Congress, NC and PDP continue to grapple with the BJPs determined push in the region, against all odds. The reason for the BJP's persistence is the willingness of some of the political leaders in the Valley, who have no particular aversion to the BJP, and who ultimately desire political power at any cost. After the breakup of the BJP-PDP alliance in June this year, it was an open secret that the BJP's central leadership was trying to cobble up another coalition in the state with Lone and some 'willing' rebels within the PDP. While Lone was a ready candidate to become the chief minister, the BJP found it difficult to make the 'willing' rebels split the PDP wide open. The BJPs central leadership thought that with many of the candidates (whom it backed) winning urban municipal body seats in various parts of the Valley, that victory would decisively turn the tide for the party. And events of the past few days suggested that the BJP's dream of forming another government was going to fructify soon. Power always trumps politics, but the ongoing political machinations in the Kashmir Valley bear out this axiom even more vividly. What threw the spanner in the BJP's works was the extraordinary compromise or the political opportunism depending on which side you are on that was demonstrated by the regional rivals PDP and NC with the blessings of the Congress. Till a few days ago, such a compromise would have been unimaginable, and unviable, if you believe BJP-backed sources. In the emerging political scenario, both the PDP and National Conference sensed a political opportunity to decisively shut the BJP out of the Valley. The potential arrangement would have worked in every party's favour. The PDP would have been able to wash its hands off the 'unpardonable' sin of holding Kashmir's doors open for the BJP in the first place, and regain its lost credibility. The National Conference would have further burnished its claim of being the only pole of power capable of taking on the BJP in the Valley. More importantly, both the PDP and National Conference would have been able to thwart the efforts to prop up a third regional political force in the Valley. Meanwhile, the Congress would have found another opportunity to cock a snook at the BJP's political game plan of 'Congress-mukt Bharat'. The fact that the PDP-Congress-National Conference grand alliance seemed to secure the necessary numbers, including some from the 'willing' rebels of the PDP whom the BJP was wooing, once again shows that BJPs central leadership continues to underestimate or miscalculate the Valley's aversion to its right-wing agenda. It is important to note that even after close to five years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi proactively wooing Kashmiris, the statesman the state still recalls warmly is the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was Vajpayee, who chose hope over fear, principles over power, compromise over confrontation and empathy over harshness. Modi's approach, often confined to binaries such as tourism not terrorism, and youths should have laptops not stones in their hands meanwhile only evoked ridicule and pessimism among Kashmiris. The decision to dissolve the state Assembly has to be seen in this context. It reflects sour grapes for the BJP that failed to cobble up the requisite numbers and found it safer to deny its rivals a chance. This embarrassment will hopefully provide some lessons to the party's central leadership that was presented four-and-a-half years ago with a golden opportunity to restore normalcy to Jammu and Kashmir and substantially improve India's national security outlook. Instead it chose politics as its strategy to deal with Kashmir and today the results are evident. The Kashmir of 2018 is a faint reflection of the Kashmir of 2014, rather a strong mirror image of Kashmir of 1989. The BJP has already faced a setback in another region of the state that often claims to have been ignored by the Kashmir-dominated state politics. In Ladakh, the BJP's only MP Thupstan Chhewang resigned recently, days after the party failed to open its account in the Leh and Kargil municipal bodies. Clearly, a lot needs to be done now for the party to reclaim its lost ground in Jammu and Kashmir. Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to raise the issue of digital economy development and outline his vision of the situation in the international trade system at the G20 summit, set to take place in Buenos Aires on November 30-December 1, Russian G20 Sherpa Svetlana Lukash told reporters on Thursday, TASS reports. "We have proposals, which the President will voice at the summit," she added, pointing out that the Russian side "aims to actively engage in the discussion." The Sherpa also said that the program of the entire summit will take two days and comprise five main sessions of different formats. "Generally, the priorities of Argentina's G20 Presidency are focused on the issues of a fair and sustainable development of the world," she emphasized. "Weve tried to assess how the world is going to develop in the next 10 years given the current challenges, primarily those related to digitalization of the economy, how labor markets will change and how people need to be adapted to it, and which steps governments should do about that." Lukash added that this time the summit will open with informal talks, involving only the leaders of G20 states and Spain. The purpose of this format is to build a dialogue on the development of the world for the next decade given technological transformation in the global economy. There are no political issues on the summits agenda, the Sherpa stated, noting however that such issues, as migration, etc., could still be addressed. In Jammu and Kashmir, conflict is an unending story, and that has led to a political history, bringing Governor's Rule to the Valley repeatedly. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik has claimed that parties in the violence-torn state had attempted "to gain power rather than form a responsive government", citing this as one the reasons for dissolving the Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly. Referring to the alliance of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), National Conference (NC) and the Indian National Congress, he highlighted the "impossibility" of these parties with "opposing political ideologies" some of which had once demanded the dissolution of the Assembly themselves forming a stable new government in the state. The eighth spell of Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir began after Mehbooba Mufti resigned as the chief minister in June. In an event of the failure of the constitutional machinery in the state, President's Rule is imposed under Article 356 of the Constitution. But in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, Governor's Rule is imposed in the state for six months only with the president's consent, and this converts to President's Rule after this six-month period. Governor Malik's comments require more than a situational analysis. Can a figure head make a decision that affects the constitutional functioning of the state simply based on the competing, or complementing, ideologies of different political parties and boldly assert the same in public? His remarks are symptomatic of a larger problem the roots of which lie in the evolution of Indian polity to what it has become today. Critiques of the role have repeatedly raised doubts about the political and ideological neutrality of governors. Section 49 of the Government of India Act, 1935, had stated that a governor will exercise the executive authority of a province on behalf of His Majesty (George V). This was the insertion of a federal principle in the Constitution, wherein the provinces derive powers directly from the sovereign. Article 164 of the Constitution of India based on Section 51 of the Government of India Act, 1935, says: "The governor's ministers shall be chosen and summoned by him, shall be sworn as members of the council and shall hold office during his pleasure." Even though the discretion of the governor seemed wide, debates on this provision in 1949 didn't delve deeper into this point. In his book Constitutional Law of India, HM Seervai pointed out that it was only after the Congress' defeat in the 1967 elections and the rise of independents that there were problems in exercising the governor's power. "As the president acts on the advice of his ministry, it may be contended that if the governor takes action contrary to the policy of the Union ministry, he would risk being removed from his post as governor, and therefore, he is likely to follow the advice of the Union ministry." The pretence of political and ideological neutrality by governors is an outcome of the power dynamics hidden within the creation of the role itself. Seervai wrote: "It is submitted that a responsible Union ministry would not advise, and would not be justified in advising, the removal of a governor because in the honest discharge of his duty, the governor takes action that does not fall in line with the policy of the Union ministry." Seervai mentioned that Article 356(1) was designed to secure that if the governor was pursuing policies detrimental to the state or to India, the president would remove the governor from office and appoint another. "This power takes the place of an impeachment, which clearly is a power to be exercised in rare and exceptional circumstances." In making a report to the president under Article 356(1), the governor acts not only as the head of the state but also as the representative of the Centre, bound by the oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law". There's a duality along with a fluidity to the role of a governor that leads to such problems. AP Jain, former Governor of Kerala, had flown from Thiruvananthapuram to New Delhi in 1967 to extend support to Indira Gandhi's consent for prime ministership. When the media had called him out for it, Jain had claimed to have accepted the post under pressure from Lal Bahadur Shastri in the "interest of the nation". Furthermore, the Congress had allowed former Governor of Bihar RD Bhandare to publicly disapprove of certain ministers in 1973, and another former governor of the same heartland state, MA Ayyangar, had showed his favour for MP Sinha's non-Congress government and was somehow denied an extension by the Centre. This points to whether the governor can even take a stand in the interest of the state without risking losing his post or without disrupting constitutional bounds. When VV Giri was the Governor of Kerala, he had approached the Planning Commission, which had allotted only Rs 105 crore to the state in its third plan. After his vigorous debate at the governor's conference, demanding at least Rs 200 crore for the state's development programmes, Jawaharlal Nehru had asked him whether he was threatening the Centre. While speaking before the constituent Assembly, India's finance minister from 1956 to 1958, TT Krishnamachari, had remarked, "I would at once disclaim all ideas, at any rate so far as I am concerned, that we in this House want the future governor who is to be nominated by the president to be in any sense an agent of the central government. I would like that point to be made very clear because such an idea finds no place in the scheme of the government we envisage for the future." In this backdrop of the historic complexity of this role, it becomes all the more difficult to establish the political neutrality and objectivity in a governor's position. In the State of Rajasthan versus Union of India case, Justice Bhagwati had conceded that the inclusion of the word "otherwise" in Article 356 gave the president radically drastic powers which, if misused, can damage the constitutional equilibrium between the Union and states. The framers of the Constitution are responsible for what outlines the political events of the day, especially in states like Goa and Karnataka where none of the parties won a clear majority and the governor had to play a key role. The Sarkaria Commission, set up to balance powers between the central and state governments in 1983, had by and large recommended a status quo in Centre-state relations, especially in fields pertaining to legislative matters, and had stressed that a powerful Centre is a powerful nation. In his book Governor's Role in the Indian Constitution, Sibranjan Chatterjee articulated that to understand how governors execute their powers, one has to give Constituent Assembly debates considerable significance. "One has to search for more reliable cues beyond mere history and formal constitutional design. The role is embedded in the midst of a constellation of forces surrounding it," he wrote, adding that the governor's position evolves to the tune of Centre-state relations along with the state of the domestic politics of a particular state. In Jammu and Kashmir, conflict is an unending story, and that has led to a political history, bringing Governor's Rule to the Valley repeatedly. Governor's Rule was first imposed in the state in March 1977, when the Congress withdrew support to late the Sheikh Abdullah-led National Conference (NC). LK Jha had then taken over as the governor for three months. In July 1984, Sheikh Abdullah's son-in-law, Ghulam Muhammad Shah, overthrew the then chief minister, Farooq Abdullah, with the help of 26 Congress MLAs and 12 NC legislators, who were labelled as turncoats. But in March 1986, the Congress withdrew support. Subsequently, the state was administered under Jagmohan for about six months. After the stipulated time, President's Rule was imposed on 6 September, 1986, before the Farooq-led NC came to power following yet another accord with the Rajiv Gandhi-led central government. The deeper the political twists and turns within a state, the less latent the ideological divides, and the greater the need to build apolitical bridges between the Centre and state to maintain peace and prioritise people's welfare and development. However, incumbent Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik's comment has a history of errors and egos behind it, and however unconstitutional it may seem, it cannot be criticised in isolation. The timing of Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik dissolving the Assembly makes it clear that he moved under orders to forestall the formation of a government that would prove inimical to the BJP's calculations. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik played willing marionette to the two puppeteers who, between them, aspire to run an Opposition-mukt Bharat to use the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) infelicitous but revealing terminology and dissolved the state Assembly within hours of three parties coming together to stake acclaim to form a fresh government. Since the BJP-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government was dissolved in June, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly kept in suspended animation and Governor's Rule imposed in the state, Malik was not bound by the convention of recommending the dissolution of the Assembly on the advice of the chief minister and state cabinet because neither existed. He took a hurried call on the orders of Delhi in other words, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The dissolution deprived the PDP the opportunity to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir again. Before dissolving the House, the governor had refused to acknowledge a faxed letter from PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who had been the chief minister before alliance partner BJP withdrew support. Malik had also refused to take calls from her, forcing the PDP leader to tweet the letter. Important political and constitutional issues lie at the heart of Malik's move. Legally and constitutionally, Malik can say he was well within his rights to dissolve the Assembly. But what Malik and his Delhi minders perpetrated was what is called in legalese as either a "fraud on power" or the "illegal use of power". Essentially, this means that legitimately available power was exercised, but it was done in the pursuit of illegitimate goals. If the governor had thought that the state's constitutional machinery had broken down, he should have sent a report to the Centre recommending the dissolution of the House. That is the normal procedure. Even when a state is to be brought under Governor's Rule illegitimately as in the extant case the Centre usually waits for the governor to send a rigged report. In this case, no report was sought, or, it appears, submitted in writing. However, the point is that if Malik had wanted the Assembly dissolved, he should have made the recommendation in August, after taking over the gubernatorial reins., or his predecessor NN Vohra should have done so. In fact, enough people had demanded the dissolution of the Assembly, including National Conference leader Omar Abdullah. The timing of the dissolution makes it clear that Malik moved under orders willingly or otherwise to forestall the formation of a government that would prove inimical to the BJP's calculations. By dissolving the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Malik ignored admittedly dodgy precedents set elsewhere by his BJP masters. Take Bihar. In 2015, an alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and Congress had swept the state elections and formed a coalition government. In July 2017, barely two years later, in a move clearly orchestrated by outgoing and incoming chief minister Nitish Kumar and BJP leaders, Nitish disbanded the "grand alliance" by resigning as chief minister and was sworn in hours later in the same position, but with the BJP as his new ally. No gubernatorial compunctions seemed to have been experienced in showing the green light to this utterly unprincipled manoeuvre a blatant betrayal of the 2015 mandate. Let's take Goa and Manipur next. In Goa, the Congress won 17 of the 40 Assembly seats and the BJP, 13. The BJP got nine legislators on its side three each from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Goa Forward Party and three independents. Armed with a list of 22, it was invited to form a government, which it duly did. No reservations were expressed about this opportunist post-poll alliance. In Manipur, the Congress had won 28 seats out of 60, while the BJP had bagged 21. The Congress' outgoing chief minister, Ibobi Singh, had staked claim to form a government as the leader of the party that had won the largest number of seats. His claim was ignored, and the BJP was given time to initiate its practiced politics of manipulation. Ultimately, the BJP formed a government in Manipur with the support of the National People's Party (four MLAs), Lok Janshakti Party and Trinamool Congress (one each), a Congress MLA, who strangely enough did not invite the provisions of the anti-defection law, and independents. BJP governor Najma Heptullah did not seem to be worried about the fragility or stability of this coalition of convenience. Now take Jammu and Kashmir, as a matter fact. When the PDP and BJP decided to form a coalition government, no questions were raised by the governor about this decidedly surreal alliance. If you really stretch yourself, you can find some common ground between the PDP and National Conference they are both Kashmiri parties; both are committed to some notion of Kashmiri exceptionalism and autonomy; and both are wary of the BJP's Jammu-based Hindutva agenda, sharing, as they do, the same kind of social constituencies. Also, the PDP and Congress have been allies in the past. But by what stretch of imagination did the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir decide that the PDP and BJP, who are ideologically and programmatically on absolutely opposite ends of the spectrum, could form a "stable" government? The imagination boggles. Now, the BJP, in its avatar of the central government, and its man in Srinagar are voicing concerns about the stability of an alliance between the PDP, National Conference and Congress. One newspaper has reported that the central government views this coalition as detrimental to the political situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Of course it does. But not because the "arrangement" would be riven by "contradictions". The BJP and the central government are concerned because the new arrangement would have shut the BJP out and brought an end to its ongoing attempts to use People's Conference chief Sajjad Lone as a cat's paw to induce PDP legislators into his party and form a government with BJP support. In the process, the BJP has continued with its serial subversion of institutions. From the governor's post an unnecessary colonial residue inserted into the polity under the Government of India Act, 1935 to police-elected provincial governments have been politicised for some time now. Indira Gandhi most famously used it to unseat state dispensations she did not favour the unseating of the Charan Singh government in 1970, despite the chief minister having the support of the Jana Sangh, the Congress (O) and the Sangathana Socialist Party, may have been a straw in the wind then. But after returning to power in 1980, she cynically manipulated constitutional provisions to unseat several governments. The BJP's manoeuvre bears all the fingerprints of Indira's style of functioning. What will transpire now is not yet clear. Someone or the other could move court against the dismissal of the Assembly, which would make logical sense. The Congress and National Conference may be content to wait things out for another six months, by when state elections will have to be held. But allowing the BJP to hold the reins for six months through Malik should be a sobering thought. In a general sense, the Jammu and Kashmir situation, once again, proves one thing though that the more the BJP becomes like the unreconstructed Indira Congress, especially of 1980s vintage, the shriller its absurd spokespersons become in their denunciations of the Congress and its historical legacy, never mind the fact that the present-day Congress has shed a lot of that baggage. By trying to contact the Jammu and Kashmir governor through social media, both sides defied conventional procedures of staking a claim to form a government as laid down by the Constitution. Constitutional and legal experts have clearly underlined that the use of social media tools such as WhatsApp, Twitter or Instagram is not only unconstitutional but has no legal validity. This renders as unconstitutional the claims that Peoples Demoscratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and People's Conference chief Sajad Lone had made via Twitter and WhatsApp on Wednesday evening to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir. Along with the debate raging in the country today on the constitutionality of Governor Satya Pal Malik's dissolution of the Assembly Wednesday night, equally important is a debate on the legality of the use of social media to stake claim to form the government. While Mufti, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, cited a non-functional fax machine at the Raj Bhawan as a reason, Lone sent his claim on WhatsApp presumably to get the timing right as the other parties in the fray were rumoured to have been preparing for possible government formation. This was a first-of-its-kind attempt by any political party to reach out to a governor to stake claim to form the government. "In this case, both sides have defied conventional procedures of staking a claim to form a government as laid down by the Constitution," constitutional expert SK Sharma told Firstpost. "As in the case of a resignation, where an MP or an MLA has to appear physically before the Speaker of the Assembly and handover the letter, in this case, too, one has to meet the governor in person, along with the letter of support from other parties or leaders as proof, to claim one's stake in forming government. In both cases, the formalities cannot be met by sending a letter by post or an email. The use of social media tools, which is a recent phenomenon, is out of question as it has not yet been officially permitted. First, the government has to allow the use of these technological modes of communication in such cases," he explained. Jammu and Kashmir has been under Governor's Rule since June, after the BJP withdrew support to coalition partner PDP. The Assembly, which had two more years to go, has been in suspended animation since then. Legal experts also share a similar view on the use and legality of social media tools in constitutional matters. "Formation of a government is a serious issue. Both the Constitution and the Supreme Court have clearly addressed the procedures that should be followed. Jammu and Kashmir has been under Governor's Rule for the past five months. The Constitution doesn't prohibit the formation of an alternative government, but the process must adhere to the laid down provisions of the House and judgments passed by the Supreme Court. Neither is it mentioned anywhere, nor has any amendment been brought in to allow the use of WhatsApp and Twitter to stake claim to form a government," Supreme Court counsel Sandeep Mahapatra told Firstpost. Referring to the SR Bommai case, where the Supreme Court, in its landmark verdict, had categorically ruled that the floor of the Assembly is the only forum that should test the majority of the government of the day, and not the subjective opinion of the governor, the counsel said that by violating the established norms, the imputing motive is unfounded. "If one is so confident about numbers, one should seek an appointment with the governor and meet him with the letter of support from other parties, rather than texting messages using Twitter or WhatsApp. These social media tools can't be used on any pretext, as it has no legal standing at present," Mahapatra added. After the enactment of the Information Technology Act, which recognises electronic communication as evidence, Indian courts have allowed parties in a litigation to serve notices through email, besides the traditional methods. However, no such provision has been made for constitutional matters like the formation of a government, or the resignation of an MP or MLA. As for the courts, the Bombay High Court, in June, accepted the service of a notice in an execution application through WhatsApp after finding that the notice, served in the form of a PDF, was not only delivered, but the attachment was opened and its content read. In March, a Delhi court had permitted a woman complainant to serve summons to her estranged husband in Australia related to a domestic violence case through WhatsApp to allow for speedy deliverance. The court had also observed that the "blue double tick on the message" showed that the summons had been delivered and read. "A few high courts have recently allowed the use of WhatsApp to deliver summons and not for any other purposes. It has not been tested yet in constitutional matters like in this case of staking claim to form a government. Mehbooba Mufti claimed she had to use Twitter as the fax machine of the governor's house was non-functional. As both the governor and Mufti are in Srinagar, she should have taken an appointment with him to present her case as per the protocol," Mahapatra pointed out. Constitutional and legal experts believe that both the PDP-National Conference-Congress combine or the People's Conference, backed by the BJP, had resorted to using social media instead of following the legal route as they were in a hurry to stake claim and checkmate the other. Constitutional expert SK Sharma highlighted that WhatsApp was already inundated with fake news and messages, which seriously undermined the credibility of its use in constitutional matters. Therefore, until the use of social media is legalised, exercising discretion is advised. The abortive bid by Mehbooba Mufti to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir has given her party a leg up in the state. The National Conference (NC) and Congress have slammed Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik over the dissolution of the state Assembly. However, the statements of the two parties in the aftermath of the decision have raised doubts on whether the grand alliance of the NC, Congress and PDP would have lasted for long in the state. The decision of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to stake claim for government formation has, however, prevented a split in her party and could even notch up the electoral prospects of the PDP. The governor dissolved the Assembly after claiming that he had received reports of horse-trading, and expressed fears that such a government would not have been stable. Following this, former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the PDP's proposal to form the government was "only at a suggestion stage." There was no final decision on the formation of the government. We had sought a meeting on 23 November on the suggestion, said Azad. However, the abortive bid by Mufti to form the government has given her party a leg up in the state. Mufti wrote a letter to the governor claiming the support of both the Congress and NC for government formation, even when the other two parties had said that the final shape of the coalition government had not been worked out. On Wednesday, senior PDP leader Altaf Bukhari was not forthcoming about the details which had been worked out on the formation of an alliance. Though Bukhari was believed to have met Abdullah to discuss the alliance, he said, It was an absolutely non-political meeting. I had called on him on Eid-e-Milad-un Nabi to wish him. He, however, said that the NC, Congress and PDP have agreed to form the coalition to defend the special identity of the state politically and legally. However, Mufti's claim to form the government has checked the rebellion within the PDP, and has also given the party ammunition to take on the BJP. PDP chief spokesperson Rafi Ahmad Mir, in response to a tweet on the dissolution of the Assembly, described the action of the governor as an unconstitutional move in haste that is nothing but abuse of constitutional powers. Abdullah said that the NC's support to the PDP helped the latter party. People were telling us that we were giving a new life to the PDP. We knew that the support to the PDP would have caused a major loss to the NC, but we set aside the interests of our party and thought about the interests of our state only, he said. The claim for government formation will also make the NCs attacks on the PDP for running an alliance with the BJP less convincing. Instead, the flurry of activity both prior to and after the dissolution of the Assembly has thrown up a new political alignment in the state. It is for the first time that two regional rival parties, NC and PDP, have come together. In the wake of a tie-up between the BJP and the Peoples Conference and the saffron partys inroads in Kashmir, the new rallying slogan for political parties in the state seems to be to preserve Jammu and Kashmir's special political status, and also keep the BJP away from power. Congress state vice-president GN Monga said that the party "will fight to preserve the special status of the state." He asserted, "We will never allow the BJP to make inroads in the state. We will fight for the protection of Article 35A, as it was the Congress which gave the provision to the state. The BJP claimed that PDP and Congress had contradictory stands on the dissolution and said the best option in Jammu and Kashmir is to have fresh Assembly polls at the earliest. Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a dramatic development on Wednesday night when the Assembly was suddenly dissolved. The move came after three mainstream parties PDP, National Conference, and Congress formed an alliance to stake claim to form a government, followed by another bid from BJP-backed Peoples Conference. Governor Satya Pal Malik drew flak from various political parties over his move. Though the PDP-NC-Congress criticised him and the Centre heavily, the BJP said it favoured polls at the earliest. Here are some of the reactions on the issue: 'Idea of grand coalition gave jitters' PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said that her party had been demanding the dissolution of the Assembly for the past five months. "Oddly enough our pleas fell on deaf ears. But who would have thought that the very idea of a grand coalition would give such jitters," she said in a series of tweets. In my twenty six year old career as a politician, I thought I had seen it all! But like they say never say never! Nevertheless, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to @OmarAbdullah and @Ambikasoni4 ji for helping us achieve the seemingly impossible. 1/4 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 21, 2018 National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said that the issuance of governor's order coming just minutes after Mufti's letter to him "can't be a coincidence". JKNC has been pressing for assembly dissolution for 5 months now. It cant be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba letter staking claim the order to dissolve the assembly suddenly appears. Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 21, 2018 'Polls at earliest best option' The BJP claimed that PDP and Congress had contradictory stands on the dissolution and said the best option in Jammu and Kashmir is to have fresh Assembly polls at the earliest. "This Assembly cannot produce a stable government," it said in a series of tweets. It termed the proposed alliance of the three parties as a "combination of terror-friendly parties" J&K needs a firm administration to deal with terrorism and not a combination of terror-friendly parties. BJP (@BJP4India) November 21, 2018 BJP leader Ram Madhav sparked a separate controversy on Thursday after alleging that the PDP and National Conference "probably had fresh instructions from across the border (Pakistan) to come together and form the government". He later retracted his statement after clashing with Abdullah on Twitter. 'Governor's move unconstitutional' Terming the decision to dissolve the Assembly as "unconstitutional, immoral and unethical", Congress leader Manish Tewari Thursday said it was a "murder of democracy". Decision of J&K Governor is unconstitutional. After 03 parties NC-PDP-INC staked claim to form Govt without giving them A chance to form Govt & prove majority to dissolve assembly is MURDER OF DEMOCRACY. MUST BE CHALLENGED IN COURT ASAP. @MehboobaMufti @OmarAbdullah @Ambikasoni4 Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) November 22, 2018 Dissolution of assembly in this manner is unconstitutional,immoral & unethical.A dangerous harbinger of things to come.Thank God founding fathers were wise enough not to provide for President s rule at Centre? Shudder to think what could hv happened when BJP looses 2019 @BDUTT https://t.co/7G0t8oVpbM Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) November 22, 2018 'Gujarat model appealed to Malik' Congress leader P Chidambaram also took a swipe at Malik's decision to dissolve the Assembly. The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K Governor P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 22, 2018 'BJP doesn't care about Constitution' Veteran politician Sharad Yadav on Thursday called the dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly a "murder of democracy". "Democracy has been murdered in Jammu and Kashmir by dissolving the aAsembly. I oppose and condemn the dissolution," said Yadav, currently heading his political outfit Loktantri Janata Dal, which he formed after parting ways with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led janata Dal (United) in 2016. Yadav said the BJP neither cares for the Constitution nor it has any respect for various institutions of the country. "What is the meaning of an election when the people's mandate was to be butchered by dissolving the Assembly? Similarly there is no meaning of the local bodies polls when the major political parties did not participate in it," he added. He said several things happening during the BJP's regime are against the democracy and mandate of the people. "People are fed up with the state of affairs in the country. I am unable to understand why the ruling party is not mending its way despite criticism of their actions by people from all walks of life," he added. 'Centre using governors as pawns' Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday described as Malik's action as "undemocratic and anti-people". The governor had a constitutional obligation to allow an opportunity for the PDP to prove its claims of majority. However, it was not examined, Vijayan said in a Facebook post. It is clear that the decision to dissolve the legislature, which had two more years left in its tenure, was taken when it became evident that a non-BJP government was going to be formed, he said. He alleged that the whole affair can be only be viewed as a "political game orchestrated by the Central government using governors as pawns." "The Jammu and Kashmir policy of the Central government is quite malevolent. The Centre is using the problems of Kashmir as a means for communal polarisation. These measures will only help alienate the people there," Vijayan said. 'Centre has worsened situation in state' The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) condemned the dissolution of the Assembly. "The action of the governor, dissolving the legislative Assembly, at the behest of the Centre, is an illegal and unconstitutional step," a CPM statement said. "The governor has no business to decide that parties with 'opposing ideologies' cannot form a suitable government... All that the governor can do is to ask the leader who is staking claim with majority support to prove that majority on the floor of the House. "By taking this authoritarian measure, the Narendra Modi government has further complicated and worsened the situation in the state," the statement said. With inputs from agencies Late Wednesday evening, Governor Satya Pal Malik announced the dissolution of the Assembly. Given the timing of the action, the governors motives seemed questionable. Desperation can take many forms. Some hit their heads against the wall, others throw stones, and yet others form political coalitions. Just months ago, anyone suggesting that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC) would come together on a common plank would have been hooted down as a novice on Kashmir affairs. Yet there it is, in black and white and on Twitter too, in case anyone has any doubts. Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted her letter staking a claim to form the government after she alleged all communication with Raj Bhawan was cut off. Late Wednesday evening, Governor Satya Pal Malik announced the dissolution of the Assembly. Given the timing of the action, the governors motives seemed questionable. Now it seems that black and white is not so reliable after all. Mehboobas claim that she had the numbers (56) to form the government with the support of Congress and the National Conference was denied by Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Ghulam Nabi Azad, who noted that his own party and NC met separately only a day earlier, and that no decision was taken on forming a grand coalition. NC leader Omar Abdullah stated he had provided no documentary support to the PDP. That pulls the rug from under Mehbooba, and the argument that the governor acted specifically to stop her. But the fact remains, that the governorwhos remit is to get political parties to form a government as soon as possibledissolved the Assembly at a time when the political activity was apparently occurring. It is worth examining the governors statements. First, he said he received no claims of government formation from anyone, and that the fax machine was probably not attended to on a holiday. It is true that everything moves at snail's pace in the state, particularly in government offices. But this particular statement is likely to make it quickly into history books. Second, he says it was the political parties themselves who wanted the Assembly dissolved, and which is immediately apparent in repeated statements by all concerned. The third argument is a little unsound in legal terms. The governor said he dissolved the Assembly to prevent unseemly horse-trading. If that were true, nearly every state election in India should be declared null and void. But that there was horse trading going on can't be denied. Mehbooba has raised it, and the sight of party stalwarts like Imran Reza Ansari defecting to the Third Front of the Sajad Lone-BJP combine is there for everyone to see. Horse-trading is nothing new, with MPs herded into resorts and hotels in various states. In Kashmir, however, this can quickly devolve into a bullets and grenades exercise. The fourth argument, as stated clearly in the Raj Bhawans statement is: The impossibility of forming a stable government by the coming together of political parties with opposing political ideologies including some which have been demanding dissolution of the Assembly. An examination of the party manifestos certainly indicates opposing ideologies: the PDP for instance centers its demands around self-rule, including closer ties across the Line of Control, a position that would be unacceptable to the Congress. But that did not prevent earlier coalitions under the late patriarch Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. The governors statement is not much of an argument. There is undoubtedly considerable truth in the view that a government cobbled to bring together such unsuitable allies as the NC and PDP would have had little chance of sustainability, particularly at the ground level. However, the point is that it is not up to the governor to take that call, even though legally, he assumes authority for any or all of the powers vested in or exercisable by any body of the State, which includes the safety and security of the State. It's a bit of a tangle, and really hinges on which side of the Raj Bhawan gate you are on. Finally, the governor is right that stone throwing and other types of violence have reduced considerably; the armed forces have upscaled actions against terrorists, leading to confusion among militant ranks; and the holding of the first phase of Panchayat elections at a reported 62 percent turnout seems to indicate a desire for some initial stability. And heres the thing: Anyone travelling in Kashmir during these different phases can attest to the disillusionment of the average Kashmiri against all parties, who are seen as predatory and corrupt. It's too early to say whether a Third Front will be successful or not. It might succeed if BJP leaders in Delhi keep out of the tangle entirely, and refrain from incautious allegations. Finally, what is apparent is that the immediate fallout of the drama is that governors rule will expire mid-January, after which it will probably be extended as Presidents rule, since it would be too soon for elections to be held. There is very little difference between these two nomenclatures in actual terms. Time enough for everyone to prove their muscularity. Including in court. Describing the sentiments of people on the opening of Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib for Indians, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu welcomed the 'auspicious' step by the Union Cabinet. New Delhi: Moments after Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a Note Verbale to the Pakistan government urging it to develop a corridor with suitable facilities in its territory from the International Border to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib, the Punjab Government's Culture Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu urged Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to take reciprocal steps for opening the sanctum. Sidhu tweeted, "I thank the Indian government from the core of my heart and take a bow. I request the Prime Minister of Pakistan ImranKhan Sahib to take reciprocal steps for opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and spread Baba Nanak's message of universal brotherhood and peace across the Globe". Describing the sentiments of people on the opening of Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib for Indians, the 55-year-old Congress leader further tweeted, "I welcome this auspicious step by the Union Cabinet, it will be a cup of joy for 12 Crore 'Nanak Naam Laivas.' It will build bridges, burn animosity and will act like a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries." Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal also lauded the Centre for its move saying, "Today is the historic day for all the Sikhs residing in India. We want to thank our Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his decision. Each day all the Sikhs during their prayers request God to open gates the Gurudwaras situated in Pakistan for them. This demand of developing Kartarpur Sahib corridor was put forth not only by SAD but also other groups for past couple of decades. The Sikh groups also urged the central government to build efficient infrastructure so that Indian Sikhs at any point of time in the year can pay visit to this Gurudwara without any hassle." In its letter, the MEA headed by Sushma Swaraj stated, "The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India presents its compliments to the High Commission for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in New Delhi and has the honour to refer to the longstanding proposal to create a corridor to facilitate easy and smooth access for Indian pilgrims to visit Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, which has been under discussion between the two sides. The Ministry has the honour to convey that on the occasion of the 550th Prakash Parab of Guru Nanak Devji, the Government of India has decided to build and develop 'Karatarpur Corridor' from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district in India to the International Border. In this context, the Government of India urges the Government of Pakistan to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community and to develop a corridor with suitable facilities in its territory from the International Border to Gurudwara Kartapur Sahib to facilitate easier access and smooth passage of India pilgrims through the year. The MEA avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the High Commission for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the assurances of its highest consideration." The Note Verbale came shortly after the Union Cabinet of India, in a meeting chaired Narendra Modi, passed a resolution to celebrate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Devji, which falls in 2019, throughout the country and across the globe, in a grand manner. During the meeting, it was decided that the Indian government will also urge the Government of Pakistan to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory as well. The spat was triggered by a post on Yadav's official Twitter handle, which is handled by his trusted aides, wherein the RJD supremo had shared an article that appeared in a Hindi news portal with the title 'Why is the BJP so scared of Lalu'. Patna: A Twitter war erupted Wednesday between Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav, serving sentences in fodder scam cases and lodged in a Ranchi hospital, and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi. The spat was triggered by a post on Yadav's official Twitter handle, which is handled by his trusted aides, wherein the RJD supremo had shared an article that appeared in a Hindi news portal with the title "Why is the BJP so scared of Lalu". The article was shared with the remark, "Because I am not scared of the smear campaign, enticements, vindictiveness, harassments and blackmails (of the BJP). Because I am the most vocal opponent of their venomous politics based on whipping up hatred along the lines of religion and caste, which cares neither for the Constitution nor for humanity. Because I cannot compromise on principles, even if I am hanged." Irked over the remarks, Sushil came out with the riposte, "For 30 years, Lalu has been involved in a false propaganda against BJP and Sangh Parivar. He has been using this strategy to get the votes of the minorities. So full of greed he is that his name figures in scam after scam, from fodder to hotel." "Which principles does he talk about. Hundreds lost their lives in retributive violence that marked his rule and Bihar was witness to kidnapping for ransom becoming an industry. He did not feel like hanging himself before reneging on the principles of JP and Lohia and making compromises for the sake of his own vested interests," the deputy chief minister added. Interestingly, Sushil and Yadav had together taken part in the "JP Movement" of the 70s when the deputy chief minister was the general secretary of Patna University Students Union and Yadav was its president. However, in mainstream politics both have remained staunchly opposed to each other. Meanwhile, RJD spokesman and MLA Bhai Virendra accused the Nitish Kumar government of capitulating before the BJPs communal agenda by allowing RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to tour the state. However, JD(U) spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar hit back quoting from a reported statement by Yadav in 1989, when the Janata Dal was sharing power with the BJP, alleging that the RSS was being wrongly blamed for the Bhagalpur communal riots. The high court had adjourned hearing in the case on 15 November and said the status quo should be maintained till 22 November at the Herald House from where the National Herald newspaper is published. The Delhi High Court will on Thursday resume hearing on the petition by Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), publisher of the National Herald newspaper, against their eviction from the Herald House. The high court had adjourned hearing in the case on 15 November and said the status quo should be maintained till 22 November at the Herald House from where the National Herald newspaper is published. Justice Sunil Gaur's order came on a plea filed by AJL on 12 November, challenging the Centre's 30 October direction that the Herald House be vacated. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the court that it will follow court's direction and maintain status quo till 22 November. The AJL alleged that the Centre was "illegally, unconstitutionally, arbitrarily and in a deliberate attempt" trying "to suppress and destroy the legacy of the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru". The urban development ministry had said the Herald House's 56-year-old lease to AJL had ended and asked the AJL to vacate the premises by 15 November. While hearing the petition on 15 November, AJL's counsel and senior advocate Abhishek M Singhvi had told the court that two officials of the Land and Development Office had entered the National Herald premises. Mehta, had refute the claim, and had said that he would look into the matter. The court had said the Land and Development Office could not take possession in such a way and would have to follow proper procedure under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act. The government had assured the court that it would not take possession of the premises but it wanted to initiate legal proceedings to have the building vacated. The AJL had told the court that it had been publishing the National Herald newspaper for decades. There was a temporary suspension due to financial trouble, but the newspaper and its digital media operations have fully resumed. The weekly 'National Herald on Sunday' was resumed on 24 September, 2017, and it is published from the Herald House. On 14 October, the AJL resumed its weekly Hindi newspaper. The government reportedly inspected the premises a few months ago and found that the area allotted to AJL was not being used for the publication of the newspaper for the past 10 years, the court was told. AJL said those who came for inspection did not visit the rooms where the printing press was installed along with stocks of papers. Countering the allegation in connection with Young Indian being a shareholder of AJL, Singhvi told the court the change in shareholding does not mean that the property has been transferred to Young Indian, and that AJL still owns the premises. Young Indian is a firm in which UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi each own a 38 percent stake. He said AJL remains the leaseholder of the building and that the addition of a new shareholder does not in any way violate the lease conditions nor does it constitute sale or transfer of the property. Russia and Armenia have signed an agreement to set up an international bureau to investigate aviation incidents and accidents in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Russian Transport Minister Yevgeny Ditrikh said that Russia expects Kazakhstan to join the agreement until the end of 2018, PRIME reported. Currently, all air disasters on the territory of 11 states of the former Soviet Union are investigated by the Interstate Aviation Committee. Russia plans to quit the agreement on the committee. The new body was earlier approved by the Russian government. Congress veteran P Chidambaram said for Governor Satya Pal Malik, parliamentary democracy was 'outdated' New Delhi: Taking umbrage to the sudden dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, former Union Minister and Congress veteran P Chidambaram on Thursday claimed that for BJP-appointed Governor Satya Pal Malik, parliamentary democracy was "outdated". A day after Malik's dramatic move dissolving the House shortly after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), National Conference and the Congress came together to stake claim to form a government, Chidambaram took to Twitter to express his outrage. "As long as no one staked a claim to form government, the Jammu and Kashmir Governor was happy to keep Assembly under suspension. The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly," he said. "Parliamentary democracy standing on its head," said the former Union Finance Minister. "The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the Jammu and Kashmir Governor," said Chidambaram. Besides, both National Conference' Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have also questioned the decision. As stand-off on entry of women of menstrual age into Sabarimala continued, the Travancore Devaswom Board said its aim was to have peaceful atmosphere in the temple Nilackal/Pamba: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kept the pot boiling on the Sabarimala issue on Wednesday with Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan lashing out at the Left government, saying its "master plan" was to "harass" pilgrims, as the Kerala High Court slammed the police for its alleged excesses on devotees. As the stand-off on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine continued, A Padmakumar, president of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) that manages the shrine, said their aim was to have a peaceful atmosphere in the temple and the TDB was prepared to hold talks with anyone in the matter. In the midst of the tense situation, there was no rush of devotees and the 18 holy steps, which normally sees a heavy crowd, wore a deserted look. Criticising the Inspector General of Police in-charge of Sabarimala and Superintendent of Police for the alleged action against pilgrims at Sabarimala and Nilackal recently, the court asked whether these officials had any criminal antecedents. The court also observed that experienced officials should be put in charge. A division bench, comprising Justices PR Ramachandra Menon and N Anil Kumar, directed the Pathanamthitta district magistrate to produce all files and records which led to the declaration of Section 144 banning assembly of four or more people in Sabarimala 'Sannidhanam' and surrounding areas. Hitting out at the CPM-led LDF government, Radhakrishnan said its "master plan" was to "harass" the devotees and not allow them to go to the Ayyappa temple. The union minister, who offered prayers at the hill shrine this evening carrying his irrumudikettu (holy bundle with offering to Lord Ayyappa) was displeased with the manner in which Superintendent of Police Yatish Chandra had behaved with him at Nilackal, a base camp. When the minister wanted to know why private vehicles of devotees were not being allowed to Pamba from Nilackal, while Kerala state transport corporation buses were plying, the officer explained that post floods the facilities at Pamba were meagre. The senior police officer explained to the Union minister about the features of Pamba, an environmentally fragile area. He also said if the Union minister gives him in writing to allow private vehicles to Pamba, he was prepared to allow all vehicles. "He asked me whether I will take responsibility. Can the Superintendent of Police ask the same question to a state minister of Kerala? Will they allow him to ask this query?" Radhakrishnan asked reporters after offering prayers. The minister declined to answer a question on the 28 September Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to offer worship at the shrine, saying "I do not want to go into that...my concern is with devotees. Do not harass the devotees." State BJP general secretary, AN Radhakrishnan, who was accompanying the minister, alleged that the IPS officer spoke "arrogantly" and "misbehaved" with the Union minister. He said that the matter would be brought to the Centre's notice. The Indian Police Service Association, Kerala chapter, on Wednesday night, had condemned the "continued personal attacks and threats" made against the IPS officers on duty at Sabarimala by certain individuals and organisations. "We strongly denounce the attack on officers on religious and personal lines," it said, adding that the association was exploring possibilities of moving the Supreme Court in this regard. It also sought the intervention of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the matter. In a statement issued in Thiruvananthapuram, the association said comments purportedly made by the judiciary, as seen from media reports, personally on the officers' background, has also been highly demoralising for these officers who have been engaged following orders of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, a court in Pathanamthitta district on Wednesday granted conditional bail to 72 people, including Kerala BJP general secretary K Surendran, who were arrested in connection with the Sabarimala temple row. Surendran along with two others had been arrested on 18 November from Nilackal as he tried to proceed to the Ayyappa Temple despite being advised by police personnel against visiting the shrine due to law and order issues. The 69 others were arrested after they held a nama japam (chanting Lord Ayyappa mantras) inside the shrine complex late on Sunday, defying prohibitory orders. Though it is 55 days since the Supreme Court delivered its verdict, no women in the traditionally barred age group of 10-50 years have made it to the temple. Some devotees on Wednesday said they had no problem with the restrictions imposed by authorities. An elderly woman said she was happy that she could offer prayers to Lord Ayyappa. "I have never had such a good opportunity to see the Lord," the beaming woman said. Another devotee said he had been coming to the shrine for the past 12 years. "This year's was the most satisfying darshan," he said. Opposition leader in the state Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala, submitted a memorandum to Governor P Sathasivam, seeking his immediate intervention to withdraw prohibitory orders in Sabarimala and surrounding areas and restore peace in the hill shrine. The Ayyappa temple was opened on November 16 for the over-two-month-long pilgrimage season amid tension. Satya Pal Malik said that for the past 15 days, he had been receiving intelligence that some MLAs were being intimidated, and some were being offered huge sums of money. Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik's decision to dissolve the state Assembly was not an abrupt one. It had been under active consideration of Raj Bhawan in Srinagar, the home ministry and the prime minister's office (PMO) for quite some time. What held them back from issuing such a proclamation till the evening of 21 November was an important legal and constitutional point that the elections must be held within six months of the dissolution of the Assembly. Keeping this in consideration, if the Assembly had been dissolved a month or a fortnight ago, the election process in the state would have had to be completed slightly ahead of the parliamentary elections. In such a scenario, two election processes would have been held in the state within a month. That situation had to be avoided. If the Assembly election had been scheduled even for a few days beyond six months, it would have invited a whole lot of legal complications, and the Election Commission would have had to provide a justification. This was in no way a desirable option. It is now clear that Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held along with the Lok Sabha election, and both the processes will be completed by 21 May, 2019. The BJP thinks that this will help its prospects in the state, and will also have its positives in terms of government expenses and security preparedness. What prompted the governor to dissolve the Assembly on Wednesday, which was a holiday? Malik said that for the past fifteen days, he had been receiving intelligence that some MLAs were being intimidated, some were being offered huge sums of money, and some others were being threatened by terror outfits. According to him, a government formed through such means could not have lasted. He added that Mehbooba Mufti herself had complained that her MLAs were being intimidated and threatened, and other leaders had also made similar claims. The PDP leader's biggest worry till recently was preventing her flock from splitting. Malik's argument, therefore, was that he decided not to entertain the claims of either Mufti or Sajjad Lone. The statement made by the governor, in which he termed the coming together of the PDP, National Conference and Congress as an "unholy alliance", is a debatable one. However, it is not his business to decide whether an alliance of mainstream political parties in the state is "holy" or "unholy". The special status of Jammu and Kashmir gave the governor powers to dissolve the Assembly without making any formal consultations, or without sending any official report to the Centre. Two days ago, Malik had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, and the decision was apparently taken. It was then a matter of time. Sources said that the political leadership in the central government did not want to lose the gains that had been made in the past few months, particularly on the security front, by allowing the formation of an inherently unstable government. The successful completion of two phases of the nine-phase panchayat election had given the BJP leadership at the Centre hope that democratic processes were being strengthened. While some candidates in the Valley were elected unopposed, in most panchayats, several candidates had contested the polls. The total number of candidates for all nine phases of the election runs into thousands, and the voter turnout has also been good. The security forces and state election commission ensured that elections were fair and peaceful. The decision of the PDP and NC not to participate in the elections had a significant political meaning. While some would argue that the boycott sent out a message that the local body election was not fully democratic, this situation provided a great opportunity for the BJP to expand its base in the Valley. It also gave opportunities to a new crop of leaders, which may not otherwise have happened. The recently elected people's representatives now have substantial powers and influence, through which they can ensure the delivery of public services. The panchayat and local body elections in Jammu and Kashmir will end on 11 December. While the political inclinations of the new leaders cannot be predicted at this stage, it is expected that they would bring in a new thought process, which, in due course, can change the political dynamics in the entire state, including the Valley. While the PDP and NC had decided to boycott the local body polls, the unfolding situation would not be a happy one for either of them. This partially explains why the PDP and NC buried their bitter rivalry and decided to join hands for now, though Omar Abdullah on Thursday said his decision to support the PDP was only tactical. While he had reiterated his oral support to the PDP's aborted move to form the government, he made it clear that the NC would fight elections against the PDP, Congress and BJP, as had happened before. Abdullah has also spoken in favour of simultaneous polls. The state will be in election mode from now till mid-May, when the state and parliamentary polls will be completed. There are clear indications that most parties, including the PDP and NC, were relieved by the governor's decision to dissolve the Assembly. However, the way it was done has given them a handle to challenge the Centre. The issue is certain to be a topic of intense discussion during the Winter Session of Parliament, when the decision to impose President's Rule comes up for ratification. It is Satya Pal Malik's job to ensure that justice is not only done but is also seen to be done in Jammu and Kashmir. He has failed on this count. Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Maliks decision to dissolve the Assembly as soon as an alternative coalition staked claim to form the government stinks of a mala fide and undemocratic instinct. For one, it has been widely reported in the media ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled out of the coalition government in June this year leading to the fall of the state government and imposition of Governors rule that the party has been trying to cobble up the numbers by winning away the legislators of its erstwhile ally, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to form the government. PDP leader and former chief minister Mehbooba Muftis allegation that the BJP used every possible means to coerce and intimidate our legislators is not exactly new or unknown. It is difficult to imagine that if the BJP had succeeded in forming a government thus, it could have been described any differently than how Malik does it now impossibility of forming a stable government by the coming together of political parties with opposing political ideologies and fragile security scenario in the state. There is an obvious contradiction in Maliks statement. The BJP and PDP coming together to form a government in 2015 was indeed described as a great reconciliation between two politically divergent ideologies, across regional and ideological lines. So what is new in the attempt by the PDP, Congress and National Conference to form an alliance? To describe it as a combination of terror-friendly parties, as the BJP has done, is not only hypocritical but a great disservice to democratic traditions. Secondly, there are a number of court judgments to establish that the floor test is the best mechanism to establish bona fides of a coalition or political party to form or continue to run a government, and this point needs no repetition. In many states and at the Centre, we have witnessed the fall of coalitions leading to the formation of alternative governments. Fresh elections have been ordered only when such options are exhausted. And rightly so, since an election imposes a huge cost and should be the last resort, not the first. If Malik perceived that there was indeed no such possibility, he could, and should have dissolved the Assembly in all these months that he has been in office, instead of keeping it under suspended animation and waking up only when an alternative coalition emerged. Thirdly, a democratic instinct would have dictated that if a new coalition of political parties is trying to form a government, the governor should give it an opportunity, ask it to prove its majority by way of letters pledging such support or even physical demonstration of the numbers before being called to form a government and go through the floor test. If there were two competing claims Sajjad Gani Lone of the Peoples Conference claiming support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other political parties to form a government the governor should have asked both to prove their bona fides. If preventing horse-trading is the noble cause for dissolving the Assembly, then that would have been equally valid if the BJP had succeeded in breaking away a faction of the PDP to form a government, or Lone gathering 18 legislators of other parties for the same purpose. How is it a concern only when a coalition does not involve the BJP? It is clear that the governor made no attempt to verify any of the claims. He did not give time or acknowledge the PDP-led new alliances claims. Instead, he ordered dissolution of the Assembly as if he was in a hurry to prevent it from coming to power. Whether that is what actually motivated him is of no consequence. It is his job to ensure that not only justice is done in such a situation which is to act impartially and fairly to uphold the dignity of the office and democratic processes but also is seen to be done. He has failed on this count. It is precisely these kind of actions in the past that gave rise to the demand for abolition of the office of the governor. In living memory, such demands began from the time of the Sarkaria Commission on Inter-State Relations in the 1980s. More recently, Nitish Kumar made such a demand at the Inter-State Council meeting in New Delhi in 2016 following the Supreme Courts criticism of the Arunachal Pradesh Governor over dismissal of the Congress government there and in some Opposition-ruled states. In all these cases, governors were accused of acting politically at behest of the Centre. The role of governors in installation of governments in Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, or such attempts in Karnataka and Uttarakhand are too recent to warrant detailing. Abolition of the governors office may not be the right way to go about improving the functioning of this constitutional office, as it forms an essential part of the constitutional framework, but a revisit to the process of appointment and choice of candidates is certainly warranted. Since the days of the Sarkaria Commission, recommendations have been made from time to time by many, including the Administrative Reforms Commission, about how to ensure political neutrality of the office of the governor by adopting a transparent and consultative process of appointments and making the right choice of individuals for such appointments. There is nothing new in this formulation but as someone rightly said, Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again. Congress leaders said efforts to pacify disgruntled leaders ahead of Telangana polls began several days ago Hyderabad: Seeking to quell any dissent over ticket distribution for the forthcoming Telangana Vidhan Sabha polls, senior Congress leaders including Ahmed Patel and Jairam Ramesh have been put on job to persuade the disgruntled partymen to work for the party's victory. Patel, accompanied by former Union minister S Jaipal Reddy, All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Madhu Yashki Goud and the party's Telangana unit president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, on Wednesday night met Bikshapati Yadav who did not get the ticket to contest from the Serilingampalli constituency. Serilingampalli seat has been allotted to TDP as part of the "grand alliance" (comprising Congress, TDP, CPI and Telangana Jana Samiti) for the elections to take on unitedly against the ruling TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti). Jaipal Reddy told reporters that Serilingampalli has been given to a friendly party and that Yadav would have a bright future in the Congress. Yadav, who had filed his nomination as an independent candidate, told reporters that Patel and other leaders met him and he has agreed to their request. The last day for withdrawal of nominations is Thursday. Ramesh met another leader who unsuccessfully tried to get a ticket for Medchal constituency. The dissenting leader has now agreed to work for the party as per Ramesh's request, party leaders said. Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to address a public meeting at Medchal on Friday. Party leaders said efforts to pacify the disgruntled leaders began several days ago with a group of senior leaders, including Karnataka minister DK Shiva Kumar and Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy, meeting all aspirants to persuade them to work for the Congress' win. The Congress had said it will field candidates in 94 seats. However, Congressmen have reportedly filed nominations in 100 segments and the final picture would be clear after the withdrawal of nominations. Reuters Germanys BMW plans to launch ride-hailing services in China in December, the first global automaker to obtain such a license in the fast-growing market. BMW Mobility Service Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of the BMW Group, obtained its ride-hailing license in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in Chinas southwest, BMW said. BMW Group said in October it would increase its stake in its Chinese joint venture with partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd (1114.HK) to 75 percent from 50 percent. Chinas ride-hailing market is worth $23 billion, more than all other ride-hailing markets combined, with Chinas Didi Chuxing dominating with 90 percent of all bookings, consulting firm Bain & Co said. GermanysDaimler said in October it was setting up a ride-hailing venture in China with Geely Group, in a sign the Chinese firm was making progress in its drive for closer relations with the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars. (The story refiles to fix spelling of Bain in fourth paragraph.) Indo-Asian News Service Facebook's outgoing Head of Communications and Policy Elliot Schrage has taken the full responsibility for hiring a Republican-owned political consulting and PR firm Definers Public Affairs that is alleged to have "dug up dirt" on competitors. In a blog post, Schrage said the legal team at Facebook continues to review its work with Definers to understand what happened. "We hired Definers in 2017 as part of our efforts to diversify our DC advisors after the election. Like many companies, we needed to broaden our outreach," Schrage said late on Tuesday, adding that Facebook hired firms associated with both Republicans and Democrats and Definers was one of the Republican-affiliated firms. Facebook asked Definers to send it press clippings, conducting research, writing messaging documents and reaching out to reporters. In January, investor and philanthropist George Soros attacked Facebook in a speech at Davos, calling it a "menace to society". "We had not heard such criticism from him before and wanted to determine if he had any financial motivation. Definers researched this using public information," said Schrage. Later, when the "Freedom from Facebook" campaign emerged as a grassroots coalition, Facebook asked Definers to help understand the groups behind them. "They learned that George Soros was funding several of the coalition members. They prepared documents and distributed these to the press to show that this was not simply a spontaneous grassroots movement," explained Schrage. According to him, Definers helped Facebook respond to unfair claims where it was been singled out for criticism. "I knew and approved of the decision to hire Definers and similar firms. I should have known of the decision to expand their mandate. That system failed here and I'm sorry I let you all down. I regret my own failure here," he wrote. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg have now asked Nick Clegg, former UK Deputy Prime Minister and new Head of Global Policy and Communications, to review all the work with communications consultants. Sandberg said it was never anyone's intention to play into an anti-Semitic narrative against Soros or anyone else. "Being Jewish is a core part of who I am and our company stands firmly against hate. The idea that our work has been interpreted as anti-Semitic is abhorrent to me -- and deeply personal," she wrote late Tuesday. The Definers controversy has led Facebook investors to put pressure on Zuckerberg to step down as the company's Chairman, which he has refused. Reuters An Israeli cabinet minister called on 21 November for a boycott of Airbnb and promoted one of its rivals, escalating the governments response to the home-rental companys decision to delist Israels settlements in the occupied West Bank. I call today on all those who support Israel and oppose discriminatory boycotts: they should cease using Airbnb and turn to other services, Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan told a diplomatic conference hosted by the Jerusalem Post newspaper. By the way, Booking.com is a great service, added Erdan, the point-man in Israeli government efforts to combat pro-Palestinian boycotts. Airbnb said on Monday it would remove some 200 settlement listings after hearing criticism from people who believe companies should not profit on lands where people have been displaced. Palestinians who want to establish an independent state taking in the West Bank have welcomed the San Francisco-based firms move. Airbnb took a decision in the right direction to stop dealings with Israeli settlements, consistent with international legitimacy, Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior official with the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organisation, told Reuters. Erdans incitement comes in the course of continued attempts by the Israeli extremist government to intimidate companies, parties and individuals who try to try to take good decisions that agree with international resolutions. A spokesman for Airbnb declined comment on the Israeli ministers remarks. In a statement emailed to Reuters on 20 November, Chris Lehane, Airbnbs global head of policy and communications, said: Israel is a special place and our over 22,000 hosts are special people who have welcomed hundreds of thousands of guests to Israel. We understand that this is a hard and complicated issue and we appreciate everyones perspective. Airbnbs delisting applies only to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, where Palestinians have limited self rule under Israeli military occupation. It does not apply to Israel itself, or East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, territories Israel has annexed without international recognition. Israel withdrew settlers from another Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip, more than a decade ago. Human Rights Watch hailed Airbnbs delisting decision and, in a report on 20 November, called on Booking.com to follow suit. Booking.com did not immediately response to Reuters emails seeking its response. Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, addressing the 21 November conference separately, backed Erdans call to boycott Airbnb and suggested Israel also deploy its own anti-discrimination laws. Israel has said it would turn to the Trump administration and could back lawsuits against Airbnb within U.S. states that have legislated against anti-Israel boycotts. In Israel, one 2017 law empowers courts to award cash compensation to claimants who prove they have been denied goods or services because of where they live. I checked yesterday with my office, with the attorney-general, whether we can operate this law, and the answer is positive, Shaked said. We need to do anything we can in order to fight them back in order that they will change their decision. First Deputy Head of the Russian General Staffs Main Intelligence Department (GRU) Vice-Admiral Igor Kostyukov was named acting head of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff following the death of intelligence chief Igor Korobov, according to a military source. "First Deputy Head of the Russian General Staffs Main Intelligence Department Igor Kostyukov has been appointed as the Departments acting head," TASS cited the source as saying. Kostyukov is also the main candidate for the post of GRU boss, the source said. The GRUs previous chief, Igor Korobov has died aged 63 after a serious illness. Kostyukov was born on February 21, 1961. He first earned a degree at a naval educational institution and then graduated from the Military Diplomatic Academy, after which he came to serve in the Main Intelligence Department. As one of the heads of Russian military intelligence, he directly took part in exercising control over the military operation in Syria. Agence France-Presse Nissan board members have sacked disgraced Carlos Ghosn as chairman, local media reported on 22 November, which would be a spectacular fall from grace for the once-revered boss whose arrest for financial misconduct stunned the car industry and the business world. Public broadcaster NHK and business daily Nikkei both said the seven-member board had decided to remove the 64-year-old from the top of the firm he has led for almost two decades. Ghosn stands accused of under-reporting his income by millions of dollars and a host of other financial irregularities, alleged after a months-long internal Nissan probe following a whistleblower report. His ouster as chairman represents an astonishing turnaround for the titan of the auto sector who revived the Japanese brand and forged an alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, which sold a combined 10.6 million cars last year more than any other firm. It also throws the future of the alliance into doubt, as Ghosn was the architect of the fractious tie-up which employs 450,000 people globally and the glue holding it together. Prosecutors intercepted the Brazil-born tycoon as he landed in Tokyo on 19 November on a private jet, accusing him and another executive Greg Kelly of understating the chairman's income by around $44 million between June 2011 and June 2015. His fate as Nissan chairman appeared sealed just hours later as his hand-picked successor as CEO, Hiroto Saikawa launched an impassioned broadside at his former mentor, muttering about a "dark side" to the Ghosn era and urging his sacking. Even after being jettisoned as chairman, Ghosn remains technically a member of the board as a full shareholders' meeting is required to remove him. In good health Ghosn is being held custody in a Tokyo detention centre and has not been seen in public nor made any comments since his arrest. He received a visit from Brazilian consul Joao de Mendonca on Thursday who told AFP that Ghosn "sounded very well, in good health". However, his conditions are likely to be a far cry from what the millionaire businessman is used to. Inmates at the centre are typically allowed 30 minutes of exercise per day and only two baths a week. Ties and strings are removed to prevent suicide attempts and former guards and lawyers said Ghosn was almost certain to be held in a cramped cell on his own. On 21 November, prosecutors successfully applied to extend his custody for an additional 10 days as they step up their questioning. Deputy chief prosecutor Shin Kukimoto said that the type of crime Ghosn is accused of is "one of the most serious types of crime" under Japan's Financial Instruments Act and Ghosn could face a 10-million-yen fine and/or a 10-year prison sentence. Under the law, companies themselves can also be held accountable for the falsified documents, Kukimoto said, following reports that prosecutors believe Nissan also has a case to answer. Public broadcaster NHK said Nissan had paid "huge sums" to provide Ghosn with luxury homes in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam "without any legitimate business reason". Ghosn had a reputation as a hard-nosed workaholic with had no qualms about closing factories and slashing jobs earning the nickname "Le Cost Killer" in France, where 47,000 employees work for Renault. But his exorbitant salary and flashy lifestyle at odds with Japanese corporate culture drew fire and his current accommodation will be a far cry from his usual expensive surroundings. Couple divorcing According to the Financial Times, This was opposed by executives in the Japanese firm that has ended up being the most profitable player in the partnership and the FT said Ghosn's departure could be used as a pretext to rebalance the alliance in Nissan's favour. Renault has held off jettisoning Ghosn, pointedly saying Nissan had failed to share the evidence it had gathered with its sister company. Governments in Paris and Tokyo have been scrambling to contain the fallout from the arrest, with President Emmanuel Macron saying France would be "extremely vigilant" about the stability of Renault and the alliance. Analysts said that despite clear tensions between the two firms headquartered 10,000 kilometres apart, neither company has the financial might alone to make the heavy investments in electric vehicles considered to be the industry's future. "It would be like a couple divorcing after 20 years it would be complicated, very expensive and not easy to do," said Gaetan Toulemonde, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. "Honestly, I don't know if it's even possible." tech2 News Staff Qualcomm's rumoured Snapdragon 8150 has been in the rumour mill for quite a while now. Apple's A12 Bionic and Huawei's Kirin 980 have been launched already, and now it's supposed to be Qualcomm's turn. According to a new leak by Ice Universe, the launch of the so-called Snapdragon 8150 isn't far now. The leak reveals the chipset will be unveiled on 4 December in Hawaii during the Qualcomm Technology Summit. Given that Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 845 last year at the same venue, this isn't really big news. What is interesting is that this leak also appears to confirm the fact that Qualcomm's new chip will be called the 8150 and not the 855. Qualcomm will release the Snapdragon 8150 processor in Hawaii on December 4th. pic.twitter.com/Ny93ADY1Rz Ice universe (@UniverseIce) November 21, 2018 As per a report in Wccftech, the event is also expected to spill details about Qualcomm's 5G modems. The chipset is expected to be an octa-core unit, but with a different configuration of cores. Traditionally, Qualcomm has offered 4x high performance cores and 4x high-efficiency cores. The report states that this time we'll see 2x very high performance Kryo Gold Plus cores clocked at 3.0 GHz, 2x Kryo Gold cores and 4x high-efficiency Kryo Silver cores. According to a report in GizmoChina, the core structure would be somewhat different, with one large core clocked at 2.84 GHz, three medium cores clocked at 2.4 GHz, and four small efficiency cores clocked at 1.78 GHz. Come December, we will know for sure. The GPU inside is believed to be the Adreno 640 which is said to be 20 percent better than the previous version. There have been a lot of rumours about the processing of the Snapdragon 8150 chipset. The chipset has been spotted on AnTuTu with a score of 362,292 points and is the first chipset powering an Android platform to earn more than 360,000 points. For comparison, the newest iPhones score around 309,000. The chip was also recently spotted on Geekbench which logged a score of 3,281 in the single-core test and 11,023 in the multi-core test, which is very good. Snapdragon 8150 is also rumoured to be manufactured on the newest 7 nm process by TSMC and its size is expected to be 12.4 x 12.4 mm. The Kirin 980 and Apple's A12 Bionic are built on the same process. The chip is expected to power a lot of phones in the coming year, including devices like the Xiaomi Mi 9, Galaxy Note 10, the upcoming OnePlus and also the Samsung Galaxy S10. Kshitij Pujari Xiaomi has announced the Redmi Note 6 Pro, which is the successor to its widely successful Redmi Note 5 Pro, at an event in Delhi. One of the biggest changes to the Redmi Note 6 Pro is the adoption of the notched display to give more screen real-estate on the phone. The device has been launched at a competitive price point of Rs 13,999 and will be available for sale on 23 November. Apart from the new display, Xiaomi has also made a few changes to the camera on the phone. There is now a primary sensor with a bigger aperture, presumably to allow more light in for night-time shots. The phone is also splash proof with something that Xiaomi is calling as "nano-coating", however, the company has not applied for any IP certification for the device. (Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro Review: Camera and battery life are the only saving grace) The nearest competitors to the Redmi Note 6 Pro are the Redmi Note 5 Pro, Honor 8X, Realme 2 Pro and the Nokia 6.1 Plus. So how does the latest budget killer from Xiaomi stack up against the competition? Let's take a look. Smartphone Redmi Note 6 Pro Redmi Note 5 Pro Realme 2 Pro Honor 8X Nokia 6.1 Plus Display Size (inch) 6.26 6 6 6.5 5.8 Resolution (pixels) 1080 x 2280 1080 x 2160 1080 x 2220 1080 x 2340 1080 x 2280 Pixel Density (PPI) 403 403 409 397 432 Display Type IPS LCD IPS LCD IPS LCD IPS LCD IPS LCD Dimensions (mm) 157.9 x 76.4 x 8.3 158.6 x 75.4 x 8.1 156.7 x 74 x 8.5 160.4 x 76.6 x 7.8 147.2 x 71 x 8 Weight (g) 182 181 174 175 151 Dual SIM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes SIM Type Nano-SIM Nano-SIM Nano-SIM Nano-SIM Nano-SIM Connectivity Types GSM / HSPA / LTE GSM / WCDMA / LTE GSM / HSPA / LTE GSM / CDMA / HSPA / LTE GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 HiSilicon Kirin 710 Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 CPU Cores Octa-core Octa-core Octa-core Octa-core Octa-core CPU Clock Speed (GHz) 8x Kryo 260 @ 1.8 GHz 8x Kryo 260 @ 1.8 GHz 4x Kryo 260 @ 2.2 GHz & 4x Kryo 260 @ 1.8 GHz 4x Cortex-A73 @ 2.2 GHz & 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.7 GHz 8x Kryo 260 @ 1.8 GHz GPU Adreno 509 Adreno 509 Adreno 512 Mali-G51 MP4 Adreno 509 RAM 3/4/6 GB 4/6 GB 4/6/8 GB 4/6 GB 4 GB Ruggedness Splash-proof On-Board Memory 32/64 GB 64 GB 32/64/128 GB 32/64/128 GB 64 GB Expandable Memory Yes, up to 256 GB Yes, up to 256 GB Yes, up to 512 GB No Yes, up to 256 GB Sensors Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Fingerprint, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity, Compass Fingerprint, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity, Compass Rear Camera 12 MP, f/1.9; 5 MP, f/2.2 16 MP, f/2.0; 5 MP 16 MP, f/1.7; 2 MP 20 MP, f/1.8; 2 MP 16 MP, f/2.0; 5 MP; f/2.4 Optical Image Stabilization No No No No No Camera Array Dual Camera Dual Camera Dual Camera Dual Camera Dual Camera Autofocus System Phase detection autofocus Phase detection autofocus Phase detection autofocus Phase detection autofocus Phase detection autofocus Front Camera 20 MP, f/2.0; 2 MP f/2.2 24 MP, f/2.0 16 MP, f/2.0 20 MP, f/2.2 16 MP, f/2.0 Video Capture 1080p@30fps 1080p@30fps 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps 1080p@30/60fps, 480fps 720p @120 fps, 1080p @ 30 fps, 2160p @ 30 fps Flash Dual-LED Dual-LED LED LED Dual-LED OS Version Android Oreo 8.1 Android Oreo 8.1 Android 8.1 Oreo Android Oreo 8.1 Android Oreo 8.1 AI (Smart Assistant) Google Assistant Google Assistant Google Assistant Google Assistant Google Assistant GPS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Hotspot Bluetooth v5.0, A2DP, LE v5.0, A2DP, LE v5.0, A2DP, LE v5.0, A2DP, LE v5, A2DP, LE NFC No No No No Yes Infrared Yes Yes No No No Fingerprint Scanner Yes, Rear button Yes, Rear button Yes, Rear button Yes, Rear button Yes, Rear button 3.5mm jack Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Radio No No Yes Yes Yes USB Type microUSB microUSB microUSB microUSB microUSB USB Standard USB v2.0 USB v2.0 USB v2.0 USB v2.0 USB v2.0 Battery (mAh) 4,000 4,000 3,500 3,750 3,500 Fast charging Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Colors Black, Blue, Rose Gold, Red Black, Champagne Gold, Rose Gold, Lake Blue Black, Deep Blue, Light Blue Black, Blue, Red, Pink Black, Deep Blue, Light Blue Prices in India Rs 13,999 Rs 13,999 Rs 13,990 Rs 14,999 Rs 14,999 Looking at the specs above, we can infer the following: Performance: Honor 8X In terms of raw strength, it looks like the Realme 2 Pro and Honor 8X will be taking the cake here with their Snapdragon 660 and Kirin 710 chipsets respectively. While the Snapdragon 636, found in the other three smartphones, is a capable chipset, the better GPU on the Snapdragon 660 gives it an edge in gaming and other intensive tasks. The 12 nm manufacturing process on the Kirin 710 as compared to 14 nm on the Snapdragon 636 means that the Honor 8X could run slightly cooler and more efficiently. When reviewing the phone, we found that the Redmi Note 6 Pro struggled with games like PUBG, but day-to-day usage was fine. The Realme 2 Pro and Honor 8X both handily beat the Note 6 Pro in gaming tests, making either of these phones a more viable option for gamers. All things considered, the Honor 8X takes the performance crown. Design: Honor 8X Here again, we see that the Redmi Note 6 Pro has not really changed much in the way of design. The only thing new is that notched display. The Redmi Note 5 Pro was not much of looker, and by extension, neither is the Note 6 Pro. The Realme 2 Pro is a dull block of a device since Realme ditched the diamond design we saw in other phones in the series. The Honor 8X, however, with its dual-tone colour shift, and the Nokia 6.1 Plus, with its glossy back, are far more appealing. The Honor 8X does edge out the Nokia 6.1 Plus in the design department. Camera: Redmi Note 6 Pro From our testing, we can say for sure that the Redmi Note 6 Pro does indeed have a great camera which can take some excellent low-light photos along with amazing day-time shots. The likes of Honor 8X and Nokia 6.1 Plus look to be distant seconds while the Realme 2 Pro doesn't even feature in the list. On paper, the only difference Redmi Note 6 Pro has over the Note 5 Pro is the wider aperture on its lenses, and it seems that it has made a significant improvement in the photo taking capabilities of the smartphone. Battery: Redmi Note 6 Pro In terms of battery life, the Redmi Note 6 Pro does have a slight edge over the Honor 8X, Realme 2 Pro and Nokia 6.1 Plus. In our review, we have found that the Note 6 Pro easily lasted about two days on light to moderate usage and up to one full day on heavy usage. Our review of the Honor 8X and Realme 2 Pro revealed that both smartphones lacked slightly behind in the battery department and hence the winner is the Note 6 Pro. Conclusion The Redmi Note 6 Pro is a great device in this price range and is perfect for those looking for great battery life and camera. Gaming performance is lacking, and if you're a gamer, the Honor 8X is certainly a better option. The bigger question, however, is whether the Redmi Note 6 Pro is a worthy upgrade over the Redmi Note 5 Pro. And to be honest, we don't believe it is. Reuters The first flight of a SpaceX rocket tailored to fly astronauts to the International Space Station is set for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 7, NASA said on Wednesday. The launch test is a crucial milestone in the space agencys Commercial Crew Program, which aims to launch humans to space from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration said SpaceXs Crew Dragon spacecraft - which will shuttle three astronauts to space from the same launch pad that sent Apollo 11s three-man crew to the moon in 1969 - will make its debut flight atop SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket on January 7. While NASA did not detail the flight path, it said the test would provide data on the performance of the Falcon 9, Crew Dragon capsule, and ground systems, as well as on-orbit, docking and landing operations. SpaceX and Boeing Co are the two main contractors selected under NASAs Commercial Crew Program to send astronauts to space as soon as 2019, using their Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner spacecraft respectively. Since the U.S. space shuttle program was shut down in 2011, NASA has had to rely on Russia to fly astronauts to the space station, a $100 billion orbital research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (402 km) above Earth. The Demo-1 launch is the latest test in a rigorous certification timeline imposed under NASAs Commercial Crew Program. While SpaceX is targeting early January, NASA spokeswoman Marie Lewis said the demo mission could be pushed back because flying safely has always taken precedence over schedule. Founded by Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk, SpaceX said if the January 7 test is successful, it plans to launch its first crewed mission in June 2019, but the timeline may shift. Boeing plans a similar test launch of the Starliner spacecraft atop its Atlas 5 rocket as soon as March, with a crewed mission following in August. The Jan. 7 launch date announcement comes a day after NASA said it would conduct a cultural assessment study of the companies, including the adherence to a drug-free environment, prior to crew test flights. Reuters US chipmaker Nvidia has signed separate deals with Chinese electric vehicle startups XPeng Motors, Singulato Motors and SF Motors to develop autonomous driving technology, Chief Executive Jensen Huang said on Wednesday. Huang, speaking at an event in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, said XPeng and Singulato will use Nvidias artificial intelligence (AI) driving chip Xavier and its computing platform to develop hardware for autonomous driving, a strategic technology area in which Chinas leaders want to compete globally. The companies separately said they will work on a series of projects from data collection to machine learning. XPeng, in a statement, said it plans to implement level 3 intelligent driving features in its vehicles starting in 2020 using customized software and hardware developed with Nvidia and Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co Ltd (002920.SZ). Level 3 in autonomous driving technology refers to drivers being able to turn their attention away from driving tasks but still requires them to respond immediately in some scenarios. Singulato said it will use Nvidias Xavier platform to develop level 3 self-driving systems and eventually upgrade to level 4, in which vehicles are able to drive completely autonomously in most, but not all, conditions. SF Motors, based in Silicon Valley in the United States, said it plans to launch its first electric crossover vehicle next year, and will develop its next-generation autonomous platform using Xavier. Xavier is an artificial intelligence computing system-on-chip released by Nvidia earlier this year. Automakers using the chip can add specific software to adapt their vehicles to local traffic and infrastructure situations, Nvidia said. Press Trust of India "Capex guidance of Rs 270 billion in financial year 2019-20 supported by existing co-located equipment to be redeployed, spectrum consolidation, capex avoidance and efficiencies," the document said. The company expects advancing of synergy target by two years will help it improve cash flow to the tune of Rs 8,400 crore and re-deployment of co-located equipments of Vodafone and Idea will help it save Rs 6,200 crore. The company has chalked out deleveraging plan by raising capital and sell 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Towers. Vodafone Idea estimates that sale of 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Towers can realise Rs 5,000 crore, which it will use in lowering debt. The merged entity's gross debt as on September 30, 2018 stood at Rs 1,26,100 crore. Around 79 per cent debt on the company is net dues for spectrum payment The Associated Press For thousands of years, the people of North Sentinel island have been isolated from the rest of the world. They use spears and bows and arrows to hunt the animals that roam the small, heavily forested island, and gather plants to eat and to fashion into homes. Their closest neighbors live more than 50 kilometers away. Deeply suspicious of outsiders, they attack anyone who comes through the surf and onto their beaches. Police say that is what happened last week when a young American, John Allen Chau, was killed by islanders after paying fishermen to take him to the island. The Sentinelese want to be left alone, said anthropologist Anup Kapur. Scholars believe the Sentinelese migrated from Africa roughly 50,000 years ago, but most details of their lives remain completely unknown. We do not even know how many of them are there, said Anvita Abbi, who has spent decades studying the tribal languages of Indias Andaman and Nicobar islands. North Sentinel is an outpost of the island chain, which is far closer to Myanmar and Thailand than to mainland India. Estimates on the groups size range from a few dozen to a few hundred. What language they speak, how old it is, its anybodys guess, Abbi said. Nobody has access to these people. And, she said, thats how it should be. Just for our curiosity, why should we disturb a tribe that has sustained itself for tens of thousands of years? she asked. So much is lost: People are lost, language is lost, their peace is lost. For generations, Indian officials have heavily restricted visits to North Sentinel, with contact limited to rare gift-giving encounters, with small teams of officials and scientists leaving coconuts and bananas for the islanders. Any contact with such isolated people can be dangerous, scholars say, with islanders having no resistance to diseases outsiders carry. We have become a very dangerous people, said P C Joshi, an anthropology professor at Delhi University. Even minor influences can kill them. Because of this, Abbi said scholars who visit isolated peoples are careful to limit their visits to a few hours a day and to stay away even if they have minor coughs or colds. Many of the island chains other tribes have been decimated over the past century, lost to disease, intermarriage and migration. Survival International, an organization that works for the rights of tribal people, said Chau may have been encouraged by recent changes to Indian rules about visiting isolated islands in the Andamans. While special permissions are still required, visits are now theoretically allowed in some parts of the Andamans where they used to be entirely forbidden. The authorities lifted one of the restrictions that had been protecting the Sentinelese tribes island from foreign tourists, which sent exactly the wrong message, and may have contributed to this terrible event, the group said in a statement. tech2 News Staff NASA just celebrated the 20th anniversary of the first International Space Station components in space. And in an almost-convenient surprise, one of the space station crew members, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, stumbled on a folder of floppy disks full of space station memorabilia. Gerst tweeted a photo of his "amusing" find on Tuesday. I found a locker on the @Space_Station that probably hasn't been opened for a while... / Ich habe hier auf der #ISS ein Fach gefunden, das vermutlich schon seit einer Weile nicht mehr geoffnet wurde... #SpaceStation20th pic.twitter.com/XOc3FS8tMm Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) November 20, 2018 Gerst said that he discovered the locker, which looked like it hadn't been opened in a very long time. One of the floppies was even labelled "Norton Utilities for Windows 95/98". The ISS ran for many years on Windows 95/98, according to a space enthusiast and radio jockey John Gardi. Windows 95/98 ran on the #ISS for years! #NASA even had their own 'hardened' version that was supposedly less prone to crashing. I ran a mashup version of Windows 98/ME until about 2006. That PC retired as a router with 4 network cards. It ran for months at a time & NEVER crashed pic.twitter.com/hzEIXHwTp3 Just A. Tinker (@John_Gardi) November 20, 2018 Others were labelled with NASA logos, with titles like "Crew Personal Support Data Disk". That last floppy disk had the names of "Shep" and "Sergei", probably intended for NASA astronaut William Shephard and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who were both crew members in the first manned ISS mission, Expedition 1, in 2000. The fun reminder of how far the space station has come, and all it has endured over its 20-year stint flying through space left the crew feeling nostalgic. But it also makes you wonder: Maybe its time the giant orbiting lab got a spring cleaning service? Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir's comments about holding the crown prince accountable for Khashoggi murder came soon after US president Trump praised the kingdom for keeping oil prices low London: Saudi Arabia has warned criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a "red line", after US president Donald Trump heaped praise on the kingdom in defiance of warnings he was giving Riyadh a pass on a journalist's grisly murder. Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Wednesday that calls for the crown prince to be held accountable for the grisly killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi would not be tolerated. His comments came as the US president praised Saudi Arabia for keeping oil prices low one strand of his argument against punishing Riyadh even though the CIA reportedly found strong evidence that the crown prince, the de facto Saudi leader, was involved in the murder. "In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line," Jubeir told the BBC. "They represent every Saudi citizen and every Saudi citizen represents them. And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince." Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October, killed and reportedly dismembered. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince. But Trump, on holiday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago Club, on Wednesday doubled down on a statement from Tuesday that he was essentially ignoring the killing of Khashoggi because of what he said were more important US strategic and commercial interest. "Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big tax cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82," he tweeted. "Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let's go lower!" Jubeir insisted that Prince Mohammed had not been involved in the killing. "We have made that very clear. We have investigations ongoing and we will punish the individuals who are responsible for this," he said. He called on Turkey to come forward with all its evidence about the slaying and stop leaking out information. The foreign minister also said that the murder was a "rogue operation" by intelligence officers. Jubeir added that any possible US sanctions on Saudi Arabia would be short-sighted. With US allies, including the EU, gesturing at the need for strong action, possibly including sanctions on Saudi Arabia, and the US intelligence community and Congress ranged against him, the least Donald Trump may have to agree to is a more nuanced approach in West Asia This columnist had adverted, though in a different context, the delinquencies of the House of Saud in a previous article on Firstpost. It said: "Saudi Arabias most important export throughout the world, apart from petroleum, is, lest we forget, the Wahhabi brand of Islam, that toxic fount of global terrorism. Saudi Arabia is also the most significant exporter and backer of terrorism. Al-Qaeda and its former leader Osama bin Laden a Saudi national are prime examples.... Saudi Arabia is also the perpetrator of possibly the dirtiest war being fought in the word today in Yemen where it has indiscriminately bombed civilians and innocents, including children and hospitals using sophisticated US-supplied weapons." The article was published on 7 October, five days after dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by a trained team of Saudi assassins in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi a harsh critic of the Saudi royal family had gone to get some documents needed for his marriage to his Turkish partner. Both had relocated to the United States. The details of the murder, and, in fact, that he was missing started filtering out to the world in the second week of October. Since then, the progress on the investigation into Khashoggis murder has proceeded in fits and starts. The Turkish government, ironically, given its track record on human rights and its relations with the media and journalists in general, was the first to sound the alarm. It has now established that Khashoggi was murdered inside the consulate. Though a smoking gun is not yet available, the available evidence suggests that Khashoggis body was dismembered and the remains were carried back to Riyadh in a suitcase, misusing the protocols of diplomatic immunity. Though the evidence is still incomplete, it has gathered a critical mass; enough for the delinquent Saudi establishment to admit that Saudi nationals were involved in the journalist's murder. It has promised to prosecute 11 of them, though it strenuously denies the involvement in the murder of the Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. These denials are not exactly washing the stain for anyone other than US president Donald Trump. The European Union has taken a firm stand, including banning travel permission for 18 people established to have been part of the squad of assassins; it has also signalled the imposition of sanctions against a blatantly criminal regime. Even more important is the reaction in the United States, the principal backers of the Saudi regime. The latest of reports say that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, controlled by Republicans, has written to the White House seeking a determination on culpability for the murder. Even before the Democrats wrested control of the House of Representatives, a bipartisan consensus had started evolving against the Saudi regime. The pressure on the Trump administration was ratcheted up when the CIA reportedly submitted its findings to the White House on 17 November. The burden of its song is that bin Salman ordered the killing. The CIA has not produced a smoking gun, but has concluded from collateral evidence that such an audacious assassination, carried out by a team that included members of the de facto rulers entourage, could not have been possible without bin Salmans knowledge (read approbation, if not direct command). Unlike the FBI in its current avatar, the CIA is no pushover, even for a man as pushy as Trump. Trump is not convinced, however. He has his reasons: among them are arms deals worth billions, Saudi Arabias controlling interest in the global petroleum market which it can manipulate by calibrating its share of daily supplies and, therefore, crude prices; and his familys close business dealings with Saudi Arabia and the Saudi elite, now reduced, almost, to bin Salman and his palace favourites. The most recent of reports also suggest an element of obduracy: Trump is reported to have signalled that the US will not abandon its special alliance with bin Salman, while admitting that it is possible that he knew in advance about the murder plot. And then, Trump is not known to be amongst the staunchest supporter of media rights and the freedom of the press. Will this position pass muster? Perhaps, but with serious riders. With other US allies, including the European Union, gesturing at the need for strong action, possibly including sanctions, and the US intelligence community and Congress ranged against him, the least Trump may have to agree to is a more nuanced approach in West Asia. As argued earlier, the keystone of the architecture of the Trump administrations West Asian policy is reining in Iran, at a time when most of the international community has accepted its bona fides over nuclearisation, by promoting the Saudis. This policy may have to be abandoned. The Saudi-led coalition in West Asia has been involved in one of the dirtiest of modern-day wars, in Yemen. It has been using sophisticated US-supplied weapons to bomb the country into submission, ignoring all implicit and explicit conventions of warfare, including the bombing of health facilities and civilians, especially children. Any deal on West Asia, it seems at the moment, would include an immediate ceasefire, already agreed to by the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Moreover, reports suggest that influential sections of the now beleaguered Saudi regime want bin Salman out and they seem to have backers amongst the US political elite. If the joint exertions of these forces achieve a critical momentum, bin Salman might have to go, which will strike a big blow against Trumps foreign policy, backed by hawks like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. This means returning to the theme explored in the article cited above. There are two critically criminal players in the West Asian game: Israel is, for all practical purposes, untouchable; but if Saudi Arabia suffers an eclipse, room could be opened up for a more flexible and effective international role in West Asia. This could help bring about a genuine two-state solution in Palestine and leave for Iranians the decision about what is to be done with their theocratic regime. Most of all, taking bin Salman out could open the way to end one of the most serious humanitarian catastrophes now in progress on planet earth: in Yemen. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has held several bilateral meetings with his CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States) colleagues, the Russian Security Council press service stated, TASS reported. "[Patrushev] and Chief of Azerbaijans presidential staff Ramiz Mehdiyev have discussed the prospects of cooperation between various ministries and agencies of Russia and Azerbaijan, counterterrorism issues, as well as the legal status of the Caspian Sea," the message informs. Patrushev also discussed strengthening border control between Russia and Tajikistan with Tajikistans Security Council Secretary Abdurahim Qahhorov. The officials signed a cooperation plan between Russian and Tajik Security Councils for the years 2019-2020. "The two-year cooperation plan between the Security Councils has also been signed by Patrushev and Armenias Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan," the press service informed. "The parties also discussed the issues of military and technical cooperation." The Russian official also discussed security issues with Moldovas security chief Artur Gumeniuc and Belarusian Security Council Secretary Stanislav Zas. By Gabriela Baczynska and Elizabeth Piper BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said she would be returning to Brussels on Saturday to hammer out an outline of Britain's future ties with the European Union after her meeting with the head of the bloc's executive on Wednesday failed to bridge the gaps. By Gabriela Baczynska and Elizabeth Piper BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said she would be returning to Brussels on Saturday to hammer out an outline of Britain's future ties with the European Union after her meeting with the head of the bloc's executive on Wednesday failed to bridge the gaps. May met European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker for about an hour and a half to try to win commitments aimed at helping her appease rebels at home opposed to her draft Brexit treaty. "There were some remaining issues which we have discussed," May said afterwards. "I will be returning on Saturday for further meetings, including again with President Juncker to discuss how we can ensure that we can conclude this process." With just over four months before Britain's departure, May is trying to finalise an outline of future relations before a summit of EU leaders on Sunday due to endorse the Brexit accord. Raising the stakes, EU diplomats said they had been told that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was not willing to come on Sunday for any more talks, meaning a text must be ready beforehand. Spain's prime minister, meanwhile, insisted he would vote against the draft deal unless he wins assurances over the disputed peninsula of Gibraltar. May said negotiators from both sides would continue working on the text. "I believe we have been able to give sufficient direction for them to be able to resolve those remaining issues," she said. A spokesman for the European Commission said "very good progress" was made at May's meeting with Juncker: "Work is continuing." Diplomats in Brussels said EU states' concerns over fishing rights and future trade ties had largely been addressed in the political declaration on the EU-UK future ties that would form a package with the legally binding divorce deal, meaning Spain's concerns were the final issue to be settled. "The only thing really outstanding is Gibraltar," said one EU diplomat. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez demanded assurances that the future of the disputed British territory of Gibraltar would be settled through direct talks with Madrid. "If this is not solved by Sunday, Spain, a pro-European government, will unfortunately have to vote 'No'," he said at an evening news conference in Valladolid with his Portuguese counterpart. Many in Brussels thought Sanchez was trying to score points with voters at home before a Dec. 2 local election in the southern Andalusia region. They said the issue could be solved by the leaders and warned Madrid not to put the whole Brexit agreement at risk. As an olive branch to Brexit campaigners in Britain, May was seeking to include their proposed technological solutions to keep the border open on the island of Ireland. The EU has previously dismissed these ideas as unrealistic at this stage. May's finance minister, Philip Hammond, said Britain's parliament needed to back her deal or risk either seriously damaging the economy or jeopardising Brexit altogether. "A smooth exit from the European Union - doing this in an orderly fashion - is worth tens of billions of pounds to our economy," he told broadcaster ITV. "If the deal is not approved by parliament, we will have a politically chaotic situation ... In that chaos that would ensue, there may be no Brexit," he added. NORTHERN IRELAND The British and European parliaments must ratify the tentative deal to end more than 40 years of partnership before Brexit day on March 29, 2019, or Britain would be set to crash out of the EU with no treaty. The publication last week of a draft exit treaty sparked the biggest crisis of May's premiership, with two cabinet ministers quitting and dozens of Conservative members of parliament calling on her to step down. They accuse May of making too many concessions to the EU, while others oppose Brexit altogether. May hopes the blueprint on future relations -- a political document of about 20 pages meant to be agreed side-by-side with the legally binding 600-page exit treaty -- will help win back enough support at home for her approach to pass in parliament. The Northern Ireland party that props up May's government said it does not plan to withdraw its support yet despite opposition to her withdrawal deal. "The confidence and supply agreement ... is very much still in existence," Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster told the BBC broadcaster. Asked when the party might consider pulling the plug on support for May, Foster said: "We're not there yet." Despite the political turmoil around her, May has shown no sign in public of any doubt that she can bring home a deal. The draft treaty envisages Britain staying in a customs union with the bloc, which many Brexit supporters see as a compromise too far. The EU is trying to discourage Britain from any renegotiation of the draft treaty, while also seeking to assuage concerns expressed by some of the remaining 27 member states. While unanimity among the 27 is not legally required to endorse the deal now, the bloc seeks a unified stance. DEMANDS Both sides have also been advancing contingency plans for the worst case scenario -- a no-deal Brexit. Diplomats in Brussels said Britain was also seeking an easy flow of goods after Brexit, a position which was too close to the privileges allowed only for countries that sign up to EU single market rules, including free flow of people and services. "The UK wants free movement of goods, which they won't get because that's back to discussing partial access to the single market, which we don't do," another diplomat said. In addition, France has called for more guarantees on future access to Britain's fishing waters, which London wants to keep firmly under its control after Brexit. Most in the EU are determined to get the deal over the line, with a third EU diplomat saying: "There is plenty of negotiating time left to achieve that." (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald, Jan Strupczewski, Robin Emmott in Brussels and Ingrid Melander in Madrid, Editing by Richard Balmforth and Hugh Lawson) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Born into a literary family in Meerut, Riaz always played an active role in social and political activities and was hailed by many as a pioneer in feminist literature Islamabad: Noted Pakistani feminist writer and poet Fahmida Riaz died here. She was 72. The eminent progressive writer, who was also hailed by many as the pioneer in feminist literature, had been suffering from illness for the past few months, reports Dawn news. She died on the night of 21 November. Riaz was also a human rights activist and the author of more than 15 books on fiction and poetry. When Badan Dareeda, her second collection of verse, appeared in 1973, she was accused of using erotic and sensual expressions in her poetry. The themes prevalent in her verse were, until then, considered taboo for women writers. Born into a literary family of Meerut, India in July 1946, Riaz, in addition to her literary pursuits, always played an active role in social and political activities. She lived in self-exile for over six years in India when former military dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq ruled over Pakistan. She was appointed managing director of what was then the National Book Council of Pakistan during the first Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government (1988-90). In Benazir Bhutto's second tenure as prime minister, she became associated with the Ministry of Culture. In 2009, she was appointed the chief editor of the Urdu Dictionary Board in Karachi. Famous Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie condoled Riaz's death and termed her "one of the brightest of lights in the dark days" of dictatorship. Hedges was researching the UAE's foreign and internal security policies after the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011, studies that Britain insisted were entirely innocuous but which the UAE said threatened its political and economic security. Dubai: A United Arab Emirates court sentenced British student Matthew Hedges to life in jail on spying charges on Wednesday, prompting a "shocked" Britain to warn of repercussions for relations with its longstanding Gulf ally. Hedges, a 31-year-old PhD student, had protested his innocence ever since his arrest at Dubai airport on 5 May and British ministers had raised his case at the highest level. "We can confirm that he was sentenced to life in prison," a family spokesperson told AFP. "The hearing lasted less than five minutes, and his lawyer was not present." Hedges was researching the UAE's foreign and internal security policies after the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011, studies that Britain insisted were entirely innocuous but which the UAE said threatened its political and economic security. British Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "deeply disappointed and concerned" at the verdict. "We will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis," she told parliament. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he was "deeply shocked" by the UAE court's decision and warned of repercussions. "Today's verdict is not what we expect from a friend and trusted partner of the United Kingdom and runs contrary to earlier assurances," he said. "The handling of this case... will have repercussions for the relationship between our two countries, which has to be built on trust. "I regret the fact that we have reached this position and I urge the UAE to reconsider," he added. Hunt said he had personally raised the case at the highest levels of the UAE government, including during a visit to Abu Dhabi on 12 November. The case comes with relations already tested by the UAE's heavy involvement alongside Saudi Arabia in a military coalition battling Yemeni rebels since March 2015. The deployment of Emirati ground troops, trainers and advisers alongside government forces advancing on the lifeline rebel-held port of Hodeida has prompted calls for Britain to halt or place conditions on its huge arms sales to the UAE. Hedges's temporary release on bail on 29 October had raised a glimmer of hope in his case but he was constantly monitored until Wednesday's court hearing, only his third since his arrest. Hedges's wife Daniela Tejada, who had campaigned vigorously for his release, said the court ruling showed that the UAE was not a genuine ally. "They say that the UAE is an ally, but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matt's case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price." Tejada was in court for the sentencing. "This has been the worst six months of my life, let alone for Matt who was shaking when he heard the verdict," she said. "The UAE authorities should feel ashamed for such an obvious injustice. I am very scared for Matt. I don't know where they are taking him or what will happen now. Our nightmare has gotten even worse." She had previously expressed concern for his safety, saying he was being held in solitary confinement at an undisclosed location with limited access to the British consulate and his family. Tejada was deeply critical of the British government over the failure of its discreet, behind-the-scenes diplomacy in the case. "Matthew is innocent. The Foreign Office know this and have made it clear to the UAE authorities that Matthew is not a spy for them. This whole case has been handled appallingly from the very beginning with no one taking Matthew's case seriously," she said. "The British government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens." Durham University in northern England, where Hedges was studying for his PhD, said it was "devastated" to learn of his sentence. Vice-Chancellor Stuart Corbridge said the judgment had been "delivered in the absence of anything resembling due process or a fair trial". "There has been no information given on what basis Matt was handed this sentence and no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic research," Corbridge said in a statement. UAE attorney general Hamad al-Shamsi said earlier this month that Hedges was accused of "spying for a foreign country, jeopardising the military, political and economic security of the state". By Aziz El Yaakoubi, Katie Paul and Maha El Dahan ABU DHABI (Reuters) - A UAE court sentenced a British academic to life in prison on charges of spying for the British government on Wednesday, in a move Britain said would have serious diplomatic consequences for relations between the old allies. The United Arab Emirates public prosecutor said the sentence was handed down on Matthew Hedges 'after the accused confessed before the court to the charges brought against him', but that Hedges could appeal. By Aziz El Yaakoubi, Katie Paul and Maha El Dahan ABU DHABI (Reuters) - A UAE court sentenced a British academic to life in prison on charges of spying for the British government on Wednesday, in a move Britain said would have serious diplomatic consequences for relations between the old allies. The United Arab Emirates public prosecutor said the sentence was handed down on Matthew Hedges "after the accused confessed before the court to the charges brought against him", but that Hedges could appeal. The prosecutor's statement did not specify the charges. His family and state-run UAE newspaper The National, citing a separate court statement, said Hedges was convicted of spying. The hearing lasted less than five minutes and Hedge's lawyer was not present, his family said. "We are of course deeply disappointed and concerned at today's verdict," May told parliament. She and Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said they were raising the case at the highest levels of the UAE government. "We have seen no evidence to back up charges against him ... UAE claim to be friend & ally of the UK so there will be serious diplomatic consequences. Unacceptable," Hunt said in a tweet. "Today's verdict ... runs contrary to earlier assurances," Hunt said, calling the move extremely worrying. The statement by UAE Attorney General Hamad al-Shamsi described the trial as "fair, transparent and just". Hedges, a 31-year-old doctoral student at Durham University, has been held in the UAE since May 5, when he was arrested at Dubai International Airport after a two-week research visit. RESEARCH NOTES The evidence presented against him consisted of notes from his dissertation research, his family said. "I am in complete shock and I don't know what to do. Matthew is innocent," said Hedges' wife, Daniela Tejada, who was present in the Abu Dhabi courtroom and said he was shaking when he heard the verdict. A Reuters journalist was barred from entering the hearing, which was closed to the public. A life sentence for a non-Emirati entails a maximum of 25 years' jail followed by deportation, according to The National. The court ruled that his devices and research would be confiscated, the newspaper reported, adding that Hedges could appeal the ruling within 30 days. Hedges was released on bail in late October, but had been held in solitary confinement for five months before that, his family said. He was made to sign a confession statement in Arabic that he did not understand and experienced deterioration in both his physical and mental health during his detention, they added. The National reported that he was arrested after an Emirati man told police he had been asking for sensitive information and confessed to the charges during questioning. According to Durham University's website, Hedges is a doctoral student in the School of Government and International Affairs whose research interests include civil-military relations, political economy and tribalism. More than 120 academics from around the world have issued a petition urging UAE authorities to release him. The UAE is a tourism and trade hub, but tolerates little public criticism of its ruling families or policies. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, Katie Paul and Maha El Dahan; Additional reporting by Hesham Hajali in Cairo; editing by John Stonestreet, William Maclean) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint military exercises held by allies US and South Korea, and has always infuriated North Korea, which condemned it as prepares for an invasion. Washington: The United States and South Korea have scaled down an annual joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. "Foal Eagle is being reorganised a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis said, adding that it would be "reduced in scope." Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies, and has always infuriated Pyongyang, which condemned it as prepares for an invasion. However, the drill one of the world's largest field exercises involving 200,000 South Korean and some 30,000 US soldiers was delayed and scaled down last year as diplomatic detente took hold on the peninsula. And following a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would stop holding joint exercises with the South, calling them expensive and "very provocative". Since then the two allies have suspended most of their major joint exercises including the Ulchi Freedom Guardian in August and Vigilant Ace, slated for next month. But more recently, progress in talks with the North has stalled, with the US pushing to maintain sanctions against it until its "final, fully verified denuclearisation" and Pyongyang condemning US demands as "gangster-like." Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South to defend it from its nuclear-armed neighbour, which invaded in 1950. However, differences are beginning to emerge between Seoul and Washington. The South's dovish president Moon Jae-in has long favoured engagement with the North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. He has dangled large investment and joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearisation, while the US has been adamant pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programs. Seoul's defence ministry said Mattis' comments were in line with their shared view on the need to back diplomacy but a spokeswoman added that the question of whether the exercises will take place at all was "still under discussion." Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the South's state-run Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said reducing the exercise was largely expected. "The Trump administration claims Pyongyang's suspension of nuclear and missile tests as the key achievement of its North Korea policy and the joint drills have been postponed as a kind of corresponding measure," Kim told AFP. "As long as talks continue, postponing or reducing major US-South Korea joint exercises has become a fait accompli," he said. Earlier this month Pyongyang threatened to "seriously" consider returning to its weapons drive if Washington did not end its tough economic sanctions. Additionally, last month, the North's state media carried a near 1,700-word commentary accusing the US of playing a "double game", implicitly criticising Trump for comments aimed at barring Seoul from lifting sanctions against Pyongyang. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday defended Washington's strategy on the peninsula, noting that North Korea had halted missile launches and had not conducted a nuclear test in over a year. "I do hope there'll be a summit between the two leaders early in 2019," he said in an interview with KCMO radio. Pyongyang has declared its nuclear and missile development complete, saying it has no further need for testing. Trump has also said he hopes to have a second meeting with Kim early next year, but talks between Pompeo and a top North Korean official, partly to prepare for the meeting, were cancelled. The US said the North axed the talks because they weren't ready, and Trump insisted he was in "no rush." Apple has acquired Silk Labs, an AI startup that focuses on making AI software lightweight enough for consumer hardware like cameras and speakers. Silks website says that it aims to bring next-generation visual and audio intelligence to connected products with state-of-the-art image and audio recognition. Apple is said to have purchased Silk Labs, a small startup with approximately a dozen employees, earlier this year. According to the Silks website, its technology has a number of potential uses for home security, retail analytics, package monitoring, digital display metrics, access control, parking lot monitoring, and building surveillance with capabilities like people detection, facial recognition, audio detection, object recognition. Silk blog which used to have its technology explained is no longer active, so is the companys Twitter account which has not been updated since 2017. The companys website, does, however, provide insight into its technology, though theres no word on how Apple might be planning to use it. Silk The company has introduced a new product called Sense, which debuted on Kickstarter three years ago. The Sense was designed to be a digital brain for smart home products, communicating with them to improve interoperability and to learn a persons smart home needs over time. The startup was founded by Andreas Gal, Chris Jones, and Michael Vines, with Gal. Source The midstream sector is one of the three links in the oil and gas value chain, which encompasses companies that work together to help a market operate efficiently. In energy, the value chain takes hydrocarbons produced at the wellhead (upstream) and moves them (midstream) to end users (downstream). Activities in the midstream industry include transportation, processing, storing, and marketing hydrocarbons such as natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Each one of these energy commodities has its own linked set of midstream assets designed to maximize the value of every barrel that comes out of the ground. The midstream sector is an important one not only to support the infrastructure needs of the oil and gas industry but also for investors. Midstream stocks leverage their crucial role in the energy sector to produce lots of cash flow, which affords them the ability to pay high-yielding dividends. That's why income-seeking investors will want to get to know this important sector. The midstream oil and gas sector 101 The midstream sector serves a vital role in the oil and gas industry by helping transport and transform raw hydrocarbons produced by a well into usable materials for refineries and petrochemical plants. The midstream sector has three main components: gathering and processing, transportation, and storage and logistics. It all starts upstream at a wellhead. After drilling a well, an oil and gas company (or a third party) will often construct a pipeline that will gather the raw hydrocarbons produced from that well and others. The raw hydrocarbons will then flow into a central facility that will store, process, and separate the various hydrocarbons. Then, the processed liquids will flow further downstream by pipeline, truck, tanker, and rail for additional storage and processing before ultimately reaching their downstream destination. Several types of companies operate in the midstream sector: integrated oil companies, sponsored midstream companies, and independent midstream companies. Integrated oil companies operate across the entire energy market value stream -- including the midstream sector -- so that they can maximize the value of every barrel they produce. In addition to integrated oil companies, there are also two types of "pure-play" midstream companies. Some oil and gas producers have created separate, publicly traded midstream companies that operate across the midstream value chain, serving the needs of the parent company, as well as those of third-party customers. Meanwhile, independent midstream-focused companies fill in the gaps by providing services to oil and gas producers that need access to midstream assets. What are the steps in the midstream oil and gas value chains? The output from a well flows across three distinct midstream value chains: one each for oil, natural gas, and NGLs (click here for an interactive infographic -- requires Flash). Oil, a mixture of natural gas and NGLs, and water flow out of a producing well and into a gas-oil separation package. That component separates the oil and water from the natural gas/NGL mixture. Midstream companies then either pump the water into a disposal well or recycle it, while the oil, natural gas, and NGLs flow down their respective value chains. The oil value chain starts with crude oil flowing into gathering tanks. It then moves by tanker, truck, or gathering pipeline to an offsite storage and blending facility. From there, a pipeline, truck, rail, or tanker will transport the crude oil to a larger storage hub, such as the United States' main hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, until it's transported to a storage tank at a refinery while awaiting processing. After they're refined, those products move again by tanker, truck, or pipeline to end users such as gas stations. Similarly, natural gas and NGLs flow together from the wellhead through gathering pipelines to a processing facility that separates methane gas from the NGL stream. From there, the natural gas and raw NGLs part ways and head down their respective value chains. Natural gas flows through transportation pipelines to natural gas storage facilities, which are usually located in underground salt caverns or depleted gas wells. When needed, it will either flow into a natural gas distribution system that sends it to end users such as homes and businesses or to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility so that it can be liquefied and transported to overseas markets. NGLs, meanwhile, go from a processing facility to a fractionation complex, which then separates them into various products such as ethane, butane, propane, and natural gasoline. Those liquids then move by pipeline or truck to storage facilities before heading to end users such as petrochemical complexes, your backyard grill, or an export terminal. How midstream companies make money Midstream companies have an opportunity to make money along each link of the oil, gas, and NGL value chains, earning revenue via three primary means: fees, regulated tariffs, and commodity-based margins. Each part of the chain tends to use a preferred revenue-generating structure. Gathering pipelines, for example, tend to be fee-based. Oil and gas producers will sign a long-term contract with a midstream company, either one they control or a third party, that will then build out a gathering system to support future wells. The producer will then pay a fee on every barrel that flows through the system, similar to a driver paying a toll to go over a bridge. Storage facilities also tend to charge fees for space, much like metered parking or a public garage. Longer-haul pipelines that cross state lines, known as interstate pipelines, tend to earn regulated tariffs, which are fees determined by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the U.S., to ensure pipeline companies don't use their monopoly power over specified pipeline routes to overcharge for their services. In many ways, the country's interstate pipeline system is much like a toll road, since the pipelines collect more tariffs the farther the oil and gas travels down the network. Finally, a midstream company makes a commodity-based margin when it earns revenue based on the difference between the price of a raw commodity and a more refined product. That happens when a midstream company buys the natural gas and the NGL mixture from a producer and then separates it into the various NGL components like ethane and propane, which it then sells for a higher value. Processing and fractionation facilities, for example, often charge margin-based fees. While midstream companies that operate assets under a commodity-based margin structure can make more money during periods of high commodity prices, their cash flow is much more volatile than the cash flow of companies focused on owning assets backed by fee-based contracts or regulated tariffs. Understanding the different types of midstream stocks Midstream companies come in all shapes and sizes. Some midstream companies own only gathering and processing assets supported by their oil and gas producing parent, or focus on a specific commodity or part of the midstream chain. Others operate across the entire value chain. Midstream companies can also have different structures for tax purposes. Some have chosen to be a master limited partnership (MLP), an entity that doesn't pay income taxes at the corporate level. In exchange, MLPs must distribute 90% of their taxable earnings to their partners, who pay personal income taxes on those earnings. Other midstream companies choose a traditional C-Corp structure, the same as most publicly traded businesses. That means those companies pay income taxes at the corporate level while their investors also pay income taxes on the dividends received. It's important for investors to know a midstream company's structure because MLPs have some drawbacks. Most retirement accounts don't allow MLPs because investors receive a Schedule K-1 to file with their taxes instead of a 1099 form, which can complicate income tax reporting. That's why investors need to fully understand the implications of owning an MLP before adding any to their portfolios. The 10 largest midstream oil and gas companies There are currently around 70 publicly traded midstream-focused oil and gas companies operating across North America. The 10 largest by enterprise value are listed below: Midstream Stock Dividend Yield Enterprise Value Area of Focus Corporate Structure Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) 6.1% $120.9 billion Oil pipelines C-Corp (Canada) Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) 8.5% $115.2 billion Diversified MLP Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) 6.6% $85.0 billion NGL pipelines MLP TransCanada (NYSE: TRP) 5.2% $77.6 billion Natural gas pipelines C-Corp (Canada) Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) 4.7% $74.4 billion Natural gas pipelines C-Corp Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) 5.5% $54.3 billion Natural gas pipelines C-Corp Cheniere Energy (NYSEMKT:LNG) 0% $44.3 billion LNG facilities C-Corp MPLX (NYSE: MPLX) 7.9% $39.6 billion Diversified MLP ONEOK (NYSE: OKE) 5.6% $34.5 billion NGL pipelines C-Corp Plains All American Pipelines (NYSE: PAA) 5.7% $25.0 billion Oil pipelines MLP As the table shows, most of the companies on this list pay outsize dividends, which is why income-seeking investors tend to flock to the midstream sector. However, it's important for investors to drill down a lot further than just a midstream company's yield before buying. Here's an in-depth look at three names from that list to give investors some insight into how to analyze the sector. Enbridge: The largest energy midstream company in North America Enbridge operates the world's longest and most sophisticated oil and liquids transportation network with more than 17,000 miles of pipelines. Its main system moves an average of 2.9 million barrels of oil per day, transporting 28% of all crude oil produced in North America. In addition, Enbridge is a leader in transporting, gathering, processing, and storing natural gas. It moves 22% of all gas used in North America through 65,800 miles of gathering lines, 25,500 miles of longer-haul transmission lines, and 101,700 miles of distribution pipes connected to 3.7 million customers in Canada and New York State, making it a true end-to-end network. Enbridge makes most of its money transporting oil and liquids, with 50% of its earnings coming from that segment in 2017, though that's down from more than 75% in 2015 due to the company's recent acquisition of gas-focused Spectra Energy. Gas transmission and midstream services make up roughly 30% of its earnings, while its power and gas utilities businesses contribute the rest. Because the bulk of Enbridge's assets are pipelines or other utility-like assets, fee-based agreements and regulated tariffs supply the company with 96% of its cash flow, giving it a very stable and predictable revenue stream. The company's ability to generate such steady cash flow gives it the funds to pay a lucrative dividend as well as invest in growth projects. Currently, Enbridge expects to invest 22 billion Canadian dollars ($17.2 billion) in expansions through 2020, which should grow its earnings at a 10% compound annual growth rate, fueling a similar growth rate in its dividend. That ability to increase its high-yielding payout at a high rate positions Enbridge to deliver market-beating returns in the coming years. Energy Transfer: A diversified midstream behemoth Energy Transfer is undergoing an important transformation. The company recently completed the acquisition of its MLP Energy Transfer Partners in a deal that will give it full control of the assets and cash flow generated by that entity. In addition, it controls two other MLPs, USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC) and Sunoco (NYSE:SUN), which entitles it to a portion of their cash flow. Following the Energy Transfer Partners merger, the new Energy Transfer is a fully integrated midstream company with assets spanning the entire value chain. The company's natural gas gathering and processing business consists of 33,000 miles of pipeline, as well as significant processing capacity, including both commodity-based and fee-based assets. From there, gas will travel across one of the largest intrastate and interstate pipeline networks in the U.S., where fee-based contracts support 95% of the company's revenue. Meanwhile, Energy Transfer also has a world-class NGL platform that processes, transports, fractionates, stores, and exports NGLs, as well as a large-scale crude oil business, including long-haul pipelines, storage facilities, and an export terminal. Finally, the company's investment in Sunoco LP gives it a stake in one of the largest fuel distribution businesses in the U.S., while USA Compression Partners, one of the largest gas compression companies in the country, enables midstream companies to move more gas through pipelines. Overall, fee-based contracts or regulated tariffs support roughly 90% of Energy Transfer's revenue stream. Energy Transfer expects to generate $2.5 billion to $3 billion of excess cash flow per year after paying its high-yielding distribution. That will give the company a significant portion of the funding needed to support its large-scale expansion program. The company has a long list of midstream assets under construction, including an important oil pipeline out of the fast-growing Permian Basin, an expansion of a major NGL pipeline, and a terminal to export ethane. In addition, the company is working on a large-scale LNG export facility along the Gulf Coast. These expansion projects should provide the company with the fuel to increase its lucrative payout in the coming years. Cheniere Energy: A pure play on LNG exports Cheniere Energy is the leading producer of LNG in the U.S. and has enough capacity under construction to become a top-five global producer by 2020. The company currently has two LNG facilities under development along the Gulf Coast: Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi. Sabine Pass started operations in 2016, enabling Cheniere to become the first company ever to export LNG from the lower 48 states. The company currently operates four liquefaction units, or trains, which perform a refrigeration process that drops the temperature of natural gas down to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point it becomes a liquid, and its volume shrinks 600 times. Cheniere is then able to load the LNG into gas carriers so it can be moved by sea to LNG import facilities in foreign countries. From there, the LNG undergoes a regasification process so that it can flow through pipeline systems to its final destination. Cheniere Energy currently has one more LNG train at Sabine Pass under construction that should be operational in 2019, and a sixth one under development. It also has two at Corpus Christi under construction that should also start operations next year, and it recently started construction of a third train at that site. Cheniere also owns enough land at both locations to continue building new trains that could double its capacity to produce LNG in the future. Cheniere Energy makes most of its money by locking in a fee-based margin under long-term contracts. The company purchases natural gas on the market; pipelines transport the product to its facilities, including ones it owns as well as those operated by third parties such Kinder Morgan and Williams Companies, which built them specifically for that purpose. The company then charges customers a fee to liquefy the gas, with 85% to 95% of its anticipated production locked in by long-term contracts. The cash flow from those fees gives Cheniere some of the money needed to continue expanding its LNG empire. The company eventually expects to pay a dividend to its investors with some of the cash flow from its LNG business. The future of midstream oil and gas As big as the North American midstream oil and gas sector is today, it will become even larger in the coming years. The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Foundation estimates that midstream companies will need to invest nearly $800 billion through 2035, or $44 billion per year, in building oil, natural gas, and NGL midstream assets needed to meet the industry's needs. More than half of that investment, or an estimated $417 billion, will be in building new natural gas midstream infrastructure, including gathering and transmission pipelines, processing plants, storage capacity, and LNG export facilities. The industry also needs to invest another $321 billion in new oil infrastructure, including gathering and long-haul pipelines, storage tanks, and export docks. Finally, midstream companies will need to invest an estimated $53 billion in new NGL-related infrastructure such as pipelines, fractionation capacity, and export facilities. This forecast suggests that midstream companies will be busy expanding their footprints over the next two decades. That growth has the potential to enable midstream companies to create significant value for investors as they increase their high-yielding dividends. Why investing in midstream stocks could make sense in your portfolio Two factors should make the midstream sector attractive to investors. First, midstream companies tend to generate lots of cash flow because fee-based contracts or regulated tariffs supply them with the bulk of their income. That makes them less volatile than other energy stocks and gives them the cash needed to pay some of the highest-yielding dividends in the market. The sector also offers ample growth in light of the projected need for new midstream assets in North America. As midstream companies build these assets, they should boost their cash flows, giving them more money to pay dividends. That growing income stream could provide many midstream stocks with the fuel they need to outperform the market in the coming years. The decision of the 1989 Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union to condemn sending Soviet troops to Afghanistan was historically unfair, according to the draft statement of the Russian State Duma planned to be approved by the 30th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal of Afghanistan on February 15, 2019. The document designed to provide new political assessment of participation of Soviet troops in the Afghan war in 1979-1989, was approved at parliamentary hearings yesterday. "On this day, the State Duma considers it necessary to recognize as inconsistent with the principles of historical justice the moral and political condemnation of the decision to send troops to Afghanistan in December 1979 expressed in the resolution of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union from 24 December 1989," the draft statement said. "It is necessary to proceed from the fact that the decision to send limited contingent of Soviet troops to Afghanistan was made in December 1979 in accordance with the Agreement on Friendship, Good Neighborly Relations and Cooperation between the Soviet Union and the Demoractic Republic of Afghanistan and taking into account multiple requests of Afghanistan's leadership for direct Soviet intervention into the conflict," TASS cited the statement as saying. State Duma members emphasized that they "remain committed supporters of strengthening friendly and good neighborly relations with all peoples and are ready to direct their efforts at basing Russian-Afghan relations exclusively on the striving for comprehensive cooperation for the benefit of the peoples" of Russia and Afghanistan and countries. "State Duma members are convince that tragic events of the military conflict in Afghanistan should be considered on the basis of political impartiality and historical truth. Careful and detailed study of Russian-Afghan history will facilitate full-scale restoration of bilateral relations," the draft reads. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Thursday that he sees weak oil demand in January and said the kingdom would respond accordingly to cool the global markets anxiety, Reuters reported. The worlds top oil exporters crude output in November is above October levels, he said, adding that it was in no ones interest to create a supply glut. The waivers as to the Iranian sanctions as you know ... So January demand for Saudi Arabia would be lower, Falih said, referring to U.S. offers to Iran to keep more Iranian crude on the market. * - Tuesday 4th December Saturday 8th December, 2018: Contest period for the Under 14s Boys and Girls Australian Junior Titles divisions. * - Saturday 8th December, 2018: Event Presentation The nations best junior surfers are primed and ready to do battle at the 2018 Surf Dive n Ski Australian Junior Surfing Titles on South Australias Fleurieu Peninsula from December 1st.Catering for a variety of swell and wind conditions the region, located eighty kilometres south of Adelaide, shapes as a fantastic location for the future stars of surfing to showcase their skills in an effort to claim a prestigious Australian Title.Surfing South Australia CEO Craig Potgieter said: Surfing South Australia is stoked to be able to host such a prestigious junior event and showcase our region. A big thanks has to go out to the City of Victor Harbour Council for helping to make it all possible."With a joint National Titles encompassing Individual (Under 14, 16 and 18 age groups) and Australian School Surfing Association (Allstars and MR Shield) disciplines in both boys and girls divisions, the event is considered the benchmark of junior surfing in the country.With past winners including World Champions Steph Gilmore, Chelsea Hedges, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, Mark Richards, Tom Carroll and Damian Hardman, a win in this years event is a legitimate stepping stone to world stage glory.The 2018 Surf Dive n Ski Australian Junior Surfing Titles will commence with an opening ceremony on Saturday 1st December before surfing starts on Sunday 2nd December and runs through to Saturday 8th December.The 2018 Surf Dive n Ski Australian Junior Surfing Titles are proudly supported by City of Victor Harbour, Woolworths, 2XP Sunscreen, Hydralyte Sports, Air Asia, Hyundai, Hurley, School Sport Australia, Sport Australia, Surfing South Australia, School Sport South Australia, Surfing Australia and mySURFtv.The Surf Dive n Ski Australian Junior Surfing Titles features the Australian Junior Titles and the Australian School Surfing Titles. The key dates for the event are:Opening Ceremony and Team and Judges Meetings (all Competitors, Team Managers and Judges to attend)Times: 3:00pm Opening Ceremony & Competitor Briefing 4:00pm Team Managers Meeting 4:30pm Judges MeetingContest period for both the Australian Junior Titles and Australian School Surfing Titles (Competitors in all divisions are required to be in the Fleurieu Peninsula region for the duration of the contest period)Competition is fully mobile in the Fleurieu Peninsula (See contest venues below)Times: Competition is expected to commence each day at 7:30am and run through to approximately 4:00pm each dayOn beachOn beach following completion of all competition A passenger bus rolled over in Turkey's Malatya Province, Turkish media reported. The accident occurred after the driver lost control of the vehicle. According to media reports, seven people were killed and 15 more were injured as a result of the accident. All the victims and injured are Turkish citizens. Gazprom determined the Turkish Stream gas pipeline's route passing through the territory of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia. It is expected that deliveries to Bulgaria and Serbia will begin in 2020, to Hungary - in 2021, and to Slovakia - in the second half of 2022. The procedure is carried out by Gazprom in accordance with the legislation of the European Union. In December, Bulgartransgaz plans to conduct an auction for the future capacity of gas pipelines at the entrance to the Bulgarian system from Turkey and at the exit to Serbia. The capacity at the entry point, which is proposed for booking for 20 years from January 1, 2020, is 15.8 billion cubic meters per year. But it is to increase to 11 billion cubic meters since 2021. These volumes will be supplied from Turkey through Bulgaria using part of the existing infrastructure. It is planned to build the Novaya Provadiya station near the Provadia gas compressor station in the north-eastern part of Bulgaria, which will give a start to a 474 km new gas pipeline. The gas pipeline will cross the Serbian-Bulgarian border in the town of Zajecar. Thus, it will almost completely repeat the route of the Bulgarian part of the frozen South Stream pipeline. The cost of expanding the system is estimated at $1.63 billion. In addition, operators from Hungary, Slovakia and Austria have already conducted an auction to reserve new capacities for 7 years starting from October 2022. All the necessary procedures are expected to be completed by 2019, which will enable Gazprom to completely abandon Ukrainian transit by 2022, the Kommersant newspaper reports. Deputy director of energy policy of the Institute of Energy and Finances, Alexey Belogoriev, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that until concrete contracts are not concluded with European companies, Gazprom is likely to continue developing both Turkish Stream routes - through Bulgaria and Greece. "At the same time, as I understand it, Italian companies have not expressed great interest in purchasing Russian gas in southern Italy, because our gas is traditionally supplied to Northern Italy. Azerbaijani gas will go there via the Southern Gas Corridor in addition to Libyan and Algerian gas, so \southern Italy does not really need to be connected to the continuation of the Turkish Stream," he noted. "As for the choice of route via Bulgaria as a priority, it is worth noting that when Russia abandoned South Stream, it caused quite serious friction with Serbia and Hungary, our key gas allies in the region, as the decision to cancel the project was not agreed with them. Returning to the South Stream route can be viewed as a friendly step towards them, Aleksey Belogoryev said. The executive vice-president of NewTech Services, professor of the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, Valery Bessel, noted that choosing the South Stream route to continue the Turkish Stream is explained by minimizing costs. "Its beneficial to us both economically and politically, because it will bring Bulgaria closer to Russia. But Gazprom will agree on this deal only after receiving mandatory written guarantees from the European Union. Practically there is no such business that could give revenues comparable with those from re-sailing oil and gas, so all potential participants in the continuation of the Turkish Stream to Europe will fight for it," Valery Bessel predicts. Party General Secretary, President Nguyen Phu Trong (left) and Indian President Ram Nath Kovind review a guard of honor in Hanoi yesterday__Photo: Tri Dung/VNA , , , , Vietnam would continue its close co-operation with India to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations, Party General Secretary, President Nguyen Phu Trong said on Tuesday.The Party leader was addressing members of the press in Hanoi to announce the outcome of his talks with visiting Indian President Ram Nath Kovind.Besides discussing regional and global issues of mutual interest, both leaders stressed the necessity to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership in all sectors, and agreed to maintain co-operative mechanisms and implement agreements signed by the two sides.They described defense-security as one of the important pillars in their bilateral ties and said both sides should work on removing bottlenecks to elevate two-way trade to US$15 billion.They also agreed to step up investment promotions in the fields of Indias strengths and Vietnams development priorities. Both leaders welcomed the co-operation between the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) of India in oil exploration and exploitation in Vietnam, saying that more effective co-operative models should be put in place.In addition, they agreed to bolster collaboration in culture, tourism, aviation, people-to-people exchange and education-training, among others.The two leaders affirmed close co-ordination and support for each other at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement.Vietnam welcomed Indias Act East policy, and spoke highly of Indias backing of ASEANs central role in the forming of the regional structure in East Asia. As a coordinator, Vietnam had made significant contributions to fostering the ASEAN-India relations, Trong said.The two leaders stressed the importance of building Indo-Asia-Pacific into a peaceful and prosperous region based on respect of sovereignty, international law and freedom of aviation and navigation.Vietnam attached importance to Indias stance on the East Sea issue, and thanked the Southern Asian country for continuing to support Vietnams viewpoint on this issue.President Kovind thanked Party General Secretary, President Trong for giving him and the Indian delegation a warm welcome. Vietnam was a strategic pillar of India in its Act East policy and an important dialogue partner in ASEAN.As comprehensive strategic partners, Vietnam and India were enjoying thriving relations based on mutual trust and understanding, and close co-operation at multilateral forums.He expressed his delight over the robust economic ties between the two nations, with two-way trade reaching $12.8 billion in 2017. He said he hoped that with concerted efforts made by the two countries, they would realize the goal of increasing trade revenue to $15 billion in 2020.The Indian President also underlined that similarities in culture have served as a catalyst to strengthening bonds between the two countries.Following their talks, both leaders witnessed the signing of several co-operation deals, including a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the Jawaharlal Nehru University, an MoU between the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications and Indian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, an MoU between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Indian Industry, and an MoU between the President of the Indian Business Chamber in Vietnam and the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs local departments.- Epson re-brands InkTank printers as EcoTank, launches L3110 & L3150 EcoTank printers News oi-Sandeep Sarkar Both the Epson L3110 and L3150 EcoTank printers feature a compact design and come with an integrated ink tank. Epson, the Japanese electronic brands primarily known for its printers has made some changes in the branding of its widely popular InkTank printers. Epson has now rebranded the InkTank printer line-up as EcoTank printers in India. The entire range of InkTank printers will now come under the EcoTank umbrella from now onwards. The first InkTank printer was launched by Epson back in 2011 and since then the company has introduced a number of models in the InkTank series of printers. Epson is one of the most preferred printer brands following HP and Canon and the company has now started spreading awareness regarding its CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) printer benefits. The CISS printers are said to reduce the cost of printing by a greater margin and are quite cost-effective. Apart from rebranding the InkTank line-up, Epson has also introduced two new printers in the EcoTank lineup. Epson has launched EcoTank L3110 and L3150 EcoTankk printers. Both of these printers will replace the company's previous flagship models, i.e, L380 and L405 respectively. Both the Epson L3110 and L3150 EcoTank printers feature a compact design and come with an integrated ink tank. When it comes to the printing quality, the L3110 and the L3150 printers can print the content at a high printing resolution of 5760 dpi. This allows the printer to deliver high-resolution printouts. You also get fast print speeds of up to 10ipm (impressions per minute) for black and 5.0ipm (impressions per minute) for color printouts. The new L3110 and L3150 printers are also able to print borderless images of up to 4R. As mentioned earlier, the latest range of printers comes with an integrated ink tank and are a cost-effective option for printing. Both the printers can print one page for just 7 paise for black and white and 18 paise for color printouts. With a single ink bottle, the printer can print 4,500 black prints and 7,500 color prints. With low-cost replacement bottles, the EcoTank printers can save to up to 80 percent of the ink. Refilling the ink bottles is not much fuss as the bottles have unique nozzles which fit into the respective tank which allows for a clean refill of the bottles. As for the pricing, the EcoTank L3110 comes with a price tag of Rs 11,899, whereas, the L3150 comes with a price tag of Rs 14,299. Besides, Epson is also offering a warranty of up to 1 year or 30,000 prints on both the printers. 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 Efforts Underway to Aid Civilians in Colombia, Yemen, Mattis Says Nov. 21, 2018 By David Vergun Defense.gov WASHINGTON -- Progress is being made to assist civilians in several parts of the world, including in Colombia and Yemen, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said. The USNS Comfort, a hospital ship, is now docked in Colombia as part of an 11-week voyage to ports of call that have so far included Peru and Ecuador, said Mattis, speaking at a Pentagon press briefing today. Thus far, 14,500 people have been treated by a team of doctors and other health providers aboard the ship from 10 partner nations, he said, adding that it's an international mission. Colombia, in particular, needs the aid because there are over a million refugees fleeing the humanitarian crisis and violence in neighboring Venezuela, Mattis said. Other countries such as Brazil, have also taken in a number of refugees. Mattis said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is "creating a refugee crisis of enormous proportions for our friends and partners and destabilizing neighboring nations." Fighting in Yemen Meanwhile in Yemen, progress is being made to end the fighting, Mattis said. In recent days, the level of fighting has decreased considerably. Peace talks will take place in Sweden in early December, with representatives present from the Houthi rebel side; the government of Yemen, under the leadership of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi; and Martin Griffiths, the United Nations special envoy. Mattis credited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for being "fully onboard" with this effort. Also, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are providing relief supplies to feed about 10 million Yemenis for a 30-day period. The aid will be distributed by local and international nongovernmental organizations. This is just the initial effort, he added. The Saudis also approved moving wounded Houthi rebels to hospitals for treatment. In Afghanistan, the Saudis, assisted by the UAE, Qatar and others are also working to get reconciliation talks going with the government and the Taliban, he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Assumption of Command Marks First Active Duty Air Defense Combined Task Force Commanded by National By Capt. Marion Jo Nederhoed November 21, 2018 It was much more than just an Assumption of Command. The historic ceremony marked more firsts for Combined Joint Task Force (CTF) Defender located at Forward Operating Site (FOS) CP Carroll in South Korea. On November 19, Lt. Col. John D. Wilson became the first officer to take command of the Joint Task Force. Additionally, CTF Defender is the first Combined Task Force commanded by a National Guard Officer. "What a great day to be a Soldier serving in the Army's premier Air Defense Brigade," said 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Commander, Col. Richard W. Wright. "Today marks another historic milestone for the Dragon Brigade, the Air Defense Branch, and our Army as we continue to proudly serve the citizens of the Republic of Korea and the United States." The ceremony serves as the next step to a fully integrated air and missile defense capability in support of the US/ROK Alliance. Reflecting back 18 months ago, in April of 2017, a second Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery deployed to defend against the ballistic missile threat of North Korea. D-2 Air Defense Artillery was the unit who answered the call and deployed to Seongju, South Korea amidst rising tensions between North and South Korea. The D-2 Air Defenders were the first THAAD battery to deploy to the ROK; achieving Initial Operating Capability (IOC), and changing the international narrative on ballistic missile defense on the Korean Peninsula. The Dragon Brigade has been working toward this day for the past year. In early October 2017, D-2 assumed responsibilities of FOS Carroll and its air defense assets. D-2 reflagged under the 35th ADA on October 19, 2017. With the reflagging of D-2 a small, yet senior level staff was necessary to provide mission command for the Soldiers operating on FOS Carroll and CTF Defender. Since its initial deployment CTF Defender has grown and is not composed of elements from D-2 Battery, Echo 6-52 Battery, 304th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, a 12 person staff, and multiple other units from the Indo-PACOM region along with one battalion from the Republic of Korea Army. "What Combined Task Force Defender does on a daily basis matters to our alliance, the people of South Korea and the United States, and - in fact - to the entire Indo-Pacific region," Wright said. "CTF Defender marked the first deployment of a THAAD Battery outside of the Continental United States and its Territories. It was the first unit to have successfully demonstrated THAAD and Patriot integration in an operational environment over a joint tactical network and CTF Defender were the first Soldiers to deploy and integrate a Counter Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) capability in the Republic of Korea." This Assumption of Command Ceremony now becomes another historic moment for the unit with the appointment of its first commander and being commanded by a National Guard Officer. Lt. Col. Wilson has served as an Air Defense Officer his entire military career starting with his initial assignment at 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Fort Bliss, Texas where he served as a Platoon Leader for Maintenance and Launcher Platoons and Battery Executive Officer. During his assignment, he deployed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in support of Operation Southern Watch. Wilson had several other notable assignments prior to leaving active duty and joining the 263d Army Air and Missile Defense Command, South Carolina Army National Guard. In 2015, Wilson deployed to Qatar with the 32d Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC) and served as the Active Defense Chief in Support of Operation Spartan Shield. His next assignment was as the Deputy Area Air Defense Commander Coordination Officer and Operational Planner to US Air Force North at Tyndall Air Force Base. "I know you're ready for arguably one of the most challenging and complex commands on the Korean Peninsula," Wright said in his remarks to Wilson. "There is a lot of uncertainty ahead, but without a doubt you are the right person at the right time to lead this great formation, and I know we can expect many more firsts from the Soldiers of CTF Defender." Wilson said he is very excited about this tremendous opportunity to be the first commander of CTF Defender and serve in Korea. For the past five years he had been on active duty with the National Guard and it had provided him the opportunity to get back into the ADA community and build relationships. "It's very unique to be a National Guard officer and serve in this capacity. This is a tremendous opportunity to represent the National Guard and what we can do with the active component force, and build that relationship and have that trust and confidence that we can work together," he said. As he has progressed through the ranks he has gained experience through various deployments while working with other military forces and coalition partners. Wilson said this has provided a sound foundation for the mission in Korea where he will be working with an Alliance and our Korean partners. "By working with other partners and building a unified team with a common purpose and common mission I have learned how to band together and move forward with others to accomplish a mission," he said. "These experiences have opened my mind to working with others who may do business differently and with different business rules." Wilson said this is his first time in Korea other than coming to the peninsula for temporary duty and joint exercises. His mother is Korean and he is looking forward to the unique experience. "I love really getting into the culture of wherever I travel," he said. "I like getting away from the Army post and trying different foods and really experiencing the culture." Moving forward into the first days of his command Wilson said it is important that CTF Defender maintain its mission focus of being prepared to Fight Tonight. "I want the Soldiers of CTF Defender to know that their leaders trust them and there needs to be mutual trust that their leaders are going to take care of them," he said. "Whether it's preparing them through training or personal issues or working through personal obstacles, I want them to know that their leaders care for them and that they are our main priority because without them we can't succeed." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Defense against invasion, Yemenis' right: Ansarullah leader IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, Nov 21, IRNA -- The leader of Yemeni Ansarullah Movement renewed the Yemeni People's commitment to defend themselves and their land, saying that defending against the US-Saudi invasion and building independence and freedom is the Yemeni people's undeniable right. "This is an important and decisive stage. We face an unjust aggression aimed at our dignity, our identity and our belonging," said Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi. He made the remarks in the ceremony to celebrate the birthday anniversary of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) held in Yemeni capital city of Sana'a on Tuesday evening. "The enemy is targeting you in your faith, your awareness, your honor and your morals, as well as with its weapons and missiles,' adding that Yemenis should not lose their hope, uphold their identity and resemble the culture of the Holy Quran. Saudi Arabia and its regional allies attacked Yemen in March 2015 to bring back to power the deposed president of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. The invaders have committed horrible war crimes against Yemeni civilians during the past three years. Over 16,000 Yemenis, including thousands of women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign. 9462**1771 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Scores of Saudi troops killed in northern Yemen IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, Nov 21, IRNA -- In an attack on Jabal Al-Nar near Jizan, northern Yemen, scores of Saudi military forces were killed or injured, Yemeni media Al-Masirah reported. According to Yemeni TV Channel, a military source said on Wednesday that Saudi mercenaries' efforts to advance in the the battlefield failed. Some Saudi military cars and weaponries were also annihilated, he added. The Yemeni army as well as the popular committee also prevented Saudi army advancement in Jizan and inflicted heavy damage on them. Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of Mansour Hadi back to power and crushing the country's Houthi Ansarullah Movement. Some 16,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression. The assaults of the Saudi-led coalition forces have failed to stop the Yemenis from resisting the aggression. Recently, the Yemeni army unveiled its home-made underground missile launching pads. 9376**1771 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Remarks by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and His Majesty the King of Spain at the meeting of the North Atlantic Council NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 21 Nov. 2018 (As delivered) Jens Stoltenberg [NATO Secretary General]: Welcome, Your Majesty. On behalf of the North Atlantic Council it is a great pleasure and honour to welcome you here to the new NATO Headquarters. In 1982 NATO, an alliance based on democracy, individual liberty, and the judicial law welcomed Spain as a member. NATO keeps Spanish citizens secure and Spain is committed and highly-valued NATO Ally. Spain's voice is valued around this table where we take key decisions for our security. Your troops are part of our battle group in Latvia. Spanish jets help police Allied airspace over the Baltics. You host missile defence ships in Rota and your Patriot battery in Turkey helps protect against missile threats form Syria. Spanish troops also play an important role in the fight against terrorism between Afghan forces so they can build the conditions for peace and they train Iraqi forces to defuse improvised explosive devices and to ensure ISIL does not come back. Our work to stabilise partners and our cooperation with the European Union in the Mediterranean can also help alleviate the refugee and migrant crisis. And so, we thank you for your country's active role in this Alliance and, once again, it is a pleasure to welcome and then to give you the floor, Your Majesty. So, please welcome. His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain: Mr Secretary General, Ambassadors, Minister first of all, allow me to thank you Secretary General for your kind words regarding myself and Spain. It is a real pleasure to be back since 2002. Then as Crown Prince and now to the new headquarters as King of Spain. And thank you also for the opportunity to address today's session of the North Atlantic Council; it is indeed a great honour. So, this is my first visit to the new headquarters that were inaugurated just a few months ago. It surely represents in the best way possible, not only the enduring importance of the Alliance but also its ability and our common will and need to adapt to new times and new challenges. Mr Secretary General, Ambassadors - next year we will all celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Washington Treaty. Together we will celebrate 70 years of commitment 70 years of unity and the defence of our shared values. But, these values and principles are not 70 years of age. No, they are very much older than this great Alliance. They are the same values and principles that inspired the founding fathers of the United States when they wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. They are the same values and principles that inspired the members of France's National Constituent Assembly when they wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Other Citizens in 1789. And they are the same values and principles that inspired the authors of Spain's first constitution in 1812 - the Constitution of Cadiz. These same values and principles are, of course, today contained in Spain's present constitution. Of which we are celebrating its 40th Anniversary in just a few days on the 6th December. This constitution not only established an advanced democratic, plural framework of freedom and rule of law for all the people of Spain, but it also enabled Spain to once again be fully part of the international community. Indeed, without the constitution of 1978 Spain would not have become a member of this organisation in 1982, or a member of the European Union in 1986. Over the course of the 70-year history that we will shortly commemorate, the Alliance has proven its capacity to effectively respond to any challenges and threats to global security; adapting to shifting, historical-induced strategic circumstances. All aimed at guaranteeing the territorial integrity of the Allies and protecting the democratic values that are at the very foundation of our modern societies. This path of success is built on two higher values that define the Alliance present. And will define its future: the importance of unity and the essential nature of the transatlantic relationship. This second value this essential nature - and I am sure I will pull some smiles from you now - pre-dates 1949 and is in fact much older. It was forged 457 years ago before the Washington Treaty. Because it was in 1492 when the Spanish Crown discovered the new world to the old world when the idea of fraternal unity between the two shores of the Atlantic began to take shape. A unity that we continue to defend in these halls. Mr Secretary General, Ambassadors it is clear that in today's world NATO is facing a complex strategic environment combining a myriad of threats. Resurgence of old and familiar ones and emergence of new dangers. Hybrid threats that combine convention and unconventional domains and which have enormous potential for destabilisation; or cyber-attacks and misinformation campaigns, which in using new technology are more subtle and covert and, therefore, more difficult to contain but can indeed dramatically affect our day-to-day lives. These challenges are sometimes global and are changing the security paradigms. As in the case of international terrorism whose brutality we all sadly know, and Spain particularly. And which we must always fight together if we are to be effective. Mr Secretary General, Ambassadors since joining NATO in 1982 Spain has demonstrated its sincere active commitment to the Alliance, an alliance that plays a key role in maintaining international peace and security. In accordance with the purposes and principles set down in Chapter One of the United Nations Charter. My country has a unique geostrategic position between Africa and Europe and America between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Between the north and the south. Which makes Spain both a border and a bridge between countries and cultures with a singular profile in terms of global security. Respect for international law and for a fair, inclusive and effective global governance supported by our dedication to multilateralism are the pillars of Spain's commitment to the international order and to maintaining international peace and security. Spain firmly believes in preventive diplomacy, in peaceful solutions to international disputes and in dialogue as a means of easing and even resolving conflicts. It is with this conviction in mind that Spain actively contributes to the Alliance's political and military endeavours. At present there are approximately 3,000 men and women from Spain's armed forces deployed abroad on NATO missions and on EU, UN and national missions. All clearly reflecting Spain's determination to be an unwavering, steadfast ally. Men and women from our army, our navy and our air force, as well as our civil guard, have served or are serving in NATO actions, missions and operations. They have served on land in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey and Latvia. They have served in the skies over the Baltics and over Libya. They have served on the borders of the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. Wherever NATO is, or has been, Spanish troops have also been present. That is our commitment, that is our hallmark. As a strongly committed member of both NATO and the EU, Spain supports an ambitious European defence, a defence that increases our effectiveness in addressing the crises that affect our own security and that contributes to a better distribution of responsibilities between the two sides of the Atlantic. Europe can and must assume greater responsibility for our common defence and security. All of this in harmony with NATO as part of this commitment to strengthening Europe's security. Spain has the firm conviction that strong transatlantic ties must be maintained. Transatlantic solidarity and cohesion are fundamental. Their absence or weakening: a huge risk to world peace and stability. Spain has defended collaboration between the two organisations focusing on the complementary and clear synergies that exist between them both. And on avoiding unnecessary overlaps and duplications. We welcome the unprecedented levels of cooperation achieved between the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union in recent years. The declarations signed in Warsaw and Brussels are indisputable proof of this; and please allow me, Mr Secretary General, to thank you for your personal involvement and dedication to achieving these advantages, which my country truly appreciates. Cooperating with EU and with other international organisations such as the UN, the OSCE and the African Union is crucial to our security. Doing so, with our partners -above all those that are strategically close - with the aim or projecting stability is the best way to guarantee our own security. Therefore, the Alliance must continue to play an important role in the south. A region that is of particular interest to us and in which some of the security challenges that most concern us are perhaps concentrated. It must do so through political dialogue and practical cooperation with our Mediterranean partners. As well as through the missions deployed - like in Afghanistan and Iraq in which Spain is an active participant. Security and peace in Europe are directly linked to greater stability in the Mediterranean region where cooperation between NATO and the European Union is increasingly necessary, offering more and more possibilities for synergies. I would also like to speak about Spain's commitment to women, peace and security a matter that I understand will be discussed by the Council after this meeting has ended. Spain has been spearheading initiatives at the international level and promoting women's increased participation in conflict prevention and peace-building. Combating violations and abuses of their freedoms and dignity. With a conviction that gender inequality is yet another threat to international peace and security. We must all take on greater responsibility for effectively applying the regulatory framework we have helped to shape. The role of NATO is also fundamental in this area. Mr Secretary General, Ambassadors I would also like on this occasion to honour all those who have given their lives during NATO operations and missions, to uphold our shared values. We must never forget their exemplary dedication and sacrifice, which must guide us always in our daily work. To conclude, I wish to emphasise the concept of commitment a word that defines this Alliance like no other. To emphasise NATO's commitment to the values and principles that define us as free societies, and also to emphasise Spain's steadfast commitment to this Alliance, an alliance that will soon have stood for 70 years. May the next seven decades be equally full of success in defending freedom and democracy. I, for one, am sure that they will. Thank you all very much. Jens Stoltenberg [NATO Secretary General]: Your Majesty, thank you so much for your speech and I think that this speech really reflects the strong commitment of your country to our Alliance and the many contributions you are making to our shared security and to our collective defence. Let me also take this opportunity to thank you for your personal commitment to our Alliance. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Ashland Completes Typhoon Recovery Mission in Northern Mariana Islands Navy News Service Story Number: NNS181121-05 Release Date: 11/21/2018 9:35:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua Mortensen, GUAM (NNS) -- The amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) departed the waters near Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) after assisting Task Force-West with Department of Defense support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local authorities, Nov. 20. "As we depart to continue our mission in the 7th Fleet area of operations our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Saipan and Tinian," said Cmdr. Patrick L. German, Ashland's commanding officer. "I can only hope that our efforts and the continued efforts of all other branches of service can bring a sense of ease to the citizens of Saipan and Tinian during this time of hardship." The Ashland crew, along with 33 other military units, consisting of more than 800 active duty, Reserve, and guard service members from all branches assisted in relief efforts against the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yutu. Ashland arrived in the area Nov. 3. While helping the people of CNMI, the crew had the opportunity to work alongside the Guam Army National Guard and the Guam Air National Guard for the first time. "I could not be more proud of the superb work by the Sailors and Marines on USS Ashland," said Rear Adm. Brad Cooper, commander, Amphibious Force 7th Fleet. "From their first ever joint operations with the Guam National Guard to their continued partnership with the CLB-31 Marines, the crew truly showed that they are ready to do whatever it takes to support the American people." All told, Ashland moved over 100 vehicles and 160 Sailors, Marines and Guam Army National Guard Soldiers that helped clear debris from over 150 miles of road and distributed more than 300,000 gallons of drinkable water. They also assisted with building more than 400 tents for temporary housing in Saipan and Tinian. This was the second time this year that Ashland was called upon to help. In early September Ashland also assisted as a refueling station for helicopters, assigned to the "Island Knights" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, during defense support efforts for Typhoon Mangkhut which also struck CNMI. Ashland, assigned to Amphibious Squadron 11, is operating in the Indo-Pacific region to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force for any type of contingency. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gulfport Seabees Provide Disaster Relief Support Around the Globe Navy News Service Story Number: NNS181121-07 Release Date: 11/21/2018 9:42:00 AM By Chief Mass Communication Specialist Rosalie Chang, Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport Public Affairs GULFPORT, Miss. (NNS) -- U.S. Navy Seabees assigned to battalions under the command Naval Construction Group (NCG) 2 participated in Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) and service authority response operations to provide disaster relief efforts and essential lifesaving and preserving support to military and civilian personnel affected by recent natural disasters. "DSCA and related missions are vital to assist the nation during times of crisis," said NCG 2 Assistant Operations Officer, Lt. j.g. Christopher Hefner. "The military possesses unique capabilities that can fill, local, state and federal government requirement gaps when needed in extremely austere environments and in short notice." Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB)1 Detachment Guam, conducted DSCA with the Commonwealth Advocates for Recovery Efforts, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in rebuilding roofs for homes as part of the relief operations in Rota, Tinian and Saipan after a typhoon hit in early September. During their mission in Rota, the Seabees removed damaged roofing materials and reconstructed a total of 33 emergency temporary roofs, able to withstand wind forces from future storms. "I understand firsthand the feeling of not having a roof over your head," said Construction Electrician 1st Class Brenton Shepherd. "My house was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina, and for me it feels so gratifying to help the members of this community turn a house into a home again." Many of the homes on Tinian were damaged or destroyed by the more than 150 mph winds that Super Typhoon Yutu brought to the island, which is the second strongest storm to ever strike U.S. territory. The Seabees also built tents that can accommodate up to eight people, letting residents return to their property and move out of emergency shelters. "Some of the families have been in emergency shelters for about two weeks and so it's great that we could build these tents, which got them back on their property and helped them get one step closer to resuming normal life," said NMCB 1 Detachment Operations Chief, Chief Equipment Operator Jared Vehrs. NMCB 11 and NMCB 133 deployed a component of their respective Air Detachments after Hurricane Michael made landfall as a category 4 hurricane in the Florida panhandle, Oct. 10. The Seabees conducted relief efforts in order to restore sustainable base operations on two military installations. Their missions included debris removal, restoring mobility and setting conditions for reconstruction. "Getting the Seabees aboard both bases was crucial to enable service crews such as utilities and electrical to get to the areas needed to restore power and utilities to the base," said Hefner. "Recovery efforts are still underway, but the massive workload taken on by both battalions has certainly had a direct impact on the opening of each base." NMCB 133 deployed to Tyndall Air Force Base with approximately 20 personnel where damaging hurricane force winds and storm surge caused extensive damage to the installation. Debris and damaged facilities required clearing and some demolition to facilitate reconstruction. "The detachment cleared downed trees and construction debris over a 600-acre area to include clearing roads, parking lots, fence lines and around buildings," said Detachment Officer-in-Charge Lt. Andrea Keirstead. "This provided safe access to critical infrastructure for the personnel and contractors on the base. The parking lots also provided space for temporary RV housing for the personnel returning to Tyndall." Task Force Phoenix was established to coordinate and direct recovery efforts between U.S. Air Force and other joint engineer partners. Leadership stated most of the Seabees were operating in a disaster environment where they did not have a lot of practical experience, but they quickly learned and accomplished more than what was expected. "This was a good opportunity to expand our leadership capabilities," said Construction Mechanic 2nd Class Travis Wyatt. "It also gave our junior Seabees a chance to grow, gain experience and take on small unit leadership. It's nice to see a small organization accomplish this much work." There is still a lot of work to be completed on the installation. However, the Seabees were able to expedite the process of getting it back to operating capabilities. "We are an asset that is here to help; it's what Seabees do," said Equipment Operator 2nd Class Zachary Bunter. "We are here to help other units rebuild the base and get back to operational capabilities. It's a huge team effort." 54 personnel from NMCB 11 deployed to Naval Support Activity Panama City, Fla. Within 48-hours, the detachment convoyed more than 250 miles with 18 pieces of Civil Engineering Support Equipment (CESE) and various other supplies and equipment to conduct the mission. "Getting this base back up and running is a top priority, without this base the contractors coming to assist the local community won't have a place to base their operations," said Detachment Assistant Officer-in-Charge, Ens. Brett Renaker. The Seabees got right to work providing initial damage assessment in conjunction with the base Public Works Officer, and began removing trees and other debris from vital access and perimeter roads that line the base. NMCB 11 also has a small detachment of Seabees in Camp Lejeune where they suffered severe water damage from flooding during Hurricane Florence. The detachment is working to restore medical and dental facilities to operational status to get those services back online to service members and their family members. "Both NMCB 11 and 133 have done an outstanding job completing their recovery responses. Public Works representatives from each base could not be more thankful and were impressed with the work done by each unit." said Hefner. "Both tasked tailored detachments conducted safe debris removal and clearance with a high degree of efficiency and a strong "Can do" attitude." Homeported out of Gulfport, Miss., NMCBs are part of the Naval Construction Force (NCF). The NCF is a vital component of U.S. Maritime Strategy, and is comprised of deployable battalions capable of providing contingency construction, disaster preparation and recovery support, humanitarian assistance, and combat operations support. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ashland says farewell to CNMI Navy News Service Story Number: NNS181121-04 Release Date: 11/21/2018 9:33:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist Joshua Mortenson, USS Ashland Public Affairs GUAM (NNS) -- The amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) departed the waters near Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) after assisting Task Force-West with Department of Defense support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local authorities November 20. "As we depart to continue our mission in the 7th Fleet Area of Operations our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Saipan and Tinian," said Cmdr. Patrick L. German, Ashland's commanding officer. "I can only hope that our efforts and the continued efforts of all other branches of service can bring a sense of ease to the citizens of Saipan and Tinian during this time of hardship." The Ashland crew, along with 33 other Military units, consisting of more than 800 active duty, reserve, and guard service members from all branches assisted in relief efforts against the aftermath of super typhoon Yutu. Ashland arrived on station in the area November 6. While helping the people of CNMI, the crew had the opportunity to work alongside the Guam Army National Guard and the Guam Air National Guard for the first time. "I could not be more proud of the superb work by the Sailors and Marines on USS Ashland," said Rear Adm. Brad Cooper, commander, Amphibious Force 7th Fleet. "From their first ever joint operations with the Guam National Guard to their continued partnership with the CLB-31 Marines, the crew truly showed that they are ready to do whatever it takes to support the American people." All told, Ashland moved over 100 vehicles and 160 Sailors, Marines, and Guam Army National Guard Soldiers that helped clear debris from over 150 miles of road and distributed more than 300,000 gallons of drinkable water. They also assisted with building more than 400 tents for temporary housing in Saipan and Tinian. This was the second time this year that Ashland was called upon to help. In early September Ashland also assisted as a refueling station for helicopters, assigned to the "Island Knights" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, during defense support efforts for Typhoon Mangkhut which also struck CNMI. Ashland, assigned to Commander, Amphibious Squadron 11, is operating in the Indo-Pacific region to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force for any type of contingency. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli minister Gallant warns Hamas leader against fresh onslaught on Gaza Strip Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 03:13PM A senior Israeli official has warned the leader of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas against a large-scale operation in the besieged Gaza Strip, asserting that the Tel Aviv regime is prepared for such an onslaught. "Let me say it to be clear: [The Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar's time is limited. He won't finish his life in a retirement home," Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Gallant said at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference on Wednesday. "There will be another large campaign in Gaza," Gallant said, claiming that it will be Israel, not Hamas, that decides when. The recent rhetoric comes following the latest escalation of violence by the Tel Aviv regime against the coastal enclave in which Israeli airstrikes and shells reduced Palestinian buildings to rubble and sent fireballs and plumes of smoke into the sky. The fresh spate of the Israeli military aggression saw 14 people killed and several others injured in 48 hours. Hamas and other Gaza-based resistance groups announced a ceasefire with Israel in a joint statement on Tuesday evening, saying they would abide by the ceasefire as long as Israel did the same. "Egypt's efforts have been able to achieve a ceasefire between the resistance and the Zionist enemy," the statement read. It added, "The resistance will respect this declaration as long as the Zionist enemy respects it." The regime regularly conducts air raids targeting Gaza. In early July 2014, Israel waged a war on the Gaza Strip. The 50-day military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children. Over 11,100 others including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people were also wounded in the war. The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ansarullah fighters ambush, kill pro-Saudi cmdr, aides in Yemen's Ma'rib Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 01:30AM Fighters from the Houthi Ansarullah movement have reportedly ambushed and killed a Saudi-backed field commander loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur in the country's central province of Ma'rib. A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Arabic service of Russia's Sputnik news agency that Ansarullah fighters mounted a surprise attack in an area of the Sirwah district on Tuesday, killing Ali Ameesan al-Ajdaei along with five of his aides in the process. Yemeni forces foil Saudi-led push to seize Jabal al-Nar in Jizan Meanwhile, Yemeni army troopers and allied fighters from Popular Committees have thwarted an attempt by dozens of Saudi mercenaries to take control of Jabal al-Nar mountainous area in the kingdom's southwestern border region of Jizan. A Yemeni military official, requesting not to be named, said scores of Yemeni militiamen were killed and injured in the failed push. A number of military vehicles belonging to the Saudi-sponsored forces were destroyed as well. Separately, three civilians lost their lives when Saudi fighter jets bombarded their home south of Kilo 16 district in the western Yemeni province of Hudaydah. Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing the country's Houthi Ansarullah movement. According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis. The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country's infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years. A number of Western countries, the US and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Governor Visits Plater Youth Club United Nations Universal Childrens Day on Tuesday 20th November saw HE the Governor, Ed Davis attend a youth session at Plater Youth Club where members delivered a number of presentations on Childrens Rights. The interactive session by young people at Plater portrayed a key message, Every child worldwide has a right to be safe from harm, be in education and reach their full potential. A spokesperson for the Gibraltar Youth Service said that this was a great opportunity for HE to see first-hand the informal learning that takes place within a youth club setting. 'Towards the end of the session His Excellency took time to play cards and chat with members discussing their extra curriculum activities.' Almost 85,000 Yemeni kids may have died of malnutrition amid Saudi war: Save the Children Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 06:13AM A UK-based charity says more than 84,700 children under the age of five may have starved to death in Yemen since the Saudi regime and a coalition of its allies launched a brutal war on the already-impoverished nation over three years ago. Using data compiled by the UN, Save the Children calculated in a Tuesday report the mortality rate for untreated cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition among Yemeni kids between April 2015 and October 2018. "We are horrified that some 85,000 children in Yemen may have died because of extreme hunger since the war began. For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and it's entirely preventable," said Tamer Kirolos, the aid group's Yemen director. "Children who die in this way suffer immensely as their vital organ functions slow down and eventually stop Parents are having to witness their children wasting away, unable to do anything about it," Kirolos added. He also noted that since the beginning of the Saudi-led offensive the charity has fed 140,000 Yemeni children and treated over 78,000 for malnutrition. Elsewhere in its report, Save the Children complained that fighting and blockades have forced the group to bring vital supplies for northern Yemen through the port of Aden instead of Hudaydah, tripling the time for that aid to reach those in need. It further raised concerns about a "dramatic increase" in Saudi air raids on Hudaydah in recent weeks and stepped-up fighting in the Yemeni provinces of Ta'izz, Sana'a and Sa'ada. "In the past few weeks there have been hundreds of airstrikes in and around Hudaydah, endangering the lives of an estimated 150,000 children still trapped in the city. Save the Children is calling for an immediate end to the fighting so no more lives are lost," Kirolos said. According to the latest UN figures, up to 14 million Yemenis are at risk of famine and an estimated 400,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2018. Saudi Arabia and its allies unleashed the deadly military aggression against Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall the country's former Riyadh-allied regime. Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement, which runs state affairs in Sana'a in the absence of an effective government, has been defending the nation against the Saudi aggression. Back in June, the Saudi-led coalition launched an offensive on Hudaydah despite international warnings that it would compound the country's humanitarian crisis. Hudaydah is the point of entry for 80 percent of the country's commercial imports and nearly all UN-supervised humanitarian aid. The Saudi-led offensive, coupled with a naval blockade, has destroyed Yemen's infrastructure and led to famine in the import-dependent state. Malnourished boy in 'extremely bad' situation Meanwhile, the AFP reported on the dire conditions of a malnourished Yemeni boy as a case in point. It released a video showing Ghazi Saleh, 10, being treated for acute malnutrition at al-Mudhafar Hospital in the city of Ta'izz. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Navy Sinks $1.5 Billion Into Attack Subs That Don't Move Sputnik News 22:28 21.11.2018(updated 22:46 21.11.2018) Logistical delays in US shipyards regarding attack submarine repairs have left the US Navy spending $1.5 billion on idle underwater boats that are incapable of conducting any sort of operation, according to a government watchdog. The USS Boise, a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, was slated to enter a shipyard for an extensive period of repairs, fixes and modifications in 2013, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported Monday. The massively overworked shipyards, however, did not have the space, time and personnel to conduct the repairs in accordance with the original schedule. The submarine still hadn't gotten attention from shipyard workers by 2016, some three years later, at which point officials determined the USS Boise was unfit for operations, GAO reports. Over the past two years, nothing has changed for the USS Boise, which is now floating pierside. The ship remains idle as shipyards continue to work on other backlogged projects. GAO estimates that "since the fiscal year 2008 the Navy has spent more than $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2018 constant dollars to support attack submarines that provide no operational capability," the study says. "The Navy has started to address challenges related to workforce shortages and facilities needs at the public shipyards. However, it has not effectively allocated maintenance periods among public shipyards and private shipyards that may also be available to help minimize attack submarine idle time." Compounding the magnitude of the problem is that the Navy has neither started nor completed the "vast majority" of fast attack maintenance periods on time, according to GAO, leading to costly downstream operational delays. GAO visited attack submarines and squadrons, analyzed readiness levels over the past decade, pored through operational and support cost data and perused maintenance effectiveness during the course of the study. The watchdog said it excluded some details from the report, such as attack sub cannibalization rates, which refers to the process of stripping one sub of parts to install on another sub. The watchdog proposed one major solution for the logistical snafus that continue to plague shipyards. The Navy should perform a business-case analysis to determine how much construction work should be allocated to private shipyards and public shipyards, GAO said. This assessment should also explore private shipyards' capacity to distribute the workload more efficiently and cut down on delays. One reason the GAO and Navy might be particularly concerned about the readiness of submarines like the USS Boise is that these fast attack subs make up the backbone of the US Navy. In 2016, then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the results of a highly anticipated internal review called a "Force Structure Assessment." The assessment called for an expansion of the naval force up to 355 ships. The 2012 force structure assessment had called for just 308 total ships. The 2016 guidance aligned with Defense Department's emphasis on "great power competition" with a "growing China and resurgent Russia," Mabus said. While the 2012 assessment called for 48 fast attack subs, the 2016 report said 66 were necessary. This would imply that nearly one in five US Navy ships is an attack submarine. If the 66 subs are built, only large surface combatants would outnumber the speedy submarines within the US Navy. American naval strategists consider fast-attack subs important for their versatility as intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance assets, as well as their potent wartime fighting ability, according to Bryan McGrath, deputy director at the Hudson Institute's Center for American Seapower. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Estimated 85K Children May Have Starved to Death in Yemen Due to Saudi War Sputnik News 21:58 21.11.2018 Approximately 85,000 Yemeni children may have starved to death in the past three years, the aid group Save the Children reported on Wednesday. The group used data provided by the United Nations, saying that their figure of 84,700 children deceased may even be "conservative." The children counted in the study were all under five years old. That's nearly one child dead every 10 minutes. In mid-October, a photograph of an emaciated 7-year-old girl named Amal Hussein Arabic for "hope" was published by the New York Times and became a viral symbol of the atrocities the war on the country has wreaked on its citizens. In early November, Yemen's Health Ministry announced that the girl had died of starvation. "Children who die in this way suffer immensely as their vital organ functions slow down and eventually stop," Tamer Kirolos, Country Director in Yemen for Save the Children, said in the report. "Their immune systems are so weak they are more prone to infections, with some too frail to even cry. Parents are having to witness their children wasting away, unable to do anything about it." While the study looked at the death toll on children in the past three years, the war on Yemen by Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners, including the United States and the United Arab Emirates, is three years and eight months old. The United Nations' World Food Programme says that 14 million people are at risk of famine in the country, a figure greater than the total killed in the Holocaust. According to Save the Children, "that number has increased dramatically since the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition imposed a month-long blockade of Yemen just over a year ago." Commercial imports of food through Yemen's most vital port, Hodeidah, were reduced by 55,000 metric tons a month enough to feed 4.4 million people, including 2.2 million children. The coalition has been pounding Hodeidah with airstrikes for months at a steadily increasing rate, but even more recently, ground troops have intensified the battle in and around the city. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 10,000 people, a majority of whom were civilians, have been killed in the war. Advocacy and human rights groups, however, say that the number could be as high as 50,000. On Tuesday, Houthi government forces attacked fighters for the government-in-exile, which is backed by the coalition, in the center of Hodeidah city, casting even further doubt on the potential for peace talks in Sweden, a prospect both sides have expressed openness towards. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Builds New Unidentified Structure in Disputed S China Sea - Think Tank Sputnik News 18:00 21.11.2018 The Paracel Islands (also known as Xisha) is one of the territories in the South China Sea over which Beijing claims sovereignty, despite protests from other regional powers and attempts by Washington to prevent China from gaining a foothold there. China has recently installed several structures on the Bombay Reef, which is a part of the disputed Paracel Islands archipelago in the South China Sea, the US-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported after studying fresh satellite images. According to the think tank, a "modest new structure" built on the reef is topped by radome and solar panels, although it can't be determined with certainty what purpose it serves. The CSIS noted that the building could be used for Chinese military purposes. "The development is interesting given Bombay Reef's strategic location, and the possibility that the structure's rapid deployment could be repeated in other parts of the South China Sea," the report said. Published on 20 November 2018, the report stressed that the Bombay Reef is situated near major shipping lanes between the Paracel and Spratly Islands, the latter being another disputed group of islets claimed by China. According to the CSIS, the Chinese military could have used the position of the reefs to broaden its military radar array. While the Chinese Defence Ministry hasn't commented on the report, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told Reuters that there is nothing wrong with China building structures "on its own territory." Other states claiming ownership over the Paracels have also not yet commented on the report. The Paracel Islands are claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam and China, with the latter de-facto controlling the territory, as well as other groups of disputed islands in the South China Sea. The US opposes China's efforts to build military or other structures on the disputed territories and regularly conducts Freedom of Navigation Operations in the South China Sea. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian Army Chief to Visit Hanoi Amid Stoic Silence Over Pending Arms Deal Sputnik News 16:44 21.11.2018(updated 17:09 21.11.2018) Diplomatic sources have told Sputnik that Vietnam wants to utilise the $500 million credit offered by India in 2016 for 'developmental purposes' instead of defense purchases - a sharp turn from its earlier commitment. New Delhi (Sputnik): Chief of the Indian Army General Bipin Rawat is leading a military delegation to Vietnam from 22 to 25 November 2018 to interact with the top brass of the Vietnamese army. General Rawat's visit marks yet another high-level exchange between the two countries to step up defence cooperation, especially since the institution of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016. Earlier this year, the two countries conducted their first-ever joint military exercise that included their navies and armies. The visit comes shortly after President Ram Nath Kovind wrapped up an official tour of the Southeast Asian country. "I reiterated India's commitment to provide training support for Vietnam Armed Forces India guarantees to deepen [Vietnam and India's] national defence and security cooperation," President Kovind said at a joint conference in Hanoi with Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong on Tuesday. President Trong also said that Vietnam highly values India's stance on the South China Sea dispute in recent years, and hopes India will continue to support Vietnam's position. India and Vietnam also reviewed the utilisation of the $100 million defense credit the former had extended to the latter in late 2014 to build high-speed patrol vessels for the Vietnam Border Defence Force. But, the two leaders did not mention another $500 million defence credit offered by India in 2016 during Narendra Modi's visit. It was expected that the $500 million defence credit would boost military deals between the two countries. The Indian government has been pursuing the sale of the BrahMos missile system, Akash air defence missile system and naval equipment to Vietnam for the last few years but nothing has materialised to date. India's state-owned Bharat Electronics Limited had opened its first-ever representative office in Vietnam in June this year. "Decision making can sometimes be frustratingly long drawn but the interest is sustained. Sometimes it is the question of the cost being negotiated, but interest on Indian missiles is definitely growing and we are addressing it. We want to able to export it to friendly nations," Nirmala Sitharaman, India's Minister of Defence had said in April this year while replying to a query posed by Jamshyd N. Godrej, CMD of Godrej & Boyce about the status of the BrahMos deal with Vietnam. Nevertheless, the Indian Army Chief's visit to Hanoi will once again bring the long-pending deals into the limelight as he is scheduled to interact with General NgoXuan Lich, Defence Minister and Senior Lieutenant General Pham Hong Huong, Deputy Chief of the General Staff. General Bipin Rawat will also visit the HQ of an infantry division near Hanoi and HQ of the 7th Military Region in Ho Chi Minh. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Coalition Conducted 19 Airstrikes in Syria's Hajin on November 16-17 - Pentagon Sputnik News 05:03 21.11.2018 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US-led coalition against the Daesh terrorist group conducted 19 airstrikes in the area of the Syrian city of Hajin on late Friday through Saturday, Department of Defense spokesperson Col. Rob Manning said. "Coalition conducted a total of 19 strikes in the Hajin area between the hours of 11:00 p.m. on Nov. 16 and 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 17," Manning told reporters on Tuesday. On Saturday, the SANA news agency reported that the coalition's airstrikes hit the al-Buqa village near the town of Hajin in the province of Deir ez-Zor leaving 40 civilians dead. The coalition's spokesman Col. Sean Ryan told Sputnik that the coalition had conducted strikes in the area, which, however, did not result in any civilian casualties. The airstrikes were conducted in support of ground forces fighting the Islamic State in the Middle Euphrates River Valley, Manning added. The US-led coalition also said in a statement on Saturday it had detected 10 non-coalition strikes in Deir ez-Zor. Manning said during a press briefing on Monday that the unidentified strikes in eastern Syria over the weekend are suspected to come from Syrian and Iran-backed forces. The coalition's activities in Syria are authorized neither by the Syrian government, nor by the UN Security Council. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Landmine casualties high for third consecutive year despite record funding, latest monitor reports 21 November 2018 - Despite hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to rid the world of landmines, the number of casualties caused by explosive remnants of war (ERW) remains high, according to the latest UN-backed civil society report on the issue, published on Tuesday. The annual Landmine Monitor, which is dedicated to reporting a global overview of the landmine situation, showed that 2017 saw more than 7,000 casualties caused by mines and other ERW materials, including nearly 2,800 deaths. Armed conflict, namely in Afghanistan and Syria, contributed to last year's exceptionally high casualties, with 2,300 and more than 1,900 recorded in these States alone, respectively. Thousands of casualties more were accounted for in Ukraine, Iraq Pakistan, Nigeria, Libya, Yemen and Myanmar collectively with Myanmar recognized as the only state to use landmines in the past year. While a decrease compared to last year's numbers, this marks the third consecutive year of high numbers of recorded casualties, with civilians accounting for 87 per cent, and children making up half among them. Monitor authors state "it is certain" the number of casualties is significantly higher than recorded. Report editor, Loren Persi, said: "Civilians are by far the majority of casualties, and victims continue to require support long after conflicts pass, and the last mines are cleared." In 2017, international investment in mine action increased by over 200 million dollars, Mr. Persi said, totaling over 770 million in international and national support combined. "Regrettably," she said, support allocated for victim assistance has reached an all-time low. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has declared landmines a "health threat," and states that survivors require adequate health-care response, yet those most affected by landmines and ERW tend to be in urban areas, where health services are limited. Those who survive explosions with permanent disabilities also face "social and environmental barriers that can preclude their full and equal participation within their communities," the agency reports. Work of demining must happen in places facing acute conflict, but also in States and territories facing threats of unexploded remnants of war, Amelie Chayer, of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, told UN News. "The work of demining must also continue in places like Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, where mines have been in the ground for 50 years long," she said. Sixty countries are known to have mine contamination, with over half committed to the Mine Ban Treaty, which orders contamination to be cleared within 10 years--only four are on track to meet their deadlines The Monitor reports that Mauritania completed clearance of landmines last year, and estimates that most countries can achieve this by the year 2025. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Central African Republic: UN warns that more than six in 10 people now need urgent humanitarian assistance 21 November 2018 - People's needs in Central African Republic (CAR) have increased significantly in recent months, the top United Nations aid official in the country warned on Wednesday, amid worsening localized violence that has included the recent torching of two camps for displaced people. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Najat Rochdi urged the international community to help CAR, explaining that 2.9 million people in need of assistance and protection out of a total population of some 4.6 million "is a big deal". Next year, she said, 63 per cent of people there are likely to require urgent humanitarian assistance, up from 46 per cent in May. In the past three weeks alone, more than 50,000 people have been affected in Batafango town in Ouham prefecture, and in Alindao town in Basse Kotto prefecture, where assailants burned down two main sites for displaced people a tactic never before seen in CAR. "The world cannot turn a blind eye to what is happening in the CAR. We are back to square one!" she said. "Everything was burned and (there is) a level of despair which is really heartbreaking," Ms. Rochdi said. "I went there, and I met with them and there is one thing they told me, all of them, is that they will never go back to the site. And therefore, it is really a lot of challenges for us when it comes to protection, but also when it comes to making sure they have a minimum living standard where they are." Fighting between the mostly Christian anti-Balaka militia and the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition plunged CAR into civil conflict in 2012.A peace agreement was reached in January 2013, but rebels seized the capital, Bangui, two months later, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee. Concerned with the security, humanitarian, human rights and political crisis in the CAR and its regional implications, the Security Council authorized the deployment of a UN stabilization mission, known by its French acronym, MINUSCA, in 2014, with the protection of civilians as its utmost priority. While Ms. Rochdi acknowledged that the UN had taken on many functions of Government because of the crisis, she noted that in 2019, humanitarian priorities were likely to focus more on providing lifesaving help quickly via regional hubs and seeking to engage more with affected communities. "It is a conversation that has started," she said, adding that the fact that this year's $516 million CAR appeal was only 50 per cent funded meant that "realistic" decisions had to be taken about which communities to help. And highlighting the scattered nature of the violence in CAR a country of huge natural wealth in the form of diamonds, gold and uranium the UN official noted that there was good news in some areas, not least the spontaneous return of displaced people in the south-west. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mattis: Yemen Peace Talks Expected in Early December By VOA News November 21, 2018 U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths is in war-torn Yemen to prepare for peace talks after fresh fighting erupted in the key port of Hodeida. Griffiths was scheduled to meet with Iran-aligned Houthi officials in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in an attempt to persuade them and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government to begin negotiations in Sweden by year's end. The peace process collapsed in Switzerland in September when Houthi rebels failed to appear. Both sides recently expressed support for Griffiths' efforts, but the eruption of violence after a lull raised the possibility talks could be derailed. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday he expected the warring parties would hold peace talks in Sweden early next month. Monday in New York, U.N. Security Council member Britain circulated a draft resolution to the rest of the council, calling for a cease-fire in Yemen, a halt to attacks on civilian areas, and unhindered access to Hodeida. The port is under rebel control and is a lifeline for food, fuel, and humanitarian aid to the suffering population. The Saudis have accused Iran of sending arms to the rebels through the port, a charge it denies. The Trump administration has joined its Western allies in demanding a cease-fire in Yemen. The United States has stopped providing refueling services to Saudi coalition aircraft that attack Yemen. The Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, forcing the government to flee to exile in Saudi Arabia. The group has since relocated to the southern Yemeni city of Aden. Saudi-led airstrikes aimed at driving out the Houthis have killed thousands of people and wiped out entire civilian neighborhoods, including hospitals. The fighting has compounded the misery in Yemen, which is also dealing with mass starvation and a cholera outbreak. The war has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis. The World Health Organization estimates nearly 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Yemen since the Saudis intervened in March 2015. Some human rights groups, however, believe the death toll may be five times higher. The International aid group Save the Children said in a report Wednesday about 85,000 children may have died of starvation and disease since March 2015. The United Nations estimates more than 1.3 million children have suffered from severe malnutrition since the war began, it says up to 14 million Yemenis are at risk of starvation if the port is closed by violence or damage. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Calls for Dialogue with Cameroon's Separatists Increase after Spate of Kidnappings By Moki Edwin Kindzeka November 21, 2018 Cameroon's military says it has freed nine students and a teacher who were kidnapped this week from a school in one of the country's restive English-speaking regions. It is the third time this month that students have been abducted from schools in the Anglophone regions. Senior divisional officer Nto'ou Ndong Chamberlin says several gunmen were killed Wednesday in the military operation, and other armed men responsible for the abduction are on the run. The teacher was wounded in the rescue. "Nine guns have been seized, four neutralized among them the head of the team, called 'Man of Lucks,' and three bikes destroyed and even the camp has also been burned down by the forces of law and order [military]," Chamberlin said. Gunmen kidnapped the students and their teacher Tuesday evening from Lords Bilingual School in Kumba, a city in Cameroon's southwest region. The kidnapping comes three weeks after gunmen kidnapped and then released 79 students and three staff from a school in the neighboring northwest region. Eleven students were later kidnapped from the same Presbyterian Secondary School. Church moderator Fonki Samuel said a $4,000 ransom was paid to the abductors for their release. Pierre Marie Abbe, a political analyst at the Catholic University of Central Africa, says the government's war against the separatists has been a failure. The government should drop the idea of war and organize dialogue with English-speaking Cameroonians, Abbe said. But for such a dialogue to be successful, he added, the government should meet Anglophone Cameroonians to find out from them who they see as their true leaders. The government says separatists in the two English-speaking regions have torched at least a hundred schools and abducted or killed dozens of teachers. More than 90 percent of the regions' schools remain closed. The international community and rights groups have condemned violence from both sides and called on the government to negotiate an end to the crisis. "The U.N. has, along with most of the international community, asked for dialogue," said Allegra Maria Del Pilar Baiocchi, the U.N. resident coordinator for Cameroon. "We need to hear the voices of the people saying we have had enough and we want solutions. It should not only be the U.N. saying it or the ambassadors. We need confidence-building measures and I think we need peace." Unrest broke out in Cameroon's western regions in 2016, when English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested the dominance of French-speakers. Cameroon's military reacted with a crackdown, and armed separatists soon launched a campaign for independence. Clashes since have killed more than 1,200 people. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Installing Observation Posts in Syria at Turkish Border - Pentagon Sputnik News 01:25 22.11.2018 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States is establishing several observation posts in northern Syria near the Turkish border in a move to share military intelligence on terrorists' movements into Turkey from the neighboring country with Ankara, the US Defense Department said citing Defense Secretary James Mattis. "The U.S. military is setting up several observation posts in Syria beside the border with Turkey, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said. The purpose of the OPs is to provide Turkey with military intelligence of any terrorist elements moving into Turkey from Syria, said Mattis, speaking at a Pentagon press briefing today," the Department of Defense said in a statement on Wednesday. Washington would not deploy additional servicemen to the area for the mission as it would be operated by the troops already stationed in the area, the statement added. Hundreds of US troops have been operating in the north of Syria though this has not been authorized by the government of the Middle Eastern country. Despite Washington's disagreements with Ankara over the US support for the Kurdish-led opposition Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Ankara considers to be linked with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) listed as a terror group by Turkey, the United States and Turkey held joint patrols in the Syrian border area of Manbij earlier in November. According to the United States, the mission is aimed at supporting the US commitments to its NATO ally Turkey. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker Delivers Remarks to the Joint Terrorism Task Force New York, NY ~ Wednesday, November 21, 2018 Remarks as prepared for delivery Thank you, Geoff (Berman), for that kind introduction, and thank you for your leadership as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. And thank you also to United States Attorney Richard Donoghue from the Eastern District of New York. It is wonderful to be in New York during the holiday season. I'm told that this is the best time of year to visitbut I must say I am looking forward to Thanksgiving in Des Moines. But before I say anything else, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that the law enforcement community is in mourning today. Chicago police officer Samuel Jimenez was shot and killed during Monday's shooting at Mercy hospital. Officer Jimenez had just joined the force in 2017 and he was only 28 years old. He leaves behind a wifehis high school sweetheartand three young children. Officer Jimenez was on his way to respond to a different call when he heard of shots fired at the hospital. Then he did what police officers do every day in America: he went toward the danger, so that the rest of us could run away from it. He and his fellow officers saved a lot of lives that day. This tragedy is another reminder of both the danger and the nobility of police work. Today, as we prepare for Thanksgiving Day, we should all be especially grateful for our police officers. It is an honor to be here in the J.O.C., where so many consequential law enforcement decisions have been madeso many decisions that have saved American lives. This is where a number of terrorism investigations have begunand it's where security is monitored for events like the Thanksgiving Day parade or New Year's Eve. And it is an even greater honor to be with some of the most respected law enforcement leaders in the world. Thank you to: - Commissioner O'Neill, - FBI Assistant Director in Charge, William Sweeney, - Deputy Commissioner Miller, - NYPD Chief Paul Ciorra, - Chief Owen Monaghan, - Ashan Benedict of ATF, - Michael Greco with the Marshals Service, - Troy Miller with CBP, - Director Frank Russo, - Phil Bartlett and our Postal Inspectors, and - Scott Sarafian with Secret Service. It is an honor to be with all of you. NYPD in particular has earned a reputation as perhaps the greatest police department on Earth. There are more NYPD officers than there are members of the military in entire nations, like Belgium or Ireland. But even more impressive than the quantity of your officers is the quality of your officers. You are known all over the country for your Compstat program, which enables you to monitor crime rates in real time and to quickly reallocate officers when crime begins to rise. And over the past three decades, your achievements have been staggering. In 1990, there were 2,245 murders in New York City. Last year there were 292. Since 2000, burglaries are down by nearly two-thirds and robberies have been cut in half. One weekend in October there were zero murders or shootings in New York City for the first time in 25 years. These results are a testament to the effectiveness of NYPD, and of many people in this room. You've been able to start a virtuous cycle of safety, prosperityand more safety. That is what we want to achieve all across America. President Donald Trump is a lifelong New Yorker. He invested in this city when its future was in doubt. He bet on this cityand that proved to be a smart bet. The President witnessed New York's transformation firsthand. I think that made his support for law enforcement even stronger. One of his very first Executive Orders was to tell the Department of Justice to improve the safety of state and local law enforcement officers. And over these past two years, we have followed that order. Today I am announcing our next step to carry out that order. Today I am announcing that the Department of Justice is providing $56 million in grant funding to support law enforcement all across America. That includes $29 million for bulletproof vests, $12.2 million for body-worn cameras, and $2 million in health and safety research. This is just a small way of saying thank you to the officers who take care of us every day. We understand the sacrifices that you makeand so we want you to have the right equipment and the right training. If anybody out there doesn't appreciate the role of law enforcement officers in our society, then I would tell them to come to New York. Earlier today I visited the 9/11 Memorial. It was an extremely moving experience. We all remember where we were when we heard the news. I know I do. Some of you were here. Some of you were at Ground Zero. It was the worst terrorist attack in American history and the most shocking attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor. It led to the largest investigation in FBI history. None of us have ever been the same. Speaking for myself, 9/11 strengthened my appreciation for our servicemembers and our first responders and law enforcement officers. More than 70 police officers were killed in New York City that day. Dozens more died of illnesses related to their service at Ground Zero. Some of you knew them. The Department of Justice honors their memory and law enforcement holds them up as examples of our highest ideals. They died in a rescue mission that saved thousands of lives. We are indescribably proud of our federal officers. But we recognize that the vast majority of the officers in American law enforcement is at the state and local levels. We cannot succeed without you. We're at our best when we work togetherand that's what the JTTF is all about. This is the oldest JTTF in America. Today there are more than 100 JTTFs nationwide, including at least one in each of our FBI field offices. The vast majority of these were created in response to 9/11. This JTTF set the model for the rest to follow. You bring together 500 employees from 50 different partner agencies. And you've achieved so much for this city and for this country. You investigated the 2007 JFK bomb plot, the 2009 Subway bomb plot, and the 2010 attempted bombing of Times Square. And I am well aware that, under this administration, you've continued to have success in investigating terrorism. Three times a week, I receive a threat briefing where the FBI and the National Security Division tell me about the national security investigations that we are working on in our United States Attorneys' offices. We've talked about the work done here. People in this room have achieved successes that have made this country safer. This February, prosecutors in Geoff's office secured a life sentence for the Chelsea bomber, Ahmad Rahimi. He planted nine improvised explosive devices in New Jersey and New York, including two not far from here in Chelsea. He detonated one of them and injured more than 30 people. The bomb was so powerful that it launched a 100-pound dumpster more than 120 feet. It shattered windows 400 feet away and three stories above ground level. Another bomb here in Chelsea was rendered safe by law enforcement before it was detonated. That investigation started right here in this room. And so to all of the agents, officers, and the AUSAs who worked on this caseEmil Bove, Andrew DeFilippis, and Shawn Crowleythank you for this outstanding work. People in this room also worked to convict the Bangladeshi national who detonated a bomb near the Port Authority bus terminal last December. The explosion was caught on surveillance video and the defendant was found lying on the ground with parts of a pipe bomb on and around his body. After he was arrested, he admitted that he detonated the bomb to express his support for ISIS. He attempted to make the bomb as dangerous as he could and to target a public place during rush hour. Just two weeks ago, thanks to the hard work of Geoff's Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shawn Crowley, Rebekah Donaleski, and George Turner, he was convicted on six counts. Now he is facing a potential life sentence. These are terrific accomplishments. The dangerous terrorists in these cases can't hurt anyone nowand that's because of your hard work. But these cases are also a reminder that the terrorist threat is not going away on its own. Sadly, our work is not finished. Terrorists are going to continue to target us. So we've got to keep targeting themduring this holiday season and all year round. And so I want to assure all of you that this work remains the top priority of the Department of Justice. We will not let up. We will continue to support you with resourceslike the grant funding that I mentionedwith personnel, and with intelligence. I want to conclude with something a mentor of mine used to say every time he spoke to law enforcement, and I believe it too: we have your back, and you have our thanks. Speaker: Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker Topic(s): Counterterrorism National Security Component(s): Office of the Attorney General NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China, Philippines agree to upgrade ties, jointly build Belt and Road People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 07:15, November 21, 2018 MANILA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China and the Philippines agreed on Tuesday to upgrade their ties to comprehensive strategic cooperation and jointly advance the Belt and Road construction. The decision was made at a meeting between visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte. The two leaders reached important consensus on building bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect, sincerity, equality and mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation. Xi told Duterte that he is delighted to visit the Philippines and is touched by the Philippine people's warm welcome, especially the kids' cheerful smiles. Calling China and the Philippines " neighbors with exchanges going back a thousand years," Xi said good-neighborliness, friendship and win-win cooperation are the only correct choice for the two countries. The Chinese president said he has had in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern with Duterte in their six meetings over the past two years and consolidated consensus and friendship. With joint efforts, the two sides have had fruitful cooperation in various fields and ushered in a new chapter in China-Philippines relations, benefiting both peoples and contributing to regional peace and stability, Xi said. China is willing to carry forward its traditional friendship with the Philippines and deepen the cooperation, so that the two countries can forever make good neighbors, good friends and good partners and share the prosperity, he said. The upgrade of bilateral relations meets the need of their development and the expectation of both peoples, Xi said, calling on the two sides to enhance strategic guidance on bilateral relations by the two heads of state, promote exchanges on all levels and consolidate strategic mutual trust. China supports the Philippines in choosing a development path that suits its own national conditions, he said, adding that the two countries should deepen their cooperation on three pillar fields, namely security, development and culture. China also firmly supports the Philippines' fight against drugs and terrorism, will continue to provide assistance within its capacity to the Philippines to implement more public livelihood projects including poverty reduction, and expand exchanges and cooperation on education, culture and tourism, Xi said. The Chinese president said the Philippines is an important partner in jointly building the Belt and Road and urged both sides to deepen the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Philippines' development plans, and boost cooperation in fields such as infrastructural construction, telecommunications and agriculture. Noting that China and the Philippines share extensive common interests on the South China Sea, Xi said the two countries can continue to manage differences through friendly consultations, promote practical cooperation on the sea and make due contribution to regional peace and stability and the welfare of the peoples. Xi said China supports the Philippines' role as the country coordinator for the China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) dialogue relations and the China-Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippine East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) cooperation. China is willing to work together with the Philippines to upgrade China-ASEAN relations and the East Asia cooperation, he said, adding that China and the Philippines, both emerging economies in Asia, should increase coordination and cooperation in regional and international affairs. Extending a warm welcome to Xi, Duterte noted it was the first state visit to his country by a Chinese head of state in 13 years. The visit, a milestone of historic significance in the Philippines-China relations, will open a new chapter in their cooperation, he said. He said the Philippine side congratulates the Chinese side on the achievements it has made in its 40 years' reform and development, adding that he believes the Chinese people are sure to realize their Two Centenary Goals. The Philippine side is ready to deepen the relations of comprehensive strategic cooperation with China on the basis of mutual respect, mutual understanding and sovereign equality, strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, agriculture, defense, health, drug control, improvement of livelihood, infrastructure construction and energy, as well as expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges in education and human resources. The Philippine side agrees that countries in the region should jointly safeguard peace and stability of the South China Sea, and stands ready to actively promote the development of relations between ASEAN and China, he said. China has stood on the right side of history in dealing with international affairs, Duterte said, adding that the Philippine side is ready to carry out r communication and coordination with China within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations. Prior to their talks, Duterte held a welcome ceremony in Xi's honor at the presidential palace featuring a 21-gun salute and traditional dances. The Philippines is the last stop of Xi's three-country Asia-Pacific tour. He has visited Papua New Guinea, where he also attended the 26th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting, and Brunei. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Building More Nuclear Attack Subs Than US Knew About - Report Sputnik News 23:56 21.11.2018(updated 00:33 22.11.2018) US think tanks and the Pentagon have underestimated the number of Chinese nuclear submarines under construction, a new analysis suggests. Pictures taken of the Bohai Shipyard and Longpo Naval Facility show that China has more nuclear attack subs in development than previously believed, Defense One reported Tuesday. The report said there is one extra submarine under construction that the Pentagon previously did not account for. Nevertheless, there are fewer operational nuclear subs than Western institutions believed, namely the US Department of Defense and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the report says. CSIS and Pentagon estimates of China's ocean-going nuclear force pegged the number of operational Jin- or 094-class submarines at four. Yet two of these underwater boats "appear not to be in operation," said Catherine Dill of the James Martin Center of Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, as quoted by Defense One. Notably, the Pentagon's 2018 China Military Report and CSIS' China Power group both stated that four 094-class submarines are active. By comparison, Russian nuclear forces feature nine strategic nuclear submarines "that provide continuous military patrols in the sea," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in May 2017, Sputnik reported. "The Russian Navy is also planning to increase the number of strategic nuclear submarines to 13, including seven 'Boreys' with 'Bulava' missiles," he said. The US nuclear-armed submarine fleet features 14 Ohio-class submarines, which are comparable in size to Russia's Borey-class and China's 094-class subs. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Gets Hold of 'War Room Software' Used by NATO - Reports Sputnik News 13:45 21.11.2018 A deal with a Belgian software company puts China on an equal organisational footing with some of the West's elite military operations, giving Beijing significant insight into NATO military planning procedures. Luciad, a defence contractor based in Leuven, Belgium, is selling the Chinese government high performance software used for situational awareness by the military commands of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the South China Morning Post reported, citing Chinese government contractors. The LuciadLightspeed program is able to quickly and accurately process real-time data, including from fast-moving objects. Situational awareness is the ability to know what is happening in a target environment and use that intelligence to defeat the enemy. In warfare, the situation is so fluid that it can change in seconds. The US graphics technology company NVidia, for its part, said that Luciad software help planners "visualise and analyse changes in enemy positions or assess target information in real time" in order to adjust relevant mission parameters. Military planners normally use data from drones, satellites, radars, weather forecasts, etc., with traditional software allowing errors as large as 500 metres (1,600 feet) in the positioning of moving targets. By contrast, LuciadLightspeed is capable of processing real-time data, including information on fast-moving objects, at a speed of 100 calculations per second, 75 times faster than its closest competitor, and is accurate to within 3 centimetres (one inch) on a global scale. Luciad software is reportedly used by the US Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. An array of secret US missions originated at the base, including the 2011 raid in Pakistan to assassinate al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. China boasts one of the world's most extensive military intelligence gathering systems and also has the world's second-largest network of satellites, second only to the United States. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Seoul, Pyongyang to Connect Roads in DMZ - Reports Sputnik News 04:09 21.11.2018 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun and South Korea Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon conducted a working group meeting to strengthen efforts on denuclearization, the US Department of State said in a press release on Tuesday. "US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun and Republic of Korea Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon co-chaired a US-ROK [South Korea] working group in Washington November 20," the release said on Tuesday. "The working group further strengthened close US-ROK coordination on efforts to achieve our shared goal of the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK [North Korea]." The release said the group also reaffirmed the alliance between South Korea and the United States as the key to peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in the region. Meanwhile, for the first time in 65 years, North and South Koreas will connect a road in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on November 22, local media reported Tuesday. "It will be an unpaved tactical road running through the DMZ The road will be up to 12 meters [40 feet] wide," the Yonhap news agency reported, citing anonymous sources in the South Korean government. According to the news outlet, the road project is part of the military agreement, which the defense ministers of the two countries signed after the latest inter-Korean summit. Since October, the two sides have been demining the area to ensure safety ahead of the excavation works. Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang began to improve after a historic summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in April. The 3rd inter-Korean summit took place in September and resulted in a number of agreements in various areas, covering such areas as defense, culture and sports. Earlier in October, the two Koreas agreed to launch a joint project to modernize and connect their rail and road systems until the end of the year. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hook: US Sanctions on Iran Have Had Almost 'Entire' Global Compliance By Michael Lipin November 20, 2018 A senior Trump administration official says tough U.S. sanctions re-imposed on Iran earlier this month have been effective, with "almost entire compliance" from the international community. U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook made the comment in a sit-down interview with VOA's Arabic-language sister network Alhurra in Dubai on Monday. "We have seen almost entire compliance with our sanctions regime," Hook said. "And we don't anticipate having to sanction any major companies, because we haven't seen any evidence that these companies want to choose the Iranian market over the United States market." Washington re-imposed sanctions on Iran's energy and banking sectors on Nov. 5 as part of a campaign to pressure Tehran into reaching a new agreement to stop its perceived malign behaviors. President Donald Trump withdrew in May from a 2015 deal in which his predecessor and five other world powers granted sanctions relief to Iran in return for a freeze on its sensitive nuclear activities. Under the re-imposed energy sanctions, the Trump administration has threatened to penalize any entity that buys Iranian oil and gas -- the main revenue sources for Iran's government. But Washington also gave eight of Iran's biggest energy customers, among international governments, another six months to reduce Iranian energy imports to zero. Those governments include China, Taiwan, India, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Italy and Greece. U.S. officials said the move is intended to prevent a spike in oil prices. "We've been working very well with China and India, who have dramatically reduced their imports of Iranian oil," Hook said. "It's very important to go after the money, and for Iran, that means going after the oil revenue." In a sign of ongoing defiance toward the U.S. sanctions campaign, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday his government will "not yield to economic and psychological pressure." Iran's state-run Press TV network said Rouhani was speaking to a large gathering in the northwestern city of Khoy. "We know you're angry! [But] correct your mistakes! You cannot cut Iran's oil exports," Rouhani said, in reference to the U.S. In his Alhurra interview, Hook said the U.S. sanctions campaign has forced Iran to cut 1 million barrels of oil from its daily output, equivalent to $2 billion in lost revenue. "This is a regime that, since 2013, has spent $16 billion in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, supporting various militias and missile proliferation -- all sorts of threats to peace and security," Hook said. "Our sanctions are the toughest that have been imposed in history against Iran as part of a campaign of maximum economic pressure so that the regime changes its behavior." This article originated in VOA's Persian Service. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran condemns US Treasury's new sanctions ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Wed / 21 November 2018 / 16:34 Tehran (ISNA) - Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Bahram Qassemi has denounced the latest sanctions imposed by the US Treasury against a number of foreign and Iranian companies and individuals, including the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran. In a statement on Wednesday, Qassemi said the new sanctions have been imposed based on false pretexts. "These useless, futile and ineffective sanctions will never achieve the desired outcome of their designers and creators," he said, adding that the Americans will sooner or later become aware of the uselessness of what they think. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran hails constructive talks with Europe on new initiatives to offset US bans Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 06:20PM A senior Iranian diplomat says there have been constructive meetings with the Europeans on a trade mechanism known as the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to maintain business despite US sanctions. In a post on his official twitter account on Wednesday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi said new initiatives were being designed for the SPV, adding that expert talks in this regard were underway between Iran and the European side. "I had good meetings with British and French officials and nuclear negotiators in Tehran yesterday and today," Araqchi said. He added that the European Union as well as the UK, France and Germany had "serious political will" to preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In May, US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the JCPOA, under which Tehran agreed to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions, and decided to re-impose unilateral sanctions against Tehran. Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced the re-imposition of the "toughest" sanctions ever against Iran's banking and energy sectors with the aim of cutting off the country's oil sales and crucial exports. A first round of American sanctions took effect in August, targeting Iran's access to the US dollar, metals trading, coal, industrial software, and auto sector. Despite Washington's withdrawal from the deal, the three big European Union powers and the EU as a whole have reaffirmed their commitment to the JCPOA, as have Russia and China. Iran has not left the landmark nuclear deal yet, but stressed that the remaining signatories to the agreement have to work to offset the negative impacts of the US pullout for Iran if they wanted Tehran to remain in it. Iran and the European side have been discussing ways to conduct non-dollar trade in order to offset the US sanctions. The SPV is an alternative payment mechanism that can help companies trade with Iran without facing US penalties. The talks between Iran and the European side come as the US special envoy for Iran threatened last week European banks and firms with fresh sanctions in case of engaging in the SPV. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Zarif: Trump calls Iran terrorist to slash nation with sanctions Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 02:47PM Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has hit out at United States President Donald Trump for calling Iran a "terrorist nation," saying the hackneyed accusation reveals Washington's hostility towards Tehran is the real reason behind the illegal US sanctions against the country. In a post on his official twitter account on Wednesday, Zarif also said American hawkish officials' dream of uprooting the Iranian nation would never come true. In his remarks on Tuesday, Trump, who was answering questions about possible punishment for Saudi Arabia over the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul last month, evaded a question about defending human rights with a short sentence and then abruptly switched the subject to Iran, calling the nation terrorist. The US needs a "counterbalance" to Iran, "and Israel needs help, too," he said. "If we abandon Saudi Arabia, it would be a terrible mistake." This is not the first time that Trump has called Iran a terrorist nation. The US president has also on numerous occasions accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism. Iran rejects the accusations, saying as one of the world's biggest victims of terrorism, it has been fighting the menace and helping other countries in the global demand to uproot terror. In his Tuesday remarks, Trump also said Khashoggi's murder was an "unacceptable and horrible crime," and that as American intelligence agencies continue to investigate the case, "it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event." But he went on to say, "Maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" Trump also underlined the benefits of good relations with Riyadh, praising the importance of maintaining the US' $110 billion arms deal with the Saudi regime, which he said means "tremendous economic development" for the US. "I'm not going to destroy the world economy, and I'm not going to destroy the economy for our country by being foolish with Saudi Arabia," he said. The remarks come after weeks of debate over whether the president would criticize the Saudis and the crown prince in response to the killing of Khashoggi who had criticized the royal family. Trump has failed to heed calls by many in Congress, including members of his own party, for a tougher response against Saudi Arabia. However, in a soothing measure highly viewed as tepid, the US government imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi individuals last week, including Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, who Turkish authorities believe led a 15-man "kill team" to Istanbul to murder Khashoggi. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran official rejects Iraqi gas payment in dinar Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 11:47AM Iran's Deputy Minister of Petroleum Amir Hossein Zamaninia says Iraq has to pay in euros for the gas imported from Iran, dismissing the use of the Iraqi dinar for the payment. "The National Iranian Gas Company does not agree that the payment for exports of gas to Iraq should be made in dinars because it should be made in euros, according to the contract," ISNA news agency quoted him as saying. His remarks came after Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi told Fars news agency that Tehran and Baghdad were considering using the Iraqi dinar in their transactions instead of the US dollar. Iraq heavily depends on Iranian natural gas imports for electricity generation. Basra in southern Iraq was hit by violent protests which spread to other cities this summer, partly because of a halt of Iranian electricity exports. Iran's gas supply to Baghdad began last June at a rate of 7 million cubic meters per day. It will increase to 35 million cubic meters daily, according to the terms of their agreement. A separate pipeline is about to take Iranian gas to the Iraqi city of Basra in the south. Head of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce Jafar Rasul Hamdani said this month that Iran's gas and electricity exports to Iraq rose 40 percent in the first six months of the current year from the same period a year ago. Iraq also rejected a US deadline to stop importing Iranian gas, warning that any halt to the supplies would create a real power crisis which sparked several days of unrest in Basra and elsewhere this summer. "Stopping Iranian gas after the deadline will create a real power crisis. We need more time the Americans are completely aware of how desperately we need Iranian gas," an Iraqi official told Reuters news agency. Trade between Iran and Iraq stands at $12 billion, but Baghdad is reportedly under pressure from the United States to stop business dealings with Tehran. Iran is currently Iraq's top trade partner, having sharply increased their trade exchanges in recent months despite US sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Masjedi said the two neighbors plan to raise their trade to $20 billion a year. "The Iraqis need Iran's natural gas, electricity, food items and industrial materials. If these exports are stopped, there will be problems not only for Iran but also for the Iraqis," he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US won't achieve desired outcome from senseless sanctions: Iran Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 11:00AM Tehran has condemned the US for imposing new sanctions on Iranian targets, among others, over alleged oil shipments to Syria, saying Washington will realize such bans are "futile" and "illogical." Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Wednesday that the latest sanctions were based on delusional excuses. "These futile, illogical and ineffective sanctions on people and entities will definitely not produce the results desired by their designers and enforcers," he said. "Sooner or later they (the Americans) will become aware of the futility of what they thought," he added. On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a total of six people and three entities for sending millions of barrels of oil to Syria. The blacklist included two executives at the Central Bank of Iran, a Russian, a Syrian, an Iraqi and a Lebanese national as well as an Iranian entity and two Russian ones. Under the administration of US President Donald Trump, Washington has taken an increasingly hostile approach toward Tehran in what is viewed by Iranian officials as an economic war. Back in May, Trump withdrew his country from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in defiance of international objections. Since then, the US has unleashed its "toughest ever" sanctions against Iran. It has also warned of severe penalties for the companies that evade the bans and engage in business with Iran. Iran has stressed that the American pressure campaign and oppressive sanctions will definitely fail. Washington is also critical of the Iranian and Russian role in Syria, where the two countries have been helping the Syrian government fight the militant groups, many of which have the US firm support. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran to unveil new destroyer, submarine: Navy commander Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 09:11AM Iran's Navy commander says the country is set to unveil new defense achievements, including a destroyer and a submarine, next week. "Sahand Destroyer and Fateh Submarine are to be unveiled over the next week," Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi told a news conference on Wednesday, Fars News Agency reported. The destroyer, he said, could carry large helicopters as well as missile defense systems and fighter jets. The indigenously manufactured medium-class submarine "would serve as a surprise for the Islamic Republic's enemies with its special capabilities," he said. The commander further played down the impact of US sanctions on Iran's naval industry. The country has been successfully weathering sanctions for more 40 years now, Khanzadi said, noting that the measures had "taught us to stand on our own feet and not to depend on other powers for our security." The commander also hailed increasing coordination between the Navy and the naval forces of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC). The dual forces, he said, were considered to be Iran's "strong fist" at sea. Khanzadi also said, "There is no such thing as insecurity in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, and the IRGC Navy's has successfully helped secure the Persian Gulf, preventing the occurrence of any incidents in the waters." The waters under the Islamic Republic's command are fully protected and secure without any outside help, noted the commander. Iran would maintain its friendly ties with those countries which refrain from mischief and use their naval presence only towards ensuring security, said the official. "Should the presence of foreign forces endanger regional security, there will be no need for their presence," he noted. The commander then hailed Iran's self-sufficiency in providing its required naval defense equipment, saying it could even provide such hardware to regional and extra-regional players. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Working With EU on Alternative to SWIFT Amid US Sanctions Sputnik News 21:39 21.11.2018 Earlier, the international messaging system SWIFT announced that it had cut off certain Iranian banks for the sake of "global stability." According to the US Treasury Department, which earlier announced sanctions against the Iranian banking sector, the Iranian Central Bank was among those affected. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on his Twitter account that he has had several meetings with British and French representatives, where the sides discussed ways of preserving the Iran nuclear deal in terms of maintaining channels of trade with Iran amid US sanctions, the Iranian news agency Mehr reported. "Yesterday and today, I had good meetings with political directors and nuclear negotiators from the UK and France in Tehran. The political will of the EU and the three European countries to preserve the JCPOA is still strong," he wrote. Araghchi also said that new initiatives for a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) are currently being developed by experts in the three countries. The creation of the SPV was proposed in September in a bid to give EU companies a way to trade with Tehran without being threatened by US sanctions. The tool is expected to become a replacement of the SWIFT system, which recently cut off several Iranian banks from its services. An international messaging network for communications between banks, SWIFT, announced that it would sever connections with certain Iranian-based banks for the sake of the "global stability of the system," without elaborating. The announcement came on the same day as the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against the Iranian economy's energy, banking and shipping sectors. Several days prior, the US had warned that SWIFT, like any other entity, must abide by the US sanctions regime against Iran, or else it would fall under secondary US sanctions. Following the announcement by US President Trump that Washington would be withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposing sanctions against Tehran, several European leaders, including French President Macron and German Chancellor Merkel, tried to dissuade the US from making the unilateral move, but without success. The EU then vowed to continue to adhere to the provisions of the JCPOA (also known as Iran nuclear deal) and to find a way for its companies to continue trading with Tehran, despite US sanctions. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iranian Revolutionary Guards Warn US Bases Within Tehran's Missile Range Sputnik News 00:45 22.11.2018(updated 01:34 22.11.2018) Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) airspace division, said Wednesday that US bases in Afghanistan, the UAE and Qatar, as well as US aircraft carriers in the Gulf, were within range of Iranian missiles, Reuters reported, citing Tasnim news agency. "They are within our reach, and we can hit them if they make a move Our land-to-sea missiles have a range of 700 kilometers [450 miles] and the US aircraft carriers are our targets," Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by Reuters. The statement came as tensions between Washington and Tehran are gaining momentum. US President Donald Trump announced in May that he was pulling the US from the Iranian nuclear deal. The US withdrawal resulted in two rounds of anti-Iran sanctions, with large-scale restrictions covering oil exports being slapped on the Tehran in early November. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said last week that US sanctions would not have a dramatic impact on Iranian oil exports, despite Washington's continued threats to cut them to zero. In early July, the IRGC said they were prepared to disrupt other countries' oil shipments via the Hormuz strait if Iran's own exports were impeded. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned that Washington would respond swiftly and decisively to any Iranian attack on US interests. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Suspends $1.66Bln in Security Aid to Pakistan After Trump-Khan Twitter Row Sputnik News 06:41 21.11.2018(updated 07:12 21.11.2018) WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States has suspended a total of $1.66 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, Department of Defense spokesperson Col. Rob Manning told reporters. "$1.66 billion of security assistance to Pakistan is suspended," Manning said on Tuesday. On Sunday, Trump wrote that Pakistan was paid billions of US dollars and "did nothing" to assist the United States in fighting terrorism, including in Afghanistan and the operation to capture al-Qaeda terror group's leader Osama Bin Laden. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the United States should assess the efficiency of its military operation in Afghanistan instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for its failures in the region. In September, the Pentagon suspended $300 million in aid to Islamabad, citing the government's alleged failure to fight the Taliban and terrorists groups that conduct cross-border attacks from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan. The US move came after Washington announced in January that it was suspending $900 million in security aid to Islamabad until it takes action against the Afghan Taliban. Trump unveiled a new policy on Afghanistan in August. The strategy included boosting troop numbers in Afghanistan and pressuring Pakistan to do a better job of cracking down on terrorists who have found sanctuary within the country's borders. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Lawmakers Recommend Review Of Nuclear Doctrine By RFE/RL November 21, 2018 A committee of the Russian parliament's upper house has recommended to the Kremlin to review the nation's rules for the use of nuclear weapons, local news agencies report. They said participants in November 21 hearings organized by the Federation Council's Committee for Defense and Security suggested that the presidential Security Council should draft a new version of the nuclear doctrine. The lawmakers said in their nonbinding recommendations cited by the news agencies that the revised version of the doctrine should, in particular, spell out a response to a hypothetical use of hypersonic and other nonnuclear strategic weapons against Russia. The proposals come two days after President Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of top military officials to discuss a response to U.S. threats to pull out of a key nuclear arms treaty. The U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) "wouldn't be left without an answer from our side," Putin said at the November 19 meeting in Moscow, adding that the Kremlin was ready to discuss the matter with Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump last month declared his intention to withdraw from the 1987 INF Treaty, citing alleged Russian violations of the accord, which prohibits the United States and Russia from possessing, producing, or deploying ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,000 kilometers. Russia has repeatedly denied the accusations and also alleged that some elements of U.S. missile-defense systems in Europe were in violation of the agreement. Washington denies that. Trump's move came amid persistent tension between the West and Russia over issues including Moscow's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014, its role in wars in Syria and eastern Ukraine, its alleged election meddling in the United States and Europe, and the poisoning of a Russian double agent and his daughter in Britain in March. With reporting by AP and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-lawmakers-recommend-review -of-nuclear-doctrine/29613710.html Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon Refuses to Comment on Russia's Possible Nuke Deterrence Policy Revision Sputnik News 23:13 21.11.2018 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Defense Department declined to comment on the proposal of the upper house of the Russian parliament to revise the rules on nuclear weapons use, Pentagon spokesperson Johnny Michael told Sputnik on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the Russian Federation Council recommended to prepare the revision of core Russian policies in the sphere of nuclear deterrence, which stipulates the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons. "We do not comment on the proposed legislation of a foreign nation," Michael said. The draft document has been adopted by the Federation Council's Committee on Defense and Security. It recommends to prepare a new revision of the 'Fundamentals of the Russian Federation's Nuclear Deterrence Policy', including the definition of conditions for the use of nuclear weapons and making decisions in response to the use of hypersonic weapons and other non-nuclear strategic weapons by the hypothetical adversary. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump affirms U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia amid Khashoggi investigation People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 07:16, November 21, 2018 WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday affirmed Washington's commitment to its partnership with Riyadh citing national interests, remaining an ambiguous attitude toward the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. "The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region," Trump said in a statement released by the White House. Calling Saudi Arabia a "great ally" in U.S. fight against Iran, Trump emphasized Riyadh's estimated 450-billion-U.S.-dollar investment in the United States following his trip last year, including expected 110 billion dollars' spending on arms purchase from major U.S. companies. Meanwhile, the White House host avoided making judgment on the alleged Saudi royal family's involvement in the recent killing of Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, which has stirred up the international community and invites criticism to the Middle East kingdom. "Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event -- maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" Trump noted. U.S. media, citing insiders, reported last week that the CIA had concluded the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered to kill Khashoggi, while the crown prince himself kept denying the accusations. "We now know many details of this horrible crime," said Trump in the statement, adding that "we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi." Trump also revealed that he acknowledged the intention of many U.S. Congress members, who were seeking tough punishment on Saudi Arabia over the Khashoggi incident, but indicated little willingness to echo their call. "I will consider whatever ideas are presented to me, but only if they are consistent with the absolute security and safety of America," Trump noted. Khashoggi has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. The Saudi authorities had said Khashoggi died in a "brawl" in its consulate. After releasing the results of its initial investigation, the Saudi Public Prosecution announced that 18 people were arrested for their alleged connections with the killing. U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on 17 individuals over their alleged roles in the killing of Khashoggi last week, following U.S. State Department's decision in late October to revoke 21 Saudi suspects' visas. U.S. Congress has urged a thorough investigation of the case, and threatened to take more actions against Saudi Arabia if those responsible were not held accountable, such as suspending U.S. military sales. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump under bipartisan fire over backing MbS after Khashoggi killing Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:18AM American lawmakers have blasted US President Donald Trump for siding with Saudi leaders and refusing to blame Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of Virginia-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's diplomatic mission in Turkey's Istanbul early last month. In a statement issued by the White House on Tuesday, Trump threw his support behind denials earlier made by Saudi King Salman and the crown prince, saying that the two "vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution" of Khashoggi's killing. Trump said US intelligence agencies "continue to assess all information," however; he questioned whether the Saudi crown prince was involved in Khashoggi's brutal murder. "Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" the American head of state said. This is while US media reported on Saturday that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) believed with "high confidence" that the Saudi crown prince had directly ordered the killing. The Tuesday statement prompted US senators from Democratic and Republican Party to criticize Trump's siding with Saudi leaders in the case of the dissident journalist. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Ron Wyden, the two senior Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior member of the Foreign Relations panel, criticized the US president's remarks. "I'm shocked that President Trump said there will be no punishment for Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi," Feinstein said in a statement. "Given the fact that Saudi security organizations are under the absolute control of the crown prince, there's every reason to believe the crown prince gave the order," Feinstein added. "Media reports now say the CIA is confident the crown prince directed Khashoggi's murder. To allow this to happen with no consequences is offensive to every value the United States holds dear," she noted. Feinstein also said she would vote against any future arms sale to Saudi Arabia and called on Washington to impose sanctions on the crown prince. Wyden slammed the American head of state for giving Riyadh what he called "a free pass." "Donald Trump's statement makes clear that he does not care who ordered the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi," Wyden said in a statement. "Giving the Saudis a free pass here reveals this administration's crippling weakness, even in the face of the murder of a journalist and US resident," he noted. Shaheen condemned "Trump's habit of siding with murderous foreign dictators over American intelligence professionals," describing his response to Khashoggi's killing "a stain on our democracy that undermines the American ideal." "Congress must now stand up with bipartisan resolve to condemn the brutal slaying of Jamal Khashoggi and pass legislation to respond to this and other Saudi crimes," she said. Senator Ben Cardin, a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, denounced Trump's statement as "outrageous and unprecedented." "For the president to knowingly come to the defense of an individual who it appears ordered the murder of a political critic, is something I thought the world would never witness," he said in a statement. Senator Jack Reed, the top-ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, slammed Trump's "unwillingness to stand up to Saudi Arabia" for Khashoggi's murder as "feckless." Senate Republicans also joined the chorus of criticism later on Tuesday. Republican US Senator Rand Paul blasted Trump's statement siding with Saudi leaders over denying responsibility for the death of Khashoggi, characterizing the president's remarks as "Saudi Arabia First." Paul disputed the Trump's claim that he was pushing an "America First" policy since he refused to punish the Saudi crown prince in Khashoggi's case. "The President indicates that Saudi Arabia is the lesser two evils compared to Iran and so the US won't punish Saudi Arabia for the brutal killing and dismemberment of a dissident journalist in their consulate. I disagree," Paul wrote on Twitter. "I'm pretty sure this statement is Saudi Arabia First, not America First. I'm also pretty sure John Bolton wrote it," Paul added, referring to Trump's national security adviser. The Kentucky Republican, one of Saudi Arabia's most outspoken critics, has been calling for a vote on bipartisan legislation that would block a $110 billion worth of arms sale to Riyadh. "We should, at the very least, NOT reward Saudi Arabia with our sophisticated armaments that they in turn use to bomb civilians," Paul also said in his tweet. "I will continue to press for legislation to stop the Saudi arms sales and the war in Yemen." Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's staunchest allies, warned the US president against ignoring Saudi Arabia's bad behavior and said the kingdom must be held accountable for the death of the US-based journalist. "It is not in our national security interests to look the other way when it comes to the brutal murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi," the South Carolina Republican said in a statement. Graham, who is set to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January, demanded that the Senate take action by voting on sanctions legislation against Riyadh. "I firmly believe there will be strong bipartisan support for serious sanctions against Saudi Arabia, including appropriate members of the royal family, for this barbaric act which defied all civilized norms," he said in his statement. "While Saudi Arabia is a strategic ally, the behavior of the Crown Prince in multiple ways has shown disrespect for the relationship and made him, in my view, beyond toxic," Graham added. The United States imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi nationals last week, including suspected members of an alleged hit squad and senior advisers to bin Salman. Saudi Arabia is facing global criticism over Khashoggi's killing inside the Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul on October 2. Khashoggi, a prominent commentator on Saudi affairs who wrote for the Washington Post's Global Opinions section, had lived in self-imposed exile in the US since September 2017, when he left Saudi Arabia over fears of the Riyadh regime's crackdown on critical voices. The 59-year-old critic was seeking to secure documentation for his forthcoming marriage when he entered the Saudi consulate, but never came out despite Riyadh's initial claim that he exited the mission less than an hour after completing his paperwork. The Saudi kingdom, after denying the murder for several days, finally admitted that Khashoggi had been killed in the consulate during an interrogation by rogue operatives that had gone wrong after diplomatic pressure grew tremendously on Riyadh to give an account on the mysterious fate of its national. However, Saudi Arabia said that it did not know the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body, which is widely believed to have been dismembered. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the assassination was ordered at the "highest levels" of the Saudi government, but stopped short of pointing the finger of blame at the crown prince. Turkey wants the 15-man team that it says killed the journalist to be tried there. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Have you heard of a small town in Serbia graced by the presence of its 700 communally roosting Long-eared Owls? You may have read about them in the Wall Street Journal, the BBC Wildlife Magazine, or perhaps watched them on BBC, who filmed them here twice, for the Planet Earth II in 2015 and for the One Planet in 2018. Actually, the numbers are even higher. The world record 734 Long-eared Owls were counted here in December 2009, in the pines and spruces, lime, chestnut and nettle trees lining the central square by the orthodox church in Kikinda. The best decorated single tree had 145 owls in its crown. Rightfully, this town centre doubles as a nature reserve an officially protected owl habitat. Wanting to celebrate the owl that has brought birders from many European countries, even from USA, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and China to their town, the authorities have erected the One Owl, a 9 ft terra-cotta statue of an owl by a local sculptor Jovan Blat. But, rather than an owl, many have seen a phallus in it and that was the reason I joined one media team heading for Kikinda to film the sculpture first, and live owls second. Driving north from Belgrade, we had two flocks of Common Cranes, about 100 birds, flying low in formation near the Carska bara Ramsar site November is the height of their autumn migration. At the roundabout at the entrance to Kikinda, the new sculpture awaited us. Many social network protesters found it obscene. Well, an owl it certainly is, but if you want to see it that way, a fertility symbol it may be as well. Theres nothing wrong with either, but the prudish protesters demanded its removal and the ever populist authorities were quick to announce that the sculpture will be replaced with a different owl sculpture. Before the owls brought tourists, billboards along the main road proudly called the town Kikinda the Tile Capital, after its tile factory, which is hardly a reason for any tourist to consider visiting the place. Yet, even if it were not for the tourists, this owl should be applauded by the local farmers: during the five winter months, they eat about half a million voles and mice. Soon, we parked by the main square and asked one of the curio sellers where are the owls? The autumn is too warm and I havent seen any. They can be seen in those tree crowns, but they arent here yet. A good thing that I didnt trusted him. He hasnt seen any, but have they arrived is an entirely different matter. The first flocks are to be seen even in September, however few they may be at that time, and I was sure that by mid-November there must be some owls around, a hundred or so at least. So we checked the trees behind the Church of St Nikola (built in 1773) and to the left. The birds themselves are very unobtrusive and hard to spot, but there is a tell-tale sign: their droppings. Yet, how to tell the owl droppings from e.g. Common Woodpigeons? Among owl droppings there are regurgitated pellets, which is not the case with pigeons. And soon, we had our first live Long-eared Owl, followed by several more in the next spruce. Long-eared Owl in Kikinda, photo (2) courtesy of Marko Djurica Several interviews with local officials and 30 owls later, we found ourselves in front of the pizzeria, right behind the church. About to enter, but theres one owl in that pine wait, two no, four no, more six, seven? It is a small tree crown without many places for a crow-sized bird to hide, but what we thought to be one bird soon become ten Long-eared Owls, plus five more in the lime next to it. Dozy birds, they hardy gave us a glance with those ambers eyes. Still, irresistibly adorable, nevertheless. The pizzeria Twenty has an open pizza oven, excellent pizzas and smooth local sljivovica, just the thing to round up the owl-watching experience, especially when in winter proper you become half-frozen after an hour of neck-stretching exercises. (Be warned: there is no non-smoking area.) Finally, Kikinda is not the only place with winter roosts of owls, but deservedly the most famous among them. It is estimated that some 30,000 LEOs in about 450 roosts overwinter in the country. Most of them hold a few dozen birds, several have 400 and then comes the crown jewel Kikinda, the World Owl Capital. The best season is from mid-November to mid-January, the colder the better. Long-eared Owls numbers fluctuate from 200-300 in warmer to 500-700 in colder winters. Check the trees at the Srpskih Dobrovoljaca Square, particularly behind and around the Church of St Nikola. Finish with pizza and sljivovica. Cover photo: Long-eared Owl in Kikinda, photo courtesy of Marko Djurica Saudi FM Slams Reports of Possible Regime Change Amid Khashoggi Case Sputnik News 20:12 21.11.2018(updated 20:50 21.11.2018) Earlier, Reuters reported that certain members of the Saudi royal family are considering changing the line of succession to prevent Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from becoming the next king amid the Khgashoggi scandal. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called reports about a possible coup in a bid to change the royal line of succession "ridiculous" and "way out of line," CNBC reported. "The leadership of Saudi Arabia represented in the king and the crown prince is a red line for every Saudi man or woman [] These are outrageous comments that are being made and are totally unacceptable," he said. Al-Jubeir also assured that the Saudi people are totally supportive of both their king and crown prince and that the whole country is "unified" in its view for the Vision 2030 policy, proposed by Mohammad bin Salman. "We will continue to move in spite of what people may or may not say," he added. Reuters reported on 20 November 2018 that, citing anonymous sources close to the royal court, some members of the Saudi Royal Family have been campaigning against Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman becoming the next king. According to the news agency, dozens of princes and cousins from several branches of the royal family are considering putting Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, 76, a brother of King Salman, on the throne following the king's death. The dissatisfaction with the crown prince within the Al Saud family was reportedly caused by the scandal around the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Riyadh blamed "rogue agents" for organising and executing the assassination of the journalist and denied any involvement of the royal family in the case. US President Donald Trump said in a speech on November 20 that the crown prince could have known about Khashoggi's murder, despite the Saudi king "vigorously" denying it. Trump stated that the US must stick to its Gulf ally regardless, in order to ensure the security interests of the US and its allies. Jamal Khashoggi was murdered on 2 October in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The Saudi Prosecutor's Office said that he was first restrained and then heavily drugged. Riyadh insists that Khashoggi's murder was a "rogue operation" and announced that it had arrested 21 suspects and charged 11 of them. Five of the suspects are facing the death penalty if they are found guilty. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump Thanks Saudis for Tamping Down World Oil Prices By Steve Herman November 21, 2018 U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday thanked Saudi Arabia for tamping down world oil prices, a day after saying the U.S. would not turn its back on Riyadh despite its responsibility for killing a dissident U.S.-based Saudi journalist. From his retreat along the Atlantic Ocean in Florida, Trump praised the Saudis, second only to the U.S. as an oil producer but the biggest global exporter, for sending enough crude to world markets to keep oil prices in check. Before leaving Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday, Trump told reporters at the White House that U.S. national security and economic interests outweigh any human rights concerns. He said turning his back on Saudi Arabia, despite the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, "would be a terrible mistake." "We're staying with Saudi Arabia," Trump announced. He noted the kingdom's opposition to Iran and its purchases of American military equipment that mean, according to the president, "hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investment." Russia and China "are not going to get that gift," Trump said before adding that oil prices would soar if the U.S.-Saudi relationship is broken up. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an interview with a Kansas City radio station, defended Trump's stance favoring Saudi Arabia, while noting that the U.S. had sanctioned 17 Saudis believed involved in the Khashoggi killing. "We are going to make sure that America always stands for human rights," Pompeo said. But the top U.S. diplomat said the protection of Americans was of paramount concern to Trump. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been an important national security partner to the United States, pushing back against the murderous regime in Iran that actually presents real risk to the American people, and we are determined to make sure that the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia stays strong so that we can protect America," Pompeo said. 'Maybe he did, maybe he didn't' Asked at the White House about the CIA's reported conclusion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman likely knew about or ordered the plot to kill Khashoggi inside Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul, Trump replied: "Maybe he did, maybe he didn't." Of the CIA's finding, he declared: "They have nothing definitive." The president denied his decision to avoid harshly punishing the Saudis for the October 2 killing has anything to do with his personal business interests. "I don't make deals with Saudi Arabia. I don't make money from Saudi Arabia," Trump said. "Being president has cost me a fortune." Trump said earlier he understands that some lawmakers in Congress want to pursue sanctions against Riyadh for the killing "for political or other reasons" and said, "They are free to do so." "I will consider whatever ideas are presented to me, but only if they are consistent with the absolute security and safety of America," Trump said. But the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Bob Corker and Democrat Robert Menendez, sent a letter to Trump Tuesday reminding him U.S. law requires him to examine whether the crown prince ordered Khashoggi's death. The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act requires the president to determine if a foreign official is responsible for a human rights violation. The act is named for Russian accountant Sergei Magnitsky who was apparently beaten to death in prison in 2009 after accusing Russian officials of tax fraud. "I never thought I'd see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia," Senator Corker tweeted Tuesday. He added that Congress will consider "all the tools at our disposal" to determine the role of the crown prince in the Khashoggi killing. Khashoggi lived in the United States, writing opinion articles for The Washington Post that were critical of the crown prince and Riyadh's military involvement in Yemen. His editor at the Post, Karen Attiah, described Trump's statement as "full of lies and a blatant disregard for his own intelligence agencies. It also shows an unforgivable disregard for the lives of Saudis who dare criticize the regime. This is a new low." U.S Intelligence Community Veterans of the U.S. Intelligence Community are also expressing their disdain with the president's stance. Former CIA Director John Brennan, who has repeatedly clashed with Trump, said on Twitter that Trump "excels in dishonesty" so now it is up to Congress to obtain and declassify the CIA findings on Khashoggi's death. "No one in Saudi Arabia most especially the Crown Prince should escape accountability for such a heinous act," Brennan wrote. Former CIA officer Ned Price wondered Tuesday "how appointed intelligence leaders could continue to serve after this betrayal is beyond me." A Saudi prosecutor cleared the crown prince of wrongdoing last week while calling for the death penalty for five of the 11 suspects indicted in the killing. The prosecutor said a total of 21 people have been detained. Turkish officials concluded that Khashoggi was tortured and killed and his body dismembered. His remains have not been found. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday Turkey might formally seek a United Nations investigation of the killing if cooperation with Riyadh reaches an impasse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli Operations in Syria Curbed Iran and Hezbollah IDF Chief of Staff Sputnik News 07:17 21.11.2018(updated 07:20 21.11.2018) According to the outgoing Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, Iran was unable to give Hezbollah precision missile weapons because of Israeli bombings in Syria. The military capabilities of Iran and Hezbollah near Israel's northern border are much smaller than they could be because of successful actions by Israel, outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said in a Monday statement. The departing general said that the Israeli army will continue to counter Iran's attempts to take root in Syria and create a missile delivery route to Hezbollah in Lebanon. During his trip to the northern border, Eisenkot "praised the armed forces for their actions aimed at preventing the consolidation of Iranian forces in Syria and Iranian attempts to move precision missile weapons to the 'Hezbollah' terrorist organization," the statement reads. The chief of staff, whose service ends on December 31, underscored that the military capabilities of Iran and Hezbollah are far from what they had hoped, and this is the result of continuous and successful Israeli operations. "The fact that Iran's abilities are far from what it had aspired to is a result of an ongoing operational activity," Eisenkot said Tuesday. "The army will continue to act in order to void such attempts [to move missile weapons to Lebanon], while simultaneously upkeeping the long-term security of the northern border," the statement reads. Tel Aviv acknowledges that the IDF has conducted 200 bombings in Syria over the last two years and says it's ready to continue its operations, despite the reinforcement of Syrian air defenses with Russian S-300 missile systems. The systems were shipped to Syria as a response to the downing of a Russian Il-20 aircraft by Syrian S-200 missile systems firing at Israeli jets, which Moscow has blamed on Tel Aviv. On Tuesday, a vetting committee approved the candidacy of Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi for the position of IDF chief of staff, according to a Times of Israel report. He is expected to step into the role at the beginning of next year. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned last week, shortly after an Israeli offensive involving heavy bombing and ground special forces operations in the Gaza Strip. Lieberman appointed Kochavi as Eisenkot's successor while he was still in office. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish court gives life sentences to dozens over 2016 botched putsch Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 04:57PM A court in Turkey has handed down aggravated life sentences to dozens of people on charges of involvement in the failed July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which the Ankara government accuses to have been masterminded by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen. Judicial sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ankara's 20th High Criminal Court passed the rulings against 74 defendants on Wednesday after they were charged with "attempting to disrupt the constitutional order." During the botched putsch, a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later. Ankara has since accused Gulen of having orchestrated the coup. The opposition figure is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to topple the government via infiltrating the country's institutions, particularly the army, police and the judiciary. Gulen has denounced the "despicable putsch" and reiterated that he had no role in it. "Accusations against me related to the coup attempt are baseless and politically-motivated slanders," he said in a statement. The 77-year-old cleric has also called on Ankara to end its "witch hunt" of his followers, a move he says is aimed at "weeding out anyone it deems disloyal to President Erdogan and his regime." Turkish officials have frequently called on their US counterparts to extradite Gulen, but their demands have not been taken heed of. Turkey, which remains in a state of emergency since the coup, has been engaged in suppressing the media and opposition groups suspected to have played a role in the failed coup. Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists, have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations. The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey requests extradition of Gulen, 83 other wanted people from US Iran Press TV Wed Nov 21, 2018 06:55AM Turkey has presented the United States with a list of wanted people for extradition, comprising President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's arch-foe, Fetullah Gulen, and 83 members of his movement. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu handed over the litany to his American counterpart, Mike Pompeo, during a visit to Washington on Tuesday. Topmost on the list is opposition cleric Gulen, Erdogan's ally-turned-nemesis who stands accused of having masterminded an abortive coup against the Ankara government in July 2016. Turkey has branded Gulen's movement as a terrorist organization. The Pennsylvania-based cleric is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to topple the government via infiltrating the country's institutions. Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the botched coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists, have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations. Cavusoglu said he had not received any "assurances" after meeting with Pompeo and US President Donald Trump's national security advisor John Bolton that the extraditions would take place. Trump had "asked Erdogan to send that list and I gave that list to both Pompeo and ambassador Bolton," the Turkish top diplomat said. The US president said on Saturday that he had no plans to extradite Gulen, who strongly denies any involvement in the coup attempt. "It's not under consideration," he told reporters, while also saying that Erdogan was "a friend of mine. He's a strong man, a tough man and a smart man, so whatever we can do, we'll do... but at this point? No." Meanwhile, NBC News has reported that the White House is seeking ways to extradite Gulen in a bid to reduce Turkish pressure on Saudi Arabia over the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 after entering the facility to secure documents for a pending marriage. Turkey has been releasing back-to-back batches of information on gruesome details of the murder. Trump has sided with Riyadh despite an all-out international condemnation of the assassination, which is widely believed to have been ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish Court Jails 74 Officers for Life Over Failed Coup Reports Sputnik News 19:58 21.11.2018 ANKARA (Sputnik) - A court in Ankara has sentenced 74 officers to life in prison for their role in the 2016 coup attempt to depose the Turkish president, the Anadolu news agency said Wednesday. A judicial source told Anadolu that Ankara-based officers from an army corps and a mechanized infantry brigade were convicted of trying to overthrow the constitutional order. Another 189 suspects face the same charges and will be tried separately, the publication said. The Turkish government maintains they are part of a network run by cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara blames for the July 2016 military putsch. It killed 251 people and injured thousands of others. Around 80,000 people, including officials, journalists and military staff, have reportedly been arrested in the country over their alleged links to Gulen since the coup attempt. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK to Send Marines, Warship to Ukraine for Sake of 'Democracy' - Reports Sputnik News 10:52 21.11.2018(updated 11:28 21.11.2018) Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson will reaffirm Britain's commitment to Ukraine during a visit to Kiev. The United Kingdom will ramp up its military assistance to Ukraine, deploying additional troops and a Royal Navy ship to defend 'freedom and democracy,' Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson will announce on Wednesday, The Telegraph wrote. Ukrainian Special Forces and Marines will be trained by British personnel and HMS Echo, a Royal Navy hydrographic survey ship with a company of 72, will deploy to the region. "As long as Ukraine faces Russian hostilities, it will find a steadfast partner in the United Kingdom," Williamson will say. The announcement will follow through on promises Williamson made during his visit to Ukraine in September. In his first visit as Defence Secretary to Ukraine in September, Gavin Williamson announced Britain's decision to extend its military training operation there for another two years, until 2020. The training, delivered through Operation Orbital, has been expanded in 2018 to include anti-armour, infantry skills, counter-sniping, and mortar planning. This is in addition to defence skills programmes such as the identification of mines and improvised explosive devices, medical care and logistics that UK personnel have been delivering since early 2015. British personnel have trained more than 9,500 Ukrainian armed forces personnel since the start of Operation Orbital in 2015. During a meeting in Kiev with his Ukrainian counterpart Stepan Poltorak in September, Williamson said that London planned to deploy a Royal Navy ship to Ukraine, commit further Royal Marines and introduce a permanent naval attache to help build Ukraine's naval capability. Gavin Williamson also travelled to Marinka in eastern Ukraine to see the effects of the four-year conflict in the Donbass region. The Defence Secretary later met with President Petro Poroshenko to discuss, among other things, the tense situation in the Sea of Azov and its negative impact on the Ukrainian economy. Russia and Ukraine are in a row over the inland Sea of Azov that they share, with both sides accusing each other of detaining each other's' ships illegally. However, no specific example of delaying or preventing access to a ship by Russia has been cited yet. Tensions between Russia and Ukraine in the Sea of Azov heightened this year after Ukraine detained two Russian ships for port calls in Russia's Crimea, which Ukraine considers to be its territory. Russia described the move as 'maritime terrorism' and ramped up patrols off the country's Azov coast, prompting Ukraine to accuse Russia of illegal searches. The crisis escalated in October, when the Ukrainian parliament passed a draft law authorising Kiev to expand maritime controls by 12 nautical miles off its southern coast, allegedly in an effort to counter smuggling in the Black Sea. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Maritime training deployments to deepen UK-Ukraine defence partnership Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson meets Minister of Defence of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak in London 21 November 2018 The UK and Ukraine will continue to strengthen their defence partnership in the face of intensifying threats and aggression, the Defence Secretary reaffirmed today. In a meeting with the visiting Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak, Gavin Williamson announced a range of forthcoming deployments and exercises that will see the two countries' Armed Forces continue to work together in defence of the international rules-based order. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: "As long as Ukraine faces Russian hostilities, it will find a steadfast partner in the United Kingdom. By continuing to work together, whether through training programmes or military exercises, we help Ukraine to stand up for our shared values." "Those values of freedom and democracy cannot be traded. I have witnessed on the frontline the effects of the conflict in the East and this has completely reinforced my support for Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity." Minister of Defence of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak said: "The United Kingdom is a valued partner that has supported Ukraine's Armed Forces for the last four years in the face of Russian aggression. As we fight to defend our territory, the offer of extended support from the UK Armed Forces is vitally important and gratefully received." The Defence Secretary announced at the meeting that HMS Echo would deploy to the Black Sea in 2019 to demonstrate the UK's support to ensuring freedom of navigation in the region. It was also confirmed that, in January and February next year, training teams made up of personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Army will deploy to Ukraine as part of the extension to the UK's military training operation announced by Gavin Williamson on his visit to the country in September. The UK and Ukrainian Armed Forces will gain another opportunity to develop capability and share expertise when UK contributes to the US-Ukrainian led Exercise Sea Breeze next year. While visiting Ukraine in September, where he visited the east of the country to see first-hand the effects of the ongoing conflict, the Defence Secretary announced that the UK would be extending its military training programme, delivered through Operation Orbital, until 2020. Since the start of 2015, British personnel have trained over 9,500 of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK's May Heads to Brussels as Spain Threatens to Veto Brexit Deal By Jamie Dettmer November 21, 2018 British Prime Minister Theresa May appears to have held off a bid to oust her by rebels in her Conservative party who oppose a Brexit deal she is finalizing with the European Union. But her exit plan faces further threats as a group of EU nations demand further concessions from Britain. Spain is threatening to sink the Brexit deal over the status of Gibraltar, the headland on Spain's south coast dominated by a high limestone ridge known as the Rock, which was ceded to the British in 1713. As May headed Wednesday to Brussels for a meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission's president, Madrid warned it would block the Brexit withdrawal agreement unless issues over Gibraltar's future are clarified. Spain wants the draft Brexit deal to make clear future talks about Gibraltar's status would be in "separate negotiations" between London and Madrid and not part of a deal between Britain and the European Union. Spain fears the Brexit deal will legally confirm Gibraltar is part of Britain. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says neither the 585-page draft divorce deal nor the accompanying political declaration about a possible future free trade agreement makes clear Gibraltar's future is to be decided bilaterally. "It should be negotiated between Spain and the UK. As it stands, the [Spanish] government will vote against the Brexit agreement," he said. The subject of Gibraltar has long been an emotional issue for both countries. Spain has claimed sovereignty over Gibraltar. Last year, former British Conservative leader Michael Howard suggested a dispute over the headland could provoke a war between Britain and Spain. The veto threat has prompted outrage in London with accusations the Spanish government is trying to blackmail Britain. As far as the British are concerned, Spain's foreign minister, Josep Borrell, has gone out of his way to stoke Scottish nationalism. He announced Tuesday that Madrid is reversing its traditional opposition to Scotland being readmitted to the EU, if in the future it should declare independence. By dropping its opposition, Spain handed a propaganda coup to Scottish nationalists. It was quickly seized by their leader, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is eager to lead Scotland out of Britain. She said it "demolished" the "scare story" British Conservatives push that if Scotland should declare independence, it would never be allowed to join the EU. EU officials say they believe the Gibraltar issue can be solved before EU leaders sign the withdrawal agreement at a summit on Sunday. The deal would see Britain remaining in the EU customs union, which addresses imports and exports, for an indefinite period while a free trade deal is negotiated over the next few years. Few observers believe the deal will win the approval of the British parliament next month when lawmakers are scheduled to vote on it formally, as all opposition parties have formally come out against it. May is banking on securing a House of Commons majority for her deal by daring lawmakers across the political spectrum to let a "no-deal Brexit" go ahead. Crashing out of the bloc without a deal would likely trigger a recession, leaving behind bankrupt businesses and ruined livelihoods, say analysts. Fishing rights Aside from Spain, the agreement has been criticized by France, the Netherlands and Portugal. The three countries want fishing rights in British waters to be included, if not in the divorce deal, then at least in the political declaration setting the parameters for a possible future free trade deal. Several EU governments are also dissatisfied because they believe the deal gives Britain a competitive advantage by not tying it closely enough to EU regulations, workers' rights, and environmental standards, potentially lowering the production costs of British goods. If they manage to ensure there will be no competitive advantage, it will cause May further difficulties in selling the withdrawal agreement in the British parliament. May leads a minority government and relies on the votes of a dozen Northern Ireland lawmakers, who deeply oppose the divorce deal as well. To demonstrate their power, twice this week they have withheld their support in important budget votes. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Unacceptable': Spanish Prime Minister Rejects Brexit Plan Over Gibraltar Sputnik News 00:25 22.11.2018(updated 00:31 22.11.2018) MADRID (Sputnik) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday his country would veto the Brexit draft over the disputed Gibraltar peninsula. "We are disappointed. We found Article 184 in the deal which threatens Spain's ability to negotiate the future of Gibraltar with the UK. It is unacceptable," Sanchez told reporters. Spanish authorities expect the document to be fixed by the time the leaders meet this weekend, the prime minister said, or else his nation will "exercise its veto right." Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell stressed on Monday that Madrid would like to hold separate talks on Gibraltar during the UK transition period, and this should be written down in the political declaration on the EU-UK future relations. Gibraltar, located on the southern coast of Spain, has been a British Overseas Territory since 1713, when Spain ceded it to the United Kingdom under Utrecht Treaty. Spain has long laid claim to the territory, but the local residents rejected the idea of Spanish sovereignty in 1967 and joint UK-Spanish authority in 2002. Following more than a year of tough talks on Brexit conditions, London and Brussels have finally produced a draft agreement on the conditions of the UK divorce from the bloc. The deal includes three protocols, concerning Gibraltar, Cyprus and the Irish border. The protocol on Gibraltar created the basis for the administrative cooperation on a series of subjects the rights of citizens, taxation, tobacco, environment, fisheries, police and customs cooperation. This protocol is part of a broader package of bilateral agreements between Spain and the United Kingdom on Gibraltar. EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Sunday for an extraordinary summit to discuss the UK's provisional withdrawal agreement and a political declaration. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address From the first British woman to win a Nobel Prize to one of the countrys early suffragettes, portraits dedicated to inspirational women now grace the walls of the University of Bristols most famous building. Although the University was the first higher education institution in England to welcome women on an equal basis to men, the wooden panels of the Great Hall in its Wills Memorial Building have been an all-male domain thanks to hosting portraits of its Vice-Chancellors. Now, thanks to a project specially-commissioned to mark 100 years since the first women in Britain won the right to vote, a series of ten portraits redresses the balance and celebrates notable Bristol women who have changed the institution and, indeed, the world. They will be unveiled at an interactive panel discussion event on 22 November, entitled 'Women and equality: the next 100 years', which looks to the future of gender equality by asking what key challenges still need to be overcome and how. The portraits, taken by photographer Jessica Augarde, will be the first of many initiatives to honour women at the University, with new permanent artworks to be commissioned every year until 2028: the 100-year anniversary of full suffrage in Britain, when all women over 21 were given the right to vote, not just those over the age of 30 who owned property. Among the women featured are activists, educators and research pioneers: The Right Honourable the Baroness Hale of Richmond , the first female President of the Supreme Court and former Chancellor of the University of Bristol , the first female President of the Supreme Court and former Chancellor of the University of Bristol Professor Jean Golding OBE , leading epidemiologist and founder of the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol , leading epidemiologist and founder of the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol Dr Gaositwe Chiepe , Botswanas first female cabinet member and University of Bristol alumnus , Botswanas first female cabinet member and University of Bristol alumnus Professor Dorothy Hodgkin , the first British woman to win a Nobel Prize and former Chancellor of the University of Bristol , the first British woman to win a Nobel Prize and former Chancellor of the University of Bristol Winifred Shapland , first female registrar of the University of Bristol and the first female Registrar of any British university , first female registrar of the University of Bristol and the first female Registrar of any British university Dr Elizabeth Casson , the first woman to receive a medical degree from the University of Bristol and a pioneer for occupational therapy , the first woman to receive a medical degree from the University of Bristol and a pioneer for occupational therapy Professor Helen Wodehouse , the first female Chair at the University of Bristol (Chair of Education) , the first female Chair at the University of Bristol (Chair of Education) Norah Fry , champion for people with learning disabilities, who donation led to the creation of the Norah Fry Research Centre at the University of Bristol , champion for people with learning disabilities, who donation led to the creation of the Norah Fry Research Centre at the University of Bristol Enid Stacey , socialist and campaigner for women's rights and alumnus of University College, Bristol (the precursor to the University of Bristol) , socialist and campaigner for women's rights and alumnus of University College, Bristol (the precursor to the University of Bristol) Mary Paley Marshall, the first woman lecturer at University College, Bristol Photographed holding images of these inspirational and influential women are pioneering members of today's University community. These include Dr Peggy Styles, who became the University's oldest graduate when she collected her postdoctorate in 2016, aged 86; and Lara Lalemi, a Chemistry PhD student who's been an advocate for encouraging people from diverse backgrounds to study STEM subjects. The achievements of some of the women featured are well-known, such as The Right Honourable the Baroness Hale of Richmond - the University's former Chancellor and the first woman to hold the role of Supreme Court President. But the achievements of many of the women, especially those born in the 19th Century, aren't so widely known and celebrated. Enid Stacy, who won a scholarship to study Advanced Latin at University College, Bristol (the precursor to the University of Bristol), between 1887 and 1890, went on to became one of the best-known female propagandists for British socialism in the late 19th century, speaking at 122 meetings in 1894 alone. It was during a wave of strikes in Bristol in 1889 when Enid heard an inspiring speech from Labour leader Tom Mann, prompting her to join the Gasworkers' Union and dedicate her life to activism and raising awareness of equality issues. Her portrait is held by Dr Sumita Mukherjee, an historian whose research has looked at how Indian suffragettes campaigned for the vote around the world. Also celebrated in the project is 95-years-old graduate Dr Gaositwe Chiepe, who completed her Master's degree at Bristol in 1959. In doing so, she became the first woman from Botswana to earn both an undergraduate and postgraduate degree. In 1966, she became Botswana's first director of education and she laid down reforms that transformed the education system such that today Botswana has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa with equally high progression rates from primary through to higher education. Her portrait is held by Samantha Budd, Chief Executive of Bristol SU and the first black woman to be a Chief Executive of a students' union in the UK. Professor Judith Squires, incoming Deputy-Vice Chancellor and the most senior woman at the University, is pictured holding a photograph of Winifred Shapland - Registrar at the University of Bristol for nearly 20 years and the first female Registrar of any British university. Professor Squires said: "As a University with a proud history of giving women equal opportunities, we wanted to evidence and celebrate this in our most famous building. It's only right that our students will now graduate in a hall which features inspirational women alongside portraits of our Vice-Chancellors. "Although the achievements of women such as Lady Hale, Jean Golding and Dorothy Hodgkin have been rightly honoured at the University in the past, we also wanted to uncover the stories of unsung heroines, whose achievements aren't as well-known and documented as they should be. "Featuring them alongside ten women in today's University community gave us the opportunity to show how their legacy is continuing to inspire our teaching and work today, showcasing our current pioneers and prompting a conversation about how we can work together as we strive further towards equality." The portraits will be a lasting legacy of the University's Vote 100 campaign, which has been run as part of local celebrations led by Bristol Women's Voice throughout 2018 to explore Bristol's history as a city of change-makers and consider how it can continue to fight for equality in the future. You can watch a video of 'Women and equality: the next 100 years' on Facebook: First Potassium Rich Salts, Final Brine Transfer Perth, Nov 22, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Potash Limited ( ASX:APC ) (Australian Potash) is pleased to advise the successful completion of the final transfer of brine into Harvest Pond 3 at the Lake Wells Sulphate of Potash project's pilot evaporation pond network.Highlights:- 11 tonnes of Potassium rich salts harvested from Harvest Pond 1- 13 - 14 tonnes of Potassium rich salts crystallised in Harvest Pond 2- Transfer of +40 tonnes of concentrated brine into final Harvest Pond 3- Lake Wells SOP Project environment ideal for solar salt productionAustralian Potash Managing Director Matt Shackleton said: "With this transfer of brine into the final harvest pond, the pilot evaporation pond program is rapidly concluding."Once the evaporation step is complete, which we anticipate in the next 14 - 21 days, a blend of about 2 tonnes of the Potassium rich salts from all the harvest ponds will be processed into SOP at the Company's purpose-built pilot processing plant. The production of SOP in Perth will be supervised by one of Novopro's expert engineers on secondment to APC."We plan to provide trade samples of APC's Lake Wells SOP to our existing MOU-off-take partners, Sino-Agri and Hubei-Agri as we look to move the relationships with those parties to a more formal off-take position. We are also constantly engaged with Australian users and distributors of SOP, and we look forward to providing evidence of the quality of our product to those parties too" Mr Shackleton said.Lake Wells Sulphate of Potash ProjectWith granted Mining Leases in place, the Lake Wells SOP Project is targeting the production of 150,000 tonnes per annum through an initial Stage-1 development, rising to 300,000 tonnes per annum on development of Stage-2. Costs of production place the project in the lowest quartile on the global operating costs curve(see Note below).Located just 280kms from bulk rail terminals at Leonora (see Figure 4 in link below), the Lake Wells SOP Project is well supported by local government. The Shire of Laverton allows APC to off-set annual rates payable on the recently granted Mining Leases against the maintenance and upgrade of the Lake Wells access road. In addition to this, the Shire has committed to sealing the surface of the Great Central Road a further 100 kms east of Laverton, effectively providing APC with an additional 70kms of sealed road in its infrastructure solution.APC has in place Memorandums of Understanding with two of China's largest agricultural companies for a combined 200,000 tonnes per annum of off-take.Australian Potash is committed to supplying SOP to Australian farmers and is actively engaged with large fertiliser distributors in Western Australia. Annual consumption of all potash types in Australia is approximately 500 - 600 thousand tonnes, including 50 - 60kT SOP. With effective incentive pricing, the volume of SOP consumed in Australia will increase materially.APC is conducting a Definitive Feasibility Study into the development of a solar salt SOP operation at Lake Wells and is targeting H1 2019 to release the findings of this DFS.Note: Refer to ASX announcement 23 March 2017 'Scoping Study Confirms Exceptional Economics of APC's 100% Owned Lake Wells Potash Project In WA'. That announcement contains the relevant statements, data and consents referred to in this announcement. Apart from that which is disclosed in this document, Australian Potash Limited, its directors, officers and agents: 1. Are not aware of any new information that materially affects the information contained in the 23 March 2017 announcement, and 2. State that the material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the 23 March 2017 announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed.To view figures, please visit:About Australian Potash Ltd Australian Potash Limited (ASX:APC) is an ASX-listed Sulphate of Potash (SOP) developer. The Company holds a 100% interest in the Lake Wells Potash Project located approximately 500kms northeast of Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields. Following the release of a Scoping Study in 2017, APC has been conducting a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) into the development of the Lake Wells Potash Project. The Company is aiming to release the findings of the DFS in H2 2019. The Lake Wells Potash Project is a palaeochannel brine hosted sulphate of potash project. Palaeochannel bore fields supply large volumes of brine to many existing mining operations throughout Western Australia, and this technique is a well understood and proven method for extracting brine. APC will use this technically low-risk and commonly used brine extraction model to further develop a bore-field into the palaeochannel hosting the Lake Wells SOP resource. A Scoping Study on the Lake Wells Potash Project was completed and released on 23 March 2017. The Scoping Study exceeded expectations and confirmed that the Project's economic and technical aspects are all exceptionally strong, and highlights APC's potential to become a significant long-life, low capital and high margin sulphate of potash (SOP) producer. Increase in Measured and Indicated Resources at Yangibana Sydney, Nov 22, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Directors of Hastings Technology Metals Limited ( ASX:HAS ) are pleased to announce a 6.7% increase in Measured plus Indicated Resources at the Yangibana Project compared to the most recent JORC Mineral Resource estimate in November 2017 (ASX release titled "Final 2017 JORC Resource Update including Auer and Auer North Results" 22nd November 2017). Measured plus Indicated Resources now stand at 13.38 million tonnes within a total resource of 21.67 million tonnes. The total resource now hosts more than 80,000 tonnes of neodymium and praseodymium oxide, the Company's main economic driver.- Measured plus Indicated Resources increased by 6.7% to 13.38 million tonnes- Total Resources increased to 21.67 million tonnes- Contained neodymium and praseodymium oxide exceeds 80,000 tonnes in total resources- Programmes in place for next drilling phase in 2019JORC Mineral ResourcesAn updated JORC Mineral Resource estimation has been completed by independent consultant Lynn Widenbar and Associates incorporating the recent drilling results from Bald Hill, Fraser's, Auer and Auer North deposits. The total resources as at October 2018 are as shown in Table 1(see link below). Note that in all resource tables rounding errors may appear. The resources are based on a 0.2%Nd2O3+Pr6O11 cut-off, with a minimum width of 1.0m. 0.5m of dilution at grade from both the hangingwall and the footwall is incorporated into the estimation.These figures represent a modest increase in total tonnes compared to the previous estimate from 20,996,000 (+3.2%), but a significant increase in Measured plus Indicated Resources (+6.7%), particularly in the Measured category that has increased by 21.1%.Resources from the deposits that are planned for early development - Bald Hill and Fraser's - are shown in Tables 2 and 3(see link below). Both deposits are within granted Mining Leases held 100% by Hastings.Following the recent drilling at Auer and Auer North (ASX Release titled "Successful Infill and Extension Drilling at Auer, Auer North" 5th October 2018) , the main increases in total resources are at these deposits as shown in Tables 4 and 5(see link below). Both deposits are within Exploration Licences held 100% by Hastings and the Company will make application for a Mining Lease in the near future.Longitudinal sections of Auer and Auer North showing accumulation (metre % Nd2O3+Pr6O11) are shown in Figures 1 and 3 (see link below) showing good potential for additional resources particularly at depth along the length of Auer and at Auer North Zone 1. Figures 2 and 4 (see link below) show the resource categorisation for the two deposits.JORC Mineral Resources for Yangibana, Yangibana West, and Yangibana North are shown in Tables 6, 7 and 8 (see link below) respectively.Of the total resources at Yangibana, 1,900,000 tonnes are within Mining Lease 09/165 held 100% by Hastings and 269,000 tonnes are within Mining Lease 09/163 in which Hastings holds a 70% interest.Yangibana West lies within Mining Lease 09/160 held 100% by Hastings. The mineralisation is part of a continuous deposits that extends into Mining Lease 09/159, in which Hastings holds a 70% interest, as Yangibana North.JORC Mineral Resources at Simon's Find are shown in Table 9(see link below). These resources are located within Mining Lease 09/158 and Exploration Licence 09/1943, both held 100% by Hastings. Additional drilling and metallurgical testwork will be undertaken prior to the application for a second Mining Lease.JORC Inferred Mineral Resources at Gossan, Lion's Ear, Hook and Kane's Gossan are shown in Table 10(see link below). These deposits are all within Mining Lease 09/159 in which Hastings holds a 70% interest.A proposed drilling programme for 2019 has been established and will commence with holes testing the large aeromagnetic anomaly reported recently (ASX Release titled "Major Aeromagnetic Target Identified at Yangibana" 8th August 2018).TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS REPORTTotal Rare Earths Oxides, TREO, is the sum of the oxides of the light rare earth elements lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), and samarium (Sm) and the heavy rare earth elements europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu), and yttrium (Y).To view tables and figures, please visit:About Hastings Technology Metals Ltd Hastings Technology Metals Ltd (ASX:HAS) (FRA:5AM) is advancing its Yangibana Rare Earths Project in the Upper Gascoyne Region of Western Australia towards production. The proposed beneficiation and hydro metallurgy processing plant will treat rare earths deposits, predominantly monazite, hosting high neodymium and praseodymium contents to produce a mixed rare earths carbonate that will be further refined into individual rare earth oxides at processing plants overseas. Neodymium and praseodymium are vital components in the manufacture of permanent magnets which is used in a wide and expanding range of advanced and high-tech products including electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, medical applications and others. Hastings aims to become the next significant producer of neodymium and praseodymium outside of China. Hastings holds 100% interest in the most significant deposits within the overall project, and 70% interest in additional deposits that will be developed at a later date, all held under Mining Leases. Numerous prospects have been identified warranting detailed exploration to further extend the life of the project. Brockman Project The Brockman deposit, near Halls Creek in Western Australia, contains JORC Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, estimated using the guidelines of JORC Code (2012 Edition). The Company is also progressing a Mining Lease application over the Brockman Rare Earths and Rare Metals Project. Hastings aims to capitalise on the strong demand for critical rare earths created by the expanding demand for new technology products. Solution: to seamlessly integrate multiple communications and security systems onboard one of the newest natural gas platforms in the Eastern Mediterranean Begins Installation and Commissioning Phase of a Multi-Million Dollar Telecom Systems Integration Solution Sydney, Nov 22, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Speedcast International Limited ( ASX:SDA ) ( OTCMKTS:SPPDF ), the world's most trusted provider of remote communication and IT solutions, today announced that the company has completed factory acceptance testing and has begun the installation phase of a long-term, multi-solution telecommunication systems integration project for a natural gas platform set to operate in the Eastern Mediterranean by one of its leading offshore energy customers.This project, awarded to Speedcast by Noble Energy in late 2017, will generate several million in revenue for the company. The scope of work integrates a variety of communications systems, including: telecommunications cabinets; company LAN, Wi-Fi, VoIP, CCTV, Structured cabling, crane/marine/company radio systems, 4G/LTE, IPTV, weather observation system and emergency satellite phones."We are proud to continue growing our footprint and demonstrating our strength in engineering and telecom systems integrations," says Terry Babin, Speedcast's Global Director of Systems Integration. "This project is a great example of the breadth of capabilities our team can execute, from initial requirements gathering, to a custom design based on specific RFP details, and now timely and cost-effective implementation. We look forward to helping Noble Energy with our continued 24x7 support once the solution has been fully installed and the platform is operational."In addition to being the world's leading VSAT services provider, Speedcast offers robust telecoms systems integration services for large integration projects onshore and offshore. Speedcast's technical staff of engineers can design, build and deliver fully custom solutions that seamlessly integrate connectivity services with a variety of networking, security, communications and IoT systems, and are skilled in research studies, front-end engineering design, and full testing and verification services.About Speedcast International Ltd Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA) is the world's most trusted communications and IT services provider, delivering critical communications solutions to the Maritime, Energy, Mining, Media, Telecom, Cruise, NGO, Government, and Enterprise sectors. With more satellite capacity than any other provider, Speedcast enables faster, seamless pole-to-pole coverage from a global hybrid satellite, fiber, cellular, microwave, MPLS, and IP transport network with direct access to public cloud platforms. The company also integrates differentiated technology offerings that provide smarter ways to communicate and distribute content, manage network and remote operations, protect and secure investments, and improve the crew and guest experience. With a passionate customer focus and a strong safety culture, Speedcast serves more than 3,200 customers in over 140 countries. Learn more at www.speedcast.com. Telangana: Cong 'manages' Rebels To Withdraw Known for its effective management techniques, the Congress high command has gone out of the way to appease the rebel candidates who had filed nominations in the seats allotted to official candidates. For the first time, the high command sent its top leaders including Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Veerappa Moily and Bose Raju from Delhi and D K Shiva Kumar from Karnataka, besides former Union ministers S Jaipal Reddy and T Subbarami Reddy to talk to rebel candidates, pacify them and request them to withdraw from the contest. The senior leaders went to the residences of former Serilingampalli MLA Bhikshpathi Yadav, Thotakura Jangaiah Yadav, Vajresh Yadav and Naini Rajender Reddy on Wednesday night. They also met former Union minister Renuka Chowdary, who has been sulking ever since the nomination process began. All of them have finally agreed to withdraw from the contest. Earlier, they managed to pacify former minister Sabita Indra Reddys son P Karthik Reddy and others to drop out from the contest. Only Ranga Reddy DCC president Kyama Mallesh revolted against the party and was suspended from his post. He is likely to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Obviously, the Congress party did not want to take chances, as the elections have become prestigious for it to come back to power. The party is not ready to lose even a single winnable seat. They promised the rebels that they would be accommodated either as MLAs or give them party tickets for Lok Sabha elections. It is learnt that the leaders are pacifying the discontented leaders of Warangal East but Congress contestant Vaddiraju Ravichandra is not willing to withdraw his nomination. Mr. Vaddiraju is pressurising Congress high command to make TJS candidate Gade Innayya out of elections. Click Here for Latest Direct-to-OTT Releases (List Updates Daily) Electrovaya Inc. signed a $3.8-million contract with Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to develop safe and long-lasting lithium ion ceramic batteries for electric buses and commercial vehicles. The initial payment on the contract has now been received and follows the award from SDTC in August 2017. SDTC helps Canadian entrepreneurs accelerate the development and deployment of globally competitive clean technology solutions. Electric buses and commercial vehicles operate long hours every day, and require batteries that can work under fluctuating driving cycles and be charged quickly. The long duty cycle for these vehicles has similarities to Materials Handling Electric Vehicles (MHEVs), for which Electrovaya has developed lithium-ion battery technology. Electrovayas batteries are powering a growing number of MHEVs and Automated Guided Vehicles used by a number of companies, including large Fortune 500 firms in the logistics and manufacturing sector. Two bus manufacturers have joined Electrovaya as consortium members for the SDTC-funded project. One of them is a fast-growing European manufacturer with multiple manufacturing plants worldwide. The other bus company is based in North America and has extensive relationships in the US and Canadian markets. Change of Name to THC Global Group Limited Sydney, Nov 22, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - THC Global Group Limited (THC Global or the Company) ( ASX:THC ) ( OTCMKTS:HDRPF ) is pleased to advise that the Company's name has changed to THC Global Group Limited, from The Hydroponics Company Limited.The ASX code "THC" remains unchanged.The change of the Company name was approved by shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 15 November.Shareholders supported the directors when considering the new name, which better reflects the strategic developments in the business, the importance of advancing established global operations and international partnerships and recognises the significant value THC Global is now creating and into the future, across both medicinal and recreational cannabis markets.THC Global believes the new name also captures the growth objectives and direction for the Company as a leading medicinal cannabis business with tier one growing and manufacturing capacity in Australia and ability to supply and expand internationally.THC Global will continue to expand its Vancouver-based revenue generating hydroponics division (Crystal Mountain), which sells equipment and growing mediums, while accelerating the build out of its medicinal cannabis growing and manufacturing facilities under its 'Farm to Pharma' pharmaceutical model.About THC Global Group Limited THC Global Group Limited (ASX:THC) (OTCMKTS:HDRPF) (FRA:9TH) operates under a 'Farm to Pharma' pharmaceutical model, now holding all three key cannabis licences being a Cannabis Research Licence, a Medicinal Cannabis Licence (Cultivation), and a Manufacture Licence through its domestic medicinal cannabis subsidiaries THC Pharma and Canndeo. THC Global has secured a significant cannabis growing capacity over multiple cultivation projects and owns a pharmaceuticals bio-manufacturing facility with attached testing and product development laboratory. THC Global is in prime position to commence medicinal cannabis production to service both domestic patients and the global export market. THC Global is active globally with operations in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada and partnerships across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. In addition to its core Australian medicinal cannabis assets, THC Global has a significant Canadian presence both in cannabis and in hydroponics equipment. THC Global's Canadian cannabis operation, Vertical Canna, holds property in Nova Scotia, Canada being developed into a large scale cannabis production site. THC Global's hydroponics equipment division, Crystal Mountain, is a revenue generating manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer of hydroponic equipment and supplies. Barney votes against The Green River City Council approved a request to increase residents solid waste bills from Wyoming Waste Management Tuesday night. The move allows the company to charge an increase to residents based on an increase in a 12-month rolling consumer price index. The CPI increased by 2.3 percent, which is the increase that is expected to amount to 72 cents per month. Councilman Gary Killpack said the increase is minuscule compared to the increases the city projected if it continued operating its solid waste division. He said that an increase of 72 cents per year for the next decade would sti... Solvay Chemicals is appealing an assessed valuation in regards to property taxes. During the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning, the Commissioners heard an update from County Assessor Dave Divis and Sweetwater County Treasurer Robb Slaughter about the appeal process. Commissioner Chairman Reid West said the matter doesnt require any action from the Commissioners, but thought it would be a good idea for them to hear an update on it. Divis said the Department of Audit conducted an audit on Solvays returns and found an issue. Previously, the Department of Revenue ha... David "Davy Bear" Ahern Lewis, 68, passed away Nov. 4, 2018, at his home in Rock Springs. He was a resident of Rock Springs for 40 years and is a former resident of Douglaston, N.Y. Lewis was born Oct. 11, 1950, in New York City, the son of Albert Reedy Lewis and Elizabeth Patricia Ahern. He attended Paul Smith College in New York where he obtained a bachelors of arts degree as well as a master's degree in political science. Lewis also attended Western Wyoming Community College as well as the University of Wyoming. He owned and operated an arbor company for 45 years. Lewis was a member of t... Government entities need to be more vigilant in ensuring their discussions occur in public. A recent example of how easy it can be to slip can be seen with Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater Countys Board of Trustees. The board, with the exception of Richard Mathey, and the hospitals CEO discussed pulling hospital funds from Bank of the West in emails sent amongst members of the board in late September. The board ultimately made a decision in October to withdraw those funds from the bank, with board chairman Mathey claiming the board broke the states open meetings act leading up to th... Chairman's Address to the Annual General Meeting Brisbane, Nov 22, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - NOVONIX Ltd ( ASX:NVX ) provides the Company's Chairman address to the Annual General Meeting.The last financial year was one of considerable progress in advancing our downstream processing capability in advanced anode materials for the rechargeable battery market.Our PUREgraphite JV is also now purifying synthetic and natural graphite at pilot scale and we are now well advanced in scaling up to initial commercial quantities.Our innovative, low cost technology will produce anode materials from Synthetic graphite, natural graphite and blends aimed at achieving particular performance characteristics and, in particular, to greatly enhance battery life and recharge rates.At our Halifax operation, Novonix Battery Testing Services, we have expanded our customer base for our high technology battery testing equipment. We have also invested in our small scale battery manufacturing line to be able to manufacture batteries for our customers and also test our own batteries in a much shorter R&D cycle than our competitors.We are able to test various anode materials, various combinations and blends of anode materials, electrolytes, combinations of electrolytes and anode materials, and other battery chemistries. Importantly, we can test our batteries within a few weeks for the various applications for which alternative performance characteristics are required.As we have previously advised, we have electrolyte development capability at our facility in Halifax and have now developed world-first, non-destructive high-precision battery testing equipment. With a new R&D relationship formed with Dalhousie University, we are now including additional important battery materials and technologies in our development program, such as silicon.In the short to medium term, our focus remains on developing our advanced anode materials production capability through the PUREgraphite joint venture. We are currently on track to be able to scale up to a capacity of 1,000 tonnes per annum during 2019.In relation to our graphite mining project in Cloncurry, we have advanced the approvals process for the mining operation and we are close to completing all regulatory requirements in order for a mining licence to be issued. However, as I stated earlier, our focus right now is on developing our downstream processing and value added capability, and continue to place lower priority on bringing our Mt Dromedary graphite mine into production.Our strategic priority right now is to develop the most advanced, highest performing and lowest cost anode materials available in the market.Every day, there are news items regarding growth potential for electric vehicles (EVs) and for energy storage for households and electricity grids. China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan as well as the US and now the Europeans are all in a race to dominate the lithium ion battery market.They are taking big bets on the disruptive potential of EVs in the motor vehicle market and in the stationary energy sector.Our aim is to become an alternative source of supply to the traditional sources and a supplier of choice of advanced anode materials and other battery chemistries for this exponentially growing industry.We believe Novonix remains well placed to take advantage of the enormous opportunities this presents and to create value for our shareholders while delivering outstanding sustainable energy storage solutions for the planet.I now hand over to Philip St Baker, the Managing Director, to provide you with more detail about our operations over the past year and about or future initiatives.To view the Managing Director presentation at the Annual General Meeting, please visit:About NOVONIX Ltd NOVONIX Ltd (ASX:NVX) (FRA:GC3) (OTCMKTS:NVNXF) is an integrated developer and supplier of high-performance materials, equipment and services for the global lithium-ion battery industry with operations in the USA and Canada and sales in more than 14 countries. NOVONIX's mission is to support the global deployment of lithium-ion battery technologies for a cleaner energy future. Chairman's Address to Shareholders Sydney, Nov 22, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Regeneus Ltd ( ASX:RGS ) provides the Company's Chairman Address to Shareholders.Welcome and IntroductionLadies and gentlemen, good afternoon and welcome to the 2018 annual general meeting for Regeneus. My name is Roger Aston and I am Chairman of Regeneus. I have been advised that there is a quorum present and I declare this meeting open.I would like to start by introducing you to my fellow Directors. With us today are Executive Director and CEO, John Martin, Executive Director, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder, Professor Graham Vesey, Non-Executive Director, Barry Sechos, Non-Executive Director, Dr Glen Richards and Non-Executive Director, Leo Lee.I would like to make a special welcome to our newest director Leo Lee who joins us for his first AGM. Leo is based in Tokyo and as an experienced executive leader in the Japanese pharmaceutical market, he provides us with valuable insight and assistance as we seek to grow and develop our business in Japan.Before we commence the formal items of business, I will give a brief overview of the highlights for the year, and then hand over to our CEO, John Martin who will take you through a presentation of our key accomplishments during the period.FY18 OverviewWe are pleased with the progress we have made during the 2018 financial year. We are well positioned to achieve important commercial milestones in this financial year which we now anticipate will create significant shareholder value and be well supported by the market.We have made significant progress in identifying and negotiating terms and conditions for our first clinical partner for Progenza in Japan. We are working towards being in a position to make an announcement about the collaboration in this quarter. This clinical collaboration will be an inflexion point for our company and complement our existing manufacturing relationship and commercial joint venture with AGC in Japan and set us up for growing long term shareholder value in Japan and providing a foundation for new collaborations in other key markets.Our CEO will provide further detail in his presentation.We have delivered a number of key milestones across Regeneus' platforms.For Progenza, we received further strong validation of the platform's therapeutic benefits, delivering a number of key achievements. In March, the positive results of our Phase 1 STEP safety trial on patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis were published in the well-respected Journal of Translational Medicine. The exciting trial results - which showed Progenza was safe, well tolerated, delivered long lasting pain relief and improved tibial cartilage volume - and their publication, were a key milestone for Regeneus and has played an important part in advancing our clinical licensing efforts in Japan.The United States and European Patent Offices confirmed patents would be granted for Progenza, providing commercial rights to Regeneus in the United States and across 38 European member states until 2032. The US and European patents will join corresponding patents already granted in Australia, New Zealand and Japan and provides strong protection around the world for Regeneus' intellectual property. Progenza was also granted an Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product classification, recognising Progenza as a regenerative therapy within the EU's legal and regulatory framework.In September 2017, we released positive results from our preclinical study of Sygenus and its effects on post-operative pain. The study showed the topical application of Sygenus delivered pain relief which was longer lasting that morphine. This was an exciting preclinical trial result and we continue to conduct additional preclinical studies of Sygenus and Progenza, in the treatment of pain.Additionally, the topical application of Sygenus gel delivered some exciting results when topically applied in the treatment of acne and age spots. The gel was found to reduce the appearance and severity of acne in acne patients and reduce the size of 95% of age spots and reduce the size and lighten 63% of age spots for age spot sufferers. We have been granted a broad Australian Patent for the topical application of Sygenus in the treatment of both aging skin and age spots, and a Chinese patent for the use of Sygenus to treat acne, with commercial rights protected to 2032.We completed our Phase 1 Safety Study of our RGSH4K cancer vaccine immunotherapy treatment across a wide range of tumours in humans. The trial met its primary endpoint of safety and tolerability and showed encouraging signs of immune stimulation in patients and anti-tumour activity. We anticipate the publication of the study results in the second half of this financial year. We will also pursue a clinical development and commercialisation partner for this technology.Finally, we are in discussions with our CryoShot study partner about the next step for the development of the product.ThanksIt is through the hard work and dedication of our team that we have been able to deliver a number of key milestones across all our platforms, and significantly, a second Japanese deal which delivers additional revenue streams and progress towards the commercialisation of Progenza.Before I hand over to our CEO, John Martin, I'd like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Board to thank our senior management team, employees and R&D partners for their ongoing commitment and hard work.I would also like to thank our shareholders for your continued support and patience, as we continue to focus on commercialising our regenerative products and building long term shareholder value.I'll now hand over to John to provide you with further details of the past year and some of the key milestones ahead of us.To view CEO Presentation to 2018 Annual General Meeting, please visit:About Regeneus Ltd Regeneus Ltd (ASX:RGS) is a Sydney-based clinical-stage regenerative medicine company using stem cell technologies to develop a portfolio of novel cell-based therapies. The regenerative therapies seek to address unmet medical needs in human health markets, focusing on neuropathic pain, including osteoarthritis and various skin conditions, with its platform technologies Progenza(TM) and Sygenus. Visit www.regeneus.com.au for more information. Black Friday is knocking on the door and companies are already launching their offers for the big shopping day. Google announced its deals a week ago but decided to start its campaign a day early with some caveats. The company is offering plenty of hardware at discounted prices in the United States, but looking into further detail, it appears that not everyone will be so lucky, with the United Kingdom getting minor discounts on the Pixel 3 smartphone. The Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL are advertised with up to 50% off when you purchase a second device. When buying two phones you get at least $175 off the $799 regular-sized flagship and $225 off the $899 XL. These are prices for unlocked phones - the ones on Verizon or Google Fi yield different results. Sadly, when the same phones are in your shopping cart at Google Store UK, you get 40 off (about $50). German customers of Google are among the luckiest though - all phones are 200 cheaper than their original price, with some colors shipping as early as tomorrow. Other hardware like Google Home Hub, Chromecast, Google Home Mini or the Pixelbook do not have this discrepancy. They have the same price cut (VAT applied) on both sides of the pond - $300/300 off for the slate, $24/24/26 off for a Home Mini, $50/50/50 for the Pixel Buds, etc. In the US you can also get bundles like a free Google Home Hub with each Pixel 3 phone, but after all Black Friday originates in the United States and it is a bigger deal there than anywhere else in the world. Source (US) Source (UK) Source (DE) Xiaomi unveiled the almost entirely bezel-less Mi Mix 3 in China in October, and now it looks like the sliding smartphone might be ready to finally become available in other markets - such as Europe. The Mi Mix 3 was certified by both the Bluetooth SIG and the EEC recently. What's more, a Reddit user posted a screenshot of a chat with a customer support rep from Amazon Germany, who told him to expect the Mi Mix 3 to be in stock on December 1. If that is indeed the planned release date for Europe, we assume that Xiaomi will announce the expanded availability of its newest flagship smartphone at some point before that - so within the next few days. The Mi Mix 3 got rid of the top bezel by employing a manually sliding mechanism for the entire phone, which reveals the front-facing camera and depth sensor used for bokeh effects. It's powered by the Snapdragon 845 chipset and has a ceramic back, up to 10GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, Android 9 Pie on board with MIUI 10 on top, and a 3,200 mAh battery. Don't miss our hands-on review of the Mi Mix 3 if you want to learn more about it. Via Haiti - DR : Tabling of a bill on the construction of a wall at the border On Wednesday, Dominican Deputy Pedro Botello, Representative of the Christian Reform Social Reform Party (PRSC) of the minority opposition to the Lower House (3rd largest party), tabled a bill proposing the construction of a wall at the border with Haiti to control illegal immigration. At the end of this filing, Botello explained at a press briefing that the initiative aimed to declare the construction of a wall between the Dominican Republic and Haiti "of national interest and public necessity". Note that this is the second attempt https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13594-haiti-politic-border-security-toward-a-dominican-national-priority.html to make vote this law, after that in 2014 of opposition deputies of the hard right Vinicio Castillo and Luis Castillo of the National Progressive Force (NPF) He pointed out that the bill recommends the creation of a special commission to conduct a study on the feasibility, technical and financial aspects of its implementation, saying that this infrastructure would not be "just a wall of rods and cement" and presuppose benefits for both countries. Recall that the PRSC had recently declared that the sovereignty of the Dominican Republic was "seriously threatened" by the political and social instability in Haiti. If the question of a wall is on the agenda in the Legislative Palace, Dominican businessmen are against the erection of a physical boundary wall between the two nations of the island, while Haiti is now only the If the question of a wall is on the agenda in the Legislative Palace, Dominican businessmen are against the erection of a physical boundary wall between the two nations of the island, while Haiti https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25589-haiti-economy-haiti-s-trade-deficit-with-dr-amounts-to-$816-million-us.html . Preferably, they favor the increased use of technology to ensure migration surveillance and smuggling at the border. Instead, they are calling on the public and private sectors to invest in border areas, which would generate between 300,000 and 500,000 jobs in total on both sides of the border in the next 6 years. Juan Vicini, Director of the Quisqueya Binational Economic Council, is proposing a $150 million job-creating pilot project at the border as part of a public-private partnership. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25589-haiti-economy-haiti-s-trade-deficit-with-dr-amounts-to-$816-million-us.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25031-haiti-rd-dominican-petition-for-the-construction-of-a-wall-along-the-border-with-haiti.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23883-haiti-dr-creation-of-a-wall-of-companies-at-the-border-to-fight-against-illegal-migration.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-17212-icihaiti-dominican-republic-a-wall-at-the-border-an-electoral-issue.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13594-haiti-politic-border-security-toward-a-dominican-national-priority.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11349-haiti-security-border-wall-project-studied-in-a-dominican-commission.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11307-haiti-politic-toward-the-construction-of-a-wall-along-the-dominican-border.html SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Tourism : The demonstrations endanger the tourism sector Marie Christine Stephenson, the Minister of Tourism strongly condemns the incidents that occurred on Monday, November 19 on the National Road #1, where 2 foreign tourists were wounded by bullet https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26173-icihaiti-insecurity-2-foreign-tourists-injured-by-bullets.html , during shotting on the minubus of the Royal Decameron in which they were. "[...] Minister Stephenson deplores above ail the fact that these acts affected our fellow citizens, our foreign visitors, but also our investors who participate in economic growth and the creation of many direct and indirect jobs despite the particularly difficult socio-economic context of our country. The minister wishes to remind the protesters that in demanding their rights, they must at ail times respect human lives as weil as publiC and privatep roperties. As good citizens, they must be concerned about the image that Haiti projects internationally. She invites protesters to demonstrate peacefully because it is imperative that this industry remains above the antagonisms for the collective well-being [...]" See also : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26173-icihaiti-insecurity-2-foreign-tourists-injured-by-bullets.html HL/ S/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Security : Dominican truckers victims of aggression and looting in Haiti Tuesday, Ricardo de los Santos, President of the National Federation of Transporters of the Dominican Republic (FENATRADO) in a letter to the Dominican Embassy in Haiti, strongly protests against the repeated attacks in this country against the Dominican truckers, who transport goods, deploring the fact that individuals are using violence against Dominican drivers before vandalizing their trucks and looting goods. He recalls that these violent actions have been going on for years, without the Haitian Government adopting sustainable measures to protect Dominican carriers. He regrets that none of these criminals have been arrested, let alone convicted, and are acting with impunity. In his letter of protest, he asks the Dominican Embassy in Haiti to intervene with the Haitian Government, so that it guarantees the protection of the lives of the drivers and the goods transported. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14686-haiti-flash-dr-will-stop-supplying-haiti-in-3-days.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13620-haiti-security-maximo-delgado-accuses-haiti-of-violating-the-truckers-protection-agreement.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13609-haiti-security-the-fenatrado-request-damages-and-interests-to-the-government-of-haiti.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13601-haiti-flash-extreme-tension-at-the-border-a-peacekeeper-shot-dead.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13458-haiti-security-new-attack-against-dominican-trucks.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13352-haiti-security-the-minustah-and-pnh-protect-dominican-trucks.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13320-haiti-security-high-tension-on-the-border-of-ouanaminthe.html SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - FLASH : The Bahamas closes their embassy in Port-au-Prince and suspend flights to Haiti Due to continuing unrest in Haiti, the Bahamas Foreign Ministry informs that the Bahamas Embassy in Port-au-Prince is closed until further notice. This decision was taken after consultation with the Ambassador of the Bahamas in Haiti and security personnel in Haiti. The United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIJUSTH) issued security guidelines, introducing a curfew from 10 pm to 5 am until further notice. It is the policy of the Bahamas, in situations such as this one, to act jointly with the diplomatic community and the United Nations, if they are present in the jurisdiction. In addition, the airline Bahamasair has suspended flights to Haiti until further notice. It is advisable to consult Bahamasair to know when flights will resume. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs monitors the situation and will provides updates on new developments as they arise. SL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2018/11/21 | Source Shin Sung-rok and Shin Eun-kyung made their first appearances in "The Last Empress" with charisma. Advertisement On the first episode of the new SBS drama "The Last Empress", Emperor Lee Hyeok (Shin Sung-rok) returned from his visit to Africa during the Korean Empire. Lee Hyeok held a press conference and said, "I received a promise that all the sailors detained will be discharged and all expenses will be paid for by the Imperial House". Everyone stood up to applaud him but one reporter pointed out, "What do you think about the claims that the empress's political influence has risen above the prime minister's? Isn't this a regency by the empress?" Lee Hyeok replied, "The Imperial House doesn't do politics" butt he empress stopped the press conference. Just then, Ma Pil-joo (Yoon Joo-man), the right hand man who takes care of matters of the emperor, eyed the reporter suspiciously. For example, depending on the areas of expertise and functions, the recruiting and analytics team have gone out on location and asked the question: with the available female talent, should we be getting a 50/50 male/female split in interviews or in this market should it be 40/50 female/male? Whatever it is, were holding our recruiting team accountable: they need to track it and ensure they are getting female candidates into the pipeline. Then, depending on the numbers that were told about availability of talent for those roles, were trying to ensure that female talent makes it through to second- and third-interview stage. As an example, for software and engineering roles in Singapore we want to see five final candidates, and at least two of them need to be female. Were ensuring theres a female interviewer as part of the decision about who we bring into the company. We wont sign off on the hire unless the diversity metrics have been met. The problem for us is that our recruiters have to work harder in a very fast-moving industry, because its not just about finding female qualified candidates; its become about finding qualified candidates, period. By 2020, there will be a shortage of two million professionals in cybersecurity. Given the rate at which threats are moving, were urging governments, universities and colleges to get more involved, whether that be through more funding or changes to curriculums to groom future cybersecurity talent. HRD: Can you outline what the WISE Affinity Group is about? CL: WISE stands for Women in Security and its one of our employee-run networks. We have around 1,000 members in the group globally. Importantly, its not just women involved in the group; its also men, at all levels. We run mentoring programs, educational classes, and focus heavily on professional development. WISE provides the opportunity for women to share their experiences. Where weve focused on over the last year or so is the men playing more of a role and encouraging them to see things from the perspective of their wives, their sisters, their daughters. Thats been eye-opening. Well continue to ensure its not just a female group but having it pertinent to men as well. We need men in the workplace to help create better understanding and to model the behaviours we want to see. Weve had some great success with our community groups, not just WISE. We have an LGBT Affinity Group, and other groups in different regions for example, for African Americans in the US. HRD: This is obviously a far-reaching issue that needs widespread support to make meaningful change. Do you feel theres only so much one organisation can do? CL: Working together is as important. I know were a business and were in competition with others, but I feel like the cybersecurity industry knows we have a greater cause, a greater mission. As an industry were banding together and doing whatever we can to take things forward to government and education and councils weve formed. Our CEO is on these councils, alongside the CEOs of our competitors. Ive seen some great partnerships formed. Cybersecurity has become more of a mainstream topic you hear about ransomware outbreaks on the news. Theres more of a focus on it, but we need more funding and more cybersecurity professionals ready for the future both males and females. We would like to acknowledge and apologise to the victims/survivors of sexual misconduct who have been harmed both those we work alongside and those we exist to protect and support, the ACFID said in a statement. The council commissioned the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) to lead the probe, which found evidence for 17 cases of sexual harassment, six cases of sexual abuse, and eight cases of sexual misconduct occurring in the past three years. However, the VIFM could only review cases that were voluntarily reported by 20 member groups. At present, 66 aid organisations have found no record of any untoward incident among their workers, while 33 groups have yet to respond. This sector is built on trying to assist people that are living in poverty and suffering injustice, said Marc Purcell, chief executive of the ACFID, in a report on ABC News. I think the only way we can stop sexual harassment in the workplace in Australia, or sexual misconduct in any sort of Australian charity program overseas, is by shining a light on it, he said. Tobacco smokers are at increased risk of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, according to University of Queensland researchers. Their review of eight long-running studies has found strong evidence of an association between smoking and mental illness, which they suggest is most likely caused by nicotine. Associate Professor James Scott said the findings raised serious concerns about the increasing use of nicotine through e-cigarettes by young adults. People who smoke tobacco have an approximately twofold increased risk of developing schizophrenia or psychosis, Dr Scott said. While e-cigarettes reduce some of the harms associated with smoking, governments need to consider their potential to harm the mental health of young people. Dr Scott said e-cigarettes were often reported to be safe, and marketing was directed towards young people. More research is urgently needed to examine the association between e-cigarette use and psychosis, particularly in adolescents and young adults, Dr Scott said. Until there is a better understanding of the harm of e-cigarettes, it would be safest that liquid nicotine remains illegal to buy in Australia without a prescription. The review is published in Frontiers in Psychiatry. (doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00607) The University of Queensland Irish doctors have called in colleagues from the UK to help train them to carry out abortions before a new law comes into force extending the grounds for termination of pregnancy. Irish medics have enlisted the expertise of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Association of Abortion Care Providers. The Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill will return to the Dail for the report stage, with the aim of having it passed next month and into law by January. For the first time, maternity hospitals here will be allowed to carry out an abortion when the health, and not just the life, of a woman is at serious risk. Terminations will also be allowed where there is a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality. When asked in the summer, about one-third of GPs said they would provide medical abortions. A 38-page contract, which GPs will have to sign if they agree to participate in medical abortions, has been sent to every family doctor. It states that doctors will need to refer a woman who is between nine and 12 weeks pregnant to a maternity hospital. If she remains in the care of her GP, she will receive the first round of medication in the doctor's surgery under medical supervision. She will take the second round at home. GPs must ensure patients are given an information leaflet and pain relief as well as a low-sensitivity pregnancy test kit. On a third visit, the GP will be required to provide aftercare. Meanwhile, a senior pharmacist has called on Health Minister Simon Harris to amend the abortion bill to protect the rights of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. Conscience "All of the methods of abortion provided for in the bill involve prescribing, dispensing and administering medication: pharmacists will play a critical role in any future abortion regime," said Dr James Carr, a chief pharmacist from Co Louth. "In its current form the legislation interferes with the exercise of pharmacists' professional clinical judgment and denies their freedom of conscience." Dr Carr pointed to articles protecting freedom of conscience in the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. "At present, however, there is no acknowledgement of this right as it pertains to pharmacists," Dr Carr said. "Indeed, if enacted in its current form, this legislation will foreseeably infringe in a most profound way on the conscience rights of pharmacists who sincerely oppose abortion." He said the legislation should include an "opt-in" system for health professionals, covering all aspects of abortion services established under the new law. "It is becoming clear on scrut- inising this legislation that the minister has failed to properly think through how his abortion proposals will work," Dr Carr said. "He has proposed a GP-led regime which a majority of GPs oppose. He has failed to consider the most basic practical issue of how the medications will be provided and dispensed. "He has neglected to consult healthcare professionals on this fundamental change in healthcare ethics." Sarah Ferguson has said she wore an eye-catching green designer dress to her daughter's wedding as a nod to Ireland. The Duchess of York once referred to herself as the Duchess of Cork due to her huge affection for the county. She spent a lot of time pursuing her love of show jumping in the south in the years after her separation from Prince Andrew. Her late mother, Susan Barrantes, was the granddaughter of the eighth Viscount Powerscourt and spent many childhood summers riding at the vast Wicklow estate. The flame-haired Fergie revealed on ITV's Good Morning Britain that the emerald green dress she wore to the wedding of her daughter Princess Eugenie was a nod to her Irish heritage. "I wore green for Ireland and the handbag was the bag my mum had in 1986 at my wedding, and when I opened the bag there were the green admission tickets from 1986," she said. "So I wore green for her, from the tickets in the bag." Snitch Ferguson said she hadn't realised that the hat she chose for Eugenie's wedd-ing was being compared with the quidditch golden snitch from the Harry Potter movies. "There's always something I do! But I sort of wanted that Spanish style for mum again," she said. Ferguson has said the Irish embraced her and gave her back her life at a time when she was low after her separation. In 2004, she ended up visiting Splaine's equestrian centre in Cork and started competing in local show jumping events. She said she credits that time in Ireland with helping to rebuild her confidence. There are fears that the number of historic alleged child abuse cases involving scouting organisations is set to skyrocket. It comes after a review found evidence of 71 suspected abusers and 108 victims, mostly dating from the 1960s to the 1980s. Children Minister Katherine Zappone revealed the shocking numbers at an Oireachtas committee where she described the situation as "devastating" and "extremely distressing". Scouting Ireland said none of the alleged abusers was still working with the organisation and most of them had died. Reports have been made to the gardai and Tusla over suspected perpetrators. Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell, who chairs the Children's Committee, said the revelations were deeply concerning and it was "cold comfort" that the cases were historic. Compensation "We are deeply sorry for the hurt that has been caused by the actions of some past members of Scouting Ireland and its legacy organisations," said Scouting Ireland's new chairperson, Aisling Kelly. She promised "a comprehensive and compassionate response to those that were so badly wronged in the past". Scouting Ireland has been at the centre of controversy over its governance and has seen State funding withheld on a number of occasions in recent months. Questions have now arisen over whether the financially-stretched organisation can support abuse victims and offer possible compensation in response to legal action. Senator Joan Freeman told the committee she feared there would be a "vast amount" of victims now the information was public. Child safeguarding expert Ian Elliot has been probing records held by Scouting Ireland. Some were handwritten notes of a "very limited nature" that required further investigation. He told the committee that other sources on the number of cases came from individuals within Scouting Ireland who shared concerns with him as well as from victims who contacted the organisation. Mr Elliot said one "very serious perpetrator" did not have a file and was discovered only after a victim came forward. He said 108 people had suffered "as a result of situations which they should never have been exposed to". Mr Elliot said victims told of abuse at camping events and jamborees. He said 14 of the alleged abusers had multiple victims. He told TDs and senators that he didn't believe the final figures had been uncovered and they would "probably rise quite considerably". He said most of the victims were still alive and Scouting Ireland's new board of directors had adopted a victims' policy. Safe Labour TD Sean Sherlock asked Ms Kelly if Scouting Ireland was considering the potential need for financial compensation for victims. She said the ring-fencing of a general compensation fund was "something that we will have to explore", but added: "Finances are an issue for us." She confirmed that there was outstanding litigation relating to alleged abuse but declined to offer any details on the number of cases. Ms Kelly later insisted in a statement that safeguarding children was Scouting Ireland's "number one priority". "We cannot change the past but we can make sure that this organisation is a safe environment for all our members now and into the future," she added. Ireland has fallen behind the UK when it comes to creating an attractive tax environment for starting a business, Enterprise Ireland chief executive Julie Sinnamon has said. Ms Sinnamon - head of the State agency tasked with developing Irish businesses - said the UK has a "more attractive package of incentives" than Ireland, and added that a strong offering in this area would help "further accelerate the growth of Irish companies". She said she recognised the Government's intent to make changes in this area, including a plan to boost capital gains tax relief for entrepreneurs by increasing the amount of gains that would be taxed at a reduced rate. The capital gains tax regime is one of the areas that have been criticised by entrepreneurs, alongside the tax treatment of share options. A new regime for certain share option schemes was introduced in last year's Budget, but was criticised as overly restrictive and then tweaked in this year's Budget after a low level of take-up. The development of Irish firms is increasingly in the spotlight amid increased threats to our FDI regime, ranging from multi-national tax reform to US president Donald Trump's overhaul of the US tax code. At its annual conference yesterday, Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association chairman Ciaran Murtagh said: "We have long said the emphasis on foreign direct investment in Ireland is too great. "We have long called out the universal political failure to embrace the contribution that small enterprise makes to Ireland. Pivot "We need to accept that the way we've managed industrial policy since the TK Whitaker era has to change, and we need to pivot industrial policy towards indigenous enterprise." Earlier this week, the Nation- al Competitiveness Council (NCC) warned that most Irish firms are seeing their productivity shrink, with a small number of big companies masking the under-performance of smaller companies which account for most of the employment in the State. What will fit in a million-square-foot warehouse? Hint: It's a lot "We've done a 12,000-square-foot house. At a million square feet, you could fit a lot of them in there," said architect Scott Bowen Saudi Arabia is scrambling to create new narratives on the sensational assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist, murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. There is circumstantial evidence that the murder was allegedly carried out by a hit team sent from Saudi Arabia. Khashoggis critical writings had become a thorn in the side of Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS), the favourite son of king Salman bin Abdul Aziz. Khashoggi was particularly critical of MBSs conduct of the brutal war in Yemen. The Saudi government is tying itself up in knots. The latest disclosure by the top Saudi prosecutor points the finger at two high-level Saudi security officials who, apparently, botched up the operation, purportedly intended to either convince Khashoggi to return home or kidnap him. The Saudi public prosecutor, in a news conference, acknowledged for the first time that the hit team of Saudi agents were supposed to kidnap Khashoggi and bring him back alive. The hit team ended up murdering their target. Eleven security officials are in custody. The prosecutor also said that he was seeking the death penalty for five of them. The decision to murder Khashoggi was, apparently, taken by one of the senior security officials in the hit team. The Saudi prosecutor has stated that MBS had no knowledge of the operation. The Saudi foreign minister has also waded into the narrative by saying that the killing was a mistake. The Saudis have been changing their narrative, which began with denying any involvement with the murder. This new narrative is yet another attempt to wriggle out of any direct responsibility and a last-ditch attempt to insulate MBS from any culpability in this crime. The new disclosures seek to pass on the blame to security officials who now become scapegoats. Turkey is not relenting and wants an international investigation, to get to the bottom of this crime, adding to the pressure on the Saudi regime. The US administration has denounced the abhorrent killing and announced sanctions against 17 Saudi officials who were allegedly part of the hit team. The US administration has demanded that those responsible must face the consequences. Meanwhile, the Saudi regime is mending fences with disgruntled and powerful members of the royal family. One such member is Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz, youngest of the so-called Sudairi seven brothers and a sibling of king Salman. Ahmed, a known opponent of MBS, has returned home from exile in London. Whether this in an indication of impending changes in the power structure in Riyadh is a matter of speculation. Many royal family members have not accepted MBS as the crown prince because he leapfrogged over many senior and capable family members. The Saudi royal family is secretive about its internal affairs and any power struggle among its members. Khashoggis murder has triggered a power struggle and the future of the ailing Saudi king and his overambitious son MBS could be at stake. Earlier, the Saudi royal family had functioned in a collegial manner, accommodating senior members in the power hierarchy. With the arrival of MBS, this consensual approach was abandoned, leaving many estranged. Hundreds of senior princes and other dissenters remain imprisoned on the orders of MBS. While the murder may have weakened MBS, he still has powerful external backers. Among them are Israel, which has talked of stability in Saudi Arabia. For Israel, the real enemy is Iran. The other pressing problem is the Palestinian issue. On both counts, Israel has received support from MBS. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus surprise visit to Oman is certainly linked to this issue. Regime stability in Saudi Arabia will depend on the outcome of the prosecution of the accused senior security officials. If some of them are found guilty and sentenced to death, it would undermine the whole security structure that protects important members of the royal family. If death sentences are announced by a court, then there is a way of commuting them under Sharia law payment of diyah or blood money to the family of the deceased. Though acceptance of diyah is optional, Khashoggis family may be coerced into accepting this option. The final outcome is anyones guess. Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty is a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. He served as a diplomat in Saudi Arabia from 1981-1984 The views expressed are personal Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor seem to be setting new relationship goals for their fans. Alia recently injured herself and was spotted at a clinic for treatment. Accompanying her was her Brahmastra co-actor and boyfriend Ranbir, who made sure to lend her a helping hand. The Barfi actor not only gave her company to the clinic but also visited her at her residence on Wednesday. Pictures from Ranbir's visit have been shared online. Alia had visited the actor and his parents in New York City to show her support for Ranbirs father, Rishi Kapoor, who has been stationed in the Big Apple since more than a month and is undergoing treatment for an undisclosed illness. The actors, who bonded during the lengthy shooting schedule in Bulgaria, have been prepping for a special dance number for the film. Pictures of the couple chilling on the sets were recently shared online. The couple was rumoured to be planning to tie the knot by 2019. Putting the rumours to rest, Alia recently clarified at the Lux Golden Rose Awards, If people are waiting for my wedding then, they have to wait for it. I think climax should be good and there should be a happy ending to it. Brahmastra producer Karan Johar had announced that the film is the first in a planned trilogy and will hit theatres around Christmas, 2019. The film also features Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy, Dimple Kapadia and Nagarjuna Akkineni. Follow @htshowbiz for more A drunk passenger on board an IndiGo flight, who allegedly fought with the flight crew, disrupted the flights take-off from the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday night. The aircraft returned to the terminal after it had reached the taxiway and was minutes away from taking off to Hyderabad. Airport officials said the passenger got up from his seat as the plane headed towards the runway and refused to be seated or follow the crews instruction. The airline had to call the Central Industrial Security Force, after which he was offloaded from the aircraft. He was briefly detained and released. According to the CISF officers, around 11.30pm, they got a call about a passenger creating ruckus onboard the aircraft. It was reported that the plane was returning to the bay because the man, who appeared to be drunk, had refused to comply with the crews directions, the officer said. We were told that IndiGo flight 6E-767, bound for Hyderabad, returned from taxiway with 175 passengers on-board. We rushed our men to the plane and the passenger was offloaded. Another man, who was accompanying the passenger, voluntarily got off the aircraft. Both of them were taken to the domestic airport police station by the IndiGo security staff for further legal action, a senior officer, not wanting to be named, said. Deputy commissioner of police (IGI Airport) Sanjay Bhatia said the airline did not file an official complaint. The man was released after being briefly detained. The airline refused comment on the incident. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari has been sharply rebuked by the Supreme Court for his much-publicised action of breaking into a house sealed by a court-mandated team in September. It is a misplaced bravado including chest thumping and a misplaced political agenda, a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said in its order on a contempt case against the lawmaker. The court, however, did not order any action against him. Instead, the judges said it is up to the BJP to take action against him. But Justice Lokurs order letting him off the hook in this case was scathing in his observations. The court said it was extremely pained the way he took law into his own hands. Manoj Tiwari had broken the lock of a house sealed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation in northeast Delhis Gokulpur. The property had been sealed for an illegal dairy that was operating from the premises. Tiwari had then justified breaking the seal, questioning why only one house was sealed by officials if there were 1,000 other houses. At one point, the court had also told him to come up with a list of 1,000 unauthorised properties and offered to give him the power to seal them too. Tiwari had claimed that he didnt mean to disrespect the court but was forced to do symbolic affirmative protest action against the illegal sealing action done by officials. Senior counsel Vikas Singh, appearing for the BJP leader, had claimed before the bench that monitoring committee want to terrorise the people of Delhi. This is only for publicity. The top court had earlier ordered restoration of its 2006 monitoring committee to identify and seal unauthorised structures in Delhi. The monitoring committee, comprising K J Rao, former advisor to the Election Commissioner, Bhure Lal, chairman of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, and Major General (Retd) Som Jhingan, was set up on March 24, 2006, by the top court. Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Manoj Tiwari on Wednesday alleged that the attack on chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was scripted to divert public attention from two recent incidents involving AAP MLAs. The BJP also questioned the timing of the attack and said it was an old tactics to gain public sympathy. This is nothing but an attempt to divert the attention from the incident of near fatal attack on me at the Signature Bridge inauguration by AAP MLA Amantullah Khan and the objectionable language used by Somnath Bharti against a woman journalist, said Tiwari. The BJP said that the chief minister should act against Bharti for insulting women. The party also questioned Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwals silence on Bharti. The AAP, later in the day hit back, stating that the BJPs allegations of calling the attack stage-managed showed the partys mindset. Terming the attack stage-managed shows BJPs shameless mindset. The accused is clearly a BJP worker and has openly threatened to attack CM Arvind Kejriwal. Manoj Tiwariji should explain if his party was behind the attack, AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said. Tiwari, who is BJPs MP from northeast Delhi, said that he was quick to condemn the attack on the CM. But now they are accusing us for it. Anil Sharma (the accused) managed access inside the secretariat after permission from CMs office. The attack was scripted by the AAP, he said. The BJP denied any connection with Sharma, who had tried to throw chilli powder at the CM. They say that he is a BJP supporter. The BJP has nothing to do with the attack, said Tiwari. The BJP questioned the timing of the attack and said that this was yet another move by the AAP convener to gain public sympathy. These incidents take place either before the Lok Sabha or the Delhi Assembly elections. Someone threw black paint on him just before the Assembly elections in November 2013. The attack on him in 2014, 2015 and 2016 happened during the Lok Sabha or Assembly elections in Delhi and Haryana, said Tiwari. Later, Tiwari claimed that he had received death threats. I feel there is an attempt to kill me. Kejriwal will plan an attack on me as he is upset after the video of attack on me has gone viral, Tiwari tweeted. The manner in which Governor Satyapal Malik dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has raised concerns about the fairness of the move and its implications in the militancy-hit state. One can perhaps agree with his reading that the PDP-NC-Congress coalition is prone to an early demise. But it is difficult to countenance his statements about the claimants ideological incompatibility. To turn down a bid for government-formation on such grounds is patently untenable. It is also antithetical to conventional political wisdom that interprets split mandates as electoral licence for coalitions. The history of J&K is replete with coalitions, of which the most incompatible was the one between the PDP and the BJP. It failed in June. And while the Governor may be right in linking the stability and longevity of the proposed arrangement to the states security, theres no guarantee that fresh polls will throw up a stable regime. The other reason Mr Malik has cited for dissolving the House is horse trading. There is supreme irony in this. For months now, the BJP has quietly supported a Sajjad Lone-led initiative to form a government (he too made a belated pitch to, on Wednesday). Mr Malik overlooked a powerful common theme that binds the three parties: their pro-India credentials, and their record of standing up to separatists and terrorists. Even the PDP, usually the most voluble about engaging with the separatists and Pakistan, fights elections under the Constitution. That brings one to BJP general secretary Ram Madhavs diatribe against the PDP-NC by way of explaining Raj Bhawans decision: [They] boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions to come together to form the government. This is simply unacceptable. But, Mr Madhav may well have cut off the nose to spite the face by maligning regional outfits with whom the BJP has had alliances in the state (PDP) and at the Centre (NC) in the past. Mr Madhav has since backpedalled. The only way to manage what can only be described as yet another mis-step by New Delhi in the Valley is to swiftly hold elections. Application process for 38 posts of specialist cadre officer on contract basis in State Bank of India (SBI) has begun. Candidates can apply before December 6. Moreover, the last date of fee payment is December 6, 2018. Check the official notification here A candidate can apply for one post only. The process of registration is complete only when fee is deposited with the Bank through Online mode on or before the last date for payment of fee. Candidates are required to upload all required documents ( brief resume, ID proof, age proof, educational qualification, experience etc.) failing which candidature will not be considered for shortlisting/ interview. Heres How to apply Visit the official website of State Bank of India, career section On the top right corner in the Latest Announcement section click on SBI specialist cadre officer recruitment Click on apply online Click on New registration if you are new applicant The form will open. Fill in the required details Select the post you want to apply for A preview of your application will be available for download and print Proceed to payment method Fill in your required net-banking or card details and proceed Download the payment receipt and print it First he would lure a girl with money, usually a Rs 10 note, take her to a room and once he raped her, would bludgeon her to death with a brick. In his crimes, he would wear his lucky blue shirt. This, police said, is how 20-year-old Sunil Kumar allegedly described how he killed three girls in Gurugram between 2016 to 2018. Police said the accused revealed this during questioning. He also allegedly admitted to killing six other girls in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The reason why he was caught, Kumar allegedly told police, is because he wasnt wearing his lucky blue shirt. Kumar was held on Monday from Uttar Pradeshs Jhansi for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in Gurugrams Sector 66 earlier this month. He said he felt that whenever he wore the blue shirt and committed a crime, the police could never trace him. He was surprised that despite taking all the precautions he was caught, said K K Rao, commissioner of police. He would approach girls between three to eight years of age at religious community kitchens when their parents are distracted and he took advantage of the crowd, said Sumit Kuhar, deputy commissioner of police (crime). Police said Kumar told them that he would prepare himself before a crime. He said he used to carry out reconnaissance of the area a day before, said police, and would visit the crime spot, keep bricks and sticks close by. He also took care not to use his mobile phone while luring the victim, said police, and this made it difficult for police to track him. He always kept Rs 10 note in trousers. Whenever he got an opportunity, he would offer it to the girl on the pretext of buying them a chocolate and lured them. When the victims followed him, the accused would take them to an isolated place, spend some time talking to them to ensure the victim was comfortable and that no one suspected anything, said Raj Kumar, sub-inspector CIA said. He would then commit the crime. Police said that their probe into the Sector 66 incident had a stark resemblance to a similar crime a few years ago. Then too, the accused lured girls from community kitchens. With this in mind, the police tried to lay a trap by organising community kitchens in the garb of a religious function. They spent around Rs 3 lakh in this operation across Gurugram, Delhi and UP. However, the suspect was finally arrested from an independently-organised community kitchen. Based on Kumars confession, police on Wednesday spoke to the families of two other victims. While one could not identify the accused from a photo, the other said they knew him and had seen him on the day the girl was kidnapped but could not confirm if he was involved in the crime, police said. The accused on Tuesday had allegedly confessed to his involvement in nine cases of raping and murdering minor girls. During the probe, the police examined around 150 hours of CCTV footage from the areas where the crimes had taken place, Rao added. A psychological evaluation of the accused man will be conducted to assess his behavioural and mental condition, officials said. Gururgam police will write to its counterparts regarding unsolved rape and murder cases of minor to check his involvement at the suspected locations in Delhi, Agra, Gwalior, and Jhansi. Seven school children, including four from the same family, and the driver of the van they were travelling in were killed on Thursday after their vehicle collided with a bus in Madhya Pradeshs Satna district, police said. Sources in the police said the four children belonged to the family of Ramsunder Dwivedi, who lives in Devra, and two others were from Kamta Khushwahas family from nearby Pagar village. At least half a dozen others were also injured in the accident. The accident took place when the children from Lucky Convent School were going towards Barsinghpur, some 450 km northeast of state capital Bhopal, in the morning. The school van was crushed and five children died on the spot after it collided with the bus plying between Rewa and Chitrakoot. The driver and three other children died at the district hospital. Police officials, who were among the first to reach the accident site, said preliminary details show the bus was going at a high speed and its driver lost control and collided with the van. Angry parents protested at the school soon after the accident demanding the cancellation of its registration and registering a criminal case against the management. The parents alleged the school van did not meet the standards necessary for carrying school children. Officials of the district administration reached the spot and sealed the school. Satnas collector Rahul Jain announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the family of dead and Rs 50,000 for those injured. The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by liquor baron Vijay Mallya seeking a stay on the Enforcement Directorates request before a trial court to initiate proceedings against him under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, news agency ANI reported. The investigating agency that probes financial crime wants Mallya to be declared as a fugitive economic offender and his properties to be confiscated under the new law in connection with a Rs 9,000 crore alleged bank fraud case and sought orders to confiscate all his properties, estimated to be around Rs12,500 crore. Under the new law, a fugitive economic offender is an individual against whom warrants for arrest is issued for his involvement in select economic offences involving an amount of at least Rs 100 crore or more and has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 got the nod from the President in August this year. The embattled liquor tycoon faced another setback on Wednesday in his battle to save his posh London home from foreclosure by Swiss bank UBS after the UK High Court rejected many of the arguments relied on by his legal team. The bank has sought repossession of the property at Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regents Park in central London, over the non-payment of a 20.4-million pounds mortgage loan. The property was referred to in the UK High Court as a high-class home for Dr Vijay Mallya and his family members and United Breweries Group corporate guests. Mallya, the liquor baron who founded the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, fled India in March 2016 even as a debt court in Bengaluru was set to act against him for defaulting on loans issued by several banks led by the state-owned State Bank of India. The 62-year-old is fighting an effort to get him extradited to India on charges of fraud and money laundering. He remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard last year on fraud and money laundering charges brought by the Indian government. A ruling in his extradition case is expected at Westminster Magistrates Court in London next month. The extradition trial, which opened at the London court on December 4 last year, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against Mallya and establishing there are no bars to him being extradited to face Indian courts over the allegations relating to loans made out to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. In separate legal proceedings, the businessman had also lost his appeal in the UKs Court of Appeal against a UK High Court order in favour of 13 Indian banks to recover funds amounting to nearly 1.145 billion pounds. The UK High Court order, earlier this year, in favour of the State Bank of India (SBI) led consortium had reinforced a worldwide freezing order against Mallyas assets. (With agency inputs) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidus net assets grew from Rs 2.53 crore to Rs 2.99 crore over the last one year, an increase of 18.18 per cent. However, his three-year-old grandson Devansh is richer with assets worth Rs 18.71crore. In a show of transparency, the Naidu family voluntarily discloses its assets and liabilities every year for the past 8 years. IT and Panchayat Raj minister and Naidus son Nara Lokesh declared the familys assets for the financial year 2018-19 on Wednesday where his wealth is shown as Rs 21.40cr during the current fiscal. He wealth registered a 30 per cent growth over Rs 15.21cr during the previous year. Bhuvaneswari, Naidus wife and head of Heritage Foods Limited with net assets worth Rs 31.01cr over the previous years 25.41cr continued to be the richest in the Nara family, followed by little Devansh. Lokesh, clocking multi-fold increase in the value of his properties, mostly the shares in the Heritage Foods Limited in a span of six months drew sharp criticism from opposition parties in 2017. Fielding questions over the growth of his properties, Lokesh told media persons that We only go by the current market value of properties based on the prices prevailing at the time of acquisition. Chandrababus liabilities in the form of a home loan obtained from Bank of Baroda, stood at Rs 5.31 cr with a cash balance of Rs 4.83 lakh in the savings bank account of a nationalised bank, National Savings Certificate with a face value of Rs 1,000. Besides, he continues to own an ambassador car worth Rs 1.52 lakh which he purchased in 1993-94 and a residential building built in 0.97 acres at his native Naravaripalli village under Chandragiri mandal in Chittor district, costing 23.84 lakh. Lokesh also owns a residential property of 1,285 sq.yards at Road Number 65, jubilee hills, Hyderabad in which he has built a house jointly with his father Naidu by pledging it with a bank as a collateral security for obtaining house loan of Rs 5.31 cr from Bank of Baroda, Hyderabad. He acquired a Ford Fiesta and two bullet proof Fortuner cars worth Rs 92.49 lakh. The IT minister holds 47,32,800 shares in the Heritage Foods with total value registered at Rs 2.52cr. Lokesh said his liabilities have gone up this year due to the housing loan (of Rs 5.89cr) which he raised for building a house at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad. His wife Bramhani holds properties with a net value of Rs 7.72cr which includes 3.10kgs of gold jewellery. Referring to the criticism from opposition parties over the veracity of his claims over his familys properties, Lokesh offered to give away all of it if anyone could prove him wrong. He asked the opposition leaders Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy of the YSR Congress and Pawan Kalyan of Jana Sena Party to take a leaf out of the Nara familys book and declare their assets periodically so as to ensure transparency in public life. The Andhra chief minister is also poorer than his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao who declared a net worth of Rs 22.60cr in the affidavit to the election commission authorities while filing nomination for Gajwel Assembly elections in Telangana on November 15. The central government has decided to develop the Kartarpur Sahib corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjabs Gurdaspur district till the gurdwara in Pakistan. This was announced today by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at a press briefing in new Delhi. The decision to build the corridor has been taken keeping in mind the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019. The government has decided to celebrate the anniversary in a grand way, Jaitley said. He said that the corridor is being built since Guru Nank Dev had spent 18 years of his life there and people throng to the border to pay their homage. Jaitley said that the corridor will be built with facilities similar to those of an international airport. Those who will not be able to travel across the border will be provided telescopic points from where they will be able to see the gurdwara. The 3-4 kilometre long corridor will be built and funded entirely by the Central government and will provide a smooth passage to the pilgrims wishing to visit the gurdwara. Apart from the corridor, the government is also planning to develop Sultanpur Lodhi, the birthplace of Guru Nanak as a heritage town and will be get all the facilities of a smart city. As part of the heritage town, the government will also develop a special facility which will be called Pind Baba Nanak Da which will depict the life and teachings of Guru Nanak, Jaitley said. A centre for interfaith studies will also be set up at Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar. As part of the celebrations to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the Government of India will also get Chairs set up at prominent universities in the UK and Canada. To mark the year, special programmes will be aired both on Doordarshan and All India Radio to disseminate Guru Nanaks teachings. Jaitley said that the government was also planning to release special coins and stamps to honour the mark the day. Apart from this, the National Book Trust will publish books in all Indian languages on Guru Nanaks life and teachings. Jaitley said that the government will request UNESCO to get these books translated into world languages as well. A Delhi court on Thursday issued non-bailable warrants (NBW) against 12 ex-policemen of Uttar Pradesh after they failed to surrender before it to serve life term awarded to them for the killing of 42 people of a minority community in Hashimpura locality of Meerut in 1987. The Delhi high court had awarded life imprisonment to 16 ex-policemen, all of whom have retired, and had directed them to surrender on or before November 22. Additional Sessions Judge Smita Garg sent the remaining four convicts to Tihar central jail after they surrendered before the court as per October 31 directions of the high court. The convicts Jaipal Singh, Mahesh Pratap Singh, Sami Ullal Khan and Niranjan Lal were taken into custody after they surrendered before the court. Since the remaining 12 convicts have failed to surrender in compliance of the order dated October 31, passed by the high court, let NBW be issued against them and notice to their respective sureties, the court said. The HC had on October 31 sentenced the 16 former Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel to life imprisonment in the case, reversing a trial courts verdict which had acquitted the accused. They were convicted for murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code. The high court had on September 6 reserved its verdict on the appeals filed by Uttar Pradesh, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and some private parties including a survivor of the massacre, Zulfiqar Nasir. It had also reserved its judgement on BJP leader Subramanian Swamys plea seeking further probe to ascertain the alleged role of the then Minister of State for Home P Chidambaram in the case. The court had on February 17, 2016, tagged Swamys plea with the other petitions in the matter. On March 21, 2015, a trial court here had acquitted the 16 former PAC personnel giving them benefit of doubt, saying their identification could not established due to lack of evidence. Nineteen people were named as accused and charges were framed against 17 of them for offences of murder, attempt to murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy, by the court here in 2006. The case was transferred to Delhi on a Supreme Court direction in September 2002 following a petition by the families of the massacre victims and survivors. Of the 17 accused, the trial court had acquitted 16, while one died during the trial. The NHRC had intervened in the matter seeking further probe into the massacre in the Hashimpura locality of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. A trial court had on March 8, 2013, dismissed Swamys plea for further probe to ascertain the role of Chidambaram, saying he has no locus standi and it is only the police which can move an application for further probe. Thereafter, Swamy had approached the high court with the appeal. If two random Indians meet, there is only a 36% chance that they can talk to and understand each other, a Hindustan Times analysis of 2011 Census data shows, given the large diversity in languages spoken across the country. This is an average, of course, and the actual proportion depends on where the two people are from. The probability is a meagre 1.6% if one is from Tamil Nadu and the other from West Bengal, while it is around 95% if one is from Uttar Pradesh and the other from Uttarakhand. Several factors explain the variation. The first is the low share of the multilingual population in India. Only one in five Indians is bilingual, meaning they can converse in two languages and not necessarily be able to read and write in them. Just 7% know three or more languages. The second is the dominance of the Hindi belt. For instance, more than 97% of the people in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand can speak Hindi, which is why it is highly likely that random people from the two states can talk to each other. The case is similar across nine Hindi-dominated north Indian states. The third is regional diversity. The chance that a random person from the Hindi belt can speak with someone from outside the region is low. For instance, a person from Uttar Pradesh has a 42% probability of being able to talk to someone from Gujarat. This figure declines as one goes towards the east and south: it is 3% for Tamil Nadu, 14% for West Bengal, and 25% for Assam. In fact, outside the homogenous Hindi Belt, the probability that two random persons from even two neighbouring states can talk is low. Take Karnataka and Kerala, for instance: the probability is merely 5%. This happens because states outside the Hindi belt do not have a common dominant language like Hindi. A majority of the people in each of these states speak their own regional languages. And because the rate of multilingualism is low, the chance of being able to communicate is low. But what about within states? In 25 out of 35 states and union territories, there is an over 75% chance that two randomly selected people from the same state can have a conversation. It is the highest in Kerala (96%), which is in harmony with the states low linguistic diversity 97% of people there are native Malayalam speakers. However, some Indian states are highly diverse, leading to a lower probability there. It is the lowest in Nagaland, which is one of the most linguistically diverse states with dozens of tribes having their own languages. There is only a 24% chance that two people from the state will be able to have a conversation. Probability figures are underestimated Still, the probability calculated from census data may not be representative of whats happening on the ground (at least in Nagaland) , said Laishram Bijenkumar Singh, assistant professor at the Centre for Naga Tribal Language Studies, Nagaland University. The lack of a common language among various Naga tribes has led to the emergence of Nagamese, a Creole language not recorded by the Census. Nagamese is a mixture of Assamese, Bengali and some other languages, he said. The language has influenced the Naga tribes to the extent that new generations report it as their mother tongue. There is another caveat with these figures: the analysis does not account for the similarities between languages. For example, most Punjabi speakers can understand Hindi; so is the case with Gujarati and Marathi; Hindi and Urdu; Odia and Bengali; and Bengali and Assamese. Linguistic expert Ganesh Narayandas Devy, founder of the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre in Gujarat and pioneer of the Peoples Linguistic Survey of India, explained that many of the people speaking similar languages will be able to understand each other, even though they may not be able to speak the other language. This impacts the numbers. For instance, assuming that most Hindi and Urdu speakers can communicate with each other because of language similarity, the chance that two random people from within Jammu and Kashmir can talk increases from 51% to 63%. What drives multilingualism? Nagamese developed with the lack of a geographically widespread language, which means the need to learn additional languages is determined by the number of people who know that language. When people find that they can manage the affairs of normal existence by speaking only one language, they resist the idea of speaking another additional language, Devy said. Thus, the larger the geographical expanse of a given language, smaller is the chance of its encouraging multilingual practices. The census data complements this notion. It shows that people who reported Hindi the most widely spoken language in the country to be their mother tongue were the least likely to know any other language. Only about 12% of native Hindi speakers were multilingual. Bengali the second most widely spoken language had the second lowest share of multilingual population, only 18%. On the other hand, over 80% native speakers of smaller language groups such as Konkani and Ladakhi were multilingual. This has two implications. One, Hindi-speaking states have a lower share of multilingual population. Second, as non-Hindi speakers have picked up Hindi it is the most common second language in the country native Hindi speakers have a lesser need to know a second language to converse with fellow Indians. English is ranked second among the secondary languages in the country. English is the second most known language in India (HT File) In a major setback to Vijay Mallya, the UK high court in London Thursday rejected many of his legal teams arguments in a case filed by Swiss banking giant UBS to take possession of the liquor barons London mansion over non-repayment of a mortgage loan, news agency ANI reported. The court has also asked Mallya to pay 88,000 pounds to the bank in a preliminary hearing yesterday. The trial will be held in May 2019. The bank had sought repossession of the property at Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regents Park in central London, for the unpaid 20.4 million pounds mortgage loan. The property was referred to in the court as a high-class home for Dr Vijay Mallya and his family members and United Breweries Group corporate guests. Mallya, who also founded the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, fled India in March 2016 even as a debt court in Bengaluru was set to act against him for defaulting on loans issued by several banks led by the state-owned State Bank of India. The 62-year-old is fighting an effort to get him extradited to India on charges of fraud and money laundering. He remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard last year on fraud and money laundering charges brought by the Indian government. A ruling in his extradition case is expected at Westminster Magistrates Court in London next month. (With inputs from ANI) On November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists made their way to Indias financial capital via the sea route and held Mumbai under siege for 72 hours, killing 166 people at prime locations. P Chidambaram took over the sensitive home ministry days after the audacious attacks. The ministry was demoralised and the attacks exposed many chinks in the line of command, he tells Harinder Baweja. Excerpts from the interview: You took charge of the home ministry soon after the audacious Mumbai attacks. What shape was the ministry, key to internal security, in? I took charge on December 1 and my immediate tasks were to review the preparedness of the country to such outrageous assaults mounted by a neighbouring country. I needed to assure the people of Mumbai and India that more effective steps will be taken to forestall such attacks and to make sure that if such attacks do take place, to repulse them and save human lives. It was also important to review the laws pertaining to terror attacks and make suitable amendments. The ministry was quite demoralised. The 26/11 attacks exposed many chinks in the line of command. The most important gap I found was the response time of security forces and the civilian government was tardy and inadequate. Political heads rolled in Maharashtra and at the Centre. Why were the bureaucrats spared especially when there was specific intelligence pointing to the fact that the terrorists would take the sea route? The name of Mumbais iconic Taj Hotel also featured in several intelligence intercepts If responsibility has to be fixed on civil servants, it has to be fixed at the very top. The then home secretary was retiring in about a month, as was the Director, Intelligence Bureau. I asked myself what I needed to do about them and then also told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that I need continuity to get a grip of the situation. I decided to use their knowledge instead of suspending them. Both retired within two months. Given the specific nature of the intelligence, could the Mumbai attacks have been stalled? If an organisation like the Multi Agency Centre (which collates intelligence from all agencies) had been there, there was a good chance that the attacks could have been forestalled. The complete lack of sharing of intelligence between various organisations was a big problem. The army, navy and other agencies were not sharing their inputs with each other. But India continues to remain vulnerable We are not as vulnerable as we were in 2008. There were attacks in Pune, Mumbai and the Delhi High Court after 26/11 but none could be traced to any source outside India. Whats happening more recently are attacks on military installations, mounted by groups located across the border. Ten years after 26/11, the victims and their families have still not got justice despite concrete evidence that the attacks were planned and mounted out of Pakistan. Ajmal Kasab was hanged and Pakistan was completely exposed. Pakistan has not denied that their citizens were behind the attacks. Yes, they have not convicted the terrorists they arrested. We, however, proved to the world that the attacks were planned, financed and mounted from Pakistan. India opted for a diplomatic approach rather than a military response. Was a military option considered? The military option was considered but was discarded as not likely to yield any tangible results. Short of going to war, we couldve launched a cross border attack. A cross border strike was taken post 26/11. That was a deterrent. Pakistan did not launch an attack on Indian soil after that, at least till the UPA was in government. Ajmal Kasab and Pakistan-born American terrorist, David Coleman Headley gave incriminating testimonies against Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed and the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI. Why did you not push for Headleys extradition? Headley was a double agent. We ensured that he was punished. The US would not go beyond that because it would have exposed other agencies. We put relentless pressure on the US to ensure that he is punished even though there was tremendous pressure on them from within their own agencies which were using Headley as an agent. A trial has been underway in Pakistan for 10 years now. The case just seems to be dragging. Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi, the main accused, is out on bail. Isnt the trial just a sham? Pakistan is not a country governed by the rule of law as we know it. I do not expect anything to come out of the trial. Every player in Pakistan is only interested in not punishing the conspirators. The Lashkar and its front, the Jamaat-ud-Dawah is no longer on the list of banned organisations. Hafiz Saeed is a free man and still gives speeches threatening India There are multiple power centres in Pakistan and they include the civilian government, the army, and terror organisations like the JuD and the Jaish-e-Mohammad. According to me, they share power and sometimes one defers to the other but essentially all three act in common. Can Hafiz Saeed be picked out like the US did Osama bin Laden? Soon after the Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Saeed was in a safe house in Karachi. He now roams around freely but we dont have the capability of targeting him in a raid like the one the Americans undertook. We didnt have the capability then (in 2008) and Ill be pleasantly surprised if we have it now. If we had tried, we wouldve failed and that would have been a bigger blow. We conveyed diplomatically, in no uncertain terms, that any Mumbai-like repetition would invite retaliation and that message was strongly conveyed to Pakistan. India and Pakistan announced on Thursday that they will build a corridor on their respective sides to let Sikh pilgrims visit the iconic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur on the banks of the river Ravi in the neighbouring country. The plan to build a corridor on the Indian side leading to the border near the gurdwara was among a slew of proposals cleared during a Cabinet meeting to mark Guru Nanaks 550th birth anniversary in 2019. The corridor on the Indian side will be built as an integrated development project with funding from the central government, and the Indian government called on its Pakistani counterpart to develop a similar corridor on its territory to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community, said people familiar with the developments. In landmark decision, the Cabinet approves building and development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to International Border. Kartarpur corridor project with all modern amenities and facilities to be implemented with Central Government funding, home minister Rajnath Singh tweeted minutes after the Cabinet meeting got over. President Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab chief minister CM Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone of the corridor on November 26, news agency PTI reported citing sources in the state government. The move will facilitate lakhs of pilgrims desirous of visiting the Kartarpur gurdwara, Amarinder Singh said in a statement. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal termed it as historic. Soon after the external affairs ministry sent a note verbale of formal communication to the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi regarding the issue, Pakistans foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Twitter that groundbreaking for work in his country will be done by Prime Minister Imran Khan on November 28. Pakistan has already conveyed to India its decision to open Kartarpura Corridor for Baba Guru Nanaks 550th birth anniversary, Qureshi tweeted. We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion. Indias outreach to Pakistan also marked the first formal contact between the two sides since New Delhi called off a meeting of the foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in September over terror-related concerns. It comes at a time when there has been a sharp uptick by pro-Khalistan groups in countries such as Canada, the UK and the US. There have also been reports of Pakistan allegedly backing some pro-Khalistan elements in western countries. The Kartarpur corridor will provide smooth and easy passage to pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib throughout the year. Government of Pakistan will be urged to reciprocate and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory, Singh said in another tweet. Briefing reporters, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said the proposed corridor would have visa and customs facilities for pilgrims and would be equipped with modern amenities. Guru Nanak spent 18 years in Kartarpur and the decision to build this corridor was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaitley said. The funds for the construction of the corridor will be provided by the Centre. There has been a longstanding demand from the Sikh community for the creation of a corridor to allow them to visit the gurdwara without visas. The matter returned to focus earlier this year when Pakistan Army chief general Qamar Bajwa told Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu during Imran Khans swearing-in on August 18 that Islamabad had plans to open a corridor to the shrine for Indian pilgrims. After the Cabinet decision, Sidhu tweeted, I thank the Govt. of India from the core of my heart and take a bow! I request the Honble PM of Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI Sahib to take reciprocal steps for opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and spread Baba Nanaks message of universal brotherhood and peace across the Globe. An official in the PMO added that India expects that the corridor should be open 365 days and 24 hours and there must be no restrictions on the number of pilgrims that are travelling across the border. There must be free and readily available consular access for Indian citizens on the Pakistani side, added the official. The meeting of the Cabinet in New Delhi decided that Guru Nanaks 550th birth anniversary would be celebrated by the central government along with the state governments and Indian missions abroad in a grand and befitting manner, the people cited above said. A committee led by the home minister will monitor and oversee these celebrations. On the Indian side, the corridor will be built from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab to the border, and it will have all modern amenities and facilities for the smooth passage of pilgrims. The Indian government wants pilgrims to be able to visit the shrine throughout the year, the people said. Officials in Islamabad said Pakistan had intended to discuss this matter at the meeting of the foreign ministers that was cancelled. Against the backdrop of reports in the Pakistani media that the Imran Khan government had plans to start work on a corridor, people familiar with the developments in New Delhi said the Indian Cabinets decision was not in any way a response to any move contemplated by the Pakistani side. There are plans to develop the town of Sultanpur Lodhi, associated with the life of Guru Nanak, as a heritage location for tourists, the person said. On November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists landed in Mumbai via the sea and unleashed mayhem and bloodshed over the next two days, that left 166 people dead and 238 injured. Many of the injured live with the scars -both physical and mental - a decade later. HT spoke to three survivors. Excerpts: DILIP MEHTA, 65 Managing Director, Pegasus Shipping Agency Private Limited I was a hostage on the 21st floor of the Taj Mahal Hotel, attending a meet hosted by the Consulate General of South Korea. My life took a 360 degree turn after the horrifying experience. I stayed locked in the banquet hall, and waited in the dark for nine hours. I kept in touch with my family, who were crying and looking anxiously at their television. None of us knew what we were going to do if the terrorists barged inside. Finally, I was evacuated via the fire exit. It is terrible that a handful of men can hold cities to ransom and kill so many people. ARUN JADHAV, 51 Head Constable I was in the Toyota Qualis along with then Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, IPS officer Ashok Kamte, police inspector Vijay Salaskar and three constables on the night of November 26, 2008. We drove towards Cama Hospital and soon came under fire. I saw all three officers collapse. The three constables were also killed. I hid between their bodies. The terrorists took charge of the police car and stopped near a Skoda, asking the owner to surrender the vehicle. I immediately called the control room and alerted them. I still remember the night like it happened yesterday. NP VASWANI, 60 Doctor I was at the Taj Mahal Hotel on 26/11 when I heard gunshots. I opened the door of the lift to see about 40 bodies lying in the lobby. I was shocked. And then I heard gunshots once again, and I was saved by a member of the hotel staff who took the bullet aimed at me. I got into the lift and pressed the button which led me to the room of a patient Id just visited. I stayed in the room till commandos came and rescued me. I have not stepped inside the Taj Mahal Hotel since that day. Cabinet was briefed on J-K assembly dissolution: Jaitley In todays Cabinet meeting the issue was not an agenda to be discussed but Cabinet was briefed about it, says Jaitley on the dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir assembly. Kartarpur corridor will facilitate Indian pilgrims to visit Pakistans Rabi river: Jaitley Government of India will develop a Kartarpur Corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, Punjab to the international border to facilitate pilgrims from India to visit the holy Gurudwara Darbaar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of Rabi river in Pakistan where Guru Nanak Devji spend 18 years, says Jaitley. Cabinet approves The Allied and Health Care Professionals Bill 2018 Cabinet today approved The Allied and Health Care Professionals Bill 2018: Jaitley. The Kartarpur corridor project aims to provide easy passage to pilgrims: Jaitley The Kartarpur corridor project aims to provide easy passage to pilgrims visiting Pakistans Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, says Jaitley. Railway ministry will run a train passing through holy places associated with Guru Nanak: Jaitley Railway ministry will run a train passing through holy places associated with Guru Nanak Devji, says Jaitley. Govt to establish centre for inter-faith studies: Jaitley We will establish a centre for inter-faith studies at the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, says Jaitley. Sultanpur Lodhi town will be developed into a heritage city: Jaitley Sultanpur Lodhi town will be developed into a heritage city. All the principles of smart city would be applied in the development, says Jaitley. Cabinet has approved building of Kartarpur corridor: Jaitley The cabinet has approved building and development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to International Border, says Jaitley. Govt decides to celebrate Guru Nanaks 550th birth anniversary in a grand way 2019 is Guru Nanak Dev 550s birth anniversary. Under the guidance of Home minister Rajnath Singh, the cabinet has decided to celebrate this event in a grand way: Jaitley. The death of seven people, including six Dalits, in Gwalior-Chambal during the Bharat Bandh protests on April 2 has widened caste fault lines and emerged one of the main political issues in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the November 28 assembly elections, political observers say. While both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have been wary of broaching the subject openly, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has influence in some parts in the region, is raising the issue of Dalit deaths. Meanwhile, Sapaks, a party of the upper castes, which has fielded several candidates in the region, is alleging that the government has foisted false cases against upper-caste men. Dalit organisations called a Bharat Bandh on April 2 to protest against what they saw as the dilution the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by a March 20 Supreme Court verdict that blocked the automatic arrest of any person charged under the law and denial of anticipatory bail. The law was subsequently amended to negate the verdict. Efforts by the BJP-led government to reinstate the automatic arrest provision and denial of anticipatory bail have not gone down well with the upper castes, which have put up posters in parts of Madhya Pradesh saying they will not vote for the BJP or the Congress. Also read | Madhya Pradesh assembly elections 2018: Rajnath Singh takes a jibe at Congress The impact of the protests can be seen in the 17 assembly seats in the three districts of Gwalior, Bhind and Morena. In the 2013 elections, the BJP won 11, the Congress four and the BSP two. All these seats are witnessing a three-cornered contest this time between BJP, Congress and BSP. Sapaks is also in contention in a few constituencies. Its not development but alleged injustice in the name of caste that has become a major but undeclared poll issue in Gwalior, Bhind and Morena districts. Outsiders have just seen the events of April 2 but we saw its aftermath. A large number of caste-based clashes took place in the region cementing the divide between the upper and lower castes, said KD Sonakia, a Gwalior-based social activist. SCs and STs make up about 23% of the electorate in the region, going by government records, which no one wants to lose. At the same time, the parties do not want to lose the upper caste vote. Candidates of the Congress and the BJP are taking part in caste panchayats where they are trying to mollify both Dalit and upper caste leaders. Addressing an upper caste panchayat, OPS Bhadoriya, the Congress candidate from Mehgaon, where two people died in a clash on April 2, said: We are assuring that justice will prevail. All those who are innocent will be protected. The BSP candidate from Bhind, Sanjeev Singh, is more forthright in raising the issue. Three Dalits and an upper caste person were killed in Bhind during the April 2 violence. You may also like | Madhya Pradesh assembly elections 2018: Opposition suffering from Modi-phobia, says BJP chief Amit Shah Hitting out at both BJP and Congress, Singh asked his audience: Would you support a party (BJP) that is allowing the accused to roam freely, and will you support the Congress, which didnt include anything about the victims in their manifesto? Its only BSP which helped the victims both financially and legally. BSP has given ~1 lakh each to family members of the victims . Amit Dubey , a Sapaks-backed candidate from Gwalior (east), the area worst affected by the violence of April 2, said: Young people who came out for self-defence to counter the protestors were booked and instead of focusing on their careers, they are busy in legal issues. In Bilkhari village in Gohad town of Bhind district, the whole village of Brahmins, including an upper caste principal, were booked under SC/St Act just on a trivial issue on August 16. The politicians are allowing this rift as they believe in divide and rule, said Guddu Singh, a local social activist in Gohad town. BJP leaders say caste differences are not an issue in the elections. Lal Singh Arya, general administration department minister in the BJP-led state government, said: We believe in Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas (With everyone and for everyones progress). Its the BJP which restored the ( Prevention of Atrocities) Act and its our chief minister, Shivraj singh Chouhan, who said the misuse of act will not be allowed in MP and injustice will not take place against the upper castes. The issue has been resolved. Supporting Arya, the BJP candidate from Gwalior east Satish Sikarwar added: A few people could be upset with the violence (in Bhind) but for the BJP, development is the main focus. Families of the victims are upset by the dilatory tactics of both the BJP and Congress. Ramvati Jatav, 38, wife of Rakesh Jatav, who was killed on April 2, said, Earlier, my family was a blind supporter of the BJP. My husbands cousin brother, who is a BJP corporator from the area, wanted us to stop raising our voice for justice. When we refused, he snapped all ties with us. Ramnaresh Jatav, 53, lost his 20-year-old son in a clash in Mehgaon. He said: Some community leaders came to our home a few months ago and pasted a poster demanding justice. We saw a ray of hope but now politicians are hesitant to raise the issue publicly. For full coverage on Madhya Pradesh elections 2018 click here Taking a swipe at the Congress for its failure to declare a chief ministerial candidate in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union home minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajnath Singh on Thursday described the Congress as a marriage procession without a groom. Addressing a rally in Piploda Bazar in Ratlam, Singh said, I havent seen any other chief minister who is as humble as Chouhan... But who is there from the Congress to replace him? Unki to bina dulhe ki baarat hai (theirs is a marriage procession without a groom). Singh was taunting the Congress for not naming its chief ministerial candidate ahead of the November 28 assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. Ek Guna se taal thok raha, dusra Chhindwara se, our tisra Raghogarh se (one stakes his claims from Guna, other from Chhindwara and the third from Raghogarh), he said without naming Congress leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh. The Congress says its elected legislators will choose who the partys chief ministerial designate will be after the election results are declared. Also read | Madhya Pradesh assembly elections 2018: Opposition suffering from Modi-phobia, says BJP chief Amit Shah Singh entertained the of Jaora assembly constituency, who vote on November 28 to decide the fate of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, popularly called Mama (maternal uncle) by his people for the slew of welfare programme he has launched targeted at weaker sections of the society. He recalled the work done by Chouhan before taking his chopper over the green fields of Ratlam district to his next destination - Alot. At another meeting at Aagar, Singh said: India is no more a weak nation as it used to be. Narrating an incident when Pakistan opened fire at a BSF post killing five jawans in September 2014, the BJP leader said, We told BSF not to fire the first bullet, but dont count bullets in retaliatory fire if Pakistan fires at them. Rest is history. Borders are peaceful now. Singh said. You may also like | Three strong sitting CMs give new twist to BJP strategy for upcoming polls For complete coverage on Madhya Pradesh assembly elections 2018 click here The 26-year-old man arrested in connection with the grenade blast at the Nirankari Bhawan in Punjabs Amritsar was on Thursday produced before a local court, which sent him to a five-day police custody, ANI reported. Bikramjit Singh was arrested and his associate, Avtar Singh will be arrested soon, chief minister Amarinder Singh had said on Wednesday. Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence was the real mastermind of the grenade attack on Nirankari Bhawan in Amritsar three days back, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh said on Wednesday, adding that the case has been solved. Three people were killed and 20 injured when two masked bike-borne men forced their way into the prayer hall in Adliwal village of Amritsar on Sunday and threw the grenade on the crowd. The person who is the mastermind (of the attack) is Inter-Services Intelligence. These (Harmeet Singh PhD alias Happy) are only touts which they were using, he said. Khalistan Liberation Force chief Harmeet PhD, who has been in Pakistan for more than two decades, was being probed in connection with the attack. He is already the prime suspect accused of strategising the targeted killings of Punjabs some socio-religious leaders in 2016-17. He is a native of Amritsar district and a doctorate, which earned him the surname of PhD, his profile with the state intelligence department says. He has also been booked by National Investigating Agency (NIA) investigating the cases of targeted killings of different community leaders, mainly those belonging to the right wing groups. He ruled out communal angle to the attack and asserted that it was a terrorist attack. The people at the Nirankari Bhawan were easy targets, and so they were targeted, he said. The political dalliance between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC), always on the opposite sides of the fence in Jammu and Kashmir, may have been all too short. It lasted a few hours between PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti staking a claim for forming a new state government with the support of the NC and the Congress and the dissolution of the assembly by Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday night. But efforts to bring them together went back at least a month, and it was a call from Mufti to NC vice president Omar Abdullah four days ago that sealed the partnership, people familiar with the developments said. Senior PDP leader and former J&K finance minister Altaf Bukhari made the first overtures to the NC last month, holding two meetings with NC patron and Srinagar MP Farooq Abdullah, Omars father. Secret parleys had been going on between the NC, Congress and the PDP leadership for one month at the highest level. It was a phone call from Mehbooba Mufti to Omar Abdullah four days ago that accelerated the process of forming this new alliance, a senior PDP leader with knowledge of the talks said. Mufti was even willing to let Omar Abdullah or Farooq Abdullah lead the alliance although the PDP had 28 members in the now dissolved assembly, almost twice the NCs strength in the 87-member assembly. Both Omar and Farooq declined to head the government; however, they committed support of their 15 legislators to this new alliance, the person cited above said. A proposal for the PDP, NC and the Congress to join hands and bid for power had come up after the 2014 assembly elections, but then the PDP opted to join a coalition with the BJP instead, reasoning that formation of any other alliance would be a betrayal of the mandate of the people of Jammu, where BJP secured all 25 seats. The PDP-BJP alliance lasted almost 40 months before collapsing in June, when BJP pulled out of the coalition. Civil society organisations met leaders of the PDP, NC and Congress and proposed that they join forces to safeguard Article 35-A of the Constitution, which offers special privileges and rights to permanent residents of J&K and is facing a challenge in the courts. It was an idea of civil society, but a few senior leaders from all three parties toiled hard to get it matured. First, Farooq Abdullah was taken on-board, then Omar Abdullah was roped in. The call from Mehbooba Mufti set the ball rolling though in both the parties, many leaders were opposed to it, said a PDP leader. Another senior leader said J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president Ghulam Ahmad Mir discussed the issue with party colleague Ambika Soni, who received the nod for the alliance from the Congress high command. Mehbooba Mufti also spoke to Ambika Soni and then Soni and Omar also had a discussion over this, said this person, who didnt want to be named. ...former finance minister Altaf Bukhari was considered a consensus choice, the person said. People in the PDP and NC said that the final trigger for the alliance came when Junaid Mattu, with the blessings of the BJP, won the Srinagar mayoral election and BJP general secretary Ram Madhav flew from Delhi to Srinagar to meet the councillors. Some BJP leaders hinted that a new government led by BJP ally and former minister Sajjad Lone of the Peoples Conference was in the works after panchayat polls end next month. Signalling that he was fully supporting his son and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday skipped his birthday celebrations organised by the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), the party floated by his brother Shivpal Yadav. While Shivpal waited for his elder brother in ancestral village Saifai, where a dangal (wrestling) competition had been organised, Mulayam celebrated his birthday with the SP workers at the party headquarters in Lucknow. The PSP (L) had organised programmes throughout the state on Mulayams birthday as Secularism Day. Addressing workers, Mulayam apparently targeted Shivpal and his associates for trying to divide the SP. When everybody thought that the Samajwadi movement was over, I founded the SP in 1991. Some said Mulayam is a leader of one or two districts. We formed the (state) government four times and were a part of the Central government twice. But some leaders tried to divide the party, indulged in discrimination and got isolated, he said. Mulayam also asked the party to work out his plan for campaigning, indicating that he would be canvassing for the SP in Lok Sabha elections. My birthday will be successful when you aim for grabbing power in New Delhi. The government will be formed in Delhi when you stay united and Uttar Pradesh votes, he said. Mulayam reached the SP headquarters straight from his residence after Akhilesh came there to wish him on his birthday and stayed for about an hour. In a tweet, Akhilesh said: I congratulated Netaji (Mulayam) on his birthday. He has taught us to follow the path of truth and non-violence shown by Mahatma Gandhi. He also taught us Dr Ram Manohar Lohias ideals that one has to identify the evil to end it and that the faith is the biggest asset of human relations. In the recent past, Mulayam had been sending confusing signals to SP workers by attending programmes organised both by Akhilesh and Shivpal. But will Mulayam distance himself from the PSP (L) now? Former head of the department of political science at Lucknow University SK Dwivedi said, Mulayams stand is unpredictable. Lets watch him for some time. It is high time he clarified his stand as his association with the PSP (L) has adversely affected the SP. Attending the event at the SP office, Mulayam appeared upbeat on seeing the gathering of young party workers, saying with such members, the SP would never get old. Youths are in good number. They are well-educated and know how to deliver a speech. We do not want the SP to be an old party. This is the party of the youth and 90 per cent of the crowd is young here, he said. Induct more women and girls. They (women) should be assured that they are safe here. Once women are here, no one can stop the SP from coming to power. No one should get hurt by your behaviour, Mulayam added. You should stand up and leave seats for seniors. Dont think that by leaving your seat you are only giving respect. It is bringing respect to you as well. There should not be any discrimination on caste, religion or gender basis, he said. PSP (L) spokesman Deepak Mishra confirmed Mulayam did not attend the partys programme at Saifai. We organised programmes throughout the state in the honour of Mulayam, he added. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday wrote to Union women and child development (WCD) minister Maneka Gandhi about its internal complaints panel to deal with sexual harassment at workplace. The Central Committee office of CPI(M) had constituted the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) soon after gazette notification of the Sexual Harassment at Work Place Act, 2013. The ICC is reconstituted after the party congress of CPI(M) in every three years. The 22nd congress of the CPI(M) concluded in April 2018, read the CPI(M) letter to Gandhi. The CPI(M) wrote to Gandhi in response to her letter about the constitution of ICCs as per the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, 2013. Gandhi had last month written to seven national and 51 recognised regional parties asking them to constitute ICCs as per law in the aftermath of #MeToo movement against sexual harassment of women in India. The CPI(M) is the only party to have responded to Gandhis letter. The law mandates every organisation with women to have an ICC irrespective of its origin and structure. A senior woman employee is to head the women-dominated ICC, which has to have one external member. Two months after a sudden drop in cabin air pressure in a Jet Airways Mumbai-Jaipur flight caused injuries in some passengers, one of them, Mukesh Sharma, has been diagnosed with permanent hearing loss. Sharma, a PhD researcher from University of Aveiro, Portugal, who suffered bleeding in his ears in the incident on September 20, said he underwent an audiometry test on November 12 at a Jaipur hospital to diagnose the extent of his hearing loss. The reports revealed that I have suffered a permanent hearing loss. There were a number of soft sounds I wasnt able to detect and unless a person is standing face-to-face with me and speaking, I am not able to listen to the words. While speaking on phone, I use my left ear as the right one is most affected, said Sharma. Dr Pawan Singhal, assistant professor, ENT, Sawai Man Singh Hospital, Jaipur, who has been treating Sharma, and Ankur Kala, another passenger who had similar injuries, said that they had barotraumaa blockage of Eustachian tube,which connects ear and mouth, caused due to air pressure difference in the inside and outside ear. Apart from barotrauma, there was internal bleeding and swelling in all the patients along with tinnitusa constant ringing sensation. He (Sharma) has suffered a sensorineural hearing loss (caused due to damage to the inner ear or to the nerve from ear to brain) and I suggested a cochlear implant as the permanent solution to the damage, said Dr Singhal. Sharma, who was working as a research scholar in Portugal for two years after completing his PhD, said he discontinued his job as a professor due to the accident and other personal problems. I have been stressed due to the incident and missed the opportunity to apply at the university. I am taking up a post at Ajmer University as a chemistry professor for now, Sharma added. The issue as doctors have suggested is likely to worsen with age and is irreversible unless he undergoes a surgery. Sharma said that the implants alone cost over Rs 5-6lakhs and the surgery may cost him much more including the treatment and medicine charges. I have no other way as being a professor, listening and speaking are the basic necessity, said Sharma. He has already spent over Rs 15,000 in treatment and travelling from his residence at Ajmer to Jaipur. Kala, a businessman from Jaipur who was returning to the city after a days visit to Mumbai when the incident took place, said that they are in process to file a case against the airlines in consumer courts for causing mental stress and physiological damage. The doctors said that the internal swelling is yet to be resolved and I am still not able to tolerate sharp noises or big sounds. We were initially asked to submit our medical bills by the airlines for compensation but the idea that even after such an incident, our medical bills will be scrutinized and paid, didnt sound fair to us, so we didnt. Compensation will be a part of our demands in consumer courts, said Kala. Thirty out of 166 passengers of the Mumbai-Jaipur flight (9W 697) suffered headache, nose and ear bleeding after the pilots forgot to switch on the system to maintain cabin pressure. The flight was turned back to Mumbai after take-off after oxygen masks dropped during the climb. The injured passengers were moved to Nanavati Hospital for further treatment. Sharma, along with the other victims, are now preparing paperwork to file a case in consumer courts against the physical and psychological strain caused by the airlines. The passengers said they have not received any compensation as the probe into the incident is still underway. Jet Airways did not respond to HTs requests for a comment. A regular pilgrim to Sabarimala for 30 years, Senthil Velu (64), a devotee from Tamil Nadus Tiruchi, boasted he had darshan of his favorite deity more than eight times this time in the six-hour stay allowed by the police at the hilltop shrine. While happy, for he never had such an opportunity on earlier visits, he in the same breath said that he never wanted this to happen again. Chanting of hymns (Swami Saranam) and winding queues are missing and divine atmosphere has given way to mutual suspicion and tension, he said. Velu also said he never witnessed a deserted valiya nada pandal (main hall beneath 18 holy steps for pilgrims to rest). The police turned the area wet using jet pipes recently to avoid pilgrims waiting there, inviting sharp comments from the Kerala High Court. Since I am a guru swami (a pilgrim who trekked the most), I told my fellow pilgrims not to chant saranam everywhere since prohibitory orders were in place. Once you don black and wear mala (bead), you are known as a swami but this time pilgrims are scared to greet other swamis, he lamented. Velus sentiments were not isolated. Most of the pilgrims who had darshan at the temple in last six days of the annual pilgrimage season at temple, nestled in Western Ghats region of of Pathanamthitta district, shared the same view. We take pilgrimage for peace and spiritual solace. If both are missing, what is the point, asked the guru swami of 110-odd pilgrims who came from Maharashtras Kalyan while calling off their plan to trek to the temple. At the top of the temple, it is written prominently tat va masi (a Sanskrit phrase meaning you are that or that you are) said another pilgrims, adding for most who trek to Sabarimala, it is a tapasya ( an austere move for self-discipline and salvation). But the police build up, prohibitory orders and enveloping tension spoiled this, he said adding the government and judiciary had let them down. Amid the standoff between the government and protestors over the entry of women at Sabarimala, the footfall of pilgrims dipped drastically compared to earlier years. According to the Travancore Dewasom Board, the autonomous body that runs the temple, there is a 70 per cent dip in pilgrims and revenue in first six days. Last time, 4 lakh pilgrims visited in six days but this time, the numbers came down 90,000, said a TDB official adding revenue also came down. Tour operators said there were mass cancellations due to the prevailing situation as the state had witnessed two shutdowns in a month over the temple. Tourism mandarins also cry foul saying their attempts to retrieve from the worst floods of the century, which ravaged the state in August, were affected. Like devotees, they also prayed for an early settlement of the impasse. Meanwhile, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader alleged that an IPS officer had slighted Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan, who offered prayers at the temple, by trying to block his vehicle on his return. SP Yatish Chandra was arrogant and raised his voice when the minister asked about the private vehicle restriction in the area. While coming back, his convoy was blocked under suspicion that some protestors were travelling with him, said BJP general secretary V N Radhakrishnan. Police, however, denied this. The ministers car was never blocked and searched, said Kottayam SP Harishankar, in-charge of Pambha base camp. Later in the evening, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan called on governor P Sathasivam to apprise him of the situation in Sabarimala. The CM assured the Governor that action will be taken to ensure a smooth pilgrimage in Sabarimala, a communique from Raj Bhawan said. CM assured the governer measures, says communique from Raj Bhawan The CM assured the governer measures will be taken to ensure smooth pilgrimage to Sabrimala, said a communique from Raj Bhawan after the meeting. CM Pinarayi Vijayan calls governor to discuss sabarimala issue. Chief minister pinarayi vijayan calls on governor sathasivam to discuss sabarimala issue. Bjp has been pressurizing the governor for some time citing the situation in hilltop temple Govt planning to remove restrictions in Sabarimala After the high court rap, the government is planning to remove restrictions in Sabarimala. The court had criticised the government for making pilgrimage more cumbersome. Police deny blocking the vehicle of Pon Radhakrishnan Police deny blocking the vehicle of Pon Radhakrishnan. Superintendent of Police Harishankar says it was a normal check-in and his vehicle was not delayed for more than 10 minutes. Police say he was given check list and not apology. Protest erupt in Kanyakumari The BJP says the minister was blocked deliberately at the instance of the government. Protest erupt in Kanyakumari. Pon Radhakrishnan is Kanyakumari MP. Tension takes its toll on pilgrimage Tension takes its toll on pilgrimage. Hilltop almost empty. 110 pilgrims from Maharashtra returned two days back citing tense situation.fierce standoff between the government and protestors cripple pilgrimage. BJP protests, seek action against police The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is protesting, seeking action against police officials who blocked the minister who came for darshan last evening. The armed forces effort to reduce the number of cases they fight against their own has seen the withdrawal of just around 180 cases of a total of 7,676, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity. The armed forces were asked to review the cases because the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government doesnt want them to waste time and resources on litigation, and also believes they should not be engaged in legal battles with their own. Courts too have taken a dim view of such cases. Earlier this year, the ministry of defence was fined Rs 1 lakh each on two separate occasions by the Supreme Court for unnecessary litigation. As of November 2018, 7,676 cases had been filed by the services against their people, according to a recent review by the ministry of defence. A review of pending cases carried out by the ministry on June 6 was inconclusive. No clear or satisfactory position is emerging, the minutes of the meeting accessed by HT said. Subsequently, the ministry on September 7 said in a communication: Litigations (should) be viewed in an impersonal, non-adversarial and dispassionate manner and should not be made a prestige-issue or a win/loss situation. The tendency to the continuous unethical filing of appeals in issues that have attended finality at the high court or Supreme Court should be checked and all such pending appeals should be identified and immediately withdrawn. It reiterated that appeals should be an exception and not the rule. It isnt clear how many cases were withdrawn last year. Often, apart from engaging government law officers, the three forces hire lawyers and private firms to litigate matters in the Armed Forces Tribunals (AFT) and the Supreme Court. These come at a huge expense. The Indian Army, which accounts for over 6,000 of the 7,676 cases, will be withdrawing the least number 58. The Navy will withdraw 79 out of 388 cases. These are mostly pending before various benches of AFTs. The Air Force has already withdrawn 13 cases and is the process of withdrawing 22 more cases out of 59 cases pending in the Supreme Court. The IAF is contesting around 1,058 cases in the Armed Forces Tribunals. We have decided not to litigate where court orders have given relief to an individual serving or retired soldiers of the IAF. Only when court orders have an impact on policy, an appeal is filed, a senior IAF official said. A defence ministry meet earlier this week failed to make much headway on the issue, another official said. The defence minister is likely to review the issue on Saturday again. The spokesperson of the ministry of defence and the Indian Army, Colonel Aman Anand, did not respond to queries seeking comment. Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami on Thursday said the state government has urged the central government for release of Rs 15,000 crore towards cyclone damage relief. The severe cyclone Gaja crossed Tamil Nadu coast on November 16 leaving 63 people and thousands of livestock dead, and damaging properties, standing crops, coconut groves, banana plantations and power distribution infrastructure in several districts. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Palaniswami said a memorandum detailing the devastation left by cyclone Gaja has been submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said for temporary relief works, a sum of Rs 1,500 crore has been requested to be released immediately. Palaniswami met Modi in New Delhi on Thursday. The Prime Minister has assured to depute a central team to assess the loss, Palaniswami added. The CM said the compensation amount announced by the AIADMK government is far higher than what the then DMK government announced after cyclone Nisha in 2008. Asked as to why he did not visit the cyclone-affected places by road, Palaniswami said four districts have been severely affected and countered as to how one can visit them by road. He said he made an aerial survey flying low and has taken pictures of the damage which were handed over to PM Modi. From a street thug to a mad dog, the 33-year-old police officer who stopped a union minister right near Keralas Sabarimala temple has been called names for some years now. But Yathish Chandra doesnt let that deter him. Pon Radhakrishnan, the junior finance minister at the centre, certainly didnt when he reached the Nilakkal base camp near the temple with a group of BJP activists on Wednesday. As his private vehicle reached Sabarimala temple which is in the middle of a huge row over the entry of women, the policemen stopped him. Leading the team was Yatish Chandra, the 2011 batch Indian Police Service officer who some of his colleagues say, reminds them of the police officer in the Hindi movie, Dabangg. In a video of their face-off that has been widely circulated, the minister is seen asking Chandra why private vehicles are not allowed. Chandra, the Thrissur district police chief, says, Ill explain it to you, due to recent floods The minister cut him short. I know that. But Chandra wasnt having it. Can you please listen to me? he asks the minister. Also read | Wont allow RSS to turn Sabarimala into another Ayodhya, says Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan And he has his say. The officer explains that there are complications with parking closer to the temple as the grounds near the Sabarimala temple were washed away after the recent floods. This has led to the risk of landslides in the area. But why are private vehicle not allowed to enter when government buses are? the minister retorts. When he is unable to get through to the minister, Chandra offers to let the private vehicles pass on one condition. Are you willing to take responsibility? the officer, who trained as a electrical engineer before joining the police, asks. The minister quickly makes it clear that he didnt want to take responsibility. That is the thing here, no one wants to take responsibility, Chandra says, a broad smile on his face. A BJP leader standing next to Radhakrishnan loses his calm and starts yelling at Chandra for addressing the minister in such a tone. The confrontation continues for some more time before the ministers supporters get the message and back off. Not so long ago, Chandra had arrested BJP general secretary K Surendran and Hindu Aikya Vedi chief KP Sasikala, who are believed to have fanned protests over the entry of women into Sabarimala. They were trying to enter the shrine. Asked, Chandra insists he doesnt have an agenda. We are only doing our duty, without favouring or hurting any political party. Our aim is to make Sabarimala a peaceful space, a safe place for all devotees. We do not have any agenda, he told Livemint over the phone. For his actions and beliefs, Chandra, within the police circles, has an image problem with a few of his colleagues suggesting that he was trying to impress the chief minister. He is someone who wants to be seen close to the powers that be. So he is trying to impress the chief minister now, I would not be surprised, Livemint quoted one of the most senior police officers in the state who did not wish to be named. Chandra ridicules the charge. Basically, I am here to execute the orders of the democratically elected government, he said. That has got him on the wrong side of Pinarayi Vijayan, now chief minister, when he was in the opposition. It was Vijayan who had called him a street thug and veteran communist leader VS Achuthanandan had likened to a mad dog. Also read | Midnight drama at Sabarimala as devotees hold sudden protest, court arrest Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday defended the dissolution of the state assembly on grounds that he didnt want an unholy alliance of opposing political ideologies to assume power by inducing defections, as a bitter war of words raged on between opponents and supporters of his contentious action the night before. Meanwhile, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Conference (NC) veered around to the view that fresh and early assembly elections are the only way out of the political vacuum in the sensitive state, which has been under direct federal rule since June 20. Malik, who was named J&K governor in August, explained the rationale behind his decision on Wednesday night in greater detail at a press conference and in media interviews . I have been saying it since day one of my appointment as governor that Im not in favour of any government formed in the state with underhand defections and horse trading. I would instead want that elections are held and a selected government rules. He dissolved the state assembly after Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti staked her claim for forming a new government with the support of arch rival NC and the Congress, five months after the collapse of PDPs coalition government with the BJP. She claimed the PDP had the support of 56 MLAs, including its own 28 legislators. Malik also had to contend with a rival claim by Peoples Conference chief Sajjad Lone, who said he had the support of the BJPs 25 legislators and more than 18 other members of the 87-member assembly. His party had been counting on the support of PDP dissidents. For the past 15 to 20 days, I have been getting reports of large-scale horse trading. MLAs are being threatened and several types of underhanded dealings are going on, Malik told reporters at Raj Bhawan. Had I given any side an opportunity (for government formation), it would have created more mess. The value system of politics would have been destroyed as has been happening in the rest of the states. I could not afford that. Home minister Rajnath Singh distanced the BJP from the governors decision.The governor of J&K took the decision after considering the political situation there; he reached to a conclusion that government formation was not possible in the state, Singh said in an interview to HT. It was a decision taken by the governor. The BJP has no role. It is unfortunate that some section is trying to drag the BJP into this. The governor insisted that he had not received a fax from Mufti claiming the support of rival political parties.But even if I had, my decision would have been the same, he said. Mufti posted the text of the fax she tried to send him on Twitter late on Wednesday night. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram slammed Malik for dissolving the state assembly, saying he had been happy to keep it under suspended animation as long as no one staked a claim for forming government. The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly! Parliamentary democracy standing on its head! The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K Governor, Chidambaram tweeted. On the timing of his decision to abruptly dissolve the assembly after waiting for five months, the governor noted that a six-month deadline for keeping the assembly in suspended animation expires next month. Plus, it was a holy day. It was Eid, he said, declaring that Mufti and the others were free to approach the courts against the dissolution. On Thursday, former chief minister Omar Abdullah challenged the governor to disclose who was trying to buy the MLAs. Abdullah and Mufti also took on BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav for saying their parties were taking instructions from Pakistan. PDP and NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form government. What they did prompted Governor to look into the whole issue, Madhav said. Abdullah lashed back. I dare you @rammadhavbjpji to prove your allegation....have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Dont practice shoot & scoot politics, Abdullah tweeted. Mufti said she was shocked that such allegations had been hurled gainst mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir. Sad to see what the political discourse of our country has been reduced to. How does one define a partys nationalistic credentials? Nationalistic and patriotic only if you are with the Centre and Pakistan sponsored and anti nationalistic otherwise? Mehbooba said. Abdullah and the BJP both came out in favour of a new government being installed following fresh elections in J&K, where the 2014 polls produced a hung legislature and prompted the PDP and BJP to tie up in an alliance that lasted almost 40 months. Currently panchayat elections are happening. After these we need some time for preparations. If the assembly elections are not held before parliamentary elections, at least these should be held along with the parliamentary elections, so that within next six months, people have a new government, he said. Abdullah revealed that the elections wont be fought by the three parties together. I dont think NC, PDP and Congress fighting elections together will in any way benefit the state of Jammu and Kashmir because I believe a legitimate political opposition, political voices are essential, he said. The BJPs central unit said in a Twitter post on Wednesday that the best option was to hold fresh elections in J&K at the earliest and slammed the proposed alliance between the PDP, NC and Congress as a combination of terror-friendly parties. A day after dissolving the Jammu and Kashmir assembly amid a political row, governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday said had he allowed the PDP, NC and Congress to form a government, it would have been an opportunistic regime. Such a government could have also reversed the gains against militancy made by security forces in the state, he said. Malik also said that he deliberately chose the auspicious day of Eid-ul-Milad to dissolve the assembly. Addressing media persons here, he said, My views are same as released late last night in a detailed statement. I have been saying since very beginning when I assumed the governors office in August that I wont allow unethical practices or underhand dealings by any of the parties to form a government in the state. I wanted to have an elected government in the state. The governor, however, said that for the past few days, he had been getting reports of attempts of horse-trading on large scale. MLAs were being intimidated and many other underhand dealings were on. (Former chief minister) Mehbooba Mufti, a week ago, had herself said that her MLAs were being intimidated in the name of NIA (National Investigation Agency) while others said that big money was being offered to them. Since attempts of horse-trading started around 20 days back and had I given opportunity to any of the parties, it would have severely damaged the political value system in Jammu and Kashmir, Malik added. Noting how the four-phase local body polls were peaceful and so were two phases of panchayat polls, he said: Democracy is being strengthened and we are taking it to grass root level. People are participating in large numbers and they are part of development process. Therefore, such an attempt at this stage for government formation was by those forces, who were boycotting elections, didnt want them and tried to scuttle them, he said in a reference to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC). He also said that security situation was normalizing, as was evident from the fact that only one or two youth joined militant ranks in the last 50 days. Stone pelting is almost over and the security forces have gunned down nearly 60 terrorists. Had we allowed them (PDP, NC and Congress), we would have altered this situation. If such a government had come up, it would have been an opportunistic government. They would have fought every third day besides giving rise to many other ills. It was my responsibility to take a decision and I acted in the interests of the state. I had no personal interest and I was not partial to anyone either, Malik said. Holding that both the sides (the PDP-NC-Congress alliance and the third front of Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone) were claiming a majority, Malik said, But no one approached me, no one handed me any list and they didnt give any evidence to me. No MLAs were paraded before me. Therefore, I didnt entertain any of the two groups, who were staking claim. I acted under powers vested in me in the state constitution. They had five months, what were they doing then? he said. There was no need to look up to Delhi, approach parliament, or the president. I had the powers under the constitution, he added. Dismissing the charge of murder of democracy being levelled against him by the PDP and the NC, he said that both parties had themselves been demanding it for the past few months. Asked why his fax machine was not working on Wednesday, he said, Fax was no issue. Both of them (PDP chief Mehbooba and NCs Omar Abdullah) are devout Muslims and they should know that on Eid, offices are closed. They are now misleading all. Yesterday, I had no chef in my kitchen and no staff at the fax machine. And, even if the fax had come to me, I would have had taken the same decision, he added. To PDPs accusations that he acted on the instructions of BJP headquarters, he said, They know what BJP headquarters wanted. BJP already had a candidate (Sajad Lone. Had I followed the BJP instructions, then I would have allowed their candidate to stake claim. I didnt hear any of them. I did what was right under states constitution. Asked to comment on the grand alliance of PDP, NC and Congress allegedly taking shape on directions of Pakistan, he said, I wont comment without any evidence but this grand alliance was opportunistic. There was no consensus among them. One party even said that it had made no formal decision... There was nothing. He said that now Election Commission will take the call on fresh assembly elections and his job was to carry forward developmental works in the state. Renowned world over as the monument of love, Taj Mahal is again in the throes of controversy, with fringe elements clashing over their right to perform namaz on all days / aarti on its premises. Stakeholders in the citys tourism sector have raised an alarm over this spiralling conflict, which on one side has some Muslims demanding namaz at Taj on days other than Friday, and on the other has right wing activists stressing on organising aarti at the monument they insist is in fact a Shiva temple. A video that went viral on Saturday showed some activists performing aarti at the Taj, which opens up every Friday -- its weekly closure day -- for allowing local Muslims to offer namaz. While the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials said they were verifying the contents of the video, people have voiced concerns against the dangers of letting a communal tug-of-war play out at the globally famed structure that draws numerous tourists to India. Recent controversial developments The latest controversy began on November 3, said Ibrahim Zaidi, president of the Taj Mahal Mosque Management Committee. The ASI locked up the railing around the wuzhu tank (for performing ablution) near the mosque on the premises of the monument, he alleged. This was done on the pretext of security concerns although the central tank, which is visited by tourists of all ages, also remains filled with water, he said, adding that it was a planned design to stop namaz at the Taj mosque -- a tradition older than the monument itself. The mosque came into existence before the Taj Mahal, claimed Zaidi. Meanwhile, ASI officials said the step was taken after it was found that namaz was being offered at the Taj on days other than Friday. According to rules, namaz can be offered at the structure only on Fridays -- from 12 pm to 2 pm, they said. An ASI official placed a gazette notification at both the eastern and western gates of the Taj Mahal, detailing the provisions for offering Friday namaz at the monument. The notification mentioned no permission for any other day. We are just complying with orders. The prevailing directives find no sanction for namaz on any other day. We had asked those offering namaz at the mosque last week not to do so, but no heed was paid, said Ankit Namdev, conservation assistant, ASI. On the other hand, Zaidi accused the ASI of pressuring the Imam Sayyad Sadiq Ali, deputed at the mosque, to disallow namaz at Taj on all days barring Friday. This is unacceptable. The forefathers of the present imam have been conducting namaz here for 400 years without any hindrance regarding the day of the week. There is no rule saying that namaz can be offered here only on Friday -- an assertion that ASI is making without proof or document, said Zaidi. He said the recent act of performing aarti at the Taj was an additional complication that had been introduced in a planned manner to stop the namaz. Aarti at taj Govind Parashar, who is heading the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal (RBD) unit in Agra, said, Who started all this? Why are some people going unpunished despite offering namaz at Taj on days other than Friday? I was sent to jail for seven months when I gave the call to offer aarti at the monument, which is in fact the Shiva temple Tejo Mahalaya. A suit is pending in court regarding declaring Taj a Shiva temple and banning namaz on its premises. Why are we alone being blamed for turning a tourism destination into a centre of controversies? None can be above law. We did not raise the issue of aarti for a long time, but then they (Muslims) began offering namaz on weekdays and more than a thousand turned up for the Friday namaz at Taj last week. Earlier, only a handful used to come, he added. RBD womens wing district president Meena Diwakar said her group entered the Taj Mahal with dhoopbatti (incense sticks), Gangajal and a match box and performed aarti at the mosque there. We purified the location as it is our Shiv Temple, the sanctity of which was damaged by namaz. The identity of the Taj Mahal is because of Tejo Mahalaya, the Shiva Temple. Permission was granted for offering namaz once on Friday but it has been offered on other days too. So we also offered aarti. We are prepared to face action if those violating the norms by offering namaz on weekdays are punished, she said. Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad also offered support to Diwakar for performing aarti at the Taj. Sunil Parashar, Braj region vice president of the VHP called the move justified. Historian-Speak Historian Raj Kishore Raje, who moved an application under the Right to Information Act seeking clarity on the status of namaz being offered at the Taj mosque, said, The publication department of the ASI at Delhi and the Information Officer of the ASI circle office in Agra deny there is any order or precedence for offering namaz at the Taj mosque on any day other than Friday. Otherwise also there are various mosques where namaz is not offered. These include the Nagina Masjid, the Meena Masjid and the Moti Masjid on the premises of Agra Fort. Raje, who has served as the head of a museum in Agra and has penned books on the citys history, added, There seems to be no documentation of namaz at the Taj mosque during the Mughal regime or the British period or in free India. The idea of namaz on weekdays seems to be an afterthought. This has given rise to demands for aarti at the monument. Both namaz and aarti demands by fringe groups are damaging for Taj. He said Mughal emperor Shah Jahan bought the land for building the Taj Mahal in exchange of land he offered to Maharaja Jai Singh of Jaipur through a shahi farman (royal order). Tourism sector fears Arun Dang, a veteran of tourism trade in Taj city and founder-patron, Tourism Guild of Agra, said, Taj Mahals popularity is fast becoming its curse. People are looking at short-cuts to fame by using the monument for their vested interests. Taj stands for Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (composite culture). Such controversies are not only damaging for tourism, but also bring bad name to the city and the country, said Dang, adding that authorities needed to handle the problem causing elements with toughness. Let Taj be: tourists Several tourists visiting the Taj Mahal said that such issues should be kept away from the world-famous heritage site. Taj is an epitome of beauty and controversies on religious lines do not go with its ethos. No one should be allowed to harm its reputation. Many in the west know our country because of the Taj. So, the government should be sensible and sensitive while protecting the sanctity of a key tourism destination, said a tourist who was visiting the monument with his family. Built over a period of more than two decades, the 17th century monument stands on the southern bank of Yamuna. It is widely believed that Mughal emperor Shah Jahan got the Taj Mahal constructed it in the memory of his departed wife Mumtaz Mahal. The white marble mausoleum is flanked by a mehmankhana on the east and a mosque on the west, where namaz has traditionally been offered on Eid, Bakrid and Fridays. Till the 1970s, the monument remained open throughout the week without any entry charge. This changed with security threats emerging in the 80s. The gates of the Taj closed at night and a ticket had to be bought to visit it during the day. However, entry remained free on Fridays when namaz was offered at the mosque on the premises. In the 90s, the Supreme Court said that the monument should be closed for a day in the week for maintenance and conservation. Monday was chosen as the weekly closure. But, about a decade later, it was moved to Friday -- the day when the crowd of visitors swelled up, as there were no entry charges. On January 15, 2001, a government order stated that the Taj gates were to remain open for namazis for two hours on Friday afternoon. There remained the issue of Muslim tourists making visits on Friday, although entry was barred for non-Muslims. The matter reached the Supreme Court that ordered in July this year that only local Muslims were to be allowed inside Taj on Fridays for offering namaz. The namaz/ aarti controversy is the latest to dog the Taj Mahal. Earlier, right wing activists had asserted that the monument should be recognised as Tejo Mahalaya, a Shiva temple that was converted into a mausoleum. The issue of Taj Mahal building being harmed by pollutants is also a sensitive one. Industries in Agra have faced closure, as the government took steps to check the effect of pollution on the monument. Taj premises have also been a favourite destination of protesters, especially lawyers seeking a high court bench in western UP who have gatecrashed the monument to get a wide audience for their demand. The Supreme Court had to intervene and ban all publicity seeking gatherings or protests on the Taj premises and its vicinity. From a Meghalaya-centric party till a few years ago, the National Peoples Party (NPP) has emerged as the biggest regional outfit in the northeast. It is in power in Meghalaya and is part of the coalition governments in Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh though not on a similar scale as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP has become the biggest political force in the northeast in the past two years. From being a marginal player, the party has formed governments in four states of the region and is part of the ruling coalition in another two. Founded in 2013 by former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma and now steered by his sons Conrad and James, the NPP doesnt have much presence in Mizoram, but it is hoping to play a role similar to ones it had after the elections in Manipur and Nagaland. Also Read: Mizoram elections 2018: Rice at Rs 1/kg, football fields in district headquarters among list of BJPs poll promises That is by appealing to the tribal and religious sentiments of voters in the poll-bound state as evident in its leaders speeches. Addressing political rallies in Vairengte and Kolasib constituencies on Wednesday, NPP president and Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma pitched his party as the only one working for tribals and Christians. We are a party for the tribals and are working hard to restore our identity as one voice from the northeast. There is a need for all tribals in the region to come together under the NPP banner, Sangma, who belongs to the Garo tribe of Meghalaya, told voters. The NPP is contesting from nine of the 40 totals seats in the assembly. Christians comprise 87% of Mizorams population and 39 of the total 40 seats are reserved for scheduled tribe (ST) candidates. While the NPP is the leading partner in Meghalayas ruling coalition with 20 seats, it won four seats in Manipur and two in Nagaland and joined governments headed by the BJP and Nationalists Democratic Progressive Party respectively. The BJP is part of the ruling coalition in Meghalaya and Nagaland. In July this year, seven of the nine MLAs of Peoples Party of Arunachal (PPA) joined the NPP in Arunachal Pradesh and the party became part of the BJP-led government in that state. Mizoram has always been in the NPPs focus for nearly two years now. We have got a very good response, especially from youths. It seems Mizoram will have a hung assembly this time and in that scenario, we will play a key role, said NPP national general secretary in-charge of Mizoram Dr Lalrintlunga Jahau. Like previous elections, this time too there will be a direct fight for power between ruling Congress and Mizo National Front. The state has never had a hung assembly in the past seven elections since state formation in 1987. Like the BJP, NPP doesnt have any roots in the state. If any of their candidates win it would be purely on the basis of that persons capabilities and not because of the party, said J Doungel, professor of political science at Mizoram University. The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday rejected a plea filed by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, seeking a stay on proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to declare Mallya a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties. Mallya had approached the HC after the special Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) court rejected his plea for staying proceedings initiated by ED on October 30. A division bench of justices RM Savant and VK Jadhav rejected Mallyas appeal, observing that the order of the special PMLA court was not appealable under provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, and therefore Mallyas appeal was not maintainable. The ED had moved the Special PMLA Court invoking provisions of recently-enacted Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, seeking to declare Mallya a fugitive economic offender. The provisions of the act would allow authorities to confiscate Mallyas assets. Mallya is accused of duping public sector banks to the tune of 9,990 crore and also of laundering a large part of the purportedly ill-gotten money out of the country. He is currently a proclaimed fugitive and has been staying in London for the past two years. Advancing arguments on behalf of the liquor baron, advocate Amit Desai said Mallyas endeavour is to clear the loans taken from the public sector banks, but the ED was not allowing him to do so. However, the HC was not inclined to grant Mallya any relief. The ED had initiated proceedings against Mallya after two separate offences were registered against him in connection with huge loans taken for his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, from a consortium of 12 banks led by the State Bank of India. Visuals from Azad Maidan Lok Sangarsh Morcha, which has led the farmers' protests at Azad Maidan, Mumbai has called off the protest after getting written assurances on their demands from Maharashtra Government. pic.twitter.com/N3PMzmjrJT ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Protest called off Lok Sangarsh Morcha calls off farmers protest after written assurances on their demands from the Maharashtra government. Minutes of meeting to be handed to delegation Minutes of the meeting will be handed over to the delegation by chief secretary of Maharashtra. Protest to be withdrawn after written assurance Protest to be withdrawn after written assurance from the government,say farmer leaders. Two protesters in hospital Two protestors have been admitted to St. George Hospital. While one suffered cardiac arrest, the other fainted during the rally. State govts assurance State government assures the delegation that they will clear pending forest right titles in three months. Delegation meets CM Fadnavis A delegation of protesting farmers met Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to reiterate demands for loan waiver and land rights among others. Political support for farmers Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam and NCP legislator Jitendra Awhad express support to the farmers and tribal agitation Minister arrives at Azad Maidan to meet protesters Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan arrives at Azad Maidan to meet protesters. The protesters are demanding proper implementation of the loan waiver package announced by Fadnavis in 2017. 100-year-old protester walks from Thane Among the protesters is Jilabai from Nandurbar district, who says she is 100-years-old. She walked with the protestors from Thane to Azad Maidan. She was called on the stage where she sang a song criticising the government and raised slogans Jijabhai from Nandurbar district, who says she is 100-years-old. ( HT photo ) Farmers reach Azad Maidan after 13-hour walk Protesting farmers have reached Azad Maidan after walking 13 hours over two days from Thane to Mumbai. Protesters at CST Protesters reach Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station Delegation to meet CM Fadnavis A thirty-member delegation of farmers-tribals will be meeting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to put forth their demands. AAP supporters join farmers march Apart from farmers, Aam Aadmi Party supporters and some Mumbai based social groups are participating in the march. Farmers reach JJ flyover The protesting farmers have reached the J J flyover . Farmers begin march from Sion The protesting farmers began their march from Sion at 5:10 am for a 20km walk to Azad Maidan. All the firemen remember grenades being flung at them from the Oberoi Trident and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Fireman Yuvraj Pawar, who was stationed at Colaba fire station on November 26, 2008, recalled one silver lining: Fortunately, the terrorists couldnt aim. There were over 100 firemen involved in rescue operations during the attacks of 26/11 and though, not all won awards for their efforts, every fireman showed exemplary courage. PS Rahangdale, currently the chief fire officer of Mumbai Fire Brigade and the assistant fire officer at Colaba fire station in 2008, said, Firemen always take calculated risks, but this rescue operation was beyond all calculations. Rahangdale and Pawar were among those who received gallantry awards. They were part of the team that took the fire tender to the Oberoi Trident on November 26. Rahangdale remembers a gruesome sight awaited the firemen when they entered the hotel. There was a girl sitting at the reception when I went closer, I saw that she was dead and half her skull was smashed. We brought back her dead body along with the chair. There was no time for emotion. Many needed our help, he said. We rescued around 100-150 people that day from Trident, recalled Pawar. This went on even as there were grenades being thrown at us. Fortunately, the terrorists could not aim. A few grenades fell near the fire tender, but did not explode. The situation at Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was literally a trial by fire for the officers. For four days and nights, fire tenders from the suburbs were diverted to the Colaba hotel. Pawar said, We were rescuing people from all sides [of the hotel]. I specifically remember that when we were rescuing people from the new Taj building in BEST buses, terrorists were throwing grenades from the heritage hotel. At one point, we had to stop the rescue till NSG commandos gave us cover and then we continued. On November 29, there was a fire under the dome of the heritage hotel. Rahangdale, Pawar, two more firemen and two commandos went inside to use the buildings inbuilt fire safety system because the hosepipes were not long enough to reach the fire. Rahangdale said they could hear gunshots. We had no bulletproof jackets or arms with us. The only defence we had was smoke. We as firemen knew how to tackle it, but the terrorists probably did not, he said. Pawar remembers the hotel was strewn with blood, body parts and dead bodies. The rescue was dangerous work. At midnight on 26th a policeman standing next to our ambulance was shot in his head from above, remembered driver Bhagwan Jadhav. On the last day we were inside our fire tender near Taj when we saw a man fall out of the hotel. He was the last terrorist. A delegation of protesting farmers met Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday to reiterate their demands for loan waiver and land rights among others, eight months after they were promised reforms by the BJP government. The states water resource minister Girish Mahajan accompanied the delegation from Lok Sangharsh Morcha, the organisers of the march from Thane to the state capital, to their meeting with Fadnavis at the Vidhan Bhawan. The farmers are demanding the proper implementation of the loan waiver package announced by Fadnavis last year and that of the recommendations of the MS Swaminathan Commission for 50% more than the cost of their crops, land rights for tribal farmers as well as compensation for farm labourers. They have been hit by a drought as well. Thousands of farmers and tribals were back in Mumbai after walking nearly 40 kilometres to demand for the implementation of the measures promised by the Fadnavis government in March last year. Morchas general secretary Pratibha Shinde had said on Wednesday that the protesters, who are carrying two kilograms of rice and one kilogram of dal, will stay put in Mumbai unless their demands are met. Wake up Protesters earlier gathered at Azad Maidan, a ground known for protest meetings and political rallies as well as its cricket pitches, shouting slogans like Maharashtra government wake up as they held a rally. The protesters from across Maharashtra started their March on Wednesday under the banner of Lok Sangharsh Morcha from Thane and walked for 13 hours to reach Azad Maidan. Jilabai from Nandurbar district, who is more than 100 years old, was among the protesters who walked from Thane to Azad Maidan. She was called on the stage at Azad Maidan where she sang a song criticising the government and shouted slogans. Sardar Ramsingh from Jalgaon said he sold his goat for Rs 1,400 to participate in the march to Mumbai. Ramsingh said he had five acres of land but it was acquired by the forest department and now has to work as a farm labourer on somebody elses land to earn Rs 150 per day. I had no money to come here. So, I sold my goat and arranged some money, he said. They gathered at the Anand Nagar octroi naka in Mulund since Wednesday night. After marching for close to 19km, they halted for the night at Somaiyya Ground in Sion. The state government offered them buses from Sion but they refused, saying they preferred to walk. Apart from the farmers, supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party and some Mumbai based social groups are also participating in the march. Officials of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) said they diverted all of its south-bound bus routes on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marg via Bhoiwada and KEM Hospital route since 8am due to the march. This is the second time in eight months that the farmers have marched to the state capital demanding for their rights. More than 35,000 farmers from across Maharashtra, led by Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), took out a march from Nashik to Mumbai on March 12 to press for their demands. Their 180km march over several days culminated in Mumbai on March 11. The farmers called off their agitation after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government accepted almost all of their demands in writing and assured to implement them in a time-bound manner. But the farmers said the government has not met any of their demands since then. A special Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court at Muzaffarpur on Wednesday remanded two close aides of Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the shelter home case in which the girl inmates of the facility were sexually abused, in five-day CBI custody. The court, hearing cases filed under the Pocso Act, however, declined the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) request for seven-day custody of Madhu Kumari and Ashwani Kumar who allegedly posed as a doctor and posted the matter to November 26 for further hearing. Madhu Kumari and Ashwani Kumar were on Wednesday produced before the court of special Pocso judge RP Tiwari after their medical examination at Muzaffarpur sadar hospital. Madhu, who had gone underground after the horrific sex scandal came to light, surrendered before a special CBI court at Muzaffarpur on Tuesday. Ashwini, who posed as a doctor, was arrested from Fatehpur village in Kurhni police station area of the district on Tuesday night. Also known as Bada Bhusan, Ashwini did not have any medical degree, a CBI officer said, adding that he learnt how to administer injections while sitting in the clinic of his father, a doctor, at Kurhani, about 30 km from Muzaffarpur town. He used to visit the shelter home run by Thakur on call and allegedly used to administer injections laced with sedatives to the shelter home inmates before they were subjected to sexual abuse, the officer said. The officer said Madhu, who handled many businesses of Thakur, allegedly decided which girl should be sent outside the short stay home. There are indications that girls were also sent outside Muzaffarpur, he said, adding that the statements of the girls also corroborated the allegation that they were forced to go the residences of officials and political leaders. Thirtyfour girls, who had recorded their statements before a judicial magistrate on the direction of a POCSO court, in their statement claimed that a doctor used to visit the shelter home often and injected them sedatives. The medical examination of the girls also showed they had burn and cut marks all over their bodies. After the scandal came to light, the Muzaffarpur police recovered 63 different medicines and wrappers of used drugs from the shelter home premises. Eighteen people, including Thakur, have so far been arrested in connection with the high-profile scandal, which came to light following a social audit of the shelter homes in Bihar conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) earlier this year. Thakur is currently lodged at a jail in Punjabs Patiala following a Supreme Court order. Altogether 107 people worked with Thakurs NGO Sewa Sankalp Aur Vikas Samiti that ran the shelter home. Talking to reporters, Madhu sought to know why she had been arrested while 99 other NGO employees were moving scot free. Claiming that she knew nothing about the goings on at the shelter home, Madhu revealed that she used to write PhD thesis for wives of government officers. With opinion polls predicting a tough time for the BJP in Rajasthan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to address around a dozen election meetings in the state ahead of the December 7 Assembly polls, where the party is seeking a second consecutive term. Party officials said Modi will begin campaigning on November 25 from Alwar district which has 11 Assembly constituencies. The BJP has axed seven out of the nine sitting MLAs including minister Hem Singh Bhadana in the district. The BJP lost the by-poll in Mundawar, one of the nine seats, which was held after the death of its MLA Dharmpal Chaudhary. The saffron party had also lost badly in the by-poll to the Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency held earlier this year. Also read | Rajasthan assembly elections: 11 Congress, BJP leaders switch loyalties for tickets Modi starting his election campaign from Alwar is seen as an effort to give a big boost to the partys prospects in the region. The Prime Minister will address three election rallies in Bhilwara, Banswara and Kota on November 26 while two days later, he will address election rallies in Nagaur and Bharatpur. Modi will address his next election rally in the state on December 3 in Jodhpur. Former Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has filed his nomination for the Sardarpura Assembly constituency in the district. On December 4, the Prime Minister will address rallies in Hanumangarh, Sikar and Jaipur. Read more: List of Vote Share in Rajasthan Assembly He may address a few more meetings in the state where the party is said to be facing a strong anti-incumbency mood. BJP President Amit Shah and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje have travelled across the state extensively. Polls for the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will be held on December 7 and the results will be declared on December 11. You may also like | BJP banks on old faces; for Congress, it is women and youth in Rajasthan polls For full coverage on Rajasthan assembly elections 2018 click here Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken on Wednesday cornered BJP government over its performance on agriculture and farmers, youth and employment and women security in Rajasthan. He alleged that BJP made big promises before the previous assembly elections but after winning with huge mandate they neglected the people of the state. Addressing media at state Congress office, Maken alleged the BJP government promised of establishing a permanent system for minimum support price (MSP) and farmers protection act. They promised that farmers will get fertilisers, seed and medicines at Panchayat level on government prices but looking at their performance, over 100 farmers have committed suicide. Quota and token system in crop procurement led to further corruption. BJP in Rajasthan could provide 2.62 lakh jobs in its tenure as against the promise of 15 lakh jobs, Maken alleged. The Centre for Monitoring of Indian economy report states that the unemployment rate of Rajasthan is double than that of the country, said Maken. He alleged that for women security, BJP promised special courts to dispose of women cases. Chief minister Vasundhara Raje had raised chain-snatching cases before previous elections but in last four years across the state 1,965 incidents took place of which 722 were in Jaipur. In comparison to 2017, till September 2018, there has been an increase in rape cases by 37%. He continued that around 20,000 girls of under five years are dying every year in absence of proper medical treatment. The drop-out rate of girls of 12-15 years of age is 9%, followed by Uttar Pradesh. On party rebel candidates, he said that they are not rebels but unhappy Congress workers. Senior Congress leaders have come to Rajasthan to talk to them. It is to be appreciated that Congress has got more than one capable candidate from every constituency and among them, we have chosen one. So there is bound to be unhappy workers who are aggrieved. This is not the first time that this is happening, Maken said. He said that BJP is also facing a similar problem. They are not being able to manage their five ministers and there people have also formed parties. By Thursday evening, the unhappy Congress workers who have filed nominations will withdraw. On the issue of parachute candidates and AICC chief Rahul Gandhis statement of denying ticket to such candidates, Maken said, In Congress, ticket suggestions are taken from ground workers, winning combinations are searched and thereafter tickets are given. Commenting on it, BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said over 15 lakh youth were provided employment or self employment by the Rajasthan government. Farmer loan were waived off and farmers land productivity was improved through soil health card. The law and order situation improved under the BJP regime. Earlier, crimes used to take place and the criminals were absconding. But in many cases now, they are caught within 24 hours. Development in all sectors - be it farmers, youth, women or labourers - has gained pace like never before, Pareek said. A car plowed into children outside a primary school in northeastern China on Thursday, killing fice and injuring 18, state media reported. The driver was taken into custody after the crash around noon in the coastal city of Huludao in Liaoning province, state broadcaster CCTV said. The cause was under investigation, although China has seen a number of recent deliberate vehicle attacks. A woman who answered the phone at Huludao police headquarters said they could not reveal anything yet. Security camera footage showed a line of children crossing the street in front of their school when a car approaches, then changes lanes and swerves into a crowd of the children. At least half a dozen students appear to have been hit. Government spokesmen reached by phone said they were not authorized to release information about the crash. While it wasnt clear if the crash was a deliberate attack, China has recently seen a number of such incidents. Last month, a knife-wielding man drove a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians in the eastern city of Ningbo, killing two people and wounding 16. And in September, 11 people were killed and 44 hospitalized after a man drove an SUV deliberately into people at a plaza in the central province of Hunan, before jumping out and attacking victims with a dagger and shovel. The most common motivations are identified as mental illness, alienation from society or a desire to settle scores. Other deadly attacks have occurred at schools, including several in 2010 in which nearly 20 children were killed, prompting a response from top government officials and leading many schools to beef up security. However, in June, a man used a kitchen knife to attack three boys and a mother near a school in Shanghai, killing two of the children. Last year, police said a man set off an explosion at the front gate of a kindergarten in eastern China, which struck as relatives gathered to pick up their children at the end of the day, killing eight people. US Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts has criticized President Donald Trump for alleging federal judges are influenced by the politics of presidents that appointed them and defended the independence of the judiciary in a rare public rebuke of the president. We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges, Roberts said in a statement Wednesday. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for. Talking to reporters on Wednesday, the president had lashed out against a federal judge of San Francisco, Jon S Tigar, who had stayed his asylum ban. He had called him an Obama judge, clearly implying he had ruled against the order because he had been appointed by President Barack Obama. The chief justices rare public rebuke did unsettle the president, who prides himself as a counter-puncher. He sought to push back in a string of Tweets over Wednesday and Thursday. Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. But there were no further comments from Roberts. The chief justice, who was appointed by President George W Bush, a Republican, has been attacked by President Trump before as a candidate, he had called the chief justice an absolute disaster. But Roberts had not responded then and not in subsequent instances of attacks on judges. As a candidate, Trump had questioned the impartiality of a judge who was dealing with lawsuits against now-defunct Trump University; and had suggested he was biased against him because he was of Mexican descent. The chief justices remarks were also being seen in the context of the bitter political fight that took place recently over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, the presidents second nominee to the Supreme Court. His confirmation tilts the balance on the nine-member bench in favor of conservatives and Chief Justice Roberts, experts expect, might become the swing vote, a slot earlier occupied by Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose retirement paved the way for Kavanaugh. President Trump has also railed against the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, to which Tigar belongs and which has reversed many of his administrations most controversial orders such as the Muslim travel ban, and rescinding the Deferred Action against Childhood Arrivals.Trump suggested the high court that deals with federal appeals pertaining to nine western states and two Pacific Island jurisdictions is biased against his administration and needs to be split up to mitigate its influence. But the president has been given grief even by judge he has appointed. The White Houses decision to strip a CNN reporter of his credential, for instance, was overturned by Timothy J Kelly, a Washington DC federal judge appointed by Trump. Now Open 22 November 2018 Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, a leading upper midscale hotel brand, today announced the opening of Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Belleville, ON located at 245 North Front Street. The newly constructed hotel features the brand's latest designs with modern interiors and spacious guest rooms and suites. The hotel's convenient location near Highways 401 and 62 makes it the perfect spot for guests traveling on business, cheering on the Belleville Senators or rolling down the slopes at Batawa Ski Hill. Guests also have easy access to the beaches, wineries and other attractions in Prince Edward County. The hotel offers 69 guest rooms and suites. Guests have access to an onsite fitness center, 24-hour business center, complimentary parking, heated indoor pool and free Wi-Fi. Guests can also enjoy a complimentary, hot breakfast served every morning. The hotel can serve as an excellent space for hosting corporate seminars or special events There are two meeting rooms with flexible configurations equipped to hold up to 40 guests. Each meeting room features free Wi-Fi and audio-visual equipment. External Article 22 November 2018 With its first hotel opening in Beijing in 2015, NUO plans to expand to cities from New York to Kuala Lumpur over the next 15 years Hotels will provide a home away from home for Chinese travellers Advertisements The world-famous Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York might now be under the control of the Chinese government - it announced in February that it had seized control of Anbang Insurance Group, which owns the hotel - but China's ambition is to set up a home-grown hotel brand that will have outlets around the world. Spearheading the drive is the state-owned Beijing Tourism Group (BTG), which boasts over 100 hospitality, dining, fashion, transport and other industry brands. BTG set up NUO Hotel in the city centre of Beijing in 2015 as part of its restructuring to help make Chinese brands go global. The hotel's general manager Adrian Rudin says 15 to 20 hotels under the NUO brand will be opened in 10 to 15 years in cities including Rome, Moscow, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Paris, London, New York and Dubai. "We will start off in a few key Chinese cities first, including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen," says Rudin. "Then the brand will go overseas." The goal is to have a hotel in each major city around the world so that Chinese national leaders can be put up in home-grown hotels on their overseas trips, says Cindy Zhu, NUO's director of marketing communications. You are using an out of date browser. 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It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser RevPAR up 3.1 Percent to US$84.99 The U.S. hotel industry reported positive year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 11-17 November 2018, according to data from STR. In comparison with the week of 12-18 November 2017, the industry recorded the following: Occupancy: +0.6% to 66.6% Average daily rate (ADR): +2.5 to US$127.53 Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +3.1% to US$84.99 Among the Top 25 Markets, Boston, Massachusetts, registered the largest increases in occupancy (+9.7% to 86.6%) and RevPAR (+21.5% to US$188.52). San Francisco/ San Mateo, California, posted the largest lift in ADR (+12.0% to US$256.77). San Diego, California, saw the second-highest increases in occupancy (+5.8% to 77.3%) and RevPAR (+13.9% to US$120.05). Overall, 17 of the Top 25 Markets reported growth in RevPAR for the week. Houston, Texas, registered the steepest declines in occupancy (-17.3% to 66.5%) and RevPAR (-23.3% to US$71.92). Denver, Colorado, reported the second-largest drop in RevPAR (-15.6% to US$92.65), due primarily to the steepest decline in ADR (-7.6% to US$128.84). Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota-Wisconsin, experienced the only other double-digit decreases in occupancy (-10.1% to 62.3%) and RevPAR (-11.7% to US$71.65). View U.S. weekly hotel performance review STR provides clients from multiple market sectors with premium, global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 10 countries around the world with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and an international headquarters in London, England. For more information, please visit str.com. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource The hotel's location near Highways 401 and 62 makes it the perfect spot for guests traveling on business, cheering on the Belleville Senators or rolling down the slopes at Batawa Ski Hill. Guests also have easy access to the beaches, wineries and other attractions in Prince Edward County. Country Inn & Suites by Radisson ;y announced the opening of Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Belleville, ON located at 245 North Front Street. The newly constructed hotel features the brand's latest designs with modern interiors and spacious guest rooms and suites. The hotel's location near Highways 401 and 62 makes it the perfect spot for guests traveling on business, cheering on the Belleville Senators or rolling down the slopes at Batawa Ski Hill. Guests also have easy access to the beaches, wineries and other attractions in Prince Edward County. "The opening of this beautiful hotel signifies our five-year strategic plan in action as we transform our Country Inn & Suites by Radisson portfolio into our Generation 4 product," said Aly El-Bassuni, senior vice president, Franchise Operations, Americas, Radisson Hotel Group. "We are excited to roll out our upgraded design in North America and continue to bring our guests an exceptional hospitality experience." The hotel offers 69 guest rooms and suites. Guests have access to an onsite fitness center, 24-hour business center, complimentary parking, heated indoor pool and free Wi-Fi. Guests can also enjoy a complimentary, hot breakfast served every morning. The hotel can serve as an excellent space for hosting corporate seminars or special events There are two meeting rooms with flexible configurations equipped to hold up to 40 guests. Each meeting room features free Wi-Fi and audio-visual equipment. "I am incredibly proud to open our new hotel under the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson brand after being in business and raising my family in this great city for the past 15 years," said Arwinder Atwal, the hotel's owner. "I am confident this hotel will be a great asset to the community and region for both business and leisure travel." Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource Maud Bailly, chief digital officer at the French hotel giant, told the Phocuswright conference in Los Angeles last week that guests are willing to trade their data for a better experience. Excerpt from Travolution AccorHotels is taking guest data to create a more personalised experience as it bid to increase loyalty to its many hospitality brands. Maud Bailly, chief digital officer at the French hotel giant, told the Phocuswright conference in Los Angeles last week that guests are willing to trade their data for a better experience. "Eighty per cent of guests are willing to share their information to get a more personalised stay," she said. "Hospitality is detail. It's acknowledging guests in their differences, their passions, their challenges and achievements." "If you want to retain your guests you'd better create an eco-system that's offering more than just a night." Bailey said Accor has signed 70 partnerships, including a recent one with Eurostar, that will enable its guests to "enjoy a broader travel experience". And she said the firm has been focused in making things simpler, by reducing the number of rate types, and more fluid, with intuitive customer interfaces requiring fewer clicks to complete a task. "We have developed a true user experience culture," she said with quicker download times on mobile and desk top given as an example. Click here to read complete article at Travolution. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource During his regular morning duties at Hot 97, Ebro discussed Tekashi 6ix9ine's legal case and revealed that he received information from the NYPD. The radio personality stated that the New York Police Department said that they believed 6ix9ine would be either in dead or in jail by the time 2018 concludes. However, 50 Cent seems to question why Ebro was talking to cops in the first place. 50 Cent came to 6ix9ine's defense against Ebro earlier today on Instagram. Fif, who has his own issues with the Hot97 host, suggested that Ebro could be working with the police. "@oldmanebro you working with police," he wrote. "why the police sending you intel." Tekashi 6ix9ine was arrested on Sunday night on firearms and gun charges. The rapper is facing a life sentence in the case and is currently in the general population section of Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center. The judge denied the rapper bail, saying that he's too dangerous to be let out on house arrest. 6ix9ine's arrest seems to have played a role in the postponement his album DUMMY BOY which was set to drop this Friday. His team shared a statement saying that the project has been put on hold "until further notice." Fif later chimed in on the project's delay by sharing the cover art on Instagram with the caption, "Dummy Boy album is not coming out, Nov23 anymore Boy oh Boy." Thanksgiving isn't always a celebratory holiday for people. Some people spend the holiday alone, like 50 Cent. The rapper took to social media to wish his fans a Happy Thanksgiving while revealing what that he'll be handling his holiday meal on his own terms. https://www.instagram.com/p/BqL_PguHrlv 50 Cent seems to be spending his Thanksgiving alone, but it doesn't upset him as much as you think. The rapper hit the 'Gram to show off his cooking skills while making himself a relatively basic turkey sandwich. "Waddup, it's your boy 50 Cent. I just want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving," he said before putting together his Thanksgiving sandwich consisting of turkey cold-cuts, KRAFT singles, and plain white bread. "Yeah, nobody picking up their phones so I'm doing Thankgiving my way... Good," he added as he took the sandwich out of the microwave and revealed a large wad of cash that seems to be his choice of side for his holiday meal. "That's gon' work. And you bitches better never ask me for a dime," he concluded. https://www.instagram.com/p/BqfkyRGH5Im Despite the holiday, Fif is still trolling his enemies. The rapper continued to fire shots at Hot97's Ebro over his involvement with the police in regards to Tekashi 6ix9ine's case. Ebro suggested 50 Cent was a snitch last night after the rapper asked if the host is "working with police." Fif clapped back earlier today and asked Ebro how often he has coffee dates with the NYPD to go over current events. Blac Chyna's new business venture in Nigeria is being met with serious hostility, and for good reason. She posted a photo on Instagram last night inviting everyone in Nigeria to come to the launch of her new collaboration with the "skincare" company called Whitenicious: "Lagos Nigeria, join me at the first official launch of my face cream this Sunday November 25th at the Whitenicious store from 1-5PM. Everyone is invited." There was immediate backlash from a native of the country, the rapper Burna Boy. He posted a screenshot of Blac Chyna's post to his Instagram story, writing that if you attend the event you "might as well commit suicide." He addressed Chyna specifically, saying "you can come and shake your booty sha. But leave that poison in your house," finishing the post with a more uplifting sentiment: "Ladies, your black is beautiful!" The company itself is worth looking into. The Whitenicious Instagram is a little haunting, to say the least. Their before and after photos feature black across the eyes of their subjects reminiscent of photos of a confidential military operation. They even have a tribute to the late Joe Jackson which is, if not in bad taste, at least a little weird considering his son's becoming white and the well-documented body-image problems of Jackson Jr. that are believed to stem from his father's treatment of him. In the photo, Jackson is holding to little urns of Whitenicious' product. He may be the consummate Badazz, capable of striking fear in the hearts of lesser men, but don't mistake him for a one trick pony. The Louisiana icon has pulled out all the stops on his latest album, Boosie Blues Cafe. In case you were wondering, the title is not entirely thematic. Boosie actually backs up his intentions, putting forth a full-fledged blues album for your consumption. While slightly rough around the edges, such is the Badazz way; do you really want your blues to be polished and refined. I think not. Though the album serves more as a moment of respectable self-expression more than anything, there are a few moments in which Boosie's personality shines. One such moment is "Love Yo Family," which arrives in time for some wholesome Thanksgiving fun. Though Boosie's vocals are well-intentioned, it's the inter-line commentary that truly ties this one together. In these dark times, perhaps we should all take a page outta Boosie's book, and send a text to that family member you've been neglecting. Happy Thanksgiving to the American homies. Quotable Lyrics Moonshine for my homies N***a drink how you want! My nephew like the weed N***a smoke how you want! Rexx Life Raj is gearing up for the release of his new project, California Puppy which is set to arrive at the end of the month. The West Coast rapper dished out his album Father Figure 2: Figure over a year ago and followed it with a slew of loose singles and music videos from the project. As he gears up to release the follow-up to his 2017 EP, the West Coast rapper teams up with the Bay Area legend, E-40 for the second single off the project. Rexx Life Raj and E-40 join forces on their new collab, "Sprinkle Me." The hook on Rexx Life Raj's new track interpolates E-40's 1995 song of the same name. "Sprinkle Me" serves as the second single off of California Puppy, following the release of "Long Way" which he dropped last week. Peep the new track below and keep your eyes peeled for Rexx Life Raj's new EP, California Puppy which is set to drop on Nov. 30th. Quotable Lyrics This year the new pairs, the next year I'm at the Regency Top floor where the white people be and did that legally Build a business up with the homies and spread that evenly One half human, one half deity T.I. has been about giving back to his community in whatever way he can. The rapper recently joined forces with Atlanta's Mayor Keisha Bottoms for the thirteenth annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway in Atlanta. T.I. handed out hundreds of turkeys to the elderly today as part of the annual Thankgiving turkey giveaway in southwest Atlanta. The rapper teamed up with Keisha Bottoms, who recruited T.I. as a member of her transition team, as well as volunteers and city representatives to hand out turkeys to local grandparents raising their grandchildren. This year's annual event was co-hosted alongside T.I.'s non-profit Harris Community Works. "Thanksgiving is about giving thanks and showing appreciation to the people you consider a family," T.I. told WSBTV. This is far from the first time T.I. has tried to do his part to help his community around the holidays. Last year, the rapper helped some single mothers do some last-minute Christmas shopping and paid for everyone's gifts. The rapper ultimately ended up dropping $20K in total within a 30-minute span to ensure that that people had gifts for their children. The rapper left abruptly after that in order to catch a flight. It's something that he's done on numerous occasions in the past. Aside from the Thanksgiving turkey giveaway, the rapper recently revealed that he has plans to buy and flip as many buildings as he could in his old neighborhood and turn them into affording housing units. A pair of acquisitions on Monday worth almost $2 billion combined showed that the focus of the oil and gas sector remains on West Texas burgeoning Permian Basin. In one deal, Cimarex Energy said it will buy its smaller Denver rival Resolute Energy for almost $1 billion in a combination of two companies primarily working in the Permian. With little land in the Permian not spoken for, Cimarex is buying out a competitor mainly to gain its more than 21,000-acre position in the plays Delaware Basin, specifically in Reeves County. In the other deal Monday, yet another Denver-based company, QEP Resources, said it will sell its Haynesville shale assets in northwestern Louisiana for $735 million to a Dallas private equity-backed firm so it can concentrate exclusively on the Permian. Less than two weeks ago, QEP agreed to sell its Williston Basin acreage in North Dakota and Montana for $1.7 billion as it unloads all its assets outside the Permian. Despite temporary pipeline shortages, the Permian remains so popular that a number of companies are working together to invest in communities in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, including in the Midland-Odessa region. The Permian shale oil resurgence in the last couple of years upended the area, and community services and housing supplies were woefully unprepared for the influx of new people. The Permian Strategic Partnership, which formed earlier this year, has quickly grown from a handful of companies to 17 and counting. The partnership said it is pledging more than $100 million to help improve roads, schools, health care, housing and workforce training. The Permian now accounts for nearly one-third of the nations record-high oil production of about 11.7 million barrels a day. The list of companies in the group includes Big Oil players Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell, as well as a bevy of Houston producers such as Occidental Petroleum Corp., EOG Resources, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Apache Corp., and major services providers such as Schlumberger and Halliburton. The plan, in the coming months, is for the partnership to open an office and hire staff to help lead the effort. Early next year, the companies will launch community meetings to invite citizen input and recruit volunteers. For most of this year, the Midland-Odessa region has represented the nations hottest housing market, according to the National Association of Realtors, beating out coastal tech centers like San Francisco and Boston. A once-in-a-generation opportunity has brought us together for a common purpose to strengthen the communities where we live and work, the partnership said in its announcement. jordan.blum@chron.com twitter.com/jdblum23 WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump, one of fossil fuels best friends, faces a backlash against his efforts to unravel government support for renewable energy in state capitols from Maine to Nevada. In January, Democrats who ran campaigns promising to transition their states away from oil, natural gas and other fossil fuels will replace Republican governors in six states that include Colorado, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Illinois. The election earlier this month did not deliver across-the-board victories for clean energy, with voters in Washington state rejecting a carbon fee and those in Arizona voting no on a referendum for 50 percent renewable energy. But the industry chalked up far more wins than losses. Those wins include Colorado Governor-elect Jared Polis, who pledged to help bring his state to 100 percent renewable energy by 2040. In New Mexico, one of the countrys largest oil producing states, Governor-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham says that state will reach 50 percent of its energy from renewables by 2030. At a recent event in Washington, lobbyists for the wind and solar energy industries predicted the election would accelerate growth, as this new wave of Democratic politicians put pressure on legislatures to increase renewable energy mandates in the decades ahead. This was a seismic shift, said Greg Wetstone, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy, a Washington-based trade group. When you have pro-renewables governors in office things can happen very quickly. On HoustonChronicle.com: In Silicon Valley, power industry is next target for disruption The Democratic victory comes as the Trump administration continues to seek a government subsidy for coal and nuclear power plants, which, under pressure from cheaper natural gas and renewables, have closed at a fast clip across the country. Such proposals have drawn jeers, not only from clean energy advocates, but also the oil and gas industry. Pressure building The pressure on coal and nuclear, meanwhile, is only expected to increase. Technological innovation, along with a huge surge in output from Chinese manufacturers, has driven down the cost of renewables to the point they have made up the majority of new generation installed in the United States for five years running. A report by the investment bank Lazard released earlier this month found that even without government tax breaks, onshore wind turbines and solar panels generated electricity at the same price or lower than coal and natural gas plants in some markets. This [election] puts the brakes on any talk were going to take away support for renewable energy, said Amy Myers Jaffe, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank in New York. People are in favor of [climate change] solutions if they are sure it would work. States put in renewable energy and everyones light are still on. The continued rise of solar and wind energy presents an existential threat to the Texas oil and gas industry, which, facing forecasts of shrinking gasoline demand, is banking on selling more natural gas to power plants as world economies reduce carbon emissions Oil executives hope that the renewable pledges of the Democratic governors-elect are just campaign promises, not to be taken too seriously. And they take heart in politicians such as Polis in Colorado, who, despite his clean energy platform, also opposed a referendum putting restraints on oil and gas drilling in his state. They took on this platform, knowing it was an easy box to check given their base. But I wouldnt read too much into it, said Steve Everly, an energy consultant and spokesman for the advocacy group Texans for Natural Gas. Its easy if youre coming into an office, at most for eight years, and say this is what were going to do in 2050. Even if they do commit to renewables as pledged, the new governors will face a gauntlet of public utility commissions, state budget fights, shifting public opinion and an entrenched utility sector that commands tens of thousands of jobs around the country and spends heavily on lobbying legislatures and state-level political campaigns. . Already, fossil fuel interest are lobbying to roll back government support for wind and solar energy, setting up fights in Washington and state capitols including Austin. In Illinois, where Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker has called for 50 percent renewables by 2025, a large nuclear power sector along with ballooning public debt are likely to make meeting that target near impossible, said Colin Smith, an analyst with the research firm Wood Mackenzie. No guarantees The political landscape is improved for wind and solar, but its by no means a guarantee, he said. In a lot of these areas, 100 percent renewable targets might not be realistic. But at the very least were seeing a picture where theres going to be a lot of demand for additional renewables in these states. On HoustonChronivle.com: Is Houston missing the next energy wave? Already wind and solar developers in Texas are gearing up for a lot more work. In some ways, they say, the growth was inevitable. Falling costs of wind turbines and solar panels, along with increasing societal pressure on corporations to shift to cleaner energy, are driving demand for more solar installations and wind farms. And with advances in battery technology, the days of a cost competitive home battery system linked with rooftop solar are not far off, said John Berger, CEO of the Houston solar developer Sunnova. If that prediction proves out, that could move consumers to renewables long before the clean energy targets set by state governors. Those people who think batteries are 10 years away, I dont know if its going to take two years, Berger said. It really doesnt matter whos in the White House or Congress. Were going to win. james.osborne@chron.com Twitter: @osborneja The Johnny Nelson Katy Heritage Museum now is home to a boat used to rescue residents stranded after Hurricane Harvey hit the community. Andy Wohlgemuth, Bass Pro Shops-Katy community/social media coordinator, donated the boat to the city along with a plaque on Nov. 15. When the Harvey flood devastated Katy, the city reached out to Gov. Greg Abbott, who then reached out to our owner Johnny Morris, explained Wohlgemuth. Johnnys response was Whatever you need, whatever it takes which set in motion the transfer of some 80 boats from our manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Mo. Within 24 hours, the boats arrived, were supplemented by 20-some boats already in our inventory, and then made available to the Texas National Guard, the City of Katy and other first responders. Although the store was officially closed, our general manager Steve Dooley kept the doors open so the first responders could use it as a base of operations for a couple of days, continued Wohlgemuth. During that time we also made available to these brave folks anything they needed like a mountain of beef jerky, dry socks, gloves, rope, batteries, flashlights, you name it. All with no strings attached and no expectation of payment. After the boats began to filter back in, we looked at the scratches and dents on them. It occurred to us that each scratch and dent was a story. Our thought was to choose a boat, get the community to sign it, and donate it to the Katy Heritage Museum. To this end, I contacted the mayor and received his hearty approval. We then took the boat to the 2017 Katy Rice Harvest Festival , as well as displayed it in our lobby for a few weeks, giving the community an opportunity to sign it. The boat was completely covered with signatures, expressions of appreciation, and inspiring messages, said Wohlgemuth. A lot of people signed it, said Katy Mayor Chuck Brawner. They signed every inch, bottom, sides and edges. Some were affected by the flood and may have been in that exact boat. That boat saved a lot of lives, added Brawner. It has meaning. That boat had dents, dings and was beat up from rescues. He called the accompanying plaque presented by Bass Pro absolutely beautiful, and said it will be mounted in front of the boat. The mayor added, It was a wonderful thing for Bass Pro to supply the boats. The boats were really needed in the initial stages of rescue. Floodwaters had damaged the museum, so Bass Pro Shops waited for the city to give a date for the boat-donation ceremony, Wohlgemuth said. The city hosted a May 24 rededication ceremony of the museum as it was renamed after Nelson, a former mayor and city administrator, who founded the museum that first opened in 2002. Although I do not have specific details, I know our company responded in the same manner to the communities elsewhere in the country, who were devastated by flooding during the 2018 hurricane season as well, added Wohlgemuth. The boat is a TRACKER Topper 2031 jon. The museum is located at 6002 George Bush Drive in Katy. karen.zurawski@chron.com WASHINGTON - The three District of Columbia high school seniors had a whirlwind of a summer. First, they had a private meeting with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Or was it Microsoft chief Satya Nadella? They can't quite remember. But they know they loved it all. Google sent them to Flint, Michigan, to distribute clean water. They traveled to Seattle to participate in a computer programming event, and to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. They received fan mail from Girl Scouts. They met black female scientists who offered career advice. Colleges called, swaying them to apply to their campuses. And Lester Holt featured them on "NBC Nightly News." Their story tread an all-too-familiar path in our epoch: from inspiring to dismaying and back to inspiring. "A lot has transpired," said Bria Snell, one of the high-schoolers. Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner and Snell - all 17 years old and students at Banneker High - were finalists in a prestigious NASA high school competition. The trio were the only all-black, female team to make it that far. But during the online voting portion of the competition, users on 4chan - an anonymous Internet forum where users are known to push hoaxes and spew racist and homophobic comments - tried to ensure the students wouldn't win. They hacked the voting system, erasing votes, and told others not to support the teens because of the color of their skin. A Washington Post article about the incident led politicians, business leaders and scientists to connect with the three students. For the NASA competition, they had developed a method to purify lead-contaminated water in school drinking fountains, and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser awarded them a $4,000 grant to further their invention. Six months later, the teens - now seniors applying to college - say the encounter with racism left them undeterred. They still plan to be doctors and scientists and know that, as black females in these male-dominated fields, they almost certainly will encounter discrimination again as professionals. "Looking back at it, in a way, I'm glad I experienced it at such a young age because I'll know how to handle it when I encounter it again," Sharrieff said. "I know I'll hit more bumps in the road and, after experiencing this, I can speak up." The teens said the hacking wasn't completely unexpected. When they posted about their competition on Twitter, some people criticized them. The anonymous posters used racial epithets, argued that the students' project did not deserve to be a finalist and said the black community was voting for the teens only because of their race. The students suspected that one of these people could take more drastic measures to thwart their chances. When they saw their vote count in the NASA competition plummet, their fears were confirmed. "To be told we were at an advantage because of our skin, it was confusing," Snell said. "Why can't we just win because we worked hard? It seems they can't see past the color of our skin." "If a panel of NASA judges could see something in our projects, why couldn't the world see that?" Sharrieff asked. After the attempted hacking of the competition was confirmed, Marissa Jennings - an African-American woman and their adviser in the competition - invited the teens to her office to try to unpack what happened but struggled to have the conversation. "That was a moment I will never forget. Having to tell these 17-year-olds that something that they worked so hard for got stopped dead in its strides," Jennings said. "At their best, they have to face the world telling them, no, you're not the best." She said the students remained determined and decided they would set an example for girls of color across the country hoping to pursue careers in science. Each time they received an invitation to meet with people or participate in an event, they decided together whether they would attend. The invitation to meet with DeVos generated the most discussion. The teens said they heard about the controversies surrounding the education secretary and feared she didn't support young women who were interested in science and who attended the traditional public school system. But they thought meeting with her was an important opportunity to advocate for science education. They said DeVos appeared genuinely interested in hearing their suggestions about how the country could encourage more female students to get excited about science. DeVos's office did not respond to an inquiry about the meeting. "We told her that within public schools, we need more programs for young girls" in science, technology and engineering, Sharrieff said. "We looked at this as an opportunity to say what we need for us and other girls who look like us but won't have this opportunity." The teens are completing the first semester of their senior year at Banneker, a selective high school in the traditional public school system that serves mostly black students. They have applied to their top college choices, which include Spelman College, Northwestern University and Louisiana State University. Anita Berger, the principal at Banneker, said she was proud of the students for remaining determined in the wake of the racism they encountered in the NASA competition. She said the student body was aware of what happened, and some teachers had discussions about it in their classrooms. "It opened their eyes to the real adversity in the world," she said. "It could have taken them down, but they didn't fall." The trio said they are still focused on improving their invention to ensure that children have clean water in school. They received advice from scientists and are using the grant they received from the mayor to update the parts used to build the contraption. They've also been more engaged in activism, working to promote science to young girls - especially girls who look like them. "People are stuck in their own prejudices and in their own heads," Skinner said. "They can't see what's going on in the world. It's becoming more diverse and inclusive." AUSTIN U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke baked scones the morning after he lost his high-profile bid for the U.S. Senate. Live-streaming from his kitchen in El Paso, ORourke told followers about his latest accomplishment. Youre wondering what Im doing on all the free time I have now, he said, wearing a gray T-shirt he picked up on the campaign trail featuring the state flag along with a mustang, a rattlesnake and a wind mill, symbols of the city of Sweetwater. Baked goods. Baking therapy. Dozens of political candidates across Texas are figuring out how to cope after losing tight races in the Nov. 6 election. Twenty-eight candidates were beaten by margins smaller than 5 percentage points. Many were Democrats edged out in some of the closest contests their party has seen in more than 20 years. Now they are left to seek meaning in defeat. There is a dirty rumor that any sort of grief should be cleaned up and wrapped up and put into a little present for others that [says], Im over this in a month or less. But really, grief takes much longer than that, said Becca Van Tassel, a licensed clinical social worker and clinical director at the Austin Center for Grief and Loss. Grieving takes two main forms, she said. One is called intuitive and is characterized by open expression of emotion, such as crying in public. The other, more likely to be seen in politicians, is instrumental and is expressed through an activity. People who grieve in the instrumental mode tend to be problem-solvers who view loss as a challenge to overcome. On ExpressNews.com: Democrat Beto ORourke exposed a blue spine across the middle of red Texas They cant fix election results but they can make a meal for their family, Van Tassel said. Cooking, knitting and craft projects help people cope because they involve following directions, and the project concludes with a tangible result, she said. Candidates may also tap into their support network, reconnect with people and spend time with family to build resilience, she said. Resilience is the experience of making meaning of an adversary so that the event becomes a part of your story so you can continue on with your life. And I think thats where the work is going to be: How do you make meaning of this whole experience? Van Tassel said. A little more than six months after her stinging defeat in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton said she spent time with her grandchildren, cleaned out her closets and took long walks in the woods. I wont lie, Chardonnay helped a little, too, she said in a commencement speech at Wellesley College, where she graduated in 1969. But heres what helped most of all: remembering who I am, where I come from and what I believe. Coming off the campaign trail has been an adjustment for Justin Nelson, an attorney and first-time candidate who spent long stretches of time on the campaign trail in a heated bid for Texas attorney general. Nelson, a Democrat, lost to Republican incumbent Ken Paxton in an unexpectedly close contest. Nelson fell short by barely 300,000 votes out of more than 8 million cast, a margin of less than 4 percentage points. Now, he is changing diapers and reading bedtime stories to his three young children. Its this weird mix of being really disappointed you lost mixed with pride in how well you did and hope that you paved the way. Its a weird mix of emotions, Nelson said. That was pretty nice to be back in the routine, Nelson added. Its very difficult to unplug completely. Canning pear butter was part of Kim Olsons post-election therapy. The Democrat from Mineral Wells ran a long-shot campaign to unseat former rodeo cowboy Sid Miller as Texas agricultural commissioner. She lost by about 400,000 votes out of more than 8 million cast, a margin of less than 5 percentage points. On ExpressNews.com: Women were the big winners in 2018 Texas midterms. Heres why. Here is some sage advice if you are restless, Olson, a farmer and retired Air Force Colonel, wrote on Facebook. Find something simple to do: clean a closet, do a clothes purge, toss out of date spices, shred push cards or write thank you cards. After one to three months, its time for a disappointed candidate to set a new goal, said Christopher Fagundes, an assistant psychology professor at Rice University. When people dont have a goal that they can strive for, especially when theyve been real goal-oriented, thats when depression can kick in, he said. But just like someone rebounding after a romantic breakup, candidates shouldnt rush their recovery, he said. Olson is already looking ahead to her next political adventure. On what she called her post-election coping cruise, she talked on Facebook about watching a tugboat do its work. Hes turning this big old ship around so we can get out of the channel, you know, kind of like those of us who ran for office. Sometimes it takes a little bit of a tugboat to turn a big ship like Texas around. She added, Ill see you in 2020. In the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called on Americans to give humble thanks for the blessings bestowed upon us. For far too many families in November 1933, those blessings must have felt rather thin. With unemployment nearing 25 percent, jobs were scarce and even a full meal was hard to come by. Yet Roosevelt asked Americans to be true to the example of those who came before them and to refuse to compromise their values. May we recall the courage of those who settled a wilderness, Roosevelt said in his Thanksgiving Day proclamation. The vision of those who founded the nation, the steadfastness of those who in every succeeding generation have fought to keep pure the ideal of equality of opportunity and hold clear the goal of mutual help in time of prosperity as in time of adversity. Sheep are such gentle individuals that children sing nursery rhymes about them and adults count them to help us doze off. Yet when we buy wool sweaters and winter coats, we are supporting a violent industry that leaves these animals broken and bloody. Surprised? In the past four years, PETA and its international affiliates have exposed the global wool industry's systemic cruelty to sheep on dozens of farms on four continents. After each expos, industry spokespeople claim that they are shocked and saddened. But how can they be when each new investigation reveals similarly horrific abuse? Earlier this year, an eyewitness worked on a sheep farm in Victoria, Australia - the country is the world's top wool exporter - and found the farm manager and workers mutilating terrified lambs in assembly line fashion. This wasn't a case of a few bad apples - the mutilations that were documented are actually standard procedure in the industry. For example, workers punched holes in lambs' ears and cut and burned off their tails with a hot knife - without painkillers - causing them to writhe in agony as flames shot up from their flesh. To castrate male lambs, tight rings were placed around their scrotums - which is extremely painful - so that their testicles would eventually shrivel up and fall off. If they don't fall off soon enough, shearers just cut them off with clippers. Workers also cut chunks of flesh off lambs' hindquarters with shears in a crude attempt to address problems that are caused by breeding them to produce excessive amounts of wool. When PETA first exposed this gruesome procedure, known as mulesing, Australian wool industry officials promised to phase it out by 2010. Eight years later, most lambs in Australia are still subjected to this torment. These mutilations took place in full view of the lambs' frantic mothers. When they were done, workers dropped the lambs to the ground or a blood-spattered mat, and many landed hard on their bloody wounds. They cried out as they ran in search of their mothers amid the flock. The abuse continues in the shearing sheds, where workers race against the clock. Since shearers are paid by volume, not by the hour, they lose their tempers over small delays and often take out their frustrations on the terrified, struggling animals. A previous PETA expos of shearing sheds in Australia revealed that violent attacks left sheep bleeding from the eyes, noses and mouths. On a farm in the United States, a shearer repeatedly twisted and bent a sheep's neck, breaking it. In Scotland, workers violently punched sheep in the face, slammed their heads into the floor and beat and kicked them. In England, shearers stomped on sheep, squeezed their throats, kicked them in the stomach and jabbed them in the head with clippers. In Argentina, lambs cried out, gasped and kicked even after workers sawed open their throats. In Chile, workers slaughtered fully conscious sheep by driving knives into their necks and skinned one animal alive. All these exposes later, it's clear that the abuse of sheep is entrenched in the wool industry. Since the industry has failed to do the right thing and address its pervasive cruelty to vulnerable sheep, it's up to the rest of us to end these gentle animals' suffering. Fortunately, for every cruel choice, there is a kind one, if we care to look for it. This holiday shopping season, please take a moment to read the labels on any blankets or garments that you consider buying. Look for warm and cozy options made from bamboo, hemp, modal, rayon and other vegan materials. But if a label says wool, for sheep's sake, leave the product on the shelf. Paula Moore is a senior writer for the PETA Foundation. The sickening photo of dozens of Wisconsin high school boys apparently giving a Nazi salute sparked so much media outrage last week that even Gov. Scott Walker shook his head and said, Theyre just a bunch of idiots. The well-dressed boys were photographed outside a county courthouse last spring at prom time, and about two-thirds of them had their right arms raised in what looks to anyone with eyes in their head to be a Sieg Heil salute. One student also appears to be making the upside-down OK hand signal that white supremacists use to mean white power. To be fair, the parent who took the photo who also owns a photography business said that he had simply asked the boys to wave goodbye for the camera, and that the final result had been misinterpreted. However, several news outlets also reported that some of the boys meant it, possibly as a joke. Har. Dee. Har. Har. One student at the school, Jordan Blue, told media outlets that some of his classmates were goofing around. He told CNN that the episode was a scary moment, and it was very shocking and upsetting. But whats even more upsetting is that some of Blues fellow students at Baraboo High School felt otherwise. Nate Mathis-Vargas, a white father of two girls who attend the high school, spoke to the podcast Its Been a Minute with Sam Sanders and said that he was appalled by the picture. He also said that he was concerned for his daughters not only because they go to school with people who either hold white-supremacist beliefs or think its a joking matter, but also because many students didnt even understand the problem. He discussed the incident with his daughters and found that they werent aware of a lot about the Nazi army itself, so they didnt understand what that meant, which was more shocking to me than the picture itself, Mathis-Vargas said. Its like: How did they not teach that? How do they not know that? Sadly, those kids are not alone in their ignorance. A study released last summer by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which pursues restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs, delivered the alarming news that 11 percent of all Americans and 22 percent of millennials hadnt heard of the Holocaust or werent sure what it was. The study also found that 31 percent of all Americans and 41 percent of millennials believe that 2 million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust. (The number is actually around 6 million.) Forty-one percent of all Americans and 66 percent of millennials cannot say what Auschwitz was (it was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp), and 52 percent of Americans wrongly think Hitler came to power through force. As amazing as it may sound, only 10 states New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Rhode Island, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Connecticut and Kentucky have legislative requirements about the teaching of genocide and the Holocaust in their public schools, according to the New York-based Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect. Its not perfect not all of those states have a commission or task force to keep genocide education comprehensive, rigorous or up to date. Still, its something, and another 18 states have told the center they are committed to passing or strengthening their legislation. In the absence of such education, Mathis-Vargas daughters were angry about the backlash over the photo, because they didnt understand what was wrong with what the boys had done. All they saw, according to Mathis-Vargas, was their school being attacked and their friends demonized and even threatened. It opened my eyes about what I need to do as a parent on talking to my kids about these things, the father said. He added that he hoped the school would start offering more instruction to prevent these kinds of misunderstandings in the future. Hopefully, the future wont be too late. Already, hate crimes in America have spiked by 17 percent over 2017, with a corresponding 37 percent increase in anti-Semitic attacks, according to FBI statistics. Ignorance fans hatred. On Election Day, a Holocaust denier and white supremacist won 56,000 votes in the western suburbs of Chicago. Thankfully, he lost. But his candidacy is proof that America needs some serious schooling before it relives historys worst mistakes. Cepedas email address is estherjcepeda@washpost.com, or follow her on Twitter: @estherjcepeda. In recent weeks, clouds of divisiveness appear to have come over our country. But there have also been countless examples of our shared humanity shining through. Volunteers are streaming to California to assist with rescue efforts in the wake of deadly wildfires. One team of 25, working out of a food truck, served more than 20,000 meals to victims of the fires in Chico. After the tragic shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue late last month, two Muslim organizations raised more than $200,000 in donations in a matter of days. People from all over the country, and from all walks of life, have contributed more than $1 million to the victims and their families. Similar moments of Americans at their best surfaced in the aftermath of Hurricanes Michael and Florence, just a few weeks ago. Grill masters who typically battle on the competitive barbecue circuit teamed up under the banner of Operation BBQ Relief to deliver thousands of free meals across Florida and the Carolinas. A volunteer group from Louisiana known as the Cajun Navy rescued thousands of stranded residents in Florida and the Carolinas. Few things unite people from different backgrounds like a catastrophe. But it shouldn't take a disaster to activate our innate desire to help, even love, our neighbor. The divisions in American society seem to be on display every day in our country. Take religion. Less than half of Americans have warm feelings toward Muslims, according to a Pew poll. Or look at race. A study published last year by psychologists at Northwestern University found that many Americans were willing to view members of other races as less than human. The assumptions we make about others exist in part because of our growing insularity. Americans are increasingly retreating into communities - both physical and virtual - that look, sound, and think like them. So were spending less time with people whose lives are different 'from our own. Storms, of course, do not discriminate. They hit people who are old and young, people with and without disabilities, and people of all races, religions, genders and sexual orientations. History has unfortunately shown the same to be true for many man-made tragedies, too. To withstand devastation, we work together to help each other survive, despite the assumptions and biases weve held in the past. Consider the flood that struck Ellicott City, Maryland, this summer. When floodwaters filled Tim Morans home, the 66-year-old struggled to escape. As Moran fought to survive, Connor Witt - a perfect stranger before the storm - came to his aid. The younger, stronger Witt dug footholds into a hill in Moran's backyard so he could climb to safety. If it werent for Connor, I wouldnt be here, Moran told his local NBC affiliate. Despite their age difference, he now describes Witt as one of his best friends. Hurricane Harvey had a similar effect in Houston, where African-American, Hispanic, Indian, and Bangladeshi families all weathered the storm together. As one resident said, Diversity helps people understand each others pain. And when Michael destroyed the garage in Lynn Haven, Florida, where a couple and their dog had sought refuge, their neighbors sprang to the rescue, freeing them from the rubble and snagging the medicine they needed before their house collapsed entirely. Or consider the aftermath of the awful mass shooting at a concert in Las Vegas last fall - the deadliest in U.S. history - when ordinary concertgoers turned their pickup trucks into makeshift ambulances and took dozens of complete strangers to the hospital. Catastrophic events force us to confront our common humanity - and reveal that our capacity for good can be limitless. It would be even better if we didn't need a disaster to see that in ourselves. In October, hotels in the Asia/Pacific region reported occupancy rose 1.6% to 72.5%, ADR increased 1.5% to $111.68 and RevPAR rose 3% to $80.93. Bali hotels sets October performance record - Phuket hotel performance levels affected by decline in tourists from Mainland China Hotels in the Asia Pacific region posted positive results across the three key performance metrics during October 2018, according to data from STR. U.S. dollar constant currency, October 2018 vs. October 2017 Asia Pacific Occupancy: +1.6% to 72.5% Average daily rate (ADR): +1.5% to US$111.68 Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +3.0% to US$80.93 Local currency, October 2018 vs. October 2017 Bali Occupancy: +18.0% to 75.6% ADR: +39.0% to IDR1,890,946.89 RevPAR: +64.1% to IDR1,429,016.40 The absolute ADR and RevPAR levels were the highest for any October in STRs Bali database, while the absolute occupancy level was the largest for an October in the market since 2011. STR analysts note that performance was lifted during 8-14 October, when meetings of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group were held. Phuket Occupancy: -16.1% to 63.5% ADR: +0.7% to THB2,985.51 RevPAR: -15.5% to THB1,896.78 The occupancy level was the lowest for an October in the market since 2009, while the absolute ADR and RevPAR levels were the lowest for an October since 2010. The steep year-over-year decrease in occupancy was worsened by comparison with a strong October in 2017. Regardless, Phuket has now seen four consecutive months of RevPAR declines. STR analysts believe this could be due to a decline in group business, along with a softening of tourist numbers from Mainland China, something that other key destinations in Thailand have also seen in recent months. Download the Global Performance Review STR provides clients from multiple market sectors with premium, global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 10 countries around the world with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and an international headquarters in London, England. For more information, please visit str.com. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest all industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hospitality Trends Brussels, 22 November 2018 YouTubes campaign against Article 13 of the Copyright Directive shows a lack of respect for the EU democratic process of law making. The revisions to the Directive have been under discussion for over four years already and the three main institutions of the European Union have all given their position. The Commission, Council and Parliament have all reached the same conclusion, that there is a value gap, also referred to as a transfer of value, where user upload services are making vast sums of money on creators content uploaded by their users, but not paying the right holders who own that content fairly. The result is a serious distortion in the European digital market place which harms right holders, other digital services and citizens. To correct that situation, platforms like YouTube should have to take responsibility for the content they use and monetise, by fairly remunerating their creators and right holders. YouTube constantly refers menacingly to unintended consequences if the Directive is adopted, and threatens to block content, instead of showing willingness to observe laws and fairly remunerate right holders. In fact, the Directive will bring fairness. Fairness for all platforms by creating a level playing field where everyone is playing by the same rules and fairness for right holders who will be properly rewarded for their creative content. Its in our interests to boost online creativity, not restrict it. Even though the clarifications proposed by the EU institutions may not be to YouTubes liking, they will contribute to sustainable and balanced growth of the European digital markets ultimately to the benefit of all stakeholders in the digital value chain including citizens. Many thousands of international artists, authors, publishers, labels, managers, songwriters have urged the EU to find a solution to the value gap. YouTubes eleventh-hour campaign of fact-free fear-mongering should be seen for what it is: an attempt to derail the EU democratic legislative process. iciHaiti - DR : 760 illegal Haitians deported to Haiti Migratory control operations were carried out in six Dominican provinces : Azua, Hato Mayor, Maria Trinidad Sanchez, Pedernales, Santiago de los Caballeros and Valverde, as well as various sectors of the municipalities of Santo Domingo, during which 927 Haitians were controlled informed the Directorate General of Migration (DGM). The migratory control teams were composed of inspectors, agents of the DGM) with the support of the military, the National Police in coordination with the Public Ministry of the concerned Provinces. After the verification process using biometric readers 760 compatriots (82%) were declared in irregular migration situation and transferred to the border posts of Dajabon and Elias Pina to be registered and deported to Haiti See also : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26126-icihaiti-dr-more-than-900-haitians-deported-to-haiti.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26061-icihaiti-social-756-haitians-deported-to-haiti.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25987-haiti-dr-the-deportations-of-haitians-continue-at-a-continuous-pace.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-25934-icihaiti-social-dr-deports-1-126-haitians.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-25874-icihaiti-dr-1-500-haitians-controlled-796-deportees-in-haiti.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-25805-icihaiti-social-the-hunt-for-illegal-haitians-continues-in-dr.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-25756-icihaiti-dr-nearly-11-400-haitians-deported-or-turned-back-to-haiti-sept-2018.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25700-haiti-rd-71-of-haitians-controlled-illegal-820-haitians-deported.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25598-haiti-dr-1-600-haitians-controlled-in-less-than-24-hours-more-than-60-deported-to-haiti.html SL/ iciHaiti Fijians reminded about sustaining fisheries for sustainable communities November 21,2018 | Source: Xinhua Fiji celebrated World Fisheries Day on Wednesday by asking its citizens to align goals and ambitions to "sustaining their fisheries for sustainable communities." Fiji's Acting Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Fisheries Naipote Katonitabua officiated the 2018 World Fisheries Day Celebrations in Lautoka, Fiji's second largest city. Katonitabua stressed that people must start, if they haven't already, to sustain Fiji's fisheries for sustainable communities in the future. He highlighted that Fiji is a part of a bigger celebration where different nations, communities and individuals all over the world acknowledged connectivity between fisheries and the social, cultural and economic foundation of a nation. The official said that in Fiji people celebrated the importance of the ocean and surrounding coastal waters; and also recognized the very important reason for proactively managing fisheries resources which were vital to Fijians as a source of food, income and livelihood. He said that the ocean, coastal waters, coral reefs and the abundant fisheries resources also served other functions, which would include natural capital, aesthetic values, cultural significance and spiritual identity, as could be gauged through traditional totems. The Pacific oceans and its abundant resources provided a common thread that united the region and even reached across each Pacific island country, he said, adding that this made it critical for everyone to ensure that Fiji's fisheries resources are maintained at sustainable levels, not only for the present, but also for future generations. Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture. 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference: NGOs support UN declaration on rights of workers, peasants November 21,2018 | Source: ICSF In a statement to the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference, (14-29 November 2018 at Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) expressed support for the UN's efforts to support the rights of Peasants and Other Rural Workers by the UNGAs Third Committee. The following is the Statement: Agenda Item 24: Spatial planning, protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a statement on behalf of the ICCA Consortium, Global Forest Coalition, International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, Friends of the Earth International, Pro Natura (Friends of the Earth Switzerland), Natural Justice, CoopeSoliDar R.L., and Ecoropa. First, we support for the statement by IIFB and also welcome yesterdays adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Rural Workers by the UNGAs Third Committee. The quantitative elements of Target 11 are well known and oft cited. However, the recently published IPCC report showed once again that it is not enough to just meet the spatial coverage of 17% of terrestrial areas and inland waters and 10% of marine and coastal areas. We need not just 17, 30 or 50% set aside, but our entire planet to be equitably and sustainably governed, conserved, used and restored with native species, with full recognition and respect of the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities who depend directly on nature. We are also very concerned that some Parties are only reporting on the quantitative elements of Aichi Target 11 and not doing enough to implement, understand and report on the qualitative elements, especially social and cultural considerations. We welcome the draft decision on protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures as it stands, and particularly Annex II on voluntary guidance on governance and equity. These are essential elements for the achievement of Target 11 and the Strategic Plan more broadly, and we acknowledge Parties for taking this important step forward. We support Annex III on OECMs and wish to underscore a few key points about implementation of this decision. If the advice and guidance on OECMs is not implemented in full, it could enable many of the same issues that we have faced with top-down and exclusionary state and private protected areas, including forced acquisition and displacement of indigenous peoples and local communities from customary territories and collective lands. This can be avoided by fully implementing this draft decision, with particular emphasis on territories and areas under the collective control of Indigenous peoples and local communities. We also wish to underscore that territories and areas that are governed, managed and conserved by Indigenous peoples and local communities (in short, ICCAs or territories of life) and other conservation initiatives by Indigenous peoples and local communities contribute hugely to the Strategic Plan and to many other international commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals. For Aichi Target 11 specifically, they contribute de facto to its elements of coverage, connectivity, representativeness, and equity. Parties may draw a range of benefits from territories of life, including ecological functions, food and water security, sustainable livelihoods for rural communities, image, funding, and sustainable development at large. It is only appropriate and fair to respond with reciprocal action to ensure the custodian communities can continue to govern, manage and conserve their territories and areas in line with their worldviews, cultures and practices. Parties that count territories of life and other conservation initiatives by Indigenous peoples and local communities towards Target 11, whether as protected or conserved areas or OECMs, should only do so on the basis of self-identification and with the free, prior and informed consent of their custodians. Parties should also support the stated will of the custodians to secure these territories of life, for example, by strengthening their self-determined governance authorities, securing collective tenure, respecting the rights and roles of women, and ensuring they are protected from undesired threats such as extractive industries. We particularly support these elements, among others, of Annex III on OECMs, and urge Parties and other stakeholders, including UN agencies, donors and NGOs, to fully implement this advice and guidance in close collaboration with Indigenous peoples, local communities and women's groups. The Royal Anguilla Police Force on Friday 16th November, 2018 arrested and charged 53 year old Diogenes Arturo Marcelino, 53 year old Luis Cano and 46 year old Roberto Santana of the Dominican Republic with possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to supply, possession of cocaine with intent to transfer to another and important of cocaine. The alleged offenders, who were taken before the Magistrates Court on Tuesday 20th November, 2018 were remanded at Her Majestys Prison. They are all due back before the court on Monday 14th January, 2019 to answer to the charges. -END- REPORT #2 40 year old arrested for indecent assault The Royal Anguilla Police Force on Tuesday 20th November, 2018 arrested and charged a 40 year old man from Rey Hill with indecent assault. The alleged offender who appeared before the Magistrates Court on Wednesday 21st November, 2018 was granted bail in the sum of EC $45,000.00 with one surety. He was ordered by the court to report to the Valley Police Station every Monday between the hours of 5:00am and 7:00pm, have no contact whether directly or indirectly with the virtual complainant and to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. The alleged offender is due back in court on Thursday 11th April, 2019 to answer to the charge. -END- REPORT #3 39 year old arrested for Burglary The Royal Anguilla Police Force on Tuesday 13th November, 2018 arrested and charged 39 year old Judson Burdon of South Hill with burglary. The alleged offender who was taken before the Magistrates Court on Wednesday 14th November, 2018 was granted bail in the sum of EC $20,000.00 with one surety. He is due back before the court on Tuesday 28th May, 2019 to answer to the charge. Burdsons conditions of bail are that he reports to The Valley Police Station every Monday and Friday and avoid having any contact whether directly or indirectly with the victim. -END- REPORT #4 48 year old female arrested for Burglary The Royal Anguilla Police Force on Wednesday 14th November, 2018 arrested and charged 48 year old Fabiana Liburd of The Valley with burglary. Liburd who was taken before the Magistrates Court on Thursday 15th November, 2018 was granted bail in the sum of EC $20,000.00 with one surety. She is due back before the court on Tuesday 28th May, 2019 to answer to the charge. Her conditions of bail are that she reports to The Valley Police Station every Monday and avoid visiting the alleged business place. -END- REPORT #5 62 year old male arrested for Receiving Stolen Goods The Royal Anguilla Police Force on Wednesday 14th November, 2018 arrested and charged 62 year old Corinne Richardson of Rey Hill with receiving stolen goods. The alleged offender who was taken before the Magistrates Court on Thursday 15th November, 2018 was granted bail in the sum of EC $20,000.00 with one surety. He is due back before the court on Tuesday 28th May, 2019 to answer to the charge. -END- The RAPF would like to remind the public that(in each case): a) The defendant is entitled to a fair trial; b) There is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty; c) Nothing would be stated or published which would prejudice a fair trial taking place; and d) Section 115(g) of the Criminal Code applies and which provides for an offence in respect of any person who, while a judicial proceeding is pending, makes use of any speech or writing misrepresenting such proceeding or capable of prejudicing any person in favor of or against any parties to such proceeding, or calculated to lower the authority of any person before whom the proceeding is to be held. REPORT #6 RAPF promotes three new Inspectors and five new Sergeants Commissioner of Police Mr. Paul Morrison has confirmed the promotion of three Sergeants to the rank of Inspector and five constables to the rank of Sergeant. The three new Inspectors are Shem Wills, Helmert Mason and Kenneth Millette. The new Sergeants are Lesroy Clarke, Edson Charles, Shanette McDowall, Paul Trim and Jonathan Tyson. The new promotions which came as a result of a recently held promotion process will see these officers posted across the RAPF in departments such as Beat and Patrol, Tactical Unit and Criminal Investigation Department as well as two newly created departments; Corporate Development and Police Standards. I personally wish to thank all those who put themselves forward, said Commissioner of Police Paul Morrison. Its absolutely necessary to take these challenges and learn from the experiences as its the only way we can test ourselves and develop for command. I congratulate all the candidates both those who were successful as well as those who were unsuccessful for their commitment to the public and the RAPF. The promotion panel, which consisted of Mrs. Aunika Webster-Lake, Superintendent Haslyn Patterson and Commissioner Paul Morrison, would like to pass on their admiration to all the candidates who went before the two promotion boards over the past six days. All the officers are commended for conducting themselves professionally and for their performances. The promotions will be effective Monday 26th November, 2018. Imperial Valley News Center Governor Brown Issues Proclamation Declaring Thanksgiving Day Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued a proclamation declaring Thursday, November 22, 2018, as Thanksgiving Day in the State of California. PROCLAMATION The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was a celebration of the harvest that brought together the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation and the Native Americans who helped them adapt to their new environment. Over the years, Thanksgiving became an American tradition and one of the first holidays we celebrated as a free and independent nation. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed the first Thanksgiving observance in the newly formed United States of America, writing that it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor. Thanksgiving has continued to be one of our most cherished observances, a day to join with family and friends and feast on traditional delicacies from roasted turkey to pumpkin pie, and commemorate the joining of the Old World and the New that brought about that First Thanksgiving long ago. It is most fitting that we set aside a special day for gratitude. As Americans, we have every reason to give thanks for the wonderful bounty of our land, the strength of our fellow citizens and our system of government that protects our basic freedoms. NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim November 22, 2018, as Thanksgiving Day. IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 21st day of November 2018. ___________________________________ EDMUND G. BROWN JR. Governor of California ATTEST: __________________________________ ALEX PADILLA Secretary of State Imperial Valley News Center President Trump at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning Ceremony Washington, DC - Remarks by President Trump at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning Ceremony: THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please, be seated. Good afternoon, everyone. A very special day at the White House. We are thrilled to be joined today by our great First Lady, Melania. (Applause.) On behalf of the entire Trump family, I want to wish all Americans a very, very happy Thanksgiving. (Applause.) At this time of the year, we reflect on all of the many blessings in our lives. Were also very glad to be joined by the Chairman of the National Turkey Federation, Jeff Sveen, along with his wife, Marcia; his father, John; his sons, Andrew, Peter, and Samuel, and their very beautiful families. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Jeff, thank you. (Applause.) Thanksgiving is a time of great American traditions, and today we continue a very special one, when a lucky turkey gets a presidential pardon. That turkey is so lucky. Ive never seen such a beautiful turkey. It has been stated that President Abraham Lincoln Honest Abe was the first President to grant such a pardon after his son, Tad, befriended the Christmas turkey and implored his father, Please, dad. Please, save it. In this grand tradition, I am pleased to announce that todays lucky bird and guest of honor is named Peas, along with his alternate named Carrots. The children will understand that. The winner of this vote was decided by a fair and open election conducted on the White House website. This was a fair election. (Laughter.) Unfortunately, Carrots refused to concede and demanded a recount, and were still fighting with Carrots. (Laughter.) And I will tell you, weve come to a conclusion: Carrots, Im sorry to tell you, the result did not change. (Laughter.) Its too bad for Carrots. (Laughter.) Peas and Carrots are the very first National Thanksgiving turkeys from the very great state of South Dakota. Love South Dakota. (Applause.) For this occasion, we are excited to be joined by Governor-elect a real friend of ours Kristi Noem. Wheres Kristi? Kristi stand up, Kristi. Congratulations. (Applause.) And she just ran a very, very great race against a very capable opponent, and that was really something special. Congratulations, Kristi. Were also happy to have Wyoming Congresswoman friend of mine Liz Cheney here with us. And she just had a big victory also. (Applause.) Thank you. That was a great that was a great victory. They know what theyre doing in Congress, Liz. Peas and Carrots were raised by a wonderful farmer from Riverside Hutterville Colony, and this is something that hes very proud of, Ruben Waldner. I want to just thank Ruben for having done a great job. Wheres Ruben? Ruben stand up, Ruben. Great job. (Applause.) Thats a good-looking turkey. Great job. Thank you very much. Peas and Carrots were two out of a group of 50 exceptional turkeys raised for this event. And you can see that by looking at them. Together, they are known as The Presidential Flock. After their good fortune today, Peas and Carrots will both live out the rest of their days at Gobblers Rest on the campus of Virginia Tech good place where they will enjoy a beautiful private enclosure under the care of poultry science students and veterinarians. In other words, theyre going to be well taken care of at Virginia Tech. However, it wont be entirely a rest. Even though Peas and Carrots have received a presidential pardon, I have warned them that House Democrats are likely to issue them both subpoenas. (Laughter.) Nonetheless, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I will be issuing both Peas and Carrots a presidential pardon. Unfortunately, I cant guarantee that your pardons wont be enjoined by the Ninth Circuit. (Laughter.) Always happens. Theyre guaranteed. All joking aside, this is a time for Americans to unite together in a spirit of love, understanding, unity, and joy, as one proud American family. Our nation is doing well. We are now at the beginning of a national period of Thanksgiving. And as we pause to give thanks for all of the blessings that weve been bestowed, it really has been blessing after blessing after blessing. Were all very thankful. And we also pray for those in need, especially our fellow citizens impacted by the devastating wildfires in California, where I just came back. Ive never seen anything like it. Probably nobody has. All American hearts are joined with theirs. We give thanks for the family, friends, neighbors and loved ones who enrich our lives, lift our spirits, and fill our days with joy. And we give thanks to God, who continues to shed his almighty grace upon this magnificent land that we all love so very much. We are truly blessed to be Americans. This is an incredible time for our country. Prosperity is soaring all across our land. We are especially thankful for the men and women who protect our families and who protect our flag. As we gather together this week with those we love, we share our gratitude to all of those who spend this holiday very, very far from home, serving in our military overseas. We send our eternal gratitude to the heroes who keep America safe, strong, proud, prosperous, and free. And we ask God to always watch over these incredible, brave Americans as they faithfully defend our nation and as they defend our home. Now its time to grant Peas and Carrots the pardon theyve been waiting for. They are extremely lucky birds. Thank you everyone. Have a very, very happy Thanksgiving. God bless you all and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Peas, I hereby grant you a full pardon! (Laughter and applause.) Thank you very much, everybody. Really great. Thank you. Thank you very much. Lundberg Family Farms Receives Leopold Conservation Award Sacramento, California - Lundberg Family Farms has been selected as the recipient of the 2018 California Leopold Conservation Award. Sand County Foundation, the nations leading voice for private conservation, created the Leopold Conservation Award to inspire American landowners by recognizing exceptional farmers, ranchers and foresters. The prestigious award, named in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, is given in 14 states. The award is presented annually by Sand County Foundation, Sustainable Conservation, and California Farm Bureau Federation. Lundberg Family Farms of Butte County will receive a $10,000 award and a crystal depicting Aldo Leopold at the California Farm Bureau Federations Annual Meeting in San Diego on December 5. Lundberg Family Farms has a long commitment to sustainable farming methods that produce well-known rice products while improving and protecting the environment for generations to come. Started in 1937, the farm is a multi-generation organic rice farm and innovative rice products processor. We are honored to receive the Leopold Conservation Award in recognition of the environmental practices we have applied on our farms for over 80 years, said Bryce Lundberg. Our grandparents instilled a deep respect for the land in our parents. Our family has been deeply influenced to maintain and expand upon that rich tradition. We feel a profound responsibility to enhance our environmental stewardship in all that we do, whether in farming operations, where we have substantially expanded our organic farming practices in the third generation, to building wildlife habitat, including a 100-acre-plus riparian forest along the Feather River, to increasing our use of renewable energy, with nearly two megawatts of on-site production, to achieving Platinum Status with the U.S. Zero Waste Council at our primary production site, Lundberg said. When Albert and Frances Lundberg moved from Nebraska to Californias fertile Sacramento Valley to grow rice in 1937, they did not forget the short-sighted farming techniques and poor soil management they saw along the way. They impressed upon their four sons the importance of respecting the delicate balance of nature and promoting soil health with crop rotations and cover cropping. As a result, they began to grow rice in an unconventional way. By the 1960s, the Lundberg brothers saw the need to become their own processor, and sell their rice directly to consumers. Today, the third and fourth generations of Lundbergs embrace the familys conservation heritage of using agricultural practices to protect soil, air, and water. The family has pioneered stewardship practices such as flooding fields rather than burning them to break down rice straw after harvest. Since the 1960s, the Lundbergs have found this practice builds soil organic matter while improving air quality. By working with university researchers, they have helped inform fellow growers of this practice, particularly after the burning of rice straw was limited by law. Not burning the rice straw and planting cover crops also provides habitat for millions of migrating waterfowl to rest, feed and rear their young each winter. Since the 1980s, the Lundbergs have rescued duck eggs ahead of the rice harvest. In partnership with wildlife conservation groups, the eggs are collected, the ducklings are raised in hatcheries, banded with California Department of Fish and Game tags, and released back into safe habitats. These efforts have saved more than 30,000 ducks. The Lundbergs work to encourage water conservation, rotate crops, grow cover crops, and use natural methods for pest control, have made them a leader in organic rice production and wildlife-friendly farming. These techniques are shared with others through farm tours. The Lundberg family is an absolute standout for its 50-plus years of truly pioneering stewardship for the benefit of people and the environment, said Ashley Boren, Executive Director of Sustainable Conservation, which has co-sponsored the award since its inception in California. Theyve led the way in so many areas. From pioneering organic rice production in the U.S., to boosting clean air by flooding instead of burning fields after harvest, to establishing an egg-rescue-and-release program thats saved tens of thousands of migrating birds along the Pacific Flyway. The list goes on and on. The California Farm Bureau Federation is proud to partner with Sand County Foundation and Sustainable Conservation in recognizing farmers and ranchers who make conservation a key focus of their business plan, with the annual selection of the Leopold Conservation Award recipient, stated Jamie Johansson, President. This years California recipient, Lundberg Family Farms, has made conservation of the natural resources on their land a way of life, ensuring that future generations will enjoy the same vibrant ecosystems that they inherited from their parents and grandparents, Johansson added. As the most productive agricultural state in the nation, California farmers have shown their ability to protect the environment, while producing a cornucopia of food and farm products that not only create sustainable economic stimulus, but help feed the rest of our nation and world. We are proud that so many California agriculturalists share Aldo Leopolds pragmatic vision for conservation and farming and ranching. Among the many outstanding landowners nominated for the award were two finalists. Rominger Brothers Farm, a diversified farm and ranch in Yolo County that has made significant habitat improvements. Sweet Haven Dairy in Fresno County is a pioneer in irrigation water management and conservation tillage. The 2017 recipient was C. Jeff Thomson, Thomson International, Inc. a Kern County grower of fruits and vegetables with many wetland conservation achievements. The Leopold Conservation Award in California is made possible thanks to the generous contributions from American Ag Credit, The Nature Conservancy, Farm Credit West, The Harvey L. & Maud S. Sorensen Foundation, and California LCA Recipient alumni. A report commissioned by French president Emmanuel Macron is calling for a change in heritage law that would see thousands of African artworks, currently housed in French museums, returned to their countries of origin. Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr and French historian Benedicte Savoy authored the report, which calls not for a long-term loan but a permanent restitution, that is unless museums can prove that objects in question were obtained legitimately. The report follows a vow last year from Macron that artifacts would begin being returned to Africa in the next five. I cannot accept that a large part of the cultural heritage of several African countries is in France, Macron said in Ouagadougou, the Burkina Faso capital. There are historical explanations for this but there is no valid, lasting and unconditional justification. African heritage cannot be only in private collections and European museums it must be showcased in Paris but also in Dakar, Lagos and Cotonou. This will be one of my priorities. With many of the artworks being acquired by foreign entities in the 19th century, there is not always clear documentation on the transfer, which many see as a simple case of looting. The report will be released on Friday and, according to The New York Times, estimates that 90 to 95 per cent of Africas cultural heritage resides outside of the continent. If France takes steps to return African artworks, there will be pressure on museums in other countries to do the same. On Tuesday, the governor of Easter Island was in tears as she begged the British Museum to return one of its main statues the Hoa Hakananaia saying: You have our soul. A new entry to the Sopranos canon is a simultaneously exhilarating and worrisome prospect. A movie continuation of the beloved Breaking Bad was a bold move, but with Newark we will see new brushstrokes added to a masterpiece. Ending in 2007, The Sopranos put HBO on the map. It made a commercial success of DVD boxsets. It won 21 Primetime Emmys and five Golden Globes. It is regarded by so many as the greatest television show of all time. It sees the late James Gandolfini give one of historys greatest acting performances. So can they pull it off? Can this prequel live up to the venerated original series? Can it be a substantial addition to the Sopranos universe within the confines of a feature film runtime? Heres absolutely everything we know about Newark so far, including the brand new release date. Who is on board? Sopranos fans should be relieved to hear that key alumni of the original show are back. David Chase, The Sopranoss creator, showrunner, head writer, producer (and in one episode, its voice of God) is spearheading the movie. He wrote the script with Lawrence Konner, a Sopranos staff writer who got the sole credit on three episodes. The 20 best moments from The Sopranos Show all 21 1 /21 The 20 best moments from The Sopranos The 20 best moments from The Sopranos The 20 best moments from The Sopranos - 20-1 HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 20. Nancy Sinatras cameo Season six part one, episode four: "Chasing It" : "Chasing It" The Sopranos featured several surprising guest stars Lauren Bacall, Sir Ben Kingsley, Annette Bening but none were bigger for New Jersey than Nancy Sinatra, who plays herself and sings Bossman at the making ceremony for Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent). Her younger brother Frank Sinatra Jr had appeared in season two episode The Happy Wanderer and their presence played as a joke about their fathers much-touted mob connections. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 19. Junior's C-words Season two, episode two: "Do Not Resuscitate" : "Do Not Resuscitate" Dominic Chianese ensured Junior remained one of The Sopranoss funniest and most terrifying characters throughout its six seasons. Its his sporadic deployment of the C-word that looms large most notably the season two scene in which he slips in the shower (Your sisters c***!). Another standout sees Junior berate his Russian nurse for not bringing Tony a coffee. Im registered nurse, not maid, she tells him, to which Junior replies; Well, did you offer him an aspirin? C***. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 18. The moll life juxtaposition Season six part one, episode 11: "Cold Stones" : "Cold Stones" This episode sees Carmela (Edie Falco) visit Paris with Rosalie Aprile (Sharon Angela). The mob wife is deeply moved by the beauty of the French capital: its atmosphere, its historic architecture and the view across the Seine. Then, in one of the great comic cuts, director Tim Van Patten relocates to the parking lot of the Bada-Bing!, where Silvio (Steven Van Zandt) is overseeing the cleaning of the strip clubs famous neon girly sign: Make sure you scrub that s*** off her t**. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 17. Tonys terrifying dream Season four, episode 11: "Calling All Cars" : "Calling All Cars" The Sopranoss dream sequences felt as if they were directly lifted from a David Lynch film. None came more terrifying than the one at the climax of this season four episode, which sees Tony (James Gandolfini) lured to an old house by Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano), whom hed murdered two episodes before. Looking through the door of the seemingly abandoned building, he sees a shadowy figure walking down the stairs. It looks on in silence, bearing a face that resembles his deceased mothers. It's star, unexplained and sets hairs on end every time. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 16. Tony tells Carmela about Bobby Season six part two, episode eight: "The Blue Comet" : "The Blue Comet" The murder of Bobby Baccalieri (Steve Schrippa) Uncle Juniors sweet-natured carer is one of the shows saddest, with the heavy gunned down in a toy shop while eyeing a Blue Comet trainset to complete his model railway. When Tony tells Carmela about the slaying, which means the family will have to go into hiding from Leotardos crew, she reacts hysterically, in disbelief that the day she most feared and refused to acknowledge has finally come. The brilliance of the scene lies in the comparatively cool response of the far more pragmatic Rosalie, who quietly excuses herself, accepting the news as a reality of mob life. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 15. Pussy is whacked Season two, episode 13: "Funhouse" : "Funhouse" The death of Sal Big Pussy Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) aboard Tonys yacht after the boys confront him about being an FBI informant is as bitter as it is ugly, bringing season two to a bleak climax. Sals increasingly frantic attempts to justify his actions in the gently rocking darkness of the boats cabin is desperate stuff. The disgust on the face of Tony, already sick with food poisoning, as the group raise a parting glass spells doom in one of the seriess most intense and complex moments. You were like a brother to me, Tony spits, before weighing down the Fat Mans body and tossing him into the sea. Gulls caw overhead. The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 14. Ralph runs out of chances Season four, episode nine: "Whoever Did This" : "Whoever Did This" Joe Pantoliano made a huge impression as Ralph Cifaretto, one of the shows most vile and brutal recurring characters (see number 11). Tony finally does the decent thing in season four, throttling the self-confessed sick f*** to death on his own kitchen floor, believing him to have razed the stables in which his beloved racehorse Pie-O-My was burnt to death for the insurance money. Such periodic eruptions of violence remind us just how ruthless Tony Soprano truly is. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 13. Furio and Carmela Season four, episode four: "The Weight" : "The Weight" Its a wonder Furio Giunta (Federico Castellucio) makes it out of the series alive. After being employed by Tony, Furio moves to New Jersey and eventually falls for Carmela (Edie Falco) who views the long-haired Italian as a polar opposite to her husband. While never consummating their feelings, one scene perfectly encapsulates the effect hes had on Carmela: while having sex with Tony, all she can think of is the music she sensually danced with Furio to the previous night. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 7. Tony mixes the personal with the professional Season one, episode five: "College" : "College" In one of the shows earliest acclaimed episodes, Tony drives Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) to Maine for a tour of prospective campuses ahead of her high school graduation. His daughter takes the opportunity to grill him on the family business, exposing Tonys hypocrisy and the layers of deceit the Soprano clan must live under. At a petrol station, Tony spots Fabian Petrulio (Tony Ray Rossi), a former DiMeo consigliere turned rat now living under the Witness Protection Programme. He duly garrottes him while Meadow is in an interview, bringing his two worlds uncomfortably close together. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 12. Christophers nightmare Season one, episode eight: "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" : "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) suffers a haunting in the first of the shows brilliantly Lynchian sequences, in which he is tormented by the memory of the first person he ever killed, Czech gangster Emil Kolar (Bruce Smolanoff). Taking place in Satriales Pork Store, Christopher imagines the dead man returning from the grave to place an order for sausages, corpses reaching out from within the meat freezers as You by The Aquatones plays in the background. Chilling. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 11. Tony shows humanity after Ralphs brutal act Season three, episode six: "University" : "University" When Ralph brutally kills Tracee (Ariel Kiley) a pregnant stripper hes been dating in the parking lot of the Bing, Tony steps in. Its a rare moment in which the protagonist displays a tender side you yearn for him to showcase more often. The likeable Tracees death is one of the hardest to watch among all The Sopranos grisly ends. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 10. The intervention Season four, episode 10: "The Strong, Silent Type" : "The Strong, Silent Type" It was a delight whenever the series brought most of the ensemble together, and no scene worked much better than the intervention of a drug-addled Christopher. It was the payoff in equal parts painful and hilairous of four seasonss worth of simmering tensions that chillingly foreshadowed James Gandolfinis untimely death in 2013. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 9. Janice proves shes a true Soprano Season two, episode 12: "The Knight in White Satin Amour" : "The Knight in White Satin Amour" Its a feral punch to the face, courtesy of fiancee Richie Aprile (David Proval), that causes the Soprano blood of Tony's sister Janice (Aida Turturro) to truly begin flowing. Her response is to shoot him in the chest twice, taking out what was one of the shows more ruthless creations whose body's destroyed by Satriale's meat-cutter mere scenes later. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 8. The fatal nose-pinch Season six part two, episode six: "Kennedy and Heidi" : "Kennedy and Heidi" Nobody placed a burden on Tony more than Christopher, and the notion that their blood relation would keep him alive came crashing down around viewers ten minutes into one of the shows final episodes. After a drunken Chris crashes his car, Tony instead of helping him pinches his nostrils shut and watches his nephew choke to death on his own blood. Its a shocking scene, layered with visual subtext explaining Tonys unspoken thoughts (he sees a branch has impaled the baby seat where Chriss daughter could have been sitting). HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 6. AJ tries to kill himself Season six part two, episode seven: "The Second Coming" : "The Second Coming" Tony and Carmelas son (Robert Iler) endures a miserable adolescence, believing hes unfit for the world hes been born into and unable to express himself. AJ attempts to end his own life by tying a cinder block to his ankle and plunging into the family swimming pool once home to the ducks his father found such significance in only to regret it at the last minute, forcing Tony to dive in and save him. Whats wrong with you?! his father screams as the boy recovers his breath, a roar of incomprehension that contains a genuine question. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 5. The final scene Season six part two, episode nine: "Made in America" : "Made in America" The debate over whether certain final scenes of television shows are actually good will rage on and on. The Sopranos remains front and centre of the conversation. It's a seemingly banal occasion a restaurant dinner scene. We watch on as Tony sits there, observing other customers. Carmela arrives, then AJ and Meadow, who the last we see, is parking her car outside. A bell rings, Tony looks up and the screen cuts to black. Its an ending thats inspired essays offering varied interpretations but ultimately, it remains a beautifully-executed few minutes of television. The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 4. Melfi almost tells Tony Season three, episode four: "Employee of the Month" : "Employee of the Month" You wanna say something? Tony asks his visibly distressed psychiatrist Doctor Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) after she discovers her rapist has been let free due to a police error. She knows we know a response in the affirmative will spur Tony's killing instinct into action, but to do so would be to shun her ethics. Its impossible to watch this moment and not yearn for Melfi to answer differently. But she doesnt. Melfis simple delivery of the word no is one of the most haunting moments of the entire series. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 3. Adriana is whacked Season five, episode 12: "Long Term Parking" : "Long Term Parking" Christophers long-suffering girlfriend, Adriana (Drea de Matteo), is cornered by the FBI at Crazy Horse, the nightclub she manages, and forced to turn informant or face prison for allowing cocaine distribution to go ahead inside, unchallenged. Living in terror, she confesses the truth to Christopher who almost chokes her before leaving in tears. Out of loyalty to Tony, he gives Adriana up. Silvio, seemingly the man most likely to show mercy, drives her out to the woods and shoots her in the back of the head. A tragic end for one of the shows sparkiest personalities. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 2. Tony and Carmelas showdown Season four, episode 13: "Whitecaps" : "Whitecaps" For a show filled with merciless murder, its telling that the most uncomfortable moment to sit through is one that depicts the dissolution of a marriage. But its also evidence as to why The Sopranos has endured as one of the greatest dramas all the time: beneath its gangster genre veneer was something altogether more affecting and personal. Re-watch Tony and Carmelas showdown, sparked when the formers infidelity finally creeps into their family home, and youll be convinced theres been no better acted moment in television history. There probably hasn't been. HBO The 20 best moments from The Sopranos 1. Pine Barrens Season three, episode 11: "Pine Barrens" : "Pine Barrens" Often considered the shows finest achievement, this Chekovian season three episode directed by Steve Buscemi sends Christopher and Paulie (Tony Sirico) into the forest after botching the execution of Russian gangster, Valery (Vitali Baganov). Some glorious black comedy ensues as they pursue the wounded man and get deeply lost in the snow. The execution of Professor Quadri in Bernardo Bertoluccis Italian gangster film The Conformist(1970) is often cited as an inspiration, as it was for Francis Ford Coppola in shooting The Godfather (1972). Buscemi would act in the show himself from 2004 as Tony Blundetto in season five, securing an Emmy nomination for his work as Tony Sopranos cousin, newly released from prison and determined to go straight before being drawn back into the family business. "Pine Barrens" remains a television masterclass. HBO Directing the film will be Alan Taylor, who also served as director on nine episodes of The Sopranos, along with the Mad Men pilot and Game of Throness thrilling season seven episode Beyond the Wall. The executive vice president of Chases company Chase Films is serving as executive producer on the movie, with casting headed up by Douglas Aibel, who worked on The Grand Budapest Hotel, Manchester by the Sea, HBOs Succession and more. Who will star? Alessandro Nivola is set to star in the film you may remember him as a callous model scout in Nicolas Winding Refns The Neon Demon, or as a domineering FBI boss in American Hustle with Vera Farmiga and John Bernthal also cast in undisclosed roles. Alessandro Nivola in The Neon Demon (Amazon Studios) This hasnt stopped fans from theorising that Farmiga would make an excellent young Livia Soprano, Tonys troublemaking mother who was played by Nancy Marchand in the series. Ray Liotta, who famously starred in Goodfellas and was Chases preferred choice to play Tony Soprano, has also joined the cast in an undisclosed role. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Which Sopranos characters will return? Nivola is expected to play Richard Dickie Moltisanti. Though the character never appeared in The Sopranos even through flashback Dickie loomed large over its story. He was Carmella Sopranos cousin, and was gunned down when his son Christopher Moltisanti was still an infant. Dickies early death was the whole reason Tony Soprano (Gandolfini) felt so paternal toward Chrissy, and a whole episode was given over to Chrissy avenging his fathers death. Tony told a lot of anecdotes about Dickie during the show, which Chase may have mined for the prequel. Tonys fellow Soprano crew member was a Vietnam vet, struggled with alcohol and drug addiction (like his son), and the legend goes that he once took on a whole crew from New England. In prison, he gouged out the eye of a man who murdered his cellmate. He was, as Tony put it, a stand up guy. Dickie aside, Deadline notes that the movies time period (which well get to) leaves room for Tonys father, Giovanni Johnny Boy Soprano, Tonys mother, Livia Soprano, and Tonys uncle, Junior Soprano aka Uncle Junior, to feature. It would be surprising if we didnt also see Jackie April Sr and Carmine Lupertazzi Sr, and its possible Paulie Walnuts Gualtieri, Johnny Sack and Tony Blundetto. In January 2019, Chase confirmed that a young version of Tony Soprano would appear on the show. Gandolfinis son, Michael, has been cast in the role. Newark is set amid the 1967 Newark riots, which Livia was seen watching live on television during a flashback in the episode Down Neck. There were 159 race riots across America in what was dubbed The Long Hot Summer of 1967, tensions boiling over as African Americans continued to face discrimination in jobs and in housing. In Newark, the catalyst for the riot was one that reverberates through to the present day: the beating of a black man by police. That was a time when the African-Americans and the Italians of Newark were at each others throats, Deadline notes, and among the gangsters of each group, those conflicts became especially lethal. Were set to learn more about Christopher Moltisantis father (HBO) What might the film be about? The great success of The Sopranos was that it was about more than just the Mafia. The mob premise was merely a way into issues of depression, addiction, morals, identity and the American Dream. Hopefully, Newark will have similar depth, and not just be a period piece. That the Soprano family lived in a leafy suburb of New Jersey and not the states most populous city is likely a result of the white flight that occurred in Newark during the 1960s. Racist and hyper-masculine, the Soprano crew were always recalling the good old days, lamenting what they saw as the plight of the Italian American, and wrestling with their lack of a sense of home in the US. Newark will surely explore how The Sopranoss tough, bitter men and women came to be the way they were. When will it be released? Many Saints of Newark was originally scheduled to be released on 5 September 2020, but was delayed until 12 March 2021 due to the pandemic. In the US, it will be released in cinemas as well as HBO Max following a historic Warner Bros deal. Every one of the studios films will be available to watch on the subscription service at the same times as cinemas for one month. Mumford & Sons have posted rescheduled dates for their UK tour after they postponed due to purely logistical reasons. The band caused uproar among fans after announcing they had been forced to delay the shows, after the tour kicked off in Belfast earlier this week. Some fans claimed they had been left out of pocket because they had already paid for travel and accommodation. "We hope you know by now, we never postpone shows lightly, in fact it's something we try to avoid at all costs," the former Glastonbury headliners said. "This decision has been incredibly difficult to make but in this case we have no other choice. The truth is that it is simply not humanly possible to play these particular shows at this time." The band will now perform for fans at the affected shows in Liverpool, Cardiff, Sheffield and Manchester in June next year. In a new tweet, the band said. We're grateful for your patience. We really hope you can join us but if not, refunds will be available. "New dates for the 4 postponed UK shows are now confirmed for June 2019. We're grateful for your patience. We really hope you can join us but if not, refunds will be available from point of purchase. Looking forward to seeing you all soon. M&S x." The Mumfords' tour kicked off in Dublin last week and arrives in Birmingham on Friday. Their new album Delta has received mixed reviews from critics: The Independent's Patrick Smith said the album was "ambitious, but painfully earnest" in his review and noted how "virtually every track" follows the same pattern. Prince Charles dead secret daughter meets Meghan Markle Know this: Prince Harrys wife Meghan Meets Dianas Secret Daughter!. This exclusive is brought to you by Globe. Th daughter is Princess Sarah. She was allegedly conceived in a bizarre fertility test before Prince Charles and Diana wed. She met Meghan on Mrs Harrys trip to New Zealand. And thats huge news for many reasons. Weve been here before, of course. In September 2016, Globe told us Charles has now fewer than four! secret love children. They had been Found!. So big was this news Globe was tempted to punctuate each word with an exclamation mark. We read that Princess Sarah was living in New England, USA. Her surrogate mother was secretly impregnated by her doctor husband whod stolen a royal embryo produced by Charles and Diana on the orders of his mum, Her Maj. Sarah discovered the truth because everyone told her she was a dead ringer for Princess Diana. But Sarahs parents and Diana are all dead. And Sarah is also dead. In June 2016, Globe told us: Prince Charles Murdered Princess Dianas Secret Daughter! He did it, allegedly, on May 15. So who can we ask to corroborate the story? Meghan? More to follow as Princess Sarah communicates from beyond! the! grave! Anorak Posted: 22nd, November 2018 | In: Key Posts, News, Royal Family, Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink Climate change was a major factor in the extinction of giant animals across Africa over the last several million years, according to new research which disputes the long-held belief that our earliest weapon-wielding ancestors were a significant factor. When and why megafauna, including colossal elephants and antlered giraffes, died out has remained a mystery for archaeologists and paleontologists. Africas rich biodiversity of the distant past was widely thought to have been impacted by the arrival of early human ancestors who hunted them to extinction. But the new work questions the validity of this theory, arguing there have been few attempts to test this scenario or explore alternative ideas. Scientists at the University of Utah argued long-term environmental change drove the extinctions, mainly in the form of deforestation and grassland expansion caused by falling atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. The work indicates species of the largest herbivores began a steady long-term decline about 4.6 million years ago, long before tool-using human ancestors became a threat to the animals. Our early ancestors diverged from chimpanzees 4 million to 7.5 million years ago, but tools, use of animal carcases and hunting came much later. The very earliest stone tools may have been used 2.4 million years ago, but significant levels of hunting only began 50,000 years ago, the fossil record shows. Tyler Faith, curator of archaeology at the Natural History Museum of Utah and assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah, led the study. He said: Our analyses show that there is a steady, long-term decline of megaherbivore diversity beginning around 4.6 million years ago. This extinction process kicks in over a million years before the very earliest evidence for human ancestors making tools or butchering animal carcasses and well before the appearance of any hominin species realistically capable of hunting them, like Homo erectus. In Africa, our evolving predecessors would have borne witness to many huge species which no longer walk the earth, including Deinotherium a mighty elephant with backwards-curving tusks which weighed twice as much as an African bush elephant. There were also two large baboon species, the largest of which was about the same size of a modern gorilla. One of the strangest animals was the Sivatherium a relative of the modern giraffe, and perhaps the largest ruminant ever to walk the earth. The species resembled a powerfully-built giraffe over 3m tall, and weighing more than a tonne but with a head like a stag with two pairs of antlers. Sivatherium a relative of the giraffe had a powerful neck and two sets of antlers (Wikimedia Commons) In order to understand the demise of these and other megaherbivores, Professor Faith and his team examined data from over 100 fossil records spanning the last seven million years. They also looked at climate and environment records and their effects, specifically global atmospheric CO2 trends, stable carbon isotope records of vegetation structure, and stable carbon isotopes of eastern African fossil herbivore teeth. Their analysis reveals that over the last seven million years substantial megaherbivore extinctions occurred: 28 lineages became extinct, leading to the present-day communities lacking in large animals. The key factor in the Plio-Pleistocene megaherbivore decline seems to be the expansion of grasslands, which is likely related to a global drop in atmospheric CO2 over the last five million years, said co-author John Rowan, a postdoctoral scientist from University of Massachusetts Amherst. Low CO2 levels favour tropical grasses over trees, and as a consequence savannas became less woody and more open through time. We know that many of the extinct megaherbivores fed on woody vegetation, so they seem to disappear alongside their food source. An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth Show all 4 1 /4 An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth 28316.bin Independent Graphics An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth 28314.bin Independent Graphics An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth 28312.bin Independent Graphics An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth 28025.bin AP The loss of these massive herbivores may also account for other extinctions which have been attributed to ancient hominins. Previous studies have suggested competition with increasingly carnivorous species of early human ancestors led to the demise of numerous carnivores over the last few million years. But the new study suggest an alternative. We know there are also major extinctions among African carnivores at this time and that some of them, like sabretooth cats, may have specialised on very large prey, perhaps juvenile elephants, said co-author Paul Koch, of the University of California. It could be that some of these carnivores disappeared with their megaherbivore prey. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Professor Faith said: Looking at all of the potential drivers of the megaherbivore decline, our analyses suggest that changing climate and environment played the key role in Africas past extinctions. The study is published in the journal Science. Consider this your ultimate cheat sheet to the offers that are not to be missed Black Friday is upon us once again, the annual day of bargain hunting that sees shoppers pile into stores and scramble for discount electronics. While many will walk away delighted with their purchases, others consider the spectacle distasteful, the mask of civilisation slipping to reveal capitalism at its most covetous and depraved. But there is another way. Recommended A brief history of Black Friday Anti-consumerist protesters have taken part in International Buy Nothing Day since 1992, demonstrating against what activists characterise as the unthinking materialism of the Christmas shopping season. Invented by Canadian artist Ted Dave, the concept was picked up by the left-wing Vancouver magazine Adbusters - also behind the Occupy Wall Street protest of 2011 - and was popularised in North America before spreading around the wider world as a day for society to examine the issue of overconsumption and the problems associated with consumer choices, not least the environmental impact of manufacturing. Early events took place in typically progressive US cities like San Francisco where supporters marched with banners saying Stop Shopping, Start Living, imploring their fellow citizens to lead less status-fixated lives. Their thinking can be traced back to Thorstein Veblens book The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) in which the economist argued our contemporary obsessions with the magpie-like acquisition of luxury possessions and ostentatious displays of wealth are relics of the feudal era that we should seek to curb. It is to Veblen that we owe the phrase conspicuous consumption. Other more unusual expressions of the anti-materialist ethos of Buy Nothing Day have included: mass credit card cut-ups, encouraging shoppers to free themselves from debt; zombie walks, in which activists wander around large chain stores in large groups impersonating the undead; and Whirl-marts, in which they form long disruptive conga lines of empty trollies. Black Friday 2017 in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Black Friday 2017 in pictures Black Friday 2017 in pictures Shoppers reach out for television sets as they compete to purchase retail items on Black Friday at a store in Sao Paulo, Brazil Reuters Black Friday 2017 in pictures Dozens of Brazilians reach for television sets in a store in Sao Paulo, Brazil EPA Black Friday 2017 in pictures Dozens of Brazilians reach for television sets in a store in Sao Paulo EPA Black Friday 2017 in pictures Brazilians reach for television sets in a store in Sao Paulo EPA Black Friday 2017 in pictures People wait outside a department store in Thessaloniki, Greece AFP/Getty Black Friday 2017 in pictures People wait in line outside of Best Buy in Norwalk, Connecticut November 23, 2017 for the store to open at 5PM on Thanksgiving Day to take advantage of the Black Friday sales AFP/Getty Black Friday 2017 in pictures People shop at Macy's department store on Thanksgiving Day. Some stores began their 'Black Friday' sales earlier than the usual date Getty Black Friday 2017 in pictures Shoppers are seen queuing for the opening of a Game discount store on 'Black Friday' at a shopping mall in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa Reuters International Buy Nothing Day has been criticised, however, with opponents arguing it is too passive, achieves nothing or is a gesture as empty as the activism chic of Kendall Jenner's Pepsi commercial. Campaigns like Shift Your Shopping have been proposed as more practical alternatives, guiding consumers towards more ethical choices on the high street. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events As concerns about urban poverty, sustainable farming practices and climate change are increasingly coming to the fore, causes like International Buy Nothing and Shift Your Shopping are asking timely questions about how we spend our money, the global consequences of our selections and what we value as individuals. Angelina Jolie will present an episode of BBC Radio 4s Today programme as part of a special lineup of celebrities and influencers set to takeover as editors over the festive period. The Hollywood actor and United Nations special envoy is expected to invite refugees and survivors of conflict onto the show in a bid to highlight some of they key issues they face, such as violence against women. Her episode will air on 28 December and will also explore themes of justice, accountability and international leadership. Jolies spokesperson said the Maleficent star was grateful for the opportunity to draw on the BBCs global expertise and network to explore practical solutions to a number of pressing issues of our time. She has already begun working with the Today programme team, and is looking forward to engaging a broad and diverse range of voices in the programme. The festive lineup, which will see new hosts editing the show between 22 December and 1 January, will be kickstarted with outgoing Question Time host David Dimbleby. Other guest editors to take the reigns of the show include historian Andrew Roberts, Lastminute.com co-founder Martha Lane Fox and novelist Kamila Shamsie, who won this years womens prize for fiction. Feminist blogger Chidera Eggerue, who started the #saggyboobsmatter hashtag, will also guest edit an episode of the programme, using her spot to talk about body positivity. Last years Christmas guest editor line-up included Prince Harry, but it was 2016s all-female roster that received widespread praise, with boxer Nicola Adams, businesswoman Helena Morrissey and actor Carey Mulligan hosting an episode each. The tradition of Christmas guest editors is part of the programmes tapestry, comments Sarah Sands, editor of Today. We aim to challenge and to enlighten and the wide range of perspectives will bring a seasonal richness to the programme. The annual shopping bonanza that is Black Friday is here, and for the sixth year in a row its also coming to holders of the cryptocurrency bitcoin. The unofficial start to the Christmas shopping period comes at a turbulent time for bitcoin, coming at the end of a week of dramatic price drops, though this hasnt put off online retailers hoping to cash in on the cryptocurrency. While most consumers are flooding into supermarkets and retail stores, theres a quiet revolution brewing in the corners of the internet, states the Bitcoin Black Friday website, which says it will publish all the best deals from merchants today. Bitcoin Black Friday is a one day event that brings together bitcoin merchants and bitcoin users. Merchants simply list their bitcoin-exclusive deals, and users can check out all the deals in one place. This year, were focussed on quality merchants that care about the bitcoin community. Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Screenshot Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures What goes up... Bitcoin price crashes spectacularly, losing half of its value in a matter of days Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin plunges The cryptocurrency eventually bottoms out below $4,000 in 2019 before slowly rebuilding momentum to outperform more traditional assets Getty Images The plummeting price of bitcoin in recent days has led to some cryptocurrency analysts joking that bitcoin has gone on sale, just in time for Black Friday. Bitcoin has fallen in price by around $2,000 over the last week, marking the latest losses in a turbulent year for the worlds leading cryptocurrency. Recommended Bitcoin price just hit new 2018 low as analysts predict reversal Nigel Green, founder and CEO of financial services firm deVere Goup, recently said the recent price crash has created a buyers market. Savvy investors understand that digital currencies are the future of money and, as such, they will be capitalising on the lower prices in order to build their portfolios and shore-up their positions, Mr Green said. Prices might fall further over the next few days, but we can expect a long-term upward trajectory for the crypto sector. Some bitcoin exchanges are even offering bitcoin giveaways in an effort to entice people to their platforms. Isle of Man-based exchange CoinCorner is giving away 20 of bitcoin to new customers starting Thursday, 22 November, so long as they register and buy 100 worth of the cryptocurrency. Our mission is to make buying bitcoin quick and easy for everyone, CoinCorner co-founder Danny Scott wrote in an email to The Independent. We are delighted to provide new cryptocurrency users with a fantastic offer that will give them a great first experience into the world of bitcoin. Bitcoin payment processor BitPay, has seen huge payment spikes on its network on Black Friday in previous years. Another company called Crypto Finally has even gone so far as to release a song for this years event. Set to the tune of Rebecca Blacks Friday, lyrics include: They dont take cryptocurrency, they should take cryptocurrency, excuse me sir, what currency will you take? The chorus concludes: Everyones adopting bitcoin, dont be a weirdo... They wont accept my BitPay, whats the point of Black Friday sales fiat losers? Bitcoin mining operations in the US and China are facing closures after the plummeting price of bitcoin means they may no longer be profitable. The world's most valuable cryptocurrency is currently trading at around $4,500, having lost almost a third of its value in the space of a week. Bitcoin mining the process of generating new units of the cryptocurrency by solving complex puzzles requires vast amounts of electricity to power the computers performing the calculations. This means that the profitability of mining falls when bitcoin's price drops, and if the price falls too far then operations may no longer be economically viable. Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Screenshot Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures What goes up... Bitcoin price crashes spectacularly, losing half of its value in a matter of days Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin plunges The cryptocurrency eventually bottoms out below $4,000 in 2019 before slowly rebuilding momentum to outperform more traditional assets Getty Images The biggest casualty so far may be the US-based mining firm Giga Watt, which was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week after it was unable to pay debts of around $7 million. "The corporation is insolvent and unable to pay its debts when due," the filing stated, according to CoinDesk. "The corporation and its creditors would best be served by reorganisation of the corporation under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code." Bitcoin has suffered two major price falls in less than a week, following months of market stability (CoinMarketCap) The majority of bitcoin mining operations are based in China, where electricity costs are some of the lowest in the world. Yet despite the cheap electricity, images and videos of mining operations shutting down in the country have been spreading across social media. Hon Kong-based mining platform Suanlitou announced this week that it was unable to cover electricity fees for a 10-day period in November, according to the South China Morning Post. Another group of Chinese cryptocurrency miners also reportedly shut down 20,000 mining rigs due to the fall in profitability. It is not clear what the future holds for the price of bitcoin, with some analysts predicting more falls, while others expect the market to turnaround before the end of the year. Facebook has appealed a fine imposed by the UK data watchdog following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) handed a 500,000 fine the maximum penalty possible for what it said amounted to a failure to protect UK Facebook users. It was originally reported that the personal information of 87 million Facebook users was compromised by a personality quiz app that shared data with Cambridge Analytica for the purpose of political profiling in 2016. Roughly 1.1 million of those affected were said to be based in the UK. However a subsequent investigation by the ICO found no evidence that UK-based Facebook users were affected. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Show all 9 1 /9 How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Lock your profile down If you havent done this already, do it now. In Settings, hit the Privacy tab. From here, you can control who gets to see your future posts and friends list. Choose from Public, Friends, Only Me and Custom in the dropdown menu. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Limit old posts Annoyingly, changing this has no effect on whos able to see your past Facebook posts. Instead, on the Privacy page, you have to click on Limit Past Posts, then select Limit Old Posts and finally hit Confirm on the pop-up. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Make yourself harder to find You can stop completely random people from adding you by selecting Friends of Friends from the dropdown menu in the Who can send you friend requests? section of the Privacy page. Its also worth limiting who can find your Facebook profile with your number and email address. At the bottom of the page is the option to prevent search engines outside of Facebook from linking to your profile. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Control access to your Timeline You can limit who gets to post things on your Timeline and who gets to see posts on your Timeline too. In Settings, go to Timeline and Tagging and edit the sections you want to lock down. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Block people When you block someone, they wont be able to see things you post on your Timeline, tag you, invite you to events or groups, start conversations with you or add you as a friend. To do it, go to Settings and Blocking. Annoyingly, you have to block people on Messenger separately. You can also add friends to your Restricted list here, which means theyll still be friends with you but will only be able to see your public posts and things you share on a mutual friend's Timeline. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Review tags One of Facebooks handiest privacy features is the ability to review posts youre tagged in before they appear on your Timeline. Theyll still be visible on the News Feed while theyre fresh, but wont be tied to your profile forever. In Timeline and Tagging, enable Timeline review controls. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Clean up your apps You can view a list of all of the apps youve connected to your Facebook account by going to Settings and Apps. The list might be longer than you expected it to be. Its worth tidying this up to ensure things you no longer use lose access to your personal information. If you dont want to log into websites and apps with your facebook account, scroll down and turn Platform off. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Change your ad preferences You can view a list of everything Facebook thinks youre into and tinker with your ad preferences by going to Settings and Adverts. A lot more information is displayed on the desktop site than the app, so wed recommend doing this on a computer. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Download your data Facebook lets you download all of the data it has on you, including the posts youve shared, your messages and photos, ads youve clicked on and even the IP addresses that are logged when you log in or out of the site. Its a hell of a lot of information, which you should download to ensure you never over-share on the social network again. A fine was still imposed on the technology giant for failing to adequately protect the data of UK users. "The ICO's investigation stemmed from concerns that UK citizens' data may have been impacted by Cambridge Analytica, yet they now have confirmed that they have found no evidence to suggest that information of Facebook users in the UK was ever shared by Dr Kogan with Cambridge Analytica, or used by its affiliates in the Brexit referendum," Facebook's lawyer Anna Benckert said in a statement. "Therefore, the core of the ICO's argument no longer relates to the events involving Cambridge Analytica. Instead, their reasoning challenges some of the basic principles of how people should be allowed to share information online, with implications which go far beyond just Facebook, which is why we have chosen to appeal. "For example, under the ICO's theory people should not be allowed to forward an email or message without having agreement from each person on the original thread. "These are things done by millions of people every day on services across the internet, which is why we believe the ICO's decision raises important questions of principle for everyone online which should be considered by an impartial court based on all the relevant evidence." Facebook's legal challenge will be reviewed by a General Regulatory Chamber tribunal. "Any organisation issued with a monetary penalty notice by the Information Commissioner has the right to appeal the decision to the First-tier Tribunal," said a spokesman for the ICO. Can posing nude be considered a feminist act? Its a contentious question and the arguments vary; some claim that posting naked selfies on social media is a way of reclaiming sexual autonomy and is the beacon of female empowerment: a photographic f*** you to the patriarchy. But others disagree, arguing that women who sexualise themselves in this way are still giving in to the male gaze, thus rendering their intentions void. From the recent controversies surrounding Little Mixs music video to Emily Ratajkowskis Instagram feed, see the celebrities sparking important conversations on this perennially-divisive topic. Kim Kardashian-West The reality TV star is so synonymous with her candid stream of selfies, shes even published a book of them. But she is regularly criticised for posting nude photographs of herself on Instagram, where the mother-of-two has 120m followers. In 2016, one photo of the Kardashian posing naked in a bathroom struck a nerve with Sharon Osborne, who said she felt insulted by the argument that Kardashians naked posts were in line with her feminist values. The following year, she told The Daily Telegraph: Kim says shes doing everything in the name of feminism, but thats not feminism! Those girls live off their bodies, half of LA has been through them and everything they do from the sex tape to the plastic see-through dresses and the gym wear is about sex, not female progress. But the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star defended herself, arguing that she has never claimed her naked pictures were a feminist act. Never said that, she told E! News, adding that she was misquoted. I post nude photos because I like how I look and I feel proud when I've lost all this baby weight and I post it because I feel like posting it and I feel powerful. Kardashian also addressed the controversies in a follow-up blog post published on International Womens Day later that year, describing the criticisms she received as slut-shaming, adding that she feels empowered by her body and her sexuality. I am empowered by showing the world my flaws and not being afraid of what anyone is going to say about me, she continued. And I hope that through this platform I have been given, I can encourage the same empowerment for girls and women all over the world." Emma Watson The Beauty and the Beast actor became embroiled in a heated debate after she posed topless in an issue of Vanity Fair in 2017, which critics argued was a betrayal of her feminist values. Emma Watson: Feminism, feminism . . . gender wage gap . . . why oh why am I not taken seriously . . . feminism . . . oh, and here are my t- -s! wrote one person on Twitter at the time. The 28-year-old fired back at those who took issue with the image, which was shot by leading fashion photographer Tim Walker, affirming her feminist views in an interview with Reuters: It just always reveals to me how many misconceptions and what a misunderstanding there is about what feminism is, she said. Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. Emma Watson defends Vanity Fair photoshoot Its about freedom, its about liberation, its about equality. I really dont know what my t**s have to do with it. Its very confusing. Emily Ratajkowski The 27-year-old actor and model often makes headlines for her Instagram posts, which have seen her pose topless with Kim Kardashian and completely nude in solo shots. But it was a video released in December 2017 as part of Love Magazines annual advent calendar that was deemed particularly problematic. Piers Morgan calls model Emily Ratajkowski a global bimbo In the clip, Ratajkowski is seen wearing lingerie and writhing around in spaghetti. Never one to miss an opportunity, Piers Morgan sarcastically called the video a wonderful testament to feminist empowerment. The model responded to the Good Morning Britain (GMB) host, tweeting: Lol never said my Love video was a feminist statement. But now its worth saying that telling women what to do with their bodies & sexuality is actually just classic sexism. I can have opinions about feminism and also do sexy photo shoots k thanks. In the interview with Love that accompanied the shoot, the model explained how the backlash shes faced over her previous naked images she's posted shed light on backward attitudes towards female sexuality. I think a lot of people, when they see a woman's body they classify her as a certain type, she told the magazine. I've had to fight that stereotype. But then I think that I would have had to do that anyway. Certain women, no matter what, they get put into certain boxes more than men. That was my box to deal with. It says so much about how much we don't like women in culture that if they show their bodies, they're vulgar, basically. It's either completely sexualised or its vulgar and gross. It's so bizarre." Little Mix The British band are the latest women to bear the brunt of slut-shaming for posing naked in a photoshoot to promote their latest music video, which sees the womens bodies covered with insults such as ugly and irrelevant. Piers Morgan drags Jesy Nelson over grim underwear photo as bitter Little Mix feud rages on Though the bandmates never described the shoot as a feminist act (in fact, its about body confidence), it has been interpreted by some people as such and subsequently garnered widespread criticism as fans once again question whether posing nude is actually a sign of female empowerment. Piers Morgan is unsurprisingly one of the most vehement critics of the shoot, accusing the band of using sex to sell albums on GMB. He took the opportunity to also re-hash his views on Emily Ratajkowski, saying: I dont get it. This whole Emily Ratajkowski saying you should be able to wear a bikini for everything. Piers Morgan tells Little Mix to confront him on Good Morning Britain after calling him a 't***' "Absolutely ridiculous person. I have no problem looking at her with no clothes onmy problem is when she tries to frame this as something empowering." Ariana Grande called Morgan out for his comments, accusing him of attempting to slut-shame the band, writing: I use my talent AND my sexuality all the time because I choose to. women can be sexual AND talented. Naked and dignified. its OUR choice. Majestic plans to import an extra 8m of wine to prepare for disruption to supplies caused by Brexit. The company said it would build up between 5m and 8m of additional wine as the 29 March withdrawal date looms. The British wine seller becomes the latest company to outline its stockpiling plans as preparations ramp up for a disorderly exit from the EU which could include long delays at ports, disrupting supplies of a range of goods. A Brexit deal is yet to be agreed with just four months to go and deep divisions remain within Theresa Mays government as she prepares to head to Brussels for a crucial summit on Sunday. Recommended 24 hours to save EU summit as negotiators scramble to break deadlock FTSE 100-listed Compass, the worlds largest caterer, said on Wednesday that it was ready to start stockpiling ingredients if necessary. Bisto and Mr Kipling maker Premier Foods announced last week that it too plans to build up supplies. Besides Brexit stockpiling, Majestic revealed that it had fallen into the red with a 200,000 pre-tax loss for the half year to 1 October, down from a profit of 3.1m a year earlier. The news sent Majestics shares plunging 15 per cent on Thursday morning. Chief executive Rowan Gormley said his company was doing well in a tough market. He added: We set out a plan at our capital markets day in April 2018 and we are delivering against it. That plan was to accelerate growth by investing in new customers and, so far, the plan is on track. Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Show all 13 1 /13 Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Esther McVey Britain's Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey arrives to attend the weekly meeting of the cabinet at 10 Downing Street in London. - Britain's Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey resigned from the cabinet over draft Brexit deal AFP/Getty Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Dominic Raab British Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab give a press conference at the end of the final round of talks in Brexit negotiations at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium EPA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Rehman Chrishti Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party Rehman Chrishti tendered his resignation letter this afternoon PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Anne-Marie Trevelyan Parliamentary private secretary in the Department of Education Anne-Marie Trevelyan resigned stating that she cannot support the deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Sam Gyimah Universities minister Sam Gyimah resigned on November 30, claiming the government's decision to pull out of the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system as a deciding factor PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Shailesh Vara Shailesh Vara who has quit as Minister of State for Northern Ireland, saying he cannot support Theresa May's Brexit agreement, which he said "leaves the UK in a halfway house with no time limit on when we will finally be a sovereign nation" PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Suella Braverman Brexit minister Suella Braverman has resigned, stating It is not what the British people, or my constituents, voted for in 2016. Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Ranil Jayawardena Parliamentary private secretary to the ministry of justice Ranil Jayawardena resigned as he could not back the deal "in good conscience" Despite the loss, Majestic predicts it will still hit its 500m sales target for this financial year. Its online Naked Wines business recorded a 60 per cent rise in subscription sales to 7.9m, though this still represents a small proportion of the groups overall revenues. The company warned that further investment in expanding Naked will hit profits while tough trading conditions will continue to drag on both its retail and commercial businesses. We were planning for tough times and were investing through tough times because we know thats the route to a more profitable future, the company said in a statement. As a result, we now have a business that is almost 45 per cent online and over 20 per cent international with both the option, and intention, to invest further in order to drive returns. Its ok to be anti-Semitic. This we know, some claim, because Jeremy Corbyn is still leader of the Labour Party. Had Corbyn othered blacks or Asians in the same way he othered British Jews would he still be there? No chance. So to the Womens March (WM), which will convene on 19 January 2019. Come one, come all. But Jews may not be welcome. I have waited, hoping they would right the ship. But they have not. In opposition to our Unity Principles, they have allowed anti-Semitism, anti-LBGTQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform by their refusal to separate themselves from groups that espouse these racist, hateful beliefs. Shook has taken issue with the womens relationship with Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam. He is no friend to Jews. He has called Hitler a great man. This is Farrakhan who told his supporters: Im not an anti-Semite. Im anti-termite. He says: The Jews , a small handful, control the movement of this great nation, like a radar controls the movement of a great ship in the waters. Jews are, says Farrakhan, satanic . He says gay sex is a sin . But Mallory and Perez thought it fine to pose for pictures with Farrakhan and post them on the web. Mass outrage did not follow. There was no public shaming. The WM responded to Shooks call by, well, get a load of this. The WM wrote on Facebook: Today, Teresa Shook weighed in, irresponsibly, as have other organizations attempting in this moment to take advantage of our growing pains to try and fracture our network. Groups that have benefited from our work but refuse to organize in accordance with our Unity Principles clearly have no interest in building the world our principles envision. They have not done the work to mobilize women from diverse backgrounds across the nation. Our ongoing work speaks for itself. Thats our focus, not armchair critiques from those who want to take credit for our labor. Calling out Jew hatred is irresponsible. She was an armchair activist. This is a liberal group that doesnt like Donald Trump the America First President who says so long as you work with us its no problem if you murder journalists, smash womens suffrage and kill free speech. Its no problem if youre a bigot, says Trump, so long as my message prospers. Isnt that position shockingly similar to what the Womens Movement says? Dont worry about Jew hatred and monstering gays. Look at the good we do. Women First! But thankfully, others see racism for what it is and they call out those who acquiesce to bigotry as the cowards they are. Now Sarsour tells Jewish and LGBTQ members WM is sorry for the harm we have caused. Sorry you were offended. There was no condemnation of Farrakhan. Why not? Is it because its ok to attack Jews and tolerate those who do? Image: The Stranger at our Gate, by Frank Beard (1890) Ofgem has proposed that new energy suppliers should be subject to finance tests before coming to market to ensure that firms have enough financial resources to meet customers expectations. The regulator said the tests would be a "safety net" for customers in the event of supplier failure and follows several smaller providers going out of business over the last year. Ofgem said the tests, which are to be in place by spring 2019, should ensure new entrants are robust while encouraging competition and innovation in the market. Applicants for new supply licences would have to demonstrate to Ofgem that they have the funds and resources to manage their business for at least 12 months after entering the market. Mary Starks, executive director for consumers and markets at Ofgem, said: "Our proposed new tests for suppliers wanting to enter the market will ensure consumers will be better protected against the risk of poor performance, while still allowing more competition and innovation in the energy market to benefit consumers." The announcement came hours before Extra Energy collapsed on Wednesday, the sixth UK supplier to go out of business this year. The company issued a notice via its website advising customers to sit tight and wait until (a) new supplier has been appointed by Ofgem. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Extras demise leaves 108,000 without an energy provider. Commenting on the firms collapse, Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: Extra Energy customers should not worry, their gas and electricity will continue as normal. Ofgem will organise a new supplier who will be in touch in due course. In the meantime people should take meter readings and avoid switching until a new supplier has been put in place. By switching now people risk losing any refunds they might be entitled to. Todays news and other recent supplier failures again highlight how essential it is that suppliers operating in the market have sustainable business models. Additional reporting by newswires Nissan has sacked Carlos Ghosn as chair for alleged financial misconduct including underreporting his income. The Japanese carmaker formally removed Mr Ghosn from his role after an emergency meeting at its headquarters in Yokohama on Thursday. Greg Kelly, another Nissan director who is accused of facilitating the alleged wrongdoing, has also been sacked. The pair were arrested in Tokyo on Monday following an investigation, which Nissan says uncovered significant acts of misconduct. Mr Ghosn is being detained and questioned by Japanese police about claims he failed to report up to $34.5m (26.8m) of compensation he received from Nissan, and allegations he used company funds to purchase houses in Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Beirut and Amsterdam. He currently maintains his senior roles at Renault and Mitsubishi, which are members of an alliance with Nissan. Renault, where Mr Ghosn is chief executive and chairman, has appointed chief operating officer Thierry Bollore as interim boss, while Mitsubishi is set to hold a meeting next week to discuss its chairmans future. The scandal has put the future of the Renault-Mitsubishi-Nissan alliance in jeopardy, and delivered a blow to the share prices of all three companies. A months-long internal investigation into Mr Ghosns conduct came as he was reportedly negotiating a merger between Nissan and Renault, which had angered some of the Japanese firms board members. The two companies already own shares in each other, but the deal would have made the alliance irreversible against the wishes of some senior Nissan figures who had been looking for ways to scupper it, the Financial Times reported. Mr Ghosns alleged misconduct is said to have taken place between 2010 and 2015. If proven, the charges could result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years for the chief executive. If in doubt, double down. Earlier this month we argued here in The Independent that the prime minister should be able to build momentum for her deal once agreed. And we are sticking to our guns. Whats more, we think her much-derided draft agreement, should it turn into an actual agreement, might yet defy the odds and be approved by parliament. We originally argued that a deal would change the context of the Brexit debate, that sterling would bounce and that businesses would come out in favour of the relative certainty that it provides. Some of this has already happened although our point referred to after the European Council rather than the week leading up to it. The CBIs President John Allan came out in support of the deal, saying it avoids the wrecking ball that would be a no-deal departure. Recommended If Theresa May gets her Brexit deal markets will go up Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, the intransigent stance of the DUP is coming in for scrutiny. Our colleague Colin Harvey has pointed out that their Brexit stance is being questioned by prominent figures from across the community in Northern Ireland, and that businesses and the wider community have cautiously welcomed the protocol on Northern Ireland. Were not, of course, making any firm predictions about whats going to happen politically. Brexit has confronted us with a series of equally implausible alternatives, one of which will have to come to pass. There could yet be another referendum, a general election, or the UK might even crash out of the EU without a deal at all. Or, of course, there is the deal itself. The hostile reaction it received in parliament, and the spate of resignations and rash of no confidence letters that followed its unveiling, underlined all too clearly that the parliamentary odds do not appear to favour the PM. Yet there is still time before the vote. We (along with Goldman Sachs) continue to expect a post-summit bounce, and, judging from the last week, wed expect sections of the pro-Brexit media to come out in favour of the deal. Mrs May seems to have stabilised the cabinet by holding on to the Pizza Club of key pro-Brexit ministers and adding some waverers from both Brexit wings of her party to the government payroll. And she has in fact strengthened over the past week, with polling published in The Times revealing a 13-point increase in support for Theresa May among the public. MPs reluctant to support a prime minister on the verge last week are more likely to come on board as her position gradually improves. Moreover, the prime minister still has some wiggle room. Remember, the Withdrawal Agreement, is a document filled with obligations to pay money, to provide rights for EU citizens and to avoid an Irish border. There is a slight chance that this might yet be revised to hold out the possibility that both sides can just about conceive of a technical fix that might obviate the need of the contentious backstop ever being needed. That might yet sway some pro-Brexit MPs who fear the chaos that rejection of the deal would unleash. And sugar for the rather bitter pill of the withdrawal agreement might also be provided by the political declaration. Henry Newman has gone through some of the ways in which this might be drafted to maximise political backing. As the clock ticks down, the options will crystallise into real choices. Not this deal versus a hypothetical ideal outcome, but between the deal, no deal or a general election or referendum. Once the package lands in parliament, process, sequencing and timing will matter enormously. Indeed, it might transpire that getting the barrage of criticism over and done with last week was a tactical masterstroke. Whilst opponents of the deal have worn themselves out, the prime minister can come back from Brussels on Sunday and start to build a more durable coalition. Those against Theresa Mays version of Brexit have pretty much had an open field up to now, but the prime minister has begun a highly orchestrated campaign defending her position properly, perhaps for the first time. Moreover, as Labour MP Lisa Nandy has pointed out, the order in which the Commons deals with amendments to the motion on the Withdrawal Agreement will be crucial. Anti-Brexit MPs are divided over whether to put up amendments calling for a referendum first, or to force a defeat of the deal and then put together a pro-referendum coalition. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events If a pro-referendum amendment is defeated, the ensuing meaningful vote comes to look like a choice between deal and no deal, which might cause more parliamentarians to opt for the former. And, as Raphael Hogarth argues, some Tory Remainers might then be persuaded to support the PM. Meanwhile, the prime minister will continue to try to pile pressure on her party from below. A Survation poll showed a slight plurality of Conservative councillors thought MPs should support the deal, with almost two-thirds saying they would back her personally in a confidence vote. It may be that ramping up constituency pressure on MPs will also help her shift some waverers, though polling by Conservative Home underlines what a mountain she has to climb to persuade her grassroots. It is, of course, far from certain that Mrs May will prevail. It may even take her two bites of the cherry to do so, as those recalling the experience of the TARP [financial] programme in the United States in 2008 have been keen to point out. In that case, US lawmakers rejected a bailout package the first time, but passed it on a second vote when the markets baulked. MPs here could well face similar circumstances, and the pressure to support the deal could become overwhelming. After two years of this weak and wobbly prime minister, weve surely learned that its rash to write her off. Anand Menon is director and Matt Bevington a policy researcher at The UK in a Changing Europe A woman allegedly killed her boyfriend and served his remains in traditional dish, police in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said. The alleged victim's brother was visiting the suspect to ask about his sibling when he spotted a tooth in her blender, prosecutors say. Although she told him they had broken up, his suspicions were aroused and he called in the police. Recommended Indonesia is at the brunt of US laws to reduce fossil fuel dependence At first the woman denied involvement but then broke down and said that she had killed him during a moment of insanity, police told state-run newspaper The National. They added that the Moroccan native also claimed that she had supported the victim during their seven-year relationship, and then he told her that he was going to marry someone else in her homeland. It is then alleged that she butchered his body and minced it in a blender. She reportedly told investigators that she used the meat to cook machboos, a dish made from rice, spices, and typically, lamb. She is then alleged to have served this to a group of construction workers nearby in order to get rid of the evidence. The leftovers were fed to neighbourhood dogs, the Khaleej Times reported. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The suspect allegedly asked a friend for help to clean the house. While she noticed the bloodstains, the friend is not thought to have witnessed the crime. Investigators did not offer details on how she carried out the killing, but they said that the woman faces a court date once the investigation is complete. The atrocity in the Manchester Arena was particularly shocking even at a time when jihad had come to Britain and Europe with increasingly savage attacks. It was a suicide bombing targeting young fans at a concert by Ariana Grande, the intent to murder and maim in a packed and confined space with little chance of escape. Now, in a report by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), comes the details of systemic failures by the security agencies, police and the Home Office that helped enable Salman Abedi to carry out his personal act of jihad with a homemade explosive device. The document charts how a series of mistakes allowed 22-year-old Abedi, born in Manchester to Libyan parents, to murder 22 people and injure more than a hundred others on 22 May last year. Abedi was allowed to visit a dangerous extremist in prison; allowed to go in and out of the country without any travel restrictions despite being a suspect; allowed to be out of the Prevent programme that is supposed to counter radicalism and allowed to mount, through the failures, his attack. Dominic Grieve, the Conservative MP who chairs the ISC, said: What we can say is that there were a number of failures in the handling of Salman Abedis case and, while it is impossible to say whether these would have prevented the devastating attack on 22 May, we have concluded that, as a result of the failings, potential opportunities to prevent it were missed. Recommended London Bridge terror ringleader freed by police months before attack There was also, the ISC stated, another shortcoming in the investigation over Abedi that caused serious concern. But such was the highly sensitive security aspects of the issue that it would be raised with the prime minister in a separate report, which will remain classified. The death of Abedi does not end the legal proceedings on the Manchester case. There is an arrest warrant issued in this country for his brother Hashem who is being held in a Libyan jail. The two brothers travelled to Libya together in April last year, a month before Salman returned to Manchester to carry out the attack. Last week, Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the Libyan administration that is internationally recognised, claimed that Hashem Abedi may be extradited back to the UK in a matter of weeks. He said: I think from here to the end of this year we will finish all the legal procedure in Libya. We are fully cooperating because we understand the suffering of the families of the victims of this terrorist attack ... According to the general prosecutor we can extradite. After we complete the legal process in Libya, it is only a matter of time. However, the writ of Prime Minister Sarrajs government does not run far in the country. Hashem Abedi is being held by a militia, called Rada, only nominally under the jurisdiction of the justice ministry and talks are continuing about his future. Extradition may take place, say hopeful diplomatic sources, with former members of the radical LIFG (Libyan Islamist Fighting Group) said to be involved in the negotiations. Salman and Hashem Abedi had travelled to Libya in 2011 with their father Ramadan and, it is believed, some members of the LIFG, during the revolution that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi to deliver medical supplies aid. Ramadan is now living back in Libya; he is not wanted in connection with the Manchester attack. Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on Show all 10 1 /10 Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Flower Festival at St Ann's Church marking the Manchester Arena bombing Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trail in St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Flower Festival at St Ann's Church marking the Manchester Arena bombing Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trail in St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trailin St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trailin St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trailin St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on Embracing Manchester Exhibition at St Ann's Church was created by artist Ghislaine Howard after being inspired by Muslim video blogger Baktash Noori who, after the attack spent days in the city centre trying to win the trust of the public. Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Flower Festival at St Ann's Church marking the Manchester Arena bombing Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trailin St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Salman had first come to the notice of MI5 the previous year, 2010, when he had met a former member of the LIFG who was under low priority investigation. No further action was taken at the time. By spring 2014, Salman Abedi was under active investigation when, the report pointed out, MI5 and CTP [Counter Terrorism Police] received information informing them of SALMANs *** [redacted] frequent travel to Libya ***. However, he was not, at any point, subjected to any form of travel monitoring or travel disruption. Asked whether at the launch of the report whether he had received any details about what Abedi was doing in Libya during these visits, who he was meeting, from the security and intelligence agencies, Mr Grieve said he did not wish to make any comment. However, Libyan sources, as well as security officials from the US and a European state have told The Independent that Salman Abedi was meeting a khatibas, battalion, linked to Isis including in its ranks some who have come from recently fighting in Syria. Recommended Manchester attack report raises serious questions for May and MI5 Abedi had been to Sabratha and Sirte, which had become bases for Isis and from where attacks were planned not just in Libya but neighbouring Tunisia including at the beach resort at Sousse, killing 38 people, 30 of them British, and Bardo Museum in Tunis, with 21 deaths, in 2015. The ISC report states that Salman Abedis telephone number came up as being in contact with an extremist suspect in 2013. The same number was found to be in contact with a known extremist who was under investigation in 2015. The same year a telephone number associated with Salman Abedi was in contact with individuals of interest overseas. No further action was taken, the report notes, in relation to the telephone number at the time. Salman Abedi, according to Libyan sources and a European security official, had kept in touch with Isis affiliates in Libya, sometimes through cutouts, to try to hide the link, living or travelling in Belgium, France and Germany. It is not known if these calls played any part in instigating the Manchester attack. They took place, however, when a series of lethal attacks were being carried out in Europe. Manchester attack survivor Millie Robson considers herself lucky The report states in another section The Manchester Arena bomber, SALMAN Abedi, visited prisoner *** on more than one occasion *** *** SALMAN visited him *** was a Category A prisoner when SALMAN first visited him ****** The police had failed to take any action over the visits. The ISC states that it found ... the lack of action unsatisfactory ... There was a clear risk that these were meetings between two extremists. The ISC refused to name the prisoner or the prison. It was Abdal Raouf Abdallah and the visit was at HMP Altcourse. Abdallah, then 24, had been left paralysed after being shot during the Libyan civil war in 2011, the same time that the Abedis were in the country delivering aid and medical supplies. Abdallah was later accused of trying to facilitate the journey of jihadis to Syria. Eventually, on 8 May 2017, MI5 decided that there should be a prioritisation meeting to discuss whether Salman Abedi should be the subject of further low-level investigative enquiries in order to identify whether he had re-engaged in Islamist extremist activity. The meeting was scheduled for a date more than three weeks later on 31 May. Salman Abedi carried out his murderous attack nine days before it took place. The report states, As MI5 put it the plot then moved faster than the process. A man who told officials he had been trained to kill at an Isis camp in Iraq was not investigated by MI5 before he attempted to blow up a Tube train in west London, a new report by MPs has revealed. Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee said there had been fundamental failings by the Home Office, counterterror police and Surrey County Council leading up to Ahmed Hassans attempted atrocity in Parsons Green. Whilst Hassan had revealed in an asylum interview that he had been taken by Daesh and trained to kill, he had not been investigated by MI5 prior to launching his attack, the report said. Another name for Isis, the word Daesh is based on Arabic acronym al-Dawla al-Islamiya fil Iraq waal Sham, which translates as Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (Syria), but is close to Dahes or one who sows discord. The report added: The litany of errors that resulted in Hassans attack-planning passing unnoticed, despite his participation in the [governments] Channel programme, highlights deep-rooted issues in the administration of the Prevent strand of [government strategy] Contest. The Prevent strategy aims to identify and provide support to individuals who are at risk of being drawn into terrorism. The committee said the Home Office did not provide the evidence it requested on Hassan in time for its report, and that MPs would be directly answerable for the failings found. Hassan, who claimed to be 18, was jailed for life in March for attempting to bomb a Tube train in September 2017. A judge found he was driven by a mindset of Isis extremism, a deep-seated hatred of Britain and a desire for revenge over the death of his father during the Iraq War and continued bombing of his home country. Experts said Hassans device was viable but did not fully detonate. However, 23 victims were nonetheless left with burn injuries and another 28 injured in a crush to escape Parsons Green station. Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Show all 23 1 /23 Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion A bucket with flames and wires coming out of it was photographed in the carriage after the explosion apparently the source of the blast AFP Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion An explosion on a packed Tube train has injured a number of people in west London AFP/Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion The blast triggered a stampede as commuters panicked AFP/Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion Click through for more pictures from the scene Reuters Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosioN Reuters Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion PA Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion Reuters Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion Reuters Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion AFP/Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion Reuters Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion AFP/Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion AFP/Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion Reuters Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Parsons Green explosion Reuters Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures AFP/Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures AFP/Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures AFP/Getty Terror attack at Parson's Green in pictures AFP/Getty The court heard Hassan lied about his age when he arrived in the UK on the back of a lorry from Calais in 2015 to gain the special privileges afforded to child asylum seekers. He told immigration officials he had been forced to train as a child soldier at an Isis camp in his home country, but fled when the region was retaken by Iraqi government forces. During an interview in January 2016, Hassan told officials he had been trained to kill by the terrorist group and indoctrinated in what Allah believed was right. But instead of being treated as a potential terror threat, he was given support as a vulnerable asylum seeker and referred to the governments Prevent counter-extremism programme. When asked whether the categorisation of other asylum seekers may have created risks, committee chair Dominic Grieve QC said MPs were being handed further material. Hassan was an asylum seeker, he described himself as being underage and he was given appropriate support for someone in that position, Mr Grieve told The Independent. There was clear evidence he had been with Isis and been involved in acts of violence. His behaviour, which showed some clear signs of disturbance, and some of the things he said should have been investigated as a security risk. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Hassan told his college mentor it was his duty to hate Britain, and she raised the alarm after seeing a WhatsApp message on his phone reading IS [Islamic State] has accepted your donation. He had been caught watching an Isis propaganda video and listening to nasheeds (Islamic songs) which were subsequently identified by The Independent as the groups official propaganda. Officials considered his academic success at Brooklands College in Surrey a significant protective factor, but Hassan was leading a double life and even used a voucher awarded for being named student of the year to buy bombmaking materials from Amazon. The Prevent strategys intervention programme, Channel, formally met to discuss his case nine times between June 2016 and September 2017, but did not request ideological mentoring. Police who interviewed Hassan twice did not raise concern he could become involved in terrorism, instead believing he was making positive progress. The panel in charge of his case did not take full account of red flags such as the teenager repeatedly going missing from his foster home and suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, the review found. Ten days before Hassan detonated his bomb, Channel considered closing his case. A Home Office spokesperson said Prevent plays a vital role in stopping vulnerable people being drawn into terrorism. The spokesperson added: Over 1,300 people have been supported through the Channel programme since 2012, the vast majority leaving with no further concerns. Following the Parsons Green attack, we worked with Surrey County Council and the police to examine the perpetrators case, including how Prevent was implemented. This allowed all involved to take swift action and improve safeguards to ensure this does not happen again. Seven buses have been destroyed following a series of huge explosions after a fire broke out at a London bus depot. More than 60 firefighters were called to the blaze at a garage in Orpington, on the southeast edge of the capital, just after 3.30am on Thursday morning. At the height of the blaze, eleven buses were alright and London Fire Brigade (LFB) received more than 40 calls from members of the public as smoke was seen rising into the sky. London Fire Brigade received more than 40 emergency calls over the incident (LFB) Locals reported hearing several loud bangs in the early hours of the morning as vehicles were engulfed by the flames. Woken up by 10 huge explosions and what looks like a big fire near Sevenoaks Road in Orpington, one wrote on Twitter. LFB said its crews had worked on arrival to stop the fire spreading to more buses and around 30 vehicles had been moved out of harms way. Seven buses were completely destroyed in the blaze and a further four were badly damaged, the brigade said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The fire was brought under control by around 6.30am. Crews will remain on the scene to damp down affected vehicles. The cause of the incident is currently unknown. A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson, said: We are assisting the emergency services and the bus operator Go-Ahead with an investigation into a fire at Orpington Bus Garage. Bus services in the area are impacted on routes 358, 684 and R8. The scale of Theresa Mays challenge became clear on Thursday as Conservatives and her DUP partners in government attacked her Brexit deal. A string of ex-cabinet ministers, including Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab, accused her of locking the UK into the EUs sphere of influence after withdrawal. They demanded the controversial Irish backstop be scrapped, along with a leading figure in the Northern Irish DUP who warned the PM that she cannot rely on his partys backing. Recommended Brexit transition period can be extended until after next election With Labours Jeremy Corbyn also laying into the agreement won by Ms May, it looks increasingly difficult for the prime minister to win a vote on it expected early next month. It came just hours after Ms May took to the steps of Downing Street to declare that the final elements of the Brexit deal had been agreed, ahead of a summit to sign it off at the weekend. The prime minister urged MPs to come together behind her deal, telling them people were demanding people move on to focus on the big issues like the NHS. But she faced a raft of criticism over her deal, the final part of which was settled following meetings with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday night. Former foreign secretary Mr Johnson said: Can I regretfully point out to (Ms May) that of course nothing in the political declaration changes the hard reality of the withdrawal agreement that gives the EU a continuing veto over the unilateral power of the entire United Kingdom to do free trade deals or to take back control of our laws. Theresa May makes statement on Brexit from Downing Street We can accept the generalities and self-contradictions contained within this political declaration, but we should junk forthwith the backstop, upon which the future economic partnership according to this political declaration is to be based, and which makes a complete nonsense of Brexit. The backstop mechanism binds the UK into a customs union with the EU, if no trade deal has been reached by the end of the Brexit transition period in December 2020, but many MPs wanted Britain to have a unilateral option to withdraw from it something Ms May concluded is unobtainable. His concerns were echoed by Mr Raab who recently quit Ms Mays cabinet and his job as Brexit secretary in protest at her plans. He said: The backstop ties the UK to the customs union and single market rules with no voice and an EU veto over our exit...the top reason people voted to leave the EU was to take back control over our laws. Isnt it the regrettable but inescapable reality that this deal gives even more away? A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Show all 65 1 /65 A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit An estimated 700,000 people marched through London to demand a final say on the withdrawal agreement Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Red smoke from a canister hangs in the air as around 100,000 demonstrators march through London during a People's Vote anti-brexit demonstration savings banners and placards Anti-Brexit People's Vote March for the Future in London Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Protesters wearing final Say shirts and holding placards Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit MP Chuka Umunna (left) and MP Vince Cable (right) as MP Anna Soubry (centre) addresses Anti-Brexit campaigners at a rally after the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A Peoples Vote march attendee calls for a Final Say Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators with banners 'We're with EU' during the People's Vote March for the Future in London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Protesters at Londons march for the future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Editor of The Independent Christian Broughton speaks to demonstrators in Parliament Sqaure after they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A poster at the March for the Future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 campaigner wrapped in EU flag Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators pass Trafalgar Square as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators wave Union and European flags and hold up placards as they pass Trafalgar Square, taking part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A demonstrator holds a message during a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators take part in the 'People's Vote March for the Future,' in central London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A protester brandishes an Independent t-shirt during the Brexit March Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Tens of thousands of people take part in People's Vote March for the Future in central London. The march organised by the People's Vote campaign is led by young people calling for a People's Vote on the Brexit deal Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA Other eurosceptics who attacked the PMs plan included Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson, whom the prime minister had attempted to persuade to back her deal in recent days both also attacked the backstop. Tory Brexiteer Sir Bill Cash told Ms May the Commons European scrutiny committee, which he chairs, would be holding an inquiry into the Governments handling and outcome of these negotiations. He said: This declaration cannot be reconciled with the repeal of the 1972 act nor the referendum vote. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, chief whip of the DUP propping up Ms Mays administration in the commons, called on the prime minister to dump the backstop and come forward with the alternatives. He added: If she wants to have the support of my party for the withdrawal agreement then we need to see an end to the backstop and those alternative arrangements put in place. Iain Duncan Smith says Brexit deal 'unworkable' without changes to backstop Pro-EU Conservatives also attacked the deal with ex-education secretary Justine Greening and ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve calling for final say referendum to give the British the chance to vote on the final agreement. Labour leader Mr Corbyn has said Ms Mays deal on the future relationship with the EU represents the worst of all worlds. Speaking in the Commons, he said the deal was 26 pages of waffle that could have been written two years ago. He said: 19 extra pages but nothing has changed. The only certainty contained within these pages is that the transition period will have to be extended or we will end up with a backstop and no exit. It represents the worst of all worlds, no say over the rules that will continue to apply and no certainty to the future. Speaking outside No 10 ahead of the commons showdown, Ms May said the agreement with the European Commission on the draft political framework represented the right direction for the UK. She went on: This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the vote of the referendum, it brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws and it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom. Close Iain Duncan Smith says Brexit deal 'unworkable' without changes to backstop Theresa May has defended her blueprint for post-Brexit relations with the EU as senior Tories lined up to rubbish her "unworkable" agreement with Brussels. The prime minister told MPs that a good Brexit deal was "within our grasp" and urged MPs to get behind her over the next 72 hours, when she will return to the Belgian capital for a summit where EU leaders will decide whether to rubberstamp the deal. Conservative Eurosceptics expressed their dissent during a tense Commons statement, when ex-foreign secretary Boris Johnson described it as "complete nonsense" and Iain Duncan-Smith, former Tory leader, said it was not "at all workable" in its current form. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said: "We should junk forthwith the backstop, upon which the future economic partnership - according to this political declaration - is to be based, and which makes a complete nonsense of Brexit." Ms May said her deal delivers what Mr Johnson wants, telling him: "The future relationship we have set out in the political declaration ends free movement, ends sending vast sums of money to the European Union every year and ends the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the United Kingdom, and it enables us to hold an independent trade policy and to negotiate trade deals around the whole of the world." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also dismissed the political agreement as "26 pages of waffle," which heralds the "blindfold Brexit we all feared". There would be checks and controls on trade between Britain and the EU under the final Brexit deal offered to Theresa May by Brussels, a leaked final draft of the agreement shows. The prime minister travelled to Brussels on Wednesday night in the hope of securing concessions from the EU to placate her rebellious MPs, who are threatening to vote down the agreement. A final draft of the unreleased document seen by The Independent shows the EU has agreed to soften some of its language with nods to Ms Mays earlier rejected Chequers proposals included. Recommended 24 hours to save EU summit as negotiators scramble to break deadlock But the overall shape of the agreement, which lays the groundwork for Britains relationship with the EU for decades to come, is mostly unchanged with warnings of border checks and new bureaucracy that the prime minister said she wanted to avoid. Last week negotiators on both sides said they had struck a withdrawal agreement that would govern the UK's departure from the bloc covering issues like Nothern Ireland, the divorce bill, and citizens' rights. A separate document outlining what the future trading relationship between Britain and the EU will look like was however still being worked on. It is understood that this latest leaked draft has been approved by the European Commission, but still requires the 27 EU member states to sign off on it. Countries including France, Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands have already raised concerns that earlier drafts of the plan gives too much away to the UK. The new agreement reached between the Commission and UK says the deal would have implications for checks and controls on trade between the UK and EU, which currently do not exist. It spells out that the extent and nature of these impediments to trade will vary depending on the extent to which Britain aligns its regulations and customs with the EU. The parties envisage that the extent of the United Kingdoms commitments on customs and regulatory cooperation, including with regard to alignment of rules, would be taken into account in the application of related checks and controls, considering this as a factor in reducing risk, the leaked final draft says. This, combined with the use of all available facilitative arrangements as described above, can lead to a spectrum of different outcomes for administrative processes as well as checks and controls, and note in this context their wish to be as ambitious as possible, while respecting the integrity of their respective markets and legal orders. The PM has ruled out membership of the EU single market or customs union, which Brussels has repeatedly said are required for frictionless trade. The prime ministers so-called Chequers plan aimed to avoid border checks between Britain and the EU with a series of proposals, but was rejected as unworkable by the EU. Nods to the defunct UK plan included in the draft include a reference to using "facilitative arrangements and technologies" to try and avoid customs bureaucracy. It also promises that the countries will consider "trusted traders programmes, administrative cooperation in customs matters and mutual assistance, including for the recovery of claims related to taxes and duties" another Tory eurosceptic demand aimed at avoiding border checks. But there are no firm commitments to actually implementing the ideas. The document also speaks in vague terms about the parties determination to replace the backstop solution on Northern Ireland with alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland. Tory MPs and the DUP dislike the backstop, which they say could bind the UK into a customs union with the EU on an indefinite basis, and will put a border down the Irish sea. But with the same document also saying checks and controls are expected in any future relationship, the clause to remove the backstop carries little actual weight. Elsewhere in the plan, the EU and UK pledge to "build and improve on the single customs territory provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement which obviates the need for checks on rules of origin" a suggestion that a customs union with the UK could become permanent, which has angered Tory MPs. People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Show all 30 1 /30 People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Rex People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young protestor shouts as she takes part in the People's Vote demonstration against Brexit Getty Images People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal A protester's pro-EU t-shirt EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Gina Miller and Caroline Lucas EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Tens of thousands of people march through London EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Demonstrators at the People's Vote March Getty People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal 'Two months too young to decide on my future' REUTERS People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young girl joins in the march PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal An EU flag is draped across the statue of Winston Chruchill in Parliament Square REUTERS People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Vince Cable MP, Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller, Tony Robinson and Caroline Lucas MP join with crowds PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Crowds gather on Pall Mall PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal A man resembling Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, joins EU supporters Reuters People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal People gather in Trafalgar Square REUTERS People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller and Tony Robinson PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EU supporters, calling on the government to give Britons a vote on the final Brexit deal, participate in the 'People's Vote' march REUTERS The overall agreement is vague neither committing to closing down most options not taking them forward. The prime minister is understood to have briefed Cabinet on the document at lunchtime on Thursday. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said: I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the leaders. If the EU27 leaders agree to the document they will meet with Theresa May in Brussels on Sunday to formally sign off the deal. The Prime Minister is expected to return to the EU capital on Saturday in a last-minute bid to smooth the deal's acceptance. If approved, it will then be put to the European Parliament and the UK Parliament for their approval, with its passage through the latter looking difficult. (ANSA) - Rome, November 14 - Kenyan authorities have arrested 14 people in a major operation relating to the kidnapping of 23-year-old Italian aid worker Silvia Romano in the African nation earlier this week, the Daily Nation reported on Thursday citing Police sources in Malindi. The woman was taken captive by gunmen on Tuesday in an armed attack at Chakama, Kilifi County, in which five people were wounded. The Brexit transition period can be extended until well after the next British general election under the agreement struck by Theresa May, it has been confirmed. Negotiators included a provision to extend the so-called implementation period in the agreement released last week, but were coy about the maximum length it could be drawn out to, leaving the date 20XX to be filled in later. The transition is controversial because it keeps the UK tied into EU regulations with no say about what they are, in what Brexiteers have described as a vassal arrangement. But the Government and Brussels both say it is necessary to negotiate a proper trade agreement in without disruption. Theresa May told the House of Commons earlier this week that from my point of view, I think it is important in delivering for the British people that we are out of the implementation period before the next general election. But the prime minister appears not to have committed to this policy in the text of her agreement. An updated document released on Thursday now shows the transition can now run until the end of December 2022 if both sides agree to an extension six months after the next UK general election in May of that year. The updated withdrawal agreement says both sides can agree to a single decision extending the transition period for up to one or two years. This is important because it means any incoming government elected in 2022 could change policy before the UK is out of Brussels orbit reversing Brexit or keeping the UK tied to EU laws permanently. In Brussels the extension is widely expected to be used, given the near impossibility of negotiating a trade agreement during the 21 months initially suggested as the length. Downing Street had previously said in October that any extension would only be for a matter of months. People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Show all 30 1 /30 People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Rex People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young protestor shouts as she takes part in the People's Vote demonstration against Brexit Getty Images People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal A protester's pro-EU t-shirt EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Gina Miller and Caroline Lucas EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Tens of thousands of people march through London EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Demonstrators at the People's Vote March Getty People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal 'Two months too young to decide on my future' REUTERS People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young girl joins in the march PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal An EU flag is draped across the statue of Winston Chruchill in Parliament Square REUTERS People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Vince Cable MP, Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller, Tony Robinson and Caroline Lucas MP join with crowds PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Crowds gather on Pall Mall PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal A man resembling Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, joins EU supporters Reuters People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal People gather in Trafalgar Square REUTERS People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller and Tony Robinson PA People's Vote march demanding vote on final Brexit deal EU supporters, calling on the government to give Britons a vote on the final Brexit deal, participate in the 'People's Vote' march REUTERS During the transition the UK would apply all EU laws, including new laws it had no say over making, including single market regulations, freedom of movement rules, and customs union protocals. It would also continue to contribute to the EU budget. The agreement also says that if the UK wants to extend the transition period it would have to pay an unspecified amount more. MPs of all parties accused Theresa May of delivering a blindfold Brexit after she admitted her deal left the public in the dark on a range of vital questions about Britains future. Decisions about future trade, the Irish border backstop, fisheries and whether the UK will remain tied to EU rules until after the next general election have all been shelved, a 26-page political declaration struck with the EU revealed. The admission came as the deal still looked doomed to defeat in a landmark vote next month as both pro- and anti-EU Tories attacked it during feisty Commons exchanges in which few supporters spoke up. Significantly, two leading Brexiteers praised by Ms May for working with her on the document Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson said they could not back it unless the backstop was stripped out. More than 80 Tories have criticised the package, pointing to a heavy defeat and a constitutional crisis, unless most can be talked around in the next few weeks of frantic arm-twisting. MPs protested that key decisions had been kicked down the road in crucial areas, including: * Future trade where Ms May admitted the UK would choose later from a spectrum, balancing access to the EU against imposing greater controls. The document made no reference to frictionless trade, which the prime minister had promised. She said it was her intention to work towards frictionless trade. * The backstop MPs will vote, in June 2020, whether to trigger the safeguard to prevent the return of checks at the Irish border, by the UK staying in the EUs customs territory. * Ending the transition which is due to run until December 2020, but could be extended until the end of 2022, past the June 2022 election, if MPs choose that option over triggering the backstop. Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Show all 13 1 /13 Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Esther McVey Britain's Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey arrives to attend the weekly meeting of the cabinet at 10 Downing Street in London. - Britain's Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey resigned from the cabinet over draft Brexit deal AFP/Getty Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Dominic Raab British Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab give a press conference at the end of the final round of talks in Brexit negotiations at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium EPA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Rehman Chrishti Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party Rehman Chrishti tendered his resignation letter this afternoon PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Anne-Marie Trevelyan Parliamentary private secretary in the Department of Education Anne-Marie Trevelyan resigned stating that she cannot support the deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Sam Gyimah Universities minister Sam Gyimah resigned on November 30, claiming the government's decision to pull out of the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system as a deciding factor PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Shailesh Vara Shailesh Vara who has quit as Minister of State for Northern Ireland, saying he cannot support Theresa May's Brexit agreement, which he said "leaves the UK in a halfway house with no time limit on when we will finally be a sovereign nation" PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Suella Braverman Brexit minister Suella Braverman has resigned, stating It is not what the British people, or my constituents, voted for in 2016. Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Ranil Jayawardena Parliamentary private secretary to the ministry of justice Ranil Jayawardena resigned as he could not back the deal "in good conscience" Downing Street insisted it had won the right to end the transition at any point over the two-year period, but admitted the UK could yet be locked in until the end of it. * Fisheries future talks will decide whether EU boats still have access to UK waters in return for the UK enjoying tariff-free access to EU markets. Ross Thomson, a Scottish Tory MP, protested the deal meant sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal a fear heightened by Sabine Weyand, EU negotiator Michel Barniers deputy, saying it covers both access to waters and market access. The flimsy document fell far short of the extensive draft trade deal originally promised by the government before exit day next March and has no legal force. Jeremy Corbyn confirmed Labour would vote against the deal, saying: This is the blindfold Brexit we all feared a leap into the dark. It falls far short of our Labours six tests. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, tweeted: Lots of unicorns taking the place of facts about the future relationship ... it adds up to a blindfold Brexit. Anna Soubry, a Tory supporter of a Final Say referendum, branded the deal a syrup of warm sweet words which delivered no certainty, only aspiration. And Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, said: The political declaration is not legally binding, so is now being padded out with meaningless twaddle to sell a bungled, blindfold Brexit that endangers jobs, our environment and the UKs standing in the world to Jacob Rees-Mogg and the DUP [Democratic Unionist Party]. Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP chief whip, stopped short of confirming it would vote against the deal, but warned: We need to see an end to the backstop. Brexiteer Tories lined up to echo the threat. Dominic Raab, who quit as Brexit secretary last week in protest, told her: The backstop ties the UK to the customs union and single market rules with no voice and an EU veto over our exit. Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, focused his criticism on the withdrawal agreement, on which the future partnership will be based, saying it makes a complete nonsense of Brexit. The prime ministers spokesman confirmed the negotiations were finished as far as the UK was concerned ruling out changes to the backstop, or additions to calm the anger of Brexiteers. And he confirmed the Chequers plan, which proposed adopting the EUs common rule book for food and goods in the long term, had been abandoned. Asked if Chequers had been chucked, the spokesman said: What the document provides for us to pursue whichever option we so chose ... there is a spectrum. Asked if No 10 had a plan B if the deal was rejected, he insisted she was focused on persuading all colleagues on the Conservative benches of the merits of the deal. In her statement, Ms May urged MPs to recognise that the British people want Brexit to be settled, insisting: The deal that will enable us to do this is now within our grasp. In these crucial 72 hours ahead, I will do everything possible to deliver it for the British people. The White House has authorised military troops along the nations southern border to use lethal force if it becomes necessary while assisting Border Patrol and US Customs and Border Protection officers, it has been reported. The move comes after Donald Trump urged the military to send thousands of troops to the US-Mexico border ahead of the arrival of a caravan of refugees and migrants travelling from Central America. The president has claimed without evidence that among the caravan are criminals and Islamists. White House chief of staff John Kelly is said to have signed the cabinet order on Tuesday night, over the threat of possible incidents of violence on the border. It gives permission for military personnel to perform those military protective activities that the secretary of defence determines are reasonably necessary, including a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention, and cursory search. The order first reported by the Military Times - applies to 5,900 active-duty service members currently deployed to the region, as well as 2,100 National Guard troops. On Wednesday, US defence secretary James Mattis said he has now been equipped by the White House with the authority to do more with the troops, while noting the military does not have arrest authority and will not be doing law enforcement. He said that he was waiting for a request from the department of Homeland Security before deciding how to use that new authority. He said troops could help protect the border agents with shields and batons, but would be unarmed. We could stop [migrants] from beating on [Border Patrol agents], Mr Mattis said. The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Show all 15 1 /15 The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Texas and Mexico are connected by entry points like these. US Border Patrol in Laredo, Texas conducts daily patrols throughout the Rio Grande, snaking between the US and Mexico, where it searches for migrants and drug traffickers. The legal entry point to Mexico can be seen above the riverines frequently used by cartels to funnel narcotics into the US. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol US Customs and Border Protection oversees its side of the entry point. US Customs and Border Protection officers oversee the processing of nearly two million trucks and three million pedestrians annually at the Laredo sector, which also processes the majority of trade between the US and Mexico. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The Rio Grande snakes between Mexico and the United States. The US and Mexico have bordering coastlines in Laredo Texas, where the Rio Grande's occasionally rough currents splash onto both nations' shores. For migrants attempting to enter into either country, the swim is much more dangerous than it appears. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Drug traffickers and migrants use "highways" to cross the border. US Border Patrol agents call worn pathways like these "highways," as they are frequently used by drug traffickers and migrants entering into the US. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The journey is still far from over. If they're able to make it onto land, many obstacles still remain for migrants and drug traffickers. US Border Patrol agents are equipped with high-tech security, K-9 units and aerial camera footage surveilling 40 miles of borderlands. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Border Patrol uses classic methods and high-tech to surveil the border. A control room at the Laredo sector headquarters is fully-manned 24/7 with a team of local employees who alert agents on the ground of border crossings in real-time. Their cameras live-stream 40 miles of the 170 mile territory the sector covers. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The US provides trusted traveler programs on both its southern and northern borders. Officers lead the way to Sentri offices, which runs a trusted traveller program from US and Mexican local residents who regularly cross the border for work or leisure purposes. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The pathway to freedom. Once travellers are processed, they walk up this ramp towards the US. Many Mexicans cross the border each day with collapsable shopping carts to buy goods while visiting the country. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol But first, the wait. A dog waits for their owner to go through processing with US Customs and Border Patrol. On a good day, processing can take under an hour. On a bad day, well, there's just no telling how long one might be stuck inside the Laredo sector field offices. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The first lady of CBP. Inside the Laredo field offices, US Border Patrol agents keep a framed photo of Christine Davis, the first female agent to join the federal agency in 1975. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol "The hall of fame." US Border Patrol also honors those who have served in the agency for over thirty years. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Officers inspect a vehicle in secondary processing. Outside, officers are conducting secondary inspection on a vehicle that's been pulled aside for further investigating. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The waiting room for detained migrants. A US Customs and Border Protection officer shows the inside of a holding room where people requiring further questioning go through secondary processing. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol A man and his daughter go through processing. US Customs and Border Protection also regularly provides humanitarian visas and other temporary permissions for people with valid reasons seeking entry to the US. Here, a father and his daughter await to see whether they will be provided one of those visas. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Laredo processes over three million pedestrians annually. Thousands of legal asylum seekers, migrants and refugees seek entry to the US through the southern border annually, where they go through processing at offices like this after arriving at a legal port of entry. For many, the trip can take days, if not weeks or even months. Chris Riotta However, the move may be challenged, as the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act bars the military from engaging in domestic law enforcement practices. In a report, the Congressional Research Service said active military troops may only be used domestically to suppress insurrection or to enforce federal authority, while maintaining the right to self-defence. But the latest order appeared to speak specifically to protecting Border Patrol agents and US Customs officers, with Mr Kelly saying he was aware of intelligence which indicates migrants may prompt incidents of violence and disorder while reaching the border. The order is just one of several new controversial approaches the Trump administration has taken to resolving issues along the border. US military install barbed wire at Mexico border Officials told Reuters on Tuesday the White House was also considering giving US troops permission to medically screen all arriving migrants, despite the Pentagon previously saying it did not expect military forces to interact directly with migrants. But the military has resisted several of the administrations requests throughout the region, with a lieutenant general overseeing the deployment of military troops to the border telling Politico this week the Department of Homeland Security denied requests to use armed force in assisting US Border Patrol agents. Mr Trump has also recently threatened to target the amendment-protected practice of birthright citizenship, a move that would almost certainly end up in lengthy court battles. The president also encouraged military troops to treat rocks thrown at them by migrants as firearms during a televised statement. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events While there are no readily available statistics on violent confrontations along the US-Mexico border, field offices throughout the region have previously told The Independent most interactions with immigrants are peaceful and non-confrontational. Migrants lacking documentation are often detained either at or between ports of entry, before going through processing and typically applying for asylum. Data shows the majority of undocumented immigrants show up for court proceedings during the asylum process. The White House and US Customs and Border Protection did not respond to enquiries. Donald Trumps lawyer has admitted Robert Mueller may seek fresh answers from the US president over alleged obstruction of justice. Rudy Giuliani told CNN further questions for Mr Trump were not on the table, but could be put back on the table after the president submitted written answers to queries from the special counsel earlier this week. The president answered questions surrounding alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump team during the 2016 presidential campaign, but refused to answer questions about issues of obstruction while in office, citing executive privilege. We answered every question they asked that was legitimately pre-election and focused on Russia, Mr Giuliani said in an interview at the time. Nothing post-election. And we've told them we're not going to do that. On Wednesday, however, Mr Giuliani revealed the presidents legal team is willing to answer follow-up questions from Mr Mueller and his investigators. "We'll consider them and answer them if necessary, relevant and legal," Mr Giuliani said. "If it was something that would be helpful, relevant. President Trump responds to Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker's past statement on the Mueller investigation Mr Trump signed the submission to Mr Mueller on Tuesday before he left Washington to spend the Thanksgiving holiday in Florida, a person familiar with the matter said. Mr Mueller, a former head of the FBI, was tasked to probe any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation into possible collusion between Mr Trump's campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. US intelligence agencies have concluded Russia interfered in the presidential election by undermining Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, in order to tip it towards Mr Trump. Mr Trump has denied any collusion with Moscow and Russia has said it did not meddle in the election. Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference Show all 10 1 /10 Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference Donald Trump launched an extraordinary tirade against CNN reporter Jim Acosta during a press conference following the midterm elections Reuters Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference The US president ordered the journalist to put down his microphone and just sit down AFP Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference The row began following a question about the migrant caravan approaching the US, when Mr Trump was asked by CNNs Jim Acosta if he thought he had demonised migrants by calling the group an invasion EPA Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN, and if you did it well, your ratings would be much better, said the President AFP/Getty Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference After Mr Acosta attempted to follow up his question with a second on Robert Muellers Russia probe, Mr Trump added, pointing angrily: Thats enough. Thats enough. Thats enough. Excuse me, thats enough. Mr Trump said he was not concerned about anything because the investigation was a hoax. Continuing to berate Mr Acosta, he added: Thats enough. Put down the mic. As the reporter continued to quiz him, Mr Trump became more agitated and stepped away from the podium. EPA Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference Returning to the podium, Mr Trump said: Ill tell you what, CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldnt be working for CNN REUTERS Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference Trump continued: 'The way you treat Sarah Huckabee is horrible and the way you treat other people are horrible. You shouldnt treat people that way. She was sitting in the room listening on REUTERS Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference A second reporter, Peter Alexander, was called on by the president and said: In Jims defence Ive travelled with him a lot, hes a diligent reporter. EPA Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference Mr Trump cut him off, telling the NBC News journalist that Im not a big fan of yours either, prompting laughter in the room AP Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference Mr Acosta continued to try to ask questions without his microphone, causing Mr Trump to tell him: Just sit down, please. When you report fake news no when you report fake news, which CNN does, a lot, you are the enemy of the people. REUTERS Among the topics Mr Trump addressed was a June 2016 meeting between the president's son, Donald Trump Jr, other members of Mr Trump's campaign team and a group of Russians, the person familiar with the matter said. Mr Trump has denied knowing about the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians, who promised damaging information about Ms Clinton. Mr Mueller has already brought charges against some former Trump aides, including his former campaign chairman and his former national security adviser, as well as a number of Russian individuals and entities. Mr Giuliani said in a statement the president provided unprecedented cooperation with the probe over the past year and a half, noting more than 30 White House-related witnesses had been questioned and 1.4 million pages of material turned over before the president responded to the pre-election questions in writing. He added much of what has been asked raised serious constitutional issues and was beyond the scope of a legitimate inquiry. Additional reporting by Reuters Donald Trump has renewed his attacks on judges and judgements that have gone against his administration after an extraordinary rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Using Twitter and an impromptu press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the president called for someone either a group of judges or Congress to step in and stop the "horrible decisions" being made by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal appeals court, which is based in San Francisco, has blocked a number of border and immigration orders from Mr Trump during his presidency. Mr Trump tweeted that "judges must not legislate security ...They nothing about it and are making our country unsafe." He said that such decisions would only lead to "bedlam, chaos, injury and death". The latest outbursts from Mr Trump are part of a nearly week-long tirade after a ruling on Monday by District Court Judge Jon Tigar, who is not an appeals court judge, that halted the Trump administration's attempts to bar migrants who enter the country illegally from applying for asylum. Recommended Supreme Court justice Roberts hits out at Trump in rare criticism Mr Trump responded by calling that decision a disgrace and labelling Mr Tigar an "Obama judge". Mr Tigar had been appointed to his seat by Mr Trump's White House predecessor Barack Obama. On Wednesday, Chief Justice Roberts issued an unprecedented public critique of the president's remarks, defending the independence of the judiciary. We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Mr Roberts said. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for. Donald Trump: immigrants to 'present themselves legally' at border or void asylum claim The president confronted Mr Roberts in a tweet on Thursday: Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster. It is out of control. Mr Trump continued on that theme in front of reporters at Mar-a-Lago, calling the court "a big thorn in our side" and said "judges or Congress need to do something to stop it". After a Thanksgiving Day call with members of the military, Mr Trump told reporters that he liked and respected Chief Justice Roberts, but repeated his complaints about the ninth circuit, on which he said he had shone some light. Earlier on Twitter, Mr Trump wrote that particular circuit had a "horrible reputation, is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country, 79%, & is used to get an almost guaranteed result". According to data, the ninth circuit is not the most overturned; that distinction belongs to the sixth circuit, based in Ohio. In the past few weeks, president Trump has ordered several thousand US troops to the US-Mexico border in anticipation of a migrant caravan containing thousands of people many of them fleeing violence in their home countries that had been slowly making its way from Central America, through Mexico. "Our great Law Enforcement professionals MUST BE ALLOWED TO DO THEIR JOB! If not there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death. We want the Constitution as written!," Mr Trump tweeted early on Thursday. Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty The caravan of refugees and migrants was a frequent topic for Mr Trump on the campaign trail ahead of the congressional midterm elections earlier this month. But Mr Trump had been relatively quiet on the subject until the latest spate. The ninth circuit was the appeals court that ruled against Mr Trump's controversial travel ban in 2017, the initial version of which banned travellers from seven majority-Muslim countries. The president also hit out at the district court earlier in the week, tweeting: Every case that gets filed in the 9th Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events He said it was a disgrace that the ninth circuit, seen as the more liberal of federal district courts, would routinely rule against the administration. Mr Trump has a history of lashing out at judges over their decisions. In 2016, he referred to a judge who was presiding over a fraud lawsuit against Trump University as a Mexican as an insult. He said US District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born and raised in Indiana, would be unable to rule fairly because of Trumps proposal to build a wall along the US-Mexican border. The president has just successfully placed conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court after a controversial confirmation process during which Mr Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault when a teenager. Justice Kavanaugh has denied the allegations. Mr Kavanaughs confirmation followed Mr Trump placing another conservative judge Neil Gorsuch on the Court in 2017. Given the fact that Mr Trump has solidified the Supreme Courts conservative majority, several justices have spoken out about judicial independence and the danger of having the Court viewed merely as a political institution. Early on Thursday morning, Russia announced the death of the head of its military intelligence (GRU) service, Igor Korobov, aged 62, following a prolonged illness. The death of a Russian man (life expectancy 71) in a highly stressful post would not on its own seem surprising. But as the second death of a GRU chief in two years, the news was enough to raise eyebrows. Korobovs predecessor, Igor Sergun, died in 2016 in circumstances still disputed, with one version suggesting he died in Beirut, rather than Moscow as officially claimed. A number of suspicious deaths went before that. In 2009, a deputy GRU chief was found washed up on a Turkish beach. In 1997, a major general fell out of a window. In 1996, a top officer was run over by a car. And in 1992, a deputy head of the agency was killed in a car accident. In Korobovs case, there is no evidence to suggest anything other than the official version is true. Alexei Venediktov, the well-connected editor of Echo of Moscow, a largely independent voice, said Mr Korobov had indeed suffered a long illness. Another liberal publication, Novaya Gazeta, said that Korobov had delegated management to his deputy in the summer. But that, suggested the opposition journalist Yevgeniya Albats, was evidence of incompetence of top government and the people at the very top. Korobov presided over the most scandalous two years in the GRUs history, and at a time when the service went far beyond its traditional remit of military intelligence. At various points his agency was accused of: interfering in the 2016 US presidential elections; hacking the computers of the Worldwide Anti-Doping Agency and International Arbitrage Court; organising a coup in Montenegro; conducting nerve agent assassination operations on British soil; and sending four agents to snoop on the work of the chemical weapons watchdog in the Netherlands. Since 2013, the GRU has increased its influence at Russias top security table. The first two post-Soviet decades (1990-2010) were tough on the service, with underfunding, cuts and geopolitical withdrawal undermining its historical mission. But the agencys more relaxed attitude to risk gave it new purpose when Russia began a new phase of military operations. GRU operatives played leading roles in semi-covert operations in eastern Ukraine from 2014 (operations the Kremlin denies) and in Syria from 2015. 'Nothing criminal' about UK Skripal suspects says Putin Korobovs contribution was acknowledged by the Kremlin in 2017 when he was awarded the highest state honour, the title Hero of the Russian Federation. A year earlier, the United States gave its own assessment of his work, including him on a sanctions list. This year, however, brought problems. As GRU operations increased in number and audacity, so too did their visibility. Sloppy intelligence lapses were uncovered by online investigative journalists, and this led to revelations about the probable identities of several hundred active agents. The notoriously secretive Korobov, a career spook, made no statement on the scandal. Some sources speculated that the official may even have fallen foul of the Kremlin. But other, more reliable sources, suggested that the contrary was true. A morale-raising speech on the services centenary party, in which Vladimir Putin promised to return the agencys more popular name, seemed to back up that assertion. Korobov addressing participants during an Army 2017 roundtable in Moscow (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) Security expert Alexander Golts told The Independent that he had no evidence GRUs leadership had been reprimanded, nor that Korobovs death was anything but natural. At the same time, he said, the intelligence chiefs two-year tenure at the top will ultimately be remembered for the lapses and the failures. The tragedy for him is that he wasnt really to blame for much of it, he said. Much more important, says Golts, was a change in Russias military posture in 2012, first signalled by the newly-installed chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov. Gerasimovs new doctrine ended the distinction between states of war and peace, and envisaged the GRU playing a leading role in a new endless, non-linear war, he says. Almost as soon as the GRU lost focus on its traditional targets, the failures began. On Thursday evening, Moscow announced that Korobov would be temporarily succeeded by his deputy, Igor Kostyukov. Denmark has decided to suspend approvals of weapon and military equipment exports to Saudi Arabia over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the situation in Yemen, its foreign minister Anders Samuelsen said. The decision was taken on Thursday after recent discussions with other foreign ministers in the European Union. The suspension also includes some dual-use technologies, a reference to materials that might have military applications. Recommended Trump thanks Saudis for lower oil prices after Khashoggi statement Denmark's decision comes after Donald Trump refused to condemn the kingdom over the murder of Mr Khashoggi. Mr Trump said the US would not be imposing sanctions on Saudi Arabia or changing its business or strategic relationships. He said the decision was at least partly taken because of Saudi Arabia's historic opposition to Iran, and repeated Israels claim that Iran was the worlds leading sponsor of terror. Hundreds of mourners gathered for a funeral service for Mr Khashoggi at a historical mosque in Istanbul on Friday, praying before an empty slab of marble where his missing body would have lain. Reuters An Associated Press cameraman has been shot and wounded in Gaza while covering a demonstration in the north of the enclave, despite wearing protective clothing identifying him as a member of the press. Rashed Rashid, 47, a veteran employee of the American newswire, was hit in the leg on Monday during a weekly protest next to the border fence with Israel. He underwent surgery on Wednesday after suffering multiple bone fractures above the ankle. He was struck even though witnesses said he was about 600m from the fence and far from the protesters. Co-workers said he was also wearing a blue helmet and brown protective vest with the word PRESS written in white. Mr Rashid was operating a live camera and was on the phone with APs senior producer when he was hit by the fire, which appeared to come from the Israeli side. The Israeli military said it is investigating. Dozens of rockets being fired from Gaza at Israeli civilians While with me on the line, I heard him shouting Im hit, Im hit, recounted Najib Jobain, APs senior producer, who said Mr Rashid told him the protest was ending and he was going to stop the transmission. Majed Hamdan, APs driver, said they were winding down for the day and so were collecting equipment to load into their vehicle when the bullet hit. I began putting some of our stuff in the car when I heard Rashed screaming, he said. The Foreign Press Association in Israel said it deplored the shooting and called for a credible investigation. We deplore the shooting of any journalist and urge the army to conduct a thorough and credible investigation. We expect serious disciplinary action if wrongdoing is discovered Foreign Press Association in Israel At no point did [Mr Rashid] pose a threat to the military or the protesters. It is hard to understand how or why someone taking so many precautions would be shot, its statement read. The group added: We deplore the shooting of any journalist and urge the army to conduct a thorough and credible investigation. We expect serious disciplinary action if wrongdoing is discovered. It is not the first time this year that a journalist has been shot during the Gaza protests. In April two Palestinian journalists were shot dead while covering the rallies. In mid-April Ahmed Abu Hussein, who was working for Gazas al-Shaab radio, died from gunshot wounds to the stomach, which he sustained while covering the protest. A few weeks earlier Yaser Murtaja, 30, a cameraman for Palestinian Ain Media, had also been shot and died the next day. After his death, the Israeli military said it does not intentionally target journalists and that it would look into the circumstances of the shooting. Israel later accused Murtaja of not being a civilian. For nearly eight months, tens of thousands of Gaza residents have marched towards Israel in protests demanding the right to return to their ancestral lands, which they were forced from or fled during the 1948 conflict which surrounded the creation of Israel. More than 218 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in that time. Facing mounting criticism for its use of live fire, Israel defended its actions by saying that protesters have launched burning kites and balloons tied with explosives at Israel in an attempt to break the border fence and attack civilians. Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Show all 23 1 /23 Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures A ball of fire above the building housing the Hamas-run television station al-Aqsa TV in the Gaza Strip during an Israeli air strike AFP/Getty Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile systems firing toward missiles fired from the Gaza Strip near the southern city of Sderot, Israel. Israeli army report that approximately 300 missile launches were identified from the Gaza strip toward Israel. Dozens of launches were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system EPA Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Israeli soldiers take cover near the Israel Gaza border AP Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures A bus set ablaze after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. Israel's military said it was carrying out air strikes "throughout the Gaza Strip" on Monday after rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave towards its territory AFP/Getty Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Palestinians inspect a rubble of a destroyed internal security building of Hamas interior ministry after Israeli air strike in Gaza City EPA Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures A Palestinian girl walks up the stairs of her family house that was damaged in an Israeli air strike REUTERS Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Fire and smoke billow following Israeli air strikes targeting Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt AFP/Getty Images Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Missiles from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system in the south of Israel destroy incoming missiles AFP/Getty Images Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Israeli security forces and firefighters gather near abuilding set ablaze after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli town of Sderot AFP/Getty Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures EPA Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures AFP/Getty Images Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures A ruble of a destroyed building of Al-Aqsa channel belonging to Hamas movement EPA Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Israeli security forces and firefighters gather near a bus set ablaze after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave AFP Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Relatives of Mohammed Ouda, killed in an Israeli air stike the previous day, mourn during his funeral in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP/Getty Images Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Missiles from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system in the south of Israel destroy incoming missiles fired at Israel from the Palestinian enclave AFP/Getty Images Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Israeli soldiers sit atop a Merkava tank stationed along the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip AFP/Getty Images Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Black smoke rises as an Israeli airstrike hits a residential building in Gaza City AP Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Palestinians look out of their house that was damaged in an Israeli air strike REUTERS Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures Palestinians hold placards and the Palestinian flag during a protest in solidarity with Gaza, in the West Bank city of Hebron EPA Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures An Israeli policeman inspects the damage in a building caused a day earlier by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon AFP/Getty Images Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures A Palestinian boy inspects the rubble of a destroyed residential building after Israeli air strike in Gaza City EPA Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures REUTERS Gaza crisis: heavy cross-border fire in pictures AP The protests had begun to quieten down amid reports Hamas, the militant group that runs the enclave, had reined in the violence ahead of an imminent long term truce between the two sides. Violence flared, however, after a botched Israeli intelligence raid into southern Gaza earlier this month turned into a firefight which left seven Palestinians and one Israeli lieutenant colonel dead. Gazas fighters hit back by launching at least 460 rockets at southern Israel in the heaviest bombardment since the 2014 war. Israel retaliated by pounding over 160 targets in Gaza with airstrikes. Egypt brokered a fresh truce to end the cross-border exchange of fire, but it remains unclear if both sides will adhere to a long term solution. The wife of Matthew Hedges, the man sentenced to life in prison in the UAE on charges of spying, has said the UK government is doing all it can to help him, as she rowed back from her earlier claim that Britain was putting its interests with the Emirates over her husbands freedom. After meeting with the British foreign secretary on Thursday afternoon, Daniela Tejada said Jeremy Hunt had assured me that he and his team are doing everything in their power to get Matt free and return him home to me. This is not a fight I can win alone and I thank the Foreign Office for now standing up for one of their citizens. Her later comments came after the UAE said both sides were working towards an amicable solution. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: The UAE is determined to protect its important strategic relationship with a key ally. UAE officials were also saying privately that an understanding is likely to be reached with the UK following a meeting believed to have taken place between Mr Hunt and the Emirati ambassador to the UK, Sulaiman Hamid Almazroui. They also insisted that the British foreign secretary had been told all along that the law needed to take its course before the government could act on clemency. Recommended UK sought to boost trade with UAE while British academic was held Officials from both countries have discussed the matter regularly over recent months. Both sides hope to find an amicable solution to the Matthew Hedges case, the UAE said. Mr Hedges, a student at Durham University who went to the country to research his PhD thesis, was sentenced to life in prison at an Abu Dhabi court on Wednesday in a hearing that lasted less than five minutes, and with no lawyer present. Mr Hunt issued a statement saying that he had discussed the case with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed during a visit to the country last week and the verdict runs contrary to earlier assurances. He said he was deeply shocked by the verdict, which is not what we expect from a friend and trusted partner of the United Kingdom. On Wednesday, following the verdict, the British foreign secretary promised serious diplomatic consequences if the 31-year-old student was not freed. Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt warns UAE of 'serious consequences' over Matthew Hedges jailing Tensions over Mr Hedges treatment have quickly escalated into a crisis, in part because ties between Britain and the seven emirates of the UAE are considered close and date back 200 years. The doctoral student at Durham University has been held since 5 May, when he was arrested at Dubai International Airport after a two-week research visit. The evidence presented against him consisted of notes from his dissertation research, his family said. Mr Hedges has in the past worked for a consultancy firm Inegma, the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, which was involved in the security and military sphere, providing information for private and state clients. It was the questions he was asking his contacts in the Emirati defence establishment which originally made him a suspect, it is claimed by some officials in the UAE. But Mr Hedges friends say that in pursuing academic research he may not have realised that he was straying into sensitive areas such as the Yemen war and the Saudi-led confrontation with Qatar. Mr Hedges university supervisor has said there had been nothing clandestine about his research in the country. Professor Clive Jones of Durham University said Mr Hedges had been working on a thesis about civil-military relations in the UAE since the Arab Spring, based on readily accepted literature. There was nothing clandestine or covert in any of the material he had been using up to date in the thesis, Prof Jones told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. Security and intelligence sources in the UK have consistently denied that Mr Hedges was involved in espionage on their behalf. They do not have any information, they say, on whether he had done work for private security companies in the west. A life sentence for a non-Emirati entails a maximum of 25 years in jail and is followed by deportation, according to state-run media. Ms Tejada earlier said that the UK had failed to take a firm stance over Mr Hedges from the start of his ordeal. Mr Hedges with Ms Tejeda (PA) Speaking on Thursday morning, she told the Today programme: I was under the impression they were putting their interests with the UAE above a British citizens rightful freedom and his welfare. The UAE foreign ministry said that Mr Hedges has been treated fairly and according to the constitution of the UAE. Polly Truscott, Amnesty International UKs foreign affairs expert, told The Independent that the UK has long given the impression that security and trade interests trump human rights concerns in the UAE. With Matthew Hedges case, it almost seems to have come as a surprise to the government that the UAE actually locks up people after deeply unfair trials. Ms Tejada said it had been a horrible time for her husband. As she read a prepared statement outside the Foreign Office, she recalled his shock as the verdict was read. Seeing him shaking in court after being handed a life sentence and then being made to leave was beyond heartbreaking, she said. We didnt even get to say goodbye. The wife of a British academic sentenced to life in prison in the United Arab Emirates on charges of spying has accused the UK government of putting relations with the Gulf state before of her husband. Matthew Hedges, a 31-year-old PhD student in Middle Eastern Studies at Durham University, was arrested at Dubai Airport on 5 May after a two-week research visit and has been held in detention since. His wife, Daniela Tejada, condemned the Foreign Office over the handling of the case ahead of a meeting with the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, on Thursday. After landing back at Heathrow Airport, she said the UK had "failed" to take a firm stance over Mr Hedges from the start of his ordeal. "I was under the impression they were putting their interests with the UAE above a British citizen's rightful freedom and his welfare," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 17 November 2021 The sun rises over South Shields Lighthouse, on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 16 November 2021 ancer Maithili Vijayakumar at the launch of 2021 Diwali celebrations at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 15 November 2021 Forensic officers work outside Liverpool Women's Hospital, following a car blast, in Liverpool Reuters UK news in pictures 14 November 2021 Wreaths by the Cenotaph after the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall, London PA UK news in pictures 13 November 2021 Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is ending his hunger strike in central London after almost three weeks. Ratcliffe has spent 21 days camped outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London without food. He began his demonstration on 24 October after his wife lost her latest appeal in Iran, saying his family was caught in a dispute between two states PA UK news in pictures 12 November 2021 Peter Green protesting outside the Cop26 gates during the official final day of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow. PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2021 Seagulls fly around the statue entitled 'Tommy', a first World War soldier by artist Ray Lonsdale at dawn in Seaham, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 10 November 2021 Climate activists dressed as characters inspired by the Netflix series Squid Game protest as they ask Samsung to go 100% renewable energy, outside the venue for COP26 in Glasgow Reuters UK news in pictures 9 November 2021 A deer statue silhouetted at Loch Faskally in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 8 November 2021 Sunrise over St Mary's Lighthouse at Whitley Bay on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2021 Activists from Friends of the Earth during a demonstration calling for an end to all new oil and gas projects in the North Sea outside the UK Government's Cop26 hub during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2021 Protesters take part in a rally organised by the Cop26 Coalition in Glasgow demanding global climate justice PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2021 Final touches are made to a life sized Sir David Attenborough cake surrounded by animals as part of a display created by a group of cake artists during Cake International at NEC Birmingham PA UK news in pictures 4 November 2021 A spectacular display of the Northern Lights seen over Derwentwater, near Keswick in the Lake District PA UK news in pictures 3 November 2021 Police and demonstrators at a Extinction Rebellion protest on Buchanan Street, during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 2 November 2021 A person walks along the Basingstoke canal near to Dogmersfield in Hampshire PA UK news in pictures 1 November 2021 Sir David Attenborough delivers a speech during Cop26 in Glasgow Reuters UK news in pictures 31 October 2021 Extinction Rebellion activists protest in Edinburgh as the Cop26 conference begins in Glasgow Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2021 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with Mapuche leader and Minga Indigena Lead Coordinator Claflin Lafkenche (right) alongside indigenous delegates at a ceremonial gathering at the Tramway in Glasgow in a symbolic gesture to mark a unified demand for climate justice PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2021 Ocean Rebellion put on a display of puking oil heads ahead of climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow EPA UK news in pictures 28 October 2021 A man dressed as Santa Claus outside Selfridges in London as the department store unveils its Christmas windows on Oxford Street PA UK news in pictures 27 October 2021 Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak during a visit to Fourpure Brewery in Bermondsey, London, after the chancellor announced a cut to beer taxes in his budget PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2021 Activist Steve Bray demonstrates with a toilet outside the gates of Downing Street, after MPs voted in Parliament against the Environment Bill, allowing companies to pump raw sewage into UK rivers and seas, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 October 2021 Second World War veteran James White, 96, at the opening of the Edinburgh Garden of Remembrance, marking the start of the remembrance period PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2021 Richard Ratcliffe holds up a photo of his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe as he protests outside the Foreign Office while on hunger strike, part of an effort to lobby the UK foreign secretary to bring his wife home from detention in Iran Getty UK news in pictures 23 October 2021 Partner of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Stella Morris and Editor in Chief of WikiLeaks Kristinn Hrafnsson attend a protest ahead of the appeal hearing over Assange's extradition, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 22 October 2021 Palace Gardener Justine Howlett adds the finishing touches to pumpkins bearing the face of Henry VIII and his wives, at Hampton Court Palace. PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2021 Flooded fields near Lingfield in Surrey, after southern England was hit overnight by heavy rain and strong winds from Storm Aurore moving in from France PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2021 A wing surfer enjoys the strong winds as they surf in the sea off of Hayling Island in Hampshire PA UK news in pictures 19 October 2021 Actor Jude Law holds hands with Little Amal, a 3.5-metre-tall puppet of a nine-year-old Syrian girl, as it arrives in Folkestone, Kent, as part of the Handspring Puppet Company's 'The Walk' PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2021 A view over Southend-on-Sea in Essex, which is set to become a city in tribute to Sir David Amess MP, who spent years campaigning for the change Getty UK news in pictures 17 October 2021 Members of the Essex Bangladeshi Welfare Association pay their respects by floral tributes laid at the scene where Sir David Amess MP was killed at Belfairs Methodist Church, in Leigh-on-Sea Reuters UK news in pictures 16 October 2021 Boris Johnson, Sir Keir Starmer, Priti Patel and Lindsay Hoyle pay respects to Sir David Amess at Belfairs Methodist Church, in Leigh-on-Sea, the site of his death EPA UK news in pictures 15 October 2021 A person lays flowers at the scene near the Belfairs Methodist Church in Eastwood Road North, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, where Conservative MP Sir David Amess has died after he was stabbed several times at a constituency surgery. A man has been arrested and officers are not looking for anyone else PA 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 Mr Hunt has threatened the UAE with "serious diplomatic consequences" if Mr Hedges is not freed, and said he has seen "absolutely no evidence" to support the charge. Following her meeting with Mr Hunt, Mr Tejada thanked the foreign minister for pursuing the case. "[Mr Hunt] has assured me that he and his team are doing everything in their power to get Matt free and return him home to me. This is not a fight I can win alone and I thank the Foreign Office for now standing up for one of their citizens," she said in a statement. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, defended the Foreign Office on the show for working "behind the scenes" to support Mr Hedges, with Mr Hunt appealing personally to the Crown Prince on 12 November. Ms Tejeda said her husband was jailed after the UAE presented "completely fabricated" evidence. Matthew Hedges with his wife Daniela Tejada (PA) The UAEs public prosecutor said the sentence was handed down after the accused confessed before the court to the charges brought against him, but said Mr Hedges could appeal. The prosecutors statement did not specify the charges, but his family and state-run UAE newspaper The National, citing a separate court statement, said Mr Hedges was convicted of spying. The hearing lasted less than five minutes and Mr Hedges' lawyer was not present, his family said. Theresa May said she was deeply disappointed and concerned Mr Hedges had been jailed, and told MPs the UK will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis. Mr Hunt said there would be serious diplomatic consequences, tweeting to say: "We have seen no evidence to back up charges against him ... UAE claim to be friend & ally of the UK so there will be serious diplomatic consequences. Unacceptable. Todays verdict ... runs contrary to earlier assurances, Mr Hunt added, calling the move extremely worrying. Matthew Hedges, 31, was seized at Dubai airport as he attempted to leave the country following a two-week research trip for his PhD (PA) The statement by the UAEs attorney general, Hamad al-Shamsi, described the trial as fair, transparent and just. The evidence against Mr Hedges consisted of notes from his dissertation research, his family said. A life sentence for a non-Emirati entails a maximum of 25 years jail followed by deportation, according to The National. Mr Hedges wife, Daniela Tejada, said: "Matthew is innocent. The Foreign Office know this and have made it clear to the UAE authorities that Matthew is not a spy for them. They say that the UAE is an ally, but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matts case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price. I am very scared for Matt. I dont know where they are taking him or what will happen now. Our nightmare has gotten even worse. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Mr Hedges university supervisor has said there had been nothing clandestine about his research in the country. Professor Clive Jones of Durham University said Mr Hedges had been working on a thesis about civil-military relations in the UAE since the Arab Spring, based on readily accepted literature. There was nothing clandestine or covert in any of the material he had been using up to date in the thesis, Prof Jones told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. He went to the United Arab Emirates to conduct a series of interviews to help flesh out some of the theories and some of the empirical evidence that he had actually collected. He added: If we had any inkling that Matt in any sense shape or form was going to be in danger, then of course we would not have agreed to let him go. Matt was no stranger to the United Arab Emirates. He had lived there on and off since the age of nine. He knew many of the people he was going out to interview so again it is utterly bizarre and indeed perverse and indeed a miscarriage of justice that this has befallen him. More than 120 academics from around the world have issued a petition urging UAE authorities to release Mr Hedges. Additional reporting by agencies (ANSA) - Rome, November 22 - Italy is "criminalising" NGOs that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) said Thursday. The UNHCR voiced "concern" at the "continual defamatory campaign in Italy against NGOs working in rescue operations in the Mediterranean". It also voiced concern at the "criminalisation of work done by those who defend migrants' rights. "The Italian government," a group of UN experts write, "has made it practically impossible for NGO ships to continue to rescue migrants: this has led to more drownings and disappearances. "Saving lives is not a crime, protecting human dignity is not a crime". A little over a week ago, British academic Matthew Hedges was preparing for what would be his fourth court appearance in the United Arab Emirates on charges of spying for the UK government. He had already spent five months in solitary confinement, during which time he was denied access to a lawyer, reportedly fed a cocktail of medication and saw his mental and physical health deteriorate dramatically. At the same time, Baroness Rona Fairhead, UK Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion, was addressing a petroleum conference in Abu Dhabi aimed at drumming up trade between the two countries. There is a strong desire in the UK to look outside more to markets that we have not tapped before, she said at the event, at which a British delegation had a pavilion. Baroness Fairhead added that the size of the UKs stall at the conference showed how important our presence in the UAE is for us". The event was just the latest effort in a drive by the UK government to build trade relationships outside of the European Union in preparation for Britains exit from the bloc. But the sentencing of 31-year-old Mr Hedges has exposed an awkward truth at the heart of the UKs push to become a global trading power: to make up for the loss of trade that will inevitably follow Brexit, it will be forced to do more business with states that abuse human rights. Mr Hedges, a student at Durham University who went to the country to research his PhD thesis, was sentenced to life in prison at an Abu Dhabi court on Wednesday in a hearing that lasted less than five minutes, and with no lawyer present. His troubles began when he was detained in May at Dubai airport as he was leaving the country following a research trip. During five months in solitary confinement he was interrogated without a lawyer or consular access and fed a cocktail of medication by the prison guards, according to a family representative. Reacting to the verdict, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned of "serious diplomatic consequences." But throughout Mr Hedges detention UK ministers were meeting with UAE officials in an effort to boost trade. In September, while Hedges was still being held in solitary confinement, Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, met with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAEs Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Mr Fox tweeted that the meeting covered the strong Trade & Investment links between our countries. The next month, after Mr Hedges wife, Daniela Tejada, had issued warnings about her husbands health, Britain's Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt attended a meeting with UAE ministers to discuss trade and further the diverse UK-UAE relationship. UK has long given the impression that security and trade interests trump human rights concerns in the UAE Polly Truscott, Amnesty International UK's foreign affairs expert Both Mr Burt and Mr Hunt said they took up the Brits case with UAE officials during meetings, but Mr Hedgess wife accused the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office of "stepping on eggshells instead of taking a firm stance" on Thursday. "I was under the impression they were putting their interests with the UAE above a British citizen's rightful freedom and welfare," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on her return from the UAE. The UAE has long been a destination for British investment, and trade has been increasing in recent years. The UK is the biggest foreign direct investor in the country. Total trade between the two countries rose by 12 per cent in 2017, to 17.5 billion. UK exports meanwhile were 11.1 billion. More than 120,000 Brits live and work in the UAE, and close to a million British tourists visit every year. But in the wake of Mr Hedges sentencing, the government is facing calls to reevaluate that relationship. Polly Truscott, Amnesty International UKs foreign affairs expert, said the UK has long given the impression that security and trade interests trump human rights concerns in the UAE. With Matthew Hedges case, it almost seems to have come as a surprise to the government that the UAE actually locks up people after deeply unfair trials, she told The Independent. Matthew is just the latest person to experience the appalling injustice of a sham Emirati trial local human rights activists, political critics and even Emirati judges and lawyers have all been convicted in similar circumstances. Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, said the foreign secretary has stated that there will be serious diplomatic consequences, but we have no idea what that means as yet. It must be more than words or else Britain will not be taken seriously, not just by the UAE but by other states. If those diplomatic consequences and pressures do not yield results, and very soon, Britain must consider non-diplomatic measures, he told The Independent. The Department for International Trade declined to answer a query from The Independent about whether the case would impact trade relations between the two countries. UAE attorney general Hamad al-Shamsi said Mr Hedges was accused of spying for a foreign country, jeopardising the military, political and economic security of the state. Mr Hedges has denied the charges, and maintains that he was in the country to research the impact of the Arab Spring on the UAEs foreign policy. Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt warns UAE of 'serious consequences' over Matthew Hedges jailing The Hedges case is not the first time the UK has been forced to defend its trade relationships in recent months. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October sparked renewed pressure on the government to halt arms sales to Riyadh, which is currently fighting in Yemen. Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen three years ago after Houthi rebels took over much of the country and forced out the internationally recognised government of President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. If those diplomatic consequences and pressures do not yield results, and very soon, Britain must consider non-diplomatic measures Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding At least 6,660 civilians have been killed, according to the United Nations, most of whom were victims of coalition airstrikes. Coalition jets, backed by US logistical support and using weapons made in the US and the UK, have repeatedly hit targets where no militants were present. The UK has sold more than 4.6 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia since the conflict began in 2015. Mr Hunt, the foreign secretary, has defended the UKs relationship with Saudi Arabia as essential for national security. Taxpayers are to subsidise a new air link between Cornwall Airport Newquay and Heathrow. From 31 March 2019 Flybe will shuttle the 210 miles from the Cornish airport, which is shared with RAF St Mawgan, four times a day. Around 170,000 passengers are predicted to use the service each year. Over the first four years of the link, the Department for Transport and Cornwall Council will each pay up to 1.7m, representing a subsidy of 5 per passenger or 10 for a round-trip. Each departure will receive almost 300 in subsidy. The prediction assumes that three-quarters of seats on each flight will be filled. The current thrice-daily link with Gatwick, which is also subsidised, will end. The slots at Heathrow, which is the busiest airport in Europe, are part of an allocation which British Airways was required to surrender after taking over BMI in 2012. The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said: Maintaining and enhancing air routes that help bring together the UK is one of the key benefits of any expansion at Heathrow. This new route will see the people of the southwest profit from a direct connection into our national hub airport even before it expands, building on the governments ongoing commitment to the Newquay route, protecting choice and strengthening trade and travel opportunities for the whole UK. The Cornish airports managing director, Al Titterington, said: By having direct flights to Heathrow, it grows the strength of Newquay and Cornwalls brand abroad, which is great for the local business community and those wanting to visit our beautiful county. John Holland Kaye, Heathrows chief executive, said: We are delighted to secure a more regular service to Newquay, connecting exporters from Cornwall to global markets through Heathrow and making it easier for inward investors, tourists and students from all over the world to get there. While the average aircraft using Heathrow is a jet with around 200 seats, Flybe will use 78-seat Q400 turboprop aircraft on the service. The airline is losing around 7,000 per hour, and last week announced it was in talks with prospective buyers. Both easyJet and Ryanair have told The Independent they are not interested in buying Flybe. Roy Kinnear, the airlines chief commercial officer, said: The decision confirms that Flybe is a vital part of the UKs transport infrastructure. The move will either encourage or dismay other UK airports who have fewer or no connections with Heathrow. British Airways recently cut back its three-times-daily link from Leeds Bradford to one or two flights a day. Newquay will also be better connected to Heathrow than Inverness, which will have a maximum of three flights a day next summer. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Durham Tees Valley, which is further from Heathrow than Newquay is, lost its link with the airport a decade ago. Liverpool, Prestwick, Belfast International and the Channel Islands have also lost connections with Heathrow. City of Derry Airport in northwest Ireland also has subsidised flights to and from London, but these use Stansted rather than Heathrow. If and when a third runway at Heathrow is built, it is anticipated that some of the additional slots will be ring-fenced to increase the number of domestic routes. The Regional and Business Airports Group, representing 40 UK airports, said: It is crucial that the 15 per cent of slots allocated on the new runway are for unserved and underserved (less than two services per day) routes. Cornwall Newquay Airport recently announced a summer 2019 link with Copenhagen. Sales have proved so buoyant that extra flights have been added. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is no longer leaning as much as it was, according to a group of Italian engineering experts. The tower, a tourism attraction in the pretty Tuscan city of Pisa, has straightened up 4cm over the past two decades, according to the towers surveillance group which has been monitoring the health of the 57m monument for the past 17 years. The surveillance group, set up by professor Michele Jamiolkowski, has been working to straighten the Leaning Towers tilt. Nunziante Squeglia, a professor of geotechnics at the University of Pisa, was quoted in Italian media reports as saying the leaning tower was now stable. Prior to restoration work between 1990 and 2001, the towers lean was 5.5 degrees, which has since been narrowed to 3.99 degrees. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a major international tourist attraction because of its quirky, lopsided appearance. Construction on the tower began in 1173, and it began to tilt almost immediately because the ground it was built on was too soft. Multiple efforts have been made over the years to straighten up the tower. In the 1920s, the foundations were injected with cement grouting with the intention of stabilising it, while in 1990, a decision was made to completely close the site to visitors when its tilt reached 4.5m. It was the first time the tower had been closed in 800 years, but reopened again to visitors in 2001. More than one million visitors pay it a visit each year, typically to pose in front of it to give the appearance of holding it up. On Monday morning I was appalled by two things: the obliteration of the first rush hour of the week at London Waterloo by overrunning Network Rail engineering work, and the shocking abuse that South Western Railways social media staff received from online bullies. The frequently maligned train operator was, on this occasion, blameless. Yet frustrated travellers cursed its Twitter team with threats and vile language. That evening, by the time Southern Rails overpacked 5.37pm from London Bridge to Uckfield had given up the ghost and expired just three miles and 40 minutes after departure, I found myself joining in the electronic irritation. Not, I hasten to add, by unleashing expletives on customer service staff, but by texting the friend I was hoping to meet for a drink: Does Southern really loathe its passengers? Travellers who rely on the train operator serving south London, Surrey and Sussex have had a horrible year. So too have commuters using Northern in northwest England, where unworkable timetables were imposed in May and every Saturday is a strike day the RMT union and the government are fighting a proxy war about driver-only operation on Northerns patch. Yet tens of thousands of railway staff work their socks off every day to try to keep the creaking show on the wobbly railroad. And still things go badly wrong. Train failure is not a once-in-a-blue-moon event. I know that because the one I hoped to catch back from Sussex to London that evening ran out of steam at Eastbourne and had to be replaced. Eastbourne, of course, is where Karl Marx used to holiday. Some rail passengers say that, in accordance with the philosophers principles of social ownership of the means of production, the railways should be nationalised. But most travellers couldnt care who runs the trains. They just want to be able to get to work/school/hospital/friends/family on schedule. As Marxs devotee Lenin asked (in slightly different context): what is to be done? That evening I had plenty of time to contemplate the issue on various godforsaken trains and platforms. The solution: take a leaf out of the rulebook for compensating airline passengers. Handing out 350 to someone whose 50 flight to Malaga is three hours late as European rules dictate is absurdly excessive. But it focuses the airlines minds on reducing delays and improving resilience. We need to align payouts to passengers with train pain. I reckon there were about 1,000 passengers on the failed train, all of whom had to jostle across the footbridge at New Cross Gate and try to board an already overstuffed following service, missing multiple connections in the process. I have already received my Delay Repay payment. Britain might have a sometimes-rubbish railway, but it is world class in responding to compensation claims. Only in terms of time, though. Not money. On a 14 return ticket, I received just 1.80 in compensation. In the olden days when there was a buffet trolley on Southern trains, that would not even buy a cup of tea. If everyone aboard the doomed train claimed the same (which is doubtful), the operators penalty for deploying a train that was unfit for purpose was 1,800: a drop in the rail franchising ocean. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Suppose compensation were sharply increased, with a fixed 10 payout for a 30-minute delay when the train operator is at fault, 20 for an hour, etc. Many more travellers would claim. And if the price of failing to maintain properly the rolling stock on the 5.37pm were 10,000 or 20,000, train firms will share our pain and up their game. The tricky element in this cunning plan: the many delays caused by Network Rail. If every one of the 150,000 or so commuters to London Waterloo whose Monday was wrecked by a defective rail near Surbiton was given just 20, that would total 6m. But rather than a transfer of wealth from shareholders to travellers, it would be the long-suffering taxpayer forced to shovel yet more cash into the bottomless pit of railway funding. It will take at least another day of disruption to figure out a fair prescription for infrastructure delay, though if you already have the answer, let me know. Meanwhile, lets start with proper payouts when train operators foul up. Things will always go wrong on the railways, and I am no fan of compensation culture. But in this context it just might help. Ah Black Friday. Is there a more grotesque display of capitalism, consumerism, and me-me-me on the planet? Youd probably expect me to say something like that. This is The Independent after all. Were supposed to be the news organisation that cares about butterflies and stuff. Its not just us, though. The ugly scenes this unwelcome American import has produced on occasion have sparked widespread condemnation. Lots of retailers will privately tell you they hate it, but that for them its a case of damned if you do, damned if you dont. Recommended Best Black Friday UK travel deals 2018 Heres the thing. Id be both liar and hypocrite if I didnt admit to having taken part in the rampant consumer-fest. Truth be told, Ill probably take part this year. Im not perfect. I have Christmas presents to buy, and like much of the rest of the country, I find it hard to resist a bargain, even though many of the bargains that retailers are touting dont actually hold up to close scrutiny. I also have an Amazon account, and much as I might dislike the companys corporate practices, its customer service is second to none. However, I admit to feeling embarrassed, when talking to a trade unionist friend of mine whod suggested some music he thought I might like, about admitting Id give it a stream via Amazon Music. Its OK, he said, were all a bit conflicted that way. But it got me to thinking. Is there a way to do Black Friday, and Amazon, while quieting that little voice that says youve read the reports about the way they treat warehouse staff and yet youre still doing this you utter bastard. At least a bit? I think there is, and Im prepared to put my money where my mouth is. First off Im going to publicly pledge my support to the GMB trade union, which represents Amazon workers. The GMB is on Friday holding a series of Black Friday protests across the UK over what it describes as inhuman conditions at the companys warehouses. Workers in Italy and Spain are expected to stage 24-hour strikes on the same day. The union has highlighted a series of problems, such as ambulances being called out to the warehouses and complaints to the Health and Safety Executive about conditions. The numbers of both, it has discovered through freedom of information requests, are eye-popping. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events It doesnt want you, or I, to boycott Amazon. Far from it. Amazon provides its workers with jobs after all. So its in their and the unions interests for the company to continue to succeed. What it does want is this hugely profitable business the founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is the worlds richest man to get around a table and find a way of improving conditions for employees, employees who will probably be too exhausted to look for Black Friday deals themselves. Working at a fulfilment centre must be unbelievably tough at this time of year. The testimony from staff provided by the union made me shudder. Its time for Amazon to do the right thing. In theory, Ill save money through Black Friday. So Ive also kicked over 25 to the crowd fund Ruth Lane has set up with the aim of suing DPD, the delivery company that is a big part of the gig economy a lot of web retailers rely on. She claims that the company, which her late husband Don worked for, rigidly enforced working patterns, and backed this up with financial penalties. As a result, Don struggled to attend vital medical appointments and died through complications related to insulin-dependent diabetes. DPD argues that he was self-employed. Now, I have a similar condition. But Im fortunate in having an understanding employer. The donation, to me, feels like an appropriate way of making Black Friday more palatable. The Saudis are going to get away with it. Muhammad bin Salman, too. They may pay a price well travel in that direction later but they remain the vision of light against Irans vision of darkness, in the words of Saudi Arabias ever more egregious foreign minister. We are all, alas, making the same old Middle East mistake: of thinking that the bad guys will get overthrown or punished for their murders and transgressions and that the good guys (whoever they may be) will come out on top. Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of murder most foul. But in the Middle Easts sectarian civil war, the Sunnis have got to win over the Shiites and the Saudis have got the money, and Americas president for whom the epithet insane is now as irrelevant as it is obvious has managed to quote the Saudis as claiming that Khashoggi was an enemy of the people and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Even if his murder was terrible and a horrible crime. It could very well be, announced the leader of the free world this week, that bin Salman had knowledge of the murder. Maybe he did and maybe he didnt! The Russians made no secret of their unhappiness after their candidate, Alexander Prokopchuk, was soundly beaten in elections for the presidency of Interpol. A Kremlin spokesman accused western countries of unprecedented interference in the process of choosing a new leader for the international crimefighting organisation, while senior Russian politicians spoke of a smear campaign and called for lawsuits to be instituted against those who circulated information designed to damage him the anticipation of which might account for some of the hedging in western reports that Prokopchuk may have had a KGB past. Recommended Putin ally loses out on Interpol presidency to South Korean Still, for all its huffing and puffing, Russia said it would accept the result. And, aside from the diplomatic defeat and obvious loss of face, the victory for the South Korean, Kim Jong-yang, is probably not the worst outcome for Moscow. Prokopchuk remains one of four Interpol vice presidents, and Russia enjoys generally good relations with Seoul. The whole affair could thus be dismissed as a bit of a storm in a tea cup, especially as the day to day running of Interpol is done by its secretary general, a post currently held by a German, Juergen Stock. The role of the president and his deputies is more akin to chairmanship and steering, rather than hands-on administration. The real contest, it could be argued, will come in two years time when the post of secretary general falls vacant. Yet what happened over the Interpol presidency should not be dismissed so lightly. It raises questions that deserve answers questions that may not even be asked, now that a result has been achieved that is deemed satisfactory by the vocal western world. Lets look back, first, at why there was a vacancy for president in the first place. This was the position that had been held by Meng Hongwei, a Chinese citizen who was halfway through his four year term when he mysteriously went missing during a visit to his home country and was subsequently reported to be under arrest for corruption. Was there no opposition to Mengs elevation to the presidency two years ago on the basis that he was a citizen of China, and a former law enforcement officer in a country with a hardly stellar record on human rights? If not, why not? Or rather, why in US and UK eyes was it apparently fine for a Chinese to hold the presidency of a global crimefighting organisation but not a Russian? And related to that, why has there been no great outcry about the disappearance of someone who however you might regard him was a senior official in a major international organisation? Every once in a while his distressed wife is given a few moments of airtime to remind the world of his plight, but to no great effect. His, probably enforced, resignation seems to have been accepted with barely a murmur, allowing the election for his successor to proceed. Even if Interpol worried about future non-cooperation from China if it made serious representations on Mengs behalf, why did it not keep his post open, at least nominally, in recognition of the way it became vacant? Emmanuel Macron calls for creation of a true European army to defend against Russia and the US Second, why did the US and the UK unleash such a desperate last-minute campaign to prevent Prokopchuks election? Diplomats generally prefer to operate incrementally and behind the scenes, so the fact that these two countries resorted to such open lobbying at such a late stage suggests two possibilities. Had they, perhaps, failed to foresee that the Russian could be elected, or had they in fact foreseen the possibility but failed to regard it as a problem? Either way, it seems to have dawned on the UK rather late in the day that having a Russian president of Interpol did not square particularly well with its massive efforts to mobilise diplomatic action against Russia following the Salisbury poisonings. The resulting campaign against Prokopchuks candidacy was fierce, and waged on multiple fronts. Lithuania and Ukraine threatened to leave Interpol altogether; the UK apparently talked of setting up a rival organisation. US congressmen said it would be like putting a fox in charge of the hen coop. Prokopchuk, for his part, was accused of being a Putin crony, of having a past in the KGB and, in his former capacity, of abusing the Interpol red card system to go after Russias political enemies abroad. In any case, the 11th-hour lobbying effort was successful, and Prokopchuk lost by a wide margin. But this poses a third question. A determined alliance of the US and the UK, plus a number of countries with very real reasons to fear Russia (Ukraine, the Baltic states) proved capable of blocking the election of a Russian official to the presidency of an international organisation with 192 members one of the widest memberships of any international group outside the United Nations. Prokopchuk surely has his flaws. But the specific objections to his candidacy could be levelled against a host of international officials. Not a few have associations with their national leader (though not every Russian official is associated with Putin). Prokopchuk may or may not have had a KGB association (but I would judge it unlikely, as Russias interior ministry, governing the police, and Russias intelligence services are quite different and often rival animals). And the charge that he abused the red card system of international arrest warrants can be levelled against law enforcement agencies in many countries. One countrys criminal can be another countrys political dissenter which is why the international asylum system exists. All of which is not to absolve Prokopchuk but to ask whether the real obstacle to his elevation to president of Interpol had less to do with any of his failings but rather, and solely, with the fact of his being Russian. And if Russians conclude from this experience that their nationals have no prospects of advancement within such international organisations fewer prospects, for instance, than a Chinese then who would blame them for asking whether there is not one rule for Russians and one for everyone else, and whether it is worth even joining in the first place. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Club membership comes with rules that apply to everyone. If Russia comes to believe that club rules are applied differently to Russia (the World Anti-Doping Agency, for instance, or the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and now Interpol), is this not tantamount to an invitation simply to opt out or to behave badly for instance, by using illicit means to access information that, as a member, it should be entitled to see. Of course Russia should comply, and be required to comply, with international rules. But that presupposes that Russia is treated as having an equal stake in applicable organisations and is judged by the same rules as others. In the matter of the Interpol presidency, that is far from clear. There are no doctors in al Rukban camp, but people call me doctor because I try my best to treat increasing cases of disease among the 45,000 people. In reality, I am a nurse who spent 15 years as the head of intensive care nursing at Palmyra City Hospital before fleeing to al Rukban in southeast Syria where I have lived for three years. My wife is a midwife, and in total there are six nurses and three midwives in the camp, as well as dozens of volunteers who took a one month nursing training course at a nearby US military base. Sometimes we know how to deal with a medical condition but we also live in constant fear of doing something wrong. Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Show all 13 1 /13 Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, which was targeted by the US, UK and France air strikes. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center surrounded by papers and rubble. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Firefighrers extinguish smoke that rises from the damage. The Pentagon says none of the missiles filed by the U.S. and its allies was deflected by Syrian air defenses, rebutting claims by the Russian and Syrian governments. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The wreckage of part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound . AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Part of a building collapsing, surrounded by the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damaged to the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, also says there also is no indication that Russian air defense systems were employed early Saturday in Syria. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier sprays water on the wreckage. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Syrian state news agency SANA reported several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, "destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre". AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage A Syrian soldier films the damage. AP Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Damage to the Scientific Research Center building that was hit by the strikes. EPA Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage The Scientific Studies and Research Centre was one of the targeted buildings by the US, UK and France. AFP/Getty Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage Further damage to the centre. EPA For over a year, al Rukban was under siege by the Assad regime, which last month cut off the few remaining supplies of food into the camp. For months, the health situation has been appalling we have been without basic medicine and unable to access qualified doctors. If we wanted medical supplies, we had to buy them through the black market and smugglers, often at four times the actual price. Since the regimes siege intensified in October, seven people three children, two women and two men have died. Earlier this month a UN aid convoy arrived, to the immense relief of everyone in the camp. The regime had repeatedly delayed the convoys arrival and we feared it would never come. Instead, it helped to bring joy and vital aid to a practically abandoned community through the provision of food supplies and vaccination points for the camps children. But as helpful as it was, the food supplies can only last 10 to 15 days. On top of that, because Assads regime wouldnt extend the UNs time in the camp, nearly 3,000 children remain unvaccinated. As we feared, the convoy supplied little in the way of medical equipment, bringing only anti-inflammatories and vitamins for the women and children. And there was no coordination and consultation with the medical staff in the camp who could have told the UN what was needed. As things currently stand, there are no promises of another convoy because, frankly, the UN doesnt know whether the regime will allow them to send in more aid. We gave the UN a list of around 150 people who are critically ill but they do not know whether they can help them by sending them to Syrian or Jordanian hospitals. When the delegation arrived at the camp, I asked them to visit 37-year-old Osama Al-Abdullah, who was dying of an infection he sustained while in Jordan for surgery. Their answer was that they only came to analyse and examine the situation; they couldnt offer him anything. They then visited Osama and took several photos. He died the same evening. Since al Rukban formed in 2015, it has yet to receive adequate medical aid. Before last weeks delivery, the last time any humanitarian aid entered the camp was 10 months ago. Another wait for aid will likely kill more of al Rukbans residents, many of whom are suffering from health problems caused by hunger. Because of the lack of food we have many cases of anaemia, especially among women. Complications in pregnancy are also common due to poor nutrition and lack of proper sanitation. My wife advises pregnant women and performs scans with the ultrasound scanner we have at our medical point, but she only has a few simple surgical tools for a natural birth. Many children are born in poor health and in need of an incubator, but like the scarcity of food and other medical equipment in the camp, there are none. One of my darkest moments was when I realised I could not help a 10-month-old baby with severe diarrhea. He had been suffering for a week but his distraught mother could not afford the medicine he needed. I sat next to them both and couldnt help but feel helpless and weak. We needed to calibrate his electrolytes using special drugs like potassium, but without a means of curing this womans baby all I could do was share her tears. Half an hour later, he passed away. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events When we lose a child here, I feel like a father losing his child in front of his eyes, unable to save them. For the actual parents of these children, that pain is even more pronounced. Heavy storms, in the meantime, have hit Syria, making the situation here worse than it already is. Mud houses covered in tarpaulins and fabric have been destroyed. And as winter draws in, the situation is only going to deteriorate. We hear that Russia and Jordan are pushing to close al Rukban. They want us to return home but that would mean returning to regime-controlled areas where we could be subject to arrest and forced disappearance by the regime. We have said it before, and we will say it again, we reject any settlement or return to areas under the regimes control except under the following conditions: we will return if there is a political solution in Syria that guarantees we will live in peace; if it has been agreed by the UN Security Council; or if we will be protected by UN peacekeeping troops. The residents of al Rukban camp are civilians, and we call upon the international community to protect us. Do not risk the lives of more than 45,000 people 70 per cent of them women and children by forcing us to return home without guaranteeing our safety. Shukri Al Shihab is a nurse from Palmyra living in the al Rukban displacement camp I am not sure it is going to work, but there is something admirable about the prime ministers sheer resilience. When the first part of the Brexit deal was agreed and published last week she took questions from MPs for three hours. Today, she did the same on the second part of the deal. In between she has held a news conference, been on a radio phone-in, given interviews, taken questions yesterday, flown to Brussels and will be back there on Saturday. All the while being howled at by members of her own party, who disagree with her, and shouted at by members of the opposition, who broadly agree with her. The voices on her own benches in her support are few and not exactly whole-hearted. Yet I think the general public is impressed by her. There is some hard evidence for this. YouGov for The Times yesterday recorded a 13-point swing from May should go to May should stay in a week. But I also hear people on radio phone-ins saying how much they respect her for working hard and resolutely in difficult circumstances. Iain Duncan Smith says Brexit deal 'unworkable' without changes to backstop There also seemed to be less hostility towards her plan in the House of Commons today than there was last week, when most Conservative MPs who spoke seemed genuinely shocked that she had gone ahead and secured the deal she said she wanted. Today, she offered a peace offering to two of her hard-Brexit critics, thanking Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson, former cabinet ministers, for their ideas on how technology could solve the Irish border question in future. She refrained from pointing out that they might as well believe in UFOs. But they were resistant to flattery and both asked her to get rid of the backstop or, as I prefer to call it, the guarantee of an open border in Ireland. She got absolutely nothing from the other hard Brexiters behind her either. They queued up to condemn the deal. Dominic Raab, recent Brexit secretary, said it was the regrettable but inescapable reality that this deal gives more control away. Boris Johnson had a pre-cooked soundbite: We should junk forthwith the backstop.. which makes a complete nonsense of Brexit. Then the pro-EU wing of her party piled in from the other side, with Justine Greening and Dominic Grieve demanding that the decision be sent back to the people in a further referendum. And all the while the back to the people line was echoed from the opposition benches except from the leader of the opposition himself. Jeremy Corbyn delivered a well crafted speech. He is still getting better at this stuff, even if he did read out his speech with his head down most of the time. He had some good lines, but they were merely knockabout. Commenting on the emptiness of a lot of the non-binding rhetoric in the political declaration, he said: She says nothing is agreed until everything is agreed; indeed, nothing is agreed. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events As the afternoon droned on, more Tory loyalists lined up to praise the prime ministers hard work and determination and to declare the deal the best that could be achieved. It was not obvious in the House of Commons today how Theresa May could possibly win the crucial vote on this deal the withdrawal agreement and political declaration together. The hard Brexiters on her side couldnt muster 48 letters to challenge her leadership, but they have many more votes than that against her Brexit deal. She also loses votes from her pro-EU wing. And the opposition parties show no inclination to help her. If she can win the vote, she seems to think she can do it through sheer persistence, persuading the public and through them their MPs by her sincere attempt to negotiate a deal that both respects the referendum and keeps us in a close economic relationship with the EU. If the capacity to endure political pain could decide the vote, she would win. (ANSA) - Rome, November 22 - An Italian man was arrested by Spanish police in Tenerife Wednesday after allegedly throwing acid in the face of his 25-year-old former girlfriend there on Tuesday, El Mundo reported. The man was stopped at Tenerife airport trying to get a plane back to Italy, the paper said. He was identified by his victim who has been discharged from hospital after initial treatment for serious injuries. The man arrived on the island a few days ago together with a daughter he had from a previous relationship, Spanish media added. The US was once seen as the New World, and in many ways it still enjoys that status. Its home to Silicon Valley, the hub of technological advances, and the American Dream is still beckoning millions of immigrants each year. However, in other ways, many parts of the US remain stuck in the past or are at least determined to return there. Legislation that would criminalise performing abortions after a foetal heartbeat is detected usually around the six-week mark is one step closer to being introduced in Ohio, after the states House of Representatives passed the so-called heartbeat bill last week. The proposed legislation makes no exception for cases of rape or incest. If the bill becomes law, this would severely restrict the rights afforded to women. At the moment, abortion is legal in the state but a viability test is required after 20 weeks. Ohio legalised same-sex marriage in 2015, albeit only after the Supreme Court overturned previous court rulings that upheld a ban. This hard-won victory was not, as some may have hoped, an indication that the state had become a champion of equality. This is starkly evident due to the fact that the progress of the heartbeat bill has renewed interest in another proposed abortion law in Ohio: House Bill 565. Under this proposal, a foetus would be considered a person from conception to birth, leaving those who perform or undergo abortions open to severe punishment and even the death penalty. This is the stuff of Handmaids Tale-esque nightmares: under the proposals, the rights granted to the foetus would be given greater weight than ever before, and women would effectively have no choice over what to do with their own bodies. The proposals in Ohio show just how draconian lawmakers can be when it comes to womens reproductive rights. Furthermore, they serve as a reminder that just because a state has liberalised its laws in one area, it doesnt necessarily follow that other legislation will go the same way, and it certainly doesnt indicate that attitudes are generally becoming more liberal. And this problem is not just restricted to the US. The huge success of two recent referendum campaigns in Ireland, which saw same-sex marriage legalised and a constitutional ban on abortion overturned, signalled a refreshing sea change in a country that was so modern in some ways, and positively backwards in others. But it also served to highlight the hideous hypocrisy of British politicians, who have allowed antediluvian abortion laws to persist in Northern Ireland. Its the only part of the UK where a woman can still face a prison sentence for terminating a pregnancy, and where gay couples still cannot marry. This sorry state of affairs only became harder to change when Theresa May entered into her toxic relationship with the DUP, which takes a hardline stance against abortion and equal marriage, on religious grounds. (Like many of the DUPs other policies, this stance goes against what evidence suggests most Northern Irish people actually want.) Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Of course, this disparity between Great Britain and Northern Ireland has existed for years in relation to same-sex marriage, and decades when it comes to abortion. People have long been railing against these bigoted, sexist and old-fashioned laws. Whats different now is that the successful campaign to repeal the eighth amendment in Ireland which effectively bans abortions has made the problem harder to ignore. The movement lit a fire under campaigners in Northern Ireland. It showed that change can be achieved but it requires a sustained, vocal, organised and resilient movement. And as the potential new laws in Ohio show, its best not to assume that a battle won means the fight is over. There will always be those who see progress as the enemy, and recent global events have shown how easy it is for societies to regress. Defending equality requires constant vigilance. A charity whose former director of education was murdered in South Africa has returned to the country to renovate schools. Niall Mellon and 305 Mellon Educate volunteers from Ireland and the UK travelled to Cape Town to carry out extensions on premises in Wallacedene Township. Expand Close A volunteer at work (Rogan Ward/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A volunteer at work (Rogan Ward/PA) John Curran, 60, from Dublin, was found at his apartment in Cape Town earlier this month. It is understood he was stabbed. Mr Curran had moved to South Africa several years ago. He had recently retired as a director of education at Mellon Educate. Expand Close A Mellon Educate volunteer dances with some local children (Rogan Ward/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A Mellon Educate volunteer dances with some local children (Rogan Ward/PA) The Mellon volunteers have spent this week helping to improve educational facilities at the Enkululekweni Primary School and Hector Peterson High School. Ken Kingston, country director of Mellon Educate South Africa, said: Its an ambitious task to build school facilities and classrooms for 600 children in one week but our volunteers are making every effort to achieve our mission. We are very proud of all our volunteers who are travelling to help some of the most impoverished children on our planet. Their muscles are truly sore after a week of hard labour, but the pride they take home will never leave them. Every volunteer returns home with an enormous sense of achievement. Each year, Mellon Educate volunteers raise funds to partake in the charitys annual Building Blitz, the majority of which goes towards building materials for the schools as well as towards the charitys teachers mentoring programme, which commences in each school for up to five years, once the physical work is completed. The volunteers are all ages and from all backgrounds. Expand Close Volunteers work on the roof of a building (Rogan Ward/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Volunteers work on the roof of a building (Rogan Ward/PA) While approximately a quarter are skilled in a building trade, the majority are not. The charity added: It is testament to the success of our programme and the legacy it leaves that many volunteers return year after year. Gardai investigating historic child abuse allegations at Scouting Ireland have said there are inevitably more victims still to come forward. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris promised all complaints would be dealt with sensitively and promptly. An independent consultant has found evidence of more than 100 alleged cases at the young persons organisation between the 1960s and 1980s. Mr Harris said: Inevitably there will be more victims than already recorded. We have gathered information on counselling and support services for all members of Scouting Ireland, this information is available here - https://t.co/rmaLtbMlbG pic.twitter.com/kXRFqBSLBG Scouting Ireland (@ScoutingIreland) November 22, 2018 Thats not to say its the tip of the iceberg but certainly our experience, and experience in other jurisdictions, is that there will be multiple victims who are considering now whether to come forward or not, and I wish to encourage them to come forward. A review by safeguarding expert Ian Elliott is not yet complete. Details of alleged abusers have been sent to the Garda and the child protection agency Tusla. Mr Harris told the Policing Authority his force had been involved in the review from the outset. He said he understood it could be difficult for victims to come forward but stressed that all complaints would be dealt with sensitively and promptly. Expand Close Charlie Flanagan said he was appalled by the allegations (Liam McBurney/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Charlie Flanagan said he was appalled by the allegations (Liam McBurney/PA) Scouting Ireland has 40,000 child members and 13,000 adult volunteers. A new board, elected last month, has vowed to make safeguarding of children and adults its number one priority. The organisation said it had gathered information on counselling and support services for all members of Scouting Ireland. Earlier, Fianna Fail deputy leader Dara Calleary called for the service to give victims who have not stepped up the confidence to tell their story. Mr Calleary raised the matter in the Dail on Thursday, emphasising the importance of getting all the facts as soon as possible. This drip, drip of information has to stop in order to build confidence within scouting and also with the agencies around it, in order to give confidence who havent come forward to come forward and tell their story so that they can get justice, he said. Expand Close Katherine Zappone (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Katherine Zappone (Niall Carson/PA) Its important that we look at the establishment of a helpline. He questioned whether the Government had confidence that Scouting Ireland had the capability and resources to manage the situation. Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said he was appalled by the allegations, adding that every effort would be made to ensure the issue is fully investigated and victims could come forward. Mr Flanagan told the Dail that none of the alleged abusers are still with the scouting organisation. He added that Scouting Ireland had informed the Government that some of the alleged abusers and victims became known to them separate to the examination of historical files. Several victims have recently come forward, he said. He added that Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone was seeking additional information from the youth organisation. New research from BNP Paribas Real Estate shows that some 265.2bn was invested in commercial property across Europe in the third quarter of 2018 on a rolling year basis. The figure represents an increase of 2pc compared with the same period in 2017. The office sector accounted for 54pc of total investment volumes, increasing to 114bn, or by 3pc relative to last year. Kate Ryan, head of research at BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland said the strong performance of the European office sector was being replicated in the Irish market, where offices have accounted for 43pc of total investment turnover during the same period. BNP Paribas's research notes the growth in the number of 'mega deals' (100m+). In the three months to the end of September, their share of total investment volume rose to 44pc, compared with 43pc last year. A total of 115.7bn mega deals were transacted across Europe in the third quarter of this year. Kate Ryan said: "We are seeing a similar trend towards larger lot sizes in the Irish market with nine deals worth over 100m transacting so far in 2018 compared with just four in 2017." The most valuable transaction to date this year in Ireland was the BNP Paribas Real Estate-brokered sale by US fund Northwood Investment Corporation of Heuston South Quarter (HSQ) in Dublin 8 to CK Hutchison Holdings. The 175m off-market transaction was closely followed in terms of value by the sale of Ballymore and Oxley's No 1 Dublin Landings to German institutional investor Triuva for 164m and an off-market office swap deal between IPUT and State Street for 160m. According to BNP Paribas's research, prime office yields in Dublin now stand at 4pc having declined by 25 basis points year-on-year. While this is low relative to previous years, the report notes the contrast between yields in Dublin and other European cities. In London prime yields have stabilised at 3.5pc, while Paris saw a decline of five basis points annually to bring prime yields down as low as 3pc. Yields in Berlin meanwhile have fallen as low as 2.9pc. Kenneth Rouse, managing director at BNP Paribas Real Estate says: "With the prime office yield stabilised at 4pc, Dublin as a European capital still displays a strong degree of relative value across its cohort of peers and remains a strong proposition for international investors". Bryan Molloy of agent Kelly Walsh is seeking offers in excess of 5m for a prime investment opportunity with significant medium-term development potential located at the heart of Donnybrook, Dublin 4. The subject site is located on a corner site with dual frontage onto Donnybrook Road and Brookvale Road which connects into Eglington Road. The site, occupied currently by two tenants - Ard Services Ltd t/a Circle K and First Stop Tyres - is zoned Objective Z4 (Mixed Services). The Circle K service station sits on 0.26 acres (0.11 hectares) with a large canopy covered forecourt and retail shop. This property is let for a term of 10 years from May 2014 at an annual rent of 165,000. There is a rent review due in May 2019 which presents excellent reversionary potential. The additional commercial unit of approximately 354 sq m (3,810 sq ft) adjoining the service station and occupied by First Stop Tyres also forms part of the sale. Bryan Molloy says: "This is an exceptional opportunity to acquire a trophy investment in the heart of Donnybrook with excellent medium-term development potential, subject to planning permission. Donnybrook is well established as one of south Dublin's premier residential addresses with a demonstrated ability in achieving strong sales results." Sale of the century: The iconic Grand Central Station has been sold for in the region of US$35m, a sum that stems from the terms of a centuries-old lease For $39m, you could buy an eight-bedroom mansion in the heart of New York's Upper East Side. Or if you're the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), you could buy Grand Central Terminal, one of New York's greatest icons, and still have $4m to spare. Last Thursday, the New York state-run transportation agency's board approved the purchase of Grand Central and Metro-North Railroad's Harlem and Hudson line from a holding group, Midtown Trackage Ventures. The transaction is estimated to cost about $35m, a sum that stems from a centuries-long lease agreement the agency struck in the early 1990s. MTA Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber called the price "a no-brainier, from a financial standpoint." He's right. Especially in a real estate market that's known for being among the most expensive in the world. There are 46 homes currently for sale in Manhattan for at least $35m, including five at more than double the price, according to Zillow Group Inc. It's also a steal by commercial standards: 1 Vanderbilt Avenue, a new-construction office building next door to Grand Central, is projected to cost more than $3bn. Peter E. Stangl, who served as the chairman and chief executive of the MTA when the original lease was signed, said it makes sense for the authority to own instead of rent. Its option to buy the terminal expires in 11 months. "Obviously to actually have control of property that you are managing, operating, maintaining and investing in is important," said Stangl, who initiated the restoration effort at the terminal that hinged on the long-term lease agreement. "Before we started investing, we negotiated a long-term lease to protect our investment, knowing that someday we wanted to acquire it." The MTA said the purchase price is based on the value of rent it committed to pay under the terms of the 280-year lease, discounted at a "highly favourable" rate. Metro-North has been paying an annual rent of $2.4m. Built by the New York Central Railroad, Grand Central first opened in 1913 and attracts about 750,000 visitors a day, making it the city's most visited destination after Times Square. The terminal was designated a landmark in the 1970s after a conservation effort spearheaded by former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Stangl said that fight could be ingrained in the MTA's decision to purchase the building. "It's deep-seated in the psychology of the MTA that you don't want to deal with that fight against a wrecking ball again," he said. With assistance from Daniel Taub (Bloomberg) Clear potential: 8 and 9 Grants Row, D2, has planning permission for five storeys of offices which could increase the space by 50pc to 1,007 sq m (10,839 sq ft) Three estate agents with plans for public auctions in December have published catalogues with properties carrying a combined value of over 19m. The biggest of them is IAM Sold's Leinster catalogue with more than 10m worth of properties, followed by Sherry FitzGerald/Cushman & Wakefield's joint 7.8m catalogue and REA O'Connor Murphy's 1.35m catalogue. The most valuable lot is a third-generation office building in Dublin's central business district which will be offered at the Sherry FitzGerald auction on December 4 at the Pavilion, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, where there will be 21 properties ranging in price from 30,000 to 3.25m. The latter is a 495 sq m (5,328 sq ft) office building at 8 and 9 Grant's Row, Dublin 2, which had been for sale earlier in the year with a 4m price tag. It comes with 13 car spaces on a 0.13 acre site to which there is gated rear access from Grattan Street, which is located between Merrion Square and Grand Canal Dock. It also has full planning permission for five storeys of offices which could increase the total office space by 50pc to around 1,007 sq m (10,839 sq ft) of net office space. The vendor is Purple Properties, representing private Irish investors. Also in this catalogue is a 0.97 acre residential development site with full planning permission for 13 three-bedroom houses at Balrothery, Castletymon Road, Dublin 24. It has a 1.1m AMV - down 100,000 from a recent asking price. It is located 750 metres from the M50 motorway and close to the Junction 11 intersection with the Tallaght bypass. On the eastern side of Cork city, an Ulster Bank branch at 95 Main Street, Midleton, has a 650,000 AMV. With a current annual rent of 150,000, this suggests a gross initial yield (GIY) of 23pc. Its 25-year lease runs from September 2005 and has a break option in September 2020 at the end of the 15th year. Extending to 540 sq m (5,800 sq ft) over three storeys, it benefits from car parking in an adjoining property. On the western side of the city, a second Ulster Bank branch at Main Street, Ballincollig, Co Cork, has a 600,000 AMV. Extending to 571 sq m (6,150 sq ft) with dual frontage onto Main Street and Station Road, its current passing rent is 305,000 per annum, but its lease will expire next April. More than 10m worth of properties, some with yields of up to 14pc will be offered at IAM Sold's Leinster public auction on December 5 at The Clayton Hotel, Liffey Valley, Dublin. Its most valuable lot is a portfolio of commercial investment properties in Drogheda, Co Louth, with a reserve of 1.05m. Alternatively it might be sold in two lots. Lot 1 offers units 11a and 11b North Quay, at a 330,000 reserve. They are leased to two individual tenants at combined rent of around 40,000 a year. Lot 2 combines units 13, 14, 15a, 16 and 17 at a reserve of 720,000. No 14 is leased at 26,762 a year and Nos 15a, 16 and 17 are leased to an office centre at 42,000 a year. A self-contained office suite overhead at No 13 is currently vacant. Agent Property Partners John Little says that the current combined rent of 108,762 from both lots would generate a GIY of 10.35pc, and if fully let it could generate up to 140,000. The properties overlook the River Boyne and Scotch Hall shopping centre. In Dublin 7, a retail unit at 43-45 Bolton St, has a 950,000 guide price and with a current rent of 76,000, this suggests a GIY of 8pc. It is occupied by a Spar convenience store which is located on the ground floor of an apartment block at the corner of Bolton Street and Henrietta Street. The unit extends to 269 sq m (2,895 sq ft) over ground floor and basement with the latter accommodating office and storage. Spar's lease runs until 2041 and a rent review is due in 2021. The rent was previously at 95,000 but a reduction was agreed in 2014. Castle Estate Agents say it may be possible to get a rent increase. A development site with planning permission for 43 houses at Killenard, Co Laois is being offered for auction with expectations that it could achieve a price of more than 950,000. The site extends to 9.43 acres and has the benefit of easy access to the M7 motorway. A mixed use, investment property in a neighbourhood shopping centre, 15-18 Dun Emer, Lusk, in North Dublin has a 500,000 reserve. With annual rent of 72,000, this suggests a 14.4pc GIY. The units are let to two tenants: a Centra supermarket on the ground floor and Lusk Fitness gym on the first floor. It occupies a high-profile site on the junction of the Dun Emer development with Chapel Farm and Kilhedge Lane. A vacant Pre-63 property at 60 Crumlin Road, Crumlin, Dublin, has a 349,000 price tag - a drop of 21,000 on its previously-quoted price. Simon Madigan of Young's Estate Agents reckons that it has potential to achieve about 37,000 in annual rents suggesting a GIY of 10.6pc. The house is divided into two one-bedroom apartments, while a garage to the rear may have potential to be developed into a residential unit. On December 12, REA O'Connor Murphy will host a Munster and Connacht auction at The Limerick Strand Hotel which will have 16 predominantly residential properties in locations as dispersed as Cork City and Donegal and with combined AMVs totalling more than 1.35m. Among them are two vacant adjoining houses off Bleasby Street, on the northside of Cork City between The Neptune Stadium and the N20 Cork Limerick Road. Number 2 Bleasby Terrace is a three-bedroom mid-terrace house extending to 62 sq m (667 sq ft) and it has a 61,000 AMV. While its neighbour Number 1 is smaller, as a two-bedroom house extending to 47 sq m (505 sq ft), it has a 71,000 AMV. It is described by the agent as being in good condition, while its neighbour is said to need some work. There is no evidence the UK is stockpiling Irish food in preparation for the possibility of a hard Brexit, Bord Bia has said. Padraig Brennan, Director of Markets with Bord Bia, told an Oireachtas Committee there is no suggestion of any significant level of stockpiling (of food) in the UK. "We would not expect a major level of it in the next while." However, he said there are some companies inserting break out clauses into contracts over the past few months. "There is a realisation that there could be a potential need to review contracts." But Irish food exports, he said, are facing significant tariffs of up to 53pc in there is a hard Brexit. The World Trade Organisation tariffs, which would be imposed in the event of a hard Brexit, could see Irish beef exports hit with tariff rates of 12.8pc tariff and a 3,000/tonne duty. Over 50pc of Irish cheddar cheese currently goes to the UK and it faces a 1,700/tonne duty, while lamb exports face a 12.8pc tariff plus a 1,700/tonne duty in the case of a hard Brexit. "They would have a serious and significant impact on supplying the UK," he said. He also said 73pc of Irish companies have made changes to their operations as they face Brexit, with 85pc looking to expand into new markets. Short shelf life products, he said, along with complex supply chain is a key issue for Irish exports heavily dependent on the UK as an export market. While he said that Bord Bia is helping companies to identify and target other countries, he admitted that developing new markets can take "a lot of time". Irish food and drink exports, he said, has to compete with other EU suppliers and has to win on its credentials. "It does require for us to be really targeted and be stronger with our creditials. We have sold Ireland as clean, green and natural reputation. But we need to quantify those claims and provide more facts and figures to back those claims up. "Grass fed is one of our key strengths." Mr Brennan also said that Bord Bia's Brexit workshops are over subscribed at the moment, which he said is a "good indication of how tuned in the emphasis is on getting ready for Brexit". (ANSA) - Rome, November 22 - Italy came out well in the OECD's latest 'Health at a Glance Europe' report. According to the data in the report, regarding figures for 2015, Italy is top in the EU in terms of preventable deaths, with 151 for every 100,000 inhabitants, compared to an EU average of 216. The report said around 1.2 million deaths in the EU could be prevented each year with better public health policies and better health care. It said the main causes of death are heart diseases, lung cancer, road accidents and alcohol-related fatalities. The life expectancy of people living in Italy has dropped to 82.7 years according to the new European Commission-OECD report on Europe's health systems, down from 83.2 years in the 2016 report. Italy remains the EU country with the second-longest life expectancy after Spain, the report said. It said Italy spends less on health care than other Western European States and estimated that 19% of Italian public health spending was wasted. Veterinarian Jean-Marie Surer anaesthetises calves before removing their horns, ahead of a national vote on the horned cow initiative (Hornkuh-Initiative) on November 25, at a farm in Marchissy, Switzerland, November 15, 2018. Picture taken November 15, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse Switzerland votes this Sunday on an issue of national importance that has divided the Alpine country - whether to subsidise farmers who let their cows' and goats' horns grow naturally. The referendum on preserving the "dignity of livestock" was initiated by farmer Armin Capaul, 66, a self-described rebel. He says that "listening" to his cows inspired his nine-year campaign for cash to fund the extra grazing space horned animals need and which he hopes will reduce dehorning. "We must respect cows as they are. Leave them their horns. When you look at them they always hold their head high and are proud. When you remove the horns, they are sad," he told Reuters on his small farm in northwestern Switzerland. Three-quarters of Swiss cows, who are a national symbol and tourist attraction, are dehorned or genetically hornless. Capaul, who says horns help cows communicate and regulate their body temperature, wants a 190 Swiss franc ($191.65) annual subsidy per horned animal for farmers. When political lobbying failed, he collected over 100,000 signatures to trigger a national vote. Expand Close Armin Capaul, the horned cow initiative (Hornkuh-Initiative) founder, poses ahead of a national vote on November 25, at the Valengiron farm in Perrefitte near Moutier, Switzerland, November 15, 2018. Picture taken November 15, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Armin Capaul, the horned cow initiative (Hornkuh-Initiative) founder, poses ahead of a national vote on November 25, at the Valengiron farm in Perrefitte near Moutier, Switzerland, November 15, 2018. Picture taken November 15, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse The latest poll says the vote is too close to call. His campaign is likely to garner support from those who oppose dehorning - burning a sedated calf's horn buds with a red-hot iron. Critics say it is painful and unnatural but supporters liken it to castrating cats or dogs and argue it is a safety issue. "In Switzerland, cows have never been talked about as much as now," said Capaul, a distinctive figure with a long grey beard and hand-knitted red hat, whose alternative approach has made him a media star and a household name. His campaign is opposed by the government, which says it would drain up to 30 million francs from its 3 billion franc annual agricultural budget, and is a burden on the constitution. "In Switzerland it's usual for issues to be brought to the people for a vote - every important question or less important question," Swiss Economy Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann said. Some farmers are opposed. Expand Close Farmer Stefan Gilgen poses for a photograph, ahead of a national vote on the horned cow initiative (Hornkuh-Initiative), in Oberwangen, Switzerland, November 12, 2018. Picture taken November 12, 2018. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Farmer Stefan Gilgen poses for a photograph, ahead of a national vote on the horned cow initiative (Hornkuh-Initiative), in Oberwangen, Switzerland, November 12, 2018. Picture taken November 12, 2018. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth "Our current system in the stable has advantages, the cows get along better with each other. If cows have horns, the danger of injuries to the animals and humans is greater," said Stefan Gilgen, whose 48 cows provide 1,000 litres of milk daily to Swiss dairy Emmi AG. "Each farm should decide for itself. We have other problems in agriculture." In Vaud canton, Reuters watched veterinarian Jean-Marie Surer dehorn three calves, anaesthetising each one before the procedure that causes smoke and a burning odour. "Using a very hot iron for seven seconds, I burned the skin and blood vessels which irrigate the horn bud, so it won't grow," Surer said as he applied disinfectant. "It is painless, they didn't move even an ear." Urgent clarification of a number of issues around the operation of the Clean Livestock Policy (CLP) for sheep has been sought by the ICSA. The calls follow what both ICSA and IFA have described as significant problems at factory level, over a severe interpretation of CLP rules being enforced at some plants. John Brooks of the ICSA has called for the Department of Agriculture and Meat Industry Ireland (MII) to outline their positions on a range of matters arising out of the adoption of CLP. These include: What is the policy on visually assessing sheep as they arrive at factories, either on the part of the Department of Agriculture or individual meat plants? What is the procedure, or legal framework, regarding lambs being removed from site and transported to an alternative location for clipping? What happens to lambs that arrive from Northern Ireland or from Britain for slaughter? Are they subject to CLP? If so, is it safe to allow these lambs to be moved out for clipping, given the possible disease risk? How is the disease risk monitored in these cases? What happens to lambs that are presented for slaughter on a Friday that the plant deem as requiring clipping? What procedures are in place for accommodating clipped lambs awaiting slaughter over the weekend period to avoid animal welfare issues? What is the maximum cost that can be imposed for clipping procedures? ICSA has received reports of farmers being overcharged for dressing procedures, with charges reaching 2/animal. IFA sheep chairman Sean Dennehy said CLP was causing significant problems at factory level, with an interpretation of the policy that is considered far too severe in some areas. Practical He said IFA recently met the Department and made it very clear that a more practical and fairer approach must be adopted. However, MII pointed out that the biggest threat faced by the industry is avoiding pathogen contamination from the fleece during the carcass dressing process. Fleece-to-carcass cross-contamination is a crucial meat safety issue, and the industry invests significant resources in ensuring hygienic carcass dressing. It is an area that requires continuous attention by both farmers and the meat industry, Cormac Healy of MII said. It should be noted that at this time of year, due to the weather conditions, the CLP challenge for both farmers and processors increases and there is a heightened focus on the area by the Department of Agriculture as part of its official controls in processing plants. The net result is increased numbers of sheep needing to be clipped or shorn to ensure hygienic dressing. Food safety is an absolute. The reputational and economic cost of a serious food safety incident could have massive negative implications for the entire sector. AIB is planning to sell a portfolio of bad loans with a face value of 1bn. Stock image AIB is planning to sell a portfolio of bad loans with a face value of 1bn. The portfolio will include buy-to-let and business loans, and is expected to be sold by the end of June 2019. An AIB spokesperson said the bank's "key priority" was to agree restructuring deals with customers on a case-by-case basis but added that loan sales were part of its overall plan for reducing bad loans. The spokesperson said the bank's non-performing exposures had gone from 31bn in 2013 to 7.2bn at September 2018, with around 90pc of this achieved by case-by-case work. "We remain focused on reducing impaired loans to a level more in line with European norms and, where feasible, we will continue to implement sustainable solutions for customers who engage with the bank." AIB is hunting for a new CEO after Bernard Byrne's surprise defection to Davy, where he will replace Kyran McLaughlin as head of capital markets and become deputy CEO to Brian McKiernan. Banks here are under pressure from Europe to reduce the amount of bad loans on their books. KBC is shortly due to complete the sale of 1.5bn of par-value loans, also including buy-to-lets and business loans, while Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank have also recently agreed loan sales. Bank of Ireland has not ruled out loan sales going forward. The sales are seen as politically toxic - particularly when the loans in portfolios are mortgages secured on family homes. Fianna Fail is currently looking to pass a bill designed to regulate so-called "vulture funds" who buy loan books, saying the funds should be brought within the "full suite of Central Bank regulation". The Government has said it will support the bill. Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michel McGrath said yesterday: "While I accept that pressure is being applied from the Single Supervisory Mechanism to reduce NPLs, it would be far better if the banks worked through the loan books in a proactive way and dealt with loans on an individual basis. "When it comes to mortgages, last week's report from the Central Bank confirmed that unregulated 'vulture funds' offer a narrower suite of restructuring options to mortgage holders in arrears and any arrangement entered into is more likely to be short-term in nature. "When our bill becomes law, these 'vulture funds' can be directly inspected and investigated by the Central Bank. The regulator will also, if necessary, be able to take enforcement action against these funds. "Up until now, these funds have been untouchable. The Central Bank will now, for the first time, be able to have direct contact with these funds and apply strict regulation directly to them," Mr McGrath said. Additional reporting by Bloomberg One of Ireland's biggest independent bookies, Tully Bookmakers, has warned it is likely to close up to 18 shops once the increased betting tax announced in last month's Budget comes into force. Stock photo One of Ireland's biggest independent bookies, Tully Bookmakers, has warned it is likely to close up to 18 shops once the increased betting tax announced in last month's Budget comes into force. Director Paul Tully said that he expects to put all 70 staff at the chain on protective notice after Christmas, and to initiate the first closures in January. He has written to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission claiming that the tax increase will result in a lessening of competition in the betting sector. He has asked the Commission to raise the matter with the Department of Finance. The betting duty will rise from 1pc to 2pc, but Mr Tully said he and other independents operate on wafer-thin margins, which will be obliterated by the increase. The betting tax is levied on turnover, while bookmakers have been arguing for a 10pc gross profit tax on retail operations instead. Mr Tully said that while some of his group's outlets might continue operating until after the Cheltenham racing festival next March, the likelihood at the moment is that stores will close. He said that the gross margin is 11pc for Tully Bookmakers, but that its net profit margin is less than 1pc. "With the extra 1pc of tax, it's going to make us totally unviable," he told the Irish Independent. "This will wipe out 90pc of the independents." Mr Tully, whose father started the family's bookmaking business in 1975 in Co Meath, said he does not expect Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe to reverse his decision. "I'm not optimistic," he said, adding that many of Tully's and other independents' shops are in small towns and villages where they provide employment. He said that even the larger betting groups - including Paddy Power Betfair, Ladbrokes and Boylesports - are likely to have to reassess the viability of some outlets when the higher tax comes into effect. Ladbrokes also plans to exit on-course bookies at race courses across Ireland, having blamed its decision on the tax increase. Mr Tully said that examinership would also be an option for his firm, where it might be able to continue trading with four or five outlets. Thomas Byrne, the managing director of Bruce Betting, said that he will also have to decide whether about four of the firm's 18 outlets will be able to continue trading after the tax hike comes into effect. He said that the company paid more than five times in tax last year than it made in profits. "It just doesn't compute that you put an entire industry on the brink at the stroke of a pen," said Mr Byrne, who added that to compensate for the tax increase he will have to generate a 15pc growth next year and make a 12pc gross margin. "In the next 12 months, I can see hundreds of shops closing," he said. Mr Byrne said that his shops are better able to withstand the tax increase compared to other independents. Bruce Betting supplies odds to many other independent bookmakers and also has an online presence. The Government expects the tax increase to raise 39.5m for the Exchequer in 2019, and 51.6m in a full year. The duty was cut to 1pc from 2pc in 2006 by then Finance Minister Brian Cowen. Ireland has fallen behind the UK when it comes to creating an attractive tax environment for starting a business, according to Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon. Ms Sinnamon - head of the state agency tasked with developing Irish businesses - said the UK has a "more attractive package of incentives" than Ireland, adding that a strong offering in this area would help "further accelerate the growth of Irish companies". She said she recognised the Government's intent to make changes in this area, including a plan to boost capital gains tax relief for entrepreneurs by increasing the amount of gains that would be taxed at a reduced rate. The capital gains tax regime is one of the areas that have received criticism from entrepreneurs, alongside the tax treatment of share options. A new regime for certain share option schemes was introduced in last year's budget, but was criticised as overly restrictive and then tweaked in this year's budget after a low level of take-up. The development of Irish firms is increasingly in the spotlight amid increased threats to our FDI regime, ranging from multinational tax reform, to US President Donald Trump's overhaul of the US tax code aimed at bringing business back to that country. "We have long said that the emphasis on foreign direct investment in Ireland is too great. We have long called out the universal political failure to embrace the contribution that small enterprise makes to Ireland. We have long said that focus is required on indigenous enterprise," said Ciaran Murtagh, chairman of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association at its annual conference yesterday. "We need to accept that the way we've managed industrial policy since the TK Whitaker era has to change, and we need to pivot industrial policy towards indigenous enterprise," he added. Earlier this week, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) warned that most Irish firms are seeing their productivity shrink, with a small number of big companies, working in largely foreign-dominated sectors, masking the underperformance of smaller companies who account for most of the employment in the State. The NCC said a "major effort" was needed to help Irish businesses invest in innovation. Flat-pack furniture giant Ikea is to cut up to 20 jobs in Ireland over the next two years as part of its global 'transformation' plan. The job cuts will come as part of a cull of 7,500 Ikea workers worldwide. Stock image Flat-pack furniture giant Ikea is to cut up to 20 jobs in Ireland over the next two years as part of its global 'transformation' plan. The job cuts will come as part of a cull of 7,500 Ikea workers worldwide. Ikea currently employs 730 staff at its two outlets here - the full-sized store in Ballymun and its order and collection point in Carrickmines, South Dublin. "We are transforming our business to better meet the needs of our customers and be more convenient and affordable to more people," said Ireland market manager Claudia Marshall. "The impact on the Irish business is minimal and at this stage we anticipate that over the next two years, potentially less than 20 jobs out of the 730 in Ireland may be made redundant." Earlier this month the Swedish group said it has no plans to open further stores in Ireland, despite strong growth in sales. Ikea's parent firm Ingka Group said that as part of the transformation, it is assessing all parts of the organisation and is "simplifying to enable a greater focus on adding value to its customers". As part of the shake-up, 11,500 new jobs will also be created over the next two years through the opening of what Ikea called 30 new 'touchpoints'. "We are in a fast-changing retail environment and while we continue to grow, we are evaluating how we can remain relevant in the eyes of consumers - now and in the future," said Javier Quinones, Ikea UK and Ireland retail manager. Additional reporting Press Association Fairytale beginning: the Irish Fairy Door Companys Niamh Barry says that the DHX deal is a complete game-changer and could turn it into a global brand Dublin-based Irish Fairy Door Company has signed a 'game-changer' global animation deal that will bring characters from fairy stories to our screens next year. It has signed up with Canada's DHX Media. A DHX subsidiary, the WildBrain network, already features other third-party toy brands, including 'Fireman Sam', 'Curious George', 'Shopkins' and 'Ben 10'. WildBrain's network has 50 million subscribers and the Irish Fairy Door is now being added to that portfolio. Under the agreement, WildBrain will manage The Irish Fairy Door Company's YouTube channel. Irish Fairy Door Company director Niamh Barry said: "The DHX deal is a complete game-changer, completely and utterly, and has the potential of making us a global brand." "The sky is the limit when it comes to job creation, revenues and profits," she added. "All you have to do is walk into any toy store in the world and you will see aisles and aisles of [DHX] merchandise all based on animations for all ages." Tax row: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar intervened on flat-rate expenses and declared that no one would be affected by changes until 2020 if at all. Photo: Damien Eagers / INM Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has made a late but worthwhile intervention in how flat-rate PAYE expenses were being changed. Discussions about fairness in taxation are never straightforward. We often see the taxes we have to pay as unfair and those paid by others as necessary. Rows about taxation usually split into two camps. The 'haves' say they are paying too much and if they paid less there would be greater economic activity from which everybody would benefit. The 'have nots' will argue that the rich always get off too lightly. They will point to tax-avoidance schemes, low corporation tax rates, reliefs, offsets, tax losses generating tax credits etc. Somehow, the Finance Minister has to adjudicate on all of these issues using policy tools, while Revenue has to implement those policies as fairly as possible. So was all the more surprising to see how the Revenue Commissioners have gone about reforming the relatively modest flat-rate expenses regime available to around half a million workers, most of whom are relatively low paid. These flat-rate expenses have evolved over many years in different jobs and provide a set flat-rate allowance for people who need to spend a certain amount of money on legitimate expenses associated with their job. The Revenue Commissioners have conducted a review of some of these expenses and around 80,000 workers were set to be affected by the first wave in January 2019. These include 75,822 shop assistants who get 121 per year; 8,134 journalists who get up to 381; and 881 cardiac technicians who get up to 212. Flat-rate expenses for PAYE workers cost 85m last year. The Revenue Commissioners have pointed out that workers will still be able to make expenses claims in the future but it won't operate on a pre-agreed flat rate. In theory, some could receive more rather than less. This does appear to be a genuine reform of what may well be an archaic system of doing things. Given changes in work practices and employment, the current system may not even be the best way of doing things. But who made it a priority? And why have the Revenue moved to axe the flat-rate system for 80,000 before the full review has been conducted of all flat-rate reliefs across all jobs? Perhaps this is why Taoiseach Leo Varadkar intervened when he suggested in the Dail on Tuesday that nobody would be affected until January 2020 - if at all. The amounts per worker are modest, but could be the difference between affording private health insurance or being stuck on an overcrowded creaking public system. The speed of movement here is worth comparing to other forms of tax break or reliefs that have formed government policy in the past. All tax reliefs and tax incentive schemes should be subject to review before implementation and ongoing assessments of whether they are relevant and worthwhile. Yet when it came to the property boom of the past, tax reliefs worth hundreds of millions of euro to just a busload of individuals were extended without review on many occasions. Tax loopholes to avoid paying capital gains tax on commercial property gains were identified during the boom and not acted upon by government. At one stage, former Finance Minister Brian Cowen just had to sign a statutory instrument to save the Exchequer hundreds of millions but he delayed. Former Finance Minister Michael Noonan decided to incentivise a recovery in the commercial property market. He slashed Stamp Duty on commercial property deals, and it worked. The measure helped bring in lots of investment from abroad back into the market. However, he let it run for longer than it was needed - a delay that cost the Exchequer hundreds of millions of euro. This was eventually reversed by Paschal Donohoe. How long did it take recent governments to put up the betting tax, from 1pc to 2pc? The answer is several years after it was first recommended. The cost here was tens of millions of euro in lost taxes. Let's take the special assignee relief programme (Sarp). This is a scheme that allows foreign business executives to come to Ireland and if they earn more than 75,000 per year here, they pay just 30pc in income tax. It is actually a good idea in theory, in so far as these executives can be hard to attract to a particular country. Ireland competes for these investments. And they can bring jobs with them. I heard leading accountants recommend for years that the Government introduce a measure like this. Eventually, in 2012 it was introduced. But the flood of highly-sought executives didn't arrive and avail of it. In 2012 it cost the Exchequer just 100,000. By 2015 that figure had increased to 9.5m after the scheme was made more attractive. By 2016, it had nearly doubled to 18.1m because there was no upper limit on the salary that could be earned. So, 18 beneficiaries were earning more than 1m and four of them were earning between 3m and 10m. What if those executives led a huge team of employees and helped bring hundreds of jobs to Ireland with employees paying millions in income tax? OK. But what if they were heading up an investment fund or a holding company that simply held some intellectual property and didn't really employ many people here at all? A salary cap is now being introduced on Sarp. The comparisons are most striking when it comes to the wealthiest few hundred and how they have been able to reduce their tax bills dramatically. A Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) report published in September found that about 90 of the wealthiest people in the country pay income tax at a lower rate than the average taxpayer. And 83 of those high-net-worth individuals declared taxable income of less than the average industrial wage, which is just over 36,500 per year. Revenue defines high-net-worth individuals as having more than 50m in assets. It is too simplistic to suggest that lower-paid employees automatically get a rough ride. Hundreds of thousands of them are outside the income tax net altogether and don't pay any income tax on their earnings. Equally, it is wrong to suggest that high earners have it all their own way. The bulk of the income tax bill is paid by higher earners who are not in the super rich category or earning multimillion-euro salaries. This week Mr Varadkar pledged to equalise the treatment of the self-employed with PAYE workers when it comes to tax treatment. This has been an inbuilt unfairness in the system whereby the self-employed were regarded somewhat as second-class citizens in the tax system. Yes they can offset their income against a range of business expenses. And yes they can put money into their own pensions and avail of very generous tax reliefs. But these are the same pension pots that Fine Gael raided during the tough times of the recession to the tune of a couple of billion euro. Inevitably, the tax system is about swings and roundabouts when it comes to striving for fairness. However, the swiftness with which these flat-rate expenses were about to be chopped down was striking. As various professions are reviewed, the flat-rate expenses were to be dropped. Why not wait until the review of all professions was completed and then decide? Perhaps this is what the Taoiseach has in mind when he said nobody would be affected until 2020 - a much fairer approach. This was a chop-as-you-go review. There was no generous lead-in time, as we often find with other tax breaks. Hens Teeth staff and Rosie Grogan-Keogh (far right) at her Fade St shop Credit: Colin O'Riordan While big name retailers prepare themselves for the chaotic sales on Black Friday this week, a number of independent retailers will be sitting themselves out. For independently owned shops across Ireland, Black Friday can be a difficult day to navigate. The boom of Black Friday, a typically American tradition of having extreme discounts in the run up to Christmas, has continued to creep up on retailers and consumers over the last number of years. This years event is set to take over Christmas for the spot of busiest delivery day of the year, according to address provider company Autoaddress. The company found that current activity in the days leading up to this years Black Friday week is already up 17.5% compared to the average week. According to the global Black Friday team, the average Irish person spends almost 300 on Black Friday, with 15pc anticipated to shop solely online this year- an increase of 5pc. With brands offering up to 50pc on some items, indie store owners have spoken about the challenges they face in competing with well-known retailers, and what they plan to do on the biggest sale day of the year. Amber Hennigan, owner of online accessories boutique Primp and Style, said she has decided not to partake in Black Friday this year- despite offering discounts the last two years. I opened the store in November 2015, within three weeks of opening I felt I had to offer a discount and it didnt sit well with me at all, Amber told Independent.ie. Last year we did offer a discount on all stock despite having a really good season. It seemed a shame to discount stock that was selling well before Christmas just for the sake of it. I feel we simply cannot compete with the massive discounts other retailers offer and I also feel offering such large discounts devalues our brand that we work really hard on. Expand Close Wild Design Cork / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Wild Design Cork In Dublin, Hens Teeth, an art and lifestyle store on Fade Street, launched an antidote to Black Friday by encouraging their customers to show that they have made a purchase of 25 or more in a neighbouring independent store to avail of a 10pc discount. Owners Rosie Gogan-Keogh and Greg Spring said theyd like to see people make it count by buying less, as Black Friday sales dont work for everyone. The nature of Black Friday is that it tends to be big businesses that stockpile surplus stock and release it at the same time at a cheaper price, but its difficult for a smaller business to compete when you have a smaller inventory, Greg told Independent.ie. This is the first time weve had a physical space for our store, so weve been getting to know our neighbours. It really feels like theres a vibrancy around here, so we wanted to do something small, Rosie added. Its the small businesses that fill in the blanks and make the city more colorful. Meanwhile in Cork city, Wild Design have launched a similar event called Green Friday, in a bid to encourage shoppers to purchase ethical, Irish-made gifts this Christmas. Its a massive day of the year but people tend to expect sales in every store because all the bigger retailers have them, owner Bronwyn Connolly told Independent.ie. Smaller businesses like ourselves cant compete with that, the margins are too low. We like to support Irish craft-makers and some of them wouldnt be able to offer discounts like that. Based in Paul Street Shopping Centre, Bronwyn explained that instead of offering discounts, they came up with other ideas to thank shoppers instead- like offering free gift wrapping on all presents bought that day. Its not just the benefits of shopping locally, but shopping environmentally as well, and it takes the pressure off smaller businesses to compete. (ANSA) - Rome, November 22 - Dolce & Gabbana's products have been pulled from Chinese e-commerce platforms after the Italian fashion house was hit by a row over an allegedly racist and sexist ad campaign and incendiary messages purportedly posted by co-founder Stefano Gabbana on Instagram. Dolce & Gabbana were boycotted by the three Chinese giants in the sector, Tmall, JD.com and Suning, cross-border operators NetEase Kaola and Ymatou, and luxury e-commerce companies such as Secoo, Vip.com and Yhd.com, media outlets and shopping platforms said. Due to the row, Dolce & Gabbana on Wednesday had to call off a major show in Shanghai, just hours before it was scheduled to begin, as several celebrities said they would not be attending. Meanwhile a Beijing government official said Thursday that the clamor about the advertising campaign that has offended many people in China must not become a diplomatic case. "That is not a diplomatic question and I won't let it become a diplomatic question," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a press conference when asked about the case. The controversy arose after videos posted on the Italian fashion brand's Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as its Weibo profile in China. In the first video published on Sunday, a young model in a red dress attempts to eat pizza with chopsticks. She prods the pizza to the sound of stereotypical Chinese music, before a narrator offers advice such as "just use your chopsticks like pliers". In the second and third episodes of the campaign, the same model tries to eat a cannoli and a bowl of spaghetti and this time the narrator appears to mispronounce the brand's name, with some seeing this as a way of poking fun at the Chinese pronunciation of Dolce & Gabbana. Also, a voiceover asked "is it too big for you?" while the model attempted to eat cannoli. The videos sparked a social media outcry Weibo users accused the label of trivializing the country's culture and depicting Chinese women in a racist and sexist way. The young woman in the video was said to have a stereotypical 'naive' appearance with small eyes, and she was described using double entendres. The video for "The Great Show" was taken down within 24 hours but it had already been shared widely on social media, where the hashtag #BoycottDolce began to circulate. In addition, Gabbana was quoted as describing China as a "foul-smelling, dirty and ignorant mafia" in private Instagram comments that the recipient made public. The messages quickly went viral on social media The fashion house has said its account and that of Gabbana had been hacked and denied posting the messages. "We are very sorry for any distress caused by these unauthorized posts", the company said on its Instagram account. "We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China". On his personal account, Gabbana pasted the words "not me" over images of the alleged derogatory comments. Chinese luxury consumers account for an estimated 500 billion yuan - around 72 billion dollars - in annual spending, making up nearly a third of the global luxury market, according to a report released by McKinsey last year. Out of all the senses, smell is one that can conjure a memory, a snapshot in time, so to capture such a fragrance would be precious to many. Inspired by the smells of Ireland's landscapes - and other coastlines all over the world - this artisan entrepreneur built his business that would facilitate the gifting of these scents. From writing short stories exploring the link between smells and memories as an eight-year-old boy, Michael Morris now he creates his own unusual scents for his Belfast-based firm, The Bearded Candle Makers. "I've always had this weird obsession with smells that help you to revive memories. Getting into the perfume industry was the original intention but I just fell in love with candles; and with that came great scope for making smells," he told Independent.ie. Michael took the plunge to leave his full-time job in retail five years ago and spent a year studying wax and oils in "a wee shed" at the back of his Mam's house. Financed by a small amount of savings and a few odd jobs, he moved back home to focus on getting the firm up off the ground. "I came out of Queens university with a computer science degree but I was always into the outdoors, and this allowed me to combine both passions into one," he said. "I always wanted to work for myself too, I come from a family of self employed people. I wanted to do something different - and I didn't want to be bored." With Black Friday just around the corner, independent retailers are calling on consumers to shop local rather than bulk buying with larger retailers. Having started out selling his products at Belfast's well-known St Georges Market, this is a plea that Micheal joins, as he urges buyers to recognise the toil behind truly homemade pieces. He uses soy wax that is supplied from sustainable family run Kosher certified farms that have with sustainable agriculture at their core. "From inception to postage, I create every candle by hand, building a special scented memory into each one. Whether it's a real turf fire [a favourite for gifts to Australia], or midnight mass or the smell of Achill island," he said. "The industry is already saturated with smells such as lavender, very generic Irish candles. When I brought my creations to the markets, the response was amazing." The Bearded Candlemakers products are now available in a number of Irish stockists, the most successful in terms of sales being the Irish Design Shop in Dublin. With his mum and a temporary employee still selling stock at St Georges, Michael has just opened a brand new premises in Belfast and is hoping to invest into increasing staff numbers and production capacity to meet retailer demands, mainly from the US. Michael hosts a number of candle making workshops in Belfast that he maintains is great advertisement as it spreads the word about the authenticity of his products. He has teamed up with Bushmills Irish Whiskey to host a hands-on evening at Drury Buildings in Dublin on November 27 and 28. The event is free to attend but places are limited to 50 per night. To register for a place visit blackbushstories.com before Friday November 23. Vodafone has installed the first 5G mobile site in Dublin, claiming that it will pave the way for autonomous cars, faster mobile broadband, smart cities and other new technologies. However, the company's Irish boss says that it will be "complementary" to the rural broadband rollout rather than a replacement for fibre. Anne O'Leary also said that 5G would "not necessarily" require more masts to get the benefits of faster mobile broadband. 5G is capable of connecting mobile devices at the speed of fibre. However, there are currently no 5G phones or other devices available on the market. "5G is a major step change compared to 4G," said Max Gasparroni, Vodafone Ireland's interim CTO. "It has much higher data rates and speeds. It also has ultra low latency and high reliability rates for infrastructure." Vodafone and Ericsson have also partnered with NovaUCD at University College Dublin, to create a new 5G accelerator programme. Back to the future: WeWorks existing sites at Iveagh Court and Georges Quay reflect its trademark investment in interior design and creating a relaxed work environment and it is planning a 70s vibe for its latest project here Back to the future: WeWorks existing sites at Iveagh Court and Georges Quay reflect its trademark investment in interior design and creating a relaxed work environment and it is planning a 70s vibe for its latest project here Back to the future: WeWorks existing sites at Iveagh Court and Georges Quay reflect its trademark investment in interior design and creating a relaxed work environment and it is planning a 70s vibe for its latest project here Look around your office. Do the desks and the carpet look a little tired? Do the lights flicker and the temperatures fluctuate? Does the sputtering coffee machine make you grimace? Eight years ago, Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey looked at how people were working in office blocks. They thought they could do it better. So they started a co-working space in New York called WeWork. Its genesis was that startups and freelancers were more productive when they worked in a space that wasn't dull and soul-sapping. Today, it has 335 locations around the world serving hundreds of thousands of people. Last week, it received a fresh funding injection of $3bn (2.6bn) from Softbank, bringing its investment to a staggering $12.1bn. (10.6bn). And it is now announcing a sixth location in Dublin, the Charlemont Exchange, its biggest in Ireland. Hosting 2,600 people by itself, the massive 14-floor building by the Grand Canal represents a big bet on Dublin: the Irish capital is now one of WeWork's biggest per capita investments outside the US, rivalling London on a head-to-head basis. The company's Charlemont development, first revealed by the Irish Independent in July, is tipped to house Amazon as an anchor tenant, It's WeWork's third building in the Dublin 8 area, adjacent to its Iveagh Court location and its upcoming Harcourt Street facility. And it comes amid a series of major tech expansions being undergone here by Facebook, Google and a dozen other tech multinationals. Announcing a sixth location in Dublin is quite a statement about how WeWork sees the city and its own future here. Are there more buildings to come? "I'd say watch this space," says Leni Zneimer, WeWork's general manager for the UK and Ireland. Expand Close Back to the future: WeWorks existing sites at Iveagh Court and Georges Quay reflect its trademark investment in interior design and creating a relaxed work environment and it is planning a 70s vibe for its latest project here / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Back to the future: WeWorks existing sites at Iveagh Court and Georges Quay reflect its trademark investment in interior design and creating a relaxed work environment and it is planning a 70s vibe for its latest project here "To open six locations in a city as innovative as Dublin is not uncommon." Even still, Manchester is twice the size of Dublin and it has two WeWork locations. So why the rapid expansion here? "It points to our confidence in Dublin and our commitment to the city as a whole," she says, "The Iveagh Court, for example, is completely full. We're seeing incredible uptake here." Is there a natural capacity to a city Dublin's size for a co-working infrastructure? Expand Close Back to the future: WeWorks existing sites at Iveagh Court and Georges Quay reflect its trademark investment in interior design and creating a relaxed work environment and it is planning a 70s vibe for its latest project here / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Back to the future: WeWorks existing sites at Iveagh Court and Georges Quay reflect its trademark investment in interior design and creating a relaxed work environment and it is planning a 70s vibe for its latest project here "We always want to test the boundaries of a city's maximum," she says. "We never try to cap it as at a certain number, so there isn't a cap in sight. We're just getting started." Is there life outside the capital? Would WeWork consider different Irish cities? "Our eyes are always open to other cities," says Zneimer. "And there are many unbelievable cities that we're not yet in. But we value the depth we can invest in a particular city." Part of this, she says, is the availability of networked facilities between WeWork sites for members working in or visiting that particular city. Right now, Dublin dwarfs other Irish cities for international business throughput and an established tech base. The company's philosophy, Zneimer suggests, is more about diving into this hub rather than setting up what might be satellite stations around the country. When we think of co-working spaces, the image conjured up is often one of small, plucky startups in T-shirts video-conferencing with investors and clients as they sip juice and eat pizza in an open-plan area with timber floors and exposed brick walls. WeWork's own web literature sets the tone. "The nature of work is changing," it says. "Recruitment, retention, innovation, and productivity now require not just coffee, but also yoga, not just printers, but also art installations." Increasingly, this is a pitch aimed at a lucrative new client: the corporate enterprise. Without any doubt, one of the main reasons that WeWork has scaled so quickly in the last two years (to some 350 locations across its targeted cities) is because of its appeal to big, big firms. Goliaths like Microsoft, Dell, Deloitte and Salesforce all want to have a presence in spaces like this. They see themes of 'disruption' and 'creativity' and estimate that there's a decent chance of tapping into some of it if they set up divisions in the physical locale of their high-growth junior industry counterparts. "Twenty-nine per cent of our member base is now from the enterprise segment," says Zneimer. "Among the 5,000 members we have so far in Ireland are hundreds of companies." A layman might ask: doesn't that wreck the buzz? You choose an environment populated by bright, energetic, creative types but start seeing suits and ties walking around a bit more? "One of the key words here is serendipity," says Zneimer. "Everyone gets coffee in the same place. Ultimately, preconceived options of archetypes get stripped away. Instead of stereotypes over appearance, it brings it back to work culture and energy. And it's ultimately about a higher sense of satisfaction and retention." Does this mean that the startup people and colourful creatives that make up the 70pc of WeWork members become, in some way, part of the product when going out to get enterprise members for the locations? "It's true that small companies, entrepreneurs and startups are the symbol, the beacon of ideas," she says. "And there is a rhythm that's born of a small company. It's new and challenging. And yes, that's how WeWork communities were initially formulated. Initially, that's what enterprises saw and liked. They sensed this energy, this inspiration. So small companies are instrumental in creating our product insofar as it's community and energy on the ground. But ultimately the product is the sum of all the companies that are there." How about corporate types outside the Microsofts, the Salesforces, Twilios and Dells? Even though such firms are blue-chip enterprises which, by now, have some conservative, cautious elements about them, they're still in an industry - tech - which always has an eye on upstarts and new ways of working. But what of the Glanbias, AIBs and CRHs? Is WeWork mainly a tech house? "We absolutely see local interest as well," says Zneimer, although without naming any Irish enterprise clients. "I don't think there's a line between tech enterprises and local Irish enterprises." The basic mission of WeWork, though, remains the same. Workplaces are changing. Younger people, in particular, don't want to be in stuffy, traditional office blocks with all of the physical and cultural restrictions that they bring. "There's a basic shift in the way that people are organically working," says Zneimer. "For example, there's been an increase in the number of people wanting to start businesses. You also see an ability to work more flexibly and to travel more often. But you need different means of working to do this. "Ultimately we're responding to a different type of work, applicable to the entire workforce. We're also expanding what we call an intelligent collaborative framework which is about engagement, retention and the future of work." What about Brexit? Tech giants such as Facebook and Google are doubling down on properties in Dublin while slowing expansion down in Britain, a trend that has caught the attention of several economic commentators. Is Brexit having any effect on WeWork's investments here, possibly at the expense of further investment in the UK? Without explicitly saying so, Zneimer suggests that this isn't the case. "I can't speak directly to that, except to say that our business is as strong as ever in London," she says. "We haven't seen the London market slow down at all. We've been there since 2014 and now have 30 open locations." Zneimer points to one of the company's landmark developments in London's Devonshire Square, a campus of 10 buildings that's surrounded by restaurants and other metropolitan attractions, located between Shoreditch and the City. "If you look at the ecosystem that we're developing there, it points to the level of investment we're doing in London," she says. "London is very important to us." Indeed, the UK capital is WeWork's second-biggest global location after New York. Its occupancy rates there are higher than average, at around 90pc. Part of WeWork's schtick is the interior design of its work spaces. Because this responds to trends, it changes quite quickly. On the Charlemont building, which is huge with large windows, the company is considering a retro theme. "We'll have a 1970s vibe," says Zneimer. "It's going to have a lot of natural light flooding in. It's going to very open and inclusive and somewhat relaxed. You'll see white walls, murals, frames and a lot of colour. We'll also be branching out in terms of the art we have, including 3D art and mobile sculpture." It will open in the spring of 2019, she says. The Irish spring, which runs from February to April? Or the American one, which runs to May? "The Irish spring," she says. "When we're in Ireland, we go by the springtime rules here." Rob Delaney has dedicated his CBeebies bedtime story to his late son Henry. The Catastrophe star is the first narrator to sign the story, as he learned Makaton in order to be able to communicate with Henry. Henry passed away in January at the age of two and a half after being diagnosed with a rare brain tumour. He had been unable to speak after a tracheotomy so his father and the rest of the family communicated with him using sign language. Announcing the news last month that he would be signing 'Ten in the Bed' for CBeebies, the actor said, Our family learned Makaton to be able to communicate with our son Henry. We're sad Henry isn't here to see it but we're happy other families will get to enjoy a story told in Makaton. Makaton is a form of sign language, founded in 1970, which is used in conjunction with speech. Delaney has now shared the full story with his followers, with the caption, "Here is my full #BedtimeStory for everyone, everywhere. But especially for Henry, for whom I learned Makaton. Please show your wee ones and anyone who might enjoy a signed story." Here is my full #BedtimeStory for everyone, everywhere. But especially for Henry, for whom I learned Makaton. Please show your wee ones and anyone who might enjoy a signed story. https://t.co/6BCJCHJceo rob delaney (@robdelaney) November 22, 2018 The US actor and his wife Leah live in London with their two surviving sons. They recently announced they are expecting another child. Rob is the first celebrity storyteller to sign a Bedtime Story, which airs at 6.50pm every evening. Previous famous faces to read a story for the series include Ewan McGregor, Tom Hardy, Dolly Parton, Damian Lewis, David Tennant, and Gary Barlow. 22/11/2018 Susan O Reilly, St. Canices Girls, Finglas who was revealed as the overall winner of Dublin Busses annual Childrens Art Competition with author and comedian Aoife Dooley at an unveiling outside The Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. Maxwell Photography Dublin 22/11/2018 Susan O Reilly, St. Canices Girls, Finglas who was revealed as the overall winner of Dublin Busses annual Childrens Art Competition at an unveiling outside The Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. PIC: Maxwell Photography Dublin 22/11/2018:Budding artists with a bus wrapped in their colourful pictures which they created for the annual Childrens Art Competition. PIC: Maxwells Photography Dublin 22/11/2018 Susan OReilly, St. Canices Girls, Finglas who was revealed as the overall winner of Dublin Buss annual Childrens Art Competition at an unveiling outside The Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane Gallery. PIC: Maxwell Photography Dublin 22/11/2018 Illustrator, author and comedian Aoife Dooley with the budding artists with a bus wrapped in their colourful pictures which they created for the annual Childrens Art Competition. PIC: Maxwell Photography Dublin 22/11/2018 Emily Han, Tyrellstown Educate Together National School, Tyrellstown as she celebrated her pictured being selected to appear on Dublin Bus PIC: Maxwell Photography Dublin Eight months after finally being diagnosed with autism at the age of 27, Irish illustrator Aoife Dooley says it has changed her life. The creator of the brilliant 'Your One Nikita' cartoon web series and sister books 'How to be Massive' and 'How to Deal with Poxes (on a Daily Basis)' struggled with feeling 'different' all her life but never considered she might have autism. A close friend eventually suggested she might be on the spectrum and should have an assessment. She baulked at the idea as it had never occurred to her but she had the assessment and received her diagnosis in April. It has, she says, 'made sense' of everything in her life. "Im definitely more confident and more comfortable in myself," she tells Independent.ie "I dont second guess myself really anymore. I am the way I am. I suppose it kind of made me more self aware and thats been a good thing for me and also for other people. Ill ask now if you want a cup of tea instead of just talking about myself! "Its made me more aware of myself and also more aware of other people. I have more energy. I understand myself. Thats the main thing. Its been great for my family and my relationship and just for life in general." This is probably the toughest thing Ive ever wrote but the happiest Ive ever been in my entire life. Now I know #nevergiveup pic.twitter.com/lSFIOPmEXx Aoife Dooley (@Aoife_Dooley) May 2, 2018 The Dublin artist admits she was so good at finding ways to hide her struggles over the course of two decades, that she didn't even realise she was doing it. "I was trying to protect myself," she says, adding, "Knowing now, it has just made sense of everything in my life." Since she opened up about her diagnosis in an emotional post on social media in May, Aoife has received many messages from people who have said that in going public and sharing her experience she helped them to realise they were also autistic. Video of the Day "When you really don't know it's very confusing," she says. "You know something is off and that you're different but you don't know why. You just think you're a weirdo." Drawing proved to be an escape for Aoife through the difficult years at primary and secondary school so she was thrilled to be asked to judge and announce the winner of the Dublin Bus Annual Children's Art Competition on Thursday. She was blown away by the standard of the entries, and particularly that of fifth class student Susan O'Reilly from St Canice's Girls School, Finglas, who she awarded the overall winner. Expand Close 22/11/2018 Susan O Reilly, St. Canices Girls, Finglas who was revealed as the overall winner of Dublin Busses annual Childrens Art Competition with author and comedian Aoife Dooley at an unveiling outside The Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. Maxwell Photography Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 22/11/2018 Susan O Reilly, St. Canices Girls, Finglas who was revealed as the overall winner of Dublin Busses annual Childrens Art Competition with author and comedian Aoife Dooley at an unveiling outside The Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. Maxwell Photography Dublin "The talent in the competition this year compared to when I was in school is so much better. I couldnt believe how detailed some of the illustrations were and just the way they put so much thought into their stories. Susan's piece is 'Dublin Bus for All' and its based on the Dublin Pride bus from earlier this year." Susan and ten other finalists were surprised with a bus wrapped in their colourful pictures and their drawings and those of 30 more children will appear in the Children's Art Calender 2019. Expand Close 22/11/2018 Illustrator, author and comedian Aoife Dooley with the budding artists with a bus wrapped in their colourful pictures which they created for the annual Childrens Art Competition. PIC: Maxwell Photography Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 22/11/2018 Illustrator, author and comedian Aoife Dooley with the budding artists with a bus wrapped in their colourful pictures which they created for the annual Childrens Art Competition. PIC: Maxwell Photography Dublin Aoife jokes that she never won any art competitions as a child. It never stopped her believing she had found her niche, however, and once she left college she decided to make a career of her passion. The past three years have seen the Nikita brand grow beyond the web into publishing with the two aforementioned books and she's also now poised to launch an animated Nikita series on the RTE Player. Working with Digital Beast, a production company based in South William Street (she provides the illustrations and they animate the characters), she is bringing her famous Dublin character to life. Finished all the illustrations for the @YourOneNikita Animated series for RTE. Not long left to go before its out! Will keep posted for dates but coming very soon so excited!! @digital_beast @ImpressionistAL @EmmetKirwan @Jen__Hatton @Gizalaugh pic.twitter.com/bGbHKDPj9P Aoife Dooley (@Aoife_Dooley) November 4, 2018 "Ive seen it all and Im delighted with it," she says of the series. "Im really happy with how its turned out. It comes to life seeing and hearing the characters. Its totally weird, really mad. I think its almost taking on a life of its own. With animation theres so much you can do with it and Id hope to do more if it gets a good reception." Another outlet for her creativity is comedy. Aoife regularly performs at festivals such as the Vodafone Comedy Festival, Body & Soul, and Electric Picnic. On December 3rd she's on the same bill as Ardal O'Hanlon. Where most people would prefer to speak with one person as opposed to a room full of strangers, Aoife is in her element with the latter. She laughs, "I'm talking at people rather than talking to people, so it's not so bad!" The daughter of Noel Duck Egg Kirwan who was murdered in the driveway of his Dublin home has told the Special Criminal Court that the only thing her dad was guilty of was showing his respect at a childhood friends funeral. People like this should remember its not the people who are killed that suffer its the families who are left behind, she said. Donna Kirwan described her dad as a grafter and said that while some of his friends chose to make money the easy way by selling drugs, her father chose to work for a living because that was how he was raised. The three-judge court also heard that Mr Kirwans son and daughter talked about ending their lives in the aftermath of their fathers death because neither of them could see another way out of the pain and suffering. The testimony was heard as part of a victim impact statement read by a woman from victim support on behalf of Donna Kirwan to the court during Jason Keating's sentence hearing today. The non-jury court also heard that the defendant Jason Keating was present at the scene of the shooting in Clondalkin, had a role of "real significance" and had facilitated the man who discharged the firearm. A 'Gotek7 tracking device was put under Mr Kirwan's car in the weeks leading up to his killing and this could be linked to Keating in the days preceding the murder. Mr Kirwan was sitting in his new Ford Mondeo car on December 22, 2016 when a gunman shot him six times with a Makarov handgun which was later recovered at the scene. The 62-year-old, a long-time friend of Gerry the Monk Hutch, suffered eight gunshot wounds in total to his head, right arm, chest and abdomen. The murder of Mr Kirwan arose from a "notorious feud" between two criminal factions but the deceased had no connection with either side. Jason Keating (27), of Lower Main Street, Rush, Co Dublin admitted last month to participating in or contributing to activity intending to facilitate the commission by a criminal organisation or any of its members of a serious offence, namely the murder of Mr Kirwan at St Ronans Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 between December 20 and 22 2016, both dates inclusive. The offence is contrary to organised crime legislation brought in by Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006. Keating was originally tried for the murder of Mr Kirwan but midway through his trial on October 18 he pleaded guilty to facilitating a criminal organisation in committing murder and this plea was accepted by the DPP. Paul Greene SC, prosecuting, asked the court to enter a nolle prosequi on the original charge of murder. This means the State will not be proceeding with the prosecution in relation to the count of murder. Mr Greene said today that the activities by the criminal organisation can be traced back to early November 2016 but Keating's individual contribution began on December 20. Donna Kirwan, Mr Kirwans daughter, said in her victim impact statement today that December 22 started off as a normal day for the family but it turned into their worst nightmare. Ms Kirwan said she was expecting a call from her father that day but instead she received a call on his phone from Bernadettes daughter, Carolyn, who sounded in a state of panic and told her she had to come straight out to Clondalkin as Noel had been shot. I just remember screaming for somebody to help and a man who works on my floor came running towards me, he grabbed his keys and we ran to his car. I felt like we were in traffic for hours because everyone was out doing their Christmas shopping. I rang Carolyn back on my dad's phone and she said they were working on him in the ambulance, she said. Ms Kirwan said she jumped from the car when they arrived at the scene and began screaming asking people to tell her dad that she was there. I asked them where my dad was and Carolyn said Im so sorry Donna he didnt make it. I couldnt take in what she was saying to me. I begged the police men to let me see him but they said they were sorry that they couldnt, she said. Ms Kirwan said she was carried into a neighbours house and told not to look to her left as her dad was lying on the ground. They just kept saying dont look, she remarked. I remember standing there later on watching his body being removed from the scene. The pain I felt that night will never leave me. I kept asking people over and over is this really happening, is this real. I remember thinking in the middle of it all how am I going to tell Kristopher my brother who lives in Manchester, how will he react and how will I get him home, the court heard. Ms Kirwan said Kristopher was in work waiting to finish his job for the Christmas holidays when he received a message from a friend to call him straight away. When his friend told him, he laughed and said my dads a 62-year-old man who would want to shoot him, you must be mistaken. It was then he called me and asked if it was true, I will never forget his screams for as long as I live, said Ms Kirwan. Ms Kirwan said she organised a lift to pick her brother up from the airport the following day but the airport was full of people being greeted by family members coming home for Christmas. My brother was coming home to identify his fathers body, she said. It wasnt until Christmas Eve that Ms Kirwan got to see her father in the morgue. The guilt we felt that day having to leave him there. We made our way from there to Liffey Valley Shopping Centre to pick the last of my sons Christmas toys up. What was supposed to be one of the happiest days of the year for my family was like being in a horror film for us, painting smiles on our faces trying to make the day as special as we could for my little boy who had just been told the day before that his grandad had died, trying to shield him from the true facts of what had happened knowing it was going to be all over the papers, she said. Ms Kirwan said her brother managed to make a Christmas dinner but they felt too guilty to eat it. Instead we sat looking at each other in complete and utter shock, she said. "This was the first Christmas in eight years since my Mam's passing that we were all looking forward to," she said. Instead of ringing in the new year with her neighbours, she and her brother were inside looking at her father in a coffin saying their final goodbyes. Ms Kirwan said she knows what losing a parent feels like as they lost their mother ten years ago to cancer but this pain was different. This pain was unbearable, so unbearable that we both sat down and talked about ending both our lives because neither of us could see another way out of this pain and suffering. But then we thought, how could we inflict such pain on our loved ones when we know too well what it feels like. Our dad was all we had, he was our friend and our safety net, he was supposed to walk me down the aisle one day, she said. Growing up her father always had two jobs, she said, and he worked morning and night to make sure his family had everything they needed and never went without. He would give a helping hand to anyone who needed it. He was a very kind man who would give you the clothes off his back if he thought you needed them," she said. We have been stripped of everything. We are a shell of the people we both once were. It has destroyed us. We struggle to close our eyes at night without visualising what went on that night and what he felt in those last moments. We will never get our heads around this nightmare, she said. The court heard that Bernadette Roe had also prepared a victim impact statement but asked for it not to be read aloud and instead be handed into the court to be considered by the three judges. At todays sentence hearing Inspector Mark O'Neill, responsible for the Neilstown area, summarised the facts of the case. Insp O'Neill agreed with prosecuting counsel Paul Greene SC that Mr Kirwan lived for many years in the north inner city and had friends there. In the last number of years he had resided at Bernadette Roe's house in Clondalkin who was his partner. Ms Roe was in the passenger seat of Mr Kirwans car at the time of the attack. They had just returned from a Christmas lunch in a Crumlin restaurant and driven into their driveway at 5.07pm when a man approached the car and discharged a number of shots into the vehicle. Mr Kirwan's cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. Ms Roe was uninjured and she raised the alarm with a number of neighbours coming to her aid. Det Sgt Damien Gannon was involved in the investigation and he found a tracking device on Mr Kirwan's Ford Mondeo, the court heard. CCTV footage had been harvested from St Ronan's Drive and it showed a Peugeot van arriving at that address some hours prior to the murder. This getaway vehicle was later found on fire at the rear of Neilstown Shopping Centre in Clondalkin, just a minutes drive from St Ronans Drive. Insp O'Neill agreed that the 'Gotek7' tracking device was manufactured in France, had booted up with a default reading of Hyde Park in London and arrived at Dublin Port on October 20, 2016. The device pinged off an address in Dublin, which was significant as it is believed the manager of the tracking device, who is not before the court, has a connection with the recorded area. The manager's laptop was later found at an address in the Sandyford area. The tracking device was fitted to the undercarriage of Mr Kirwan's BMW on November 8 and remained on it until December 20 when the car was removed to Merlin Car Auctions. Mr Kirwan changed his car on December 13 and replaced it with a Ford Mondeo. Gardai noted the arrival of a Renault Megane car at Merlin Motors on December 20 and were satisfied it was owned by Keating who sold it on shortly afterwards. The court heard Keating and his partner were observed arriving at Merlin Motors and heading towards the area where people can view cars which are up for auction. Mr Greene said the tracking device was moved from Merlin Motors to an area in the vicinity of the accused's family home in Crumlin on December 21 before it was moved back to St Ronan's Drive and placed on Mr Kirwan's new car. Relevant phone numbers connected to the defendant pinged off relevant cell sites, the court heard, and packaging for one of these handsets was found in Keating's home. Gardai learned that the device was programmed to report when Mr Kirwan's car moved and the recording "increased dramatically" from a four hour period to every 30 seconds when Mr Kirwan was driving home from the restaurant in Crumlin, just minutes before he was murdered. The court heard that Keating was one of the two men in the Peugeot van at St Ronan's Drive, was in contact with the person monitoring the tracker's movements on a laptop and had been providing this information via a phone to the assailant who had approached Mr Kirwan's car and discharged the firearm. "It is believed the mobile numbers used by Keating enabled a third party to carry out the shooting," added Insp O'Neill. Two men were captured on CCTV at Neilstown Shopping Centre in the aftermath of the shooting and one of the men is believed to be Keating, remarked the witness. The court heard that the father-of-three has 25 previous convictions which include road traffic and public order offences and he has been in custody since May 2, 2017. Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, said Keating had provided "proximate assistance" to others at a higher level. Insp O'Neill agreed with Mr Greene that Keating was present at the scene, had provided assistance and facilitated the man who had discharged the firearm. "My belief is that he was near the scene and centrally involved," said the witness. Mr Greene commented that Keating had a role of "real significance" at which point Mr Justice Hunt interjected saying that while the defendant had "a substantial role it perhaps fell short of the height of it". The barrister told the court that the maximum sentence for such an offence is 15 years in prison. Insp O'Neill stated that it was important to point out that Mr Kirwan had "absolutely no involvement" in crime. He agreed with Mr Greene that he was associated with someone by the media at a funeral and for that reason he was targeted to be killed by a criminal gang. Defence counsel Michael Bowman SC, for Keating, said his client had been on the periphery of crime in the past and was not known to be a person associated with any criminal organisation. Mr Bowman submitted to the court that the defendant's engagement had been from December 20 whilst the device had been imported into the country in early November. Mr Bowman said that a plea is always worthy of consideration and his client's family were decent people. Counsel handed into the court a number of testimonials, which, he said showed Keating left school with very little formal education and was practically functioning at an illiterate level. "He is an enhanced prisoner and is moving through the prison system very well," said Mr Bowman. The barrister asked the judges for a sentence appropriate to the offence as well as being appropriate to the offender. Mr Justice Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Sinead Ni Chualachain and Judge Cormac Dunne, remanded Keating in custody until December 12, when he will be sentenced. Three children of former billionaire Sean Quinn are embroiled in a legal dispute with the Revenue Commissioners over tax assessments raised against them. The dispute centres on claims by the Revenue that the children received gifts totalling 311,000 between them from their parents, but failed to account for capital acquisitions tax on the gifts. This led to assessments being made against them in 2012. However, in proceedings issued in the High Court, Sean Quinn Jr, Ciara Quinn and Colette Quinn have denied the cash sums were gifts. Instead, all three insist they were given the cash as interest-free loans, which were later repaid. The distinction is significant as there can be big tax liabilities arising from gifts. In the proceedings, the siblings are seeking to have assessments quashed and a ruling that the Revenue acted beyond its powers. They allege the assessments were drawn up under legislation which was not in place at the time the money was given to them by their parents, and, because of this, that the assessments were made without legal power or authority. The Revenue is opposing the reliefs sought. Documents filed with the court detail how each of the three children bought family homes in 2002 or 2003. They claim deposits paid on those properties were provided by their parents, Sean Snr and Patricia Quinn, both directors of the Quinn Group at the time, by way of interest-free loans. The deposit amounts were 225,095 for Ciara Quinn, 62,051 for Sean Quinn Jr and 24,310 for Colette Quinn. According to an affidavit filed by Colette Quinn, the siblings repaid the loans in 2007 directly to the Quinn Group after selling shares they had in a number of Swedish companies in their international property portfolio. The siblings said Quinn Group, on their behalf, arranged a mortgage for each of the family homes with Irish Nationwide Building Society and that the mortgage loans remain in their names. However, the Revenue later looked for information on how the house purchases were funded. PwC, then accountants to Quinn Group and Sean Snr and Patricia Quinn, sent a letter to the Revenue saying the sums given towards house purchases were in fact gifts. This prompted Revenue to make tax assessments against the siblings in 2012. But the Quinn siblings dispute the contents of the PwC letter, saying it was issued without their consent and was not based on their instructions. "The accuracy of this letter and the characterisation of the deposits as gifts is not accepted by the applicants," the siblings said in a statement of grounds. However, the Revenue is standing over its actions. In an affidavit filed by a Revenue solicitor, it is claimed Sean Quinn Snr himself had stated he provided "equity" to two of his children for the deposits on their homes. The Revenue also says a PwC letter in November 2010 confirmed on behalf of Sean Quinn Snr and the three siblings that each received gifts towards their deposits. Sean Quinn Snr is not a party in the case. A decade ago he was Ireland's richest person, but lost his fortune following an ill-fated investment in Anglo Irish Bank. The case is due to be heard next March. A hospital care assistant has been jailed after she crashed her car while drunk, with an open can of beer beside her and her one-year-old baby crying in the backseat. The single mother-of-one had been drinking the night before after working six 12-hour shifts in a row, then had more beer at home before leaving to bring her child to an afternoon birthday party. Gardai found her slouched over the wheel, so drunk she was unable to talk, with her young child in a highly distressed state. She tested more than four times the alcohol limit. Jailing her for 28 days, Judge David McHugh said it was an appalling breach of trust and she thoroughly deserved the sentence. The woman, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to being drunk in charge of a child under the age of seven, as well as being drunk in charge of a vehicle. Blanchardstown District Court heard the incident happened at Nangor Road, Clondalkin at 3.30pm on June 24 last. Garda Sergeant Maria Callaghan said gardai were called to the scene and found the car in the bus lane with the accused slouched over the steering wheel. The woman had a can of beer open in the car. When gardai spoke to her she was slurring her words and her one-year-old baby was in the back seat. She was arrested and brought to Clondalkin Garda Station, where she tested more than four times the drink driving limit. The child was removed to safety. The court heard the accused had smelled of alcohol and the baby was in a highly distressed state, crying and sweating. The mother had no previous convictions. The incident was investigated by the child and family agency, Tusla, which found no ongoing issues, defence solicitor Valerie Buckley said. The agency was satisfied that it was a once off incident that will not be repeated. The accused, a single mother, was working as a care assistant at a Dublin hospital for the last five years. Before the incident happened, she had worked six 12-hour night shifts and on the day, she was going to a birthday party with her child. She had drink taken the night before and it was still in her system, Ms Buckley said. The accused had some beer in her home before she left and she got in her car and drove. Nobody was injured and she was very grateful for that. The accused had not taken a drink since the incident and was in counselling. She had worked in the health care sector all her life. The woman was garda vetted and would lose her job is she was convicted for the charge of being drunk in charge of a child, Ms Buckley said. Judge McHugh said it was an appalling breach of trust for the accuseds child and members of the public who were put in danger. The woman had been incapable of speaking or performing any other normal function when the gardai came upon her in a crashed car. Ms Buckley said her client was beyond devastated that this happened. Judge McHugh fined the accused 200 and banned her from driving for three years for being drunk in charge of a vehicle. The judge considered the other charge to be more serious and that the breach of trust was so great that Im sending this lady to prison. Were it not for the intervention of fate, or whatever, she may well have been in a different forum, he said. She thoroughly deserves the sentence being handed down today and I have no hesitation in imposing same. Take her down. He refused to reconsider his decision after Ms Buckley appealed for lenience, saying the accused had nobody else to mind her child. The judge noted that the relevant law - under the Summary Jurisdiction Act of 1908 - was seriously outdated as the maximum penalty was 40 shillings with or without hard labour for a period of a month. A Dublin man has pleaded guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court to helping a criminal organisation carry out the murder of David Douglas over two years ago. Mr Douglas (55) was shot six times as he took a meal break at the counter in his partners shop, Shoestown, on Bridgefoot Street in the south inner city on July 1, 2016. Nathan Foley (20), with an address at Rosary Road, Maryland, Dublin 8, admitted today to participating in or contributing to activity intending to facilitate the commission by a criminal organisation or any of its members of a serious offence, namely the murder of David Douglas (55) at Bridgefoot Street in Dublin 8 between July 1 and July 4, 2016. The offence is contrary to organised crime legislation brought in by Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006. Mr Foley is also charged with damaging a car at Strand Road, Dublin 4 three days later, on July 4, 2016. State solicitor Michael ODonovan told the three-judge court today that the DPP had directed that Foley be brought before the court and charged with this scheduled offence. Expand Close Fat Freddie Thompson is now serving a life sentence in jail / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Fat Freddie Thompson is now serving a life sentence in jail Detective Sergeant Paul Murphy gave evidence that he met Foley this morning and handed him a copy of the charge sheet, explaining the the content of the charge to him. Mr O'Donovan said that Foley could be arraigned on the new charge. Dressed in a black sleeveless jacket and a blue long-sleeved top, Foley stood up and faced the court. When the registrar read the indictment to Foley and asked him how he was pleading, he replied, Guilty. Expand Close Freddie Thompson / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Freddie Thompson A book of evidence was then served on the defendant. Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, told the court that they will need video-playing facilities for the sentence hearing. Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Sinead Ni Chualachain and Judge Cormac Dunne, remanded Foley in custody until December 5, when he will be sentenced. Frederick "Freddie" Thompson (37), with an address at Loreto Road, Maryland, Dublin 8 was found guilty of Mr Douglass murder in August of this year and sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment. Management at Dublins newly opened Ivy Restaurant have accused its waiters of deplorable greed following a heated argument over tips. Waiters in the brasserie-style restaurant have been banned from taking payments after some of its staff were said to have repeatedly asked customers to leave tips in cash rather than card. Expand Close The ground-floor dining area of The Ivy Dawon's Street. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The ground-floor dining area of The Ivy Dawon's Street. They were also accused of not sharing their cash tips with other members of staff. In response, management at the restaurant posted a notice to express its disappointment at the bad manners been shown to guests. It read: "As you will no doubt be aware, unfortunately; due to the continued inability of those taking card payments to follow the procedures and consider the whole team here, there was no bonus payments for any front of house team members to share. "Also, for the third week in a row the company has had to subsidise the tronc to pay the guaranteed amount to each and every staff member. Expand Close The Ivy Dawson Street's bar. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Ivy Dawson Street's bar. The most disappointing part is the continued bad manners our wonderful guests are shown by consistently being asked for cash, this is unacceptable to us as managers, our bosses and most importantly our owner. "The fact that all the runners, bar backs, bartenders, cocktail waitresses who make waiter's jobs possibly have received nothing is the fact that angers me the most." The notice added that no waiters will ever be allowed to take any payments from guests. Instead, managers will take all payments. This will allow us to get our bonuses back for all FOH (Front of House) and will stop the diplorable greed being shown to guests by those who request cash. Staff then received a stark warning that anyone who does not follow the new rules will receive immediate and swift disciplinary action. A waitress at the Ivy, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Independent.ie that staff initially werent told what was going to happen with the tips. On the training day, the manager told us that we would get 40pc of card tips and 80pc of cash tips. The cash tips we got on the night and the card tips would be added to our wages at the end of the month. "The other 60pc card tips were going to be used to pay the wages of other staff. I had never heard anything like that before in any of my previous jobs." The staff member said that in her last paycheck she received no card tips because management claimed they didn't earn enough to cover the wages for other staff. "Nobody was told until we got our payslips and then the manager put up a note in the staff room to say we were no longer allowed to take any payments because apparently we weren't handling the tips fairly. Only managers now can take payments and everyone is annoyed because it slows down the process. "It's not our job to pay the other staff. When customers tip, they think it's going to the wait staff, not to pay the wages of other staff members. Everyone is really annoyed." In a statement, The Ivy said the company believes that all gratuities should be for the benefit of the entire team. All cash tips are kept by the individual waiter/waitress serving the table in question. They are strongly encouraged to share a portion of tips with other team members. When a tip is paid by credit card, the tip goes towards a shared gratuiity per hour that all restaurant staff receive. This is shared across all c.150 staff in the restaurant (excluding management). This is paid in addition to their hourly wage and is guaranteed by the company in that the company will make up any shortfall and is, therefore, regardless of whether any tips are paid by patrons. A recent issue arose with a waiting staff member asking patrons to pay tips only in cash which the company believes is an inappropriate request. This resulted in the individual taking tips for their benefit only and not being shared with all staff. (ANSA) - Rome, November 22 - Rome is marking Maritozzo Day December 1 to celebrate the typical cream-filled Roman bun that brightens breakfasts or morning coffees everywhere across the Italian capital. On December 1, storied Roman pastry shops and bars will offer their take on the traditional pastry, also feting "alternative vegan or gluten-free maritozzi" or apparent oddities such as the pizza-maritozzo combo offered by the Pizzeria Sancho. Among the sweets meccas taking part are Andreotti, Bompiani, Linari and Romoli, along with the famed pastry maker Bonci, organisers said Thursday. There will also be up-and-coming award-winning pastry bars like Cafe Merenda, Lievito and Nero Vaniglia. Also featuring are "starred maritozzi" produced by Michelin-starred pastry chefs of the calibre of Cristina Bowerman, Riccardo Di Giacinto and Angelo Troiani, involving glorious pastry bars like Armando al Pantheon and Le Tre Zucche, the organisers said. Finally, maritozzo and gelato will be married again by Marco Radicioni's Otaleg ice-cream bar, Gunther Gelato Italiano and Gelato San Lorenzo. The maritozzo is a typical sweet bun of the Lazio region, specifically from Rome. It's a delicious dough based delight that has been enjoyed by Romans both young and old for centuries. Typically eaten for breakfast or in the very early hours of the morning, the Roman maritozzo has undergone a few changes before landing the version we know and love today. Dating back to Roman times, the "loaf" that the modern day maritozzo derives from began as a nutritional necessity made of flour, eggs, honey, butter and salt. These loaves were substantially larger than the maritozzo of today. It is said that for centuries, women made the loaves to put in the saddlebags of laborers who had to work away from home all day as a way to nourish themselves. Then, in the Middle Ages, the loaves became a way for people to get their "sweet fix" during the period of Lent. These loaves were a bit smaller, darker in color, and sweetened with raisins, pine nuts, and candied fruit. This Middle Ages version of the maritozzo was one of the few "church approved" foods people were permitted to eat during the fasting of Lent. It wasn't until the 1800s that the "loaves" were given their current name, maritozzo which is derived from the Italian word for husband, "marito." During the 1800s, this name was given to the pastry because it became associated with another tradition. The tradition was that a girl's fiance would give his bride-to-be a maritozzo the first Friday of March. This Valentine's-Day-equivalent pastry usually had two pierced hearts on top drawn with sugar. Inside frequently concealed a gift of either a ring or a small gold object. The maritozzo is still a staple in Rome and the classic version is still a very simple dough that is then baked, split down the middle and filled with a delicious (yet obscene amount of) whipped cream. According to The Roman Foodie, "If you're looking for a good place to get your hands on this Roman classic, one of the best places in Rome for a maritozzo is Er Maritozzaro located a 2mins walk from Trastevere station. "Their classic maritozzo, when hot, just out of the oven and filled with whipped cream is pure poetry!", the food blog said in 2016. Josh Coster (13), Abby Harington (14), and Patrick Phibbs (13) from North Wicklow Educate Together secondary school protest outside the Dail. Photo: Douglas O'Connor Frustrated staff and students from a Co Wicklow secondary school demonstrated outside Leinster House today over the future of their school. North Wicklow Educate Together secondary school (NWETSS) said they will be left homeless when the lease in their current school building ends next April if the Department of Education do not provide a solution. According to principal Jonathan Browner, parents and staff members of the Bray school decided to start a demonstration outside the Dail to demand a time frame as to when a new school building will be provided. The Department of Education have known that the lease on this building is nearly up since the day we opened. At this point, were facing an eviction because the building is now up for sale, Mr Browner told Independent.ie. Expand Close Teacher Emer Foley on bull horn leading the chant with the students outside the Dail. Photo: Douglas O'Connor / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Teacher Emer Foley on bull horn leading the chant with the students outside the Dail. Photo: Douglas O'Connor The most frustrating aspect of this is that there were two and a half years lost where permanent accommodation could have been found. Our message to the Minister really is, we need a temporary solution and a really clear timeline for action around the building of our permanent site. Mr Browner added that many parents are particularly concerned about the wellbeing of students with disabilities and special needs. Our autism spectrum disorder students thrive on routine. We opened a class for them based on demand and now we feel were being left high and dry, he said. Samantha Holman, whose son Simon (14) suffers with anxiety, said the lack of uncertainty next summer would have a huge impact on him. He already has a high degree of anxiety, and the uncertainty of not knowing where hes going to be attending school, will impact his ability to continue to attend school, Ms Holman told Independent.ie. Local Bray resident Helen Dalton, whose children Charlie and Bethany attend the school, said she was worried about her childrens futures at the school. Expand Close Students from North Wicklow Educate Together secondary school protest outside the Dail. Photo: Douglas O'Connor / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Students from North Wicklow Educate Together secondary school protest outside the Dail. Photo: Douglas O'Connor It puts a question mark over my son Charlie whos going into third year next year, Ms Dalton said. It's not a year that you want to be having an upset child or any turmoil. It needs to be a plain sailing year where the only thing he is concentrating on is his exams. My daughter has made some wonderful friendships this year in her first year and I want that to continue for her. A school is more than a building but at the same time, we still need a building for it to happen. Principal Browner, alongside members of the schools board of management, said they were protesting for immediate action by Education Minister Joe McHugh. Its a really terrible lesson to be teaching young people, that Government departments dont do what they say, he said. We're talking about being the best at wellbeing and best schools in Europe, were talking about student voice - all of these things are undermined completely by Government departments not doing what they say. The Minister needs to take action. In a statement, the Department of Education said that all options are being examined to find a new temporary home for the school and the Department is liaising with both Educate Together and KWETB. "The Department intends to build a new school for 1,000 pupils for North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School. The site identified for this is on the campus of Bray Institute of Further Education, as there are no other suitable sites available in Bray," the statement read. Up to 5,000 school pupils have already visited Microsoft's headquarters in Dublin to take part in its futuristic new Dreamspace learning initiative. DreamSpace, an educational activity space pioneered in Dublin at a cost of 5m, opened earlier this year at the Microsoft complex in Leopardstown. Microsoft runs a three-hour programme in DreamSpace for primary and Transition Year students, where they are immersed in new technology, and work in teams to solve problems. The computer giant is committed to bringing 100,000 primary and Transition Year students and their teachers to One Microsoft Place over the next four years to take part in the experience. Kevin Marshall, Head of Education at Microsoft in Ireland, said the programme was developed in Dublin, and is already booked out until next June. Working with primary school pupils from fourth to sixth class, and second-level pupils in TY, Marshall says the sessions are tailored towards the skill levels of the class. "Some groups coming in may already have experience of coding, and we can make it more advanced. Others may have no experience of it at all." The instructors in DreamSpace are trained teachers, and Microsoft is in the process of recruiting more. When I visited, instructor Amanda Jolliffe had given teams from a Transition Year class a problem-solving exercise. Each team was given a package with the same simple equipment - such as paper, cardboard and straws - and asked to design a track where a marble runs. The marble has to start moving by itself along a track and must finish in a specific endzone. Teams designed their courses in different innovative ways. Jolliffe said: "As well as being a STEM task, a task such as this uses 21st century skills - creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication." DreamSpace does not look like a conventional classroom. It is colourfully decorated and groups are clustered at team benches, where students sit at different levels. During the session, students were also taught to program a Micro Bit, a tiny pocket-sized computer, to perform certain tasks. When I visited, the Micro Bit was being programmed to act like a dice. Jane Doohan, a teacher at St Laurence's Boys National School in Stillorgan, Dublin, took a group of 26 pupils to DreamSpace recently. "The boys learned how to program wearable technology using Micro Bits in DreamSpace," she said. "It was amazing to see the collaborative learning that took place, with groups of five working as a team on Micro Bit. "The device could be coded in such a way that it could give feedback to someone with hearing difficulties." Mark Moran, a sixth class pupil from St Laurence's, said: "I enjoyed going up to Microsoft and the fact that we collaborated on the task to program a Micro Bit. It was futuristic." Kevin Marshall said one of the aims of DreamSpace was to encourage computational thinking. "The good thing is that kids in primary school are used to working in teams - and a growing number are coding in school - and they love it because it is interactive. Computational thinking is becoming important at all levels in education and across disciplines - UCD has recently introduced a course of Computational Social Science." The Microsoft complex in Leopardstown also has an Education Suite, where qualified and student teachers update their skills. When I visited, a group of student teachers from UCD were learning about the use of e-portfolios. Microsoft learning consultant Brendan Cawley said: "We focused on how we can enhance teaching and learning through technology." Increasingly, teachers are able to share notes with students directly through their devices, and all this information can be stored in one place. When teaching languages and other subjects, they can share voice recordings and videos that are easily accessible. "There is a vast array of content that can be shared digitally with students so that classes are no longer just chalk and talk," added Cawley. Microsoft has recently been carrying out international research with the consultancy firm McKinsey on the 'Class of 2030'. The research looked into the key skills the current generation of pre-school students will need when they graduate, and the role technology will play. According to the company's findings: n up to 58pc of employers believe new graduates are not adequately prepared for the workforce; n 30-40pc of jobs of the future require soft skills like collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking and creativity; n 70pc of teachers say time is a barrier to delivering personalised learning experiences. Sean Moynihan: chief executive of charity for the elderly, Alone Fourteen children were waiting on trolleys in the main children's hospitals yesterday morning as winter overcrowding pressures escalated. Seven children were waiting for a bed in Temple Street Hospital and a similar number of young patients were on trolleys in Our Lady's Hospital Crumlin. The figures outlined in the HSE's TrolleyGAR monitoring come as nurses counted 425 patients languishing on trolleys across the country. The worst hit were University Hospital Limerick where 63 patients were without a bed and Cork University Hospital which had 34 people on trolleys. Health Minister Simon Harris has promised 550 additional home care packages will be funded to relieve overcrowding during the worst weeks of the winter. Tony O'Donovan, director of Home Instead Senior Care which is contracted by the HSE to provide home care, said the extra packages should "make a difference to older people who prefer to be at home, but otherwise would be forced to stay in hospital due to lack of home care options". Meanwhile, 25 NGOs have called on the Government to address the chronic underfunding of home care. There are more than 6,000 people across the State waiting for some form of home care from the HSE. One of the problems is that it is now more thinly spread, with more people getting support half-an-hour a day instead of an hour. Sean Moynihan of charity Alone said: "The winter healthcare crisis goes beyond trolleys and must be viewed within the wider context of care in the community and care in the home. "Hospital and community care must work together to address this." Irish doctors have called on their UK colleagues to help train them in carrying out abortions in advance of the new law extending the grounds for termination of pregnancy. The Irish Independent has learned Irish medics have enlisted the expertise of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Association of Abortion Care Providers. The Regulation of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill returns to the Dail for report stage with the aim of having it passed in December and made law by January. For the first time, maternity hospitals here will be allowed to carry out an abortion where the health and not just the life of a woman is at serious risk. They will also terminate pregnancies where there is diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality. Around one-third of GPs said during the summer they would provide medical abortions. The 38-page contract GPs will have to sign if they agree to participate in medical abortions, which has been sent out to every family doctor, states that they need to refer a woman who is between nine and 12-weeks pregnant to a maternity hospital. If she remains in the care of her GP, she will receive the first medication in the doctor's surgery under medical supervision. She will take the second medication at home. The GP must ensure she gets a patient information leaflet and is given pain relief. The GP will give the woman a low sensitivity pregnancy test kit. On a third return visit the GP will be required to provide aftercare. A young Irishman has died after being punched outside a New York bar in the early hours of this morning. The victim was assaulted outside the The Gaslight Bar in Queens at around 3.45am this morning by an unidentified male. Local reports state that the 21-year-old Irishman was struck before falling to the pavement and being critically injured. The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed they are providing consular assistance to the family of a man who died in the US. A spokesperson for the NYPD told Independent.ie that the victim may have been assaulted following a dispute outside the bar. On November 22 at 03.37am police responded to reports of an assault outside 4317 Queens Boulevard in the confines of the 108 precinct. When officers arrived a 21-year-old male was lying on the pavement with head trauma, the spokesman said. The victim was brought to a local medical centre where he was pronounced dead. At this stage detectives believe that the Irishman was punched in the head following a dispute outside the bar. The suspect fled the scene and the spokesman confirmed that no arrests have yet been made. The countrys bad bank, Nama, could remain in operation for up to a year longer than previously believed. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has indicated the National Asset Management Agency will not now be wound up at the end of 2020. The agency was set up after the economic crash to buy up risky property loans from Irish bailed-out lenders. It is expected to be in a position to return 3.5bn to the State when its work is complete. That was expected to be 2020 but could now be up to a year later. Mr Donohoe said Nama will substantially compete its work by the end of 2020-21. Notwithstanding the successful achievement of repaying the States contingent liability three years ahead of schedule, there is a significant body of work yet to be completed by Nama, the minister told the Dail. While it is currently estimated that it will return to a surplus in the region of 3.5bn to the Exchequer, this surplus has yet to fully crystallise. Fianna Fails Michael McGrath questioned the end-of-life strategy, saying that up until now the projected date for winding up was 2020. He asked the minister to outline what Nama will do after it has lost the last of its portfolio. In response, Mr Donohoe said Nama will play a considerable role in Dublin docklands and in the delivery of a residential programme at a number of other sites. There is work underway on the work Nama might do after the sale. We are discussing the issue with the agency, he said. I am increasingly conscious of the amount of expertise and skills we have built up in the Nama organisation. I want to engage in dialogue with the agency to determine how we can retain them for the State, if we can, while still meeting the commitment made to the European Commission [to dismantle the agency] which we will be honouring, the minister added. Park staff clean off the red paint which was daubed on the 'Hauntings Soldier' at St Stephen's Green. Picture: Frank McGrath Gardai have launched an investigation after a statue to commemorate the ending of World War 1 was vandalised with red paint overnight. The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, expressed her disappointment about the vandalism to 'The Haunting Soldier' sculpture, which she unveiled in St Stephens Green earlier this month. This installation honours all those who died in the terrible suffering of World War 1, Ms Madigan said. It is incredibly moving and has been proved immensely popular. There is no bravery in throwing paint at a statue in the middle of the night. Expand Close Remembrance: The Haunting Soldier depicting a weary World War I soldier stands six metres high in St Stephens Green, Dublin. It commemorates the centenary of the ending of the war. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Remembrance: The Haunting Soldier depicting a weary World War I soldier stands six metres high in St Stephens Green, Dublin. It commemorates the centenary of the ending of the war. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA My Department has been in touch with the OPW in relation to the damage and I understand that the installation will be cleaned up today. A team of cleaners was this morning tasked with removing the red paint from the installation. They worked using solvents, brushes and power washers to remove the gloss paint, which cannot be removed by water alone. Gardai also remained at the scene this morning after the incident. The sculpture was made from scraps of metal, including horse shoes, spanners, car jacks and brake discs. It was brought to Ireland by Dublin-based solicitor Sabina Purcell, who discovered that she had a family connection to those who had served in the Great War. Expand Close Park Staff clean off the red paint which was daubed on the Hauntings Solider at St Stephens Green, last night.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Park Staff clean off the red paint which was daubed on the Hauntings Solider at St Stephens Green, last night.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath This led Ms Purcell to explore how the nation could remember and commemorate the soldiers from Ireland who gave their lives in World War I and also those who survived and returned home. The six-metre high sculpture arrived in St Stephens Green park in Dublin on November 4. The ghostly figure, depicted as a weary soldier returning from battle, was created by Martin Galbravy and constructed by Chris Hannam at Dorset Forge and Fabrication. A garda spokesperson confirmed that they are investigating the criminal damage to the sculpture done overnight. Gardai are investigating criminal damage caused to a statue in the St. Stephens Green area of Dublin on 22nd November 2018 at approximately 2am, a spokesperson said. No arrests have been made at this stage. A scene is currently in place at the statue. Investigations are continuing. A spokesperson for the Office of Public Works (OPW) said that the statue will remain in St Stephen's Green until Monday November 26 as scheduled, coinciding with the centenary commemorations to mark the ending of World War I. "OPW Staff are in the process of removing the red paint from the Haunting Soldier which was vandalised overnight and this should be completed shortly," they said. "The Statue will remain on display in St. Stephens Green Park until Sunday evening, 26th November before heading back to the UK." There are major fears that the number of historic alleged child abuse cases involving scouting organisations is set to soar. It comes after a review of cases found evidence of 71 suspected abusers and 108 victims mostly dating from the 1960s to the 1980s. Children's Minister Katherine Zappone revealed the shocking numbers at an Oireachtas committee where she described the situation as "devastating" and "extremely distressing". Scouting Ireland said none of the alleged abusers was still working with the organisation and most of them are deceased. Reports have been made to gardai and Tusla in relation to suspected perpetrators. The Children's Committee chairman, Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell, said the revelations were deeply concerning and it was "cold comfort" that the cases were historic. Scouting Ireland's new chairperson Aisling Kelly said: "We are deeply sorry for the hurt that has been caused by the actions of some past members of Scouting Ireland and its legacy organisations." She promised "a comprehensive and compassionate response to those that were so badly wronged in the past". Scouting Ireland has been at the centre of controversy over its governance and has seen State funding withheld on a number of occasions in recent months. Questions have now arisen over whether financially-stretched Scouting Ireland has the capacity to support abuse victims and offer possible compensation in response to legal action. And there is serious concern that the number of cases will spiral. Support group One in Four said it had been contacted by "numerous" alleged victims of abuse who claimed they were sexually assaulted by a member of Scouting Ireland. It said while most of the allegations related to the period between the 1960s and 1980s, there were also recent incidents. Advocacy director Deirdre Kenny added: "While the numbers outlined in the review are certainly shocking, it is likely that more people will start to come forward in the weeks ahead." Child safeguarding expert Ian Elliot has been probing historical records held by Scouting Ireland. He told the committee some were handwritten notes of a "very limited nature" that required further investigation. He said other sources on the number of cases came from individuals within Scouting Ireland who had shared concerns with him as well as from victims who contacted the organisation. Mr Elliot said one "very serious perpetrator" did not have a file and was only discovered after a victim came forward. He said 108 people had suffered "as a result of situations which they should never have been exposed to" and 14 of the alleged abusers had multiple victims. Victims told of being abused at camping events and jamborees. He believed the figures for the number of alleged victims would "probably rise quite considerably". Most of the victims were alive and Scouting Ireland's new board of directors had agreed to adopt a victims' policy which would set out how they will respond to survivors. Labour TD Sean Sherlock asked Ms Kelly if her organisation was considering financial compensation for victims. Ms Kelly said the ring-fencing of a general compensation fund was "something that we will have to explore", but added: "Finances are an issue for us." There was outstanding litigation relating to alleged abuse, but she declined to offer details on the number of cases. Economic growth is set to slow and the Government needs to build up its financial reserves as risks such as Brexit and possible changes to the international tax regime looming. The warning came from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of the world's richest economies. It said in a report on the global economy that growth in Ireland would slow to 3.4pc by 2020 from 7.2pc this year, still far faster than the rest of the eurozone, and underpinned by strong domestic demand and rising wages. "The fiscal position will not improve much over the next two years," the Paris-based body said. "The Government should remain committed to improving the fiscal position, but be ready to ease the fiscal stance to mitigate the impact of a potentially disorderly conclusion to Brexit negotiations," it warned. In his budget, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe set aside 500m for a rainy day fund and the Government has been planning for Brexit. However, the Parliamentary Budget Office has warned the projections were based "on the assumption of an 'orderly' Brexit". The International Monetary Fund said last week that a no-deal Brexit, an increasingly likely outcome, could lop three percentage points off Ireland's growth prospects. However, Mr Donohoe's budget proposals have overshot on spending, even as bumper tax revenues have filled the Government's coffers and plans for a budget surplus have been put back. Ireland desperately needs more spending on infrastructure but spending in other areas has continued to rise, sucking up funds. The latest budget numbers in October showed spending rose 9.2pc to 40.1bn, far faster than revenues. New laws giving the Central Bank powers to "turn up at the door" of vulture funds will mark a "seismic shift", Fianna Fail has claimed. The legislation is expected to progress through the Dail this evening despite the Government's initial hesitation. Up to now, the funds, which buy up non-performing home and business loans from banks, have fallen outside the scope of normal regulation. The borrower never gets to see or meet the people in the fund who will make decisions about restructuring mortgages. All contact goes through a regulated credit serving firm. Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank and AIB have all progressed loan sales in recent months. Fianna Fail's finance spokesman Michael McGrath said the bill he had brought forward would give the Central Bank investigative powers. "The regulator will also, if necessary, be able to take enforcement action against these funds," he said. "The bill will ensure whoever is ultimately calling the shots on the management of a loan portfolio will be regulated." Mr McGrath said his party opposed the practice of banks selling troubled loans to third parties. He argues this represents an "outsourcing of dirty work" when the banks should be attempting to strike their own deals with customers. The bill, which will be debated in the Dail today, is expected to move into the Seanad, and Mr McGrath hopes it will become legislation before the Christmas recess. However, he said it would not be "a panacea". "Fianna Fail believes that further reforms are needed to tackle the tens of thousands of legacy mortgage arrears cases," he said. (ANSA) - Rome, November 22 - Paris has no intention of meddling after the European Commission rejected Italy's budget plan for 2019, French Ambassador to Rome Christian Masset told an ANSA Forum on Thursday. "We are following the situation in Italy and the dialogue with the European Commission, but we do not want to interfere in any way in an the well defined procedure between the European Commission and Italy," Masset said. "When the discussion takes place at the (European) Council, we will assess this dialogue". Scouting Ireland has said it doesn't have the resources to fund a redress scheme for alleged abuse victims. The organisation is at the centre of controversy after a review of historic abuse allegations found evidence of 71 suspected perpetrators and 108 victims. Most of the cases date from the 1960s to 1980s. Scouting Ireland said none of the alleged abusers are still working with the organisation and most of them are deceased. Reports have been made to the Gardai and Tusla in relation to alleged abusers. Scouting Ireland has this afternoon released a statement saying that it has been "busy but not overwhelmed" with contacts from possible abuse victims. It said that all contacts are being responded to immediately and that a helpline is being established "for people to share their stories". Scouting Ireland announced this evening that the helpline freephone number is 1 800 22 11 99. They also said emails can be sent to safeguarding@scouts.ie. The statement also said: "In terms of a redress scheme, Scouting Ireland as a voluntary organisation does not have the resources to fund such a scheme". It added: "We have ring-fenced funds to provide counselling support to alleged victims". Scouting Ireland's new chairperson Aisling Kelly has apologised for the hurt caused by some past members of Scouting Ireland and the organisations that preceded it. She has insisted that safeguarding children is Scouting Irelands number one priority. She added: We cannot change the past, but we can make sure that this organisation is a safe environment for all our members now and into the future. Q: How did the revelations about suspected child abuse in the scouts emerge? Scouting Ireland has been at the centre of controversy over governance issues for more than a year. It has seen funding withheld by Children's Minister Katherine Zappone until it promised to implement reforms. One of those commitments was to carry out a full review of historic cases. Child safeguarding expert Ian Elliot carried out the probe. Ms Zappone revealed that this review has so far found evidence of 71 suspected abusers and 108 victims. Most of the alleged abuse took place between the 1960s and 1980s. Q: What was the initial controversy over governance? Serious questions were raised about the organisation's handling of a rape allegation made in 2016 by a female scout leader against one of Scouting Ireland's officials. The incident was alleged to have taken place in 2009. A man was suspended but was reinstated after the DPP decided not to proceed with the case. A 2017 review by Mr Elliot reportedly found Scouting Ireland's handling of the allegation was "deeply flawed". An independent barrister has since been hired to conduct a full investigation into the allegation. Ms Zappone said she became aware of deficits in governance at Scouting Ireland in March. She temporarily withheld funding at this point. Former senator Jillian van Turnhout was appointed to examine governance. Q: What did her report say? Ms van Turnhout found a "dysfunctional" culture in Scouting Ireland where there was "blind loyalty" to senior figures. This is said to have led to decisions that were against the interests of the organisation. Scouting Ireland promised to act on her recommendations and the board announced its intention to resign in October. Ms Zappone restored three-months' worth of State funding of around 220,000 as a result of these promises. Funding was later suspended again in September after Ms Zappone had further concerns. A new board was appointed and funding was later restored for six months on the condition the organisation reforms its child protection rules. A progress report on this is due by the end of March. Q: How many of the historic child abuse cases resulted in prosecutions? This is not clear. Gardai did not respond directly when asked but said any allegations reported to them will be fully investigated. Scouting Ireland did not respond to questions on the matter. A Department of Children statement said: "According to Scouting Ireland, because prosecutions and convictions are not matters that lie within their remit they will check their files to establish what they know happened. Where they have the information, they will share it with the minister and officials." Q: What steps has Scouting Ireland taken to ensure children are safe now? Ian Elliot is working as interim safeguarding manager. He insisted there were "very good" measures in place at the organisation's jamboree earlier this year. Scouting Ireland this week advertised for a permanent safeguarding manager. There are to be other professional safeguarding officers and they will need administrative support. Chief executive John Lawlor said this will require "substantial investment". Chairperson Aisling Kelly said: "Safeguarding of children and adults is our number one priority." Q: What happens next? Mr Elliot's review of historical cases is continuing. Other victims are expected to come forward. Ms Zappone has written to Scouting Ireland seeking an urgent meeting. She wants full details of its proposed protocols to deal with alleged victims. A spokesperson said: "Until she is provided with these details, it is far too early to outline the next course of action." South Korea was a lot like Ireland in the 1960s. The country had just come out of a gruelling civil war; the economy was largely agricultural, there were high rates of emigration, and only a small percentage of the population attended university. Today, it's among the most technologically advanced countries in the world, has the world's highest rate of third-level attainment (70pc, according to OECD figures) and is home to massive companies such as Samsung, Hyundai and Daewoo. Today, South Koreans are concerned. Not just about the ordinary ups and downs of the economy, although we know well enough in this country that they are worth worrying about. South Koreans are worried about the future of work in what we are now calling the fourth industrial revolution. Here in Ireland we should be even more concerned about this revolution, which will be unlike anything humankind has experienced. We're not talking about robots on assembly lines, or the use of computers; that has been going on for the past 60 years. In this fourth machine age we are grappling with machines that learn and make decisions, ubiquitous sensors, autonomous vehicles and autonomous robots. This is not science fiction. These technologies exist and are already changing the world of work. There are already robot pharmacists who don't take breaks or need pensions. Computers crunching algorithms trade shares faster than financial analysts or brokers, and much marketing research is already being done by computers. Legal searches, once done by junior lawyers, can increasingly be done better by machines, as can audits, many accounting functions and increasing amounts of industrial design. In short, many desirable jobs, or elements of those jobs, will soon vanish. Among educational thought leaders, the emerging consensus is that we need to find ways to make our students "robot-proof". An OECD report published earlier this year said we must prepare our students for jobs that have not yet been created, for technologies that have not yet been invented, to solve problems that have not yet been anticipated. Certainly, students will need enhanced digital literacy, they will need to master specific disciplines, and they will also need "data literacy". But they will also need something more: a passion for new ideas, curiosity, creativity and entrepreneurship, understood in its fullest sense - all of those things that machines can never do better than humans. So how is Irish education responding to this paradigm shift? In the universities, despite substantially less funding than we had a decade ago, teaching is responding to this new world. In Trinity College Dublin, where I teach, we have redesigned our undergraduate curriculum around four "graduate attributes". We expect that when our students graduate, they will have learned "to think independently, to communicate effectively, to develop continuously and to act responsibly" - all things that are distinctly human. Other Irish universities are rethinking teaching and learning in similarly inventive ways. Then there is the Leaving Certificate and its little sibling, the Junior Certificate. We urgently need to ask ourselves if we are likely to foster creativity, curiosity, adaptability and a passion for new ideas in a system that continues, in spite of some modest reforms, to revolve largely around the gravitational fields of two exams. One way to answer that question is to take some examples of what are emerging as "robot-proof" graduate attributes and to test them against our exam-centred school system. Does an examination in which students prepare answers to conform to a standardised marking scheme (made available in advance in the interests of a much-vaunted "transparency") encourage creativity? Does such an exam reward the student (or, indeed, the teacher) with a passion or curiosity that pushes them beyond the standard curriculum? The answer is, sadly, it does not. Indeed, on most papers, the eager student who strays beyond the prescribed material is penalised for introducing matter that is "not relevant". In the case of the Leaving Certificate English papers, for instance, there are, in fact, relatively few marks given for the actual literary content in comparison to those awarded for conforming to a standardised answer format. So much for rewarding creative thinking. As for adaptability, these are exams that are publicly judged every year by students, teachers and pundits on predictability: a "good paper" is a predictable paper, in which the "right questions come up". In short, it is hard to see how an exam that rewards the things robots do well - predictable tasks carried out to a template - helps make Irish students robot-proof. It is time that we conducted a simple thought experiment. Imagine that we could weigh up all of the massive resources that go into the Junior and Leaving Certificates, including the thousands of hours students and teachers spend poring over past papers, as well as the factory-like preparation, distribution and marking of papers carried out by the State Examinations Commission. Then imagine that we had all that time and money free to do something entirely new, something that would allow our students to develop their creativity, their curiosity about the world, and to find the things about which they are passionate. What could we do then? Discuss. Chris Morash is the vice-provost and chief academic officer at Trinity College Dublin The string of allegations of past abuse revealed by Scouting Ireland yesterday marks the unveiling of more dark secrets from another trusted Irish institution. But the reality is the investigation of historic cases of child abuse has traditionally suffered. This is because of the pressing need of social workers with a huge workload to give priority to probing current urgent allegations which may pose an immediate risk to a vulnerable young person. Last year the former chief executive of Tusla, Fred McBride, said his agency encountered particular challenges in investigating cases which could go back 50 years in some instances. The traditional training for social workers was for child protection where the threat to a child is immediate. They have not in the past been skilled or taught to do forensic type interviews of alleged perpetrators, but they are now getting more training in this practice. Tusla said yesterday it is aware of Scouting Ireland allegations but would not comment further. It said it receives more than 53,000 referrals a year, and "where a referral is received it is screened and assessed as appropriate in line with Children First guidelines". So far 71 cases of alleged abuse have been uncovered. Most of the alleged perpetrators in incidents between the 1960s and 1980s are dead. We know how overwhelmed social services currently are. Maeve Lewis, of the One in Four group, said most Tusla areas now have a specialist team of social workers who look at retrospective cases. "It can be very difficult for them to make a determination about something that has happened so long ago. It usually comes down to the victim saying this and the accused saying that. "Social workers do not have the same powers as a garda to compel someone to attend for interview. They must engage voluntarily. With no forensic evidence it can be difficult." A lot of the notifications she makes are returned as "unfounded" - they don't have enough proof. However, she stressed it is important the reports are made to Tusla because they are on record. It can turn out there were other allegations against the same person. "Every notification is important in building that sort of evidence. "Last year we supported 31 clients to trials in the Central Criminal Court about events that happened 20 or 30 years ago." Offenders tend to continue to abuse until they are caught so, no matter how long ago abuse happened, it is important statutory agencies are made aware. Where are the accused who are still alive now? They are no longer in Scouting Ireland but do they have access to other children? Gardai have yet to announce if they will initiate a special investigation of Scouting Ireland. Unless there is something odd out there, there is not much wiggle room left to polish the text of this draft EU-UK Brexit deal. But after talks in Brussels yesterday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she would be back for more EU divorce discussions on Saturday. That is the day before the planned summit set to seal the EU end of the Brexit deal. Mrs May went to the Belgian capital yesterday afternoon in an effort to put the arm on wily EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Ostensibly, she left with the planned signing of this draft Brexit deal, ideally fixed for Sunday morning, still hanging in the balance. There are other 'noises off' on this one: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is suggesting there is no point in a summit on Sunday if things cannot be finalised. Spain is fighting over Gibraltar, and others, including Ireland, about access to UK waters. Mr Juncker is an old political fox who knows about political deals and how they might be sold. He will not be unkind to Mrs May in providing political cover as she faces her uphill battle to deliver parliamentary ratification of the Brexit deal. The political and media focus is now on the details of a political statement on future post-Brexit EU-UK trade and political ties. That will follow the divorce deal which formally kicks in at 11pm on March 29, 2019. There is a document sketching these EU-UK links which began life at 15 pages to accompany the overall Withdrawal Agreement which runs to 585 pages of legal text. Essentially, this much-smaller document outlines a general declaration of future intent to frame years of detailed negotiations. This now becomes the focus of preparation for this summit. It has long been about giving the embattled British prime minister some talking points to help her turn waverers and win an uphill battle in the British parliament, where her numbers make her mission look pretty hopeless. The best diplomats in Brussels are on the case and will meet again tomorrow to try to come up with serviceable language which will marry totally opposed visions in London of the UK's future with the EU. "There are some remaining issues which we have discussed this evening," Mrs May said after talks with Mr Juncker. "We've been able to give direction to our negotiators on resolving these issues, so further progress has been made," she added. The Taoiseach has grounds for being upbeat about things as he prepares for his Sunday visit to the EU capital. All the signals are that this Brexit deal - a good outcome for Ireland - will clear this minor-enough hurdle. The bigger question remains how much political support, within the constraints of what is a deal hard to sell in the UK, this gathering of EU leaders can give Mrs May to take home. Everyone must be on their best behaviour. The British audience will be key. Denial: Any form of trafficking is not allowed on Facebook, said social media giant, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: Reuters A father was not challenged as he used Facebook to auction off his teenage daughter for marriage, despite the social media giant having a 30,000-strong community moderation team, a children's charity has claimed. Plan International said five men in South Sudan had bid to wed the 17-year-old, possibly including high-ranking government officials. Facebook only deleted the father's post after his daughter had been married, it added. A wedding ceremony was held on November 3 in the country's Eastern Lakes State region, the charity said. "This barbaric use of technology is reminiscent of latter-day slave markets," said George Otim, the charity's South Sudan country director said in a statement. "That a girl could be sold for marriage on the world's biggest social networking site in this day and age is beyond belief. "While it is common for dowries to be used in marriages in South Sudanese culture, nothing can excuse the way this girl, who is still a child, has been treated as nothing more than an object, sold off to the bidder prepared to offer the most money and goods." The charity urged the government of South Sudan, the world's youngest country, to suspend any officials found to have been involved. Facebook said that it became aware of the girl's father's post on November 9 and removed it within 24 hours. A company spokeswoman said: "Any form of human trafficking, whether posts, pages, ads or groups, is not allowed on Facebook. We removed the post and permanently disabled the account belonging to the person who posted this to Facebook." Independent News Service Kim Jong-yang of South Korea had been chosen as Interpol's new president. Photo: Getty Images Interpol announced yesterday that Kim Jong-yang of South Korea had been chosen as its new president, beating a Russian official whose candidacy had unnerved Western nations. The US-backed Mr Kim, acting president of the global police body, was picked at a meeting of delegates from member nations in Dubai to replace Meng Hongwei, who went missing in his native China in September. Beijing later said Mr Meng resigned after being charged with accepting bribes. There had been growing calls within Western nations for Interpol to reject candidate Alexander Prokopchuk - a Russian interior ministry official and current Interpol vice president - over fears that Moscow could abuse the role to target political opponents. This week, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo backed Mr Kim, who will serve out Mr Meng's term until 2020. "We encourage all nations and organisations that are part of Interpol and that respect the rule of law to choose a leader with integrity. We believe Mr Kim will be just that," Mr Pompeo said. Critics have raised concerns over Russia's previous applications for Interpol 'Red Notices', or international arrest warrants, to target those who have fallen foul of the Kremlin. In an open letter, a group of US senators said choosing Mr Prokopchuk would be like "putting a fox in charge of a henhouse". John Chau was surrounded and killed by tribal fighters, who fiercely defend their paradise in Indias Andaman Islands, police said (stock picture) Tribespeople armed with bows and arrows have killed an American tourist who illegally ventured to their island home, where contact with indigenous people is banned to protect their way of life. John Chau was surrounded and killed by tribal fighters, who fiercely defend their paradise in India's Andaman Islands, police said. Mr Chau (27) paid local fishermen to take him to North Sentinel Island which is out of bounds even to the Indian navy in a bid to protect its reclusive inhabitants. Mr Chau was hit by a hail of arrows as soon as he set foot on the island, an official source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body," the source said. "They were scared and fled but returned next morning to find his body on the sea shore." Indian police said a murder case had been registered against "unknown tribesmen" and seven people arrested in connection with the death. "The investigation in this matter is on," senior police officer Deepak Yadav said. Indian media said the fishermen told a preacher in the main town, Port Blair, about the incident and the preacher contacted Mr Chau's family in the United States. The case has cast a rare spotlight on the indigenous people, who live shielded from the outside world to safeguard them from 21st century diseases. Mr Chau had a tourist visa to enter the Andamans, where access to some restricted zones is given, the official sources said. But it is illegal to go within 5km of North Sentinel island. Mr Chau had made several trips to other Andaman islands before offering money to fishermen to take him to North Sentinel, sources said. Tribes such as the Sentinelese, believed to number about 150 people, shun all contact with the world and have a record of hostility to anyone who gets close. Daily Telegraph London Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] BRUSSELS - The Tribunal of the European Union has confirmed the decision taken by the European Council to freeze the assets of family members of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted following protests at the start of 2011. The Council, to adopt such a decision, had sufficient elements concerning the political and judicial context in Egypt and judicial procedures concerning members of the Mubarak family, the court established. The court's decision can be appealed on matters regarding the law. After a political uprising in Egypt starting in January 2011, the Council of the European Union had adopted, on March 21, 2011, a decision regarding restrictive measures for persons believed to be responsible of illegally getting Egyptian State funds, along with their associates. The decision was aimed at freezing all the assets these people had in the Union as part of a policy to support the peaceful transition towards the formation of a civil and democratic government in Egypt based on the rule of law. Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence runs through the terminal as she arrives at Newcastle airport in Newcastle, Australia, November 22, 2018. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts/via REUTERS. Australian heroin courier Renae Lawrence was released from an Indonesian prison on Wednesday, the first of the so-called Bali Nine drug smuggling ring to gain freedom after the execution of the two ring leaders strained ties between the countries. Lawrence, 41, left Balis Bangli prison through a doorway where prison officers had laid Hindu offerings. A large media scrum surrounded Lawrence as she was ushered into a black SUV. A police convoy escorted the vehicle as it headed to Denpasar airport, where Lawrence was to be held in a temporary detention center while waiting for an overnight flight to Sydney. She will not be allowed to return to Indonesia, said Maryoto Sumadi, the chief of Balis Justice Office. Lawrence was arrested at Denpasar airport in 2005 with 2.7 kilos of heroin strapped to her body. She was initially sentenced to life in prison. With the support of prosecutors, the sentence was reduced to 20 years on appeal, largely because Lawrence co-operated with investigators and disclosed the roles of other Bali Nine members. Remissions cut her prison time by a further seven years. Indonesia has harsh laws against drugs and the other eight members of the Bali Nine received the death penalty or life sentences. The two ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by firing squad in 2015, causing a diplomatic rupture between Australia and Indonesia. Australia recalled its ambassador in protest. Chan and Sukumaran, who apologized for their crimes, helped scores of Indonesian prisoners through language and training programs they set up inside Balis Kerobokan prison. Another member of the Bali Nine, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of kidney cancer in May. The other five are all serving life jail terms. They have failed in repeated attempts to get their sentences reduced. In Australia, Lawrence faces two outstanding warrants, reportedly relating to a high speed chase with police in a stolen car before her fateful trip to the Indonesian holiday island. She has been asked to report to police in Gosford, north of Sydney, when she returns, her father Bob Lawrence told Australian broadcaster Nine News. A spokeswoman for police in the Australian state of New South Wales told Reuters the two warrants related to traffic offences, but declined to elaborate. Police would be in touch with Lawrences legal team about the warrants in a timely manner, she said. Nissan Motor fired Carlos Ghosn as chairman in a dramatic end to the powerful executives nearly two decade long reign at the Japanese carmaker after his arrest for alleged financial improprieties. In an hours-long meeting, the companys board of directors voted unanimously to dismiss Mr Ghosn as chairman and as a representative director, Nissan said in a statement. It said its own internal investigation, prompted by a whistleblower, found serious misconduct including under-reporting of his income and misuse of company assets. It was a stunning downfall for one of the biggest figures in the car industry, a man who helped drive turnarounds at both Frances Renault SA and at Nissan and then managed an alliance between them that sold 10.6 million cars last year, besting its rivals. Expand Close Carlos Ghosn (foreground), during a visit to Nissans Sunderland factory (Rod MInchin/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Carlos Ghosn (foreground), during a visit to Nissans Sunderland factory (Rod MInchin/PA) Nissan said in a statement filed to the Tokyo Stock Exchange that its investigation uncovered misuse of company investment funds and expense money for personal gain. Earlier this week, Renault voted to keep Mr Ghosn as its chief executive but appointed Thierry Bollore, its chief operating officer, as its interim chief. Another Nissan executive, Greg Kelly, was arrested on suspicion of collaborating in the wrongdoing and also will be dismissed as a representative director, Nissan said. Their replacements will be decided later, it said. Mr Ghosn, 64, is suspected of under-reporting 44.6 million US dollars in income from 2011 to 2015, according to Tokyo prosecutors. Nissans board consists of nine members, including Mr Ghosn and Greg Kelly. Expand Close A security guard stands near the logo at Nissan Motor HQ (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A security guard stands near the logo at Nissan Motor HQ (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) The seven other board members voted at the meeting, including two members from Nissan and two from Renault. Mr Ghosn and Mr Kelly will remain on Nissans board for now as that decision will be up to shareholders. No date has been set yet for a shareholders meeting. Mr Ghosn is also chairman at Mitsubishi Motors Corp, a smaller Japanese carmaker that is partnering with the Renault-Nissan alliance and plans to hold a board meeting next week. Mr Ghosn has been held since his arrest on Monday at a Tokyo detention centre, under the same Spartan conditions as other detainees, Tokyo deputy prosecutor Shin Kukimoto told reporters. Expand Close The logo of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance (Thibault Camus/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The logo of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance (Thibault Camus/AP) He gave few details about the case. Under Japanese law, suspects can be held for 20 days per possible charge without an official indictment. Additional charges can be tagged on, resulting in longer detentions. Neither has been charged so far. The maximum penalty upon conviction for violating finance and exchange laws is 10 years in prison, a 10 million yen fine (69,000), or both. A French citizen born in Brazil, Mr Ghosn became something of a corporate superstar in Japan as he led Nissans revival from near bankruptcy after Renault sent him to help in 1999. Mr Ghosn served as Nissans chief executive from 2001 until last year. Expand Close A general view of the Nissan Factory in Sunderland (Owen Humphreys/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A general view of the Nissan Factory in Sunderland (Owen Humphreys/PA) He became chief executive of Renault in 2005, leading the two carmakers simultaneously. In 2016, he also became chairman of Mitsubishi Motors after Nissan took it into the alliance. Mr Kelly, 62, joined Nissan, maker of the Leaf electric car and Infiniti luxury models, in the US in 1988. He became a board member in 2012. His background is in human resources and alliance management. Analysts say the future of Nissans alliance with Renault may be at stake, though Nissans statement Thursday said the companys leadership was determined to minimise the impact from Mr Ghosns case on the partnership. Expand Close People walk by Nissan Motor headquarters (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp People walk by Nissan Motor headquarters (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) Renault owns 43% of Nissan, and Nissan owns 15% of Renault. The longstanding alliance partnership with Renault remains unchanged, the Nissan statement in English said, stressing the alliance rather than the misdeeds. It also said the board will study setting up a third-party committee to beef up governance in management and compensation at Nissan. Chief executive Hiroto Saikawa, in a lengthy news conference on Monday, said too much power had been concentrated in Mr Ghosn, with too little credit given to the many others working for the companys success. Expand Close Carlos Ghosn (Kin Cheung/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Carlos Ghosn (Kin Cheung/AP) Janet Lewis, managing director and head of industrial research, Asia, at Macquarie Capital Securities in Tokyo, said in an interview that an adjustment was needed to give Nissan more say in the alliance with Renault. The partnership remains crucial for both companies, she said, since apart from financial ties the companies share technology and parts. The carmakers need to be more like roommates than a married couple, so they have to find a way to share their house and share all of their expertise because its very necessary in terms of new automotive technology, new platform development, Ms Lewis said. They need to figure out how they can continue this and still live happily together in the same house. The electoral rating of President Vladimir Putin has dropped below 60% for the first time in five years, a leading Russian polling agency has said. The survey by Levada Centre published on Thursday showed 56% of likely voters saying they would cast their ballots for Mr Putin in elections expected in 2024. That is 10% lower than a year ago. Expand Close Vladimir Putin shakes hands with US first lady Melania Trump at commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the November 11 1918 armistice in Paris (Ludovic Marin/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Vladimir Putin shakes hands with US first lady Melania Trump at commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the November 11 1918 armistice in Paris (Ludovic Marin/AP) The last time electoral support for Mr Putin dropped below 60%, according to similar Levada surveys, was in 2013. Mr Putin, who has been ruling Russia since 2000, was re-elected for another six-year term in March. Unpopular changes to the pension system announced earlier this year have dented his popularity, while euphoria over the widely popular 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula has waned. President Donald Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla (Susan Walsh/AP) President Donald Trump used a Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the US-Mexico border. Mr Trumps call, made from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Mr Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul US immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. He later threatened to close the US border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines its neighbour has lost control on its side. You really are our heroes, he said as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Mr Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Mr Trump also continued to rail against the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which he said has become a big thorn in our side. Its a terrible thing, he said, when judges tell you how to protect your border. He added: Its a disgrace. Expand Close President Donald Trump speaks to reporters following his teleconference with troops (Susan Walsh/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp President Donald Trump speaks to reporters following his teleconference with troops (Susan Walsh/AP) Later, Mr Trump asked a US Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Mr Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied: We dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. Mr Trump added: I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters nobodys done more for the military than me. This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office and you wouldn't believe it and when you see it, we've gotten so much stronger people don't even believe itDonald Trump Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family, as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office and you wouldnt believe it and when you see it, weve gotten so much stronger people dont even believe it. Mr Trump continued to warn about the situation on the southern border as he took questions from reporters, pointing to the caravans of Central American migrants that have been making their way towards the US. He said: If we find that it gets to a level where we lose control or people are going to start getting hurt, were going to close entry into the country for a period of time until we get it under control. A pigeon flies near where the border structure that separates Mexico from the US (Ramon Espinosa/AP) President Donald Trump has threatened to close the US border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines that its southern ally has lost control on its side. Mr Trump cited the situation involving migrants camped in Tijuana, Mexico, after travelling in a caravan to reach the United States. Mr Trump called it a really bad situation there and said if we find that its incontrollable, then we will close entry into the country for period of time until we can get it under control. The whole border. Expand Close Central American migrants gather at a temporary shelter, near barriers that separate Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico (Rodrigo Abd/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Central American migrants gather at a temporary shelter, near barriers that separate Mexico and the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico (Rodrigo Abd/AP) The president also said he has given American troops at the border the OK to use lethal force against migrants if they have to. Mr Trump told reporters: I hope they dont have to, but he said: I have no choice because youre dealing with rough people. A man has been arrested after two suspected bombs were found in an empty flat in London, Scotland Yard said. The 48-year-old was held at a north London address by officers from the Met Police counter-terrorism command on Thursday morning on suspicion of an explosives offence, and remains in custody. Detectives do not believe he has links to any terrorist organisations or that there are any ongoing public safety issues, Scotland Yard said. Officers were called to an unoccupied property that was being refurbished in Craven Park, Harlesden, north-west London, on Wednesday morning and found two suspected improvised explosive devices. The block of flats was evacuated and roads were closed. Specialist officers conducted further searches and the area has now been deemed safe. The move is about getting children doing stuff that doesn't involve looking at a screen. Stock image Schoolchildren could be encouraged to climb a tree, go stargazing and try yoga as they tick off items on a character-building "bucket list" being drawn up by ministers. Education Secretary Damian Hinds is due to publish a series of extra-curricular goals for pupils to achieve every year - which could include exploring a cave, knitting and growing vegetables - in order to develop their resilience. He explained: "Bluntly, it is about doing stuff that doesn't involve looking at a screen. It's about getting out and about." Mr Hinds told the i newspaper that formal qualifications "are obviously not the only thing" and it was important to teach children how to "bounce back from the knocks that inevitably come to all of us". "We put a lot effort into making sure we can share really good curriculum plans and teaching materials," he said. "This is an equivalent of that for stuff outside the curriculum, in recognition of the fact that what you do academically is only part of the story." The Education Secretary came across the idea on a visit to St Werburgh's Primary School in Bristol, where pupils are given a "passport" of enrichment activities. Between arrival in reception and leaving in year six youngsters are given 15 goals to achieve each year. It includes visit a place of worship, bake a cake and send an email. The school's list is based on the National Trust's "50 things to do before you're 11 and three-quarters" initiative. Among the goals are skim a stone, find frog spawn and learn to ride a horse. Daniela Tejada the wife of British academic, 31-year-old PhD student Matthew Hedges who was jailed for life in the United Arab Emirates on an allegation of spying Credit: David Mirzoeff/PA Wire Daniela Tejada the wife of British academic, 31-year-old PhD student Matthew Hedges who was jailed for life in the United Arab Emirates on an allegation of spying Credit: David Mirzoeff/PA Wire The wife of an academic jailed for life in the United Arab Emirates on a spying allegation said she has won assurances that the Government is "now standing up for one of its citizens" after meeting Jeremy Hunt. Daniela Tejada condemned the Foreign Office over the handling of the case of 31-year-old PhD student Matthew Hedges, ahead of her meeting with the Foreign Secretary on Thursday. Mr Hunt had threatened the UAE with "serious diplomatic consequences" if Mr Hedges, originally from Exeter, is not freed, saying he has seen "absolutely no evidence" to support the charge. However, Ms Tejada was critical of ministers, accusing them of putting relations with the Gulf state before her husband's freedom. However, she left the Foreign Office seeming more confident the Government was working in their favour. "I really appreciate the Foreign Secretary taking the time to meet me at this crucial point in Matt's life," she said, reading from a prepared statement after an hour inside the building. "He has assured me that he and his team are doing everything in their power to get Matt free and return him home to me. "This is not a fight I can win alone and I thank the Foreign Office and the British public for now standing up for one of their citizens." Mr Hunt is understood to have exchanged "very frank" words with the UAE ambassador in London during a meeting earlier in the day. Ms Tejada, having landed back at Heathrow Airport in the morning, said the UK had "failed" to take a firm stance over the Durham University student from the start of his ordeal. "I was under the impression they were putting their interests with the UAE above a British citizen's rightful freedom and his welfare," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "They were stepping on eggshells instead of taking a firm stance." Health Secretary Matt Hancock defended the Foreign Office on the show for working "behind the scenes" to support Mr Hedges, with Mr Hunt appealing personally to the Crown Prince on November 12. Ms Tejeda, who was at the Abu Dhabi court when Mr Hedges was sentenced during a five-minute hearing on Wednesday, believes the UK should stop at nothing to free the "innocent" Briton, who was jailed after the UAE presented "completely fabricated" evidence. Her calls for immediate action were echoed by Tory MP Johnny Mercer, who condemned the academic's jailing and called for the Government to be resilient. He tweeted: "This is ridiculous. Our Defence assistance, mentoring and intelligence relationships alone with this country should preclude absurd things like this happening. From a friend and partner, simply unacceptable." Mr Hunt earlier said the UK "will do everything we can to get him home" over the charges he has seen "absolutely no evidence for". He told Sky News: "The UAE is supposed to be a friend and ally of Britain's. We've given them repeated assurances about Matthew. "If we can't resolve this there are going to be serious diplomatic consequences, because this is totally unacceptable. Mr Hedges, a Middle Eastern studies specialist, was arrested at Dubai Airport on May 5. A family representative said he had since been held in solitary confinement for more than five-and-a- half months, during which his "mental and physical health seriously deteriorated". Theresa May said she was "deeply disappointed and concerned" by Mr Hedges's jailing and told MPs the UK "will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis". Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University, said there is "no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic research". A Foreign Office spokesman did not say what form any possible diplomatic consequences could take, but said a number of options are available. Mr Hedges has 30 days to challenge the court ruling. Former nurse Niels Hoegel covers his face as he arrives for the start of his trial in a courtroom in Oldenburg, Germany, October 30, 2018. Julian Stratenschulte/Pool via REUTERS Former nurse Niels Hoegel covers his face as he arrives for the start of his trial in a courtroom in Oldenburg, Germany, October 30, 2018. Julian Stratenschulte/Pool via REUTERS A former nurse accused of killing 100 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany has addressed the families of his victims and expressed regret. German news agency dpa reported that Niels Hoegel, who is on trial at a regional court in the north western city of Oldenburg, said: "If there was a way to help you, I would do it, believe me." The 41-year-old said he was now convinced he owed an answer to the families of each victim. Hoegel had earlier told the court he initially was not moved by the killings, which occurred over a decade ago. Expand Close Former nurse Niels Hoegel covers his face as he arrives for the start of his trial in a courtroom in Oldenburg, Germany, October 30, 2018. Julian Stratenschulte/Pool via REUTERS / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former nurse Niels Hoegel covers his face as he arrives for the start of his trial in a courtroom in Oldenburg, Germany, October 30, 2018. Julian Stratenschulte/Pool via REUTERS He was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders for intentionally bringing about cardiac crises by injecting patients with medication because he enjoyed being able to resuscitate them. Gibraltars chief minister Fabian Picardo has said he is willing to discuss directly with the Spanish government their bilateral relations after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. But Mr Picardo warned on Thursday that the sovereignty of the British territory at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula is non-negotiable. Spain has never dropped its claim of jurisdiction over the rocky outcrop, and its government has baulked at the possibility of its post-Brexit future being decided between London and EU authorities without direct Spanish involvement. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has threatened to vote against the planned Brexit agreement unless Spains misgivings are addressed. Mr Picardo told Gibraltars parliament that as long as issues such as sovereignty, jurisdiction and control of the territory are off the table, he is happy to discuss close cooperation with Madrid. Egypt: EU court confirms freeze on Mubarak's assets Tribunal rejects appeal, confirms Council's decision (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 22 - The Tribunal of the European Union has confirmed the decision taken by the European Council to freeze the assets of family members of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted following protests at the start of 2011. The Council, to adopt such a decision, had sufficient elements concerning the political and judicial context in Egypt and judicial procedures concerning members of the Mubarak family, the court established. The court's decision can be appealed on matters regarding the law. After a political uprising in Egypt starting in January 2011, the Council of the European Union had adopted, on March 21, 2011, a decision regarding restrictive measures for persons believed to be responsible of illegally getting Egyptian State funds, along with their associates. The decision was aimed at freezing all the assets these people had in the Union as part of a policy to support the peaceful transition towards the formation of a civil and democratic government in Egypt based on the rule of law. (ANSAmed). Saudi authorities responded to the report by saying Riyadh does not condone, promote, or allow the use of torture (stock picture) Saudi Arabia has tortured and sexually harassed women's rights activists detained in prison, a new report alleges. The activists, who have not been named for fear of reprisal, were arrested in May in a crackdown ahead of the lifting of the decades-long women's driving ban. Prisoners in the kingdom's Dhahban Prison have allegedly been interrogated by masked jailers, with one made to hang for long periods of time from the ceiling, sources told Human Rights Watch. Several showed physical signs of torture, including difficulty walking, uncontrolled shaking of the hands, and red marks and scratches on their faces and necks. At least one of the women attempted to commit suicide multiple times, according to testimonies. The charity said it was unclear whether they were seeking to force the women to sign confessions or merely to punish them for their peaceful advocacy. Saudi authorities responded to the report by saying Riyadh "does not condone, promote, or allow the use of torture". Daily Telegraph, London Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] SaveThe Children has estimated 85,000 Yemeni children under the age of five may have died of hunger and disease since the outbreak of the country's civil war in 2015. The international aid group based its figures on mortality rates for untreated cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in young children. The United Nations says more than 1.3 million children have suffered from SAM since a Saudi-led coalition went to war with Yemen's Houthi rebels. The aid group said its "conservative estimate" was that 84,701 children may have died, based on historical studies that show 20pc to 30pc of untreated cases lead to death. "For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and it's entirely preventable," said Tamer Kirolos, Save The Children's Yemen director. "Children who die in this way suffer immensely as their vital organs slow down and eventually stop." Three-quarters of Yemen's people require life-saving assistance and more than eight million are at risk of starvation. Tens of thousands are believed to have been killed in the fighting. Save The Children blamed the starvation on a Saudi-led blockade that was tightened a year ago after the Iran-aligned rebels fired a ballistic missile at the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The charity also cited recent fighting in and around the port city of Hodeida, a lifeline through which Yemen imports some 70pc of its food and humanitarian aid. A security guard stands near the logo at Nissan Motor Co (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) Nissan Motor has confirmed that its board of directors voted unanimously to dismiss Carlos Ghosn as its chairman after he was arrested on suspicion of falsifying financial reports and other misconduct. The company said in a statement on Thursday that its aim was to minimise the impact from the case on its alliance with Frances Renault SA and smaller Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motor Corp. Expand Close Carlos Ghosn (David Parry/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Carlos Ghosn (David Parry/PA) It said Mr Ghosn and another executive, Greg Kelly, were also dismissed as representative directors. Nissans board held an emergency meeting at the company headquarters in Yokohama on Thursday. The company said in a statement that the decision was made after the board reviewed a detailed report of an internal investigation into the alleged misconduct. MI6 chiefs in Britain are secretly battling Donald Trump to stop him publishing classified information linked to the Russian election meddling investigation. The UK is warning that the US president would undermine intelligence gathering if he releases pages of an FBI application to wiretap one of his former campaign advisers. Trump allies are fighting back, demanding transparency and asking why the UK would oppose the move unless it had something to hide. It forces the spotlight on whether the UK played a role in the FBI's investigation launched before the 2016 presidential election into allegations of Trump campaign ties to the Kremlin. Britain's 'Daily Telegraph' has talked to more than a dozen UK and US officials, including in American intelligence, who have revealed details about the row. British spy chiefs have "genuine concern" about sources being exposed if classified parts of the wiretap request were made public, according to sources. "It boils down to the exposure of people," said one US intelligence official, adding: "We don't want to reveal sources and methods." US intelligence shares the concerns of the UK. Another said the UK feared setting a dangerous "precedent" which could make people less likely to share information, knowing that it could one day become public. The row is deemed so politically sensitive that staff at the British embassy in Washington DC have been barred from discussing it with journalists. British Prime Minister Theresa May, who already has a testing relationship with Mr Trump, has also been kept at arms-length and is understood to have not raised the issue directly with the US president. The row is about an FBI request to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, which was made in October 2016 - the month before the US election. The FBI said it had suspicions Mr Page was being targeted for recruitment by the Russian government and cited classified intelligence to make its case. The agency was granted approval for 90 days of surveillance by a secret court established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa). It was renewed a number of times. Republican allies of Mr Trump in Congress have pounced on the application, claiming the FBI failed to follow due process and presented information in a flawed way. A heavily redacted version of the documents has already been released. Mr Trump wants to declassify 21 pages from one of the applications. He announced the move in September, then backtracked, then this month said he was "very seriously" considering it again. Both the UK and Australia are understood to be opposing the move. Memos detailing alleged ties between Mr Trump and Russia compiled by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 officer, were cited in the application, which could explain some of the UK concern. Numerous spokesmen for UK and US government bodies declined to comment. Mr Page has denied being a foreign agent for Russia. The row comes as UK intelligence agencies are increasingly dragged into a heated and partisan battle in Washington DC over the origins of the Russian investigation. Mr Trump's allies and former advisers are raising questions about the UK's role in the start of the probe, given many of the key figures and meetings were located in Britain. George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser, has publicly claimed he was targeted by UK spies and told 'The Telegraph' that he is demanding transparency. Republicans are attempting to protect the US president by suggesting the Russia investigation, which continues to this day, was invalid from the start. The probe, now overseen by special counsel Robert Mueller, is looking into whether Trump campaign figures conspired with the Kremlin and whether the president obstructed justice. By suggesting the investigation was created by shadowy intelligence figures who wanted to thwart Mr Trump's candidacy from the start, Republicans are making it easier for the eventual findings to be waved away. However, a result of the attack line is that the UK's spy agencies are being included in claims of "deep state" opposition to Mr Trump. It risks tensions at a time when the UK wants to deepen ties with the US as it quits the EU. Daily Telegraph, London Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] A dissident journalist is murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His remains are yet to be found and growing evidence points to the involvement of Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince. Then, after days of humming and hawing about who's to blame, Donald Trump releases a statement putting himself four square behind the main suspect. It's perhaps one of the clearest demonstrations yet of how US foreign policy works while he baits domestic opponents and throws doubt on the work of his own intelligence agencies. What could be more Trumpian than that? The calculation released in Tuesday's statement is clear. He came to the presidency on a populist promise to tell it as he sees it. And how refreshing it is to see a president avoid the usual bunkum manoeuvre of offering strong words, while continuing business as usual. Mr Trump is nothing if not consistent in refusing to play the standard diplomatic game of saying one thing in public and another in private down the phone to useful dictators in strategic neighbourhoods. (Let us not forget it was the Nobel peace prize winner Barack Obama who sold more arms to Saudi Arabia than any other president since WWII.) Instead, as he has with so many other bits of politics during the past three years, Mr Trump lifts the curtain on how domestic considerations and realpolitik inform White House decisions. He talks about the importance of Saudi Arabia to US jobs and contrasts its humanitarian assistance with the work of Iran in destabilising the region. For us cynics, weary of national self-interest dressed up as high-minded principle, it's almost a welcome change. But a man was murdered - and evidence points to the head of state of an ally. And Mr Trump is insistent on taking that head of state's denials at face value above the apparent conclusions of the CIA, and its evidence of phone calls between the crown prince's aides and the kill team: "Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event - maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" At the same time, Mr Trump appears to be more intent on simply baiting his domestic enemies and the Democrats who will control the House of Representatives. "I understand there are members of Congress who, for political or other reasons, would like to go in a different direction - and they are free to do so," he writes, as if the evidence pointing to the Saudi regime simply does not exist. He smears the journalist with his now familiar "some are saying" technique. "Representatives of Saudi Arabia say Jamal Khashoggi was an 'enemy of the state' and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but my decision is in no way based on that - this is an unacceptable and horrible crime," he says, using the sort of sentence structure favoured by victim blamers. Trump supporters will defend it as a president protecting American interests. In a complicated, dangerous world, any other president would have made the same calculation, but shrouded it with self-serving cant. They are probably right. But what any other president would not have done is issued a statement setting out such clear and one-sided backing. It ultimately offers impunity, carte blanche to a world leader to go about murdering and silencing opponents secure in the knowledge that his most powerful ally will do nothing. His statement will be read in Riyadh with glee. The only thing Mr Trump got right in his idiotic statement was his opening line: "The world is a very dangerous place!" And it just got a bit more dangerous. Daily Telegraph, London Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] US Chief Justice John Roberts defended the independence of the federal judiciary a day after President Donald Trump called a judge who ruled against his policy barring asylum for certain immigrants an Obama judge, but Trump rejected the rebuke, chided Roberts and launched a new round of attacks. The remarks by Roberts represented his first public response to Trump over the Republican presidents persistent criticism of the federal courts. Opponents of Trump have called his criticism of judges an attack on the rule of law in the United States. We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges, Roberts, a conservative who was appointed by Republican former President George W. Bush, said in a statement released by the Supreme Court in response to a news media inquiry. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for, Roberts added in the statement, which did not mention Trump by name. In a Twitter post, Trump wrote in response: Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It is unusual for a US chief justice, who presides over the nine-member US Supreme Court, to issue such a statement in response to a president. The US Constitution established the federal judiciary as a co-equal branch of government with the executive and legislative branches as part of a system of checks and balances on power. Presidents nominate federal judges and the Senate confirms them. Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University in Virginia, said Roberts is sending up a signal that Trump has gone beyond the pale of responsible political discourse. For a long time the chief justice didnt respond to it. I suspect at some point Roberts decided enough was enough and he had to say something, Somin added. OATH OF OFFICE Roberts, who administered the oath of office to Trump when he was sworn in as president last year, has himself been the target of Trumps attacks, in particular because of a 2012 ruling that preserved Obamas signature domestic policy achievement, the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare. In a tweet after that ruling, Trump wrote, Congratulations to John Roberts for making Americans hate the Supreme Court because of his BS. Trump on Tuesday took aim at US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco, who on Monday temporarily blocked an order by the president that barred asylum for immigrants who enter the country illegally from Mexico. Tigar was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama. This was an Obama judge, Trump said. And Ill tell you what. Its not going to happen like this anymore. Trump also blasted the entire San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from federal courts in nine western states including California. Trump called the liberal-leaning 9th Circuit a disgrace. That court has ruled against Trump in several high-profile cases including his travel ban targeting people from several Muslim-majority countries and his bid to rescind a program that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants brought into the country as children. In Twitter posts on Wednesday, Trump heaped scorn on the idea that the 9th Circuit was indeed an independent judiciary, and again brought up the idea of breaking up that court because the region it covers is too big. He added, Judicial Activism, by people who know nothing about security and the safety of our citizens, is putting our country in great danger. Not good! Judges in that region have also blocked construction of the Keystone XL pipeline project Trump has championed, and his administrations effort to restrict the military service of transgender troops. Trump last year referred to a jurist who ruled against him on his travel ban as a so-called judge. Trump as a presidential candidate in 2016 said a judge in a case involving Trump University was biased against him because of the jurists Mexican-American heritage. Neal Katyal, Obamas former acting US solicitor general, wrote on Twitter that Trumps goal was to delegitimize the courts and Roberts because they are part of an institution designed to serve as a check against his impulsivity and reckless disregard for the rule of law. With the help of a Senate controlled by his fellow Republicans, Trump has appointed a succession of conservative judges in a bid to move the federal judiciary to the right. His appointments of Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court have solidified its conservative majority for perhaps years to come. Roberts issued his statement in response to a request for comment from the Associated Press about Trumps Tuesday remarks. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One (Carolyn Kaster/AP) President Donald Trumps embrace of Saudi Arabia has exposed a foreign policy rift in the Republican Party, as some of his colleagues warn that not punishing the kingdom for its role in killing a US-based columnist will have dangerous consequences. Many Republicans, even senators Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul, who share their views on the matter with the president, have denounced Mr Trumps decision not to levy harsher penalties on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the death and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday he was astounded by Mr Trumps statement and likened it to a press release for Saudi Arabia. It is a delicate situation when we have a long-term ally that weve had for decades, but we have a crown prince that I believe ordered the killing of a journalist, Mr Corker told Chattanooga TV station WTVC in his home state of Tennessee. We dont have a smoking gun. Everything points to the fact that he knew about it and directed it. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended Mr Trumps decision, saying the US has already placed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials suspected of involvement in the October 2 killing of The Washington Post columnist, who had been critical of the royal family. I fully realize we have to deal with bad actors and imperfect situations on the international stage. However, when we lose our moral voice, we lose our strongest asset. Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 20, 2018 Weve sanctioned 17 people, some of them very senior in the Saudi government, Mr Pompeo said in a radio interview with KCMO in Kansas City, Missouri. We are going to make sure that America always stands for human rights. Expand Close Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Yui Mok/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Yui Mok/PA) Mr Graham is not convinced. When we lose our moral voice, we lose our strongest asset, he said. Members of both parties have accused Mr Trump of ignoring US intelligence that concluded, according to one official, that it was likely the crown prince ordered the killing. Several politicians have indicated that the US has no smoking gun that proves he was responsible, but they have called on the CIA and other top intelligence agencies to publicly share what they told the president about the killing. Hey @realdonaldtrump: being Saudi Arabias bitch is not America First. Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) November 21, 2018 In his statement on Tuesday, Mr Trump argued that punishing Saudi Arabia by foolishly cancelling Saudi arms deals worth billions of dollars to the US would only benefit Russia and China. Critics, including high-ranking officials in other countries, accused Mr Trump of ignoring human rights and giving Saudi Arabia a pass for economic reasons. It is America First, Mr Trump said. That unleashed a tweet on Wednesday from Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii who wrote: Being Saudi Arabias bitch is not America First.' Expand Close A woman holds a poster with the image of murdered Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi (Emrah Gurel/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A woman holds a poster with the image of murdered Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi (Emrah Gurel/AP) Mr Trump also said the US needs Saudi Arabias help to counter Iran in the region, fight extremism and keep oil prices steady. The US, Russia and the Saudis have boosted oil production in anticipation of sharply lower exports from Iran due to U.S. sanctions reinstated after Mr Trump exited the Iran nuclear deal. Mr Trump publicly thanked Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for plunging oil prices. However, Opec, the cartel of oil-producing countries, could announce production cuts at its December 6 meeting in Vienna, nudging prices upward. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but lets go lower! he wrote from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending Thanksgiving. Criticism of the president will likely resume after the holiday when politicians return to Capitol Hill early next week. In this edition of India Briefing Magazine, we make the case for why now is the right time for foreign firms t... Bollywood actor Rajkummar Rao has completed shooting of Mikhil Musale's "Made in China". Announcing the schedule wrap, Rajkummar on Wednesday took to Twitter and wrote: "Schedule wrap for 'Made in China'. What a fun shoot, can't wait to share it with you guys on the big screen." Along with the tweet, the "Stree" actor also shared an image with his team. The film is hilarious take on a struggling Gujarati businessman (Rajkummar) and the bizarre journey he undertakes to become a successful entrepreneur. Featured Video Actress Mouni Roy is set to play Rajkummar's wife in the movie, which is produced by Dinesh Vijan of Maddock Films. Also featuring actor Boman Irani, "Made in China" is scheduled to release in August next year. Hamas publishes faces of elite Israeli unit online 9 men, 4 women and vehicle used in botched Gaza op (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 22 - The armed wing of Hamas claims to have managed to find out the identities of the members of an elite Israeli unit intercepted ten days ago in Khan Younis, Gaza. The unit fled after a deadly clash with Hamas fighters. Hamas has published photos of the faces of 9 men and women that it claims were in the unit and of the vehicle they used. Military censors have asked Israelis not to comment on the photos. The statement issued by the military wing of Hamas also includes phone numbers that can be contacted by those who want to send information on the alleged members of the unit. ''We are asking Palestinians, wherever they are, to provide information,'' the statement says, apparently addressing mainly Arab citizens of Israel. (ANSAmed). Injunction filed in OST tribal court over Sioux San move By Ernestine Chasing HawkNative Sun News Today Staff Writer RAPID CITY Calling into question the status of Indians living in Rapid City and whether or not tribes can make decisions on their behalf was the subject of a recent meeting at the Mother Butler Center. The meeting on November 13 was organized by community members, Charmaine White Face, Art Zimiga, Mark Lone Hill and Teresa Spry who have legal, jurisdictional and treaty questions about the process by which the Great Plains Tribal Chairmens Health Board assumed control of the Rapid City Indian Health Service Unit via a 93-638 Indian Self Determination contract and their proposal to move services to a location east of town. According to IHS, Sioux San was approved for a new facility in 2002. In 2016, Congress appropriated $117 million to build a new facility on the Sioux San Campus with plans to demolish 15 of the existing buildings. A design contract was awarded in 2017 and by June, Indian Health Service had completed 80 percent of the architectural design at a cost of over one million dollars. Rapid City Indians enrolled at Cheyenne River, Rosebud and Pine Ridge, who live in Rapid City, have voiced their concerns because they believe were denied access to the consultation process of the takeover of Sioux San by the Great Plains Tribal Chairmens Health Board. They also maintain that because they are not allowed to vote in tribal elections, they were essentially denied equal representation, a right guaranteed by the U.S. constitution. The issue of voting in tribal elections has been a source of contention between tribes and tribal members living off the reservation for decades. It has been denounced repeatedly in Indian publication newspapers. Three Sioux tribes -- Cheyenne River, Oglala and Rosebud -- plan to take over management of Sioux San Hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota, from the Indian Health Service. Photo by Kevin Abourezk The Unified Health Board made up of members from the Cheyenne River, Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations were given statutory oversight of the Rapid City Indian Health Facility on the Sioux San campus through a series of resolutions passed by the three tribes. The three tribes, also through resolutions passed last spring, gave the GPTCHB authority to take control of the hospital via a 93-638 contract and move forward with plans to relocate services to land donated by local developer Hani Shafei. GPTCHB is a health advocacy organization made up of a consortium of 18 tribes in the Great Plains Region, with all 18 tribal chairmen comprising the board. Their offices are located in Rapid City and their CEO is Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal member Jerilyn Church. An ad hoc committee from Rapid City called the Mni Luzahan Wicozani Advisory Committee met on regular basis with the Unified Health Board and the GPTCHB and became the decision making body in regard to the future of Sioux San. In June of last year the GPCTHB intervened in the ongoing process of IHS building a new facility by submitting a proposal to run the hospital via a 638 contract which stopped IHS from moving forward in building the new multimillion dollar facility on the Sioux San Campus. Robert Cook, a respected educator and member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe called into question the legality and authority of this decision making body to turn management of Sioux San Hospital over to the Great Plains Tribal Chairmens Health Board without consulting the people who utilize Sioux San. They need to meet with the community and they have to be transparent. They need to have feedback. Then theyve proved they acted in the best interest of the community, Cook said. Unfortunately they did this behind the scenes. There has been a lack of consultation with the community, with the very people who fought and died for the right to have quality health care here in Rapid City. Cook said although he is a believer in the process of self-determination he questioned why the tribes involved did not first 638 contract their own facilities before contracting Sioux San. Why are we the pilot program? Cook asked. Contact Ernestine Chasing Hawk at staffwriter@nativesunnews.today Copyright permission Native Sun News Today Join the Conversation Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has always gone out of his way to help the needy. Whether it was the Nepal earthquake, Kerala floods, indebted farmers or now sewage workers, Big B is one of the few celebrities who come out in support during such causes. Twitter In his blog, the actor mentioned how sewage workers go down the manholes of the city, to clean, in the most inhuman conditions without any proper equipment of safety care. After several deaths were reported of these workers, Big B explained what it takes to become a sewage worker. Manual scavenging refers to the practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling in any manner, human excreta from dry latrines and sewers," Amitabh wrote in his blog. "They (workers) go down the manholes of the city, to clean, in the most inhuman conditions without any proper equipment of safety care. Many perish inside the pits due to asphyxiation and deadly fumes discriminated against..." "I came across this information during the cleanathon of 15 hours recently and I am buying 50 machines for these workers so they do not have to enter the pits but are able to clean the manholes and sewers from outside with these machines, saving the indignity they suffer from the public." The 'Thugs Of Hindostan' actor will be donating 50 machines to ensure workers don't face such problems ever again. He elaborated on the kind of machines he is planning to purchase. "The machines are fairly large, a bit cumbersome to operate, but do the job...," he said, adding that the ones he would get were of smaller size and could be personally owned by the worker. "There is the larger version too, that cannot be moved about other than on a truck .. this shall be presented by me to the Municipal Corporation .. in a day or two," he added. We need more celebs like him. After the grand and royal reception in Bengaluru, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone landed back in bay today. The couple has always redefined relationship goals and we never run of reasons to love and adore them. Like, the way they flooded our social media feeds with their lovey-dovey and candid pictures from the wedding and how they were 'liked', 'loved' and 'shared' by their fans and loved ones. Paps followed the couple to get their 'perfect' clicks and the results were splendid. Like a protective husband that Ranveer has been since day one, he was again spotted holding her hands and protecting her, like he did when they landed back in India after their grand wedding in Italy. The couple is now all set to host a grand wedding reception in Mumbai for their friends and close ones from the film fraternity. Millie Bobby Brown shot to fame with her role as Eleven in the Netflix science fiction drama series Stranger Things. At the age of just 14, she has been chosen as the UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador. And with that, she has become the youngest ever goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. Netflix It's a dream come true to become a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. It's a huge honour to join such an impressive list of people who have supported UNICEF over the years. I am looking forward to meeting as many children and young people as I can, hearing their stories, and speaking out on their behalf, Millie Bobby Brown said in a press release. The appointment was marked on World Children's Day at United Nations Headquarters and the Empire State Building in New York. Millie Bobby Brown said she wants to raise awareness using the global platform about childrens rights and other issues including education, bullying, violence and poverty. "I'm delighted to welcome Millie to the UNICEF family, particularly on World Children's Day a day that is all about giving children and young people a voice. Children are their own best advocates. I know that Millie will use her passion and dedication to defend the rights of vulnerable children and young people everywhere," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. Millie Bobby Brown has been supporting UNICEFs work since 2016 hosting its 70th-anniversary celebrations at the United Nations in 2016, and championing UNICEF's inaugural World Children's Day last year. John Allen Chau, an American missionary who was killed by the inhabitants of the North Sentinel Island in Andaman and Nicobar after he tried to illegally trespass was there for religious conversion, his last letter to his family has revealed. Chau, who had reportedly made multiple attempts to reach the island, which is prohibited for outsiders had tried to reach the island at least five times. Initially, it was reported that Chau was a tourist. But later it was revealed that he was a missionary. John Chau/ Instagram In a letter, the 26-year-old wrote to his family he has revealed the purpose of his visit - religious conversion. His final letter, accessed by DailyMail suggests that he was there to teach the tribe about Jesus. 'You guys might think I'm crazy in all this but I think it's worth it to declare Jesus to these people,' he wrote in the letter to his parents. What is more striking is that Chau was well aware of the dangers that he could encounter while trying to make contact with the tribe, which is known to be hostile to outsiders. "Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed," he told his parents in the letter. John Chau Chau had sneaked into the North Sentinel Island with the help of some local fishermen, who were the last people that saw him alive. Incidentally, November 16, the day that Chau got killed by the tribesmen wasn't the first time that he had come under attack. In one of his notes between November 14-16, Chau has narrated another incident when he was scared to die after he came under attack with arrows by a kid, probably about 10 or so years old. Describing the attack, Chau said: a 'little kid shot me with an arrow - directly into my Bible which I was holding. 'If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow then so be it. I think I could be more useful alive though 'I don't want to die! Would it be wiser to leave and let someone else continue? No. I don't think so. I still could make it back to the US somehow as it almost seems like certain death to stay here. 'God, I don't want to die. WHO WILL TAKE MY PLACE IF I DO? OH GOD, I miss my parents...," he wrote. John Chau/ Instagram On November 16th according to the fishermen who have been arrested for taking him to the island, Chau tried to again make contact with the tribes but got a hostile reception from them. The moment he entered the island, he was hit by arrows and as the fishermen who were waiting from him at a far looked on, the tribesmen dragged his body into the island. The Sentinel, much like the number of uncontacted indigenous groups are known to be unwelcoming towards outsiders. In the past too, they have attacked outsiders who tried to reach the islands. Hunter-gatherers who use bows and arrows as their weapons and use rudimentary methods to catch local food are known as scheduled tribes in todays date. They are known as uncontacted groups of people who remain hostile to outsiders because they consider it an invasion into their territory. An American tourist, John Allen Chau who ventured into the islands inhabited by North Sentinelese tribe was shot with bows and arrows. Reportedly, some fishermen had helped him to gain access to the islands where entry of outsiders is strictly prohibited under the Andaman and Nicobar (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956. In fact, outsiders are not even allowed to venture up to 5 km from its shore. Here are a few points about Sentinelese tribe in Andaman and Nicobar islands; 1) Sentinelese is an indigenous tribe that lives in the North Sentinel Island, a few miles west of Port Blair. While uncontacted tribes like these all over India have warmed up to civic and government administrations, Sentinels, however, continue to remain hostile to outsiders. 2) Quite a few attempts have been made to establish contacts with them in the 1970s and 1990s, even by the Colonial British but all of them ended in vain as the tribe attacked people with bows and arrows. 3) Reportedly, 13th-century explorer, Marco Polo had described this tribe as The most violent and cruel generation who seem to eat everybody they catch. 4)Their population is estimated to be anywhere between 15 and 500. A 2001 census recorded 21 men and 18 women. However, a 2011 census officially recorded only 15 people (12 male and three females) though, nothing is confirmed. There could be even more. The 2004 Tsunami that had struck the islands could have possibly wiped them out until a coast guard sent by a helicopter was attacked with bows and arrows. File Image 5) Replying to a Rajya Sabha query in 2017, the Indian government said that the exact population of this island is absolutely unknown. Centuries of no contact with the real world and living in isolation also means that they havent been immunized against possible diseases and carry microbes with them. Contacting them, therefore, can also prove to be lethal. 6) Other island tribes like Jarawas, Onge and Great Andamanese are tribes which unlike the sentinels have made contact with the rest of humanity. Perhaps, India has even built a highway through Jarawa forest though, the Supreme Court banned entry of tourists in 2013. 7)Two fishermen in 2006 had apparently died in an attempt to illegally harvest crabs off the coast of North Sentinel. They slept in their boat overnight near the North Sentinel Island and approached the shore. In a decision that would bring joy and relief to the Sikh community in India and Pakistan, the Indian government has decided to develop the Kartarpur corridor, which will help the pilgrims from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjabs Gurdaspur district to the International Border. The corridor will give Sikh pilgrims from India easy access to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, in Pakistan, where Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the Kartarpur Corridor project, with all modern amenities and facilities, will be implemented with Central Government funding to provide smooth and easy passage to the pilgrims. The Indian government, which made the first move on the development of the Kartarpur corridor, will also urge Government of Pakistan to recognize the sentiments of the Sikh community and develop a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory as well. Reacting to the Indian decision, Choudri Fawad Hussain, Pakistan's Minister for Information and Broadcasting said it is a victory of peace lobby in both countries, its a step towards the right direction and we hope such steps ll encourage voice of reasons and tranquillity on both sides of the border. On Saturday Railway Protection Force (RPF) intercepted a group of men who were unloading parcels of suspected dog meat onto the platform. The incident received widespread social media criticism. The samples were later sent to Madras Veterinary College for medical tests. However, the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Vepery today confirmed that close to 1,100 kg of meat that was seized is not of dog but that of goats. The New Indian Express reported that professor and head of the department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology of Madras Veterinary College said radiological findings of carcasses are in accordance with the small ruminants of goat. The report was further submitted to Tamil Nadu Food Safety department. Photo: PTI The report in its explanation read, "The Radiograph of radius and ulna of carcass reveals poorly developed ulna which is fused with radius. In addition, incomplete closure of growth plates indicated pre-pubertal age of carcass, thereby proving that carcasses were that of goat. Results further obtained from Molecular technique (PCR) of carcass by Meat Science department and gross morphological inspections by Veterinary Anatomy departments of Madras Veterinary College corroborated that the samples are that of goats. In a statement to Express, Dr R Kathiravan, Designated Officer, Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug, Chennai said that proper guidelines that need to be followed by meat transporters and traders will be issued in accordance with food safety acts. Photo: The Hindu He further added that there was no need for people to panic and that authorities will continue to monitor the meat sale. On Saturday, police officials smelt the stink from 11 polystyrene boxes at Chennai Egmore railway station where two tonnes of alleged dog meat was being transferred. It was further reported that when the officials checked the boxes they were shocked to find undressed meat without any mandatory seal on it. Food safety officials told TOI that the meat might have been brought to Chennai so that it could be sold as Rajasthan meat at a lower price. Until now, national capital New Delhi and surrounding regions were known as the rape capital for notorious crimes that take place in the vicinity. However, a heart-wrenching news of a male street dog being brutally raped by four low lives in Mumbai has surpassed all other misdeeds. The incident, which brings shame to humanity and poses serious questions about the safety of dogs in our country, has invited a lot of flak, grief and anger from around the globe. A non-profit organisation, Animals Matter To Me (AMTM) which had taken care of the dog and had been treating it posted on social media platform, Facebook that the dog had succumbed to his injuries. The welfare organisation posted a few photos of a vet examining the body of the animal along with a police officer. Courage fought a lot but went in his sleep today. Malad Mumbai police team is in for panchnama & courage's remains will be sent for post mortem. Another speechless soul harmed by an dangerous animal called Human. Hope culprits are nabbed soon. read the caption of the post. Soon social media users started offering their heartfelt condolences for the street animal. Many people asserted that the dog had gone to a better place, expressing astonishment that how could humanity stoop to a new level with each passing day. The incident took place on Saturday night in Mumbais Malwani when a local resident, Sudha Fernandes, who regularly feeds the dog found its private parts seriously injured and found the animal bleeding profusely. Fernandes added that later, a local auto driver informed them that he saw four men, who were allegedly under influence of drugs sexually abusing the dog, which was tied on the legs and its mouth gagged. The doctor who treated the quadruped had earlier said its private parts have been mutilated in such a way that it could not happen unless someone forcibly harmed it adding that someone even tried to fold its hind legs near the pelvis. In August this year, eight men were booked for raping a goat that was pregnant in Haryanas Mewat district. The goat had also succumbed to her injuries and the state police had arrested two of the eight accused. A Pakistani infant, who was diagnosed with a condition of a giant heart, got a new lease of life after undergoing an operation at a city hospital, doctors said on Wednesday. The 14-month-old baby, having a complex and unusual heart disease, was operated in 2016 at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) in Delhi. Dr Raja Joshi, chairman, paediatric cardiac surgery at the hospital, said after two years the child is doing fine. This case study has been accepted for publication in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery a reputed medical journal, he added. Unsplash The baby, a native of Pakistan, was brought to SGRH with an inability to feed properly and recurrent chest infections and every crawling movement was interrupted due to breathlessness, the hospital authorities said. He was not able to grow, weighing only 6.5kg at the time of admission, the hospital said in a statement. Neeraj Aggarwal, paediatric cardiologist at SGRH, said detailed work revealed that the left atrium one of the four chambers of the heart was dilated, four times the expected size (called Giant Left Atrium), which was pressing on the nearby airway structures in the chest. Also there was a large hole between the lower chambers of heart (called ventricular septal defect) and the mitral valve was leaking, he added. GooglePlus/Representational Image According to the hospital authorities, the volume of left atrium (LA) was 87ml, while normal volume is 12-20ml in children. It took nearly six hours to operate on the child. We had to repair the mitral valve because valve replacement wasnt feasible. That would require the child to be on blood thinners for life, which has its own risks, Dr Joshi said. It was a complex and challenging surgery, because to the best of our knowledge, only a few cases of giant LA have been reported in children, aged below two years. According to available reports, this was the largest size of left atrium for the age reported in world literature, the doctor added. Israel censors info on botched Gaza raid 'Do not help Hamas decipher op', calls for 'responsibility' (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 22 - With a highly unusual announcement, the Israeli military censors on Thrusday called for Israelis to refrain from telling any details about the raid in the Gaza Strip 10 days ago by an elite unit in which its commander - a colonel - was killed, as well as seven Hamas fighters including a local leader. A statement issued by the armed branch of Hamas includes telephone numbers for those who would like to provide further information on the alleged members of the unit. ''We are asking Palestinians wherever they are to provide information,'' the statement says, seemingly addressing Arab citizens of Israel. (ANSAmed). Angry at not finding his seat comfortable, a passenger on board a Patna-bound SpiceJet flight (SG-379) from Pune ripped off the cushion of his seat minutes before take-off on Wednesday afternoon. No action was taken against him as the crew did not want to delay the flight. The engineering team put the cushion back and the flight took off on time at 1.05pm. The passenger was offered another seat but he declined, a source in the airline said. The passenger, identified as Nitesh Kumar, later posted the photos of the ripped seat on Twitter. This is the flight condition of SpiceJets Pune to Patna flight, he tweeted, tagging the airlines twitter handle as well as that of the civil aviation minister, Suresh Prabhu. toi All cushions of the seats of SpiceJet flights are detachable. It seems that the passenger found the seat uncomfortable as it was shaking and took it off. He then took photos of the same before the cabin crew could intervene. This happened as soon as the man reached his seat. The crew asked him about the issue to which he said that the seat was very uncomfortable. The crew cautioned him and even offered him a different seat, which he declined. The engineering team put the cushion back and the flight took off on time. afp/representational image We could have taken action against him but did not want to delay the flight. The flight landed in Patna, after which the engineering team inspected the seat again, a SpiceJet source told TOI. The passenger could not be reached for his comments despite repeated attempts. Seventy-two-year-old Chitra Samant, the widow of Vir Chakra awardee Lieutenant Suresh Gajanan Samant who laid down his life while searching for underwater saboteurs at Karachi during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, is all set to receive her pension dues after 46 years. On November 16, the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA), Allahabad, issued the revised pension pay order (PPO) to the widow, approving liberalised family pension. For all these years, she had been receiving an ordinary pension amounting to Rs 29,834 per month. But from the next month, she will receive a revised pension of Rs 97,400. In addition, she will receive all arrears pending since 1972. I never paid attention to my pension as I was under the impression that whatever pension was disbursed by the government was correct. I had full faith in the government, said Chitra, who recently shifted to Pune from Mumbai, where she spent over four decades. The septuagenarian was unaware of her entitlements until her last visit to the Sainik Welfare office in Bandra in June this year. A clerk working at the office, upon verifying her documents, found gross anomalies in her PPO issued by the PCDA, Allahabad, in 1972. Following which, the widow with the help of her nephew Anoop Gavankar, submitted her documents to the pension cell of the Maharashtra Sainik Welfare board in Pune. indiandefencereview Group Captain Suhas Phatak (retired), in charge of the cell, said, The widow has not been getting her due pension and special gallantry allowance from the Centre since 1972. The new PPO, which calculates liberalized family pension with effect from 1986, is incorrect as she is entitled to receiving pension from the day of the issuance of the first PPO. We have taken up the issue with the PCDA as well Naval headquarters, New Delhi. Following her husbands death, she took up a job as an assistant to secretary in the general administration department of the Maharashtra government. Later, she took up home tutoring at her residence in Borivali. She has not accepted offers of welfare schemes proposed by the state government. I am proud of being a war widow. I dont want anything special. If required, I can resume my tuitions, she said. Devoted to duty Lieutenant Suresh Gajanan Samant was on board an Indian Naval unit, which attacked enemy ships off Karachi and also other installations in the harbour on the night of December 4 and 5 in 1971. He displayed great professional skills and devotion to duty and was instrumental in achieving the aim of the mission. Subsequently, he laid down his life searching for under-water saboteurs around a naval anchorage. Throughout, Lieutenant Suresh displayed gallantry, professional skill and devotion to duty of a high order, reads the citation of the Vir Chakra received by Chitra Suresh Samant from then President of India V V Giri in 1972 in New Delhi. There are innumerable instances of Facebook being abused by people for nefarious purposes. We've seen hacks, scams, election manipulation, and more. But nothing comes close to this despicable attempt at using Mark Zuckerberg's social platform for something so despicable -- Facebook's disappointing response to the incident. Despite still being in school, 40 percent of South Sudanese girls are married off each year - Reuters Just last month, human rights activists uncovered a horrifying post originating from South Sudan. A local man in the civil war-torn country was apparently trying to get his 17-year-old daughter married. He was also more than happy to sell her off for a tidy sum to do it. The auction, which went viral after being pointed out to Facebook and local authorities, had at least five men from South Sudan trying to bid for the poor girl. The winner at least three times older than the girl, paid the father in $10,000, 500 cows, two luxury cars, two bikes, a boat, and a couple of new smartphones. Authorities say it's the largest dowry ever paid in the country. A teenage girl was successfully sold on Facebook "She has been reduced to a mere commodity," the human rights activist that tried to stop the human trafficking attempt, Philips Anyang Ngong, told The Associated Press. He called it "the biggest test of child abuse, trafficking and auctioning of a human being." Sickeningly, one of those bidders was the state's deputy governor. The sale unfortunately went through before it was stopped, with the teenage girl becoming the winning bidder's ninth wife. He even posted photos to Facebook after the fact, with her sitting next to him in a lavish dress, staring at the floor in disbelief at her situation. Reuters ALSO READ: Mark Zuckerberg Says "Fixing" Facebook Will Take 3 Years, Which Is Three Years Too Long It's just the latest stage in a country with a deep-seated history of child brides and dowries, much like our own here in India In South Sudan, dowries are also usually paid in the form of cows. Though illegal now, the United Nations Population Fund points out that 40 percent of South Sudanese girls are still married off before the age of 18. However, Facebook has rightfully received a significant amount of backlash over the matter, both within the country and on the international stage. It was several days before Facebook took cognizance of the situation and removed the auction post, by which time the transaction had been completed. Frustratingly, it also left untouched numerous other posts supporting the actions of both the father and the buyer in the incident. Activists, lawmakers, and human rights groups across the world are shocked that the biggest social network in the world could be used to facilitate such a medieval practice, with absolutely no restrictions or consequences. Reuters Facebook, as usual, has commented in such desultory fashion it makes you want to strangle someone. "Any form of human trafficking - whether posts, pages, ads, or groups is not allowed on Facebook. We removed the post and permanently disabled the account belonging to the person who posted this to Facebook," they released in public statement. "We're always improving the methods we use to identify content that breaks our policies, including doubling our safety and security team to more than 30,000 and investing in technology," the Facebook spokesperson said. But for all their work to automatically detect online bullying in pictures through artificial intelligence, you'd think they'd have a way to monitor for people being literally sold off. Getting any bank work done can be trying, especially if you're trying to complete it over the phone without going in to your nearest branch. Scammers have been using this fact, coupled with a loophole in Google Maps, to dupe people out of their hard-earned money. The Maharashtra Cyber Police say scammers have been using Google's navigation app to impersonate people's banks. That might sound ludicrous to you, but it's actually fairly simple for them to pull off. You see, Google Maps allows people to input their own content into the system. That way people with small offices or restaurants can mark themselves on the app, complete with name, contact, details, and photos. Unfortunately, there's no active verification in place, meaning false information usually only comes to Google's attention when flagged by users. According to local police, scammers in Thane have been abusing this feature to mark themselves on Google Maps as bank branches. They simply find the location of the branch of an established bank, and edit the entry to input their own phone number as the point of contact. "We have received at least three complaints from the Bank of India (BoI) over the last one month. Superintendent of Police Balsing Rajput of the State cyber police told The Hindu. "In all three instances, we immediately notified the authorities at Google." In fact, they believe scammers have been doing this for at least a full month now. So why would that matter? Well, a lot of people have gotten used to Google's helpful listings, using it to find nearby restaurants, government offices, and more. So when they find the modified listing, they call the number. The scammer then, under the guise of verifying the customer's identity, manages to extract their bank details, card numbers, and perhaps even PIN and CVV numbers. According to Rajput, a number of people so far have fallen prey to this simple scam, allowing the perpetrators to make off with their money unhindered. Of course, it's not exactly Google's fault in this case. You can't open up a crowdsourced feature allowing people to keep their contacts up to date and also police it rigidly. But there are a few simple things you can keep in mind to make sure you're not hoodwinked by ice like this scam. How to stay safe and vigilant about bank fraud? For one, don't look for official numbers on Google Maps, whether you're hunting for your bank's contact number, or that of a government service like the passport office. Go to your bank's official website and it should have either a national or state-wise helpline listed. Secondly, a bank will never ever ask you for your PIN or CVV for any reason whatsoever. If they need to identify you, they'll ask for the registered mobile number, or listed birth date or some other detail filled in when you opened the account -- depending on each bank's privacy policy. Take care, and stay vigilant. Earlier in March this year, life started imitating art in China. News emerged that the country was contemplating a "social credit system" implementation, similar to a creepy episode of Netflix's 'Black Mirror'. That's now officially being launched. Reuters The Beijing municipal government's website posted a notice on Monday this week, saying the new plan will go into effect by the end of 2020. Under it, China's 1.3 billion people will be judged according to points received based on their social behavior, for the rest of their lives. According to the plan, each resident will receive a score based on a variety of factors. For this, data will be pooled from several government departments, taking into account everything from criminal history, to social media posts, business dealings, and more. Reportedly some 22 million citizens might be punished under this scheme. Also Read: Chinese Police Just Caught A Wanted Criminal At A Crowded Concert Using Facial Recognition Similar to the episode it's so familiar to, a person with a better social score gets more options and benefits from the government. For instance, they might be given better loans, easier travel permits, and more. Those with a bad social credit however may find themselves unable to move from their city of residence at all, at least until they improve their score. It's an ambitious plan to be certain, if nothing else then because of how many people would have to be tracked. However, it has dark possibilities too. Human rights activists worry the plan might reduce China's citizens from humans to simple numbers on a report card. Screenshot from the Black Mirror episode 'Nosedive' The system has already been rolled out in Hangzhou as part of tests. In just a few months people with bad scores have been blocked from booking flights and high-speed trains in more than 11 million and 4 million instances respectively. In a moving incident, a brain-dead youth from Karnataka donated his hands to a man from Puducherry who lost his hands in an accident. His hands were kept preserved in a chemical solution, covered in an ice slush. They were transported 300 km from Bengaluru to Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research. The youth, a telecom employee met with an accident on November 15th and despite repeated attempts of saving him, he was declared brain dead on November 19th. The youth not only donated his hands but saved seven other lives by donating his liver, heart, kidneys, eyes and heart valves. His heart has reportedly gone to an 18-year old in Madhya Pradesh who was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart cannot pump blood effectively due to organ enlargement. His liver was donated to 67-year-old in Bengaluru who was suffering from liver cancer. Apart from these, his other organs were also sent to other hospitals for transplant. Appalled by the sight of men walking nude on the Gokarna beach in Karnataka, the state womens panel chief has sought vigilance to keep them under check. Facebook Chairperson of the commission NG Nagalakshmi Bai wrote to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy underlining the need to enhance the vigil so that men would not roam without clothes on Karnatakas beaches. ALSO READ: Watch People Save A Beached Whale In A 28-Hour-Long Rescue Operation & Put It Back In The Sea According to a report in Times of India, chairperson NG Nagalakshmi Bai wrote, "There have been instances of men in nude indulging in revelry and posing a threat to women". She also wanted to a dress code on male tourists to be implemented. ameenshh/Instagram Picture for representation "Recently, I had been to the Gokarna beach where I saw nonchalant men roaming around in the nude. It is not just embarrassing for women and children but is also a serious security threat," she said, according to ToI. The Karnataka State Women's Commission clarified that it has no objection to revelry if men were in proper attire, but they should not be allowed to walk naked. ALSO READ: With Increasing Accidental Deaths, Goa Government Identifies 24 No Selfie Zones Across Beaches More than 230 skeletons have been found in a mass grave discovered in Sri Lankas Mannar town. This has turned out to be the countrys biggest such site. The skeletons were found by the workers who were digging foundations for a new building. The Sri Lankan court has ordered detailed excavations at the site. But its still not clear who the victims were and how they died. "We have excavated more than 230 skeletons so far," professor Raj Somadeva, a forensic archaeologist from the University of Kelaniya near Colombo who is leading the team at the site, told the BBC. "The bones are scattered and it's very difficult to trace the stature of the bodies," Somadeva said, adding "some bones were missing... It's chaotic." Apart from the human remains, archaeologists also found porcelain, ceramic and metal objects, and jewellery worn by the victims. The community leader said that hundreds of people went missing during the decades-long conflict that happened between the Sri-Lankan security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. The remains of 96 people were discovered in 2014 at a site in another part of Mannar - adjacent to Thiruketheeswaram, a prominent Hindu temple. When it comes to attendance in college, students are the ones who struggle and literally scrape through to make it. And when it comes to satiating the required there are some who employ tricks. But who would have ever thought that professors and heads of institutions would use similar (not to mention unethical) tactics. Reuters After all, they are expected to maintain discipline, but this Hyderabad institution is going through a bit of a role reversal. According to ANI, the Hyderabad Task Force police on Wednesday busted a gang and arrested three people for cloning fingerprints of faculty members of various educational institutions. Anjani Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad city said, "The Commissioner's Task Force, East Zone Team, Hyderabad city has apprehended three persons who were involved in illegal preparation and selling of cloned fingerprints to faculty members of various educational institutions and tweaking the online bio-metric attendance illegally." ALSO READ: From A College Dropout To Supporting His Entire Family, Here's How This Dedicated Son Did It "During the interrogation, one of the accused Ramakrishna confessed that he is pursuing regular PhD and simultaneously working as an Associate Professor at SCET, West Godavari District. Another accused Sriram Prasad is an engineering graduate who previously worked as an Administrative Officer in an Engineering College," the police official added. "The third accused has been found to be working as a Vice-Principal of an Institution. Facebook The arrested trio was running a business of cloning and selling fake fingerprints to subvert the mandatory bio-metric online attendance system introduced by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) officials and government of Telangana. As per details, Ramakrishna designed a technique of cloning fingerprints taking help from the internet. He met Sriram Prasad who requested him to prepare cloned fingerprints for the staff of few colleges. Prasad later contacted different institutes to get orders for more fingerprint cloning. Also Read: Delhi College Students Built Android App That Correctly Checks Pollution Near You Through Phone Everybody would agree on the fact that there are racism and its heinous repercussions of living abroad. Different communities around the world display hatred towards the other community, they dont belong to. In a similar incident, a racist man harassed four Muslim girls inside the food joint- Mcdonalds in Minnesota. After the man pulled out a gun on them, he ran out of the joint. But rather being helpful the manager of Mcdonalds started shouting on the girl, telling them to f**k off from the restaurant. This racist white man was harassing 4 black Muslim girls inside a McDonalds in Minnesota and when the girls confronted the man, he pulled out a gun on them. Kids: He just pulled a gun on us... Manager: I understand that...I don't give a F*CK THIS IS INSANE RETWEET THIS!! pic.twitter.com/pLorZYMxDd StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) November 20, 2018 The four girls helplessly said that he pulled out a gun on us but the manager kept shouting and told them to just get out from the restaurant. If there is bad, then there is good also- another man who was present there at that time took the girl's stand and told the manager that dont send them out, a guy just pulled a gun at them. At the end of the video, we just see the manager going inside the restaurant, doing nothing. The first and foremost thing she should have done was to call the cops, so if we say that the man was wrong because he was racist then the woman is also wrong on her part to throw the girls out of the restaurant. We come across many cases like these on a daily basis, but lets just stop for a second and think are we this inhuman? Yemen: MSF warns about 'fighting near hospital' 'Concern for patients and personnel in Hodeidah' (ANSAmed) - ROME, NOVEMBER 22 - The organization Doctors Without Borders said it is ''extremely concerned'' for its patients and personnel in Hodeidah, in Yemen, due to fighting increasingly close to healthcare sfacilities. Heavy fighting and bombardments, MSF said, have resumed inside Hodeidah with clashes very close to the hospital Al-Salakhana, where one of the organization's teams is working. Since the start of the new offensive launched by forces supported by Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, Doctors Without Borders stressed in a statement, medical teams have treated over 500 people who were injured in the war. ''Since 2015 - explained Caroline Seguin, who is in charge of MSF operations in Yemen - our healthcare structures have been hit six times in Yemen, 27 people have been killed and 40 were injured. All sides in the conflict need to guarantee that civilians and civil facilities like hospitals are protected''. The hospital of Al-Salakhana remains one of three public hospitals that are still open in the area. The hospital of Al-Thawrah, the main healthcare practice in the city, is working and is also under threat as the frontline is quickly getting closer. (ANSAmed). Members include large domestic and international brokerages as well as 100s of SME insurance brokerages based in cities, towns and rural regions across Australia. In order to become a member, brokers must meet government requirements as well as additional conditions implemented by NIBA these include abiding by NIBAs membership code and completing the continual professional development requirements. Those seeking to become a NIBA member must pay a fee and apply for one of the six possible membership categories typically, the application process takes between 8 and 10 weeks. Membership categories The association is a driving force for positive change in the broking industry, supporting financial services reforms and encouraging higher educational standards for brokers. It also created, implemented and now administers the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice for its members.Internationally, NIBA is a member of the Council of Asia Pacific Insurance Brokers Associations (CAPIBA) and the World Federation of Insurance Intermediaries (WFII). Insurance Brokers Code of Practice NIBAs Insurance Brokers Code of Practice aims to build competence in the profession and increase customer confidence. It sets out the minimum service standards that customers can expect from their broker while also outlining the way in which complaints and disputes can be resolved. The code also offers an explanation to consumers about the benefits of using an insurance broker and what they can expect from the service. NIBAs core strategies NIBA has confirmed that all of its activities fall under four key pillars representation professionalism, community awareness, and member services. The association does this by representing the interests of brokers and their clients, with integrity, to external bodies including the government, regulators, consumer groups and the media. It also promotes quality standards for insurance broking in Australia, campaigning for better education and promoting the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice. Furthermore, it provides members with opportunities to network and grow and secures the longevity of the profession by promoting insurance broking as a rewarding profession. Previous campaigns An annual report is also published by the association which looks at issues facing NIBA and its members as well as detailing the organisations initiatives and successes over a 12-month period. Previous campaigns include limiting the impact of Future of Financial Advice reforms on insurance brokers, especially in relation to general insurance products. NIBA also successfully opposed an excessive regulatory regime in relation to the funding of insurance premiums and supported the removal of Fire Services Levies on insurance premiums across Australia. Arab League urges Iran and Turkey to 'respect territory' New regional order if agreement on this, says secretary general (ANSAmed) - ROME, NOVEMBER 22 - Iran and Turkey ''must respect territorial integrity'' of Arab countries, Arab League secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Thursday at the Med Dialogues conference in Rome. ''Iran, which is trying to defend its own interests, should think about changing its attitude towards Arab countries. Turkey must also understand that, in seeking to defend its own territorial integrity, it must not impose on the territory of others, such as northern Syria,'' he said. Gheit added that, ''if an agreement was able to be reached on these terms, we could have a new regional order enabling Arab countries to be the central fulcrum'' for new accords in the area. (ANSAmed). Whittingham will be based in Lime Street, London, and will support the continued growth of the ICT business. Whittinghams experience will add to our bench strength and commitment to unlocking value for our clients through continued investment in our technology platforms and the consulting support required to optimise return on investment, said Stephen Jones, lead for UK O&C pricing, claims, product, and underwriting at Willis Towers Watson. This follows the appointment of Adhiraj Maitra who has joined Willis Towers Watsons P&C Insurance Consulting team as director. Maitra brings more than 10 years of experience in the Lloyds and London markets to his new role. He was also a consultant at KPMG and a capital actuary at Star Stone/Torus. I am delighted that Iain and Adhiraj have joined our growing and successful consulting and technology team, said Tammy Richardson, managing director of the UK P&C insurance consulting and technology business. They bring real-world experience at a time of significant change in our industry and I look forward to them providing tangible value for our clients across the insurance sector. The event celebrates the contribution of CEOs, managing directors, and senior management who drive Australias leading organisations. Goudswaard was also highly commended by the judges in the CEO of the Year award category. This is a real testament to Robs leadership and the contribution he makes to CUA, which has seen the organisation win a string of awards in the past year including the Mozo Experts Choice Award for Australias Best Credit Union, said Tracey lake, CUA chief people officer. Rob has spearheaded growth across many areas of CUAs business including asset and lending growth, increased employee engagement and culture, operational efficiency, and an increased commitment to community and social causes. He has also been a great champion for diversity, which has seen CUA recognised as an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality over four consecutive years. And hes a passionate advocate for CUAs involvement in new international collaborations and increasing CUAs digital capability. The CEO of the Year was awarded to Mark Nielsen of Talent International and the runner-up was John Winning of Winning Group. The additions mark the next step in the roll-out of Oracles national growth strategy, which has seen the groups business grow from $12 million to $51 million in just three years. Speaking about the impressive growth, a representative for the group said the recent success is primarily due to the firms focus on relationships. A large part of our success is down to our family values with its strong emphasis on relationships and putting people before profits, they said. Our belief is that if you take care of your customers, theyll take care of your business. In fact, Oracle Group was actually formed from the merger of two businesses which had been linked for over 25 years and included two family insurance broking businesses from opposite sides of the country northern NSW and Perth in WA. It was the common ethos about serving our business communities, finding their exact needs and getting the best protection that drew us together, said the spokesperson. It seems the approach is also proving popular with authorised representatives as more than 40 have joined the Oracle Group community in the past 28 months. Having created the vision for the TOM [Target Operating Model], she built the consensus and momentum needed to deliver on its promise so that market firms are now seeing genuine benefits, he continued in his statement. Shirines knowledge, tenacity and commitment have also made her an inspirational role model to women and the BAME community in both the market and Corporation. She can take great credit for the progress made. In my short time at Lloyds, I have very much enjoyed working with Shirine, and value the support she has given me. Khoury-Haq will continue in her current role until she departs in the first half of 2019. The last five years have been incredibly rewarding, working with colleagues in Lloyds and across the industry to deliver real digital change for the first time in decades. Solutions have been designed and built that are transforming the way insurance is conducted in London, she commented. I'm delighted that the experiences I brought from effecting profitable and complex change in insurance and other industries have been helpful in delivering what we promised for London. I have also been very lucky to work with two great CEOs, Inga Beale and John Neal, who have backed me both professionally and personally. We have made considerable progress in Operations within Lloyds and the London Market TOM has been well adopted. So now, with Lloyds full support, this feels like the right time to look for the next challenge. In addition, London Market Group CEO Clare Lebecq weighed in on the departure, expressing her own sadness. Shirine has done a tremendous job in leading the modernisation workstream for the London Market Group and I would like to say thank you, on behalf of all our members, for her huge personal commitment to the challenge, she said. Making change happen is very tough and the fact that so many solutions are now coming on stream has much to do with her vision and tenacity in driving forward the work to make London an easier place to do business. We dont know why this connector has disconnected, Husky Energy senior vice-president Trevor Pritchard said in a statement. Husky Energy explained that it had detected a loss of pressure in an underwater pipe that connected to the SeaRose. At the time, the sea was extremely turbulent, which may have caused the disconnection. Authorities said that the 250,000 litres of oil was impossible to clean up; it is the single largest spill of its kind in NLs history. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) has confirmed that no oil sheens had been spotted on the water earlier this week, which could mean that the oil had broken down to a state wherein it cannot be easily cleaned up. C-NLOPB is now focused on wildlife monitoring and investigating the incident, Global News reported. Husky Energy has stated that at least 14 sea birds have been oiled; so far, only three have been rehabilitated. One expert believes the spill could ultimately kill more birds. Its a rough time of year and a cold time of year, York University professor of environmental studies Gail Fraser told CBC News. If they get their plumage compromised even by a small amount of oil, they can die of hypothermia. Another expert thinks that a spill of this magnitude could have major consequences to the environment and there is still a lot about the effects of oil spills that scientists do not fully understand. I dont know that well ever know, remarked Memorial University of Newfoundland university research professor William Montevecchi. Were not going to see those birds and that even begs the question of what does it do to plankton? What does it do to fish? I dont know. I dont think any of us know. We just know the oil shouldnt be there. Related stories: Trans Mountain responds to possible pipeline leak Oil and gas firms always going to face issues with transportation The continued use of coal as a source of energy is a controversial issue for many environmental activists. While coal is cheap and abundant, it is also the single biggest contributor of CO2 emissions, with the International Energy Agency warning last week that the world cannot meet climate targets if it keeps building new coal power plants. Poland, which will host the UN climate summit next month, intends to build 7GW of new coal power plants, undermining international action to tackle climate change. When the worlds governments gather for the UN climate summit in Katowice this December they will be breathing some of Europes most polluted air, said Lucie Pinson, European coordinator of the Unfriend Coal campaign. Delegates should remember that coal companies are only able to poison the air and undermine climate targets because insurers like Talanx, VIG, UNIQA and PZU are willing to underwrite their activities. Pressure from NGOs such as Unfriend Coal led major insurers to withdraw support from Polands coal expansion. Unfriend Coal has identified at least 33 contracts worth more than 250 million signed since 2013 to underwrite new and existing coal mines and power plants. The withdrawal of support only covers new coal projects. Allianz, Generali, and Munich Re, together with Talanx and PZU, are still underwriting the biggest power plant under construction in Europe, an 1800MW expansion at Opole in Poland due to start operating in 2019. Poland is home to 33 of Europes 50 most polluted cities. Katowice, which will host the opening of the UN climate summit, has average particulate levels that are more than three times World Health Organisation limits. In June, global investors called on governments to take urgent action to implement the Paris Agreement, including phasing out coal power in Europe and OECD countries by 2030 and worldwide by 2050. Jolly admitted that he provided insurers with false information on crop insurance claims such as claiming he grew less tobacco than he really did to claim payouts. In January 2016, Jolly reported to his insurer that he had produced 20,007 pounds of tobacco in 2015. However, he delivered some 62,091 pounds of tobacco to Clays Tobacco Warehouse in Mount Sterling for sale in November 2015, under the names of two of his children, the plea agreement said. He also sold $26,000 worth of burley to another farmer at around the same time. By not reporting the other sales, Jolly claimed a loss on tobacco production and was paid $122,296 by his insurer. Jolly also sold high-grade tobacco under different pseudonyms such as House, Green and Brown, while showing poor quality tobacco to federal graders to validate his loss claims. The farmer even took out crop insurance in other peoples names and had conspired with an insurance agent known only by the initials M.M. in court documents and adjusters to produce fraudulent crop loss documentation. Lexington Herald Leader reported that the most serious charge in Jollys plea deal carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. He is to be sentenced next year, in February. Related stories: Kentucky farmer charged in $480k crop insurance swindle Kentucky farmer indicted in $2.6m crop insurance scam Here's your morning bulletin. GET INFORMED ... IRELAND: The legal system in Ireland, north and south, is operating a permanent emergency and people dont even notice anymore that exceptional powers have become the norm, according to the UNs counter-terrorism expert. IRELAND: Tracking devices have been placed on prison officers cars and conversations between solicitors and prisoners have been monitored during covert surveillance on the countrys prisons. IRELAND: Having scaled the highs of Lille, and Long versus the Germans, and having sunk to the lows of Denmark and a tepid Nations League campaign the ONeill-Keane era has come to an end by mutual agreement. IRELAND: The number of deeply distressing cases of sexual abuse uncovered in Scouting Ireland will increase, warns an independent expert. WORLD: British Prime Minister Theresa May is battling to keep her Brexit deal alive as she readies to return to Brussels for last minute negotiations. BUSINESS: Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be a double-edged sword for Irish retailers with margin pressures incurred from major discounting offsetting the spike in business, a retail expert has said. SPORT: Johnny Sexton reflected on a landmark year for Ireland as he accepted the Guinness Rugby Writers Ireland Player of the Year award and did not waste too long stressing the importance of staying at the peak of the world game. SPORT: The Galway County Board has paid 390,000 to Croke Park for debt outstanding on All-Ireland final tickets, club delegates were told at Tuesdays monthly board meeting. ... SOME DISTRACTION SHOWBIZ: A group of Satanists who sued Netflix and Warner Bros for $50m in a copyright row over the Sabrina television show have amicably settled the lawsuit. PROPERTY: MULTI-million euro garage deals, one in overdrive, the other seen almost in the rear-view mirror, feature in Cork city and surrounds this week, coincidentally via the same estate agents, Casey & Kingston. FEATURE: Ahead of the Dream Ball this weekend, Muireann OConnell chats to Ciara McDonnell about the inspiring families she has met at Share A Dream. By Geoff Percival Shares in B&Q owner Kingfisher fell up to 5.8% yesterday, taking losses for the year to more than 30%, after it reported weak quarterly sales and said it would be pulling out of a number of European markets. Like-for-like sales fell 1.3% in the three months to the end of October which is the home improvement groups third quarter. The decline was driven by the poor performance of Castorama, Kingfishers French DIY retail division, where sales slumped over 7% instead of an expected 3% decline. Kingfisher is in the third year of a five-year programme to raise annual profit by 500m (560m), but profits are forecast to fall in its current financial year. The group said it would pull out of Russia, Spain and Portugal. The three markets, account for a combined 7% of Kingfishers total sales. The Russian business is loss-making, while the group is close to break-even in Iberia. Like-for-like sales in Kingfishers UK and Ireland business, which covers the B&Q and Screwfix brands, fell 0.7%, to just under 1.3bn. The group operates eight B&Q stores in Ireland; including three in Dublin and one in Cork. However, the UK, France and Poland account for 90% of group sales. Poland was up 1.4%, in like-for-like sales terms, but France was down by 3.4%. Group chief executive Veronique Laury warned there is no quick fix for Castorama in France. Analysts were similarly gloomy in their outlook. We believe Kingfishers transformation plan will not yield the margin benefits it was supposed to, so there will be more calls for a break-up, but in between a margin reset may be necessary, said RBC Europe analyst Richard Chamberlain. Laury said the exit from Russia, Spain and Portugal will allow us to apply our strategy with more focus and efficiency in our main markets where we have, or can reach, a market leading position. Kingfishers plan for the group, costing 800m over five years, involves unifying product ranges across brands, boosting e-commerce and seeking savings. - Additional reporting Reuters ROME - Italy is "criminalising" NGOs that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) said Thursday. The UNHCR voiced "concern" at the "continual defamatory campaign in Italy against NGOs working in rescue operations in the Mediterranean". It also voiced concern at the "criminalisation of work done by those who defend migrants' rights. "The Italian government," a group of UN experts write, "has made it practically impossible for NGO ships to continue to rescue migrants: this has led to more drownings and disappearances. "Saving lives is not a crime, protecting human dignity is not a crime". Facebooks decision to expand in the heart of Dublin 4 and create room for an additional 5,000 employees is a powerful endorsement of Irelands foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy and planning, writes Joe Gill. This giant technology company has decided, presumably after extensive analysis, that a large office space in the centre of the most expensive part of the Irish economy, is worthwhile for its global expansion plans. To understand its rationale I suspect you have to travel across to the west coast of America. There, IT companies are struggling to access office space and people at reasonable costs in support of expansion. Dublin 4 obviously offers a compelling mix when examined through the lens of a US west coast investor. This begs another question how many other major US-centric IT companies are weighing up Ireland as a potential landing zone for further material investment? I suspect quite a few. All of these will know about snarling commuter traffic in Dublin, high residential housing rents and a tight labour market but these issues are set against an English speaking pro-business political culture inside the EUs single market. These are compelling reasons that eclipse the logistical hurdles attached to a Dublin base. Imagine, though, if you can have all these positive attributes without the tangible problems related to living in Dublin currently. Imagine locations with smoother commutes, cheaper houses, lower commercial property costs but in the exact same tax regime as Dublin and with ample broadband capacity to manage your international business. This is where the so-called regions come into play. It is funny to monitor the language used within Ireland to discuss Dublin and the rest. You may note references to the regions, travelling down to other parts of Ireland and secondary cities. This reveals a bias that is entirely unjustified. The geography of Ireland is tiny in a global context, distances are minute compared to the areas travelled in America, for example, and our entire population would fit into a modestly sized European or US city. In assessing Ireland from afar, the distances between our major cities are not significant. Moreover, a cursory glance at quality of life indices will flag large parts of Ireland as among the highest ranked for leisure purposes in ultra low pollution environments. In that context we should be presenting Ireland to global investors as a single offering with differing price points. Fancy an all new commercial office 30% cheaper than in the Dublin area? Try Cork. Looking for housing 50% under Dublin? Try Limerick. Need access to a steady flow of high quality third level students who would prefer not to emigrate? Take your pick from Galway, Limerick, Cork or Waterford. The naysayers will tell you these places dont have the connectivity of Dublin or the mass of available employees. Anyone with that thought should be directed to Amazons decision last week to create two new campuses in the US. Did they pick a high profile mainstream city? Not quite. Rather, they are building a new block in Crystal City, Virginia for 25,000 employees and another one in Long Island City for a further 25,000. I never heard of Crystal City before the announcement but it has a population of 22,000. Thats half the size of Waterford. In Ireland we should be shooting for announcements for 5,000+ employee projects across the country. Our offering is better than most countries around Europe, and especially compared to Britain, which has spancilled itself on a Brexit rope. Settling in Ireland plants any employer inside a market of over 450 million and for English speaking American corporations you also arrive in a secure and gun free environment that has a deep rooted pro-American bias. What is there not to like? - Joe Gill is director of corporate broking with Goodbody Stockbrokers. His views are personal. If Ireland can keep improving its migrant-integration strategies particularly in the labour market then the country has real long-term growth potential, writes Kyran Fitzgerald. Immigrants are playing an increasingly important role in a tight Irish labour market. But a report by leading think-tank, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), shows that they should be knitted more strongly into Irish society. The employment gap between Irish and non-Irish nationals has disappeared. Indeed, the employment rate among people born outside the country is now actually higher than it is among the Irish-born. Given that the non-Irish are younger and at peak working age, this is to be expected. We should all welcome this development. At a time when skilled people are in increasingly short supply, all available sources of labour should be tapped. Moreover, the best way of ensuring maximum integration is work. This should avoid the development of the ethnic ghettos that have triggered radicalisation among young immigrant males in countries such as France, Belgium, and Holland. Irelands demographic make-up is changing fairly rapidly. In 2017, the percentage of foreign-born residents in the country stood at 17%, one of the highest in the EU. The corresponding figure 15 years ago was barely 5%. We have a growing complement of Irish-born people from non-white ethnic backgrounds. According to the ESRI study, 185,683 reported an ethnicity other than white Irish. One-third of those of black African origin just under 22,500 were born here. Almost 370,000 of people resident here report that they speak a language other than English or Irish at home. However, of those non-Irish nationals who arrived in the mid-to-late 1990s, 80% say that they now speak English. One of the key findings in the report is that the unemployment rate among African nationals living here stood at 16% in 2017, having risen from 14% in 2016. This group had an employment rate of just over half of adults, causing the authors, Philip OConnell and Eamonn Fahey, to conclude that racism and discrimination may be major causes of African labour market discrimination in Ireland. There are other factors. African mothers tend to have large families, and, given that they often lack family back-up and find the cost of childcare here to be very high, it is easy to understand why they might be deterred from taking jobs. Cultural factors could be holding them back, not least the traditionalist attitudes of partners/husbands and of the wider family unit. Many women from Africa or Asia have been held back in their personal development. Others are reluctant to break out from established patterns of behaviour centred on the home and the care of children. The challenge is one of persuasion. Obstacles must be negotiated with care to avoid antagonism. The spectre of discriminatory behaviour on the part of employers, sometimes prompted by customers, is real. Many studies of race discrimination in labour markets have been carried out in the US. Twenty years ago, the Nobel prize-winning economist Kenneth Arrow wrote extensively on race discrimination persisting long after the enactment of civil rights laws. More recently, a young academic, Devah Pager subsequently a professor at Harvard University dispatched a group of young male testers, as part of a carefully balanced control group, half white and half black, across the city of Milwaukee, to assess what happens to people of differing races responding to job ads. Half of the testers supposedly had a criminal record, while the other half did not. Her findings caused something of a stir. Some 34% of whites with no record were called back by the employer for interview, compared to just 14% of the black men. Furthermore, 17% of whites with a criminal record were called back, as against just 5% of the black testers. The Irish government attracted much criticism over what some academics regard as its laissez faire approach to integration during the noughties. Even NESC, the government body, concluded, in 2006, that it is beyond the capacity of the government to make integration happen. After the financial crash, various supports were unwound for reasons of cost. In 2010, the Government did launch an intercultural educational strategy, but this ended five years later. There are real signs, however, that the Governments are raising their game, now that the State coffers are filling up, once more. A migration integration strategy was published early last year. This contains a lengthy series of targets. READ MORE: Kyran Fitzgerald: Ireland needs a plan for next recession By 2020, it is hoped that education and training programmes specifically targeting migrants will be in place. There should be measures to boost the number of non-Irish born public servants, along with initiatives to boost the number of migrant-background entrepreneurs. The focus on difficulties faced by Africans should not detract from the real issues faced by eastern Europeans or those in the fast-growing Muslim community up from 2,000, in 1990, to over 60,000 today. Many young eastern Europeans, for example, leave school early to work in areas such as farming and construction. Difficulties with English remain considerable, as teachers in areas of high eastern European concentration will attest. Joanna Dukkipati from India at a Citizenship Ceremony that was held in the National Concert Hall. Photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie The ESRI researchers believe that the focus on integration should not be confined to the national level. What is happening at the level of communities is just as important. Irelands immigration population is highly diverse. On the whole, this is a good thing, as it means that there is less scope for polarisation of relationships between the recent arrivals and the indigenous population, but the complex nature of our new Irish population brings its own challenges. If handled correctly, the migration integration challenge can result in longer-term opportunities for example, in accessing consumer markets in some of the fastest-growing regions of the world. The rapid changes across much of urban Ireland, and in Europe, can be jolting, if not frightening, but contained in all this change are the seeds of real potential growth. The entrepreneurs who launched an online food network in Ireland this week have breathed new life into an old warehouse to connect customers with local food producers. Jack Crotty, who runs The Rocket Man salad and juice bar on Corks Princes Street, and his business partner, Martin Poucher, have re-modelled the 18th century Munster apple market building on the citys Barracks Street as a central collection point for their NeighbourFood venture, which claims to offer producers multiples of the return offered by some supermarkets. I bought the building about 18-months ago and have spent the last year getting it ready. It's full of character and we're delighted with how it's worked out," Mr Crotty said. Their network connects customers with local producers to ensure they're never out of their favourite humous, cheeses, meats, breads or olive oils. But it also allows people to buy non-food projects too - such as kindling and Christmas wreaths - as long as they are made locally. Mr Crotty said he first saw the concept in Italy and decided to replicate it here. Mr Poucher developed the software and thanks to an incredible stroke of luck, it was ready just as efforts to create a similar network in England collapsed last summer. They stepped in with their software which now underpins an expanding network of NeighbourFood markets across England. It went live in Ireland this week. Mr Crotty said: Its not easy pulling it all together. You have to find producers, find local hosts, and then you need to win customers over, and it all has to come together at the same time." The network allows local producers to pool together to form an online shop for collection from a central hub a few days later. The NeighbourFood Cork order deadline is Sunday evening, with collection from the apple market, behind OSho Bar (formerly the Brown Derby), between 5pm and 7pm every Tuesday. The producers will be there to meet customers and tasting nights will be organised. Mr Crotty said the network will not replace farmers' markets which each have their own special attractions: We are not in competition with farmers' markets. This is another way for local producers to reach new customers. Sometimes, getting into supermarkets looks like the only way but it isnt. We are trying to show that there are other routes to market for small producers. Crucially, it offers a fair price for producers - in the region of 80% rather than the 15-20% offered by some supermarkets. Among the Cork producers listed are The Rocket Man himself, Nash 19, SOMA, Arbutus Bread, Banana Melon Kitchen and Applebee Bakes. Visit neighbourfood.ie to sign up as a producer, host or customer. By Geoff Percival Ryanair shares jumped by more than 4% as the airline said it is seeing record levels of bookings and no negative impact on customer demand from Brexit uncertainty. The airlines chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said the company saw the busiest day of website traffic in its history this week and has not seen demand from British or other European consumers damaged by Brexit. The demand thats out there is really, really strong. The European consumer, the British consumer just continues to book, said Mr Jacobs. Ryanairs chief executive Michael OLeary has in the past warned that a disorderly Brexit could ground flights for a number of weeks after the UK leaves at the end of March, but after reassurances on flying rights provided by the EU last week, that is no longer a risk, said Mr Jacobs. If were in a no-deal Brexit situation, flying will be fine, he said. The action Ryanair will have to take if theres no deal will be to comply with EU ownership rules. Once the UK is no longer part of the EU, the 20% of Ryanair shares owned by British investors will be treated differently, saud Mr Jacobs. He repeated the airlines plan of restricting voting rights for UK shareholders, saying Ryanairs board and the EU had already approved the plan. Jacobs also said that Ryanair is not interested in buying UK regional carrier Flybe, which is expected to be sold and broken up. Ryanairs comments mirror those of its UK rival Easyjet, which on Tuesday said that it has no current interest in Flybe and is well-prepared for the UK leaving the EU, even without a deal. Easyjet said this week that Brexit negotiations are not hurting its sales at present. Analysts have suggested Ryanair could still be a significant beneficiary from a Flybe carve-up, with certain landing slots at Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Amsterdam likely to be attractive to it. - Additional reporting Reuters A garda was hospitalised following an assault where he was punched three or four times and headbutted in the face. Peter Matthews, aged 24, originally from Ballincollig who was living at apartment 2, 27 Leitrim St, Cork, at the time, was sentenced yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court for assault causing harm to Garda Conor Manton. Judge Brian OCallaghan said it was a vicious assault by Matthews and even after his arrest, he had the temerity to suggest Garda Manton was the aggressor. The judge said there was a somewhat muted apology from the accused at this stage but said he viewed it in light of the previous contention by the accused that the victim was the aggressor. Judge OCallaghan said gardai did not expect to be treated differently to their fellow citizens. A sentence of three years, with the last year suspended, was imposed on the accused. Sgt Ray Dunne testified that Garda Manton was on patrol in Cork City and was returning to Anglesea St Garda Station when he encountered four people in an argument at the junction of Union Quay and Anglesea St. Garda Manton became suspicious and decided to search Matthews and a second man. Silver paper was found on the second man and at this stage, Matthews became aggressive. Garda Manton went to arrest Matthews and used his radio to call for assistance. When this matter came before the courts initially, Garda Shane Coakley testified: Garda Mantons radio went flying [before he could complete the call for back-up]. "Detective Sgt Clodagh OSullivan was passing by, by pure luck. She was able to grab the radio and call for assistance and the armed support unit arrived. "When I arrived on the scene, there was a considerable amount of blood and Mr Matthews was arrested by Garda Keith Mills. Garda Manton was quite shook. He had a broken nose and considerable swelling. The State must now provide funding to allow a rehab charity open a stepdown facility in Cork after a breakthrough in a stand-off which has seen the property lying idle for almost a decade. The call came after the HSE finally signalled its support for Cuan Mhuires proposal to open a 16-bed facility on the citys Western Rd designed to break the cycle of homelessness. Fine Gael senator Colm Burke said it is essential that the estimated 300,000 annual running costs is sanctioned to ensure the facility can open by January 1. Fianna Fail city councillor Fergal Dennehy said it is scandalous that the building has been lying idle during a homeless crisis. The bureaucracy preventing this facility from opening must stop. We have people sleeping on the streets who could be availing of services provided by a facility like this, he said. The time has come for the various agencies to sit down and combine their resources to get this open. The HSE and Cork City Council have each side-stepped responsibility for funding the project, with the HSE favouring a step-up project. In a briefing to local politicians in recent days, the HSE said it is now supportive of the proposed stepdown project for Cuan Mhuire clients exiting the charitys residential detox and rehab programmes. A spokesperson for Cuan Mhuire welcomed the HSEs statement but said: We now need to sit down and formulate a plan to provide funding for this project to open it. "The property is in turnkey condition and could start accommodating people almost immediately. "We have 300 people waiting for six detox beds in our facility in Bruree. The absence of a stepdown facility like this in Cork is causing difficulty by preventing us from moving people out of primary treatment." The earmarked property was mothballed just months after its purchase by Cuan Mhuire in 2007 because the charity couldnt secure state funding to open it. Micheal Martin during his visit to Cuan Mhuire last year. During a visit to the idle building in September 2017, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin criticised the pass-the-parcel approach to funding it given the homeless and housing crisis. The next month, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said such issues are not difficult problems to solve. Cuan Mhuire, founded by Sr Consilio, provides stepdown, or transition, houses in Dublin, Limerick, Galway, and Monaghan. Almost half of those who avail of Cuan Mhuires treatment services have been homeless at the time of admission, and almost a third have nowhere to go once treatment finishes. A charity spokesman said the proposed facility would provide 6,000 bed nights in Cork annually, and would deliver immediate savings of some 180,000 in the cost of providing emergency accommodation, and even greater long-term savings to the State by preventing long-term homelessness. The childrens minister is seeking an urgent meeting with Scouting Ireland after details emerged of 71 alleged abusers in the organisation. Katherine Zappone said she had been shocked to learn that evidence of 71 alleged abusers and 108 alleged victims has been found, so far. Ian Elliot, who has been tasked with examining Scouting Irelands historical records, told the Oireachtas childrens committee that 14 of the alleged perpetrators had multiple victims. But he expects the figures to increase as more victims come forward. The childrens committee called for root and branch reform within Scouting Ireland. Members unanimously expressed dismay and shock at the figures revealed yesterday. Outlining the catalogue of abuse which spanned more than three decades, Ms Zappone said: I too am shocked by the figures. I find it deeply distressing. I am also aware of the fact that some of the alleged victims could be listening to what we are discussing right now and I am deeply upset. Most of the cases were between the 1960s and the 1980s but there may be one from an earlier period. She assured the committee the vast majority of volunteers in Scouting Ireland do an excellent job. Mr Elliot, meanwhile, told the committee he had been made aware of the cases of sexual abuse by trawling through records held by Scouting Ireland, and also through people making contact with him. The figure of 108 victims is an important one but I want you to think of that, not in numerical terms but in human terms that is 108 people who have suffered and who are suffering today as a result of situations which they should never have been exposed to. Aisling Kelly, the chairperson of Scouting Ireland, said she wanted to categorically state the organisation is committed to providing support to all victims of past abuse by members. Personally, as a mother of two very young children, this fills me with deep sadness, she said. We are deeply sorry for the hurt that has been caused by the actions of some past members of Scouting Ireland and its legacy organisations. Ms Kelly said the organisation had undergone a radical governance change and was working hard to establish the full extent of the knowledge that exists in relation to the abuse. We are taking a victim-led approach to this work and we are determined to ensure a comprehensive and compassionate response to those that were so badly wronged in the past. Many of these cases have been identified by victims coming forward to us with their stories. We now have a process where victims are being listened to and many feel that for the first time their voice is being heard. Ms Kelly said a new policy for supporting victims of abuse has been developed, noting Scouting Ireland is increasing its professional safeguarding resources, including recruiting a fulltime safeguarding manager as recommended in the Jillian van Turnhout Report. Safeguarding is now a standing item on the boards agenda. Former Senator Ms van Turnhout, who carried out the independent review of governance at Scouting Ireland, said we do need to have this evidence in the public and, further we need to ensure there is no hiding place for someone who abuses. Chief Executive of Children's Rights Alliance, Jillian van Turnhout. Pic: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland The report on the governance of Scouting Ireland she had presented, in June, to Minister Zappone had concluded there was a deep distrust between the voluntary and professional arms of the organisation. The childrens rights consultant said she believed Scouting Ireland had made significant changes in recent months. The special relationship and trust between leaders and young people made the new information all the more upsetting, she told RTEs News at One. We know that these abusers have breached that trust and violated those individuals childhoods. Gardai believe that the deaths of an elderly couple whose bodies were found in a house outside Kilkenny city were the result of a "tragic accident". However, a decision on the line of inquiry to be pursued in relation to the tragedy will not be finalised until after autopsies are carried out on Friday at University Hospital Waterford. Local speculation is that the two people might have been victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. It's understood that the man, aged 83, and woman, aged 79, who have been named locally as Michael Hurley and Mary Holohan, lived together at the house at Johnswell, just outside the edge of Kilkenny. "It's terrible," local Fianna Fail councillor Pat Fitzpatrick said. "They were a beautiful couple, quiet, lovely people who went about their business daily." Michael Hurley's late mother was a well-known doctor in Kilkenny and also lived in the house where the tragedy happened before her own death several years ago. They were very, very reserved people, they lived a very quiet life together. They went to the local shop in Kilkenny and supported everything in the community, anything that was going on such as the local sale of work. Their bodies may have been in the house for some days, according to gardai, and were discovered after family members became concerned about their welfare having not heard from them for some time. The alarm was raised by family members at about 7pm on Wednesday evening and, after the emergency services were called to the house in the Kilderry area, the man and woman were pronounced dead at the scene. It's understood the local coroner for Kilkenny was informed of the deaths and ordered autopsies to be carried out. They were initially scheduled for Thursday but had to be postponed as the pathologist due to perform them was attending a murder trial in Dublin. It's expected that the autopsies will be carried out by deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis. "We haven't ruled anything out but we believe it's a tragic accident," a garda involved in the investigation said. "They were two elderly people and it appears that it was carbon monoxide poisoning. I'd be very shocked if it was anything else." Extending his sympathy and that of the wider community to the couple's relatives, Cllr Fitzpatrick said everyone in the area was "shocked" by what happened. Carbon monoxide poisoning can occur when organic matter is not fully burned the gas can be emitted from heaters or cooking equipment, or from a fireplace if the chimney is fully or partially blocked. One of Irelands trail-blazing adventurers said she was humbled to receive an honorary doctorate for her incredible displays of tenacity and courage. Dr Clare OLeary, the first Irish woman to summit Mount Everest, said the fact the student body at National University of Galway (NUIG) was involved in her nomination was particularly special. It really is a great honour and humbling to think that some of them were in junior infants when I scaled Everest, she said. In her citation, NUIG student union president Megan Reilly described Dr OLeary as an inspiration to women, to mountaineers, adventurers, and those everywhere who are ambitious in their goals. The Bandon-born consultant gastroenterologist and physician at South Tipperary General Hospital became the first Irish woman to summit Mount Everest, on her second attempt, in 2004. A year later, she became the first Irish woman to scale the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, and the next year, she became the first Irish woman to summit Ama Dablam in the Himalayas. She became the first Irish woman to ski across Greenland in 2007, the first Irish woman to ski the full length of the South Pole in 2008, and in 2013, to ski across Lake Baikal, the worlds largest and deepest frozen lake. In 2012, she was named as one of Irelands Top 25 Most Powerful Women and awarded the Trailblazer Award by the Womens Executive Network. In 2013, Bandon honoured Dr OLeary by opening a walkway in her name. She recently cycled the Pamir Highway from Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan and completed the Lunana Snowman trek in Bhutan just a few weeks ago. A senior lecturer in medical education in UCC, she is also an ambassador with the childrens unit at Cork University Hospital. Dr OLeary, who is considering her next adventure, said: Its part of what I do. I have never not had something on my mind. On Monday, NUIG honoured Bernie OConnor, the Galway GAA legend, with an honorary doctor of laws and today, the university will confer fiddler Martin Hayes, with an honorary doctorate of music. Massolo opens Med Dialogues, 'no ready-made solutions' 3-day event to foster reflection kicks off (ANSAmed) - ROME, NOVEMBER 22 - Ambassador Giampiero Massoplo, president of the Italian think tank ISPI, opened the 5th Med Dialogues conference on Thursday in Rome. He noted that ISPI and the foreign ministry, which organized the event, aim to ''continue making of these Med (Dialogues, Ed.) a forum of dialogue to compare opinions and foster reflection. Our ambition is to offer sparks of reflection to indicate a method and not ready-made solutions''. Massolo said that one of the key issues 'in this area, is the fostering of well-being. Of course there is not much in the region, between hegemonic temptations, open conflicts such as in Syria and Libya, terrorism and the flow of people, money and weapons, the negative fallout of globalization.'' (ANSAmed). If you can dream it, you can do it, Walt Disney once said, and its the advice by which Anna Stack, who has autism, lives her life confounding everyone with her artistic and singing abilities. Yesterday the 18-year-old launched her very own colouring book, Annas Dream World, and took everyone by surprise, not least her own family, by delivering a beautiful rendition of Muppets favourite Rainbow Connection. The 1979 Muppet Movie is my favourite movie of all time, she said. I had so much fun today. It was an emotional event for her parents, Finbarr and Catherine, from Churchtown North, Midleton, Co Cork. When Anna was three years old, I never, ever thought she would speak. So to be here today and to witness her stand up in front of everyone is just fantastic, said Finbarr. Annas launch took place at St Vincents Secondary School in Cork City, where she is a sixth-year student and the first to enrol in the schools Lir Hub, set up in 2013 to support students with autism. It was the brainchild of former principal Donncha O Briain, who was at hand yesterday. She was our first student to attend the hub and we couldnt have asked for better, he said. Anna received terrific support from her teachers, not least Claire Barry and Vivien OLeary Callendar, a member of the SNA team (special needs assistants). She was always drawing and I said Wouldnt it be cool to do a colouring book. She started in March and came back after the summer with about 70 drawings, said Vivien. Anna had form her first novel, Victoria Bunnyham, was published when she was in sixth class. Siobhan ODonovan, the special educational needs co-ordinator at St Vincents, said the entire school had learned so much from Anna. Anna has shown that while we all have different needs, we can all work together in a very positive way. Annas brother Daniel said it was wonderful to see all her work pay off. Wed seen bits of it at home, but its great to see it all pulled together, he said. Annas achievements should be seen as a milestone for what dedicated autism units could do for children, he said. Ciara, Annas sister, said it was the first time weve seen the finished product, and its fantastic. Mum Catherine said drawing had always been an outlet for Anna, particularly in times of stress. Lord Mayor of Cork Mick Finn, who launched Annas Dream World, said young people all over Cork will lift your drawings to life with colour. I look forward to trying it myself, and staying inside the lines, he said. As for Anna, whose dream is to be famous she took another step in the right direction yesterday. Annas Dream World, backed by local businesses including John Hartnett of Blackpool Shopping Centre, is available at the shopping centre and St Vincents for 5. Gardai are examining footage from security cameras in the vicinity of St Stephen's Green to try to identify who was responsible for throwing paint over the Haunting Soldier sculpture. The six metre high memorial to the returning soldiers of World War One has been on loan to Ireland as part of the centenary events commemorating the end of the conflict and has drawn huge numbers of visitors. Shocked park staff discovered this morning that it had been extensively sprayed with red paint some time during the night. A team of cleaners got to work on it and had almost all the paint removed by lunchtime but some further cleaning will have to be carried out before the sculpture is removed this Sunday evening for its return to the UK. There is no CCTV in the park but Gardai are hopeful that security cameras attached to surrounding buildings may have captured images of whoever was responsible for the attack scaling the fencing to enter as the gates are closed at night. The arrival of the sculpture earlier this month was widely welcomed as an acknowledgement of the estimated 300,000 Irishmen who served with the British forces in World War One and the many thousands - up to 49,000 - who died. But while it was designed to depict the strain carried by a returning soldier rather than to glorify the war, some opponents criticised the decision to host it in St Stephen's Green, a key location in the War of Independence against Britain. OPW chief park superintendent Margaret Gormley asked people to understand the purpose of the sculpture, and that St Stephen's Green was home to memorials to 1916 and the Boer War alike. We tell all history within the context of St Stephen's Green," she said. Culture and Heritage Minister Josepha Madigan said she was "disgusted" by the attack. "There is no bravery in throwing paint at a statue in the middle of the night," she said. Minister of State for the OPW Kevin Boxer Moran, who visited the scene to thank staff for their swift response in getting the sculpture cleaned, said he hoped it would be appreciated in its last few days in Dublin. "It is a moving tribute to the tragedy of what was World War One and should be respected," he said. An elderly couple have been found dead in Co Kilkenny. The bodies of the man, 83, and the woman, 79, were discovered yesterday evening in a house in Kilderry, Johnswell. The alarm was raised by family members at 7pm last night. Gardai attended the scene and the couple were pronounced dead a short time later. It is understood that they may have been in the house a number of days. Gardai say the deaths are unexplained and post-mortems are due to be carried out later today. A technical exam is being carried out at the house. It is reported that the couple may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Both bodies remain at the scene for now. The remains are expected to be removed to Waterford Regional Hospital later today. Digital Desk Broadcaster George Hook has announced his retirement from his role at Newstalk after 16 years with the station. Mr Hook has presented the evening drivetime programme The Right Hook, High Noon, and most recently Hooks Saturday Sit In The Government should take back control of plans for a national broadband network says economics lecturer Donal Palcic. He told Newstalk Breakfast that the withdrawal of both Siro (the ESB/Vodafone joint venture) and Eir as bidders for the contract had removed all competition from the procurement process. Dr Palcic pointed out that the original KPMG Ownership Report for the NBP published in December 2015 had asserted that placing the long-term ownership of the network with the private sector "allows private sector bidders to leverage the use of their existing infrastructure and encourages them to continue to invest in the network". Private sector bidders would therefore place a high "strategic value" on winning the contract, which would lead to a high degree of competition and would drive down the amount of subsidy required from the government. This whole rationale has not disappeared, he said with the departure of the other bidders. Bidders with their own infrastructure could leverage that to allow the roll out of broadband at a lower cost. The KPMG report, anytime it refers to the gap in funding models, it always stresses competition which would drive down the cost of subsidy by the Government. The University of Limerick lecturer added that now there is a situation where the only bidder does not have a network or infrastructure to leverage and no competition, so there is no way for the current bidder to arrive at a lower subsidy. Dr Palcic suggested that the Government could utilise a number of State services such as the ESB, Bord Gais and Irish Water to coordinate their work so that when they are digging up roads they could install fibre optic cable along with their own services. This could be done at a lower cost and would avoid duplication of costly civil works, he said. Concerns have been expressed about the length of time it will take to conduct and publish the long-awaited new study on sexual violence in Ireland. The National Womens Council of Ireland (NWCI) and Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) both welcomed confirmation by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan that the study a follow-up to the groundbreaking 2002 SAVI report would go ahead. But they said giving the study a five-year timeline seemed excessive. Orla OConnor, director of NWCI, said: We are seriously concerned about the long timeline of five years until the new report will be published. We urgently need up-to-date data on sexual violence in order to develop effective responses and prevention measures. If more resources are needed to reduce the timeframe, these should be urgently made available by the Government. DRCC spokesperson Noeline Blackwell raised the same issue. We will not have any information on the prevalence of sexual violence until 2024 at the earliest, which is far too late, she said. The study will be carried out by the Central Statistics Office, a decision welcomed by both groups as it will form a database that the CSO can regularly update. The original was a project of the DRCC, carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons, funded by Atlantic Philanthropies. Ms Blackwell questioned the financial commitment to the study. There is a lack of a committed budget beyond the very modest allocation of approximately 150,000 in 2019, she said, adding that assurances were needed that there would be adequate funding in subsequent years. Mr Flanagan has said funding arrangements will be put in place once the CSO has submitted costings. He also said the study would take time because of its scale it will involve 5,000 participants and because the intimate nature of the questions to be asked would require a lot of preparatory work, including specialist training. Ms Blackwell and Ms OConnor have urged Mr Flanagan to reconsider his plan to defer specific research on the experiences of marginal groups, such as Travellers, migrants, LGBTQI people, and people with disabilities, and on sexual harassment, until after the main study. It would be a great pity if we had to wait even longer to understand how some small minorities experience sexual violence as they might be at particular risk, said Ms Blackwell. The legal system in Ireland, north and south, is operating a permanent emergency and people dont even notice anymore that exceptional powers have become the norm, according to the UNs counter-terrorism expert. Fionnuala Ni Aolain said both jurisdictions, along with many democracies, are circumventing the normal legal system by using emergency powers and non-jury courts. The UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism said the Special Criminal Court here, which is presided over by three judges and no jury, is a court where the normal was not observed in the same way as the ordinary courts. She said while the SCC was initially set up to deal with terrorism, its jurisdiction has expanded to include serious crime, saying this slippage is a problem with emergency laws. Ms Ni Aolain, who was appointed to the position in August 2017, addressed the annual lecture last night of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. She said the Republic has functioned under a state of emergency both during the Second World War and after with the entrenchment of the Offences Against the State Act (1939 to 1998). The 1998 act was introduced on the back of the Omagh atrocity in August of that year, in which 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, were killed by dissident republicans. The island of Ireland, more so than many parts of the world, has experienced emergency law, emergency practice, and the seepage of the exceptional into the ordinary system in ways that has not served the rule of law nor the protection of human rights well, she said. Ms Ni Aolain said in the aftermath of 9/11, there had been a proliferation of counter-terrorism norms and practices across the world, spawning de facto and permanent emergencies in national practice. Prof Ni Aolain outlines the state of emergency which in Ireland began during the emergency and has continued all over the island in on-again, off-again form throughout the Troubles & today with use of special courts. The extraordinary seeps into ordinary. #StatesOfEmergency pic.twitter.com/KYxM0UXj8O ICCLtweet (@ICCLtweet) November 21, 2018 I underscore that de facto (meaning undeclared) emergencies and permanent emergencies are a violation of states treaty obligations. The university regents professor at the University of Minnesota said emergency powers involve extensive and sustained human rights violations, saying it isnt just an issue in countries like Saudi Arabia, but also closer to home. In Ireland, the use of exceptional courts (Diplock Courts [in the North] and the Special Criminal Court) made exceptional trial process normal, and enabled and supported a broader system of rights negation in the criminal justice context. She said one of her particular concerns is the democracies with a strong rule of law capacity circumventing their regular legal system and using exceptional legal systems for security offences. She said there has been slippage in the SCC now covering not just terrorism cases but also serious crime, particularly gangland violence. Ms Ni Aolain said that since the work of Mary Robinson in 1974, there have been consistent and trenchant concerns about the use of the SCC and the Offences Against the State Act as a work-around of the ordinary protection of the law and the full protection of the legal system. She added: That legacy of the Special Criminal Court is one that Ireland has still not fully acknowledged, a fact I hope to remedy in part next year by publishing a 10-year study of the court, based on access to the court files. She said she recognises terrorism may trigger the conditions of emergency but said that does not mean a state must use emergency powers to regulate terrorism, particularly when the ordinary law is sufficient and robust. I underscore my concern that there has been an ongoing rush to counter-terrorism regulation without adequate consideration of the capacity of the ordinary law of many states to function effectively. Gardai in Co Galway are investigating a single vehicle road traffic collision in Ballinasloe which led to the death of a 56-year-old woman. The collision occurred around 10.20 this morning at Lismanny, Laurencetown Ballinasloe on the Eyrecourt to Ballinasloe Road. The woman, who was the only person in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene. The sale of a portfolio of properties by Nama for 26 million was illegal and in breach of its own statutory act, the Dail has heard. During questions to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, Independents4Change TD Mick Wallace called on the minister to investigate the sale of 'Project Nantes', which he said involved an interested party of a Nama debtor, in contravention of Nama's rules. Speaking under privilege, Mr Wallace said the company Avestus took over Quinlan Private in 2010. "The three principal directors, Olan Cremin, Thomas Dowd and Peter Donnelly, had borrowed heavily during the boom, mainly from Anglo Irish Bank, and owed 489m when the crash came, he said. The 489m went across to NAMA and NAMA assembled a portfolio with 352m of this debt, naming it Project Nantes. The three boys went off to America to find someone to put up the money and found a company called Clairvue. They then set up a shell company in Luxembourg called Clairvue Nantes and installed another director of Avestus, Mark Donnelly, as a director of the Luxembourg company. He had been a director of Avestus since 2010 and became a director of Clairvue in 2012, he said. The company bought Project Nantes for 26.6m, with a discount bringing the price to under 10% of the original value. This sale is in breach of the NAMA Act for multiple reasons. It was off-market, at a knock-down price and, worst of all, the purchaser was connected to the debtor which is illegal under section 172 of the NAMA Act, he concluded. I have great respect for the work of the Comptroller and Auditor General, as I do for the Minister but I still believe the Minister should get involved, Mr Wallace said. In response, Mr Donohoe said it is now accepted that politicians should not be involved in inquiries into organisations as vast and significant as NAMA and nor should we be involved in their day-to-day operations because of the pressure we could come under. We have to allow due process to take place and an independent body like the Comptroller and Auditor General to do its work. NAMA has provided information to me and I have put it on the record of the Dail. I have to respect the independence of the Comptroller and Auditor General, he said. The Deputy has named individuals and has given his view on them but I have to ensure due process is followed. This is work that is under way in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and it would be utterly inappropriate for me to reach a view on this matter until that work is concluded, he said. A Dublin mother has withdrawn her complaint against her troubled teenage son who was arrested over a criminal damage incident at their home. The boy, aged 16, had been charged with criminal damage to a glass panel on the front door of their home on a date in August. (by Patrizio Nissirio) ROME - Rome is once again at the center of the Mediterranean starting today through November 24. The city is hosting an extraordinary number of political and economic leaders, researchers and analysts, as well as members of international organizations and major firms for the fourth edition of 'Rome Med - Mediterranean Dialogues' opening Thursday. The initiative is promoted by the Italian ministry for foreign affairs and international cooperation and the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) and represents one of the main global gatherings to reflect on the definition of a positive agenda that goes beyond regional crises for a ''broader'' future of the Mediterranean. The Med Dialogues - of which ANSAmed is media partner - will, as usual, focus on key themes: Shared prosperity, shared security, migrations, civil society and culture. The various sessions are held with these themes on the agenda so they can be observed, debated and analyzed from every possible point of view. The list of speakers includes key figures on the international scenario. The program will end with a speech by Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte while the sessions will open at the presence of President Sergio Mattarella. Key speakers will include the president of ISPI, Giampiero MAssolo, Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi and Iraqi President Barham Salih. The program starts with two plenary sessions focusing on shared security - 'Searching for regional hegemony: preventing escalation' and 'Daesh/Isis: the day after. Countering a new wave of violent extremism'. The first session will include among speakers the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit; Ayman Al Safadi, foreign minister of Jordan; Anwar Gargash, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates. In the second session, among others, participants will be Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Alkhaim; Mohamed Taher Siala, the foreign minister of the Libyan government of national unity; Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of Nato, and Italian Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta. Two 'special dialogues' will follow with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and then the deputy premier of Qatar, Mohamed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani. Over the course of the following days, prominent speakers will include Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, a constant presence at the Med Dialogues, and US Under Secretary of State David Hale. Also at the conference will be Staffan De Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria; ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi; Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, speaker at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament; Tarek El Molla, Egypt's oil minister; Rached Ghannouchi, president of Tunisia's Ennahda party; Khemaies Jhinaoui, foreign minister of Tunisia; Nasser Kamel, secretary general of the Union for the Mediterranean; Riyad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister; Abdelkader Messahel, Algeria's foreign minister; Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo; Antonio Vitorino, director general of IOM. Peace, employment, economic development, youths, women, the environment, energy and infrastructure will be part of the Mediterranean horizon examined during the Med Dialogues in a quest for positive opportunities for countries and interests in the region - a connection that must not be broken, behind the drama of wars and humanitarian crises. The Dail has given near universal backing the crucial EU-UK backstop agreement despite ongoing hard border concerns and fears Ireland is failing to prepare for a doomsday deal collapse. The clear Irish support for the deal came as British prime minister Theresa May said she will hold further talks with European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker on Saturday after not resolving issues in Brussels on Wednesday. Speaking before a crunch EU summit on Sunday to ratify the deal which German and Spanish officials claimed on Wednesday will be scrapped unless key issues are resolved by Friday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stressed the deal must go ahead. At the start of a four-hour Dail debate in which he insisted Ireland will not back down on the backstop, the Taoiseach said: Many predicted that in the final moment our European partners would turn on us. That didn't happen... No matter anything else Ireland will remain a committed member of the EU. It's a home we've built together, and where we will stay. The Taoiseach's comments were repeated by Tanaiste Simon Coveney, who called for a "clear message" to be sent from the Dail and urged Sinn Fein to take up its Westminster seats. However, despite backing the calls, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin warned "we are nowhere near Brexit ready" and compared Ireland's planned hiring of 400 new customs officials to the "1,000 trained customs staff" already appointed in the Netherlands. He was followed by Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, who backed the deal but tabled an amendment to ensure citizens in Northern Ireland have the same EU rights post-Brexit. People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said while he was backing the deal he wanted an amendment to allow for a border poll. However, both amendments were subsequently shot down by TDs in late night Dail votes. The Government motion to support the EU-UK Brexit deal was walked through on Wednesday night after the debate due to Dail rules which stipulate no vote is needed if less than 10 TDs oppose the move. Despite noting the clear need for a deal, nine opposed the move on Wednesday night, namely: Paul Murphy, Mick Barry and Ruth Coppinger (Solidarity) Mick Wallace and Clare Daly (Independents4Change) Mattie McGrath, Maureen O'Sullivan, Thomas Pringle and Michael Collins (Independents) During the debate the nine TDs said they were opposed to the existing deal for various reasons, including concerns the deal is a "neo-liberal" and "Tory Brexit" that will still damage the working class, risks exacerbating sectarianism in Northern Ireland and could impact negatively on rural Ireland's tourism economy. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, greets British Prime Minister Theresa May on arrival at EU headquarters in Brussels, today. Photo: AP/Olivier Matthys. Independent TD and member of the Workers and Unemployed Action Group abstained on the vote, saying he wants to withhold his support until the Government, Britain or the EU publishes a secret doomsday dossier on Brexit's impact on Northern Ireland - the existence of which was confirmed by EU ombudsman Emily O'Reilly on Monday. The Dail move came as British prime minister Theresa May confirmed she will hold further talks with European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker on Saturday. Ms May announced the last-ditch talks, which will occur 24 hours before Sunday's crunch EU summit, sparking fresh claims the deal may still be under threat. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also suggested last night she may not attend Sunday's summit unless all issues are resolved, with officials saying they want the withdrawal deal and non-binding future relationship political agreement "rubber stamped" before the weekend. However, while this is still expected by Friday evening, Spanish demands to clarify the Gibraltar situation have led to concerns over the summit timeline. Big companies must pay their fair share of taxes - with international changes coming down the line, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said. Ireland cannot be caught on the 'wrong side of history' with those tax changes, he told business leaders at the Future Jobs Summit in Dublin. While insisting that Irelands treasured corporation tax will not be tweaked, the warning will be seen as a direct message to firms who have been accused of using Ireland as a tax shelter. He told the summit: We also need to be on the right side of history when it comes to corporation profit tax and there is no way that we are ever going to change our 12.5% corporation tax. Mr Varadkar said there was political consensus around the issue in the Dail. The Taoiseach added: But we do need to acknowledge that businesses have changed and technology has changed and there will be international tax changes coming down the line and we need to make sure that we are on the right side of history and we get ahead of those. "Because big companies that make large profits should pay their fair share of tax and some of them arent doing that at the moment. Business Minister, Heather Humphreys, said she doesn't believe any company in Ireland is not paying its fair share, but that Ireland needs to be ready for the new tax-avoiding strategy that is the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) rules rolling out in OECD countries such as Ireland. Mr Varadkar also doubled down on his promise to cut income taxes, saying changes are needed to keep Ireland competitive as well as to maximise the labour market. We put ourselves at a disadvantage by having the higher rate of tax that kicks in below the average income. That also affects us with labour market participation. "So many parents - mainly women - who could return to the workplace, do that obvious calculation that if their partner is using up all their tax allowances and they go back to work, 52% of it goes on tax and PRSI. And even if childcare costs nothing, 52% of it (their pay) will still be gone. He also flagged possible decreases in capital gains tax, saying the rise in that during the austerity years has now had the effect of reducing the frequency of the turnover of assets in Ireland. Ministers and business leaders at the summit discussed the jobs of the future, including those linked with artificial intelligence, a low-carbon economy as well as automated technology. Employers were told how the average Irish worker faces a 46% probability of their role being automated by 2030. This includes drivers. However, while the advancement may serve society it causes difficulties for those workers, business leaders heard. Communications Minister, Richard Bruton, told the Irish Examiner that Ireland must take advantage of innovative energy sectors, such as wave and wind energy, to reduce carbon output. Health technology that allows patients to be assessed online and allowing markers for illnesses to be identified through machinery are also ways to provide future jobs, explained Mr Bruton. The Government intends to launch the future jobs plan early next year and it will be costed. It says the plan is necessary for Ireland to stay competitive. With unemployment at 5.1%, the plan is expected to promote new, better-paid and more advanced types of employment for the next decade. The number of deeply distressing cases of sexual abuse uncovered in Scouting Ireland will increase, warns an independent expert. Ian Elliot has been examining the historical records of Scouting Ireland, and has so far found evidence of 71 alleged abusers and 108 alleged victims over many decades. Detailing the allegations, which stretch back to the 1940s but mainly refer to the time between the 1960s and 1980s, Mr Elliot described how the alleged perpetrators used events such as scouting jamborees and residential camps to target children. Revealing the figures at the Oireachtas childrens committee, Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone said: I, too, am shocked by the figures. I find it deeply distressing. "I am also aware of the fact that some of the alleged victims could be listening to what we are discussing right now and I am deeply upset as minister. While some of the cases were revealed after Mr Elliot trawled through files held by Scouting Ireland, many instances were only uncovered when members of the public came forward with their own stories to the auditor. It is now expected that many more adults, who were abused as children at scouting events, will also report historical abuse. Katherine Zappone I do not believe that the figures I am sharing with you now will be the final figures, I believe the figure will increase, said Mr Elliot. The committee was also told that 14 of the alleged perpetrators had multiple victims. Aisling Kelly, chair of the organisations new board, said Scouting Ireland is deeply sorry for the hurt that has been caused by the actions of some past members of Scouting Ireland and its legacy organisations. The childrens committee called for root-and-branch reform within Scouting Ireland and members unanimously expressed dismay and shock when they received the information yesterday. Anyone impacted by this story can contact the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre on 1800 778888. The number of profiles of the assets of suspected local crime bosses has doubled this year, the Criminal Assets Bureau has said. CAB boss, Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Clavin, said that by targeting local criminals early, the gardai can nip their criminal careers in the bud and prevent them from becoming the big godfathers. He said the number of profiles from local asset profilers has risen from 66 in 2016, to 101 in 2017, and to 153 so far this year. The multi-agency bureau has increased the number of local asset profilers from 206 at the end of 2016 to 377 currently. The job of the asset profiler is to investigate suspicions reported by members of the public and to identify individuals who have significant assets but not the obvious means. A profile is then submitted to CAB for consideration. Chief Supt Clavin said the focus on lower level criminals has been assisted by two recent changes to the law: the first is the lowering of the monetary threshold above which CAB can seize an asset (from a value of 13,000 to 5,000) and the second is allowing CAB officers to seize an asset (for example a car) without a warrant. We can target some at a lower level, take them out earlier, so they might not become the big godfathers that we are all so concerned about, nip it in the bud, said Chief Supt Clavin. Yesterday, on Today with Sean O'Rourke on RTE, he said that since the legislation had been enacted, around 20% of all cases in the courts have involved assets under the previous threshold of 13,000. He said local asset profilers, mainly gardai, but also some revenue and social welfare officers, identify people whom they believe would make a good target. He said they receive a three-day training programme from CAB, showing them what to look out for, how to search for properties and bank accounts, how to search databases, are given a template profile form and linked in with one of CABs six investigation teams. He said the local profilers would examine a targets earnings, social welfare payment, property and vehicles. He urged people to contact CAB, if they see someone who doesnt work but who has an expensive car or cars, is spending significant sums on redoing their home, has Rolex watches or expensive handbags or is going on long-haul holidays. He said the number of people who are CAB targets has risen from 600 in 2016 to 947 now, as well as 40 entities. Ed Power reviews Florence and the Machine at the 3Arena in Dublin Florence Welch is counting down to her tenth anniversary as a pop star. A great deal has changed in the interim (she is no longer routinely compared to a Pre-Raphaelite painting, for one thing). What has endured is Florence's fluorescent charisma. It blazed brightly at 3Arena as the 32-year-old Londoner bounced on the spot, shook shoulder-length hair and gesticulated wildly. This was a powerful call to arms from an artist whose personality was big enough to fill the 13,000 capacity venue. Welch has done well moving past the baroque indie of her 2009 debut Lungs and, on her recent fourth album, High As Hope, reflected wistfully but with some bemusement, on her tearaway youth. Both modes indie hippy and pirouetting stateswoman were a good fit. She chanted her way through a dark and stormy Only If For A Night and couldn't stop smiling during the cheeky, sentimental South London Forever a paean to her days as a teenage party animal. Less successful was her hug-a-stranger patter, which felt as if had been cribbed from a self-help audiobook. Fans were requested/ordered to put their phones away the better "to have an experience". And cringe factor 10 was achieved as the audience was asked to reach out to the individual sitting alongside and to then announce that they loved them. Florence + The Machine performing at 3Arena Dublin, Ireland last night! pic.twitter.com/5TAyh53vQB Florence Updates (@FATMUpdates) November 20, 2018 On the UK leg of the tour punters were no doubt squirming in the aisles. On a rainy night in Dublin, however, it was a call back to the hand-shaking bit from mass so that Florence's attempt to convey an uplifting message was trumped by the muscle memory of mumbling pleasant nothings to the person adjacent. The art-deco backdrop underwhelmed too. It had seemingly been carved from wonky balsa wood, with enormous sheets fluttering from the roof, like washing left on the line too long. Disappointing aesthetics were compensated for by a gale-force performance. Welch spun and wailed through the epic Ship To Wreck, and was a picture of operatic virtuosity on melodramatic early hits Dog Days and Cosmic Love. Whatever about embracing a stranger, by the end you wanted to reach out and give Florence the mother of high-fives. An element of Stanos multi-faceted art work has found a home at UCC, writes Ellie OByrne. LIKE so many good things in life, it started as a happy accident. Dublin composer and visual artist Stano was working in his studio with harmonica player Brian Palm when Palm began to tell an anecdote. Stano asked if he could record the story and decided on a whim to play a track he had been working on with Dutch jazz guitarist Jeen Rabs as Palm told his tale. The piece of music was just over six minutes long, Stano says. Brian finished his story with ten seconds left: the whole thing just worked spontaneously. He had hit on a magic formula, a key to unlocking spontaneity in his readers by playing them a specially composed piece of music while they told a story. Growing into a project called In Between Silence, Stano has now recorded over 60 contributors telling stories, including leading lights in Irish art and literature like Anne Enright, Roddy Doyle and Robert Ballagh. The resulting tales have an immediacy and an emotional edge, even when recorded by artists and writers who are usually used to delivering polished performances of their work. When poets come in, it knocks that recitation voice out of them, Stano says. I think they adjust to the music and theyre subconsciously moulding into the track. People ask me how I make the music sound like the story but thats not how it works. I make a piece of music, and I dont hear the story before we record, and they dont hear the music. Yet the results are often as synchronous as Stanos first experience with Brian Palm: Aidan Gillen said he had a story about a rabbit that he wanted to tell, but when he came into the studio he told a story about an old man he met in New Orleans when he was shooting The Wire instead. But it still just worked. FEELING HIS WAY Its a typically intuitive approach from John Stanley, AKA Stano, who has been recording and producing avant-garde and experimental music and film scores since his early New Wave studio albums in the 1980s, following his time as synth player with legendary Coolock punk band The Threat. Apprenticed as a cabinet-maker in the early 1970s before his music career took off, the 58-year-old has also developed a visual art practice with numerous exhibitions. The In Between Silence process may sound simple, but its a project whose elements have been added to over its four-year duration: first, a method of exhibiting the recordings alongside a film by Stanos wife, Denise Dunphy, was devised, originally for an early contributor to the project who had died. Ballymun artist and youth worker John Duffy, with whom Stano had collaborated for a decade, recorded some unpublished poems with Stano in the days leading up to his tragic death from leukaemia at just 41, in 2014. He said he wished hed recorded something and we did; he had all these stories about his wife and kids, Stano says. It was the most powerful and the most terrible day of recording I ever did. Later, for a memorial tribute for the artist organised by Dublin City Council, Dunphy produced a film that mostly left the audience sitting in the dark, listening to Duffys voice and Stanos music, with an image displayed at the end of each recording. Sitting in the dark to listen to the stories has a tremendous emotional impact on people, Dunphy says. You could have heard a pin drop and when the lights came on, it was just extraordinary: there were people in tears. The darkness liberated them and allowed them to express their true feelings. Extending this process to the rest of the In Between Silence recordings, as a performance, the project had its launch at the International Literature Festival Dublin in 2016 and toured to New York later the same year. BOOK OF LIFE Some of the contributors may be well-known in Irish public life, but many arent: Dunphy says that the stories from the ordinary contributors have every bit as much resonance with audiences as the more famous contributors. The idea is to make an archive of our society, she says. We find people respond just as well if not better to the stories from the ordinary man on the street: everyone has a story to tell. A physical element was added. Ceramicist Kevin Pierce attends Stanos recording sessions and prepares ceramic plates for each storyteller to inscribe when they are finished recording. The resulting plates, plus an illustrated title page, have been bound together into the Porcelain Book, a 10-volume compendium of the contributions of Stanos storytellers, and a work of art in its own right. I saw some of Kevins work and it was these slabs of porcelain with nuts and bolts, Stano recalls. I looked at them and said to Kevin, These could be the pages of a book. Pierce says the simultaneous strength and fragility of porcelain as a material is fitting. The book is fragile in a way, because it contains all these stories that are very personal, he says. It kind of makes it more real and more lifelike. The pages are a little warped and twisted; theyre not flat like tiles so you can see the spaces between them and it makes them more alive. Each contributor to the project inscribes four porcelain sheets, in case of breakages and because sometimes there are losses in the firing process. When the artist comes up to transcribe, they often have a vulnerable element to them because theyre working with an unfamiliar material, Pierce says. They can be quite big artists in their own right, and I think you capture a lot of personality, far more than you would if you just wrote out the words on a page. OFF THE SHELF At UCC recently for the handing over of the The Porcelain Book were, from left, photographer John Minihan; project collaborators Denise Dunphy, Kevin Pierce, and Stano; and Cronan O Doibhlin, head of research collections at UCC Library. The Porcelain Book has been formally handed over to UCC, where there are plans to display it alongside The Great Book of Ireland, the 1989 vellum book edited by poet Theo Dorgan. Cronan O Doibhlin, UCC librarys head of research, collections and communications, says the Porcelain Book functions as a snapshot of Irish society in the early 21st century, and has a natural home alongside the Great Book of Ireland, in a future public gallery on the university campus. Were almost reaching the end of the era of the book, perhaps, but we have these wonderful treasures that are going to persist into the future, and thats part of our job as librarians is to ensure that this happens, O Doibhlin says. With the In Between Silence project, we have the capacity to curate and preserve digital recordings into the future, so we hope to display the Porcelain Book so that you can listen to the audio as well. A serving prison officer claims covert surveillance, Michael Clifford The gathering and retention of data in the workplace is an area dotted with landmines. When is it legitimate to put an employee under surveillance? Can it be done in a covert manner? What if the motivation to do so is the possible commission of a crime? All of these questions arise in relation to the allegations about activity in the Irish Prison Service reported on in this newspaper today. As the allegations concern an environment inhabited by dangerous criminals, a major security concern also arises. The allegations from a serving prison officer centre on the use of covert surveillance in an effort to detect the smuggling of contraband into prisons. This included the placing of tracking devices on both private and Prison Service vehicles without the knowledge of the personnel involved. He also claims listening devices in visiting areas sometimes picked up conversations between prisoners and their solicitors. Much of this and other similar actively was allegedly carried out by an outside private detective agency. One allegation concerns the placing of a covert camera in an area frequented by a large number of prison officers and the dispatch of that film to the detective agency located outside the prison. This immediately gives rise to concerns that the footage could fall into the wrong hands. Personal security is a constant concern for prison officers due to the nature of their work. The motivation for this covert surveillance, according to the prison officer, was to detect the smuggling of contraband into the prison. Mountjoy Prison Preventing this criminal activity is a routine duty for the prison service. The main items of contraband are drugs and phones. The drug problem in prison has been well aired, but phones are also regarded as hugely valuable. In 2007, convicted armed robber John Daly phoned RTEs Liveline programme from his cell in the maximum security prison in Mountjoy. The call sparked political and public outrage. The result was a sea change in implementing policy around the banning of phones in prison. As might be expected, this hugely increased the value of the devices. For instance, according to sources in the Prison Service, a mobile phone can sell for anything between 500 and 1,000. The going rate to rent a phone for a night within the prison system is around 80. In the event of a phone being discovered and confiscated while out on rent, the renter, or his family on the outside, is expected to stump up for the cost of the device. Preventing the proliferation of contraband within prisons can also have an impact on gang activity. Contraband is power in the closed environment of a detention facility. Take away the contraband and you impact on the power that can be yielded. Thats the background in which the prison service is constantly on the lookout for contraband. The claims by the prison officer reported in todays Irish Examiner concerns the methods used to disrupt that traffic. The laws on the gathering and retention of data are covered under different acts. Of particular concern is the prison officers allegation about the use of tracking devices in vehicles. Tracking devices can be permissible in an employment context in limited circumstances and with the knowledge of employees using the vehicles. Retaining an outside agency to place tracking devices and gather the data is definitely not covered by data protection or employment laws. If any such data were, for instance, handed over to An Garda Siochana, further questions would arise. Would such information have been used by the police? Would any inquiry have been made as to how another State agency, the Irish Prison Service, came into possession of such data? Installing hidden cameras is another issue. According to an advice sheet from the Data Protection Commissioner, certain precautions must be taken. An organisation must be able to demonstrate that the serious steps involved in installing a system that collects personal data on a continuous basis is justified. Before proceeding with such a system, it should also be certain that it can meet its obligations to provide data subjects, on request, with copies of images captured by the system. There is no provision for the removal of collected data from the place of work. The allegations at issue include one the data was removed to a centre controlled by the private detective agency. The location of any hidden cameras is another issue, as per the allegations. According to the DPC: The location of cameras is a key consideration. Use of CCTV to monitor areas where individuals would have a reasonable expectation of privacy would be difficult to justify. Toilets and rest rooms are an obvious example. To justify use in such an area, a data controller would have to demonstrate that a pattern of security breaches had occurred in the area prior to the installation of the system such as would warrant constant electronic surveillance. Whether installing a listening device in a visitors area, as alleged, or an area through which a large group of prison officers pass, is legal remains to be seen. A prison isnt a conventional workplace, but both prisoners and those who staff the prisons have the same digital rights as everybody else. There may be a case that some unconventional practice can be legitimately justified in attempting to detect the flow of contraband into a detention facility. The allegations need to be tested. It may well be that they are without foundation. Some elements of the allegations can be easily examined in a preliminary manner. Has a detective agency been retained by the Prison Service? If so, why? Is there any record of payment for the installation of tracking devices or other such activity? Confidence in the system requires that the testing is undertaken with urgency. The only remaining question is who does the testing. The Prison Service? The Department of Justice? Neither has a record of demonstrating a capacity for rigorous self-examination. Lets wait and see. While EU leaders are anxious to ratify the Brexit deal, the UK is not alone in demanding significant changes that could upset the political applecart, writes Andrew Hammond. With European presidents and prime ministers making final preparations for this weekends historic Brexit summit, much remains up in the air. While many leaders want to get ratification underway, Theresa May is not alone in demanding significant final changes which could yet upset the political applecart. UK Prime Minister Theresa May is pushing for the most changes at this weekends historic EU summit, and continues to have intense pressure on her. Take the example of Spain which earlier this week threatened to veto the Brexit deal over the thorny issue of the future of Gibraltar, the overseas territory on the southern Spanish coast which was ceded to the UK crown under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Madrid, which maintains a claim to the peninsula, has long adopted a sharp stance on this issue which has become more politically sensitive in the context of forthcoming local elections where the government of Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez has been criticised by the right-of centre Popular Party for not being robust enough. After reading the draft Brexit deal, the Sanchez government has demanded to Brussels that no future EU-UK trade or security deals can be applied to the territory without Madrids consent. And also that any extension of the proposed UK transition deal would not automatically apply to it either. Beyond Gibraltar, there are other political grumblings about the draft Brexit deal from other members of the EU27. For instance, France is leading a group of countries, including the Netherlands, pushing for an EU declaration that a future EU-UK free trade agreement must rest on the UK granting comparable access to its fishing waters to those which now exist. This would be hugely politically contentious in the UK if May were to concede. France is leading a group of countries, including the Netherlands, pushing for an EU declaration that a future EU-UK free trade agreement must rest on the UK granting comparable access to its fishing waters to those which now exist. Meanwhile, France is also concerned that the withdrawal agreement which provides the basis for at least a temporary UK-EU customs union, and the possibility of a permanent free trade agreement, does not provide strict enough conditions to prevent the UK enjoying an economic competitive advantage. There is therefore a push underway for so-called equalisation requirements, as a condition for any future EU-UK trade deal, that would try to prevent future unfair competition in areas like taxation, and employment policy. What the positions of countries like France and Spain on these issues underlines is how, despite the EU27 negotiating the last two years as a cohesive bloc, each of the countries has distinctive political, economic and social interests that inform its stance on the UKs exit. These positions which vary according to factors such as trade and wider economic ties and patterns of migration with the UK are likely to come out more prominently in 2019 and 2020 if a Brexit withdrawal deal is agreed, and negotiations move on squarely to the future EU-UK relationship. Yet, for all this EU27 upset, it is May who is pushing for the most changes at this weekends summit. She therefore continues to have intense pressure on her with some big decisions still to make. One of these decisions is the length of the transition period after end-March 2019 if a Brexit withdrawal deal is agreed. Originally, this was planned to be until December 2020, but chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and UK business secretary Greg Clark have this week suggested the transition could last until at least December 2022. Wider changes May wants to make to the draft text includes not just to the 585-page withdrawal document, but also the accompanying political declaration document on the future relationship between the UK and the EU which is only currently seven pages. One of her key ambitions with the latter document is to make it longer and stronger. The reason for this is that it will set the agenda if the much longer, legally-binding withdrawal deal is ratified by the UK and European Parliaments for the talks from April on the new relationship between the UK and the EU. Moreover, with the price tag for the withdrawal deal set at around 40bn, May is under intense political pressure to show that she has won significant concessions in her future ambition to secure the widest and most comprehensive future free trade deal with the EU27. At present, many UK Brexiteers believe in the words of former foreign secretary Boris Johnson that the commitments the EU has so far given here amount to diddly squat. Boris Johnson: At present, many UK Brexiteers believe that the commitments the EU has so far given amount to diddly squat. As well as adding some text, there are also key elements of the current political declaration that May wants to see removed. For instance, Brexiteers have raised concerns about the reference to combining deep regulatory and customs cooperations, building on the single customs territory provided for in the withdrawal agreement which they suggest has potential to become a permanent EU-UK customs union. Taken overall, it is not just May but also other EU leaders who are unhappy with parts of the withdrawal agreement and the accompanying future relationship declaration. Despite the political pressure to finalise the details at the summit, this could mean that there is an unexpected negotiating breakdown, or that more time may potentially be required to seal a deal with the next scheduled EU leaders meeting in mid-December. - Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics, and an adviser to ReputationInc Ozone-related deaths have risen by 150% since 1990, while premature deaths cost the equivalent of 7.6% of GDP, says Shashi Tharoor. Afriend, a diplomat returning home after three years service in India, was asked at his exit medical examination how many packs a day he smoked. When he said that he was not a smoker, the doctor said that X-rays of his lungs showed otherwise. But my friend had never lit up. All he had done was breathe Delhis air, three smoggy winters in a row. It is that bad. When November comes, India and particularly its capital city begins to choke on a thick blanket of smog that fills lungs, corrodes throats, and impairs visibility. Its not just Delhis notorious diesel fumes, from car and truck exhausts. There are also industrial factories spewing smoke, charcoal braziers on the sidewalks keeping pavement dwellers warm, coal stoves used by roadside chaiwallahs (tea-sellers), and even the agricultural stubble burned by farmers in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana. All of these air pollutants sweep into the capital city, with vehicular emissions adding to the dust that Mother Nature has already bestowed on Delhi in abundance. Delhi had just three clean air days in 2017. But the worst air quality is in winter, when polluted air meets winter fog and is trapped, giving Delhi a grayish opacity that reduces visibility, delays flights, and brings the citys traffic to an even more polluting crawl. The consequences are alarming. The number of premature deaths due to air pollution is rising. Poor air quality is now costing India 1% of GDP every year in respiratory diseases, reduced productivity, and increased hospitalisation, and may be reducing Indians lifespans by three years. According to the State of Global Air report published by the Health Effects Institute, the absolute number of ozone-related deaths in India rose by a staggering 150% from 1990 to 2015. The economic implications are equally ominous. A 2013 World Bank study estimated that welfare costs and lost labour income due to air pollution amounted to 8.5% of Indias GDP. Labour losses (in terms of number of man days, for example) due to air pollution totalled 50bn in 2013, and premature deaths have cost the country 500bn, or roughly 7.6% of GDP. Moreover, Indias toxic air is also dissuading executives from accepting assignments in Delhi: people are turning down lucrative jobs to save their lungs. In 2015, the New York Times former South Asia correspondent, Gardiner Harris, explained that he was leaving his post prematurely, because merely living in Delhi was damaging his childrens health. Describing the asthmatic travails of his eight-year-old son, Harris wrote that Delhi is suffering from a dire paediatric respiratory crisis, in which nearly half of the citys 4.4m schoolchildren have irreversible lung damage from the poisonous air. He and other expatriates were pursuing our careers at our childrens expense, and he concluded that it was unethical for those who have a choice to willingly raise children here. So, he picked up his children and left India. Most Indians dont have that choice. They must live with what the media often refer to as Delhis killer dust respirable, suspended particulate matter that becomes lodged in the lungs and impairs our breathing. A study of Delhi schoolchildren aged between four and 17 years of age, conducted by the Kolkata-based Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, found that key indicators of respiratory health and lung function were two to four times worse than in schoolchildren elsewhere. And the damage was irreversible. India needs to make improved air quality a national priority. It needs to create state and national action plans for clean air; set tough, new targets for thermal power plant emissions, factory chimneys, and automobile exhausts; and establish a proper air-pollution monitoring system. And it needs to act fast. According to the World Health Organisation, 13 of the worlds 20 most polluted cities and towns are in India. More than a million Indians are dying every year because of bad air. The governments complacency is appalling, but not surprising. Public discussion of Indias deteriorating air quality and its effects on human health and thus awareness of the problem is startlingly limited. Indias politicians need to design an action plan that generates a groundswell of public pressure on the government to confront the issue. The Indian public, so easily distracted by issues of identity politics, like temple-building and rewriting history, should be demanding something far more fundamental: the ability to breathe. The satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer famously warned listeners that if they visit an American city, Just two things of which you must beware/ Dont drink the water and dont breathe the air. Updated for India, it is a perfect song for a crisis that has become an existential threat. - Shashi Tharoor, a former UN under-secretary-general and former Indian minister, is chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and an MP for the Indian National Congress. - Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018. Be prepared is the scouting motto, but it is unlikely that Scouting Ireland was ready to deal with the fact that a full review of the organisation has found evidence of 71 alleged abusers and 108 victims between the 1960s and 1980s. These shocking revelations were disclosed by Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone, and Scouting Ireland officials, at a meeting of the Oireachtas committee on children and youth affairs. However, safeguarding expert, Ian Elliott, who carried out the review, has said he expected the number of known victims to increase quite considerably. The fact that more abuse may be disclosed in the coming days and weeks is, of course, very worrying and the concern must be that the number of abusers and victims may be much larger. But, even as it stands, the fact that there are more than 100 victims of abuse is testament not just to a lack of proper governance within Scouting Ireland, but to an absence of any effective oversight by Irish authorities. In many ways, it mirrors the decades of child sexual and physical abuse by clerics within the Catholic Church, at schools and institutions that were, in many instances, supported by the State and which considered themselves impregnable. Scouting Ireland is one of Irelands largest youth movements, with more than 50,000 members, including around 12,000 adult volunteers. It was founded in 2004, following the amalgamation of two of the scouting organisations: the Scout Association of Ireland (SAI), formerly known as the Boy Scouts of Ireland, and the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (CBSI). Both branches can trace their roots back to Lord Baden-Powells scout movement. The review by Ian Elliott must be taken seriously by Scouting Ireland, as well as by the Government and, in particular, Katherine Zappone. It was Elliott who headed the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland for six years, and it was largely his efforts that led to reforms of the Churchs child-protection structures. Ms Zappone said she wanted to reassure parents that all the actions she is taking stem from bad governance and are in no way connected to the fantastic work that is being carried out by groups and volunteers around the country. There is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of adult volunteers within Scouting Ireland are innocent of any wrongdoing, but all it takes is one or two bad apples to do tremendous harm and to taint the reputation of the organisation. Activities such as camping trips featured prominently in victims stories of abuse. It is all very well for Ms Zappone to lay the blame solely at bad governance within Scouting Ireland, but, as a member of Cabinet, she must recognise that she and the government of which she is a member have a duty of care to vulnerable young people. She has offered increasing support to the victims of Scouting Ireland. She must do more than that to ensure that this level of abuse can never happen again. ROME - Italian foreign minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi told Med Dialogues Thursday there should not be "obtuse" closure to economic migrants. "We have to understand that those who are fleeing wars must be welcomed," he said, but ''also towards economic migrants we must not be obtusely closed". He said "we must pose questions, understand why they are fleeing, intensify initiatives for development and put an end to human trafficking". The idea of a ''romantic, vaguely nostalgic central Europe'' leads to the temptation to ''break down into fractions'' and generates ''resurgences of forms of nationalism to which we unfortunately owe tragedies of a not-too-distant past. We must find a wider dimension, and the Mediterranean offers us that. It is a sea that unites'', the minister added. Massolo, 'no ready-made solutions' Ambassador Giampiero Massoplo, president of the Italian think tank ISPI, opened the 5th Med Dialogues conference on Thursday in Rome, noting that ISPI and the foreign ministry, which organized the event, aim to ''continue making of these Med (Dialogues, Ed.) a forum of dialogue to compare opinions and foster reflection. Our ambition is to offer sparks of reflection to indicate a method and not ready-made solutions''. Massolo said that one of the key issues 'in this area, is the fostering of well-being. Of course there is not much in the region, between hegemonic temptations, open conflicts such as in Syria and Libya, terrorism and the flow of people, money and weapons, the negative fallout of globalization.'' The political declaration on the future relationship between the UK and EU has been "agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level", European Council president Donald Tusk has said. Mr Tusk said in a tweet: "I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. "The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the Leaders." I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the Leaders. Charles Michel (@eucopresident) November 22, 2018 The 26-page statement sets out the structure for the future EU-UK relationship and states that both sides will seek 'ambitious, broad' ties. The announcement clears the way for a special Brexit summit to go ahead in Brussels on Sunday, when leaders of the 27 remaining EU states are expected to give their stamp of approval to the declaration alongside the 585-page withdrawal agreement setting out the terms of the UK's departure. It follows a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday evening between the British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, and is the first indication that the pair reached political agreement in principle on the text. Downing Street has repeatedly made clear that agreement is needed on the future framework - setting out aspirations in areas like trade and security co-operation and believed to run to a few dozen pages - in order to press ahead with the legally-binding withdrawal agreement. Mrs May will be making a statement to the House of Commons later today #TeamJunckerEU continues today: updates on #Article50 #Brexit negotiations, latest developments leading to the endorsement by the College of the political declaration on the future relationship between the EU and the U.K. Now subject to leaders endorsement on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/9NtRWhbs6E Margaritis Schinas (@MargSchinas) November 22, 2018 PA & Digital Desk A former nurse accused of killing 100 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany has addressed the families of his victims and expressed regret. German news agency DPA reported that Niels Hoegel, who is on trial at a regional court in the northwestern city of Oldenburg, said: "If there was a way to help you, I would do it, believe me." Lifestyle Students Launch All-Local Cotton Bagan Clothing Brand A boy and girl wear unisex cotton pants by Cotton Bagan. / Supplied A group of young students from Meiktila district have started producing pants and scarves using local cotton under the Cotton Bagan brand. Their main purpose is to build a trusted local brand based upon Myanmars most famous tourism site. Cotton Bagan products are 100 percent cotton, and only available in Bagan, the countrys most popular travel destination for both locals and foreigners, said co-founder Pyay Soe Hein, 21. In Bagan, there are many imported clothes with high price tags. Elephant pants, which are imported from Thailand, are trending in Bagan. Its because there are no other choices. There are no local brands that tourists can trust in a lot of tourism areas. Thats why we wanted to build a trusted local brand, he said. Personally, Pyay Soe Hein doesnt like to wear elephant pants, and he is sure that there must be other guys like him. Thats why the team chose to start the business by making cotton pants in Bagan. Cotton Bagan was launched by three young graduates of Meiktila University of Economics in the middle of 2017. We started planning in the middle of 2017 with two other friends, but we have other people who help us. Some juniors from university helped with marketing research and seniors also helped, he said. The products were launched to the public in October 2017. Before Cotton Bagan, he worked on another clothing brand called Gent and Glory that was mainly supported by the universitys English club members and students from other majors. So, we already had the experience and had networked with suppliers and garment factories. Our university is not far from the industrial zone. We were able to reach it easily. Our experience with Gent and Glory made things a lot easier when we started Cotton Bagan, Pyay Soe Hein said. But they needed to go step by step, starting with a brand-building analysis. We had just a little knowledge from our lectures. So, there were many mistakes when we tried to do things in the real world. This business is bigger than our previous one, he said. Actually, there are a lot of local brands selling cotton clothes in Myanmar, but they are not pure cotton and some are imported from China and Thailand; they just change the brand logo, he said. That means, we [in the country] lose too much. [Myanmar] can also source cotton locally but [traders] buy from abroad. So, our country loses money to others. In the old days, people just imported the different fabric sheets from foreign countries. Nowadays, they even import the finished goods, Pyay Soe Hein said. Domestic tourist sites are places that can generate income for local businesses. But most of the people there order from foreigners; they dont see how much the country is losing, he added. So, we want to promote our local cotton. Local cotton is as good as imported cotton. The imported cotton is a bit better than ours but ours is also of decent quality. They have different cotton suppliers and all the products from the brand are made in Myanmar. Cotton Bagan doesnt have a showroom or its own shop; it is distributed via retail partners. So, we need to make an agreement first with retail partners who promise to sell the products at a fixed price. And they need to explain the product description honestly as well, Pyay Soe Hein said, explaining the way the company operates. He added, If there are complaints from customers about the products, the retail partners contact me. When people visit Bagan, they can explore the area wearing comfortable cotton pants by Cotton Bagan. They can also buy them as gifts for their friends and family; thats the brands other purpose, he said. Thats why we are careful about the details of the packaging as well, Pyay Soe Hein said. Cotton Bagan is an officially registered brand. The pants design is simple and unisex with different color options. They have small, medium, large and extra large sizes, as well. The brand is targeted at both locals and foreigners, because tour companies and tour guides are already connected with souvenir shops. So, they go to that kind of shop directly. If we choose those souvenir shops as our retail partners, we need to pay the tour company and tour guides. So, the cost will increase and the profit will be less, or else the products price will be high. Thats unfortunate, he said. In the future, the team will check the response from customers to Cotton Bagans first products. It will then expand from Bagan to other tourism sites, Pyay Soe Hein said. The prices for the pants range from 5,600 kyats to 7,000 kyats. Thursday, November 22nd, 2018 (12:01 am) - Score 1,083 A new study from the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE), which did a systematic analysis of all of the 157 broadband measures that have been notified to the European Commission by Member States (inc. UK) between 2003 and August 2018, has warned that the current level of public funding is insufficient. At present the existing Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) strategy, which was originally adopted in May 2010, is still trying to deliver on its promise of ensuring that very home in the EU can access a 30Mbps+ capable Next Generation Access (NGA) superfast broadband connection (plus 50% subscribed to a 100Mbps+ service) by the year 2020. The UK is closer than most to achieving this, but others are well behind (here). More recently the EU has proposed a non-binding Gigabit Society commitment that would require member states to ensure that everybody could access a minimum speed of 100Mbps by 2025 (focus on FTTP), which is likely to be much harder to achieve outside of dense urban areas (in urban areas most EU countries, including the UK, can already deliver such speeds via existing cable or fibre-based networks and even 5G is a future option). However the authors estimate that public funding from all sources to support broadband deployment in the period to 2020 amounts to around 7 billion per year. At this rate it will take Europe nearly 30 years to meet its FTTH targets, said the report. They also found wide variations in public funding between Member States: in the period 2003-18 France spent around 215 per capita and Italy 145, whilst the majority of Member States spent less than 100 per capita and some less than 10. Overall 65% of public funding for broadband comes from Member States. Richard Feasey, CERRE Research Fellow, said: We found that broadband infrastructure receives less than 5% of available European funds, despite being a strategic priority for Europe and for the Juncker Commission. Current public funding is insufficient if Europe is to achieve its Gigabit Society targets. It is also important that whatever public funds are allocated, they are also used efficiently. If broadband infrastructure deployment is a priority for the EU, we think that the Commission should also explore how to formalise its Digital Agenda and Gigabit Society targets, to give Member States stronger incentives to meet those targets. At the European level, the most significant source of State Aid for broadband is the Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This is one of five structural funds which together form the European Strategic Investment Fund (ESIF). In addition, the Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) has funds of 100 billion in the period 2014-2020, some of which have also been applied to broadband (this fund is much smaller than the ERDF and has a wider set of funding objectives). Member States tend to make different decisions about the proportion of ERDF and EAFRD funds which they allocate to broadband infrastructure. The table below provides an indication of the proportion of funds allocated to broadband (BB) in the 2014-20 period for selected Member States: The data suggests that no Member State has allocated more than 3.6% of their European funds (ERDF and EAFRD) to broadband infrastructure in the period 2014-2020. The Czech Republic, France and Italy allocate a relatively higher proportion of their funds to broadband (relative to relevant peers), each for different reasons. By comparison Spain, Germany and the UK each allocate a relatively low proportion of both their overall funds and their ERDF to broadband. Spain receives similar levels of structural funds to Italy but allocates much less to broadband. Germany receives less funding than either Spain or Italy, but significantly more than the UK. In response the report makes several recommendations. Recommendations for EU and National Policy Makers 1. Mobilise grassroots interests in public funding of broadband with an EU-wide competition for funds. 2. Improve coordination between the European Investment Bank and the European Commissions DG Competition to ensure that in each case the appropriate public funding instrument is used. 3. Increase the share of European funds allocated to broadband. 4. Revise the existing Broadband State Aid Guidelines now to clarify key elements such as: when and how public funds can be used if commercial operators have no plans to deploy Very High Capacity infrastructure; require that State Aid can only be used once adoption rates for a new technology have achieved certain thresholds in areas where it has already been deployed by the private sector; consider allowing higher prices for broadband services provided by publicly funded networks in order to reduce the cost to the taxpayer and increase the coverage that can be obtained; explain how the universal service provisions of the new EU Electronic Communications Code will ensure that all users can benefit from affordable access to publicly funded broadband networks; simplify the regime so that measures to protect competition align with those that already apply to commercially-funded networks under the Significant Market Power regime and ensure enforcement. 5. Require Member States to provide more data to enable the evaluation of the effectiveness of State Aid measures. Effectiveness should be measured by whether public funds achieve the goal of extending broadband services to the greatest number for the lowest cost to the taxpayer, and not simply in terms of competition or the time taken to approve the project. At this point there remains a question mark over how relevant all this will be to the UK when we leave the EU next year, although the current draft deal does appear to tie us in to some EU State Aid rules for at least another couple of years (well wait to see if this deal survives to become a final text examining it). On top of that the UK doesnt have any plan for meeting the EUs latest target. At present they indicate that around 98% of the UK should be covered by superfast broadband by 2020 and theres an aspiration to reach universal coverage of Gigabit capable full fibre (FTTP) by 2033 (this will require several billion but so far only a small fraction has been committed), but nothing about achieving universal coverage of 100Mbps+ ultrafast broadband by 2025. Intelligent ERP platforms are hitting the channel in increasing numbers, bringing a wealth of new capabilities to a class of software that had started to stagnate. But what, exactly, can intelligent ERP do that traditional systems cannot, and is it possible that this very intelligence could ultimately push the enterprise away from ERP in general in favor of less complicated software? Clearly, todays ERP vendors are seeing no downside to outfitting their products with more and better forms of intelligence. At its recent OpenWorld event in San Francisco, Oracle showed off new AI updates to its cloud-based ERP and EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) platforms. The line-up includes an intelligent process automation engine that removes many of the manual tasks within its portfolio of cloud applications, as well as a chatbot reporting assistant for control and compliance solutions. Elsewhere, the company has launched an intelligent payments system and smart categorization tool in the supplier relations module, and a new AI-empowered Advanced Access Control system for a more active, dynamic security framework. Meanwhile, SAP is responding to recent research that upwards of 90 percent of business leaders expect AI to become a critical aspect of their business models going forward. To that end, the company is pushing intelligence to the forefront of the S4/Hana Cloud with tools like the copilot digital assistant and an AI-powered automation stack capable of self-learning, projecting forecasting, and a host of other capabilities. The company says it is also working to redefine the business process itself with tools like dynamic pricing and predictive workforce management. The running theme behind all of these intelligent capabilities is the need to locate and map data across an increasingly diverse and distributed infrastructure. Tech consultant Dan Woods notes that the sheer amount of data puts most enterprises in a bind: It is nearly impossible to know what is already known. With AI, however, smart systems can navigate complex data stores, seeking out the relevant information without direct supervision by users or administrators. Even better, the more they do this, the better they get, so in time they are able to bring data sets into the process that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. But while intelligence can enhance all manner of ERP systems, it can also be used to augment other classes of software to make it more functional and, possibly, delay or even eliminate the need for full-bore ERP, at least for some organizations. Thats the thinking at Intuit which, according to CIO, has upgraded Quickbooks with AI and other enterprise-class features specifically to lure customers away from ERP vendors like Microsoft, Sage and Oracle. The new tools include an automation and recommendation system that captures and analyzes large data sets for tasks like tax planning and product/service pricing. As well, it features a natural language processor for a less techy user interface. With just about all other aspects of the data ecosystem becoming smarter, its no surprise that enterprise productivity software is undergoing the same transition. Still unknown, however, is whether any of this newfound intelligence will actually make things better for the knowledge worker or simply add new levels of confusion. Normal software doesnt always functional rationally, so it will be interesting to see if things change just because they start talking and thinking. Without a doubt, it will be interesting to see all of this unfold, but whether it will lead to a new era in data productivity is still very much in the air. Arthur Cole writes about infrastructure for IT Business Edge. Cole has been covering the high-tech media and computing industries for more than 20 years, having served as editor of TV Technology, Video Technology News, Internet News and Multimedia Weekly. His contributions have appeared in Communications Today and Enterprise Networking Planet and as web content for numerous high-tech clients like TwinStrata and Carpathia. Follow Art on Twitter @acole602. ISTANBUL - Tension was palpable at a press conference on Thursday morning in Ankara, on the sidelines of the high-level Political Dialogue between Turkey and the EU. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu pointed his finger against Brussels, accusing it of ''not being a reliable partner''. He also accused Europe of ''not respecting the engagement taken with the memorandum'' on migrants to open five new chapters of adhesion as part of the agreement. EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, responded saying that ''in today's world, it is hard to find a more reliable partner than the EU. We don't have double standards, we have high standards''. Two global networking and communications companies Aruba, itself a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, and Siemens have announced a strategic partnership to deliver industrial clients greater simplicity, security and efficiency in their networks. Specifically, the two businesses say their partnership bridges the Information Technology and Operational Technology worlds and will see them providing industrial clients with insightful data networks enabling high plant and network availability, combining Siemens industrial Ethernet networking and Arubas wired and wireless LAN infrastructure. Industries targeted include manufacturing, facilities, logistics, transport and defence. Arubas contribution to the partnership is LAN switching, software-defined branch capabilities to unify disparate networks and services, wayfinding and location-based services through beacons, edge computing systems to enable real-time data processing, and indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi solutions, providing robust and consistent connectivity across plant and factory sites. The partnership helps service industrial customers seeking to leverage the Industrial Internet of Things to connect more and more devices to the network, gathering real-time data for decision-making and predictive analytics. The two companies see IIoT as raising new challenges with data traversing the boundary separating IT and OT and requiring deep expertise in both worlds to bridge the gap. Here Siemens and Aruba say their partnership delivers cyber security and trustworthy data alongside plant availability and manufacturing output targets. Klaus Helmrich, member of the management board at Siemens AG, said: The co-operation between Siemens and Aruba is an important step to complement our industrial networks offering, which is one of the pillars of the Digital Enterprise, with the additional IT offering from Aruba. Customers will benefit from futureproof, integrated communication networks ensuring availability and security. Keerti Melkote, president and co-founder of Aruba, said: Working together for nearly three years, Siemens and Aruba have addressed the OT/IT divide thru technology integration, backed by validated reference designs. The resulting solutions are ideal for a variety of industrial applications, and are backed by both Siemens and Arubas support teams. The solutions include wired and wireless networking products and related software that can be implemented via several channels including the companies extensive partner networks with direct access to their engineering and support experts. Aruba and Siemens say they can jointly address customer requirements spanning pre-sales consulting and engineering, professional services (including project management, commissioning, factory acceptance testing, and design engineering), managed operations and maintenance services, and after-sales support. The solutions help ensure network security that spans both the IT and OT worlds; for example, Arubas 360 Secure Fabric for IT networks can be combined with Siemens "Defence in Depth" OT security concept. Since customers security needs vary, especially in older legacy deployments, Aruba and Siemens say they will also tailor security solutions to address specific customer requirements. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says he wants the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to deal with the government's encryption bill "as quickly as possible", and accused Labor Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus of delaying things and "making excuses and massaging bills down to lowest common denominator". He made the claims on Sky News on Wednesday, and also said Opposition Leader Bill Shorten should say immediately whether he supported what is officially known as Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018. Dutton said there had been a bid to delay and obfuscate the process of bringing the government's encryption bill to a vote on the floor of the House. He said he had spoken to Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, the chair of the PJCIS, about ways in which the committee could deal with the bill in an "expeditious way so that the Parliament could deal with it as soon as possible". Labor's Richard Marles told the network that Labor had a good record on national security legislation, having worked with the government in a bipartisan way in the past. But, he added, this did not mean that it would give the government a "blank cheque" on any legislation. The draft bill was released for public consultation on 14 August and comments were accepted until 10 September. Thereafter, there have been two hearings before the PJCIS, on 19 October and 16 November. Further hearings are scheduled for 28 and 30 November and 3 December. A company in China's eastern Jiangsu Province has started producing solid-state batteries and expects to manufacture 0.1GWh of batteries per year. The news agency Xinhua said the start-up Qing Tao Energy Development was led by Nan Cewen, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who had invested a billion yuan (about A$198 million) in the project. Each of the batteries produced will have an energy density of more than 400 Wh/kg. Last year, as iTWire reported, the co-inventor of the lithium-ion batter, John Goodenough, announced he had invented a new solid-state battery that could be brought to market in three years. The start of production at Qing Tao was announced on Monday by Nan, who said the first batteries would be used in special equipment and high-end digital products. Qing Tao has contracted with some automobile manufacturers to produce batteries for electric vehicles by 2020 by which time production is projected to hit 0.7GWh. Xinhua said Nan and a number of doctoral candidates from Tsinghua University had set up the company in 2014. Nan said companies like Toyota, Dyson and Volkswagen were looking to use solid-state batteries in automobiles. "Getting rid of liquid electrolytes can ensure the battery is not flammable or combustible and can even be produced in flexible packs," Nan said. If human resources outfit PageUp People's chief executive and co-founder Karen Cariss is to be believed, then whoever it was that breached the company's networks and encountered a very tasty mass of data, left it completely untouched. If only all hackers were as benevolent! That's the message Cariss has attempted to spread in an email sent to customers, with a strong note of self-pity dominating her missive. As an aside, the headline she used, "Learnings from recent security incident and roundtables" reminded one of the Sacha Baron Cohen film "Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan". The breach was announced on 6 June, with the company indicating that it had been first noticed on 23 May. Among PageUp's customers are the Commonwealth Bank. the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Telstra, NAB, Coles, Aldi, Medibank, Australia Post, Target, Reserve Bank of Australia, Officeworks, Kmart, Linfox, AMP, Asahi, Sony, Newcrest, the University of Tasmania and Lindt. With a list like that, you'd be inclined to think that whoever made their way into the network would have left with something that made the breach worth their while. But it seems these hackers were on L plates. Or so PageUp would have us believe. The one line included in the email about the investigation conducted by Klein & Co is telling: "It concluded that while an attacker was successful in installing tools that could exfiltrate data, no specific evidence was found that data was exfiltrated." (emphasis mine). So was there any general evidence that data was exfiltrated? (Emphasis mine again). Cariss hasn't said a word more, but spent a good deal of the rest of a fairly long email wallowing in self-pity, outlining the strain that the company's staff were put under but having little regard to being open about the incident. "The incident placed a significant strain on our internal team. Some team members took the frustrations of our customers personally and all were so committed to responding to the needs of our customers that they worked around the clock, causing people to be incredibly tired," Cariss wrote. In other words, poor us, we suffered so much because of this breach. Why a company which turned over $31 million in 2015-16 could not be bothered putting a proper security strategy in place was never mentioned. PageUp's communication with the media was pathetic at best. But even for this, Cariss blamed the PR company or companies that were advising her. One of them we know the biggest global PR firm, Edelman. But its skills in media management were laid bare when the head of its Australian operations, Edelman Australia managing director Scott Thomson, tried to imply that this writer was aiding the authors of a book on breach management by writing about the PageUp incident. That's the best he could do, which begs the question: why was Edelman hired? Cariss says in her email, "Openness is part of our DNA..." which sounds mighty peculiar coming from a company that even today has yet to provide a comprehensive public statement as to how the breach occurred and the extent of damage. Some information was published on 19 June; additional details were published on an undated Web page which was not linked from anywhere on the company's's website. And to cap it all, the company has no media contact details listed on its website. Apart from the company's incompetence, the one thing that the breach proved is that the Australian data breach law has no teeth. It is a figleaf and the public should not be deceived into believing that they will be in any protected. Amazon has suffered a data breach ahead of the Black Friday shopping bonanza, but the company is not revealing any details about the how and why of the breach. Instead, the retail giant has sent out emails to customers informing them that their names and email addresses have been "inadvertently disclosed" due to a technical error. After adding that the "issue has been been fixed", Amazon hastens to add that there is no need for the customer in question to change his/her password or take any other action. British security researcher Graham Cluley posted the email on his Twitter feed, adding: "Some Amazon customers are reporting getting an email like this which is rather uhh... short on information about names and email addresses being exposed." Some Amazon customers are reporting getting an email like this which is rather uhh... short on information about names and email addresses being exposed. Haven't seen any confirmation from @AmazonHelp yet. pic.twitter.com/0i8UrjDhUl Graham Cluley (@gcluley) November 21, 2018 He said there had been no information on the Amazon Help Twitter account. Contacted for comment, an Amazon spokesperson said: We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted. The company said that there was no breach of its website or any other systems. Customers were emailed out of caution to let them know their name and email address was disclosed, it added. Two Britons have been jailed for their role in breaching the network of the telecommunications company TalkTalk in 2015, according to the London Metropolitan Police. In a statement on Monday, the Met said the two Matthew Hanley, 23, and Conner Douglas Allsopp, 21 had been identified after a long investigation. The hack, which occurred between 18-22 October 2015, exposed the names, addresses, dates of birth, email addresses, and phone numbers of about 160,000 customers. The banking credentials of about 16,000 of these customers was also stolen. Hanley pleaded guilty on 26 April 2017 to hacking the TalkTalk database while Allsopp offered a similar plea. Hanley was jailed for 12 months while Allsopp got four months less. Investigating officer, Detective Constable Rob Burrows from the Met's Falcon Cyber Crime Unit, said: Hanley hacked into TalkTalk's database with the sole intention to steal customer personal data and sell it to criminals and fraudsters for his and Allsopps financial gain. "Allsopp was a willing participant in the crime. If successful, this could have put thousands of people at risk of fraud. Hanley thought he was clever covering his tracks, concealing and destroying evidence on his computers, however the extensive investigation, specialist skills and technical expertise utilised by our team led to the identification of these two virtual offenders bringing them into the real world. "This secured overwhelming digital evidence leading to the guilty pleas and sentencing today. Our investigation proves regardless of the efforts and techniques deployed by cyber criminals to conceal their identities and activities, they will leave a trace and will be identified, pursued and prosecuted. I would like to thank the National Crime Agency for providing support and TalkTalk for their assistance and co-operation towards securing these convictions." YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The parliament has approved relocating the Presidents Office back to the 26 Baghramyan building in Yerevan. Lawmakers adopted the bill on amending the law regulating the issue at second hearing today. Within 24 hours after adoption at first hearing there were no recommendation from the author regarding the presidential seat. There was a recommendation from the HHK [Republicans] regarding about the rules of others use of the PMs aircraft and helicopter. Our stance is that this recommendation doesnt anyhow relate to the bill. The bill only concerns the seats of the president and prime minister, First Deputy Minister of Justice Arthur Hovhannisyan said in parliament. 64 MPs voted in favor, two voted against and 1 abstained. The bill was earlier adopted at first hearing. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian parliament adopted the 2019 state budget bill. 66 MPs voted in favor of the draft budget, 4 voted against and 2 abstained. Republican lawmakers Eduard Sharmazanov, Arpine Hovhannisyan and Armen Ashotyan were among those who voted in down. Ahead of the vote they announced they will vote against the bill. Despite the fact that the HHK [Republican faction] has announced it will vote in favor, I will vote against. This is a regressive budget, this isn't an inert budget, and I will vote against the bill, said Sharmazanov, who is also the Deputy Speaker of Parliament. However, HHK faction leader Vahram Baghdasaryan said that their stance has not changed, but anyhow lawmakers are free to vote at their discretion. Tsarukyan faction MP Tigran Urikhanyan said that the atmosphere of inequality has been manifested by the budget bills of the previous years. Our faction expresses its support for the implementation of obligations assumed by the incumbent government, he said. During earlier debates the HHK, the ARF (Dashnaktsutyun) and Tsarukyan factions had said they will vote in favor of the bill. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan Phase 3 of the parkway project would extend the Berlin G Myers Parkway from East Carolina to US17-A (Boonehill Road). It would skirt the southern border of the Tea Farm neighborhood and Summerville High School along its route. Two years ago tomorrow, the Colombian Government and the FARC-EP, the countrys largest left-wing guerrilla, signed a peace agreement, ending the longest running armed conflict on the continent and giving way to the demobilisation and disarmament of 11,384 combatants. The agreement not only set out the terms for a permanent ceasefire, but also addressed the deeper and more complex variables that fed violence in Colombia during more than 50 years. These included longstanding rural development gaps, a tradition of political violence, and illicit crops and drug trafficking. While touted for a number of innovations, the agreement made particular headway in addressing one of the most difficult issues: how to give appropriate response to the more than 8.7 million victims of the armed conflict and still persuade the FARC-EP to lay down its weapons. In the end, a comprehensive system of transitional justice was agreed with different mechanisms for justice, truth, reparation, and non-repetition. A system tied unto itself Rather than having only justice, truth, or reparation, Colombias system establishes complementary mechanisms that are expected to work harmoniously, simultaneously and on an equal footing. This intricate system tackles one of the main shortfalls of the past experiences in redressing legacies of gross violations: their piecemeal nature. Rather than having only justice, truth, or reparation, Colombias system establishes complementary mechanisms that are expected to work harmoniously, simultaneously and on an equal footing to: fulfil victims right to the greatest extent possible; ensure accountability and provide legal solutions for those who were involved in the conflict; and foster reconciliation. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP in Spanish) is the judicial body responsible for prosecuting the most atrocious crimes. It has the authority to offer lighter (reduced or restorative) sanctions to those who disclose their crimes and provide reparation to victims. The system also establishes two extrajudicial bodies: a truth commission and a special unit on missing persons. With regard to reparations, the agreement builds on the work of the Victims Unit, established in 2011 to provide collective and individual reparations. It also sets forth reintegration and legal guarantees aimed at breaking the cycle of violence. The whole system is tied unto itself, by design not by accident. But as important as the mechanisms themselves are the rules that connect them. First, there is the principle of conditionality: ex combatants will only receive amnesties or lighter sanctions if they come forward with the truth, repair the victims, guarantee non-repetition of crimes and comply with the reintegration program. Second, the interconnectedness between sanctions, reparations, truth, and reintegration makes it impossible to separate one action from the other. For instance, a person deemed eligible for a restorative sanction, must perform actions set out in a list which includes demining, crops substitution, reconstruction of social and community infrastructure and the recovery of environmental areas, among others. These actions fall in the collective reparation program and are mentioned in the agreement as options through which ex FARC members can contribute to the reparation of victims, complying at the same time with their reintegration into society. In other words, the whole system is tied unto itself, by design not by accident. The risks of atomisation and overload But, can this all work? Such an approach has never been tested in practice Until now, such an approach has never been tested in practice, and for that reason the issue deserves careful assessment. The early signs are that the comprehensiveness is both a strength and a weakness, inasmuch as it allows to overcome the limited reach of each of the measures, conceived and applied individually, and for a more holistic treatment of the multiple causes and consequences of the armed conflict. But it also risks atomised interpretations on its implementation and triggering unmanageable and confusing overload of processes and expectations. Indeed, one of the many challenges at present is over the understanding of comprehensiveness itself. There simply is no consensus between the judicial, extrajudicial and governmental institutions involved in the system, on the way forward as a collective enterprise of transitional justice. For example, a constitutional amendment in April 2017 created the comprehensive system, as well as the new mechanisms which started working earlier this year. However, laws passed through Congress did not elaborate further what was contained in the agreement with regard to this principle. It is not surprising, therefore, to see that the various truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition bodies are undertaking and deploying their efforts and actions individually, without an established channel or strategy of collaboration. On occasion, they even assume roles that belong to others. And while a coordination body for the system was created in the Statutory Law of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, it only encompasses the mechanisms of the truth and justice components of the system, leaving aside reparations and reintegration bodies and policies. Recommended reading Mark Freeman: how you can negotiate justice and peace The crucial need for coordination All of this can make it seem that the idea of a comprehensive transitional justice system may be something too complex, too ambitious to be put into practice. Yet, there may not be a better alternative. Without a comprehensive approach, it is very unlikely that the rights of the victims can be addressed in an adequate and timely manner. For example, without suitable coordination, the tribunal, truth commission, and missing persons unit could find themselves arriving at conflict-affected areas at three different moments, asking the victims to declare time and again what they have seen or suffered. This would not merely be inefficient; it would be re-victimizing. It could also result in some victims getting excessive attention, and others none at all. Without coordination there is no way for any individual mechanism to fill known gaps left by the others. Another risk is of one mechanism overloading itself with tasks that belong to others. For example, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace could become overly ambitious in truth seeking, in promoting wider participation and in determining reparations, despite the fact that there are specific mechanisms established for those purposes. This would take away precious resources meant to be focused, in the Tribunals case, on accountability for those bearing greatest responsibility for the most atrocious crimes. Comprehensiveness remains the right idea In the Colombian case, comprehensiveness should translate in practice through a coordination body that includes all, and that has a jointly established representation mechanism, common communication strategy, and set of rules on prioritisation, sequencing and information exchange. It also implies an effort by each entity to understand its raison detre within a broader frame, such that they can work toward their individual purposes and at the same time help and benefit the collective system. This would allow them all to fill gaps in functions and capacities and to avoid excess caseload, thus enabling them to better meet the expectations of victims and society. In a country where 20% of the population has suffered the consequences of the armed conflict, it is unrealistic to think that a tribunal or a truth commission can, alone, manage to give an adequate response to the horrors of the past. In a country where 20% of the population has suffered the consequences of the armed conflict, it is unrealistic to think that a tribunal or a truth commission can, alone, manage to give an adequate response to the horrors of the past. In that regard, comprehensiveness is the right idea; the necessary idea. Even though the ambition of comprehensiveness poses several challenges and must therefore be tempered by the discipline of coordination and cooperation across its moving parts, it is the single most important element of the peace agreement in order to respond to the victims rights in the best possible way. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 21) A large China-backed industrial park may be built in Clark, Pampanga soon. In a joint statement delivered by President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping Wednesday, the leaders said both countries will speed up the implementation of the Philippines-China Industrial Park Development Program. "The two sides will speed up the implementation of the Philippines-China Industrial Park Development Program, which was signed during this visit, and will continue to provide an enabling environment for their enterprises to invest in each other's country," the statement read. The deal to construct an industrial park was among the 29 bilateral agreements signed between the Philippines and China during Xi's two-day state visit here. READ: PH, China sign deals on oil and gas development, infra projects Speaking to the press Wednesday, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said China had requested for 1,000 hectares of land for the project, but the Philippines can only give them half. The information, Diokno added, was relayed to him by Bases Conversion and Development Authority President Vince Dizon. "Vince Dizon just told me that China is asking for 500 hectares in Clark. They will develop it into an industrial park. They were actually asking for 1,000, but we can only give them 500," the budget secretary said. CNN Philippines' Ina Andolong contributed to this report. YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. President of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Artur Javadyan addressed a message today on the 25th anniversary of the introduction of Armenian dram, the CBA told Armenpress. The message runs as follows: Dear compatriots, I congratulate all of us on the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the national currency of Armenia the dram. 25 years ago this day the Armenian dram has been put into circulation in the Republic of Armenia. Today is a day of pride for all of us: we all understand well that the Armenian dram is not just a measure of payment, but one of the most important symbols of our independence and statehood. The introduction of dram put the beginning of an independent economic policy, also the foundation and implementation of an independent monetary-loan policy of the Central Bank. The national currency played a vital role for the formation of the Armenian financial system. During these years the financial system passed through formation, cleaning and development phases. Of course, there have been shocks during these 25 years mainly from the outside world, but in all these cases Armenias financial system, which was formed based on the Armenian dram, showed high firmness, unity and professionalism. The financial system, without any budgetary support, facing all types of challenges, has maintained, and I hope, will maintain in the future as well the stability which is very important today. During these years the infrastructures necessary for the stable development and continuation of the financial system have been created and developed. On this day I want to congratulate all of us over the introduction of the third series banknotes which are printed with the best protection features and will serve long thanks to their qualitative features by greatly reducing the expenditures for ensuring monetary circulation. The Armenian dram had and will continue to have the most up-to-date protection features. Today is also a good occasion to congratulate the representatives of the banking sector on their day. I want to state that the Central Bank, having independence grounds vested by law, has always operated with a high responsibility, transparently and made the maximum efforts during the implementation of its tasks for which I want to thank the CBA team, its former and current employees. Once again congratulations on this wonderful day. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has replaced the usual pens at his office with paper-made eco pens. I replaced the plastic pens at my office with paper eco pens. The use of plastic utensils should be gradually limited for environmental protection, Pashinyan said on Facebook. Pashinyan was using a paper eco pen also during the latest Cabinet meeting. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Foreign minister of Germany Heiko Maas called on the Turkish authorities to ensure freedom of thought and expression, as well as rule of law in the country, Deutsche Welle reports. The German FM recalled that numerous intellectuals, including artists, writers, journalists, lecturers, are currently jailed in Turkey. There are also German citizens arrested in Turkey with ungrounded accusations. Heiko Maas said they are going to do everything for these people to be released. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan withdrew a bill on amending the law on traffic safety from todays Cabinet meeting agenda. The bill was supposed to amend the law by forbidding drivers and passengers from exiting their vehicles after being pulled over by traffic police. Police Chief Valery Osipyan said that the bill seeks to reduce possible corruption risks during driver-officer interactions. Do we understand correctly? When the police officer is pulling over the driver must remain in his vehicle? asked Pashinyan. Yes, the driver must remain, however if the driver exits the vehicle willingly based on the situation, the police officer is entitled to order the driver back into the vehicle, Osipyan responded. Whats changing? Now its this way also, Pashinyan said. Osipyan however responded that until now the issue of the officers intervention was not in place. He noted that in certain cases there might be a necessity for the driver to exit, for example to open the trunk. After a lengthy discussion, Pashinyan recommended withdrawing the issue from the agenda for further discussions. He proposed for a social advertisement to be prepared to understand the publics opinion on the matter. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan WHITE CITY, ORE,--A 9-year-old in White City is now a shoe and clothing designer for Nike. Aiden Barber was nominated by his doctor shortly after completing a ten-hour brain surgery. His fighting spirit and quick recovery after the surgery showed Aiden was the perfect fit for the Doernbecher Freestyle Program. The annual program gives young patients at OHSU an opportunity to design shoes and clothing or Nike to sell both in stores and online. All of the sales from the merchandise will go directly to Doernbecher. Aiden and his family also attended an auction where his designs brought in eighty thousand dollars for the hospital. Sharee Barber, Aiden's mom says "I never thought in my wildest dreams that he could contribute that much, but there are some amazing people that participate in helping Nike." Aiden's design feature bright gold and camoflauge mixed together on items like sweatshirts and backpacks. He says he picked gold because it's his favorite color and camoflauge to remind him of his cousin. He also chose to add the words that say "Always Believe" on some of the merchandise. "There's AB and the Nike logo and also my brain," says Aiden. The Doernbecher Freestyle Program merchandise will be available for purchase starting December 15th. Aiden and his family will travel up to Portland to be there on the day of the unveiling where he will sign autographs. One teenager is dead after a crash on Highway 140 West on Wednesday night. The crash happened around 10:30 P.M. near mile post 41. Oregon State Police say a 19 year old Klamath Falls resident lost control of a Ford F250 because of icy road conditions. The truck crossed into the oncoming lane and rolled over the shoulder multiple times. The driver of the truck as well as two other passengers were sent to Sky Lakes Medical center for injuries. Eighteen year old Angel Briones Cendejas sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead en route to the hospital. 324 Shares Share Anyone following the debate around gun regulation knows it is a hotly charged issue. On November 7th, doctors got dragged front and center after the NRA issued the statement: Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves. This was in response to an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Coincidentally, hours following this tweet, twelve people were killed by guns in California. In response to the NRA telling doctors to stay in our own lane, doctors took to social media using the hashtags #ThisIsMyLane and #ThisIsOurLane. Doctors refuted the fact that the NRA holds the sole ownership of the conversation around gun violence and that, since doctors are the ones that treat the victims of gunshot wounds, the lane in fact belongs to us. An open letter was drafted by the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine telling the NRA the reasons the lane belongs to us and that we will not stop speaking out or conducting researching into gun safety. Doctors fall on all sides of the political spectrum. Among us, there are some who believe guns should be more regulated and some who feel it infringes on our second amendment rights. However, when a victim of a gunshot comes to us for medical care, we step up and do the job, no matter our political leanings. That alone gives up the right to speak up on the issue of gun violence. When I said this on Twitter, I was told to shut up and that doctors do not have any authority to speak on the issue. In essence, there are those who want to take away our first amendment rights to protect their second amendment ones. Doctors have a duty, not only for an individuals health and safety, but to population health and safety as well. While, yes, guns are just an inanimate object that dont kill without a person using them, the people being killed by them are our issue. People should not have bullet holes in them. Innocent victims, including children, are killed by guns. What about their rights to life? Dont they count for anything? The Second Amendment is a very important one. As Americans, we should be allowed to protect ourselves. But, we cant do this while we ignore the innocent people who are dying. We dont want to take guns away from anyone. But, we want them to be used responsibly. As long as we are called to treat those torn apart by the trajectories of bullets, we cannot leave the lane encompassing gun violence. Who else will try to save the victims? When we are the ones notifying the families when their loved ones died from bullet wounds, we cannot do it from across the highway. When we look at the dead faces of those we are unable to save from gunshot wounds, we cannot stay silent. When the victims come to us years later with chronic pain or mental health issues because of the bullet holes, we must advocate for them. And most importantly, we must continue our research into gun violence and find ways to prevent it. Linda Girgis is a family physician who blogs at Dr. Linda. Image credit: Shutterstock.com HOOD RIVER, Ore. -- Fourteen months after the Eagle Creek Fire, the Oregon department of transportation plans to reopen a six-mile stretch of the Historic Columbia river highway within the next few weeks. The Eagle Creek Fire shut down a large portion of the old Columbia river highway. So far, 30,000 tons of debris have been removed from the highway and placed in an old quarry that was used to build Interstate 84. According to odot, there will be some noticeable changes once it reopens including a 6 mile stretch that runs right through the falls, it will have less parking and more fencing. And hopefully in the near future -- trails will reopen too. According to odot, the damage caused by the fire could even end up improving the hikes. They did not give an exact date but odot said its expect the highway to reopen in the next few weeks. They don't want the gorge to get flooded with visitors trying to get that first look. EUGENE, Ore. -- Robert T. Connelly, 49, was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for killing Ronni Blair in McKenzie Bridge in January 2017. Blair was stabbed more than 30 times. Connelly will be eligible for parole after 25 years in prison, but Lane County Circuit Court Judge Debra Vogt said Connelly is unlikely to be paroled, given his violent criminal history. If he is paroled from prison, he will be on supervised release for the rest of his life. Connelly was also found guilty of arson for setting Blairs house on fire in McKenzie Bridge after he killed her, in an effort to destroy evidence of the murder. He lived in a travel trailer on property adjacent to Blairs home. The crime was committed nine days after Blairs husband died of cancer. Connelly was also found guilty of two counts of theft. He had taken cameras, a radio, collectible coins and a handgun from Blairs house. "The evidence lead the investigation in this case, and the Lane County Sheriff's Office along with Oregon State Police did a fantastic job on following that evidence to Mr. Connelly and ultimately making an arrest and getting a conviction in the case," Lane County Prosecutor Chris Parosa said. During Wednesdays sentencing, Parosa said Connelly had a prior criminal history which included two violent sexual assaults. Parosa said Connelly is an ongoing danger to women and to the community. Parosa read a victim impact statement from Blairs sister, which asked for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. "She was a free spirit, insightful, curious and full of promise and the desire to help others," Blair's sister wrote. "She was wrenched from our family, and despite my desire for compassion, I cannot forgive Mr. Connelly. My daughter will never know her aunt, and I will be forever plagued by the knowledge of her untimely death." Connelly declined to give a statement during the sentencing hearing. A jury found Connelly guilty last Thursday of murder, arson and two counts of theft after deliberating for about three hours. EUGENE, Ore. -- Following a days-long search, a man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a burglary at a home in southwest Eugene in August, police said. SWAT assisted in the arrest of Jason Dean Brooks, 35, of Eugene after 5 p.m. Nov. 20. Police said an Oregon State Police trooper stopped a vehicle in Newport over the weekend, and Brooks fled. During the search for Brooks, detectives contacted local hotels and found Brooks on the ninth floor of the Eugene Hilton. When officials contacted Brooks, he tried to flee using a fire escape but was taken into custody by SWAT. Brooks was charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree aggravated theft and felon in possession of a firearm. Another suspect in the burglary case, Anthony McThrow, was arrested Sept. 12 and charged with first-degree burglary and first-degree aggravated theft. Police said the burglary on Aug. 27 was extensive, and the home had been ransacked. A storage safe was taken, along with firearms, jewelry and a large amount of cash from a legitimate business. An award-nominated book on Irish lighthouses and prints of Dublin villages will all be showcased by a Kilkenny illustrator and storyboard artist at Gifted The Contemporary Craft and Design Fair. With over 500 designers, makers and artisan producers displaying original gifts, the traditional opening to the festive season in Dublin is set to attract over 45,000 people to the RDS Main Hall over five days, from December 5-9. Kilkenny's own Roger OReilly, of Irelandposters.ie, says he cant keep his new book, Lighthouses of Ireland, on the shelves since it was launched last month its already on its third print run. I was posting my pictures of lighthouses on social media and realised I needed to write something about each of them to go with the illustrations, he said. This gave me the idea of the book, which shows lighthouses from all over Ireland, starting in my native town of Drogheda, Co. Louth, circling the coast right back to the folly lighthouse in Co Meath. The book has been nominated for the An Post Book Awards for the Best Irish Published Book of the Year. Roger, who has worked on storyboards for clients such as Coca-Cola and Diageo as well as the Irish TV series Vikings will also have some other gift ideas on offer at Gifted. I have a series of prints of all the villages of Dublin including Sandymount, Sutton and Killiney," said Roger. Well-designed wall art is a great addition to any home, but place prints bring an extra dimension in that it represents a personal connection. They may illustrate somewhere you have been, or they simply serve to say this is where I come from. Other producers from Co Kilkenny who will display their gift ideas include Conker Tree Studio, Callan. Gifted is a celebration of Christmas giving and will feature the countrys largest collection of thoughtful gifts for your loved ones, said organiser Patrick OSullivan.It is a unique opportunity to interact with the most creative people in Ireland and discover thousands of original products available only at Gifted. Our curated offering gives you the opportunity to secure once-off presents from a wide selection of contemporary Irish jewellery, fashion, accessories, ceramics, interiors, art, photography, and childrens gifts. Giving a Gifted gift to loved ones this Christmas means that they will receive a present that has been lovingly created and probably cant be sourced anywhere else. Gifted also features The Spectacular Christmas Food Emporium with over 100 artisan food producers, where you can meet the experts who can help you plan and source every aspect of your festive meal right up to the bronzed turkey. There will be 10% off everything at Gifted on the opening day, Wednesday, December 5. Gifted The Contemporary Craft and Design Fair takes place at the RDS Main Hall from December 5-9 from 10am each day. Full details and booking can be found at www.giftedfair.ie Dream interpretation was taken up as part of psychoanalysis at the end of the 19th century; the perceived, manifest content of a dream is analysed to reveal its latent meaning to the psyche of the dreamer. One of the seminal works on the subject is The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud. One wonders what Freud would have made of the production of Trad by Irish actor and author Mark Doherty staged at Cleeres last week and directed by Donal Gallagher. Produced by Lake Productions, the 80 minute show was a theatrical breath of fresh air - or as one transition year student from Grennan College described it, Cool, it was a blast. Trad, a short but epic voyage , follows the relationship of a 100 year old Irishman and his father , in a surreal comedy that looks at the value of tradition. Da, played by Derek Dooley , berates his son ( Joe Murray) for failing to provide a son to continue the family line. But the son has a secret, dating back 70 years to an unforgettable night of passion with Mary. The father has one leg , while his 100-year-old son, who is a champion fiddle player, has one arm. Hence the Freud reference? On their quest to find the missing son, the two actors deliver some of the best comedy produced on a Kilkenny stage for some time. And although a comedy, the story takes a glance at topical issues such as the church and the blame for the ignorance of society to sex and relationships. Immigration and the need to study the rise in different nationalities arriving here and whether we are able to cope is tackled as is technology and the drastic affect on young people. Doherty is very clever in the minimalist way he uses his characters to represent different Irish voices. The old graveyard visiting Sal, who is the village newsletter or the local twitter account and the priest who has lost the ability to attract a following. Although the stage time of these two characters are brief enough, Doherty makes sure the audience get plenty bang for its buck. Both parts are played with a wonderful understanding by Mike Kelly. Trad is the third production by Lake Productions. this was a brave and different choice of show which deals with Ireland, its history, family, tradition and the need to take responsibility for actions. Best to leave the final analysis to Mr Freud: One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise. MASON CITY, Iowa- There have been a lot of moves for a number of rescued samoyeds from the North Iowa breeding operation that are being moved around a lot. We learned Tuesday that several of the rescued dogs went to shelters in Waterloo, Omaha, Wichita and 16 to the Humane Society of North Iowa. On Wednesday 7 of the youngest dogs ranging in ages from four to six weeks were moved to foster care where they will be receiving training in how to socialize with other dogs and one on one training. Though the move comes only a day after they were settling in to the Humane Society of North Iowa, those with the shelter said it was all part of the plan. When you are doing a rescue you never know about the timing, said Stacey Rooney, the Shelter Manager. Its Thanksgiving week and people are busy. We planned on taking care of them as long as we needed to but we were lucky that we found some excellent foster cares that were able to take them in and come pick them up immediately. Rooney said the puppies will be brought back to the shelter once they are around 9-10 weeks old. CLARION, Iowa A warrant has been issued for a Wright County woman accused of identity theft. Evangelina Garcia-Garcia, 58 of Eagle Grove, was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday on a charge of identity theft costing over $10,000. Authorities say Garcia-Garcia worked at DayBreak Foods using the name and Social Security number of someone living in North Dakota. By using her Social Security number, Garcia-Garcia is accused of denying her victim over $10,000 in Social Security benefits. Court records state Garcia-Garcia did not show up for her arraignment in Wright County District Court. A nationwide warrant has been issued for her arrest. HANCOCK COUNTY, Iowa A Britt man is being accused of 28 sex crimes. Jeromie J. Holland, 39, was charged Tuesday with 14 counts of 2nd degree sexual assault and 14 counts of lascivious acts with a child. According to the criminal complaints, Holland sexually assaulted a female child 14 times between May 7 and November 2. Court documents do not specify where the assaults took place. The victim in each assault is identified by the same initials. In addition, the Britt Police Department says Holland confessed in 2015 to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and admitted to a sexual assault against two other females under the age of 12 that happened when Holland was between 16 and 17 years old. MASON CITY, Iowa The City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a new developer for the River City Renaissance project. Mason City recently cancelled its agreement with G8 Development on the multi-million dollars downtown revival, citing G8s refusal to provide financial information required by the Iowa Economic Development Authority before state funding could be awarded to the project. At Tuesdays City Council meeting, a vote will be held on a pre-development agreement with Gatehouse Mason City, LLC. Gatehouse had previously entered a bid on the River City Renaissance project before it was awarded to G8. In a memo to the Mayor and Council Members, Mason City City Administrator Aaron Burnett recommends approval of the Gatehouse deal, stating further delays will likely result in the loss of partners and/or the loss of the Reinvestment District through the Iowa Economic Development Authority. In a letter to Burnett, Gatehouse managing member David Elias Rachie says their vision for the project includes a 100 room hotel and additions to the Music Man Square, including a conference center with a 6,500 square foot grand ballroom and a 1,500 square foot banquet/catering kitchen. The Mason City City Council will meet at 4 pm Tuesday in the Public Library. NORTHWOOD, Iowa A court hearing is scheduled for the owner of the Worth County puppy mill where authorities recently seized over 100 dogs. The Worth County Attorneys Office has filed a petition against Barbara Kavars, identified as the owner of the Manly property raided by law enforcement and the ASPCA on November 12. 154 Samoyed dogs and four cats which belonged to Kavars were removed after authorities said they were found living in poor conditions and suffering from a variety of health problems. According to the petition, Kavars voluntarily surrendered legal ownership of all the seized animals except for nine dogs and the four cats. A hearing has now been scheduled for November 29 at the Worth County Courthouse to decide if those 13 animals should be returned to Kavars. As part of its petition, the Worth County Sheriffs Office included details on the condition of the animals and their living spaces found when the raid was conducted. Among those details: - The majority of dogs were kept outdoors in kennels with little to no food and no clean water. The kennels were overcrowded, had limited roof coverings, were full of feces, and none were heated despite below freezing temperatures. - Many of the dogs had matted and dirty fur and untreated medical conditions. - The conditions inside Kavars home are described as unsafe for human or animal habitation with an overwhelming smell of ammonia and feces, containers of unopened human and animal food piled throughout the home, and pee pads soaked in urine and feces covering the living room floor. The petition describes Kavars home as having little room to walk and little to no surface area on which to sit or place an object. OSAGE, Iowa A Minnesota man changes his plea in a North Iowa drug case. James Earl Ogden, 37 of Blooming Prairie, is now pleading guilty to possession with intent to deliver marijuana. Authorities say he was arrested after an April 28 traffic stop on Highway 218 in Mitchell County where law enforcement found nearly a pound of marijuana, prescription pills, and more than $5,000 in cash. A sentencing date for Ogden is set for January 29, 2019. MASON CITY, Iowa A man is sentenced for smashing the windows in a rental property. Tyler Thompson, 22 of Mason City, pleaded guilty to 2nd degree criminal mischief for the March 18 damage in the 200 block of 7th Street NE. Police say Thompson broke the glass out of multiple windows during an argument. He was sentenced Wednesday to three years of supervised probation and ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution. MASON CITY, Iowa Punching a county jailer in the face nets a Coralville woman a deferred judgment. Misty Lea Whitecotton, 41, pleaded guilty to assault on a person engaged in a certain occupation for a July 2 incident. Authorities say she was arrested for public intoxication in Clear Lake and, while being booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail, hit a correctional officer in the face. Whitecotton is sentenced to one year of supervised probation and must pay a $625 civil penalty. If she satisfies the terms of her probation, this conviction will be wiped from her record. PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump hinted on Thursday he may visit Afghanistan, scene of one of Americas longest wars but a country he has yet to visit almost two years into his presidency. Delivering a Thanksgiving Day holiday message by teleconference to troops in Afghanistan, Trump told a U.S. Air Force general he would see him back in the United States, before adding: Or maybe Ill even see you over there. You never know whats going to happen. Reporting by Roberta Rampton and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. Roberta Rampton PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Thursday there could be a government shutdown next month over security on the border with Mexico, suggesting he could hold up a funding deal if no more money is provided for a wall between the two countries. Could there be a shut down? There certainly could and it will be about border security, of which the wall is a part, Trump told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida. The U.S. Congress faces a deadline next month to fund parts of the federal government and a possible showdown over money for Trumps proposed border wall. Having won control of the House in midterm elections, Democrats have said they will be even less motivated than before to meet Trumps wall demands. Trump also said he had given the military the authorization to use lethal force if necessary on the border with Mexico. If they have to they are going to use lethal force. Ive given the OK - I hope they dont have to. Trump also warned that the United States could close the whole border with Mexico for a period of time if we find that it gets to a level where we are going to lose control or our people are going to start getting hurt. This would mean Mexico will not be able to sell their cars into the United States, added Trump, who has complained about the number of cars U.S. manufacturers produce in Mexico. Vehicle exports from Mexico to the United States in 2017 totaled 2.3 million units. Ahead of U.S. congressional elections earlier this month, Trump denounced the approach of a caravan of migrants as an invasion that threatened American national security, and he sent thousands of U.S. troops to the border to help secure it. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday that he had been granted authority to allow troops on the Mexican border greater powers to help protect border officials, and would await direction from the Department of Homeland Security. Mattis said troops could help protect the border agents with shields and batons, but would be unarmed. Two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters this week a memo signed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly gave Mattis the authority to protect immigration agents and if necessary, could include actions like use of lethal force, crowd control, temporary detention and cursory searches. Trump has issued ultimatums about wall funding before, with little impact, even with his own Republican Party in majority control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. If the two parties cannot reach a funding deal, there would be a partial government shutdown, with so-called essential services, including some at the Department of Homeland Security, likely remaining in operation. Reporting by Roberta Rampton, David Brunnstrom and Chris Sanders; writing by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Susan Thomas and Nick Zieminski By Jung Da-min A Spanish-based pro-North Korean organization will hold a blockchain and cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang in April. The Korean Friendship Association (KFA) said on its website that the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference will be held in the Science and Technology Complex in the North Korean capital April 22 and 23. "International experts in the blockchain and crypto industry will gather for the first time in Pyongyang to share their knowledge and vision, establish connections and discuss business opportunities," it said. Those with passports from South Korea, Japan and Israel are not allowed to attend. No journalists are invited. U.S. citizens are "welcome to apply," KFA said, despite the U.S. government's travel ban that has been extended through Aug. 31, 2019. North Korea in response to the U.S. ban that took effect since September last year said that it would "leave [its] door wide open to any U.S. citizen who would like to visit." Conference participants also will tour the Information Technology Company and the Daedonggang Beer Factory on April 24. The conference is being promoted as North Korea emphasizes its self-reliant economy against international sanctions slapped on it for its nuclear and missile programs. The South's state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) in an August report said only a few with "special computer skills" are allowed to mine and trade bitcoins under the regime's direction. The April conference also comes with tour packages priced at 3,300 euros ($3,761) a person. The KFA has organized a six-day program for the event, including the two-day conference and four days of tours from April 19 to 21 and April 24. Participants will visit landmark places in Pyongyang, Gaeseong and Panmunjeom. The itinerary includes the recently opened inter-Korean liaison office in Gaeseong. Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Overcast. High 48F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies with periods of rain late. Low 42F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Fresh CUG scheme had since been finalised by RailTel and Reliance Jio has been awarded the contract to implement the scheme. Railway Board order issued on Nov 20 had assigned the responsibility to RailTel for finalisation of fresh CUG scheme for Indian Railways. (Photo: AFP) New Delhi: Reliance Jio Infocomm will serve the countrys largest and most sought-after accounts in telecom - the railways - from January 1, with officials saying it is likely to slash the national transporters phone bills by around 35 per cent at least. Railways has been using Bharati Airtel for over six years as its telecom provider for 1.95 lakh mobile phone connections used by its employees in closed user group (CUG) across the country for which the railways paid around Rs 100 crore bill per year, they said. Its validity will expire on December 31 this year. A Railway Board order issued on November 20 said it had assigned the responsibility to RailTel (railway PSU) for finalisation of fresh CUG scheme for Indian Railways as the validity of the existing scheme is expiring on December 31. Fresh CUG scheme had since been finalised by RailTel and Reliance Jio Infocomm has been awarded the contract to implement the scheme. The fresh CUG will come into effect from January 1, 2019, said the order which detailed the tariff rates to be provided by the company. Closed User group (CUG) is a supplementary service provided by the mobile operators to subscribers who can make and receive calls from any member associated within the group. This service is applicable for SMS also. The actor is all praise for his daughter Shraddha. Actor Shakti Kapoor, who was primarily known for his negative performances in the 90s, feels todays film villains are no match for the bad guys of his heydays. Says Kapoor, We dont have the kind of villains that we had in our era. Villains like Pran, Amjad Khan, Prem Chopra and Amrish Puri dont exist anymore. They had their own style. Villains always had an interesting part, but now thats not the case. Recalling his phase as a struggler, Shakti says, I have done more than 600 films. I feel grateful that I had a lot of opportunities. Sunil Dutt, Feroz Khan and Vinod Khanna had helped me during my initial days. I was jobless when I came to Mumbai and Sunil Dutt used to give me Rs 1500 every month. I stayed at Vinod Khannas house for five years. I will always be grateful to these people. I met with Feroz Khan in a car accident and thats when he gave me my first film Kurbaani. Shakti Kapoor will now be seen in Rangeela Raja with Govinda. The actor is all praise for his daughter Shraddha. The innocence is missing in the current breed of actresses. The innocence that Madhubala, Meena Kumari and Mala Sinha had I dont see in other actresses. In the current breed, it is only Shraddha and Alia who have that innocence and are doing well for themselves. Shraddha especially resembled Meena Kumari in the film Aashiqui 2, states Shakti. The BJP also asked the Congress to answer as to what efforts it made during 24 years of its rule to give justice to Sikh families. New Delhi: A day after a Delhi court awarded death sentence to an accused and life imprisonment to another in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, the BJP on Wednesday said that it was the probe carried out by an SIT set up under the Modi government which led to the sentencing and accused the Congress of working to deny justice to the anti-Sikh riots victims to save its own people. Asking the Congress to clarify its stand on the provocative statement of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi that earth shook when a big tree fell and the BJP alleged that the then ruling party had condoned the organised violence against Sikhs. The BJP also asked the Congress to answer as to what efforts it made during 24 years of its rule to give justice to Sikh families. The Congress had welcomed the courts verdict on Tuesday.saying the partys stand is clear and a legal process must be allowed to work out its course. On behalf of BJP, I say with full responsibility that the available evidences clearly show that Congress party ensured in the last 35 years that no fair investigation or trial was allowed to take place to bring the culprits to book, said senior BJP leader and Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Maintaining that the Indian society and particularly the Sikh community wants a closure of the horrible memories of 1984, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said that we owe to the victims that the other cases suggested by the SIT for investigation and prosecution be vigorously pursued and the same is being done. He said there are thousands of cases which require a similar punishment in 1980s itself and the period from 1984 to 1998 was one of cover-up. In an article on his Facebook page, titled The Legacy of 1984, Mr Jaitley said the year was amongst the worst for Indian governance and recounted how the the then PMO conspired to destablise the NC government in Jammu and Kashmir, which proved to be catastrophic for the state and how the then ruling party Congress allowed the militancy in Punjab to go unchecked and how those whom the Congress had created to counter the Sikh influence of Akali Dal had gone out of control. He said the Operation Bluestar proved to be a historic blunder, which succeeded in hurting the psyche of Indias most patriotic community and whose direct fallout was the assassination of the then PM. The BJP said that the previous Congress governments had set up several committees to probe the riots only to delay justice. Mr Prasad said that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had constituted the Nanavati Commission, which had said the riots were organised and had also blamed the police, the next Congress led UPA government took no action on the reports findings. Gautam said that even in such a serious matter, AMU authorities had downplayed the issue and dismissed it as a routine incident. Lucknow: BJP MP from Aligarh, Satish Gautam, has said that the Aligarh Muslim University was being run by a Taliban mentality and has become a seminary for terrorists. The BJP MP made these accusations in a letter sent to the AMU vice- chancellor after the posters of a play to be staged on campus showed Indias map without Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Gautam said that even in such a serious matter, AMU authorities had downplayed the issue and dismissed it as a routine incident. He said how Kashmir cannot be shown as an integral part of India. He further stated that the VC only has the habit of forming inquiry committees and takes no action. If they had taken a strict action against students, who spoke against the government and ministers, then things would have been different, he pointed out. The MP said that the vice-chancellors silence on such important issues was giving boost to the unlawful activities on campus. He said that when AMU research scholar turned- Hizbul terrorist was killed by security forces in Jammu, AMU students mourned his death instead of being relieved at the death of a terrorist. These kinds of incidents prove that the AMU does not wish to move ahead with the nation, he wrote. Mr Gautam also pointed out that whenever he had spoken of educational issues, the AMU authorities dismiss them on the plea of rules. However, when I have talked about the illegal activities in the university, the officials maintain a silence. People tell me that there are unsavory things happening in the university every day, he said in his letter. 'Dare you to prove your allegation. You have RAW, NIA, IB and CBI to aid you. So have the guts to place evidence in public domain,' he said. The National Conference leader also said that it was an 'open challenge to Madhav and the BJP' to prove his claims. (Photo: File | PTI) New Delhi/Srinagar: Amid speculations over who will form the government in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday strongly objected to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ram Madhav's allegation that an alliance with the rival People's Democratic Party (PDP) was formed "on instructions from across the border". Madhav was reacting over Governor Satya Pal Malik's decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and on the alliance formed between NC, Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP and the Congress. The former Chief Minister dared Madhav to either prove his allegations or apologise", adding that the BJP leader had agencies such as the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) at his command. "I dare you to prove your allegation. You have RAW, NIA and IB at your command and CBI too is your parrot. So have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise," Omar Abdullah said. Speaking to news agency ANI, Madhav said, "The PDP and NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form the government." Also read: NC-PDP alliance in J&K formed 'on instructions from across border': Ram Madhav Omar Abdullah asked Ram Madhav to not practice "shoot and scoot politics". I dare you @rammadhavbjp ji to prove your allegation. You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Dont practice shoot & scoot politics. https://t.co/KEbOo0z6O2 Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 22, 2018 His comment sparked off retaliation with Madhav saying Abdullah should just "take it in his stride". He added that he was "not questioning Omar Abdullah's patriotism at all". "But the sudden love between NC and PDP and the hurry to form government leads to many suspicions and political comments," he added. Just take it in your stride @OmarAbdullah Not questioning your patriotism at all. But d sudden love between NC n PDP n d hurry to form government leads to many suspicions n political comments. Not to offend u. https://t.co/4tgbWS7Q3r Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2018 Omar Abdullah retaliated stating that "misplaced attempts at humour" would not work. "You have claimed my party (National Conference) has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of urban local body polls at Pakistan's behest in public domain." he said. The National Conference leader also said that it was an "open challenge to Madhav and the BJP" to prove his claims. No, misplaced attempts at humour wont work. You HAVE claimed my party has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pak behest in public domain. Its an open challenge to you & your Govt. https://t.co/7cumKwKxuM Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 22, 2018 (With inputs from ANI) Niamey, Nov 23 (AFP) Seven local employees of a French drilling firm and a government official have been killed in southeast Niger when suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed the compound where they were sleeping. The attack shattered months of relative calm in the Diffa region near the Lake Chad basin, a strategic area where the borders of four countries converge. The victims, all Nigerien, were shot dead on Thursday at a site in Toumour, a village near the border with Nigeria, where they had been drilling two deep-water wells to improve conditions for displaced people at a local refugee camp. Seven of them were employees of Foraco, a French firm which specialises in drilling for mining and water projects. The eighth victim was an official from Niger's ministry of hydraulics. "A group of terrorists attacked the building where a team of Foraco drillers and technicians were resting in the village of Toumour," a company statement said. "The assailants opened fire on the sleeping personnel and killed eight people." Another five people were wounded, two seriously, it said. The injured were transported to hospital in Diffa, capital of the region of the same name which flanks Nigeria and Chad. The attackers also made off with two of the company's pickup trucks. "There were about 15 employees there... under the protection of about 15 soldiers who had just set off to patrol the area at the time of the attack," said Thierry Merle, head of Foraco's Europe and Middle East division. "We know that Boko Haram is active in the region but for now we've had no claim of responsibility, neither official nor unofficial," he told AFP. "We've been operating in Niger for 20 years, and at this site for a month," Merle said, indicating there had been no specific threats. "We have never faced a problem like this before." But a local official in Diffa blamed the attack on Boko Haram militants and one local resident said the gunmen had "looted many shops" and carried off foodstuffs "in a Foraco vehicle". France's foreign ministry "strongly condemned" the attack, expressing support for the wounded and victims' families. "There are no French citizens among the victims according to the information we have at this stage," it added. The Diffa region first came under attack by Boko Haram in February 2015, although the violence eased off this year after a bloody start. In mid-January, seven Niger soldiers were killed and 17 wounded in another attack in Toumour. Two months later, suspected jihadists fired on civilians at the local marketplace, killing at least five people. UN figures show that between 2015 and 2017, suspected Boko Haram jihadists staged 244 raids in the region, killing 582 civilians. Boko Haram extremists based in neighbouring Nigeria first took the conflict across the border into Niger in 2015, with numerous raids around Diffa. As well as Niger, the Islamist violence has also spilled into Chad and Cameroon, with all three countries joining Nigeria in a military effort to crush the insurgency. Boko Haram first emerged in 2009 and its nine-year insurgency has killed more than 27,000 people in northeast Nigeria, forcing another 1.8 million people from their homes. (AFP) MRJ (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Passengers of an IndiGo flight from Hyderabad to Port Blair experienced anxious moments on Tuesday as the A320 neo aircraft tilted mid-air, according to a senior regulatory official. Aviation regulator DGCA has started a probe into the incident, which is the latest in a series of issues involving IndiGo's fleet of A320 neo planes powered with Pratt & Whitney engines. After it tilted to one side mid-air, the pilot managed to balance the aircraft, a senior DGCA official told PTI. An IndiGo spokesperson said the pilot observed a minor engine sensor issue that did not warrant any automated caution and that the plane made a normal landing at Port Blair. The number of passengers on board could not be ascertained. A320 neo plane has more than 180 seats. The A320 neo aircraft suffered "yawing" and the regulator might also ask for the flight's DFDR (Digital Flight Data Recorder) to assess the angle of tilt and fix responsibility for the incident, the official said. Generally, yaw motion is side-to-side movement of an aircraft's nose and can result in asymmetrical lift on the wings. "The pilot's report says the aircraft yawed. Now, the angle or the degree of the yaw is to be determined and that would reveal the seriousness of the matter. We have already started our investigation," the official noted. Further, the official said that after gathering the requisite data, the DGCA will be able to find out whether the incident happened due to lapses at the end of engineers or pilots. In a statement, the IndiGo spokesperson said that neither its Hyderabad-Port Blair flight, 6E-293 had any emergency landing nor was there any mid-air engine failure. "The pilot observed a minor engine sensor issue which did not warrant any automated caution. Hence, the pilot continued the flight and made a normal landing at Port Blair," it said. As per live flight tracking website Flightradar24, the snag-hit plane remained grounded in Hyderabad for more than 48 hours after performing the return flight from Port Blair on November 20. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Palm Beach (United States), Nov 23 (AFP) US President Donald Trump has hinted he might soon visit American troops in Afghanistan for the first time. Addressing service members in a Thanksgiving telephone conference on Thursday, the president told one colonel deployed to the country: "I'll see you back when you're in the United States or maybe I'll see you over there." Questioned later by journalists on whether he would make the trip, the president simply said: "At the appropriate time, we'll be doing some very interesting thing." While 14,000 US military personnel remain deployed in Afghanistan 17 years after the war began in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Republican president has yet to make a visit after nearly two years in office. Presidential trips to conflict zones are usually kept secret until the last minute. Trump also said the US is currently in "very, very strong negotiations" regarding Afghanistan. "We are talking about peace," he said, without explicitly confirming if those talks were directly with the Taliban. "If something happens, that would be a great thing. I would be very happy about that," he added. The Taliban say they have had at least three meetings with US officials in Qatar in recent months, but the US has neither confirmed nor denied these direct talks. The US special adviser to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said recently he was cautiously optimistic about the possibility of a peace agreement ahead of the country's election on April 20. (AFP) MRJ (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra celebrate nine years of togetherness today. And to ring in their wedding anniversary, the couple is currently in Maldives making the most of this day. Shilpa took to social media to share how much she loves Raj's surprises and how she could never match up to his level of thinking when it comes to surprises! She wrote a sweet message for her hubby dearest on Instagram which reads: "I cant match up to your surprises, gestures or big heart.. but I have someone up there to thank ,that we are a MATCH made for each other. Will love you until I die.. and if theres a life after that ..will love then.. Happy 9th Anniversary hubby". Such a loving gesture! Shilpa Shetty Seeks Sai Baba's Blessings and Posts a Heart-felt Message-View Pic Inside. Shilpa has also shared some stunning pictures where she is soaking under the "Maldivian sun" and loving it! If these pics are anything to go by, the duo seems to be having a blissful time together. We think it is just the perfect way to celebrate any occasion as big as this by escaping on a holiday! Check out all the pics shared by the actress here- Here's some more pics from their holiday Hotness! The Kundras were in the news recently when they hosted a Diwali bash for friends from the film industry. Celebs including Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan with girlfriend Georgia Adriani, Sushmita Sen and boyfriend Rohman Shawl, Jacqueline Fernandez, Anita Hassanandani, Karishma Tanna, Preity Zinta, Shamita Shetty, Pooja Hegde, Meet brothers, Ekta Kapoor, Harman Baweja, Wardha Nadiadwala, Neha Dhupia, Angad Bedi and many others celebs graced this glittery affair. Coming back to Shilpa and Raj's vacay, we wish them a happy wedding anniversary. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 10:42 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Mumbai, November 22: Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Thursday with Opposition insisting that the government table the State Backward Class Commission's report on Maratha quota and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' (TISS) report on Dhangar reservation. The house had to be adjourned thrice; first till the end of Question Hour and then twice for ten minutes before it was adjourned for the day. The Speaker rushed through the day's business and passed a bill providing for life imprisonment for food adulteration and the Maharashtra Acupuncture Treatment Procedure bill. Throughout the proceedings, Opposition MLAs demanded tabling of the two reports and continuation of the Muslim reservation, granted earlier by the Congress-NCP regime. NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal asked the government to take steps to increase the ceiling on reservations to above 50 per cent. He said when Gowari and Koshti-Halba were given two per cent quota, the court struck it down as it breached the 50 per cent ceiling, and then the two communities were included in OBC category. Thus, the quota for others among OBCs came down from 19 per cent to 17 per cent, he pointed out. NCP Targets Govt on Suicide of Maratha Quota Activist in Aurangabad. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Marathas will be provided reservations over and above the existing 52 per cent quota. Even the State Backward Class Commission (SBCC) has noted that including Marathas in the existing quota will have a catastrophic effect, he said. The chief minister pointed out that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have raised the quota beyond 50 per cent, and their petitions justifying it by citing extraordinary circumstances is before the constitution bench of the Supreme Court. The 50 per cent cap has been imposed by the apex court and not the Constitution, he said. An SC judgement says that in case of an extraordinary situation, the quota limit can be extended provided the SBCC makes such a recommendation, Fadnavis said. On media reports that the government told the Bombay High Court that it had accepted SBCC's recommendations and not the report, Fadnavis said as per the law, the government has to take a decision as per the recommendations. "The court accepted the stand and modified its order," he said. The chief minister also said the government is committed to provide reservations to the Dhangars. "I stand by our earlier promise of providing reservations to Dhangars. After taking over there ins of the state, I found the previous government had rejected Dhangars' quota demand. "We set up a committee by TataInstitute of Social Sciences. Its report was received and cabinet sub-committee is scrutinising its recommendations. The recommendations will be placed before the cabinet and then forwarded to the Centre," the chief minister said. "The process will be completed in a time-bound manner. Dhangars get 3.5 per cent reservations under VJNT category. But they want quota as a scheduled tribe," he said. As Speaker Haribhau Bagde called for Question Hour, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil demanded that other business should be set aside and the House should discuss Maratha,Dhangar and Muslim reservations issue and the Long March to Mumbai undertaken by tribal farmers Thursday. He also demanded an aid of Rs 50,000 per hectare for farmers who grew Kharif crops and Rs 1 lakh per hectare for horticulture farmers in drought-affected areas of the state. Tribal farmers are demanding implementation of Forest Rights Act and Swaminathan Committee's report, and the government has not fulfilled the assurances given in March this year when they undertook a similar Long March from Nashik to Mumbai, he said. He also demanded that the Maratha quota report by SBCC and TISS' report on Dhangar quota be tabled. The demand was supported by NCP leader Ajit Pawar who said Opposition won't allow the House to function otherwise. Ashish Shelar of BJP accused Pawar of doing a U-turn, saying Pawar had earlier this week said there was no need to table the report without checking if it can be challenged in the court. Atul Bhatkalkar, another BJP MLA, said Opposition was disrupting Question Hour when the first question that was to be discussed was about farmer suicides. Vikhe Patil said rather than holding a debate, the government should announce compensation for farmers in drought-affected areas. Fadnavis said he had called representatives of the Adivasi Long March for talks. "It is wrong to say nothing has been done in the last six months. In one district, forest rights claims of 32,000 villages have been settled," he said. Ajit Pawar said there is unrest among Marathas over the delay in granting quota. There is unrest among the OBCs as well as they feel Maratha quota would eat into their reservation, he said. Differing stands by senior ministers on the issue are not helping, he said. Islamabad, November 22: Pakistan on Thursday denied allegations of its involvement in Amritsar blast at Nirankari Bhawan which claimed lives of three people. Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh held Pakistan responsible for the attack. The Punjab CM claimed that the grenades used in the blast were similar to the ones being manufactured by Pakistan ordinance factory. Yesterday, Punjab police also arrested one terrorist in connection with the blast. At the press conference, the CM released an image of Bikramjit Singh, one of the accused held in the case. "I'm happy to announce that police nabbed one of the two persons involved. 26-year-old Bikramjit Singh has been arrested. The other man will also be arrested soon. His name is Avtar Singh", he said. Captain Singh also denied any communal angle in the attack. During the press briefing, he said that the attackers targeted the Nirankari Bhawan it was an easy target. According to the Punjab police, Harmeet Singh PhD alias Happy is the mastermind of the attack. Happy is the leader of the Pakistan-based Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). The KLF leader had also planned and strategist the targeted killings of some socio-religious leaders in the state in 2016-17. Happy is a native of Amritsar and living in Pakistan for over two decades. On November 18, at least three people were killed and over a dozen were injured when unidentified assailants lobbed grenades at the Nirankari Bhawan in Amritsar's Rajasansi village. As per details by the eyewitness, bike-borne assailants lobbed the grenade. The attackers forced their way inside the Bhawan by pointing a gun at a woman devotee who was on duty at the gate. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 06:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). New Delhi, November 20: Four out of 16 jawans of Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (UPPAC) who were convicted in Hashimpura Mass murder case surrendered before Delhi's Tis Hazari Court on Thursday. The jawans will be sent to Tihar jail. Meanwhile, the Court issued a non-bailable warrant against rest of the jawans. Earlier, the Delhi High Court had given time to convicts till today to surrender. On October 31, the court overturned a trial courts verdict to acquit the jawans. A bench of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel convicted 16 former policemen for killing 42 people of the minority community in 1987 and sentenced them to life imprisonment. There were 19 accused in the case, out of which three died during the trial. The constables were convicted for murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under Indian Penal Code (IPC). Earlier, in 2015, the trial court had acquitted the UPPAC jawans. National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) filed a plea in the Delhi High Court challenging the decision. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy also demanded a further probe into the matter. In 2016, the Court also tagged Swamy's plea with other petitions in the matter. In 1987, the 19 jawans rounded up 42 youths from the Hashimpura in Meerut, and took them to the outskirts of the city and shot them with 303 service rifles. Their bodies were disposed of in a canal. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 05:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Hyderabad, November 22: An Indigo aircrafts neo engine faced trouble mid-air after take-off from Hyderabad on Thursday. The airline issued a statement, in which it said that the pilot observed a minor engine sensor issue which did not warrant any automated caution. Indigo also claimed that the pilot continued the flight and made a normal landing at Port Blair. Earlier, reports surfaced that the aircraft made an emergency landing in Hyderabad after due to the technical glitch. The reports also claimed that the aircraft tilted to another side risking lives of passengers onboard. It was earlier reported that the nose of the plane moved towards one side, and one of the wings tilted heavily towards that side. However, the airline denied all these reports, maintaining that the aircraft made a safe landing at Port Blair. IndiGo Servers Down at All Airports, Passengers Left Stranded. The pilot observed a minor engine sensor issue which did not warrant any automated caution. Hence, the pilot continued the flight and made a normal landing at Port Blair: IndiGo ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Earlier this month, an IndiGo flight made a full emergency landing at the Chennai airport. Similarly, on November 03 also, a neo engine of an IndiGo plane flying from Lucknow to Kolkata had faced trouble mid-air. After which the plane had to return to Lucknow airport. IndiGo to Pay Rs. 20,000 Compensation to Passengers for Leaving Them Behind at Kolkata Airport Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has already told the IndiGo and GoAir airlines to resolve the issue. Both the airlines have been facing issues with Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines. Due to this, some of their A320 Neo aircraft have already been grounded. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 07:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Mumbai, November 22: A delegation of farmers, who stationed in protest at Azad Maidan demanding loan waiver, drought compensation and the transfer of forest rights to tribals, on Thursday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Vidhan Bhavan. The state government also gave an assurance to farmers in writing, after which the agitation was called off. Fadnavis assured the Lok Sangarsh Morcha, which was leading the farmers, that their forest land rights claims will be settled by December this year. The chief minister gave this assurance to the representatives of protesting farmers for redressal of their grievances, which include compensation for drought and transfer of forest rights to tribals. The state government agreed to review all the eligible claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and assured farmers compensation for their crop losses, which they were not getting so far as the land was not in their name. It will also provide foodgrains to the farmers at nominal rates, Fadnavis told the representatives. The farmers and tribals who began the two-day march from Thane to Mumbai on Wednesday reached Azad Maidan early Thursday. The march traversed through Dadar and the JJ flyover before reaching the Maidan, adjacent to the Mumbai municipal corporation headquarters. The farmers were demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, which suggested that farmers must have assured access and control over resources such as land and water. They were also demanding an increase in the minimum support price and a judicial system to ensure its implementation. In March, thousands of farmers, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, took out a 180-km long march from Nashik to Mumbai in March to press for their demands. That protest saw a sea of red, formed by farmers in red caps, converge in Mumbai from across Maharashtra. (With agency inputs) (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 09:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Mumbai, November 22: Over 30,000 farmers and tribals from North Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Ahmednagar and other parts of the state who began a march towards Mumbai to press their long pending demands reached Dadar today. Citing the mass movement by farmers, Mumbai Police on Wednesday issued traffic guidelines for the commuters in the city. Taking to Twitter, Mumbai Police wrote, "Commuters starting journey from South Mumbai using JJ flyover, Lalbagh flyover and Parel flyover towards Dadar are advised to avoid & use Slip Roads till 10 AM. Farmers agitation scheduled today. Regular Traffic movement on Dr BA Road towards CST and on these flyovers." After 180-km Long Kisan March, Wave of Farmers Under Red Flag Reach Mumbai, Plan to Gherao Assembly Today Commuters starting journey from South Mumbai using JJ flyover, Lalbagh flyover and Parel flyover towards Dadar are advised to avoid & use Slip Roads till 10 AM. Farmers agitation scheduled today. Regular Traffic movement on Dr BA Road towards CST and on these flyovers. Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) November 22, 2018 Adding more, the official Twitter handle of Mumbai Police stated that the traffic in the vicinity of Azad Maidan will be marginally affected around 9 am to 10 am. It wrote, "Traffic in the vicinity of Azad Maidan will be marginally affected around 9 AM - 10 AM." Traffic in the vicinity of Azad Maidan will be marginally affected around 9 AM - 10 AM Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) November 22, 2018 The arrangements have been done by police administration to help commuters in Mumbai, so that they don't face difficulties while the protest march by agitating farmers continues. The farmers had started their journey from Thane on Wednesday and as per the schedule, their two-day protest march will end in Azad Maidan in Mumbai. Months ago in March, thousands of farmers from various drought-affected districts had participated in a long protest march that had concluded in Azad Maidan. Political parties like state unit of Aam Aadmi Party have extended their support to the farmers march, which water conservationist Dr Rajendra Singh, MP Raju Shetty and others are expected to attend. The demands pressed by the agitating farmers include - implementation of Swaminathan Committee Report, pending claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), minimum support price and setting up of a judicial system to ensure its implementation, complete farm loan waiver and drought compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre for non-irrigated land and Rs 1 lakh per acre for irrigated land and other issues. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 08:29 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). BJP said PDP-NC-Cong move was at behest of Pakistan. Srinagar: Amid a high-voltage political drama between warring factions of Jammu and Kashmirs mainstre-am political arena, governor Satyapal Malik dissolved the state Assembly on Wednesday evening. By virtue of powers vested upon me in terms of Proclamation No. P-1/18 of 2018 dated 20th June 2018 issued under sub-section (1) of section 92 and in exercise of the powers conferred upon me by clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 53 of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, I hereby dissolve the Legislative Assembly, said an order by the governor. Earlier, former CM and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti had written a letter to the governor informing him that the National Conference, with 15 members, and the Congress, with 12 members in the Assembly, had decided to extend their support to her party to form a government in the state. Peoples Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone also wrote a similar letter to the governor staking claim to government formation. He informed the governor that he enjoys the support of the BJP legislature party, with 25 members, and 18 other elected members of the House. Ms Muftis letter read: As you are aware, the Peoples Democratic Party is the largest party in the Assembly, having a strength of 29. You might have gathered from media reports that the Congress and the National Conference have also decided to extend support to our party to form a government in the state. That takes our collective strength to 56. Since I am presently in Srinagar, it would not be possible for me to call on you immediately and this is to keep you informed that we would be seeking your convenience shortly to stake claim for forming the government in the state. Ms Mufti said in a tweet that she was trying to send this letter to Raj Bhavan in Jammu. Strangely the fax is not received. Tried to contact HE Governor on phone. Not available. Hope you see it @jandkgovernor, she wrote on Twitter. In another tweet, she said: Sending the letter also by mail. Mr Lone, staking his claim to form the government, tweeted that since the facsimile at Raj Bhavan was not working, he has WhatsApped the letter to the governor through his personal assistant Jevan Lal. He said: We have sent a letter to His Excellency the Governor staking our claim to form the government. Fax not working. We have WhatsApped it to the PA to His Excellency. Shortly before Mr Lones staking claim, PDP rebel leader Imran Raza Ansari claimed 16 party MLAs were with him. He said that therefore Ms Mufti could not count them while staking her claim. National Conference vice-president and former CM Omar Abdullah tweeted: JKNC has been pressing for Assembly dissolution for 5 months now. It cant be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba letter staking claim the order to dissolve the Assembly suddenly appears. In another tweet. he said: J&K Raj Bhavan needs a new fax machine urgently. These developments followed reports that the NC, PDP and Congress were inching towards cobbling up an alliance to form the government in the state. The BJP, while reacting strongly to these reports, alleged that these parties were forging an alliance to form a government at the behest of Pakistan and that the party would not allow it. The saffron party had urged governor Satyapal Malik to stall the move. These parties are coming together to form a government on the directions of Pakistan just to keep the BJP away, former deputy CM and senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta said at a hurriedly-called press conference in Jammu. He alleged that the decision to form a government was taken after meetings in Dubai and London. He urged the governor to stop any attempt at government formation, asserting that they (PDP, NC and Congress) were trying things through the backdoor and it is not acceptable. All the three parties Congress, NC and PDP had earlier in the day confirmed that they were inching towards an agreement to form a government in the state before the expiry of six months of Governors Rule next month. Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Governors Rule on June 20, a day after the PDP-BJP coalition fell apart, bringing their two-year-old coalition government down. Since no political party had staked claim to forming a new government after the collapse of the PDP-BJP coalition, then governor N.N. Vohra, after taking over, put the Assembly under suspended animation. Governors Rule is imposed in J&K for six months under Section 92 of its constitution, but only after the consent of the President of India. In all other states, Presidents Rule is imposed under Article 356 of the Constitution of India. But since J&K has a separate constitution and regulations specific to it, the governments failure results in Governors Rule and not Presidents Rule as is the case in other states. In J&K, Governors Rule is replaced by Presidents Rule after the six-month period ends. No major political party was until recently showing any interest in forming a government in the state as none had a majority in the 87-member House. But on Wednesday two major regional parties NC and PDP which like Congress had been discouraged by the circumstances and, more important, the situation on the ground to make any attempt to cobble up an alliance for government formation, had said they were engaged in a serious effort to form the government. The NC said it was open to supporting government formation with the PDP and the Congress. It has become necessary, rather obligatory, for the regional parties to join hands to keep communal forces at bay in the interest of the state and its people in view of the challenges it is faced with today, said the partys senior leader Nasir Aslam Wani. He added that the party would hold threadbare discussions on the issue once its president Farooq Abdullah, who was outside the state, returned to Srinagar. The meetings will decide whether we should join the government or provide it outside support, he had said. PDPs senior leader and former finance minister Syed Altaf Bukhari had said people in the state would soon get good news as the PDP, NC and Congress had decided to join hands to form the government. There is progress [in the talks] among the three parties. Keeping in view the political situation and special status of the state, the three parties have decided to join hands, he had said in an interview here. Article 370 and Article 35A are our main issues. All this is being done to safeguard them, he asserted. He added that the announcement on the talks and the alliance would be shared with the people soon. New Delhi, November 22: The Union Cabinet's decision to clear the Kartarpur corridor till the Pakistan border drew applause from BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal, as well as the Opposition Congress. Leaders from the both parties in Punjab have now appealed the Imran Khan government across the border, as the ball is in his court to fulfill a seven-decade-old demand of the Sikh community. "I welcome this auspicious step by the Union Cabinet, it will be a cup of joy for 12 Crore Nanak Naam Laivas. It will build bridges, burn animosity and will act like a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries," said Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu. Sidhu, who is a Minister in the Punjab government, had issued multiple appeals to the recently elected Pakistani government seeking the opening-up of Kartarpur route. In August, when Sidhu attended the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan, he was assured by Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa that Islamabad is willing to open-up the Kartarpur route to deepen the bilateral ties. Sidhu on Thursday again reached out to Khan via Twitter, asking him to connect the remainder of the Kartarpur route -- from the Indo-Pak border to the Kartarpur Sahib shrine, where Guru Nanak Dev lived for 18 years. I thank the Govt. of India from the core of my heart and take a bow! I request the Honble PM of Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI Sahib to take reciprocal steps for opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and spread Baba Nanaks message of universal brotherhood and peace across the Globe. Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) November 22, 2018 "I humbly request the Government of India to dispense their duty towards 12 Crore Nanak Naam Laivas world over, by writing to the Pakistan Government. I hope the draft for the letter is ready as promised by Honble EAM Sushma Ji," he added. Union Minister and senior Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal credited the "persistent efforts" taken by her party to ensure the Kartarpur corridor is finally cleared. On Shiromani Akali Dals persistent requests, the cabinet has given green signal to opening up of Kartarpur Sahab corridor. Eternally grateful to @narendramodi ji and the entire cabinet for taking this historic decision. Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) November 22, 2018 "We used to pray for 'Khule Darshan Deedar' of those Gurdhaam which have been separated from us. Today, the Cabinet of Indian Govt has given green signal to opening of Kartarpur corridor . Every Sikh in India is awaiting for similar gesture now from Pakistan (sic)," she added. Her husband and former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal took a political potshot at rival Navjot Singh Sidhu, charging him of unduly claiming credit. "Who is Sidhu? Sidhu doesn't have any role in it," he added. The announcement on Kartarpur corridor was issued today by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, along with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. While addressing the press, the two leaders said the corridor -- stretching from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur to Kartarpur on the other side of the border -- will be functional in October 2019, when the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev will be celebrated. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 03:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). New Delhi, November 22: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Ram Madhav on Thursday took back his charge of 'Pakistan's hand' in the alliance of the National Conference (NC), People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir. While retracting his statement, Ram Madhav also took a jibe at NC leader Omar Abdullah and dared him to contest fresh polls with the PDP. "Now tht u deny any external pressure I take back my comment, bt, now tht u proved it ws genuine love btw NC n PDP tht prompted a failed govt formation attempt,u shud fight nxt elections 2gether. Mind u its pol comnt,not personal (sic)," Madhav tweeted. The tweet was in response to Omar's challenge to him to prove how Pakistan was involved in the allaince of the PDP, NC and Congress. Jammu And Kashmir Assembly Dissolution: What it Means For PDP, NC And BJP. It all began when Ram Madhav alleged that the coming together of his National Conference, PDP and Congress to form a government was at the behest of Pakistan. Hitting back at the BJP leader, Omar tweeted: "I dare you @rammadhavbjpji to prove your allegation. You have RAW, NIA and IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot), so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Don't practice shoot and scoot politics." Just landed@Aizawl n saw this. Now tht u deny any external pressure I take back my comment, bt, now tht u proved it ws genuine love btw NC n PDP tht prompted a failed govt formation attempt,u shud fight nxt elections 2gether. Mind u its pol comnt,not personal https://t.co/DsOYiwwXmo Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2018 Just take it in your stride @OmarAbdullah Not questioning your patriotism at all. But d sudden love between NC n PDP n d hurry to form government leads to many suspicions n political comments. Not to offend u. https://t.co/4tgbWS7Q3r Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2018 Madhav responded: "Just take it in your stride @OmarAbdullah -- not questioning your patriotism at all. But the sudden love between NC and PDP and the hurry to form government leads to many suspicions and political comments. Not (intended) to offend you." The NC leader then retorted: "No, misplaced attempts at humour won't work. You have claimed my party has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pakistan's behest in public domain. It's an open challenge to you and your government." Madhav's allegations came in an interview on Wednesday hours ahead of Governor Satya Pal Malik's move ordering the state assembly dissolved with "immediate effect". Barely an hour before the dissolution of the assembly, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and People's Conference leader Sajjad Lone staked claim to form the government. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 03:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Jaipur, November 22: Ahead of the assembly elections in Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday expelled 11 rebel leaders from the primary membership of the party for six years. The leaders were expelled for contesting against the official party candidates in the upcoming assembly elections. Meanwhile, BJP MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja who had filed nomination as independent after being denied a ticket by the party, took back his nomination. The BJP reinstated him as party's state vice president. Rajasthan Assembly Elections 2018: Rahul Gandhi Denied Permission For Rally in Bharatpur on October 9. The leaders who are expelled from the party's primary membership are Rajkumar Ridwa, Rameshwar Bhati, Kuldeep Dhankad, Surendra Goyal, Lakshminarayan Dabe, Radheshyam Ganganagar, Anita Katara, Kishanram Nai, Dhansingh Rawat and Deendayal Kumavat. 11 rebel leaders of Rajasthan BJP have been expelled from the primary membership of the party for 6 years for contesting against the official party candidates in the upcoming #RajasthanAssemblyElection2018. pic.twitter.com/e4SWHAmkkd ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 On November 19, released its fifth list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections. The party has named candidates from six constituencies in the latest list, with senior leader and key Vasundhara Raje aide, Yunus Khan, pitted against Congress state president Sachin Pilot. The top leaders will clash for the Tonk assembly seat. Meanwhile, according to the latest opinion poll released by ABP News, in coordination with research agency Lokniti-CSDS, the Congress is likely to secure a vote share of 45 per cent, whereas, the BJP would be able to secure 41 per cent of votes. In terms of seats, the Sachin Pilot-led unit would bag 110 seats, whereas, the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP would be restricted to 84 constituencies. The state is going for elections on December 7, and the result will be declared on December 11. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 23, 2018 12:12 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Srinagar, November 22: A war of words erupted between senior National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and Bharatiya Janata Party's Jammu & Kashmir in-charge Ram Madhav, after the latter accused him of joining hands with rival People's Democratic Party on the behest of Pakistan. An infuriated Abdullah called out Madhav on Twitter asked him to prove the serious allegations levelled by him. The controversy stems from the failed attempt by PDP and NC to jointly stake claim for government formation in Jammu & Kashmir on Wednesday. The two parties, who have been at loggerheads always, colluded on the "instruction of Pakistan", alleged Ram Madhav. How Governor's 'Malfunctioning' Fax Machine Added to the Anti-Climatic Political Drama. The BJP veteran said the two parties had abstained from the recently held urban local body elections on the insistence of Islamabad. "PDP and NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form government," Madhav said while speaking to news agency ANI earlier in the day. Reacting to his comments, Abdullah tagged Madhav on social media and sought the basis for the defamatory accusations levelled by him. I dare you @rammadhavbjp ji to prove your allegation. You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Dont practice shoot & scoot politics. https://t.co/KEbOo0z6O2 Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 22, 2018 Madhav was quick to revert, urging Abdullah not to be offended. His remarks, added the BJP leader, is based on the suspicions arising from an inconceivable alliance of PDP and NC. Just take it in your stride @OmarAbdullah Not questioning your patriotism at all. But d sudden love between NC n PDP n d hurry to form government leads to many suspicions n political comments. Not to offend u. https://t.co/4tgbWS7Q3r Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2018 Abdullah, however, did not step back and continued his tirade. No, misplaced attempts at humour wont work. You HAVE claimed my party has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pak behest in public domain. Its an open challenge to you & your Govt (sic)," the former chief minister said. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 12:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). New Delhi, November 22: WOW air, the low-cost Icelandic transatlantic carrier, is all set to offer the gift of a lifetime this wedding season. The airline is announcing wedding sweepstakes, where people will be given the opportunity to sign up for a chance to give one happy couple the honeymoon of a lifetime in Iceland, and at the same time win flight tickets for themselves. The contest open to all persons over the age of 18, will include travel to Iceland and stay in one of Iceland's most luxurious suites, at Fosshotel, for five nights. The couple will also win a trip with Reykjavik Helicopters to a glacier, a whale watching tour and get to take a dip in the world famous Blue Lagoon. On top of all that, WOW air will provide the happy couple with a USD 1000 in spending money. The person who nominated the happy couple will also receive two roundtrip tickets to Iceland or any of WOW airs North American destinations. To avail this exclusive trip, people need to sign themselves or their favourite couple at http://www.wowair.in/honeymoon. The contest will begin from November 20th and will go on till December 11th and the winners will be announced by WOW air over its social media accounts on December 14th. Get Cheapest Airfares From India to Europe & US: Book Tickets Online on Wow Air This Month to Get Best Rates. "Indian wedding season is round the corner, we are very happy to announce this honeymoon of a lifetime for our Indian travellers. The response we have received from the Indian consumers is remarkable. With our first flight round the corner, this contest will definitely give a boost to our presence in the Indian market," said Chief Executive Officer and Founder of WOW air, SkuliMogensen. The airlines is serving the number of destinations from New Delhi including Iceland, Chicago, New York, Detroit, Baltimore, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, and Orlando with the fares starting from Rs 13,499 and passengers can book their travel on www.wowair.in. WOW air commences service from Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi (DEL) on December 7th, 2018 with three weekly flights connecting passengers to North America and Europe over their hub in Reykjavik, Iceland (KEF). Moscow, November 22: The Russian officials on Wednesday informed that a passenger plane taking off from Russias busiest airport mowed down an Armenian man, as he was reportedly trying to flee across the runaway while being deported. According to the officials, the man was hit by the landing gear of a Boeing 737, which was taking off on a Moscow-to-Athens flight at Sheremetyevo airport on Tuesday evening. The man succumb to injuries. DGCA Issues Advisory to Jet Airways, SpiceJet to Take Corrective Measures For Boeing 737 Max Planes Identified as Albert Yepremyan, the 25-year-old man's nationality was credited after the pilot informed the air traffic control to investigate the incident, suspecting that the plane hit an animal in the darkness. As per the information, Yepremyan was to be deported back from Spain and was initially placed on a flight from Madrid to Moscow. He was later to be deported back to Armenia's capital Yerevan, but escaped while being placed on to an airport taxiway bus. Informing more about the incident, an unnamed Sheremetyevo official told Russian news agency Interfax, "The man went through the airport gate during boarding for a Moscow-Yerevan flight, went to the bus, but quickly headed towards the runway instead of getting in." Adding more he said, "On the flight from Madrid, Mr Yepremyan had started a fight. After landing, police were called on board and detained him. Latest information received says that the aircraft involved in the incident is understood to have landed safely at Athens International airport later that evening. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 11:55 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Berlin, November 21: The biggest ever anti-terror exercise at a German airport took place at the Cologne Bonn Airport during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. Based on a scenario of a terror attack by a group of militarily trained assailants, the drill involved about 1,000 operational forces from different departments including the special forces of the Cologne police department and the GSG 9 unit of the federal police. Martin Pauly, press spokesman for the federal police at the Cologne Bonn Airport, told Xinhua news agency on Wednesday that "the exercise was definitely a success". German Chancellor Angela Merkel Calls This Her Last Parliamentary Term, 'Won't Contest in 2021'. "For the first time, we were able to simulate such an attack on a German commercial airport and thus bring the police officers on-site, who are the first to encounter the attackers in an emergency, into this situation," said Pauly. Comparable exercises have already been carried out throughout Germany, especially at railway stations. A "novelty" was the attack on an airport, Pauly said. According to the federal police, there were currently no concrete indications of possible attacks, but such a scenario was conceivable at any time in view of the "increased risk situation in Germany". "It is important that we are prepared in the best possible way in the event of an actual attack," said Wolfgang Wurm, president of the federal police headquarter in the city of Sankt Augustin. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 21, 2018 06:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). A fortnight ago Asia Bibi, a woman on death row on charges of blasphemy was acquitted by Pakistans Supreme Court after spending eight years in jail. But that was not to be the end of her nightmares. Her acquittal has been vociferously opposed by right-wing clerics and their supporters in Pakistan and fatwas have been issued calling for her death. The judgement brought protesters onto the streets who blocked highways and set vehicles on fire. Soon after the judgement Asia Bibis lawyer was forced to flee the country as he too faced death threats. Saiful Mulook was granted temporary asylum in the Netherlands. Bibi was whisked away by security officials into state-provided protection but her family too is being threatened and hunted. Bibis lawyer, relatives and supporters have appealed for the family to be given asylum in another country. John Pontifex, with the Christian group Aid to the Church in Need UK (ACN), which has supported Bibis case, said They have told me that mullahs had been reported in their neighbourhood going from house to house showing photos of family members on their phones, trying to hunt them down, he told the Guardian. The family have had to move from place to place to avoid detection. Sometimes they can only operate after sundown. They have had to cover their faces when they go out in public. They have had to remove the rosary that hangs from their car rear-view mirror for fear of attack. Bibi, a labourer, was accused by her Muslim villagers of insulting the prophet Muhammad in a row over drinking water from the same well. The Supreme Court judgment which acquitted her said there was no evidence to support the charge. Bibis case highlights the complete dominance of right-wing religious organisations in Pakistans public life. Canada, Spain and France have reportedly offered asylum to Bibi and her immediate family. Germany and Italy are also in talks with Pakistan on the issue. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 06:16 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Seoul, November 22: Not only in India, religious priests in foreign lands too are convicted in rape cases. In a latest, a South Korean leader - Pastor Lee Jaerock - was convicted for multiple rapes of followers and sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. The victims believed that he was god, reports AFP. Stating the Jaerock's victims were 'unable to resist, as they were subject to the accused's absolute religious authority', judge Chung Moon-sung told the Seoul Central District Court while announcing the verdict in victims' favour. Daati Maharaj Charged With Rape, Delhi Police Crime Branch Files Chargesheet Against Self-Styled Godman It is to be known that in South Korea around 44 per cent of people identify themselves as believers to priests due to religious devotion. According to the report, people claiming to be believers and followers of religious priests, donate as much as 10 per cent of their income. Most of the priests belong to the mainstream churches. Experts are of the opinion that 60 percent priests claim themselves to be divine and some of them have been implicated in fraud, brainwashing, coercion and other behaviour associated with cults worldwide. Considering Lee Jaerock followers list - rose from just 12 to 1,30,000 - and his aura, victims state that they could not turn him down. With the #MeToo accusations swept South Korea earlier this year, victims say that they were summoned by Jaerock to an apartment and were raped. Describing the horror, one of the victim said to a South Korean news channel, "I was unable to turn him down. He was more than a king. He was God." Another victim said, "I cried, as I hated to do it. " Soon after the announcement of the verdict, a member of the Manmin Central Church, set up by Lee Jaerock, said, "The Manmin Central Church is all about worshipping the pastor Lee Jaerock", adding, "Now that I go to a different church, I worship Jesus and pray to god. Im happy and I like it. With this incident, it is proved that all around the world, phenomenon is similar. In India, we had incidents of Asaram Bapu, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and Daati Maharaj, where they have been either convicted or accused for raping followers. However, the list is quite big than it appears. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 11:17 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Chidambaram said Governor was 'happy' to keep the assembly under suspended animation as long as no one staked a claim to form government. 'The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly! Parliamentary democracy standing on its head!' he tweeted. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Thursday slammed Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik for dissolving the state assembly, saying he was attracted to the "Gujarat model" of government not the Westminster model. The former Union home and finance minister said the governor was "happy" to keep the assembly under suspended animation as long as no one staked a claim to form government. "The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly! Parliamentary democracy standing on its head! The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K Governor," he tweeted. The governor abruptly dissolved the state assembly Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress. This was followed by another bid at forming a government by the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. The assembly was in suspended animation since June 19 when the Governor Rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir when PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti resigned as Chief Minister after the BJP withdrew from the PDP-BJP government. Singh described the GST as government sponsored tax terrorism targeting both organised and unorganized sectors. Bhopal: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday dared the NDA government at the Centre to order Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into Rafale aircraft deal. Talking to reporters in Indore, Dr Singh who was in MP to campaign for his party for the November 28 Assembly elections in the state, said the unwillingness on the part of the Centre to order Joint Parliamentary Comm-ittee probe gave rise to suspicion that something was seriously wrong in it. Dr Singh renewed his attack on demonetization and GST, saying that the twin policies of the Narendra Modi government had shattered the economy of the country. He described the demonetization as monumental failure that has failed to achieve any of the objectives that were stated by Union government while enforcing ban on the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes two years ago. Demonetisation was a deliberate and designed attack on small and medium enterprises, farmers and house wives, he added. It particularly shattered economy of farming community in the country, he added. The Centre will never admit that demonetization was a wrong move. Every day, a new story is being narrated to justify the decision, he said. He described the GST as government sponsored tax terrorism targeting both organised and unorganized sectors. He also slammed the state government for its failure to address distress in farm sector in MP, leading to suicide of around 17,000 peasants in the state in the last 15 years. The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, November 21, commenced an investigation into allegations that the Nigeria police interfered in the just concluded Kwara state bye-election. The probe commenced after Senator Rafiu Ibrahim during plenary raised an order over the allegation that a police helicopter landed and offloaded some packages during the House of Representatives bye-election under the alleged order of the inspector general of police. The senator said many registered voters did not take part in voting due to alleged harassment by the Department of State Services (DSS). READ ALSO: Probe bishop over alleged death rumour of Buhari - Presidency writes DSS, police "Less than 45% of registered voters showed up for the election because of the harassment and arrest going on. The DSS were protecting only members of the ruling party. Let us bring this to the motive of well meaning Nigerians and the International Community," the lawmaker said. Following the complaint, the Senate mandated its committee on police and national intelligence to investigate matter and report back to lawmaker. Below are tweets from the Senate on the issue: READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Meanwhile, the YIAGA Africa Watching The Vote (WTV) has released its findings concerning the recent bye-elections into the House of Representatives held last weekend. The elections were conducted in three federal constituencies namely Toro federal constituency in Bauchi state, Irepodun/Isin/Eiti and Oke-Ero federal constituency in Kwara state and Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa federal constituency in Katsina state. The report was however silent on the state constituency election held in Cross River state. Briefing journalists in Abuja on Monday, November 19, the group urged the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the logistic challenges in the various states during the bye-elections. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. Nigeria News: Offa Bank Robbery - The Untold Story (NAIJ EXCLUSIVE) | Legit TV Source: Legit - President Buhari has given an assurance that all the federal projects in the southeast will be funded and completed - The president gave the assurance in a meeting with southeast governors and deputy Senate president - He cited budget hold-up as the reason for the delay in funding the projects - The southeast governors, in their reaction, thanked the president for the award of the contract for the second Niger Bridge President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that all ongoing federal projects in the southeast will be funded, saying that the seven-month delay in passing this years budget will not serve as an excuse. The president gave the assurance during a meeting with southeast governors and deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, on Wednesday, November 21, at State House, Abuja. He pledged that the federal government would sustain the support to the southeast in terms of infrastructure, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. President Buhari, deputy Senate president Ekweremadu, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state and other southeast governors meet inside Aso Rock. Credit: Facebook/Femi Adesina Source: Facebook President Buhari, Ekweremadu and southeast governors in closed-door meeting at Aso Rock. Credit: Facebook/Femi Adesina Source: UGC READ ALSO: Probe bishop over alleged death rumour of Buhari - Presidency writes DSS, police I assure you that we are doing our best and will not default on the agreements signed on ongoing projects, the president told the delegation, led by deputy Senate president Ekweremadu. He explained that part of the noticeable problems in the delay in the execution of the capital projects was caused by the budget hold-up. He said: When you sign, and you dont pay, they (contractors) can legally jerk up their costs. This is part of the problem. The infrastructure budget is a deficit budget. The borrowing plan was only approved three weeks ago and all ministers and departments of government have been instructed to forge ahead. We must not find excuses for delaying the projects. Developing infrastructure is the best thing we can do. When the roads are okay, the rails are established and there is power, Nigerians will flourish in their businesses. On the undulating surface of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, the president assured that it would be addressed in the new budget. He also spoke of governments serious interest in the new Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri standard gauge railway which traverses several states, including those in the southeast. President Buhari was accompanied to the meeting by the Secretary to the Government (SGF), Boss Mustapha and some cabinet ministers, including that of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola. The president responded from point to point on all the issues raised by the governors, to their satisfaction. The minister of transportation gave assurance that the project, the single most costly rail project at 12 billion dollars, would soon be coming to the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The ministers were directed to follow up with the private sector on key projects in the region, including the Southeast Dry Port and the Geometric Power Plant in Aba, to untangle the problems causing their delayed take-off. On behalf of the governors, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi said they came specifically to thank the president for the award of the contract for the major component of the second Niger Bridge at the cost of N206 billion. The project is the dream of our people and it has become a dream come true. Our people said we must come and thank you. Your Excellency, Mr President we are grateful Sir, he said. While enumerating some challenges confronting the governors to the president, Umahi said: "Out of mutual respect, we have come to you as a caring leader to listen to us. Other governors on the delegation were Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state and the deputy governor of Anambra state, Dr Nkem Okeke. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the agriculture sector has significantly reduced the rate of employment in the country as over 12 million Nigerians have ventured into rice production in the last two years. The president disclosed this at the 4th Nigeria Rice Investment Forum, Effective Linkage of Actor and Effort in the Value Chain for Sustained Self-Sufficiency in Rice Production, on Wednesday, November 21, in Abuja. President Buhari, who was represented by the minister of agriculture and rural development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said it was important to encourage more people into farming in order to attain self-sufficiency in rice production. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. Nigeria Latest News: Father Mbaka On Buhari, Atiku In Nigeria Election 2019 | Legit TV Source: Legit Newspaper - Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has awarded scholarships to five children of the victims of a recent attack in Borno state - The attack was on 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele, Borno where some soldiers lost their lives - Abubakar also advised the federal government to think about setting up a benevolent fund for the support of widows and children of the countrys dead soldiers The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has awarded scholarships to five children of the victims of the recent attack on 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele, Borno. Abubakar made the declaration in a statement personally signed by him on Wednesday, November 21, in Abuja. The former vice president also called on those who desired to celebrate his birthday to donate their gifts and money to the widows and orphans of the fallen military heroes. Adamawa-born Atiku was born on November 25, 1946. He will be 72 on Sunday. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Part of the statement read: I feel immense sadness when I think of the families they have left behind and pray to Almighty God to grant their surviving family members fortitude to bear up in a time like this. These men and women gave their best and we must reciprocate their sacrificial giving. Therefore, instead of celebrating my birthday this year, which is coming up in a few days, I choose to rather celebrate our fallen heroes. I hereby declare an endowment to provide full financial scholarships to five children of our fallen heroes from the 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele up to whatever level they are able and willing to reach at the American University of Nigeria, Yola. I further call on those who desire to celebrate my birthday, that instead of sending me gifts, they should donate their gifts and money to the widows and orphans of our fallen military heroes. I also call on all Nigerians, rich or poor, to do what they can for the families of our fallen heroes. They gave us all. We owe it to them to show love and support to the families they left behind. Abubakar also advised the federal government to think about setting up a benevolent fund for the support of widows and children of the countrys fallen military heroes. He said that such fund should be managed by an independent body, to which the public and corporate bodies could pay in funds. This is the least that we owe these gallant heroes, he added. He also condoled with the Nigerian Army over the recent attack that led to loss of lives of officers and men of the 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele, Borno. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) will soon begin deploying fighter jets to Niger Republic airfields to serve as airbase to launch attacks on terrorists. This was disclosed by the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar on Wednesday, November 21, while speaking to journalists at the closing ceremony of the maiden edition of Nigerian Air Force International Air Power Seminar with the theme: Air Power in Irregular Warfare: A Framework for Understanding and Responding. The CAS revealed that the decision was taken after, more collaboration with the Nigerien Air Force. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have updated to serve you better. OBJ Endorsement Of Atiku; Sign Of Good Tidings? - Nigeria Street Gist | Legit TV Source: Legit - The Nigerian Senate has resolved to summon the minister of transport, Rotimi Amaechi - Amaechi is to appear before the Senate committees on land transport, local and foreign debts - The minister's summon originated from a motion by the Deputy President of Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, at plenary The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, November 21, resolved to summon the minister of transport, Rotimi Amaechi, to explain the federal governments plans for railway development in the south-east zone of the country. Legit.ng gathered that Amaechi is to appear before the Senate committees on land transport, local and foreign debts. No date was however announced for the ministers appearance in the resolution, which originated from a motion by the Deputy President of Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, at plenary. In the motion, Ekweremadu (PDP-Enugu West) alleged that the federal government was paying less attention to the eastern rail corridor from Port-Harcourt in the south-south to Maiduguri in the north-east. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda His words: Some months back, I did mention that less emphasis is being given to railway development in the eastern axis of this country. The response we got was that the federal Government had an understanding or probably an agreement with General Electric (GE) to take over that axis and be able to restore the line in the gauge. The tragedy now is that arrangement has collapsed, and GE has withdrawn from the arrangement. He said when the Senate approved governments request to raise loan from China to develop the western axis, there was an understanding that approval be secured for government to secure loan to deal with the eastern axis. Now the story has changed. What the Chinese are being asked to do is to take over the eastern axis under a Public Private Partnership, use their own money to fix it and recover their money over time. I believe this is not fair to those of us in the eastern part of Nigeria. For a country to survive, there must be equity, fairness and justice, and any country that is running against these principles will be heading to disaster, he added. While commending the government for its interest in railway development, the lawmaker said the opportunity must be evenly spread to give all Nigerians a sense of belonging. Senator Shehu Sani (PRP-Kaduna Central) who chairs the committee on local and foreign Debts supported the motion, which he described as apt and right. Sani said the transport minister once gave a firm pledge before his committee that the Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line would be the next priority after the completion of the Lagos-Kano corridor. But it is now evidently clear that there is no firm commitment and action in terms of executing that project from Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri. The Port Harcourt -Maiduguri rail line has a lot of economic, political and social advantages in the sense that the very line will open up the areas in terms of businesses and also movement of people. There is no reason why there should be a firm and definite borrowing plan for railway lines from Lagos to Kano, but we cannot have same from Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri, he said. Also supporting the motion, Senator James Manager (PDP-Delta South) said the south-east was too critical to business development in the country to be excluded from governments railway development plans. This is one issue that all Nigerians are interested in. I am from Delta, and I do know that my state is also in a way excluded. The federal government is doing well as far as the railways are concerned, but no part of the country must be excluded, particularly the eastern axis. Surprisingly, the minister is a Port-Harcourt man. After his tenure as minister, he must go back to Port-Harcourt, whether he likes it or not, he said. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Last week, General Electric (GE) announced that it is giving up a Nigerian railway concession and handing it over to Transnet SOC Limited in line with its strategy to exit the transportation business. Agreements GE reached with the Nigerian government are now being negotiated by Transnet and its consortium partners including SinoHydro of China and APM Terminals, the Boston, company said in an email. GE says it will focus on infrastructure development in Nigeria in areas such as health care and power. Nigeria Latest News: The Abuja Metro is West Africa's First Light Rail Network | Legit TV Source: Legit Bihar additional director general of police S K Singhal has claimed that Verma surrendered because of police pressure. New Delhi: The CBI, which is probing the sexual abuse case at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur (Bihar), is all set to examine former social welfare minister of the state, Manju Verma, in connection with the case. Manju Verma, who had been evading arrest in an Arms Act case, surrendered on Tuesday before a court in the state that sent her to judicial custody till December 1. The CBI will now record her statement in connection with the case, sources in the central probe agency said. Verma, who stepped down as the states social welfare minister following allegations of close links between her husband and Brajesh Thakurthe prime accused in the sexual abuse casewas reportedly hiding at the residence of her husbands relative. Her husband, Chandra Shekhar Verma, had surrendered before the court on October 29. Verma, along with her husband, was named in the Arms Act case lodged in August after the CBI, which is probing Vermas alleged role in the Muzaffarpur case, raided the former ministers residence around one-and-a-half-month ago and recovered more than 50 live cartridges. Bihar additional director general of police S K Singhal has claimed that Verma surrendered because of police pressure. Last week, Begusarai Police had attached her Cheria Bariarpur residence after the court declared her an absconder. The JD(U) had recently suspended Verma from the party, even as the Opposition RJD had accused the state government of shielding her. On Monday, former chief minister Rabri Devi had sought to know why the state police had failed to track a ruling party MLA. The Supreme Court, which has been monitoring the Muzaffarpur case, on November 12 had also pulled up the state police for its failure to arrest the former minister. The top court had asked Bihar DGP K S Dwivedi to appear before it on November 27 in the matter. Chandra Shekhar Verma is set to appear before the court on December 1. The sexual abuse of 34 girls over a period of time in the state government-funded shelter home, allegedly linked to Thakur, came to light after a social audit was conducted by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences. After the incident came to light, an FIR was subsequently registered by the Bihar social welfare department and 10 people, including Thakur, were arrested. - An APC senator in Rivers state, Magnus Abe, and the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, have brought out their dirty linen in the public - Abe has accused Amaechi of humiliating him in front of his wife, asking him to stay away from the forthcoming elections - The senator claimed that Amaechi came to his house and told him not to contest in the forthcoming elections Magnus Abe, an All Progressives Congress (APC) senator representing Rivers state southeast constituency, has alleged that the minister of transportation and director general of the Buhari's campaign organisation, Rotimi Amaechi, humiliated him by telling him not to contest for election in the presence of his wife, Punch reports. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda There are insinuations that Abe said Amaechis conducts can cost APC a lot in the 2019 general elections. Abe also accused the minister of running a one-man show. Abe said: My grievances with the transportation minister has nothing to do with him supporting me or not. I have told him clearly that he is free to support who he wants. My disagreement with him is that he said I should not run, and I said I would run. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! To come to my house, call me in front of my wife and tell me not to try contesting was the height of it. I said no, I would not accept, I would contest. Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the chairmen of the Princewills Political Associates (PPA) in the 23 local government areas of Rivers had thanked Amaechi for supporting the candidature of their principal to fly the flag of the APC in the state. The chairmen also declared that with Tonye Cole as the governorship candidate of the APC, the party was sure of victory. They commended Amaechi for reportedly hearing the cry of those from the riverine part of the state for the emergence of a governorship candidate from their area ahead of the 2019 general election. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better. Rotimi Amaechi says he is busy on the streets | Legit TV Source: Legit - Northern elders under the aegis of NEF and ACF have reacted to ex-president Jonathans claim that they worked against his re-election in 2015 - They admitted working against the former president and the then ruling party, PDP - The northern elders said they worked against Jonathan because he and his party jettisoned the power zoning policy The Arewa Consultative Forum and the Northern Elders Forum on Wednesday, November 21, defended their opposition to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan when he contested the 2011 and the 2015 presidential elections. The groups, in separate interviews with The Punch, said that they had no regrets for their position in the two elections. The spokesman for NEF, Professor Ango Abdullahi, said that the north worked against the former president because he (Jonathan) and his party jettisoned the power shift (zoning) policy. READ ALSO: Just In: Buhari, southeast governors speak after Aso Rock closed-door meeting (photos) He said the forum never hid the reason for working against Jonathan, as according to him, We told him (Jonathan) why we worked against him, he stated. He said that the northern elders expected Jonathan to respect the zoning formula shortly after the death of the late President Umaru YarAdua but Jonathan and his party failed to keep the promise. The former vice-chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University stated: Yes, it is true that Northern Elders Forum worked against Jonathan and we told him why. They themselves (PDP) admitted that they made a mistake in reneging on the power shift and why what happened happened. On its part, the ACF adduced the same reason for working against the former president and his party, saying Jonathan contested in 2011 and 2015 against the arrangement of his party that zoned the presidency to the north. The national publicity secretary of the ACF, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim-Biu, said that the former presidents assertion that the north worked against him was odd, considering the circumstances at that time. He admonished Nigerian leaders to always honour agreements they entered into. It is on record that Jonathan contested the 2011 and 2015 polls against the zoning arrangement of his party that zoned the presidential slot to the north. Therefore, his assertions that Northern leaders and socio-political groups in the north worked against his presidency is rather odd, considering the circumstances at that time. Yet the ruling party secured 25% in most states of the north. It may interest you to know that his party has since admitted the oversight in the party winning game plan. This clearly means that leaders should always honour their words with deeds if they want to earn the respect of their followers, the ACF spokesman said. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Legit.ng had earlier reported that the former president, in his new book, My Transition Hour said that opposition from Northern leaders and other factors caused his defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. Jonathan added that the northern leaders had tried to deny him his constitutional right of contesting the 2010 presidential election after the death of President Umaru YarAdua in 2010. According to him, despite the threats and opposition, he was able to win the 2011 election. Obasanjo and Jonathan are good | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng - Fresh crisis is brewing in APC as a factional group, led by Cyril Ogodo, emerged in Delta state - The faction accused the national working committee of APC of being insincere with its recent decision - It also claimed that the Oshiomhole-led executive body lacked moral right to intimidate members' suits in court The lingering post-primary crisis that has continued rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) seems to have taken a new turn, as a factional group of the party in Delta state dared its national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, over his decision to sanction some aggrieved members. The Punch reports that the group, led by one Cyril Ogodo, said the decision of the party's chairman to penalise suspected erring members of the party would not make it withdraw its suit against the party in court. Legit.ng gathers that at the meeting which was held in Ughelli on Wednesday, November 21, the aggrieved members under the aegis of Mainstream Delta APC dared the Oshiomhole-led national executive body. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda It said that the party lacked every moral right to intimidate its court suits against the primary elections in the state. The letter released by the faction read in part: "The NWC, as presently constituted with particular reference to the situation in the Delta state APC chapter, lacks the moral right to ask party members not to continue in court whereas the first official assignment of the NWC led by Adams Oshiomhole was to rush to court to obtain a contemptuous consent judgment against perceived Oyegun state executives in Delta without exhausting internal party mechanism." In the letter, that group berated the APC national chairman, adding that those who went to court to upturn and seek redress against the decision of the working committee should be commended, not chided. The letter also read: Those going to court today to seek redress and upturn the infamous consent judgment should be commended and not vilified or sanctioned for following the precedent set by the partys national chairman on assumption of office when he unilaterally went to court, an action the members of the NWC are not on record to have frown at." PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update Earlier, Legit.ng reported that APC had threatened to expel members disregarding the party's constitution by seeking legal redress in court regarding the outcome of the recently concluded national congress. The party made the decision on Monday, November 19, during the meeting of its national working committee. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better. Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | - on Legit TV Source: Legit - Yemi Osinbajo, the vice president, has denied claims that he had a recent secret meeting with Olusegun Obasanjo - Osinbajo said that he only met with Obasanjo at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja coincidentally - He further said that he did nothing apart from exchanging pleasantries with the former president at the airport Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has refuted claims that a photo showing him and former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday, November 20, did not prove there was any secret meeting between them. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda The said photo reveals Osinbajo, the former president, and Rotimi Amaechi, the director general of President Muhammadu Buhari's campaign organisation, went viral especially on social media. It has been insinuated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had begun seeking ways to lobby Obasanjo ahead of the 2019 general elections. However, Laolu Akande the vice presidents media aide, on Twitter said that the meeting, which happened at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, was unplanned, adding that there was no secret meeting between both leaders. Akande said: Ignore reports VP Osinbajo alongside Minister Amaechi held meeting with former President Obasanjo in Ota. Yesterday, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, on his way to Lagos, Vice President ran into the former President who had just landed. They exchanged pleasantries. Period." PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that former president Olusegun Obasanjo had said that he doesnt know the position Asiwaju Bola Tinubu currently holds in the APC. Legit.ng gathered that Obasanjo said this during a programme titled, The Talk, which was aired on a YouTube Channel. Legit.ng said that the former president had been asked to identify the designations of certain political figures in the country. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo delivers a speech on the Biafra war | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng - More members of the ruling All Progressives Congress are defecting from the ruling party as the 2019 general elections approaches - Two House of Representatives members on the platform of the APC resigned their membership of the party on Thursday, November 22 - This is coming a day after two members of the party in the House dumped the ruling party - Since the beginning of the 2019 general elections campaign, aggrieved APC members have been leaving the party Just a day after two members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives defected from the ruling party, two more lawmakers in the House on the platform of the APC have also dumped the party. The speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, read the lawmakers' resignation letters at the plenary on Thursday, November 22, Punch reports. Legit.ng gathers that Ahmed Abu (Niger state) defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), while Stephen Olemija (Ondo state) defected to the Action Alliance. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Recall that Legit.ng reported on Wednesday, November 21, that two members of the House of Representatives dumped the ruling all Progressives Congress (APC). The members identified as Kolawole Babatunde (Ondo) and Mukaila Kazeem (Ogun), resigned from the ruling party on Wednesday, November 21. The lawmakers' resignations letter were read by the speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, during plenary on Wednesday, November 21. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that aggrieved aspirants on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the south south zone of Nigeria reportedly demanded, among others, the removal of Adams Oshiomhole as the partys national chairman. The aspirants reportedly declared that the 2019 general elections in the zone would be bleak for the party unless Oshiomhole resigns from office. Alhaji Mumakai-Unagha Bassey Okon Ubor, who signed the communique, claimed that with the corruption allegation against Oshiomhole, it was just right for him to resign. Though the stakeholders emphasized their loyaly and support towards the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari, they, however, condemned the substitution of names of candidates that won the partys primary election with those who did not win. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The communique read: We call for immediate ratification of the situation to reduce litigations currently ongoing in courts across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as well as the decamping of faithful members of the party to smaller parties. The meeting reviewed the state of the party across the country and South-South in particular." NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better Is President Buhari Really Doing Badly As Nigeria's Leader? - Nigeria Street Gist | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng - Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has reacted to a report by AIT purporting that he recently held a meeting with the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, in his Ota farm, Ogun state - Obasanjo denied that there was nothing of such between him and Osinbajo demanding an apology from the television station - He further urged the media to always be professional in discharging their duties and should refrain from creating unnecessary confusion Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has debunked a report by the African Independent Television (AIT) alleging that he and the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, recently held a meeting in his Ota farm, Ogun state. Premium Times reports that Obasanjo, however, demanded immediate apology from the television station. The former presidents demand came barely a month after the National Broadcasting Commission cautioned the television station on the use of user-generated content from the social media on its flagship programme. READ ALSO: PDP alleges stealing under APC-led government Obasanjo in a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, said the portrayal by the station was false and also demanded an apology for Osinbajo for the embarrassment it might have caused him. He expressed disappointment in the stations failure to verify the fake Twitter Account before airing it on the station, stating that he was in Sokoto for the Zero Hunger project at the time the false news was aired by the station. According to him, It is a fact that severally, the former president has dissociated himself from owning any social media account. Therefore, it is highly disappointing that such sensitive Twitter post would be allowed to go on air without verification by the African Independent Television (AIT). PAY ATTENTION: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda The former president further urged the media to always be professional in discharging their duties and should refrain from creating unnecessary confusion and heating up the polity. Obasanjo said: There was no meeting with the vice president anywhere. I was at the airport and was informed that he was around in the lounge and out of courtesy; I felt I should go and greet him. We met, greeted and exchanged pleasantries and I left. That was all. The station should have been very professional and not causing confusion and heating up the polity. That I am not operating any social media account should not be strange to a station like AIT, and for that embarrassment, the vice president and I deserve an apology. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, refuted claims that a photo showing him and former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday, November 20, did not prove there was any secret meeting between them. The said photo reveals Osinbajo, the former president, and Rotimi Amaechi, the director general of President Muhammadu Buhari's campaign organisation, went viral especially on social media. It has been insinuated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had begun seeking ways to lobby Obasanjo ahead of the 2019 general elections. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo delivers a speech on the Biafra war | Legit TV: Source: Legit.ng News - Illegal importation of tramadol into Nigeria from India has been on the rise in recent times - The Nigeria Customs Service has intercepted N7.4 billion worth of tramadol imported from the Asian country - Three people have been apprehended in connection with the illegal importation Barely a week after N300 million worth of tramadol was impounded by the officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted N7.4 billion worth of tramadol. Daily Trust reports that the drugs which were concealed in 40 containers, were intercepted by customs at the Apapa port, Lagos. Legit.ng gathers that the intercepted drugs came from India. Three people have been apprehended in connection with the illegal importation. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda In a previous report by Legit.ng, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), said 23 40-feet containers suspected to contain tramadol from India were blocked from entering into the country. A statement by the NAFDAC director general, Moji Adeyeye, stated that this followed a joint examinations of containers at the Apapa port, Lagos. She said the inspection was coordinated by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on November 14, and November 15, 2018. Adeyeye said that the 23 containers were part of the 86 under the agencys watch list since November 2017. She noted that the blockage was an outcome of previous communications with the comptroller general of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in September 2018. Adeyeye said: The 23 of the 40ft containers examined so far were loaded with tramadol of various strengths from 120mg to 250mg. Tramadol and other unregistered pharmaceutical products are known to be injurious to the health of the public, most importantly our youth." PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Seme command in Badagry, said it destroyed expired and seized medicaments in its warehouse with a Duty Paid Value (DVP) of N102.4 million. The commands spokesperson, Saidu Abdullahi, made the disclosure in a statement released in Lagos on Wednesday, June 20. Abdullahi said the destruction was supervised by the director general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, and the area controller, Mohammed Aliyu. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better Customs Seizes N1bn Worth of Codeine: Importation of Fairly-Used Bags, Shoes Banned | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit - Manir Dan-Iya has become the new deputy governor of Sokoto state - The state House of Assembly confirmed this appointment on Thursday, November 22 - Aminu Tambuwal submitted his name for confirmation as the state deputy governor The Sokoto state House of Assembly on Thursday, November 22, confirmed the appointment of Alhaji Manir Dan-Iya as the new deputy governor of the state. This followed the adoption of a motion by the deputy majority leader Alhaji Ibrahim Sarki (PDP-Sokoto North II) at plenary, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. Speaking on the motion Sarki urged his colleagues to confirm the appointment of Dan-Iya due to his qualities. READ ALSO: Buhari, southeast governors speak after Aso Rock closed-door meeting (photos) He said: In view of the provisions of section 191 subsections (3)(c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended. Governor Aminu Tambuwal submitted the name of Alhaji Manir Dan-Iya for confirmation as deputy governor of the state. The person so recommended for appointment is an astute politician with impressive grassroots appeal, he will bring his experience to bear in the governance and overall development of the state. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The motion was unanimously adopted when put to a voice vote by the Speaker Alhaji Salihu Maidaji who presided over the plenary. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Sokoto state House of Assembly accepted the resignation of the deputy governor, Ahmad Aliyu. Aliyu, the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the 2019 general elections resigned as deputy governor of the state on Tuesday, November 13. Aliyus notification of resignation was contained in a letter to the state House of Assembly and presented by the deputy speaker, Abubakar Magaji, who presided over plenary on Wednesday, November 14. The former deputy governor in his letter said, With gratitude to Allah who granted me the opportunity to serve my state, I wish to humbly inform the assembly of my resignation as deputy governor with effect from November 13, 2018. I, therefore, wish to extend my sincere appreciation to Governor Aminu Tambuwal, assembly members and the entire people of Sokoto state for the support accorded me during my service. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have updated to serve you better Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | Legit TV: Source: Legit - PDP has vowed that it would sanction three of its members in Osun state over Adeleke's certificate scandal - Senator Ademola Adeleke was the PDP's governorship candidate during September 22 election held in the state - The trio had on October 30, sued Adeleke over alleged certificate forgery of which he is standing trial in court The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said that it has put three of its members in osun state under investigations for possible sanction for suing the partys gubernatorial candidate in the recently conducted election in the state, Senator Ademola Adeleke, over alleged fake certificate. Punch reports that the party said the members: Olalekan Awosiyan, Thomas Ojetade and Sina Awodire, would be recommended for sanctions in accordance with the its constitution. Legit.ng gathered that the zonal secretary of the party, Bunmi Jenyo, who made this known on Thursday, November 22, also told journalists in Ibadan that the members had employed blackmail to destabilise the party for reasons best known to them. PAY ATTENTION: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Jenyo, who said the zone would soon recommend the alleged culprits for disciplinary action, used the occasion to dispel the claim by Ojetade that he (Jenyo) threatened him to withdraw from the suit they instituted against Adeleke. The PDP scribe, in company of another witness to the peace accord, a senatorial youth leader, Osun east, Kazeem Ogunsola, claimed that Ojetade willingly agreed to withdraw the suit following a peace meeting initiated by the zonal chairman, Eddy Olafeso, and was never at any point pressured to so do. According to Jenyo, Having been instructed by the leadership of our party in the South West under the chairmanship of Dr. Eddy Olafeso, to investigate the matter and resolve it amicably, I went to lle-Ife on Friday, November 16th to hold meeting(s) with the petitioners. I could not locate all the three petitioners in the suit until the intervention of Ife Federal Constituency candidate, Hon. Abimbola Ajilesoro, who connected me with Osun East Senatorial youth leader, Mr. Kazeem Ogunsola, who brought one of the petitioners, Mr. Ojetade Thomas, to the house of Hon. Ajilesoro in Parakin, Ile-Ife on Saturday 17th November, 2018 morning. I was invited to discuss with Mr. Thomas Ojetade and Mr. Kazeem Ogunsola at the venue, but the meeting could not hold due to the inconducive atmosphere as a result of the various political activities at the house of the House of Representatives candidate. So, Hon. Ajilesoro suggested that both persons follow me to my house in Abere, Osogbo for a peaceful meeting. Mr. Thomas Ojetade, who happily agreed, also called another plaintiff in the suit, Mr. Awodire Sina Peter, who also promised to join us in the course of the meeting. The latter, however, did not show up while the meeting lasted. After a lengthy discussion, he felt sober and apologised for roles played in the case. As a result, he voluntarily agreed to withdraw from the case with immediate effect, in the interest of the party. It was at that juncture that he had to speak with the lawyer, Mr. Temitope Elusogbon, who prepared the affidavit, on the telephone. He signed the document in front of me and Mr. Kazeem Ogunsola and promised to come alongside the Youth Leader to court on Monday, November 19 for further processes to finally withdraw the case for out-of-court settlement. He asked for financial compensation for his efforts and further discussions were mutually agreed to be shifted till Monday, after court sitting. Obviously, the meeting was peaceful, no interference whatsoever, it was only three of us. I instructed my driver to drop him at the garage and offered him N6,000 (six thousand naira) only for his transportation back to Modakeke, his abode. I am particularly surprised to receive a phone call from one Inspector Emmanuel who asked whether I threatened him to sign the document. I, therefore explained to him (Inspector Emmanuel) that the concocted story of a police pointing gun at his head never arose. Indeed, no policeman or any other person attended the meeting but the three of us only. Another surprise was a Press Conference he addressed in Osogbo on Tuesday where he wrongfully accused my personality of threatening him and his family. Also, Ogunsola confirmed that Ojetade signed the document without any threat whatsoever, saying, No one threatened him. I can say this anywhere and anytime. He himself knows the truth. He should not allow himself to be used in Osun PDP. READ ALSO: Obasanjo denies meeting with Osinbajo, demands withdrawal of report It was gathered that the three PDP members had on October 30, approached a high court sitting in Osogbo, contending that the participation of Senator Adeleke and his return as the winner of the partys governorship primary held on 21st July, 2018, for the purposes of electing the gubernatorial candidate of the party and his subsequent participation in the governorship election of the 22nd September, 2018 as the partys candidate was null and void on the account of false information and submission of false documents to electoral commission. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Osun state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the September 22 election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, was arraigned for impersonation. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better. Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | - on Legit TV Source: Legit.ng News - Acting chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has written a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen - He urged the CJN to withdraw Justice Nyako from all EFCC cases - Justice Nyako is a wife to former governor of Adamawa state, Murtala Nyako, who is standing trial over alleged misappropriation of funds Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has written a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, asking him to order Federal High Court judge, Justice Binta Nyako, to stay off all EFCC cases henceforth. Punch reports that the EFCC said in a statement by its acting spokesman, Tony Orilade, that the judge, who is the wife of former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state, could not be trusted with EFCC cases since the anti-graft agency is currently prosecuting her husband. Legit.ng gathered that that EFCC prosecuting counsel, Onjefu Obe, had told the court on Wednesday, November 21, during the trial of four alleged oil thieves that the concern of the commission to reassign all EFCC cases before Justice Nyako, borders on likely bias on part of the trial judge. PAY ATTENTION: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda The defendants: Umar Audu Bida, Truth Igogori, Ifenyinwa Nwankwesiri and Ogechukwu Obaji were accused of oil fraud to the tune of $1m. The EFCC had in 2017 arraigned the defendants before Justice Nyako on nine charges bordering on conspiracy, forgery and obtaining by false pretences to the tune of $1m. They allegedly defrauded Donald Latella of North Park LLC of the said sum in a business deal involving the supply of about two million barrels of Bonny Light Crude Oil. The offence contravenes Section 8 (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act. They were arraigned alongside four companies: Universal Contractors, Lambda Energy Services Limited, Double Wonder Concept Limited, and ICS Energy Services Limited. They had pleaded not guilty to the charges. According to Obe, he had come to court fully prepared with the prosecution witnesses to proceed with the case. But very, unfortunately, the case (FHC/ABJ/C12/ 266/16), was not listed in the courts schedule for today as it is yet to be reassigned to another court. Counsel for the second defendant, Solomon Agada, also lamented that his client usually travels from Lagos to Abuja for the case. He, therefore, urged the court to intervene and called for the speedy reassignment of the case in order for the case to proceed. Both counsel, however, agreed to await the reassignment of the case and thereafter mutually agree on the next possible adjournment. READ ALSO: No president can perform well under PDP's platform - Donald Duke fires his former party Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Ngozi Olojeme, the embattled former chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund and campaign director for former President Goodluck Jonathan, travelled out of Nigeria reportedly evading the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the second time. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better. The EFCC stage a walk against corruption | - on Legit TV Source: Legit Nigeria It has a grave potential to damage the global economy, food security and the health of people. Antimicrobial agents commonly called antibiotics are mandatory for successful use of modern medical interventions and complex surgeries. Unfortunately, prolonged abuse of these drugs in human health, the livestock sector, aquaculture, and agriculture, along with poor ecological management of antibiotic residues, has led to the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in germs making several antibiotics ineffective against most bacterial infections. If AMR is not effectively countered, the world is likely to slide into a post-antibiotic era, where even minor infections may prove fatal. AMR is no longer a health issue. It has a grave potential to damage the global economy, food security and the health of people. AMR annually kills about 700,000 people worldwide a number that is projected to rise to 10 million by 2050 if adequate measures are not initiated now. Most of these deaths will be in the developing world. The economic impact of AMR may be devastating. By 2050, a loss of $100 trillion is estimated. Global GDP may decrease by 3.5 per cent. The World Bank estimates that 28 million people are likely to be pushed into poverty as a direct consequence of AMR. Livestock production may be reduced by 7.5 per cent throughout the world, thus damaging food security. Widespread resistant bacteria in animal populations will be a major obstacle to meeting the projected 60 per cent increase in global meat requirements by 2020. Resistant to AMR has thus become a challenge to Sustainable Development Goals. Fortunately, there is a serious global political response which needs to be translated into concrete action at the ground. The UN General Assembly, the World Health Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN and the World Organisation for Animal Health have recognised the seriousness of the situation and requested countries for globally coordinated action against AMR. AMR is driven and fuelled by extensive use of antibiotics. More these agents are used, greater is the resistance. Antibiotics are irrationally used in various sectors. Contrary to the common belief, more antibiotics are used in livestock production vis-a-vis in humans. At the same time, the antibiotics use in animals is dramatically increasing to meet the growing global demand of animal-derived protein-rich food, especially in countries where economies have recently surged. In Brics countries, the use of antibiotics in livestock is estimated to double in the next two decades. Health animals are administered antibiotics in the erroneous belief that it shall increase the mass of the animals leading to better economic return. In fact, improving hygiene and the environment in which animals are reared are appropriate and sustainable measures to rear healthy animals. Authorities must encourage both industry and small farmers to improve sanitation practices and obviate the use of antibiotics as growth promoters. This is in consonance with the Swachchh Bharat campaign. Antibiotics are different from other classes of drugs. The effect of the use of antibiotics extends beyond individual patients. Resistant pathogens arising in humans, animals or the environment have the potential to spread from one to the other, and from one country to another. There is incontrovertible evidence linking AMR between animals and humans. International travel and trade accelerate the spread of AMR across national borders. Recently, extensive use of colistin in pig farms in China led to the emergence and subsequent rapid global spread of colistin-resistant pathogens. The environment is key to the spread of resistance and yet remains the most neglected component of efforts to contain AMR. Antibiotics, resistant bacteria and resistance genes are widely found in aquaculture, wastewater from agriculture, and waste products from the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. These are the potential sites for the emergence and horizontal transfer of resistance between several germs and warrant urgent attention with the proactive role by environmental experts and regulators. While the emergence of AMR has accelerated, the discovery and development of new classes of antimicrobial medicines have drastically slowed because of the high cost of discovery and development of new molecules and associated low return on investment. The possible solutions to contain AMR where veterinary sector needs to play an active role include discontinuation of use of antibiotics as animal growth promoters, rationalising antimicrobial therapy of sick animals and promoting health and safe environment for animals. Containing AMR requires a comprehensive and integrated One Health approach with coordinated efforts by human health, veterinary and environment sectors through a whole-of-society initiative. Indeed, major roles are to be played by political, financial, technical, regulatory, programmatic and education stakeholders representing both public and private sectors. Antibiotics are a global public good. These are the precious resource for the current and the next generation. Efforts need to be made by everyone to preserve available antibiotics for as long as possible. Tomio Shichiri is the FAO representative in India Dr Rajesh Bhatia is a regional FAO consultant on AMR - Operation Green Sweep, an air interdiction operation targeting selected Boko Haram terrorists' locations has been successful so far - The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, recently embarked on an operational visit to the Air Task Force (ATF) to motivate them - The NAF, working in concert with surface forces, has sustained the tempo of operations with a view to destroying all remnants of the terrorists in Borno state The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Air Interdiction Operation, Operation Green Sweep, has continued to record tremendous successes in destroying Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) facilities in Borno state. Legit.ng gathered that on Day 3 of the operation, the Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole, destroyed a Boko Haram logistics base at Kusuma in Northern Borno. According to a statement sent to journalists by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) director of public relations and information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, the air strikes were conducted on the heels of credible intelligence reports indicating that the terrorists had resumed using the previously abandoned settlement and established a logistics base to support their operations in the fringes of Lake Chad. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Extensive Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions later identified 2 compounds within the village that were the main logistics hubs in the town. Consequently, the ATF dispatched 2 Alpha Jet aircraft to attack the settlement, recording direct hits on the target buildings and facilities with huge balls of fires seen, the statement revealed. Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has said the Nigerian Army is in top gear to put an end to Boko Haram insurgency. Buratai made the comment on Thursday, November 15, at the demonstration and closing ceremony of the sixth edition of Exercise Vulcan Glow, organised by the Nigerian Army Corps of Artillery in Kachia, Kaduna state. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The army chief who was represented by the commander of the Nigerian Infantry Corp, Maj.-Gen. Hakeem Okiti, said the exercise shows the armys dedication to being well trained and focused on its duties. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have updated to serve you better. Nigerian Air Force operations against Boko Haram - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - Joe Ajaero, a labour leader says a tripartite committee had considered the ability of government to pay the 30,000 minimum wage before the committee agreed on the sum - Ajaero states that the organized labour is demanding wage arrears because the minimum wage has been due since 2016 - The labour laeader says that time of reckoning had come for some governors, whom he said, had been taking so much but still found it difficult to pay workers what was due to them A labour leader, Joe Ajaero, has said that labour has resolved to fight for the new minimum wage even after the upcoming general election, saying that there would be no retreat or surrender until workers received the wage. Ajaero, who is the president of the United Labour Congress (ULC) made the statement when he spoke at a public forum on labour in Lagos on Thursday, November 22. He stated that a tripartite committee had considered the ability of government to pay the sum before the committee agreed on the sum. The ULC president insisted that government has no option than to pay the N30,000 minimum wage and then follow up with payment of arrears. READ ALSO: Obasanjo denies meeting with Osinbajo, demands withdrawal of report A tripartite committee was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 5, 2017 and the committee later agreed on N30, 000 as new minimum wage. However, some state governors appear to have reneged on the agreement, saying that they can only afford to pay N22, 500 as minimum wage, an amount the labour movement rejected. The development has put public sector workers on edge, prompting labour to resort to the strike option, although the federal government appear to be resolving the issues. Analysts classify public sector workers in Nigeria among the least paid in the world, although Nigerias political office holders are among the highest paid in the world. READ ALSO: 2019: Atiku defeats President Buhari in online poll According to Ajaero, organized labour is demanding wage arrears because the minimum wage has been due since 2016. Labour will ask for two years arrears because even the N30,000 is less than N1,000 a day for a family of six. Minimum wage is a bench mark and some states can even pay higher. PAY ATTENTION: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Ajaero said that time of reckoning had come for some governors, whom he said, had been taking so much but still found it difficult to pay workers what was due to them. For any political leader who will rig election to stay in office, labour will ground such a state if the governor refuses to pay. We will disconnect electricity and fuel supply until in such states. Ajaero advised President Muhammadu Buhari to ask questions on how some governors spent the intervention funds, rather than holding court with the governors after the wage committee had concluded its job. The head of the international relations department of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Uche Ekwe, said that it was regrettable that some governors were not willing to pay the new wage even when they were paying higher wages to scores of their aides. Ekwe advised the president to be weary of the pranks of the governors because workers votes were crucial in the 2019 elections. He said that the NLC would continue to educate and embark on programmes, aimed at improving workers productivity. Meanwhile, governors in the country have warned that state governments would go bankrupt if they are forced to pay the proposed N30,000 new minimum wage because the financial capacity of states cannot sustain the payment of the figure which labour is demanding. The state governors were said to have made the statement when representatives of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) met with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the lingering issue of national minimum wage on Monday, November 19, in Abuja. This Day, citing unnamed sources aware of the meeting, reports that the governor argued that even states like Lagos and Rivers that seem to have the capacity to pay the N30,000 will be unable to sustain such huge wage bill. Minimum Wage: Is N30,000 Too Much for FG to Pay Workers? - Nigeria Street Gist | Legit TV Source: Legit A man wanted in connection with an armed bank robbery was found dead inside a Bethlehem home following a three-hour standoff with city police on Wednesday. Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek on Wednesday night identified the deceased as Kevin Maguire, 33. He was staying at the 416 Hickory St. home where the standoff occurred, Lysek said. He ruled Maguire's death a suicide caused by a gunshot wound. Officers went to the home after Maguire was spotted there. He had a warrant out for his arrest on charges that on Aug. 21 he robbed the Santander Bank at 2191 W. Union Blvd., in Bethlehem. "The male came to the door, displayed and brandished a firearm and refused to come out of the residence," city police Chief Mark DiLuzio says in a news release. "Officers spoke to the male and three juveniles were able to leave the house." Bethlehem's Emergency Response and Crisis Negotiation teams arrived at the home and communicated with Maguire, but he continued to refuse to surrender, the chief says. "After a period of time, approximately three hours or so, a single gunshot was heard coming from the house," DiLuzio says. "A BPD Robot was sent into the house and the male was located in the house on the floor. ERT Team members and medics entered the house and the male was found deceased." He says no officers or other citizens were injured in the incident. There is no threat to the public and roads that were closed are now being reopened, DiLuzio says in the release issued at 3:40 p.m. Wednesday. The bank robbery in which Maguire was charged happened about 1:30 p.m. Aug. 21. The robber displayed a handgun to a bank teller and demanded money. He ran away with an undisclosed amount of cash. An earlier version of this story was updated at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday with additional information. Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Stephen Flowers has been known to give free haircuts to the homeless, to auction off skateboard decks for charity, whatever it takes to help his community. Now the Easton salon owner is in the running for a national award for small businesses. He's among the quarterfinalists for the "Indie Award," which will go to a small business that goes above and beyond to support its local economy, according to Bill Brunelle, a co-founder of Independent We Stand. The organization promotes American small businesses. Flowers' salon Suddenly Samantha at 140 Northampton St. was among a group of 171 nominees that's been cut down to 25. You can view the quarterfinalists and vote for Suddenly Samantha on the awards website. A news release notes Flowers' multiple charity efforts in the 22 years he's operated in Easton: His Grand For Christmas program has provided a hot meal, free haircuts, gifts and a visit from Santa for those in need on Christmas Day each of the past nine years. For Deck the Halls, he buys blank skate decks for local artists to paint, then auctions them off at the Easton Public Market to raise money for the Safe Harbor shelter. In October, he organizes Beards for Breasts to auction off men's beards to raise money for the Lehigh Valley Cancer Support Community. In August, he hosts No Child Left Behind at the Third Street Alliance women's shelter. He solicits donations, distributes backpacks and school supplies, and provides free haircuts. "My staff and I are incredibly honored to be part of this group," Flowers said. Voting continues through Dec. 16. The top prize is a branding, advertising and public relations makeover from The Meridian Group valued at $25,000. The winner will be revealed Dec. 19. The community that Flowers has bolstered is rooting for him. "We're lucky to have Stephen and his team in Downtown Easton," said Kim Kmetz, manager of the Easton Main Street Initiative. "They share freely of their talents and their hearts to help those in need in our community." Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. Starting on Dec. 1, Pennsylvania lawmakers - the second-highest paid in the nation - will see their paychecks grow with a raise of 1.6 percent, boosting the base salary that most legislators get paid to $88,610. It means rank-and-file lawmakers will get an annual raise of $1,430. Currently, the base pay for lawmakers is $87,180. The presiding officers of the House and Senate and caucus leaders will earn higher salaries, which increase by the same percentage as rank-and-file members. The highest salaries are paid to the House Speaker and President Pro Tempore, who will be elected in January, and their pay rate is set at $138,327. Caucus officers will earn salaries between $101,040 and $128,385. A state law provides automatic cost-of-living adjustments for the members of the Legislature, top executive branch officials and state judges based on the year-over-year percentage change in the U.S. Department of Labor-determined Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers for Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Since a law passed attaching these state officials' salaries to the CPI in 1995, the annual adjustments have risen above 3 percent five times. Twice over that 23-year period, no raise was given because the CPI showed no change or a negative change. The most recent year that occurred was in 2016. Several lawmakers in past years have said they would only accept a pay raise in a year they stood for re-election. In the non-election years, they have chosen to return the salary difference to the state Treasury or given it to charitable organizations, often ones in their districts. The pay increase that legislators begin receiving next month and that judges and executive branch officers will start seeing in their paychecks in January is less than the 2.8 percent increase that more than 67 million Americans will see in their Social Security and SSI benefits in 2019. For further context, the base salary that Pennsylvania lawmakers will receive is well more than double the $35,592 average base salary that the 41 states that pay their legislators a salary earned in 2017, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only California pays its 120 lawmakers more than Pennsylvania and their salary was $107,241 this year. In addition to their salaries, lawmakers receive a generous benefits package, free parking, unvouchered per diem allowances, and a pension. Last week, the House and Senate Republican and Democratic caucuses elected their leaders for the next 12 months. Below is the new salaries attached to those who hold the highest caucus leadership posts. House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, and Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa - $128,385 House Majority Whip Kerry Benninghoff, Senate Majority Whip John Gordner, House Minority Whip Jordan Harris, and Senate Minority Leader Tony Williams - $118,796 House Republican Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, House Democratic Appropriations Committee Chairman Matt Bradford, Senate Republican Appropriations Committee Chairman Pat Browne, and Senate Democratic Appropriations Committee Chairman Vince Hughes - $118,796. Tracking devices have been used on prison officers' cars and conversations between solicitors and prisoners monitored as part of a surveillance operation to crack down on drug smuggling into jail, according to a report in the Irish Examiner newspaper. The allegations are contained in a sworn statement to Laois TD and Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan who has a large prison complex in his constituency inPortlaosie. While the location of the operation is not identified, the Examiner reports that officers were unaware that their private cars were being tracked or that the prison vehicles they were driving were being monitored using such devices. Some of the devices were in place over an extended period with information reportedly passed to the Gardai. It is also claimed that devices were placed in the visiting area of a prison and were active when prisoners met solicitors. It is also alleged that cameras were installed to facilitate covert surveillance. A private company installed the devices. It is claimed that security personnel were given false identifications when entering the prison. The allegations have been made through a solicitor and not via the whistleblowers Protected Disclosures Act. The Irish Prison Service declined to comment on the substance of the allegations. The Irish Examiner is aware of the prison at the centre of the security operation. An urgent investigation has been ordered by Laois TD and Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan into 'serious' allegations that the cars of prison officers were tracked and listening devices were used as part of a drugs crackdown in Irish jails. Minister Flanagan issued the statement after a report in the Irish Examiner revealed details of an affidavit containing the allegations which were made on behalf of a prison officer by a solicitor. In his statement, Minister Flanagan said the issues raised were serious. He says surveillance must be carried out within the law. "I am aware of allegations made in today's Irish Examiner concerning surveillance in prisons. The details of the allegations have been made by way of an affidavit in court proceedings concerning a proposed temporary transfer of a prison officer by the Irish Prison Service. "While I am constrained in what I can say about proceedings before the courts, and nothing I say should be taken as a comment on these particular proceedings, these allegations raise serious issues which need to be addressed. I have therefore asked the independent Inspector of Prisons, Patricia Gilheaney, to carry out an urgent preliminary investigation into the allegations to determine as far as possible the facts. I have also requested a meeting today with the Acting Director of the Irish Prison Service, Don Culliton. "This investigation will be a statutory investigation under section 31 of the Prisons Act 2007. There is a statutory obligation on prison governors and all prison staff to cooperate with the Inspector, and there is also a provision in the section for the report to be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. "Surveillance can be necessary to prevent the illegal trafficking of substances into prisons, but this must, of course, be carried out in accordance with the law. It must be stressed that these are allegations, and we must in the first instance determine if they are factual. This preliminary investigation will put us in a better position to consider whether further steps need to be taken, such as a more formal inquiry, as has been called for," said Minister Flanagan. The prison at the centre of the allegations is not named by the Irish Examiner. A Polish national caught with 2,000 of cannabis was supplying the drug to his friends, the District Court heard. Seweryn Hajdenrajch (37) with an address at 3 The Crescent, Kilminchy, Portlaoise, was last week charged with drug possession, and having drugs for sale or supply, at his home on July 23 last. Sgt Jason Hughes gave evidence that the accused's house was searched by gardai and cannabis resin and herb to a value of 2,000 was found. The accused made admissions that he had been supplying the drug to his friends. He had no previous convictions. Defence, Ms Josephine Fitzpatrick said that the accused, a Polish national with a partner and two children living in Ireland 13 years, had since turned his life around and stopped what he was doing. The accused had written a letter to the court, as had his wife, said Ms Fitzpatrick. He was hoping to get into security work and will be garda vetted for employment, so perhaps the court could deal with the matter without imposing a custodial sentence, Ms Fitzpatrick concluded. Judge Staines asked the State was it satisfied the accused had stopped. Garda Donal Cahill replied that the accused had not come to garda attention since. Judge Staines adjourned the matter to February 28 next year for a probation report on the accused. 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. A campaign to bring back the relics of St Brigid to Kildare has begun ahead of the 1500 anniversary years since her death in 2023. According to the records her relics are to be found all over Europe part of her head is in a small chapel near Lisbon in Portugal, a portion of her cloak is in Bruges in Belgium and a relic is in Great St Martin Church, Cologne in Germany while closer to home her foot is supposed to have been in Cashel According to Kildare towns Executive Librarian Mario Corrigian, who is fronting the campaign, there are many dates given for St Brigid's death but most often is the year 523 so in 2023 it will be 1500 years since her death. This is a major event and could be a remarkable event for Kildare and Ireland, he said. "When the Relics of St Therese were brought to Kildare literally hundreds of thousands came to see them but what a coup if the relics of Brigid could be brought back also. A small portion of skull in reliquary in Killester, Dublin; Church at Kilcurry. And there are associations with Louth, Armagh, Downpatrick, Kerry, Clare." He added that it could be possible to bring one or two home if not all but in terms of Lisbon and Bruges unless there was support from the government and the Church. While it is possible to have an international conference the bringing of the Relics home on loan as they are not going to donate them- would be a major coup. There could be great scope for an Annual or biennial Peace conference centered around the Saint. Mario was also keen to stress that is is not just a religious event but so much more. "St Brigid is the patroness of Ireland - a woman in Irish history when so few are notable in those early years - an example to women and girls everywhere - to people the world over - of generosity, good works, peace and self-sacrifice," the chief librarian said. "She is the Patron saint of brewing and there are claims that apart from being the second patron saint of Ireland, St Brigid is also the patron saint for babies; blacksmiths; boatmen; cattle; chicken farmers; children whose parents are not married; dairymaids; dairy workers; fugitives; infants; mariners; midwives; milk maids; poultry raisers; printing presses; sailors; scholars; travellers; water men; creativity scholars and poets. She was a a Christian - Saint - Pagan - Earth Goddess - Woman. So let's Bring Brigid home. SEE ALSO:Look out for well known Kildare town landmark in this Christmas add Markle donned an apron and disposable gloves as she began work in the renovated kitchen Meghan, Duchess of Sussex helps out during a visit to the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar in London, Wednesday Nov. 21, 2018. (Photo: AP) LONDON - Meghan Markle, the wife of Prince Harry, chopped vegetables and packed food into boxes on Wednesday as she returned to a London community kitchen project formed after the Grenfell Tower fire last year in which more than 70 people died. Markle, officially known as the Duchess of Sussex, visited the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how proceeds from a charity cookbook she backed were being used. The project was set up by women looking for a place to prepare family meals following the June 2017 disaster. Together: Our Community Cookbook is a collection of recipes from the users of the communal kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in west London. It was published in September with a foreword written by Markle. The book has sold tens of thousands of copies, according to Kensington Palace, and made the Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller lists. The funds raised have been used to expand the project, including opening it seven days a week from two at the beginning. Markle, who married Harry in May and is expecting their first child in the spring, donned an apron and disposable gloves as she began work in the renovated kitchen, chatting with women as they prepared meals for local delivery. The 37-year-old American, a former actress, has visited the project several times this year. Check out this article which appeared in the Leinster Leader 20 years ago. Women in Kildare have been targeted by a company selling hard porn material through the post, the Leinster Leader reported on November 12, 1998. In two cases, a Celbridge woman and a woman from the Curragh received unsolicited brochures advertising uncensored videos and magazines. The Curragh mother of two described the material as disgusting, and very explicit. The video advertisements showed males with females, males with males and females with females she said, They looked like hard porn videos that left nothing to the imagination. The material contained an order form with an address in Holland although the envelope bore a British postmark. It offended me to think that they had my name and address and this was set to me unrequested. I dont particularly want to be on a list that sells this type of literature. I know its 1998 and obviously there is a business in this sort of stuff but I dont know how they got my name. I dont buy anything through catalogues, she said. THE Chamber president has warned against putting too many offices in the city centre, saying Limerick needs a cultural heartbeat. Dr Mary Shire of the University of Limerick used her keynote address at the Limerick Chamber business awards to also call for more house building in the city centre but she acknowledged this could only happen if the margins become more attractive to investors. Saying house prices in Limerick remain below the national average, she said: Its great to have low house prices, we do have a housing shortage, particularly in the city centre, and low prices dont make the margins attractive for investors. The city centre is still lacking the vibrancy we need and Limerick 2030 will help, but we need to make sure we have more than just buildings but also a cultural heartbeat. Important to Limericks renewal, she added, is creating opportunities for people in unemployment blackspots and key to this is training. Technology has and will continue to change areas like transportation, communications, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and education. We need to navigate this complex new world, and we need to do it at pace. Talent will be central to our ability to compete. Already in pretty much full employment, talent has become a challenge for us and when you look at high-tech, the challenge is particularly acute. We need to reskill, upskill, and diversify the workforce," she added. As for the Chamber, its new chief executive Dee Ryan is putting in place a new strategy to continue to make the organisation more valuable to its members. We will focus on supporting our three strands through bespoke services and aim to be an exemplar in terms of policy development and influencing to ensure Limerick and the Mid-West is represented, Dr Shire said. More than 400 business and political leaders were at the annual Limerick Chamber business awards in the Strand Hotel. The overall winner was the Shannon Group, which employs 650 people across its four entities. They won the overall company of the year, as well as the title of best contribution to the region. There were prizes for Plasseys Electricity Exchange, which won best emerging business. The best SME business was Rathkeale energy company Design Pro. Optel Group from Raheen won the award for best corporate social responsibility, while Masterchefs took the title for best retail and hospitality business. The best not-for-profit award went to Novas Ireland, for its sterling work on dealing with homelessness. The award for best employer went to telecommunications giant Three Ireland. A COUNTY Limerick councillor Liam Galvin voted down Budget 2019 over a lack of loos on his home towns Main Street. At a tempestuous budget meeting, Abbeyfeale Cllr Galvin joined with the rest of his Fine Gael colleagues in rejecting the councils 689m book of estimates. But while the rest of his partys councillors pulled the chain over a hike in the commercial rate the former mayor voted to reject the estimates due to the towns lack of loos. It has been 19 years since there has been a public toilet in Abbeyfeales Main Street, and Cllr Galvin is disgusted council bosses did not spend a penny or indeed more in putting one in the book of estimates. His attempts to stop the budget passing failed, with Fianna Fail, Labour and Independents passing it by the odd vote in 37. We havent had a public toilet in Abbeyfeale since 1999, almost 20 years ago. This is the biggest budget we have ever had to give away. I flagged this month's ago at muncipal level, I have been flagging this for years. Ive asked money to be set aside for a public toilet for the town, Cllr Galvin said after the budget meeting. However, no money for a toilet was forthcoming in the budget only cash for a feasibility study which could potentially lead to such a facility in the future. Were promoting tourism throughout the county, and we have a gateway to Kerry here which is the biggest tourist county in Ireland, Cllr Galvin said, For the business people in Abbeyfeale, there are people coming into their premises on a daily basis, asking them to use toilets. Its very wrong. The Fine Gael man has urged council bosses to link in with the Abbeyfeale Community Council which he described as one of the best in the country to provide a toilet. Im sick and tired of flagging this, and I am not going to let it go until a public toilet is put in place in the town. I am now 15 years on the local authority, 15 years looking for it. And I'm not going wait another 15 years for this, the firebrand member said. He said he finds it surprising that with three high-profile councillors based in the town of Abbeyfeale, council executive did not adhere to his wish for a toilet. One of these, Fianna Fail councillor Francis Foley, previously supported Cllr Galvins toilet call but backed the budget as agreed. INDEPENDENT TD Michael Healy-Rae will deliver this years John F. Kennedy memorial address in County Limerick. The annual talk in Bruff celebrates the anniversary of the thirty-fifth president of the United States passing by inviting Irish political figures as guest speakers. Mr Healy-Rae TD is an admirer of President Kennedy and the Fitzgerald family, and while serving as Mayor of Kerry, he met with the late Senator Edward Kennedy during a visit to the United States. Chairman of Bruff Heritage Group Paul Dennehy, said that he and the group are delighted to welcome Mr Healy-Rae for this years event. We understand that Michael has an extremely busy work schedule and we are extremely grateful that he has agreed to deliver this years address, Mr Dennehy stated. A life-size statue of President Kennedy is currently in its final stage of completion and will be erected within the next few months. The memorial address will commence tonight, Thursday, November 22 at 7.30pm at the Thomas Fitzgerald centre in Bruff. All are welcome and admission is free. GET the diary ready, you are looking after Liam for the year. The words of Limerick County Board Secretary Mike ORiordan in a phone call to project co-ordinator for Limerick GAA, Siobhan Scanlon. The diary entries open on that fateful day, August 19, 2018 with the words Citywest Dublin, the venue for the post-match celebrations. For the morning of August 20 the entry is Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, and that evening, its Limerick. And it has been Limerick every since. There have been thousands of visits by Liam. Sixty-five clubs, countless schools, charities and nursing homes have all had a sprinkling of the MacCarthy Cup magic dust. It hasnt been in the office for a full day. Its booked right up to December 23, says Siobhan. Requests started coming in thick and fast from the Wednesday after the final. It was mainly clubs first for the requests, Siobhan explains. They call or email. Because I work in the office they would have access to my number and email so they came in both ways. Liam and his diary are based at Siobhans office in the Munster Council HQ on Dublin Road. There hasnt been a day when the Cup has stayed in the office. Each engagement is handwritten in the diary. I started the diary online but it proved difficult with changes of times so it was easier to go back to the old handwriting, says Siobhan. Whoever makes the request for the booking is the person who is in charge of the cup for that engagement, and with that comes responsibility. With the clubs they are told from the outset that whoever books it is responsible thats why I only deal with one person. If that one person is on holidays they have to tell me who their point of contact is for the exchange. They are also responsible for the handover so, for example, if it is going from Kilmallock to Dromin Athlacca, the person who manages it in Kilmallock then transports it to Dromin Athlacca and its then handed to the person who is responsible for it there and they are responsible for it from that moment. I dont want to say where it stays overnight for security reasons but it does stay in different locations depending on where it is going the following morning. The club is informed beforehand that the cup is not to go to a pub a decision taken from the outset by Limerick County Board in a stand against the Irish drink culture. Because the cup is not allowed in a public house, there are restrictions. There is a request for a booking next year for a special birthday - a surprise party for a past player and its in a house, not a pub. If there is a request for a party and there is a bar function going on, then the cup would only be at the reception of the hotel. For the majority of the working day from 9am to 3pm the cup is in the schools, primary and secondary, as well as special needs schools. It has been to a couple of the wards in the regional hospital. On Christmas morning it will be paying a visit to the Childrens Ark in University Hospital Limerick and then the Liam MacCarthy Cup is going on his holidays. It is expected that it wont be in circulation for the Christmas season until the New Year. For Siobhan, being in charge of Liam for the year is an honour. It really is, insists the Granagh-Ballingarry woman. There are a lot of people who would only love to have the job that I have. I am from a GAA background and appreciate everything that has happened. - This article features in Limerick 2018 History Makers, the Limerick Leader special souvenir publication on the glorious All-Ireland victory and magical homecoming celebrations, which is out now in shops This Sunday, the Taoiseach and his fellow EU leaders are expected to endorse the draft Brexit Withdrawal Agreement at an extraordinary summit in Brussels. It will be a hard-won moment and one that shows how the government and the EU have succeeded in keeping the unique circumstance of Ireland front and centre in the Brexit negotiations. In recent weeks, cynical voices claimed the EU would abandon Ireland at the eleventh hour. They couldnt have been more wrong. Our Ministers and diplomats did a fantastic job in lobbying all European capitals multiple times to maintain unwavering solidarity. At the same time, Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers and parliamentarians from all over the EU were visiting our border and its communities with our team here at home. Our strategy was to be upfront and active about how exposed Ireland is and how fragile our peace process can be. We were also upfront and active with our British counterparts. Our two countries are intertwined in so many ways and not even Brexit will change that. The same peace process we are fighting to protect has brought our two nations much closer in a mature relationship. We agree with the British on most things, but in Ireland we value our EU membership as adding to our international standing and identity, rather than diminishing it. Britain has decided to go. We wish they werent, but we respect their decision. So our motivation all along has been to minimise the damage and stay as close as possible to the UK. Every part of our country, including Limerick and the Mid-West region, will feel the effects of Brexit but we are working every single day, in every capacity, to ensure that we get the best possible deal for those living in rural and urban areas, in Cappamore and Castletroy, in Mountcollins and Kilmallock. In Ireland we have long seen Brexit as a loss all round. The EU will be weaker without a strong member like the UK. The Irish economy will be damaged by Brexit and we lose our closest neighbour from the EU table. Plus the UK will lose by leaving the largest trading block - including a single market it did so much to design - and the most successful peace project in the world. The Withdrawal Agreement endorsed by the EU team and the British cabinet last week minimises the damage and ensures no border in Ireland. It has been a remarkable achievement from the British and EU negotiating teams and Prime Minister May has shown real backbone on it. For our part, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and I have been consistent throughout - and the Withdrawal Agreement text clearly vindicates that approach. The outstanding question is, of course, what will happen in Westminster? I do not have the answer to that question and Irish politicians should be slow to interfere in the internal discussion the UK is having now. What cannot be disputed though is that Prime Minister May is the only person in UK with an agreement in her hands. She is right in saying the days ahead are pivotal and she is now talking directly to the British people about what is in this deal. Hopefully this will drown out some bombastic voices who have no plan and who care little about Ireland and Northern Ireland. If Westminster votes down this deal the implications are stark for the UKs economy and bad for Ireland and other EU member states. Remember always though that we will remain a full EU member with all of the security, programmes and predictability that brings. The government here has contingency plans for all outcomes, although we hope never to have to use most of it. Against the current backdrop it is important that businesses are as prepared as they can be for what lies ahead. Foreign Direct Investment has been of immense benefit to many in Limerick. We want to ensure when Brexit comes to pass that businesses, such as those that provide valuable employment, in Raheen Business Park and the National Technological Park on either side of the city are protected, and indeed, strengthened from their bases in Limerick. This Friday, I will be in Thomond Park stadium for the Getting Ireland Brexit Ready workshop where advice and information on tailored supports are available for business people across the Mid-West. If we can be inspired by some of the scenes that the famous stadium has witnessed in several decades, then the future of Limerick and the surrounding region is a bright and successful one. Since 2017 our budgets have factored in Brexit but the closer we get to the date the more businesses need supports. Tens of millions of euro have been pumped into state agencies and hundreds of millions are available for Brexit related loans. Local Enterprise Offices, Enterprise Ireland, Intertrade Ireland, Bord Bia and Tourism Ireland all have bespoke grants and expert consultants available. An example is the 5 million Local Enterprise Offices, including the team in Limerick, were allocated in next years budget to roll out a nationwide customs training programme. Throughout October and November I have spoken to hundreds of businesses and thousands have attended the Getting Ireland Brexit Ready roadshows across the country. The knock-on visits and web hit statistics from state agencies show a marked take-up in supports off the back of these events. Your government has put supports in place for business but only you can take the first steps. My departments website has everything you need at dfa.ie/brexit. - The Getting Ireland Brexit Ready takes place this Friday at Thomond Park from 9.30am to 12.30pm. Those wishing to attend can register for a place on dfa.ie or https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/getting-brexit-ready-limerick-tickets-52404472187. A SINGLE mum-of-three in court in Limerick over solar panels on her roof said she was happy to go to prison and my three kids go into care. Asia Pasinska, of Gouldavoher Estate, Raheen also started crying during the case in Kilmallock Court. Every single person has a responsibility to lower carbon emissions, said Ms Pasinska. Will Leahy, solicitor for Limerick City and County Council, said he can understand renewable energy but the planning process is there for a reason. In September, Ms Pasinska was prosecuted by the local authority in Limerick District Court for failing to comply with an enforcement notice served on her in March 2018. It was adjourned for a full hearing in Kilmallock Court last week. Planning inspector Michael OBrien said Ms Pasinska had 21 solar panels on her roof. He explained that you dont need planning for 50% or less of the total area of the roof. However, Ms Pasinskas panels took up almost three times the permitted roof space. A number of complaints were made. In July 2017 I called to the house where I informed her of the regulations and what was exempt. She lodged planning for retention and this was refused in September 2017. In February 2018 the panels were still there. In March 2018, an enforcement notice was issued that required that the solar panels be removed from the front slope, said Mr OBrien. When he inspected the house in May 2018 the unauthorised solar panels were still in place and a court summons went out. Mr Leahy said that was the councils case - Ms Pasinska had not complied with the enforcement notice. Ms Pasinska, who represented herself, said: I did breach the enforcement notice. However, she said she felt that she had been following instructions from the council. The defendant said she was told to make a material change by council staff when applying for retention for a second time so took down three solar panels. As this was still above the limit it was refused and the matter has now gone to An Bord Pleanala. Mr Leahy called Eleanor McCormack, an executive planner. He told Judge Marian OLeary that he had never presented a planner to her before. Ms McCormack said the first planning retention was refused on grounds of visual impact and precedent that it would set. According to planning documents, more than a dozen neighbours objected. They said the panels represented an eyesore and were likely to affect the value of their homes. Mr Leahy asked Ms McCormack if Ms Pasinskas communication with the council was the norm? Definitely not. A lot of admin staff dealt with her. We gave her a lot of advice. There was a level of frustration with her, said Ms McCormack. Ms Pasinksa, who started crying, said she did have numerous communications with the office. It is every single persons responsibility to lower carbon emissions. I was producing green energy, said Ms Pasinska, who removed 14 of the panels after she got the summons to court. Twenty one solar panels is what I need to heat my house. I have had to put in a gas boiler, said Ms Pasinksa. Mr Leahy confirmed that she is no longer in breach of planning, however, she did breach the enforcement notice. I can understand renewable energy but the planning process is there for a reason, said Mr Leahy. Ms Pasinska said she was happy to go to prison and three kids go into care. Mr Leahy said we could do without the melodrama. You got a notice to take them down and you didnt. All the time your neighbours had to live with the panels, said Mr Leahy. Judge Marian OLeary said the only matter before her is if Ms Pasinska complied with the enforcement notice to remove solar panels in March 2018. On the basis of your evidence you did not comply. I find you guilty, said Judge OLeary. Mr Leahy said the councils costs were 1,200. Ms Pasinska said she is a single mum of three children. I was given the panels by a friend to heat the house. I have a good job, I am a physiotherapist. I was involved in a very bad car accident. Ive listened to people speeding getting fines of 150. I was producing green energy and it is 1,200 - I dont think thats fair, said Ms Pasinska. Judge said if costs of 550 were paid in 12 months she would not give Ms Pasinska a conviction. QUEEN of Technicolor, a new show by a Limerick woman charting the life of Maureen OHara, premieres in the Belltable this week. Elaine ODwyer, originally from Pallasgreen but now based in London, has created the new stage production focusing on the life of the iconic actress. The one woman show written and performed by Elaine, a graduate of Mary Immaculate College and the Guildford School of Acting in London, premieres this Thursday and Friday night at the Belltable. Elaine portrays more than 20 characters and Queen of Technicolour sets out to take audiences on a emotional roller coaster, revealing the woman and the extraordinary talent, behind Hollywoods brightest star. She had a really tough life and she just overcame all those struggles and became such a fighter and a passionate woman at the end of it, and she always held on to who she was, which really resonated with me, Elaine explains. She just kept that strength within her, her family and her morals. She didnt allow people to mould her like other icons would have. See www.limetreetheatre.ie for more and to book tickets. BEST-SELLING writer and raconteur Michael Harding returns to the Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick this Friday to ruminate on the difference between psychotherapy and religion as he reads from his latest memoir. On Tuesdays Im a Buddhist tells the story of Hardings ongoing search for meaning. The Lime Tree is a lovely theatre, a beautiful state of the art building, he says. I like Limerick, I think its a very beautiful place. Mightnt get as much as a high profile as other cities or towns in the country but there is absolutely everything to be positive about in Limerick. In the book, Harding muses on how an unusual gift from his wife inspired him to revisit the religious devotions of his youth. I was ordained a priest in 1981, he explains. I stayed only two years because the church took a big reverse move, a sudden shock and reversed everything that had been going towards a liberal agenda, liberal theology. They just changed it all and reinstated a clerical world. That wasnt the Church that I had joined. I had a vision of being married, being a writer, having a free life. I saw I was on the wrong bus so I got off in 1984, 1985. For many years, Id no interest or connection with the Christian tradition, and I still really dont, he adds. My wife was working in the museum in Warsaw. Shes an artist, a sculptor and she did a years university course with the museum in Warsaw. Part of the course was a project to make a replica of a very famous icon, and she chose the Icon of Kazan, a Russian Orthodox icon of the mother of God. In the Orthodox Church, these icons are very important, almost used as aids for meditation. So when she gave me the icon she had made as an artist, I thought in one sense its like giving a bottle of whiskey to a dry alcoholic because this was something Id weaned myself off on for three decades. (But) I started reading up on the Orthodoxy and how mediation works in that system. I found it very interesting. I love religion, I find it's like music, its a way I live and breathe, he explains. But someone said to me, you should get rid of all this religion, its not the solution, its the problem. They told me to find some ritual of closure, do something to say goodbye to it. And I thought that would be an interesting idea. I had an old chalice I got when I was ordained and they suggested I take that, go out to Skellig Michael, go up to the top and let the chalice go into the ocean. Leave it as a ritual of saying goodbye to all that stuff. So I went out to the island with the chalice in me rucksack, but certain things happened at the top of Skellig Michael which made me decide I wouldnt get rid of the chalice at all, maybe Id keep it. But Im not telling you what that was because that will spoil the show, he laughs. Michael Harding will read from On Tuesdays Im a Buddhist this Friday at 8pm in the Lime Tree. See www.limetreetheatre.ie for more and to book tickets. Auction house Christies held an auction for watches in Dubai in March. DUBAI - Sothebys held its first auction for watches in Dubai on Monday, fetching a total of $2.6 million with 121 lots. This region has been growing for the last five to ten years and an increasing number of the worlds biggest collectors are here, said Sam Hines, worldwide head of watches at Sothebys and the nights auctioneer. Auction house Christies held an auction for watches in Dubai in March. Monday nights top seller was a Chopard wristwatch set in white gold, diamond and sapphire which was sold for more than $200,000. Prices used to be a bit silly, said a Dubai-based prospective buyer, noting other auctions suffered from excess hype. Greater knowledge means prices will not be astronomical, said Hines. Thats a good thing for the market so it doesnt overheat and burst. He did not resign as the mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Wednesday, a deadline set by the chief minister. Kolkata: A day after quitting his ministership in rebellion following a fracas with Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee from her cabinet party MLA Sovan Chatterjee has turned defiant. He did not resign as the mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Wednesday, a deadline set by the chief minister, raising eyebrows within the ruling party. His defiance has triggered a suspicion within the Trinamul that his move is aimed at causing further embarrassment to the party and its chief in a desperate attempt before switching to the BJP for shelter as he is one of the accused in Narada sting operation case. Assuming Mr Chatterjee would send his resignation, KMC chairperson Mala Roy and municipal commissioner Khalil Ahmed were present in their offices at the civic body. Ms Roy said, I did not come to receive the mayors resignation letter. I had some important work. That is why I came. When the party will give me an order, I will abide by it. But no paper from the mayor has reached us so far. But Mr Chatterjee maintained suspense. Wait a bit more. All will come to know about it very soon from the source through which the news about my resignation from ministership came to public, he said. Reposing his faith in the Trinamul chief Mr Chatterjee added, The chief minister is Mamata Banerjee. She has ordered me to resign. So I will send my resignation letter at the right time. Asked if he would switch to any other party he elaborated, Such questions can arise in the present situation. But the time has not come to answer to such hypothetical questions. Many people speculate according to their ways. On his resignation from the ministership he elaborated, I will give details about it in right time. The picture will be clear then. It is my prerogative to take my decision in my way. But I firmly believe I neither have committed any mistake nor chose a wrong path. As the pressure is mounting on Mr Chatterjee from the party, sources close to him claimed that he might submit his resignation on Thursday. Siginificantly on Thursday afternoon the Trinamul chief will convene a meeting with her partys councillors in the KMC at Uttirna auditorium in Alipore to select the new mayor. All eyes are now set also on Thursday for another reason. Few hours before her meeting the Trinamul government is planning to table a municipal bill in the ongoing winter session of the Assembly for amendment in the mayors appointment, sources revealed. The amendment will pave way for the appointment of a person, despite being a non-councillor, as the mayor with a provision that he is elected as a councillor from any ward within six months of the appointment to the post, sources added. In case Mr Chatterjee does not resign even on Thursday, the Trinamul councillors may also exercise their power to bring a no-confidence motion at the KMC against him for his removal. Indias waterman Rajendra Singh is among the marchers. Mumbai: Thousands of farmers and tribals began a two-day march from Thane to Mumbai on Wednesday, eight months after a similar protest that started from Nashik. The farmers are demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, which suggested that farmers must have assured access and control over resources such as land and water. They are also demanding an increase in the Minimum Support Price and a judicial system to ensure its implementation. The farmers, struggling to cope with the agrarian crisis, are demanding proper implementation of the loan waiver package announced by the BJP-led government in the state last year, land rights for farmers and compensation for farm labourers. They are also demanding drought compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre for non-irrigated land and Rs 1 lakh per acre for irrigated land and other issues.and the transfer of forest rights to tribals. Magsaysay award winner Dr Rajendra Singh, also known as Waterman of India, is among the marchers. The Aam Aadmi Party in Maharashtra has also extended support to the agitating farmers. Farmers started walking Wednesday afternoon and will reach the Somaiyya Ground in Mumbai's Sion area where they will halt for the night. The farmers will reach Azad Maidan in south Mumbai early on Thursday and will try to hold a demonstration near Vidhan Bhawan, where the state legislature session is underway, a leader of the march said. The participants are mostly from Thane, Bhusawal and Marathwada regions, he said. We have been consistently asking the state government to fulfil our long-standing demands but the response has been lukewarm. We are forced to launch this agitation,"said Pratibha Shinde, general secretary of Lok Sangharsh Morcha, which is organising the protest. We are taking maximum care to ensure that Mumbai citizens are not inconvenienced, Mr Shinde said. In March, thousands of farmers, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, took out a 180 km long march from Nashik to Mumbai in March to press for their demands. That protest saw a sea of red, formed by farmers in red caps, converge in Mumbai from across Maharashtra. The state government last month declared drought in 151 talukas. There are total 355 talukas in Maharashtra. The state has urged the Centre to provide Rs 7,000 crore aide for drought mitigation. Now, the offenders will be punished with imprisonment for life and also be liable to fine. The offence will now be cognisable and non-bailable on the lines of the amendments made by the state governments of Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Mumbai: In a bid to curb milk, food and drugs adulteration, the Maharashtra Assembly has passed a bill to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Thursday. Now, the offenders will be punished with imprisonment for life and also be liable to fine. The amendment bill was passed amid chaos over the demands to table the report of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission by the Opposition members on Thursday. The government has proposed to amend sections 272 to 276 of the IPC, which provides for offences relating to adulteration of food, drink, drug or medical preparations to make it noxious and their sale. The offence will now be cognisable and non-bailable on the lines of the amendments made by the state governments of Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Food and civil supplies minister Girish Bapat informed the legislative Assembly that due to adulteration, thousands of people are killed in the state and country. There are loopholes in the existing laws, people get scot-free. The offender commits a crime in the morning and gets a bail in the evening. They will now be afraid of the amended law. The punishment has been extended from six months to life imprisonment. The statement of objects and reasons of the bill reads that the practice of adulteration of milk and other food articles as well as drugs is a serious threat to health of the public in general. It further says that section 59 of the Food and Safety and Standards Act, (2006) provides for different punishments for offences such as manufacturing for sale or storing or selling or distributing any drug, which is adulterated or spurious. Under the said section 27 of the Drugs Act punishment of imprisonment for a term is from ten years to imprisonment for life and fine is provided and the offence under said section 27 is cognisable. Patil said that the state government was taking steps so that Interpol could issue a red corner notice against the accused. Mumbai: The state government is in the process of issuing a red corner notice against three other accused living in gulf countries and tinvolved in an international prostitution racket. Dr Ranjit Patil, minister of state for home, Thursday informed the state Legislative Council that while three accused had already been arrested, another three were living in Bahrain and Dubai and efforts were underway to arrest them at the earliest. Dr Patil said that the state government was taking steps so that Interpol could issue a red corner notice against the accused. The minister was replying to a question raised by NCP MLA Jagannath Shinde and others who pointed out that women from various states were being lured into the flesh trade on the promise of jobs in foreign hotels and so on. Dr Patil said, During the period from July to October this year, the accused sent a victim to a gulf country under the pretext of a job and forced her into prostitution. The accused also extorted `2 lakh from her for her release. The police has arrested three accused in this case and also confiscated passports of 52 women from them. The Mumbai crime branch recently busted an international flesh racket where women from India and neighbouring countries were being sent to gulf countries under the pretext of jobs only to be forced into the flesh trade. The officials of the Anti-Extortion Cell said that at least 40 women, mostly from Rajasthan had been rescued. Albany City residents have opportunities in the next few days to comment on water/sewer rates and Lincoln Park's future. The city Water Board's hearing on rate increases is 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29 at 200 Henry Johnson Blvd. It would be the first rate increase in seven years, according to the city, increasing the average residential bill by $7.15 per year and the minimum bill by $4.19 per year. For details, see www.albany ny.gov/waterrates. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, Mayor Kathy Sheehan, the Department of Planning & Development, and STIMSON Studio Landscape Architects host a meeting to provide the community with a chance to discuss ideas for preserving and improving Lincoln Park, and to learn more about the master planning process. Residents, visitors and community organizations can help prioritize potential projects being in the park based on the feedback from recent design input community meetings. The meeting will be at Thomas O'Brien Academy of Science and Technology (TOAST) Cafeteria, 94 Delaware Ave. Input from the Dec. 4 meeting will help shape the final master plan proposal to be presented at 6 p.m. Jan. 15 at the TOAST auditorium. To follow the progress of the Lincoln Park Master Plan design project, visit https://albanys lincolnpark.weebly.com. The ax-wielding suspect who was shot and wounded by Laredo police after a brief standoff in the Century City Subdivision has been arrested, authorities said. Eric John Hale, 60, had been in a San Antonio hospital following his encounter with law enforcement. On Tuesday afternoon, Hale was served with three warrants that charged him with aggravated assault on a public servant. Custody records show Hale remained behind bars at the Webb County Jail. READ MORE: Ax-wielding man accused of prompting officer-involved shooting in Laredo Laredo police said the three officers involved in the shooting remain on administrative duties, pending the outcome of the criminal and internal investigation. Authorities said officers shot Hale when he refused to drop an ax and walked toward the cops in a threatening matter. EMS crews said Hale sustained gunshot wounds to his left hip and right knee. The case unfolded at about 8:50 p.m. Nov. 13 in the 100 block of Horizon Loop, when officers responded to a person armed with a weapon report. Hale was outside a home allegedly wielding an ax. Police said Hale was wielding the ax in "a threatening manner." Authorities said they deployed negotiators in an attempt to defuse the situation. Police did say that a negotiator spoke with Hale for about 20 minutes. But Hale disregarded commands to drop the ax, according to police. READ ALSO: Laredo's 'triple-ax murders' detailed in new Netflix docuseries "Instead, at one point, he made threatening moves toward the officers. There were two attempts to end the threat by deploying Tasers ... (but) were not effective," LPD Chief Claudio Trevino said in a news conference the day after the shooting. Hale then allegedly raised the ax and walked in the direction of two officers. "Three officers were forced to deploy their guns, their weapons, striking the individual at least twice," Trevino said. Hale was arrested the day before the shooting on the charge of assault, family violence. A very lucky Humble resident claimed a winning scratch-off ticket worth $1 million in the Texas Lottery this week. The ticket was purchased at the Valero Corner Store at 2025 W. 34th Street in Houston, near Waltrip High School, according to a press release from the Texas Lottery. Colts Neck, N.J. Authorities say a family of four in affluent horse country was slain before their mansion was set ablaze, but assured the community a killer was not on the loose, hours after the homeowner's brother was arrested Wednesday in an arson at his own home. Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said authorities arrested Paul Caneiro, 51, and charged him with setting fire to his home in Ocean Township early Tuesday morning. Reports of a fire at his brother's home in Colts Neck came in hours later, where the bodies of Keith Caniero, 50, and his family were found. Keith Caniero was found shot to death on the lawn of the family's mansion. He had sustained more than one gunshot wound, the prosecutor said. Inside the burning house, authorities found the bodies of his 45-year-old wife, Jennifer Caniero, their 11-year-old son Jesse and 8-year-old daughter Sophia. Those bodies were badly burned, and medical examiners still had not determined causes of death for them as of Wednesday afternoon. "We believe that this family in some form or fashion was targeted," Gramiccioni said. Referring to Paul Caniero, Gramiccioni said, "I can't confirm or deny whether he is a suspect" in the murders. It wasn't immediately known if Paul Caniero had retained an attorney. He is charged with aggravated arson and will make a first appearance in court next Wednesday. According to a criminal complaint, Paul Caneiro used gasoline to set his home on fire while his wife and two daughters were inside. No one was injured in that blaze, which was reported at 5:01 a.m., about 7 hours before the Colts Neck fire was reported. The prosecutor said all four members of Keith Caniero's family were "victims of homicidal violence," adding there is no indication of suicide in his death. Keith and Paul Caneiro were partners at a technology firm in Asbury Park, Square One. Colts Neck is about 50 miles south of New York City, and the upscale enclave is home to a number of celebrities, including Bruce Springsteen. Former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart and his wife operate an animal sanctuary there; Queen Latifah sold her mansion there in 2015, and current and former members of the band Bon Jovi have called it home. Peeved with the transfer, a large number of Nashik residents protested in front of the NMC headquarters Thursday. Mumbai: Contrary to reports of him being shifted to Osmanabad, firebrand IAS officer and Nashik municipal corporation (NMC) commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has been transferred to Mantralaya in Mumbai. Peeved with the transfer, a large number of Nashik residents protested in front of the NMC headquarters Thursday. There were reports that Nashik-based Mr Mund-he would be transferred to head the Osmanabad municipal corporation. However, the order issued Thursday by Sitaram Kunte, principal secretary (general administration department), said that he had been appointed joint secretary (planning) at Mantralaya. This is Mr Mundhes third posting in just two years. The 2005-batch IAS officer was said to have been transferred nearly a dozen times in the last 13 years. In February this year, he took charge as the Nashik civic commissioner and soon became popular among the people due to his uprightness and strict measures. According to the locals, Mr Mundhe brought in discipline and accountability in the functioning of the civic body. He also launched a drive against encroachments in Nashik and punished erring civic employees. Along with this, he started a public contact programme, Wal-k with the commissioner, held every Saturday, where he would interact with the people and address their grievances. Protesting his transfer, people shouted slogans against Maharashtra wa-ter resources minister Girish Mahajan and a local BJP MLA. ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) Police in the Fort Worth area say a 2-year-old girl died after a caregiver hit her with a belt and burned her buttocks for discipline. Police were called to an apartment in Arlington early Saturday because a child wasn't breathing. The girl, Aniyah Darnell, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Thackeray visited Shivneri fort, the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in Junnar tehsil of Pune district. Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said that the Ram temple issue is raked up before every election and wondered for how for much longer people would be fooled with the Mandir Wahi Banayenge slogan. Mr Thackeray visited Shivneri fort, the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in Junnar tehsil of Pune district and collected soil from there, which he will carry to Ayodhya during his visit on November 25. He said during his visit to Ayodhya, he would seek an answer as to how many more elections would be held where the people would be fooled with the slogan. The soil where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born carries with it the sentiments of all Hindus, and collecting these sentiments will speed up the process of the construction of the Ram temple. The Ram temple issue is raked up before every election, said Mr Thackeray. The Sena president reached Shivneri fort by helicopter on Thursday morning and after paying tribute to the 17th century Maratha emperor, he collected the soil, party member of Parliament Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil, who was also present there, said. Mr Thackeray had announced during the Shiv Senas annual Dussehra rally in Mumbai that he would visit Ayodhya on November 25 and question Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of the construction of the Ram temple. In a bid to intensify his partys campaign for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Shiv Sena chief even created a new slogan Har Hindu Ki Ek hi Pukar, Pehle Mandir, Fir Sarkaar (Every Hindu has only one demand: first the temple, and the government later). The five-member SIT formed by the Punjab government is probing police firing at Faridkot's Behbal Kalan. Chandigarh: Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar appeared Wednesday before a special investigation team and dismissed allegations that he arranged a meeting between former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The five-member SIT formed by the Punjab government is probing police firing at Faridkot's Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura on people protesting over the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib. Two people had died in the police firing in 2015. The self-styled godman's supporters were alleged to be involved in cases of desecration, after pages of the religious text were found torn and scattered. Akshay Kumar's counsel later told reporters that the actor denied having ever met the Dera Sacha Sauda chief, who is currently serving a 20-year jail term in two rape cases. The SIT questioned the actor as his name figured in the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on the sacrilege incidents, which was tabled in the Punjab Assembly in August. It was alleged that the actor brought together Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and the then deputy chief minister to ensure the release in Punjab of MSG-2, a controversial movie made by the sect chief. The actor was quizzed for about two hours at the Punjab police headquarters in sector-9 here. He told the SIT that he never met Dera Sacha Sauda chief in his entire life. So the question about any meeting does not arise, the actor's counsel Sant Pal Singh Sidhu told reporters. He said the claim by former MLA Harbans Jalal before the Ranjit Singh Commission about the meeting are concocted. Even the Commission report has not placed any reliance on these claims saying these are based on 'hearsay', the counsel said. Akshay Kumar has not been asked to appear again before the SIT, Sidhu said. The counsel said the actor told the SIT members that he respected all the religions, particularly the Sikh religion. The counsel was not present with Akshay Kumar when he was quizzed. Even before his SIT appearance, the actor had denied mediating between the Shiromani Akali Dal president and the sect chief. The former MLA wrote to the Ranjit Singh Commission on October 9, 2017, claiming that a meeting took place between Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and Sukhbir Singh Badal at the actor's flat in Mumbai in 2015 in connection with the release of MSG-2. The meeting was allegedly held before the Dera chief was pardoned by the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, in a 2007 blasphemy case. After arriving at Chandigarh airport, the actor headed straight to the Punjab police headquarters, reaching there at about 9.30 am. He refused to talk to the media waiting at the airport on his arrival and before his departure. Heavy security was in place outside the Punjab police headquarters, officials said. The police had earlier asked the actor to appear before the probe team in Amritsar, but later gave him to the option to come to Chandigarh. The SIT has already questioned former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. On Monday, Sukhbir Singh Badal also told the SIT that he had never met Akshay Kumar outside Punjab. The actor had also issued a denial on November 12 over the alleged meeting. It has come to my knowledge that some rumours and false statements are being loosely made on social media about my involvement with a person named Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the context of a fictitious meeting involving Sukhbir Singh Badal, the actor had tweeted. I have never ever met Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in my life, anywhere. I learnt from social media at some point that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh resided for a while at some place in my locality Juhu in Mumbai but we never crossed each other's paths, he said. He had then dared anyone to prove it otherwise. The SIT was set up by the state government in September, soon after it issued a notification taking over some of the desecration-related cases from the Central Bureau of Investigation. Warning: The following content may be graphic for some audiences. "All of us have lived through seven days that none of us will ever forget," newly sworn-in President Lyndon B. Johnson told Americans on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1963. A week earlier, John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed in Dallas while campaigning. While Nov. 22 is mainly marked by Kennedy's death, the 24-hour period following his assassination may be equally important to history. Less than an hour and a half after the president's death, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office aboard Air Force One. Attending the short ceremony was a widowed Jacqueline Kennedy, whom Johnson insisted be present to establish his legitimacy as president. EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY: Only a few people remain from the motorcade in which JFK was assassinated 54 years ago Around the same time, police were arresting Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of the president. Two days later, Oswald would be shot and killed while being relocated to a more secure county jail. The same day as Kennedy's death, his body was moved from the White House to the Capitol Rotunda, drawn by six grey horses and a riderless black horse. From there, hundreds of thousands of Americans would visit Kennedy's body, which lay at the rotunda for roughly 21 hours until it would be moved to its final resting place. Above: See rare photos of the hours leading up to and following the death of JFK. Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93. It is anybodys guess as to the outcome of the Assembly elections, which will most likely be held along with the Lok Sabha elections next summer. It does not matter if Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti and National Conferences Omar Abdullah, both former chief ministers of the state, forced the hand of Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik to dissolve the Legislative Assembly and call for elections by coming together along with the Congress to stake claim to form the government. Peoples Conference leader Sajjad Lone with his two-member party staking the claim to form the government as well is a part of the democratic high jinks, and it need not be condemned. What is of real significance in the latest development in the politics of J&K is that everyone has allowed the democratic logic to prevail, which is what the people of the state need. If the BJP had played a shabby game by walking out of the coalition government led by Mehbooba Mufti, then Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has done the right political thing by first discontinuing the tradition of retired Army generals as governors in the state and appointing a politician, Satyapal Malik, to the post. Second, whether it was the idea of the governor or that of the Narendra Modi government, the decision to call for elections was the sensible thing to do. If it was the idea of Mr Malik, then the Central government has done well to accept his decision. If it was the result of the consultations between the governor and the Central government, it deserves two cheers. On the face of it, the BJP-led NDA government has displayed political maturity of a rare kind. It may be the calculation of the BJP that it would win Assembly seats in the Jammu and Ladakh regions, and that its inability to win in the Valley will further sharpen the divisions in the state, which will be to its advantage. It can be said that it is a cynical perspective, and that accentuating divisions and differences in the trouble-torn state is not a good thing for the state or for the country in the long term. The partys partisan politics, with its tinge of Hindutva, are par for the course as long as it follows the democratic pattern. Similarly, the PDP too might hope to win the Valley and not bother about the other two regions in the state. That leaves the National Conference and the Congress, with their claim to represent all the three regions, and this is partly reflected in the seats they have won last time around. It is anybodys guess as to the outcome of the Assembly elections, which will most likely be held along with the Lok Sabha elections next summer. But it is clear that the PDP-NC-Congress alliance cannot last after the elections in the state if it even continues till election time. Each one has to go their own way. Their coming together will polarise the political space in the state between them and the BJP. It is a situation that the BJP is most likely to welcome. It could also pave the way for the three-party alliance to score a combined victory in all the three regions of the state. If that is indeed the case, then the political dynamics in J&K will synchronise with that of many other states, especially in northern India. This alliance is not immutable, and either the PDP or NC could come together to form a government either in the state or at the Centre, or both. One of the great concerns of secular elements was that the presence of the BJP in the state government, and the deterioration of the political situation in the state, especially with the security forces high-handedness in dealing with the stone-throwing teenagers, has irreversibly alienated political players and the people in the state. There is a grain of truth in the view, but it is not the whole truth. Mehbooba Mufti, when she was in office, recognised the necessity to deal firmly, and sometimes even harshly, with people who take to the streets, and who use children as proxy agitators. The PDPs position on J&K, where it firmly believes Pakistan has to be one of the parties in the negotiations, is an indication that it is not a pro-India party in the way the NC is. But even the PDP, when in power, had no option but to say that violent protests cannot be the path to a solution of the Kashmir question. If only the political parties, whether regional ones like the PDP and NC, and national ones like the BJP and the Congress, with a stake in power games, do not endorse violence on the streets, then the position would not carry conviction or legitimacy. But it is the majority of the people in the state, and in the Valley in particular, who want political normality in state and who are not hung up on the existential question about the status of the state in relation to India and Pakistan. A majority of them want to get on with their lives, and the youth in the state are looking for economic opportunities that an economically burgeoning India holds out. The dominant political players cannot any more set the agenda for the people and the state. It is the people themselves who are going to determine their stakes and goals, and political parties will have to reflect the aspirations of the people. This is what the democratic process does. It empowers people in umpteen indirect ways. An election is a means for the people to say what they want, and political players, with their ears to the ground, have no option but to listen to them and to change their words and deeds. Like a television show that has jumped the shark, President Donald Trumps frantic act grows more desperate and pathetic by the day. Asked by Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday to grade his presidency, Trump absurdly replied: Look, I hate to do it, but I will do it. I would give myself an A-plus. Is that enough? Can I go higher than that? Much closer to the mark is the assessment by Republican lawyer and operative George Conway, the husband of one of Trumps closest White House aides, counselor Kellyanne Conway: The administration is like a (expletive)show in a dumpster fire. And it is all getting worse. The cravenness, incompetence, corruption, dysfunction, insanity all of it. Trump is anxious to award himself high marks because the nation, in no uncertain terms, just flunked him. A blue wave swept Democrats to take control of the House, with the party grabbing its biggest haul of GOP-held seats since the Watergate midterm following Richard Nixons resignation in 1974. Republican bastions such as Texas and Georgia became competitive for the first time in more than a generation. Orange County, California, the birthplace of Reagan-era conservatism, will be represented exclusively by Democrats when the new Congress convenes. Trump made three campaign trips to Montana a state he won in 2016 by 20 points in an attempt to knock off Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester, against whom Trump holds a personal grudge. (Tester led the successful fight against Trumps bizarre attempt to install his personal physician as head of the Veterans Affairs Department.) Nevertheless, Tester prevailed. No wonder that multiple news reports describe the president as angry, frustrated and even less rational than usual. He has neglected his ceremonial duties, declining to join other world leaders at a ceremony in France commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and failing to lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day. I probably, you know, in retrospect I should have, and I did last year, Trump told Wallace about going to Arlington. Fact check: He didnt. On Veterans Day 2017, Trump was in Vietnam. It is mystifying why Trump, at a moment when he should be licking his wounds, seems intent on alienating veterans and the military. In that same interview with Wallace, who generally managed to keep a straight face, Trump went out of his way to attack retired Adm. William McRaven, who led the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Back in August, McRaven had criticized Trump as a national embarrassment in a Washington Post op-ed. A rational leader would have let it pass. Trump, who is anything but rational, called McRaven a Hillary Clinton fan and an Obama backer and implied that the former Navy SEAL was something of a slacker. Wouldnt it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that, wouldnt it have been nice? Trump said. Seriously, that is what the commander in chief thinks about one of the all-time greatest triumphs of U.S. intelligence and special ops. Unbelievable. Sad. Republicans who might be inclined to sign up for another season of Trumps fading reality show should pause and take stock. There should be no doubt, at this point, that the man is a giant loser who will drag the GOP down with him. I wasnt on the ballot, he whined to Wallace. But he spent weeks on the campaign trail, begging supporters to vote as if he were. At almost every stop, he said that a vote for the GOP candidate would be a vote for me. The result? Millions more voted against Trump than for him. And this was just a warm-up for 2020. Trump has already robbed the GOP of any coherent philosophy. The party that once supported the military now abuses it as a scapegoat. The party that once stood for fiscal responsibility now manages the nations finances in a manner that drunken sailors would find imprudent. The party that once claimed to champion personal rectitude and Christian morality now winks at payoffs to paramours and porn stars. The party that once valued order now celebrates sybaritic chaos. Come January, a Democratic House will begin performing the oversight duties that Speaker Paul Ryan neglected. Does anyone believe that proper scrutiny of, say, the Trump familys international business dealings is likely to improve the presidents political standing? I dont. In the Churchillian sense, the midterm election was the end of the beginning. eugenerobinson@washpost.com Journalist, broadcaster and author Martina Fitzgerald launched her new book Madam Politician at Longford Library on Monday night to a very enthusiastic audience. Ms Fitzgerald, who enjoys a high profile career as political correspondent with RTE, said it was that very role and her work in Leinster House which provided her with the inspiration to pen the publication. ALSO READ: Madam Politician to get Longford launch The book, meanwhile, examines the role played by women in national politics over the past 100 years and provides some interesting insights into how hard it was for them to break through the party system and get the nomination to stand for election. Most of the first women TDs elected to the Dail were the widows, daughters or relatives of deceased male TD members, she says within the pages. Between 1922 and 1977, just 24 women were elected to the Dail and 80 per cent were related to a former male TD. Meanwhile, on Monday night the author told those gathered that 2016 saw 35 women enter Leinster House and how this was a record breaker for womens public participation at that level. Yet it is very low by international standards, she continued, before pointing out that as a female journalist herself it was also interesting to note that in a photograph taken of all the journalists working in Leinster House back in 2006, she discovered just three women staring back at her. Ms Fitzgerald says too that in 1919 when Countess Markievicz was elected to Dail Eireann she was one of the first female cabinet ministers to be appointed worldwide. Remarkably, added the author, it took a further 60 years before another woman was elected to the cabinet. Those gathered at Longford Library heard that woman was Maire Geoghegan Quinn, and of how she became Minister for the Gaeltacht in 1979. When Maire Geoghegan Quinn went into Charlie Haughey and he presented her with this historic moment, she said, do you think I will be able? - she regrets saying that to this day, Ms Fitzgerald continued. I think that actually represents the many insecurities that women feel in terms of public life or going forward. It is also worth remembering that in those days Maire Geoghegan Quinn was the sole woman around the cabinet table. Men overwhelming dominated then, but thankfully today, we have a record breaking number - we have four women!! Who knows what the future will hold but I wanted to go back and talk to all the surviving female ministers and find out their challenges, their stories and how they got to the top table of Irish political life. Madam Politician is available in all good bookstores and costs just 16.99. It is worth the indulgence! An Garda Siochana in association with the FraudSMART, a fraud awareness initiative led by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, are urging consumers and retailers to shop and sell online safely and to protect their financial and personal details with the approach of Black Friday (Friday, November 23) and Cyber Monday (November 26). Detective Superintendent Gerard Walsh of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said: "Buying online is a very convenient way to shop particularly in the busy run up to Christmas, however, shopping safely online is not a given, as there are inherent risks. It is vital that people exercise caution when shopping online and follow the fraud prevention advice provided. Niamh Davenport, leading the FraudSMART programme for Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, advised consumers and businesses that taking simple steps can make all the difference when shopping or selling online, "While Black Friday provides consumers with a great chance to grab a bargain, it can also open up the perfect opportunity for scammers and hackers. It is often a simple or easy measure that people can take to protect against fraud and it is important that consumers know these to avoid being vulnerable to fraudsters. An Garda Siochanas top tips for shopping online this week and in the run-up to Christmas include: Be Informed: Do your research; only buy from trusted sources, shops or brands that you are familiar with. Use websites that your friends, family or colleagues have used before. Do not click on links or adverts from social media. Independently go to the website offering the deal. This will ensure you are not shopping on a fake website. Think twice before allowing e-merchant stores to store your payment details Be Alert: Read terms and conditions and make sure you are not committing to a series of recurring payments especially where free trials are offered. Always save all documents related to your online purchases. When purchasing something online from another person, do not send money up front Be Secure: Use a secure website. Look for the padlock symbol and the S in HTTPS. Never send your Card number, PIN or any other card information to anyone by email Dont use public Wi-Fi when making payments, always switch to 3G/4G REMEMBER Regularly check statements and transactions for any frauds or suspicious activity If you have a suspicion about an online transaction check your account online to ascertain if the payment was made to the genuine retailer. Report suspicious transactions to your local Garda station and to your bank or card processor. They also outlined the steps which retails should consider during this busy Christmas period: Advice for Online Retailers Retailers can also be the target of online frauds when it comes to purchases of goods online. Compromised credit cards or requests to pay for goods and services using money transfer services can result in significant losses for online sellers. To avoid those losses, some basic steps should be kept in mind by online retailers and private sellers. Beware of any purchases of bulk items or large quantities of the items or random goods Check any purchases of high-value goods or goods that can easily be resold Be cautious with purchases using credit/debit cards issues overseas or in a different name than the purchaser Check that the delivery and billing addresses are the same. Check addresses and usernames online using Google to see if there are any reports or complaints. Require postcodes with addresses. Use Google maps to make sure the address is correct Be cautious of bulk purchases of gift cards and guest logins rather than users creating accounts Small cost purchases followed by larger purchases by the same user could indicate someone testing a compromised card If you capture IP addresses check them online to see where they are registered. If the billing/delivery address is in a different country, this could indicate a problem Dont hesitate to contact the customer by phone and ask them to confirm their payment details such as card number, bank name, card expiry date etc. Genuine customers will usually know these details immediately. Online Shopping & Fraud Statistics (Sources: Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, Retails and Consumer Report 2018 PWC) 46.5bn spent worldwide on Credit & Debit Cards issued in Ireland in 2017 with 15.5bn spent online. Downward trend in card fraud with year on year decrease from 45.2m in 2016 to 29m in 2017. 80% of card fraud occurs in Card Not Present environment. 38% of 25-34-year-olds shop online weekly. 57% only use credible websites when shopping on their mobile phone 38% use social media to inspire purchases, this increases to 94% for 18-24 year olds Further advice/information www.garda.ie for crime prevention advice and contact details of local Garda Stations www.FraudSMART.ie for advice of fraud prevention https://thecai.ie/your-rights Consumer Association of Ireland A north Longford man has died after an alleged altercation outside a New York City bar. The 21-year-old victim, who the Leader understands is from the Drumlish area, was allegedly assaulted outside the Gaslight Bar at 4317 Queens Boulevard shortly before 4am. According to local reports, police arrived at the scene shortly afterwards where they found the young man on the ground. He was rushed to hospital soon after but was later pronounced dead. Local Councillor Martin Mulleady said the local community had been left numbed by the tragedy. "It's awful, awful news to get," he said. "I knew the young man very well and his family are extremely well got in the area. My heart goes out to them at this very sad time." Police officials have not yet released the man's identity, but it is understood the young man is from the Drumlish area. For more on this story, follow longfordleader.ie A man on trial, charged with murdering a father-of-two, has been taken from court in an ambulance after becoming unwell before the court sat. Frank Murphy (58), of McDonough Caravan Park, Triton Road, Bettystown, Co. Meath is one of three men on trial at the Special Criminal Court, charged with murdering Peter Butterly outside a Meath pub on the afternoon of March 6, 2013. The 35-year-old was chased and shot dead outside The Huntsman Inn in Gormanston in view of students waiting for their school bus. Mr Murphy went on trial with two other men before the three-judge, non-jury court in October. He pleaded not guilty, along with Michael McDermott (58), of Riverdale House, Garrymore, Ballinagh, Co. Cavan; and Kevin Braney (43) with a last address at Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght in Dublin. Mr McDermott and Mr Braney also deny possession of a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol with intent to commit murder and possession of seven rounds of 9mm ammunition on March 5, 2013 at Blackthorn Apartments, Brackenwood Avenue, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Frank Murphy has pleaded not guilty to possession of a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol with the intent to commit murder and possession of seven rounds of 9mm ammunition on the day of the killing itself. Paul OHiggins SC, prosecuting, opened the trial, telling the judges that it was an unusual case because gardai were already keeping an eye on movements in the area that day as a result of certain suspicions. He said that Mr Butterly had driven into the carpark of the Huntsman Inn around 1.55pm. He had parked and remained in his car. He said that a black Peugeot 206 then drove into the carpark and parked for a few minutes. Its the States case that this car was being driven by Frank Murphy. It left shortly after 2pm and was followed by an unmarked garda car. It was around this time that a stolen Toyota Corolla was driven into the car park, he said. The car (Toyota) then stops in front of Mr Butterlys car and two shots are fired, one through the windscreen and one through the bonnet, said Mr OHiggins. Mr Butterly, who's on his own in the car, runs..., but he doesnt get very far. Mr OHiggins explained that two witnesses, who were waiting for their school buses, had stated that he was chased across the carpark and shot three times as he ran. The court heard that he fell and died almost immediately. The trial was due to sit as normal this (Thursday) morning, but proceedings were delayed when Mr Murphy became unwell and an ambulance was called. He was assessed by paramedics outside the courtroom, before being put on a stretcher and taken to the waiting ambulance. The case was then called, with Mr Murphys barrister, Hugh Hartnett SC, addressing the court. My client has been taken away on stretcher to an ambulance, he said, explaining that there had been difficulties previously, but theyd been overcome. Hes not trying to absent himself, he assured the court. He cant be present and weve no instructions. He said he wouldnt be inclined to take instructions from him until matters were clarified. We wish Mr Murphy well, said Mr Justice Paul Coffey, presiding with Judge Martin Nolan and Judge James Faughnan. Mr OHiggins suggested that a disclosure issue might be dealt with in his absence were Mr Murphy able to give instructions to allow that. My solicitor would be unwilling to take instructions from someone in an ambulance, said Mr Hartnett. The court was then adjourned until 2pm to allow some time before Mr Murphys solicitor could take instructions from him. Imran Khan has been known for his strong views on Pakistans post-9/11 alliance with the US and his fiery anti-American rhetoric. United States President Donald Trumps latest salvo against Pakistan is yet another reminder that the two countries already uneasy relationship is getting nastier. It was not the first time that the President launched an outrageous broadside but the response from a Pakistani leader has never been so candid. The war of tweets threatens to completely derail a faltering association. Intriguingly, the Trumpian invective came at a time when it seemed that the two estranged allies could still work together for a negotiated political solution to the Afghan crisis. A series of recent senior-level interactions had raised hopes that the rocky relationship could be stabilised. The latest spat has made it more difficult to maintain even the illusion of meaningful alignment. It was certainly not a spontaneous bout of rage that drove an impulsive US President to make such humiliating remarks; it was a well-thought-out move to increase the pressure on Islamabad. The first volley of words came during an interview with Fox News, when out of nowhere Trump blasted Pakistan for not doing a damn thing for the US, despite receiving billions of dollars in aid. He taunted Pakistan for sheltering Osama bin Laden and insinuated that the latters presence in a high-security zone was known to Pakistani officials. One wonders why this issue has been raised now, while forgetting that it was as much a failure of US intelligence that the most-wanted terrorist leader managed to escape from Afghanistan despite the presence of American forces there. Moreover, there is no acknowledgement by the American President of Pakistans role in destroying the Al Qaeda infrastructure in the region. Pakistan may be blamed for not taking action against some militants operating from its soil, but holding it responsible for the US military debacle in Afghanistan is extremely unfair. Surely, it was not the first time that a US official alleged that Pakistan was playing a double game; however, Trumps tenor is becoming increasingly strident. He was equally harsh in his New Year tweet in which he accused Pakistan of lying and being deceitful. The hostility had seemed to lessen a bit in the past months. That, perhaps, prompted Pakistans foreign minister to claim that the US was willing to reset ties with Pakistan. One wonders what caused Shah Mehmood Qureshi to believe that the Trump administration could change tack. The latest episode has shattered the myth that relations were getting back on track. The tough response from the Pakistani Prime Minister did not come as a surprise. Imran Khan has been known for his strong views on Pakistans post-9/11 alliance with the US and his fiery anti-American rhetoric. Yet one cannot agree more with the PM that the US needed to examine the reasons for its failure in Afghanistan. Instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures, the US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 140,000 Nato troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops and reportedly $1 trillion spent on war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before, Khan said in a tweet. He further noted that Pakistan had borne the brunt of the American-led war on terror. Trump, perhaps, did not expect such a lashing from Pakistans PM and his tenor got harsher in a spate of Twitter replies. The message was clear: the US would further toughen its stance towards Pakistan. Trumps South Asia policy has brought Pakistan-US ties to a new low. It is even worse than what it was in the 1990s when Pakistan was under all kinds of US sanctions. The interaction between the two countries has been reduced to a low official level though military-to-military contacts may still have survived. While the illusion of any strategic convergence has been absent for long, even a transactional relationship is now hard to maintain. It is apparent that Islamabad is no more dependent on US aid, and the latest American measures are not likely to force it to comply with the US demand, though Islamabad would need to take some action in its own interest against the militant groups allegedly operating from its soil. The recent hostility is unprecedented. Trumps demand for unquestionable compliance is unacceptable to Pakistan. The US policy of using pressure tactics to bring Pakistan to its knees has not worked, and the latest Twitter war between the two leaders would have further widened the trust deficit. However, there is still some convergence of interest between the two countries with regard to Afghanistan. Intriguingly, Trump chose to up the ante at a time when his administration is engaged in direct talks with the Afghan Taliban. The US authorities acknowledge that the role of Pakistan would be extremely critical in any Afghan peace process. Pakistan has long advocated a negotiated settlement for Afghanistan and has shown willingness to cooperate in the effort. Last month, Islamabad released a number of high-level Taliban prisoners, including the movements co-founder, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. These prisoner releases are widely seen as a US-directed move aimed at encouraging the Taliban to participate in the talks. The US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has already held two rounds of talks with the Afghan Taliban representatives in Doha. After three-day-long parleys at the Taliban political office last week, Khalilzad appeared cautiously optimistic about reaching a peace agreement with the Afghan insurgents by April next year. I am talking to all interested parties, all Afghan groups... and I think there is an opportunity for reconciliation and peace, he told a news conference in Kabul. Such optimism may be premature, but any breakthrough in the talks should be welcomed by Pakistan. Notwithstanding these tensions, there is still some convergence of interest between the two estranged allies when it comes to ending the war in Afghanistan. But Trumps war of words will not help the two sides work together. By arrangement with Dawn Now, you may have heard that iOS is more secure than Android. You may have even heard that Android is a cesspool of malware. But CNet is here to bring us a different perspective: Googles. Google: Android is just as secure as the other guys. (Tip o the antlers to Ramin.) The other guys? Are the other guys the net being protected by the Washington Generals? One of the big knocks against Android is that users dont get updates. Well, youll be glad to know that: Google has already come a long way in getting phone makers to provide regular updates CNet doesnt provide this tidbit, but only 21.5 percent of Android users are on the latest version, which came out in August of 2017. iOS 12, meanwhile, was released in September of 2018 and is on 60 percent of active iOS devices. While progress has been made, theyre not quite up to the level of the other guys. But if you cant provide regular updates, you can at least lie to customers about their phones being up to date as some Android OEMs do. The peace of mind of thinking youre up to date is really what its all about. Still, if Google says Android is just as secure as iOS, it must be true. Its not like theyve ever said exactly the same thing before like, say, back in 2012. Not secure? Its more secure than the iPhone, [Google chairman Eric] Schmidt immediately responded, to laughter from the audience, one mostly comprised of CIOs and tech decision-makers. Well, still, even if you would get laughed at by as notoriously unruly a crowd as corporate IT decision makers way back in 2012, that doesnt mean that Android isnt just as secure as iOS toda- Half a million Android users tricked into downloading malware from Google Play. (Tip o the antlers again to Ramin.) Oh, come on! The Macalope couldnt even finish his sentence! According to a security researcher, 13 supposed game apps from the same developer downloaded a payload from a site in Istanbul, installed malware that was persistent after a restart and has full access to network traffic, and then deleted the app icon. If thats a game its a really crappy one. One star. TechCrunchs Zack Whittaker adds: Google has spent years trying to double down on Android security by including better security features and more granular app permission controls. But the company continues to battle rogue and malicious apps in the Google Play app store, which have taken over as one of the greatest threats to Android user security. While you could try to make the argument that Android the operating system is as secure as iOS, Android the soup to nuts user experience is clearly not. Sure, bad things do creep into the iOS App Store as well, but not in the same frequency or degree of malfeasance as on Google Play. The Macalope would suggest that Google pull the other one but even for a four-hoofed mythical beast, there isnt a shank they havent already pulled. SPRINGFIELD -- You really had to watch your step at the foot of the stairs leading down from the train platforms at Union Station on Wednesday afternoon. The CTrail train north from New Haven and Hartford was late, and folks needed to make their bus connections at the other end of the building. They were rushed, stressed and moving quickly to get where they needed to go. Things were a little calmer for Aria Roach and Kelsey Greenway, friends and professional dancers from Brooklyn, New York. They were headed to Vermont for Thanksgiving with Roach's family. Roach's mother was picking them up. "It's been a long ride," Roach said. "I left my apartment at 6:30 a.m. so I could catch an express train (subway) to Grand Central Station, then Metro-North to New Haven and then Amtrak here to Springfield." It was about 1:30 p.m. Greenway is from Hawaii and decided going home would be a little too long a trip. Amtrak and the Connecticut Department of Transportation, which both run north-south trains on the CTrail Hartford Line, added cars for the Thanksgiving weekend. This is the first Thanksgiving for the Hartford Line service, which markets to college students, and CTrail officials expected to be busy this weekend with scholars headed home for a short break. Peter Pan Bus Lines also sees a lot of college student travel this time of year, as well as increased business from other age groups. On Wednesday, Peter Pan said it added 400 buses to accommodate an increase of more than 50,000 passengers. Both the trains and Peter Pan bring passengers through Union Station. The station also offers Greyhound buses and Pioneer Valley Transit Authority buses. The Springfield Redevelopment Authority, which runs Union Station, added more state and city police patrols Wednesday. AAA said that 54.3 million Americans will travel by car, bus, rail and ship this Thanksgiving weekend. That's a 4.8 percent increase since last year, making this the busiest travel Thanksgiving since 2005. AmeriCann Inc. wants to include the making of branded and "white label" marijuana products at the $100 million Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center the company is building in Bristol County. "The consumer packaged goods include cannabis beverages, vaporizer products, edible products, non-edible products and concentrates at the state-of-the-art campus," a recent press release said. The Denver, Colorado-based company has formed AmeriCann Brands Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, to seek a consumer packaged goods manufacturing license from the state of Massachusetts, the press release said. "White label products" are those that are made by one company but sold by another. AmeriCann consults, designs, builds and finances marijuana businesses. The Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center will be nearly 1 million square feet in Freetown, which is north of New Bedford. The "master-planned" marijuana cultivation and processing center is designed to be a campus to save multiple pot tenants the time and money of finding space to operate in a community that is both suitably zoned and welcoming, AmeriCann CEO Tim Keogh told The Republican in October. The campus will offer a permitted and infrastructured center with a projected 400 employees at full operation in a few years, he said. AmeriCann Brands will provide extraction and product manufacturing support to the campus and to licensed cannabis farmers throughout Massachusetts. Growing and processing but not dispensing of marijuana will take place at the campus, he said. Construction of the campus' first building is underway and should be done by May or June. Design of the second building is ongoing and construction should begin in the first quarter of 2019, he said. According to Forbes.com, "White label products and services are purchased by the latter company without branding. That way, the reseller can customize the product with their own brand, logo and identity, allowing customers to associate the product with the reseller. Meanwhile, the manufacturer can focus on finding cost-effective ways to make the product, without concern for the product's marketing." Boston police say a man was fatally shot in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood early Thanksgiving morning. Police responded to a call of shots fired in the area of Chestnut Avenue and Hoffman Street at 1:14 a.m. Thursday. Officers found a man suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds, Boston police said in a statement. The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police did not identify the victim. No further information was immediately available. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Boston Police Homicide Detectives at 617-343-4470. Hitman 2, though manages to score big, mostly feels like an extension of the concepts introduced in its 2016 edition. Hitman 2 is a follow up to 2016s stealth/action-adventure game and sees Agent 47 travel around the world, from Columbia to Mumbai, in search of the Shadow Client. It isnt a big departure from the previous game, only expanding upon some mechanics and adding content to the existing blueprint. But if you are a fan of the series or even remotely interested in stealth, the hilarity that ensues in Hitman 2 is hard to find in other games. The core idea of Hitman revolves around disguises that give you access to specific areas. You can pretty much take any NPC disguise you want, as long as you take them out by utilising a distraction or poisoning their drink. If you decide to enter an area off-limits in your current disguise, it will be deemed as trespassing and enemies will warn you before gunning you down. Hitman follows a strict rule book, such as, you must not carry illegal items while getting frisked. But due to those rules, you always feel in control of your actions as well as the situation. As long as you play by the rules making sure to hide bodies , staying in the correct zone for your disguise or not alerting enemies to your presence, Hitman is an extremely user friendly stealth experience. Before entering a mission, you can select your drop off point, starting costume, gadgets such as lock picks or coins, weapons and so on. It is now possible to carry a concealed weapon in a briefcase, including sniper rifles. You are the thrown into the world and encouraged to explore, experiment and implement new ways of taking out the target. It comes with a guidance system, which marks mission stories on the screen, including how to find unique items to complete that story. Simply following a mission story, results in a kill or gives you the opportunity to take out the target. If you do not want any hand holding, you can remove all of the tips and choose to play it however you want. But I would recommend completing all of the stories in a level, as not only do they give you more context and information behind your target, but they often lead to amusing and absurd elimination methods. As an example, I got dressed as a race car engineer and tampered the wheel so that my target died in a crash. In the same map, I took up the role of a politician and was scheduled to witness a new generation of military robots. I had to show a device a picture of a target dummy and the robots would eliminate him. I ended up utilising a picture of my target I had gotten earlier, thereby making it look like the AI killed him in an accident. When I re-played the map I had completed at Gamescom, I was surprised at just how much of the story I had missed out on. I generally do not like replaying games, but Hitman 2 is an exception. This is due to its streamlined and approachable, but rewarding design. The missions themselves dont take too long to complete, especially when you have already finished them once. This makes going after missed mission stories or trying out new ideas extremely user friendly. Hitman 2 is an extension of the concepts introduced in the 2016 game, and as a result does not feel like a major improvement or enhancement. But that doesnt mean its not worthy of the price tag. Even though its more of the same, figuring out all of the intricacies of the map and eliminating your targets in hilarious ways are a strong enough USP to last multiple more games before it gets stale. Consumers who traveled to the first retail marijuana stores east of the Mississippi spent $440,011 on opening day, according to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. The commission said the number of total units sold - a figure that includes things like a package of edibles, a sale of measured-out marijuana, or a bottle of lotion - hit 10,784. Two stores opened at 8 a.m. Tuesday: Cultivate in Leicester and New England Treatment Access (NETA) in Northampton. Additional retail shops are set to open in the coming months and weeks if they clear several additional regulatory hurdles. The state receives 17 percent of the money spent, due to the state sales tax of 6.25 percent and a 10.75 percent excise tax. Cities and towns are allowed to throw in an additional 3 percent local tax. Both Northampton and Leicester, in Worcester County, have tacked the tax on marijuana sales. For example, Northampton Mayor Daid Narkewicz was the first customer at NETA and paid $24 for a chocolate bar. The bar itself was $20, while the state sales tax came to $1.25 and the excise tax was $2.15. The local marijuana tax was 60 cents, bringing the total taxes paid to $4. The mayor posted the receipt to Twitter two hours after the purchase. The local tax that cities and towns receive is also separate from agreements that cities and towns broker with marijuana businesses. Northampton is slated to receive at least $10,000 a year for "marijuana education and prevention programs to promote safe, legal and responsible use." Sam Barber, president of Cultivate, said in a statement that the company is "humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response" during the first days. "This is an enormously gratifying moment for the whole Cultivate team to finally get to sell the products we have obsessed over creating for the past two years," he added. "We urge everyone to consume responsibly and have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving. We will reopen at 10 am on Friday." Massachusetts voters broadly legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over through a November 2016 ballot question. PALMER -- Before a meeting packed with passenger rail advocates, members of the Palmer Town Council said Monday they are all aboard a community effort to convince state transportation officials to build a train stop in Depot Village. A projected 18-month, $1 million "East-West Passenger Rail Study," subtitled "A study assessing rail service alternatives along the Boston-Worcester-Springfield-Pittsfield corridor" has begun, Department of Transportation officials said this week. Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack on Monday announced the private consultants MassDOT chose to do the work. "We have now selected the team for that study. It's led by WSP USA; includes AECOM, Regina Villa Associates, and Keville Enterprises," Pollack said during the four-hour MasDOT board meeting in Boston. The contracted firms will examine "the potential for high-speed rail from Pittsfield and/or Springfield, through to Boston," she said. Pollack said the state is putting together and advisory committee that "will begin meeting in December, to help define a set of up to six service alternatives that would be studied -- including at least one that would provide for a travel time of 90 minutes or less between Boston and Western Massachusetts." A spokesperson for Pollack said the 90-minute maximum travel time "is for Boston to Springfield, but the east-west study could recommend stops beyond Springfield." There is "a lot of excitement out in Western Massachusetts on that," Pollack said at the MassDOT board meeting. Palmer officials said they hope to have a local representative on the state advisory panel, and have been advised of its importance by Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Director Tim Brennan. Councilors said they must forcefully advocate for Linda Leduc, Palmer's planning and economic development director, to represent the community on the advisory committee. By a 7-0 vote, the council endorsed sending letters to state Sen. Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, and Rep. Todd Smola, R-Warren, asking their help to facilitate Leduc's appointment. The Republican asked MassDOT about the composition of the east-west rail advisory committee. "We are developing a panel of approximately 30 members," MassDOT said in a written response. The composition would be "a mix of MassDOT/MBTA officials, railroad industry representatives, elected officials, planning agency representatives, etc.," MassDOT said. Palmer councilors also voted unanimously to create a 13-person Palmer Station Steering Committee, and said they would appoint members at their December meeting, which is expected to include representatives from Ware and Monson. The sights, sounds and smells of Thanksgiving are different this year. Instead of the scent of a plump turkey roasting in the oven for hours, families will smell a pre-cooked bird when they open cardboard boxes of packaged dinners. Instead of the sound of the timer dinging when the pumpkin pie is done baking, there's the constant hum of generators outside temporary trailer homes. And instead of setting the table with fine china, plastic utensils are this year's cutlery. For many families in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, this Thanksgiving lacked the typical thrills of the holiday, residents still feeling the effects of the gas explosions that rocked the area more than two months ago. Without gas, there was no waking up early to pre-heat the oven. Record-breaking low temperatures left homes too cold to live in, so there would be no nap on the couch when the tryptophan inevitably set in. But that doesn't mean there wasn't anything to be thankful for. "It gave us an amazing spirit in our neighborhood," said Joe O'Neil, a South Lawrence resident who was picking up a holiday meal prepared by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts. "When everything went bad, everyone sort of came together and helped one another, shutting off gas, making sure people around us were alright, and so, good came from this." On Sept. 13, an over-pressurized natural gas line set off a series of fires and explosions in the three Merrimack Valley communities. More than two dozen were injured and 18-year-old Leonel Rondon was killed. In the time since, Columbia Gas has been slowly getting gas back into homes. As of Wednesday, 5,374 residential meters have restored gas service, about 73 percent of the total affected in the explosions, the company said. O'Neil said his South Lawrence residence has its heat back, but the offer of Thanksgiving meals from Columbia helped make the holiday a little easier. "We're happy that we have heat and hot water and everything back, we're grateful that everybody's worked so long and hard for us, but we also remember the young man who passed away and the people who were injured, so there's some sadness involved with it, too," he said, clutching the brown cardboard box filled with turkey and the traditional fixings. "We're thankful for just all the hard work everyone has done," O'Neil added. "And that people have remembered Lawrence, too." The gas company put together more than 16,000 meals for those affected by the explosions. There were 4,000 people coming by car to pick up boxes of the pre-cooked meals, which included not just the traditional dinner, but also vegetarian, gluten-free and Spanish-style options. One thousand people were dining at sit-down dinners provided by Columbia. At the Andover Senior Center, one of the locations for sit-down dinners, Rosalie Davis had just finished eating with her family. The gas at her South Lawrence home has not been relit, she said, and she's staying in a temporary trailer home provided by Columbia. "I think they're doing the best they can, it just doesn't seem like it," Davis said. "It's impossible to get it done as fast as anybody would like it to be done." Davis said there was some disappointment in the day, not being able to celebrate at home with the whole family, kids running around while pies baked. "It's still a good Thanksgiving. We're all healthy. Nobody's sick," she said. And the dinner -- which was prepared by a handful of Andover residents and town employees, among others -- was tasty, Davis said. "And guess what, I didn't have to cook it," she added with a laugh. Volunteers embodied the spirit of the holiday, hauling box after box of meals into cars amid the freezing temperatures. Congresswoman-elect Lori Trahan, along with her 8- and 4-year-old daughters Gracie and Caroline, helped hand out meals at outside the Lawrence Elks. "This is where we needed to be," Trahan said. "It's too cold for people not to be in their homes. It's too cold for people to not have their gas or their heat on Thanksgiving. So, we wanted to come out and help." Trahan hauled the boxes while Gracie and Caroline carried pumpkin pies. "I know everyone that's here could be at home watching the Thanksgiving Day parade. But they're not," Trahan noted. "They're out here and I think that's what makes our community strong." In the weeks since the explosion, the National Transportation Safety Board has issued a preliminary report on the disaster and Gov. Charlie Baker has proposed legislation designed to ensure safe natural gas work. A Columbia Gas spokesman said that right now, the company could be ahead of schedule to meet its goal of having every gas meter relit by Dec. 16. That's a month after the initial Nov. 19 deadline. Residents continue to wait. As of Monday, more than 1,500 families are in temporary housing. "Luckily, maybe, we'll be in our home for Christmas," said Davis. Police in Milford, Connecticut, are investigating a break-in at a medical marijuana facility that resulted in the theft of a safe filled with cash, according to reports. The break-in at Southern CT Wellness Center, 318 New Haven Ave. occurred Sunday evening. Police responded to a burglar alarm and found evidence of a break-in. By then the suspects were gone and so was a small safe from the office, according to CT Post. There have been no arrests. Police on Tuesday released a brief surveillance video of the two suspects during the commission of the break-in. Each is wearing gloves and has a ski mask concealing their face. The video posted on the Milford Police Facebook page shows the two suspects in action. Audio records them wondering how to move the small safe, and one suggests putting it onto a wheeled chair to roll it outside. Seconds later one of them looks up, notices the camera and says "Oh (expletive)! We're on camera." Police have not disclosed the amount taken in the safe or if they have any suspects. The Southern CT Wellness Center opened in 2016. Anyone with information is asked to contact Milford Police Department, Detective Noss at 203-783-4765, or snoss@ci.milford.ct.us (Note: audio of video contains some profanity) Americans are facing a record $13 trillion in debt. Many say that in order to combat the debt crisis, financial education should start earlier and high schools should be required to teach personal finance to all students. Others point out that research shows lessons on financial literacy in high school have no long-term impact on financial behavior. Should financial literacy be an educational requirement? PERSPECTIVES According to Money, the average millennial household "owes $14,800 in student loans." Writer Kerri Anne Renzulli explains that while debt averages vary across each generation, people of all ages are demonstrating a greater comfort with debt. As everyone becomes more comfortable with financing and credit, there is a greater risk that accumulated debt will never be paid off in full. The country should take a proactive approach in preventing debt from spiraling further. Requiring personal finance in high schools with the goal of establishing financial literacy in young people before they become independent is a logical first step. Even students understand that financial literacy is an invaluable skill. Considering most people have to learn the hard way when it comes to establishing credit, budgeting, and saving, students recognize that personal finance classes in high school could be life-saving. According to U.S. News' Stacy Rapacon: "A whopping 95% of US teenagers said they would value personal finance programs being taught in their schools." The school system might not teach #financialeducation but parents can still promote #financialliteracy at home. https://t.co/y2Wrl2XR72 pic.twitter.com/PmsMwoX5xy Pigzbe (@Pigzbe) November 11, 2018 Although it may seem like common sense, research shows that personal finance classes don't actually make a difference for most students later on in life. According to U.S. News' Susannah Snider, researchers say financial literacy can't be taught in the same way "geometry or German" might be. Fifth grade is perhaps a bit too early to have meaningful lessons on the topic. The fifth grade @54Elementary loved the financial literacy lesson from @streatoro ! Who wouldnt love using @mmschocolate to learn about budgeting ! #TeachMorris pic.twitter.com/aw10en6gt7 Molly Kaminski (@kaminski107) November 20, 2018 According to pension fund analyst and fiduciary expert, John Lohr, high school is the last place for financial literacy to be taught. Lohr acknowledges: But he also points out: Requiring financial literacy classes in high schools is a classic example of throwing what seems like a logical solution at a problem before it has been properly researched. Changing a curriculum state-wide is a massive undertaking, and so far, research shows that a financial literacy requirement would not benefit students as much as the public may think. 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. SPRINGFIELD -- Despite rain, local officials and residents traveled to Forest Park Wednesday to attend the city's 55th annual John F. Kennedy remembrance ceremony. Mayor Domenic Sarno, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi and others were among those who paid their respects at the park's Eternal Flame memorial. Rabbi Amy Wallk Katz, of Temple Beth El in Springfield, gave brief remarks. The event, traditionally held on Nov. 22 to mark the anniversary of the day Kennedy was slain in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, was moved because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Springfield's Eternal Flame memorial is one of only two in the country. The other is at the president's grave in Arlington National Cemetery. As part of Wednesday's ceremony, three red roses were placed at the memorial stone and a wreath was placed by the flame. Officials gave brief remarks in remembrance of the 35th president. "The spirit of John Fitzgerald Kennedy remains fresh in our minds more than half a century after his death," Neal said. "My lasting memory of him will always be of the youthful 43-year-old who came to Springfield the day before the historic 1960 presidential election and spoke to thousands of supporters in front of City Hall. "Like so many others of my generation, I pursued a career in public service because of JFK's charisma, optimism and hope," the congressman said. "On this solemn anniversary of his passing, let us take a moment to reflect on his thousand days in office and how he inspired a nation to enter a new frontier." "I am honored to be part of this important annual event honoring the legacy of President John F. Kennedy," Cocchi said. "The Eternal Flame, to me, represents the nation's commitment to continue his legacy every day -- a legacy of service above self." The ceremony has been an important event for Springfield for decades. Kennedy, a Massachusetts native, made strong ties to the city while running for U.S. Senate in 1952, where he connected with Lawrence F. "Larry" O'Brien, a city native who would go on to work closely with the president. A colorful and complex figure, Kennedy, a Democrat, attended Harvard and fought in the Navy during World War II before going on to represent the commonwealth in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the Senate. He was elected President in 1960, defeating Richard Nixon. WARE -- Selectmen at Tuesday's meeting voted 5-0 to appoint a full-time police officer. Cory S. Rogowski has been a part-time officer on the Ware force since 2015. In response to a question from the board, Rogowski, a Barre resident, said he would like to relocate to Ware in the near future. Ware's newest officer earned a bachelor of science degree from Becker College in 2014. "He is a great candidate," Ware Police Chief Shawn Crevier told selectmen. "Thank you for protecting us 24/7," Selectmen Chairman John Carroll said. Two months ago, an 18-year veteran of the town's police force, Paul Skutnik, resigned after accepting a position as a Massachusetts parole officer. Rogowski's appointment fills that vacancy on the police department. During the meeting, Crevier told selectmen that a small number of homeowners and businesses had failed to shovel sidewalks during the recent snow storm. He said that although no tickets were issued this time, police would enforce the town's sidewalk ordinance that requires sidewalks be cleared of snow and ice. Scofflaws can be fined up to $100 for each infraction, according to town bylaws in effect since 1991. Statue designed by Indian sculptors was presented to President Kovind by Mayor of Parramatta in presence of Australian PM Scott Morrison. President Ram Nath Kovind and First Lady Savita Kovind unveil a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Jubilee Park in the town of Parramatta, in Sydney on Thursday, November 22, 2018. Mayor of Parramatta, Andrew Wilson, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison are also seen. (Photo: PTI) Parramatta (Sydney): On the second day of this three-day visit to Australia, President Ram Nath Kovind unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Jubilee Park in the town of Parramatta, which is a bustling suburb of Sydney. The bronze statue designed by Indian sculptors Ram and Anil Sutar was presented to the Indian President by Andrew Wilson, the Mayor of Parramatta. Also present at the event was Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The unveiling of the statue is part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Father of the Nation, which is being observed in different parts of the world. The life-size statue, which is a gift from the Indian government, is identical to the one presented to the city of Brisbane in Australia in 2014. Moments after ribbon-cutting to unveil the statue, President Kovind presented a book titled 'Hind Swaraj' to Australian Prime Minister Morrison and Parramatta's Mayor Wilson. The book was penned by Gandhiji in 1909. In this opus, Gandhiji inscribed his nationalistic views on independence, modern civilisation and mechanisation, among other topics. The talented artists from Australia also revealed vivid colours of their culture and art by their mesmerising dance performance, which left the dignitaries and other guests in awe. They showcased a traditional dance performance, adjacent to the site of the inauguration stage as a part of the statue-unveiling ceremony. Speaking to media prior to the arrival of the Indian President, Mayor Wilson said "As home to the largest population of people of Indian descent in Australia, the City of Parramatta is overjoyed to be marking this momentous anniversary with our wonderful community. We give our sincere thanks to President Kovind and the people of India for this precious gift, which will stand proudly in our city from this day forward." President Kovind was accompanied by his wife Savita Kovind, daughter Swati, Minister of State Anant Kumar Hegde, Members of Parliament Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Dr Heena Gavit. High Commissioner of India to Australia Dr A M Gondane and other officials of the Ministry of External Affairs were also present on the occasion. Several members of the Indian community also participated, even though the ceremony was in the middle of a working day. As per current estimates, Indians top even the Chinese as the largest number of immigrants to Australia. Parramatta, where the Gandhi statue was unveiled on Thursday, is among the more popular suburbs where Indians choose to live in Sydney, the other being Harris Park, which is often described as Little India. Brazil Medical Devices Market Key Players Some of the key players in this market are: Johnson & Johnson General Electric Medtronic Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV. Baxter International Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. Cardinal Health Boston Scientific Corporation Jude Medical Inc. Hitachi Medical Corporation Siemens Ltd Brazil Medical Devices Market Latest News Thubrikar Aortic Valve, Inc., a privately held medical device company is developing a next-generation Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) system. Its licensee, Labcor Laboratorios of Brazil, is set to receive an additional investment of $460,000 cash and a $500,000 promissory note, to widen the reach of TAVI when it gets released. Labcor is a world-renowned company that specializes in the manufacturing of biological prostheses. Get Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2869 InspireMD, Inc., a leader in embolic prevention systems (EPS), neurovascular devices, and thrombus management technologies that announced that CGuard EPS was featured at the SBHCI Congress. Sponsored by the Brazilian Society of Hemodynamics and Interventional Cardiology, SBHCI Congress took place in Curitiba, Brazil from June 13-15, 2018. It hosted approximately 1,200 participants including doctors from across Brazil and Central and South America. Brazil Medical Devices Market Highlights When devices like injections and stethoscope entered the world of medical sciences, their roles were limited. Science made progress, and today there are various kinds of machines that are integral to medical sciences. Today, people judge how good, or bad the medical facilities in a region or a particular hospital are, on the basis of what kind of advanced medical devices are available in that hospital. Some hospitals justify expensive medical treatments as they want money to maintain all the sophisticated devices and big machines that they use for medical diagnosis and treatment. However, due to more advanced devices are coming up every day, costs of devices with obsolete technology goes down. Today, the market for medical devices is rising due to various factors including advancements in connectivity and processing power of devices, cloud integration, demand for early detection and noninvasive therapies (like those for cancer), development of stronger biocompatible materials growth of healthcare mobile applications, growing awareness and spread of information technology (IT). Due to the falling cost of production, some medical devices are available today at nominal prices. Their usage can also boost the Brazil medical devices market. Brazil Medical Devices Market Segments Brazil Medical Devices Market has been segmented on the basis of product type which comprises monitoring devices, diagnostic devices, diagnostic molecular devices, drug delivery devices, surgical devices, bio implants and stimulation devices, automation and robotics and others. On the basis of therapeutic application; market is segmented into general surgery, diagnostic imaging, respiratory, orthopedics, cardiovascular, dental, neurology, ophthalmology, ear-nose-throat (ENT), nephrology and urology, and others. On the basis of end users; market is segmented hospitals, ambulatory and home. Brazil Medical Devices Market Regional Analysis The healthcare sector of Brazil is divided between private and state with the public healthcare accounting for approximately 45% of total health expenditure in 2014. Local manufacturing represents a poor outlook which is limited to consumables and ordinary articles and there are a handful of high tech devices manufacturers. Another important factor to be considered is the extreme dependency of Brazil on imports which account for approximately 75% of total market for medical devices. U.S. medical device suppliers dominate the scenario with Europe in the second position. China is expected to substitute the western nations especially in low end devices which will be the fastest segment. Among the regions of Brazil, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Parana tops the healthcare expenditure list. The differential healthcare regional availability in Brazil with extreme social and economic differentiation of the Brazilian population are further threats to the market. Brazil also has poor healthcare in its vast rural areas with a few cities dominating the scenario such as Sao Paulo. Browse Complete 60 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Tables and Figures @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/medical-devices-market-2869 Major TOC 1 Introduction 1.1 Definition 1.2 Scope of Study 1.3 Research Objective 1.4 Assumptions & Limitations 1.5 Market Structure: 2 Research Methodology 2.1 Research Process 2.2 Primary Research 2.3 Secondary Research 3 Market Dynamics 3.1 Drivers 3.2 Restraints 3.3 Opportunities 3.4 Challenges 3.5 Macroeconomic Indicators 4 Market Factor Analysis Continued 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. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members. Contact: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India +1 646 845 9312 Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com An amazing new PET/CT scanner has produced its first images of human subjects, giving scientists and clinicians new opportunities to treat cancer and other diseases. The EXPLORER is a high sensitivity total-body positron emission tomography scanner developed by a collaboration of many different scientists. It is capable of imaging the entire human body in less than a second and with excellent fidelity. It was originally conceived by Simon Cherry and Ramsey Badawi, two scientists at UC Davis, but years of engineering and scientific work was required to turn it into reality. The first model was eventually built byout of Shanghai, China, and the company is working toward commercializing it and bringing it to clinics and research laboratories. The scanners first work has been conducted at the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai. Because of the scanners high efficiency, it is able to produce images in as little as a second using a standard radiation dose, much faster than with conventional devices. Moreover, to help reduce radiation exposure, the dose can be reduced at the expense of just a few extra seconds of the scanners time. And if optimal image quality is key, a longer scan at a standard dose will provide impressive results. The developers of the device believe that new whole-body studies, which can assess how different tissues and organs react to different stimuli, will be able to be performed. The spread of inflammation, the impact of different disorders, and the mobility of cancer tumors should also be subject to easier assessment using the new scanning technology. The researchers will be presenting the first scans of people using the system at the upcoming RSNA conference in Chicago. Heres a scan of a whole body taken using the EXPLORER: Video of an injected radiotracer moving through the body: Project page: EXPLORER Via: UC Davis Extra: Radiotherapy Market Report, Size, Share 2019, Global Industry Analysis, Technology Advancement, Business Opportunities, Top Company profile, Regional Forecast to 2023 Namely Vein illuminator Market Report has Been Published by Market Research Future Which Covers All the Geographical Locations with Demand, Trend Analysis with near about Forecasted results and Also Covers the Market Expectations. Key Players: VueTek Scientific LLC, Infrared Imaging Systems Inc., Venoscope LLC, Near Infrared Imaging Inc., Christie Medical Holdings Inc., Sharn Anesthesia, TransLite LLC, Aimvein Ltd., and AccuVein Inc. are some of the prominent players profiled in MRFR Analysis and are at the forefront of competition in the global vein illuminator market. Get Premium Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5735 A Vein illuminator or Vein Viewer aids in finding the Intravenous access during paramedical procedures and therefore, addresses accidental needlestick injuries. Most of the time finding the vein becomes challenging depending upon the objective difficulty occurred due to the particular physical characteristics of the patient such as fatty tissue, skin color, age, etc. further creating a more painful experience for the patient. To ease such situations, many novel devices have been invented to help paramedical personnel and nurses finding the veins in real-time and determine the best point of insertion of the needle. Creating a digital image by means of an infrared detection and light projection technology a vein illuminator thus makes it possible to locate veins, valves, and deep bifurcations up to 15 mm., thereby decreasing pain and anxiety and a minimally invasive experience for the patient. Intravenous access may be necessary for different purposes and in multiple environments including hospitals, outpatient care facilities, homes, schools within a hospital and ambulatory surgery centers. Also, the peripheral IV catheter therapy is gaining popularity among physicians and patients alike. Hospitals have recognized the benefit of increased success in obtaining peripheral IV access, reduced use of central lines and increased cost savings. These factors commutatively define the growing popularity and the increasing market size of vein illuminators. Market Research Future (MRFR), in its recently published market forecast, asserts that the global vein illuminator market will grow exponentially by 2023, registering a fabulous CAGR throughout the forecast period (2017 2023). Augmenting uptake of Intravenous (IV) therapy and the inclusion of peripheral IV catheter as part of the treatment plan in hospitals worldwide is one of the key driving forces behind market growth. Undoubtedly, improving economic conditions account for the key growth driver, enabling access to the quality of life and improved healthcare. Additional factors substantiating the market growth include the greater patient satisfaction owing to reduced pain, trauma and invasive treatment footprint. Similarly, the growing numbers of the geriatric population, blood donation camps, assisted living centers and others are some of the dominant drivers of the market. Besides, the technological and product advances such as developments achieved in optics, like greater contrast and resolution, increasing coherence and miniaturization of devices along with the falling prices of these devices are providing impetus to the market growth to an extent. However, lack of availability of funds for treatment coupled with the lack of knowledge about vein illuminator benefits inhibits the market growth. Nevertheless, government initiatives and funding programs, widening rapidly are educating people about the advantages of these procedures and are availing funds for the treatments. Vein illuminator Market Segments Global vein illuminator market is segmented into three key dynamics for enhanced understanding. By Technologies : Trans-Illumination, Infrared Illumination, and Ultrasound among others. By End-Users : Hospitals, Blood Donation Camps, Research and Academics, among others. By Regions : North America, Europe, APAC and the Rest-of-the-World. Browse Full Reports @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/vein-illuminator-market-5735 Industry/Innovations/Related News: May 20, 2018 B. Braun Medical Inc. (US), a leader in infusion therapy and pain management, develops, manufactures, and markets innovative medical products and services to the healthcare industry, showcased its portfolio of innovative products that support successful peripheral intravenous (PIV) access at the Infusion Nurses Society (INS) Annual Meeting and Exhibition, held during May 19-22, Ohio (US). Along with some novel products such as Introcan Safety, Family of PIV Catheters, VeinViewer, by Christie Medical Holdings, Inc. was a promising product displayed on the show. VeinViewer, a near-infrared vein visualization product designed to provide clinicians with an accurate image of patient veins. Since B. Braun is committed to the exchange of information and knowledge with nurses and other clinicians to help achieve success in PIV placement and stabilization, the inclusion of VeinViewer was the cherry on the cake. The alliance between Christie Medical Holdings, Inc. (US), a leading global provider for vein finder technology and B. Braun Medical Inc. was formed on April 27, 2017. The combination of VeinViewer and B. Braun Medicals line of IV products such as the Introcan Safety IV catheter, STEADYCare extension set with Wedge catheter stabilizer aims to provide an innovative solution to enhance peripheral IV catheter access success. Vein illuminator Market Regional Analysis Globally North America market dominates the vein illuminator market with the largest share owing to the faster uptake of new technology and the well-developed hospital infrastructure present in the US and Canada. Also, increasing adoption of Intravenous (IV) therapy and new technologies that integrate into the process for the assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation of inserting PIV catheters, are some of the key driving forces behind the market growth. Simultaneously, substantial investments transpired in healthcare to encourage research and development activities are supporting the market growth. The Europe region accounts for the second-largest market for vein illuminator, globally, attributing to the recent advancements and the augmenting uptake of the technology in the region. Additionally, the presence of a huge patient population and rising healthcare expenditure facilitates the regional market growth. Also, factors such as government support and funding from the public & private sectors for research & development are expected to fuel the market growth in the region over the assessment period. Additional factors such as increased uptake of advanced technologies and high healthcare expenditures are substantiating the market growth. Owing to the rising demands for less invasive treatment procedures, the Europe market is expected to create a larger revenue pocket in the global market by 2023. The UK and Germany, backed by the high healthcare coupled budgets, account for the major contributor to the market growth. The Asia-Pacific region is another lucrative market for vein illuminator which is growing rapidly due to the huge patient population and large unmet clinical needs. Countries such as India, China, and Japan, backed by the rising demand for minimally invasive paramedical procedures and the increasing adoption of new techniques drives the market growth in the region. Vein illuminator Market Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Definition 1.2 Scope of Study 1.2.1 Research Objective 1.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations 1.2.2.1 Assumptions 1.2.2.2 Limitations 1.3 Market Structure 2 Research Methodology 2.1 Research Process: 2.2 Primary Research 2.3 Secondary Research 3 Market Dynamics 3.1 Drivers 3.2 Restraints 3.3 Opportunities 3.4 Macroeconomic Indicators 4 Market Factor Analysis 4.1 Porters Five Forces Model 4.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 4.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers 4.4 Threat of New Entrants 4.5 Threat of Substitutes 4.6 Intensity of Rivalry Continued! Price: $4450 (Single User) Buy now @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=5735 Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, November 21, 2018 Two years ago, a blockbuster report from ProPublica revealed that Facebook's ad-targeting tool enabled advertisers to prevent housing ads from being shown to belong to certain ethnic affinity groups -- including people Facebook has identified as having an ethnic affinity of black, Asian-American and Hispanic. Facebook has since implemented some changes to its targeting tools, but hasn't been able to shake the fallout from that report -- including several pending lawsuits that accuse the company of violating civil rights laws by facilitating ads that discriminate. The company is arguing that the lawsuits should be dismissed on the grounds that it was merely an intermediary that offered neutral tools to advertisers. If anyone violated civil rights laws, it was the advertisers, not Facebook, the company says. advertisement advertisement Facebook has pointed judges to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which broadly immunizes Web services providers from liability for material posted by users -- including illegal ads. But that law has some exceptions -- including one for content "developed" by the providers. The scope of that exception is unclear. Facebook's critics, including the Department of Justice, say Facebook crossed the line from intermediary to developer, because it facilitated the demographic targeting that effectively blocked ads from minorities. Now, the tech consultancy Upturn is siding against Facebook on the matter. That organization argues that Facebook's ad-targeting platform -- which essentially allows advertisers to pick and choose which demographic groups will be shown ads -- may subject the company to liability. Facebook itself decides which users within a target audience will (and will not) see a particular ad, Upturn writes in a friend-of-the-court brief submitted Friday to U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila in the Northern District of California. Here, what truly matters is Facebooks conduct -- its steering of housing ads away from protected groups -- not the legality of the underlying ad content. For now, the law appears unsettled. But if courts decide that DOJ and Upturn have the better argument, other companies that offer demographic targeting tools could also find themselves facing litigation over questionable ads. Brains learn how to anticipate future occurrences from patterns. This process is called anticipatory timing, and it allows us to successfully interact with the world around us. How does it work? Share on Pinterest A new study explores how the brain can anticipate events, and what happens to this mechanism in some neurodegenerative conditions. Anticipatory timing is, in part, what allows us to make the most appropriate decisions in a very dynamic world. But what does this process rely on? A new study conducted by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, explains that, in anticipating an occurrence, the human brain counts on two distinct systems. Whether its sports, music, speech or even allocating attention, our study suggests that timing is not a unified process, but that there are two distinct ways in which we make temporal predictions and these depend on different parts of the brain, says lead study author Assaf Breska, a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience. Together, states senior study author Prof. Richard Ivry, these brain systems allow us to not just exist in the moment, but to also actively anticipate the future. One system, the researchers found, allows us to anticipate future occurrences based on our past experiences, while another system is based on the identification of rhythmic patterns. How do these two systems work, however? Do they kick in at different times, depending on the context to which we need to respond? Answering this question, the study authors believe, could also help us better understand how the brain works in different neurodegenerative conditions. In turn, this would allow specialists to come up with better strategies to care for people living with such a condition. We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Heres our process. In this article, learn about the uses of Tiger Balm, the active ingredients, and the possible side effects. Regular- and extra-strength preparations of Tiger Balm are available. The formulations, scents, and packaging may differ, depending on the region where a person buys it. Tiger Balm is an over-the-counter product that claims to temporarily relieve minor muscle aches, pains, and strains. It does so by numbing the skin, as an analgesic. Some types of Tiger Balm contain other active ingredients or essential oils, such as: The active ingredients in one formulation of regular-strength Tiger Balm include: Most evidence for the benefits of Tiger Balm is based on what researchers know about its active ingredients. Tiger Balm may relieve: 1. Aches and strains Ingredients in the balm, such as camphor, increase blood flow to the surface of the skin, creating a warming sensation that can distract from pain and stiffness. Camphor and menthol may also improve blood circulation to the muscles, potentially speeding up healing time and reducing inflammation. In a small 2014 study, nine adults who applied petroleum jelly that contained 5, 10, or 20 percent camphor to their forearms experienced increased blood flow to their skin and muscles. Other ingredients in Tiger Balm, such methyl salicylate, act as analgesics and numb the skin, which may reduce stiffness and aches. Tiger Balm adhesive patches may be the most useful for muscle pains and strains, as a patch steadily releases the active ingredients over a prolonged period. Some versions of Tiger Balm contain capsicum, the active ingredient in chili peppers. Capsicum blocks nerve receptors that transmit pain impulses, creating a warm sensation that can lessen the intensity of muscle aches and strains. Capsicum may reduce many types of aches, including those from arthritis, cancer, and gastrointestinal problems. 2. Tension headaches Authors of a study from 1996 found that applying Tiger Balm to the forehead was more effective at relieving tension headaches than a placebo. It was almost as effective as taking acetaminophen (Tylenol). While current medical reviews of alternative headache remedies continue to cite this study, more up-to-date research is necessary. 3. Colds and congestion Share on Pinterest The ingredients in Tiger Balm may help ease cold and sinus symptoms. Tiger Balm contains ingredients that may help relieve sinus and chest congestion. Some have been used for centuries in oils, ointments, and inhalant form to ease congestion from colds and allergies. Camphor acts as a mild expectorant, nasal decongestant, and cough suppressant. Menthol may help soothe irritated nasal passageways, helping to relieve stuffy noses. In a 2013 study, 14 people who inhaled a 1 percent menthol solution before being exposed to capsicum, a cough-inducer, took longer to cough than those who did not use the menthol solution. People looking to use Tiger Balm for congestion or other cold symptoms should purchase formulas that do not contain cough-inducers, such as capsicum and clove oil. 4. Back pain People frequently use Tiger Balm to relieve back pain, especially pain in the lower back. Some use certain ingredients in Tiger Balm before or after receiving alternative treatments for back pain, including Gua Sha therapy. In a 2012 study, 18 people who had experienced nonspecific back pain for more than 5 consecutive days had a cream applied to the area before receiving one Gua Sha treatment. The cream contained camphor and menthol. The participants reported reduced pain and improved health, but determining whether the active ingredients increased the effectiveness of the therapy will require further research. 5. Neck and shoulder tension Tiger Balm may help reduce neck and shoulder pain. In an older study , 105 men and women with mild to moderate muscle strain used patches containing a 10 percent methyl salicylate and 3 percent menthol formulation. The participants used the patches on multiple regions, including the upper shoulder and neck. Twelve hours after applying their patches, the participants experienced, on average, a 40 percent reduction in pain, compared to the 103 control subjects who used placebo patches. In a 2017 study, 29 people with neck pain applied a topical menthol gel to the area before receiving cervical chiropractic manipulation. Those who used the gel reported significantly more pain reduction after treatment than those who did not. 6. Joint pain Little specific evidence supports the use of Tiger Balm to relieve joint pain. However, many people use the balm to ease aches and pain related to osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis causes bones to lose density and become brittle over time, leading to joint pain. A 2012 study that included 2,679 people with osteoarthritic knee joint pain found that 352 of the participants used rubs, such as Tiger Balm, to reduce the pain. Researchers are unsure why Tiger Balm seems to help relieve joint pain, but the active ingredients may numb the area and reduce swelling. Researchers have called obesity an epidemic, and many are working hard to develop a solution. But is there a single answer? New research suggests that obesity takes different shapes and that the same approach will not work for everyone. Share on Pinterest We need better classifications for obesity, a new study emphasizes. Specialists from the World Health Organization (WHO) refer to obesity as a global epidemic that must be addressed if we want to prevent its ill effects. Obesity is a major risk factor for many other health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and various types of cancer. This is why it is so important to find an effective therapeutic approach. However, authors of a new study , which included data from thousands of people with obesity, warn that there is and can be no single best way to treat it. The researchers from Brown University, in Providence, RI have found four distinct subtypes of obesity, and these may respond better to different approaches. There probably isnt one magic bullet for obesity if there is a magic bullet, its going to be different for different groups of people. Lead author Prof. Alison Field Calling for a more personalized approach Prof. Field who heads the epidemiology department at Brown has been pushing for a better classification of obesity. The current diagnosis, she believes, is too broad and requires improved differentiation. This would allow doctors to identify the right treatments on an individual basis. Theres a really diverse mix of people who get put into one group, the researcher says, adding, A child who becomes very obese by age 5 is going to be very different from someone who gradually gains weight over time and at age 65 is obese. We need to recognize this diversity, as it may help us to develop more personalized approaches to treating obesity, she emphasizes. The new findings, which appear in the journal Obesity, result from an analysis of data from 2,458 participants who had undergone bariatric (weight loss) surgery for obesity. The participants had undergone either gastric bypass or gastric banding surgery between March 2006 and April 2009. The researchers recruited them via the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery study. The 4 subtypes of obesity The authors looked at the participants psychological variables, including eating patterns, as well as their weight history and hormone levels, alongside other biological factors. According to Prof. Field, this was the first study to include an analysis of these psychological elements. The researchers could identify four different groups of people with obesity, using a specialized statistical method to analyze the data. Before surgery, those in the first group had elevated levels of blood glucose (sugar) and low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which is called good cholesterol because helps dispose of excess fat molecules. As many as 98 percent of the individuals in this group had a form of diabetes. Those in the second group had disordered eating behaviors. According to the findings: 37 percent of the people in this group engaged in binge eating. 61 percent reported feeling a lack of control over snacking between meals. 92 percent said that they ate when they were not hungry. Prof. Field found the characteristics of the third group surprising. Concerning metabolism, the people in this group had fairly average obesity-consistent profiles. However, they reported very low levels of disordered eating only 7 percent said that they ate in the absence of hunger. Interestingly, no other factors distinguished this group from the other classes, the researchers write. People in the fourth group reported having received diagnoses of obesity as children. On average, those in this group had a body mass index (BMI) of 32 by age 18. This was the highest among the groups, which had a collective average of about 25 by the same age. The members of the fourth group also had the highest average BMI, of 58, just before undergoing surgery. Those in the other groups had an average BMI of 45, recorded at the same point. On Thursday and Friday, 22-23 November, the Fourth Ministerial Meeting will be held, in Thessaloniki, between Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, with the participation of the four countries Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and Ministers of Economy and Development. On behalf of Greece, the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giorgos Katrougalos,, who will preside over the proceedings, will participate as well as the Alternate Minister of Economy and Development, Stergios Pitsiorlas. Discussions among the Ministers of Foreign Affairs will focus on issues of common interest, as well as on developments in the wider region, while emphasis will be placed on cross-border cooperation and regional co-ordination in face of the challenges that lay beyond each countrys borders, such as those resulting from the continued instability in the Middle East. The issue of the European perspective of the Western Balkans will also be discussed. During their meeting, the Ministers of Economy and Development will investigate ways to further strengthen the outward-looking nature, energy cooperation, and connectivity of the four economies through improvement in infrastructure and the use of digital technology. Upon conclusion of the proceedings, on Friday 23 November, at approximately 13:10, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos will hold a press conference. Imams at some 41 places of worship in one Jakarta neighbourhood alone were preaching extremism. Some 17 clerics expressed support or sympathy for the Islamic State group and encouraged parishioners to fight for it in Syria and the Philippines. The authorities also found worrying signs of radicalism at seven university campuses. Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) Dozens of Indonesian mosques that cater to government workers are spreading radicalism and calling for violence against non-Muslims, this according to the country's main intelligence agency, Badan Intelijen Negara (BIN). The findings come six months after the city of Surabaya (East Java) was rocked by a wave of deadly suicide bombings at three churches. BIN on Monday announced that it had probed about a thousand mosques across the country since July and found that imams at some 41 places of worship in one Jakarta neighbourhood alone were preaching extremism to worshippers mostly civil servants who work at nearby government ministries. The agency found that 17 clerics expressed support or sympathy for the Islamic State (IS) group and encouraged parishioners to fight for it in Syria and Marawi, the Philippine city overrun by Islamist fighters last year. Some imams urged their followers to commit acts of violence on ISs behalf. The latter spews hatred against minority religions and has claimed responsibility for the Surabaya attack. The agency did not release details about what it found at hundreds of other mosques covered by its probe; however, it noted worrying signs of radicalism at seven university campuses, BIN spokesman Wawan Purwanto said. After the latest anti-Christian attacks, the Indonesian parliament adopted anti-terrorism legislation to give the authorities more powers to detain suspects. Nevertheless, Purwanto said that his agency would take a soft approach to dealing with radical imams by trying to convince them to spread a more peaceful message. "We must work together to access clean, renewable and sustainable energy". The plant, proposed by SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., provides a total 300 megawatts of power. The bishops warn the population of the risky social, environmental and health impact. Bacolod City (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The bishops of Negros, an island in the Visayas archipelago, are appealing to the local population to oppose the construction of a coal-fired power plant in the city of San Carlos (Negros Occidental). A joint declaration published today was signed by Msgr. Gerardo Alimane Alminaza, bishop of San Carlos; Msgr. Patricio Abella Buzon (photo), bishop of Bacolod; Msgr. Julito Buhisan Cortes, bishop of Dumaguete; Msgr. Louie Patalinghug Galbines, bishop of Kabankalan. The plant, proposed by SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., provides a total power of 300 megawatts. The bishops point the finger at "the dark spectrum of fossil fuels", which "exacerbate climate change, threatening resources, the environment, health and sustainable development". Let us work together to increase access to clean, renewable, and sustainable energy. Let us affirm our commitment to stewardship and to a clean development path that says no to coal and yes to renewable energy technologies that are accessible to everyone, they said. The bishops recall the directives of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN) on the phasing out of fossil fuels by 2050. They also suggest that the construction of a coal-fired power plant would take many years and millions of pesos, exposing the country to further debts. To this would be added its risky social, environmental and health impact. "Let us stand firm together in Negros with each other and with our civic leaders to oppose any new coal-fired power plants and to phase out those still in operation, the bishops urged. Msgr. Alminaza, Msgr. Buzon, Msgr. Cortes and Msgr. Galbines conclude their appeal by quoting the speech given by Pope Francis in a meeting with the managers of the energy sector on June 9th. "The desire to ensure energy for all must not lead to the undesired effect of a spiral of extreme climate changes due to a catastrophic rise in global temperatures, harsher environments, and increased levels of poverty. Card Beshara al-Rahi called for action to overcome the "painful" and divisive circumstances that prevent the formation of a new government. He urged leaders to take care of the "beloved homeland", enhance its role and preserve beauty. President Aoun said the country cannot waste time and must put in place crucial economic and tax reforms. Beirut (AsiaNews) - Lebanon "cannot die or fall" because it can count on the protection "of martyrs and saints" from its history and past; however, the country must overcome "painful circumstances" as soon as possible, said Card Beshara l-Rahi on the eve of the 75th anniversary of Independence, 22 November. For the Maronite Patriarch, those who have prevented the formation of a government "must become aware" of how important it is for his future. Since last May in fact, Lebanon has been without a strong, united government, able to deal with the many threats and challenges that stalk the country: economy, emigration, growing poverty and youth unemployment. The Lebanese Church has long warned about the seriousness of the situation, which has been exacerbated by the war in neighbouring Syria and the unprecedented humanitarian emergency triggered by it. Forming a government has been held back by domestic as well as foreign power struggles, including regional players like Saudi Arabia and Iran. The demand by six pro-Syrian Sunni MPs, backed by Hezbollah, for a cabinet post, has run up against the firm refusal of prime minister-designate Saad Hariri who doesnt see eye-to-eye with the Lebanese Shia party. "We must put a positive turn to a negative reality", said the Maronite Patriarch who hopes that "the Lord will inspire leaders to overcome obstacles" so that "Lebanon may return to a normal life". In thanking Lebanese president Michel Aoun, the prime minister and the countrys top political and religious leaders, the cardinal added that "it is our duty" to take care "of our beloved homeland" appreciate "its value, importance and role" and preserve its "beauty and the uniqueness and unity of its people." Meanwhile, Independence was celebrated with various events, meetings and open-air gatherings. President Aoun, Prime Minister Hariri and Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri l, representing the countrys three main confessions, Christian-Maronite, Sunni and Shia, led the official celebrations. The president laid a wreath at the bottom of the monument of the Unknown Soldier. Addressing the crowd, Aoun noted that the country can no longer afford to be without a functioning government because of mounting political, social and economic challenges. Indeed, one of the challenges the new government will face is tax reform, which is crucial for the country's future. Lebanon, the president said, cannot waste time. Growth must be a priority to ensure a future for its citizens, and personal selfishness should be put aside. Contributed Photo / Connecticut State Police / Contributed Photo As of Thursday morning, Connecticut State Police had responded to more than 2,000 calls for service so far this holiday weekend. Thanksgiving Holiday enforcement began at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. It will continue through the remainder of the week and through the weekend. WESTBROOK Westbrook Outlets, the popular outlet shopping center located in the heart of Coastal Connecticut, announced recently that the shopping destinations Pink Savings Pass program, held during Octobers National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, proudly raised over $5,900 for Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center. Were pleased to join the fight against breast cancer while offering our shoppers an additional savings opportunity, said General Manager Melissa Cook in a statement. We thank our generous family of merchants for their participation who each know that advocating for womens health never goes out of style. With all proceeds benefitting Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center, Westbrook Outlets shoppers took part in purchasing a $5 Pink Savings Pass throughout the month of October where they were rewarded additional savings of 25 percent off a single item at participating stores. Holiday on Main kicks off Friday MIDDLETOWN Thomas Byrne, Chairman of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce Central Business Bureau, announced that Holiday On Main Street will kick-off on Friday, 4-8:15 p.m. The Holiday on Main Street Committee, chaired by Al Santostefano and co-chairman Rich Greco, in conjunction with the City of Middletown, invites everyone to ring in the festive season by attending the three tree-lighting ceremonies and parade along Main Street, Middletown. Last year, more than 3,000 people were able to enjoy the holiday sights and sounds on the South Green, and more are expected this year. Festivities begin at 4 p.m. with free wagon rides on Main Street! There will be a break while the Tree Lighting is happening on the South Green, and the rides will resume after the Tree Lighting at The Middlesex Chamber. In front of Middlesex Chamber, the Kiwanis Club of Middletown members will be selling hot pretzels and popcorn, and in front of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Middletown High School Crew Team will be selling hot chocolate, coffee and desserts. A Carol Sing with the Middletown High School Concert Choir will begin at 5 p.m. prior to the tree-lightings, directed by Stephanie Zak, the Woodrow Wilson 7th and 8th Grade Select Chorus, directed by Ali Sinicrope and The Keigwin Middle School Chorus directed by Jeannine Westbrook, sponsored by Middletown Commission On the Arts, with Emcee Trevor Davis from Trevor Davis Commercial Real Estate, LLC. Maisy Mouse will arrive on the Holiday On Main wagon with 3rd grade Middletown students, who were chosen by their teachers because they show good citizenship, good behavior, is respectful to others and demonstrates the spirit of giving in everyday life. The first tree lighting at 6 p.m. will be the tree on the South Green and will be led by Mayor Daniel Drew and Santa Claus. Immediately following the Tree Lighting, there will be a short pyrotechnic display of fireworks. After the tree is lit on the South Green, there will be a Parade up Main Street led by the Middletown High School Band, The Woodrow Wilson Middle School Band, and Santa Claus to the Middlesex Chamber where the Tree on the roof will be lit at 6:15 p.m. for the second Tree Lighting of the night followed by free pictures with Santa until 7:45 p.m. At 8:15 p.m. there will be festivities in front of Eli Cannons Tap Room at 695 Main Street for the third and final tree lighting of the night. Santa will arrive to light the tree and there will be elves on hand to provide all children with complimentary popcorn, cookies, hot chocolate and other treats. On Saturday, Nov. 24, The Holiday on Main festivities continue from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with many family-friendly activities available. Starting at 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., the Civitan Club of Middletown will sell popcorn and hot pretzels in front of the chamber with holiday music played by Harvest Woods Audio. The Middletown High School Crew Team will sell hot chocolate, coffee and desserts in front of the Church of the Holy Trinity. Family activities also begin at 10 a.m., The Fun Train will offer free rides on the sidewalk around downtown until 2 p.m. Children will have the opportunity to meet Santa and enjoy free horse and wagon rides. A holiday photo booth will take fun photos as a remembrance of this years holidays, the photo trailer will be located by the crosswalk in front of Holy Trinity Church and is free to all in attendance. Join Mayor Dan Drew and Maisy Mouse for a Holiday Story Time reading at the Inn at Middletown from 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. At the end of the reading, there will be a book signing by Maisy Mouse. Bring your camera. A pet food drive will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of Holy Trinity Church, 381 Main St. to benefit the homeless pets at Middletown Animal Control. Residents can make donations of: chew toys (no rawhide), blankets, towels, canned wet dog & cat food, dry dog and cat food. For more information, contact: Lauren Middleton at LMiddleton@ForestCityMarketing.com. There will also be a Kung Fu Demonstration by children and adults who will demonstrate the beauty and power of Kung Fu. The demonstration is presented by Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy starting at 1:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. and will take place at Vinnies Jump and Jive. Each Tree-Lighting is free of charge to the public. Holiday on Main Street continues on Saturdays Dec. 1, 8, and 15. Parking is free in city parking lots during Holiday On Main Street. Main Street parking will be monitored. Visit www.HolidayOnMain.com for the full schedule and more events. For more information on the 33rd Annual Middletown Holiday on Main Street, go to www.HolidayOnMain.com or contact Haley Stafford at 860-347-6924 and Haley@middlesexchamber.com. DRS collecting coats for Button Up Connecticut PORTLAND Join Disaster Restoration Services in keeping Connecticut warm through Button Up Connecticut. As the cold season is approaching, many adults and children lack warm clothing for the winter. DRS has teamed up with Siracusa Moving & Storage & Sals Clothing Restoration to collect coats for this cause, continuing through Dec. 5. Coats for all ages can be brought to Disaster Restoration Services, 338 Airline Ave., Portland; Adams Hometown Market, Portland; Portland Public Library; Portland Police Department; Stop & Shop, East Hampton; East Hampton Senior Center; Citizens Bank, East Hampton; Portland Town Hall. For the organization that collects the most coats, prizes will be awarded: First prize- $300 donation for CT Burn Care Foundation; second prize, $200 donation made to the CT Food Bank; third prize, a $100 donation to Ronald McDonald House. For information or to arrange a pick-up, call Christine with DRS at 860-788-6822 or at christine@drscleanup.com China's Sub Force Is Growing More Powerful. This Is What the US Navy Needs to Do to Stay Ahead As a 22-year-old in 1944, Lazar Karakashev, from the tiny Bulgarian village of Churen, had rushed to the mountainside where an American bomber crashed and helped pull from the wreckage the body of a pilot -- who had stayed at the controls to allow his crew to bail out. The pilot, 1st Lt. John D. Crouchley, 26, of Providence, Rhode Island, was the enemy at the time -- Bulgaria was still allied with Germany -- but the villagers treated the remains with respect. They dug a grave, prayed for the soul of the pilot, and fashioned a cross to mark the site. Seventy-three-years later, at age 95, Karakashev, now known as "Grandpa Lazar," had his hands in the dirt of the mountainside again, helping teams from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) locate the long-eroded gravesite and recover remains. In September, DPAA announced they had positively identified Crouchley's remains. Also recovered was his wedding ring with the initials of his wife, Dorothy, engraved on the inside. They had been married for less than a year when he was lost. DPAA spokesman Chuck Prichard told Military.com Tuesday that Crouchley's family had been notified and Army casualty officers are working with them to arrange for the return of the remains and a funeral. The family has not yet agreed to any public statements, he said. Crouchley is entitled to burial at Arlington National Cemetery. The remarkable story of Crouchley's heroism in his last moments, and the difficult and politically sensitive search to find his remains, was related by DPAA and by Air Force Master Sgt. Vedran Ogramic, a member of the search team and himself a refugee from war in the Balkans. "[Grandpa Lazar] got very emotional and broke down and cried when we talked about Lt. Crouchley, and he started reliving the old scenes from World War II," Ogramic said in his account, written up by Karen Abeyasekere of public affairs at the Air Force's 100th Air Refueling Wing at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall, United Kingdom. "But at 95 years old [at the time of the search], he still went down the mountain with us and screened heavy buckets of dirt. He got to work, wanted no help, and just acted like he was one of us." Last Mission of 'Miss Yankee Rebel' Crouchley enlisted in 1942 and, after earning his pilot's wings, was assigned to the 828th Bombardment Squadron, 485th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force. He first went into combat in May 1944, flying missions out of Foggia, Italy, in a B-24H Liberator bomber nicknamed "Miss Yankee Rebel." The Liberators were called "Flying Boxcars" by the crews, and sometimes "Flying Coffins." There was one way out, at a hatch near the tail, making it difficult for the pilot and co-pilot to exit in an emergency down a narrow and cluttered passageway to the rear. The B-24s also couldn't fly as high as the B-17 Flying Fortresses, making them more susceptible to flak and ground fire, according to Air Force historians. But they had more range than the B-17s and were the workhorse bombers of the war, flying missions in Europe and the Pacific. On June 28, 1944, Crouchley and a crew of nine took off from Foggia in the B-24H on a bombing run to Romania. On the return, the B-24 was crippled by anti-aircraft fire over Bulgaria. Crouchley "stayed at the controls of the plane, keeping it in steady flight while the rest of the crew bailed out," the DPAA said. He went down with the plane and would posthumously be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart and the Air Medal. The other nine crew members were captured and became prisoners of war, but all survived and later returned to duty, the DPAA said. Bulgaria was still enemy territory, and no U.S. personnel could get to the crash site. On June 29, 1945, Crouchley was declared dead. After the war, investigators from the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) compared Crouchley's medical information to unidentified remains recovered in Bulgaria, but a positive match could not be made. On July 2, 1948, Crouchley's remains were declared non-recoverable. By then, Bulgaria had fallen into the Soviet orbit, and the search essentially ended. But in 2010, an investigative team from two predecessor agencies of the DPAA were able to do a site survey of the area where the B-24 was thought to have gone down. They recovered weapons whose serial numbers correlated with the serial number of Crouchley's aircraft, DPAA officials said. The 69-Day Search After more historical analysis and sometimes difficult coordination with Bulgarian authorities, the DPAA recovery teams in July 2017 received permission to begin excavation in the general area of the mountainside overlooking Churen where the plane was thought to have gone down. So how would they communicate with the locals whose assistance was vital? Ogramic, an exercise planner and unit inspection coordinator for the 100th Air Refueling Wing, was chosen by U.S. Air Forces-Europe to serve as a linguist for the recovery team. Ogramic is originally from Bosnia. At age 15, he and his family became refugees from the Balkan wars of the 1990s, moving to Seattle. He spoke Serbo-Croatian, but it was close enough to Bulgarian for him to work with the locals in Churen. "I'm part of the Language-Enabled Airman Program, and USAFE received a tasking for linguist support for the mission in 2017," Ogramic said. "I did some research on the mission before I said yes, and I thought it was an awesome cause that I wanted to support. We couldn't drive right up to the site, so we would take a truck up there to a stopping point, gather all our tools and take them down the side of a mountain." The old Soviet truck belonged to villager Todor Hristov. "He coordinated everything, took us to the site every day, provided us with food, cut down trees to enable us to get to the dig site. You name it, he did it," Ogramic said. "When we found pieces of what we thought were remains, the locals brought down a priest and had the grounds blessed, because we'd just dug up a human and they have a high respect for honoring the dead. That was something they did of their own free will," Ogramic said. He said Hristov and Karakashev "have never forgotten about the man who crashed into their village. They never asked for any of that and they were caught in the middle of a war, but they still took the time to bury him properly. They legitimately care, and it's so humbling to me." Mitochondrial DNA analysis of the remains found by the team later showed that they were those of Crouchley. In July 2018, Ogramic went back with his wife to visit Churen and met again with Karakashev and Hristov. They recalled what had been their successful search for a hero of a long-ago war. "As a war refugee myself, I can relate to death in general," Ogramic said, "but I also thought it was really cool that, even after all these years, people never give up looking for fallen heroes." "We finally knew we'd gone there for a reason, and we'd done it for a person who gave his life away for our freedom," he continued. "[Crouchley] ultimately gave us everything we have, and there's no greater cause than that." -- Richard Sisk can be reached at richard.sisk@military.com. I went with Bears 16, Lions 9 for my prediction. I could see the Lions pulling it out with Darius Slay back, if they can get some kind of big play from either him or Kenny Golladay again. It's going to be hard to generate much offense without Kerryon Johnson or Marvin Jones and of course Golden Tate. I have Chicago's running game doing more and a receiver breaking loose to make the difference early on. -- Nate Atkins Nathan Atkins PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI - Corrections officials are expanding efforts to clear up a growing rash outbreak at Michigan's only women's prison, but some inmates aren't buying the state's explanation for the spread of the relentless itch: a prisoner-made soap concoction. An estimated 192 prisoners at the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility are believed to have the mystery rash, up from an estimated 115 reported by officials in early October. The rash was first reported by the Detroit Free Press to have afflicted nearly 50 inmates in March, and it's believed some inmates had the rash months before then. The newest estimate puts the number of ailing prisoners at about 9 percent of the facility's population, which was about 2,100 in October, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections. The cause of the rash has remained elusive over months of investigation, department spokesman Chris Gautz said, but officials now believe they've identified the most likely suspect. "They're making this really disgusting stew of denture tabs, hand soap and shampoo and they're putting it all together and using it to wash their bras and underwear in," Gautz said. "And then hanging them to dry and not drying them fully, as well, as an added irritant to that." Gautz said he could not speculate as to why the prisoners would wash their clothing this way. He previously noted inmate "whites" are washed two days a week, and "blues," outerwear, are washed two other days a week. Though the prison has worked to tell inmates not to wash their clothing in their cells, the department now is working to replace the components, sold in the prison, of the prison-made soap with alternatives, Gautz said. They've also asked their contracted health care service, Corizon Health Inc., to send them an extra doctor to work specifically on rash-related issues, and hope to quarantine volunteer prisoners to evaluate whether the rash goes away when treated in a controlled setting, Gautz said. When polled in early October, about 50 percent of the then-115 inmates with the rash admitted to improperly washing their clothing in their cell in trash cans and pans, Gautz said at the time. About 63 inmates of 115 were also working in a cleaning capacity as prison porters. The department initially treated the rash as suspected scabies, and has since considered whether the rash could be caused by porters improperly mixing chemicals. They've conducted water and air testing, too, Gautz said. The water and air testing turned up nothing that would indicate a potential a cause of the rash, Gautz said, and he refuted prisoner claims that the source is airborne. Prisoners including Carolyn Taylor, 53, serving up to 20 years in prison for embezzlement, and Laura Gwinn, 40, serving up to 30 years for unarmed robbery, have expressed concerns that the rash is, in fact, airborne, specifically related to mold. Prisoners contacted by MLive and The Ann Arbor News say they don't use the prisoner-made soap to wash their clothing, but still have the rash - described by prisoners as bright red pimple-like bumps with occasional pockets of pus, appearing on their thighs, buttocks, backs, chests and arms. The appearance of the rash on individuals who do not wash their clothing with the problem soap doesn't necessarily mean it isn't a cause, said Dr. Eden Wells, the state's chief medical executive at the Department of Health and Human Services. She consulted on the prison's rash outbreak in early October, she said. "It's never 100 percent - it's like a foodborne outbreak. You could have someone with similar symptoms, but they never went to that one restaurant," she said. She said the cause of a rash can be very difficult to diagnose. "A rash is a kind of a sign of our immune systems reacting in our skin," Wells said. "... We worked with this in the Flint water crisis as well, there was a very large rash investigation there that involved the CDC. Rashes on a good day are very difficult... Many, many rashes are so non-specific She said the Michigan Department of Corrections has worked hard to determine a cause. A judge is expected to decide Dec. 7 whether charges against Wells of involuntary manslaughter, obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer in connection with the Flint water crisis will move forward to trial. Prosecutors claim Wells failed to warn the public of Legionnaires' disease outbreaks in the area during the 17 months that Flint used the Flint River as its source of water in 2014 and 2015. Her attorneys have argued the doctor wasn't aware of the outbreaks until fall 2015 and worked hard to help find a source once she did. The public was notified of the outbreaks in January 2016. Meanwhile, prisoners such as Taylor say they're living in agony - unable to sleep because of the rash. Her voice cracked as she described the sleepless night that started in August, as the rash spread across her body. She also noted frustration with trying to see a prison doctor; Gautz previously said the health care staff has been reminded of the policy on prisoner referrals. It requires a visit with the doctor after three visits with prison health care staff for the same issue, but also earlier if deemed necessary. "You can't just run to the store and buy something to put on it that may help the itching; you can't just call a doctor and get in so that you can be seen; you can't even see a doctor, even when they know that you need to; but you can't sleep and that's the hardest part," Taylor said. "You can't even sleep so you can't even begin to start to heal your soul or any other part of you, and nobody cares." BAY CITY, MI -- When the telephone began ringing in a Bay County District Court judge's office, it wasn't for any local matter. Disgruntled callers were venting displeasure that the White House had been ordered to temporary reinstate the press credentials for CNN's Jim Acosta. Why were they calling the Michigan judge? Because he shares his name with the federal judge who actually made the decision favorable to CNN -- Timothy J. Kelly. "In my line of work, of course, you expect to be criticized for some of your decisions," said the Bay County Judge Kelly. "That goes with the territory. However, to be criticized for decisions you didn't make... It just makes you wonder." Despite the shared name, the two jurists are two quite different people, a fact lost on the irate callers. The federal Judge Kelly was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in September 2017 by President Donald J. Trump and works out of Washington, D.C. The Bay County Judge Kelly works out of the Bay County Court Facility at 1230 Washington Ave. in downtown Bay City. He was elected to the bench in 2000 and for 15 years before that served as an assistant Bay County prosecutor. Local Judge Kelly was out of the office when the calls began on Friday, Nov. 16, the same day his federal counterpart and namesake ruled the Trump White House had behaved inappropriately in stripping Acosta of his press badge after a cantankerous exchange between the reporter and the president during a Nov. 7 press conference. That left Kelly's court recorder and judicial secretary Alexa Pobanz to handle the half-dozen or so calls. "It took me three or four calls to figure out what they were talking about," said Pobanz, who began receiving the calls before she had heard of the federal judge's ruling. "People didn't identify themselves necessarily; they just started in -- 'This is the worst ruling ever made by the judge today.' I was very confused." She said all the calls were complaints. "There was not a single, 'Way to go! Hurray for a free press!' call," she said. When Kelly returned to work Monday, he was dumbfounded. "It seems to me, if you were going to call a person to either complain or thank them for a decision, you would at least do your homework to find out who the person is you're trying to contact," Kelly said. SPRING LAKE, MI -- Officials are pointing to a wood-burning fireplace as the preliminary cause of a fire that damaged a residence in Ottawa County early Thanksgiving morning. The occupants of the home exited the home safely and no injuries were reported, according to the Spring Lake Fire Department. Firefighters were dispatched shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 22, to a report of a fire at a residence in the 14000 block of State Road in the Village of Spring Lake. On scene, firefighters found smoke and fire coming from the rear of the house. Inside, firefighters found fire in the attic space around the piping for a wood-burning fireplace. The fire was extinguished within 30 minutes. Occupants of the home told firefighters they had a fire in the fireplace earlier in the evening. They said they went to bed around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and awoke to the smell of smoke just before 3 a.m. Thursday. As they exited, they saw smoke filling the house and flames in a bathroom, which shares a wall with the fireplace. Firefighters said preliminary investigation shows that the fire started in the attic space directly associated with the piping for the fireplace. Their early damage estimate is about $10,000. Assisting Spring Lake firefighters on scene were the Ferrysburg and Crockery Township fire departments, Ottawa County Sheriff's Department, and North Ottawa Community Health System EMS. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Community Rebuilders, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness in Kent County, received a $5 million grant from Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos to bolster and expand efforts to find families housing. Bezos announced Nov. 20 plans to give $97.5 million to a total of 24 nonprofits across the country that are providing homeless services. Community Rebuilders, which has served the community over 25 years, is the only Michigan recipient. Organizations will receive $2.5 million or $5 million from Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, Day 1 Families Fund. "The solution to homelessness is housing and any effective crisis response system quickly must reconnect families to housing and the supports they need to stay there,'' said Vera Beech, executive director of Community Rebuilders. "Our primary focus is going to be on families with children who are unsheltered or living in places unfit for human habitation and helping those families into housing.'' Beech said the nonprofit is hoping this is a "transformative investment'' and they will be working with local and community partners. In 2017, Community Rebuilders served 323 families experiencing homelessness and the 2018 numbers are expected to be higher, officials say. They report 97 percent of families served exited to the stability of permanent housing. Beech said representatives for Bezos reached out to them six weeks ago and were aware of the nonprofit's body of work in the community finding homes for families, veterans and other individuals. For example, converting a former Catholic rectory on the West Side last year into the Housing Connection Center, which houses up to 26 people. Initially, she said the nonprofit was interviewed for a $2.5 million grant but after answering their questions they were moved to the $5 million category. Beech said Community Rebuilders, located at 1120 Monroe Ave. NW, Suite 220, has a budget approaching $7 million, so nearly doubling it will change the lives of more families in the community. Bezos, the richest man in the world, posted on the Day 1 Families Fund website that the goal of the awards is "to shine a light and support the organizations that are doing compassionate, needle-moving work to provide shelter for young families in communities across the country." Four other nonprofits in the Midwest received grants in Chicago, Cleveland, and Minneapolis. "The things that really will be new are about transforming our community's system response,'' Beech said. "There are so many services in the community that are great but need a little bit of bolstering and a little bit of transformation to be able to serve families better, and we believe these dollars can help do that.'' For example, she said their staff knows that families have a difficult time accessing the services that they need and are often placed on a waiting lists. She said they want to ensure that there is not a single family that is unsheltered in the community. "We can tackle our community's effort to end homelessness by looking at national best practices and relying on data that is outcome focused,'' she said. Beech said their housing specialists work to first meet immediate safety needs. She said they then help families and individuals to develop an individualized housing plan and work with them navigate the rental market and landlord arena to secure housing in the private rental marker or other safe accommodations. "We provide long-term and short-term support based on the individualized housing plan,'' Beech said. "We connect with our partners across the community for things like employment services, childcare, and transportation assistance.'' She said often families can resolve a housing crisis with short-term intervention. Beech said Community Builders is committed to being good stewards and serving as many families as they possibly can. "These 24 organizations are working on a number of initiatives that support families in need - from emergency shelter and safe short-term shelter for families to get on their feet, to access and support for permanent housing and support services that help families move forward together. We hope these grants provide the additional resources these leaders and their organizations need to expand the scope and impact of their efforts,'' Bezos said on fund website. Here are the other 23 2018 Day 1 Families Fund awardees: MIDLAND, MI -- Hundreds of people got together at the Midland Area Farmers Market for the annual Turkey Trot Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. The crowd braved frigid temperatures for the annual run across the Tridge to the Chippewa Nature Center and back. Participants of all ages and experience levels are given an hour to complete as much of the course as they want. The goal is for all the runners to return to the Farmers Market around the same time. After the run was complete, Espresso Milano opened up for a few hours to accommodate participants and a food drive set up by the organizers. Peters Surgical, a top wound care company, said it plans to make India its export hub to supply surgical sutures, meshes, needles and other medical consumables. The company also plans to make India a service hub for the whole group for information technology, research and development and regulatory work. Founded in 1926, the French medical consumables maker, with presence in 90 countries, has sales of around 64.6 million euro, of which 63 percent comes through exports. The company now calls India as its priority market. Th company entered the Indian market after buying a controlling stake in Gurgaon-based Stericat Gutstrings for 7.7 million euros. The acquisition gave Peters Surgical a manufacturing foothold in India with a facility in Manesar. The company further invested 5 million euros to expand the facility and ensure that it meet the same quality and regulatory standards of its other facilities in France and Thailand. Focus on Indian market Peters Surgical global CEO Thierry Herbreteau said the company is actively looking out for acquisitions. He said the company has a five-year plan with an aim to multiply the business by five times during that period. Currently the market share of Peters Surgical is minuscule in India. The market size of sutures market in India Rs 650-700 crore, that include surgical sutures, meshes and needles. The market for these consumables is expect to rise as more number of people afford surgeries due to programmes like Ayushman Bharat. Johnson & Johnson and Healthium Medtech, formerly called as Sutures India, dominate the market with together accounting for over 50 percent. The companys annualised revenues are estimated at about Rs 1,200 crore with an operating profit of around Rs 180 crore "India as domestic market is a huge opportunity for us with more and more people having access to healthcare," Herbreteau said. Herbreteau added that Peters Surgical plans to bring more products from its global portfolio to India. "We are currently only manufacturing and distributing surgical surtures, but we have many more products of our portfolio in other countries, so we are planning to get regulatory approvals for meshes, surgical glues and laproscopic instruments to launch in India," he said. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Public sector bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) is planning to divest stake in its life insurance joint venture Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance to conserve capital. The bank holds 23 percent in the company, while Canara Bank holds 51 percent and HSBC holds 26 percent stake. In a statement to the exchanges, the bank said the divestment decision is due to the governments Public Sector Bank Reforms Agenda. OBC said it will divest its stake depending on market conditions and available options. PSB Reforms Agenda The PSB Reforms Agenda for responsive and responsible banking, which includes a synergistic approach for ensuring prudential and clean lending, better customer service, enhanced credit availability, focus on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and better governance. Further, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework to maintain a sound financial health of banks. This facilitates banks in breach of risk thresholds for identified areas of monitoring including capital, asset quality and profitability. This is to take corrective measures in a timely manner in order to restore their financial health. This is to encourage banks to focus on conserving capital and avoid riskier activities. OBC turned profitable in the September quarter despite lower other income and operating income. The bank reported net profit at Rs 101.7 crore for the quarter against a loss of Rs 1,750 crore in year-ago and loss of Rs 393.21 crore in the June quarter. Lower provisions and tax reversal helped the bank come back in black. RBI has placed eleven PSBs including Dena Bank, Central Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank, IDBI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, Corporation Bank, Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and United Bank of India, under the PCA framework. The insurer Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance is the only insurer that sells purely through bank branches. The life insurer posted a net loss of Rs 3.98 crore in Q2FY19 compared to a profit of Rs 22.62 crore in the year-ago period. However, the insurer had posted a net profit of Rs 168 crore in FY18, showing a 51 percent YoY growth. The company's individual new business premium (weighted premium income) grew 34 percent YoY to Rs 818 crore in FY18. This is not the first time that a JV partner in the insurance company is looking to divest stake. Earlier in 2012-13, foreign partner HSBC was looking to exit the life insurance venture. However, they could not go ahead with the sale due to certain clauses in the shareholding agreements. Modi governments flagship highways project, Bharatmala, is facing numerous roadblocks, including fund crunch, slow land acquisition and delay in preparing detailed project reports (DPRs) leaving the Centre red faced. According to a report by Hindustan Times, the government has prepared a half-yearly report to review the progress of its ambitious infrastructure programme. The report has submitted grave results, stating that the programme is likely to be delayed due to slow land acquisition, delay in DPR preparation, lingering bidding process, appointment of concessionaires and physical construction. Bharatmala envisions to construct over 60,000 kilometer of national highways with a total capital outlay of Rs 6.92 lakh crore in two phases. The first phase, from 2017 to 2022, will construct 34,800 km of national highways inclusive of 10,000 km under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) and is worth Rs 5.35 lakh crore. The report has been submitted by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the state-run Authority tasked with constructing the highways along with NHIDCL, roads ministry, state public work departments (PWDs) and state road development corporation (RDC), for the work done till September 2018. According to the report, the incurred or actual capital cost to construct the highways is 50 percent higher than the estimated cost. Also read: Expect to award 50 percent projects under phase-I of Bharatmala by December: Nitin Gadkari The total cost for constructing one km of highway is coming at Rs 23.1 crore (Rs 17.5 crore/km for civil cost and Rs 5.6 crore/km for land acquisition and pre-construction activities). This is 50 percent higher than the projected cost of Rs 15.5 crore per km. As it turns out, the actual cost has increased significantly owing to cost of land acquisition going north. According to NHAI, the actual cost of land acquisition is Rs 6.2 crore per km against a projected cost of Rs 1.8 crore per km. This is almost 3.4 times higher than the approved cost. Similarly, actual civil cost of construction was Rs 17.3 crore for a km against the projected cost of Rs 13.7 crore. Thus, the financial liability for 1,978 Km of projects awarded under NHDP is Rs 44, 309 crore according to Rs 23.1 crore a km. The total capital cost of 6,361 km of projects awarded under Bharatmala is pegged at Rs 1.475 lakh crore. Of this 4,383 km of projects worth Rs 1.03 lakh crore are those that have been awarded afresh by the scheme, with the remaining coming from existing and incomplete NHDP projects, the report noted. Thus, the programme is running significantly behind its financial targets. This is likely to lead to more stringent award targets for the remaining part of the year, the report said. Union minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari, has said that he plans to award at least 50 percent of projects under phase one by December 2018. Also read: First phase of Bharatmala Pariyojana to start by end of 2018: Gadkari A senior government official had told Moneycontrol that the ministry expects to bid out projects worth more than a lakh this year. Last year, around 4,000 km of highway projects were bid out under Bharatmala, said the official adding, So, we are targeting to bid out around 8,000 km of national highways this year. The worth of the projects bid out last year stands at Rs 6,000 crore. However, according to the report presented by NHAI, only 268 km of national highway projects have been awarded in this year. Out of the 321 Km that was targeted to be awarded in the first quarter 118 KM have been awarded in the same period. Out of the revised award target of 2,707 KM of projects for the second quarter only three projects with a length of 150 KM have been awarded till September 2018, for the targeted , the report said. The report further pointed that NHIDCL Centres arm to construct national highways in north east Indiahas not awarded even a single project so far. It had to award a total length of 957 km in Q3 FY 2018-19 and Q4 FY 2018-19. NHAI has also submitted that the projects have been delayed due to lag in bidding process and delayed fixation of project concessionaire. Bid documents of almost 50 percent of the projects (58 out of 122 projects) have not been submitted. These were to be awarded till January 2018. This accounts for 3,209 km length of projects being stuck out of 5,944 km of projects. Similarly, projects for 2,557 km of highways have moved at snails pace due to slow land acquisition. Of these, land acquisition for 1,920 km of highways has not been done. These projects were to be awarded by September. In addition, it is seen that out of 482 KM projects that are in the target award plan for October, projects with length 437 KM have still not moved past the stage of land acquisition. the report noted. Furthermore, 620 km of projects, out of 1,565 km, and targeted to be awarded in December 2018, have not moved past land acquisition stage. NHAI has also submitted that 38 projects have been stuck at bidding stage for more than three months without meeting any conclusion. These account for 1,368 km of highways. Furthermore, after receiving successful bids over a month ago, 26 engineering- procurement- construction (EPC) projects worth 1,160 km of length are still awaiting appointment of concessionaire. Thirty nine projects (one based on the hybrid annuity model and one a build-operate-transfer toll project) with a total length of 2,316 km spread mainly across Rajasthan, UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are still awaiting the appointment of concessionaires after more than five months of being awarded, the report said. The cabinet had given approval to first phase of Bharatmala in October 2017 to construct inter- corridors and feeder routes, border and international connectivity roads, coastal and port connectivity roads and greenfield expressways. A shopkeeper arranges signs with prices on bags of rice at a shop in Mumbai March 19, 2009. Indian inflation headed towards zero in early March and analysts tipped it would soon turn negative, opening the way for the Reserve Bank of India to cut interest rates further to prop up demand and growth. The wholesale price index, India's most widely watched inflation measure, rose 0.44 percent in the 12 months to March 7, sharply lower than the previous week's 2.43 percent and below a forecast of 0.89 percent in a Reuters poll. REUTERS/Arko Datta (INDIA BUSINESS FOOD DRINK) - RTXCYWA The Indian rice samples offered in Egypt's first rice purchasing tender for 2018 have all failed a cooking test required for approval for purchase, three trade sources with direct knowledge said on Thursday. All Chinese rice samples were accepted while one Vietnamese rice sample was accepted and the other rejected, they said. Egypt, which has turned from a rice exporter to an importer because of water shortages, has in the past purchased rice from India. The samples are being tested by a research centre at before approval of offers. A revamp of Indias direct tax system may not be a reality till at least 2020 as the panel on Direct Tax Code (DTC) will take three-four months to submit the draft on the new law. The government is in the process of appointing a new convenor as Arbind Modi, who heading the six member task force, as well as the member of the apex policy making body Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), retired on September 30. Akhilesh Ranjan, Member, CBDT is likely to be the head of the panel on direct tax code, a top government official told Moneycontrol. After the report is submitted, the draft will be out for public consultation, which will again take another six months, the official said. While the Narendra-Modi led government will complete a five-year tenure in May, 2019, the decision to take forward the overhaul of the direct tax system will depend on the new government that comes to power. The discussion on reforms pertaining to taxation started more than a year back in September, 2017, when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that more than half a century old Income-Tax Act needs to be re-drafted and a new DTC needs to be introduced in consonance with economic needs of the country. Acting upon it, the finance ministry on November 22, last year constituted a task force comprising six members, as well as the Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian, as a permanent special invitee in the task force. Subramanian is currently not a part of the committee as he resigned from his post of CEA last month to return to academic research in the US. Besides, the government is yet to appoint a new CEA. Girish Ahuja, practicing chartered accountant and non-official director, State Bank of India, Rajiv Memani, chairman and regional managing partner of E&Y, Mukesh Patel, practicing tax advocate in Ahmedabad, Mansi Kedia, consultant, ICRIER, and G.C. Srivastava, retired bureaucrat are also a part of the team. The panel was supposed to submit the draft report on May 22, but sought an extension of three months that got over in August. With Arbind Modis retirement, the work related to the report was put on hold. The erstwhile UPA government had finalised DTC and had introduced the Bill in the Parliament in 2010. However, the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha. It aimed at simplifying tax legislation, widening the tax base, while removing a number of exemptions. The task force is in the process of drafting a direct tax legislation keeping in mind, tax system prevalent in various countries, international best practices, economic needs of the country, among others. Some of the provisions of the DTC such as General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) and Place of Effective Management (PoEM) has already been implemented. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More JSW Steel on Thursday said it has plans to increase its manufacturing capacity to 44-45 million tonnes per annum by 2030 from the present 19 million tonnes. "We have plans for our Vijayanagar Works unit, where already work is on to take the capacity from 12 MTPA to 13 million (by August 2019) and on our drawing board we are preparing how we can build this unit for 18 MTPA (by FY 22)," JSW Steel Deputy Managing Director Vinod Nowal said. Speaking to reporters here, he said, the Vijayanagar plant has the potential to grow up to 23-24 MTPA, becoming thelargest steel producer at a single location in the world, in the years to come, with the availability of more iron ore. "Likewise JSW Steel has plans to go for 44-45 MTPA by 2030, this is part of expansion plan," he added. According to company officials, JSW Steel is the largest producer of steel in India, with a capacity of 19 MTPA. The largest contributor to the company's overall capacity is from its plant at Vijayanagar in Ballari district in Karnataka, which is about 12 MTPA. There were plans to increase capacity at various other plants like Salem, Dolvi, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Nowal said adding it had a plan to build a total 5-8 million tonne steel capacity abroad, at its plants in the US and Italy. Noting that JSW Steel has implemented Total Quality Management (TQM) at its Vijayanagar Works steel-making unit as part of its journey towards quality excellence, the company officials said, TQM implementation has enabled JSW Steel, over the past five years, to drive operational efficiency and strengthen its customer service operation. In October 2018, JSW Steels's Vijayanagar works unit was awarded the highest global quality honour, "The Deming Prize", for its TQM practices. The company now intends to implement TQM across all its steel manufacturing units, the officials said adding that TQM implementation at its Salem Works in Tamil Nadu is on track and its implementation at Dolvi Works in Maharashtra is expected to be completed by 2020. Stating that India is rich in iron ore, whether it is Odisha, Chattisgarh or Karnataka- there are good reserves, Nowal in response to a question, urged that the government has to properly formalise the policy. "...there is no meaning (in)-we should not use our iron ore. What ever iron ore we have today, their requirement will be for next 20-25 years. After that whatever steel is there will get recycled, and then the dependence on iron ore is going to be reduced," he said. Noting that when there is iron ore in India, and there was no need to import it, Nowal said, "we are importing because of lesser production." Referring to the situation in Ballari as example, he said "...requirement of the industry is 32 million tonnes, production is 28 million, and there is shortage of 4 million, which is being sourced from outside Karnataka like Odisha or imports. I can say it is very funny, when we have so many reserves." There is need for more and more exploration, more mining, so that industries come and there are value additions, instead of importing or bringing from other states, he added. Ravindra Rao Crude oil is considered volatile. The IEA chief, Fatih Birol, recently urged key oil producers not to cut production as it could have negative implications for the market. According to Birol, markets are currently well supplied but spare capacity in Saudi Arabia is thin and cuts by key players could tighten markets. US president Donald Trump has also warned that Saudi Arabia and OPEC should not cut production. These warnings have come ahead of OPEC's bi-annual meeting in Vienna on December 6. It will be considering reducing crude-oil production by around 1 to 1.4 million bpd. The recent dramatic decline in crude oil prices has come as a huge surprise for the market after Trump unexpectedly granted eight countries waivers from Iran oil sanctions. Media reports say Japan and South Korea will resume Iranian crude-oil imports from January 2019. However, the American Petroleum Institute reported a drawdown in inventories for the week ending November 16. This has provided the much-needed relief to crude oil. On the other hand, base metals continue their rollercoaster ride this week too. Growth is slowing in major economies of the world. Emerging market economies are vulnerable too on account of the Federal Reserve's tight monetary policy, the muscular dollar and financial market volatility. Growing trade tensions between the US and China are a matter of concern. The US and China have both expressed the need to resolve the trade conflict. But the tension was visible as leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Papua New Guinea failed to agree to a joint communique for the first time in history. The focus would now shift to the G-20 summit slated to be held next week. Chile's state copper agency Cochilco has cut its 2018 and 2019 copper price prediction due to low demand for the metal. This is the second projection cut in the last six months. Nickel is also under pressure due to concerns about stainless steel. Increasing nickel pig iron production and rising Shanghai nickel inventory also pointed to further nickel weakness. Ahead, crude oil is expected to be quite volatile in coming sessions. OPEC crude oil production rose to 32.90 million barrels a day in October, from 32.77 million barrels a day the month prior. US crude oil production continues to increase rapidly. The IEA has warned that global oil supply will outpace demand throughout 2019. Hence, the oversupply glut may weigh on crude oil prices. OPEC recently cut its crude-oil demand growth forecast for 2019. The sell-off in global financial markets points toward a slowdown in global economic growth. However, the expectation is that OPEC might cut crude-oil output by 1-1.4 million bpd in the Vienna meeting because of weak crude-oil prices. Besides, geopolitical tension adds to the risk. Trump has said that the US stands by Saudi Arabia following the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. This is despite the fact that the CIA report concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's killing. Hence, there is also apprehension that Saudi Arabia may not go in for a large production cut and risk upsetting Trump. Saudi Arabia may also find it tough to convince Russia about a potential output cut. Hence, the focus would shift to the OPEC meeting in Vienna. Overall, crude oil may experience sharp volatility in coming sessions. The author is Head - Commodity Research & Advisory, Anand Rathi Commodities. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on Moneycontrol are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Indian Hotels Company shares rallied 9 percent intraday on Thursday after Motilal Oswal initiated coverage on the stock with a buy rating and target price of Rs 163, implying a 21 percent potential upside. The research house said Indian hospitality industry is set to enter into an upcycle, led by favourable demand-supply dynamics. Industry occupancy (67 percent) has already breached the optimum level, allowing players to exercise pricing power. Hence, as the second largest hotel chain operator in India (manages 17,145 rooms, around 85 percent of which are in the domestic market) with presence in high-demand, high-occupancy micro markets, Indian Hotels is strategically well placed to capitalise on the growth opportunities, it feels. Historical data suggests that once occupancies reach optimum levels, hotel companies usually see themselves as having passed a crucial threshold level to begin pursuing a rate-based strategy to boost yields. Against this favorable backdrop, Motilal Oswal sees Indian Hotels the second largest hotel operator in India as an attractive investment candidate. "Strong presence in the high demand, high-occupancy micro markets of Mumbai, NCR, Bangalore and Goa (8-14 percent market share across regions) places it well to cater to rapid growth in the domestic market. The company also has an invaluable asset in the form of a strong brand name," it explained. Indian Hotels appears set to benefit from operating leverage in the impending upcycle, led by its higher fixed-cost proportion and efforts to rationalize expenses, the research house said. It expects Indian Hotels to record revenue/ EBITDA CAGR of 9 / 25 percent over FY18-20. The company has presence across the pricing spectrum through its four brands Taj, Vivanta, Seleqtions and Ginger. It manages 17,145 rooms across India and international locations. Around 85 percent of its room inventory is in the domestic market, while the rest is outside India. Domestic business remains the key driver, contributing around 78 percent of its consolidated revenue. At 15:01 hours IST, the stock was quoting at Rs 139.50, up Rs 5.00, or 3.72 percent on the BSE. : The above report is compiled from information available on public platforms. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Indoco Remedies shares were locked in 20 percent upper circuit at Rs 206.40 on Thursday after company's Goa Plant II & III cleared the US health regulator's inspection. There were pending buy orders of 84,281 shares, with no sellers available, at 13:10 hours IST. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) inspected Indoco's sterile facility (Plant II) and solid dosages facility (Plant III) situated in Goa from November 14-21, 2018. "The inspection concluded with Indoco receiving 2 minor observations, none of which are repeat in nature," the pharma company said in its filing. This facility had received a warning letter from the USFDA in March 2017. The company said it is in the process of responding to the observations within the stipulated time of 15 days. "The Establishment Inspection Report will be issued by the USFDA subsequently." Aditi Kare Panandikar, Managing Director of Indoco Remedies said, "This positive development will now pave the way for approval of our pending ANDAs with consequent boost to revenues from the US market." Indoco Remedies, headquartered in Mumbai, has 9 manufacturing facilities, 6 of which are for finished dosage forms (FDFs) and 3 for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Markets regulator Sebi on Thursday slapped a fine of Rs 65 lakh on Apollo Tyres for violating norms pertaining to buyback of shares. The ruling comes after the Securities Appellate Tribunal, in January 2017, had set aside the over Rs 1 crore penalty imposed by Sebi on Apollo Tyres in the matter and had directed the regulator to pass a fresh order. According to the tribunal, the overall penalty amount was in excess of the limit prescribed under the Sebi Act. It was alleged that shares of Apollo Tyres were bought back by the company and its promoters in contravention of the relevant section of the Companies Act and Sebi regulations. The violations were allegedly committed by the company in 2003. In a fresh order on Thursday, Sebi said,"The noticee (Apollo Tyres) had bought back a controlling block of shares as per the scheme, but did not comply with the provisions of buy-back Regulations". According to Sebi, Apollo Tyres did not follow any of the methods for repurchase of shares as specified under the buyback Regulation. Under the Regulation 4(1) of buyback, a company can buyback shares through tender offer; open market through book building process via stock exchange; and from odd-lot holders. "I am of the view that the noticee failed to comply with Regulation 4(1) of buyback Regulations while effecting the buyback of its shares," Sebi General Manager and Adjudicating Officer K Saravanan said in his 102-page order. Further, the company failed to submit its board resolution dated April 24, 2003, authorising the buyback to the markets regulator with the requisite timeframe. The company also failed to issue a public notice within time limit about the extinguished shares. Accordingly, the regulator has imposed "a penalty of Rs 65 lakh on the noticee viz Apollo Tyres Limited". Earlier in July 2014, Sebi had levied a total fine of Rs 1.03 crore fine on Apollo Tyres for violating norms pertaining to buyback of shares. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Here are stocks that are in the news today: Yes Bank: Rattled by the resignation of three Board members, the Board meeting will now take place on December 13 to discuss among other things the appointment of chairman, chief executive and independent director. Jet Airways: Company in talks with various investors amid reports of seeking Etihad support. Huhtamaki PPL: The company received closure directions from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for its manufacturing activities, within 72 hours and take all precautionary measures for safe closure, in relation to its Thane Plant. The company has filed a Writ Petition in the Bombay High Court on 21st November 2018, challenging and setting aside the closure direction. : Kakinada Gateway Port Limited (KGPL), a subsidiary of Kakinada SEZ (KSEZ), has signed the Concession Agreement with the Andhra Pradesh Government for development of a green-field commercial port on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis in Kona Village, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh. GAIL India: Deoghar, Sheikhpura and Jamui districts will be included within the 50 Geographical Areas under the 10th bidding round of City Gas Distribution to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 22. Company's Jagadishpur Haldia - Bokaro Dhamra pipeline project will serve as the feeder source for natural gas supply to the proposed city gas project at Deoghar, Sheikhpura and Jamui districts, in addition to maintaining supplies to various fertilizer and industrial units enroute. Deepak Fertiliser and Petrochemicals Corporation: Income Tax Department completed its search & seizure operations at company's premises. Indoco Remedies: ICRA has reaffirmed rating at A+ for the long term borrowing programme of the company. The outlook on the long term rating is 'Stable'. The short term rating has been revised from A1+ to A1. IL&FS Transportation: Interest due & payable on November 21 on NCD not paid due to insufficient funds. Rasoi: Board of Directors considered offer to delist the equity shares of the company. Rs 25,408 is the floor price per equity share for the delisting offer. Redington India: Redington Gulf FZE, (Redington Gulf) a step-down subsidiary of the company, had acquired additional 24.8 percent stake in Citrus Consulting Services FZ LLC (Citrus), its subsidiary company. With this acquisition, the total holding of Redington Gulf in Citrus had increased from 60 percent to 84.8 percent. CG Power and Industrial Solutions: Company's officials will be meeting Reliance MF, Sell side analysts on November 22, and HDFC MF on November 23. MIRC Electronics: Company's officials will be meeting analysts/investors on November 22. : Annual General Meeting will be held on December 14. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Shares of Tech Mahindra are up over a percent amid positive outlook from global brokerage houses such as Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Jefferies. The ratings have been reiterated after the company held an analysts call to discuss its financials. Credit Suisse has maintained the outperform rating on stock with a target at Rs 925, while Jefferies asks investors to hold the stock at Rs 770. Here is a gist of what brokerages are stating about the stock. Brokerage: Credit Suisse | Rating: Outperform | Target: Rs 925 Credit Suisse said that the stock has performed well, but extent of positive surprises may not be as high in the future. Valuation at 14x FY20E P/E is not demanding. Brokerage: Jefferies | Rating: Hold | Target: Rs 770 The global research firm believes that synergistic acquisitions that align with its growth objectives will continue. It cited management expectation of a significant revenue boost from 5g to come beyond FY20. It also said that acquisitions remain part of key strategy, despite issues with some of the past ones. Brokerage: Morgan Stanley | Rating: Overweight | Target: Rs 880 Morgan Stanley believes that EPS estimates are not at risk even after tweaking ` rate assumptions. Further, the company is expecting growth momentum of 8-10% YoY in enterprise unit for FY20. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on Moneycontrol are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. The market continued its weakness for third consecutive session towards 10,500 zones on Thursday and corrected by around 250 points from its recent swing high of 10,774 levels. All sectoral indices closed in the red with Nifty Bank falling a percent and Metal declining 1.77 percent. The broader indices also traded in line with frontliners with the Nifty Midcap index correcting 0.91 percent. The Nifty50 index formed bearish candle on the daily scale and 'Bearish Engulfing' kind of pattern on the weekly candlestick charts. A Bearish Engulfing Pattern consists of two candles. One candle is usually a small candle which is followed by a large black or red candlestick pattern that engulfs the short one or the previous candle. The equity market will remain shut on Friday for Gurunanak Jayanti. The Nifty50 after gap up opening at 10,612.65 remained rangebound with a positive bias in morning, but wiped out those gains in afternoon to hit day's low of 10,510. The index closed 73.20 points lower at 10,526.80. The index is expected to be volatile in the coming week ahead of expiry of November futures & options contracts due next Thursday, experts said, adding the 10,500 could be crucial levels for bulls. "Nifty50 appears to have resumed its downswing as it registered a bear candle for third consecutive session in a row after faltering around its 200-day moving average at recent high of 10,774 registered on November 19," Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in told Moneycontrol. He said besides, weakness on weekly charts is getting more pronounced as it registered a Bearish Engulfing kind of formation with current week's candle body completely engulfing the candle body of preceding week. According to him, on the downside initial support can be expected around 10,440 levels breach of which shall accentuate the selling pressure further and in such a scenario initial target can be expected around 10,158 levels. These kind of targets looks quite feasible as another pivotal index v.i.z Bank Nifty which was somewhat resilient till Wednesday appears to have crumbled down as it generated a classic sell signal, based on Dow theory, on lower time frame charts which shall aid the bears in tightening their grip further on the markets, Mazhar said. Bank Nifty failed to cross previous day's high and corrected towards 25,950 zones after its initial rangebound move in the market. It formed a bearish candle on daily and a Bearish Belt Hold candle on weekly scale. The index broken its immediate support of 26,100 zones and remained in pressure in line with the broader market. It closed below 26,000 levels, down 262.60 points to 25,999.45. "Now it has next support at 25,800-25,750 zones while on the upside hurdles are seen at 26,250-26,333 zones," Chandan Taparia, Associate Vice President | Analyst-Derivatives, Motilal Oswal Financial Services told Moneycontrol said. On option front, maximum Put open interest (OI) was seen at 10,000 followed by 10,500 strikes while maximum Call OI was seen at 10,700 followed by 11,000 strike. Call writing was seen at 10,600 followed by 10,700 strike whereas Put unwinding was seen at all immediate strike price. "Nifty index has been making lower highs - lower lows for third consecutive sessions and it is trading below its 50 DEMA and crucial juncture of 10,650 zones which is also a trend line level by connecting its recent swing lows of 10,020, 10,105, 10,440 and 10,650 zones," Taparia said. Now till the index remains below 10,650 zones overall rangebound move with limited upside could be seen in the market while on the downside next major support exists at 10,450 zones, he said. India VIX fell by 2.41 percent to 19.08 levels. Volatility has to cool down below 17-16 zones to get the next leg of smooth upside rally else volatile up and down swing could continue in the market. File Photo: A security guard stands outside a closed Yes Bank branch in New Delhi live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Yes Bank has lost half its value in the past few months and the stock has remained volatile since the Reserve Bank of India asked Rana Kapoor to trim his term as MD & CEO. Rana Kapoor's term will now end in January 2019. After that, the bank's board saw high-profile exits with Rentala Chandrashekhar, independent director, Vasant Gujarathi, independent director and Ashok Chawla, non-executive (independent) chairman of the board resigning. The bank said these resignations bear no impact on the selection process of new MD & CEO. "Therefore, the new MD & CEO selection process is on track, as per committed timelines." "The Search & Selection Committee ("SSC") and the N&RC is scheduled to convene on December 12, 2018 to discuss the final shortlist for new MD & CEO appointment," the bank said in a BSE filing dated November 20. "Pursuant to this meeting, the Board of Directors is scheduled to convene on December 13, 2018," it added. After these developments and weak earnings in Q2, experts advised avoiding the stock that has fallen 50 percent in the last three months amid corporate governance issues. However, it had rallied 1,144 percent in last nine years before this correction. "The recent news flow in Yes bank has dampened the sentiment for the stock and it is moving southwards," said Astha Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Hem Securities who advises investors to stay away from the counter as it is surrounded by lot of uncertainties. Also in Q2FY19, bottomline of the bank has shown de-growth on a YoY as well as QoQ basis. She recommended 'sell' on the stock with target of Rs 170 in medium term. The private sector lender's second quarter profit fell 3.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 964.7 crore, dented by sharp rise in provisions and weak asset quality performance. Its asset quality deteriorated during the quarter. Gross non-performing assets (as a percentage gross advances) increased to 1.60 percent against 1.31 percent in June quarter. Net NPA was also higher at 0.84 percent against 0.59 percent in previous quarter. Prashanth Tapse, AVP Research, Mehta Equities also said as on date, investors should avoid Yes Bank with wait-and-watch strategy. "The recent hiccups are all because of the top-level developments taking place in the recent past and the way it has been handled. Fundamentally, these developments would create low confidence in investors and high volatility in the price movement, hence it would be on risk to invest for medium," he reasoned. He said the 50 percent fall in the stock from the recent high of Rs 398 levels means the problem is genuine and highly mismanaged; hence, Yes Bank is not an investment bet but can be traded on technical levels with trading stop loss of Rs 166 with target of Rs 234. Vineeta Sharma, Head of Research, Narnolia Financial Advisors said the bank's financials in terms of deposits and liquidity remain robust, but the Risk-based Supervision (RBS) Audit report by RBI for the last two years showed that there has been divergence to the tune of Rs 4,177 crore and Rs 6,355 crore of GNPA for FY16 and FY17, respectively. Also, the way RBI has been firm towards restricting the extension of current CEO's term as head of the bank, the market has sensed concerns. The RBS supervision report, which is pending for FY18, may show up further higher divergence, according to her. The company also has capital constraints which should hamper growth going forward, she believes. The banks promoters Rana Kapoor and Madhu Kapur have locked horns in a legal battle. Shishir Asthana The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has finally given promoters some negotiation rights for when they delist their company from stock exchanges. It has now allowed promoters of companies that are about to get delisted to make a counteroffer to shareholders. Earlier, the price at which companies could delist their shares was arrived at through a price discovery mechanism called reverse book building. In this process, the shareholders quote the price at which they would like to let go of their shares. Naturally, the market would take the price as high as possible in order to extract maximum value. However, this proved to be detrimental as promoters could simply reject the offer if the price was too high and the delisting would have to be called off. What has changed now is that promoters will get a chance to make a counteroffer to the price that was discovered by the reverse book building process. If enough investors agree to sell their shares at the new price to take the promoters' post-sale shareholding to 90 percent, then the delisting can go through. But will this move really help? The counteroffer by a promoter will naturally be at a discount to what was arrived at through the price discovery mechanism. As in all cases, there are two sides to the issue. A company would opt for delisting if it feels that its own cash generation ability and its balance sheet are strong enough to fund future expansion. It would not need capital from the market to fuel future growth. Ideally, in such a case, it would make sense from the company's point of view to delist from exchanges. Consumer electronics major Philips, chocolate giant Cadbury, and diesel generator manufacturer Wartsila are examples where parent companies delisted their Indian arm and continued to pump money through these entities to grow. Then there is also the issue of foreign parents of listed companies, who want to exploit the growth opportunity in India, feeling that the delisting process is cumbersome and too expensive and therefore, deciding to not bring in growth capital. The side supporting this argument, which is largely stacked with lawyers and investment managers, India is losing out on foreign direct investment. On the other hand, from the shareholders' point of view, companies have used the market and public money to garner growth capital but now that they have grown bigger and can manage to grow on their own, these companies do not like to share the spoils. There is no denying that delisting would be at a higher price than the current fair value. An investor would like to be compensated for the future growth of his company. There is no right price for such a transaction; it depends on each individual. The investors who are the most stubborn are typically big investors or institutions, the ones who have no immediate need of money and would like to negotiate hard or continue to be part of the companys growth story. Retail investors, many of whom would have bought the shares after the delisting announcement was made public, are willing to take their small profit and look for opportunities elsewhere. While there is no guarantee that the counteroffer would be accepted by the investors, it at least gives the promoters a chance to get an idea of investors' expectation. The ball is then in the promoters' court to come close to what the market expects or call the deal off. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More After five companies -- NBCC, Kotak Investment, L&T Infrastructure, Singapore-based Cube Highways, and Suraksha group -- have shown interest in taking over Jaypee Infratech, the embattled company has announced that it would hold a meeting of committee of creditors on November 27. In a regulatory filing on the exchanges, the company said, "Pursuant to Regulation 30 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 read with Schedule III, Part A, Para A, subpara 16(g) thereof, we wish to inform you that a meeting of Committee of Creditors will be held on 27th November 2018." The agenda of the meeting has not been disclosed but sources told Moneycontrol that the evaluation matrix and the bid process note is likely to be discussed and voted on at the next CoC meeting. Regular business updates would also be taken up. Evaluation matrix is a set of parameters shared with all the bidders based on which their bids are evaluated. These parameters include aspects such as which firm is bringing in how much cash, who has real estate competency, who has the net worth, the turnaround capability and so on. These criteria are expected to be discussed at the meeting and weight would be assigned to the bidders following which they would be selected. A process note shares the details of how the bidding process is expected to pan out, the time duration after which bids would be called, when would negotiations take place among others. Earlier, the company had postponed the CoC meeting slated for November 20. Legal experts had told Moneycontrol on November 20 that the next step would entail an evaluation of the assets of JIL by the bidders. "Once that process is complete, these companies will have to submit their bids. After the bids have been submitted, the committee, that comprises all stakeholders, including home buyers and bankers, will vote on which bidder to choose," legal experts had said. In October, after creditors of Jaypee Infratech (JIL) approved a proposal to invite bids for the embattled company, the interim resolution professional (IRP) Anuj Jain had invited expressions of interest for resolution plans from companies. The last date for submitting the expressions of interest was November 9. The provisional list of applicants was to be prepared by November 19 and the last date for submission of objections to the provisional list is November 24. The list of prospective resolution applications will be issued on December 4, while applicants are required to submit the resolution plan by January 5, 2019. This is the second time that the resolution process has commenced. In the first time round, there were three bidders in the race to buy Jaypee Infratech - Lakshadweep, Adani group and Kotak Realty Fund-Cube Highways. Only Lakshadweep, a joint venture of Sudhir Valia-led Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company and Mumbai-based Dosti Realty, was left in the fray, but its Rs 7,000 crore offer was ultimately rejected for being too low. In the second resolution process, L&T Infrastructure Development Projects said it is only interested in 165-km Yamuna Expressway and not the development of land parcels attached to the expressway belonging to JIL. In a filing to BSE on November 20, state-owned NBCC said it has submitted the EoI for submitting a resolution plan for JIL and the company has been provisionally shortlisted by IRP as prospective resolution applicant of JIL. Suraksha Asset Reconstruction has shown interest along with its entities Lakshdeep Investments and Finance and Suraksha Realty. Homebuyers have said that they support the NCLT process. "We are fully supportive of the NCLT process," home buyers representatives said, adding that with the process for resolution of JIL picking pace, the NCLT should deploy the Rs 750 crore collected by the Supreme Court for the benefit of home buyers for construction of apartments. Home buyers had filed an application with the NCLT stating that the voting rules were not fair and none of the resolutions were getting passed because of the mismatch. The application filed by nine buyers' associations had sought a clarification on the 'flawed voting rules'. They had sought a clarification on the 'question of law' that pertains to the procedure for determining the voting percentage among the committee of creditors. This is to ensure the "voice of the home buyers is not taken in a fragmented manner." The NCLT had on August 10, 2017, admitted IDBI Bank s plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the JIL for defaulting on Rs 526-crore loan. While admitting the plea of IDBI Bank, the NCLT had appointed Anuj Jain as IRP to manage the companys business. Labourers travel in a tractor trolley past hospital buildings under construction, after finishing their day's work, in Ahmedabad, India, May 27, 2015. India releases gross domestic product data on Friday that is expected to show the economy growing faster than China for a second consecutive quarter. Picture taken May 27. Photo: REUTERS The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has attached 648 bank accounts and 670 properties from April-October this year for "non-payment" of property tax, officials said. NDMC's Additional Commissioner (Revenue) B M Mishra said since April 1, 2004 (the date of implementation of Unit Area Method) it is the responsibility of the property owner or occupier to self-assess the property tax of his/her property and deposit with the corporation within due date. But many property owners/occupiers are not doing so, thus the corporation has to attach their property or bank account to realise the same. "The NDMC has attached 648 bank accounts and 670 properties from April 1 to October 31 this year for non payment" of property tax," the civic body said in a statement. Mishra has appealed to people to deposit their due property tax for the year 2018-19 along with arrears, if any, in time, otherwise defaulters would have to pay penalty and interest, along with due tax. Meanwhile, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation's Veterinary Department, in collaboration with local police, has taken strict action against "illegal slaughtering" of poultry in area under its jurisdiction. On November 6 2018, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that Faizabad district would henceforth be known as Ayodhya. The Uttar Pradesh government has sanctioned Rs 1260 crore for the proposed Noida International airport in Jewar along the 165 km Yamuna Expressway. The amount is to be spent for land acquisition and payment will be made to farmers for possession of land, says a state government notice. At a meeting held in Lucknow to discuss the progress of the project on November 14, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed officials of the Noida International Airport Limited and the Gautam Budh Nagar administration to expedite work on the airport. The government is expected to launch the airport project by the end of December, if all goes as per schedule, sources had said. On October 30, the Uttar Pradesh government had issued a notification for the acquisition of land for the greenfield project in the district under Section 11 (1) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The district administration had on October 17 completed the proceedings at its level and sent a proposal to the government for the acquisition of 1,239 hectare of land from six villages in Jewar. Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), formed by the government to develop the airport, will invite bids to rope in a concessionaire to execute the project. Some landowners, including farmers, had initially resisted the land acquisition citing various reasons such as an inadequate compensation and the resettlement policy. The proposed airport is expected to be operational by 2022-23. Tesla Model X is available in China for $126,470 (Picture Courtesy: Tesla) Tesla Inc is cutting the price of its Model X and Model S cars in China by between 12-26 percent, the US electric carmaker told Reuters on Thursday. The move comes amid rising trade tensions between China and the United States, which has seen extra tariffs slapped on US imports into the country, including automobiles. "We are absorbing a significant part of the tariff to help make our cars more affordable for customers in China," Tesla said in a statement. The firm, which recently launched pre-sales of its new Model 3 car in China, said the car's price tag would start from 540,000 yuan ($77,928.83) for a dual motor all-wheel drive version, and 595,000 yuan for a performance version. Vodafone Idea (Representative Image) live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More India's largest telecom operator by users Vodafone Idea plans to increase minimum recharge tariffs to mend its profitability and aims to achieve its synergy target of Rs 14,000 crore by 2020-21, two years before the original target, reported Mint. The company is preparing to take on Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries-owned Reliance Jio by expanding its 4G network mobile tower sites. It is also planning to divide its market into four categories and adopt a specific strategy for each of them, sources told the paper. The management of the loss-making Vodafone Idea, which was formed after Idea Cellular and Vodafone India merged in August, reportedly held a meeting with telecom analysts on November 21 to discuss its revival plans and strategy. A person present at the meeting told the paper that the management believes a tariff hike is imminent and that it will be significant one, given the company's negative free-cash situation. Vodafone Idea currently 4G coverage in 50 percent of the areas it serves. It hopes to push this to 70 percent in the next six months, and to 80 percent in 2019-20, the person was quoted as saying. The telecom giant is currently awaiting full realisation of merger synergies, as the integration of spectrum assets and networks of both Vodafone and Idea is underway. The merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone was triggered by fierce competition in the telecom sector after the entry of Reliance Jio in September 2016. Vodafone Idea announced its first quarterly results in September, reporting a loss of Rs 4,970 crore. The company's average revenue per user (ARPU) came in at Rs 88, much lower than Airtel's Rs 101 and Jio's Rs 131.70. Last month, Airtel said it had simplified 7-8 of its tariffs, with minimum recharge plans starting at Rs 35. The aim was to reduce the number of marginal customers it had, control expenses and provide better services to its users. The board of Vodafone Idea has set up a committee of directors to explore avenues to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore of capital. The committee will also look into a potential sale of the company's fibre network, which has over 156,000 km of intra-city and inter-city fibre routes. The company has acknowledged a liquidity crunch in the telecom sector and has sought the government's help to meet its financial obligations, a government official said. Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. Sachin Bansal | Co-founder, Flipkart | One of the Bansal buddies who recently decided to exit the company he founded by selling his stocks to retail giant Wlamart. The transaction will make him a billionaire. The Income Tax Department has issued notices to Flipkart founders Binny and Sachin Bansal to disclose their total income from the Walmart-Flipkart deal, The Times of India reported. The Bansals have been reportedly asked to explain the total payment received from the Walmart-Flipkart deal, the capital gains tax liability and how they have scheduled these tax payments. "There was a query received with regard to the sale of shares and payment of advance taxes. It happened a few months ago and I had already responded to the same," Binny Bansal told the paper. The department has sent notices to Flipkart's promoters as well as 35 other stakeholders. Both Bansals had more than 5 percent stake each in Flipkart. In May, global retail giant Walmart acquired a 77 percent stake in Bengaluru-based online retailer for $16 billion as it forayed into Indias exploding e-commerce market. Read Flipkart-Walmart deal: 10 things you should know Earlier, the I-T Department had served notice to Walmart asking it to furnish details of 46 shareholders of Flipkart, and how much each of them gained from the deal. The Bansals have not responded to the I-T notice sent to them on October 18, while responses of other Indian shareholders have started pouring in, sources told the paper. In September, Walmart had paid Rs 7,439 crore tax on payments it made to buy out shares of 10 major shareholders of Flipkart. Read: Walmart may pay $2 billion withholding tax for Flipkart deal Media reports suggest that Walmart may pay $2 billion (around Rs 13,750 crore) withholding tax to authorities for the Flipkart deal. Withholding tax, or retention tax, is an income tax to be paid to the government by the payer of the income rather than recipient of the income. The tax is withheld or deducted from the income due to the recipient. In the case of the Walmart-Flipkart deal, the withholding tax pertains to the capital gains made by shareholders of Flipkart. As per the domestic tax law, long term capital gains is levied at 20 percent for shares sold by foreign investors after 24 months of purchase. However, short term capital gains tax of up to 40 percent may be applicable on SoftBank and about 20 percent on eBay considering the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Singapore, the report said. Also see: After Binny Bansals exit, Flipkart could be staring at more trouble The tax department is yet to calculate the actual tax applicable as it is still investigating some alleged suspicious transactions and investment flow in the company, the report added. Yes Bank Moneycontrol News Yes Bank's board will meet on December 13 to discuss the final shortlist of candidates for the post of chief executive officer (CEO). Current CEO Rana Kapoor's term ends on January 31, 2019, and Yes Bank says the search his replacement is proceeding as per schedule. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in September refused to approve extension of Rana Kapoor's tenure as CEO and Managing Director. Yes Bank also said that the two promoter groups one run by Rana Kapoor and the other by Madhu Kapur are making attempts at a truce. "It is being reported by the MD&CEO, Rana Kapoor who is also the largest shareholder and promoter of the Bank, that efforts are underway for mutual resolution with Madhu Kapur and family, the Co-promoter of the Bank," the lender said in statement to the BSE. The bank's Search and Selection Committee (SSC) and the Nomination & Remuneration Committee (N&RC) will meet on December 12, and the boad will meet the following day to discuss the final shortlist of candidates. The board will also discuss the appointment of two independent directors to replace the board members who have resigned recently. The board at present has 7 board members, after the resignations of Ashok Chawla, Vasant Gujarathi and R Chandrashekhar. BJP national president Amit Shah BJP chief Amit Shah and three IPS officers were the main conspirators behind the alleged fake encounters of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati, the chief investigation officer (CIO) of the case claimed in a CBI court on November 21. CIO Sandeep Tamgade, who deposed during the ongoing trial, however, conceded that that his claim was not supported by any documentary evidence in the charge sheet filed by him. "From the investigation done by us, we found the principal conspirators were Amit Shah, DG Vanzara (former Deputy Inspector-General Gujarat Police), Rajkumar Pandian (SP, Intelligence Bureau) and M N Dinesh (IPS officer, Rajasthan Police)," Tamgade said. All four have been discharged by the trial court in the case. Tamgade claimed he was not naming Shah and others without evidence, but admitted that the claim was not supported by any documentary evidence in the supplementary charge sheet filed in the case, he said. Tamgade, then Superintendent of Police (CBI), had prepared a supplementary charge sheet in the Sohrabuddin case and the main charge sheet in the Tulsiram case. Both cases are being tried together before special CBI judge S J Sharma here. To a question by the defence lawyer, Tamgade said he also had evidence to conclude that Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his partner Prajapati were "used" by Amit Shah, then Minister of State for Home in Gujarat, for firing at the office of an Ahmedabad-based builder. He had interrogated Shah, marble trader from Rajasthan Vimal Patni, and Rajasthan minister Gulabchandra Kataria in the case, he said. "There was some incriminating material against the trio. But those statements were not filed in the charge sheet," he said. The defence then moved an application, saying the CBI should produce these statements in the court. The court will hear the application Thursday. Shaikh, a suspected gangster with terror links, was shot dead on November 26, 2005 while he was in custody of Gujarat Police in an alleged fake encounter. His wife Kausar Bi was also allegedly killed later. Prajapati, an aide of Shaikh who was said to be a witness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by police forces of Gujarat and Rajasthan at Chapri in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in December 2006. Of the 38 persons charged by the CBI for the alleged fake encounters, 15 have been discharged. Vijay Mallya at an interview with FT The Bombay High Court Thursday dismissed a plea filed by beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya seeking a stay on a request made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to declare him a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties. The ED had filed an application before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court seeking the 'fugitive' tag for Mallya under the Fugitive Economic Offenders' Act, 2018. Under the provisions of the Act, once a person is declared a fugitive economic offender, then the prosecuting agency has the powers to confiscate the accused persons' properties. Mallya had filed an application in the lower court seeking a stay on the hearing on the ED's plea till November 26 when the appellate tribunal functioning under the PMLA would hear matters filed by a consortium of banks seeking their dues back. The special court had on October 30 rejected Mallya's application, following which the liquor baron had approached the high court. Mallya's counsel Amit Desai Thursday told a division bench of Justices R M Savant and V K Jadhav that his pleas should not be misunderstood as a ploy to run away from the proceedings. "We are also anxious to clear the dues and to see to it that the creditors get their dues back. We only do not want the properties to be seized by the Enforcement Directorate, which would then hamper the process of clearance of dues," Desai said. The high court, however, said it was not inclined to grant any relief. "The application has been filed at the threshold and at a very premature stage when the lower court is still hearing the prosecuting agency's request to declare him (Mallya) a fugitive economic offender," the court said in its order. The Cabinet was on Thursday appraised about a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Russia for promotion of science and technology through exchange of students, researchers and scientists. The pact between the Atal Innovation Mission and Talent and Success Fund of Russia was signed on October 5 during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India. "The MoU will facilitate promotion of science and technology, strong foundation to the collaborative work through exchange of students, teachers, researchers and scientists between India and Russia," an official statement read. The MOU will provide a mechanism for establishing relationships with schools, universities, cultural institutions, science and technology and specialised education institutions, high-tech companies, start ups and innovation centres in both countries. The activities are expected to promote creation of new scientific knowledge, generation of intellectual property, innovations and products development in both the countries. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia in December, it was proposed to invite Russian students to India to work with Indian students. As a prelude to the visit of Putin last month, 10 Russian students visited India to work with 10 Indian students from five Atal Tinkering Lab schools in an 'Innovation Boot Camp' at IIT-Delhi during October 1-4. The students worked on innovative concepts for exploring development of new prototypes in five sectors -- healthcare, space technology, clean technology, agri-technology and smart mobility. The Cabinet was also apprised of an agreement between India and Uzbekistan on cooperation in the field of science, technology and innovation. The agreement was signed on October 1 here in the presence of Modi and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirayoyev. "Signing of the agreement will open a new chapter in bilateral relations, as both sides will now leverage complementary strengths spurred by a significant convergence of mutual interests in science and technology," the statement read. The objective of the pact is to promote cooperation in the fields of science, technology and Innovation between the two countries. The stake-holders will include researchers from scientific organizations, academia, R&D laboratories and industries from India and Uzbekistan. President Ram Nath Kovind, the first Indian head of state to visit Australia, held talks with Prime Minister Scott Morrison to step-up bilateral strategic ties as the two countries signed five agreements on November 22 to boost investments and enhance cooperation. Kovind arrived in Sydney on November 21 on the second leg of his two nation trip. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that during the state visit of President Kovind to Australia, five agreements were exchanged in the presence of Marise Payne, Foreign Minister of Australia and Anantkumar Hegde, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, by High Commissioners of both countries. The first agreement was for cooperation in the area of disability and to deliver services to the differently-abled. The second one was between Invest India and Austrade to facilitate bilateral investment. The third agreement was signed between the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, Ranchi, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation, Canberra, to foster scientific collaboration and innovation. The fourth one between the Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, and the University of Western Australia, Perth, for cooperation in agricultural research and education while the last one was between the Indraprashta Institute of Information Technology, New Delhi, and the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane for a joint Ph.D agreement. Following the meeting with President Kovind, Prime Minister Morrison announced the release of Australia's response to the India Economic Strategy, a blueprint to transform the economic engagement. "This report provides a roadmap for our economic future with India," Morrison said. India is the world's fastest growing major economy and offers more opportunity for Australian business over the next 20 years than any other single market, he said. The Australian government said it endorsed the report and provides in-principle support to its 20 priority recommendations. "Our work will focus on greater economic engagement targeting 10 Indian states and 10 key sectors, while providing practical support for Australian businesses entering or expanding operations in India," Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said. "India and Australia are both committed to strengthening regional institutions and ensure markets remain open and facilitate the free flow of trade, capital and ideas," Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne said. Australia also pinpointed the initial implementation plan with key actions for next one year which will include agreements forged between Austrade and Invest India, the establishment of an Australia-India Food Partnership, opening up new opportunities for agri-tech and service companies and Australia-India Strategic Research Fund grants of up to Australian dollar 500,000. The fund is designed to help researchers solve challenges shared by both nations, including energy storage, marine science and plant genomics. Other actions include the expansion of the Australia-India Mining Partnership at the Indian School of Mines, connecting Australian companies to India's mineral-rich northeastern states, supported by the new Consulate-General in Kolkata, engagement with airlines to increase direct flights through the Australia-India air services agreement. Ministers across education, agribusiness, resources and tourism will oversee progress of the government's response and ongoing implementation of the India Economic Strategy. Morrison along with the ministers for trade and resources will join President Kovind at the launch of the Australian chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry India Business Forum, which will serve as a platform for networking and policy advocacy for Indian businesses in Australia. "I look forward to continue discussing the opportunities presented in the India Economic Strategy with President Kovind, and how we can continue to work together to develop enhanced economic ties," Morrison said. "Today's steps are only the first on a long journey that will see Australia and India grow together," he said. The post of India's chief economic adviser (CEA), which has been vacant since the exit of Arvind Subramanian in August, may be filled by a woman for the first time ever, The Economic Times reported. The government is looking for candidates for the advisory post, with only six months to go for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 5-year term to end. One candidate is Poonam Gupta, lead economist for India at the World Bank, sources told the paper. Gupta was the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chair professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). The current government's ongoing term may be coming to an end, but it wants to appoint a CEA to help weather global crises, the news daily reported. Other names under consideration are Sajjid Chinoy, chief India economist at JPMorgan and Krishnamurthy Subramanian, a professor at the Indian School of Business. If appointed, Gupta will be the third consecutive CEA with World Bank and IMF experience, after Raghuram Rajan and Arvind Subramanian. Subramanian had stepped down from his post in August, citing personal reasons. His term had ended in June 2017, but he was given a year-long extension. After he left, former RBI governor Bimal Jalan led a search committee to look for his successor. While Gupta would be the first woman CEA of India, Ila Patnaik was the principal economic adviser to the government from May 2014 to December 2015. This was when Rajan had moved on to the role of RBI governor and the incoming Modi government hadn't appointed anyone for the role. Indian tourist arrivals to Greece has more than doubled to 38,046 in the first nine months of the current calender year. Around 17,376 Indian tourists visited Greece in the same period of 2017, according to a data by Greece National Tourist Office (GNTO) and Athens International Airport. "Greece as a destination has gained momentum over the years and we are glad to witness the rising interest of Indians for Greece as a popular holiday destination across the country. Our approach is to target the captive audience across various age groups simply by appealing to every kind of travel need," said Konstantinos Tsegas, secretary general, GNTO. He said, GNTO has leveraged diverse platforms based on specific characteristics of the Indian market. The strategy, according to Tsegas, is to also promote 365-day tourism in Greece and create awareness about lesser known cities of Thessaloniki, Xanthi and Kavala, which have great geophysical, historical and cultural importance, along with Athens. "We are closely working with our partners in India for growth across segments like families, FITS (first time travellers segment), MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events), destination weddings, honeymoon and films," he said. Greece had registered an overall 15.5 million tourist arrivals in 2017 and 14.6 million in 2016, of which 9.7 per cent travellers were from India each year, he added. Telangana Chief Minister and Telugu Rashtra Samithi (TRS) K Chandrashekar Rao TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao alleged on Thursday both the BJP and Congress indulged in centralisation of power at the cost of ignoring interests of the states. The caretaker Telangana Chief Minister urged the people to vote his party back to power in the December seven assembly elections and also make it victorious in next year's Lok Sabha polls to make the Centre agree to the state's demands. Addressing campaign meetings at Ichhoda, Nirmal, Armoor, Khanapur and Bhainsa, Rao said the NDA government did not cooperate though the state government had sent assembly resolutions seeking increase in reservation for Scheduled Tribes and Muslims. "The Centre has kept with it (resolutions). That's why I appeal to you. The Congress or BJP, they don't solve these problems. They cannot do it. They don't want to do it. All power should be centralised in Delhi, wield influence (on states). That is the attitude of these parties," he said TRS has to play a role in national politics as well, Rao said. "Not only assembly elections today. Tomorrow, in parliament elections also, if we win all MP seats, then only we can bend Delhi's neck," he said. A "federal front" needs to come to power at the Centre for protecting the states' rights and to address their problems. Rao said he has nothing much to lose even if the TRS was defeated in the coming elections. It is the state that suffers, he added. "If the TRS loses, there is nothing much I lose. What is there. (We) will work hard if win. Otherwise, (we) will take rest at home... Will do farming or something. But, who will lose? Telangana state. People," he said. Speaking at Nirmal, Rao referred to AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi's allegation that a Congress nominee offered Rs 25 lakh to his party to cancel a rally proposed to be addressed by him and said "Asaduddin Owaisi would not be sold, not for Rs 25 lakh but even for Rs 25 crore". AIMIM and TRS are working together, he said. The Congress candidate A Maheshwar Reddy had rejected the allegation by Owaisi and dared him to prove the charge made at a public meeting on Monday. In his rallies, Rao spoke extensively on the various welfare schemes of his government and fresh promises, including free power, investment support and insurance schemes to farmers, eye screening programme for all citizens and increase in social security pensions. Rao, who has been critical against TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu, asked people whether Telangana still needs Naidu who is opposed to irrigation projects in the state (in his capacity as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister). Dismissing Rao's allegations, Revanth Reddy, Working President of the Congress in Telangana, asked how can Telangana have problems with Andhra Pradesh which is a lower riparian state in water sharing. Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president G A Mir Thursday asked the BJP to either apologise or make public the evidence on its allegations that the PDP-Congress-NC alliance was formed at the behest of Pakistan. "You (the BJP) are in the government, you have all the institutions, the CBI, the NIA, the IB, the Governor and the RAW. Prove (the allegations) before the country if you have any proof or else you have to apologise, Mir told reporters here. The JKPCC president said the BJP was in the habit of making false allegations and labelling others, who do not support them, as anti-nationals. This has become the BJP's habit that those who support it are nationalists and those who do not support its wrong principles and policies are dubbed as anti-nationals and pro-Pakistani. Who has given you this right? Mir asked. The Congress leader also questioned the BJP's central leaders about their association with the separatist-turned-mainstream leader, Sajjad Gani Lone. Mir said he wanted to ask the BJP when did the combination it was pursuing and the person (lone) whom it was projecting got de-linked from the Pakistan intelligence agency ISI. "Have you taken a certificate for him?" he asked. "When someone supports you and praises you, you think he is a nationalist, otherwise not. When you make such allegations against a mainstream party, which has members elected under the Constitution, the country will question you, Mir said. The JKPCC president also questioned the BJP on its allegations that the NC-PDP-Congress combination did not represent the Jammu and Ladakh regions of the state, saying the ruling party surrendered before the Kashmir-centric parties for forming government in the state. You talk about Jammu and Ladakh. If this combination (NC-PDP-Congress) would have been allowed, it had an equal composition from the two regions. Did you (BJP) propose a single candidate as a chief ministerial candidate when you got majority in Jammu region? Or, did you propose a chief ministerial candidate for any combination? You (BJP) surrendered before a Kashmir-centric party (PDP) for forming the government and even now your plan (for forming government) was via Kashmir (with Lone). I would have appreciated you, had you shown any courage and brought forward a NJP face from Jammu, he said. Mir added there were no regional concerns for the Congress as all the three regions were same for it. We have the representation from all three regions of the state. I question you (BJP) why don't you declare a CM face from Jammu to be the party's chief ministerial candidate, he said. On Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik's decision to dissolve the assembly, Mir said the decision was "undemocratic". The governor took the decision in a hurry and in a non-democratic manner which has cast aspersions on his institution and his administration as well as the whole system of the country, he said. He accused the governor of facilitating the Lone-led combination's attempts for government formation by keeping the assembly in suspended animation for long. Perhaps, there was some design and the governor was facilitating this combination and waiting with a red carpet for it. This combination visibly had less than 30 MLAs along with the BJP. Wherefrom would they have got the numbers?," Mir asked. "IT is a common knowledge that they were targeting other mainstream parties like PDP to break them. The governor was directly as well as indirectly facilitating that, he said. Mir said the three parties NC, PDP and the Congress had come together for the interests of the state specially at a time when the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was under threat. Asked if the Congress would take a legal route to challenge the governor's decision, the JKPCC president said while his party would not do so, it would support the PDP if it decides to do so. We will support the PDP completely if it chooses to take the legal course of action, he said. Kota: Congress President Rahul Gandhi addresses a public meeting in Kota, Rajasthan, Wednesday, Oct 24, 2018. (PTI Photo) (PTI10_24_2018_000224B) Elections in Mizoram are just around the corner and with each passing day, the poll battle is intensifying. The two major parties Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters. Recently, while addressing a public gathering in Champhai, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said if voted to power, the BJP will destroy the culture and language of Mizoram. He even accused the Mizo National Front (MNF) of helping BJP. The RSS-BJP believe that one idea should be imposed on top of India. They want to destroy the culture, language and expression of different people of India. They do this by dividing communities and pitting them against one another, he said. Mizoram is the lone bastion of Congress in the Northeast. By winning elections in Mizoram, the BJP is looking to remove Congress presence from the whole region. The party, in their own words, is aiming to achieve a Congress-mukt (free) Northeast (and consequently, Bharat). Meanwhile, BJP is yet to taste any success in the state so far. One major reason for this is the partys Hindutva image. The majority population in Mizoram comprises Christians, more than 80 percent, and reports suggest that Mizos view BJP with skepticism. Party candidates are making efforts to dispel myths about BJP being Satanic for the Christians. Experts are of the opinion that toppling the present Lal Thanhawla-led Congress government would be a Herculean task for any party. The party has been in power since 2008. In the 2008 assembly poll, the Congress won 32 out of the 40 seats with 39 percent vote share. Then in 2013, the Congress increased both its seat count and vote share to 34 and 45 percent, respectively. While BJPs chances to win Mizoram polls look weak, it is most likely that the party will join hands with MNF to gain foothold in the state. While it is ruling Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, it supports coalition governments in Meghalaya and Nagaland. Hence, the alliance picture looks strong for BJP. In his speech, Gandhi had said in the the last five years, agriculture and horticulture grew by 5 percent in Mizoram. Cultivation of pineapples increased by 900 percent. BJP has promised to include Mizo, the official language of Mizoram, in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The party has also promised rice at Rs 1 per kg, home to every homeless family and congestion-free Aizawl in three years and pothole-free, all-weather roads in the next six months. The manifesto was released by party general secretary Ram Madhav in Aizawl. Will Mizoram come into the BJP fold like all the other northeastern states or will it hold out against the saffron wave? Key questions with big answers await Mizoram that goes to hustings on November 28. Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on November 21 dissolved the state's Legislative Assembly. Justifying his decision to dissolve the assembly, Governor Malik on November 22 told News18: "An unworkable alliance cannot be given rights to make the government. It was my responsibility to save the state from a mess." Here are the highlights of what took place on November 22: The development came shortly after former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti tweeted her letter to the Governor, claiming she was unable to reach him through phone or fax. Mufti had written to the Governor stating she had support of 56 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs). This included 12 MLAs from the Congress, 15 MLAs from the National Conference (NC), and PDPs own 29 MLAs. Farooq Abdullah-led NC was expected to provide outside support to the PDP-Congress alliance. The state assembly has a total of 87 seats, with a halfway mark of 44. Meanwhile, Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone staked a counter claim to form the government. Lone also tweeted a screenshot of him having sent a copy of the letter sent to the Governors personal assistant through instant messaging application WhatsApp. Lone claimed he had the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has 25 MLAs. He also claimed that he had the support of 18 other members of the state legislature, which would take his total just above the halfway mark. Reactions Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter: "JKNC has been pressing for Assembly dissolution for five months now. It ca not be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba [sent a] letter staking claim, the order to dissolve the assembly suddenly appears." In a series of tweets, Mufti said: "In my twenty six-year-old career as a politician, I thought I had seen it all! But like they say never say never! Nevertheless, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to @OmarAbdullah and @Ambikasoni4 ji for helping us achieve the seemingly impossible." "Since the past five months, regardless of political affiliations, we shared the view that the state assembly be dissolved immediately to avert horse trading and defections," Mufti said in another tweet. "Who would have thought that the very idea of a grand coalition would give such jitters," she said. Mufti also took a jibe at the Governors office saying that in "today's age of technology, it is very strange that the fax machine at His Excellency Governor's residence did not receive our fax but swiftly issued one regarding the assembly dissolution." "And I never thought I would be retweeting anything you said while agreeing with you. Politics truly is a strange world. Good luck for the battle ahead. Once again the wisdom of the people will prevail," Omar Abdullah said replying to Mufti's tweet. The BJP said the best option in the state was to have fresh assembly polls at the earliest. It also slammed the proposed alliance of opposition parties as a "combination of terror-friendly parties". BJP said on Twitter that the border state cannot afford horse-trading and instability, given its security scenario. "The proposed alliance between the Congress and the PDP broke up even before it was formed. They have taken contradictory positions on dissolution. One supports it and the other opposes it," the BJP said. EC to examine situation The Election Commission of India (EC) has said that it will examine whether the model code of conduct can be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir even before fresh elections are announced there. The poll panel had recently decided that in states where assemblies are dissolved prematurely, the model code will come into force immediately. The poll code, which bars the caretaker government and the party in power from taking policy decisions, otherwise comes into force on the day polls are announced by the EC. Background In June, the ruling BJP-PDP alliance was called off by the former. Subsequently, the assembly was placed under suspended animation and Governor's Rule was imposed in the state. The six-month term of Governor's Rule is due to end on December 19, after which President's Rule was to be imposed in case no government is formed. This is because the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution has no provision for extension of Governor's Rule. Governor Malik had told PTI in October that he was in favour of holding early elections in the state as he did not think a popular government could be formed out of the present House. Mumbai: Former Jammu & Kashmir, chief minister, Omar Abdullah speaks during the United Nations young change makers conclave in Mumbai on Saturday, Oct 27, 2018 (PTI Photo/Shashank Parade)(PTI10_27_2018_000177B) NC leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday asked Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik to make public reports about horse-trading in government formation in the state, saying people had a right to know who was buying legislators. His demand came after Malik, defending his decision to dissolve the state assembly, claimed "extensive horse-trading" was going on and it would have been impossible for parties with "opposing political ideologies" to form a stable government. On Wednesday, PDP with the support of the National Conference (NC) and the Congress staked claim for forming government, but their efforts were cut short as Malik decided to dissolve the assembly, which was in suspended animation since June 19. "If the governor has himself accepted that MLAs were being bought over, money was changing hands, people should know who was doing it. If the governor has such reports, he should make them public. "These are not our accusations. It was the governor who said horse-trading was happening and money was changing hands. We want to know where did this money come from? We want to know at whose behest this money was being given and who was being bought?" Abdullah told reporters here. He said allegations of use of money and horse-trading cannot apply to the NC-PDP-Congress grand alliance, Malik is referring to another letter in which Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone had staked claim for government formation. "The governor said horse-trading and use of money for engineering defections had to be stopped. In our case, three parties (PDP, Congress and NC) came together. This accusation does not stand against us that money was used here. "Following our letter (PDP president Mehbooba Mufti's letter to governor), another letter was sent to the governor claiming support of 16 or 18 MLAs. The governor has said on this letter that this is horse-trading and money was changing hands. This cannot be ignored," he said without naming Lone. The Raj Bhawan had issued a statement Wednesday explaining why the governor had dissolved the assembly. The NC leader said, "The governor gave reasons for not accepting the claim by the PDP. He said parties were different political ideologies were coming together. Did you ask this question in 2015 when the BJP and the PDP tied up? That time it was dubbed as coming together of north pole and south pole, you had no problems then." "Today, you are telling other parties that you cannot come together even though the difference on some important issues between PDP, NC and Congress are small compared to BJP and PDP," Abdullah said. He said as far as the NC is consider, power was never its aim and it had made clear that it does not want to be part of the government but lend outside support to safeguard Article 35A of the Constitution before the Supreme Court. "We weren't going to be part of this government. We wanted that Article 35A be defended in the Supreme Court to protect the state's special status. We want to bring the state out of the present mess, knowing fully well that the NC would have suffered the most politically. But we kept party interests on the back burner in the state's larger interest," he said. On allegations by some BJP leaders that the alliance was formed at Pakistan's behest, Abdullah asked BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav to produce evidence or apologise. "If you have the courage Ram Madhav, bring the proof of your accusation to the people's court. Let us see where you stand. Stop this politics of cowardice. "We have seen a lot of people like you who indulge in shoot and scoot politics. You level baseless allegations and then lie low. You should either give proof of allegations or apologise," he said. BJP leaders are disrespecting the sacrifice of nearly 3,000 NC workers, who were killed for refusing to do Pakistan's bidding, the former chief minister said. "I am sorry Madhav, you are disrespecting sacrifices of my 3,000 colleagues who refused to dance to the tunes of Pakistan. They died because they did not take instructions from across the border. "More of my workers have died in these 30 years than your workers have ever died. You are asking us about sacrifices and what we have done for the country. What we have done we know it," he said. To a question on relevance of mainstream political parties in J-K when they could not form government even with the required numbers, he said the dissolution of the assembly showed the relevance of such parties. "Madhav is not unhappy over PDP, Congress and NC coming together. He is unhappy that his dream of forming government in the state remains unfulfilled. If any thing, that shows our relevance," Abdullah said. If his party would challenge the assembly's dissolution in court, he said the NC did not have a reason. "We don't have any basis on which to challenge the governor's decision. The primary party that can challenge the decision is the party which had sent the letter (staking claim for government formation). The letter went from the PDP to the extent that the NC had verbally committed its support and we stand by that decision," he said. In a sarcastic remark over non-functioning of the Raj Bhawan's fax machine due to which Mehbooba's and Lone's letters could not be delivered to Malik, he said, "This is the first time that a fax machine has scuttled democracy." "Only outgoing fax, no incoming fax. This fax machine needs to be investigated", he said. Rank 1 | State/Union Territory: Mizoram | Happiness score: 3.57 The Election Commission has decided to hold polling for Bru refugees in Mizoram's Mamit district, even as the leaders of the tribal community maintained that they fear for their safety in their home state. The place of voting for 11,232 Bru voters, who are residing in neighbouring Tripura, has been a bone of contention, leading to the replacement of the then chief electoral officer, SB Shashank, less than two weeks ahead of the election to the 40-member House. Shashank had been accused of facilitating voting by Bru voters in the relief camps of Tripura. "We have been informed by the Election Commission that the polling for the Brus must be arranged at Kanhmun village inside Mizoram territory. We have started our preparations for that," an official in the CEO office told PTI. Kanhmun is an interstate border village between Mizoram and Tripura. A written order to this effect is likely to be received by Mizoram CEO Ashish Kundra in a day or two, the official said. "In the last three years, there was no revision of electoral rolls. This time we did it. The Bru refugees are registered in nine Assembly seats and we'll place different voting machines accordingly at the special booth in the village," he said. Kundra had on November 20 visited Naisingpara -- the largest Bru camp in Tripura -- to meet the refugees and inform them about the EC's decision. An election official, who accompanied the CEO to Tripura, said the Bru leaders claimed that the voter turnout from the community might be zero if the EC did not change its decision to hold polling in Kahnmun. "Kundra tried explaining to them that the decision was taken by the Election Commission, but the Bru refugees said they fear for their lives in Mizoram. They also cited various reasons, including bad-road condition, to justify their demand for polling-booth arrangement in the relief camps," he added. The six camps of the Bru refugees are located between 2-10 km from the interstate border between Tripura and Mizoram. The highest number of Brus has been registered in Mamit district, which has Hachhek, Dampa and Mamit seats, with 14 per cent of the total voters being refugees. It is followed by Kolasib district, with 3.5 per cent of its total voters being Brus. The district has Tuirial, Kolasib and Serlui Assembly seats. In Lunglei district, less than one per cent of the total voters are Bru refugees. Earlier this month, the Election Commission had removed Shashank as the state chief electoral officer, accepting the demands of civil society groups, NGOs, student organisations and political parties The agitators organised dharnas in front of the CEO's office against Shashank's reported move to facilitate voting by Bru voters in the relief camps of Tripura. They demanded that the Brus, who had fled Mizoram following ethnic clashes in 1997, would have to come to the state to cast their votes as committed by the ECI in 2014. Meanwhile, the NGO Coordination Committee -- an apex body of civil societies and students' organisations -- has urged the political parties to refrain from arranging transport for Bru voters on the polling day on November 28. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav (R) | In April 2014, while opposing death penalty for three men convicted in a gang rape case, Yadav said, "boys will be boys, they commit mistakes." (Image: Reuters) Openly batting for the party he founded, Mulayam Singh Yadav Thursday asked Samajwadi Party workers to create a situation in which no government can be formed at the Centre without its support. The leader is often seen balancing his relations with son Akhilesh Yadav who now heads the SP and his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, who has floated a rival party. Both parties organised separate events Thursday to mark the patriarch's 79th birthday. "I ask you to fix my programmes at the commissionerate level, I will be there, he told SP office bearers, hinting at his willingness to campaign for the party. I ask you all to take a pledge that in the days to come, besides forming the government in UP, we have to create such a situation in Delhi that no government can be formed without the SP. This is my request to you," he said at the SP headquarters where he also cut a cake. Asking SP workers to adopt the habit of reading and writing, he said, There is collection of my speeches in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and as a defence minister, and the workers should read them." He said when he was defence minister, we chased away China and Pakistan. It needs courage, he said. You all should follow the path of justice and stand up wherever there is injustice against anyone," he said. Party president Akhilesh Yadav was not present at the event as he is campaigning in the Madhya Pradesh elections, but he tweeted a photograph with father Mulayam Singh Yadav wishing him on his birthday. "I congratulate 'Netaji' on his birthday. He taught us all to follow Gandhiji's path of truth and non-violence, Lohiaji's ideology of identifying ills to remove them and also that trust is the biggest wealth in human relations," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister tweeted. Shivpal Yadav's newly formed Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) celebrated the birthday at its headquarter in Lucknow, and in the districts. PSPL workers organised blood donation, sweets distribution and other events, observing the day as "Dharma Nirpekshta Divas" (Secularism Day). The party also organised a wrestling 'dangal' in Mulayam Singh Yadav's native Saifai in Etawah district, honouring the leader as a former wrestler. Shivpal Yadav was there as chief guest. While wishing his brother on his birthday, he reiterated that he had formed the new party with Mulayam Singh Yadav's blessings. Both factions have repeatedly claimed that Yadav's "blessings" are with them. Shivpal Yadav has announced that the PSPL will contest all Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, except Mainpuri from where his brother is likely to contest. Sujata Anandan On November 18, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that his government has decided to give a quota in jobs and education institutions to Marathas. This would be given under a new category called the Socially and Educationally Backward Class. The question of reservation and quota is entangled in a complex mesh of social and economic realities. Thus, it is important to know the background and understand why Maratha reservation is a tricky move. The Marathas, Kunbis and Malis have been agrarian communities of Maharashtra for centuries. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule was a Mali, so is Chhagan Bhujbal. While Phule in his time was treated with contempt by the upper castes (though the Phules were florists to Peshwa kings), Bhujbal today is a powerful leader of the masses not to be trifled with as Marathas try to edge into the Other Backward Class (OBC) space. Over the years, Malis have carved out a separate block for themselves among the OBCs and are no longer economically or socially crushed. It is ironic that Marathas and Kunbis, who have been jostling with each other ever since the early 20th century for either parity or recognition as the warrior class of Maharashtra, now want to be recognised as a backward class. Although today the Marathas may be seen as the ruling class of Maharashtra, it was a hard won battle after Independence. The Brahmins and the Peshwa kings did not accord Marathas the status of Kshatriyas (ruling class), instead saw them as a lower class. Chhatrapati Shivaji too faced this discrimination when Brahmin priests refused to coronate him and he had to send for pundits from Varanasi to do the honours. The Kunbis wished to be seen as Marathas or a sub-sect of the Marathas, who in turn resisted their bid for parity with the Marathas, though they were all farmers. Today, in a reversal of roles, the Marathas (who are landholders themselves) have no qualms being on par with the Kunbis and benefit from everything the government has to offer reservation being the biggest among it. Now that is causing tremendous conflict with the OBCs, who until now have been seen as a lower class by the Marathas. In seeking to be a sub-caste within the OBCs, the Marathas risk losing their ruling class status in Maharashtra. The Kunbis, on the other hand, are indifferent to the status change. This change in social dynamics is entirely economy-related. While the Malis (now classified among the OBCs) were always an underprivileged class (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule coined the word 'Dalit' which means crushed), the Marathas and the Kunbis used to have substantial landholdings and wealth in the early 20th century and considered themselves a class above the Dalits and the OBCs. Today as the Marathas and Kunbis face an agrarian crisis and resultant economic deprivation, and are being classified as a socially and educationally deprived class by the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission (MSBCC), the class lines are being obliterated. However, caste conflicts threaten to return as the share of the reservation pie is limited. Despite the Maharashtra governments announcement of Maratha reservation, there is no celebration as yet because the decision will need judicial endorsement. In 2014, when a similar attempt was made by the Congress-NCP government, the courts did not look kindly upon the constitutional violations in this regard. This is because reservation cannot be given to a particular caste per se. It is given to a group of castes or tribes, as we see with the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and even the OBCs. While a section of the Marathas are wary at losing their upper caste status in the pursuit of reservations, there are others who are well aware that these cannot be had except by a class downgrade. However, experts such as Sudhir Gavhane, a member of the advisory council of the Peoples University, Bhopal, who made an intervention when the MSBCC sought his opinion on the issue, are of the view that the Constitution is flexible and no caste in India has been given an iron-clad status. Caste and class, while not being mutually exclusive, are interlinked: economic depravity need not result in social depravity, while social depravity has a direct impact on economic well-being. the Marathas need not feel downgraded because class is fluid in this country. We were ruled by Islamic kings for 600 years but what is the status of Muslims today? They are equally socially and economically backward. The Marathas are heading that way too. In this context, he says, it becomes inevitable to lift the Marathas out of their 3D status of Degradation of their land holdings, of Distress in the agriculture sector and resultant Deprivation in their economic status. If the Maharashtra governments decision stands judicial scrutiny it will light the pathway for the Patels in Gujarat, the Gujjars in Rajasthan and the Jats in Haryana who are identically placed as Marathas in terms of past privilege and current economic deprivation. It will be a long haul requiring several constitutional amendments. The question is: given the limited time the governments both at the state and Centre have for their term to end and the risk of antagonising their upper caste vote base, will they have the stomach to see it through? (Sujata Anandan is a senior journalist and author. Views are personal) December 07, 2018 / 05:01 PM IST The caste dynamics in the state and the race for reservations Rajasthan is a land of myriad colours, and this pluralism extends to the communities and ethnicities that make up the population of the state. The state is made up of 89 percent Hindus, 9 percent Muslims while 2 percent belong to other religions. The Scheduled Caste (SC) population is 18 percent, Scheduled Tribe (ST) 13 percent, Jats 12 percent, Gujjars and Rajputs 9 percent each, Brahmins and Minas 7 percent each. Among these, the Rajputs and the Jats have been at loggerheads ever since the princely states were merged into the Indian Union in 1952. At that time, the princes had fielded a large number of their nominees, and the electorate which was used to being ruled by the kings had voted for them. Click here to read more Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray Thursday said the Ram temple issue is raked up before every election and wondered for how long will people be 'fooled' with the 'mandir wahi banayenge' slogan. Thackeray said that during his visit to Ayodhya on November 25, he would "seek an answer" as to how many more elections will people be fooled with the slogan. The Sena chief collected soil from Shivneri fort in Junnar tehsil of Pune district, where Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born. He told reporters that he will carry the soil to Ayodhya during his visit on Sunday. Thackeray had announced during the Shiv Sena's Dussehra rally in Mumbai that he will visit Ayodhya on 25 November and "question" Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of the construction of the Ram temple. "The soil where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born carries with it sentiments of all Hindus and collecting these sentiments will speed up the process of the construction of Ram temple," he said. "The issue of Ram temple is raked up before every election. I will seek an answer as to for how many more elections will the people be fooled with the slogan Mandir wahi banayenge," he said. The slogan is used by Hindutva groups, who aim to build a Ram temple on the site of the demolished Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Asked if permissions were granted for his public rally in Ayodhya, Thackeray said his original programme includes visit to the site to seek Lord Ram's blessings, as announced in the rally. "Seers there had expressed their desire that I should visit the site, so I will take their blessings and also take part in the evening aarti on the banks of the Sarayu river," he said. In a bid to intensify his party's campaign for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Thackeray has given a new slogan-- 'Pehle mandir, fir sarkaar' (first the temple, then the government). A Sena functionary said a special train has been booked to ferry Shiv Sena members to Ayodhya for Thackeray's visit. Women party workers and Yuva Sena cadres have been asked not to come to Ayodhya for want of accommodation, he said. Raigarh: Congress President Rahul Gandhi waves at the crowd during an election rally at Kharsia, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, Tuesday, Nov 13, 2018. (PTI Photo) (PTI11_13_2018_000140B) Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked BJP chief Amit Shah over a key CBI investigator's testimony in a Mumbai court on a alleged fake encounters case, following which Union Minister Smriti Irani accused him of being a "lie machine". Gandhi used a news report quoting the chief CBI investigator into the "fake encounters" of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleging that Shah was a "key conspirator" in the case. He also took a swipe at the BJP, saying it is "completely appropriate" for the party to have such a person as its chief, who has been called a "key conspirator" in an investigative officer's testimony in court. "The Gita says you can never escape the truth and so it has always been. Sandeep Tamgadge has called Amit Shah a 'key conspirator' in his testimony. It's completely appropriate for the BJP to have such a man as its President," he said on Twitter. Irani hit back saying, "JhoothKiMachine" Rahul Gandhi is back in action. He knows that after following due process, court discharged Mr Shah in 2014. Court had also held that Amit bhai was implicated by CBI for political reasons." "Will Rahul answer who in the UPA ordered this political witch-hunt," she asked. "Does National Herald Loot 'Bail Dharak' Rahul Gandhi not remember that he had dispatched Sibal to challenge Amitbhai's discharge and petition was summarily dismissed," she asked in a tweet. Irani also hit out at Gandhi's Gita barb, saying, "Am convinced - had Mr Gandhi opened the Gita even once in his life, he wouldn't be indulging in such brazen lies." Chief investigation officer (CIO) Sandeep Tamgade deposed in a CBI court that BJP chief Amit Shah and three IPS officers were the main conspirators behind the alleged fake encounters of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati. He, however, conceded that that his claim was not supported by any documentary evidence in the charge sheet filed by him. "From the investigation done by us, we found the principal conspirators were Amit Shah, D G Vanzara (former Deputy Inspector-General Gujarat Police), Rajkumar Pandian (SP, Intelligence Bureau) and M N Dinesh (IPS officer, Rajasthan Police)," Tamgade said. Mahboobnagar: Telangana Caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao during a Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) public meeting, in Mahboobnagar, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (PTI Photo) (PTI11_21_2018_000196B) TRS president and caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, on November 21, alleged that both the Congress and BJP tried to wield control on states by usurping their rights and said he would make efforts to see that a non-Congress, non-BJP government was formed at the Centre. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief was addressing a campaign rally for the December 7 state assembly polls. "BJP and Congress are brothers. One is saffron flag and another is tricolour flag. There is no other difference. By converting states into municipalities, by usurping state's rights, they are wielding control in a such a way that justice is not done to people in the states," he said. "If that situation is to be changed, regional parties' influence will have to increase on Centre. Definitely, nobody can stop even if they come in the way. Let us make an effort after this elections to get a non-Congress, non-BJP government at the Centre," he said. Such an effort would not only help the state but also benefit the entire country, he said. Influencing national politics did not mean that he would shift to Delhi, he said. He also criticised the BJP-led NDA government for allegedly not agreeing to the state's demand to increase reservation for STs. "We are a new state. The population of our tribals increased, I am asking what is the problem for Narendra Modi, to give our reservation. Is it a disease?" he said. Rao, who addressed several campaign meetings on the day, stepped up attack on Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for allegedly trying to hurt Telangana's interests. "Voting for Naidu (TDP) amounts to stalling Palamuru lift irrigation project in Telangana. It is the Congress leaders who are bringing Naidu on their shoulders," he claimed. The TDP is part of the "grand alliance" which also includes the Congress, CPI and TJS for the Assembly polls. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttam Kumar Reddy dismissed Rao's attack on Naidu. "Did Naidu come in the way of implementing TRS' election promises like three acres of land to Dalits, construction of double bedroom houses for poor, increasing reservation for Muslims and tribals?" Reddy asked. "Why is Rao, who had earlier asked why should he be concerned about the alliances of others, is now worried about alliances of other parties?" the Congress leader said. About 87 percent of cars in India run less than 30 kms a day and Volvo believes that plug-in hybrids (PHEV) are the best stop-gap solution before moving to fully electric. Volvo Cars India Managing Director Charles Frump said today that it will become the first car maker to locally assemble the plug-in hybrid car in the country, which will go into production in late 2019. Here are the excerpts from the interview with Frump. Q. What is the big announcement for Volvo? A. Volvo will be the first company to locally assemble a plug-in hybrid vehicle in India. That is something we are very proud of. We had the CBU XC90 PHEV since 2016 and this was the natural next step. Q. But what gave you the confidence of going ahead with the assembly? A. The vision we have is that we need to be the leaders in electrification. To start bringing the products and and help customers understand the plug-in hybrid technology and how this will help us bridge a full battery electric vehicle we need to start, with hard core products that consumers can touch and feel. There is a bit of government support, not very much, that certainly helps. As a company who is moving towards battery electric technology we need to start early. Q. What has been the response to the PHEV XC90? A. It has been quite good. We have had limited volumes (considering) it is a completely built unit. The technology is not inexpensive so brining it here we put it on the highest end of the product portfolio. It was a good way to test the waters. Q. Do you expect sales to go up from here? A. Absolutely. In addition to coming in CKD we also will be expanding the line-up so instead of being only on Excellence (variant) we will also have inscription seven-seater. Q. No manufacturer assembles any PHEVs in India. What were the challenges to do that? A. Part of it is the business equation. We needed to be sure that we sell enough cars to make the business case. We are there. As more and more people buy PHEVs hopefully there the government will take a note of it and have a policy that is more friendly. Q. But the government wants everyone to move to electric. A. The idea behind this is to reduce emission. PHEVs take a dramatic step to do just that. But there is no assistance for PHEVs in the current policy. We are quite happy with the governments direction of pure electric future. How we get there is not surprisingly challenging for planning purposes. At Volvo we think PHEVs can become that interim solution. Q. Where else is the PHEV XC90 assembled outside India? A. We assemble it in Sweden and Malaysia and India is the only third country to do it. Q. Was there any additional investment you had to make for it? A. Yes there was an investment but how much was it is not something we would publicly share. Q. What is the roadmap for PHEV for the next three years? A. We are looking at a line-up of four launches of PHEVs over the next three years. We have already announced the line up of two battery electric vehicles. We will be looking at India to localise of these cars. Q. The price of the XC90 PHEV includes the battery charging socket? A. Yes, it will have two installations - one at home and one at the place of work. Q. Do you intend to stand out from the crowd by doing this? A. Starting from 2019 all the cars we launch will be electrified. We are very much standing out from the crowd. We see it as big opportunity. The numbers (of PHEV) are going to be very small probably single digit. Q. The 10 months to October has been good for Volvo. Where do you hope to end by end of the year? A. We are on a good roll, sales are up 40 percent. We did a 27 percent growth last year. It is safe to say that it is a very challenging market and we see the credit tightening being a big challenge. We are blessed to have strong demand for our products. Q. Do you think discounting will be a very intimidating factor next year? A. We have largely not played the discounting game (so far). Perhaps it is a volume detriment to us but it is a long term investment and nobody wins in this. Software services major Infosys will look at more acquisitions and is looking to expand into markets in Continental Europe, chief executive Salil Parekh has said. In an interview to business daily Mint, Infosys CEO said the company is within its growth and margin forecast range and that the "real test" for the firm would be over the next 3-5 years. The company, which has made two acquisitions under Parekh one of marketing and advertising agency Wongdoody, and the other Fluido, a Salesforce consulting partner firm is open to more acquisitions, he told the paper. Among continental European geographies, Parekh mentioned markets such as Germany and Switzerland. On the issue of engaging with co-founder N R Narayana Murthy, Parekh said he has a "very good equation" and meets the industry stalwart socially. He also said Murthy and him have not discussed Infosys, but the latter's work in the social sector. The Bengaluru- based firm has also beefed up its sales capacity in the last two quarters, increasing the number of go-to-market sales individuals by 5 percent on an annual basis, the CEO said. Parekh further said Infosys had not done a good job of handling "employee changes in terms of compensation properly" and was addressing the issue of handling senior level exits through internal appointments. Parekh is also open to hiring externally, he told Mint. Days after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' announcement of quota for Maratha community through a special category, Maratha leaders are seeking opinions on the legality of the decision. According to a report by The Indian Express, two leaders belonging to the Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM), an umbrella organisation of all Maratha outfits, have been consulting constitutional and legal experts in New Delhi to understand their views on the decision. "We want to know whether the move can stand judicial scrutiny or will get struck down in the Supreme Court" Rajendra Kondhare, one of the MKM leaders, told the newspaper. Kondhare added that the "best option" that the organisation comes up with will be shared with the state government. "We are trying to get in touch with lawyers who have dealt with the reservation issue in the Supreme Court, to seek their view on how the government will be able to implement its decision of creating a separate category," the leader told the newspaper. Justice (retired) PB Sawant, who was a part of the bench that delivered the Indra Sawhney verdict, was also consulted by the MKM. "As per my knowledge, the SC bench had held that the backward classes mentioned in Article 16(4) of the Constitution are not similar to the socially backward classes in Article 15 (4)," Kondhare said. "These are Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Article 16(4) permits the classification of backward classes into more backward classes," he added. The leader admitted that "different leaders have different views" regarding the issue within the organisation. "... Nobody is trying to understand that in the 32 percent OBC quota, there are 350 castes. which means there is competition and a fight for merit Kondhare said. Another Maratha leader, Maruti Bhapkar, told the newspaper that the state government will face trouble implementing its decision by the way of a special category. "I have been discussing this aspect with legal luminaries well-versed in reservation issues. Their view is that the Constitution recognises reservation only through SC, ST and OBC category and does not recognise the fourth category," Bhapkar told the newspaper. "Therefore, the best available option is granting reservation through the existing OBC quota. In the existing 32 percent quota, the government can specify 16 percent quota for Marathas in category A or B," Bhapkar said, adding that many experts believe that this is the way the state government will be able to get its decision upheld in the court. Denmark has decided to suspend approvals of weapon and military equipment exports to Saudi Arabia over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the situation in Yemen, its foreign minister said on November 22. The decision was taken after recent discussions with other foreign ministers in the European Union, he added. The suspension also includes some dual-use technologies, a reference to materials that might have military applications. Donald Trump US President Donald Trump hinted on Thursday he may visit Afghanistan, scene of one of America's longest wars but a country he has yet to visit almost two years into his presidency. Delivering a Thanksgiving Day holiday message by teleconference to troops in Afghanistan, Trump told a U.S. Air Force general he would see him back in the United States, before adding: "Or maybe I'll even see you over there. You never know what's going to happen." Recent U.S. commanders-in-chief have routinely visited troops in active war zones but such trips are typically cloaked in secrecy for security reasons. Trump has not made such a visit so far, though Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise trip to Bagram Air Base last December to visit troops. The United States has some 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, serving in the NATO-led Resolute Support training and advisory mission as well as in separate counter-terrorism operations against militant groups like Islamic State. U.S. troops arrived in 2001 as part of the campaign to topple the Taliban following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Lufthansa's Chief Financial Officer Ulrik Svensson wants to step down from his job at the German carrier, Germany's Manager Magazin said on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Svensson has told colleagues he didn't want to extend his contract which expires in about a year. The 57-year-old, citing personal reasons for his decision, would like to return home to Sweden, the magazine said. Svensson was not immediately available for comment and a Lufthansa spokesman declined to comment on the report. The head of Nokia's mobile networks arm, its largest business unit, is leaving the Finnish company as part of changes designed to position the company for the 5G telecoms era, Nokia said on Thursday. Marc Rouanne, Nokia's head of mobile networks will be replaced by Tommi Uitto, a Finn described by the company as an "expert in radio technologies". Frenchman Rouanne is the second senior executive to leave Nokia within the past few weeks after the head of its patent business, Ilkka Rahnasto, resigned at the beginning of last month. Nokia plans to merge the mobile networks and fixed networks business groups into a new unit called Access Networks which will have a president, who is yet to be named. Mobile networks accounts for around 30 percent of Nokia's revenue. Under Rouanne, it had been in charge of developing and selling new 5G technologies in which operators are only beginning to invest. "By creating a single Access Networks organisation that includes both fixed and mobile, we can improve our customer focus, simplify our management structure, and more efficiently leverage our full portfolio," Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said in a statement. Uitto has been leading mobile networks product sales since Nokia acquired its Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent in 2016 for 15.6 billion euros. Rouanne joined Nokia from Alcatel-Lucent back in 2008. The company's share price was down around 1.7 percent at 0910 GMT. Nokia last month launched a new cost-cutting programme and repeated an ambitious profit forecast, saying operators' demand for 5G networks would gather pace in the remainder of the year. The networks industry -- dominated by Nokia, Ericsson and China's Huawei -- has been battered by years of slowing demand for existing 4G networks and investor doubts over when the benefits from 5G contracts will begin. British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday said that a "good" post-Brexit deal with the EU was "within grasp" and she was determined to deliver it, as the European Commission confirmed an in-principle agreement over trade, security and other issues after Britain leaves the economic bloc. In a statement at Downing Street after briefing her Cabinet over the Political Declaration that supplements the Withdrawal Agreement, or divorce arrangements, with the European Union, May described the minor breakthrough in Brexit negotiations as the right deal for the UK. The UK and the EU expect to use the Political Declaration as the basis for a detailed post-Brexit trade agreement, to be thrashed out during a 21-month transition period already agreed to kick-in after March 29 next year, when Britain is set to formally exit the EU after a referendum in June 2016 in favour of Brexit. "It delivers on the vote of the referendum. It brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws. And it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom," she said in a statement. The agreement reached is between the UK and the European Commission and it will now be up to the 27 leaders of the other EU member-states to examine the draft in the days leading up to the special EU Council meeting on Sunday, when they are expected to formally sign off on the agreement. "The British people want this to be settled. They want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future. That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it," said May, who heads back to Brussels on Saturday for further meetings with European Commission President Jean-Claude ahead of the crucial summit on Sunday. Last week, amid an open war of words from rebelling pro-Brexit Conservative Party MPs, the UK and the EU agreed a 585-page legally-binding withdrawal agreement, covering the UK's GBP 39-billion "divorce bill", citizens' rights after Brexit and the thorny issue of the Northern Ireland "backstop" to be activated to keep the border with EU member-country Ireland open if trade talks with the UK stall at a later stage. The separate, non-legally-binding, Political Declaration sets out broad aspirations for the kind of relationship the UK and EU will have after Brexit. "I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the leaders," European Council President Donald Tusk said in a Twitter statement earlier on Thursday. While May seems to have overcome a brewing rebellion within her own party ranks for the moment, tensions remain over some parts of the withdrawal agreement. Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has said his government is "annoyed" over the issue of Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the Spanish coast, and France is understood to have sought amendments to the wording on fishing rights in UK waters. May stressed she was "confident that on Sunday we will be able to agree a deal for the whole of the United Kingdom family, including Gibraltar". If she is right on that count, the British prime minister then faces the tough task of getting the deal through Parliament where MPs in the House of Commons have already been plotting its defeat. Labour and the other UK Opposition parties have said they will vote against the withdrawal agreement, as have May's partners, the Democratic Unionist Party, who she relies on for her majority in the Commons. Many of her own Conservative MPs are also against it, arguing that it will keep the UK tied too closely to the EU and is not a "proper" Brexit. British Prime Minister Theresa May will make an "emergency statement" to MPs on Thursday, the parliament said after London and Brussels struck a draft deal on post-Brexit ties. "The prime minister will make an emergency statement to the Commons later today," read a tweet on the House of Commons account. The United States and South Korea have scaled down an annual joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on November 21. "Foal Eagle is being reorganised a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis said, adding that it would be "reduced in scope." Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies, and has always infuriated Pyongyang, which condemned it as preparations for invasion. But the drill one of the world's largest field exercises involving 200,000 South Korean and some 30,000 US soldiers was delayed and scaled down last year as diplomatic detente took hold on the peninsula. And following a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would stop holding joint exercises with the South, calling them expensive and "very provocative". Since then the two allies have suspended most of their major joint exercises including the Ulchi Freedom Guardian in August and Vigilant Ace, slated for next month. But more recently progress in talks with the North has stalled, with the US pushing to maintain sanctions against it until its "final, fully verified denuclearisation" and Pyongyang condemning US demands as "gangster-like." Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South to defend it from its nuclear-armed neighbour, which invaded in 1950. But differences are beginning to emerge between Seoul and Washington. The South's dovish president Moon Jae-in has long favoured engagement with the North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. He has dangled large investment and joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearisation, while the US has been adamant pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programs. Seoul's defence ministry said Mattis' comments were in line with their shared view on the need to back diplomacy -- but a spokeswoman added that the question of whether the exercises will take place at all was "still under discussion." Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the South's state-run Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said reducing the exercise was largely expected. "The Trump administration claims Pyongyang's suspension of nuclear and missile tests as the key achievement of its North Korea policy and the joint drills have been postponed as a kind of corresponding measure," Kim told AFP. "As long as talks continue, postponing or reducing major US-South Korea joint exercises has become a fait accompli," he said. Earlier this month Pyongyang threatened to "seriously" consider returning to its weapons drive if Washington did not end its tough economic sanctions. And last month, the North's state media carried a near 1,700-word commentary accusing the US of playing a "double game", implicitly criticising Trump for comments aimed at barring Seoul from lifting sanctions against Pyongyang. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on November 21 defended Washington's strategy on the peninsula, noting that North Korea had halted missile launches and had not conducted a nuclear test in over a year. "And I do hope there'll be a summit between the two leaders early in 2019," he said in an interview with KCMO radio. Pyongyang has declared its nuclear and missile development complete, saying it has no further need for testing. Trump has also said he hopes to have a second meeting with Kim early next year, but talks between Pompeo and a top North Korean official, partly to prepare for the meeting, were cancelled. The US said the North axed the talks because they weren't ready, and Trump insisted he was in "no rush. The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main driver of climate change, have hit a new record high, the UN said Thursday, warning that the time to act was running out. "Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gases, climate change will have increasingly destructive and irreversible impacts on life on Earth," the head of the World Meteorological Organization Petteri Taalas said in a statement. An Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund has sued Goldman Sachs for losses linked to Malaysia's state investment fund scandal. International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), and its subsidiary, Aabar, on Wednesday filed a summons in a New York state court naming the investment bank as a defendant, reports CNN. Goldman Sachs played a "central role" in implicating IPIC in the scheme to launder money from Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the fund said in a statement. 1MDB and IPIC had been business partners before the scandal came to light. The Abu Dhabi fund claimed that Goldman conspired with others to bribe former executives of IPIC and Aabar, inducing them to "misuse the companies' names, networks, and infrastructures to further the criminal schemes and to personally benefit Goldman Sachs" and others, according to the court filing. It did not say how much in damages IPIC was seeking. Meanwhile, the bank said it intended to fight the claims. "We are in the process of assessing the details of allegations and fully expect to contest the claim vigorously," a Goldman Sachs spokesman said in a statement late Wednesday. The IPIC suit also named as defendants former Goldman Sachs bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, as well as Andrea Vella, who he bank has placed on leave. Earlier this month, the US Justice Department announced that Leissner, Goldman's former chairman of Southeast Asia, had pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money and conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act through the payment of bribes to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, CNN reported. The government also filed charges against Ng, and Jho Low, the Malaysian financier who US officials say was behind much of the embezzlement plot. Ng was arrested in Malaysia and Low remains at large. In 2012 and 2013, Goldman Sachs arranged three large bond offerings for 1MDB. The bond sales, which raised a total of $6.5 billion, earned Goldman Sachs about $600 million in fees, according to court documents. But more than $2.7 billion of the proceeds from those offerings was stolen from 1MDB, according to the Justice Department. The bank, which has reportedly been meeting Justice Department officials, maintains that the accused employees misled its legal and compliance teams about the deals. Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article. Last week I wrote that the financial data of TAKE Solutions dont add up, on preliminary scrutiny. There were issues with revenue per employee, cost per employee, low asset to turnover ratio, high receivables and so on, for a company that has exceptionally high operating and net margins. The only way an investor can ignore the implication of these numbers is by blindly believing the line... Rentala Chandrashekhar, who was appointed as independent director just seven months ago, is the third director to have resigned from the board of Yes Bank in the past few weeks. While the Bank, in its revised regulatory filing, has not given any reason for the resignation, according to media reports, Mr Chandrashekhar was concerned and dismayed at the manner in which recent developments, especially on corporate governance, were dealt with by the lender. Last week, Ashok Chawla, who was non-executive chairman of Yes Bank, resigned, saying he would not be able to devote adequate time to the Bank in the run up to appointing a new CEO. At that time, it was speculated that his exit was triggered by his name being mentioned in the charge sheet filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Aircel-Maxis case. Earlier Rana Kapoor, managing director (MD) and chief executive (CEO) of Yes Bank was denied an extension by the Reserve Bank of India. The central bank had asked the lender to find a replacement to Mr Kapoor by 31 January 2019. According to reports, the RBI has found corporate governance issues and under-reporting of non-performing assets, which has led to a series of negative developments in the private sector lender's functioning in the recent past. Vasant Gujarathi, another independent director, has also resigned from Yes Bank board. Later OP Bhatt, former chairman of State Bank of India (SBI) and a member of Yes Bank's committee to find a successor to Mr Kapoor, also resigned. The spate of resignations without a clear reasons for their exit, once again raises questions about the futility of the elaborate good governance rules and their many check-box declarations and evaluations. When a situation as grave as the one at Yes Bank why is it met by complete silence from the market regulator, Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The rationale for high sitting fees and commissions offered to independent directors is linked to the expectation that they will ensure a strict oversight on management. The new rules also require independent director to give proper reasons for resigning from the board. But this is not happening. The reasons cited are paucity of time or health reasons. report from LiveMint says, "Chandrasekhar, who joined the bank as an independent director in April, 2018, while tendering his resignation letter on Monday, indicated that he was not expecting such instability due to the series of resignations from the bank recently." Quoting from this resignation letter, the report says, I have been deeply concerned about recent developments at Yes Bank and dismayed at the manner in which they have been dealt with. It is even more distressing that all this should have occurred during a critical transition period when tact, wisdom and purposeful, well-considered actions were called for. Mr Chandrashekhar, the former chairman of Nasscom, was also telecom secretary. He had also quit from the information technology strategic committee of Yes Bank. YES Bank's nomination and remuneration committee is reviewing the performance of the board members. The Committee is also looking for a replacement from IT and cyber security for Mr Chandrashekhar. The bank currently has seven board members Mr Kapoor, Lt General Mukesh Sabharwal, Brahm Dutt (former secretary), Subhash Kalia (former executive director of Union Bank and Vijaya Bank), Ajai Kumar (ex-CMD of Corporation Bank), Dr Pratima Sheorey (director of SCMHRD, Pune) and Uttam Prakash Agarwal (former president of ICAI). When it comes to Christmas in Buckingham Palace, the Royals have some slightly different tradtions to the rest of us. The evening of Christmas Eve is when all the royals gather around at Sandringham House in Norfolk. And instead of opening big, fancy and expensive gifts, the Queen's brief is that the gifts given must be " a cheap joke gift." And while it's hard to imagine any of the royal family scouting around in a $2 shop for a hilarious gift, some absolute gold presents have been exchanged over the years. Back in 2011, when Prince Harry was still single, Kate Middleton decided to give him a rather suitable, hilarious gift. Kate and William have bought him a Grow Your Own Girlfriend kit, along with a more stylish gift Gucci loafers because all his shoes have holes in them, the British edition of Grazia magazine reported back in 2011. A British couple were travelling in Singapore and one of the activities they wanted to do while there was go and visit some otters. They happened to be traveling with their friend who was a photographer and was in on the upcoming proposal. When they got there to observe the little balls of fluff, the otters were all out swimming and playing in the water. As they turned to leave, Jordan (one half of the British couple), got down on one knee to propose to his fiancee. Moments after he did, tens of otters that had been in the water, emerged out of the pond and waddled up to watch the proposal happen. The couples photgrapher friend captured the amazing moment. "I'd had the ring with me for a while and Mary is a huge fan of otters, so I thought to myself, right, this is the time to propose," he told the BBC. The new year is nigh and brokers should begin planning for whats ahead. Frances Hinojosa, managing partner at Tribe Financial, encourages all of her brokerages agents to set goals for the upcoming year, as well as to keep continuing their education. What are you planning on doing for education, which courses should you be taking, and which conferences should you be going to? Look at all of that to make sure youre up to date and relevant as a mortgage broker because, with the way we lend today, you have to keep yourself relevant constantly. Struggling middle-class families in Winnipeg will be able to let out a breath of relief soon, with the CMHCs announcement of the building and funding of nearly a hundred new rental units in Winnipeg. Slated to arise on a former City of Winnipeg Public Works Yard, the 6-storey Park City Commons project will offer 95 units that will have rents at or lower than 30% of the regions median household income. The [CMHCs] RCFi was instrumental in allowing us to achieve our guiding principle for this developmentto establish a living environment that addresses rent affordability, accessibility, inclusiveness and community-building by providing an area that promotes a comfortable and sustainable lifestyle, EdgeCorp Developments president Keith Merkel said. October proved a good month for the Florida housing market as closed sales of single-family homes gained 8.5% year-over-year to 22,272. Meanwhile in the condo-townhouse sector, statewide closed sales totaled 9,270 last month, up 14.1% compared to a year ago. And there were more homes available to buy too. "Florida's housing market showed a rise in new listings in October, which is a good sign for potential homebuyers," said 2018 Florida Realtors President Christine Hansen, broker-owner with Century 21 Hansen Realty in Fort Lauderdale. "New listings for existing single-family homes rose 9.5% compared to a year ago and new listings for condo-townhouse properties increased 7.9% from last October. NEW YORK (AP) Mexico's former top security chief and another law enforcement official who once worked under the country's new president-elect took millions of dollars in bribes from the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel in the mid-2000s, a witness testified Tuesday at the U.S. trial of kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Former cartel member Jesus Zambada made the allegations Tuesday while testifying about what he described as widespread corruption among authorities who were paid to keep their hands off the lucrative and violent drug operation. During cross-examination, Zambada claimed he personally made at least $6 million in hidden payments to the former federal security chief, Genaro Garcia Luna, on behalf of his older brother, cartel boss Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. The cash was delivered during two meetings at a restaurant in Mexico between the start of 2005 and the end of 2007, he said. READ ALSO: El Chapo's trial sees 27 jurors dismissed some for the most bizarre reasons Cartel leaders had agreed that they would pool up to $50 million to buy the protection of Garcia Luna, Jesus Zambada added when being asked about previous statements first made after he was flipped by U.S. authorities. The witness also said a separate bribe of "a few million dollars" was made in 2005 to Gabriel Regino, who worked in the administration of current President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador when he was mayor of Mexico City. In a letter published in Mexican media, Garcia Luna responded, "I repeat that it is false, defamatory and perjury to say that I have ever received any material goods from any person, police officer or criminal group." Regino, now a private lawyer and law professor, wrote on Twitter, "I categorically deny these accusations." Jurors in federal court in Brooklyn also heard testimony on Tuesday from U.S. agents about how they intercepted cocaine-stashed jalapeno cans and more than $1 million in drug proceeds hidden in the paneling of a Ford Bronco used by Guzman's brother. The trial is off the rest of the week and is to resume Monday. Guzman, perhaps best known for escaping from Mexican prisons, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges. If convicted, he faces life in prison. RELATED: Meet 'El Mencho' the top drug kingpin after fall of 'El Chapo' His lawyers, saying he was either in prison or in hiding when prosecutors allege he oversaw a cartel that sent tons of cocaine into the U.S., have sought to portray Ismael Zambada as the actual boss. The elder Zambada remains on the loose in Mexico, they claim, because of bribes that "go up to the very top," including hundreds of millions of dollars paid to the current and former presidents of Mexico. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan admonished the defense for making that claim, saying there was no evidence. He also turned back efforts by the defense to question Zambada about it. Garcia Luna was once seen as a powerful ally in the American effort to thwart Mexican cartels from flooding the U.S. market with cocaine and other illegal drugs. But he had also previously come under suspicion of taking bribes. The map lays out OPECs nightmare in graphic form. An infestation of dots, thousands of them, represent oil wells in the Permian basin of West Texas and a slice of New Mexico. In less than a decade, U.S. companies have drilled 114,000. Many of them would turn a profit even with crude prices as low as $30 a barrel. OPECs bad dream only deepens next year, when Permian producers expect to iron out distribution snags that will add three pipelines and as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day. The Permian will continue to grow and OPEC needs to learn to live with it, said Mike Loya, the top executive in the Americas for Vitol Group, the worlds largest independent oil-trading house. From HoustonChronicle.com: Refiners investing to capitalize on flood of Permian crude The U.S. energy surge presents OPEC with one of the biggest challenges of its 60-year history. If Saudi Arabia and its allies cut production to keep prices higher, shale will thrive, robbing them of market share. But because the Saudis need higher crude prices to make money than U.S. producers, OPEC cant afford to let prices fall. Cartel Squeezed So the cartel finds itself squeezed between the-skys-the-limit U.S. output and softer demand growth. The 15 members, and allies including Russia, Mexico and Kazakhstan, will discuss the possibility of their second retreat from booming American production in three years when they gather Dec. 6 in Vienna. OPEC helped create the monster that haunts its sleep. After it flooded the market in 2014, oil prices crashed, forcing surviving U.S. shale producers to get leaner so they could thrive even with lower oil prices. As prices recovered, so did drilling. Now growth is speeding up. In Houston, the U.S. oil capital, shale executives are trying out different superlatives to describe whats coming. Tsunami, they call it. A flooding of Biblical proportions and onslaught of supply are phrases that get tossed around. Take the hyperbolic industry talk with a pinch of salt, but certainly the American oil industry, particularly in the Permian, has raised a buzz loud enough to keep OPEC awake. Price Tumble Youve got an awful lot of production that can come in very economically, said Patricia Yarrington, Chevron Corp.s chief financial officer. If you think back four or five years ago, when we didnt really understand what shale could do, the marginal barrel was priced much higher than what we think the marginal barrel is priced today. RELATED: Permian shale companies pledge $100M to West Texas, New Mexico That shift makes shale resilient to a price tumble. After touching a four-year high in October, West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, has fallen by more than 20 percent. Only a few months ago, the consensus was that the Permian and U.S. oil production more widely was going to hit a plateau this past summer. It would flat-line through the rest of this year and 2019 due to pipeline constraints, only to start growing again -- perhaps -- in early 2020. If that had happened, Saudi Arabia wouldve had an easier job, most likely avoiding output cuts next year because production losses in Venezuela and sanctions on Iran would have done the trick. Instead, August saw the largest annual increase in U.S. oil production in 98 years, according to government data. The American energy industry added, in crude and other oil liquids, nearly 3 million barrels, roughly the equivalent of what Kuwait pumps, than it did in the same month last year. Total output of 15.9 million barrels a day was more than Russia or Saudi Arabia. Rail Cars The growth was possible because oil traders decided not to be stymied by the dearth of pipelines. They used rail cars and even trucks to ship barrels out of the region. But pipeline companies unexpectedly increased capacity, in part because they added chemicals known as drag reduction agents to increase flow. A new pipeline came online earlier than anticipated, and with three more expected between August and December next year, production is poised to skyrocket. The narrative has shifted significantly, said John Coleman, a Houston-based oil consultant at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Six months ago, the market expected the bottleneck to ease in the first quarter of 2020. Now, it expects it in the second to third quarter of 2019.Knowing that more transportation would be available next year, Permian companies are drilling wells but, for now, arent fracking many of them. Those wells are becoming a reservoir of ready-to-tap production once the new pipelines -- Gray Oak, Cactus II and Epic -- come online. From HoustonChronicle.com: Wolfcamp play has been key driver in Permian's growing oil, gas production Were going to see a re-acceleration of well completions in the Permian in the second half of 2019, said Corey Prologo, head of oil trading in Houston at commodity merchant Trafigura Group Ltd. The pipelines are going to fill up very quickly. The only obstacle for another surge is export capacity, as most of the incremental output will need to ship overseas. With terminals nearly full, Permian barrels could end piling up in the ports of Corpus Christi and Houston. Transportation Bottlenecks Even so, few in Houston, or in Midland, Texas, the hub of the Permian region, believe that growth will be anything but gangbusters next year because of the clearing of transportation bottlenecks. It will be a series of events throughout 2019 that occur, said Jeff Miller, chief executive officer of Halliburton Co., the worlds biggest provider of fracking services. But itd be easy to see, as we finish the year, things being perfectly normal. By the end of 2019, total U.S. oil production -- including so-called natural gas liquids used in the petrochemical industry -- is expected to rise to 17.4 million barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. At that level, American net imports of petroleum will fall in December 2019 to 320,000 barrels a day, the lowest since 1949, when Harry Truman was in the White House. In the oil-trading community, the expectation is that, perhaps for just a single week, the U.S. will become a net oil exporter, something that hasnt happened for nearly 75 years. Saudis Concede Saudi officials concede that the tsunami is coming. OPEC estimates that to balance the market and avoid an increase in oil inventories, it needs to pump about 31.5 million barrels a day next year, or about 1.4 million barrels a day less than what it did in October. Global oil demand has so far absorbed the extra U.S. crude barrels, limiting the impact on prices. The loss of output from Venezuela and to a lesser extent, Iran, even allowed Saudi Arabia, Russia and a few others to boost production. But for the cartel, U.S. shale remains as intractable as in the past. In early 2017, Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi oil minister, told an industry forum that Riyadh has learned the lesson that cutting production in response to structural shifts is largely ineffective. The kingdom would only make one-time supply adjustments to react to short-term aberrations, he said, and otherwise allow the free market to work. Nearly two years later, Al-Falih has lost enough proverbial sleep. Hes about to make a U-turn. Hell battle what increasingly looks like a structural problem: booming U.S. production. --With assistance from Kevin Crowley, Catherine Ngai and Dave Merrill. 2018 Bloomberg L.P. Dozens of performers have attempted takes on Queens Bohemian Rhapsody. Among the more creative is a recent release by Metalachi, a mariachi band that performs metal music. Next week, that band is headed to New Braunfels. Self-described as the worlds first and only heavy metal mariachi band, Metalachi consists of five musicians typically donning heavy metal attire with black sombreros atop their heads and traditional mariachi instruments in their hands. Their song choices are not limited just to Queen, but also include hits like Sweet Child O Mine (originally by Guns N Roses) and Here I Go Again (Whitesnake). RELATED: Photos: Two Tons of Steel's unique rockabilly, Texas country blend had Gruene Hall dancing The bands five performers call themselves El Cucuy, Vega De LaRockha, Kiko cane, Paco Halen and Queen Kyla Vera. Their mythological-esq Facebook bio details the bands journey from Veracruz, Mexico, to the U.S., where the band discovered the album Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Metalachis New Braunfels performance is scheduled to take place Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. at the River Road Ice House. It is part of a tour that will spend two weeks in Texas, stopping in nine Texas cities including Corpus Christi, Austin and Houston. S. M. Chavey is a breaking news and general assignment writer. Read her on our breaking news site, mySA.com and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | sarah.chavey@express-news.net | @smchavey For years, Daniel and Julia Roberson wished for a home of their own. So, when they bought a new dwelling in August, the two felt positive about the change in their lives. Being homeowners for us has always been a dream, said Daniel, a U.S. Navy veteran and Levelland native. The Robersons planned a remodel to accommodate Daniel, who was injured in a car wreck. He was facing double-hip surgery and said the shower stall in their master bathroom had limited space. But the couple said plans to redo the space stalled when a contractor took their payment without doing repairs. As the surgery date loomed, Daniel was losing sleep and started making changes to the bathroom himself. We just werent right, his wife said. Thats all we could think about because we had saved money for this, for us to remodel our house. After hearing about Daniels situation, a local organization stepped in to provide assistance. Patriot Hunts offered to cover the costs to install a new bathroom floor and shower. I felt obligated to help him out, said Shane Colvert of Patriot Hunts. He served our country. Daniel said accepting gifts doesnt fit his character. But the experience of receiving home updates prompted him to consider the contributions he made through military service. Ive never thought of it in that aspect of: I already paid for it, Daniel said. Theyre just repaying the debt. As Daniel recovers from the surgery, the Robersons have another addition to their home. A work crew started Tuesday to replace the roof, an upgrade they will receive at no cost. After rain worsened the damage around the chimney of the couples house, Julia secretly entered her husband in a Chappell Roofing contest. Owner Jeremy Chappell said Daniels story stood out, and he wanted to provide labor and materials for the project. I dont see it as charity, said Chappell, who also works as the local companys sales manager. I feel that we all owe our vets something. Daniel, who missed signs that his wife had entered the competition, became emotional when he discovered he was named this years winner. I start crying, Daniel told the Reporter-Telegram last week. There (was) no other reaction. Usually Im not speechless, but Im getting a new roof. For Julia, entering the contest offered a chance to share the need for the repair. Daniel works an overnight shift for 12 to 14 hours and took classes at Midland College to support their family. Julia thinks he and other veterans should be repaid. They fought for our country, and they leave their family, Julia said. They give up their life for our country. Theyre not selfish. While in the military, Daniel was stationed in Japan and served one tour in Iraq. He has post-traumatic stress disorder and turned to a local community member when it was triggered. Gary Kennedy visited with the Navy veteran and played a role in facilitating the bathroom remodel. Kennedy, founder of Healing Emotions Above Reasons and Thoughts (HEART), said he feels called to help Daniel and others. Thats what were supposed to do, Kennedy said. Thats not a choice. Thats something God tells us to do. Locally, Kennedy runs a support group for people with PTSD and finds other ways to provide assistance. He hopes community members realize their neighbors may be in need. Theres 12 months of the year, Kennedy said. We dont need to be helping out the last two of the year. Do it all the time. For the Robersons, this year has been filled with ups and downs. The transition from becoming homeowners to losing money was emotional, according to Julia. She said they ended up meeting strangers who helped them out of kindness. It amazes me that there still are good people out there that would do that, Julia said. Xem them ... Tin bai cuoi cung Khong con du lieu e load VIRGINIA The Virginia police officer who was hired to pick up the Virginia police chiefs work while the chief is on unpaid medical leave has resigned. Bryce Kennedy, who was hired part-time, accepted a full-time position with Rushville Police Department, leaving Virginia without an active police officer. It is unclear when Wes Helmich, who went on leave after an Aug. 19 citation for driving under the influence of alcohol, will return to work. The city is actively looking for part-time replacements to fill the void. Helmich was placed on unpaid medical leave on Oct. 8, according to Mayor Reg Brunk, who declined further comment in late October. Helmich was riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle on Aug. 19 on Old Bethel Church Road when his motorcycle left the road as it approached a curve, according to Illinois State Police reports. The motorcycle traveled up an embankment before coming to a rest. Soon after, Helmich was transported to Memorial Hospital in Springfield, where he was treated and released. He was reported at the time to be feeling fine. A Jan. 3 pre-trial court date has been set for Helmich, with a status hearing set for Tuesday, according to Cass County court filings. He is represented by attorney John Sharp, with special prosecutor Charles Zalar representing the state. The case is being handled by the Illinois States Attorneys Special Prosecutors Office. There has been no word on Helmichs employment and he is presumed still to be chief. Helmich was an officer with South Jacksonville Police Department in 2017 when Brunk, with the support of Virginias city council, hired him as Virginias police chief. He began that position in December. Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper. We have done far better with ... News Story not available This story has been published on: 2021-11-24. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. A new book by McKinsey confirms that Africa is poised for economic acceleration, akin to the Asian boom and that there is a trillion-dollar opportunity to industrialise Africa, to meet rising domestic demand and create a bridge-head in global export markets. rakchai via 123RF Africa poised for explosive growth "The biggest theme that we found was that the companies that do well in Africa were the companies that address a fundamental societal need." Acha Leke, chairman of McKinsey's Africa region and co-author of Africa's Business Revolution. https://t.co/IMV7Xw8qfh #africabizrev McKinsey & Company (@McKinsey) 21 November 2018 African champions Doing well by doing good Mapping an Africa strategy: Setting a clear aspiration, prioritising markets, defining how to achieve scale and relevance and creating an ecosystem to thrive. Innovating business models: Truly engaging with customers, creating products and services to fulfill unmet needs, getting lean to drive down costs and price points, and harnessing technology. Build resilience for the long term: Riding out short-term volatility, diversifying portfolios, integrating up and down the value chain, understanding local context and engaging with governments. Unleashing talent: Developing skills in frontline workers, creating robust talent development processes and harnessing the power of womens advancement. While other geographies are seeing incremental growth, global companies that get in early and join the African champions shaping the right strategies, can sustain double-digit profit growth over the next few decades.In Africas Business Revolution: How to Succeed in the Worlds Next Big Growth Market (Harvard Business Review Press, November 20, 2018) Acha Leke, Mutsa Chironga, and Georges Desvaux detail the research that McKinsey & Company has done and share insights into Africas future growth prospects.The conclusions they draw are distilled from 3,000 McKinsey client engagements, in-depth proprietary research and interviews with 40 of Africas most prominent business and development leaders. The authors reveal how companies can better understand the African market and seize the opportunities for building profitable, sustainable businesses.Africa has a fast-growing, rapidly urbanising population with big unmet needs. This means there is a trillion-dollar opportunity to industrialise Africa, to meet rising domestic demand and create a bridge-head in global export markets. In addition, there has been a big push by governments and the private sector to close infrastructure gaps.There is a continued resource abundance in agriculture, mining, and oil and gas, with innovation and investment in these sectors unlocking new production on the continent. The rapid adoption of mobile and digital technologies could leapfrog Africa past many obstacles to growth.Leke and Desvaux, both senior McKinsey partners and Chironga, an executive at Nedbank, one of South Africas largest banking groups, sum up: With over 400 African companies earning annual revenues of US$1 billion or more, we can identify what works. The highly successful businesses are often African companies, but many are entrepreneurial firms with Western, Indian, or Chinese founders. The most consistently profitable businesses demonstrate a higher tolerance for risk, are eager to adapt their products, production and distribution for African consumers, and commit to investing and building their businesses for the long-term.The book examines several examples of African businesses that have translated opportunities into enduring business value. For instance, it shows how Nigerian conglomerate, Dangote Industries, industrialised to serve regional markets through import substitution and improved margins through vertical integration.South African retail giant, Shoprite, adapted its supply chain and distribution centres for local logistics; and SABMiller created products for regional tastes and invested heavily in multiple markets and skills transfer.Technology driven start-up, Kenyas M-Kopa, is providing mobile money financed off-grid solar energy kits. The authors also study global companies which have succeeded in Africa for decades, like Coca-Cola, GE, and Total.Leke, Chironga and Desvaux believe that building a successful business in Africa requires a long-term approach and four imperatives to achieve long-term sustainable growth:As Leke emphasised: At the heart of these four imperatives is a commitment to doing well by doing good. We have had the privilege of meeting and working with many remarkable business leaders from around the world. What has struck us time and again is how many of them are driven by a deeper purpose. They look closely at Africas high levels of poverty; its gaps in infrastructure, education and healthcare, and its governance problems. But they dont just see barriers to business they see human issues they feel responsible for solving."They show us that contributing to the social and economic development of the countries within which their thriving businesses operate creates value for both shareholders and stakeholders. California State Capitol Building View Photos Sacramento, CA California Governor Jerry Brown has signed an official state proclamation in honor of Thanksgiving. You can read it below: The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was a celebration of the harvest that brought together the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation and the Native Americans who helped them adapt to their new environment. Over the years, Thanksgiving became an American tradition and one of the first holidays we celebrated as a free and independent nation. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed the first Thanksgiving observance in the newly formed United States of America, writing that it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor. Thanksgiving has continued to be one of our most cherished observances, a day to join with family and friends and feast on traditional delicacies from roasted turkey to pumpkin pie, and commemorate the joining of the Old World and the New that brought about that First Thanksgiving long ago. It is most fitting that we set aside a special day for gratitude. As Americans, we have every reason to give thanks for the wonderful bounty of our land, the strength of our fellow citizens and our system of government that protects our basic freedoms. NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim November 22, 2018, as Thanksgiving Day. Sonora Police arrest on Mono Way by The Junction Shopping Center Nov 21 2018 View Photos Sonora, CA During a short workweek for many Sonora Police made short work early this morning of a traffic stop, resulting in two arrests. In the wee hours just before 1:30 a.m., officers reports that on Mono Way near The Junction Shopping Center, they initially pulled over a Ford Explorer for an equipment violation. The driver, who turned out to be 35-year-old Craig Simonson of Modesto, gave police an ID with another persons name on it while claiming to be that person. However, after personnel ran a fingerprint check, they were able to determine the suspects true identity. A subsequent vehicle search turned up methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and a bag full of suspected stolen mail, which looked to be from several Central Valley cities. Booked at the Tuolumne County jail, Simonson now faces a felony charge of falsely impersonating another along with several misdemeanors; his passenger, also charged with two misdemeanors. Tuolumne County Government View Photos Sonora, CA Residents interested in seizing the opportunity to weigh in local homelessness are in luck without having to snap that turkey dinner wishbone. Tuolumne County officials are seeking feedback from all stakeholders through Nov. 30 via an online survey open for public response. The reason, according to Community Resource Agency Public Housing Coordinator Sheila Shanahan, a variety of grant funding pots are becoming available for applications and her department is looking for input to help create a Homeless Plan, which is a prerequisite to submit funding requests. Ahead of asking for public participation, Shanahan says her department has gathered feedback and ideas from many focus groups who deal with homelessness from different angles. Among these are first responders and health care providers, churches, schools as well as formerly and currently homeless individuals. Among the upcoming statewide opportunities, she shares, are some that support building and/or rehabilitating permanent housing for chronically homeless individuals who are also dealing with serious mental illness as well as those at risk. Specifically, the statewide No Place Like Home (NPLH) program provides financing for such housing. Funded by Californias Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) the monies are available through both competitive and non-competitive allocation processes. We want to go after as many [funding] sources as possible tohelp as many people as possible, Shanahan explains. She adds that the survey will take less than ten minutes and participants submit their information anonymously. To access it, powered by SurveyMonkey, click here. Groveland, CA The Tuolumne County Coroner has released the name of an 82-year-old Groveland man that died at the scene of a collision on Highway 120 while another man was flown from the crash site. Noting that the victims family had been notified Tuolumne County Sheriffs spokesperson Sgt. Andrea Benson released the deceased name. He is identified as William Timko. As reported here last week, the CHP attributed the Friday morning wreck near Smith Station Road to distracted driving. Timko was behind the wheel of a 1990 Acura Integra and was struck head-on by a 2018 Nissan Versa that crossed over the double yellow-lines. That vehicle was driven by 43-year-old Ioan Tudosa from San Francisco. He suffered major injuries and was flown to a Modesto hospital. Timkos car blocked both lanes of the highway shutting it down for about two and a half hours while investigators surveyed the accident scene and then tow crew removed the wreckage. Governor Brown Signs Off On Cap-And-Trade Spending View Photos Sacramento, CA California raised more than $800 million from selling permits to release greenhouse gases in the latest quarterly Cap-and-Trade auction. Auction results released Wednesday show all available permits were sold through its program, which requires polluters to obtain permits for each ton of carbon they release. 60 percent of the revenue is earmarked for specific projects including the controversial high-speed train project planned to run between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The remaining 40 percent is divvied up by state lawmakers for programs that address climate change, like electric-vehicle subsidies. Cap-and-trade is a central part of the states plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. Demand for permits has been consistently high since lawmakers last year extended the program until 2030. Graca Machel has called on African women and policymakers to challenge gender inequality and inadequate female representation in the continent's business and economic, political and policy space. She was speaking recently at the 22nd Eminent Speakers' Lecture of the African Development Institute held at the Babacar N'diaye Auditorium in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire Graca Machel is chair of the Graca Machel Trust. Founded in 2010, the trust advocates for womens economic and financial empowerment, food security and nutrition, education for all, as well as good governance. Increased investments in education No meaningful development of an ECD system Her address was titled: 'Educating the Girl Child, Empowering Women, and Enhancing Female Entrepreneurship in Africa'.Africas socio-economic transformation will only be realised once we aggressively address gender-specific challenges, prioritise gender equality and womens participation, and firmly entrench women in leadership positions at all levels in society, Machel remarked.African women need to be in the driving seat of national discourse Women need to be at the centre of our economies, she said. They must also pro-actively seek to correct the status quo.We have a remainder of 45 years to achieve the goals which we have set out for ourselves in Agenda 2063. Within these 45 years is a lifespan of an entire generation of young girls who will grow to become active citizens whose potential must be unlocked. To ensure that we achieve the goals for our development by 2063, we need to fully invest in and optimise the continents other half, which for too long has been neglected: the African female! Machel said to a packed hall.The former freedom fighter who was also Mozambiques first education and culture minister, following the countrys independence in 1975, also called for increased investments in education, especially girl child education, agriculture and nutrition.She remarked that, Investing in education from early childhood has a lasting effect on the survival, development, protection and active participation of children in social, economic and political activities. Knowing what we know, we must demand that governments fully meet their commitments to investment in education.Education transforms the lives of individuals, communities and nations and is a prerequisite for sustainable development, Machel said, emphasising that, Education, particularly for girls, is a catalyst for reducing child and maternal deaths and lifting people out of poverty.She observed that Africa as a whole has no meaningful development of an early child development (ECD) system and that World Bank estimates paint a dire situation for investments in ECD in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nations in the region devote just 2% of education budgets to pre-primary education and early childhood development programmes. This small percentage is committed in the face of overwhelming evidence that an additional dollar invested in quality early childhood programmes yields a return of between $6 dollars and $17 dollars, she said.National spending commitments in education and early child development systems in Africa vary widely, with Zambia and the Central African Republic allocating just 1% of their GDP to education, according to Save the Children International and the Africa Policy Forum. And average spending across Africa has almost stagnated at around 4% of GDP over the past two decades or more.There is therefore an urgent need for a joint coalition of the private and public sectors collaborating with civil society organisations to design and develop programmes that address this scenario, Machel said, even as she sought for increased oversight of investment in human capital from Africas foremost development finance institution.While the African Development Bank is doing a good job leveraging its might, it still needs to exert pressure on governments and private sector partners to encourage investment in nutrition and ECD, as well as allocate its own resources to help build these building blocks of Africas human capital. What good is your power and influence as the AfDB if you are not leveraging your ability to truly impact change on the continent at the most fundamental of levels?Machel was honoured by African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina as the first Kofi A. Annan Eminent Persons Speaker, the new name of the Banks African Development Institutes Eminent Speaker Series. Ennock Mlangeni wins 2018 Bic Art Master competition Young artist, Ennock Mlangeni from the Free State has won the R30,000 first prize as winner of the 2018 Bic Art Master talent search. Young artist, Ennock Mlangeni is the winner of the 2018 Bic Art Master talent search. Over 700 entries were submitted from all over the country, attracting over 62,500 votes. All entries were loaded onto the The Bic Art Master talent search is an annual competition encouraging artists to create artwork using Bic stationery. Mlangeni said he has always worked with Bic pens and coloured pencils. They were all I could afford while growing up, so it suited me, I was working with the equipment that I always had, he said. His passion for art started at a young age Mlangenis passion for art started at a very young age. He was orphaned by the age of six and was brought up by his grandmother in Zamdela township, Sasolburg, along with his brother and 10 cousins. While at primary school, he used to watch Dragon Ball Z, a Japanese animation series, and draw all the characters. His grandmother would tell him to stop drawing and focus on his school work, but as he got older she realised that he had a genuine talent and encouraged his art. She is 75 now and retired, but she worked her entire life as a dress designer and seamstress and Ennock believes he inherited his artistic ability and flair from her. Ennock Mlangeni. Ennock Mlangeni. Ennock Mlangeni. He attended the local school, Nkgopoleng High, where art was not offered as a subject, but this did not stop his enthusiasm. The school recognised my ability to draw and encouraged me to enter the local Science Exhibition where I won first prize in the art section in grades 10, 11 and 12. This helped my family tremendously as the money was used to buy school items for my entire family, said Mlangeni. Here, Mlangeni shares more about where his inspiration comes from. What made you decide to enter the competition? What made you decide to enter the competition? Over 700 entries were submitted from all over the country, attracting over 62,500 votes. All entries were loaded onto the Bic website with the public voting for the top 20 finalists. The final three winners were selected by a Bic judging panel.The Bic Art Master talent search is an annual competition encouraging artists to create artwork using Bic stationery. Mlangeni said he has always worked with Bic pens and coloured pencils. They were all I could afford while growing up, so it suited me, I was working with the equipment that I always had, he said.Mlangenis passion for art started at a very young age. He was orphaned by the age of six and was brought up by his grandmother in Zamdela township, Sasolburg, along with his brother and 10 cousins.While at primary school, he used to watch Dragon Ball Z, a Japanese animation series, and draw all the characters. His grandmother would tell him to stop drawing and focus on his school work, but as he got older she realised that he had a genuine talent and encouraged his art. She is 75 now and retired, but she worked her entire life as a dress designer and seamstress and Ennock believes he inherited his artistic ability and flair from her.He attended the local school, Nkgopoleng High, where art was not offered as a subject, but this did not stop his enthusiasm. The school recognised my ability to draw and encouraged me to enter the local Science Exhibition where I won first prize in the art section in grades 10, 11 and 12. This helped my family tremendously as the money was used to buy school items for my entire family, said Mlangeni.Here, Mlangeni shares more about where his inspiration comes from. Tell us more about your artwork that won. Tell us more about your artwork that won. Ennock Mlangeni. What inspires you? What inspires you? What will you be doing with the prize money? What will you be doing with the prize money? Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? Well deserving winner Second prize - A Nikon Camera bundle worth R8,000 (won by Willie Delport from the North West) - A Nikon Camera bundle worth R8,000 (won by Willie Delport from the North West) Third prize A Bic Artistry Kit valued at R3,000 (won by Sugasha Govender from Gauteng) A Bic Artistry Kit valued at R3,000 (won by Sugasha Govender from Gauteng) The other 17 finalists each received a cash prize of R2,000 Juanita Pienaar's articles About Juanita Pienaar Juanita is the editor of the marketing & media portal on the Bizcommunity website. She is also a contributing writer. Juanita is the editor of the marketing & media portal on the Bizcommunity website. She is also a contributing writer. I entered the competition because I have been using Bic pens since I was young and I wanted to build up my portfolio as an artist.The art piece is inspired by the life and times of our struggle icon, Winnie Madikizela Mandela. We learned so much about her contributions to the struggle only after her passing. She is one of the most inspiring women and the first wife of our global icon, Nelson Mandela.I draw inspiration from my life experiences but my work is mostly influenced by female characters as I was raised by my grandmother after losing both my parents. My childhood was very difficult and all the challenges I went through made me view a female character differently as my grandmother made sure that there was food for us, even if it was just one meal a day.The plan with the prize money is to get more materials as I am planning on doing a series of new works and one gigantic pen work, something that has never been done before.Owning a huge art studio where I will develop young and upcoming artists.Being able to reward excellence is important for Bic, said Karen Moodley, brand manager at Bic Stationery: Southern, East and Central Africa.The 2018 edition of the Bic Art Master competition exceeded our expectations and we were impressed with the creativity and quality of entries we received, all submitted purely illustrated using Bic products, including Bic ballpoint pens, the graphite range of pencils and Bic Kids colouring. Ennock is a well deserving winner and we wish him all the best and we are proud to play a part in boosting his future career as an illustrator.Other winners include: PALM BEACH, Fla. - President Donald Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIA's assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had "feelings" but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. "He denies it vehemently," Trump said of the crown prince. He reiterated that his own conclusion was that "maybe he did, maybe he didn't." "I hate the crime, I hate the coverup. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, and they have vehemently denied it," Trump said. Mohammed has not shown remorse for the killing, which was carried out by some of his close advisers. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2, Trump again refused to place blame - instead espousing a grim view of the world that he often shares with advisers. "Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place," the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if others were held to the standard to which critics have held Saudi Arabia in recent days, "we wouldn't be able to have anyone for an ally." Trump said "not at all" when asked if he was concerned that his refusal to substantially punish Saudi Arabia would send a message to the rest of the world that people in power can do as they please. The president has grown annoyed with the constant attention on the killing, advisers say, and sought to effectively close the matter Tuesday with an eight-paragraph, exclamation-mark-packed statement that smeared Khashoggi, questioned the CIA and praised Saudi Arabia. Trump's Thursday remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. He asked military officials on several occasions to back him up on trade, immigration and other issues - and was sometimes rebuked by answers that did not square with his worldview. Returning to a recurrent pre-election theme, the president also warned the nation about threats he said were being posed by a caravan of people seeking eventual asylum in the United States. He told reporters that he had shut down "parts of the border" because of "rioting on the other side" and that he was prepared to do so again. It was not clear what the president meant - but it marked the first public reflection of a frequent private threat to close the border. Mexican officials have repeatedly complained about Trump's rhetoric. "They called me up, and I signed an order," said Trump, who declined when asked whether he would publicly release the document. DHS officials said Trump was referring to the temporary closure of an asylum crossing. He also said that he had "given the OK" for U.S. troops to use lethal force against anyone crossing the border who represented a threat. U.S. military forces are typically not allowed to take such actions, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has already signaled his disinclination to change that policy. There has been considerable consternation in the administration about the policy, administration officials said. The president's televised holiday phone call with U.S. military officers was meant to deflect criticism he has faced for not yet visiting a war zone, as previous presidents have done. Asked whether he would be traveling to visit soldiers, Trump said, "We're going to do some interesting things at the appropriate time." He declined to give any further explanation. Yet if the Thanksgiving morning activity was meant to allay one political firestorm, the president's remarks on Khashoggi only inflamed another. Time and again, the president has sided with Saudi officials and their explanations of the events leading to the killing, rather than with the U.S. intelligence community. He sided anew against the CIA on Thursday, noting that in Saudi Arabia "at the top level they say they did not commit this atrocity." Again on Thursday, Trump indicated that the ally's economic contributions weighed on him more than the death of a U.S. resident. "Do people really want me to give up hundreds of thousands of jobs?" he asked when pressed about whether Saudi Arabia's actions deserved a stiffer penalty. As he has before, he credited the nation for a drop in oil prices - while also crediting himself for "jawboning" Saudi Arabia - and said that a global depression could arise if the price of oil were to increase. He alluded to the close relationship that Mohammed had forged with Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner over the course of the administration. The two have repeatedly talked as part of Kushner's Middle Eastern portfolio. "Till this happened, there were a lot of people saying a lot of good things about the crown prince," Trump said. Trump also continued for a second day his dispute with Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. over the judgments of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which the president has regularly castigated. In a rare public statement, Roberts on Wednesday had defended the nation's judges, saying that an independent judiciary was critical to democracy. Trump opened Thanksgiving morning with tweets critical of the jurist. "Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster. It is out of control, has a horrible reputation, is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country," he tweeted, repeating a falsehood he has often leveled at the court. Talking to reporters later, Trump said he liked and respected Roberts but added that "I think we need to use some common sense." The president has often complained to advisers about the vote Roberts made to uphold a key portion of the Affordable Care Act. He also escalated his criticism of the appellate court, saying that "we're going to have to stop that somehow." "It's a disgrace," Trump said of judges stopping the desires of his administration. --- Video Embed Code Video: President Trump responded Nov. 22 to questions about the death of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, saying, 'Maybe the world should be held accountable, because the world is a vicious place.'(The Washington Post) Embed code: A Houston mother whose 2-year-old daughter allegedly ingested prescription drugs and cocaine has missed her scheduled court date, according to local media reports. Brenda Monsarret-Lopez, 25, was charged with endangering a child in October after her daughter was rushed to the emergency room twice in a three-month period for ingesting Clonidine, a prescription medication often used to treat ADHD. A man accused in a shooting last month that left one dead and two injured at a home on the Northeast Side was arrested Monday. Gregory Dylan Garrett, 23, was charged with murder in the death of 22-year-old James Perez Jr., according to court records. On Oct. 25 at about 6 p.m., Garrett and another woman arrived at a home in the 4000 block of Mystic Sunrise, according to a a San Antonio Police report. When a resident answered their knocks on the door, they let themselves in and shot three people, killing one and critically injuring two, the report said. RELATED: 'Gunrise' residents worry about safety, home values after 3 shootings leave 2 dead, 3 wounded Garrett and the woman then ran to a gray pickup they had parked outside the home and fled the scene, police said. Perez died at the scene while two other men were taken to San Antonio Military Medical Center in critical condition. Among the items found in the home was a hoodie containing Garretts cell phone, Social Security card, Texas ID card, and his Texas Department of Criminal Justice offender card, police said. Garett was previously convicted of possession of marijuana and theft between $100 and $750, according to court records. Police also were able to identify Garrett and the woman through tips from Crime Stoppers. RELATED: Alleged hit and run driver at large after fatal wreck near New Braunfels park A person called police days before Garretts arrest saying that he received a message from the woman involved in the shooting. She told him that she screwed up and was going to disappear, the affidavit states. She told the caller that the homeboy she was with dropped his phone and gun, according to the affidavit. The phone contained all of his identifying info, police said. Detectives interviewed both shooting survivors and neither of them knew Garrett or the woman. It is unclear whether the woman was arrested or will face charges in the attack. Police have not indicated a motive for the shootings. Jacob Beltran is a reporter covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | | Twitter: @JBfromSA San Antonio Police are searching for a 15-year-old boy they say shot and wounded his 16-year-old neighbor in the right shoulder Thursday afternoon. Police say the shooting occurred around 11:30 a.m. on the city's Southwest Side in the 6000 block of Stoney Creek Drive. As Americans sit down to their Thanksgiving Day feasts, some may recall the story of the Pilgrim Fathers who founded one of the first English settlements in North America in 1620, at what is today the town of Plymouth, Mass. What many Americans dont realize, however, is that the story of those early settlers struggle is also a tale of globalization, many centuries before the word was even coined. Crossing the Atlantic began a century before the Pilgrims passage to the New World aboard the Mayflower. In fact, it was because of globalization that those first settlers were able to survive in an inhospitable and unforgiving land. Heres how: Most Americans probably do not realize that the turkey they devour every Thanksgiving is not native to North America. In fact, its origin is a breed of Mexican fowl that the Spanish found in their Aztec colonies and exported to Europe a century before the founding of Plymouth. Europeans confused this bird with the guinea hen (an African fowl) that had been imported via Ottoman Turkey. Apparently the taste and the agricultural economics of the Mexican bird were superior, and so it displaced its African kin on European farms and tables. The early American Colonists, who grew up eating this turkey in Europe, found similar-looking birds in their new environs, a North American wild version. But these wild birds didnt take well to being domesticated, whereas the Mexican variety had already been bred for eating in Europe and was reimported back to the North American continent under the name turkey. While the first Thanksgiving meal probably involved a variety of local birds, it is most likely that what Americans know today as turkey is a descendant, in fact, of this Mexican bird, which made a round trip from Mexico to Plymouth via Europe, on English and Spanish ships. Another example of the strange twists of globalization: The Pilgrims reached Plymouth a month after their arrival and found that most of the local Native American population that had lived in the Cape Cod area had been wiped out by smallpox and other diseases introduced by English trading ships. One of these ships, back in 1608, proposed to the natives an exchange of English metal goods for beaver and other animal skins. Instead, they double-crossed the natives, capturing and transporting some of them back to Europe as slaves. One of them was a young man named Tisquantum (later shortened to Squanto), who was sold as a slave to Spanish Catholic priests for 20 pounds. They freed him in 1612, and Squanto traveled to England and lived in London for six years, with what must have been a wild hope of returning to his native village. By 1618, Squantos English language abilities, general intelligence and language acumen were noticed by an English ship captain who offered to take him back to New England in return for his translation and intermediary skills. Landing somewhere near Maine, Squanto was either freed or escaped. It took Squanto three years to walk his way south and find the Colonists near his native village. In the spring of 1621, as despair and death engulfed the weakened remaining English settlers, a Native American (of the local Patuxet tribe) who spoke English, as well as the areas Wampanoag language, stepped into their settlement, offering friendship and advice on what crops to plant and how to hunt and trap animals. That enabled the amateurish settlers to survive. More important, Squanto served as an ambassador to the areas Narragansett and Wampanoag Indians. And so later that year, after the first successful harvest, the Pilgrims organized a celebratory feast with some of the natives, something now remembered as Americas first Thanksgiving. As a result, the 50 or so settlers who survived that first winter endured. New arrivals helped the English colony grow to a population of 180 by 1624 and eventually to more than 1,500 by 1650. By 1675, the English population soared to more than 22,000, and the natives began to realize they were a threat. The locals were no match for the Englishs guns and growing numbers. That, however, is another story. A celebration of globalization, Squantos trans-Atlantic journeys, his role in supporting the English bridgehead on the American continent, and the export and reimportation of the Mexican bird known as the turkey are vivid examples that globalization was commonplace, even routine, by the 17th century. Farok J. Contractor is a distinguished professor of management and global business at Rutgers University. Rowan Fine came to the conclusion that he should pursue a career in the consumables market after he ran some numbers while ordering consumables for a restaurant he was working at in Johannesburg. Rowan Fine What are the three words youd like people to think when they hear CompuCart? What do you think makes CompuCart unique? How did you start to dispel the stick to your niche myth? What are some of the benefits of diversifying your business? And what are some of the challenges? Whats your advice for entrepreneurs wanting to expand their offerings? What else should we anticipate from CompuCart in the future? Putting the idea of a career in hospitality out of his mind, he started CompuCart with the aim of selling consumables to all of Johannesburg.CompuCart was launched in 2002 and it has since become a one-stop shop for anything IT or office-related from hardware to office supplies and even outsourced procurement.Fine let us in on the benefits and challenges of diversifying a business, dispelling the stick to your niche myth, and the companys future plans.Reliable, capable and caring.Its ability to provide end-to-end office solutions for all business types and sizes. We can offer a true one-stop shop for our clients' procurement requirements without them having to waste time looking around for competitive deals. We will deliver quotes, brands and pricing to suit their needs and budget. Anything office has always been our ethos and this has seen us grow our platform and our extensive product portfolio. We could never say no, hence our multiple ranges of products and services.The more our clients leaned on us, the more we felt we had to deliver what they needed. We realised there was a need to deliver all related complementary services and products that fit our clients procurement requirements and environments. Then, the more I heard clients talking about their IT guy, their coffee guy, or their paper guy, the more I was inspired to find them the best possible fixes for their problems.I wanted to prove that we were not only a specialist IT supplier but also an office supplies provider. Niche suppliers tend to charge more than the competitive market rates for the same products and we realised that niche may solve the need, but it wont help the bottom line. And this philosophy has helped us to dispel that stick to the niche myth by proving that diversity works.Diversification is the key to sustainable business growth and development. We knew that we would have to build on our original base of cartridge and paper sales so we could offer clients multiple supply options that kept our business flowing and the problems solved.In todays uncertain economy, relying on a narrow range of products results in a finite number of clients. Thats fine if the market is stable and big enough to support you and your competitors, but when there are budget constraints then both your business and your clients need to save money and diversity is critical.Diversifying into new product lines can be essential for the long-term viability of a company. We adapted this method years ago before the economy started to stagger, and the more our clients throw at us, the more fun we have. We are faced with unique procurement challenges every day and this pushes us to excel.All businesses have their challenges around back-office administration, cash flow and debt collection. But from a supply and service point of view, we have none. We grow alongside our client demands and expectations.To grow, you need to offer more. If your clients trust you and rely on you, your business is in the ideal position to expand. The more you can help your client and save them time and money, the more you can grow your business. However, you need to ensure you have the right platform to back up your new offerings. Invest into what you are passionate about and focus on growth.Our focus for 2019 is to continue investing in our hardware-as-a-service (HaaS) model by introducing Compucare. This is a unique approach that allows us to supply both hardware rental to our clients coupled with support.We will also be launching our procurement cost savings model that provides customers with access to our pool of suppliers at cost price. Details of this will be released in the first quarter of the new year. The $13.1 million jury verdict rendered against Texas Southmost College for the dismissal of a former president by its board makes a strong case for not ignoring races at the bottom of the ballot. A huge number of voters decline to make a selection in school board and college district trustee elections even when casting votes in other races on the ballot. These are important positions, and the candidates for the posts warrant close voter scrutiny. These boards set tax rates, hire top administrators and establish policy for the districts operations. Missteps along the way can prove costly. That point was driven home by the multimillion-dollar jury decision earlier this month in a federal lawsuit brought by Lily Tercero, who left the budget office of the Alamo Colleges to become president of the Brownsville-based community college in 2011. She was a finalist for the presidency of Northeast Lakeview College in 2016. TSC officials defended their actions, claiming they had cause for Terceros dismissal in 2016, after five years on the job, and cited various shortcomings in her job performance. Terceros lawyer argued that the move was politically motivated, coming just three months after she was awarded a three-year employment contract extension and three months after the politics on the governing board changed following a trustee election. The jury did not buy the college districts argument. The actions by this elected board, whether politically motivated or not, have now left South Texas taxpayers straddled with a hefty jury verdict at a time when higher education dollars are at a premium. Down-ballot candidates deserve scrutiny. The unceremonious ouster of Bexar Countys veteran services officer three days after her former political opponent was re-elected to Commissioners Court does not pass the smell test. County commissioners were well within their legal authority to take the action, but eliminating the job on short notice left some veterans in a precarious position. Queta Rodriguezs job with the county was eliminated and replaced with a broader one on a 3-1 vote three days after Paul Elizondo, the commissioner she had challenged months earlier in the Democratic primary, was re-elected to an unprecedented 10th term. Elizondo did not vote on the issue, and his colleague Tommy Calvert voted against the measure. It was Elizondo who recruited Rodriguez, a fellow Marine Corps veteran, for the job four years ago. That relationship went south last winter when Rodriguez filed against Elizondo for the Precinct 2 Commissioners Court seat in the Democratic primary. In 2017, county commissioners began recruiting for a military and veterans services officer, a position with duties beyond those Rodriguez had been performing. Rodriguez applied for the new position but withdrew her application with the understanding her job would remain intact. Rodriguez claims the Commissioners Court action to eliminate her job was politically motivated. Commissioners deny making any job promises and said the move was part of a yearslong effort to expand services for veterans. This did little to ease the concerns of a least one veteran facing a claim deadline on his paperwork. He addressed commissioners. Commissioners said they would consider hiring Rodriguez as a consultant on cases she had been working on if the new military and veterans affairs officers finds it acceptable. The problem is that person does not come on the job for a couple of weeks. Rodriguez was informed she did not have a job during a meeting at Petes Taco House, and her access to files was promptly revoked. She had been actively handling cases up until that day. The following day, commissioners voted to hire Karen Rolirad, the city of San Antonios deputy director of military and veterans affairs, to fill the new position. She begins her new job Dec. 3. Many of these issues would be nonexistent if they had been handled in a professional manner that allowed for a smooth transition. Instead, it appears commissioners wanted to deliver a political message at the expense of veterans and taxpayers expense. Re: Heroic Doughboy shrouded by myth and mystery, front page, Nov. 11: In this story about San Antonios first Medal of Honor winner, David B. Barkley, there is no mention of the fact that Camp Barkeley outside Abilene was named in his honor on Jan. 12, 1941. Camp Barkeley was one of the largest training camps during World War II, with over 60,000 soldiers, and was twice the size of Abilene. It had a 2,300-bed hospital and the largest medical training center, plus an officers candidate school that graduated 12,500 medical officers. The famous cartoonist Bill Mauldin, creator of Willie and Joe, trained here with the 45th Infantry Division. It later included a German POW camp. Camp Barkeley was deactivated after the war ended. I was a member of K Company, 142 Infantry Regiment, 36 Infantry Division, National Guard from Sweetwater, and we used the old rifle range at Camp Barkeley in 1954. While working in the target pits I recalled graffiti on the walls from soldiers from up north expressing their unpleasant opinions of our great state. I often wonder if those who survived the war are now residents enjoying our warm climate. The spelling of his last name as Barkley and Barkeley is also an issue, as it is spelled both ways in The Handbook of Texas. Ray Martinez, New Braunfels More parties Re: Centrist Party, Your Turn, Nov. 10: Bravo! The concept that many, and perhaps the majority, of American citizens are much closer to center deserves merit. I have been having this discussion with politically minded friends for many years, and on several occasions another capital idea came to light. Why not let the tea party go form their own party (they do call themselves a party ), and allow the far left to form a Socialist Party? Then perhaps the remaining Republican and Democratic parties could return to moderate productive ground. The result would be many more issues discussed and brought to light. For those of us raised by World War II vets, the word socialism is misunderstood in this country and has a long hill to climb. By the same token, many of the no tax, no regulations chants from the far right are absurd to most folks. The punchline is rather hilarious and distressing at the same time; it is the one topic that both parties would unite against and fight to the death. Remember the battles Ralph Nader and any other third-party candidaes had getting their name on the ballot? Kellis Chandler Go figure In Venezuela, protesters are in the streets resisting socialism. In the United States, liberals are in the streets demanding socialism. Lawrence McMahan Florida again Re: Florida finds itself again at center of voting furor, Nation & World, Nov. 10: I found it odd that no one from the Associated Press or the Express-News caught the grammatical error in using the word furor in the headline. Not only can the word by definition not be used in this instance, but it is also spelled incorrectly. Anyone should know the correct spelling would be F-R-A-U-D! William Frazier, Boerne Send out the clowns Re: Give Texans say on redistricting, Editorial, Nov. 15: Thank you so much for this editorial. As the system now stands, politicians pick their voters rather than voters picking their politicians. I really doubt thats what the Founding Fathers had in mind. This ridiculous practice of drawing hyperpartisan, noncompetitive voting districts allows for the election of fringe radicals to be our lawmakers. Lets instead establish an independent redistricting commission, and finally rid ourselves of these clownish congressmen who make Texas the laughingstock of Washington. Bill Celaya Dear senators To Sen: John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, and the entire U.S. Senate: Do you agree with the appointment of Matt Whitaker by President Donald Trump to the position of acting U.S. attorney general? And if so, do you find said appointment constitutional and therefore legal? If your answers are yes, please explain your reasoning. If your answers are no, please explain your silence. William Tassos Within our means Re: U.S. Henry Cuellars Nov. 9 e-mail newsletter: Congressman Henry Cuellar, you should be ashamed for supporting, let alone bragging about, extravagant spending when the country is broke, with a deficit of about $800 billion on a budget of $3.3 trillion. (I cant imagine why $3.3 trillion isnt enough to run the country!) How can you justify helping secure over $22.5 billion for Pell Grants and a $100 increase in the maximum annual award per student in a minibus appropriations package? As with my own personal financial situation and, Im sure, with yours also the goal is to live below our income so well have sufficient resources saved for our retirement days or emergencies. The country is so far beyond such common sense! The debt owns our budgets, and thats just backward from the way it is supposed to be. I plead that you use your influence to help our nation start to bring its (actually, our) spending down. Thanks in advance for your efforts on this subject. Steve Stevens THE ruling Zanu PF partys dirty tactics of allegedly using security forces to manipulate elections and deal with political foes through abductions, torture and smear campaigns were laid bare as former terror leaders spilled the beans under oath before the commission of inquiry investigating the August 1 post-election violence. While the commission, which is chaired by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, is investigating, among other things, the killing of six civilians, allegedly by members of the Zimbabwe military, the partys former commanders of terror walked the commission through the dark arts that have enabled the revolutionary party to cling to power for nearly four decades by using the military, State security agents and its militarised youth wing. Former Zanu PF provincial youth leader Jim Kunaka told the commission that one of its commissioners Charity Manyeruke was a key cog in Zanu PFs alleged terror campaigns. I am shocked that as commissioners you are seating with Charity Manyeruke, she is actually one of the architects of violence in Zanu PF, when I was provincial chairman of Zanu PF we actually sat on the same table planning how to attack and beat up MDC supporters. She was my commander and she sent me on errands of violence, currently she is the secretary of the Zanu PF womens league in Mashonaland East. Manyeruke is dirty. I dont want to answer any question from this woman, Kunaka said. Manyeruke responded by saying: Chairman, mine is not a question. Let me set the record straight. Ive never sat in any meeting with Jim Kunaka. She did not respond when Kunaka threatened to spill more beans and produce more evidence against the commissioner. Kunaka said during the 2008 general elections Zanu PF youths met with members of the military at the Zanu PF headquarters basement were they received instructions to defend the revolution after the late MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai had won the election against former President Robert Mugabe. There is a meeting that took place in the Zanu PF headquarters basement. Zanu PF had lost elections in 2008, we were called, especially me by the military personnel and I was told that Zimbabwe will not have a power transfer through a pen and ballot paper. I was told to go and defend the revolution, I was told to do anything and you know what I did, he said. Following the meeting with the military and ahead of the presidential run-off vote, Kunaka, who was leader of a Mbare terror group called Chipangano, then led a violent crackdown on MDC supporters in the bloodiest election in Zimbabwe since the turn of the millennium. The testimony gave members of the public and commissioners a sneak peek into how the military has been dabbling into civilian politics and propping Zanu PFs stay in power. Kunaka said the new dispensation had not broken from the use of the army, torture and abductions to retain political power, citing instances where he was abducted beaten up and left for dead on allegations that he was a member of G40 a faction in Zanu PF which elbowed out along with former President Robert Mugabe in the coup of November last year. Zanu PF devours its own children, let me tell you in 2014, I was kidnapped by members of the military intelligence, one of whom is part of your security detail, they beat me up and when they thought I was dead, they dumped me close to Chitungwiza. During the 2017 coup the same people came to my house the military and the Zanu PF people they destroyed everything in my house, beat up my wife and children because I had ran away, he said. Kunaka said Zanu PF was behind the August 1 violence which rocked Harare in an effort to justify military intervention which killed seven people. I am saying this so that you know where these issues of violence are coming from. If you refuse to toe the Zanu PF line they will deal with you The noise that happened in town was sponsored by Zanu PF, because they knew they had been defeated in the past elections so they sat down and planned the violence to justify bringing in the military and blame it on the opposition. We used to do this when I was in the party, he said. Former Zanu PF Harare provincial political commissar Shadreck Mashayamombe broke down as he gave testimony of torture, abduction and theft of his property by the military during and after the coup. He told the commission that he was subjected to electrical shocks and beatings after being abducted at Rainbow Towers in broad daylight by members of the military who also stole $50 000 from his vehicle sales company. Mashayamombe, who stood accused of fanning violence and supplying MDC youths with alcohol on August 1, distanced himself from the demonstrations, saying he was not part of the protests because he was in Harare South at the constituency command centre with other candidates as results of that constituency had not been announced at the time. He told the commission that Zanu PF had a habit of paying and sponsoring fake witnesses for the sole purpose of soiling the image of political opponents. Mashayamombe said he was being targeted because he had a close relationship with Mugabe and had been part of the agenda to push out President Emmerson Mnangagwa from the party. Another former son of Zanu PF, Paddington Japajapa gave what he called eyewitness evidence before the commission, saying he saw soldiers firing into fleeing unarmed citizens. He said the soldiers killed two while he watched. Japajapa said he later learnt that another person had been shot dead by a police officer who was guarding the Zanu PF provincial offices. The officer, who appeared before the commission two weeks ago, denied shooting anyone, but said he had fired 25 warning shots into the air. Ballistics evidence presented before the commission by Superintendent Tsitsi Paradzai showed that AK47 assault rifles were used to fire shots into Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions head office and also the six civilians who were killed. Paradzai, however, said because the scenes had been tampered with at the time of her forensic investigations, she could not establish which gun the bullets had been discharged from. Police only did ballistics investigations three months after the shootings, she added. Post-mortem reports by medical doctors show that the six dead had been killed with high velocity guns which Paradza said were in the range of rifles including AK47, and not pistols. National Reaction Force and Presidential guard commander Nhamo Sanyatwe last week told the commission that he suspected the dead could have been shot using pistols by the alleged MDC military wing, the Vanguard. Top MDC officials including party vice-president Morgen Komichi, secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, chairperson Thabitha Khumalo led a group of rowdy parliamentarians from the party who kept interjecting as witnesses gave evidence to the commission. MDC leader Nelson Chamisa, who was expected to take to the witness stand yesterday did not after the commission refused to entertain his lawyer Thabani Mpofu, who wanted to appear on his behalf. Commission spokesperson John Masuku said Mpofu was not given audience because they wanted to speak to Chamisa. It was a matter of procedure they want to speak to Chamisa, not his lawyer, we are still expecting him to appear before the commission. There is still up to November 25 from him to appear before the commission, including Tendai Biti, who is out of the country on Parliament business, Masuku said. NewsDay Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Residents at Mupandawana Growth Point in Gutu have mourned over the influx of young commercial sex workers who are operating from night spots at the growth point. The residents believe this is sign of moral decadence are calling for intervention measures. Residents at Mupandawana are worried that contrary to being the love nest that Jonah Moyo sang about, Gutu is turning out to be a place where moral decadence is thriving in the dead of the night due to the young commercial sex workers who are now a common feature at night spots. These young commercial sex workers operate in secrecy, hence they are a difficult lot to identify and assist, according to the National Aids Council officials in Masvingo. When the ZBC News visited some of the sites they frequent, the young girls quickly vanished out of sight. Masvingo Province National Aids Council Manager Mr Edgar Muzulu said the phenomenon of young commercial sex workers is not peculiar to Gutu alone, but says other districts in the province are reporting high numbers of young commercial sex workers. The problem with engaging sex workers is that they are a hidden group, they are operating in secrecy, there are pushed into sex work due to a number of reasons, said Mr Muzulu. Engaging the underage sex workers in surveys or case studies is proving to be a challenge due to ethical legal challenges which deem them as too young to be interviewed. ZBC Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News A fire broke out at a restaurant in Nelson Mandela Square located at the posh Sandton town of South Africa on Wednesday. Three people were treated for smoke inhalation and one was transported to hospital for further observation, according to the Joburg Public Safety department statement. Nelson Mandela Square also released a statement on Facebook page that read: Nelson Mandela Square confirms that a fire started in a restaurant on 21 November at approximately 12pm. The centre undertook an emergency evacuation of the premises for the safety and security of its shoppers, tenants, and staff. The Fire Department is on site and have contained the situation. The cause of the fire will be investigated accordingly. It is Nelson Mandela Squares topmost priority to ensure the safety and security of all staff, tenants, and shoppers and we are working closely with the Fire Department and SAPS to maintain everyones wellbeing. Weather analyst are speculating that the fires that are happening in various Southern African countries may be caused by the high levels of heat temperatures. There has been an increase of fire incidents in Zimbabwe in the past two weeks which have claimed property and lives. https://twitter.com/PikkieGreeff/status/1065177948351852544 Bulawayo24 Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News A MAN suspected to be Zimbabwean was arrested in South Africa for reportedly killing seven members of a South African family after raping three of them. The man (27) allegedly introduced himself to the Khoza family based in Vlakfontein, south of Johannesburg via Facebook, by claiming that he was a long lost relative by the name of Sibusiso Khoza. Media reports in South Africa say after introducing himself to the family, Khoza raped three members of the family before murdering three women and four children with the aid of an accomplice, Fita Khupe (61). The family members were reportedly discovered buried under mounds of soil inside their home in Gauteng after neighbours complained of a stench. Reports said Khoza was arrested in Mpumalanga near the Lebombo border post where he was found in possession of bank cards belonging to two of the victims while Khupe was arrested in Dobsonville, Soweto. They are both facing seven charges of premeditated murder and the pair is expected to appear in the Lenasia Magistrates Court on Tuesday. According to the reports, the case was postponed from Monday last week after the lawyer representing Khoza, Makau Sekgatja, told the court that his client wanted to apply for bail. Khoza and his co-accused, Khupe, are being accused of killing seven family members, including three women and four children. A police representative in Gauteng province Captain Mavela Masondo told TimesLIVE confirming the arrest of the duo. Prosecutors say the murder was a well-orchestrated crime. TimesLIVE also reported that one of the murdered women Nomfundo Khoza had sent frantic WhatsApp messages to her family moments before she died but when they phoned back there was no answer. Police discovered the bodies on October 29 after neighbours reported a stench leading authorities to the bodies of the three women and four children. Zimbabwes Consul General to South Africa Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro yesterday said he could not comment on the issue since the case was before the courts. He, however, said the man could be from Mozambique since he was caught close to the South Africa/ Mozambique border post. Chronicle Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba failed to appear before the Harare Magistrates court on Wednesday in the matter in which social commentator, Tawona Shadaya, allegedly retweeted a tweet from a fake account purporting to belong to her. Through his lawyers, Shadaya (25) had put the State on notice. He has indicated that on November 27 he will make an application for refusal of further remand. Shadaya (25) who was arrested after re-tweeting a post from a fake Priscilla Chigumba account successfully made an application to change his guilty plea. He is being charged with criminal insult after retweeting a message purportedly belonging to Chigumba in August. Shadaya appeared before Harare magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa and was remanded to November 20. The State led by prosecutor Sebastian Mutizirwa indicated that it would serve Chigumba with the State papers so she can testify in court. Shadaya is being represented by Zimbabwe Human Rights Lawyer Noble Chinhanu. During their application for change of plea Shadayas defence council submitted that his only crime was retweeting a tweet which he believed to have originated from Chigumba herself. In the event that the retweet was from a legitimate account, then there is no offence to talk of, he would have simply repeated what Chigumba would have said and that is not an offence. He is not facing charges of creating the fake account and tweeting anything under the guise that he is Chigumba, all he did was simply retweet what had been said and he did not edify the message. It is the States case that sometime in August, an unknown person created an account in the name of Chigumba, the complainant in the case. In the same month Shadaya allegedly retweeted an offensive message from the account. It is alleged that his conduct soiled Chigumbas dignity. Chigumba was allegedly alerted by a friend who came across the message on Twitter. She, however, denied having a twitter account. Shadaya initially pleaded guilty indicating that he had been drunk when he made the retweet. Mail and Telegraph Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has reacted angrily to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncubes 2019 budget speech, accusing government of not consulting civil servants. New measures announced by Ncube include the payment of vehicle import duty in foreign currency and payment of bonuses on basic pay only. PTUZ secretary general Raymond Majongwe (pictured) told Kukurigo the effect of the measures was to exclude civil servants from ordinary life by paying them in RTGS dollars. Government is telling teachers that they can never drive cars. Firstly they pay us peanuts in worthless RTGS dollars then we have to buy foreign currency on the parallel market to buy the car and then buy more foreign currency to pay government, Majongwe said. Why are they refusing to accept the money that they are paying us in? We are very frustrated that minister finished his statement without coming out clearly on what mode of payment they are going to use for civil service. Government is effectively telling us that the concerns of civil servants are not important. They cannot pay us in a currency that does not allow us to function. We have to pay for medicines in foreign currency and now we have to pay duty in foreign currency too. This government is worse than the supremacist white regime that did not consult. They have reduced our bonus to only include our net salary only which is peanuts. Why did they remove Mugabe if they cannot be better than him. Budget Highlights: * Civil servants to have biometric data (including DNA) collected to weed out ghost workers * 12.6 percent of budget earmarked for infrastructure projects * US$53 million set aside to compensate white farmers * US$350 million expected from privatisation of Telone, NetOne, Telecel, POSB and Zimpost * Bonus to be paid from basic salary only, will exclude housing and transport allowances Kukurigos Verdict: 3/10 The budget does not address the critical issues monetary and fiscal issues affecting the economy. Government continues to insist that Bond Notes and RTGS dollars are at par in value with the US dollar. Professor Ncube has now abandoned the most important policy position he took after becoming Finance Minister when he committed to float Bond Notes and RTGS balances to allow the rate to be determined by market forces. He has changed his mind under pressure from Zanu PF politicians, the same politicians responsible for this economic mess. The height of hypocrisy is the demand for vehicle import duty to paid in foreign currency. The effect of this is to force longsuffering Zimbabweans to work harder to raise funds to buy foreign currency on the black market so they can give it to the government. Measures limiting the RBZ overdraft to 5 percent (down from 20 percent) of the previous budget are meaningless. The 20 percent was violated by the same government and without structural changes that establish the Reserve Bank as an independent central bank the abuse will continue. Overall, the budget can be equated to giving a filthy cancer patient a bath and a haircut, all very good but not what the patient requires. Kukurigo Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Zanu PF Youth Affairs deputy Secretary Lewis Matutu has called for the immediate arrest of former Chipangano terror group leader Jim Kunaka for perpetrating acts of violence against opposition members. Jim Kunaka has conceded perpetrating violence against the opposition and killing people for political gains live on TV before the commission of inquiry. All this was done under the oath. It is the duty of the law enforcement institutions to apprehend him and be charged under the laws of the land. He should not be allowed to get away with this! Matutu said in a statement. If he was given instructions as he alleges, he must name those who gave him such orders if they do exist. Let him name those who were working with him. He just complicated his life because mhosva hairovi he must be held accountable. Matutu said the former terror leader was bitter at ZANU PF because he is broke. Some people may wonder why Jim Kunaka hates ZANU PF to the core. He is very broke drained and in serious debt and the only way to make money is representing the opposition. However, the fact that he admitted to criminal activities let him take responsibility. Majority of the things that he said shows hate, bitterness and disorder but they are of no substance to the commission of enquiry, probably he should have understood the commissions terms of reference, Matutu further explained. Giving his evidence in chief before the commission Kunaka said, I was a Provincial Leader of ZANU PF in Harare and I was in charge of commanding violent activities if you check on the internet my name is there. Professor Charity Manyeruke who is seated there in the commission is one of the architects of violence in ZANU PF. She was one of the people with whom we would sit down to discuss how we would beat up MDC people. Zimbabwe Eye Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg began a visit to Rome on Thursday (22 November) to participate in this years Mediterranean Dialogues Conference, which addresses shared challenges in the region. Speaking on a panel with Italian Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta and Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Alhakim, the Secretary General outlined NATOs role in the fight against terrorism and emphasised the importance of training local forces to secure peace. By enhancing the resilience of partners, he argued, NATO can build security and stability. Prevention is better than intervention, he said. The Secretary General noted the importance of NATOs Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, new training mission in Iraq and increased support for partners. In the margins of the conference, the Secretary General met with the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Enzo Moavero Milanese, and Defence Minister Trenta. The Secretary General thanked both leaders for Italys valuable contributions to NATO, including in Afghanistan and Kosovo. He also praised the countrys role in driving NATOs adaptation to threats from the South. On Friday, the Secretary General will visit the Headquarters of Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, and tour the Regional Hub for the South. The Hub helps to monitor regional threats and coordinate responses. (Natural News) Saffron might not be a spice you find yourself reaching for very often, but perhaps it should be as research shows it can attack cancer cells at every stage of the disease. Chinese traditional medicine has long been aware of the virtues of saffron, which has played a vital role in healing for many years, but now the Western world is starting to give this spice the credit it deserves as it has shown the potential to prevent and even reverse several aggressive types of cancer. Heres a look at some of the ways in which saffron can fight the disease. Suppressing inflammation Inflammation plays a vital part in cancer development, and saffron has potent anti-inflammatory effects. Researchers have said the spices inflammation-blocking properties are a big reason it has performed so well in animal and cell studies as a cancer treatment. Preventing cancer growth Saffron contains three carotenoids safranal, crocin and crocetin that can stop cancer from forming in the first place. Studies in cells and animals alike have shown that these antioxidant plant pigments inhibit triggers for the carcinogenic process, including free radical oxidative damage, viruses, environmental toxins, inflammation and radiation. It does this by actively protecting the DNA in cells from damage and mutation, essentially stopping cancer from growing. Animal studies have shown that saffron extract can prevent tumors from forming when taken orally prior to exposure to a lab-produced carcinogen. Starving tumors of nutrients and oxygen Tumors cant live without nutrients, oxygen and blood, and the three carotenoids in saffron suppress the process used by tumors to create new blood vessels. Its believed that the spice can reverse cancer growth as a study shows the crocetin it contains can cause pancreatic tumors to regress. Lowering destructive enzyme production In their quest to spread throughout the body, cancer cells use matrix metalloproteinase, or MMP, to destroy the protein matrix that is found between the cells in healthy tissue. The crocetin in saffron can stop breast cancer cells from producing MMP, thereby minimizing their invasiveness and stopping them from making their way into the healthy tissues that surround them. It also reduces the levels of another enzyme that is important in tumor progression and cancer invasiveness known as gelatinase. Spurring cell death Cancer cells can grow unchecked because theyre essentially invulnerable to the programmed cell death that normally regulates the growth of cells. However, the antioxidants in saffron can reverse this process by prompting cancer cells to commit suicide. This effect is even seen in some of the more aggressive cancers that have long stumped doctors, including those of the lungs, stomach and liver. For example, a study that was published in Hepatology demonstrated how saffron caused cell death and blocked inflammation in liver cancer. Reducing the negative side effects of chemotherapy Much of the excitement over saffrons potential as a cancer treatment stems from the fact that the current offerings leave a lot to be desired. Chemotherapy is full of negative side effects, not the least of which is its ability to cause DNA chemical changes they can activate cancer genes and bring about mutations that promote cancer. While replacing profitable treatments like chemotherapy with natural ingredients in mainstream medicine is going to be a bit of an uphill battle, saffron can also work alongside chemotherapy to help minimize its damage. For example, in a study published in Human and Experimental Toxicology, mice who had taken saffron for five days prior to receiving one of three common anti-tumor drugs noted significantly less DNA damage, due in part the fact that the saffron prevented fragile DNA strands from breaking. Once again, the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine has yielded a promising treatment for a modern illness. How many lives could be saved if these findings are used to develop a safer alternative to chemotherapy? Sources include: NaturalHealth365.com Naturalpedia.com NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov (Natural News) First it was the incorrect use of gender pronouns. Now its capital letters. Believe it or not, these are among the triggers that Generation Snowflake apparently finds most offensive in 2018, prompting at least one institution of higher learning in the United Kingdom to advise all of its faculty members to only use lower-case letters in the classroom from now on. According to those in charge over at Leeds Trinity University in England, all teachers and lecturers should avoid using capital letters when giving students assignments because capital letters, they claim, could upset students and cause them to become afraid of doing their homework. A mass memo recently sent out to all staff within Leeds Trinitys journalism department explains that capital letters have the potential to scare them into failure, referring to students who might become triggered by the sight of a larger font case. The memo also explained that teachers and lecturers should only use a friendly tone when engaging in any dealing with students, steering clear of overbearing language and negative instructions, reports Charlotte Dean for the Daily Mail Online. Despite our best attempts to explain assessment tasks, any lack of clarity can generate anxiety and even discourage students from attempting the assessment at all, the memo adds, noting that capital letters in particular increase the difficulty of assignments, hence why they should be avoided, according to school officials. This can lead to further confusion and students may even then decide that the assessment is too difficult and not attempt it, the memo added. Critics say ridiculous coddling of students is killing higher education Its almost as insane as the student from Oberlin High School in Louisiana who, as we reported back in February, called the police on another student for drawing a mathematical square root symbol, which was alleged by the first student to resemble a firearm, and was thus scary. This incident actually prompted law enforcement to visit the home of the student who drew the square root symbol in search of firearms which, of course, werent found. Thats because the square root symbol, despite having what could be interpreted through some stretch of the imagination as a barrel, is nothing more than innocent mathematics. But dont expect Generation Snowflake to understand any of this. Math, words, and now the size of letters are all violations of the ever-evolving rules of political correctness, almost none of which have any logical basis in reality or even basic rationality. As to be expected, not everyone at Leeds Trinity is on board with the changes, which amount to little more than a list of dos and dont that arbitrarily seek to pacify the whiniest and most mentally-deranged elements of the schools student population. We are not doing ourselves any favours with this kind of nonsense, one lecturer at the school is quoted as saying to the Daily Mail Online. But the school is doubling down on its decision to make the change, arguing that its merely trying to support the student body at Leeds Trinity and ensure that each of its members is able to achieve their full potential. Similar insanity is taking place at The University of Manchester, where the schools student union actually voted to ban clapping and cheering at certain events, as such emotional expressions could trigger some students. It was argued that the loud noise of traditional clapping and whooping pose an issue to students with anxiety or sensory issues. BSL clapping or, jazz hands would be a more inclusive form of expression, the schools student newspaper, the Mancunion, reported back in September. For more news about how political correctness is destroying the educational system like an aggressive cancer, be sure to check out CampusInsanity.com. Sources for this article include: DailyMail.co.uk NaturalNews.com News.com.au (Natural News) The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) has completed a limited study on wearable biosensors, similar to the Apple Watch or Fitbit. The NIBIB biosensors tracked respiration, heartbeat, and temperature measurements just like the popular personal fitness devices, but the more powerful NIBIB sensors also had the capacity to record a male participants level of activity, radiation exposure, levels of oxygen-bound hemoglobin in his blood, and recorded more than 250,000 measurements each day. Its important to note that the radiation exposure measured by NIBIB biosensors was from exposure the participant received from riding in an airplane. Its telling that the study did not include any science based research for radiation from smart meters, microwave towers or cell phones. Of particular interest are results from the study that seem to indicate that the biosensor measurements can detect the early onset of an illness, before the symptoms fully develop. One person they monitored for two years experienced four different time periods where his skin temperature and heart rate seemed much higher than normal. During these times, this test subject was also complaining of congestion. Eventually, he was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Grace Peng, Ph.D., and the Director of NIBIB said she believed the wearable was able to predict Lyme disease before the patient had any symptoms. Another participant was experiencing spiking heart rates, so the researchers created an algorithm that would designate a normal heart pattern that might serve as reference. Other patients were flagged for diabetes due to physiological signals, like [a] high daytime heart rate that correlated with insulin resistance. Jesslyn Dunn, a Ph.D. from Stanford University and one of the authors of the study, suggested that the 24/7 monitoring gives a better picture of what the health conditions really are, because people may only go into the doctor once a year. There was no data given concerning future scenarios of a biosensor wearing patient with a physician who is monitoring the output. Can the doctor who sees something amiss demand the patient make an appointment? What about the consequences of not following through with the doctors request? The NIBIB is a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It was established by former President Bill Clinton in 2000 and was one of the primary participants in getting all U.S. medical records digitized. The NIBIB utilizes highly sophisticated and powerful equipment, such as a camera that can acquire images at 100 billion frames per second, to study the biological properties of disease and the human body. Theres no mention that nutrition is involved in any of their research criteria. The NIBIB is very optimistic about the prognosis for wearable tech and biosensors in predicting disease. Its the same kind of fervor demonstrated by Regina Dugan, the former head of DARPA who relocated to Google and, most recently, to Facebook in her trans-human search to merge man and machine. Dugan truly believes that humans of all ages and stripes, especially rebellious teenagers, must learn to navigate the new world order of authentication, where we all just plug in and have magical powers. Who needs a mothers intuition or an internal sense that something may be awry in your own physical body when all that self awareness becomes old hat due to wearable technology? One wonders when retina scans will become part and parcel of the diagnostic process. At that point, well all be organ donors, wont we? Sources: Nibib.nih.gov ScienceDaily.com Science.NaturalNews.com (Natural News) Research carried out by a team of scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) has revealed that reading stories proves to be a universal experience that may promote empathy in people regardless of cultural differences and origins. The research published in Human Brain Mapping has identified the brain activity patterns of people who completely understand stories in their native language. As part of the study, the scientists examined more than 20 million blog posts featuring personal stories through a software created by experts from the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. Forty blog entries were subsequently chosen and translated into Mandarin Chinese and Farsi. The blog entries, which featured stories such as divorce and lying, were then read by 90 American, Chinese, and Iranian respondents in their native language. The researchers also scanned the respondents brains while reading, and asked the participants a few questions thereafter. The results showed that the participants brains exhibited unique activation patterns during its default mode network area. According to the research team, the brain area is found to activate interconnected brain regions including the medial prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate cortex, the inferior parietal lobe, the lateral temporal cortex, and hippocampal formation. The findings demonstrate that the brain continues to work despite the mind being at rest in order to find meaning to narratives, the scientists have explained. The research team added that this mechanism acts as an autobiographical memory retrieval function that helps people relate to the past, the future, and external relationships. Even given these fundamental differences in language, which can be read in a different direction or contain a completely different alphabet altogether, there is something universal about what occurs in the brain at the point when we are processing narratives, lead author Morteza Dehghani said. Study: Brain motor system plays key role in predicting sounds A study conducted by a researcher at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University showed that motor signals in the brain may bolster sound perception. As part of the study, the researcher recruited 21 participants who were instructed to listen to complex tone sequences. The participants were likewise told to identify whether a target melody was either higher or lower-pitched compared with a reference. An intertwined, distracting melody was also played to assess the respondents capacity to focus on the target melody. The exercises were conducted in two ways, with the first one instructing the participants to be still and the other asking participants to tap on a touchpad in sync with the target sound. The researcher observed a burst of fast neural responses in the auditory regions of the brain. According to the expert, these neural responses are associated with the anticipation of the incoming sound pattern. The findings suggest that the brains motor system has the capacity to predict a sound pattern before it even takes place. A realistic example of this is the cocktail party concept: when you try to listen to someone but many people are speaking around at the same time. In real life, you have many ways to help you focus on the individual of interest: pay attention to the timbre and pitch of the voice, focus spatially toward the person, look at the mouth, use linguistic cues, use what was the beginning of the sentence to predict the end of it, but also pay attention to the rhythm of the speech. This latter case is what we isolated in this study to highlight how it happens in the brain, researcher Benjamin Morillon explained. Sources include: ScienceDaily.com 1 ScienceDaily.com 2 California safety regulators who oversee PG&E never audited the complex network of high-voltage transmission lines now under suspicion in the Camp Fire, files reviewed by NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit show. Although regulators audited and cited the utility during inspections on nine other parts of PG&Es 18,000 mile transmission system since 2012, there is no record they checked the condition of the North Valley region where the fire started. The California Public Utilities Commission is responsible for making sure the states power providers meet safety rules both in gas and electrical operations, including whether they meet stringent regulations on transmission lines that exceed 35,000 volts. In a statement, the agency said that while an inspection time frame is not specified by law, it seeks to audit all of the various parts of PG&E service territory once every five years. The agency added it recently sought more inspection staff in order to meet that goal. The agency did not respond to questions, however, as to why it never audited the transmission system of the North Valley. The area includes steep terrain and transmission towers that date back to the early 1900s. An NBC Bay Area investigation revealed that a winter storm in 2012 toppled five transmission towers in the North Valley division, not far from where were the Camp fire started. PG&E now says six of the towers were replaced on the 115,000 volt Caribou-Palermo line by 2016. Regulators had found problems in PG&Es network of lower voltage lines in the North Valley during the decade before the fire, records show. One of those lower voltage lines is suspected of triggering a secondary fire near the town of Concow. In a Dec. 22, 2014 letter summing up findings of the most recent North Valley distribution audit, regulators identified 3,393 late repairs on the distribution network between January 2009 through September 2, 2014. Violations they found included tree contact with equipment, a substandard pole and two transformers that were not bolted down properly. In an earlier audit in November, 2011, regulators found PG&E failed to annually inspect or patrol more than two dozen of its distribution lines in Willows, Redding, Oroville in 2009, and lines in Redding and Red Bluff in 2010. The 2011 audit also found the company failed to fix 1,107 identified problems on time. In its responses to the audits, the utility disputed the repairs were actually late. In other cases, the utility told regulators it had either fixed the problems or disputed whether they constituted regulatory violations. In a statement issued late Wednesday, the company said: PG&E is committed to interacting with all our regulators in a completely transparent and ethical manner, at all times. As such, PG&E responded to 2011 and 2014 CPUC audits of its North Valley Division with details on the work performed in response to items raised in the audits. Dario de Ghetaldi, an attorney who filed a wrongful death suit against PG&E this week over the Camp fire, said regulators are likely overwhelmed with the task of monitoring the utilitys massive territory. I dont think the CPUC can keep up with PG&E, he said, given the companys massive size and area. For the CPUC and its budget, I dont think they can keep up. Still, he says, regulators should have been far more aggressive, given the risk posed by the aging North Valley system that was highlighted by the 2012 failure of those five towers near the site of the Camp fire. They should have started a long time ago, de Ghetaldi said. Now its too late for a lot of people. Over 13,000 homes in the path of the deadly Camp Fire have been burned to ashes and thousands of Northern California residents are left without a home to celebrate Thanksgiving. Celebrity chefs Guy Fieri, Jose Andres and Tyler Florence could not replace the homes but they did what they could to allow first responders and survivors of the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California to feel at home by cooking them all a Thanksgiving meal. The restaurateurs rallied a group of around 100 chefs and 800 other volunteers in Chico in partnership with World Central Kitchen, nonprofit food relief organizations founded by Andres, to cook and serve 15,000 meals. The brave fire fighters of Cal Fire. They are a dedicated hard working team that we should all be thankful for @CAL_FIRE @chefjoseandres pic.twitter.com/Per5oJppKr Guy Fieri (@GuyFieri) November 22, 2018 "The least we can do today on Thanksgiving is all coming together to show the people what they deserve: love and support. One plate of food at a time," Andres said. WC Kitchen has been working to serve hot meals to firefighters and evacuees for days. Andres said Wednesday that the organization has "probably" made over 200,000 meals since the operation started. Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger even stopped by Thanksgiving Eve to lend a hand in the kitchen. "Handing out some sandwiches here, especially high protein sandwiches today because I made them," Schwarzenegger joked. Fieri and Andres re-activated #ChefsForCalifornia earlier this year the Carr Fire in the city of Redding, which also responded to the Thomas Fire in 2017, to feed evacuees and firefighters Authorities swarmed a country western night club in Fremont late Wednesday night after receiving reports of a shooting and later found a man in the parking lot suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. The man did not survive. The incident reportedly prompted the evacuation of The Saddle Rack night club, the East Bay Times reported, citing people who were in the area when the shooting occurred. The incident comes roughly two weeks after a gunman killed 12 people at Borderline Bar and Grill, a western-style bar in Thousand Oaks, California. Betraying no trust in an independent judiciary, President Donald Trump is using a federal appeals court in San Francisco as a punching bag for his frustrations about not getting his way on border security. He's spreading misinformation in the process and appearing to misunderstand how appeals work. Trump drew an unusual rebuke from the Supreme Court's chief justice, John Roberts, earlier in the week after the president assailed the judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an "Obama judge." Roberts rejected the insinuation that judges are beholden to the presidents who nominate them. On Thursday, Trump was still venting on Twitter. TRUMP: "Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster. It is out of control, has a horrible reputation, is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country, 79%, & is used to get an almost guaranteed result." THE FACTS: Trump is wrong in suggesting that rulings by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are reversed by the Supreme Court more frequently than those of any other federal appeals court. And his description in an earlier tweet of the "shocking" number of overturned cases in the 9th Circuit belies the nature of the appeals system. When the Supreme Court hears a case, it is more likely to overturn it than not. It does so about two-thirds of the time. In the last term, the Supreme Court overturned 100 percent of the decisions of the 1st Circuit in Boston, the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia and the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati. For the 9th Circuit, 86 percent were overturned. Over the past five years, the Supreme Court overturned a greater percentage of rulings from the 3rd Circuit (92.3 percent), the 6th Circuit (85.1 percent) and the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit (81.8 percent) than from the 9th (77.4 percent), according to The Associated Press' analysis of statistics from the legal website Scotusblog. The 9th is by far the largest of the 13 federal courts of appeals, covering Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. That means that in raw numbers, more cases are heard and reversed from the 9th year in and year out. But that does not make it the most frequently overturned. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, who'd been nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, temporarily barred the Trump administration from refusing asylum to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally. Any appeal is likely to go to the 9th Circuit. TRUMP: "It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an "independent judiciary," but if it is why ... are so are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. Please study the numbers, they are shocking." tweets Wednesday. THE FACTS: It's not unusual for those challenging a president's policies to sue in courts they consider likely to back their claims, and it's true that the 9th Circuit is a liberal-leaning court. Conservative groups tended to bring challenges to Obama-era policies in Texas, part of the conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. But "judge shopping," as Trump put it when railing against court decisions on immigration last year, is not that straightforward. At the time, Trump was upset about a federal district judge who blocked his order to penalize cities that don't cooperate with U.S. immigration officials. It was the third time in two months that a federal judge had knocked down a Trump order dealing with immigration. But the two local governments that sued to block Trump's order, San Francisco and Santa Clara County, are in California and therefore routinely file in the court in their neighborhood. And they don't get to choose a judge; that's assigned through a system that resembles a lottery. The 9th Circuit has 16 judges appointed by Democratic presidents, seven by Republicans and six vacancies. Trump has nominated candidates for five of the openings. He is likely to tilt the ideological balance of that court, as well as others. But he can't count on them being "Trump judges." It was Roberts, a nominee of Republican George W. Bush, who was the decisive Supreme Court vote preserving Obama's health care overhaul. And it was U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly who granted a temporary restraining order restoring access to the White House for CNN reporter Jim Acosta after the White House had pulled his credential. Kelly was put on the bench by Trump. Cannabis businesses are no longer welcome in Milpitas. The city council on Tuesday night unanimously voted to move forward on a permanent ban. Milpitas already has a temporary moratorium on cannabis businesses set to expire in mid-January. Council members are now trying to get the new ban on the books by then. After recreational use of marijuana became legal in California in January, the state is now home to the largest legal pot market in the nation. Throughout the Bay Area, the cannabis industry is thriving except in Milpitas. The council on Tuesday night -- after listening to comments from more than a hundred people during an often contentious meeting -- made a critical decision. "The Milpitas City Council took action to move forward to establish a ban on commercial cannabis activity in the city," said Jennifer Yamaguma, Milpitas city spokesperson. Resident Christy Phillips said the ban is welcome news. "I'm for them banning it," she said. "I don't want (my grand kids) around it." But some said the ban does not make sense since California voters legalized marijuana. Others also question why the city is willing to give up thousands in sales tax revenues. "I don't think it's a good idea," resident Tim Gilley said. "All that revenue from the taxes that we can get from it would be wonderful." The Milpitas Planning Commission must now approve the urgency ban and then it goes back to the city council for final approval, which may come just two days before the current moratorium expires. While members of Congress are back home in their districts, the lobbying continues for Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House. There had been a group of Democrats asking for a change, yet late Wednesday with announcements of support from new Illinois Congresswoman Lauren Underwood and others, Pelosi looks to be in good shape to secure her former post. What does it take to win the post as speaker of the House? Behind the scenes Pelosi has been working members of congress -- promising them committee assignments, creation of subcommittees and of course help financially when they run again in 2020. Former President Barack Obama -- speaking to David Axelrod this week -- supported Pelosi. "Her skill, tenacity. Toughness, vision is remarkable," he said. Likewise Wednesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a statement on Pelosi. I know a tough negotiator when I see one, and I have the utmost respect for leader Pelosi and her strengths, he said. "This is no time to have a rookie sitting across the table from Mitch McConnell or Donald Trump." Lauren Underwood announced her decision -- noting that she believes Pelosi will be the one to target issues like health care costs, infrastructure, gun violence, DREAMers and integrity. Also headed to Congress in January is Chuy Garcia -- he tells NBC 5 he will meet face to face next Tuesday with Pelosi before announcing whom he supports as speaker. Obama said there's not many like Pelosi when it comes to fighting back tough critics. "I think Nancy Pelosi, when the history is written is one of the most effective legislative leaders this country has ever seen," he told Axelrod. Most in Washington say Pelosi is the ultimate negotiator. Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, who had expressed interest in the speaker job, changed her mind after meeting with Pelosi who said Fudge will play a key role in safeguarding voting rights. A relief group is finishing up work five years after a tornado destroyed or damaged about 1,000 homes and killed one person in a central Illinois city. The Washington Illinois Area Foundation has less than $10,000 of the roughly $1.6 million donated to help area residents, churches and governments rebuild after the tornado, which was among two dozen that struck Illinois on Nov. 17, 2013, The Journal Star reported . "I really feel good about it that we did the best with what we were given," said foundation member Matt Moehle. Other local relief groups organized recovery efforts on social media, such as Facebook pages called Washington IL Tornado Recovery, Washington Strong and Tornado Support: Standing Strong. Advocates said the online efforts helped residents problem solve together. "It takes a thousand hands to meet a need," said resident April Crotts, who helped families navigate receiving governmental and social service aid after the tornado. Washington Mayor Gary Manier said the city is recovering well from the tornado. "I never try to use the word 'recovered,'" he said. "I always say we're recovering, because emotionally I don't think we'll ever recover completely. The recovery will be ongoing." Washington, which is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Peoria, has more than 16,500 residents today, up from about 15,100 residents in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population growth despite the devastation is a tribute to residents' resilience, Manier said. "That was what I was worried about the most, from day one," Manier said regarding a potential residential exodus. "I was really concerned about that. (But) I think people really wanted to be in Washington, and they wanted to stay. So we were very blessed. Manier said the city hopes to move forward in more ways than just physically reconstructing what the tornado destroyed. "I don't want to be known for that Sunday on the 17th of November of 2013," he said. "I want to be known for what happened on Nov. 18, 2013, when we went to work and helped each other to recover." A Wisconsin man is accused of beating and strangling his estranged wife to death. Twenty-nine-year-old Sunkeun Kim is charged with first-degree intentional homicide. Police say Kim killed his wife, 24-year-old Madeline Kim, Sunday night while she was in her Brookfield condominium. Madeline Kim had filed for divorce last month following domestic violence incidents. Sunkeun Kim had been released on bail. Police said Sunkeun Kim was on a GPS tracking device, and they used information from that device to tie him to the scene. He is being held in the Waukesha County Jail. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has denied a stay request for a father facing deportation to his native Ecuador, according to an immigration advocacy group. Nelson Pinos sought sanctuary at a New Haven church to avoid deportation to his native Ecuador nearly a year ago. Last month Pinos attorney submitted an appeal for a stay of deportation citing the psychological harm this ordeal is causing his children. However, according to a press release from CT Shoreline Indivisible, ICE has denied that request. Supporters had been hoping Pinos would be granted a stay ahead of the holidays so he could spend them with his partner and three children. Supporters said the stay was requested because the family's separation has caused "urgent and documented" psychological harm to his two teenage daughters and 6-year-old son. Pinos came to the US in 1992 for a better life and has lived in Connecticut for nearly 20 years. Supporters say hes been paying taxes with a social security number issued to him by the government more than 20 years ago. ICE says Pinos continues to evade immigration enforcement by staying at the church, which is considered a sensitive location and a place the agency will not enter to enforce deportation. The agency says while Pinos has a legal appeal pending in court, there is no change in his status as of this point. Most will gather with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving and remember all we have to be thankful for this past year. But, around 1,200 volunteers will also spend their day giving back to the community by delivering meals with the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas (VNA) Meals on Wheels program. This Thanksgiving, VNA celebrates 46 years of serving Meals on Wheels in the community. Volunteers will deliver meals and holiday wishes to more than 4,500 home-bound seniors and disabled adults. The effort is impressive featuring more than 750 pounds of turkey breast, 800 pounds of cornbread dressing and gallons of hot gravy. Every client will also get a bag of fresh fruit to last beyond the day. Meals on Wheels delivers food five days a week to people who are home-bound, low income, suffer from food insecurity or have chronic medical conditions. Dallas police are asking for the publics help in locating a 39-year-old woman who may be a danger to herself and others, police said. She was last seen Wednesday night. Kerrie Herod was last seen in the 13800 block of Skyfrost Drive about 7:30 p.m. in a maroon 2005 Chevrolet Suburban with Texas license plate KMD5605, police said. She is described as a 6-foot-2 black woman with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black and gray shirt and grey sweatpants. She may be a danger to herself and others, police said. Anyone with information on Herods whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Dallas Police Missing Persons Unit at 214-671-4268. It's a good year for forensic science as California authorities on Tuesday arrested a Hayward man suspected of killing Stanford graduate Leslie Perlov in Palo Alto in 1973. The murder of 21-year-old Perlov remained unsolved for decades until a criminalist with Cold Case Investigators located an unknown male DNA profile on evidence provided by the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office, authorities said. The DNA led to John Arthur Getreu, 74, who was interviewed by Sheriffs Office Investigators, according to officials. He was later arrested at his home in Hayward. Investigators said they worked with Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company in Virginia, who helped analyze the unknown DNA profile by using advanced DNA testing and traditional genealogical methods to establish the relationship between the unknown subject and their ancestors. "Upon receiving Parabons report, the Sheriffs Office continued to investigate the murder of Leslie Perlov. As a result, John Arthur Getreu was identified as a suspect in our investigation," the Sheriff's Office said in a statement. Authorities then obtained Getreu's DNA, and positively matched it to the unknown DNA found in evidence. Perlov was last seen Feb. 13, 1973, around 3 p.m. at her last place of employment in Palo Alto. Her vehicle was discovered at the gate of an old quarry located near the intersection of Old Page Mill Road and Page Mill Road. Three days later, officers located Perlov's body under an oak tree west of where her car was abandoned. Getreu is killing Perlov by strangulation, according to the Sheriff's Office. Getreu has been booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail. Earlier this year, authorities in California have great success in using DNA genealogy to identify and arrest suspects of cold case murders. Authorities identified and arrested the infamous Golden State Killer who terrorized California suburban neighborhoods in a spate of brutal rapes and slayings in the 1970s and '80s, as well as the NorCal rapist who tormented victims for a 15-year period beginning in 1991. Former Democratic state Sen. Roderick Wright, who was convicted of voter fraud for living outside the Inglewood-area district he was elected to represent, was formally pardoned Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown. Wright's was one of 38 pardons and 70 sentence commutations announced by Brown on Wednesday. In his pardon of Wright, Brown wrote, "He has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen." "Indeed, Mr. Wright has devoted much of his life to public service, including serving six years in the California State Senate and six years in the California Assembly," Brown wrote. The pardon also notes that state law was changed in light of Wright's conviction to clarify rules "regarding the domicile of an elected official." Wright was indicted in 2010 and convicted four years later of five counts of fraudulent voting, two counts of perjury by declaration and one count of filing a false declaration of candidacy. Prosecutors said Wright was living in Baldwin Hills, roughly five miles outside the Inglewood-area district he was elected to represent in November 2008. During the trial, his attorney -- Winston Kevin McKesson -- maintained Wright "followed the law," telling jurors he had "established domicile" at the Inglewood property, where his stepmother was renting a unit from him. Wright was sentenced to 90 days in jail, three years probation and 1,500 hours of community service. He surrendered to the Los Angeles County jail in November 2014, but was released after about 90 minutes. He was suspended from the state Senate after his conviction, and submitted his resignation three days after his sentencing hearing in October 2014. What to Know Michael Shabsis claims anti-smoking medication factored in a psychotic breakdown that led him to gouge his eyes out while jailed in 2014. Shabsis believes the breakdown occurred due to Chantix. Pain in Shabsis' eyes became unbearable to the point Shabsis gouged his own eyes out. A judge ruled Los Angeles County will remain a defendant in a lawsuit brought by a man who claims an anti-smoking medication was a factor in a psychotic breakdown that led him to gouge his eyes out while jailed in 2014. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel Murphy heard arguments Nov. 9 on the county's motion to dismiss plaintiff Michael Shabsis' allegations, then said he wanted to read one more brief submitted on the entity's behalf. He issued his ruling Nov. 13, saying a jury should decide whether deputies knew or should have known that Shabis was in need of medical care after suffering a hip injury before gouging out his eyes. Shabsis filed his lawsuit in December 2014, alleging that his breakdown occurred in part or in whole because he was taking Chantix. Named as defendants along with Los Angeles County were former then-Sheriff Lee Baca, Chantix manufacturer Pfizer Inc., the University of California Board of Regents, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA and Dr. Philip Cogen, who worked at Resnick Hospital and allegedly prescribed Chantix to Shabsis. Murphy previously dismissed Baca as a defendant, saying his presence in the case was redundant because Shabsis also is suing Los Angeles County. The judge also dismissed Shabsis' claims against the UC Board of Regents. The regents are seeking more than $400,000 in attorneys' fees, alleging that the claims against that entity were not brought in good faith. Shabsis' lawyers maintain deputies in the Twin Towers jail were negligent in not getting their client immediate medical care after he suffered a hip injury, saying his pleas for help were ignored. Shabsis' attorneys further contend that if Shabsis has been assisted with his hip injury right away, he could have been prevented from mutilating himself later. They also allege his civil rights were violated. Lawyers for the county maintain there is no evidence when Shabsis suffered a hip injury or that his civil rights were infringed upon. Although the judge denied the county's bid to dismiss the negligence claim, he did toss the civil rights violation allegation. Shabsis says he began using Chantix in September 2013 to break a smoking habit, with a prescription provided by Cogen. Four months later, he says he suffered a psychotic breakdown that led to him to be violent toward his grandfather. Shabsis was arrested and taken to the Twin Towers jail, where he was put in isolation despite being in the midst of a severe manic episode, according to his court papers. He says he became delirious and delusional while by himself in a cell. The pain became so intense and the glare of the lights so disturbing that in early January 2014 Shabsis used his own hands and fingers to gouge out both his eyes as he believed he was in hell, according to his lawsuit. According to Pfizer's lawyers' court papers, since 2009 the FDA-approved Chantix has included a box label warning of possible serious neuropsychiatric events that include worsening pre-existing psychiatric illness and attempted suicide. The label further warns that the risks of Chantix should be weighed against the benefits of its use. President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts clashed Wednesday in an extraordinary public dispute over the independence of America's judiciary, with Roberts bluntly rebuking the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an "Obama judge." There's no such thing, Roberts declared in a strongly worded statement contradicting Trump and defending judicial independence. Never silent for long, Trump defended his own comment, tweeting defiantly, "Sorry Justice Roberts." The pre-Thanksgiving dustup was the first time that Roberts, the Republican-appointed leader of the federal judiciary, has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who has several times blasted federal judges who have ruled against him. Before now, it has been highly unusual for a president to single out judges for personal criticism. And a chief justice's challenge to a president's comments is downright unprecedented in modern times. It seemed a fight that Trump would relish but one that Roberts has taken pains to avoid. But with Roberts' court feeling the heat over the president's appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Roberts and several of his colleagues have gone out of their way to rebut perceptions of the court as a political institution divided between five conservative Republicans and four liberal Democrats. Trump's appointments to the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have themselves spurred charges that the courts are becoming more politicized. As the justice widely seen as closest to the court's middle, Roberts could determine the outcome of high-profile cases that split the court. The new drama began with remarks Trump made Tuesday in which went after a judge who ruled against his migrant asylum order. The president claimed, not for the first time, that the federal appeals court based in San Francisco was biased against him. Roberts had refused to comment on Trump's earlier attacks on judges, including the chief justice himself. But on Wednesday, after a query by The Associated Press, he spoke up for the independence of the federal judiciary and rejected the notion that judges are loyal to the presidents who appoint them. "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them," Roberts said. On the day before Thanksgiving, he concluded, "The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for." Trump hit back from his resort home in Florida, questioning the independence of federal judges appointed by his predecessor and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He especially criticized judges on California's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," the president tweeted. If the 9th Circuit judges are independent, he said, "why are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. ... these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!" Trump has never been reticent about criticizing the judiciary. Last year, the president scorned the "so-called judge" who made the first federal ruling against his travel ban. During the presidential campaign, he criticized Roberts himself for the chief justice's decisive vote in 2012 to preserve President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Trump also referred to an Indiana-born judge of Mexican descent, who was presiding over a fraud lawsuit against Trump University, as a Mexican who would be unable to rule fairly because of Trump's proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. The president's remarks on Tuesday came when a reporter asked for his reaction to a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco that put the administration's asylum policy on hold. Under that new policy, Trump declared no one could apply for asylum except at an official border entry point. That tends to back migrants up for weeks if not months. A number of migrants remain in Tijuana after traveling in a caravan to reach the U.S. Trump complained that his opponents file lawsuits in courts that are part of California's liberal-leaning 9th Circuit. It's not unusual for those challenging a president's policies to sue in courts they consider likely to back their claims. Conservative groups tended to bring challenges to Obama-era policies in Texas, part of the conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. "Every case that gets filed in the 9th Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won," Trump said. The president went on to say about the asylum ruling: "This was an Obama judge. And I'll tell you what, it's not going to happen like this anymore. " The initial travel ban ruling in 2017 was issued by U.S. District Judge James Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush in Washington state. Roberts, too, was appointed by Bush. Trump then doubled down on his criticism of the court on Thanksgiving morning, calling it "a complete & total disaster" with a "horrible reputation." "Judges must not Legislate Security..." he wrote, adding in a second tweet, "....and Safety at the Border, or anywhere else. They know nothing about it and are making our Country unsafe. Our great Law Enforcement professionals MUST BE ALLOWED TO DO THEIR JOB! If not there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death. We want the Constitution as written!" It was unclear what Trump meant when he said things would change. The 9th Circuit is by far the largest of the federal appellate courts, covering Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Some Republicans in 9th Circuit states have proposed splitting the circuit in two, but legislation has not advanced. The court has long had a majority of judges appointed by Democratic presidents, with the current breakdown at 16-7. But Trump has the opportunity to narrow that edge significantly because there are six vacancies, and he already has nominated candidates for five of them. The deadly crash of a Lion Air jet in the Java Sea has renewed questions about the safety of Indonesian airlines soon after U.S. and European regulators removed prohibitions against them. A growing middle class and affordable fares have led to a boom in air travel in Asia, putting pressure on airlines, government overseers and infrastructure to keep up. The surge has been particularly keen at Asia's budget airlines such as Lion Air, whose Flight 610 disappeared into the sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta. The Boeing 737 Max 8 carried 189 people and was bound for Pangkal Pinang on a smaller island in the Indonesian archipelago. Data pinged from the plane showed erratic speed, altitude and direction in the minutes after takeoff. Safety experts cautioned, however, that the data must be checked for accuracy against the plane's so-called black boxes, if they are recovered. Indonesia's aviation industry has had a checkered past. The United States and the European Union banned its aircraft from their skies in 2007 after a string of accidents. The Federal Aviation Administration lifted that ban in August 2016. This past June, European regulators who had already allowed Lion Air and a few other Indonesian carriers to resume flying to Europe lifted theirs on remaining Indonesia airlines. A spokesman said Monday that the European Commission has no immediate plans to renew the ban on Lion Air, but Australia told government officials and contractors not to fly on the carrier pending findings from the crash investigation. The bans directly affected few flights, but Europeans were discouraged from flying on Indonesian airlines while visiting the country, where planes are the only practical way to hop among tourist-destination islands including Bali, Java and Sumatra. Among notable Indonesian accidents: In 2015, a turboprop operated by Indonesia's Trigana Air crashed in Papua province, killing all 54 people on board. Indonesia's safety agency blamed a number of mistakes by the crew and poor regulatory oversight of the airline. In 2014, an Indonesia AirAsia jet flying to Singapore crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 passengers and crew members. Investigators blamed a rudder-control system that had malfunctioned nearly two dozen times in the previous year, combined with the pilots' response. Miraculously no one was killed in 2013 when a Lion Air jet descended too low, missed the runway and crashed into the sea off Bali, forcing some passengers to swim for their lives. Investigators blamed the crash during poor visibility largely on pilot errors. In the only previous fatal accident of a Lion Air flight, a plane skidded off a rain-slicked runway and crashed into a cemetery in Surakarta in 2004, killing 25 passengers and crew. The airline has had other problems too, including the arrests of four pilots for drug possession in 2011 and 2012. Harro Ranter, who runs the Aviation Safety Network, said Indonesian airlines must contend with difficult terrain in some provinces, frequent bad weather that leads to poor visibility, and shortcomings with air traffic controllers, who have on occasion put two planes on the same active runway. There have also been fears that the country would be unable to train or attract enough qualified pilots and that airlines would struggle to manage rapid growth, he added. "Indonesia does stand out ... they did have some really bad accidents in the past," Ranter said. "It's hard to judge if they have made sufficient progress with regard to safety." He said it is difficult to pin a specific accident on the safety culture, but that international regulators will be closely watching the investigation into Flight 610. Boeing and rival Airbus have been stepping up production to meet the seemingly insatiable demand for new planes among global airlines, many of them in Asia. Traffic on the world's airlines measured in the number of miles or kilometers flown by passengers jumped 8.1 percent last year, the fastest rate of growth since 2005, according to the International Air Transport Association, a trade group for the industry. It marked the third straight year of traffic growth above the long-term average of 5.5 percent growth in traffic. China led the way in most new domestic passengers, by a wide margin. Indonesia ranked sixth. Aircraft operators in the Asia-Pacific region have had the highest number of accidents in the last five years, accounting for about one-fourth of all accidents, according to the trade group. But the accident rate has declined from 2.33 every million flights in 2016 to 1.54 every million flights last year. Southeast Asia and the Pacific have a far lower accident rate than Africa and South America, according to figures from the trade group and the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization. The Lion Air crash appears to be the first involving the Boeing 737 Max 8, a more fuel-efficient update of Boeing's popular 737, the best-selling airliner ever. Lion Air received the jet involved in the crash just two months ago. In a statement, Chicago-based Boeing Co. said it was "deeply saddened" by the crash and was prepared to offer technical help to investigators. Boeing shares fell on news of the accident. They were down $12.47, or 3.5 percent, at $346.80 in early-afternoon trading. Jim Corridore, an analyst for CFRA Research, said Boeing planes have a good safety record and the accident is unlikely to hurt orders for new planes. Lion Air became the first airline to get a 737 Max, in May 2017, and has received 13 of the 201 Max planes that Boeing has delivered, according to the Boeing website. Boeing has taken nearly 4,800 orders for the plane, including 201 from Lion Air. Southwest Airlines was the first U.S. carrier to fly the plane and has taken 23 of them, according to Boeing. An appeals court is allowing a woman to sue a doctor and a nurse at Miami-Dade Corrections who identified her as male, which led to her incarceration with men at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Veloz Fior de Pichardo flew from her home in the Dominican Republic to Miami in November 2013 for the birth of her grandchild. At the airport, she was arrested on a warrant for a decades-old drug charge she thought had long been dismissed. Court documents show when Pichardo first got to the jail, she was strip-searched and listed appropriately as a woman. But at the medical unit, a doctor and a nurse saw that she was on hormone replacement therapy and listed her as "male on hormonal treatment transgender" and that she "could go to the general (male) population." Pichardo was held for hours with 40 male inmates. "At that moment what I wanted to do was just to die because I thought that I was going to be raped," Pichardo told NBC 6 through a translator in a previous interview. The federal appeals court allowed the lawsuit to go forward against the doctor and nurse, saying in part: "Every reasonable prison officer and medical personnel would have known that wrongfully misclassifying a female as a male inmate and placing that female in the male population of a detention facility is unlawful." Miami-Dade Corrections told NBC 6 it does not comment on pending litigation. What to Know Charles McDowell was arrested by sheriffs deputies in Lee County, Alabama early Wednesday morning. A man whose mugshot photo went viral over the size of his neck following an arrest in North Florida has been arrested again. Charles McDowell was arrested by sheriffs deputies in Lee County, Alabama, early Wednesday morning, according to NBC affiliate WPMI-TV. The 31-year-old was taken into custody after allegedly attempting to elude officers, facing charges that include reckless driving, driving with a revoked license and possession of marijuana. McDowell was booked into the Lee County Detention Facility and later released after posting $5,400 bond. McDowell came into the spotlight following his arrest less than two weeks ago in Escambia County, Florida, on several charges that included possession of meth, cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute or sell. He posted $57,000 bond in that case. The original photo from McDowells Nov. 14 arrest has been shared over 265,000 on Facebook. Two sons of former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli were arrested in Coral Gables for being in the U.S. illegally, authorities said. Luis Martinelli-Linares and Ricardo Martinelli-Linares were taken into custody Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials confirmed Wednesday. Both had legally entered the U.S. but their visas were revoked in 2017 and they have been in the country illegally since that time, officials said. Last year, it was reported that the brothers were being sought by Interpol for an alleged bribery scheme involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Their father, Ricardo Martinelli, was arrested last year in Coral Gables and extradited back to Panama this past summer to face possible charges of political espionage. The 66-year-old ex-leader is accused of intercepting the communications of at least 150 people and spending millions on spy equipment during his 2009-2014 term. Martinelli, who made a court appearance earlier this week, has denied the charges. What to Know 34-year-old Andrew Cook was arrested Wednesday morning at his North Fort Myers home after calling the emergency number four times. Police in one Southwest Florida city arrested a man they say got drunk and repeatedly called 911 even after officers told him to stop doing so. NBC affiliate WBBH-TV reported that 34-year-old Andrew Cook was arrested Wednesday morning at his North Fort Myers home after calling the emergency number four times. Police say he reported an alleged disturbance during the first call, but officers could not find one when they arrived and instead found Cook on his porch intoxicated with empty beer cans spilled on the ground. Officers later responded to a second hang up call and told Cook to stop, but Lee County deputies say he called two more times in front of them before being placed under arrest. Cook faces a charge of misusing 911, which is a first degree misdemeanor in the state. He was released on $1500 bond. What to Know The new trial date will come on the eve of the fifth anniversary of Florida State University law professor Daniel Markel's killing. Two defendants charged in the murder-for-hire slaying of a Florida State University professor with connections to South Florida won't go to trial until next summer. A circuit judge this week scheduled the trials of Sigfredo Garica and Katherine Magbanua for June 2019. The trial had been scheduled to start this fall, but it was postponed because one of Magbanua's attorneys had medical problems. The new trial date will come on the eve of the fifth anniversary of Florida State University law professor Daniel Markel's killing. Garcia is accused of gunning Markel down in his garage while Magbanua is accused of helping to orchestrate the murder-for-hire plot that led to the killing of the Toronto native. Both Garcia and Magbanua have pleaded not guilty. Police say the killing was sparked by a bitter divorce and family squabbles. Magbanua at one time had a romantic relationship with Charles Adelson, the brother of Markel's ex Wendi Adelson and whose family runs a successful dental practice in Broward County. Wendi Adelson and Markel divorced in 2013, but before it was finalized, the two fought over Wendi Adelson's push to move her two small children from Tallahassee to South Florida to be closer to her family, court records show. At the time of Markel's death, the two were battling over money. Markel also complained that his mother-in-law, Donna Adelson, was disparaging him and wanted the court to prohibit her from having unsupervised visits with his children, who were living with him. New Jersey Transit is experiencing hour delays after resuming service of Northeast corridor and North Jersey Coast lines. Service was temporarily suspended in both directions due to Amtrak overhead wire issues. A plastic wrap in the catenary power wire disrupted service, according to Amtak spokesman Jason Abrams. Trains were halted until the plastic wrap was removed. Raritan Valley Line service may experience delays as a result of the wire issues, as well. NJ TRANSIT and private carrier buses are cross honoring rail tickets and passes. PATH will cross honor rail tickets and passes at Hoboken, Newark Penn Station and 33rd St. The disruption in service comes on one of the busiest travel days of the year the day before the Thanksgiving holiday. Check below for latest commuter and transit updates. A former Texas police chief has been extradited to New York to faces murder charges in the shooting deaths of two people in an upstate town. The sheriff's office in Moore County, Texas tells the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester that 32-year-old Timothy Dean was moved from the county jail earlier this week and is being brought to Wayne County, New York. Dean, the former police chief in Sunray, Texas, has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a man and woman in Sodus on Oct. 22. The male victim was the ex-boyfriend of Dean's wife, Charlene Childers. She's in the Wayne County Jail on conspiracy and weapons charges. Bron Bohlar, a police officer in Sunray, is also being held in the Wayne County Jail on a conspiracy charge. A New York City man has been accused of raping a woman and then stealing $40 from her. The NYPD says Tyrieke Schenholster was cuffed after the attack near East 135th STreet and St. Ann's Avenue on Sunday. Investigators say he approached her and motioned as though he had a gun and then forced her into a building. Then he forced her into a sex act, raped her and then robbed her. After the attack, The victim was taken to Lincoln Hospital where she was treated and released. He was booked on several charged including rape, robbery and sex abuse. As officers walked him from a police precinct on Wednesday night, he did not respond to questions shouted by reporters. Attorney information for the man was not immediately available. Police arrested a man at an Atlanta airport Wednesday after he allegedly went on an anti-Semitic rant on an evening flight, NBC News reported. The suspect was seen on a cellphone video struggling with three officers at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and yelling, "I'm not doing anything!" and "White guy with blue eyes and he was just like Trump he's a Nazi!" David Toaf of Washington, D.C., was arrested at 7:57 p.m. local time on suspicion of disorderly conduct and obstructing or hindering an officer, according to police and inmate records. NBC News affiliate WXIA reported that the flight began in Washington. "Preliminary information indicates that while in flight to Atlanta a male began uttering anti-Semitic words to passengers aboard the aircraft," Atlanta police said in their statement. "When the flight arrived at the gate the male continued the disturbance and refused to provide officers with identification." What to Know Two men and two women were found shot in the head in the basement of a home along Malcolm Street in Southwest Philadelphia Monday. The four were killed execution-style after being "led down to the basement," Police Commissioner Richard Ross said. Police have not identified a motive or any suspects. The family of Tiyaniah Hopkins, one of the victims in the brutal, execution-style murder of two men and two women in a Southwest Philadelphia basement Monday, said Hopkins went to hang out with the other victims that night. Her uncle said Tiyaniah called him on the phone hours before she went over to the house where she and three others were murdered. "She called me to check in on me. She always called to check on me," Tiyaniah's uncle, Timothy Hopkins, told NBC10. "She said, 'I love you, Uncle Tim.' And that was it." Hopkins, who was 20, William (Maurice) Taylor, 31; his half-brother Akeem Mattox, 28; and 17-year-old Yaleah Hall all died in the home, police said. Each person, found just after noon in a home along the 5100 block of Malcolm Street, just off Baltimore Avenue, was shot in the head, police have said. Preliminary information made it appear the victims were "led down to the basement" then each shot in the head, police said. Sources told NBC10 there was no forced entry into the home, no signs of a struggle, no weapons recovered and no witnesses. Just saw bodies of 4 young people, who were executed in a rowhouse on 5100 Malcolm St. It is the worst crime scene I have seen in my 20 years w/ the PPD. It is going to take everyone in this city to reduce this senseless violence. My thoughts and prayers are with their families. Derrick Wood (@PPDDerrickWood) November 19, 2018 "That's what's so absolutely evil about it that you would take people downstairs and absolutely execute them," a "heart-broken" Police Commissioner Richard Ross said Tuesday. Taylor and Mattox were living in the home while it was being renovated, according to police. Family members described the two men as loving fathers. A neighbor heard loud bangs late Sunday night and thought it to be construction work at the property, Ross said. Investigators believe those sounds could have been the fatal gunshots. The search continues Tuesday for the killer or killers of four people executed in the basement of Southwest Philadelphia home. There's no word yet on a motive for the shooting or any identified suspects. "We're hoping that we will get some tips to get us some direction because we absolutely have to bring this person or persons to justice," Ross said. "We can't have individuals like this walking the streets." Tuesday night, loved ones released balloons in honor of Mattox. His mother, stepfather and siblings stood before the crowd, overwhelmed by their support. "My nieces have lost their father," Mattox's sister said. "When is this going to stop?" The victims' young daughters attended Tuesday's tribute. "They're crying for all day long," the girls' grandmother, Harriet Rice, told NBC10. "They want their dad. They want to see their dad. They ask can they see him again." Volunteers spent Wednesday night prepping all the fixings for a big Thanksgiving feast for North County veterans, but for one volunteer its about more than just providing food. His name is Scott Spiering. Hes a two-time Purple Heart recipient who remembers a time when Americans like himself werent celebrated. We walked into a Vietcong trap in the morning and it managed to take out quite a few of the people that were with me. I got a few shots to the leg, Spiering said. Spiering said hes giving his time to make sure homeless, retired and active-duty vets coming to the North County Thanksgiving Feast get their bellies filled while surrounded by good company. When I came back from Vietnam, we weren't very much appreciated, he said. To see the outpour for veterans today is heartwarming. Spiering said the volunteer effort is what America is all about. You know George H.W. Bush talked about a thousand points of light. Now I know what that means -- all these great volunteers, he said. Inspired by the kindness he sees among his fellow volunteers, Spiering hopes veterans walk away from the table Thursday knowing their compatriots care. Homeless Veterans of San Diego founder Kelly Luisi told NBC 7 she started putting on the holiday dinner last year. Her involvement with veterans is motivated by the loss of her brother who was killed by an IED during his second tour in Iraq. Her organization spared no details for the special meal. Centerpieces, linen, sides both sweet and savory, and the most important component of all -- Love. After hours of work, deserving veterans will be served at 11:30 a.m. Veterans looking for a table to sit at on Thanksgiving can RSVP through the Homeless Veterans of San Diegos Facebook page. Luisi says Homeless Veterans of San Diego has been able to take more than 40 veterans off the streets in the past year. They offer help to veterans across San Diego County. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 22) President Rodrigo Duterte has fired Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Secretary-General Falconi Millar over corruption allegations. In a speech Thursday, Duterte confirmed he has signed a dismissal order for the Housing official. "I'm talking of corruption. Just before I left my office, I signed a dismissal order 'yung (the) Secretary General ng (of) Housing, a certain Millar," Duterte said during the inauguration of the Cavite Gateway Terminal. "Somehow along the way, corruption creeps in. And mahirap talaga," he said. (It's really hard) "Si (The) Secretary General.. You can do corruption, and it corrupts you absolutely. Power corrupts. Sometimes you really want the money to go to your pocket almost every day," the chief executive added. In an earlier statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President's order is "effective immediately." "There are no sacred cows in the Administration, especially in its drive against corruption. As the President said, he will not tolerate even a whiff of corruption in the Executive Branch of Government," Panelo said. Millar, on the other hand, said the incident was a demolition job. "It is an obvious demolition job, in protecting the interest of the government, I have annoyed and crossed some personalities, I filed my resignation this morning," he said. "It is the government's loss not mine. I urge the government to dig deeper and investigate the persons behind the demolition job." READ: Duterte says he'll fire another gov't official A woman shot and killed her husband in a dispute in their Virginia home Wednesday, according to Prince William County police. A verbal altercation in a home in the 3300 block of Labourn Drive in Woodbridge escalated, and Rene Rachelle Drake, 60, shot her husband, 54-year-old Tyrone Timothy Drake, in the upper body, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers found the suspect near the front door of the home and took her into custody, police said. Rene Drake is charged with second-degree murder and is being held without bond. What to Know Trump issued a ban saying anyone who crossed the souther border between official ports of entry would be ineligible for asylum A federal judge ruled Monday that the administration can't refuse asylum to immigrants who enter the country illegally The ruling will remain in effect for one month barring an appeal A judge has ordered the U.S. government not to enforce a ban on asylum for people who cross the southern border illegally, another court setback for the Trump administration's efforts to impose new immigration restrictions without congressional approval. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar agreed Monday with legal groups that immediately sued after President Donald Trump issued a Nov. 9 proclamation saying anyone who crossed the southern border between official ports of entry would be ineligible for asylum. The administration argued that caravans of migrants approaching the southern border made the new restrictions immediately necessary. "Whatever the scope of the President's authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden," said Tigar, a nominee of former President Barack Obama. Trump stopped family separations at the border earlier this year after a global outcry, but it was a federal judge who ruled the administration had to reunify the families. Another judge rejected the administration's request to try to detain migrant families in long-term facilities. Monday's ruling remains in effect for one month, barring an appeal. In limiting asylum, Trump used the same powers he used to impose a travel ban the third try was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court. A joint statement by Homeland Security and the Justice Department said the Supreme Court had already shown the president had the legal right to restrict asylum. "Our asylum system is broken, and it is being abused by tens of thousands of meritless claims every year," the departments said. "We look forward to continuing to defend the Executive Branch's legitimate and well-reasoned exercise of its authority to address the crisis at our southern border." Whether asylum seekers would try now to enter between official ports of entry was unclear. One immigrant waiting at the official border crossing vowed to stay in line regardless of the ruling. "I've always taken the correct path, and I'm not going to do something illegal now," said Byron Torrez, 28, of Nicaragua. Torrez said he fled Nicaragua after someone threw acid at him during a government protest. He said he did not travel with any of the caravans. "I think it is good that the court did this because a lot of people cross illegally, not to break the law, but because they believe you have to get to the U.S. first before requesting asylum," he said. The regulations were put in place in part to stop what the government says are loopholes that allow thousands of people to avoid deportation. DHS estimates around 70,000 people a year claim asylum after crossing illegally. But illegal crossings overall are well below historical highs from previous decades. Tigar's ruling notes that federal law says someone may seek asylum if they have arrived in the United States, "whether or not at a designated port of arrival." "Individuals are entitled to asylum if they cross between ports of entry," said Baher Azmy, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which sued the government alongside the American Civil Liberties Union. "It couldn't be clearer." Around 3,000 people from the first of the caravans have arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, California. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that it closed off northbound traffic for several hours at the San Ysidro crossing to install movable, wire-topped barriers after reports that some migrants were planning to rush through the lanes but none did. As of Monday, DHS said it had referred 107 people to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services people who had sought asylum between official crossings since Trump's order went into effect. Officials didn't say whether those people's cases were still progressing through other, more difficult avenues left to them after the proclamation. Administration officials said the asylum law changes were meant to funnel migrants through official border crossings for speedy rulings instead of having them try to evade such crossings on the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border. But many border crossings such as San Ysidro already have extensive wait times. People are often forced to wait in shelters or outdoor camps on the Mexican side, sometimes for weeks. ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said that some people seeking asylum cross between official ports because "they're in real danger," either in their countries of origin or in Mexico. "We don't condone people entering between ports of entry, but Congress has made the decision that if they do, they still need to be allowed to apply for asylum," he said. The U.S. military has deployed 5,800 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Another 2,100 National Guard troops have also been deployed since April as part of a separate mission. They are not allowed to detain illegal crossers. Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp are in a tense standoff as the fate of the Georgia governor's race remains unresolved, leaving the potential of litigation and a December runoff. Kemp's campaign declared victory in the race late Wednesday, with a spokesperson saying that the numbers show Abrams can't win and a runoff won't happen. But Abrams has yet to concede, maintaining that there are still enough votes yet to be counted to force the race into a runoff. Abrams' team is renewing its concerns that Kemp, the current secretary of state, remains the chief elections officer supervising his own election, a race already marked by disputes over the voting process. With reported votes approaching 3.8 million almost 95 percent of Georgia's 2016 presidential turnout Kemp has just more than 50 percent, but Abrams and her campaign insist there are enough uncounted ballots particularly absentee and mail-in ballots in heavily Democratic metro Atlanta counties where constituents had trouble voting to bring the Republican below the majority threshold required for victory. NBC News said the race remained too close to call Wednesday morning. "We are leaving all of our options on the table," including litigation, Abrams' campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo told reporters Wednesday. "We feel we owe a fight ... to every Georgia voter," she said, adding that the Abrams campaign and Georgia Democratic Party are engaged "in all 159 counties" as counting continues. Groh-Wargo estimated Wednesday morning that about 15,000 votes separate Kemp from a runoff. She says at least that many outstanding absentee and mail-in ballots remained to be counted. Kemp's spokeswoman in the secretary of state's office, Candice Broce, said that by Wednesday afternoon the number of uncounted absentee and mail-in ballots was less than 2,000 with her boss still above the 50 percent threshold. Broce said about 22,000 provisional ballots have yet to be processed, according to a canvass of county officials across the state. If a runoff is necessary, the second round would take place Dec. 4, extending one of the marquee races of the November midterms as Abrams tries to become the first black woman elected governor in American history while Kemp looks to maintain the GOP's domination in a state evolving into a genuine two-party battleground. Either way, Georgians are sure to see a new round of bitter recriminations over ballot access and voting rights that could leave some voters questioning the outcome of a contest both nominees have described as a "battle for the soul of our state." "This is why we had a steady drumbeat for him to resign," Groh-Wargo said Wednesday, noting Abrams' and others' warnings about the potential for chaos in a tight election. "Here we are," she said. Kemp told his supporters early Wednesday that "there are votes left to count, but we have a very strong lead. ... The math is on our side to win this election." His cushion for an outright majority later shrank after more ballots had been counted. So far, turnout exceeds the 2014 governor's race by about 1.3 million votes. Kemp's office, meanwhile, deflected the criticisms. Broce noted local elections authorities manage the voting process and ballot tabulation. "Counties have not completed certification and we are still waiting for counties to provide their tabulations leading up to that certification," she said. A nonprofit group, Protect Democracy, filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to keep Kemp from being involved in counting votes, certifying results or any runoff or recount. Broce called it a "twelfth-hour stunt." State law gives counties until next Tuesday to complete vote counts and certify results to state elections officials. The statewide certification must follow by Nov. 20. The indefinite extension in Georgia focuses a white-hot spotlight on a race that already has drawn massive investments of time, money and star power from President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama to media icon Oprah Winfrey. The tight returns and potential runoff come after weeks of wrangling over Georgia's election system and Kemp's performance as its chief executive. Kemp has steadfastly defended his job performance and refused calls to step aside. Abrams has called Kemp "an architect of suppression," and voting rights activists expressed concerns throughout Tuesday amid reports of technical malfunctions and long lines at polling stations across the state. The elections chief wasn't immune to the difficulties: When Kemp went to cast his own ballot, he had an issue with his voter card, but it was fixed quickly. Abrams, a 44-year-old Atlanta attorney, former state minority leader and moonlighting romance novelist, already has made history as the first black woman to be nominated for governor by either major party. She'd also be the first woman or nonwhite governor in Georgia history. Kemp, a 54-year-old businessman and two-term secretary of state, is vying to maintain the GOP's hold in a state where Republicans have won every governor's race since 2002, though by shrinking margins amid a growing and diversifying electorate. In the closing days, Kemp basked in Trump's glow, pulling out of a debate to attend a Sunday rally that drew thousands of boisterous Republicans to central Georgia to see Trump deplane from Air Force One. Abrams answered with Obama and Winfrey. Even if Abrams ultimately falls short, she has outperformed her fellow Democratic nominees from recent election cycles. That validates her strategy of reaching out to nonwhite and younger voters who don't usually cast midterm ballots instead of Democrats' previous focus on trying to convert older white voters who'd long drifted toward Republicans. Her success came at a cost, however, as unofficial returns showed Kemp expanding the GOP's advantage across rural and small-town Georgia. Court documents say a Portland, Oregon, man pleaded guilty to trying to bribe an immigration official to deport his wife and her child from a previous relationship, NBC News reported. Antonio Oswaldo Burgos, 48, agreed last month to plead guilty to one of three counts of bribery of a public official in exchange for a reduced sentence, according to federal grand jury documents that were unsealed after his plea hearing in Portland on Tuesday. Burgos married the woman, who wasn't identified, in El Salvador, according to the plea deal. But after he brought the woman and her minor child to the United States, the "marital relationship deteriorated," and the woman moved out with her child. He tailed a deportation officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in his car for almost 15 miles from the ICE office in Portland across the state line to the southern Washington city of Vancouver on May 24, the plea deal said, before offering the officer $4,000 to deport his wife. One type of talk many families are hoping to avoid at the dinner table this Thanksgiving is politics. So exactly how do you avoid it? Put a group of family members around a table, sometimes from different states, sometimes with vastly different opinions, throw in a couple of alcoholic beverages and start talking politics. What could possibly go wrong? NBC10 Boston asked holiday travelers at Boston's South Station if they would have politics on their Thanksgiving menu. While some consider political conversation a holiday tradition, others said no way. "My brother and my dad are really kind of like adamant about the points they want to make. So I just like stay away from that," said one man. "I'm one of the ones that I can talk without getting upset. But at the same time, some people get very upset," added another South Station traveler. "I kind of fall in the middle." Snezana Pejic of the Etiquette Academy says it's fine to talk politics at Thanksgiving dinner as long as you keep it positive and respectful. "Politics has become very stressful conversation. There are some people that thrive on conflict and that's the way that they communicate," said Pejic. One suggestion for avoiding political conversations is to try moving to the kid's table. And if all else fails, keep the topic on the food. "I'm going to be talking chitlins, ham, turkey," said one traveler at South Station. Pejic has one final piece of advice as families sit down to dinner: "When given a choice between being kind and being right, choose kind." An elderly man was killed and six others were injured Wednesday night in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 495 in Norton, Massachusetts, according to state police. Firefighters responded to the crash at 11:30 p.m. near exit 9 where an 84-year-old man's Toyota was engulfed in flames and two other vehicles were damaged. Authorities said the driver of the Toyota, from Foxborough, was pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not yet been released. Two other drivers and four passengers in the other two vehicles were taken to area hospitals with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening. A preliminary investigation indicated that the driver of the Toyota was driving the wrong way on I-495 northbound when he collided with the two vehicles. The highway was shut down while authorities cleared the scene. It has since been reopened. The exact cause of the crash is under investigation by Massachusetts State Police. Fire shot from the roof of a church Wednesday evening in Warwick, Rhode Island. NBC affiliate WJAR reports that a 2-alarm fire broke out at Woodbury Union Church on Beach Avenue around 7:45 p.m. on the evening before Thanksgiving. #BREAKING: Flames and heavy smoke pouring from the roof of Woodbury Union Church in #Warwick. Working to learn more. pic.twitter.com/k9KCukSY3J NBC 10 WJAR (@NBC10) November 22, 2018 Parishioners stood outside crying as crews battled the fire. "I was baptized in this church 73 years ago and I don't know what to say," Marilyn Baker told WJAR. "We'll rebuild." Authorities believe the fire started in the back of the building and spread quickly inside, making its way to the roof. WJAR reports that no one was inside at the time. Foul play is not suspected, according to the report. A man is facing drunk driving charges in connection with a crash that injured two firefighters in Newton, Massachusetts early Thursday morning. The crash happened at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Prince Street. The driver, who has not yet been identified, was taken into custody at the scene. He is expected to be charged with operating under the influence. Authorities said the deputy fire chief and his aide who were struck by the driver were taken to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for treatment and later released. Authorities in New Hampshire have arrested a man in connection with a shooting death. Bryson Peluso, 27, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after shooting 23-year-old Brandon Kluz with a handgun on Baboosic Lake Road in Amherst around 1 a.m. Thursday, according to the state attorney general's office. An autopsy will be performed on Friday morning, authorities said. Peluso will be arraigned Friday at Hillsborough Superior in Nashua. It's unclear if he has an attorney. The ongoing investigation is being handled by the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, in conjunction with the State Police Major Crime Unit and the Amherst Police Department. Authorities are investigating what caused a 3-alarm fire that burned through the home of Pelham, New Hampshire's police chief just days before Thanksgiving. Officials say the fire started in the garage around 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday. Pelham Police Chief Joseph Roark said he and his wife, their two young sons, and their dog got out just in time, as the fire spread from the garage to their cars and then into the house. "It went extremely fast. We were having a regular night watching television and that garage was fully engulfed," Roark said. "What I have on is what I have, what my wife has on is what she has." More than a dozen fire trucks responded to the home. Officials said the lack of fire hydrants in the area made fighting the fire challenging. The home appeared to have extensive damage, but authorities say no one was injured. "I definitely have never seen anything go up so quickly and you're just helpless because you can't stop that," said Pelham Police Lt. Anne Perriello. "It's not a good time ever, but obviously with the holidays coming it makes it even tougher." Roark said he's used to being on the other side of a tragedy like this. "It's Thanksgiving and we were planning on hosting things and we were planning our lives and the next day we're starting over, so we'll start over, we'll come back stronger," said Roark. Despite losing everything they own, Roark said he still has a lot to be thankful for. "Just thankful I have my family, we're healthy and we'll recover," Roark said. Thousands of dollars have already been raised for the Roark family and people from the community have been stopping by the police department to drop off donations. "I'm just dropping off a gift card, they don't want anything just yet so when it gets closer, we'll drop off coats and shoes and clothes and stuff for the house or whatever they need," said Noreen Maigatter who knows the Roark family. "It's a testament to our small community how we can kind of rally around the people who help us on a daily basis and when they need help, we can step up and fill the shoes," added Pelham resident Charles Gualtieri. The investigation into the fire is ongoing. This week's start of recreational marijuana sales in Massachusetts is expected to become a topic of discussion in Vermont in January, when the Vermont Legislature gets back to work. For several years, Vermont lawmakers have been debating whether to authorize taxed-and-regulated pot shops. With legal sales happening in Massachusetts, advocates in neighboring Vermont say nows the time for progress. "We want this to be a viable industry for Vermont, just like craft beer is, just like cheese, just like our other value-added agricultural products," said cannabis reform advocate Eli Harrington. Harrington applauded Massachusetts for this week's launch of retail sales of recreational marijuana at two stores, in Leicester and Northampton. Currently, Vermont allows medical marijuana sales, the possession of small amounts of recreational pot, and home-grown plants for personal consumption. However, lawmakers' attempts at a taxed-and-regulated retail system for recreational use have fallen short. Harrington said he believes Massachusetts could serve as a model for how Vermont may approach sales policies, such as licensing, distribution, packaging and quality control. "Every day that goes by that legal, taxed, tested, regulated cannabis is sold over the counter within a one-to-300-mile drive of Vermont is a day that Vermont is missing out," Harrington said. The Vermont Legislature is widely expected to take up the topic again. The Vermont Senate already passed tax-and-regulate legislation three times, although those bills did not become law. Sen. Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden County, tweeted after those Massachusetts pot shops opened, saying "Vermont should be next." In his tweet, Ashe eyed tax revenues from marijuana sales for public health and safety initiatives. The Vermont House of Representatives has moved more cautiously on marijuana, but with 40 new members starting in January many with a more progressive approach there is a new dynamic. Democrats and Progressives now have a supermajority, which means they can block vetoes from Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vermont. Rep. Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, the House majority leader, told necn the focus of her caucus is on building an economy that works for all Vermonters. "Now that marijuana [possession] is legal in Vermont, it's important we evaluate what type of impacts it's having in our communities," Krowinski said in a written statement to necn. "As Leader, I'm listening to current and incoming legislators to hear what their priorities are including what they heard from voters about a tax and regulated system." Gov. Scott has long called for a focus on youth prevention and on public safety, specifically looking for more advances in roadside tests for drugged driving. "We have an obligation to make sure that we get this right," the governor said Wednesday in response to reporters' questions about marijuana at his weekly press conference. Scott added that he believes lawmakers from the other side of the aisle likely agree on the importance of public safety initiatives, and said he will welcome the opportunity to work with Democrats and Progressives to address his concerns. "I'm not saying 'never,'" Scott said of retail sales of recreational pot. "I just don't know what the hurry is." Vermont State Police spokesman Adam Silverman issued the following statement following the Tuesday openings of two stores selling recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, one roughly 30 miles from the Vermont border: "Possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational purposes is legal under current Vermont law, and the state police will continue to address marijuana cases under the context and scope of that law regardless what bordering states decide to do. The Vermont State Police again reminds people to avoid driving while under the influence and will aggressively enforce impaired-operation laws. VSP also will continue to investigate cases of possession and distribution that are in violation of state law." What to Know The first 100 or so active duty troops arrived at the border on Thursday, making initial assessment at the McAllen, Texas, crossing The head of "Operation Faithful Patriot," has argued that the caravan is a potential threat, although he has not fully defined that AP journalists traveling with the largest group say it includes many families, including hundreds of children, and it has been orderly President Donald Trump ordered troops to the border in response to a caravan of migrants slowly making its way through Mexico toward the United States and still about 900 miles away, with many dropping out. Here's what we know so far about the military's mission: WHAT TROOPS ARE INVOLVED? More than 7,000 active duty troops have been told to deploy to Texas, Arizona and California. They are a mix of forces, including military police, an assault helicopter battalion, various communications, medical and headquarters units, combat engineers, planners and public affairs units. As of Friday, one week after the Pentagon acknowledged that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had approved a Department of Homeland Security request for military support at the border, the troop deployment was still unfolding, with about 3,500 at staging bases in the Southwest. Of those, about 2,250 active duty troops are at staging bases in Texas, about 1,100 Marines are at Camp Pendleton in California and fewer than 200 are in Arizona. About 100 troops are actually on the border, at the port crossing near McAllen, Texas. Most of the troops are being used to facilitate the movement of border patrol agents, house them, feed them and provide some of their protection. WHAT IS THEIR ROLE ON THE BORDER? The Pentagon is adamant that active duty troops will not do law enforcement, which they are forbidden from doing under the Posse Comitatus Act in the Constitution. Troops can't arrest people at the border. Their main job will be to support the Border Patrol. This means the military will transport border patrol agents to and along the border, help them erect additional vehicle barriers and fencing along the border, assist them with communications and provide some security for border agent camps. The military also will provide the border patrol agents with medical care, pre-packaged meals, and temporary housing. WILL TROOPS BE ARMED? Yes, many of them will be, mainly for self-protection. Military police at the border will be armed, although they will have non-lethal options for dealing with unexpected conflict. Pentagon officials say they are planning for a worst-case scenario of violence that could force soldiers to rely on their training to make split-second decisions to defend themselves or civilians. MPs might, for example, be dispatched to provide armed security for military engineers placing barricades at locations where there are no border patrol agents to provide protection. One day after Trump suggested soldiers on the southwest border may open fire if migrants throw rocks at them, he insisted Friday that he meant that rock-throwers would be arrested. "I didn't say 'shoot,'" he told reporters at the White House. Either way, his scenario of violence captures in a nutshell the risk of using active duty troops for domestic security: Their mission does not include confronting migrants, but some may be unable to avoid it. The commander in charge of the military operation, Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, head of U.S. Northern Command, said earlier this week that handling migrants will be primarily the job of the Customs and Border Protection agency. But he acknowledged "there could be incidental interaction" between migrants and soldiers. In light of that possibility, the soldiers "are going to be fully trained in how to do that," he said. Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the military will not disclose details of its rules on the use of force. DOES CONGRESS SUPPORT THIS MISSION? With members of Congress focused mainly on Tuesday's midterm elections, reaction has been mild. A group of senior House Democrats wrote a letter to Mattis on Thursday expressing opposition to the military mission and demanding answers on its cost. The deployment of active duty troops, they wrote, "only exacerbates the potential to unnecessarily escalate the situation." Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator and Army combat veteran who served as defense secretary under President Barack Obama, told CNN the mission is "folly" because there is "no need, no threat." Retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, who preceded Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took double-barreled aim at the border mission. Writing on Twitter Thursday, he called the military mission a "wasteful deployment of over-stretched Soldiers and Marines" that would be "made much worse" if they used force disproportional to the threat they face on the border. Exhibit of works by Christmas M. Vitarello of New Milford: Exhibit of works by Christine Vitarello of New Milford: Opening reception, Nov. 25, 4-6 p.m. Runs through Jan. 26. Library, 62 Main St. South. KAA juried photography show: Runs through Dec. 1. Kent Art Association Gallery, 21 Main St. South. Hours: Thursdays-Sundays, 1-5 p.m. For more information, call 860-927-3989. The Farm - exhibit of works by Susan Hennelly: Runs through Dec. 29. Library, Main Street. For more information and RSVP to reception, call 860-927-3761. MARBLE DALE/NEW PRESTON Photography exhibit featuring works by Rich Pomerantz and Sanaa Sondhi: Runs through Nov. 25. At The Loft Gallery at The Smithy Store, 10 Main St. ROXBURY Dynamics - works by illustrator Robert Giusti: Runs through Dec. 8. Library, South Street. Hours: Mondays, noon-7 p.m. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays, noon-5 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. For more information, call 860-350-2181. SHERMAN Energy, 2018 Collection - photos/graphics by Barbara Soares and Jim Stasiak: Runs through Nov. 25. White Silo Farm & Winery, 2 Route 37 East. Open Fridays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. One Thousand Bears Project photography exhibit: Runs through Nov. 28. Library, Sherman Center. Features photography by Mako Kumano and John Charles. WASHINGTON Exhibit of art quilts designed and sewn Norma Schlager of Danbury: Nov. 24-Jan. 5. Opening reception, Nov. 25, 1-3 p.m. Library, Wykeham Road. For more information, call 860-868-7586. Music/Dance KENT Jazzing It Up concert with Sherman Chamber Ensemble: Nov. 25, 4 p.m. St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 1 North Main St. $30/general admission. $25/senior and student. Free/child 15 and under with purchase of a paid ticket. For more information and RSVP, call 860-355-5930 or visit www.shermanchamberensemble.com. NEW MILFORD Irish happy hour with Uncle Bill Whiskey, aka Bill Wisnowski: Nov. 25: with guests Julie Sorcek, Rich Bessel and Dale Jones, 5 p.m. Dec. 2: with guests Chris Durham, Emma Kiara and Dale Jones, 5 p.m. The Abbey, 132 Danbury Road. For more information, call 860-799-6464. AREA TOWNS Jazzing It Up concert with Sherman Chamber Ensemble: Nov. 24, 4 p.m. St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 1 North Main St. $30/general admission. $25/senior and student. Free/child 15 and under with purchase of a paid ticket. For more information and RSVP, call 860-355-5930 or visit www.shermanchamberensemble.com. SPECIAL EVENTS BRIDGEWATER Hilltop Center (Bridgewater Senior Center) activities: Nov. 24: Exercises, 11 a.m. With Jill Weiss. Nov. 29: November/December birthday ice cream social, 1 p.m. Sign up required. Dec. 2: supper/concert club, including video presentation of Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes, 4 p.m. Sign up required. Mondays: line dancing, 11 a.m. Tuesdays: appointments with Dawn MacNutt, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Computer Group, 10 a.m. Sliver Needles, 1 p.m. VNA Blood Pressure check (second Tuesday each month), 1 p.m. Wednesdays: Tai Chi with Dee Calvey, 10:30 a.m. Mahjongg 1 p.m. Thursdays: Special events. Fridays: Poker, 10 a.m. Chair Yoga with Elaine Donahue, 10:30 a.m. Canasta, 1 p.m. Hilltop Center, 132 Hut Hill Road. For more information, call 860-355-3090. NEW MILFORD Poetry in the Gallery with Dr. James R. Scrimgeour: Nov. 24, 2 p.m. At Gallery 25 and Creative Arts Studio, in railroad station, Railroad Street. Queens of New York Drag Brunch: Nov. 25, noon-3 p.m. At El Coyote, Lores Plaza. Co-sponsored by KBJB Radio/TV and Litchfield Distillery. $50. Tickets available at Eventbrite.com. Proceeds to benefit local charity to be chosen the day of the show. Program about unconventional mending techniques: Nov. 29, 6:30 p.m. Library, Main Street. With Karen Stevens. Bring an item of clothing to be mended, either jeans or a shirt. Woven fabrics only; no knits. Bring sewing kit or scrap fabric if available. For more information and RSVP, call 860-355-1191. Housatonic Business Alliance meetings: Nov. 29: with Steve Kolitz of United Alarm, Inc., 7 a.m. Dec. 6: with Richard Herrington of Nicholas Tobin & Associates, 7 a.m. Meets at 19 Main venue, 19 Main St. Digital privacy workshop: Dec. 1, 10 -11 a.m. Library, Main Street. For more information and RSVP, call 860-355-1191. Book signing with childrens author/illustrator Lane Smith and author Randall de Seve: Dec. 1, 2 p.m. Hickory Stick Bookshop, 2 Green Hill Road. Smith's latest book is Giraffe Problems, the sequel to Penguin Problems, both written by Jory John. Randall de Seve's latest book is Zola's Elephant, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Caregivers Support Group: Dec. 4 and 18, 10 a.m. Meets first and third Tuesday each month, 10-11:30 a.m. Senior center, 40 Main St. For more information, call 860-354-2216. Video game club: Dec. 6, 6:30 p.m. Meets first Thursday of each month, 6:30 p.m. Library, Main Street. For more information and RSVP, call 860-355-1191. ROXBURY First annual Dave Beglan Memorial Walk at Mine Hill Preserve: Nov. 24, 10 a.m.-noon. Cancelled in case of inclement weather. With John Pawloski, founder and director of Connecticut Museum of Mining and Mineral Science. WASHINGTON Movie screening: Nov. 26: Crazy Rich Asians, 1 p.m. Library, Wykeham Road. For more information and RSVP, call 860-868-7586. Program about Connecticut Architecture: Stories of 100 Places: Nov. 29, 6:30 p.m. Library, Wykeham Road. With Christopher Wigren, architectural historian and deputy director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information and RSVP, call 860-868-7586. Theater NEW MILFORD Man of La Mancha: Fridays-Saturdays, Dec. 7-Jan. 5, 8 p.m., as well as Dec. 23 and 30, 2 p.m. TheatreWorks New Milford, 5 Brookside Ave. $30 for reserved seating. $25 for students and military personnel and veterans with ID. Free dress rehearsal for seniors, Dec. 6, 8 p.m. Pay-what-you-can night, Dec. 13, 8 p.m. For more information and RSVP, call 860-350-6863. Auditions for Race: By appointment only Dec. 9, 2-6 p.m. and Dec. 10, 7-10 p.m. TheatreWorks, 5 Brookside Ave. A cast of three men, including two Caucasian and one African-American, ages 30 to 50, and one African-American woman ages 20 to 30 is sought. Actors should be prepared with a monologue and to read selected sides from the script. It is very important to be familiar with the script before auditioning. Interested actors should bring a head shot and resume. For more information or to make an appointment, call the 5 Brookside Ave. theater at 860-350-6863 or email info@theatreworks.us. A new study has shown that use of antidepressants have risen in England after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. There has also been a sharp fall in prescription of other medications, the study notes. The results of the study were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Image Credit: Melinda Nagy / Shutterstock The team of researchers from Kings College London have said that this study shows the effect of political changes, financials upsets and elections on mental health of the population. More needs to be done to improve and protect mental health they add. The team looked at the effects of Brexit on drug prescribing since June 2016. They noted that there has been a slow and steady rise in antidepressant prescribing. Unexplained drop in other prescription drugs has also been seen during this period. Dr Sotiris Vandoros, the studys lead author said that this study could be interpreted in various ways. He said, On one hand the increases in antidepressant prescribing year on year are slowing down [in 2016]. But if you look at the control group medications, which were also increasing year on year, in 2016 they started decreasing. He gave a plausible explanation that Brexit may have caused a large amount of uncertainty and debate that may have made the people too distracted to fill prescriptions. The other control drugs chosen were drugs for gout and iron supplements. Antidepressant use however rose steadily. While the same effect would hold for antidepressants as well, it could have been outweighed by increasing numbers seeking support for mental health. But we cant be sure, he said. The team from Kings College London and Harvard University in the US used data from GP practice prescribing and looked at all the doses per person per month in each of the 326 voting regions between 2011 and 2016. Iron tablet prescriptions and anti-gout medications were chosen as controls to the antidepressant prescriptions because these were unlikely to be associated with uncertainty and depression. After the June 2016 referendum, the antidepressant prescriptions rose but the other two declined. Compared to the other two drugs, the antidepressant prescriptions rose by 13.4 percent, wrote the researchers. There are alternative possible explanations, and we cannot be sure that this relative increase in antidepressants is due to the referendum result, the study notes. The results remained uniform in regions irrespective of their voted for or against the Brexit. Experts have suggested that caution might be applied before these results are interpreted. They have said that there has been a rise in antidepressant use with more people seeking help than before. This could be irrespective of the political situations. Anxiety disorders too are treated with some of the antidepressants and there could be a rise in anxiety disorders too said the experts. In the era of personalized medicine, scientists are using new genetic and genomic insights to help them determine the best treatment for a given patient. In the case of cancer, the first step toward these treatments is an investigation into how tumor cells behave in an effort to figure out the best drugs to use to attack them. Researchers then use DNA- and RNA- sequencing to look at populations of cells, examining which genes are expressed within a sample of cancerous tissue. However, traditional sequencing methods can hide that fact that not all tumor cells necessarily behave in the same way. Not recognizing this means that if you target a tumor with a specific type of drug, some cells may be just different enough to survive and thrive. In a major advance for genomics, it is now possible to look at what one single cell is doing at any given time with a technique called single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). This method looks at the amount of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in a cell and compares those to other cells to look for differences in gene expression. However, what information you find can depend on how your run your experiment and how the data are analyzed. Lana Garmire, Ph.D., associate professor of the department of computational medicine & bioinformatics at Michigan Medicine and her team is studying ways to eliminate some of the biases that can make interpreting scRNA-seq data difficult. "A lot of the noise in this type of sequencing comes from the fact that you have to measure samples in extreme low quantities and in different batches," she explains. For example, the tissue sample a researcher is analyzing may not fit on one plate, a piece of equipment used to house cell samples, and therefore have to be split onto two plates. Differences that arise due to this split are called batch effects. Genomics researchers must correct for these batch effects, but this process can raise a conundrum: how do you know if a difference is a batch effect or a true difference between cells? New uses for data Bioinformatics is the term for collecting and analyzing complex biological data using computer programs. It is a relatively new field born out of the ability to gather enormous amounts of biological data, such as DNA and protein sequences. Researchers rely on bioinformatics techniques to determine which genes are expressed in single cells. But they've had to work around the noise introduced through different research protocols and batch effects. Garmire, who recently joined U-M from the University of Hawaii and is the new faculty director University of Michigan Medical School Bioinformatics Core, has discovered a more efficient way of identifying differences between cells using the same set of data produced during sequencing experiments. Instead of relying on gene expression, she found that looking at what are known as single nucleotide variants (SNVs) can eliminate some of this uncertainty. "With SNVs, you are dealing with numbers that are binary, 0 and 1. Either the mutation is there or not." Recall that genes are made up of nucleotides represented by the letters A, T, G and C that make up a code that is translated into a protein. Garmire's method looks for differences in single nucleotides, knowing that an A can only be replaced by a T and a G by a C. This new work, described in Nature Communications, developed a new set of procedures to process scRNA-seq data and retrieve this variant information. Further, using a computer program called SSrGE, they can link this variant information to more traditional gene expression information. "This gives us information on different subpopulations of tumor cells and becomes sort of like a fingerprint that can be marked to identify cell-to-cell differences," says Garmire. What it all means Ultimately, drug makers and clinicians use these targets to guide pharmaceutical treatments. "When you want to attack the issue, you go at it by attacking the fundamental features of that issue: the mutations. Clinicians may be able to use this information later on to guide their therapeutics." Garmire looks forward to bringing bioinformatics out of the lab, helping researchers who amass large amounts of data to use them and develop downstream clinical applications. "We divide the body up and specialize but at the end of the day, you need to look holistically and ask, what am I doing and who is this helping? We are developing computational tools to bring bioinformatics researchers and bench scientists and clinicians together to connect the dots and ultimately make change. A new study published in the journal Social Theory & Health has called into question how patients interact and respond to psychiatry when they present to mental health services. The research focuses on how the public view mental disorders and treatments, ranging from anxiety and depression through to schizophrenia, in order to consider how care might better be deployed and managed. By analyzing published research on the topic and examining the wider context which has seen mental health services rise in prominence among policy-makers, the study advocates that service provision must adapt in line with patients' views on mental health. Since the 1960s there has been an ongoing debate about whether psychiatry is helpful or is harmful to those who use it. Many of these criticisms have focussed on whether psychiatry has a valid evidence base. Several ways of thinking about 'mental disorder' have been proposed since the 1970s with some focussing on the biology of the brain; others focussing on psychological factors such as a person's upbringing and others focussing on social factors - such as a person's living environment. Whilst these arguments have gone on for some time, psychiatry still lacks a unifying theory which is widely accepted. Reflecting this mixed picture, the new study finds that members of the public increasingly accept the view that mental health problems are genetic and can require medical treatment. But it also highlights an ambivalence towards psychiatry and a widespread belief that the public see mental illness as being highly influenced by social factors. In addition, the public tends to prefer treatments that are not favored by psychiatry, often giving preference to talking treatments over drug treatments. Against this backdrop, argue the researchers behind the study, mental health professionals need to acknowledge the beliefs that exist and adapt practice accordingly. Specifically they suggest that psychiatrists, nurses and social workers need 'to be transparent about the limits and uncertainties of psychiatric knowledge and to acknowledge that sharp lines cannot yet be drawn between sanity and insanity. They advocate that mental health professionals should spend more time understanding how individual patients understand mental health problems and should adjust treatment options accordingly. They argue that attention should be given to whether a patient has mental capacity, which can be understood as the ability to make an informed decision about their care. Where this is the case, treatment should be planned around patient preferences. Where patients are in favor of medical understandings of mental health problems, then advice about psychiatric treatment can be given. However, where patients reject biological explanations of mental health problems, other options such as talking therapies or greater social support should be explored and mental health professionals should be willing to help patients reduce or stop medications. Lead researcher, Dr Jeremy Dixon from the University of Bath's Department of Social & Policy Sciences, explained: "No other medical field has faced so much controversy when it comes to thinking about illness and diagnoses than psychiatry. Much of this debate has focussed on the polar positions for and against the psychiatric profession. Our paper takes a new approach through reviewing evidence about what the general public thinks about mental disorder and about psychiatric treatment. This shows that the public has a greater range of views about the different ways of understanding mental health problems than is commonly acknowledged either by supporters of psychiatry or its opponents. We argue that mental health professionals have a tendency to make assumptions about what users of mental health services want. In order to improve care, mental health professionals need to question these assumptions and speak to users of services to understand what their position is. Co-author, Dr Dirk Richter from the University Bern Psychiatric Services, added: "By acknowledging the different ways that people understand mental illness, mental health professionals help to reduce the risk of conflicts between professionals and patients, and this will contribute to safer and more humane care settings." The research team acknowledge the dilemmas that exist for practitioners in shifting how they operate, but they suggest that adapting practice could significantly help to improve patient outcomes. Source: https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/study-calls-for-shake-up-in-mental-health-provision-to-improve-patient-outcomes/ University of Stirling experts have discovered new evidence of the link between air pollution and cancer as part of a new occupational health study. The team, from the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, analysed the case of a woman who developed breast cancer after spending 20 years working as a border guard at the busiest commercial border crossing in North America. The woman was one of, at least, five other border guards who developed breast cancer within 30 months of each other and, at another nearby crossing, a cluster of seven other cases was noted. Dr Michael Gilbertson, who worked with colleague Dr Jim Brophy, said their findings "infer a causal relationship" between breast cancer and very high exposures to traffic-related air pollution containing mammary carcinogens. A link between nightshift work and cancer was also identified. Dr Gilbertson said: "This new research indicates the role of traffic-related air pollution in contributing to the increasing incidence of breast cancer in the general population. "With this new knowledge, industry and government can plan for new designs for industrial and commercial facilities to cut down on the occupational exposures to traffic-related air pollution and for scheduling shift work to minimize disruption of sleep patterns." Drs Gilbertson and Brophy focused on the worker compensation case of the woman, who was employed by the Canada Border Services Agency for two decades at the Ambassador Bridge, which crosses the Detroit River between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. The bridge - the busiest commercial border crossing in North America - carries 12,000 trucks and 15,000 cars each day. The air pollution is severe and border guards in the traffic booths inhale many carcinogens, including those that result in breast cancer. The woman - one of at least five colleagues who developed breast cancer within 30 months of each other - was diagnosed with her first bout of breast cancer at the age of 44 and second at 51. Notably, another cluster of seven cancer cases occurred at a second crossing point, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, which lies four miles from the bridge. The cluster of cases in staff at the bridge was 16 times higher than the rate in the rest of the country - there is less than a one in 10,000 probability that this could have occurred by chance. In addition, the clusters were characterized by breast cancer cases that were early onset and premenopausal with recurrences. The scientists analyzed the circumstances of the case - heard by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) - by applying the Bradford Hill criteria - a group of nine principles that are useful in establishing epidemiologic evidence of a causal relationship between a presumed cause and an observed effect. The criteria considers strength, consistency, specificity, temporality, biological gradient, plausibility, coherence, experiment and analogy. The case focused on whether the woman had a genetically inherited predisposition to develop breast cancer because of dysfunctional BRCA1/2 tumor suppressor genes. It was found that her BRCA1/2 tumor suppressors were not working - but that was not connected to her inherited genes. This condition is known as "BRCAness" and is sporadic, rather than an inherited breast cancer. The Stirling team investigated whether the dysfunction was potentially caused by occupational exposures to pollution. A review of previous research confirmed that BRCA1 can be "silenced" by exposures to dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - both found in exhaust fumes. In addition, other research has shown that BRCA2 is rapidly degraded in the presence of aldehydes - also components of exhaust fumes. "There is much more research to be undertaken," Dr Gilbertson said. "But we now have plausible mechanisms for inferring how the BRCA1/2 tumor suppressors in this highly-exposed border guard became dysfunctional and likely contributed to the ongoing epidemic of sporadic, early onset, premenopausal breast cancer among her colleagues. "These outbreaks of breast cancer represent a new occupational disease that we are provisionally calling 'occupational BRCAness'." The front-line workers also identified nightshift work as a potential contributing factor to their high incidence of breast cancer. Drs Gilbertson and Brophy considered whether nightshift work might exacerbate the exposures to mammary carcinogens in traffic-related air pollution. They pointed to a previous study involving rats that found those exposed to continuous daylight developed tumors 36 per cent faster - and had 60 per cent more tumors - than those subjected to a normal photoperiod. Significantly, the WSIAT rejected the woman's case. Reflecting on the findings, Dr Gilbertson continued: "Reweighing the scientific evidence using a consensus medico-legal framework - the Hill Bradford criteria - enabled us to show the amount of evidence that the WSIAT had ignored in dismissing this worker compensation case." He added: "This kind of forensic research depends on asking new questions based on conclusions from the existing evidence and a willingness to follow leads into unfamiliar areas of science. "The gratifying part was to find that other scientists in other disciplines had already supplied credible answers that could then be assembled into the Hill's framework of indicia for this specific case which can explain the clusters." Bionic Vision Technologies Pty Ltd (BVT) today announced medical researchers had successfully restored a sense of vision in four blind people with its bionic eye as part of a clinical trial in Melbourne. Researchers said they were very pleased with the progress of all four patients who have had a sense of sight restored. All four have a degenerative genetic condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa which causes loss of vision. Principal investigator Associate Professor Penny Allen made the announcement to the annual Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists Scientific meeting in Adelaide. An earlier study of three patients established the safety of a prototype but restricted use to the lab. The new study uses a permanent device that can be used every day. We have completed surgeries on four patients to implant the device and the team is very pleased with their progress. All four patients have had a sense of sight restored and are in the process of learning how to use the bionic eye for mobility and other activities. Each of the patients has returned home after surgery and are working with the clinical and research team to learn to use the device and incorporate it into their everyday lives. We believe the Australian bionic eye being tested has advantages over international competitors, including a superior surgical approach, stability of the device and unique vision processing software that aims to improve the patients experience. At the moment, we are focused on patients who have vision loss due to Retinitis Pigmentosa, an inherited genetic condition. Based on our results so far, we know that our approach is safer and less invasive, and the patients have all made impressive progress with mobility and activities of daily living, Assoc Prof Penny Allen, of the Centre for Eye Research Australia and head of the Vitreoretinal Unit at The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital We welcome developments like this which potentially provide support and independence to the many people and families affected by this genetic condition. The ability to regain a sense of sight will make a positive difference to the lives of people diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa. Chairman of Retina Australia, Leighton Boyd Retinitis Pigmentosa is a debilitating genetic disorder that leads to loss of vision. It affects about one in every 4,000 people, affecting 1.5 million people worldwide. It is the leading cause of inherited blindness. There is currently no cure. How the Bionic Vision Technologies (BVT) Pty Ltd bionic eye works The BVT developed bionic eye consists of implanted and body worn components. The patient wears glasses with a small video camera mounted on the side. The live feed from the camera is processed and transmitted via an implanted microchip to an electrode array placed in a naturally occurring pocket behind the retina, called the suprachoroidal space. The electrodes stimulate remaining cells in the retina, to generate spots of light that give a patient a sense of vision. The vertebrates, the animal group to which humans belong, are extremely diverse and have colonized virtually all of the planet's ecosystems. For many years there was some debate as to which changes in our ancestors' genome could have contributed to the successful evolution of the vertebrates. Now, an international team of scientists co-led by Spanish investigators from the Centre for Genomic Regulation(CRG), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, has just described the processes that ultimately helped to yield the diversity of gene functions and regulation during the transition from invertebrates to vertebrates. The vertebrates share a unique set of gene regulation systems that allows the information contained in our genome to produce hundreds of specialised cells, tissues and organs. "We conducted an exhaustive analysis of the genomic regulation of different species, finding two key differences between vertebrates and invertebrates. First of all, we observed that generally speaking our gene regulation is much more complex than that of the invertebrates. The second difference is that we have copies of genes that originally performed only very general functions, but which in the vertebrates went on to specialize in much more specific functions, particularly in the brain", explains The scientists studied the genomes of several species of vertebrates, such as the zebrafish or the medaka fish, as well as of the frog, chicken, mouse and the human being. However, in order to understand the origin of the genomic regulation mechanisms that characterise the vertebrates, they needed equivalent data from a closely-related species that would furnish with information about the evolutionary transition between invertebrates and vertebrates. For this purpose, the investigators sequenced the genome of the amphioxus and generated the data required to study its gene regulation. "The amphioxus is an organism that has been used as a research model system since the 19th Century. Its genome has evolved very slowly, without the whole duplications present in the vertebrates. For this reason, the amphioxus can serve as a reference in evolutionary comparisons to understand our lineage", says Hector Escriva, one of the leaders of the work and a researcher at the Sorbonne and at the CNRS in Banyuls sur Mer, France. The work, recently published by the prestigious Nature journal, not only compares the genomes, but also provides genomic, epigenomic and gene expression data, furnishing unique information about the functional changes that gave rise to higher complexity in the vertebrates. The scientists observed that, while the regulation of the genes that are responsible for the basic anatomy has been maintained between species, the vertebrates incorporated more regulatory regions that enabled them to take on new functions. "Just like studies performed in human beings, our own study gives us an overview of the genome's different regulatory layers and a detailed description of the vertebrates' unique genomic regulation characteristics that gave rise to organisms with a much more complex morphology", states Jose Luis Gomez-Skarmeta, one of the leaders of the work from the Centro Andaluz de Biologia del Desarrollo (CSIC - Universidad Pablo de Olavide). One of the most important results of this work consists of understanding how the genomic duplications that occurred in the origin of the vertebrates contributed to diversifying gene function. Almost 50 years ago, it was suggested that these duplications were key to our origin, although many of the associated predictions could not be proven until now. "We observed that in most cases, there are copies of genes whose function specializes in specific tissues. This is particularly evident in the brain, which has incorporated new functions that have likely been essential to the vertebrates' evolutionary success", adds Ignacio Maeso, a researcher at the same center, and one of the leading authors of the work. The work that these Spanish scientists have just published enjoyed the participation of laboratories in France, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Czech Republic, Holland, Japan, China, Portugal, Italy, Taiwan, Norway and the United States, and constitutes an unprecedented resource for the scientific community that will enable the latter to explore the elements of functional genomics maintained between species in greater depth and to study the changes that have given rise to vertebrate complexity. The exhibition of the Thapong Artist of the year 2018 competition comprises of an eclectic mix of different media meticulously conceptualised using some incredible found objects. The objects range from bottle caps, bones, metals, string, and many others. An exciting and breathtakingly impressive collection, the exhibition could be one of the best exhibitions to date. What is standing out from this particular exhibition is how local artists appear to have done their ground work and researched on what is working for visual artists today. One gets a sense that they are rising to the occasion and at par with other international artists. Eighty -seven artists submitted their artworks, and their many pieces have given life to the gallery. One of the incredible artists, who scooped the TAYA title is none other than Prika Ntolo Makosha. An interesting artist, Makoshas winning piece is a three wheeled motorcycle with the same title, and he used different found objects that include bones, wood and metal. A stunning and visually stimulating piece; the motorcycle is a masterpiece. It proves that Makosha used his surroundings for inspiration and cleverly used something that is easily found. Makosha also illustrates his creativity with this piece that almost prompts one to expect to hear the motorcycle roaring to life. His award-winning piece is valued at P30 000.00. And he takes his love for bones as a medium in another piece titled Pupply. A totally different presentation from last years winner, Makosha has upped the scales from where Obed Mokhuhlani left off. Mokhuhlani won the 2017 TAYA with his artwork titled Nail Thread on Board.Something to consider about this piece, is its longevity, and whether it will stand the test of time. Both Makgosha and Mokhuhlani are masters of their respective mediums, and they have proven why they have won the much sought-after title. Another outstanding submission is Isaac Chibuas welded steel and plastic creation titled Tolerance. The piece holds a price tag of P70 000.00, and for those with a keen eye for the visual arts, you can instinctively see why that might be the case. Chibua used found objects that include bottle caps, stand pipe, and other metal pieces, and it shows that it took him some time to put this piece together. Tolerance is in a league of its own, and a good art collector would be lucky to secure it. Omphile Sefakos Pieces of Me brought to life using wood and acrylic is an ingenious creation. A striking piece, it is priced at P12,000.00 and rightly deserves the price tag. Lecha King David Mosinyi, who walked away with the title of the Young Artist of the year is another brilliant artist. One of his pieces titled The Despondent Soul is a remarkable painting. His medium is oil on canvas. In his other submission titled The Intruder, he takes his talent to exhilarating heights. Mosinyi proves that he is one of the artists to look forward to in future. On the installation side, there are some pieces that leave some with many questions. You instinctively wonder what was going on in the mind of the artist, and the message that they wish to rely, but then again, that is what art is supposed to be sometimes. It is supposed to invoke many feelings. One of these pieces is that of Osego Edoh Keboseme. The piece titled Alcohol cries for freedom is made up of three Black Label bottles, and a sjambok on a white surface. It leaves one with more questions than answers. There is also Thato Nkawanas installation titled Naked World. A confusing piece for an untrained eye in the visual arts; the piece comprises of baby bottles with what appears to be milk, bricks, sand, and what appears to be a box and a black plastic bag. One walks away from the pieces wishing they had met the artist to Breaking into the world of television and acting is not all a bed of roses as many would like to think. Many envision dreams of seeing themselves on television, watched by millions; they have no idea about the obstacles that lie ahead. Some have given up on those dreams, and kissed their careers goodbye, even before they could start. The Botswana born couple, Shona and Connie Ferguson recently chronicled their early days in the acting industry, and the many pitfalls they bypassed before they became the powerhouse in the industry. The Fergusons, through their production house, Ferguson Films are behind some of the most popular telenovelas in South Africa, including The Queen, airing on Mzansi Magic weekdays at 2100 hrs, and The Throne that airs on Mzansi Magic on Monday-Thursday at 1900 hrs, as well as other productions that include Rockville, Igazi and The Imposter whose second season is running on Mzansi Magic on Sunday at 2000 hrs. The Fergusons have engaged close to 200 employees, half of whom are on fulltime employment. The Lobatse born Connie shares that after competing in the Miss Ellerines competition, she found herself on her way to South Africa where she was to enrol in a hair braiding course. But prior to that life changing journey, she points out that back at Lobatse Senior Secondary School, one of her teachers, a Mr Biriam, a tall British and no-nonsense teacher recognised her talent as a drama student. The teacher pushed them a lot. She notes that children are gifted differently. Some are meant to pursue careers in medicine, others are teachers, and so forth. None of those appealed to me, she says, adding that Miss Ellerines was her break-through. But prior to being one of the most loved actresses on television that she is today, she reveals that she has endured challenges. I had a tough time in South Africa and auditioned a lot, she says. She says that what the youth or those who wish to break through in this industry need to know is that failure to clinch auditions should not deter them. This is something that the youth needs to know. Rome was not built in one day, she says. Prior to her debut in Generations as Karabo Moroka, she appeared in a couple of dramas in the then Sotho television. She stayed with Generations for sixteen years, and says that during that time something inside her wanted to do more than just standing in front of the camera. I didnt see myself acting all my life, and I wanted more, she explains. She further says that during her days as the beloved Karabo, she would also assist with behind the scenes duties although this was something that most producers and directors never publicly credited them for. Itching to do their own thing and tell their own stories, the Fergusons took a risk and started their own company. We wanted to tell own stories that will resonate with a lot of people, she says.She says that when one takes a risk the time has to be right. Ferguson says that before the lord says yes, doors will remain shut, and one might even wonder whether their proposals were being opened. Their first big project they embarked on as a couple was The Wild, which was later cancelled as the couple were gearing up to take over its production. Sharing his story, Shona Fergusons told the audience that before he was the Robocop/ Jerry Maake, a character that he plays on The Queen today, he auditioned countless times. His career in acting started in Generations where he only had two calls. He says that while some might have looked down on that opportunity, he grabbed the opportunity with both hands. In one year, he points out that he went through more than twenty auditions, and was turned down. He later joined Muhvango, where he stayed for three years. Those two calls at Generations gave me three years at Muvhango, he says adding that he was a call actor and was paid per call. During this time, he was changing agents hoping that one of them would get him the ideal opportunity. One of those agents, informed him that he was too good looking, and that people who are too good looking normally do not have talent. The fact that he has tattoos also did not favour him, his agents told him. I was told so many times that I will never make it. but today, those very same big producers want to work with me, he says. In his search for gold, and when auditioning for Scandal, he was also informed that a mole on his face did not look attractive. He decided to remove the mole. He was turned down three times at Scandal and later clinched the role of Alex Phiri, where he stayed for four years. When The Wild was supposed to change production houses, they were already doing the ground work for the production. And that ground work gave birth to their first production, Rockville, which was initially meant to be a spin off to The Wild. When Mzansi Magic was conceptualised they decided to change the characters, and his wife, was meant to play the glitzy role of Dudu, who was married to one of the lead characters namely JB (Ferguson). But her wife had enough time playing those glitzy role, she wanted something different and opted to take the role of Mavis Mavuso, a woman who was going through hardships. Rockville went on to have four seasons, and gave birth to other productions. GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more Sorry! This content is not available in your region 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 New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday expelled 11 of its rebel leaders from the primary membership of the party for six years on the charges of contesting against the in-house candidates in the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly Election 2018, according to a statement released by state BJP president Madan Lal Saini. Those expelled leaders include Surendra Goyal, Laxmi Narayan Dave, Radheshyam Ganganagar, Hem Singh Bhadana, Rajkumar Rinwa, Rameshwar Bhati, Kuldeep Dhankhar, Deendayal Kumawat, Kishna Ram Nai, Dhan Singh Rawat and Anita Katara. "11 rebel leaders of Rajasthan BJP have been expelled from the primary membership of the party for 6 years for contesting against the official party candidates in the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly Election 2018," the news agency ANI reported. 11 rebel leaders of Rajasthan BJP have been expelled from the primary membership of the party for 6 years for contesting against the official party candidates in the upcoming #RajasthanAssemblyElection2018. pic.twitter.com/e4SWHAmkkd ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Read | Farooq Abdullah takes a dig at Ram Madhav, asks if PDP was terror-friendly or not in pact with BJP Earlier in the day, in a dramatic turn of event, BJP dissident Gyandev Ahuja, who had filed nomination as independent after being denied a ticket, took back his nomination. Gyan Deo has now been appointed as BJP's vice president in Rajasthan. The 63-year-old politician had announced his resignation from the party earlier this week. BJP MLA Gyandev Ahuja who had filed nomination as independent after being denied a ticket by the party, has taken back his nomination. He has now been appointed BJP's state vice president. #RajasthanElection2018 (file pic) pic.twitter.com/N2lp5EBCbp ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 According to the chief electoral officer, 579 candidates have withdrawn their nominations so far and the figure is likely to be raised further. Bhawani Singh Rajawat is also one of the prominent leaders who withdrew his nomination for the upcoming Rajasthan polls on Thursday. Till November 19, 3,293 candidates had filed 4,285 nominations, of which 612 nominations were rejected. Read | Jammu and Kashmir Assembly dissolution: Who said what Polling in Rajasthan will be held on December 7, 2018. Over 2,000 candidates are in the race for the December 7 elections across the state. The counting of votes will be taken up across five poll-bound states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Telangana on December 11, 2018. New Delhi: As many as seven children and a driver of a school van were killed when it collided with a speeding bus at Birsinghpur in Madhya Pradesh's Satna district on Thursday morning. Satna district Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Singh Gaur said that the deceased children were students of Lucky Convent School in Birsinghpur. Senior police and government officials, including collector Rahul Jain, rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital. Read More | Fire at Chartered Accountants of India building in Delhi According to reports, the bus that plied between Reva and Chitrakut. Four children of a family from Dewra were killed in the accident. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted his condolences to the families of the children. The Hindi tweet roughly translated to, "Unhappy by the news of the Satna road accident. Pay tribute to the children injured during the accident. My condolences towards the afflicted families. The administration has issued the necessary guidelines. Pray to God to provide peace to the departed souls." (Further details awaited) New Delhi: The dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly by Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday, barely minutes after former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti confirmed the grand alliance with the National Conference (NC) and the Congress, evoked several reactions from people across the political spectrum. Taking to Twitter, Mufti on Wednesday announced the alliance with the two mainstream political parties, saying the PDP is faxing a letter to Governor Satya Pal Malik with the support of 56 candidates in the 87-member house. According to reports, the PDP will lead the grand alliance in a bid to form the next government in the Governor-ruled state. The purpose behind this far-reaching realignment of political forces is to defend the Article 35A in the Supreme Court in January 2019. While the PDP has 29 seats (including one nominated member) in the state Assembly, the National Conference and the Congress have 15 and 12 respectively. Read More | Why did Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolve Jammu and Kashmir Assembly? Click here to know in 5 points In my twenty six year old career as a politician, I thought I had seen it all! But like they say never say never! Nevertheless, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to @OmarAbdullah and @Ambikasoni4 ji for helping us achieve the seemingly impossible. (sic), tweeted Mufti. While National Conferences Omar Abdullah in reply to Muftis tweet quipped, And I never thought Id be retweeting anything you said while agreeing with you. Politics truly is a strange world. Good luck for the battle ahead. Once again the wisdom of the people will prevail. (sic) In my twenty six year old career as a politician, I thought I had seen it all! But like they say never say never! Nevertheless, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to @OmarAbdullah and @Ambikasoni4 ji for helping us achieve the seemingly impossible. 1/4 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 21, 2018 And I never thought Id be retweeting anything you said while agreeing with you. Politics truly is a strange world. Good luck for the battle ahead. Once again the wisdom of the people will prevail. https://t.co/OcN9uRje1s Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 21, 2018 Being critical of the governor s decision, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha said, Will not allow anyone else to form any govt anywhere even if it involves bypassing the constitution. J&K is the latest example of this principle of BJP. (sic) Will not allow anyone else to form any govt anywhere even if it involves bypassing the constitution. J&K is the latest example of this principle of BJP. Yashwant Sinha (@YashwantSinha) November 21, 2018 Also Read | Grand alliance a combination of terror-friendly parties: BJP While senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said, The dissolution of the J&K Assembly by BJP'S political speaker, hours after NC & PDP came together with a clear majority & staked clain to form govt there, shows that BJP intends to rule J&K from the centre & it's talk about democracy there is all humbug. (sic) The dissolution of the J&K Assembly by BJP'S political speaker, hours after NC & PDP came together with a clear majority & staked clain to form govt there, shows that BJP intends to rule J&K from the centre & it's talk about democracy there is all humbug. Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) November 22, 2018 Welcoming the decision, the BJPs state president Ravinder Raina said, BJP welcomes the decision taken by the J&K Governor. Once again, the NC, the Congress & the PDP hatched a conspiracy in Jammu & Kashmir that would have done injustice to Jammu and Ladakh. Will they form alliance before elections? and added that the party has called for an important meeting with all its MLAs on Thursday and they will decide the future course of action. We wish that the Assembly elections in J&K should be conducted along with the Parliament elections, he said. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for an important meeting with all its MLAs today and we will decide the future course of action. We wish that the Assembly elections in J&K should be conducted along with the Parliament elections: BJP State president Ravinder Raina pic.twitter.com/1PNTl4G2OH ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Congress leader and former Union minister Kapil Sibal tweeted, When a Governor brazenly plays politics under instructions ' Satya ' becomes a pawn in the hands of ' Asatya ' . BJP's shameless power play in J&K recipe for disaster. (sic) New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik issued an order dissolving the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday evening with immediate effect. According to a press communique from the Raj Bhavan in Jammu, the Governor took this decision based on material available to him from multiple sources. Read More | Jammu and Kashmir: Mehbooba, Omar take digs at Governor's fax machine Here are some of the main reasons why Governor Malik arrived at the decision to dissolve the Assembly: New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board or popularly known as Upbasiceduboard has finally released the UPTET 2018 Answer key on the official website upbasicboard.gov.in. The Answer key was scheduled to release on November 20 but there was no update on the official website. The Board conducted the UPTET on November 18 and was expected to release the answer within two days of the examination. The number of candidates who appeared for the UPTET was around 23 lakh out of which 17 lakh candidates appeared for the examination. Also read | AIIMS MBBS 2019 registration to begin from November 30, check important notifications at aiimsexams.org Anil Bhushan, the secretary of Examination Regulatory Authority said that the Answer Key was forwarded to the National informatics Centre (NIC) office in Lucknow. Although, the office failed to upload the Answer Key on the official website in required time. Meanwhile, he also said that the last date for inviting objections relating to Answer Key will also be extended. Here we bring the complete steps to follow to download UPTET Answer Key: - Log on to the official website, www.upbasiceduboard.gov.in - Click on any one link out of the two, one is Primary UPTET exam answer and the other is Upper Primary UPTET exam answer - New page will open after clicking one of the link. - Download the Answer Key. The candidate can raise objection, if any before 6PM of November 23. However, the date may be extended. For all the Latest Education News, Jobs News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Kaala starring Rajinikanth might have re-drawn the existing symbolism of black and white colours in Indian cinema but its awakening has gone discredited for, if, news of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2018 selection are to be believed. Pa Ranjith, the director of the crime flick expressed confusion saying that if what is said so much about Kaala was true, the IFFI would have selected the film for the ongoing gala's Indian Panorama section. Kaala, which had a strong political message that highlighted the struggle of OBCs, was placed against the Salman Khan-starrer Tiger Zinda Hai. This decision of the selection has concurred confusion on the director who told PTI, Unfortunately, they have not selected the film at IFFI. I don't understand why Tiger Zinda Hai was selected and Kaala was not. I don't know what's happening. Tiger Zinda Hai was not even critically acclaimed. But Kaala was. That's why I have to fight more and more." The filmmaker, best known for movies like Kabali, Madras and Atthakathi, also went on to say that he wants both mainstream and parallel cinema to address casteism. Also Read | Disha Patani sets internet on fire with THIS picture on Instagram "They (the producers) are not ready. They are still not letting the audiences get used to different types of cinema. Producers tend to not take risks thinking they will challenge the set pattern. I want to make it clear for other producers that such a story needs to be put out. Let 'Perumal' be an example for others," he says. "I believe that the audience has an open mind and as creative people, we should not hold things back from them. I want to break all the rules," he adds. Ranjith says he does not need to join politics as he already considers himself a politician. "I am in politics. Cinema is a very political medium. I'm a politician," he says. The director, who was present at the screening of his production Pariyerum Perumal BA BL on received a warm, jam-packed welcome from fans who chanted 'Jai Bhim' at the screening. Ranjith, who usually makes movies with political linings, says that it is his politics in the movies that resonate so strongly with the people. "I think I'm most honest to my political ideas. This is the core that connects me with the audience." The director will soon be making his Hindi directorial debut with the biopic on tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda. Without giving away much, Ranjith, a strong fighter against castes also said that Birsa Munda is one such leader that the country needs . Also Read | Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singhs reception "He was the premier leader and it was the tribals that led the freedom movement from the front as they were the first ones to be affected with all the land grabbing that started with the British and it still continues. Adivasis are facing so much struggle with their lands being snatched away even . I think India needs Birsa Munda now." For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: After the extravagant and glamorous nuptials of the Bollywood couple Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone grabbed all the eyeballs, now the multiple receptions of the newlyweds are ready to set the internet on fire. While Deepika and Ranveer garnered the show buzz attention at their Bengaluru wedding reception, invites for their upcoming celebrations have already left everyone in awe of them. The Ram Leela actors have a lot more in store for family, friends, and fans. Also Read | Jacqueline Fernandez to help build homes and restore lives of flood victims in Kerala! Following Bengaluru reception, the newlyweds will head to Mumbai for the other reception ceremonies to be held on November 24, November 28 and December 1. The invites for the November 28 and December 1 reception are already out, and now the fans and friends are eagerly anticipating for the third one. The November 28 reception will be held at The Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The invite reads, Please join us at a reception to celebrate the wedding of Ranveer and Deepika. It can be speculated that the events guest list will include Bhavnanis and other close family members of Ranveer. Also Read | Disha Patani sets internet on fire with THIS picture on Instagram The other reception, to be scheduled for December 1, will witness Bollywood celebrities as guests. The invite was shared by Manisha Koirala on her Twitter handle. Manisha shared the invite which read, Dear Manisha, Please join us for a party to celebrate our wedding. The reception will be held at The Grand Hyatt with a black tie as the dress code. Fans will have to wait for which Bollywood celebrities will attend the function. YY normally I dont give explanations pic.twitter.com/BIp0z8LFkA Manisha Koirala (@mkoirala) November 21, 2018 The internet was taken by storm since Ranveer and Deepika posted their much-anticipated nuptials pictures from November 15. The Bajirao Mastani stars Ranveer and Deepika got hitched on November 14 and 15 at Villa del Balbianello, Lake Como, Italy. The couple was married twice in traditional Konkani style and later in traditional Sindhi style. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Businessman Vijay Mallyas plea to seek a stay on a request made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to declare him a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties, was dismissed by the Bombay High Court on Thursday. The embattled liquor tycoon faced a setback on Wednesday in his battle to save his posh London home from foreclosure by Swiss bank UBS. Also Read | Disha Patani reveals her cravings, know who fulfills it The application was earlier filed by the ED before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court to seek the fugitive tag for Mallya under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018. The Act provisions the prosecuting agency the powers to confiscate the accused persons properties if the person is declared a fugitive economic offender. Mallya had filed an application in the lower court seeking a stay on the hearing on the ED's plea till November 26 when the appellate tribunal functioning under the PMLA would hear matters filed by a consortium of banks seeking their dues back. However, the special court rejected Mallyas appeal on October 30, owing to which the businessman approached the high court. Mallyas counsel Amit Desai on Thursday assured a division bench of Justices R M Savant and V K Jadhav to not misunderstand his pleas as a ploy to run away from the proceedings. "We are also anxious to clear the dues and to see to it that the creditors get their dues back. We only do not want the properties to be seized by the Enforcement Directorate, which would then hamper the process of clearance of dues," Desai said. Also Read | Mohanlal's #MeToo comment irks Revathy, says people from Mars don't know what is abuse Despite the pleas, the high court said it was not inclined to permit any relief. The court said in its order that the application has been filed at the threshold and at a very premature stage when the lower court is still hearing the prosecuting agencys request to declare Mallya a fugitive economic offender. The bench dismissed Mallyas plea on the grounds that the lower court shall hear the application filed by the ED on merits. In separate legal proceedings, the liquor baron had also lost his appeal in the UKs Court of Appeal against a High Court order in favour of 13 Indian banks to recover funds amounting to nearly 1.145 billion pounds. Also Read | Aanand L Rai begs Shah Rukh Khan to leave him alone, find out why The High Court order, earlier this year, in favour of the State Bank of India (SBI) led consortium had reinforced a worldwide freezing order against Mallyas assets. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: After Jammu and Kashmir Assembly dissolution drama unfolded on an unexpected note, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah went a step further, raising some significant questions over BJP leader Ram Madhav's 'instruction from Pak' remarks on Thursday. Training his gun at the BJP secretary general, Abdullah asked if the Mehbooba Mufti-led party has become 'terror-friendly' after talks of the coalition with the National Conference (NC) and the Congress. "When PDP was in alliance with BJP then it was not 'terror-friendly?' It has become 'terror-friendly' when it talked of alliance with NC and Congress?", ANI quoted Abdullah as saying. When PDP was in alliance with BJP then it was not 'terror-friendly?' It has become 'terror-friendly' when it talked of alliance with NC and Congress?: Farooq Abdullah pic.twitter.com/w9qn5Kg3ce ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Read | Maharashtra farmers agitation: Lok Sangarsh Morcha calls off protest as Fadnavis assures to meet demands Early in the day, Madhav stirred a political storm after he welcomed Governor Satya Pal Malik's decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, saying the PDP-NC-Congress alliance is a "combination of terror-friendly parties". On Wednesday, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was abruptly dissolved by Governor Satya Pal Malik minutes after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. Read | Pakistan agrees to open Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims, Imran Khan to break ground on Nov 28 The dissolution was announced by Malik in a communique released by the Raj Bhavan, crashing all the dreams of Mufti and company to return to power in the Valley. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A civilian was injured during an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists in the Khudwani area of Jammu and Kashmirs Kulgam district on Thursday morning. The exchange of fire began after terrorists fired upon an army camp, according to news agency ANI. Security forces have cordoned off the area and the injured has been admitted in the hospital. ALSO READ | Jammu and Kashmir Assembly dissolution: The tale of three letters Jammu and Kashmir: One civilian injured during an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists, the exchange of fire ensued after terrorists fired upon a camp in Khudwani area of Kulgam. The injured has been admitted to hospital. Security forces have cordoned the area, ANI tweeted. Jammu and Kashmir: One civilian injured during an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists, the exchange of fire ensued after terrorists fired upon a camp in Khudwani area of Kulgam. The injured has been admitted to hospital. Security forces have cordoned the area. ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 On Tuesday, an Army jawan was killed and four terrorists were gunned down in an encounter between security forces and terrorists in the Nadigam area of Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district. ALSO READ | Why did Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolve Jammu and Kashmir Assembly? Click here to know in 5 points Earlier on Sunday too, two terrorists were gunned down by security forces in an encounter in Shopian. The security forces began a cordon and search operation in the Rebban area of Zainapora after receiving credible inputs about the presence of terrorists. The terrorists fired on the search party, following which security forces retaliated leading to an encounter. Arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday said that he was not in favour of any government formed in the state with underhand defection and horse trading, adding that he would instead want that elections are held and an elected government rules the state. I've been receiving complaints for past 15 days of horse trading & that MLAs are being threatened. Mehbooba Ji herself complained that her MLAs are being threatened.The other party said there is planning of distribution of money.I couldn't have allowed this to happen:J&K Governor pic.twitter.com/dClcBtc9Sj ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Ye forces wo hain jo grassroot democracy bilkul nahi chahti thin aur achanak ye dekhke ki hamare haath se chijein nikal rahi hain,ek unholy alliance karke mere saamne aa gaye. Maine kisi ka pakshpat nahi kiya.Maine jo J&K ki janta ke paksh me tha wo kaam kiya hai: J&K Governor pic.twitter.com/6t3TyqIRSK ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Read More | We did not favour alliance with PDP, we wanted polls earlier: Omar Speaking to news agency ANI, Governor Malik said that this unholy alliance didn't want grassroots democracy and that by dissolving the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, he didnt take any partys side instead took the decision for the larger good of the people of the state. On the digs by former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti that the fax machine in the Raj Bhavan wasn't working, the governor said, "Fax isn't an issue. It was Eid yesterday. Both of them are devoted Muslim and should know that offices are closed that day. Even my cook was on leave, let alone the person who handles fax. Even if I had received the fax, my stand would have been the same." Fax isn't an issue. Yesterday was Eid. Both of them are devoted Muslim & should know that offices are closed that day. Even my cook was on leave, let alone the person who handles fax. Even if I had received the fax, my stand would have been the same: J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik pic.twitter.com/QEMkuZAtIC ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Why will they go to court? They were demanding this since five months. I want that they go to court, it's their right, they should go: J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik on reports that PDP will approach court against dissolution of #JammuAndKashmir assembly pic.twitter.com/BWpKFitJrq Are govts formed through social media? I neither tweet nor see the tweets.I selected y'day for the decision (dissolution of assembly) as it was holy day,it was Eid.Election Commission will decide when polls will be held:J&K Governor on Mehbooba Mufti's tweet of letter sent to him pic.twitter.com/OqeaAoTA2B ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Also Read | Pakistan had probably instructed PDP, NC to form government: BJP Barely minutes after former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti confirmed the grand alliance with the National Conference (NC) and the Congress, Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday dissolved the state Assembly under the relevant provisions in Jammu and Kashmir constitution, according to reports. Taking to Twitter, Mufti on Wednesday announced the alliance with the two mainstream political parties, saying the PDP was faxing a letter to Governor Satya Pal Malik with the support of 56 candidates in the 87-member house. According to reports, the PDP will lead the grand alliance in a bid to form the next government in the Governor-ruled state. The purpose behind this far-reaching realignment of political forces is to defend the Article 35A in the Supreme Court in January 2019. While the PDP has 29 seats (including one Independent) in the state Assembly, the National Conference and the Congress have 15 and 12, respectively. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A delegation of over 10,000 protesting tribals and farmers on Thursday met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in Mumbai, where the winter session of the state legislature kick-started on November 19. Agitating farmers led by the Lok Sangharsh Morcha, started their march from Mulund Octroi Naka this morning and refused to leave Azad Maidan until or unless the state government addresses their concerns. The demands include the implementation of Swaminathan Committee Report, pending claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), minimum support price and setting up of a judicial system to ensure its implementation, complete farm loan waiver and drought compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre for non-irrigated land and Rs 1 lakh per acre for irrigated land and other issues. Fadnavis, however, addressed the representative of the protesting farmers, assuring that their forest land rights claims will be settled by December 2018. Tribal welfare minister Vishnu Savra said 3.6 lakh claims were received, of which 1.74 lakh have been settled in favour of the tribals. Similarly, 12,000 claims for community forest activity were also received, of which 7,700 have been settled, Savra added. Read | Ram Madhav retracts his 'instruction from Pak' remark, mocks at PDP-NC equations Here are the Highlights: 20:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Lok Sangarsh Morcha, which has led the farmers' protests at Azad Maidan, Mumbai has called off the protest after getting written assurances on their demands from Maharashtra Government. Lok Sangarsh Morcha, which has led the farmers' protests at Azad Maidan, Mumbai has called off the protest after getting written assurances on their demands from Maharashtra Government. pic.twitter.com/N3PMzmjrJT ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 19:54 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Lok Sangarsh Morcha which has led the farmers' protests at Azad Maidan, Mumbai has called off the protest after getting written assurances on their demands from Maharashtra Government. Lok Sangarsh Morcha which has led the farmers' protests at Azad Maidan, Mumbai has called off the protest after getting written assurances on their demands from Maharashtra Government. ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 19:16 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Fadnavis assured tribal farmers that their forest land rights claims will be settled by December this year. Fadnavis gave this assurance to representatives of protesting farmers who marched to Azad Maidan here for redressal of their grievances, which include compensation for drought and transfer of forest rights to tribals. 19:15 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In A delegation of farmers met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at 1.30 pm this afternoon. 19:15 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Protesters reached Azad Maidan in south Mumbai this afternoon following which they will hold a demonstration near Vidhan Bhawan, where the state legislature session is underway. 19:14 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Trouble areas across Mumbai. Commuters starting journey from South Mumbai using JJ flyover, Lalbagh flyover and Parel flyover towards Dadar are advised to avoid & use Slip Roads till 10 AM. Farmers agitation scheduled today. Regular Traffic movement on Dr BA Road towards CST and on these flyovers. Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) November 22, 2018 19:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In A traffic alert in and around Azad Maidan Traffic in the vicinity of Azad Maidan will be marginally affected around 9 AM - 10 AM Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) November 22, 2018 19:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Thousands of farmers protest from Thane to Mumbai Maharashtra: Lok Sangharsh Morcha that comprises of tribals and farmers across the state reaches Dadar. The Morcha that has begun from Kalyan yesterday is marching towards Azad Maidan in Mumbai. The farmers are demanding loan waiver and drought compensation among others. pic.twitter.com/K6c3RHp4jb ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday agreed to India's decision to open the Kartarpur corridor, saying PM Imran Khan will break ground to develop passage between Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur and the shrine on 28 November. The significant move will mark the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak with scores of people from the Sikh community visiting Pakistan on this auspicious occasion. "Pakistan has already conveyed to India it's decision to open Kartarpur Corridor for Baba Guru Nanaks 550th birth anniversary. PM Imran Khan will do break ground at Kartarpur facilities on 28th November. We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion," Qureshi wrote on Twitter. Pakistan has already conveyed to India it's decision to open Kartarpura Corridor for Baba Guru Nanaks 550th birth anniversary. PM Imran Khan will do break ground at Kartarpura facilities on 28th November. We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion. Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) November 22, 2018 Qureshi's statement came hours after the Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared a proposal for building and developing the Kartarpur corridor to provide easy passage for Sikh pilgrims to the historic gurdwara in Pakistan. Read | Ram Madhav retracts his 'instruction from Pak' remark, mocks at PDP-NC equations There are also reports that President Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone for Kartarpur Corridor at Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur, on November 26. President Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone for Kartarpur Corridor at Dera Baba Nank, Gurdaspur, on November 26. (file pics) pic.twitter.com/QUAyJYTzbT ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Kartarpur is located in Shakargarh in Narowal district, about three to four km from the Indo-Pak border in Pakistan. Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, had spent over 18 years of his life at Shakargarh. Read | Why did Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolve Jammu and Kashmir Assembly? Click here to know in 5 points Early in the day, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India has approached the Pakistani government to recognise the sentiments of the Sikh community and build the corridor, in keeping with the resolution adopted by the Cabinet Thursday to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. In response, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said Pakistan's efforts were continuing and it has already issued 3,838 visas to Indian Sikhs to attend religious ceremonies in Pakistan. Faisal also accused India of refusing Imran Khan's proposal to hold talks on all issues, including Katarpur corridor earlier in the year. "We on our part will continue our efforts but we cannot do much unless there is a response from the other side," Mr Faisal said. Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has been pitching for the opening of Kartarpur corridor for a quite long time now also welcomed the auspicious step by the Union Cabinet, saying "it will be a cup of joy for 12 crore 'Nanak Naam Laivas'. It will build bridges, burn animosity and will act as a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries". Read | Maharashtra farmers agitation: Lok Sangarsh Morcha calls off protest as Fadnavis assures to meet demands "I thank the Govt of India from the core of my heart and take a bow! I request the Hon'ble PM of Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI Sahib to take reciprocal steps for opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and spread Baba Nanak's message of universal brotherhood and peace across the Globe," Sidhu tweeted. Sidhu had earlier raised this issue with Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in connection with the opening of Kartarpur corridor. He had said it was the responsibility of the Indian government to make a formal request to Pakistan for it. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Amid the high-octane political drama over the dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, BJP leader Ram Madhav and National Conference chief Omar Abdullah got engaged into a full-blown Twitter war on Thursday. After alleging a Pakistani hand in the altered equation between sworn enemies Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, Madhav, however, waved a white flag this afternoon. His decision to retreat came moments after Abdullah dared him to prove his allegations. The fresh row started this morning with Madhav accusing Omar Abdullah's National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of joining hands on "cross-border" instructions. The BJP leader was justifying Governor Satya Pal Malik's decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir, saying the "fresh instructions from across the border prompted the governor to look into the whole issue". "PDP and NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form the government. What they did prompt the governor to look into the whole issue," Madhav told news agency ANI. I dare you @rammadhavbjp ji to prove your allegation. You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Dont practice shoot & scoot politics. https://t.co/KEbOo0z6O2 Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 22, 2018 Read | Jammu and Kashmir: Mehbooba, Omar take digs at Governor's fax machine Following Abdullah's challenge to prove his allegations, Madhav took his comments back but did not forget to take yet another jibe at him. Mocking at the altered equation between the PDP and the NC, Madhav advised both the parties fight next elections together. "Just landed @Aizawl n saw this. Now that you deny any external pressure I take back my comment, but, now that u proved it was genuine love btw NC n PDP that prompted a failed govt formation attempt, you should fight next elections together. Y Mind you it is a political comment, not personal," Madhav wrote on Twitter. Just landed@Aizawl n saw this. Now tht u deny any external pressure I take back my comment, bt, now tht u proved it ws genuine love btw NC n PDP tht prompted a failed govt formation attempt,u shud fight nxt elections 2gether. YMind u its pol comnt,not personal https://t.co/DsOYiwwXmo Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2018 Read | From unexpected grand alliance to Governor's move to dissolve Assembly: Here is how the entire Kashmir drama unfolded Omar Abdullah had dared the BJP leader to prove his allegation, saying agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), National Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau were at his disposal. "Your allegations are an insult to thousands of my workers... 3,000 workers have sacrificed for this nation. More of my party workers have sacrificed than your party ever has. Don't lecture us on sacrifice and question what we have done," Mr Abdullah said at a press conference in Srinagar, demanding an apology. "You come along with nothing but baseless allegations and say whatever you like with no evidence of it. If you have guts, prove it." Jammu and Kashmir witnessed an intense political drama on Wednesday which finally resulted in the dissolution of the state Legislative Assembly. Hours after Mehbooba Mufti's claim to form a coalition government with rivals, the National Conference and the Congress, Governor Satya Pal Malik announced the dissolution of the Assembly. The move crashed all the dreams of Mufti and company to return to power in the Valley. Read | Centre behind dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, says Ghulam Nabi Azad In between Mufti's announcement and Governor's decision to dissolve the Assembly, a new entrant - Jammu Kashmir Peoples' Conference (JKPC) chairman Sajjad Lone, came out of nowhere and staked claim to form the government with the support of BJP and 18 other MLAs. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: An American tourist from Alabama, identified as John Allen Chau, was killed by unidentified Sentinelese tribesmen in North Sentinel Island of Andaman and Nicobar on November 16. According to reports, he had paid local fishermen Rs 25,000 for smuggling him to the island. Efforts to recover his body, supposedly buried by the tribals, have been unsuccessful so far. As many as seven fishermen were arrested. We are aware of reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State. When a US citizen goes missing, we work closely with local authorities as they conduct search efforts. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment to offer, a statement issued by the US Consulate at Chennai read. Read More | Hit by arrows, half buried in sand: American killed by Andaman tribe The fishermen, who ferried John Chau to the island late on the night of November 14, told police that they anchored their boat about 500 metres from the beach. Early the next day, the American rowed to the island in a canoe he had brought along. He was also carrying a Bible, Andaman & Nicobar Director General of Police (DGP) Dependra Pathak said according to a report in NDTV. The fishermen saw the Sentinelese shoot arrows at Chau, but he kept going forward. Little-known facts about the Sentinelese? Out of the 100 estimated uncontacted tribe left in the world, the Sentinelese is believed to be the one. The Sentinelese, who number about 40, are known to resist contact with the outside world and live in the North Sentinel Island of Andaman and Nicobar. Unlike other tribes, the Sentinelese people avoid being in contact with other tribes. As such, their language is only understood within the tribe itself. According to a study, the Sentinelese are believed to be incomprehensibly primitive that even fire-making is unknown to them. Lighting remains the source of their fire-making. They still use primitive tools and still live a hunter-gatherer life with no understanding of agriculture. The most famous incident of their primitive nature was known to the rest of the world when two drunk fishermen fell asleep and ended up on the Sentinel Island. They were attacked by spears and arrows and later succumbed to their injuries. Efforts to even recover their bodies were impossible to take place as the helicopters sent were received with hails of arrows. The British, in the hopes of contacting the tribe and introducing the tribe to the rest of the world, kidnapped two elderly men and four children. The kidnapped tribesmen were brought back to Port Blair in the hopes of indoctrinating the tribe with the modern lifestyle. They were showered with gifts and treated in the best possible manner. However, within a few days the two older men died. Years of isolation have made the tribesmans immune system lacking thousands of years behind the civilised world. As such, their body couldnt resist the modern illnesses such as influenza, small pox, among others. And the British thought it was best to leave the tribe alone and sent back the four remaining children. The Indian government passed a law against getting in contact with this primitive tribe. The last contact anyone had of them was during the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 that killed thousands of people. On being concerned about these tribe after the Tsunami, navy helicopters were sent to check on them. And as usual, they were received with rains of arrows which only meant they were alive and well. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has launched its latest smartphones Redmi Note 6 Pro in India. The smartphone is now the successor of popular Redmi Note 5 Pro handset. Xiaomi had already launched the Redmi Note 6 Pro in Thailand and Singapore. Redmi Note 6 Pro price in India starts at Rs 13,999 for the variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, Xiaomi India chief Manu Jain revealed at the launch event. The variant with 6GB of RAM is priced at Rs. 15,999. ALSO READ | Ezetap co-founder Abhijit Bose to head WhatsApp India Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro specifications Redmi Note 6 Pro comes with a 6.26-inch FHD+ display and a screen aspect ratio of 19:9. The display is layered with Corning Gorilla Glass on top. The smartphone has an aluminium body. Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro will come with up to 6GB of RAM. The smartphone will ship with MIUI 10 based on Android Oreo. Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro is fuelled by a 4,000mAh battery claimed to offer two days of usage under heavy usage. It also supports Qualcomms Quick Charge 3.0. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon 636 octa-core processor. Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro will come with dual SIM support along with dual 4G VoLTE support. The smartphone also features Wi-Fi passthrough which will allow usage of Wi-Fi on multiple devices through one login. ALSO READ | Facebook access hit by unspecified problems On the camera front, the smartphone features a quad-camera setup with 12-megapixel with f/1.9 aperture. Theres a 5-megapixel depth sensor. It has f/1.9 wider aperture, 1.4 micron pixel size, and dual pixel autofocus, as well as electronic image stabilisation. For selfies, the smartphone features a combination of 20-megapixel and 2-megapixel cameras coupled with 4-in-1 super pixel and AI face unlock capabilities. BETHEL The town has joined more than 50 other Connecticut communities in banning fracking waste. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously recently to pass an ordinance that prohibits these materials from being used, stored or disposed of in town. The Rochester-based Wegmans supermarket chain and five affiliated liquor stores in Upstate New York have been fined $1.1 million for violations of state alcohol beverage control laws. The State Liquor Authority accused Wegmans of "effectively managing five liquor stores without a proper license, arranging sales to specified liquor stores without a license to traffic in wine, and for aiding and abetting gifts and services violations." State law prohibits grocery stores from selling wine and liquor, and also prohibits "chain" liquor and wine retailers, requiring that each store is licensed to a different individual. Wegmans this week agreed to plead no contest to the charges and pay $750,000 in fines to settle eight charges. The five liquor stores -- each operated by members of the Wegman family -- agreed to pay $75,000 in fines each. The total fines agreed to at the State Liquor Authority board meeting Tuesday came to $1.125 million. While the Wegmans company did not contest the fine, it did issue a statement in which it said: "We categorically deny the New York State Liquor Authority's assertion that we exercise control over any liquor store in New York." The five liquor stores involved in the case include Liquor City in Fayetteville, which is one plaza over from the DeWitt Wegmans in Syracuse's eastern suburbs. The others are Amherst St. Wines & Liquors in Buffalo; Whitehouse Liquor & Wine in Rochester; Johnson City Liquor & Wine in Johnson City; and Pittsford Century Wines & Spirits in Rochester. The liquor stores are affiliated with Wegmans through family connections. Liquor City in Fayetteville, for example, is licensed to Christopher O'Donnell, the husband of Wegmans President Colleen Wegman (and son-in-law of company chairman Danny Wegman). Danny Wegman himself is owner of the Pittsford Century liquor store, but operates it as a separate company. Nicole Wegman, another daughter of Danny Wegman, operates the Amherst St. store in Buffalo. The SLA said its investigation began with a complaint about the operation of the Amherst St. store in Buffalo. The investigation found that the Buffalo liquor store "was allowing Wegman's Food Corporation to effectively control their business by managing purchasing and pricing decisions, as well as the relationship between Amherst Wine and various wholesalers." The SLA found similar "significant" control by the Wegmans store chain at the other four liquor stores. Separately on Tuesday, the SLA accepted $225,000 in fines from Milton's Distributing Company, a Westchester County company. The SLA accused Milton's of "illegally allowing Wegman's Food Corporation to use the privilege of Milton's wholesale license to traffic in wine and spirits." In its statement, Wegmans disputed some of the SLA's charges. "What these stores have in common is that each is individually owned by a Wegman family member, and each owner is trying to run their store like we run Wegmans, with low prices, great selection and great service," the statement says. "It's unfortunate that the SLA chose to credit complaints from competitors of these liquor stores over the actual facts presented to them during the investigation." Wegmans has unsuccessfully lobbied in the past to change New York law to allow grocers to sell wine and liquor. It also sells wine and liquor in its stores in other state where that is permitted. In its statement, Wegmans noted that the wine and spirits involved in the SLA investigation are available through wholesalers to stores not affiliated with Wegmans. "The NYSLA recently informed us of their position that only a licensed New York wholesaler can perform some of the steps involved in bringing these products to the New York market,' the statement said. "Wegmans, which conducts its business with the very highest integrity, immediately cooperated and corrected the alleged violation." As part of the agreement to pay the fines, Wegmans appointed a new "corporate compliance officer" and "instituted a new corporate compliance program to prevent additional legal complications going forward," the SLA said. The Wegmans statement ended with a dig at New York state: "The good news is that New Yorkers will continue to have access to the same great wines and spirits that we are able to offer to our customers in other states," the statement said. "With regard to the size of the fine, we say this: Everything costs more in New York State, except shopping at Wegmans." . David P. Goldman (aka Spengler) has identified that the USA and China are in a war of innovation. Goldman says problem is NOT what the Chinese are doing, but we [the USA] ARENT doing. The U.S. government now spends just 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product on research and development, much of which funds the previous administrations pet projects in alternative energy. Under Reagan, the US spent 1.2% of GDP on federal R&D. Today only 8% of American college degrees awarded are in engineering, vs. 31% in China. America cannot break out of its long secular stagnation and productivity slump if our high-tech industries continue to atrophy. Spengler believes that China cannot innovate nearly as well as the United States. Spengler Recommends 1. We need to tilt incentives to STEM education, just as the Eisenhower Administration did after Sputnik in 1957. 2. We need to focus resources on game-changing technologies (quantum computing, materials science, missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, semiconductor manufacturing, and others). We can complain all day about China subsidizing its industries but we cant really stop it from happening. What we CAN do is target innovations that will ruin Chinas massive investments in existing technologies. 3. We need to FORCE the whole supply chain for sensitive defense technologies onshore. That will cost plenty. But national security is like J.P. Morgans proverbial yacht: If you have to ask how much it costs, you cant afford it. 4. We need to persuade the biggest corporations to restore their R&D capacity, by a combination of sticks and carrots. That may not be good for their stock price in the short term. But General Electric is a horrible example of what happens when shareholder value through financial engineering replaces fundamentals. Any STEM education revival will take ten or more years to have a major impact. It would still be good but it is a long-term plan. Restoring R&D corporate capacity is also a long-term strategy which may not work. Many companies have tried and failed to launch R&D centers. Focusing on game-changing technologies requires investing in all of them or picking winners. China is competing in all of these areas. The US has a five to ten-year lead in semiconductor technology but other countries narrowed the semiconductor gap. It is not certain that the US will win with quantum computing and materials science. It is also not clear any edge or dominance would translate into a broad lead in technology or innovation. SpaceX has Shown Massive Research Productivity The US has not provided enough support to SpaceX. SpaceX represents a massive leap forward in rockets to fully reusable rockets. It will also enable low-earth orbit satellites that can go beyond 5G communication. China is working to emulate SpaceX but the US has not thrown its full support into SpaceX. SpaceX rocket development has gotten more return than 20X the research return than money spent on Boeing and Lockheed SLS rockets. A lead in space technology would be useful for broad lead in communications, sensors and military technology. Constant Factory Re-invention Elon Musk has also identified constant innovation and re-innovation of factories as a productivity goal. This has not been achieved but would be a superior approach to innovation. Instead of just trying to ratchet up R&D to a trillion dollars. In 2016, Elon Musk floated the idea of remaking his factories every two years. The goal was to achieve ten times the productivity within ten years. Elon had to step back from that objective with production problems with the Tesla Model 3. However, a larger national research goal should be to constantly re-invent supply chains and factory productivity. What really matters to accelerate a sustainable future is being able to scale up production volume as quickly as possible. Elon wanted to transition to focus heavily on designing the machine that makes the machine turning the factory itself into a product. A ten-fold improvement in efficiency is possible. Develop the Best NASA NIAC Innovations Advanced lithium-ion drive, Antimatter and Fusion There are breakthrough innovations in space from NASA NIAC. The leading edge of research should have strategic development funding. JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) will be testing a 50000 ISP lithium ion thruster within 4 months. This is part of a NASA NIAC phase 2 study to use lasers to beam 10 megawatts of power to new ion drives. This could enable space travel all over the solar system at over 1 million mph. There is also development of a new approach to antimatter propulsion. NORTH HAVEN A New York woman was killed in a crash involving four cars on Route 15 in North Haven early Thursday morning, Connecticut State Police said. The victim, Nazgul Yussupova, 29, of Riverside Drive in Manhattan, was identified as a backseat passenger in one of the cars involved in the crash. Helen Loomis, 31, of East Haven, was standing outside her Hyundai Elantra on the right shoulder of Merritt Parkway north, just before Exit 64, around 2:30 a.m., talking to someone she had gotten into an accident with. As cars continued to travel through the area, vehicles slowed down as they approached the accident site. A Toyota Camry, a Nissan Infiniti and a Honda Civic all were approaching the area, which was seeing a bit of a traffic slowdown because of the crash. Obaidur Khan, a 30-year-old Wallingford man, driving a Toyota Camry in the left lane slowed for traffic, state police said. Erol Ozer, 30, of Sayreville, N.J. was driving a rented Honda Civic with Yussupova in the backseat. Ozer was behind Khan and started to brake when he saw the slowed traffic, state police said. But 41-year-old Laroi Henley, of Waterbury, the driver of a Nissan Infiniti that was behind the other cars as they approached the traffic slowdown, was traveling in the left lane when he failed to slow for traffic, state police said. The accident report indicated that Henley hit the back of the car Yussupova was in and continued out of control until hitting the unoccupied Hyundai, pushing the car into Loomis, who was still standing outside her vehicle. After being hit, Ozers car, with Yussupova in the backseat, spun around and hit the car being driven by Khan. Yussupova was pronounced dead at the scene, state police said. An accident report indicated Yussupova was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Others involved in the crash suffered non-life threatening injuries, state police said, and were taken to Yale New Haven Hospital. The investigation into the crash remains active. Anyone who witnessed the accident is asked to call Trooper First Class Myer at Troop I at 203-393-4200. WEST HAVEN For 30 years, the Community Thanksgiving Dinner been giving people a place to come together for a holiday feast. The Community Thanksgiving Dinner at the the First Congregational Church is a decades-long tradition in which about 50 volunteers was prepared to feed up to 150 people a real holiday dinner. I dont know what walk of life people come from and I dont care, church member and dinner coordinator Bill Ewry said. Its a community dinner so everyone is welcome. On Thanksgiving day, the church coordinated with the Knights of Columbus to deliver 129 meals and an additional 150 meals to hand out to people sitting down. Volunteers served up sliced turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, carrots, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and dozens of donated pies. The dinner used to be an effort of several area churches who got together to put on the event. It was quite the operation back then, said Ewry, who got involved with the dinner around 15 years ago. The first year he participated peeling potatoes in one of the church basements with his wife and eventually they stepped up to coordinate the dinner. I just enjoy doing it, he said. It would break my heart to see it not be put on. Ewry said the dinner is important to the community because based on the attendance every year and attendance to the soup kitchens, there seems to be a need. It means a lot to me because if it werent for them I wouldnt have a turkey dinner, said New Haven resident Jennie Guayquier, who took the bus to attend the dinner. I dont know how to make turkey, thats number one, and my family is in New York, she said. Every other year for the past eight years, Guayquier has come to the church for Thanksgiving dinner. This is a blessing to those who are here, said Mario Rodriguez of New Haven. Im just thankful for them reaching out to people. Its a joyous occasion here. This year, Rock Roasting Co. owner Joe Collier called to offer help roasting and slicing 130 pounds of turkeys he had donated for the dinner, so hot sliced turkeys were delivered 8 a.m. Thursday morning, Ewry said. The University of New Haven Dining Services prepared all the fresh mashed potatoes, something the church doesnt have the facility do to and the dinner hasnt seen in a while, Ewry said. But he really wanted to bring them back and the university prepared 250 services of mashed potatoes that volunteers just needed to heat and serve, he said. Ewry gets the necessary help from loyal volunteers every year, including many of his family members. Between 75 percent and 80 percent of volunteers have been helping for a long time, he said. I love giving back, said volunteer Georgia Catenza, who lives in West Haven. I turn down invitations to other places because Id rather be here. Seeing how happy people are to come, its heartwarming. They are always thankful to you. Volunteer Peggy Dolan had always admired people who gave their time on Thanksgiving to help others, so she got involved last year. Similar to Catenza, Dolan said she enjoys helping others because people give gratitude back. mdignan@hearstmediact.com In the midst of the winter of 1621, facing howling winds and brutally cold conditions, a group of separatists from the Church of England, now commonly known as Pilgrims, began construction of a settlement in Plymouth. Their goal extended far beyond short-term shelter: Indeed, nearly half of the original settlers died that winter. Fleeing persecution in Europe and seeking opportunity in the New World, they persevered, eventually building a community and laying the foundation for American democracy. Of course, the Pilgrims were far from perfect, and while folklore surrounding the First Thanksgiving paints a harmonious picture of relations between settlers and Native Americans, the reality was much more fraught. In fact, it would take generations before this nascent republic truly began to fulfill its promise as a City upon a Hill offering hope to people around the world that a nation premised on the ideals of liberty, justice, and the common good could succeed. It was in this spirit that in 1863, in the depths of the American Civil War, President Lincoln who earlier that year took a courageous and righteous stand for unity and fairness by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation established modern-day Thanksgiving. While much has changed in the ensuing years, Thanksgiving remains a time for Americans to come together, put aside our differences, and give thanks for our many blessings. It is a sorely-needed tradition during a time in our nations history when political tribalism seems to punctuate our national discourse and treasured American institutions are under attack from some who serve in the highest offices in the land. Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, and its a day to remember the people and principles that have made this nation exceptional. We remember and honor the men and women who selflessly sacrificed their lives to fight for the freedoms we hold dear whether in wars abroad or in struggles for equality, justice, and civil rights here at home. We thank all those who have sought to bring truth to light, hold those in power accountable, and uphold the constitutionally-protected but all-too-often dismissed, underappreciated, and undermined responsibilities of a free and independent press. We celebrate freedom and democracy while at the same time remembering those who have traditionally been oppressed and those who continue to struggle for fair treatment from their government. As a state, Connecticut has long stood up for marginalized people, and we must always continue to do so. And we treasure the quintessential American tradition of a peaceful transfer of power, adhering to the will of people and striving toward a more perfect union. To that end, I am especially thankful this year to the residents of Connecticut who have allowed me to serve as Governor for the past eight years. Together, we have braved major natural disasters, endured unthinkable tragedy, and recovered from the most significant economic downturn since the Great Depression. But we came together as a state and emerged stronger than ever. I am equally thankful to our Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, my partner in government for the past two terms. She is a steadfast advocate for our veterans and their families, for women, and for equal access to health care. Because of her leadership, Connecticut had the most successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act of any state in the nation. Connecticut is a better, stronger state because of her service. While our time in office may be coming to an end, I am more optimistic than ever about the future of our great state because of the strength, resiliency, and courage of our residents. We are a small state with a big heart, and I pledge to continue working to make Connecticut an even better place to call home. I wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. Dannel P. Malloy is governor of Connecticut. Report Consumers seeking to reduce food insecurity Retailers and manufacturers have an increasingly important role to play in combating food insecurity, and consumer purchasing is shifting to support brands that are stepping up to the plate A 22-year-old Hammonton man was killed Wednesday night when his motorcycle struck a utility pole in Buena Vista Township, a state police spokesman said. Steven Barger died at the scene of the wreck at South Harding Highway and Wheat Road shortly before 9:30 p.m., Trooper Alejandro Goez said Thursday. Barger had been headed eastbound on a 1982 Kawasaki KZ 750 when the motorcycle left the road and struck the pole, State Police said. The weather conditions were dry and clear at the time of the crash. Both lanes were closed for three hours as a result of the crash. Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips For 13 years, a group of friends have celebrated every Thanksgiving together, sharing a warm meal around a long, decorated table -- on the front lawn of a Wawa in Columbus. What started as a spontaneous breakfast adventure has turned into a legendary tradition based on friendship, turkey and Wawa. "I never thought I'd have to remember the details of the first Turkey Bowl," laughed 40-year-old Denart Ifurung, who has attended since the beginning. The tradition began in 2005 when four friends went to get breakfast at Wawa and browse the Columbus Flea Market on Thanksgiving morning. That breakfast was Wawa's seasonal menu item, the Hot Turkey Bowl -- a savory mix of mashed potatoes and stuffing topped with turkey and gravy -- and they've been back ever since. Now, more than 20 friends look forward to the event each year. Their Columbus Market visit turned into a scavenger hunt for odd items. One year they searched for a monocle, and another, a walking cane. This year, who knows? "It's definitely evolved and will continue to evolve to be as goofy and out-there as possible," said longtime Turkey Bowler, Tim Whitaker, 30, of Burlington. The antics have snowballed into years of jokes and even an afternoon with a real turkey. "Let's rewind 10 years -- to when the turkey named Gravy was here," said 29-year-old Turkey Bowl Veteran Joe Mozdzen, of Cherry Hill. The turkey arrived in a dog harness that, as it turned out, did not fit turkeys. "He fell out of it like Houdini," added Whitaker. This caused a group of untrained, grown men to safely try to catch a turkey. They did, eventually. Now, they bring a dog instead. Despite rain or snow, gusty winds or freezing temperatures, the Turkey Bowl maintains a high turnout. Each year, they wake up around 5 a.m., put on their warmest clothes, pack up tables and chairs, and make it to Wawa by sunrise. You don't want to wake up with Turkey Bowl regret, like 47-year-old Jason Sink did one year, after sleeping through his alarm. He thought about what he missed out on all day. Not even an Eagles win could cheer him up, he said. This year will be 25-year-old Donald Chandler's first Turkey Bowl, and not just the event. Chandler refused to eat the menu item for 12 years until he could experience it with his friends. Friends set up tables and chairs to eat turkey bowls at Wawa in Columbus, N.J. every Thanksgiving. (Photo provided) Silliness aside, the Turkey Bowl is what Thanksgiving is all about: a tradition of appreciating loved ones and creating those lifelong memories to feel nostalgic about, said Whitaker. Wawa recognized the group last week in a Facebook post captioned "Friendsgiving goals," and will post a video of their tradition on Wawa's YouTube channel for Thanksgiving. The convenience store has a unique fandom, said Wawa's Director of Digital Marketing, Todd Miller, who helped with the video. He's seen everything from intricate Halloween costumes of signature menu items like mac and cheese and classic hoagies to Wawa tattoos. Some newly weds even make Wawa their first stop after tying the knot, he said. "People say Wawa is a culture and it's true. Wawa is like pork roll," you can't have Jersey without it, said Columbus Wawa General Manager, Michael Heisig. Simply put, locals love Wawa. It's a staple for morning coffee and late-night cravings, he said. Original Turkey Bowler, Darren Ifurung, a Jersey native now living in Queens, New York, said Wawa "is like coming home." Every time he returns to New Jersey, the first thing he does is stop at Wawa. His favorite convenience store and the Columbus Market are "two things that I love about this area and two things that can't be replaced, apparently," he said. "I think it's an incredible thing that they've been doing. I hope they have 30 more years" of celebrations, said Heisig. He may be right. These friends have no intention of stopping the tradition any time soon. Even if some friends move away or have families of their own, they have faith it'll continue. "I'll be 95 when I stop," said Whitaker. By then, he'll need a cane. Luckily, he's got one. Many details remain unknown about the "Sopranos" prequel film "The Many Saints of Newark." But the story now has at least one actor attached to a role. Written by "Sopranos" creator David Chase and Lawrence Konner (who was a writer on the show) and directed by Alan Taylor ("Game of Thrones," "Terminator Genisys," "Thor: The Dark World"), the movie will reportedly follow Tony Soprano's childhood and the rise of the DiMeo crime family. In the film, set in 1960s Newark during the time of the Newark riots, Alessandro Nivola ("Disobedience," "American Hustle") is slated to play Dickey Moltisanti, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "They made me an offer I couldn't refuse," Nivola, 46, tweeted on Tuesday, confirming the news with a "Godfather" reference. The character was never seen in the original series, but "Sopranos" fans will recognize that last name from Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), a major character in the original show closely associated with Tony Soprano. Richard "Dickey" Moltisanti, Christopher's father, was a soldier in the Soprano crew who died in the '70s. Their last name is key to the film's title, since it translates to "many saints." The Hollywood Reporter describes the elder Moltisanti as "a charismatic but violent made man who falls in love with his father's much younger bride, a recent immigrant from Italy." They made me an offer I couldn't refuse... https://t.co/OMF9fw0qaW -- Alessandro Nivola (@SandroNivola) November 21, 2018 While Tony Soprano served as a kind of mentor to Christopher Moltisanti, Dickey Moltisanti serves as a mentor to Tony Soprano during his teen years, according to the report, since Soprano's father, Giovanni Frances "Johnny Boy" Soprano, is in prison. Dispelling some speculation about the character, Nivola tweeted again on Wednesday. "Dickie Moltisanti is not Tony Soprano's uncle," he said. This assumption may somehow be related to people mistaking Soprano for being Christopher's uncle. Tony does call Christopher his nephew in the show, but the younger Moltisanti is really a relative to his wife Carmela (and a distant cousin to Tony). Dickie Moltisanti is not Tony Soprano's uncle. -- Alessandro Nivola (@SandroNivola) November 21, 2018 Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. JERSEY CITY -- Bayonne police investigating a report of shots being fired in September have charged a city man already in prison on unrelated charges and a Jersey City man who is still being sought, officials said today. Sharife Roberson, 27, of Bayonne, and Juan Hemingway, 22, have been charged in the Sept. 6 incident in which shots were reported fired at 52nd Street and Broadway at about 4:36 a.m., Bayonne police said today. An officer responding to the scene recovered a 9mm handgun and five spent 9mm shell casings, police said, adding that investigators are still working to identify others who may have been involved. Roberson is currently serving a prison term for carjacking, according to state corrections records. Roberson is charged with possession of a weapon by a felon and other gun offenses. Hemingway also faces gun charges and a warrant for his arrest has been issued, police said. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Bayonne Police Department Detective Bureau at 201-858-6925 or the department's tip line at 877-900-TIPS (8477). JERSEY CITY -- Jersey City police recovered two guns while making an arrest in the shooting of a 23-year-old man and two more while arresting a man wanted on outstanding warrants this week, officials said. Malcolm Steele, 25, of Jersey City, has been charged with gun offenses, aggravated assault and making terroristic threats in connection to the shooting at 10:45 p.m. at Grant Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard Saturday, officials said Wednesday. The shooting victim suffered non-life threatening injuries in the incident believed to have been be part of an ongoing dispute. Officers investigating the shooting recovered a .22 caliber revolver, a 9mm handgun and hollow point rounds. Steele was additionally charged with possession of hollow point bullets, hindering apprehension, possession a gun which had its serial number removed and two counts of bail jumping, officials said. Police also recovered two handguns and numerous hollow point bullets during a search of a residence while arresting Jabril Corley, 27, of Jersey City, on outstanding warrants, officials said. The 27-year-old was charged with multiple firearm offenses including possession of a weapon by a felon, possession of hollow point bullets and two counts of bail jumping, officials said. Corley is also charged with drug offense related to marijuana including possession with intent to distribute within 500 feet of public property and within 1,000 feet of school property, officials said. Rapper Raekwon, member of Wu-Tang Clan, in partnership with So Loved Ministries and Jimmy Jazz, came out during last Thursday's snowstorm to donate 100 turkeys to WomenRising in Jersey City. Apart from handing out the turkeys, Raekwon posed for photos with WomenRising staff and clients and signed autographs. Click through the gallery above to see photos from the event and watch the video of his interview below. JERSEY CITY -- It's freezing outside but the Thanksgiving spirit is warm inside Golden Door Charter School in Jersey City where Jimmy King and St. John the Baptist Church are serving up free meals for the holiday. "It love doing it," said King amid tables of diners gobbling down turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, mixed veggies, rice, macaroni and cheese, cheesecake and apple and pumpkin pie. "I'm very passionate when it comes to the homeless," King said. "I feel very sorry for them. It's a tremendous amount of work, but we have over 100 volunteers." King said some come to the event because they are needy, some because they have no where else to go for the holiday and some just to share a sense of community with friends. "William "Bill from Philly" Vitale is homeless in Philadelphia and came to event to have a Thanksgiving meal with a Jersey City friend in the Kennedy Boulevard school's auditorium. "I think it's very kind," said Vitale, adding that he is homeless as a result of "the machinations of a slum lord" Vitale said "I'm thankful for this food. I still say my prayers every morning and every night. I'm still thankful." Anita Castillo, 83, of Jersey City, ate with a friend at one of tables. "I'm thankful I'm still alive," Castillo joked. The effort at the school included delivering nearly 500 meals to locations including senior buildings and shelters. Volunteers packed up boxes of food to take to the Journal Square Transportation Center were the homeless often seek refuge during cold weather. Jersey City's Chief Municipal Court Prosecutor Jake Hudnut also stopped at the school to join in the Thanksgiving spirit and to reach out to the community as part of his work. Jersey City has a strong community and I like to stay local and chip in," Hudut said. "I appreciate what St. John's is doing. As chief prosecutor, I always think about better ways to serve the community and it seems to be the spirit of what is going on today." Hudson County Freeholder Bill O'Dea stopped by the school for a meal today. He said he grew up nearby and his paper route used to come within two blocks of the school located at St. Pauls Avenue. "I'm a connoisseur of macaroni and cheese," O'Dea joked. "I just had some at the jail. They're about the same." The freeholder said he's "Thankful for good health and good family, and I'm hopeful for an end to housing (immigration) detainees at the jail. As long as we have Donald Trump as president, it makes it look like we are signing off on his immigration agenda." Immigration and Customs Enforcement pays Hudson County to house detainees at the Hudson County jail in Kearny as they await immigration hearings. "We are a county with a large immigrant population," O'Dea continued. "We've got to phase out of it unless Trump decides to leave office and we have a more sane immigration policy." Councilman Rolando Lavarro noted the diversity of the volunteers and diners at the event. "You see so much diversity in this room and it's an example of how a community comes together for the shared spirit of giving," Lavarro said. "It's amazing that they do this here. Throughout the community there is so much generosity and thanksgiving among people." St. Peter's Prep Dean of Students John Morris is eating more than turkey this Thanksgiving. Yesterday, he had to eat his words. Following through on a challenge he issued to the students and staff of the Downtown Jersey City high school, Morris showed up to work in a turkey costume after the school took first place in the Great Ignatian Challenge by collecting about 16,000 pounds of food to donate to local churches. Within the last week of the challenge, St. Peter's had raised about 8,000 pounds of food and were in second place out of the five participating Jesuit schools in the tri-state area. That's when Morris issued the challenge of getting to 15,000 pounds of food by the end of the week. "It was really inspiring to see how quickly everyone responded," said Morris. "When I went on to the web page where our donations are, it showed that they have gone up in real time. It was good to see people reaching out to help others while at the same time sharing the connection between our community and working together." The five schools that participated -- Xavier High School, Loyola School, Regis High School, all of New York, Fairfield Prep in Connecticut, and St. Peter's -- collected a combined total of 49,000 pounds of food. The 16,000 pounds of food St. Peter's collected will be donated to St. Patrick & Assumption/All Saints Parish and St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, both in Jersey City. Staying true to his word, Morris donned the full turkey costume at 7:30 a.m. yesterday and vowed to wear it until he completed his bike commute home to Bayonne. "When I put it on, I was hesitant to come out of my office because I knew I was going to be greeted by kids who knew it was coming," said Morris. "I felt a little self-conscious at first but as the day has gone on, I've grown used to it. It'll be worth a few stares from people as I ride home in it." Two days after a couple and their two young children were found slain and their sprawling Colts Neck mansion set ablaze, the mystery of who killed the family continues, with no public signs of a possible motive. Keith Caneiro, 50, was found shot to death in a yard on his property after firefighters rushed to a raging fire at his $1 million-plus Willow Brook Road home early on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said. His wife, Jennifer Caneiro, 45, and the couple's children, Jesse, 11, and Sophia, 8, were found killed inside the residence. The mystery deepened Wednesday when authorities charged Keith's brother, Paul, with aggravated arson for setting his own Ocean Township home on fire early Tuesday morning. At the time he set the fire, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni has charged, Caneiro's wife Susan and his two daughters were inside house. Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni offered no possible motive and declined to identify any potential suspects in the horrific killings, which has stunned the wealthy suburb. It is still unclear if the fire at Paul Caneiro's home was related to the homicides some ten miles away. Members of the Caneiro family could not be reached Wednesday. Neighbors could offer no explanation for the arson, painting a portrait of Paul Caneiro as friendly and low-key. Who is Paul Caneiro? Paul Caneiro doesn't have any previous criminal convictions, according to court records. Neighbors described the family as nice and sociable. One neighbor also said Paul was a gun owner who sometimes visited the shooting range at the Old Bridge Rifle and Pistol Club. No one answered the phone at the club Wednesday morning. Three neighbors outside the Caneiro home Wednesday said they were shocked by the charges filed against Paul. "I mean, we're all shocked," said one neighbor, who did not want to be named. "This is unexpected." Another neighbor, who also asked not be named, said Paul Caneiro and his wife, Susan, were at the home early Tuesday shortly after the predawn fire. Paul appeared to be upset and left later in the morning, the neighbor said. "He said it must've been a gas leak, he had tears in his eyes," another neighbor said. "Susan was devastated. He said, 'I'm in complete shock I can't believe this is happening to me.' They were here until about noon." It's unclear where Paul Caneiro went after leaving his house. What is known is that he was charged around 5 a.m. on Wednesday with the aggravated arson offense and then booked at the Monmouth County jail. A first court appearance for Caneiro has not yet been set. In a statement to CNN, Paul Caneiro's attorney, Robert Honecker, said: "My client maintains his innocence on this charge and any other potential charge. His family fully support his defense of this charge. No evidence has been produced that suggests a reason why he would engage in such conduct. He fully expects to be vindicated when this case finally resolves." What was the relationship between the two brothers? A picture has begun to emerge of two brothers from Brooklyn who lived a more-than-comfortable life with their families near the Jersey Shore, where they managed several businesses together. The office space occupied by Square One and EcoStar Pest Management. (Sophie Nieto-Munoz | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Keith Caneiro is listed as the owner of both the technology firm, Square One, and EcoStar Pest Management in Asbury Park, working both businesses with his brother. Both firms are housed in office space above The Speakeatery restaurant, in a stately brick building updated with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Cookman Avenue. Two small signs placed next to a door to the office space are the only indicators of the businesses' presence in the building. Keith had operated Square One since 1987, according to his LinkedIn profile. Notably, however, the technology company has a limited online presence and no active website. Also unexplained is why both businesses seem to have few, if any, other employees other than the Caneiros. A profile of the business in the Asbury Park Press said Paul Caneiro was his brother's first employee and eventually become the company's director of technical services. Jared DeVincenzo, who works at Marketing Genome on the floor above the pest business and Square One, said Paul Caneiro was helpful when they suffered a break-in last year -- but he too offered little hint at a possible motive for the arson or if there was any trouble between the brothers. "Paul was very nice with helping us with the recovery but other than that he's pretty quiet," DeVincenzo said Tuesday. Paul Caneiro's house in Ocean Township. (Sophie Nieto-Munoz | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) What happens next? In Colts Neck, hundreds gathered Wednesday night to mourn the family. The same evening, the prosecutor's office confirmed the medical examiner office had positively identified the remains of the two children found in the house as those of Jesse and Sophia Caneiro. A source told NJ Advance Media that federal officials are currently not involved in the investigation, although ATF's Newark Division indicated on social media that its arson investigators were assisting with the Willow Brook Road fire probe. County and local investigators were still combing through the scene in Colts Neck as of Thursday morning. While the medical examiner has conclusively pinpointed multiple gunshot wounds as the cause of Keith Caneiro's death, which has been ruled a homicide, investigators have yet to determine how Jennifer Caneiro and her children were killed. At least one of the children had stab wounds, a law enforcement source told NJ Advance Media, but as of Wednesday night no weapon had been recovered from the scene. If additional state charges are filed in the case, any defendants charged would not make an initial court appearance any earlier than Friday, as state courts are closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Vinessa Erminio, Ted Sherman, Noah Cohen and Thomas Moriarty contributed to this report. Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Plastic wrap caught in overhead wires caused major delays on Amtrak and NJ Transit lines Wednesday, slowing riders on one of the busiest travel days of the year. "There was a plastic wrap in the catenary power wires and we were holding trains until it was removed," Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said in an email shortly after 6 p.m. "Trains are now on the move, but residual delays are expected." Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line service was initially suspended because of the Amtrak wire problem near North Elizabeth, but later resumed with hour-long delays, according to NJ Transit. Hour-long delays were also reported on NJ Transit's Raritan Valley Line. Amtrak reported delays on some of its trains near Metropark and Newark airport stops. Photos on social media showed a packed waiting area at the already busy New York Penn Station. @CNN in case youre doing a story on holiday travel, heres a picture of NY Penn Station the day before Thanksgiving with a Trenton bound crowd that @NJTRANSIT cant handle pic.twitter.com/9XvnoqoZPT Lil' Lil' (@Hey_Arnold14) November 21, 2018 NJ Transit and private buses were cross honoring rail tickets and passes, according to the transit agency. PATH was also cross honoring rail tickets and passes. The mishap delayed riders on the day before Thanksgiving, when scores of people were traveling across the region by rail. NJ TRANSIT and Private Carrier buses are cross honoring rail tickets and passes. PATH will cross honor rail tickets and passes at HOB, NPS and 33rd St. NJ TRANSIT (@NJTRANSIT) November 21, 2018 Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook. By Joseph Plianthos I was introduced to political topics at a very young age, and it always confused me. Why do only extreme people get on TV? Now I know that this may seem like a very blanket statement coming from a 16-year-old, but let me explain. I grew up in a politically open home in quiet Collingswood, a family-oriented suburb outside of Camden and Philly. My mother registers as a Democrat, while my father a Republican. Each election year I would get tastes of both sides of the aisle and their personal ideas for leaders. Joseph Plianthos: Everyone wants a common ground, something everyone can agree on. (Courtesy photo) My father has always been the more opinionated man, in recent years increasingly mad at the "media" for spearing President Trump's comments and actions. But I point out to him that the other-sided media does essentially the same things for Democrat leaders. We have had this very conversation on repeat since the 2016 election, and I have gotten some grievances with the very same media that my father disagrees with. They take a political slant to everything and point the blame at the other parties. Perspective is a constant idea in my mind: that every person is the hero in their story, and so blame is a very odd topic. Take for example a school shooting (or any shooting, for that matter) -- very sad and unsettling. Tune into the TV news at 10 and a story will play on the event. They predictably all wind up going the same way every time. A small mention of sadness for the people involved, and then a long debate about gun control and arming teachers, each side blaming the other for letting the shooting to happen. Now I'm seeing political divisions spilling out from simple arguments around the dinner table into our family gatherings. Last Thanksgiving a topic of the president came up and two of my relatives stayed angry at each other for most of the night. The partisan gap has now not only caused standstills in politics, but also breaks in families. I have noticed there's a reason for that. Anger sells on TV and it seems to give permission for people to act on their anger even among loved ones at family get-togethers. Look at the news on any day for a political protest, march, or rally -- what do they show you? Crowds of angry people screaming and stomping, some carrying flags and political symbols. Now imagine the uproar if there were a counter-protest, even more screaming people, getting face to face and most of the time ending in violence. Now the media takes that violence and has a field day with it, once again with commentators blaming the other side for inciting the violence. So the news shows you the die-hard followers of political parties. What don't they show you? Houses like mine. A family where each member has their own ideas and frequently votes across the aisle to support who they agree with. Both of my parents have told me that they would love to register as independent, but don't as they would miss out on New Jersey primaries. Everyone wants a common ground, something everyone can agree on. But that is simply impossible with the current state of our nation and politics. Centrists simply don't get the press. Is it because they aren't interesting enough? A middle-class father of two who registered as Democrat then votes a Republican for president isn't eye drawing because they are "normal" in a regular democracy. Representative democracies work when people vote for who they agree with, no matter the party. Joseph Plianthos, 16, of Collingswood, is a junior at Collingswood High School. He's looking for a centrist candidate to vote for after he turns in 18 in 2020. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Is Phil Murphy stronger than the storm? Or, more precisely, can the rookie New Jersey governor overcome the blizzard of protest from motorists and political foes who say his administration mishandled last Thursday's snowstorm? Murphy has faced other controversies in his first 10 months, but this one hit home in a commuter-centric state where angry residents were either stuck in their cars on unplowed roads for hours or waited in vain for NJ Transit trains and buses. Then, like those motorists who gun it too fast when stuck in a snow bank, the Democrat dug himself deeper by blaming weather forecasters and then dining at a four-star restaurant down the road from his Middletown mansion while New Jersey remained in traffic hell. "I think Hawaii would have been better equipped to handle the storm than we were," joked one Republican, state Assemblyman Holly Schepisi of Bergen County. The question now is if Murphy can weather the backlash or if his reputation will take a permanent hit with a populace still getting to know him. Ben Dworkin, director of Rowan University's Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, likened Murphy's snow-day dining choice to "a small cut." "It's not lethal, but it begins the path towards a negative narrative about the Murphy administration," Dworkin said. "If other stories appear that give the impression the governor is aloof from the needs of the populace, then it will make a difference." Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University, said Murphy isn't alone in navigating the sometimes-tricky minefield of winter weather. Over-prepare, and you get criticized for wasting state money. Under-prepare, and face the wrath of residents. "It's one of these situations in which an executive sort of has to have the instincts of a meteorologist," Baker said. "It's very hard." Murphy's predecessor knows this. In 2010, his first year in office, then-Gov. Chris Christie was lambasted for being out of state on a family trip to Disneyworld when a snowstorm hit. Two years later, the Republican's hands-on response to Hurricane Sandy became one of his defining moments. As he neared the end of his time in Trenton, Christie said snow and other big storms were among the things he'd miss the least about the job -- though that didn't stop him from angrily tweeting about being stuck for hours last Thursday. Murphy has carried positive approval ratings in blue-leaning New Jersey so far. He's spent much of his first term instituting progressive policies in the state, including equal pay and more gun-control laws. But a recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll showed 4 in 10 residents don't have an opinion on him at all. Some say the undecideds could make their minds up fast after sitting in hours of snow-swept traffic. "This is one of the things that is absolutely crucial for a governor to take the lead on," said Carl Golden, a former spokesman for Republican Govs. Tom Kean and Christie Whitman who is now an analyst with the Hughes Center at Stockton University. Golden added that Murphy's staff should have been "sensitive" that residents might see Murphy as out of touch for having a swanky dinner the night of the storm. "People have said to me, 'I couldn't get home to have McDonald's with my kids, and this guy's eating in a five-star restaurant while I'm stuck on 287,'" Golden said. "People personalize it immediately." Murphy's spokespeople noted the governor ate at the bar and continued to make phone calls to coordinate storm response at the restaurant, which is about a mile from his home. But Republicans have pounced, calling it the Democrat's "beach-chair" moment -- a nod to the infamous photo of Christie lounging on the sand while the state government was shut down last summer. State Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick said Murphy should have ordered takeout and eaten at the State Police's emergency center in Ewing -- the Regional Operations and Intelligence Center that's called the ROIC (pronounced "rock"). "The people at the ROIC have a little more information than the waiter at a five-star restaurant," Bramnick, R-Union, quipped. To some critics, the entire storm response was the latest example of Murphy's inexperience. This is the first time the Goldman Sachs executive and ex-U.S. ambassador to Germany has held elected office, and some Trenton insiders privately gripe that Murphy is surrounded by a young and politically green staff. That was one criticism as Murphy and lawmakers came within hours of a state government shutdown this June thanks to a budget battle. But that had little impact on average people because the state never closed. Murphy faced similar criticism after it was revealed his team made two controversial hires for jobs in the administration -- one a former elected official who was convicted of bribery a few years ago and another who had been accused of raping a Murphy supporter during last year's campaign. The circumstances surrounding the rape accusation will be the subject of state legislative hearings next month as both the governor and lawmakers have launched investigations. Depending how they turn out, this could have longer-lasting damage to the governor than his storm response. When it comes to the snow, Democrats say Murphy's administration needs to learn from its mistakes. "He's got plenty of time to overcome whatever negative feelings exist right now," said state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen. "But that's only if that kind of evaluation is seriously undertaken." State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who has often clashed with Murphy, had a similar view. "There's lessons to be learned, and I'm sure they've learned them," Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said. For his part, Murphy -- who is three years from a re-election campaign -- has repeatedly said his administration will examine what went wrong with the storm and will work to ensure it never happens again. "I think when summer rolls around, people will probably have forgotten," said Baker, the Rutgers professor. "By the time he's up for re-election, I think, the freak storm of 2018 will have pretty much passed from living memory." Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. WASHINGTON -- New Jersey Transit is one of only four commuter railroads in danger of missing the year-end deadline to install an automatic speed control system, or qualify for a two-year extension to do so. The National Transportation Safety Board said the absence of such a system contributed to train crashes in Philadelphia and Hoboken. The Federal Railroad Administration reported Wednesday that NJ Transit installed just 79 percent of the hardware required to run the positive train control system at the end of October. It was at 66 percent at the end of September, the conclusion of the third-quarter reporting period. NJ Transit has completed the necessary employee training and acquired the needed spectrum, the FRA said. The FRA considers any railroad below 95 percent as being at-risk, and Amtrak has warned that it will not allow trains not equipped with positive train control from using its tunnels under the Hudson River to Penn Station. NJ Transit has said installing the system has required the railroad to cancel numerous trains. Executive Director Kevin Corbett said more progress has been made since the latest FRA report. Through Nov. 14, the railroad's work was 88 percent complete and "will continue to work tirelessly to meet our year-end goals." Corbett said 54 locomotives and cab cars still lack the required equipment. So far, 228 or 282 locomotives and cab cars are equipped for positive train control, he said. He said the contractor, Parson Transportation Group, has added additional resources to complete the installation and employees at three facilities are "working multiple shifts to reach our year-end milestones." NJ Transit has lagged behind other railroads required under federal law to install positive train control by Dec. 31 or make enough progress to qualify for a two-year extension. Congress already pushed back the original deadline from Dec. 31, 2015. The Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) system has completed all the required work, the FRA said. The National Transportation Safety Board said the absence of an automatic speed control system contributed to the September 2016 fatal train crash at Hoboken Terminal, and the May 2015 derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia, which killed eight people. Positive train control has been one of the safety board's most-wanted safety improvements for years. Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. New Orleans is remaking itself into a bona fide tech hub, according to U.S. News and World Report. Last year global information technology giant DXC chose the city as the site of its newest Digital Transformation Center, promising to create 2,000 jobs averaging an annual salary of $63,000, the story reports. Since 2006, New Orleans has lured more than 45 high-tech startups or subsidiaries including Accruent, Gameloft and GE Digital that have created more than 20,000 jobs. Louisiana is an attractive destination in part because it offers a 25 percent tax credit on qualified payroll to companies that move all of a portion of their technology operations to the state, according to the story. Millions of dollars of state and city funds are also being funneled through local universities to help train prospective employees. Read the full story from U.S. News and World Report. | BY Ricki Green | Independent marketing and communications group Bastion Collective today announced its acquisition of award-winning Sydney-based Stable Research, an operational market and social research company that listens, recommends and delivers both the people and data our clients need to gain rapid insights and achieve actionable results. Stable use progressive technology-based tools to make research relatable, real and enjoyable for consumers; and enriching client decision-making, planning and strategy. Stable deliver to a range of research methodologies including Face to Face, Communities, Product Clinics and Online Surveys. Their bespoke responsive panel, Soapbox Nationwide Community, is extensively profiled and boasts 110,000 members who are diverse and engaged. The business has been owned by Karen Johnston and Pip Hooper for the last 15 years and during this period the business has grown ten-fold and gained award-winning recognition for its success. With a strong panel and varied client base, Stable Research is excited about the centralizing of administration functions which will allow the directors, Hooper and Johnston, to focus on opportunities in new technology and products. Says Hooper: We are thrilled about the opportunities that the Collective will provide for both our staff and our clients. Its the perfect next stage in the evolution of the Stable brand. Stable Research delivers people to market research discussion groups, communities and surveys. They also script and screen in house for all size projects; anything from 6 people for user experience to 400 people for taste testing or 1,000 for a survey. This acquisition will enable Bastion Collective to offer this added service to all its clients and complement offerings such as creative, content production, PR and social media, corporate communications, sponsorship and events, China marketing, government and community engagement. Bastion Collective AU chief executive, Jack Watts welcomed the Stable Research team into Bastion Collective and said he was really excited about the future these data experts can bring. Says Watts: For a long time, we have been looking for access to a relevant, nimble and insightful data solution that allows all our businesses to provide a deeper level of service to our clients. Stable Research is this solution and have access to an incredible amount of data across a range of industries. They will be a fantastic asset to our business, our staff and our clients. Says Johnston: We are really excited about the innovation opportunities that working with the Bastion Collective group will bring to our business. As the first step in this journey we have worked with creative agency Bastion State to redefine our brand identity. Our new look has given the team new energy and focus and our clients love it! | BY Ricki Green | Voice is creating a lot of noise, for good reason. Publicis Media conducted a comprehensive study of US and UK smart speaker users to understand the evolution of how consumers interact with brands via voice. Key findings from the study included a significant memory effect, as well as heightened physiological responses when interacting with smart speakers. Voice delivered nearly two times unaided brand recall (96%) compared with TV, and is on par with native mobile. This correlates with measurement of electrodermal activity (sweat response) suggesting that people are in a more active and alert state when interacting with smart speakers. Voice also stood out as one of the best experiences compared to TV and native mobile. It was found to be more engaging, fun, helpful, useful, informative and less boring. Says Toby Barbour, CEO, Starcom Australia (above): We believe that voice is the most human technology weve ever seen, and the Publicis Media study supports this view. Voice offers a real-time connection that heightens relevance and memory with a hands-free experience. For example, learning how to remove stains while you are doing the laundry. This creates a unique opportunity for brands to deliver the highly customised experiences that consumers are seeking. The Publicis Media findings are important given the predicted rise of voice in the near future: Telsyte predicts that 3 million Australian households will have a smart speaker by 2022, equating to 30% household penetration Projections are that worldwide 50% of ALL searches will be voice searches by 2020 (ComScore, 2017) US/UK voice commerce will grow from US$2 billion to 40 billion-plus by 2022 (OC&C Strategy Consultants, 2018) While consumers are enthusiastically embracing voice there is understandably some cynicism and caution about the involvement of brands. General perceptions of advertising, especially what has transpired in digital and social advertising, means consumers will be reluctant to give up their data. Says Barbour: Voice is undoubtedly on the rise, and there is a huge opportunity for marketers and brands. But the bar is set high for brands with expectations of personalisation and utility without invasion of privacy. Brands will need to recognise that these devices are an intimate part of peoples lives and focus on authentically and purposefully helping people versus simply activating the technology. LONDON Google said on Wednesday that it would begin requiring more information from buyers of online ads linked to next years European Parliament elections, expanding a program introduced for political ads in the United States. The company said in a blog post that people and groups buying ads that mention a political party, a candidate or an officeholder related to the parliamentary elections would need to make clear who is paying for the advertisement. The company will also require verification that they are citizens, legal residents or groups lawfully allowed to participate in the election. Google and Facebook, the two largest online advertising platforms, are facing pressure to protect against the kind of foreign misinformation campaigns that were discovered in the 2016 presidential election in the United States. The companies operate advertising systems that are largely automated, making the networks immensely profitable but harder to police. The European Parliament elections, in May, will be for 705 seats across 27 countries. The vote doesnt often draw widespread attention, but the coming campaign is being closely watched as a wider referendum on the role of the European Union in the region. On one side is an emerging populist wing, represented by anti-immigration groups in Italy and Germany, thats wary of the influence Brussels carries in the region. On the other side are supporters of a more united Europe, such as President Emmanuel Macron of France. THURSDAY PUZZLE First, best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving from the Wordplay family. No matter how you celebrate or whether you dont celebrate at all we are thankful for our readers. How many new ideas are there anymore, really? That might sound a bit jaded, but lets be honest: If youve been solving crossword puzzles for a long time, youve probably seen virtually every theme idea float by. When a constructor has an idea for a puzzle, one of the first things that person does is check to see if its been done before. Usually it has. Thats when the constructor needs to be creative. Sometimes just the slightest twist a different set of theme entry puns, say can be enough, but the theme can also be made to look different. Thats the case with Randolph Rosss theme. I noticed that at least one of his theme entries had been used before, so I looked it up and, sure enough, someone had done something very vaguely like todays puzzle. Mr. Rosss treatment of the concept, however, lifted his theme into the stratosphere by using visual clues that might have kept you guessing. Tricky Clues This felt fairly gentle for a Thursday, but perhaps that was to help solvers wrap their heads around the theme entries and get enough letters in them to make an educated guess. More than two decades ago, Congress adopted a sweeping law that outlawed female genital mutilation, an ancient practice that 200 million women and girls around the world have undergone. But a federal court considering the first legal challenge to the statute found the law unconstitutional on Tuesday, greatly diminishing the chances of it being used by federal prosecutors around the country. A federal judge in Michigan issued the ruling in a case that involved two doctors and four parents, among others, who had been criminally charged last year with participating in or enabling the ritual genital cutting of girls. Their families belong to a small Shiite Muslim sect, the Dawoodi Bohra, that is originally from western India. The case, the first to be brought under the 1996 law that criminalized female genital mutilation, has been closely followed by human rights advocates and communities where cutting is still practiced and whose members have moved in growing numbers to the United States and other western countries. On Tuesday, Judge Bernard Friedman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled that Congress did not have the authority to pass the law against female genital mutilation and he dismissed key charges filed against the doctors and removed four of the eight defendants from the case. | BY Ricki Green | Initiative Perth has expanded its senior management team with appointments to lead the recently won Lotterywest portfolio, as well as a new head of digital. The appointments follow major account wins by Initiative Perth that underpin the agencys most successful year in the WA market. Ricardo Carreira (far left) joins Initiative Perth as head of digital following five years in senior digital marketing positions at Optus in Sydney. He brings important client-side experience to Initiative, as well as extensive digital marketing, technology and data analytics capabilities. Vikki Stacy (centre) has been appointed to lead the Lotterywest account, one of Western Australias largest communications portfolios, with Initiatives appointment to Lotterywest formally announced on November 13. A highly respected and experienced media practitioner with a 30-year career, Stacy was previously with content agency Medium Rare. In a record year for Initiative Perth, the agency has won a place on the Western Australian Governments media roster, the Lotterywest business, several other WA assignments and been awarded as WAs Media Agency of the Year. Head of Initiative Perth, Luke OSullivan (above right), said agency staff numbers were up 33% on last year, in parallel to specific investments in digital and data capabilities to elevate the quality of client work. [What you need to know to start your day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] The newest tools in the New York Police Departments counterterrorism arsenal have paws instead of buttons, they bark instead of beep and they run on treats, not electricity. Franky, Rob, Rowland and Eddie are a new type of police dog trained to pick up the scent of a bomb hundreds of feet away and then lead their handlers to the source. Explosive odor-pursuit dogs, as they are known, are asked to intercept suicide bombers and other terrorists before they reach targets like concerts, parades and sporting events. It gives us a little bit more reaction time, Chief James R. Waters, the commander of the Police Departments counterterrorism division, said. And it gives us a bigger perimeter of safety. Jane Maas, who, though neither mad nor a man, became a trailblazer in the testosterone-driven advertising industry of the 1960s and 70s, died on Friday in Mount Pleasant, S.C. She was 86. The cause was complications of lung cancer, her daughter Jennifer Maas Jones said. As a senior vice president at Wells Rich Greene, Ms. Maas was widely credited with shepherding one of the most successful tourism campaigns ever I Love New York which the agency devised for the New York Department of Commerce to help resuscitate the city and state in the late 1970s. She has also been described as the first woman to head a major pre-existing New York City advertising agency, Muller Jordan Weiss. In an obituary she had prepared for herself, Ms. Maas wrote of heading the I Love New York campaign, which incorporated the immortal heart-shaped logo designed by Milton Glaser and music and film direction by, among others, Charlie Moss, Stan Dragoti and Steve Karmen. Always, but particularly this autumn, which has vibrated with anxiety and discord, it is important to remember that Americans can be a people given to acts of selflessness . Consider: Maj. Brent Taylor, a father of seven children and the mayor of North Ogden, Utah, was killed in Afghanistan on Nov. 3. A week earlier , in his final Facebook post, he wrote about the coming midterm elections: I hope everyone back home exercises their precious right to vote. And that whether the Republicans or the Democrats win, that we all remember that we have far more as Americans that unites us than divides us. Major Taylor and his five brothers joined the military after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. His last deployment was his fourth . Far from a war zone, on the evening after the election, Matt Wennerstrom huddled behind a pool table, lying on top of other people to protect them as a masked gunman rampaged through the Borderline Bar & Grill in Southern California. His critics would say that Mr. Trump is now similarly emboldening a reckless Saudi regime. This is a false analogy. The Saudis are not the moral equivalents of Iranians and the Russians. The kingdom has sheltered comfortably for over 75 years under the American security umbrella, which the United States happily extended not least because the Saudis and their oil have played a pivotal role in American economic strategies. Mr. Trumps statement acknowledged that the Saudis are assisting him with stabilizing global oil prices as he seeks to quash Iranian oil sales. Whatever Prince Mohammeds faults may be, he actively supports the American regional order that the Iranians openly seek to destroy. Mr. Trumps critics are asking us to believe that the priority for stabilizing the Middle East today is distancing the United States from one of its oldest allies and instead working to achieve a balance of power between Riyadh and Tehran. The Saudis, they claim, need us far more than we need them. This is a dangerous assumption that is not born out by experience. In recent years all of Americas allies, from Mr. Sisi in Egypt to Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey to Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, have begun spending as much time in Moscow as in Washington. Why would we think the Saudis might not also seek protection from Russia if they are shunned by America? Instead of standing with the Saudis, Mr. Trumps critics call for, as Senator Lindsey Graham recently did, sanctions that would persuade King Salman to appoint a new crown prince. But King Salman is not the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia; Prince Mohammed is. A policy that seeks to change the kings mind is based on a delusion that is far more deranged than anything in Mr. Trumps statement. Lets imagine Mr. Trumps critics get their wish. A replacement crown prince who rose to power under pressure of sanctions would be severely weakened, if not entirely illegitimate. This would serve only to validate Al Qaedas anti-Saudi ideology, which depicts the royal family as American stooges. Would a compromised crown prince be a more reliable partner for the United States in stabilizing the Middle East? In all likelihood, sanctions would simply embitter Prince Mohammed, who would respond by tacking toward Russia and China. The United States could console itself by celebrating its staunch commitment to principle, but its influence would diminish considerably. SAN FRANCISCO When Tim Miller, a longtime Republican political operative, moved to the Bay Area last year to set up a public relations shop, he brought with him tradecraft more typical of Washington than Silicon Valley. He was well versed in opposition research the pursuit of damaging intelligence about a political enemy. He had ties to online media provocateurs. And, above all, he understood the value of secrecy. Mr. Miller had arrived at the right moment with his company, Definers Public Affairs. With customers and lawmakers questioning the avowed good intentions and power of techs biggest companies, Facebook and others were on the defensive. Definers quickly found plenty of business, from start-ups like Lyft, Lime and Juul to giants like Facebook and Qualcomm, the influential chip company that was in a nasty legal fight with Apple over royalties, according to five people with direct knowledge of Mr. Millers work who declined to be named because of confidentiality agreements. A Border Patrol agent who shot and killed a Mexican teenager from across the border in Arizona was acquitted Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter in a case that has drawn national attention amid heightened debate over immigration. In 2012, the border guard, Lonnie Swartz, opened fire into the Mexican city of Nogales, killing 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez. A jury found Mr. Swartz not guilty of second-degree murder in April but deadlocked on manslaughter charges, prompting another trial. In court on Wednesday, the jury found Mr. Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but it did not make a decision on voluntary manslaughter, according to court documents. Next month, a judge from the United States District Court in Arizona will decide the status of the voluntary manslaughter charge, which the jurys verdict left in question. In a statement, Elizabeth A. Strange, the first assistant United States attorney, said the prosecutors fully respect the jurys verdict. SYDNEY, Australia Amazon will grant Australians access to products from its main website, walking back a decision made earlier this year that angered its customers in the country. The online retailer had announced that it would redirect Australians to a local website to comply with changes to Australian tax law. That law requires online retailers to impose a 10 percent goods and services tax on items sold and shipped from overseas. But customers complained that the move would raise prices and bar them from millions of products, some difficult to find otherwise. And it appears those concerns were heard. As a result of customer feedback, from 22 November Amazon customers will be able to ship eligible items from amazon.com to Australian delivery addresses, an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement released early Thursday. MOSCOW The head of Russias military intelligence agency, who oversaw the hacking of the Democratic Partys computers during the United States 2016 presidential election, died on Wednesday after a long illness, Russian state news agencies reported. Col. Gen. Igor V. Korobov, 63, had not been seen in public for months and was notably absent from a ceremony on Nov. 2 marking the 100th anniversary of the military intelligence agency, known as the G.R.U. Historically a secretive, little-understood agency, the G.R.U. under General Korobov emerged as Russias primary tool of global disruption. Mr. Korobov was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for the release of emails stolen from the Democratic Party in support of Donald Trumps campaign in 2016. Under his watch, the G.R.U. was implicated in the theft and publication of documents belonging to the presidential campaign of Emmanuel Macron in France, the hacking of computers of the global antidoping watchdog and the poisoning of a former G.R.U. officer, Sergei V. Skripal, with a highly potent nerve agent in Britain this year. Female detainees appear to have suffered special abuse, according to two people familiar with several cases and reports this week from two rights groups, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Two people familiar with the cases said this week that some womens rights activists had been subjected to electrical shocks, whipping and verbal and sexual harassment. A Saudi official who spoke only on the condition of anonymity said the kingdom does not condone, promote or allow the use of torture, whether physical, sexual or psychological. The activists had risen to prominence for calling for the end of Saudi Arabias longstanding ban on women driving. Prince Mohammed lifted the ban this summer, but his government also arrested many of those who had called for the change, evidently to prevent them from taking credit or demanding more. The Saudi government has not identified the detainees, saying only that a number were under investigation for vague charges of conspiring with hostile forces against the kingdom. In interviews with The New York Times, two people familiar with the activists cases said some had arrived at meetings with their families trembling or with red marks on their faces, necks and limbs. Some had been deprived of sleep, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Our guide to new art shows and some that will be closing soon. HILMA AF KLINT: PAINTINGS FOR THE FUTURE at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (through April 23). This rapturous exhibition upends Modernisms holiest genesis tale that the male trinity of Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian invented abstract painting starting in 1913. It demonstrates that a female Swedish artist got there first (1906-7), in great style and a radically bold scale with paintings that feel startlingly contemporary. The mother of all revisionist shows regarding Modernism. (Roberta Smith) 212-423-3500, guggenheim.org DIANE ARBUS, UNTITLED at David Zwirner (through Dec. 15). Departing significantly from the work that built Arbuss reputation, the photographs in this series, taken at an all-female institution in Vineland, N.J., include some of the most mysterious, haunting pictures of her 15-year artistic career. Arbus arrived at two great insights. The first was that it would be more poignant to show her subjects happy. Her second brilliant stroke was to photograph outdoors, amid trees and fields, scrubbing off the institutional settings and entering the realm of dream and myth. One of Arbuss lifetime quests was to expose what she called the flaw, a telltale detail that reveals the crack between the way people wish to present themselves and how they actually are seen. In the Untitled series, she was dealing with subjects devoid of guile. For an artist who had deployed a battery of strategies to coax sitters into dropping their masks, it was novel to photograph people who revealed their unguarded selves. One of the towering achievements of American art, this series reminds us that nothing can surpass the strange beauty of reality if a photographer knows where to look. And how to look. (Arthur Lubow) 212-727-2070, davidzwirner.com ARMENIA! at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (through Jan. 13). The first major museum exhibition ever devoted to the art of Armenia officially its medieval era, but in fact spanning nearly 1,500 years bulges with weighty stone crosses, intricate altar frontals and flamboyantly illuminated Bibles and Gospel books unlike any manuscripts youve seen from that time. Armenia, in the Caucasus Mountains, was the first country to convert to Christianity, in the fourth century, and the richly painted religious texts here, lettered in the unique Armenian alphabet, are a testament to the centrality of the church in a nation that would soon be plunged into the world of Islam. By the end of the Middle Ages, Armenian artists were working as far afield as Rome, where an Armenian bishop painted this shows most astounding manuscript: a tale of Alexander the Great that features the Macedonian kings ship swallowed by an enormous brown crab, hooking the sails with its pincers as its mouth gapes. (Jason Farago) 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI SCULPTURE: THE FILMS at the Museum of Modern Art (through Feb. 18). This show is built around works by the Romanian modernist (1876-1957) that have been longtime highlights of the museums own collection. But in 2018, can Brancusi still release our inner poet? The answer may lie in paying less attention to the sculptures themselves and more to Brancusis little-known and quite amazing films, projected at the entrance to the gallery throughout the duration of the exhibition. MoMA borrowed the series of video clips from the Pompidou Center in Paris. They give the feeling that Brancusi was less interested in making fancy museum objects than in putting new kinds of almost-living things into the world, and convey the vital energy his sculptures were meant to capture. (Blake Gopnik) 212-708-9400, moma.org | BY Lynchy | Three marketing communications industry stalwarts and two faculties of an educational institute were honoured in the inaugural International Advertising Association (IAA) Hall of Fame as part of the 25th anniversary of the Malaysian chapter of the association. This year also marks the 80th anniversary of IAA in New York. Although Malaysia is small player in a field of giants, our humble honourees have made a deep imprint in our industry through their professionalism, selflessness and dedication over the course of many decades, said John Chacko, president of IAA Malaysia, in his opening address at the event. The first recipient and inductee into the IAA Hall of Fame in Malaysia, Datuk Ho Kay Tat, is the publisher and CEO of The Edge, and also a past IAA Malaysia president. The consummate newspaper man showed extraordinary leadership and fortitude when he took a bold step in exposing the 1MDB financial scandal in a series of articles. He risked his safety and livelihood in the pursuit of the truth and stuck to his story despite the inevitable consequences, lauded Chacko. The other two honourees Tony Savarimuthu and Professor Harmandar Singh (also a past IAA president) were distinguished for their respective contributions in the sphere of advertising, creative drive, and talent development. For over 25 years, Savarimuthu has fronted agencies with a mad man thrust that earned him the H.K.McCann Leadership Award for outstanding performance. As the point person on the Petronas account at Leo Burnett, Savarimuthu, jointly with the late Yasmin Ahmad and Ali Mohamed, created some of the most endearing advertising campaigns for the client. Last year, he was awarded the IAA Inspire Global Champion Award for his numerous contributions in advancing the IAA and the marketing communications industry. The current CEO of Merdeka and Dentsu LHS also served the industry as a two-term 4As president, chaired the first Malaysias Most Valuable Brands project, and introduced a multitude of initiatives to maintain high standards within the industry. Singh, a one-man industry dynamo, got into the publishing game with Adoi, often cited as the marketing communications industry guide, and currently with Marketing. Among his many accomplishments include operating an advertising school, writing a weekly column for New Straits Times and The Star, founding and organising industry events including APPIES Malaysia, Malaysian CMO Conference, and Product of the Year awards, and leading media missions for Mercy Malaysia to Nepal and Syria. Two UiTM faculties Communications and Media Studies and Faculty of Art and Design were inducted in the IAA Hall of Fame. UiTM pioneer, educationist Tan Sri Arshad Ayob, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, envisioned a mass communications centre in 1972, the only one in the country then. Both faculties have produced such luminaries as creative directors Hamdan Omar and Ali Mohamed, artists Tajuddin Ismail and Ahmad Zaki Anwar, local advertising agency leaders Azizul Kallahan and Shukri Rifaie, and journalists Datuk Seri Jalil Hamid, Aishah Ali and Nuraini Samad. Among the highlights of the IAA Malaysia anniversary event was a presentation on Democratising Artificial Intelligence by AGORAI, the primary sponsor of the event, and a presentation by IAA India on the IAA World Congress set to take place in February 2019 in Cochin, India. Separately, Dentsu Aegis Network hosted the two-day Global Education meeting attended by Srinivasan Swamy, IAA Global Chairman, Dagmara Szulce, IAA Global Managing Director, and senior IAA office bearers from the United States, Australia, India, and Kuwait. It marked the first occasion in IAA history where a Global event was held in Malaysia. IAA is the only organisation that congregates marketers, advertising, media, digital and public relations agencies, as well as media companies, research firms, and educators. It is a professional body with over 4,000 members globally in 76 countries. The IAA is headquartered in New York. Photo caption L to R: Tony Savarimuthu, Dato Ho Kay Tat, Prof Harmandar Singh, Dagmara Szulce (IAA Global, Managing Director), Prof Dr Ruslan Rahim (UiTM, Dean Art & Design Faculty), Srinivasan Swamy (IAA Global, Chairman & President), Professor Azizul Halim (UiTM, Dean- Communications & Media Studies Faculty) and John D Chacko (President IAA Malaysia, VP Education Asia & IAA World Board member) Betye Saar, now 92, has been making important and influential work for nearly 60 years. Yet no big New York museum has given her a full retrospective, or even a significant one-person show, since a 1975 solo at the Whitney Museum of American Art. As the New-York Historical Societys exhibition Betye Saar: Keepin It Clean demonstrates, the institutional oversight is especially baffling, as her primary themes racial justice and feminism are exactly attuned to the present moment and, indeed, to every American moment within memory. Ms. Saar grew up in the Watts section of Los Angeles, watching the immigrant Italian artist Simon Rodia construct his fabulous towers from scrap materials. An encounter with Joseph Cornells art in the early 1960s convinced her that assemblage could be intimately scaled and politically pointed. By then, she was already involved in the Black Arts and womens movements. Her 1972 breakthrough piece, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, merges the two by transforming the racist stereotype of the smiling black mammy into an armed freedom fighter. In the show at the New-York Historical Society, which comes from the Craft & Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, the same figure appears, though the main transformed element is different: the old- fashioned wooden washboard, once a domestic staple and now an antique artifact. Generations of women, among them servants, used it to keep things clean , though without being able to erase the stains of racism and sexism from their lives. But in the present of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, the struggle to do so goes on . Extreme Times Call for Extreme Heroines is the title of a work in the show. Someone should alert the major art museum on the opposite side of Central Park that theres one such heroine here. HOLLAND COTTER Through May 27. 170 Central Park West; 212-873-3400, nyhistory.org. Theres art nearly everywhere in your home, on your walls and still in boxes. E.T. WILLIAMS Weve got art everywhere, youre right. Im looking forward to the tour. Lets start here in the dining room. MR. WILLIAMS Well start with Thornton Dial, the most celebrated self-taught artist in recent memory. We have two paintings of his that are without doubt masterpieces. Youre looking at In the Spirit of Us All. The others The Rising Ocean. LYN WILLIAMS I love the movement and the color. You sense Dial is trying for an inclusive feeling. Spirit is an uplifting and joyous piece. The movement seems to be going up, arms being raised. Youre drawn to it. The temple, an activist group based in Salem, Mass., defines its mission, in part, to reject tyrannical authority and to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people. The statue, Baphomet With Children, was designed about five years ago. It was based on an 1856 drawing of the muscled goat-headed deity made by Eliphas Levi, an occultist. The statue features two children staring up at Baphomet as if worshiping him. It was meant as a protest to religious statues appearing on public property. In 2015, the temple tried to get it installed at the Oklahoma Capitol in response to a Ten Commandments monument. (The State Supreme Court eventually ordered the Ten Commandments removed.) This year the temple brought it to the Arkansas Capitol to protest a Ten Commandments display there. A similar statue to Baphomet With Children appears in Sabrina representing the Dark Lord, who fights the teenage half-human, half-witch Sabrina. The Satanic Temple said the statue not only infringed on its copyright, but damaged its reputation by portraying the statue as evil. In a statement, Warner Bros., which produces the show, acknowledged the settlement without elaborating. Netflix did not respond to a request for comment. Mr. Greaves, in his blog post, thanked people who had supported the lawsuit, but he also complained about the large number of people who flooded us with hate mail and armchair legal analysis. One email implored him not to ruin a show that just tries to bring joy into the world, he wrote. Mystery Science Theater 3000 returns on Netflix. And Mirzapur tells an Indian gangster story. Whats Streaming MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 on Netflix. Its been 30 years since this cult series, known for its playful evisceration of B-movies, began on a Minnesota TV station. While the creator and original host, Joel Hodgson, has ceded hosting duties to Jonah Ray, the Netflix version of the show still does the same thing as the original: It shows old, campy films while riffing on them. Rays character is imprisoned on a spaceship by mad scientists (Patton Oswalt and Felicia Day), who force him to deliver these movie riffs alongside a pair of robot puppets (Baron Vaughn and Hampton Yount). Until video games, movies felt like the biggest thing in the world, Hodgson recently told The New York Times. So we had to be in awe of them: Dont do anything to the movies, we need them, keep them intact, please! What originally motivated me to do Mystery Science Theater 3000 was my impulse to respond: Oh, you can talk back to these things. DAMASCUS COVER (2018) on Hulu. John Hurts last role was as an Israeli intelligence director in this spy thriller, which follows a Mossad agent (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in Syria, where he eventually encounters a photojournalist played by Olivia Thirlby. The plot is confused, Helen T. Verongos wrote in her review for The Times, and the film will leave the viewer hungry for a slickly executed espionage movie. But she also wrote that the overall message provides a worthy payoff: the idea that there are alliances that transcend religious wars and nationalistic sentiments for the sake of saving lives. F.A.O.s private equity owners are betting on the nostalgia factor. Through its many iterations, Mr. Conn said his research showed that the F.A.O. brand still resonated with customers. We have people break down in tears of joy when they remember their first visit to the old store, said Mr. Conn, who worked for years with consumer brands like jeans, but never with toys. ThreeSixty wants its employees to bring a sense of theater when interacting with customers. Prospective hires, including cashiers and employees in charge of IT, had to audition for their jobs on stage at an Upper West Side theater earlier this fall. The New York store is meant to serve as a blueprint for how stores should operate. The company is planning to train franchisees in China on how to set up a store, including holding auditions as part of the hiring process. I see it doing well with tourists, said Jim Silver, who runs a toy review website. But most kids are not buying toys based on what they see in a stor e, but what they see online. One day in December 2012, a young Malaysian V.I.P. entered the gleaming headquarters of Goldman Sachs in Lower Manhattan. The man, Jho Low, a financier with close ties to Malaysias prime minister at the time, was there for a private meeting with one of the most powerful people on Wall Street: Goldmans longtime chairman and chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein. Nearly six years later, Mr. Low is an international fugitive, accused of being the mastermind in a multibillion-dollar fraud involving a Malaysian government investment fund. Goldmans role in supporting the fund, known as 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, has brought intense scrutiny from federal prosecutors, who this month unsealed criminal charges against two former Goldman investment bankers and implicated a senior executive. The meeting between Mr. Low and Mr. Blankfein, described to The New York Times by three people familiar with it, shows the expanding scope of a scandal that is rocking Goldman. Federal prosecutors are examining the 2012 meeting as they conduct a criminal investigation of the bank, two of the people said. And the existence of a face-to-face meeting between Goldmans chief executive and the man accused of being at the center of a sprawling fraud undercuts an argument the bank has made: that its problems stem from the actions of a small number of rogue employees. Goldman said this month that it could face significant fines related to the scandal. In another sign of the banks mounting problems, Abu Dhabis state energy investment company sued Goldman in New York State Court on Wednesday, accusing bank employees of bribing Abu Dhabi officials. Joining a long tradition of companies and campaigns that drop bad news on holidays, Facebook on Thanksgiving eve took responsibility for hiring a Washington-based lobbying company, Definers Public Affairs, that pushed negative stories about Facebooks critics, including the philanthropist George Soros. Facebooks communications and policy chief, Elliot Schrage, said in a memo posted Wednesday that he was responsible for hiring the group, and had done so to help protect the companys image and conduct research about high-profile individuals who spoke critically about the social media platform. Mr. Schrage will be leaving the company, a move planned before the memo was released. Facebook fired Definers last week, after a New York Times investigation published on Nov. 14. Did we ask them to do work on George Soros? Mr. Schrage wrote in the memo, a draft of which had circulated online earlier in the week. Yes. He added: Im sorry I let you all down. I regret my own failure here. [Sheryl Sandberg is said to have asked Facebook employees to examine George Soross finances after he criticized the social media giant.] The Premiere has four 43-millimeter models ($1,195) and four 36 millimeter ($1,095), each named for a famous Los Angeles road or area, including Wilshire, Bel Air, Mulholland and Rodeo. Only 1,923 pieces will be made in each dial dimension, and buyers may select either steel or rose gold-plated steel, light or dark dials and a choice of straps. The Swiss private label watchmaker Roventa Henex produced the timepieces, which are powered by a Ronda 715 quartz movement and have a date display. Image A 43-millimeter Mulholland model of the Premiere wristwatch. The Premieres eight models are named for famous roads or areas in Los Angeles. The watch was introduced on Kickstarter in September with a half-price offer, and the company said it met its sales target in less than four hours which didnt surprise Hossam Antar, the companys chief executive. People like to collect cool things with a story behind it, and theres nothing better than a Hollywood story, Mr. Antar said. He had tested the idea two years ago, partnering with the American watchmaker RGM to create a limited-edition Founders watch, also accented with plaques made from the sign. Twelve of the models, which had mechanical movements made by the Swatch-owned manufacturer ETA were sold; now the company plans to make the remaining 11 in the edition, and has been offering them at $9,500 each.The Hollywood sign is a symbol of inspiration, Mr. Antar said, of inspiring you to do it your own way and live your dreams. That resonated with us, in owning and building a brand. During the four-hour trip on a blisteringly hot day, the men smoked Cohiba cigars and downed drinks as they searched for shade to take photos of their Pateks many on wrists, others carefully arranged on a blue tarp laid on an upper deck. They talked timepieces, quizzed one another on Patek esoterica and traded tips on how to locate rare watches. The girlfriends who were along (none of whom are watch collectors) donned bikinis and sat on beach towels, chatting, before the buffet lunch. Mr. Kawamura rolled up the sleeves of his white linen shirt to display his blue-faced Ref. 5270G Perpetual Calendar Chronograph on his left wrist. Released in 2011, its dial was packed by Patek with the day and month at 12 oclock, a 30-minute counter at 3, a moon phase date at 6, and a seconds indicator at 9. It is one of the 30 to 40 watches in Mr. Kawamuras collection, which includes a number of Pateks, but also Rolex, Piaget, Hublot, Omega and Breitling some of which he bought and others that were passed on by his father. Collecting is a huge part of my life, he said, estimating the value of his watches at more than 1 million Singapore dollars ($725,210). To show his friends, Mr. Kawamura had brought along a Patek 5170G-001 18-Karat White Gold Chronograph with Breguet numerals and a black dial, co-branded with Tiffany & Co. For young collectors, buying is easier now, Mr. Kawamura said, recalling that when he first started collecting at age 14, he had to pore over glossy catalogs. Now its all available on the web. You see a watch on Instagram and, boom, theres the price and its whole story everything in a single click. Gary Greenberg wrote about new research on the placebo effect. I am a health psychologist with a Ph.D. I have been thinking about the placebo effect for more than a decade. Although I have read hundreds of scientific articles on this topic, it took having a toddler to understand the immense power of placebo. Most injuries for my 2-year-old are miraculously healed with only a kiss from me on the offending boo-boo. Millions of mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers already know this. Its about time the science caught up with us. Leeat Granek, assistant professor, department of public health, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Gary Greenberg overemphasizes the mysterious nature of the placebo effect. The placebo is not the pill; it is the set and setting in which the pill is given. The broader culture supplies the meaning: These are the people and the rituals that will help you. Imagine that you are the sole survivor of an airplane crash in the desert. You look out over the harsh landscape and despair. Then you spot a shack with a display that says, Licensed desert guide. Instead of despair, pain and fatigue, you now experience renewed energy and hope. In regard to others, you are more open to influence and will (sometimes) do what is needed to get better. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 22) It's President Rodrigo Duterte's turn to visit the country of his Chinese counterpart. Duterte will head to Beijing in April 2019 upon Chinese President Xi Jinping's invitation, according to the joint statement of the Philippines and China issued Wednesday. "[President Xi] extended an invitation to President Duterte to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held in Beijing, China in April 2019," the statement read. Duterte accepted the invitation "with pleasure," it added. Should he proceed, it will be his fourth visit to China. The statement came out on the same day Xi concluded his historic two-day state visit to the Philippines. The last time a Chinese President went to the country was in 2005. "Both sides agree that the sound development of China-Philippines relations serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples. Both sides recognize that the bilateral relations have achieved a positive turnaround and a sound momentum of development through the joint efforts and mutual trust of both sides," the statement read. Xi's visit to the country resulted in the signing of 29 bilateral agreements, including one on a joint oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea. The Duterte administration's ties with China has been criticized for the Philippines' softer stance on the ongoing dispute in the South China Sea, as well as the joint oil exploration venture. The Belt and Road Forum in Beijing is a China-led initiative that hopes to strengthen international cooperation for development among 29 member states. CNN touted the forum as China's answer to the G20, centered around its One Belt One Road initiative anchored on the Silk Road trading route. Wednesday, November 21, 2018 at 7:32PM Hoping to give Windows on ARM machines a bit more support, Microsoft is working with Google to make the Chrome browser a native Windows on ARM app. Microsoft is trying its luck again by creating Windows 10 on ARM, a line of PCs that run on ARM processors. It didnt succeed the first time around with Windows RT and how limiting the system is. But this time it can run on x86 programs in an emulator, expanding the range of software the machine can run. But this will, of course, affect performance, so its better to develop native ARM apps. Thats where this new collaboration comes in. Technically, Chrome works on ARM systems, but it doesnt currently compile properly as a Windows-on-ARM application. 9to5Google spotted various commits by Microsoft engineers helping develop Chrome for Windows 10 on ARM. With the help of Microsoft developers and addressing issues, this can change that. Qualcomm is supposedly helping out as an executive last month said they are working to bring a native ARM port to Windows. Source: Ars Technica We meet her in the 1920s, a strong-willed, spirited teenager whose quirky personality demands an escape from the small village in rural Sweden where her religious family farms on church land. The shame of the pregnancy means banishment and liberation to secretarial school in Stockholm, where her choice seems to be between an unwise marriage or a life without her child. It will take all her resolve to choose neither. In many respects, Becoming Astrid is your standard biographical drama, its familiar beats untroubled by narrative daring or stylistic surprises. But Erik Molberg Hansens relaxed camera movements and fuzzy-soft compositions are quite beautiful, and the performances including the superb Trine Dyrholm as the babys Danish foster mother are pitch-perfect. Best of all is the magnetic August, whose open, mobile features can slide from plain to lovely with just a shift in the light and whose embrace of the character is a joy to watch. An all-smiles opening doesnt last long in Family in Transition, a documentary that refuses to sugarcoat the challenges faced by the six members of the Tsuk family as the father, Amit, comes out as a transgender woman. Ofir Trainin, the director, begins with video from Amits wedding to Galit. In that old footage, the young couple grin and sing, in contrast to so many sober scenes that follow some 20 years later. After Amit decides, at around 40, to begin wearing womens clothing and later to undergo surgery, Galit and their four children are shunned by various friends and relatives. The family in Shoplifters returns Kore-eda to the marginalized world of one of his best movies, Nobody Knows, about young children abandoned by their mother. The setup in Shoplifters seems more ordinary and straightforward, and its family an affectionate, likably chaotic group initially comes across more as eccentric or freewheeling than anything else. Everything looks fairly ordinary, if cramped and cluttered, without such middle-class givens as personal space and beds. The youngest child, Shota (Kairi Jyo), a solemn boy of around 10 with a boy-band shock of hair, sleeps in a dark nook that looks a lot like a storage cabinet. The house grows more crowded with the arrival of Juri (Miyu Sasaki), an unsettlingly melancholic, physically reserved girl of 5. Shota and the father, Osamu (a great Lily Franky, by turns affable and unsavory), first see the girl shivering outside her home. Its night and they are returning from one of their raids on a grocery store, walking and talking while munching on snacks. They hear Juri first, moving about outside her door, her parents nowhere in sight. Shes there again, says Osamu. Before long, Juri is in Osamu and Shotas house nibbling croquettes. Youre so skinny, Grandma (Kirin Kiki) tells her, right before noticing the scars stippling the tiny girls body. In most movies, a kidnapped child is enough to get the story up and jumping. Juris presence has a far more subtle effect on the narrative and the family, which itself suggests that theres more to it than quirks and offbeat personalities. Several months after Juri arrives, her disappearance hits the news. Osamu and the rest of the family agree that it certainly looks bad, their understatement drifting into grim comedy. But they decide that its too late to do anything, including return Juri to her abusive parents. Osamus partner, Nobuyo (a fantastic Sakura Ando), instead cuts Juris hair and takes her shopping, holding up little dresses for approval before stuffing them into bags. Growing up, Galia Sarah Solts craved community. Her father was drafted by the Soviet Army to fight in World War II before she was born. When the conflict ended, he forged documents to help smuggle Jews into what is now Israel. He was an ardent proponent of aliyah, the reunification of the Jewish people. But his efforts got him sent to a gulag in 1946, when Ms. Solts was just 6 months old. With her mother struggling to support them, I felt like I was an orphan, Ms. Solts, now 72, recalled. Schoolyard bullies, provoked by her Jewish identity, targeted Ms. Solts with jeers, taunts and thrashings. It would be eight years before her father was released, in 1954, and the family could make a home together in Vorkuta, Russia, near the labor camp where he had been held. Democrats insist that closing the loophole will be one of their first priorities in the new year. They have proposed holding L.L.C.s to the same limit as corporations, and to count any donations funneled through them toward each stakeholders individual limits. By all appearances, the proposal should sail through. The Democrat-dominated Assembly has voted to close the loophole for years. Mr. Cuomo has said he supports ending it. But, as always in politics, there is rhetoric and there is reality. Several people involved with the real estate industrys political giving said they did not expect the newly Democratic Albany to be entirely hostile to their overtures. Mr. Cuomo has suggested that the Assembly may become less enthusiastic about passing ethics reform without the Senate standing by to squash it. Im not suggesting that its a manipulation, but when you know somethings not going to happen anyway, its easier to be supportive of it, the governor said in a recent radio interview. The same, of course, could be said of Mr. Cuomo. For years, he has professed support for closing the loophole; for years, he blamed Republicans for the efforts downfall. In the meantime, he has raised far more through L.L.C.s than the entire Senate Republican conference. In 2018 alone, L.L.C.s gave Mr. Cuomo more than $1.9 million. Democratics denied that their new position in the majority would push the loophole down their agenda. Many Democrats have run on the issue, said Senator Brian P. Kavanagh, a Democrat who has sponsored several unsuccessful bills to close the loophole. We won, and now were going to do it. Mr. Peralta was first elected to the State Senate in 2010 in a special election, defeating Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled from the Senate after being convicted of assaulting his companion. As a lawmaker, Mr. Peralta was a champion of the Dream Act, legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for college tuition assistance. He also introduced bills to legalize hoverboards in the city and to extend the time that speed cameras are used in school zones. [What you need to know to start your day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] Mr. Peralta, a resident of Queens for three decades, began his political career there as a community liaison to the State Assembly, the legislatures lower house. He went on to win a seat in that body and served there for eight years. Mr. Peraltas campaign to become Queens borough president was derailed in 2013 when he was recorded by a state legislator in her role as an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The legislator, Shirley L. Huntley, was under investigation for corruption and hoped that cooperating with the F.B.I. by recording public officials whom she suspected were corrupt would help her case. Mr. Peralta was not charged or accused of wrongdoing. Jose Rafael Peralta was born on Nov. 10, 1971, in New York City to parents who had emigrated from the Dominican Republic. He attended public schools in Queens and graduated from Queens College, where he studied psychology and sociology and served as student body president. Viewed in a certain light usually fluorescent many of New York Citys subway stations are aging underground crypts in need of serious renovation. White tiles have faded to a dingy beige; some bear the rust-colored scars left by water damage. Floors are so mottled one might have trouble discerning their original hue. And metal pillars are covered in layers of flaking paint that cannot conceal the corrosion underneath. These are not, traditionally, the qualities associated with an aesthetic masterpiece. But that did not stop two art students from playfully reframing New Yorks subway system as an art museum that documents and preserves the citys anthropological history. As part of a project they are calling the M.T.A. Museum, the duo has been placing small cardboard signs similar to museum labels at several subway stops in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The placards witty titles and captions cast the subway systems floors, furniture and metal fixtures as works of art. During the 1960s Mr. McCaig worked in the advertising business in New York. He lived a sort of double life: He and his girlfriend (and future wife), Anne Ashley, lived in the East Village, and he joined the activist organization Students for a Democratic Society while he held down a very mainstream job. By day, I was the copy chief of a hot advertising agency, he wrote in An American Homeplace. By night, I was Snee the poet. In 1971 he and Anne, who would marry the next year, bought the Virginia sheep farm. Unlike many who went back to the land in that era, they were serious about working the land and sticking it out. And Mr. McCaig began writing something, his wife said in a telephone interview, he had always had in the back of his mind because an uncle he admired, Robert McCaig, had written some western novels. His early books included The Butte Polka, a 1980 novel about a copper mining company. His breakthrough came in 1984 with Nops Trials, about the abduction of a champion sheepdog, the title character. Nop was prone to deep thoughts, including about how humans had lost sight of why they first bonded with dogs. They have forgotten the old time when they were alone and terrified on the darkening plain, Nop muses at one point. They have forgotten their first ally against the night. It was a risky technique, but readers and critics liked it. If it strikes you as ridiculous that a dog would wax so philosophical, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote in reviewing the book for The New York Times, or that he would address his fellow dogs in what sounds like the speech of old-time Quakers (Bear dog, says Nop to an elkhound who wants to kill him, thy life is a bore, tied up far from freedom and thou art a bore too, with thy rage and no real work to do.) then you have a measure of what Donald McCaig has pulled off in this irresistibly compelling story. To see his family life exposed like this was traumatic and harrowing, David Paisley said in an email. Still, he said, his mother was telling the truth in his defense. He recalled going out at night with his brothers to throw water balloons and paint at the homophobic billboards. Mum was our getaway driver, he said. (The Scottish Parliament eventually repealed the legislation, and Scotland is now widely perceived as gay friendly.) Ms. Paisley turned to writing in her late 30s, after losing one son in infancy and experiencing her own brush with death during the birth of another. She started with stories and poems. But she had to write clandestinely, she said, because her husband, Bill Paisley, did not approve. At one point he smashed her typewriter. He was also violent toward her, though she rarely discussed this publicly. Janet was beaten regularly in horrific and devastating ways, Linda Jackson, a close friend who compiled the book Janet Paisley: Growing and Dying (2018), said in an email. Her in-laws knew and asked her once what she had said to anger him. This after she arrived at their door, battered and with clumps of her hair pulled out. Ms. Paisley did much of her writing in my head while she changed diapers and made the beds, she told the Scottish newspaper The Herald in 1996. I had to write when he was not around, she said of her husband. I did my pen corrections in the evenings while I was pretending to read the newspaper. At one point she came across If, Rudyard Kiplings inspirational paean to British stoicism, and was stunned into recognition and action. She pored over the poem for hours, finally deciding that as soon as it was safe to try and do so, I had to leave with the children and never come back. For 53 years, Tommy Rowles asked What are you having? to the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Paul McCartney and anyone else who bellied up to the bar he presided over. Some of them ordered a Tommy Rowles; after he had worked there for a while, a rum-and-cognac concoction named for him was added to the drink menu. The place was Bemelmans Bar, in the Carlyle hotel in Manhattan. Mr. Rowles, who worked there until he retired in 2012, died on Nov. 11 at age 78. His daughter, Sharon Connelly, confirmed the death. She said Mr. Rowles had dementia. On the job at Bemelmans Bar, known for its murals by the artist Ludwig Bemelmans and its little tables with their little lights, Mr. Rowles mixed and poured for the famous and the influential. But whatever secrets they imparted, he kept. His guiding principle was that what happened in Bemelmans stayed in Bemelmans. But why? The Bahamian pirates were unlike most other pirates whove come before or since in that they claimed to be engaged in more than simple banditry. Most, including Blackbeard, were former merchant and naval sailors who thought themselves engaged in a social revolt against shipowners and captains whod made their lives miserable. The pirate Sam Bellamys crew referred to themselves as Robin Hoods men. They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, Bellamy told a captive. They rob the poor under the cover of law and we plunder the rich under the cover of our own courage. There was also a democratic spirit aboard the pirates ships six decades before Lexington and Yorktown, more than seven ahead of the storming of the Bastille. Upon seizing a vessel, the pirates turned its government upside down. Instead of using whips and beatings to enforce a rigid, top-down hierarchy, they elected and deposed their captains by popular vote. They shared their treasure almost equally and on most ships didnt allow the captain his own cabin. The contracts some crews drew up and signed included disability benefits: payments for lost eyes and limbs taken from the shared plunder before it was divvied up. All this and far better food, drink and hours made piracy extremely attractive to merchant and naval sailors alike, who in this time period faced malnourishment, wage cheating, and brutal and sometimes sadistic officers. Typically when the pirates captured a ship, a portion of its crew would enthusiastically join their ranks, allowing the outbreak to expand from a handful of pirates in sloops to several thousand in multi-ship squadrons in just three years. Even the Royal Navy was vulnerable; when the ship H.M.S. Phoenix confronted the pirates at their Nassau lair 300 years ago this spring, a number of the frigates sailors sneaked off in the night to serve under the black flag. Runaway slaves also joined the pirates as word spread that they allowed people of African descent to participate as equal members of their crews and sometimes as captains. At the height of the outbreak, it was not unusual for escaped or liberated slaves to account for a quarter or more of the pirates crews. In the months after Blackbeard captured his flagship, Queen Annes Revenge, witnesses would report as many as 70 serving aboard, and several remained in his closest circle to the day he died. Although pirates also treated many of the slaves they found on captured slave ships as cargo to be sold, not colleagues to recruit, their integrated ships still represented a threat to the slave colonies surrounding the Bahamas. Gov. Benjamin Bennett of Bermuda warned that slaves had grown so impudent and insulting of late that we have reason to suspect their rising against us and fear their joining with the pirates. Not all pirates were downtrodden. Bellamys sidekick Paulsgrave Williams was the son of Rhode Islands attorney general, and the gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet was the scion of an influential Barbados family. Theres considerable evidence that these pirates had a secret motivation of their own: to depose George I who had ascended to the throne in 1714 and restore the Stuarts. Some of the pirates sent a letter to the court of the would-be Stuart king in exile in France offering their services, while several others were closely associated with a suspected organizer of a failed, pro-Stuart uprising in 1715. To the Editor: Re More Aid for College Students, by Michael R. Bloomberg (Op-Ed, Nov. 19): I applaud Mr. Bloombergs $1.8 billion gift to my alma mater, Johns Hopkins. But his Op-Ed stirred mixed feelings in me. Hopkins wrote to its alumni that Mr. Bloombergs gift will allow it to realize the inspiring vision of a university that is open to, and supportive of, all high-achieving students regardless of their means or backgrounds . This is a wonderful thing. In fact, it is a wonderful thing that is already happening at the City University of New York, where tuition is less than $7,000 per year at the four-year colleges, compared with more than $50,000 per year at Hopkins. David Leonhardt, reporting last year on a new study of social mobility, wrote that CUNY propelled almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all eight Ivy League campuses, plus Duke, M.I.T., Stanford and Chicago, combined . The greatest engine of social mobility in the country is right here in New York City. The Bloomberg gift seeks to make elite colleges accessible to underserved populations. Why are these colleges elite? Largely because they have money. At City College, where I work, we have incredible faculty who provide an education every bit as good as I got at Hopkins. But our classrooms and lab spaces are in need of repair and the latest technology, we lose some of our best faculty to wealthy schools that make offers with which we cant compete and we struggle with every tiny expenditure. To the Editor: Re Harassment, Humiliation and Terror (front page, Nov. 18): After working in Connecticut maximum-security prisons for 20 years, I find that the story of how women are treated in our federal prisons is very familiar. There are many problems with our prison system, but the model of punishment and subjugation of prisoners spills out into the way they then treat staff members. We need to change the way our prisons are run. Treatment, education and a focus on return to the community need to be the new model, not just locking people in cages. Recidivism rates are high, and this is largely because people are not provided the resources while incarcerated to improve their behavior . Women play a critical role in prisons. Women are more successful at de-escalating situations and understand the loss of being away from family. They bring more compassion and empathy to the correctional environment. The men in charge often marginalize women, especially when they try to change things for the better. In 2008, a veteran member of the Congressional Black Caucus, William Jefferson, ran for re-election with his trial on bribery charges mere months away. (The F.B.I. famously found $90,000 neatly hidden in his freezer.) Mr. Jeffersons traditionally safe seat, anchored by the deep blue New Orleans metro area, was promptly ripped away by a moderate Republican. And in 2006, the Republican George Allen, a former governor of Virginia and United States senator, lost his bid for re-election after he was caught calling an Indian-American who worked for his opponents campaign macaca, a dated but clearly derogatory term . Considering how the current president launched his political career by questioning the citizenship of the first president of color and has since called Mexicans crossing the border rapists who infest our country, African countries and Haiti shitholes, and protesting black athletes sons of bitches the end of Allens political career looks quaint. The Keating Five scandal of the eighties, which ended the political careers of three senators with a combined 81 years of experience in Washington, is perhaps the most famous example of politicians losing their careers over their abuse of power. Senators John McCain and John Glenn alone survived it. But even that scandal centering around loyalty pledges to a legally troubled donor seems completely old-fashioned by todays standards, in which donor influence is unfettered and lobbyists write bills themselves as President Trump stuffs his cabinet with plutocrats overseeing their own industries. Mr. Collinss war chest was filled with donations from the pharmaceutical industry as he crafted and sponsored bills to benefit his own pharma company. In five years, Mr. Collins introduced or sponsored at least five bills to directly buttress the companys bottom line, and thus his pockets. Yet none of this is mentioned in Mr. Collinss indictment because none of it, shockingly, is illegal. And the R next to his name combined with his support for Trump was just enough to give him a win by two thousand or so votes in a decently red district. Anticorruption legislation of the kind that would punish lawmakers trying to enrich themselves stands no chance with the Republican captain, Donald Trump, in the Oval Office. That leaves the 2020 elections as the next best shot. But the 2016 cycle a period when the GOP surrendered its family and fiscal values for a philandering celebrity swindler and Democrats suddenly defended the state of money in politics when Hillary Clintons role in it was at hand is a grim harbinger. MOSCOW Since Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, analysis of Russia, both inside and outside the country, has largely focused on two interpretations of his regime. The first argues that Russia is a mafia state in which the main aim of the ruling elite is to steal money at home to conceal and spend abroad. The second states that Mr. Putin is a hostage of his own popularity and that whatever is done in or by Russia is done for the sake of his approval rating. These theories provide a convenient framework for making sense of Russia; they are also tinged with moralism. For these reasons, many politicians, analysts and scholars both in Russia and in the West have embraced them. But these explanations fundamentally clash with reality. To truly understand what motivates the Kremlin, we must see how the Kremlin itself undermines those myths. There is, indeed, much corruption among the Kremlins associates. They profit from running the country, deposit the proceeds in offshore banking centers and the London property market and send their children to be educated in Western schools. But if the Russian elite were really just a mafia state concerned about its own well-being, it would never do anything that got in the way of its overseas investments and spending. Yet Mr. Putins bold foreign policy adventures of the past few years in particular in Crimea have received the support of most of the Russian elite despite leading to stinging sanctions. And certainly, Mr. Putin, like most politicians especially authoritarian populists cares about his popularity. One of the primary goals of annexing Crimea was to boost his falling approval ratings. But that is not all he cares about. Recent events expose this: In July, Russias Parliament voted to raise the retirement age, sparking a wave of discontent. Polls found that up to 90 percent of Russians opposed these measures and there have even been street protests against them. Yet the Kremlin pushes forward with the reforms. This isnt the only time that Mr. Putin has taken on unpopular domestic policies. He has made other cuts to entitlements and introduced other tolls and taxes that have resulted in significant protests. Not actual control, obviously, but social control, the not so subtle message of the evening being: Weve been here for you, and we expect you to be here for us. If you want to come back, dont disappoint us. Can social control of that sort really matter to a life-tenured Supreme Court justice who has already achieved everything an ambitious lawyer could possibly want? Well, yes and to be clear, in making that claim, Im not suggesting that the desire for continued acceptance by ones social network is a trait that afflicts only conservative judges. But the network that counts now is the one that has finally captured the Supreme Court. In a fascinating new book titled The Company They Keep: How Partisan Divisions Came to the Supreme Court, to be published early next year, two prominent students of judicial behavior, Neal Devins and Lawrence Baum, explore the Supreme Courts current polarization through the lens of social psychology. They take issue with the common assumption that the court responds to a broadly defined public opinion. Rather, the authors identify as the primary influence on individual justices not the mood or expressed desires of the public at large but rather the elite world in which the justices live both before and after they join the Supreme Court. They write, The justices take cues primarily from the people who are closest to them and whose approval they care most about, and those people are part of political, social and professional elites. Its a fresh observation of an old phenomenon. It often surprises people to learn, for example, that Roe v. Wade was a 7-to-2 decision, with the majority opinion joined by three of the four appointees of President Richard Nixon. Viewed from the perspective of todays freighted abortion discourse, the courts bipartisan consensus sounds barely plausible 45 years later. Though hardly the sole explanation for the courts decision, its significant that by the time the court ruled, the elites of the legal, public health and medical professions the justices professional and social peers, in other words had been calling for abortions decriminalization for years. American elites today are sharply polarized, so its not surprising to find both high polarization and strong group cohesion at the Supreme Court. Even Justice Anthony Kennedy, the famous swing justice, seemed to throw in the towel in the face of these forces during his final term. While in past terms he had joined the courts four liberal justices in sharply divided cases to supply a 5-to-4 majority anywhere from a quarter to half the time, that happened not a single time during the term that ended with his retirement last summer. Josh Collins had never been to New York before last summer. His first trip to the city, on his 22nd birthday, was for a job interview at a software company. Mr. Collins was eager to move. Fresh from the University of Alabama with a computer science degree, he figured the time was right. He had no commitments, no debts and no connections, either. As he returned to the airport after his interview, he got a call offering him the job, and he took it. During his brief visit, the city lived up to my expectations and then some, said Mr. Collins, who is from Knoxville, Tenn. I had never seen so many people in one place, all moving. It was super eye-opening and awesome. I had never had a bagel with cream cheese. I ate my way through Midtown. Mr. Collins had just over a month to line up an apartment, with some relocation help from his new employer. He had no nearby friends or family to stay with. His budget for a rental, which he would share with his dog, Katara, was in the low $2,000s. A similar sentiment has inspired Laurel Snyder and her husband, Chris, to donate to organizations like the A.C.L.U. and the Southern Poverty Law Center. We had to support the institutions that could stand up for those beyond the government, said Ms. Snyder, 44, who writes childrens books and lives in Atlanta. Ms. Snyder, who grew up canvassing and demonstrating, said she prefers to engage with activism by getting out in the streets, but her husband has become a habitual giver. The couple sees their donations not as a coping mechanism but as a responsibility, to the extent that they have become an unofficial line item on the familys operating budget. I feel like, we all didnt do enough for a really long time, and so were sort of trying to pull back that ground, she said. In my head, I have to do this budgeting, like, All right, I guess we wont get pizza this week. Ms. Rentz, who has also donated to KIND Inc., You Can Vote and the N.A.A.C.P. in the last year, said, I think about it like, what could I spend this money on thats more important than this? And in that moment, there isnt anything. What, Im going to go to the movies another night? What is more important than safety and democracy? I dont know if its helping, but just that feeling is worth it to me. The Giving Stimulus It isnt just those on the left who are giving away their cash to alleviate political dread. In the month following the mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla., the N.R.A. received a record-breaking burst of contributions totaling $2.4 million, the majority of it in the form of donations of $200 or less. One of those donors was Sam Swanson of College Park, Md., who had never contributed to the N.R.A. or actively engaged in gun culture until this year. Mr. Swanson, 22, who works in cybersecurity, closely followed the events of Parkland on conservative Reddit boards and was struck by the calls for gun control that ensued in the wake of the shooting. After watching the town hall on gun violence hosted by CNN, he said, he was galvanized to act. Upon searching Pacific Ocean using Google Maps, one might expect to find a diagram of the world that illustrates Earths largest body of water. And yes, the result returns an interactive graphic displaying just that. But the aquatic destination also gets a rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars, and more than 14,500 reviews, many describing presumably fictional experiences. Stop down-voting the ocean because of sharks, chides one. User-generated feedback is now constantly self-published on sites such as Google Maps, Amazon and Yelp, a crowdsourced education for potential customers about the functions, satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) of products, services and venues. The format is so common it is now often spoofed. In September, on Google Maps, a critic with the screen name Makorun shared thoughts regarding the Pacific: Wonderful ocean. Very refreshing, although it needs a heating feature. If it was drinkable I would rate it 5 stars but Ill keep it at 4 until the developer fixes the water. Almost every species is aggressive, except for the dolphins sometimes. I suggest making it breathable too and maybe add more light in the deep parts of the ocean. This imaginative paragraph received more than 140 likes. My mother, in an effort to keep me humble and rooted, likes to remind me of embarrassing facts from my childhood. Her favorite one lately: I marched up and down the hallway belting out Here Comes the Bride with a sheer beige curtain over my head as a veil. If anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my 5-year-old voice proudly said, a bride. When my older sister overheard this, she said, You can only be a bride for a day, idiot. What do you want to do with your life? I thought about it briefly and corrected my answer: A wife. I want to be a wife. In my mind, the image remained the same: a radiant woman, front and center, dressed in full bridal plumage. Only a vague sense of a spouse entered this fantasy. A hazy outline of a man, wearing a tuxedo, hovered in the background like a waiter ready to fill my water glass. The idea that a bride, or wife, requires another person to define it never occurred to my childhood mind. A bride is a starring role. Not so much, I realized much later, as a wife. When I met my future husband in my mid-20s, I had long forgotten my childhood fantasy. Both of us were anti-marriage. Products of bad divorces, we bonded over our aversion to the concept. Late at night in bed, postcoital, eating toasted baguettes with butter and feta cheese on top, we talked and mocked that worn-out, passe ritual. 7) 12:30 p.m. Lunch break Gustando e Degustando, a 10-minute walk from Santa Costanza, is the hole-in-the-wall you dream of: a handful of tables, a chalkboard of daily specials, oldies burbling in the background, and simple local food of notable freshness. Beef strips on a bed of arugula (8 euros) is both light and flavorful; octopus, pesto and potatoes (10 euros) has a nice balance of succulent and savory. An extensive list of beers, wines and spirits makes this an equally good choice for an afternoon aperitif. 8) 3 p.m. Spending spree What a stroke of luck that two of Renaissance Romes most ravishing streets, Via del Pellegrino and the intersecting Via dei Banchi Vecchi, are lined with some of the citys most tempting boutiques. From Campo de Fiori, pick up Via del Pellegrino and work your way west, stopping at Solodue, for edgy shoes, tops and accessories; Retropose, for oversize bags in eye-popping colors; Sciam, for glass baubles and Murano goblets; Libreria del Viaggiatore for travel books; and Libreria il Minotauro, a warren stuffed with childrens toys and books. Refuel with a coffee and pastry at Monteforte, and continue past the patrician palaces to Banchivecchi Pellami, via dei Banchi Vecchi, 40, a venerable family-run shop offering classic Italian-made belts and wallets. 9) 6 p.m. Delight the inner child No one loves a creche presepio in Italian more than the Italians, and at the International Museum of the Presepio you can revel in the finest examples of this folk art from all over the world and down through the ages. Open only on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 5 to 7:30 p.m. (with extended hours from Christmas to Jan. 6), the museum is in the basement of the tiny church of SS. Quirico e Giulitta, at the edge of Monti. A white man displayed a gun during an argument with a group of mostly Somali-American teenagers at a McDonalds in Minnesota after he wrongly suggested they were using welfare assistance to pay for their food, members of the group said. The confrontation with the man, which was partly captured on a video that has been widely circulated on Twitter, occurred on Monday at a McDonalds restaurant in Eden Prairie, Minn., a suburb southwest of Minneapolis, and ended without any shots fired or injuries sustained. On Wednesday, the Eden Prairie police arrested Lloyd Edward Johnson, 55, under probable cause for second-degree assault, the city said in a statement. Mr. Johnson was being held at the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center. Joyce Lorenz, a spokeswoman for the city, said on Thursday that the Hennepin County attorney would decide whether to file any charges. That left the agency to assume more responsibility, like delivering supplies, a job typically left to the states. Having the agency take on a larger role than what is mandated by the law is never a good situation, Brock Long, the agencys administrator, told the Senate Homeland Security Committee in October 2017. When FEMA is the first and primary responder, and the only responder for many weeks, we are never going to move as fast as anybody would like. Why is FEMA the focus of so much attention during natural disasters? Since its founding in 1979, FEMA has been the subject of intense criticism, particularly after its delayed response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The hurricane killed 1,800 and destroyed more than 800,000 housing units, leaving many homeless. The federal government, particularly FEMA, was blamed for many of those issues because the agency underestimated the impact of the storm and did not stock supplies beforehand at designated shelters like the Superdome. In addition, Michael D. Brown, the director of the agency at the time, had relatively little experience dealing with disasters and emergency response. Before joining the Bush administration, he was the commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association and landed his job at FEMA through his friendship with a longtime Bush adviser. That spurred a number of changes at the agency, like mandating that the FEMA chief have experience managing emergencies. The agency also began positioning supplies before natural disasters so that it could get them to those affected faster. The House Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas for James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Loretta E. Lynch, the former attorney general, as part of an investigation into their handling of inquiries into Hillary Clintons email server and possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. The subpoenas, issued on Wednesday by Representative Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia, the committees chairman and a Republican, require Mr. Comey and Ms. Lynch to appear in closed-door sessions with members of Mr. Goodlattes committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Mr. Comey has been called to appear on Dec. 3, and Ms. Lynch a day later. On Twitter, Mr. Comey objected to the format that Republicans are demanding for the interview. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions, he said. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see. Several Republicans have said they believe that Mr. Comey and Ms. Lynch were part of a deeply rooted bias within the F.B.I. and the Justice Department that allowed Ms. Clinton to escape prosecution for her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. The Republicans have also alleged impropriety in the origins of the investigation into the Trump campaigns connections to Russia. Mary Waters, a sociologist at Harvard University, remembered being stunned when she saw the research. It was like, Oh wow, these nerdy projections are scaring the hell out of people, she said. Beyond concerns about the datas repercussions, some researchers are also questioning whether the Census Bureaus projections provide a true picture. At issue, they say, is whom the government counts as white. In the Census Bureaus projections, people of mixed race or ethnicity have been counted mostly as minority, demographers say. This has had the effect of understating the size of the white population, they say, because many Americans with one white parent may identify as white or partly white. On their census forms, Americans can choose more than one race and whether they are of Hispanic origin. Among Asians and Hispanics, more than a quarter marry outside their race, according to the Pew Research Center. For American-born Asians, the share is nearly double that. It means that mixed-race people may be a small group now around 7 percent of the population, according to Pew but will steadily grow. Are those children white? Are they minority? Are they both? What about the grandchildren? The question really for us as a society is there are all these people who look white, act white, marry white and live white, so what does white even mean anymore? Dr. Waters said. We are in a really interesting time, an indeterminate time, when we are not policing the boundary very strongly. The Census Bureau has long produced projections of the American population, but they were rarely the topic of talk shows or newspaper headlines. A Guatemalan court has sentenced a former soldier to more than 5,000 years in prison for the massacre of 171 people in what is considered one of the worst atrocities in that countrys 36-year civil war. Prosecutors said the soldier, Santos Lopez Alonzo, 66, who is accused of belonging to an elite squad known as the Kaibiles, had participated in the killings of nearly all of the men, women and children in the farming village of Dos Erres on Dec. 7, 1982, according to Reuters. Mr. Lopez was sentenced on Wednesday after being deported from the United States in 2016 to face the Guatemalan court, where he was found responsible as author of the killings, according to news reports. He was sentenced to 30 years for crimes against humanity and an additional 30 years for each of the 171 victims, for a total of 5,160 years, although the sentences are symbolic as the maximum someone can serve in Guatemala is 50 years. HONG KONG Five children were killed on Thursday when a car veered across the centerline of a street and slammed into a group of students and adults in a city in northeastern China, according to Chinese state news media reports. China Central Television reported that in addition to the five killed, 16 children and two adults were also injured. A graphic video that circulated on social media sites showed several children lying sprawled on the road after the car plowed through them. The driver, surnamed Han, did not stop and was arrested two hours later in a rural area outside the city, Huludao, in Liaoning Province Beijing Youth Daily reported. The newspaper published photos online showing police officers surrounding Mr. Han. Peoples Daily, a state-run newspaper, said the 29-year-old suspect was unemployed and had recently been having marital conflicts. It said he drove his car into random targets. BEIJING They flocked together in silky, flowing gowns, arms draped in billowing sleeves, with many wearing high black hats or intricate floral headpieces as a flourish. If they resembled time travelers teleported from a Chinese imperial ritual of a thousand years ago, that was just the desired effect. These hundreds of retro-style dressers, gathered on a university campus in Beijing this past weekend, are devotees of the Hanfu movement. They are dedicated to reviving the clothes they believe Chinas Han ethnic majority wore before their country succumbed to centuries of foreign domination and to taking pride in the past they evoke. Hanfu is a social scene, and thats why Im into it, but it also has deeper levels of national feeling too, said Yin Zhuo, 29, a computer programmer, who joined the day of activities in a long blue gown and red cape with a fake fur fringe. JAKARTA, Indonesia The government safety inspector had spent all night at the Makassar airport, in eastern Indonesia, several years ago, poring over a Lion Air jet that had suffered a hydraulic failure. Telling airline employees that the plane was to be grounded until the problem was fixed, the inspector went back to a hotel for a quick shower. When the inspector returned, the plane was on the runway, about to take off. Furious, the inspector demanded that the passengers disembark. But a supervisor with Lion Air explained how the airline had gone over the inspectors head: National government officials in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, had given permission for takeoff, the inspector said. The plane was in the air minutes later. The notorious safety record of Lion Air, Indonesias largest carrier and one of the worlds fastest-growing airlines, is back in the spotlight after the crash of Flight 610, which hurtled nose-first into Indonesian waters with 189 people on board just minutes after takeoff on Oct. 29. Investigators are trying to figure out what deadly alchemy of factors caused a new Boeing jet to plunge into the water at more than 400 miles per hour. TAIPEI, Taiwan As Taiwan prepares to hold local elections on Saturday, concerns are growing that Beijings long effort to sway the islands politics has been armed with a new weapon: a Russia-style influence campaign. The islands elections for city mayors and county and village leaders will in part serve as a report card on President Tsai Ing-wen, whose administration has come under immense pressure from Beijing. But Taiwan officials are sounding alarms at what they say is a campaign by Beijing to spread disinformation that serves its agenda by exploiting the islands freewheeling public discourse. There are those people who mistakenly think that if you simply shout falsehoods loudly, theyll become real, Ms. Tsai wrote on Facebook last week. We must not let them succeed. Taiwan officials say the population of 23 million is regularly fed misleading information in the news media and on social networks that range from unverified footage of large-scale Chinese military drills to false reports of stranded travelers being abandoned by the islands government. HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam The Trump administration has quietly backed away from its determination to deport certain Vietnamese immigrants who have been in the United States for years, a policy that had put the United States at odds with Vietnam and led to the resignation of the American ambassador there last year. The shift, detailed in a California district court ruling on Oct. 18 and confirmed by an official in the Department of Homeland Security, comes as the White House has put harsh limits on immigration and asylum at the center of its public policy. Last year, the administration began rounding up long-term immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries and preparing to deport them. Some of the targeted immigrants had green cards but had not been naturalized as citizens, and the vast majority of them had at some point committed crimes roughly 7,700 of the 8,000 or so of the Vietnamese immigrants who were classified as deportable, according to the Department of Homeland Security. But specifically in Vietnams case, that country and the United States had signed an agreement in 2008 that Vietnamese who had arrived before July 12, 1995 the date the formerly warring countries re-established diplomatic relations could not be deported. Most of those immigrants had come to the United States as a result of the Vietnam War. Five days later, after she had weathered rounds of punishing criticism, the responses were reversed, with 46 percent saying she should stay and 34 percent that she should go. A bungled coup by hard-line Brexiteers in her own party who want a more complete break from the European Union than she has proposed had left her most aggressive detractors looking isolated and foolish. And many in Westminster began speaking confidently of a new wrinkle. Mrs. May might not muster enough Parliamentary support to pass the bill in mid-December, according to Rob Ford, a professor of politics at the University of Manchester. But if her government survives long enough to put it to a second vote, he said, she has a good chance of getting it through. The groups that dislike it will realize that there is no way of getting their preferred outcome, he said. The deal could be as popular as leprosy with the public and that strategic calculus would not have changed one iota. Leprosy indeed. Remainers dont like it because they did not want to leave the European Union in the first place. Hard-line Brexiteers dont like it because it leaves Britain in too many European structures. Soft Brexiteers who want, well, a softer break dont like it because it removes the country from too many structures. The only people who are satisfied are those primarily concerned with immigration, and polls, Mr. Ford said, suggest that group is rapidly shrinking. Even the Daily Mail newspaper, which, under its former editor, Paul Dacre, pushed Brexit with unbridled ferocity and policed the political class for the slightest hint of apostasy, has softened under Mr. Dacres successor, Geordie Greig, offering lukewarm support for the prime minister. It was difficult to recall, in the gloom and resignation of this week, that Brexit had at one point made some people happy. ATHENS, Greece Nine men arrested in the beating death of an American student outside a bar in Greece in 2017 were cleared of murder but convicted of assault charges on Thursday. A court in Patra, in western Greece, reduced the charges to grievous assault, handing six men sentences ranging from five to 15 years in prison and freeing three others after convicting them of simple assault for the brutal attack on the student, Bakari Henderson, 22, in the summer of 2017 on the holiday island of Zakynthos. The verdict disappointed the parents of Mr. Henderson, who have said that they were hoping all the men would be sentenced to life in prison. The prosecution attorney, Andreas Patsis, said that the outcome had shattered the relatives and that they did not think justice had been done. The decision spurred Mr. Hendersons parents to warn other Americans against allowing their children to visit Greece. Europes leaders need to send a much stronger message that they will no longer offer refuge and support to migrants if they want to curb the right-wing populism spreading across the Continent, Hillary Clinton warned in an interview published Thursday. Mrs. Clinton said that while the decision of some nations to welcome migrants was admirable, it had opened the door to political turmoil, the rise of the right and Britains decision to withdraw from the European Union. I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame, Mrs. Clinton said in the interview with The Guardian, which was conducted before the United States midterm elections this month. I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like Angela Merkel, but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support because if we dont deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic, she said. ROME Italys famously Leaning Tower of Pisa is a little less off-kilter. Nearly two decades after engineers completed consolidation work to keep the tower from toppling over, officials monitoring the monument said recently that its famed tilt had been further reduced by 4 centimeters, or 1.5 inches. The tower is continuing to straighten, said Nunziante Squeglia, an engineering professor at the University of Pisa and a consultant to the committee that monitors the tower. The correction is the result of measures carried out just before the turn of this century to ensure that the tower would not collapse. We knew those measures would have protracted consequences, Professor Squeglia added, but engineers could not foresee that the tower would reverse its tilt, he said. LONDON The tents have become a familiar sight on the streets of London, popping up outside stores shuttered by a slowdown in trade or even below the plate-glass windows of high-end home improvement outlets. Small and flimsy, they offer some rudiment of shelter to the growing ranks of the homeless in a city that prides itself on the wealth of the banks and businesses that help make Britains economy the fifth largest in the world. According to research made public on Thursday by a nonprofit organization called Shelter, the number of homeless people in Britain is increasing steadily and has reached at least 320,000 across England and Wales an increase of 4 percent over the past year, despite a government drive announced in May supposed to keep people in their homes. The figure includes people in temporary accommodation or hostels; Shelter puts the number of rough sleepers, the British term for those forced to sleep in the streets, at 5,096. The lessons from last years tragic events must now result in real action, the committee said. Such is the scale of the challenge to fight terrorism, the authorities say, that 700 investigations are underway into some 3,000 suspects regarded as a serious threat, along with an additional 20,000 considered to be causing concern. The police and MI5 say that they have thwarted 13 plots since March 2017, but the parliamentary panel focused on five attacks last year that claimed the lives of 36 victims. The bloodiest of the attacks occurred on May 22, 2017, when Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old Briton of Libyan descent, blew himself up at a concert by Ariana Grande in the northwestern city of Manchester, killing 22 people, including several children. Mr. Abedi had been known to the authorities because he had visited a jailed extremist in prison and had traveled to Libya from 2011 onward, the report said. But in 2015, the authorities judged him as posing a low risk. One can easily imagine the terror, the fear and the horror that gripped the airplane passengers who were forced to make an emergency landing, some of whom were injured while evacuating the plane, the judge, Zvi Gurfinkel, wrote in his verdict, and the terrified panic caused when there was a need to evacuate pupils from schools because of fake bomb threats. A United States indictment has also been served against the hoaxer, who holds both Israeli and American citizenship, as the Justice Department has accused him of hate crimes. The teenager from southern Israel was legally a legal minor when he began his campaign of terror. He was convicted of the crimes committed after he turned 18, including extortion, making threats and false reports, conspiracy to commit a crime, and money laundering. Using sophisticated software to camouflage his voice and disguise his location, he offered his services to others on the dark net and traded in drugs, bomb-making guides and child pornography all from his bedroom in the fifth-floor apartment in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, where he lived with his parents, officials said. After months of an investigation by the cyberunit of the Israeli police, in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other foreign police and security agencies, the apartment, in an upscale neighborhood, was raided in March 2017, and officers arrested the teenager. WASHINGTON Before Saudi Arabias crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was implicated by the C.I.A. in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, American intelligence agencies were trying to solve a separate mystery: Was the prince laying the groundwork for building an atomic bomb? The 33-year-old heir to the Saudi throne had been overseeing a negotiation with the Energy Department and the State Department to get the United States to sell designs for nuclear power plants to the kingdom. The deal was worth upward of $80 billion, depending on how many plants Saudi Arabia decided to build. But there is a hitch: Saudi Arabia insists on producing its own nuclear fuel, even though it could buy it more cheaply abroad, according to American and Saudi officials familiar with the negotiations. That raised concerns in Washington that the Saudis could divert their fuel into a covert weapons project exactly what the United States and its allies feared Iran was doing before it reached the 2015 nuclear accord, which President Trump has since abandoned. Prince Mohammed set off alarms when he declared earlier this year, in the midst of the negotiation, that if Iran, Saudi Arabias fiercest rival, developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible. His negotiators stirred more worries by telling the Trump administration that Saudi Arabia would refuse to sign an agreement that would allow United Nations inspectors to look anywhere in the country for signs that the Saudis might be working on a bomb, American officials said. In an effort to spare her young daughter from being ostracized by other children for not having a father, a Japanese single mother made the controversial decision to hire an actor who has been posing as the girls father for the last 10 years. Megumi was only a baby when her parents separated and he father disappeared from her life. The mother, Asako, remembers that the girl started asking where her father was very early, but that her fathers absence didnt seem like a big deal until she was about 10-years-old. Thats when Asako noticed a change in her daughters behavior; she stopped talking to her, became withdrawn, and eventually stopped going to school. Her mother soon learned that she wasnt just blaming herself for her fathers absence, but she had also become a victim of bullying at school, as it often happens with children of single parents in Japan. Asako was heartbroken, and after appealing to Megumis teachers for help, she also decided to give her daughter the thing she wanted most, even if it meant lying to her. Photo: The Virtual Denise/Pixabay Asako had heard about people rental agencies that could send actors to play fake relatives, wedding guests and even romantic partners, for a fee, so she started flirting with the idea of renting someone to pose as Megumis estranged father. She auditioned five candidates and settled on Mr. Takashi, who she found to be easy to talk to and kind. He ran his own rental agency with a staff of around 20 and about 1,000 freelancers able to take on whatever role and personality the clients needs required. An actor by training, Takashi had already played boyfriends, businessmen, friends and fathers, and even a groom at several fake weddings, so posing as a girls father didnt seem that complicated at the time. He met with Asako several times to understand what was required of him and also studied several Hollywood films to prepare for his role. My requests were very simple, Asako told the BBC. Firstly, I wanted him to say how sorry he was that he couldnt be in Megumis life until then. Secondly, I wanted him to listen to whatever she wanted to tell him. Asako then told her daughter that her father had remarried and now had another family, but that he had recently contacted her because he wanted to meet Megumi. At first, the girl was shocked, but eventually she agreed to meet him. And thats how, 10 years ago, Mr. Takashi became Yamada, his longest-running and most controversial role. It was a very complex emotion that was there, Takashi recalls about his first meeting with Megumi. She asked me why I hadnt come to see her before, and I felt her resentment. The actor started seeing Asako and her daughter two times a month. He joined them on outings, trips to the cinema and birthday parties, and the mother recalls that it didnt take long for Megumis behavior to improve considerably. She was happier, more outgoing and talkative, and she even decided to go back to school. Thats when Asako knew that her deception had been worth it. Gradually she became happier and more confident, Takashi confirms. I used to meet her with Asako, the three of us together, but one day she said, I want to go out with my father, just the two of us, so I took her out and she held my hand for the first time. Hiring Takashi every month requires Asako to manage her finances carefully. Every time she requires his services, she has to pay around 10,000 Yen ($90), so she has to cut costs elsewhere in order to afford it. But remembering how unhappy her daughter was before her father came back into her life, she believes its money well spent. But money has never been the real problem with this bizarre arrangement. Its the emotional attachment and ethical implication of faking a relationship for over a decade that make this story controversial. For example, Mr. Takashi admits that his character, Yamada, and Megumi have become very close. They act like family and tell each other I love you, even though only one of them actually means it. Photo: Keelco23/Pixabay Switching personalities and identities is very important in this job, the actor said. But Im human, and so, of course, it would be a lie if I said I dont feel any emotional conflict saying, I love you, to that child. But this is a business, I have to do it, and I have to keep reminding myself of that. And although he is currently committed to his character, Takashi admits that the longer this role takes, the more complicated it will become. For example, if Megumi, who is now a young woman, marries and has children, he will have to take on the role of grandfather as well, and the stakes will get higher and higher. Things are complicated for Asako as well, as she admits that after 10 years of faking a relationship with Yamada, she has developed feelings for him. She even confessed her feelings to him, but had to face the reality that she was in love with someone who wasnt real. Takashi had to be very straightforward and tell the woman that he was only with them because he was being paid for it, and she had no choice but accept it. Im very aware that hes only with us because were paying him, Asako said. I sort of fantasise about our relationship, that maybe we can be a real family, but the relationship as it is actually helps me emotionally and mentally as well. It keeps me stable. And what if Megumis father shows up one day? Asako thinks that its very unlikely, seeing as he disappeared almost two decades ago and hasnt contacted them since, but if it does happen, she likes to thing that her daughter would choose the fake Yamada over the real one, as he was the one who actually acted as a father, even though he was being paid for it. Asako claims that ideally, Takashi will retain his role as Yamada indefinitely, that he will be present at her daughters wedding, then take on the role of grandfather. Even though she understands that many people probably disapprove of her choice to offer Megumi the illusions of having an ideal father she stands by her decision. I know some people think its foolish to pay money to lie to my own daughter and to have a pretend father, but I was desperate, she said. Anyone can understand that horrible feeling of desperation, to see your child so hurt. As for Takashi, he says that if Megumi was ever to find out the truth, he likes to think that he would thank him for being supportive, but he admits that there is a big chance she will be devastated by the revelation. This is one of the big issues of renting a family, the actor said. This story was originally published by the BBC. The names mentioned have been changed in order to protect the protagonists privacy and prevent Megumi from uncovering the truth before her mother is finally ready to reveal it. Offaly will once again have a connection on this year's Late Late Toy Show on RTE television on Friday next, November 30 when 9-year-old Cloghan girl Ava Maher performs on stage. Midland Drama school student Ava will be performing in this year's Late Late Toy Show and although her role in the show is top secret, according to RTE producers, we can reveal she is an all-singing, all-dancing student at the Kilcormac branch of the school. Midland Drama School Director Lorraine Wynne is extremely proud of young Ava who she describes as "a very talented and very unassuming" student. Ava attends the school for both drama and singing lessons for the past number of years, and just last Wednesday, Lorraine received a call from RTE Toy Show HQ. I was over the moon to receive the call from the toy show for another year. Ava is a wonderful performer, very talented. She will be performing during the opening part of the show in a popular act, and while we were asked by the Toy Show not to reveal all, it will be an act not to be missed," the school director told the Offaly Express. Ava will follow previous successes from Midland Drama School, Elles Divas, a girl band who opened the show in 2010, as well as numerous demonstrators and performers from the school's growing stable of budding stars over the years. Ava auditioned for the show at the recent Toy Show roadshow process which rolled into Tullamore's Bridge House Hotel in October. "The producers are mad about her," a proud Lorraine Wynne said as she said, "we can't wait to see Ava perform on the show and we wish her the best of luck." Ava has been rehearsing for the show at RTE on Sundays and will take part in final rehearsal this Sunday, November 25. She will also feature in RTE's Toy Show Unwrapped series which airs in the week leading up to the Toy Show itself on Friday, November 30. Ava was chosen as one of just five performers taking part in the show to feature on the preview series which has been a ratings hit in recent years. "It was really fun to film and lovely to be involved in," Lorraine Wynne said, "the film crew came to the drama school, Avas home and our studio to capture Ava in rehearsals." "So watch out for the Toy Show Unwrapped special on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on RTE in the week prior to the Toy Show," she added. You can see Ava's big appearance on RTE's Late Late Toy Show on Friday, November 30 on RTE One. The show regularly attracts a TV audience of one million in Ireland and around the world on the RTE Player. 50 per cent of ATMs may shut down by next year: Here is why India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Nov 22: Changes in regulatory landscape are making it unviable to operate ATMs, and may lead to the closure of half of the 2.38 lakh machines in the country by March 2019, the Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi) warned on Wednesday. Closure of the ATMs will impact thousands of jobs and also the financial inclusion efforts of the government, the industry body said in a statement. ATMs should not replenished with cash after 9 pm says govt "Service providers may be forced to close down almost 1.13 lakh ATMs across the country by March 2019. These numbers include approximately one lakh off-site ATMs and a little over 15,000 white label ATMs," it said. The industry has reached a "tipping point", the body added. A majority of the ATMs which can be shut down will be in the non-urban areas, it said, underlining that this can impact the financial inclusion efforts as beneficiaries use the machines to withdraw government subsidies. The industry body said that recent regulatory changes, including those on hardware and software upgrades, coupled with mandates on cash management standards and the cassette swap method of loading cash, will make ATM operations unviable, resulting in the closure. The new cash logistics and cassette swap method will alone result in costs of Rs 3,000 crore for the industry, it estimated. It added that the ATM industry, including managed service providers, brown-label ATM deployers and white label ATM operators (WLAO), is still reeling under the shock of demonetisation. "The situation has further deteriorated now due to the additional compliance requirements that call for a huge cost outlay. The service providers do not have the financial means to meet such massive costs and may be forced to shut down these ATMs," it said. The only way to salvage the situation for the industry, according to the body, is if banks "step in to bear the load of the additional cost of compliances". Govt, RBI admit cash crunch: Know reasons behind drying up of ATMs from a data cruncher "Unless ATM deployers are compensated by banks for making these investments, there is likely to be a scenario where contracts are surrendered, leading to large scale closure of ATMs," it said. Revenues for providing ATMs as a service are not growing at all due to very low ATM interchange charges and ever-increasing costs, it said, adding that such changes in the landscape were not anticipated while signing contracts with the banks. The WLAOs have accumulated losses and the compliance costs can result in over 15,000 machines run by them shutting down, the industry body added. Viral: Madhya Pradesh man claims buffalo refuses to be milked, goes to police Some clowns try to dishonour India, have support of Rahul, Sibal: Narottam Mishra Railways withdraws dress code for waiters on board Ramayan Express after objection from Ujjain seers MP liquor shops offer 10% discount for those taking second jab of COVID-19 7 school children, bus driver killed in accident in MP's Satna India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Satna, Nov 22: At least eight people, including seven children, were killed after a bus met with an accident in Madhya Pradesh's Satna on Thursday. According to police, at least eight others were injured in the accident and the students belonged to Lucky Convent School in Birsinghpur in Satna district. Communal clashes in Mirzapur, Kanpur ahead of VHP meet "As per reports, at least seven school children travelling in the school van and its driver were killed in the accident," Satna district police official Santosh Singh Gaur was quoted by PTI as saying. Senior police and government officials, including Collector Rahul Jain, have rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. (With PTI inputs) India's first canine training centre comes up at Attari; Dogs to be trained on narcotics detection Amritsar train accident: Negligence of people standing on tracks was reason for mishap' India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Nov 22: An enquiry by Indian Railways on Amritsar train accident, which left over 60 people dead on October 19, has found that negligence of persons standing on the tracks when trains hit them was the reason behind the accident. Two passenger trains crashed into a crowd of people in the eastern outskirts of Amritsar, Punjab, on 19 October 2018. The crowd had gathered to watch Dussehra celebrations and were standing on the tracks. At least 300 spectators were present at the Dhobi Ghat ground, barely 2 km from the Amritsar station, when the incident took place. Many of them stood on the tracks close to the Jaura Phatak crossing to get a better view and were taking videos of the burning Ravan as the first of the trains, 74643 Jalandhar-Amritsar DMU, ran them over. [Amritsar train accident: 61 dead as speeding train runs over crowd at Dussehra celebration] The second train, the 13006 Amritsar-Howrah Express, sped past seconds later and some of those who had jumped on the second set of tracks to escape the first were caught under it. Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS) has concluded in the inquiry that the reason for the accident is negligence of persons reportedly standing on and near the railway tracks witnessing Dusshera Mela at Dhobi Ghat, news agency ANI reported while quoting sources. CCRS also recommended that prior intimation to railway administration should be given by the district administration/organizers to hold big events like mela/rally so that railway can take proper precautions in consultation with stakeholders, the report further said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 18:17 [IST] BJP and Congress field SC/ST candidates on general seats to win over community votes India oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla New Delhi, Nov 22: Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have fielded candidates belonging to SC/ST communities on general seats in their efforts to manage different castes by their own attempt of new kind of social engineering. Both the political parties have fielded people belonging to reserve categories on unreserved seats. The reason behind this decision is to win over majority caste votes of the respective community. However, people of general category expecting tickets from these constituencies are definitely disappointed. Despite anger of general category people over SC/ST Act, both the parties have not shied away from playing this game. Political parties always have pressure to give representation to every section of people. From Mahua Assembly constituency in Dausa district, the BJP denied ticket to sitting MLA to replace him with a ST candidate. The Congress has also changed its candidate. Ajay Bohra is the Congress candidate from this constituency. [BJP MP joins Congress weeks before Rajasthan elections] The Congress has announced Murari Lal Meena as its candidate from Dausa who had lost 2013 elections. Dausa is a general seat. Murari Lal Meena has won 2008 election as the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from Dausa. The BJP has fielded Asha Meena from Sawai Madhopur which is a general seat while Danish Abrar is in the fray once again. From Jahazpur Assembly constituency of Bhilwara district, the BJP has fielded a new face as Gopichand Meena. The Congress has its sitting MLA Dheeraj Gurjar from this seat. Both of them are against each for the first time. The Congress has fielded Ruparam from Jaisalmer. The BJP has fielded Sanga Singh Bhati against him while from Pipalda Assembly constituency of Kota district Ram Narayan Meena has been made the candidate against whom BJP's Mamta Sharma is contesting. Kailash Meena of the Congress is contesting from the Manohar Thana seat of Jhalawad district where BJP's Govind Ranipuria is in the fray. BJP's shameless power play in J&K recipe for disaster, says Kapil Sibal India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Nov 22: After Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Congress and National Conference (NC) announced their decision to stake claim to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the alliance saying it is a combination of "terror-friendly parties". Hitting back at BJP, Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Thursday said that Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) "shameless power play" in Jammu and Kashmir is a "recipe for disaster." Sibal said,''I can see Satyapal ji is fighting a battle of 'Satya'. He did not see and understand battle on the ground. If according to BPJ, J&K PDP was a terror-friendly party then why did they form a government with them?'' Governor dissolves J&K assembly after Mehbooba stakes claim to form govt Taking to Twitter, Sibal said,''When a Governor brazenly plays politics under instructions ' Satya ' becomes a pawn in the hands of ' Asatya ' . BJP's shameless power play in J&K recipe for disaster .'' The Jammu and Kashmir assembly was abruptly dissolved by the Governor on Wednesday night hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. How a fax machine added to the drama in Jammu and Kashmir The dissolution was announced by Governor Satyapal Malik in a communique released by the Raj Bhavan. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 11:15 [IST] Vijay Mallya has applied for another route to stay in the UK, says lawyer 'Incredible': Vijay Mallya goes on Twitter rant after being declared bankrupt Bombay HC dismisses Vijay Mallya's plea seeking stay on EDs request to declare him fugitive India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Mumbai, Nov 22: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed liquor baron Vijay Mallya's appeal for a stay on proceedings under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. "Bombay HC dismisses Vijay Mallya's appeal where he pleaded for stay on proceedings under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, on pretext that Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange had ordered status quo in r/o attachments in PMLA case against him while adjudicating SBI's plea". The investigating agency probing financial crime wants Mallya to be declared as a fugitive economic offender and his properties to be confiscated under the new law in connection with a Rs 9,000 crore alleged bank fraud case and sought orders to confiscate all his properties, estimated to be around Rs12,500 crore. Setback for Mallya in case to save plush London home Mallya had filed an application in the lower court seeking a stay on the hearing on the ED's plea till November 26 when the appellate tribunal functioning under the PMLA would hear matters filed by a consortium of banks seeking their dues back. The special court had on October 30 rejected Mallya's application, following which the liquor baron had approached the high court. Mallya's counsel Amit Desai Thursday told a division bench of Justices R M Savant and V K Jadhav that his pleas should not be misunderstood as a ploy to run away from the proceedings. (With PTI inputs) For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 16:41 [IST] Cabinet approves Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, to ask Pakistan to cooperate India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P New Delhi, Nov 22: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved Kartarpur Sahib Corridor a day before Guru Nanak Jayanti. The Centre will take up the matter with Pakistan to allow pilgrims. Home Minister Rajnath Singh confirmed Cabinet approval on Kartarpur Sahib Corridor on Twitter. Rajnath Singh said Government will take up the matter with Pakistan to allow pilgrims. After the Cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, said, "We decided in the cabinet meeting today that we will build the Kartarpur corridor till the international border. All sorts of modern technology will be used to build this corridor." Communal clashes in Mirzapur, Kanpur ahead of VHP meet Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur is 120 km from Lahore. It is built on the historic site where Guru Nanak settled and assembled a Sikh community after his missionary travels. The present gurdwara is built on the site where Guru Nanak died, on 22 September 1539. The gurdwara is also notable for its location near the border between Pakistan and India. The shrine is visible from the Indian side of the border as Pakistani authorities generally trim the tall Elephant grass that would otherwise obstruct the view. Indian Sikhs gather in large numbers on bluffs to perform darshan, or sacred viewing of the site, from the Indian side of the border. Gurdwara Parbandhak Board J & K State Gurdwara Parbandhak Board officials hand over passports to Sikh devotees after they got visa to visit Pakistan for celebrating the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji in Jammu, Tuesday, Nov 20, 2018. Members of Sikh Jatha Members of Sikh Jatha leave for Pakistan on a special train to celebrate the 550th birthday anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith, being held from November 21 to November 30 in Pakistan, from Attari Railway Station in Attari, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. A Sikh Jatha of about 3800 pilgrims is on their way to Pakistan to celebrate the birthday of Guru Nanak Devji, and pay obeisance at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib. Attari Railway Station Members of Sikh Jatha leave for Pakistan on a special train to celebrate the 550th birthday anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith, being held from November 21 to November 30 in Pakistan, from Attari Railway Station in Attari, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Special train Sikh pilgrims wave from a special train as they leave for Pakistan from Attari Railway Station, Wednesday, Nov 21, 2018, to visit Nankana Sahib for celebrating 550th birthday anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji. Photo Courtesy: PTI Photos Uttar Pradesh to soon have 5 international airports, highest for any state UP CM warns Owaisi: Followers of 'abba jaan', don't try to inflame passions over CAA Communal clashes in Mirzapur, Kanpur ahead of VHP meet India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Kanpur, Nov 22: Ahead of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's meeting in Ayodhya for construction of a Ram temple communal clashes broke out in two districts of Uttar Pradesh, Mirzapur and Kanpur. The festival of Milad-un-Nabi on Wednesday was marked by communal clashes in the two districts. The clash occurred between VHP activists and Milad-un-Nabi revellers. Prohibitory orders have been imposed in Mirzapur for over 24 hours. No serious injuries were, however, reported. Babri petitioner says, he doesn't have objection over bill in Parliament for Ram temple A day after the clash in Mirzapur , a religious procession by the minority community was disrupted in Kanpur, leading to communal tension in the area on Wednesday. According to The Hindu, about four people reportedly received minor injuries after two communities clashed with each other during a procession on the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad. The situation was brought under control on police intervention. Several companies of PAC and a company of the RAF have been deployed in the area to maintain peace. VHP procession Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists participate in a procession rally to make a call for their November 25 Vishal Dharm Sabha at Ayodhya, in Mirzapur, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. Police patrol in Mirzapur Police personnel patrol a street after clashes between two groups during Vishwa Hindu Parishad procession rally to make a call for their November 25 Vishal Dharm Sabha at Ayodhya, in Mirzapur, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. Police patrol in Mirzapur Police personnel conduct a march in a street where a clash broke out between two groups on Tuesday night during a Vishwa Hindu Parishad's procession, in Mirzapur, Wednesday, Nov 21, 2018. Vishal Dharm Sabha in Ayodhya The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has said that it planned to enroll 25,000 fresh Bajrang Dal "sainiks" as volunteers and also impart training in tridents to some of them. Volunteers of Vishwa Hindu Parishad stage a motor bike railly to make a call for their November 25 Vishal Dharm Sabha at Ayodhya, in Lucknow, Sunday, Nov 18, 2018. (PTI Photo/Nand Kumar) For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 10:11 [IST] Congress waters down the attack made by Akhilesh saying it wont impact future alliance India oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla New Delhi, Nov 22: The Congress is still hopeful of alliance with the Samajwadi Party in 2019 Lok Sabha elections despite the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav making scathing attack on the grand old party in Madhya Paradesh and Rajasthan. The future of the government majorly depends on how alliance shapes up in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress is of the view that the attack made by Akhilesh on the Congress is compulsion of his party looking at the ongoing elections in some states but this won't affect their future alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress does not want to make it an issue that might harm the possibility of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party alliance in UP. BJP's shameless power play in J&K recipe for disaster, says Kapil Sibal The Samajwadi Party has taken on the Congress for its reluctance for alliance with the SP and the BSP in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The Samajwadi Party chief indicated that the party won't hesitate to part ways with such parties thata want to come to the way of the Samajwadi Party. Mayawati also accused the Congress of scuttling the alliance. However, after Kairana Lok Sabha elections talks started doing rounds that the SP, the BSP and the Congress may join hands in these three states. Sources informed that several rounds of talks had happened between these leaders but due to failing to reach any common ground on number of seats the alliance could not have materialized. Angry on this attitude of the Congress, the BSP has joined hands with Ajit Jogi's party and Samajwadi Party entered into alliance with the Gondawana Gantantra Party. Akhilesh is attacking the Congress in these states on the working style of the Congress. Congress embarrassed and speechless with Kamal Nath's video going viral on Muslims But the Congress is saying that the demand for seats by the SP and the BSP was way beyond the political base of these parties. So the alliance could not be materialized. The Congress feels that after the positive results of Assembly elections from these states, the attitude of alliance partners towards the Congress will change moreover the BJP was attacking the very existence of these political parties. The Congress is of the view that statement made by Akhilesh Yadav must not be looked beyond Assembly election in five states. It will not have its negative impact on the alliance for the Lok Sabha elections. The SP is contesting elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhatishgarh so he has every right to say what he wants. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 12:23 [IST] Nothing much EC can do on one nation one poll: Arora Bihar assembly elections 2020: Heres how you can cast your vote using the EVM and VVPAT EVMs will stay as SC rejects plea to conduct polls with ballot papers India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Nov 22: The Supreme Court has rejected a plea to hold elections through ballot papers and not EVMs. The petitioner sought a directive to the Election Commission of India to hold elections to both the assembly and Lok Sabha elections using the ballot papers and not the Electronic Voting Machines. What is an EVM? How does it work? All you need to know The Bench then asked the petitioner, " would there be no problem is ballot papers are employed for voting? Every machine and system can be tampered with because they are manned by human beings, the Bench also said. The petitioners had contended that the ballot system is more transparent, while the EVMs can be tampered with. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 11:27 [IST] 'Gujarat model of democracy' appealed J&K Governor, says Chidambaram India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P New Delhi, Nov 22: Former Union Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday took a dig at the BJP for dissolving Jammu and Kashmir assembly which was under suspension. Mocking the political development in J&K, Chidambaram said, "Parliamentary democracy standing on its head!" Governor dissolves J&K assembly after Mehbooba stakes claim to form govt He said, " As long as no one staked a claim to form government, J&K Governor was happy to keep Assembly under suspension. The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly! Parliamentary democracy standing on its head!." Taking a potshot at the Centre, he said, "The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K Governor." After dissolving the assembly, Governor Satyapal Malik said he decided to dissolve the assembly due to "the impossibility of forming a stable government by the coming together of political parties with opposing political ideologies" and "reports of extensive horse-trading and possible exchange of money in order to secure the support of legislators". Anything can happen in J&K: Never thought would re-tweet anything you say, Omar tells Mehbooba Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti had tweeted her letter to the Governor claiming the support of 56 lawmakers, including 12 from the Congress and 15 from Omar Abdullah's National Conference. That placed her alliance comfortably ahead of the majority mark of 44 in the 87-member assembly. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 10:40 [IST] Right to be forgotten: HC asks Centre, Google to reply to plea for removing verdict from search engine Delhi HC asks Centre, Google to respond to mans plea to remove articles on his conviction in criminal case Who is Saurabh Kirpal? Indias likely to get its first openly gay judge of Delhi high court Hashimpura massacre case: 4 UPPAC jawans surrender before Delhi's Tis Hazari Court India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P New Delhi, Nov 22: Four out of 16 jawans of Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (UPPAC) have surrendered before Delhi's Tis Hazari Court in connection with 1987 Hashimpura mass murders case. The four will be sent to Tihar jail. The Court has issued non-bailable warrant against rest of the jawans. In October, the Delhi High Court set aside the trial court judgment that had acquitted 16 Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) officials. The High Court convicted all the accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The High Court convicted the group for murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under Indian Penal Code (IPC). Meanwhile, all the 16 convicts have retired from their services. Tis Hazari Court, Delhi on 21 March 2015 had acquitted all 16 of the accused in the Hashimpura massacre case of 1987, due to insufficient evidence. The Court emphasized that the survivors could not recognize any of the accused PAC personnel. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 17:18 [IST] India gives nod to Kartarpur Sahib Corridor construction: Whats it about? India oi-Shubham Ghosh New Delhi, Nov 22: A year before Guru Nanak Dev's 550th birth anniversary, the Centre has given the nod for the development of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district till the location of the Sikh pilgrimage site located in Pakistan. The announcement was made Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here on Thursday, November 22. Jaitley said the government wants to celebrate the anniversary in a special way and that the corridor will be built with facilities similar to an international airport. India would also seek Pakistan's cooperation in making the project a reality. Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu landed in a controversy in August during his visit to Pakistan to attend the swearing-in of Imran Khan as the country's prime minister. He gesture of hugging Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was criticised back home and Sidhu had defended his act saying that the army general had informed him about Pakistan's plan of opening a a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib in its Narowal district on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak next year. The gurdwara is at the site of the final resting place of the first Sikh Guru. The shrine: The shrine is located on the bank of River Ravi and is around 120 kilometres northeast of Lahore. Guru Nanak had lived here for 18 years till his death in 1539. The shrine is visible from the Indian side and a number of Indian Sikhs gather to get a view of the pilgrimage site. Binoculars are also installed at Gurudwara Dera Baba Nanak for viewing the sacred place. Cabinet approves Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, to ask Pakistan to cooperate The gurudwara was opened for pilgrims' sighting after it was repaired and restored in 1999. One of the positive outcomes of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's bus diplomacy with Pakistan the same year was this. There are no restrictions on visiting Kartarpur Sahib once a pilgrim has visited Pakistan on a valid visa. Sikh jathas travel from India to Pakistan on three occasions every year besides the birthday of Guru Nanak and they are -- Baisakhi, the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev and the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Indian pilgrims are given access to all gurdwaras by the Pakistani authorities. Demand for the corridor: The demand for the corridor to facilitate the pilgrims' arrival to the shrine has been a long one. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and political leaders have been demanding the pathway bordered by barbed wire to allow the pilgrims to enter Pakistan and visit the shrine and return the same day. For the purpose, a bridge has to be constructed over the river. Last year, a parliamentary standing committee visited Dera Baba Nanak. The concern The concern in the issue has been security. The corridor, once made, could also facilitate anti-India elements in Pakistan and enable them to enter the country easily. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 16:06 [IST] Pakistan to allow India to send wheat to Afghanistan through its territory: PM Imran Khan India lost 400 paramilitary men in action between 2015-17 India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Nov 22: Nearly 400 paramilitary personnel were killed in firing from across the border with Pakistan and in terrorist and insurgency violence in the country in the last three years, officials said on Wednesday. The highest number of personnel killed was from the Border Security Force (BSF). It lost 167 persons between 2015 and 2017. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) lost 103 personnel, mostly while fighting Naxalites and militants in Jammu and Kashmir, a Home Ministry official said. Chhattisgarh polls: 150 paramilitary companies to reach state soon While the BSF lost 62 personnel in 2015, 58 in 2016 and 47 in 2017, the CRPF lost nine personnel in 2015, 42 in 2016 and 52 in 2017. As many as 48 personnel of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) were killed in action in the last three years of whom 16 were killed in 2015, 15 in 2016 and 17 in 2017, the official said. The SSB guards the Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Nepal border. The force is also deployed in internal security duties. A total of 40 personnel belonging to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were killed in action in the period. Among them, 15 were killed in 2015, 10 in 2016 and 15 in 2017. Altogether 35 personnel of the Assam Rifles, which guards the India-Myanmar border and fights militants in the Northeast, were killed in action in the last three years. Eighteen personnel of the Assam Rifles were killed in 2015, nine in 2016 and eight in 2017. Iraqi troops, paramilitary forces entirely encircle Mosul The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has lost two personnel in action in the last three years - one each in 2016 and 2017. There were no casualties in 2015 from the CISF, which guards, airports, nuclear installations, metro services and other sensitive locations, another official said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 6:09 [IST] Sabarimala temple in Kerala to open for monthly rituals from July 16; Conditions apply for devotees How to Book Sabarimala Virtual Q Tickets Online 2021? Know Date, Price and Other Details What is Sabarimala Thantri's view over use of halal jaggery to prepare prasadam: plea in Kerala HC Inflow of pilgrims yet to pick up at the Sabarimala Temple India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Sabarimala, Nov 22: The number of pilgrim has been decreasing at Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala. the restrictions imposed by the police on the pilgrim movement at the Valiya Nadapandal, where pilgrims used to rest earlier, continued on Wednesday too. The hill shrine was opened on November 16 evening for the over two-month-long pilgrimage season amid heavy security and protests. On the fifth day of the annual pilgrim season on Wednesday, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan and Kerala police were engaged in brief war of words. Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, on his way to the Sabarimala Temple, argued with the police in Nilackal over restrictions on private vehicles heading to Pamba, the last entry point to the Lord Ayyappa shrine. Though IPS officer Yatish Chandra said the minister could travel in his official vehicle, the minister preferred to proceed to Pamba from here in a state-run KSRTC bus as a mark of protest against the restrictions imposed by state authorities causing difficulties to pilgrims. Ayyappa shrine A policeman helps a girl to climb up the 18 sacred steps to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine, in Sabarimala, Wednesday, Nov 21, 2018. (PTI Photo) Sabarimala row: BJP leader K Surendran who was taken into custody, granted bail Policemen help devotees Policemen helps the devotees to climb up the 18 sacred steps for offering prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine, in Sabarimala, Wednesday, Nov 21, 2018. (PTI Photo) Pon Radhakrishnan at Pamba Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan at Pamba, the last entry point to the Lord Ayyappa shrine, on Wednesday, Nov 21, 2018. (PTI Photo) Ayyappa Temple Police personnel stand guard at Lord Ayyappa Temple, in Sabarimala, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. (PTI Photo) For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 12:31 [IST] 'Instructions from across the border to form govt,' says Ram Madhav India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P New Delhi, Nov 22: BJP leader Ram Madhav in scathing attack against PDP, Congress and NC alliance alleged that the political parties came together to form government 'on instructions from across the border'. 'Gujarat model of democracy' appealed J&K Governor, says Chidambaram Responding to J&K Governor's decision to dissolve the assembly, Ram Madhav said, "Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form the government. What they did prompt Governor to look into the whole issue." Asked about why Governor's fax machine was not working, he said, "Only Governor can answer why Governor home's fax is not working. Only he should answer." He further said that this is a lame excuse on the part of Madam Mehbooba. Anything can happen in J&K: Never thought would re-tweet anything you say, Omar tells Mehbooba "In the letter, she never claimed that she will form the government, she said I'll come and see you and stake the claim. It was all a drama, " he added. SC refuses to postpone Tripura municipal elections: 'If we do it then it will set a wrong precedent' This is the national capital, what message are we sending: SC on Delhi air pollution Is UIDAI snooping? Give us proof in two weeks, SC tells TMC MLA India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Nov 22: The Supreme Court has directed TMC, MLA, Mahua Moutra to show in two weeks what material she had to fear surveillance by the UIDAI. She had challenged the UIDAI's proposal to create social media apparatus while alleging that it was aimed at launching surveillance on citizens. The court asked her to show in two weeks the material she had to fear such surveillance. Misplaced machismo says Supreme Court while letting off Manoj Tiwari in contempt case Moitra had alleged that the move of hiring a social media monitoring agency was aimed at "mounting surveillance on social media platforms". Her plea said the UIDAI, as per its bid document, was seeking to hire a social media agency that will employ 'online reputation management' and 'social listening' tools to monitor and influence conversations related to Aadhaar on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. "Such action of the government violates her right of privacy. The scope of work of the Social Media Agency intended to be selected through the impugned request for proposal (RFP) is in the teeth of the judgment laid down by this court in KS Puttaswamy case, wherein a bench of nine judges of this court recognised privacy as a fundamental right under the Constitution," the plea said. CBI vs CBI: Alok Verma's junior counsel withdraws from case The petition claimed that the aim of employing a "Social Listening Tool" by the UIDAI's social media agency in accordance with the RFP, on the pretext of raising awareness about Aadhaar, was nothing but an attempt to "overreach the jurisdiction" of the apex court. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 11:15 [IST] It is the government that has to take a call on Ram Temple issue, says Kalraj Mishra India oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla New Delhi, Nov 22: Former Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kalraj Mishra spoke to Oneindia on different issues prevailing in the country including the most vexed Ram Temple and Rafe fighter jet deal issues. Excerpts of the interview: Q. Saints and Hindu religious leaders are agitated over the delay in the issue of Ram Temple. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat too said that ordinance must be brought to make the way for the construction of Ram Temple. What do you have to say? A. Besides saints and religious leaders, our commitment has always been that the matter should either be sorted out by decision of the court or by consensus or by making law in Parliament. We have been waiting all these years for the decision of the court. However, a court had already once ruled that sanctum sanctorum belonged to Lord Ram. So it is decided once but somehow the matter is again in the court. Day to day hearing was supposed to take place but that is not happening and the matter is delayed. So it it very natural that people are getting agitated still sages and saints and even RSS chief in conformity with the announcements made by us through our manifestos that constitutional provisions for the temple should be made. So Bhagwat ji said that the government must brought about ordinance on this issue or bill should be passed for the construction of Ram Temple. We always talked about court decisions, consensus among different parties and law from Parliament but when things are not moving at all then it has been said that unnecessary delay is not proper. Therefore the government should make law on Ram Temple and construction of Ram Temple should be started. But everything depends upon the government what decision it takes. Q. The matter is pending in the court from past 50-60 years. How long the matter should remain pending as people don't want to give the government any more time. Will it become an issue in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections? A. It was hoped that court ruling will come very soon but it is delayed. Therefore RSS chief, saints and sages asked the government to bring in ordinance and whenever Parliament is in session, the law should be passed. Now, the government has to take a call on it as it too is contemplating the issue but everything will depend on the government's decision. [Some lessons to learn for youth leaders from senior leaders at Hyderabad convention] Q. You have been associated with the RSS, Jan Sangh and the BJP, do you feel that the RSS puts pressure on the BJP? A. I worked with all these organisations but I never felt that there was any interference from the RSS. The RSS never forced the BJP to do something. RSS always gives its suggestion if its feels like. But if anything has to be done it is either the party or the government that makes planning and strategy. Q. You have resigned from the Union government, how do you see yourself in the present scenario? A. It was an unannounced message that people beyond 75 years of age must not remain in the government. It was in the newspaper and other media platforms and even my name was being taken and my name was being discussed in newspapers so I myself requested the Prime Minister that I also fall in the same category and if you are hesitating in taking decision, let me say I am ready to resign. I resigned from the ministry. I am healthy and working hard in my constituency. Q. So you will contest 2019 Lok Sabha election? A. See I can't say anything on this. Let the leadership take a call on it. It is incorrect to say anything on the issue which is under the purview of the party. Q. Do you feel 2019 Lok Sabha election as a big challenge for the party? A. Every election is a challenge and no battle should be fought considering easy even if you are very capable. The BJP takes every election like that only. There is faith and commitment of people in the government and the PM so we will get the majority in 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well. ]" title="[Ram Temple ordinance could be hindered by these three SC verdicts]" />[Ram Temple ordinance could be hindered by these three SC verdicts] Q. But Modi magic seems to be fading due to anti-incumbency! A. The personality of the PM is such that not only in India but also around the world there is his acceptance irrespective of the people's faith and beliefs. People think about him and compare him with others but in the eyes of people, no one is there in the country of his stature and caliber at the movement. So what I feel that the same kind environment will emerge as it was in 2014 under the leadership of the PM but even it could be better at some places. Q. If Mahagathbandhan is formed in the country then... A. Mahagathbandhan is not being formed to win elections but to save the very existence of these smaller organisations. They think that with the help of some kind of alliance, they might get some seats so they are entering into alliance. Alliance for making government is one thing but people know that they won't be able to withstand Modi magic so they are aligning to save their existence. People understand their motive, so why would they vote for them. Q. What is the organizational structure and strength at the moment? A. Our committee up to booth level is active and organization is strengthened so not only leadership of the PM and national president Amit Shah but our organization too is very strong. Q. BJP lost Phoolpur, Gorakhpur and Kairana by-elections of Lok Sabha. What do you have to say? A. By-elections must not be compared with the general elections. Many other factors work in by-elections as individual negativity too works a lot. This has been the case in all three seats and also in Noorpur so we lost in by-elections. People vote in general election for the central government but in by-election thought process is different as if one person doesn't reach Delhi it will not harm prospect of the government. Q. Alliance of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party may harm you in UP. How much loss do you anticipate? A. They all are trying to save themselves how could they harm the BJP. People will answer them the way they were answered in 2017 Assembly elections. The Congress and SP fought together in 2017. Q. The Modi government is in dock on the issue of Rafale deal, being a senior party leader what do you have to say? A. Who is alleging? Such people are alleging who have always been involved in corruption, allegations are made by people who has been dealing for corruption. People involved in deals and corruption feels everyone involved in it. The agreement is done between the two governments and the entire procedure was followed then how can one accept corruption was done. There is no corruption in it and details have already been handed over to the Supreme Court. Q. Elections processes are on in five state, what is the position of the BJP where it is seeking repeat mandate? A. We are fighting elections to make government. I am hopeful that our governments will be formed in these states. There might be some anti-incumbency but I cannot give my assessment right away. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 19:11 [IST] Hyderpora encounter: Bodies of two civilians exhumed, to be handed over to families J&K Governor turned out to be Centre's slave: Farooq Abdullah India oi-Vikas SV Srinagar, Nov 22: The political blame game in Jammu and Kashmir continued on Thursday over the dissolution of state assembly with NC patriarch Farooq Abdullah now accusing Governor Satya Pal Malik of being a "slave of the Centre". The Governor's surprise move yesterday to dissolve the assembly came hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress. This was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. "I had a lot of hopes from this Governor, but this is very sad. He has turned out to be another slave of the Centre. The post of Governor needs to be looked into. Why did he wait 5 months to dissolve assembly?" Farooq Abdullah told the media today (November 22). "When PDP was in alliance with BJP then it was not 'terror-friendly?' It has become 'terror-friendly' when it talked of alliance with NC and Congress?," he added. [J&K: The need of the hour is a supportive environment for security forces] In a late night communique, the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik said that the assembly was being dissolved. While this move has come in for criticism as the PDP with outside support had staked a claim, the Governor cited a couple of reasons for the decision. Extensive horse trading and the possible exchange of money was one of the main reasons why Malik decided to dissolve the assembly. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 20:41 [IST] Sense of desperation: Why are terrorists choosing soft targets in Jammu and Kashmir Security review in J&K is message to Pak not to use Taliban win in Kashmir J&K: Civilian injured after exchange of fire between security forces, terrorists in Kulgam district India oi-Madhuri Adnal Jammu, Nov 22: One civilian was injured during an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists on Thursday. The exchange of fire ensued after terrorists fired upon a camp in Khudwani area of Kulgam. The injured has been admitted to hospital. Security forces have cordoned the area. The injured civilian has been identified as Muskaan Jan of Wanigund, who suffered a bullet injury during the firing incident. She was immediately rushed to a hospital in Qaimoh for treatment. J&K: 4 terrorists killed, para commando martyred in Shopian encounter Reports quoting SSP Kulgam Harmeet Singh said that the area was cordoned off by the forces to nab the militants. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 10:15 [IST] In UP, Nadda explains all the good PM has done for farmers Mizoram elections 2018: Modi to address three rallies today India oi-Madhuri Adnal Aizawl, Nov 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday visit the poll-bound state of Mizoram where he is scheduled to address three public rallies in Aizawl, Lunglei and Serchhip. This is the first visit of the prime minister to the state this year. Mizoram has total 7.68 lakh registered voters - 3.74 lakh are men and 3.93 lakh are women. The 40-member legislative assembly in Mizoram goes to polls on November 28 and the results will be declared on December 11 along with those of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Mizoram elections: Why are political parties reluctant to field women candidates? BJP has declared list of 37 candidates out of 40 assembly constituencies. List of candidates for three seats is expected to be declared soon. The Congress has been in power in Mizoram since 2008 and is eyeing the third consecutive term. In 2013 Assembly elections, the Congress won 34 seats, while the MNF had five and Mizoram People's Conference bagged one. Interview: People of Mizoram want change, says state BJP chief JV Hluna Earlier, Modi had visited the state in December last year and dedicated 60 Mega-Watt Tuirial Hydro-power Project to the nation. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 9:08 [IST] Muzaffarpur shelter home case: Manju Verma sent to 1 day police remand India oi-Madhuri Adnal Patna, Nov 22: Former Bihar minister Manju Verma, who had been evading arrest in an Arms Act case, surrendered on Tuesday before a local court that sent her to judicial custody till December 1. Verma, who stepped down as the state's social welfare minister following allegations of close links between her husband and Brajesh Thakur - the prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case - was reportedly hiding at the residence of her husband's relative in Naulakha village, just five km from the Manjhaul Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court where she surrendered. Her husband, Chandra Shekhar Verma, had surrendered before the court on October 29. Muzaffarpur shelter home case: Manju Verma sent to 14-days judicial custody The Supreme Court on Monday (November 12) rapped the two top most officials of Bihar asking why a former minister linked to the probe could not be traced. The top court also summoned the Director General of Bihar Police to appear before it on November 27 if the police fails to arrest Manju Verma by then. The Bihar government on October 31 told the Supreme Court that Manju Verma had gone missing. Chandrashekhar Verma, the husband of Manju Verma, had last month surrendered before the District Court Manjhaul in connection with Muzaffarpur shelter home case. A team of CBI, investigating the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case, had raided the former minister's house in Patna and Begusarai simultaneously on August 17 and recovered a huge cache of ammunition. Tremendous efforts made to catch absconding former minister: Bihar DGP Manju Verma had resigned as the Social Welfare Minister in the Bihar government in the wake of Muzaffarpur case, where several women at a shelter home were allegedly raped and sexually abused, after it came to light that her husband Chandrashekhar Verma had spoken to prime accused Brajesh Thakur several times between January and June this year. Chandrashekhar Verma was the owner of the home. The alleged sexual exploitation of the girls was first highlighted in an audit report submitted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to the state's social welfare department. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 15:56 [IST] Not just Pakistan, even Malaysia, Italy have contributed to revival of terror in Punjab India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Nov 22: The recent attack in Amritsar and the subsequent investigations have brought up the name of a dreaded outfit called the Khalistan Liberation Force. The banned outfit is said to be behind the incident in which three persons died, Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh said. The KLF which was formed in the 1980s at the peak of Punjab terrorism had almost faded out, following the massive crackdown by K P S Gill and his men. However with the ISI giving most of the top militants from Punjab in Pakistan, there was a plan afloat for long to revive terrorism in Punjab. The National Investigation Agency, which has probed into the activities of the KLF says that its members had made several trips to Malaysia and planned the revival. In its chargesheet, it has named several KLF operatives including NRIs and British national Jagtar Singh for conspiring to carry out attacks in India. How ISI is using troubled Sikh-Nirankari relations to foment trouble in Punjab The outfit is currently headed by Harmeet Singh. A resident of Amritsar, he has been residing at Gurdwara Bibi Nanki in Lahore since 2008. The NIA probe found that he had been in touch with an Italy based shooter, Hardeep Singh. Following this the plan to murder RSS leaders was hatched. The NIA learnt that there were 8 such incidents, which included murder and attempt to murder. The NIA also speaks about a meeting that took place in Malaysia. Sandeep Singh of the KLF had visited Malaysia and met with Harminder Singh Mintoo, who was in turn told to go to India and carry out attacks. Mintoo was arrested in 2014 at Thailand and then deported to India. He later died of cardiac arrest in the Punjab Central Jail. Khalistan: Babbar Khalsa, Lashkar share common office outside Nankana Sahib NIA officials tell OneIndia that the KLF has its sympathisers across the world. They are mainly found in Canada, Italy, Malaysia and the UK. They are drumming up support from various quarters in a bid to make their claim for a separate Khalistan legitimate. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 15:47 [IST] How India will monitor its border with Pakistan with this exclusive satellite Now, ISRO plans for mission to Venus in 2023, invites foreign experiments India oi-Madhuri Adnal Bengaluru, Nov 22: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru will send an orbiter to Venus in 2023 and has invited scientists from around the world to submit proposals for instruments to carry along. The mission would be ISRO's first to Venus, modified and upgraded from early sketches made after the agency's success with the Mangalyaan Mars mission that was launched in November 2013. After GSAT-29, ISRO aims high with plan to launch 22 missions in 2019 The orbiter will study the planet between 500 kilometres to 60,000 kilometres from the surface in an elliptical orbit around the planet - similar to the Mangalyaan mission. ISRO has opened up ideas for the mission's experiments to other space agencies, universities and researchers from around the world. The mission will carry the shortlisted experiments to Venus's orbit in mid-2023. Why GSLV Mk-III launch is key to Gaganyan mission? Like Earth, Venus is some 4.5 billion years old; the planets are of similar size and mass. But Venus has witnessed a runaway greenhouse phenomenon, leading to a dense, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere that may offer scientists clues about the development of Earth's atmosphere. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 15:19 [IST] NSA Ajit Doval to attend Indo-China SR level talks on Nov 23 India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Nov 22: The 21st Special Representative talks between National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval and state councillor and Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi will take place in Chengdu, Sichuan province on November 23 and 24. The talks comes ahead of the meeting between Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. CBI war gets murkier as host of top officials including NSA are dragged into the mess Foreign ministry spokesperson, Geng Shuang said that the two sides attach great importance to the talks. The two special representatives will have an in-depth exchange of views on border related issues. They will follow the guidance of the consensus reached by the two leaders bearing in mind the general picture of bilateral ties and benefits of the two peoples on the basis of the outcomes that have been achieved to actively promote the negotiations. At the same time, will promptly manage differences and uphold the peace and tranquillity of the border areas, Shuang also said. This would be the first meeting after Wang Yi took over as special representative. The 20th SR talks took place in Delhi in 2017, when Yang Jeichi was the special representative. The talks had taken place under the shadow of the Doklam crisis. These talks are a mechanism that came into existence in 2003 and takes place alternatively between India and China. India needs strong, stable, decisive govt for the next 10 yrs: Doval Shaung added that under the strategic guidance of the two leaders, China and India relations have maintained sound growth with ever deepening exchanges and cooperation in all areas. The two sides have maintained close communication and correlation in border related affairs. The border areas on the whole maintained stability, he also said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 6:24 [IST] RSS wants its workers to reach Ayodhya to make event of November 25 a success India oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla New Delhi, Nov 22: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has come out in open not only in the support of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya but it has also come forward to support rally being organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Ayodhya on November 25. Shiv Sena and former international president of VHP Pravin Togadia too are in support of the rally. The RSS has intensified its activities in this regard in view of slew of other rallies planned. The Bharatiya Janata Party is also active with all its resources but indirectly. Sources said that the environment is made for November 25 Dharma Sansad in Ayodhya. There is a possibility of gathering more people than it is expected by the VHP as almost all the saffron players are active for the Dharma Sansad. The VHP wants to gather one lakh people each for its three consecutive rallies in Ayodhya, Nagpur and Bangaluru. RSS sarkaryawah (general secretary) Suresh (Bhaiya ji Joshi) visited Ayodhya and he was in Lucknow on November 21 and had two meetings with the workers there. One of the meetings focused only on Dharma Sansad and Ram Temple. No public meeting for Shiv Sena in Ayodhya Agenda of Dharma Sansad was set in the meeting in Lucknow and office bearers have been asked to take maximum number of people to the Dharma Sansad in Ayodhya. They were asked to use traditional medium as well as social media for the awareness about this Dharm Sansad. Attempt should be made that people must reach there by November 24 only. Bhaiya Ji Joshi also interacted with the RSS workers. He had also met with deputy chief minister of state Keshav Prashad Maurya. Activities in Ayodhya have intensified with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackrey reaching the temple town on November 24 and he will be there till November 25. Spokesperson of Shiv Sena Sanjay Raut is in Ayodhya to see the arrangements of the Thackrey's visit to the city. Shiv Sena and the VHP has been constantly pitching for the Ram Temple to be built as soon as possible. 'First temple, then govt': Shiv Sena's new slogan ahead of 2019 Sources said that with the RSS general secretary entrusting workers of the organisation to reach with as many people as possible, it is likely that managing crowd there will be a big issue. The entire saffron fraternity wants to built temple there as soon as possible by burring all their differences on the issue and many others. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 13:55 [IST] Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu "The prime minister is a 'katputli' of capitalists and he lies. If a farmer fails to repay a loan of Rs one lakh, the government beats drums," he said, apparently referring to an initiative where bank officials arranged beating of drums to shame defaulters. "... But when (industrialists) Adani and Ambani do not repay 1.5 lakh crore, you do 'Pappi-Jhappi' with them (embrace them). Does the Modi government belong to Adani and Ambani?" Sidhu asked. PM Modi In a jibe at the prime minister's Make In India initiative, he said, "When Rafale jets will come from France and bullet train from Japan, what will people do here? They will fry pakodas." Sidhu slammed Modi govt over handling of farmer issues Claiming that the Modi government did not pay fair prices to farmers for their produce and the diesel price has been increased by Rs 6 and has reached Rs 82 per litre, he said this was not "arthshastra" (economics) but "anarthshastra" (policy of disaster). [Is PM Modi jealous, asks Sidhu on row over Imran Khan's oath-taking invite] However, BJP Madhya Pradesh spokesperson Sarvesh Tiwari said,"Sidhu has no right to comment on the prime minister. He is himself hungry of power and has no principles, as he jumps from party to party." People of Madhya Pradesh have launched a scheme called "Change BJP government", Sidhu claimed. MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, popularly known as 'Mama' (uncle), is in reality "Kans Mama" (a demon from Krishna mythology), he said. The BJP spokesperson said,"The Congress is day dreaming, they will never win the polls in Madhya Pradesh." Some 100 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers joined the Congress in Sidhu's presence on the occasion. Kolkata cops bust gang that ran fake Amazon call centre; at least 22 arrested Businessman in Kolkata shot at after his car was stopped by 18 men West Bengal Class 10, 12 exams to be held in offline mode in March, April Sovan Chatterjee resigns from post of Kolkata mayor as directed by CM India oi-PTI Kolkata, Nov 22: Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sovan Chatterjee resigned from the post of Kolkata mayor on Thursday as directed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Chatterjee sent his resignation letter through a messenger to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) chairperson Mala Roy. Roy, accepting the resignation letter, held a high-level meeting at her office Thursday. "Received Mr Sovan Chatterjee's resignation from the post of mayor through his messenger. I have accepted it. The other formalities will be followed as per rules, after a Trinamool Congress councillors meeting convened by the party supremo Mamata Banerjee is held this evening." Misplaced machismo says Supreme Court while letting off Manoj Tiwari in contempt case Chatterjee, who was holding two important portfolios of the housing and fire service department, had resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday. Accepting his resignation letter, Banerjee had asked him to also quit the post of mayor. The resignation letter had been forwarded to Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, the chief minister had stated. KMC Commissioner Khalil Ahmed was asked to look after the operations of the civic body till the new mayor was appointed. Kerala nun rape case: Father Augstine Vattoly warned for protesting against rape accused Bishop Earlier this year, Banerjee had removed Chatterjee from the post of the Environment Minister. The distance between Banerjee and Chatterjee, who was once considered a trusted aide of the chief minister, started growing after reports of problems in his conjugal life surfaced. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 15:35 [IST] Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya The case relates to a mortgage taken out by Rose Capital Ventures, one of Mallya's companies, with the 62-year-old businessman, his mother Lalitha and son Sidhartha, listed as having the right of occupancy on the property. While Mallya's team claims the bank had called in the loan ahead of an agreed period, the bank has claimed that it is within its rights to call in the mortgage for non-payment. Mallya is the erstwhile owner of Kingfisher airlines The application relating to the judgment this week was filed by the bank to strike out claims that any rights to remain in the property by the defendants take priority over the mortgage before a full trial in May 2019. [Bombay HC dismisses Vijay Mallya's plea seeking stay on ED's request to declare him fugitive] Meanwhile, Mallya remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard last year on fraud and money laundering charges brought by the Indian government, amounting to nearlyRs.9,000 crore. Mallya owns thousands of crores to Indian banks A ruling in his extradition case is expected at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London next month. The extradition trial, which opened at the London court on December 4 last year, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against Mallya and establishing there are no bars to him being extradited to face Indian courts over the allegations relating to loans made out to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The Bombay High Court Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed liquor baron Vijay Mallya's appeal for a stay on proceedings under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. Mallya had filed an application in the lower court seeking a stay on the hearing on the ED's plea till November 26 when the appellate tribunal functioning under the PMLA would hear matters filed by a consortium of banks seeking their dues back. The special court had on October 30 rejected Mallya's application, following which the liquor baron had approached the high court. Why is India mum on tactical nuclear weapons? Do we have them India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Nov 22: Pakistan knows it very well that it cannot match India in conventional warfare and to counter this it has developed tactical nuclear weapons. Tactical nukes are complex to make and it is obvious where Pakistan got help from to manufacture these deadly battlefield weapons. India has, however, remained mum on the tactical nuclear weapons and there has been no official statement on this matter ever. As per the information available in the public domain, India does not have tactical nuclear weapons and experts on the subject have said that India has never felt the need to develop them. A defence and strategy matters expert told OneIndia that Pakistan developed tactical nuclear weapons primarily to deal with India's cold start launch. Cold start doctrine is something that Pakistan fears. India sees nuclear weapons as something meant to serve as a deterrent and never as an offensive option. Moreover, India has No First Use (NFU) policy, so in that context tactical nuclear weapons do not fit in India's scheme of things. "We have not developed any tactical nuclear weapon for the simple reason that we do not feel that any country has the capacity to do what Pakistan visualises that India could do to them. India has never threatened any country historically, nor do we threaten Pakistan in any manner. If Pakistan provokes us, then India would react through cold start launch doctrine and Pakistan is worried about that. India does not have it to the best of my knowledge, because we do not need it," the defence expert said. A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon is a nuclear weapon, generally smaller in its explosive power, which is designed to be used in battlefield situations, in contrast to strategic nuclear weapons which are designed to be mostly targeted in the enemy interior away from the war front. Tactical nuclear weapons are of the range of 20-60 km with the blast radius of 3-5 km. [Why has Pakistan developed tactical nuclear weapons? Major Gen PK Sehgal explains] Pakistan claims that NASR can carry nuclear warheads of low yieldwith high accuracy. Pakistan has also claimed that it was designed to overcome missile defense systems. Hypothetically speaking, if Indian Forces do enter Pakistan's territory and Islamabad does indeed use tactical nukes then it would also be risking the lives of its own civilians as the device would detonate in Pakistani soil. Another thing is once Pakistan uses a nuclear weapon in any form, Indian retaliation would be unimaginable as New Delhi will not be bound by 'No First Use' policy. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 5:00 [IST] Germany: Young adult overspeeds to celebrate new licence, loses it in 49 minutes International oi-Shubham Ghosh Berlin, Nov 22: Well, this was really really fast. A just-turned-adult male in Hemer, Germany, managed to get his licence but he lost it again in less than an hour, thanks to the exuberance of youth. Mars is about to get its first US visitor and it's a 3-legged, 1-armed geologist According to a report in National Public Radio, USA, the teenager went to celebrate his achievement of getting a licence on Tuesday but he erred in accelerating too high, leading to double the legal speed and he ended up losing his licence once the lawkeepers found him overspeeding (driving at almost 100 kmph in a zone where the permissible limit is 50kmph). It took just 49 minutes for the young adult to lose his earning. Even the police were amused. They wrote on their Facebook account: "Some things last forever - some not even an hour." They also shared an image of two police officers checking vehicle speeds, which read: "License gone in 49 minutes". The man was also slapped with a fine and will be in probation before being able to drive again. Western snowman is passe, here comes an Indian snow woman and she is winning the Internet The police believed that the man was trying to impress his four friends in the car after getting his licence to drive. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 16:49 [IST] Vijay Mallya has applied for another route to stay in the UK, says lawyer Setback for Mallya in case to save plush London home International oi-Madhuri Adnal London, Nov 22: Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya on Wednesday faced a setback in his battle to save his posh London home from foreclosure by Swiss bank UBS after the UK High Court rejected many of the arguments relied on by his legal team. The bank has sought repossession of the property at Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regent's Park in central London, over the non-payment of a 20.4-million pounds mortgage loan. Caged parrot to Vijay Mallya: The controversies that haunted the CBI The property was referred to in the UK High Court as a "high class home for Dr Vijay Mallya and his family members and United Breweries Group corporate guests". While a trial in the case has been set for May next year, the High Court on Wednesday ruled on the UBS' application to strike out parts of the defence and found substantially in favour of the bank. "UBS is pleased with the decision. Given that proceedings are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further," UBS said in a statement. In his judgment following a two-day hearing last month, Judge Chief Master Marsh concluded that he can see no basis upon which the defendants should be given an opportunity to amend their defence. "They have had an ample opportunity to explain their case in answers to UBS' request for information. The case they put forward is not curable by simple amendments," he said. "The language of the contractual terms in this case could not be more stark. The loan was made on an uncommitted basis and repayable on demand," the judgment notes. The judge also expressed his displeasure at the way Mallya's defence team had conducted itself during the case, which meant avoidable delays for the court. Delhi court orders attachment of Vijay Mallya's Bengaluru properties There was a breakdown in the relationship between Mallya's previous law firm, Blake Morgan LLP, "including in relation to fees", which was one of the factors flagged by the court. "I accept that the change of solicitors put the defendants' legal team under considerable pressure. However, I am not satisfied that the defendants (Mallya) have shown a good reason for seeking an adjournment. It seems to me that the defendants are largely the authors of their current misfortune," the judgment reads. The case relates to a mortgage taken out by Rose Capital Ventures, one of Mallya's companies, with the 62-year-old businessman, his mother Lalitha and son Sidhartha, listed as having the right of occupancy on the property. While Mallya's team claims the bank had called in the loan ahead of an agreed period, the bank has claimed that it is within its rights to call in the mortgage for non-payment. The application relating to the judgment this week was filed by the bank to strike out claims that any rights to remain in the property by the defendants take priority over the mortgage before a full trial in May 2019. Meanwhile, Mallya remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard last year on fraud and money laundering charges brought by the Indian government, amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore. A ruling in his extradition case is expected at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London next month. The extradition trial, which opened at the London court on December 4 last year, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against Mallya and establishing there are no bars to him being extradited to face Indian courts over the allegations relating to loans made out to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Vijay Mallya set to lose his swanky cars In separate legal proceedings, the businessman had also lost his appeal in the UK's Court of Appeal against a High Court order in favour of 13 Indian banks to recover funds amounting to nearly 1.145 billion pounds. The High Court order, earlier this year, in favour of the State Bank of India (SBI) led consortium had reinforced a worldwide freezing order against Mallya's assets. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 6:30 [IST] Why 4th Thursday of November is observed as Thanksgiving Day International oi-Shubham Ghosh Washington, Nov 22: Today, the fourth Thursday of November 2018, is celebrated as Thanksgiving Day. Why is this moment observed on the fourth Thursday of the year's penultimate day? In 1789, the first president of the United States, George Washington had declared November 26 as the "Day of Publick Thanksgivin," as per the National Archives, which preserves historical records. However, in the years that followed, the holiday was announced by means of presidential proclamation and celebrated on various days and months. It was only after president Abraham Lincoln made his proclamation in 1863 that the Thanksgiving Day came to have a fixed day and it was the last Thursday of the month of November. In 1939, however, a dispute had surfaced over celebration of the occasion. As per Franklin D Roosevelt Library and Museum, the November in 1933 had five Thursdays and some traders had asked the then president FDR to bring the Thanksgiving Day ahead by a week. The president, however, denied to do so and the Thanksgiving was observed as usual on the last Thursday. Will of steel! Japan teen continues in race after breaking leg Six years later, in 1939, when FDR (he died in his fourth term as the president) was still the chief executive, the November again had five Thursdays and again some business leaders asked him if the day of the Thanksgiving could be moved ahead by a week so that people could get more time for shopping for Christmas. This time the president gave in to their demand and it led to a huge cry as many criticised him for surrendering before the retailers' business interests. According to others, the president did so to allow the traders to engage in more business activities ahead of the Christmas so that their financial fortunes returned, especially in the wake of the Great Depression. The Republicans were not happy and there were two Thanksgiving Days - one of the Republicans and other of the Democrats. In 1940 and 1941, November had four Thursdays, and president Roosevelt declared the third as the day of Thanksgiving. Some states went ahead with the change while others did not. In October 1941, both Houses of the Congress passed a resolution fixing the last Thursday as that of the Thanksgiving starting from 1942. However, in December that year, the Senate passed an amendment to the same resolution and said Thanksgiving be observed annually on the fourth Thursday of the month of November. It passed the law and got presidential assent and the tradition is being observed ever since. Family, neighbours hold early X-mas for 2-year-old who has incurable cancer Earlier in 1929, FB Haviland had written to the then president Herbert Hoover to move the Thanksgiving Day from Thursday to Friday so that it would enable people to have an extended holiday including Saturday and Sunday. However, it was not met. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 9:47 [IST] Talks with China will not help says USA NSA on situation on Ladakh 20 members of a family removed from US flight after mask of 1 slipped under nose For the first time, US chief justice takes on Trump, says theres nothing like Obama judge International oi-Shubham Ghosh Washington, Nov 22: In an unprecedented move, the Chief Justice of the US, John Roberts has hit back at President Donald Trump over the latter's criticism of a federal jury. On Tuesday, November 20, Trump termed the jury an "Obama judge" for ruling against his asylum policy only to earn the chief justice's wrath. When asked about his reaction on Trump's view, Chief Justice Roberts told the Associated Press that there were none like "Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges of Clinton judges". Why 4th Thursday of November is observed as Thanksgiving Day It was the first time that the chief justice spoke against Trump, an individual who has had conflicts with almost every quarter during his tenure which will complete two years in January. Trump though defended his remarks saying the chief justice, who is in office since 2005 when another Republican president George W Bush was in power, was wrong. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them," Chief Justice Roberts also said on the eve of the Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, November 21, adding that "independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for". World's first surviving septuplets turn 21& they are attractive individuals today Trump in his response to the chief justice said in a tweet: "Obama judges...have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country". Trump was upset that a federal judge in the 9th Circuit Court barred his recent immigration proclamation and opposed his policies on border and safety. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 10:21 [IST] After murdering boyfriend, woman cooks his remains and serves it to workers in UAE International oi-Madhuri Adnal Abu Dhabi, Nov 22: In a bizarre incident, a Moroccan woman has been accused of murdering her long-term boyfriend, and serving up his remains to Pakistani workers in the United Arab Emirates. It is learnt that the owman killed her three boyfriend three months ago. The crime came to light when a human tooth was found inside her blender. She had been in a relationship with the victim for seven years. According to The National, she killed him after he told her he was planning to marry someone else from Morocco. American killed by Sentinelese Tribes in Andaman islands The woman, whose identity wasn't released, allegedly wanted revenge because her boyfriend dumped her after she financially supported him over the course of their seven-year relationship, according to the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National. The man's brother filed a missing-person report last January. When he went to the couple's home and asked the accused about his brother, she said she didn't know where he was and that they broke up after she learned that the man was about to marry another woman. The Al Ain Police conducted DNA tests that proved that the tooth and the rest of the blender's contents belonged to the deceased. Talks with China will not help says USA NSA on situation on Ladakh Worlds first surviving septuplets turn 21& they are attractive individuals today International oi-Shubham Ghosh Washington, Nov 22: They are the world's first surviving septuplets and they have now survived long enough to achieve a major milestone. On November 19, the seven children born to Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1997, completed 21 circles around the sun and it was a moment of pride and achievement for the siblings as well as their family. The McCaughey siblings (four brothers and three sisters) celebrated their special moment on Monday at various locations ahead of a family celebration on Wednesday, November 20, TODAY reported. Will of steel! Japan teen continues in race after breaking leg "I think that we're all becoming very independent and finding our different talents and different skill sets. It's cool to celebrate this different milestone," Kelsey McCaughey, the fourth-oldest of the siblings, was quoted as saying by TODAY. The seven siblings made the headlines since they were born nine weeks prematurely and yet survived. Their picture had also appeared on TODAY just a few days after their birth. The siblings still share a close bond. "Since they were very young they've had varied interests. They still have a very close bond to one another, but they also enjoy doing things with their friends and also exploring those different activities and different classes," Bobbi was quoted as saying by TODAY. Kindergarten kids sing 'Happy Birthday' in sign language to greet deaf school janitor Of the seven, Kelsey, Nathan, Natalie, Joel and Alexis are attending Hannibal-LaGrange University in Missouri, which offered all the siblings scholarships upon their birth. Kenny Junior, on the other hand, is attending a vocational school while Brandon is deployed overseas serving in the US Army. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, November 22, 2018, 9:37 [IST] 72-year-old man sentenced to prison The retired engineer was accused of molesting the girl and peeping into the bathroom when she was taking bath at his residence in Phoolbagan area of east Kolkata. Victim was working as domestic help Special judge (POCSO) at Sealdah Court Jimut Bahan Biswas sentenced Tapan Bhattacharyya to three years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed on him a fine of Rs 20,000 for the offence. Complaint was filed on Oct 31 The girl had filed the complaint with the Phoolbagan police station on October 31 this year with the help of a local woman to whom she had narrated her ordeal, special public prosecutor Vivek Sharma said. Accused was charged under POCSO act The 14-year-old girl had been sent by her family to work as a help at Bhattacharyya's home owing to abject poverty, Sharma said. Bhattacharyya was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. Photo: GoFundMe A Vernon family is in need of community support after a serious and rare cancer diagnosis. Carlos Thomas, a husband, a father of two and local business owner received the devastating news that he has throat cancer on Nov. 2. "This diagnosis meant a big change in lifestyle," said Jennifer Burton, sister-in-law of Thomas. "At the time we didnt know what options we had for a course of treatment. All Christmas plans were cancelled and life kind of had to do a 180 flip." Due to the 42-year-olds recent diagnosis, it has made it impossible for him to work, while he and his family seek out treatment. "Last week we found out surgery was not an option in Canada, and since my sister and her husband are also citizens of Mexico, they got a second opinion from the head of the oncology department of the country of Mexico," Burton said. "Today we found out after the recent scans that surgery was indeed not an option due to how fast the cancer has progressed and grown." "Carlos will start chemotherapy in the next week or so, but definitely faster than here in Canada and then some radiation on top of that. Mexicos goal is to preserve all quality of life they can for him." Carlos and his wife Jocelyn have lived in Vernon for 14-years. The two have two children, Sean, 7, and Emma, 5, who have lived here since birth and the family considers this city their home. The family is actively involved in the community and Carlos has owned his local exterior painting company for years called Carlos Painting Ltd. Jocelyn works partime as a hair stylist but more importantly, she is a full-time mother and her income doesn't support their family. "My family means everything to me so anything I can do to help I want to be able to do so," Burton said. "Carlos is a loving husband and father," she said. "At this time he is a very positive person and determined to beat this cancer for his family. Losing is not an option for him." Burton, who is very close to her family wants to do anything she can to help. She will be hosting a fundraiser to support her brother-in-law and his family this weekend. "I am hosting this fundraiser because my brother in law was self-employed and due to the type of insurance he had, it doesnt cover this kind of event," she said. "Therefore he has no income coming in for his family." The fundraiser will be held at Arise Chiropractic and Wellness on Kalamalka Lake Road this coming Saturday and Sunday. Burton, who is a registered massage therapist, will be giving massages, along with selling baked goods, all by donation. Unfortunately the massages are already all booked up but Burton still hopes people will come out and enjoy a baked good and to sign the get well card. "For the bake sale portion, the sales will all be by donation," she said. "All money we make from the fundraiser will cover the cost for the treatments, flights, Christmas presents, daily bills for their home in Canada, etc." "All proceeds I make this weekend will go directly to my sister and her husband." The fundraiser will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days around the side of the building in unit 27. A GoFundMe set up for Carlos and his family has also seen great local support. Photo: Contributed I hosted a community town hall in West Kelowna, last Friday. I host these forums so citizens can hold me to account and so I can hear what concerns are on peoples minds. Often concerns raised locally may be very different from the major subjects of debate in Ottawa. One such local concern, raised by a number of people, was the United Nations (UN) Migration Compact. This is a subject that has received very little, if any, attention in Ottawa. What is the UN Migration compact? Technically, it is called the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. It is a 34-page agreement that contains 54 points under 23 stated objectives. Created in July of 2018, it is scheduled for ratification from signatory countries, including Canada, in a meeting hosted by Morocco on Dec.10-11. Already this document has proven to be controversial. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted: "Israel will not accede to, and will not sign, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. We are committed to guarding our borders against illegal migrants. This is what we have done and this is what we will continue to do." It has been reported that the Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache has said: Migration is not and cannot become a human right, and that Austria would not be a signatory to this agreement. Countries such as Australia, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and the United States have also stated they will not be signing the agreement. MP Michelle Rempel,our Conservative Immigration shadow minister, stated: By allowing nearly 38,000 people to enter Canada illegally from the safety of upstate New York then claim asylum, Trudeau has undermined the integrity of Canadas borders. Canadas borders should not be compromised by abuses of our asylum system, and should not sign this compact. The Liberal Minister for Immigration has co-authored a report that indicates Canada was actively involved in the drafting of the Compact and that Canada is committed to the task of leading and encouraging other partners to realize its ambitious goals, to ensure that action breathes life into the words of the Compact. Supporters of the compact on migration contend The UNs global compact on refugees could be a game-changer and Canada is well-placed to help make it a reality. Critics are concerned that many countries, including Canada, have immigration systems that are not working well in dealing with illegal immigration and that the UN compact offers no technical solutions to this problem. From my perspective, it is worth noting that the UN compact on migration is a non-legally binding, co-operative framework of the signatory states. For those who would like to read the agreement it can be found here. My question this week: Considering this is a non-binding agreement, do you support or oppose Canada signing on to the UN Migration Compact? I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free 1-800-665-8711. Photo: Police photo Vancouver police have arrested a Prince George man for alleged historical sexual assaults involving a young girl and they believe there may be more victims and witnesses. Sgt. Jason Robillard says police arrested 46-year-old Kevin Roberts on Monday for offences allegedly committed in Vancouver and Prince George. He says the victim is now an adult, who reported the alleged crimes to Vancouver police. Crown counsel approved multiple charges, including sexual assault, sexual interference, sexual assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. Robillard would not say when the crimes are alleged to have occurred due to concerns about identifying the victim, but he says police believe additional offences may have allegedly been committed dating back as long as 20 years ago, up until recently. He says victims would have been between the ages of four and 18 at the time of the alleged offences. Robillard says Roberts leads a transient lifestyle and works as a truck driver on routes throughout British Columbia and Alberta, and he's also worked as a school bus driver in the Prince George area and as a mover. Photo: The Canadian Press Horses are tied to lifeguard booths on the beach in Malibu, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018. A retired Alberta rancher is getting ready for a long trip to help hundreds of horses that have been displaced by wildfires in California. A retired Alberta rancher is getting ready for a long trip to help hundreds of horses that have been displaced by wildfires in California. Darrell Glover says when he saw news reports about the destructive fires he knew he needed to do something for the animals that have suffered because of the disaster. He says horse owners who were forced to flee the flames couldnt take their horses with them, so they let them go fend for themselves. Glover is planning to haul more than 6,300 kilograms of donated feed to a California ranch that is looking after the displaced animals. "As a horse owner, that created some emotional moments for us, so we started thinking that with all those horses, and there are hundreds of them running free in the hills ... somebody had to help and try and feed these horses," he said from his rural property north of Olds. Glover is also taking donated tack and medical supplies. His destination is the Camelot Equestrian Park in Orville, Calif. "They had the fire just about 100 metres from their front gate, so they almost lost their place as well, said Glover. "Those folks have taken in a couple hundred horses so what were going to do is take down this trailer load of feed and help them out." Glover said he wants to help all he can, especially because everyone in the region has lost so much. The Camelot Equestrian Park Foundation knows Glover is coming. "To Darrell Glover and all our Canadian Friends, there are no adequate words to express our gratitude for all of your compassion and generosity," the Foundation said on Facebook. "It is awe inspiring that our neighbours to the north are willing to put this very special delivery together." (CNN) Two high-profile controversies surrounding the mistreatment of women by famous Chinese men in the past week have ignited heated debate online, splitting public opinion and placing a spotlight on gender inequality in China. Jiang Jinfu, a pin-up model turned leading man in movies and TV dramas, on Tuesday admitted to committing domestic violence, and apologized to his Japanese girlfriend Haruka Nakaura and her family for hurting them with his "impulsive behavior." "Whatever the reason, I should never have raised my hand," the 27-year-old actor wrote to his more than 17 million followers on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. "I'm ashamed of my action and won't defend it in any way. I stand to bear the consequences for my behavior and accept the punishment." The confession and repentance from Jiang, who was studying in Japan before the story broke, came after Nakaura posted pictures of her badly bruised face and body on Instagram, which quickly went viral in China after being reposted on numerous Chinese social media platforms. Her original caption read: "I've recently made those who care about me worried -- but I'm alive. Jiang Jinfu's disappearance is indeed related to me but I can't say more at the request of my lawyer and the investigators." Nakaura's Instagram account is now private. CNN's efforts to reach her and Jiang for comment have been unsuccessful. Divided opinion Jiang's unusual public statement has attracted more than 210,000 comments that show surprisingly divided public opinion. Though a a sizable number of people condemn his actions, with many calling for a boycott of his movies, many others praise his apparent "courage" in owning up. A vocal and not insignificant number go further still, blaming the victim, and criticizing her for "provoking" Jiang. Also on Tuesday, one of China's best-known tycoons, Yu Minhong, issued a profuse apology for his "extremely wrong" and "inappropriate" remarks about women at a business forum in Shanghai last weekend. In videos posted across the Chinese cyberspace, Yu, founder and president of New Oriental, the country's biggest private educational services company, was seen telling a full-house audience that "degeneration of Chinese women has led to degeneration of the nation." "Men without a conscience but with a lot money -- that's the criterion Chinese women today use to choose their men," explained the 56-year-old self-made billionaire, who is known for being an inspirational speaker. "That's why we say the state of a nation depends on its women." Later in the speech, after recounting a profanity-laced anecdote, Yu reiterated his point that "women have destroyed China." Denunciations came almost immediately on the internet, prompting Yu's first attempt to clear the "misunderstanding" that his remarks had caused. "What I really meant was that the level of women represents the level of a nation," he wrote Sunday on his Weibo page, which has almost 15 million followers. "High-quality women mean high-quality mothers, who are able to produce high-quality children." "Men's values are guided by those of women: If women pursue an intellectual lifestyle, men will become wiser," he added. More backlashes ensued with critics accusing Yu of repeating the same message in a revised form. As the share price for his New York Stock Exchange-listed company plummeted, Yu on Tuesday visited the All-China Women's Federation, a women's rights organization controlled by the ruling Communist Party, before releasing an open letter. "(My remarks) reflected my problematic views on genders and lack of respect for women," he wrote. "I have learned my lesson, and will study more about gender equality and actively create such a corporate culture at New Oriental." Women face systemic discrimination Mirroring reactions to the Jiang scandal, the Yu story has also divided the public online. While many are up in arms in calling out Yu's misogyny as well as the hypocrisy between his speech and his reputation as a leading educator, others have come to his defense -- insisting that "political correctness" shouldn't deprive him of the right to tell the "truth." Despite the famous slogan of "women hold up half the sky" by Communist China's founder Mao Zedong, experts and activists have long argued that women continue to face systemic discrimination in the country due to both political and cultural factors. While surveys suggest that sexual assault and harassment are prevalent in China, the number of actual prosecutions remains small -- and the #MeToo global movement has had a difficult time gaining much traction in Chinese society. "The awareness of Chinese women that they have to fight for their rights didn't exist," Hung Huang, an author and media personality who has become a prominent feminist voice in China, told CNN in a recent interview. "A lawyer friend of mine who specializes in helping women has to go to western China to educate police ... that they have to protect women (who report domestic violence)," she said. "Most policemen's responses were, 'Really? But who doesn't beat their wife?'" "We're at the beginning of exploring culturally that how to redefine Chinese women and Chinese women's role in society," she added. "Is there a political solution to a cultural problem?" This story was first published on CNN.com, "Chinese star admits assaulting Japanese girlfriend, sparking heated debate." Photo: The Canadian Press Chief Justice John Roberts speaks during the Bicentennial of Mississippi's Judiciary and Legal Profession Banquet in Jackson, Miss. President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts clashed in an extraordinary public dispute over the independence of America's judiciary, with Roberts bluntly rebuking the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an "Obama judge." There's no such thing, Roberts declared Wednesday in a strongly worded statement contradicting Trump and defending judicial independence. Never silent for long, Trump defended his own comment, tweeting defiantly, "Sorry Justice Roberts." The pre-Thanksgiving dustup was the first time that Roberts, the Republican-appointed leader of the federal judiciary, has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who has several times blasted federal judges who have ruled against him. Before now, it has been highly unusual for a president to single out judges for personal criticism. And a chief justice's challenge to a president's comments is downright unprecedented in modern times. It seemed a fight that Trump would relish but one that Roberts has taken pains to avoid. But with Roberts' court feeling the heat over the president's appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Roberts and several of his colleagues have gone out of their way to rebut perceptions of the court as a political institution divided between five conservative Republicans and four liberal Democrats. Trump's appointments to the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have themselves spurred charges that the courts are becoming more politicized. As the justice widely seen as closest to the court's middle, Roberts could determine the outcome of high-profile cases that split the court. The new drama began with remarks Trump made Tuesday in which he went after a judge who ruled against his migrant asylum order. The president claimed, not for the first time, that the federal appeals court based in San Francisco was biased against him. Roberts had refused to comment on Trump's earlier attacks on judges, including the chief justice himself. But on Wednesday, after a query by The Associated Press, he spoke up for the independence of the federal judiciary and rejected the notion that judges are loyal to the presidents who appoint them. "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them," Roberts said. On the day before Thanksgiving, he concluded, "The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for." Trump hit back from his resort home in Florida, questioning the independence of federal judges appointed by his predecessor and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He especially criticized judges on California's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," the president tweeted. Global RUM & CACHACA Market by Key Manufactures Bacardi McDowells No.a Celebration, Tanduay, Cachaca 51, Pitu, Captain Morgan, Havana Club, Brugal, Contessa, Bracelo https://www.researchreportsinc.com/sample-request?id=241115 https://www.researchreportsinc.com/check-discount?id=241115 https://researchreportsinc.com/checkout/?add-to-cart=241115&&attribute_pa_choose-license=single-user&&quantity=1 Rum is made of molasses. The main difference between rum and cachaca is that rum is made of molasses, which is cooked from sugarcane juice. Cachaca is always made with the fresh-pressed juice of sugarcane, called garapa.This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of RUM & CACHACA market by product type, application, key manufacturers and key regions and countries.Download Sample Report of RUM & CACHACA Market @Furthermore, years considered for the study are as follows:Historical year 2013, 2016Base year 2017Forecast period 2018 to 2023The report also presents the market competition landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/manufacturers in the market. The key manufacturers covered in this report:BacardiMcDowells No.a CelebrationTanduayCachaca 51PituCaptain MorganHavana ClubBrugalContessaBraceloGrab Guaranteed Discount:This study considers the RUM & CACHACA value and volume generated from the sales of the following segments:Segmentation by product type:RUMCACHACASegmentation by application:Supermarket & MallsBrandstoreE-commerceOthersThis report also splits the market by region:AmericasUnited StatesCanadaMexicoBrazilAPACChinaJapanKoreaSoutheast AsiaIndiaAustraliaEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalyRussiaSpainMiddle East & AfricaEgyptSouth AfricaIsraelTurkeyGCC CountriesWe Also Can Offer Customized Report To Fulfill Special Requirements Of Our Clients.Purchase this Premium Report (Flat 20% off Apply Coupon Code DISC20):-Research objectivesTo study and analyze the global RUM & CACHACA consumption (value & volume) by key regions/countries, product type and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2023.To understand the structure of RUM & CACHACA market by identifying its various subsegments.Focuses on the key global RUM & CACHACA manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.To analyze the RUM & CACHACA with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).To project the consumption of RUM & CACHACA submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Table of Contents2018-2023 Global RUM & CACHACA Consumption Market Report1 Scope of the Report1.1 Market Introduction1.2 Research Objectives1.3 Years Considered1.4 Market Research Methodology1.5 Economic Indicators1.6 Currency Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 World Market Overview2.1.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Consumption 2013-20232.1.2 RUM & CACHACA Consumption CAGR by Region2.2 RUM & CACHACA Segment by Type2.2.1 RUM2.2.2 CACHACA2.3 RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Type2.3.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Consumption Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3.2 Global RUM & CACHACA Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3.3 Global RUM & CACHACA Sale Price by Type (2013-2018)2.4 RUM & CACHACA Segment by Application2.4.1 Supermarket & Malls2.4.2 Brandstore2.4.3 E-commerce2.4.4 Others2.5 RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Application2.5.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Consumption Market Share by Application (2013-2018)2.5.2 Global RUM & CACHACA Value and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)2.5.3 Global RUM & CACHACA Sale Price by Application (2013-2018)3 Global RUM & CACHACA by Players3.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Sales Market Share by Players3.1.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Sales by Players (2016-2018)3.1.2 Global RUM & CACHACA Sales Market Share by Players (2016-2018)3.2 Global RUM & CACHACA Revenue Market Share by Players3.2.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Revenue by Players (2016-2018)3.2.2 Global RUM & CACHACA Revenue Market Share by Players (2016-2018)3.3 Global RUM & CACHACA Sale Price by Players3.4 Global RUM & CACHACA Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types by Players3.4.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Manufacturing Base Distribution and Sales Area by Players3.4.2 Players RUM & CACHACA Products Offered3.5 Market Concentration Rate Analysis3.5.1 Competition Landscape Analysis3.5.2 Concentration Ratio (CR3, CR5 and CR10) (2016-2018)3.6 New Products and Potential Entrants3.7 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion4 RUM & CACHACA by Regions4.1 RUM & CACHACA by Regions4.1.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Regions4.1.2 Global RUM & CACHACA Value by Regions4.2 Americas RUM & CACHACA Consumption Growth4.3 APAC RUM & CACHACA Consumption Growth4.4 Europe RUM & CACHACA Consumption Growth4.5 Middle East & Africa RUM & CACHACA Consumption Growth5 Americas5.1 Americas RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Countries5.1.1 Americas RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Countries (2013-2018)5.1.2 Americas RUM & CACHACA Value by Countries (2013-2018)5.2 Americas RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Type5.3 Americas RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Application5.4 United States5.5 Canada5.6 Mexico5.7 Key Economic Indicators of Few Americas Countries6 APAC6.1 APAC RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Countries6.1.1 APAC RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Countries (2013-2018)6.1.2 APAC RUM & CACHACA Value by Countries (2013-2018)6.2 APAC RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Type6.3 APAC RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Application6.4 China6.5 Japan6.6 Korea6.7 Southeast Asia6.8 India6.9 Australia6.10 Key Economic Indicators of Few APAC Countries7 Europe7.1 Europe RUM & CACHACA by Countries7.1.1 Europe RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Countries (2013-2018)7.1.2 Europe RUM & CACHACA Value by Countries (2013-2018)7.2 Europe RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Type7.3 Europe RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Application7.4 Germany7.5 France7.6 UK7.7 Italy7.8 Russia7.9 Spain7.10 Key Economic Indicators of Few Europe Countries8 Middle East & Africa8.1 Middle East & Africa RUM & CACHACA by Countries8.1.1 Middle East & Africa RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Countries (2013-2018)8.1.2 Middle East & Africa RUM & CACHACA Value by Countries (2013-2018)8.2 Middle East & Africa RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Type8.3 Middle East & Africa RUM & CACHACA Consumption by Application8.4 Egypt8.5 South Africa8.6 Israel8.7 Turkey8.8 GCC Countries9 Market Drivers, Challenges and Trends9.1 Market Drivers and Impact9.1.1 Growing Demand from Key Regions9.1.2 Growing Demand from Key Applications and Potential Industries9.2 Market Challenges and Impact9.3 Market Trends10 Marketing, Distributors and Customer10.1 Sales Channel10.1.1 Direct Marketing10.1.2 Indirect Marketing10.2 RUM & CACHACA Distributors10.3 RUM & CACHACA Customer11 Global RUM & CACHACA Market Forecast11.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Consumption Forecast (2018-2023)11.2 Global RUM & CACHACA Forecast by Regions11.2.1 Global RUM & CACHACA Forecast by Regions (2018-2023)11.2.2 Global RUM & CACHACA Value Forecast by Regions (2018-2023)11.2.3 Americas Consumption Forecast11.2.4 APAC Consumption Forecast11.2.5 Europe Consumption Forecast11.2.6 Middle East & Africa Consumption Forecast11.3 Americas Forecast by Countries11.3.1 United States Market Forecast11.3.2 Canada Market Forecast11.3.3 Mexico Market Forecast11.3.4 Brazil Market ForecastAbout Us:Research Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. Our repository features an exhaustive list of market research reports from thousands of publishers worldwideWith our expertise and research offerings, we ensure we deliver on all your requirements, whether youre looking for industry analysis or market trends or anything else, first time and every time!Email us sales@researchreportsinc.comCall: US / Canada Toll Free: +18554192424, UK: +4403308087757 Photo: The Canadian Press Katherine Clement, a volunteer from Oakland, Calif., prepares bagged lunches for firefighters as she works with the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, which is also hosting a Thanksgiving meal for people displaced by the Camp Fire, on the campus of California State University, in Chico, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. Hannah Crenshaw hosts a Thanksgiving dinner each year, cooking turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes her favourite for up to 15 guests at her home in Magalia. That's not an option this year. Her house burned down in the Nov. 8 wildfire that tore through the town of Paradise and surrounding communities, including Magalia, destroying more than 13,000 homes. Instead, the 26-year-old will be spending Thanksgiving with her husband's family in nearby Durham. She's trying to see the best in a heartbreaking situation. "It doesn't really feel like Thanksgiving," she said. "But Thanksgiving's my favourite holiday. I guess I have a lot to be thankful for this year with everything going on." The Camp Fire has killed at least 83 people, with the number rising daily, and has displaced tens of thousands of others. Hundreds are unaccounted for. It won't be a normal Thanksgiving for any of those families, but businesses and hundreds of volunteers have stepped up to ensure turkey, potatoes and pie are available as a small slice of comfort for anyone who wants a plate. Washington, D.C.-based non-profit World Central Kitchen is cooking 15,000 Thanksgiving meals, teaming up with Chico-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., the local university and the town of Paradise to serve them Thursday. Volunteers prepared food and set up massive tables Wednesday. "It will be a respite from the frantic activity of trying to put our lives back together and our town back together," Paradise Mayor Jody Jones said. Scores of volunteers also are opening their houses to strangers, to provide a more intimate Thanksgiving. Turkey Coding and Marking Systems Market Regional Revenue, Trends, Opportunities and Future Prospects For Players Like Danaher Corporation, Hitachi, Dover Corporation, Domino Printing, Matthews International & Savema S.p.A https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/turkey-coding-and-marking-systems-market/report-sample https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/turkey-coding-and-marking-systems-market https://www.psmarketresearch.com The Turkey coding and marking systems market is projected to reach $120.4 million by 2023. The market growth is mainly driven by the growing applications of coding and marking systems in industries including food and beverage, automotive, chemicals, and others, in the country.Request sample copy of report here :On the basis of technology, the Turkey coding and marking systems market is segmented into continuous inkjet, laser coding and marking, thermal ink jet, drop-on-demand, print and apply labelers, thermal transfer overprinting, and others. Of these, continuous inkjet has been the largest category in the Turkey coding and marking systems market, with an estimated contribution of more than 40.0% in 2017.On the basis of end user, the Turkey coding and marking systems market is segmented into food and beverage, electrical and electronics, automotive and aerospace, chemical, healthcare, and others. Of these, food and beverage was the largest category, with an estimated revenue contribution of more than 45% in 2017.Emergence of environment-friendly coding technologies is identified as the major trend in the Turkey coding and marking systems market. Manufacturers of coding and marking systems are focusing on decreasing the use of hazardous solvents such as methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), reducing the content of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and preventing smearing to decrease the negative environmental impact of coding and marking.Read summary of report here :Some of the major players operating in the Turkey coding and marking systems market are Danaher Corporation, Hitachi Ltd., Dover Corporation, Matthews International Corporation, Domino Printing Sciences plc, and Savema Markalama ve Kodlama Makinalari San. Tic. Ltd. Sti. (Savema).TURKEY CODING AND MARKING SYSTEMS MARKET SEGMENTATIONBy Technology Continuous Inkjet, Laser Coding and Marking, Thermal Ink Jet Printer, Drop-on-Demand, Print & Apply Labelers, Thermal Transfer Overprinting, and OthersBy End User Food & Beverage, Electrical & Electronics, Automotive & Aerospace, Chemical, Healthcare, and OthersAbout P&S IntelligenceP&S Intelligence, a brand of P&S Market Research, is a provider of market research and consulting services catering to the market information needs of burgeoning industries across the world.Providing the plinth of market intelligence, P&S as an enterprising research and consulting company, believes in providing thorough landscape analyses on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness.Contact:P&S IntelligenceToll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)International: +1-347-960-6455Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:Connect with us: LinkedIn | Twitter | Google + | Facebook Payments Landscape in Australia Market 2022 by Top Companies - Commonwealth Bank,Westpac,ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Citibank, Tyro, eftpos, Visa, Mastercard Payments Landscape in Australia www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012265602/sample www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012265602/buying "Payments Landscape in Australia: Opportunities and Risks to 2022", report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Australian cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including cards, cash, direct debit, credit transfers, and cheques during the review-periodTop Companies Player:Commonwealth Bank,Westpac,ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Citibank, Tyro, eftpos, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners ClubGet More Information Download Sample Copy @The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, transaction values and volumes during the review-period and over the forecast-period (2018e-22f). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including market shares of issuers and schemes.This report provides top-level market analysis, information and insights into the Australian cards and payments industry, including--Current and forecast values for each market in the Australian cards and payments industry, including debit, credit, and charge cards.-Detailed insights into payment instruments including cards, cash, direct debit, credit transfers, and cheques. It also, includes an overview of the country's key alternative payment instruments.-E-commerce market analysis and payment methods.-Analysis of various market drivers and regulations governing the Australian cards and payments industry.-Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit, credit, and charge cards.Scope-To offer enhanced convenience and encourage electronic payments for even low-value transactions, in February 2018 the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and its Payments System Board rolled out a new payments infrastructure known as the New Payments Platform (NPP) that allows customers with accounts with different banks to make payments and transfer funds in real-time. It is available 24/7, 365 days a year. Developed by SWIFT in collaboration between 13 members of Australias financial services industry, the platform provides an addressing service known as PayID, which allows users to enter only the recipients mobile phone number or email address to transfer the money.-The advent of digital-only banks is likely to stir competition in the Australian banking sector over the coming years. Volt Bank received a Restricted ADI (RADI) license from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) in May 2018, enabling it to offer a limited number of products and services, before a full banking license is given. Fintech startup Xinja is also seeking a full banking license and hopes to break into mainstream banking. Other challenger banks named 86 400 and Up are to be launched soon.-Growth in the Australian credit card market is likely to slow in the coming years in the wake of several regulatory overhauls by the government. In February 2018 the Australian parliament passed a new bill that aims to crack down on credit card providers unfair practices. As a result, from July 2018 financial services providers are required to analyze the affordability of a credit card based on a consumers capability to repay the limit within a reasonable duration. The bill also calls for additional reforms from January 2019, including a ban on unsolicited invitations from banks to increase credit limits, and simplified interest calculation. In addition, banks will be mandated to offer the option to cancel a card or reduce the credit limit online. Previously, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) banned all businesses, including large and small merchants, from collecting excessive surcharges on credit and debit card payments. The new rule, which is effective from September 1, 2017, is applicable to all businesses based in Australia or that use an Australian bank.Reasons to buy-Make strategic business decisions, using top-level historic and forecast market data, related to the Australian cards and payments industry and each market within it.-Understand the key market trends and growth opportunities in the Australian cards and payments industry.-Assess the competitive dynamics in the Australian cards and payments industry.-Gain insights into marketing strategies used for various card types in Australia.-Gain insights into key regulations governing the Australian cards and payments industry.Else Place Inquire before Purchase Payments Landscape in Australia-Opportunities and Risks to 2022 Available @Table of ContentsMarket OverviewExecutive SummaryCard-based PaymentsMerchant AcquiringE-commerce PaymentsMobile Proximity PaymentsAbout us:ReportsWeb 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 publishersContact us:Phone : +1-646-491-9876E-Mail : sales@reportsweb.com Wind Power Coatings Market | Global Trends, Growth and Key Companies Analysis Hempel Fonden, Akzo Nobel N.V.,PPG Industries, Inc.,Jotun Group,Teknos Group Oy,3M Co.Aeolus Coatings B.V. https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/sample/573 https://www.xploremr.com/cart/reports/buynow/573 https://www.xploremr.com/report/573/wind-power-coatings-market Global Wind Power Coatings Market: OverviewThis report analyzes and forecasts the market for wind power coatings at the global and regional level. The market has been forecast based on revenue (US$ Mn) and volume (Kilo Liters) from 2017 to 2025. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global wind power coatings market.It also covers the impact of these drivers and restraints on demand for wind power coatings during the forecast period. The report also highlights opportunities in the wind power coatings market at the global and regional level.Enter your information below to receive a free sample copy of this report @The report comprises a detailed value chain analysis, which provides a comprehensive view of the global wind power coatings market. Porters Five Forces model for the wind power coatings market has also been included to help understand the competitive landscape in the market.The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, wherein applications are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness.Global Wind Power Coatings Market: Scope of the ReportThe study provides a decisive view of the global wind power coatings market by segmenting it in terms of type, and applications. These segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends.Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for wind power coatings in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The report also covers demand for individual type and applications in all the regions.Buy Now Full Report @The study includes profiles of major companies operating in the global wind power coatings market. Key players in the wind power coatings market include Akzo Nobel N.V., Hempel Fonden, PPG Industries, Inc., Jotun Group, Teknos Group Oy, 3M Co., The Sherwin-Williams Company and others. Market players have been profiled in terms of attributes such as company overview, overall revenue, business strategies, and recent developments.The report provides the estimated market size of wind power coatings for 2016 and forecast for the next eight years. The global market size of wind power coatings has been provided in terms of revenue and volume.Market numbers have been estimated based on type and applications segments of wind power coatings market. Market size and forecast for each major type, applications have been provided in terms of global and regional markets.Global Wind Power Coatings Market: Research MethodologyIn order to compile the research report, we conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with a number of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. We reviewed key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding.Secondary research also includes a search of recent trade, 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.Secondary research sources that are typically referred to include, but are not limited to company websites, annual reports, financial reports, broker reports, investor presentations, and SEC filings, internal and external proprietary databases, and relevant patent and regulatory databases, national government documents, statistical databases, and market reports, news articles, press releases, webcasts specific to companies operating in the market, American Chemical Society, International Council of Chemical Associations, 4m Associations, and European Union.Report overview @Primary research involves e-mail interactions, telephonic interviews, and face-to-face interviews for each market, type, and applications across geographies. We conduct primary interviews on an ongoing basis with industry participants and commentators in order to validate the data and analysis.Primary interviews provide firsthand information on market size, market trends, growth trends, competitive landscape, and outlook, etc. These help validate and strengthen secondary research findings. These also help develop the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.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.com Body Area Network Market to Witness Huge Growth by 2025: Key Players - Fujitsu Limited, Intel Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Ericsson Ab, IBM Corporation, Telefonica SA, Jawbone Inc, https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/sample/227 https://www.xploremr.com/cart/reports/buynow/227 https://www.xploremr.com/report/227/body-area-network-market Global Body Area Network Market: OverviewBody area network market report provide analysis for the period of 2015 2025, where in 2016 represents base year and the period from 2017 to 2025 is the forecasted period. Data for 2015 have been included as historical information.The report covers the global body area network market including growth drivers, market restraints and major market opportunities which are anticipated to influence in the market during the said period. Global and regional factors and trends playing a significant role in the global body area network market has also been covered in the study.Enter your information below to receive a free sample copy of this report @The study provides a comprehensive and exhaustive analysis of the market growth throughout the forecasted period in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Mn), across various geographies.The report also covers the global body area network market attractiveness analysis by technology, by devices, by end use industry and by region. Additionally market attractiveness of each of the regions: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, MEA and South America are also covered by technology, by devices, by end use industry and by country.Market attractiveness compare a segments attractiveness in the market on the basis of CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) and market share index.Global Body Area Network Market: TrendsDue to continuous improvement in healthcare services across the world, life expectancy of people have increased. This is leading to rise in elderly population across the globe. Providing healthcare service to citizens is leading to huge government outlay. Body area network devices and systems helps in continuous monitoring of individuals outside home, hospital, care homes, ambulances, etc.They help in monitoring pulse rate, blood oxygen level, blood pressure level, glucose level, prevention of blockage in arteries which supply oxygen to heart, long lasting diseases such as asthma, diabetes and many other healthcare needs.Buy Now Full Report @As a whole body area network devices helps in remote monitoring of patients which reduces work pressure on hospitals and nursing homes reducing healthcare cost. Thus body area network adoption is gaining popularity in healthcare sector.Global Body Area Network Market: SegmentationBody area network market is segmented based on the technology adoption, devices used, end-use industry and geography. On the basis of communication technologies adopted, the body area network is classified into Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee and other communication technologies.Other communication technologies includes mobile networks, IEEE 802.15.6, Ultra Wideband (UWB), ANT protocol, Zarlink technology, Rubee active wireless protocol and Bluetooth Low Energy among others. On the basis of type, the global market is segmented into wearable devices and implant devices.On the basis of end-use industry where body area network is mostly used the market is segmented into healthcare industry, sports industry and others. Other end-use industries includes military, automotive, electronic bill payment, user authentication among others. As body area network technology is still in the process of maturity its full range of applications are yet to be invented.Geographically the report classifies the global body area network market into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America. We haveanalysed the regions in terms of revenue. Region wise prominent countries covered in the report include the following the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, South Korea, India, GCC (six middle east countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman), South Africa, Brazil and Argentina.Report overview @Global Body Area Network Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report also includes competition landscape which includes market share analysis of major players in the global body area network market based on their 2016 revenues and profile of major players. Company profiles include company overview, significant strategies adopted, SWOT analysis and market revenue from 2014 till 2016/ 2017 (public companies).The major players profiled in the global body area network market includes Fujitsu Limited, Intel Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Ericsson Ab, IBM Corporation, Telefonica SA, Jawbone Inc, Bluetooth SIG, General Electric Company (GE) and ST Microelectronics among others.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.com Global High Power RF Amplifier Module Market growth and trends by 2017-2026| Analog Devices, Inc.,NXP Semiconductors N.V.,Microsemi Corporation,API Technologies Corp.,Empower RF Systems, Inc. https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/sample/759 https://www.xploremr.com/cart/reports/buynow/759 https://www.xploremr.com/report/759/high-power-rf-amplifier-module-market Improving economic conditions of countries worldwide have influenced the lifestyles and living standards of consumers. Demand for luxury homes has been rising, thereby driving innovation in the home connectivity technologies.This has further supported popularity of the trends toward smart homes and connected homes. Advanced technologies such as the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), which are connected via wireless networks, are incorporated as basic features in smart and connected homes.Enter your information below to receive a free sample copy of this report @With increasing expectations of consumers for living a life full of comfort, coupled with the gradual rise in the number of smart and connected homes, demand for high power RF amplifier modules will gain an uptick in the foreseeable future.A latest report of This Research Report (TMR) issues an exclusive forecast analysis on growth prospects of the global high power RF amplifier module market for the forecast period, 2017 to 2026.This report is valuable for manufacturers of high power RF amplifier module, as the insights offered can enable them in making informed decisions regarding investments in new production technologies, cost-effective procurement of consumable & raw materials, and tapping potential marketplaces.An Exhaustive Study with Abundance of Valuable IntelligenceAn effected tested & proven research methodology has been employed by analysts at This Research Report for procuring data from different sources. The data gathered is analyzed via processes that track evolution of pocket containers, link customer requirements to demand, and offer presumptive scenarios on the future demand evolution of the global high power RF amplifier module market.Buy Now Full Report @Statistical forecasting and trade research tactics have enabled the provision of objective information in the report, which cater to manufacturing concerns associated with high power RF amplifier module.Supply chain of high power RF amplifier module has been analyzed in detail for identifying hidden challenges regarding supply & demand. The report also imparts an intrinsic analysis on customer requirements and behavior, which reveals impact of socio-, macro-, and micro-economic factors on production and sales of high power RF amplifier module across the globe.Weighted chapters on segmentation analysis provide forecast on the global high power RF amplifier module with regard to the market segments, in terms of Y-o-Y growth comparison, CAGRs, revenue comparison, and absolute dollar opportunities. The report readers can assess the intelligence offered in the form of the market size estimations.Report overview @Competition Landscape StudyKey market participants have been identified and profiled in the report for tracing the competition in the high power amplifier module market worldwide. Details on the markets competition analysis provides great value to high power RF amplifier module manufacturers in outperforming their immediate competitors.Scope of this report is to offer its readers with first-hand and unbiased information on novel strategies employed by leading as well as emerging market players for enhancing their businesses. It serves as a credible document, helping high power RF amplifier module manufacturers to plan their strategies for future expansion.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.com Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Market 2018 | Future Technology, Opportunity, Growth, Share, Demand, Innovation, Top Companies, Forecast 2025 Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Market 2018 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/report-sample/SE111797 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/check-discount/SE111797 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/customization/SE111797 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/checkout/SE111797 Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Market By Platform (Commercial & Civil and Defense), Architecture (Memory, Modulator, Processor, Convertor and Other Architectures) and Application (Electronic Warfare Training, Electronic Warfare, Radio & Cellular Network Jamming and Radar Test & Evaluation) - Global Industry Analysis And Forecast To 2025Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM)-Industry Outlook:The Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) is the electronic technique for carefully catching and retransmitting the RF signal. The DRFMs are normally utilized in the jamming of radar, despite the fact that applications in cell communications are ending up more typical. The DRFM framework is intended to digitize the approaching RF input signal at the bandwidth and frequency important to satisfactorily represent the signal, at that point reproduce that RF signal whenever needed. The most critical part of DRFM is that as the computerized "duplicate" of the signal received, it is rational with the wellspring of the signal received. Therefore, the Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Marketis anticipated to expand and has tremendous scope during the forecast period. The global Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Market anticipated to flourish in the future by growing at a significantly higher CAGR.Get Sample Copy of this Industry Report@Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM)-Competitive AnalysisThe major players in the market are profiled in detail in view of qualities, for example, company portfolio, business strategies, financial overview, recent developments, and market share of the overall industry.Airbus GroupThales GroupBAE Systems plcRaytheon CompanyNorthrop Grumman CorporationIsrael Aerospace IndustriesCurtiss-Wright Corporation, L&T Ltd.Rohde & SchwarzMercury SystemsElbit Systems LtdDigital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Market Segmentation:Based on Platform the market is segmented into Commercial & Civil and Defense. The Defense section is leading the market owing to increasing investment in this sector, increasing demand due to various abilities provided by this system, etc.Based on Architecture the market is segmented into Memory, Modulator, Processor, Convertor and Other Architectures. The Processor section is leading the market as it is responsible for the processing the signal received from the target radar.Based on Application the market is segmented into Electronic Warfare Training, Electronic Warfare, Radio & Cellular Network Jamming and Radar Test & Evaluation. The Electronic Warfare Training is leading the market due to increasing installation for both naval as well as the air platforms, the technology of electromagnetic spectrum utilized for disrupting the electronics systems of enemy, etc.Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Market -Regional Insights:The North American region is leading the global Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Market owing to increasing investment in the technological development related to the DRFM systems, increasing investment in the defense sector, etc.North America, U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, Germany, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Rest of Europe, Asia-Pacific, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Southeast Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific, South America, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Rest of South America, Middle East and Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Rest of MEAMajor TOC of Report:Table of Contents:1. Introduction1.1. Report Description2. Executive Summary2.1. Key Highlights3. Market Overview3.1. Introduction3.1.1. Market Definition3.1.2. Market Segmentation3.2. Market Dynamics3.2.1. Drivers4. Market Analysis by Regions4.1. North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)4.1.1. United States Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.1.2. Canada Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.1.3. Mexico Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2. Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Rest of Europe)4.2.1. Germany Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.2. France Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.3. UK Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.4. Russia Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.5. Italy Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.6. Rest of Europe Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.3. Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Rest ofAsia-Pacific)Check Discount on this Report@5. Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Market, By Platform5.1. Introduction5.2. Global Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Revenue and Market Share by Platform (2014-2018)5.2.1. Global Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Revenue and Revenue Share by Platform (2014-2018)5.3. Commercial & Civil5.3.1. Global Commercial & Civil Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2018)5.4. Defense5.4.1. Global Defense Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2018)6. Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Market, By Architecture6.1. Introduction6.2. Global Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Revenue and Market Share by Architecture (2014-2018)6.2.1. Global Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) Revenue and Revenue Share by Architecture (2014-2018)6.3. Memory....CUSTOM RESEARCH:Our market research services and solutions help transform yourorganizational data into intelligence to support fact based businessdecisions. Crystal Market Research offers a range of ways to access ourresearch data and business insights to meet your business needs.Click to Get Customized Report on Your Requirements@Reasons to Buy a Exclusive report?Our experts provide in depth coverage of the market from various aspectsright from global market scenario to future trends and opportunities. Ourresearch methodologies are designed in such a way that our clients areable to find the answers theyre looking for, in the way they want. Weoffer 24/5 research support to solve all your queries through a team ofour industry experts having holistic knowledge of local as well as globalmarkets. Our research services help transform clients organizational datainto intelligence to support fact based business decisions. We offer best inindustry consultation services by a group of experts to advice our clientson growing their business portfolio. We understand unique requirements ofour clients so as to provide tailored - made research services. We focusedon maintaining long lasting relationship with our clients by catering to theirresearch requirements and providing them with consulting services. Wehighly respect our clients confidentiality by adherence to advancedmethods for data security and privacy.Our success depends on success and satisfaction of our clients. We havesuccessful relationship with our clients who recognize that not only weprovide solutions to their business problems but also that we alwaysrespect our confidentiality commitments. The high proportion of businesswe get from clients speaks about the quality of research services offer byus.(Early Buyer will receive 10% customization in this report.)Click To Buy Full Premium Report @About Crystal Market Research:Crystal Market Research is a U.S. based market research and businessintelligence company. Crystal offers one stop solution for market research,business intelligence, and consulting services to help clients make moreinformed decisions. It provides both syndicated as well as customizedresearch studies for its customers spread across the globe. The companyoffers market intelligence reports across a broad range of industriesincluding healthcare, chemicals & materials, technology, automotive, andenergy.Contacts UsJudy | 304 South Jones Blvd, Suite 1896,Las Vegas NV 89107,United StatesE-mail: sales@crystalmarketresearch.com | Ph: +1-888-213-4282 Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market 2018: Competitive Strategies And Forecast 2025, Top Key Players -Advaxis, Inc, Eisai, Inc, Inovio Biomedical Corporation, F. Hoffmann La-Roche Ltd, Oncohealth Corporation, Hologic Inc Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market 2018 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/report-sample/HC111793 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/check-discount/HC111793 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/customization/HC111793 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/checkout/HC111793 Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market By Treatment Type (Chemotherapy, Surgery, Radiation Therapy and Other Treatment Types) and End User (Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Specialty Clinics and Hospitals) - Global Industry Analysis And Forecast To 2025Cervical Dysplasia Treatment-Industry Outlook:The cervical dysplasia is the precancerous state in which irregular cell development happens at first glance coating of the endocervical or cervix canal, the opening in between the vagina and the uterus. It is additionally known as the cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Firmly connected with the infection known as sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), this dysplasia is most basic in ladies under the age 30 however may create at any age. This dysplasia often does not show any symptoms, and is frequently found by the normal Pap test. The anticipation is amazing for ladies with cervical dysplasia who get suitable treatment and follow-up. However, ladies who go undiscovered or who don't get suitable care are at greater danger of creating the cancer of cervical. Therefore, the Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market is anticipated to expand and has tremendous scope during the forecast period. The global Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market anticipated to flourish in the future by growing at a significantly higher CAGR.Get Sample Copy of this Industry Report@Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market-Competitive Analysis:The major players in the market are profiled in detail in view of qualities, for example, company portfolio, business strategies, financial overview, recent developments, and market share of the overall industry.Advaxis, Inc.Eisai, Inc.Inovio Biomedical CorporationF. Hoffmann La-Roche Ltd.OncoHealth CorporationHologic, Inc.Abbott Healthcare Pvt Ltd.AnGes MG, Inc.GlaxoSmithKline plcPhotocure ASAQIAGEN, BDQuest Diagnostics, Inc.Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market-Drivers & Restrains:The factors driving the market are; rising awareness amongst the population about the disorder, increasing population related to women in their reproductive age, more availability of the medications related to this disorder, increasing number of cases related to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) also vaginal infection, increased intake of liquor & excessive smoking, and other factors. The restraining factors of the market are; more cost related to surgery, less accessibility of developed techniques of surgery, etc.Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market-Regional Insights:The North American region is leading the global Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market owing to factor like; increasing number of cases related to disability losses, increasing number of the reproductive individuals suffering from the cervical dysplasia and other factors.North America, U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, Germany, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Rest of Europe, Asia-Pacific, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Southeast Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific, South America, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Rest of South America, Middle East and Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Rest of MEAMajor TOC of Report:Table of Contents:1. Introduction1.1. Report Description2. Executive Summary2.1. Key Highlights3. Market Overview3.1. Introduction3.1.1. Market Definition3.1.2. Market Segmentation3.2. Market Dynamics3.2.1. Drivers4. Market Analysis by Regions4.1. North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)4.1.1. United States Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.1.2. Canada Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.1.3. Mexico Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2. Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Rest of Europe)4.2.1. Germany Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.2. France Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.3. UK Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.4. Russia Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.5. Italy Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.2.6. Rest of Europe Market Status and Outlook (2014-2025)4.3. Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Rest of Asia-Pacific)Check Discount on this Report@5. Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market, By Treatment Type5.1. Introduction5.2. Global Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Revenue and Market Share by Treatment Type (2014-2018)5.2.1. Global Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Revenue and Revenue Share by Treatment Type (2014-2018)5.3. Chemotherapy5.3.1. Global Chemotherapy Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2018)5.4. Surgery5.4.1. Global Surgery Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2018)5.5. Radiation Therapy5.5.1. Global Radiation Therapy Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2018)5.6. Other Treatment Types5.6.1. Global Other Treatment Types Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2018)6. Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Market, By End User6.1. Introduction6.2. Global Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Revenue and Market Share by End User (2014-2018)6.2.1. Global Cervical Dysplasia Treatment Revenue and Revenue Share by End User (2014-2018)6.3. Ambulatory Surgery Centers6.3.1. Global Ambulatory Surgery Centers Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2018)6.4. Specialty Clinics...CUSTOM RESEARCH:Our market research services and solutions help transform your organizational data into intelligence to support fact based business decisions. Crystal Market Research offers a range of ways to access our research data and business insights to meet your business needs.Click to Get Customized Report on Your Requirements@Reasons to Buy a Exclusive report?Our experts provide in depth coverage of the market from various aspects right from global market scenario to future trends and opportunities. Our research methodologies are designed in such a way that our clients are able to find the answers theyre looking for, in the way they want. We offer 24/5 research support to solve all your queries through a team of our industry experts having holistic knowledge of local as well as global markets. Our research services help transform clients organizational data into intelligence to support fact based business decisions. We offer best in industry consultation services by a group of experts to advice our clients on growing their business portfolio. We understand unique requirements of our clients so as to provide tailored - made research services. We focused on maintaining long lasting relationship with our clients by catering to their research requirements and providing them with consulting services. We highly respect our clients confidentiality by adherence to advanced methods for data security and privacy.Our success depends on success and satisfaction of our clients. We have successful relationship with our clients who recognize that not only we provide solutions to their business problems but also that we always respect our confidentiality commitments. The high proportion of business we get from clients speaks about the quality of research services offer by us.(Early Buyer will receive 10% customization in this report.)Click To Buy Full Premium Report @About Crystal Market Research:Crystal Market Research is a U.S. based market research and business intelligence company. Crystal offers one stop solution for market research, business intelligence, and consulting services to help clients make more informed decisions. It provides both syndicated as well as customized research studies for its customers spread across the globe. The company offers market intelligence reports across a broad range of industries including healthcare, chemicals & materials, technology, automotive, and energy.Contacts UsJudy | 304 South Jones Blvd, Suite 1896,Las Vegas NV 89107,United StatesE-mail: sales@crystalmarketresearch.com | Ph: +1-888-213-4282 Polymer Nanofiber Market Leading Top 10 Key Players eSpin Technologies (U.S.), SNS Nano Fiber Technology (U.S.), Ahlstrom Corporation (FINLAND), DuPont (U.S.) Polymer Nanofiber Market Leading Top 10 Key Players eSpin Technologies (U.S.), SNS Nano Fiber Technology (U.S.), Ahlstrom Corporat https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4416 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/polymer-nanofiber-market-4416 Polymer Nanofiber Market 2018 to 2023 focus on business Intelligence for revenue-generating processes, market research future illustrated some of the typical ways that is used to improve key revenue generation processes. Fundamentally, Polymer Nanofiber market analysis, new technology, scope, stake, progress, trends and opportunities are about using detailed and specific business information about client.Get sample updated sample report now @Key Players:The prominent players in the Global Polymer Nanofiber Market are eSpin Technologies (U.S.), SNS Nano Fiber Technology (U.S.), Ahlstrom Corporation (FINLAND), DuPont (U.S.), Hollingsworth & Vose (U.S.), Donaldson Company, Inc. (U.S.), Johns Manville (U.S.), TEIJIN LIMITED (Japan), TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC. (Japan), and Catalytic Materials LLC (U.S.).Intended AudiencePolymer Nanofiber ManufacturersTraders and Distributors of Polymer NanofiberResearch and Development InstitutesPotential InvestorsRaw Material SuppliersNationalized LaboratoryPolymer Nanofiber Market research report spread across 140 Pages consist 33 Tables and 12 Figures also include Top 10 Global key players that sharing latest types, technology, application by 2023.Since the Nanofibers are used widely in the drug delivery technology and the global drug delivery technology market is growing rapidly, which, in turn, is expected to fuel the demand for polymer Nanofiber during the forecast period. Furthermore, the Global Naonofiber Market is set to reach ~USD 1 billion mark during the forecast period. This is attributed to growing demand for Nanofibers for air & liquid filters and increasing usage as catalysts. Polymer Nanofibrous media holds a great advantage over the microfibers in filtration, and Nanofiber webs can act as protective fabrics against environmental and infectious agents in hospitals, offices and homes, which may help push of the product in coming years. However, the synthesis techniques of polymer Nanofibers comes with some drawbacks, which may act as restraining factor in the growth trajectory of the global polymer Nanofiber market.Regional Analysis:Geographically, the Global Polymer Nanofiber Market is spanned across five regions: Asia Pacific, North America, Europe Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Among these regions, Asia Pacific is the largest market owing to the big lead achieved by the region in Nanofibers research along with the higher percentage of government funding allocation in the areas of sustainable energy and environment protection. India, Japan, and China are the leading markets in this region on accounts of an increasing investment in major end uses of Polymer Nanofiber.Access complete report atNorth America is following Asia Pacific in terms of market size in the Global Polymer Nanofiber Market. The U.S. and Canada are the major markets in this region owing to constantly increasing use of various types of Nanofiber materials. To achieve the energy saving, energy conversions, Nanofibers customized tissue engineering and drug delivery systems, Nanofibers are used on large scale owing to the presence of well-established end use industries, aerospace along with sports industry.Segmentation:The Global Polymer Nanofiber Market is segmented on the basis of method, end use, and region. Based on method the market is divided into electrospinning, thermal induced phase separation (TIPS), drawing, template, and self-assembly. On the basis of end use the Global Polymer Nanofiber Market is segmented into filtration, medicine, biotechnology, energy, and others. Regionally, there five major regions in which the market is divided. It includes, Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa.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. 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. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028, Maharashtra, India.Phone : +1 6468459312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Medicated Personal Care Products Market Expected to Reach 20.30% CAGR till 2027 | by Personal Care, TWASA, KPH Cosmos Pvt. Ltd, Edana, Johnson & Johnson, LOreal, etc Medicated Personal Care Products Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1008 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/medicated-personal-care-products-market-1008 The Global Medicated personal care products market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.30% during assessment period of 2017-2027. Characterized by the presence of several well-established and small players, the global market of Medicated personal care products appears to be highly competitive and fragmented. With well-established market in the Americas region major companies have their home in the region and generate maximum market share. These companies have expanded their operating unit in various other emerging regions as well. Moreover the other small and medium scale players are generating revenue from local market.Get Sample PDF Illustration @Global Medicated Personal Care Products Market - OverviewVarious medical companies are working hard to mollify the rising demand for ingredients and medicines that go into personal care products for the skin, hair, oral care, and various other applications. As a large, rapidly growing and increasingly diversified market, product components denote special challenges for medical manufacturing companies. Growing consumer incomes and changing lifestyles influence the global Medicated personal care products industry. Furthermore, the market is driven by an increasing middle class in the East, and growing elderly population in the West, and new opportunities such as halal beauty, mens grooming, and bio-based skin care.Moreover, adding to the growth of the market, better standard of living along with growing disposable income of the working middle-class population in developing countries of Asia-Pacific including China, India, and Malaysia is expected to influence the growth of this market. Rising on-going R&D with technological breakthroughs in the area of processing and cost-effective products were major factors responsible for expanding industry growth over the past decade and the upcoming trend will continue further in the coming years.Key Players for Global Medicated Personal Care Products MarketMarket Research Future (MRFR) recognizes the following companies as the key players in Medicated Personal Care Products Market: There are plenty of large and small market players which operate in this market all over the globe.Personal Care (US) , TWASA (India), KPH Cosmos Pvt. Ltd (India), Edana, Johnson & Johnson (US), LOreal (Paris), DCC Health and Beauty Solutions LTD (UK). are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Medicated personal care products Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.Regional Analysis for Global Medicated Personal Care Products MarketGlobal Medicated personal care products market is segmented on the basis of geographies or regions which mainly includes Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Americas is dominating the global market for Medicated personal care products with more than 40% share of the total market in 2016. The major factors influencing the growth of the market include due to increasing use of medical personal care products, increasing spending over cosmetic products, growing aging population, and various others.Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market in coming future. The nations in the Asia represent to a portion of the biggest and high potential markets for export growth for the U.S. Individual Care and Cosmetics businesses. Containing more than 20% of U.S. worldwide exports in the sector, the Asian nations offer the business more than 3 billion potential consumers in the fastest growing global markets. This base incorporates customers in developed markets for U.S. products, for example, Japan, Australia and South Korea, which together represented more than $1 billion in U.S. individual care and cosmetics export trades in 2015 to China, which at an estimated USD 500 to USD 600 million in U.S. exports that same year, is anticipated to become the largest global market for cosmetics in the next two to three years agents.What's more, the nations incorporated into the Asia Personal Care and Cosmetics Guide give access to some of the most highest potential future marketsincluding the developing white collar class in nations crossing from Indonesia to Vietnam to Malaysia. These purchasers seek to the quality and refinement for which U.S. products are known. As of now these business sectors source the vast majority of their fundamental individual care products from mass market U.S. organizations including Procter and Bet, Johnson and Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive. Progressively these consumers are moving past the basics to premium skin and hair care and also color cosmetics opening opening the way to a wide variety of U.S. based beauty care products exporters.The Middle East & Africa holds the least share of the global market due to limited availability of biotechnology facilities. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are expected to drive the Middle East & African market. Whereas, the African region is expected to witness a moderate growth.Browse Complete Report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureHadapsar, Pune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Cystic Acne Market 10.0% CAGR Achieve by 2023 along with Pfizer Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Hexal AG, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, etc Cystic Acne Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1723 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/cystic-acne-market-1723 The Global Cystic Acne Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10% during the forecast period 2017-2023. The market of the cystic acne is much higher in the Americas region due to well develop technology and increasing population base. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, around 50 million Americans get affected annually with acne, and it is the most common skin condition in the Americas. Also, major players in this market have their focus to capture the huge share of emerging markets such as India and China. According to American Academy of Dermatology Association, in 2016 the costs associated with the treatment of acne exceed $3 billionEurope is also considering the huge market for cystic acne market, owing to government support for research & development and availability of funds for research. Additionally, Government is more focused to educate their public in order to minimize the patient population.Get Sample PDF Illustration @Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa region are considering the big market. Whereas, countries like India and China of Asia Pacific region are considering fastest growing region due to the presence of rapidly huge patient population, and high healthcare expenditure. Additionally, countries from this region looking forward to adopt advanced technology and treatment from developed nation in order to improve the quality of life for their citizen. Whereas the Middle East and Africa are the low market due to his incapability of investment.Cystic Acne Market - SketchThe Global Cystic Acne Market is rising with a swift pace. Mainly owing to increase in patient population. According to American Academy of Dermatology, in 2015, 60,000,000 Americans have active acne and around 20,000,000 have acne badly enough to cause scars. Increasing consumer awareness about the benefits associated with disposal cystic acne, increasing the demands globally. The factors that cause cystic acne are too much oil produce in the glands of the skin and growth of bacteria called P. acnes. Moreover, advancing technology in healthcare is adding fuel to the growth of the market.Rising prevalence of this conditions both in developed and developing countries is driving the cystic acne market growth. The skin care industry and research laboratories are involved in research and development to provide the better treatment. According to Leon H. Kircik, M.D., clinical associate professor of dermatology at Indiana University School of Medicine, recent research on severe and moderate acne patients with inflammatory acne helps to confirm the strength and efficacy of fixed-dose combination gel adapalene/benzoyl peroxide 0.3%/2.5%.Key Players for Global Cystic Acne MarketSome of the key players in this market are GlaxoSmithKline plc (U.K), Pfizer Inc. (U.S.), Abbott Laboratories (U.S.), Hexal AG (Germany), F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd (Switzerland), Alma Lasers Inc. (Israel), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.K), National Biological Corp. (U.S.), Herbert Waldmann GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), Sylvan Company (U.S.), and DUSA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (U.S.)Segments for Global Cystic Acne MarketThe global cystic acne market is segmented on the basis of causes, long-term effects, treatment type, and end user.On the basis of the causes, it is segmented into hormonal imbalances, occlusive skin products, drugs/chemical side effects, and others.On the basis of the long-term effects, it is segmented into ice pick scars, larger pits on the skin, shallow depressions, hypertrophic scarring, and others.On the basis of the treatment type, it is segmented into topical medications, drainage & extraction procedure, laser therapy, microdermabrasion, and others.On the basis of the end user, it is segmented into hospitals, clinics, research laboratories, and others.Get Complete Access of Report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureHadapsar, Pune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Photo: The Canadian Press Attorney Michael Avenatti, left, leaves the Los Angeles Police Department Pacific Division after posting bail for a felony domestic violence charge. The Los Angeles district attorney declined to prosecute attorney Michael Avenatti on felony domestic abuse charges on Wednesday and referred allegations that he roughed up his girlfriend to the city attorney for a possible misdemeanour case. Avenatti, 47, was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence last week after his girlfriend told police he abused her at his Los Angeles apartment following an argument. A restraining order against Avenatti was issued after actress Mareli Miniutti said he dragged her by the arm across a bedroom floor. Avenatti, who had called the allegations "completely false" and a fabrication, said in a statement he was thankful the district attorney had rejected the charges and was "especially grateful for justice" at Thanksgiving. "I am completely innocent. I have absolute faith in the system that I will be fully exonerated," Avenatti told The Associated Press. "This whole thing is bogus." A spokeswoman for the district attorney would not say why prosecutors declined to take the case from Los Angeles police. Documents supporting the decision were not released because the case was referred to the city attorney and was still under investigation. The city attorney's office will review the case, a spokesman said. Avenatti, who is mulling a presidential run, is best known as the attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels, who has said she had an affair with President Donald Trump in 2006, a claim Trump denies. As Daniels' lawyer, Avenatti has pursued the president and those close to him relentlessly for months, taunting Trump in interviews and baiting him and his lawyers in tweets. Boron Market is Expected to Account for US$ 2650 million by 2022 | Global Key players - Eti Maden, Rio Tinto, Searles Valley Minerals, Minera Santa Rita, Borax Argentina Boron Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/116018 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/116018/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/116018 Global Boron Market Report 2018 explores future trends for supply, demand and market growth rate, market size, prices, trading, competition and value chain as well as Key Players of the industrys information with forecast from 2018 to 2022.Global Boron Market Overview:According to Market Analyst, Global Boron Market is projected to grow at a healthy growth rate from 2018 to 2022.Request Report Sample@With the slowdown in world economic growth, the Boron industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Boron market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 2.63% from 1850 million $ in 2014 to 2000 million $ in 2017, According to Market Analyst in the next few years, Boron market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2022, The market size of the Boron will reach 2650 million $.The Global Boron Market research report is the study prepared by analysts, which contain a detailed analysis of drivers, restraints, and opportunities along with their impact on the Boron Market growth.Boron as a raw material, is used by major industries such as agriculture, glass, building and construction, detergents, ceramics, and pharmaceuticals. Growing demand for electronic products and increasing penetration of fiberglass in markets conventionally held by concrete and steel, are expected to drive boron market growth. Fiberglass penetration in turbine blades in wind power generation is also expected to positive influence on boron market development.This report focuses on detailed segmentations of the market, combined with the qualitative and quantitative analysis of each and every aspect of the classification based on Product Type, Industry and Region. On the Basis of Product Type segment, Market is sub segmented into Salt Lake Source, Mine Source. Based on Industry segment, Market is sub segmented into Glass, Ceramics, Agriculture, Detergents.Regionally, China is the largest market for boron in the world in terms of consumption. In terms of production, Turkey is the global leader of boron and its derivatives.Purchase this premium research report with 125 Pages and No. of Table of contents, List of table atThe Market is segmented and projected on the basis of major key players:1 Eti Maden2 Rio Tinto3 Searles Valley Minerals4 Minera Santa Rita5 Borax Argentina6 QuiboraxThe Market is segmented and projected on the basis of major Region Segmentation1 North America Country (United States, Canada)2 South America3 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)4 Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)5 Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @Key Questions Answered in this Report:1 What will the market size be in 2022?2 What is driving this market??3 What are the challenges to market growth?4 Who are the key players in Boron Market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players?TABLE OF CONTENTSGlobal Boron Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Boron Product Definition2 Global Boron Market Manufacturer Share and Market Overview3 Manufacturer Boron Business Introduction4 Global Boron Market Segmentation (Region Level)5 Global Boron Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)6 Global Boron Market Segmentation (Industry Level)7 Global Boron Market Segmentation (Channel Level)8 Boron Market Forecast 2018-20229 Boron Segmentation Product Type10 Boron Segmentation Industry11 Boron Cost of Production Analysis12 ConclusionAbout 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 Projection On Luxury Plumbing Fixtures market Analysis On Top Manufactures Cera Sanitaryware, Natphil, The Noble Corporation,Bradley Corporation, Delta, Gerber, Kohler, Sterling Faucet Company, Matco-Norca https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/797208/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/797208/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/luxury-plumbing-fixtures-market https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/industrial-air-filtration-market/?utm_source=RR-openpr&utm_medium=DC https://www.marketstudyreport.com MarketStudyReport.com offers 2017 report on Global Luxury Plumbing Fixtures market that evaluates industry growth trends through historical data and estimates future prospects based on comprehensive research. The report extensively provides the market share, growth, trends and forecasts for the period 2017-2024.Rising purchasing power coupled with increasing demand for premium and advanced bathrooms and kitchens are key factors fueling luxury plumbing fixtures market growth. Factors such as government supported residential building upgradation and renovations due to disaster will propel the industry expansion. Key trending factors including integrated high-low sprinklers thermostatic faucets and chromotherapy to integrate bathroom spaces will drive luxury plumbing fixtures demand.Luxury plumbing fixtures market from residential application will witness growth over 4.9% up to 2024. Thriving population growth, increase in new housing supply and easy mortgage rates are expected to drive segment growth. Affordable government housing initiatives influencing customers focus towards premium interiors will boost the sector growth. In the UK, changes in the pension systems is encouraging aging population empty nesters' to spend more on home interiors and renovations.Request a sample of this premium report at:Rising purchasing power coupled with increasing demand for premium and advanced bathrooms and kitchens are key factors fueling luxury plumbing fixtures market growth. Factors such as government supported residential building upgradation and renovations due to disaster will propel the industry expansion. Key trending factors including integrated high-low sprinklers thermostatic faucets and chromotherapy to integrate bathroom spaces will drive luxury plumbing fixtures demand.Inclination towards new and improved designs & technology for comfort and aesthetics will stimulate product penetration in residential and commercial sector. Introduction of various innovative products including water efficient systems will create lucrative opportunities for luxury plumbing fixtures market growth. Increasing preference for low flush toilets with wastewater collection and treatment system will enhance the product penetration. Hospitality industry expansion owing to increased leisure and business tourism will support luxury plumbing fixtures market demand in commercial sector.Advancements in the plumbing technologies including heated seat and dual flush toilets will propel industry growth. Product innovations such as touchless and sensor operated fixtures specifically from the commercial sectors will stimulate the luxury plumbing fixtures market demand.Rise in bathroom and kitchen remodeling projects among middle class population will support the product demand. However, high and fluctuating prices of metals and ceramic used in manufacturing may impact the industry expansion. Stringent regulations to meet the efficiency and safety of products are among the major challenges faced by the luxury plumbing fixtures market players.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:APAC luxury plumbing fixtures market accounted for more than 25% of overall industry share in 2016. Increase in urbanization and change in lifestyle specifically in China, India, and Thailand will drive segment growth. Easy product availability in India and China owing to the country's recognition as manufacturing hub will provide opportunities for industry expansion.Global luxury plumbing fixtures market share is highly fragmented owing to the low entry barriers in the industry. Some of the key players of the industry include Cera Sanitaryware, Bradley Corporation, Delta, Gerber and Kohler. Other key industry player in the industry include Sterling Faucet Company, Natphil, The Noble Corporation, Matco-Norca, Fiberez Bathware and Toto.Complete report for 2017-2024 on Luxury Plumbing Fixtures market is now available atRelated Report:Global Industrial Air Filtration Market 2017 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2024Global Industrial Air Filtration Market research report is added by Market Study report by covering all major market aspects. The report also touches the key scenarios like top players, competition, types, applications, regions, recent developments and future market predictions.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite: Content Analytics Discovery And Cognitive Systems Market Size and Share 2017-2027: Microsoft Corporation, IBM Corporation, Google Inc., Symantec Corporation, Palantir Technologies, Inc., Recommind, Inc. https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/12933 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/toc/12933 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/checkout?rep_id=12933&licType=S MarketResearchReports.biz announces the availability of a report on the evolving market of "Content Analytics Discovery And Cognitive Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2017-2027.Information can be a strategic asset for an organisation which can reduce business risks, enable better customer relationships and drive better decision making. With tremendous surge in the diversity and volume of data, the need is more urgent to extract information across the organisation. Content analytics, discovery and cognitive systems enable user to connect customers and employees with right insights and information at right time that can help in growth of the organisation.Global Content Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market: SegmentationGlobal content analytics, discovery, and cognitive systems market is classified into type, vertical, and region.The worldwide content analytics, discovery, and cognitive systems market can be segmented on the basis oftypewhich includes solution and service. The solution segment can be sub-segmented into content analytics solution and cognitive computing solution. The content analytics solution sub-segment can be further categorised into text analytics, speech analytics, social media analytics, e-discovery & navigation tools, web analytics and other. The cognitive computing solution includes automated reasoning, machine learning, natural language processing and other. The service segment can be further sub-segmented into consulting service, integration service, implementation service and maintenance service. Vertical wise, the market is segmented into BFSI, media & entertainment sector, healthcare sector, public sector, retail sector, transportation & logistics sector, manufacturing sector, IT & telecom sector and energy and utility sector. Region wise, market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), and Middle East and Africa (MEA).Request to Get Sample Copy of This Report @Global Content Analytics, Discovery and Cognitive Systems Market: Region-wise OutlookThe worldwide content analytics, discovery, and cognitive systems market is projected to register a considerable growth in terms of CAGR during the forecast period. The content analytics, discovery and cognitive systems are gaining traction across verticals, which in turn is expected to create huge growth opportunity for key players operating in the content analytics, discovery and cognitive systems market.Global Content Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market: DriversThe digital data is continuously increasing at a fast rate and this complex data are available in different format such as video, images and text. Business organisations across the globe are facing problem in terms of managing and analysing these huge sets of unstructured data. Thus, they require advanced content analytic tools and cognitive systems in order to extract valuable information from the both structured as well as unstructured. This is encouraging major players operating in the market to introduce content analytics, discovery and cognitive systems equipped with advanced technology.Global Content Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market: RestraintsLack of awareness across end user verticals in emerging markets such as Brazil, India and Indonesia is one of the major factors which is expected to hinder growth of the global content analytics, discovery and cognitive systems market to some extent.Global Content Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market: Competitive LandscapeKey players in the global content analytics, discovery and cognitive systems market focus on acquisition and mergers, and introduction of advanced solutions in order to enhance customer experience and outperform competitors. For example in 2016, Microsoft launched Azure Mobile Engagement a real-time analytical tool that enables real-time in-app messaging across all connected devicesRequest to Get Complete Report List Of Tables and Figures @Global Content Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global content analytics, discovery and cognitive systems market are Microsoft Corporation, IBM Corporation, Google Inc., Symantec Corporation, Palantir Technologies, Inc., Recommind, Inc.and OpenText Corporation etc.The report covers exhaustive analysis on:Content Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market SegmentsContent Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market DynamicsHistorical Actual Market Size, 2012 - 2014Content Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market Size & Forecast 2017 to 2027Supply & Demand Value ChainContent Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market Current Trends/Issues/ChallengesCompetition & Companies involvedTechnologyValue ChainContent Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market Drivers and RestraintsRegional analysis for Content Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Systems Market includesNorth AmericaUS & CanadaLatin AmericaBrazil, Argentina & OthersWestern EuropeEU5NordicsBeneluxEastern EuropeAsia PacificAustralia and New Zealand (ANZ)Greater ChinaIndiaASEANRest of Asia PacificJapanMiddle East and AfricaGCC CountriesOther Middle EastNorth AfricaSouth AfricaOther AfricaThe report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.Request to Buy This Premium Report From Here @Report Highlights:Detailed overview of parent marketChanging market dynamics of the industryIn-depth market segmentationHistorical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and valueRecent industry trends and developmentsCompetitive landscapeStrategies of key players and product offeringsPotential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growthA neutral perspective towards market performanceMust-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintMarketResearchReports.biz is a seller of syndicated market studies, featuring an exhaustive collection of research reports from leading international publishers. Our repositoryis diverse, spanningvirtually every industrial sector and even more every category and sub-category within the industry. We also provide consulting services to enable our clients have adynamicbusiness perspective.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Asia Pacific Advanced Polymer Composites Market will grow at 8% CAGR up to 2024 | SGL Carbon SE, Solvay S.A., Kemrock Industries, Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd Advanced Polymer Composites Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/1175 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/advanced-polymer-composites-market https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1175 https://www.gminsights.com The Advanced Polymer Composites Market Research Report Forecast 2018-2024 is a valuable source of insightful data for business strategists. It provides the Advanced Polymer Composites Market overview with growth analysis and historical & futuristic cost, revenue, demand and supply data (as applicable). The research analysts provide an elaborate description of the value chain and its distributor analysis.Resins accounted for more than 55% of the overall advanced polymer composite market volume in 2017. Major resins include epoxy resins, phenolic resins and polyester resins. The high tensile strength and the anti-abrasion properties of the product will augment the advanced polymer composites market in the near future.Sample copy of this report @According to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Advanced Polymer Composites Market size is forecast to exceed USD 17 billion by 2025The increasing need of high performance composites is to make components such as auto parts, wind blades, aviation components, boat structures and electrical conductors. Epoxy resins owing to high adhesive and water resistance properties are widely used in the boat building industry. Furthermore, high electric & flame resistance along with excellent mechanical strength makes them suitable to find widespread applications in electrical materials and metal bonding which will surely amplify the advanced polymer composites market size in the coming years.Advanced polymer composite market size for application in autoparts is projected to rise at a CAGR over 7.5% by 2025. In order to reduce GHG emissions from automobiles, various regulatory agencies such as Federal Highway Administration, U.S. EPA and EU Commission for Transportation have stipulated guidelines and legislations to reduce gross vehicular weight.This trend has been instrumental in driving plastics and composites demand in automotive components as an alternative to metals & alloys. which will make noteworthy contribution to the overall advanced polymer composites industry share in the near future. Similarly, growing requirement for high performance luxury vehicles for weight reduction, that enhances the vehicles performance as it improves power to weight ratio. Therefore, escalating commercial and personal vehicle demand across the globe will positively influence the complete advanced polymer composites market size in the coming years.Browse Report Summery @In 2017, North America advanced polymer composites market size was over USD 3 billion. Advancements in terms of product development coupled with presence of major multinational companies have provided North America with growth advantage over other regions in the recent years. Drifting regional trend towards wind energy generation will positively influence the product demand. Moreover, strong aerospace industry in the U.S. will complement regional growth in the coming years.Sturdy growth in the aerospace industry, including commercial and civil airlines are the prime factors driving the advanced polymer composites market size in the coming years. The product delivers superior mechanical features including high abrasion resistance and strength, which makes it appropriate to find operations in aircraft parts production. Rising urbanization and increasing consumer spending power will propel the number of airline passengers globally. For instance, in 2006, the overall revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) was more than 4 billion and is poised to exceed 15 billion RPK by 2033.Rapid rise in the aircraft production with reduction in airline fares will accelerate the product demand in the expected timeframe. Advanced polymer composites market size is also influencing the automotive market with light weight and strong vehicle parts. For instance, global vehicle manufacturing in 2013 was roughly around 87 million units and is expected to exceed 130 million units over the forecast period. Socio economic aspects such as improved lifestyles and increasing disposable income has considerably propelled the automotive sales across the globe.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @High cost of production and high product prices may prove to thrive as an obstacle in the growth of advanced composite market size in the expected time period. However, drifting focus towards renewable power generation sources will positively drive the product demand for manufacturing blades used in wind energy plants. Moreover, the global wind capacity is likely to observe growth over 12% by 2025, particularly due to the decreasing fossil fuel dependency for energy generation.About Global Market InsightsGlobal 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 biotechnologyContact UsArun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1 888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: Codeine Market Anticipated for Progressive CAGR Growth during 2018 2023 | Analysis by Global Key Manufacturers UNDOC, Apollo, GINAD, Aesica, Narconon, Actavis, Novartis, Human well healthcare group Codeine Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/118316 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/118316/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/118316 Global Codeine Market 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 Codeine Market Overview:The report spread across 127 pages is an overview of the Global Codeine Market Report 2018. The Global Codeine Market is projected to grow at a healthy growth rate from 2018 to 2023 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 @The Global Codeine Market research report is the study prepared by analysts, which contain a detailed analysis of drivers, restraints, and opportunities along with their impact on the Codeine Market growth.The Codeine is an opiate used to treat pain, as a cough medicine, and for diarrhea. It is typically used to treat mild to moderate degrees of pain. Greater benefit may occur when combined with paracetamol (acetaminophen) or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as aspirin or ibuprofen. Evidence does not support its use for acute cough suppression in children or adults. In Europe it is not recommended as a cough medicine in those under twelve years of age. It is generally taken by mouth. It typically starts working after half an hour with maximum effect at two hours. The total duration of its effects last for about four to six hours.The Global Codeine Market 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.This is an expert and top to bottom examination on the present condition of the Codeine Market. The report gives a fundamental review of the business including definitions, arrangements, applications and industry chain structure. The Codeine Market investigation is accommodated the worldwide markets including advancement patterns, focused scene examination, and key districts improvement status. Improvement strategies and plans are additionally examined and producing procedures and cost structures broke down. Codeine Market import / send out utilization, free market activity figures and cost and creation esteem net edges are additionally given.Purchase this report online with 127 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on Global Codeine Market Report 2018 @Major Key Players:1 UNDOC2 Apollo3 GINAD4 Aesica5 Narconon6 Actavis7 Novartis8 Global Pharmaceuticals9 Qinghai pharmaceutical factory10 Northeast pharmaceutical group11 Human well healthcare group and More..............Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers1 North America2 Europe3 Asia Pacific4 Middle East and Africa5 South AmericaGrab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @This study answers to the below key questions:1 What will the market size be in 2023 and what will the growth rate be?2 What are the key market trends?3 What are the challenges to market growth?4 Who are the key players in this market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players?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 Codeine Market.Major Points in Table of Contents:Global Codeine Market Report 20181 Codeine Market Summary2 Codeine Market Report Methodology3 Market Overview4 Codeine Market Competitive Landscape5 Codeine Market Segmentation by Type6 Codeine Market Segmentation by Application7 Regional Perspectives8 Company Profiles9 Codeine Market Forecast10 Industry Value Chain11 Codeine Market DriversAbout 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 Candy Melting Pot Market to Experience Significant Growth during the Forecast Period 2018 - 2028 | Key Players - Wilton , PME , Farberware , Koolatron , Royston , Chocolatiere https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1061 https://www.factmr.com/report/1061/candy-melting-pot-market https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=1061 https://www.factmr.com/ https://factmrblog.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ A candy melting pot is used for melting candies and chocolates at high temperature in minimum time. A candy melting pot consists of removable silicon or stainless steel pot and a heat-resistant handle to carry the container. Candy melting pot offers multiplicity of uses, and candy melting pot also has temperature setting regulator to adjust heat setting from warm to melt. Candy melting pot are generally power operated, but the battery operated candy melting pot is trending nowadays. The rising demand from the mix flavor candies and fresh sweets and chocolates is expected to boost the growth of the candy melting pot market over the forecast period.Request Brochure of this Report-The candy melting pot market in the bakery industry is majorly driven by the space crunch factor and easy utility. The candy melting pot market consists of small players with a high number of Chinese players dominating its sales; very few brands are focused on candy melting pot. Majority of the candy melting pot market operates through e-commerce websites like Walmart, Target, E-Bay and other online sales channel.Global Candy Melting Pot Market DynamicsGrowth DriversLow cost of cable free candy melting pot with the small built-in features is expected to create growth opportunities for the candy melting pot market. Besides, the candy melting pot can be utilized for a variety of tasks such as chocolate melting, fondue preparation, and others. Alternate factors driving the global candy melting pot market is the growing preference for chocolate fondue and candy melts by the consumers. Thus, manufacturers of candy melting pot are concerned about the aesthetics and design of candy melting pot so that it can be served directly on tables from which candy and the chocolate melt can be consumed. Manufacturers focus on resilience and durability of product (candy melting pot) drives the stronger consumer base for the candy melting pot market.RestraintsMarket players for candy melting pot market are also facing some limitations, such as shipping and transportation costs remaining a prime concern for candy melting pot manufacturers. Also, the price of the product varies highly in international candy melting pot market, the difference is mainly due to the growing penetration of Chinese players. Thus, candy melting pot manufacturers face problems of forward as well as reverse logistics. Further, increasing preference for online sales has invited buy-back approach without taking transportation cost from consumers.Global Candy Melting Pot Market SegmentationGlobal candy melting pot market includes the segments such as material type, sales channel, and region.Global candy melting pot market can be segmented on the basis of pot material type as:Silicon PotsStainless Steel PotsOther Material Types (Ceramic, etc.)Global candy melting pot market can be segmented on the basis of sales channel as:Modern TradeDepartmental StoresSpecialty StoresOnline StoresOther Sales ChannelThe global candy melting pot market can be segmented on the basis of the geographical region as:North AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeCIS and RussiaJapanAsia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)Middle East & Africa (MEA)Global Candy Melting Pot Market Regional OverviewCandy melting pot market can be segmented by geography into six regions, namely North America, Europe, CIS and Russia, Latin America, Japan, Asia Pacific excluding Japan and the Middle East & Africa.North America is expected to account significant share in the global candy melting pot market. North America consists of market leaders operating in the candy melting pot market and have the highest share in the region and across the globe. It is followed by Asia Pacific and Europe due to the popularity of homemade chocolate. The candy melting pot market in North America and Europe is increasing owing to the adoption of innovation in kitchen and bakery equipment and growing consumer demand for small and compact candy melting devices. The majority of the candy melting pot demand in Asia Pacific region is served by a large number of small candy melting pot manufacturers constituting sizeable unorganized manufacturing sector of Asia Pacific. In MEA, the briskly growing economies in Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain present lucrative opportunities for candy melting pot market during the forecast period. Latin America is also expected to register significant growth during the forecast period.To know more about Candy Melting Pot Market Trends, check the link -Global Candy Melting Pot Market Key PlayersA large number of manufacturers of candy melting pot are present in China due to growing consumer goods market and high penetration of small SKUs in the region. Wilton is one of the leading manufacturers of the candy melting pot. The company has high penetration in the market due to high quality and low cost of the product. The company also has a wide distribution networks, and its candy melting pot is readily available on online consumer retailers website for international customers.Some of the key players in the Candy Melting Pot market are,WiltonPMEFarberwareKoolatronRoystonChocolatiereThis analytical research study imparts an all-inclusive assessment on the market, while propounding historical intelligence, actionable insights, and industry-validated & statistically-upheld market forecast. Verified and suitable set of assumptions and methodology has been leveraged for developing this comprehensive study. Information and analysis on key market segments incorporated in the report has been delivered in weighted chapters. A thorough analysis has been offered by the report onMarket DynamicsMarket SizeMarket SegmentsDemand & Supply TrendsCurrent Issues and ChallengesCompanies and Competitor LandscapeValue ChainTechnologyRegional Segments Analyzed IncludeNorth America (U.S., Canada)Latin America (Mexico. Brazil)Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain)Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, Australia & New Zealand)JapanMiddle East and Africa (GCC, S. Africa, N. Africa)Compilation of authentic and first-hand intelligence, insights offered in the report are based on quantitative and qualitative assessment by leading industry experts, and inputs from opinion leaders & industry participants around the value chain. Growth determinants, macroeconomic indicators, and parent market trends have been scrutinized and delivered, coupled with the market attractiveness for each market segment encompassed. Qualitative impact of growth influencers on the market segments across regions has also been mapped by the report.Ask an Analyst About this 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 UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Blog:Read Industry News at - Global Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices (CGM) Market http://azothanalytics.com/report/healthcare-pharma/global-continuous-glucose-monitoring-devices-cgm-market-analysis-by-component-transmitter-receiver-sensor-integrated-insulin-pump-by-demographics-end-user-by-region-by-country-2018-edition-forecast-to-2023-r24189 http://azothanalytics.com/research/healthcare-pharma-c1 A 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 Continuous Glucose Monitoring Device Market. The report analyzes the Global Continuous Glucose Monitoring Market by Component (Transmitter & receiver, sensor, Integrated Insulin Pump), By Demographics (Pediatric, Adult), By End user (Homecare, Hospital), By Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Rest of the world) and By Country (U.S, Canada, Germany, U.K, Japan, China, India and Brazil). The report assesses the Continuous Glucose Monitoring Device Market for the period 2013-2017 and for the forecast period 2018-2023.Request free Sample of this Report @According to Azoth Analytics research report Global Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices (CGM) Market: Analysis By Component (Transmitter & Receiver, Sensor, Integrated Insulin Pump), By Demographics, End-User, By Region, By Country (2018 Edition): Forecast to 2023, the global market is projected to display a high growth represented by a CAGR of 21.25% during 2018 2023.Over the recent years, global continuous glucose monitoring devices market has been witnessing growth, on account of several driving factors including rising incidence of chronic diabetes, increasing healthcare awareness amongst consumers, flourishing market for minimally invasive products, new device approvals along with increasing health expenditure in developing countries.Moreover, ongoing demographic shift towards geriatric population with significant population suffering from serious consequences of diabetes, is expected to propel the demand for continuous glucose monitoring devices. In this research report, the market is segmented on the basis of component type, demographics, as well as end user. By component type, the segment of transmitter & receiver is predicted to hold its dominant position in the market, and sensor is the highest growing component. Amongst the regions, North America accounts for the largest regional share in the global continuous glucose monitoring devices market in 2018. However, Asia Pacific is predicted to advance at the highest rate. Presence of vast consumer base, particularly in emerging nations such as China and India, in addition to growing per capita expenditure on healthcare is likely to drive the regional market.Visit us:The report titled Global Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices (CGM) Market: Analysis By Component (Transmitter & Receiver, Sensor, Integrated Insulin Pump), By Demographics, End-User, By Region, By Country (2018 Edition): Forecast to 2023 has covered and analyzed the potential of global continuous glucose monitoring devices market and provides statistics and information on market size, 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 continuous glucose monitoring devices market. Additionally, the report also highlights market entry strategies for various companies across the globe.Scope of the ReportGlobal Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices Market (Actual Period: 2013-2017, Forecast Period: 2018-2023) Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices Market Size, Growth, Forecast By Component Transmitter & receiver, Sensor, Integrated Insulin Pump By Demographics- Pediatric, Adult By End User Homecare, HospitalRegional Markets North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World (Actual Period: 2013-2017, Forecast Period: 2018-2023) Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices Market Size, Growth, Forecast By Component Transmitter & receiver, Sensor, Integrated Insulin Pump By Demographics- Pediatric, Adult By End User Homecare, HospitalCountry Analysis U.S., Canada, Germany, U.K, Japan, India, China, Brazil (Actual Period: 2013-2017, Forecast Period: 2018-2023) Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices Market Size, Growth, Forecast By Component Transmitter & receiver, Sensor, Integrated Insulin Pump By Demographics- Pediatric, Adult By End User Homecare, HospitalOther Report Highlights Market Dynamics Drivers and Restraints Market Trends Company Share AnalysisAzoth Analytics Consulting assists clients across the globe to enter, progress, and develop in the targeted market through our fact-based business intelligence. We deliver practical and implementable solutions to our domestic and international clients. Our focus is to extract relevant information from market and help our clients to sustain competitive advantage over their competitors.Contact InformationDelhi NCR - IndiaCS 55, Third Floor, Ansal Plaza, Vaishali,Ghaziabad U.P., IndiaMail: info@azothanalytics.comPhone: +91 120 429 8235 Automated Passenger Counting System Market 2018 Insights and Trends: Cisco Systems (U.S.), Siemens AG (Germany), Hitachi (Japan), Huawei Technology Co (China), Clever Devices Ltd (U.S.), Retail Sensing Ltd (U.K.), etc Automated Passenger Counting System Market https://www.reportsmonitor.com/request_sample/201572 https://www.reportsmonitor.com/check_discount/201572 https://www.reportsmonitor.com/report/201572/Automated-Passenger-Counting-System-Market Automated Passenger Counting System MarketSummaryAutomatic Passenger Counting) systems can be much more appropriate and of greater interest, as related to this short analysis. It is important to underline that even though most of them are still at a development stage the passenger counting technologies available on the market are various and the issues of different kinds; the combinations of technologies are such that no solution can be considered to date better than others or economically preferable a priori; every solution should be analysed in detail for applying it thereafter to the actual conditions of the public transport system or company.To Enquire About This Comprehensive Report, Click Here: @The report includes an in-depth analysis of the industrial value chain, which provides a detailed view of the Automated Passenger Counting System Market. The Porter's Five Forces model for the market has also been studied, in order to help understand the competitive scenario in the market. The study includes market attractiveness analysis, wherein the end-users are standardized, on the basis of the market size, overall attractiveness, and growth rate.Segmentation by product type:InfraredStereoscopic VisionIP camerasSegmentation by application:BusesTrainsBoatsOtherThis report also splits the market by region:AmericasUnited StatesCanadaMexicoBrazilAPACChinaJapanKoreaSoutheast AsiaIndiaAustraliaEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalyRussiaSpainMiddle East & AfricaEgyptSouth AfricaIsraelTurkeyGCC CountriesThe report also presents the market competition landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/manufacturers in the market. The key manufacturers covered in this report:Ris-GmbH (Germany)HELLA Aglaia Mobile Vision GmbH (Germany)Eurotech S.p.A. (Italy)DILAX Intelcom GmbH (Germany)Infodev Electronic Designers International Inc (Canada)Cisco Systems (U.S.)Siemens AG (Germany)Hitachi (Japan)Huawei Technology Co (China)Clever Devices Ltd (U.S.)Retail Sensing Ltd (U.K.)Syncromatics Corp (U.S.)Trapeze Group (Canada)Key Regions for this market: North America, Europe, APAC, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa.Avail up-to 50% discount while purchasing this report @Technological AdvancementsThe latest and advanced technologies used in the Automated Passenger Counting System Market can be helpful for collaborative seminars, meetings, lectures, and training for industry professionals. Furthermore, in order to introduce advanced products or solutions, leading competitors are expected to concentrate on product innovation through continuous investments in product development.Key Benefits:1.The research report provides a detailed analysis of the Chemical Software Market along with the current and future growth prospects so as to shed light on the prominent investment pockets.2.Information regarding key growth factors, constraints, and opportunities, along with their impact analysis on the Chemical Software Market is provided.3.Porters fives forces analysis elaborates the effectiveness of buyers and suppliers operating in the market, globally and regionally.4.The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the market from 2018 to 2023 is provided to put forth the market potential.Overall, this Automated Passenger Counting System market research report depicts thorough overview of the market, which, in turn, will help the industry participants, consultants, equipment manufacturers, as well as the existing key players searching for potential growth opportunities and the stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies in view of the on-going and projected trends in the coming years.Have Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to Our Industry Expert @Key questions answered in the report include:What will the market size and the growth rate by the end of the forecast period?What are the key industry trends impacting the growth of the market?What are the key factors driving and restraining the Automated Passenger Counting System market?What are the challenges to market growth?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players in the market?Who are the leading competitors functioning in the market for Automated Passenger Counting System?What are the key outcomes of Porters five forces analysis of the Automated Passenger Counting System market?In the end, The main goal of this research study is to provide a clear picture and a better understanding of the market for Global self driving car sales market report 2018 to the manufacturers, suppliers, and the distributors operational in it. The readers can gain a deep insight into this market from this piece of information that can enable them to formulate and develop critical strategies for the further expansion of their businesses.Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like Asia, United States, Europe.About UsReports Monitor is a market intelligence and consulting firm with extensive experience and knowledge of the Market Research industry.Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.Contact Us:Mr Jay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911 (U.S.)+44 203 318 2866 (U.K.)Email: sales@reportsmonitor.com Wheat-Based Varieties to Hold Half the U.S. Snacks Market Revenue in 2018, Finds a New Study https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=50 https://www.factmr.com/report/50/snacks-market www.factmr.com/ www.linkedin.com/company/factmr/ The snacks market in the United States is expected to generate revenues worth over US $ 21 Bn and growing at over 5% Y-o-Y in 2018 over 2017. Nearly 28% of the global snacks consumption was estimated to be concentrated in the United States in 2017. Overall growth of the U.S. snack market can be attributed to,U.S. consumers increasing propensity for on-the-go foodRetail shelves filled with single-serve and grab-and-go snacksIncreased household spending on snacksConsumer preference for healthy snacks and delivery of clean labelled snacksThe U.S. snacks marketplace is strictly regulated by FDA that monitors the aspects of food ingredients and food packaging, including snacks that are imported. Further, rising levels of obesity have significantly transformed consumer preferences wherein obesity conscious consumers are seeking healthy and clean labelled snacks.Get the sample of the report atBiscuits Dominate the Palate of U.S. Snack Consumers in 2018 with over Half the Market ShareAlong with convenience, increasing preference for healthy yet convenient food has led the U.S. population to consume nearly worth US$ 11 Mn of biscuits in 2017. As manufacturers continue to introduce novel flavors, designs and varieties of biscuits wrapped in innovative packaging solutions, the US consumers love for biscuits is set to witness an upward trend in 2018.The U.S. snacks market has witnessed the entry of multiple snack bar providers. Availability of a range of snack bars complements the on-the-go lifestyle of the U.S. consumers wherein the snack bar sales are expected to occupy over one-fourth of the U.S. snacks market revenue in 2018.Supermarket/Hypermarket Leads Snacks Distribution in the U.S.With its extensive network of food retail channels of supermarket and grocery, the United States distributes a considerable quantity of snacks through supermarket/hypermarket. The snacks distribution in the United States through supermarket/hypermarket accounted for nearly US$ 7 Bn in 2017.Although convenience stores outnumber supermarket with their two fold presence, they accounted for the second largest distributor of snacks in 2017. Nearly 3 out of 10 snacks sold in 2017 were through convenience stores and the status quo is expected to continue in 2018.Wheat remains the popular source for snacks product in the United States. Although oats, millets and other sources based snacks are consumed, the United States preference for wheat-based snacks registered over half the revenues of U.S. snacks market in 2017. The demand is likely to continue in 2018 with an estimated increase of nearly US$ 500 Mn over 2017.The U.S. snack marketplace is highly consolidated at the top with the presence of industry titans such as General Mills and Kelloggs among others. Well aware of the opportunities in the U.S. snack marketplace, manufacturers are leveraging expansion strategies to gain profitability.In Nov 2018, globally popular Australian candy snack bar Violet Crumble initiated a partnership with British Wholesale Imports Inc. to expand the retail network in the United States. In May 2018, the food and beverage giant PepsiCo announced plans to acquire Bare Foods Co., a fruit and vegetable snack maker in the U.S. Kelloggs, one of the prominent player in the U.S. re-launched its Special K cereal bars with an aim to introduce healthier options for consumers.Technology penetration and increasing pool of discriminating consumers have transformed the U.S. consumer preference for food wherein they are highly seeking snacks between meals to satisfy food cravings. In addition, demand for traditional snacks is declining with the availability of healthy snacks options such as snack bars, fruit snacks and cookies.The aforementioned insights and numbers are according to a Fact.MR study which also tracks the performance of the U.S. snacks market for the period 2017-2022.Report Overview atAbout FactMRFactMR 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 UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Follow Us on Linkedin: Europe Hair Color Market: Permanent and Demi-Permanent Hair Colors Held Nearly 60% Share in 2018, Fact.MR survey reveals.. https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=305 https://www.factmr.com/report/305/hair-color-market www.factmr.com/ www.linkedin.com/company/factmr/ From continued focus on the naturally-derived ingredients to demand for ethical products traversing preference of generations, Europe hair color market continues on an upward spiral. Hair color sales in Europe are envisaged to exceed US$ 500 Mn in 2018. Majority of the hair color market in Europe is concentrated in Germany and the U.K. collectively these two regions will hold over three-fifth value share in 2018.Permanent and demi-permanent hair color are expected to remain top-sellers in the Europe hair color market, collectively estimated to account for nearly 60% share in 2018. According to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), permanent hair dyes represent approximately 80% of coloring products in the region. However, exposure to higher amount of chemicals are associated with risks of allergy, and in certain cases with cancer, which in turn have raised concerns among consumers regarding permanent hair colors.Get the sample of the report atAll hair color products are required to comply with regulations on cosmetics, which list coloring ingredients approved for use. Over 100 hair dyes have are permitted for use and regarded as safe by the European Union. Cosmetic manufacturers are needed to ensure that their products have undergone scientific assessments prior to their penetration into the market. Hair color products that are regulated under such norms find greater demand among consumers, thereby favoring growth of the market.Marginal Difference Estimated between Revenues of Natural and Chemical-based Hair ColorNatural hair colors have gained prominent palpability in Europe over the past couple of years, with concerns regarding chemical additives in hair care products and their impacts on health increasing among consumers. Natural hair color account for over half over the entire hair color sales in Europe, with revenues expected to exceed US$ 260 Mn in 2018. Gains from chemical-based hair colors in Europe will also be significant, with sales estimated to holdGrowing demand for natural hair colors among European consumers can be attributed to the fact that these products are devoid of ammonia content, which has been associated with significant hair thinning and damage. In addition, occupancy of leading cosmetic manufacturers in Europe has further been favoring development and sales of natural cosmetic products in the region, and hair colors are no exception.The European Union has banned over 1300 chemicals from being used in cosmetics, which include quaternium-15 and propylparaben, primarily used in various lotions and hair care products. This has further required manufacturers to premarket safety assessments, go through government authorization, and mandatory registration. Such intensive procedures associated with use of chemicals has further shifted focus of manufacturers toward natural cosmetic product development.Specialty Stores to Hold Significant Share of Europe Hair Color MarketMajority of the revenues in the Europe hair color market are estimated to be accounted by sales in specialty stores. Hair color sales in specialty stores will bring in over US$ 150 Mn in 2018, accounting for over one-third share of the Europe hair color market. Currently every European consumer opts for both offline and online purchases, and these two channels, specialty stores and online channels, continue to complement each other.Online sales of hair color are expected to hold over two-fifth share of the Europe hair color market, with sales estimated to exceed US$ 100 Mn in 2018. Growth in online sales continue to increase competitive pressures, accentuated by increasing significance of the off-price concepts.Aforementioned statistics and insights have been extracted from an analytical research study of Fact.MR. The report also offered forecast on the hair color market for the period 2017 to 2022.Report Overview atAbout FactMRFactMR 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 UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Follow Us on Linkedin: Photo: Contributed Robert Riley Saunders A Kelowna social worker accused of stealing from Aboriginal children in his care is facing a new set of allegations. A trio of new civil lawsuits were filed Wednesday in Kelowna court against Robert Saunders by three women that were previously youth in his care two alleging theft of money from joint bank accounts and a third alleging general negligence as a social worker. The claims are similar to a pair of lawsuits earlier this month that rocked the Ministry of Children and Family Development, a named defendant on all the claims. Saunders was verbally and emotionally abusive to the plaintiff, one of the newly-filed lawsuits states, adding the abuse was intended to and succeeded in undermining the plaintiffs self-confidence and self-esteem, and undermined her belief that she might be entitled to any form of financial support from the state. All three lawsuits allege the teenage girls were exposed to periods of homelessness, hunger, narcotics and, in one case, sexual exploitation. The suits also name Saunders direct supervisor, Siobhan Stynes, alleging Stynes had direct knowledge of the theft of money and alleged abuse of the kids in Saunders care. Stynes also directly inflicted emotional and psychological abuse on the three plaintiffs, say the lawsuits. As alleged in the civil claims earlier this month, two of Wednesdays lawsuits also claim the teenage girls were coerced into opening joint bank accounts with Saunders, who used the money for his own expenses. With the new lawsuits, Saunders is now on the receiving end of five civil claims alleging he was abusive to or stole from youth in his care. Four have been filed by now-adults that have aged out of the system, while the other is a proposed class-action suit on behalf of numerous underage children. Lawyers says more are likely to be filed. The Office of the Representative of Children and Youth says they have 14 advocacy files they are looking into, and there could be more victims. An RCMP investigation is underway. Castanet News is not naming the adult plaintiffs in any of the lawsuits because lawyers advise a publication ban will be sought in the future. Saunders is no longer working as a social worker, but was found by Castanet News to be employed in adult special education at Okanagan Colleges Kelowna office. In a statement shortly after the first two lawsuits were filed, the provincial government said financial irregularities were first brought to their attention in December 2017. Steps were taken in January 2018 to ensure "the immediate safety and well-being of the children and youth, and their families." The lawsuits, however, allege the ministry didnt move fast enough to restrain Saunders which exacerbated and prolonged the harms caused. The claims allege negligence within the Ministry, right up to Victoria, for failing to properly supervise staff. None of the above allegations have been proven in court. Saunders still has not filed a response to the original lawsuits. Cord Blood Banking Services Market Analysis on Key Players (Americord Registry Llc, Amag Pharmaceuticals, Inc., China Cord Blood Corporation, Cord Blood America) https://www.reportconsultant.com/request_sample.php?id=2743 https://www.reportconsultant.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=2743 https://www.reportconsultant.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=2743 www.reportconsultant.com The geographical sector of the Global Cord Blood Banking Services Market comprises the leading regions in the market during the forecast tenure. Facts and figures that are given on the region leading this market are some of the features emphasized under this section of the report. The competitive landscape section of the statistical report presents information on major key players in the global market. On the basis of product profile, introductions, SWOT analysis and contact information, these key players are selected.The global Cord Blood Banking Services Market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of +11% during the period 2018-2023.Expanding use of cord blood and stem cells in hereditary illness treatment is essentially driving the worldwide line cord blood banking services market towards development. Moreover, expanding mindfulness about the advantages, wide accessibility of specialist co-ops combined with protection inclusion are a portion of the variables impelling the interest for cord blood banking services universally.Get a Sample Report: @Market is segmented by means of product category, application, and region.Global Cord Blood Banking Services Market: Regional Segment Analysis North America Europe China Japan Southeast AsiaType: Public Cord Blood Banks, Private Cord Blood BanksService: Collection and Transportation, Processing, Analysis, StorageKey manufacturers: Americord Registry Llc, Amag Pharmaceuticals, Inc., China Cord Blood Corporation, Cord Blood America, Inc, Cordlife Group Limited, Cryo-Cell International, Inc., Cordvida, Cryoholdco De Latinoamerica, S.A.P.I. De C.V., Cryo-Cell International, Inc., Esperite N.V.Enquiry before Buying: @The Porters five theory and SWOT analysis have also been utilized for analyzing the market data. The major plans accepted by the renowned players for a better penetration in the Global Cord Blood Banking Services Market also form a key section of this study.Table of Contents:Chapter 1. Cord Blood Banking Services Market OverviewChapter 2. Market Competition by Players / SuppliersChapter 3. Sales and revenue by regionsChapter 4. Sales and revenue by TypeChapter 5. Cord Blood Banking Services Market Sales and revenue by ApplicationChapter 6. Market Players profiles and sales dataChapter 7. Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 8. Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Down Stream BuyersChapter 9. Market Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 10. Cord Blood Banking Services Market effective factors AnalysisChapter 11. Market Size and ForecastGet Up to 60% Discount on Buying This report: @If you need anything more than these then let us know and we will prepare the report according to your requirement.About Company:Report Consultant, The Global Ruler in Analytic, Research and Advisory which will encourage you to renovate your business and reshape your approach. With us you can take courageous decision for your business. Using variety of methods and experienced skills we provide you the appropriate analysis figures.You will have a great experience of innovative solutions and outcomes with our Reports. Our Business is spreading all over the world with our Market Research reports and Digital Transformation skills. Thus, we provide greater value for clients by presenting advanced opportunities in the Global Market.Contact us:Rebecca Parker(Report Consultant)Akasaka biz tower,5-3-1 akasaka minato-ku,Tokyo, JapanContact No- +81-368444299sales@reportconsultant.com Reinforced Thermoplastic Pipes Market Highlighting Regional Revenue Share Dominance during 2018-2026 | Market Key Players - Shawcor Ltd., Pipelife Nederland B.V., CGH Belgium, Aerosun Corporation, Polyflow LLC, etc. https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2237 https://www.factmr.com/report/2237/reinforced-thermoplastic-pipes-market https://www.factmr.com/checkout/2237/S https://www.factmr.com/ https://factmrblog.com/ Reinforced thermoplastic pipes marketplace continues to be moderately consolidated and the top 6 players account for over 50% of the market revenue share. Sound operations and robust sales infrastructure, with an emphasis on value selling, remain the predominant revenue levers of these companies. Successful business expansion through collaborations and new product developments prevail as key strategic moves of these companies to gain considerable profit margins.Established players in the Reinforced Thermoplastic Pipes Market are building consensus with end users for ensuring long-term supplies, with an objective of gaining additional benefits. For instance, Saudi Aramco signed a MoU with the Aerosun Corporation in 2018, to supplement the production of reinforced thermoplastic pipe and components. Key companies, such as Thermoflex and Pipelife International, offer extended support to the end-users in selecting and installing reinforced thermoplastic pipes, as a part of their value-added services.To Get Sample Copy of Current Report, Visit Here -Cost Reduction and Enhanced Reliability- Key USPs of Reinforced Thermoplastic PipesThe popularity of reinforced thermoplastic pipes for medium to high-pressure applications has been gaining significant prominence, superseding the vigor of conventional metal pipes. This surge in appeal of reinforced thermoplastic pipes can be attributed to their excellent chemical resistance and high performance, and cost-effectiveness.On the back of myriad benefits, end-users across a range of industries are using reinforced thermoplastic pipes. The concerns apropos of pipeline reliability are likely to pick pace, which is expected to significantly propel the demand for reinforced thermoplastic pipes in the forthcoming years. Fast and easy installation, as compared to that of conventional pipes, is considerably boosting the popularity of reinforced thermoplastic pipes across multiple industry spaces.Awareness about the Need to Fine-tune Performance Aspects - A Strategic Lever for Growth of ManufacturersThe pressure ratings of reinforced thermoplastic pipes have always been a sole performance requirement from the end-user perspective. However, there are other multiple essential requirements, which end users also look for in the reinforced thermoplastic pipes they utilize. For instance, deformation and fracture properties of reinforced thermoplastic pipes are of great importance to the end users and remain among the highly sought specifications.This provides sizeable credence to the fact that understanding the need for fine-tuning performance aspects will enable the manufacturers of reinforced thermoplastic pipes to successfully introduce new offerings to the end-user marketplace. Manufacturers attention to details and end-user specifications, before commercialization of their offerings, is highly likely to help them gain a competitive edge in the reinforced thermoplastic pipes market space.Read Complete Factors about Global Market Report from Here -End-users are showing a marked preference for certified reinforced thermoplastic pipes. The growing consumer emphasis on quality over quantity is likely to boost the prospects of Tier I players; in contrast, Tier III players may witness a decline in demand for their products.Key players, such as Soluforce, ShawCor, Aerosun Corporation, and many more, have ensured the compliance of their products along with standard certifications to make them deployment-ready. Some of the prominent compliances for the reinforced thermoplastic pipes include API RP 15S, API 17J, API 17K, ASTM D2992, and CSA Z662-07. These standards and approvals make it tough for the new entrants to scale up their presence in the reinforced thermoplastic pipes market space.Applications in Enhanced Oil Recovery Likely to Create Opportunities for StakeholdersSurging oil demand and decline in oil production rates in existing wells are foreseen to predominantly push the demand for enhanced oil recovery process. This rising demand for enhanced oil recovery will translate into mandates to explore in deeper and harsher well applications, wherein liner products capable of withstanding high pressures and temperatures will be highly sought.Burgeoning preferences for pipes sustaining harsh conditions for enhanced oil recovery processes will push the demand for reinforced thermoplastic pipes, boosting growth potential of the market. Additionally, the sales of reinforced thermoplastic pipes is also likely to gain benefits from intervention of governments worldwide to encourage and incentivize enhanced oil recovery initiatives.Buy online this Report from Here -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 400, Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Blog: Case Erectors Market is Segmentation By Machine Type semi-automatic erector and automatic erector https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3732 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3732 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-3732 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ Case erectors are machine making boxes that erect folded cardboard boxes in square shape, and finally seal the box, to make it available for industrial and consumer packaging. Statistically paper form of packaging accounts to more than 30 percent of overall packaging market, of which paper box packaging is predominantly used for the industrial packaging. Traditionally, production of case erectors was dominated by countries such as Germany, Japan, and U.S.A, wherein over the years the percentage has shifted in favor of Asia Pacific regions, such as India and China being the key market for case erector. Currently, with the rising growth in food and beverage and cosmetics are a primary reason for case erector packaging gaining traction and highly demanded in packaging.Increasing use of steel material for case erector machine and technological advancement providing automation of case erector machine have increased the speed of paper box packaging which ultimately saves the labor cost of manufacturers.Corrugated material have a high resistive property to absorb pressure which has increasingly derived the attention of manufacturers. Such factors will further fuel the growth of case erector market and are expected to witness over five percent growth over the forecast period.Case Erectors Market - Market Dynamics:With the inventions of robotics case erectors, it has increased the ergonomics of packaging providing customization of different sizes from the same case erector machine which saves a huge cost of manufacturers for installing different case erectors machines. This has substantially created opportunity for the manufacturers to penetrate into untapped region of developing economies by serving multiple segments of industrial and consumers product.Request to Sample of Report @Some the key highlighting factor for the growth of case erector market are increasing demand for food and beverages and cosmetic industry in the emerging region. Also, the growth of industrial development such as manufacturing sector has increased the demand of case erector market. Government and other regulatory bodies augment the use of paper packaging and immense spending of resources on research and development boost the innovation capacity for case erectors manufacturers.Case Erectors Market - Market Segmentation:Global case erectors market is segmented on the of basis machine type, end use type, received order type.On the basis of machine type, the global case erectors market is segmented into semi-automatic erector and automatic erector.On the basis of end use type, the global case erectors market is segmented into food and beverages, chemical and petrochemical, electronics, cosmetics, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, automobile, others.Request Report for Table of Contents @Global Case Erectors Market Key Players:Some of the players operating in the global case erectors market include Wexxar/BEL Packaging, Lantech, Wayne Automation Corporation, Combi Packaging System LLC, Hamrick Manufacturing & Services, WestRock Company, Marq packaging System, Lenze, FilSilPek, Arpac LLC, Recopak Machinery PTY Ltd., Pearson Packaging Systems, and A.B. Sealer Incorporated.The report offers an accurate evaluation of the market through detailed qualitative insights and verifiable projections about market size. The projections presented in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions.The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.Report Highlights : Detailed overview of parent market,Changing market dynamics in the industry,In-depth market segmentation,Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value,Recent industry trends and developments,Competitive landscape,Strategies of key players and products offered,Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth,A neutral perspective on market performance,Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintRequest to Report Methodology @About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Contact UsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market Analysis and In-depth Industry Research on Key Influencer | Teva Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Healthcare, Biogen Idec, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi Aventis, Merck https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/940 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/multiple-sclerosis-treatment-market-940 Market Report Titled "Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market Research Report Forecast to 2023" is a Specialist Examination Report Explores the Industry by Research Methodology, Segmentation, Key Players, and Major Region Globally .Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market - HighlightsMultiple Sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, specifically the communication between the brain and other parts of the body. The disease is characterized by damage to the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. There is no cure to multiple sclerosis.GET FREE SAMPLE REPORT @Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market - Key PlayersTeva Pharmaceuticals (Isreal)Bayer Healthcare (Germany)Biogen Idec (US)Pfizer Inc. (US)Sanofi Aventis (France)Merck (US)Novartis (Switzerland)AbbVie (US)Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market Regional AnalysisGeographically, the regional market is segmented into America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa.The North America dominated the global multiple sclerosis treatment market with the U.S. holding the largest market share owing to numerous developments in the medical sector, and rising numbers of research institutes for better treatment of this diseases.Additionally, the increasing number of hospitalization procedures due to high penetration of healthcare in the U.S. and Canada drives the multiple sclerosis market. In Europe, the market for multiple sclerosis is expected to exhibit positive growth during the forecast period.Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market Growth and AnalysisIts treatment focusses on speeding recovery from damages slowing the progression of diseases and management of symptoms of the disease. The global multiple sclerosis treatment market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.5% during forecasted period 2017-2023.Global multiple sclerosis treatment market is expecting a steady growth in the near future. Increasing prevalence of muscle weakness related problems and increasing elderly population has driven the growth of the market.The most preferred drug classes used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis includeImmunosuppressant (Zinbryta Lemtrada, Ocrelizumab, and Aubagio,)Immunomodulators (Ampyra, Avonex, Gilneya, Betaseron, Tysabri, Rebif, Tecifidera, and Copaxone)Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market - Industry UpdatesAugust, 2016 Teva pharmaceutical Industries Ltd announced the completion of its acquisition of Allergans generics business Actavis Generics. Achieving synergies from the Actavis Generics acquisition and driving efficiency and effectiveness throughout our organization so as to extract the greatest benefit from the Actavis Generics acquisition is the key focus of the company.May, 2014 Bayer AG acquired Merck & Co., Inc.s non-prescription business to become the OTC leader in North America and Latin America & achieve top global positions in key OTC product categories.OBTAIN COMPLETE 80 PAGES PREMIUM RESEARCH REPORT DETAILS ENABLED WITH RESPECTIVE 40+ TABLES AND FIGURES @Major Points form TOC for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market Research Report Forecast to 2023Chapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market IntroductionChapter 3. Research MethodologyChapter 4. Market DynamicsChapter 5. Market Factor AnalysisChapter 6. Global Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market, By TypeChapter 7. Global Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market, By TreatmentChapter 8 Global Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market, By End UserChapter 9. Global Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Market, By RegionChapter 10 Company LandscapeChapter 11 Company ProfilesChapter 12 MRFR ConclusionChapter 13 AppendixAbout 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.Office No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312 Bioactive Fillings Market Analysis and In-depth Industry Research on Key Influencer | Septodont, Inc., DePuy Synthes, Medtronic, Stryker, Zimmer Biomet, SCHOTT AG https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/937 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/bioactive-fillings-market-937 A Broad Analysis of the "Worldwide Bioactive Fillings market methodology of the leading organizations in the exactness of import/export utilization, industry activity figures, cost, value, revenue and gross edges.Global Bioactive fillings Market HighlightsBioactive fillings as the name suggests are bioactive materials and react with tissue surroundings as opposed to bio inert fillings resulting in biocompatibility. These are also called bio glasses and have a glass-ceramic composition.Bioactive fillings are used as implant material in the human body to repair and replace diseased tissue.GET FREE SAMPLE REPORT @Global Bioactive fillings Market Growth and AnalysisThe market drivers for global bioactive fillings market are rise in demand due to growing population and per capita income, technological advancements such as development of bio active fillings with market antibacterial activity, greater emphasis on restorative procedures, rising safety and success of bioactive fillings treatment, and others.The market restraints are poor mechanical weakness, low fracture resistance, poor load-bearing capacity and mechanical strength, possible toxicity, high cost of bioactive fillings treatment, rejection of the bioactive fillings and others.Product development represents the best strategy for the market growth. The market is expected to witness exponential growth over the review period owing to technological advancement in bio fillings and procedures.The development of antibacterial bioactive fillings with excellent efficacy and superior protection is also expected to drive the market. The growing application of bioactive fillings in the dentistry segment is expected to raise the market for bioactive materials.Market development is another strategy as there are a number of unmet needs in the developing regions such as India and China. Cost of the product will be a decisive factor in the developing regions such as Asia Pacific and especially Africa.Global Bioactive fillings Market Leading PlayersSeptodont, Inc.DePuy SynthesMedtronic, StrykerZimmer BiometSCHOTT AGAap Implantate AGGNI GROUP LTD.Arthrex, Inc.BaxterGlobal Bioactive fillings Market -Regional AnalysisThe Americas account for a significant market share owing to high expenditure on the health care especially of the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, the greater number of restorative procedures in the U.S. and Canada drives the bioactive fillings market.Europe is the second largest market in the world due to growing medical devices industry and healthcare penetration. The European market growth is led by countries such as Germany and France. Germany is expected to be the fastest growing market over the assessment period due to its large medical devices industry and its large research base.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly; China and India are likely to lead this market due to fast growing healthcare sector and large unmet needs over the forecast period. The South East Asian countries such as China, India, and Malaysia are projected to contribute highly to the market growth.The growing penetration of healthcare industry in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the future bioactive fillings market in the region.The African region is expected to witness a poor growth owing to poor economic and political conditions, and poor healthcare development. Other regions are expected to be laggards due to poor social development and tribal identities such as sub Saharan Africa.OBTAIN COMPLETE 85 PAGES PREMIUM RESEARCH REPORT DETAILS ENABLED WITH RESPECTIVE 40+ TABLES AND FIGURES @Global Bioactive fillings Market SegmentationThe global bioactive fillings market has been segmented on the basis of material, applications and end user.Based on the material, the market has been segmented as silicon dioxide based, calcium oxide based, phosphorus pentoxide based, and sodium oxide based.Based on the applications, the market has been segmented as orthopedic, dental, tissue engineering and others.Based on the end user, the market has been segmented as orthopedic hospitals, dental hospitals, research and academics and others.Major Points form TOC for Bioactive Fillings Market Research Report Forecast to 2023Chapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market IntroductionChapter 3. Research MethodologyChapter 4. Market DynamicsChapter 5. Market Factor AnalysisChapter 6. Global Bioactive Fillings Market, By TypeChapter 7. Global Bioactive Fillings Market, By TreatmentChapter 8 Global Bioactive Fillings Market, By End UserChapter 9. Global Bioactive Fillings Market, By RegionChapter 10. Company LandscapeChapter 11. Company ProfilesChapter 12. MRFR ConclusionChapter 13. AppendixAbout 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.Office No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312 Egg Allergy Market Analysis and In-depth Industry Research on Key Influencer | DJO Global, Inc., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Breg, Inc., Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals LLC, Ossur HF https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4734 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/egg-allergy-market-4734 Market Research Future recently presented Global Egg Allergy Market study with detailed review, portraying about the Product/Industry Scope and expounds market outlook and status to 2023.Egg Allergy Market -HighlightsEgg allergy is defined as an allergic reaction induced due to immunological nature of egg proteins. The condition includes other allergic syndromes as well such as atopic dermatitis and eosinophilic esophagitis.Egg allergy is more prevalent in children and can outgrow before adolescence. There are majorly five allergenic proteins present in the egg of a chicken.Most allergenic egg proteins found in egg white are ovomucoid (Gal d 1), ovalbumin (Gal d 2), lysozyme (Gal d 4), and ovotransferrin (Gal d 3).Egg Allergy Market -Key PlayersGenentech, Inc.,Novartis AG.,Pfizer Inc.,Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.,Bayer AG,Abbott,Astellas,Sanofi,Merck & Co., Inc.,GET FREE SAMPLE REPORT @Increasing prevalence of egg allergy, consumer awareness and improved allergy diagnosis, increasing incidences of asthma, and increasing incidences of asthma promote the growth of egg allergy market.As per the study published in Pediatric Clinics of North America journal in 2014, the prevalence rate of egg allergy in German children is 0.0004%, 0.6% in children from Mexico, and 1.6% in Danish children. In the United States, 1.3% of prevalence rate was reported.It is estimated that egg allergy market is expected to grow at a CAGR 6.5% during the forecast period of 2017-2023.Egg Allergy Market -Regional AnalysisThe Americas dominate the egg allergy market owing to the increasing consumer awareness among people, and high healthcare expenditure. According to the study published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal in 2013, the overall cost incurred by the food allergy in the United States was nearly USD 25 billion annually.Europe holds the second position in an egg allergy market. It is found that increasing incidence of egg allergy due to egg protein will drive the market in Europe region.Asia Pacific represents the fastest growing egg allergy market owing to the increasing innovation in allergen-free food products, and increasing per capita spending on healthcare.Egg Allergy Market -SegmentationThe egg allergy market is segmented on the basis of diagnosis, treatment & management and end-users. On the basis of diagnosis, market is segmented into skin-prick test, atopy patch test (APT), blood test, oral food challenge, and others.On the basis of treatment & management, market is classified into Oral Immunotherapy (OIT), Medication, and others. Medication is further segmented into antihistamins, epinephrine shots, and others.On the basis of end-users, market is segmented into hospital & clinics, diagnostic centers, research & academic institutes, and others.OBTAIN COMPLETE 85 PAGES PREMIUM RESEARCH REPORT DETAILS ENABLED WITH RESPECTIVE 40+ TABLES AND FIGURES @Some Points form Table of Content of Global Egg Allergy MarketChapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsChapter 3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationContinuedAbout 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.Office No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312 Green and Bio Polyols Market Competitive Insights For 2019: Micromet AG, Cargill, Stepan Company, Huntsman Corporation, Emery Oleochemicals, Roquette, Koch Industries, Croda, The Dow Chemical Company, Green and Bio Polyols Market https://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-green-bio-polyols-market https://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-green-bio-polyols-market https://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-green-bio-polyols-market https://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-green-bio-polyols-market Green and Bio Polyols Market report delivers a detailed study with present and upcoming Opportunities to clarify the future investment in the market. This analysis gives an examination of various segments that are relied upon to witness the quickest development amid the estimate forecast frame. The report also studies the various inhibitors as well as motivators of the Products market in both quantitative and qualitative manners in order to provide accurate information to the readers. The Green and Bio Polyols Report discusses the major players along with their share (by volume) in key regions (APAC, EMEA, Americas) and the challenges faced by the key players.For In-Depth Review | Get Sample Copy@Green and Bio Polyols Market accounted for USD 3.05 billion and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.7% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2014, 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2018 to 2025.The Green and Bio Polyols Market Report Offers Enlightenment of: Market share, value, volume, and production capacity is analyzed on global, regional and country level. The 360-degree Green and Bio Polyols overview based on a global andregional level Supply and Consumption: - In continuation of sales, this section studies supply and consumption for the Green and Bio Polyols Market. This part also sheds light on the gap between supply and consumption. Import and export figures are also given in this part. Production Analysis: - Production of the Green and Bio Polyols is analyzed with respect to different regions, types and applications. Here, priceanalysis of various Green and Bio Polyols Market key players is also covered. Competitors:- In this section, various Green and Bio Polyols industry leading players are studied with respect to their company profile, product portfolio, capacity, price, cost, and revenue. Sales and Revenue Analysis: - Both, sales and revenue are studied for the different regions of the Green and Bio Polyols Market. Another major aspect, price, which plays an important part in the revenue generation, is also assessed in this section for the various regions. Other Analyses: - Apart from the information, trade and distribution analysis for the Green and Bio Polyols Market. A complete and useful guide for new market aspirants Forecast information will drive strategic, innovative and profitable business plans and SWOT analysis of players will pave the way for growth opportunities, risk analysis, investment feasibility and recommendationsSpeak To Industry Experts, Request For Details Report@Market Key Company Cargill Inc., The DOW Chemical Company, BASF SE, Bayer AG, Stepan Company, Biobased Technologies LLC, Emery Oleochemicals, Jayant Agro Organics Pvt. Ltd., Global Bio-Chem Technology Group, E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., Additional Company Profiles, Novomer, Polygreen Chemicals, Huntsman Corporation, Roquette, Mitsui Chemicals, Koch Industries, Arkema, Johnson Controls Inc., Croda, Piedmont Chemical Industries, Polylabs, Itoh Chemicals, Repsol S.A., Ifs Chemicals, Diester Industrie S.A.S and many more.Competitive Landscape:The global green and bio polyols market is fragmented with the presence of a large number of players across different regions. 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 marketTable Of Contents:Chapter 1 Industry Overview:Chapter 2 Premium InsightsChapter 3 Production Market Analysis:Chapter 4 Major Market Classification:Chapter 5 Major Application Analysis: Major Application Market Share Major Down Stream Customers Analysis Others GlobalChapter 6 Industry Chain Analysis: Up Stream Industries Analysis Manufacturing Analysis Industry Chain Structure AnalysisChapter 7 Major Manufacturers Analysis: Company Introduction Product Specification and Major Types Analysis Production Market PerformanceChapter 8 New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis: New Project SWOT Analysis New Project Investment Feasibility AnalysisChapter 9 Market Driving Factors: Market Upcoming Challenges 2019-2025 Market Upcoming Opportunist 2019-2025 Related ReportsToc continued!Get Full TOC @Market Drivers and Restraints: Eco-friendliness and sustainability of green and bio polyols Consistent and adequate supply of feedstock Volatility of oil and gas prices Higher costs of bio polyols than conventional polyols Increasing focus on commercial crop productivity has an additional environmental impactMarket Segments:The green and bio polyols market is segmented on the basis of row material type into: natural oils and their derivatives, sucrose, carbon dioxide recycled polymers.ON THE BASIS OF TYPE: polyether polyols, polyester polyols,ON THE BASIS OF APPLICATION: polyurethane rigid foam, polyurethane flexible foam, and case.ON THE BASIS OF APPLICATION: furniture & bedding, automotive, construction, packaging, and carpet backing.ON THE BASIS OF GEOGRAPHY: North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa.Note: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Make an Inquiry for Discount On this Report@About Us: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 Global Towing Software Market Top Profiling Companies are Towbook, NetDispatcher, Westrom Software, Towxchange, TeleNav, OnScene Solutions, Clearplan, VTS Systems, Marr Software, SwoopMe. https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=175357 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=175357 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=175357 www.researchnreports.com This report provides an in-depth study of the "Towing software market" using SWOT analysis, organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The Towing Software Market Report also provides in-depth investigations of key market players based on various organizational goals such as profiling, product overview, yield, required raw materials and financial soundness. Group.This report focuses on global traction software status, future forecasts, growth opportunities, key markets and key players. The research objective is to present towing software development in the US, Europe and China.For Sample Copy of this Report@:Some of the Key Players of this Market: Towbook, NetDispatcher, Westrom Software, Towxchange, TeleNav, OnScene Solutions, Clearplan, VTS Systems, Marr Software, SwoopMe.The key opportunistic regions in the market and the top trends impacting the development of the global Towing Software market have been presented through this report. The recent growth and development patterns of this market have also been encapsulated in this study. The report also covers the key players and throws light on the strategies being adopted by them for better penetration into the market.The report provides 2018-2023 statistics for each key segment of the global Towing Software market in order to shed light on the expansion patterns presented by the market. Latest figures demonstrating the performance of the market are provided in detail in the report in order to provide a granular picture of the markets latest conditions. This provides the base for consistent predictions regarding the markets growth till 2023.Some of the prominent players operating in the global Towing Software market are profiled in the report for the purpose of detailed case study. The business and financial summary of these companies along with their key strategies adopted have been given in this report.To Avail the Discount on this Report@:The report gives an overview of the impact of the key drivers, restraints, and popular trends in the global Towing Software market. These factors are examined on both, regional as well as the global front, for varying levels of depth of market study. The regulatory scenario of the market, with the help of details of key rules, regulations, plans, and policies in the market, is also examined, presenting an overview of the factors that affect a variety of decisions in the global market.The report, with the help of detailed business profiles, project feasibility analysis, SWOT analysis, and several other details about the key companies operating in the global Towing Software market, presents a detailed analytical account of the markets competitive landscape. The report also presents an overview of the impact of recent developments on markets future growth prospects.To know more about Report Visit @: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 Towing Software market are currently engaged in adopting new technologies, strategies, product developments, expansions, and long-term contracts to maintain their dominance in the global market.Table of ContentsTowing Software market Research ReportChapter 1 Towing Software market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 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 Global Market ForecastAbout Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. 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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.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500, East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States. November 22, 2018: Avocado Media announces their award-winning film "Delaware Shore," directed by Raghav Peri, begins its theatrical run in December 2018 "Delaware Shore". Drama. Written, produced and directed by Raghav Peri. Based on the novel by Michaelangelo Rodriguez. From Avocado Media. (Color, 2018, USA, 98 minutes, not rated) Starring Gail Wagner, Emily McKinley Hill, James Robinson Jr., Kevin Austra, Ed Aristone, Kevin Francis, Sharyn Pak Withers, Jason R. Maga. A Photo: The Canadian Press Albertans dealing with steep discount prices for oil produced in the province expressed frustration Thursday with Ottawa's fiscal update that they say offered little acknowledgment of pain being felt in the oilpatch. But Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in Ottawa the federal government is aware of the "acute issue" of a glut of oil in Alberta that exceeds export pipeline and rail capacity and pledged to be "relentlessly focused" on long-term solutions. Despite increases in world oil prices over the past year, prospects for more activity in the Canadian oilpatch are limited, according to the 2019 drilling forecast issued by the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors on Thursday morning. It calls for an increase of only 51 wells to about 7,000 next year compared with 2017, as price discounts discourage spending on exploration. The industry drilled about 13,000 wells in 2014 before global oil prices crashed. "Other industries in the same situation would be holding their hands out for a government bailout. Yet instead our industry has only asked for government permission and support to get our products to market," said association president Mark Scholz at a morning event. "The lack of action and attention by the federal government to this pressing issue is deafening." He criticized Ottawa for failing to put in place measures to allow the building of oil export pipelines needed to win better prices in Alberta, despite buying the Trans Mountain pipeline and its stalled expansion project for $4.5 billion last summer. Premier Rachel Notley, the keynote speaker at the event, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will likely hear a great deal of frustration as he visited Thursday to give a speech to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and meet with oil and gas company CEOs. "There are a lot of folks here who would be forgiven for saying, 'Gee, if there were this kind of economic crisis going on in the manufacturing sector in Ontario, we're pretty sure it would make its way into the first two paragraphs of the fiscal update.' Yet it didn't find its way into the first two paragraphs," she told reporters. "I think that Ottawa needs to be seized of the matter and I suspect they will be by the end of the prime minister's day here today." In a statement, Calgary chamber president Sandip Lalli said she is "disillusioned" that Wednesday's economic update did not meaningfully address the oil market access problems that are costing the Canadian economy as much as $80 million a day. She applauded, however, the government's decision to allow the full cost of machinery and equipment used in the manufacturing and processing of goods to be written off immediately for tax purposes. At an event in Ottawa, Morneau said challenges are "very significant" in Alberta. "It's much more dramatic than we've seen previously given the enormous difference in the price that we get for our oil versus the world price," he said. "And there are significant economic impacts, the most dramatic of which are in Alberta, but they are Canada-wide. Our forecasts have incorporated that." Alberta has called on Ottawa to help increase crude-by-rail shipments. On Thursday, Notley said the province is willing to go it alone to buy trains to add between 120,000 and 140,000 barrels per day of oil export capacity if the federal government isn't willing to help. That capacity would be in addition to current record levels of crude-by-rail shipments, she added. The National Energy Board reported Wednesday exports reached about 270,000 bpd in September. Second of three parts The Portland passengers on the SS George W. Elder, some with luck on their side as well as strength, courage and resolve, were determined to strike it rich with Yukon gold. After the eight-day steamship journey from Portland to Skagway, Alaska, they faced 600 miles of rough trails, mountain passes, rivers and rapids between them and Dawson City, the gateway to the gold fields. Of the estimated 100,000 who struck out for the Klondike from 1897 to 1899, around 30,000 arrived. The rest turned back due to exhaustion, lack of funds, injury, or despair at the difficulties confronting them. Among those who overcame the most obstacles were lanky, dark-haired 15-year-old Bill Harold from Northeast Portland and his brother, Ed, age 17. Bribing the chief mate on the SS George W. Elder with bottles of whisky, they traveled as stowaways for the voyage to Alaska. Once in Skagway, they met their father to help haul the 1,000 pounds of provisions apiece that were required to enter the Yukon. While Ed would head home after helping pack their goods to Dawson City, Bill and his father wanted to stake their own mining claim along a tributary of the Klondike River. Joining the endless line of people and pack animals burdened with food, tents, sleds, and mining supplies, the Harolds started up the narrow, zigzagging White Pass Trail with all they could carry on their backs. Battling heavy rain, swarms of mosquitoes, fierce winds and drifting snow, they made their way around massive boulders and sheer dropoffs, over downed trees and protruding roots, through icy rivers and spongy moss up to four feet deep, and across mud flats where a man could disappear in less than 10 minutes. Every four to six miles, they left caches of their supplies and returned time and time again until they had moved everything to the next point. Bill remembered the desperate plight of horses and mules on the White Pass Trail. Overpacked and exhausted, they broke their legs on slippery rocks, sank into the deep mire and suffocated, or starved to death. Those who couldnt keep up were shot, their carcasses pulled off to the side or pushed over the cliffs. By the end of 1898, 3,000 horses had died on the White Horse Trail earning it a new name Dead Horse Trail. A.J. Mize of Salem took another daunting path, the 33-mile Chilkoot Trail, which had a gradual incline until it sharply rose 2,865 feet to the pass. When the fortune seekers arrived at its Golden Stairs, 1,500 footholds carved in the snow and ice, many took one look and turned back. Others smeared their faces with charcoal to prevent sunburn, put on crude wooden sunglasses with slits to protect from snow blindness and fixed their eyes on the summit. Holding on to a rope for guidance, they braved winds gusting over 45 miles per hour. The climb was so steep, the pack of the climber in front was nearly over the head of the one that followed. I never saw men work so hard in my life, a man wrote in The Oregonian. Many a stout young fellow has been completely broken down and will never be himself again. Accidents and weather-related catastrophes were common. Portlander Murray Eads fell down a steep slope with a 100-pound pack on his back and was knocked unconscious. Percival Nash spilled a pot of boiling water on his feet and continued walking for two miles while his skin sloughed off. Klondikers trudged the White Pass Trail with all they could carry on their backs. Battling heavy rain, swarms of mosquitoes, fierce winds and drifting snow, they made their way around massive boulders and sheer dropoffs, over downed trees and protruding roots. Credit: University of Washington An 18-year-old with frostbite had both feet amputated along the trail, his fate otherwise unknown. Charles Blackstone and two others were attempting to cross a glacier when a storm overtook them and blew all their supplies and their sled dog over the side. They were found frozen to death. A series of snow slides struck below the Chilkoot Summit on April 3, 1898, the most deadly of which covered 10 acres and buried its victims under 30 feet or more of snow. Despite the desperate efforts of rescuers shoveling around the clock, an estimated 116 Klondikers were killed including eight Oregonians. They were laid to rest in Skagways Slide Cemetery. Upon reaching two lakes, Lindeman and Bennett, stampeders built or bought boats to sail down the Yukon River. When the ice on the river broke in May, Bill and his father joined the massive flotilla of 7,000 other crafts heading for the dangerous White Horse Rapids. During the first few days of the exodus downriver, 100 boats and rafts were crushed on the rocks and 10 men drowned. The Harolds barely escaped with their lives when their boat struck a glancing blow off the canyon wall and careened toward a large rock. His father asked Bill to tell his mother what happened if he didnt survive, bade him goodbye, then yelled for him to jump and save himself. Bill went over several four- to five-foot drops in his bare feet while his father was able to hold on to their wrecked boat. Both suffered only minor injuries and, despite losing over 300 pounds of provisions, made repairs and continued on. When Klondikers finally arrived at Dawson City, they found a rough town of 30,000 where sewage ran in open gutters, saloons lined the streets, and typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and meningitis were rampant. Most quickly headed to the gold-bearing Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks less than 10 miles away. Dont come thinking its a picnic, warned Klondiker Noah Brown about the journey. Portlander R.J. Gerdes was more succinct. It was the hardest trip I have ever taken in my life, he said, and I would not want to repeat it for the world. NEXT: WEIGHING THE COSTS: Oregonians who struck gold and those who lost everything Lynne Hasselman is a writer from southern Oregon. Reach Hasselman by email at newsroom@oregonian.com. A man was rescued after getting himself stuck between an estimated 12-inch space between a Portland commercial office building and a parking garage on Nov. 21, 2018. Updated at 8:32 p.m. A man who got himself stuck in an estimated 12-inch space between a downtown Portland building and a parking garage was rescued by firefighters Wednesday and taken to a hospital. The man, who hasn't yet been identified, wasn't seriously injured and spent at least an hour trapped between the commercial office building and a Star Park garage near Southwest 6th Avenue and Alder Street. Firefighters weren't able to get a clear explanation from the man on how or why he was between the structures before he was taken to the hospital, according to Lt. Rich Chatman, a Portland Fire & Rescue spokesman. Several people in the area called 911 around 5:10 p.m. and reported hearing a man screaming, Chatman said. Police officers arrived, couldn't determine where the screams were coming from and called the fire department. Emergency responders at some point were able to determine the yelling was coming from the man stuck between the two structures. Firefighters suspect the man may have gone out a window on the fourth floor of the office building and slid down one story, where he was found wedged, Chatman said. Firefighters used an office bathroom window to get onto a ledge to access the space below where the man was trapped, but Chatman said it's not immediately clear if the man used the same access point "He was in a very precarious position," Chatman said. "Had he moved the wrong direction, he easily would have fallen another 30 feet." One firefighter was lowered down to the man and placed a harness made of webbing and rope onto him. Then the stuck man was slowly pulled up, Chatman said. Firefighters pulled him up to the ledge around 6:40 p.m. Portland firefighters rescued another person trapped between two downtown structures in 2013, when a woman fell in an 8-inch space between the Gretchen Kafoury Commons apartments and the New Avenues for Youth building. She was stuck for nearly four hours until authorities were able to free her. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com 503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey A man charged with killing two strangers, execution style, in separate downtown Portland shootings made his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon. An attorney appointed to represent James Javontae Barquet, 26, entered a plea of not guilty. In addition aggravated murder charges, the young man is also charged with single counts of first-degree robbery and felon in possession of a firearm. Barquet, a convicted felon from Washington, killed 70-year-old Carol Horner and 51-year-old Brian Hansen with single shots to the head using a .45-caliber pistol, according to a probable cause affidavit. At about 9 p.m. Monday, police found Horner's body under the west end of the Morrison Bridge. An autopsy showed she died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Police found a single .45 caliber shell casing near her body. The casing, according to the affidavit, was silver at stamped with "SIG" and "45 AUTO." Two hours later, police were sent to a gas station in the 400 block of West Burnside Street to investigate a robber. A man, later identified as Barquet, entered the store and asked for a pack of cigarettes. While the employee was ringing up the sale, Barquet allegedly pulled out a handgun and ordered the employee to give him the cigarettes. More than three hours later, by now Tuesday morning, police were sent to the mid-span of the Burnside Bridge where they found Hansen's body. An autopsy revealed he died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Police found a single .45 caliber shell casing with the same markings as the shell found at the first shooting. Police reviewed surveillance video from a camera on the bridge and watched as Hansen, walking westbound across the bridge, was being closely followed by a person wearing a hooded coat, pulling a wheeled suitcase and carrying a small bag. According to the affidavit, a flash consistent with the muzzle flash from a gun could be seen on the video. The person following Hansen is seen running away. At about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday found a man matching the description of the person seen on the security footage. The man, later identified as Barquet, was patted down and a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol was recovered from his waistband. Armed with a warrant, police searched the gun and found it was loaded with multiple .45 caliber rounds stamped "SIG" and "45 AUTO," Multnomah County jail records Barquet's address as the Longfellow Creek apartments in Seattle, a public housing complex. Court documents show Barquet has 11 felony convictions in Washington dating back to 2011. They include counts of drug possession, theft, robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm and riot with a deadly weapon. He was released from state prison on July 11 after serving seven months for felony possession of a controlled substance, said Jeremy Barclay, a spokesman with the Washington State Department of Corrections. Barquet entered a state supervision program two days later, where he met weekly with a community corrections officers, Barclay said. His last meeting with the corrections officer took place Nov. 13, according to Barclay. Barquet's supervisor told Multnomah County authorities he was unaware the suspect had traveled to Oregon, court records show. He is scheduled to appear back in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Nov. 30. -- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh skavanaugh@oregonian.com 503-294-7632 II @shanedkavanaugh Chico-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is asking brewers across the country to brew its Resilience Butte County Proud IPA on Nov. 27 and give 100 percent of the proceeds to relief efforts for the deadly Camp Fire in California. CEO and founder Ken Grossman explained the effort in a note on the Sierra Nevada website. "I'm sending a letter to brewers across the country, inviting them to join us in this effort. We are working with malt, hop and yeast suppliers to provide raw ingredient donations to all participating breweries and are asking those breweries to donate 100 percent of their sales to the fund, as well," Grossman said. "We know that the rebuilding process will take time, but we're in this for the long haul. Our hope is to get Resilience IPA in taprooms all over the country to create a solid start for our community's future." As of Tuesday, hundreds of brewers had pledged support including in Oregon. See the list here. -- Bethany Barnes bbarnes@oregonian.com Rafah Shawa arrived in the U.S. in 2016 with her three young children, "looking for a new life." Her husband was still in Saudi Arabia, and so she had to establish the family in Portland on her own. She was trying to find a preschool for her 5-year-old twins, "but they were so expensive." A neighbor recommended Neighborhood House. "Right away we liked the school," she says. "And we felt so welcome. So very welcome." Neighborhood House, an independent nonprofit that was founded by the National Council of Jewish Women, has been welcoming immigrants for more than 100 years, seeking to be a safe harbor for them during what is often a difficult transition. It is one of 10 nonprofits selected for The Oregonian/OregonLive's 2018 Season of Sharing holiday fundraising campaign to benefit social-service agencies in the region; this year, the campaign is focusing on education and literacy. The agency has a full- and part-time staff of 134 and an annual operating budget of $6.5 million. The organization chiefly relies on state funding, with about 58 percent of the budget coming from government contracts, 27 percent from fee-for-service revenues and 15 percent from private and community support through contributions and foundation grants. Neighborhood House helps more than 6,000 people every year. "The Neighborhood House strives to meet the incoming immigrant at the station, not with the sign, 'Welcome, Lots for Sale,' but with the sign, 'Welcome, Nothing for Sale,' " Rabbi Jonah B. Wise said in 1912, referring to the fact that recent immigrants at the time often were easy prey for fast-talking salesmen and swindlers. "Its purpose is to help the immigrant adapt himself to the new surroundings." The social-service organization's core mission remains the same all these decades later. It assists new immigrants with everything from an "emergency food box" program to rent assistance to English as a Second Language classes. But these days, it also helps seniors stay active and connected. Last year, it took on a financially struggling Native American Youth Association program that fosters in Native children a "sense of identity, belonging and pride in their heritage." And Neighborhood House's signature work is now early-childhood development, via its three Head Start preschool locations in Portland and its Peninsula Children's Learning Center in Northeast Portland. The organization also partners with Portland elementary schools such as Sabin and Boise-Eliot. Its Hayhurst Connect afterschool program provides extended instruction for Hayhurst Elementary students who are struggling. "This is amazing work to be part of," Neighborhood House development director Mari Yerger says, "because this is the time to make a difference in a child's life that will impact the rest of their life." Neighborhood House's early-development programs focus on children's social and emotional growth, but they also make sure the entire family is involved. Staffers encourage parents to volunteer in the preschool classes and offer help with whatever challenges they face, from health-related issues to employment. This includes weekly home visits using a curriculum called Parents as Teachers, which allows a family advocate to understand the home setting, support parents one-on-one and tailor assistance to each family. "Some are social workers, some are parents hired into the program and trained in this model, which we've used for years," Yerger says of the family advocates. "It's a highly regarded, evidence-based model we've had a lot of success with. It's an amazing program that really engages parents a lot." Shawa is an example of that success. She became a Neighborhood House volunteer when her twins started in preschool. College-educated in Syria, she showed an aptitude for the work, and so staff encouraged her to acquire her child-development associate credential. She's now a family advocate for the organization. "It's so fascinating," she says of working with families from a variety of cultural backgrounds and experiences. "And rewarding." Despite Neighborhood House's long track record in the community, paying for its programs is increasingly difficult. "We've never had to raise money for our Head Start," Yerger says. "Head Start broke even year after year. But now we do need to do some fundraising. We need to close the gap." "Early childhood education is a difficult business," she adds. "The pressure to hire people with the highest credentials is very great, but the funding isn't there. Everyone wants there to be evidence-based programming with highly trained educators, but it's hard to provide that when funding doesn't change." The work goes on, with children learning and laughing and playing in Neighborhood House's brightly colored classrooms. "It's done a lot for my own parenting," Shawa says of her experience working at the organization's Southwest Portland children's center. "I take things I've learned and what we do here and apply them to my kids. Even the songs!" She proudly says her twins have been "recognized for being talented and gifted" by Portland Public Schools. "I believe that, for them, being here was a big part of that." -- Douglas Perry What your donation can do $10: Provides art supplies for 15 children. $25: Provides 100 pounds of healthful food through the Emergency Food Box Program. $75: Provides 10 rides to medical appointments and shopping for seniors in need. $100: Covers moving costs and rental applications for a family transitioning into permanent housing. How to donate Send checks to: Season of Sharing Oregonians Credit Union 336 N.E. 20th Ave. Portland, OR 97232 Indian music has always been an inspiration to former Midlander Dan Ripke. Now the musician, who lives in Brighton, has the chance to explore that genre and share it with people around the country. Ripke grew up in Midland, graduating from Midland High in 1992. He went on to study music education and music theory and composition at Delta College as well as Central Michigan University. Ripke explained that one of his earliest influences was John McLaughlin, a British guitarist who dabbled in Indian classical music. "I was intrigued with the rhythm and melody," Ripke said in a recent phone interview. In addition to founding his own music studio in Brighton in 2001 and occasionally meeting up with members of the Ann Arbor-based band Back Forty, Ripke joined Sumkali six years ago. Sumkali is comprised of a core group of 12 musicians - including Grammy winner Peter "Madcat" Ruth and Grammy nominee John Churchville - from India and the Midwest. The group combines the traditional music of India with blues, jazz, funk and Motown, with each of the musicians adding his or her own style. "It's hard to pin it down. We all consider it music." The band tours mainly around Michigan but attends conferences, special events and festivals around the country. They released their fourth album, "Dha Re Dha" this summer. In addition to their regular performances, they have an educational branch that they use to perform in schools, libraries and diversity concerts to showcase the beauty and importance of diversity. "It's tough sometimes to get everyone on the same page, but it's nice to bring people from different places together," Ripke said. Next Thursday, Nov. 29 Sumkali will perform at The Ark, a premier concert venue in Ann Arbor. Ripke expressed his excitement for the event and continuing with the momentum of Sumkali while encouraging aspiring musicians to follow their interests. "Don't be afraid to try new things. Don't be afraid to fail at new things," he said. "If you find something you enjoy and are passionate about, good things will happen. "And be patient," he added. Sumkali will perform at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 29 at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Tickets are $15 and are available at theark.org, by calling 734-763-8587 or at the door. For more information about Ripke, visit www.ripkestudio.com, call 810-223-7653 or email ripkestudio@gmail.com. For more information on Sumkali and to buy or listen to their music, visit sumkali.com or check out the band's Facebook page. R. Earl Selby, an attorney who later became better known as one of Delta College's longest-serving trustees and more vocal advocates, has died following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 65. A graduate of Bay City Central who went on to receive a political science degree from Morehouse College and a law degree from the University of Michigan, Selby practiced law in Bay City for many years. But it was on the Delta Board floor and as host of Delta Quality Broadcasting's "Dateline Delta" since the show's inception 21 years ago is how he made his mark in more recent times. He served three Delta College presidents during his tenure on the Board, from February 1992 to June 2018, twice serving as chairman. During this time, Selby assisted with many major capital projects at the college, including the decision to build a new Saginaw Center, slated to open in May 2019. Selby served for many years as the Delta representative on the Michigan Community College Association Board, experiences he often shared with colleagues because of the insights it offered into issues impacting community colleges. "Earl was a highly valued member of the Board, advocating for its constituents, community colleges in general and Delta College in particular," said Jean Goodnow, Delta president. Selby was elected to four six-year terms in Saginaw County, where he had a pulse of the community. His knowledge of Saginaw, where he resided, and Bay County, where he formerly was a practicing attorney, helped three Delta presidents navigate the political, social and cultural issues that affected the college, officials said. Selby retired from the Delta Board on June 22 and subsequently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Carol, who has many family members there. The couple's two children, Jamila and Matthew, both live in that part of California as well. From his frequent references to Delta "as one of America's leading community colleges," to his consistent plugs for "Dateline Delta" during trustee comments, and as a voice for the educational undeserved, Selby was all in. "Earl Selby was a passionate supporter of both Delta College and its Quality Public Broadcasting radio and television stations," said Tom Bennett, WDCQ general manager. "Q-TV worked with Earl for 21 years on our monthly program called Dateline Delta. As host, he interviewed more than 180 different faculty and staff members. Earl truly believed in the mission of public broadcasting." Goodnow recounted meeting Selby some 13 years ago when she was vying to succeed Peter Boyse as Delta president. "Earl was one of the three trustee members who served on the search committee when I applied to become Delta College's fourth president in 2005. Over the years, it's been an honor to get to know him. He's a very supportive, trusted colleague and friend who provided invaluable guidance. He will be greatly missed." Added Bennett: "Earl's goal was to make sure why, as he often said, "Delta College is one of America's leading community colleges." For a business, seeing a dramatic increase in clientele is a good thing, but when you are in the business of helping the less fortunate, it can be challenging. Over the past few weeks, the Vernon Salvation Army food bank has seen a jump of 20 families a week needing assistance. While they are able to feed all those in need, Lt. Stefan Reid said it is putting a strain on supplies and on staff who are scrambling to keep up and the big Christmas rush has not even started yet. We've been a lot busier the past two or three months. We're just super busy the last two weeks especially, said Reid. We see about 20 new families a week. Things have really picked up. It just seems like more people are needing to access our services. Reid said it is because of the generosity of the community donating money and food that the Salvation Army can help those in need. We need the community support in everything that we do, said Reid. Reid said there has not heard of one specific reason for the increase, other than living in the Okanagan is not cheap. Rent continues to increase, paying heat and light bills and things like that. Sometimes families need to make a choice do they pay to keep their heat on or do they want to put food on the table for their family, said Reid. Here at the Salvation Army we can provide food for their family and hopefully reduce a little bit of stress, especially at this time of year. Salvation Army staff are feeling the strain of keeping up with demand. And the busiest time of the year is almost upon them. Christmas is a huge time of the year for us. Last year alone we gave out $110,000 worth of product, servicing 650 families. Since January alone, we've given out $1.3 million worth of food and clothing and additional support for people in the community. Reid said food supplies are currently holding up by donations are more important than ever to keep the shelves stocked, especially at this time of year. Sen. Jim Stamas recently congratulated area school districts that were recently awarded funds from the state's Competitive School Safety Grant Program. "We owe it to our children to help provide them with a safe and secure environment to learn and succeed," said Stamas, R-Midland. "Thankfully, many of our schools have already made critical school safety improvements necessary to keep our students and teachers safe. These grants are part of an ongoing effort to ensure all our schools have the enhanced security necessary to provide a productive place for learning." The Legislature dedicated $25 million in the state budget to provide grants to improve the safety and security of school buildings through the purchase of technology and equipment and through school building safety assessments. The funding was part of a $58 million investment in school safety initiatives, which also included support to improve access to mental health programs and enhance the state's OK2SAY confidential tip-line program. Schools in the 36th Senate District awarded grants by the Michigan State Police include: Coleman Community Schools -- $248,597 Gladwin Community Schools -- $24,481 Meridian Public Schools, Sanford -- $581,888 Midland Public Schools -- $204,603 A complete list of recipients is available at www.michigan.gov/cjgrants. Click on School Safety. According to the Michigan State Police (MSP), 407 applications were reviewed by a committee that included representatives from the MSP, Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, Michigan Sheriffs' Association, Michigan Department of Education, Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools, school security personnel and the Executive Office of the Governor. The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter John Kennett. Tuesday, Nov. 20 1:49 a.m. -- A liquor inspection was conducted in the 4400 block of North Saginaw Road. 1:51 a.m. -- Officers conducted a liquor inspection in the 6200 block of Eastman Avenue. 1:54 a.m. -- A liquor inspection was conducted in the 3500 block of Isabella Street. 11:20 a.m. -- A 17-year-old Jasper Township male was arrested for felonious assault involving a knife. The victim was his 14-year-old brother. CPS was contacted and a report forwarded to the Midland County Prosecutor's office. 1:07 p.m. -- A deputy spoke with a Midland Township woman about issues she is having with her mother's estate and with her sister. The deputy advised the woman about avenues to pursue with the probate court. Deputy also advised her to keep an eye out on elder financial abuse and manipulation. 1:50 p.m. -- Officers responded to a traffic offense/warrant arrest/other drug at West Wackerly Street and Woodpark Drive. 4:03 p.m. -- A civil dispute was reported in the 1400 block of North Saginaw Road. 5:45 p.m. -- Officers responded to a crash/hit and run at South Saginaw Road and East Haley Street. 5:47 p.m. -- Retail fraud was reported in the 1800 block of North Saginaw Road. 6:25 p.m. -- Officers responded to a domestic verbal dispute in the 600 block of Harper Lane. 7:58 p.m. -- Officers conducted a VIN inspection in the 5000 block of Tucker Street. 8:54 p.m. -- A 23-year-old Lincoln Township woman was threatened by a 63-year-old Jerome Township man. The complainant was referred to the courts in reference to a PPO. 8:36 p.m. -- A domestic verbal dispute was reported in the 3900 block of North Saginaw Road. 10:42 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to Lee Township in reference to a 32-year-old Lee Township man receiving numerous phone calls from a text unknown to him. He believes his 34-year-old Jasper Township estranged wife is calling him off an internet app to harass him. The deputy attempted contact with the woman via text and at her residence. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln officially proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens," to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November, making it a federal holiday. Lincoln's proclamation came in the midst of the Civil War when death, heartache and bloodshed were rampant on American soil because of the ongoing battles. In that time of need, Lincoln urged all Americans to give thanks and to remember their Creator on this special day, a day that we know and celebrate as Thanksgiving. Rotary Day at the UN celebrated two organizations' shared vision for peace on Nov. 10 in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme is "Youth Innovation: Crafting Solutions to Emerging Challenges." November's Rotarian magazine includes Rotary's century-plus commitment to building a more peaceful world through helping develop, and through collaboration with, the UN. I invite you to walk through a brief story of that lengthy history. Writer Geoffrey Johnson begins with a 1914 resolution by nearly 1,300 Rotarians who gathered prior to WWI. "Whereas war is universally recognized as a bloody weapon handed down from a dark past (Rotary should) lend its influence to the maintenance of peace among the nations of the world without recourse to war." Re: the letter Reconsider Trump facts The letter writer suggests another of getting "slanted news" and says he should reconsider his scathing comments about Donald Trump in the letter "Lies and misdirection." Are the Washington Post, Reuters, Associated Press, BBC, and Canadian Press slanted? Hardly. Should 6,420 false and misleading claims in 649 days in office (Washington Post fact checker) make one reconsider? No way. But if one were to believe the news coming from Fox and Friends, Breitbart, Infowars, and Trump himself, then one might be tempted to join the children of Hamelin and follow the Orange Piper. Robert Brown, Cranbrook In 2014 Forbes published a report by Todd Hixon titled "What Kind of Person Prefers an iPhone." Hixon was impressed with the fact that the iPhone held a strong lead over Android in app quality several years after Android surpassed iPhone in market share: new apps and new features keep arriving on iPhone well before Android. What might the characteristics of iPhone users tell me about why that happens. Hixon turned to a market research tool called CivicScience that is very well suited to answering these questions. CivicScience constantly runs surveys on hundreds of web sites, asking questions about products, preferences, and respondents backgrounds. They have compiled a database of over 300 million responses from 27 million people. I searched this database, looking for relationships between consumers preference for iPhone versus Android, their preferences for other products, and their demographics. The chart below lays out a strong foundation as to what kind of Customer Apple's iPhone's appealed to. The data was clear that iPhone users were highly educated and made a higher income than Android users. This particular view of an Apple Customer that the Forbes report painted was echoed by a Business Insider report that same year about Apple and Android users in the U.K. and came up with a similar profile using data from YouGov. Of course times change. The "Apple iPhone" user's politics in 2014 took on a more centrist view while the Android user was painted as holding extreme left political views. Today under Apple's CEO Tim Cook, Apple's base has moved far left equal to Android users. Yet with that said, the basic view back then was supporting the view that Apple users where young professionals, made an above average income and were well educated. Earlier today Patently Apple posted a report titled "New Smartphone Charts for China Show Apple Dipping and Xiaomi Solidly Overtaking them four Quarters Straight," wherein the latest data showed how Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi are now the smartphone leaders leaving Apple hanging on to fifth spot with 9% market share and pushing Samsung into oblivion with 1% market share. China's top smartphone vendors copied Apple at every turn over the years to purposely blur the lines. They introduced new smartphones in flashy keynote events and made introductory product videos mimicking those from Jony Ive, detailing everything to death. Now the Chinese are going one step further. They're creating a mythical profile of Apple fans as losers while those influential in China only chose Chinese brands. If you think I'm kidding, then think again. A new report surfacing today from the South China Morning Post titled "Research highlights class divide between 'poor' Apple iPhone and 'rich' Huawei users in China" is trying to turn the tables on Apple. Earlier in this report I outlined reports from Forbes and Business Insider that used hard public government data to confirm the profile of iOS vs Android user. Now a private Chinese firm by the name of "MobData" claims that "Apple iPhone users in China are generally less educated, hard-up and with few valuable assets, compared to users of other mobile phone brands such as Huawei or Xiaomi." The Shanghai-based firm more specifically found that "most iPhone users are unmarried females aged between 18 and 34, who graduated with just a high-school certificate and earn a monthly income of below 3,000 yuan (HK$3,800 or US$485). They are perceived to be part of a group known as the 'invisible poor' those who do not look as poor as their financial circumstances. On the contrary, Huawei phone users are generally married males aged between 25 and 34, hold a diploma or bachelors degree and whose monthly incomes register between 5,000 yuan and 20,000 yuan (US$2,887). The research also found that a large proportion of Huawei users own flats and cars while Apple users do not. MobData did not disclose the number of respondents who participated in the research." Considering that Apple's iPhones are the most expensive smartphones anywhere on the planet, it's a little difficult for any reasonable person to swallow the line from China's MobData that it's actually the "invisible poor" that are rushing out to buy the most expensive smartphones from Apple in China when clearly they could always purchase cheaper Chinese OEM alternatives. In the end, while the South China Morning Post seemed to cherry pick data that it wanted to use as a positive story for local Chinese brands and a negative twist against Apple, some of the actual data in the MobData report appears to be very positive for Apple. Two of the slides from the full report presented below support positive news about Apple's performance in Q3 2018 over Chinese brands. In the first chart, the translated text from the right side's verbiage for #1 roughly states: 1) "Apple released new products in Q3, performing more strongly, maintaining market share first position while achieving 3.4% user growth. Huawei's performance remained solid, followed by 0.9% user growth. The third fourth is Oppo and Vivo, respectively, the two users in the quarter growth rate is relatively fast. Xiaomi users have decreased. Further increase in market concentration. In the second chart noted above, the translated text from the right side's verbiage for #1 and #2 roughly states: 1) Apple released the new model, the price of the old models fell back, iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 7 plus three old models of the number of users have increased. There was a small increase in the number of users of the OPPO R15 and Vivo y51a two models. 2) Old models have risen. CR5 represents the degree of concentration of each brand model, the model concentration between the four major brands is quite different. Apple CR5 is 64.3%, the highest concentration, although Huawei's overall user volume is second only to Apple, but the CR5 is only 15.1%, the model concentration is low, which is more consistent with Huawei's multi-style strategy, OV model cr% are around 30%. In Q3, 2018, it seems that Apple did better than Huawei in a few interesting metrics as presented above. Yet with the few positive slides aside, the core propaganda about Apple's base being the "invisible poor" could only be swallowed by those in emerging markets like China. A year ago Korea's Fair Trade Commission decided to investigate Korea's wireless carrier complaints about Apple's unfair advertising policies. That was quickly followed by South Korea's anti-trust agency raiding Apple Korea's offices. At the time American political newspaper and website "The Hill" wrote that 'South Korea's anti-trust agency has exhibited alarming behaviour that threatens the viability of companies doing business in South Korea, including such major American corporations as Apple, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle and Qualcomm." Earlier this month we posted another report titled "Korean Wireless Carriers and Competitors are at War with Apple for not Providing Subsidies for iPhones like Samsung does." Today a new Korean report describes Apple facing backlash from smartphone retailers who are protesting Apple's "unfair" policies, arguing they shouldn't have to pay for iPhones used only for display and other promotional purposes and are willing to sue them to force the issue. The Korea Mobile Distributors Association (KMDA) issued a statement Wednesday, stating that Apple's policies contrast with those of other smartphone manufacturers, which provide all smartphones needed for promotional demonstrations at stores and collect them afterward. Apple has increased the burden on retailers by pressing them to buy in-store tester iPhones. The association said retailers had no choice but to accept this due to the popularity of iPhones. Apple has recently released several new iPhones models at the same time the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max and the iPhone X at higher prices, further biting into dealers' bottom lines. The KMDA noted that Apple does not allow them to sell iPhones if they do not purchase demonstration devices and "We cannot hold out any longer." The association also said retailers bear the costs needed to build shelves to display the devices, but Apple also gives them strict instructions on the location of such shelves as well as where posters should be hung. The association said its members are now collecting information on the full extent of the damage caused by Apple's policies. It added it will cooperate with other associations representing retail stores of SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus to respond to the situation, adding it was considering taking joint legal action, including filing a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) against Apple. KMDA further noted that last year, a TV commercial for the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X was paid for by the mobile carriers, not Apple. Korea's anti-trust regulator will make a final decision on action it will take against Apple during a meeting next month. In the end, the world is a big place and yet South Korea is the sole country who has been waging an ongoing war against Apple over the issue of promoting Apple iPhones in retail stores. Samsung and LG pay for promotional materials and give carriers a better deal than Apple. The spoiled carriers want the same treatment from Apple. So is Samsung pushing this war behind the scenes? Are they warning carriers that they might go the way of Apple if they don't make this an issue? This certainly smells like a political campaign and I fully expect Korea's anti-trust agency to drop the hammer on Apple to satisfy Apple's Korean competitors and local wireless carriers. Despite local politics, real Apple fans lined-up around the block to get their hands on Apple's latest iPhones and Apple Watch 4 on November 2. That must have really gotten under the skin of Korea's wireless carriers and especially Samsung who couldn't pay to duplicate such customer loyalty. President John F. Kennedy died on Nov. 22, 1963 when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy had started his term as the 35th president of the United States in January 1961. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, were riding in a motorcade from the airport headed to a luncheon where he was scheduled to speak. They were accompanied by Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie. JFK and Connally were shot as the car passed the Texas School Book Depository. The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital where JFK was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. His body was taken to Air Force One where, before the plane took off, Lyndon B. Johnson was administered the oath of office at 2:38 p.m. Connally was seriously injured and underwent surgery for wounds to his back, chest, wrist and thigh, according to history.com. Kennedy and Connally were shot by Lee Harvey Oswald who was arrested for shooting Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit about 45 minutes after the shooting of Kennedy. Oswald was killed two days later by former Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Kennedy visited Harrisburg in 1960 when he was campaigning for president and in 1962 after he was elected he campaigned for others. His 1962 visit included a speech at the Farm Show Arena. Some popular Kennedy quotes: And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country. Rising tide lifts all boats. This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor. Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind. Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly. The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. Kennedy is buried in Arlington National Cemetery along with Jacqueline, two of their children who died at birth, and his brother, Robert, who was assassinated in 1968. Kennedys son, John F. Kennedy Jr., was buried at sea after dying in a single plane crash in 1999. Kennedy was the pilot of the small plane. His wife, Carolyn Bessette and her sister, Lauren, also died in the crash. A new bridge over Yellow Breeches Creek opened on Wednesday evening. PennDOT announced the bridge that carries Andersontown Road (Pa. 4033) over Yellow Breeches Creek in Fairview and Lower Allen Townships opened to traffic around 5 p.m. Nov. 21. The bridge, which is at the Cumberland and York County lines, was replaced as a part of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportations Rapid Bridge Replacement Project. PennDOT said motorists may notice a slight bump as they drive across the bridge, until a polyester polymer concrete overlay is applied to the deck. PennDOT said the material can only be applied when temperatures are consistently above 40 degrees, dry weather is forecasted and after the bridge concrete has cured for at least 30 days. An alternating traffic pattern will be controlled by flaggers when the overlay is applied next spring, PennDOT said. The overlay is designed to protect the deck from wear and tear brought by harsh winters, and will reduce long-term maintenance costs, PennDOT said. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts clashed Wednesday in an extraordinary public dispute over the independence of Americas judiciary, with Roberts bluntly rebuking the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an Obama judge. There's no such thing, Roberts declared in a strongly worded statement contradicting Trump and defending judicial independence. Never silent for long, Trump defended his own comment, tweeting defiantly, "Sorry Justice Roberts." The pre-Thanksgiving dustup was the first time that Roberts, the Republican-appointed leader of the federal judiciary, has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who has several times blasted federal judges who have ruled against him. Before now, it has been highly unusual for a president to single out judges for personal criticism. And a chief justice's challenge to a president's comments is downright unprecedented in modern times. It seemed a fight that Trump would relish but one that Roberts has taken pains to avoid. But with Roberts' court feeling the heat over the president's appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Roberts and several of his colleagues have gone out of their way to rebut perceptions of the court as a political institution divided between five conservative Republicans and four liberal Democrats. Trump's appointments to the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have themselves spurred charges that the courts are becoming more politicized. As the justice widely seen as closest to the court's middle, Roberts could determine the outcome of high-profile cases that split the court. The new drama began with remarks Trump made Tuesday in which went after a judge who ruled against his migrant asylum order. The president claimed, not for the first time, that the federal appeals court based in San Francisco was biased against him. Roberts had refused to comment on Trump's earlier attacks on judges, including the chief justice himself. But on Wednesday, after a query by The Associated Press, he spoke up for the independence of the federal judiciary and rejected the notion that judges are loyal to the presidents who appoint them. "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them," Roberts said. On the day before Thanksgiving, he concluded, "The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for." Trump hit back from his resort home in Florida, questioning the independence of federal judges appointed by his predecessor and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He especially criticized judges on California's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," the president tweeted. If the 9th Circuit judges are independent, he said, why are so many opposing view [on Border and Safety] cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. ... these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise! Trump has never been reticent about criticizing the judiciary. Last year, the president scorned the "so-called judge" who made the first federal ruling against his travel ban. During the presidential campaign, he criticized Roberts himself for the chief justice's decisive vote in 2012 to preserve President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Trump also referred to an Indiana-born judge of Mexican descent, who was presiding over a fraud lawsuit against Trump University, as a Mexican who would be unable to rule fairly because of Trump's proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. The president's remarks on Tuesday came when a reporter asked for his reaction to a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco that put the administration's asylum policy on hold. Under that new policy, Trump declared no one could apply for asylum except at an official border entry point. That tends to back migrants up for weeks if not months. A number of migrants remain in Tijuana after traveling in a caravan to reach the U.S. Trump complained that his opponents file lawsuits in courts that are part of California's liberal-leaning 9th Circuit. It's not unusual for those challenging a president's policies to sue in courts they consider likely to back their claims. Conservative groups tended to bring challenges to Obama-era policies in Texas, part of the conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. "Every case that gets filed in the 9th Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won," Trump said. The president went on to say about the asylum ruling: "This was an Obama judge. And I'll tell you what, it's not going to happen like this anymore. " The initial travel ban ruling in 2017 was issued by U.S. District Judge James Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush in Washington state. Roberts, too, was appointed by Bush. It was unclear what Trump meant when he said things would change. The 9th Circuit is by far the largest of the federal appellate courts, covering Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Some Republicans in 9th Circuit states have proposed splitting the circuit in two, but legislation has not advanced. The court has long had a majority of judges appointed by Democratic presidents, with the current breakdown at 16-7. But Trump has the opportunity to narrow that edge significantly because there are six vacancies, and he already has nominated candidates for five of them. U.S. Senator Bob Casey told Scranton news station WNEP 16 that he is considering a run at the presidency. According to the station, Casey cited his repeated strong wins as a democrat in Pennsylvania as a reason to run, because you cannot get elected president if you cannot win Pennsylvania." He told the station because hes won by an average of 13 points over 3 elections, its something Im considering. Most recently, Casey defeated U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, a Trump ally, in the state-wide race during the November general elections. In an interview with NBC News, Casey was asked whether he would considering running, and he said well see what happens. WNEP reported the statement is the strongest wording Casey has used so far about a presidential run. On the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, more than 3000 Sikh pilgrims have arrived in Pakistan to celebrate the birthday of the founder of Sikh religion from November 21 to 30. The leaders who received the pilgrims include Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairman Tahir Ehsan, Secretary Board Muhammad Tariq Wazir, Pardhan Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) Sardar Tara Singh and other Pakistani Sikh leaders. Briefing the media about the event to the media, ETPB chairman Ehsan said, The government has made foolproof security arrangements for the Sikh Yatrees so that many more could visit Pakistan. He further said that They will be provided with free meals, conveyance and medication, as reported by Geo TV. Also Sardar Amarjeet Singh, a party leader, said We get a lot of respect in Pakistan. He later on added that, The opening of the Kirtarpur Border for Guri Nanaks 550th birth anniversary is a gift to the Sikh community by the governments on both sides. The event has brought quite happiness in India as the government has gifted several announcements including developing the Lartatrpur corridor, which is a big success for the Sikhs and has also urged the Pakistani government to look into the matter and build the corridor further to the Kartarpur. Amarjeet also said that Over 10,000 Sikh Yatrees will visit Pakistan on the occasion. The spokesperson of the Foreign Office, Muhammad Faisal had tweeted saying, On Eidmiladunnabi Pakistan also welcomes Sikh pilgrims from all over the world, (only our mission in New Delhi has issued more than 3500 visas) for the 549 birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak in Nankana Sahib from November 21-30 2018. Also read: For Guru Nanak's 550th birthday Amrinder Singh urges PM Narendra Modi for aid An Oxford woman faces criminal charges in Lancaster County after police said she caused a crash during a road rage incident. The woman had children in her car at the time, according to police. Tiffany M. Sampson, 26, faces a felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child, as well as a half dozen lesser charges, according to online court documents. According to state police, Sampson was the instigator of a road rage incident at 7:16 a.m. Tuesday on the 200 block of Herr Road in Strasburg Township. Police said Sampson drove her car chasing another motorist, and her actions eventually caused a crash. Sampson continued to pursue the motorist after the crash, eventually stopping his vehicle by blocking it with her car, police said. Police said Sampson then got out of her vehicle and confronted the other motorist. An altercation ensued, resulting in both parties receiving injuries, according to a state police information release. Police said Sampson had several children in her vehicle at the time of the incident. Online court documents show that Sampson was arraigned Wednesday before Magisterial District Judge William E. Benner Jr. She is to appear for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Dec. 3. By John Dame and Kamran Loghman With another contentious election behind us, how do we get back to being neighbors? How do we unify and strengthen our community despite our differences and disagreements? Sawubona is an African Zulu greeting that means "I see you." It has a long oral history, and it means more than our traditional "hello." It says, "I see your personality, I see your humanity and I see your dignity." In the African village context, where everyone knows one another, it's an exceedingly powerful representation of welcoming and understanding. Recently, a young woman was touring the battlefield at Gettysburg with a group of her friends. As she approached the Robert E. Lee Memorial a busload of men followed their guide to the monument. Immediately, the young woman felt uncomfortable. The men were wearing hunting outfits, some in camouflage. They wore ball caps and were a bit older than the ladies, who were stylishly dressed. Based on sight only, the young woman immediately connected the men to a political party and a set of beliefs that were different from hers. She also had been taught to be very careful around groups of men and saw them as unsafe. When we spoke with her, she had already thought about her view of these men. Instead of fathers and sons, husbands and friends, she saw a set of beliefs that had no basis in fact. The young woman did not see them as happy or sad, getting over an illness, working on a relationship, or loving their kids and family. She saw them for what they wore and how they looked and not for who they really were. We talked about why she failed to see them differently. Could it be the media that portrays groups with a very broad brush? Or does social media set us up to only see things and people we like? We told her that we recently attended a retreat with psychologist Dr. Bill Crawford and a group of CEOs and their spouses. He discussed neuroscience with us. He suggested to us that our thoughts tend to live in that emotional fight or flight" zone. When we react emotionally, it is hard to jump into the neocortex where we can think and reason. In that lower brain we react with anger, stress, adrenaline, frustration and cortisol. Our reactions and responses are quick and usually angry. The neocortex houses clarity, confidence, compassion, problem-solving and interpersonal skills. The young woman questioned why we dont spend more time with our thoughts in the neocortex. The reason is that our brain is wired for survival, and it is set up for self-protection. When we have a belief that things will hurt or injure us, we stay firmly rooted in the survival mode or the lower brain. This is where the concept of Sawubona can help. If we make small adjustments in our outlook and learn to really see each other as mortal and fragile beings worthy of dignity and respect, we can begin to see and function differently. In this way, our heightened emotions subside, and we begin to see things clearly and will create the potential to work and solve problems together. Albert Einstein said, "Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them. So, a shift of outlook can bring understanding, respect and friendship. Finally, a dose of humility can truly bring people together, as no one is without fault. Mahatma Gandhi said, "When you point a finger at someone, three fingers are pointing back at you. Humility, therefore, is not about thinking less of yourself, it is about thinking of yourself less. When we have humility, we are agile and flexible. When we are rigid, we are like a dried tree branch that breaks with the first wind. We are reminded of a story about Abraham Lincolns respectful outlook toward others. Lincoln always saw himself as a servant of the people and the Constitution. Once, a White House servant went into the basement to fetch some supplies. He was surprised to find President Lincoln sitting on a bench, shining his boots. Mr. President, the servant said, why are you shining your own boots? Lincoln looked up and replied, Whose boots should I be shining? Sawubona. CEO coach, executive team consultant and leadership strategist John Dame is the founder of Dame Management Strategies and the Evolution Leadership Academy and Conference. Kamran Loghman is an executive development consultant at the largest computer, mobile phone and consumer electronics company in the world. For the last year or so, Ive been contributing regular analysis to a pair of talk radio stations in the United Kingdom. More often that not, Im asked to provide some kind of analysis or context to the latest eruptions in a constantly mutating, 24-hour news cycle thats been made all the more volcanic by President Donald Trump. Last week, I found myself explaining the meaning of Thanksgiving to talkRADIO overnight host Paul Ross, who was gamely curious about this most American of all holidays. I ran through the usual shtick: Pilgrims, Native Americans, turkey, the communal opportunity to give thanks for the many blessings in our lives Mostly, I wryly added, we argue about politics, with family we never see, after weve had one too many glasses of wine. But here, in the middle of this Thanksgiving weekend, as some among us get ready to storm the malls for Black Friday deals and the rest of us are just trying to avoid the work email that never seems to stop coming, Ive been thinking again about this most American of all holidays,, and its reflection of our values as a nation. One of the core assumptions about ourselves as Americans, Ive always felt, is our open-handedness, our willingness to welcome strangers, cast-offs and outsiders into our midst; to shelter and protect those who cannot take care of themselves, and to serve as a beacon of tolerance and freedom to a world that often has far too little of either. After all, who were the Pilgrims but religious refugees fleeing persecution? How different were they from the column of desperate people slowly making their way to Americas southern border; people who are fleeing persecution and violence in their own countries? The short answer? Not at all. Fundamental, also, to our assumptions about ourselves, is our bedrock insistence that every citizen is equal in the eyes of the law; that you are innocent until you are proven guilty, and that the weight of the one branch of government empowered to deprive people of their liberty cannot be used to settle petty grudges or to punish political enemies. And if there is an inseparable part of our identity, its that were a nation that retreats from no challenge; that were a nation who stands up to bullies; a country that battles and defeats despots. Just this month, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of World War I, a globe-spanning conflict that saw the United States take up arms alongside its European allies to beat back the forces of nationalism. It was a dress rehearsal, as it turns out, for the Greatest Generation, who stepped up to fight some of the greatest bullies and despots that history has ever known. And, yet, in the past week alone, from the very heart of our government, from the man who is supposed to embody American values and project them to the world at large, weve seen this: The prioritization of arms deals and economic advantage over the murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist - and permanent legal resident of the United States - Jamal Khashoggi and an incomprehensible refusal to further punish the despotic Saudi regime that our own intelligence community has said is behind his death. Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event maybe he did and maybe he didnt! Trump wrote in an 633-word statement. How many tyrants will now view our silence, our refusal to step up to protect press freedoms and the lives of our own residents, as justification for their own brutal acts? On Thursday, we learned that Trump had to be talked down from a desire to order the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute former 2016 rival Hillary Clinton and ex-FBI Director James Comey. As The Times reported, former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II told Trump he didnt have the authority to order such an investigation, and if he did, it would be a prescription for impeachment. Despite that warning, the president has continued to privately discuss the matter, including the possible appointment of a second special counsel to investigate both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Comey, The Times reported. Also on Thursday, Trump scorched the West Coast-based 9th Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals, calling it a disgrace, and threatening unspecified retaliation against a co-equal branch of the federal government that has ruled against the White House, The Times also reported. Trumps remarks came several days after a U.S. District judge in California, not the 9th Circuit, ordered the government to resume processing asylum applications, irrespective of where or how a person had entered the United States. This isnt the first time, of course, that Trump has tried to abuse the independence of the Justice Department or railed against what he believes is an unfair court decision or jurist. But taken together, they speak volumes about a president whose heavy-handed and authoritarian style runs counter to our bedrock values. The policy shift on asylum applications was part of the White Houses effort to deal with the migrant column thats spent weeks journeying, on foot, from Central America to Mexico and, eventually, its travelers hope, to a new home in the United States. On Nov. 9, Trump signed an order banning migrants from applying for asylum if they didnt come through whats known as a port of entry. That didnt fly with the court. "Whatever the scope of the presidents authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden, U.S District Judge Jon Tigar wrote in his order temporarily restraining the White House from implementing the policy. Theres a long overdue debate to be had about immigration reform and fixing a damaged system. But the law says what the law says. The rule of law. An open-handed and welcoming spirit. The willingness to stand up to bullies and protect those who cannot protect themselves. The defense of fundamental freedoms and human rights. Those are among the core values we celebrate when we gather around the Thanksgiving table to count our blessings as Americans. Today, its worth asking how far weve let ourselves stray as a nation from those values -- and what we risk losing as a result. Written by Carri Wilbanks Nov 17, 2020 We may earn a commission from affiliate links ( ) Whether you are on a family road trip, a romantic getaway, or a business trip, San Antonio is filled with hotels for all budgets and styles of traveler. But not all areas are created equal, and if you don't do some research, you could be stuck in a less than desirable part of town when it comes to accessing the city's main attractions. The area around the River Walk is by far the best place to stay in San Antonio when it comes to sightseeing. Most of the best luxury and mid-range options are found right around the River Walk, including the Westin Riverwalk San Antonio and Riverwalk Vista. Another luxury exception is the Hotel Emma, which serves as the anchor for the culinary and cultural Pearl District on the northern edge of downtown. The River Walk area also has a few decent budget sleeps within a 15-minute walk. Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. Jogioja Making it Rain on Day 1 of the Cash Game Festival Tallinn November 22, 2018 Jason Glatzer The Cash Game Festival Tallinn at Olympic Park Casino is off to an amazing start with tons of poker action and an electrifying buzz throughout the poker room on Day 1. During much of the night, there were seven tables in action with games running in no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, and Sviten Special. The festival kicked off with welcome drinks with many of the Cash Game Festival regulars and online qualifiers from 32Red Poker, Unibet Poker, betsafe Poker, and Olybet poker enjoying a few drinks together. Many players couldn't wait to get into the action with four tables running by the end of the welcome drinks ceremony already. Christin Maemets and Ryan "Metalface" Davey As will be the case throughout the festival, Day 1 featured two televised feature tables on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel and embedded in the PokerNews coverage. Cash Game Festival Commentator Christin Maemets was the host with several guest hosts joining her, including Ryan "Metalface" Davey. The first televised feature table was a unique one with bartenders around Tallinn competing it out in 1/1 no-limit hold'em. The drinks were flowing, and for a change, the bartenders weren't the ones serving them. Oliver Florea was the biggest winner showing a profit of 204 big blinds. He barely edged out the 198 big blinds won by Taavo Raag. Taivo Raag and Oliver Florea Although any win was nice, it was extremely unlikely that Florea would be in contention for the Cash Game Festival Tallinn trophy awarded to the player that wins the most big blinds at any of the ten feature tables this festival. However, Florea still was awarded a special-edition trophy for the biggest winner of the first-ever barmen feature table. The later feature table was an action table with the stakes changed to 2/2 pot-limit Omaha. Two-time Cash Game Festival trophy winners Kevin Malone and Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk were both hoping for a big win. Malone was able to manage a decent win of 1,726. Usually winning 853 big blinds would be enough to not only be the biggest winner at the feature table but also have people wondering if he would also win the Cash Game Festival trophy. However, Malone was trumped by Estonia's Rain Jogioja after he pulled out a win of 1,845 or 922.5 big blinds. Jogioja credited both luck and timing for his big win. "I got a bit lucky early on, especially with garbage hands," shared Jogioga with PokerNews. "Then I won a huge hand calling off a bluff by Franke to put myself in a good position to be the biggest winner at the table." On Day 2, the action is expected to be even bigger both on an away from the tables. The day starts relatively early for those with the hospitality package with bowling. Stay tuned to PokerNews as we report the action with four more exciting days still yet to come. Photos courtesy of Harry Tiits/Cash Game Festival. Throwback Thursday: Faraz Jaka Goes Quiet November 21, 2018 Sasha Salinger Faraz Jaka has many aliases including "The Toilet," "Homeless Millionaire," and, after last weekend, he can add "husband." Yes, Faraz Jaka got married last weekend. Does this mean he will settle down and give up his vagabond lifestyle? Only time will tell. For this week's Throwback Thursday, we travel back to 2013. Jaka tells Sarah Herring about what he learned from the 10 day silent retreat he attended in Thailand. What did Jaka think was more difficult than remaining silent for 10 days? Watch to find out! 657 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) Nancy Pelosi, working to reclaim the top job in the U.S. House of Representatives, won over another supporter on Wednesday as a fellow Democrat reversed course and said he would back her as House speaker next year. Pelosi, a 78-year-old San Francisco liberal and current House Democratic leader, is fighting hard to regain the job of speaker after the Nov. 6 elections in which Democrats gained a majority in the 435-member chamber. Pelosi previously held the post in 2007-2011, when she made history as the first woman speaker. But a handful of fellow Democrats have opposed her taking up the job again, saying the party needs fresh, younger leadership when the new Congress convenes in January. Representative Brian Higgins, who had initially signed on to that group, said in an interview with The Buffalo News that he dropped his opposition after Pelosi agreed to make infrastructure and eligibility for the federal government-run health insurance program Medicare top priorities next year. I have an agreement in principle with the Democratic leader that those are going to be two priorities, and that I will be the lead person on the Medicare buy-in, Higgins told the New York-based news outlet. He is the latest Democrat to back Pelosi as the party moves closer to picking House leaders next week. While some Democrats have threatened to vote against her, none have openly challenged her. The House speaker, currently Republican Paul Ryan, oversees the chamber and sets the legislative agenda. On Tuesday, Pelosi won the support of a potential challenger, fellow Democrat Marcia Fudge. In return, Pelosi agreed to create a special subcommittee to oversee election activities and name Fudge, a former head of the Congressional Black Caucus, as its leader. Late on Tuesday, Pelosi also called for creation of a new leadership post, a move that could make room for younger lawmakers in the upper echelons of the House Democrats. This enhancement will position House Democrats to best take advantage of the new size and diversity of our Caucus, Pelosi wrote. The House Democrats other current top leaders are No. 2 Steny Hoyer and No. 3 James Clyburn, both also in their late 70s. The two have said they plan to run for top spots Hoyer as majority leader, and Clyburn as majority whip. Democratic former President Barack Obama called Pelosi one of the most effective legislative leaders that this country has ever seen in an interview with the podcast The Axe Files released on Tuesday. House Democrats elected to the next Congress are scheduled to meet on Nov. 28 to pick their leaders and nominee for speaker. The full House will vote in early January on the speaker position. President Donald Trumps fellow Republicans retained their majority in the Senate in this months elections. Trump has said Pelosi deserves the speaker role. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Frances Kerry and Rosalba OBrien) 2.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Donald Trump was scheduled to sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller in January, but he backed out after learning the topics investigators wanted to discuss. According to The Associated Press, The date had been picked, the location too, and the plan was penciled in: President Donald Trump would be whisked from the White House to Camp David on a quiet winter Saturday to answer questions from special counsel Robert Muellers team. More from the AP: But as the Jan. 27, 2018, date neared and Mueller provided the topics he wanted to discuss, Trumps lawyers balked. Attorney John Dowd then fired off a searing letter disputing Muellers authority to question the president. The interview was off. Nearly a year later, Trump has still not spoken directly to Muellers team and may never. Through private letters, tense meetings and considerable public posturing, the presidents lawyers have engaged in a tangled, tortured back-and-forth with the special counsel to prevent the president from sitting down for a face-to-face with enormous political and legal consequences. The report added that one reason Trump was terrified of a face-to-face interview is that Mueller planned to ask him whether he had corrupt intent when firing former FBI director James Comey. According to the AP, Trumps lawyer at the time responded that the question was ridiculous and the answer was obviously no. Investigators then threatened to subpoena the president if he didnt cooperate. MSNBCs Ari Melber reported more: Trump was scheduled to sit down for an interview with Mueller in January but he backed out when learning what topics would be discussed. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/ye3rJYjXT4 PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) November 22, 2018 Trump is behaving like a guilty man All along, Trump and his legal team have been operating as if they know they are guilty and trying to minimize their exposure to Mueller. Whether it was refusing to go under oath during a potential interview with the special counsel, pushing for written answers only or now reportedly backing out of a scheduled sit down because of the question topics, this is not how innocent people behave. If Donald Trump isnt willing to answer questions about corrupt intent, then chances are he probably had corrupt intent. Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook. Trump refuses to believe that judges arent owned by the president who nominates them as he threw a fit in the direction of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Trump responded to Roberts criticizing his claim that there are Obama judges by tweeting: Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an independent judiciary, but if it is why Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018 ..are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. Please study the numbers, they are shocking. We need protection and security these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018 Trump cant comprehend the idea that there are no Obama, Bush, or Trump judges. There are just judges. That is what Roberts was trying to explain to Trump, and why the judiciary is an independent branch of the government. Trump thinks that he owns all the judges that he appoints and that they should do what he wants, which is not how the separation of powers works. John Roberts tried to give the president a lesson in the constitution, and Trump responded with a Twitter temper tantrum. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook. 1.7k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard The 2018 midterm results show that the American people have rejected Donald Trump, and his agenda. And as Senator Bernie Sanders says, theyve also rejected his racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and religious bigotry. Since Democrats will take over control of the House of Representatives in January, Senator Sanders believes it is time for progressives to step forward and promote a true progressive agenda. In an opinion piece in todays Washington Post, Sanders wrote: It is not good enough for Democrats to just be the anti-Trump party. If they want to keep and expand their majority in the House, take back the Senate and win the White House, Democrats must show the American people that they will aggressively stand up and fight for the working families of this country black, white, Latino, Asian American or Native American, men and women, gay or straight. This means addressing the crisis of a broken criminal-justice system and reforming inhumane immigration policies. But it also means fighting to expand a middle class that has been disappearing for more than 40 years, reducing inequality in both income and wealth which has disproportionately hurt African Americans and Hispanics and aggressively combating climate change, the most urgent threat facing our planet. Sanders then refers to the Republicans Contract with America from the 1990s, which was a radical right-wing agenda full of tax breaks for the wealthy, massive cuts to programs vital to working families, and racist and cruel bills to reform welfare and our criminal-justice system. He says that now is the time for Democrats to pass their own bold agenda, in similar fashion. He says that Starting on the first day of the new Congress, the Democratic leadership in the House, supported by their colleagues in the Senate, should be just as bold in passing an agenda that reflects the needs of working Americans centered on economic, political, social, racial and environmental justice. Then the independent senator from Vermont goes on to list what he believes are they key items that must be addressed by House Democrats during the first 100 days of the new Congress: Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour and indexing it to median wage growth thereafter. A path toward Medicare-for-all. Bold action to combat climate change. Fixing our broken criminal-justice system. Comprehensive immigration reform. Progressive tax reform. A $1 trillion infrastructure plan. Lowering the price of prescription drugs. Making public colleges and universities tuition-free and substantially reducing student debt. Expanding Social Security. Sanders concludes by writing: Here is the bottom line: Instead of us having a Congress that listens to wealthy campaign contributors, it is about time we had a Congress fighting to create an economy and a government that works for all of us, not just those on top. As always, Bernie Sanders political instincts are correct. He knows that Democrats were given control of the House to make a difference to the lives of Americans. Although Sanders list looks like his campaign platform, it is also a blueprint for success for Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats in Congress. He knows its not enough to oppose Donald Trump by launching investigations and possible impeachment proceedings. If Democrats are to fulfill their promises to America, now is the time for them to step forward and make a real difference and pass legislation that accomplishes every single one of Bernie Sanders goals. If they do this then they will be successful, and they will show the Republican Party and all of America that they really mean business. 3.9k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard More evidence concerning the close ties between the Saudi Arabian rulers and the Trump administration keeps surfacing. The killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has led to much publicity and much criticism of these ties. After Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 it was widely reported that he was a political dissident in his home country and thats why he was banned from writing there. Its true that Khashoggi was often critical of the Saudi government in his reporting. However it wasnt criticism of Saudi Arabias government that led to a writing ban two years ago. Instead, it was his criticisms of President Trump that led the Saudi regime to prohibit him from publishing any more of his work there. According to the US State Department he was barred from appearing in any type of media in Saudi Arabia after he criticized President Donald Trump in late 2016. Khashoggi had criticized Trumps stance and rhetoric on the Middle East in an appearance at a Washington, DC, think tank. The expectation that Trump as president will be starkly different from Trump as candidate is a false hope at best, Khashoggi said at the time. Khashoggi left his native country roughly six months after the ban, in June 2017, which also prohibited him from making TV appearances and attending conferences. He became a US resident splitting time between Virginia, Istanbul, and London and wrote columns for The Washington Post. From a 2017 State Department report on Saudi Arabia human rights: Well-known Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said he moved to the United States in self-exile and could face arrest upon returning home due to his writing. He claimed his column in Saudi newspaper al-Hayat had been cancelled under political pressure. In 2016 authorities purportedly banned him from writing, appearing on television, and attending conferences as the result of remarks he made that were interpreted as criticizing the president of the United States, according to multiple media sources. Earlier, in July, authorities reportedly lifted the writing ban against him. In a conversation with Columbia Journalism Review in March 2018,Khashoggi talked about the ban. Im a believer in free journalism, despite all the limitations we had. I always pushed the envelope, I always wanted to have more space, he said. Khashoggi added: I was so insulted when the royal court called me and told me that I am not allowed to write. In America, you take freedom for granted. Khashoggis murder has threatened the historic and strategic US-Saudi relationship. The CIA reportedly concluded with high confidence that Khashoggis killing was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom. But the Saudi government has insisted Prince Mohammed was not involved. In the United States outrage erupted in Congress over Khashoggis killing and the fact that one of our allies had ordered the murder of a dissident journalist. But President Donald Trump has stood by Prince Mohammed and repeatedly touted the purported economic and strategic benefits of the US-Saudi relationship. Trump on Tuesday said the US intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia despite Khashoggis killing. He is being accused of undermining Americas intelligence community as well as the governments commitment to human rights. The Trumps strong support of the Saudi regime in this crisis has led many critics to question whether his business ties in the country are influencing his foreign policy. 199 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard A new Trump administration policy would force migrants to stay in Mexico as their asylum requests are processed, breaking sharply with current policy, The Washington Post reported late Wednesday night. According to the Post: Central Americans who arrive at U.S. border crossings seeking asylum in the United States will have to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed under sweeping new measures the Trump administration is preparing to implement, according to internal planning documents and three Department of Homeland Security officials familiar with the initiative. The Post obtained several memos from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which explain the new policy in more detail. The DHS memos say that asylum seekers would have to establish a reasonable fear of persecution in Mexico to be allowed to come to the U.S. while authorities review their asylum requests under the new policy, which has been given the name Remain in Mexico. The DHS asylum policy is planned to go into effect as soon as tomorrow according to two DHS officials familiar with the new program. Asylum seekers coming to the United States are currently allowed to remain in this country, in most cases. They stay here while they wait for their scheduled hearing before an immigration judge. This rule only applies if they have established to the satisfaction of U.S. officials that they have a legitimate fear of returning to their home countries. Katie Waldman, DHS spokeswoman, sent out a departmental statement on Wednesday evening which said that there are no immediate plans to put the new policy into effect. The President has made clear every single legal option is on the table to secure our nation and to deal with the flood of illegal immigrants at our borders, Waldman wrote, and then added: DHS is not implementing such a new enforcement program this week. Reporting on policies that do not exist create uncertainty and confusion along our borders and has a negative real world impact. We will ensure as always that any new program or policy will comply with humanitarian obligations, uphold our national security and sovereignty, and is implemented with notice to the public and well coordinated with partners. Trump has made criticism of the current immigration and asylum programs the centerpiece of his administration, as it was of his presidential campaign. The current program is called catch and release because it allows asylum seekers to come into the U.S. and then they are released from custody if all the requirements are met. Trump has pledged to end the program, and he took steps to do that last spring when he and Attorney General Sessions put into place the much-criticized zero tolerance program. One feature of that program was the removal of minor children from their parents while the parents are incarcerated in tent cities waiting for their asylum cases to be heard. As Trumps new asylum policy is being reported and discussed the caravan of several thousand Central American migrants continues their trek to the U.S. border with Mexico. Most of these families are fleeing violence in their home countries and are legitimately seeking asylum in the U.S. The Post also reported that Mexican law does not allow those seeking asylum in the United States to remain in Mexico. Several days ago a federal judge issued an order preventing the Trump administration from blocking asylum claims from immigrants who do not enter the U.S. legally. Whatever the scope of the Presidents authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar wrote. Asylum seekers will be put at increased risk of violence and other harms at the border, and many will be deprived of meritorious asylum claims, he added. The government offers nothing in support of the new rule that outweighs the need to avoid these harms. To Donald Trump, inciting his political base of unhinged, anti-immigrant followers is much more important than complying with the laws of the United States. Certainly this is a breach of his duty to follow the promises he made in swearing by the Presidential Oath. He thinks he is earning political points but what he is actually doing is making the case for his impeachment even stronger. 2.7k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard The problems of acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker keep piling up. Already he has gotten into hot water for past comments that were critical of the Mueller probe. Then he found out that he is being investigated for fraud by House Democrats. And several senators have brought a lawsuit saying his appointment is unconstitutional. President Trump, of course, wont back down. He has said he is sticking by Whitaker no matter what happens. He also said in an interview last Sunday that he would not intervene if Whitaker moved to curtail Muellers investigation. And now there is a new federal investigation into possibly illegal contributions Whitaker received in January and February of this year for a failed U.S. Senate campaign in Iowa in 2014. For some odd reason, he received thousands of dollars of donations for the 2014 campaign this year, after he had been employed in the U.S. Department of Justice as the assistant to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Federal investigators are looking into whether Whitakers accepting of the donations violated the Hatch Acts prohibitions on political activities by federal employees. A spokesperson for the Office of Special Counsel confirmed to CNN that it had received a complaint from the watchdog organization American Oversight and a case file had been opened. The office has the power to investigate Hatch Act violations and determine possible reprimands, but cannot take disciplinary action itself, according to CNN. After years of being completely dormant and only after he joined Jeff Sessions office as chief of staff, Whitakers campaign started receiving a cluster of contributions, Austin Evers, the executive director of American Oversight, told CNN. It appears to violate the black-letter law of the Hatch Act. Neither the Office of Special Counsel nor the Department of Justice have made any public comments about the matter. The Office of Special Counsel is an independent agency separate from the Justice Department. William Gustoff, the former treasurer for Whitakers Senate campaign, told CNN that neither he nor Whitaker had solicited the donations and that the campaign committee remained open to deal with remaining debt. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a former federal prosecutor, also asked the Office of Special Counsel Wednesday to investigate Whitaker for Hatch Act violations stemming from the donations. The Hatch Act places limitations on the ability of executive branch employees to participate in political activities, Whitehouse said in a press release. On their face, the political contributions to Whitakers campaign fund violate the Hatch Act. Whitaker had been in his position at [the Justice Department] three months before these contributions were made to his campaign committee and should be presumed to have been advised of his responsibilities under this law. On Monday, November 19, Russian media reported that it is highly likely American-born British financier Bill Browder poisoned his former employee, Russian accountant Sergei Magnitsky. Russian prosecutors were quoted as saying there was evidence that Magnitsky and three other men linked to Browders business Oktay Gasanov, Valery Kurochkin and Sergey Korobeinikov may have died as a result of poisoning. They revealed no evidence publicly. One of the lines of inquiry is [Magnitsky] was poisoned with chemical agents used for sabotage. These substances contain an aluminum compound. They caused acute liver failure that looked like death by natural causes," Mikhail Alexandrov, a spokesman for the Russian Prosecutor Generals Office said without evidence. "When he received from Magnitsky a false statement of provocative nature, Browder was interested in his death more than anybody else." Alexandrovs claim that Browder had the most to benefit from Magnistkys death is not new. Russian businessman Dmitry Klyuev, who has also been implicated in Magnitskys death, has also attempted to deflect blame to Browder. Regarding the alleged poisoning, Alexandrov said "forensic examination of biological samples taken from the four men made it possible to conclude that they had symptoms of chronic poisoning with toxic, soluble inorganic substances introduced into their bodies." Alexandrov said no detailed toxicological analysis had thus far been carried out, claiming toxicological research into aluminum compounds have been carried out for several decades only at research centers in a few countries, including the United States, France and Italy. "Such compounds can be made only in special laboratories," he claimed. Further details of the nature of these compounds purportedly found nine years after Magnitskys death in a Russian prison were not provided. When reached for comment, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it had no information about "aluminum compounds," but otherwise did not comment on statements made by officials of OPCW States Parties. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not comment. In any case, Russian officials apparently did not charge Browder with alleged poisoning of those four individuals. According to the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI), a new criminal case has been opened against Browder only on suspicion of organizing a criminal network. A report by RT stated that that charge falls under the auspices of a UN convention, without detailing which UN convention, adding: This implies extradition of a criminal even if Russia does not have a bilateral treaty on the matter with a country he is arrested in. Moscows efforts to boost its chances of extraditing Browder follow reports that Alexander Prokopchuk, a former Russian Interior Ministry major-general, is in the running to become the new chief at the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL). In May, Browder was arrested in Madrid, Spain after Russia issued an international arrest warrant through Interpol. He was later released after Spanish National Police recognized the arrest warrant wasnt valid. At the time, Browder told The Atlantic magazine that Russia had tried to issue six INTERPOL red notices for him, all of them ultimately rejected as abusive. Browder was once considered the largest foreign investor in the Russian stock market and a supporter of Putin. He was first blacklisted from Russia in 2005 for being an alleged threat to national security. His fund, Hermitage, subsequently closed its Moscow operations. Browder later charged that a cabal of corrupt Russian officials, using materials seized during police raids, took possession of three Hermitage companies in Russia, after which the officials fraudulently claimed $230 million that Hermitage had paid in taxes. That tax refund, the largest in Russian history, was approved in under 24 hours and paid out the following day. The investigation of those moves against Hermitage was spearheaded by Magnitsky, an auditor from the Moscow-based law firm Firestone Duncan. Hermitage would go on to file 35 complaints against those implicated in the fraud case. But in January 2008, Magnitsky himself was arrested after arriving to provide evidence to the prosecutor overseeing that case. Magnitsky would go on to spend 11 months in pre-trial detention, where he was beaten and denied medical care after developing a host of medical conditions due to inhumane treatment. Mistreatment of Magnitsky Amnesty International reported Magnitsky was neglected in Russian prison, and shortly before his death was transferred to a detention facility with a hospital, where he was handcuffed and beaten with rubber batons on the day he died. The Russian record following Magnitsky is long and winding. This latest claim that Magnitsky was poisoned contradicts Russias previous claims regarding his death. Russian authorities refused to release Magnitskys body for an independent autopsy, first claiming he died of a rupture to his abdominal membrane which would have been consistent with pancreatitis, a condition Magnitsky developed in prison. As a result, authorities then claimed he died of a heart attack. When Dmitri Kratov, the former head of the medical service at Butyrka Prison, was tried for negligence in Magnitskys death, President Putin said during a December 20, 2012 press conference, before that trials conclusion: I do not know the details, but I am still aware that Mr Magnitsky died, died not from torture, no one tortured him, but from a heart attack. Kratov was acquitted on December 28, 2012. But prior to his death, Alexandra Gaus, a surgeon at the Matrosskaya Tishina Detention Center, where Magnitsky was transferred before his death, confirmed that Magnitsky was in fact suffering from acute pancreatitis. Once his health started deteriorating rapidly, Magnitsky complained: They will kill me here. I am innocent under this case, why did they bring me here? As a result, Gaus also diagnosed the dying man as suffering from acute psychosis, a condition which was later noted on his preliminary death certificate. That document also stated he died from gall stones, pancreatitis, and potentially pancreatic necrosis and closed cerebral cranial injury. Mention of closed cerebral cranial injury would later be removed from that document without explanation. A 2011 report from the Russian Presidents Human Rights Council further found there was reasonable suspicion that Magnitskys death had been triggered by a beating. In October 2012, Physicians for Human Rights prepared an expert report on the available medical evidence. The conclusions of that report were damning, that he was denied medical evaluations and his eventual resuscitation was not timely and possibly peformed incorrectly. The neglect was calculated, deliberate and inhumane, the physicians groups report stated pointedly. Twenty prison officials were reportedly sacked in relation to the case, with then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev firing Alexander Piskunov, deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service. However, in March 2013, Russias Investigative Committee reversed the judgment, saying Magnitsky had not faced either physical violence or torture, adding: A decision has been taken to end the criminal case because of the absence of a crime. Magnitskys Crimes and Western Sanctions Several months later, Russia found Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion in the countrys first-ever posthumous trial. That case was organized by many of the officials that Magnitsky had exposed in the $230 million tax refund theft. Amnesty international called the posthumous trial of Magnitsky farcical and sinister. As a result of Magnitskys death, Browder successfully lobbied for the Magnitsky Act, the U.S. law that targets Russian officials implicated in human rights and corruption cases. In 2016, the U.S. Congress passed a global version of that bill, allowing foreign officials implicated in human rights abuses worldwide to be sanctioned. Similar acts have been adopted by Britain, Canada and the Baltic states. This week, the Dutch Foreign Ministry was scheduled to submit a draft on an EU-wide Magnitsky bill, although it will not bear Magintskys name, reportedly due to political pressure. Browders Crimes Russia has sought Browders arrest on a number of charges, most recently convicting him in absentia on an alleged $79 million tax fraud scheme. He was also convicted in absentia of tax fraud in 2013. Browder told Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year that Russias continued campaign against him, including his arrest in Spain this past May at Russias request, showed the Magnitsky Act is working and weve found the Achilles heel of the Putin regime. And while the Kremlin has provided no evidence that could allow for a thorough scientific debunking of its Magnitsky poisoning conspiracy claim, available evidence clearly demonstrates that medical neglect, aggravated by torture and an outright disregard for the wellbeing of Mr. Magnitsky. We judge the Kremlins claim that Magnitsky was potentially poisoned on Browder's orders to be false. Adam Parker has covered many beats and topics for The Post and Courier, including race and history, religion, and the arts. He is the author of "Outside Agitator: The Civil Rights Struggle of Cleveland Sellers Jr.," published by Hub City Press. On a recent Sunday night, the blue lights atop K.J. Iverys police cruiser lit Charleston's Ann Street. Ivery scanned the street's familiar sights. The officer knows this street well. For the past two decades, Ann Street has stood as a celebrated bastion of LGBTQ culture here. A safe place. The street is home to Dudley's, the city's only self-billed gay bar that teems most weekends with patrons vying for entry as drag queens take the stage. During pride celebrations each September, it looks more like a block party than a bar. But Ivery, the citys first openly transgender police officer, fears that a sense of security and belonging on Ann Street and across Charleston is at risk. And hes not alone. "I'm trying to figure out what I can do to make it feel safer," said Ivery, who sits on the Charleston Police Department's LGBTQ liaison committee. Recent events suggest that the committee has its work cut out. In August, a transgender woman was violently assaulted in a parking garage on Ann Street. Surveillance footage showed a man winding up and throwing a punch at the womans face, knocking her out. Charleston police said the man hurled slurs at the woman about her gender identity before the attack that landed her in the hospital in serious condition. Investigators have arrested a suspect in the case. In September, another man sent bricks flying through windows and doors at a downtown thrift store operated by We Are Family, South Carolina's only resource center for LGBTQ youth. "We think that it cant happen here," Ivery, 28, said. "Then it happened right here in our backyard. And the people who are usually able to sit in their own luxury were kind of forced to take a stand. Because your silence says a lot about you as well." 'Only 30 minutes' When it comes to making inroads with any community, officer Terry Cherry put it like this: "Its about getting to know the people one-on-one. I think building partnerships with a diverse group of people within the (LGBTQ) community would be excellent." Cherry, 37, also sits on the department's LGBTQ liaison committee. She moved to Los Angeles from Boone, N.C., when she was 18 after meeting resistance when she came out as gay. In 2012, she moved to Charleston to begin her career as a police officer. "My community is made up of different socioeconomic classes, religions, races (and) genders," she said. If police are going to bridge the gap between law enforcement agencies and the LGBTQ community, Cherry said, it's also going to require change from the inside out. The LGBTQ liaison committee was a product of the Illumination Project, which launched in March 2016, several months after nine black worshippers were fatally shot during a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church. The project has included listening sessions and workshops about identifying racially biased law enforcement practices. The LGBTQ liaison committee and other special focus groups, both within the Police Department and beyond, were formed. This particular committee leads internal efforts that help inform guidelines and practices that better serve the city's LGBTQ-identifying population. "The first tangible goal (for the committee) was ... education for police officers," Cherry said. "That was a big one, and that's what we did. And we executed that within weeks of the request." In the aftermath of the Ann Street assault, the liaison committee brought in Melissa Moore, who until recently ran We Are Family, to help with a 30-minute sensitivity training session for officers. "I think the training on bias was a good start," Moore said, "but that training was only 30 minutes. You certainly cant understand everything you need to learn in 30 minutes." More recently, Charlestons City Council voted on the first reading of a hate crime ordinance. If passed, the ordinance would criminalize intimidating any person on the basis of, among other possible factors, sexual orientation and gender identity. Missteps Until this year, Charleston police had not reported a hate crime to the FBI since the Emanuel mass shooting in 2015, according to the most recent data. That year, the city also saw two other hate crimes: one motivated by racial bias and another because of the victim's sexual orientation, the FBI data showed. In the latest instance the transgender woman's attack on Ann Street the incident was not publicly labeled a possible hate crime by law enforcement. A week later, a police spokesman said the woman wasnt assaulted because shes a transgender. Then on Aug. 28, the department clarified that its follow-up investigation revealed the victim was indeed confronted about her gender identity just before the attack. The department already had that information before its first statement. An incident report that was filed also did not specify a motive, nor did it mention the verbal confrontation before the attack. Officials revisited its portrayal of the crime amid mounting pressure from local LGBTQ advocacy groups. After the department faced criticism, including for its references to the victim as "a transgender," officials called a town hall meeting in early September. "It's entire communities that were offended by that choice of words," Ivery said. "By patently characterizing something a certain way just because we didn't have all the facts? That's not how we usually operate. ... I think it showed how much work we have to do." Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds and officers on the liaison committee told the packed September meeting that the department would double its efforts to better understand challenges faced by members of the LGBTQ community. During the forum, Reynolds and others heard from those who said that they have feared for their safety and been accosted on city streets. In my mind, there should be no space between us. Zero, Reynolds said. We should be in this together. I know thats not where were at today, but thats where we need to be. Cherry sat on a panel to field questions. Ivery did not. "Im trying to choose my words very carefully, as well," Ivery said in an interview. "I think that it was really unfortunate that the department put out those statements without having the full picture because it reflected poorly on a lot of the things we value. And a lot of the LGBTQ liaison group expressed our disappointment and worked really quickly to remedy a lot of those missteps. "Its frustrating to have to apologize for something that should have never happened," Ivery added. "Because were better than that." 'Reclaiming spaces' As night fell on Ann Street in mid-October, Moore and about three dozen other members and allies of Charleston's LGBTQ community marched and danced on downtown streets to the very spot in the parking garage where the transgender woman was attacked. "Whose streets?" a man shouted through a megaphone. "Our streets!" the crowd shot back. Blocking traffic at times and recruiting passersby, participants waved handmade signs and cheered. The whole protest, Moore said to the group before the rally, is about reclaiming spaces where weve been harmed. After the demonstration, the crowd dispersed back toward Ann Street. Most of them met later at Dudley's for drinks. Only about 450 Northern right whales are known to exist, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. File/New England Aquarium/AP Kalyn Oyer is a Charleston native who covers arts & entertainment and food & bev for The Post and Courier. She's a music festival & concert photographer and used to write about music for the Charleston City Paper, among other publications. Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations. OMAHA, Neb. For the first time this year, a monthly survey of bankers in parts of 10 Plains and Western states indicates the regional rural economy is shrinking. The overall index of the Rural Mainstreet survey for November sank to 49.9, the first time its dipped below 50 since January and down from Octobers 54.3. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy in the months ahead, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the farm sector continues to be weakened by tariffs and low commodity prices. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed. Dairy Discussions program set for Dec. 4 ORANGE CITY, Iowa The Dairy Discussions: Risk Management and Labor Issues program will be held Dec. 4 at the Iowa State Extension and Outreach, Sioux County office in Orange City. The Dairy Discussions program grew out of concerns about finding qualified labor and keeping them in a depressed milk market. ICE raids earlier this year and the political climate in general heightened stress levels. At the Dec. 4 meeting, ISU dairy specialist Hugo Ramirez will outline the importance of consistency when handling animals and teaching employees the reasons for specific protocols. He will discuss why farm guidebooks and manuals are especially vital in a tight labor market. Risk management education, immigration reform and trends in the milk market will also be discussed. The program begins at 9 a.m. and will conclude about 2 p.m. The outreach office is at 400 Central Ave. NW, Orange City. There is no registration fee, but pre-registration is required by calling the ISU Extension and Outreach Sioux County office at 712-737-4230. Deadline for registration is noon Nov. 30. Super weed Palmer amaranth now found in 5 North Dakota counties BISMARCK, N.D. A super weed that can devastate corn and soybean crops has now been found in five North Dakota counties, but a university expert says there is still hope for preventing a widespread infestation of Palmer amaranth in the state. The aggressive pigweed species can grow as tall as 7 feet and produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. Its strong enough to stop combines and resist many herbicides. Its native to the desert regions of the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, but it has slowly spread to southeastern and Midwestern states and in recent years has moved into South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. It was first confirmed in soybeans in southeastern North Dakotas McIntosh County in August, and it now has been confirmed either by extension specialists or through laboratory analysis in Benson, Dickey, Foster and Richland counties, in soybeans, livestock feed and in the wild. A heavy Palmer amaranth infestation can cut soybean yields by as much as 79 percent and corn yields by up to 91 percent, according to research by Purdue University. The Guam Visitors Bureau is reporting a rebound in arrivals from Japan for October compared to last year. The preliminary arrival summary shows that the island welcomed 43,013 Japanese visitors in October, a 24.7 percent increase over October 2017, when 34,489 came to Guam. GVB President and CEO Nathan Denight said arrivals from Japan in 2017 were hobbled by the North Korean missile threats against Guam. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Denight credited the rebound, in part, to GVBs airline incentive program, which pays travel agents to help fill seats on charter flights from Japan to Guam. By the end of this year, 471 charter flights will have brought tourists to Guam, according to a GVB release. And more than 600 charter flights are scheduled in 2019. "Were constantly in dialogue with our travel agents and airlines to increase airline seats," Denight stated in the release. "Our efforts are far from over and we continue to press forward with our visitor growth and diversification goals," he said. The Japanese market, however, continues to trail behind Korean arrivals, which rose in October by 8.3 percent over the same month last year. There were 60,983 Korean visitors who came to Guam in October. That's 17,970 more visitors from Korea than Japan for October. Overall, Guam welcomed 121,656 visitors in October, a 7.2 percent increase over last year and the second-best October recorded in Guams tourism history. (CNN) Saudi Arabia has tortured, sexually harassed and mistreated several human rights activists detained since May this year, including women, two leading international rights groups have alleged. Activists were repeatedly tortured by electrocution and flogging, leaving some unable to walk or stand properly, with marks on their bodies and uncontrolled shaking of the hands, Amnesty International said, citing three separate testimonies. One of the activists reportedly tried to take her own life repeatedly inside the prison, according to the testimonies, Amnesty said. "In one reported instance, one of the activists was made to hang from the ceiling, and according to another testimony, one of the detained women was reportedly subjected to sexual harassment, by interrogators wearing face masks," the rights group said in a statement Tuesday. In a separate but strikingly similar statement, citing "informed sources," Human Rights Watch claimed interrogators had tortured at least three of the Saudi women activists detained at the beginning of May. The alleged torture included "administering electric shocks, whipping the women on their thighs, and forcible hugging and kissing," HRW said. After interrogations "women showed physical signs of torture, including difficulty walking, uncontrolled shaking of the hands, and red marks and scratches on their faces and necks," the sources said, according to HRW. At least one of the women attempted suicide multiple times, the rights group said. The Saudi government rejected the allegations of torture in a statement to CNN. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's judiciary system does not condone, promote, or allow the use of torture. Anyone, whether male or female, being investigated is going through the standard judiciary process led by the public prosecution while being held for questioning, which does not in any way rely on torture either physical, sexual, or psychological," a Saudi official said. Saudi Arabia has faced increased international scrutiny and pressure following the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month. The suspects include members of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's inner circle. The crown prince has denied any connection to the killing. U.S. President Donald Trump signaled Tuesday that he would not take strong action against Saudi Arabia or the Crown Prince over Khashoggi's death and dismemberment. Amnesty: 'Shocking reports' In its statement, Amnesty said several activists had been arbitrarily detained without charge since May in Dhahban Prison, in Jeddah. Saudi authorities arrested a number of women's rights activists in May, weeks ahead of the kingdom's lifting of the ban on women driving on June 24. Accusations against the detainees included illegal contacts with foreign countries. HRW said it was not identifying those who had allegedly been tortured because of concerns of reprisals against them or against sources who had revealed their abuse. Amnesty said prison authorities have reportedly warned detained activists against speaking out about mistreatment. Both rights groups called for Saudi authorities immediately to release activists who were being held solely for their peaceful efforts to advocate human rights reforms. "Only a few weeks after the ruthless killing of Jamal Khashoggi, these shocking reports of torture, sexual harassment and other forms of ill-treatment, if verified, expose further outrageous human rights violations by the Saudi authorities," said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International's Middle East research director. "Saudi authorities are directly responsible for the well-being of these women and men in detention. Not only have they deprived them of their liberty for months now, simply for peacefully expressing their views, they are also subjecting them to horrendous physical suffering." Amnesty and HRW also urged the country's western allies to call on the Saudi government to release women's rights activists and investigate allegations of abuse in detention. "Any brutal torture of Saudi women activists would show no limit to the Saudi authorities' campaign of wanton cruelty against critics and human rights activists," said Michael Page, HRW's deputy Middle East director. "Any government that tortures women for demanding basic rights should face withering international criticism, not unblinking U.S. and UK support." UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was last week the first British minister to visit Riyadh since Khashoggi's killing. In a statement beforehand, the Foreign Office said Hunt would call on the Saudi authorities to do more to deliver justice and accountability for the Khashoggi family. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Saudi Arabia tortured activists including women, rights groups claim." NORRISTOWN A Pottstown woman faces court supervision on child endangerment charges after detectives alleged her 2-year-old son suffered symptoms of marijuana intoxication while in her care. Nadirah Phillips, 26, of the first block of Custer Court, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to four years probation after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with a February 2017 incident at her residence. Judge Thomas C. Branca, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Phillips to complete 24 hours of community service. Phillips also must attend and complete parenting classes, the judge said. An investigation began about 12:50 p.m. Feb. 5, 2017, when borough police were dispatched to the Custer Court home to assist emergency medical responders with an unconscious 2-year-old boy. At that time, Phillips denied that the child could have come into contact with something that would have caused the reaction. The child was transported to Pottstown Hospital Tower Health where a urine test determined he had marijuana in his system, according to the criminal complaint filed by Pottstown Detective Heather Long. Several hours later, the charge nurse explained the presence of marijuana would explain why the child was still lethargic 2 1/2 hours after being admitted. The charge nurse also noted that (the childs) symptoms were consistent with an amount of marijuana that could not be obtained by inhaling smoke alone, but most likely by ingesting, eating, Long wrote in the arrest affidavit. Due to the childs slow recovery, he was transferred to Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia for additional treatment where doctors determined the childs behaviors were reminiscent of marijuana intoxication. They also advised this level of intoxication would have been generated by eating marijuana, not second hand smoke, Long alleged. The exposure to marijuana would have been within six hours prior to when the child exhibited symptoms of intoxication and lost consciousness. On Feb. 14, Phillips provided a written statement to detectives indicating she had returned home no later than 2 a.m. on Feb. 5 and that no one other than she and her two children were in the home. Phillips admitted to using marijuana at a party Feb. 4 into the early morning hours of Feb. 5, according to the criminal complaint. Phillips said once she noticed her son acting weird she did not call 911 but contacted the childs father via a Facetime app. The childs father subsequently called 911 for his son after he observed him via Facetime, court papers indicate. Detectives concluded that the child was in Phillips care and only her care from about 2 a.m. Feb. 5 until emergency medical officials responded to the home later that morning. No other adults cared for the child during almost 11 hours, detectives alleged. Based on the timeline provided by medical staff, Phillips was the only adult in the care and control of the child during the time he would have ingested the marijuana, Long alleged. Finally, marijuana is what caused (the child) to be lethargic and for all intents and purposes exhibit behaviors of someone who is high.' Other charges of recklessly endangering another person and possession of a small amount of marijuana were dismissed against Phillips as part of the plea agreement. As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day, it is good to remember a little history to appreciate better this very special day. It has been a national holiday from the time our first president under our Constitution designated it. Although it was not the first Thanksgiving Day in America, the practice of the colonists became a part of the American heritage. President Washington acted favorably to a Congressional recommendation in 1789 to make it a recognized holiday. That Congressional resolution read this way: That a joint committee of both houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness. Two major branches of our government, many of whom were among the writers of our Constitution, had no problem with that public acknowledgment of God. The truth is those government leaders led in the acclamation of God for His role in providing wisdom to write our Supreme law. All presidents followed suit, and it was Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 who set the date for the fourth Thursday of November as the national holiday. The first Thanksgiving could be dated back to 1621 when the Pilgrims held a feast in August of that year to which they invited the Indian Squanto, who had assisted them in their adjustments to the new land. An annual Thanksgiving Day was common practice throughout the Colonial Era. The Congressional resolution mentioned above specifically stated that the primary reason for their recommendation was to thank God for the wisdom He provided when they decided to open their sessions with Bible reading and prayer. They believed that their efforts would have failed had it not been for the insight of Benjamin Franklin to suggest that they begin their sessions in just such a manner when the heated debate seemed to bring no accord on an agreeable document. Those fiery representatives from the 13 states that had so successfully defeated the British in the Revolutionary War could not reach an agreement on some issues, and hopes were diminishing. Benjamin Franklin took the floor and reminded the combative delegates of the fervent prayers for Divine protection during the War and wondered why they would forget this Divine Friend now. He got everyones attention and put this motion on the floor: I beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. With wisdom provided by God, they settled their disputes and came up with a republic-saving decision to have a bicameral legislature and electoral college system for our legislative and executive branches, unique to the American way! Sadly, our nation-at-large no longer has the same reverence for God as did those great Americans in our past, and leaders in this past half century have taken action to silence the public expression of the Christian faith. Although court law, a seeming contradiction to the Constitution in that Congress alone has that authority, seems bent on minimizing this part of the American heritage, God is still, as mentioned in our Declaration of Independence, the Supreme Judge of the world. It may be a good idea during this Thanksgiving season to pay heed to the words of our nations first president: It is impossible to rightly govern without God and the Bible. I am among those Americans who still believe we should be thanking God and singing God Bless America. -Pastor Lee Hallman Gilbertsville In many Parts of Germany prevail currently bottlenecks in flu-vaccine. Especially the Federal States of Saxony, lower Saxony, Hesse, Thuringia and the Saarland are affected. "All the suppliers currently get nothing," said Stefan Fink, Chairman of the Thuringian pharmacists Association. Carsten Cheap, Executive Director of the Pharmacy Association of Saarland, said: "Everything that comes now, is not vaccinated". "have started patients this year may be much earlier, to get vaccinated," said Susanne stoecker, spokeswoman for the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute (PEI). "If more people get vaccinated, or vaccination only in the past held, we can't know yet." She holds the great wave of Flu in the past season for a possible reason for the current interest. This is probably more people are aware of the issue. debate on the measles vaccination "forced vaccination is going too far," the newspaper reported Other experts refer to the as Fund performance, available Four-way vaccine. He is considered to be more effective than one with three components. The Federal Ministry of health cites as possible causes for the defect in addition to a higher demand for a delay in the ordering of flu vaccines by Physicians and pharmacists, to large inventories in some doctor's offices and pharmacies, as well as direct contracts between health insurance funds and pharmacists. Minister of health, Jens Spahn (CDU), loosening procurement rules in the face of regional shortages Federal Minister of health, Jens Spahn (CDU) relaxed rules for the procurement. Accordingly, the lander can allow for regional requirements that pharmacies and doctor's offices among themselves with the flu vaccine supply and that of other countries in the European Union-related vaccines in the pharmacy to be dispensed. "It must be clear: Anyone who wants to can be vaccinated against influenza," said Spahn, the editors ' network Germany (RND/Wednesday). A total of 15.7 million doses, according to the Ministry available in Germany. The are about a Million more than in the previous year were used. The pharmaceutical companies can produce for this season, no flu vaccine. It takes about six months to produce a conventional vaccine, to egg white base, said a spokeswoman for the manufacturer, Sanofi. "The number of pre-orders, we'll pack a certain amount of safety margin, but we can't produce for 80 million people." The orders came mostly from wholesalers, and pharmacists. The way to order vaccines are in the States different. Cheap of the Pharmacy Association of Saarland, could have led to a great demand, the statutory funds to pay for the first time for Betmatik the Four-way vaccine against the flu. In addition, the people had made a vaccination campaign on the issue. So, it looks in the States from Also in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, the vaccine is in short supply. The vaccination rate was, however, in both countries, said the Executive Director of the pharmacists ' Association of Schleswig-Holstein and the Hamburg pharmacists Association, Thomas Friedrich. The Four-way vaccine is already since the beginning of September - this could be a reason that he goes this season before running out. In lower Saxony, practices, ordered according to the kassenarztliche Vereinigung Niedersachsen (KVN) some doctor early is very much the vaccine. In the case of other Doctors would have ordered, delayed, now deliveries. In the coming year, KVN aims to regulate the order of the vaccines in the country. "We think of a Central order for all of the Doctors in lower Saxony," a spokesman said. In the state of Hesse exhausted the inventories according to the national pharmacist Association since this week. The Association had agreed to a producer a quota and the state's pharmacies offered to order something from it. "About the Association of pharmacists of the vaccine of this company is no longer available. Single orders over wholesalers seem to be to get currently hard," said Forester. The Hessian family doctors Association and the country's Ministry of health have, however, noticed so far not a bottleneck. flu vaccine as a bulk order A kind of collective order-Western Pomerania since years, in Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. "The fridges are well filled," said a spokesman for the health Department of Berlin. He referred to a framework agreement with the AOK northeast. The health insurance Fund organises the supply of influenza vaccine since 2011 for the three provinces together with the respective pharmacists associations. The AOK Nordost have made an effort with these partners at an early stage to the delivery of security, said Susanne Dolfen, head of drug supply with the AOK northeast. "As the first Region in Germany, we have already determined in February 2018, the demand, and the flu vaccine could be ordered." Also in Baden-Wurttemberg supply is secured well so far. "A massive lack of nothing is known to us," said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of social Affairs in Stuttgart, Germany. Although there have been reports that in some regions of Baden-wurttemberg, the vaccine was out of stock. For a larger area that has not applied so far. The Robert Koch Institute advises, in particular, people over 60, Pregnant women, the chronically ill and medical staff to a flu vaccination. According to Figures from the Federal Ministry of health, the flu has triggered in the last season in Germany, around nine million visits to the doctor, and has led to nearly 2000 deaths. Updated Date: 22 November 2018, 08:00 wlk / DPA The most suitable business form a company can have depends based on the capital the businessmen can invest in the respective company (different legal forms require a different minimum share capital), the size of the company and its main business operations. It also depends on the specific jurisdiction (or country) where the business will be formed. In Europe, commercial legislation generally provides the same types of legal structures in most of the European countries. Regardless of the European country in which they are incorporated, most of the legal forms provide the same characteristics, but relevant differences can appear in terms of the companys capital. However, when starting a business in Europe, it is important to know that the most popular legal entity is represented by the limited liability company. In Ireland, for example, the most popular business form is the private company limited by shares, due to its favorable conditions available for its investors. Ireland has recently revised its Companies Act, and investors can now register a wide range of private companies. Some of the business forms that can be found in Ireland may also be set up in Estonia, a European country where businessmen can incorporate limited or general partnerships, limited/public limited liability companies or branches and subsidiaries of foreign companies. Choosing the suitable business form in this case must be decided depending on the liability the investors want to assume, the minimum number of investors that must associate in the company and the required capital, but, just like in the case of Ireland, the private limited liability company is also the first choice of local and foreign businessmen. Singapore is another business destination in which the private limited liability is the favorite business structure, due to the fact that it represents a separate legal entity than its founders, who enjoy limited liability on the debts of the company. In this country, the structure generally benefits from various tax exemptions and incentives. Those interested in setting up a company in Singapore, can receive assistance from a team of local incorporation agents. Although these business structures can provide a wide range of advantages when starting a commercial activity, in the case of businessmen who want to enter the financial markets, other business structures will need to be chosen. This is the case of those interested in starting an investment fund in a specific jurisdiction, who can choose from specially designed legal entities. For example, Belize is a well-known investment destination, and investors usually prefer to form offshore companies in Belize, one of the most popular forms being the international business company, a business structure that offers numerous tax exemptions and advantages. Similar Posts: I awakened to the greatness of Samuel Johnson eighteenth century Englands supreme man of letters under the tutelage of Professor Jeffrey Hart, who required us to absorb Johnsons magnificent essay on Soame Jenynss Free Enquiry Into the Nature and Origin of Evil. Memory of Jenynss otherwise forgettable book lives on thanks to the explosion it triggered in Johnson. Johnsons essay is available online in a form edited by Jack Lynch, a scholar of Johnson and eighteenth-century English literature. I am put in mind of Johnsons essay on Jenyns by Victor Davis Hansons comprehensive smackdown of French President Emmanuel Macron in The Mad, Mad Meditations of Monsieur Macron. In this November 20 National Review column Professor Hanson essentially rises to the defense of Donald Trump in the matter of Macrons recent disquisition on nationalism. Quotable quote: What makes a Macron reveal his idiocy so candidly, aside from his innate ignorance? I have a question of my own. What triggered Professor Hanson in this case? I doubt that it was Macrons disquisition by itself. I think Macron is a stand-in for his ilk shoving their ignorance down our throats every day in the United States. Put Macron to one side and let Professor Hansons historical learning inspire us further to combat the ignorance as we can in our own ways. Barack Obama is in the news again. On Monday evening, he gave a talk in Chicago at the Obama Foundation Summit, whatever that is. I havent tried to track down a video, but NBC News reports on the event: Obama, speaking at the Obama Foundation Summit on Monday night, said the answers already exist to solve many of the problems facing both the U.S. and the world, but that the nation was not making progress because we are still confused, blind, shrouded with hate, anger, racism, mommy issues. This is the central conceit of liberalism: we know how to solve the worlds problemssocialism!but those pesky conservatives just wont go along and make it unanimous. The truth is the opposite: policy debates rage across a broad range of issues, and conservatives usually win them. The context of former President Obamas comments, climate change, is a good example. The liberal/hysteric global warming theory has been refuted, and global warming advocates now admit that their modelsthe only basis for hysteria in the first placeare wrong. But, like a dead frog whose legs continue to kick, clueless liberals like Barack Obama parrot the pro-government line, not because it makes any scientific sense, but because it supports their statist desires. Which brings us to the rest of Obamas riff: Americans are confused, blind, shrouded with hate, anger, racism, mommy issues. This is more or less insane. What do hate and anger have to do with scientific debates about the influence of carbon dioxide on the earths atmosphere? Nothing, except that hate and anger are directed against all who publish scientific data that undercut the liberals politically-motivated narrative. And racism? How does race have anything to do with global warming? It doesnt. Racism is now an epithet that usually has nothing at all to do with race. It is merely a term of opprobrium, like jerk or a**hole, that liberals apply to those who disagree with them. And, finally, mommy issues. I have no idea what Obama was referring to here. What do mommy issues have to do with global warming? News accounts indicate that his audience laughed, and reporters say he was referring to President Trump. I have no clue. My only observation is that liberal journalists constantly tell us that President Trump has debased our political culture. Seriously? The debasement, as I observe it, comes almost entirely from the other side. Has President Trump ever ascribed his political opponents positions to mommy issues? Not that I recall. It is hard to imagine any former president employing such childish tropes in attacking his successors. Former Presidents Reagan and BushGeorge H. W. and George W.certainly never tried to demean their Democratic successors by asserting such stupid slanders as mommy issues. Not to mention racism, hate and anger. We have entered a new era in American politics, and, make no mistake, it is the Democrats who have ushered in the juvenile, no-holds-barred epoch in which we live. Barack Obama should be condemned for the part he plays in debasing American political discourse. HERE IS THE VIDEO: The New York Times reviews A&Es The Clinton Affair sympathetically. Of course, the Times being the Times, the perspective is often myopic. The Clinton Affair, A&Es six-part mini-series on the scandals of Bill Clintons presidency, lacks a point of view. It is straightforward in style and evenhanded in tone. Strangely, this recommends it. Strangely. But this observation is astute: Lewinsky has always been cast as the central female character of Bill Clintons scandals, and while that has been hell for her, it has been rather convenient for him. Over two decades, it was easy to forget that the reporting on Clintons consensual affair with an intern arose out of an even more damning context: [Paula] Joness harassment suit. That is right. And the Times recognizes that Lewinski was not the key Clinton accuser: The same cannot be said for Jones, Willey and Broaddrick. In the 90s, they were dismissed as bimbos deployed in service of what Hillary Clinton called the vast right-wing conspiracy, and with few exceptions, their stories have remained relegated to the margins of respectable conversation. Why is that? Here, the Times is unhelpful: In the 90s, these womens stories cut directly to the biases of the mainstream media: that sexual harassment and assault were tabloid tales and that publishing anything that seemed to sway a political process was ill advised. Oh, please. If a Republican president had been accused of rape and sexual harassment, there would have been little else in the mainstream media. It is true that Clintons accusers ran afoul of the biases of the mainstream media, but those biases have nothing to do with unwillingness to sway a political process. The Times is especially taken with Paula Jones: Paula Jones, in particular, rises. In 1994, she said that Bill Clinton had summoned her to a hotel room and exposed himself when he was the governor of Arkansas and she was a state employee. Later she filed suit against him for sexual harassment. The Times doesnt mention that Clinton settled Joness case for $850,000. In the 1990s, that was real money. He also paid a hefty fine for lying under oath in his deposition. Clintons advisers trashed her on television. Carville said this: If you drag a $100 bill through a trailer park, you never know what youll find. George Stephanopoulos compared Jones to Tonya Harding: just another woman seeking cash for telling a tabloid tale. The assessment lingered: In 2016, Vox published an explainer dismissing her charges as probably bunk, relaying, in part, that her description of Bill Clintons penis did not align with those of some anonymous sources. Vox: news for the hopelessly uninformed. Many probably assume that these days, Democratic Party operatives couldnt get away with the trailer park crack, or the other smears that were directed against Jones, Willey and Broaddrick. But no one who sees how conservative women are treated by Democrats on Twitter would make that assumption. The Times says that Clintons sexual exploitation (they dont mention the Lolita Express) is being re-evaluated in light of the 21st Century #MeToo phenomenon. But rape has been a serious crime from time immemorial, formerly punished by hanging. Rape was, I think, taken more seriously in the 1990s than it is now. Sexual harassment was illegal then, too. Clinton skated because he was a Democrat, not because of any supposedly benighted attitudes of the times. The Times concludes with a nice tribute to Paula Jones: Paula Jones spoke out against the most powerful man in the world, and when his lawyers argued that a sitting president couldnt be subject to a civil suit, she took them all the way to the Supreme Court and won. In another world, she would be hailed as a feminist icon. But not in this world not yet. Not in this world, not ever. Not as long as the Democratic Party controls the press. Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time. Winston Churchill Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof. Inscription on the Liberty Bell PR-Inside.com: 2018-11-22 13:32:04 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 587 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 22, 2018 / Binance Labs, the investment and incubator arm of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has just announced a $3 million investment in cryptocurrency OTC trading company Koi Trading.Koi Trading is an OTC trading desk based in San Francisco that provides private, efficient and compliant cryptocurrency liquidity to counterparties around the world. With specialization in cryptocurrency OTC trading, global market making for crypto exchanges and high-frequency trading, Koi Trading also provides support services such as quantitative research, data science, and compliance consulting services. "Koi Trading's mission is to bridge fiat and cryptocurrencies in a compliant manner. This aligns with our broader vision at Binance to build the infrastructure which provides the freedom of value exchange globally," said Ella Zhang, Head of Binance Labs. "Koi Trading founders are long-time blockchain believers, with deep knowledge of the technology, OTC operations and regulatory space. Their team is dedicated to making a positive impact and we are excited to welcome them into the Binance Labs family." Koi Trading's founding team consists of three former core team members of HBUS, who are well-known blockchain industry investment, technology and compliance veterans."Our team of experienced traders and sales personnel will join forces to tap into vast networks of counterparties in North America, Asia and the EU, bridging the gap that divides the current OTC landscape," said Hao Chen, founder and CEO of Koi Trading. "We are thrilled that Binance Labs recognizes our team's unique ability to deliver this vision; we cannot wait to build a reliable and professional brand around the globe in partnership with Binance Labs." OTC trading for cryptocurrency is no cakewalk business in the current cryptocurrency bear market. But even with the placid trading levels and several big players already in the field, Koi still finds underserved clientele in both China and the US. OTC trading in China boasts a significant daily volume of at least RMB 150 million despite the broad-based ban of centralized cryptocurrency trading in China. Without trusted escrow agents, most of OTC trades in China are arranged through WeChat, a Chinese instant messaging app. So the counterparties in China always find it difficult to secure a professional, trustworthy and user-friendly service provider."With Koi's robust AML program, extensive banking relations in the US, investment from Binance Labs, and strong trust amongst counterparties in the Greater China, we aim to be the market nexus that reduces trust and information asymmetry and improves cryptocurrency OTC deal close rate," said Chen.About Koi TradingWith desks in San Francisco, Hong Kong and Beijing, Koi Trading offers a private, efficient and compliant OTC pathway for institutional investors and wealth managers to start engaging with blockchain assets. Using a combination of trade algorithms and direct communication channels, Koi Trading connect OTC counterparties with deep liquidities and earn price arbitrage as a near- riskless principal. For more information, please visit https://koi.trade/ About Binance LabsBinance is a blockchain ecosystem comprised of Exchange, Labs, Launchpad, Info, Academy, Trust Wallet, Research, and Blockchain Charity Foundation. Binance Labs is an infrastructure impact fund and an initiative launched by Binance to incubate, invest in, and empower blockchain and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, projects, and communities. The mission of Binance Labs is to solve the problems that matter most to the ecosystem and change the world for the better. For more information, visit https://labs.binance.com/ ContactJimmy CaiKoi Tradingjimmy@ koi.trade Leah LiBinancepr@ binance.com SOURCE: Binance Labs PR-Inside.com: 2018-11-22 19:37:46 Press Information Home Alarm Security System 170 Sudbury St Toronto, ON, M6J 0A9 Joe Peterson Joe Peterson 416 401 4293 email http://www.homealarmsecuritysystem.ca/adt-vs-link-interactive/ # 413 Words 170 Sudbury St Toronto, ON, M6J 0A9Joe Peterson416 401 4293 22th November 2018 - Home Alarm Security System gets rid of commercial purposes and makes trustworthy reviews of Canadian best companies in the field of home security. If you are seeking for a reliable company to implement for your own house a cool security alarm system, then you came here right. The Home Alarm Security System company is able to provide you what you need, and you will surely be happy to get your service on time. Do not hesitate to see what interesting they can say about the Frontpoint company today. Do not miss this opportunity to checkout their official website.The website of Home Alarm Security System is a very user-friendly platform, offering easy to read articles and posts about the particular alarm security companies available on the Canadian territory. For everyone who is seeking for reliable details about a companys activity, the Home Alarm Security System page is the right place to search for it. Yet another feature of the website, you can easily contact the site representatives to check the correctness of the provided info. Do not miss the chance to find the suitable security company for you.One of the most positive reviews from the Home Alarm Security System is the one about Frontpoint. What is Frontpoint? It is a security company with a large base of devoted clients and a huge amount of successful works accomplished. They provide wireless home security systems and GSM/Cellular-based monitoring services that will allow you to protect your home without using any internet connection. This is very useful if you live in a rural area, or if you jwant to make the security system more affordable. Yet another important thing to know about Frontpoint, they dont need to send any installers to your home because they are using an easy self-setup of their system. Last but not least, you will be provided with a 30 days risk free contract.About Frontpoint:Frontpoint is a US based company that provides to people the best wireless and cellular home security systems in Canada and the US. This company is one of the first companies to put in practice this technology and even to this day, they are very popular all over Canada. If you are ready to have the very best and the securestContact:Company: Home Alarm Security SystemContact Name: Joe PetersonAddress: 170 Sudbury St Toronto, ON, M6J 0A9E-mail: contact@ homealarmsecuritysystem.ca Phone: 416 401 4293Website: http://www.homealarmsecuritysystem.ca/adt-vs-link-interactive/ PR-Inside.com: 2018-11-22 19:36:58 Press Information Home Security Systems Reviews 508 - 840 Broughton Street, Vancouver BC, V6G 2A1 Jessica Williams Jessica Williams 604 879 3720 email http://www.homesecuritysystemsreviews.ca/ontario/ # 418 Words 508 - 840 Broughton Street, Vancouver BC, V6G 2A1Jessica Williams604 879 3720 21th November 2018 - Home Security Systems Reviews provides trustworthy reviews about home security companies all over the Canada. If you live in Ontario or British Columbia, then you will find useful the website of Home Security Systems Reviews. The platform can help you manage your desires about your future home alarm security system, and also get the most suitable company that could easily help you in the limit of your budget. Do not hesitate to discover the many available companies from the Home Security Systems Reviews website.The webpage of Home Security Systems Reviews is one of the most non-commercial and easy to use review pages in Canada. You can find there truly nice comparisons of many security systems companies of Canada, and also strict pluses and minuses of those companies. If you are seeking for some reliable comments and analysis, then you can easily trust your intuition and begin making use of the services of one of those available companies. Do not miss this opportunity of learning more in depth about the hidden details of each home security companies from the Home Security Systems Reviews platform.Why should you rely on the opinion of the Home Security Systems Reviews authors? There are many reasons to do so. First, there are really many args that you should take into account. One of those is the particularly option of discovering everything, without limiting yourself. Next, you can easily check the information by requesting data from he Home Security Systems Reviews reps. Yet another thing to point out, Home Security Systems Reviews can be a nice reason for you not to fail in your future choice, because of the many details that you would like to have by implementing an alarm home security system. Last but not least, do not forget to subscribe on the Home Security Systems Reviews news, new articles and posts, comparisons and new companies.About Home Security Systems Reviews:Home Security Systems Reviews is an online platform managed by two guys, who are focused on analyzing and providing useful data for potential clients or home alarm systems seeking. For you or your neighbors who are motivated to secure their house, and who dont actually know what type of alarm to choose, do not hesitate to get the most efficient Home Security Systems Ontario or BC.Contact:Company: Home Security Systems ReviewsContact Name: Jessica WilliamsAddress: 508 - 840 Broughton Street, Vancouver BC, V6G 2A1E-mail: contact@ homesecuritysystemsreviews.ca Phone: 604 879 3720Website: http://www.homesecuritysystemsreviews.ca/ontario/ PR-Inside.com: 2018-11-22 14:23:50 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 985 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 22, 2018 / INFINITE LITHIUM CORP. ("Infinite" or the "Company") (TSX-V:ILI) (37NNFRANKFURT) is pleased to announce results from its 2018 channel sampling program at the Jackpot Lithium Property (the "Property" or "Jackpot"), located in the Georgia Lake Area, Thunder Bay Mining Division, Ontario. Jackpot is located about 42 km north-northeast of Nipigon and approximately 105 km east-northeast of the Great Lakes port City of Thunder Bay, Ontario.To date, the Company's channel sampling program has generated a total of 26 channel cuts (essentially surface drill holes) from spodumene-bearing pegmatite outcrops (cleared mechanically and washed) over nine cleared areas, comprising 372 individual channel samples (355.40 metres). Channel sample results from channels A3-CH1, CH2, CH3, and A5-CH1 were released previously (see News Release dated August 16, 2018) but are repeated here for completeness of results.Highlights of channel sample results collected from five (5) cleared areas in the Jackpot Main area:Channel samples were cut through exposed pegmatite at right angles to interpreted strike and importantly represent minimum widths as the channel cuts were not sampled from contact to contact. As winter weather conditions do not allow for further channel sampling, a short hole drilling program is underway, aimed at delineating the geometry of the surface dikes and providing enough information to complete a future mineral resource estimation of the surface dike system.Michael England, President of Infinite Lithium, commented: "This year's exploration program was a complete success, with the discovery of multiple surface and near-surface pegmatites being a game changer for the development of the Jackpot project. The trenching, channel sampling, and prospecting programs uncovered what appears to be at least four spodumene-mineralized surface dikes that will be the subject of a future mineral resource estimation. Our current exploration program is focused on discovering the extent of these surface dikes through a combination of channel sampling and shallow drilling that will help us understand the length, width, and depth of the surface pegmatite dikes. The grade of the surface mineralization is very encouraging, averaging +1% Li2O with numerous high-grade intercepts of +2% Li2O and individual samples up to 6.85% Li2O. This grade compares very favourably to global hard rock lithium projects and I believe the surface potential at Jackpot is an important differentiator for our project as there is potential to build significant low-cost tonnage at an excellent grade. The next step is to continue the exploration program with a goal of building resources on the multiple surface dikes and the shallow-dipping Main Zone Dike. I am very confident in our ability to build a significant asset at Jackpot which is close to existing infrastructure including roads, electricity, shipping ports, and a skilled workforce." Surface map of the central area, Jackpot Main property. The currently reported 25 channel cuts were collected from the eight (8) areas shown as numbered green circles, with the remaining 12 areas shown as numbered blue squares. The four surface pegmatite dikes (North, Central #1, Central #2, and South) and their interpreted extents are also shown (pink), along with the interpreted surface outcropping of the Main Zone Dike (furthest south). [grey=sediments; orange=diabase]Current interpretation of the pegmatite dike system suggests there are at least four approximately east- to west-trending surface LCT pegmatite dikes, each interpreted to extend between 500 and 1,000 metres along strike (open in both directions) and to be as much as 80 metres in width. The terrain north, east, and southeast of the exposed surface dikes is extensively covered with alluvium and till, and is therefore better explored under frozen winter conditions.All channel sample results collected from eight (8) cleared areas in the Jackpot Main area:*previously reportedAll channel sample results collected from eight (8) cleared areas in the Jackpot Main area ( cont.): Quality ControlChannel samples are delivered to AGAT Laboratories in Thunder Bay, Ontario by one of the project personnel. Following sample preparation in Thunder Bay the samples are shipped to AGAT Laboratories in Mississauga, Ontario to undergo analyses. AGAT Laboratories Ltd. is accredited, for specific tests, to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 standard and is certified to ISO 9001:2015. External quartz blanks and external lithium standards are inserted into the channel sample stream at regular intervals. Samples are prepared by sodium peroxide fusion with analysis by ICP-OES/ICP-MS finish and a detection limit of 10 ppm Li (0.002% Li2O). An ongoing Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) program is in place to monitor the results of the blanks and standards against the sample assays. Results of blanks and standards for this program have passed QA/QC review indicating the assay results are accurate and that no contamination has occurred.Qualified PersonThe technical content of this news release were approved by Dr. Scott Jobin-Bevans, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by the National Instrument 43-101. The Property has not been the subject of a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report.About Infinite LithiumInfinite Lithium (TSX-V: ILI) is a junior mining exploration company focused on seeking and acquiring lithium projects globally. Infinite Lithium has four hard rock lithium projects as well as one clay lithium project, all located in North America. While work has been done to advance all five projects, Infinite Lithium's primary focus is on the Jackpot property in Ontario. The Company is currently building on an historical resource, which is de-risked exploration while defining a surface lithium resource on the Jackpot property. Both targets, new and historical, have produced some exceptional high-grade lithium results hosted by LCT pegmatites.We seek Safe Harbor.ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD"Michael England"Michael England, President, DirectorFOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Telephone: 1-604-683-3995 Toll Free: 1-888-945-4770Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future PR-Inside.com: 2018-11-22 12:37:25 Press Information Published by ANIL KOKANE +918655837020 e-mail https://jito.org # 769 Words ANIL KOKANE+918655837020 JITO Womenpreneurs National Business Conclave triggers women entrepreneurs to start their business venturesMumbai (Nov. 20): The first ever business conclave of JITO ladies wing JITO Womenpreneurs National Business Conclave 2018 was held on 17th November, 2018 with great enthusiasm at Motilal Oswal Tower, Mumbai. It was a super successful event with 350 enterprising women attending it from across the country, wherein various mantras to become successful in businesses were presented to the budding women entrepreneurs. This event helped ladies in business start-ups, funding, digital technology and vast business opportunities in various fields. This will certainly pave the way to increased participation of women in the startup movement!After lighting of lamp, JITO Ladies Wing Chairperson Ms. Sharmila Oswal narrated, Women in the family are key decision makers in the family on many important matters. Womenpreneurs bring in the opportunity to directly address to those ladies who are decision makers to buy various products and services for their families and respective business. JITO Womenpreneurs National Business Conclave Project In-Charge Ms. Sunita Bohora said, JITO Womenpreneurs National Business Conclave has been a great success since the speakers from Nestle, Raymond, Amazon & Paytm Payment Bank, Google, Entrepreneur Magazine, Franchise India Media and others presented concrete business opportunities for the budding women entrepreneurs. We are quite confident that numerous new women entrepreneurs would emerge from the audience today. Itll be our small contribution towards empowering women for the progress of our great nation. Secretary General of JITO Mr. Anil Jain said that it is highly satisfying & pleasure to see ladies taking big roles in the upliftment of the lesser privileged of the community. Organizing JITO Womenpreneurs National Business Conclave 2018 is a real big landmark in their way to success. JITO Vice Chairman & Director in charge Mr Sukhraj Nahar appreciated the ladies and congratulated for taking up this event. President Mr. Ganpat Choudhary gladly informed that a National Business Conclave JITO Womenpreneurs 2018 is being organised independently by JITO Ladies Wing. Such initiative will go a long way in recognition of women in real sense. Imm. Past Chairman Mr. Motilal Oswal addressed the gathering by informing the success mantras and explained the capabilities of women. He said in one survey it is found that 56% more profit is generated by businesses run by women.Ms. Natasha Malpani Oswal gave success mantras: Believe in yourself, go out of comfort zone, ask for help and learn to say No! Mr. Mallikarjun Reddy Y. of Nestle explained opportunities for lady entrepreneurs in the food industry. He spoke about Nestles Kiosk business format and importance of power of determination. Ms. Priyanka Paul of Paytm Payments Bank explained about Asha Kiran program for women. Asha Kiran programs aims to impact 2 million women soon to start with financial inclusion, opportunities to be Business Correspondents and sell financial products etc. Mr. Ajit Patnaik of Raymond explained opportunities for ladies in the apparel business and the model Raymond offers to set up a tailing hub with the support from Raymond. Ms. Vibha Singhal Bajaj of Amazon explained how to effectively leverage business growth using E commerce platform and how sellers can effectively scale up their businesses. Mr. Rachit Jain of Google, explained succeeding in micro moments world and how Google is making life simpler. Global Lifetime Queen, a Cancer survivor, Ms. Namita Kohok shared her inspirational cancer to crown story. She added when a cancer survivor can be successful why the healthy cant?TV serial fame Dipika Singh (Diya aur Baati) presented thoughts about learning to handle good opportunities with dignity. High Court Advocate Ms. Minal Khona explained the importance of making a Legal Will. Certified CS Divya Momaya explained about Companies Act, type of business structures, post set up essential compliances, penalty notices, show value notices, SEBI, RBI etc. COO of JIIF, Ms. Swanubhuti Jain explained the facilities for lady entrepreneurs available at JITO Angel Network & incubation centre.There was an inspirational discussion by Entrepreneur Magazine Editor Ms. Ritu Marya and Franchisors Ms. Meema Menon and Ms. Leena Ashar on franchisee business module.The second round of discussion included young entrepreneurs Priyal Ostwal, Sonakshi Patni, Surabhi Sethia and Rushabh Jain and many other dignitaries shared their success mantras. This unique event was sponsored by Gowma (leather substitute) and Media partner for this event are Franchisee India, Entrepreneur Magazine and Startup magazine.Vote of thanks was presented by Vice Chairperson Ms. Suman Bachhawat. Kudos to JITO Ladies Wing Chair Ms. Sharmila Oswal, Womenpreneurs 2018 Project In-charge Ms. Sunita Bohora and the entire team of JITO Ladies Wing for making this event so successful. This in itself is a live example of empowered women at JITO. PR-Inside.com: 2018-11-22 03:05:03 The Korea S&T United Alumni Association will hold inaugural meeting on November 24 (Saturday) in Hanoi Over 100 alumni who graduated UST, KAIST, GIST and KIST will attend the meeting Korea-Expert, 100 Vietnamese Scientists to Gather in Hanoi University of Science and Technology Gijong JUNG, +82-42-865-2374 jung@ust.ac.kr The inaugural meeting of the Korea S&T United Alumni Association will be held on November 24, 2018 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The alumni association is an organization of Vietnamese scientists who studied at leading educational and research institutions in science and technology in Korea, including University of Science and Technology [..], Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). UST (President: Dr. Moon Kil Choo) hosts the Korea S&T United Alumni Association meeting to promote exchange among Vietnamese alumni who are serving in Vietnam after studying in Korea. UST is the only national graduate school in Korea that educate researchers for masters degrees and doctorates by granting graduate course functions to 32 government-funded research institutions. KAIST (President: Dr. Sung-Chul Shin) and Gwangju Institute of Science and [..] (GIST, President: Dr. Seung Hyeon Moon) are typical and research-oriented universities with graduate and undergraduate level programs. KIST (President: Dr. Lee Byung Gwon) is the first government-funded research institution in Korea that conducts research activities in basic and applied sciences. Out of over 400 Vietnamese scientists produced by these four institutions, more than 100 scientists who are engaged in activities in Vietnam are expected to attend the event. The launch of the united alumni association will be led by key members, including Bui Ba Chinh (Executive Director, Vietnam Certification Center), President, Vietnamese Alumni Association of UST; Huong Minh Nguyen (researcher, Institute of Biotechnology in Vietnam), a graduate of KAIST; Do Manh Cuong (vice head, Division of Environmental and Community Health, Vietnam Health Environment Management Agency, Ministry of Health), a graduate of GIST; and Nguyen Duc Luong (professor, National University of Civil Engineering, Hanoi), President, Vietnamese Alumni Association of KIST. The United Alumni Association is expected to make significant contribution to strengthening unity and harmony among Korea-expert Vietnamese alumni in science and technology, promoting exchange in science and technology between Vietnam and Korea, and developing these fields of Vietnam. The meeting will be honored by attendance of a number of leaders in science and technology, including Dr. Moon Kil Choo, President of UST, Dr. Kim Soohyun, Vice President of KAIST, Dr. Seung Hyeon Moon, President of GIST, Dr. Yoon Seok-Jin, Vice President of KIST, and Dr. Kum Donghwa, President of VietnamKorea Institute of Science and Technology (VKIST). I could receive a doctorate by conducting research works in wonderful conditions in Korea. I will exert my efforts to development of Vietnam and cooperation in science and technology fields with Korea together with other Vietnamese alumni, said Bui Ba Chinh, an alumnus of UST. The first meeting of the United Alumni Association is very significant as it provides a chance of promoting exchange based on affection towards Korea regardless of institutions they graduated, said Dr. Moon Kil Choo, President of UST. I genuinely hope these alumni will contribute to cooperation in science and technology between Korea and Vietnam while growing as leaders who will drive development of the world science and technology. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181121005 PR-Inside.com: 2018-11-22 09:06:04 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 773 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Leading the Southern California Market in the Category, Canna Candys is now Poised for Rapid Expansion in US, Europe and Asia as a Weekend Unlimited BrandVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 22,2018 / WeekendUnlimited Inc. ("Weekend" or the "Company") (CSE: YOLO FSE:0OS1) announces the closing of its deal to acquire California's Canna Candys(CBD) and Canna Medibles (THC), strengthening the Company's product portfolioas it executes on its strategy to build its flower, extracts and ediblesverticals."This isa highly strategic acquisition for Weekend, following our business objective toidentifying strong brands that require capital and expertise to grow," said Mr.Cody Corrubia, President and CEO of Weekend. "Paul Chu, CEO of Canna Candys, leadsa team with tremendous product development expertise and a thrivingdistribution network in Southern California," added Mr. Corrubia."Canna Candys and Canna Medibles are perfectly positioned to expandthroughout US states where recreational or medical cannabis is legal," said Mr.Paul Chu, CEO of Canna Candys. "Now, as part of Weekend, we will expand ourdistribution to build upon the strong foundation in Southern California addingNew York, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, Texas and on to Europe and Asia," addedMr. Chu.Canna Candys (THC) and CannaMedibles (CBD) highlights:2019 same channel revenue forecastof approximately USD$ 2 million*Launching a new 10MG VESIsorb lineof CBD and THC ediblesDistribution to 380 retail storesSouthern CaliforniaArtisanhandmade hard candies with 31 flavors & lollipops with 10 flavorsCBD only distribution deals beingnegotiated in NY, FL, NV, NJ, TX, CA, Europe and AsiaNew product lines to include gummies,beverage packs, chocolates*Cost of goods 38% based on current available supply chain agreementsand cost of goods for lab tested and approved raw material. Risks associatedwith the forecast are competition, regulatory change, an increase in costs, andconsistent availability of lab tested and approved raw material.Weekend provided a secured loan of US$ 750,000and converted this note for 51% of the equity in the company that owns thesebrands.Weekend paid an additional US$690,000 and is in the process of issuing shares worth US$ 1,440,000 at a 5 dayVWAP (the "Escrow Shares") to acquire a further 29% of the company so as to own80%.The final 20% can be purchased,during a time period ending 90 days after the first closing, for US$ 720,000,to be paid by cash, shares or a combination of the two as agreed to by theparties.The Escrow Shares will be released at thatdate that Canna Candys and Canna Medibles have occupied and are operation in amanufacturing facility located in Adelanto California.Forfurther information, please contact:Mr. CodyCorrubia, President and CEOTelephone: 1(236) 317-2812 - Toll free 1(888) 556-YOLO (9656)E-mail: IR@ weekendunlimited.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor itsRegulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of theCanadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy oraccuracy of this release.Forward Looking StatementsCertain information set forth in this news release may containforward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks anduncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact areforward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regardingfuture financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporatevision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategicalliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of orinvolving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management'scurrent beliefs and is based on information currently available to management.Often , but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the useof words such as "plans", "expects", "isexpected", "budget", "scheduled","estimates", "forecasts", "predicts","intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates"or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of suchwords and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certainactions "may", "could", "should","would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or beachieved.A number of known and unknownrisks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results orperformance to materially differ from any future results or performanceexpressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-lookingstatements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of whichare beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impactof general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence uponregulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in thepreparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time ofpreparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should notbe placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume anyobligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as aresult of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required bysecurities laws.SOURCE: Weekend Unlimited Inc. Zenith International Bank dominated trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) accounting for 90.04 per cent of the total volume of shares traded. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bank accounted for 605.54 million shares worth N14.53 billion. It was trailed by Transcorp with a turnover of 9.34 million shares valued at N10.80 million, while FBN Holdings sold 7.29 million shares worth N54.99 million. FCMB Group traded 6.27 million shares valued at N9.48 million, while African Prudential Registrar accounted for 5.44 million shares worth N19.67 million. Consequently, a total of 672.56 million shares valued at N15.22 billion was traded in 2,436 deals by investors. This was in contrast with a turnover of 237.75 million shares worth N3.05 billion achieved in 3,559 deals on Wednesday. However, the crucial market indices appreciated marginally by 0.05 per cent with the All-Share Index growing by 14.81 points to close at 31,984.60 against 31,969.79 on Wednesday. Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at N11.671 trillion rose by N5 billion to close at N11.676 trillion. Flour Mills Nigeria led the gainers table during the day, appreciating by N1.85 to close at N20.45 per share. PZ Cusson followed with a gain of 70k to close at N9.70, while Forte Oil appreciated by 20k to close at N19.20 per share. Guaranty Trust Bank increased by 15k to close at N36, while Zenith Bank added 15k to close at N24.15 per share. On the other hand, Nigerian Breweries led the loser table, dropping by N1 to close at N84 per share. Julius Berger trailed with a loss of 85k to close at N20.50, while Okomu Oil Palm dipped 25k to close at N75.50 per share. Ikeja Hotel declined by 20k to close at N1.85, while Oando was down by 20k to close at N4.90 per share. (NAN) Helen Paul, a popular comedian, will team up with Keppy Ekpenyong Bassey, veteran actor, to host the Best of Nollywood (BON) Awards which celebrates high fliers in the movie industry. The awards ceremony has been scheduled to hold on December 9, in Oyo state. The duo of Ekpeyong and Paul will thrill guests to `an evening of class at the gala night and ball-themed event, Seun Oloketuyi, the Chief Executive Officer of BON Awards, said. A lot of creative contributions have gone into the events preparation, to make it a memorable 10 years celebration. Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of Oyo, will be a special guest of honour at the event which is sponsored by the state government, he said, in a statement. Among the 34 categories at the awards are the keenly contested Best Actor in a Leading Role (English and Yoruba) and Best Actress in a Leading Role (English and Yoruba). Ramsey Nouah, Femi Branch and Kelechi Udegbe are among the six nominated in the best actor (English) category. In the Yoruba movie genre, Femi Adebayo, Ninalowo Bolanle, Lateef Adedimeji and Yemi Solade are nominated for best actor in a leading role. We Dont Live Here Anymore, a movie by Tope Oshin, was the highest nominated, raking in 11 nominations in different categories, the statement highlighted. (NAN) Denmark on Thursday suspended future approvals of weapons and military equipment exports to Saudi Arabia in response to the killing of a dissident Saudi journalist and the kingdoms role in the conflict in Yemen, the Danish foreign ministry said. Germany has already suspended issuing future weapons export licenses. The country has moved to halt all arms sales, while France said on Monday said it will decide soon on sanctions over Mr Khashoggis killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month. Saudi Arabia is one of the worlds biggest weapons importers. It heads a military coalition fighting in a civil war in Yemen in which tens of thousands of people have died and caused a major humanitarian catastrophe. With the continued deterioration of the already terrible situation in Yemen and the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, we are now in a new situation, said foreign minister, Anders Samuelsen. Denmark issued ten such approvals last year, according to the ministry. Already given approvals will not be suspended, a spokesperson said. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised Saudi Arabia for helping to lower oil prices. However, pressure intensified for the United States to impose tougher sanctions on its Middle East ally over Mr Khashoggis murder. (Reuters/NAN) China and Brazil will launch a new earth resource satellite in 2019, an official with the China National Space Administration said on Thursday. Li Guoping, the Secretary-General of the China National Space Administration, said in a recent interview prior to a symposium held in Beijing in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of China-Brazil cooperation in space. The new satellite, the China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite-4A or CBERS-4A, will be launched in the second half of 2019, Mr Guoping said. Report says the CBERS satellites are earth remote sensing satellites, specifically designed for earth observation from orbit for non-military use, such as environment monitoring, meteorology and map making. According to Li, CBERS-4A, the new satellite to be launched, is assembled and currently going through tests in Brazil. It is set to replace CBERS-4. CBERS-4, launched in December 2014, is currently in great condition although under extended service. The two countries will also start the final design and research of CBERS-5 and CBERS-6. The two satellites will be successors to CBERS-4A, which is designed to serve for five years, Mr Guoping said. China and Brazil inked the agreement establishing the joint research and production of the CBERS series in July 1988. The programme has set a good example for cooperation among developing countries in the field of space technology and has been praised as a model of South-South cooperation. (Xinhua/NAN) Britain and the EU agreed a draft text setting out a close post-Brexit relationship, officials said, though wrangles over fish and the future of Gibraltar must still be settled before leaders meet on Sunday. Thursdays news sent the pound nearly one per cent higher on relief among investors that 18 months of tense negotiation were bearing fruit, keeping Britain close to its biggest market and ensuring nothing much will change for at least two years. British Prime Minister, Theresa May said in London: The British people want this to be settled, they want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it. The main question mark is over whether Spain, seeing Brexit as an opportunity to swing the EUs weight behind its 300-year campaign to reclaim Gibraltar from Britain, can be persuaded to remain patient. After a draft treaty last week set the terms for Britains departure in March, May had met EU Chief Executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, on Wednesday, hoping to finalise an ambitious declaration on future ties. The ties can help her secure backing at home for the whole Brexit package in the teeth of furious parliamentary opposition, even within her own party. She is due to meet Juncker again on the eve of the summit, at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Saturday, and a spokesman for Juncker said that by then there should nothing much left to sort out. With Spain, France and other EU member states lobbying for various national vested interests in that political declaration a 26-page wish list on future trade and security ties separate from the 585-page withdrawal agreement. There was concern in Brussels that haggling could get out of hand and derail Sundays tightly choreographed formal summit of the 27 leaders with May. Summit chair Donald Tusk said: It has been agreed at negotiators level and agreed in principle at political level. EU sources said other demands from governments would be parked in a separate page or two of short text to be endorsed at the summit. French calls for access to British fishing grounds and insistence that post-Brexit Britain follow EU environment, tax, labour and industrial rules are largely drafted, leaving a gap for Spains concerns that Madrid be given an effective veto over applying any future deal to Gibraltar. The main text of the political declaration, seen by Reuters, said the EU and Britain agree to develop an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced economic partnership. This partnership will be comprehensive, encompassing a free trade area as well as wider sectoral cooperation will be underpinned by provisions ensuring a level playing field. Crucially for May, it commits the EU to looking for ways to avoid triggering a backstop clause intended to ensure the Irish border remains free of customs checks. Those include, it says, technical and administrative means favoured by Mays pro-Brexit allies that could limit Britains need to keep its broader economic and trade rules in line with the continent. The European Commission said Juncker encouraged May to talk with Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, which they had done late on Wednesday, and that Gibraltar, along with some questions on fishing, were what remained unresolved. The text said the post-Brexit relationship would respect the integrity of the Unions Single Market and the Customs Union as well as the UKs internal market, and recognise the development of an independent trade policy by the UK beyond this economic partnership. The latter point responds to complaints from Mays key parliamentary allies in Northern Ireland that the EU plans to avoid a hard border with EU-member Ireland could isolate the province from the British mainland. The former deals with EU concern that Britain is using the Irish question to get special access to the EU market while dispensing with its regulations. Both sides need an accord to keep trade flowing between the worlds biggest trading bloc and the fifth largest national economy. But May has struggled to untangle nearly 46 years of membership without damaging trade or upsetting the members of parliament, who will ultimately decide the fate of any deals she can secure. In spite the hopes of financial firms in London, Britain secured no improvements to its proposed future trading relations in financial services. May updated her cabinet on the state of talks by teleconference but her spokesman cautioned that no final deal can be agreed ahead of the EU summit on Sunday. In practice, however, EU leaders, who will meet for an hour before they meet May, want all negotiating finished before the transition period, currently due to end in December 2020, can be extended for up to two years. May has said it must end before a British election due in mid-2021. (Reuters/NAN) France said on Thursday it had imposed sanctions, including travel bans, on 18 Saudi citizens linked to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The foreign ministry announced the sanctions in a statement. The statement also warned that more punitive actions could follow depending on results of the current investigation. The murder of Mr Khashoggi is a crime of extreme gravity, which moreover goes against freedom of the press and the most fundamental rights. France asks that all light be shed on the manner in which such an act may have been committed. It expects from the Saudi authorities a transparent, detailed and exhaustive response, the foreign ministry said. (Reuters/NAN) Zainab Bagudu, wife of Kebbi State Governor, on Thursday said about 60 per cent of children in the state suffered malnutrition. Mrs Bagudu made this known at the flag-off of November 2018 Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) Week in Jega Local Government Area of the state. She said the state has stunted children of about 60.3 per cent, which she described as well above the 32 per cent of national average in 2017. With over 11 million stunted children, Nigeria is, without doubt, confronted with the doubting challenge of malnutrition and ranks second with highest number of stunted children globally. For Kebbi, there are various quoted statistics ranging from 47 to 90 percentage prevalence in 2017, the stunting rate stood at 60.3 per cent well above the national average of 32 per cent, she said. Whatever the figure is, it is too high. It is unacceptable that the state prides itself as leading in the rice and agricultural production while the children under age five were dying of hunger. Honourable lawmakers, policy makers and implementers, my colleagues in the health sector, civil servants, we have to stop playing lip service to the issue and reverse the trend now, Mrs Bagudu charged. She said she championed the routine MNCH weeks and led the creation of breastfeeding rooms in government workplaces and public spaces. This was done in response to the Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buharis call to improve upon their implementation of the routine MNCH weeks. I urge the local government chairmen to follow suit and make it easy for mothers to satisfy the recommended six months of exclusive breastfeeding. She however commended the state government and partners for establishing Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) centres in 120 sites across the 21 local government areas of the state. The wife of president, who was represented by Hansatu Zanna, commended Mrs Bagudu for her efforts. She applauded Mrs Bagudu for her ability to align with the national priorities in ensuring that the May and November rounds of the MNCH weeks held as scheduled. We must strengthen our systems and support our women to adopt healthy practices and seek appropriate care for maternal and child health. Improving the health and well-being of women and children through advocacy and delivery of essential healthcare services is what my Future Assured programme seeks to achieve, Mrs Buhari said. The MNCH weeks were introduced in 2010 as bi-annual programme following recommendation from the National Council on Health. The aim of the MNCHW is to reduce morbidity and mortality in mothers and children less than five years of age in Nigeria. (NAN) The Nigeria Police Force on Thursday said an armed robbery and murder suspect who died in custody was not murdered, but slumped and died. The detained gang leader, Micheal Adikwu, was among those arrested for their alleged roles in the April 5 bank robbery in Offa, Kwara State. Over 20 people were killed in the incident. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Kwara State justice commissioner, Kamal Ajibade, announced the death of Mr Adikwu during the trial of five suspects on trial for the fatal robbery. Mr Ajibade told the judge that he was informed by the police of Mr Adikwus death but was not told how the suspect died. Many Nigerians including Senate President Bukola Saraki have since criticised the police demanding to know how the suspect died. Mr Saraki, who had been allegedly named by some of the suspects as their sponsor, demanded a probe of the death. The senate president and the police have repeatedly exchanged words since the arrest of the suspects. In a statement by police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, on Thursday, the police said the suspects death does not absolve Mr Saraki of any wrongdoing. Mr Moshood said a post-mortem report on Mr Adikwus cause of death is available. He, however, did not include any details of the post-mortem report. Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs was not murdered but slumped and died in detention while investigation into the Offa Bank Robbery was ongoing. It is also important for the public to know that the deceased Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs was not among the Five (5) gang leaders that indicted and implicated the senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, therefore, his death cannot in anyway vindicate Senator Bukola Saraki. There is a post-mortem examination result in respect of the death of Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs, the police spokesperson said. Read the full police statement below: RE- OFFA BANK ROBBERY: SARAKI DEMANDS PROBE OF DEATH OF PRINCIPAL SUSPECT All Five (5) suspects that indicted and implicated Senator Bukola Saraki, Senate President Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Offa Bank Robbery are alive and now in Court The Death of Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs (A Dismissed Police Man and an Ex- Convict) a sectional gang leader who confessed to have killed Twenty Two (22) persons including pregnant women and Nine (9) Police personnel during Offa Bank Robbery cannot vindicate the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, the law must take its course. Evidence from the Five (5) suspects now in Court are enough to prosecute the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to the innuendo in the media on the death of a sectional gang leader Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs (A Dismissed Police Man and an Ex- Convict) who confessed to have killed Twenty Two (22) persons including pregnant women and Nine (9) Police personnel and carted away of Twenty Two (22) AK 47 Rifles at the Offa Police Divisional Headquarters during Offa Bank Robbery on the 5th April, 2018, it is therefore, imperative that the Nigeria Police Force respond to the publication and set the record straight. Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki 2. The Nigeria Police Force is conversant and mindful of contempt of Court in commenting on cases already before the Court of competent jurisdiction, however, the Force is constraint and compelled to respond to the statement from Mr. Yusuf Olaniyonu, Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and not on the Court processes and proceedings on the case of Offa Bank Robbery for which Five (5) principal suspects are now standing trial in a State High court in Ilorin, Kwara State. 3. For avoidance of doubt, and to correct the insinuations and wrong impressions created by the statement from Mr. Yusuf Olaniyonu, Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki in the minds of members of the public over the indictment and involvement of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki in the case of the Offa Bank Robbery of 5th April, 2018, from the confessions of the Five (5) gang leaders namely; Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran arrested for direct involvement and active participation in the Offa Bank Robbery and the gruesome killing of THIRTY THREE (33) innocent persons, the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki was indicted by the Five (5) suspects who admitted in their confessional statements to the Police investigators that they were political thugs of the Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Sen. Bukola Saraki and the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Alh. Abdulfatah Ahmed. 4. The Five (5) gang leaders further confessed during investigation that they are political thugs under the name Youth Liberation Movement a.k.a Good Boys they also admitted and confessed to have been sponsored with firearms, money and operational vehicles. i. Lexus RX 300 Jeep with Reg. KWARA, KWA 143 RM with inscription SARAKI on a sticker attached to the vehicle ii. Mercedes Benz Compressor Reg. LAGOS, LT 496 KJA, these two (2) Vehicles were used for the Offa Bank Robbery by the Five (5) gang Leaders. The first vehicle was later registered after the Offa Bank Robbery to divert attention while the suspects were in detention. These confessions were made before the media and the public on the 3rd of June, 2018. It is therefore, evidently clear that the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki has case to answer in the whole matter. 7. It was also discovered during 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 Oloffas Palace when the Senate President paid a condolence visit to Offa after the Bank Robbery. 8. Further investigation into the matter revealed that all the Five (5) gang leaders namely; Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran have direct connection to the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki as a picture of one of the five (5) gang leaders when paraded by the Police was in Aso Ebi (trouser) used during the Senate President daughters wedding. The Five (5) gang leaders further admitted that they attended the Senate President daughters wedding held in Abuja. 9. Consequent on all the above, a thorough and discreet investigation was concluded by the Police into the matter and all the Five (5) gang leaders namely; Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran arrested for direct involvement and active participation in the Offa Bank Robbery that indicted and implicated Senator Bukola Saraki, Senate President Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Offa Bank Robbery are alive and now in Court. 10. Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs (A Dismissed Police Man and an Ex- Convict) who confessed to have killed Twenty Two (22) persons including pregnant women and Nine (9) Police personnel and carted away of Twenty Two (22) AK 47 Rifles at the Offa Police Divisional Headquarters during Offa Bank Robbery on the 5th April, 2018 was among the Three (3) gang leaders captured on CCTV footage and later arrested. Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs was not paraded along with the Five (5) gang leaders now standing trial because he was taken out to arrest other members of the gang and recover the Twenty Two (22) AK 47 Rifles carted away during the Offa Bank Robbery. 11. Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs was not murdered but slummed and died in detention while investigation into the Offa Bank Robbery was ongoing. It is also important for the public to know that the deceased Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs was not among the Five (5) gang leaders that indicted and implicated the senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, therefore, his death cannot in anyway vindicate Senator Bukola Saraki. There is a post-mortem examination result in respect of the death of Michael Adikwu M 30Yrs. 12. The indictment of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki from the confessions of the Five (5) gang leaders namely; Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran arrested for direct involvement and active participation in the Offa Bank Robbery was not politically motivated as alleged by Mr. Yusuf Olaniyonu, Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki to the media, but purely criminal case. 13. It should be of serious concern to all, that human life is sacrosanct and where investigation has been concluded and suspects arraigned in Court, judicial process must be exhausted and not hindered for the law to take its course in ensuring justice for the families of more than Thirty Three (33) innocent persons including pregnant women that were gruesomely murdered in cold blood by Michael Adikwu and the Five (5) gang leaders Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran arrested, investigated and currently standing trial for direct involvement and active participation in the Offa Bank Robbery, than for any individual(s) or any group to attempt futile efforts and desperate distractions to pervert the end of justice is most unfair to the families of the deceased, the State and the society at large. Billionaire oil magnate, Femi Otedola, Wednesday at the Apo High Court in Abuja narrated how he exposed a former lawmaker of collecting three million dollar bribe. Mr Otedola told the court that he was able to expose Farouk Lawan, a former House of Representatives chairman of the ad-hoc committee investigating the fraud around the oil subsidy. Mr Lawan is now standing trial for alleged fraud and demanding $3 million bribe. Mr Otedola spoke of how he ran, in shock, to alert President Goodluck Jonathan in December 2016, of massive looting of the oil subsidy money, of how people were bringing in ships without products and collecting subsidies for absolutely no products. When I discovered that people were stealing hundreds of billions from the oil subsidy money, I ran to president Jonathan, Mr Otedola told the court from the witness box after he was led in testimony by prosecution counsel Adegboyega Awomolo, a member of the velvet rank of the Nigerian Bar Association. President Jonathan assured me that he would find out the facts from the Petroleum Minister, Allison Dieziani. In fairness, he got back to me but the outcome was such a shock because he said Dieziani dismissed the claim as untrue. That no one was stealing away oil subsidy money? Mr Otedola told the court presided over by Justice Angela Otaluka. Unsatisfied, he said he proceeded to report the case to Bukola Saraki, the then Senate petroleum committee chairman who helped table the matter before the Senate for hearing. The House of Representatives, he said, subsequently picked up the matter too. The oil magnate then walked the court through his journey of bitter encounter with Farouk Lawan, whose committee investigating the fraud around the oil subsidy, now standing trial for alleged fraud and demanding a $3million bribe. I eventually contacted the department of the state security (DSS) when he (Mr Lawan) asked me for $3million bribe. The DSS gave me the marked currencies and six operatives and just a whole gadget which we used to put him on tape, Mr Otedola said. Mr Lawan was re-arraigned in December 2016 by the Nigerian government for the alleged offence. On Wednesday, the prosecution played a video where Mr Lawan was seen receiving $500 000 from Mr Otedola. The witness then addressed the court on the events narrated in the video, following questions from Mr Awomolo. According to Mr Otedola, the accused indicted his company, Zenon Oil, in the alleged fraud and demanded $3 million to exonerate him. The witness added that after the initial deposit of $500,000 was paid into his account, Mr Lawan declared Zenon Oil and Gas free of the initial indictment. After the early hours of 24th April 2012: (the time the money was paid) he left and removed the name of Zenon from the list of indicted companies, Mr Otedola said while explaining the events that prompted his alleged payment of $500,000 to Mr Lawan in April 2012. When asked by the prosecution counsel about the claim by Mr Lawan that the witness forced him to take the money, Mr Otedola denied it. I could not have put pressure on him because Zenon Oil was not involved in the theft of the subsidy fund. He did demand. And if he did not demand, why will he collect and expect a balance of $2.5 million? He mentioned to me that the $3 million will be shared by himself and some other members of the House, Mr Otedola said. Moreover, the company in question was not involved in the importation of petroleum motor spirit (PMS) and as such never applied to withdraw from the petroleum fund. The witness also denied an allegation by Mr Lawan that he (Otedola) offered to pay the money so that his name would be removed from the list of indicted companies. I did not offer any $3 million, because I was one of the biggest players in the business. And I reported the matter initially when I found out about the scam. And he mentioned to me that several companies that were involved in the scam were paying. And I reported to the SSS. Mr Otedola also denied a claim by Mr Lawan that Zenon Oil and Gas was exonerated on the basis of documents later provided by the company. It was the money because during the course of the sitting of the subcommittee we had submitted all the documents. Mr Otedola said his report to security operatives on the matter prompted investigations into the allegations by the police who invited him for questioning after which his statement was taken. The defence was unable to cross-examine the witness after a lawyer from Mike Ozekhomes chambers requested for an adjournment to enable his principal to attend the next trial and conduct the cross-examination. The lawyer said he was sick and could not proceed with the cross-examination at the days sitting. The judge, Angela Otaluka, adjourned the matter to January 28 for cross-examination. The judge added that the defence should prepare itself to start and finish the cross-examination on the next adjourned date. Mr Lawan was first arraigned in February 2013 along with another accused, Boniface Emenalo, for allegedly receiving $620,000 of the alleged bribe from Mr Otedola and his company. The case was then handled by Adebukola Banjoko also of the same FCT High Court. Ms Banjoko, however, stepped down from the matter in 2014, following allegations of bias brought against her by the defence. The charge was later amended to include only Mr Lawan who was accused of receiving $500,000 of the total sum intended to be paid as bribe. The presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Oby Ezekwesili, has revealed how her government will tackle Boko Haram insurgency if elected in the 2019 general election. She said her government will completely overhaul the security system to win the war against Boko Haram. The former minister of education made this known in an interview on a CNN programme with Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday evening. A research we had at the World Bank showed that those communities where this menace thrive need to be engaged. We will provide jobs so that people will be busy and get paid. Second, my government will completely overhaul the security system. We need fresh hands and people who will end this problem. Third, we must also improve our intelligence gathering with cutting edge technology in order to be pre-emptive and proactive. Mrs Ezekwesili, the co-convener of #BringbackOurGirls, the group campaigning for the release of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, also spoke about the remaining 112 Chibok schoolgirls still in captivity. She said she will continue to advocate for their release and that of Leah Sharibu. Miss Sharibu is the only one among girls kidnapped from a Dapchi school earlier this year still in Boko Haram custody. Mrs Ezekwesili reiterated her call on Nigerians that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should be voted out in 2019. She said she believed she was more qualified than other presidential candidates. I was the one who fixed public procurement system. I am not a stranger to the politicians. They know me. I know how to deal with them by blocking all loopholes where our collective wealth are siphoned. I wont be fazed by the strength of the political class. 2019 is a contest between those who have not delivered and the rest of us. Even the other candidates know I am better, she said. As part of her campaigns, Mrs Ezekwesili recently visited and held meeting with Ibrahim Babangida, former military ruler to discuss how Nigeria must be taken out of the clutches of the old order, in 2019. PREMIUM TIMES reported how many Nigerians criticised her for the visit. Many believe Mr Babangida was a key player in most of the military coups in Nigeria. In 1993, as military ruler, he annulled the presidential election that most Nigerians tagged the most fair election in the history of Nigerias democracy, where it was unofficially announced that Moshood Abiola won the general election. The 2019 presidential election is scheduled to hold on February 16, 2019. Some parents of students at the University of Ibadan International School on Wednesday stormed the office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) Academics, University of Ibadan, Yinka Aderinto, to protest against Mondays indefinite closure of the school. The school, which has been engulfed in a crisis over the use of Hijab by female Muslim students, was on Monday closed indefinitely by its management. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Monday closure was due to protest by some parents who insisted their female wards be allowed to wear hijab. The protest on Wednesday was by parents opposed to wearing of hijab by female students. The protesting parents, under the umbrella of Concerned Parents of Students of the International School, University of Ibadan gathered at the UI admin block as early as 7.30 a.m. on Wednesday, displaying placards. They also condemned the actions of some parents who insisted on the use of Hijab by female Muslim students. The aggrieved parents visited the DVC and submitted their protest letter in which they called for the school to be reopened. They also demanded adequate security in the school especially as students were about to start internal and external examinations. The parents, in the protest letter obtained by PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday evening, added that the current dress code in the school was devoid of religious coloration. They maintained that the dress code was good and sufficient enough to fulfil their moral obligations to their wards. The protesting parents, in the letter signed by the trio of Olalekan Thanni, Babaawo Abe and Olusola Aleshinloye, said, We wish to state that the current dress code/uniform of the students of ISI, which has been in use since inception (about 55 years ago), has no religious coloration, is good enough and sufficient to fulfil our moral obligations to the children. It should not be a subject of discussion out of the jurisdiction of the constituted Board of Governors as done by this Muslim Parents Forum. The unfortunate events of the past one week have serious implications on learning, psyche and social environment in the school. For instance, it is obvious that the divisive action like the religious colouration of the school uniform may promote discrimination and foster disunity. While these Muslim parents appear comfortable with confrontation, strife and violence, we wish they could be helped to realise that this stance is injurious to the psyche of children. We all owe our children the responsibility of raising them up as law abiding citizens, who have utmost respect for constituted authority and do all to uphold same and not otherwise, under whatever guise. Parents storm DVCs office, says current UI school dress code has no religious coloration Mr Aderinto, while receiving the protesting parents, promised to ensure that the matter is resolved peacefully. He, however, appealed to all sides in the crisis to exercise restraint and avoid words or actions that may further worsen the crisis. The hijab controversy in the UI School is part of a wider controversy surrounding its use in South-west states. The Lagos State government recently approved the use of hijabs in public schools following an appeal court judgment. Similar debates and court cases also occurred in Osun State. Pro-hijab advocates say hijab ban is a violation of the Nigerian constitution on freedom of religion and a violation of the girl-childs right to wear decent clothing. Opponents argue it incessantly brings religion into schools that should otherwise be secular. The Senate has suspended legislative activities for the day to honour fallen soldiers. The adjournment was sequel to a point of order raised by the deputy senate leader, Bala NaAllah. Prior to the call, Mr NaAllah said his cousin, a lieutenant colonel Sakaba, was one of the soldiers who died in n the recent attack by Boko Haram in Maiduguri. He said the lieutenant was the commander of the team that was attacked. PREMIUM TIMES had reported how rampaging Boko Haram insurgents overran a Nigerian Army battalion in Borno State on Sunday, killing the units commander and dozens of soldiers. A large cache of arms, ammunition and military equipment were carted away by Boko Haram fighters during the attack on 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele, Abadam Local Government Area, at about 6:00 p.m., a setback for government forces trying to push terrorists further out of Nigerias north-eastern flank. On Monday, a soldier who survived the attack told PREMIUM TIMES how the insurgents killed over 70 soldiers. The Nigerian Army and the Defence Headquarters are yet to officially react to the attack. On Thursday, Mr NaAllah while asking that plenary be suspended, stated that the demand was not personal but to honour the commitment and contribution of Nigerian soldiers. About five days ago, a camp in Maiduguri was attacked by Boko-Haram and we were reported to have lost about 44 soldiers. I want it bring it to the notice of the Senate that Lieutenant Colonel Sakaba is my cousin and he was head of that team that was attacked and he lost his life. Unfortunately, he was one of the most dedicated soldiers I have ever met. Not because he is my relation but because I knew from his commitment on what he has gone through and his contribution to the Nigerian army, he said. In her remark, Senate minority leader, Biodun Olujimi, questioned the federal government over the recurring death of soldiers. There is something government is not telling us over the death of these soldiers. We must know what we are facing and the conditions for the people fighting for us. We should make sure this insurgency does not spread. Government must sit up. We cannot keep posing young men and women. I pray their families will be able to find succour. The deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu expressed disappointment at the neglect of Nigerian soldiers. He urged everyone to be concerned and the federal government to find other measures to protect them. Somebody who commits himself and his life to die for others for others to live, not considering what will happen to his children or his wife and most times when they die, no one cares about their loved ones. That is why the matter is very serious. I am not sure we are taking good care of our soldiers. They are just mere statistics. It may be happening Borno and they are there that is why we are here because if they dont stop them, they will invade us here. That is why people are still in Lagos or Enugu. Everybody should be of concern. We need to find out measures to protect them. Is any person paying them their allowance? Do they allow them go on holidays? God forbid I should keep quiet. It is a pity this is happening in our time, he said. Before the Senate adjourned, it mandated its committee on the army to pay a condolence visit to families of the deceased and the Chief of Army Staff to investigate the situation and ascertain what military measures are in place to protect the soldiers. The lawmakers also resolved to visit the soldiers at the war front. They further resolved that everyone should adopt one family of the soldiers killed. They also agreed to have a financial contribution to the families of the deceased. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday confirmed that about 143 persons died of Lassa fever disease within the last 11 months in 22 states. The communication assistant, NCDC, Chimezie Anueyiagu, made the revelation while presenting the situation report on the disease at the Media and Civil Society Organisation Advocacy meeting on Lassa fever in Abuja. Mr Anueyiagu explained that based on collated data between January and November 11, the number of suspected cases of Lassa fever was 3,016. He said that of the number, 559 cases were confirmed positive, with 17 observed as probable cases while 2,440 cases were confirmed negative. Since the outbreaks, there have been 143 deaths in confirmed cases and 17 probable cases. The rate of fatality cases is confirmed as 22.6 percent. The 22 states have recorded at least one confirmed case of Lassa fever across 90 local government areas, he said. The communication assistant, however, did not disclose the affected states Mr Anueyiagu said probable cases were those not tested but suspected to be cases of Lassa fever or possibly other diseases. The NCDCs Deputy Director, Elsie Ilori, said there were ongoing plans to review the present guidelines as well as develop a five-year strategic plan to tackle Lassa fever in Nigeria. Mr IIori said that the review was to enable the centre to meet up with the situations recorded in the states, and lamented that Nigeria had the highest burden of the disease. The deputy director expressed fears that the vector of the disease might not just be rodents alone. He, however, noted that the NCDC was collaborating with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on research to ascertain if there was another animal spreading the virus. Olaolu Aderinola, NCDCs Assistant Director, said compared to 2017, there was a tremendous drop in the number of reported cases because of some breakthroughs. Mr Aderinola said between 2016 and 2017, there were 14,542 CSM cases with 1,166 recorded deaths, while between 2017 and 2018 the number of cases recorded was 3,467 with about 303 deaths. (NAN) A Zamfara State High Court on Thursday awarded a fine of N120,000 to a lawmaker after convicting him of fraudulently benefitting from a N31.2 million contract meant for the purchase of medical equipment. A statement from the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) by the commissions spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa, said the accused, Lawali Dogonkade, was arraigned at the court by the commission on Thursday and pleaded guilty to the allegation. According to the statement, Mr Dogonkade, a member of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, was charged on a four-count for requesting the payment of a bribe, upon the award of the contract for the supply of medical equipment to the state government in violation of Sections 10, 12 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000. The convict, representing Kauran-Namoda Local Government in the Zamfara State House of Assembly, was accused of using his position to confer corrupt advantage upon himself in a N31,290, 000 contract meant for the supply of medical equipment to the State Government in violation of Sections 10, 12 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, Ms Okoduwa said. The statement adds that Mr Dogonkade allegedly prompted the Managing Director of a pharmacy known as Madaci Pharmacy to part with N4.5 million as percentage gratification, in relation to the said contract. The statement said the accused confirmed commission of the offences and was later sentenced to a four-year term in prison, or a fine of N30, 000 for each of the four counts, making a total of N120,000. According to the statement, the judgement followed a request by Mr Dogonkades lawyer that his client should be pitied being a first time offender. His counsel, Mr. Abubakar Junaidu, then pleaded with the court to be lenient with his client considering the fact that he was a first time offender with a large family and dependents who solely rely on him for their livelihood. Following his guilty plea, the Counsel to the Commission invited the court to convict him in line with the provisions of 274 (2) of Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015. The court thereupon convicted the accused person as charged and sentenced him to four years imprisonment or payment of fine of N30, 000 on each of the counts totalling N120, 000. The statement did not indicate the name of the judge who granted the controversial ruling. It also did not state whether the diverted fund would be refunded to the states treasury. Attempts by PREMIUM TIMES to reach the ICPC spokesperson for comments on the judgement failed. Ms Okoduwa could not be reached on her phone line as at the time of this report. The presidency has launched an attack on ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, saying his claim on status of corruption in Nigeria was outlandish and false. In a statement by Mr Buharis spokesperson, Garba Shehu, the presidency also lists what it considers the achievements of the current administration in the war against corruption. President Muhammadu Buhari, in pursuit of the war against corruption, has set a number of local and international records, one of which is to call judicial officers in Nigeria to account. He is the first to set such a record, Mr Shehu wrote. The presidential aide said he was responding to a claim by Mr Jonathan that corruption has increased since he left office in 2015 and handed over to Mr Buhari. Mr Shehu also criticised the new book written by the former president. Finally, as evidenced from a fleeting look at the book, the former President had nothing to say about his own achievements. If there was a recession, and yes we had a moment in it, was it due to one year of President Buharis government? Mr Shehu said. President Muhammadu Buhari was conspicuously absent at the book launch on Tuesday, although the national chairman of the ruling party, Adams Oshiomhole, was present. The event was also attended by some former presidents of Nigeria and other neighbouring countries. Read the full statement by Mr Shehu below. The Presidency rejects former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathans astonishing claim, to the utter surprise of many, that there is more corruption in the country compared to when he left office. This is absolutely untrue. The facts on the ground today run contrary to his outlandish claim. President Muhammadu Buhari, in pursuit of the war against corruption, has set a number of local and international records, one of which is to call judicial officers in Nigeria to account. He is the first to set such a record. Not only that, this is the first time that top military commanders and Service Chiefs are brought to trial and convictions were achieved on account of corruption. Also, this is the first time a ruling party is convicting high profile citizens including former governors, who are members of same party. This is the first time the international community is acknowledging the efforts of a government of Nigeria in this regard as manifested by the selection of President Buhari by the African Union as the Anti-Corruption Champion of the continent. For the records, this is the first time a ruling party is investigating ranking officers of the administration, including some at the very top. In addition to the many firsts recorded by President Buharis administration, the government has introduced a lot of changes, considering that the laws relating to the fight against corruption cannot reasonably be static. In line with its aspiration to be ahead of the growing sophistication of corruption and financial crimes, the administration has initiated new legislations and proposed amendments to different sections of laws, among which are: The Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Bill 2017; Anti-Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Bill 2017; Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Bill 2017 (NFIU); Proceeds of Crime Bill 2017; Public Interest Disclosure and Witness Protection Bill, 2017 and The Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2017. Owing to these efforts and support all of relevant stakeholders, NFIU Act has been passed and President Buhari gave his assent on July 18, 2018. The administration is currently working with the legislature for an expedited passage of the Proceeds of Crimes Bill to make the anti-corruption war more effective. Nigerians should dismiss Dr. Jonathans hollow boast that he, not President Buhari, introduced schemes such the Biometric Verification Number, VBN, Treasury Single Account, TSA and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPS). Of what use is the announcement of good policies without the will to implement them? Since President Buhari assumed office, Nigerians are witnesses to the huge success recorded through the implementation of the TSA where some government agencies that had over the years remitted peanut amounts or nothing at all are now periodically pumping billions into government coffers. Prominent among these remittances include the ones made by Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customers Service (NCS) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). While it is also true that the BVN was introduced in 2014 to ensure that all bank accounts have biometric identification of their owners, the lack of will and capacity under Dr Jonathan stalled implementation. Today, BVN covers nearly all bank accounts. There are still some individuals who have shielded their identity and are now afraid of enrolling on the BVN platform as this will expose them and their corrupt actions. The law is going after them. President Buharis administration introduced the whistle-blower policy as a veritable tool against corruption as it gives individuals an opportunity to expose corruption, fraud, bribery, looted government funds, financial misconducts, government assets and any other form of corruption or theft. Within six months of introducing this policy, over 5,000 reports were made through various channels, 365 actionable tips were received out of the 5000 reports. So far more than N200bn has been recovered. As the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said on Thursday, the former President does not have the facts to claim that there was any serious effort on the part of his administration to fight corruption. As at 29th May 2015, when this administration came into office, the EFCC recovery account had only N19.5 billion as revealed by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General. After one year of the new anti-corruption drive by the Buhari administration, this figure had gone up to N279 billion, and since then a lot more has been recovered. Finally, as evidenced from a fleeting look at the book, the former President had nothing to say about his own achievements. If there was a recession, and yes we had a moment in it, was it due to one year of President Buharis government? In his efforts to blame everyone but himself for his failures, Dr Jonathan heaped the blame for the predictable economic recession on President Buhari, ignoring the seeds sown under him through mismanagement and the process set in firm roots for the decline of the economy. Evidently, he did nothing to avert the situation. As we have explained over and over, the recession in 2016 was caused by years of mismanagement and corruption. In the 16 years of PDP and earlier than that, the country solely relied on oil, the price of which was as high as 140 USD per barrel under their watch. Government simply reticulated oil revenue through personal spending by corrupt leaders, wasteful expenses and salaries; rather than investing in what would grow the economy. There was no investment in infrastructure as President Buhari is now doing in seaports, airports, power plants, railways, roads and housing. The oil windfall for the country was mismanaged, and Nigerias greatest opportunity for growth was turned into a tragedy. More worrisome, there were no savings. And to compound the problem and compromise growth of the economy, the previous government borrowed heavily, owed contractors and international oil companies. When President Buhari came into power in 2015, the country had accumulated debt, which took it back to the level it was before the Paris Club Debt forgiveness. Nigeria did not have fiscal buffers to withstand an oil shock when oil prices fell to as low as 28 USD. The oil shock should and could have been foreseen. When visionary Nigerians and economists foresaw this and warned of the dangers ahead, Dr Jonathan hounded such men as the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi 11 and Professor Chukwuma Soludo. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance under Dr Jonathans administration also warned and she was rebuffed. The former President and his party have nothing to say about achievements. They ruled the country for 16 years and what is their record on jobs, power, rail, seaports, airports and internal security, including the crippling disaster of terrorism? The Buhari administration appears to be unsure of how much it met in the recovery account run by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu in the last one week gave Nigerians at least two different figures on how much the EFCC had in the account when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office on May 29, 2015. The anti-graft office keeps recovered loots in a separate account. The agency also keeps assets under forfeitures or those already forfeited to the Nigerian government. Mr Buhari has boasted he has done better than former President Goodluck Jonathan in tackling corruption, but his officials have for several months fumbled on questions seeking specific figures to back the administrations claims. Earlier this year, former finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, questioned claims of recovered loot bandied by Ibrahim Magu, the acting head of the EFCC. Ms Adeosun said there was no evidence to back Mr Magus claim that hundreds of billions had been recovered from suspected looters, suggesting that the anti-corruption chief had exaggerated figures. But aggregating the amount recovered in the three and a half years Mr Buhari has been in office appears to be a key challenge confronting the administration. While attempting to play up the anti-corruption credentials of the administration this week, Mr Shehu contradicted himself on two occasions, making it difficult for Nigerians to know the truth. By the time President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in and took office, the only amount in the anti corruption recovery account over 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was only two billion Naira (N2 bn). This account has succeeded in netting over four hundred billion Naira (N400 bn) as of today, translating to 1,360 percent increase, Mr Shehu said in a November 21 response to former British foreign secretary for international development, Priti Patel. Ms Patel had criticised the Buhari governments sincerity in fighting corruption, especially its handling of the countrys external obligations and seeming bias in prosecution of corruption cases. Barely two days later on November 24 (Thursday), the amount jumped to N19.5 billion when Mr Shehu again pushed back against allegation of corruption which Mr Jonathan levelled against Mr Buhari in his new book, My Transition Hours. As at 29th May 2015, when this administration came into office, the EFCC recovery account had only N19.5 billion as revealed by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General. After one year of the new anti-corruption drive by the Buhari administration, this figure had gone up to N279 billion, and since then a lot more has been recovered, Mr Shehu said. The disparity lies with the amount Mr Shehu claims Mr Buhari met (N2 billion and N19.5 billion) in May 2015. While the amount he claimed the government had raised do not also match, that could be excused since he said N279 billion was the amount recovered after about one year in office, while the N400 billion is for about three years into the administration. Mr Shehu did not return PREMIUM TIMES requests seeking comments Thursday evening. As the 2019 general election draws near and campaigns kick off for the presidential and National Assembly elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked parties to stick to the electoral laws in their campaigns. The chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Wednesday during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) at the commissions headquarters in Abuja. Campaigns commenced on November 18 in line with the commissions timetable. Since then, the two major parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have released their policy papers. While that of the APC is titled Next Level, that of the PDP is titled Getting Nigeria Working Again. INEC said it is pleased that since the commencement of campaigns, the focus has been on policies rather than personalities. The commission promised to closely monitor campaigns and ensure they are in compliance with the law. The commission is committed to closely monitoring the campaigns pursuant to our statutory mandate and to ensure compliance with the extant laws and regulations. We are pleased that the focus in the last few days since the commencement of the campaigns has been on policies rather than personalities. We sincerely hope it remains this way. Several sections of the electoral law regulate the conduct of campaign by political parties and politicians. An example is Section 95 of the Electoral Act (2010), subsection (1) which says no political campaign or slogan shall be tainted with abusive language directly or indirectly likely to injure religious, ethnic, tribal or sectional feelings. Subsection 2 of the section also said : Abusive intemperate, slanderous or base language or insinuations or innuendoes, designed or likely to provoke violent reactions or emotions shall not be employed or used in political campaigns. Mr Yakubu said Wednesdays meeting was to enable RECs report on the outcome of the exercise in their various state, dwelling on the progress made on the collection of outstanding Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) by citizens as well as new modalities for a more efficient administration of the collection process. He also said the meeting would consider the recruitment and training of election duty staff, discuss the ongoing review of the framework for voting by Internally Displaced (IDPs), and explore additional administrative measures in support of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the electoral process. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has dismissed claims that a photo showing him and former president Olusegun Obasanjo Tuesday did not emanate from a secret meeting between them. The photo, which showed Mr Osinbajo, the former president, and Rotimi Amaechi, the director general of Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organization, in a meeting was widely circulated on social media. Several Nigerians opined that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had begun seeking ways to lobby Mr Obasanjo ahead of the 2019 general election. But the vice presidents media aide, Laolu Akande, took to Twitter to say the meeting, which happened at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, was a coincidence. Ignore reports VP Osinbajo alongside Minister Amaechi held meeting with former President Obasanjo in Ota. Yesterday, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, on his way to Lagos, VP ran into the former President who had just landed. They exchanged pleasantries. Period Laolu Akande (@akandeoj) November 21, 2018 According to him, there was no secret meeting between the duo. Ignore reports VP Osinbajo alongside Minister Amaechi held meeting with former President Obasanjo in Ota. Yesterday, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, on his way to Lagos, Vice President ran into the former President who had just landed. They exchanged pleasantries. Period, Mr Akande said. Mr Obasanjo recently endorsed the opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and is expected to be the main challenger to Mr Buhari, who is seeking re-election. Mr Abubakar, as one of his first deft political moves, had sought the forgiveness of his estranged former boss, Mr Obasanjo, who had earlier sworn not to support his (Mr Abubakar) years-long aspirations to become president. Recently, Mr Obasanjo expressed his dissatisfaction with the president, whom he had supported in 2015 to win the election, urging him not to seek re-election because he had performed dismally. John Waitono, deputy director, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), says verification exercise for former workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways Ltd. who are in the diaspora may begin in January 2019. Mr Waitono, who made the disclosure on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said this would, however, be subject to the approval of the minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed. NAN reports that the verification exercise of the ex-workers of the defunct national carrier began on October 15 at three centres in Lagos, Enugu, and Kano. The exercise was conducted by PICA following the approval of the N22.6 billion approved as part payment of their entitlements by the Federal Government. Mr Waitono said the committee was making arrangements to capture pensioners in the diaspora and could not participate in the ongoing exercise. He said: In the current approval for the exercise, we have factored in two centres. One in New York and another in London. We are going to work with the embassies of the two areas. We are constituting a report to present to the minister for approval. The minister said she needed this one to be completed before we can make a request for those in the diaspora. We at PICA are looking at the last week of January and the first week of February 2019 because of the festive period. The committee will soon be meeting and thereafter draw up a timetable which will be presented to the minister. Mr Waitono, who was the coordinator of the Lagos Centre of the exercise, also disclosed that batches one and two of the pensioners had been paid their entitlements. We have paid batches one and two. Batch three is ongoing and they are already screening batch four. Batches one and two had about 1,000 people each while batch three has 2,004 people on it. They are still working on batch four which includes the people they are capturing now in Abuja. They have been capturing for two weeks. These are people whose documents were not ready as at the time we were doing the previous verification exercise. There is a lot of turnout, especially families who had court cases which they have managed to resolve and also those who had difficulties with their bank accounts, he added. NAN reports that the former national carrier was liquidated in 2004 by ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjos administration without paying the workers their severance packages as stipulated in extant labour laws. The workers were paid a fraction of their entitlements by the late president, Umaru YarAduas regime in 2008, before the present president, Muhammadu Buhari, recently approved the part payment of N22.6 billion to them. The federal government has also promised to pay the other half of the money to ex-workers as soon as funds are available. (NAN) The vice chairman of the Senate committee on army, Abdullahi Danbaba, has accused the committees chairman, George Akume, of lack of performance. Mr Danbaba reported his colleague to the Senate on Thursday when he raised a point of order stating that his committee has not been performing as a result of leadership. Mr Danbabas complaints come barely 24 hours after the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, queried some ad hoc committees for delaying their reports. He had given 14 ad hoc committees one week to submit their reports. Speaking on Order 14 and 15 of the Senate Standing Rules, the lawmaker said his committee which was constituted over three years ago, had not evaluated any army projects. We were all elected by our constituents to come ad represent them here and also by extension represent the entire Nigeria. Fundamentally, we are supposed to legislate and to support our constituents and also undertake oversight with respect to projects that are being executed by the executive arm of government, he said. I want to say that a committee that I am a vice (chairman) which has been constituted over three years has not been actually performing as a result of leadership. The committee, since its inception has not oversighted (sic) any army project. In fact, the only oversight that has been said to be oversight was our visit to the army headquarters in 2016. Beyond that, we have never done or undertaken any proper oversight with respect to the activities of the Nigerian army. In fact, the Senate is completely detached from the Nigerian army. We in the Senate do not know what the Nigerian army is actually doing, he said. The lawmaker also blamed Mr Akume for the delay of a draft bill and called on the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges to investigate the conduct of the committee. I want to say this again, there was a draft bill that was referred to about two years ago. That draft bill is still lying down on the table of the clerk of the secretariat of the committee because the leadership of the committee has not been able to give direction on what to do with the bill. So, in view of all these anomalies, I hereby call for the committee on ethics and privileges to ask to investigate as to the conduct of the committee and why the committee leadership is allowed to stand as it is because the name of the Senate is going to be brought to disrepute. Mr Akume was absent at the plenary. Wading in, Mr Saraki suggested that the Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, meet with the chairman and members of the committee. I know that for you to have brought this matter up, it must be something that is of great concern to you. What I will consider is, let the leader of the Senate meet with the chairman and the vice chairman and members and report to us on some of these points that have been raised. The committee is a very strategic committee, as such we must be seeing to play a role, he said. The Nigerian government has unveiled a national policy on counselling and guidelines for implementation in schools across the country. The policy seeks to entrench a regime of international best practices and clarify areas of possible conflict and misconception in the practice of counselling. Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, disclosed this at the unveiling, dissemination and distribution of the policy in Abuja on Thursday. He said Nigeria has not had any national policy guiding counselling services for almost 60 years. This, the minister described as a shame, noting that the absence of a policy has resulted in the lack of a well-defined structure for delivering counselling services, poor communication among practitioners and stakeholders and absence of synergy among professionals. This has given room for inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the delivery of counselling services, he said. Mr Adamu said the policy would enable students to gain a better understanding of themselves and determine which career to pursue while in school. He said the policy document streamlined the duties of educational counsellors and defines their relationship with other school personnel in counselling practice For almost sixty years, counsellors have been providing services which have not been efficient. The policy would enhance professionalism and guarantee the creation of conducive teaching and learning environment in schools, he said. He said the implementation guidelines which accompanies the policy is designed to facilitate and guide its implementation and ensure its feasibility and effectiveness as a policy. With the rise in truancy, poor performance, cultism, examination malpractices, drug abuse, sexual harassment and the general decline in parental care, the need for counselling services becomes imperative, he said. Speaking at the ceremony, the director, Educational Support Services of the education ministry, Justina Ibe, said the services of professional counsellors have become imperative in view of the rise in poor performance of students in examinations, prevalence of cultism and drug-related misconduct. Nigerian govt unveils national policy on counselling Nigerian govt unveils national policy on counselling Nigerian govt unveils national policy on counselling The National Policy on Counselling was developed to enhance the capacity of learners through the promotion of counselling services in school and non -school settings in Nigeria, she said. Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of Counseling Association Services of Nigeria, Awoyemi Emmanuel, said the country was on the path to socio and economic recovery with the document. The draft of the National Policy on Counselling and its implementation guidelines was made in 2016. The National Council on Education (NCE) granted the policy approval at its 78th meeting held in Kano in 2017. NCE is the highest policymaking body of the education sector. The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has mourned dozens of Nigerians soldiers who lost their lives after Boko Haram terrorists invaded their bases in Nigerias volatile northeast last Sunday. A Nigerian Army commander was also amongst those killed during the pre-dusk raid on 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele, Borno State, PREMIUM TIMES learnt from multiple military sources. As of Thursday morning, fresh findings by PREMIUM TIMES indicate at least 70 soldiers might have been killed in the attack by the insurgents. The Nigerian Senate adjourned session on Thursday in honour of the fallen heroes, most of whose loved ones have not been notified by the military. Neither the presidency nor the military has issued a statement about the tragedy, which occurred on November 18. The killings on Sunday followed months of heavy losses of both personnel and equipment which the insurgents have been inflicting on Nigerian military since resuming their latest campaign in July. Expressing concerns about the frequency of the attacks on Thursday, Mr Abubakar said funding has been a major challenge for the Nigerian military, but one which must not be allowed to linger much longer. The increasing deaths of our servicemen at the hand of terrorists and criminals, especially in the Northeast and Middle Belt, is a clear sign that our troops need to be better funded and better equipped. It is true that funds are scarce, but this is an emergency and if we do not take care of an emergency, it becomes a crisis which can lead to a total breakdown of law and order anarchy in essence. I have been travelling all over Nigeria and I meet with both Muslim and Christian clerics who tell me that in the Northeast and Middle Belt, they now officiate over more funerals than they do marriages and child dedications, Mr Abubakar said. Mr Abubakar, Nigerias vice-president from 1999 to 2007, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to place a moratorium on future releases of Boko Haram detainees, saying there is little evidence that the policy works. This is heartbreaking and we must do something immediately to change the situation. Apart from funding, I advise the Federal Government to review its policy of releasing so-called repentant terrorists. To think that the government can deradicalise these individuals in so short a time is wishful thinking. Many people, myself included, think that the upsurge in terror activities coming after the release of such detainees, is not coincidental, he said. He asked the National Assembly to appropriate funds for our military on a fast-track basis. These are desperate times for Nigeria and desperate times call for dedication to duty of all concerned, he said. Assuaging fallen heroes families Mr Abubakar also proposed urgent actions to support the families of the late soldiers, proposing to personally fund education of select children from five families of departed soldiers up to university level. As such, I hereby declare an endowment to provide full financial scholarships to five children of our fallen heroes from the 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele up to whatever level they are able and willing to reach at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, he said. Mr Abubakar is the founder and owner of AUN. The former vice-president also rallied Nigerians, especially his friends and associates, not to send him birthday gift when he clocks 72 on November 25. These men and women gave their best and we must reciprocate their sacrificial giving. Therefore, instead of celebrating my birthday this year, which is coming up in a few days, I choose to rather celebrate our fallen heroes. I further call on those who desire to celebrate my birthday, that instead of sending me gifts, they should donate their gifts and money to the widows and orphans of our fallen military heroes. I also call on all Nigerians, rich or poor to do what they can for the families of our fallen heroes. They gave us all. We owe it to them to show love and support to the families they left behind, he said. Finally, I call on the Federal Government to think about setting up a benevolent fund for the support of widows and children of our fallen military heroes, run by an independent body, to which the public and corporate bodies can pay in funds. This is the least that we owe these gallant heroes, Mr Abubakar said. Hundreds of Nigerian troops have been killed and even more missing since Boko Haram resumed its latest campaign in July, fueling concerns amongst military leaders, and prompting an emergency reshuffling of commanders. The insurgency, Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima said has claimed over 100,000 lives and displaced millions as of early 2017, began in 2009, and it had defied efforts of three different president to bring it to an end. The war on Boko Haram is expected to dominate debates about security in Nigeria ahead of the general elections next February. Messrs Abubakar and Buhari are the major presidential candidates in the field of over 60 contenders. Worried about the deaths and rising cases of missing soldiers in Boko Haram attack, the chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, issued a warning to troops on the battlefront against fleeing from insurgents in August, threatening errant personnel with tough sanctions. The Defence Headquarters announced last week it had taken new delivery of military equipment, boasting of a tough time ahead for insurgents. The military has said it recorded tremendous gains in its counterinsurgency operations over the past three years, especially after managing to confine the insurgents to the fringes of Nigerian territories. This was against the previous years when the deadly Boko Haram terrorists held vast Nigerian lands across its North-east stronghold, occasionally spilling into North-west and North-central geopolitical zones. The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday outlined some of the problems hampering development in the country. He mentioned too much talking and poor implementation of policies as some of the limitations. Mr Osinbajo spoke at the Ondo State two-day State Development Partners Summit and re-launch of the State Education Endowment Fund held at the International Event Centre, Akure. The event began on Wednesday. The vice president said Ondo State had a critical role to play in the development of the country. Mr Osinbajo, who was represented by the director general of the National Information Technology Agency, Isa Ibrahim, maintained that there are potentials across the state, which he said was capable of transforming to all round development in the country. He said the federal government was ready to partner with the state for all its potential to be harnessed. He commended the Ondo State Governor , Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, for his administrations developmental initiatives in the state. No doubt, Ondo State has a lot of potentials that can bring all round development to this country and this type of summit is an indication that the state is preparing for development, the vice president said. I want to commend the state government for this great initiative where investors would come together to brainstorm. I must say that development has suffered in two ways; over exposure of words and under implementation of polices. We talk too much and pay less attention to implementation of our policies. Human capital development is key and I am happy the state is doing something on this because people must be involved in the process of development. In his remarks, Mr Akeredolu stressed that the summit was designed to create a platform for partnership with stakeholders in the private and the public sector for economic growth and development. The governor said the collaboration would be in the area of agricultural development, infrastructural development and human development to create a resilient and growing economy in the state. He added that the re-launch of the state Education Endowment Fund was aimed at bridging the funding gap in the education sector and also making public schools more attractive than the private ones. Development Partners Summit seeks to create a platform for partnering with key players in both private and public sectors in order to mobilize resources for engendering economic growth and development of the State, the governor said. In the same vein, the rebirth of Ondo State Education Endowment Fund (OSEEF) today, is targeted at bridging the funding gap in the education sector. It is also aimed at creating an effective avenue for sustainable growth and development of education in the State. Ondo State has the potential to become a key player in the economy of the South-west region of Nigeria by virtue of its human and natural endowments. It is imperative that we re-engineer the economy and place it on a trajectory of sustained growth. To achieve this, our administration understands the fact that sustainable development can be accomplished through robust partnership. Therefore, our focus is to ensure rapid growth, development and sustainability of the economy. We need your collaboration and cooperation in the areas of Infrastructural development, Agricultural Development and Capacity Building to create a growing and resilient economy for our State. On our part, we will continue to put in place investor-friendly regulatory environment that will allow the private sector to thrive. Our ranking in the ease of doing business in the country has risen in recent times due to the purposeful drive at ensuring business friendly environment. Mr vice president, ladies and gentlemen, let me continue to assert with pride that not only is Ondo State adjudged one of the most peaceful states in the country, we are a focal point of development in the South West region. The House of Representatives Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity on Thursday said the National Assembly would give the minimum wage bill accelerated hearing and passage. The chairman of the committee, Ezenwa Onyewuchi, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. NAN reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had on November 27 set up a 30-man National Minimum Wage Committee headed by a former Head of Service of the Federation, Amal Pepple. The committee had recommended N30, 000 minimum wage for workers but state governors, who argued that they were not carried along, insisted it would be impossible to implement without reducing their workforce. Mr Onyewuchi, who represents Owerri Municipal/North/West Federal Constituency of Imo State, said when the minimum wage amendment bill is sent to them by President Buhari, the National Assembly would do the needful. For us, we have to wait here until the president sends in the amendment bill, it will go through the rudiment of lawmaking; pass through the committees at various levels. We know how important it is; we know that the workers are desirous of wage increase, especially the minimum wage, which for me as a committee chairman, I consider it important, he said. The lawmaker said although the bill would not negate the normal legislative scrutiny, he assured that it would be given an expeditious passage. And for me, we want a living wage, a wage the workers can live on. And essentially, I am in support of it because if you look at it on the last May Day, I was the person that moved the motion on the floor of the House on this same issue of wage increase and minimum wage adjustment. So, I think for me, there is need to take a second look at the minimum wage and by the time it is sent to us, we will give it an expeditious passage, he said. On the December deadline given to the Federal Government to complete all negotiations, Mr Onyewuchi said since the Constitution makes provision for amendment to the Minimum Wage Act, at the end of the day, we will find a common ground to agree on a minimum wage for the country. But at the moment, the issue is still with the tripartite committee. I have been briefed by the Ministry of Labour and there seems to be some levels of disagreement. So I do not expect it will be a one-way thing. It is a process; the process has started, Mr Onyewuchi said. (NAN) Former President Goodluck Jonathan has raised an alarm that a fake copy of his book, My Transition Hours, launched on Tuesday, is being pirated online. PREMIUM TIMES checked through the pirated PDF copy trending on WhatsApp and observed it has 254 pages against the original which has 194 pages. Mr Jonathan unveiled his book at a lavish event held at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja. The original hard copy of the book was advertised by Mr Jonathan on his Twitter handle with two different cover prices, N10,500 (hardback) and N5,000 (paperback). We have just been informed that a fake document contrived by mischief makers is being passed on as the e-version and hard copy of the just launched #MyTransitionHours, Mr Jonathan stated on Twitter. 1. We have just been informed that a fake document contrived by mischief makers is being passed on as the e-version and hard copy of the just launched #MyTransitionHours'. pic.twitter.com/NddYNR2QUT Goodluck E. Jonathan (@GEJonathan) November 22, 2018 We advise the general public to ignore such publication as the chapters and contents are not the same as the book publicly presented two days ago in Abuja. #MyTransitionHours 2. We advise the general public to ignore such publication as the chapters and contents are not the same as the book publicly presented two days ago in Abuja. #MyTransitionHours pic.twitter.com/iYOr6sC9Vw Goodluck E. Jonathan (@GEJonathan) November 22, 2018 Also, note that the e-copy of #MyTransitionHours is not being marketed, as such, the fake online version could only have been created by those out to deceive the unsuspecting public, Mr Jonathan said. It should be noted that the book has received lots of criticism since its launch with Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State dismissing it as fiction. A civic group, the Youth Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) Africa through its Watching The Vote Working has faulted the conduct of Saturdays by-elections in Bauchi, Katsina and Kwara states. The group said the exercise was marred by unnecessary show of force by security personnel, vote buying and poor management of election statistics. The executive director of YIAGA, Samson Itodo, disclosed this at a press conference on Monday. The by-elections held in Toro Federal Constituency in Bauchi State, Irepodun/Isin/Eiti and Oke-Ero Federal Constituency in Kwara State, and Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa Federal Constituency in Katsina State. In the election, the ruling APC swept the federal constituencies in the three states to the chagrin of the main opposition PDP. Mr Itodo, whose group deployed observers to the three states, said there was poor coordination in the management of security in the areas. It is important for security personnel deployed for elections to respect the right of the people to cast their votes freely and allow polling officials administer elections without any form of intimidation, harassment or disruption, he said. He said YIAGA agents observed incidences where security agents intimidated ad-hoc officials and voters. In some polling stations, security officials show(ed) up at polling stations with live ammunition. This runs contrary to electoral guidelines and global standards for free and fair elections, Mr Itodo explained. He said the by-election also recorded a low turnout of voters. He said the official data indicated the turnout rate in Bauchi was 21.6 per cent, Katsina 38 per cent and Kwara 24.4 per cent. The trend of a minority determining electoral outcomes and political leadership needs to be reversed, he said. Similarly, a member of Watching The Vote Working Group, Ezenwa Nwagwu, said the secrecy of the ballot was compromised in some polling stations visited. Despite the reconfiguration of the polling units, people could see how voters marked their ballot papers. WTV observers reported incidents of vote buying in polling stations across the three federal constituencies observed, he said. Mr Nwagwu said incidents of vote buying or bribery were reported in Bauchi: Toro LGA in Tilden Fulani Ward 2, PU Name Kofar Mai-Unguwa, PU code 009; Katsina, Ingawa LGA, Yandoma Ward 2, Wangari PU, PU code 002. It was also reported in Katsina, Ingawa LGA in: Dugul Ward, PU Dukuma TV Viewing Center, PU Code 005. In Kwara, Ekiti LGA;Osi Ward 01, PU Name Post Office, PU Code 006; Kwara, Irepodun LGA, Oum-Aran Ward 06, PU Name St. Paul Omu-Aran, PU Code 010; Kwara, Oke-Ero LGA in: Ekan-Nla Ward 02, PU Name Oke Ilegun, PU Code 004, Mr Ezenwa said. He said the success of every election depends on the ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to properly manage elections. INEC should ensure adequate planning for election logistics, he added. He said it is important for INEC to investigate the reasons for the logistical challenges in the Toro federal constituency election for instance and take appropriate action to avert sabotage of logistic arrangements during the 2019 general elections. Also, the project director of YIAGA, Cynthia Mbamalu, said the election commission needs to ensure proper coordination between the security agencies when it comes to deployment and when it comes to welfare. For instance, If you look at the data in our report, it was from 9:00 a.m. that we saw most of the polling units opening and according to the electoral guideline, it should be 8:00 a.m.. Immediately we saw that they were opening by 9:00 a.m., we knew that theres a problem with the logistics, she said. Ms Mbamalu said INEC needs to take intentional steps in committing to the welfare of ad-hoc staff deployed, especially the corp members. With 2019 ahead of us, INEC does not and cannot have a breathing space. When it comes to logistics, INEC must invest more in the early planning of logistics, she said. Meanwhile, the presidency said the electoral victories recorded by the APC on November 17 is a sign of things to come in the 2019 elections. This is just as the PDP in Kwara State has rejected the results. The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, on Thursday said the Apapa command of the service intercepted 40 40ft containers of pharmaceutical products with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N7.31 billion. Mr Ali, a retired colonel, disclosed this while addressing journalists in Lagos on intercepted pharmaceutical products, including tramadol. According to him, the service is able to achieve the feat through vigilance and intelligence gathering within the system as well as information from the National Agency for Foods, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), a strong ally of the NCS. I commend the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye and her management team for their collaboration in the attainment of the interception. It is indeed worrisome to note that there are Nigerians who are ready to make money at the expense of human lives by bringing in such quantity of drugs that have grave consequences on health and national security. In the criminal desperation, importers of these items offered bribes to the tune of N150 million to my officers to effect the release of just one 40ft container with promises of even bigger sums to follow in the event that their attempt succeeds. The officers played along and eventually arrested three suspects with the money, Mr Ali said. He reiterated that the ongoing interception of Tramadol and other pharmaceutical products with the bribe and the three suspects would be thoroughly investigated, to bring all those remotely connected to justice. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recently uncovered 340 million Tramadol tablets in 12 containers at the Apapa Port in Lagos. The tablets, which were in various dosages, ranged from 120 milligrammes to 250 milligrammes, were recovered from 12 containers at the Port. The Comptroller-General said officers of the Apapa command and the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, turned down $412,000 worth of bribe money offered them. Mr Ali said Apapa command, within the same period, had also seized two aircraft, a helicopter with Registration number SN-BLI which was intended for export, in container number PONU7789246. He said it was falsely declared as 388 barges of cashew nuts, adding that the action violated section 36 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), Cap C45, LFN 2004 and investigation was ongoing to fish out the owner. He explained that the second aircraft, a Cesena 182A imported from the U.S. was declared through SGD NO. C130308. He said it was seized because of the failure of the owners to present End User Certificate from the office of the National Security Officer and approval from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority. According to him, this is a contravention of Section 46 of CEMA, Cap C45, LPN 2004. Mr Ali expressed concern about the importation of tramadol and other illicit items which posed great risk to the security and health of Nigerians. We are all aware of the dangers that the deliberate non-compliance with import and export procedures pose to our nation as importers bring in all manner of items which put the security and health of the nation at great risk. Terrorists, kidnappers and other criminal elements get hold of these uncustoms goods such as controlled drugs to perpetrate their heinous activities. It is worrisome to note that there are Nigerians who are ready to make money at the expense of human lives by bringing in such quantity of drugs that have grave consequences on health and national security. The Service is making concerted efforts to ensure that maximum revenue is collected and also to safeguard the security and well-being of the citizenry, he said. While the seizures of dangerous drugs and aircraft demonstrate NCS crucial contributions to national economy, security and well-being of Nigerians, the rejection of N150 million bribe, presents a picture of a reformed NCS whose operatives are increasingly putting national interest above selves. He gave an assurance that investigation was ongoing to bring all those remotely connected to justice. Mr Ali also commended the Commander, NNS Beecroft Naval Base Apapa, Commodore Eyo as well as Commissioner of Police, Western Marine Command and his men for providing enabling environment. He, however, commended the Customs Area Controllers of Apapa and the Federal Operation Units Zone A as well as officers and men of the commands for their exemplary commitment to duty. Mr Ali urged the importers to embrace honest declaration to reduce time of cargo clearance and facilitate trade. (NAN) The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has offered to provide the Senate and the general public full details on the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Dividends Account operation since inception from 1999 till date. The Senate Committee on Gas recently opened a probe into alleged unauthorised disbursement from the account by the NNPC to support importation of petroleum products. Chairman of the Committee, Bassey Akpan, said the committees terms of reference mandated it to look at the operations of the account from 2015 to date. But the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, said on Thursday the corporation was ready to ensure full disclosure by giving a comprehensive insight into the operations of the account from 1999 to date. Mr Baru, who was represented by the corporations Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Isiaka Abdulrasaq, in his presentation at the hearing Thursday in Abuja, insisted there was need to take a holistic look at the NLNG Dividends Account from inception rather than a limited view from 2015. He said the corporation was ready to provide details of operations of the account in terms of revenues and withdrawal mandates form 1999 till date. Chairman of the Senate Committee, Mr Akpan, welcomed the offer by NNPC. The committee adjourned hearing to December 4, with a mandate to NNPC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide details of operations of the NLNG Dividend Account before the end of November. Meanwhile, the NNPC GMD assured that fuel supply situation in the country is robust with about 2.2 billion litres in stock, representing over 45-day sufficiency. The Senate resolved to investigate reports that the NNPC tampered with the NNPC dividend account to fund its fuel importation under-recovery cost. This followed a report by PREMIUM TIMES from documents which showed how the Buhari administration unilaterally without required consultation with states and appropriation by the National Assembly tampered with the NLNG funds. Details of the report showed about $1.05 billion (N378 billion at N360 to a dollar) was inappropriately spent by the federal government to fund subsidy payment on petroleum products in the country. The Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) has commended the Federal Government of Nigeria for the total ban it recently placed on the importation of all blends of the nitrogen Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK) fertilizers. FEPSAN believes the move will go a long way in stemming the importation of poor quality NPK fertilizer blends, boost local capacity and protect the soil from toxic fertilizers imported by unscrupulous business people. In a statement signed by FEPSAN President, Thomas Etuh, the Association said the only way the Federal Government can demonstrate its commitment to improve agricultural production and boost local capacity is by taking such strong purposive steps that will position the entire agricultural value chain and allied industries to support the Nigerian economy while widening the already open opportunities for foreign exchange earnings. Mr. Etuh said with the move, the government was already on the verge of saving more than N720 billion in foreign exchange, saved thousands of jobs while also creating the enablers for even more job creation in the agro-allied industry. He stressed that NPK Fertilizer blends from Nigeria are produced with specific soil composition in mind, a situation that, unlike most imported blends which destroy the soil, preserves and adds value to soil nutrients. Fertilizer blending plants in Nigeria are growing and have demonstrated capacity to produce exactly what Nigerian farmers need to enrich Nigerian soil for improved food production. We have demonstrated this and have attestations from farmers to support this claim and when I say we have the capacity, I mean we have such capacity in quantitative and qualitative terms, he stated. The FEPSAN President added that members of the Association already have installed capacity at more than 20 blending plants spread across the country to produce up to four million tons of high quality NPK fertilizer blends, a figure that surpasses the 1.5 million tons, which the highest volume ever utilized by Nigerian farmers. We are aware that a lot more Nigerians are adopting agriculture as a business, especially in response to the Federal Governments drive for food security. FEPSAN, in heeding the patriotic call for food security has placed itself in a position to ensure Nigerian farmers have all the best quality fertilizer the need. This also places us in a strong position to export to other countries in West and Central Africa, especially since we have capacity to produce more than what Nigerian farmers will need in the foreseeable future, Mr. Etuh continued. He said government has done the right thing because no economy that desires to grow should encourage the importation of what it has capacity to produce and at affordable prices. He reminded Nigerians that through the combined efforts of the Federal Government, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund and FEPSAN, the country had been saving as much as N60 billion annually in the subsidies hitherto paid for fertilizer imports while farmers now get the agro input round the year and at prices far lower than what was obtainable,even during the subsidy regime. The Registrar of University of Jos, Monday Danjem, has testified against Ibrahim Hassan, a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly representing Jos North/North constituency who is being tried for alleged forgery. Mr Danjem on Thursday told the Federal High Court sitting in Jos the university did not issue a diploma certificate in Business Administration to Mr Hassan. This was the second time the registrar has testified against the lawmaker. On December 10 last year, the registrar submitted a written document to the court when he was subpoenaed by the court. It would be recalled that Abdul Saleh, an All Progressives Congress aspirant in the 2015 general elections, filed the suit challenging the authenticity of the diploma certificate the lawmaker claimed he obtained from the University of Jos. Mr Saleh who contested the primary with Mr Hassan accused him of submitting a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission for the 2015 election. During the sitting on Monday, the registrar in his testimony told the court that the said certificate did not emanate from his office. Asked by counsel to the plaintiff, David Ibeawuchi, about the list of students conferred with Diploma in Business Administration on November 25, 1996, the registrar said the said document in question was not in existence as the institution did not graduate any student on that date. Any information stating anything contrary to his testimony is forged. Ibrahim Baba Hassan was never a graduate of University of Jos. UniJos has never written to any person, organisation or government agency informing them that it was later found that Ibrahim Baba Hassan has graduated from the institution, he said. After the oral testimony by the registrar, the judge, Musa Kurya, then asked the counsel to the defendant to proceed with the cross-examination. But a lawyer, E. O. Oyadiji, from the counsel to the first defendants chamber informed the court that his boss was not around and asked for an adjournment. Mr Kurya then adjourned the case to November 29 and 30 for cross-examination of the registrar. The case which is a pre-election matter was filed in 2015 when political parties concluded primaries ahead of that years general elections. The Kaduna State government on Thursday announced that the curfew in Kachia town and its environs have been fully lifted. In a statement signed by the governor, Nasir El-Rufais spokesperson, Samuel Aruwan, the night-time curfew in Kasuwan Magani and Kujama continues from 5pm to 6am daily. The Kaduna State Security Council undertakes regular reviews of the situation in the state. The Council has determined that the situation in Kachia is calm enough for the curfew to be lifted. However, the Council deems it necessary to advice the continuation of the night-time curfew in Kasuwan Magani and Kujama, until further notice. The Kaduna State Government has accordingly accepted the recommendation of the Security Council. The curfew in Kachia is hereby lifted. Residents of Kasuwan Magani and Kujama are expected to continue to comply with the night-time curfew in the two communities. Government commends residents of the state for the growing atmosphere of calm and calls for continued vigilance in our communities to uphold peace, and thwart criminal elements, the statement highlighted. An Uyo Division of the Federal High Court on Wednesday put the brakes on its earlier decision sacking a state lawmaker who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress. Idongesit Ituen, the lawmaker, represented Itu State Constituency before he was sacked by a November 14 ruling of the federal court headed by Fatun Riman, the judge. Mr Ituen filed an application for a stay of execution of the court judgment on the same day. The judge after listening to Mr Ituens lawyer, Uyo-Obong Jumbo of Juris Advocates, Uyo, and Ekemini Udim and G. A. Umoh, lawyers to the Speaker, Onofiok Luke, and the PDP respectively ruled in favour of the lawmaker. I am satisfied that there is merit in this application (and) that an order staying execution of the judgment of this Honourable Court delivered by Hon. Justice F. O. Riman, sitting at Federal High Court No 2, Uyo Judicial Division on the 14 November 2018, pending the hearing and determination of the Applicants Appeal at the Court of Appeal is hereby granted as prayed. Mr Ituen had, immediately after his defection, filed a suit in the court in September this year to pre-empt the speaker of the assembly from declaring his seat vacant. Mr Riman had dismissed the main suit and granted all the reliefs sought in Mr Lukes counterclaim which included, An order of court restraining the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly or any other person acting on his behalf (including the staff of the House of Assembly) from further recognising Hon. Idongesit Ituen as a member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly The court also gave an order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately conduct a bye-election to fill the vacant seat of Itu State Constituency at the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. The speaker, Mr Luke, has filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Calabar, against the stay of execution order by the federal high court. The learned trial judge erred in law when he granted a stay of execution of a judgment that had already been executed, the speaker said as one of the grounds of appeal. Mr Ituen and four other lawmakers have been locked in an epic battle with the speaker over their defection. The other four lawmakers are Nse Ntuen, Essien Udim State Constituency; Gabriel Toby, Etim Ekpo/Ika; Otobong Ndem, Mkpat Enin; and Victor Udofia, Ikono. The speaker, probably taking a cue from the sacking of Mr Ituen, had also declared the seats of the other four lawmakers vacant, for defecting from the PDP to the APC, even when the court was yet to deliver judgment on their cases. The lawmakers, five of them, held their own sitting and, in turn, removed Mr Luke from office as speaker, and then elected Mr Ntuen as the new speaker. The APC leadership in the state while throwing its weight behind the five lawmakers, said on Wednesday it no longer recognises Mr Luke as the speaker of the assembly. Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly consists of 26 members. The Nigerian constitution says a speaker or deputy speaker can only be removed from office by a resolution of House of Assembly by the votes of not less than two-third majority of the members of the House. It would, therefore, require the votes of 17 lawmakers, at least, to remove Mr Luke as the speaker of the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly. There has been tension in the oil-rich state because of the crisis in the state assembly. Some youth, who are members of the APC, on Monday protested at the assembly complex over the sacking of Mr Ituen. The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly was sealed off on Wednesday morning by the police in the state following the crisis. The Senate has asked the police in Akwa Ibom to immediately vacate the state House of Assembly complex. The demand was made after a senator, Bassey Akpan, explained the situation in the states House of Assembly. The police had on Wednesday sealed off the premises without giving reasons for their action. The closure came barely 48 hours after angry youth, who are members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), stormed the assembly complexprotesting the sacking of a lawmaker, Idongesit Ituen. Mr Ituen, who represented the Itu State Constituency, was sacked by a federal high court for defecting from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC. The House had its sitting as scheduled on Monday, despite the protest. The speaker, Onofiok Luke, went on to declare vacant the seats of four more lawmakers who had also defected from PDP to APC. But the five sacked lawmakers held their own sitting where they removed the speaker, Mr Luke, and elected one of them, Nse Ntuen (Essien Udim State Constituency) as the new speaker. The Senate had on Wednesday mandated its Committees on Police and Legislative Compliance to investigate the crisis. On Thursday, Mr Bassey alleged that the invasion of the assembly was to impeach the state governor. We have it on good authority that the intention of this invasion is to impeach the governor of Akwa Ibom State, he said. There is no way in our history of our democracy that a five-member assembly can impeach a speaker and thereafter go ahead to impeach a governor. Despite the directive of the Senate yesterday, the police are still within the premises of the house of assembly. No member of staff, no indigene of the state, no member of the assembly has been allowed entrance. We have it on good authority that the five members are on the verge of moving into the state House of Assembly to impeach the governor. I therefore call on my colleagues that what is morally wrong cannot be politically correct. We owe it as a duty to this country to ensure that the right thing gets done. An injury on Akwa Ibom state is an injury to Nigeria. I therefore call on the attention of this Senate that the police must be asked to vacate the state house of assembly forthwith without any further delay, he said. Ahmed Babba Kaita (APC, Katsina North), argued that the police was invited for a reason which is to maintain peace. We all know that there was a fracas there. If the other lawmakers go in there with their supporters there is going to be fracas in that place. It has happened in so many assemblies, police are there to maintain peace, he said. Let us find out what the real issue there. We have to be careful with what you are doing, he said. In his remark, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, urged his colleagues not to trade the matter on a partisan level. It is an action against the law that exists. The police can provide law and order without preventing lawmakers access to the chamber. It is bad for us to allow such to happen for police to seal for more than 24 hours. The police should vacate but still provide security. The red chamber thereafter resolves that the security agencies unseal the assembly and allow lawmakers gain access to the chamber, while they provide security, he said. The lawmakers, thereafter, unanimously asked the police to vacate the state assemblys premises. The hitherto serene community of Eziokwu Amurri in Nkanu West local Government Area of Enugu State was, last week, thrown into mourning following the alleged killing of an 85-year-old woman, Helen Pius, by her son. PREMIUM TIMES reliably gathered that the son of the woman, Emeka Pius, said to be about 50 years old, had allegedly hacked his mother, after they had an altercation. It was further gathered that on receipt of the report, security operatives from Nkanu West Division of the Nigeria Police Force, Enugu State Command, promptly rushed to the scene. On getting there, they found the victim lying down unconscious in the pool of her own blood, with injuries all over her head. The police spokesperson, Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed the incident. He said the police promptly arrested the suspect and rushed the victim to Agbani District Hospital for medical attention. However, efforts to save her life were not successful as doctors later confirmed her dead. The corpse of Ma Helen Pius was later deposited at the said District Hospital Agbani for post mortem examination while investigations have commenced in full scale, Mr Amaraizu said. The arrested suspect is now helping the police in their investigations, he added. The Ekiti State government has declared that rampaging herdsmen destroying farmlands and bearing dangerous weapons will henceforth be arrested and prosecuted. The government said it would no longer tolerate the acts by some herders of destroying farms and attacking innocent farmers. It also planned to check the excesses of the unscrupulous herders by empowering security agencies in the state to ensure their arrest and prosecution. The deputy governor, Bisi Egbeyemi, gave the warning on Thursday at a peace meeting held with representatives of herders and farmers at the Government House in Ado-Ekiti. The meeting followed a reported attack on farmers in some communities by suspected herdsmen. The meeting was attended by representatives of Fulani, Hausa, Ebira, Urhobo, Yoruba communities, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders and Ekiti Grazing and Enforcement Marshal. Mr Egbeyemi warned that it was unacceptable to the state government for herdsmen to be carrying AK-47 rifles and other dangerous weapons stressing that security agencies had been mobilised to arrest anyone of them caught with weapons. The deputy governor particularly warned the Sarkin Fulani in Ekiti State, Muhammad Abashe, that he would be held responsible should there be any further attacks on farmers on their farmlands. He said the state government would not tolerate a repeat of attack on Orin Farm Settlement in Ido/Osi Local Government Area last year in which a pregnant Tiv farmer was killed. We have given a marching order to security agencies to arrest herdsmen carrying weapons. As from now, the full wrath of the law will be visited on any herdsman caught with dangerous weapons, Mr Egbeyemi said. Herdsmen going about with AK-47 rifles, what are they doing with such? Will they use AK-47 rifles on animals or human beings? Tell your people, that will not be tolerated in Ekiti land. We are all Nigerians but somebody cannot come from his place of origin and destroy other peoples property and farm lands. We wont tolerate that in Ekiti, go and tell your people back home. We dont want war in Ekiti State, we want peace in our land. I have listened to all parties but the most important thing for our government is peace so that everybody can prosper his legitimate business. According to him, the government was duty bound to protect law-abiding residents including settlers in the state who are engaged in legitimate businesses and would not allow killing of innocent people. He further said that the herdsmen were not allowed to graze their cattle on farm lands noting that such had led to huge losses and affecting yield of farmers. Making further clarifications, the deputy governor said that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government in Ekiti State would not cede any of its land to violent herdsmen as being insinuated by the opposition. He however, advised farmers not to take the laws into their own hands by killing cows of herdsmen urging them to report any attack or destruction of their farms to the appropriate authorities. Mr Egbeyemi also warned herdsmen to steer clear of government reserves which he said were not meant for grazing, adding that security would be beefed up there to arrest encroachers. The deputy governor announced that anti-open grazing marshals would be empowered with more vehicles, communication facilities and other logistics to boost their morale and prevent clashes between farmers and herders. The heads of the various ethnic communities made their commitments to abide by the counsels of the state government to ensure peace and cordiality among themselves. "I can't think of a single club anywhere in Europe that wouldn't want a player like Sadio," manager Juergen Klopp said. "He is such an important member of our team and squad. He radiates joy and I think this is reflected in his performances and impact on the pitch." Chef Erick Williams of mk: "This is definitely the recipe to get ahead on. It can be done two days ahead and will actually taste better when cooled, wrapped tight and refrigerated. The flavors settle, and it takes the stress out of cooking everything on the day of." 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. Chaplin and her team found that adolescents who kept a daily gratitude journal were more likely to donate money. Participants in the study, published in August in The Journal of Positive Psychology, were divided into two groups. One group of adolescents kept a daily journal and recorded what they were thankful for, while another group wrote about their daily activities. Researchers then gave all the adolescents $10 in dollar bills and told them they could keep the money, or donate part or all of it. ROHNERT PARK, Calif., Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- With 50 states in our country, of course one of them is going to rank the worst in a few categories. The worst may depend on who is asked, and those that live in the mentioned state may have a slightly biased opinion. Ameritech Financial, a document preparation service company that works with struggling student loan borrowers, say "the worst" will always change based on what angle is being looked at. But an editorial piece written by a Pennsylvania local goes on about why Pennsylvania is the worst state when it comes to student loan problems. "Every state has problems on some level, and that includes how colleges and funding interact with college attendees. States with larger populations are going to have more problems because it's hard to get more cohesive work done when there are many parts," said Tom Knickerbocker, executive vice president of Ameritech Financial. The average graduate in Pennsylvania has about $36,000 in student loans. With a student loan amount matching the average salary, that's a heavy burden to bear. Having the kind of loan amount to repay heavily limits how much that borrower can participate in the economy. Not being able to save up, buy a house, a new car or afford replacements of much truly limits not just the local and national economy but the borrowers' quality of life. The editorial went on to place much of the blame on state officials, saying the continual cutting and freezing of state funding for colleges resulted in shifting the financial responsibility onto students and parents. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale has acknowledged that there is a problem with funding, but is worried about colleges taking the received funding and spending it on flashy attractions to encourage students to attend rather than working on funding a quality education for students. The student loan debt crisis that the country is currently facing is going to take many groups working together and a fair amount of time. But borrowers currently struggling in the face of repayment don't have time to wait for things to get better. Ameritech Financial may be able to help qualified student loan borrowers better their situation by helping them apply for federal income-driven repayment programs. These programs can potentially lower monthly payments and get a borrower on track for student loan forgiveness after 20-25 years of being in the program. "We believe student loan repayment shouldn't have to be a struggle. That's why we're so dedicated to helping our clients and being a student loan advocate," said Knickerbocker. About Ameritech Financial Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education. Each Ameritech Financial telephone representative has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA). Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional customer service. Ameritech Financial Newsroom Contact To learn more about Ameritech Financial, please contact: Ameritech Financial 5789 State Farm Drive #265 Rohnert Park, CA 94928 1-800-792-8621 [email protected] Related Images image1.png pennsylvania-city-skyline.jpg Pennsylvania City Skyline SeanPavonePhoto/Bigstock.com Related Links Ameritech Financial Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRza8MbLvuM SOURCE Ameritech Financial Related Links https://ameritechfinancial.com NEW YORK, Nov. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Darlie Global Group Corp. a subsidiary company of Darlie Global FZC, Dubai, UAE represented by a global workforce of over 10,000 visionaries, doers and makers and a strategically diverse portfolio of leading international brands that have touched and reached out to countries across the globe has started its operation from Long Island City, New York in United States of America. Product Launch Darlie Global Darlie Global manufactures the brands from its production unit in Dubai, India, Bangladesh, and many other countries. Darlie Global's range includes Oral Care, Hair Care, Skin Care, Personal Care, Kitchen & Hygiene and Baby Care products that have been manufactured to address the market gap for health and wellness products. "Darlie Global saw a gap for high quality, yet affordable wellness and health care products in the North American market, which led to the conceptualization and launch of Dr. Neem, Mr. Darlie, Celozia, Divine Care Brands. We saw a great opportunity as demand for natural and health care products continues to grow in this region. Having the new base in the United States of America, it was natural for using the states as the launch pad for Dr. Neem, Mr. Darlie, Celozia, Divine Care Brands, while setting our sights firmly on expansion across the region. We are confident that the four brands will naturally appeal to consumers given their well-blended formulations and affordable price points," says Sakib M Rahman, President & CEO, Darlie Global. Dr. Neem, Celozia, Divine Care range of products includes a face wash, shower gel, body lotion, shampoo, hair oil, petroleum jelly, soap and liquid hand wash. "Depending on the product, natural extracts are used from sources such as Neem, Aloe Vera, yogurt, Oud, camel milk, rose, berries, almond, olives, honey and lemon," Rahman explains. "Meanwhile, Mr. Darlie is a brand that promotes oral health care products, offering a broad range of gel toothpaste, a unique formulation of enamel-protecting toothpaste, and a competitive range of oral care products," he adds. The company's manufacturing unit in Dubai, India, Bangladesh and many other countries produces both Dr. Neem, Mr. Darlie, Celozia, Divine Care Brands, taking advantage of the country's strategic location as a regional hub for exports and making it viable for the company to expand its market reach. Besides, the U.S. is one of the top markets in the world for these products. Recent market studies show the demand for organic and natural products in the country continues to grow with retail spaces increasing by 60 percent during the last four years. Darlie Global's personal care, beauty and health and hygiene brands are Dr. Neem, Divine Care, Celozia, and Mr. Darlie. These brands are pioneering range of natural wellness products being manufactured in the Dubai, India, Bangladesh, and many other countries by Darlie Global and widely distributed across the Middle East, Asia and African region and with its new operation in United States of America, these products will be available in U.S. markets across different Beauty Store, Discount Center, Pharmacy Grocery outlets. All products are produced with utmost care in order to be able to deliver the freshest, most effective and most authentic skincare solutions for global customers, effectively addressing the market gap for affordable Consumer Packed Goods. Dr. Neem, Divine Care, Celozia, Mr. Darlie branded products are specially formulated with purely natural active ingredients, which complements the brands' commitment to a healthy and holistic lifestyle. Darlie Global plans to establish a manufacturing unit for producing its brands in the United States of America in future. Related Files Forbes-corporate ad -Revisedv2.jpg Facewash.jpg Related Links Darlie Global SOURCE Darlie Global Related Links http://www.neem.ae Quarterly Revenue growth of 44% for TotalSocial platform year-over-year MONTREAL, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Engagement Labs Inc. (TSXV: EL) (OTCQB: ELBSF) released results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2018. Condensed interim consolidated Financial Statements and Management Report are available on SEDAR's website at www.sedar.com. Third Quarter Financial Highlights TotalSocial Revenue of $727,316 for Q3 2018 represents a 44% increase vs Q3 2017 of $506,204 . For the comparative quarters the number of brands using TotalSocial increased from 6 to 14, and the number of industry sectors increased from 6 to 10. New sectors include Sports, Retail/Apparel, Beverage and Agency, to go along with Media, Beauty, Telecom, Software, Food and Financial. for Q3 2018 represents a 44% increase vs Q3 2017 of . For the comparative quarters the number of brands using TotalSocial increased from 6 to 14, and the number of industry sectors increased from 6 to 10. New sectors include Sports, Retail/Apparel, Beverage and Agency, to go along with Media, Beauty, Telecom, Software, Food and Financial. Total revenue, including both TotalSocial and EL legacy products was $883,342 for Q3 2018 compared to $878,953 for Q3 2017. for Q3 2018 compared to for Q3 2017. In Q3, the increase in amortization of TotalSocial software development led to a decrease of gross margin to 40% in Q3 2018, from 51% in Q3 2017. Without the amortization, the gross margin remained stable at 51% for the comparative quarters. Operating expenses increased 17% or $212,074 from Q3 2017. The increase from 2017 reflects management's commitment to invest in sales and marketing to drive TotalSocial technology sales growth, including the hiring of a Chief Revenue Officer in late December. from Q3 2017. The increase from 2017 reflects management's commitment to invest in sales and marketing to drive TotalSocial technology sales growth, including the hiring of a Chief Revenue Officer in late December. Net loss before income taxes increased 24% or $260,080 from - $1,089,472 for Q3 2017 to - $1,349,552 for Q3 2018. from - for Q3 2017 to - for Q3 2018. Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA loss of $747,432 for Q3 2018, representing an increase of $362,597 compared to $384,835 for Q3 2017. for Q3 2018, representing an increase of compared to for Q3 2017. Basic and diluted income per share was ($0.01) for Q3 2018 compared to ($0.01) for Q3 2017. for Q3 2018 compared to for Q3 2017. As at September 30, 2018 , the Company had cash (excluding restricted cash) of $1,646,785 , compared to $2,677,049 as of December 31 , 2017. "2018 is a shaping up to be a transformative year for Engagement Labs as TotalSocial is now resonating with clients and prospects," said Ed Keller, CEO. "Our +44% revenue growth for TotalSocial from Q3 2017 to Q3 2018 is just the beginning, and our growing pipeline is expected to yield continued growth for the remainder of the year and into 2019. Further, our partnership with Kantar Analytics UK, announced in October, is expected to drive enhanced UK revenue given their large client base to sell into, and accompany our sales efforts in the US." About Engagement Labs Engagement Labs (TSXV: EL) (OTCQB: ELBSF) is an industry-leading data and analytics firm that provides social intelligence for Fortune 500 brands and companies. The Company's TotalSocial platform focuses on the entire social ecosystem by combining powerful online (social media) and offline (word of mouth) data with predictive analytics. Engagement Labs has a proprietary ten-year database of unique brand, industry and competitive intelligence, matched with its cutting-edge predictive analytics that use machine learning and artificial intelligence to reveal the social metrics that increase marketing ROI and top line revenue for its diverse group of clients. To learn more visit www.engagementlabs.com / www.totalsocial.com. About TotalSocial TotalSocial is a premier data and analytics platform that provides brands with unique insights, improved marketing ROI and strategies to grow revenue. Fueled by actionable online and offline data, TotalSocial is the only platform that encompasses and listens to the entire social ecosystem. TotalSocial offers unique, proprietary data about brands, its industry and competitors. With cutting-edge diagnostics, patent-pending predictive analytics and machine learning, TotalSocial identifies business opportunities and provides recommendations and a roadmap to grow revenue and achieve business and marketing goals. Disclaimer in regard to Forward-looking Statements Certain statements included herein constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Engagement Labs does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events. 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. For media inquiries please contact: Vanessa Lontoc, Marketing Director / Ed Keller, CEO Engagement Labs 732-846-6800 [email protected] / [email protected] SOURCE Engagement Labs Related Links https://www.engagementlabs.com/ PETALUMA, Calif., Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- It may be possible to find an opportunity within a market by studying the history of that market. FinTech is currently experiencing a financial boom and many entrepreneurs may want to be a part of that boom, but they may not know where to look to find an entry point. Brandon Frere, CEO of Frere Enterprises and other ventures, would like to share some FinTech insight in order to help entrepreneurs potentially notice an opportunity to thrive. Photo by Andre Francois on Unsplash "FinTech is transforming America by taking the best parts of the financial institution and automating them," said Frere. "And then FinTech went further and put the power of a bank into an individual's hands, so complicated financial matters could be done from home." FinTech has a long history, but it may have benefited only one group of people - pre-established banks - until recently. Because of this, FinTech may be able to be divided into two distinct movements. The first FinTech movement improved the existing bank institutions, while the second is spreading those innovations to a greater variety of markets. The first FinTech movement can be roughly tracked from the following innovations: Each one of these innovations created a substantial benefit to the banking institutions that already existed. This changed in 2008 when the stock market crashed, which created the opportunities for the new FinTech market. The conditions that allowed this market to appear include: Regulations enforced after the 2008 financial crisis limited banks, but didn't necessarily limit new financial businesses. The reduction of barriers to entry. An entrepreneur with coding expertise, financial expertise and a vision could create a FinTech enterprise. Customers started wanting a simpler, specialized experience, which conflicted with the multiple features of the traditional banking institutions. Consumers wanted the ability to access their finances at home at any time. A desire for many businesses to save money that would be spent on paper for documentation, statements and labor by switching to a digital space. A desire to automate financial processes within a business to speed up overall workflow. Digital natives growing up who are familiar with the digital world and ignorant of finances, but know it's something they're supposed to do. All of these factors gave an opportunity for business creation for those who saw a way to use the opportunity. Many FinTech businesses specialize in a single feature of traditional banking to simplify the user experience. Many modern FinTech organizations also benefited from a younger digital audience that was just beginning to show interest in finances. The future of FinTech may end up looking much different than the FinTech of today. Perhaps the future will show some promise in neglected areas, like currency conversion, analyzing financial history and making recommendations, or an expansion to international markets. Perhaps it will become a collection of banks using specialized FinTech services as apps that are a part of their service. Whatever the future holds, changes in FinTech will be a part of it. "The history of modern FinTech is surprisingly new, but it is already providing value to anyone who wants to control their finances," said Frere. "The FinTech market moment is here and we will have to decide if we are going to be part of it." About Frere Enterprises Run by CEO Brandon Frere, Frere Enterprises is a California-based company with a global vision based around the usage of special financial technology, or SpecFinTech, with a current focus on financial wellness and productivity. He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers, alike. Frere's website, www.FrereEnterprises.com, is used as a means to communicate many of the lessons, fundamentals and information that he has learned throughout his extensive business and technological endeavors. Through Frere Enterprises, he aims to apply those lessons to other business opportunities. Frere Enterprises' mission is to acquire traditional businesses and digitally transform them to meet and exceed modern day demand. This mission seeks to transform such businesses by developing the newest and most evolved technologies to speed up the evolution of financial services in order to meet the demands of the modern consumer and exceed the potential of the modern era. FrereEnterprises.com Related Images bitcoin-representing-fintech.jpg Bitcoin Representing FinTech Photo by Andre Francois on Unsplash image2.png Related Links Frere Enterprises home page SOURCE Frere Enterprises Related Links http://frereenterprises.com LONDON, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS, the world's largest petrochemical market information provider, has announced the launch of an enhanced customer platform and mobile application to further improve subscriber access to business-critical news and information. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619935/ICIS_Logo.jpg ) The ICIS customer platform features content spanning petrochemical, energy and fertilizer markets, and transforms raw data on 180 commodities and derivatives worldwide into actionable intelligence. Real-time news stories are published on the website every 15 minutes on average. Recognising the importance of speed and discoverability, the new homepage gives users instant access to data and market updates. Expert insights, prices and charts are now accessible on a single page. The mobile application, available for both iOS and Android operating systems, ensures subscribers can keep up to date on market developments in real time. "Serving our customers is at the heart of what we do, so we are delighted to announce the first step of our journey to provide a platform to help navigate complex market dynamics and anticipate the impact of change before it happens," said Rob Kolkman, Managing Director at ICIS. "We understand that the markets we serve are fast-moving and dynamic, and that access to meaningful insight and news is crucial for customers. The new platform gives them a more intuitive user experience while maintaining the high-quality standards that ICIS customers have come to expect." Combining content and data with analytics and technology, as well as deeper understanding of market needs, the customer platform and mobile application are designed to help customers make better-informed decisions, achieve better results and be more productive. "The enhanced platform and mobile application are examples of our ongoing commitment to improving the customer experience," Kolkman said. 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' experience of 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. The ICIS Editorial team 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 world-leading 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 about 30,000 people of whom almost half are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 32bn|35.9bn|$40.9bn. For more information about the platform please contact: ICIS Client Services [email protected] SOURCE ICIS I wont lie, I was worried about bringing my boys to this, Cole said. I thought it would be fun to spend the day together, but between the weather and finding bathrooms and the crowds, youre never sure if everyone will have a good time. But they had fun. I cant say Ive heard even one complaint at least not yet. Dr. Billington served as the 13th Librarian of Congress after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, an appointment unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate. He retired as Librarian on September 30, 2015. Over a 28-year period, he founded the National Book Festival with First Lady Laura Bush, the John Kluge Center and Prize for the Study of Humanity, the Gershwin Prize, and The National Audio Visual Conservation Center. Throughout a life dedicated to scholarship and serviceduring which he served every President and Congress since the 1960s until his retirementDr. Billington played a unique role in preserving, promoting, and sharing America's rich cultural heritage. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1929, he was educated in Philadelphia-area public schools. Dr. Billington was valedictorian at Lower Merion High School and Princeton University, where he graduated with highest honors in 1950. In 1953, he earned a modern Russian history doctorate from Balliol College of the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Dr. Billington received 42 honorary degrees, as well as the US Presidential Citizen's Medal, the Russian Federation's Order of Friendship, and the French Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Following U.S. Army service in President Eisenhower's Office of National Estimates, he taught history at Harvard University from 1957 to 1962, and at Princeton University, where he was a popular professor from 1964 to 1974. From 1973 to 1987, Dr. Billington was director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he founded the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, seven other new programs, and the Wilson Quarterly. Dr. Billington authored nine books, including the classic Russian cultural history, The Icon and the Axe and The Face of Russia, a companion book to the PBS television series. Dr. Billington spent more than 50 years helping America's leaders and citizens better understand the former Soviet Union and its successor states, contributing to a greater appreciation of America's values and institutions in countries stretching across one-third of the globe. He first visited Russia in 1958, and accompanied the President and First Lady, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, to Moscow in 1988 for Reagan's summit meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev. During his 28-year tenure at the Library of Congress, Dr. Billington enlarged and technologically enhanced public spaces in the Thomas Jefferson Building, re-purposing it as a national exhibition venue that hosted over 100 exhibitions, many featuring materials never before publicly displayed in America. He doubled the size of the Library's traditional analog collections to more than 160 million items and oversaw innovative preservation initiatives. Dr. Billington pioneered the reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's original library, using private funds raised from the Library's James Madison Council, which he founded. Dr. Billington also founded the Open World Leadership Center, which enabled over 27,000 Eurasian leaders to engage and learn from the democratic process. Simultaneously, he created a massive new Library of Congress online presence and launched a series of innovative Library programs to share the educational riches of the Library with millions of Americans and the world. Dr. Billington is survived by his wife of 61 years, the former Marjorie Anne Brennan, whom he described as his "indispensable full partner in every way and at every stage of his adult life"; four children, Dr. Susan Billington Harper, Anne Billington Fischer, the Rev. James Hadley Billington, Jr., and Thomas Keator Billington; and 12 grandchildren. A high-res photo of Dr. Billington is available by clicking here. Statements and testimonials from Leading National and International figures who knew Dr. Billington well: Statement from Mrs. Laura W. Bush: "President Bush and I are saddened to learn that the United States has lost Dr. James Billington. Dr. Billington served as our nation's librarian for 28 years, leading the Library of Congress' transition into the digital age. In 2001, he was instrumental in the creation of the National Book Festival, which has welcomed hundreds of thousands of book lovers to the National Mall and to the Library of Congress. Dr. Billington's lifelong passion for research and for preserving history ensures that America's most prized literary treasures will be available to all for generations to come. President Bush and I send our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Billington's wife Marjorie, and to their four children. He will be missed." Statement from Nancy Pelosi, U.S. House Democratic Leader: "The passing of Dr. James Billington is a profound loss for his family and loved ones as well as for our nation. Over the course of his long and prolific career, Dr. Billington became a tireless steward for American history, helping protect and preserve our nation's most treasured past for generations of Americans. "Dr. Billington was a public servant of exceptional intelligence, dedication and vision. His tenure at the Library of Congress saw the doubling of the Library's collection and the beginning of its now vast online resources. Dr. Billington firmly believed that the treasures of American history in his care belonged to the people, and he worked passionately to ensure that Americans across the country could access these priceless collections. "Whether teaching at Harvard or Princeton, collaborating with experts and academics, or being a trusted teacher and advisor for countless Members of Congress, Dr. Billington was a committed educator. His dedication to expanding the Library's educational programing has allowed a generation of young Americans to discover their love of history and become inspired to engage in our great democratic experiment. "Our nation has lost a true patriot and one of its most relentless defenders. Dr. Billington's life and remarkable legacy have left an indelible mark on our unique American story, allowing generations of young people to see, experience and learn from the history he so passionately promoted. May it be a small comfort to his loving wife, Marjorie, their children, Susan, Anne, James Jr., and Thomas, and the entire Billington family that so many mourn with them at this difficult time." Statement from Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice: "I am deeply saddened by the news of Dr. Jim Billington's passing. He was an original -- brilliant, thoughtful and kind. He led the Library of Congress with skill and passion. On a personal note, he was a great role model for me as a scholar and a public servant. His timeless work, The Icon and the Axe is quite literally the book that drew this failed music major to the study of the Soviet Union. Such was the reach of his influence in the field. I join all of his friends and colleagues in sending my thoughts and prayers to Marjorie and the Billington family." Statement of Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs, The New School and the granddaughter of Leonid Khrushchev, the eldest son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev "Dr Billington was such a towering figure in the Russian studies and in the field of the US-Russian relations that he would be thoroughly missed for decades to come. In his work, either as a scholar or a librarian of Congress, he brilliantly merged art and politics, all for the purposes of the United States better understanding and appreciating other cultures around the globe. Russia, his area of expertise, was particularly lucky. James Billington's book, The Icon and the Axe, was itself an icon for the generations of both the Russians and the Russianists. In the dark days of the Soviet Union we, the Russians, tried to understand our own culture through Dr. Billington's critical, knowledgeable and kind eye. At the same time, his philosophical and historical approach to the complex country of bombs, ballet and Brothers Karamazov became a road map for the study of Russian culture and politics for many scholars following in his steps. May his soul rest in peace." Statement of David M. Rubenstein on the Passing of Dr. James Billington November 21, 2018: "Jim Billington was one of the finest public servants indeed one of the finest Americans I have ever been privileged to meet. His dedication to our country, and in the last three decades of his life to the Library of Congress, places all Americans his debt. Jim helped transform the Library of Congress into the library of the American people a national treasure available to and benefiting all Americans. Those of us who were fortunate to know and work with him will miss him dearly." SOURCE The Family of James H. Billington WESTMINSTER, CO, Nov. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Maxar Technologies (the "Company" or "Maxar") (NYSE:MAXR) (TSX:MAXR), a global technology innovator powering the new space economy, announced today that members of senior management will present at the following investor conferences: Credit Suisse 6th Industrial Conference Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, Palm Beach, FL November 28, 2018 8:45 a.m. 9:30 a.m. ET Webcast details will be available on the Maxar website Morgan Stanley Space Summit Morgan Stanley Headquarters, New York, NY December 11, 2018 No webcast available If indicated, webcasts of the presentations will be accessible on the Investor section of the Maxar website, http://investor.maxar.com/events-and-presentations/default.aspx About Maxar Technologies As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar Technologies is at the nexus of the new space economy, developing and sustaining the infrastructure and delivering the information, services, systems that unlock the promise of space for commercial and government markets. As a trusted partner, Maxar Technologies provides vertically-integrated capabilities and expertise including satellites, Earth imagery, robotics, geospatial data and analytics to help customers anticipate and address their most complex mission-critical challenges with confidence. With more than 6,500 employees in over 30 global locations, the Maxar Technologies portfolio of commercial space brands includes MDA, SSL, DigitalGlobe and Radiant Solutions. Every day, billions of people rely on Maxar to communicate, share information and data, and deliver insights that Build a Better World. Maxar trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com. Forward-Looking Statements "Certain statements and other information included in this release constitute "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under applicable securities laws. Statements including words such as "may", "will", "could", "should", "would", "plan", "potential", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate" or "expect" and other words, terms and phrases of similar meaning are often intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, expectations, projections, goals, forecasts, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, as well as other statements referring to or including forward-looking information included in this release. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this release. As a result, although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such 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. The risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, the risk factors and other disclosures about the Company and its business included in the Company's continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time with Canadian and U.S. securities regulatory authorities, which are available online under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com, under the Company's EDGAR profile at www.sec.gov or on the Company's website at www.maxar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. All such forward-looking statements are based upon data available as of the date of this presentation or other specified date and speak only as of such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this release as a result of new information or future events, except as may be required under applicable securities legislation." Investor Relations Contact: Jason Gursky Maxar VP Investor Relations 1-303-684-2207 [email protected] Media Contact: Turner Brinton Maxar Media Relations 1-303-684-4545 [email protected] SOURCE Maxar Technologies Ltd. Related Links www.maxar.com SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Exclusive dating platform, MillionaireMatch is taking their innovative approach to helping the rich and wealthy to find love into new territories as they enter the Chinese dating market. MillionaireMatch is now working with one of the top three international airports in China, where many millionaires are located, to leverage the boom in Chinese overseas travel, with record numbers of outbound Chinese flights supporting the travel plans of the largest population on the planet. In addition to a dynamic yet stylish advertising and brand awareness campaign through traditional airport channels, such as outside terminal adverts and on-the-go and transit advertising on airport shuttle buses, moving walkways and billboard style screens, MillionaireMatch has also developed sponsored merchandise that helps travelers to make the most out of their time in the airport. "It is the first time for us to do such a campaign. Not only is China home to 1.58 million millionaires, this figure is growing at great speed and is projected to continue on its current trajectory for some time to come, " said Joseph W., spokesperson of MillionaireMatch. The campaign has been running since October and travelers have responded positively to both the brand and the MillionaireMatch concept. MillionaireMatch's foray into China follows smart analysis of the global market and a clear understanding that the rich Chinese population is showing strong growth. The airport campaign is being closely monitored by MillionaireMatch as the brand is expanding into new territories, but it is also working towards greater penetration of the US market. With a clear understanding of ROI and metrics on the Chinese campaign, MillionaireMatch will seek to replicate their marketing and advertising activity in the US. Increased activity in US airports will not only see a higher number of advertisements running but also greater coverage across the United States, with MillionaireMatch sponsorship running in every major airport in the US, as the brand reinforces its position as the leading millionaire dating brand. "This is an exciting time for MillionaireMatch and we're working steadily towards celebrating 20 years of creating happy couples in the year 2021. To this end, we are expanding our empire on two fronts. Internationally, we have begun to work in the Chinese market and our advertising campaigns in our carefully selected partner Chinese airports has been well received and we are greatly encouraged by feedback from both the airports and the traveling public. This feedback will not only inform our future activity in China but it will also support our expanding US penetration. We know that we are the leading luxury high end dating platform and are responsible for bringing together many wealthy and dynamic individuals to create happy couples, but we're ready to become known as the go-to platform in the United States. As a territory, the US brings with it certain challenges of its own, including strong and consistent coverage. Our sponsorship of all major US airports will deliver this for us," Joseph added. About MillionaireMatch MillionaireMatch.com, an Internet dating site designed for wealthy, successful and attractive singles, was launched in 2001. With over 3.8 million users, it has served a large group of successful singles included doctors, lawyers, CEOs, Hollywood celebrities, professional models and other well-known personalities who are seeking for serious and long-term relationship. For more information please visit: https://www.millionairematch.com/. To download the app, go to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.millionairedating.millionairematch. Contact: Joseph W. [email protected] +1-416-628-1072 SOURCE MillionaireMatch.com Related Links https://www.millionairematch.com/ This year's event, themed "Data Insight and Intelligence-Driven Create and Share the New Cultural Tourism Ecosystem", focused on exchanges and discussions concerning navigating the emerging trends arising from innovations in the tourism industry, promoting the application of new technologies and providing access to resources available in both the upstream and downstream segments with the aim of transforming Sichuan into an international tourism destination. Attended by global tourism leaders, the event demonstrated the progress taking place across, as well as the characteristics of and trends in, the province's growing tourism industry from a big data perspective. - Global research shows one in five women do not feel safe in their community - Only 60% of women believe that claims of sexual abuse will be taken seriously by legal and law enforcement systems - Only 59% of women trust their legal systems to treat psychological abuse as a crime - More than half of women report that they, or someone close to them, have been a victim of abuse - Avon's #EmbraceTheChange campaign aims to reach 100 million women and men to raise awareness of non-physical forms of abuse LONDON, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) released new research showing the extent to which women around the world feel unsafe within their communities and unprotected by their legal institutions. The research, commissioned by the Avon Foundation for Women, surveyed 14,400 women in 15 countries to better understand experiences of violence, and how supported women feel if they, or someone they know, is a victim of abuse. One in five women do not feel safe The findings show one in five women globally do not feel safe in their community, rising to 47% in South Africa and 51% in Turkey. The research shows that women also feel unprotected by their societies. Only 60% of women believe that claims of sexual abuse will be taken seriously (falling to 48% in Peru), and only 58% trust their legal systems to protect victims of physical or sexual abuse (falling to 45% in Turkey). 59% of women in Argentina and 58% in South Africa trust their legal system to treat physical abuse as a crime. Non-physical forms of abuse are less well understood Rates of trust were lower for non-physical forms of abuse, with 59% of women globally trusting their legal systems to treat psychological abuse as a crime, and 55% believing that financial abuse would be treated as such. Only 27% of women in the Russian Federation and 38% in Turkey believe that psychological abuse would be considered criminal, compared to 87% in the Philippines and 77% in Colombia. Avon's #EmbraceTheChange campaign is working to change this Ahead of the UN's 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence starting on 25 November, Avon is launching a new campaign to draw attention to the unspoken violence devastating women's lives around the world. #EmbraceTheChange is a global awareness campaign that will shine a light on the different forms of non-physical abuse experienced by women around the world, including cyber-bullying, coercive control, emotional abuse and street harassment. Working with Avon's network of 6 million Representatives and using newly created social media content, local charity partnerships and events, #EmbraceTheChange will reach 100 million women and men to raise awareness of the ways in which abuse takes place, and where victims can get the support they need. The films will be played across Avon's channels over the months of November and December, and supported by partner organisations, including Women's Aid, Vital Voices and La Casa del Encuentro. Jan Zijderveld, CEO of Avon Products Inc. said: "Avon has a long history of empowering women, and we've been tackling violence against women and supporting front-line services for over a decade. The alarming findings of the Avon Foundation's research show that there is still much to do. Avon's new #EmbraceTheChange campaign challenges everyone to think about their behaviour and spread the word about what is wrong, and how we can all help change it. Awareness is a critical first step towards creating a world where women can live free from the fear of violence. Reaching men and women is vital, and we'll be sharing this campaign across our community of 6 million Representatives, and their social networks globally." Other key findings 82% of women globally consider whistling, shouting and sexual comments to constitute abuse. Only 40% of British women and 54% of Polish women would know where to seek support for abuse. 38% of Filipino women believe it is a wife's duty to give her partner sex when he wants it, compared to 9% globally. Only 79% of Filipino women think it is acceptable to use contraception. Only 64% of women in Brazil , 62% in Argentina and 61% in South Africa trust the legal enforcement system in their country to treat sexual abuse as a crime. , 62% in and 61% in trust the legal enforcement system in their country to treat sexual abuse as a crime. 44% of women in Peru do not believe claims of sexual abuse will be taken seriously by the legal and law enforcement system. do not believe claims of sexual abuse will be taken seriously by the legal and law enforcement system. Only 88% of women in Italy think that pressuring a woman to have sex constitutes abuse. To view the #EmbraceTheChange films, visit YouTube. Find out more about Avon's promise to help end violence against women and girls: www.avoncompany.com/corporate-responsibility/womens-causes/violence-against-women-and-girls-promise/ About Avon Products Inc. Avon is the Company that for 130 years has proudly stood for beauty, innovation, optimism and, above all, for women. Avon products include well-recognised and beloved brands such as ANEW, Avon Color, Avon Care, Skin-So-Soft, and Advance Techniques sold through approximately 6 million active independent Avon Sales Representatives. Learn more about Avon and its products at www.avoncompany.com. About the Avon Foundation for Women The Avon Foundation for Women is committed to supporting issues that matter most to women. Since its inception in 1955, the Avon Foundation has promoted or aided charitable, scientific, educational, and humanitarian activities, with a special emphasis on activities that improve the lives of women and their families. Through 2017, Avon Products, Inc. and the Avon Foundation for Women have contributed over $1 billion in over 50 countries to support its efforts to eradicate breast cancer and to help end violence against women and girls worldwide. Today, Avon global cause programs focus on breast health awareness and prevention through the Avon Breast Cancer Promise, and to help end violence through the Avon Promise to Help End Violence Against Women and Girls. Visit www.avonfoundation.org for more information. SOURCE Avon Products, Inc. Related Links http://www.avon.com PORTLAND, Oregon, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Increase in funds for biobanking from private & government organizations, high prevalence of chronic diseases, and increase in R&D activities for application of biobanking are expected to propel the growth of the global biobanking market. Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Biobanking Market by Specimen Type (Blood products, Solid tissue, and Cell lines), Type of Biobank (Population-Based Biobanks, and Disease-Oriented Biobanks), and Ownership (National/Regional agencies, Non-profit organization, University, and Private), and Application (Therapeutic, and Research): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018-2025". The report presents in-depth analyses of the global biobanking market by closely monitoring the industry trends, drivers & opportunities, top investment pockets, key growth strategies, and competitive landscape. According to the report, the global biobanking market accounted for $47.06 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $68.08 billion by 2023, registering CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg ) Request Sample Report at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2798 Proactive support for biobanking by private & government organizations and high prevalence of chronic diseases drive the growth of the global biobanking market. However, ethical and legal issues associated with biobanking hamper the market growth. On the other hand, increase in R&D activities for application of biobanking and untapped opportunities in the developing regions are expected to create lucrative prospects for the market players in the coming years. Solid tissue segment to manifest highest growth by 2025 The solid tissue segment is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 5.9% during the study period, owing to increase in biomedical research and rise in drug discovery & genetic study. However, the blood products segment held the largest share, contributing about 43% share of the total revenue, owing to high demand for blood products, increase in the number of blood donors, and prevalence of chronic diseases. The cell lines segment would witness steady growth during the forecast period. Research segment to lead the market throughout the study period The research segment held the largest share of the market, contributing more than two-thirds of the total revenue, as samples in biobank are used by researchers for various purposes such as drug discovery and identification of disease-relevant biomarkers. However, the therapeutic segment is estimated to manifest the fastest CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period, owing to increase in awareness for biobanks and rise in focus on R&D related to the development of personalized medicines. For Purchase Enquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/2798 Population-based biobanks segment to manifest fastest CAGR through 2025 The population-based biobanks segment is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 5.2% during the forecast period, owing to large presence of population-based biobanks in developed countries such as UK, Sweden, and Denmark. However, the disease-oriented biobanks held the largest share of the market in 2017, contributing about 82% of the total revenue, owing to greater focus on improving diagnosis of disease and surge in the number of studies to develop therapies for critical diseases. National/regional agency segment holds largest share in the market National/Regional agency segment contributed the largest share, accounting about 41% of the total revenue, owing to developments in the areas of genomics, personalized medicine, disease biology, and allied fields. However, the private segment is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 5.7% during the study period, as pharma and biotech companies have strengthened their presence in the biobank sector. The other segments analyzed in the report include non-profit organization and university. Europe holds lion's share in the global biobanking market Europe held the largest market share in 2017, contributing about 41% of the total revenue and is projected to dominate the global market throughout the forecast period. However, Asia-Pacific region is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 5.7% from 2018 to 2025, owing to easy accessibility of cost-effective blood storage and increase in awareness toward the benefits of cord blood. Moreover, several companies have developed sharing platforms to ease the process of procuring cord blood units, which would boost the growth of the market in the Asia-Pacific region. The other regions analyzed in the report include North America and Latin America, Middle East and Africa (LAMEA). Torchbearers of the market The key market players analyzed in the report include, ASKION GmbH, Cureline, Inc., Firalis S.A., LabVantage Solutions, Inc., PrecisionMed, Inc., CTI BIOTECH, Excilone SARL, Hamilton Company, LGC Limited, and ProMedDx LLC. Access KNOWLEDGE TREE (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/knowledgetree Knowledge tree is a cloud-based intelligence platform that offers more than 2,000 selective, off-the-shelf reports on niche markets to enable our clients gain deep insights on the latest trends, dynamic technologies, and emerging application areas. Purchase an enterprise user license and get 1 month complimentary access to our Knowledge Tree subscription. Offer valid till 15th November 2018. (*Terms and Conditions apply) Get subscription: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout/686085 Similar Reports: Biochips Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 - 2025 Metagenomics Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2024 About Us Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact: David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1(855)550-5975 [email protected] Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com SOURCE Allied Market Research CSE:CRL FSE:7C5 OTC:CDTAF VANCOUVER, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Carl Data Solutions Inc. (CSE:CRL, FSE:7C5, OTC:CDTAF) ("Carl Data" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that its wholly-owed subsidiary FlowWorks Inc. is moving on to the piloting phase with their new application for helping prevent sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). Infinitii SSO Forecaster, a machine-learning enabled tool that helps predict where and when an overflow might take place seven days in advance, is the latest edition to Carl Data's suite of applications that support healthy, sustainable smart city development. Kevin Marsh, VP of Sales for FlowWorks, says, "As many of our clients are experiencing more extreme storm and rainfall events, they are seeing SSOs occur where they haven't been in the past. Last week, Raleigh, North Carolina had seven million gallons of sewage overflow into waterways and even onto private property. Our Infinitii SSO Forecaster can help prevent this from happening." SSOs occur when untreated sewage is discharged from a sanitary sewer into the environment prior to reaching a sewage treatment facility. This is often caused by excessive stormwater entering sewer lines during a heavy rainfall, and may occur even in well managed sewer systems. SSOs can cause gastrointestinal illnesses, beach closures and restrictions on fish and shellfish consumption. "SSOs aren't only a direct problem for the health and infrastructure of cities and municipalities, but are also a liability," said Greg Johnston, Carl Data CEO and President. "The destruction of private property by sewage is messy in more ways than one, and we could help cities mitigate their financial damages with our Infinitii I&I and Infinitii SSO Forecaster." About FlowWorks FlowWorks is a powerful Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS")-based application for collecting, monitoring and analyzing all types of environmental data. FlowWorks is flexible, affordable and easy-to-use compared to competing software packages. The FlowWorks Application has the unique ability to collect data from all types of monitoring equipment, gauges and sensor hardware, SCADA systems and other sources of public and private data to merge the information into a single platform to perform comprehensive analytics and reporting, saving time and money for the end user. More information on the FlowWorks Application can be found at www.FlowWorks.com. About Carl Data Solutions Inc. Carl Data Solutions Inc. is an Industrial IoT (IIoT) company focused on providing next generation information collection, storage and analytics solutions for data-centric companies. Building on its recent acquisitions, Carl helps its clients analyze and understand all forms of environmental data through a powerful platform of data collection, monitoring, reporting, and predictive analysis tools. Carl Data continues to develop applications to work with new cloud-based mass storage services and analytics tools (Big-Data-as-a-Service (BDaaS) to provide scalability for municipalities, utilities and other industrial verticals. These data collection and storage methods allow the company to build smart Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based applications that can collect data from many diverse sources and provide deep insight for decision-making purposes. More information can be found at www.CarlSolutions.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors: Greg Johnston President, Chief Executive Officer, Director Carl Data Solutions Inc. The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are 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 statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, the statement that the Company could help cities mitigate their financial damages with its Infinitii I&I and Infinitii SSO Forecaster. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements including, without limitation, risks with respect to: that the Company may lose the confidence of municipal partners in its services; the ability of the Company to establish a market for its services; competitive conditions in the industry; general economic conditions in Canada and globally; the inability to secure additional financing; competition for, among other things, capital and skilled personnel; potential delays or changes in plans with respect to deployment of services or capital expenditures; possibility that government policies or laws may change; technological change; risks related to the Company's competition; the Company's not adequately protecting its intellectual property; interruption or failure of information technology systems; and regulatory risks relating to the Company's business, financings and strategic acquisitions. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE Carl Data Solutions Inc. Related Links www.CarlSolutions.com Representatives of nearly 100 fashion-related companies, education agencies and design centers from regions including the four major fashion capitals of New York, Paris, Milan and Tokyo attended the opening ceremony of the first international fashion week to be hosted in Chengdu. Distinguished guests gathered from such prominent organizations as the Europe Design Center, Goldman Sachs, the University of Tokyo, the International Management Group and the Parsons School of Design, among many others. A forum was held as part of the opening ceremony, in which luminaries from the industry held a dialogue on the topic of "What can Chengdu contribute to world fashion?" and offered their observations from a variety of perspectives. Elliott Foote, IMG planning supervisor and special envoy of the New York Fashion Week, said in his speech at the opening ceremony that Chengdu is a beautiful city with rich cultural resources, and he feels eager to invite many international designers and top brands to bring their designs and products here. Chengdu should make full use of its unique cultural offerings, such as Sichuan figured satin and Sichuan embroidery to attract more brands and talent to settle in the city, he added. Simon Collins, former head of the Parsons School of Design, plans to open a design school in Chengdu. He thinks Chengdu is a city that cares a great deal about fashion, and young local designers need to make every effort to educate themselves on fashion design and to pay keen attention to the development of the fashion industry. Doug White, a philanthropist from the United States, pointed out that Chengdu can maintain its own cultural essence while pursuing innovation-driven development, and Chengdu is a good representative of Chinese fashion. Federico Boselli, special envoy of the chairs of both the Europe Design Center and Milan Fashion Week, was impressed by Chengdu's fashionable atmosphere as soon as he got off the plane. He thinks that fashion is an attitude of life and a life style that is closely linked with human existence, and so this can be extended to a city's cultural texture. Zhang Qinghui, chairman of the China Fashion Association, said in his speech at the opening ceremony that Chengdu has never been short of traditional culture and fashion genes, and that fashion can build a bridge between a city and the world. Jerome Scola, chief strategy officer of Slush, an international tech event, said Chengdu has left an amiable impression on him, because Chengdu reminds him of Paris, in that it is a place where people can enjoy life to the fullest and are full of vitality. It is hard to combine traditional culture and modern fashion, but Chengdu achieves this in its own unique way. Lyu Yan, a model and fashion designer, said Chengdu is a city that hums with energy, where the young people here love new things, and where many young women know all kinds of very special and even obscure brands. The six-day event attracted nine world-leading fashion agencies to Chengdu for communication and exchange. Additionally, some international brands, including Chloe, Stella McCartney, Blue Erdos, Etro, Play Lounge & Self-portrait and Sportmax, hosted fashion shows on Chengdu's landmark Taikoo Li business street. A fashion industrial chain convention on China's design in Chengdu was also staged during the event. Chengdu is a world famous cultural city with more than 4,500 years of history and civilization, and has been called a "land of abundance" since ancient times. It is famous for a local culture that prominently features "innovation and creation, elegance and fashion, optimism and inclusiveness, friendliness and public benefit". The Globalization and World Cities Research Network, a think tank created by the geography department of Loughborough University, published a ranking of world cities titled Classification of Cities 2018 last week, which listed Chengdu 71st in the world in terms of the concentration of service industries banking, insurance, legal, consulting, advertising and accounting. New Weekly magazine ranked Chengdu the first among all Chinese cities in terms of fashion attraction, because of its inclusiveness to foreign talent and new science and technologies, as well as local citizens' strong sense of belonging. Statistics show Chengdu now has nearly 10,000 teahouses and about 3,500 bookstores and 2,100 pubs, which ranks it first, second and third, respectively, among Chinese cities. This shows the city's characteristics as a place to enjoy life and share knowledge. SOURCE Chengdu Media Group SAO PAULO, Nov. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EDP Energias do Brasil S.A. (B3: ENBR3) ("EDP" or the "Company") will host a Management Meeting on Monday, November 26, 2018 at Omni Berkshire Place New York (21 East 52nd Street at Madison Avenue). This event, held for analysts and institutional investors, will feature presentations by Miguel Setas (CEO), Henrique Freire (CFO) and Otavio Henriques (COO). Management will provide an overview of the Company's strategic positioning, and will discuss operational details, ongoing projects, and strategic vision for the coming years. Registration & coffee will begin at 3:00 pm ET, with presentations beginning at 3:30 pm ET. Pre-registration is required by Friday, November 23, 2018, by emailing your name, title and company affiliation to [email protected]. Registration is required to participate in the event, and confirmations will be provided to individual attendees as appropriate. About EDP Energias do Brasil Controlled by EDP in Portugal, one of the leading European operators in the energy sector, EDP Energias do Brasil is a holding company with investments in the Electric Energy Generation, Distribution, Trading, Transmission and Services segments. In the Generation segment, it controls operations involving plants using conventional sources (hydroelectric plants, small hydroelectric plants and a thermoelectric plant) in 6 Brazilian states (Espirito Santo, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Ceara, Para and Amapa) with 3.0 GW of installed capacity. In the Distribution segment, the Company operates with two distributors in the states of Sao Paulo and Espirito Santo and is a shareholder in Celesc, in the state of Santa Catarina, with a 23.6% stake. In the Trading segment, it negotiates energy purchase and sale agreements with clients located throughout Brazil. In the Transmission segment, the Company has 5 projects under development with a total extension of 1,297 km in transmission lines that will be delivered until 2022. Through EDP Grid and EDP Solucoes, in the Services segment it provides technical and commercial services including transmission and distribution systems and maintenance for corporate clients, as well as energy efficiency and distributed photovoltaic generation projects. SOURCE EDP Energias do Brasil S.A. CHENGDU, China, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 13 evening, the 2018 Chengdu Fashion Week (CDFW) kicked off in Chengdu, the most famous park city in China. Under the theme "Chengdu - New York, World Cities' Fashion Night," the event brought together guests from nearly 100 fashion enterprises and institutions in New York, Paris, Milan, and Tokyo. The 6-day event has attracted 9 world-leading fashion institutions to Chengdu for exchanges. Seven top fashion shows, including Chloe and Stella McCartney, were held in Taikoo Li, an iconic commercial block in downtown Chengdu, bringing 2018 fall-winter and 2019 spring collections, together with the "China Design in Chengdu" fashion industry chain conference and other activities. Gathering at the grand global fashion event were representatives from the European Design Center (EDC), Goldman Sachs, the University of Tokyo, New York Fashion Week (NYFW) and its sponsors IMG, the Parsons School of Design. Many other first-tier US-based fashion institutions as well as fashion leaders inside and outside China were also present. Elliott Foote, special envoy of NYFW and planning director of IMG, said in his speech that Chengdu is a beautiful city with profound cultural background, and international designers and top brands could be invited here with their designs and products. Chengdu should take advantage of Shu brocade and embroidery and other cultural heritages with local characteristics, adhering to its own culture to attract brands and talents from other countries. A forum themed "What Can Chengdu Do for World Fashion?" was convened during the opening ceremony. Centering on the theme, guests shared their views on the prospect of the fashion industry and those on how to promote the development of the industry from different perspectives. Federico Boselli, tenure chairman envoy of the Milan Fashion Week and chairman envoy of EDC, said that he was touched by the fashion sense of Chengdu upon getting off the plane. In his opinion, fashion, as an attitude and style of life closely related to people, is mingled with the culture of a city. Jerome Scola, chief strategy officer of SLUSH, French, said Chengdu felt familiar to him because it reminds him of Paris: "People in Chengdu enjoys life and is full of energy, just like Paris. It has an unusual temperament which combines traditional culture and modern fashion." Lv Yan, an international supermodel and fashion designer, expressed that Chengdu is an energetic city where young people are fond of novel things related to lifestyle, and many girls even know very niche brands when talking about fashion. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province in western China, is a world-famous cultural city with a history of over 4,500 years, dubbed "Land of Abundance" since ancient times. The city, featuring synergy of traditional culture and fashion trends and coexistence of historical accumulation and modern civilization, gives birth to the Tianfu culture of "Innovation and Creativity, Elegance and Fashion, Optimism and Tolerance, Friendliness and Charity". According to the 2018 China Urban Fashion Index Report released by China's cutting-edge lifestyle weekly New Weekly on October 22, Chengdu tops the list of China's most fashionable and attractive cities by virtue of its diversity and inclusion of foreign talents and new technologies, as well as a strong sense of belonging from its citizens. The list focuses on indexes closely related to fashion lifestyle. According to the data cited in the report, Chengdu has nearly 10,000 teahouses, 3,463 bookstores, and 2,078 bars, ranking first, second and third in China, respectively. Moreover, it was honored "2017 City of Bookstore". Fashion lifestyle also reflects the rapid development of a city. On November 13 (American time), GaWC, one of the most famous city rating agencies in the world, released the report on Roster of World Cities 2018, in which Chengdu jumped to the 71st place from the 100th place in 2017 among cities worldwide. SOURCE The Organizing Committee of the 2018 Chengdu Fashion Week A tactical officer from the Central patrol district was among the first cops to arrive to the scene and Lopez shot at his police car, Guglielmi said. He said a bullet hit that officers holster and ricocheted off his gun. Other officers responded, forming a shield around the 38-year-old ONeal as she lay wounded, Guglielmi said. One officer administered first aid on her, as did at least one doctor at the scene, to no avail. DUBLIN, Nov 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Particle Therapy Market by Type, Products, Services, System, Cancer Type, Application - Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The particle therapy market is projected to grow from an estimated USD 865 million in 2018 to USD 1,349 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 9.3% during the forecast period. Growth in the particle therapy market is primarily driven by factors such as the various advantages offered by particle therapy over photon therapy, growing global prevalence of cancer, increasing adoption of particle therapy in clinical trials, and the increasing number of particle therapy centers worldwide. By product, the synchrotron segment is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period Synchrotrons are used to accelerate both protons and heavy ions such as carbon and hydrogen. The growth of the synchrotrons segment is attributed to factors such as the increasing number of research activities as well as the increasing investments in the development of synchrotron facilities. By type, proton therapy is expected to be the largest contributor to the particle therapy market The large share of the proton therapy segment can be attributed to factors such as the high degree of precision, shorter treatment time, and reduced side-effects associated with proton therapy as compared to conventional photon therapies using X-rays. Other factors such as the increasing research activities in the field of radiation oncology using proton therapy systems, rising number of proton therapy centers, and longer equipment lifespan of proton therapy (30 years or more) in comparison to photon therapy (10 years) are expected to support the growth of this market in the coming years. By application, treatment applications are expected to be the largest contributor to the particle therapy market The introduction of small footprint single-room particle therapy centers is further promoting the adoption of proton therapy for the treatment of cancer in small-scale hospitals. Factors driving the growth of the treatment applications segment include the growing number of cancer patients globally, increasing government initiatives (aimed at equipping or upgrading hospitals with newer and advanced radiotherapy systems), and the increasing availability of funding for the adoption of advanced cancer treatment technologies. Asia Pacific is expected to hold a significant share in the particle therapy market during the forecast period The Asia Pacific is one of the major revenue generating regions in the particle therapy market. China and Japan are the major countries responsible for the high growth of this regional market owing to factors such as the increasing per capita income, improving healthcare infrastructure, and supportive government activities in these emerging countries. Furthermore, the increasing geriatric population, growing incidence of cancer, and rising acceptance of particle therapy procedures and devices are also driving the growth of this regional market. Ion Beam Applications SA (Belgium), Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (US), and Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan) are the major players operating in the particle therapy market. Other players in this market include Provision Healthcare (US), Mevion Medical Systems, Inc. (US), Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Japan), Optivus Proton Therapy, Inc. (US), ProTom International, Inc. (US), Advanced Oncotherapy Plc. (UK), and Danfysik A/S (Denmark). Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan) is one of the leading players operating in the particle therapy market. Hitachi's proton beam therapy products have been used to treat more than 16,000 patients worldwide, and the company continues to perform joint research with advanced cancer hospitals in the US. Also, the company focuses on agreements with leading research organizations to strengthen its product development capabilities in the field of particle therapy. Recent Developments In 2017, Mitsubishi Electric signed an agreement to transfer its particle therapy systems business to Hitachi and integrate into one entity. This helped Hitachi to improve its position in the proton therapy market. In 2017, Royal Philips (US) and Proton Partners International (UK) collaborated with IBA ( Belgium ) to build the first compact proton therapy system in the Middle East . (US) and Proton Partners International (UK) collaborated with IBA ( ) to build the first compact proton therapy system in the . In 2016, Provision Asia (HK) Limited and Shenzhen Hairong International Medical Development Co., Ltd. entered into a joint venture to form Provision China. This company will be an exclusive distributor of the ProNova SC360 Proton Therapy System. Key questions addressed by the report: What are the growth opportunities related to the adoption of heavy ion therapy across major regions in the future? Emerging countries have immense opportunities for the growth and adoption of particle therapy. Will this scenario continue in the next five years? Where will all the advancements in products offered by various companies take the industry in the mid- to long-term? What are the various cancer types wherein particle therapy finds a high adoption rate? What are the new trends and advancements in the particle therapy market? Key Topics Covered: 1 Introduction 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Premium Insights 4.1 Particle Therapy: Market Overview 4.2 Regional Analysis: Particle Therapy Market, By Product & Service 4.3 Particle Therapy Market Size, By Type 4.4 Particle Therapy Market Size, By Cancer Type 4.5 Regional Analysis: Particle Therapy Market, By Application 4.6 Particle Therapy Market, By Region 5 Market Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Market Dynamics 5.2.1 Drivers 5.2.1.1 Advantages Offered By Particle Therapy Over Photon Therapy 5.2.1.2 Growing Global Prevalence of Cancer 5.2.1.3 Growing Adoption of Particle Therapy in Clinical Trials 5.2.1.4 Increasing Number of Particle Therapy Centers Worldwide 5.2.2 Restraints 5.2.2.1 Infrastructural Challenges in Healthcare Facilities 5.2.2.2 Affordability and Accessibility of Treatments 5.2.2.3 Unfavorable Reimbursement Policies and Limited Insurance Coverage for Particle Therapy 5.2.3 Opportunities 5.2.3.1 Emerging Markets 5.2.4 Industry Trends 5.2.4.1 Growing Adoption of Pencil-Beam Scanning 6 Particle Therapy Market, By Type 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Proton Therapy 6.2.1 Proton Therapy is Increasingly Being Adopted as A Primary Treatment Mode for Various Cancer Types 6.3 Heavy Ion Therapy 6.3.1 The Use of Heavy Ion Therapy is Still in the Experimental Phase Across Many Regions 7 Particle Therapy Market, By Product & Service 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Products 7.2.1 Cyclotrons 7.2.1.1 Leading Players in the Particle Therapy Market Mainly Manufacture Cyclotrons 7.2.2 Synchrotrons 7.2.2.1 Increasing Investments Into the Development of Synchrotron Facilities are Contributing to Market Growth 7.2.3 Synchrocyclotrons 7.2.3.1 The High Space Requirements of Synchrocyclotrons are Limiting Their Widespread Adoption 7.3 Services 8 Particle Therapy Market, By System 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Multi-Room Systems 8.2.1 Lower Shielding Requirements and Faster Beam-Switching Capabilities of Multi-Room Systems are Increasing Interest Among End Users 8.3 Single-Room Systems 8.3.1 Compact Structure and Reduced Capital Costs are Leading to High Growth of Single-Room Systems 9 Particle Therapy Market, By Cancer Type 9.1 Introduction 9.1.1 Pediatric Cancer 9.1.1.1 Better Control of Radiation With Particle Therapy Makes It the Most Suitable Treatment Mode for Pediatric Cancer 9.1.2 Prostate Cancer 9.1.2.1 Particle Therapy Offers A Minimally Invasive Alternative With Increased Accuracy for Prostate Cancer Treatment 9.1.3 Lung Cancer 9.1.3.1 Rising Number of Clinical Trials to Optimize the Use of Particle Therapy for Lung Cancer is Driving the Growth of the Market 9.1.4 Breast Cancer 9.1.4.1 Limited Radiation Exposure With Reduced Side-Effects is Increasing the Adoption of Particle Therapy for Breast Cancer 9.1.5 Head and Neck Cancer 9.1.5.1 The Use of Pencil-Beam Scanning for Proton Therapy Supports Market Growth for This Segment 9.1.6 Other Cancers 10 Particle Therapy Market, By Application 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Treatment Applications 10.2.1 Introduction of Small Footprint Single-Room Particle Therapy Centres is Promoting the Adoption of Particle Therapy for Cancer Treatment 10.3 Research Applications 10.3.1 Increasing Availability of Funding for Particle Therapy-Related Research Projects is Providing Growth Opportunities in Research Applications 11 Particle Therapy Market, By Region 11.1 Introduction 11.2 North America 11.2.1 US 11.2.1.1 Growing Number of Particle Therapy Centers in the US to Drive Market Growth 11.2.2 Canada 11.2.2.1 Canadian Government Undertaking Initiatives to Include Particle Therapy as A Treatment Method 11.3 Europe 11.3.1 France 11.3.1.1 Increasing Healthcare Expenditure in France is Supporting the Adoption of Particle Therapy Products 11.3.2 Germany 11.3.2.1 Increasing Research in the Field of Proton & Heavy Ion Therapy to Drive the Growth of the Particle Therapy Market in Germany 11.3.3 UK 11.3.3.1 Cyclotrons Segment Dominated the Particle Therapy Market in the UK 11.3.4 Rest of Europe 11.4 Asia Pacific 11.4.1 Japan 11.4.1.1 Japan is the Largest User of Heavy Ion Therapy for the Treatment of Various Types of Cancers 11.4.2 China 11.4.2.1 Growing Interest of Major Market Players to Increase Their Presence in China Will Drive the Growth of the Particle Therapy Market in the Country 11.4.3 India 11.4.3.1 Leading Product Manufacturers are Entering the Indian Particle Therapy Market Owing to the High Growth Opportunities in the Country 11.4.4 Rest of Asia Pacific 11.5 Rest of the World 11.5.1 Inadequate Healthcare Infrastructure is Restraining the Widespread Adoption of Particle Therapy in the Region 12 Competitive Landscape 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Market Share Analysis 12.3 Competitive Scenario 12.3.1 Product Launches and Approvals 12.3.2 Acquisitions 12.3.3 Expansions 12.3.4 Agreements and Collaborations 13 Company Profiles Advanced Oncotherapy PLC. Danfysik A/S Hitachi, Ltd. Ion Beam Applications Sa (IBA) Mevion Medical Systems, Inc. Optivus Proton Therapy, Inc. Protom International, Inc. Provision Healthcare, LLC Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cqwl7m/global_particle?w=5 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com PANAMA CITY, Panama, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 21, a story-sharing secession on China-Panama friendship was held in Panama City jointly held by the local government and government of Guangzhou city in south China, as well as associations concerned in the lead up to the 2018 G20 Summit. Focusing on the win-win cooperation and shared development brought by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which connects China with Panama, political, business and academic figures from both sides shared stories about business and people-to-people exchanges at the event and over 2000 Chinese and Panamanians expressed their hope for sustainable cooperation through this platform. A jewel of the Central American isthmus, Panama connects South America to North America and the Pacific to the Atlantic. The bilateral friendship along the Maritime Silk Road began in 1854 when the ship Sea Witch carried Chinese to Panama for the first time. Evidently, a deepening relation between Guangzhou and Panama, between China and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has hinged on surging business exchanges and a century-old friendship based on mutual assistance. Both counties have been witnessing unrecorded momentum in economic and social cooperation and exchanges as a result of their establishment of diplomatic relations in 2017. Tangible benefits have been delivered to people of both nations. Embassies to each other were established. A Beijing-Panama City non-stop air route was launched. Panama is seeing an influx of Chinese companies that are expanding business and taking part in the infrastructure building. Panama signed a cooperation agreement with China on the feasibility research of implementing a Panama railway project. Today, China-Panama friendly cooperation is producing more results in a broader way. Xinzhuang Elementary School of Huadu District, Guangzhou and Panama's Chinese-Panamanian Cultural Center (Sun Yat-Sen Institute) became sister schools this July. "The second, third and fourth generations of Chinese Panamanian contributed much to the growth of Panama. They are becoming elites of all trades, so talented that a patient has to be sent to a Chinese doctor before claimed incurable. It is the exact case showing the professional overseas Chinese are highly recognized by the locals," said Doctor Enrique Lau Cortes at the session. He is president of the International Affairs Research Association of Panama, whose grandfather set foot on the land more than a century ago when the Panama Canal started operation. Guangzhou is hopeful that exchanges on its innovation and technology on educational and scientific research fronts with the LAC will increase for greater interconnectivity and sustainability. Rich resources having been gained for a century make it possible for a more comprehensive Guangzhou-Panama relationship. "Among the three-million residents in Panama, some 200,000 are from Huadu of Guangzhou originally," said Liu Yanglie, president of Huadu Panamanian Association. On the eastern end of the Pacific, Huadu is home to a Panamanian village, where half of the villagers are staying in Panama. Over the past year, Guangzhou has been seeing thriving cultural and business exchanges with Panama, including sending professional teachers to Panamanian schools. Already, the city has become a portal of great importance for the Panamanian to gain a deeper understanding of China and its culture. "Each of the LAC countries has been an indispensable contributor to the construction of the Belt and Road. Panama acts as a critical connector as the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road extents to the region," addressed Jiang Jianguo, Deputy Director-general of China's Publicity Department at the event. The LAC is embracing a promising future of win-win cooperation as it promotes the BRI amid China's new round of reform and opening up. In recent years, the China-LAC trade has registered an annual average growth of over 30 percent and China has now become the second largest trading country for the region. Both Guangzhou and Panama benefit in this round of development. In 2017, the Guangzhou-Panama trade value grew by 9.8% to USD 320 million, of which imports from Panama stood at USD 15 million, up 64.1%. As a link between the LAC and Asian markets, the Panama Canal serves as a testimony to the benefits of interconnectivity to people. More than a century ago, overseas Cantonese contributed greatly to the construction of the canal; in 2014, the Guangzhou-based COSCO SHIPPING Specialized Carriers Co., Ltd. participated in the canal's expansion by transporting heavy parts for new ship locks. "Today, we have ocean shipping routes to Panama. Amid an increasing bilateral trade, our ships have been allowed to berth more than 100 ports of American countries, including Panama, Ukraine, Brazil and Argentina. In 2017, COSCO SHIPPING was part of construction of an LNG shipping dock at Panama's Colon Free Trade Zone," said an official from COSCO SHIPPING. A strategic prospect for relations between China and Panama and even the Central America is portrayed by Eddie Tapiero, a specialist on the China-Panama relations and international economics at Panama Canal Authority, in his new book The Silk Road and Panama. In his view, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents an opportunity that the LAC must seize, which will help the region make visible differences. "Interconnectivity, is a keyword in the BRI, aiming to connect small markets to larger ones," said Professor Wang Yiwei, a senior research fellow at Renmin University of China, at the session. SOURCE The People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a Qatar Foundation institution that specializes in higher education, and edX , the non-profit online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT, have signed an agreement that will position the University as the first in the Middle East to provide interdisciplinary courses through the online platform. The courses will be accessible to millions of students around the world. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/770031/HBKU_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788575/Hamad_Bin_Khalifa_University__HBKU.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788576/Dr__Ahmad_M_Hasnah_and_Dr__Anant_Agarwal.jpg ) Dr. Ahmad M. Hasnah, president of HBKU, and Dr. Anant Agarwal, founder and CEO of edX and MIT professor, announced the partnership at an official signing ceremony in the city of Boston in the United States. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the edX Global Forum, held from November 15 to 16. The annual gathering brings together edX's partner network of senior leaders and digital learning innovators from the world's leading universities and organizations to share knowledge, exchange ideas and collectively design the future of education. Speaking at the signing, Dr. Hasnah said: "We invite students from across the globe to take advantage of innovative ways of accessing knowledge, both of which will provide an unprecedented opportunity for working professionals to advance their careers." "With innovation being a key objective of HBKU, we believe that this partnership with edX will enable us to bridge knowledge dissemination and allow the global community to benefit from unique offerings, which complement existing programs on the edX learning platform and remain mindful of pressing global challenges. As an ever-evolving sector, education has in recent years taken on new forms that go beyond the limitations of the conventional classroom setting. Our edX offerings are a manifestation of the University's lifelong commitment to innovative academic approaches that transcend geographical boundaries." "We are honored to welcome Hamad Bin Khalifa University to the edX global partner community," said edX CEO and MIT Professor Anant Agarwal. "Both edX and HBKU share a mission to increase access to high-quality education for all learners, everywhere, in fields that tackle the challenges society faces at a global level. These include the need to identify new and innovative ways to provide sustainable energy, which is addressed in HBKU's Professional Certificate program. It was a delight to host Dr. Hasnah at our Global Forum this year and we look forward to furthering our partnership in the future." HBKU's agreement with edX underscores its commitment to pursuing local and international collaborations to promote a truly global educational experience and breaks down academic silos. Through its various strategic partnerships, the University aims to make quality academic research programs and courses accessible to students in Qatar and the rest of the world. The first program "Solar Energy in Hot Desert Climates" offered by HBKU on the edX platform focuses on advancing sustainable energy and combating global warming. "This program reflects HBKU's commitment to addressing local grand challenges that have a global impact. The launch of this program is timely and responds to the urgency called by the recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report which highlighted the need to limit global warming to 1.5C compared to 2C," said Dr. Hasnah. Prospective students can now enroll for HBKU's Professional Certificate program on edX, which will commence on January 7, 2019. The programs consist of two MOOCs: 'Solar Resource Assessment in Desert Climates' and 'Using Photovoltaic Technology in Desert Climates'. It will focus on solar resource estimation and PV solar cell and module design for hot and dusty climates, assisting solar engineers, investors and energy policymakers to understand and mitigate the technical issues associated with solar energy production in desert environments. Professional Certificate programs on edX are a series of courses designed by industry leaders and top universities to build and enhance critical professional skills needed to succeed in today's most in-demand fields. To register for the program, please visit https://www.edx.org/school/hbkux About Hamad Bin Khalifa University Innovating Today, Shaping Tomorrow Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF), was founded in 2010 as a research-intensive university that acts as a catalyst for transformative change in Qatar and the region while having global impact. Located in Education City, HBKU is committed to building and cultivating human capacity through an enriching academic experience, innovative ecosystem, and unique partnerships. HBKU delivers multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs through its colleges, and provides opportunities for research and scholarship through its institutes and centers. For more information about HBKU, visit http://www.hbku.edu.qa. ABOUT edX edX is a nonprofit, open-source learning destination offering online educational programs and courses at edx.org in alliance with more than 130 member institutions, composed of both leading global universities and colleges, and a diverse group of prominent organizations from around the world. Founded by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and based in Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., edX is focused on transforming online and classroom learning through groundbreaking methodologies, game-like educational experiences and cutting-edge research on an open-source platform. For more information about edX, visit http://www.edx.org. SOURCE Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) The Korean telecom leader signed an agreement on the use of Big Data in preventing infectious diseases with the Ghana Health Service on November 16. Attendees at the signing ceremony in Accra, Ghana, included Yoon Jong-Jin, KT's senior executive vice president in charge of public relations and Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, director-general of Ghana Health Service (GHS). Other key figures are Kim Sung-Soo, Ambassador of Korean Embassy of Ghana, Michael Melchior, Country Director of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Ghana, Dr. Owen Laws Kaluwa, Ghana Country Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Fiachra McAsey, Deputy Representative of UNICEF Ghana, and Mr. Yukyum Kim, Country Director of KOICA Ghana. KT Corp.'s agreement on disease control, its first with a public health agency, has drawn attention from the international health community, especially because of Ghana's location in West Africa. In 2014-16, the region suffered the most widespread Ebola virus epidemic in recorded history, while there is no confirmed Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) case in Ghana to date, according to the WHO. "We will help Ghana take the initiative in healthcare in West Africa," KT's Yoon said. "We will go beyond Africa and push for disease prevention in other parts of the world where the infrastructure for healthcare and education is still developing." KT's disease prevention system analyzes location-based information including roaming data that it collects, uses the data to guide its customers on preventing epidemics, and builds a monitoring system that helps health authorities assess infection risk at the initial stage of an outbreak. KT started working on the system in 2016 with the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency to demonstrate how Big Data can be used in disease control. The project came a year after MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) hit Korea. Now it is regarded as a showcase of collaboration between the public and private sectors. Based on the project's success, KT is seeking collaboration with foreign governments and international organizations on the use of Big Data and information technology in preventing the spread of infectious diseases. To that end, the Korean company suggested a Global Epidemic Prevention Platform at the World Economic Forum's annual conference in January this year. As a global leader in ICT, KT is also calling on Asian countries to participate in its project. Among the target countries is the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR). KT will seek to launch an epidemic prevention project with both the Lao Ministry of Health and the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH), a public affiliate of South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare. KT dispatched volunteer IT workers to Laos together with the KOFIH and KT Group Hope Sharing Foundation, the company's social contribution organization, from November 11-17. The KT employee volunteer group provided IT equipment for quarantine stations at Wattay International Airport and the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge. The IT volunteers trained officials of the Lao Ministry of Health's Department of Communicable Diseases Control on using computers, smartphones and software to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. KT volunteers visited an elementary school in Vientiane along with the Africa-Asia Development Relief Foundation, a Korean NGO, where students learned about IT, VR (virtual reality) and other subjects. MEDIA CONTACTS For inquiries, please contact our Foreign Media Relations Team at [email protected] ABOUT KT CORP. (KRX: 030200;NYSE: KT) KT Corporation, Korea's largest telecommunications service provider reestablished in 1981 under the Telecommunications Business Act, is leading the era of innovations in the world's most connected country. The company leads the 4th industrial revolution with high speed wire/wireless network and innovative ICT technology. After installing 20 million fixed lines in just 12 years, KT was the first telecom provider to introduce 5G broad-scale trial service in 2018. It is another step in KT's continuous efforts to deliver essential products and services as it seeks to be the No.1 ICT Company and People's Company. For more information, please visit our English website at https://corp.kt.com/eng/ SOURCE KT Corp. Related Links https://corp.kt.com/eng Grainy footage, choppy video and mediocre quality night vision are now a thing of the past. With heightened 4K resolution, long-range color night vision, 24/7 surveillance and much more, this latest incarnation of the 4K Nocturnal camera, with its bold design, takes personalized home security into the 21st century. 4K Ultra HD resolution : What good is a security camera if the footage isn't crisp and clear? With over 8 million pixels, this 4K Nocturnal camera produces the finest quality footage, so no second guessing is necessary. Due to the high pixel count and the powerful image sensor at the core of this camera, the smallest objects on screen are clearly outlined and easily identifiable, even in low-light conditions or when the digital zoom is applied. Long-range color night vision : With the help of ambient lighting, this camera has the longest color night vision (CNV) range available at 175 feet. CNV offers an extra level of security, providing vital details such as the color of cars, clothing, hair and other surrounding objects that the human eye cannot easily decipher. 24/7 surveillance : As a wired security camera, the constant power supply means this 4K Nocturnal is continuously recording, regardless if there is movement in the camera's field of view. It is especially useful for highly congested areas, as continuous movement often depletes battery-powered systems at a faster rate. Realistic-looking video at 30fps : Say goodbye to choppy or unnatural looking footage. Because of the higher number of images that appear in each frame, 30 frames-per-second (fps) delivers the most lifelike and flawless on-screen movement so important moments are never misinterpreted. Defy the elements : Rated IP67, these Nocturnal security cameras have been tested in extreme weather temperatures ranging from -22F (-30C) to 140F (60C), and they can safely operate during a wide range of conditions including heavy rain, snow and strong winds. Protected by heavy duty aerospace-grade aluminum, these cameras can withstand years of weather corrosion and vandal attacks. Discreet but edgy The Wire-Free Diurnal For a fast and simple D-I-Y video surveillance system, the latest Wire-Free Diurnal is the perfect solution for high-tech security, minus the lengthy wires. Battery-operated, with infrared night vision, 1080p HD resolution and more, it is a motion-based system that is ideal for low-traffic areas. Hybrid security : The Diurnal camera is a motion-based, battery-powered security camera, meaning it is on standby and only starts recording when movement is detected. They can be placed up to 600 feet away from the wireless receiver, or they can be easily connected to a power source for round-the-clock surveillance if needed. 1080p HD resolution : Thanks to the megapixel sensor in the core of the Dirunal wire-free camera, expect to see flawless 1080p HD resolution footage with clear color depth. Crucial details such as facial characteristics and license plate numbers will be clearly noticeable. Infrared (IR) night vision : The 6, high-powered LED bulbs that surround the camera lens emit invisible, infrared (IR) light up to 150 feet away. This allows the Diurnal camera to capture footage in dimly lit environments and total darkness for crisp and clear nighttime vision. All-weather performance : Diurnal cameras have an IP66 weatherproof rating and will continue to function in extreme weather conditions between -4F to 113F (-20C to 45C), so they can be safely installed outdoors. The sleek, but sturdy casing protects against dust and water, and long-term wear and tear caused my rain, snow or wind. Two-way audio : Diurnal wire-free cameras come equipped with a microphone that will record audio along with video footage for extra protection and evidence. It is also possible to speak through the microphone using the Lorex Cirrus app for tablets or smartphones. About Lorex Technology Established in 1993 in Markham, Ontario, Lorex Technology is the authority in the home and small business video camera solutions. For over 25 years, Lorex Technology has provided top-of-the-line video technology products to its customers in North America and around the world. Today, Lorex Technology prides itself as a leader in do-it-yourself (DIY) and professional-grade home and business security solutions and continues to develop sophisticated and cutting-edge technologies aimed at helping customers protect their loved ones and property. SOURCE LOREX Technology Inc. Related Links https://www.lorextechnology.com/ NOVATO, Calif., Nov. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercaptor Discoveries, a pharmaceutical company focused on developing unprecedented technology addressing significant unmet medical needs, today announced the publication of its patent application WO 2018/200527 A1, "Use of thiol compounds to treat neurological disease." The application's priority date is April 24, 2017. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published the patent application internationally, cementing Mercaptor's rights around its newly discovered molecules called Captons. The application includes the claims relating to: Treating an excitotoxicity disorder using a small molecular thiol that can be oxidized by reactive-oxygen species after crossing the blood-brain barrier. using a small molecular thiol that can be oxidized by reactive-oxygen species after crossing the blood-brain barrier. Treating neurological disease or disorder using a small molecular thiol. using a small molecular thiol. Treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Alzheimer's disease, ischemia or epilepsy using a small molecular thiol. using a small molecular thiol. Preventing or ameliorating brain injury caused by trauma using a small molecular thiol. trauma using a small molecular thiol. A method for treating or ameliorating glutamate toxicity comprising administering a small molecular thiol compound. comprising administering a small molecular thiol compound. Slowing the degeneration of neurons in a subject using a small molecular thiol compound. The publication of the application follows the company's reproducible proof of concept studies demonstrating localized conversion in the brain of a Capton in the presence of tissue damage and protection provided by the converted Capton in a preclinical epilepsy model. "Captons address fundamental deficiencies in CNS drugs. These weaknesses in design favor distribution to tissues least in need of treatment, resulting in debilitating side-effects that, in turn, necessitate minimal potencies," said Dr. Todd Zankel, CSO of Mercaptor Discoveries, an inventor of Mercaptor's technology. "Capton chemosensitivity supports a uniquely-capable platform, well-suited to the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions and brain injury." The publication furthers Mercaptor's strategy of using the platform to rework therapeutics that have failed in the clinic. Mercaptor also aims to advance these agents through clinic to the market while supplying clinic-ready investigational therapeutics to established pharmaceutical companies with deep clinical, regulatory and commercial capabilities. Sara Isbell, President & CEO of Mercaptor Discoveries and co-inventor stated, "This is a huge step in securing Mercaptor's novel discovery and gives us the freedom to develop this profoundly meaningful treatment for neurodegenerative diseases." About Mercaptor Discoveries Mercaptor Discoveries was founded by a scientific team that has experience developing successful biotech companies, including Raptor Pharmaceuticals. Raptor was purchased by Horizon Pharma in 2016 for $860M USD. Mercaptor's founding scientists discovered injury-activated molecules, called Captons. Captons have reproducible preclinical POC as neuroprotectants and have potential to prevent the progression of CNS disorders and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, ALS, CTE, Parkinson's disease, MS and stroke. Each member of Mercaptor's team prioritizes productivity and transparency, and values the purity of research. To learn more, visit www.mercaptor.com. Contact: Carole Barrow, [email protected] SOURCE Mercaptor Discoveries Related Links http://www.mercaptor.com World's first clinically-tested non-invasive glucometer, with ethical approval Technology platform has been licensed to a local medical device company Market roll-out expected at end-2019 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Malaysia's national applied research and development agency, MIMOS, has announced a major breakthrough in medical device technology with the unveiling of a non-invasive, non-intrusive and non-destructive device for blood glucose screening. The device applies chemometrics methods to analyze the near-infrared (NIRS) obtained in absorbance mode through the user's thumb spectra. Called GlucoSenz, the device is the world's first clinically-tested non-invasive blood screening prototype. It works by using photonics, electronics and software technologies to detect, analyse and predict blood glucose level from the blood capillaries of the human thumb without piercing the skin. To use the device, the thumb is placed on the thumb module, where light will be projected. The reflected light is then collected by a fibre-optic probe that guides the light to a detector. The light spectrum is then analysed by a built-in software module. The blood glucose level result in mmol/l then appears on the LCD display. The device is a result of a seven-year research and development by MIMOS' photonics technology laboratory. Ethical approval for the device was obtained from the Malaysia Medical Device Association; Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)'s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cyberjaya University College of Medical Science (CUCMS) and the UKM Medical Centre (HUKM). "The launch of GlucoSenz marks a huge step forward for MIMOS' Advanced Electrical and Electronics division, particularly the photonics R&D team," MIMOS R&D Senior Director Mohd Shahiman Sulaiman said. "At this stage, the solution can bring a significant impact to healthcare providers, where safety and economics are of paramount importance. A non-invasive, non-intrusive glucometer will protect healthcare personnel from possible occupational exposure to infected blood. Hospitals and clinics will also reduce cost in the long run as alcohol swabs, lances and test strips will no longer be used," he said. Mohd Shahiman revealed that works on miniaturising the device are under way, with a target to produce the first mini prototype for trial by mid-2019. "GlucoSenz would potentially replace conventional glucometers due to its ease of use and high accuracy. Countries with high rates of diabetes and obesity should keep a watch on this product as it has a huge market potential," he said. Mohd Shahiman added that market roll-out is expected by end-2019. About MIMOS MIMOS is Malaysia's national Applied Research and Development Centre. As a strategic agency under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), MIMOS contributes to raising Malaysia's competitiveness by pioneering market creation for Malaysian technopreneurs through patentable technology platforms, products and solutions. Over the past 12 years, MIMOS has filed more than 2,000 Intellectual Properties in various technology domains and across key socio-economic areas. Serving a central role in Malaysia's transformation journey and ICT Vision, MIMOS endeavours to create a culture of innovation by nurturing relationships with internal and external stakeholders, in the spirit of smart partnerships and inclusive growth models and strategies. Website: www.mimos.my SOURCE MIMOS Berhad Related Links http://www.mimos.my VANCOUVER, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - NexGen Energy Ltd. ("NexGen" or the "Company") (TSX: NXE, NYSE MKT: NXE) is pleased to report geotechnical and radioactivity results for twenty-nine holes comprising 20,482.31 m on the Company's 100% owned Rook I property, in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan. The primary objective of the program was the geotechnical characterization of areas within Arrow's footwall, lateral development and potential underground infrastructure locations of which results were incorporated into the Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") released on November 5th, 2018. The exploration results of this release which encountered strong mineralized intervals in key areas were not incorporated into the updated Mineral Resource Estimate and PFS results, released on November 5, 2018. Highlights: Geotechnical Characterization of the A2 Sub-Zone Two holes drilled to geotechnically characterize the rock mass within the A2 sub-zone, underwent dedicated geotechnical logging and packer tests throughout the ore zone to obtain data and analysis of sub-surface conditions within the mine plan. Both holes were collared at a steep inclination, then shallowed out to a dip of approximately 57. GAR-18-016 intersected 38.5 m of total composite mineralization including 10.7 m of total composite off-scale radioactivity (>10,000 to >61,000 cps) within a 75 m section (552.0 to 627.0 m ) and featured 1.5 m of continuous massive-to-semi massive pitchblende with minimum-greater-than-61,000 cps. Geotechnical Characterization of the Footwall Holes targeting the footwall successfully characterized the geotechnical and hydrogeological conditions of the rock-mass proximal to the potential mine infrastructure and Underground Tailings Management Facility ("UGTMF"). Additionally, drilling focused on the sterilization of uranium mineralization within areas that will host project development infrastructure and were all geotechnically logged incorporating packer tests at regular intervals. Holes drilled within the footwall of Arrow, in areas of envisioned underground mine infrastructure intersected suitable rock-mass and hydraulic conductivity to facilitate underground development. Similarly, holes drilled within the proximity of the UGTMF positively indicated the area contains suitable rock-mass and low hydraulic conductivity to facilitate underground development. Importantly, negligible alteration and structure were intersected in proximity of envisioned underground mine infrastructure and UGTMF. Shaft Pilot Hole Program Three shaft pilot holes were successfully completed to a depth of between 650 m and 702 m. The vertically drilled shaft holes were kept within a 3.0 m radius from surface through to their termination depths, intersected minimal structure and showed low hydraulic conductivity throughout via packer testing at regular intervals. GAR-18-010 targeted shaft location option 1 . The hole was successfully completed to a depth of 650 m , intersecting minimal structure within proximity of targeted area in the footwall. A total of 6.0 m of composite uranium mineralization was intersected ( 549.0 m to 550.0 m ) with a maximum radioactivity of 3,900 cps. . The hole was successfully completed to a depth of , intersecting minimal structure within proximity of targeted area in the footwall. A total of of composite uranium mineralization was intersected ( to ) with a maximum radioactivity of 3,900 cps. GAR-18-013 targeted shaft location option 2. The hole was successfully completed to a depth of 650 m . Preliminary results indicate the area contains suitable rock-mass and low hydraulic conductivity to facilitate future shaft design. The hole was successfully completed to a depth of . Preliminary results indicate the area contains suitable rock-mass and low hydraulic conductivity to facilitate future shaft design. A Westbay Water Monitoring System was installed after the hole was completed to allow for continued sampling of the proposed shaft location. GAR-18-015 targeted shaft location option 3. The hole was successfully completed to a depth of 702 m , intersecting minimal structure within designed underground mine infrastructure. Preliminary results indicate the area contains suitable rock-mass and low hydraulic conductivity to facilitate a future shaft design. Exploration, A2 High-Grade Domain Drilling focused on an under-explored area to the northeast boundary of the currently defined A2 high-grade domain at variable elevations. Drilling resulted in the identification of mineralization between the A2 and A3 shears as well as demonstrating the continuity of high-grade mineralization beyond the currently defined A2 high-grade domains. AR-18-220c1 (located 50 m along strike to the northeast of AR-14-30 (10.32% U 3 O 8 over 46.0 m )) intersected 55.5 m of total composite mineralization including 2.25 m of total composite off-scale radioactivity (>10,000 to >61,000 cps) within a 109.5 m section (438.5 to 548.0 m ) in the A2 shear. The hole demonstrates the continuity of high-grade mineralization beyond the currently defined A2 high-grade domains in the A2 shear. Drill hole locations and schematics are shown in Figures 1 to 4. Drill hole descriptions can be found at www.nexgenenergy.ca Leigh Curyer, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "The successful completion of the geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling was highly positive and reflected in the Arrow Project PFS released on November 5, 2018. In addition, the exploration results at Arrow this last summer continue to provide strong upside with respect to areas of potential future resource growth. These results have positively set the foundation for our largest campaign to date at Arrow - a two staged 125,000 m drill program commencing mid-December 2018 through to Q3 2019. The results of this program will then be incorporated into a Feasibility Study scheduled to be released in H1 2020." Troy Boisjoli, Vice-President, Operations and Project Development, commented: "The Summer 2018 drill program demonstrated the highly competent geotechnical chartateristics of the Arrow deposit. The team is looking forward to the approaching 125,000 m drill program to further advance and optimize Arrow's potential mine development profile. Further, the high grade mineralization encountered northeast of the A2 High Grade Domain is a great result providing additional areas to test in the future for potential resource growth." Development, Activities & Financial Expediting Arrow to Feasibility by initiating a 2-stage 125,000m (10 rig) high density drilling program commencing in mid-December 2018 to focus on mine optimization plans based on Measured and Indicated mineral resources. to focus on mine optimization plans based on Measured and Indicated mineral resources. As of October 31, 2018, the Company had cash-on-hand of approximately $125 million which fully funds NexGen for all programs throughout 2019. Table 1: Arrow Drill Hole Data Drill Hole Athabasca Group - Basement Unconformity Depth (m) Handheld Scintillometer Results (RS-120) Hole ID Azimuth Dip Total Depth (m) From (m) To (m) Width (m) CPS Range AR-18-210c1 327 -70 876.50 115.00 606.50 607.00 0.50 <500 - 1710 AR-18-210c2 327 -70 957.50 N/A 584.50 585.00 0.50 <500 - 510 AR-18-210c3 327 -70 946.00 N/A No Anomalous Radioactivity AR-18-211c1 327 -70 1128.50 N/A 865.50 866.00 0.50 <500 - 1300 869.50 870.00 0.50 <500 - 610 876.00 876.50 0.50 <500 - 570 961.50 962.00 0.50 <500 - 650 1089.00 1089.50 0.50 <500 - 650 AR-18-211c2 327 -70 1014.50 N/A 660.50 661.00 0.50 <500 - 680 AR-18-211c3 327 -70 1063.50 N/A No Anomalous Radioactivity AR-18-212c1 325 -67 807.50 97.70 No Anomalous Radioactivity AR-18-213c1 327 -65 765.50 98.85 No Anomalous Radioactivity AR-18-214c1 327 -65 891.50 111.00 157.00 161.50 4.50 <500 - 4250 337.00 337.50 0.50 <500 - 970 AR-18-215c1 327 -70 990.50 N/A No Anomalous Radioactivity AR-18-216c1 327 -65 483.50 107.40 No Anomalous Radioactivity AR-18-217c1 327 -73.5 1233.50 122.50 910.00 910.50 0.50 <500 - 560 965.00 966.00 1.00 610 - 20000 969.50 971.00 1.50 <500 - 5200 977.50 978.50 1.00 <500 - 4600 AR-18-218c1 327 -65 827.00 97.80 No Anomalous Radioactivity AR-18-219c1 327 -65 663.50 133.95 342.50 347.00 4.50 <500 - 1300 353.00 354.00 1.00 <500 - 3200 359.00 369.50 10.50 <500 - 4300 375.00 375.50 0.50 <500 - 650 387.00 416.00 29.00 <500 - 3300 430.00 433.00 3.00 <500 - 1275 442.00 445.00 3.00 <500 - 1550 447.50 470.50 23.00 <500 - 5350 572.00 573.50 1.50 <500 - 4200 578.50 579.50 1.00 <500 - 680 586.50 590.00 3.50 <500 - 61000 594.00 594.50 0.50 <500 - 570 602.00 605.00 3.00 <500 - 10500 611.50 612.00 0.50 1100 - 26700 621.00 625.50 4.50 <500 - 16500 631.00 631.50 0.50 <500 - 2310 AR-18-220c1 327 -68 744.50 130.35 597.00 598.00 1.00 <500 - 1200 624.50 625.00 0.50 <500 - 1500 644.50 646.50 2.00 <500 - 1100 681.50 682.00 0.50 <500 - 660 335.50 336.00 0.50 <500 - 1150 359.50 362.00 2.50 <500 - 630 368.50 373.00 4.50 <500 - 11000 375.50 380.50 5.00 <500 - 8600 383.00 392.00 9.00 <500 - 9400 396.00 410.00 14.00 <500 - 61000 419.00 419.50 0.50 <500 - 720 423.50 424.00 0.50 510 - 850 438.50 441.00 2.50 <500 - 1280 444.50 446.50 2.00 <500 - 1100 449.00 452.50 3.50 <500 - 2200 483.00 486.00 3.00 <500 - 570 488.50 491.00 2.50 <500 - 1240 502.00 508.50 6.50 <500 - 2200 512.50 548.00 35.50 <500 - 61000 579.50 594.50 15.00 <500 - 61000 AR-18- 220c1a 327 -68 441.00 448.00 445.50 446.00 0.50 <500 - 530 GAR-18-006 147 -80 737.40 100.80 518.00 520.50 2.50 <500 - 7000 576.00 578.00 2.00 <500 - 13000 600.00 600.50 0.50 <500 - 520 GAR-18- 006a 147 -80 155.40 101.00 No Anomalous Radioactivity GAR-18-007 147 -68 671.40 93.00 No Anomalous Radioactivity GAR-18-008 147 -65 629.60 96.05 597.00 598.50 1.50 <500 - 3500 617.50 618.00 0.50 <500 - 4250 GAR-18-009 147 -70 641.40 101.00 No Anomalous Radioactivity GAR-18-010 147 -90 650.44 98.00 549.00 555.00 6.00 <500 - 3900 GAR-18-011 147 -65 799.50 95.05 No Anomalous Radioactivity GAR-18-012 327 -75 1043.40 N/A 564.50 565.50 1.00 <500 - 840 589.00 589.50 0.50 <500 - 530 602.50 605.00 2.50 <500 - 7550 767.00 767.50 0.50 <500 - 510 GAR-18-013 147 -90 650.40 108.90 No Anomalous Radioactivity GAR-18-014 327 -80 659.40 101.00 346.00 346.50 0.50 <500 - 520 350.00 351.00 1.00 <500 - 1050 GAR-18-015 147 -90 701.47 96.35 No Anomalous Radioactivity GAR-18-016 327 -65 660.00 128.85 492.00 493.00 1.00 <500 - 1380 534.50 536.50 2.00 <500 - 830 552.00 553.00 1.00 <500 - 660 579.50 607.00 27.50 <500 - 61000 617.50 627.50 10.00 <500 - 54000 GAR-18-017 327 -65 717 127.75 406.50 407.50 1.00 <500 - 3600 503.50 504.00 0.50 <500 - 1100 514.50 515.00 0.50 <500 - 31000 517.50 518.00 0.50 <500 - 4800 521.50 522.00 0.50 <500 - 700 530.50 531.00 0.50 2100 - 47700 535.50 536.50 1.00 <500 - 1300 564.00 564.50 0.50 <500 - 1800 577.50 578.50 1.00 <500 - 1900 581.50 584.00 2.50 <500 - 1700 586.50 589.50 3.00 <500 - 2500 594.50 597.00 2.50 <500 - 1500 618.50 624.00 5.50 <500 - 61000 627.00 629.50 2.50 <500 - 3400 650.50 651.50 1.00 <500 - 720 654.00 656.50 2.50 <500 - 1920 660.00 661.00 1.00 <500 - 1350 666.00 667.50 1.50 <500 - 1650 Parameters: Maximum internal dilution 2.00 m downhole downhole All depths and intervals are metres downhole, true thicknesses are yet to be determined "Anomalous" means >500 cps (counts per second) total count gamma readings by gamma scintillometer type RS-120 "Off-scale" means >10,000 cps (counts per second) total count gamma readings by gamma scintillometer type RS-120 Where "Min cps" is <500 cps, this refers to local low radiometric zones within the overall radioactive interval Directional drilling has often resulted in mineralization intersected at a more favourable and shallower dip About NexGen NexGen is a British Columbia corporation with a focus on the acquisition, exploration and development of Canadian uranium projects. NexGen has a highly experienced team of uranium industry professionals with a successful track record in the discovery of uranium deposits and in developing projects through discovery to production. NexGen owns a portfolio of prospective uranium exploration assets in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada, including a 100% interest in Rook I, location of the Arrow Deposit in February 2014, the Bow discovery in March 2015, the Harpoon discovery in August 2016 and the Arrow South discovery in July 2017. NexGen is the recipient of the PDAC's 2018 Bill Dennis Award and the 2019 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award. Technical Disclosure The technical information in this news release with respect to the PFS has been reviewed and approved by Paul O'Hara, P.Eng. of Wood., David Robson, P.Eng., M.B.A., and Jason Cox, P.Eng. of RPA, each of whom is a "qualified person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI-43-101"). The Mineral Resource Estimate was completed by Mr. Mark Mathisen, C.P.G., Senior Geologist at RPA and Mr. David Ross, P.Geo., Director of Resource Estimation and Principal Geologist at RPA. Both are independent Qualified Persons in accordance with the requirements of National Instrument (NI) 43-101 and they have approved the disclosure herein. All other technical information in this news release has been approved by Mr. Troy Boisjoli, Geoscientist Licensee, Vice President Operations & Project Development for NexGen. Mr. Boisjoli is a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101 and has verified the sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the information or opinions contained herein by reviewing original data certificates and monitoring all of the data collection protocols. A technical report in respect of the PFS will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and EDGAR (www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml) within 45 days of this news release. SEC Standards Estimates of mineralization and other technical information included or referenced in this news release have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The definitions of proven and probable mineral reserves used in NI 43-101 differ from the definitions in SEC Industry Guide 7. Under SEC Industry Guide 7 standards, a "final" or "bankable" feasibility study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical average price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis to designate reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate governmental authority. As a result, the reserves reported by the Company in accordance with NI 43-101 may not qualify as "reserves" under SEC standards. In addition, the terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" are defined in and required to be disclosed by NI 43-101; however, these terms are not defined terms under SEC Industry Guide 7 and normally are not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. "Inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian securities laws, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in rare cases. Additionally, disclosure of "contained pounds" in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian securities laws; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute "reserves" by SEC standards as in place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measurements. Accordingly, information contained or referenced in this news release containing descriptions of the Company's mineral deposits may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Technical Information For details of the Rook I Project including the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied and key assumptions, parameters and methods used to estimate the Mineral Resource please refer to the technical report entitled "Technical Report on the Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Arrow Deposit, Rook 1 Property, Province of Saskatchewan, Canada" dated effective September 1, 2017 (the "Rook 1 Technical Report") prepared by Jason J. Cox, P.Eng., David M. Robson, P.Eng., M.B.A., Mark B. Mathisen, C.P.G., David A. Ross M.Sc., P.Geo., Val Coetzee, M.Eng., Pr.Eng., and Mark Wittrup, M.Sc., P.Eng.,P.Geo. each of whom is a "qualified person" under NI 43-101. The Rook I Technical Report is available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. A technical report in respect of the PFS will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and EDGAR (www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml) within 45 days of the PFS news release (November 5th, 2018) providing details of the Rook I Project including the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied and key assumptions, parameters and methods used to estimate the Mineral Resource. Forward-Looking Information The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof 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" or the negative connotation thereof. Forward-looking information and statements are based on the then current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about NexGen's business and the industry and markets in which it operates. Forward-looking information and statements are made based upon numerous assumptions, including among others, that the proposed transaction will be completed, the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, the price of uranium, the cost of planned exploration activities, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment, supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct NexGen's planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward looking information or making forward looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performances and achievements of NexGen to differ materially from any projections of results, performances and achievements of NexGen expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others, negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of the availability of additional financing, the risk that pending assay results will not confirm previously announced preliminary results, imprecision of mineral resource estimates, the appeal of alternate sources of energy and sustained low uranium prices, aboriginal title and consultation issues, exploration risks, reliance upon key management and other personnel, deficiencies in the Company's title to its properties, uninsurable risks, failure to manage conflicts of interest, failure to obtain or maintain required permits and licenses, changes in laws, regulations and policy, competition for resources and financing, and other factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2017 under "Risk Factors". Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by 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 forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE NexGen Energy Ltd. Related Links www.nexgenenergy.ca YAKUM, Israel, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Paz Oil Company Ltd. (TASE: PZOL), Israel's leading Energy and Retail Group and a supplier of a third of Israel's fuel products, today reported its consolidated results for the third quarter and nine month period ended September 30, 2018. Management Comment Yona Fogel, CEO of Paz Group Commented: "We ended the third quarter with relatively good results despite a reduction in the regulated gasoline octane 95 marketing margin in Israel and the significant increase in the price of crude oil. This led to adjusted net income of NIS 139 million, and adjusted EBITDA of NIS 303 million. The refining segment had a good quarter with adjusted operating income of NIS 75 million despite a decrease in the product margins for gasoline, naphtha and LPG, thanks to efficient production that led to an increase in output, and from an increase in diesel margins. This quarter, the off gas recovery (OGR) unit in which we invested NIS 145 million began its operation. The unit which began operating in August contributed about 55 cents per barrel in the third quarter. Compared to the corresponding quarter in 2017, refining profitability decreased. This was primarily due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey in the third quarter of last year, which resulted in record gasoline margins at the time due to a number of refinery closures in the USA. "The Retail and Wholesale segment contributed approximately 56% of the Group's adjusted operating income and totaled NIS 117 million. We succeeded in moderating the negative impact of the decrease in the regulated gasoline margin by increasing revenues from the Yellow convenience store chain and from rental income. At the same time, we are continuing to develop digital tools and online services as part of the infrastructure required to transform from a company of users, to a company of customers while expanding the number and type of products sold in the Yellow convenience stores and the Yellow online website "Click & Pick". "In addition, during the quarter, we expanded our Yellow Box services and launched a customer to customer delivery service (C to C) that enables customers to send products to each other. This service is in addition to the service we provide to business owners and companies to send their products to customers through this service (B to C). This is another activity that expands and solidifies our activity in the E-commerce world by providing a solution to the last mile problem through the unique advantage of Paz's prime locations throughout the country. Additionally, we launched the YELLOW app during the quarter, and about 200,000 customers have already downloaded the app and enjoy its services." Main highlights for Paz Group by Segment Refining Segment The adjusted operating income of the Refining segment totaled NIS 75 million in Q3/2018 compared to NIS 108 million in Q3/2017 during which the market experienced relatively higher refining margins, particularly gasoline product margins, due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey in that quarter. During the current quarter, the Refinery maintained a high level of production and operated at an optimum level while maintaining high premiums compared to the benchmark refining margins. In Q3/2018, the Paz Ashdod Refining margin totaled $8.8/barrel, representing a $3.3/barrel premium compared to the KBC benchmark margin and a $3.7/barrel premium compared to the Ural benchmark margin. The average price of crude oil in Q3/2018 was about $23 higher than the corresponding quarter. The rise in the price of the barrel hampers the refining results due to the cost of self-consumption and losses derived from the price of crude oil. The new OGR unit which began operating in Q3/2018, is expected to generate an additional profit of about 40 cents per barrel, which amounts to more than $14 million a year. Retail and Wholesale Segment Operating income for the Retail and Wholesale segment in Q3/2018 totaled NIS 117 million compared with NIS 122 million in Q3/2017 despite the reduction of the regulated gasoline marketing margin of NIS 0.05 (5 Agurot) per liter, representing a loss of about NIS 9 million per quarter. Despite the decrease in the regulated marketing margin, the decrease in the segment was only NIS 5 million, thanks to an increase in sales from non-fuel related operations, Yellow and rental income. The Yellow convenience store chain demonstrated another strong quarter with revenue growth of 6% compared to Q3/2017 which is due to the increase in the number of transactions which already reached about 100,000 per day at Yellow convenience stores. Yellow's revenue for the quarter amounted to NIS 244 million. Industries and Services Segment The Industries and Services segment operating income was NIS 36 million in Q3/2018 compared to NIS 42 million in Q3/2017. The decrease is primarily due to Pazgas that suffered from an increase in cost of raw materials and decrease in quantities sold to the Palestinian Authority and to Gaza. Recently, Paz Group won a tender with the Palestinian Authority to continue supplying 50% of its fuel consumption and 85% of its LPG consumption for the next two years. The decrease is also due to reduced margins and quantities sold by Paz Lubricants which was partially offset by an increase in Paz Aviation Services and Assets. Paz management is working in these companies, as well as across the entire Group, to significantly reduce expenses and to examine new growth opportunities. Consolidated Statement of Income Nine months ended Nine months ended Three months ended Three months ended Year ended, December 31, 2018 2017 2018 2017 2017 NIS Millions (except per share data) unaudited unaudited unaudited unaudited audited Revenues 10,494 7,985 3,770 2,803 11,285 Cost of Sales 9,133 6,641 3,296 2,367 9,480 Gross Profit 1,361 1,344 474 436 1,805 Selling and marketing expenses 712 689 238 234 935 General and administrative expenses 110 134 37 49 191 Other expenses (income), net (1) 20 (1) 3 13 Total operating expenses 821 843 274 286 1,139 Operating income 540 501 200 150 666 Financial income 42 116 14 5 201 Financial expenses 196 98 42 37 135 Financial income (expenses), net (154) 18 (28) (32) 66 Income before income tax 386 519 172 118 732 Income tax expenses 82 114 35 28 157 Net income for period 304 405 137 90 575 Attributable to: Equity holders of the Company 302 403 136 90 572 Non-controlling interests 2 2 1 - 3 Net income for the period 304 405 137 90 575 Net earnings per share attributable to equity holders of the Company: Basic net earnings per share (in NIS) 29.73 39.72 13.42 8.89 56.35 Diluted net earnings per share (in NIS) 29.65 39.68 13.37 8.89 56.21 The information presented in this press release is presented solely for the convenience of the reader and does not constitute a basis for making any investment decisions or any recommendation or opinion nor is it a substitute for the exercise of judgment by an investor or a potential investor. This press release is presented in a condensed format only and in order to receive a full picture of the Company's operations, the reader is referred to the Company's full reports as submitted to the Securities Authority and to the Stock Exchange. The Company has included in this press release forward-looking information, as defined in the Securities Law, 1968, in relation to itself and to its investees. Inter alia, such information contains forecasts, objectives, evaluations and estimates, which relate to future events or matters, whose realization is not certain and which are not under the Company's control. Forward-looking information does not constitute a proven fact and it is based solely on the Company's subjective evaluations. When making such assumptions, the Company relied, inter alia, on the analysis of general information available to it at the time of preparing this report, including publicly available information, research work and surveys, which did not contain a commitment as to the correctness or the completeness of the information therein and whose correctness has not been independently tested by the Company. In addition, the realization and/or the non-realization of the forward-looking information will be affected by factors that cannot be evaluated in advance and which are not under the Company's control, including the specific risk factors underlying the Company's operations, as detailed in the periodic report, as well as developments in the general environment and in external factors that affect the Company's operations. Accordingly, even though the Company believes that its expectations, as they appear in this press release, are reasonable, there can be no certainty that the Company's actual results in the future will be in accordance with said expectations, but rather, they may differ from the expectations presented in the forward-looking information presented in this report. Contact Information: Omri Arens Investor Relations and Credit Risk Manager, Finance DivisionPaz Oil Company, Ltd. Office: +972-9-8930656 [email protected] SOURCE Paz Oil Company, Ltd. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788504/Saudi_Aramco.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788503/Saudi_Aramco_Energy.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788502/Saudi_Aramco_IKTVA.jpg ) The event will bring together a broad spectrum of local and international investors to explore energy supply chain investment opportunities. Experts and specialists from various entities and companies will contribute to dynamic panel discussions, presentations, workshops and seminars. This year's IKTVA Forum & Exhibition will reinforce the program's positive impact on the national economy in alignment with Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's economic diversification program. The event will highlight success stories and best practices for promoting supplier local content. Saudi Aramco designed IKTVA to make the Saudi energy sector globally competitive by localizing goods and services; creating direct and indirect jobs for citizens; and increasing the Kingdom's export of energy-related goods and services by 30 percent. The program falls within the strategic initiative framework of the National Transformation Program intended to amplify efforts by the company's suppliers in driving local goods and services investments, delivering workforce development and technology transfer, and fostering R&D while providing partners with opportunities for expansion. IKTVA seeks to develop a reliable, sustainable supply chain capable of sourcing 70 percent of its energy sector materials and services requirements locally. By 2030, the program also aims to establish 30 training centers helping 360,000 highly skilled graduates take on the jobs of the future. "While creating quality jobs, building a well-trained workforce and stimulating economic growth are key objectives, localization is ultimately about sustainability," said Mohammad A. Al-Shammary, Saudi Aramco vice president of Procurement & Supply Chain Management. "Sourcing Saudi Aramco's value chain in our own backyard is a strategic move for greater integration and agility, with business benefits that dramatically multiply our contribution to the Kingdom's long-term prosperity, in addition to being a win for our global suppliers, SMEs, manufacturers and service providers." This year's IKTVA Forum is expected to host more than 3,000 participants from over 40 countries, including new and veteran investors, suppliers, and service providers. Also, more than 50 supply chain investment opportunities will be promoted, as well as, multiple seminars focusing on how to do business in Saudi Arabia and with Saudi Aramco. The IKTVA Forum is enriched by an exhibition of local and international companies along with training academes, industrial parks and government entities. The 2018 IKTVA Forum & Exhibition is the leading global energy supply-chain event, hosting a diverse range of industry sectors both local and international, large and small. Over the past four years, large companies and SMEs have partnered with Saudi Aramco to build a world-class, competitive energy sector. About Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco is a world-leading integrated energy and chemicals company. We are driven by our core belief that energy is opportunity. From producing approximately one of every eight barrels of the world's crude oil supply to developing new energy technologies, our global team is dedicated to creating positive impact in all that we do. We focus on making our resources more sustainable and more useful, promoting long-term economic growth and prosperity around the world. http://www.saudiaramco.com SOURCE Saudi Aramco The second offender, a 17-year-old boy, fled the scene but was caught by assisting officers. The wounded robber, 16, was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead at 3:16 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiners office. GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SKF is investing approximately SEK 200 million in improving its competitiveness and customer service levels for tapered roller bearings (TRB) in China. The investment is being made in a new manufacturing facility in Changshan, to which the Group's existing small-size TRB manufacturing in China will be transferred. As a result, three existing sites in Ningbo, Shanghai and Changshan will be closed. Patrick Tong, President, Industrial Sales, Asia, says: "The tapered roller bearing market in China continues to show solid levels of growth, driven largely by the industrial gearbox and drives segments. The investment in Changshan allows us to capitalise on this trend by bringing our SKF, GBC and PEER brands and expertise together, under one roof." The new manufacturing facility in Changshan is expected to be fully operational during Q1 2019. For further information, please contact: PRESS: Theo Kjellberg, Director, Press Relations tel: 46-31-337-6576 mobile: 46-725-776576 e-mail: [email protected] INVESTOR RELATIONS: Patrik Stenberg Head of Investor Relations 46-31-337-2104 46-705-472-104 [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/skf/r/skf-consolidates-manufacturing-in-china--invests-in-new-facility,c2678974 The following files are available for download: http://mb.cision.com/Main/637/2678974/949542.pdf Full release in pdf http://news.cision.com/skf/i/skf-changshan-trb-factory-ground-level,c2532485 SKF Changshan TRB factory ground level http://news.cision.com/skf/i/skf-changshan-trb-factory-from-above,c2532486 SKF Changshan TRB factory from above http://news.cision.com/skf/i/skf-trbs,c2532487 SKF TRBs SOURCE SKF The elite group of Billionaires, Sheikhs, Royal Families and Business Leaders from around the world gathered at the Four Seasons Resort Jumeirah Beach under the High Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum. Representing more than $2 trillion in investor wealth, the group benefitted from the insights of 90 renowned speakers from around the world with unique expertise in key areas such as investment themes, family dynamics and future goals. "It is indeed an honour to once again host a tremendously successful Dubai Summit and I appreciate the support of all of the world leaders who attended and helped to ensure a successful event," said Anthony Ritossa, Chairman of Ritossa Family Office, a 600-year old family business dating back to the Venetian Empire in Europe. "The 7th Global Family Office Summit event in Dubai was a crowning achievement for Anthony Ritossa and everyone who participated. It is no surprise that this is renowned as the largest and most exclusive worldwide family office gathering of all time and it is an honour to provide patronage to such an illustrious event. As at past Summits, many prominent families from around the world gathered for high level discussions about how to enrich the family legacy, grow and preserve wealth, and share ideas. We look forward to future events," said Mohamed Al Ali, CEO & Advisor, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum International Investments Enterprise, UAE. "I was very pleased to participate in the 7th summit in Dubai, both as a panelist and as participant. I met many interesting people and was happy to hear so many ideas and point of views. It was a great event," said His Royal Highness Prince Michel de Yougoslavi, Monaco. "The 7th global family office summit under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum has shown another successful growth of Anthony's initiative and vision to connect and gather UHNWI, Investors and family offices with the latest market trends and technology companies. I have attended the last three editions of the event and have seen remarkable audience, venue, quality and panel subjects being put on the table for open discussions. We are yet to be surprised by the next edition of the summit and look forward to it," said Faris M. Al Tahtamooni, Senior Manager - International Ventures, The Private Office of Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum, UAE. "Anthony Ritossa raised the bar again exceeding expectations. It is a true honour for me to be part of the advisory board of the global family office investment summit that has become undoubtedly the most prestigious gathering of family offices in the world. This Dubai summit clearly opened business doors to Middle East for the family offices participating and their delegates and the location worked as perfect showcase for Dubai especially in the eyes of those that had never been here before like myself," said Giuseppe Ambrosio, President of the Monaco Single & Multi Family Office International Association. "This is the only global summit in Dubai where affluence and influence combine synergistic forces to catapult groundbreaking platforms of commerce, wealth and indescribable opportunities into disruptive global businesses of the future," said Sheila Barry Driscoll of The Billionaire Foundation. The Ritossa Summits are simply the best investment summits with great people and high production quality and intelligent debate and why we are proud to be main sponsor for the third time. This time in Dubai the debate focused on key trends one of which was the arrival of asset backed securities as tradable instruments that offers a whole range of alternatives investment strategies," said Nick Ayton, Founder & CEO, Chainstarter & Family Office Crypto Advisor, United Kingdom. As with all Ritossa Family Office Investment Summits, the Dubai Summit focused on private, invitation-only, peer-to-peer conversation, networking and cross-border thought leadership intended to educate substantial, like-minded families on what to look out for and how they are investing. Important sessions included: Family Transition & Dynasties; Spotlight on the Middle East as a World Leader; Artificial Intelligence & Machine Based Learning; The Rise of Cryptocurrency; and Impact, ESG & Sustainability Investing. For details on future Global Family Office Investment Summits, please email [email protected] or visit www.RitossaSummits.com. To view a list of Dubai event participants, please visit - http://ritossasummits.com/agenda.pdf. Media Contact: Charlotte Luer +1-239-404-6785 [email protected] SOURCE Ritossa Family Office Related Links http://www.RitossaSummits.com Ms. Duangjai Asawachintachit, Secretary General of the Board of Investment (BOI), said after a board meeting chaired by Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha that the board agreed with the proposed special investment promotion measures aiming at encouraging the private sector to invest in targeted industries within 2019. Business activities in focus are large projects with high impact on the national economy which require advanced technology, or are in knowledge-based industries that promote national economy's value and competitiveness. The measure will be effective immediately for applications submitted from 19 November 2018 to the end of 2019. If approved, the applicants will receive additional incentives on top of normal incentive scheme, i.e. 50% reduction of corporate income tax for three years. Projects eligible under this measure can be in any activities (except those without specific location, such as air and sea transport services) that have minimum investment value of 1,000 million baht, not including cost of land and working capital. Qualified investment projects must be those eligible to corporate income tax exemption of at least five years and not over eight years. They can be located in any area except Bangkok. In addition, the promoted company is required to follow all BOI's designated timeline. An improved measure to support grassroot economy The board also approved an improvement of a Local Investment Promotion Measure to further stimulate investment on a grassroot level. The improved measure will be effective for applications submitted from 2 January 2019 to the end of 2020. The objective of this measure is to encourage large enterprises to support local organizations, such as local administrative office, cooperatives and community enterprises. The supporting enterprises will have to jointly develop and follow cooperation plans with their selected local organization. Minimum financial support for each project must be at least one million baht. In case that an enterprise supports several organizations under the same project, the total supporting amount for each organization must be at least 200,000 baht. Example activities aiming at enhancing local organization's capability are supports on machinery purchase/donation, product and packaging design that highlights uniqueness of local products, assistance for the implementation of IOT in developing tourist attraction, development of Smart Tourism system to support the integration of information for tourist attractions, etc. The eligibility of this improved measure has been expanded for both supporters and local organizations. Local organizations receiving the supports can be within light industry and community tourism in addition to only agriculture allowed in the original measure. The supporting enterprises can now be any activity within BOI's eligible activity list, instead of only agriculture activities. Enterprises that support local organizations will be eligible for 3-year tax exemption for their existing business activity. The total tax holiday value is no more than 120% of the investment capital or the actual expenses related to the support, such as plant construction, machinery and tools, and training costs, etc. Promotion Measure for "Smart City" The board also approved investment incentive scheme for Smart City to encourage investment in developing Smart City, smart systems and smart industrial estates or smart industrial parks. The measure will upgrade people's quality of life according to Thailand 4.0 initiative goal. Three business activities eligible under this measure are: 1. Smart City Development: Key conditions for this investment are that the investor must provide Smart Environment system and at least one out of the following six systems -- Smart Mobility, Smart People, Smart Living, Smart Economy, Smart Governance and Smart Energy. The projects must also have a majority of Thai shareholder. In case that an investor can provide service of all the seven systems, BOI will offer 8-year corporate income tax exemption (with investment cap). However, if the investment project does not cover services for all the seven systems, BOI will grant 5-year tax holiday. For the projects located in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), 50% tax reduction for five years will be given after the original tax holiday period ends. 2. Smart City System Development: A major condition is that the project must be part of the Smart City Development project approved by organizations directly responsible for Smart City development. An approved project developing systems for Smart City that provides service of all the seven aforementioned systems will be granted 8-year corporate income tax exemption (with investment cap). However, in case that the project develops systems for the Smart City that does not cover all seven system service, BOI will offer 5-year tax holiday. Projects located in EEC will receive 50% tax reduction for another five years after the original tax holiday period ends. 3. Smart Industrial Estate or Zone: A key condition is that the investment project must provide all the seven smart systems -- Smart Mobility, Smart People, Smart Living, Smart Economy, Smart Governance, Smart Energy and Smart Environment. Projects under this category will receive 8-year CIT exemption with investment cap and the projects must also have a majority of Thai shareholder. To ensure that Smart Cities are developed within the direction set by the relevant committee or organizations, the board required that the applicants must be approved by the organizations directly in charge of the Smart City development before applying for BOI investment incentives. Promotion Measure for the development of innovation and digital ecosystem The board also approved investment promotion measure to support the development of innovation and digital ecosystem. Requirements for applications for Innovation Incubation Center are revised in several areas. For example, required facility area is increased from currently 300 square metres to 1,000 square metres. In addition, the eligible projects must include innovation incubation plan approved by the BOI to ensure concrete development and incubation for entrepreneurs. The board approved a new investment promotion category, Maker Space or Fabrication Laboratory providing machinery and tools used for making prototype products. This will help reduce costs for entrepreneurs who wish to develop their own prototypes. Eligible project must allocate space for such laboratory for innovation and prototype creation. Basic infrastructure as high-speed fiber optic communication system and power backup system must be included. Eligible projects will receive five years of tax holiday and import duty exemption on machinery. The board also approved a new investment promotion category for Co-Working Space to attract global companies with strong developer community. This will connect local developer with the global community and encourage startups and venture capitals from all over the world to invest in Thailand. A major condition is that the co-working space must cover at least 2,000 square metres and the investment, excluding cost of land and working capital, of at least 10 million baht. The promoted projects will receive duty exemption on import machinery. Encourage companies to list on SET The board also introduced a measure to encourage BOI promoted companies to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). This would strengthen Thailand's Stock Market as the nation's major source of fund mobilization. BOI promoted companies listed on SET will receive corporate tax exemption for another 100% of the investment capital (excluding cost of land and working capital). The measure is effective from 19 November 2018 until 30 December 2020. 9-month application and expansion of targeted industries and EEC BOI Secretary General also reported that during the first nine months of 2018 (January-September 2018), a total of 1,125 project applications have been received, representing a total investment value of 377,054 million baht. Considering the number of projects, a total number increased by 10% from the same period last year (1,021 projects from January-September 2017). The investment value is at the same level of last year's 373,908 million baht. Considering the investment sector, statistics showed that investment in targeted industries has increased by 69% compared to that of last year. In the first nine months in 2018, the total number of application in the targeted industries was 525 projects with a total investment of 290,482 million baht (compared to 171,584 million baht in the same period last year). The top industries with the largest investment application value are green petrochemical and chemicals, automotive and parts, tourism, agriculture and biotechnology, and digital. In EEC, a significant increase has been observed both in terms of project number and value. In the first nine months of this year, BOI receives applications from 288 projects, an increase of 13% from the same period last year (255 projects), representing investment value of 230,554 million baht, a remarkable increase of 117% from 106,126 million baht in the same period last year. For more information, please contact: Thailand Board of Investment Email: [email protected] Tel. +66 (0) 2553 8111 Website: www.boi.go.th SOURCE Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) Related Links http://www.boi.go.th (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788514/Hamdan_Medical_Award_USA_Winners.jpg ) H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and the Patron of the Award, will honor the three winners in a prestigious ceremony to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on the 12th of December, alongside 13 other personalities and organizations from UK, Switzerland, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. Prof. Frederick S Kaplan, from the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, USA is to be awarded the Grand Hamdan International Award for his work on Musculoskeletal Disorders. Prof. Kaplan and colleagues' investigations of the rare diseases FOP and POH have uncovered mechanisms so pathogenically fundamental to tissue metamorphosis that they have challenged existing dogma far outside the usual realm of musculoskeletal medicine. For example, they challenged the existing dogma that calcific aortic stenosis was caused by a 'senile degenerative' process and discovered that aortic stenosis is caused by an inflammatory process that triggers re-activation of the developmental process of skeletal formation. This work has led to the discovery of heterotopic ossification in atherosclerosis, with therapeutic implications for millions. Prof. Franklin Sim and his team from the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, USA were announced the winner of the Hamdan International Award for Medical Research Excellence for the topic of orthopedics. Prof. Sim is an outstanding scientist and one of the leaders in the field of musculoskeletal oncology with a career span of 48 years at Mayo Clinic. He is world renowned in the area of bone and soft tissue sarcoma management and has authored a number of landmark publications in the field. One of Prof. Sim's major interests has been the restoration of function following limb-sparing procedures, and his work has significantly improved the current practice of orthopedic oncology worldwide. His innovative work in complex sacro-pelvic surgery has extended the indications for successful limb salvage reconstruction and patient outcomes. Prof. Sim and his team were selected for this award on the research that has been carried out on challenging sacral tumors. This research has provided new paradigms in understanding and treating these complex tumors. His team consists of Dr. Michael Yaszemski and Dr. Peter Rose. Prof. Vijay Goel, Distinguished University Professor, Endowed Chair, and McMaster Gardner Professor of Orthopaedic Bioengineering, as well as the Co-Director of Engineering Center for Orthopaedic Research Excellence (E-Core) in the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA, will be awarded the Hamdan International Award for Medical Research Excellence, for the topic of Orthopedic Mechanics. Prof. Goel made a significant leap in 3D finite element (FE) model development of the spine by identifying and adapting cutting-edge technology from a completely different discipline, stereophotogrammetry used in aerial surveying, to determine load displacement behavior of intact, injured, and stabilized spinal segments. He used these techniques to generate highly-accurate 3D mapping of the spine in the FE models. The ability to rapidly and accurately map 3D coordinates of the spine under loading conditions dramatically increased the utility of the models as a tool for analysis of spine biomechanics. Prof. Goel made the next major leap in model development by including muscle forces in the spine models, greatly increasing their predictive ability. SOURCE Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences NEW DELHI, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The awards recognize the research contributions of young scientists - bolstering key national flagship programs Elsevier, the information analytics business specializing in science and health, today announced that the Honorable Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, presided over the 12th NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Awards 2018 at a gala ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in the nation's capital. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/754760/Elsevier_Logo.jpg ) The Awards recognize young early career researchers from the scientific community who have contributed towards bolstering key flagship national programs through their body of research work such as the "Make in India", "Digital India", "Healthy India" and "Clean India " initiatives. The NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Awards, currently in its twelfth year, is a joint collaboration between Elsevier and National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) to celebrate the best and brightest young scientists in India, whose works cut across a broad spectrum of key research disciplines. The Awards program is part of Elsevier's global initiative to support young researchers in India to enable and encourage them to expand the frontiers of science in their chosen areas of study leading to excellence in their respective disciplines. India's Vice President and Guest of Honor, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, said: "At a time when the world has become a global village and boundaries of different disciplines are blurring, the role of science and technology becomes far more important than ever before. I compliment the National Academy of Sciences India and Elsevier for instituting these Awards to promote scientific excellence among the youngsters. "For the last ten years, we have seen the increase in human development indicators, such as life expectancy, maternal mortality rate, infant mortality rate, and the Indian scientific fraternity has played a huge role in improving the social indicators, as well as advancing India's scientific progress," Mr. Naidu concluded. "India has a rich and strong foundation in scientific research, and we've seen some outstanding submissions from India's best and brightest scientists this year," said Gino Ussi, Executive Vice President, Elsevier. "Elsevier has a critical role to play in contributing to the continuity of India's scientific endeavors and raising the visibility of young scientists and their contribution. We commend all the winners for their extraordinary work." The winners of the NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Awards 2018 are: Agriculture, Plant Sciences and Rural Development Dr. Jitender Giri, National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi Biomedical Research and Healthcare Dr. Maddika Subba Reddy, Group Leader and Staff Scientist- V, CDFD, Hyderabad Environmentally Sound Sustainable Development Dr. Vimal Chandra Srivastava, Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee, Roorkee Innovation in Engineering and Physical Sciences Dr. Ajay S. Karakoti, Associate Professor, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad Women in Science Dr. Zhumur Ghosh, Bose Institute, Kolkata The Award winners each received a citation and a plaque, along with a cash prize of INR 75,000 for outstanding contribution in categories related to key areas of national priorities. This year's award program attracted more than 750 submissions from premier research institutions across India such as IITs, IISc, NIPGR, CSIR and JNU among others, and applications were judged by a panel of 19 subject experts from India's academic community based on the following criteria: The quality and number of publications; the nature and uniqueness of research; outcomes of research; impact on society; and vision of the researcher. "Science is one of the greatest enablers in transforming the lives of humankind," said Prof. Anil Kakodkar, President of NASI. "The NASI-Scopus Young Scientist of the year award recognizes the efforts of young scientists in the country, thus encouraging them to pursue their work with greater vigor and others to take up careers in science and technology. "This is important because nurturing our immensely talented scientific and technical human resource is not only critical for a developing country like India, but if harnessed well, could meet many of the daunting challenges that the world-at-large faces today." About National Academy of Sciences Founded in 1930, National Academy of Sciences, India, is the oldest Science Academy of the country and is located at Allahabad. The main objective of the Academy was to provide a national forum for the publication of research work carried out by Indian scientists and to provide opportunities for exchange of views among them. For more information, please visit www.nasi.org.in. About Elsevier Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals advance healthcare, open science and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support and professional education, including ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, 38,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com Media contact Jason Chan, Global Communications Elsevier +65-6349-0240 [email protected] SOURCE Elsevier HANGZHOU, China, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Xiaoshan, a district of the city of Hangzhou in Eastern China, and a powerful district of traditional industry for the capital city of Zhejiang Province, Wednesday proposed a plan to cultivate digital industry clusters and promote digital transformation of industries in a bid to make digital economy a new name card of the district. In a conference held Wednesday focusing on digital economic development, Xiaoshan announced that its goal is to double both scale and added value of the core industry of its digital economy in the coming four years and make the aggregate of its information economy and digital economy top 120 billion yuan and 72 billion yuan respectively by 2022. In recent years, new breakthroughs have been made in the district's digital economy, with digital new stars such as NetEase, SenseTime and iFLYTEK rapidly developing, leading digital enterprises such as WeDoctor and SHINING 3D increasingly growing and special industry clusters such as artificial intelligence, smart medical and industrial big data gradually taking shape. Moreover, smart manufacturing demonstration enterprises are mushrooming. Xiaoshan District will vigorously build digital economic development platforms as well as an optimal ecological zone of digital economy and foster the organic integration of digital economy and production, city and people, striving to be the pioneer and leader in the construction of the first digital economic city nationwide, said Tong Guili, member of the standing committee of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee and secretary of the CPC Xiaoshan District Committee. The China V Valley (V refers to Visual, Vision, Video) project, focusing on computer vision and machine vision technology, was launched at the conference and settled in Xiaoshan. This project is aimed at building world-class vision industry clusters by developing industry chain ecology covering algorithms, chips, devices and platforms, with research institutes of universities as innovation engines and focus on visual perception, ultra-high definition vision and visual applications. SOURCE Organizing Committee of Digital Economy Development Conference of Xiaoshan District Nairobi, Nov 22 : The UN has called for international cooperation to combat wildlife crimes and other forms of transnational crimes. Miwa Panholzer Kato, director of division for operations at United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told a forum in Nairobi that wildlife crime is a low-risk, high-profit transnational organised crime, which is overwhelming countries and communities, affecting biodiversity and development. "The truth of the matter is that there is no alternative to international cooperation to tackle organised crime and combat wildlife crimes - there is no single country that will alone, be able to curb the plight that wildlife crimes represent," Kato said on Wednesday during the closing ceremony of the Wildlife Inter-Regional Enforcement (WIRE), Xinhua reported. The three-day event was held under the umbrella of the International Consortium for Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC). ICCWC is a consortium composed of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, World Customs Organization, World Bank and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that is undertaking the task of fighting the multifaceted nature of wildlife crime. Kato said that eliminating the trafficking of endangered species requires the greatest degree of cooperation to deliver on the 2030 sustainable development agenda especially on goals 14 and 15 which are ambitious and require proportionally ambitious responses. She noted that illicit wildlife trade not only endangers animals but also slows down progress and development in many areas of the 2030 development agenda. The UN official said that customs officers, financial intelligence units, police, wildlife investigators and prosecutors across the global should establish sustainable linkages among themselves. Dubai, Nov 22 : Interpol has elected South Korean Kim Jong-yang as its president, rejecting the controversial Russian frontrunner. Kim was chosen by Interpol's 194 member states at a meeting of its annual congress in Dubai, BBC reported on Wednesday. He beat Russia's Alexander Prokopchuk, who has been accused of using Interpol's arrest warrant system to target critics of the Kremlin. Russia blamed the outcome of the voting on "unprecedented pressure and interference". The election follows the disappearance of Interpol's former president Meng Hongwei, who vanished on a trip to China in September. Beijing has since confirmed he has been detained and is being investigated for allegedly taking bribes. Kim, 57, beat Prokopchuk, also 57, by 101 votes to 61 at Interpol's General Assembly meeting on Wednesday, media reports say. Interpol confirmed the South Korean's victory, without revealing the breakdown of the results. Kim is a former South Korean police officer who once served as head of police in Gyeonggi, the country's most populous province. He was already senior vice-president of Interpol and had been serving as acting president since Mr Meng's disappearance. He will serve out the remaining two years of Meng's term. Moscow said Prokopchuk would remain an Interpol vice-president representing Europe and "focus on strengthening the position of Interpol in the international police community and increasing the efficiency of the organisation's work". Kolkata, Nov 22 : Two persons were killed in West Bengal early on Thursday when a container-trailer collided with a gas tanker on the Kona Expressway in the Howrah district, an official said. "The crash took place around 3.50 a.m. There was an explosion and both the vehicles caught fire. Charred remains of both drivers were recovered," a Jagacha police station official said. Seven fire tenders worked for about an hour and half to put out the blaze, a fire official said. The expressway traffic was affected. Officials temporarily suspended vehicular movement to clear the road. Hyderabad, Nov 22 : Top Congress and BJP leaders are all set to plunge into the electioneering in Telangana for the next month's Assembly polls even as the ruling TRS has had a head start. With the deadline for withdrawal of nominations coming to an end on Thursday, all major contenders were finalising their schedules for their star campaigners. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu, several central ministers and top leaders of the two national parties were set to hit the campaign trail. Sonia Gandhi will be addressing an election meeting at Medchal on the outskirts here on November 23. The meet was expected to give a headstart to the party's campaign as it heads a four-party 'Mahakutami' or grand alliance ahead of the single phase December 7 polls. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will share the stage with his mother on Friday at the meet. As this is Sonia Gandhi's first visit to Telangana after the formation of the state, the party leaders were holding it as a thanksgiving event in her honour for carving out the state. Rahul Gandhi will again visit Telangana on November 28 and 29 and later on December 3 to address a series of rallies in different parts of the state. Modi was expected to give boost to the Bharatiya Janata Party campaign by addressing a few rallies on November 27 and December 3. State BJP leaders say Modi may participate in the campaign in four districts, including here, covering the constituencies where the party is considered strong. BJP chief Amit Shah, who addressed a couple of public meetings during September and October, plans to visit Telangana for three days soon to address 12 rallies. Party's Telangana unit president K. Laxman said Amit Shah will address the meetings on November 25, 27 and 28. BJP is contesting all 119 seats on its own. Several union ministers are also likely to campaign for the party candidates. Health Minister J.P. Nadda and party general secretary Ram Madhav have already addressed a few meetings. In his first-ever election in alliance with Congress party, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is likely to address a few rallies. Party leaders say he may share the dais with Rahul Gandhi. TDP, a constituent of 'Mahakutami' is contesting on 14 seats. Popular actor and TDP MLA N. Balakrishna may also address a few meetings, especially in Kukatpally constituency here, where his niece N. Suhasini is a candidate. Suhasini is the granddaughter of TDP founder N.T. Rama Rao. Her actor brothers Junior NTR and Kalyan Ram are also likely to campaign for her. Meanwhile, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is racing ahead in the campaign with party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao addressing series of rallies. He is criss-crossing the state in a helicopter, seeking fresh mandate. KCR, who had already addressed few meetings after dissolving the state assembly in September, plans to address 90 meetings in 15 days. KCR's son K.T. Rama Rao is another key campaigner for the party. He has hit campaign trail here and in surrounding districts, focusing on constituencies with sizeable number of voters who have their roots in Andhra Pradesh. Besides, KCR's daughter and party MP K. Kavitha and nephew Harish Rao were the other key campaigners for the party. The campaign of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) is being led by its president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. He is addressing public meetings and conducting foot march for his party's candidates in the eight constituencies here. Sandberg, in her post on Wednesday, wrote: "It was never anyone's intention to play into an anti-Semitic narrative against Mr. Soros or anyone else. Being Jewish is a core part of who I am and our company stands firmly against hate. The idea that our work has been interpreted as anti-Semitic is abhorrent to me - and deeply personal." New Delhi, Nov 22 : Taking umbrage to the sudden dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, former Union Minister and Congress veteran P. Chidambaram on Thursday claimed that for BJP-appointed Governor Satya Pal Malik, parliamentary democracy was "outdated". A day after Malik's dramatic move dissolving the House shortly after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), National Conference and the Congress came together to stake claim to form a government, Chidambaram took to Twitter to express his outrage. "As long as no one staked a claim to form government, Jammu and Kashmir Governor was happy to keep Assembly under suspension. The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly. "Parliamentary democracy standing on its head," said the former Union Finance Minister. "The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K Governor," said Chidambaram. Besides, both National Conference' Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have also questioned the decision. Toronto, Nov 22 : With their choice of words on Twitter, Americans appear to be living up to their national stereotype as negative and assertive, while Canadians tend to be nice and polite on the microblogging platform, suggests an analysis of nearly 40 million tweets. Canadians were far more positive on Twitter, using words such as great, thanks, good, amazing, and happy. Americans tended to use more negative words like hate, miss, mad, feel, swear, tired, said the study published online in the journal PLOS ONE. "The Twitter behaviour we observe doesn't actually reflect the real underlying personality profile of an average American or Canadian," said study co-author Daniel Schmidtke from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. For the study, the researchers isolated the words, emoticons, and emojis used most disproportionately on Twitter by individuals from each country. The findings suggest national stereotypes are grounded - at least partially - in the words we choose. "The most distinctive word choices of Americans and Canadians on Twitter paint a very accurate and familiar picture of the stereotypes we associate with people from these nations," Schmidtke said. However, there is not any hard evidence to support that an average American's and average Canadian's personality traits are different. The team argues that their results show an identity construction strategy in action: Canadians and Americans may create their national character stereotype through their language use. Seoul, Nov 22 : A South Korean pastor was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in jail for raping eight female followers of his mega church. Lee Jae-rock, 75, has about 130,000 followers at the Mamin Central Church in Seoul, reports the BBC. He has denied all the allegations. His victims had spoken of his "divine power" and said they felt compelled to do what he asked because "he was God". Lee's church is regarded as a splinter cult by some mainstream Christian organisations. He set up the Mamin Central Church in 1982 with only 12 followers. It has now grown to what is known as a mega church, with its huge headquarters and auditorium and a website with promises of miracles. Earlier this year, three of his followers came forward with allegations that Lee called them to his apartment and forced them to have sex. In total, eight women filed criminal complaints and he was arrested in May. The court found Lee molested and raped the victims "tens of times" over a long period. "Through his sermons the accused has indirectly or directly suggested he is the holy spirit, deifying himself," judge Chung Moon-sung told the Seoul Central District Court. The victims believed him to be "a divine being who wields divine power", he said. Vancouver, Nov 22 : With a few tweaks, pulse oximeters can double up as BP monitoring tools in the near future, suggests a joint research undertaken at Canadian and Chinese health facilities. Past studies have explored using oximeters for blood pressure assessment but the study led by The University of British Columbia (UBC) is the first to provide supportive evidence based on actual patient records and the first to examine large sample sizes obtained in two different countries. "We found that the oximeter, which clips on to a finger or toe to measure heart rate and the amount of oxygen in the blood, can detect normal, elevated or high blood pressure with up to 95 per cent accuracy," said lead researcher Mohamed Elgendi, an adjunct professor of electrical and computer engineering at UBC. "This suggests that it can, with a few tweaks, do double duty as a BP monitor in the future," he added in a paper described in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, Biosensors, Diagnostics, and Scientific Data. For their analysis, the UBC team examined oximeter records from 121 patients registered at a hospital in Boston and 219 admitted to a hospital in the Chinese province of Guilin. They ran the oximeter information through a unique mathematical programme they had developed and found nine electrical signatures, or patterns, that correlated significantly with hypertension. "The consistent presence of these patterns in data collected from two different countries proves that the pulse oximeter is a reliable tool for hypertension assessment," said Elgendi. "When we added electrocardiogram data to oximeter data, we were able to improve the detection of pre-hypertension". Elgendi and his team are working on replicating their studies on other groups of patients over the next several months. They're also refining their algorithm so that it can be used on a larger scale by oximeter manufacturers. "While the inflatable cuff is easy to use, its accuracy depends on its placement on the arm and the observer's skill," said Elgendi. Another technique, intra-arterial blood pressure measurement, is highly accurate but invasive, requiring the doctor to insert a needle into an artery, he added. Dubai, Nov 22 : An Indo-Canadian female dermatologist, found guilty of forging and using a fake diploma as well as other documents to practice medicine in Dubai, has lost her appeal against a six-month jail term. Public prosecution records showed that the 38-year-old woman managed to have the licence to work as a dermatologist issued for her after filling in her application form with false information, the Khaleej Times reported on Wednesday night. She used a forged general medicine degree and diploma in specialisation when applying for the permit. The defendant also threatened a company, specialising in verifying data and information, to hasten the process of verifying her documents and told the firm that in case the result was not positive it would be closed, according to the records. A trial court had earlier convicted her on charges of practicing medicine with a licence she had wrongfully obtained and committing forgery. It sentenced her to a six-month jail term, to be followed by deportation. She was also ordered to pay a 200,000 dirham fine. New Delhi : Other than food and water, shelter forms the third most important component of the basic human requirements. It was fitting that the government turned its attention to that. It wasnt for the first time, though, and will definitely wont be the last. For years, Indian cities have been clogged by ever-growing population and the inability to shelter them. "Housing for All", or the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY), was intended to solve this issue. But will it? Launched with much fanfare in 2015, three years down the line, the achievement is anything but satisfactory. The four components of the scheme include a credit-linked subsidy, in-situ development of slums, 35 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) and an opportunity to build individual houses. While the intentions look noble, at least on paper, in practice it's far from it. The scheme has many glaring loopholes. Take, for instance, the slum rehabilitation scheme. This component allows private builders to redevelop slums and, subject to certain conditions, avail benefits from the state government for each housing unit built. It basically involves taking a portion of a slum, building multi-storey flats on it and then moving the displaced people into those flats. With frequent demolitions and evictions, it is almost impossible to provide paperwork to prove the permanent residency of a particular plot in a slum. Even if it is assumed that the evicted person rebuilds his house on the same exact plot each time it is demolished, the amount of effort required to produce documents like electricity or water bills to prove this is asking for too much. Though not mentioned explicitly, these dwellings are in many ways informal shanties and where basic amenities like electricity and water connections aren't provided -- they are managed illegally. Official documents, in many cases, just don't exist. The provision of a cut-off date to be eligible for availing the benefit means that people don't have enough time to put all documents in place. Instead of getting rehabilitated, they are on the verge of getting evicted to make way for people who have documents to show. Corruption? Now take a look at the credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS). The scheme provides for varying credit-linked subsidies to home buyers up to an income of Rs 18 lakh. The provision defines LIG (low income group) as someone with annual income between of Rs 3-6 lakh and an EWS (economically weaker section) individual as one with annual income below Rs 3 lakh. As per the Minimum Wages Act, the most that an unskilled sweeper can manage per annum is below Rs 1 lakh (monthly wages are pegged at Rs 8,238) and with the prices of most dwelling units much higher than this, they are surely going to be left out. They can neither afford them on their own, nor are they eligible for any subsidies. Even for the ones who can get subsidies, the amount is too low to afford even a single room in big cities, forcing them to look for houses far from the city - which has its own problems. Finally, individual house construction is just not happening. PMAY is also designed to help people repair or rebuild their homes, provided they can prove that the land on which their house rests is their own. It's a well-known fact that most of the houses in slums have been built on government land and there is no way, other than a forged document, to prove otherwise. The government may very well claim that land for itself. Another component of the scheme involves building affordable housing units on government land with or without the partnership of private developers. In such cases, where private parties are engaged, the subsidy is provided to the developers once they reach the plinth level. On completion of their project, they can sell half of their stocks in the open market and rest to the EWS and LIGs at government-sponsored rates, during which the subsidy received by them is passed on to the buyers. It doesn't take much time to figure out that, ultimately, the subsidies are going to lie with builders, as, even with aid, EWS and LIGs can't afford houses close to the cities. Other than these loopholes, there are at least two more drawbacks to the scheme. One is its inherent design which makes it almost impossible to build affordable dwelling units in close vicinity of cities, and the other is the time involved. With high land prices and low incomes, builders will be forced to move farther away from the main city to become affordable. But, people who work in cities cannot afford to live too far from their workplaces. The additional costs involved will negate any gain that they might have, which is negligible to begin with. The other is the time required to get approvals. Despite all the hype about Ease of Working, the process still remains too complex and time-consuming. It takes anywhere between six months to a year to get all the necessary approvals. If the land is yet to be acquired, the project could take years, leading to cost over-runs and erosion in profits. As a policy framework, PMAY needs a lot of fixing, some big and some small. While providing housing for all should be a priority, this cannot be achieved by a shoddy scheme. In its three years of existence, the scheme has not been as successful as it was envisioned by the Prime Minister. Most of the projects have been stuck at different stages. If the government wants the policy to work, it will have to clear the roadblocks with regard to capital, land, approvals and documentation. Unless that's done, PMAY will remain a pipe dream. The scheme should be made implementable in the way the Prime Minister intended it to be. (Neh Srivastava is Under Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and President, Central Secretariat Service Officers Society, CSSOS. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at President@cssos.org ) Paris, Nov 22 : Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and a group of businessmen as part of his visit to Paris. The meeting, which took place at Matignon Palace on Wednesday in attendance of Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the two parties discussed ways of bolstering distinguished ties of friendship and cooperation across cultural, educational, economic, investment and political spheres. The two sides expressed their determination to further advance joint cooperation and work. The Crown Prince and Philippe took stock of the latest regional and global developments and exchanged views on a wide range of issues of mutual concern. Philippe lauded the evolving UAE-France ties and the joint cultural projects which, he said, strengthen bilateral friendship and cooperation. He said he was looking forward for a more constructive, qualitative partnership with the UAE so as to realise the aspirations of the peoples of both countries. Washington, Nov 22 : US Defence Secretary James Mattis has said that the joint military exercises between Washington and Seoul scheduled for early next year would be reorganised. Foal Eagle, the code name of the annual joint military drills, "is being reorganised a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy", Mattis told the media on Wednesday, indicating that the drills might be reduced in scope. "We continue to look at multiple aspects of future exercises to include their size and scope," Xinhua news agency quoted Chris Logan, a Pentagon spokesperson, as saying. Logan also said Mattis and South Korean Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo agreed during talks last month to conduct military activities, including exercises, in a way that complemented diplomatic efforts on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and sustained the readiness of the allied forces. This initiative could be seen as an embodiment that Washington and Seoul seek to mitigate tension on the Korean Peninsula. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The government has so far shut down 539 child care institutes (CCIs) across the country since August when shelter home rape cases surfaced, according to Women and Child Development Ministry (WCD). "We had to shut those institutes which were not fitting the standard of living for the children or violated the norms or those which were unregistered. The children who were living in those CCIs have been safely shifted to other child institutes," said a top WCD official. In Maharashtra, 377 CCIs were closed, the highest among all states and union territories, followed by Andhra Pradesh - 78, and Telangana - 32. Notably, reports of alleged rape of girl inmates in a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur in May and another in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, in August had surfaced. The WCD Ministry had then asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to conduct a social audit of the CCIs and also directed the unregistered institutes to register within two months. Union WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi had earlier asked for setting up of Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) at the state and district levels for regular monitoring of the Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAA) and CCIs. The Minister had also said that the district magistrates and district collectors should take the responsibility of monitoring the adoption programmes which are implemented at the district level. Sabarimala (Kerala), Nov 22 : A week after the Sabarimala temple opened for a two-month pilgrimage season, the number of pilgrims has touched a new low due to political protests as well as tightened security. According to official figures, while five lakh pilgrims visited the temple during the opening week in the last season, this time the figure is just 1.42 lakh. The sale of 'appam' (local variety of cake) and 'aravana' (jiggery payasem) to pilgrims has also dropped, forcing authorities to slow down production. The main reason for this has been the tightening of the rules for pilgrimage by the police following protests by Hindu groups since September 28 when the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter the temple that hitherto banned girls and women aged 10-50. The apex court on November 13 refused to stay the September verdict. The Left Democratic Front government led by the CPI-M has been trying to implement the apex court's verdict even as the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and several Hindu groups are up in arms against it. On Wednesday, 72 pilgrims who were arrested after they protested at the temple were released from the jail after they secured bail. But the protests have helped the pilgrims in one way -- they are able to pray before the deity in a leisurely manner. During this time in the previous season, the flyover leading to the sanctum santorum of the temple was packed. This week it looks deserted most of the time. "I am coming for the past 18 years. This time, I could go up the hallowed 18 steps by touching all the steps with both my hands which I could never do all these years because of the rush," said one pilgrim, beaming with happiness. "I have already had 'darshan' of the deity four times and am getting ready for a fifth time." Minister of Devasoms (temples) K. Surendran told the media on Thursday that the situation was smooth in Sabarimala and there had been relaxations of the rules. "For the real pilgrims there are no issues and no problem. The restrictions are only for anti-social elements," he said. After the Kerala High Court's intervention, the ban on going up to the temple from Pamba has been lifted. Any dip in the number of pilgrims to Sabarimala affects the Travancore Devasom Board - custodian of the temple - as the revenue generated from Sabarimala is used to meet expenses of about 1,200 temples under its jurisdiction. U.S. defense contractors "are really in a duck-and-cover mode, hoping to tie themselves to this as little as possible," said a prominent defense executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern that publicly discussing the issue would be bad for business. "To say that we're going to support this because we have a few thousand jobs at stake . . . we don't want that," the executive said. New Delhi, Nov 22 : Huawei's sub-brand Honor is set to launch its new Amazon-exclusive smartphone "Honor 8C" for around Rs 15,000 in India. The mid-segment smartphone will become the first device to run Qualcomm's Snapdragon 632 chipset, industry sources told IANS on Thursday. Packed with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, the device is likely to be launched in two memory variants -- 4GB RAM+64GB and 6GB RAM+64GB. It will house 4,000mAh battery and a 6.26-inch Notch FullView Display, Earlier this month, Huawei launched "Honor 10 Lite" with 6.21-inch display with a resolution of 1080px2340p -- powered by 2.2GHz Octa-Core and 4GB RAM for Rs 21,990. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The agitation against the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala is part of an "all-India game plan of the BJP and RSS to stir up communal tensions and create communal polarization" ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the CPI-M has said. "Given the all-round failure of the Modi government and with the Lok Sabha elections just six months away, the BJP and RSS have begun to desperately revive communal and divisive issues," said an editorial in the CPI-M journal "People's Democracy". "Central amongst them is the Ram temple at Ayodhya," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said. The editorial said that the aim of the BJP, RSS and allied groups was to provoke violence and create trouble within the Sabarimala temple premises and to put the blame on the Kerala government led by the CPI-M "for destroying the sanctity of the temple". It quoted Kerala BJP President Sreedharan Pillai as saying that their struggle was against the Communist government and not the entry of women into the temple. The CPI-M said that the Kerawla government had acted only against BJP-RSS activists, including some criminal elements, who it alleged wanted to take control of the temple premises. "There was no hindrance for the tens of thousands of devotees who had begun to flow in to pray at the temple." On the contrary, the state-wide shutdown called by the BJP and other groups on November 17 "actually inconvenienced a large number of pilgrims who had come for the Sabarimala pilgrimage from outside the state". The editorial accused the Congress party in Kerala of "shamelessly" lining up behind the Hindutva forces in condemning the state government and echoing the demands of the Bharatiya Janata Party. "The campaign to revive the building of Ram temple at Ayodhya and the agitation against the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala are part and parcel of the pre-election agenda of the Sangh parivar," the editorial said. Sydney, Nov 22 : Australia will modify a law to revoke the citizenship of convicted terrorists with dual nationalities, irrespective of the severity of their sentence, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday. Morrison and Interior Minister Peter Dutton announced the changes at a joint press conference here, reports Efe news. "We'll do everything we can to stay ahead of the evolving threat of terrorism to keep Australians safe," Morrison said. Under current law, citizenship can only be revoked for people convicted of terrorism if they were sentenced to at least seven years in prison. The announcement comes two weeks after a terror attack in Melbourne's Central Business District, in which a Somali-born Australian man born crashed his vehicle before attacking passers-by with a knife, killing one person and injuring two others. "Our changes will make it easier to strip terrorists of their Australian citizenship. Terrorists forfeit their rights to be Australians when they carry out their evil acts", Morrison said. Dutton said that nine people have had their citizenship revoked for their ties to foreign terrorist groups under a law which was introduced in 2015. The government also wants to implement a Temporary Exclusion Orders plan granting powers to delay, monitor and control the return of Australian foreign fighters from the Middle East. Australian authorities elevated the terror alert level in September 2014, and since then have approved a series of laws to prevent terror incidents. The country has suffered four violent attacks since then, while more than a dozen plans have been foiled, resulting in the arrest of more than 70 people. Beijing, Nov 22 : At least five people were killed and 18 injured on Thursday as a car rammed into a group of school children who were crossing a road in China's Liaoning province. The incident occurred at around 2.30 p.m. in Jianchang county, Xinhua news agency said. The driver has been arrested. Mumbai, Nov 22 : India's key equity indices surrendered the gains, extending losses for a third straight session on Thursday amid uncertainity due to the ongoing state elections. The BSE Sensex has lost close to 800 points in the past three days. Heavy selling pressure was witnessed in the metal, power and banking stocks, which fell over 1 per cent each, whereas the index pivotal finance counters declined 0.83 per cent. The Sensex settled down 218.78 points or 0.62 per cent at 34,981.02, from its previous close of 35,199.80. It touched an intra-day high of 35,364.50 and a low of 34,937.98. The Nifty50 lost 73.30 points or 0.69 per cent to finish at 10,526.75. The weakness in equities mirrors a global trend, led by the United states, as global growth is seen buffetted by trade tensions between the US and China. The decline in crude oil prices, which have crashed nearly 30 per cent since early October, comes amid expectations of slowing demand and rising US inventories. After touching an $86-a-barrel mark in early October, the Brent crude oil has slipped below $64 following US decision to exempt 8 countries, including India and China, to continue buying oil for six months from Iran despite sanctions. The decline in crude oil, which accounts for a large import bill for India, has propped up the rupee to 71 per dollar, after touching an all-time high of 74.47 on October 11. It is currently trading at 71.08 to a dollar, gaining 37 paise from its previous close of 71.45. Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Steel and Wipro lost the most on the Sensex while Adani Ports, Larsen and Toubro, and TCS were the top gainers. Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 22 : Trouble has been brewing in the Kerala unit of the Janata Dal (S) - the third largest ally of the CPM-led government, prompting the party president to intervene. JD (S) National President and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda has called his three legislators to Bengaluru on Thursday to meet him at 8 p.m. The three include Mathew T. Thomas, State Minister for Water Resources, former State Minister C.K. Nanu and K. Krishnankutty. While Thomas continues to remain in the state, both Nanu and Krishnankutty have already left to meet the party chief. The present impasse began when the Pinarayi Vijayan government completed its two-and-a-half years in office. According to a section of the JD (S) owing allegiance to Krishnankutty, there was an agreement that Thomas would relinquish the ministership in Krishnankutty's favour once the government completed the half-way mark of its 5-year term. However, this claim has been refuted by the Thomas camp. While Nanu remained aloof for a while, Krishnankutty has now managed to swing him to his side, and both are travelling together to meet their national president. New Delhi, Nov 22 : Germany on Thursday submitted its final feasibility report for the 435-km high speed rail (bullet train) corridor between Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai to the Indian Railways. The report was handed over to Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani by German Ambassador to India Martin Ney at the Railway Ministry here. Speaking about the report, the German Ambassador said: "The key results of the study is that the high speed railways on the route is not only feasible but also manageable." He said the report was completed in 18 months and is fully funded by the German government. Lohani said the report is doable but before taking further steps, it will be studied. According to Railway Ministry officials, the estimated cost of the 435-km route will be around $16 billion (about Rs 1 lakh crore). The official said out of 435 km, about 84 per cent of the track would be elevated while 11 per cent will be in a tunnel. "Rest five per cent will be on grade." "The bullet train will take about two hours and 25 minutes to travel the 435-km distance between Chennai and Mysore at maximum speed of 320 kmph," he said. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Thursday condemned the dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly as "illegal and unconstitutional". "The action of the Governor, dissolving the legislative Assembly, at the behest of the Centre, is an illegal and unconstitutional step," a CPI-M statement said. "The Governor has no business to decide that parties with 'opposing ideologies' cannot form a suitable government. By this yardstick, the PDP-BJP government should not have been allowed to be formed after the elections. "All that the Governor can do is to ask the leader who is staking claim with majority support to prove that majority on the floor of the house. "The Modi government has by taking this authoritarian measure further complicated and worsened the situation in the state," the statement said. New Delhi, Nov 22 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought a Central assistance of Rs.15,000 crore for the 12 districts hit by a cyclone which claimed 63 lives and destroyed crops and plantations. Talking to reporters after the meeting, he said he urged for an immediate relief of Rs.1,500 crore and a permanent relief of Rs.15,000 crore for the state. The severe cyclone Gaja crossed Tamil Nadu coast on November 16 leaving 63 people and thousands of livestock dead and damaging properties, standing crops, coconut groves, banana plantations and power distribution infrastructure in several districts. Palaniswami said a memorandum detailing the devastation left by the cyclone has been submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also urged the prime minister to send a central team to make an assessment of the damage so that the Centre could extend aid to the state quickly. "The Prime Minister has assured me that he will depute a central team to assess the losses," Palaniswami added. The Chief Minister said the compensation amount announced by the AIADMK government so far is far higher than what the then DMK government announced after cyclone Nisha in 2008. Asked as to why he did not visit the cyclone-affected places by road, Palaniswami said four districts have been severely affected and countered as to how one can visit them by road. He said he made an aerial survey flying low and has taken pictures of the damage which were handed over to PM Modi. Mumbai, Nov 22 : British DJ, songwriter and record producer Jonas Blue will be hosted for his debut India showcase by the Sunburn Arena here on December 13. Known for his dance/pop sensibilities, he will perform at Universal Square, High Street Phoenix, Mumbai. Blue has been on constant tours around the world since the release of his trop-house take on Tracy Chapman's classic song "Fast Car". Karan Singh, CEO, Sunburn, said in a statement: "Jonas Blue enjoys a robust following in India and has always wished to tour the subcontinent. We are extremely delighted to curate his first ever India tour and bring his wide spanning hits to the local audiences. "The tour is our endeavour to reach out to a more diverse audience and offer a world class music experience." Blue said in a statement, "I wanted it to be special the first time I came to India, this felt like a special show with some other great acts and it was on my list of countries to visit this year so had to get the show in before the end of the year! "I am really looking forward to enjoying the local culture and food and also visiting the Taj Mahal! I always try and make my shows special and unique, the Indian fans can look forward to some fresh exclusive tunes and brand new visuals." On this frigid morning, in an unheated brick garage at 2122 N. Clark St., seven men were lined up against a whitewashed wall and pumped with 90 bullets from submachine guns, shotguns and a revolver. It was the most infamous of all gangland slayings in America, and it savagely achieved its purpose--the elimination of the last challenge to Al Capone for the mantle of crime boss in Chicago. By 1929, Capone's only real threat was George "Bugs" Moran, who headed his own gang and what was left of Dion O'Banion's band of bootleggers. Moran had long despised Capone, mockingly referring to him as "The Beast." At about 10:30 a.m., four men burst into the SMC Cartage Co. garage that Moran used for his illegal business. Two of the men were dressed as police officers. The quartet presumably announced a raid and ordered the seven men inside the garage to line up against a wall. Then they opened fire. Witnesses, alerted by the rat-a-tat staccato of submachine guns, watched as the gunmen sped off in a black Cadillac touring car that looked like the kind police used, complete with siren, gong and rifle rack.The victims, killed outright or left dying in the garage, included Frank "Hock" Gusenberg, Moran's enforcer, and his brother, Peter "Goosy" Gusenberg. Four of the other victims were Moran gangsters, but the seventh dead man was Dr. Reinhardt Schwimmer, an optician who cavorted with criminals for thrills. Missing that morning was Capone's prize, Moran, who slept in. Capone missed the excitement too. Vacationing at his retreat at Palm Island, Fla., he had an alibi for his whereabouts and disclaimed knowledge of the coldblooded killings. Few believed him. No one ever went to jail for pulling a trigger in the Clark Street garage, which was demolished in 1967. Although Moran survived the massacre, he was finished as a big criminal. For decades to come, only one mob, that of Capone and his successors, would run organized crime in Chicago. But the Valentine's Day Massacre shocked a city that had been numbed by "Roaring '20s" gang warfare over control of illegal beer and whiskey distribution. "These murders went out of the comprehension of a civilized city," the Tribune editorialized. "The butchering of seven men by open daylight raises this question for Chicago: Is it helpless?" In the following years, Capone and his henchmen were to become the targets of ambitious prosecutors. Beijing, Nov 22 : At least five children were killed and 18 injured on Thursday as a car rammed into a group of school children who were crossing a road in China's Liaoning province. The media reported that the accused has been identified as the son of a top Communist Party official. The accused has been arrested. The incident occurred at around 2.30 p.m. in Jianchang county, Xinhua news agency said. According to surveillance camera footage posted online by Global Times, the motorist was driving on the wrong side of the road when the vehicle hit the group of about 30 children, throwing some of them into the air. The video was later taken down. An employee at the school said the students were crossing the road during a lunch break. Ahmedabad/ Bengaluru, Nov 22 : In a bid to celebrate creativity and promote a shared understanding of the best practices in design, two independent design festivals will kick off on Friday in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru respectively. The India Design Confluence will be held at the United World Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Presiding the event as chief guest will be Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani, followed by lectures and master sessions from creative powerhouses in the design industry, hands-on workshops that focus on knowledge generation and idea development, paper presentations that involve visual props and illustrations, and panel discussions to trigger a constructive exchange of views. The three-day event will host diverse speakers, including Sunil Sethi (President, Fashion Design Council of India), Rajeev Sethi (Designer, Scenographer and Art Curator) and among others, Angela Guzman (Design Lead, Google). Also beginning on Friday will be Bengaluru ByDesign, which focuses on demystifying design and making it more accessible to the public through installations, exhibitions, workshops, conferences, events, screenings, pop-ups, talks and more. The 10-day first edition of the festival aims to cover three key themes: Design & Public; Design & Education; and Design & Business. Chennai, Nov 22 : The Indo-French automotive joint venture PSA AVTEC Powertrain Pvt Ltd on Thursday inaugurated its powertrain and engine plant at Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The equal joint venture company PSA AVTEC Powertrain is promoted by AVTEC Ltd of India's CK Birla group and Groupe PSA of France. In a statement issued here by the two promoters of PSA AVTEC, the initial manufacturing capacity of the greenfield plant will be about 300,000 units per year for the transmissions and 200,000 units for the BS-VI compliant engines. The plant will manufacture gearboxes in Phase-I to support both the India project as well as Groupe PSA needs. The peak investment in this manufacturing set-up would go up to Rs 600 crore and will generate a direct employment for around 800 people, the statement said. "With this inauguration, we have taken another critical step towards the execution of our 'Push to Pass' strategic plan and commitment towards the Indian customers. The quality of the relation with our partner, the CK Birla Group, is paramount to the success of our common project, with the creation of a complete eco-system in India," Carlos Tavares, Chariman, Groupe PSA, was quoted as saying in the statement. "We have always striven to evolve with the ever-changing needs of our customers and partners. This partnership that brings together latest technology from Groupe PSA and the manufacturing excellence of the CK Birla Group is a step in the same direction. We are confident that this new plant will create long-term value and fulfil future market needs better," C.K. Birla, Chairman of the CK Birla group, was quoted as saying in the statement. Beijing, Nov 22 : At least five children were killed and 18 injured on Thursday as a car rammed into a group of school children who were crossing a road in China's Liaoning province. A local media report said the accused has been identified as the son of a top Communist Party official. The accused has been arrested. The incident occurred at around 2.30 p.m. in Jianchang county, Xinhua news agency said. The driver of an Audi hit the children outside a school in Jianchang county, the Beijing Youth Daily reported, South China Morning Post said. According to surveillance camera footage posted online by Global Times, the motorist was driving on the wrong side of the road when the vehicle hit the group of about 30 children, throwing some of them into the air. The video was later taken down. Beijing Time, an online news outlet, quoted police as identifying the suspect as Han Jihua. An employee at the school said the students were crossing the road during a lunch break. : Tamil Nadu: Cyclone Gaja centred over Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm and cross Tamil Nadu coast between Pamban and Cuddalore on Nov 15, 2018. In its Thursday ... Image Source: IANS/PIB Tamil Nadu: Cyclone Gaja centred over Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm and cross Tamil Nadu coast between Pamban and Cuddalore on Nov 15, 2018. In its Thursday ... Image Source: IANS/PIB New Delhi, Nov 22 : Mourning the lost of 69 lives in the cyclone that battered Tamil Nadu, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) on Thursday asked the Central and state governments to to fully compensate the losses suffered by the farmers in the state. "AIKS demands that the Central government immediately release contingency funds to meet the immediate expenses," AIKS said in a statement. "AIKS demands that the Central and state governments must fully compensate the losses suffered by the farmers." The AIKS demanded the waiver of loans taken by the farmers in the state for agriculture. "The state and Central governments should take all possible steps for rescue, relief and rehabilitation of all those who are affected. The Central government should provide adequate financial help to the state," it said. A farmer, C. Sundar Raj, 55, who lost his coconut trees in 5 acres of land, committed suicide unable to bear the losses estimated at over Rs 25 lakh, it said. The cyclone has caused massive destruction in Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Pudukottai districts of the Cauvery Delta. AIKS said that over 50 lakh coconut trees in more than 28,000 hectares had been uprooted in the cyclone. Nearly 5,000 fishing boats have also been reported to be destroyed in addition to damages to thousands of fishing vessels. More than 11 lakh roadside trees and more than 1 lakh electricity poles have been destroyed. Many houses have also suffered severe damage. Life has been severely hit. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Supreme Court on Thursday lashed out at the Centre and states over "pathetic condition" in the jails and observation homes for children across the country, saying that everything has been reduced to a "joke". "Please visit the jails and the observation homes for children to see the condition. Ask your officials to get out of their offices to see the condition in the jails. Taps are not working, toilets are not working. They are all blocked...they are in a pathetic condition. Ask them to have a look, then they will realise the pathetic condition they (prisoners) are living in," said the bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta. "You have converted whole thing into a joke," Justice Lokur said taking umbrage to the "callous and insensitive approach" of the government machinery towards improving conditions in the jails and observation homes. Taking a dig at the way the Centre and the state governments were addressing the issue of ameliorating conditions in the jails, Justice Lokur said: "That is why two judges of this court felt agitated because they saw what is happening." Justice Lokur was referring to the visit of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel (since retired) and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit to jails and observations homes in Haryana that triggered judicial scrutiny of the conditions in jails and observation homes across the country. The top court bench said this in the course of hearing on vacant positions in the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL). Taking exception to a large number of vacancies in the CFSL, Justice Lokur said: "Our criminal justice system is not working, our jails are not working. The world over the average shortage of staff is 16 per cent but in India it is over 62 per cent. "What kind of message we are sending out to the world" wondered Justice Lokur. "Let the people (officials) go to jail. Enjoy life and have a good time." The court also pulled up the Centre for its indifferent approach towards the three-member committee headed by former top court judge Justice Amitava Roy set up to oversee the implementation of prison reforms. "What is the size and the measurement of the office space allocated to Justice Roy," the court asked. "What government of India is doing? Justice Roy will do everything," said Justice Lekhi mockingly as ASG Lekhi said that he was offered a office space in Mahipalpur but he agreed to the present place. Mumbai, Nov 22 : Maharashtra's Unani doctors on Thursday staged a demonstration here, demanding that they be treated on a par with their Ayurvedic counterparts, officials said. Members of the Integrated Medicine Practitioners Association (IMPA) staged a sit-in protest at Azad Maidan, seeking dignity on the lines of Ayurvedic medicos, said IMPA General Secretary Zubair Shaikh, who is also the Vice President of the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM). "In 2014, a Government Resolution was issued, assuring jobs even to Unani doctors in primary health centres and other places, but it remains unimplemented," Shaikh told IANS. He said this was injustice to around 9,000 Unani doctors in Maharashtra who are part of the 150,000 Unani practitioners all over India. The Maharashtra government has announced a medical hub which will come up in Jalgaon, and has decided to set up Ayurvedic, Homoeopathic and Allopathic medical colleges, but there is no mention of a Unani college, he said. "Unani doctors are not included in the National Health Mission's healthcare initiatives, WHO programmes or immunization campaigns. BUMS (Bachelor of Unani Medical Science) doctors form the backbone of the primary healthcare system, besides serving the poorest of people in far-flung or rural areas," Shaikh added. He called upon the government and the Ministry of AYUSH to establish a post of Deputy Director for Unani Medicine. Leaders of several opposition parties including Congress' Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Naseem Khan, Nationalist Congress Party's Jitendra Awhad, Samajwadi Party's Abu Asim Azmi met the agitating Unani doctors and expressed support for their demands. Thiruvananthapuram, November 22 : Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac on Thursday came down on union minister of state for finance and shipping Pon Radhakrishnan accusing him of spearheading efforts to disturb law and order at Sabarimala the other day. In a facebook post, Mr. Isaac alleged that the union minister led the namajapa protests at the hill shrine on Wednesday, which he said sent out a very dangerous message. That a union minister no less led the efforts to disturb the law and order situation is unheard of, Thomas Isaac wrote. Grapevine has it that more union ministers are planning to visit Sabarimala. They must bear in mind that the protest is against implementing a supreme court verdict, Isaac said, calling on prime minister Narendra Modi to discourage his cabinet colleagues from coming to Sabarimala taking into account the gravity of the situation. It is reprehensible that union ministers were throwing their weight behind a farcical protest centred on Sabarimala and which was against the supreme court and the constitution, the facebook post reads. If the union ministers were of the view that the supreme court judgement should not be implemented, they should exert pressure on the central government to resolve the Sabarimala impasse, the Kerala finance minister opined. Union minister Pon Radhakrishnans visit to the Nilackal base camp the other day had triggered a controversy with the minister engaging in a heated exchange with IPS officer Yathish Chandra. When the minister took exception to private vehicles not being allowed to proceed past the Nilackal base camp, Mr. Chandra reportedly said that private vehicles could be allowed to proceed if the union minister were to take responsibility for any issues that may arise. This enraged the union minister, who accused the IPS officer of being disrespectful to him. Pon Radhakrishnan later proceeded to Pampa by a public transport bus along with other Sabarimala pilgrims to offer prayers at the hill shrine. New Delhi, Nov 22 : The Supreme Court on Thursday lashed out at the Centre and states over "pathetic condition" in jails and observation homes for children across the country, saying everything has been reduced to a "joke". "Please visit jails and observation homes for children to see the condition. Ask your officials to get out of their offices...taps are not working, toilets are not working... they are all blocked...they are in a pathetic condition," said the bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta. The court expressed serious concern over the media reports that real estate major Unitech's Managing Director Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay currently lodged in Tihar Jail have been provided with TV, crates of mineral waters and the household matters. "Let the people go to jail. Enjoy life and have a good time", the court said pointing to several instance of powerful people getting all the facilities they are not authorised otherwise. The court also referred to the report prepared by an additional session judge blaming the Tihar jail authorities for allowing TV, crates of mineral waters and the household matters to Chandra brother - who are in jail for allegedly cheating house buyers. Asking if a "parallel system" was operating in the jails, Justice Lokur referred to reports from other states where bigwigs and powerful people were getting all the facilities in connivance with the jail staff. "Every now and then articles are appearing .. in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, inmantes possessing mobile phones, running show from the jail", said Justice Lokur "You have converted the whole thing into a joke," Justice Lokur said, taking umbrage to the "callous and insensitive approach" of the government machinery towards improving conditions in the jails and observation homes. Taking a dig at the way the Centre and the state governments were addressing the issue of ameliorating the conditions in jails, Justice Lokur said: "That is why two judges of this court felt agitated because they saw what is happening." Justice Lokur was referring to the visit of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel (since retired) and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit to jails and observations homes in Haryana that triggered judicial scrutiny of the conditions in jails and observation homes across the country. The court also pulled up the Centre for its indifferent approach towards the three-member committee headed by former top court judge Justice Amitava Roy set up to oversee the implementation of prison reforms. New Delhi : Bhaiaji Superhit: Starring, Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta, Arshad Warsi, Ameesha Patel, Shreyas Talpade; Directed by Neerraj Pathak. Rating: ***(3 stars)What does a UP Bhaiyya-Gangster do when his beloved wife leaves him? He gets a failed braggart director from Bollywood to make a film on his marital love story to win back his wife. The complications that follow are the stuff Shakespeare would have dug out of his creative chest were his comedies into pulp humour. If you are not too sold on refined humour and if you can appreciate a comedy of errors that does not resort to double meanings then Bhaiaji Superhit could provide you with some amount of of hilarity. Sunny Deol's Bhaiyaji act is replete with sense of startled crime-lording, as though the character can't help wonder how a man who is such lamb before his wife could pull the trigger on his enemies with such arresting aplomb! Deol's dhai kilo ka haath is now sportingly projected to parody his earlier macho self. And when in the second wife another Deol shows up (yes a double role!) all squeaky-voiced meek and mousy we know for sure that Deol is now at a stage when he doesn't mind parodying himself. He gets some terrific support from his two principal male co-stars Arshad Warsi and Shreyas Talpade, both of whom are reliably strong with their comic timings. Shreyas plays the puffed-up flop director with a swaggering bustle he seems to enjoy the script's anarchic wit. Talpade's Bengali screenwriter's character is so earnest in his corny creativity he makes us laugh at his silly sincerity. These are actors who can never fail a script even if the script fails them. But the real surprise of the show is Preity Zinta, playing a fiery gangster's no-nonsense wife she manages to avert her urbanity to embrace her loud unpolished jealous wife's role with lipsmacking relish. It's good to see Zinta back on camera and that too in an image-defying role. There are several accomplished actors like Pankaj Tripathy, Sanjay Mishra, Brajesh Kala, Mukul Dev, Jaideep Ahlawat and Pankaj Jha who show up in extended cameos. The screenplay doesn't always know what to do with all the actors. Everybody seems to instinctively grab the inherent wackiness of the goings-on. Not to be taken seriously, the proceedings are done in raucous colours that sometimes exasperate with their exaggerated humour. Most of the time the film's writers (Neerraj Pathak, Aakash Pandey) get the right shades into rites of burlesque. We can't help chuckle at the cockamamie comedy. This is a loud colourful over-the-top homage to hoary tradition of Bollywood's formula films where the outrageous met the melodramatic without mishap. A lot happens in Bhaiaji Superhit. You know you are in this for the sense of unbridled reckless adventure. It does get a bit too much at times. But don't mind. Bhaiaji Deol wants Bhabhiji Zinta back at any cost. All blazing guns and spoofy drama, this is where you want to go this weekend if you looking for some cheesy fun. Vienna, Nov 23 : The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday confirmed that Iran is sticking to the 2015 nuclear accord. In a report of IAEA chief Yukiya Amano to a board meeting in Vienna, the capital of Austria, the agency said that under the monitor of IAEA, Iran is still complying with the Iranian nuclear accord reached in July 2015, Xinhua reported. "Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (nuclear deal). It is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments," said the report. IAEA plays a key role in monitoring the implementation of the Iranian nuclear deal, under which, Iran agreed to significantly scale back its nuclear plan, giving more transparency of its atomic plan to the international society, in return, the related international sanctions are to be lifted. However, Washington withdrew from the landmark nuclear deal in May, and imposed second batch of sanctions against Tehran in early November, targeting Iran's shipping, financial and energy sectors. Tehran has dismissed US sanctions' pressures, saying that it will continue its "constructive role" concerning regional policies. Melbourne-based property developer Caydon are using Black Friday, a day in the calendar usually earmarked for retailers to drop prices, to offer discounts on 100 apartments across its portfolio. Caydon said its Black Friday sale was not a response to the weak off the plan apartment market. Buyers will have the opportunity from 6am on Friday to book an appointment for the weekend and to then process the paperwork before the end of the year. Caydon have unsold off the plan apartment stock in Cremorne, Flemington, Ivanhoe, Northcote, Moonee Ponds and Preston. They are offering discounts on one, two and three bedroom apartments in their off the plan Moonee Ponds apartment development Rise (above and below) The one bedders start from $384,000, two bedrooms from $577,000 and three bedrooms from $936,000. Buyers of the Rise Skyhomes will have exclusive use of The Conservatory, a private skyhigh bar and outdoor deck. In the 29 level development there will also be a tranquil pool and spa known as Stonewater, and Club Rise, a fully appointed gym with dedicated yoga section. Rise will also include a private skyhigh bar and Rise sits in Caydon's masterplanned Mason Square precinct. Caydon's international marketing director Steve Williams said the company had seen turnover increase 25 percent above last year and revenue growth had been even higher. He said the Black Friday sale was an innovative approach to marketing property. The property market has not traditionally recognised or followed seasonal spending habits in line with the consumer retail calendar, so the prospect of making significant savings in every price bracket for new apartments has been virtually non-existent until now, Williams told The Australian. Caydon chief executive Joe Russo said the Black Friday initiative would provide an opportunity for buyers, noting it had becoming increasingly challenging for first-home buyers, downsizers and investors. Caydon will cut prices in eight Melbourne projects including a $100,838 discount for a three-bedroom apartment at The Malt District development in Cremorne. Its website shows a three-bedroom apartment in the development priced at around $1.24 million. Caydon says 57 per cent of Australians are expected to make a retail purchase in a store or online this Friday. Over the year to date, Melbourne apartment prices have declined 1.5 percent, according to CoreLogic. Capital Economics suggest the declines could reach eight percent this year. Its chief economist Paul Dales has noted "units look much more vulnerable than single dwellings, while Melbourne appears to be the most exposed of the eight capital cities." International student visa numbers are continuing to rise at double digit growth levels and because of this PBSA (Purpose Built Student Accommodation) is a rapidly growing industry, according to the latest Savills report on student accomodation. The report found there are 76,201 beds of PBSA in the eight Australian capital cities, however the existing supply in each city is less than 12% of the full-time student population with the exception of Canberra (27.2%). Over the first three quarters of 2018, the key focus for the major developers in this sector has been the continued acquisition of sites and the construction and delivery of new PBSA. Sydney currently has a total development pipeline of 4,787 beds (2.2% full-time students) expected to be delivered over the next four years, of which circa 41% is proposed by universities. Melbourne has the largest development pipeline of 16,137 beds (5.5% full-time students), which is a quite significant increase compared to 12 months ago. However, the Melbourne market is underpinned by a strong demand for accommodation, with new schemes trading well. Melbournes universities are active in developing their accommodation, with several projects contributing to just over 25% of the proposed pipeline. The pipeline of new PBSA projects in Brisbane has slowed somewhat in the past 12 months, following an extremely busy period over the 18 months prior, backed by the positive initiatives of Brisbane City Council. Brisbanes development pipeline is currently 6,865 beds (4.8% of full-time students). There are some concerns Student One, 363 Adelaide St, Brisbane (pictured above) regarding the potential uptake of new PBSA being delivered into the market in the short to medium term, as there is also an increasing pipeline of residential apartments being delivered in the city in the same timeframe. A number of new PBSA projects have entered the development pipeline in Adelaide, predominantly focused towards the northern end of the CBD and North Terrace. Recently completed schemes are trading with good occupancy levels. Currently there is no direct-let accommodation in Perth. It is also a market that has witnessed a new phase of development, with a number of direct-let projects being promoted in the past 12 months. Special Guest Miss Pennsylvania Kayla Repasky at West Shore Plaza #ShopSmall Event. Between boosting the regional economy, investing in entrepreneurs, creating local jobs, and bringing people together, there are so many great reasons to Shop Small during the holidays and throughout the year. Smith Land & Improvement Corporation will celebrate Small Business Saturday with events for the whole family at the West Shore Plaza in Lemoyne and Neighbors & Smith in Camp Hill on Saturday, November 24. Between boosting the regional economy, investing in entrepreneurs, creating local jobs, and bringing people together, there are so many great reasons to Shop Small during the holidays and throughout the year, says Richard E. Jordan III, President and CEO of Smith Land & Improvement Corporation and owner of the West Shore Plaza and Neighbors & Smith. We hope these Small Business Saturday events make shopping with us memorable, simple, and fun. The West Shore Plaza is now in its sixth year as a designated Neighborhood Champion for Small Business Saturday. Join us there and at Neighbors & Smith for the following special events: WEST SHORE PLAZA 10:30 AM Macris Chocolates Children of all ages and their families are invited to join Miss Pennsylvania Kayla Repasky for storytime and treats! Kayla will read a selection of Christmas stories, as well as her own childrens book, Buddy and the Bully, a story about bullying, friendship, and showing kindness to one another. Buddy and the Bully will be available for purchase with a special book signing by Kayla. 11:00 AM Between JOANN Fabric and Ritters True Value The holiday fun continues at 11:00 a.m. when Santa and Mrs. Claus come dashing by fire truck to visit with children, pets, and friends. Bring your list and snap a pic! NEIGHBORS & SMITH Christmas doesnt stop for construction and Neighbors & Smith is open while building a beautiful new 40,000 SF site on Market Street in Camp Hill. At 12 noon, head down the street to Neighbors & Smith, central Pennsylvanias newest retail and office destination. Learn DIY gift basket creations, get your party glam on, and enjoy festive cocktails. 12 NOON One Good Woman Create the Perfect Gift Basket for that special someone or for any occasion. 1:00 PM Little Black Dress Look Party Ready in 30 Minutes with Jasmine Brooks of WHP CBS 21 News and Kristen Campbell, personal stylist and owner of Threads of Hershey. 1:30 PM Little Black Dress Shake up your cocktail routine with Festive Cocktails by Elise Goodhart, VRAI Mixologist. SEVEN SENSATIONAL REASONS TO SHOP SMALL WITH SMITH LAND & IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION: 1. Celebrating its ninth year, American Expresss Small Business Saturday helps advocate and raise awareness for the small businesses that enrich communities nationwide. 2. In 2017, 108 million shoppers spent $12.9 billion on Small Business Saturday at independently owned businesses, according to a Consumer Insights Survey produced by American Express and the National Federation of Independent Business. 3. There are almost 1 million small businesses in Pennsylvania and Smith Land & Improvement Corporation is a magnet for small and women-owned businesses. 4. If you spend $100 at a local business, roughly $68 stays in your local economy. If you spend the same at a larger business, only $43 stays in the local economy, according to Forbes. 5. There are 28.8 million small businesses in the country, and small business accounts for 99.7% of all businesses in the U.S., according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. 6. Franchised small businesses employ roughly 8 million people and comprise 40% of all American retail jobs, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. 7. Small businesses donate 250% more than larger businesses to non-profits and community causes, according to Seattle Good Business Network. ABOUT WEST SHORE PLAZA Celebrating 63 years of retail services to the community, this landmark center sits on two high-traffic corridors connecting Harrisburg to the West Shore. With an attractive facade, easy access, and a striking digital sign, the West Shore Plaza continues to maintain high shopper volume and be a recognized shopping destination. A treasured community asset, the 23-store property featuring local and national retailers as well as family businesses, champions bringing people together with special events like the Wicked Spooky Party and Healthy Neighbors Fest. Visit West Shore Plaza on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. ABOUT NEIGHBORS & SMITH Camp Hills newest premier retail and office development in central Pennsylvania is home to some of the most vibrant small businesses in the region. Founded in Spring 2018, buildout of the 40,000 SF facility is in progress and Phase 1 is expected to be completed in Summer 2019. All shops and offices remain open during construction. Visit Neighbors & Smith on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. ABOUT SMITH LAND & IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION Founded in 1961, the company has a 56-year history of responsible and responsive commercial real estate development and land ownership. With a portfolio of nearly 50 properties and over 1 million SF throughout the Mid-Atlantic, the Smith Land team has chosen to concentrate 80 percent of its real estate investments in their own front yard of central Pennsylvania. When Smith Land & Improvement Corporation is the developer, business owners and investors can expect a productive working relationship, high-caliber site selection, and easy access to business expansion. MIAMI Broward Council President Patricia C. Anglero With available land scarce and prices rising in Miami, more home buyers are purchasing in our beautiful community of Broward County, said MIAMI Broward Council President Patricia C. Anglero, a Fort Lauderdale broker. Broward County existing condominium sales increased for the seventh consecutive month in October, this time rising 20 percent year-over-year, as total Broward County home sales surged 15.1 percent year-over-year, according to a new report by the MIAMI Association of REALTORS (MIAMI) and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. Broward single-family homes (10.1 percent year-over-year increase) also had a strong increase in October as median prices and dollar volume increased for all properties. With available land scarce and prices rising in Miami, more home buyers are purchasing in our beautiful community of Broward County, said MIAMI Broward Council President Patricia C. Anglero, a Fort Lauderdale broker. With low months supply of inventory, Broward is in a sellers market. Browards existing condo market continues to see heavy demand and low supply as nearly every condo price range posted increased sales in October 2018. Seven Consecutive Months of Sale Increases for Broward Condo Market Broward existing condo sales posted a seventh consecutive month of positive gains, rising 20 percent (1,230 to 1,476). Every price range except for less than $50,000 saw year-over-year sales gains. The large segment of growth for Broward condos was the $200,000 to $400,000 sector with 436 sales. Total Broward Home Sales Increase 15.1 Percent Total Broward home sales increased 15.1 percent year-over-year in October 2018, from 2,431 to 2,798. Broward single-family home sales rose 10.1 percent largely because of the success of the $400,000 to $600,000 price sector. The price range had 32.6 percent more sales in October 2018 than October 2017. Broward single-family home luxury sales also had a robust month, increasing 80.6 percent year-over-year to 65 transactions. Sales Dollar Volume Jumps 23.3 Percent to $918.5 Million Total sales volume increased to $918.5 million from $744.9 million in October 2018. Existing condo sales volume increased from $240.1 million to $328.1 million (an increase of 36.6 percent). Single-family home total dollar volume rose 17 percent, from $504.8 million to $590.4 million. Broward Median Prices Rise for Condos and Single-Family Homes Broward County existing condo prices rose 1.3 percent, from $155,000 to $157,000 in October. Single-family home prices increased 6 percent in October 2018, from $335,000 to $355,000. Low mortgage rates make purchasing a home more affordable. According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage increased to 4.83 percent in October from 4.63 percent in September. The average commitment rate for all of 2017 was 3.99 percent. Broward Distressed Sales Continue to Drop, Reflecting Healthy Market Only 4.3 percent of all closed residential sales in Broward were distressed in October 2018, including REO (bank-owned properties) and short sales, compared 6.1 percent in October 2017. Total Broward distressed sales decreased 18.9 percent year-over-year, from 148 in October 2017 to 120 in October 2018. Short sales and REOs accounted for 1.2 and 3.1 percent, respectively, of total Broward sales in October 2018. Short sale transactions decreased 8.1 percent year-over-year while stayed the same at 33 while REOs decreased 22.5 percent. Nationally, distressed sales accounted for 3 percent of sales (lowest since NAR began tracking in October 2008), down from 4 percent a year ago. Broward Real Estate Selling Close to List Price The median number of days between listing and contract dates for Broward single-family home sales was 43 days, a 2.4 percent increase from 42 days last year. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date for single-family homes was 83 days, a 7.8 percent decrease from 90 days. The median time to contract for condos was 47 days, a 19 percent decrease from 58 days last year. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date for single-family homes was 87 days, a 16.3 percent decrease from 104 days. The median percent of original list price received for single-family homes was 95.7 percent. The median percent of original list price received for existing condominiums was 94.7 percent. National and State Statistics Nationally, total existing-home sales increased 1.4 percent from September to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.22 million in October. Sales are now down 5.1 percent from a year ago (5.5 million in October 2017). Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 22,272 last month, up 8.5 percent compared to October 2017, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide closed condo sales totaled 9,270 last month, up 14.1 percent compared to a year ago. The national median existing-home price for all housing types in October was $255,400, up 3.8 percent from October 2017 ($246,000). Octobers price increase marks the 80th straight month of year-over-year gains. October marked 82 consecutive months (more than six and a half years) that statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and condo-townhouse properties increased year-over-year. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes was $253,853, up 7.6 percent from the previous year, according to Florida Realtors. The statewide median price for condo-townhouse units in October was $180,000, up 5.9 percent over the year-ago figure. Broward Cash Buyers Represent Almost Double the National Figure Broward cash transactions comprised 38.6 percent of October 2018 total closed sales, compared to 36.8 percent last year. Broward cash transactions are almost double the national figure (23 percent). Condominiums comprise a large portion of Browards cash purchases as 53.5 percent of condo closings were made in cash in October compared to 21.9 percent of single-family home sales. Sellers Market for Broward Real Estate Inventory of single-family homes increased 15.6 percent in October from 5,109 active listings last year to 5,904 in October 2018. Condominium inventory increased 4.3 percent to 8,027 from 7,699 listings during the same period in 2017. Monthly supply of inventory for single-family homes increased 18.4 percent to 4.5 months, which indicates a sellers market. Existing condominiums have a 5.6-month supply, which also indicates a sellers market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six and nine months supply of inventory. Total active listings at the end of October increased 8.8 percent year-over-year, from 12,808 to 13,931. New listings of Broward single-family homes increased 12.6 percent to 2,010 from 1,785. New listings of condominiums increased 8.3 percent, from 2,168 to 2,347. Nationally, total housing inventory at the end of October decreased from 1.88 million in September to 1.85 million existing homes available for sale, but that represents an increase from 1.80 million a year ago. Unsold inventory is at a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 4.4 last month and up from 3.9 months a year ago. To access October 2018 Broward County Statistical Reports, visit http://www.SFMarketIntel.com Note: Statistics in this news release may vary depending on reporting dates. MIAMI reports exact statistics directly from its MLS system. About the MIAMI Association of REALTORS The MIAMI Association of REALTORS was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 98 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. Comprised of six organizations, the Residential Association, the Realtors Commercial Alliance, the Broward Council, the Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound (JTHS-MIAMI) Council, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) Council and the award-winning International Council, it represents more than 46,000 real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate sales, marketing, and brokerage. It is the largest local Realtor association in the U.S. and has official partnerships with 189 international organizations worldwide. MIAMIs official website is http://www.MiamiRealtors.com. After five years of denials and litigation, trial attorney Allen J. Rosner of Edelman, Krasin and Jaye PLCC, secured a favorable verdict for a 55-year-old client before a Nassau County jury. The case (Index No. 607217/15) is Lyonnel Saintume vs. Elizabeth Lamattina, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Nassau County. The jurors found for the plaintiff after deliberating just 30 minutes, finding the defendant Elizabeth Lamattina-- 100% liable for an accident in her homes unfinished attic that injured the plaintiff when he fell partially through the ceiling on a rotted beam. Negotiations for damage awards are currently ongoing. Trial counsel Allen Rosner filed the suit on behalf of Lyonnel Saintume, a 55-year old Haitian-born man who was working as an exterminator on the defendants property on August 7, 2013. The plaintiff, who has two decades on professional experience as an exterminator, was instructed to inspect the defendants attic for bees when he fell through the ceiling while stepping on a damaged beam. The plaintiff claimed that a five-foot section of the beam appeared rotted and discolored, though there were no photos of this defect. The defense argued that beside the plaintiffs testimony, there was no proof that the attic beams were rotted or other evidence that would corroborate his claims. Defense counsel also contended there was no proof that a reasonable homeowner would have been aware of an unsafe condition. However, upon cross-examination, the defendant homeowner conceded that she did not know if a beam broke, nor did she know if there was rotted wood because she never went into the attic following the accident. Another non-party witness admitted during cross-examination that he could have repaired the ceiling without replacing a broken beam and was not sure if there was rotting wood in the attic. In order to demonstrate liability in the case, Rosner was tasked with proving the damaged attic beams were obvious enough that the defendant should have discovered it, but not so obvious that the plaintiff could have been aware of the hazard. Trial counsel successfully argued that Mr. Saintume acted reasonably while performing his work duties and upon the belief that the homeowner kept her property safe. After reviewing the testimony and evidence presented by both sides, the Nassau County jury concluded that the plaintiff was in no way responsible for the fall and found the defendant wholly at fault for the accident. We are incredibly grateful after so many years of legal delays that jurors found our client did nothing wrong. Our firm is proud to have helped Mr. Saintume achieve justice, said Lawrence Krasin, Senior Partner of Edelman, Krasin and Jaye. About Edelman, Krasin & Jaye Edelman, Krasin and Jaye PLCC is an award-winning full-service personal injury law firm with offices in Long Island, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Founded in 1952, the firm provides exceptional legal representation to New York residents in a broad range of matters including medical malpractice, workplace injuries, defective products, construction site accidents, maritime law and criminal defense litigation. For more information, please visit https://ekjlaw.com Liberty welcomes First Lady Melania Trump, Political Commentator Eric Bolling, and more to an opioid crisis town hall on Nov. 28. On Wednesday, Nov. 28, Libertys Convocation, will feature a town hall discussion of Americas opioid crisis. Special guests will include First Lady Melania Trump, political commentator and author Eric Bolling, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar II, and actress, producer, and author Dianna Hart. Liberty President Jerry Falwell and his wife Becki Falwell will join the discussion, to speak about Liberty Universitys proactive measures to fight the opioid crisis. The opioid crisis facing America is a huge challenge. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 115 people die in the U.S. every day from opioid overdose, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports roughly 21 to 29 percent of all patients who are prescribed opioids will abuse them. Convocation starts at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Liberty will stream the event live on Facebook. About Liberty University Liberty University, founded in 1971, is the worlds premier Christian university, the largest private, nonprofit university in the nation, and the largest university in Virginia. Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains on more than 7,000 acres in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty offers more than 600 unique programs of study from the certificate to the doctoral level. About 350 programs are offered online. Utilizing its world class infrastructure and Christian faculty, Libertys mission is to train Champions for Christ with the values, knowledge, and skills essential for impacting tomorrows world. CONTACT: Len Stevens Executive Director of External Communications (434) 582-7751 ljstevens@liberty.edu Each day, the owners of the 28 million small businesses in America pour their passion into running their companies and contributing to their communities. These dedicated business owners often wear multiple hats to keep their companies runningfrom President to Chief Janitor, they go the extra mile to make sure everything gets done. As unsung heroes, small business owners rarely hear thank you, or receive acknowledgement for their efforts. In addition to the hard work that it takes to run a small business, many owners struggle with cash flow. As reported by Small Biz Trends, 49% of small business owners say that they cant sleep due to cash flow worries. Despite this, company owners show up day in and day out to serve their customers and go the extra mile. To honor the work, passion, and commitment that it takes to run a small business, ForwardLine Financial, has launched the Passion Made $10K Giveaway.* The winner of the prize can spend it on anythingrenovations, marketing, or even a much-needed vacation. The goal is to give the winner funds that they can use to further fuel their passion. The contest runs from November 21, 2018 to February 28, 2019, and all business owners that take out a ForwardLine loan during this time period are automatically entered for a chance to win the $10,000. To learn more about the sweepstakes and for the complete rules, visit http://www.forwardline.com/sweepstakes Were passionate about helping Americas small businesses thrive, said Larry Gomperts, Chief Marketing Officer. We see the incredible work that goes into what they do every day. When we go out to visit our small business owners, we see that their business is their pride and joy; they pour everything into it. Were honored to support business owners, especially on Small Business Saturday and during the busy holiday season, when so many are putting in countless hours. Celebrating 15 years in business this December, ForwardLine has funded almost a half-billion in loans to over 15,000 of Americas small businesses. Customer-centric is one of the companys core values. ForwardLine has designed their funding products to be small business-friendly. Each loan features early repayment discounts, flexible payments, and discounts on future fundingsall elements to help improve the financial health of small businesses. About ForwardLine ForwardLine Financial, a nationwide direct lender, has been successfully providing small businesses with fast, convenient financing alternatives to traditional business loans since 2003. ForwardLine combines technology, non-traditional credit algorithms, and a direct sales model to offer attractive pricing and address a market not captured by traditional banks. In addition to loans, the company offers payment processing services to its borrowers in order to further encourage customer loyalty. For more information, please contact Forwardlines marketing department at 866.623.4900, email marketing@forwardline.com or visit the ForwardLine website at http://www.forwardline.com. *OFFICIAL RULES APPLY. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States (D.C.) 18 years and older. Must be a majority owner of a business that has been operating for at least one (1) year and generates at least seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) in gross annual sales. Automatic entry limited to business owners who receive a ForwardLine loan only. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes begins 11/21/18 and ends 2/28/19. For Official Rules, prize descriptions and odds disclosure, visit http://www.forwardline.com/sweepstakes Sponsor: Forwardline Financial, LLC, 21700 Oxnard Street, Suite 1450, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 This is a perfect time to stock up on gifts for all the Dutch Bros fans in your life, said Gavin Simcoe, a Dutch Bros representative. Dutch Bros Coffee is celebrating the beginning of the holiday season with Blue Friday and Cyber Monday deals on shop.dutchbros.com. Beginning at 7 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, online and in-store Dutchwear shoppers will be able to take advantage of deals ranging from 30-60 percent off apparel, coffee by the pound and mugs.* In addition, customers will receive a free Dutch Bros ornament with each order, while supplies last. When: Thursday, Nov. 28, 7 p.m. through Monday, Nov. 26 What: 30-60% off Dutchwear 50% off coffee by the pound 40% off single serve DB cups Where: shop.dutchbros.com 332 NW 6th St., Grants Pass, OR 97526 Quote: This is a perfect time to stock up on gifts for all the Dutch Bros fans in your life, said Gavin Simcoe, a Dutch Bros representative. *Sales dont apply to gift cards or BCA mugs About Dutch Bros Dutch Bros Coffee is the countrys largest privately held drive-thru coffee company, with more than 320 locations and 9,000 employees in seven states. The company is headquartered in Grants Pass, Oregon, where it was founded in 1992 by Dane and Travis Boersma. Dutch Bros serves specialty coffee, smoothies, freezes, teas, a private-label Dutch Bros Blue Rebel energy drink and nitrogen-infused cold brew coffee. Its rich, proprietary coffee blend is handcrafted from start to finish. In addition to its mission of speed, quality and service, Dutch Bros is committed to giving back to the communities it serves. Through its Love Abounds Foundation and local franchisees, Dutch Bros donates more than $5.8 million each year to causes across the country. To learn more about Dutch Bros, visit http://www.dutchbros.com, like Dutch Bros Coffee on Facebook or follow @DutchBros on Twitter. Members of the Liberty University School of Law Class of 2018 These recent results testify to the fact that Liberty Law provides its students with a quality education and prepares them for successful legal careers. Liberty University President Jerry Falwell The Bar Exam results are in, and Liberty University School of Law 2018 graduates posted the highest bar passage rate among first time test takers in school history, with 95.65 percent passing this year. The results include both the February and July Bar Exams. This is a huge milestone we beat our previous record by nearly five points, Liberty Law Dean B. Keith Faulkner said. We have a lot of forward momentum thanks to the hard work and dedication of our faculty and the phenomenal performance of our graduates. Im thrilled at the ongoing achievements made by our School of Law, added President Jerry Falwell. These recent results testify to the fact that Liberty Law provides its students with a quality education and prepares them for successful legal careers. Liberty Law also recently saw its highest employment rate to date in the Class of 2017 (numbers for this years class will be finalized next spring). The Liberty Law Class of 2018 took the bar in 15 jurisdictions, achieving a 100 percent pass rate in all but Virginia, where the rate was 88.24 percent. The national average for first-time Bar Exam takers from American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law schools in 2017 was 75 percent. The number that same year was 59 percent overall, 64 percent among all ABA accredited law school graduates. Faulkner noted that Virginia is historically among the most difficult exams in the nation. He also pointed out that it is extremely rare for a law school to have graduates take the bar in so many different jurisdictions. Therefore, most law schools focus on preparing their students to take the bar in the state they are in. At Liberty, we dont just teach you to pass a state bar, we train you to think like a lawyer and that translates to any jurisdiction, Faulkner said. Professor of Law Rena Lindevaldsen explained that Liberty makes a huge commitment to the academic and Bar Exam success of its students, including regular assessments and encouragement from faculty. I am thrilled for this years record success on the Bar Exam, she said. As a law school, we can have confidence that we are preparing our students to fulfill their calling to be attorneys. On a personal level, it is such a blessing to come alongside each of these students as they prepare to tackle the Bar Exam. They worked so hard, and God blessed them with amazing results. Sydney Phillips, Liberty Law Class of 2018, was recently hired as litigation counsel at Freedom Foundation in Olympia, Wash. She passed her July Bar Exam in the Evergreen State. I had the most incredible experience at Liberty Law, Phillips said. The bar is one of the toughest experiences of my life, yet I was able to walk out of the exam at the end of the second day knowing that Liberty Law had gone above and beyond to prepare me. From professors who answered questions throughout the summer, to a wonderful alumni mentor and prayer partner, and other classmates who had become family, I knew that Liberty Law was putting in just as much work, if not more, to prepare me for the bar. Micah Long (18), a legal fellow with Libertys Office of Legal Affairs, passed his Virginia Bar Exam in July. I think Liberty is the best law school in the nation in terms of preparing its students and graduates for the bar, he said. From day one, they designed the program to maximize our chance of passing the bar. Long explained that the university assigned each student planning to take the bar faculty and alumni mentors who encouraged and prayed for them. Liberty also offered a summer preparation program where faculty were available to answer any questions students had. I couldnt have asked for a better experience, Long said. About Liberty University Liberty Universit y, founded in 1971, is the worlds premier Christian university, the largest private, nonprofit university in the nation, and the largest university in Virginia. Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains on more than 7,000 acres in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty offers more than 600 unique programs of study from the certificate to the doctoral level. Over 300 programs are offered online. Utilizing its world-class infrastructure and Christian faculty, Libertys mission is to train Champions for Christ with the values, knowledge, and skills essential for impacting tomorrows world. Nomor Research is proud that we have been selected as trusted partner for independent 5G system level simulations in Europe. Nomor Research, a leading company providing 4G and 5G related simulation and consultancy services, today announces that it successfully completed the calibration of its 5G System Level Simulator RealNeS against key players in mobile communication industry. The implementation of Nomor Researchs 5G Real-time Network Simulator RealNeS is based on the latest Rel.15 NR specification as approved by 3GPP RAN plenary. The simulator calibration for different simulation environments is the starting point for a comprehensive evaluation of 5G proposals submitted to the ITU for IMT-2020 from the European side under the umbrella of the 5G Infrastructure Association (5G-IA) consortium. Our first results are published in a white paper that you find enclosed. We concluded that our results match very well with the 3GPP results. In the next step, we will perform the actual performance evaluation following the methodology of the ITU-R Evaluation Guidelines for IMT-2020. Prof. Dr. Ingo Viering, CEO of Nomor Research GmbH stated Nomor Research is proud that we have been selected as trusted partner for independent 5G system level simulations in Europe. We would like to thank the 5G Infrastructure Association for their commitment and all partners in our ongoing funded projects 5G-XCast and 5G-MoNArch in supporting this major simulator effort. The 5G-IA, representingas an association of European information and communication technology companiesthe private part of the 5G Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP, a sub-program of Horizon 2020 on 5G in collaboration with the European Commission), has formed an independent evaluation group (IEG) that registered with the ITU to evaluate 3GPP's proposal based on the IMT-2020 evaluation guidelines. This evaluation group mainly includes members of the EU funded phase-2 projects 5G-XCast, 5G-MoNArch, One5G and 5G-Essence. Nomor Research is part of it and responsible for many of the system-level simulations, specifically those related to enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB). White Paper IMT-2020 Evaluation: Calibration of NOMOR's System Level Simulator http://nomor.de/2018/imt-2020-evaluation-calibration-of-nomors-system-simulator/ Acknowledgement: This work was supported in part by the European Commission under the two 5G-PPP projects Broadcast and Multicast Communication Enablers for the Fifth-Generation of Wireless Systems" (5G-XCast) (H2020-ICT-2016-2 call, grant number 761498) and 5G Mobile Network Architecture for diverse services, use cases, and applications in 5G and beyond" (5G-MoNArch) (H2020-ICT-2016-2 call, grant number 761445). About Nomor Research GmbH Nomor Research, based in Munich, Germany, is a leading company in the research and development of future and emerging communication systems. Besides the consultancy services based on its deep expertise in research and standardization of 3GPP and IEEE based technologies, Nomor is renowned for its services around system level simulation, demonstrations and prototyping. For further information, go to http://www.nomor.de/ JTHS-MIAMI President Barb Fox Palm Beach real estate posted another robust month of sales, said JTHS-MIAMI President Barb Fox, a Palm Beach Realtor. Total Palm Beach County home sales increased 17.1 percent year-over-year in October as median prices and dollar volume rose for all properties, according to a new report by the MIAMI Association of REALTORS (MIAMI) and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. Palm Beach existing condo sales once again fueled the overall home sales increase, jumping 19.2 percent from 901 transactions in October 2017 to 1,074 in October 2018. Condo sales have now increased year-over-year in 11 of the last 12 months. Year-to-date, Palm Beach condo sales are now 7.3 percent higher than 2017 with 11,870 transactions through the first 10 months of 2018. Palm Beach real estate posted another robust month of sales, said JTHS-MIAMI President Barb Fox, a Palm Beach Realtor. Palm Beach condo sales, particularly at the entry-level price point of $250,000 and below, are in high demand and have seen sales growth in 11 of the last 12 months. Palm Beach single-family home luxury sales also continue to shine, posting 60.9 percent more sales year-over-year. Entry-Level Priced Condo Sales Accounted for 65 percent of all Palm Beach Condo Sales The entry-level market (condos priced from $50,000 to $250,000) comprised the bulk (65 percent) of Palm Beach condo sales in October 2018. The Palm Beach market sold 702 condos priced from $50,000 to $250,000, a significant increase from October 2017. Palm Beach Single-Family Luxury Sales Post 60.9 Percent Growth Palm Beach single-family home sales increased 15.6 percent in October 2018, increasing from 1,261 to 1,458. The bulk of the sales happen in the $250,000 to $1 million and above price range, which saw 999 home sales. The Palm Beach single-family luxury bracket ($1 million and above) posted 60.9 percent year-over-year growth with 111 transactions in October 2018. Sales Dollar Volume Jumps 43.2 Percent to $1.1 Billion Total sales volume increased to $1.1 billion from $768 million in October 2018. Existing condo sales volume increased from $201.1 million to $285 million (an increase of 41.7 percent). Single-family home total dollar volume rose 40.2 percent, from $566.9 million to $794.6 million. Palm Beach Median Prices Continue Rising Palm Beach County single-family home prices increased 6.8 percent in October 2018, increasing from $325,000 to $347,250. Existing condo prices rose 9.5 percent, from $169,000 to $185,000 in October. Low mortgage rates make purchasing a home more affordable. According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage increased to 4.83 percent in October from 4.63 percent in September. The average commitment rate for all of 2017 was 3.99 percent. Palm Beach Distressed Sales Continue to Drop, Reflecting Healthy Market Only 3.1 percent of all closed residential sales in Palm Beach were distressed in October 2018, including REO (bank-owned properties) and short sales, compared 5.2 percent in October 2017. Total Palm Beach distressed sales decreased 30.1 percent year-over-year, from 113 in October 2017 to 79 in October 2018. Short sales and REOs accounted for 0.6 and 2.4 percent, respectively, of total Palm Beach sales in October 2018. Short sale transactions dropped 33.3 percent year-over-year while REOs decreased 29.2 percent. Nationally, distressed sales accounted for 3 percent of sales (lowest since NAR began tracking in October 2008), down from 4 percent a year ago. Palm Beach Real Estate Selling Close to List Price The median number of days between listing and contract dates for Palm Beach single-family home sales was 52 days, a 6.1 percent increase from 49 days last year. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date for single-family homes was 93 days, a 5.1 percent decrease from 98 days. The median time to contract for condos was 52 days, a 5.5 percent increase from 55 days last year. The median number of days between listing date and closing date stayed the same at 95 days. The median percent of original list price received for single-family homes was 94.7 percent. The median percent of original list price received for existing condominiums was 94.4 percent. National and State Statistics Nationally, total existing-home sales increased 1.4 percent from September to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.22 million in October. Sales are now down 5.1 percent from a year ago (5.5 million in October 2017). Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 22,272 last month, up 8.5 percent compared to October 2017, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide closed condo sales totaled 9,270 last month, up 14.1 percent compared to a year ago. The national median existing-home price for all housing types in October was $255,400, up 3.8 percent from October 2017 ($246,000). Octobers price increase marks the 80th straight month of year-over-year gains. October marked 82 consecutive months (more than six and a half years) that statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and condo-townhouse properties increased year-over-year. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes was $253,853, up 7.6 percent from the previous year, according to Florida Realtors. The statewide median price for condo-townhouse units in October was $180,000, up 5.9 percent over the year-ago figure. Palm Beach Cash Buyers Represent Double the National Figure Palm Beach cash transactions comprised 43.9 percent of October 2018 total closed sales, compared to 41.7 percent last year. Palm Beach cash transactions are double the national figure (23 percent). Condominiums comprise a large portion of Palm Beachs cash purchases as 55.9 percent of condo closings were made in cash in October compared to 34.9 percent of single-family home sales. Sellers Market for Palm Beach Real Estate Inventory of single-family homes increased 2.3 percent in October from 6,948 active listings last year to 7,108 in October 2018. Condominium inventory increased 0.1 percent to 6,022 from 6,016 listings during the same period in 2017. Monthly supply of inventory for single-family homes stayed the same year-over-year at 4.8 months, which indicates a sellers market. Existing condominiums have a 5.2-month supply, which indicates a sellers market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six and nine months supply of inventory. Total active listings at the end of October increased 1.3 percent year-over-year, from 12,964 to 13,130. New listings of Palm Beach single-family homes increased 1.3 percent to 2,124 from 2,096. New listings of condominiums decreased 0.4 percent, from 1,820 to 1,812. Nationally, total housing inventory at the end of October decreased from 1.88 million in September to 1.85 million existing homes available for sale, but that represents an increase from 1.80 million a year ago. Unsold inventory is at a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 4.4 last month and up from 3.9 months a year ago. To access October 2018 Palm Beach County Statistical Reports, visit http://www.SFMarketIntel.com Note: Statistics in this news release may vary depending on reporting dates. MIAMI reports exact statistics directly from its MLS system. About the MIAMI Association of REALTORS The MIAMI Association of REALTORS was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 98 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. Comprised of six organizations, the Residential Association, the Realtors Commercial Alliance, the Broward Council, the Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound (JTHS-MIAMI) Council, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) Council and the award-winning International Council, it represents more than 46,000 real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate sales, marketing, and brokerage. It is the largest local Realtor association in the U.S. and has official partnerships with 189 international organizations worldwide. MIAMIs official website is http://www.MiamiRealtors.com ### PolyU Council Chairman Mr T C Chan (Left 1), PolyU President Professor Timothy W. Tong (Right 1) and the nine university fellowship recipients. Presided over by Mr T C Chan, Chairman of the PolyU Council, the conferment ceremony was held at the Jockey Club Auditorium on PolyU campus. The recipients were warmly greeted by PolyU President, Professor Timothy W. Tong and other senior staff members of the University. The fellowship recipients are (in alphabetical order of last name): Dr Sunny Chai, BBS, Group Managing Director of Fook Tin Group Holdings Limited Mr Chan Kam-lam, GBS, JP, President of Kingrich Asia Holdings Limited and Kingrich Trading Limited, and the Director of Shenyang Wuai World Enterprise Company Limited Dr Edward Chan Kwok-man, Founder and Managing Director of German Pool (Hong Kong) Company Limited Mr Jimmy Kwok Chun-wah, SBS, MH, JP, Managing Director of Rambo Chemicals in Hong Kong Dr Ng Chi-ho, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Suga International Holdings Limited Mr Richard Sun Po-yuen, JP, Hong Kong Certified Public Accountant and Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Dr Elizabeth Wang Ming-chun, SBS, a popular and famous performing artist Mr Eric C. Yim, JP, Founder of POSH Office Systems (HK) Limited Dr Lunlun Zou, internationally acclaimed Guzheng virtuoso Mr T C Chan, Chairman of PolyU Council, said the Fellowship recipients have contributed tremendously to PolyUs development in different ways. He said, They are exemplary and inspirational role models to our young generation. As Fellows of PolyU, they will render even more support to the Universitys education and research developments, and further help PolyU connect with different sectors of the community. Prof Timothy W Tong, PolyU President, commended the Fellowship recipients as movers and shakers in their fields who have made significant contributions to the development of PolyU and the society. He shared in his remarks that PolyU aims not only to help our young people develop successful careers in their professions, but also to help them become future leaders who possess a caring heart, a serving attitude and a strong sense of social responsibility. By joining hands with the Fellows, PolyU will help create a great future for the society, the nation and the world. PolyU has conferred University Fellowship on a total of 120 distinguished persons since the introduction of the scheme in 2000. ***** Media contact: Ms Lavinia Sin Alumni Affairs and Development Office Telephone: (852) 2766 4661 E-mail: lavinia.sin@polyu.edu.hk Looking for great tech gift ideas for kids of all ages on your "nice" list? Shop like a pro with these electrifying options from SWAGTRON (the brand that put electric rideables on the map) that are sure to turn any gift giver into a Holiday Hero. EB5 FOLDING ELECTRIC BIKE The big kids on your gift list have jobs, bills and commutes. What if you could make the last one more fun and less stressful? Enter the EB5 Folding Electric Bike, a lightweight, folding aluminum bike designed for the urban commuter. Combining a smooth and powerful 250-watt motor with the ability to quickly fold (approximately 10 seconds) to a compact 26 by 23.6 inches, the EB-5 seamlessly blends modern e-mobility with unmatched portability and storage. In fact, it boasts what is perhaps the best size-to-performance ratio on the market. Hit speeds up to 15.5 mph for up to 15.5 miles MSRP: $550 | Black Friday Sale Price: $449.99 ($50 OFF) SWAGBOARD T380 ELITE HOVERBOARD W/ BLUETOOTH & APP It doesnt get any better than the best hoverboard in the SWAGTRON lineup! From the most trusted brand in electric rideables (and the first to offer UL Certified hoverboards) the Swagboard T380 Elite features dual 300-watt motors, LED lights and built-in Bluetooth speakers. Cruise at 8 mph for up to 11 miles on a single charge. A free iOS/Android app allows riders to unlock even more features like multiple riding modes, and track distance, routes and more. Smooth and responsive handling are paired with a sleek, sporty design for a ride that truly must be experienced. Accept no imitations. MSRP: $350 | Sale Price: $299.99 | Black Friday Sale Price: $249.99 ($100 OFF) SWAGBOARD TWIST T881 KIDS HOVERBOARD Shopping on a budget or looking for an entry-level board for younger riders? The Swagboard Twist T881 delivers the quality parents have come to expect from SWAGTRON at a price that saves plenty of coin for stocking stuffers. MSRP: $170 | Black Friday Sale Price (Available Now!): $149.99 ($20 OFF) Available at SWAGTRON.com PRO TIP: On the go? Pair Swagboard hoverboards with a Swagbag for even greater portability. SWAGGER 5 ELITE FOLDING ELECTRIC SCOOTER (and SILVER EDITION) Commuter scooters have become increasingly popular in urban centers, and for good reason. They're efficient and eco-friendly. But let's face it: renting is for rookies. Give them a gift that will let them ride like a pro. The Swagger 5 Elite Folding Electric Scooter features a powerful 250-watt motor, 18 mph top speed and an 11-mile range. Recent updates include an airless rear tire featuring internal honeycomb technology to eliminate flats, and an upgraded battery for improved range and performance. Pair with the free app to unlock even more features. In addition, Swagtron will be debuting a limited Silver Edition of the Swagger 5 Elite on Black Friday (November 23, 2018). MSRP: $410 | Sale Price: $399 | Black Friday Sale Price: $359.99 ($50 OFF MSRP with SWAGTRON promo code pro_save_40 at checkout.) Silver Edition MSRP: $410 | Black Friday Sale Price: $379.99 ($30 OFF) SWAGSKATE SPECTRA MINI A.I. ELECTRIC SKATEBOARD Tired of the same old gifts? Give them a futuristic ride with the worlds smartest skateboard. Featuring advanced artificial intelligence, the Swagskate Spectra Mini uses a 3D posture control system to learn and adjust to an individuals riding style, and allows you to accelerate and brake simply by sensing your shift in body weightno remote required. Download the app to unlock more features, adjust speed (up to 9.3 mph) and input sensitivity or even use your smartphone as a remote until you get the hang of hands-free riding. MSRP: $400 | Black Friday Sale: $299.99 ($100 OFF) K2 CONVERTIBLE BALANCE TRIKE & KICK SCOOTER Shopping for the little ones who arent quite ready for their own electric rideables? Give them the gift of confidence with the skill-building K2 Convertible Balance Trike & Kick Scooter. The toddler-sized balance trike is perfect to get them started, then easily converts to their first three-wheel kick scooter to grow with them. Theyll be riding like a pro in no time. MSRP: $50 | Current Sale Price: $39.99 SNOWTIDE SMART SKI & SNOWBOARD HELMET Looking to keep your loved ones safe while they shred? One of the only snow helmets on the market to offer a full suite of smart connectivity, the Snowtide Smart Ski and Snowboard Helmet integrates class-leading safety and features with immersive sound and advanced two-way communications. Bluetooth audio, two-way walkie-talkie with unlimited range and an automatic S.O.S. alert system that calls for help if you crash make the Snowtide equal parts brain and bucket. MSRP: $165 | Sale Price: $149.99 | Cyber Monday Sale Price: $99.99 ($65 OFF) Available at SWAGTRON.com SWAGTRON is the Official Electric Ride of the Chicago Cubs GET SOCIAL: @SwagtronUSA on Facebook and Twitter / @SwagtronOfficial on Instagram ABOUT SWAGTRON SWAGTRON is the industry leader in electric rideables, having evolved as the forefront brand in its category. SWAGTRON was celebrated for being one of the first brands of electric rideables on the scene to offer certification by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), an independent consumer product safety company. Every SWAGTRON e-product is tested and approved according to UL standards. SWAGTRON continues to expand and improve its line of innovative rideable products. Media Contact: Don Stefanovich | DonS@Zake.com The Glenholme School held its fifth annual Run for Autism on November 11, 2018, as part of its tireless effort to raise awareness and funds for students with special needs. Glenholme just respects these kids and they are taught in a way that makes them feel like they can succeed and that is the difference. Glenholme saved my son's life. Past News Releases RSS The Glenholme School Celebrates Its... The Glenholme School celebrates... The Glenholme School Celebrates... The Glenholme School held its fifth annual Run For Autism in mid-November as part of its tireless effort to raise awareness and funds for students with special needs. The 3.1 mile race, held in Steep Rock Preserve along the Shepaug River of Washington, Connecticut, attracted 147 runners who stepped up to raise $2,500 to support Glenholmes therapeutic programs. The event has become a community favorite with local business sponsors and area private school students enthusiastically volunteering and participating. Devon Langworthy crossed the finish line at 18:56, taking first place overall. Anna Kallman easily earned first female finisher with a time of 22:56. Canines were incorporated in the mix as the top three dogs received well-deserved prizes. Glenholme is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a school that has achieved worldwide acclaim for delivering meaningful life-changing results to students with anxiety, depression, ADHD, and those on the autism spectrum. We congratulate all the runners who made this event possible and recognizing the work needed for children and youth on the Spectrum. Glenholme extends many thanks to its loyal race sponsors who continue to support the difference the school makes in many young peoples live including Steep Rock Association, Alarm Services & Fire Control Service Co, Inc., Marandola Fuel, Kent Station Pharmacy, Fast Track Timing, Rumsey Hall School, Scotts Landscaping & Nursery, Full Circle Promo, and Washington Ambulance we and the students thank you. Congratulations to all of the runners, walkers, and their canine companions. Race results can be found at http://fasttracktiming.com/2018-race-results/ About The Glenholme School: Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health The Glenholme School is an independent, coeducational, special needs boarding school for young people with high functioning autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, OCD, Tourette, depression, anxiety, and various learning differences. The learning environment delivers meaningful, life-changing results to special needs students. Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health is a leading nonprofit behavioral health organization that supports many of the most underserved members of our communities. For more information about The Glenholme School and its program, visit http://www.theglenholmeschool.org/. Toyota & Toys for Tots donation and service offer details at Toyota Vacaville In addition to festive music, dazzling decorations and spending time with loved ones, the holiday season is a time to give back. Although each individual may have a specific charity or organization they sponsor, there are plenty of holiday-focused entities that welcome generous donations for those less fortunate. Toys for Tots is one of those special organizations that believes every child deserves a gift on Christmas. In partnership with Toyota and Toys for Tots, Toyota Vacaville is offering a deal for customers who bring in a new, unwrapped toy to donate. Customers who donate a toy between now and December 14 can receive $20 off any future service or installed accessory. Toys must be new, unopened and unwrapped and have a value of at least $10. The team at Toyota Vacaville specializes in service for Toyota and Scion models, providing routine maintenance and larger services as well. The Toyota Vacaville service center includes complimentary coffee and popcorn as well as free Wi-Fi, a free shuttle service and convenient online scheduling. Customers can also take advantage of drop off service and convenient hours during weeknights and weekends. Those who would like to learn more about the holiday toy donation and service deal at Toyota Vacaville are invited to get in touch with the dealership online at http://www.toyotavacaville.com or by phone at 707-455-4135. Toyota Vacaville is located at 500 Orange Drive in Vacaville. He believes many societies, including the Hispanic world, are still uninformed and unfamiliar about the teachings of the Koran, Islam Within the pages of Miguel B. Granados book, Mahoma y el Coran nos Persiguen sus Ataques Seguiran($15.49, paperback, 9781545635216; $7.99, ebook, 9781545635223), readers will find a book where the author presents, as a starting point, a fictitious history based on facts, followed by a comprehensive summary about the Islamic religion. The book includes an analysis about the life and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. In an easy-to-read style, Mahoma y el Coran nos Persiguen sus Ataques Seguiran presents an interesting fictional story. The author also lays out the reasons and facts why he believes that Islam is a religion of hate, not of peace. Written in Spanish by a Hispanic person raised in Christianity, Granados hopes this book will shed some light on Islam. He believes many societies, including the Hispanic world, are still uninformed and unfamiliar about the teachings of the Koran, Islam, says Granados. Miguel B. Granados was born in Mexico in a small farming community. He graduated from Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona and attended seminary in Dallas, Texas. He worked with the Federal Aviation Administration and is a song and poetry writer. He has been married to his wife Guadalupe for over 50 years. Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 12,000 titles published to date. Mahoma y el Coran nos Persiguen sus Ataques Seguiran is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com. In Taste and See (Zondervan, Jan.), Bible teacher Feinberg provides a firsthand exploration of foods found in Scripture. What led you to explore the foods of the Bible? I have always been someone who is not content just to read words on a page. The second you start to look for examples of food in the Bible, you see that it is everywhere, popping and sizzling on every page. I began to wonder, what if I sought out people who plant, process, and produce these foods, and who are passionate about it? I wanted to get to know these foods on a granular level and ask the people who produce them: how do you read these Bible passages in light of what you do every day? What do you think is missing today in how most Americans experience food? I think part of the emergence of the slow food movement and the popularity of cooking shows traces our longing for nourishment on a deeper level. The fast pace of our society creates a degree of toxicity and displacement. We become separated from the Earth and each other. We dont even know where our food is coming from. Part of the answer to that is to be more intentional and attentive to both our food and our time of gathering at the table. Did the travels described in this book change the way you prepare and experience food? Yes. One of my biggest discoveries was how disconnected I had become from food and from others. What surprised me is how easy it is to reconnect. This can be as simple as being intentional about going to a farmers market and not just buying food but talking with the person who grew it. I have also become more intentional about the questions I ask others. Its amazing how a simple question over a meal can open hearts. We are longing to be known, loved, accepted. Gathering at the table creates space for that to happen. As a Christian, did you personally learn anything about God from writing the book? I learned God is the ultimate foodie! A foodie is simply anyone who takes a particular interest in food. Genesis is laid out like a Zagat-rated buffet, and God keeps using food throughout Scripture as means of redemption. He is feeding manna, he is speaking to Gideon through a dream about bread, he is multiplying the widows oil. In the New Testament, God then reveals himself to us as foodJesus, the bread of life. He is the lamb. And he invites us all to partake. The Bible is the biggest, best banquet feast of all time. The hotel is expected to be strategically located in the prestigious airport residential area of if the city about 1.5 kilometres from the Kotoka International Airport. It will as well be an ideal place for business and leisure travelers, as well as airline crew and the local community. The Vice President Protea Hotels by Marriott, Marriott International and Middle East and Africa explained that, by way of continuing economic growth in Africa, it is important to drive greater investment in the continent, and Ghana is proving to be particularly attractive as an investment destination hence, the decision for the establishment of the hotel. Protea Hotels by Marriott, is one of Africas most well established hotel brands and we are delighted to debut the brand in the bustling and dynamic capital city of Accra, he explained. The project is a partnership between Protea Hotels by Marriott and that of YAMUSAH Group This is what the hotel will look like Despite how this thing is marketed, not only do you get a lesser level of service, but it can also cost more for receiving it, he said, adding, It really gets down to the public policy discussion of, should we be making emergency services a for-profit business and at what expense? This follows a released by the former Presidents foundation which had Gyan as part of the individuals who will help in the nurturing of the talent process. King, 29, is a former Black Star midfielder, among 200 young Africans, the Obama Foundation has cherry-picked as the people, President Obama believes can inspire and empower Africa to a better future. King, at his early who lived in a poor neighbourhood of Nima a suburb of Accra, Ghana, has been graciously moved from grass to grace as he has been recognised by President Obama as one of the few, emerging leaders in Africa. The midfielder has out of this expressed great excitement as he thinks the breakthrough was the least he expected. He said, "When I think back to my childhood, it was not exactly written in the stars, that I would be in this situation, adding that, I grew up in a place where people must depend on miracles, and this makes me determined to change this paradigm in my community. He then advised that, there should be a strengthening and building system that will allow people to realise their dreams and not be held back by realities. He emphasised that people need opportunities if they have a talent and irrespective of where they are born, they still need opportunities. Here are 6 times Fella Makafui has been on the news for bad reasons. Efia Odo beef This argument started when Efia Odo claimed Fella was a cheap girl who sleeps with politicians and other rich men in society for money and other material stuff. She even alleged Fella Makafui, the YOLO star actress has slept with Ghanaian rapper, Medikal, Sister Debbys boyfriend even before it happened and that she is equally fake including her big butt, Fella Makafui in her defense on Snapchat revealed that Ghanaians should ignore Efia Odo because although she looks old, she has the brain of a child so people should not take her seriously. Efia Odo and Fella Makafui were actually very close friends who had been spotted at several places chilling together but according to Efia Odo, she fell out with Fella because she went about gossiping about her to others. She claims Fella said something nasty about her to others and she heard about it and that ended their friendship. She explained that although she was angry about what she claims Fella Makafui had done, she kept quiet. But two things Fella Makafui had done recently pushed her to come out and expose the young lady for who she is. She said the actress posted a picture of her new wine shop and asked her followers to work hard and not take money from any sugar daddy when it was speculated that was how she gained her businesses in the first place. Sleeping with men. When she disclosed she prays naked Fella who seems to be the only one from the youth series, YOLO to have made it big businesswise made a disclosure while speaking at an event and shared that there is the need for people to have faith and believe that God can do more than they can think of. She said her secret in life has been prayer. I will share a secret with you. I wake up at night to pray. I strip naked and read some bible verses and pray to ask God for all the things I need and that has kept me going, the actress said.. This revelation caused a lot of controversies. People who had believed she got her wealth from men used that moment to call her a hypocrite ad what-not. When she snatched Medikal from Sister Deborah Fella Makafui got one over Sister Derby and grabbed her man. Usually, people hide in the dark feeling ashamed of breaking people's relationship. Instead, Fella was everywhere, proudly flaunting the new man we all saw her sneakily grab from the musician. The actress felt no remorse for what happened, she even found the time to mock Sis Derby after what she had done to her, which may be believed as a petty act. It was alleged that Fella managed to snatch Medikal by displaying her cooking skills, which Derby practically did not possess, and she took the chance to rub that in the musician's face. When she dragged Sandra Ankobia into her drama. Fella dishonorably went to say that Sandra Ankobiah is a boyfriend snatcher like her and yet no one is talking about her, implying that some double standards are being applied by the public and bloggers in dealing with boyfriend or husband snatching stories. The actress reached out to a blogger and claimed that the page once took down a story about Sandra Ankobiah allegedly snatching someones boyfriend, therefore she was also calling for her stories about allegedly snatching Medikal to be taken down. The blogger replied that there was no evidence attached to res absolutely zero truth to the lawyer Sandra Ankobiah snatching a man known as Boat from another lady, which is why they took it down. Ex lover snatches properties from her Looks like not everyone was happy about the relationship between Fella Makafui and AMG rapper Medikal. The YOLO actress's ex boyfriend was clearly not in support either. The couple have been the talk of the town after their just friends relationship quickly turned into a love relationship so its not surprising that her ex lover heard the news. Since Fella made it to the limelight, she has never spoken about her boyfriend or her relationship but there were some people who revealed that she sleeps around with big men who in exchange gifts her whatever she wants that was why she was always living a classy lifestyle. It seems Sister Debby is not the only ex peeved with the relationship between Fella and Medikal but the ex-boyfriend of the YOLO actress is also mad that he has been dumped. In a video circulating, some group of guys seized Fella Makafuis cars in front of her 'self-made' wine shop which according to sources was led by the ex-boyfriend of the actress. Sex tape leak Fella came under the spotlight following reports that her sex tape had been leaked by her ex on social media. A sex tape purported to be that of the actress and her ex-boyfriend began circulating on social media, with many immediately linking the lady in the video to the actress. Fella Makafui and her management later denied that she was the lady in the video, pointing to the fact that it was a calculated attempt to cause disaffection for her. In a statement, the actress said the video should be disregarded insisting it is obvious some evil minds that want to destroy her reputation. Criss Waddle who is known as a Tema based rapper has blasted President of the Musician Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) Bice Osei Kuffuor popularly known as Obour. The rapper has accused him of doing nothing to promote both the music industry and the well-being of musicians since he begun his course as president. According to the rapper, no serious work or results has been achieved in the music industry since Obour started his eight years of stewardship. Chris in an interview said Obour has done nothing, what has he done, not that I know of. If hes done something I stand to be corrected. Hes done absolutely nothing profitable. ece-auto-gen He added that they as musicians had massive trust in Obour being one of their own and were confident that taking charge in power will promote the welfare of musicians but sadly hes woefully failed his colleagues. The Bible says even when God demanded of Abraham to sacrifice his only child, Isaac to him, he subsequently commanded Abraham not to touch the innocent son, saying he only wanted to test his faith. However, in the case of the alleged murderer identified as John Depuun, he reportedly snatched the poor little girl from his wife and took her to a bush in Mbangur, Tse-Agberagba, Konshisha LGA, Benue state, where he killed her. According to yabaleftonline.ng, John Depuun admitted to the heartless killing, insisting that he did so in compliance with the instruction of God. He is quoted as saying: It is my sheep and I decided to sacrifice it to God as demanded of me. I have not laid my hands on anyones child and as such, should not be condemned. Prosecutors say the accused committed the crime about three months ago but it was only discovered recently. Suspicions were raised after a human tooth was found inside her blender, the prosecutors said. According to them, the said lady killed her lover and used his remains to prepare a meal which she served to Pakistani workers in the UEA. READ ALSO: undefined Meanwhile, the state-owned newspaper The National reports that she described her actions as a moment of "insanity" while confessing to the Police. The accused has already been arraigned before court and is now awaiting trial. The National claims the lady killed her lover after he told her he was leaving her to marry another woman. The pair had been dating for seven years, the report added, with the lady currently in her 30s. Although the Police could not determine exactly how the man was killed, they said his girlfriend had served up his remains as part of a traditional rice and meat dish to some Pakistani nationals working nearby. In incident is reported to have happened in the city of Al Ain, in the UAE. READ ALSO: undefined Upon carrying DNA tests on tooth, it was confirmed that it indeed belonged to the deceased. Meanwhile, it is reported that the accused has been sent to a hospital for mental health checks. This was after she admitted to killing her lover after being subjected to questioning by the Police. This was demonstrated by a 22-year-old woman in a video which shows her immobilising a male robber with her bare hands, making him scream for breath. News24 reported that Sabrina Leite saw two men on a motorbike approaching her. One of them got off and demanded her to give him her phone. The news websites said the young woman who was apparently close to her home at the time of the attempted robbery threw the phone into the home and frightened the robber. Having realised that the robber was not armed, Leite said her neighbour stopped him with his car as he tried to escape. "Then I ran and immobilised him with a sleeper hold, I lay on the ground and put him in an arm lock, she added. The brave woman who claimed to have been practising jiu-jitsu for the past four years made use of her skills to arm lock the robber so firmly that, he could not help but scream as he was apparently running out of breath. A video of the incident was filmed by some onlookers which was later posted online. Reports say the man of God is currently facing about six similar charges and his name has been temporarily concealed because he has not pleaded to the charges yet. The 43-year-old pastor, according to media reports is expected to return to the Bronkhorstspruit magistrate's court on Thursday. The victim said her pastor has perpetrated the same sexual assault on other women in the church, but they have not been able to speak out. In her case, she claimed the man of God had raped her on six different occasions, which took place between 2006 and January 2018. She said on all those occasions, the horny pastor waited until her fiance left for work before he came to pray for her, adding that he once he drove her home and claimed he wanted to exorcise her of evil spirits dominating her breast and womb. In the process, the pastor allegedly asked the complainant to take off all her clothing and to kiss him, which she apparently did and he pushed her to the bed and had sex with her. ece-auto-gen READ ALSO: Man takes selfie before and after lorry accidentMan takes selfie before and after lorry accident After the sexual intercourse, the man of God would allegedly send the victim a message on her phone claiming to have enjoyed it. She claimed to have confided the matter in another member of the church and stop attending the church. Reports say she filed a report on 13 November, saying: "I was shocked to find out that there were other victims and women who were afraid to speak." It has been a great journey for the final 10 contestants who performed beautifully, gave out their best speeches, and catwalk gorgeously in their elegant apparels to impress the three beautiful Ghanaian actresses who were also judges for the finale namely Joselyn Dumas, Jackie Appiah, and Naa Ashorkor. James Gardiner and Lexis Bill were also on the panel to help select the new queen. The Minister said his checks reveal that a host of other reputable people in society have their monies locked up with the gold dealership firm. He, however, attributed the current standoff between Menzgold and its customers to pure greed. According to him, the customers should have been more open-minded to know that the percentage being offered by the gold dealership firm was unrealistic. ece-auto-gen He further disclosed that apart from BoG employees, people at the Finance Ministry as well as some military officers also have their monies locked up with Menzgold. As I look at the Ministry of Finance and I see some people who are at the Ministry of Finance who have invested there, I look at the Bank of Ghana and I see some people who have invested there, and of course the military etc [who have invested there], Mr. Ofori-Atta said at a ceremony to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Minister cautioned customers who invested with the gold dealership firm not to expect the government to retrieve their monies for them. According to him, the government will not pay any customer who has his or her money locked up with Menzgold. As we try to clean up the financial services center, I know the SEC has come down hard, strong and justifiably on Menzgold. But the issue with a company of Menzgoldits become an issue of greed as a people and our own behaviour, when we are so clear as educated as we might be that when we went there, there was no license. According to that report, the manager told officers seeking footage of the incident that surveillance cameras had been taken down during recent bar remodeling and had not been reconnected. Officers, however, ended up finding a camera above the bars sign that faces the entrance of the parking lot, the report states. It is not clear, however, whether any footage of the incident was recovered. The member of the Finance Committee in Parliament said that Dr Ernest Addison should come out and announce a programme to save our banks. The MCR has been increased to GHS 400 million from GHS120 million. The banks have until the end of 2018 to meet the requirement. READ ALSO: Neurosurgeon-turned-taxi driver wants CHRAJ to look into his licensure issuesNeurosurgeon-turned-taxi driver wants CHRAJ to look into his licensure issues Meanwhile, the government has since August 2017, rescued 7 struggling local banks with billions of taxpayers money. These banks are UT Bank, Capital Bank, uniBank, Sovereign Bank, The Royal Bank, The Beige Bank, and The Construction Bank. The first two went under in August 2017. The other five were merged two weeks shy of a year after the first two failed. Meanwhile, some of the local banks are working tirelessly to merge in order to still be in business. Others have floated shares to raise enough capital to meet the minimum requirement. However, Mr Adongo believes the government must protect local banks by restructuring the financial sector in two parts. READ ALSO: NCA fines all 4 telcos GH34m for poor servicesNCA fines all 4 telcos GH34m for poor services He said that the BoG must first announce an extension for those banks that genuinely have programmes that can lead to realisation of the [new] minimum capital. He also wants the Central Bank to take off those new banks that are already well-capitalised and extend their tenure. Dr Addo said this at the companys 46th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held at the Fiesta Royale Hotel in Accra. The dividend payment will be the first in 7 years. According to Dr Addo, this is a reflection of the companys growth and positive performance. READ ALSO: Finance Minister says Menzgold customers were motivated by greedFinance Minister says Menzgold customers were motivated by greed He explained that during the year under review, the focus of the company was to grow market share and strengthen the equity of the brands. He added that rewarding loyal consumers during the year under review was a priority for the company. He said there is a clear strategy to ensure another positive year for Guinness Ghana. He said a team of experts from South Africa will come into the country to conduct the study. Earlier this month, the government of Ghana signed a a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Africa Investment (Ai) SkyTrain Consortium, based in South Africa, for the construction of the Accra Sky Train Project. With Accra experiencing ever-increasing road traffic congestion, with its detrimental effects on economic activity, pollution and the quality of life, the SkyTrainO project, Hon. Joe. Ghartey emphasized, is the solution to these problems. ece-auto-gen The plan is that while we work on the sky trains, we will also construct light rails in various cities to provide inner city ground train services." The Ministry, in an executive instrument, has also restricted the sale of tramadol in chemicals shops across the country. In a statement issued by the Food and Drugs Authority, it said such drugs will not be reclassified and dispensed as Prescription Only Medicines. The Executive Instrument for the Restriction of Importation, Manufacture and Registration of Codeine containing Cough Syrups (E. I. 167) is promulgated. Parts of the notice added in further exercise of the powers conferred on the Minister for Health for Health by section 116 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851) the Executive Instrument for the Control of the Importation, Manufacture and Sale of Tramadol and Tramadol containing products (E. I168) is promulgated. This devastating news has elicited condolences across the political divide as well from some prominent Ghanaians. The National Chairman of the NPP, Freddie Blay said: "I have learnt with sadness, the death of Hon. Emmanuel Agyarko, MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his colleagues in Parliament and the NPP, whose ideals and principles he espoused with passion and eloquence. May his soul Rest In Peace." Anthony Nukpenu, the Greater Accra Organizer of the NDC said of the MP: "Mr. Emmanuel Kyeremanten Agyarko has contributed his quota to the country as a lawmaker, and only God knows why he has been called now. May his soul rest in peace". Though Emmanuel is the lesser known of the Agyarko brothers in Ghanaian politics, his role and contributions in the political terrain cannot overemphasized. He was elected as the MP for the people of Ayawaso West Wuogon in 2012. He succeeded the current Chief of Staff, Frema Opare Addo. He retained the seat for the New Patriotic Party in the 2016 general elections by overwhelmingly defeating his opponent Delali Kwesi Brempong of the NDC. He polled 57 per cent of the total votes. ece-auto-gen Appointed by former President John Agyekum Kufour, Emmanuel Agyarko is credited with some of the major reforms that has happened at the food regulatory body in the last decade. In Parliament, hes served on the committees of Environment, Science and Technology Committee, chaired theGovernment Assurance Committee, and also served on the Health Committee. He was born on December 10, 1957 at Odumase Krobo in the Eastern Region. He had a Bachelor in Pharmacy which he obtained at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in the year 1982. ece-auto-gen Kyeremanteng was the junior brother of the former Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko. He is succeeded by a wife and seven children. Details of the budget, presented by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta last Thursday, reportedly indicate that there are plans to increase the number of presidential staffers. Last year, President Akufo-Addo presented to Parliament a total number of 998 as workers at the Jubilee House. This was in compliance with Section 11 of the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463). However, the number divided opinion among Ghanaians, with some suggesting 998 presidential staffers is just too much. The Minority, though, maintain that they will resists any attempt to increase the number of presidential staffers to 1,614. ece-auto-gen Speaking on the floor of Parliament during the budget debate, MP for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, described the number as outrageous. 998, Ghanaians were outraged [and] you are increasing it to 1,614, he lamented. He said institutions like the Office of the Special Prosecutor and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) rather need more funds to deliver their mandate. According to him, the government is becoming stubborn to issues which it should pay more attention to. He said the Nana Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government can easily use that amount of money for other important purposes. Speaking on Citi TV's Breakfast Show, the ex- NDC Minister accused President Akufo-Addo of seeking to win religious votes with the intent of constructing a national cathedral. That National Cathedral I hear is costing the state around $100m. That can put up an ultramodern district hospital which can render health services to tens of thousands of people", he said. READ ALSO: 3 dead from gas explosion in Kumasi Ofosu Kwakye opined that the amount he quoted can be used to build schools and equip hospitals. "When John Mahama was President and he had money, he built hospitals, he built schools, he could have also built a cathedral", he added. He, however, failed to mention how he arrived at the cost figures and challenged the government to prove his assertion wrong. Well, I read it in several news items If it is wrong they should take the opportunity to tell us how much it would cost. I dont want a penny of my taxes to go into the National Cathedral, but I am Christian too ece-auto-gen During his 2019 budget reading, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta indicated that government will provide the land, the Secretariat, and seed money for the preparatory phase. He also said government intends to hold a fundraiser to enable it to accumulate more money for the construction of the National Cathedral. Since its establishment in 1873, one of the oldest publications in America - Harvard Crimson - has never had a female black president now. This changed after the 125-year-old prestigious newspaper voted through an election process called the Turkey Shoot for this Harvard junior student, who is currently studying African American Studies and Literature. Guillaume took to Twitter to announce the remarkable news writing, "I have the honour of serving as the President of the 146th Guard of @thecrimson next year." She continued, "Congratulations to the 146's Managing Editor @angelanfu and Business Manager Charlie Zhu! Thank you to the 145, especially @derekgxiao, we have big shoes to fill." Guillaume also reacted to her appointment in an interview with the Boston Globe saying: "It does make me feel weird that we're still doing firsts. It's about time. I'm nervous but excited. It's a huge responsibility, and honestly, it doesn't feel real that I actually have the opportunity." She takes over from the current president Derek G. Xiao, who has expressed his confidence in his successor. He said, "I have the utmost confidence in the 146th Guard's ability to carry on our proud mission of covering and informing Harvard and its affiliates. I could not be more excited to see the direction the next President, Managing Editor, and Business Manager will take The Crimson in 2019." Prior to becoming the president of The Crimson, Guillaume was one of the Central Administration reporters, and one of the three Chairs of The Crimson's Diversity and Inclusivity Committee. McMillan came to Illinois in early 2018 to work for an insurance agency in Schaumburg, the release said. Ford joined him later and worked as a dancer and hair stylist while the couple moved from hotel to hotel, the release said. According to the United Nations agency, there has been an increase in the number of Africans living longer and healthier lives. This has been traced to the rise in the prevention, management and treatment of HIV-AIDS and malaria. These are the top five African countries with the highest life expectancy rate: Mauritius This African country has the highest life expectancy with people living as long as 75 years. ece-auto-gen This could be attributed to the fact that it has a positive human rights record and is the most democratic country on the continent. Seychelles Second on the list is this East African country that is made of a cluster of 115 islands. Citizens of this nation live to be as old as 73 years. Face2Face Africa reports the country currently enjoys stability, good education, quality healthcare and a high per capita income. ALSO READ: 5 great reasons to add Africa to your travel bucket list Cape Verde The third African country with the highest life expectancy rate is this former Portuguese colony. ece-auto-gen Due to its health infrastructure, political and economic stability, citizens live as long as 73 years with women living longer than men, 75 and 71 respectively. Sao Tome and Principe People live to be as old as 69 years in this island country, located in Central Africa, which is officially known as the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe. 97 per cent of the 200,000 people in this developing country have access to good water while 60 per cent with electricity. Rwanda Statistics from WHO show that citizens of this East African nation have the least life expectancy rate despite the life expectancy rate going up from 28 in the mid-1990s to 68 years. This has been attributed to healthy lifestyles. Its also been discovered that women live longer than men, with the female life expectancy being 69.9 compared to males with 66.1. ece-auto-gen Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the last Thursday of every November. The embassy made the announcement in a Twitter post on Wednesday, November 21, 2018. "The U.S. Embassy in Abuja and the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos will be closed on Thursday, November 22, in observance of Thanksgiving. Thank you for being part of our community!!! Happy Thanksgiving!" Meanwhile, last week, the United States Consulate General in Lagos said it has awarded $453, 568 to 45 individuals, non-government organisations (NGOs), and academic institutions so far in 2018. The grants support a variety of worthwhile projects in the areas of human rights, transparency in government, freedom of the media, empowerment of women and youth, health, education, entrepreneurship, and the promotion of mutual understanding. However, a family in Delta State has deemed it fit to actually send a woman into hiding for having a baby via CS. They claim it is against the customs of their family to have a child via CS. Having a baby is apparently a sign of adultery by their familys customs. According to Nigerian Twitter user, Yinka Ogunnubi, who tweets via, @Yinkanubi, the family has asked the unnamed woman to undergo some rites to prove her innocence or otherwise. The woman has since disappeared. ALSO READ: On Facebook, DELSU student narrates how gunmen forced her panties off her Ogunnubi tweets that, A woman is currently being accused of Adultery by her husbands family because she had her last child by Caesarian birth. They say that by their custom, a CS birth is evidence of adultery by the woman and the only remedy is to go to the village (in Delta) to perform some rites. The husband took sides with his family and insisted she perform the rites against her wishes and Christian faith. All efforts to have the family reconsider has been unsuccessful. Fearing for her life (especially since she lives in the family house), she fled for safety. I dont know if this is a custom in the area or just the demand of a secret cult, but why should a woman be accused of adultery because she did a CS procedure? What silly custom assumes a woman committed adultery because she had complications from childbirth necessitating a CS? Apart from the issue of faith, theres also the issue of culpability. Agreeing to go for the rites is an indirect admission of guilt. God knows what else theyll demand of her. A DNA test was suggested to prove paternity, but the family has ruled out mediation until after d rites. Has anyone heard of this before? What are her options and remedies seeing that her husband has sided with his family? Should she end the marriage and file for custody of her kids? Please, Advice! cc @DrJoeAbah @toyosilagos @BukkyShonibae @bukola23 @julietkego @etinmagbe @naijama. This time, Agomuo Jennifer a final year student of Computer Science at the Imo State University almost committed suicide, shortly after stabbing her boyfriend yesterday, November 21, 2018. Instablog9ja reports that the 400 Level student stabbed her boyfriend because he broke up with her. The issue then escalated and resulted in her stabbing him at Joe Tony Hostel. Reports further highlight Jennys boyfriend was at her hostel to collect all the gifts he had bought her upon their breakup. That reportedly started the fight from which Jenny stabbed him. For fear of committing murder and the grim consequences, Jenny reportedly drank a poisonous substance. ece-auto-gen Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! In order to understand what motivates people to destroy their skin with harmful toxins, we must first understand what it means to hate oneself, be it on a conscious or unconscious level. For example, "ethnic self-hatred" is the extreme dislike of one's ethnic group or cultural classification. The term is often used in psychology and is equated with having low self-esteem and shame and self-hatred are the very roots of most mental disorders especially those that involve a perceived defect in oneself like body dysmorphia. Many who bleach have argued that there is no link between skin lightening and self-hatred but the very act of changing your skin colour to be lighter is the very definition. However, let's look at why so many women, and men, are being driven to such drastic measures. The demonisation of black skin began from the slave trade, but whether we realise it or not, the media and our society is still perpetuating the same harmful tropes when it comes to skin colour, beauty and perceived value. When the whites came to Africa, in order to establish a hierarchy and create a preferential power dynamic, it was essential to instill feelings of inferiority so that the blacks felt less than. This made them easier to colonise as instinctively, blacks deferred to whites as they considered them to be more superior. Beauty came to be defined in one simple term; white. The lighter the skin, the closer one was to the projected idea of beauty in a more nuanced sense, superiority and power. Common sense shows that establishing a European psychological supremacy was a necessity in order to sustain the European empire. In America, during the slave-trade, mixed race offspring, often the product of rape between slave masters and slaves were used as house-slaves leaving their darker counterparts to toil in the fields under the blazing sun. In more recent times, the media has fed insecurities by elevating lighter black women at the expense of their darker counterparts. Women like Lupita Nyongo and Viola Davis are rare exceptions of successful dark skin women in an industry dominated by lighter-skinned women and even they, have been very candid about their struggles with colourism. Addressing the 7th Annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon, Nyongo revealed that she too had despised her dark skin and prayed to be lighter. She said women like Oprah Winfrey and supermodel Alek Wek had shown her that her black was just as beautiful. Oprah Winfrey on her show once said to Alek Wek, If you had been on the cover when I was growing up, I would have had a different concept of who I was. The media has a lot to answer for, choosing to elevate lighter women like Beyonce and Rihanna, often touching them up to appear even lighter in magazines. For young girls growing up looking at the definition of beauty and not recognising themselves in it, self-hate is inevitable. But, is the media to blame or is it simply holding up a mirror to our society? Do they put lighter women on covers because they sell more issues? And if so, what does that say about us and where are we supposed to look to get to the root of the problem? In a financial context, self-hate means big money. The entire beauty industry is built to feed off of our insecurites. From anti-ageing cream to makeup, we are either trying to change our appearance or reverse the effects of time. With the cosmetics industry being worth billions of dollars every year, not being happy with the way you look is extremely profitable. Another major issue with skin lightening is the vagueness surrounding the ingredients of these products and the health and safety aspect as many women are resorting to unsafe products in their pursuit of whiteness Unregulated products, which tend to be cheaper, have high quantities of hydroquinone and mercury which can result in liver and kidney failure or irreversible skin damage, sunburn and in extreme cases, skin cancer. Even on the face of such risks, Nigerian women will not be deterred. The quest for lighter skin taking precedence of the state of their health...and we say this is not self-hate? Blac Chyna the wrong way but make no mistake, a problem existed long before this product did. In Nigeria alone, bleaching is a multi-billion naira industry with some of the 'skincare experts' that we hold in such high regards selling fancy bottles, full of poison. If we continue to ignore the epidemic of skin lightening any longer it will result in the erasure of our black identity. It will teach our daughters and sons, generations to come that there is no value in our black skin and that we can only be the very best versions of ourselves if we disassociate completely with our blackness. Pulse used this premise to examine since news broke that a certain former honorary member of the 'Kardashian clan', Blac Chyna was coming to Nigeria to sell 'bleaching creams', the issue of bleaching and colorism have once again become central to pop culture and social media conversations. These days, we idolize supposed bleaching experts like Bobrisky, Tonye Pela and Pelsi International across social media and ask them for their skin routines, but we criticize Blac Chyna to conjure up some admirable levels of purist hypocrisy. That's however not the issue now. The issue is how we keep blaming colorism for our poor bleaching choices and not the vanity of adulation and being th cynosure of all eyes. Colorism is an issue, but what gives it importance is mostly vanity. Let's examine the problem as a whole first... The bleaching problem Over the past 8 years, Nigerian comedians and social media bants have bodied the light-skinned trend amongst Nigerian millennials to intensify the stigma that built up over the 20 years preceding 2010. The formulated laiskin is now a colloquialism of lighthearted importance. Theres a madness going on. You can barely walk 100 meters a day in major Nigerian cities without seeing a fake light-skinned person. Out of the 30 light-skinned Nigerians you encounter a day, your mind fixates on at least, 10 to examine for evidence of bleaching and color-blocking on body parts; the blatant discord amongst the body colours with facial colors reddening while the body remains yellow or ivory fascinating. You almost get to ask the worried custodian of your mind where these people get the guts to walk around their youths and mess their futures up with that obsession with bleaching to become Grandma/Grandpa smelly in 50 years. The only thing saving a lot of people is the cloth on their backs; protecting both us, the onlookers and they, the bearers from the utter eyesore of their gradually rotting skin that near conjures the putrid smell only a bad egg can generate. Asides bad skin, the health risks are documented. You people need help. Nonetheless, certain people are proud of their perfect skin tone and would-be a transformation from a dark-skinned person to a shiny bororo. Kemisola, 50, tells Pulse that, I was in my 20s when I started using lightening cream because I also wanted to be the cynosure of all eyes whenever I walked past. Men used to like light-skinned women then. She continues, For some of my friends though, it was accidental. They started using creams to polish their skins which ended up bleaching. They couldnt stop because it would have ruined their bodies. And no, it wasnt Tura. It didnt start now, however. The slay mamas of the 80s and 90s were also accused of bleaching just like certain male kings of the silver screen. ALSO READ: Why are so many Nigerian bleaching? Tura soap and blue-headed lotion combo didnt become a household thing for nothing. There was a process and a reputation forged in the hands of evil blacksmiths, chiseling great skins into weapons of timeless odor wars. Destinies were being ruined and nobody realized. A lot of people now look like Mother Gagoo or pre-touch mosaic without the nails or mesh. Thank God for iPhone Cameras and foundation, it would have been a bloodbath. Speaking to another lady who bleaches, Ruby (fake name), a 25-year-old Banker says she bleached because she felt a lighter skin tone would make her more attractive. For someone like Nigerian cross-dresser Bobrisky though, he wrote in a 2017 social media post that he bleached because it was his hustle. He also claimed he was proud of it, telling other people to find their hustle. At least someone is owning it Posting a picture of when he still had a darker skin tone, he writes, Some of u all will still say I bleached my skin lol? Yes, I bleached my skin and am happy? cos that is one of my most income? coming in into my account because I sell my cream to people. Hate or love, is known over 20 countries if not worldwide. Another subject, Vivian, 23, a call-girl speaks in pidgin, I been bleach am (her skin) because of customers dey like light-skinned women with big baka (ass). When I first come Akure, na only 3k per day I dey make. Now, na like 7k every day. However, the 'elites' still blame colorism Since the issue of Blac Chyna broke, Nigerians have been on interactive platform, Twitter directly stating or implying that bleaching is a direct implication of colorism. See some tweets here; In similar fashion, a March 4, 2018 article by Nigerian feminist and writer, Cisi Eze for Bella Naija seemed to discuss colorism as internalized racism which contributes to phenomena like bleaching. She wasnt entirely wrong. Colorism is a Nigerian problem, nigh a global problem. Racism informs colorism and even African-Americans bleach these days. Case in point: Blac Chyna. Asides that, that 2002 HG Zero Mercury survey placed India at number one with an estimated annual consumption of bleaching products running into over 700 million. We cannot deny the problem with colorism. In the testimonies of Pulses subjects for this article is the subtle or even pronounced influence of colorism. In that article, Cisi Eze noted how the movie industry sometimes places a sizeable onus on skin tone before employment or casting. In similar fashion, a Nigerian company recently released a job ad where it specifically requested a light-skinned woman for a front-desk role. It got bashed for it. In the cadre of consideration for opportunities, placing lighter skin tones on priority lists is a sad reality, in a country already robbed of promises of unity by systemic tribalism. Just as blaming colorism on white people and effects of colonialism is severely myopic, as it preaches a victim complex and a revenge plot against colonialists, blaming bleaching entirely on colorism is severely lazy and myopic. ALSO READ: Why is paternity fraud high in Nigeria? The answer to this is complex We might never be able to separate colorism from bleaching, but there are concepts of lazy choicesand vanity People should accept some responsibility for bleaching, colorism isn't a human that forced them to bleach while wielding a gun. The persuasive factor, even amidst colorism is vanity, expressed via lazy choice. Just like people are bleaching and blaming it on colorism, dark-skinned people are excelling and #MelaninPopping has become a social media trend that even yellow-bone women now aspire to. In the field where a bleacher has chosen the strategic shortcut to acceptance, dark-skinned people have also succeeded. Screaming colorism as the fundamental reason to bleaching is lazy. A lot of people have not even stopped to examine the true extent of this, colorism. Theyve just conjured up this world where colorism makes them the victims and not perpetrators of this bleaching madness. A light-skinned woman might be striking, but youll find men and women who prioritize darker skin tones in the opposite sex. People like what they like, we have just elevated lighter skin to a pedestal of importance without true evaluation. In fact, lighter skin tones get objectified these days and called abusive names like, bororo, yellow paw-paw and other light-hearted nigh derogatory attachments. When it comes down to it, colorism isnt the reason you bleach, its the excuse you chose to preach. A lot of people want millions, yet are still making an honest living either for fear of being caught or fear of conscience. Your vanity and thirst for adulation or even competition are why you bleach. There is no frustration to it. Even in the movie industry or showbiz in general, dark-skinned actors and vixens thrive in the thousands. Just like companies crave light-skinned women, companies employ dark-skinned women. In such a case lies the ground for choice and a prerogative. Thousands of companies more dont have such standards. Your vanity to be more attractive with people of the opposite sex flocking around you and to have more vain confidence in yourself is why you bleach. Society appreciates both light and dark skin tones in equal measure. Beauty has never been limited to one skin tone, neither has there ever been a preponderance of beauty to one skin tone. The need to be accepted and 'adored' is why you bleach, not colorism and it reeks of severe self-esteem issues. We have all just neglected that a lot of people like light-skin and place a premium on it, just like others like darker skin tones with a near fascist declaration that only dark-skinned women can be beautiful. Rich fabrics and clean finishes with a touch of edge come to play in this collection as the brand caters to different brides with different tastes and different forms. The collection which is called VRAI, a French interpretation for TRUE essentially depicts how every woman should remain true to their essence, their sense of style and personality most especially on their wedding day. The collection features classical ball dresses, stand-out sweet heart necklines, as well as reception bridal dresses in black with corset detailing, rose petalled detail ball dress and a peplum jumpsuit. The best part of the collection is that it is tailored for comfort. ece-auto-gen ece-auto-gen Credits Designer- Otra by Becca @otrabybecca Model- Anto Lecky @antolecky Photographer- Klala Photography @klalaphotography Creative Direction- Tosin Ogundadegbe @thestyleinfidel In 2015, Mike tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend. Shortly after, they gave birth to a bouncing baby girl. Mike's marriage could have been a fairy tale, but two years later, through a series of unfortunate events, Mike found out that the child he called his daughter wasn't his. His world crashed in an instant. To deal with the pain of knowing that the little girl in his house wasn't his, he moved to South Africa. While Mike found out early on in his marriage, some men, unfortunately, discover that they have raised another man's child much late in their lives. In February 2017, a Nigerian man identified as Oscar found out that 32-year-old Valentine wasn't his biological son. The clip was from the Jeremy Kyle Show in the United Kingdom which later went viral. The two stories above are examples of paternity fraud. Paternity fraud is when a mother deliberately misidentifies her partner as the biological father of her child. If you let the Internet tell it, paternity fraud is high in Nigeria backed up with unverified stats. This leads Pulse to ask an expert if paternity fraud is truly high or is it one of the fake news stories online. ALSO READ: Man discovers all his kids are not his Fake News? "Nigeria ranks high in paternity fraud. The current statistic for this puts Nigeria as the second highest in the world with around 30% of cases of paternity fraud in the population" Abasi Ene-Obong, CEO and Co-founder of Stack Diagnostics tells Pulse. The 30% statistic (or 3 out of 10 Nigerian fathers) is not new. Within the last couple of years, this statistic has bubbled to the surface in social media conversations. While experts believe that paternity fraud is high in Nigeria, there is a problem holding on to the 30% data as the gospel truth. Ene-Obong explains further, "As with most health-based statistics in Nigeria, they are either under-reported or exaggerated because the problem typically lies in how the sample is collected. It is possible that there was some sampling bias to this 30% number but even for sampling biases, that number is quite high." For now, 30% is what we have to work with. "We can't actually be sure of this. It is a possibility if you take the study at face value because 30% equates to 3 out of 10" says Ene-Obong. According to him "it isn't fake news but at the same time, the only way we can know for sure is if an independent study is done that seeks to eliminate sampling biases. "In other words, the only study we have about this phenomenon puts it at 3 out of 10, so to a large extent that is factual. An independent study that shows us less or more will also be factual and will dispel the 30% number." Why is paternity fraud high? "I won't comment on whether spouses cheat or not. But I will say access to paternity tests in Nigeria is very limited, and where available, costs are high. This certainly enables paternity fraud" explains Ene-Obong. A paternity test at Diagnose Me, a genetic and specialist service provider in Africa, goes for N80,000 ($220.06). With this high cost, male partners and husbands do not necessarily consider doing paternity tests for their kids until the need arises. And when does this need arise? Paternity tests in Nigeria are usually done for immigration reasons, health reasons or when there is a clear indication or strong suspicion that a female partner or wife has been unfaithful. As sensationalist as it sounds, paternity fraud is caused by women who cheat on their husbands. Yet, there is a dissatisfaction with this answer to a phenomenon that suspiciously feels multi-layered. In troll fashion, some have been quick to point at a shady news article from 2012 that claims that Nigerian women are the most unfaithful in the world. The reported survey was allegedly carried out by Durex, the famous condom brand. Pulse has reached out to Durex to confirm if the reported survey is true. Durex is yet to respond. Dr. Abiodun Salami, Chief Medical Director, DNA Centre, Lagos in an interview with Vanguard in 2012 gave his reasons why paternity fraud is high in Nigeria. Recent trends in sexual health especially in Nigeria suggest that unprotected sex and multiple partners relationships are a common occurrence. Another issue is poor family planning among women. Most first born pregnancies are still unplanned he says. Salami further says I have seen and discussed with women who for one reason or other decide in their own wisdom to give another mans child to their husbands without the husbands knowledge. A 2018 global family planning report by International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP), Nigeria has recorded over 1.3 million unwanted pregnancies this year so far. Also, only 13.8% of Nigerian women use contraceptives in the year under review. A Nigerian feminist by the name of Damilola Marcus offers a complex mix of reasons for the paternity fraud phenomenon in the country. "It might be tied to our very strong cultural inclination towards reproduction and lineage longevity. Expanding the family unit as a prerequisite for social acceptance may be a cause. "Our criminalisation of abortion may be an added factor... It may lead to more people having to find other ways to deal with pregnancy as a complication from infidelity or fornication (sex outside of marriage)... which means it can also be linked with pressure on women to marry and procreate only within marriage as well as be linked to our obsession with purity culture particularly in women" she says. Marcus offers another reason for paternity fraud in Nigeria. "It can also be linked with women's predisposition by socialisation to protect men's reputation added to our ignorance of reproductive issues. We basically have women protecting their husband's 'masculinity' by giving him a child that isn't his. Our stigmatisation of adoption is also a factor." According to a 2018 research, sperm counts of men in Africa have seen a decline over half a century now with Nigerian men taking the lead. The study also found that the possible major causes are poorly treated sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and hormonal abnormalities, consumption of excessive alcohol and tobacco smoking. Dr Abayomi Ajayi, a consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist told news website Leadership that "12% of men who visit clinics in Nigeria do not have sperm even though they have semen." A storyline of many Nollywood home videos, some women whose husbands are infertile step out of their marital homes to get pregnant. This is done so as to protect their husbands reputation as fertile studs. In Africa, when a couple struggles to give birth, the wife is considered to be barren first. That a man might be shooting blanks is an afterthought that is usually whispered. Even with advances in medical science, the patriarchal African society still considers it a taboo to speak about a man coming up in short in the baby making department. ALSO READ: Architect confesses that he is addicted to sleeping with married women With an immense pressure of Nigerian women to display the fruit of her womb, some get other men to do deliver the goods. The underlying factor in this topic is cheating. While Nigeria's patriarchal society might raise pitchforks and want to slam adulterous Nigerian women, we have to know that cheating is not only exclusive to them. Nigerian men cheat too and if you let Nigerian women tell it, a whole lot. The phrases 'men are scum' and 'Yoruba demon' were birthed from the philandering ways of Nigerian men. Even men in marriages are not seemingly held back by their vows. On Twitter NG, single ladies bemoan how married Nigerian men slide into their DMs frequently. Men, who normally dont get reprimanded for cheating, are not life bearers and pregnancy is not an outcome of their adulterous ways. For women who step out of their marriage, pregnancy is a very possible outcome. Focusing on just the transgressions of women is purely patriarchal. Does this mean what these wives have done is justifiable? No. But if we are stressing the issue of paternity fraud then we should express equal outrage on Nigerian husbands who cheat too 26-year-old Teni (not real name), an accountant tells Pulse. Should you have paternity tests done on your children? Abasi Ene-Obong offers his advice. "Love is the key and if there's anything possibly standing in the way of giving love to your children you should remove it. Sometimes that thing is doubt that the child is really yours. Some men love their children regardless and a paternity test won't change that. The biological father isn't always the same thing as a father, and what children really need is just 'father'. The former vice president, who clocks 72 on November 25, also called on Nigerians to support the families left behind by military officers who died in service. Atiku stated this in a condolence message he posted on his Twitter account following the recent attack that happened in Metele, Borno State, that led to loss of lives of officers of the 157 task force batalion. He said "These deaths are very painful and the loss of even one member of our armed forces pierces my heart because these heroes did not have to die. They volunteered to do a job that keeps this nation safe. "These men and women gave their best and we must reciprocate their sacrificial giving. Therefore, instead of celebrating my birthday this year, which is coming up in a few days, I choose to rather celebrate our fallen heroes,"he added. He also pledged to provide financial scholarship to five children of the fallen heroes of the 157 task force battalion up to university level at the American University of Nigeria, Yola. The South Side stores will close in February despite efforts by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other city officials to persuade Target to do otherwise. Corporate officials said the decision was "difficult" but came after years of declining financial performance at the two stores. At the same time, Target continues to expand in Chicago's more affluent downtown and North Side neighborhoods. According to the CSIS Transnational Threats Project report, titled "The Evolution of the Salafi-Jihadist Threat: Current and Future Challenges from the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, and Other Groups", the terrorists are spread across three groups, Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and Ansaru. The report constructed a data set of terrorist groups and fighters from 1980 to 2018 and estimated Nigeria's number of terrorist fighters to be between 3,450 and 6,900. ece-auto-gen Other countries with the highest number of terrorist fighters include Syria (between 43,650 and 70,550 fighters), Afghanistan (between 27,000 and 64,060), Pakistan (between 17,900 and 39,540), Iraq (between 10,000 and 15,000), and Somalia (between 3,095 and 7,240). President Muhammadu Buhari declared in 2015 that Boko Haram had been technically defeated, but the CSIS report noted that Nigeria still belongs in the group of countries experiencing significant violence due to terrorist activities, most notably from Boko Haram and ISWAP. ece-auto-gen Boko Haram's insurgency escalated in 2009 after a crackdown by security operatives led to the death of hundreds and the extra-judicial killing of its spiritual leader, Mohammed Yusuf. Under the leadership of Abubakar Shekau, the group has killed tens of thousands of Nigerians as well as displaced millions who are scattered in internally displaced person's camps. The group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in 2015, after which Shekau's brutal leadership style was questioned and internal strife led to a factional group, ISWAP, breaking away to be led by Yusuf's son, Abu Musab al-Barnawi. The report read, "In 2016, Islamic State leaders in Syria and Iraq endorsed a schism within the organization, siding against Shekau and in favor of al-Barnawi. "In August 2016, an Islamic State newsletter published an interview with al-Barnawi that broke with Shekau and discouraged violence against Muslim civilians. "Implicitly criticizing Shekau and his support for needless violence, al-Barnawi remarked that 'the (Islamic) State has forbidden targeting the mass of people who belong to Islam, and it is innocent of that action. "Al-Barnawi then explained that the group would focus on targeting Christians and the Nigerian state." Roughly three quarters of ISWAP's over 400 terrorist attacks in 2015 took place in Nigeria, according to the report. ece-auto-gen Ansaru also started as a Boko Haram faction and became officially independent in 2012. The group is more ideologically-aligned to Al-Qaedaand known for kidnapping and killing foreigners. Ansaru has been largely dormant since 2015 and its leader, Khalid Barnawi, was arrested by security operatives in 2016. He's been charged with the kidnapping and killing of 10 foreigners. The CSIS report also disclosed that Boko Haram had used drones for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in Nigeria and Cameroon in 2017. The report noted that most countries, including Nigeria, who are most impacted by terrorist activities are at or near the bottom 10% of countries worldwide in terms of government effectiveness. "Most are also in the bottom 10% of countries worldwide in other governance indicators, such as control of corruption," the report read. ece-auto-gen The report concluded that poor governance indicators make it difficult to be confident that terrorism and insurgency will end in the foreseeable future. The CSIS report comes just days after the Nigerian Army raised alarm over the emergence of a new terrorist group, identified as Jama'Atu Nus'Ratul-Islami Wal-Muslimina, in the northeast region. While Jonathan was president, terrorists invaded the premises of Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok, Borno State, and kidnapped 276 female students from the school hostel. Jonathan's initial lukewarm reaction to the abduction was widely-criticised and this worsened after the situation gained global attention that led to foreign governments, including the U.S., offering to help in the rescue of the girls. In his new book, titled 'My Transition Hours', the former president said even though Obama's administration lent its security services towards rescuing the girls, he also tactically set his administration up for failure in the pursuit of the girls' freedom. He said Obama's administration refused to sell military hardware to Nigeria's Armed Forces and frustrated efforts of his administration to get the weapons from Israel. He said, "As an aside, while thanking the men and women of the US security services who were deployed to Nigeria and toiled day and night in the Northeast in search of the Chibok Girls, my surprise at the role played by the then U.S. President Barack Obama, still calls to doubt his genuine intentions for Nigeria. "For some strange reasons, the Obama administration had tactically pencilled Nigeria and my administration for failure. Amongst many manoeuvres, was the refusal to provide any real military backing to Nigeria's Armed Forces. "President Obama and his security adviser, Susan Rice, bluntly refused to sell any military hardware including jet fighters and attack helicopters to Nigeria. "Obama cited the Leahy Law as the reason his regime prevented the American Government from supporting Nigeria in providing weapons to fight Boko Haram. "Even when the State of Israel expressed the willingness to sell attack helicopters to Nigeria, the gesture was frustrated by the Obama administration that kept waving the same Leahy Law like a banner. "My administration, including a team of international partners with their respective governments, devoted considerable amount of resources in the search and rescue of the girls." Over four years after the high profile abduction, 112 of the girls remain in captivity as many of them escaped from the terrorists or were released to the government after negotiations. Jonathan says Obama humiliated him during 2015 elections In another chapter of the book, Jonathan also disclosed that he felt humiliated by Obama's interference in Nigeria's 2015 elections which he lost to current president, Muhammadu Buhari. ece-auto-gen The 61-year-old said Obama's decision to send then-US Secretary of State, John Kerry, to press on the government after the elections were postponed by a few weeks was meddlesome. Jonathan further noted that Obama's 'unusual' video message where he spoke directly to the Nigerian people about the elections was a subtle attempt to influence the votes in favour of the opposition at the time to oust him from office. He wrote, "On March 23, 2015, President Obama himself took the unusual step of releasing a video message directly to Nigerians all but telling them how to vote. "In that video, Obama urged Nigerians to open the 'next chapter' by their votes. Those who understood subliminal language deciphered that he was prodding the electorate to vote for the opposition to form a new government. "The message was so condescending, it was as if Nigerians did not know what to do and needed an Obama to direct them. "In his message, he said, 'All Nigerians must be able to cast their votes without intimidation or fear,' yet his government was vehemently and publicly against the postponement of the elections to enable our military defeat Boko Haram and prevent them from intimidating voters. This was the height of hypocrisy!" Jonathan said Obama's actions as well as that of other foreign powers like the United Kingdom's then-Prime Minister, David Cameron, were fueled by "deeper political interests". He ended up losing the election to Buhari by more than 2.5 million votes, the first time an incumbent lost a presidential election to an opposition candidate in Nigeria. One of our achievements in office is the resolve to have permanent secretaries at the councils and the bill is currently before the assembly and we are sure it will be passed very soon. The state governor has assured me that as soon the bill gets to his table he would sign it into law without hesitation. I assure you that Cross River will be the first state in Nigeria to have this law. So, as a graduate, once you are recruited into the local government system, you will rise to the level of permanent secretary, he said. Adegen, who received an award of excellence during the ceremony, urged local government staff to work harder, noting that many innovations were being introduced to strengthen the third tier of the government. Speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Labour and Employment, Mr Effiong Umo, said that government was willing to partner with NULGE in ensuring a viable local government administration in the state. I want to assure you that in your struggle for autonomy, the state is solidly behind you. It was a WhatsApp message from one of my numerous contacts. The text had no hidden meanings from the first paragraph: Police say principal suspect in Offa robbery attack is dead, read the title. It was all I needed to end my mid-afternoon bird-watching and make the dash to my laptop downstairs to file and update the story. The prime suspect being referred to here is one Michael Adikwu, a dismissed police constable who vowed to haunt the force after his disgraceful exit in 2012. ece-auto-gen Adikwu was known for his blood-thirsty, trigger happy and dare-devil disposition. Those who knew him say he just loved to kill humans for the fun of it. In June, an unnamed police officer who spoke to Punch newspaperdescribed Adikwu as a former SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) operative at the Kwara State Police Command. He used to fraternise with robbers. There was a robbery that happened in Kwara State about six years ago. The robbers killed somebody and escaped. The police were able to arrest those robbers. "He collected money from those robbery suspects and released them. Later, the robbers were rearrested and they confessed that he aided their escape. He was arrested, tried in an orderly room trial and dismissed. "He was charged to court together with the robbery suspects and was in prison for three years. He and some of the robbers were able to manoeuvre their way out of the prison and formed a robbery gang." From the quote above, we can conclude that Adikwu was allegedly a very dangerous armed robber who leaned on the knowledge of inner workings of the police to wreak havoc on the society and strip people of their belongings; even if it meant ending their lives from point blank range. One of the 12 suspects of April 5, 2018 said it was Adikwu who killed all the police officers watching over the banks on the day. ece-auto-gen Suspect Ibikunle Ogunleye, aka Arrow, says Adikwu always told the rest of the gang that he had an axe to grind with the police for sacking him. The dismissed police officer, Michael (Adikwu), was shouting that day that the Nigerian police dismissed him, that they collect job from his hand, that he'll do them shege. That was the language he used," Arrow says. Another suspect identified as Ayoade Akinnibosun says Adikwu was the kind of gang leader who handed out rifles to everyone else. Michael came down from one Audi, there was a Nissan parked in front of us, he now came out of that Audi and threw his hands; we now saw him and parked at the back of that Nissan. He now came out and brought guns out of that Nissan, five AK-47s, and gave it to us. Then I shared it between the five of us inside our Benz", says Akinnibosun. ece-auto-gen According to sundry reports, Adikwu was the suspect who led the police to the arrestsof other Offa robbery suspects. Which begs the question: Why have him killed in police custody when he appears to have all the answers to the Offa robbery conundrum? Why kill the one suspect who, according to the police, was beginning to sing like a canary and who could help unravel the robbery case? According to police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, the biggest gang leader was Akinnibosun. It was Akinnibosun who named Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, as sponsors of the robbery gang, the police say. ece-auto-gen In any case, Adikwu perished with perhaps the biggest clue into unlocking this countrys biggest robbery case in a long while. It is trite in investigations of this nature that the principal or prime suspect be protected at all cost because he could come in handy as a star prosecution witness when trial commences. Why did the police allow Adikwu to die? How did he die? Was Adikwus death politically motivated? Did he die of natural causes, gunshot wounds? And why did the police initially deny that he was dead until it was time for his court appearance? In a nutshell, no one would have wanted Adikwu dead at this point unless they wanted to mess with investigations, which is probably what has happened. Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, dismissed the claim in a statement in Abuja on Thursday. According to him, Jonathans stance is absolutely untrue and that the facts on the ground today run contrary to his claim. He stated that President Muhammadu Buhari, in pursuit of the war against corruption, had set a number of local and international records, one of which was to call judicial officers in Nigeria to account. Not only that, this is the first time that top military commanders and Service Chiefs are brought to trial and convictions were achieved on account of corruption. Also, this is the first time a ruling party is convicting high profile citizens including former governors, who are members of same party. This is the first time the international community is acknowledging the efforts of a government of Nigeria in this regard as manifested by the selection of President Buhari by the African Union as the Anti-Corruption Champion of the continent. For the records, this is the first time a ruling party is investigating ranking officers of the administration, including some at the very top. In addition to the many firsts recorded by President Buharis administration, the government has introduced a lot of changes, considering that the laws relating to the fight against corruption cannot reasonably be static, he said. The presidential aide maintained that, in line with its aspiration to be ahead of the growing sophistication of corruption and financial crimes, the Buhari administration had initiated new legislations and proposed amendments to different sections of the law. He said such new legislations included; The Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Bill 2017; Anti-Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Bill 2017; Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Bill 2017 (NFIU); Proceeds of Crime Bill 2017; Public Interest Disclosure and Witness Protection Bill, 2017 and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2017. Owing to these efforts and support of all relevant stakeholders, Shehu said the NFIU Act had been passed and Buhari gave his assent on July 18. According to him, the administration is currently working with the legislature for an expedited passage of the Proceeds of Crimes Bill to make the anti-corruption war more effective. He also enjoined Nigerians to dismiss Jonathans boast that he, not Buhari, introduced schemes such as the Biometric Verification Number, BVN, Treasury Single Account, TSA and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS). Of what use is the announcement of good policies without the will to implement them? Since President Buhari assumed office, Nigerians are witnesses to the huge success recorded through the implementation of the TSA where some government agencies that had over the years remitted peanut or nothing at all are now periodically pumping billions into government coffers. Prominent among these remittances include the ones made by Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customers Service (NCS) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). While it is also true that the BVN was introduced in 2014 to ensure that all bank accounts have biometric identification of their owners, the lack of will and capacity under Dr Jonathan stalled implementation. Today, BVN covers nearly all bank accounts. There are still some individuals who have shielded their identity and are now afraid of enrolling on the BVN platform as this will expose them and their corrupt actions. The law is going after them, he said. He stated that the whistle-blower policy introduced by the Buhari administration had continued to serve as a veritable tool against corruption. Shehu disclosed that within six months of introducing the policy, over 5,000 reports were made through various channels, 365 actionable tips were received out of the 5,000 reports. He revealed that so far more than N200billionn had been recovered through the policy. As the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said on Thursday, the former President does not have the facts to claim that there was any serious effort on the part of his administration to fight corruption. As at May 29, 2015, when this administration came into office, the EFCC recovery account had only N19.5 billion as revealed by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General. After one year of the new anti-corruption drive by the Buhari administration, this figure had gone up to N279 billion, and since then a lot more has been recovered. Finally, as evidenced from a fleeting look at the book, the former President had nothing to say about his own achievements. If there was a recession, and yes we had a moment in it, was it due to one year of President Buharis government? In his efforts to blame everyone but himself for his failures, Dr Jonathan heaped the blame for the predictable economic recession on President Buhari, ignoring the seeds sown under him through mismanagement and the process set in firm roots for the decline of the economy. Evidently, he did nothing to avert the situation. The presidential aide reiterated that the recession in 2016 was caused by years of mismanagement and corruption. He stated that, in the 16 years of PDP and earlier than that, the country solely relied on oil, the price of which was as high as 140 dollars per barrel under their watch. Government simply reticulated oil revenue through personal spending by corrupt leaders, wasteful expenses and salaries; rather than investing in what would grow the economy. He said that there was no investment in infrastructure as Buhari is now doing in seaports, airports, power plants, railways, roads and housing. The presidential spokesman argued that the oil windfall for the country was mismanaged, and Nigerias greatest opportunity for growth was turned into a tragedy, adding that there were no savings. He said: And to compound the problem and compromise growth of the economy, the previous government borrowed heavily, owed contractors and international oil companies. When President Buhari came into power in 2015, the country had accumulated debt, which took it back to the level it was before the Paris Club Debt forgiveness. Nigeria did not have fiscal buffers to withstand an oil shock when oil prices fell to as low as 28 dollars. The oil shock should and could have been foreseen. When visionary Nigerians and economists foresaw this and warned of the dangers ahead, Dr Jonathan hounded such men as the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi 11 and Professor Chukwuma Soludo. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance under Dr Jonathans administration also warned and she was rebuffed. The resolution was sequel to a motion under matters of urgent public importance by Rep Zakari Mohammed (PDP-Kwara) at a plenary presided over by Speaker Yakubu Dogara in Abuja. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adikwu, a dismissed police constable who was said to have confessed to being the mastermind of the bloody robbery that left scores of people dead in the operation which involved five commercial banks on April 5, 2018, died on Wednesday. Moving the motion, Mohammed, who represents Baruten/Kaiama Federal Constituency of Kwara State, described the announcement of Adikwus death by the police as shocking. The House is aware that the police initially confirmed to the Attorney General of Kwara State through the Police Public Relations Officer, that the principal suspect was alive, in custody and was helping the police in the investigations of the robbery that led to the killing of 22 people and recovery of firearms that were carted aware. The Houe is concerned that it took the police so long to make the disclosure about the death of the principal suspect after denying its veracity as was reported in the media. The house is worried that there have been inconsistencies in the various statements by the police and the possible cover-up of this extra-judicial killing with the aim of tarnishing the image of some innocent individuals for political purposes, he said. The lawmaker, who noted that it was the fundamental duty of the police to protect lives and property of all citizens irrespective of political affiliation, said it was also the constitutional duty of this hallowed chamber to take action wherever such level of irresponsibility and recklessness of an important law enforcement agency such as the police have arisen in the course of investigations into a vicious crime. When Dogara, put the motion on a voice vote, the lawmakers unanimously adopted it. He mandated the House Committees on Police Affairs, Human Rights and Justice to carry out an investigative hearing into the facts surrounding the time and circumstances of the death of the suspect. The committees were charged to uncover the issues and questions as to when the suspect died, how he died, why the police denied the facts of his death, at what point the police leadership discovered the death of the suspect and why the police are covering up the facts. The legislators also directed the police to grant the state lawmakers access to their chambers. Senator Bassey Akpan disclosed in the plenary that the lawmakers were still unable to access their chambers in the state. "Security agents are still there. No legislator has been allowed in or out. We owe the people of Akwa Ibom this responsibility. It is not right. An injury to Akwa Ibom State is an injury to Nigeria," he said During the discussion on the issue, Senator Ahmed Kaita added, "If the police vacate the premises, the legislators will go in there with their supporters and create fracas. The police are only there to promote peace. Let us, as a Senate, verify the facts of this issue before taking any action." After the debate by several lawmakers, the senate president, Bukola Saraki, directed the Police authorities to vacate the premises and not prevent the legislators to have access to the chambers. In his policy document which he released to the public on Monday, November 19, 2018, Atiku said corruption poses critical challenges to Nigeria's economic and social development. "Corruption not only diverts resources from legitimate causes benecial to the society at large, but denies millions of people their fundamental freedoms and human rights. The challenges posed by systemic corruption contribute to the perpetuation of poverty and the hindering of economic opportunities," he said. The former vice president noted that despite the establishment of relevant anti-graft agencies by previous governments, the present one, led by Buhari, has been accused of serious nepotism, partisanship and lack of political will and the impartiality to deal decisively with corruption. He alleged that the Buhari-led administration's fight against corruption lacks transparency and allows for rules to be subverted without appropriate sanctions as there's no effective mechanism to enforce the laws of the nation. He also blamed the ineffectiveness of Buhari's anti-corruption war on weak anti-graft institutions which he said are inefcient, unresponsive, and susceptible to corruption. The former vice president concluded that the absence of a coordinated national anti-corruption strategy that fosters transparency and accountability in a non-partisan manner means that Buhari's fight against corruption cannot be trusted by Nigerians. How I'll fight corruption - Atiku To combat corruption, Atiku said his government would focus on building strong anti-corruption institutions that cannot be manipulated by personalities, while also establishing a culture of accountability, effectiveness, efciency and transparency. ece-auto-gen He said he would also ensure rigorous enforcement of judicious use of public resources, with zero tolerance for nepotism, corruption and poor management. Listing the steps his government would take, he said, "We shall: a. Strengthen the anti-corruption agencies to be totally independent of government interference and control, and delineate the functions of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Code of Conduct Bureau, Code of Conduct Tribunal and other law enforcement agencies; "b. Reinforce the abilities of the anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies through improved funding and improved conditions of service to enable the agencies perform optimally; "c. Encourage all anti-corruption agencies to enjoy a seamless and rancour-free relationship with the ofce of the Attorney General of the Federation in order to improve the efciency of the anti-corruption drive of the Federal Government; "d. Support and transform the capacity of the criminal justice system to deal with corruption and corrupt practices in a more efcient and effective way; and "e. Initiate measures aimed at changing public perception towards corrupt practices especially transferring of ill-gotten wealth to foreign accounts and jurisdictions through: "i. Improving the control and management of international borders by creating and training specialized units and border police to combat the illegal transfer of ill-gotten assets and properties. "ii. Increasing cooperation, strengthening of organizational, human and nancial resources of law enforcement departments in the observance, adherence and implementation of foreign treaties or conventions on corruption and the recovery and repatriation of proceeds of corruption." As part of immediate actions to combat corruption under his government, Atiku said he would launch a comprehensive National Anti-Corruption Strategy based on the rule of law, separation of powers, neutrality and non-partisanship so as to reposition and refocus all anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies within the rst 100 days in ofce. He said he would also set up a Major Corruption Case Monitoring and Review Committee for all major corruption cases under the Ofce of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. He said the committee would include Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the media as observers to ensure that selective investigation and prosecution of major corruption cases by all anti-corruption agencies is permanently eliminated. He also promised to review and expedite action on the passage of all existing and pending new laws or amendments to all anti-corruption laws currently in the National Assembly. How to prevent corruption - Atiku ece-auto-gen To cut down on the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria, Atiku said he would establish a reward system whereby a comprehensive review and increase of salaries of all public ofcers within the federal services, law enforcement and armed forces would be executed. He said the increments would be nanced through improved revenue income from reduced leakages. He also said the concept of "FAIR PAY for FAIR WORK" would be emphasised from the highest levels of government while also promising that all public workers would be adequately rewarded and compensated, thus providing the government with the moral authority to sanction errant public workers. How I'll sanction corruption - Atiku To make perpetrators of corruption serve as deterrents to others, Atiku promised that he would ensure adequate punishment is meted out to whoever is caught. He said he would do this by ensuring that judgments on corruption cases are fully followed through and enforced by the appropriate law enforcement agencies. He also said he would create special tribunals to try corruption cases sent to it by the relevant anti-corruption agencies as well as speed up judgments on outstanding cases of corruption and ensuring plea bargains are not abused. 2019 presidential election ece-auto-gen While next year's election, scheduled for February 16, 2019, is expected to be keenly-contested between Atiku and President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), they both face competition from other candidates including Donald Duke of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Obiageli Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), and Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC). Others are Tope Fasua of the Abundance Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP), Eunice Atuejide of the National Interest Party (NIP), Adesina Fagbenro-Byron of the Kowa Party (KP), Chike Ukaegbu of the Advanced Allied Party (AAP), Hamza Al-Mustapha of the People's Party of Nigeria (PPN), Obadiah Mailafia of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and many more. BON chairman, John Momoh, made the disclosure at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, November 22, 2018. According to him, the debates will hold at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja and will be broadcast live by all BON member radio and television stations across the country. The debates will also be streamed live across social media platforms. The two leading candidates for the election are President Buhari who's running with vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku, a former vice president, who's running with a former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, on the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). While next year's election, scheduled for February 16, 2019, is expected to be keenly-contested between Buhari and Atiku, they both face competition from other candidates including Donald Duke of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Obiageli Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), and Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC). 79 candidates will contest in the election, the highest number ever in Nigeria's electoral history. Not much is known about how many will be allowed to participate in the debate. Buhari's attendance doubtful ece-auto-gen It's unclear whether President Buhari will attend the debate as the Director-General of his campaign, Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed last week that he made the decision for him to not appear for the 2015 debate because it was deemed to be unnecessary. "I made that decision as the DG of the campaign that it was unnecessary. That it was better that he spoke to Nigerians as he went on the campaign. The debate does not offer the solution," the Minister of Transportation said. The president took part in presidential debates in the run up to the 2007 and 2011 presidential elections which he lost, but he failed to debate ahead of the 2015 election which he won. When questioned about if the president would show up for a debate this time around, Amaechi said the president's campaign committee would make a decision at a later date. He said, "What will inform that decision (to attend presidential debate) will be when we have sat as a campaign committee and we'll look at the issues. What do you want to debate about? "The campaign committee will make that decision when the time comes. We can't make that decision now." He later added, "I didn't say the president won't come. I said that when the time comes, we'll evaluate what the issues are." Police responding to a call about a burglary in progress in the home at the 4900 block of Bayview Drive arrived at see suspects fleeing in two vehicles, according to a Richton Park Police Department news release. While speaking about her candidacy during a CNN interview on Wednesday, November 21, 2018, the former Minister of Education said Nigerian leaders have no incentive to feel accountable to the people that put them in public office. To curb corruption if elected president, Ezekwesili said she'll deregulate the economy to prevent public officials access to use it for personal gains. She said she would also ensure that perpetrators would be punished to deter others from engaging in corrupt acts. She said, "Bad governance is so endemic when there are no expectations of results from those that govern society and, therefore, there's no demand for accountability. Even when there's demand for accountability, there's no incentive on the part of the people who govern to produce results. "I was one of the co-founders of Transparency International and we know that corruption is a tax on the poor and we already know that there are ways to tackle corruption. "You prevent opportunities for corruption, you reduce corruption. Part of what my agenda is is to deregulate the economy in the kind of way that public officials don't have too much presence in the economy to be able to utilise it for personal gain. "And also to complement the actions on the prevention side with a system that punishes corruption every time it happens because then you create a deterrence against that very malignant, cancerous action that has kept our country underdeveloped more than anything we could have imagined at independence." Of Nigeria's estimated 180 to 200 million-strong population, 88 million people live in extreme poverty, the highest in the world. 2019 presidential election The 2019 presidential election, scheduled for February 16, 2019, is billed to be closely-fought between President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). Alongside Ezekwesili in the chasing pack is Donald Duke of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), and Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC). Others are Tope Fasua of the Abundance Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP), Eunice Atuejide of the National Interest Party (NIP), Adesina Fagbenro-Byron of the Kowa Party (KP), Chike Ukaegbu of the Advanced Allied Party (AAP), Hamza Al-Mustapha of the People's Party of Nigeria (PPN), Obadiah Mailafia of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and many more. Fayemi said the February 16, 2019 election would present an opportunity for the zone to reciprocate Buhari's gestures by re-electing him. He also stressed that the administration of President Buhari addressed the trend of neglect the region suffered under former president, Goodluck Jonathan. He said, "Under President Jonathan, we saw how the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the minister of finance, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Chief of Staff to the President among others were all concentrated in just two zones in the South while the South-West was abandoned. "But when President Buhari came on board, he made a South-West person his Vice-President; the Minister of Works, Power and Housing is from this zone. The Minister of Health and other juicy positions were also allotted to the region. The Governor disclosed this while playing host to Ekiti Chapter of the Artisans, Traders and Allied Technicians' Association on Wednesday, November 21, 2018. Jonathan launched his book on Tuesday, November 20, 2018 in Abuja, with the paper back and hard cover versions now in bookstores near you. But hackers have not only latched onto the soft copy, they have edited the book to suit their narratives, Jonathan says. We have just been informed that a fake document contrived by mischief makers is being passed on as the e-version and hard copy of the just launched #MyTransitionHours, Jonathan wrote on his Twitter page. We advise the general public to ignore such publication as the chapters and contents are not the same as the book publicly presented two days ago in Abuja. Also, note that the e-copy of #MyTransitionHours is not being marketed, as such, the fake online version could only have been created by those out to deceive the unsuspecting public, Jonathan added. A scan through online versions of the book, which comes in PDF format, shows that My Transition Hours has been edited. 'Inaccurate information added' According to a report in Punch, some inaccurate information has been added to the original textwhile some vital information contained in the real book has been expunged. Punch adds that while the online, fake version is 254 pages long, the physical, authentic version contains 194 pages. Some chapters are also glaringly missing from the online version. ece-auto-gen Jonathans media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, has urged members of the public to be wary of the misinformation contained in the online version of the book. My Transition Hours has received plaudits and knocks from either side of Nigerias political divide, ahead of an election year in which incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is keen on retaining his throne. The book details Jonathan's accounts of the final moments of his first term. According to Duke who is contesting at the 2019 polls under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) platform, there is an issue of massive corruption to deal with as the flag bearer of the PDP. "Even if I had emerged as the PDP presidential flag bearer, and win the election, the huge baggage the party carries will not allow me to do well. "The corruption is huge. You need to be completely unshackled to perform amidst such obstacles without being pulled down," Donald Duke a former Cross River State governor says this on Thursday, November 22, 2018, while addressing reporters in Lagos. In a report by Vanguard News, he analysed that a majority of President Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) are individuals who crossed from the PDP. He reckons this is a reason why the incumbent has found it rough in his campaign against corruption. "You can see that President Muhammadu Buhari, with his stern stand on corruption, is still finding it difficult to navigate smoothly because it is the same corrupt persons that we are still battling. They simply joined APC from PDP," says Duke who is quoted by Vanguard. The SDP's presidential candidate has urged interest in a discussion around the center topics affecting Nigeria and avoid a repetition of past errors. ece-auto-gen Any bad decision can mean a disastrous period for the country. "2019 is around the corner. The choice that Nigerians make is what they have to live with. "I hope we dont descend into what happened in 2015, as I can see it coming again. We should talk about things that affect us. Those are levels we should elevate our campaigns to." On Tuesday, November 20, 2018, he released the text to mark his 61st birthday. The publication highlights the experiences of Jonathan while occupying the role of president, a period M.K.O's wife Zainab Duke-Abiola has described as the lowest moment of the country's political history. According to The Cable News, Zainab released a statement on Thursday, November 22, 2018. In her comments, she blames the ex-president for poor decisions. One of which has ensured that he is only able to take helicopter rides to visit mansions he owns in his village. "I think the only option left for Jonathan is to plead with God and Nigerians for forgiveness and until we forgive him, he should remain in his purgatory of lethargy. No amount of write-up can erase the fact that he took this great nation for granted. "The indeprecabilis question for Jonathan to answer is What did he do with the power Nigerians entrusted him with? Did he ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians or even the marginalized Niger Deltans? Did he even put drinking water in his own village? Are Jonathans village mansions accessible by road? Why does he charter helicopters to travel to his own village? Jonathan said corruption is not stealing and thereafter flagged off the looting spree of the treasury, which ultimately plunged Nigeria into recession when he left. Jonathan will go down in history as Nigerias worst political mistake," Zainab Duke-Abiola is quoted by The Cable. ALSO READ: Jonathan accuses Obama of setting him up to fail in rescue of Chibok Girls My Transition Hours, a bunch of lies In more comments, Zainab submits that President Jonathan was extremely incompetent and had been fixated on retaining power in the year 2015, but unfortunately lost to the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Jonathan reportedly instructed the People's Democratic Party (PDP) to print a single nomination form to make himself the sole candidate. "The book is a monumental manipulation of historical facts and figures. "Though President Jonathan conceded defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari after he lost the elections, he remained fixated on the presidency and did not want to believe that Nigerian voters swept him out of power because of his gross incompetence and ineptitude. "For the records, Jonathan lost the election because he made himself the sole candidate of the PDP despite his abysmal failure in governance. "We are putting a focus on the situation of trade, just to make sure that it grows, that it is stable and that this vision is shared by the principal actors," he said by telephone. "We have to encompass all the views to be able to find common ground for everyone," he said. The United States and China, the world's two largest economies, have an escalating trade war as US President Donald Trump vows to protect domestic industry as part of his "America First" philosophy. Trump has cast his G20 meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping as a deadline for Beijing to lessen trade barriers or face even more intense pressure. The Group of 20, a club formed a decade ago amid the economic crisis, accounts for 85 percent of global economic output. Faurie played down the importance of any final statement, quipping: "Sometimes we do such lengthy documents that people are a little bit lost in their reading." But he said a draft proposal by Argentina, which was still being hammered out, was "reasonable" and would emphasize stability as part of a "rational and positive outlook" on trade. Two other major summits this year, of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, both ended without customary joint statements. Host under economic pressure Faurie said Argentina, an emerging economy and the first South American host of the G20, was in a position to offer a "fresh approach" to world leaders. Argentina is leading the G20 as its center-right president, Mauricio Macri, presses ahead with spending cuts as part of a $56 billion International Monetary Fund bailout. The peso has lost nearly half of its value this year as Argentina copes with a yawning fiscal deficit and the effects of a severe drought. Faurie said the structural reforms, which have triggered boisterous street protests in Argentina, have gone in tandem with the G20 push for trade, which could help fill the coffers for emerging economies. "It is very important for us to have a sort of stabilization of trade, because we depend on this possibility of trade to have more production and to have more ... employment," he said. Milestone with Britain The G20 will be historic in marking symbolic reconciliation between Argentina and Britain, which went to war in 1982 over British-ruled islands in the South Atlantic known as the Falklands to Britain and the Malvinas to Argentina. In attending the summit, Theresa May will be the first sitting British prime minister to visit Buenos Aires since the war. Tony Blair briefly visited Argentina in 2001 when he crossed the Brazilian border at magnificent Iguacu Falls. Faurie said Argentina was committed to working more closely with Britain from trade to environmental preservation to better connecting Argentina to the islands, whose nearly 3,000 people are culturally linked to Britain. "We are trying to show that, besides the discussion of sovereignty over the Malvinas, we have a lot of other areas in bilateral relations and that we have to make them grow," he said. As for addressing the sovereignty of the islands -- which Britain refuses to negotiate -- Faurie said, "You have to be very patient." Argentina is leading the summit just as the other two Latin American members of the G20, Brazil and Mexico, go through presidential transitions in which the countries are shifting sharply to the right and left respectively. Faurie quickly dismissed any suggestion that the G20 was a bid by Argentina for Latin America's helm. He said he collaborated closely with Brazil and Mexico on pursuing the agenda and noted that Argentina invited neighboring Chile to the summit. Roads across the volcanic island of 850,000 people off southeast Africa remained blocked Wednesday by demonstrators, causing petrol stations to run low on fuel, and schools were closed for fear of violence. The protest movement, triggered by a 23-percent rise in the price of diesel in the past year, has come to encompass broader grievances about the rising cost of essentials and a rollback in public services in small-town and rural France. AFP For several nights running, youths armed with petrol bombs and stones have clashed with police, leaving 30 officers injured so far, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said. One officer lost his hand after a grenade accidentally went off in his car as it was being stoned by demonstrators, the authorities said. There was no figure available for the number of injured among the demonstrators. Peugeot factory at standstill Across France, two people have died and over 500 have been injured since protesters began erecting barricades on roads across the country on Saturday to try to force the government to cancel planned tax hikes on fuel. AFP On the mainland, the protests had begun to fizzle Wednesday but in La Reunion the situation remained tense, despite the government agreeing to freeze anti-pollution taxes on fuel on the island for three years. Griveaux blamed the violence on "gangs of youths" using the cover of the protests to "loot, sack and destroy" property and announced that police reinforcements were being sent from Paris. In mainland France, businesses are also feeling the pinch after five days of unrest. jpegMpeg4-1280x720A PSA Peugeot-Citroen factory in the eastern French town of Sochaux suspended production Wednesday because supply trucks carrying parts from Spain had been unable to get past one of the few remaining roadblocks. "It was very dangerous," one man tells AFP in halting French as he outlines his travels from Angola to Cuba, on to Brazil, then up through Central America and towards the US. The journey took many weeks. "Very hard," he says. This group says they are fleeing violence and political oppression at home -- but now face an uncertain future in the US where critics accuse the Trump administration of creating an increasingly hostile environment for refugees. On November 9, Trump issued a proclamation saying only those who enter the US at official checkpoints -- as opposed to sneaking across the border -- can apply for asylum. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the order, but Trump has vowed to take the matter to the Supreme Court, even though US law states anyone arriving in America may seek asylum regardless of where they entered. The president believes migrants are exploiting America's asylum laws and using them to emigrate to the US illegally. He cited a "massive increase in fear-of-persecution or torture claims" among immigrants as leading to a backlog of asylum cases, which can take years to fully adjudicate. "During that time, many released aliens fail to appear for hearings, do not comply with subsequent orders of removal, or are difficult to locate and remove," Trump said in his proclamation. 'Political gesture' AFP Though the people at the Holding Institute all claimed asylum at the point of entry at Laredo, Mike Smith, a Methodist pastor who runs the shelter, said he frequently helps asylum seekers who have crossed illegally. One of the justifications the Trump administration has used for putting up miles of barbed- and concertina-wire fences in places like Laredo is to corral migrants towards legal points of entry. Hundreds of people try to cross into the area around Laredo each day, and Smith sees no let up in the numbers. If anything, they are increasing. Trump's order is "purely a political gesture with no real teeth," he told AFP in an interview at the shelter this week. The fence and Trump's asylum order won't make a difference to the numbers of migrants, Smith said. They are "more of an emotional red flag to people who would want to cross legally or illegally, asylum seekers, refugees to show that this place is not welcoming." Human rights campaigners and other critics of the Trump crackdown say that by restricting asylum seekers to border crossing points -- which are already under enormous pressure -- the government is effectively shutting the door on people who may truly be fleeing for their lives. In 2018, border patrols registered more than 400,000 illegal border crossers, according to the Department of Homeland Security. And in the last five years, the number of those requesting asylum has increased by 2,000 percent, it said. Less than 10 percent of cases result in asylum being granted, the government says. Donations For the asylum seekers from Africa, the Holding Institute offers a welcome resting place, safety, shelter and warmth as cold weather sets in. The facility relies entirely on donations and, even though it is the only such shelter in the city providing housing, gets no money from the government. It has three staff workers and six volunteers, with a total annual operating budget of $140,000. One volunteer could be seen helping a young Angolan man look for a cheap bus fare to Portland, Maine, where he will head for his initial asylum hearing. Members of the Makonde tribe were accorded the honour of interacting with the visiting president to honour their acknowledged roots in Mozambique, where their forefathers are said to have migrated from in the 1930s. Speaking during a joint presser with President Uhuru Kenyatta, President Nyusi registered appreciation for the Gazette notice that officially documented the Makonde as Kenyans. "I've brought gratitude from the people of Mozambique to the government and people of Kenya for having declared the Makonde as the 43rd tribe," the Mozambican president stated. ece-auto-gen March to State House 300 members of the community treked from Kwale to State House in 2016 seeking to have the government issue them with IDs and they were granted the request by President Kenyatta. They participated in the 2017 General Election for the first time since their forefathers begun living in Kenya. In response, President Uhuru stated: "Their intergration into Kenyan society is living proof of our commitment to intergrate the people of the Republic of Kenya, Mozambique and ultimately Africa." He further explained that President Nyusi's state visit would serve to bolster plans to start importing petroleum gas and coal from the southern Africa state. ece-auto-gen Kenya-Mozambique Agreement The two presidents signed a treaty that will now allow Kenyans to travel to Mozambique without a visa. "We have agreed and signed an appropriate visa waiver framework between our two countries," Kenyatta conveyed. Residents thought that would resolve the issue, but theyre still dealing with potholes and a street that does not get plowed in the winter. Township Supervisor Maggie Crotty said the road has to be dedicated before it can be improved or maintained. In other words, ownership of the land has to be turned over to a public entity. A convicted murderer in the United States has finally given his confession, only to claim that he is responsible for over 90 murders in his lifetime. Samuel Little has already been given three life sentences for the murders of three women between 1987 and 1989, the Washington Post reports. Historically, the 78-year-old killer has said very little about his crimes. He remained largely under-the-radar for violent affairs throughout his life, with 26 arrests in 11 states between 1957 and 1975 for charges ranging from shoplifting to fraud. They have no reason to doubt him. In 2014, three cold cases were connected, rather miraculously, to Littles DNA. His was sentenced to life in prison for each of the previously unsolved murders, all which occurred in the 1980s. But when his DNA connected him to another unsolved murder in 2017, he was indicted on a charge in the crime and transferred to Texas. It was there that he struck up a lengthy conversation with Texas Ranger named James Holland. People for years have been trying to get a confession out of him, and James Holland is the one who finally got him to give that information, Bobby Bland, the Ector County district attorney, told the Associated Press. Little told Mr Holland that he was responsible for over 90 murders dating back as far as 1970 and as recently as 2013. And police, so far, believe him. They have no reason to doubt him. Hes given them correct information so far, said Washington Post writer Kyle Swenson. Law enforcement officials had already linked him to nine murders in five states since he was moved to Texas last year. But since the confession, police have linked Little to 30 unsolved crimes. If all 90 murders are linked to Little, it will make him the deadliest serial killer in the countrys history. As the evidence stacks up, Littles violent record trails just behind that Utah serial killer Gary Ridgway, who was responsible for the slayings of at least 49 proven victims. The 69-year-old confessed to at least 71 murders from 1982 to 2001, when he was eventually caught and sentenced to life in prison. Mr Swenson, who has worked extensively on the story, says the next question will be whether the states involved will bring criminal charges upon Little. Witnesses have died, evidence has been misplaced, memories are tattered at this point. So the only reason we know, conclusively, is because Little has started talking. Listen to the full interview with Kyle Swenson above. The Long Lunch with Lynda Hallinan, 12pm - 3pm on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the rova app on Android and iPhone. RadioLIVE. Housing, fuel prices and living costs are among the top concerns for New Zealanders, a new survey has revealed. The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor shows Kiwis are now more worried about rising fuel costs than they are about healthcare or poverty. Our survey was conducted when fuel prices were at their highest so New Zealanders were obviously feeling the impact, said Ipsos managing director Carin Hercock. The survey is conducted regularly, asking more than 600 New Zealanders to select from a list of 20 issues the ones they feel are the most important facing the country. Ms Hercock says the latest results are from the third survey conducted in 2018. Four of the top five issues are the same as those found in February and July 2018, although the issue of fuel prices has jumped ahead from 15th position in February to 8th position in July and is now in 2nd position. According to the Ipsos research, 31 percent of respondents believe fuel prices are an important issue. What are Kiwis most concerned about? Housing 45%, down 5 points Petrol prices 31%, up 15 points Cost of living 29%, up 3 points Healthcare 25%, down 6 points Poverty 24%, down 8 points Source: Results from Ipsos October survey, compared to July poll. The survey also asked Kiwis to score the current coalition government, receiving a 5.7 result out of a maximum score of 10 an increase of 0.3 percent since July 2018. Listen to the full interview with Carin Hercock above. The Long Lunch with Lynda Hallinan, 12pm - 3pm on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the rova app on Android and iPhone. RadioLIVE. Kyle Swenson, Washington Post writer on the chilling case of American serial killer, 78-year-old Samuel Little, who now claims he is responsible for 90 killings across the country from 1970 - 2013, which would make him the USAs most prolific serial killer of all time. New Zealand is likely seeing a significant decline in traditional religion, according to a religion expert. Peter Lineham, professor of history and religion at Massey University, says it is anecdotally evident that many people have just had it with religion. The respected academic, who will retire at the end the year, joined RadioLIVEs Mark Sainsbury to discuss how new age and traditional religions are evolving in the 21st century. Listen to the full interview with Peter Lineham above. Morning Talk with Mark Sainsbury, 9am - 12pm Weekdays and streaming live on 'rova' channel 9 - available on Android and iPhone. RadioLIVE. Italian supplier Sigma is to supply c2c with ETS90 ticket vending machines featuring large LED screens which can be used for infotainment and advertising. The contract is Sigmas first in the UK, having previously supplied c2cs parent company Trenitalia and Italo-NTV in its home market as well as the Athens ... GERMANY: The Lander of Brandenburg and Berlin are planning the joint award of a contract for the development and operation of hydrogen fuel cell powered trains on the RB27 Heidekrautbahn route. Kuwait conglomerate KIPCO is reportedly about to sell its controlling 60.50% stake in Middle East pay-TV operator OSN. On 8 August 2018, the Board of Directors of the Parent Company approved initiating an active plan to divest its entire interest in PMGL, KIPCO said in a statement to Arabian Business.Saudi investment company Mawarid Group owns the remainder of the pay-TV company, which is operated by Panther Media Group and based in Dubai. OSN saw a 10% drop in revenue for the third quarter of 2018, compared to the same period in 2017.In its Q3 earnings call, Anuj Rohtagi, director, group financial control at KIPCO said OSN is carrying out a careful review of various revenue opportunities and looking at cost rationalisation initiatives. This includes the El Farq low-cost, no contract offer in Saudi Arabia, which is to be rolled out in other markets across the Arab world.As a result of the review, a high double-digit or low triple digit range of savings in content cost is expected in 2019 that will help us build a trajectory of business in next five years, he said.In 2013, KIPCO hired Rothschild to evaluate strategic options for its pay-TV business, then valued at US$4.3 billion by Arqaam Capital. An offer of $3.2 billion for OSN was rejected in August of that year.Since then it has faced renewed competition from Qatars beIN Media and the rise of over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Last year it launched its own live TV and on-demand platform Wavo, and in February, OSN agreed the first partnership deal in the region with US streaming giant Netflix , allowing customers to access Netflix content via a new OSN set-top box. The land is currently zoned for industrial use. There are housing developments on two sides and an industrial park to the south. To the east is farmland, which could be developed if the village is able to expand McLean Boulevard to four lanes from Spring Street to Stearns Road. 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 , We're sorry, this article is not currently available Officials have said that one of the drawbacks of the port, as currently designed, is that cars and trucks trying to enter the area often experience lengthy delays because of the number of freight trains that pass through the area. Around 241 companies were sent for liquidation under the IBC by various NCLT benches and in only 58 cases have the resolution plans been accepted Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com The resolution of corporate debtors under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), nearly two years since its inception, is facing a significant challenge to resolve cases in a time-bound manner. Delays in the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) and the significant rise in the number of applications being moved against defaulting corporations, are a burden on the existing infrastructure of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), an Icra report has stated. the growing number of applications has already challenged the infrastructure of the NCLT, thereby raising concerns on the effectiveness of the resolution process if it continues to face significant delays, Abhishek Dafria, vice-president at Icra, said. As of November 12, 1,272 cases have been admitted under CIRP against companies, of which 973 are still undergoing the process, according to the Insolvency Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) website. Around 241 companies were sent for liquidation under the IBC by various NCLT benches and in only 58 cases have the resolution plans been accepted, the IBBI data shows. In certain instances, the final approval by the NCLT on the proposed resolution plan has also been delayed due to shortfall in the requisite bench strength, states Icra. In case of the top 12 large corporate defaulters, identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June 2017, there has been a resolution only in four cases. The other cases remain open even after 450 days since they were admitted by the NCLT (except for Era Infra Engineering). Delays in the top 12 corporate insolvency cases are estimated to have cost the banks Rs 4,000 crore of additional income due to the delays in the resolution process beyond the 270-day period, according to Icra. One of the main reasons for the delays in the CIRP is the significant number of litigation challenges to decisions taken by lenders. Some of the appeals are genuine, but in many cases appeals to the appellate tribunal or dissents by interest parties against certain decisions are frivolous and are in pursuit of undermining the competitive bidding process. Some of these entities have been entangled in litigations emerging out of new areas, such as factoring in late bids by resolution applicants, interpretation of Section 29A on eligibility of applicants, says Icra. Two recent examples of promoter interference include the CIRP for Uttam Galva Steels and its former promoter ArcelorMittal, and the Essar Steel and its former promoters, the Ruia family. The Ruias recently offered to pay its obligations (Rs 54.5 billion to clear out the dues, even after bankers had voted in favour of the bid and a resolution placed by ArcelorMittal). The CIRP process for Uttam Galva Steels was delayed as the former promoter made an offer to lenders to repay its dues, and cure its ineligibility under Section 29A, to bid for Essar Steels. There are delays even in the admission of a corporate debtor by the NCLT under the IBC, as the rules require the tribunal to admit or reject an application against a corporate debtor within 14 days of its submission. However, given the significant number of applications pending, the cases are taking significantly longer time to be admitted by the NCLT. Icras analysis finds that the average duration from the date of admission to the final approval by the NCLT liquidating a company is about 260 days, which could be shortened. At the end of September, there were 1,198 corporates admitted under the IBC, with 816 CIRPs initiated, according to IBBI. Of this, about 244 cases extended beyond the permitted timeline of 270 days and 163 cases took 180- 270 days to resolve, with CIRPs for the rest not extending beyond 180 days. Ensuring completion of the resolution process in a time-bound manner would strengthen the confidence in the IBC, encourage creditors to file applications earlier, protect the assets of the corporate debtors from deteriorating further, and enable lenders to enhance their earnings by redeploying the cash flows received through the resolution process, says Icra. 41 listed firms made 73 donations to gaushalas (cow shelters) and other cow-related charities over the last four years. The donations range from a few thousand rupees to a million. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com Firms engaged in activities ranging from power infrastructure to manufacturing tableware have one thing in common. They are all part of a trend in terms of one specific budget allocation as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) spends. They all donated money to gaushalas (cow shelters) and other cow-related charities over the last four years. Numbers from PRIME Database show that there have been 73 separate donations made by 41 different listed firms between 2014-15 and 2017-18. The donations range from a few thousand to million. For example, Genus Power Infrastructures donated Rs 11.7 lakh towards cow protection activities and programmes in 2014-15. Finance company Paisalo Digital donated Rs 1.95 crore towards mother cow welfare in the same year. La Opala RG, which manufactures glass tableware, including plates and dinner sets, donated half a million for the smooth running and maintenance of a gaushala in 2017-18, in addition to the earlier donations. There are some instances where specific examples are given where the activity seems aimed at capacity building and rural welfare such as when Excel Industries in 2014-15 said 5,000 cattle were vaccinated in collaboration with the panchayat samiti (a rural local governance body) and also helped fund artificial insemination of 50 cows from eight villages. But some companies provide less specific details and instead include spends as part of community-related activities, including the renovation of a bus stand, education, or sanitation. This makes it difficult to figure out how much money has been allocated to cow-related work specifically. The number of companies making such donations has peaked in 2017-18. There were 28 different listed entities which had some cow-related spend during the year. This is twice the number in the previous year. Animal welfare is one of the activities companies can fund through CSR. Schedule VII of the Companies Act, which makes CSR mandatory, mentions companies can spend money for ensuring environmental sustainability, ecological balance, protection of flora and fauna, animal welfare, agroforestry, conservation of natural resources, and maintaining quality of soil, air, and water. Cow welfare can also be covered under rural development. Development activists and social workers are not enthused with CSR funds being spent on gaushalas. In a poor and fund-starved country like India, corporate funds are better spent on projects and activities that improve life at the bottom of the economic pyramid..., says Swetank Mishra, who runs a developmental non-governmental organisation called Sahej. According to him, the money spent on gaushalas could buy mid-day meals for millions of poor children or even fund basic primary schools in the poorer districts of the country. The price of providing a single mid-day meal per child is under Rs 10, according to the ministry of human resource development figures. The total allocation to segments, which include at least one cow-related spend, is Rs 21.57 crore since 2014-15. The highest spend (Rs 920.8 lakh) was in 2017-18. Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of proxy advisor InGovern Research Services, suggested that mandatory allocations to CSR can weigh down on companies, and such allocations may not be the best way to meet development goals. They seem to be misdirected, he said. Emails were sent requesting comment to the 41 companies that made allocations to cow-related CSR activities over the last four years. None of them responded. When anyone mentions Cambodia, the one thing that comes to mind are the pics of Angkor Wat Temple. However, Rediff reader Niranjan Vaidya discovered there is much more to Cambodia. Scroll down to see some of his pictures. The royal palace in Phonm Penh: "Built in 1866, it is a relatively recent building in context of Cambodia," he writes. "It became the seat of power for the Khmer regime once the capital was moved from Angkor Wat." The Bayon temple: The second-most visited temple after Angkor Wat. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is famous for the 200 plus identical faces cut out of sandstone. An idol in Preh Ko: The lesser visited temples are equally enchanting with their intricate carvings and are architectural masterpieces in their own right. Niranjan Vaidya met this anxious young monk while touring the royal palace. He was on a tour to visit most of the important temples and monasteries in the country with his teacher, as a part of his curriculum. Tuk Tuk, the lifeline of Cambodia: The drivers are extremely tourist friendly and gracious. The rides are pretty cheap as well. Rice balls: Like most of South East Asia, delicious snacks are always around the corner. Preah Rup: Dedicated to Lord Shiva, this temple was built in 10th century. This temple is a different due to its colour, which comes from the combination of bricks and the sandstone. It also has a steep climb of almost 50m along the 100 odd steps. A lucky charm: An old monk has made this damp, dark corner of the temple her own. Beng Melea: Ruins around 60 km from the main temple cluster of Siem Reap are not flooded with tourists and takes you back in time. Neak Pean: A temple dedicate to Lord Shiva is surrounded by this huge manmade moat. "The silence and the ambience can get very eerie sometimes," says Niranjan. Palm fruit or ice apple: An excellent thirst quencher in the hot and humid weather. 'Although the tactical move to outflank the BJP fell through with New Delhi's decisive intervention and eventual dissolution of the state assembly, the PDP, NC and the Congress appeared to be more than satisfied.' 'They see the assembly dissolution as their 'great achievement'.' 'If one were to believe what they say, this was also their main objective,' reveals Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the doyen of Kashmiri commentators. IMAGE: National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party leaders Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti cobbled up an unlikely alliance that unnerved the Bharatiya Janata Party. For once -- just once -- in Kashmir history, it was the tail that wagged the proverbial dog to re-set the balance of forces on the state's notoriously murky political ground. Governor Satya Pal Malik was left with a Hobson's choice, on Wednesday, November 21, after an unlikely reconfiguration of political forces in Jammu and Kashmir leveled the ground for transfer of power from the BJP-ruled 'New Delhi' to a Valley-centric combination of mutually antagonistic groups, comprising the Peoples Democratic Party, the National Conference and the Congress. If the headcount on the floor of the 87-member state assembly were allowed to take place the conclusion was foregone: The PDP-Congress alliance backed by the NC would sail through comfortably. Definitive Arithmetic, however, has never mattered in J&K even when the law, morality and the Constitution warranted it. On the contrary, vaguely defined 'national interest' ultimately trumps it all and eventually wins the hand for whosoever happens to be in power at the Centre. Right from August 1953 when the then prime minister Sheikh Abdullah, enjoying total support in the state assembly, was unceremoniously 'dismissed' and put behind bars to November 21, 2018 when a numerically viable combination was summarily barred, at the threshold, from filling up the vacuum caused by the abrupt termination of the BJP-supported Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition earlier in June, it has been a one-sided story. The BJP's abrupt withdrawal of support to the PDP-led coalition halfway through its 6-year tenure morally warranted simultaneous dissolution of the fractured state assembly. For reasons not definitely known, neither Mehbooba exercised her Constitutional prerogative to recommend immediate dissolution of the House nor did the then governor N N Vohra suggest it to New Delhi. Legislators's loyalties came under increasing strain with unlikely claimants to power jumping into the forefront and throwing open counters to buy loyalties. Precisely, BJP ally Sajad Lone's Peoples Conference let the impression grow that he had the New Delhi's 'blessings' to go ahead, obviously with the support of the BJP's 25-member group of MLAs. These rumours gained currency after the recent civic elecions in which the voter turnout was uneven with a huge chunk of the electorate in the valley boycotting it. It was reliably learnt that Lone's side had so far succeeded in poaching about a dozen MLAs, mainly from the dissent-riddled PDP but a couple or so each also from the NC and the Congress. The rival side viewed as the BJP's proxy bid to recapture power and rule the state again at least until the next parliamentary election. Alarm bells rang across the board and traditional rivalries momentarily receded into the background. The top leadership of the PDP, NC and the Congress swung into action from Srinagar to New Delhi. It is reliably learnt that Ghulam Nabi Azad was not kept in the loop by his Congress party for whatever reason. Instead, Ambika Soni was drafted for the task. Locally, Omar and Mehbooba got in touch and both took advice from Dr Farooq Abdullah. The NC and the Congress offered the leadership of the legislative combination to the PDP whose former minister Altaf Bukhari emerged as the consensus choice. PDP MP Muzaffar Hussain Baig was angry at being skipped over and went public with his wrath against Mehbooba and support and sympathy for Sajad Lone. The rest is history. Although this tactical move to outflank the BJP fell through with New Delhi's decisive intervention and eventual dissolution of the state assembly, the PDP, NC and the Congress appeared to be more than satisfied. They see the assembly dissolution as their 'great achievement'. If one were to believe what they say, this was also their main objective. In the rumour-prone Kashmir valley, poaching of MLAs with the BJP's tacit support was creating uncertainty and sort of political scare in the ranks of the other parties, notably the PDP. Had the PDP, NC and Congress combination come into power, the contraption would have been born with a couple of congenital deformities: It would have had a 'Muslim face' and a 'Kashmir valley face' that would make it unacceptable to the Hindu-majority Jammu and Buddhist populated Ladakh regions. Also, its numerical viability could not be guaranteed forever, given that as it is, hunting ground for all the three remains the Kashmir valley. Each survives virtually at the expense of the other. That they were able to get together even momentarily and extract a significant political advantage out of the BJP is no mean achievement for them all. The PDP has been able to wash away a part of the 'ideological stink' by confronting its erstwhile ally, the BJP; the NC was craving for early dissolution of the assembly and that has been achieved without any cost; the Congress has got itself back into the reckoning after having been pulverised by the BJP in Jammu in the 2014 assembly and Parliamentary elections. The scenario after the 'event' suggests that governor's rule is most likely to be converted into President's Rule mid-December. That would enable holding of simultaneous elections to the state assembly and the Lok Sabha in 2019. The Jammu and Kashmir constitution mandates assembly polls within six months of dissolution of the House. 'The greatest loss from replacing the 126 Rafale proposal with the 2016 contract for 36 Rafales might not be the extra money paid, but the opportunity that India's aerospace industry lost of obtaining access to critical aviation technologies and manufacturing skills,' Ajai Shukla points out in the second of a three-part series. PART 1: From 155 million to 217 million, Rafale cost went up by 40% Photograph: Christophe Simon/Pool via Reuters In buying 36 Rafale fighters from the French vendor Dassault in September 2016, senior defence ministry sources indicate the Indian government is paying 40 per cent higher than the price quoted in 2012 for 126 Rafales. That deal was eventually aborted. Dassault had quoted 19.5 billion for 126 Rafale fighters, averaging 155 million per aircraft. Before that deal could be finalised, the National Democratic Alliance government purchased 36 Rafale fighters for 7.85 billion in September 2016. In other words, 217 million per aircraft -- 40 per cent higher than the earlier quote. Defending the 2016 contract against charges of overpaying, the government argued the new price included -- over the basic aircraft cost of 3.3 billion -- four additional elements not included in the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft tender. These are 'India-specific enhancements' to the Rafale avionics to boost its combat capability (1.7 billion), a weapons package (700 million), additional spares (1.8 billion) and logistical guarantees (350 million). Contrary to the government's argument, a detailed review of the request for proposal (RFP) for the MMRCA, issued on August 28, 2007, shows that the 211-page document stipulates the supply of weapons, along with the first 18 aircraft. 'It is essential that the direct flyaway aircraft be delivered with a full complement of weapons and the weapons package should be integral to the flyaway aircraft,' says the RFP. Part 1 of the RFP specifies the missiles and bombs to be supplied, such as 336 Active Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles, 168 All Aspect Missiles, etc. A separate section (Annexure IV to Appendix A) specifies the capabilities that the weapons must have. The BVR missiles are required to have a range 'greater than 60 km against targets flying at high altitude'. This range would point to a lesser missile than the 100 km-plus-range Meteor that MBDA is supplying with the 36 Rafales. In the air-to-ground weapons category, the 2007 RFP specifies a 'combination of stand-off weapons with ranges of 100-200 km [and] a war head of more than 250 kg'. This may or may not cover the SCALP (Systeme de Croisiere Autonome a Longue Portee) missile that is being supplied with the Rafale. While the 2016 contract may have incorporated a superior BVR missile like the Meteor, the 2007 RFP also clearly had a weapons component, which was factored into the 19.5 billion price. The government has argued that India-specific enhancements have raised the Rafale's price, including helmet mounted sights, radar warning receiver, radio altimeter, Doppler radar and cold start. The 2007 RFP contains all of these elements. Annexures II and III to Appendix A specify a high-end avionics suite, including AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, helmet mounted display sights, radar warning receiver, missile approach warning receiver and an airborne self-protection jammer. Indian Air Force sources explain there were Indian specific enhancements in both the Rafale configurations. The 2016 avionics might have had marginally improved capabilities, but with no significant effect on price. Spares and maintenance were an integral part of the 2007 RFP and were included in the 19.5 billion tag. Appendix D to the RFP stipulates detailed requirements for spare parts and maintenance facilities needed to support 126 Rafales, operating from three bases. 'The IAF would like to avoid dependence on the manufacturer in terms of factory repair. Thus all repairs are to be carried out by this [Depot Level Maintenance Facility set up in India},' says the RFP. The RFP specifies a detailed 'Manufacturer's Recommended List of Spares' (MRLS) needed to keep the 126 Rafales flying. 'MRLS to sustain the equipment for a period of five years will need to be provided.' This maintenance back-up is priced into Dassault's quote, in the same manner as in the 36-Rafale contract. The 2007 RFP also requires vendors to ensure a 75 per cent aircraft readiness across the fleet -- a requirement that the government claims to have paid an extra 350 million in the 2016 contract for 36 Rafales. The greatest loss from replacing the 126-Rafale proposal with the 2016 contract for 36 Rafales might not be the extra money paid, but the opportunity that India's aerospace industry lost of obtaining access to critical aviation technologies and manufacturing skills. The Request for Proposals (RFP, or tender) that the IAF floated in 2007 for 126 MMRCA, had detailed conditions that bound all competing vendors to transfer key aerospace technologies that would have proven invaluable to Indian scientists and technologies working on two futuristic fighter aircraft -- the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and the Tejas Mark II. However, the 7.85 billion purchase of 36 Rafales that Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi unexpectedly announced on April 10, 2015 in Paris made no provision for any design or manufacturing technology transfer. All that the IAF will get is fully built aircraft and the skills and technology to maintain them. The 2007 RFP imposed stringent conditions for transfer of technology (ToT) -- essential when 108 of the 126 aircraft bought are to be manufactured in India. The MMRCA procurement was based on guidelines issued by then defence minister A K Antony, who told the Defence Acquisition Council that the contract must give 'Indian defence industries an opportunity to grow to global scales'. The RFP is forthright in demanding ToT, with Annexure I to Appendix M stipulating 'key technologies' for transfer. The list includes 13 airframe technologies, such as super plastic forming, composite radomes and special coatings; nine engine technologies, including single crystal blades, thrust vectoring and radio crystallography; 21 avionics and communications technologies, such as weapon control radar, ring laser gyros and accelerometers; and 12 accessory technologies such as ejection seats. 'Technologies used shall be current, state of art as used in the contemporary systems... The ToT shall be comprehensive, covering all aspects of design, manufacturing know-how and detailed technical information... Design data shall include the details that are needed to analyse, carry out trouble shooting' of systems, stipulates Appendix M of the RFP. 'The Bidder should confirm in the proposal that all necessary Government approvals for ToT required for manufacture, repair/overhaul, upgrade and all the conditions indicated [above] are in place for the aircraft, engines and all its systems and components and that there would be no denial/delays in future for the ToT,' it says. The RFP makes exceptions for highly sensitive and high-value technologies that the vendor might not be willing to share. Categorising these as 'proprietary technologies', it states: 'The list of such items shall be far and few and generally restricted to components/processes specifically designed by the OEM for the licensed product.' If the government had signed the 126 MMRCA contract with Dassault on April 10, 2015 instead of announcing the 36 Rafale buy, the first squadron of 18 flyaway Rafales would be currently in delivery and completed by April 2019. According to the delivery schedule specified in the RFP, the first six Rafales would have been manufactured in India by April 2020, and all 126 fighters (six squadrons) would be in service by 2026. Now, however, the IAF will get just two squadrons of Rafales by late 2022. Another tender has been floated for 110 fighters, which seven global vendors have responded to. However, this could take years to even result in a contract. 'We should give azaadi to Jammu and Ladakh from the domination of Kashmir valley politics,' suggests Colonel Anil A Athale (retd). IMAGE: CRPF personnel salute slain constable Chandrika Prasad at a wreath-laying ceremony on the outskirts of Srinagar, November 19, 2018. Prasad was killed in a terrorist attack at Kakapora in Pulwama district, South Kashmir, the previous night. Photograph: S Irfan/PTI Photo The crux of the problem in the Kashmir valley is that some of the contesting parties are idealists and crave for a 'maximalist' solution. Let us take Pakistan first. It has inserted itself in the Kashmir issue on the basis of the Nehruvian blunder (of offering to take the issue to the United Nations) and unrest in the valley. Pakistan does not claim the valley alone, it wants the whole of Jammu and Kashmir, that includes Jammu and Ladakh, where there is zero support for secession. The Kashmiris similarly want the whole of J&K to either merge with Pakistan, become independent or part of the Islamic caliphate (the latest fad). It is only India that has a less than maximalist position de facto. Though de jure it claims the whole of the erstwhile state of J&K including Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Gilgit and Hunza. From a realistic perspective emerges a pragmatic strategy. The reality is that whatever the level of violence and disaffection in the valley, India has an iron grip over Kashmir. Pakistan lacks the military strength to take it by force, and even a proxy war. The Indian armed forces are capable of continuing in Kashmir indefinitely. The only way for Pakistan and the Kashmiris to attain their objective is if they can get popular support for their cause in India. Remember, America did not lose the Vietnam War on the battlefield, but in American drawing rooms where television images of the horror led to loss of popular support. At this moment and for the foreseeable future, one does not see Indian popular support wavering. Forget winning over Indians, let the separatists in the valley and their masters in Pakistan at least begin with gaining support in the 'other parts' of J&K. Given this kind of interlocking stalemate, it is time India just waited it out till better sense or fatigue makes the Kashmir valley amenable to peace within India. Till then India should concentrate on the peaceful areas of J&K for economic development and leave the valley alone to stew in its own juice. The thinking people in the Kashmir valley must ponder over the fact that the 'stone-pelting' model they have adopted from the Middle East is essentially a failed method. On the other hand, more pragmatic West Bank Palestinians are relatively peaceful. India has many times offered full autonomy within the Union but has always been spurned by the separatists. It is time for India to take the bold step of withdrawing our complaint from the UN and start treating the Kashmir issue as an internal problem of India. Once we are out of the UN's constraints, we should also look at trifurcation of J&K and give azaadi to Jammu and Ladakh from the domination of valley politics. Till the time better sense prevails in the valley, India must hold fast, reduce violence and wait out the Kashmiris. Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) -- a military historian specialising in counter-insurgency -- is a long-time Kashmir watcher. He is the author of Let the Jhelum Smile Again. Donald Trump's disrespect of the military is really incredible. He mocks the parents of a war hero as well as John McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He doesn't honor our WWI war dead in France because he might get his hair wet, and passes on visiting Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day because he's pouting over election losses. He sends more than 5,000 troops to our southern border to score points with his deplorable base. And he doesn't hesitate to weigh in with his criticism of General William McRaven for not getting Osama Bin Laden sooner. Trump is simply a fraud and a disgrace. And what's really incredible, we still people holding up "Veterans for Trump" signs at his absurd rallies. 'If two regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir find common ground to rule the state, they would have given a more stable and efficient government.' 'This was a good possibility of restoring peace in Kashmir.' 'If you really wanted to give peace a chance, we should have allowed them to form a government.' Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, November 21, saw a flurry of political activity as Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the state assembly shortly after rival alliances staked a claim to form the government. The governor's decision came as former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti staked a claim to form a government with the support of the Congress and the National Conference, while Sajjad Lone, leader of the People's Conference, also staked a claim to form a government with the support of the 25-strong Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party and 'more than 18' other lawmakers. The 87-member state assembly had been in suspended animation since the BJP withdrew support to the Mehbooba Mufti government in June. Amid the emerging political chaos, Professor Faizan Mustafa, vice- chancellor, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, a well-known Constitutional expert, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com that the governor should have ideally allowed the regional parties to form a government and should have encouraged it rather than opting for central rule. The governor's decision, Professor Mustafa says "can be challenged in the Supreme Court". Do you think the governor of Jammu and Kashmir did the right thing by dissolving the assembly? I read this morning that there was going to be some grand coalition of the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and the Congress. Now if this grand coalition was going to be formed, then they would have formed the government in J&K. So it looks like the governor's decision was politically motivated as the House was not dissolved for so many months and suddenly it was being done. The other thing is that J&K has a slightly different Constitution from our Constitution and according to it, governor's rule can be only for six months and this duration was coming to an end. If this was the case, then it is a fait accompli as no one was coming to forward to form the government and the governor could not go beyond six months, so there would be President's rule. But if this move has been done to stop the new coalition government from being formed, then this is not right, as ideally the governor should try to form a popular government. In your opinion, should the governor have waited till December when the six-month duration would have ended? The governor is not bound to wait. If the governor has taken a decision to dissolve the assembly with no political motivation, then his decision is right, and if he has taken this decision with some political motivation then it is not that great a decision. But such decisions of the governor in all the Indian states are invariably political and they accept the diktats of the Centre. The governor's office in India in the last 70 years has become political even though it should be a non-political one. Mehbooba Mufti was about to stake a claim to form the government when the assembly was dissolved. It means that this is a politically motivated decision of the governor and it goes against the spirit of the Constitution and against the decision of the Supreme Court in the S R Bommai case. The governor's decision is against democracy. In a democracy, at all points of time the job of the governor is to explore the possibility of the formation of a popular government. So if that possibility was created today and the governor dissolved the House, then this is not right. In fact, in the S R Bommai case, the Supreme Court said if the governor has dissolved the House in a malafide manner, then they may restore the House. So far, the Supreme Court has not restored the House in any case, but they can restore the House and they have that power. The governor can always say Mehbooba Mufti was trying to form an opportunistic alliance with the Congress and National Conference as these parties had fought against each other in the assembly election. Politics is the art of the possible. One day I can go with the BJP and on another day I can go with the Congress. Anything is possible in politics. Moreover, the BJP's alliance with the PDP was similarly unethical in J&K. The BJP has no face to claim that the Congress, PDP and NC alliance is unethical. These are regional parties and if they want to come together and give a stable government, I think it is a welcome move. The governor should have ideally allowed them to form the government and encouraged it rather than have central rule and have signs of dissatisfaction. If we have to follow (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee's policy of 'Insaniyat' and 'Kashmiriyat', then if two regional parties of Kashmir come together to form a government and we do not allow them to form a government, it means that we are not preaching what we claim we believe in. The National Conference and PDP fought on opposing ideologies and the people didn't give them a mandate. The BJP and PDP too fought against each other and then they formed a government. Such things happen in politics. I would appreciate it if two regional parties of Jammu and Kashmir find common ground to rule the state as they are rooted in Kashmir. They would have given a more stable and efficient government. This was a good possibility of restoring peace in Kashmir. In the last few years whatever little was achieved in a decade or so was lost and so many Kashmiris are feeling alienated. If you really wanted to give peace a chance, we should have allowed them to form a government. Can this decision be challenged in the Supreme Court? Yes, this can be challenged in the Supreme Court. In the S R Bommai case, the nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court said these are political decisions and (the court said) ideally political decisions should not be scrutinised but if there is a malafide intention, then the court will not only scrutinise, but even restore the dissolved assembly. 'You bust one module and another one comes up.' IMAGE: Police stand guard outside the Nirankari Bhavan prayer hall at Adliwal village on the outskirts of Amritsar, after a grenade blast attack on November 18, 2018. Photograph: Munish Sharma/Reuters On Wednesday, November 21, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced that the Punjab police had arrested one person for the grenade attack on the Nirankari Bhavan at Adliwal village near Amritsar in which three men were killed and 20 others injured. The Punjab CM also said it was evident that Pakistan had played a part in the attack, raising fears that terrorism would rear its ugly head in the state just as it had done in the 1980s. "A young boy who has not seen the worst days of terrorism in Punjab is still vulnerable. And this vulnerability of the young boys is either through social media or for money," C Pal Singh, retired inspector general of police, Punjab's rapid action force, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com. Do you believe that Pakistan engineered the grenade attack on the Nirankaris, and that it is a terror operation? I am very certain; it has been engineered and Pakistan is responsible for this terrorist attack on the Nirankaris. In fact, the Punjab police had busted a module earlier in June and subsequently two students from Jammu and Kashmir studying in a Jalandhar college admitted to being trained by the terrorist organisation under the control of Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). These students also indicated that they had links with Zakir Musa who has come to Jammu and Kashmir to start his own Al Qaeda organisation. Now Musa wants to create trouble in J&K and Punjab too. As for J&K terrorist organisations, they have shown allegiance to Zakir Musa, but as far as Punjab is concerned they have started indoctrinating some youth of Punjab through social media. In the process, some people have indulged (in terror activity) in Mohali six months ago and in Ludhiana too. One RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) worker was also killed and they (the police) traced it back to the ISI. It has been four days since the attack and so far only one person has been arrested. Is the Punjab police on the right track, you think? Broadly, the Punjab police has said that the attack was a terrorist attack and the module that perpetrated the attack has links to the ISI. They have also said they are working under the Khalistan Liberation Force. The KLF has one boy who has been working in Pakistan for long. He is known as Ilyas PhD. He was educated in Punjab and then ran away to Pakistan. The police has identified that this Amritsar terrorist attack happened because of him, but to identify which module was behind the attack will take some time. You bust one module and another one comes up. The Punjab police has busted 16 terrorist modules in the last six months, but a new module can surface at any time. A young boy who has not seen the worst days of terrorism in Punjab is still vulnerable. And this vulnerability of the young boys is either through social media or for money. Social media is available and as far as money is concerned it has got Khalistan footprints. Money comes from abroad. Now the question comes: Who is the specific person and specific module who did it? It takes time before we reach there, but I am sure the Punjab police will find them. They are competent in their job. IMAGE: Relatives mourn the death of Sandeep Singh at his funeral in Amritsar. Three men were killed and over 20 injured when two motorcycle-borne men threw a grenade at a religious congregation inside the Nirankari Bhavan prayer hall. Photograph: PTI Photo Is it possible that the attack is because of the differences within the community -- after all, the Nirankaris are not recognised as mainstream Sikhs? I am not ruling out this possibility. There is a grouse and this provides a fertile ground for any terrorist activity. And when you have divisive politics going on, these things give them further strength. If you go back to 2015, the sanctity of the Guru Granth Sahib's scripture was violated and neither the Akali government nor the Congress arrested the accused. The Akalis are blaming the Congress and they, in turn, are blaming the Akalis for not finding the accused. This leads to sentiments being hurt and that is always good ground for instigating terrorist activities. Whenever there is communal conflict, there is a natural fertile ground for terrorists to come in. Sikh extremist Gopal Singh Chawla, who is based in Pakistan, has been making anti-India statements. He also hobnobs with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's Muhammad Saeed, pointing to a link between them. These are people who belong to old groups like the Babbar Khalsa in Pakistan. Some people like Harmeet Singh are there and there are groups such as the Khalistan Zindabad Force and the International Sikh Youth Federation which are based in Pakistan. In any counter-terrorist attack activity you have to find out as so many modules come in like Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Tayiba in Kashmir. And when some terrorist activity takes place, everyone comes forward and takes credit. I am not sure how far Chawla is responsible for the Amritsar terrorist attack, but I am sure people like him are indoctrinating others through social media or some cells. They are influencing the youth by stating that their community is alienated. I don't think in the long run terrorists will succeed in Punjab. The younger generation though can commit some odd act, but the rural population in Punjab is not inclined to terrorism. Till last year Punjab was known more for its drugs problem thanks to its illegal import from Pakistan. So are terrorists now switching from drugs to weaponry? In the heyday of terrorism -- in the late 1980s -- there were many people who were smugglers and indulged in anti-social activities. They were always involved in drug smuggling and in the process if they got shot by security forces these drug smugglers used to say they are getting martyred for the sake of the Panth. These people are involved in doublespeak. IMAGE: A Punjab police SWAT team stands guard at the Hall Gate of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Security was beefed up in Punjab following the grenade attack. Photograph: PTI Photo Can Pakistan revive terrorism in Punjab as it did in the 1980s? My assessment is that Pakistan cannot revive terrorism in Pakistan. The conditions are totally different today. Punjab has made a lot of sacrifices and as I told you earlier, the rural population is not likely to be influenced, as they did during the times of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. It is not possible for Pakistan to create a separatist cadre inside Punjab now as they did in the 1980s. The story is different now. You know what ended terrorism in Punjab was not because the security forces acted firmly, not because we gathered good intelligence, not because we had consolidated and concerted effort to beat terrorist activities, but terrorism was defeated because the Punjab population sided with us. They were fed up of terrorism. One incident here and there can happen and here it depends on how India acts. We cannot go on accusing one party against another party and if we continue to do that we lose ground. Our divisive politics creates such problems. Would you say the Amritsar attack is a failure of the intelligence department as army chief General Bipin Rawat has said? General Rawat had some intelligence which can only come from border intelligence. A month ago, the NIA (National Investigation Agency) had said that the Khalistan Liberation Force must be banned in India; it is not yet a banned organisation. Zakir Musa appeared somewhere in February and it is well known that he has come to India. So Rawat must have been aware of this and he made this statement in a seminar which the media picked up. I am of the view that the failure is that we did not anticipate these terrorists would attack Nirankaris in Amritsar. You cannot have forces everywhere. Today it was Nirankaris, tomorrow it can be some other place. You cannot be sure of the place where the terrorists will attack. Terrorists have the advantage as they have to target only one place but we have to guard hundreds of places. Some Sikh groups abroad have started something called 'referendum 2020'? Who sponsors such activities? They are not popular so far. They have deeper footprints in the European Union and the United Kingdom. They immediately caught the imagination of the younger generation. We need to control social media and see that these kind (of divisive) groups don't gather any momentum in our country and start influencing our youth. Last time, there was Dr (Jagjit Singh) Chohan who created a sort of Khalistan government in exile. It was finished. These people are influential only outside. In our country they don't have a presence. They are targeting young people who are at an impressionable age. I have a feeling these things have to be dealt with tactfully. You cannot handle Punjabi youth in a volatile way as they are very volatile. We have to be careful. What happened during the days of Operation Blue Star and Operation Woodrose was that many youth got indoctrinated and went to Pakistan to come back (to spread terrorism). So we need to have a soft yet stern approach in dealing with the youth of Punjab. 'This government has huge respect for the Supreme Court and when there is going to be a hearing on the review petition, it is appropriate to refrain from taking any action till then.' IMAGE: Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam offers prayers at the Sabarimala shrine, November 19, 2018. Photograph: PTI Photo With each passing day, the atmosphere in Sabarimala gets more and more tense. With the Kerala police arresting alleged troublemakers in large numbers, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have started visiting the shrine regularly. The first central minister to travel to Sabarimala was Alphons Kannanthanam. "I was hugely disturbed. This is not how Sabarimala should be. It is a place of worship. This is not the way to handle a situation where public sentiment is concerned," the minister tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier. Sabarimala has been tense for some time. Why did it take so long for a BJP leader from New Delhi to come here? On the 11th of September, I was at Pampa to assess the infrastructure available for the pilgrims. I had warned the state government and the Devaswom Board that the facilities were hugely inadequate and they needed to act fast as there was only a few more days for the temple to open. When I visited the place again, I found that very little has been done to improve the facilities. I think the state government doesn't care. The Devaswom Board also doesn't care even though the situation at Nilakal is atrocious and Pampa is totally non-functional. We had given Rs 100 crores (Rs 1 billion) to develop the Sannidhanam and Pampa which was badly affected after the floods and improve facilities for the devotees, but they have done absolutely nothing. While they don't care about providing good facilities, they were eager to arrest devotees who were chanting devotional songs. This is dictatorial and not acceptable in a democracy. Was your visit only to find out whether the facilities for the devotees were improved? Yes. I came to see whether they have done anything to improve the facilities as I received several complaints from the pilgrims. So, I wanted to see first-hand. You were the sub-collector of Pathanamthitta in the early days of your bureaucratic career. What difference did you see at Sabarimala when you visited the place now? In 1981 when I was the sub-collector of Devikulam in Munnar, I had gone there. I saw only peace there then, but now, it has totally changed. With this (Kerala's Left Democratic Front) government creating all kinds of impediments for the devotees going there, they are perturbed and scared now. You don't experience calm today. This is not what Sabarimala is all about. Earlier, when I spoke to Ayyappa devotees, they used to tell me that they were going back home with a sense of calm and peace with the desire to come back again, and they were coming back again and again. Today, when I spoke to them, they said they were very unhappy with the way they were treated, and they would not come back again. This is a very sad situation. As a person from Kerala and as the tourism minister, what were your feelings after you came back from Sabarimala? I was hugely disturbed. This is not how Sabarimala should be. It's a place of worship. This is not the way to handle a situation where public sentiment is concerned. Where will this lead to? It will lead to a huge problem for the state. Kerala is a major tourism destination in India, and the state also gets huge revenue from tourism. As the tourism minister, I feel sad because Sabarimala is a major tourism destination in Kerala and the current situation will affect the image of Kerala in a bad way and tourism in a big way. State BJP leaders are actively participating in protests, but the Centre remains silent on the issue. Why? There are two issues here. I do not see any reason why Section 144 (of the Code of Criminal Procedure) should be imposed in Sabarimala at all. Here, devotees come and chant prayers to God. They are not terrorists, they are not extremists, they are not Naxalites; they are just Ayyappa bhaktas. So, why should 144 be declared? Now, devotees are being arrested on fake charges. What has happened is very unfortunate. On the question why the Centre is silent, as the matter is sub-judice, it is not appropriate for central ministers to comment on the Supreme Court verdict. Why don't central ministers speak when the state leaders from the Congress, BJP and CPI-M are either for or against the verdict? Once the matter is in the Supreme Court and a review petition is going to be heard in January, it is not right to comment on the issue. By the time the review petition is heard, the temple will be closed. Believers in Kerala are of the opinion that the central government doesn't care about what is happening in Sabarimala or Kerala... No... no. That's not true at all. It is not appropriate for anybody from the Centre to comment on the issue because the matter is with the Supreme Court. That's the only reason. The Congress leaders I spoke to said the Centre could come out with an ordinance for Sabarimala as Parliament is not in session... It is not a great idea to come out with an ordinance against the Supreme Court ruling. It is easy for those in the Opposition to shout slogans and make such comments, but I don't think it is the right thing to do. The Congress did it in the Shah Bano case and paid heavily for it. This government has huge respect for the Supreme Court and when there is going to be a hearing on the review petition, it is appropriate to refrain from taking any action till then. The Constitution is very clear; law and order is a state subject, and it is for the state government to decide how they want to handle the situation. If they are going ahead with anti-people decisions like imposing 144 and arresting innocent devotees, our party and the people of Kerala will respond in a way they should. The Election Commission on Thursday said fresh elections in Jammu and Kashmir would be held within the next six months even as it did not rule out the possibility of holding polls there before the Lok Sabha polls due next year. "The Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls must be held on the first occasion before May ... it could be held before parliament elections also," Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat said. He said as per the Supreme Court, the outer limit for holding fresh polls after dissolution of a house is six months, that is May, 2019. At the same time, he made it clear that the Commission will decide on poll dates after 'considering all aspects'. He said, SC verdict, an outcome of Presidential reference, also said polls will have to be held on the first occasion which means even before six months. He said the same principle was applied in Telangana where the assembly was dissolved prematurely. Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party said that the assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir should be conducted along with the 2019 general election. BJP's Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina said that the party has called for a meeting on Thursday with all of its MLAs to discuss the future course of action. "The Bharatiya Janata Party has called for an important meeting with all its MLAs today and we will decide the future course of action. We wish that the assembly elections in J&K should be conducted along with the Parliament elections," Raina told ANI. The BJP on Wednesday said on Twitter, soon after Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the assembly amid claims by rival formations on forming a government, that the border state cannot afford horse-trading and instability keeping its security scenario in mind. 'The proposed alliance between the Congress and the PDP broke up even before it was formed. They have taken contradictory positions on dissolution. One supports it and the other opposes it,' the BJP said. 'The best option in such a scenario is to go in for a fresh election at the earliest. This assembly cannot produce a stable government,' it added. Jammu and Kashmir needs a firm administration to deal with terrorism and not a combination of terror-friendly parties, it added. With inputs from ANI Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought about Rs 15,000 crore as central assistance towards relief and rehabilitation activities in cyclone Gaja-hit districts of the state. The Prime Minister, responding to his request, later deputed a central team to assess the cyclone damage and it would arrive in Chennai tomorrow, Palaniswami said. The chief Minister, who met Modi a week after the cyclone crossed the state coast leaving a trail of destruction in over 10 southern districts, put the toll at 63. "I have submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister detailing the extent of the damage caused by the cyclone," he told reporters in New Delhi, adding the state has sought about Rs 15,000 crore. Palaniswami said he urged the Prime Minister for an immediate release of about Rs 1,500 crore towards 'temporary renovation' activities. The central team will be on a three-day visit to the affected areas and its itinerary will be decided on its arrival in Chennai on Friday, he added. To a question on state Governor Banwarilal Purohit touring the affected districts, Palaniswami said the common objective of all was to ensure people got relief. "It will benefit the people if they get it through the Governor," he said. According to the abstract of the memorandum, the state government has sought sum of Rs 14,910 crore towards permanent renovation activities, including in the power sector whose infrastructure has been badly hit by the cyclone. Over one lakh electric poles had been uprooted and a significant number of power sub-stations damaged resulting in disruption of electricity supply in several areas. The cyclone crossed the state coast early on November 16 between Nagapattinam and Vedaranyam, about 300 km from Chennai, and later caused damage in several other districts as it moved over interior Tamil Nadu. The state government has already released Rs 1,000 crore for immediate relief and rehabilitation efforts in the affected areas. Palaniswami said a total of 3.41 lakh houses were damaged, while 1.04 lakh heads of cattle and birds perished in the cyclone. Noting that as many as 11.32 lakh trees had been uprooted, he said 7.27 lakh of them have been cleared. Around 3.78 lakh people were lodged in 556 relief camps, even as relief and renovation work was on, he said. Over 1.03 lakh electric poles were either uprooted or mangled and 40 per cent of them have been repaired. Supply of electricity and drinking water was being gradually restored, he added. Recalling the compensation provided to families of deceased (Rs 10 lakh each), he said it was more than what the earlier Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government had given during cyclones in 2008 and 2010. The DMK had given Rs 2 lakh, he claimed. Asked why he had not visited the affected areas by road, Palaniswami shot back, saying DMK president and Leader of the Opposition in the assembly M K Stalin could not cover much ground when they travelled by road to the affected parts. He had taken a helicopter from Tiruchirappalli to Pudukottai and Thanjavur districts on Tuesday to visit the affected parts but could not land at Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur due to inclement weather following which he cut short his tour. He had announced that he would visit the districts on a later date. The chief minister said he opted for a helicopter not to merely visit the affected area but to get a detailed knowledge of the extent of the damage caused by the cyclone. Pictures clicked then have been submitted to the prime minister, he said. The chief minister said Stalin visited 'just three places and returned halfway' but only a detailed visit could enable him work out compensation. Due to the government's precautionary measures like early evacuation of people, the loss of lives had been minimised, he said. Further, government officials were quick to launch relief activities soon after the cyclone crossed the coast, he added. Palaniswami also said All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MPs, his cabinet colleagues and the party MLAs will contribute their one month salary towards relief activities. The AIADMK has a 37 Lok Sabha MPs and 13 in Rajya Sabha. Its strength in the 234-member assembly is 116. IMAGE: J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik addresses the media in Jammu on Thursday. Photograph: PTI Photo Under attack from the Opposition for his decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, Governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday claimed 'extensive horse-trading' was going on in the state and dismissed allegations that he was acting on the Centre's directions. Maintaining that it would have been impossible for parties with 'opposing political ideologies' to form a stable government, Malik defended his decision and said he acted in the state's interest and according to its constitution. Speaking to reporters at Raj Bhavan in Jammu, the governor dismissed allegations that he was acting on the Centre's directions and said had this been the case, their side (Bharatiya Janata Party, People's Conference) would have been called for government formation. On the Opposition's threat to move court, he said those who wanted to move court, could do so as it was their right. "For the past 15 to 20 days, I have been getting reports of large-scale horse trading. MLAs are being threatened and several types of underhanded dealings are going on," Malik said. "Mehbooba (Mufti) ji told me a week before that her MLAs were being threatened through the NIA (National Investigation Agency). Another side said MLAs were being lured with large-scale money. Horse trading had started 20 days ago," he claimed. "Had I given any side opportunity (for government formation), it would have created more mess. The value system of politics would have been destroyed as is been happening in the rest of the states. I could not afford that," the governor said. He said it would have been impossible for parties with 'opposing political ideologies' to form a stable government. "We would have altered this situation, had we given an unstable government (to the state). An opportunist government would have been the outcome of this process. We never wanted instability in a sensitive state," Malik said. He said the NC, PDP, Congress would have fought with each other and it would have created a mess. "I have no personal interest and for me the interest of the state is prime. For that, I acted and dissolved the assembly as per the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. It was the best action as per my wisdom and I have not been partial," he said. The governor said when he came to the state he had made his stand clear that he would not be involved in any underhanded dealing or defection and would not approve government formation on the basis of threat. He said he wanted polls to be held and an elected government formed. He hit out at the People's Democratic Party and the National Conference, claiming they had told him that they had a majority but he was not given any proof for it. No list was given and no parade of MLAs took place, Malik said. Malik said the PPDP, NC and Congress staked claim for to form government when just one month was left for the governor's rule to end. "Why did they not act before and why did no one come from their side or the other side. I did not accept the claims of both sides. The decision that was necessary for the state, it was taken by me," he said. He claimed both Mufti and NC leader Omar Abdullah wanted dissolution of the assembly and had been demanding it for the past five months. "Why are they adopting double standards now? They should be happy that it has happened," he said. He said the Election Commission would decide on the Assembly elections. Wednesday was Eid, he said when asked about the fax not working in the Raj Bhavan, resulting in his office not receiving the PDP's letter staking claim to form government as well as the NC's letter of support. "Both of them (Mufti and Abdullah) are devout Muslims. They should know offices are closed on Eid. Even my cook was in his house, leave aside the fax operator. There was no system. They should have sent a man with the letter. These are lame excuses," he said. The governor said even if someone had delivered him the letter, the decision to dissolve the assembly was his stand. "I have taken this decision as per the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. There is a mechanism that I do not have to look towards New Delhi or move to Parliament or seek permission from the president. I just had to inform them," he said. Asked about Mufti's letter staking claim that was available on social media, he asked if social media forms the government. "I neither tweet, nor do I see tweets. Before yesterday, they had time. There are several flights from Srinagar, why did not they sent their man. It is all wrong," he said. On another question about allegations that he acted on BJP's instruction, he said, "The NC, PDP and Congress knew what the BJP headquarters wanted." "The BJP headquarters was one contender. If I followed the BJP's instruction, I would have called their party but I did not call any party. I acted in best interest of the constitution". On BJP leader Kavinder Gupta's allegation that the PDP-Congress-NC tie up was formed on the directions of Pakistan, he said he could not comment on it without proof. "But this grand alliance is opportunistic and they have no understanding between them," he claimed. The governor abruptly dissolved the state assembly Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress. This was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. Photograph: Umar Ganie/ Rediff.com IMAGE: National Conference leader Omar Abdullah addresses a press conference in Srinagar. National Conference leader Omar Abdullahs dare to Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ram Madhav on Thursday to prove his charge that the alliance to form government in Jammu and Kashmir was at Pakistans behest has prompted the saffron party leader to withdraw his words. The BJP and National Conference leaders exchanged sharp words on Twitter, a day after the states governor dissolved the assembly, with Madhav asking Abdullah to fight the next polls together with the Peoples Democratic Party if genuine love between the two parties promoted a failed government formation attempt. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had on Wednesday written to Governor Satya Pal Malik that she will stake claim to form government with the support of the Congress and the NC. It was followed by another bid from the two-member Peoples Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. As Malik dissolved the assembly, Madhav, who is his partys points man for the state, alleged that fresh instructions were given to the two regional parties from across the border to come together and form a government. The NC and PDP, he alleged, had boycotted local body polls in the state earlier because of instructions from Pakistan. Both regional parties have been arch political rivals in the state. Abdullah took to Twitter to hit out at the BJP leader. You have Research and Analysis Wing, National Investigation Agency & Intelligence Bureau at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Dont practice shoot & scoot politics, the former chief minister said. Ram Madhav responded, Just take it in your stride Omar Abdullah. Not questioning your patriotism at all. But the sudden love between NC and PDP and the hurry to form government leads to many suspicions and political comments. Not to offend you. In the tweet, he added an emoji with a toothy smile. Abdullah did not seem amused. No, misplaced attempts at humour wont work. You HAVE claimed my party has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pak behest in public domain, he tweeted. Ram Madhav then responded with a tweet which appeared to be aimed at defusing the tensions. Now that you deny any external pressure I take back my comment, but now that you proved it was genuine love between NC and PDP that prompted a failed government formation attempt, you should fight next elections together. Mind you its political comment and not personal, he said, adding a laughing emoji. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, the NC leader repeated his demand for an apology from Madhav. You cannot undermine the sacrifices made by National Conference workers in protecting the sovereignty of this country. He must apologise, he said. Days after accusing the media of misconstruing his remark against a woman farmer, an upset Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday said he would not address the press hereafter 'for any reason'. The chief minister, who has often hit out at the media for 'misinterpreting' his comments, said he would 'limit the media to what I speak from the stage'. Kumaraswamy said he would remain the CM until he enjoyed the 'confidence' of the Congress MLAs and till the time God has written it in his fate. "From here on I will limit the media to what I speak from the stage. I have decided. I will not address the press for any reason. If you want, write or else leave it," he said. Addressing an event in Bengaluru, he alleged that his words were often interpreted differently. "So these days I don't understand what to speak. I may in the future have to speak, based on the suggestions made by a committee that will be formed about what chief minister has to speak. I'm in such a situation," Kumaraswamy said. "An advisory committee should be formed consisting of media friends. It will be good. On the suggestion they give I will speak. I'm ready for that. With great pain I'm saying all this," he said. Since coming to power, Kumaraswamy has repeatedly blamed the media for 'misinterpreting' his statements and 'misleading' the people. Recently, during the sugarcane farmer's protest too, he had accused the media of instigating protesters and blamed the scribes for wrongly interpreting his statement against a woman farmer. Kumaraswamy had earlier courted controversy following his government's decision to impose certain restrictions on the entry of visitors, including the media, to the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state legislature and secretariat in Bengaluru. He had cited police inputs regarding security as also increase in the number of people visiting it everyday besides complaints about inconvenience caused to ministers and officials to carry out their work as reasons for the move then. Hitting back at state Bharatiya Janata Party chief B S Yeddyurappa, who had on Wednesday said his party would fight till the Kumaraswamy-led administration is brought down and people get justice, the chief minister said he was ready to face the saffron party leader during the winter session of the assembly at Belagavi commencing from December 10. He said, "I will not run away. I and my government have that strength and moral right." Asserting that he was honestly working for the people of the state and would not run away from the responsibility fearing criticism, Kumaraswamy said he would stand strong and was ready for anything. "I will stand strong, I may have 38 MLAs. Because 80 MLAs under the leadership of Parameshwara (Deputy Chief Minister) have supported me, Governor has called me (to form the government) and manage the affairs of the state," he said. "Until I'm there without any compromise, I will work honestly....let the 6.5 crore people of the state decide in the future," he added. Noting that power was not permanent for anybody, Kumarswamy said, 22 people 'have come and gone as chief minister'. He said, "Parameshwara and MLA friends from his party (Congress) have given support and cooperation, until I enjoytheir confidence I will be (in the post). I will work from this position until the time god has written it in my fate." Who we are Red Ventures is made up of dozens of nimble teams spanning multiple industries and geographies - all working together to help people make lifes most important decisions. This is a place where you can unlock substantial exposure and experience, and even make entire career shifts, all within one organization. Renny Harlin "became" a director when he was just 7 years old. Today, he's one of the most commercially successful Finnish directors in Hollywood. Harlin established his fame in the late 1980s, thanks to such action blockbusters as Cliffhanger, starring Sylvester Stallone, and Die Hard 2, starring Bruce Willis. However, the 59-year-old veteran, who has lived in China since 2014, had a somewhat tough, self-made start. Harlin delivered a detailed account of his past struggles during a recent master class hosted by the China Film Foundation's Wu Tianming Film Summit for Young Talent. Born in Riihimaki, a town 70 kilometers north of Helsinki, Harlin's first foray into directing was to use a tape recorder and recruit some neighborhood children to produce an audio story. When the production wrapped up, he invited all his classmates to sit in the field outside his family's yard, and used a loudspeaker to broadcast the recording. "It felt so powerful to be able to tell a story and entertain all the neighborhood kids," he recalls, smiling. The young artist upgraded his directorial skills at the age of 11, when he got a camera to shoot a short war film. He used miniature toy soldiers and planes, as well as some small fireworks, to create a fierce battlefield, and cast the neighbor kids as actors. But it was not until he was 15 that Harlin experienced what it would be like to work as a professional director. That year, Hollywood action director Don Siegel toured to Finland to shoot the spy thriller, Telefon, which starred US actor Charles Bronson. OLD SAYBROOK A fine selection of more than oils and watercolors by New England Impressionist, William Ternes will fill Connecticut Cancer Foundations Art Gallery for the holiday season. Ternes began his career as a watercolorist becoming a signature member of the New England Watercolor Society and the American Watercolor Society. The gallery is located at 15 N. Main St., Old Saybrook. His oil paintings of later years retained the sparkle of his watercolors, rendered in the layered depth that oils allow. His love of color and the natural world animated his work, mostly all painted plein air until the very last years of his life. A portion of all sales will be donated to the Connecticut Cancer Foundation. The sale exhibition is organized and curated by Marsha Malinowski of Malinowski & Associates, Fine Art Advisory. An opening Reception and Gallery Discussion, open to the public, will be held Nov. 29 from 6-8 p.m. This exhibition is the second to be presented in the new CCF Gallery. Malinowski has long admired the artistic output of Ternes. Weekly gallery chats will be held Dec. 1, 12-2 p.m., Dec. 5, 5-7 p.m., Dec. 12, 5-7 p.m. and Dec. 19, 5-7 p.m. The first gallery chat on Dec. 1 includes a reception at the gallery, where guests can meet Ternes daughter in a discussion with curator, Marsha Malinowski. Refreshments will be served. For information, call 860-388-0788 or janeellis@ctcancerfoundation.org The beauty and serenity embodied in each of his works is nothing short of inspiring. This will be the first time such a comprehensive group of his works will be exhibited in one space. Its a privilege to introduce the work of William Ternes to the CCF gallery and to this area of Connecticut, said Malinowski, who has close ties to the artists family. William Ternes (1933 - 2014) was educated at the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University where he received a B.S. degree in Art Education and an MBA respectively. He has studied at both the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Massachusetts College of Art. Ternes paintings have been included in various exhibitions sponsored by the American Watercolor Society, Allied Artists, Audubon Artists, National Arts Club, and Salmagundi Club. He is a member of The Guild of Boston Artists, the Copley Society, and The New England Watercolor Society. In 2007, he was voted into the American Watercolor Society. His work is represented in a number of fine art galleries and has been collected internationally, including the Governor and Mrs. Peter Penfold of Tortola, British Virgin Islands where his paintings are on display at the Governors official residence. Corporate collections include Bank of America, John Hancock and Transco Corporation. Ternes also led trips and classes in Harbour Island and Lyford Cay, Bahamas, Spain, France and Ireland. The Connecticut Cancer Foundation (CCF) is a non-profit with a 501(c)(3) designation whose mission is to financially assist Connecticut cancer patients and their families and to fund cancer research. CCF was founded in 1987 by Connecticut native John Ellis, a former catcher for the New York Yankees and cancer survivor. CCF has granted over $5 million to more than 6,000 Connecticut families dealing with the financial hardship caused by a cancer diagnosis. Our vision for including an art gallery in our new building is to use art to serve the charitable cause of helping CT cancer patients with everyday living expenses. We hope to bring extraordinary and unique artwork to this gallery with a purpose, said Jane and John Ellis, founders of CCF. For more information go to www.ctcancerfoundation.org or call 860-388-0788 HAMDEN A 67-year-old man was taken to a local hospital Tuesday after he was stabbed in the hand, police said in a release. The Hamden resident had been walking to work on Goodrich Street when two men followed him, then stopped him and asked for money. They then attacked him and stole $4 from him, according to police. Nine Chinese artists share their talent and experience in a tribute to Myanmar A joint art exhibition by a group of Chinese artists in Yangon is a fine tribute to the people of Myanmar - reflecting the natural beauty and unique culture of their country. The nine artists on a cultural exchange program are showing 113 works in their Yangon exhibition, including 32 sketches. The 10-day program, "Myanmar: Through the Dragon's Brush", was initiated and organized by China Daily in collaboration with the Chinese Culture and Art Association. China and Myanmar may appear to have little in common when viewed at a superficial level. There are, however, important similarities and common ground between the two distinct cultures, said Zhou Li, editorial board member of China Daily Group and publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Asia Pacific. "I believe our artists have succeeded in forging a connection between their distinctly Chinese artistic sensibilities and Myanmar's gorgeous architecture, its stunning natural scenery and quietly dignified street life," Zhou told the opening ceremony of the exhibition on Wednesday. The tour began on Nov 13. Eight of the nine Chinese artists visited Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake. Apart from capturing the natural beauty of the land, the group also visited art museums and major corporations in Myanmar; as well as the Chinese embassy and the Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerce. "The art exchange program will help bring Myanmar's art and folk culture to the international community. It will prove important in boosting Myanmar's economy," said U Aik Htun, chairman of the Shwe Taung Group, a leading corporation in Myanmar and a co-sponsor of the art tour. "When we were approached to help with the program as a sponsor, I agreed immediately, not only because of the strong rapport with China Daily which had been long established, but also because we expect to build on this art exchange program to improve Myanmar people's art appreciation ability and therefore enrich their spiritual lives." U Alistair Ang Eng Chong, general manager of RVi Institute of RVi Group, spoke highly of the Chinese artists' ability after seeing the 32 sketches created in Myanmar - including 30 individual pieces and two group works. "They portrayed Myanmar, but in a Chinese style. The subject matter of the paintings, such as pagodas and Myanmar's environment, will resonate with Myanmar artists, while the Chinese painting techniques are new to them, which they may want to learn from." U Nay Aung Shu, one of the top artists in Myanmar, was impressed by the paintings exhibited. "They're all amazing," he said. His favorites were works by Kuku Chai Bukuk and Shi Jiangcheng. "The composition and perspective (a technique in art creation) in their paintings are fantastic." Face to face Famous artists from China and Myanmar gathered at a panel discussion after the opening ceremony. They shared their thoughts on culture and art exchanges between the two countries. Chinese Culture and Art Federation Chairman Zhou Yanzhao hopes similar exchanges over art can be done between China and Myanmar. Greatly impressed by scenic views in Myanmar, he suggested more Myanmar artists should visit China in the future, expressing their feelings through art and promoting communication between artist groups from the two countries. Renowned Myanmar artist U Zaw Win Pe said he has been to Guilin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region several times and was impressed by art management there. He was one of the artists in Myanmar who joined the Chinese artists during the exhibition. "I was very surprised to see how Chinese artists have shown Myanmar culture and scenery in a very vivid way," said U Zaw Win Pe. Famous for his semi-abstract artworks, U Zaw Win Pe said he was pleased to see modern art and traditional Chinese watercolor painting merge without any conflict. "Both Chinese art and Myanmar art belong to a class of oriental art, so they have a lot in common," explained Chinese artist Zhang Yaoming. "We have different painting styles and use different tools, but we share the same concepts and pursuits. I hope there will be more exchanges to promote art communications between the two countries." U Myat Tun Aung, head of the department of painting at Myanmar's National University of Arts and Culture (Yangon), said China and Myanmar now communicated with each other in different areas. But they still did not have enough exchanges involving art and culture. He hopes more Myanmar art students can visit China and learn about its watercolor painting techniques. Echoing U Tun Aung's views, Chinese artist Chen Hang, also dean of School of Fine Arts at Southwest University, said there are many international students at his university - including some from Myanmar. "More work should be done to create further opportunities for art students from both countries to communicate with each other," said Chen. Among those attending the ceremony were Hong Liang, Chinese ambassador to Myanmar; U Tin Maung Tun, speaker of the Yangon Region Parliament; U Lin Naing Myint, deputy speaker of the Yangon Region Parliament; U Kyaw Than, vice-chairman of the Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerce; U Khin Aung Htun, vice-president of Myanmar Tourism Federation; U Myat Tun Aung, vice-president of Myanmar Artists Organization Central and Argus Ang, chief executive of RVi Group, which is a main supporting organization for this program. The exhibition is open to the public for free until today (Thursday). A Paris-based press freedom group on Thursday called on the international community to step up pressure on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to release two detained editors of prominent human rights websites. "Until their arrest in November 2016, Chinese citizen journalists Liu Feiyue and Huang Qi ran two major human rights news sites in China, covering topics such as corruption, health scandals and forced evictions," Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement on its website, calling for their immediate release. Liu, founder of the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website, was arrested on Nov. 17, 2016 on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power." He is currently being held at the Suizhou No. 1 Detention Center in the central province of Hubei. Huang, founder of the Tianwang website, which won an RSF prize in 2016, was arrested on Nov. 28 of that year and is being held at the Mianyang Detention Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan on suspicion of "illegally supplying state secrets overseas." Fourteen rights groups called for Huang's immediate release on urgent medical grounds ahead of a United Nations review of China's rights record earlier this month, warning that his condition is so serious that there is an immediate threat to his life. "Huang Qi and Liu Feiyue did an admirable job in documenting the social injustices that are commonplace in China," RSF East Asia director Cedric Alviani said. "They should receive the highest praise from the State rather than a criminal trial." "The United Nations has officially recognized the arbitrariness of their detention, therefore there is no reason why they should still be detained," Alviani said. RSF said Huang suffers from "serious illnesses that are the legacy of eight years in prison and labor camps," and has also been a victim of torture, and the subject of a recent petition to the U.N. Special Rapporteur. Huang's mother Pu Wenqing, a qualified doctor, says her son's life hangs in the balance. "Given that Huang Qi's blood pressure is so high, we are worried that he could suffer from a sudden death or stroke and coma, because the authorities aren't treating his hypertension," she told RFA in an interview on Nov. 6. Huang's lawyer Liu Zhengqing was scheduled to visit Huang last week, but Pu said the attorney may face obstacles from the authorities, because he published details of the activist's condition. "Liu Zhengqing published all of his [lawyer's] notes in detail, so in this case, they are likely to stop him from seeing Huang Qi," she said. "The main reason, if he's prevented from visiting Huang Qi, may be because of the blood pressure fraud, and the fact that they won't let him have his medication," Pu said, referring to attempts from the authorities to prevent Huang's health situation from becoming known. "Whenever the lawyer visits Huang Qi, new information comese out, and the authorities think that's not in their interest," she said. China is one of the world's top jailers of journalists, with more than 60 professional and citizen journalists currently behind bars. Mainland China ranked 176th out of 180 in RSF's 2018 World Press Freedom Index, it said. Reported by Gao Feng for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. All those "really responsible" for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi must be held accountable, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on November 22. Khashoggi, a U.S.-based Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi Arabias establishment, was killed after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Saudi officials have blamed the killing on rogue agents and denied claims that Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman had knowledge of the operation. Riyadh has taken 21 people in custody, with death penalties sought against five men. Turkey has repeatedly called for those who ordered the murder to be held accountable but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Muhammad. "Those responsible, really responsible for this terrible murder have to be accountable," Mogherini told a joint press conference in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. "We've always been against, for instance, any application of [the] death penalty but we expect in line with our principles, values, practices on judicial systems, [a] full investigation -- transparent and fair -- to take place," Mogeherini said. Meanwhile, the Turkish website Hurriyet Daily News reported on November 22 that the CIA has a recording of a phone call in which Prince Muhammad gave instructions to "silence Jamal Kashoggi as soon as possible." It cited a prominent Turkish columnist as saying CIA Director Gina Haspel had "signaled" the existence of the recording during a visit to Ankara last month. A Turkish official contacted by Reuters said he had no information about such a recording. Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa BRUSSELS -- Austria, the chief of the rotating European Union presidency, says the "overall human rights situation in Uzbekistan has shown improvement in the last two years. "We see a release of most detainees who have been on the EU list of prisoners of concern. I am aware of one person who is left on that list, and it would be definitely very helpful if these lists were [no longer] needed and if all persons released were fully rehabilitated, Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl said on November 22. She made the comments at a press conference with Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov after an EU-Uzbekistan Cooperation Council meeting in Brussels. Kneissl said the European Union will do [its] utmost to support the very ambitious reform program the Uzbek government has launched. It was confirmed to us in all the details that it is ambitious and we wish the government all success in order to implement it in an effective way, Kneissl said. What we have been observing...shows that things are on the right track, she added. Kamilov said Uzbekistan is going through a very responsible, transitional, and critical point. Kamilov said the country has a "great amount of work ahead but it also has a clear strategy. And, as [Uzbek] President [Shavkat Mirziyoev] has said, we have made our choice and there is no turning back, Kamilov said. Mirziyoev, who came to power in 2016, has sought to open up Central Asia's most-populous country and move away from oppressive policies of his late predecessor Islam Karimov. While praising many of the efforts, rights groups have continued to express concerns about free speech, censorship, and the prosecution of journalists in the country. On November 22, Kneissl also chaired an EU-Tajikistan Cooperation Council meeting in Brussels. The Tajik delegation was led by Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin. The meeting focused on the implementation of the EU-Tajikistan partnership and cooperation agreement. A Taliban attack on an Afghan military convoy in the southwestern Badghis Province left four soldiers dead, officials said on November 22. Seven soldiers were also wounded in the Taliban ambush early on November 22, which occurred as the military convoy traveled through the provincial capital of Qalay-e Now, Muhammad Nasir Nazari, a member of the Badghis provincial council, said. In a separate incident, Afghan special forces called in a NATO airstrike during an operation late on November 21 against Taliban fighters in the eastern province of Logar. Provincial council chief Muhammad Nasir Ghyrat says 10 people were killed in that air strike but that it isn't immediately if or how many civilians were among the dead. The Logar governor's spokesman, Khalid Safai, says an investigation is under way. NATO did not immediately comment on the air strike. A resurgent Taliban movement has been staging near-daily attacks on Afghan forces, causing multiple casualties. Based on reporting by AP and tolonews.com A Georgian appeals court has upheld a ruling which sentenced former President Mikheil Saakashvili to prison for abuse of power over a 2005 incident. The Tbilisi City Court had sentenced Saakashvili in absentia in July to six years in prison on charges of ordering members of his special forces to beat up lawmaker Valery Gelashvili in central Tbilisi in 2005. The court of appeals on November 22 upheld the ruling but rejected the prosecutors' request to toughen the sentence, prosecutor Archil Tkeshelashvili told reporters on November 22. The court found that Saakashvili, who was president of Georgia from 2004 to 2013, ordered the attack in retaliation for Gelashvili's public criticism of him in 2005. Gelashvili had accuxsed Saakashvili, among other things, of misappropriating property. In January, Saakahsvili was sentenced in absentia to three years in prison after being convicted of trying to cover up evidence about the 2006 killing of Georgian banker Sandro Girgvliani. The former president, who now lives in the Netherlands, has rejected all the charges, calling them politically motivated. Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax A Kazakh prosecutor has demanded a life sentence for former banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, who is accused of organizing the murder of Yerzhan Tatishev, the chief of BankTuranAlem (BTA), in 2004. Ablyazov, a former head of Kazakhstan's BTA bank who lives abroad, is a prominent opponent of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev. He is wanted by Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine on suspicion of embezzling some $5 billion. A jailed Kazakh businessman, Muratkhan Toqmadi, was sentenced by a Kazakh court in March to 10 1/2 years in prison for the killing of Tatishev. Toqmadi pleaded guilty to murdering Tatishev on a hunting trip in 2004, but he said he killed the banker at the behest of Ablyazov. After Tatishev's death, which was ruled an accident at the time, Ablyazov became the bank's chief. Ablyazov has been living abroad since 2009. He denies the embezzlement charges, saying they are politically motivated, and has called allegations that he ordered Tatishev's killing a "lie." The court in Taraz, in Kazakhstan's Zhambul region, will pronounce the sentence on Ablyazov on November 27. Several politicians and activists have fled Kazakhstan in recent years, fearing for their safety or anticipating politically motivated prosecution. Opponents and rights groups say that Nazarbaev, who has held power in the Central Asian nation since before the 1991 Soviet breakup, has taken systematic steps to suppress dissent and sideline potential opponents. Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS Nigeria's apex body of culture on Wednesday hosted "China Day" as part of the activities marking the 11th International Arts and Crafts Expo in the capital Abuja. The National Council for Arts and Crafts (NCAC) said the China Day celebration at the seven-day expo, themed "Networking Nigerian Arts and Crafts to the World," was put together in recognition of the strong cultural bond between China and Nigeria. Showing the rich cultural heritage of China and its people, various performances, including the Chinese Dragon Dance, were in colorful display at the China Day celebration. All the performances were done by locals, mostly secondary school students in Abuja. Li Xuda, the cultural counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, said cultural exchange between China and Nigeria "has come to stay and would lead to better cooperation in the future." Li, also director of China Cultural Center in Abuja, said that having China Day at the cultural expo is a dream coming true, and it shows Nigeria's commitment toward having a stronger cultural exchange with China. He noted that as part of the cultural integration program between the two countries, 12 "Chinese Corners" have been established in Abuja. The chief of Russias GRU military intelligence agency, Igor Korobov, has died after a serious and long illness, Russian media reported on November 21, quoting the Defense Ministry. The ministry did not disclose further details about his death. The ministry called the 62-year-old Korobov, who ran the spy agency since 2016, a wonderful person, a faithful son of Russia, and a patriot of his homeland. Korobov was appointed following the death of his predecessor, 58-year-old Igor Sergun. The West has blamed the GRU for a string of brazen attacks. Britain has accused it of attempting to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury. The Netherlands believes the agency has tried to hack a global chemical weapons watchdog, and U.S. intelligence agencies said the GRU was behind attempts to hack the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Russia denies all those allegations. Korobov, along with other GRU officers, was sanctioned by the United States for activities that "undermine cybersecurity on behalf of the Russian government." Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the GRU on its 100th anniversary. "I am confident of your professionalism, of your personal daring and decisiveness, and that each of you will do all that is required by Russia and our people," Putin said on November 2. The GRU was founded in 1918 after the Bolshevik Revolution and is one of Russia's three main intelligence agencies, alongside the domestic Federal Security Service and the SVR Foreign Intelligence Service. Putin criticized a recent change in the agency's name to the Main Directorate (GU) from the GRU, or Main Intelligence Directorate. "It's not clear where the word Intelligence went.... This should be reinstated," he said. With reporting by TASS and Reuters KHAYOM, Tajikistan -- When the night falls in Khayom, the entire village disappears into the darkness. Residents of this Tajik settlement on the northern banks of the Panj River have learned not to turn their lights on at night -- at least not until their windows are blacked out with thick, dark curtains. Doing otherwise, they are told by guards who patrol the nearby border, could attract gunfire from the other side. Everyone knows that Afghanistan's northern Takhar Province lies past the river that demarcates the border. Signs and guard towers dot the "exclusion zone" -- a strip of no-man's land that ranges from two meters to two kilometers wide -- that runs along the border, making it clear they are supposed to be wary of some unseen danger. But other than that, there is only a vague understanding of what lurks beyond. "I often wake up with the braying of donkeys from the Afghan side in the morning," says one Khayom villager, who declines to give his name. "It usually starts around 4 a.m., then I can hear the sound of motorcycles. It seems people there wake up much earlier than us." Whoever they are, the neighbors are blamed for a number of local afflictions -- everything from wild boars and invasive insects to drug dealers and random acts of violence. Nocturnal Munitions It's the nightly sound of gunfire and the sound of stray bullets whizzing by, occasionally pinging off unseen targets, that stands out to many living on the border -- at least it used to. "After living here for a decade, Im used to hearing gunfire," local resident Bekmurod Zardakov says. "But guests visiting from other towns cant fall asleep because of it.... It terrifies them." Some here describe their existence as living in a peaceful country near the frontline of somebody else's war. Amid warnings from Dushanbe about the prospect of Islamic militants entering the country, and news that the Afghan government has lost control of large swathes of its territory to its main militant adversary, many point simply to "the Taliban" as being responsible for locals' unease. Taliban militants, successors to the former regime that was ousted in 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion, have seized dozens of villages near the Tajik border in recent years, several of them across from Khayom and its governing district, Farkhor. All in all, Tajik authorities estimate that at least 300 kilometers of the countries' shared 1,360 kilometer border are not controlled by Kabul's forces, and Tajik border troop commander Rajabali Rahmonali estimated in early 2018 that 7,000 Taliban militants were concentrated near Tajik territory. But the traditional Taliban is not known for exporting its fight and is not the only Afghan government foe active across the Tajik border. Islamic State and IMU fighters, as well as drug runners and other criminals, are present as well, and contribute to the feeling of uncertainty. The withdrawal in 2005 of Russian troops, which had defended southern Tajikistan following the fall of the Soviet Union, has added to the scrutiny of Tajikistan's ability to defend its border with Afghanistan. Shells, Bullets, And Boars Things are not much different outside the confines of Khayom. The fear factor is alive and well on the Barzgar farmland that lies on the town's outskirts. One morning last June, local farmer Saidabdullo Nematzoda says, a group of women tending to the cotton fields narrowly missed being hit by an artillery shell and several bullets that landed nearby. Responding to a statement from the Tajik government, Afghan officials said at the time that the shell and bullets were fired by the Taliban, but locals remain unconvinced. "We don't know who fired those shots," Nematzoda says. "Nobody ever gave us any explanation. And there is no guarantee that there won't be another similar incident." The lack of governance on the southern side of the Panj River fuels many rumors. Nematzoda singles out crop pests, a major nuisance that threatens local farmers' livelihood. "We use pesticides and other methods against the insects that destroy the crop, but this needs to be done in coordination with all farmers in the area," Nematzoda says. No stability across the river means no coordination. "Pest control doesnt bring much results if your neighbors dont take any action. Insects keep coming from the other side of the border and infesting our lands," he claims. The lands of Barzgar are also plagued by hordes of wild boars that trample on crops, Nematzoda says as he points to land apparently dug up by the animals. He claims, without providing evidence, that they come from Afghanistan. And The Drug-Runners... The porous border alongside the Panj River has long been used by drug smugglers who traffic narcotics from Afghanistan, the worlds largest producer of opium. Opium makes its way out of Afghanistan through well-established routes and is processed into heroin, after which it makes its way to Western Europe, Russia, and the world at-large. Some of those routes run through Tajikistan, and several local residents have been accused of involvement in the trade, with tales of family members of some being taken hostage by Afghan drug suppliers due to unpaid debts. Residents in the Farkhor and Hamadoni districts are tightlipped about villagers involvement in the drug dealing, however. "All I know is that such incidents have decreased in recent years," one local man says. There are no official statistics about the number of shoot-outs Tajik border guards have engaged in with drug smugglers and other infiltrators, but they often take place in full view of those who live near the border. One incident in December 2017 saw a Tajik colonel, Khairiddin Ahtamov, lose his life and four others suffer wounds during an exchange with suspected Afghan drug traffickers. In Chubek, a border village 60 kilometers north of Khayom, residents mourn the loss of Umedjon Hasanov, a 27-year-old border guard who was killed in an ambush by suspected Afghan traffickers in October 2016. The soldier was shot dead in the first month of his military service in his home district, his father Hakim Hasanov says. In August 2018, a group of a dozen armed men infiltrated into Farkhor and killed two civilian residents: a forest ranger and a farmer. A third man was taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds. The attack, the identities of the infiltrators, and their motives remain unknown. Gloom With A View There is not much that can be done about the unrest beyond. "What goes on the other side of the border is beyond our control," admits Olimjon Amirshoev, the deputy head of the Villages Council that oversees several rural settlements in Farkhor district. "It's another country." But efforts are under way to address the issue on the Tajik side. Authorities in the Farkhor and Hamadoni districts say they are working on a project to relocate residents of border villages to other regions within southern Khatlon Province, although they stress that the details are still being worked out. "We hear such promises from time to time, but nothing concrete yet," says Gulrukhsor Faizulloeva, whose modest, one-story house is located some 100 meters from the exclusion zone. Faizulloeva expects the government to provide locals with housing and proper financial compensation as part of any relocation project. "I don't see it happening anytime soon," Faizulloeva says. "I don't know if the government has enough money for that." One man, the Khayom villager who wakes to the sound of braying Afghan donkeys, says he has had enough but has no options. After investing all his savings into a home just a stone's throw from the exclusion zone, the 30-year-old construction worker says he has no hope of finding a buyer and cannot afford to simply leave. He was attracted by the cheap land prices, green surroundings, and arable soil, but says that "when I bought it, I didnt know what living here entailed." The large windows of the house provide clear views of the border guards who patrol just beyond the wire security fencing that marks the beginning of the exclusion zone. "It could make a good summerhouse, but its not a place to youd want to live full-time," the man says. U.S. President Donald Trump hinted on November 22 that he may visit American troops in Afghanistan for the first time. Delivering a Thanksgiving holiday message by teleconference to troops in Afghanistan, Trump told one colonel: I'll see you back when you're in the United States or maybe I'll see you over there. You never know what's going to happen." Questioned later by journalists on whether he would make the trip, Trump said: "At the appropriate time we'll be doing some very interesting thing." Recent U.S. commanders-in-chief have routinely visited U.S. troops in active war zones. Almost two years into his presidency, Trump has been criticized for failing to do so. By this point in his presidency, President Barack Obama had made a trip to Iraq and two to Afghanistan. President George W. Bush traveled to Afghanistan twice and Iraq four times during his two terms in office. Trump also said that the United States is currently in "very, very strong negotiations" regarding Afghanistan. But he didnt say if those negotiations were directly with the Taliban. Taliban officials say they have had at least three meetings with U.S. representatives in Qatar in recent months, but Washington has neither confirmed or denied these direct talks. The United States has some 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. They serve in the NATO-led Resolute Support training and advisory mission as well as in separate counterterrorism operations against militant groups like Islamic State. Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP Iran has not declared all its chemical weapons capabilities to the global chemical warfare watchdog in The Hague, in breach of international agreements, the U.S. ambassador to the organization said on November 22. Ambassador Kenneth Ward told the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that Iran has failed to declare a production facility for the filling of aerial bombs and maintains a program to obtain banned toxic munitions. "The United States has had longstanding concerns that Iran maintains a chemical-weapons program that it failed to declare to the OPCW," Ward said. "The United States is also concerned that Iran is pursuing central nervous system-acting chemicals for offensive purposes," he added. There was no immediate reaction from Iran to Wards remarks, which add to tensions with Washington over Iran's nuclear program, terrorism, and the war in Syria. Ward said Iran had failed to declare the transfer of chemical weapons to Libya in the 1980s, even after Libya declared them to the OPCW in 2011. He cited the discovery of chemical-filled artillery projectiles, mortars, and aerial bombs of Iranian origin as proof that Iran did not fully disclose its capabilities. Wards allegations come amid growing pressure on Iran from President Donald Trump, who has withdrawn from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and introduced several rounds of unilateral U.S. sanctions. In a separate development on November 22, the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran is implementing its side of the deal with major powers. Germany, France, and Britain have been trying to prevent a collapse of the deal, under which international sanctions against Tehran were lifted in exchange for strict limits being placed on Iran's nuclear activities. Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP Iran is implementing its part of a landmark nuclear deal with world powers, the UN atomic watchdog monitoring the pact reaffirmed on November 22, two weeks after the United States reimposed sanctions against Tehran. President Donald Trump said in May he was pulling the United States out of the 2015 nuclear agreement, and reimposed the sanctions on November 5. Iran has warned it could renounce the deal if signatories France, Britain, and Germany, and their allies fail to preserve the economic benefits promised by its terms. Under the 2015 deal, most international sanctions against Tehran were lifted in exchange for strict limits being placed on Iran's nuclear activities. "Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano told a quarterly meeting of his agency's 35-nation Board of Governors. The JCPOA is the official name of the 2015 nuclear accord reached by Iran with the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and China. "It is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments," Amano added, confirming the conclusions of a confidential report to IAEA member states last week. Based on reporting by Reuters China's private businesses, growth of which is rooted in the background of the reform and opening up, will continue to prosper as the country vows to unswervingly support the sector, entrepreneurs said. Commenting on a symposium on private enterprises, Liu Yonghao, chairman of the New Hope Group, China's largest private agribusiness firm, said the high-level symposium, along with supportive policies unveiled afterward, shored up private entrepreneurs' confidence. China will unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector and support private enterprises to develop toward a broader stage, according to a statement issued after the symposium on Nov. 1. A host of policies were unveiled for private businesses, including tax references, better public services, as well as accessible and affordable financing. These policies promise bright prospects for private businesses, Zhou Haijiang, board chairman of the HoDo Group, one of China's largest apparel manufacturers, told reporters at a news conference Wednesday in Beijing. With the favorable environment built by the government and a massive market in the country, Liu said private businesses will feel more assured to expand investment and boost research and development. Liu said the group will expand investment and R&D input to explore opportunities brought by the country's consumption upgrade. Nan Cunhui, chairman of Chint Group, a power equipment company, said the country had made significant progress in improving its legal system, dispelling concerns of private entrepreneurs, and more will be done as the country vowed to ensure entrepreneurs' personal and property safety at the symposium. As the country seeks to boost high-quality development, private companies will enjoy huge opportunities as long as they focus on enhancing the competitiveness of their products and services, Nan said. You are here: Business The Shanghai Stock Exchange publicly censured and disciplined Chinese actress Zhao Wei and her husband Huang Youlong, and denied a report related to science and technology innovation board. Due to stock listing rule violations during Longwei Culture and Media's attempt to acquire Zhejiang Sunriver Culture Co, Sunriver's former chairman Kong Deyong and Longwei's principals Huang Youlong, Zhao Wei and Zhao Zheng have been considered unfit to serve as directors, supervisors or senior managers for five years by the SSE. Previously, Zhao Wei and Huang Youlong were banned from China's securities markets for five years for market violations, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The SSE said Longwei had insufficient self-funding, and financing from other companies was too uncertain to acquire Sunriver. In addition, during the process of transferring stock rights, Longwei released false information, misleading statements, omitted important information, and avoided necessary disclosures. The SSE denied reports that science and technology innovation board staff asked an investment institution to recommend 50 firms that may list on the new board, and reminded investors not to trust rumors. The SSE is presenting documents and design systems to the science and technology innovation board, and the registration system for listed companies, the bourse said. The science and technology innovation board was first announced at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, and aims to unleash potential from innovative enterprises. American cruise ship passenger medically evacuated at Isla Mujeres Isla Mujeres, Q.R. A tourist from a Carnival cruise ship was transferred to a Cancun hospital after the ships captain requested the medical evacuation. The captain of Carnival Fantasy made the emergency medical evacuation call to the Isla Mujeres port authority requesting the assistance. The ship, which was located 15 nautical miles north of the island, waited while the Mexican navy headed out to help. The Secretary of the Navy of Mexico says that naval personnel assigned to the Fifth Naval Region based in Isla Mujeres provided support with the medical evacuation of a male who was on board the cruise ship, Carnival Fantasy. Photo: Secretaria de Marina-Armada de Mexico The assistance was granted after the naval command at Isla Mujeres received the request to transfer a passenger from its vessel after suffering a cardiac emergency. Two navy ships left their Isla Mujeres base to transfer the 54-year-old American passenger to hospital. There is no word on the condition of the man. It is the third medical evacuation request from passing ships in recent weeks. In October, another cruise ship passing the island requested a medical evacuation for one of its American passengers who also suffered a cardiac emergency. Companies line up to participate in Maya Train as public consult nears Cancun, Q.R. In the next few days, the Maya Train project will go to public consultation to define the future of the upcoming Maya railway system as companies interested in participating continue to line up. Despite the announcement of the cancellation of the new airport in Texcoco, the Camara Mexicana de la Industria de la Construccion (CMIC) has expressed interest in participating in the construction of bridges, laying of railroads and / or in the development of 15 train stations as well as in the design of the project. We are interested in participating in the Maya Train. It is seen as an interesting project that will provide opportunities for the builders of that area of the country, CMIC president, Eduardo Ramirez Leal said. According to the upcoming Minister of Communications and Transport, Javier Jimenez Espriu, there is a queue of 15 companies wanting to participate in the tender. In addition to CMIC, companies such as Canadian Bombardier, Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR), as well as the hotels Posadas of the Fiesta Inn and Fiesta Americana brands and Vidanta also expressed interest in the railway project proposed by president-elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The developer of resorts and hotel owner, Grupo Vidanta plans to invest in the construction of the Maya Train, a project that its director Daniel Chavez described as necessary. The Maya Train is a great idea because in a decade of operation, it will double the income of foreign currency to the country () we are interested in participating in financing. It is a necessary project for the south-southeast area of the country, said Chavez. Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, which manages the airports of Cancun, Merida, Cozumel, Oaxaca and Minatitlan, would be responsible for the construction of the Maya Train terminal at the main Quintana Roo airport where it would also plan to operate a commercial zone. We need to control the situation and that is why we will build, I believe, the train station () if there is any commercial space that we obtain, we will control it, but basically, the operation of the train will be controlled by the government, explained Adolfo Castro, CEO of ASUR. He added that they are already working with the next administration to finalize the train station at the Cancun airport and estimated that the Tulum-Cancun section will be the first railway base, which would be ready in two or three years. A public consultation for the upcoming mega-project will be held November 24 and 25 with a December 16 meeting scheduled with the indigenous peoples of Palenque, Chiapas. These dates will mark the beginning of the project. Dozens of Mexico City flights bound for Cancun canceled due to heavy fog Mexico City, Mexico Heavy fog has affected more than 60 flights out of Mexico City with many being canceled. A massive fog bank that engulfed a large part of Mexico City caused either the cancellation or delay of dozens of flights out the the countrys capital, many of whom were bound for Cancun. The fog was so thick, pilots were unable to take off. Mexico City International reported that a total of four Aeromexico flights to Cancun were canceled while two Aeromexico flights were delayed. The thick fog also created problems for other flights needing to land at the airport. Others affected included three Vivaerobus flights, three Volaris, two Interjet flights, one from Magnicharter and one from Aeromexico Connect. In a statement, Aeropuertos del Sureste (ASUR) reported that the heavy fog lasted more than four hours, temporarily suspending many of the operations at the Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de Mexico (ACIM). Tomaloencuenta Due to a fog bank starting at 05:15 (local time) the operations are temporarily suspended, ACIM reported at the time. They added that take-offs were resumed after a three-hour delay while landings were resumed two hours later. According to information on the Aeromexico website, a total of 75 domestic and international flights were affected due to weather issues in Mexico City. The airline reported that 66 flights were canceled and nine diverted. China expressed serious concerns over the latest update of the Section 301 report by the United States, said Ministry of Commerce on Thursday. At the weekly press briefing, Gao Feng, the ministry's spokesman, said the accusation the US made in the newly updated Section 301 report against China was groundless. "China has emphasized many times that the investigation and measures the US took are based on its domestic laws and are to implement unilateralism and protectionism, which has violated every promise it has made to the World Trade Organization members and has ignored and vandalized the rules and regulations," he said. "The so-called update (of the report) was a new round of groundless accusations against China and China will not accept it," he said. In an answer to a question referring to the newly proposed scrutiny over technology exports in 14 key high-tech areas by the US, Gao said that China is currently evaluating the impact of such a proposal. "We think national security can be achieved under an open market," he said. "To generalize the national security issue in order to set up unnecessary trade barriers will do no good to national security or balanced development of trade." Gao also said both work teams from China and the US are still in close contact to implement the mutual understanding achieved by the two countries' leaders earlier this month during a phone call. Russell Knaggs A DRUG dealer who played a key role in a plot to smuggle five tons of cocaine from Colombia has been refused a chance to take his case to the Supreme Court. Russell Knaggs (44), of Marsh Gate, Conisbrough, is serving 20 years after being convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine in 2012. An Appeal Court hearing earlier this year was told Knaggs played an organisational role in the failed smuggling plot from his cell at Lowdham Grange Prison, in Nottinghamshire. Two other men Phillip Hadley (58) and Robert Rich (46) were also jailed for the plot, which included a Colombian serving time in a UK jail. Their case was in court again last December after they claimed vital evidence had been obtained as a result of illegal email monitoring in the US. It revolved around a Yahoo account, which members of the gang had used to secretly communicate with each other through draft emails. Lawyers questioned how prosecutors got their hands on such a vast array of messages between the gang. Their appeal was dismissed in August when judges led by Lady Justice Sharp said there was no proper basis for suggesting the emails were illegally obtained. However, the men attempted to fight on by asking the court to grant permission to take the case to the Supreme Court. They said the case involved a legal point of such importance that it should be decided by the countrys most senior judges. But Lady Justice Sharp returned to the Court of Appeal last Wednesday to dismiss the trios bid in a short ruling in London. The application to certify a point of law of general public importance is refused, as is the application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, she said. Hadley, of Cleethorpes, was in charge of providing money and arranging contacts, including travel to South America, while Rich, of Barnsley, was responsible for contact with Knaggs, meeting contacts, attending meetings and as the man on the ground in South America. Colombian prisoner Jesus Anibal Ruiz-Henao, was to use his connections to source the drugs. The gang referred to the plan as a plastering job to avoid being caught, but were unaware they were being monitored by the authorities. The Serious and Organised Crime Agency watched the gang in the UK and when the men travelled overseas, gathering evidence from coded conversations and meetings. All four were convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine at two trials at Birmingham Crown Court in 2012. Knaggs was jailed for 20 years, Hadley for 18, Ruiz-Henao for 16 years and Rich for 14 years. They appealed on the basis that evidence relating to the Yahoo emails known as the slimjim account had been wrongly put before jurors. But Yahoo explained that the material came from automatically-saved snapshots of messages, which stayed on its server, said Lady Justice Sharp. She said the trial judges were entitled to admit the disputed material and it was far from the only evidence against the men. The prosecution cases against them were overwhelming, she added. Last weeks hearing, in which she refused permission for a Supreme Court appeal, lasted less than a minute. Capt Amarinder Singh Spokesman News Service: Chandigarh, November 22: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has welcomed the Centres decision to celebrate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji on a grand scale, globally, and has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for acceding to his personal requests in this regard. In a statement issued here, the Chief Minister hailed the resolution passed by the Union Cabinet to celebrate the historic occasion in a befitting manner, in response to the various letters and submissions he had made to the Prime Minister on this issue. Advertisement The Chief Minister, in particular, welcomed the approval accorded by the Union Cabinet to the building and development of the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the international border, in order to facilitate pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river, in Pakistan, where Sri Guru Nanak Devji spent eighteen years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi The move would facilitate lakhs of pilgrims desirous of visiting the Kartarpur gurdwara, said Captain Amarinder, hoping that the Pakistan government would also supplement the effort by opening the corridor on its side of the boundary. Captain Amarinder also expressed happiness at the Cabinets decision to develop the historic town of Sultanpur Lodhi, associated with the life of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, as a heritage town, on the lines of a Smart City. Advertisement He also appreciated the various other decisions of the Cabinet to promote the ideology and message of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, including the development of Pind Babe Nanak Da Museum, upgradation of Sultanpur Lodhi railway station, creation of Centre for inter-faith studies and Chairs in foreign Universities, release of commemorative coin and postage stamps etc, as was demanded by the state government in its memorandum to the centre. The Chief Minister lauded the Centres decision to celebrate the event through a series of activities across the country and globally. These measures would give a significant boost to the state governments plans and programmes to commemorate the auspicious occasion through year-long celebrations, which he was all set to kick off on Friday, to coincide with Gurpurab, said Captain Amarinder. The Chief Minister urged the centre to release funds for the approved projects at the earliest to facilitate their completion in a years time. CM with Singapore Delegation Spokesman News Service: Chandigarh, November 22: Responding to the positive investment climate being aggressively promoted in Punjab under the leadership of Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, Singapore-based Think Gas Investments PTE Limited (Think Gas) has decided to establish natural gas distribution infrastructure in the state with an expected foreign direct investment (FDI) of Rs 2000 crore and employment generation potential of more than 1500 jobs. The proposed infrastructure will be spread across an area of 12,000 sq. km, covering the districts of Ludhiana, Barnala, Moga, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and SBS Nagar. The company aims to transform the energy consumption patterns in the state by penetrating approximately 45% of Punjabs households, in both urban and rural areas, along with its industrial sector, according to an official spokesperson. Advertisement Think Gas CEO Hardeep Singh Rai met the Chief Minister here on Wednesday to discuss the companys plans for the next 3-4 years. He informed the Chief Minister that the company will start the first phase of their ground operations soon. The Additional Chief Secretary Investment Promotion Vini Mahajan and CEO Invest Punjab Rajat Agarwal were present during the discussions regarding the execution of the project. The Chief Minister extended to the company all support from his government for timely implementation of the project, and directed Invest Punjab to facilitate all required approvals from concerned authorities for them. The Chief Minister said the project will mark the beginning of a new era of clean fuel infrastructure availability in the state, and will encourage industries and citizens to transit to using cleaner fuel options. This will result in lesser environment pollution, he said. According to the spokesperson, the widespread network of piped natural gas will reduce the cost of production for industries in Punjab. Overall, it will also improve the quality of life of citizens of the state. It may be noted that the Government of Punjab has taken multiple initiatives which have infused confidence and positivity in the business and industrial environment in the state. Advertisement The manufacturing and services sectors today contribute about 74% to the state economy. Consequently, this has increased urbanisation and industrialisation in Punjab, driving the demand for clean fuel energy. The investment by Think Gas has further strengthens Punjabs position as a favoured investment destination for foreign investors and recognizes the efforts of the Government of Punjab, Industries & Commerce Department and Invest Punjab to transform Punjab into a Progressive State. Julie Newlan, pro vice-chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire. [Photo courtesy of the University of Hertfordshire] At a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is restricting access to the some high-tech subjects taught by American universities that are very attractive to Chinese students, Julie Newlan, pro vice-chancellor at the University of Hertfordshire (UH), located near London, has promised her school wouldn't impose a cap on international enrollment, nor would it place any limits on overseas students applying for cutting-edge disciplines. In an interview with China.org.cn, she said Britain had no cultural inhibitions about working with others, believing it to be a way to provide benefits for all. "So, if you have the rights, if you're eligible to study, then you're welcome to study, get off the plane and come in. We have no plans to have a cap," Newlan said. "The world is getting smaller. I understand the point about competition, but companies are global. With global companies, worrying about training or educating people from other nationalities is not relevant now," she continued, "the global economy needs highly trained young people whoever they are." Founded in 1952, UH is a top- ranking university in terms of employability in Britain that has seen a continuous increase of in the recruitment of Chinese students during the past few years. "Chinese students do very well. They often outperform many of our students. They are very good, very studious and hardworking students," Newlan said. However, she also encouraged Chinese students to become more integrated into the local environment. According to Newlan, every time when the students are asked to finish a program with group work, Chinese students, if given free choice, would more likely choose their compatriots as partners. "I think that's lots of money to study overseas, so my advice would be to be determined to mix. It is dominated for Chinese students to choose group work with students from other countries That would be my advice." Students, regardless of nationalities, are allowed to work 20 hours a week in part-time jobs, which provide opportunities for them to immerse themselves more effectively into the local society. Those programs with "live assignments" require students to help companies or other public institutes solve their problems that usually involve a whole class working together. To facilitate the practice, UH has an "employment-facing team" similar to a sales team to extend connections with the world outside of the ivory tower, be it a company, institute or a philanthropic organization. In addition, the university also emphasizes critical thinking and independent judgment as essential to the application of knowledge. Newlan recalled that, 15 years ago, her students, especially the overseas ones were surprised to find that they could sit in an "open exam", allowing them to have their notes and books at hand. This was because the questions in the exams were business problems, requiring them to work out solutions using the theories or the methods they had learned. "I think it's the benefits for some international students. The learning culture is very different. Remembering something has a value, but so does applying it. So, don't worry about remembering it, but think about understanding it, and then applying the right theories to the problem," she said. When referring to striking a balance between cutting-edge and classic subjects, Newlan disagreed with the idea that some old majors may disappear as a result of the rise of high technologies, such as, data algorithm or artificial intelligence. "Digital education, artificial intelligence and cyber security, these are all growing and growing variously. Students of those areas are growing. If you are talking about traditional areas, such as mathematics and English history, those subjects aren't reducing. "No matter what you are studying, you learn how to take in information, whatever it be, for English or programming. You're learning how to take in the information, to make sense of it, to analyze critics, and to apply it. Now, those skills are working in teams, learning how to be creative, and solving problems. That's what the employers want," she explained. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation speaks at the opening of the Reinvented Toilet Expo in Beijing, Nov. 6, 2018. [Photo courtesy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation] We visit this place several times a day and, according to statistics, even cumulatively spend up to three years of our lifetime there; yet it is hardly ever talked about the toilet. So it is no wonder that it caused a lot of media attention when President Xi Jinping publicly called for a "toilet revolution" in China in April 2015. Back then, he called to intensify efforts to improve sanitary facilities in order to effectively increase the quality of tourism. Since then, the China's national tourism bureau has been implementing an ambitious three-year plan for the construction of new toilet facilities and the renovation of existing ones. China's Premier Li Keqiang, in his report of the Chinese government in March 2018, also called for the toilet revolution to be driven forward. According to the plan, between 2015 and 2017, 57,000 new toilets were to be built or existing ones renovated throughout the country, especially in places with high tourist traffic. The aim was not only to achieve greater access to lavatories that could be used free of charge, but also improvement in cleanliness and a fight against bad odor. The plan also aimed at making the management of the facilities more efficient. What could be the reason behind a state's highest officials personally addressing the issue of toilet improvement? The WC Cultural Shock I myself travelled to China for the first time in the summer of 2006, and I was forewarned: the condition and facilities of many Chinese public washrooms was hygienically poor and required some getting used to for western travellers, my travel guide book stressed. In order to avoid a WC culture shock, it is advisable to head for the restrooms of larger hotels and restaurants wherever possible, said the well-meant advice in the travel book. In general, one would be well advised to always carry a pack of paper tissues, as even toilet paper was not considered as an essential element of a toilet in China. Lacking the fortitude to risk throwing caution to the wind in the face of such dire warning, I preemptively packed several packages of paper tissues in my travel bag along with a rather large sized bottle of disinfectant , just in case. And indeed, some unpleasant memories of public toilet experiences during earlier trips to China have been seared into my memory to this day. I also kindly reminded family members and friends who visited me later during my study years in China never to leave the house without some back-up of paper tissues. That was a few years ago. However, a lot has changed since back then. Small Location with Great Significance Is it even necessary to make so much fuss about a simple toilet and its upgrading? Yes, it is! According to the UN, for example, unsanitary conditions and the resulting diseases are one of the main causes of infant mortality. According to UN information, around one billion people, a good 15 percent of the world's population have no access whatsoever to a toilet, 4.5 billion people (around 60 percent of the world's population) have no own toilet at home or at least no safe access to a lavatory. Against the background of such figures, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously proclaimed November 19th the World Toilet Day in July 2013. Since then, this day has been dedicated to the fight for cleaner sanitary facilities around the globe and is intended to motivate politicians and industries worldwide to tackle existing problems in this regard. The Chinese government has also recognized that toilets, though often neglected, are of great importance. Thus, China has been holding a "National Toilet Summit" since 2015, at which experts and officials from all over the country exchange their experiences and define the main areas of work for the coming year. This year's "Toilet Summit" took place from February 23 to 24 in Zhengding County, Shijiazhuang City, capital of Hebei Province bordering Beijing. The choice of the venue was not without reason: the county, popular with tourists and home to numerous historical cultural sites, is regarded as a countrywide pioneer in the Chinese "toilet revolution." A visit to the county, which is about 270 kilometers from Beijing, is necessary for firsthand experience of the situation. My Toilet Is My Castle The historic city wall is one of the most popular tourist spots in the heart of Zhengding County, which has around 470,000 inhabitants, and the starting point for many touristic tours. From here you have a wonderful view over the old pagodas and picturesque temples of the city. At the foot of the city wall, an elongated building stands out whose architectural style is inspired by the appearance of an ancient fortress. What appears to be a sight from another era is actually a public toilet. In the entrance hall which connects the ladies' and men's toilets in both wings of the building, a padded seating area invites visitors to relax. In the middle of the room stands an opulent indoor plant. Next to the upholstered benches, there is a shoe polisher, a scale, and a beverage vending machine; next to them, visitors find a small USB charging terminal for smartphones. A sign at the main door indicates that the entire building is equipped with free WIFI. There is also a boiler for hot water, allowing guests to freshly brew their tea in their own thermos jugs. You might think that you have entered a lounge; in fact we are standing in the anteroom of a public toilet. "At first glance, toilets may appear to be an unimportant detail, but they are ultimately an indicator of a city's degree of civilization. Today, the toilets here in Zhengding are so clean that you can cook your instant noodles without hesitation," says Liu Ruichen, representative of the local city management department, confidently. According to Liu, there are two main reasons why Zhengding pays particular attention to the toilet revolution: "On the one hand, it was our aim to improve the general behavior of people in public spaces and to sensitize them to this; on the other hand, we wanted to enhance the quality of our touristic facilities. Our toilets now are a mirror of the success of our development in tourism development." Gao Min, head of the publicity department of the Zhengding's party committee, also emphasizes that improving the toilets has a deeper meaning: "With the toilet revolution we are ultimately revolutionizing people's lifestyles and improving their quality of life. The reconstruction and renovation of public lavatories is not a marginal task, but is rather of comprehensive significance as it has a direct impact on people's way of living. In the end, it also gives decisive impetus to other areas." Aiming for a "Human Touch" Since the beginning of the nationwide restroom revolution, 625 new washrooms have been built or old ones completely renovated in Zhengding County alone. Not only can visitors use the public toilets free of charge, passers-by are also allowed to freely use the restrooms of all government institutions in the county. Even at weekends and on public holidays, when up to 100,000 tourists crowd Zhengding, there are no queues at the lavatories visible.But the county does not only stand out due to its high WC coverage rate. "It was important for us to adapt toilets as service facilities to better cater to people's needs, to give them a stronger human touch," explains Zhu Zhihui, deputy head of the County's Bureau of Culture and Tourism. A key to this is also a more efficient management of the facilities, including fixed responsibilities. Cleaning staff have undergone systematic training to provide improved service to visitors. There are regular cleaning schedules that ensure that neither paper nor soap run out even at peak times.In addition, Zhengding also makes use of the new possibilities afforded by the Internet age. All public washrooms can be found via the navigation app Baidu Maps, China's equivalent to Google Maps, and are therefore easily found via GPS. A particular key element designed to make Zhengding's toilets more user-friendly is the standard installation of unisex toilets or "escort toilets," as they are also called here. While elsewhere there are at most toilets for the disabled, Zhengding has set up a special room in all public washrooms which is open to all those who cannot relieve themselves without assistance and have to be accompanied by others. "These washrooms are intended, for example, for adults with small children or senior citizens who have family members to help them go to the toilet," explains Zhu Zhihui. As a father, for example, you are no longer faced with the embarrassing decision of either taking your minor daughter to the men's toilet or having to enter the women's toilet yourself. Part of an Overall Strategy Visitors, in any case, seem to appreciate the improvements in the toilets, as travel guide Zhang Yongbo, who has followed the upgrading of the facilities over the years, confirms. "We also have many foreign visitors here, especially from South Korea and Japan. Overall, we get a lot of positive feedback on the condition of the sanitary facilities," he says. That the county succeeded in bringing its sanitary facilities up to such a good standard within just a few years is certainly also due to the fact that the campaign was integrated into a clever overall concept. If something needs to improve, the necessary structures must first be created. Those responsible for the county have decided to simultaneously tackle challenges in different areas of public spaces. For example, the city now provides free parking throughout Zhengding in order to ease the parking pressure at the roadside and bring more order into the streetscape. The county also increased the number of staff of the local sanitation department and introduced fines for offences involving improper garbage disposal. During our visit, the streets and parks looked as if they were polished, and street cleaning vehicles seemed always at work. A local official told China Today, "It is important to make a start and to take energetic action at the beginning. Improving behavior in public spaces is a learning process. Ultimately, for example, the cleaner the streets are, the rarer the cases of carelessly throwing away cigarette butts or other waste." In any case, the toilet revolution is already bearing fruit nationwide. At the end of October 2017, the government drew up its first three-year summary. Between 2015 and 2017, over 70,000 new toilets had been built or old ones comprehensively renovated throughout the whole country, 22.8 percent more than originally planned. Now strong efforts are being made to gradually extend the campaign from important tourist resorts to the rest of the country and to carry it from the cities to the countryside. The national tourism bureau has announced that it will upgrade at least 64,000 more toilets by 2020. As it appears, in the future, toilet warnings in Western travel guide books could belong to the past very soon. In any case, my own personal warnings to visiting friends and relatives are already a thing of the past. A lot has actually happened in recent years with regard to the improvement of toilets in China. Perhaps there will soon be a travel guide to the most interesting and curious toilets in China, one can be curious. [SAO PAULO] Protecting the plants and animals that are vital for Brazils ecosystem could reduce poverty and create thousands of jobs, a report has found. The report, signed by more than 100 researchers, said that the country should spend more money on sustainable development. This includes saving the species that provide important environmental services, such as healthland, clean water and carbon sequestration. The report was developed by the Brazilian Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and launched during the UN Biodiversity Conference from 17-29 November. It estimates that Brazil is home to 20 per cent of the worlds species, which includes nearly 42,000 different plants and approximately 9,000 vertebrates. This report should make the international community more aware of Brazils environmental richness. Cristina Banks-Leite, Imperial College London, United Kingdom However, due to deforestation and plantation farming, the country is retaining only 40 per cent of its original vegetation cover, says forestry engineer Fabio Scarano, one of BPBES coordinators. [There are] 55 million hectares of land degraded by livestock that could be reversed in plantations, avoiding further deforestation, he says. Nearly half of the countrys remaining vegetation cover is in the poorest places of Brazil, the report found. It lamented that, in municipalities where forest has largely been replaced by plantations or pasture land, living conditions for local people have not increased. Furthermore, deforestation has not resulted in an increase of the Human Development Index for locals, despite an increase in economic activity. The loss of biodiversity induced by the switch from native ecosystems to unsustainable use of natural resources may undermine a set of processes essential to human well-being, Scarano says. The report argues that protecting forests and pristine lands would generate more income and preserve important ecosystem services than cutting it down for farming or logging. Such a move would also help Brazil comply with the UNs Sustainable Development Goals and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which aim to reduce biodiversity loss. Scientists at the Brazilian Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services have made their own calculations. They found that, for example, maintaining 30 per cent of forest vegetation in the Atlantic Forest zone and protecting vertebrates would cost around US$120 million per year (R$445 million), less than 0.01 per cent of Brazilian annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Cristina Banks-Leite, a Brazilian biologist at Imperial College London, United Kingdom, who made the calculations, says the report presents state-of-art of the scientific knowledge on environmental conservation in Brazil and that, as such, could be widely used as a decision-making tool. She adds that the release of the document was timely, since the president-elect Jair Bolsonaros government plan looks set to abolish environmental protection. She warned that his plan to deregulate exploitation of the Amazon basin was putting short-term business interests ahead of the worlds biggest terrestrial carbon sink, indigenous communities and rich eco-systems.I truly believe this report should make the international community more aware of Brazils environmental richness, allowing them to pressure the new government to follow through with commitments made in previous governments, she tells SciDev.Net. Africas over-reliance on external institutions is undermining the continents capacity to strengthen agricultural research and development for improving the livelihoods of millions of people. It is galling that a continent with 60 per cent of the worlds uncultivated arable land, that spends US$35 billion every year importing food, is still home to the worlds hungriest, most malnourished population. And although irrigation in Africa has the potential to boost productivity by at least 50 per cent, food production on the continent is almost entirely rainfed: the area equipped for irrigation makes up just six per cent of the total cultivated area. The worlds population currently sits at 7.3 billion and is predicted to rise to 9.7 billion by 2050. Because of Africas increasing population growth, the continent is expected to contribute to more than 50 per cent of the global population growth by 2050. Thus, it is becoming increasingly obvious that Africa must rise to the challenge and start to make better and more efficient use of her resources in a bid to feed herself and the world. Agricultural research has made significant strides in the last century in countries such as the United States, where farm efficiencies, including animal production, have improved. This led to the United States producing a fourfold increase in milk yield per cow between 1944 and 2007, with average maize yields increasing from 1.6 tonnes per hectare in the first third of the 20th century to over 8.5 tonnes in 2009. Basic science capacity needed Organisations such as World Bank have been supporting countries to increase science capacity through the Africa Centres of Excellence project in institutions of higher education located in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and Uganda. Africa must rise to the challenge and start to make better and more efficient use of her resources in a bid to feed herself. Nteranya Sanginga, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Such centres can help share knowledge and facilities, and motivate countries to invest and bring about the necessary transformation in science and agriculture in the region. Research conducted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and funded by institutions such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides an excellent example of how research improves agriculture. For example, aflatoxin is a cancer-inducing chemical produced by a fungus (Aspergillus flavus) that not only damages human health but is a barrier to trade and economic growth. The toxin, however, is not produced in all strains of the fungus. This project found that introducing nontoxic strains to affected fields overpowered and reduced the population of toxic strains, drastically reducing the rate of contamination. Work with the US Department of Agriculture has resulted in a biocontrol solution called Aflasafe that is now being commercialised and made available to farmers in 14 Sub-Saharan countries including Burundi, Malawi, Mali, Zambia and Zimbabwe to help produce food safe for human and animal consumption. Scientists from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and several institutions have played a leading role in developing improved cassava varieties that are disease and pest-resistant, lower in cyanide, drought- resistant, early maturing, and high yielding. As of 2010, investment in research and development in general across African countries ranged from 0.02 per cent of gross domestic products in Madagascar to 0.79 per cent Kenya. Thus, more investment is needed in Africa. Value of agricultural R&D investments Research shows that investing an extra US$88 billion in agricultural research and development worldwide by 2050 could increase crop yields by 0.4 per cent each year. Increasing the capacity of African universities to conduct agricultural research, and improving adequately supporting agricultural extension organisations can help improve yields. Moreover, capacity building projects should emphasise value-chain research and development. Increased scientific research and consistent government supports are the ingredients needed for the continent to make agriculture productive, competitive, sustainable and inclusive. Nteranya Sanginga, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) The architects of agricultural research and education must find ways to make agricultural extension more diverse and less expensive. New skills in science and technology especially in biotechnology, big data management, and information and communication technology are also needed. Africas development partners must keep faith with the region and governments must mobilise sufficient resources to underpin international investment and ensure a facilitating climate for private sector investment in all forms of agricultural research. Attracting youth Timely research and development is also helping address the continents gigantic challenge of youth unemployment. A pilot programme of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture that aims to engage youth in agriculture start-ups and productive agribusinesses and changing the mindsets of young children towards farming is providing the much-needed impetus to jumpstart development in Africa. With support from the African Development Bank, the programme is being implemented in 24 countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria. These efforts partly contributed to the IITA receiving the 2018 Africa Food Prize. Global food security is no longer the pipedream it once was, and the reality of an Africa that not only feeds itself, but contributes to feeding the rest of the planet is just over the horizon. Increased scientific research and consistent government supports are the ingredients needed for the continent to make agriculture productive, competitive, sustainable and inclusive.Nteranya Sanginga is the director-director of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). He can be reached at [email protected] This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk. On March 3, 2018, a liquid nitrogen storage tank at the University Hospitals Fertility Center in Cleveland failed. Dr. Eli Adashi, a professor of medical science at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School, characterized the event as a "tragic accident" in which 950 patients lost more than 4,000 frozen eggs and embryos. However, one couple's wrongful death lawsuit following the incident, which seeks to establish that embryos should be treated as "persons" under the law, could have "a chain of profound implications for other families," Adashi says. In an "Ideas and Opinions" article published on Nov. 20 in Annals of Internal Medicine, Adashi and co-authors I. Glenn Cohen, a professor of law at Harvard University, and Dov Fox, a professor of law policy and bioethics at the University of San Diego, wrote about the potential implications should the Ohio court hearing the case rule in favor of the couple. They argue that a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could lead to limits on abortion, stem cell research and in vitro fertilization (IVF). "It would be a sad irony if a legal claim aimed at protecting the rights of those who lost their ability to reproduce had the effect of limiting the reproductive rights of countless others," the authors wrote. The plaintiffs in the case, Wendy and Rick Penniman, are challenging a legal precedent in Ohio establishing that "a fetus that is not yet viable is not a 'person' under its wrongful death law," the authors wrote. The challenge is based on "the grounds that the 'life of a person begins at the moment of conception,'" the article notes. A ruling that embryos are "persons" could be used as grounds to limit abortion rights, the authors say, as well as to potentially restrict research on embryonic stem cells. There could be implications for the future of IVF as well. advertisement "IVF would be significantly compromised," Adashi said. "If a clinician were to freeze embryos, and some do not survive the process, how would that be dealt with? Would that be manslaughter? One needs to view this suit in that context. The implications are of national interest. They go beyond the pro-life / pro-choice debate and reach into the very conduct of IVF and other fertility promotion techniques." Legal limitations The authors also discuss the limitations of conventional legal strategies tried in similar cases, including breach of contract, medical malpractice, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and loss of property. Many fertility clinics require patients to sign waivers that explicitly excuse liability for storage failures due to negligence, limiting breach of contract suits, the authors wrote. Medical malpractice also doesn't apply in a case such as this, because the egg-harvesting procedures were performed properly. And in Ohio, negligent infliction of emotional distress requires the plaintiffs to be "bystanders" to a physical threat to another person; in this case, they did not witness the tank failure, the authors wrote. The last strategy, loss of property and medical costs, doesn't fully capture the painful disruption of "family-building plans," Adashi said. However, these are the legal grounds the other 70 other patients affected by the accident are pursing in their class-action lawsuit. advertisement The legal system hasn't established appropriate venues for seeking damages for the destruction of eggs or embryos, he added. "At this point, there's no clarity in the courts as to how to deal with cases like this." Revising regulations Accidents happen, but more needs to be done to limit and track them, Adashi said. "It was a wake-up call for a lot of people in the field," he said. "How do we deal with something like this? How do we prevent something like this? Who should be in charge?" Professional societies in the fertility field are evaluating the root cause of the incident and are working on new recommendations and guidelines, Adashi said, in an effort to avoid similar situations in the future. The authors note that currently there are few federal regulations pertaining to assisted reproduction technologies and there is no system for tracking reproductive errors in the U.S. Because agents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already visit IVF labs to screen donated human tissues for communicable diseases, Adashi says the FDA would be the most relevant agency to assume responsibility for the liquid nitrogen freezers involved in assisted reproduction clinics and track accidents involving eggs and embryos. To turn back the clock on Alzheimer's disease, many researchers are seeking ways to effectively diagnose the neurodegenerative disorder earlier. One potential way to do this is by tracking a person's brainwave activity, which slows down in certain brain regions that are likely to be affected by the disease next, according to recent findings by Baycrest researchers. The study, published online in the journal, Human Brain Mapping, found that individuals potentially in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (mild cognitive impairment) and those with a rare form of language dementia (primary progressive aphasia) exhibited sluggish brainwaves and subtle signs of damage in the brain regions responsible for memory and planning. These individuals only displayed minor memory and thinking problems, but their slowing brainwaves predicted the severity of their condition, such as their degree of memory loss. "By using brain imaging, we were able to pinpoint that this slowing of electrical activity occurs in specific regions that have not yet lost brain cells, but are negatively affected by the disease," says Dr. Jed Meltzer, senior author and Canada Research Chair in Interventional Cognitive Neuroscience at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute. "This means that these areas could be more responsive to treatments since the brain cells have not died yet and are only starting to undergo damage." These brainwaves may also change in response to interventions, adds Dr. Meltzer. "Our work identifies a potential biomarker that indicates when the brain cells start to malfunction and opens the door to implementing targeted brain treatments during earlier stages of neurodegenerative disorders," says Dr. Meltzer, who is also an assistant professor in psychology and speech-language pathology at the University of Toronto. Surprisingly, the study also found that healthy older adults displayed "sped up" brainwaves compared to young adults, which is distinctly opposite to the trajectory of older adults with dementia. "One of the challenges in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease is differentiating whether changes to the brain's structure are a part of normal aging or actually early signs of the disorder," says Dr Meltzer. "Based on these findings, researchers could potentially use measurements of brainwave activity before and after an intervention to test its effectiveness in a faster and clearer manner." The study analyzed the brain's electrical activity and brain structures of 64 adults as they were unfocused on any tasks (otherwise known as resting-state). Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to measure brainwaves and pinpoint their specific location, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to assess the loss of brain cells. Research participants also underwent evaluations that tested their cognitive abilities. As next steps, the team is exploring the use of brain stimulation as a way to slow the progression of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. This research was made possible through support from the Alzheimer's Association, the Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, the Ontario Brain Institute, the Canada Research Chairs program and the Sandra A. Rotman Program in Cognitive Neuroscience. With additional funding, the team could continue validating the use of brain activity as a reliable health indicator for early signs of dementia. Researchers could also expand their work on determining effective ways to stall the development of neurodegenerative disorders or treat premature brain changes using non-invasive electrical stimulation. The driver is under police detention. [Photo from Sina Weibo] A sedan crashed into a group of students in Huludao, Liaoning province, killing five and wounding 18, the local government said on Thursday. The driver tried to flee the scene but was apprehended by police in the afternoon. At around noon, a group of preschool children from the second elementary school of Jianchang county in Huludao city was preparing to cross the road in front of the school's entrance when an Audi A6 sedan rammed the crowd, according to Beijing Youth Daily. After the incident, local witnesses said the road was blocked, and police cars and ambulance rushed to the scene. There were also children's shoes, belongings and blood on the ground, the report said. As of Thursday afternoon, local police said the driver had tried to flee the scene into the countryside, but was later apprehended by police. The cause of the incident is still under investigation. The incident claimed five lives and wounded 18, Jianchang's publicity department said Thursday afternoon. Song Tao, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the second China-Arab Political Party Dialogue held on Nov. 22 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo courtesy of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee] Under the theme "Working Together to Build a Better World," the second China-Arab Political Party Dialogue hosted by the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee kicked off Thursday morning in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Addressing the opening ceremony, Song Tao, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, called on the CPC and political parties in Arab countries to contribute to building a China-Arab community of a shared future and a better world. The world is going through a new round of major development, transformation and adjustment. The reform of the global governance system and the international order is picking up speed. The world economy is going through profound adjustment. Protectionism and unilateralism are resurging. Uncertainties and instabilities still abound, and risks and challenges are growing. Living in such a complex world, we need to ensure that peace and development remain the trend of our times. The vision for a better world calls on countries to act with the tide, Song said. Song noted that the CPC firmly believes that in pursuing development, we need to follow the principle of seeking shared benefits through consultation and collaboration. The CPC is willing to further promote friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation with political parties in Arab countries in all aspects to deepen China-Arab ties in the new era, as well as to make major contributions to world peace and development, said Song. Song said, first, the CPC and political parties in Arab States will enhance strategic mutual trust and uphold equity and justice; second, we will learn from each other to pursue innovation-driven growth through reform and opening up; third, we will advance people-to-people exchanges and promote cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative; fourth, we will push forward cultural exchanges among different civilizations following the spirit of inclusiveness and mutual learning, so as to lay a solid foundation for the development of China-Arab ties. Mahmoud O. R. Al-Aloul, vice president of Fatah in Palestine, spoke highly of the efforts the CPC has made to promote China-Arab relations. Political parties in Arab countries will learn from the CPC's experiences of how to govern political parties and the country, actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, and are willing to work together with the CPC to take China-Arab ties to a new height. Delegates from 17 Arab countries, most of whom are members of political parties, attend the dialogue and hold discussions with Chinese representatives on topics including BRI progress, reform and opening up, and China's experience in development and the inspiration to the world. Mason Trinca/Special to The Chronicle Tourists are welcome to walk, skateboard or bike to the Golden Gate Bridge this weekend, ride an e-scooter to the edge of its vermillion span or putter over in a city bus. But bridge district officials ask everyone not to drive. Starting Thursday morning, parking will be sparse at San Franciscos glimmering orange landmark, with the Welcome Center south end parking lot and Caltrans Vista Point north end lot both closed to personal vehicles. Tour buses will still be allowed, and taxis or ride-hail vehicles will be permitted to pick up and drop off passengers at the Welcome Center but not to idle or troll for fares. You are here: China President Xi Jinping on Thursday met with Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, suggesting that both sides focus on policy synergizing efforts and implement well alignment of China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and Kazakhstan's Nurly Zhol (Bright Path) economic program. The Westfield San Francisco Centre on Market Street, which has had a holiday Santa on hand since the days it was the Emporium department store, is cutting the man in the red suit to a brief cameo. Instead of the traditional photos-with-Santa experience, the shopping center will offer a Selfie Santa, who will roam the halls on weekends taking Instagrammable photos with shoppers. He will also appear at a mall tree-lighting next month. It feels very 2018 that a full-time Santa has turned into a part-time gig worker, appearing on demand at the whims of shoppers with smartphones. But changing demographics may have something to do with the changing of a San Francisco tradition. As Millennials reach their late 20s and 30s, many are arriving at their next step in life: parenthood. But the same demographic cohort that passed after-school hours hanging out in malls is now hanging out on social media instead. Why pay for a photo of your tot with Santa when you turn her into a reindeer with a Snapchat filter? Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Leah Heil, senior general manager for Westfield, said in an email that the idea of Selfie Santa came about because staff members saw how many guests take selfies under the dramatic, upside-down crystal tree that hangs in the buildings historic rotunda. Selfie Santa builds upon the strong interest of our digitally savvy community to share and post photos, Heil said. She added that a free photo with Selfie Santa provides an alternative to families that might find a traditional, staged photo cost-prohibitive. There are no cost savings to us, Heil said. The Westfield mall is an outlier this holiday season, even among its own chain. Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco and Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek rolled out the red carpet earlier this month for Santas it hired through a Florida company, WorldWide Photography, which vets and places Santas at more than 260 malls and outlet stores nationwide. Other Westfield malls also have Santas. Lynn Muck, director of client services, said the company took on Westfield as a new client this year, staffing Santas at other shopping centers in the groups portfolio. Selfie Santa is not one of theirs, she said. In recent years, some voices have called for parents to stop forcing their children to sit on Santas lap. A decades-old study out of the University of Buffalo found that being held by Santa may be overwhelming for young children, and sends a mixed message to those who are cautioned to stay away from strangers. For much of the 20th century, Santa was king of San Francisco during the holidays. Many families planned at least one outing to take in the wonder of the department store windows, beginning in Union Square, and then down to Market Street. The Emporium department store was a destination for tiny children to tug at Santas suit and whisper reminders of what he was to bring on Christmas Day. As a kid growing up in San Francisco, Angela Alioto, the lawyer and former city supervisor, waited all year to speak with Santa at his station away from the North Pole. Being casually dressed to meet him was considered poor form. Alioto and her five brothers lined up under the Emporiums magnificent glass dome now preserved in the Westfield mall in their finest threads: suits for the boys and a dress with white patent leather shoes with socks for Alioto. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes I remember the agony of fluffy dresses, she said. Over the years, the Emporiums bearded ambassador led a parade down Market Street, riding on a sleigh, a motorcycle, a horse-drawn carriage and during one exciting and risky year precariously balanced on top of a cable car. It always ended at the Market Street store, which built a rooftop carnival complete with Ferris wheel, miniature train, two merry-go-rounds and toys, as did the Emporium at Stonestown. The affair was always worth the wait. Santa is Santa, Alioto said. Its a special experience. Melia Russell is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: melia.russell@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meliarobin A state regulatory judge voiced skepticism about the extent of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.s commitment to safety two weeks before the horrific Camp Fire put the utilitys practices under renewed public scrutiny. Peter Allen, an administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission, made the comments in the context of an investigation into PG&Es corporate culture that began in 2015 in response to the deadly 2010 San Bruno pipeline blast. In a proposed decision directing the utility to implement the findings of a 2017 audit, Allen questioned whether PG&E had gone far enough to prioritize safety across its organization. While in general we are encouraged by PG&Es responsiveness to the (audit), we continue to have concerns about whether PG&E is truly changing its culture, or is just trying to check the boxes, Allen wrote in the proposed decision issued Oct. 25. The proposed decision is set to be considered by the commission when it meets Nov. 29 in San Francisco. The safety investigation has taken on added significance due to the Camp Fire burning east of Chico in Butte County. State fire investigators are still looking into the cause of the Camp Fire the most destructive and deadly wildfire in California history but the utility could be blamed. PG&E has said two pieces of its equipment malfunctioned in the fire area, one shortly before the blaze reportedly started and the other shortly after. The investigation embraces both Pacific Gas and Electric and its investor-owned parent company, PG&E Corp. Michael Picker, the president of the utilities commission, has said he wants to expand the ongoing PG&E safety investigation to include recent wildfires. And he told The Chronicle he concurs with Allens proposed decision. The utility has done a lot of things that make us safer, but still not to the level we expect, Picker said Wednesday. In the proposed order, Allen said PG&E appears to have overstated the safety expertise of several of its directors on the company board during earlier proceedings in the investigation. This Commission wants PG&E to have a genuine and effective safety culture that permeates the organization, not just a thin veneer or window dressing that superficially looks good but fails under stress, Allen wrote. PG&E has told the commission it agrees with the 61 safety recommendations the 2017 assessment targeted at the utility and has promised to implement most of them by the end of this year. Recommendations include adding safety to the list of qualifications PG&E used to select independent board directors, conducting a broad reassessment of the companys safety programs and accelerating safety leadership training for crew foremen. While the full scope of a new phase in the CPUCs Safety Culture proceeding hasnt been communicated yet, PG&E welcomes any opportunity to receive feedback from our regulator as we strive to continuously improve, said Tamar Sarkissian, a PG&E spokeswoman. Wildfires are spreading at rates weve never seen before and we must work together across all sectors and disciplines to address this issue with urgency. As the utility tries to make improvements, some of its staunchest critics remain concerned about safety issues. Im very concerned that PG&E continues to have problems following the basic rules of safely running their system, said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, which has been involved in the investigation process. Unfortunately, the consequences of that failure can be devastating for everybody. The 2017 audit of PG&E was conducted for the commission by NorthStar Consulting Group. In a report that ran more than 330 pages, NorthStar said it believes PG&E executive management is committed to safety, as are field employees, noting that no one desires to be unsafe. But the report also identified crucial flaws in PG&Es approach. Fire Tracker Follow wildfires across the state Latest updates on wildfires burning across Northern and Southern California While PG&E is committed to safety and efforts have been made to reduce incidents and increase the organizational focus on safety, these efforts have been somewhat reactionary driven by immediate needs and an understandable sense of urgency, rather than a comprehensive enterprise-wide approach to addressing safety, the NorthStar report said. NorthStar concluded PG&E quickly moved to address gas system issues revealed by the San Bruno explosion, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. But the utility moved slower when it came to the organizations more general safety culture, the report said. While Picker now wants PG&Es wildfire response to be considered as part of the safety investigation, he said he is still devising a formal plan to make that happen. Again, this is not about the fires, and its not even about San Bruno. Its really, how do you measure whether the organization is, from top to bottom, really addressing safety in a conscious, day to day, hour to hour way? Picker said. Its not enough to have slogans. Its not what you think its what you do. As the investigation proceeds, PG&Es board makeup may come under scrutiny, according to Picker. He noted the company still has several directors who were in place at the time of the pipeline explosion, which he said doesnt send a real message of accountability. But Picker isnt yet sure whether the commission can force PG&E to change its board members. The utility and its publicly traded parent have technically separate boards, but they share the same 12 members. Different board members hold the position of chairman for the two entities. There will clearly be arguments as to whether we have the power to do that, he said. It just seems to me that its a necessary question to discuss. J.D.Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris A jury found a San Francisco man guilty Wednesday of assaulting and attempting to rape a teenage girl in a dark parking garage in the Fillmore district in April, officials said. Rayvoughn Smith, 20, was found guilty of intent to commit a sex offense on a person under 18 years old, felony child endangerment, false imprisonment and giving false information to a police officer, according to a statement released Wednesday by the San Francisco district attorneys office. The victim in this case may be young, but her courage and heart showed no limit. She testified against the defendant, enduring the revictimization that occurs when one retells a horror they experienced, said Lili Nguyen, an assistant district attorney. The jurys verdict is a reflection of her character and strength. The victim, identified only as a 16-year-old girl, told investigators she had been hanging out with friends on April 22, when Smith called her cell phone and offered to give her marijuana and alcohol if she agreed to meet him, officials said. He bought vodka for the victim and her friends, leading them into a parking garage at 1310 Fillmore St. The victims friends left, leaving Smith alone with the teenager, officials said. Smith guided the teen to a darker area of the garage that was surrounded by parked vehicles. She told investigators that they kissed, but he became violent when she refused to go further. Officials said Smith repeatedly punched the teen on her head, wrapping his hand around her throat after she tried to crouch and duck away from his blows. He attempted to rape her, threatening to smash a bottle on her head if she didnt comply with his demands, officials said. A desk clerk monitoring garage surveillance cameras saw Smith throwing the teen against a vehicle and called police when she went to the garage and heard the teen yelling. When police officers arrived, Smith tried shuffling past them, telling the pair that the teen was just drunk and he was only trying to get her home, officials said. He lied to officers and identified himself as his twin brother. 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. Smith later told investigators that he had met the teen four or five times in the past, knew she was underage, but never had sex with her. He went on to describe how the teen allegedly became intoxicated before the pair got into a verbal argument. He changed his story after being told that surveillance footage captured the assault, saying that he was under the influence of cocaine and marijuana and that the teen changed her mind after initially agreeing to have sex with him. The victim sustained injuries to her right eye socket and cheekbone and had a bruise on her neck, officials said. Were it not for the strength and courage of this young woman, and this bystander quickly reaching out for help, I fear the outcome could have been much worse, said San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor Last week, many Bay Area school districts closed on Friday, announcing that the terrible air quality was the impetus for the drastic decision. Parents without family members nearby or backup child care had no choice but to scramble to come up with alternate care or take the day off work. Im here to say that I believe that the school districts made a bad call. First of all, is there any evidence that children have better air at home than in their schools? We live in a small apartment that has no air conditioning, no air-filtration system and leaky single-pane windows. In comparison, most schools have modern HVAC systems and auditoriums and cafeterias where children can hang out during recess. Secondly, districts must consider the economic impacts on families. Not everyone has a white-collar job that allows remote work, and hours not at work mean lost wages for many. School officials need to be more mindful of the very real impacts on parents who work hourly jobs and dont have a ton of sick days at their disposal. Finally, being a parent is hard. Being a parent while working full time is even harder. Schools should understand the impact of their decision on parents and do everything they can to support them. If a parent does not want to bring their child to school due to the bad air, then it should be their choice, not the school districts. An air-quality reading of 250 and higher is problematic. But it does not rise to the emergency level that necessitates canceling school. American students already score lower on tests than many of their international counterparts. Before school administrators cancel class, lets make sure its for a real emergency. Karina Ioffee lives in Berkeley and is the mother of a 3-year-old. It was either grad school or this: a seat on Berkeley City Council. This is whats playing out for 22-year-old Rigel Robinson. Just seven months after receiving his diploma in political science from UC Berkeley, Robinson is swapping out a masters thesis for a more practical application of his degree. If not this, Id probably be preparing for the LSAT, he said. Robinson joined a surge of young people who took part in the midterm elections, both as voters and candidates. When hes sworn in Dec. 8, hell become the youngest council member in Berkeleys history. An estimated 31 percent of eligible voters ages 18 to 29 cast ballots this fall, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. Thats a 10-point bump from 2014 and marks the highest youth turnout in a midterm election in the past quarter century. Young people also turned up on ballots as candidates, with considerable success. Come January, at least 26 House members will be Millennials, people ages 22 to 37, according to the Pew Research Center. All but six are freshmen, meaning that more than one-fifth of the 91 newly elected representatives are Millennials. Robinson isnt thinking about Congress just yet, though. Hes focusing on his first job in the professional world. In many ways, thats a little ridiculous, he said. Its kind of a punch line for me and all my friends, but at the same time, our campaign was elected because I was a qualified candidate. Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Robinson, who was external affairs vice president on UC Berkeleys student government and served on the University of Californias Student Association, said he decided to run for the City Council after a 2014 redistricting created a south-side council district that was 86 percent students. Rigel and his peers at UC Berkeley resolved that with a supermajority of students, it was time for a student to run. I never really had a chance to consider for myself whether it should be me. Other people told me it should be me, Robinson said. At first I didnt take it seriously. He added, laughing, I guess I answered the call. But it was a fit for Robinson, both for his experience in student government and his affection for his new home of Berkeley, a laboratory for democracy, after growing up in St. Louis. We have the momentum to try things and get away with things that its not possible to do in other places, Robinson said. In a place like St. Louis, there isnt necessarily the political capital to implement these changes unless other cities implement them first. Robinson announced his candidacy in April, almost three moths before longtime Councilman Kriss Worthington announced his plans to retire. Shortly before, Worthington began reaching out to Robinson for what turned out to be a series of quasi job interviews. He gave me a string of calls, very reliably very late at night, Robinson said. I think Kriss just had a very high threshold for compatibility for whoever his next successor would be. Even though his district on the south side of campus is dominated by students, Robinson said he sometimes struggled to get voters to take him seriously. For every person who thanked him for running, he said, there were people who told me they were skeptical of me. So those were the ones he concentrated on, said his campaign manager, 20-year-old UC Berkeley junior Varsha Sarveshwar. The campaign identified precincts with more long-term residents than students, and Robinson went there regularly to talk with voters. We were very, very cognizant of that concern, Sarveshwar said. We had him knocking on those doors most frequently. In the style of a more seasoned candidate, Robinson would steer conversations away from his age and toward his platform, which emphasized affordable housing and improved relations between students and long-term residents. He also knew better than to play up his youth. That would have been purely counterproductive, because so many people didnt want to elect this child to City Council, he said. For hard-core skeptics, Robinson gave out his personal phone number, sometimes following up with handwritten thank-you notes. We put a lot of work into making these people feel like we would represent all of Berkeley, not just students, Sarveshwar said. Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle The members of Robinsons entirely student-run operation boasted a combined total of zero years professional experience on political campaigns. It was really learning as we went, Sarveshwar said. It worked. On election day, Robinson claimed 56 percent of the vote and a resounding victory, 22 points ahead of the second-place finisher, Cecilia Rosales. The number of votes counted for Robinson 1,580 exceeds the total number cast four years ago in the race for District Seven. Robinsons candidacy also earned the approval of an arguably tougher set of judges: the current members of the City Council. He secured endorsements from all eight members and Mayor Jesse Arreguin. That was a big moment for us, Robinson said. This isnt just a bunch of kids trying to take over the city. Worthington called council members unanimous backing incredible. Unprecedented. ...We have three different factions on the City Council. Nobody ... has ever gotten all three factions to endorse them. Worthington has been on the council for 22 years, or as long as Robinson has been alive. Eight years ago, he said, he started looking for a UC Berkeley student to replace him. I wasnt just looking for any student, Worthington said. There have been many students who have wanted to run over the years, and I didnt step aside. Robinson, however, measured up. Seeing how he would get the other senators to vote for his items ... hes taken on some very difficult projects and accomplished them, Worthington said. To Robinson, having been a student the past four years provides an ideal background for navigating the unique tensions between students and long-term residents which he calls his biggest project as a council member. Were trying to help residents think more inclusively of one another, he said. After a brief, post-campaign hibernation, Robinson has begun his transition planning. He has a budget for one full-time staffer, and he plans to hire a UC student. City Council members are allowed to hold other jobs, but Robinson has no plans to look for one. Im really committed to putting every minute that I can into this, he said. In his first job out of college, Robinson will earn just over $30,000 a year. Its livable, he said. Its not going to help out with retirement or anything. Holly Honderich is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: holly.honderich@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hollyhonderich Happy Thanksgiving! I dont know about you, but for me there are few pleasures in this life greater than a day devoted to cooking, eating and drinking. In northern California, todays pleasure is intensified by the sound of rain falling outside, which is bringing some relief to the firefighters battling the Camp Fire and to the Bay Areas air quality though it could also present flash flood dangers. Im giving thanks for those who are spending the holiday preparing and serving a Thanksgiving meal for 15,000 evacuees and first responders in Chico. What will be on your table today? I put that question to a few people whose families own nearby wineries. Jasmine Hirsch says she might be opening 98 Chave Hermitage Blanc, and Im jealous. Jason Lede ends the meal with Fernet. Andrew Nalle likes to start with J.J. Prum Spatlese, and Katie Bundschu is planning to pop a couple of Oregon Pinots. All wines are fair game. Last year I recommended pairing your Thanksgiving meal with Lambrusco, white Bordeaux, Fiano and Champagne; a few years ago I recommended drinking no wine at all, and opting for a succession of beer, cider, calvados and amaro instead. (Plus the Nopa espresso martini, which is never a bad way to end a meal.) This Thanksgiving, though, I will be drinking wine. Im beginning my meal with a traditional-method bubbly from Keush, a winery in Armenia, which I discovered at Acme Fine Wines in St. Helena. Its made from two native Armenian grapes, Khatun Kharji and Voskehat brand-new to me! and reminds me a little bit of Spanish cava: light, lemony, crisp. Ive set aside a 2009 Ridge Chardonnay, from the Monte Bello vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and am hoping that some age looks good on it. With the bird, Im planning to open a Carlisle Zinfandel from the estate Carlisle Vineyard in Russian River Valley always one of my favorite Zins for its deft negotiation between concentrated red berry flavors and an unrelenting, firm structure. If youre looking for new ways to repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers, may I suggest these cranberry sauce muffins or this stuffing strata? Now if youll excuse me, Ive got some drinking to do. Where Im drinking Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle I stopped into Kaiyo recently, the subject of this weeks Drink Up column by Maggie Hoffman. The Cow Hollow restaurant specializes in Nikkei cuisine, the food of the Japanese-Peruvian diaspora, and is doing creative things with pisco, like mixing it with rice milk and chamomile, or making a martini variation with pisco, sake and vermouth. Its a little more complicated than a pisco sour, but no less delicious. What Im reading The TTB has told California vintner Joe Wagner to change the labels for his Elouan wines, reports Michael Alberty in the Oregonian. Wagners Oregon Pinot Noir labels set off a major controversy earlier this fall. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Harvard Universitys vineyard investments in Californias Central Coast continue to upset its neighbors, who are worried that the developments are using too much of the regions most precious resource: water. In Bloomberg, Michael McDonald has an interesting update on this long and complicated saga. The Woolsey Fire in southern California is now nearly 100 percent contained, but among its destruction zones was one of Californias newest American Viticultural Areas, the Malibu Coast. At Malibus Cielo Vineyards, Wine Spectator writes, the vines acted as a fire break. Heres another great idea for Thanksgiving: the gorgeous, and stealthily biodynamic, wines of Chateau Le Puy in Bordeaux. Mike Dunne pays tribute to this always under-heralded winery in the Sacramento Bee. Planning to visit some wineries over this holiday weekend? On The Press, check out Virginie Boones favorite tasting rooms in Kenwood, and tour Bryce Wiatraks top Pinot Noir producers throughout Sonoma County. Drinking with Esther is a weekly newsletter from The Chronicles wine critic. Follow along on Twitter: @Esther_Mobley and Instagram: @esthermob A Petaluma attorney who vigorously fought the citys decision to remove a controversial sculpture from San Franciscos Civic Center Plaza has made good on his promise to sue to put the statue back on its pedestal. In a lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Frear Stephen Schmid claims the city violated a number of local and state laws intended to protect historic works of art when it hoisted the Early Days statue from the Pioneer Monument and placed it in storage back in September. The statue depicts a vaquero and a missionary standing over a fallen and nearly naked American Indian man. Its one of five bronze statues that make up the Pioneer Monument, a shrine to the settling of California that sits between the Main Library and the Asian Art Museum. Critics had called for the removal of the Early Days statue for more than two decades, castigating it as a perverse celebration of indigenous peoples suffering at the hands of European settlers. But a renewed public outcry bloomed in the wake of the deadly demonstrations last year in Charlottesville, Va., at the site of a Confederate statue. That rally, which resulted in the death of a counterprotester, sparked a national discussion about removing historical monuments that, to many, glorify racial or cultural oppression. Schmid sought to block the decision by the citys Arts and Historic Preservation Commissions to take the statue down, but he was overruled following an impassioned meeting before the Board of Appeals on Sept. 12. Two days later, the statue was lifted from its plinths, carted away on a flatbed truck and placed into fine-arts storage. A group of onlookers applauded quietly. In his lawsuit, Schmid claims the city defied local ordinances and state laws meant to safeguard public works of art when it removed the statue, which he equates to destroying it outright, drawing parallels with the destruction of Buddhist statues by the Taliban. Though it may be offensive to some, Schmid argues it should be maintained as a public resource, one that can teach lessons about the horrors of the past. No one in their right mind can deny that repeated, totally unjustifiable atrocities were committed against Native Americans. Thats a historical fact, Schmid said in an interview. But I dont think this statue symbolizes that. People have different reads on it, I get that. Schmid also accuses the city of acting out of a manifest and largely unconcealed animus, bias and prejudice against people of European heritage and culture. Kate Patterson, a spokeswoman for the Arts Commission, said she couldn't comment on pending litigation. But back in September, after Schmid vowed to press his fight to return Early Days to the Pioneer Monument in court, Tom DeCaigny, the Arts Commissions director of cultural affairs said the city was well within its rights to make decisions over its public arts collection. We feel pretty confident about our legal standing, he said at the time. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa In August, researchers from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle unveiled an English test for computers. It examined whether machines could complete sentences like this one: On stage, a woman takes a seat at the piano. She (A) sits on a bench as her sister plays with the doll. (B) smiles with someone as the music plays. (C) is in the crowd, watching the dancers. (D) nervously sets her fingers on the keys. For you, that would be an easy question. But for a computer, it was pretty hard. While humans answered more than 88 percent of the test questions correctly, the labs AI systems hovered around 60 percent. Among experts those who know just how difficult it is to build systems that understand natural language that was an impressive number. Then, two months later, a team of Google researchers unveiled a system called BERT. Its improved technology answered those questions just as well as humans did and it was not even designed to take the test. BERTs arrival punctuated a significant development in artificial intelligence. For several months, researchers have shown that computer systems can learn the vagaries of language in general ways and then apply what they have learned to a variety of specific tasks. Built in quick succession by several independent research organizations, including Google and the Allen Institute, these systems could improve technology as diverse as digital assistants like Alexa and Google Home as well as software that automatically analyzes documents inside law firms, hospitals, banks and other businesses. Each time we build new ways of doing something close to human level, it allows us to automate or augment human labor, said Jeremy Howard, founder of Fast.ai, an independent San Francisco lab that is among those at the forefront of this research. This can make life easier for a lawyer or a paralegal. But it can also help with medicine. It may even lead to technology that can finally carry on a decent conversation. But there is a downside: On social media services like Twitter, this new research could also lead to more convincing bots designed to fool us into thinking they are human, Howard said. Researchers have shown that rapidly improving AI techniques can facilitate the creation of fake images that look real. As this kind of technology move into the language field as well, Howard said, we may need to be more skeptical than ever about what we encounter online. These new language systems learn by analyzing millions of sentences written by humans. A system built by OpenAI in San Francisco analyzed thousands of self-published books, including romance novels, science fiction and more. Googles BERT analyzed these same books, plus the length and breadth of Wikipedia. Each system learned a particular skill by analyzing all that text. OpenAIs technology learned to guess the next word in a sentence. BERT learned to guess missing words anywhere in a sentence. But in mastering these specific tasks, they also learned about how language is pieced together. If BERT can guess the missing words in millions of sentences (such as the man walked into a store and bought a ______ of milk), it can also understand many of the fundamental relationships between words in the English language, said Jacob Devlin, the Google researcher who oversaw the creation of BERT. (BERT is short for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers.) The system can apply this knowledge to other tasks. If researchers provide BERT with a bunch of questions and their answers, it learns to answer other questions on its own. Then, if they feed it news headlines that describe the same event, it learns to recognize when two sentences are similar. Usually, machines can recognize only an exact match. BERT can handle the common sense test from the Allen Institute. It can also handle a reading comprehension test where it answers questions about encyclopedia articles. What is oxygen? What is precipitation? In another test, it can judge the sentiment of a movie review. Is the review positive or negative? This kind of technology is a step toward a lot of still-faraway goals in AI, like technologies that can summarize and synthesize big, messy collections of information to help people make important decisions, said Sam Bowman, a professor at New York University who specializes in natural language research. In the weeks after the release of OpenAIs system, outside researchers applied it to conversation. An independent group of researchers used OpenAIs technology to create a system that leads a competition to build the best chatbot that was organized by several top labs, including the Facebook AI Lab. And this month, Google open sourced its BERT system, so others can apply it to additional tasks. Devlin and his colleagues have already trained it in 102 languages. Sebastian Ruder, a researcher in Ireland who collaborates with Fast.ai, sees the arrival of systems like BERT as a wake-up call for him and other AI researchers because they had assumed that language technology had hit a ceiling. There is so much untapped potential, he said. The complex mathematical systems behind this technology are called neural networks. In recent years, this type of machine learning has accelerated progress in subjects as varied as face recognition technology and driverless cars. Researchers call this deep learning. BERT succeeded in part because it leaned on enormous amounts of computer processing power that was not available to neural networks in years past. It analyzed all those Wikipedia articles over the course of several days using dozens of computer processors built by Google specifically for training neural networks. The ideas that drive BERT have been around for years, but they started to work because modern hardware could juggle much larger amounts of data, Devlin said. Like Google, dozens of other companies are now building chips specifically for this kind of machine learning, and many believe the influx of this extra processing power will continue to accelerate the progress of a wide range of AI technologies, including, most notably, natural language applications. BERT is a first thrust in that direction, said Jeff Dean, who oversees Googles artificial intelligence work. But actually not all that big in terms of where we want to go. Dean believes that ever larger amounts of processing power will lead to machines that can better juggle natural language. But there is reason for skepticism that this technology can keep improving quickly because researchers tend to focus on the tasks they can make progress on and avoid the ones they cant, said Gary Marcus, a New York University psychology professor who has long questioned the effectiveness of neural networks. These systems are still a really long way from truly understanding running prose, he said. Cade Metz is a New York Times writer. CHICO, Calif. (KCRA) Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday visited firefighters battling the Camp Fire in Butte County. Schwarzenegger met with firefighters at the briefing Wednesday morning. He is in town to donate and tour the damage. "They're true heroes. I mean, I play heroes in the movies, but it's movies. These are the true action heroes," Schwarzenegger said. Schwarzenegger is donating $100,000 to the firefighters' fund. The Butte County blaze -- the most destructive wildfire in California history and the nation's deadliest in a century -- has scorched 153,356 acres and is 80 percent contained as of Wednesday, according to Cal Fire. Two additional bodies have been found in the Camp Fire, bringing the death toll to 81, officials said Tuesday. Since Monday, two victims were found inside structures in Paradise, according to the Butte County Sheriff's Office. The San Francisco SPCA is housing an overflow of animals who were separated from their owners in the devastating Camp Fire near Chico. The animal shelter is currently caring for 10 dogs and 18 cats, and in recent days the organization has tracked down several owners through a Facebook campaign. WASHINGTON In an extraordinary rebuke of a president, Chief Justice John Roberts chastised Donald Trump on Wednesday for going after a judge who ruled against his migrant asylum order as an Obama judge. Trump quickly lashed back defending his own criticism. Its the first time the Republican-appointed leader of the federal judiciary has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who had previously blasted other federal judges who ruled against him. In a brief but pointed statement, Roberts strongly defended the independence of the federal judiciary and rejected the notion that judges are loyal to the presidents who appointed them. We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them, Roberts said in a statement that was released by the Supreme Court. The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for. Never silent for long, Trump hit back from his resort home in Florida, bluntly questioning the independence of federal judges appointed by his predecessor and others and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He especially criticized those on Californias Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country, the president tweeted. If the Ninth Circuit judges are independent, he said, why are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. ... these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise! Before Trump, it had been highly unusual for presidents to single out judges for personal criticism. And a chief justices challenge to a presidents comments is unprecedented in modern times. But Roberts and the high court find themselves at an especially stressful moment. In the aftermath of Trumps appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, several justices have spoken out about judicial independence and the danger of having the court viewed merely as a political institution divided between five conservative Republicans and four liberal Democrats. Roberts is widely seen as the justice closest to the middle and likely to determine the outcome of high-profile cases that split the court. Mark Sherman is an Associated Press writer. Federal authorities have arrested a suspect in one of nine blazes at East Bay construction sites that have gripped Oakland and surrounding areas and fueled suspicion that one or more arsonists were targeting new housing developments. Dustin Bellinger, 45, who also uses the name Faheem Bey, was arrested around 7 p.m. Tuesday in Oakland, according to Alameda County jail records. The U.S. Attorneys Office charged him with one felony count of maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive a charge that carries a penalty of 5 to 20 years in prison. Bellinger, a self-employed handyman and part-time construction worker from Oakland, has previous convictions for serious crimes, including kidnapping and second-degree robbery. He was sentenced to 11 years and nine years in state prison for each crime respectively, according to court records. Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives linked Bellinger to an intentionally set fire that burned itself out inside the under-construction Hollis Oak apartments along Peralta Street near the Oakland-Emeryville border in the early-morning hours of Oct. 23, according to a federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday. The same morning as the Hollis Oak fire, a massive inferno destroyed a 126-unit residential construction site known as the Ice House complex 10 blocks away along West Grand Avenue the second time the site had caught fire over a six-month period. Federal authorities have not charged Bellinger with the Ice House fire or several other high-profile fires that destroyed major construction projects in and around Oakland in recent years. The first reports of an arsonist came after authorities released video footage of a hooded bicyclist igniting a blaze that destroyed a $35 million Emeryville complex in May 2017 the second time that site was targeted in a year. Authorities have not said if they believe the person in the video was Bellinger. But in an application to seal the affidavit accompanying Wednesdays complaint, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elise Lapunzina wrote that this is an ongoing investigation into one of several arsons. The suspicious fires have put developers on edge for years with many investing in pricey security measures like round-the-clock guards, dogs, cameras, lights and fences. News of an arrest on Wednesday brought some measure of relief. Its clearly good news for everyone involved the developers, the Ice House project folks that were slated to move in there, said Simon Chen, chief financial officer of Madison Park Financial, the developer of Hollis Oak. I think this is good news for the entire community. Investigators linked Bellinger to the Oct. 23 fire at Hollis Oak through DNA found on evidence left at the crime scene. A security guard at the 124-unit project, which was set to open Dec. 1, noticed smoke coming from the windows of a first-floor apartment, ATF Special Agent Cynthia Chang wrote in the affidavit. The fire burned out in a first-floor bathroom due to lack of oxygen, officials said. Firefighters and police found a hammer on a window sill, a lighter and an unburned red plastic gasoline container with a rag stuffed into its spout outside the bathroom, Chang wrote. Investigators later found more evidence at the scene, including a dust mask, a cigarette butt, a black latex glove and a reddish-brown smudge inside a broken window sill, officials said. The smudge, hammer, cigarette butt and latex glove all contained DNA, which investigators plugged into the FBIs Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS database, Chang wrote. On Nov. 2, the DNA on the smudge came back to Bellinger, according to the ATF. Bellinger also uses the name Faheem Bey on Facebook and Instagram. Several posts dating back to November 2017 showcase his construction skills, with projects including roofing, carpet installation and demolition. In a video posted on Feb. 17, Bellinger recorded himself tiling a bathroom floor while urging employers to hire black men for high-end work. A lot of times you see black men and brothers doing small work, but Im here to let you know a lot of us, you know, we can, we can do that high-end work, he says in the video. On his Facebook page, Bellinger wrote that he is self-employed and attended Oakland Technical High School. Bellinger uses the surname Bey in association with the family that owned Your Black Muslim Bakery, one of whom Yusuf Bey IV is among three men in prison for the 2007 killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two others, according to the ATF. In a June 2006 letter to a judge, Bellinger makes reference to a my brotha Antar Bey (Dr. Yusif Beys son), along with a statement that his second wife was Jahannah Bey, Chang wrote. Fear that construction projects were under attack from one or more arsonists escalated in May 2017 when surveillance cameras captured a suspect setting a fire at the construction site on the 3800 block of San Pablo Avenue. It would be the second time the project burned down, raising questions about whether the attacks were motivated by housing costs and gentrification. In April, cameras again captured a hooded arsonist torching a $55 million, 180-apartment construction project in Concord and forcing 250 people to flee nearby homes. Before the Ice House project went up in flames, a small fire there on April 29 was quickly extinguished, prompting fire officials to warn the projects managers that the site was poorly secured. In July 2017, the seven-story Alta Waverly development burned down west of Lake Merritt in Oakland. The cause of that fire has not been determined. On Oct. 31, 2016, a three-story apartment complex burned down east of the lake. Evan Sernoffsky and Megan Cassidy are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, megan.cassidy@sfchronicle Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky @MeganrCassidy Avid Black Friday shoppers hoping to get an early break on in-store sales might run into some holiday hurdles this year. Thats because a growing number of stores are deciding to close on Thanksgiving Day, reversing a trend that started to take hold about a decade ago as retailers sought to get a head start on one of the biggest shopping days of the year. A total of 76 national and regional companies will give their employees the day off Thursday, according to a list compiled by the shopping information website BestBlackFriday. That compares with 69 businesses last year and 59 in 2016, when the website first started tracking the closures. Stores in San Francisco that are expected to be closed on Thursday include REI, Nordstrom, Trader Joes, Marshalls and H&M. Companies closing on Thanksgiving are expected to benefit from an online shopping boom that allows them to profit and keep their employees happy by giving them the day off. Americans are expected to spend about $720 billion on holiday shopping this year, an annual increase of more than 4 percent, according to the National Retail Federation. The weekend before Christmas will attract the highest spending total, followed by Black Friday weekend. Many people are not only avoiding those stores on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but they are avoiding them altogether, said Phil Dengler, co-owner of BestBlackFriday. The fact that online Thanksgiving shopping has taken off so much recently has just been the justification for stores to finally switch course and close on Thanksgiving. Still, some stores will remain open to catch either last-minute food shoppers or gift buyers looking for an early start. Macys Union Square, Best Buy and Target will open at 5 p.m. on Thursday. Safeway and Whole Foods are open, though hours vary. Best Buy chooses to open for Thanksgiving because its what their customers want, said spokeswoman Boua Xiong. We have millions of customers, so part of it is certainly demand, but people have made tradition of coming out to stores to shop, she said, adding that customers had already begun camping outside a Laredo, Texas, Best Buy. REI and Outdoor Research began opting out of Black Friday in 2015, instead encouraging their customers to go outside as part of a marketing campaign. Nordstrom and Costco cited the importance of letting their employees spend time with their families on Thanksgiving. Nordstrom said it has always closed for the holiday, and Costco said that taking care of its employees has always been one of its fundamental tenets. It deals with the culture, Dengler said. A lot of these stores take pride in closing for Thanksgiving. Its important for their brand. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Sophia Kunthara contributed to this report. Agueda Pacheco-Flores is a Seattle Times writer. ABC News(CATANIA, Italy) -- An IKEA in Italy has set the internet alight by providing a home for stray dogs during the freezing winter months. Social media users praised the shops open-door policy for strays in Catania, Italy, after video and photos of the dogs circulated online. In addition to providing the dogs with rugs to sleep on, shop staff have also groomed and fed the dogs. Some of the strays have even been adopted by shop workers in the store on Sicilys eastern coast. One video posted on Facebook, giving a tour of the stray canines' new home, has been viewed more than 1 million times. "A good initiative to shelter the strays while it's raining outside," read the caption. "Do we want to applaud this Civilisation?" The Italian store followed a similar policy seen in IKEA outlets in the United States. The Swedish furniture company partnered with pet charities as part of their "Home for Hope" campaign to encourage the adoption of stray animals. They have also provided professional photography sessions for the strays and placed their images in various showrooms, according to the green design and lifestyle website Inhabitat. One Italian posted on Instagram that the policy to offer shelter to the dogs was "a very important gesture." "Straying is a widespread problem in Sicily, and IKEA has always been sensitive to animal issues and welfare," a spokesperson for IKEA Italy said. "Specifically, this problem has been affecting our store in Catania for quite some time now, as there are many stray dogs who are normally hanging around the car park outside the store. These dogs sometimes find repair in the entrance and exit areas of the store, although this is not part of a particular corporate initiative." Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. When she was in sixth grade, Sandra Parks wrote an award-winning essay about gun violence and crime in her hometown, Milwaukee. On Monday, two years after she described how we are in a state of chaos, she was fatally shot when someone outside fired a gun at her home and a stray bullet went into her bedroom. Sandra, 13, was watching television at the time, her sister, Tatiana Ingram, told the television station WISN. My sister took it like a soldier: She just walked in the room and said, Mama, Im shot, Ingram said. She was only hit one time, in her chest. The bullet wasnt even for her. Sandras mother, Bernice Parks, told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that her daughter was everything this world is not. My baby did not like violence, she said of Sandra, her middle child, adding, She was my angel from the time she was in my womb to the time she came out. In Sandras essay, which placed third in her school districts 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest, she called for more empathy and less negativity, and emphasized the importance of getting an education to make the world a better place. We are the future leaders, but if we dont have an education, we will accomplish nothing, she wrote. She described a world where little children are victims of senseless gun violence and there is too much black-on-black crime. Sometimes, I sit back and I have to escape from what I see and hear every day, she wrote. When I do; I come to the same conclusion we are in a state of chaos." Sandra, then a sixth-grader, told Wisconsin Public Radio that she chose to write about violence because all you hear about is somebody dying or somebody getting shot and people do not just think about whose father or son or granddaughter or grandson who it was that was just killed. More for you Trumps embrace of Saudi Arabia causes GOP rift Vickie Brown-Gurley, who worked as the principal of Keefe Avenue School when Sandra was in fifth and sixth grade, remembered Sandra as a confident student with a really good sense of humor. Over the past two years, 12 students in Milwaukee public schools were homicide victims, a spokeswoman for the school district said. Sandra is the seventh since January. Its part of the insanity we see in Milwaukee, Mayor Tom Barrett told reporters Tuesday. I look at where we are now as a city and it breaks my heart to stand here. As a dad, it breaks my heart. The Milwaukee Police Department, which is investigating Sandras death, said Tuesday that a 26-year-old man was in custody. The Milwaukee County district attorneys office is now reviewing the case. The motive is still being determined, Sgt. Sheronda Grant,a spokeswoman for the Milwaukee Police Department, said Wednesday. On Sandras familys GoFundMe page, Bernice Parks said her daughter had hoped to attend college and become a writer. Sandra was special, Parks told the television station WITI. She didnt deserve to leave this world like that. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. An 81-year-old Livermore man is missing tonight and police are asking for help finding him. Ronald McConnell was last seen at 3:15 p.m. today leaving his home in a white 2000 Mercury Sable on his way to Safeway on First Street near Interstate Highway 580. The license plate number on the Mercury is California 4RQT003. McConnell is 5 feet 10 inches tall and 160 pounds, police said. He was last seen wearing a dark-colored pullover sweatshirt and possibly jeans. At 4:45 p.m. today, someone saw McConnell's Mercury in Clayton and his destination was not known. Police said that last month McConnell went missing and was found in Reno, Nevada. McConnell suffers from the early stages of dementia. Anyone with information on McConnell or his whereabouts is asked to call 911 or Livermore police. 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. BENICIA (BCN) The city of Benicia has reached an agreement with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control regarding the cleanup of toxins from the lower Benicia Arsenal area. The city has been working since 2010 to have the federal government clean up hazardous chemicals on the site since the U.S. Army occupied the Arsenal. City officials said they want the area to be reused and developed economically and but contamination has hindered that effort. The settlement announced this week requires the city to pay the Department of Toxic Substances Control $161,000 and provide a $26,000 credit on permit fees for the cleanup. City Attorney Heather McLaughlin said in a statement Tuesday that the settlement ensures property owners will not be pitted against one another and that costly and needless litigation is avoided. Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said, "The protection of public health and safety has been accomplished with the city leadership. "Our vision brought together property owners, the state of California and the federal government to find a path that protects public health from toxins. At the same time, we avoided disrupting existing economic activity. We succeeded because of the trust we earned from all parties," Patterson said. The lower Benicia Arsenal on the city's southeastern area housed California's first Army weapons depot and later was the site of small arms manufacturing. It was decommissioned in 1964, and concerns about chemicals and unexploded ordnance remained. 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) San Francisco's Animal Care and Control was able to make this holiday season a little brighter for a victim of the deadly Camp Fire in Butte County after his dog went missing last week. On Friday, animal care officials returned from assisting with rescue and relief efforts in Butte County, bringing back rescued dogs from an emergency shelter in Chico. Among the dogs was an 11-year-old female Border Collie that was found by a good Samaritan and brought to the shelter. Once in San Francisco, animal care and control officials posted information about the dog on social media in order to find its owner. According to animal care and control spokeswoman Deb Campbell, upon seeing the post, the dog's owner contacted them. Animal care and control officials then learned that the dog is named Maggie May. Maggie May was separated from her owner after the fire destroyed her owner's house in Magalia, an unincorporated community neighboring Paradise. According to Campbell, the owner was thrilled to learn that Maggie May is safe and he's set to drive down today with his other dog to pick her up. "She's an adorable dog--we're so happy that she gets her dad back!" Campbell said. Multiple lanes of eastbound Interstate Highway 80 in Pinole were blocked due to a multiple-vehicle traffic collision on Wednesday night, according to the California Highway Patrol. The CHP said the collision was first reported around 10:57 p.m. just east of Pinole Valley Road. The collision jarred a motor block and transmission free from at least one of the vehicles. The CHP didn't provide any information on injuries. No further information is 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) San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced today the city's Police Department will increase the number of beat officers walking around Tenderloin and Mid-Market neighborhoods within the next two weeks. According to Breed, the move is part of an expansion within the Police Department that will see a total of 43 police personnel assigned to walk the area, focusing mostly on Market Street between Fourth and Eighth streets. "Community policing and service outreach are key to making our streets safer and cleaner for all of our residents and visitors," Breed said in a statement. "Not only can these officers focus on deterring criminal behavior, but they can strengthen ties and build trust with community members to ensure that we are all working together to make our streets safe for all." In a statement Police Chief William Scott said, "The presence of our foot beat officers sends a strong signal that we prioritize community safety and engagement with the public. Residents, workers and merchants have let us know that our foot beats and mobile command center on UN Plaza have made the area safer and more family friendly. By stepping up our foot beat presence, we can continue to work with community members to ensure our public spaces are clean, safe and more welcoming for everyone." The foot patrol officers will be working with the city's Healthy Streets Operation Center, which coordinates with different city departments to see that homeless individuals are connected with services and programs. The dense area where the foot patrols will be concentrated includes a mix of housing and commercial buildings and is one of the city's most traveled areas, with the Civic Center and Powell transit stations serving about 73,000 people daily during the weekdays. 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) San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and Police Chief William Scott joined dozens of volunteers today at The Salvation Army's annual Turkey Carving event to help prepare Thanksgiving meals for some of the city's neediest. Hayes-White and Scott were also joined by City Administrator Naomi Kelly, and they helped volunteers carve 1,600 pounds of turkey, all within about an hour, at The Salvation Army's Harbor Light Center at 1275 Harrison St. The Salvation Army volunteers are set to deliver the sliced turkey on Thanksgiving day to nearly 4,000 seniors and homebound residents. The residents will also get all the fixings--gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, cranberry sauce, apple cider and hot chocolate. Hayes-White, who has served as fire chief since 2004, announced last month she will be retiring sometime early next year, but she said today's turkey carving event may not be her last one. "I've been doing this for over 15 years now and this will be my last time doing it in uniform. I'll be retired by this time next year, but hopefully I'll come back and volunteer," she said. "We used to have Mayor Ed Lee with us last year and he's not here with us this year, so it's a little bittersweet," Hayes-White lamented, but added that on the flip side, "This event today will make people's holidays brighter; those who are not able to get a meal on their own will be able to utilize the services of The Salvation Army and make it a happier Thanksgiving for them." Chief Scott said of the event, "It's really a time-honored tradition that really makes us feel good, even if it's just a little bit of service back to the community. It's a great way to kick off Thanksgiving and a great way to kick off the holiday season." Also at the turkey-carving, officials with The Salvation Army presented Hayes-White with a "Carver in Chief" award, thanking her for her work with the organization over the years. Following today's event, volunteers will return to the Harbor Light Center as early as 4:30 a.m. Thursday to prepare and package meals for deliveries throughout the city. 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. Many residents and visitors in the San Francisco Bay Area today will celebrate Thanksgiving with a meal and possibly a run. A number of cities are holding turkey trots while nonprofits are hosting dinners or delivering meals. Trots usually start in the morning before the big meal. In San Jose, the 14th annual Applied Materials "Silicon Valley Turkey Trot" gets started at 6:30 a.m. and has a goal of raising $1 million for families in need. San Francisco organizations such as Glide and the St. Anthony Foundation are holding Thanksgiving dinners for the needy. San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and Police Chief William Scott joined dozens of volunteers at The Salvation Army's annual Turkey Carving event to help prepare Thanksgiving meals for some of the city's neediest. The event took place Wednesday. Hayes-White and Scott were also joined by City Administrator Naomi Kelly, and they helped volunteers carve 1,600 pounds of turkey, all within about an hour, at The Salvation Army's Harbor Light Center at 1275 Harrison St. The Salvation Army volunteers are set to deliver the sliced turkey today to nearly 4,000 seniors and homebound residents. The residents will also get all the fixings--gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, cranberry sauce, apple cider and hot chocolate. Hayes-White, who has served as fire chief since 2004, announced last month she will be retiring sometime early next year, but she said Wednesday's turkey carving event may not be her last one. Wednesday's rain led to power outages, flooded roadways and traffic throughout the Bay Area, and first responders throughout the region asked motorists to drive carefully. Power outages, primarily reported in San Francisco and the East Bay, left more than 9,000 utility customers without electrical service just before noon, but additional outages were reported in the North Bay and South Bay areas. As of 4:30 p.m., 5,370 customers were still without power. PG&E officials say they anticipate more heavy weather on Thanksgiving Day, with wet and windy conditions that could cause tree limbs or other debris to damage electrical lines and interrupt service. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has not issued a "Spare the Air" ban this week but is asking residents to avoid burning wood on Thanksgiving Day. Smoke from the Camp Fire in Butte County has resulted in dangerous air quality levels the past few weeks, but rain and weather patterns this week are returning Bay Area skies to normal. To preserve this recovery, the air district is asking residents not to burn wood, even though there is no legal restriction in place. Sonoma Raceway has distributed more than 6,200 pounds of food during its Thanksgiving food drive this year. The 6,232 pounds of non-perishable donations will go to Friends in Sonoma Helping (FISH) and the Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa. Sonoma Raceway also distributed more than $1,300 in cash contributions from the community to food banks this year. Sonoma Raceway has donated more than 39 tons of non-perishable food to Bay Area food banks over 18 years. FISH provides food, clothing, transportation and emergency rental assistance to Sonoma Valley residents in need. The food from Sonoma Raceway is used for FISH's Holiday Food Basket program. The baskets contain fresh eggs, produce and a $25 gift card supported by cash contributions. Three people died in a crash on U.S. Highway 101 near King City and a fourth victim is in critical condition, according to the California Highway Patrol. The crash occurred Wednesday morning. Nine people were involved in the crash and all but one suffered injuries. It was reported at 6:10 a.m. after a northbound 2003 Chevrolet Astro van turning west near Central Avenue failed to yield the right of way to oncoming traffic on southbound Highway 101, according to the CHP. The van, which was carrying eight people, was struck by a Dodge Journey on its passenger side. Two men and a woman inside the van, all from King City, died as a result of the crash. A 60-year-old woman from Atascadero driving the Dodge Journey suffered major injuries to her chest, ribs and legs, according to the CHP. Four other people in the Chevrolet van ages 25 to 61 suffered head, neck, arm, chest and leg injuries, according to the CHP. Officers are investigating the crash and do not know if alcohol or drugs were involved. A 24-year-old Oakland man was in critical condition Wednesday after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while he was crossing the street in Oakland's Eastlake district on Tuesday night, police said. Officers who investigated the collision at the intersection of East 12th Street and Seventh Avenue at about 10:35 p.m. on Tuesday determined that the man was crossing the street in the middle of the block of 600 East 12th Street when he was hit by a red Hyundai Accent that was traveling east. Police said the driver of the Hyundai Accent then abandoned his car at the scene and fled on foot before officers arrived. Oakland firefighters and paramedics treated the pedestrian at the scene and then transported him to a hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. 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. The year 2018 witnessed another major shift in U.S. policy toward Iran. President Trump announced, on May 8, U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, more commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, and restored two rounds of sanctions on Iran respectively on August 6 and November 4. The shift which aroused new debates about U.S. policy toward Iran and concerns worldwide, was actually nothing new but a repetition of history within a new context. The JCPOA was the joint plan of action agreed between Iran and the U.S., China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany while Federica Mogherini as EU representative had headed the negotiation with Iran. While the deal was multilateral, it was mainly an issue between the U.S. and Iran. On the Iranian side, the deal signified Hassan Rouhani's resoluteness in improving Iran's relations with the U.S., which had been well reciprocated by Barack Obama with his administration's readiness to engage Iran. In contrast to his predecessor's fierce confrontational approach, Hassan Rouhani had been opting for constructive interactions with the international community, particularly the U.S. and the West. Going to the table was a major signal that Iran wanted to have good relations with the U.S. But instead of rewarding Iran with more benefits, Barack Obama's successor President Trump decided to punish Iran by withdrawing from the deal. This greatly frustrated Iran's effort to court the U.S., and suggested the unsustainability of U.S.-Iran rapprochement. Observers might feel puzzled with the sharp shift of U.S. policy toward Iran, but actually similar scenarios have occurred time and again in the history of U.S.-Iran relations. In the middle of 1990s, the then president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani used to offer very favorable benefits to attract U.S. companies to invest in Iran's oil exploitation, which was a major gesture that Iran wanted to have better relations with the U.S. But unexpectedly, the U.S. Congress passed and President Clinton signed in 1996 The Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of (ILSA), punishing those companies investing in Iran's energy sector. This should be the first major setback for Iran in improving its relations with U.S. The same story was repeated during Mohammad Khatami's presidency. After the September 11 attacks, Iran's Khatami government lent the U.S. a hand for its fight against the Afghanistan Taliban. Iran not only provided military assistance for U.S. military actions but also persuaded some Afghanistan political factions to accept U.S. arrangements of political transition. These were all signals that Iran wanted to improve relations with the U.S. by this opportunity. But these signals had not been reciprocated by the U.S. The then U.S. President Bush in his 2002 State of the Union speech included Iran in the list of the Axis of Evils, despite that as a Shiite majority state, Iran really had no links to Al Qaeda. All these stories indicate that there is a very strange rationale behind U.S. policy toward Iran. It seems that the U.S. would always like to choose punishment instead of reward in return for Iran's favorable gesture. The more Iran demonstrated willingness to improve its relations with the U.S., the more likely punishment will be delivered from the U.S. side. And the opportunity for U.S. to change its relations with Iran always elapsed easily when it looms. The reasons are numerous, but the most decisive is the strong anti-Iran politics in the U.S. and also anti-Iran sentiments. Many people in the U.S. still keep in their memory of the hostage crisis in 1979. Those revolutionary radicals kidnapped U.S. diplomats stationed in Tehran for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981. Even with the passing of 40 years could not take away the TV image of the diplomats with their eyes covered with black belts. That's the reason why the crisis will every few years appear in U.S. public in different ways. In 2005, a picture had been widely circulated with a certain kidnapper looking very much like Ahmadinejad shortly after Mohammad Ahmadinejad's election as Iran's president, which caused a very strong anti-Iran sentiment in the U.S. The year 2012 saw the movie Ago, which was based on the hostage crisis, receive a very large audience in the U.S. and the world at large, and the movie also won several OSCAR medals, which again brought up the bitter memory of the crisis. In 2014, the U.S. refused to issue a visa for Hamid Aboutalebi, who was appointed by Hassan Rouhani as Iran's ambassador to the UN, just because he used to be an interpreter during the hostage crisis. Memories proved to be always obstacles in the relations between the two. Besides these domestic sentiments, Israel's lobbyists are another major part of the anti-Iran force in U.S. domestic politics. In most of the time since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iran had been a very high-profile challenger for Israel, and Israel regarded Iran as the major enemy in the region. Though Jewish lobbyists are not necessarily all standing with Israel, yet a majority of them do share the positions of the Israeli government. The Jewish lobbyists are financially capable of influencing U.S. politicians, particularly in the Congress, and control some very important media as well. They constructed a very negative image of Iran, and persuaded congressmen to push for policies that punish Iran. Just as John Mearsheirmer and Stephan Walt argued in their famous book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, the Israel lobby had dissuaded U.S. from taking a policy engaging Iran, and had undermined U.S. interests in Iran. Israel and Jewish lobbyists are both strongly opposed to the JCPOA. While Barack Obama's administration and other major powers hailed the deal as a "historical deal," Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish lobbyists called the deal a "historical mistake." Trump had been particularly influenced by Israel and Jewish lobbyists. Many believe that Trump's Middle East policy and policy toward Iran had been very much influenced by Jared Kushner, his son-in-law. All in all, the current U.S. administration's reneging U.S. policy approaching Iran was actually nothing new in the history of U.S.-Iran relations. Similar scenarios might also happen in the future. There are strong forces in the U.S. that strongly oppose rapprochement with Iran. And observers should not be too optimistic for U.S-Iran relations so long as anti-Iran politics is there. Dr. Jin Liangxiang is deputy director and Senior Research Fellow with the Center for West Asian and African Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/jinliangxiang.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Flash The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals on Wednesday sentenced British student Matthew Hedges to life in jail on charges that he was spying for Britain, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM). The defendant appeared before court in the presence of representatives from the British embassy, the report cited Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi as saying. Al Shamsi added that the sentence is not final and according to UAE laws the suspect has the right to appeal before the Federal Supreme Court for retrial. Matthew Hedges, a 31-year-old PhD student at Durham University, was arrested at Dubai airport on May 5 and referred in October to trial by the UAE attorney general on charges of "spying for a foreign state in an act that jeopardizes the military, economic and political position of the UAE." "The accused came to the UAE under the guise of being an academic researcher to secure confidential information to potentially pass to a foreign country," Al Shamsi said. Flash Visiting President Xi Jinping has called on legislative bodies from China and the Philippines to further exchange experience in state governance and push forward multilevel, multiform cooperation for the development of the two nations' bilateral ties. Xi expressed the hope that the Philippines' top legislature will play a bigger role in promoting China-Philippines friendship, during a meeting with the Philippines' House of Representatives Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and President of the Senate Vicente Sotto III here on Wednesday. Friendly exchanges between legislative bodies of both sides form an important part of the China-Philippines relations, which now stand at a new historic starting point and thus possess broad development prospect, Xi said. In recent years, the China-Philippines relations have displayed new vitality and achieved leapfrog development, bringing benefits to the two peoples as well as encouraging regional peace and stability, according to the president. The upgrade of the China-Philippines relations to comprehensive strategic cooperation had been jointly announced by Xi and his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte here on Tuesday. "We must continue going on the right path, deepen practical cooperation, consolidate the material basis of the bilateral ties, expand people-to-people exchanges, cement public support, properly handle the South China Sea issue, stick to the right direction for the development of bilateral ties, and make good neighbors and partners that share the prosperity," Xi told Arroyo and Sotto. The president praised them for being good and old friends of the Chinese people and contributing to the China-Philippines friendship for a long time. He also called for more support from the legislative bodies on practical cooperation, especially in areas of education, culture and tourism. For their part, Arroyo and Sotto, while applauding the upgrade of the bilateral ties, both expressed their willingness to step up exchanges with Chinese legislative bodies and deepen practical cooperation in all fields, for the benefits of the two peoples and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. With all-round cooperation going well and China being one of the most important partners for the Philippines' economic development, the Philippines-China relations are now at the best period in history, said Arroyo and Sotto. The Philippines would like to learn from China's success in achieving rapid economic and social development, push for more cooperation in trade and infrastructure, strengthen people-to-people exchanges and better benefit the two peoples, they added. It's a daily source of frustration for many Californians: Taxes are high and gas prices are among the country's steepest, but roads are notoriously terrible. Some of the potholes are so large and distinctive, they even get their own names (Highway 13 motorists may recall last year's "Steve the sinkhole," for instance, whose cutesy moniker did little to endear him to the drivers whose cars he messed up). Annual data analyzed by transportation research group TRIP has found that all that wear and tear takes a toll financially, in the form of elevated repair and maintenance costs. ALSO: Does California have the worst drivers in the US? San Francisco and Oakland are the worst in the country among large urban areas when it comes to the amount of extra money drivers must sink into maintaining their cars because of the bad roads: drivers in the two spend an estimated $1,049 per year. The national average cost is just under $600. Click through the gallery to see how much money California drivers are paying each year because of badly maintained roads. The TRIP rankings looked at large and mid-sized urban areas with the highest vehicle maintenance costs; among mid-sized cities, Antioch and Concord were second and third in such costs, coming in at $942 and $923 per year, respectively. Several Bay Area cities boast also some of the country's highest percentages of roads in a state of disrepair. In the San Francisco-Oakland area, 71 percent of the roads were deemed to be in poor condition, the highest in the country. YIKES: Pothole on I-5 near Sacramento takes out 21 cars San Jose is the second-worst large urban area in the country, with 64 percent of roads in poor condition. And the two worst mid-size cities are also in the Bay Area: the aforementioned offenders, Antioch and Concord. Perhaps that's part of why Bay Area voters came out so strongly against Prop. 6, which would have repealed the gas tax and thus eliminated its revenues, which can be used to fix roads 69.6 percent of Bay Area voters opted to protect the gas tax, compared with 55.3 percent statewide. Majorities voted against Prop. 6 in every Bay Area county. Even if the gas tax money fixes the roads, though, there are still environmental hazards. This Thanksgiving weekend, depending on what part of the state you're in, there's also snow, flooding and mudslides to contend with. Be safe out there! Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter WASHINGTON The gruesome killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside a Saudi diplomatic installation in Turkey last month has cast a world spotlight on rights abuses by the conservative desert kingdom. But the outcry over President Trumps seeming indifference his declaration Tuesday that he was, in essence, taking the word of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over that of American intelligence agencies, which say the kingdoms young de facto ruler almost certainly authorized Khashoggis assassination points up another uncomfortable phenomenon: Although Western governments are often critical of the Saudi flouting of human rights standards, most are nonetheless willing to continue doing business with its oil-rich absolute monarchy. Here is a look at some widely cited violations of basic rights in Saudi Arabia. Harsh punishments: Saudi Arabias judicial system is grounded in Shariah, or Islamic law. It has one of the worlds highest rates of executions, usually carried out by beheading with a sword. Other punishments include amputations of a hand or foot and public floggings. Womens rights: t Saudi women are still subject to guardianship rules, rooted in Islamic law, that relegate them to the status of legal minors, requiring the permission of a male relative, sometimes a young boy, to marry, travel abroad or make other important life decisions. Sidelining of rivals: A year ago, the crown prince launched what was billed as an anti-corruption drive that saw the detentions of about 200 people. The government said it seized more than $100 billion in improperly gained assets, but suspicions that the crown prince was acting primarily to consolidate his power. Jailing of dissidents: Saudi Arabia has for decades kept a tight lid on dissent, and rights groups say that practice has continued unabated even intensified since Mohammed became crown prince in 2017, with clerics, journalists, intellectuals and activists among the targets. Dozens of human rights defenders have been placed behind bars, sometimes without trial. Repression of religious minorities: Saudi Arabias Shiite Muslim minority, making up about 15 percent of the population, has long been subject to discrimination and repression. War in Yemen: The crown prince has spearheaded Saudi Arabias military role in the 3-year-old civil war in Yemen, the Arab worlds poorest country.The grinding conflict has given rise to the worlds most acute humanitarian crises; at least half of the population of 28 million is considered at risk of famine. Laura King is a Los Angeles Times writer. SEOUL South Korea said on Wednesday that it would shut down a Japanese-funded foundation created to help Korean women who were forced to work in brothels for Japans military during World War II, essentially voiding a 2015 agreement between the countries that was supposed to put the painful issue to rest. South Korea has not formally abandoned the agreement, which both governments at the time called a final and irreversible settlement of the decades-old dispute surrounding the former sex slaves, known euphemistically as comfort women. But the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation was in charge of implementing the deal, and by dismantling that organization, South Korea has effectively shelved the agreement. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. This includes cookies from third party social media websites and ad networks. Such third party cookies may track your use on Sharedots sites for better rendering. Our partners use cookies to ensure we show you advertising that is relevant to you. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on Sharedots website. However, you can change your cookie settings at any time. Learn more STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Two-and-a-half-year-old Giuseppe Daiutos Thanksgiving celebration is extra special this year -- its his first Thanksgiving as Giuseppe Gracia. Guiseppe was adopted by his foster mother, Frances Gracia, in July after she cared for him for a year. Thursday will be their first Thanksgiving as a blended family, along with his two sisters , Jane, 8, and Tiffany, 6, who are also adopted. Thanksgiving is going to be a big celebration, Frances told the Advance. Frances has five of her own children, 11 grandchildren, other family members and friends will gather around to give thanks and enjoy traditional Puerto Rican dishes from the Garcia familys heritage, traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and will celebrate Giuseppes Italian heritage. I thank the Lord that I was able to adopt him, she said. We are proud to have connected Giuseppe with a loving, nurturing family and a home where he can thrive, said Bill Baccaglini, president and CEO of The New York Foundling. This Thanksgiving, Giuseppes first as an official member of the Gracia family, is a special one and were grateful to have been a part of this incredible story, Baccaglini said. The New York Foundling is a non-profit that serves over 30,000 children and families in crisis annually in New York City. 'I WANTED TO SAVE HIM' The road to Guiseppes happy moment wasnt one without obstacles. Frances, who has previously fostered 10 children, got a call The Foundling about Guiseppe; he was being discharged from the hospital and needed to be cared for. He weighed just 13 pounds at 1 year old. He was placed into foster care after he was born in February 2016. Social services deemed him with failure to thrive -- he was underweight, underdeveloped, and overall uncared for. When I picked him up from the hospital [he needed a lot of care]. He couldnt eat or take a bottle, Frances said. And I took a chance." Giuseppe needed a wide range of services; he needed to learn to open his mouth, how to eat, how to walk, how to speak and needed to reach certain milestones. He went through physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, early intervention services and mental health counseling. Frances said she also had to take him to the hospital for weekly weigh-ins to make sure he was gaining weight. It was two months before he started gaining weight and began to resemble a healthy child of his age. When I picked him up from the hospital the nurses said they werent sure how I was going to do it; they were all worried that he was going to die. I told them if he did, at least he would be cared for and know that somebody loved him in those moments, she said. Frances worked hard with the Administration for Childrens Services and The Foundling to make sure Giuseppe thrived and to work to become his legal guardian. It took lawyers, court dates, and time, but in July 2018 Frances was given rights to legally adopt Giuseppe. I didnt want him to go to anybody else; I wanted to save him. I didnt want anything like that to happen to him again. I love him and I didnt want him to go nowhere else, she said. While her heart is full of love with her newest son, Frances still plans to keep helping children who need a loving home. Ive been blessed and want to keep blessing other children. Im so proud to be a foster mother, she said. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Dissension in the ranks? Already? Its less than three weeks since the Democratic Party won enough seats to retake control of the House of Representatives. And theyre already at each others throats. It all starts at the top, with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She was speaker of the House not all that long ago, and expects to be speaker again when the new Congress convenes in January. Thing is, a bunch of Democrats, including Rep.-elect Max Rose (Staten Island/Brooklyn), have said they will not support Pelosi for the position. They ran on that pledge. Theyve signed onto a letter very clearly stating their position. Theres an irony to all this. In her desire to retake the House and grasp the gavel once again, Pelosi gave red-to-blue Democratic candidates permission to make her an issue in their campaigns. Go ahead, she said, tell them youll vote against me for speaker. Whatever it takes to win. You have my blessing. Maybe Pelosi thought that it was all theater, that Dems who got elected earlier this month would end up supporting her once they got to the cozy confines of Washington. So too would the incumbents who were on the record as opposing her. Surely she thought all this would have sorted itself out by now. Lo and behold, though, it looks like those Dems meant every word. Theyve even said that they cant be bought off with committee appointments or other perks. Theyve actually left themselves no wiggle room at all. And you can hardly blame them. How would it look for a freshly minted member of Congress to break one of the first promises they made to voters? Particularly, as in the case of someone like Rose, a person whos relatively unknown to their voters and doesnt have that deep well of goodwill to fall back on. It would be political suicide, especially in districts that could very easily flip back to red in two years. This is supposed to be a time of change for the Democrats. New leadership is needed. That was a campaign vow espoused by Rose and others. Pelosi and her cohorts are part of the past. Why, even President Donald Trump thinks she should be speaker. He offered to secure her a few Republican votes, even. Talk about a kiss of death. But, funnily enough, Pelosi may actually need some of those Republicans. The mind boggles at what kind of bill Trump would present for such services. So now the Dems have a fight on their hands. Theres going to be a vote on the speaker next Wednesday. Then there will be a floor vote come January. Its already gotten ugly. Even Pelosi wins out, how will she be able to keep the dissidents in line? But it gets better than that. Youve also got the newly elected progressive Democrats making noise like they want to burn the whole party down. Leading this charge, of course, is Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She was on a conference call the other day exhorting fellow progressives to run primaries against Democratic lawmakers who stray from the progressive faith. The question will be just how progressive the Democratic Party really wants to get. The country overall isnt hard-right or hard-left. Most folks fall somewhere in the middle. Can the Dems craft a 2020 presidential message by running that far to the left? Its going to be interesting to see how the new moderates in the Democratic Party get along with the new progressives. And how they all get along with the old guard. Theyll have to put their own House in order before they can take on the White House. Is this a great country or what? 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! The corporate regulator's reluctance to prosecute the big banks has been laid bare at the royal commission after it emerged senior staff at the watchdog opposed taking action against National Australia Bank over a home loan fraud. The revelation came as Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman James Shipton gave assurances during his evidence at the commission that he would ensure ASIC was no longer seen as being too close to the banks and one that didnt apply the full force of the law. During Thursday's hearing, counsel assisting Rowena Orr, QC, confronted Mr Shipton with an internal email by senior manager Kevin Foo in July that detailed a discussion of a meeting at ASIC about whether to take action against the bank. Following the meeting, ASIC launched an investigation into NAB for breaches of the law relating to an alleged fraud ring rorting its home loan introducer program to win big commissions by bribing branch managers, the royal commision heard. Carlos Ghosn's new routine couldn't be further from the hard-charging executive lifestyle he enjoyed over the years running a global car alliance. Confined to a detention cell in Tokyo, with limited contact, exercise and strictly regulated meal times, he's awaiting his fate that prosecutors say could mean a long time in jail for financial misconduct. Ghosn was whisked away from his corporate jet on Monday and has been under arrest since. Prosecutors provided some insight into the executive's daily rhythm: eight hours of sleep while he's in his detention cell, three meals and 30 minutes of prescribed exercise. He's said to be held at the same facility as the death-row inmates from the Japanese cult that perpetrated the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, many of whom were executed just a few months ago. While that's hardly the fate awaiting Ghosn, the prospect of a decade behind bars, as floated by the prosecutor, would be a startling turn for one of the world's most recognisable corporate leaders. Ghosn was as omnipresent in board rooms - as chairman of Nissan and chief executive officer of Renault - as he was at star-studded conferences. Along the way, he made millions - but whether those funds were correctly declared and deployed is now under investigation. Falsely reporting income "is one of the most serious categories of offenses," said Shin Kukimoto, deputy chief prosecutor at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. The news is what sent the Pound on a tear -- and the FTSE100 lower consequently -- following yields on UK gilts, which of course rallied courtesy of the optimism engendered by the announcement. The stage is now set for this weekend's EU economic summit, where it's now very much assumed European leaders will rubber-stamp the Brexit proposal. 5. What are the chances? For all the hope that a Brexit deal can be reached, the stark reality is that UK Prime Minister May faces an uphill battle. In what must have been a gruelling three hours or so in front of the House of Commons, the Prime Minister delivered a speech and then fielded questions from parliamentarians on the Brexit proposal. There is such division and disparity in the British Parliament about what Brexit ought to look like, that the likelihood any proposal could unite the very many different and opposing interests appears slim. A no-deal hard Brexit remains the probable outcome, spelling trouble for UK and European markets especially the Pound. How low the Cable could go in this event is difficult to predict: recent lows around 1.2750 would just be the beginning perhaps the January 2017 low of 1.1990 could be considered the bottom of the range. 6. ASX200: Bringing it back home, now: SPI futures are presently indicating the ASX200 will open 29 points lower this morning. It would be awfully surprising if volumes on the Australian share-market bucked the trend today and were anywhere near average. A rudderless market may emerge, whereby trade is choppy, momentum low and price action contained particularly after yesterdays relief rally, that added to the bounce by the index off recent lows around 5600. The fortunes of the ASX going forward will inevitably be tied to the themes that emerge from US markets, and as it stands that strongly implies further difficulty for Australian shares. However, the silver lining investors and the bulls may wish to cling onto is the notion that our share market was nowhere near as elevated as that of the USs, so falls from here may not be as steep. 7. ASX: the bigger picture: Once more: that 5600-mark is significant. It amounts to the bottom of a range that was established in 2017 and held steady several months, in what might now be safely described as the markets accumulation phase. From the end of that phase in October 2017 to now has seen the registering of a new decade long high, then in recent months a strong correction of that move. It suggests a medium-term cycle has been completed, and a bearish impulse has now seized control of the market. The strength of that move ought to be watched for, but the broader global economic slow-down and the peak in the US market suggests a follow through 5600 is highly possible moving into 2019. The broader, secular bullish trend provides the trading channel to work within and judge the bigger picture, with the 5375-level representing the bottom of this trend-channel. 8. Market watch: SPI futures down 29 points or 0.5% to 5667 at about 7am AEDT AUD -0.1% to 72.53 US cents Wall St closed for Thanksgiving Day In Europe: Stoxx 50 -0.9% FTSE -1.3% CAC -0.8% DAX -0.9% Spot gold +0.1% to $US1227.19 an ounce at 12.55pm New York time Brent crude -0.9% to $US62.89 a barrel US oil -1.1% to $US54.04 a barrel Iron ore -2.5% to $US72.18 a tonne LME aluminium -0.3% to $US1947 a tonne LME copper +0.3% to US6255 a tonne 2-year yield: US 2.81% Australia 2.04% 5-year yield: US 2.89% Australia 2.24% 10-year yield: US 3.06% Australia 2.66% Germany 0.37% UK 1.42% US-Australia 10-year yield gap as of 4.05am AEDT: 40 basis points This column was produced in commercial partnership between Fairfax Media and IG Bitcoin turns 10 this year, but there's not much to celebrate. Its price has tumbled to near $US4,000 ($5,500), down 30 per cent in a month, 50 per cent in six months and almost 80 per cent since December. The crypto-currency experts, who clearly didn't see this coming, are blaming all sorts of temporary culprits from jittery markets to "hard forks" (blockchain jargon for radical technical changes in a digital currency.) But they're kidding themselves. This is a long-term unraveling of all of the lies, exaggeration and populist fantasies that drove last year's market mania. Bitcoin was meant to make all of its investors rich, something that held particular appeal to a millennial generation hungry for a financial boost in a world of crushing student debt, income inequality and low quality jobs. It was meant to be free of Wall Street's corruption and the US government's meddling technocrats. It was meant to be secure, with a price that would go ever higher. For the hardcore evangelists, it would reward its acolytes when the inevitable financial apocalypse arrived. The dollar was destined for scrap. Australian shares rebounded from a 21-month low and ended a four-day losing streak on Thursday, as lithium miners and major banks led the market higher. The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 48.5 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 5691.3 while the broader All Ordinaries advanced 48.2 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 5700.3. Banks and lithium miners led the market higher. Credit:Paul Rovere "With the 200 Index retesting 5600 support last seen in late October, buyers have entered the market on a valuation basis with the banks leading the way," City Index market analyst Gary Burton said. ANZ led the gains for the big four, lifting 1.3 per cent to $25.75. NAB rose 0.9 per cent to $24.23 and Commonwealth Bank edged 0.8 per cent higher to $70.63. Westpac rallied from a loss earlier in the day as chief executive Brian Hartzer faced the banking royal commission. Its shares closed 0.4 per cent higher at $25.68. Energy groups say the government's proposed powers to force generators to sell off assets won't help reduce electricity prices and could be unconstitutional. The proposed draft law will allow the Treasurer to issue divestiture orders forcing companies who carry out "prohibitive actions" to dispose of some of their assets and restrict who can buy the assets. The proposed rules would allow governments to force energy companies to divest their generating assets such as power stations. Credit:Dan Himbrechts It is the latest 'big stick' by the government, which includes new electricity contract default prices, to try and lower power prices and improve behaviour in the energy industry. The Australian Energy Council (AEC) said the draft law would fail to achieve anything at all and could be unconstitutional. ACT Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson will try to push through laws to legalise cannabis for personal use next sitting week, claiming overwhelming support for his bill. But there are question marks over the legal barriers to enacting the bill, with concerns it could be overridden by Commonwealth laws. Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson. Credit:Jamila Toderas Mr Pettersson said he would introduce the bill the next sitting week after making technical amendments based on submissions to the draft bill. It would mean adults possessing up to 50g of cannabis or four cannabis plants would no longer be committing a criminal offence. When I got shot, I was looking down at my foot. I had my favourite red sandals on and suddenly noticed the strap was missing. I was thinking, "I'm going to die," but then thought, "How am I going to get these fixed?!" Then pain came, an unbelievably sharp, nasty pain. The most pressing thing for me was Mum. In my head I thought, "This is it, I'm going to die today," but there was deep peace. Then logic would kick back in: "You're not going to be okay because he's got a gun." When [some of] the others ran out of the cafe, I made the decision to stay for Mum. LOUISA: I was living with Mum in the Blue Mountains, as her partner hadn't long passed. She had an appointment with her lawyer in the Lindt building in Sydney's CBD, so we'd decided to stay at the nearby Hilton. We were debating whether to have breakfast at the hotel or go to the Lindt Cafe and decided on the latter, but after we'd had our breakfast we stayed a bit longer and just stayed that little bit too long. You make little nothing decisions every day then it was all on. After she was shot during Sydney's Lindt Cafe siege in 2014, Louisa Hope (left), 56, recovered at Prince of Wales Hospital, where she met the CEO of its foundation, Leanne "Lulu" Zalapa, 66. The pair developed an instant bond. I could see a hole in my foot the size of my fist. When I was in the ambulance and once I knew Mum was safe, I asked to go to Prince of Wales [POW] because I go to the multiple sclerosis clinic there [Louisa has had MS since 2002]. When I arrived, I asked the emergency nurse, "What do you think?" She said, "I've seen worse." That brought me unbelievable comfort. I've had three surgeries: orthopaedic to remove the shrapnel from my foot, plastic for the skin graft, and general surgery, as I also have shrapnel in my belly. I spent six weeks at POW, followed by rehabilitation in a private hospital. When I found out [fellow hostages] Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson had died during the siege, I thought we had to get something good out of this situation. It quickly became obvious our nurses deserve far more attention than they get, so I decided to do a fundraiser and give the money to them. When we spoke to 60 Minutes, they offered us $25,000 for the nurses' fund. Then NSW premier Mike Baird matched it, so I had $50,000. I didn't know what to do with it and was told to speak to Lulu, the founding CEO of the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation. I wanted to be sure it wouldn't end up in the hospital's general coffers, that it would go directly to the nurses. Lulu was politely listening to me, then said, "Actually, I used to be a nurse." The second she said that it was like, bang! She knew exactly what I wanted. Lulu suggested I call it The Louisa Hope Fund for Nurses. I didn't want to use my name but then I thought, "This woman's got it under control." I've come to understand the good I was looking for will come from the nurses themselves. It's inspired me to go on. I trust Lulu. The foundation was her baby and she's made it what it is today. She's a very vivacious woman, friendly and outgoing, and sincere. Even though she's a CEO and managing all this money, at her heart she's a nurse and that means caring. We've met each other's families and she's been very kind, very supportive. We've crossed that line into friendship. Around 250 residents had to be evacuated from a 20-storey apartment building in inner Sydney on Thursday afternoon after it was engulfed in smoke from a nearby bin fire. Emergency services were called around 6.20pm to the building on Defries Street, Zetland to find dozens of large industrial waste bins that were adjacent to the block of units ablaze. Smoke from an adjacent bin fire is blown directly onto the apartment block in Zetland. Around 50 firefighters and 10 trucks quickly arrived on the scene, evacuating 250 residents and extinguishing the fire, which had spread to the lower levels of the building. Two people were treated by paramedics one for minor smoke inhalation, and the second, an elderly woman, was distressed. Six to contest Wentworth Six candidates will contest the Wentworth byelection on December 8. They are three Independent Liberals, one Independent, and the endorsed Liberal and Labour candidates. The byelection promises to be one of the most bitterly contested for some years. The former Minister for Defence Production, Sir Eric Harrison, held Wentworth from 1931 until he resigned last month to become Australian High Commissioner in London. 26 sets of triplets Twenty-six sets of triplets and 2369 sets of twins were born in Australia last year. There were 207,677 live births registered in 1955 -a record and the seventh consecutive annual increase since 1948. Boys numbered 106,450 and girls 101,227. Most common age group for married women to become mothers was 20 to 24, followed by 25 to 29, and then under 21. Of the 205,365 women who became mothers 8448 gave birth to illegitimate children. Spectacular Games opening The Duke of Edinburgh opened the1956 Olympic Games before 103,000 enthusiastic spectators. The ceremony took place in brilliant sunshine- almost the first Melbourne had seen for nearly two months. Ron Clarke, Australian junior mile champion, carried the Olympic torch into the arena, veteran sculler Mervyn Wood bore Australia's flag and John Landy took the Olympic oath on behalf of the 4000 assembled athletes from 68 countries. A Byron Shire councillor wants the NSW government to intervene after the council voted to keep a remote Byron Bay beach optional of clothing. Councillor Paul Spooner said the decision to keep the clothing optional declaration at Tyagarah Beach showed the council was "not listening" to locals. Locals protested outside Byron Shire Council for the clothing optional declaration removed from Tyagarah Beach. "They are elected as representatives for the residents and its clear to me that the residents of that community do not want a nude beach anymore," he said. Tyagarah Beach was officially made clothing optional 20 years ago after locals petitioned for a legal nude beach, and has been enjoyed by people keen for a skippy dip since then. Senator David Leyonhjelm has asked if he is being prosecuted for being a man in a court stoush over failing to register a backyard pool. The Liberal Democrat questioned whether or not sexism was at play in his local councils decision to charge him, and not his wife, in relation to their Drummoyne property, in Sydney's inner west. The 66-year-old, who made headlines this year over allegedly slut shaming Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, went as far as to say his spouse, Amanda Downes, should also be pursued for breaching the regulation. The house is owned by both me and my wife, but only I am being prosecuted, Senator Leyonhjelm said outside Burwood Local Court on Thursday. Queensland risks being loved to death, a new report warns. It says a soaring population, which could more than double by 2051, will pressure the Sunshine State like never before. The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) study found the greatest threat to Queensland's future sustainability was "unfettered" population growth, which it said could put the state's enviable lifestyle at risk. The Sustainable Queensland report warns the state will suffer ever worsening water shortages and shrinking land availability, and experience major shifts in the look and feel of its communities. It predicts Queensland's population, which currently stands at just over four million, will reach 7.1 million people by 2051. The Holy City of Jerusalem seems a world away from Canberra, but for weeks now our politicians have become drawn into the contentious, and decades-long, dispute about the true central power in the Middle East. Will our government follow the US in reversing decades of foreign policy, and move its diplomats from Tel Aviv? Why has this come to the surface now? Why should Australians care? In this week's episode of Please Explain we ask: What's going on with the embassy? An engineering and infrastructure firm working on some of Melbourne's biggest transport infrastructure projects - including an upgrade of city loop stations and level crossing removals - has gone into administration putting 3400 jobs under a cloud around the country. The ASX-listed RCR Tomlinson announced on Thursday it had appointed administrators from McGrathNicol, less than a fortnight after it announced a trading halt on November 12, who immediately signalled they would try to sell the business. The 120-year-old company employs 3400 people across Australia and lists projects around the country on its website including major solar farms in Queensland, which contributed strongly to the demise of the company, mines in Western Australia and the Auckland city rail link. In January it was awarded a $70 million contract by Metro Trains to deliver station upgrade works at Parliament, Melbourne Central and Flagstaff stations. The contract included engineering, design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of system upgrades for three stations: Parliament, Melbourne Central and Flagstaff stations below the CBD. Two people have died after a head-on car crash in Victoria's east where emergency services were forced to rescue two trapped passengers from within one of the vehicles. Emergency services were called to the Princes Highway near Orbost in East Gippsland about 2.15pm on Thursday. Police believe a red sedan was travelling east along the busy highway when it collided head-on with a silver 4WD travelling in the opposite direction. The driver of the sedan, a woman who is yet to be formally identified, died at the scene. Weve been proudly producing quality journalism with a focus on Perth and Western Australia since 2008 bringing you a unique and fresh perspective to news in the West. WAtoday has been delivering independent journalism since 2008. Credit:Stefan Gosatti As we continue to provide uncompromising, independent journalism, we are constantly investing in the ever-changing media environment. Thats why we have decided to introduce a digital subscription model for the WAtoday website. Everyone is still able to visit our website for free. Our homepage will not change, and you can view it as often as you like. You can also read a limited number of articles every month without charge. After that, we will be asking you to subscribe. "Its one job and one road. "At the end of the day theyre shift workers and what were saying is they should be recognised as shift workers. Theyre getting four weeks annual leave while the other companies are offering their workers five weeks. Ultimately [Transdev] is a bit out of kilter with the rest of companies, because different agreements have been made at different times. Over the years it seems to have gone more out of kilter, and were just trying to bring it back in. Ultimately we believe it should be the government that is setting the work and conditions, and then it should go out to tender for companies to agree on. "Workers wages arent a commodity to use." According to Transdev, the average salary of a full time driver in Perth last year was $80,000 with a 56 per cent increase over the last 10 years. The TWU has been in negotiations with Transdev for nearly 12 months, through the Fair Work Commission. Transdev managing director Ben Smith said it was time to resolve the issue, but the contractor had been told TWU WA's terms were non-negotiable. "Transdev has sought further meetings at the Fair Work Commission, but the TWU has stated they are not interested in further assisted meetings. I can understand that people are beginning to lose patience, he said. A statement from Transdev said the number of drivers participating in the action had decreased by about 15 per cent since the first strike in October. Transperth bus drivers employed by Transdev voted to take protected industrial action. Credit:PTA The unions actions are having minimal impact on our services, but the confusion it causes for our customers and impact on all of our drivers is unnecessary and regrettable," Mr Smith said. Transdev will ask all of its drivers, union and non-union members, to vote on a new enterprise agreement later this month. In a statement, Transperth clarified which routes would be affected by the disruptions. On Friday November 23, there will be a significant disruption to bus services in the northern and southern suburbs as a result of a work stoppage being undertaken by a number of bus drivers who work for our contractor Transdev, a Transperth statement reads. The work stoppage will take place from first service until last service on Friday. Due to the nature of the action being undertaken, we cannot confirm which trips will run and which will be cancelled. It is important to note the protected industrial action only relates to a limited number of bus services operating out of the Rockingham, Mandurah, Fremantle and Joondalup areas as well as the Perth CAT. These disruptions include a number of routes that travel to Perth CBD including high frequency routes 910 and 970. The WA Police Tactical Response Group and Bomb Squad have reportedly controlled a situation in Ellenbrook on Thursday in which a man threatened to detonate explosives strapped to his body. Police were called around 5pm to the Elmridge Parkway home, near Malvern Springs primary school. On the perimeter of the scene in Ellenbrook. Credit:9 News Perth. TRG officers moved into the around 6pm with guns drawn, 9 News Perth's Scott Cunningham reported from the scene. Seven surrounding streets have been closed off and firefighters and paramedics were also in attendance. A command post was set up at the school. The ugly bollards plonked at WAs parliament may well be a statement by management that they dont have the money to do anything more pleasing, but that doesnt mean we should just sit back and accept these concrete liners as a fait accompli. The concrete liners look pretty ugly. Credit:9 News Perth Parliament House executive manager Rob Hunter said while their crude appearance wasnt ideal, they were necessary. My department does not have sufficient funding to install expensive infrastructure and my decision to install liners was an affordable and effective alternative," he said. Despite the crude appearance the vehicle mitigation design was considered by experts who provided advice on the configuration." Australia's population is projected to hit 42 million by the year 2066, and is likely to reach 30 million around the end of the next decade, according to the latest official estimates. Melbourne is expected to overtake Sydney as Australia's biggest city within 20 years, and would be home to 12 million people by 2066 under the highest growth scenario. Australia could be home to as many as 50 million people by 2066. Credit:Daniel Pockett The projections released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics come as the Morrison government flags plans to cut the migration intake in a bid to ease congestion in the major cities. But the figures published Thursday show slightly slower population growth than the ABS projected in 2012, partly due to a lower assumed rate of immigration to Australia. Former deputy PM Julie Bishop speaks at a forum organised by La Trobe University. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui With the recent immolation of the federal Liberal Party, you could forgive the audience for wanting a tidbit of criticism or insider gossip from the former deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop. Please. Ms Bishop, intimately acquainted with the art of diplomacy, is known for her impeccable discretion. And this was on display when Ms Bishop was the guest speaker on Thursday night at the Bold Thinking series, organised by La Trobe University, with the theme of politics, leadership and the Liberal Party. The focus of Ms Bishops speech was the model of parliamentary democracy, and how this was under pressure around the globe. Labor would also spend $100 million to create a community power network and 10 community power hubs across the country. The money would provide start-up funding and legal and technical advice for local, community-led renewables projects. Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor described Labor's battery policy as a "handout". Credit:Dan Himbrechts Mr Shorten said this would allow more people living in apartments, renters and those in social housing to benefit from cheaper, cleaner power. "We will put communities back in control. We want to connect the apartment buildings and community housing and commission flats in our cities to the opportunities of renewable energy and storage," he said. Mr Shorten said a Labor government would also enact a long-term plan to ensure workers are supported as coal-fired power plants close. This would include at least three years' notice for plant closures, training for displaced workers to be re-employed in the clean energy economy, a pro-active approach to economic diversification in affected communities and the establishment of an independent authority to oversee the transition. Meantime, Energy Minister Angus Taylor has hinted the Coalition may block a future Shorten government from resurrecting the government's stalled National Energy Guarantee, which aimed to reduce emissions from the energy sector and ensure power reliability and affordability. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg strongly backed that policy before it was dumped at the behest of arch-conservatives on the governments backbench. Speaking on ABC radio on Thursday, Mr Taylor refused to confirm the Coalition would recognise Labor's mandate to resurrect the energy guarantee if, as polling suggests, it wins the next election. "We are not working on the basis that Labor is going to win the election," Mr Taylor said, predicting the oppositions 45 per cent emissions reduction target for electricity by 2030 would "be a wrecking ball through the economy". "Im not going to speculate on whats going to happen in the election. I am focused absolutely on getting energy policy right, getting prices down, making sure we keep the lights on." Loading Labor leader Bill Shorten on Thursday also outlined a series of large new energy projects to encourage renewables, including $200 million worth of subsidies to install batteries in 100,000 homes so more Australians can store electricity from rooftop solar. The measure is part of a suite of non-legislative measures Labor would pursue if it won the election and was unable to gain parliamentary support for reviving the energy guarantee. Mr Taylor said the battery proposal would not provide the energy security required to prevent blackouts and "keep the lights on". This claim contradicts the Australian Energy Market Commission which has not foreseen a gap in the reliability of supply for at least 10 years - even taking into account the closure of AGLs Liddell coal plant. The government frequently says Australia is on track to easily meet its Paris climate targets a 26 per cent in emissions reductions by 2030, from a 2005 baseline despite findings to the contrary from its own bureaucrats, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. Asked by ABC radio host Sabra Lane to name a widely respected independent analysis that backs the governments view of its progress towards the economy-wide Paris targets, Mr Taylor was unable to do so. But he said Australia met its first Kyoto targets and was set to exceed the second round of targets, and "track record is the best indicator of future performance". Critics say such assertions are misleading because under Kyoto, Australia claims emissions reductions based on reduced land clearing after 1990 - a year when clearing rates were unusually high. Mr Taylor also told 2GB host Alan Jones that the battery spending was "a big new Labor handout". Mr Taylor said the battery storage program would provide enough energy to power the Tomago aluminum smelter, pictured, for 15 minutes. Credit:Darren Pateman "I've got nothing against people putting up batteries if its a personal choice. But if you take the money [Mr Shorten is] going to spend on it, that will keep the Tomago [aluminum] smelter going up near Newcastle for about 15 minutes," he said. Speaking on the ABC's News Breakfast program on Thursday, Labor's climate change and energy spokesman Mark Butler said his party was preparing to announce a suite of broader climate change policies beyond the energy sector. "Were pretty much the only advanced major economy where carbon pollution is rising, after coming down more than 10 per cent under the last Labor government. So we do need policies in place across the economy, in transport ... in manufacturing and other sectors of the economy as well." For Ashok Raajha, it was a special surprise so close to home. Six years after emigrating from Chennai in southern India, the 35-year-old software worker lives in an apartment overlooking Jubilee Park in Parramatta with his wife and son. Mayor of Parramatta Andrew Wilson, First Lady Sovita Kovind, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the unveiling of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Jubilee Park in Parramatta. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer But instead of bringing his son to the playground as he does most afternoons, Mr Raajha joined more than 500 Indian-Australians watching Indian president, Ram Nath Kovind, unveil a striking bronze statue of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in his local park. "If a similar thing was happening in India, it would be too crowded and you'd be a spectactor in a far space but this is happening in front of your house," Mr Raajha said. Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan has shelved a planned taskforce that would scrutinise university responses to sexual assault and harassment on campus. Correspondence seen by Fairfax Media reveals the previous minister, Simon Birmingham, was "so close" to announcing the taskforce before the coup against Malcolm Turnbull and the subsequent cabinet reshuffle. Education Minister Dan Tehan says he will wait for a review before deciding whether to proceed with the taskforce. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Activists had pushed for the new body as a way to hold universities accountable following reports of ongoing sexual assault, harassment and humiliating hazing rituals at residential colleges. Mr Tehan has not dumped the idea entirely but says he will wait for a report from the regulator - the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency - before deciding whether to proceed. Daniel Andrews Labor government is on course for a thumping win in Saturdays election after extending its lead over its Coalition rivals in the latest exclusive opinion poll commissioned by The Age. The poll predicts a Labor win on Saturday by 54 to 46 per cent of the statewide two-party preferred vote, a greater margin than it achieved in 2014. This suggests that several Coalition seats are now in danger of falling to an increasingly confident ALP. Premier Daniel Andrews and state Labor are increasingly confident of their prospects. Credit:Daniel Pockett The results show the Coalition going backward since the previous survey, in October, when it trailled Labor 48-52 and it is the second consecutive statewide poll for The Age in which the ALP has pulled ahead. Ayodhya is in politically important Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state with more than 220 million people and the most lawmakers in Parliament's lower house. The state's BJP chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, is a hardline Hindu priest. Indian PM Narendra Modi. Credit:Bloomberg The party made a near-clean sweep there in 2014, helping Modi win the country's biggest parliamentary mandate in three decades, but pollsters predict a tighter contest next year. Modi himself has been largely silent on the issue, and his government did not respond to a request for comment. But top BJP lieutenants, such as its President Amit Shah, have been increasingly vocal in pressing for a new temple on the site. Loading Earlier this month, Adityanath held a big celebration in Ayodhya to mark the Diwali festival of lights, a major Hindu event. He also got the name of the district where the town is located changed from Faizabad, a Muslim name, to Ayodhya. His government has promised to build a 201-metre-tall statue of Ram to tower over the disputed site from a couple of kilometres away. Loading Around 100,000 Hindu religious leaders - more than the population of the core area of Ayodhya - are expected to assemble nearby on November 25 to press their demand that the government introduce legislation that would allow a new temple on the site. An even bigger protest of 500,000 is planned for New Delhi next month. Zafaryab Jilani, a secretary of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, said many Muslims in Ayodhya were worried about their security during the religious gathering in the town. The Uttar Pradesh government is also considering expanding a ban on meat in the town to a much bigger area on the demands of Hindu religious leaders. Muslim butchers dominate the local meat business. Aarif Mohammed, a Muslim who sells mutton and chicken at a shop about seven kilometres from the controversial site, said he would accept any government or court decision in favour of a Ram temple, but a meat ban would be financially damaging. "We won't be able to switch to something else easily," said the 35-year-old. "We want an end to the dispute soon, we want peace. Tensions only weaken us, drag us back." Some Muslims in Ayodhya are less accepting of temple plans. Every year on December 6, dozens gather at the porch of community leader Ahmad's house to "mourn" the anniversary of the mosque's demolition, he said. They want the votes of those who get swayed easily by matters of belief. Haji Mahboob Ahmad, Muslim leader Ahmad, who wants a mosque rebuilt on the site, says the BJP is stirring up trouble as part of its election campaigning. "They want the votes of those who get swayed easily by matters of belief," he said. It is not the only case in which the ruling party has been accused of exploiting religious divisions. The government has begun deporting Rohingya Muslim refugees, but wants to make it easier for Hindu asylum seekers to gain citizenship. Many BJP-ruled states have expanded bans on the trading of cows revered in Hinduism, and increased funding for cow shelters that take cattle seized from Muslim traders. The BJP denies it has a bias against Muslims, but says it is opposed to giving unfair advantage to any community, a practice it describes as "appeasement" and accuses the opposition Congress party of long following to win votes. "Body, mind and gun" In September 2010, Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad High Court ruled that the main site where the mosque once stood be split into three parts, one for Muslims and two for Hindus. Both Muslim and Hindu groups challenged that judgment in the Supreme Court where it remains unresolved, with the top court's chief justice delaying a further hearing on the matter at least until January. Many leaders of the BJP, hardline group Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and their parent movement, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), are demanding the government issue an executive order to bypass the Supreme Court so they can build the temple on the site, now under court control. "We have waited for the court to decide for a long time, but we are now done with them," said VHP spokesman Sharad Sharma in Ayodhya. "If there's a delay in justice, people will get agitated. The result of such agitation we saw in 1992." Many Hindus do support the construction of a temple at the site, a place they say is equivalent to Saudi Arabia's Kaaba, a building in Mecca that is the most sacred site in Islam. On a recent visit to Ayodhya, dozens of Hindu pilgrims said only Modi's party was willing to construct the temple. The BJP said in its 2014 election manifesto it would "explore all possibilities within the framework of the constitution" to help build a temple. "This is a country of us Hindus, Ayodhya is the heartland of us Hindus, can't we get it back?," said Mumbai-resident Vinod Trewaria, 49. He was visiting an Ayodhya workshop where a sculptor worked on ornate carvings to be used in a future temple and two priests chanted: "Ram, Ram - Sita, Ram". According to Hindu epic Ramayana, Sita was the wife of Ram. "The secular lobby, the communist lobby, all these people are standing in the way," said Trewaria. "Courts are also mocking our sentiments. Only Yogi and Modi are working towards it." The place where the Babri Mosque once stood is now guarded by armed state and federal police and surrounded by walls and watchtowers. Visitors can only view small idols of Ram and his brother Laxman from behind iron bars beneath a tent. "Across the Arab world, there is real appreciation for what Erdogan stands for," she added. "That's what he cares about and that's what is important to him." Beyond that, the Khashoggi case has allowed Erdogan to soften his authoritarian image in the West and potentially build some momentum toward repairing deeply strained relations with the United States. By steadily spooling out grisly details of the killing, Erdogan has found common cause with US lawmakers outraged by Saudi Arabia's brazen tactics. Before that, some American politicians were more focused on castigating Turkey, a fellow NATO member, for backsliding on democracy and purchasing an anti-missile defense system from the Russians. "The main benefit has been with Erdogan earning political capital in Washington, which will be useful," said Sinan Ulgen, a former diplomat for Turkey and chairman of the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies in Istanbul. Even if he failed to cause a shift in policy within the Trump administration, Erdogan is unlikely to let the Khashoggi case go. Turkey has called for a United Nations inquiry into the killing and continues to demand answers, if only to clip the wings of the Saudi prince, whom Erdogan sees as a threat. Loading At the height of the affair, Turkish officials were calling on Washington to shift its alliances in the Middle East, hoping to nudge the United States away from the powerful monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as from the secular military leadership of Egypt. Turkey has squared off with Saudi Arabia on a number of fronts, including the kingdom's dispute with Qatar. Erdogan's government also opposes US sanctions on Iran, putting it directly at odds with the Saudi crown prince, often known by his initials, MBS, who described Turkey as part of a "triangle of evil." "It was a far-fetched idea that Trump would drop MBS," said Ulgen. "There will be some disappointment in Ankara, but also realism." In fact, Turkey expected Trump's position from the start, argued Aydintasbas. "Erdogan is a smart politician and has been around a long time," she said. "He can see where Trump is coming from," she added. "They seem to agree to disagree." Despite the continuing anti-American sentiment often used by the Turkish government, there are signs that both sides want to repair relations. "You can see a desire in Ankara to normalise relations with the U.S.," Aydintasbas said. "There is also a clear desire on the side of Trump to fix relations with Turkey. Erdogan does not want to ruin that." The release last month of an American evangelist pastor, Andrew Brunson, eased Erdogan's relations with the White House and with Congress, allowing them to move forward on other disputes that have brought relations to an all-time low over the past year. Already, Washington has signalled it is doing more to investigate a Pennsylvania-based preacher, Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of instigating the attempted coup in 2016. The two nations have also begun joint patrols in Manbij, in northern Syria, where Turkey and the United States have been at loggerheads. Washington supports Kurdish forces in the region, but Turkey considers them a grave security threat. On Tuesday, Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, indicated some acceptance of Trump's decision to side with Saudi Arabia, without backing away from the Turkish position that whoever ordered the killing should be revealed. Many countries did not want to fall out with Saudi Arabia over the killing, he said. "We do not want that either, yet the murder should be brought to light," he said, according to the semiofficial Anadolu news agency. Jakarta: Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto says Indonesia should respect Australia's sovereign right to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - while expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and indicating disagreement with the potential shift. Indonesian presidential Prabowo Subianto. Credit:James Massola In his first public comments on the matter, which has become a source of much tension between Canberra and Jakarta and delayed the signing of a new free trade deal, Prabowo took a different line to Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Prabowo's comments are significant because he is Joko's direct opponent in the April 2019 election and they signal that he is less likely to use the embassy move as a political wedge against the President. Taiwan authorities say they suspect that Beijing is also illegally funnelling money to political campaigns through Taiwanese businesses in mainland China. Late last month, the government said that it was building cases against candidates who were being funded by Beijing and that it had shut down two underground money exchanges through which funds earmarked for influencing the election had been flowing. Taiwan's government fears the use of social media misinformation campaigns are a new front for meddling. Beijing denies engaging in any kind of interference in Taiwan. A spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Ma Xiaoguang, described Tsai's Facebook comments as "fake news" and "not even worth refuting." Ma said wider allegations about meddling were "completely fabricated out of thin air. We hope our Taiwanese compatriots won't believe it." But the propaganda war goes back seven decades, with attacks originating from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Many years after the Kuomintang government fled to the island after its defeat by the communists in 1949, each side continued sending the other balloons carrying propaganda. They filled the airwaves with propaganda in slogans, news and music. In 1996, by which time the Kuomintang had effectively given up its claim on the mainland, China fired missiles toward Taiwan in the days before the island's first democratic presidential election in an attempt to intimidate voters from casting ballots for democratic reformer Lee Teng-hui. But the effort backfired, and Lee won a resounding victory. Taiwan leaders say propaganda is now carried over the strait through posts on Facebook, the chat app Line and a popular online bulletin board known as PTT. In September, PTT drew scrutiny for carrying a widely shared post that claimed that Taiwanese travellers stranded in Japan were being rescued by buses sent by China's consulate but only on the condition that they declared themselves Chinese. The post, which was carried by Chinese media, led to criticism from the Taiwanese public that their government had failed them. Su Chii-Cherng, Taiwan's top diplomat in Osaka, Japan, killed himself, leaving a note saying that the "news" had been troubling him. Witnesses from the Japanese airport later refuted the news, while PTT users traced the original post to an IP address in Beijing. Concerns about Chinese meddling have grown as the election race heats up. Of particular concern to Tsai and her party, known as DPP, is the mayoral race in the southern city of Kaohsiung where Han Kuo-yu, a Kuomintang candidate, has enjoyed a surprising surge in popularity. Han's victory would end two decades of DPP control of the city and be a significant setback for Tsai. In October, lawyers for Chen Chi-mai, the DPP candidate originally seen as a shoo-in for Kaohsiung mayor, told reporters they had evidence that misinformation defaming Chen that had spread widely on Taiwanese social media had originated from overseas accounts, including some with mainland IP addresses. Han seemed unfazed by the prospect of outside interference in the political process. He directly addressed the authors of the posts, saying: "I don't know you, but I thank you." It is unclear what, if any, public position his party has on the question of election meddling. It is difficult to determine exactly how much influence Beijing is having on the Kaohsiung race. Nathan Batto, who has been following Taiwan elections since the 1990s, said that is because discussions often take place in closed, private groups. "It's hard for us to look in from the outside and see exactly how much there is and exactly how much influence it's having," said Batto, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica, Taiwan's most distinguished scholarly society. "We have some sort of fuzzy idea that they're helping Han Kuo-yu in Kaohsiung quite a bit but I don't know if that's why he's surged in the polls or not." Part of Taiwan's challenge, experts say, lies with weak media literacy and a hypercompetitive news industry that sometimes compromises editorial standards in the race for traffic. A recent research report by the University of Oxford and the Reuters Institute noted that posts on social media accounts run by China's People's Liberation Army were picked up widely this year by Taiwan news outlets, which ran photographs and video from the military's accounts without checking their veracity. Danielle Cave, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre, said that Taiwan's government should work harder to raise public awareness of covert influence operations. "It's hard to see the Taiwanese government being able to successfully counter such operations if most citizens don't actually understand what's going on," she said. Brussels: Australia is playing a key role in facing down Russia, Iran and China to give an international watchdog the power to attribute blame for chemical weapons attacks anywhere in the world. Headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, in The Hague, Netherlands. Credit:AP But the move has been criticised as an effort to create a de facto new UN Security Council in order to get around Russias veto power. We must call out users of chemical weapons anywhere, anytime and by anyone, Australias ambassador to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said at the bodys meeting in The Hague on Thursday. Previously the OPCW has had the power to identify the use of chemical weapons but not assign blame. The trio of astronauts currently living on board the International Space Station is celebrating Thanksgiving in orbit, even as three more astronauts prepare to join the crew early next month. Of the spacefarers currently on the space station, only Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev will be working on the holiday. European astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor will both be taking the day off. Gerst and Aunon-Chancellor posted a short video message to Earth yesterday (Nov. 21) sending their best wishes from space for the holiday. "I've already had the honor several times in my life to spend a Thanksgiving together with an American, which always makes it an especially great experience," Gerst said before showing off the crew's food package for the evening festivities. [Expedition 57: A Space Station Mission in Photos] (Another trio of astronauts will also keep space in mind during the U.S. holiday. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques are all on-site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, preparing for their launch to the space station, which is currently scheduled for Dec. 3.) The three astronauts currently on board the space station Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, European astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor enjoy a dinner together earlier in November. (Image credit: NASA) The current space station crew will come together in the evening for a special feast of holiday food shipped up in advance, including turkey, candied yams, stuffing and spicy poundcake. "Thanksgiving is a time to spend with those whom you love, whoever that might be, and so we'll be enjoying this meal together but then also calling our loved ones back on planet Earth," Aunon-Chancellor said. "From the crew of Expedition 57, from our home to yours, we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving." The crew will be back to work on Friday, according to NASA. And there's plenty of work for the astronauts to tackle, between two new cargo shipments that need to be unpacked and the usual roundup of scientific tasks on the orbiting laboratory. No word yet if the crew will have leftovers to see them through their work on Friday. Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com. Liftoff of the Long March 3B from Xichang at 2:07 p.m. Eastern Nov. 18, 2018. HELSINKI An enhanced Long March 3B with a Yuanzheng-1 upper stage lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China at 2:07 p.m. Eastern Nov. 18 sending two Beidou satellites directly into medium Earth orbits at around 21,500 kilometers altitude. The launch was consistent with airspace closure notices issued Nov. 15, with amateur images and footage (link in Chinese) providing the first evidence of the activity. Mission success was confirmed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the main contractor for the space program, just over four hours after launch. The launch means China is now able proceed with its pioneering Change-4 lunar mission, which will attempt the first ever soft-landing on the far side of the moon, with launch expected Dec. 7. With the lunar mission to use the same launch site and launch carrier rocket as the Beidou launch, an issue Dec. 28 would have delayed Change-4. The pair of one-metric-ton Beidou-3 satellites are the 42ndand 43rd launched for the Beidou system, Chinas answer to the U.S. GPS precision timing and navigation system, and the 18thand 19thof the third-phase satellites for global coverage. During 2019 and 2020, China aims to launch six more medium Earth orbit (MEO) Beidou-3 satellites, along with three to inclined geosynchronous orbits and two more satellites to geostationary orbits (GEO). Chinas accelerated launch cadence in 2018, which has seen nine Beidou-related launches, has put the country on course to complete the system of 35 active satellites for global GNSS coverage in 2020, with 27 satellites in MEO, five in GEO and three more in inclined GEO orbits. Along with civilian uses such as navigation and positioning, Beidou will also provide weapons targeting, guidance and other services for the Peoples Liberation Army, removing previous Chinese military reliance on GPS. The launch was Chinas 33rdof 2018, with the maiden orbital launch attempt by startup Landspace bringing the single failure. Nov. 19 will see China follow up with a Long March 2D launch from Jiuquan in the northwest of the country at around 7:40 p.m. Eastern, understood to be carrying a pair of Earth observation satellites for Saudi Arabia along with small publicly and privately developed Chinese satellites. Change-4 mission set for early December The Von Karman crater (center), with the northeast sector buried by ejecta. (Image credit: NASA/LROC) The Dec. 18 success means China will begin launch campaign for the Change-4 lunar lander and rover mission at Xichang. Indications from insiders and aerospace enthusiasts within China point to launch taking place in the hours around 12:30 p.m. Eastern Dec. 7 (2:30 a.m. Dec. 8 Beijing time). Though a senior CNSA official has apparently confirmed Dec. 8, this has not extended to the exact launch time and date has not been released. The Change-4 spacecraft, consisting of a 3.6-metric-ton lander and a 140-kilogram rover, will target a landing region within the South Pole-Aitken Basin, a vast impact basin of immense scientific interest. The candidate landing areas are within the 180-kilometer-diameter Von Karman crater, which offers some of the flatter topography in the Aitken Basin for an attempted landing. The geology of the crater could provide insight into the history and development of the moon and solar system, according to academic papers on the potential landing sites. The landing will take place in late December or early January, following sunrise over the Von Karman crater and the beginning of a period of sunlight over the landing area lasting 14 Earth days. Lunar far side challenges A render of the Change-4 lander, released on August 15, 2018. (Image credit: CASC) As the far side of the moon never faces the Earth due to tidal locking, a relay satellite is required to facilitate communications between the spacecraft on the lunar far side and the Earth. Named Queqiao, a satellite with a 4.2-meter parabolic antenna was launched May 20 from Xichang and entered a Lissajous orbit June 14 beyond the moon around the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2. The orbit will allow Queqiao a constant line of sight with both the lunar far side and terrestrial tracking stations. Change-4 was originally manufactured as a backup to the Change-3 mission which put a lander and rover on Mare Imbrium on the lunar near side in December 2013 and made China only the third country to soft-land on the moon. The mission followed two lunar orbiter missions, Change-1 and Change-2, launched in 2007 and 2010. A successful Change-4 mission would also prove useful for future lunar plans, including missions to the lunar poles in the early 2020s. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. H ousebuilder Berkeley has denied claims of bribery from a sacked former finance director, which emerged in court documents on Thursday. The documents relate to a High Court battle between Nic Simpkin, who was fired in 2014, and the major London builder, led by industry veteran Tony Pidgley. The High Court papers revealed by the Guardian and Finance Uncovered relate to two cases brought against the firm by Simpkin, who had options over 3.5 million shares worth tens of millions of pounds when he was ousted. In the documents related to the second case in 2015, Simpkin accused the Berkeley chairman of being consistently engaged in bribing one of the partners in a major estate agency which the firm dealt with over land acquisitions, including expensive gifts and loans. Simpkin withdrew both cases but the High Court papers lodged by Berkeley in its defence show the company denying claims that Pidgley had benefited from around 660,000 of money to fit out one of his flats, as well as inappropriate payments to his son. Berkeley settled with Simpkin for 9.5 million, including 4.55 million in legal fees, 18 months ago. In court documents Berkeley claimed Simpkin had lost the confidence of senior colleagues. A group spokesman said: There was a thorough and extensive investigation by a QC and a senior lawyer from a major law firm which concluded that these allegations were unfounded, following which Mr Simpkin withdrew his allegations and settled all his claims. S hares in British Gas owner Centrica suffered a major power failure on Thursday as hundreds of thousands more customers deserted the firm and it took a 70 million hit from the looming cap on household bills. Production hiccups at Centricas oil and gas production and nuclear arms added to the woes of the FTSE 100 group, dragging down the stock more than 8%, or 11.95p, to 133.8p. Ofgem has confirmed that the cap on standard variable rate bills will be set at 1137 for direct debit customers in the first quarter of next year. This is 68 lower than British Gass current standard variable tariff, which 3.1 million of its customers currently pay, leading to a negative near-term impact on earnings and cash flow. British Gas also paid the price for its second hike in bills last August, as it lost another 372,000 gas and electricity accounts in the four months to the end of October amid intense competition for customers. The losses came as it moved customers off standard variable tariffs ahead of the cap, which is to be introduced in January. The move puts pressure on many suppliers and recently prompted SSE and Npower to renegotiating the terms of their planned merger. Centricas energy production business also disappointed the City as it flagged up a jolt to overall results from lower production in its Spirit Energy exploration and production arm. Forecast production for 2018 has fallen to about 47.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, from around 50 million in the summer, due to unplanned outages and operational issues. Production levels will be flat next year. Meanwhile extended inspections and outages at the Hunterston B power station in Scotland and Dungeness B on the south coast, means that Centricas share of nuclear generation from its 20% stake in EDFs British nuclear plants was expected to be 0.2 terrawatt hours lower than previously thought. The Hunterston unit, which can produce enough electricity to power more than 800,000 homes, has been offline since March when cracks were found in its core during a routine inspection. UBSs Sam Arie called the update significantly negative, with 2019 not looking to get any easier than 2019. T his time last year the Norwegian businessman, Christen Ager-Hanssen and then the biggest shareholder in Johnston Press, warned This company is in deep s***. It needs to be taken over. That needs drive and energy. That board doesnt have it. I have it. Ager-Hanssen appears right about one thing: the Johnston board doesnt look to have had either the drive or the energy. As of last Friday night, Johnston Press ceased to exist when the management applied to the courts to put it into a pre-pack administration process. The deal wiped out Ager-Hanssens majority 25% shareholding, along with stakes owned by three other big investors who held between them another 27%, as well as hundreds of small investors even though the firm was worth 2.9m when shares were suspended. Yet Ager-Hanssen claims the 250-year-old publisher of the i newspaper, the Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post and another 200 regional titles with around 40 million readers, was not bust: the old Johnston had a positive, albeit tiny, cash flow, with the i newspaper due to make profits of 12 million this year. What Johnston did have hanging around its neck was a huge 220 million pile of debt, the legacy of executives overpaying for trophy newspaper acquisitions but failing to monetise the websites of its titles. Now comes the stranger part to this extraordinary tale. Magically, overnight, a new beast arose Phoenix-like from the ashes to take control of Johnston Press, in the guise of JPI Media. But with the same bosses on board. Guess who the new owners are? Yes, a consortium of creditors led by GoldenTree, the aggressive US hedge fund, with whom Johnston boss David King had negotiated to refinance the debt. Magically, GoldenTree and the other lenders agreed to cut senior debt to 85 million and inject 35 million of new cash. Yet Johnstons defined benefit pension scheme, estimated to have 109 million of liabilities, did not transfer to new owners JPI. Funny that. Instead, the bondholders have ditched liabilities into the Pension Protection Fund, the Governments lifeboat scheme or should one now say luxury cruiser for pre-packs? to provide pension benefits to members of schemes whose employers become insolvent. The PPF must assess now whether to take responsibility for JPs scheme. Thanks to the tireless persistence of Frank Field MP, chairman of the backbench work and pensions select committee, the Pensions Regulator will also be demanding that the new owners explain how they acquired the business without taking responsibility for its pension scheme. Ager-Hanssen is not a happy bunny, and neither are other investors like Richard Bernsteins Crystal Amber Fund and Sir Raymond Tindle. Ager-Hanssen, who owns Swedens Metro, claims Johnston ignored other solutions, such as a rights issue, and that investors were never asked to take part in a rescue operation. This wasnt a pre-pack but pre-planned corporate theft with all the parties colluding, is how he put it to me. He will not stop fighting, and claims hundreds of small shareholders are ready to fight with him. He wants Johnstons decision overturned and is planning legal action after he has seen the report being prepared by Alix Partners, the insolvency experts which handled the administration. The onus is on Alix to explain why a pre-pack was chosen over other options. So is Ager-Hanssen right? Were there better solutions to keeping the old Johnston alive? Based on Johnstons recent half-year figures, there appears to have been room for a more imaginative rescue package than its decision suggests, one that would have required everyone sharing the pain. For example, bondholders could have been asked to take a haircut, shareholders could have been asked to raise more capital, and management could have negotiated a deal on the pension liabilities with the PPF. Was such a solution ever considered? The company had begun exploring financing options in March last year and put itself up for sale last month. Its time for insolvency experts to look again at pre-packs. Used correctly, they can be useful. M ajestic Wine on Thursday admitted it will bring in extra bottles of wine and spirits from France, Spain and Italy to guard against a disorderly Brexit. The company said it will stockpile up to 8 million worth of booze, joining the likes of Mr Kipling owner Premier Foods and chocolate maker Cadbury, which have taken similar measures. Businesses fear ports will grind to a halt if Britain crashes out of the EU with no deal. Chief executive Rowan Gormley added he wont hike prices for now although some increases have already crept into the market since the referendum. Majestic will bring in extra cases in the weeks before March 2019. The business on Thursday dipped into the red for the half year to October 1, posting a 200,000 loss compared with pre-tax profits of 3.1 million in the same period last year. Revenues, however, were up 5.4% to 229 million thanks to Naked Wines, its smaller online sister company, which is growing steadily. The shares fell 13.9%, or 52.2p, to 322.2p. Majestic is in the middle of a turnaround plan and is investing heavily in marketing to attract new customers. Gormley said the business was still on track to meet its 500 million sales target next year. The core retail business looks very fragile currently, with industry conditions extremely tough and no room for any price increases to be passed on to customers, analysts at Peel Hunt said. Its retail business, which mostly consists of stores, grew 2%. Gormley is banking on a decent Christmas to lift sales. Also sounding caution in the drinks sector was Mitchells & Butlers. Although the pubs firm behind All Bar One and ONeills increased comparable sales 1.3% in the year to September 29, it warned higher bills and wages will continue to push up costs. I t is a frustration of working in our intelligence world that your successes are secret and your failures are very public. Thanks to the hard and dangerous work of MI5, MI6, GCHQ and our police, many terror plots have been thwarted and many lives have been saved. But there have been failures, and these may have led to deaths that could have been avoided. Todays report by Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) into the terror attacks of 2017 is hard-hitting about some of those recent failures. The bomb that exploded on the Tube at Parsons Green injured dozens of people. The ISC criticised the Home Office, the police and a council for a litany of errors. The bomber, Ahmed Hassan, himself told immigration officials that he had been groomed by Islamic State and trained to kill. If that doesnt send alarm bells ringing in the system, what does? Instead, he was allowed to sit in the home of his foster parents and build a bomb. It was because of his incompetence, and our good fortune, that the bomb only partially worked. Otherwise many Tube passengers would have died. As it is, those in that carriage that day have to live with life-changing injuries and trauma that could have been avoided. Tragically, Salman Abedi did succeed in his grim mission to kill at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. As todays ISC report confirms, Abedi was known to the intelligence agencies but his travel was not monitored. He visited a known extremist in prison but there was no follow-up. His file was flagged for review but the review never took place. Instead Abedi killed 22 people, including many children, injured many more and caused an entire nation to grieve. The ISC believes the lessons of the London 7/7 attacks and the murder of Lee Rigby were not properly learnt. It is also highly critical of the Home Office for not engaging properly in key parts of their inquiry. Some in the Government, and the intelligence agencies, may be tempted to dismiss these conclusions of the parliamentarians who sit on the Intelligence Committee. It is easy, they may say, to criticise after the event. Finding and stopping those intent on causing harm is hard in a free society, they will point out. That is true but it is also their job. Most of the time they do that very well, and our society is immeasurably safer because they do. But one of the reasons why Britains security services are so effective is precisely because they are democratically accountable. Today Parliament has done its job, and held them to account. Shopping days are here What will you be doing tomorrow? Working? Out with friends? Or in the shops? On whats become known as Black Friday an American import thats arrived without the Thanksgiving holiday which comes before it today Londons stores want you to visit. Online or on the high street, they are staging events and offering discounts. And, in a British tradition thats almost as established as Christmas itself, people will no doubt complain about the crowds and costs. But thats a miserable response. Londons shops are busy for a reason. People fly in from around the world to visit them. Oxford Street, even without its much-needed redesign, is the single biggest shopping destination in Europe. And when there are busy shops, there are thousands of jobs and a stronger economy. On top of that, theres more choice than ever. So get shopping. A modern police force The anniversaries are coming fast. It is 100 years this month since women got the right to sit in Parliament. Today the Met marks 100 years of women in the force . Now there are 7,881 serving, including the Commissioner. Thats progress but we need more. Too few come from minority groups. To represent London, that needs to change. The Met is pushing for it. A landmark date, then but not the end of the fight. C an London stop Brexit? Is there still time, as Theresa May wrestles chaotically to keep hold of soft Brexit? Throughout history, London has watched national politics from the sidelines. It has held itself aloof from the nations affairs, preferring to keep its eye on the money. Now London must lead the fight to drag Parliament back to sanity. Londons deal was always that it would pay for the antics and errors of kings and queens, provided it was left in peace. Wars were bad for trade. It welcomed Lombard bankers, even naming a street after them, and the merchants of the Hanseatic League. It prospered on wool through the Calais staple market and its trading alliance with Antwerp. London even persuaded the Lord Chancellor to sit on a sack of wool. The deal was that the crown always guarded its privileges and treaties with European states. Westminster might rule Britain but the City of London ruled London. Even today, custom and practice holds that the monarch still cannot visit the City without permission from the Lord Mayor at Temple Bar. London has prospered massively from the single European market, negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1986. She boasted it was a single market without barriers, visible or invisible, giving direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of 300m people. London might tolerate exiting the EU but it cannot put up with Parliament barricading it from by far its largest trading partner, from a continent with which it has done business in various forms since the Middle Ages. Two years ago the Prime Minister promised frictionless trade. Why is London not holding her to this promise? The metropolis dominates a quarter of the British economy and pays a third of its taxes. It is told, over and again, that its financial services, its technology and its share of Europes booming health and education sectors, are central to economic prosperity. If London wants to stay in the single market, its voice should be heard. Simon Jenkins / Tony Buckingham The 21st century is said to be the century of the city. City states such as Singapore and Monaco, and powerful cities such as Paris, Frankfurt, Barcelona and Mumbai, throw their weight about. At this very moment, New York is wrestling with Donald Trump over tariff barriers. They exert political leverage. London in comparison seems a political wimp. Where are its MPs marching on Parliament or forming a lobby in the Commons? In the past two decades, Edinburgh, Cardiff and even Manchester have won devolved powers. Scotland can raise its own income taxes. Manchester runs its own health service. London is hugely privileged. It gets the most luxurious infrastructure in the land on demand. But it seems politically in thrall to central government. What Boris Johnson would call vassalage is largely due to Johnson himself failing to fight for devolution when he was Mayor. His successor, Sadiq Khan, seems more interested in being photographed than in being heard. The biggest threat to London under hard Brexit is to its labour market. Twelve per cent of all London jobs are held by non-UK, EU residents. This rises to a third in the economically critical sectors of catering and hotels, a quarter in building and a fifth in health and public administration. These industries will be crippled if new EU migrants are banned under skilled-worker quotas. Already the Battersea power station development found a quarter of its EU workforce did not return last Christmas. Similar fall-offs are afflicting Londons hospitals, now with a 15 per cent vacancy rate. The NHS is having to spend millions helping foreign staff wrestle with the Home Offices hostile environment for EU nationals. "The capital might even consider radical options, such as one day making its own deal with Brussels" The metropolis never voted to close its borders to foreigners. It should be fighting for licensed exemption, like the deals in Canada and Australia whereby migrants are allowed to settle if registered in particular cities. In Londons case, they could be given national insurance numbers and access to health and welfare services only in the capital. Otherwise we could see a tide of executive disobedience, like California refusing to enforce Donald Trumps anti-Hispanic policy. Landlords and employers could refuse to register foreigners as demanded by the Home Office. The Metropolitan Police could say it has better things to do than chase up illegals. London might even consider more radical options, such as one day making its own deal with Brussels. I have heard a free port proposed in east London, open to Rotterdam and circumventing chaos at Dover, and embracing City Airport. Such a port could grow into a giant Euro-mart, an electronically walled mini-city within the EUs customs union. Perhaps this concept could even be extended to all of London within the M25. Some version of this is being touted for Northern Ireland. If Northern Ireland, why not London? The irony is that hard Brexit will not hit London worst. It will hit the rest of the country. The capital will retain its financial leadership of Europe, even with wings clipped. But deprived of a ready supply of new labour, it will suck the rest of Britain dry of talent. It may lose tourism but not as much as the provinces will. From Walpole to Pitt, from Salisbury to Baldwin, Britain has turned its back on the turmoils of Europe. The message of history is that London survives. When the Continent degenerated into conflict and revolution, the capital grew and prospered, attracting Europes trade, welcoming its refugees and its money. But conflict never did Britain or Europe much good. Barriers are bad. London should be seen and heard, fighting back. Its wealth and its power should make sure that in the event of Brexit, open trade must remain. It must keep its single market. J ohn Glen MP, City of London minister, has announced male diversity champions should be appointed in businesses to combat macho culture in the workplace. Hear! hear! John, its nice to have you on board. In the past few weeks Ive been touring the country with my book Work Like a Woman a manifesto for change. The book addresses the hard fact many businesses still operate using outdated codes of alpha or macho culture and this in turn perpetuates the cycle of keeping certain types of men in positions of power. Glens address was important but it was made specifically to business leaders in financial services. Why stop there? Big businesses in every sector are still run by alpha men. Take my industry in retail, women make up, or at least influence, 85 per cent of the purchasing decisions and yet we only take up 10 per cent of executive positions on boards. That is pretty bad by any standard. Most industry numbers are so heavily skewed towards men in power it isnt possible to rectify the situation quickly. What we can start to do is shift the culture at work to make it a more equal playing field. That is why Glens suggestion to make men more responsible for the success of women in business is a step in the right direction. However, lets be clear, this is about a culture change that will also benefit men, as the macho construct in many businesses has a damaging effect on them, too. The world of work may have been constructed for men, by men, but the toxicity of alpha culture in the workplace that puts alpha men in power affects both sexes. The response I have had from men I have discussed working culture with has been overwhelming. Women need change, but many men want it to happen too. I call it work like a woman but what that really means is working in a way that values what is good and decent. It means structuring businesses around values of kindness and collaboration and not putting your blinkers on to focus solely on profit. Glen rather honestly claimed theres only so much the Government can do, saying business owners should step up to make a more equal work culture. I agree. But they can stop the knighthoods pretty quickly. We all have a voice. Change should happen across all levels of business and to bring about change we have to implement policies that are allowed to live and grow within the culture of our businesses, and we must allow everybody in our businesses to have a voice. In a Radio 1 interview earlier this week Little Mixs Jesy Nelson described Strip as a celebration of inner confidence and different body types, while dismissing Morgan as a silly t**t. Morgan, in turn, demanded a public apology and branded Nelsons latest Instagram selfie grim and like one of those grim pictures you get on those weird adult dating sites. The really cheap ones. Who exactly died and made Morgan Gileads top Enforcer of Modest Dress Codes remains unclear but he certainly pursues his vocation zealously. Previous recipients of commands to put some clothes on or put it away include Cher, Madonna, Kim Kardashian and the models Amber Rose and Tess Holliday. Indeed, any prominent woman who so much as posts a selfie risks triggering a lengthy GMB rant and ruining poor Susanna Reids morning. Yet, buried somewhere underneath all the bluster, like a man-girdle worn beneath several layers of expensive tailoring, hides a reasonable point: a nude selfie is not actually a feminist statement, is it? Often its just a nude selfie. Little Mix have adorned themselves in insults in order to highlight body image. / Rankin Still, to accuse Little Mix of empty empowerment posturing in this instance is to miss the point of pop. Strip is part of a noble, albeit light-hearted, body-positive tradition stretching back to Destinys Childs Bootylicious, via Christina Aguileras Beautiful, Meghan Trainors All About That Bass and the entire back catalogue of hip hop artist Lizzo. It says something that Grande has leapt to Little Mixs defence, tweeting Women can be sexual AND talented. naked and dignified. its OUR choice. Maybe romantic love used to be pops beating heart but healthy self-regard is now as likely to top the charts. Jesy Nelson Instagram Why are such messages so gratefully received by pops target audience of teens? You wouldnt necessarily expect a 53-year-old man to understand. Clearly, confidence is not something Piers Morgan struggles with (Ill be entering that sentence for 2018s Understatement of The Year, alongside Brexit negotiations may prove tricky and Pizza is delicious). Unimpressed: Piers Morgan / ITV Among UK girls aged 10 to 17, however, its a problem, with one study suggesting 90 per cent will not spend time with friends or participate in activities they enjoy if they arent happy with how they look. Many struggle to find a foundation more solid than social media likes on which to base their self-esteem, and pop music can be one useful tool. If our little sisters succeed in this endeavour, a whole world of opportunity opens up to them. After all, British public life is really all one big confidence trick, isnt it? Morgan should know. Im with Ivanka on work/life email errors Ivanka Trump (Reuters ) / Reuters I like Ivanka Trump. Blame the conditioning effects of childhood exposure to Mattel advertising but I cant hate anyone who looks that much like a Barbie. Thats why Ive been working as hard as the Trump family lawyers to explain how Ivanka was caught using a personal email account for government business. How could she? Even after the fuss over Hillarys emails in 2016 clinched her fathers presidential campaign? Even after White House aides, anticipating just such a balls-up, spent time explaining the rules? She could and not through incompetence but an entirely relatable human error. These days youve got your work email, your personal one and that Hotmail account you use for competitions. Then theres WhatsApp, Snapchat, Insta messages, Facebook Messenger, maybe LinkedIn and even the odd letter in the post. Who doesnt post a message to the wrong thread? Or reply to someone by text, when they got in touch on Insta? We might not all be subject to The Presidential Records Act but when it comes to comms, were all one slippery finger away from disaster. As to a defence against the charge of Hillary-related hypocrisy? Sorry, Ive got nothing. The Cotton Bud hits the London skyline Can an entire city have penis envy? The question occurs to Londoners contemplating plans for a new addition to the skyline, unveiled this week by Norman Foster. The pre-eminent architect behind 30 St Mary Axe, aka The Gherkin, has now come up with a 12-storey glass bubble atop a concrete stem which will house bars, restaurants and a viewing gallery. D rax Group CEO Will Gardiner sells biomass aka trees as a clean source of electricity [The energy boss seeking a clean successor to Old King Coal , November 16]. But given the challenge of climate change, burning wood, like burning coal, makes no sense. Draxs plants spew more carbon pollution than coal from their smokestacks, and demand for wood pellets wreaks havoc on forests. In its new report, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) recognises the perils of this type of bioenergy and urges phase-out. Draxs pellets dont even meet the UKs new greenhouse gas standards and those standards themselves are incomplete, according to the CCC. Meanwhile solar and wind are clean, low cost, and low risk. Gardiner suggests that most of the UKs electricity will eventually be generated by these sources, but deploys the industrys standard line about wind and solar variability and how thermal generators like Drax are needed to shore up grid reliability. This is misleading. Analysis shows that in 2030, the UK can decarbonise its electricity system by relying almost entirely on new investments in wind, solar and smart resources, and no controversial biomass. Drax continues to receive 2 million a day in subsidies because the government wont impose new greenhouse gas standards on its existing plants. Rather than propping up this 19th-century fuel, it should redirect subsidies to real renewables. Sasha Stashwick, Natural Resources Defence Council Jim Armitage, City Editor, replies Dear Sasha Arguments about where we should derive our energy from are so polarised the debate has become a minefield into which one fears to tread. What does seem clear is that we need to create our electricity from diverse sources, not just wind and solar gales dont always blow and the sun doesnt always shine. While you may be right that we can decarbonise by 2030, it seems an awful risk to not seek reliable thermal alternatives such as biomass in the interim. Drax has turned four of its six coal-burning generators to biomass. Its wood is harvested from offcuts of timber being felled in the US for housebuilding and furniture. The forests it uses are sustainably run, and the process is getting cheaper so the government can switch off the subsidies in 2027. Yes, biomass still pollutes, but only at 15 per cent of the carbon of Draxs old coal generation. I agree we must invest heavily in the science behind green alternatives, but we need to keep the lights and hospitals working too. Better to hedge our bets with biomass until we have the green alternatives ready to go. Jim Dont delay help for child refugees This week the UK marks the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport, which allowed me to come to this country as a child refugee fleeing the Holocaust. I was welcomed to this country and I cannot express the relief I felt to find my father waiting for me, having fled within a day of the Nazis occupying Prague. Although my mother was refused permission to leave, she eventually managed to escape to the UK. I have just returned from Jordan a country that hosts 760,000 refugees, of whom half are children. They didnt know when they would next see a relative. I have campaigned for child refugees to be given a safe passage to the UK but I also believe we should allow refugees to reunite with their families when and where possible. A Refugee Family Reunion Bill returns to Parliament this year but the Home Secretary could change the rules tomorrow. Lets make this small change and give refugees the gift of family again. Chinas biggest e-commerce platforms including Tmall, JD.com, Xiaohongshu and Secco have removed Dolce & Gabbana products from their sites and several of the countrys most powerful editors, influencers and celebrities have taken to social media to express everything from rage to deep disappointment. The Italian fashion house, which blamed the remarks on a hacker, has been prompted to issue a second, longer public apology. However, for many of Chinas fashion elite, its too little too late. The brands second apology said: Our dream was to bring to Shanghai a tribute event dedicated to China which tells our history and vision. It was not simply a fashion show, but something that we created especially with love and passion for China and all the people around the world who love Dolce & Gabbana. What happened today was very unfortunate not only for us, but also for all the people who worked day and night to bring this event to life. From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to express our gratitude to our friends and guests. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. Here are some of the most notable responses: Susie Bubble, Influencer Instagram: 440k followers The outrage here isnt over the eyerollingly trite racism as displayed in the D&G promo videos depicting a model eating spaghetti with chopsticks. Its so dumb I cant even be bothered to expend energy on expressing anger towards it But rather this is yet another example of a misguided diva creative director in the upper echelons of the industry throwing his weight around and vomiting over social media in a reckless manner that impacts on a billion dollar company with thousands of employees as well as umpteen parts of the industry that would have been flown into Shanghai for what was supposed to be a media/celebrity fuelled extravaganza It makes a total mockery of an industry that is by and large full of hard working people that dont grab headlines but are just making a living doing what they love It gives fuel to people who already think fashion is full of laughable airs and graces, and contributes little to society at large. Angelica Cheung, Editor in Chief, Vogue China As I have voiced time and again publicly and privately, western brands seeking to enter and expand in China should be aware of Chinese cultural sensibilities, she said, as reported by WWD. Instead of dictating everything from head office, they would gain a lot from listening to the opinions and insights of their Chinese teams. Zhang Ziyi, Actress Weibo: 9,954,998 followers Self inflicted, she wrote on Weibo, alongside a cartoon image which read your s*** return it to you. Earlier, she had posted: Starting today, Miss Zhang and her team will not buy and use any D&G products. Mr Kira, Influencer Weibo: 2 million followers The created [videos] had a lot of unsuitable elements to it no matter if you meant it to be insulting or not," he said, as WWD reported. "You created a picture, a text, a video, which made a lot of Chinese feel uncomfortable after seeing it. That itself is a kind of disrespect to Chinese culture. Then what was revealed were extremely upsetting commentsI think no matter how you appear to be catering to the Chinese market, youre looking down on China. Estelle Chen, Model, Victoria Secret Angel Instagram: 159k followers Be sure that from now on, no one from China (and probably the whole world) will ever purchase anything from your brand. Sucks right? You thought you would make money by coming to China and by holding a show while being disrespectful and racist? You got it all wrong because we arent dumb when you say you love China. You dont love China, you love money. China is rich yes but China is rich in its values, its culture and its people and they wont spend a penny on a brand that does not respect that. Chu Wong, Model Instagram: 17.6k followers Here [is] some Chinese culture Id like to share. (YI ZI QIAN JIN) The meaning of these four words in Chinese is every single word that people have spoken is like a thousand heavy gold and you CANNOT take it back easily. Melvin Chua, Chinese luxury fashion events and PR guru. Owner, Ink Pak Communications Instagram: 21.2k followers In my two decades of working in this industry here in China, I can truly say without a doubt, from day one, in each and every event, we as a community production agencies, PR firms, hotels, transportation, security, catering, printers, photographers, video crews, florist, hair stylists, make up artists, models, model agencies, dressers, stylists etc. delivered world class results and services. And in many occasions surpassed anything internationally. Setting new gold standards. We as a collective community should take pride in that. A nyone who has ever owned one will know that cats can get anywhere: in between your legs when youre carrying something heavy, in front of your laptop screen while youre working, and even into the annals of art history. Yes, our feline friends have made it into some of Londons most prestigious museums and galleries - and now they're being celebrated around the world on International Cat Day. From curling up to their humans, to slinking around in all their god-like majesty, these are the moggies you can spot in Londons most famous art collections. The Gayer-Anderson Cat, Ancient Egypt, British Museum The Trustees of the British Museum The Ancient Egyptians really liked cats. Local moggies had a fondness for killing poisonous snakes, which led them to be thought of as protectors of Egypt. The cult of the cat meant deities were pictured with cat heads, and pets were even mummified with their deceased masters to protect them in the afterlife. This beautiful bronze and gold sculpture is of the goddess Bastet, who was often depicted as a cat or with the head of one. The Madonna of the Cat ('La Madonna del Gatto'), Federico Barocci, 1575, National Gallery Courtesy of National Gallery, London/Bequeathed by Revd Holwell Carr, 1831 There are plenty of pretty stoic "Mother and Child" paintings out there but this one shows the Holy Family having a bit of fun. Mary cradles both the baby Jesus and St John the Baptist, both of whom appear to be wriggling, giggling and squirming just like normal toddlers. John holds a goldfinch in one hand, teasing an alert and excited ginger kitten, who is far more interested in the bird than being in the presence of holiness. Judith Kerr with her cat Katinka, Sam Pelly, 2011, National Portrait Gallery Sam Pelly / National Portrait Gallery, London Judith Kerr brought feline friends into the childhoods of more than one generation. In this photograph, the creator of both The Tiger Who Came To Tea and the Mog books is shown with her own non-fictional cat Katinka. Kerrs ninth pet cat has recently become a literary star in her own right, the subject of a 2017 book by Kerr called Katinkas Tail, the story of a perfectly ordinary cat with a not-so-ordinary tail. Kitty in Boots, Quentin Blake, 2016, British Library (Frederick Warne & Co., 2016. Original copyright in illustrations (c) Quentin Blake, 2016) / Frederick Warne & Co., 2016. Original copyright in illustrations (c) Quentin Blake, 2016 If you thought you knew all of Beatrix Potters books back to front, then the publication of a new story by the Victorian author in 2016 will have come as quite the surprise. Kitty in Boots, a story written more than a century ago was only recently rediscovered by a British publisher, delighting Potter fans. As she had only completed one drawing for the story, legendary illustrator Quentin Blake stepped up to provide the visuals for the printed edition, including this jaunty image of a suited and booted cat. This artwork will be on display as part of Cats on the Page at the British Library. Clara Von Bork 1560, Edward Burne-Jones, 1860, Tate Britain Tate Burne-Jones created numerous paintings of characters from Sidonia the Sorceress, an 1848 novel by William Meinhold. In this artwork, the cat is not a beloved pet, but a predator skulking around Claras feet, staring up menacingly at the doves that she withholds protectively in her hands. It is also possible that the cat is a demon that is under the control of Sidonias evil sorcery. This painting is currently on display as part of the Edward Burne-Jones exhibition at Tate Britain. A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel, Judith Leyster, about 1635, National Gallery Courtesy of National Gallery, London/Bequeathed by C.F. Leach, 1943 The cat in this painting is not having a great time. It is thought that this 17th century painting may allude to an old Dutch phrase: He who plays with the cat gets scratched. The boy has lured the cat into his arms with an eel, but now holds it at arms length. While both children look away from it, the cats unimpressed expression and unfurling of its claws anticipate an impending flurry of retribution. Charles Waterton, Charles Willson Peale, 1824, National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery, London If you thought the last cat was unhappy, at least he isnt stuffed. Charles Waterton was a naturalist who travelled the world in the 19th century recording his natural history discoveries. As part of these endeavours, he also invented a new method of taxidermy a talent of Watertons that artist Peale displays in this portrait including a stuffed Guiana Red Cotinga and a cats head. Jan Morris, Arturo di Stefano, 2004-5, National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery, London Jan Morris life has been quite the adventure. The writer and historian has spent decades travelling the world, chronicling the histories of the British Empire and some of the most culturally rich cities on the planet. For this portrait by Italian painter Arturo di Stefano, Morris insisted that her Norwegian Forest cat, named Ibsen, were to be included in the portrait. Her 2018 book, In My Minds Eye, features fond memories of the now-late Ibsen. Doorkins Magnificat, Southwark Cathedral (NIGEL HOWARD ) / NIGEL HOWARD E very voracious reader knows that nothing compares to a really great book. Its that time of year where all you want to do is curl up and devour a novel next to a roaring fire. But its also the time of year when you really have to start thinking about what to get your mum for Hanukkah, so leave the armchair behind and venture out to one of these events for inspiration. P. G. Wodehouse: The Man and His Work The lives of Jeeves and Wooster and all the inhabitants of Blandings Castle come to life in this profile of one of the countrys best known authors. Read as well about his less familiar works. Theres plenty to dive into: he could write a novel in three months in his younger days, slowing down with old age to every six months. November 27-February 24, British Library, NW1, bl.uk Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children Corinne Bailey Rae, Rikki Beadle-Blair, David Lammy, Lenny Henry and Natasha Gordon are just a few of the writers in Mother Country, a new anthology exploring the reality of the Windrush Generations lives and those of their children. Editor Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff and contributors Sharmaine Lovegrove and Riaz Phillips come to Pages of Hackney bookshop to talk about the new book. December 4, Pages of Hackney, E5, pagesofhackney.co.uk Cats on the Page Celebrating the overlap between book lovers and cat lovers, this free exhibition at the British Library looks at cats in literature, from Mog and Wilbur to T S Eliots Old Possums Book of Practical Cats. Whether theyre wreaking havoc or coming in for a cuddle, this is one for feline fans all ages. November 23-March 17, British Library, NW1, bl.uk The Poets Corner: Drake Special Get in your feelings at Poetic Unitys special event hosted by Mr Emotionz, where your favourite Drake tracks meet new poetry. Theres also the chance to sign up for open mic poetry slots, but make sure youre there early. November 28, Black Cultural Archives, SW2, blackculturalarchives.org 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 Keats200 Commemorate Keatss most productive poetic years with the launch of a special programme at Keats House. The day will be full of readings from the houses poetry ambassadors as well talks from experts discussing the significance of 1818 in his writing career. December 1, Keats House, NW3, eventbrite.co.uk Heroes Comedian, actor and author Stephen Fry presents the follow up to Mythos. While his first book retelling ancient Greek mythology focused on the gods, Heroes shines a light on the likes of Jason, Oedipus and Atalanta. This is your chance to meet the writer and get your copy signed. December 6, Waterstones Piccadilly, WC2, waterstones.com Christmas Book Festival With a month to go until Christmas, its definitely time to get those stocking fillers. Authors will be on hand at Waterstoness Christmas Book Festival to sign and dedicate books for young readers, kids to teens. November 25, Waterstones Finchley Road, NW3, waterstones.com Out of the Woods: Luke Turner and Olivia Laing The debut book from journalist Luke Turner is a memoir about sexuality, depression and seeking refuge in the trees of Epping Forest. Luke Turner speaks to writer Olivia Laing about his religious upbringing, the guilt surrounding his identity as a bisexual man and how the forest triggers unexpected reactions. January 18, London Review Bookshop, WC1, londonreviewbookshop.co.uk Chris Riddells Poems to Live Your Life By Writer, illustrator and former Childrens Laureate Chris Riddell has been delighting readers with his distinctive style since the 1980s. In his new book Poems to Live Your Life By, he illuminates the works of Lewis Carroll, Shakespeare and Christina Rossetti as well as Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Carol Ann Duffy. Here, he hosts an evening with delights for the eyes and ears. December 4, Waterstones Gower Street, WC1, waterstones.com Dolly Aldertons Everything I Know About Love This event at the London Palladium marks a year since Dolly Aldertons bestselling memoir Everything I Know About Love was first published. She will discuss her new edition, which includes an extra chapter Everything I Know At Thirty with her oft-collaborator Lauren Bensted. Theyll delve into MSN chats, the magic of female friendships and navigating all different kinds of love. Between grim scientific reports and an abundance of landfill fashion, trying to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle can seem like an overwhelming task. But progress can begin right in your closet. An increasing number of designers are proving that style and sustainability arent mutually exclusive, while also spearheading creative approaches to crafting ethical pieces, from using paillettes made from recycled bottle caps to forming partnerships with global artisans and suppliers. Here are some designers that are helping to make fashion sustainable and ethical, as well as chic. Zero + Maria Cornejo Zero + Maria Cornejo The style: Cocoon silhouettes Why its sustainable: Chilean-born designer Maria Cornejo has been committed to using eco-friendly dyes and textiles, such as recycled cashmere, since opening her first New York store in 1998. Her efforts were acknowledged this year when she received the Sustainability Award at the Fashion Group Internationals Night of Stars. With designs that are aesthetically minimal with geometric twists, Cornejo is noted for her signature cocoon shapes that she incorporates into dresses, coats, and jumpsuits. Jazmin Ero Dress in Eco Drape $1,295.00 at Zero + Maria Cornejo Mother of Pearl The style: Cool femininity. Why it's sustainable: Creative director Amy Powney launched Mother of Pearls collection No Frills to make design-led pieces that leave a low carbon footprint. The fabrics are traced from field to final, including wool farms in Uruguay and organic cotton farms in Turkey, to ensure responsible use of water, natural fibers, and less pollution. The British brand hopes to use No Frills as an introduction to more transparent and sustainable practices - they've also just launched an evening wear line. Vivian Dress $1,050 at Mother of Pearl Eileen Fisher The style: Cozy organic knits. Why it's sustainable: Eileen Fisher is a leading figure in sustainable fashion who also acknowledges that theres room for improvement. Her brand introduced the Vision 2020 campaign, pledging to make all cotton and linen 100% organic, along with using eco-friendly dyes, green facilities, and more fair trade improvements. The Peruvian sweaters are crafted around small workshops in Arequipa, which are committed to higher wages and supporting local communities. Handknit Peruvian Alpaca Box-top, $418 at Eileen Fisher Kitx KTIX The style: Draped dresses. Why it's sustainable: The Australian label, founded by Kit Willow, strives to be at the forefront of ethical fashion while committing to biodegradable and recycled fabrics that are traceable. Kitx also uses materials free of chemicals, such as organic silk and econyl - a material woven from discarded fishing nets, making it safe for both the environment and farm workers, and resulting in some gorgeous evening wear. Muse Moment Drape Dress $393.85 at Kitx Organic By John Patrick John Patrick The style: Essential slip dresses Why its sustainable: For over a decade, Organic by John Patrick has been mastering timeless pieces that have eco-friendly origins. Ignoring fleeting runway trends, Patrick focuses on chic basics that are made from organic materials and produced using fair labor practices. The brands most recognizable and seasonless staple is the biodegradable slip dress that comes in an array of colors. Bias Long Slip $189 at Organic by John Patrick Reformation / Reformation The style: Flowy dresses and denim Why its sustainable: Reformation is a cult-favorite for its repurposed vintage and in-house garments. Each online item is listed with a RefScale that shows how much water and carbon dioxide was saved in production due to investments in green building infrastructure. While Reformation is known for casual and special occasion dresses, the brand launched their sustainable denim collection in 2017 to great acclaim and have continued to release eco-conscious jeans in extended sizes. There can be few brands as synonymous with high quality, indulgent skincare as La Prairie. In fact, their bestselling range contains one of the rarest and finest ingredients imaginable: caviar extract sourced from the depths of the ocean. Launching in 1987, the Swiss brands Skin Caviar collection was the first beauty range to harness the powers of marine-based ingredients. In developing the range, La Prairie, a brand born at anti-ageing Clinic La Prairie in Switzerlands Montreux in 1978, succeeded in demonstrating caviars unique power to nourish and regenerate the skin, while smoothing lines. It's not surprising then that the Skin Caviar Collection continues to be the brands bestseller more than 30 years on. Skin caviar cream by La Prairie. / La Prairie This year, to celebrate the cream's enduring success (which has been developed and refined over the years and now includes Caviar Water and Caviar Absolute) La Prairie have not only remastered the entire range with Caviar Premier, (a breakthrough caviar science which augments the power of natural Caviar Extract with artificial Caviar) but they're also launching their first ever London pop-up at the Saatchi Gallery. Saatchi Gallery From 5-7th December, La Prairie will stage a full-scale installation in two rooms of the gallery. Guests and friends of the brand will be able to experience (on a first come, first served basis) the brands exclusive Art of Indulgence treatments, a luxurious 15-minute rejuvenating facial with amazing lifting and firming effects. The three-day exhibition will be a celebration of the brands rich heritage, and visitors will also be able to participate in Q&A sessions with La Prairies Director of Innovation, Dr Daniel Stangl and take guided tours around the gallery by a Saatchi Gallery curator, to explore La Prairies connection to the art world all while indulging in champagne and caviar, naturally. S o lets party. But where? Simple, friends. Lets start central: at Idris Elbas new cocktail bar at the Waldorf Hotel. If its good enough for drinking buddies Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, then its good enough for your 60-strong party. In need of a fabulous Grade II-listed Georgian party venue in Clerkenwell? Newly renovated Sessions House has six spaces available, from the gorgeous Dream on Dreamer (16 people) to Go Big with room for 60. But perhaps you fancy whisper it a boat? At The Boathouse, moored in Paddingtons Floating Pocket Park, up to 20 of you can hunker down for a fabulously cosy booze cruise. Way out in wild west London, theres Laylow, the Bella Freud-designed super swank members club, with basement den and party apartment upstairs, hosting 20 people for a terribly naughty sit down supper. and how to defeat the doormen In this era of iPad guestlists, She definitely put me down just isnt going to cut it. Time to upgrade your gatecrashing game. 1. The paparazzi payoff Few main entrance tribes are as easily bought off as these guys. Wait around the corner while your friend slips a couple of them a fiver to unleash a hail of flashbulbs while screaming your name. Their rivals will be terrified theyre missing the overnight sensation and follow suit. 2 The social sherlock Saying you know the owner isnt going to happen. But a couple of steps removed? Different story. It wont take long to google who the owner of the gaff is, then go on his social media, find out who his besties are, then drop their name. His staff will be too terrified to turn you away. 3. The shivering smoker T he Met Bar was a place that save for a bulletproof fake ID and the wholly unlikely prospect of a family friend in the Primrose Hill set I could never have visited in its prime. But I certainly knew about it, that mythical members-only playpen where the Gallaghers and Kate Moss and other people I had seen on TFI Friday purportedly got up to things my 14-year-old brain could only partially compute. And now aboard the unbreakable wave of Nineties revivalism the venue has been reborn as Gridiron; a new grill restaurant conceived by the hospitality equivalent of a rock supergroup (Hawksmoors Richard H Turner consulting, The Clove Clubs Colin McSherry head cheffing, Three Sheets bars Venning brothers cocktailing). Here, then, is a late-night venue butch and broodingly dark, with matte banquettes, crimson stools and a long marble-topped counter facing the leaping flames of the open kitchen more in step with our food-obsessed times. A place to inhale crackling-topped Tunworth mash potato or savour a miso-spiked White Russian, urged on by the hellraising ghosts of Britpop past. I met my pal Jonny there for Friday dinner and we started with the unusual, briny chill of a pickled onion Martini each (Jonny, I should note, wasnt as into it as I was) before charting a fairly thorough path through a menu littered with smartly modernised takes on steakhouse mainstays. Glistening, powerfully gamey slices of house-made duck sausage came beneath thick, salty clods of olive crumb and nifty cubes of plum. Short rib Kiev was a golden-breaded boulder of herbed meat alongside the vivid green, revelatory freshness of parsley emulsion and ribbons of gently pickled carrot. A pale XO that shrimpy, pungent Cantonese liqueur worked well on springily fresh, deftly wood-roasted scallops; leek came blackened and slopped in the caramelised glory of brown butter and hazelnuts; and Barnsley hogget chop had its scorched flavour amplified by a little dissolving crown of anchovies. But of the mains, it was the roast turbot that truly floored me; a hefty wedge of fish, coaxed by heat to that mystical sweet spot of bone-sucking succulence and served on a lavish, outrageously creamy puddle of chicken butter sauce. That we requested a couple of spoons to shamelessly slurp up every atom from the bowl even in full view of our ritzy-looking neighbours at other tables tells you how fantastic this stuff was. The kitchen view at the Gridiron / Gridiron We finished, somewhat giddy, with a serviceable sticky toffee pudding and devils on horseback, reborn as glinting slivers of lardo around squidgy, giant prunes. The evenings snags (no bread, somewhat stingy sides of glazed carrot and three-layered, beef dripping galette potatoes that I would have happily swapped for a tin bucket of oven chips) were hardly deal-breakers. But they do give a sense of why, despite parting with (oof) more than 200, we did not exactly waddle off into the drizzly night feeling properly stuffed. Yes, we had those Martinis and an obliging, berry-fresh bottle of 2017 Pannell Garnacha from wine writer Fiona Becketts characterfully curated list. But that doesnt fully neutralise the sting of a bill that despite the east London roots of some of Gridirons creative team feels unmistakably Mayfair. In many ways, the financial velvet rope here may be the one continued link to the Met Bar. Only, rather than access to a gilded hotel bar and a chance to possibly stand near one of the Appleton sisters, nowadays 200 gets you buttery cuts of griddled meat and cleverly rehabilitated 1970s canapes and oh, God that delectable, dunk-me-in-a-pool-of-it chicken butter sauce. I know how Id rather spend the cash. What Jimi ordered 1 Duck sausage 8 1 Short rib Kiev 8 1 Scallops XO 12 1 Burnt leeks 9 1 Barnsley hogget 28 1 Roast turbot 38 1 Beef dripping potatoes 6 1 Grilled carrots 5 1 Sticky toffee pudding 9 1 Lardo devils 7 2 Pickled Martinis 27 1 Bottle of Pannell Garnacha 48 Total 205 J orja Smith is a born performer, even when not on stage. In between takes for our cover shoot in a Kensington studio, she flits between playing insouciant starlet (I dont smile. I chipped my tooth in the bath when I was eight. Its why people think Im a bitch) and a down-to-earth young woman who loves a party. But its only when we sit down after the shoot and the rails of feathered Preen and Joy of Sex-inspired Christopher Kane dresses have been packed away that I meet the real Jorja Smith. Back in her civvies black sweatshirt, leggings and a pair of Chanel snow boots (I bought them as a treat for myself last week) she is warm and chatty. The only giveaway that this is one of Britains hottest music talents is the publicist lurking in the background, tapping on her iPhone with one ear on our conversation. This has indisputably been Smiths year. Hot on the heels of winning the Brits Critics Choice award in January, she released her debut album Lost & Found, to critical acclaim. She was then duly nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. Fashion loves her, too: Smith has fronted campaigns for Nike Air Force One and she sat front row with Jared Leto at the Gucci SS19 show. When we meet, she is halfway through a sell-out UK tour and still getting used to being recognised, even in tracksuit bottoms on her way to the off-licence near the west London flat she recently bought. Ill say, Lovely to meet you but, no, I dont want to take a picture, she says of the endless selfie requests. I dont have to, theyre not entitled to it. Thats life, though. PREEN DRESS 1,355 (preenbythornton bregazzi.com). ALEXANDER McQUEEN boots, 1,040 (alexandermcqueen.com). Necklace, as before / Bella Howard Well, thats not actually life for most people, but Smith is used to adapting. The 21-year-old talks honestly about growing up mixed-race in Walsall in the Noughties, where she never felt like she fitted in. You cant say youre white, she recalls. You can say youre black... but then black people will be like, No, you arent. When I was younger, I just wanted to be paler because all my friends were white. I felt like that because no one else looked like me when I was growing up. A mixed-race role model was Alicia Keys, and music became Smiths way of exploring her identity. Having grown up in a song-filled home with her father Peter, a benefits officer of Jamaican heritage, and her mother Jolene, a jewellery designer with roots in Yorkshire, Smith learned her craft on a music scholarship at school. She started gigging at 15 a few little shows in the pub around the corner called Shimla Peppers and putting out home-made videos on YouTube. A 2012 cover of Alex Clares Too Close got her spotted and signed to a manager and, at 18, she moved in with her aunt and uncle in Sydenham, finding herself slap bang in the middle of south Londons burgeoning grime scene. One of the self-penned songs on Lost & Found, Blue Lights, samples Dizzee Rascals Sirens and alludes to the fear of the police that is instilled in guiltless kids: If youve done nothing wrong/Flashing blue lights should just pass you by. It feels prescient today with the rise of drill music; earlier this year Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick accused drill music of contributing to gang violence in London, and YouTube responded by taking down dozens of provocative videos. Its not fair for the artists, she says, explaining that she writes to express her own feelings and is not responsible for how the listener might interpret it. GIVENCHY dress 3,095 (givenchy.com). Necklace, as before / Bella Howard This rebel streak does not appear to have harmed her stratospheric career trajectory, with high-profile collaborators including Stormzy and Drake. But, she insists, all this attention doesnt necessarily convert into mainstream commercial success. A Brit award is often considered a springboard to the next level it certainly was for Adele, but I havent noticed [a surge in sales], she shrugs. I dont think Im a charts person. With the charts theres a certain sound; quite Afrobeats. The closest thing Ive got to that is my song On Your Own, which is a bit dancehall-ish. In any case, she is not interested in being the hot new flash in the pan: I want to be classic. Lost & Found jumps between R&B, pop and good old-fashioned soul jams. Heartbreak is a recurrent theme. On the track, Teenage Fantasy, she sings: You werent the boy I thought I knew/Maybe I was blind/I was young/I didnt have a clue. I wrote the songs from the age of 16 to 20, she explains. When I was young, I never knew what love was. I cant say Ive ever had my heart broken. PREEN dress 1,295 (preenbythorntonbregazzi.com) / Bella Howard Smith is surprisingly open about her love life, becoming animated when she talks about musician Joel Compass, whom she has been with for a year and a bit. Collaborating with Drake on 2017s More Life, and then on his Boy Meets World tour, fuelled speculation that the pair were more than friends, but she laughs it off. The annoying thing is that people want to talk more about Drake than me, she says. Its always the same: how did you meet him? How did you write? Was it cool working with him? I know thats how it is, for any small artist who works with a bigger artist. Youre associated with them, because thats how people find out about you, like clickbait. Smith is keen to clarify that she was putting out music before Drake came calling. I did two tours in America before I was on More Life, and they were sold out. I didnt need him. Ive already got fans over there. But she did learn from him the value of thinking big. He wants to be the greatest ever. On the Boy Meets World tour he had a huge light installation, like a sun. He wanted that, so he made it happen. Whatever he wants, he does. As you may have realised, Smith is not afraid to speak her mind, and social media trolls are next in her line of fire. I get loads of horrible comments on my pictures, saying I look pregnant because I have a fat stomach. Its just my body shape. Its how I look, she says, insisting that she doesnt let it get to her. If that was said to me when I was 15, Id be so upset, she concedes. Kanye [West] said recently he thinks Instagram should take away the numbers of likes and comments [on posts]. Its easy to see why that would appeal. Not all parts of celebrity life are as easy to adapt to. Her publicist interrupts, reminding us both that Smith is a pop star on a schedule. She has a train to catch to Paris to sit front row at Chanel. Of course she does. With a smile and a hug, shes off. The year of her life is not quite over yet. Jorja Smiths latest single, The One, is out now. Make-up by Carol Lopez Reid at Carol Hayes Management using Sisley. Hair by Zateesha Barbour using Angel En Provence. W hat is the most important weapon in your party arsenal? Opaque tights? Nurofen Plus? A sequinned thong? Wrong. Its the French exit. The French exit, or the less catchy Irish Goodbye leaving without informing others is a vital tool for those on a terrifyingly tight schedule of festive social engagements. Saying goodbye to everyone youve ever met is both unnecessary and a tad narcissistic, but a French exit must be deployed correctly. Stage one is a tight hug and a clearly whispered, I love you. Thank you, into the ear of your host before you slip out stage left. Stage two actually extricating yourself from a drunken fug of friends can be trickier. My friend Elizabeth says to get in the mindset of a Frexiteer, you must adopt the mental fortitude of a good Catholic schoolgirl: Its always better to pull out early than end up doing something you regret, with possibly life-altering consequences. Dolly suggests buying everyone a round of drinks before you leave; a cool if profligate move (and bastardised by my cousin, Orlando, who offers to buy a round and then bails en route to the bar this is a bad Frexit). T he mother of an innocent teenager stabbed to death on a night out in London today urged parents to be more vigilant to help bring knife crime under control. Sharon Kendall, 38, said parents should ensure their youngsters are home early at night and look through their phones to check if they were involved in gangs. She also said mothers and fathers should search children to ensure they are not carrying weapons. Ms Kendall spoke out in a new appeal for information about the death of her son Jason Isaacs, 18, who was knifed in an alleyway in Northolt by a gang of four youths on mopeds in November last year. Mr Isaacs, who died in hospital three days later, was attacked in the same street where his friend Abdullahi Tarabi, 19, was fatally stabbed seven months earlier. He was the 23rd teenager to be murdered last year. Ms Kendall, a carer, said: Parents have a good idea of what their kids are up to, and if you dont I would urge you to be proactive. Know who their friends are, go through their phones. You have a chance to intervene when the issue is a dripping tap. Your parenting may save a life. She also criticised campaigners who try and tie the hands of the police in their ability to fight crime. She said those opposed to the use of stop and search should look at all the murdered teenagers faces, adding: We need to get knife crime under control. If we collectively gave a little more support to the police using stop and search and enforcement, things would change. If a child is not carrying a knife then he has got nothing to hide and it should not be a problem. The loudest voice in the vile knife crime debate must be the parents who have lost a loved one to it. Ms Kendall said she wanted to see more police patrols around areas frequented by gangs, adding: Everyone knows where these kids are hanging out. She paid tribute to her son, an apprentice carpenter, as amazing and wonderful. Describing his death as every mothers nightmare, she said: I am not going to remain silent, nor will we become a statistic. There are too many families suffering at the hands of others. The second you decide to carry a knife, there is a very strong possibility you will ruin a familys life, and your own. Her appeal came as the toll of homicides in London this year reached 126, already higher than last years total of 123. There have been 22 teenage murders so far this year. Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh, leading the investigation into Mr Isaacss murder, said two people had been charged in connection with it but two more suspects are being sought. A father watched via his baby monitor as a burglar crawled past a cot in his childs bedroom before stealing jewellery belonging to the boys dead grandparents. Oliver Wallace was out of the house when the woman was caught live on a baby monitor slinking into his two-year-old son Sams bedroom. The footage captures her face as she spots the camera on a shelf. She pulls down her hood then moves out of shot to ransack the drawers in the room. Mr Wallace a 37-year-old HR consultant, watched in real time on his phone as the woman and an accomplice fled. The thief in their Warlingham home They stole jewellery including the gold signet ring and necklace his mother-in-law Mary Ferguson was wearing when she was killed along with her husband Gordon in a car crash in 2011. More than 10,000 of computer equipment, including a laptop, was also taken Victims: Oliver and Sally Wallace with son Sam Hours before the burglary took place, Mr Wallaces wife Sally, his mother, and Sam had left the house in Warlingham, south London, to go on holiday to Florida. Mr Wallace, who had stayed in the UK for work, was having a drink with his brother in Stockwell when his baby monitors movement alarm was triggered. He said: We had just collected our drinks and my phone buzzed to say there was movement in the babys room. I didnt expect it as everyone was out, I thought maybe it was the cats. So I checked and could see this woman crawling around Sams room live. I tried to shout through the camera, which you can do, but the signal wasnt great and it didnt work. I called 999 within a minute but police took 45 minutes to get there. They had already fled. The thief in the bedroom was blonde and had a tattoo on her lower back. Mr Wallace said: She doesnt fit what you expect of a burglar. Someone might recognise her tattoo. The stolen necklace The loss of the irreplaceable jewellery has devastated the family. Mrs Ferguson, 63, and her husband, 65, the parents of charity fundraiser Mrs Wallace, died when their car collided with a lorry in Gloucestershire. Marys necklace is the biggest loss, Mr Wallace said. She wore it every day. It reminds Sally of her mother. Surrey police said they were called to a burglary in Waterfield Drive at 10pm on November 7, adding: No arrests have been made. A worker at a leading US law firm who got so drunk on a transatlantic flight that the pilot was forced to return to London has been warned she faces a prison sentence. Michelle Vanbuskirk, 43, swigged from a gin bottle and shouted at passengers and cabin crew on the United Airlines flight from Heathrow to Washington DC. She repeatedly banged on the TV screen in front of her seat, and after being asked to move, she assaulted one of the air stewardesses. In the wake of Vanbuskirks outburst as the plane flew over southern Ireland, the pilot opted to return to Heathrow for the safety of the crew and 209 passengers onboard, Isleworth crown court heard. Vanbuskirk yesterday pleaded guilty to being drunk on the aircraft and assaulting crew member Porsha Chaplian. Justin Bearman, Vanbuskirks lawyer, said the incident would have a massive impact on her life. She works in the London office of a top American law firm. Judge Giles Curtis-Raleigh released her on bail until sentencing, but warned: There is a real chance you could receive a custodial sentence. Prosecutor James OConnell told the court: She was drinking before the plane had taken off. As a result, coupled with the pills she was on, she behaved in this disgraceful way. The court heard about 4,000 of fuel was wasted when the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner returned to Heathrow on September 23, and passengers were forced to stay overnight in London before catching a flight the next day. When Vanbuskirk started banging on the TV screen, the woman sitting in front of her complained, saying she was anxious already about the flight. An incoherent Vanbuskirk was slurring her words and drinking from a bottle and, when asked to move, she eventually agreed to inspect the new seat but then attacked Ms Chaplian. Mr Bearman said he will argue for a suspended sentence for Vanbuskirk in the rare and curious case, and will put forward evidence of her chronic use of sleeping pills. Shes employed at an Ivy League American law firm based in London. Shes been over here for two years, he added. TODO: define component type apester Vanbuskirk, who lives in Camden, admitted to being drunk on board an aircraft and assault. She denied a second charge of assault on a female passenger and a public order offence, which were left on the court file once prosecutors accepted her guilty pleas. A jealous husband allegedly strangled his estranged wife after she turned down his offer to spend one last night together. Martin Cavanagh, 35, was controlling and possessive towards Sophie Cavanagh, 31, the Old Bailey heard. Jurors were told he sabotaged her Match.com dating profile and scared away any new men. Days before she was found dead, Cavanagh allegedly offered Sophie 100 if she would sleep with him again. She rebuffed him and later told a friend the proposal was disgusting. Cavanagh is accused of murdering Sophie at his flat in Bromley on May 19 this year after a day out at the zoo. Prosecutor Alexandra Healy QC told the court: The defendant had a controlling, jealous and possessive nature [and] a short fuse. Jurors heard that the couple married in 2011 and separated after five years, but continued to see each other regularly. Ms Healy told the court: If Sophie attempted to start a relationship with another man, those relationships would not last long. The defendant would contact the people she was dating. Controlling: Martin Cavanagh is accused of murdering his former partner Sophie / Metropolitan Police During an alleged incident in July last year, Ms Healy said Cavanagh spent hours driving around south London looking for Sophie when he suspected she was on a date. In a video message sent to a friend, he branded her a spiteful, conniving, evil, nasty piece of work before pretending to harm himself. The court heard Cavanagh drunkenly messaged Sophie on May 15 saying he had 100 in cash, adding: U have broken, shattered... ripped me to shreds. I want to have u 1 last final time ok... its all I fink about. Im begging you. I wont see it as paying to sleep wiv u but at least that way u get something out of it. Jurors heard he also accused Sophie of stripping online for strangers in return for money. After his advances were rejected, Ms Healy said Cavanagh repeatedly asked if he could visit her at home in Croydon. The court heard Sophie was strangled four days later, following a day out at Wingham wildlife park in Kent. Her body was found the next day. The prosecutor added: Whatever led to the defendant strangling Sophie, his jealous obsession with finding out who she was in contact with played a part. A high-flying lawyer who handed vast sums of money to her confidence trickster ex-lover is still trying to claw back more than 1 million over a decade after they split, the High Court was told. Moira OHara, 56, was deeply in love with film director Paul Markham and started giving him money just weeks after they first met. He promised to pay her back with profits from a French film project, but was later exposed as a charming and convincing conman who used the money to buy a fine art collection. Mr Markham, now 75, was ordered in 2009 to pay back the money but still owes more than 1 million, the court was told. In their latest legal battle, Mr Markham claimed Miss OHara was holding onto 900,000 worth of his possessions, including an 18th century Chinese pot. But Mr Justice Males threw out the case on Tuesday as an abuse of process, accusing Mr Markham of putting fanciful values on his property and using the courts to harass Miss OHara, once married to a judge. She met Mr Markham while doing voluntary work at a citizens advice bureau in 1999, and they lived together between 2003 and 2005. Paul Markham was described as 'a convincing and effective confidence trickster' In 2009 Judge Philip Raynor QC described Mr Markham as a convincing and effective confidence trickster as he rejected his claim that Miss OHara had given him money as gifts. Mr Markham claimed the cash was in return for business advice, emotional support and help in looking after her three children, but Judge Raynor dismissed this as untrue, fiction and unbelievable. Mr Markham was ordered to pay back 850,000, plus nearly 300,000 in interest which has continued to build since then, and also hand over a 1 million property in Notting Hill which he held on trust for Miss OHara. Her conduct was extraordinary but she was deeply in love with Mr Markham, said Judge Raynor. I find that love and Mr Markhams charm, persuasion and lies clouded her reason and common sense. Mr Markham lost an appeal against the ruling and was hit with an asset freezing order, but has only handed back a fraction of the money in the following years. His conduct is obsessive and part of a wider campaign to cause distress to Miss OHara, said her barrister, Daisy Brown. A Tesco worker was slashed in the ankle following an altercation at a store in Enfield. Two males entered the store on Savoy parade at around 6.40am on Tuesday when they were challenged by security staff about an apparent shoplifting offence. During an altercation, one member of staff received a slash wound to the ankle. The injured man was taken to hospital for treatment however his condition is not life threatening. One of the men was arrested at the scene on suspicion of GBH and remains in custody. The second suspect made off from the scene and police are continuing to trace him. P olice are hunting for a woman after a health worker was stabbed in a hospital car park. Emergency services were called to Ailsa Hospital in North Ayrshire at around 10am on Thursday after the 42-year-old community support worker was attacked. She is currently receiving treatment in hospital but her injuries are not thought to be life-threatening. Officers have now held a woman on an unrelated matter, but she is of interest to their enquiries into the incident. Superintendent Brian Shaw said: "I am urging anyone who witnessed the attack to get in touch with us. "I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who was in the area around 10am and has information about a woman who was seen leaving the area shortly after the 42-year-old woman was stabbed. "It is important that the public is aware that the hospital is open as normal. "Officers remain at the hospital and we have increased high-visibility patrols in the area to reassure patients, staff and the wider public. "Officers are reviewing CCTV and carrying out door-to-door enquiries in the area in an effort to identify the woman responsible." The woman is described as being around 5ft 2in to 5ft 3in in height, slight build and pale complexion. She was wearing a dark woolly hat and a dark jacket. Police Scotland initially locked down the hospital and surrounding area while searches were carried out but the facility reopened around 1pm. A force spokesman said: "The injured woman, was taken to Ayr Hospital for treatment. "Her injuries are described by hospital medical staff as being serious but stable. Her relatives have been made aware. "Officers continue to carry out an extensive search of the local area. "The car park of Ailsa Hospital remains closed as police enquiries are ongoing. The remainder of the hospital is open to staff and patients." Ayr MSP John Scott raised the incident at First Minister's Questions (FMQs) in the Scottish Parliament, saying: "I understand a nurse has been stabbed by a patient". Nicola Sturgeon said she was receiving reports about the incident as she entered the chamber for FMQs. She said: "Our understanding - and let me stress this is our understanding, the first I will do when I leave the chamber will be to get a full update on this - our understanding is that injuries sustained by a nurse are not life-threatening injuries and that police are fully involved in this incident. "Obviously, the safety of staff and patients is of the utmost importance." NHS Ayrshire and Arran earlier said no patients, staff or visitors would be able to leave the site but some restrictions were later relaxed. Billy McClean, associate director for the health board, added: "NHS Ayrshire and Arran is aware of an incident in the grounds of Ailsa Hospital this morning. "We are assisting Police Scotland with their investigations, and to ensure the safety of staff, patients and visitors. T housands of London parents are likely to be keeping the news of a loved ones cancer diagnosis secret from their children, new research reveals. More than a third of patients wait until treatment is under way or finished before telling them, and 22 per cent never do, according to a new Bupa-commissioned study on 2,000 adults. The survey, by Opinium Research, found the main reason was not wanting to worry or upset their children. Nearly a fifth of London parents (18 per cent) worried the news could affect their childs mental health and did not wish to disrupt their schoolwork. Eight in 10 believe they need help to support children dealing with the diagnosis. Hannah Milburn, 23, from Bedford, was preparing for her A-levels when her mother Ann was diagnosed with bowel cancer, aged 53. Mrs Milburn did not tell Hannah until she finished her exams. The interior architecture graduate said: I think Mum waiting was the right thing for me, so I could deal with one thing at a time. I t is hard to imagine that the eloquent schoolgirl talking a packed room through her anti-child marriage campaign was just a few years ago so shaken by the war she fled that she could barely speak. But Hanin, 16, a refugee who escaped Syria for Zaatari camp in Jordan, has set her sights on becoming a foreign correspondent to challenge stereotypes about her country, which has been ravaged by a seven-year conflict. The smiling teenager credits psychosocial support and advocacy programmes run by War Child with her emotional change. But the main driver behind her career choice has been the past two months when she had her first taste of international journalism. Through a twinning programme run by the Evening Standard and War Child, Hanin said she was able to communicate the story of her life and the challenges she and her peers face with an unlikely foreign audience: Hornsey School for Girls in Crouch End. Future foreign correspondent: Hanin said she wants to fight against stereotypes of her country through journalism / Bel Trew Since the summer, the girls from Zaatari and their peers in London have been sharing stories, discussing inspirational women and carrying out art projects together. Hornsey is one of the British schools that took part in the Learn to Live campaign which paired children who have lived through conflict with their British counterparts to bring about change. It has inspired me to change and challenge stereotypes, to make a better kind of journalism, Hanin told the Standard from the War Child school room in the heart of Zaatari, which is home to 80,000 people. There, inside the centre built out of metal sheeting and dotted with colourful drawings, Hanin has taken part in War Childs VoiceMore advocacy programme, which offer a space for young people to identify and tackle the problems they face. It is through VoiceMore that the girls ran surveys in the camp and identified child labour and early marriage as two main issues they face. But it was the Standards twinning scheme and the reaction she saw in London resulting from it that Hanin realised the impact telling these stories to the outside world might have. We were surprised and happy they were interested, she said, her face lighting up. When Im carrying a camera, I feel like I am carrying my value. I love writing articles. I have learnt the idea of not being afraid to speak out to tell the truth. Without the psychological support I would have been at home. I wouldnt have risked going outside or mingling with people. I am an introvert, but people here gave me support so I slowly crawled out of my shell. The five other girls in the room all agree with Hanin about the impact of the programme. They discuss everything from wanting to launch tech start-ups to running for political office, with a maturity startling for a group so young. Haya, 16, who was chosen to speak at a child-led discussion on human rights at the UN headquarters in Geneva in September, said she wants to be Syrias first female president. She is now so convinced by VoiceMore and the psychosocial support programme, she thinks it should be an integral part of the school curriculum in the UK. She was shocked that the Hornsey girls shared so many similar concerns, such as street harassment. I think psychosocial support is essential for everyone whenever they are in a weak spot, she said. Dina, 15, agreed. I think what surprised us the most about this whole experience is realising how similar the girls in London are to us, she said. Learn to Live Campaign: Melanie C visits Hornsey School for Girls War Child employees fear that emotional support for displaced children and their parents is not considered part of emergency responses to conflict. But without it, there can be devastating consequences, potentially causing domestic violence in the future. That is why, since September, the Evening Standard has teamed up with War Child to link British schools with children like these refugees in Jordan to lobby for a sea-change in attitudes to vital emotional support systems. Join our campaign: how you can help Schools that want their pupils to write to the Prime Minister should go to www.warchild.org.uk/what-we-do/campaigns/learn-to-live Teachers who want to join our project can go to www.warchild.org.uk/learntolive P olice have warned Londons motorists to avoid the capitals roads for days because of protests by environmental activists and urged drivers not to attempt to drive through them. Swarming protests by climate group Extinction Rebellion blocked four London traffic hotspots on Wednesday, bringing traffic to a standstill on Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges and in Earls Court, Elephant and Castle and Tower Bridge. Comedian Jim Davidson was among those to get caught up in the protests and blasted the climate group as a bunch of horrid people. Now the Mets Roads and Transport policing unit is urging motorists to avoid central London altogether because of more protests in the coming days. Protesters in central London at the weekend / PA Officers also urged motorists not to attempt to drive through the protesters. A statement from officers read: On the Nov 22 to 24, there will be protests across London that may result in delays to your journey. We advise not to travel by car or motorbike. If you do drive into London please note attempting to drive through protesters in the road is very dangerous and illegal. By 9am, protesters were pictured at Victoria, Earl's Court, Westminster, London Bridge and Elephant & Castle. Extinction Rebellion blocked five of Londons bridges last weekend and vowed to bring the capital to a standstill again throughout this week. The protest group and demanding greater action from the government on climate change. 82 people were arrested last weekend during the initial protest march. Comedian Jim Davidson was held up by a 'swarm' of protesters / Tom Edwards/BBC London Most of them were detained for breaches of the Highways Act, and all of those arrested have been released under investigation. Organisers said as many as 6,000 people joined the march. They then announced three days of civil disobedience around London from Wednesday to Friday, and a Rebellion Day 2 protest on Saturday. A commuter has described how he saved a mans life by dragging him off an Overground track seconds before he would have been struck by a train. Writer and film runner Micha Horgan, 23, was alerted to the man on the tracks by commuters screaming for help at Hackney Central station. He managed to pull him clear by the scruff of his collar from the platform edge as the train driver slammed on his brakes. Mr Horgan, who had been on his way to work on a film, said: Im not sure how he got onto the track. But we could all hear a train coming. I was aware that if he got hit by a train there was a whole platform of people who would be traumatised, including myself and the driver. I think everyone there was living out in their heads what would happen if he got hit. There were seconds in it. He was within reach and I scooped him up with one arm. There wasnt too much to it, it was kind of autopilot. I was a bit traumatised for the rest of the day, really shaken up. Its all a bit of a blur. Witnesses to the incident, at 9.45am on Saturday, November 3, said the man on the track would have been killed instantly had it not been for Mr Horgan. Onlooker Clothilde Lamare, 31, said: I heard the train coming and I was screaming like a crazy woman. I thought I was about to see a man be killed by a train and I was in tears, shaking in complete shock. Micha was a real hero. It is the second time Mr Horgan has been hailed for taking action in an emergency. While he was on his summer holiday in southern India in 2015, it was reported that he had helped save several people from drowning when a fishing vessel collided with a ferry carrying 40 passengers in Kerala. Along with his friend Massimo Monks, Mr Horgan described swimming with lifejackets to drowning people, helping to keep them afloat until fishing boats could reach them, and pulling others from the water. Eleven people died in the disaster but Mr Horgan was praised in the local media for saving lives. He said: I dont know if its heroic. Anyway, theres no point being moralistic about it. I think people do what they can, and sometimes thats limited by fear and a paralysis. A British Transport Police spokesman said officers had been called to an incident at Hackney Central station on November 3. S cotland Yard today launched a campaign to recruit more female officers to the Met while celebrating 100 years of women in policing. The Strong campaign will highlight role models, including the first black female police officer Sislin Fay Allen, who joined in 1968. Met Commissioner Cressida Dick, the first woman to lead the force, said in the long term she wanted 50 per cent of the force to be women, comparedwith the current 27 per cent. Ms Dick joined about 40 female officers outside Scotland Yard to show how women now filled every rank in the Met, apart from deputy commissioner. The force is particularly keen for black and ethnic minority women to apply, revealing that they make up only three per cent of the number of officers. Metropolitan Police Authority/Mary Evans Picture Library Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball, head of professionalism, said: I think women may not realise the range of roles they can perform in policing. I think we still have an image of being a male-dominated profession. People dont realise men and women work together in the Met in great harmony. There are fantastic jobs within policing in London that women can do really well. The campaign was launched 100 years to the day that the then-Commissioner Sir Cecil Macready officially announced the Met would employ female officers, known then as the Women Patrols. Metropolitan Police Authority/Mary Evans Picture Library At first contracts were issued on an experimental basis and the new officers did not have the power of arrest. They were accompanied by male officers for their protection. Two years earlier a reporter who asked a Scotland Yard official: Is there any possibility of women being employed as police constables? was told: No, not even if the war lasts 50 years. In total there are 7,881 women officers in the Met, with about 387 in senior roles of inspector and above. Metropolitan Police Authority/Mary Evans Picture Library Launching the campaign, Ms Dick said: I want to appeal to all women to consider having a career in the Met. Being a police officer is challenging, but it is rewarding and you get to make a difference to so many. A woman who had 16 miscarriages before giving birth to her daughter prematurely told of her hope that a new 4 million London research centre will identify the causes of pre-term birth. Imperial College is the first university in Europe to be funded by US healthcare charity March of Dimes, receiving $5 million (3.9 million) over five years to continue its work investigating what causes mothers to give birth before they reach 37 weeks of pregnancy. The March of Dimes Prematurity Research Centre officially launched last week. Its experts will work with maternity units at St Marys, Queen Charlottes and Chelsea, and Chelsea and Westminster hospitals. Cecilia Williams, who was helped by the pre-term birth clinic at Queen Charlottes and Chelsea, in Acton, to continue until 24 weeks before delivering daughter Peniel, said: With this research, they can help other mothers and find out what is happening, to stop these premature deliveries. Miss Williams, 47, of Hounslow, said Peniel was now a healthy seven-year-old. She weighed 500g but she was able to survive, she said. She was put in an incubator for three months. She was my 17th pregnancy. I nearly gave up. When I was 19 weeks I came for a scan and they kept me in until I delivered at 24 weeks. When I saw the weight and the size of my baby, I said, Oh my God. Now she is fine. About 15 million babies a year are born prematurely worldwide and it is the leading cause of disability and death in children aged up to five. Phil Bennett, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Imperial, who led the team helping Miss Williams, said the grant would fund work predicting who is most at risk and how best to intervene. He added: The paediatricians and neonatologist have got better at keeping small babies alive, but the obstetricians need to do better to stop them being born early. About one in 10 births are pre-term. Babies who survive an early birth often face lifelong health issues such as breathing problems, cerebral palsy and sight and hearing problems. Women who have already had a premature baby, have had a cervical biopsy, have a urine infection, or smoke or take drugs are known to be at higher risk, but the exact causes are unknown. A short cervix is also a factor. The use of a cervical stitch or the hormone progesterone can delay delivery until after 24 weeks but neither is considered highly effective. Imperial wants to develop earlier research which found an association between bacteria naturally found in the vagina and the risk of pre-term birth. Professor Bennett said: The approach we want to use is to try to replace the bad bacteria with good bacteria. Its a form of probiotic approach. D ozens of firefighters tackled a huge blaze after 11 buses went up in flames at a depot in south-east London. Dramatic images showed smoke billowing into the sky as flames ripped through the vehicles at the Orpington garage in the early hours of Thursday. Witnesses described waking up to the sound of ten huge explosions as they took to social media amid the chaos shortly before 4am. About 60 firefighters and eight fire engines were at the scene in Farnborough Hill. The fire at the bus garage / JIM BENNETT London Fire Brigade (LFB) urged people to avoid the area. Orpington: smoke billows into the sky from inside the bus depot / London Fire Brigade Amy Spencer tweeted: "Woken up by 10 huge explosions and what looks like a big fire near Sevenoaks road in Orpington." Orpington Bus Garage Fire - In pictures 1 /13 Orpington Bus Garage Fire - In pictures Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Handout photo taken from the Twitter feed of London Fire Brigade @LondonFire of a fire at a bus garage in Orpington, Kent. PA Handout photo taken from the Twitter feed of London Fire Brigade @LondonFire of a fire at a bus garage in Orpington, Kent. PA Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Fire damage at Farnborough bus garage near Orpington Kent JIM BENNETT Another person wrote: "Turns out it's the bus garage. Fuel tanks blowing up I guess!" Firefighters at the bus garage / JIM BENNETT LFB said in statement: "Firefighters are working hard to tackle the blaze but travel in that area will be difficult due to the number of appliances in attendance, avoid the area if you can. The scene after a fire at Orpington bus garage / Ben Morgan T he shocking scale of Londons homelessness crisis was laid bare today as new figures revealed 170,000 people in the capital are without a home. The east London borough of Newham has the highest number of homeless people in England 1 in every 24 according to statistics released by homeless charity Shelter. In descending order, the boroughs of Haringey, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Barking and Dagenham had the next highest numbers of homeless people in the country. At least 320,000 homeless people are living in Britain at the moment, the shocking statistics reveal. Shelter London hub manager Connie Cullen said record numbers were sleeping on the streets because of "a perfect storm of spiralling rents, welfare cuts and a total lack of social housing". Loading.... Secretary of State for Communities James Brokenshire MP said the government is investing 1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and the country is "committed" to building the homes the country needs. The charity has provided a breakdown of the areas in England which have the highest number of rough sleepers with Newham topping the list. New analysis revealed close to 170,000 people are recorded as homeless in the capital, laying bare the true scale of Londons worsening housing crisis. And in the last year alone, the overall number increased by 3,500 people, meaning that on average, one in every 53 people in London are homeless. Shelter has listed the top 50 local authorities in England with the highest number of total homeless people. This includes people sleeping on streets and resting in temporary accommodation. In Newham alone, 14,611 people were recorded as homeless meaning one in every 24 people are homeless. The Mayor of Newham said she has put tackling homeless at the top of her priorities. Rokhsana Fiaz has replaced Sir Robin Wales as a candidate in the May election / Graham Moonie Rokhsana Fiaz said: These figures demonstrate the desperate extent of the challenge we are facing in Newham and I am determined to tackle this. It is not acceptable that the levels of homelessness are so high in Newham and that every night over 70 people are bedding down on our streets. Since becoming Mayor, I have accelerated the work of the council to help those who have fallen victim to the governments housing crisis by implementing a new approach. However, it is important to remember that this situation has not been created by the policies of the council. It is the tragic result of central governments relentless austerity drive, their attack on social housing and cuts to local government grants. I am working hard to battle against this and we are already seeing results which will make a significant, tangible difference to homeless peoples lives. Using a grant we successfully bid for of 1.9m we have already transformed rough sleeping services, introducing a range of schemes focusing on compassion and care which has resulted in 79 homeless people helped off the streets. A family of four, who live in one room and eat meals of the floor, have revealed they are at breaking point. Shelter Telli Afrik, who lives in a hostel in Waltham Forest with his wife and two children, aged three and five, said the family are homeless because they could no longer afford their privately rented home, despite working. Living in their sixth hostel, Mr Afrik said: At first, we were fortunate because we went to live with my aunt. But not long after we moved in, she died of a heart attack and the council took the house back. We were made homeless instantly. I sobbed that night, all of us were in tears.Our current hostel is so cramped and everyones competing for space. My family all sleep in one room and we eat our meals on the floor because we dont have a table. There are two bathrooms but one isnt in good shape. Its hard to bathe. Its just very tough. Mr Afrik lives in a hostel in Waltham Forest / Shelter I had a new job as a supermarket manager, but they terminated my contract because I was always at appointments with different housing teams. That was a direct result of our homelessness. Financially weve been brought to nothing. My confidence nothing. My family is at breaking point. MP for West Ham, Lyn Brown said: These statistics are absolutely appalling, but sadly they reflect what I see day in and day out. Mr Afrik said the family are living in their sixth hostel / Shelter Homelessness isnt inevitable. Its the result of years of failing Tory austerity, dire underinvestment in social homes, housing benefit caps, and a private rented sector where landlords can evict families simply to charge higher rents. After Newham, the area with the highest number of homeless people was Haringey where a huge 9,216 people were registered as homeless. MP for Tottenham, David Lammy said: The exponential rise of homelessness in Haringey over the past decade is a shocking indictment of the Conservative governments deliberate trashing of vital services through austerity. Labour MP David Lammy / PA London has become a tale of two cities, where the middle has been hollowed out and largely replaced by two expanding classes of the superrich and those who either live in poverty or are close to it. We are in desperate need of more social housing at social rents, and more support services in the borough to reduce this injustice Connie Cullen, Shelter London Hub Manager, said: Its unforgivable that thousands of people in the capital have been swept up by the housing crisis and now have no place to call home. These new figures show that homelessness is having a devastating impact on the lives of people right across London. Due to the perfect storm of spiralling rents, welfare cuts and a total lack of social housing, record numbers of people are sleeping out on the streets or stuck in the cramped confines of a hostel room. We desperately need action now to change tomorrow for the hundreds of thousands whose lives will be blighted by homelessness this winter. Shelters services have never been more needed. Thats why were asking the public to support us this winter so that we can answer as many calls as possible and have trained advisers on hand when people need them most. Mr Brokenshire said: No one should be left without a roof over their head, which is why we are determined to end rough sleeping and respond to the causes of homelessness. We are investing more than 1.2 billion to tackle all forms of homelessness and a new law requires councils to support people sooner to help prevent them becoming homeless in the first place. Our rough sleeping strategy, support for councils and those working on the front line are helping to get people off the street and into accommodation as we enter the colder winter months. We are committed to building the homes our country needs - including through our 9 billion Affordable Homes Programme and by empowering councils to borrow to build a new generation of council homes. But we know that there is more that we need to do and were committed to working with Shelter and others to make a positive difference on this important issue. On December 5, hundreds of Londoners will embark on a 10km night-time fundraising walk across the city for Sleep Walk for Shelter. Sign up at shelter.org.uk/sleepwalk T he most unhygienic areas to eat out in London are revealed today with Tower Hamlets home to the highest number of filthy restaurants and takeaways. A total of 294 more than 10 per cent in the East End borough have hygiene ratings of one or zero, meaning inspectors found urgent or major improvements were needed in the way food was stored, prepared or cooked. Eighteen outlets in Brick Lane alone fall foul of inspectors including the Cereal Killer Cafe, which has a one-star rating. Experts found the venue, which recently announced plans to sell cereal in hollowed out avocado skins, needs major improvement to ensure food sold or served is safe to eat. As part of its scores on the doors system the Food Standards Agency (FSA) rates establishments from zero to five in three categories: hygienic food handling, management of food safety, and cleanliness and condition of facilities. A Tower Hamlets council spokeswoman said 84 per cent of food premises in the borough score three or more, adding: Tower Hamlets has a higher number of food businesses than neighbouring boroughs, the majority of which are compliant with good food hygiene. Cereal Killer Cafes owner Alan Keery said its last two inspections resulted in one-star ratings because of a leaky kitchen roof. He said: We had the rating when we relocated to our new Brick Lane site, and due to a leak when the premises was vacant, it caused the kitchen ceiling to crack. This was resolved and we are waiting on a new inspection. Three other London boroughs have more than 200 outlets with a zero or one-star rating: 269 in Croydon (12 per cent of venues); 228 in Ealing (11 per cent); and 219 in Camden (eight per cent). Across the capital, almost 3,400 fall into the bottom two categories. Loading.... Michelin-star rated Kai Mayfair, which has been voted Londons best Chinese restaurant several times, had a one-star rating, with the FSA calling for improvement in the hygienic handling of food including preparation. Owner Bernard Yeoh said: It was very disappointing. We introduced an experimental water-bath cooking technique and when youre trying anything new or something inspectors might not see, often you need a lot of documentation. This has all been sorted. A new inspection this week rated Kai Mayfair with three stars. The cleanest boroughs were Sutton just 17 out of 679 venues need major improvement. In Kensington and Chelsea just 26, fewer than 1 in 60 venues, rank under two stars. Hammersmith and Fulham, Kingston, Haringey, Bexley, Richmond and Merton all have fewer than 50 needing urgent work. S adiq Khan has taken control of a planning application for a new hotel and conference centre near the museums of South Kensington. The Mayor used his legal powers to call in the proposed demolition of the 906-room Holiday Inn Kensington Forum in Cromwell Road and building of a huge complex including two towers of 30 and 21 storeys. The scheme, which has generated almost 800 letters of objection from residents, was refused consent by Kensington and Chelsea council in September but its fate will now be decided by the Mayor. The move has infuriated opponents, including Weakest Link presenter Anne Robinson, because a call in of a proposed development by the Mayor generally means it gets the green light. Anne Robinson is one of hundreds of residents opposed to the plans / Dave Benett Ms Robinson described the development of 749 hotel rooms, 340 serviced apartments, and 46 homes as horrible. Other residents have complained that it will block out daylight and ruin the skyline in a conservation area. But in a letter to Philip Elliott, a planning officer at the borough, Mr Khan justified the decision by pointing to the need for enhanced visitor infrastucture in west London and the 20 new affordable homes included in the scheme. A more detailed report from GLA officers accompanying the letter said the borough has consistently failed to meet housing targets and said the proposed 11 social rented flats and nine intermediate homes will contribute significantly to both local and strategic affordable housing targets. However, residents said they were surprised and disappointed by the decision from City Hall. Holly Smith, a member of the Stop the Towers campaign, said: This planning application, which never should have been submitted in the first place, was comprehensively rejected by borough residents and the planning committee members. The Mayor needs to understand that the correct decision has been made. The hotel is owned by Queensgate Investments, a company controlled by property investor Jason Kow and fund manager LJ Capital, which represents hundreds of wealthy families. It has teamed up with developers Rockwell Property, whose head of planning Jonathan Manns, said: [We] have consulted extensively with the local community and worked hard to design a scheme for the redevelopment of the Kensington Forum. A draft agreement on Britains future trade and security relationship with the European Union after Brexit was finally agreed by negotiators today. A 26-page text of the political declaration, which is due to be formally signed at a summit on Sunday, was leaked from the EU showing agreement in a series of areas. In a tweet confirming that a deal was ready to be signed off, European Council president Donald Tusk said: I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between the EU and UK. "The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the Leaders. Theresa May later stood outside No 10s front door and hailed it as the right deal for Britain. Prime Minister Theresa May shakes hands with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker / REUTERS It delivers on the vote of the referendum, said Mrs May. It brings back control of our money, our borders and our laws. She said she was confident that it would be agreed even by Spain. Prime Minister Theresa May is due to address the Commons on Brexit on Thursday at 2.30pm. The text has been shared with the 27 other governments of the EU. The 26-page Political Declaration sets out plans for an "ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic co-operation, law enforcement and criminal justice, foreign policy, security and defence and wider areas of co-operation". The EU and UK are "determined to work together to safeguard the rules-based international order, the rule of law and promotion of democracy and high standards of free and fair trade and workers' rights, consumer and environmental protection and co-operation against internal and external threats to their values and interests", it states. Jean Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk / AP On trade, the EU and UK agree to develop "an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced economic partnership". This partnership will be "comprehensive, encompassing a free trade area as well as wider sectoral co-operation where it is in the mutual interest of both parties". The hoped-for trade deal will be "underpinned by provisions ensuring a level playing field for open and fair competition", facilitating trade and investment while "respecting the integrity of the Union's single market and customs union as well as the UK's internal market". It will "recognise the development of an independent trade policy by the UK beyond this economic partnership". TODO: define component type apester The text indicates that the EU is willing to consider technological solutions to avoiding a hard Irish border, such as the "maximum facilitation" system - or Max Fac - favoured by some in the UK administration. "Facilitative arrangements and technologies will be considered in developing any alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland on a permanent footing," it states. The declaration envisages "a spectrum of different outcomes" in terms of the practical implementation of checks and controls on movements across borders. On financial services, the declaration calls on both sides to start assessing one another's regulatory frameworks as soon as possible after Brexit, with a view to being able to declare them "equivalent" before the end of June 2020. Theresa May is welcomed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker prior to their meeting in Brussels / EPA The draft agreement comes after Mrs May met with European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker for talks on Wednesday night before an emergency EU summit scheduled for Sunday. The prime minister said although progress had been made more talks were planned with Mr Juncker on Saturday. Her official spokesman confirmed Mrs May would be returning to Brussels on Saturday for further talks with the European Commission president ahead of the summit on Sunday. "As the prime minister said last night, she had a good meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker where further progress was made in the negotiations," the spokesman said. "This allowed them to give further instruction to negotiators who began work immediately on resolving the remaining issues. Theresa May warns MPs over not voting for Brexit deal "There will be a further meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker as to how we can bring to a conclusion this process in the interest of all of our people. "No final deal can be agreed without the approval of the European Council on Sunday." Last night Mrs May had said: "We have made further progress. And, as a result we have given sufficient direction to our negotiators, I hope, for them to be able to resolve the remaining issues. "And that work will start immediately. "I now plan to return for further meetings, including with President Juncker on Saturday to discuss how we can bring to a conclusion this process and bring it to a conclusion in the interests of all our people." Tusk and Barnier Brexit Deal - In Pictures 1 /7 Tusk and Barnier Brexit Deal - In Pictures EU Council President Donald Tusk holds British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit letter in notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty at a press conference in Brussels. AP European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier attends a news conference to hand over the Brexit draft text to European Council President Donald Tusk Reuters European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and European Council President Donald Tusk pose with the Brexit draft text in Brussels, Reuters European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and European Council President Donald Tusk pose with the Brexit draft text in Brussels Reuters EU Brexit chief negociator Michel Barnier (L) hands over to European Council President Donald Tusk the "draft agreement of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union" during a press statement at the European Council in Brussels AFP/Getty Images European Council President Donald Tusk shows the "draft agreement of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union" AFP/Getty Images EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, left, and European Council President Donald Tusk flip through the pages of a draft withdrawal agreement AP As the countdown to the scheduled summit intensified, Chancellor Philip Hammond said that if the Brexit deal is rejected by Parliament it would unleash political chaos and could lead to EU withdrawal not happening. He told ITV's Peston: "It's clear that if the deal is not approved by Parliament we will have a politically chaotic situation. "And, we don't know what the outcome of that will be. "And for those who are passionately committed to ensuring that we leave the EU on the 29th of March, 2019, one of the things that they are going to have to bear in mind is the possibility that, in that chaos that would ensue, there may be no Brexit." The PM faced a strong push back from Spain over the status of Gibraltar in the "divorce deal". Mrs May spoke with her Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday evening to try and deal with the situation. A Downing Street spokesman said: "She said there had been good engagement between the UK, the government of Spain and the government of Gibraltar in order to come to an agreement in the withdrawal agreement and associated package of memoranda of understanding relating to Gibraltar. "She said that the UK and government of Gibraltar looked forward to these discussions continuing as we discuss the future relationship. "The Prime Minister reiterated her commitment to agreeing a deal that works for the whole UK family including Gibraltar, the other UK overseas territories and the crown dependencies." J ohn McDonnell has sparked a row after saying he would never be friends with a Conservative. Labour shadow chancellor Mr McDonnell said in a BBC interview: I cant forgive them for what theyve done. Public figures such as Tory vice-chair James Cleverly and Professor Brian Cox accused Jeremy Corbyns number two of hatred and hubris. Mr McDonnell said: I work with Tories on the basis of cross-party agreements etc. Im perfectly civil and Im perfectly willing to engage in conversation etc. John McDonnell said he would never be friends with a Conservative because of 'what they've done' / BBC Im pleasant in many ways. I can get angry with them as well. I have to show emotions sometimes, too. But, to be frank, at the moment with regard to the Conservative Party as it now stands, and for all that theyve done to our community, the suffering that theyve caused, I cant forgive them. I cant forgive them. Asked if he would be friends with a Conservative, Mr McDonnell repeated: No, I cant forgive them for theyve done. I go back to my constituency and Ive never seen human suffering life this, in all the times Ive been an MP and in the 40 years Ive lived in my constituency. Mr McDonnell, pictured on Wednesday, said: 'I go back to my constituency and Ive never seen human suffering like this' / Toby Melville/Reuters I cant forgive them for what theyve done. Mr Cleverly, the Conservative deputy chair, said: Ive never understood why some in the Labour Party wear prejudice and hatred as a badge of pride. Prof Cox tweeted: If you struggle to be friends with someone of the opposite political persuasion then it seems to me that you believe a one party state is the way forward because the only good people are people who agree with you. Certainty suggests hubris doubt suggests wisdom. Journalist and broadcaster Kate Bevan said: I have Tory friends, Green friends, swivel-eyed libertarian friends, Labour friends, religious friends, Brexit friends, and I'm grateful for and love them all. Claire Perry criticises John McDonnell over Esther McVey comments It is not the first time Mr McDonnell, the Hayes and Harlington MP, has made divisive comments about Tories. In 2014, he repeated a call for Esther McVey to be "lynched", something for which he has refused to apologise. And Mr McDonnells latest "friends" remarks were reminiscent of comments made by Labour MP Laura Pidcock last year. She said: I have no intention of being their [Tories] friends. We are ideological opponents. But the Commons is not as divided as Mr McDonnell and Ms Pidcock would suggest. Blue and red friendships were cited in a piece by the Guardian last year including Anne Milton and Jess Phillips; Nicholas Soames and Frank Field; Johnny Mercer and Ruth Smeeth; and Heidi Allen and Steve Reed. A lmost 7,000 youngsters in England and Wales now have Type 2 diabetes as the rising tide of obesity continues, a leading charity has warned. Diabetes UK said that the number of children and young people with diabetes is the highest it has ever been. The charity reported that 6,836 children and young adults have Type 2 diabetes in England and Wales, according to data from GP surgeries. It said that the main driver behind the figures was the rise in obesity. Other factors which could also play a part include a family history and ethnic background, it added. Type 2 diabetes is much more aggressive in youngsters and complications of the disease - blindness, amputations, heart disease and kidney failure - can appear earlier. Diabetes UK warned that thousands more children and young people could be diagnosed with the condition over the coming years. The latest figures on childhood obesity show that more than a third of children in England will be overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school. The charity called for better specialist support for youngsters with the condition to help manage their illness and reduce their risk of serious complications. Meanwhile, it backed proposals for a ban on junk food TV advertising aimed at children before 9pm, and to restrict supermarket price promotions for unhealthy foods. Bridget Turner, director of policy and campaigns at Diabetes UK, said: "Type 2 diabetes can be devastating for children and young people. "To help shape a future where fewer children develop the condition, we need continued commitment across society to create an environment that reduces obesity. "We need to encourage healthy living by providing clear and easy-to-understand nutritional information about the products we are all buying, and protect children from adverts for foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar. "At the same time, we must look after those who already have the condition so they can avoid serious complications such as amputations, sight loss, stroke and kidney failure. "Children and young people with Type 2 diabetes should have access to expert treatment by healthcare professionals trained to manage and research the condition and the challenges it presents." Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, added: "For many children, the development of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented with lifestyle changes, but this isn't easy - they need support. "That's why we were pleased to see the ambitious proposals set out in Chapter 2 of the Childhood Obesity Plan - we urge the Government to maximise their impact by introducing them all and doing so quickly." A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: "We are committed to halving child obesity by 2030 and will be launching consultations to restrict promotions in shops for sugary and fatty foods, as well as a 9pm watershed ban on advertising. P olice have been slammed for detaining a fluffy chow-chow puppy for up to nine months after it bit an officer. The pup, named Bungle, has been locked away in a kennel by a midlands police force in move branded draconian and callous. Furious dog lovers bombarded Northamptonshire Police with messages online calling for the furry pup to be released. Bungles owners told how their son, 15, broke down in tears when he learned his pet has been caged under the Dangerous Dog Act. In an emotional post on Facebook, owner David Hayes wrote: He [my son] broke down at school and had to leave his lessons and be consoled by members of staff. Keeping a young puppy, that has not done anything unexpected or unacceptable in the circumstances, from a 15-year-old boy over Xmas seems callous. We are not lawyers, but we continue to hope that this case can be brought forward for common sense review and be resolved asap. Mr Hayes said he was informed the family are not likely to see Bungle again for up to nine months. After hearing the dog had been caged, dog lovers took to social media to urge police to free it. In a post on the forces Facebook page, one wrote: Show some compassion for this young puppy! Nothing that the holding kennels will do will replace the care and socialisation that his owners can. Another said: Show some common sense let Bungle the Chow go home, cruel and unnecessary. The dog had escaped owners and walked in to traffic before an officer tried to catch it, police said. When trying to pull the dog from the road, the officer was bitten on the hand and arm, according to the force. The officer was not seriously hurt but went hospital for precautionary checks, antibiotics and tetanus vaccination, it added. In a statement following the online to campaign to release the pup, chief inspector Willis said the force is investigating. Public safety is the priority concern in such situations, he said. An officer from the East Midlands Operational Support Service attended and seized the dog which is currently being looked after in secure kennels. T he Prince of Wales joked that the names Kylie and Shane could be on the shortlist for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's baby. He was speaking a reception celebrating the centenary of Australia House which is Australia's oldest diplomatic post and the longest continually-occupied diplomatic building in London. Watched by the Duchess of Cornwall, he told the guests at the central London event: "Incidentally ladies and gentlemen my son Harry tells me that during their recent tour of Australia, he and his wife were offered countless thoughtful suggestions for the naming of their forthcoming baby. "Just between us, I suspect that Kylie and Shane may possibly make the shortlist. But ladies and gentlemen I would not hold your breath for Edna or Les." Prince Charles / PA Wire/PA Images Comedian Barry Humphries, who is known for his stage and television alter egos of Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, was among the guests in the audience. Harry and Meghan, who married in May, are expecting their first child in the spring. Charles, who went to Geelong Grammar School as a teenager, spoke of his "deep and abiding" affection for Australia and his "pride in seeing it go from strength to strength" both at home and on the world stage. He praised Australia for its self-deprecating sense of humour and as a nation which he said stands by friends and strangers in times of trouble. He described Australians as "frank, generous, courageous, resilient and above all great fun". Duke of Sussex and Meghan on their royal tour last month / Getty Images He spoke of the strong spirit of Australians who could be relied on after devastating bushfires or floods, and he recalled the "profoundly moving" dawn services he attended in 2015. Mr Humphries said he appreciate Charles's joke, adding: "I thought it was wonderful. "He spoke very, very well. I have never heard him better. It was a special event for we Australians and it is in a building that is unique." Australia House, the home of the Australian High Commission in the United Kingdom, was officially opened by King George V in August 1918. Mr Humphries described it as a treasured "home away from home for Australians." Prince of Wales joked about Australian names for his new grandchild / Getty Images for Clarence House George Brandis QC, Australian High Commissioner to the UK, spoke of the "solid" bond that Australia shares with the UK. He said: "The destinies of our two nations may have diverged over these past hundred years, but our shared interests, our common values, the crimson threads of kinship which bind us, remain as strong as they have ever been. "We know that the coming weeks and months will be a pivotal time in the long history of this country. "But whatever portends, of one thing the United Kingdom can be absolutely certain: the bonds between our two peoples will remain a solid as Australia House itself - a monument to their permanence and their endurance. " Charles unveiled a new portrait, painted by Australian-born artist Ralph Heimans. It shows Charles standing by a window and a grand piano in the tapestry room at Dumfries House, Scotland. A new piece of music written especially for the centenary, called This House, was also played. Ex-pat Australians including Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, actor and dancer Adam Garcia and author Kathy Lette were also among the guests. The audience was made up of Australians in the UK who have contributed to the Australia-UK relationship. They included figures, both British and Australian, from a range of industries including the worlds of sport, business, academia and the arts. F iona Bruce has been offered the job of host of BBC One's Question Time, according to reports. The move would make her the first female host in the programme's history. The Antiques Roadshow presenter is expected to take over the programme from the start of 2019, according to the Guardian. Ms Bruce impressed bosses in a series of auditions held earlier this year, the newspaper reported. The final shortlist for the job is understood to include Newsnight presenters Emily Maitlis and Kirsty Wark. David Dimbleby will step down as chair of the programme after 25 years, it was announced earlier this year. The 79-year-old, who has chaired the show since 1994, will leave the show after his final broadcast on December 13. T he wife of Brit academic Matthew Hedges jailed for life in the United Arab Emirates has accused the Foreign Office of "stepping on eggshells" and ignoring her pleas for help. Daniela Tejada, who arrived back in the UK this morning, said ahead of her first meeting with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt that the Government had prioritised friendship with the UAE over her husband's rights. "I was under the impression they were putting their interests with the UAE above a British citizen's rightful freedom and his welfare," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "They were stepping on eggshells instead of taking a firm stance." Mr Hedges and his wife / PA Ms Tejada, 27, spoke in an emotional interview at Heathrow after the Durham University PhD student was sentenced at a five-minute hearing in Abu Dhabi. Mr Hedges, 31, had been in the UAE doing research on its security strategy after the Arab Spring for his thesis. He was arrested at Dubai airport in May. He was accused of seeking to gather classified information and was held in solitary confinement for six months. No allies should be treating a fellow countrys citizens like that. Theres absolutely no reason why they should think a close ally would be sending an undercover agent to spy on them. Its absurd, she said. She said she was at one point told by Foreign Office staff that helping Mr Hedges was not their responsibility. "They just disregarded my requests, they said it wasn't part of their job, it wasn't part of their duty," she told Today. Daniel Tejada (right) at Heathrow airport this morning "On one occasion one of the case workers said the Foreign Office did not have a duty of care so weren't obliged to make such representations." Asked if she had been treated like a nuisance by Foreign Office officials, she said: I will only be satisfied when Matt is back. Hes innocent. The Foreign Office was contacted for comment. Health Secretary Matt Hancock defended the government's handling of the case, telling Today that the Foreign Office had been working "behind the scenes" to support the student since he was detained. Mr Hedges has said he was conducting academic research / PA "The Foreign Secretary has already raised this case personally with the Crown Prince on November 12 - so before the hearing. "So the Foreign Office has been acting on his behalf at the the highest possible levels." There will be "serious diplomatic repercussions", he said, although he said exactly what they will be is a matter for the Foreign Office. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has also publicly threatened the UAE with "serious diplomatic consequences" if Mr Hedges is not freed. Mr Hunt was understood to have met UAE ambassador Sulaiman Hamid Almazroui today and had a very frank conversation about Mr Hedges. Ms Tejeda told Today that the Government should stop at nothing to secure her husband's release - jeopardising relations with the UAE if need be. Mr Hedges was jailed on Wednesday / EPA "For me 'enough' is to get my husband back no matter what it takes, he deserves it," she told Today. "Why would the UK want to have a good relationship with a country that does not want to reciprocate in the good treatment of its fellow citizens?" Middle Eastern studies specialist Mr Hedges, 31, was arrested at Dubai Airport on May 5. Representative for the family David Haigh revealed last night that Mr Hedges had been held in solitary confinement for more than five-and-a-half months, during which his "mental and physical health seriously deteriorated". Mr Haigh told the BBC's World Tonight: "It's urgent. I know what he will be going through. He'll be in some form of national security jail and it's horrific there." Ms Tejada described the impact of the treatment on Mr Hedges, revealing how her husband "started shaking" when he was handed the life term. "He was very, very scared when he was standing in front of the judge, just because we knew the possibilities of there being an arbitrary judgment were there," she said. "I asked him to look at me if he was feeling too nervous and he tried to do so on a couple of occasions but was asked to face the judge. "And he started shaking when the translator told him the sentence, he actually had to ask to double-check if he heard right. "I can imagine he's just as distraught as I am." Theresa May has said she was "deeply disappointed and concerned" by Mr Hedges' jailing and told MPs the UK "will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis". Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University, said he was "devastated" by the sentence. T he police officer who was poisoned in the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter has revealed how his family lost their home and all their possessions after he was contaminated with Novichok. In his first interview since the incident, Det Sgt Nick Bailey told the BBC: "Everything the kids owned, we lost all that, the cars, we lost everything." Speaking to Panorama this evening he told how his whole body was "juddering" and was "dripping with sweat" after he was poisoned. Mr Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were found seriously ill on a bench in Salisbury on March 4. Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who fell ill after responding to the Salisbury spy attack, has been discharged from hospital / PA DS Bailey was left seriously ill in hospital after being one of the first on the scene on the night of the attack in Wiltshire. He came into contact with the nerve agent after being sent to the Skripals' home. DS Bailey said he knew shortly afterwards that something was very wrong when his "pupils were like pin pricks" and he became "quite sweaty and hot," he told the programme. The officer said: "I didn't understand how it had happened, scared because it's the fear of the unknown because it's such a dangerous thing to have in your system. Knowing how the other two (the Skripals) were or how badly they'd been affected by it, I was petrified." Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 1 /14 Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal Getty Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital PA Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA ilitary personnel are deployed to help remove vehicles from the scene after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill after exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury Getty Images Military in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury EPA Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury PA Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury PA Amber Rudd: she visited the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after having been poisoned by a nerve agent REUTERS Personnel are helped from their hazmat suits (right), after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Police put a red bag inside a police evidence bag immediately after the nerve agent attack on a Russian spy. Officers previously issued CCTV of a woman clutching a red bag Solent news Snap Fitness 24/7 Police activity in the cul-de-sac in Salisbury that contains the home of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned along with daughter Yulia with a nerve agent PA Sergei Skripal shops at Bargain Stop in a CCTV image from five days before his apparent poisoning Novichok had been sprayed on the door handle of the Skripals' home. He added: "I don't know whether, if it's gone through the gloves, I don't know whether, I mean, I could have adjusted my face mask and my goggles whilst I was in the house with it being on my hand. "It's such an outrageous, dangerous way of doing something that it angered me as well because any number of people could have been affected by that." DS Bailey was conscious during his time at Salisbury District Hospital, which included lots of injections plus five or six infusions at any one time in his arms. He recalled that one of the Skripals was in the next room and there was a police guard. DS Bailey was discharged on March 22 and said he is now trying to "take each day as it comes" in case there are any long-term health issues to be dealt with. The attack left Mr Skripal and his daughter critically ill and hospitalised for weeks. Dawn Sturgess, 44, who was later exposed to the same nerve agent after handling a contaminated perfume dispenser, died in July. Her partner Charlie Rowley was discharged from hospital, three weeks after being exposed to the nerve agent. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon told Panorama that "a significant amount" of Novichok was found. When asked how many people it could have killed, he said: "It's difficult to say, you know, possibly into the thousands. The amount that was in the bottle and the way it was applied to the Skripals' home address was completely reckless." Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs on September 5 that two Russian nationals were suspected of travelling to the UK to try and murder Mr Skripal with Novichok. Evidence gathered by intelligence agencies led the Government to conclude the men were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU. A week later, Russian president Vladimir Putin publicly denied the men identified by the UK were responsible. F reezing weather and snow that has swept across Britain is set to make way for torrential downpours, forecasters have warned. Parts of the UK were blanketed by snow on Wednesday as a cold snap brought icy winds, plummeting temperatures and wintry showers. Snow fell as far south as Brighton and Devil's Dyke in the South Downs of Sussex, while the mercury plunged as low as -6.3C overnight on Wednesday. After much of the country woke to a cold start with clear skies and frost on Thursday, the bright morning clouded over in the east, Met Office forecaster Becky Mitchell told the Standard. Temperatures are predicted to rise as high as 10C today. But a washout weekend lies ahead, in particular for southern parts of England where heavy rain will fall from Friday. The Met Office has issued a yellow severe weather warning for the south west, in place from 6am on Friday until 6pm on Saturday, predicting thunderstorms, hail and flooding in parts during the deluge. Up to 55mm of rain may fall in the space of 24 hours - most likely across southeast-facing coasts and moors of Devon and Cornwall, the Met Office said. Britain was covered by a blanket of snow on Wednesday / PA Londoners should also expect some heavy showers as the wet weather is predicted to move as far as the south east of England on Saturday and may continue into Sunday. Ms Mitchell said: "There is a bit of an east, west split across the UK today. A woman walks through the snow in Derbyshire / PA "It is coldest in the east with some rain in the south. The west is largely bright and sunny. "It was a frosty start in London this morning, as low as -5.4C in the outskirts. "Now it's quite a grey day and should stay mostly dry this afternoon." Snow in November - In Pictures 1 /8 Snow in November - In Pictures A crashed car, with an object protruding through the windscreen, sits abandoned on the A628 in the Peak District PA Cars navigate the Snake Pass in Derbyshire PA A snow covered sign near Snake Pass the Derbyshire PA A woman near the Snake Pass the Derbyshire PA Cars navigates the Snake Pass in Derbyshire PA A woman walks her dog near the Snake Pass the Derbyshire PA A car navigates the Snake Pass in Derbyshire PA A crashed car is recovered on the Snake Pass the Derbyshire PA The lowest temperature recorded on Wednesday night was -6.3C in Oxfordshire, Ms Mitchell added. But she said that the mercury could reach double figures in the south on Thursday as temperatures continue to rise towards the weekend. Ms Mitchell added: "For the weekend as a whole it will be cold and largely cloudy with scattered showers. "The heaviest will be in the south on Saturday. Londoners can expect some showers this weekend / Getty "There is a warning for heavy rain in the south west and we could have some thunderstorms in that area. "We could have some heavy rain in the south east." The forecaster warned the cold snap is set to continue next week, adding that by Monday it will still feel quite cold - around 7/8C in parts. It follows the arrival of some wintry weather this week as the first flurries of snow hit southern and northern England, Wales and Scotland. Millions woke to frost and icy conditions on Wednesday morning after temperatures plunged to just below freezing overnight. In the early hours of Wednesday, a heavy dusting of snow fell in counties such as Kent and Dorset in southern England as winter warned it is on its way in Britain. The AA warned drivers to take extra care as the weather conditions deteriorate. George Flinton, AA Patrol of the Year, said: "The first really cold snap of winter can catch drivers unaware, putting them at risk. "Preparation is key. Drivers should allow extra time for journeys, make sure their cars are clear of snow and ice before setting off and ensure they take warm clothes, food and drinks with them in case of unexpected delays. A massive dust storm today cloaked Sydneys landmarks, including Bondi Beach, the Opera House and harbour bridge. The 300 mile-wide storm swept across New South Wales from Broken Hill, sparking health fears. It was the result of strong winds which picked up dust from the drought-hit outback, shrouding rural communities and coastal towns in a thick haze. The New South Wales Health Department urged people with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions to stay indoors. Clouds can be seen above a dust storm as it descends on Sydney / REUTERS Some of the dust particles will be very small and can get deep into your lungs and thats why were concerned about peoples health, said Dr Richard Broome, director of environmental health. A town in Alaska has begun a 65-day period of darkness with residents not expected to see sunlight again until January. The town of Utqiagvik experienced its last sunrise and sunset on Sunday and its 4,000 residents were plunged into darkness for at least two months. Utqiagvik is now entering its 65-day period of darkness, also known as polar night. The town is not the only area to experience Polar night in Alaska, but is the first location to be affected by it because of how far north it is. Residents of the arctic town gathered to celebrate the final sunset of 2018 by watching film, 30 Days of Night, which depicts the town being overrun by vampires during the polar night. Some residents said their view was distorted slightly, because weather conditions stopped them from seeing a clear sunset. As well as facing dark conditions, temperatures in Utqiakg can drop to -10C or even -20C in winter. D onald Trump was today embroiled in an extraordinary row with Americas Chief Justice after attacking a judge who ruled against his immigration policy. John Roberts, the head of the Supreme Court, delivered a rare public rebuke of the President when Mr Trump described a colleague as an Obama judge. Leaping to the defence of the judiciary, the Chief Justice said the President failed to understand their independent role. Mr Trump hit back, insisting he was right to attack the San Francisco judge who had blocked his administrations latest immigration crackdown. The row fuels a growing feud between the White House and the judiciary. US Chief Justice John Roberts delivered a rare public rebuke of the President / REUTERS Up until now, Chief Justice Roberts who was appointed in 2005 by George W Bush has refrained from responding to Mr Trumps withering attacks on federal judges who have overturned some of his key initiatives, particularly on immigration. But he finally lost patience after Mr Trump lambasted Jon S Tigar, a judge who blocked the administrations attempt to stop accepting asylum claims from immigrants who entered America illegally. The comments from Chief Justice Robert brought a swift response from Mr Trump / EPA In rambling remarks, Mr Trump had attacked Justice Tigar, who sits on the 9th Circuit based in San Francisco, saying: Im going to put in a major complaint because you cannot win if youre us a case in the 9th Circuit and I think its a disgrace. This was an Obama judge. And Ill tell you what, its not going to happen like this anymore. Chief Justice Roberts, 63, responded: We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. He added that an independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for. This brought a swift response from Mr Trump. Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, the President tweeted. But you do indeed have Obama judges and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. He continued in a garbled tweet: It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an independent judiciary, but if it is why are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned ... these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise! D onald Trump has claimed the "fake news media" is blaming him for the country's huge Thanksgiving traffic jams because he pushed petrol prices so low. About 54 million people were said to be travelling at least 50 miles for Thursdays holiday, with 49 million making their journey in cars. It is the biggest Thanksgiving traffic since 2005, and caused huge backlogs across the country as people made their getaways. But the president accused the fake news media of blaming him for the huge jams, offering a sarcastic apology. He tweeted: You just cant win with the Fake News Media. A big story today is that because I have pushed so hard and gotten Gasoline Prices so low, more people are driving and I have caused traffic jams throughout our Great Nation. Sorry everyone! It was not clear which stories Mr Trump was referring to. Thanksgiving traffic at a standstill on 405 Freeway in Los Angeles The president was mocked following his latest social media outburst. John Stefanac replied: Sometimes you just have to check to make sure you're not reading a Tweet from a parody account. Another Twitter user posted: You dont get out much do you? Of course not what with all the limos, helicopters, and private jets one day looks like all the others. But for most of us the traffic jams you reference are caused by the fact its THANKSGIVING tomorrow. The most travelled day of the year. Putz. Traffic streaks across the John F. Kennedy Expressway on Wednesday at the start of the Thanksgiving holiday / Kiichiro Sato/AP Another said: Literally not one person is saying that, Donny. There were some kind words from Vette Maloney, however. She posted: Mr President, please enjoy this wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your wonderful Family. You certainly deserve it. My Family and I appreciate everything that you continue to do to support the people of our country. God Bless you. Heavy traffic moves along the Brooklyn/Queens Expressway in New York on Tuesday / Drew Angerer/Getty Images Stunning aerial images showed masses of bumper-to-bumper traffic in Los Angeles and other major cities ahead of Thanksgiving on Thursday. Bill Sutherland, a senior vice-president at AAA travel, said the high number of travellers could be linked to families enjoying a prosperous year. He said: Consumers have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season: higher wages, more disposable income and rising levels of household wealth. D onald Trump has been ridiculed after he said freezing weather in the US is proof global warming does not exist. As a cold snap hit parts of the country ahead of Thanksgiving on Thursday, the president offered his latest controversial take on climate change. Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS, he posted on Twitter. Whatever happened to Global Warming? The presidents suggestion that the extended cold blast which could lead to the chilliest Thanksgiving in more than a century is not linked to climate change is contradicted by NASA. It says climate change is a long-term shift in temperature averages as opposed to short-term weather events. More than 51,000 people had responded to Mr Trumps tweet on Thursday morning. The public were quick to mock him. John Doherty said: Congratulations! How you manage it I dont know, every single day you manage to outdo the previous level of stupidity! It really is incredible that people actually voted for you! Justin Nace fumed: "You know absolutely nothing. Youre an absolute disgrace." Kristian Stuart even called out Mr Trump's friend Piers Morgan over the remark. He said: "@piersmorgan how can you justify supporting anybody who doesn't know the difference between weather and climate? This is the Leader of the free world. I know you'll read this as well so please don't ignore." Mr Trump has regularly been challenged over his climate change claims during his presidency. Last month, he said he doubted whether it was man-made. Donald Trump pardons turkeys 'Peas' and 'Carrots' from the Thanksgiving dinner table And last year, the president announced he would pull the US out of the Paris Agreement, a treaty in which nations pledge to reduce carbon emissions, leaving it the only country in the world not signed to the deal. The National Weather Service was forecasting temperatures as low as -6C in New York. It had the potential to be the states coldest Thanksgiving since 1901. An hour after he posted his thoughts on global warming, the president was mocked again for another tweet in which he claimed the fake news media was blaming him for the massive Thanksgiving traffic jams. A 13-year-old girl who wrote an essay on gun violence has been killed in her own home by a stray bullet. "She took it like a soldier," her sister, Tatiana Ingram, told WISN. "She just walked in the room and said, 'Mama, I'm shot' ... The bullet wasn't even for her." Sandra Parks, a student at Keefes Avenue School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was in her bedroom when somebody opened fire on the building. "Tragically, her death was caused by someone who just decided they were going to shoot bullets into her house and she's dead," Milwaukee mayor Tom Barratt told reporters. It is not clear why the house was shot at, however two men have been charged in connection with the teenager's death. In 2016, Ms Parks came third in an essay competition with an essay called Our Truth about gun violence. In it, she wrote that "little children are victims of senseless gun violence" and there is "too much black on black crime". Sometimes, I sit back and I have to escape from what I see and hear every day, she said. When I do; I come to the same conclusion we are in a state of chaos. She appealed to people to care more about each other, concluding: "We must not allow the lies of racism, violence and prejudice be our truths." According to the New York Times, Ms Parks was the seventh child from a government-run school to die by homicide since January. The girl's mother Bernice Parks has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for her daughter's memorial. T he head of the Russian military intelligence agency the GRU, which has been blamed for the Salisbury nerve agent attack, has died, the Kremlin has announced. Colonel General Igor Korobovs death was announced by the countrys defence ministry on Wednesday night, Russias TASS news agency reported. It comes after the GRU chief, 63, was reported to be in sudden ill health after a confrontation with Vladimir Putin in October over the Salisbury poisoning. Korobov was head of the GRU, two officers of which are accused of travelling to the UK and attempting to assassinate Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in the agency. Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia both survived the nerve agent poisoning In September, Theresa May said the attack was part of a pattern of Russian behaviour that persistently seeks to undermine our security and that of our allies around the world. The Prime Minister promised further action to combat the GRU, and against Russia more generally. The Kremlin-backed news wire Tass said it had been told of Korobov's death by a source in the Russian Defence Ministry. Suspects: Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov / Sky News "Head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Deputy Chief of General Staff Igor Korobov died on November 21 from a serious illness," the source told Tass. Korobov was hailed as a "true son of Russia" and had led the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces - also known as the GRU - for several years. The agency is believed to be Russia's largest foreign intelligence outfit, with agents deployed all over the world, and is suspected of using cyber warfare and disinformation campaigns to achieve its goals. Gen Korobov had worked in military intelligence since 1985 and in 2016 president Vladimir Putin made him head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces - also known as the GRU. T he CIA is allegedly in possession of a recording of a phone call in which Saudi Arabia's crown prince is heard giving instructions to "silence" journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman can be heard calling for Mr Khashoggi to be "silenced as soon as possible" in the "smoking gun" audio recording, Turkey's Hurriyet Daily news reported. The Turkish newspaper reported on Thursday that CIA director Gina Haspel "signalled" to Turkish officials during her trip to Ankara last month that the agency was in possession of the wiretapped phone call. Asked about the report, a Turkish official told Reuters he had no information about such a recording. Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman / Amr Nabil/AP Saudi Arabia has said the crown prince had no prior knowledge of Mr Khashoggi's killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul six weeks ago. "There is talk of another recording," Hurriyet newspaper journalist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote in a column, saying the alleged call took place between Prince Mohammed and his brother, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington. "It is being said that CIA chief Gina Haspel indicated this during her visit to Turkey," he wrote, adding that they had discussed Mr Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's de facto ruler. "It is being said the crown prince gave orders to 'silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible'," in a call which was monitored by the US agency, he said. Mr Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 in an operation that Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan has said was ordered by the highest level of Saudi leadership. T he wife of a British student jailed for life on a spying charge has hit out at the Foreign Offices appalling handling of the case. Daniela Tejada spoke out after her husband Matthew Hedges, 31, was sentenced at a hearing without a lawyer on Wednesday. Mrs Tejada is set to meet with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt later as she demands the British Government take a stand now. "Matthew is innocent. The Foreign Office know this and have made it clear to the UAE authorities that Matthew is not a spy for them," she told The Times. Mr Hedges and his wife / PA "This whole case has been handled appallingly from the very beginning, with no-one taking Matthew's case seriously. The British government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens. "They say that the UAE is an ally but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matt's case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price." Ms Tejada's call for immediate action was echoed by Tory MP Johnny Mercer, who condemned the academic's jailing and called for the Government to be resilient. He wrote on Twitter: "This is ridiculous. Our Defence assistance, mentoring and intelligence relationships alone with this country should preclude absurd things like this happening. From a friend and partner, simply unacceptable. "Consequences must be immediate until he is released." Mr Hedges with his wife, Daniela Tejada / PA Mr Hunt said the UK "will do everything we can to get him home". "We see absolutely no evidence for any of the charges laid against him. We're very concerned for his welfare," he told Sky News. "The UAE is supposed to be a friend and ally of Britain's. We've given them repeated assurances about Matthew. If we can't resolve this there are going to be serious diplomatic consequences, because this is totally unacceptable." The Middle Eastern studies specialist was arrested at Dubai Airport on May 5. A family representative said he had since been held in solitary confinement for over five-and-a-half months, during which his "mental and physical health seriously deteriorated". Lawyer and human rights campaigner David Haigh said he was encouraged by Mr Hunt's public stance, but warned securing Mr Hedges' release quickly was important. He told the BBC's World Tonight: "It's urgent. I know what he will be going through. He'll be in some form of national security jail and it's horrific there." Mr Hedges was jailed on Wednesday / EPA Mr Haigh, a former managing director of Leeds United, says he was tortured and raped while he was held in a Dubai jail over a fraud conviction that was later overturned. He warned that Mr Hedges' ordeal and other similar cases showed the UAE "isn't a safe country to go to as a tourist". "Nothing's changed. It's getting worse and worse and worse, and why is it getting worse? Because no-one is doing anything about it. The governments are ignoring it," Mr Haigh said. Theresa May said she was "deeply disappointed and concerned" by Mr Hedges' jailing and told MPs the UK "will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis". Mr Hunt was "urgently seeking a call with Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed", the Prime Minister added. At Prime Minister's Questions, Tory MP Crispin Blunt told Mrs May she should make clear to the UAE that "if he is not released, I don't see why we should be committed to their defence". Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University, said he was "devastated" by the sentence. He said: "There has been no information given on what basis Matt was handed this sentence and no reason to believe that Matt was conducting anything other than legitimate academic research." T he 31-year-old British academic who has been jailed for life on spying charges was treated fairly and according to the countrys constitution, the United Arab Emirates has said. Matthew Hedges was sentenced to life in prison on charges of spying for the British government on Wednesday in a move described as deeply disappointing by Prime Minister Theresa May. His wife Daniela Tejada has since slammed appalling treatment of the case after a family representative claimed he was interrogated without a lawyer or consular help. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has now hit back in a statement from the Gulfs state foreign ministry on Thursday. It read: Matthew Hedges has been treated fairly and according to the constitution of the UAE. The ministry denied reports that Mr Hedges was not provided with a translator, saying: It is not true that he was asked to sign documents that he did not understand. Charged with spying: Matthew Hedges pictured with his wife Daniela Tejada / PA The 31-year-old doctoral student at Durham University has been held since May 5, when he was arrested at Dubai International Airport after a two-week research visit. A family representative said he had then been held in solitary confinement for over five-and-a-half months, during which his "mental and physical health seriously deteriorated". The UAEs rebuttal of unfair treatment allegations come as Mr Hedges wife called on the Emirati authorities to review his life sentence and free her husband. "Matt is innocent," Mrs Tejada said. "Handing a life sentence to an innocent researcher who held the UAE in high regard speaks volumes about their lack of tolerance and respect for human life." Mr Hedges and his wife / PA In a statement released on Thursday, she also said Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is doing everything he can to get her husband released and thanked him for his help. She said: As you can imagine, this has been an incredibly difficult time for myself, for the rest of Matts family and friends, but especially for Matt, who is an innocent victim in all this. We really appreciate all the positive support that has been shown to Matt, you cannot imagine what he has been through. "Seeing him shaking in court after being handed a life sentence and then being made to leave was beyond heart-breaking, we didnt even get to say goodbye. I really appreciate the Foreign Secretary taking the time to meet me at this crucial point in mine and Matts life. He has assured me that he and his team are doing everything in their power to get Matt free and return him home to me. This is not a fight I can win alone and I thank the Foreign Office for now standing up for one of their citizens. Mr Hedges with his wife, Daniela Tejada / PA The evidence presented against Mr Hedges, a PhD student who was visiting Dubai for a two-week research visit, consisted of notes from his dissertation research, his family said. A life sentence for a non-Emirati entails a maximum of 25 years in jail and is followed by deportation, according to state-run media. Mr Hunt has said the handling of the case by Emirati authorities would have repercussions on relations between the old allies and urged them to reconsider their decision. The UAE has previously said both sides were looking for a solution. A statement said: "The UAE is determined to protect its important strategic relationship with a key ally. F our people, all believed to be from the same family, have been arrested after a nine-year-old boy was beaten to death in France. Police sources told French media that the boy had allegedly refused to do his homework and was beaten with a broom handle. His sister, 20, brother, 19, and the brothers pregnant wife have all been arrested. They called emergency crews after they were unable to revive the nine-year-old. The boy's mother, who was on her way to Paris at the time, has also been arrested. According to local media, the mother had allegedly encouraged the boys punishment. The four family members were arrested on November 21 and are due to appear before the local prosecutor ahead of an investigation. The criminal investigation was opened today, according to The Mirror. R esearchers believe they have pinpointed the worst time to be alive on Earth. Wading through history and looking at some of the worst liveable moments to be on the planet, researchers say new evidence has helped them to determine when the worst time to live on the earth would have been. The year 536 AD has been announced as the date, with researchers hailing it as one of the worst periods to be alive. Michael McCormick, historian and archaeologist, told Science Magazine: It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year. At this point in time, the earth would have been in a terrible state because of the lack of sunlight that was displayed. The earth was plunged into darkness for about 18 months during this time frame, as a thick cloud blocked the sun. This caused crops to fail, temperatures to drop and famine. In summer, temperatures would have fell between 1.5C and 2.5C and the decade that followed would be the coldest of the previous 2,300 years. A team led by Mr McCormick, chair of the Harvard University initiative for the science of the human past, and glaciologist Paul Mayewski, of the climate change institute of the University of Maine (UM) in Orono, found an enormous volcanic eruption in Iceland was likely to blame for the sun being covered. T error probe as bombs discovered in London flat Police have launched a counter terror probe after two suspected bombs were found at an empty flat in north-west London. Officers were called to the disused property in Harlesden, which was in the process of being refurbished, yesterday. The block of flats was evacuated and road closures were put in place while specialist officers assessed the two items. Scotland Yard said its initial assessment was that they were both improvised explosive devices. Briton jailed for life in spying case confessed A British student sentenced to life in jail in the UAE for spying confessed to the charges, prosecutors have said. But the university graduate said he was innocent and that he was researching the countrys security strategy for a PhD. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, said he was "deeply shocked" at the verdict. PM plans second trip to Brussels as Brexit talks stall Theresa May will return to Brussels for Brexit talks as she scrambles to strike a deal in time for Sunday's summit of European leaders. It comes after she failed to make a breakthrough yesterday evening during last-ditch talks over the EU divorce deal. Returning from the meeting last night, Mrs May said: "there are some further issues that need resolution. She will head to Brussels again for an unscheduled trip on Saturday. Record number of youngsters with Type 2 diabetes Nearly 7,000 youngsters in Britain now have Type 2 diabetes as the rising tide of obesity continues, a leading charity has warned. Diabetes UK said that the number of children and young people with diabetes is at the highest it has ever been. It said that the main driver behind the figures was the rise in obesity. Trump fires back in Obama judge row Donald Trump has hit back after the US Supreme Court Justice took the extraordinary step of rebuking his criticism of a federal judge. John Roberts blasted the US leader for calling a judge who ruled against his new migrant asylum policy an "Obama judge. It's the first time that the leader of the federal judiciary has offered even a hint of criticism of Mr Trump. The top judge said an "independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for". In a furious Twitter rant, the president replied saying so-called Obama judges were making rulings dangerous for the US. Police slammed for locking up chow-chow puppy Animal lovers are joining a campaign to free a fluffy chow-chow puppy that has been detained for biting a police officer. Northamptonshire Police is under fire for locking up the dog, named Bungle, in a move critics branded callous. The force said the officer was not seriously injured but that public safety was a priority in its decision to seize the pooch. Bungles owners told how their son, 15, broke down in tears when he learned his pet has been caged under the Dangerous Dog Act. On this day 1718: Edward Teach, English pirate who sailed under the name of Blackbeard, was killed off the coast of North Carolina. 1830: Container transport was introduced by Pickfords, the carriers, in an agreement with the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Company. 1946: The first ballpoint pen went on sale, invented by Hungarian Laszlo Biro. 1963: John F. Kennedy, president of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, during the run-up to the 1964 presidential campaign. N icki Minaj handed out more than 500 turkeys as she helped residents getting ready for Thanksgiving Day in her old hometown. Minaj, 35, wrapped up warm to brave the biting New York City cold as she returned to South Jamaica, Queens, to volunteer. Fans lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the star, who stopped to greet the crowd and take photos with fans before getting behind the table to help. Minaj later shared her own snap on Instagram, writing: Mommy & I had a great time with yall today. (Yea, thats her with the hoodie on). Love all of you for coming out. @seanbellrecords & @bone_mbz + everyone who helped make this happen today, thank you so much. QUEENS #QGTM LOVE YOU 4 LIFE. The Anaconda artist stopped to take a photo with the Commanding Officer of the local police department, who posted the snap on social media. The department also shared pictures of Minaj with her fans and the crowds gathered in South Jamaica for the giveaway. Minaj wasnt the only star returning to their hometown to help out before the major holiday, with rapper Nick Cannon helping at a foodbank. Cannon posted a picture with his seven-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe, who he shares with pop icon Mariah Carey, in Harlem. He captioned a shot of the three of them: Giving back and volunteering Family Style! X Factor judge Robbie Williams didn't look too pleased to be back in biting-cold Britain as he joined wife Ayda Field on the bumper cars at Winter Wonderland. The couple, who married in 2010, cosied up as they braved the weather for the VIP launch night in Londons Hyde Park on Wednesday. Williams took Field for a spin on the fairground attraction, but he was left looking far from impressed after their kart was surrounded. Williams will make his X Factor return this weekend after three weeks away on tour in South America. The couple were joined by Field's last remaining X Factor contestant Danny Tetley, who has become a fan-favourite ahead of the semi-finals. Simon Cowells last girl standing, Scarlett Lee, was also there. Out and about: X Factor duo Robbie Williams and Ayda Field / Dave Benett Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams, who welcomed their son Theodore in September, took on one of the parks several attractions as they strapped in tight alongside guests before soaring through the air. Cuddled up: Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams / Dave Benett The reality TV couple are set to appear in their own TV miniseries about their journey into first-time parenthood. Titled Spencer and Vogue: Adult(ish), the three-part E4 series has ben billed as a light-hearted and completely unscripted look at their family life. Love Islands hottest couple Megan Barton Hanson and Wes Nelson were also spotted alongside former co-stars Georgia Steel and Kendall Rae Knight. Other stars included Vanessa Feltz, Michelle Heaton and Jason Donovan. A ngelina Jolie will take on pressing issues as she guest edits BBC Radio 4s Today programme over the festive period. The Hollywood A-Lister, who is the special envoy to the UN Refugee Agency, will take charge of the popular current affairs broadcast on December 28. Jolie, 43, has already started working with the Today programme team and is expected to invite a series of guests onto the show to discuss the global refugee crisis and violence against women in war zones. A spokesperson for the actress said: Angelina is grateful for this opportunity to draw on the BBC's global expertise and network to explore practical solutions to a number of pressing issues of our time. In charge: Angelina Jolie has already started working on her Today broadcast / Getty Images "She has already begun working with the Today programme team and is looking forward to engaging a broad and diverse range of voices in the programme. Jolie is among a number of guest editors taking the reins at the BBC Radio 4 show including outgoing Question Time host David Dimbleby who will take over on December 22. First up: David Dimbleby will take charge of the first festive special / Getty Images The final guest editor will produce an outer space broadcast on New Years Day exploring aliens, commercial space flight and a futuristic world where we all live and work in space. Last year, Prince Harry took over the show for the day, interviewing his father, Prince Charles, and US president Barack Obama. Previous guest editors include Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OConnor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, comedian Lenny Henry and actress Carey Mulligan. Take That will take over BBC Radio 2 on Christmas Day with a two-hour special celebrating their greatest hits to mark their 30th anniversary, while Laura Whitmore will explore faith in the 21st century for a BBC Radio 5 Live special. T heresa May pulled out of an interview with This Morning hours before she was scheduled to appear. The Prime Minister had been slated to chat to Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes, who is standing in for Holly Willoughby, on Thursdays edition of the show. But Schofield revealed she had had to pull out over Brexit. Opening the show, he said: Well, weve been telling you to expect the Prime Minister on our sofa and were going to have to disappoint. Breaking news: Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes / ITV We were told this morning that all would become clear, hasnt yet, but obviously the reason she is not here today is to do with Brexit." He said the Prime Minister apologised and promised she will return next week to do the interview. Prime Minister: Theresa May 'hopes' to sit down with This Morning soon / Andrew Matthews/PA She sent her apologies and said that hopefully next week she will be able to do the chat she was going to do today," he said. So I assume, during the course of the day, it will unfold as to why shes not here. The interview had been teased during Coronation Street on Wednesday night. On Wednesday night, Mrs May travelled to Brussels to discuss the UKs future relationship with the European Union when Britain leaves the EU next year. In a statement after her meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, Mrs May said: We have made further progress. And, as a result we have given sufficient direction to our negotiators, I hope, for them to be able to resolve the remaining issues. And that work will start immediately. I now plan to return for further meetings, including with President Juncker on Saturday to discuss how we can bring to a conclusion this process and bring it to a conclusion in the interests of all our people. Theresa May - In pictures 1 /74 Theresa May - In pictures 24th May 2019 Theresa May announces her resignation Reuters 22nd May 2019 Theresa May reacts during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons Sky News 21st May 2019 Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at PricewaterhouseCoopers ahead of her speech on a new Brexit deal Getty Images 2nd May 2019 Theresa May arrives to cast her vote a polling station near her home in her Maidenhead constituency as voters headed to the polls for council and mayoral elections across England and Northern Ireland PA 19th April 2019 Theresa May acts as a marshal during the Maidenhead Easter 10 race in Maidenhead PA 24th March 2019 Theresa May and her husband Philip May leave following a church service on March 24, 2019 in Aylesbury Getty Images 20th March 2019 Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the nation after asking the European Union for a Brexit extension EPA 14th March 2019 Theresa May reacting on the front bench in the House of Commons during the proceedings in which British MPs voted to ask the European Union to delay Brexit AFP/Getty Images 16th January 2019 Theresa May addresses the media at number 10 Downing street after her government defeated a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons Getty Images 16th January 2019 Theresa May leaves Downing Street to face a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons Getty Images 14th December 2018 Theresa May challenges European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for suggesting that her message on Brexit had been "nebulous" ec.europa.eu via PA 13th December 2018 Theresa May is seen behind EU flags as she arrives at the European Council for the start of the two day EU summit in Brussels, Belgium Getty Images 3rd October 2018 A composite picture of Prime Minister Theresa May dancing as she arrives on stage to make her keynote speech at the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham PA 20th September 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May arrives for a 'family photo' during the European Union leaders informal summit in Salzburg, Austria Reuters 13th July 2018 Theresa May and U.S. President Donald Trump walk to a joint news conference at Chequers Hannah McKay/Reuters 12th July 2018 US President Donald Trump takes the hand of Prime Minister Theresa May as they enter Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire PA 22nd November 2017 Theresa May on Budget Day Jeremy Selwyn 3rd November 2017 The finishing touches are made to the new wax figure of Prime Minister Theresa May by Rosie Tipler /PA 20th October 2017 Theresa May attending a bilateral meeting, on the second day of the European Council in Brussels, Belgium EPA 26th September 2017 Theresa May welcomes the President of the European Council Donald Tusk, ahead of a meeting in Downing Street EPA 20th September 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May meets US President Donald Trump for talks at the Lotte Palace Hotel, New York PA 10th August 2017 Madame Tussauds London commissions a new wax figure of Theresa May Madame Tussauds 8th July 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May talks with U.S. President Donald Trump during the G20 leaders summit in Hamburg, Germany Reuters 15th June 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May speaks to members of the fire service as she visits Grenfell Tower. 4th October 2017 Lee Nelson AKA Simon Brodkin hands a 'P45' to Prime Minister Theresa May ,as she was delivering her speech on the final day of the Conservative Party annual conference at the Manchester Central Convention Centre in Manchester AFP/Getty Images 4th October 2017 Letter fall off the backboard during Theresa May's speech on the final day of the Conservative Party annual conference at the Manchester Central Convention Centre in Manchester 4th October 2017 Theresa May coughing during her speech on the final day of the Conservative Party annual conference at the Manchester Central Convention Centre Daily Mail 4th October 2017 Theresa May coughing during her speech on the final day of the Conservative Party annual conference at the Manchester Central Convention Centre Reuters 4th October 2017 Theresa May drinks a glass of water during her keynote speech Daily Mail 31st July 2017 Theresa May arrives at the Commonwealth War Graves Commisions's Tyne Cot Cemetery ahead of a ceremony on July 31, 2017 in Ypres, Belgium Getty Images 25th July 2017 Theresa May and her husband Philip visit Desenzano del Garda, near Lake Garda, Italy, last month PA 17th July 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May holding a cabinet meeting PA 10th July 2017 Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, walks with Prime Minister Theresa May and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, as they arrive to speak to first responders from the emergency services outside Southwark Cathedral during a visit to the Borough Market area in central London AP 21st June 2017 PM Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn walking back after listening to Queen's Speech AFP/Getty Images 9th June 2017 Theresa May addressing press at Downing Street after seeing the Queen Jeremy Selwyn 9th June 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May is applauded into 10 Downing Street in by staff after seeing The Queen, where she asked to form a new government PA 9th June 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May and husband Philip leave Downing Street to travel to Buckingham Palace for an audience with Queen Elizabeth II after the General Election which lost the Tory majority PA 8th June 2017 Theresa May visits the Dhamecha Lohana Centre in Harrow Jeremy Selwyn 7th June 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May on a visit to Smithfield Market in the City of London on the final day of campaigning for the General Election PA 22nd May 2017 Theresa May gestures as she answers a media question regarding social care policy during a launch event for the Welsh Conservative general election manifesto in Wrexham, North Wales AFP/Getty Images 18th May 2017 Pegasus Street Art: Theresa May 'Dressed to Kill' Pegasus 2nd May 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May having some chips while on a walkabout during a election campaign stop in Mevagissey, Cornwall PA 19th April 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement to the nation in Downing Street Getty Images 28th March 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May in the cabinet office signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk invoking Article 50 and the United Kingdom's intention to leave the EU Getty Images 27th January 2017 US President Donald Trump holds hands with Prime Minister Teresa May as they walk the colonnade of the White House in Washington, DC EPA 5th October 2016 Theresa May and husband Philip after her speech at the Conservative Party Conference, Birmingham Jeremy Selwyn 20th July 2016 Theresa May was known for her shoes Getty Images 12th August 2016 Theresa May walks with her husband Philip John May while on summer holiday in the Alps of Switzerland Getty Images 13th July 2016 Theresa May speaks outside 10 Downing Street after becoming Prime Minister Getty Images 13th July 2016 The Queen welcomes Theresa May at the start of an audience where she invited the former Home Secretary to become Prime Minister and form a new government at Buckingham Palace Getty Images 12th July 2016 Prime Minister-in-waiting, Theresa May, reacts to photographers after walking to the wrong car after attending a Cabinet meeting at Downing Stree Getty Images 11th July 2016 New Conservative Party leader Theresa May speaks to members of the media with her MPs behind her at The St Stephen's entrance to the Palace of Westminster AFP/Getty Images 29th June 2015 German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere (L), Tunisia's Interior Minister Mohamed Gharsalli and British Home Secretary Theresa May look on after laying flowers at the scene where 38 people were killed on Marhaba beach Getty Images 3rd March 2015 Home Secretary Theresa May (2nd R) stands with Prime Minister David Cameron (L) and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (2nd L) before the arrival of the President of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife Angelica Rivera at Horse Guards Parade Getty Images 5th November 2013 British Home Secretary Theresa May attends a ceremonial welcome for visiting President of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye (not pictured) at Horseguards Parade on November 5, 2013 Getty Images 17th April 2013 Home Secretary Theresa May and husband Philip May arrive for the Ceremonial funeral of former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher Getty Images 20th July 2012 British Home Secretary Theresa May reacts during an interview as she views the Olympics Security control room in the Olympic Park in east London, on July 20, 2012 AFP/Getty Images 20th February 2012 Theresa May on the front row at the Osman Show during London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2012 at Somerset House Getty Images 31st January 2012 Home Secretary Theresa May stopping as the heal of her shoe gets stuck in a gap in the pavement as she arrives at number 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly meeting of the Cabinet AFP/Getty Images 12th September 2011 Bernard Hogan-Howe (C), the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, poses for photographs with British Home Secretary Teresa May (L) and Mayor of London Boris Johnson (R) outside New Scotland Yard AFP/Getty Images 11th September 2011 Home Secretary Theresa May arrives to attend a memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral in London on September 11, 2011 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks AFP/Getty Images 23rd March 2011 Home Secretary Theresa May leaves Parliament after Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivered his budget on March 23, 2011 Getty Images 10th December 2010 Home Secretary Theresa May leaves a cabinet meeting in Downing Street Getty Images 18th October 2010 Home Secretary Theresa May arrives in Downing Street for a Cabinet meeting Getty Images 13th May 2010 Transport Secretary Philip Hammond and Home Secretary Theresa May arrive at 10 Downing Street for the first Cabinet meeting of the new coalition government Getty Images 6th October 2009 Conservative leader David Cameron (R) and Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Theresa May (L) walk through the rain on the second day of the Conservative Party Conference Getty Images 20th May 2009 Theresa May, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, arrives for the Asian Women of Achievement Awards at Hilton Park Lane Hotel Getty Images 30th September 2007 Conservative shadow leader of the House of Commons Theresa May addresses delegates during the 124th annual Conservative Party Conference at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool - wearing wellys Getty Images 8th November 2007 Theresa May arrives at the Woman Of The Future Awards at the Grosvenor Marriott Square Hotel Getty Images 8th February 2006 Theresa May attends the Conservative Party Black & White Ball at Old Billingsgate Market Getty Images 13th December 2005 Leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron (front) and his shadow cabinet Getty Images 6th October 2003 Theresa May, the Conservative Party Chairman, concludes her opening speech at the annual Conservative Party conference in Blackpool Getty Images 23rd August 2002 The Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith announces the party's new Chairman Theresa May PA 15th June 1999 Conservative MP Theresa May leaves Conservative Central Office in London, after being appointed shadow Education and Employment secretary PA Romania is one of those countries where pro-European feelings are among the strongest, which was also proven by the fact that all the political forces agreed with the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union, scheduled for the first half of next year, as presented in Parliament, head of the Committee for European Affairs of the Deputies' Chamber Angel Tilvar said at the meeting with European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos. "Romania is one of those countries where pro-European feelings are among the strongest, which was also proven by the fact that all the political forces fully agreed with the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union, scheduled for the first half of next year, as presented in Parliament. Which is why I emphasize on the importance of the political consensus for a successful presidency. In the year 2019, the future of the Union and the establishment of the new financial framework will be under pressure because of the negative impact generated by Euro-skepticism, as well as under the influence of political interest shifting to the European Parliament elections. In this context, Romania has a special advantage: the fact that there are no such extremist political parties in our Parliament and no such Euro-skeptical discourse exists, which proves that we are ready to carry on with this mandate," said Tilvar, according to a press release sent to AGERPRES by the Deputies Chamber. Alongside other members of the Committee, Tilvar had a meeting on Thursday at the Parliament Palace with a delegation led by Avramopoulos, who is paying an official visit to Bucharest. The European Commissioner highlighted the importance of building a sustainable system to manage migration in the future, since this represents the essence of European solidarity and he specified that is to all member states advantage to prove consistency and unity in approaching of an organised manner the migration topic in the long run. He also declared himself a friend of our country, while bringing to mind that Romania must capitalize on the opportunity it has to coordinate one of the three European institutions and it must turn the six months of mandate at the helm of the Council of the European Union into a positive experience for all member states, informs the same release. AGERPRES . Romania's Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba had a meeting with ambassadors of the EU member states accredited in Bucharest, organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Austria in Romania as part of the Austrian Presidency of the EU Council. According to a news statement released by Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE), Ciamba welcomed the objectives of the Austrian Presidency and the efforts made to meet the established priorities. The Romanian official stressed Romania's commitment to ensuring continuity in important legislative files on the European agenda during the forthcoming Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. At the same time he assured the EU ambassadors in Bucharest that Romania is ready to take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU, emphasising the MAE role in coordinating preparations at the national level. He also pointed out that the Romanian side has conducted an intense dialogue with the European institutions that are key partners and the trio of the EU Council Presidencies of which Romania will be part, in order to ensure the necessary coherence in the implementation of the agreed strategic priorities at regional and European level. He underscored that the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council will follow a pragmatic approach to deliver results that can bring concrete benefits to European citizens. Ciamba also highlighted the importance of the informal summit in Sibiu on May 9, 2019 in conveying a political message of unity from European leaders. In this context, Romania has shown its readiness to act effectively to advance the major legislative files on the European agenda, especially during the first three months of the Romanian Presidency, in view of the European Parliament elections scheduled for May 2019. In this respect, he mentioned that Romania will act as an "honest broker" to continue the negotiations on the future Multi-annual Financial Framework 2021-2027 and focus on issues of common interest to the EU member states. Ciamba also pointed out that, at the level of MAE and the relevant national bodies, all the necessary logistical and protocol measures are taken to ensure the smooth running of the meetings that Romania will host during its Presidency of the EU Council. AGERPRES . The Republic of Moldova and Romania have a special relationship, they share "a common linguistic space, a common cultural space, and a common realm of values," Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip said on Thursday in Bucharest. "I am pleased to be here in Bucharest, attending a new joint meeting of the Moldovan and Romanian Governments. I'd like to use this opportunity to congratulate the new colleagues who joined the Government of Romania: may you be successful in this important mandate. Standing before you is the Chisinau Government after having undergone the reform of the central public administration. We are less, but in my view, this line-up is just as, or even more efficient than before," said Pavel Filip at the beginning of the joint meeting of the Governments of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. "True, our countries are connected by historical ties, I think it would be too little to say that we have good or excellent relations, because the relationship between the Republic of Moldova and Romania goes beyond this scope, we share a common linguistic space, a common cultural space and a common realm of values, this is why I believe our relationship is special. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to thank once again for Romania's constant help. I remember the beginning of the mandate, in 2016, when Romania offered us a helping hand, I am referring to the EUR 150 million worth of loan, I am referring to the beginning of 2016, and everything else, not just under the bilateral relationship. Romania's support for our European platform and roadmap is highly important, and the more so important at international level, we also very much appreciate and are grateful for your vote in the UN General Assembly," Filip told the Cabinet members in Bucharest. A delegation of the Ministry for Romanians Abroad (MRP) carried out meetings for several days with Romanians residing in the UK, during which they informed the nationals about their rights and obligations post-Brexit, taking into account the recent developments regarding the process of UK's withdrawal from the European Union. A release sent to AGERPRES shows that the working visit took place between 17 and 19 November, in the context in which European and British negotiators agreed on the form of the exit agreement, with the document to be subjected to the approval of the European Parliament and the Legislature in London. According to the quoted source, on 17 November, the MRP delegation, led by Undersecretary of State Victor Ionescu, had an informal meeting with representatives of the UK branch of the League of Romanian Students Abroad, representatives of the cults and the community members, and participated in the Global Romanian Society of Young Professionals (GRASP) and in the "100 years past, 100 years to come" debate organized by the Romanian Architects' and Urbanists' Forum (RAUF). Also, on 18 November, at the invitation of the Romanian Embassy to the UK and with the support of the Orthodox Christian Community in London, the MRP officials took part in an informational session on Brexit, where Undersecretary of State Victor Ionescu presented the participants the main elements of the withdrawal agreement and ensured them of the ministry's support and involvement. The release also shows that the delegation also visited Peniel Pentecostal Church in London, where the Brexit issue was presented extensively and discussed with each participant. A meeting was carried out with the Romanian community, that was also attended by representatives of the associative environment and the business milieu of London and its surroundings. The next day the MRP delegation toured two construction sites located in Wembley and Luton, where about 3,000 Romanians work, with discussions focusing on their need for better information. "During the talks with the ministry representatives, the fellow nationals referred to the need to be better informed about the issues such as the right to stay and the economic context. Undersecretary of State Victor Ionescu communicated the existence of the contact point that is dedicated to them at the MRP level, encouraging them to send questions and complaints to brexit@mprp.gov.ro. The dignitary also referred to the measures taken by the Romanian Government for the professional return and reintegration of the Romanians living in the Diaspora, responding to the interest shown on this issue by the Romanians who took part in the meeting," the MRP release mentions. AGERPRES . An Australian woman was caught on Thursday morning on the Henri Coanda Int'l Airport by the customs officers with 3.2 kg cocaine in her plane luggage, judicial sources told AGERPRES. According to the sources, the said woman had arrived with a flight from Lisbon, Portugal. The said substance is currently at the Customs's Office, for evaluation and expertise. Following the criminal file's drafting, the case will be taken over by DIICOT (Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism) prosecutors. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila met on Thursday with European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, in the context of a visit that the European official pays to Bucharest, occasion on which the PM reconfirmed Romania's intention to continue, as the Presidency of the Council of the EU, the efforts regarding an efficient management and with long-term results of illegal migration. According to a release of the Gov't, the meeting occasioned an useful exchange of views on the dialogue between Romania's Government and the European Commission, prior to taking over the Presidency of the Council of the EU, on the topics that will feature on the European agenda during Romania's mandate. In this context, also reviewed were the main European files of the European Commissioner portfolio, with an emphasis on aspects aimed at migration management at EU level and strengthening the internal security of the Union. Regarding the migration management aspect, Romania's PM highlighted the progresses obtained in implementing the measures proposed by the European Council in June 2018, underscoring the importance of continuing the cooperation efforts with third states as a basis for a "source-based' management of challenges determined by illegal migration, the release shows. "PM Viorica Dancila reconfirmed Romania's intention to continue, as the Presidency of the Council of the EU, the efforts regarding an efficient management and with long-term results of illegal migration, building on the results obtained by the previous presidencies, in the direction of agreeing efficient and consensual solutions at the EU level, as a response to this challenge. She showed that in order to achieve this objective, Romania is counting on the support of the European Commission, the European Parliament, as well as on the support of other partners of the EU in promoting common solutions to the benefit of all European citizens," the quoted source mentions. Furthermore, also tackled were aspects regarding the strengthening of the internal security of the Union and its external borders, with a reference to Romania's active involvement in the talks carried out on this topic at the EU level. "PM Viorica Dancila also mentioned Romania's commitment to carry out consistent efforts so that the legislative proposals in this matter be adopted and put in practice to the benefit of ensuring an enhanced security of the European citizens. In this context, she brought to mind the fact that one of the pillars which the priorities of the future Romanian Presidency of the EU Council is based on refers to a safer Europe," the release also mentions. AGERPRES . Bilateral, economic and commercial relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova need to be boosted, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Thursday at the start of the the two countries' Government sitting. "It is with great pleasure that we host today, in Bucharest, a new joint sitting of the Romanian and Moldavian Governments. (...) I consider this meeting to be a highly important one, especially that it takes place in the Centennial Yea, a year in which Romania celebrates 100 years since the Greater Union. (...) In this special year, we must consider boosting bilateral, economic and commercial relations between the two countries," Dancila declared. According to the head of the Romanian Executive, during the joint sitting of the Governments of Romania and the Republic of Moldova, topics such "concrete points to boost the cooperation between the two countries" will be tackled. "I hope that at the end of this meeting we will discuss about what we achieved, what we decided and (...) projects that we have to be accelerated and put into practice as quickly as possible." Dancila also said. The pro-European road is the only solution for the Republic of Moldova and for the prosperity of the Moldovan people, Romania's Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Thursday at a joint news conference with her Moldovan counterpart Pavel Filip at the end of a joint meeting of the two national governments. "We discussed with the prime minister, with the members of the government of the Republic of Moldova the latest developments in the bilateral, economic and trade relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova. That provided us the opportunity to see how to boost relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, have a sectoral approach to co-operation between the two countries, talk about concrete projects that we are implementing and a roadmap with responsible people, and at the same time to see how to stimulate our projects already in progress," said Dancila. She also mentioned the signing of several bilateral agreements and documents in various areas. "Which shows that we have made important steps going forward, and what we have begun today, we must continue at a future stage," Dancila said. She mentioned that her talks with Filip were also aimed at boosting investment. "The fact that we have an example, and I mean the Vest Mold Transgaz, makes us believe that we can have other objectives, that we can have other investment that will tighten the relationships between the two countries," said Dancila. The meeting also focused on Romania assuming the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on January 1, 2019. "We talked about the reforms that the Republic of Moldova should make, about the Republic of Moldova's European Union membership, and Romania is willing to provide expertise and to provide experts for these reforms and to support the Republic of Moldova on a pro-European road. We believe the pro-European road is the only solution for the Republic of Moldova and the prosperity of Moldovans," Dancila said. She added that ongoing bilateral projects were looked into for the latest development. "Another discussion is about co-operation among ministers. We believe that a much closer cooperation through the participation of Romanian ministers at events or discussions in Chisinau would very much boost and bring even closer our countries," Dancila said. AGERPRES . President Iohannis on Thursday welcomed at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace the ambassadors of the Spanish Kingdom, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Tunisia, on the occasion of the presentation of the letters of credence. At the meeting with the Spanish Ambassador, Manuel Larotcha Parada, the head of state voiced confidence with respect to the continuation of the positive dynamics of the privileged bilateral relations, the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the Kingdom of Spain. In his turn, the Spanish Ambassador conveyed his country's special appreciation for the Strategic Partnership, the very good cooperation under the EU and NATO, as well as for the strategic role played by Romania in the region and on the Eastern flank of the Alliance. Manuel Larotcha Parada voiced his country's support for Romania's Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of next year and praised the Romanian community in Spain, which is very well integrated and brings a substantial contribution to the Spanish economy, says the release. The two officials also had an exchange of opinions with respect to the completion of the Brexit agreement, between the EU and the United Kingdom. At the meeting with the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Morteza Aboutalebi, President Iohannis evoked the traditional relation of collaboration between the two countries, with the Iranian official voicing his wish to further strengthen it in various fields of activity, especially the economic one. During the talk with Japanese Ambassador Hitoshi Noda, the Romanian President voiced his appreciation for the active political dialogue in the recent time between Romania and Japan, and the possibilities of cooperation in a wide range of fields of interest. In this respect, the head of state underscored the importance of the visit early this year of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to our country, which proved the good quality of the bilateral relations existing between Romania and Japan, on which occasion they agreed to upgrade the relations between the two countries at the level of a Strategic Partnership. President Iohannis also voiced confidence that the positive trend of the bilateral relations between the two countries will be maintained on a multitude of fields of interests, such as defence, economy and culture. Ambassador Hitoshi Noda congratulated Romania on the occasion of the celebration of the Greater Union Centennial, and also for holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of next year, appreciating that it will contribute in a positive manner to both the development of the relations between Japan and Romania and the ones between Japan and the EU. On the occasion of the meeting with Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia Gabriel Atanasov, the head of the state highlighted the interest in the consolidation of the bilateral relations, including at economic level. Moreover, President Klaus Iohannis reiterated Romania's support for Macedonia's accession to the European Union, including in view of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, as well as under NATO. The Macedonian Ambassador thanked Romania for its constant support to the European and Euroatlantic aspirations of his country, as well as for the wish to work intensely for the development of bilateral relations, including in the economic field. At the meeting with the Tunisian Ambassador, Raja Jhinaoui Ben Ali, the two officials remarked the symbolism of the year 2018, which marks the 55th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Romania and the Republic of Tunisia and appreciated the positive evolution of the bilateral relations between the two countries, while also remarking the need for strengthening cooperation in fields of mutual interest such as education and cultural, as well as the economic field. President Klaus Iohannis wished each ambassador success in their missions, while also assuring them of the entire support of the Romanian authorities in this respect. AGERPRES . President Klaus Iohannis announced on Thursday that this week will not bring any more minister changes and the new reshuffle proposal of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) will be analysed after the National Day. "I have received today, two days after the gov't reshuffle, a proposal for a gov't reshuffle. This doesn't bode well. We've had PSD-ALDE governments for merely two years. (...) Things are going badly when it comes to governing. PSD is already at its third government in less than two years. Very many people have been come and go on minister positions. I have counted them, there are 70 politicians who were or are now ministers in these governments. (...) This is no way to govern. It is impossible to change ministers every day. But this is what PSD does, it changes minister. So how can we imagine that a government that does two reshuffles in one week could function well? This has never happened before, nor I ever heard of something like this before and we cannot continue like this. I do not agree to contribute to such governing, which rather resembles a merry-go-round. (...) In this sense, there will be no change of ministers this week, and this matter that was proposed to me today will be analysed at the earliest after the celebrations dedicated to the Centennial and the National Day on 1 December," Iohannis said at Cotroceni Presidential Palace. He further explained why he chose to make the announcement after December 1. "We also need to respect the national celebrations. I don't believe that Romanians need this circus of reshuffle right now, before the National Day. Let's celebrate the Centennial as we should first and then we can return to our every day circus," said Iohannis. According to the head of state, the Government is complete and "it has all that it needs do its job." "I don't know what conflict they (the Social Democrats - editor's note) want to invoke, but I would like to invite them, instead of continuing to ride this merry-go-round, to return to work just for a little bit and then we'll see. I think that's reasonable we expect them to govern a little, instead of changing ministers every day," said Iohannis. Asked if he would take note of Lucian Sova's resignation from the Transport Ministry, he said nothing will be changed before December 1 and that these things will be discussed after this date. Iohannis underscored that the government's activity will not be blocked just because of his refusal to sign the reshuffle and take note of Sova's resignation. "This won't happen. I can assure you that nothing from what I do impedes the government in its activity or makes it difficult for it to work. I know that some are speculating that I am blocking the government's activity. Not even by far! The government is complete so it has everything it needs to do its job. After December 1 we will discuss more. (...) In my opinion, I am allowed to do anything that the Constitution allows me to do," added the President. The minister office, said Iohannis, is not "a job of a cooperative doorman." "The minister will continue to do its job and work in the service of the country until the decree removing him/her from office is published." The head of state also said that "he had no meetings, no understanding, nor will he have" with Paul Stanescu, who was proposed to be removed from his office as Minister of Development. President Iohannis reiterated that the PSD-ALDE (Social Democratic Party - Alliance of Liberals and Democrats) government is a weak one. "These things - the assessment of the ministers' activity - are made by the government and the party. I don't believe that you expect me - and just a few days ago I said that this government is an accident of democracy - to start now assessing the ministers. I have only assessed the PSD-ALDE governments from the December 2016 elections up to now and they were all weak. But to start now assessing the ministers, I don't believe you can expect that from me," he showed. AGERPRES . Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea said on Wednesday that the recommendations of the Venice Commission, except one, are comprised in the Romanian legislation, referring in this sense to the emergency ordinance adopted by the Dancila Government, but whose text reached the plenum of the Venice Commission too late. "Regarding the recommendations of the Venice Commission - with all this media storm from the last period - one aspect was easily passed by: there was an emergency ordinance adopted by the Government led by Mrs. Dancila, following two meetings that [Justice] minister Toader had with representatives of the Venice Commission, before the final report, where a discussion was held and there was a mutual agreement that if those recommendations from the recommendation draft are adopted through an ordinance, then the final report will be changed. In the plenum of the Venice Commission they motivated that the ordinance arrived too late. Yes, from all the recommendations of the Venice Commission, I believe that apart from one, they are all comprised in the legislation, if we are talking about the Justice laws. As regards the Criminal codes, there is not much to talk about, because we are waiting for the reasoning to arrive from the Court and will be seriously debated and analysed. I believe that on these codes we can have a collaboration, without any sort of hesitation, a collaboration, a discussion, a debate with all parties," Dragnea told a press conference held at the end of PSD's National Executive Committee meeting. Asked if the idea of contesting the CVM report is still valid, Dragnea replied that the report as such cannot be contested. A rejection from President Klaus Iohannis to appoint Lia Olguta Vasilescu to the Regional Development and Public Administration Ministry would be a "gross violation" of the fundamental law and of the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR)'s decision, on Wednesday night asserted the ruling Social Democrat party (PSD) head Liviu Dragnea, at the end of the party's National Executive Committee's meeting. "We are used to Mr. Iohannis's doing whatever he likes. Beyond the Constitution, beyond the law. So, everything is possible. But it would be a gross violation of the fundamental law and of the CCR's decision (...) If he says no, we will act constitutionally. But, if this happens, we'll have a consultation," he added. When asked whether PSD also has a plan B in case of such a denial on behalf of the president, Dragnea said that "given the situation in Romania, we always have at least another two plans." Prime minister Viorica Dancila voiced hope that the president will sign the decrees appointing Lia Olguta Vasilescu to the Regional Development and Public Administration Ministry and Mircea Draghici to the Transports Ministry. "Hopefully, Mr. President will sign these appointments (...) considering that shortly all of the Cabinet has to take off for Brussels to meet the College of Commissioners," she said. Dancila added that she will not send again to President Iohannis the decisions of removal from office of Paul Stanescu, Deputy PM and minister of Regional Development and Public Administration, and of Lucian Sova, Transports minister, because she has already sent those and now she is submitting the nominations. "I'm not going to submit once again what I've already submitted. I hope it is taken into account what a Romanian Prime minister requests," Dancila specified. Minister of Tourism Bogdan Trif and Moldovan Minister of Economy and Infrastructure Chiril Gaburici have signed a cooperation agreement on behalf of the Romanian Government and the Government of the Republic of Moldova regarding cooperation in the tourism field, the Ministry of Tourism informed on Thursday. The development of the relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, by encouraging collaboration between the industries in tourism of the two countries is a priority of the Ministry of Tourism. Thus, a new Agreement focuses on cooperation in key fields for the sustainable development of tourism between the two states. "At this point, the cooperation between the two governments is more intense than ever. No one can deny the existing tourism potential of Moldova and Romania. We share the same history and the same values. That's why this collaboration agreement was born out of the belief that we can also share a common future. Romania is willing to make all the efforts to support the Republic of Moldova in maintaining its European track and tourism is a field that can accelerate this, with beneficial consequences on both sides of the Pruth River," said Bogdan Trif. Romania and Moldova committed to encourage the mutual exchanges of information with respect to laws and regulations in the tourism field, statistical data and the exchange of experience in the tourism field, organisation and development of tourism activities. The Agreement stipulates the strengthening of cooperation in investment projects of common interest in the tourism field, through the development of projects that can benefit from the financial support of the European Union, as well as through a sustained exchange of information regarding investments and facilities in this field. In terms of promotion, the two countries agreed to draft promotion and tourist information materials, organise documentary visits for journalists and experts in the field, as well as to participate in events and tourism fairs. In this respect, Romania already drafted a common cultural route with the Republic of Moldova. "Stephen the Great Route." In Romania, the route includes the Suceava Citadel, Putna, The Palace of Culture in Iasi, the Neamt Citadel, settlements of the voivode in Vaslui and other places filled with Stephen's history. "The Wine Road" is a common projects that has to do with the development of tourism in the two countries. The new itinerary includes many wine cellars in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, with its goal is the promotion of the two countries as a tourist product that will attract foreign tourists, especially from the Asian market. AGERPRES . Romania's strategic objective is to firmly support Moldova's European journey as a prerequisite for ensuring a democratic and prosperous future for Moldova's citizens, President of the Romanian Senate Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said Thursday at a meeting with visiting Moldova's Prime Minister. According to a Senate press statement, Tariceanu commended the Government of Moldova for its efforts to continue and deepen the agreed reforms as an integral part of the Association Agreement with the EU, which will also led to strengthening the credibility of Moldova's European project. Tariceanu voiced his wish for the framework offered by the anniversary of the Centennial of Romania's Greater Union being capitalised on in terms of boosting the bilateral agenda and advancing strategically relevant projects such as the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline, electricity interconnection lines, transport infrastructure projects and institutional building projects. Prime Minister Pavel Filip was in Bucharest to attend a joint meeting of the national governments of Romania and Moldova. AGERPRES . Liberal Deputy Adriana Saftoiu said on Wednesday that the PSD will win next year's Europarliamentary elections, because the party's "machinery is still running", while Romania Together Movement (RO+) leader Dacian Ciolos said that Romanians need politicians to "inspire them not just that they can defeat PSD." The two participated in the debate "Opposition, Where To?", organized by the Social Dialogue Group (GDS) and the magazine "22". Save Romania Union (USR) Senator Vlad Alexandrescu spoke about the parliamentary configuration in relation to the ruling party. "At the moment, the parliamentary situation is particularly difficult because of political clientelism. The Social Democratic Party is not a party that works according to ideas and principles, to more or less noble causes, it is a party that operates on a purely clientelism system. That it is why at present, the desideratum for everyone is a censure motion to pass and we are studying the best moment to table this motion with chances. That is not an easy thing. PSD's clientele mapping is extremely complicated and it changes every day, as the supreme leader, Mr. Liviu Dragnea, wishes," the MP said. In her turn, Adriana Saftoiu said that "it is very hard arithmetically to put this government down." "Not because there would be no tensions in PSD. It would be crazy not to tell you that in Parliament's halls, in the desks, you do not hear them complaining. (...) They will not vote for a censure unless you offer them something and (...) what they want us to offer them is the guarantee that they will remain in power," she added. At the same time, the Liberal added, the Europarliamentary elections to be held in the spring of next year are a "party test". "The Europarliamentary elections will give the trend, determining how the parties stand, it will somewhat decide which will be the battle for the presidential elections. (...) I am really curious what the hierarchy of the parties in the Europarliamentary elections will be. please don't take this the wrong way but PSD will still win the Europarliamentary elections," Saftoiu said. She said that this appreciation is based on her own experience. "I am a person who has seen a lot of campaigns, has felt (...) and I know, the Europarliamentary elections are party elections, party mobilization and their machinery is still running, the whip works," the MP said and also talked about the need for consensus. People's Movement Party (PMP) leader Eugen Tomac spoke of such a consensus among opposition parties. "This mammoth cannot be defeated without a coalition. (...) Until we all sit at the same table, it will be quite difficult to convince the Romanians that this alternative is worthy of support," he pointed out. Leader of the Romania Together Movement Dacian Ciolos talked about the collaboration of the new political party with the parliamentary parties. "As regards PNL [National Liberal party, ed.n.], on our part, the doors are open. It is true that with Mr. Orban [PNL leader, ed.n.] I have not had discussions in the last few months ... (...) I think first of all things need to be clarified in PNL and we cannot do that. Obviously, PNL is an important party and it is a party that Romania needs. Romania needs a restructured PNL in such a way as to reinspire confidence and, I believe, not just to keep its electorate. PNL also needs to inspire," he said. According to Ciolos, a political party must offer more than the removal of the ruling party. "Romanians now also need people to inspire, inspire confidence and inspire their trust not only that can bring down PSD but also to put in place something to help Romanians to project themselves for the next ten years," he said. At the same time, the leader of RO+ mentioned the reasons why he did not enter politics as soon as his mandate of the technocrat prime minister ended. "I have said very clearly that I will not take part in the elections as long as I am an independent prime minister. (...) I considered that the responsibility is of those who take part in the elections, and not of a government that did not have a majority in Parliament and then be asked to come and propose a political alternative," he pointed out. The debate at the GDS brought together MPs, journalists and members of civil society. Three Polish citizens have been detained at the Border Crossing Point (PTF) Siret (northern Romania), after trying to smuggle cigarettes worth more than 900,000 lei, a press release issued by the ITPF Press Office Sighetu Marmatiei sent to AGERPRES on Thursday informs. According to the quoted source, relying on data and information held at the IGPF (Border Police General Inspectorate) level, on Wednesday, the Border Police officers with the PTF Siret carried out a thorough check on two trucks loaded with plasterboard and mineral wool with three Polish citizens, upon which a large amount of cigarettes has been found. As a result of the cigarette inventory activity, it was found that a total number of 941,027 packets of cigarettes of various brands, of Ukrainian origin, worth 903,386 lei was hidden in the plasterboards and mineral wool in the two cars. The whole quantity of cigarettes was taken for confiscation by the border police officers, and the two vehicles were detained at the headquarters of the Border Police Sector until the completion of the investigations. The three Polish citizens are being investigated for smuggling, and on their name a 24-hour detention order is issued, being due to be presented to the judge of rights and freedoms within the Radauti Court with a proposal for provisional detention. If you are a journalist and you discover something that is clearly unethical, and possibly even illegal, and you choose to report it what happens next? Well, you could win a Pulitzer Prize or, on the other hand, you might wind up hiding in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for six years. Julian Assange is the founder and editor in chief of the controversial news and information site WikiLeaks. As the name implies, since 2006 the site has become famous, or perhaps notorious, for its publication of materials that have been leaked to it by government officials and other sources who consider the information to be of value to the public but unlikely to be accepted by the mainstream media, which has become increasingly corporatized and timid. WikiLeaks became known to a global audience back in 2010 when it obtained from US Army enlisted soldier Bradley Manning a large quantity of classified documents relating to the various wars that the United States was fighting in Asia. Some of the material included what might be regarded as war crimes. Mannings motives for sharing the information can perhaps be debated but he subsequently regarded himself as a whistleblower, a claim that was ignored, and was sentenced to 35 years in military prison for his mishandling of classified information. WikiLeaks again became front page news over the 2016 presidential election, when the website released the emails of candidate Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager John Podesta. The emails revealed how Clinton and her team collaborated with the Democratic National Committee to ensure that she would be nominated rather that Bernie Sanders. It should be noted that the material released by WikiLeaks was largely documentary and factual in nature, i.e. it was not fake news. The source of the leaked or hacked material is still unknown though it has been attributed to the Russians by various governments, politicians and media experts. Assange has denied that the Russians were involved. The handling of the Manning case by the government is illustrative of how leaks of classified information that wind up in the media are generally handled, i.e. the leaker is punished since he or she had the statutory obligation to protect the information but the journalist, protected by the First Amendment, is generally left alone. The leak of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, for example, led to the prosecution of Daniel Ellsberg the leaker, though The New York Times and Washington Post, which reported the story, fought back against pressure from the Nixon White House and were not punished. More recently, however, the line between the information provider and media has become more blurry, with the government having gone after CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling in 2015 by putting pressure to testify on the journalist he may have provided the information to, James Risen. The handling of the threat posed by journalist Assange is inevitably something altogether different than Manning or Ellsberg the whistleblowers. Assange has been vilified as a Russian agent and was pursued by the Swedish authorities after claims of a rape, later withdrawn, were made against him. To avoid arrest, he was given asylum by a friendly Ecuadorean government six years ago in London and has been confined to the Embassy ever since. The British police have a warrant to arrest him immediately as he failed to make a bail hearing after he obtained asylum. Julian Assange is currently back in the news for two reasons. First, it has been reliably reported that the Ecuadorean Embassy, which represents a new government in Quito that is unfriendly to Assange and is being pressured by Washington, might soon be taking steps to expel him. And second, last week the US government accidentally revealed in an unrelated legal filing that there exists a sealed criminal indictment against Assange, ready to be used to arrange extradition from Britain as soon as he is expelled from the embassy. The sealed indictment is a major escalation in the struggle to get Assange, who is blamed by the Democrats for Hillary Clintons loss while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has labeled him a fraud, a coward and an enemy. WikiLeaks itself is regarded by the White House as a hostile non-government intelligence service. The actual charges laid out in the indictment are unknown, but possibly relate to the Espionage Act of 1917, which in theory gives the government broad powers to punish anyone who receives classified information. And then there is the possibility that the Justice Department will attempt to make the case that Assange actively colluded with the Russian government, a conspiracy to defraud the United States to put it in legalese. The danger is that the United States government will be able to fearmonger the case sufficiently to actually get a conviction for unauthorized handling of classified information based on the Espionage Act, something that has never actually been done to a journalist before. One hopes that better angels in the Justice Department and White House will realize that the First Amendment and its protection of a free press are far more important than punishing Assange. If the barn door is opened with a conviction, major damage to freedom of speech and a free media will undoubtedly ensue. One can open The New York Times or Washington Post today and read a number of stories that are attributed to unidentified or confidential sources in the government. If Assange is convicted, the government would be able to exploit the precedent to operate in secret at all levels while reporters and the papers they represent seeking public interest stories would be subject to legal action by the Justice Department. If that happens a free press, even as limited as it currently is in the mainstream, would become nothing more than a memory. Photo: Flickr Carl MILLER A barbed-wire fence stretched off far to either side. A Union flag twisted in a gust of wind, and soldiers strode in and out of a squat guards hut in the middle of the road. Through the hut, and under a row of floodlights, I walked towards a long line of drab, low-rise brick buildings. It was the summer of 2017, and on this military base nestled among the hills of Berkshire, I was visiting a part of the British Army unlike any other. They call it the 77th Brigade. They are the troops fighting Britains information wars. If everybody is thinking alike then somebody isnt thinking, was written in foot-high letters across a whiteboard in one of the main atriums of the base. Over to one side, there was a suite full of large, electronic sketch pads and multi-screened desktops loaded with digital editing software. The men and women of the 77th knew how to set up cameras, record sound, edit videos. Plucked from across the military, they were proficient in graphic design, social media advertising, and data analytics. Some may have taken the armys course in Defence Media Operations, and almost half were reservists from civvy street, with full time jobs in marketing or consumer research. From office to office, I found a different part of the Brigade busy at work. One room was focussed on understanding audiences: the makeup, demographics and habits of the people they wanted to reach. Another was more analytical, focussing on creating attitude and sentiment awareness from large sets of social media data. Another was full of officers producing video and audio content. Elsewhere, teams of intelligence specialists were closely analysing how messages were being received and discussing how to make them more resonant. Explaining their work, the soldiers used phrases I had heard countless times from digital marketers: key influencers", reach", traction". You normally hear such words at viral advertising studios and digital research labs. But the skinny jeans and wax moustaches were here replaced by the crisply ironed shirts and light patterned camouflage of the British Army. Their surroundings were equally incongruous the 77ths headquarters were a mix of linoleum flooring, long corridors and swinging fire doors. More Grange Hill than Menlo Park. Next to a digital design studio, soldiers were having a tea break, a packet of digestives lying open on top of a green metallic ammo box. Another sign on the wall declared, Behavioural change is our USP [unique selling point]. What on Earth was happening? If you track where UK manpower is deployed, you can take a good guess at where this kind of influence activity happens, an information warfare officer (not affiliated with the 77th) told me later, under condition of anonymity. A document will come from the Ministry of Defence that will have broad guidance and themes to follow. He explains that each military campaign now also has or rather is a marketing campaign too. Ever since Nato troops were deployed to the Baltics in 2017, Russian propaganda has been deployed too, alleging that Nato soldiers there are rapists, looters, little different from a hostile occupation. One of the goals of Nato information warfare was to counter this kind of threat: sharply rebutting damaging rumours, and producing videos of Nato troops happily working with Baltic hosts. Information campaigns such as these are white: openly, avowedly the voice of the British military. But to narrower audiences, in conflict situations, and when it was understood to be proportionate and necessary to do so, messaging campaigns could become, the officer said, grey and black too. Counter-piracy, counter-insurgencies and counter-terrorism, he explained. There, the messaging doesn't have to look like it came from the military and doesn't have to necessarily tell the truth. I saw no evidence that the 77th do these kinds of operations themselves, but this more aggressive use of information is nothing new. GCHQ, for instance, also has a unit dedicated to fighting wars with information. It is called the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group or JTRIG an utterly unrevealing name, as it is common in the world of intelligence. Almost all we know about it comes from a series of slides leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013. Those documents give us a glimpse of what these kinds of covert information campaigns could look like. According to the slides, JTRIG was in the business of discrediting companies, by passing confidential information to the press through blogs etc., and by posting negative information on internet forums. They could change someones social media photos (can take paranoia to a whole new level, a slide read.) They could use masquerade-type techniques that is: placing secret information on a compromised computer. They could bombard someones phone with text messages or calls. JTRIG also boasted an arsenal of 200 info-weapons, ranging from in-development to fully operational. A tool dubbed Badger allowed the mass delivery of email. Another, called Burlesque, spoofed SMS messages. Clean Sweep would impersonate Facebook wall posts for individuals or entire countries. Gateway gave the ability to artificially increase traffic to a website. Underpass was a way to change the outcome of online polls. They had operational targets across the globe: Iran, Africa, North Korea, Russia and the UK. Sometimes the operations focused on specific individuals and groups, sometimes the wider regimes or even general populations. Operation Quito was a campaign, running some time after 2009, to prevent Argentina from taking over the Falkland Islands. A slide explained this will hopefully lead to a long-running, large-scale, pioneering effects operation. Running from March 2011, another operation aimed for regime change in Zimbabwe by discrediting the Zanu PF party. Walking through the headquarters of the 77th, the strange new reality of warfare was on display. Weve all heard a lot about cyberwarfare about how states could attack their enemies through computer networks, damaging their infrastructure or stealing their secrets. But that wasnt what was going on here. Emerging here in the 77th Brigade was a warfare of storyboards and narratives, videos and social media. An engagement now doesnt just happen on the battlefield, but also in the media and online. A victory is won as much in the eyes of the watching public as between opposing armies on the battlefield. Warfare in the information age is a warfare over information itself. Propaganda published on Facebook by Russian PR firms in an attempt to affect the 2016 US presidential election Over a decade ago, and a world away from the 77th Brigade, there were people who already knew that the internet was a potent new tool of influence. They didnt call what they did information warfare, media operations, influence activities, online action, or any of the military vernacular that it would become. Members of the simmering online subcultures that clustered around hacker forums, in IRCs, and on imageboards like 4chan, they might have called it attention hacking. Or simply lulz. In 2008, Oprah Winfrey warned her millions of viewers that a known paedophile network has over 9,000 penises and theyre all raping children. That was a 4chan Dragon Ball-themed in-joke someone had posted on the shows messageboard. One year later, Time magazine ran an online poll for its readers to vote on the worlds 100 most influential people, and 4chan used scripts to rig the vote so that its founder then-21-year-old Christopher Poole, commonly known as moot came first. They built bots and sockpuppets fake social media accounts to make topics trend and appear more popular than they were and swarmed together to overwhelm their targets. They started to reach through computers to change what people saw, and perhaps even what people thought. They celebrated each of their victories with a deluge of memes. The lulz were quickly seized upon by others for the money. Throughout the 2000s, small PR firms, political communications consultancies, and darknet markets all began to peddle the tactics and techniques pioneered on 4chan. Digital media-savvy merchants are weaponising their knowledge of commercial social media manipulation services, a cybersecurity researcher who tracks this kind of illicit commercial activity tells me on condition of anonymity. Its like an assembly line, he continues. They prepare the campaign, penetrate the target audience, maintain the operation, and then they strategically disengage. It is only going to get bigger. A range of websites started selling fake accounts, described, categorised and priced almost like wine: from cheap plonk all the way to seasoned vintages. The HUGE MEGA BOT PACK, available for just $3 on the darknet, allowed you to build your own bot army across hundreds of social media platforms. There were services for manipulating search engine results. You could buy Wikipedia edits. You could rent fake IP addresses to make it look like your accounts came from all over the world. And at the top of the market were legend farms, firms running tens of thousands of unique identities, each one with multiple accounts on social media, a unique IP address, its own internet address, even its own personality, interests and writing style. The lulz had transmogrified into a business model. Inside the base of the 77th, everything was in motion. Flooring was being laid, work units installed; desks empty of possessions formed neat lines in offices still covered in plastic, tape and sawdust. The unit was formed in a hurry in 2015 from various older parts of the British Army a Media Operations Group, a Military Stabilisation Support Group, a Psychological Operations Group. It has been rapidly expanding ever since. In 2014, a year before the 77th was established, a memo entitled Warfare in the Information Age flashed across the British military. We are now in the foothills of the Information Age the memo announced. It argued that the British Army needed to fight a new kind of war, one that will have information at its core. The Army needed to be out on social media, on the internet, and in the press, engaged, as the memo put it, in the reciprocal, real-time business of being first with the truth, countering the narratives of others, and if necessary manipulating the opinion of thousands concurrently in support of combat operations. Then the business of lulz turned into geopolitics. Around the world, militaries had come to exactly the same realisation as the British, and often more quickly. There is an increased reliance on, and desire for, information, Natos Allied Joint Doctrine for Information Operations, published in 2009, began. And it reached the same conclusion as the British military memo: wars needed to have an increased attention on Info Ops. Simply put, information operations should be used to target an enemys will. For example, by questioning the legitimacy of leadership and cause, information activities may undermine their moral power base, separating leadership from supporters, political, military and public, thus weakening their desire to continue and affecting their actions, the document explains. Russia, too, was in on the act. The Arab Spring, the revolutions in several post-Soviet states, Natos enlargement each of those had chipped away at the crumbling edifice of Russian power. Russia had a large conventional army but that seemed to matter less than in the past. The Chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, began to rethink what a military needed to do. Warfare, he argued in an article for Voyenno-Promyshlennyy Kurier (The Military Industry Journal), was now hybrid blurring the lines between war and peace, civilian and military, state and non-state. And there was another blurring too: between force and ideas. Moral-psychological-cognitive-informational struggle, as Gerasimov put it, was now central to how conflicts should be fought. We now know what Russian information warfare looks like. Moscow has built an apparatus that stretches from mainstream media to the backwaters of the blogosphere, from the President of the Russian Federation to the humble bot. Just like the early attention hackers, their techniques are a mixture of the very visible and very secret but at a vastly greater scale. Far less visible to Western eyes, however, were the outbreak of other theatres of information warfare outside of the English language. Gerasimov was right: each was a case of blurred boundaries. It was information warfare, but not always just carried out by militaries. It came from the state, but sometimes included plenty of non-state actors too. Primarily, it was done by autocracies, and was often directed internally, at the countrys own inhabitants. A Harvard paper published in 2017 estimated that the Chinese government employs two million people to write 448 million social media posts a year. Their primary purpose is to keep online discussion away from sensitive political topics. Marc Owen Jones, a researcher at Exeter Universitys Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, exposed thousands of fake Twitter accounts in Saudi Arabia, lionising the Saudi government or Saudi foreign policy. In Bahrain, evidence emerged of spam-like operations, aiming to stop dissidents finding each other or debating politically dangerous topics online. In Mexico, an estimated 75,000 automated accounts are known locally as Penabots, after President Enrique Pena Nieto, flooding protest hashtags with irrelevant, annoying noise burying any useful information. Disinformation and deception have been a part of warfare for thousands of years, but across the world, something new was starting to happen. Information has long been used to support combat operations, but now combat was seen to taking place primarily, sometimes exclusively, through it. From being a tool of warfare, each military began to realise that the struggle with, over and through information was what war itself actually was about. And it wasnt confined to Russia, China or anyone else. A global informational struggle has broken out. Dozens of countries are already doing it. And these are just the campaigns that we know about. On their shoulders, the soldiers of the 77th Brigade wear a small, round patch of blue encircling a snarling golden creature that looks like a lion. Called an A Chinthe, its a mythical Burmese beast first worn by the the Chindits, a British and Indian guerrilla force created during the Second World War to protect Burma against the advancing Japanese Army. An army of irregulars, the Chindits infiltrated deep behind enemy lines in unpredictable sorties, destroying supply depots and severing transport links, aiming to spread confusion as much as destruction. Its no accident that the 77th wear the Chinthe on their shoulder. Like the Chindits, they are a new kind of force. An unorthodox one, but in the eyes of the British Army also a necessary innovation; simply reflecting the world in which we all now live and the new kind of warfare that happens within it. This new warfare poses a problem that neither the 77th Brigade, the military, or any democratic state has come close to answering yet. It is easy to work out how to deceive foreign publics, but far, far harder to know how to protect our own. Whether it is Russias involvement in the US elections, over Brexit, during the novichok poisoning or the dozens of other instances that we already know about, the cases are piling up. In information warfare, offence beats defence almost by design. Its far easier to put out lies than convince everyone that theyre lies. Disinformation is cheap; debunking it is expensive and difficult. Even worse, this kind of warfare benefits authoritarian states more than liberal democratic ones. For states and militaries, manipulating the internet is trivially cheap and easy to do. The limiting factor isnt technical, its legal. And whatever the overreaches of Western intelligence, they still do operate in legal environments that tend to more greatly constrain where, and how widely, information warfare can be deployed. China and Russia have no such legal hindrances. Equipping us all with the skills to protect ourselves from information warfare is, perhaps, the only true solution to the problem. But it takes time. And what could be taught would never keep up with what can be done. Technological possibility, as things stand, easily outpaces public understanding. The Chinthe was often built at the entrances of pagodas, temples and other sacred sites to guard them from the menaces and dangers lurking outside. Today, that sacred site is the internet itself. From the lulz, to spam, to information warfare, the threats against it have become far better funded and more potent. The age of information war is just getting started. wired.co.uk Photo: YouTube On Nov. 19, Russia celebrated the Day of Missile Forces and Artillery, honoring one branch of its army. Today, the Grad, Uragan, Smerch, and Tornado multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) are their main attack weapons that ensure superiority on the battlefield. The MSTA-S, Gvozdika, and Nona self-propelled artillery systems, plus the MSTA-B and PAT-B, which are towed, are an important addition to the ground forces firepower. The tactical Iskander-M that replaces the obsolete Tochka ground-to-ground systems are precision-guided weapons with great potential for modernization, making them able to meet contemporary challenges until at least 2030. There are seven different missiles the system can be armed with, depending on the mission. The 152mm 235 Koalitsiya-SV Sniper howitzer will complete its state tests in 2020. That weapon is designed to knock out armored vehicles, weapons systems, and critical infrastructure sites. It has a range of 70 km with precision guided rounds and 40 km with standard ammunition. Its maximum rate of fire is 20 rounds per minute, which is without parallel anywhere in the world. For comparison, the US M109A6 Paladins maximum rate of fire is 4 rounds per minute. The Russian system can fire a wide range of munitions, including standard and rocket-assisted HE-FRAG projectiles, cluster projectiles with anti-tank submunitions, and jamming ammunition. Commander of the Russian Missile and Artillery Forces Lt. Gen. Mikhail Matveevsky said at the Army-2018 forum in August that "The Koalitsiya-SV multi-service force artillery system features our first step to introducing robotics in practice. It has an unmanned combat compartment and the process of loading and preparing for fire excludes any operations by an individual: everything is done automatically." 2018 is the year that the first steps were taken to add the 2S33 MSTA-SM self-propelled howitzer and Tornado-G MLRS with automatic guidance to the Russian arsenal. The MSTA-SM is equipped with an automated fire-control system with an increased rate of fire, digital electronic charts, ballistic computers, and satellite navigation systems. The long-range 300-mm Tornado-S is being adopted to replace the Smerch systems. Its maximum range is 120 km, compared to the 90 km range of the Smerch, and it can hit an area of over 60 hectares. The system features a new automated guidance and fire-control capability that can coordinate the combat activities of an entire artillery battalion. The Tornado-S can automatically calculate target data. Deployed in the Eastern Military District in Buryatia, the self-propelled all-weather Khrisantema-S anti-tank system became operational this year. It can engage low flying helicopters. Its ability to be guided by either laser or radar makes it a standout among other anti-tank systems. Two targets can be fired on simultaneously: either one air and one ground target or two ground targets. A thermobaric warhead can be installed to engage soft-skinned targets, fortifications, and enemy troops. Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Colonel-General Oleg Salyukov said the new Nabrosok artillery system is under development. Russia is upgrading its big guns: the 2S4 Tyulpan (Tulip) 240-millimeter mortar and the 2S7 Pion 203-millimeter howitzer. These are old warhorses that are immune to electronic warfare and well suited for specific missions, making it possible to save high-precision munitions. The army is receiving state-of-the-art radars: the Aistyonok and Zoopark-1M, the AZK-7M acoustic detection system, and the PRP-4A electro-optical surveillance system, as well as unmanned aerial systems used for reconnaissance and guidance. New communications and data networks with a low probability of intercept are also being introduced. According to Colonel-General Oleg Salyukov, all army units will receive contemporary rocket and artillery systems as well as auxiliary equipment by 2020. The ultimate goal is to create an integrated reconnaissance and combat network. The army missile and artillery troops are expected to have three types of highly mobile brigades: missile, rocket artillery, and artillery units, increasing their combat capabilities by 50-100%. The armys 2018 missile and artillery arm is quite a different force compared to the one that began the process of transformation a few years ago. The rocket artillery systems being added to the arsenal in 2018 offer a much greater range than their foreign equivalents, providing the option of mounting artillery bombardments without concern over counter-battery fire. There is a wide choice of available munitions for specific missions, thus making its shelling more lethal in any given situation. Today, Russian army units can strike at ranges in excess of 300km. Russia is making strides toward developing the capability to engage in a new generation of warfare. Army units would rely on massive salvoes of precision rocket and artillery fire, assisted by UAVs and cyber and electronic warfare equipment, making Russia Missile Forces and Artillery second to none. Watching the complete betrayal of Brexit by British Prime Minister Theresa The Gypsum Lady May is proving to be a wake up call for Italians. The latest polling results coming out of Italy show that while the populist coalition in Italy is unpopular in Brussels it is still very popular with Italians. And thats a good thing because when you look closely at Brexit negotiations it is clear that all that matters is the EU retaining power over the U.K. and not what is in the best interest of anyone involved, British or otherwise. The Italian coalition partners still command nearly 60% of all Italians support, only their preference has changed. Lega now outpolls Five Star Movement (M5S) 33% to 26%, while the other center-right parties, namely Silvio Stalking Horse Berlusconis Forza Italia have collapsed (from 14% at Marchs elections to just 7% now). And roughly that same number now see the EU as mistreating Italy. These numbers will only get worse if the EU goes through with levying fines against Italy for submitting a budget Brussels doesnt like. Moreover, now were seeing support for Italeave rise as well. A recent poll by Politico Magazine posted over at Zerohedge shows a slight majority of Italians under age 45 are ready to do just that, leave the European Union. The over 45 crowd is still enamored with the ideal of the EU tying together a warring Europe rather than confront the reality of what it actually is, a distant and tyrannical oligarchy led by unelected technocrats with strong ties to old money and old power. The source of this support comes from, I think, the stark contrast between Mays appeasement of rankled EU leadership over the British peoples temerity to want out of their wretched union and how Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is attacking Brussels hypocrisy over fiscal restraints. Salvini is doing exactly what he needs to do to shore up support and push the Italian electorate away from Brussels. It was a stroke of political genius to submit a budget which placated both halves of the coalition tax and regulation cuts along with universal basic income while ever so gently flaunting EU budget rules. Salvini and his partner in insurrection Luigi Di Maio crafted a perfect piece of political poison for the EU to swallow. Theres nothing really objectionable in the budget proposal. It wont solve any of Italys problems nor make them materially worse. It was put forth to rankle EU leadership that has grown fat and lazy on having everything rigged in their favor. And they have over-reacted in the most predictable manner. Think about what the EU is doing over this budget. They are threatening billions in fines to an Italian government that is in debt up to its eyeballs. This is the very definition of bad optics. But, consider the way theyve handled Brexit. Theyve demanded a massive fee from the U.K. for leaving. This is on top of the money it already pays into the EU budget every year. And dont forget folks that the only reason the Italian sovereign debt issue isnt front page news is because the European Central Bank is the only marginal buyer of Italian debt. And ECB President Mario Draghi isnt doing this out of the goodness of his Goldman-Sachs-trained heart. Hes doing it because if he doesnt then the entire European banking system collapses. So this whole thing is nothing more than Kabuki theatre. And Salvini knows it. He understands that the euro is a death trap for Italy. He also knows he has all the leverage because of the size of the debt pile. And yet, watching the EU now is exactly like watching it in handle the Greek debt talks in 2015. They refused to negotiate. They make unreasonable demands. In Greeces case they had a feckless Greek electorate which wouldnt back Grexit and give equally feckless Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras the support he needed to take Greece out of the Euro. So the strategy worked. And the same thing is happening with Brexit. The British aristocracy do not want to leave the EU. Theresa May is a Remainer and so obviously on the take its not even funny at this point. From the beginning shes had all the leverage and yet she acts as if she doesnt. So now shes thrown together the exact deal that Brussels wanted all along, control over Britains tax and trade policy while removing their voice from the EU parliament. Honestly, Britains status once this deal is signed off on is simply a glimpse into every countrys future that stays. Taxation without representation. It should, then, come as no shock to anyone that the EU is handling Salvini and his government with the same disdain and derision. And thats exactly what Salvini wants. He has to maneuver Brussels into making them be the bad guys. Because if hes going to get Italy free from Brussels it cant be his idea. It has to be a popular groundswell. Thankfully for him and Italians in general, the dopes in high places in Brussels are only too happy to oblige. I think they like being odious jerks, frankly. They really do think they can lawyer their way through this. But the truth is they cant. Why do you think French President Emmanuel Macron and Lame Duck German Chancellor Angela Merkel want a Grand Army of the EU so badly? Its to invade and occupy wayward member states not protect themselves from Russia. The more the EU tries to bully and force Italy to do what it wants the more Italians, even older ones, will support Salvinis crusade against them. Populism is popular all over Europe. And the EU parliamentary elections in May will likely prove to be a major turning point in the EUs trajectory. All of the Euroskeptic parties are vastly under-represented versus their current polling numbers. Hundreds of seats are set to change hands in May. And many of the newcomers will not be in the pay of The Davos Crowd. Maybe then the EU will realize just how fragile the entire project is. Photo: Twitter In the entire chronicle of the United States diplomatic history, President Trumps statement of November 20 on Standing with Saudi Arabia will remain as a unique document for its extraordinary frankness. It is one thing for outsiders to estimate the US foreign policies to be utterly self-centred, money-minded, unprincipled and bordering on the cynical. But it is an entirely different matter that the POTUS confirms it. The stunning message coming out of Trumps statement on Tuesday is that all that talk of American exceptionalism is plain baloney. Trump wants to move on. What Jamal Khashoggi? Having said that, Trumps statement is more or less on expected lines. In a single sentence, it can be paraphrased as follows: The Arab sheikhs are gooses that lay the golden egg and we wont kill them. But then, there are subplots, too. Most important, Trump scrupulously avoids defending the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. On the contrary, he does not rule out the possibility that the intelligence agencies who continue to assess all information pertaining to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi may even establish at some future date that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event maybe he did and maybe he didnt! Trump is either unsure himself or knows more than hes willing to admit publicly. Significantly, Trump makes a distinction between King Salman and the Crown Prince. Trump then adds, In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran. The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region. Trump also lists out Saudi Arabias importance to the US: its willingness to bankroll Americas fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism, its agreement to spend and invest US$450 billion in the American economy (including $110 billion on purchase of military equipment) and by being very responsive to my requests to keeping oil prices at reasonable levels In effect, this has been a smart way of putting across to the Saudi leadership Trumps expectations in the period ahead without saying so in as many words. Quite obviously, this is a win-win for Trump. On the one hand, he takes the moral high ground by condemning Khashoggis terrible murder and by ostentatiously distancing himself from the official Saudi stance on Khashoggis murder. That creates space for him to maneuver and fine tune his attitudes as time passes in what is essentially an evolving situation, keeping in mind the possibility that there could be more disclosures above all, from Turkey. At any rate, Trump point blank refuses to punish Saudi Arabia over the Khashoggi affair or put US-Saudi relations in jeopardy. He justifies it by insisting that he is only safeguarding national interests and is championing America First. To be sure, Trump has the domestic constituency in mind and his political instincts tell him that the US Congress will not push the envelope and push him to act against Saudi Arabia. Without doubt, Trump expects the Saudi regime to show reciprocity for such generosity by fulfilling his demands generously funding the US military operations in the Greater Middle East, lavishly investing in America First, generating massive business for American arms vendors, and keeping oil production at high level to prevent prices from rising (which is important for the US economy.) However, the terrible beauty of all this is that Trump is not contemplating the need of Saudis making any policy corrections. Even as regards the war in Yemen, he makes no demands. But then, Trump also didnt say a word to support the present Saudi leadership in the Khashoggi affair. Notably, his statement is at best ambivalent about the Crown Prince all options are on the table, as the Americans would say. Conceivably, Trump anticipates that the continuance of Mohammad bin Salman as the Crown Prince may become a sticking point and that the jury is still out. Indeed, there is a lot of food for thought in Trumps statement for the Saudi Crown Prince. The big question is how Trumps statement will be seen in the international opinion. For good or bad, it is going to be held as a benchmark by the US allies. Plainly put, Trump is signaling that he favors pushing the Khashoggi affair under the rug. Such brazen pragmatism is unlikely to pose a moral dilemma or shock the Western sensibility insofar as doublespeak and hypocrisy is not uncommon in western polices. Libya and Iraq are two glaring examples. Having said that, US moral authority has suffered grievously. It has been severely damaged. And this would have negative repercussions for the US standing globally and in particular for Trumps campaign against Iran. His fulminations against Iran in the statement carry no credibility. In October 2018 the United States indicted nine Chinese citizens for Internet-based espionage that took place between 2010 and 2015 as part of an effort to steal technical data on high-performance jet engines. The indictment detailed how China had established a large Internet hacking operation in Jiangsu Province where the local MSS (Ministry of State Security) provided cover for the organization that became known in Internet security circles as the JSSD (Jiangsu branch of the MSS). Worldwide Internet security operations (government and commercial) noted that an unusually large number of hacking efforts could be traced back to a few locations in Jiangsu Province. The recent indictment named names of men who are apparently not in custody but could be arrested (as one was in 2017 and extradited to the U.S. earlier in 2018 for another case). The jet engine data theft effort was centered around a French company operating in Jiangsu Province as a joint venture with a Chinese firm to enable China to manufacture more advanced large engines for airliners. JSSD used Chinese employees of the French firm to insert JSSD malware (hacker software) in the French firms network and from there the malware spread to networks of numerous American and French aerospace firms that worked with each other. The effort was discovered when an American firm doing business with the French and American aerospace companies involved discovered the malware and reported it. Most other firms infected by the JSSD effort found similar malware and it soon became obvious why the Chinese effort to develop the techniques to manufacture large commercial jet engines was progressing so rapidly. They were stealing large quantities of key manufacturing procedures as well as details of the many specific techniques and technologies, especially trade secrets, software and other key elements of the manufacturing processes. These revelations make it easier to sue Chinese firms for trying to export equipment (jet engines and Chinese designed and built airliners) made possible by the stolen data. The litigation will, at the very least, block sales or deliveries of these engines and aircraft, which China is now producing and marketing. The Chinese have been stealing similar data on military jet engines and aircraft but have been careful not to try exporting it. Much of the stolen military jet engine and aircraft data came from the Russians who have been threatening the Chinese over this since the late 1990s. As a safety measure, the Chinese kept most of the stolen Russian tech in China. Same with the growing quantities of Western military tech they have stolen. But for the commercial aircraft and engines to succeed they have to operate outside the country, even if they belong to Chinese airliners. That makes the Chinese firms more vulnerable to expensive, disruptive and embarrassing litigation. Western countries are increasingly naming Chinese involved in this Internet espionage so they can be arrested if they leave China. Often indictments are delayed to lull the guilty into a false sense of security and belief that it is safe to travel outside of China. A growing number of these Chinese Cyber War operatives are being arrested that way, then indicted and prosecuted. For China, this is all the price of success as China has been enormously successful at stealing and using foreign technology. The Chinese efforts and success have been an open secret for over a decade. Thus it was not surprising when, in 2015, after years of denying any involvement in Cyber War espionage or having organized units (like JSSD) for that sort of thing, China suddenly admitted that it was all true. This was all laid out in the March 2015 issue of a Chinese military publication (The Science of Military Strategy). This unclassified journal comes out about once a year and makes it possible for all Chinese military and political leaders to freely discuss new military strategies. The 2015 edition went into a lot of detail about Chinese Cyber War operations. Most of these details were already known for those who could read Western media. Many details of Chinese Cyber War activities are published in the West if only to warn as many organizations as possible of the nature and seriousness of the threat. Apparently, the Chinese leadership decided that the secrecy about their Cyber War activities was being stripped away by foreigners anyway so why bother continuing to deny. Publish and take a victory lap. Since the 1990s China has continued to expand its enormous Internet Army (as it is called in China). Not all these programs are successful. For example, since 2011 there has been an effort to force companies to organize their Internet savvy employees into a cyber-militia and inspire these geeks to find ways to protect the firm's networks. But by 2013 it was clear this project was not turning out exactly as expected, as many of the volunteers had become successful, but unpopular, censors. Its now widely accepted that one of the most annoying things for the new Chinese middle class is the censorship (especially on the Internet). The most annoying censorship is the online version that is carried out by paid and volunteer censors at your company or in your neighborhood. This use of local activists to control discussions and inform on possible troublemakers (or worse, like spies or criminals) is an old Chinese custom and one that was highly refined by 20th century communists (first the Russians, who passed it on to their Chinese comrades). The old-school informer network suffered a lot of desertions and other damage during three decades of economic freedom. But the government has been diligent about rebuilding the informer and censor network online, where its easier for the busybodies to remain anonymous and safe from retribution. The online informers are also useful for keeping an eye on foreign businesses. Internal and external espionage is one of the main reasons the Chinese government took an interest in the Internet back in the 1990s. This resulted in nearly two decades of effort to mobilize the Chinese people as an Internet army. It was in the late 1990s that the Chinese Defense Ministry established the "NET Force." This was initially a research organization, which was to measure China's vulnerability to attacks via the Internet. Soon this led to examining the vulnerability of other countries, especially the United States, Japan, and South Korea (all nations that were heavy Internet users). NET Force has continued to grow, aided by plenty of volunteers. In 1999, NET Force organized an irregular civilian militia, the "Red Hackers Union" (RHU). These are several hundred thousand patriotic Chinese programmers and Internet engineers who wished to assist the motherland and put the hurt, via the Internet, on those who threaten or insult China. The RHU began spontaneously (in response to American bombs accidentally hitting the Chinese embassy in Serbia in 1999), but the government gradually assumed some control, without turning the voluntary organization into another bureaucracy. Various ministries have liaison officers who basically keep in touch with what the RHU is up to (mostly the usual geek chatter) and intervene only to "suggest" that certain key RHU members back off from certain subjects or activities. Such "suggestions" carry great weight in China, where people who misbehave on the web are very publicly prosecuted and sent to jail. For those RHU opinion-leaders and ace hackers that cooperate, there are all manner of benefits for their careers, not to mention some leniency if they get into some trouble with the authorities. Many government officials fear the RHU, believing that it could easily turn into a "counter-revolutionary force." So far, the Defense Ministry and NET Force officials have convinced the senior politicians that they have the RHU and its successors under control. Some of the key hackers involved with the recent American jet engine indictments were recruited because of RHU activities. A decade ago the hackers (or honkers after the Chinese word for visitor) became folk heroes and the opportunity to join your companys contingent of the Online Red Army appealed to many as a chance to be like the honkers. For some, it was also an opportunity to turn pro and join elite outfits like the JSSD. The Chinese military also has a growing number of formal Cyber War units, as well as military sponsored college level Cyber War courses. Western Internet security companies, in the course of protecting their customers, have identified a growing number of Chinese hacking organizations. Some work directly for the military, secret police or other government agencies. These Cyber War units, plus the volunteer organizations and Golden Shield bureaucrats apparently work closely with each other and have provided China with a formidable Cyber War capability. NET Force, with only a few thousand personnel, appears to be the controlling organization for all this. With the help of RHU and Golden Shield, they can mobilize formidable attacks, as well as great defensive potential. No other nation has anything like it and in 2015 the Chinese were openly bragging about it. The North Korean bureaucrats in charge of agriculture were not happy with the agricultural reforms announced last year and have apparently been successful at sabotaging them (by forcing the new entrepreneurial farms to use land unsuitable for farming). The agricultural reforms in the north also ran into problems because many government agencies did not want to see their share of crops reduced. An earlier government investigation found that over the years various government and military bureaucrats had increased how much of the crops they could take to the point where the farmers themselves were left too malnourished and weak to increase production, even if they received more resources (fuel, fertilizer). Changing this means taking food away from the military and security agencies. This is not a popular idea with most North Korean officials and there was a great deal of opposition to actually implementing agricultural reforms. This program was meant to give farmers more freedom to make decisions and more economic incentives to work hard. Neither of these policies have been implemented. Misbehaving bureaucrats in the north have also poisoned North Korean relations with the business community across the border in China. North Korean officials are increasingly corrupt and unreliable. This has been getting worse, with the North Korean officials becoming very unreliable and increasingly resorting to outright theft (of foreign assets in North Korea). This has even turned off the ethnic Korean businessmen in China, who long provided eager partners for legitimate, and criminal, deals with North Korea. South Korea has taken advantage of the situation by identifying the turned-off Chinese partners with North Korea and offering them access to the South Korea market. These Chinese business people spoke the language and the Chinese government has been encouraging trade with South Korea. So as bad behavior drives business away from North Korea, a more dependable business climate in South Korea reels it in. South Korea has also become a major investor in China and ethnic Korean or Korean-speaking Chinese have an edge in getting a piece of this action. Senior North Korean officials keep promising that the bad behavior by North Korean bureaucrats will be dealt with, but it never is. The North Korean government is losing control of its corrupt bureaucrats. As long as these guys are loyal to the Kim family a lot of their misbehavior is tolerated. North Korea continues to use its war reserve of food (mainly rice) to prevent mass hunger and keep the market price of rice under control. The war reserve has been heavily used this way for the last four months. Other items in the war reserve, like fuel, have also been released. The war reserve exists to keep the military and the economy going in wartime, and that reserve has been much reduced over the last few years. This, plus the continuing shortage of spare parts or new weapons and equipment, means the North Korean military is less and less capable. This doesnt stop the government from using the military to threaten the south, but it does make the threat less credible. In North Korea the police have been ordered to pick up the growing number of homeless children (seen begging or just running wild, even by foreign visitors) and put them under the control of local government. This is only a temporary solution because the food and other shortages means that the government doesnt have the resources to house and feed all these homeless kids. Most are orphans, their parents having died or disappeared into prison camps, China, or elsewhere in North Korea. The poverty and privation is so great in the north that the extended family no longer provides a safety net and there is often no kin to take in abandoned or orphaned children. So the kids just hit the streets and become a source of criminal activity and, more embarrassing for the government, defectors who get to China and commit a lot of crimes. Some North Korean officials want to just quietly kill these worthless children but senior officials know that could be a public-relations disaster and forbid it, officially at least. The North Korean secret police often make people just disappear but if it is done on a large scale mistakes are likely to be made. North Korean officials are faced with a growing embarrassment in the capital, where numerous uncompleted construction projects cannot be hidden and make it clear that things are not well. Most of these abandoned construction sites are part of the "2012 economic miracle" program. One aspect of the 2012 plan (announced in 2009) was the construction of 100,000 new apartments in the capital. Shortages of power and building materials forced this to be cut to 20,000 apartments. Even that wasn't achievable. As this is in the capital, it's there for all to see. Less than a thousand new apartments have been built so far. All the apartments were to have been completed by 2012. Thousands of families were ordered from their homes (of the building sites for the new apartment buildings) and told to find temporary accommodations until construction was completed. These families will remain doubled up with others indefinitely. The government is trying to organize equipment (hard to get) and volunteers (easy to get) to tear down the partially built apartments and turn the sites into parks. If the north didnt have enough problem with morale, it has a growing problem with the success of Samsung smart phones. Koreans on both sides of the DMZ take great pride in the success of Samsung, which beat Apple at their own game and became the largest selling smart phone brand. But Samsung will not ship smart phones to North Korea and the North Korean government is hostile to South Korean products in general. Getting caught with a Galaxy phone in the north will get you arrested. That said, the Galaxy phones are a hot item on the North Korean black market. Even if you cant use them in public, having one is a big deal, even for government officials. A guilty pleasure, so to speak, and a perfect symbol of the differences between the north and south. Earlier in the year, a joke going around the south postulated that the recent northern bad behavior was really all about the success of Samsung phones, and not the economic sanctions. July 7, 2013: After fifteen hours of negotiations North Korea agreed to allow reopening of the recently closed Kaesong Industrial Complex (in North Korea but financed and run by 123 South Korean firms employing 53,000 North Koreans). A month ago China told South Korea that the northerners were eager to make nice and repair some of the damage northern belligerence had created in the last few months. China has leaned on North Korea quite a bit and apparently pointed out that shutting down Kaesong cut off a major source of income for the northern government, and that was a shortfall China was not going to replace with more aid. In fact, China threatened to reduce food, oil, and other shipments if the North Koreans didnt calm down and at least make an effort to get their economic act together. So now the north has agreed to let the South Korean companies revive production at Kaesong as soon as they can. Kaesong has been shut for three months and the South Korean government provided some economic aid to the South Korea companies involved to keep them solvent until Kaesong was reopened. About a third of the South Korean companies recently threatened to walk away from their Kaesong investment if the facility was not reopened soon, and that apparently helped persuade North Korea to change course. Meanwhile, North Korea has moved some of the Kaesong workers away, in an effort to get them new jobs. It will take time to get them back to Kaesong. The South Korean companies have to deal with customers they have lost and suppliers need time to get components and raw materials delivered. It may be another month or more before full production resumes at Kaesong and some jobs will be lost because of lost customers (who found other suppliers because of the April shut down). July 5, 2013: The UN revealed that their attempts to investigate accusations of human rights violations in North Korea were stalled because the North Korean government refused to cooperate. The investigation will continue as best it can. July 3, 2013: North Korea announced that it had restored the hot line between north and south. This was cut earlier this year as part of a hostile North Korean reaction to more international sanctions imposed because of North Koreas nuclear weapons program. The hot line is mainly symbolic, but the north is trying to repair the damage it did with its recent tantrum. July 2, 2013: The United States has blacklisted Burmese general Thein Htay because he is believed responsible for buying weapons from North Korea (which is under international sanctions). A year ago the organization that Thein Htay took command of earlier this year (the Directorate of Defense Industries) was blacklisted for buying military equipment from North Korea. Burma denies it is buying military equipment from North Korea, but the U.S. says it has plenty of proof. June 30, 2013: North Korea is replacing older towed Type 63 107mm rocket launchers near the DMZ with new M1991 (mounted on trucks) 240mm models. The 107mm rocket has a range of 8 kilometers, while the 240mm one is 30 or 60 kilometers. The new, longer range 240mm rocket is in limited production, as is the 22 year old M1991. North Korea cannot produce many of these new 240mm launchers because of cash and materials shortages. June 29, 2013: In South Korea the 63rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War (1950-53) was commemorated. July 27 will be the 60th anniversary of the ceasefire that ended the fighting, but not the war. This year there was a lot of nostalgia and reflection in the south, because the generation that participated in the war is rapidly disappearing and the growing economic and political crisis in the north is in sharp contrast to the economic and political success in the south. This year, many commemorations mention that, had the south been on the losing side of the Korean War (had the U.S. and UN not intervened) the south would be living like the north. June 27, 2013: South Korean and Chinese officials revealed that the two countries had agreed to coordinate efforts to persuade North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons. China has always paid lip service to this but with the recent round of North Korean threats, and growing calls within South Korea for developing nukes in self-defense, China has promised the south that more pressure would be applied to north. China does not want both Koreas to have nukes and would be quite happy if neither did. June 24, 2013: Satellite photos show North Korea working on another tunnel of the type used for nuclear tests. This does not indicate another test soon, as building a weapons test tunnel would take over a year. In the northeast near the Niger border the most prominent Islamic terror group in this areas is the ISGS (Islamic State in the Greater Sahara). ISGS is still seeking revenge because French forces killed their leader in late August but is having problems with losses and a shortage of new recruits. ISGS, like most Islamic terrorists, even the most extreme ones like ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) need cash because it is simply more efficient to purchase many items (like weapons, ammo, information and sanctuary in areas controlled by local tribes). Northeast Mali (near Gao and the Niger border) is where ISGS has long operated despite very aggressive resistance from local Tuareg tribes. This ISIL franchise is frequently encountered in northeastern Mali on both sides of the Niger border. When ISGS clashes with pro-government Tuareg militias they usually lose. Its not that these ISGS men are not fanatic enough but that the Tuareg know the area well and have more experience in irregular warfare. Since March 2018 ISGS has taken very heavy losses as the Tuareg militias worked with a special French counterterrorism operation that included troops from Mali and Niger and spent enough time searching to find several ISGS camps and forcing the Islamic terrorists to fight. So far ISGS has lost over 150 dead and captured but groups like ISGS dont surrender but fight harder until they are crushed. ISGS is still up there but in much reduced circumstances. The fact that there have only been a few rocket attacks or failed suicide bomber efforts in the last few months attests to that. In October a French-led airborne/air assault was meant to weaken, and demoralize, the ISGS and it apparently did. In the weeks following this operation, there was little ISGS activity and that inactivity continues. The Bloody Middle In central Mali, the violence between nomadic Fulani herders and local Dogon farmers has been particularly intense since April. So far the fighting has killed about 300 and forced over 70,000 people from their homes. Since 2015 more than 1,200 have died. Part of the problem here is corruption. Colonial-era laws to protect farmlands and forests were, after independence, increasingly abused to extort money or bribes. The application of the laws protected so much farmland that Fulani herders were often unable to reach pastures or water sources they had long used. The Fulani were not the only ones angered by the continued corruption. Foreign aid groups sought $330 million from donors (the dozen or so nations that provide most of the aid money) for Mali in 2018. Even though most of this money will go for food and medical aid the amount of cash pledged fell short of what has been requested. In fact, only about half was provided. The reason is simple; continuing corruption and violence (tribal and Islamic terrorist) makes Mali a less attractive place to use scarce aid money. There is more demand than supply for aid money and donors want to use their money where it will do the most good, and be less likely to be stolen and erupt into another major scandal when the details of the theft get out. Mali is considered one of the least desirable places to send foreign aid because so much of it is stolen before reaching those it was meant for. Details are often not available until long after the crimes occurred. For example an audit of foreign aid sent to Mali in 2015 eventually (over a year later after overcoming considerable local lack of cooperation) detailed how one scam alone (involving fuel supplies) saw fifteen percent of British aid for 2015 disappear (and now in some untraceable foreign bank account). To add to the problem there are many risks to foreign aid staff (foreign or local) because of physical violence frequently used to carry out thefts. Mali security forces make it difficult for foreign investigators to collect evidence of corruption and a lot of the details come from personal experiences of locals who will talk to foreigners. In Mali the government is good at a few things, chief among them stealing foreign aid and concealing the evidence of who did what. The Fulani react more violently to the corruption than most other tribes. A current example if the practice of Fulani Islamic terrorists traveling to rural villages in central Mali, summoning the local population (often to a mosque) and telling that the only permissible education for their children was Islamic and that the government supported schools that taught French and other Western subjects must be shunned. These Fulani believe that Western education and culture are the main cause of all the corruption and other problems. Failure to close the forbidden schools could result in armed Defenders of Islam (Islamic terrorists) coming around and destroying the schools and killing anyone associated with them. Since October over 2,000 children in central Mali have lost access to their schools. During the last (2017-18) school year 1,108 schools were forced to close, at least once for at least 20 days. These closures involved 332,000 students and while the closures were almost all temporary if Islamic terrorists come to dominate, the closures become permanent. The endemic friction between the Fulani tribes of central Mali and just about every other group they come into contact with is common throughout the region (especially in Nigeria). Like the Tuareg up north, the Fulani are a minority (about 14 percent of the population) and seen as outsiders by many other Mali tribes. There are some twenty million Fulani living in the Sahel (the semi-desert area south of the Sahara desert that stretches across northern Africa) and some of those in northern Nigeria got involved in Islamic terrorism via the local Boko Haram. News of that spread to other Fulani in the region and inspired imitation. There are over two million Fulani in Mali and the name of a relatively new Islamic terror group in central Mali (FLM for Macina Liberation Front) openly identifies with the Fulani (Macina are the local branch of the Fulani). FLM became active in early 2015 and claimed responsibility for a growing number of attacks. It started out with calls for Fulani people to live according to strict Islamic rules. That, in turn, led to violence against tribal and village leaders who opposed this. That escalated to attacks on businesses and government facilities. FLM is composed mostly of young Fulani men and is associated with the older al Qaeda affiliate Ansar Dine. Although most Malians are Moslem, few want anything to do with Islamic terrorism and Boko Haram in Nigeria was seen as a major mistake and not welcome at all in Mali. Not so for the Fulani, whose violence in Nigeria was mostly against farmers, who were largely Christian. In Mali the Fulani clashed with farmers who were largely Moslem. Land and cattle were always important but Islamic terrorism, especially when it dominates a lucrative business (smuggling drugs, weapons and people) and welcomes recruits who know how to move around. The Fulani have always seen themselves as a people apart, an attitude common with the nomadic peoples of the Sahel. The Fulani believe they originally migrated from North Africa and the Middle East. Fulani have lighter skin, thinner lips and straighter hair than other black Africans in sub-Saharan Africa and are also Moslem. Most sub-Saharan Africans are Christian or follow ancient local religions but in Mali nearly everyone is Moslem. Fulani have also been involved with smuggling for a long time, in large part because many are still nomadic and the Fulani dont really believe in borders. Al Qaeda continues to thrive in central and north Africa because the Islamic terrorists have taken over a lot of the smuggling operations and been attracting many Fulani recruits. Fulani, in general, were the biggest supporters of the new JNIM (Jamaah Nusrah al Islam wal Muslimin, or Group for the support of Islam and Moslems) that was formed in early 2017. In part, this was a reaction to the growing threat from ISIL which is hostile to everyone who is not ISIL and will attack or recruit from the JNIM members AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), Ansar Dine, FLM and al Mourabitoun (an al Qaeda splinter group). Another reason for the merger was to make it easier to pool resources (including information and advice) and coordinate with other Islamic terror groups in the area. This reduces friction and destructive feuding. Making a coalition like this work is always difficult, especially considering the importance of ethnic differences. The FLM is Fulani while the other groups are largely Tuareg, Arab and some have a lot of foreigners. Note that JNIM did not absorb all of AQIM or al Mourabitoun, just local groups that had long been identified with al Qaeda. Al Mourabitoun is believed to have largely rejoined al Qaeda. Internal politics for Islamic terror groups is a lot messier than these religious zealots like to admit. Thats mainly because each group believes they are uniquely qualified to be the supreme leader of all Islam. Coping with this aspect of Islamic radicalism has proved burdensome and ultimately becomes a major reason for Islamic terror movements to fail and fade away (via desertion and other forms of self-destruction). The new JNIM is more heavily influenced by its Fulani component and that is another reason for more attacks in central Mali, which has long been the scene of conflict with Fulanis. Largely because of the Fulani and JNIM there has been more Islamic terrorist activity in the last year and that has impeded reconstruction and foreign aid efforts. Add to that the existing culture of corruption, especially in southern Mali and you have an atmosphere that is hostile to good government, national unity or economic growth. Armed Foreign Aid While the 12,000 troops of the peacekeeping force cost a billion dollars a year the 4,500 strong G5 Force gets by with $120 million a year in foreign aid. That is in addition to about $420 million in startup costs provided by NATO and the EU. Foreign donors provide new equipment and weapons as well as air, intel and training support. The G5 nations provide some of their best troops for what amounts to a rapid reaction counter-terror force. G5 is organized to move around and fight. The military support c0mes from NATO, particularly France which has 4,500 counterterrorism troops operation in the Sahel. Unlike the peacekeepers in Mali (or Congo, Sudan, Somalia or whatever) the G5 troops are local and are largely operating on their own territory. Being part of G5 gives them extra equipment (like radios) and training that enables them to quickly call in other resources (like aerial surveillance, air strikes and French ground troops) as needed. There are other joint forces like this. The most recent and prominent example is the multinational force formed from neighboring nations to deal with Boko Haram Islamic terrorists in northeast Nigeria. The G5 Sahel Joint Force was formed in 2017 and by late 2018 consisted of seven battalions each with about 550 troops and 100 police. G5 Force was designed to deal with terrorism in the semi-desert area between well-watered central Africa and the Sahara (and other North African deserts). The five Sahel nations (Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad) each contributed troops best able to deal with the threats throughout the Sahel. Each nation contributed one battalion with Mali and Niger contributing two battalions (because those two nations have the largest number of Islamic terrorists operating within their borders.) Add a few hundred headquarters and support troops and you have a force of 5,000. While France is the major NATO contributor to the Sahel counterterror effort the U.S. also has a large counterterror force in the region under the control of U.S. Africom (Africa Command). The major American base in Africa is one shared with France in Djibouti (bordering northwest Somalia) but another one is being built in eastern Niger. The U.S. provides a lot of air support in the form of aerial surveillance (including large UAVs and electronic monitoring), air transport and aerial refueling. The American also supply Special Forces for training and other instructors to teach subjects (communications, logistics, medical). So between the G5 Force, the French counterterror force and the American support there are over 10,000 local and foreign troops operating in the Sahel against Islamic terrorists. Deployment of G5 battalions concentrates on border areas. The eastern contingent consists of two battalions concentrating on the Chad-Niger border. The central contingent has three battalions and covers the borders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. This is something of a hot spot as border regions go. The western contingent has two battalions covering the Mali-Mauritania border. The major peacekeeper force is the 12,000 strong force in northern Mali. This has been around since 2013 and is considered the most dangerous peacekeeper assignment in the world (with nearly 200 dead so far). The peacekeepers spend most of their time patrolling and providing security. The counterterror forces are out looking for a fight. G5 Force is no instant solution because there is a lot of Islamic terrorist activity in the Sahel but has been criticized for being slow to get going. G5 began operations in early 2018 and so far has demonstrated, in a few instances, the ability to move and fight and make a difference. Mali is still the most troublesome Sahel nation but also has the most outside assistance. The Mali contingent of the G5 is considered the least capable and that has to be taken into account while the training program for the Mali military slowly improves the quality of leadership and troop reliability. With Mali secured by all these foreign troops, the G5 has been able to deal with Islamic terror problems elsewhere, especially Burkina Faso and Niger. But there have been administrative and coordination problems. Mali is the most corrupt of the Sahel counties not the only corrupt nation in the region. November 12, 2018: In the north (outside Gao), a JNIM suicide vehicle bomber detonated prematurely, killing three civilians and wounding 30 others. JNIM (an al Qaeda affiliate) intended to attack foreign troops but failed. There are British, German and Canadian troops in the area but the bomb went off in a residential area. Four of the wounded were foreigners (from Cambodia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) but there were with a UN civilian mine clearing team that just happened to be nearby. The last JNIM suicide bomb attacks were two a few days apart in July. A French UAV located the group responsible and a raid was conducted by French troops arriving at night via helicopter. The raid killed seven Islamic terrorists belonging to JNIM and one of the dead was identified as a senior leader of JNIM. October 27, 2018: In the north (Timbuktu), numerous Islamic terrorists, including one driving a suicide truck bomb, attacked a peacekeeper base but were repelled. Two peacekeepers were killed and five wounded. In central Mali (Mopti), a peacekeeper vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, wounding four peacekeepers. October 25, 2018: Down south parliament approved extending the state of emergency another year. The state of emergency has been in force since November 2015 and makes it illegal for crowds to assemble and demonstrations to take place without permission. The security forces can ignore some legal procedures when making arrests and holding people in custody. The state of emergency was first enacted, for ten days at a time, after the November 2015 terror attack but later extensions were longer. Before 2015 a previous state of emergency ended in July 2013. Tauranga City Council, Downtown Tauranga, and Our Place Tauranga will be hosting a range of activities and experiences to inspire and delight in the build up to Christmas. Tauranga City Council Mayor Greg Brownless says the heart of the city will be a captivating place to visit in the build up to our favourite summer holiday period. This is an exciting time of year to come together as a community, celebrate our people and what makes us unique. Creating a truly Tauranga Christmas here in the city is something we are proud to do, and with the support of local organisations and artists this year is going to be one of our best. With the annual Trustpower Christmas Parade on Saturday December 1, the town will be a showcase of community spirit. Throughout the month of December, there will be a host of events and experiences including a wearable art exhibition throughout the streets, a giant advent calendar opened each day, Maori festive banners designed by local artists and life size pohutokawa tree cut-outs lining the waterfront. This year will also be the first Christmas with Our Place and we are thrilled to have such a lively space for the whole family to visit every day of the week, says Greg. There will be a Christmas grotto at Our Place alongside a range of exciting community events including night markets and Christmas in the Park. Downtown Tauranga Spokesperson Sally Cooke says the focus this year has been on creating unique and memorable experiences in the city centre for Christmas and its exciting to see it all taking shape. We love that when you visit the city centre you will experience something you cant get anywhere else. From the giant advent calendar to the Trustpower Christmas Parade, the Heart in the city wearable art exhibition and all the events at Our Place, we have a lot to offer alongside our boutique shopping and dining experiences. It will be exciting for people to come and explore, to enjoy and to appreciate all the collaborative community effort that has gone into creating this experience. Learn more about whats on in the city centre this Christmas at downtowntauranga.co.nz/christmas-in-the-city A Ministerial Advisory Committee is being established to play a key role in implementing the Sea Change Plan, which includes proposals for improving the health of the Hauraki Gulf. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage and Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash today announced what they says is an important step forward on work to restore the health of the Hauraki Gulf. The Sea Change Plan is an aspirational document which includes 181 proposals developed over four years by a Stakeholder Working Group with representatives from mana whenua, recreational and commercial fishing, farming, aquaculture, infrastructure, and environmentalists. The plan aims to improve the health of the Gulf for future generations, with proposals covering a range of issues including: marine protection, fisheries, habitat restoration, and opportunities for regional economic development. The Sea Change Plan has been the focus of significant effort by many affected groups for several years, says Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash. This government is serious about moving forward. Our priority now is to engage with participants about how best to make progress. The establishment of the Ministerial Advisory Committee will include representatives from multiple groups and is a key first step in that engagement process. We are united in our determination to improve the management of the Hauraki Gulf. This is vital if we are to restore the health of the ocean and to mitigate the impact of human activity. This will take a committed effort from everyone whose actions have a bearing on the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. The Department of Conservation (DOC) and Fisheries New Zealand will now begin talking to tangata whenua affected by the proposals, councils and other Hauraki Gulf stakeholders about establishing the Ministerial Advisory Committee. The Conservation Minister and the Fisheries Minister will appoint the members of the Ministerial Advisory Committee once this consultation has been completed. Implementing the Sea Change Plan is a massive challenge but were committed to working collaboratively with stakeholders to restore the health of the Hauraki Gulf, says Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. Those Who Served is a collection of 25 original pastel charcoal sketches by New Zealand artist Geoffrey Fuller. This is the first time Fullers works have been publicly displayed and it is a privilege to have the honour of showcasing them, says Western Bay Museum Manager Paula Gaelic. The sketches of New Zealanders in both World War One and World War Two portray the human story of war as well as the genius of warfare as it was fought in the air and at sea. The works follow the soldiers through Gallipoli, Flanders, the Northern Frontier, the Greek Campaign and Battle of Crete, to the Desert Campaigns in North Africa, the War in the Pacific, the Campaign in Italy and many battles at sea and in the air. The drawings have been donated to Katikati Open-Air Art by the Fuller and Clarke families and are a tribute to the time, dedication and talent of Geoffrey Fuller. Enormous care has been taken by Western Bay Museum staff to ensure each work is framed and mounted to the highest specifications to protect against atmospheric damage. Paula is immensely proud of the standards set by the Museum and says such meticulous care ensures the Museum establishes itself on the national stage for exhibitions such as Those Who Served. `Western Bay people should be really proud of this museum because we do things properly. I cant make people love museums but I can encourage people to come here and see what we do. For $3.74 per ratepayer a year across our district it is a small price to pay for such a great facility. Those Who Served opened this month in commemoration of the centennial of Armistice Day 1918-2018. The exhibition will be open until February 2019. Geoffrey Fuller (1925-2011) was an artist across many mediums and his works included postage stamp designs for New Zealand, Niue, Tokelau Islands and the Ross Dependency in Antarctica. His many artworks are held in private and public art collections around the world. Fuller already has a connection with Katikati. He was commissioned in 1992 by Katikati Open-Air Art to create the mural in the Main Street depicting Ossie Openshaws 1930s garage. The 18-square metre mural is on the same site of the original garage. Those Who Served has been made possible through the raising of $22,000. Paula Gaelic and Steve Graveson from Katikati Open Air Art worked together to source the funding and produce the exhibition. Funding came from Katikati Open-Air Art; Bay Trust; Katikati RSA Homewood Trust; Katikati Rotary and the Western Bay Museum. Bay of Plenty Our Client is looking for an Assembler for their finishing department. This role is based in Tauranga and will be an immediate... View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz In todays weather forecast we are expecting a fine day with high cloud and gentle northerlies developing in the evening. Its a two-clothing layer day today with a high of 21 and an overnight low of 14 degrees. Humidity is 93 per cent. Low tide is at 1.40pm and high tide at 7.40pm (Tay St). Theres a sea swell of 0.3m and sea temperature is 19 degrees. Sunset tonight is at 8.08pm. If youre going fishing the next best fish bite time is between 11.50am and 1.50pm. On this day in NZ history in 1947 there was a civic funeral for 41 Ballantyne's fire victims. On 18 November 1947 Ballantyne's, a Christchurch department store that was a local institution, was razed by one of the worst fires in New Zealand's history. The bodies of the 41 victims were buried at Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Bromley, after a civic funeral. In 1986 Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in windy Wellington. In world history on this day in 1909 the Wright brothers formed a million-dollar corporation for the commercial manufacture of their airplanes. In 1921 President Warren G. Harding signed the Willis-Campbell Act, better known as the anti-beer bill. It forbade doctors to prescribe beer or liquor for medicinal purposes. In 1934 the United States and Great Britain agreed on a 5-5-3 naval ratio, with both countries allowed to build five million tons of naval ships while Japan could only build three. Japan would denounce the treaty. In 1942 the film Casablanca premiered in New York City. In 1980 in Europes biggest earthquake since 1915, 3,000 people were killed in Italy. In 1990 the first all-woman expedition to the South Pole set off from Antarctica on the first part of a 70-day trip; the group included 12 Russians, 3 Americans and 1 Japanese. In 1992 the first Smartphone, IBMs Simon, was introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. Today is the birthday of author and poet Gloria Whelan. Born in 1923 she once wrote But what doesnt die is the love we give to others. To get involved in activities around the Bay of Plenty, please check out our Whats on page. Have a great day! Andrew Cuomo is governor of New York. By Gov. Andrew Cuomo The Amazon transaction is an historic transformative moment for the entire New York City region. I have done enough development work during my career to know there is no large development project that is accomplished without controversy: especially in a city like New York and especially in this polarized, hyper-political time. While I appreciate the ideological and political points of view, we must still govern and analyze based on facts. In fact, given the current political turmoil, it is more important than ever. Amazon publicly held a national competition for over one year essentially challenging governments all across the country to "bid" for their headquarters location. The upside for taxpayers was tremendous: 25,000 to 40,000 direct jobs paying an average of over $150,000; 1,300 construction jobs on average each year during the 15-year construction period; and a major advancement in the tech sector for the future. To put these job gains into perspective, Amazon is committing to an annual payroll of over $3.75 billion annually within 10 years -- far and away the state's largest economic development transaction in modern history. Several cities across New York State and over 238 cities across North America competed for the Amazon headquarters and the Long Island City proposal is the only New York state project that was selected as a finalist. This transaction is a lightning rod for the political rhetoric on both extremes. The extreme conservatives and the socialists both now vehemently oppose "incentives" for Amazon, which is one of the most profitable companies in the country. Compounding the situation, Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post and Amazon and is a competitor to many interests currently involved in the discussion. The New York Post, which is representative of extreme conservatives, says essentially that New York "gave Amazon $1 billion." Their argument is factually baseless. New York state and New York City gave Amazon nothing. Amazon, by our current tax structure, would generate approximately $1 billion per year in new revenue. Our proposal offered that, when and if those revenues are realized, the government would effectively reduce their $1 billion payment by about $100 million for a net to New York of approximately $900 million. New York doesn't give Amazon $100 million. Amazon gives New York $900 million. The revenue is from state and city taxes, including income taxes [in New York State and New York City: one of the highest rates in the country] with the second highest millionaire's tax in the country (only California is higher). The Post uses this to bolster their constant refrain, which is that we should lower taxes for all businesses rather than just provide incentives. Their theory is that if taxes were reduced, you wouldn't need to incentivize any company to come to this state because taxes would be irrelevant in their economic calculus. It sounds simple and appealing, but it's also unrealistic and impossible. On their overall theory, unless all states had the same tax rate, there would always be economic incentives to move to one state or the other. For high wealth individuals or large employee corporations, taxes would always be an economic decision point and several percentage points in tax rates makes a big difference. It also denies the reality that this state has cut taxes across the board and held state spending to record lows--a point the Post ignores as it is inconvenient for them politically. Nothing in the Amazon transaction is new. The tax incentives we provide for single business transactions are usual and typical and have been operational for decades. They are longstanding programs supported by both Democrats and Republicans in both the city and the state. Nor are tax incentive programs unique to New York. Every state offers incentives to attract businesses and we are in a constant competition with other states and nations to attract and keep good businesses. One could argue that in a perfect world no city or state would be legally allowed to offer incentives and there would be no competition for individuals or businesses. True. But this is not a perfect world. Our state is in an intense daily competition with other states and, indeed, other countries. Wisconsin lured Foxconn Technology with 13,000 jobs for a $3 billion incentive package. A locality in Texas lured Exxon Mobil with 400 jobs for a $1.2 billion subsidy. Louisiana attracted DXC Technology and 2,000 jobs with a $115 million incentive. The list goes on. This ongoing economic competition among the states was the basis for the much-publicized Amazon competition. Everyone was aware that the competition was ongoing and the media sensationalized bids for over one year. As Amazon's benefits were extraordinary, so were the efforts launched by governments to win the competition. Ironically, New York's bid for incentives was not close to being the highest bid compared to other states. While confidentiality was required during the bidding process, we now know that New Jersey offered $7 billion, Maryland offered $8.5 billion and Louisiana offered over $6 billion. Chicago offered to build a separate train service for Amazon employees. Amazon, regardless of its wealth, acted in its own best economic interest. So did New York and Washington, D.C., and every other state and city that competed. Most corporations act in their own economic interests. This is nothing new and the Post is being totally hypocritical. Companies controlled by Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox and the Post, a New York company, have aggressively sought and received hundreds of millions in government tax incentives from New York state. On the other side of the extreme, the socialists argue that we gave a $1 billion grant to one of the richest men in the country and that we should have given that money to the poor and the needy. Once again, it is a politically appealing argument; but also, it is once again wrong. We give Amazon nothing and their revenues give us approximately $900 million annually. If Amazon does not employ 25,000 New Yorkers, we lose $900 million. They also argue that we should let Amazon come to New York but provide no incentive. However, without the incentive Amazon, which owes duties to its stockholders (including the New York Pension Plan) would not come to New York and would not bring their revenues or jobs. The essence of the Amazon competition was that they were shopping for the best economic benefits. Amazon could have located all employees in Virginia or gone to Newark -- just across the river -- for a larger incentive - a $7 billion incentive package and a giant revenue loss to New York. The New York Times also argues that New York was wrong. The New York Times is also being totally hypocritical. While I believe in the old adage, "never argue with an institution that buys ink by the barrel," I also believe in the old adage, "speak truth to power." The New York Times itself makes the same economic decisions and has also received significant tax benefits from New York state and New York City in making decisions on their locations. In fact, when the Times announced in 2001 that it would move into a new building in Times Square, it received tens of millions in tax breaks from New York City. What's more, the Times asked the state to use its powers to override city zoning processes over local opposition -- the same powers now being criticized for their use in the Amazon deal. In response to criticism, the company asserted, ''It's our responsibility to all of the stake holders in this company to be as competitive as we can be. We're going to take advantage of the opportunities out there.'' Should the Times not apply the same rules and theory they operate under to the Amazon transaction? The inconsistency is striking. Warner Media, which owns CNN, also criticized the transaction. They have also been the recipient of significant public subsidies receiving over $1 billion in state tax credits, among others to do business in New York. As for the local officials who now oppose the project, many of these same individuals signed a letter supporting the application for the same location knowing full well it was a national competition in which states and cities were putting together incentive packages. These same officials voted and authorized the long-standing economic development programs deployed in the Amazon transaction. It is pure political posturing. Mark my words, come election time, when the opponents of these politician's side with the businesses and residents who are benefiting from the Amazon infusion, these same politicians will find a way to change their position once again. Political winds blow strong in New York, but they also shift rapidly. I applaud Mayor Bill de Blasio for acting responsibly as a government official rather than catering to a convenient political position. I appreciate the anxiety of the neighboring community. Any large development will cause disruption if steps are not taken to mitigate these issues. However, the answer for a smart society is not to stop growing but rather to manage the growth and its consequences. I am in politics and just completed an election. I understand the current political intensity. This is a time of anger, frustration and hyper-political extremes. Symbolism reigns over reality. However, the bottom line is still the bottom line and facts are still facts. A long standing essentially vacant site in Long Island City will see a $3.6 billion construction project and 25,000 to 40,000 permanent jobs at an average salary of over $150,000. The tech sector will be enhanced, further diversifying the New York City economy, which is still heavily reliant on Wall Street. It will strengthen the entire region and the Long Island tech sector, which will also be synergized. There will be a new school in the community, new residential apartments, investments in public transit, a tech incubator, a partnership with the local housing authority to create employment opportunities and myriad other local benefits. The only other alternative course is that we could have decided not to compete or we could have lost. In either case, the criticism would have been worse and it would have hurt more - because it would have been true. New York would have lost out on a tremendous growth and economic opportunity. The reaction by some on the extremes to the Amazon transaction is merely a sign of the times--and the times are troubled. Political polarization tears at our social fabric. But when the lens of public officials is fogged by political expediency, bad decisions are made. When opinion-makers cater to hyper partisan ideologies and take hypocritical positions, honest debate suffers. I am sure that as these entities have now been highly critical of the concept of "taxpayer subsidies" we will see Rupert Murdoch, the Times, Warner Media/CNN rebate the incentives they have been receiving, refuse them in the future, and will remain in New York. Once we receive their rebates it will more than compensate for the Amazon benefit! I am also sure the local elected officials opposed to taxpayer subsidies will sponsor legislation demanding a rebate from these entities. In addition, there are many other incentive packages such as the film tax credit and small business programs and many other businesses receiving similar credits that I am sure they will also cancel. My father used to say, "we campaign in poetry but we govern in prose." The essence of this saying was that during campaigns political rhetoric soars for the aspirational and the perfect. However, in government, we must deal with facts and reality. Is it inflammatory that Amazon, the New York Times, Warner Media/CNN, Rupert Murdoch and other profitable entities receive tax incentives? Yes, it is. In a better world, they would not. Let us strive for a nation that creates a better world where the federal tax code is fair and progressive and states don't compete amongst each other for the businesses and wealth that is truly a national asset. But we live in the here and now. For today, let's do our best to see New York thrive and grow. Jeff Frank, Ph.D., is associate professor and coordinator for Undergraduate Programs in the Education Department of St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. By Jeff Frank | Special to Syracuse.com This Thanksgiving, I choose not to be divided from my neighbors. America is an experiment that works only when we trust that each of us is capable of acting in good faith. I trust that the majority of my neighbors want the best for their children and our country. I trust that the fear and frustration Americans on all sides of the political spectrum feel doesn't need to be channeled into hatred. There are many in this country, at least on the surface, who don't share this trust. They demonize liberals or Democrats as the enemy, they demonize Republicans or conservatives as racists and enablers of fascism. There are, no doubt, bad actors on all sides of our political divides; the dangers of civil strife are real; there are external enemies who would like to see our American experiment fail. But I will not see someone who disagrees with me, over things which reasonable people can disagree about, as an enemy. I share our founders' belief that this country is great when counterbalancing ideals are cultivated, if not celebrated. Take my line of work, education. Too often we fall for fads, thinking that someone has finally provided "the answer." Charter schools will save schools, technology will save schools, vouchers will save schools, religion will save schools, more money will save schools, less authority will save schools, social justice education will save schools. The hard truth is far more complex. Raising a child well is a difficult art. Each child calls for a balance of discipline and freedom unique to that child. Each child has spiritual gifts that need patience and discernment to cultivate. It is frustrating that we choose ideological purity -- believing our answer is the only way and that those standing in the way of our answer are enemies -- over intellectual humility. We don't know with certainty how to raise any particular child so that she or he will have the support and freedom to thrive, and we shouldn't pretend we do. A corollary of intellectual humility is curiosity and a willingness to find good answers and supportive friends wherever they may lie on the political and religious spectrum. Good liberals have some things figured out about being good parents, just as good conservatives do. Good Republicans make good school leaders, just as good Democrats. This may seem obvious, but I worry there are many forces at work manufacturing hate and division that mark a scarlet R or D on a person that can make it impossible to appreciate the good of that person if he or she is marked with the letter of the wrong team. Instead of getting wrapped up in manufactured crises that sell advertising for cable news and serve as clickbait for Facebook, let's take this Thanksgiving as an opportunity to unplug and reflect on the ways we can trust each other and learn how we might work together for the good of our children and our American experiment. One of the many terrible ironies of Thanksgiving is that the Pilgrims fled religious persecution in England only to establish their own theocratic state in America that, rather infamously, practiced persecution. But it would be unwise to stop our thinking here. The Pilgrims believed very deeply in the power of the individual conscience, and this belief led to the establishment of a richly diverse system of colleges which remain unparalleled. A conscience demands to be educated, and the Puritans gave this gift of education to America. One of the lessons to be learned from the Pilgrims we celebrate on Thanksgiving is the dangers of ideological purity and the promise of the individual conscience, a danger and a promise that remain very much alive today. I trust that when we see through manufactured enmity as the evil force it is, we can remember that it is our duty to cultivate our conscience and respect the conscience inside others. Ideological purists of all stripes offer to do our thinking for us, but this is impossible. We will each face an accounting for our good and evil thoughts, words and deeds. No pundit or preacher or professor will be there taking the blame when we are forced to reckon with the hate we bring into the world. I trust that we don't want to bring our children up in a world filled with hatred, and I doubt that any movement that demands ideological purity will get us there. It is up to each of us, thinking as individuals who will have to offer an individual accounting of our lives, to stop hating each other. Instead of offering up the infinite capacity of our individual conscience as fuel for the fires of hatred, we should assert our conscience as the firewall that it can be. The etymological connection between think and thank runs deep. When we exercise thought, we demonstrate our thankfulness for being a person endowed with a conscience among others equally endowed with it. I wish there was more space in our public conversation to express this gratitude. Before consenting to be divided into opposing camps, we should do more to find out what our individual conscience says. Educating that conscience will be bad for hate-mongering business, but I trust it will be good for our country and our individual well-being. Spoon and Chopsticks, the new iteration of what was Komachi Japanese Restaurant near Syracuse University, demonstrates a shift in both geography and cuisine. While the year-old menu still offers many Japanese dishes, like teriyaki and katsu, the focus is now more on Korean food. The change delights us, as Central New York has fewer sources for Korean choices than are available for some other Asian cuisines. On a recent chilly Sunday evening, we were welcomed in with cups of corn tea, a beverage new to us, and quick acknowledgement by our server. Banchan, the little dishes of pickled vegetables always offered in Korean restaurants, included two treatments of daikon radish--one savory and one spicy--and a dish of cucumbers in a sesame oil based dressing. Beer, wine and the Korean specialty drink, soju (a low-alcohol flavored vodka-like liquor), are on the menu at Spoon and Chopsticks. We had a large (22-ounce) Sapporo ($8.50), a light Japanese lager. We also tried their ginger tea ($2.99), which was hot, strong and delicious. Though the build-your-own ramen menu offered was appealing, we decided to save it for lunch another day and focus mostly on the Korean dishes offered. From a list of starters that still includes more Japanese choices than Korean, we chose royal ddubukki (also spelled ddukbukki), a rice cake and beef stew ($8.99), and age tofu, a long-time Japanese favorite ($4.99). Our ddubukki, though on the starters menu, was substantial enough to serve as a main course. This was a dish for lovers of beef stew, with familiar deep flavors and onions, peppers and mushrooms. The cylindrical rice cakes had the texture of dense cooked pasta. The dish was very good, and half of it would serve as lunch another day. The age (AH-gay) tofu we are used to in Japanese restaurants is sometimes listed as agedashi tofu because it appears in a light Japanese dashi, a broth made from steeping dried bonito flakes and seaweed in water. At Spoon and Chopsticks, the tofu was four large cubes of the soft bean curd we expected, lightly fried as usual and decorated with the fish flakes that seem to dance in the steam rising from the broth. However, this broth was not the dashi to which we were accustomed. Instead, it was dark and rich with soy sauce and mirin, the Japanese cooking wine. It was so good we drank much of it like a soup. Small bowls of miso soup come with main dishes. These were warming and appetizing on a cold day, pretty with tiny cubes of tofu and slices of scallion floating in the light miso broth. We chose to stay with Korean dishes for our main course: pork bulkoki stir-fry ($16.99) and galbi, sliced beef short ribs ($19.99), both served with a bowl of sticky white rice. The rich flavor and heat of kochujang (also spelled gochujang), the red pepper paste that is a staple in Korean cooking, contributed much to our enjoyment of spicy pork bulkoki (also spelled bulgogi, for 16.99), a stir fry of pork with vegetables in sauce. The onions, carrot shreds and peppers were more ornaments than equal partners in the large mound of pork in sauce. That sauce had a lovely sneaky heat that started off sweetly savory and built up as we ate. The serving was generous and would have been plenty for both of us. It was wonderful, and we were happy to see it offered on the lunch menu at $9.99. Of course, not every Korean dish is spicy enough to keep one warm on a November night in Syracuse. To represent the milder Korean flavors on the menu, we ordered galbi ($19.99), beef ribs marinated in a savory sweet sauce and then grilled, often at the table by the diner. (Galbi, or kalbi, can also be pork; then it's called galbi jjim.) In this case, the beef short ribs were presented already grilled on a bed of sliced onions, dressed with scallions and sesame seeds. The presentation was pretty, and the flavors in the meat were rich, dominated by soy sauce with a sweet note. The bed of thinly sliced onions beneath the slices of meat was just as appealing as the beef itself. Tempura fried ice cream ($4.99) is made at the restaurant, so we shared that for dessert. It was the only thing we tried that we would probably not order again, being more doughy coating than ice cream. Next time, we would likely order one of the several flavored "frappucinos" offered. Spoon and Chopsticks' dining room is simply decorated, spare but welcoming and comfortable. Service is excellent--knowledgeable, friendly and quick--made efficient by the unusual touch of call buttons on the tables. Having both Korean and Japanese choices, as well as the option to customize ramen bowls (like the pho menu at Dang's) makes this a place we will want to revisit soon and often. The Details The restaurant: Spoon and Chopsticks, 753 James St. (in the Skyline Apartment Building), Syracuse. 315-422-1555. Limited parking in the back of building. Reservations: Yes Credit cards? Yes Access to disabled? Easy Children's menu? No, but customizable ramen bowls would work well. Vegetarian options? Yes Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays and Thanksgiving Day. Cost: Main dishes on the menu range from basic ramen for $6.99 to a kimchi stew intended for two people for $29.99. A couple dining here can expect to pay from $25 to $50. For our review, we ordered from across the menu probably more than was reasonable, and our total for two with drinks, starters, mains and dessert was $86.32, including tax and a 20 percent tip. Syracuse- A small warm up to near-normal temperatures is ahead for Central New York this weekend as a weather system passes through. Morning lows will still be chilly Saturday morning with low 20s for most of Central New York. Temperatures should rise quickly during the morning, reaching highs in the low and perhaps mid 40s early in the afternoon. Clouds will be on the increase Saturday morning ahead of the approaching low pressure system. A little sun may shine early but overcast skies should quickly take over. A few rain showers will enter from the southwest during the second half of the afternoon. A better chance for rain will develop late in the afternoon and continue into the evening and overnight hours. No snow is expected with this system as temperatures will remain in the upper 30s and low 40s until the rain ends after midnight Saturday night. Rain amounts will be highest to the south and east where over a half-inch may fall. Some of the wind could get blustery on Saturday. Higher elevations to the south of Syracuse have the best shot at seeing gusts around 30 mph. Saturday's winds will come from the south and southeast. No precipitation is expected on Sunday as high pressure builds into the region. Winds will drop and become light and variable throughout the day. With little wind, there will be a lack of cold air behind Saturday evening's system. Temperatures on Sunday will be a few degrees warmer than Saturday as a result. After starting with morning lows in the mid 30s, high temperatures should reach the mid 40s. This is where Central New York should be at the end of November. Syracuse's average high for Sunday is 44 degrees. Much of Sunday will remain cloudy though some breaks of sunshine will be possible here and there throughout the day. Most of the this weekend's precipitation will fall after dark Saturday evening. With temperatures in the 40s, the daytime hours will not be too bad this weekend. Here is a look at each day's forecast details: Saturday Morning Lows: Low 20s Afternoon Highs: Low 40s Cloud cover: Increasing clouds Precipitation: Afternoon showers, evening rain. Winds: South 7-12 mph, gusting to 30 mph. Confidence: Average Sunday Morning Lows: Mid 30s Afternoon Highs: Mid 40s Cloud cover: Mostly cloudy. Precipitation: No precipitation expected. Winds: Light and variable. Confidence: Average Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. A site containing roughly 2 million termite mounds, with some reaching as high as 10-feet tall, has recently been uncovered in northern Brazil. According to scientists, the construction site stretches across an area the size of Great Britain. Moreover, the cone-shaped piles of soil can be seen from space. Old Termite Mounds Site Discovered In Brazil The study published in the journal Current Biology on Monday, Nov. 19, revealed that the impressive termite mounds are the work of a single species called Syntermes dirus. Scientists who went to an excursion to the construction site said that some of the termite mounds are still inhabited by the insects. "These mounds were formed by a single termite species that excavated a massive network of tunnels to allow them to access dead leaves to eat safely and directly from the forest floor," explained Stephen Martin from the University of Salford in the United Kingdom. "The amount of soil excavated is over 10 cubic kilometers, equivalent to 4,000 great pyramids of Giza, and represents one of the biggest structures built by a single insect species." Through carbon dating, the scientists were able to identify that the construction site had been built over thousands of years. Some mounds are roughly around 3,820 years old about as old as the Great Pyramids of Giza. The termite mounds have been hidden from view for years because it is located deep within semiarid and thorny vegetation of caatinga forests which are native to northeastern Brazil. The termites within the area thrived eating dead leaves on the forest floor. However, a portion of the caatinga forest has been cleared in the recent years as the land will be used for pasture. Termites Building Impressive Pyramids Scientists explained that the termite mounds reached impressive sizes, not because of competition among neighbors. Behavioral tests from the site showed little signs of aggression at the mound level. Instead, the termite mounds are the result of a highly-efficient food-distribution system. The termites built a vast network of tunnels that will allow them to cover a greater expanse of the forest floor to collect dry leaves that only fall every once a year. Scientists compared the system to underground tunnels that naked mole rats built in similar arid regions to obtain food. "This is apparently the world's most extensive bioengineering effort by a single insect species," added Roy Funch of Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana in Brazil. In 2016, a different team of scientists also discovered a similar construction site in a woodland area in central Africa. They reported that the termite mounds are more than 2,200 years old. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The iOS 12.1 update officially brought dual SIM support to the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, letting users of Apple's newest batch of iPhones take advantage of two SIMs a physical one and a virtual one called eSIM. However, Verizon chose not to activate eSIMs when the update rolled out because of a software issue that resulted in dual SIM activation degrading the Big Red's service. However, that will change soon, new reports say. According to an internal memo that 9to5Mac obtained, Verizon will soon offer dual SIMs again early next month. If true, that means users under Verizon may begin taking advantage of dual SIM support on their latest iPhones as soon as December. Verizon iPhone Dual SIM Problem The problem with dual SIM support on iPhone, specifically with Verizon, was that it would drop users down to the 2G network when the physical SIM was used in the secondary slot. In other words, users got switched by default from LTE to just 2G CDMA. That means they received slower speeds and lack of coverage, among other issues. This was especially problematic in regions where Verizon only offers LTE coverage. As a result, Verizon promptly declined to activate eSIMs until it resolved the problem. "Wireless customers will be able to activate Verizon service eSIMs as soon as we're confident you'll be able to have the great, high-quality service you expect from us on both your primary and secondary line," Verizon said at the time. The company also said in October that it would attempt to solve the issue by the end of the year, which, if the above report is true, is right on schedule. That means users who have been waiting for Verizon to open up dual SIM activations shouldn't have to wait longer. Verizon also said during the launch last month that it believed the software limitations would be resolved quickly with Apple's cooperation. The internal memo seems to suggest both companies have successfully worked on the issue. AT&T Dual SIM Support Verizon isn't the only company to drop dual SIM support, it should be noted. AT&T also abruptly stopped endorsing dual SIM activations, as it found the iPhone Visual Voicemail feature would not work correctly when the phone both had primary and secondary lines active. It also said Apple was working on a fix for a future software update, although it's not clear if that problem will be resolved in the same "early December" time frame. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A Silicon Valley startup wants to use mercury to launch satellites into orbit, potentially lacing the atmosphere with toxic substance. Industry insiders revealed that Apollo Fusion, a two-year-old company based in Mountain View, California, is designing propulsion systems that use mercury as spacecraft fuel. The company, which earlier this year has raised $10 million in venture funding, has already reportedly locked in one client and talking to two others. Dangers Of Mercury The use of mercury as spacecraft fuel is not a groundbreaking idea. In fact, NASA experimented with mercury back in the '60s during the Space Electric Propulsion Test (SERT) program. There are benefits to using mercury as spacecraft fuel. It is heavier than both xenon or krypton, two substances currently being used to power ion engines. A spacecraft using mercury, therefore, would be able to generate more thrust. However, there is a very serious reason why NASA immediately moved away from using mercury back in the '70s. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that can impair a person's cognitive functions. Exposure to the chemical would lead to lower IQ, motor dysfunction, tremors, neuromuscular effects, and memory loss. The World Health Organization classifies mercury as one of the top 10 chemicals or groups of chemicals that are major public health concerns. After the launch of SERT 2 in 1970, NASA stopped using mercury as spacecraft fuel due to concerns that people on the ground are being exposed to the chemical. Moreover, the United States has been making effort to reduce mercury emission across the country. The United States is also one of the 128 countries to sign the Minamata Convention, a treaty that aims to reduce mercury emissions around the world. Apollo Fusion Responds To Toxic Mercury Propulsion Tech The shocking report by Ben Elgin for Bloomberg Businessweek quoted anonymous industry insiders who refused to be named because they signed a non-disclosure agreement. They revealed that Apollo Fusion has pitched the technology, including the toxic element, to potential customers as recently as this summer. However, the startup has refused to name its clientele and neither confirmed nor denied the report. In a statement, chief executive officer and co-founder Michael Cassidy said that the company is still evaluating a number of other technologies. "We don't comment on our proprietary technology due to competitive risks, either on innovations that we've built or things that we're testing," he said through an e-mail to Bloomberg. "We are also committed to maintaining a low impact on the environment." 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The number of antidepressants being prescribed to patients in England has risen since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in 2016. A new study revealed that the use of drugs such as Prozac has increased by more than 13 percent compared to other drugs since the referendum. Researchers linked the rise of antidepressant use to the uncertainty of many over the future of the country. Antidepressant Use Rises In The UK Researchers from King's College London and Harvard University probed into the effects of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union to the mental health of the country's citizens. The team looked at records of antidepressant prescription from 2011 to 2016 and compared it to the data on other drugs unlikely used to affect feelings of uncertainty or depression. While both categories have seen an increase every year before the referendum, the researchers found that antidepressant prescription continued to increase since 2016 while the use of other drugs saw a decline. The findings were published in the journal BMJ. "But in the month after the referendum, DDDs for antidepressants continued to rise, albeit at a slower pace, but those for the other drugs fell, having experienced a period of growth," Sotiris Vandoros, from King's College London and one of the authors of the study, told The Huffington Post. The only exception was the prescription for muscle relaxants, which has already been in decline. People Regretting Brexit Vote? Vandoros warned that the study was observational and, therefore, could not offer a confirmation that Brexit has caused the increase of antidepressant use in England nor does it reveal a rise in the number of people with depression. Their findings are open to interpretation, but the researchers believe that the referendum might have triggered the increase. David Cummins, a lecturer from Salford University who is not involved in the study, added that both Brexit and depression are two very complicated topics. He, however, admitted that austerity is a driver of a lot of concerns. Experts have warned about the negative economic consequences of Brexit in the United Kingdom, including rising prices and temporary disruption of food supplies. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A Brown University research sheds light on the origin of the peculiar markings of Mars' Phobos, arguably the oddest yet most interesting moon there is. A far cry from all other usually perfect-shaped moons is Phobos that is not just distinctive for its shape, but also because of the grooves and craters it possesses. It has gained quite the traction from researchers and scientists who are wondering how these indentations came about. Stickney Crater While other moons also have dents and scratches, Phobos is especially notable because it is full of these, which is why it is understandable that it easily piqued anyone's curiosity. One of its most eye-catching features is its Stickney crater, a hole that is 9 kilometer in diameter which makes it hard to miss. The Stickney crater was formed some 150 years ago when a massive rock hit Phobos. Surrounding this unique and unmissable site are grooves seemingly extending from the impact location. According to a research published in Planetary and Space Science, the rolling boulders, which were a result of the Stickney impact, may have been the reason behind the grooves. To prove this, the researchers simulated how massive rocks had rolled over the moon from the big crater, and that's how they concluded that the stones from that event created the grooves. Lead researcher Ken Ramsley, who was surprised of what came out of the experiment, believes that their efforts are a big help toward determining other possible explanations of the grooves. He narrated that initially, the team had no expectations of what will be the outcome of the study. The computer models also gave out an explanation on why other grooves aren't directly aligned with the huge impact site. This was allegedly a result of Phobos' size and weak gravity that caused boulders from Stickney to continuously roll all the way around the moon, which also explains why there are other overlapping grooves. "It's like a ski jump. The boulders keep going but suddenly there's no ground under them. They end up doing this suborbital flight over this zone," Ramsley said of the parts of Phobos that had no grooves. 'Plausible' Explanation All these may have happened in just a span of 12 hours, Ramsley explained. However, it is worth noting that the study is just a possible reason and not the definitive answer to the problem, with the researchers deeming the findings as "plausible." NASA first saw the grooves in the 70s. Since then, a lot of the same research explained the relationship between the Stickney crater and the patterns. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. East Baton Rouge Parish Association of Educators President Tia Mills, center, speaks at the Louisiana Association of Educators office about a lawsuit filed against East Baton Rouge Tax Assessor Brian Wilson over ExxonMobil's tax assessment. Local authors Walt Handelsman, Chris Champagne and Mike Strecker will talk about and sign their new books at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., in Metairie. Handelsman's "Im Drawing As Fast As I Can!" is a collection of his editorial cartoons from the past five years satirizing state, national and international events. Handelsman works at The New Orleans Advocate and is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner. His cartoons are nationally syndicated by Tribune Content Agency in Chicago to over 200 newspapers around the country and internationally. He has been a featured guest on CNN, The NewsHour and ABCs Nightline. Champagne's "Secrets of New Orleans" describes countless off-beat experiences found in the Crescent City: houses built to resemble riverboats, a back alley that serves as a portal of the voodoo afterworld, a house made of 1,200 glass ashtrays, the forgotten Lee Harvey Oswald Commemorative Plate, the largest religious work of art on canvas in the world and more. Champagne is a writer, performer, poet, comedian, political satirist, radio show host and columnist who has performed on stages throughout the Greater New Orleans area. He was voted one of 144 New Orleans Characters in 2012 and best comedian in New Orleans in 2013 and 2014. Champagne is the author of the poetry book "Roach Opera" and "The Yat Dictionary," a book on the dialect spoken by many native Orleanians. Strecker's "Jokes for Crescent City Kids" includes more than 600 jokes as well as advice for children about delivery of punch lines. It also includes a Who Dat glossary of local terms and their pronunciations. 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 Strecker has performed at comedy clubs nationwide, including The Improv in Los Angeles, HA! Comedy Club in New York and the House of Blues in New Orleans, where he was billed as one of the top acts of the New Orleans Comedy Festival. Everyday events such as going to the grocery store, buying a car or trying to make a relationship work all provide the basis for Streckers humor. WHITE ALBUM: Bruce Spizer, an internationally recognized authority on the Beatles, will discuss the 50th anniversary of The White Album at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 West Napoleon Ave., Metairie. The White Album was the ninth studio album by the Beatles. Released on Nov. 22, 1968, the double album was all white and featured no text or graphics on the exterior, though "The Beatles" was embossed on one side. Most of the songs on the album were written in March and April 1968 while the members of the band were on a transcendental meditation retreat in Rishikesh, India. COMPUTER CLASSES: Basic computer classes take place through the month at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie. Patrons should register on the librarys website. 2-4 p.m. Nov. 26, Email Essentials 6-8 p.m. Nov. 26, Basic Computer Skills 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 27, Introduction to Microsoft Excel 1 2-4 p.m. Nov. 27, Introduction to Microsoft Word 2 2-4 p.m. Nov. 28, Introduction to Microsoft PowerPoint 1 All programs at the library are free and open to the public. For information about programs at the 16 branches of the Jefferson Parish Library, visit jplibrary.net or friend the librarys Facebook page for daily programming updates. As Kelly Apetrei prepares to stage the 30th anniversary version of Ballet Apetreis "Nutcracker," the artistic director can easily remember her companys first performance in December 1989. I was nine months pregnant with my second son, she said. And I had him the day after 'The Nutcracker.' In the past 30 years, she said, thousands of girls have come through, with many of those experiencing the magic of "The Nutcracker." Its kind of overwhelming, she said. This years anniversary performances have Apetrei excited for a number of reasons. One of them is Lindsey Fitzmorris Salvadalena, who basically grew up at Apetrei Dancecenter in Mandeville and will dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy Nov. 30 and Dec. 1-2 at the theater at Mandeville High School. Lindsey went to see 'The Nutcracker' when she was 6 years old and told her mother, Im going to do that, Apetrei said. And Salvadalena has done just what she said she would do, performing nearly every role in the Ballet Apetrei "Nutcracker," taking ballet at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, dancing professionally in New York and now working as artistic director at Bay Area Ballet Conservatory in California. I became so obsessed from the get-go, Salvadalena said. I had a lot of challenges. I had to work at a lot of things, but I pushed through to make it happen. You have to be persistent. Coming back to Mandeville to perform the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy is meaningful, she said. Im making sort of a transition, shifting focus (from dancing) to dance education, she said, noting that she is raising a toddler, Fiona, who is 16 months old. This is a sweet way to close one chapter of life, she said, returning to dance where she started. Apetrei Dancecenter was a home away from home, Salvadalena said. Its my pleasure to come back and celebrate the 30th anniversary. St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Donovan Davis will be another treat for those in attendance. Davis is a New Orleans native who will perform the role of the Nutcracker, as well as the Cavalier. He began his training with the New Orleans Ballet Association in partnership with the New Orleans Recreation Department, and is a company artist with the Marigny Opera Ballet. Davis has choreographed a new battle scene for the anniversary performances. He is a great treasure for our company, Apetrei said. Howard Merlin of the Boston Ballet is the third guest artist for the 30th anniversary show. Merlin, who will portray Claras uncle, Herr Drosselmeyer, is the costume shop and footwear coordinator for Boston Ballet. I met Howard when I was 20 years old, Apetrei said. He is beyond amazing. As she prepares for this anniversary, Apetrei said, she realizes that every year has brought special memories. But she said she will always remember the first time she staged the show as the sole artistic director, five years ago. At the end of the show, all four of my sons came out with flowers, she said. Ill never forget that moment in time. All of my dancers, my sons and 500 people. I brought these people together. Lest she seem to be patting herself on the back, she said, she sees her work in dance as helping others bring out their best. Everyone can contribute to making this world a better place, she said. That has always been my passion. Apetrei will bring her passion for dance to life again. Shows will be held nightly at 7 p.m., and a fourth performance for area school children will be held on Nov. 30. Members of the Ballet Apetrei Company who will dance alongside the guest artists include Ellen Breaux and Emily Farrow as the Snow Queen. Tickets, on sale at Pineapple Gallery in Mandeville, range in price from $10-$35. For more information, call the Ballet Apetrei studio at (985) 624-3622. A New Orleans driver fatally struck another man with his car on Poydras Street, then fled and hid his vehicle in an attempt to cover up the crime, police said. Christopher G. Hamilton, 36, was booked on negligent homicide last week in connection with the death of John Cody. Police said Hamilton struck Cody with his car in the 2000 block of Poydras near the on-ramp to westbound Interstate 10 late on Sept. 28. Cody, 50, died the next day. The Orleans Parish Coroners Office ruled the death an accident caused by blunt-force injuries. Police said that when officers arrived on the scene, they found Cody lying on the sidewalk in front of a transmission shop with severe head trauma and numerous cuts and scrapes to his body. It was readily apparent that Cody had been struck by a vehicle, according to a warrant sworn by traffic fatality investigator Danny Ellis. +2 New Orleans urban planner: Besides crime, here's one big way we can make city safer Just about any time I speak with out-of-town visitors, they ask me, Am I gonna be safe here?, suggesting a fear of getting mugged or assault At almost the same time paramedics were taking Cody to the hospital, Hamilton called 911 to report that he possibly struck someone or someone struck his vehicle with an unknown object, the warrant said. The officers went to talk to Hamilton, who was at Tulane Avenue and South Saratoga Street. When officers interviewed Hamilton, he claimed that someone had thrown a brick and smashed his windshield. He said he parked his vehicle at a friends house, then went to a convenience store on Tulane for a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey. The cops pressed Hamilton to tell them where he parked his vehicle, but he was unable or unwilling to do so, police said. Cops, not yet aware that Cody would die, said they arrested Hamilton for a hit-and-run crash, at which point he admitted to removing the vehicles license plate after the crash. After dropping him off at the jail, the officers spotted his vehicle in a vacant lot in the 2500 block of Tulane, not far from the convenience store. The vehicles front windshield was shattered and covered in human blood and hair, police said. Investigators said the damage to the car was a clear indication that Hamilton was fully aware that he had hit Cody. Hiding the vehicle and removing its windshield proved that he tried to cover up his crime, police said. The warrant did not indicate whether police tested Hamiltons blood alcohol content. A magistrate commissioner set Hamiltons bail at $5,000. He was no longer in custody as of Wednesday, according to Sheriffs Office records. Hamilton is being represented by the Orleans Public Defenders, according to court records. The weekend has started early for ASIC chief James Shipton, who was excused from the witness stand at 2:50pm after an excoriating interrogation that took up all of today's hearing. Right to the end it remained hard going for the chief regulator, who had to defend ASIC's structure and the fact that there are no non-executive, independent members on its governing body - in contrast to other regulators such as the ACCC, the Reserve Bank and the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK. Commissioner Kenneth Hayne as he challenged ASIC chief James Shipton's "self-referential" suggestions. Credit:Internet Citing his experience as a regulator in Hong Kong and his time at Harvard, Mr Shipton said he was pushing to change ASIC's structure to remove commissioners from daily operations to let them focus on giving strategic oversight, and have a separate group of managers run its day-to-day business. The commission had just created a new level of senior management, executive directors, to help achieve just that, he said. Ms Orr was befuddled when she heard that despite that restructuring, commissioners would still have to review submissions and decide whether to take action against companies. Ms Orr: "I thought you said they were going to cease to have operational and executive responsibility for regulatory work?" Mr Shipton: "That's correct. I - but they will still have oversight responsibility and decision-making responsibility--" Ms Orr: "It's more than oversight. You're explaining that they remain the decision-makers?" Mr Shipton: "We are not a corporate body. We are not structured as a corporate body. So there is only so far we can take the analogy of a board and the executive leadership team." There was even more disbelief when the commission heard the new senior executive positions had been filled with internal candidates only, without an external search. Ms Orr: "Wasn't this a prime opportunity to bring in at a day-to-day operational level some external people with different ideas and different skill sets?" Mr Shipton explained that "in my own experience, over many years, it is difficult to find externally people with day-to-day relevant experience at that senior level, that regulatory senior level". Ms Orr: "Well, Mr Shipton, we will never know if you're right about how difficult it is to find these people externally, because you didn't try, did you? You didn't open this to external applicants." Asked whether the external oversight of ASIC's own activities could be improved, the ASIC chair said: "Most certainly." Parliamentary hearings assessing the regulator, based on a framework developed by the regulator, "would be very, very useful", he explained. Commissioner Kenneth Hayne was unimpressed: "See, what I suggest to you is that it all just becomes self-referencial. ASIC determines the base, judges itself against the base. What I want to ask of you is where is the intellectual rigour in that process?" This ends our live coverage of day 64 of the banking royal commission hearings. The hearings will resume at 10 am on Monday in Melbourne, with National Australia Bank CEO Andrew Thorburn in the witness box. He will be followed by NAB chairman Ken Henry. Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore was warned against a ban on home loan broker commissions saying it could lead to unintended consequences. Mr Moore issued the warning while giving evidence at the banking royal commission in Sydney on Thursday, reflecting serious concerns among smaller lenders about any moves by the commission to radically reshape how mortgage brokers are paid. Macquarie Group's outgoing CEO Nicholas Moore arrives at the banking royal commission. Credit:AAP Whether mortgage brokers should receive commissions for arranging home loans, or if they should receive a flat fee has been a hot issue at the hearings amid concerns commissions were driving irresponsible lending and poor customer outcomes. This week it emerged the Commonwealth Bank was only a week away from announcing it was moving to a fee-based model in 2017 before walking away from the issue due to concerns it would suffer first-mover disadvantage. CBA boss Matt Comyn also told the commission he hoped it would fix the issue. Myer says its insurgent major shareholder, Solomon Lew, has blocked himself from ever making a takeover bid for the struggling department stores - leaving him no option but to "take control" of the company in a boardroom coup. Mr Lew, whose Premier Investments owns 11 per cent of Myer, told ABC TV on Wednesday that his company was "categorically... not making a takeover bid", was not buying more shares and had "no interest in making a takeover bid" for Myer. Myer chairman Garry Hounsell says Premier is trying to "take controll" of Myer for its own interests. Credit:Justin McManus Myer chairman Garry Hounsell pounced on the comments, saying that Mr Lew unconditionally ruling out a takeover meant Premier was now precluded from launching one due to "truth in takeovers" laws. That meant the only way Premier could "take control" of Myer was by spilling the board - which it has been pushing for - and installing its own directors, he said. Jaden Barber was counting on a $4000 pay day from a month's work labouring on a NSW vineyard to help fund his stay in Australia. Instead, the 20-year-old from Essex, England was left empty-handed. "I wasn't paid at all," Mr Barber said. "It ruined the whole of my trip. That money was going to set me up. I struggled a bit from then on. I didn't have as much fun as I would have if I had been paid for my work on the vineyard." Jaden Barber claims a NSW vineyard failed to pay him for a month's work. Mr Barber's experience is not a one-off, with a recent blitz on 638 businesses in the farming industry finding more than half underpaid workers, falsified pay records or failed to provide pay slips. Fair Work inspectors recovered more than $1 million in unpaid wages for more than 2500 workers after they investigated 638 businesses involved with the harvesting of crops including grapes, strawberries, cherries, mushrooms, apples, citrus fruits and tomatoes. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has apologised to the seven-year-old girl allegedly assaulted by a sex offender on parole, as the NSW Police Commissioner, Mick Fuller, admitted the organisation had likely "failed" to act on complaints weeks earlier that the man had breached the conditions of his release. Ms Berejiklian said it was "absolutely not acceptable" for police standards to "slip" as she apologised to "everybody affected". "On this occasion, madam Speaker, getting it wrong may have resulted in the most terrible of circumstances and we are deeply, deeply sorry to everybody affected," Ms Berejiklian said in Parliament on Thursday. "I cannot imagine the pain and suffering of the victims involved and the impact on their families and loved ones." Commissioner Fuller said an investigation into the police response to a complaint made against 54-year-old Anthony Sampieri several weeks before he allegedly assaulted the girl on November 15 had "highlighted some errors". John Bluthal, 1929 - 2018 John Bluthal, the actor who has died aged 89, was one of Spike Milligans regular comedy partners and a familiar face in a string of British film farces of the 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, he was known for his portrayal of Frank Pickle, the bow-tied bore who is one of the parish council odd-bods in the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. Pickles gormlessly staring eyes, droning voice and lack of insight into how others see him provided a rich seam of comedy. As parish secretary he took down the minutes with excruciating pedantry, and in one episode he is asked if it was true that he had bored his parents to death. That was never proved, he replies. I just happened to be outlining parish council procedure, when hand-in-hand they leapt out of the open window. John Bluthal actor in The Vicar of Dibley. Credit:BBC On one occasion he does genuinely astonish Dawn Frenchs vicar, the Rev Geraldine Granger when during a broadcast on Dibley radio he reveals that he is gay. Unfortunately, such is his reputation for dullness, Geraldine is his only listener. Corinna Horvath says she can remember police calling her name outside her home, the sound of smashing glass and then being in mid-air. "After I heard the smash I kind of turned to run and remember doing a somersault or doing a backflip that's the only way I can describe it," she says. Corinna Horvath outside the Country Court on Thursday. Credit:Justin McManus Ms Horvath has a limited recollection of what happened on the night 22 years ago when policeman David Laurence Jenkin allegedly stormed into her home, knocked her to the ground, knelt over her and punched her up to seven times. "I remember waking up in the divvy van ... I felt my face and it felt all sticky and everyone [outside] was yelling and screaming. The Liberal Party has announced a $461 million revamp to Ballarat Base Hospital should the Coalition win government. But the ALP has dismissed the announcement as a stunt, saying it had already announced the funding in the state budget in May and had started work on the project. Opposition leader Matthew Guy announced the hospital funding during a visit to Ballarat on Thursday with shadow health spokeswoman Mary Wooldridge. Opposition Leader Matthew Guy announcing the hospital funding in Ballarat on Thursday. Credit:AAP The Liberal Party's pledge for a massive capital works investment at the hospital would provide for more surgical theatres, a bigger emergency department, extra mental health facilities and more space for a women and childrens hub. Its time for a frank discussion about justice and community safety. Firstly, no matter what our political leaders spruik in the lead-up to the election, the truth is we can achieve both of these goals without building new prisons and locking up thousands more people. Secondly, while our leaders can say, hand on heart, they dont put a price on community safety, there is a limit to how far the public purse can stretch and there are always tough decisions to be made around the table come budget time. Punitive responses are not creating a safer community. Credit:Paul Rovere The number of adults in Victorian prisons has ballooned to around 8000 almost double the 4394 of 10 years ago. A third of those are unsentenced and more than 500 will be released after less than a month, making it impossible to manage the churn inside prison or deliver effective treatment programs. It also causes upheaval to family and community connections, housing stability and work opportunities for people cycling in and out of custody. Artist's rendition of the proposed NGV Contemporary and development of the Southbank arts precinct. None of the three main parties have given arts policies high priority in the lead-up to a state election preoccupied with management issues: infrastructure, population, energy, law and order, and the economy. With an infrastructure spend of $10 billion a year in Victoria, the arts sector has asked how much of that money might flow to cultural organisations and artists. NAVA executive director Esther Anatolitis. Credit:Sarah Walker Esther Anatolitis, executive director of the National Association for Visual Arts, pointed out that infrastructure spending, even on major projects like the $208 million first-stage Melbourne arts precinct redevelopment, locked up money, often in buildings that it will cost the public to enter". Brussels: Theresa May has endured another torrid session in the UK Parliament, defending the Brexit deal she has struck with Europe against passionate attacks from all sides, including many members of her own party. British Prime Minister Theresa May speaking in the House of Commons. Credit:PA Her Labour counterpart derided the deal as "waffle". The UK prime minister was presenting the latest and close to final version of the deal due to be voted on by European leaders on Sunday. She presented highlights from the latest draft of the political declaration part of the deal, which describes her countrys future relationship with the European Union after Brexit and the subsequent transition period due to begin at the end of March. Washington: MI6 chiefs are secretly battling Donald Trump to stop him publishing classified information linked to the Russian election meddling investigation. The UK is warning he will undermine intelligence gathering if he releases pages of an FBI application to wiretap one of his former campaign advisers. Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Credit:AP However, the US President's allies are fighting back, demanding transparency and asking why Britain would oppose the move unless it has something to hide. It puts the spotlight on whether the UK played a role in an FBI inquiry launched before the 2016 presidential election into Trump campaign ties to the Kremlin. With Only a Paltry $10 Billion Profit for 2017 Chevron Goes Begging for Hardship Consideration How is a company expected to survive on such meager earnings, I ask ya? By Marc J. Rauch Exec. Vice President/Co-Publisher THE AUTO CHANNEL On the eve of American Thanksgiving, a time for us all to reflect what we give thanks for and to, comes this heartwarming "Queen For A Day" story* about a poor little California multinational company that is barely able to keep their heads above water while struggling to help the citizens of the world get their daily dose of poison. This tale concerns an outfit called Chevron, originally born in an oilfield outside of Los Angeles under a different name before the turn of the last century. The infant produced a scrawny 25 barrels a day of crude oil. In 1879, a California State Assemblyman named Charles Felton, along with some associates, scrapped together a million bucks to buy this property to form a company called Pacific Coast Oil Company. Within a short period of time, Pacific Coast Oil became the largest oil interest in California, and Charles Felton became a U.S. Congressman and then U.S. Senator - wow, what a coincidence that must have been. I'm sure that in that time before the discovery of oil scandals like the Teapot Dome Affair that there was no political string-pulling on behalf Felton's oil company. ;) In 1900, Pacific Coast Oil was 'adopted' by a new father, the kindly old John Davidson who happened to have another petroleum prodigy called Standard Oil. As we all know, John D was forced to break up his sweet little family into a ragtag assemblage of entities known by various names, such as Esso (now Exxon), Mobil, Amoco, Conoco, and Chevron. You can imagine how difficult life was for these poor orphans. Well, these plucky, humble entities limped along all these years barely eking out existences. And guess what? HUMBLE was another of the Standard Oil names, isn't that another remarkable coincidence? So here we are, the day before Thanksgiving 2018, and we learn that the EPA (the United States' Environmental Protection Agency) just recently approved a HARDSHIP waiver for Chevron Oil for 2017. In responding to this report, Brian Jennings, CEO of American Coalition for Ethanol, told Energy.Agwired.com: Chevron posted net profits of nearly $10 billion in 2017. On what planet does that constitute the 'disproportionate economic hardship' threshold needed to help justify a Small Refinery Exemption? The Energy.Agwired.com story also quoted Geoff Cooper, CEO of Renewable Fuels Association: "When an oil company whose net profits surpass the total value of the Iowa corn crop claims it is experiencing hardship, you know weve reached a new level of absurdity." David Blume, author of "Alcohol Can Be A Gas" and CEO of Blume Distillation explains what the Small Refinery Exemption actually means: "An exemption from having to add ethanol to the fuel to reduce toxic emissions from gasoline because the ethanol purchases might somehow economically hurt the oil company. Never mind that ethanol sells for a lower price than gasoline so they actually are making more profit on it, or that they are being allowed to emit poison that is ruinous to our health just to make more money. So what they are actually obtaining is an exemption from anti-trust laws and creating a hardship for farmers." I agree. The absurdity of this situation would be too ridiculous for even Woody Allen to make a movie about. Have a great Thanksgiving; hug and kiss your parents, children, spouse, significant other, close friends, and pets; and say a little side prayer to hope that we finally put an end to the death and destruction wrought by the petroleum oil industry. *QUEEN FOR A DAY was an American radio and television show that aired from the 1940's to the 1960's. It had a game-show format, and it featured different women telling hardluck stories about their family. The daily winners, which were determined by an audience applause meter, would receive a bunch of gifts intended to make their lives better. The show was eventually cancelled because it was considered tasteless, demeaning, insulting, and utterly degrading to the human spirit. Taking everything into consideration that we know about petroleum oil companies and their fuels these characteristics describe perfectly how the petroleum oil industry treats the public every single day. SPEAKING OF CHEVRON... Two months ago, a division of Chevron published a sponsored story blaming ethanol for problems with boat engines. The Auto Channel replied to that story with an open letter to Joe Defina, Chevron Lubricants' Fuel Additives Business Manager. My reply can be found by CLICKING HERE. Needless to say, no one representing Chevron or Mr. Defina ever replied. Kick Start Your Holiday Celebrations with a Delicious E-NOG As we head into Christmas and New Years weekends, we at The Auto Channel salute our readers, viewers, friends, associates, fellow automobile enthusiasts, Law enforcement officers, military personnel, and believers of true democracy, with a delicious ethanol-inspired drink: Add some cinnamon-flavored whiskey instead of brandy to your favorite basic egg nog. If you already like egg nog, you'll go crazy for E-NOG. Stillhouse Red Hot Whiskey, Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey, and Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire all work great. Have a Happy. Jace Josephson, 2, in a file photo at the hospital. (Kidney for Jace/GoFundMe) 23-Year-Old Mother Donated Kidney to Save 2-Year-Old Sons Life A 23-year-old saved her sons life after both his kidneys failed following heart surgery. Jace Josephson, 2, was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome soon after birth and went into cardiac arrest in August 2017. In January, he got a heart transplant. But just weeks later, his large intestine broke open, which led to sepsis. Both his kidneys ended up failing. His mother Akasha Josephson gave one of her kidneys to her son to save his life. Its kind of a stress relief in a way, she told the Post-Bulletin. We know the when, how, and where its coming from, this time. The Robertsons lived in Upsala in northern Minnesota but moved to Rochester, where the Mayo Clinic is located, after their son needed intensive medical care. Organ transplants typically last 13 to 21 years and the possibility of a rejection is lower for a family members donated organ versus one from a stranger. The transplant was successful on Nov. 19, Josephson told the Daily Mail. I feel so relieved that I was able to do this for him. He is an amazing, positive little boy and he never stops smiling. Im a little sore but it was only keyhole surgery, she said. They put it into Jace and the kidney made urine straight away, which is amazing. Hes been through so much, its so hard for any toddler to be in hospital but he has an incredible spirit, Josephson said. She said she would be discharged on Wednesday but her son will likely remain in the hospital over Thanksgiving. Shes hopeful he will be able to spend Christmas at home. Im not sure what Jace wants from Santa but Im sure hell figure it out. Im just looking forward to a Christmas at home with my family, she said. Jace was in hospital last year awaiting his transplant. It will be nice to have my kids together and my husband. Josephson told the Post-Bulletin in May that little Jace enjoys playing with his Thor and Captain America action figures, and plays with his parents, nurses, and his 4-year-old sister Lilliona. Shes more understanding of people who have special needs. Shes gentler than most kids. Shes a little more patient, she said of her daughter. HPLHS According to the Centers for Disease Control, hypoplastic left heart syndrome or HLHS is a birth defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart. As the baby develops during pregnancy, the left side of the heart does not form correctly. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is one type of congenital heart defect. Congenital means present at birth, the agency stated. Because a baby with this defect needs surgery or other procedures soon after birth, HLHS is considered a critical congenital heart defect, it said. When a child has the condition, the left side of their heart doesnt fully develop. The defect prevents the left side of the heart from pumping oxygen-rich blood to the body, which it does in people without the defect. While the left side of the body pumps the blood to the body, the right side of the heart pumps oxygen-poor blood to the lungs. From NTD News The Signing of the Constitution of the United States by Howard Chandler Christy (18721952). (Public Domain) A Constitution Worthy of Our Thankfulness We were gifted the greatest of documents so many years ago when our Founding Fathers created the Constitution of the United States. A mere 4,400 words long7,600, including the amendmentsand just four simple pages, its the oldestand shortestwritten constitution in the world. And yet, nothing more important than the creation of those four pages has occurred in our history as a nation. Our United States is a constitutional republiccharacterized by a constitutionally limited governmentwith powers separated between three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The people elect representatives who make decisions on their behalf. Governmental power is limited to protect the individualthrough laws that govern those who govern us. This structure was created precisely because our Founding Fathers were acutely aware of the dangers inherent in a pure democracy. As John Adams famously noted, There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. A democracys singular defining feature is rule by the majorityit is majority over man. A pure democracy is a dictatorship by the majority. In a democracy, We the People are viewed as a group. The entire purpose of a democratic constitution is to empower the majority of the people to rule. A republic, by contrast, is a form of government in which political authority comes from the people. Powers are vested in the people and exercised through representatives chosen by the people. Republics are bound by charters, which limit the responsibilities and powers of the state. In a republic, We the People are viewed as individuals. The purpose of a republican constitution is to secure the individuals rightslife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And these inalienable rights cant be taken away by a majority-elected government. They are protected from the majority by the Bill of Rights. A right always conveys an action or nonaction onto another. This simple fact is often overlooked and even more frequently misunderstood. Its easy to think of a right as the freedom to act without restrictionour freedom of speech or freedom of religion. While this is partially true, a right to freedom still conveys a non-action on the part of otherswhich is precisely why rights can be taken away if we arent vigilant. We, as individual citizens, have only negative rights placed on us by our Constitution. This must be so in order to protect our individual rights. A positive right is the requirement to engage in an activity to secure another individuals rights. Positive rights require an action on behalf of another individual. Public health care and education, along with a minimum or living wage, are all examples of positive rights. A negative right is the requirement of abstention from an activity that violates another individuals rights. A negative right is the requirement of a non-action. Negative rights stem from the only fundamental rightthe right to life. All other rights spring from this most basic of rights. This is precisely why our Constitution is often referred to as charter of negative rather than positive liberties. Under our Constitution, every individual has the right to engage in activities to preserve and enhance his lifeas long as that individual refrains from engaging in activities that prevent others from doing the same. When every citizen is granted these same rights, then none are allowed to engage in any behavior that impairs the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of another. This is why we as individual citizens have only negative obligations placed on us by our Constitution. We are free to pursue goals; we are not guaranteed to attain them. Our nations Electoral College is intrinsically tied to our status as a constitutional republic and the basic concept of negative rights. The Electoral College was put in place to protect states rights along with those of the individuals residing in them. Our founders foresaw the growth and territorial expansion of the United States and, therefore, provided the Electoral College as the mechanism that kept power from remaining firmly entrenched in already populated places such as Boston and New York. The Electoral College helps maintain our federal system of government, in which our national governments power is balanced by states governmental power. Each states political autonomy to directly serve its own citizens is enhanced. The electoral process also helps dictate that no single region contains the 270 electoral votes required to elect a president. It is also a reason why presidents often select a vice president from a different region than their own. Its in our willingness to live by our republican charterthe Constitution of the United Statesthat allows us to maintain our freedom. A Democracy, by contrast, is only as free as the majoritys understanding and application of the term freedom. Its said that Benjamin Franklin wept as he signed the Constitution. He was 81 years old and so infirm that he required assistanceand yet he came, and he signed. And he wept. Because he understood the moment given to him. Upon leaving the Pennsylvania State House, Franklin was asked about the type of government just created. Franklin responded simply: A republic, madam. If you can keep it. And somehow, someway, we have kept it through all these years. That alone should be worth some tears of thankfulness, for it hasnt come easy. With great gifts come great responsibilities and sacrifices have been made by many in defense of this great nation. And so, on this Thanksgiving, let us take stock of those many gifts given to us by others. On this day, originally created by President George Washington to give thanks for our new Constitutionand our new nationthese states become united. Our United States. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Australia Flags Removing Citizenship From Home-Grown Radicals SYDNEYAustralian nationals convicted of terror offences would be stripped of their citizenship if the government believes they are entitled to apply for residency from another country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison proposed on Nov. 22. Australia has seen a spate of attacks by home-grown Islamic extremists in recent months, including a stabbing attack in the countrys second largest city less than two weeks ago. Morrison proposed allowing the government to weaken current constraints that permit terror convicts to be stripped of their Australian citizenship only if they are already dual nations and they have been sentenced to more than six years in prison. This is something that cant be tolerated, and for those who would engage in this sort of activity, and they have citizenship elsewhere or we have reason to believe they [can] do, they can go, Morrison told reporters in Sydney. Morrisons proposal will require approval from the countrys parliament, where the government does not enjoy a majority. It is also likely to face legal challenges, some say. It is not clear that the Commonwealth has the power to kick out people who have been here for many, many generations, said Sangeetha Pillai, constitutional lawyer at the Kaldor Centre, University of New South. This legislation would make some people stateless, at least temporary, and in some cases, permanently. Morrisons policy proposal comes just days after Australian police arrested and charged three dual nationals with plotting a mass attack on the public in Melbourne. Despite the arrests nullifying the threat from this group, Australia continues to be on heightened alert for future attacks. Australia currently sees the likelihood of a terrorist attack as probable, the midpoint on a five-level threat ranking system. It has been set at that level since the system was introduced in 2015. Keen to give investigators added tools, Morrison demanded parliament pass legislation that would compel technology companies provide access to encrypted messages before 2019. Seen as test case as other nations explore similar laws, Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc, and Apple Inc have jointly began lobby lawmakers to amend the bill. By Colin Packham Watch Next: Australians PM Says Extremist Islam a Threat to Australian Way of Life Australian PM Slams Lawmakers Who Are Pushing for Gender to Be Optional Field on Birth Certificate The changes come without consultation or testing Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called the latest move by Tasmanias opposition Labor Party ridiculous after Tasmanias Lower House passed a series of amendmentsone of which could require parents to submit a form if they wanted to include a childs gender on the birth certificate. The amendments (pdf) will depend on support from Tasmanias Upper House to become law. The vote is not expected until next week. The upper house comprises 15 members, nine of whom are independents. If passed, the law would be the first of its kind in Australia. The childs gender would continue to be recorded on medical records. Disturbed by the changes, Morrison called on federal Labor leader Bill Shorten to veto the state action at an upcoming national conference for Labor party members. Labors plan to remove gender from birth certificates in Tasmania is ridiculous, Morrison wrote on Twitter on Nov. 21. Bill Shorten should step up and commit to put motion to ALP Federal Conference to outlaw it. Labors plan to remove gender from birth certificates in Tasmania is ridiculous. Bill Shorten should step up and commit to put motion to ALP Federal Conference to outlaw it. Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) November 20, 2018 In Sydney, Shorten told reporters that, despite Labors support for the amendment in Tasmania, he himself had no plans to change indications of gender on birth certificates. Ive got no plans to change the way that birth certificates are filled out in this country, he said on Nov. 21, according to AAP. The passed amendment states: The parents of a child aged under 16 years whose birth is registered in the state may apply to the registrar, in a form approved by the registrar, for inclusion of gender information under Section 50 of this Act. Labor legal affairs spokeswoman Ella Haddad said a form would ask parents of newborns, Do you wish to have gender printed on the birth certificate? It creates an opt-in approach, Haddad said, according to The Australian. Labor Says End Discrimination, Liberal Says More Consultation Needed The push to change gender to an opt-in field on birth certificates was a proposal from the more progressive Labor and Greens parties. Alongside other amendments, the change was narrowly voted through after lengthy debate late Nov. 20. The centre-right Liberal government had sought to update the marriage act by introducing a bill that would remove the requirement for people who transition gender to divorce before being able to amend their gender on official documents. The bill, titled Justice and Related Legislation (Marriage Amendments) Bill 2018 (pdf), was to align Tasmanias state laws with recent changes in federal legislation achieved under the Turnbull Liberal government. Labor and the Greens then used the opportunity to attach nine additional amendments to the same bill. All of the amendments sought to stamp out the fact that transgender and intersex people were not represented in the Births, Deaths and Marriage Act 1999. The reforms were passed on a casting vote by Liberal Sue Hickey. The rest of the Liberal Government members did not support the amendments. Among the nine amendments passed, one of them seeks to allow people over 16 years of age to change their gender on their birth certificate by simply filling out a statutory declaration. Another amendment seeks to extend the definition of hate speech in Tasmanias anti-discrimination laws to include gender expression, in efforts to enforce the correct use of transgender peoples names and how to address them. Government minister Michael Ferguson said on Nov. 21 that removing gender from birth certificates is akin to conducting social experiments on children. Tasmanian parents will be disgusted that the Labor and Greens parties are doing social experiments on their kids and taking their sex off their birth certificates, he said, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Cassy OConnor, a Greens leader, calls the passing of the reforms a win. A win for democracy, an inclusive and fair Tasmania. Ultimately this reform is for transgender and intersex Tasmanians and all the people who love them, she wrote on social media. Her son, Jasper Lees, who is a transgender, had also been involved in efforts to push for the reforms. Spokesperson Roen Meijers of Transforming Tasmania, a transgender and gender-diverse rights group, praised the reforms. I applaud the Tasmanian lower house for providing greater equity, dignity, and hope for transgender, gender diverse and intersex Tasmanians, he said, according to reports. Liberal Attorney-General Elise Archer decried the efforts of the Labor and Greens in passing the amendments, calling it a hijack of the original bill that the Tasmanian Liberal government sought to pass. Archer said in a public statement that the bill no longer resembles the Bill the Government introduced. The Tasmanian Government strongly opposed the amendments, which by Labor and the Greens own admission fell outside the scope of the Bill, she said. Make no mistake, this amended Bill contains legally untested, un-consulted and highly problematic changes that we could not support. We maintain our view that the reforms proposed by Labor and the Greens should be referred to the Tasmania Law Reform Institute for proper consideration. That is how these types of reforms should be considered, Archer said. From NTD News Watch Next: How They Brainwash You: Government, Media, and Special Interest Group Tactics A false reality is being painted by news outlets, governments, activists, and special interest groups that is warping psychology and concepts. A new Statistics Canada report says the national homicide rate was its highest in a decade last year thanks to a spike in the number of deaths from guns and gang violence. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy) Canada in Brief StatsCan blames guns, gangs as homicide rate rises A new Statistics Canada report says the national homicide rate was its highest in a decade last year thanks to a spike in the number of deaths from guns and gang violence. The report comes weeks after the federal Liberals and Conservatives rolled out competing plans for tackling the rise in gun and gang violence ahead of next years election. Statistics Canada says police reported the overall homicide rate last year rose to 1.8 for every 100,000 people, the highest level since 2009. The agency blames gangs for a steady increase in gun-related killings, which accounted for about 40 percent of all homicides last year and which reached their highest rate in 25 years. Pot users know driving high is bad, but many do it anyway: Survey Almost two-thirds of Canadians who have smoked pot know they shouldnt drive after doing so but a lot of them are doing it anyway, a new survey suggests. Results of the second annual Canadian cannabis survey released this week found six in 10 people who admitted to using pot in the previous year believed doing so affects a drivers ability to drive. But 43 percent of admitted pot-users had still driven within two hours of smoking or consuming edible pot products. Canada legalized recreational marijuana use for adults on Oct. 17, about three months after the online survey was completed. Private schools should have procedures to report crimes: Police A high-ranking Toronto police officer investigating allegations of assault and sexual assault at St. Michaels College School says private schools should establish rules for reporting crimes to authorities similar to the ones all public schools have in place. Insp. Domenic Sinopoli, head of the sex crimes unit, says all public-school boards in the city have signed protocols with the Toronto police that spell out the institutions responsibilities and the response to incidents where police involvement is required. He says private schools such as St. Michaels do not have such agreements with police. The Roman Catholic school has been at the centre of a police investigation into at least six incidents involving allegations of assault and sexual assault. Some diplomats who fell ill in Havana unable to work, having relapses A handful of Canadian diplomats who mysteriously fell ill in Cuba in late 2016 have been unable to return to work as investigators struggle to pinpoint the cause of their symptoms. A Global Affairs Department official says most of the seven employees suffering dizziness, headaches, and trouble concentrating are working in various new roles. But some have been too unwell to work, while others still experience effects. Officials have all but ruled out environmental factors, and no longer suspect some kind of sonic attack is to blame. Johnston releases spending since leaving Rideau Hall Former governor general David Johnston has publicly released expenses since leaving Rideau Hall that total $76,650 for a six-month period. The expenses, incurred from October to March, include nearly $14,000 for travel, accommodation, and meals, $54,463 for office support, and $8,274 for office supplies and miscellaneous costs. Johnstons disclosure comes amid public scrutiny of the expenses of a previous governor general, Adrienne Clarkson, who has billed taxpayers for more than $1 million in expenses since leaving the job. Earlier this month, Johnston said public responsibilities continue after a governor general leaves the job but said he welcomed public scrutiny of his spending. With files from The Canadian Press A HNA Group logo is seen on the building of HNA Plaza in Beijing on Feb. 9, 2018. (Jason Lee/Reuters) Chinas HNA in Talks With Bad Debt Firm Cinda, Extends $43 Billion Asset Sales HONG KONGChinese conglomerate HNA Group has turned to state-owned China Cinda Asset Management Co among the countrys largest bad debt managers, for advice on asset disposals, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. HNA Groups vice president, Dennis Chen, the nephew of its chairman Chen Feng, met with Cinda President Chen Xiaozhou on Nov. 20 to discuss cooperation, according to the people, who declined to be named as the information is confidential. It was not immediately clear what role Beijing-based Cinda is playing in HNAs asset disposals, but at the meeting, Cinda told HNA it stood ready to help, according to an internal memo sent to HNA staff and reviewed by Reuters. Cinda will continue to support HNAs strategic transformation and its asset disposals in core and auxiliary businesses, Cindas president said, according to the memo. Especially when HNA is in a relatively difficult time, there is all the more reason for us to increase our support, the president added. HNA has attracted much scrutiny for its $50 billion worth of deals in recent years that included hotels in the United States and left it the largest shareholder in Deutsche Bank. Faced with soaring debts and Chinas crackdown on aggressive dealmaking firms, the airlines-to-finance conglomerate has been pushing ahead with a series of asset sales that have so far included real estate and stakes in hotel groups. It has also offered up its much-hyped luxury $300-million-plus corporate Dream Jet. This week, HNA-controlled Hainan Airlines announced the sale of a 40 percent stake in Urumqi Air to a local government entity for an undisclosed amount. The conglomerate has also offloaded a 25 percent holding in asset manager BrightSphere, worth about $343 million, to U.S. hedge fund manager John Paulson. Last week, chairman Chen told domestic business magazine Caijing that HNA had sold almost 300 billion yuan ($43 billion) in assets this year and would continue the disposals. Ingram Plans Cinda has already been involved in talks with potential buyers for Ingram Micro, the U.S. IT parts distributor that HNA bought for $6 billion in 2016, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The bad debt manager could also provide capital for a potential deal, according to one of the people. An HNA spokesman declined to comment on this weeks meeting with Cinda, but added that neither HNA nor any of its affiliates or subsidiaries was working with Cinda to sell Ingram Micro and that any suggestion to the contrary is patently false. Cinda did not respond to requests for comment. Ingram did not respond to a request for comment outside of office hours. Any sale of Ingram Micro could be complicated by stepped-up powers recently awarded to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which scrutinizes foreign purchases of the countrys assets. In 2016, CFIUS approved the HNA-Ingram deal so long as the U.S. company operated as a stand-alone entity. But earlier this month, new rules aimed at curbing Chinese investment in 27 sensitive sectors gave the committee additional oversight of those sectors, which include telecommunications and semiconductors. Several Chinese groups, including Cindas counterpart China Huarong Asset Management, have held discussions with HNA regarding Ingram, Reuters reported in May. Huarong ended discussions on concerns over whether it could pass U.S. regulatory approvals. HNA Technology Co, which owns Ingram, said in September it had $3.55 billion of debt outstanding from the purchase of the firm, of which $350 million was due this year. By Kane Wu & Julie Zhu FBI Director James Comey testifies during a hearing before House Oversight and Government Reform Committee July 7, 2016 on Capitol Hill in Washington. The committee held a hearing 'Oversight of the State Department,' focusing on the FBI's recommendation not to prosecute Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for maintaining a private email server during her time as Secretary of State. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Former FBI Director Comey Plans to Fight Subpoena From House Republicans Former FBI Director James Comey said that he plans to fight a congressional order calling on him to appear for a deposition. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) issued subpoenas on Nov. 22 to Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, according to documents published by reporters from CNN and Politico. The subpoenas call on Comey and Lynch to appear for closed-door depositions on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4, respectively. Comey confirmed receiving a subpoena in a Twitter post, adding that he will resist the congressional order. Comeys attorney said in a statement that the subpoena represents an abuse of process that the former FBI director will resist in court. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see, Comey wrote. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see. James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Comey had previously indicated that he would only appear to answer questions in a public hearing. The last time he appeared for public testimony, Comey used the public setting as justification for refusing to answer almost 100 questions, according to Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). So why in the world would he want to go back to a setting where he knows he cant answer all the questions, Gowdy told Fox News on Nov. 19. Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, explained that key witnessessuch as Comey and Lynchare usually interviewed at the end of an investigation. Were at the end, Gowdy said. Weve interviewed a lot of witnesses between House intel and judiciary, and its time to bring in Comey and Lynch. Comeys attorney, David Kelley, said his client prefers a public setting because the investigation by the two committees resulted in a number of leaks to the media. Kelley alleged that the leaks were selective, with a goal to fit and promote the committees false narrative. While the authority for congressional subpoenas is broad, it does not cover the right to misuse closed hearings as a political stunt to promote political as opposed to legislative agendas, Kelley said. The joint investigation was subject to a number of leaks from anonymous sources, but it isnt known who was behind the disclosures. Since most of the leaks exposed questionable conduct by Obama administration officials, there is reason to suspect Republicans. But Democrats could benefit from the leaks as well, since revealing key confidential documents and testimony can help witnesses align their stories. Republicans on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees are investigating actions taken by the FBI and the Justice Department (DOJ) during the 2016 election. Comey and Lynch headed those entities at the time. The full scope of the House investigation isnt known, but the two committees have been following leads from an earlier probe led by the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). The intelligence committee discovered, among other facts, that the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for an opposition research dossier on then-candidate Donald Trump. The FBI and DOJ then used the dossier, without disclosing the financiers of the research, to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to spy on at least one Trump-campaign associate. Special counsel Robert Mueller took over the FBI investigation in May of last year. Comey signed the original FISA application to surveil former Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page in October 2016, and two renewal applications in January and April 2017. The FBI described Page, a U.S. citizen, as a Russian agent in the documents. Page was never charged with a crime and vehemently denies that he is a Russian agent. Trump fired Comey in May last year. After the firing, Comey admitted that he leaked several memos to a friend with the intention of them reaching the media. At least one of the memos contained classified information, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Both Comey and Lynch were referred for criminal investigation by a group of Republican lawmakers in April. The Republicans say there is evidence that Comey committed investigative misconduct, obstructed justice, and lied about the Clinton-email investigation. They also say the former FBI chief should be investigated for leaking the classified memo. The lawmakers say Lynch obstructed justice and committed investigative misconduct by threatening a Uranium 1 informant with reprisal if he spoke to investigators. Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said the crash happened around 11:30 p.m., on Nov. 21, 2018, on Interstate 495 in Taunton. (Taunton Fire Department) Driver Dead, 5 Injured, in Wrong-Way Interstate Crash in Massachusetts An elderly man driving the wrong way on a Massachusetts highway caused a major crash that left him dead and injured five other people, officials said. Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio told The Associated Press that the accident occurred on Nov. 21 at 11:30 p.m. on Interstate 495 in Taunton. The driver, 84-year-old Arnold Reda of Foxborough, was southbound when his car hit two others, CBS Boston reported. Near Exit 13, he made a U-turn and then began driving south in the northbound lanes. When his Toyota Camry hit the two other vehicles, it caused one to burst into flames. AP reported that the Reda was pronounced dead at the scene. The others who were injured included two boys aged 10 and 12. None of their injuries are life-threatening, CBS reported. Procopio told AP that police have not figured out how the driver ended up on the wrong side of the highway. The driver of the Toyota was the sole occupant of that vehicle. The two other drivers and four passengers in the two struck vehicles were transported to area hospitals by ambulances with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, said the Taunton Fire Department in a statement. Reda slammed his Toyota into a 2016 Mercedes GL450 that was being driven by a 56-year-old man who had three people in the vehicle wit him. A 42-year-old woman and the two boys were in the car, Turnto10.com reported. The adults were transported to Rhode Island Hospital, while the children were taken to Hasbro Childrens Hospital. The Camry also hit a 2003 Lincoln Towncar, driven by a 58-year-old woman who had a passenger in the vehicle. The driver was not injured, but the passenger was. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts State Police, Norton Fire Department, MassDOT, and Taunton Police responded. Norton Fire, Easton Fire, and Brewster Ambulance Service all sent ambulances to the crash as well. The interstate shut down entirely between exits 9 and 10 for several hours. It was later reopened. Traffic Deaths Down in 2018 U.S. traffic deaths fell 3.1 percent in the first six months of 2018, according to preliminary figures released in October. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also reported that for all of 2017 traffic deaths fell by 1.8 percent to 37,133 after traffic deaths rose sharply in the previous two years, according to final figures. The U.S. traffic fatality rate fell to 1.08 deaths per 100 million miles traveled for the first half of 2018. The fatality rate in 2017 was 1.16 million deaths per 100 million miles traveledthe second highest rate since 2008. The Governors Highway Safety Association noted that a strong economy usually correlates with an increase in traffic deaths so this drop, while small, is encouraging news. NHTSA Deputy Administrator Heidi King said the agency is looking at a variety of factors to explain the reduction. Automakers are adding more crash avoidance features to vehicles to help warn motorists of a potential crash or slow a vehicle and were very hopeful that will continue to be part of a trend, King said. The agency said over the last four decades the general downward trend in vehicle deaths is attributed to a variety of factors including increased seat belt use, reduced impaired driving, and features like air bags and electronic stability control. The only increase in traffic death categories in 2017 was a 9 percent jump in deaths involving large trucks, including tractor-trailers. Deaths among truck drivers increased 16 percent. Officials noted that a growing U.S. economy means more freight is traveling on U.S. roads, one factor in the increase. Deaths involving the largest trucks above 26,000 pounds rose by 3.8 percent in 2017. Video shows high-speed chase suspect crashing in Oklahoma City Reuters contributed to this report. A woman farmer tieing a bunch of firewood as her son watches outside their home in Hutou village on Pingtan island. (GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images) Coal Ban Forces Chinese Living in Frigid North to Burn Furniture to Keep Warm Residents of a district of Taiyuan, the capital of northern Chinas Shanxi Province, have resorted to burning timber, old furniture, and other wooden objects for winter heating because of government restrictions on the use of coal. According to a Nov. 17 report by Chinas state-run China News, the Second Ecological Protection Inspection Team of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment received many complaints that people in Taiyuans Kangle District were struggling to survive through the winter because of the strict, centrally mandated prohibitions on burning coal. Kangle District, located in downtown Taiyuan, has about 400 households and 1,500 residents, with 300 people over the age of 60. Residents said that the local Street Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) promoted the coal ban and promised a heater to each household. However, not all residents received heaters and many couldnt afford the high electricity bills, so they were forced to find their own firewood. All kinds of wooden objects are piled up in peoples homes. We take whatever can make fire and keep us warm, said one Kangle resident. We can start worrying about other things once were not freezing. We have no choice but to burn this. Were not allowed to burn coal and it costs too much to use the heaters, another resident said. Many dont have enough wood, so they are forced to ration use. One resident reporting saving the wood for nighttime. I dont burn wood in the day because Id run out otherwise. The thermostat in one well-stocked household showed a temperature of 16 degrees Celsius (about 61 degrees Fahrenheit), the warmest they could achieve by burning firewood. As temperatures dip further, a wood fire will be insufficient to heat the house. Last year, the CCP began requiring people in northern China to replace coal with natural gas for their heating needs. Due to natural gas shortages, as well as the lack of infrastructure, people had to live in freezing homes and children had to study in frosty classrooms across the region. Last winter, netizens reported that students in the neighboring province of Hebei were subject to subzero temperatures in their classrooms, and that the same thing is happening in Shanxi Province his year. According to the China News report, the abruptness of the central governments policy combined with the laziness and carelessness of local officials has put the livelihoods of many people at risk. The blanket ban on coal, intended to reduce pollution, may actually prove counterproductive, since much of the wooden waste being burned contains toxic glues. Last December, the Hong Kong-based newspaper Singtao Daily reported that drivers of over 2,000 natural gas-powered buses in Taiyuan were lining up overnight to refill, in order to prevent shortages during peak hours. A month earlier, a worker in Shanxi was arrested for starting three coal fires to keep himself warm at a construction site. His arrest generated angry and sarcastic comments on Weibo, Chinas popular microblogging service. One netizen from Guangdong Province wrote, Other countries deal with pollution by upgrading their industries. We do so by freezing poor people to death. Ex-female genital mutilation (FGM) cutter Monika Cheptilak, who stopped practicing after the country set anti-FGM law in 2010, shows a homemade tool from a nail used for FGM in Uganda on Jan. 31, 2018. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images) Female Genital Mutilation Charges Against Michigan Doctors Dismissed A federal judge claimed that the United States government erred in outlawing female genital mutilation, claiming that Congress overstepped its bounds, in a decision on Nov. 20 that dismissed charges against eight Muslimsincluding two doctorswho mutilated the genitals of nine girls at a suburban Detroit clinic. Female genital mutilation, known as FGM, involves cutting into the female genital organs and removing part or all of the external genitalia, according to the World Health Organization. FGM is primarily performed on young girls. The procedure has no health benefits and is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, the agency said. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman claimed in his ruling that as despicable as this practice may be, Congress didnt have the authority to pass a law 22 years ago that outlawed the mutilation and that each state would have to do that on its own. As laudable as the prohibition of a particular type of abuse of girls may be federalism concerns deprive Congress of the power to enact this statute, Friedman wrote in his 28-page opinion (pdf). Congress overstepped its bounds by legislating to prohibit FGM FGM is a local criminal activity which, in keeping with long-standing tradition and our federal system of government, is for the states to regulate, not Congress. Michigan was the 26th U.S. state to officially ban the practice when it did so shortly after the group of eight were charged in April 2017. Forty-four countries had banned the procedure by law, including Liberia just this year, according to the United Nations. #BREAKING A federal judge has dismissed several charges against Dr. Jumana Nagarwala in the historic female genital mutilation case. https://t.co/0zNtmpRfn5 WXYZ Detroit (@wxyzdetroit) November 20, 2018 Girls Screamed, Cried In his ruling, Friedman dismissed mutilation and conspiracy charges against Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, who performed the surgery, and Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, who allowed his clinic in Livonia, Michigan, to be used for the procedure. The same charges were dismissed against Attars wife, Farida, and Tahera Shafiq, who assisted in the procedure, as well as four women who took their daughters to the clinic. Court records describe minor girls from Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota being taken to the clinic under false pretenses. When they underwent FGM, some cried, screamed, and bled. One was given Valium ground in liquid Tylenol in an attempt to keep her calm, reported the Detroit Free Press. The defendants are Muslims who are part of a sect called Dawoodi Bohra. Nagarwala admitted performing the procedure but said it was a religious custom. She also said that it didnt involve cutting, but documents obtained by the Free Press indicated the procedure included surgical removal of a portion of at least one girls genitalia. Nagarwala still faces conspiracy to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and obstruction charges. Others in the case face obstruction charges. I did think he would rule in our favor, defense attorney Shannon Smith, who filed a motion on behalf of Nagarwala to have the charges dismissed, said of Friedman. When I first started researching, I was not sure how strong [the motion] would be, but I became more confident this would be the right result. Headed to Supreme Court A spokeswoman said Tuesday that the U.S. attorneys office was reviewing Friedmans opinion. FGM survivor and social activist Mariya Taher, who is working to end the brutal practice worldwide, said that the ruling would harm young girls who face being mutilated. Oh my God, this is crazy, Taher told the Free Press. Unfortunately, this is going to embolden those who believe that this must be continued theyll feel that this is permission, that its OK to do this. In this day and age, for FGM to still occurand a federal government cant regulate this with a human rights violationis very bizarre. This is not what I expected. Its so not what I expected, added Yasmeen Hassan, executive global director for Equality Now, an international womens rights organization. I dont think its possible for the federal government not to appeal this case. My feeling is that it will go all the way to the Supreme Court. The Associated Press contributed to this report. From NTD News IKEA Group Plans to Cut 7,500 Administrative Jobs STOCKHOLMIKEA Group, the owner of most IKEA furniture stores worldwide, plans to cut 7,500 jobs over the next couple of years, mainly administrative staff in central support functions, it said on Nov. 21. At the same time, the group, which owns 367 IKEA stores, estimates it will create 11,500 new jobs in the period as it expands with new store formats and online, grows its service offering and invests in digital capabilities, it said in a statement. IKEA is in a period of transformation where it is boosting its digital, delivery and other services and testing new more accessible store formats in a fast-changing retail and consumer landscape. The expected redundancies amount to almost five percent of the companys current workforce. We need to simplify the way we are organized. Over the last years we have invested in resources in many different ways. And, to be honest, now we see that in several parts of our organization we have a bit of duplicate work, Chief Executive Jesper Brodin told Reuters. Brodin said expected redundancies were related to central functions and global service offices in particular, but also local service offices across markets. This is not geared towards the store operation or distribution units, he said in an interview. Jose Bonilla-Ortiz, 18, an illegal alien from Honduras, was arrested and charged with murder in Houston, Texas, on Nov. 20, 2018. (Houston Police Department) Illegal Immigrant Deported 2 Years Ago Charged in Murder of Texas Clerk An illegal alien who was deported two years ago has been arrested in Houston, Texas, and charged with the murder of a Houston store clerk. Jose Bonilla-Ortiz, 18, was arrested on Nov. 17 at an apartment he was living in two miles north of the Metro Food Mart, where hes accused of killing another immigrant, Faruk Bhuiya of Bangladesh, the Houston Police Department said. Two men wearing hooded sweatshirts rushed into the convenience store on Nov. 10 and killed Bhuiya before robbing the store. Bonilla-Ortiz was deported in 2016, according to prosecutors, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed an immigration hold on him, reported KPRC. His bond was set at $250,000 but he cant post bond under the hold. Besides re-entering the country, which is a felony crime, the teen appears to have no criminal record. Hes believed to be from Honduras. Our Homicide investigators have released surveillance video of the suspects wanted in the fatal shooting of a convenience store employee at 1600 Witte on November 10. Call HPD Homicide at 713-308-3600 or @CrimeStopHOU if you recognize them #hounews pic.twitter.com/qcDNwqLyRu Houston Police (@houstonpolice) November 14, 2018 Victims Wife Reacts Phyllis Bhuiya, the widow of Faruk, said that she felt sympathy for the mother of Bonilla-Ortiz. I feel bad for this boys mother. His life is ruined. Ruined for nothing, absolutely nothing, Bhuiya told the Houston Chronicle. I wish I could hug that boys mother. But she said that if the teenager did kill her husband, then he should be punished. I want him punished for what he did. He didnt just take my husband. He took someones son, someones stepfather, she said. He wasnt just my husband. He was a lot of things to a lot of people. A customer at the store told KPRC that Bhuiya was always nice to him and his daughter. He was always friendly. I usually come up here with my middle child and he was always so nice and friendly with her. Latest Crime by Illegal Alien The alleged murder is just the latest crime to be committed by an illegal immigrant. A case that caught the attention of people across the country ended in a stunning development in late August, when an illegal alien known only by an alias admitted to killing missing Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts. In September, an illegal alien from El Salvador who had been deported six times was charged with murdering three men in California. In October, a Virginia couple said that an illegal alien who murdered their daughter, who was his wife, had duped the girl into marrying him. In some cases, illegal aliens who have been released on bond due to jurisdictions who refuse to work with ICE have committed additional crimes, undercutting the arguments in favor of sanctuary cities and states and against harsher immigration enforcement. In one such case in late October, an illegal alien from Mexico was arrested for murdering his wife but was only able to commit the crime after authorities in Oregon, a sanctuary state, released him following a prior arrest for allegedly assaulting his wife, and ignoring a hold request by ICE officials. Sanctuary policies not only provide a refuge for illegal aliens, but they also shield criminal aliens who prey on people in their own and other communities, the agency said in a statement. From NTD News Iranians walk past Sejjil (L) and Qadr-H medium range ballistic missiles displayed next to a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sept. 25, 2017, on Baharestan square in Tehran. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images) Iranian Official Warns That US Bases, Aircraft Carriers Are Within Range of Its Missiles Iran issued a warning to the United States about its missiles, saying American military bases in Qatar, Afghanistan, and the United Arab Emirates are within its range. Aircraft carriers are within the range of the missiles, said Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of The Revolutionary Guards airspace division, Reuters reported. They are within our reach and we can hit them if they (Americans) make a move, the official told a local state-run news outlet, according to Reuters. He described the American bases around Iran as easy meat for us, reported Iranian state-run mouthpiece Press TV. The Revolutionary Guard has improved the precision of its missiles, saying it could specifically hit the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the Kandahar base in Afghanistan, and the Al Dhafra base in the United Arab Emirates, Hajizadeh said. Hajizadeh also claimed Iran is the top drone power in the region. The Iranian-made Shahed-129 drone, for example, had round-the-clock flights over terrorists positions in Syria and Iraq, and its services were also used by the Syrian army, the Russians, the Hezbollah forces, and others, he said, via Press TV. President Donald Trump recently restored sanctions on Iran that were lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal, which was partially brokered by former President Barack Obama. The U.S. Treasury Department on Nov. 5 said the sanctions are the harshest ever imposed on Iran, and will target critical sectors of Irans economy, such as the energy, shipping and shipbuilding, and financial sectors. As part of the reimposition of sanctions, some 700 individuals, entities, aircraft, and vessels are now affected, the Treasury Department added. This action was a critical part of the reimposition of the remaining U.S. sanctions that were lifted or waived in connection with the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA], it said. The JCPOA is the official name of the 2015 Iran deal. Just before the sanctions were reimposed, President Trump posted a Game of Thrones-inspired meme on Twitter, saying, Sanctions Are Coming, which is a play on the Winter is coming phrase mentioned in the HBO fantasy drama. Previously, Trump described the 2015 nuclear plan as the worst deal ever and the worst deal ever negotiated. The JCPOA, a horrible, one-sided deal, failed to achieve the fundamental objective of blocking all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb, and it threw a lifeline of cash to a murderous dictatorship that has continued to spread bloodshed, violence, and chaos, he said, using the acronym for the official name of the plan, according to The Hill. The Iranian government has ruled out negotiations with Washington over its military capabilities, particularly its missile program run by The Guard, Reuters noted. Iran, which said its missile program is purely defensive, has threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if the United States tries to strangle Iranian oil exports. In October, The Revolutionary Guard fired missiles at ISIS terrorists in Syria after the Islamist group took responsibility for an attack at a military parade in Iran that killed 25 people, nearly half of them members of The Guard. Watch: Russian submarine fires missiles at militant targets in Syria Reuters contributed to this report. Solar panels are seen at a solar power facility as snow covered Mount Fuji is background in Nakai town, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, March 1, 2016. (Issei Kato/File Photo/Reuters) Japan Threatens to Cut Solar Power Subsidies, Angering Investors TOKYOThe Japanese government is threatening to cut existing solar power project subsidies angering the power producers and investors that say the cuts will undermine their profitability and violate earlier agreements. The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) last month proposed that companies granted permits for solar projects between the fiscal years of 2012 to 2014 under so-called Feed-In-Tariffs that guarantee minimum power prices submit applications by March 2019 to connect to the grid. Companies that miss the deadline will see their price guarantees under the tariffs of 32 to 40 yen ($0.28 to $0.36) per kilowatt hour (kWh) cut to 21 yen per kWh. Public comments for the proposal are due by Nov. 21. Japan introduced the FIT to spur solar developments to fill the power gap after the country closed its nuclear power plants following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Japans FIT levels are among the highest in the world, compared to $0.19 per kWh in Germany and at least as much as those in Spain. METI has said the cuts are necessary to reduce the public burden of the FIT subsidies, which are added to consumers bills. At the same time, METI is likely unhappy with the amount of unfilled permits. Data from the ministry shows 23 percent of the total capacity approved in fiscal year 2012 is not operating, with 49 percent approved in 2013 and 59 percent approved in 2014 also not operating. Investors and operators in solar projects are angry with the proposals, threatening lawsuits against the government for breaching the earlier contracts. A similar decision by Spain in 2013 led to compensation payments to investors. Litigation will inevitably ensue from Japan and abroad, and it will be difficult to convince the public that there is no risk of the government losing when the proposed changes so blatantly disregard the foundations of the FIT scheme, according to a note to clients from law firm Orrick reviewed by Reuters. Orrick confirmed the authenticity of the document. METI estimates show the subsidy cut could affect 23.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity, or nearly 44 percent of the amount the government approved in the three-year period after the FIT scheme was created in 2012. Japans total installed power capacity is around 250 GW, with 44 GW coming from solar. The suddenness of the proposal, its almost immediate implementation, and ambiguity around implementation could put future and existing investments at risk, said a group of business lobbying groups in Japan from the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada in a statement on Nov. 16. The changes could also undermine market participants confidence in the security, stability, and predictability of Japanese market rules, the groups said. Beyond Japanese investors, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs groups Japan Renewable Energy are among the biggest investors in the solar sector in Japan. BlackRock declined to comment, and Japan Renewable Energy could not immediately comment. An official who declined to be identified from a Japanese renewable power producer that submitted comments to METI said that some operators with bad intent have deliberately delayed projects. However, she argued that large-scale solar projects do take a significant amount of time to push forward because of environmental mitigation measures and discussions with nearby landowners. The company told METI a unilateral schedule for automatic cuts is hard to deal with. Several investors and lawyers involved said the changes will likely see many projects canceled. Banks that have built up project finance teams to handle the billions of dollars of investment that has flowed into renewables in Japan have stopped or cut funding for projects, one investor said. The investor spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The Japanese Bankers Association requested that projects which already have signed loan contracts be exempted from the new rule, saying that a significant reduction in FIT price would threaten default on payments, it said in its comments to METI. By Aaron Sheldrick & Osamu Tsukimori Landmark Ruling: Parents of 6-Year-Old Sexually Assaulted at School Receive 5-Figure Payout LONDONThe parents of a British girl sexually assaulted at the age of 6 by boys in her school playground have won compensation from the local authority. Despite agreeing to pay out the undisclosed five-figure settlement, the council has not acknowledged any culpability for the sexual assault. The landmark case sets a legal precedent, the BBC reported, as this is the first time Britains High Court has approved a settlement in an instance of sexual assault involving elementary school students. The childs mother told the BBC that since the assaults, her daughter has had nightmares, been afraid to leave her home, and has suffered from anxiety attacks. Broken We had a broken little girl who had been seriously sexually assaulted repeatedly over a number of weeks in school, feeling unsafe in school and she had nothing, the mother said. The girl, identified only by the pseudonym Bella to protect her identity, told her mother about the repeated sexual assaults only when the physical discomfort became unbearable. Her mother said that in the following days and months, while support had been provided to the alleged perpetrators, her daughter was left with no help. The victims parents were forced to pay for her counseling out of pocket. She added that the experience had left their family devastated, the Telegraph reported, while her daughter was badly let down by those supposed to safeguard her while she was at school. Bellas parents argued in a lawsuit that the school had failed to prevent the assaults, and did not properly train staff members to recognize a number of warning signs. Incidents were allegedly not flagged internally at the school, despite allegations that a member of staff had seen Bella with her underwear partly removed, while one of the boys stood behind her, and despite the school reportedly being aware that the boys had a history of similar behavior. A lawyer told the Telegraph that the child was also forced to confront one of her tormentors in a meeting organized by staff on the day the allegations came to light, without the knowledge or consent of her parents. Bellas mother said the compensation funds will be used for further counseling for the child, if needed, and that pursuing legal action was about serving justice. It matters for her I think when shes older. She can make some sense of how she could be so seriously sexually assaulted so many times in a place where she should have been safe, she said. No Liability Despite agreeing to disburse the compensation sum, the local authority has not admitted liability. When she finds out that not only were the boys not prosecuted, not punished, but also the people who were responsible for keeping her safe didnt even write an apology to say yes, we know we got it wrong and were sorry.' The mother added, Although the litigation has not been easy, we hope that when she is older it will help her understand that there was some accountability for what happened to her; that it should never have happened, and that she was badly let down by those who were supposed to safeguard her while she was at school. Rachel Krys, co-director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, told the Telegraph, This case shows that schools, local authorities, and the Department for Education are failing to do enough to protect very young girls in their care. Despite repeated warnings, and shocking figures revealing the extent of sexual violence in our schools, there is still a reluctance by school authorities to properly address the issue. British law states that in instances where an assault is carried out by a child younger than 10 years old, the perpetrators cannot be held criminally responsible. Inconsistent recording of incidents is also a known problem. Police officials reportedly told BBC News they had recorded a total of 593 allegations of sex offences on school grounds in 2017 involving children. This includes 71 allegations of rape and 203 offences where the victim was younger than 13. Attorney Michael Avenatti poses with Mareli Miniutti for a photo at a party in New York in September 2018. (Marion Curtis/StarPix via AP) Los Angeles Prosecutors Wont Charge Avenatti With Felony LOS ANGELESLos Angeles prosecutors declined on Nov. 21 to file felony domestic abuse charges against Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels, referring the case instead to city attorneys for possible lesser charges. The Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office did not offer a reason for the decision, which was announced in a brief written statement. Avenatti, who thrust himself into the public eye as the outspoken attorney for Daniels in her legal battles against U.S. President Donald Trump, was arrested in Los Angeles last week on suspicion of domestic violence. Actress Mareli Miniutti who says she had a relationship with Michael Avenatti alleges that he dragged her across the floor of his Los Angeles apartment after an argument over money, according to court documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Miniutti wrote in a sworn statement that during the argument, Avenatti shouted expletives at her and told her she was ungrateful before he hit her in the face with pillows. She said Avenatti attempted to pull her out of a bed in his guest bedroom and snatched her phone away before she screamed for help. Avenatti, who was arrested last week on a felony domestic violence charge, called the allegations completely false. Avenatti, who has hinted that he might run for president in 2020 as a Democrat, denied wrongdoing to reporters waiting for him outside the police station where he was released and in a statement issued through his law firm. The Los Angeles City Attorneys Office typically handles criminal prosecutions that do not rise to the level of a felony. A spokesman for that office could not be reached for comment on Nov. 21. Avenatti came to national prominence as the lawyer for Daniels, a porn actress whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, who sued Trump for defamation after he denied her assertion that she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006. That lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge last month. Daniels has filed a separate lawsuit over a $130,000 hush-money agreement stemming from the alleged encounter. Avenattis clients have also included Julie Swetnick, who accused Brett Kavanaugh of aggressive sexual behavior before his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Watch Next: SpyGateCollusion Scandal bigger than Watergate [Part 1/2] Those Involved to Take Down Trump Americas most powerful agencies were weaponized against President Donald Trump in a collusion scandal perpetrated by top officials in the #Obama administration. A man who went viral after his mugshot revealed his large neck and spawned endless jokes was arrested again. (Lee County Sheriff's Dept.) Man Who Went Viral in Mugshot Due to Neck Is Arrested Again in Alabama He could be suffering from a rare condition A man whose police mugshot went viral over his unusually large neck has been arrested again. Charles Dion McDowell was arrested Nov. 21 in Lee County, Alabama, for allegedly eluding law enforcement, reckless driving, driving with a revoked license, improper lane usage, and possession of marijuana, TMZ and ABC6 reported. McDowell, 31, was booked into the Lee County Detention Center in the early hours of Nov. 21, ABC6 reported. His bond was set at $5,400 and he already posted bail. Earlier this week, the Escambia County Sheriffs Office posted a photo of his mug shot after he was arrested in Florida for possession of meth with intent to sell or manufacture and other charges. Congratulations to Charles Dion McDowell, DOB: 8/12/87 *shareCharles Dion McDowell was arrested for Fleeing/Eluding Escambia County Sheriff's Office A big thank you to Bob Tyler Toyota for his continued partnership with Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers and the ECSO in expanding the reach of Wheel of Fugitives to WEAR ABC 3 News, Pensacola, the sheriffs office wrote. The post had more than 61,000 likes, 264,000 shares, and nearly 300,000 comments as of Nov. 19. Its not the first time McDowell has been arrested, as there are other mug shots of him available on the Internet. His most recent arrests have gone viral and spawned a string of jokes. Medical Condition? As highlighted a previous Epoch Times article, McDowell could suffer from a rare medical condition that causes a larger neck. Dr. Milton Wolf noted McDowells neck might be due to a medical condition and accused the media of body shaming. Its called pterygium colli deformity. Or webbed neck. Its associated with various medical disorders, most commonly Turner Syndrome. So I guess the MSM is cool with body shaming, so long as its the result of a medical condition? he wrote on Twitter. Turner Syndrome, however, is a genetic disorder that is known to only affect females. The prevalence of pterygium colli webbed neck is 75 percent in patients with Turner syndrome, according to the U.S. Library of Medicines website. This congenital deformity manifests as a bilateral cervical skin fold stretching from the mastoid to the acromion. Although the visibility of this skin fold varies among patients, it frequently has negative social effects. The surgical management of this malformation remains challenging as it requires the achievement of a harmonious neck profile and natural hairline implantation. Its not clear if McDowell actually suffers from any rare genetic disorders. And the National Organization for Rare Diseases writes of Noonan Syndrome: Noonan syndrome is a genetic disorder that is typically evident at birth (congenital). The disorder is characterized by a wide spectrum of symptoms and physical features that vary greatly in range and severity. In many affected individuals, associated abnormalities include a distinctive facial appearance; a broad or webbed neck; a low posterior hairline; a typical chest deformity and short stature. It adds that some features of the head and facial (craniofacial) area may include widely set eyes (ocular hypertelorism); skin folds that may cover the eyes inner corners (epicanthal folds); drooping of the upper eyelids (ptosis); a small jaw (micrognathia); a depressed nasal root; a short nose with broad base; and low-set, posteriorly rotated ears (pinnae). An undated family photo shows British academic Matthew Hedges with his wife Daniela Tejada. (Daniela Tejada via AP) Matthew Hedges: British Academic Accused of Spying in UAE Is Jailed for Life LONDONA UK academic has been sentenced to life in prison in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after being convicted on charges of spying for the British government. Matthew Hedges, 31, was sentenced after a five-minute hearing, with the UAEs public prosecutor saying he confessed before court to the charges brought against him, Reuters reported. There is no independent confirmation of his confession, however. Hedgess lawyer wasnt present at the hearing, and the prosecutor didnt specify the charges. Hedges will be able to appeal, the prosecutor said. We are of course deeply disappointed and concerned at todays verdict, British Prime Minister Theresa May told Parliament. The Foreign Office will remain in close contact with Matthew, his family, and his lawyer, May told members of Parliament. We will continue to do all we can to support them as they consider the next steps and we will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis. We have seen no evidence to back up charges against him UAE claim to be a friend & ally of the UK so there will be serious diplomatic consequences. Unacceptable, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a tweet. Todays verdict runs contrary to earlier assurances, Hunt said, calling the move extremely worrying. UAEs Attorney General Hamad al-Shamsi said in a statement that the trial was fair, transparent, and just. In UAE for Research A doctoral student at Durham University, Hedges has been held in the UAE since May 5, after being arrested at Dubai International Airport following a two-week research visit. According to the universitys website, his department researches civil-military relations, political economy, and tribalism. Hedges said he was in the UAE to research the effect of the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings on the countrys foreign policy. He was convicted solely using evidence gathered from his research notes, according to his family. I am in complete shock and I dont know what to do. Matthew is innocent, said Hedgess wife, Daniela Tejada, who was in the Abu Dhabi courtroom, adding that Hedges was shaking when he heard the verdict. Hedges could be imprisoned for up to 25 years and then deported, according to The National. The British government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens, Tejada told the Guardian. They say that the UAE is an ally, but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matts case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price. Tejada flew back from the UAE on Nov. 20 to appeal to Hunt, who had raised the case when he was in the UAE last week. Arrested After Seeking to Gather Classified Information The National reported that Hedgess devices and research would be confiscated and that he can appeal within 30 days. Hedges was arrested after an Emirati man reported him to police for asking sensitive questions about some sensitive departments and seeking to gather classified information on the UAE, The Guardian reported. He was released on bail in late October, but had been held in solitary confinement for five months prior. Hedges was forced to sign a confession in Arabic that he didnt understand, his family said, and his health deteriorated while in detention. More than 120 academics from around the world have issued a petition urging UAE authorities to release him. Professor John Williams from Durham University told the BBC: Were desperately worried about Matts welfare. Hes an innocent manhes been subjected to a terrible period of detention. The process of the trial has lacked any legitimacy or credibility, and his health is not good. We all hope, above everything else, that he will be home very soon. Mattis: We Can Protect Border Patrol With Lethal Force, But DHS Hasnt Made Request Defense Secretary Gen. Jim Mattis explained the role nearly 5,800 troops deployed to the southern border will play after President Donald Trump expanded Mattiss authority to include the use of force, even lethal, in defense of the Border Patrol. Mattis said that while hes authorized to use lethal force, that is not what the mission currently calls for and its up to Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), to request it. There has been no call for any lethal force from DHS, he said during a Nov. 21 media availability. Trumps chief of staff, John Kelly, issued a cabinet order on Nov. 20 which allows federal troops to perform those military protective activities that the Secretary of Defense determines are reasonably necessary to protect border agents, including a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention. and cursory search, the Military Times reported. The order was issued after multiple reports that some travelers in the Central American migrant caravans have been behaving violently, and that dangerous criminals are mixed into the group. Some of the travelers threw rocks and glass bottles and injured six Mexican police officers on the border with Guatemala last month, according to Beatriz Marroquin, the director of health for Guatemalas Retalhuleu region. Some of the migrants had guns while others had Molotov cocktails, Mexicos Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete said at the time. The travelers have expressed a willingness to enter the United States illegally. Given the situation, Mattis said, it is not an unreasonable concern on the part of the president that we may have to back up Border Patrol. Based on the secretarys description, Border Patrol agents will continue to be responsible for law enforcement roles, but if necessary, the troops can step in and protect the agents with non-lethal force. Such an action would probably be undertaken by Military Police armed with shields and batons, not firearms, he said. Theyre not even carrying guns so, just relax, he told reporters. Though there are some armed soldiers deployed at the border, thats just standard practice for protecting the troops, Mattis said. Posse Comitatus The detention authority in Kellys order prompted speculation on a possible violation of Posse Comitatus, a law that prohibits federal troops from domestic law enforcement unless specifically authorized by Congress. But Mattis clarified that the troops will not be actually arresting people. If someones beating on a Border Patrolman and if we were in position to have to do something about it, we could stop them from beating on them and take him over and deliver him to a Border Patrolman, who would then arrest him for it, he said, adding that this is minutes not even hours of detention. However, he said the aim is to dissuade the migrants from trying to storm the border in the first place and thats why the troops have been deploying roadblocks and fortifying the existing border fences with razor wire. If theres one thing you dont want to walk through, any of us as human beings, its barbed wire; even cows are smart enough to stay away from that stuff, Mattis said. So if we can keep the danger to the border police low by just putting in barbed wire, especially when people say theyre going to try to illegally cross the border, of course wed do it. Its the Law Mattis stressed that the country remains open to immigrants, as long as they come legally. He suggested that Border Patrol shouldnt get flak for enforcing the existing laws and that its up to Congress and, ultimately, up to the voters to change the laws. We carry out the law and thats what Border Patrol is doing, he said. I was just down there. These are great guys, Ill tell you. They have a very difficult job and theyre carrying a heavy load with a country that, right now, has been unable to-date to deal with a legal accommodation for how were going to address immigration into this country. Caravans Near Several caravans of migrants embarked on a journey from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to the United States, the first setting off from the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on Oct. 13. By mid-November, the first wave reached Tijuana, the Mexican city bordering San Diego. The DHS said that there were 6,000 migrants in the city on Nov. 19 with an additional 2,500 expected any day and perhaps yet another 3,000 in about two weeks, Tijuana Police Chief Mario Martinez said in a previous interview. About 400 local residents protested the migrants presence on Nov. 18, saying the migrants complained about the food provided to them and caused violence. Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said the caravans are maliciously organized with the goal of creating trouble. He questioned why the migrants chose Tijuana, one of the most difficult borders to cross to the U.S. Migrants from the three Central American countries commonly try to sneak into the U.S. illegally, but usually do so in the Rio Grande Valley. The trip from Guatemala City to Tijuana is about twice as long as the one to reach the valley. Vice President Mike Pence was told that the first caravan was organized by leftist groups. What the president of Honduras told me is that the caravan was organized by leftist organizations, political activists within Honduras, and he said it was being funded by outside groups, and even from Venezuela, Pence told Fox News on Oct. 26. The Central American migrants commonly claim asylum at the border, but only 9 percent end up being approved by an immigration judge, according to the Department of Justice. Reuters contributed to this report. Merkels Would-Be Successor Questions Germanys Constitutional Asylum Pledge Friedrich Merz, trailing in the race to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU) party, has sparked controversy by questioning Germanys constitutional guarantee of asylum. We must be prepared to discuss the constitutional right to asylum if we seriously want a European immigration and refugee policy, Merz said at a campaign rally in the eastern state of Thuringia on Wednesday, Nov. 21, to applause from local party delegates. Germanys Constitution, drafted in part to atone for World War ll Nazi crimes, guarantees asylum to all those who are politically persecuted. But as millions seek sanctuary in Europe, either to escape conflict zones, avoid persecution or to better economic prospects, many in Germany are calling into question the countrys immigration policies and argue its time for a revamp. The danger, Merz argued, is that Berlins constitutional guarantee could force Germany to accept refugees that a common European asylum policy would otherwise reject. The European Union is divided over how it should cope with an influx of migrants, and has been working to hammer out a bloc-wide framework. Merz elaborated on his remarks on Thursday, saying he does not question the fundamental right to asylum, but that it must be re-evaluated in context of EU-wide immigration rules, to ensure Germany is not unfairly disadvantaged in burden-sharing arrangements. We need to address the issue of how the fundamental right to asylum and a European approach can work together, Merz said, according to AFP. In my opinion, this debate must be conducted in peace and objectivity by the CDU. Merzs remarks were also widely reported as an implied rebuke to Merkels decision in 2015 to admit over a million refugees, which upturned European politics and fueled an anti-immigration surge across the continent. Since the height of the migration crisis in 2015, the EU has implemented measures to better control external borders and migration flows, and unauthorized arrivals to the bloc have been reduced by more than 90 percent. Over 1.8 million asylum-seekers have entered Europe since 2014, and despite the lower figures in recent years, most observers believe that because structural factors contributing to illegal migration remain largely in place, it is only a matter of time before those numbers start to rise significantly. So far this year Spain has seen 56,200 illegal migrants arrive by sea, Greece 28,700, and Italy 22,500, according to the UNHCR. Overland arrivals in Greece have also climbed sharply to 14,000, a threefold increase compared to the same period last year. Merz also called for clarification that the UN Global Compact for Migration (GCM), which Merkel has said she intends to sign, does not create new grounds for asylum. This had to be suitably clarified, he said, suggesting a protocol statement by the federal government or a resolution by the German lawmaking body, the Bundestag. He cited as an example that climate change should not be considered a form of political persecution and therefore a reason for asylum. These are things that we can not accept in Germany, Merz said, even through the back door. The UN said the GCM provides a framework for facilitating safe and orderly migration globally, and sets out a range of actionable commitments that could influence legislation and policymaking for member states. The compact has 23 objectives that seek to boost cooperation among countries to manage migration, and includes such aims as to strengthen the transnational response to smuggling of migrants and combat and eradicate trafficking in persons in the context of international migration. But the pact has been criticized on grounds that it fails to draw a clear distinction between legal and illegal migration, that it could serve as an inspiration for individuals to engage in irregular migration, and that it undercuts the ability of sovereign countries to manage their borders. A number of countries, including the United States, have said they will not adopt the agreement, set to be signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Dec. 11-12. But Merz, who with his remarks appeared to align himself against Merkel with opponents of the migration pact, drew fire from other CDU politicians, including Health Minister Jens Spahn, third-placed challenger and another critic of Merkels refugee policies. The constitutional right to asylum for political refugees is a great virtue of our constitution, created against the background of two world wars, great suffering, and vast displacements, wrote Spahn on Twitter. Merz trails Annagret Kramp-Karrenbauer, dubbed mini-Merkel for her similarities in policy and style, in polls of party members. The winner will be in pole position to lead the EUs largest country and economic powerhouse. The party will choose a successor to Merkel, who is stepping down after a string of regional election setbacks, at a congress in Hamburg in December. Reuters contributed to this report. Andreea Dumitru was found guilty of asylum fraud, making false statements, and aggravated identity theft, in New York, on Nov. 19, 2018. (Attorney General's Office) New York Immigration Attorney Found Guilty of Large-Scale Asylum Fraud A New York lawyer who was previously accused of participating in a $5 million corporate tax evasion scheme has now been found guilty on charges of asylum fraud. Andreea Dumitru Parcalaboiu, who was charged with a range of crimes in association with her job as an immigration attorney, was found guilty on Nov. 19 of asylum fraud, making false statements to immigration authorities, and aggravated identity theft. Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement, Andreea Dumitru, an immigration attorney, scammed the asylum program, which was designed to provide safe harbor for the worlds most vulnerable people. She will now serve time in prison for her crimes. Berman said that between 2013 and 2017, Dumitru submitted more than 180 fraudulent I-589 forms (Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal) in which she knowingly made false statements about the applicants travel histories, criminal histories, and personal narratives of alleged persecution. He added that Dumitru deliberately forged her clients signatures, falsely notarized affidavits, and fabricated detailed personal stories of purported mistreatment of her clients. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent said the womans actions were harmful also because they obstructed timely processing of claims by legitimate asylum-seekers. Dumitru is alleged to have used her trusted position to defraud the government, submitting fraudulent documents to claim asylum, said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent-in-Charge Angel M. Melendez, according to a QNS report. Her alleged actions took up time and resources while those with valid asylum claims waited in line. Now, Dumitru will enter a courtroom as a defendant to face the consequences for her alleged actions. Dumitru was found guilty on one count of asylum fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of making false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison. United States District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan presided over the defendants two-week trial at a federal court in Manhattan. No sentencing date has been announced. Criminal Tax Fraud According to a QNS report, Dumitru served as chief financial officer of Taxiclub Management Inc., a company with a fleet of more than 800 medallion taxi cabs with locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Woodside, and Long Island City. In 2017, she and business partner Evgeny Friedman were both charged with four counts of first-degree criminal tax fraud and one count of first-degree grand larceny for failing to pay $5 million worth of 50-cent Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) surcharges for each ride. Dumitrus attorney, Kurt Haas, argued in court papers reported on by the Times Union that Friedman misled and victimized her. Ms. Dumitru was in many ways victimized by co-defendant Friedman, Haas stated, according to the report. He wrote that Dumitru was kept in the dark with respect to the vast majority of codefendant Freidmans business dealings and was without knowledge of his alleged criminality. Dumitri is the owner of Andreea Dumitru & Associates, a law firm with an office in Queens, New York. Members of the media gather in front of Nissan Motor Co.'s global headquarters building in Yokohama, Japan Nov. 22, 2018. (Reuters/Toru Hanai) Nissan Ends Ghosns Two-Decade Reign With Last-Minute Renault Backing YOKOHAMA, Japan/PARISNissans board voted unanimously to oust Chairman Carlos Ghosn over allegations of financial misconduct, after French partner Renault backed away from a last-minute demand to postpone the decision on their alliance leaders fate. The votesupported by Renault appointees on the Nissan board after a four-hour meetingmay begin to defuse a crisis that threatened to upend the alliance and spark a diplomatic rift between Japan and France, Renaults main shareholder. It also drew a firm line under Ghosns stewardship of the car empire that was his lifes work. Ghosn was arrested in Japan on Nov. 19 after a Nissan investigation uncovered evidence of serious wrongdoing including under-reporting of his remuneration and personal use of company assets. The board acknowledged the significance of the matter and confirmed that the longstanding alliance partnership with Renault remains unchanged, the Japanese carmaker said. Nissan said its board dismissed Ghosn and fellow representative director Greg Kelly, an alleged co-conspirator, after reviewing a detailed report of the internal investigationthe first time Renault had seen key findings. With Ghosn and Kelly still in custody, neither man has been able to defend himself publicly against the allegations. Ultimatum Before the meeting, two Renault board directors had demanded a postponement of the vote to fire Ghosn until the internal probe and legal proceedings were complete, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Failing that, they had warned that the French carmaker would exercise its right under the alliance master agreement to appoint Ghosns successor and a fourth Renault nominee to the Nissan board, the sources said. The ultimatum was issued in a strongly worded response to Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawawho had informed Renault in an earlier confidential missive that the Nissan investigation was expanding to include Renault-Nissan finances. Nissan is 43.4 percent-owned by Renault. While almost 60 percent bigger by sales, it remains the junior partner in their shareholding hierarchy with a smaller reciprocal 15 percent non-voting stake in its French parent. Ghosn had been exploring a deeper Renault-Nissan tie-up that was resisted by the Japanese firma fact which has fueled speculation about ulterior motives for his arrest. No Conspiracy? After the board presentation and its summary of findings, however, the tune in Paris had changed. The accusations are extreme, certainly, but they are also precise, said an official at French President Emmanuel Macrons Elysee Palace office. We know theres a flourishing conspiracy theory about all this, but thats really not our thinking. The Japanese company did not announce a replacement for Ghosnconfounding reports that Saikawa was to be appointed interim chairman. Japanese prosecutors say Ghosn and Kelly conspired to understate Ghosns remuneration by about half the 10 billion yen ($88 million) he earned at Nissan over five years from 2010. Following an internal probe resulting from a whistleblower alert, Ghosn is also accused of misappropriating Nissan assets and misrepresenting the purpose of company investments. A Nissan executive with direct knowledge of the board meeting said Renaults representatives had initially voiced incomprehension over the accusations. There was some talk and frustration about an unjust arrest, he said. But they suddenly changed when they heard the contentsand understood that this wasnt some strange conspiracy. Ghosnleaks Japanese newspapers have been awash with leaked details of the Tokyo prosecutors investigation into Ghosn. Asahi Shimbun reported on Nov. 22 he had emailed Kelly orders to make false statements about his remuneration. The Yomiuri, Japans biggest-circulation daily, said Nissan had been paying Ghosns elder sister $100,000 a year since 2002 for a non-existent advisory role. She lived in a luxury Rio de Janeiro apartment funded by a Nissan subsidiary, according the report, which cited unidentified sources. Mitsubishi Motors, which joined the alliance in 2016, also plans to oust Ghosn as chairman next week. Renaults board named interim replacements on Nov. 20 but kept Ghosn on as chairman and CEO, with government backing. That stance may now change. Even were he cleared, French officials now concede, Ghosn would be an unlikely figure to rebuild the cross-cultural trust of which he once appeared to be the sole guarantor. It really seemed there was a common vision between Ghosn and Nissan, the Elysee official said. But now we realize there was in fact a yawning gap. By Sam Nussey, Maki Shiraki & Laurence Frost A California black bear roams in Three Rivers, Calif., on Oct. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Brian Melley) Pennsylvania Man Kills 679-Pound Black Bear at 5 Yards With Handgun: Report A man in Pennsylvania killed a nearly 700-pound black bear with a .357 handgun during the states bear harvest that lasts four days. Jordan M. Tutmaher said he spotted the black bear near a Christmas tree farm, YourErie reported. He shot the bear, which weighed 679 pounds, from 5 yards away, Nov. 17, the report stated, which added that he killed the bear at 8 a.m. local time. Last Saturday, some 1,241 black bears were shot and killed across the state, said the Pennsylvania Game Commission. In 2017, only 659 bears were taken. The report said the largest bear that was shot was 704 pounds. State regulations say that hunters can take only one black bear per season. A number of states have banned bear hunting on public lands, including New Jersey in 2018. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy issued the order on Aug. 21. I am fulfilling my commitment to stop the bear hunt to the greatest extent of my authority by ordering the Department of Environmental Protection to prevent bear hunting on all public lands under the DEPs jurisdiction, Murphy said in a statement. Cody McLaughlin, a trustee with the nonprofit New Jersey Outdoor Alliance, which opposes efforts to stop the hunt, estimated that about three-fifths of hunters use public lands when hunting various quarry. State officials have estimated around 3,500 bears live in northern New Jersey, and McLaughlin estimated that New Jersey has the densest bear populations on the continent. He said Murphys decision ignored scientific studies that show hunting is an effective means of population control, particularly in densely populated New Jersey. Honestly, Im a little shocked and distressed, McLaughlin said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Protest Calls for Chinas Belt and Road Agreement With Victorian Labor Govt to Be Cancelled Groups gathered outside Victorias State Library in Melbourne on Nov. 21 to protest the Labor governments secretive move to join Chinas flagship economic investment project, the Belt and Road initiative (BRI). Protesters held banners and signs calling out what they say is the Chinese Communist Partys (CCPs) underhanded economic and trade tactics that could potentially compromise Australias economic and political independence. More than a hundred people attended the rally, hailing from various backgrounds, including Australians as well as those from the local Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tibetan communities. Victoria is currently the only state in Australia to have formally expressed its support for Chinas BRI, also known as the One Belt One Road project. On Oct. 25, Labor Premier Daniel Andrews finalised a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the BRI with Chinas Ambassador Cheng Jingye, in hopes that the deal will foster more trade and jobs in Victoria. Andrews office reluctantly released the contents of the MoU (PDF) late on Nov. 11 after significant pressure from politicians on all side of politics, including Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Despite the MoU with Chinas communist regime being non-legally binding in nature, Ruan (Frank) Jie, editor-in-chief of the Tiananmen Times in Melbourne and also a host of the protest, said he had grave concerns about the agreement with the CCP. He highlighted the deceitful nature of the CCP. The CCP makes secret deals through the Belt and Road trade, manipulating politics, the economy and even the military of a democratic country, he said at the rally. Ruan Jie also told The Epoch Times: In the past 20 years, the CCP [has been] developing the economy and now China is one of the largest economic bodies, next only to the United States. It means the CCP has too much money. They want to use this money to make some people, especially the politicians, leaders of the western countries, to shut their mouths on the human rights abuses of the Communist Party in China. If a party does not treat its own countrys people well, will it treat foreign countries well? Don Nardella, an independent MP and former Labor member, told the Epoch Times that, despite human rights concerns in China, he believes the trade relationship with China must be maintained. I certainly have concerns about, as I talk to people, the Uyghurs, organ harvesting, labor camps in China. There are whole ranges of issues, he said. However, China is our biggest trading country. This is the situation where you should build relationships, he said. Nardella added that in his opinion, a strong trade relationship would mean that Australia can continue to maintain a dialogue with communist China about other issues. Debt-Trap Concerns Patrick J. Byrne, vice chairman of the National Civic Council, said in the rally on Nov. 21 that the MoU signing may be part of the CCPs economic and political interference efforts in Australia. In his speech to the crowd, Byrne said that other countries like Malaysia and Pakistan have already reconsidered their BRI involvement due to debt concerns. Chinas BRI projects have been criticized for burdening developing countries with massive loans that they cant pay off. In several countries, including Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam, locals are accusing the BRI of being a platform to serve the CCPs interests through debt-trap diplomacy. The BRI has also been criticized for potentially reinforcing corruption in countries with weak institutions. threatening democracy, and benefiting Chinese firms rather than serving local interests, The Epoch Times previously reported. On Nov. 17 at the APEC Summit in an indirect reference to Chinas BRI, Vice President Mike Pence said: We dont drown our partners in a sea of debt. We dont coerce or compromise your independence. The United States deals openly, fairly. We do not offer a constricting belt or a one-way road. Lack of Transparency Vivienne Nguyen, chair of the Vietnamese Community Association (VCA) of Victoria who was also at the rally, expressed concerns about the lack of transparency of the MoU agreement that Victoria had signed. Looking after the economic prosperity of the Victorians by any government is crucial. But it can be done a lot more transparently, Nguyen told The Epoch Times. You can do that on a project-by-project basis, which is what Victoria and other states of Australia has been doing for a long time. But when you sign up to an initiative, there are obligations within that initiative that you have to adhere to and comply with. Within that Belt and Road initiative, there are a lot of things that are not business-related, and that do not support the economic prosperity of the Victorian people, she said. That is why, to me, it is better to say if you want to improve job prospects for Victorians, enter into a project that generates job prospects for Victorians. If you want to engage in cultural exchange, whether be in Victoria or other states, then do that. So that way, its transparent, which is important in any democratic system. That way, people can look at it and understand it rather than having something thats so convoluted, that meshes up everything altogetheryou cant really distinguish what is what, Nguyen said. Thats the issue with the BRI. They put into it so many things, that you really cant say this is you, this is me. Its like you and I are all combined, you cant really tell, she added. The Jobs Will Be Taken Away Tenzin Lobsang Khangsar, President of the Victoria Tibetan Community, called the MoU a secret deal that is part of the CCPs many efforts to infiltrate Australia. This communist regime is one of the most dangerous regimes in this world, he told the crowd at the rally. This communist influence in Australia is coming very strong. As you can see, theyre influencing the universities, societies, politicians, everywhere. Read More Australian Media Reveals Companies Under Chinese Spy Agency Attack Khangsar said that the CCP today is drawing on the same ways in which it occupied Tibetit is using the same tactics as a blueprint to seek influence over the rest of the world. To understand communist China, you must understand the narrative of Tibet, Khangsar said. In 1949, when Communist China came into power, under the leadership of Mao When [the CCP] first entered into Tibet, they promised us peace and prosperity in Tibet, and pretended they were helping Tibetans. The innocent Tibetans helped the Communist army to build the roads. Once the roads were built and reached the capital city of Tibet, Lhasa, they brought the trucks, guns, tanks, and in 1959, Tibet was occupied. This road initiative is exactly being implemented throughout the world because China was successful in occupying Tibet, he said. Khangsar told The Epoch Times there are people who share his concerns that jobs will be taken away from Victorians, although he said that negative consequences of signing the BRI likely wont happen straight away. Whether its 10 or 20 years, when it happens, the jobs will be taken away the jobs will be taken away by the Chinese Thats why we are also worried about the future of this country, he said. We are telling the world leaders and our Premier that what had happened to Tibet might happen to you. We dont want that to happen to Victoria or around the world, he added. Andrews declined The Epoch Times request for comment on the MoU. Reporting by Rita Li and Beatrice Lee of The Epoch Times From NTD News Watch Next: 5 Ways China is subverting the United States Gina and China Uncensored host Chris Chappell to count down the worst cases of Chinese subversion in America. Retired Sergeant Receives a Kidney Donation From His Coworker From now on, Thanksgiving will always have a special meaning for Jim Anderson, a retired Arizona police officer, and its all because of a certain gift that was meant to save his life. The 60-year-old retired sergeant left the Pima County Sheriffs Department in 2010 after a 20-year career due to increased problems with his diabetes. Suffering from the condition for years, he relied on dialysis but eventually experienced kidney failure. Anderson desperately needed a kidney transplant, but he knew that it might not be easy to find. My first option for a donor was my sister, but she was too old, Anderson told KOLD. The second option was my wife, Karen, but her kidney was not large enough to support me. One day, Anderson wrote a post on Facebook about the fact that he was looking for a kidney, and a friend happened to see it and was touched. He decided to contact Anderson and say the unexpected. Chad saw this post and felt compelled to volunteer. If Chad had not been a suitable donor, I had a fourth option in my niece, Kara. I feel truly blessed that so many people came forward for me, said Anderson to KOLD. You know, it was more of just kind of an off-hand comment, and he picked up on it. Chad Avery is a longtime friend of Anderson and also an employee at the Pima County Sheriffs Department since 1999. I knew his health wasnt that great, but I didnt know he needed a kidney, said Avery. When I saw that, I went, Okay, Im gonna find out. After finding out he was a match, Avery didnt hesitate to do what he had originally planned. It was an easy decision, said Avery. It was literally less than five minutes for me to think about it, and Ive never looked back at it. It was alwayswere doing this. This is what were going to do. It has been a month since the two men had the operation at Dignity Health St. Josephs Hospital and Medical Center. Both men are doing well, and both men are thankful to each other. I am going to be giving thanks for heroes like Chad, Anderson said, according to a report from AZfamily. Im going to be giving thanks for being blessed to be able to help a friend and fellow human being, said Avery. According to the Pima County Sheriffs Department, its the fourth time that an employee of the department or family member received a donation from their colleague. It was just such an incredible, incredible uplift. I mean, the Lord never gifted me with a brother, when I was a young man, but I feel like Ive got a brother by blood now, said Anderson. Fox contributed to this report Romaine Is on the Menu at Some New York Delis Despite E.coli Warning NEW YORKRomaine lettuce still had a place at the salad bars of some cafes and delicatessens in New York City on Nov. 21 despite a blanket warning to Americans from U.S. public health officials that none of the lettuce was safe to eat because it might be contaminated by E.coli. The warning, precipitated by an E.coli outbreak in 11 states and Canada, was issued on Nov. 20. Some shops said that romaine was still being sold because officials had not specified the source of potentially contaminated romaine, such as a farm or company. Its up to the customers to choose to eat it or not, said Alex Hwang, manager of Dali Market in midtown Manhattan. Whatever we have, its the same thing we had yesterday. They ate it, and we had no issues with it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Nov. 20 that 32 people in 11 states had been sickened by E.coli between Oct. 8 and 31. The Public Health Agency of Canada issued food safety alerts on Nov. 20 urging consumers to throw out romaine and sanitize shelves where it had been stored while authorities sought to identify the source. To protect consumers from this foodborne outbreak, we are urging New York families, retailers, grocers, and restaurants to adhere to the warning and pull any romaine lettuce from their shelves and menus, New Yorks Department of Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard A. Ball said in a statement on Nov. 20. Two of those infected are in New York. The New York City Department of Health said on Nov. 21 that it was alerting restaurants during regular inspections about the advisory and reaching out to industry trade groups to spread the word. If inspectors observe romaine being sold, they will order the establishment to dispose of the product, Health Department spokesman Michael Lanza said. If the establishment does not dispose of the romaine, the Health Department may close the restaurant for an uncorrected public health hazard. On Nov. 21, Reuters visited nine independently owned delis and cafes in midtown Manhattan, where salad bar lines at lunchtime are typically long. All but one were selling romaine lettuce, some of which had been delivered on Nov. 21. No one came by and told us. We didnt know, Irivia Spivey, a salad tosser at Mamaroo, a Korean cafe, said as her manager stood by. Moe Eli, the deli manager at a shop called Carve, said that the business food distributor Sysco had told them on Nov. 20 about the recall. He said he had stopped accepting new deliveries of romaine but was still selling romaine received before the warning. Were selling the old ones. Sysco knows, Eli said. Sysco spokeswoman Camilla Zuckero said the company had no comment. On Nov. 21, Scott Gottlieb, head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told NBC News that the lettuce that caused the E.coli infection may have come from California. CDC spokeswoman Candice Burns underscored in an email to Reuters that the agency provides public warnings so that people can take action to protect their health, but it is not a regulatory body. A sample by Reuters of 12 grocers and supermarkets in Chicago, Detroit, and Denver found that romaine had been removed from their shelves. As soon as I heard on the news yesterday, I threw everything in the trash that had romaine lettucesalads, romaine itself, said Mike Fisayo, manager of Chicagos South Loop Market. Large chain grocers like Whole Foods Market, owned by Amazon, and nationwide salad retailers such as Chopt and Fresh & Co told Reuters that they had stopped selling romaine as soon as the warning was issued. By Gabriella Borter & Gina Cherelus A Buffalo, New York, man said a sixth grader left a note on his car after it was hit by a school bus, according to reports. (Screenshot/AP) Sixth-Grader Leaves Man a Viral Note After a Bus Driver Hit His Car A man from Buffalo, New York, said a sixth grader left a note on his car after it was hit by a school bus, according to reports. Andrew Sipowicz, a senior at Canisius College, said he parked his car along Blaine Avenue in Buffalo and found that it had been damaged, ostensibly by another car. The front drivers side was mashed in, Sipowicz told WGRZ-TV. He then noticed there was a note on the car. Shoutout to the anonymous 6th grader for saving me a couple thousand (Bus not drawn to scale) pic.twitter.com/7aNK10xSwX Andrew Sipowicz (@Andrew_Sipowicz) November 20, 2018 It started with if [youre] wondering what happen (sic) to your car and later said that Bus 449 hit his vehicle. It was signed by a sixth grader who goes to a nearby school. Bus: 449 hit your car. It stops here every day to drop me off, it reads, according to a photo published by the Buffalo News. What happened? He [the driver] was trying to pull off and hit the car. She hit and run. He tried to vear [sic] over and squeeze threw [sic] but couldnt, it adds. She made a dent and I saw what happened, the note continued. The note also included a drawing of the school bus. Sipowicz said he credits the note with helping him respond to the crash that left his Mustang damaged. My first thought was, thank God for the note because without the note I wouldnt have any idea of what happened, he told USA Today. He used the information to contact the firm that operates the school bus, First Student. A supervisor responded, saying it will cover the cost of the repair via insurance. Elena Cala, a spokeswoman for the Buffalo school district, told the Buffalo News that district officials wont comment until an investigation is finished. We want all of our students to be upstanding citizens. The district views see something, say something in order to protect another person or persons to be a superb character trait across the board, Cala said. Sipowicz said hes not looking to press charges. I really dont want to get anyone in trouble, he said, adding that he wants his car repaired. Sipowicz, meanwhile, said he wanted to thank the child. People should know about this, he said. The teacher said immediately that they knew who the student was, Sipowicz told WGRZ. I have been in contact with that teacher this morning and were trying to set up something so I can go thank the student in person. I think it takes a special person to be able to do something like thiswho felt like they had to do the right thing and Im very grateful for that. I mean, it stinks what happened, Sipowicz told the Buffalo News. But Im just extremely grateful for this kid telling the truth. He tweeted the note after friends urged him to. A shout out to the anonymous sixth grader for saving me a couple thousand, he wrote, and included pictures of his damaged car and the note. I thought it would get a hundred or maybe two hundred likeswithin the first hour I think I was over a thousand, Sipowicz told WGRZ. Sold Then Found: Masterpieces From Horace Walpoles Prestigious Collection On April 25, 1842, the sale of the century began in Twickenham in southwest London; the contents of Strawberry Hill House were collectively viewed as the most distinguished gem that has ever adorned the annals of auctions, stated the sales catalog. Over the course of 24 days, more than 6,000 exquisite items went on sale from the collection of 18th-century art connoisseur Horace Walpole (17171797). Walpole, the youngest son of Britains first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole, is an important figure in British art, not only as a collector but also as a man of letters. He was a key figure in the 18th-century Gothic Revival movement, compiled and edited Britains first book on the history of British art, and wrote the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, based on his house at Strawberry Hill. The 1842 sale came about due to financial difficulties by the inheritor of the estate, the seventh Earl of Waldegrave, and it meant that celebrated paintings, sculptures, pieces of furniture, and curiosities were sold to collectors around the world. Works of art from Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Peter Paul Rubens, and Sir Anthony Van Dyck; miniatures by Nicholas Hilliard, Jean Petitot, and Isaac and Peter Oliver; fine furniture, such as a Boulle cabinet; and Sevres porcelain pieces were among those sold. For over 175 years, items in Walpoles remarkable collection have been scattered across the globe, hidden away from public view, with some owners of these items unaware of their objects prestigious Walpole provenance. Now an exhibition, Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill: Masterpieces From Horace Walpoles Collection, on until Feb. 24, 2019, brings some of Walpoles collection back to Strawberry Hill House, including 200 newly found Walpole objects, now all arranged as he intended thanks to his detailed illustrations and documents. Among the artworks found were an antique Roman fresco and sarcophagus, and renaissance paintings and drawings. The 200 found objects were rediscovered by Strawberry Hill House research curator Dr. Silvia Davoli, who specializes in the history of collecting, and who since 2013 has been on a worldwide search to reunite Walpoles prestigious collection. The exhibition is a culmination of that search and that of co-curator Michael Snodin, chair of the Strawberry Hill Collection Trust. As the exhibition goes on, so too will Davolis search. Here, she speaks of how she seeks out the lost works of art and has found out more about Walpole who, she said, is considered one of the fathers of the visual arts in England. The Epoch Times: When conducting your research, what did you learn about Horace Walpole that you didnt know before? Silvia Davoli: When I started to look at Walpole, I was a little bit disorientated because hes such an eclectic and complex figure. He was not only a collector; he was a writer, an antiquarian, and a key figure in the early Gothic Revival. But actually, it was a privilege to approach Walpole, not from his writing but from his works of art, from the collection and the dispersal of his collection, because this gave me a different perspective on him. Walpole wanted to form narratives behind his works of art. One very famous narrative is based on the tub in the hall where Walpoles cat drowned. The tub itself is not an exceptional work of art; its a blue-and-white 18th-century ceramic imported from China. But then Walpoles cat drowned while trying to catch a goldfish, and so Walpole commissioned his friend, the poet Thomas Gray, to write an ode to the drowned cat, Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes, which eventually his friend, the artist Richard Bentley, illustrated with beautiful drawings. I found out how every single object was linked to his ideas about the visual arts, his achievements as an art historian, and also his upbringing. The Epoch Times: Please introduce us to Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill House. Mrs. Davoli: In 1751, Walpole started to work on Strawberry Hill with two friends: John Chute an amateur architect, and Bentley a very gifted artist. The three were commonly known as the committee on taste, and together they started to work on this idea of the neo-Gothic style or Gothic Revival. One aspect which is very important is that before Walpole, when something was neo-Gothic, it was completely invented and not based on real Gothic monuments or buildings of historical importance. The revolution with Walpole was that he used the same cut and paste approach to produce a philological neo-Gothic style as designers and architects were already using to create neoclassical designs. The philological approach means to look at real ancient monuments to produce a new design, often through prints. Architects who invented the neoclassical style looked at ancient Roman monuments and Palladian villas. (Walpole had knowledge of the neoclassical approach as he helped his father in the making of Houghton Hall in Norfolk, which is a Palladian villa.) The cut and paste approach was to look at architectural prints and select architectural details that were eventually reused in new compositions in order to produce a neo-style. In the case of neo-Gothic, details were taken from cathedrals and reused to produce a new Gothic design. And so Chute, Walpole, and Bentley applied this approach to their neo-Gothic style. They would study original monuments, like St. Pauls Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, in order to produce new designs. In this first phase of Strawberry Hill House, Walpole started to design rooms like the great parlor with the chimney, designed by Bentley, and the library that was inspired by St Pauls Cathedral. The interiors and bookcases in particular were designed by John Chute. It was very much an experimental phase. At the time, Walpole spent a lot of money on Strawberry Hill, yet he used simple materials like wood and wallpaper in parts of the house where the great parlor, the library, and his bedchamber are located. Then at some point, Walpole was very much influenced by the famous antiquarian George Vertue (16841756), who was an artist, a printmaker, and very much interested in historic portraiture. Its clear he influenced Walpole as a collector as well as an art historian. In the Holbein Chamber, there is a set of George Vertues drawings after Hans Holbein. These drawings are extremely important because they are the result of Vertues studying Holbein and copying the portraits. I think this was a key moment for both Walpole and Vertue, when their collecting of historic portraits became really serious. When George Vertue died, Walpole bought all the notes that Vertue had made, in order to write his book on the history of visual art in Britain, which didnt exist at the time. From these notes, Walpole published in 1762 the book Anecdotes of Painting in England, which is the first history of visual art in Britain ever written. From that moment, Walpole starts to seriously buy important works of art at auction and to think about Strawberry Hill as a public place to display his collection, a collection that also reflects his endeavors as an art historian. This is in the second phase of Strawberry Hill, around the 1760s and 1770s when Walpole uses very precious materials like stone and gold to build the so-called staterooms: the Gallery, the Round Drawing Room, and the Tribune. Walpole spent half of his life at Strawberry Hill House putting together the collection and the house, and then the other half writing about the collection and the house. Its as if he knew that at some point the two things would eventually be separated. And this is very interesting; its a way to monumentalize things, and to keep them together despite life. The Epoch Times: Whats Strawberry Hills connection with the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University? Mrs. Davoli: The connection with the Lewis Walpole Library is a historical connection. Between the two world wars, there was a man called Wilmarth S. Lewis, who started out as a bibliophile, and who was very much interested in 18th-century literature; he started to collect Walpoles autographs. Lewis became very passionate about Walpole, and because Lewis was very rich, he was able to buy any book from the Walpole library and many autographed letters. And in fact, Lewis edited and published the 48 volumes of the Yale Edition of Horace Walpoles Correspondence, which is a huge achievement. After World War II, Lewis was considered the main specialist on Walpole, and he was often offered works of art from the Walpole collection. When Lewis died, he gave his library and his museum to his university, Yale. The connection to the Lewis Walpole Library is firstly that they own Walpoles letters, poems, original records, and information about Strawberry Hill and Walpole. And secondly, from my point of view, it was very interesting to go through the Lewis records, because I found many letters from the 1950s through to the 1970s from dealers offering him works of art. And this was crucial to my research because it was yet another layer of information after the 1842 sale. The Epoch Times: Is there anything that surprised you during your research? Mrs. Davoli: I found a number of portraits through my research in archives like the National Portrait Gallery Archive or in photographic archives where there is a lot of documentation. And I also went through many sales catalogs. So sometimes I was able to trace back and find the current location of portraits, and the owner didnt know about the Walpole provenance. For instance, in the Gallery there is a very nice portrait of the second Baron of Sheffield, which is attributed to Anthony More. This portrait went through many sales and eventually ended up back with the Sheffield family. When I found it, I was surprised the owners didnt know about the Walpole collection provenance. And, as is always the case with provenance, but especially with 18th-century provenance, its very difficult to know about. Its very advantageous for collectors to know about the Walpole collection, because it is such a prestigious provenance and can add a lot of value to works of art. This is a nice American example: Because Im not a specialist in antiquities, I asked the head of the department of ancient sculpture and works of art at Sothebys here in London to help me track down Walpoles antiquities. I showed him many original drawings produced during the 18th century, and among these was a drawing of a piece of Roman fresco. He told me, This is incredible! Ive just seen this fresco two weeks ago in our office in New York. Without the Walpole connection, the New York fresco may have been assumed to be a typical grand tour pastiche and might have been overlooked as uninteresting. It was greatId happened upon one of our missing treasures, and the owner now knew about the frescos Walpole provenance. The Epoch Times: What are your favorite pieces in the exhibition? Mrs. Davoli: My favorite room is the Tribune, because it really shows very well the mix between Walpoles classical background and Gothic design. In particular, I love all these statues in bronze after the antiques, which are displaced in the Gothic niches. And the rosewood cabinet in the Tribune is astonishing. I remember the first time I saw this cabinet in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, and obviously the V&A is a gigantic museum, so a cabinet like that is one thing among many other pieces of furniture and works of art. When the cabinet was put on display in the Tribune, I was really astonished by its power, thanks to the Tribune. And then, another object I really like is the first century A.D. Roman eagle, which is one of the highlights of the exhibition. It is one of the most important works of art we were able to borrow. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill: Masterpieces from Horace Walpoles Collection is at Strawberry Hill House, in Twickenham, England, until Feb. 24, 2019. A woman was shot dead in St. Louis County, Mo., inside a Catholic Supply store on Nov. 19, 2018, after she refused a man's advances, officials said. (St. Louis County jail) St. Louis Woman Shot Dead After Refusing Advances in Catholic Supplies Store: Police A woman was shot dead in St. Louis County, Missouri, inside a Catholic Supply store earlier this week after she refused a mans advances, officials said. Thomas Bruce, 53, forced three women into the back room of the supply store at gunpoint on Nov. 19 and told them to strip, detectives said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper. Then, he sexually assaulted two of them. He tried to coerce a third woman, 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt, but she refused. He then shot her, according to police, and she died in a nearby hospital. Bruce was arrested on Nov. 21 following a two-day manhunt. He was charged with 17 counts, including first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping, KMOV-TV reported. Officials also charged him with first-degree burglary, tampering with evidence, and armed criminal action. Police said they dont know why Bruce, who does not have a criminal record, targeted the religious supplies store. Opportunity It seems to me that a guy like this saw an opportunity, St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch told the Dispatch. There were three women in the store alone. Bruce had no connections with the three women who were in the store, said McCulloch, who added that another customer was in the store when he first came inside. That person left before Bruce attacked the women. He left ostensibly to go get a credit card to come in and buy some stuff but, who knows why exactly, perhaps to go get his gun, but in any event came back in and fortunately another customer had just left the building or there would have been four people involved, McCulloch said, reported the Dispatch. McCulloch said prosecutors may seek the death penalty in the case due to the aggravating circumstances of the crime, CBS News reported. She was a great person. Very much kept the family together, Jamie Schmidts sister-in-law Cathy Soulon told KMOV. Just a perfect person. She was a housewife for many, many years. Then she finally started to get a job and get out in the social world and this happens. Its mind-boggling. It just goes to show how messed up this world really is. Catholic Supplys president, Dan Stutte, issued a statement about the incident. We are deeply relieved that an arrest has been made. Our sincere thanks to the St. Louis County Police for its dedication and excellent work, the firm wrote on Twitter. Bruce, according to a LinkedIn page, worked at a Jewish Community Center of Greater St. Louis. He was also a department manager at a Schnucks store. He was a Navy veteranserving from 1983 until 1994, KMOV reported. The report says he volunteered as a pastor at a county jail. Crystal Kempfer, a neighbor of Bruce, told Fox2 that she saw him on Tuesday afternoon as he was walking his dog. He didnt seem any different despite being the subject of a manhunt. I hope its not him, she told the outlet. I really do hope because he was the most friendliest neighbor. We talked on a daily basis. President Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Chief Justice John Roberts (R) in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 28, 2017. (Jim Lo Scalzo - Pool/Getty Images) Trump Rebukes Chief Justice Roberts: You Do Indeed Have Obama Judges President Donald Trump rebuked the assertion of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts that the federal judiciary is politically independent. Roberts made his comments on Nov. 21, a day after Trump called a judge who ruled against his policy barring asylum for certain immigrants an Obama judge. We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges, Roberts said in a statement released by the Supreme Court in response to an Associated Press inquiry. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for. The statement did not mention the president by name. Trump wrote a Nov. 21 response on Twitter: Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. Trump has repeatedly criticized federal courts. His opponents have called it an attack on the rule of law, while others have applauded him for calling out judicial activism, in which political preferences seep into judicial rulings. Trumps former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, gave a speech last month criticizing judicial activism as a threat to our representative government and the liberty it secures. Too many judges believe it is their right, their duty, to act upon their sympathies and policy preferences, he said. As chief justice, Roberts presides over the nine-member U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Constitution established the federal judiciary as a co-equal branch of government with the executive and legislative branches as part of a system of checks and balances on power. Presidents nominate federal judges and the Senate confirms them. The political leanings of judges are commonly assumed based on what partisan appointed them, though there are exceptions. Roberts, who administered the oath of office to Trump, was appointed by Republican former President George W. Bush. But Trump didnt spare him criticism for a 2012 ruling that preserved the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, a signature domestic policy of former President Barack Obama, a Democrat. In a tweet after that ruling, Trump wrote, Congratulations to John Roberts for making Americans hate the Supreme Court because of his BS. Obama Judge The recent Twitter spat occurred a day after Trump took aim at San Francisco U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, who on Nov. 19 temporarily blocked an order by the president that barred asylum for immigrants who enter the country illegally from Mexico. Tigar was appointed by Obama. This was an Obama judge, Trump said. And Ill tell you what. Its not going to happen like this anymore. Trump also blasted the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from federal courts in nine western states including California and is known to lean politically left. Trump called the 9th Circuit unfair and a disgrace. That court has ruled against Trumps administration in several high-profile cases including his travel ban targeting several terror-prone Muslim-majority countries and his bid to rescind a program that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants brought into the country as minors. In a on Nov. 21 tweet, Trump questioned the idea that the 9th Circuit was indeed an independent judiciary,' and said its rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise! Judges in that region have also blocked construction of the Keystone XL pipeline project Trump has championed and his administrations effort to ban transgender people from military service. In the asylum case, Tigar issued a temporary restraining order against the asylum rules, calling them an extreme departure from prior practice. Trump last year referred to a jurist who ruled against him on his travel ban as a so-called judge. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump said a judge in a case involving Trump University was biased against him, calling him a Trump hater. With the help of a Senate controlled by fellow Republicans, Trump has appointed a succession of conservative judges. His appointments of Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court have solidified a conservative majority. Conservative judges tend to be constitutionalists, trying to interpret the Constitution based on its intended meaning. Left-leaning judges tend to adhere to the living document theory, reinterpreting the Constitution to fit modern trends. Reuters contributed to this report. Trump Thanks Saudis for Lower Oil Prices, Says Good for US and World President Donald Trump has thanked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for helping to lower oil prices, but, in the same breath, expressed a desire for a further decrease. Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but lets go lower! Trump said in a Nov. 21 tweet. Global oil price benchmark Brent crude dropped to less than $63.50 per barrel as of noon on Nov. 21, from a high of more than $86 on Oct. 3. Meanwhile, U.S. benchmark WTI crude dropped to $54.30 from more than $76. Trump appears to have used a high mark from Brent and a low mark from WTI, which seems to fit a pattern of exaggeration in his statements that tend to grab the attention of journalists eager to dissect his statements and point out the inaccuracy. In a statement published Nov. 20, Trump said the Saudis have worked closely with the United States in keeping oil prices at reasonable levels, which brings multiple economic and security benefits. He also spelled out the main reasons that his administration stands by the Saudis, contrasting the kingdoms role in the region to that of Iran, which Trump said is responsible for the unrest in Yemen, efforts to destabilize Iraqs fragile attempt at democracy, supporting the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia would gladly withdraw from Yemen if the Iranians would agree, Trump wrote, adding that the Saudis would be willing to also provide humanitarian assistance, and fund efforts to fight radical Islamic terrorism. Weakening Iran Besides invigorating the economy in the United Statesa net importer of oillow oil prices would further weaken Iran. The Trump administration imposed economic sanctions on Iran this year, after Trump quit the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. Trumps pressure campaign appears to be starving Iran of the U.S. currency, effectively driving the Iranian rial into the ground. Meanwhile, the regime appears unwilling to inject its dollar reserves into the market, which might alleviate the crippling effect on the economy, but would reduce the regimes capital for sponsoring terrorists and militias such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Cut in Question The Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners, such as Russia, are expected to consider cutting oil production by 1 million to 1.4 million barrels per day at its Dec. 6 meeting in Vienna. Yet traders speculated that a statement of support from President Trump might cause the Saudis to go easy on an oil production cut at the next meeting, Phil Flynn, senior analyst with the Price Futures Group, said in a Nov. 21 report. Countering Critique Presenting the Saudis in a good light helps Trump stave off critics of his handling of the murder of a Saudi journalist in October allegedly perpetrated by Saudi operatives. The Trump administration sanctioned 17 senior Saudi officials while Riyadh called for the death penalty for five suspects in the killing. But some critics want Trump to move against Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who, Trump said, may or may not have known about the murder. The young prince has worked to relax some economic and social restrictions in the country while taking a hard line against terrorism and the Muslim Brotherhood. The White House has considered putting the organization on its foreign terror watch list for ties to terrorism. The Saudis had marked the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Trump said, though he stressed the killing was an unacceptable and horrible crime nonetheless. What About Shale? While he called for a further decrease, even for Trump, oil prices need a bottom, unless hes willing to choke the growth of U.S. oil drillers. If the oil price falls much further, you can forget about increasing shale oil output in the future, Flynn warned in his Nov. 2 report. Most shale oil producers were having a hard time making money when prices were above 70, if prices fall into the 50s, the rig counts will start to drop, and we will again see a drop in U.S. shale oil production forecasts. Indeed, as WTI crude dropped below $60 in the week to Nov. 21, U.S. energy companies cut three oil rigs, bringing the total count down to 885. The count had previously grown uninterrupted for three weeks and is up from 747 rigs a year ago. The drop, however, didnt come from the Permian Basin, the biggest U.S. shale oil formation, which hosts more than half of the countrys oil rigs. Active units there held steady this week at 493, the most since January 2015. Reuters contributed to this report. A woman sings along to Ukraines national anthem at an event in the eastern city of Kharkiv on Nov. 21, 2018, commemorating five years since the Nov. 2013 protests that resulted in the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych. (Chris Collison/Special to The Epoch Times) Ukrainians Mark 5-Year Anniversary of Uprising That Ousted Pro-Russia President Heavily Russian-speaking city a bastion of calm years after violent conflict erupted KHARKIV, UkraineViktor Marynchak, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest, urged those amassed around the monument to Ukraines revered national poet Taras Shevchenko in the eastern city of Kharkiv to not give up on their struggle for the countrys future. We cannot stop, he said to the several hundred who gathered during the freezing late-autumn evening in this city just 20 miles from the Russian border. We must do everything we can to find the will to win. As people across Ukraine marked five years since the beginning of the wave of protests that ousted Russian-supported President Viktor Yanukovych and sparked a deadly confrontation with Moscow, activists, soldiers, religious leaders, and regular citizens gathered in Kharkiv to reflect on the events that unfolded and to remember the thousands who died in the countrys conflict-torn southeast. The uprising, then called the Euromaidan protests, is now known among Ukrainians as the Revolution of Dignity. It remains a powerful symbol of struggle, especially here in the east, where soldiers in uniform lunching in the citys cafes and strolling through the citys parks during breaks from training serve as daily reminders that a violent conflict continues not far away. The heavily Russian-speaking city, Ukraines second largest, became a flashpoint in the chaotic months that followed the protests, when worries spread that it could end up a breakaway region in the mold of the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics, two enclaves in Ukraines southeast that have been under the de facto control of Moscow since spring 2014. But Kharkiv has emerged as a place of relative calm and as an important base of support for the Ukrainian military and those displaced by violence in the years that followed. Military personnel use the city as a transit hub and a major supply route on the way to and from the conflict zone in the southeast. Ihor Filimonov, a military police officer who volunteered with Ukraines National Guard following the Euromaidan protests, said Kharkiv residents showed that they wanted to remain part of an independent Ukraine by taking to the streets. For me, the revolution has not finished, Filimonov said. We must win three warsthe military war, the political war, and the war on corruption. There are a lot of old politicians who are trying to sell our country to Russia who are still in our parliament. Volodymyr Chystylin, one of the organizers of the 2013 protests in Kharkiv, said the main legacy of the uprising is its influence on society rather than its political effect. The politics didnt change, but the people changed, Chystylin said. That was the most important result of Euromaidan. Everyone is on the front line in some way, whether as soldiers, volunteers, or activists. The uprising began in November 2013, when students and activists gathered in the central square of the capital, Kiev, to protest the presidents decision to walk away from an economic and political deal with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow. A violent crackdown on activists at the end of the month sparked mass demonstrations that continued throughout the winter, escalating into street battles with riot police in early 2014 that left nearly 100 dead. Kiev saw by far the largest demonstrations, although crowds gathered in Kharkiv and other cities throughout the winter to protest government corruption and violence against activists. After the ouster of Yanukovych, a group calling itself Anti-Maidan took to Kharkivs streets in opposition to the Euromaidan protests and seized a regional administrative building. Early that spring, members of Ukraines Security Service supported by local activists quashed efforts to establish a breakaway region in the style of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics. Since then, Kharkiv has welcomed a surge of people displaced by the conflict in the nearby Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. Government figures show that more than 1.5 million Ukrainians were registered as internally displaced in November. Last year, nearly 200,000 of those were registered in Kharkiv oblast, according to a local NGO. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict that has engulfed the southeast regions, where sporadic fighting continues on a near-daily basis. Despite the high costs, those who gathered to mark the anniversary of the revolution say they are looking forward. If I could go back five years, I would do the same thing that I did then, Filimonov said. For me, this was the revolution when Ukraine really became Ukrainian. Now we are gaining our independence. Upstate College Bridges Cultures Through Dance Fei Tian College has just opened its Middletown campus, where it is the first school to offer BFA and MFA degrees in both ballet and classical Chinese dance MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.At the beginning of each dance class, the students bow to their teachers. At the end of each class they do the same, capping off the session with respect to the tradition of the art form, to the piano accompanist, and to the teacher. In ballet, this is called reverence, a longstanding tradition that may or may not be adhered to depending on the teacher. But whats unique at Fei Tian College Middletown is that these dance students all take classical Chinese dance courses alongside their ballet studies, and they begin and end each of these classes this same way. In todays world, you need to know both cultures, Eastern and Western, said Yung Yung Tsuai, chair of the dance department at Fei Tian College Middletown. They learn it through the dance. Theyre both learning about the traditions and about respect. I firmly believe any art, especially the art of dance, is to teach people about life, Tsuai added. Classical Chinese dance is not nearly as well-known in the West as ballet is. Even in the East, its now just seeing a re-emergence of interest and performance, after years of cultural suppression in China, under the communist regime, which stamped out countless traditions and practices. But in speaking to the dance students and professors, it becomes clear that perhaps ballet is a way for the newcomer to understand not just classical Chinese dance but also the traditional Chinese culture that backs it. I think when it comes to good classical arts, there are a lot of similar standards to what makes the art good, said classical Chinese dancer Mingye Liu. Most of us know that ballet is rooted in technique, technique, technique. Dancers train rigorously so that they have the foundation of form and technique, which they strive to perfect, in order to express artistry, beauty, story, and feeling. Every other classical discipline is the same. Classical Chinese dance is a very systematic art form, said Alison Chen, a classical Chinese dance teacher. When students come to her class, they work on strengthening their fundamentals before they can move on to the more difficult movement combinations, which includes shen yun (what the teachers call bearing or the spirit of classical Chinese dance), and a whole body of movements specific to this art form. This bearing is the inner spirit, the absolute heart of classical Chinese dance, Liu explained. At first, it sounds akin to acting. But then the teachers demonstrate not just specific movements, but specific ways of connecting movements that then form endless different combinations of movement the artist can then use to portray the character or subjects inner thoughts. The movements form an aesthetic, formal language that then accompanies bearing. So as students learn these movements and start to grasp the style, they are at the same time coming to understand the 5,000-year civilization from which the dance emerged. They understand the cultural mannerisms, the history, the stories, and how to relate to others in this language. The art becomes the tangible expression of the cultures ideas of excellence. The dance teachers all emphasized the importance of an inner life in terms of both discipline and artistry. This is because the most excellent artists have a vision, a mission, dedication, an understanding of life, and the ability to both educate and inspire, Tsuai said. The mediocre artist is merely self-indulgent. This sort of elevated educational philosophy permeates the college. Tsuai says character is a foremost consideration in how she staffs the department. Newly established, Fei Tian College Middletown now offers four degree programs: Bachelor of Science in Data Science, Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, and Master of Fine Arts in Dance. The college aims to give students studying hard sciences exposure to the classical arts, and vice versa. Fei Tian Colleges Middletown campus dance students and teachers will give performances in New York City at the Martha Graham Dance Studio at 55 Bethune St. 11th floor, on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 2 at 3 p.m. Customers push their shopping carts after making a purchase at Target in Chicago, Illinois in Nov. 2017 (Reuters/Kamil Krzaczynski) What Stores Open, Closed on Thanksgiving? Walgreens, CVS Pharmacies, Rite Aid, Starbucks, Kroger, Publix, and Whole Foods On Thanksgiving Day, which is Nov. 22, a significant number of stores will be closed, but many pharmacies and drug stores will remain open. Walgreens will be open per usual on Thanksgiving Day, and 24-hour locations will have the same hours. And Non-24 hour Walgreens stores are open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Their pharmacies will also be open Thanksgiving Day, and the same goes for the 24-hour pharmacies. Normal business hours are expected for Black Friday. CVS stores, meanwhile, are open Thanksgiving Day, while the 24-hour locations will have the same hours. Check local listings for hours. Rite Aid stores will also be open in some locations starting at 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day. They will open 7 a.m. Black Friday. Walmarts pharmacies will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. They will have normal hours on Black Friday. Targets pharmacies are closed on Thanksgiving Day. They will have normal hours on Black Friday. Starbucks is open Thanksgiving. A number of stores will open later in the day on Thanksgiving Day and will stay open into Black Friday. Many stores appear to be opening earlier in the day on Thanksgiving. Here are more listings for stores: TARGET Thanksgiving: Opens 5 p.m. and stays open all night to Black Friday. KMART Thanksgiving: Opens 6 a.m. on Thursday. WALMART Thanksgiving: Deals start at 6 p.m. JC PENNEY Thanksgiving: Opens 2 p.m. and stays open all night into Black Friday. KOHLS Thanksgiving: Opens 5 p.m. and stays open all night into Black Friday. MACYs Thanksgiving: Opens 5 p.m. and stays open all night into Black Friday. SEARS Thanksgiving: Opens 6 p.m. Black Friday; Sears opens at 5 a.m. BEST BUY Thanksgiving: Opens 5 p.m. GAMESTOP Thanksgiving: 3 p.m. HHGREGG Thanksgiving: Opens 4 p.m. and closes 12 a.m. Friday Black Friday: Opens 7 a.m. RADIOSHACK Thanksgiving: Opens 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Black Friday: Opens 8 a.m. COSTCO Thanksgiving: Closed Black Friday: Opens 9 a.m. SAMS CLUB Thanksgiving: Closed Black Friday: Opens 7 a.m. DICKS SPORTING GOODS Thanksgiving: Opens 6 p.m. MICHAELS Thanksgiving: Opens 6 p.m. Meanwhile, for travel, mild weather and falling gasoline prices are helping Thanksgiving travelers get where theyre going while saving a few bucks. Airports around the country were busy Wednesday, leading to more than 1,500 delayed flights by early afternoon on the East Coast. Only about 75 flights were canceled, however, with about 40 of those in San Francisco, according to tracking service FlightAware. GasBuddy, a price-comparison site, said prices were under $2 a gallon in nine states, with several others hovering just above that mark. We will see the national average go lower because there are still drops in the pipeline, said GasBuddy analyst Patrick DeHaan. He estimated that U.S. motorists are spending $100 million less each day on gasoline than they were a month ago. AAA is forecasting the busiest Thanksgiving travel period since 2005. Most people who will travel at least 50 miles from home are going by car, according to the auto club. AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair credited a strong economy and rising consumer confidence, and when we have a little time built into our schedules, we take advantage of it. The Associated Press contributed to this report. WTO Litigation Begins as US and China Trade Barbs GENEVAThe United States and China clashed on Oct. 21 at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting with a U.S. envoy accusing Beijing of using the WTO to pursue non-market policies. U.S. President Donald Trump has erected a tariff wall against foreign imports of steel and aluminum, though the European Union, Canada, Australia, and several other countries have either permanent exemptions or postponed tariffs due to ongoing trade negotiations. The United States has also hit billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods with huge tariffs over accusations of stealing U.S. intellectual property. Trump has previously expressed his doubts about the WTOs ability to ensure fair trade practices and has threatened to pull the United States out of the organization if it doesnt shape up. At the meeting on Wednesday, the WTO agreed to launch a dispute investigation into U.S. allegations of Chinas theft of intellectual property, according to Bloomberg. The organization will task a panel of three experts to determine whether Chinas policies violate WTO terms. A decision could be made as soon as next year. Meanwhile, China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Norway, and Russia agreed to escalate their complaints against the United States steel and aluminum tariffs, entering into a formal adjudication phase. U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea said China was using the WTO to promote non-market policies, which had distorted world markets and led to massive excess capacity, especially in steel and aluminum. Both China and the United States accused each other of hypocrisy. Shea said the WTO should throw out the complaint brought by China and others because WTO rules allowed exceptions for actions taken for national security concerns. Some (WTO) members have expressed concerns that invoking the national security exception in these circumstances would undermine the international trading system. This is erroneous, and completely backwards, Shea said, according to a copy of his remarks provided to Reuters. Rather, what threatens the international trading system is that China is attempting to use the WTO dispute settlement system to prevent any action by any Member to address its unfair, trade-distorting policies. The United States also triggered its own litigation to contest retaliatory measures by Canada, Mexico, China, and the EU. Ahead of the WTO meeting, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told a conference in Paris that China must make concessions in negotiating reform of the WTO or risk seeing the United States turning its back on the current system. China has won a lot from the WTO system, and we call on China to show leadership and to engage with us to reform and to update the system, to create a level playing field. Because otherwise the U.S. will create a level playing field outside the system, Malmstrom said on Nov. 16. By Tom Miles. The Epoch Times contributed to this report. The cannabis startup industry is booming and everyone is trying to get a piece of the leafy pie. But with this explosion, it's becoming more and more challenging for any one company to grab consumers attention and their dollars. However, there is one solution that nobody's talking about and that is adding a medical expert to your team, especially if your company is targeting consumers. As an internal doctor for the last 20 years with a specialty in cannabis, I speak from experience. If you are able to convince someone like me to join your team -- as a co-founder, consultant or advisor -- it can be extremely beneficial. Keep in mind though, medical experts wont go to just any company. You need to prove yourself, as our names are very much on the line. But if you can find the right medical expert, it will pay in dividends. Here are a few things a medical expert, such as myself, can bring to your team -- and why we're worth it. Related: 10 Lessons From My Experience As Doctor and Entrepreneur Credibility Because the cannabis industry is still in its early stages, it's hard for a consumer to know which companies to trust. By having a person with a medical background on your team, you instantly add credibility. Medical experts have gone through the rigors of training, are certified and can speak on the nuances and technicalities of the cannabis industry. To make the most of this expert, have them be front and center on your marketing. Show them on your website (preferably the homepage), the about us page and even on the product or service page. Get them involved on your social media channels, videos, email newsletters, you name it. Bottom line: Get their face in front of your audience. Related: Survey: A Quarter of Cancer Patients Use Legal Medical Marijuana. Up-to-Date Advice There is a lot going on in the cannabis industry -- new legislation, research and findings happening all the time. It can be hard to navigate all these moving parts and know what you should and shouldn't believe. A medical expert can help you understand the complexities in the space, review studies and provide feedback, including what is reputable and what isnt. As the company grows and expands, the expert will be key in helping you decide where it's best to invest your time, energy and money. To help with the decision-making process, make sure to have a weekly dialogue with the medical expert to discuss new information. This can be done on the phone, through email, or by asking the medical professional to forward you new findings and news they stand by. Also, when you can, make sure to bring your in-house medical expert to meetings and social events. They serve as impressive wingmen/women, during introductions and can be a source for answering questions. Related: Doctors and Patients In Florida Are Embracing Medical Marijuana Door Opener It's really hard building up a strong network, especially when you may not be tapped into a certain community and many other companies vying for peoples attention. You can definitely have a leg up if you can get a medical expert on board. Not only can they introduce you to people in their own network, but they can also provide introductions to a broader group they have encountered in their industry (think: suppliers, marketers and consultants). This will not only open doors for a company but will also allow it to move faster as the team has access to more resources, a stronger network and you dont need to build it from scratch. Revenue Generator Besides adding credibility and resources, a medical expert can help with sales by providing a few additional revenue channels for your company, include their office, website and referrals. Make sure you discuss the business model and expectations. Do they get a commission of each product or service sold, additional equity if they reach a goal or a bonus? Get everything in writing when hashing out the financial details. In an industry whose growth is fueled by curiosity and widespread acceptance and limited by skepticism and fear, a medical director will strengthen your companys public image as a healthcare company, rather than simply a supplier for a fleeting recreational pastime. Related: A Doctor in the House Is a Powerful Way to Make Your Cannabis Startup Stand Out Adults In Massachusetts Can Legally Buy Marijuana Starting Today Pesticide Contamination Is a Growing Cannabis Safety Concern Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved The European Union scored a tactical win in its fight to contain the populist forces that are challenging its democratic values, forcing Poland's nationalist ruling party to back down in its push to wield control over the country's Supreme Court. The Law & Justice Party is at the vanguard of a push to roll back the EU's multicultural and rule-of-law norms in favor of "illiberal democracies" -- a phrase coined by the movement's standard bearer, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. On Wednesday the party submitted a draft law to reverse rules that forced dozens of judges on the Supreme Court to retire before their terms expired in what critics called a political "purge." The legislation is a response to an emergency injunction from the European Court of Justice, which demanded Poland reverse the changes that lowered the retirement age for jurists. The injunction was a result of an unprecedented lawsuit against an EU member, which the bloc's commission said was undermining the rule of law. "The commission scored a point showing that principled resistance makes sense," Marcin Zaborowski, senior associate at Visegrad Insight, a think-tank focused on central Europe. "It also creates a precedent that will be closely watched across the region." The U-turn comes as Law & Justice scrambles to recover from a smaller-than-expected victory in October regional elections, where the party's clash with the EU boosted support for opposition parties. It's also reeling from the shock resignation of its appointed head of the financial markets watchdog following a newspaper report that he had asked the owner of a troubled bank for a bribe in exchange for favorable treatment. The first opinion survey carried out since the scandal broke showed support for Law & Justice dropping five percentage points to 33 percent. That's still seven points ahead of the biggest opposition group, but if it were to remain at that level, it would give the opposition a chance to block the party from seizing a new majority in general elections next year. The government heatedly argued last week that its changes to the Supreme Court don't undermine its independence, and it accused the EU of lacking evidence to attack the judicial overhaul. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who has vowed to "re-Christianize Europe" and help the rest of the EU "with proper values," has repeatedly said that Poland respects the rules of the bloc. Andrzej Dera, a minister in the chancellery of Law & Justice ally President Andrzej Duda, suggested that the party wasn't really backing down. "The essence of the matter can be explained by a saying applied to judo: back off to win," he said. "The point is to avoid fines that could be imposed by the EU court and implement the judiciary reform." While the draft legislation -- which cleared the lower house in a fast-track legislative process -- appears to eliminate the most important breaches to the political independence of the Supreme Court. The top tribunal said the new bill doesn't reverse other sweeping changes which continue to undermine the justice system. They include giving the justice minister power to appoint the heads of ordinary courts, the political takeover of the body that promotes judges and the packing of the Constitutional Court with ruling-party loyalists, the court said. "I have been following the Hungarian case for too long to not be extremely suspicious," said Laurent Pech, a professor of European law at Middlesex University in London. "Every single rule-of-law probe recommendation has yet to be complied with." - - - Bloomberg's Zoltan Simon contributed. President Trump's extraordinary response to the horrifying murder of Jamal Khashoggi has renewed attention to what is widely described as his "America first" doctrine. But an error of logic has seeped into the coverage of this alleged doctrine and the bearing it has on the Khashoggi killing - and many other matters, as well. It's a subtle error, but a serious one. In the media discussion of Trump's response to the murder, you often see variations of the claim that Trump has revealed an unpleasant, unstated truth about his worldview - that Trump will put America first even if it requires sanctioning the most reprehensible conduct, or doing things that are necessary even if people find them deeply unsettling. The lead story on Trump's response in The New York Times, for instance, describes it as "a stark distillation of the Trump worldview," which is "heedless of the facts" (correct!), but also "remorselessly transactional" and "determined to put America's interests first." A Post piece claims Trump is prioritizing America's "bottom line." A CNN analysis notes that "America first" means Trump will look the other way "as long as a foreign power enriches the United States," adding: "Perhaps Trump should get marks for frankness." The suggestion here is that we are now seeing what "America first" really looks like. That is, when Trump says "America first," he means it. But this concedes too much. In an inadvertent but pernicious way, it supports Trump's preferred framing of his presidency. In this case and many others, Trump is not being "frank" about his real priorities, and he is not putting America first. He's putting his own naked self-interest over what's good for America, and prioritizing the real-world policy realization of his own prejudices over any good-faith, fact-based effort to determine, by any discernible standard, what might actually be in the country's interests. Trump's core claim that we must overlook the killing to maintain our current relationship with the Saudis, and that this is good for us, is itself mostly nonsense. As a Post editorial points out, the failure to sanction those responsible for the killing - including the Saudi kingdom, per the conclusion of the CIA - buttresses a world in which "dictators know they can murder their critics and suffer no consequences." Trump's response to this notion is the idea that "the world is a very dangerous place!" and that he will pursue our "national interests" in this dangerous world. But Trump's statement on the killing relies on falsehoods to depict maintaining our relationship with the Saudis as in our "national interests." As we've noted: The Saudis did not agree to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States, a number Trump seems to have just made up; they did not order $110 billion in military equipment; and they will not be creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States. But I'd like to take this further and point out that here Trump is not actually operating from any meaningful conception of what is good for the country. It isn't just those lies. It's also Trump's insistence that we'll never know whether the crown prince actually ordered the killing, which breaks from the intelligence community's conclusion, and the subtle slandering of Khashoggi via the floating of the Saudi claim that he was an "enemy of the state." I challenge you to read those things as driven by any conception of what's good for the country. They are arguably damaging to the country, since they weaken faith in efforts to determine the truth, and could further distress Americans who are deeply upset by the killing. But what's undoubtedly true is that they can only be about making Trump's current stance politically easier for himself. The bigger idea at stake here in Trump's response is the notion that our commitment to international standards of human rights are to be jettisoned when they get in the way of our "interests." It's true that the United States has a long history of turning a blind eye to Saudi human rights abuses. But this does not preclude responding to this particular atrocity, and merely claiming Trump is revealing "the truth" about our previous realpolitik does not justify the current absence of any response. More to the point, Trump is not merely acquiescing to this unfortunate "truth." He's actively weakening our commitment to human (and civil) rights on many other fronts as well, both at home and abroad. The idea that adherence to international standards on human rights - but also international commitments other matters, such as reducing climate change and taking in asylum seekers and refugees - is a zero-sum negative for America is of course supposed to be foundational to Trump's worldview. But the administration has never actually defended this proposition on any of these fronts in a fact-based manner. This is most glaringly true on asylum seekers and refugees. Limiting their entry is also foundational to "America first" Trumpism. But Trump has not merely tried to reduce asylum seeking; he has justified this with all manner of lies about the supposed threat they pose to us. Trump has not just slashed refugee levels to historic lows and employed bureaucratic chicanery to reduce those levels further. His administration deep-sixed internal data showing them to be a net economic positive. The point here, again, is that Trump is placing his prejudices - his determination to implement a white nationalist agenda - over any good-faith effort to determine what the actual impact of this agenda will be on the country. On the migrants, the self-interest runs even deeper than this. The lies about the "caravan" were all about keeping the House in GOP hands - he even used the military as a prop in this exercise - to prevent Democrats from taking the House and subjecting him to accountability. Other aspects of Trump's white nationalism underscore the point. Trump's "many sides" comment after Charlottesville, which emboldened white nationalists rather than calming racial tensions; his pardoning of racist Joe Arpaio; his attacks on African-American athletes - Trump reportedly believed these things would help him politically, never mind that they stoked civil conflict that harmed the country. Over and over, Trump's prejudice and naked self-interest trump (as it were) any conception of the national interest. Need more? The New York Times reports that Trump privately wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute Hillary Clinton and James Comey. There is no possible way this is based on any conception of the national good, unless Trump is totally delusional, which would itself mean there's no such operative conception here. Everyone knows Trump appointed Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general not because of his qualifications, but for the sole purpose of protecting him from the special counsel. There is no big and unpleasant truth at the core of Trump's vision of what's good for the country. That vision is largely a void filled with unchecked self-interest, both disguised and sustained by lies. Ad Investing Trends Biden Warns: China Could "Eat Our Lunch" When it Comes to Lithium Pres. Biden recently warned about China's dominance when it comes to lithium demand, stating, "if we don't get moving, they're going to eat our lunch." One junior mining company in South America is looking to become a strong link in the lithium supply chain due to a monster acquisition. Income statement letters from embassies no longer required, confirms Phuket Immigration PHUKET: Phuket Immigration Deputy Chief Lt Col Archeep Jaroensuntisuk today (Nov 22) confirmed to The Phuket News that a letter confirming income is no longer required by any foreigner whose home country embassy no longer provides such official statements. immigration By Tavee Adam Thursday 22 November 2018, 05:52PM Col Archeep today also explained that Phuket Immigration are looking into ways to devise a system that will send notices to foreigners, reminding them that their visa is about to expire. Photo: Supplied The news follows the UK and US embassies announcing that from Jan 1, 2019 they will no longer issue any statements confirming the income of one of their citizens, as is required in applying for many types of long-stay permits-to-stay (also called long-stay visas), such as the O-A visa for retirees. The Australian Embassy in Bangkok has followed suit, effective Jan 7 (see here), and the Danish Embassy in Bangkok has ceased issued such statements with immediate effect (See here.) A letter confirming income previously served as a supporting document for obtaining a Thai retirement or marriage visa (permit-to-stay), the British Embassy noted in its release announcing the news. The British Embassy Bangkok is stopping the certification of income letters because it is unable to fulfil the Thai authorities requirements to verify the income of British Nationals, the statement said. (See story here.) Of course this letter is no longer needed if the embassy no longer issues it, Phuket Immigration Deputy Chief Lt Col Archeep Jaroensuntisuk explained to The Phuket News today (Nov 22). However, the foreigner applying for the visa (or permit-to-stay) will still have to prove that they have the funds to stay in the country, such as by showing bank statements that prove the foreigner has B800,000 in a Thai bank account, he said. Col Archeep today also explained that Phuket Immigration are looking into ways to devise a system that will send notices to foreigners, reminding them that their visa is about to expire. The move follows the Immigration office in Prachuap Khiri Khan starting to send such reminders as SMS messages to phones of foreigners register at that office. We are looking into this, Col Archeep said. But we need to come up with a system that suits everyone. The problem is that some foreigners want reminders sent to their phone, and others want the reminders by email, he said. When we do come up with a system that suits everyone, we will announce it so the public will know, he added. Investigators given seven days to inspect Phoenix wreck PHUKET: Investigators have been given seven days to gather what evidence they from inspecting the wreck of the Phoenix tour boat, now sitting on the hardstand at Ratanachai Shipyard on the east side of Phuket Town. tourismmarineSafetyaccidentsdisastersChinesedeath By Eakkapop Thongtub Thursday 22 November 2018, 02:28PM Investigators given seven days to inspect Phoenix wreck, Gen Surachate and Gen Rungroj explained yesterday (Nov 21). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Investigators given seven days to inspect Phoenix wreck, Gen Surachate and Gen Rungroj explained yesterday (Nov 21). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Investigators given seven days to inspect Phoenix wreck, Gen Surachate and Gen Rungroj explained yesterday (Nov 21). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Investigators given seven days to inspect Phoenix wreck, Gen Surachate and Gen Rungroj explained yesterday (Nov 21). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Investigators given seven days to inspect Phoenix wreck, Gen Surachate and Gen Rungroj explained yesterday (Nov 21). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub National police deputy chief Gen Rungroj Sangkram revealed the news during an inspection of the wreck yesterday (Nov 21). Joining Gen Rungroj was Immigration Chief Maj Gen Surachet Hakparn, who is assisting in leading the investigation of the boat, which capsized and sank on July 5, killing 47 Chinese tourists. Also present was Li Chun Foo, the Deputy Chinese Consul-General in Songkhla, and Director of the China Consulate-General in Phuket. Investigation officers have been collecting information about the boat since it was lifted onto stands at the shipyard on Tuesday (Nov 20), Gen Rungroj said. (See story here.) However, boat engineer specialists are the ones carrying out the intensive investigation of the deep details, he said. Engineers started their work today and have seven days to get all the evidence they need, he added. They will find the cause of why the boat sank as well as who is responsible for this incident, Gen Rungroj said. However, Gen Rungroj did not give an explanation of why expert investigators were given just one week to carry out their inspections. Previously, repeated announcements by leading officials, including Tourism Minister Weerasak Kowsurat and Marine Department Director-General for the country, Jirut Wisanjit, said that investigators would have 30 days to inspect the boat. Immigration Chief Maj Gen Surachate told the press that the order to carry out a full and proper investigation into the disaster had come for the highest ranks in Thailand. Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan ordered every department involved in this investigation to do everything they can to reveal the true cause of the accident, Gen Surachate said. Any officers found not doing their duty or not following regulations will be prosecuted, he warned. This includes officials and other people involved in the construction of the boat, he said, adding, The Chinese people will know the real cause of why their relatives died. Gen Surachate said investigators had already made progress on checking that the boat matches the legal specifications registered with the Marine Department. Officers have already checked the boat and questioned the shipyard workers, and compared the construction of the boat with the blueprints registered. The concrete ballast and the engine installed are all correct as registered, he said. However, he added, The Jacuzzi built on the top deck was added later, and is not marked on the blueprints. This may have added to the imbalance of the boat. Gen Surachate also noted that Seacrest Marine is to be paid B35 million for recovering the wreck. No mention was made of whether or not this bill will be passed on to 26-year-old Phuket resident Woralak Yui Rerkchaikarn, who has been repeatedly named as the owner of the Phoenix as said by Marine Department Director-General Jirut Wisanjit, while in Phuket on Aug 8, would be done. (See story here.) Also no mention has been made of who will be held responsible for paying B10mn to Spitz Tech Co Ltd for their attempts to raise the Phoenix during four months of the heavy weather of southwest monsoon. The Marine Dept hired that company after Ms Woralak failed to have the boat salvaged within 20 days. Why Jesus? He is the way and the truth and the life worth living columns Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government doesnt want to be a long-term owner of the Trans Mountain pipeline, but it wont seriously consider selling it before its built. We know that getting this pipeline done in the right way is what will advantage the sector and allow clean, Canadian oil and gas resources to create advantage around the world, Morneau told Bloomberg Television after unveiling his fall economic statement in Ottawa Wednesday. Only then will we really seriously consider selling it. Were not going to sell it without resolving that political challenge. Thats the first order of business. Canada is redoing consultation and environmental review on the pipeline in hopes of a positive conclusion on the expansion, he said. If that moves forward the way that we hope it does, well be in a position to assure the shippers who want to get it working that its operational and at that stage, the value will be there to consider the private market, capital markets and people who might be interested in buying it. I cant give you an exact timeline, certainly its not governments intent to own that asset for the long term. The government bought both the existing pipeline and its proposed expansion. The existing assets are generating a profit of $200 million annually, according to the fiscal update. Read more: Trans Mountain pipeline hearings begin with Indigenous smudging ceremony Short timeline means regulator wont hear critical evidence in Trans Mountain review, environmentalists say New Trans Mountain pipeline review doomed to fail, Vancouver mayor-elect says NEW YORKFor the past decade, Sheryl Sandberg has been the poised, reliable second-in-command to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, helping steer Facebooks rapid growth around the world, while also cultivating her brand in ways that hint at aspirations well beyond the social network. But with growing criticism over the companys practices, or lack of oversight, her carefully cultivated brand as an eloquent feminist leader is showing cracks. Questions these days arent so much about whether shell run for the Senate or even president, but whether she ought to keep her job at Facebook. Her brand was being manicured with the same resources and care as the gardens of Tokyo, said Scott Galloway, a New York University marketing professor. And unfortunately a hurricane has come through the garden. Facebook has been dealing with hurricanes for the past two years: fake news, elections interference, hate speech, a privacy scandal, the list goes on. The companys response namely, Zuckerbergs and Sandbergs has been slow at best, misleading and obfuscating at worst, as The New York Times reported last week. That report, and one from The Wall Street Journal, underscored Sandbergs influence at the company, even as Zuckerberg has borne much of the criticism and anger. There have been calls for both to be ousted. But because of the way Facebook is set up, firing Zuckerberg would be all but impossible. He controls the majority of the companys voting stock, serves as its chairman and has at least publicly the support of its board of directors. Essentially, hed have to fire himself. Firing Sandberg would be the next logical option to hold a high-level executive accountable. Though the chances are slim, the fact that it has even come up shows the extent of Facebooks and Sandbergs troubles. As chief operating officer, Sandberg is in charge of Facebooks business dealings, including the ads that make up the bulk of the companys revenue. She steered Facebook from a rising tech startup into a viable global business expected to reap $55 billion in revenue this year. The company is second only to Google in digital advertising. Read more: Outgoing Facebook policy boss defends hiring controversial firm Facebook friends a European expert. Will it help Mark Zuckerberg? But shes also gotten the blame when things go wrong, including Facebooks failure to spot Russian attempts to influence U.S. elections by buying U.S. political ads in rubles. Though Sandberg has denied knowing that Facebook hired an opposition research firm to discredit activists, she created a permissive environment through what the Times called an aggressive lobbying campaign against critics. Facebook fired the firm, Definers, after the Times report came out. Facebook declined to comment on Sandberg or make her available for an interview. A representative instead pointed to Zuckerbergs remarks that overall, Sheryl is doing great work for the company. Shes been a very important partner to me and continues to be, and will continue to be. Shes leading a lot of the efforts to improve our systems in these areas. Sandberg, 49, who was hired away from Google in 2008, has been a crucial heat shield for Zuckerberg, as Galloway put it, as lawmakers and the public crank up criticism of the 34-year-old founder. In September, Facebook sent Sandberg to testify before the Senate intelligence committee, eliciting a warmer response than her boss did three months before. Sandberg, former chief of staff for treasury secretary Larry Summers, appears more comfortable in Washington meeting rooms than Zuckerberg, who can seem robotic. Her profile is high enough that lawmakers dont feel stilted when she shows up. Shes written (with help) two books, including 2013s Lean In about women and leadership. Her second book, Plan B, is about dealing with loss and grief after her husband died unexpectedly. She was the lone chief operating officer among a whos who of tech CEOs including Apples Tim Cook and Amazons Jeff Bezos to meet with Donald Trump a month after his election. Its both who she is and how bereft Silicon Valley is of strong, powerful female voices, crisis management expert Richard Levick said. She has positioned herself as one of those strong voices with Lean In. But her high profile also makes her more susceptible to criticism. The chorus for Sandberg to leave is getting louder. CNBC commentator Jim Cramer predicted Monday that Facebooks stock would rise if Sandberg leaves or gets fired. NYUs Galloway believes both Sandberg and Zuckerberg should be fired for allowing Facebook to turn into an entity that harms democracy around the world. Every day executives are fired for a fraction of infractions these two have committed, he said. Besides elections interference, Zuckerberg and Sandberg have been criticized for their slow response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the data-mining firm accessed millions of users private information without their permission. The pair were silent for days after the news came out. According to the Journal, Zuckerberg told Sandberg this spring that he blamed her and her teams for the public fallout over Cambridge Analytica. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said Sandberg at one point wondered if she should be worried about her job (though that appears to no longer be the case, based on Zuckerbergs public support). Galloway said it would look bad for Facebook to fire one of the only top female executives in an industry where women face inordinately high obstacles to get to leadership positions. Beyond that, Sandberg has also been a positive force on Facebook. She was hired to be the adult in the room and has filled that role well. She moves comfortably outside tech circles and in public speaking, countering Zuckerbergs shortcomings in that area. If anything, Sandbergs departure from Facebook would likely be on her own terms. While Zuckerberg has spent all of his adult life at Facebook, Sandberg had a career before Facebook and even tech, so it is plausible that she would have a life after Facebook, perhaps back in politics. But before she can consider running for office, shell probably have to address election manipulation and Facebooks other troubles. Read more about: China Aviation Daily | Nov. 22, 2018 AsBAA, Asia's non-profit representative body for the business and general aviation industry (BA/GA) has today shared feedback from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines CAAP based upon the successful completion of its recent inaugural AsBAA Safety Day and Pilot's Day. Further to the events, CAAP has confirmed that it recognises business aviation's role in building the country's economy. CAAP, through Deputy Director General Captain Donaldo Mendoza, recognised the role of business aviation in "connecting our archipelagic country" as "for years, air travel has transported people and cargo to their destination in the safest and most efficient way". Speaking at the Philippine Aviation Safety Day on November 13, Mendoza said many of the 85 airports across the country are serviced by general and business aviation operators "helping transport VVIPs and supporting industries such as oil and gas, mining, and agriculture, among others". Philippine airports scored 70.19% at the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO) Global Safety Audit, higher than the 64.85% global average. "This means our airports are performing safer than most and are adhering to global aviation safety practices", said Mendoza, who said aviation regulators and operators are duty-bound to uphold safety and improve safety standards. For the general and business aviation sector, Mendoza said, "Creating and/or adopting a new set of regulations is a development that will not only modernise our policies but also ensure that organisations are meeting highly professional codes of safety practices". He added, "As the country's aviation industry continues to grow and become more lucrative, I believe that adopting a separate set of regulations for business and general aviation operations is a measure that will support this growth". Phil Balmer, AsBAA Vice Chairman, said "The value of business aviation is indirect, and therefore, hard to measure. Nonetheless, it affects communities and increases efficiency, hence, its vital role in business and humanitarian action". Kurt Edwards, Director General of the International Aviation Council (IBAC), explained that the International Standards for Business Aviation Operations (IS-BAO), launched in 2002 for aircraft operators, and the International Standards for Aviation Handling (IS-BAH), launched in 2014 for ground handlers, are voluntary standards adopted by those who want to improve performance and safety. They require the establishment of a Safety Management System, or systematic approach to managing safety, including the necessary organisational structures, accountabilities, policies, and procedures. AsBAA's Philippine Chapter is headed by Benjamin Lopez, President of INAEC Aviation Corporation. He said that, "As members of IBAC, AsBAA and all its chapters advocate the benefits of business and general aviation to the country and aim to uphold international standards for a better and safer business and general aviation industry. Adopting the standards of IS-BAO and IS-BAH through local regulations is a positive step towards that direction". Senator Grace Poe, Chair of the Committee on Public Services, also attended the event. Citing the recent incident on August 16, when a Xiamen Air Boeing 737 skidded off the NAIA main runway, she underscored the need to create a Transport Safety Board that can investigate incidents involving transportation, such as aircraft, railroads, pipelines, highways, and marine vessels. On addressing the demand for alternative airports and the improvement of existing ones, she reported the filing of SBN 1440, creating the Philippine Airports Authority, which has the objectives of, among others, adopting internationally acceptable standards of airport accommodation and service and upgrading and providing safe, efficient and reliable airport facilities for domestic and international air travel. She also called for public-private sector partnerships to move the country forward in terms of infrastructure. She cited the Cebu Mactan International Airport as an example of how transparent public-private sector cooperation can result in necessary and welcome infrastructure in a relatively short period of time. Congressman Cesar Sarmiento, Chairman of the House of Representative Committee on Transportation, through his representative, echoed Senator Poe's call for better infrastructure, citing the need "to pursue and put in place an overall long-term aviation plan on the location, design and construction of airports and streamline the functions of existing and future aviation bodies," including setting minimum standards for the operation and maintenance of aircraft and ensuring the convenience of passengers from booking until the completion of their flights. Greg Wooldridge, former Commanding Officer of the Blue Angels of the US Navy, shared how to get to the top 1% of the industry, particularly in terms of aviation safety and performance. He encouraged his audience of pilots and aircraft operators to adopt the "Glad to be here" mindset to break down barriers and promote open communication among team members. Meanwhile, Major General Allen T. Paredes, Chief of Air Staff, Philippine Air Force (PAF), talked about the operational readiness of the PAF to meet emergencies and threats. Aviation Safety Day and Pilots' Day, held on November 13-14, were made possible by the following sponsors: ACTSI, Embraer, Hawker Pacific (now a Jet Aviation company), the Malampaya Consortium Partners, AON, MedAire, Aerolink, Universal Weather and Aviation, Ascent Urban Air Mobility Inc., and Inaec Aviation Corp. Contributed by AsBAA Hackers are targeting Toronto-Dominion Banks internal systems at all hours using cutting-edge techniques. But the banks head of cybersecurity isnt losing sleep over them they work for him, after all. The bank established late last year an in-house red team of ethical hackers cybersecurity professionals who attempt to hack a computer network to test or evaluate its security on the owners behalf, said Alex Lovinger, TD Banks vice-president of cyber threat management. The team conducts live attacks against its own networks continuously, Lovinger said. Were doing it exactly how our adversaries would do it ... So if we find a weakness or something like that, we can close it or address it before a real attacker. Canadas biggest banks are fortifying their defences by hiring their own ethical hackers to test their systems as the frequency and sophistication of cyberthreats increases. A Senate report last month entitled Cyber.assault: It should keep you up at night sounded the alarm about the potential consequences of major cyberattacks in Canada. While some progress has been made federally in the past year, there is much more that the federal government and Canadians must do to protect ourselves, said the report of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce. We must take the appropriate steps now, or soon we will all be victims. Read more: Quebec urged to do more on cybersecurity, experts saying the province is an embarrassment StatCan survey says more than one in five businesses hit by cyberattacks last year BlackBerry spends $1.4 billion on cybersecurity firm Cylance Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz has also raised concerns about a cyberattack. In 2017, 21 per cent of Canadian businesses reported that they were impacted by a cybersecurity incident that affected their operations, according to Statistics Canada. Banking institutions, not including investment banks, reported the highest level of incidents at 47 per cent, followed by universities and the pipeline transportation subsector, according to the agency. New regulations that require Canadian businesses to alert their customers about privacy breaches or face hefty fines took effect at the beginning of this month. In May, the Bank of Montreal and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerces Simplii Financial digital banking brand said thousands of their customers may have had their personal and financial data compromised. BMO said hackers contacted the bank claiming to be in possession of the personal data of fewer than 50,000 customers, and that the attack originated outside of Canada. At the same time, Simplii also warned that fraudsters may have accessed certain personal and account information for about 40,000 clients. BMOs chief executive Darryl White said he could not comment on the details of the privacy breach, as an ongoing investigation is underway, but noted there was a very immaterial impact from a fraud perspective and no material financial fallout. We are a lot smarter as every event goes on. And there are events every day, there are events every hour of every day ... Its a continual improvement exercise, White told reporters. Meanwhile, BMO is also turning to in-house ethical hackers to test their systems. According to a recent job posting, BMO is seeking a senior manager with a certification in ethical hacking and whose responsibilities include managing a team of network penetration testing specialists. CIBC did not respond to questions about whether it utilizes ethical hackers. We leverage internal and external expertise, and work closely with industry and government to enhance cybersecurity resilience, threat intelligence and best practices, a spokesperson said in a statement. Alberta-based bank ATB Financial in a recent job post said it was recruiting a Senior Penetration Tester with ethical hacking experience. An ATB spokesperson said the posting is to fill a recently vacated role. The Bank of Nova Scotia also established its own in-house red team of hackers to test its defences, said its chief information security officer, Steve Hawkins. Scotiabank has used and continues to use third-parties to handle this penetration testing, he said. However, because the volume of global cyber threats has significantly risen, the bank wanted to have its own capabilities in-house and created its own red team this year. With the string of data breaches in recent years, what does worry TDs Lovinger is the cumulative amount of data that has been exposed. Hackers now sit on a wealth of information ... That they can now leverage to do more targeted attacks, he said. Royal Bank of Canada has had in-house ethical hacking capabilities for a few years now, as part of its cybersecurity program, said Adam Evans, the banks vice-president of cyber operations and chief information officer. We want to make sure that we are testing our defences to make sure they stay relevant, he said. RBC has been upping its cybersecurity budget and adding to its team annually. It now has roughly 400 cybersecurity professionals, up 50 per cent from three years ago, but a talent gap looms, Evans said. Demand for talent in Canada is climbing by seven per cent annually and there will be more than 5,000 roles to fill between 2018 and 2021, according to Deloitte. By 2022, the cybersecurity workforce gap is expected to reach 1.8 million, it said. As of October, there were 1,024 cybersecurity vacancies for every million Canadian job postings, up five per cent over the past year, according to Indeed Canada. Thats up 73 per cent since the beginning of 2015, said Brendon Bernard, an economist for the job search platform. Meanwhile, several Canadian banks have made recent investments in research or capabilities abroad or in universities at home to tap cybersecurity talent. For example, TD opened a cybersecurity-focused office in Tel Aviv, Scotiabank announced a partnership with an Israeli cybersecurity company and RBC made an investment in research at Ben-Gurion University. With the talent gap in cyber, its something that organizations are going to have to address, said Evans. Because there is just not enough qualified people out there. Read more about: Few countries have been moving toward a cashless society as fast as Sweden. But cash is being squeezed out so quickly with half the nations retailers predicting they will stop accepting bills before 2025 that the government is recalculating the societal costs of a cash-free future. The financial authorities, who once embraced the trend, are asking banks to keep peddling notes and coins until the government can figure out what going cash-free means for young and old consumers. The central bank, which predicts cash may fade from Sweden, is testing a digital currency an e-krona to keep firm control of the money supply. Lawmakers are exploring the fate of online payments and bank accounts if an electrical grid fails or servers are thwarted by power failures, hackers or even war. When you are where we are, it would be wrong to sit back with our arms crossed, doing nothing, and then just take note of the fact that cash has disappeared, said Stefan Ingves, governor of Swedens central bank, known as the Riksbank. You cant turn back time, but you do have to find a way to deal with change. Ask most people in Sweden how often they pay with cash and the answer is almost never. A fifth of Swedes, in a country of 10 million people, do not use automated teller machines anymore. More than 4,000 Swedes have implanted microchips in their hands, allowing them to pay for rail travel and food, or enter keyless offices, with a wave. Restaurants, buses, parking lots and even pay toilets depend on clicks rather than cash. Consumer groups say the shift leaves many retirees a third of all Swedes are 55 or older as well as some immigrants and people with disabilities at a disadvantage. They cannot easily gain access to electronic means for some goods and transactions, and rely on banks and their customer service. And the progress toward a cashless society could upend the states centuries-old role as sovereign guarantor. If cash disappears, commercial banks would wield greater control. We need to pause and think about whether this is good or bad, and not just sit back and let it happen, said Mats Dillen, the head of a Swedish Parliament committee studying the matter. If cash disappears, that would be a big change, with major implications for society and the economy. Urban consumers worldwide are increasingly paying with apps and plastic. In China and in other Asian countries rife with young smartphone users, mobile payments are routine. In Europe, about one in five people say they rarely carry money. In Belgium, Denmark and Norway, debit and credit card use has hit record highs. But Sweden and particularly its young people is at the vanguard. Bills and coins represent just 1 percent of the economy, compared with 10 percent in Europe and 8 percent in the United States. About one in 10 consumers paid for something in cash this year, down from 40 percent in 2010. Most merchants in Sweden still accept notes and coins, but their ranks are thinning. Among 18-to-24-year-olds, the numbers are startling: Up to 95 percent of their purchases are with a debit card or a smartphone app called Swish, a payment system set up by Swedens biggest banks. Ikea, whose flat-box furniture is a staple of young households, has been experimenting to gauge the allure and effect of cashless commerce. In Gavle, about 100 miles north of Stockholm, managers decided to go cashless temporarily last month after they realized that fewer than 1 percent of shoppers used cash and Ikea employees were spending about 15 percent of their time handling, counting and storing money. Banks have propelled the cashless revolution by encouraging consumers and retailers to use debit and credit cards, which yields banks and credit card companies lucrative fees. That includes the bank-developed Swish smartphone app. Swedens banks have cut back on cash in part for safety reasons after a rash of violent robberies in the mid-2000s. The national psyche is marked by an infamous helicopter heist in Vastberga in 2009, when thieves landed on the roof of a G4S cash service depot and stole millions a drama now being turned into a Netflix film. Last year, only two banks were robbed compared with 210 in 2008. In recent years, banks have dismantled cash machines by the hundreds. So little cash is used now that it has become expensive to track and maintain, said Leif Trogen, an official at the Swedish Bankers Association. There are two proposals by Swedish authorities to keep cash at hand. Parliament wants just the biggest banks to handle cash. The central bank is holding out for all banks to keep money flowing. Swedbank, SEB and other big Swedish financial institutions are fighting the lawmakers demands, saying it would place an undue burden on them to provide greater access. The demand for cash is decreasing at an ever faster pace, Trogen said. Therefore, it is fundamentally wrong to legislate to influence the demand for cash. CALGARYA Canadian Pacific Railway train conductor was killed Monday afternoon while working on a stretch of track running through downtown Calgary. The accident happened somewhere along the tracks adjacent to 9 Ave., said Teamsters Canada, a union which represents the companys workers. As we prepare to enter the holiday season, I am sad to report that one of our Teamsters families will be in mourning, said Francois Laporte, the unions president, in a statement Thursday. It isnt clear how the accident happened. But Douglas Finnson, president of Teamsters Canadas rail conference which oversees the 12,000 railway workers represented by the union said the mans death was unexpected given what he was doing at the time. The work that he was performing was relatively routine and is quite common, Finnson said. The Transportation Safety Board, an independent agency charged with investigating accidents in the railway, pipeline, marine, and air industries to improve safety, said it is aware of the accident. A TSB spokesperson said Thursday morning that investigators are looking into the accident, but have not yet decided whether to open an investigation. Initially, we werent aware of whether it was a workplace accident or a death that just happened to take place while the person was at work, Finnson said. CPR confirmed the workplace fatality in a statement Thursday afternoon. The companys deepest sympathies go out to the employees family and friends, said spokesperson Jeremy Berry in the statement. Four railway workers in Canada have died on the job within the last 12 months, Finnson said. (This compares to a five-year average calculated by the TSB, which suggests three workers are killed on the job every year and seven are seriously injured.) This includes a derailment involving a train owned by the Arctic Gateway Group just south of Thompson, Man., in September where a worker was killed and another suffered serious injuries. The fatalities are unusual, Finnson said. Absolutely nobody in Canada should accept or expect four fatalities in 12 months. In 2016, no railway workers died on the job, according to data from TSB. Finnson said a common theme in worker deaths is a lack of training or inexperience due to high rates of turnover at railway companies. The Calgary area has seen one other railway worker killed on the job within the last five years. In June 2013, an employee working for Arrow Reload Services which was under contract with CPR at the time was crushed between two trains at a rail yard in Calgarys southwest. Teamsters Canada said it wouldnt be commenting further on the accident out of respect for the victims family. With files from The Canadian Press Read more about: EDMONTONAlberta recorded the highest rate of firearm-related homicides in the country in 2017, mostly due to the rise of illegal guns and gangs. According to numbers released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday, Albertas rate for gun-related homicides was 1.19 per 100,000 people in 2017, compared to 1.04 in 2016. British Columbia came in second place at 1.18 per 100,000 people. Its the highest rate recorded by both provinces in more than two decades. Alberta and B.C. were both large contributors to the national homicide rate reaching its highest level since 2009. Alberta also recorded the second-highest increase in victims of gang-related homicides, after B.C. The total number of gang-related homicides jumped from 20 in 2016 to 32 in 2017. Most of these occurred in Calgary or Edmonton. Calgarys number of gang-related homicides doubled from six to 12 year over year, the largest increase among all census metropolitan areas. Doug King, a professor of justice studies at Mount Royal University, attributes the rise in gun and gang homicides to heightened criminal organization activity and the drug trade, particularly starting in Vancouver and sweeping eastwards. It isnt so much turf war. Thats a West Side Story image of gangs its over market share, he said. In Alberta, the Hells Angels have had a stranglehold over organized crime, which continues today, King said. Theres no doubt that in terms of the wholesale end of illegal firearms, illegal drugs, prostitution, Alberta is heavily influenced by the Hells Angels but the Hells Angels are not the ones out shooting one another, King said. Instead, he calls them facilitators, who contract killings out to local gangs. Theres some distance between the shooting on the streets and the drugs on the streets and whos making most of the money, King said. Often, an uptick in gang homicides is because a new gang has entered a citys drug market. King said he hasnt seen anything specific that would indicate that was the case for 2017. When it comes to guns, most are entering Alberta from the United States border through Montana and North Dakota, with a smaller proportion coming in shipping containers that arent searched at the Vancouver port. An even smaller proportion consists of legally registered guns stolen from homes in Alberta, King said. Overall, Edmonton had the third-highest homicide rate in the country, with 49 in 2017. Its the fourth year in a row that Edmonton was in the top three for homicide rates in big cities. In contrast, Calgary has consistently recorded a lower homicide rate than Edmonton for years. While Calgarys homicide rate dropped 7.6 per cent from 2016 to 2017, Edmontons rose 2.5 per cent. King says the reason for the difference is the higher proportion of Indigenous residents in Edmonton. The Statistics Canada release reports that while Indigenous peoples only represent five per cent of the Canadian population, they accounted for 24 per cent of all Canadian homicide victims in 2017. The homicide rate for Indigenous females was 4.22 per 100,000 people, an increase of 32 per cent from the previous year. Indigenous males were more than 10 times more likely to be a homicide victim compared to a non-Indigenous male. Its related to the reality of Indigenous life in Canada, King said. Ones racial background does not cause ones criminality, but ones social position and social isolation does contribute to criminality, substance use, and poverty. It isnt race that causes criminality, its the fact of how society treats different people that causes it, he added. The highest provincial homicide rates nationwide were seen in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Thats because historically, theres a greater risk of being killed in rural communities compared to an urban environment. Thats causing the increase in Western Canada. A greater percentage of the population in Western Canada lives in rural communities compared to Quebec and Ontario, King said. Part of the higher rate in rural areas is because a smaller overall population gives individual homicides more weight since theyre recorded on a per-capita basis. But its also because guns are more likely to be stolen from a rural household, King said. In 2017, Albertas homicide rate was 32 per cent higher in rural areas than in urban areas. When looking specifically at firearm-related homicides, the rate was 94 per cent higher than the provinces urban rate. While the overall homicide numbers are concerning, King said its important to note that the rise is primarily the result of gang warfare. For that reason, he mostly agrees when police say the public shouldnt be alarmed. They serve to prevent an unreasonable spread of public fear that their risk of becoming victims is much greater than it was before the shootings, King said. However, as we have seen in several instances across Canada, gang shootings can result in bystander injury even death. Read more about: A night out in Bologna You know the word decumano? asked Armando Comi, a friend of a friend I had just met at a small bistro near his apartment in Bologna, Italys medieval city centre. In an ancient Roman city like this one, he explained as we downed Campari and sodas, a decumano (decumanus maximus in Latin) was the most important street, where all business took place. In the daytime, at least. To truly understand Bologna, though, you need to go to the bustling, tiny Via del Pratello, one block from the decumano (the grand Via San Felice). Its where we were sitting, downing Campari and sodas, and envisioning nightlife here centuries ago. Imagine just alcohol and prostitution, basically, Comi said. He loved using the word imagine as he showed me around his city. Imagine that just 10 years ago this was a street just for a little slice of pizza and kebabs, he said, marvelling at the teeming outdoor cafes. Imagine, he went on, being a student in the 11th century at the University of Bologna, the oldest in the Western world, or during the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when Bologna was the most left-wing city in Italy, and producing the countrys most iconic pop musicians. Imagine Bologna from the eyes of someone who came from a really provincial situation as in the south of Italy where you find nothing interesting, he said. Comi is from Calabria and has lived in Bologna for 20 years. You come here because it is not a city, it is a legend. I soon learned that Comi writes historical thrillers using research he had done on heretical religious movements while earning his doctorate in history of philosophy at the University of Bologna. New Campari and sodas appeared at our table, courtesy of Comis friend Francesco Bianchini. Hes an assistant professor of philosophy of science at the university and appeared to be about 7-feet tall with glasses and an inviting grin. He spun the picture of arriving to Bologna from small-town central Italy as a student in the 90s, when it was both the countrys hip cultural capital and home to the notorious criminal gang, the Banda della Uno Bianca in which police officers, driving white Fiat Uno cars, went on a multi-year crime spree. How much time can you spend with us? Bianchini wanted to know. I was open, I said. Id been waiting all week to see how the Bolognese spend their Saturday nights. Thats a little dangerous, said Bianchini, predicting wed be out until the wee hours, hopping from pub to restaurant to bar to hole-in-the-wall-snack spot, surrounded by others doing the same thing. Such is what happens when you have 100,000 students in a city with 500,000 citizens, many of them former students. Everyone talks about the food in Bologna, capital of the region of Emilia-Romagna (the entirety of which was on the 52 Places list). This is the land that brought you balsamic vinegar and ragu Bolognese. But what gets lost in Instagram filters is the kind of rebel spirit you feel on the ground: the intensity it takes to achieve simplicity and craftsmanship; the discourse on history and religion and relationships and vices that leaves you buzzing long after a delicious meal. This regions greatest product might be its endless stream of maniac geniuses. My mad geniuses were now leading me across the incredible Piazza Maggiore to Bolognas oldest pub, Osteria del Sole, around since 1465. It doesnt serve food these days, but does have convivial low ceilings and long tables, and serves its own brand of wine for 2 euros, or about $2.30, a glass. After a scary brush with foreclosure, the place has cleaned up a bit no more sawdust on the floor but the prices have stayed about the same, Bianchini said. Dinner was a nice long walk under Bolognas many porticos to Osteria da Mario, founded in 1900. This restaurant, once it was just an old man named Mario with a lot of salumi and a knife and a lot of wine, said Comi, wistfully recounting Marios gruff demeanour. Now its a hip gastro pub with white tablecloths and a backlit bar and caricatures of dearly departed Mario lining every wall. We paid tribute to him with an antipasto plate prosciutto di Parma, mortadella paired with incredibly creamy cheeses. And a lot of wine. You might sense a theme to our night. Like so many other places in Bolognas city centre, Bianchini said, Osteria da Mario has had to compromise, transform into a modern version of a traditional osteria, to keep up with tourism. High-speed trains and a location in the centre of the country, along with draws like the newly opened FICO Eataly World (a giant mall for eating and learning about Italys food production), have made this city a regional hub. The students who congregated nightly in piazzas have been forced to move outside the city wall, replaced with temporary visitors like me, heading to Airbnb with their roller suitcases click-clacking on cobblestone streets. That rebel spirit, though, still persists. We found it at Mercato delle Erbe, a food market by day that fills with mostly crowds of residents at drink stands by night, and while nursing negronis next to a Fidel Castro poster at Osteria del Montesino, and also while munching on fried Sardinian street food after one last, ill-advised glass of grappa. Id been charmed by Bologna earlier in my trip, the pink buildings that glowed even pinker at sunset. The pace of living that seemed so slow and unforced. But with Comi and Bianchini that night, I felt like I was seeing it for the first time. Did you know that those porticos were a genius way of expanding the citys housing stock building apartments on top of the porticos without losing sidewalk space? Or that you can find three arrows stuck in the roof of a portico on Strada Maggiore from a robbery gone wrong? Or that theres a canal in the middle of town if you just know where to find the right window to peer upon it? That night, Bologna felt like home, with endless surprises. But maybe that was the negronis talking. A warm welcome in Matera Luggage still in hand, two minutes after arriving in one of the oldest sectors of the ancient southern Italian city of Matera, I wandered onto a viewpoint balcony near the main square of Piazza Vittorio Veneto and into utter awe. Below me and before me were tiers upon tiers of buildings in pale gold and white stone, leading to a valley of more pale stone, and another steep hill in the distance filled with tier upon tier of the same. It felt like looking at a city on the moon, or standing on the worlds largest wedding cake. The sheer feat of human endeavour that had created this gleaming expanse was overwhelming. I was shocked to find out it has never been used as a shooting location for the Star Wars universe. But it has been a double for ancient Jerusalem in many a biblical movie, including Mel Gibsons The Passion of the Christ, which filmed here in 2004 and is credited for being a major factor in boosting the citys tourism profile. At the moment, though, I had more pressing things to think about, namely if I was going to have to sleep on that balcony. Matera lies in the far south region of Basilicata, at the arch of Italys boot. Getting there had been so logistically exhausting a four-hour, delayed train trip from Bologna, to an overnight pit stop in Salerno (the southern entrance to the Amalfi Coast), to a three-hour bus ride at 5 a.m. that I was almost there, on a bus without Wi-Fi or cell signal, when I realized Id neglected to book a place to stay. If theres one overarching lesson from my time in that beautiful, economically challenged city, though, its that Matera takes care of people. It hit me when I was in a cellphone store buying a SIM card and a woman overheard my housing dilemma, called her cousin, Simona, who owns a bed-and-breakfast, and within 10 minutes I had a room at one of the most charming places at which Ive stayed on this entire tip. Simonas bed-and-breakfast, Hoplites, was exactly where you want to be, in one of two Sassi, or rock districts, of Materas UNESCO World Heritage-protected old towns. Both Sasso Barisano and the even older Sasso Caveoso began as cave dwellings; the city has been occupied since 7,000 B.C. To get to Hoplites, in Sasso Barisano, I dragged my bags up and down cobblestone hills. Simona, a woman in her early 30s who speaks little English, greeted my arrival with cheek kisses. I got a two-story apartment to myself, with a private roof overlooking all of Sasso Barisano for 70 euros a night. The other rooms are in refurbished caves, as are most lodging options in the Sassi. The shower in at least one of Simonas rooms is built into a former Roman grain silo from many years before Christ. Simona, her husband, her father and her mother, all of whom I met over breakfast (her mother makes homemade cake for the guests) spent three years turning fetid, pitch-black caves into cosy, white-painted havens. Later in my stay, I moved to a fancy boutique hotel, La Casa di Lucio, for the chance to stay in a cave, which was painted all white and had a leopard print couch, and was just as fabulous as it sounds. Anyone in Matera can tell you the story of how far the city has had to come to be a place that has things like BBs and hotels; I strongly encourage making Casa Noha, an interactive museum, your first stop, to hear about the city in dramatic narration with visuals. Matera was once the capital of Basilicata, but a move of the capital to Potenza, and the funds that came with that, began a long descent into poverty. Up until the 1950s, families with six or more children still lived in caves in the Sassi, along with their livestock, and without electricity, running water or sewers. Politics, but also the urgency of a 50-per-cent infant mortality rate, led to the relocation of the Sassis 15,000 citizens to nearby modern communities. The Sassi were empty for 30 years, well into the 1980s, but its citizens never abandoned them. A group of young, untrained citizen archeologists documented its cave churches with their priceless Byzantine frescoes and then those culture preservers became politicians and began cleaning up the Sassi. UNESCO designation came in the 1990s, as did government programs to practically give away caves to anyone whod renovate them. Next year Matera is going to be a European Capital of Culture, with a year of celebratory events and an influx of funds for renewal projects. I had arrived in Matera with grand ambitions to explore the Basilicata countryside, but soon found myself too engrossed to want to go anywhere else. That, and getting myself up and down Materas pedestrian-only streets proved so tiring I couldnt even fathom how Id get to a car rental. Every walk that Google Maps told me was going to take five minutes took at least 30, since that app does not account for hills. Or for an entire city being white. Wrong turns led to other wrong turns. But I was too busy taking pictures and gawking at every vista to be bothered. Finding restaurants, too, proved to be a challenge. By the end of my five-day stay, I had gone to two, the cave bistro Osteria Al Casale, and a modest cafe, LArturo Enogastronomia, which had delicious small plates, Wi-Fi and the advantage of being one of the few places in town I knew how to find on a regular basis. Slowing down, too, allowed for relationships to blossom, which, in the end, is where Materas true magic lies. On my first night, I met a photographer, Cosimo Martemucci, who was born and raised here, and, over two incredible evenings, showed me the visual playground such as the hilltop cave church Chiesa Madonna della Idris where he learned his trade. The most magical evening of all, though, might have been when an art restorer named Angelica Malizia took me across a canyon Le Gravine di Matera to a lookout called Belvedere in Parco di Murgia Timone for a complete view of the city with all its lights. We had come with her friend, Mariangela Fugliuolo, a tour guide, and their two boyfriends, Alessandro and Marcello, delightful jokesters both. After taking in the view, we sat at tables near the visitors centre, picnicking with wine wed brought and a local delicacy called panzerotto, similar to a calzone, that wed picked up on our way out of the city at a fast-food bar called Sottozero. Marcello helps run an outdoor film festival at the visitors centre in the summer, and the five of us talked politics and romance and our favourite movies for hours. In a few months, the cultural capital events would begin and the whole city might change, but I felt grateful to have had this night, and the kind of warm Matera welcome I hope will last for eons to come. Practical tips See: Bologna has an emotional statue of Jesus death at Santa Maria della Vita church, and the fascinating San Stefano, an unfinished complex of seven churches. But the real sightseeing thrill is Le Due Torri (The Two Towers), the taller of which, Asinelli, offers a panoramic view of Bologna in all its pink-stoned glory to anyone willing and able to climb 498 steps. The most eye-opening attraction I saw in Matera was Casa Grotta di Via Solitario, which recreates a furnished cave, complete with a horse near the bed. Eat: Try the tortellini in brodo at Trattoria del Rosso, where Bianchini took me for lunch. Bologna is where the modern gelato machine was invented and the city is awash with options: Sorbetteria Castiglione, Gelateria Galleria 49, Gelateria Delle Moline, and Cremeria Cavour to name a few. Down south, make sure you try the pane di Matera, a slow-baked bread with a recipe so old it has an archeological designation. I tried mine dipped in homemade tapenades at the office of Matera City Tour. The rose wines of the region are also surprisingly dry and delicious. A conversation about housing has to start with numbers. Whether youre a tenant struggling to find a home or a government crafting new policy during a nationwide housing crisis, you need to have a grip on good data. The hunt for rental housing, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver, has become increasingly competitive and confusing as the number of people looking to live in cities continues to outpace what is actually being built. Renters going to shop for a place to rent have almost no information, said David Hulchanski, a housing and community development expert at the University of Toronto, who maps and studies the factors that drive neighbourhood change. Most consumers shop blindly, they dont know what is going on in different geographic areas. To try to cut through that confusion and provide renters with a bit more insight on where neighbourhood prices are heading the Toronto Star built an interactive map showing how a big slice of the complex market purpose-built rentals have gone up in price. The yearly average rents were provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which tracks and reports information on rental prices and vacancy rates. The Star used those numbers to calculate how much average market rent for purpose-built rentals in the 15 largest metropolitan areas across the country changed between 2012 and 2017. Consumers, Hulchanski said, need to be forewarned that over a five-year period that has been the change in rents, in the neighbourhood they might want to live in. A good consumer needs information and this is helpful information. The map has a drop-down menu that allows users to check out the percentage increase on rent for bachelor, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, and the overall average. Not every type of apartment is included, as the map was built using data for occupied, privately-initiated, purpose-built rental buildings with three or more units. It does not capture, for example, basement apartments in Calgary, a two-bedroom unit at the top of a Montreal home, or a condominium for rent in Toronto. The map boundaries are based on groupings of census tracts used by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhoods where data was not available for more than one year, on either end of the 2012 to 2017 range, are shaded grey. Hulchanski said the map can be used as a window into broader neighbourhood trends. People can see what tenants are already paying in a neighbourhood, and if those amounts have increased significantly over five years they can assume that actual rent would be far higher, he said. It will also, he said, give people who research housing policy another indicator into how gentrification and lack of new supply is affecting certain areas. In the rental side there is mainly demand and it is not what economists could call effective market demand. That is, there are not enough people with enough money to pay for the rents that are required for new construction, he said. Shaun Hildebrand, president of market research firm Urbanation, also cautioned the numbers cannot be used to predict the actual cost of future rents. What the average tenant is paying is not what the average tenant would pay if they rented today, because the rental prices CMHC reports are primarily for occupied units and people tend to hold on to those rental homes, he said. In terms of Toronto, he said, any significant spikes in price are likely attributed to landlords charging much higher prices for new or empty units, which are rare. Have your say Tim Ross, executive director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, said all data, historical or otherwise, is needed for effective conversations around housing. The federation used CMHC rental data to help demonstrate that co-operative housing is bulletproof to fluctuations in the rental market, he said. What the federation found was the cost of a one-bedroom co-operative unit in Toronto rose 7 per cent between 2013 and 2017, compared to a 16 per cent increase in a one-bedroom, purpose-built apartment in the same time period, he said. If anything I would urge the federal government to invest in solutions we know work and are insulated from the current volatility of the rental markets and housing markets across the country, Ross said. Local policy does make a difference. Tenant and landlord law is a provincial responsibility, so what goes in Toronto will differ from Halifax or Montreal. Vacancy rates and rental costs also rely on a range of factors, including local economic drivers like seasonal work in cities such as Calgary and Edmonton. One way to learn how those policies impact broader housing health is through the Canadian Rental Housing Index, which maps out the percentage of income people in different areas are spending on rent. The need for better and more complete data on housing has been identified as a national priority. The federal government has pledged $241 million to be used towards research, data collection and outcomes over the next 10 years as part of the National Housing Strategy. New studies being conducted across Canada will include the Social and Affordable Housing Survey Rental Structures. CMHC spokesperson Audrey-Anne Coulombe said the annual survey will collect information on rental costs, building services, wait lists and building condition. To find out what is happening in rental markets in major cities across Canada, the Star reached out to housing experts to talk about past trends and what renters can expect in the future. Story Behind the Story delivers insights into how the Star investigates, reports, and produces stories. Halifax Halifaxs rental market is tighter than its been in more than a decade. The vacancy rate for purpose-built rental stock with three or more units the basis for the CMHC vacancy rates in Halifax was 2.3 per cent in October 2017, according to the CMHC, the lowest since October 2003. The Stars analysis of purpose-built rental data shows most areas saw average rents for those units increase between 10 and 20 per cent from 2012 to 2017. There are some outliers, however. The Stars analysis shows average rent in the Woodside/Eastern Passage area, for example, increased 95.7 per cent in the same period. The increase was 43.7 per cent in Timberlea/Beechville and 55.7 per cent in Fairmount. Neil Lovitt, senior manager of planning and economic intelligence at Halifax real estate consulting firm Turner Drake, said new construction likely skewed the numbers in those areas. First of all, its a small rental market to begin with, theres not a lot of units, so any new building is going to create a bigger splash, he said, referring to Woodside/Eastern Passage. The existing supply, which is maybe one or two hundred units, rent probably hasnt changed in those at all, but youre just adding in a comparatively large number of very new buildings that would obviously start at a much higher price. It tilts the average figure up quite significantly. In general, Lovitt said the addition of new, more expensive units into the market explains much of the increase in average rents. The older units have, up until very recently, not really seen that much rental growth, he added. Lovitt said the perception that theres a construction boom in Halifax is a matter of visibility: the rate of construction hasnt changed, its just moved downtown from the suburbs. Both he and the CMHC, in its 2017 report, cite strong immigration numbers as one reason for increasing rental demand in Halifax, especially over the last two to three years. For the last couple years before that, we were building a lot and there was starting to be, I think, a bit of anxiety as to whether or not we were overbuilding, Lovitt said. And then these population trends have sort of come in to offer some support to that. Whether the trend will continue is hard to predict, Lovitt said, as is the downward trend with the vacancy rate. It depends on the pace of buildings being completed, he said. I guess you could say theres a race between supply and demand basically, new construction and new residents. Zane Woodford, StarMetro Halifax Toronto Toronto is rapidly becoming a city of glistening glass towers, although one with fewer and fewer affordable places to live. What was considered somewhat accessible to the average renter, purpose-built stock hit a 1.1 per cent vacancy rate, according to the CMHCs 2017 rental market report. The higher density zoning and rezoning that was once for rental housing, is now used for condo buildings, said U of Ts Hulchanski, explaining one factor behind Torontos rental housing crunch. Condominium units do end up on the rental market, he said, but are aimed at people with higher incomes. The Stars analysis of CMHC numbers on average cost for purpose-built rental units showed that in Toronto close to 20 neighbourhoods reported a 20 per cent or higher increase in average market rent between 2012 and 2017. Dana Senagama, CMHC manager of market analysis for the GTA, stressed those figures dont show average market movement, as they dont contain new builds and renovated units. Spikes do indicate how an ultra tight vacancy rate and lack of new supply can impact prices, she said, or gives a snapshot of overall market demand. A landlord cant raise your rent unless somebody is willing to pay for it, Senagama said. Hulchanski said the map shows where gentrification is taking hold. One stark example, he noted, was the Dufferin Grove/Little Portugal area where the Stars analysis showed the average cost of a one-bedroom unit spiked 38.6 per cent between 2012 and 2016. The area identified as South Parkdale/King West, where the Stars analysis showed a one-bedroom rose 9.8 per cent between 2012 and 2017, are also becoming increasingly desirable and the data reflects that, he said. In Toronto, the rent on occupied units can only be raised a fixed amount set by the province each year. However, in November the provincial government ruled landlords could raise the rent on newly constructed units any amount occupied or not. Urbanations Hildebrand said the actual demand for rental housing is close to 25,000 new units, each year. The GTA is on track to complete 20,000 condos next year, he said, of which half will end up as rentals, and up to 5,000 purpose-built units. There are close to 11,200 purpose-built rental units under construction, he said, about the same total amount built since 2005. The level of purpose-built rental would need triple to move the market into balance, he said. Emily Mathieu, Toronto Star Calgary The citys rental market is starting to show signs of a recovery after years of units sitting empty in Albertas slumping economy. Calgarys vacancy rate had hovered at or below 1 per cent as the oil industry boomed in the mid-2000s. When the bottom fell out, the numbers gradually increased, hitting 7 per cent in October 2016 the highest rate measured by the CMHC in more than 25 years. The rate inched down to 6.3 per cent in 2017 despite a construction boom that brought nearly 2,000 more new units into the market compared to the previous year. For industry watchers, those numbers point to larger trends. The economy is growing, people are moving into the city, said Lai Sing Louie, an economist with the housing corporation. With that, the CMHC is forecasting prices will again increase. The recessions impact on rent played out differently in neighbourhoods across the city. Prior to the downturn, average rent was increasing almost everywhere. That trend flatlined in most neighbourhoods when the recession hit, but in looking at CMHC data for purpose-built rentals from 2012 to 2017, the Stars analysis shows some areas actually saw prices for those units dip. South Calgarys Canyon Meadows saw the biggest overall change with prices down 11.2 per cent in the five-year period, the analysis shows. The discrepancies could be attributed to a key finding from CMHC surveys that collected information on renter behaviour. Last year, one of the primary reasons for moving was for employment reasons, Louie said. That tends to create turnover and vacancy rates in different neighbourhoods at different times. Andrew Jeffrey, StarMetro Calgary Edmonton Edmonton remains a renters market thanks in part to the lingering effects of Albertas oil-fuelled recession and a steady supply of new residential developments. The average vacancy rate for purpose-built rentals jumped from 2 per cent in 2014, when the recession started, to 4 per cent in 2015, according to the CMHC. Its since levelled off at 7 per cent for both 2016 and 2017. Average rents, meanwhile, have generally continued to increase, albeit at a slower pace than before the economic meltdown with the price in some neighbourhoods practically holding steady between 2014 and 2016. The citys rental market has been less affected than those in some other parts of the province. That could be attributed to a variety of factors, including strong demand from post-secondary students and the recessions overall lessened impact on Edmonton compared to cities with deeper ties to the oil industry, said James Cuddy, an Alberta analyst with CMHC. There are signs, however, that vacancy rates are starting to dip and prices are starting to climb faster as the recession wanes, Cuddy said. He expects that to be reflected in the housing corporations 2018 report due out later this month. Core neighbourhoods such as Bonnie Doon, Grandin and McCauley started seeing average rent increase as early as 2016 because they are in high demand, Cuddy said. Omar Mosleh, StarMetro Edmonton Vancouver Jill Atkey, CEO of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Society, has been tracking not just the price of rent throughout the province but how income levels have failed to keep up with the rising cost of housing. While Vancouver has a reputation for unaffordable housing, Atkey says its suburbs like Burnaby, Surrey and Coquitlam that have become the most unaffordable for renters. Over the past five years, we saw households spending more than 30 per cent and more than 50 per cent of their incomes on rent, Atkey said. So it really was becoming the new normal to be spending more than you can afford. Average rent for purpose-built rentals in downtown Vancouver rose by 25.6 per cent between 2012 and 2017, according to a Toronto Star analysis of CMHC data. But in the District of Langley, on the far eastern edge of the Metro Vancouver region, rents rose by a whopping 68 per cent in the same time period. And its not just big cities where renters are feeling the pinch. Many smaller communities are also struggling with the same housing conundrum, Atkey said. The good news for renters, Atkey noted, is that with so many people feeling the effect of rising housing costs, the crisis became the top issue in recent provincial and municipal elections. Governments have started to invest in a big way with provincial funding just announced for 4,900 units targeted at low-to-moderate income renters across B.C. Non-profit housing developers have another 7,000 units in development through other investments, Atkey said, and, for the first time in 30 years, many municipal governments are prioritizing new purpose-built rental buildings through development and fee incentives. Atkey believes struggling renters will start to see a difference as these new projects are completed over the next two to four years. Theyre struggling right now, so telling them two to four years from now that the struggle will be less severe is sort of cold comfort, but we are starting to turn the corner on this, she said. Jen St. Denis, StarMetro Vancouver It looks as if you appreciate our journalism. Our reporting changes lives, connects communities and effects change. But good journalism is expensive to produce, and advertiser revenue throughout the media industry is falling and unable to carry the cost. That means we need you, our readers. We need your help. If you appreciate deep local reporting, powerful investigations and reliable, responsible information, we hope you will support us through a subscription. Please click here to subscribe. Amanda Ferguson, 33, imagines Torontos astronomical rents are dinner-party fodder for people of her parents generation and her contemporaries living in small-town Ontario. But renting is a longer-term and costly reality for more young professionals like Ferguson. Its what you do to survive and balance the books, she said. At their own dinner parties, Ferguson and her friends talk about solutions to the high cost of housing the possibility of commuting to Hamilton or moving to a smaller city amid the mounting impossibility of owning in the Toronto region where the average detached or semi-detached home costs about $1 million. A slavish devotion to home ownership in Canada, which has one of the highest rates in the world, and the growing gap between household incomes of tenants and homeowners in the Toronto region have helped attach a stigma to renting. But with home ownership rates dipping in Canada, theres a move afoot to normalize renting by pushing for policy and regulations that would give tenants the kind of security and control normally attached to home ownership. Generation Squeeze, a Vancouver lobby group led by University of British Columbia professor Paul Kershaw, focuses on the economic plight of adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s struggling to pay for housing and child care. It has launched a petition and campaign called We Rent, to push politicians to level the playing field between renters and homeowners. The most obvious way to do that is by increasing the stock of affordable and market-rate, purpose-built rentals that provide tenants with the security and professional management that provides them with security of tenure, says Generation Squeeze. Have your say: It wants the government to help by making the business model for rental development competitive with condos by using tax incentives such as GST rebates. The guiding principle of We Rent is that renters are not second-class citizens. Its a cultural phenomenon that we prioritize home ownership, said Kershaw. For a long time it wasnt as challenging to own a home in Canada as it is today in cities, particularly the two least affordable centres, Toronto and Vancouver. It became a sign of adulthood you left the nest, youve got your own space and theres some autonomy that comes with home ownership, he said. Its not just about whether you can own a pet or paint your apartment. Its about knowing that, as a renter, your child can access a particular school and stay there until they graduate in the same way that a homeowner is secure they can stay in the neighbourhood. In the five years she has lived in Toronto, Ferguson, a communications professional, has been evicted twice. In both cases the landlords said they were moving her out to move in their relatives. Both instances followed conversations about illegal rent increases, she said. When she moved to Toronto, Ferguson paid $1,350 for a one-bedroom apartment. The next place cost $1,450. Forced out again into the citys 1 per cent vacancy rate in August, the average price was about $2,000, she said. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto in the third quarter of this year was $2,056, according to market research firm Urbanation. They say youre supposed to spend 30 per cent of your income on housing. That number is no longer realistic in Toronto unless you roommate up, she said. She cites cities like London, England, where even established adults have flatmates as the only feasible way of affording a home. After the second eviction Ferguson and her boyfriend decided to look for a place together. They lucked out with an older-large two-bedroom place for $2,450. Growing up in Amhertsburg, a town of about 22,000 half an hour south of Windsor, Ferguson remembers a big house with a lawn and being able to run to her to her friends houses nearby. Owning a home is something thats instilled in me as the next step, she said. Its kind of sad that its potentially off the table or, in order to get that, Id be looking at a three-hour commute round trip from Hamilton. The benefits of renting are often underrated, said Chris Spoke, who rents part of a Leslieville house with his wife and baby daughter, and is a founder of Toronto advocacy group, Housing Matters. When you think about things like labour mobility, being flexible enough to move to where the opportunity is, youre less tied down. Thats something that you see as we extoll the virtues and benefits of home ownership you do see less labour mobility and less flexibility on these fronts than societies that have higher rental rates, he said. Canadians have subscribed to the notion that housing is an investment. Increasing the value of that investment is incompatible with creating more affordable housing, Spoke said. About the same time builders stopped making purpose-built rentals in the Toronto region, municipalities enshrined zoning rules that protect established neighbourhoods from denser, more affordable housing such as apartments, duplexes or triplexes. For many Canadians, home ownership is a retirement fund a way of paying yourself Kershaw said. Weve distorted that to say youre going to pay yourself in an asset that we want to grow faster than the economy. We want it to be the best part of your portfolio. That has gone hand in hand in many big cities in Canada with home prices escalating far faster than economic growth and as a result leaving earnings behind, he said. A generation ago it took five years of full-time work to save a 20 per cent down payment on an average priced home in Vancouver and across Canada. If you flash forward to today . . . it would take 13 years to save a 20 per cent payment on an average priced home in Canada, said Kershaw. In Ontario it is 16 years. In British Columbia its 19 years. In the GTA, it is 22 years and in Metro Vancouver it is 27 years. Given how horrifying those statistics are, he said, We just have to anticipate that we are on a route where more and more people are going to be renters for longer periods of their lives. Read more about: It was hard for Kyle Fraser to walk back into the school he left five years ago hard to see the faces of people he says bullied him there. But the 21-year-old drove six hours from Ohio, where hes an undergraduate, to attend a special alumni meeting Tuesday night at St. Michaels College School. He felt he had to be there. I went to fight for change, and fight for the victims, he told the Star in an interview at his parents Scarborough home Wednesday afternoon. It starts at the top and thats where they need to look. Fraser, who left the school after Grade 10 because he says he was verbally bullied, was among a crowd of about 300 people who gathered for a three-hour meeting to address a scandal that has enveloped the private boys school. It started when two videos, one allegedly showing a washroom assault and the other an alleged locker-room sexual assault, began circulating on social media about two weeks ago. Six boys have since been charged with assault, gang sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon. Read more: What we know and dont know about the scandal at St. Michaels College School and what we cant report St. Mikes board says its united behind school leadership amid growing scandal Opinion | Bob Hepburn: A parents perspective on St. Mikes Some, such as Fraser, have expressed anger at the schools handling of the crisis. But at the Tuesday meeting, many praised principal Greg Reeves. Some people said that he did nothing wrong, he had the best interests in mind, Fraser said. According to sources, Reeves told the crowd that his focus was always on the victims and students, which drew loud applause and a standing ovation. Reeves acknowledged the criticism hes faced for not immediately notifying police when he learned of the alleged sexual assault, but said he takes comfort in knowing that the victim and his parents are supportive of him and said the boy intends to return to school this week. He added that he would do exactly the same thing again. Some, however, were critical of Reeves. One man said there was an utter failure of leadership, referring to the principal, the board and the Basilian Fathers, who run the school. Another said he had planned on sending his young son there, but was now reconsidering and urged Reeves to apologize and step down, which elicited some applause. Reeves said he was sorry and regretted what had occurred at the school, but vowed to work hard to ensure such incidents never happen again, which drew even louder applause. Reeves said upcoming midterm exams have been cancelled so the school can hold workshops to help the boys heal and urged alumni with appropriate skills to make themselves available to talk to students. He also noted the school has set up forums during lunch hour, called Step up to the mic, to help students cope, and created a hotline to anonymously report incidents such as bullying. It is also hiring a full-time social worker and four security guards to patrol the washrooms and locker room. And, an independent third-party committee will do a deep dive into the schools culture and make recommendations. Those in attendance also made suggestions, such as implementing a gay-straight alliance at the school, and sending out a survey to all alumni, parents and staff on the schools handling of this crisis. Some complained about unfair media coverage and alumni who have gone public with stories of bullying, saying they need to deal with things internally, as a community. Board chair Michael Forsayeth addressed the crowd, saying they need be a united front, and cant let the outside pick them apart, because divided they will fall. Reeves has been questioned about why he did not call police on a Monday evening when he received the video of the alleged sexual assault. He has told media he needed time to inform the parents of the victim, who was his first priority, and was busy with expulsion meetings, but always intended to call police. He gave the video to police after they arrived at the school on Wednesday. By that point, reporters were calling police to ask about expulsions and the video. Both Reeves and the schools president, Father Jefferson Thompson, have the full support of the board, according to a statement released Wednesday. As a board, we are united in our support of the schools leadership, Forsayeth said in the statement, adding both Thompson and Reeves were hired because of their dedication and care for students throughout their careers. They are both men of the highest integrity and continue to have our trust to lead us forward, the statement reads. Witnessing the standing ovation at (Tuesday) nights alumni meeting, many of whom are current and past parents, I believe that Fr. Thompson and Mr. Reeves have their overwhelming support. As a school community, we want to ensure that these incidents do not happen again. Police are investigating six incidents at the school, including the locker room video, one other alleged sexual assault, three alleged assaults and one incident related to threatening. Police have four videos, and are encouraging anyone with information to come forward. Fraser said he would like to see Reeves step down. (Parents) are sending their kids there confident that the teachers and staff will protect their kids and give them a safe learning environment and it clearly wasnt the case with what happened, he said. The only way for that bridge to be mended is that someone new has to come in, because once trust is broken its very very hard to regain. Fraser, who will complete his degree at Bowling Green State University in about three weeks, is happy to hear the school wants alumni to mentor students. He hopes to be one of them. The big question, he says, is why these incidents took place. Fraser attended St. Michaels between 2009 and 2013, and he believes the schools toxic masculinity and culture of hazing played a role. It needs to stop and it needs to stop now. It looks as if you appreciate our journalism. Our reporting changes lives, connects communities and effects change. But good journalism is expensive to produce, and advertiser revenue throughout the media industry is falling and unable to carry the cost. That means we need you, our readers. We need your help. If you appreciate deep local reporting, powerful investigations and reliable, responsible information, we hope you will support us through a subscription. Please click here to subscribe. With files from David Rider Isabel Teotonio is a Toronto-based reporter covering education. Follow her on Twitter: @Izzy74 A veteran Peel Region police officer has been charged with theft in an on-duty incident from April, 2016. Sgt. Eric Malone, who has been serving as an officer for 17 years, is charged with one count of theft under $5,000, one count of theft over $5,000 and one count of breach of trust. The allegations are related to an on-duty incident that occurred on April 15, 2016 in Mississauga. A member of the public brought forward the allegations in June 2018. Peel Region police Chief Jennifer Evans suspended the officer immediately with pay. Public trust, respect and transparency are among our core values and our officers are expected to uphold those values as outlined in our Code of Ethics. Upon learning of these allegations I immediately ordered an internal investigation and suspended the officer, Evans said. The accused is to appear in Brampton court on Dec. 17. Marjan Asadullah is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @marjanasadullah Read more about: The board of St. Michaels College School is standing by principal Greg Reeves amid a scandal thats seen six students at the all-boys private school criminally charged following an alleged sexual assault in a locker room. In a statement released Wednesday, the schools board said it is united in support of Reeves and Basilian Father Jefferson Thompson, the schools president, over their handling of the crisis. Chair Michael Forsayeth said in the statement the school is deeply saddened by the recent incidents that have taken place at our beloved school. They are offensive to everything we stand for and to the values we strive to instill in our students. Reeves has faced questions on his handling of a crisis that began after a pair of videos circulated on social media two weeks ago. On Monday, six young teens were charged and released on bail over one video that showed an alleged sexual assault in a locker room. They cannot be identified under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Read more: What we know and dont know about the scandal at St. Michaels College School and what we cant report Grey Cup player says hes disgusted by scandal at St. Mikes, his former school Opinion | Rosie DiManno: Prestigious Toronto school sinks deeper into hellish sex assault scandal Both Reeves and Jefferson Thompson were hired because of their dedication and care for students throughout their careers, the boards statement read. They are both men of the highest integrity and continue to have our trust to lead us forward, it added. The school has expelled at least eight students since the beginning of the scandal at four over the locker room video and four over a separate incident. School administrators took a full day before handing the locker room video over to police on Nov. 14. Media had by that point already informed police of the video, police said. At a Monday news conference, Toronto police Insp. Sinopoli said the school should have immediately contacted police about the locker room video. The boards statement also said alumni gave a standing ovation at Tuesday-night meeting on the crisis. Witnessing the standing ovation at last nights alumni meeting, many of whom are current and past parents, I believe that Fr. Thompson and Mr. Reeves have their overwhelming support. As a school community, we want to ensure that these incidents do not happen again, reads the statement. Police are investigating six incidents at the elite institution, including the locker room video, one other alleged sexual assault, three assaults and one incident related to threatening. By Liz Lee, Reuters | Nov. 21, 2018 Malaysia's AirAsia X Bhd reported a sharply wider third-quarter net loss on Wednesday, the airline's second consecutive quarter in the red due to higher fuel prices. Volatile fuel costs have been a significant pressure on the long-haul budget offshoot of AirAsia Group Bhd, and analysts expect that will continue to be a challenge for the airline's expansion plans. The average cost of fuel in the quarter was 40 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier, the airline said. The airline said in a bourse filing it was working to mitigate the increase by boosting ancillary revenue and capacity. "A new fares structure has been implemented and the company is actively driving up ancillary revenue, which will ultimately improve yields, while Management also remains focused on monitoring operating expenses to achieve better cost efficiencies to offset uncertainty in fuel price," it said. Group CEO Nadda Buranasiri said the airline also expected provisions for doubtful debts to put short-term pressure on full-year earnings. AirAsia X posted a quarterly loss of 197.5 million ringgit (US$47.10 million), compared with a net loss of 43.3 million ringgit in July-September last year. Revenue fell 4.2 percent to 1.08 billion ringgit on lower fares. AirAsia X said its average passenger fare reduced 5 percent compared with a year earlier. The airline also noted slowing tourism, especially from China, which currently contributes a quarter of its total revenue. In response, it is shifting some future capacity into other core markets such as Japan, South Korea and India. AirAsia X's Malaysian arm cut capacity by 4 percent in the third quarter as it ended flights to Tehran and switched some capacity from Australia to North Asia, the company said. Its load factor, a measure of seats filled, rose 1 percent to 80 percent in the quarter. AirAsia X also has smaller offshoots in Thailand and Indonesia, giving it a total fleet of 32 A330s, which it plans to increase by two aircraft this year. AirAsia X did not provide further information on the potential switch under consideration of some of the 34 Airbus A330neo widebody planes it has on preliminary order to A321neo narrowbodies that would help the airline in smaller markets or off-peak seasons. The number of so-called anchor babies children born to non-residents for the purpose of gaining citizenship is at least five times higher than Canadian officials had estimated, new research suggests. Birth tourism in Canada, where women late in pregnancy fly in to deliver their babies here, is controversial because the newborns are automatically Canadian citizens and enjoy full citizenship rights such as free education and lower university fees, even though their foreign parents arent taxpayers. Statistics Canada has, since 2013, counted 1,561 babies about 312 annually born here to mothers, whose place of residence was listed outside Canada, based on figures from provincial birth registries. However, a new study from the Institute for Research on Public Policy published Thursday in Policy Options magazine suggests the number of anchor babies born here every year is likely in the 1,500 to 2,000 range. The study mined the Canadian Institute for Health Information discharge database, and according to researcher Andrew Griffith, the figures based on hospital financial data that codes services provided to non-residents under other country resident self-pay give a clearer picture of the extent of the problem. The data shows the number of births to non-resident mothers (including all provinces but Quebec, which refused to release the data) skyrocketed to 3,628 last year from just 1,354 in 2010, said the report by the Montreal-based think tank. It showed the Richmond Hospital in British Columbia with the highest volume of babies born to non-resident mothers. Of the top 10 hospitals where such births were recorded, six are in the GTA. The numbers are not perfect because they dont break down how many of the births were to mothers with temporary status in Canada, which include Canadian expatriates returning to give birth, corporate transferees or international students who didnt come here to specifically to have children. But Griffith says a conservative estimate is that 40 to 50 per cent of the non-resident mothers were birth tourists. How the (delivery) services are paid for is a more representative and realistic measure than the provincial registries, said Griffith, a retired director general with Immigration Canada, adding part of the discrepancy can be attributed to birth tourists using their temporary Canadian address on birth registration forms and hence not being counted as non-residents. The concern has always been these people are exploiting the loophole in the law to obtain citizenship for their children when they are not entitled to that. Theres also the financial liability and responsibility on Canadian taxpayers for the childs benefits. Currently, immigration officials cannot refuse a visitor visa application on the basis of the applicants intent to give birth in Canada, though they can assess if the person has enough money to visit Canada, if they will abide by the visas departure date and if they have a criminal record and should be barred from entry. In 2012, the then-Conservative federal government, under Stephen Harper, had considered a crackdown on birth tourism but discarded the idea because the relatively small number of incidents based on an estimate of 500 cases a year did not justify the anticipated costs of enforcement. However, with immigration and refugees expected to become a wedge issue in next years federal election, the Conservatives voted this summer at the partys convention to end the birthright citizenship policy that gives citizenship to babies born in Canada even if their parents arent citizens or dont have legal status in Canada. The motion is non-binding but could be part of their campaign platform next year. Griffith said any policy decision must be based on evidence and thats what prompted him to seek out the most reliable data on the issue of birth tourism. Is it a widespread problem or is it just a phenomenon at the Richmond Hospital? asked Griffith, referring to the B.C. hospital cited by the media as the epicentre of birth tourism. We need data for informed decisions. He said birth tourism, currently accounting for roughly 0.5 per cent of the total annual live births in Canada, is not a huge problem but should be monitored closely. Using this as a starting point, if we see any further increase or a trend line, then we need to take another fresh look at it, he said. The study offers three options for policy-makers to tackle the problem if birth tourism gets out of control: Amend immigration laws to make it an offence if a female visitor fails to disclose the purpose of her visit to give birth or declare her pregnancy to officials. The childs citizenship would then be deemed fraudulently obtained due to misrepresentation by the mother. Follow Australias move by adopting a qualified birthright approach specifying a person born in Canada would only be a Canadian citizen if the parent is either a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and the child lives in the country for 10 years after birth. Introduce regulations prohibiting rooming houses and consultant and support services for birth tourists, substantially increasing the financial deposits required by hospitals from non-residents and ordering the provinces to require proof of payment prior to issuing birth certificates for children of non-resident mothers. It looks as if you appreciate our journalism. Our reporting changes lives, connects communities and effects change. But good journalism is expensive to produce, and advertiser revenue throughout the media industry is falling and unable to carry the cost. That means we need you, our readers. We need your help. If you appreciate deep local reporting, powerful investigations and reliable, responsible information, we hope you will support us through a subscription. Please click here to subscribe. A Toronto tutor is facing three charges after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old student in early November, police say. The man was tutoring the girl in her home when he is said to have sexually assaulted her on Nov. 4, Toronto police said in a news release Thursday. The man had been employed by Tutor Doctor since November 2016, police said. Tutor Doctor provides private in-home tutoring and learning centre tutorial services to students in Canada and the U.S. Fishman Public Relations, the media relations firm that represents Tutor Doctor, informed the Star that the accused tutor was immediately suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. The firm sent a statement to the Star by email, stating that the tutor was independently contracted by one of the companys franchisees. The statement also reiterated the companys strict policies on tutor conduct, adult supervision of sessions and background checks. This matter came as a great shock, as this is the first time we have encountered such a report among the 50,000-plus tutors we have contracted with across our system, the statement read. At Tutor Doctor, the safety and security of our students is of paramount importance. An investigation was conducted by the Members of the Child & Youth Advocacy Centre, a partnership among local community and government agencies, which includes specialized child abuse investigators from the Toronto Police Service and organizations such as the Childrens Aid Society of Toronto. As a result, 37-year-old Desire Waffo Tamwo, of Toronto, was arrested on Wednesday. He is charged with sexual assault, sexual interference with a person under the age of 16 years and invitation to sexual touching. He is scheduled to appear in a Toronto court on Dec. 13. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2922 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477). Rape crisis centres dont yet know if they will receive additional funding promised by Ontarios previous Liberal government earlier this year as part of a gender-based violence strategy. Deb Singh, of the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape, said Wednesday the government had promised a 33 per cent budget increase for such centres over the next three years, but the money has not yet been released. For her Toronto centre, it meant an additional $159,000 this year, which is much needed to hire full-time staff, said Singh. The Progressive Conservative government could have expedited these funds knowing that survivors have been waiting for months to access services that could be strengthened if this funding had been granted months ago, she said. Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod said Wednesday at Queens Park that the $11.5 million will be distributed to 400 agencies, including shelters, that fall under her ministry. Rape crisis centres are funded through the ministry of the attorney general which, like all ministries, is currently examining spending. Jessica Trepanier, a spokesperson for Attorney General Caroline Mulroney, said in a statement that our government is committed to providing victims, their families and witnesses of violent crime with the supports and services they need in the communities where they live. To ensure that investment decisions in victim services are effectively meeting the needs of those who use them, the government is reviewing all of the programs offered across the province. We recognize that these organizations do important and valuable work in their communities, and this review will be an opportunity to align service levels with needs and better co-ordinate and deliver services in the most sustainable and effective way. Singh, however, said those who have contacted the Toronto rape centre are sometimes waiting a year and a half for counselling. The centre operates a crisis line for immediate help, and it too is swamped with calls. The Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres, a network of 30 organizations, has said the money promised by the Liberal government was enough for each to hire one full-time front-line worker. Regarding the money for shelters announced by MacLeod, $1 million of the $11.5 million has been earmarked for services in rural and remote areas of the province. MacLeod has also announced she is embarking on province-wide consultations about how to best support women impacted by violence, speaking to front-line workers and actually find out whats working and whats not. I want to make sure that I am supporting them in the best possible way that I can, she told reporters. I realized early on in my mandate that supporting and protecting women who are dealing with violence at home, or sex trafficking, would be a priority for me. November is Woman Abuse Prevention Month. WASHINGTONThe United States and South Korea will scale back a major military exercise next spring to avoid setting back diplomacy over North Koreas nuclear weapons, U.S. defence secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon that the exercise, known as Foal Eagle and conducted each spring in South Korea to keep ground, air, naval and special operations forces prepared for combat, will be reduced in scope. Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy, he said. North Korea has vigorously protested these and other large-scale annual military exercises, calling them provocations and a dress rehearsal for an invasion. The U.S. and South Korea insist the maneuvers are purely defensive. In October, the U.S. and South Korea cancelled a major exercise, Vigilant Ace, that was to be conducted in December, and after U.S. President Donald Trumps June summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the U.S. cancelled a major summertime exercise, Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which Trump derided as wasteful and provocative. Mattis did not provide details about how Foal Eagle will be reorganized and toned down, but the decision is an extension of efforts by Washington and Seoul to encourage progress in stalled negotiations over the Norths nuclear program. A month has passed since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged, with apparent resolve, that Canada would not hesitate to freeze arms exports to Saudi Arabia after the horrific assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. It is time to follow through. That Riyadh has lied to the world with its various accounts on the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi's killing is clear. Now the CIA has reportedly concluded that the killing could not have occurred without the blessing and knowledge of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Although questions remain, clear signs point to the heart of the House of Saud. And there can be no compelling reason for further inaction by the Canadian government. Despite regulations specifically designed to prevent it, Canada is arming one of the worlds worst human-rights violators and oppressors of women and the country chiefly responsible for the devastating humanitarian crisis in Yemen, now on the brink of the worst famine in a century. It is within our governments prerogative, mandate, and duty to end Canadas complicity with Saudi Arabia. Germany has just announced that it would rescind previously approved deals with the Kingdom. Trudeau has said that cancelling arms exports to Saudi Arabia would result in hefty financial penalties for Canada. He claimed that other arms exporters would then fill the void. But he has also said that his government will be firm on human rights. Feminism and the pursuit of a rules-based international order are key pillars of Canadas engagement with the world. Our government speaks loudly and proudly of Canada as a beacon of human and womens rights. It touts its commitment to more stringent and transparent arms control regulations at every opportunity. But the gap between rhetoric and reality has become too great to ignore. Canada must walk the talk. It must respond to the Khashoggi killing and numerous other Saudi human-rights violations. And time is of the essence. As the on the one hand, on the other debate unfolds, Canadian arms are being shipped to Saudi Arabia. Soon there will be nothing to suspend or cancel. Recent history does not encourage optimism. Last year, the Liberal majority in the House Foreign Affairs Committee twice rejected proposals to establish much-needed parliamentary oversight of Canada's arms trade. This month, Foreign Affairs Minister Freeland rejected a Senate recommendation for additional export controls specifically related to human-rights and international humanitarian law. There are other related concerns. Global Affairs Canada relied heavily on, and endorsed, the Saudi version of events in 2017 in which Canadian-made armoured vehicles were used during a violent crackdown of Shia civilians in eastern Saudi Arabia. All by the book, the Saudis claimed. But we now know that Saudi Arabia has blatantly lied about the Khashoggi killing. Were they lying then? Does Canada need to re-examine the evidence? Some of the arguments of the Canadian government also require further scrutiny. The government claims Canada will face financial penalties if it cancels the arms deal. But when did it become binding? Was it when the Harper government negotiated the agreement or when the Trudeau government issued the export permits? If the former, what purpose did the subsequent export permit assessment serve? If the latter, then the bind that the Trudeau government now laments is of its own making. Why is the government now emphasizing the high financial cost in breaking the contract? Are they implicitly acknowledging non-compliance with export controls (i.e., this deal is not kosher, BUT breaking it will cost us)? That they would cancel arms exports to Saudi Arabia were it not for the penalties? Really? Global Affairs Canadas emphasis on commercial confidentiality smells bad. No one is talking about revealing trade secrets related to the technical specifications of the exported goods. There is a legitimate public interest in knowing whether the Canadian government entered into a flawed agreement especially when it is taxpayers, not shareholders, who would purportedly be liable for the penalties. The Khashoggi affair provides the government with a golden opportunity to do what should have been done a long time ago: end Canadian arms exports to Saudi Arabia, for good. Despite Ottawas disconcerting handling of this file thus far, the window is remarkably still open. But only barely. Cesar Jaramillo is executive director of Project Ploughshares. Read more about: Toronto has lost a decade in the fight against gun violence, Editorial, Nov. 20 Never let it be said that the Star Editorial Board will let facts confuse their opinion. This is not the first time you have used false information in expressing your distaste for handguns in the hands of responsible, registered, licenced firearm owners. Just because the police chief once misstated that more crime guns are from licenced owners, you keep repeating it. Statistics from Toronto police, provided to a researcher in Alberta under a Freedom Of Information request, stated that the number of crime guns from licenced owners was trending down over the past years, not increasing as you propound. Straw purchasers are a small, but distastefully real problem. This should be very easily caught, as every legally purchased firearm in Canada is registered to the holder of the Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL). RCMP computers could easily be programmed to alert them when any PAL holder purchases more than one or two firearms in a short period of time. They could then notify local police to check out the purchaser and ensure the firearms are for personal use, and still in their possession, properly stored in a safe or locked room. Stop blaming legitimate firearm owners for the gun problem in Toronto. The criminal element has been obtaining firearms illegally for years and will continue to do so, regardless of any roadblocks you place in front of legitimate owners. George M. McCaig, Burlington Tackling inequality and poverty are too complex and too enshrined in our society to be handled by one group or one level of government. There must be a serious and collective attempt by all levels of government to get to the root of the problem. And strong leadership must come from the federal government. The recent report on gun violence among OECD nations (36 developed countries) has placed Canada at the fourth-highest level of gun violence and Japan at the lowest, with zero per 100,000 people. A closer examination reveals that Canadas ranking is logical, as it has the second-highest rate of gun possession in the developed world. So the federal government can slow the rise of gun violence by introducing laws to ban firearms and reduce gun possession. Major change is needed at St. Mikes, Letters, Nov. 21 To imply that a gender fix adding girls to St. Michaels school can solve the problems of sadistic boyhood play crossing over into torture is a seriously flawed argument. Blaming this misbehaviour on the lack of a female civilizing influence distracts society from the risk posed by allowing religion to be a dominant aspect of education. Its curious that society has been informed about the radicalization posed by religious schools in non-democratic countries but has never recognized it as a problem at home. While secular education teaches the questioning of authority, religious education teaches that order is dependent on faithful obedience to authority. Authority belongs to those who can seize the power to command it. Students eager to emulate their teachers understand this ethos to mean that the stronger ones, no matter what they have a mind to do, can dominate the weaker ones. Consequently, boys are taught that assuming control of others in relationships is what produces strength of character. The recent Brett Kavanaugh hearings in the U.S. revealed that same power dynamic of boys being taught to become powerful men. So adding girls will be ineffectual. Instead, religious education based on its hierarchy of dominance needs to be questioned. With Donald Trump attacking the mainstream media, I find myself warming to it as never before and thereby losing sight of its many failings. It gives abundant coverage to celebrities and powerful people, while giving short shrift to issues that threaten the planet, and dropping important stories after a short burst of attention. Im reminded of these serious failings after reading Bruce Campbells magnificent new book, The Lac-Megantic Rail Disaster, which not only vividly captures the horror of the 2013 derailment inferno that killed 47 Quebecers, but also shows how little Ottawa has done to prevent a similar catastrophe from happening again. How is it that a preventable tragedy of this magnitude, which received huge coverage and political attention at the time, has passed into media and political oblivion even though the circumstances that led to the crash remain essentially unchanged? As Campbell meticulously documents, the crash of that runaway train, with 72 cars carrying almost 10,000 tons of highly combustible oil, was rooted in dozens of decisions by Canadian political leaders that reduced Ottawas role in overseeing rail safety all in the name of making things easier and more profitable for the rail industry. Although deregulation mania reached a peak under Stephen Harpers Conservatives, Justin Trudeaus government remains committed to weakening, removing or blocking regulations that annoy business, despite signs of ongoing safety problems. Recent figures from the Transportation Safety Board, for instance, show a 21 per cent average annual increase in runaway trains in the years since the rail disaster. And lets not forget that train sped through Toronto before crashing in Lac-Megantic. Similar kilometre-long trains, laden with oil, pass directly through the heart of Toronto daily. The Lac-Megantic fire soared to 1,650 C; water streaming from fire hoses simply evaporated in the intense heat. There were no injured survivors; everyone engulfed in the flames in the little town died. If a derailment like that happened in Toronto, the toll would be in the thousands. Another key factor leading to the disaster was the enormous boom in transporting oil by rail, which skyrocketed in Canada from 500 carloads in 2009 to an incredible 160,000 carloads in 2013 even as the rail safety budget was reduced, notes Campbell. After the 2013 disaster, oil by rail declined for a while, but is now back with a fury and is projected to soon reach a level almost three times higher than 2013, says Campbell. And, no, the answer isnt more pipelines. The answer, for Gods sake, is proper regulation of our railways and every other aspect of our economy that requires government oversight to protect us from corporations whose only interest is bottom-line profits. Above all, the Lac-Megantic tragedy is a story about increasingly aggressive corporations in the era of hedge funds and bare-knuckle profiteering, and about the supine governments that acquiesce to their demands. Weve allowed ourselves to be lulled into believing were safe. After all, there are government agencies out there with reassuring names like the Rail Safety Directorate and the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Directorate. But these agencies have been largely stripped of their regulatory muscle, and now operate under political masters whove drunk the Kool-Aid of a new dogma: that corporations should regulate themselves, and that the proper role for government is to get out of the way. That was the foolish thinking that led to the disaster in Walkerton, Ont. A judicial inquiry blamed cutbacks and lax oversight by Mike Harris Conservative government for seven deaths and 2,300 illnesses from contaminated water. Shortly afterwards, Harris resigned. In the more serious Lac-Megantic tragedy, there was no public inquiry. Three railway workers were tried for criminal negligence, and acquitted. Outside the courtroom, someone yelled: Its not them we want. Stephen Harper and his government were never held accountable for their reckless cuts and deregulation. Nor were the greedy rail barons who pushed and continue to push for relaxed safety laws. Five years later, theyre scot-free, while 27 children in Lac-Megantic are without parents due to the catastrophe. Meanwhile, later today, a massive train loaded with highly flammable oil will be barrelling through Toronto. Lets hope our luck holds. OTTAWABrampton East MP Raj Grewal unexpectedly announced his resignation Thursday, citing undisclosed personal and medical reasons. The rookie Liberal MP posted on Facebook that he told the chief government whip of his decision on Wednesday. To the people of Brampton East, serving as your MP has been the greatest privilege of my life, he wrote. This has been a decision Ive struggled with for some time now and one I made with great difficulty and real sadness. But I feel I need this time to focus on my health and family. The MP did not respond to requests for comment from the Star Thursday evening. Grewal, 33, was first elected in 2015 as a wave of Liberal support washed over Toronto and much of the surrounding suburban cities. He served as a Liberal backbencher and sat on the House of Commons health committee. Earlier this year, Grewal was involved in a controversy linked to Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus trade mission to India. Conservatives and New Democrats raised red flags when it was revealed that Grewal a former Bay Street lawyer invited a Brampton construction executive who paid him for legal advice to events with cabinet ministers and high-ranking government officials during the trip. The developer, Zgemi Inc. chief executive Yusuf Yenilmez, was one of two parties that continued to pay Grewal after he was elected MP for Brampton East, according to his ethics disclosure. MPs who arent in cabinet are allowed to moonlight in other jobs, according to the conflict of interest code for parliamentarians. In May, Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion launched an investigation into Grewals India-trip invitation. Dions office has not released any conclusions from that investigation, and said in an email Thursday that it is barred by parliaments ethics code from confirming any further information. Read more about: OTTAWAIt will be virtually impossible to completely prevent foreign meddling in the 2019 federal election, according to Canadas minister of democratic institutions. Karina Gould told senators Wednesday that the Liberals reforms to Canadas election rules wont be enough to prevent hostile foreign actors from trying to interfere in next years election. It would be virtually impossible to prevent foreign interference during elections. This has always been a problem in democracies, Gould told the Senates committee on legal affairs. Gould pointed out Bill C-76, the Liberals electoral reform bill, would require social media companies to reveal the sources and amounts of money spent on political advertising on their platforms. It also tightens rules around third-party pressure groups attempting to influence voters. The Liberals have also tasked the Communications Security Establishment, Canadas high-tech cyber espionage agency, to monitor potential online disinformation campaigns or hacking attempts aimed at compromising the election. But despite those measures and the increased awareness of the vulnerability of democratic elections in the information age Gould said its still possible foreign actors could use platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube to spread misinformation. Read more: Next Canadian federal election will be target for Russian meddling, says Harjit Sajjan Editorial | Canada needs to prevent meddling in our elections Twitter Canada rolling out election ad transparency measures in the coming weeks Based on our research on global elections, foreign players could use social media platforms to influence the voting of (Canadians), she said. In some respects, Gould was simply stating a fact: if the combined resources of the U.S. intelligence community couldnt thwart Russian interference in the 2016 American presidential election, Canada tweaking election rules is unlikely to be enough to stop a concerted foreign meddling campaign. But for critics of the governments approach, the comments were evidence that after years of talking about the dangers of foreign interference, the Liberals havent gone far enough to protect Canadas elections. We heard from the (Elections Commissioner Yves Cote) today and clearly they dont have the tools to protect completely (against) foreign interference, said Conservative Senator Claude Carignan, who sits on the legal affairs committee. Carignan said while the government is working with companies like Facebook and Twitter to ensure the integrity of next years vote, the tech giants co-operation is largely voluntary. The Liberals, despite making periodic noises about regulation, have largely left the platforms to their own devices. They talk with Facebook and Google and the big digital platforms, but theres nothing in the bill to force them to act, Carignan said. Its all voluntary behaviour and thats not necessarily what we need to (prevent) foreign interference. The good news is Canadas actual voting system is decidedly low-tech. The pen and paper-based system is unlikely to run into the kinds of problems seen in the recent U.S. midterm elections, with widespread problems reported in states electronic voting systems. The bad news is the voting system isnt the only possible target. While CSE reported that the 2015 election that brought the Liberals to power featured low-sophistication attempts to influence voters, the 2019 election will likely see well-planned campaigns that will target more than one aspect of the democratic process. One possible vulnerability is political parties themselves. At an event in Ottawa earlier this week, Conservative Party campaign director Hamish Marshall said political parties may not put enough importance on cybersecurity due to limited resources and competing priorities. I can say as someone who runs a national campaign, cybersecurity is something we think about, but Im thinking about a lot of other things higher up on my list, Marshall told a crowd at the Chateau Laurier on Monday. Everybody should take this seriously. Since Ive taken the job, the number of Instagram requests that I get from attractive 23-year-old girls has gone way up. I have not suddenly become more interesting to women in their 20s than I was before. Speaking to reporters in Halifax earlier this week, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan singled out Russia as a country that has an interest in attempting to undermine Canadian democracy. NATO deputy-secretary general Rose Gottemoeller added China, North Korea and Iran to the list of countries attempting to influence Western democracies. When we stand up for human rights, and when we stand up to nations like Russia who are going against the rules-based order you become a target, Sajjan told the Canadian Press. It looks as if you appreciate our journalism. Our reporting changes lives, connects communities and effects change. But good journalism is expensive to produce, and advertiser revenue throughout the media industry is falling and unable to carry the cost. That means we need you, our readers. We need your help. If you appreciate deep local reporting, powerful investigations and reliable, responsible information, we hope you will support us through a subscription. Please click here to subscribe. With a file from the Canadian Press. Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier He was born and raised in Biddeford, and continues to work here. A tale of two economic statements has been told to the citizens of Ontario in the past week. And while neither statement was written by Charles Dickens, they tell the story of the best of times or the worst of times, depending on which one you read. Last week, Doug Fords new government in Ontario talked of gloomy deficits and cuts to come in the province the tough prices to be paid to get finances back in the black after years of Liberal rule. On Wednesday, Justin Trudeaus federal government bathed its economic forecast in tones of sunny optimism about the state of the Canadian economy both now, and heading into the 2019 election year. This is a Liberal government that has deliberately chosen not to go down the austerity trail that Ford and his ministers were mapping out last week for Ontario. Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau summed it up this way when asked why Ottawa had decided not to build its annual fall economic statement around deficit reduction and tax cuts. We would have to have more of an austerity approach, which we think would actually have the negative (effect) from what were trying to achieve, which is a continuation of growth and a continuation of jobs, Morneau told reporters. Thats why were choosing the optimistic approach that frankly has worked and we think will continue to work for Canada. Read more: Ottawa unveils $14B in tax savings for businesses Ottawa to provide aid to support Canadian journalism Editorial | Now its up to Canadian business to invest in the future The stark differences between the Ford and Trudeau governments are going to be an ongoing theme in Canadian politics in 2019 a new chapter in Conservative-Liberal tension in this country. A glance at the two economic statements highlights some fundamental differences. The Ontario fiscal statement was making the case for why austerity was needed, so you would expect the economic narrative to be more negative, said Craig Alexander, chief economist for Deloitte Canada, when asked what he saw as the tone differences between the two statements. In the case of the federal fiscal statement, it is upbeat and the national economy is doing well, said Alexander. So what Ottawa has done, he went on to explain, was focus on incentives to business rather than cuts. Kevin Page, the former parliamentary budget officer and now the head of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa, also noted the difference in tone, which he saw as a simple reflection of how long the two governments have been in power. Fords government is still new, while Trudeaus government has been around for three years. Fords government can still blame its predecessor for all the gloomy talk it inserts in its economic message, while that tactic has kind of grown old in Ottawa. Obviously theyre at completely different stages of the political cycle, Page said. The Trudeau government is one year away from an election, so it owns the fiscal track, and its taking credit for the economy. In other words, Trudeau and Morneau cant afford to be downbeat. They have an election they want to win in less than a year. Nor do they mind being seen as the polar opposite of the new Ford government in Ontario. Morneaus economic update speech to the Commons, in fact, contained a couple of veiled shots at Ontario, or what certainly seemed like them. The finance minister referred to those who want to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to climate change and he pointedly talked up the importance of francophone culture a contentious issue in Ontario since the service cuts in the economic statement. The federal economic statement is also laced with the idea that governments can fix problems, rather than merely getting out of the way, as the Ontario statement kept insisting. Thats a classic Liberal-Conservative distinction expect to hear more about it in the coming months. There are, however, some tiny areas of common cause in the two economic statements. Theyre both trying to be business-friendly, of course, and while Ottawa hasnt made any elaborate promises about buck-a-beer or extending liquor-store hours, there was a mention in Wednesdays statement about giving beer makers more flexibility in their ingredients and processes. Page said he noticed that both statements are intent on regulatory reform and cutting red tape. True enough federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc told me a couple of months ago that this was an area where the Ford and Trudeau governments might see eye to eye. But in one week, the two economic statements have generally told very different stories to Ontarians. The endings to those tales, happy or otherwise, wont be written until next year. It looks as if you appreciate our journalism. Our reporting changes lives, connects communities and effects change. But good journalism is expensive to produce, and advertiser revenue throughout the media industry is falling and unable to carry the cost. That means we need you, our readers. We need your help. If you appreciate deep local reporting, powerful investigations and reliable, responsible information, we hope you will support us through a subscription. Please click here to subscribe. Susan Delacourt is the Star's Ottawa bureau chief and a columnist covering national politics. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt Read more about: Ontarios integrity commissioner is being urged to investigate abuses of power in the premiers office after whistleblowers accused Doug Fords top aide of ordering them to direct police to raid illegal cannabis shops. The request from Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner, MPP for Guelph, came Wednesday after Ford repeatedly evaded questions about allegations from Progressive Conservative political staff as first reported in the Star. Four government insiders told the newspaper Fords chief of staff Dean French instructed them in two conference calls Oct. 17, the day marijuana became legal, to instruct police forces to make arrests at outlaw shops and to show people in handcuffs on the TV news. We need to have an independent investigation because the premier doesnt seem to understand the serious nature of this, Schreiner told reporters. If these allegations are true and the premiers chief of staff is politically interfering with police business, literally ordering arrests to play political games, thats the definition of a police state. That is wrong, that is dangerous and it goes against our democratic traditions. The provincial integrity commissioners office said the Green party request is under review. I can make appropriate inquiries if I have concerns that a conflict-of-interest rule has been contravened by a public servant, commissioner J. David Wake wrote in a reply to Schreiner, noting the request is to determine whether French took any actions that were an inappropriate and/or an illegal abuse of power under the Public Service of Ontario Act. However, under the act, Wake said he has no legal authority to release any information about an investigation and added the decision to do so would be the premiers. In the legislatures daily question period, Ford maintained the governments priority is to protect communities from the black market for marijuana. We were very clear illegal dispensaries have no place in Ontario and operators would face stiff penalties and be shut down, said the premier. But Ford dodged questions on whether he had asked French about police interference and about news reports French improperly ordered Ontario Power Generation to fire former Patrick Brown chief of staff Alykhan Velshi, who is a newly hired vice-president. The Star has reported Velshi could be eligible for up to $500,000 in severance. The buck stops with the premier on this. Does he think the actions of Dean French, his handpicked chief of staff, are acceptable? said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, accusing Ford of turning a blind eye while his right-hand man runs amok. This is so troublesome even Conservative higher-up staffers tried to get this out, Horwath added. Ford dismissed the questions as personal attacks. None of the premiers answers in question period mentioned French by name and he did not repeat any endorsements of his chief of staff. On Tuesday, when asked about Frenchs role in the Velshi dismissal from OPG, Ford said he supports his chief of staff 1,000 per cent because he works hard, hes honest, he has integrity. The four PC sources told the Star they ignored Frenchs police edict, pointing out it to him it was illegal, but checked with police forces on enforcement plans and did not issue orders. One staffer who questioned the directive was subsequently fired and the government has provided no public explanation. The dismissal has left fear in the ranks about retribution and the consequences of speaking truth to power. There are people on pins and needles, one of the Conservative sources said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. You dont know who you can trust. Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers, a former dean of law at the University of Ottawa, said there is a disturbing lack of comprehension in the premiers office about the dangers of political meddling in day-to-day policing. You want the public to trust the police and know that if they are being charged, if theyre being arrested its not because some politician has mandated it, added Des Rosiers (Ottawa-Vanier). In some countries where theres no respect for the rule of law, the politicians direct the police to go in and arrest their enemies. The PC sources told the Star that French, in the first of two conference calls with the community safety ministry and attorney generals office, stated: I expected to see people in handcuffs by now, but at the very least I expect to see them on CP24 by lunch. French has not replied to a list of questions from the Star about the conference calls and the Velshi situation at OPG. On Tuesday, the premiers office did issue a statement citing the need for outlaw pot shops to close. Despite the concerns raised by the whistleblowers, Government House Leader Todd Smith told reporters on Wednesday Im not seeing any cracks in our government. Community Safety Minister Sylvia Jonesinsisted the Progressive Conservatives understand the concerns about political direction of police. We are not directing the police on investigations. Full stop. It looks as if you appreciate our journalism. Our reporting changes lives, connects communities and effects change. But good journalism is expensive to produce, and advertiser revenue throughout the media industry is falling and unable to carry the cost. That means we need you, our readers. We need your help. If you appreciate deep local reporting, powerful investigations and reliable, responsible information, we hope you will support us through a subscription. Please click here to subscribe. Read more about: It will soon be open season on the double-crested cormorant, a bird once near extinction that has rebounded and is now seen by some as a nuisance because of its appetite and toxic guano. The Ontario government is proposing to list it as a game bird to help manage its numbers. This is about population control. The population of cormorants has exploded since the early 1970s, Natural Resources Minister John Yakabuski said Thursday. Through the last number of years, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, commercial fisheries, and fishers and hunters all over the province have looked at this and said, We need to do something about this, said Yakabuski. Cormorants eat more than 1 million kilograms of fish each year in the Kingston basin alone, where there are eight known colonies of the birds, he added. So the damage that it does is quite extensive not only to the fish stocks, but also to the land itself. To that end, Queens Park will be consulting with the public for the next six weeks with an eye toward allowing the birds to be hunted from March 15 to Dec. 31 each year. Hunters would be permitted to each kill up to 50 cormorants a day, but would be responsible for their disposal, since they are practically inedible. Gail Fraser, a biology professor at York University and an expert on cormorants, warned there could be collateral damage from such a cull. An open season on the cormorant is an open season on the loon, said Fraser, noting the two birds are commonly confused as they glide majestically across the water. Fifty a day is a lot. Essentially, its game wastage, she said, pointing out hunters will throw out their quarry instead of eating it. Have your say Fraser said with the current rebound of the bald eagle, a main predator, cormorants are not the pest some claim. People think they eat a lot of fish, but the science behind that is complicated. Most of the studies on that are actually quite ambiguous and dont really show an effect, she said. According to the federal Canadian Wildlife Service, a cormorants diet consists of less than two per cent of fish that anglers and commercial fisheries want, such as salmon or trout. The birds prey on minnows, small carp and alewives, but their smelly excrement is harmful to the vegetation around the trees in which they nest. They are blamed for causing environmental damage to some ecologically sensitive areas of the province. Between the 1950s and early 1970s, the cormorant population dwindled dramatically due to the use of toxins like DDT, but environmental improvements have led to a population boom. It looks as if you appreciate our journalism. Our reporting changes lives, connects communities and effects change. But good journalism is expensive to produce, and advertiser revenue throughout the media industry is falling and unable to carry the cost. That means we need you, our readers. We need your help. If you appreciate deep local reporting, powerful investigations and reliable, responsible information, we hope you will support us through a subscription. Please click here to subscribe. Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie VANCOUVERVancouver renters need further protections from the city and province to keep momentum going on recent improvements to resources for renters hard hit by the housing crisis, says a local tenants advocate. Provincial investments in the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) are a great start to ensuring renters have supports to stand up for their rights, said tenant organizer Wendy Pedersen. But further supports are critical to keeping rental housing affordable and landlords accountable, she said. There are big glaring loopholes that are allowing tenants to be evicted for profit motives, she told StarMetro Wednesday in a phone interview. Until they close the rent-control loophole and look at other reforms, tenants wont get the relief they really need. Having said that, the steps the province has taken already are really great for tenants. A statement from the province said Wednesday that staffing increases at the RTB in the past year have slashed wait times for applications by up to 50 per cent. Wait times to reach an information officer by phone, meanwhile, has been cut by more than 80 per cent, according to the provinces statement. And the introduction of an online service portal has resulted in a 75 per cent increase in online transactions such as applications for a fee waiver, dispute resolution or uploading of evidence to support such disputes, the statement said. The expansion of the RTBs compliance and enforcement unit is another win, Pedersen said. Its mandate to oversee the investigation of instances of serious, repeat and deliberate non-compliance with tenancy laws, according to the province and ability to levy fines for violations could help support tenants who try to take on landlords who refuse to make repairs, she said. But there is more work to do to protect renters, she added. Tying rent to a unit rather than a tenant a form of rent control commonly known as vacancy control would be one key way to ensure tenants are protected from skyrocketing rent. Because vacancy control ties rent to a specific unit, landlords are restricted from cranking up rent prices when a unit is taken over by a new tenant. Currently, landlords can raise the rent however much they wish between tenancies, though a 2.5 per cent cap on increases was recently established for sitting tenants, beginning 2019. Read more: Renters are not second-class citizens. Push is on to change culture, policy for long-term tenants Pedersen pointed to an upcoming motion on vacancy control by COPE city councillor and anti-poverty activist Jean Swanson as one reason to be hopeful that the city may move to ease the struggles of tenants grappling with vacancy rates below one per cent and sky-high rents. Pedersen also said she hoped for an end to what she called the renoviction loophole. Landlords should be required to give tenants displaced by renovations the option of moving back into renovated apartments at pre-renovation prices. Right now landlords, instead of doing repairs in their buildings, they can let their building run down and then sell it to somebody who can evict everybody and do renovations, she said. But that loophole could be closed. And then the city and the province can help tenants hold the landlords accountable to regular repairs and maintenance without eviction. But on Nov. 9, local lobby group LandlordBC released a letter to the city opposing both vacancy control and the bid to provide tenants with the option to move back into renovated suites at pre-renovation prices. Vacancy control, said the letter, would, for all intents and purposes, negate the financial viability of a landlords rental business in British Columbia. It would also spell the end of new purpose-built rental construction in BC at a time when we are finally starting to see some new rental housing being built, and in Vancouver most notably, the letter said. The notion that tenants should be allowed to return to a fully renovated unit at their pre-renovation rent is completely unreasonable and unacceptable, the letter added, suggesting such a policy would freeze investment beyond bare maintenance in rental stock and would contravene landlords rights under the Residential Tenancy Act. And on Wednesday morning, the Urban Development Institute (UDI) a lobby group of B.C. developers released a statement warning stricter rent controls could risk delay or cancellation of new rental construction. A UDI survey, says the statement, found that, of 30 rental builders 12,631 rental homes which are currently planned for communities across B.C., will be at significant risk if restrictive policies are imposed. This number represents nearly two-thirds of the 19,972 rental homes that respondents reported are currently in development. But Spencer Chandra Herbert, the NDP MLA who chaired B.C.s Rental Housing Task Force, told StarMetro in September that data from Manitoba and Ontario shows there is no direct link between stricter rent controls and a slowdown in new rental construction. We looked at Manitoba, we looked at Ontario, and weve seen in Ontario even with stronger rent controls than what were recommending, for the most part over the past decade theyve been building more rental housing than we have, Chandra Herbert said. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporations rental survey shows that in the Greater Toronto Area, the number of rental units has risen slightly every year since 2013, the earliest year available on the organizations website. Between 2013 and 2017, the total number of new units rose by 1.5 per cent, or 5,118 units. Pedersen likewise said shes familiar with such arguments against stricter rent controls and does not feel they hold water. Aside from data showing rent controls dont mean fewer rental housing starts, investments in rental units should be undertaken as a matter of course, she said, not merely because they provide an opportunity to make money. Landlords, she said, dont need to be able to evict people and charge two or three times the rent in order to turn a profit. With files from Jen St. Denis. Read more about: ALTON Ernie L. Sykes, a 54-year-old black male of Alton, has been identified as a person of interest in Alton shooting Wednesday morning after a police investigating. Sykes is currently being sought for questioning by the Alton Police. He is considered armed and dangerous and individuals should not attempt to contact him directly. Two people were shot during a domestic-related incident in the 2300 block of Edwards Street just after 4 a.m. Wednesday morning. The victims, a 31-year-old female, identified as Angel Syddall, and a 25-year-old male, both of Alton, were treated locally and then flown to a St. Louis hospital to be treated for serious and life-threatening injuries. Syddall later died as a result of her injuries. The male is still being treated, and his condition has been reported to be stable. The male victims identity is not being released at this time. If anyone has any information regarding the whereabouts of Sykes they should contact the Alton Police Department at 618-463-3505 or by dialing 9-1-1 as soon as possible. Tips may also be submitted via the Alton Police Departments Facebook Page. My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Angel Syddall in this extra-sensitive holiday time. If you, or someone you know, are involved in an abusive relationship, please speak out. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE(7233). That line will connect callers to resources to help stop the abuse before it reaches this tragic and deadly climax, said Alton Police Chief Jason Simmons. The investigation, now classified as a homicide investigation, remains ongoing and the Alton Police Department will release information as it becomes available. ALTON Police have identified the woman who was killed in a double shooting early Wednesday morning in Alton, as well as a person of interest. According to a press release from the Alton Police Department, two victims were shot during a domestic-related incident in the 2300 block of Edwards Street just after 4 a.m. Wednesday morning. The victims, identified as Angel Syddall, 31, and a 25-year-old male, both of Alton, were treated locally and then flown to a St. Louis hospital to be treated for serious and life-threatening injuries. EDWARDSVILLE The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Engineerings (SOE) Solar Car Team has donated one of its cars to Berea College (BC) in Kentucky. The American Solar Challenge has a rule that you can use the main chassis of the solar car three times, which means competing in three different annual events, said Andy Lozowski, PhD, professor and chair of the SOE Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Then the team has to build another car. Our present car chassis was already in competition three times. So, now we have to build another one. But we still have the most recent car, and we use it for public relations and to train new student team members. As a result, SIUE donated its oldest car from 2015 to BCs Wei Wu, PhD, assistant professor in BCs Technology and Applied Design Department. Wu is an alumnae of the cooperative engineering PhD program that SIUE shares with SIU Carbondale. As a student, Wu worked on SIUEs 2015 solar car. She now teaches electrical and mechanical engineering at BC. Wei wants to start another solar car team at Berea, and we thought the gift would be a good training tool for their team, Lozowski said. She is a highly capable engineer, and we know that she will use this gift to great benefit. Lozowski noted that the SIUE team benefited from just such a gift in 2004 as it received an old car from Lincoln Land Community College. With that, we were able to build our very first car that we competed with in 2005, Lozowski said. Now, it is gratifying for us to pay it forward, too. The SIUE School of Engineering offers one of the most comprehensive and affordable engineering programs in the St. Louis region with eight undergraduate degrees, five masters degrees and a cooperative doctoral program. Students learn from expert faculty, perform cutting-edge research, and participate in intercollegiate design competitions. Companies in the metropolitan St. Louis area provide students challenging internships and co-op opportunities, which often turn into permanent employment. Students gain hands-on experience in the Schools state-of-the-art facilities, including the new Student Design Center. The Chief Nursing Officer will coordinate andprovide direction and guidance to the Nursing division and its sub-departments,promote and maintain caring and highly professional standards of nursing caremeeting the needs of the patients & their families in all aspects andpromoting job satisfaction for nursing team and to provide leadership as wellas implement the nursing strategic plan. The Malaria Specialist will provide technicalleadership and coordinate malaria project activities. He/She will work closelywith the other specialists and technical advisors including HIV care andtreatment, HIV prevention, PMTCT, TB/HIV and RMNCH to support malariainterventions in the context of integrated programming to supported districts.The Malaria specialist under close supervision of Technical Advisor MalariaWill work in liaison with Ministry of Health (MoH), and relevant stakeholdersto improve the quality of health care services in target districts JobSpecifications: Touched by the compassion of the nurses who tended to her... The police have arrested an alleged operative of the Khalistan Liberation Force for the grenade attack on a religious congregation in Amritsar, an act blamed on ISI-backed militants by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday. We are on to the second person and it is a matter of time before we get him, the chief minister said here while announcing the arrest. Bikramjit Singh, a resident of Dhariwal village in Rajasansi police station area was arrested early Wednesday morning near Loharka village in Amritsar, he said. He is alleged to be one of the two motorcycle-borne men involved in the attack last Sunday at Nirankari Bhavan in Adliwal village on the outskirts of Amritsar. ALSO READ: Amritsar blast brings to fore simmering tension between Nirankaris, radical Sikhs Punjab Director General of Police Suresh Arora said the motorcycle has been recovered. The second man, who threw the grenade that killed three people and injured about 20 others, has been identified as 32-year-old Avtar Singh Khalsa. Bikramjit Singh indicated to the police that the grenade was provided by Harmeet Singh Happy, also known as 'PhD' and suspected to be the Pakistan-based KLF chief. Ruling out any communal motive, the chief minister described the attack as a pure act of terror. It was an attempt by Pakistan's ISI to carry out terrorist actions in Punjab to disturb peace in the state, he said. CCTV footage of the attack helped arrest Bikramjit Singh, who then identified Khalsa, a resident of village Chak Mishri Khan in Amritsar, as his accomplice. The duo retrieved the HG 84 hand grenade, made at the Pakistan Ordinance Factories, from an orchard near Majitha where it was buried for them, DGP Suresh Arora said. They also did a recce of the Nirankari Satsang Bhavan on November 13 morning when no one was present there, he said. During his interrogation, Bikramjit Singh revealed that while Avtar Singh Khalsa slipped into the Bhavan complex along with the devotees, he subdued the two 'sewadars' deployed at the gate. After hurling the grenade, the two fled on Bikramjit Singh's motorcycle to Khalsa's village, Arora said. Happy had earlier come to the notice of the police for supplying a hand grenade of the same Arges Type HG-84 specifications to Shabnamdeep Singh, the self-styled chief of Khalistan Gadar Force (KGF), who was arrested by Punjab Police in October, the DGP said. Such grenades have been used in Jammu and Kashmir in the past, he said. Earlier in 2016-17, Happy had masterminded a conspiracy to target RSS and Shiv Sena leaders in Ludhiana and Jalandhar in collaboration with Pakistani establishment and its Inter-Services Intelligence, Amarinder Singh said. He said attempts by the ISI and the Pakistan establishment to forge links between Punjabi and Kashmiri terrorist groups is a matter of serious security concern for the state. He added the state police was working closely with central agencies to check the spread of such forces. His government was committed to ensuring that nobody disturbs the state's hard-earned peace and harmony, the CM said. Amarinder Singh said since March 2017, the state police have busted 17 terror modules and arrested 81 militants, preventing a large number of terrorist strikes. They have seized 77 weapons and explosives from these terrorists. These include 12 hand grenades, he said. Thousands of farmers and tribals, who began a march from Thane on Wednesday, reached Mumbai early on Thursday morning. The march will culminate at Azad Maidan by midday. The farmers are demanding various welfare measures including implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, improved minimum support prices, farm loan waiver and assistance for drought losses. Local media reports put the number of protesters at over 20,000. The protesting farmers arrived mostly from Ahmednagar, Vidarbha, Nasik, Gadchiroli and northern parts of Maharashtra. The protest is expected to cause traffic disruption and the Mumbai Police have issued advisories over the farmers' protest. The protesters have said they would attempt to stage a demonstration outside the state legislature, which is currently in session. The Lok Sangharsh Morcha, which is spearheading the protest, said the protesters are scheduled to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday evening. The scheduled meeting was announced following a request from Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan who spoke to the farmers of Wednesday. A 'farmers long march' in March organised by the All India Kisan Sabha had attracted much political and media attention and forced the Fadnavis government to promise it would address farmers' demands. The third international Buddhist Conference, to be held in Vadodara on November 25, will highlight ancient Buddha's relics in Gujarat. The conference is being organised by the Sanghaya Foundation to mark the 55th anniversary of the discoveries of Buddha relics from Dev Ni Mori village in North Gujarat. President of the Foundation, Ven Prasheel Ratna Gautam, said in Ahmedabad on Thursday that they chose Vadodara as the venue as the Department of Archeology at M.S. University of Baroda has preserved the ancient relics of Buddha. The excavation was carried out from 1960 to 1963. An Old Monastery with viharas, stupas and accommodation rooms was also found. Gautam said that contrary to the belief that Buddhist sites existed in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, too, has these sites. He, however, lamented that these sites are in a state of neglect due to want of awareness. The Foundation chief said that plans are afoot to develop the region as a tourist destination with the help of the Gujarat government. The state government has allocated Rs 36 crore for the purpose. Foreign delegates will also attend the conference. On November 26, exhibitions of the Buddha relics and the site scene will be organised. The delegates will go to Dev Ni Mori site, Junagadh and Rajkot on November 27. As the killing of a US missionary by members of an isolated tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands continues to make headlines in India and abroad, John Allen Chau's associates recall his love for Jesus Christ and describe him as a martyr. Chau was thought to have been killed by members of the isolated Sentinelese tribe on North Sentinel Island on November 17 after he was taken there by fishermen. Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Covenant Journey, a group that worked among Christian college students, described Chau as a courageous martyr for Jesus, who loved Jesus more than life. Chau was associated with Covenant Journey during his time as a student at the Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. In a media release by Covenant Journey, Staver described Chau's commitment to reaching the Sentinelese. "Ever since high school, John wanted to go to North Sentinel to share Jesus with this indigenous people," said Staver. Staver also dismissed reports that Chau was an adventurer. His purpose in visiting North Sentinel was not for sightseeing. He took gifts to them and carried his Bible because he wanted to befriend the Sentinelese to share Jesus with them. Johns life and his love for Jesus, to the point of giving his own life to bring the gospel to others, will be remembered and will echo throughout eternity. I know that God will bring good out of this loss, said Staver. Covenant Journey took issue with the Indian government's approach of keeping the Sentinelese isolated, noting the government has gone to the extreme of allowing them to murder outsiders. This is not right, said Staver. His family deserves to bring Johns body back home where he can be buried. Chau was a missionary of All Nations, a Christian organisation. In a press release after his death, All Nations said Chau had joined the organisation as a missionary in 2017 and had travelled to conflict-hit Kurdistan and South Africa. All Nations described Chau as a seasoned traveller who was well-versed in cross-cultural issues and a gracious and sensitive ambassador of Jesus Christ. All Nations announced it was cooperating with the US State Department on the issue of Chau's murder and cooperating fully with all international, national and regional officials. Meanwhile, late on Wednesday, the family of John Allen Chau posted a message on his Instagram account. The post mentioned Chau had nothing but love for the Sentinelese. Chau's family also said it had forgiven those responsible for his death and requested that the fishermen arrested for helping him reach North Sentinel be freed as he had ventured into the area on his own free will. Geneva, Nov 22 (AFP) The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main driver of climate change, have hit a new record high, the UN said Thursday, warning that the time to act was running out. "Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gases, climate change will have increasingly destructive and irreversible impacts on life on Earth," the head of the World Meteorological Organization Petteri Taalas said in a statement. "The window of opportunity for action is almost closed." (AFP) CPS New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Following are the top stories at 1700 hours: FGN14 US-PASSPORTS-SINGH India to open 'Passport Seva Kendras' in each 543 parliamentary constituencies: V K Singh New York: The Indian government plans to open a 'Passport Seva Kendra' in each of the 543 parliamentary constituencies across the country by March next year to ensure convenient passport services to its people, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said here. By Yoshita Singh FGN17 PAK-INDIA-KARTARPUR Pak conveys to India decision to open Kartarpura Corridor for Sikhs: Foreign Minister Qureshi Islamabad: Pakistan has conveyed to India its decision to open Kartarpura Corridor for Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Thursday, even as the Foreign Office here said it cannot do much unless New Delhi responds. By Sajjad Hussain FGN10 PREZ-AUS-GANDHI President unveils Mahatma Gandhi's bronze statue in Australia Melbourne:President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday unveiled a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Australian city of Sydney and said his powerful message of non-violence and peaceful coexistence is relevant in these times of strife. By Natasha Chaku FGN8 KOVIND-AUS-LD INDIA India, Australia ink 5 pacts as Kovind meets PM Morrison Melbourne: President Ram Nath Kovind, the first Indian head of state to visit Australia, held talks with Prime minister Scott Morrison to step-up bilateral strategic ties as the two countries signed five agreements Thursday to boost investments and enhance cooperation. By Natasha Chaku FGN11 CHINA-CAR-2NDLD CRASH 5 killed, 18 injured as car rams into students in China Beijing: A speeding car ploughed into several students crossing a road in front a primary school in China's northeast Liaoning province, killing at least five of them and injuring 18 others, nearly two months after a similar incident claimed 11 lives. By K J M Varma FGN15 PAK-LD POET Pakistan's progressive Urdu writer Fahmida Riaz dies Lahore: Noted Pakistani progressive Urdu writer, poet and rights activist Fahmida Riaz, who spent nearly seven years in exile in India, has died in Lahore following a prolonged illness. She was 73. By M Zulqernain FGN18 EU-UK-BREXIT EU, UK agree draft on 'ambitious' post-Brexit ties Brussels: The EU and Britain agreed Thursday a draft declaration on their post-Brexit relations that sets out an "ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership," officials said. FGN6 SAUDI-PRINCE-LD KHASHOGGI Saudi warns crown prince a 'red line' in Khashoggi probe London: Saudi Arabia has warned criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a "red line", after Donald Trump heaped praise on the kingdom in defiance of warnings he was giving Riyadh a pass on a journalist's grisly murder. FGN13 UN-CLIMATE-LD WARMING Greenhouse gas levels in atmosphere hit new high: UN Geneva: The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main driver of climate change, have hit a new record high, the UN said Thursday, warning that the time to act was running out. RUP RUP Ankara, Nov 22 (AFP) Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Argentina next week amid tensions between Ankara and Riyadh, the Turkish presidential spokesman said Thursday. "We are looking at the programme," spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in Ankara. "There could be" a meeting between the two men, he said. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are clashing over the murder of Riyadh critic and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, 59, inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul last month. Such a meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between Erdogan and the crown prince since the killing that tainted the image of Prince Salman, known as MBS, who is seen as the driving force in day-to-day rule of the kingdom. The two men previously spoke on the phone last month where they discussed joint efforts to shed light on what happened to Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a US resident and Saudi citizen, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and dismembered, according to Turkish prosecutors. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince. Turkey has repeatedly called for those who ordered the murder to be held accountable but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed. (AFP) ABH ABH (Eds: Updating with fresh inputs, quotes) Mumbai, Nov 22 (PTI) Tribal farmers called off their protest Thursday after the Maharashtra government agreed to fulfil their various demands, including transfer of land rights, marking the end of second mega agitation in Mumbai by cultivators in eight months. A delegation of protesting farmers met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss their demands and called off their protest after receiving a positive response from the government, a member of the team said. Thousands of tribal farmers marched from adjoining Thane district to Azad Maidan in South Mumbai over two days seeking redressal of their grievances, which include compensation for drought and transfer of land rights to tribals. Fadnavis assured them of transferring land rights within the next three months. A committee headed by the Chief Secretary will take regular review of the progress, he told the delegation. Satisfied with the assurance, Pratibha Shinde, general secretary of the Lok Sangharsh Morcha, which was spearheading the stir, announced in the evening that the agitation has been call off. As part of the agitation, tribal farmers from Khandesh and Vidarbha regions of the state reached Azad Maidan Thursday morning. They had started their march from Thane Wednesday evening and halted for the night at the Somaiyya Ground in Mumbai's Sion area. Girish Mahajan, Minister for Water Resources, tried to hold talks with protesters. However, they declined to talk to Mahajan and asked him to send Tribal Welfare Minister Vishnu Savra to discuss their demands. A delegation of 20 representatives led by Shinde later met Fadnavis and their meeting went on for over two hours. Fadnavis assured the tribal farmers that they will become owners of the land they are cultivating or are in possession of, according a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO). Their name would figure in the 7/12 extract (a key land ownership document), said the release. Along with the CM, principal secretaries from tribal welfare, revenue and forest departments also took part in the discussion. Fadnavis also spoke to district collectors via video-conference on issues raised by the delegation. Shinde said the government has accepted almost all the demands of the protesting tribal farmers and given assurance in writing to fulfil them. Talking to mediapersons, she said the chief minister has agreed to clear the land ownership claims made by the tribal farmers. She said there are 2,31,556 cases where land ownership is not with the tribal farmer cultivating the land or having its possession. "Because the land is not owned by the person concerned, he or she is not eligible for a bank loan, loan waiver benefits or drought relief," Shinde said. The chief minister assured the tribal farmers that suitable changes will be made in 7/12 extract to ensure they become eligible for loans, she said. The State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) will also be informed about the changes to facilitate bank loans for tribal farmers, she said. Mahajan said the chief minister has agreed to fulfil all the demands put forward by the tribal farmers, including those that need approval from the Union government. Mahajan said instead of giving 'khavti karje' (temporary loans) whose recovery is low, Fadnavis was of the view that the tribal farmers should be provided with subsidy or financial aid. Savra said 3.6 lakh claims of land rights were received by the government, of which 1.74 lakh were settled in favour of the tribals. Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh, also known as Waterman of India, was among the marchers. He blamed the government for the drought, which he termed as "man-made". The farmers were demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, which suggested that farmers must have assured access and control over resources such as land and water. They are also demanding increase in minimum support price (MSP) for crops and a judicial system to ensure its implementation. The farmers were also demanding proper implementation of the loan waiver announced by the BJP-led government in the state last year. In March, thousands of farmers, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, took out a 180-km long march from Nashik to Mumbai to press for their demands. That time too the state government had accepted most of their demands. PTI MR/MM VT RSY SMN SMN Kolkata, Nov 22 ( PTI) State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim was on Thursday elected the new mayor of Kolkata. Hakim was elected the leader of TMC party in Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and councillor Atin Ghosh was appointed its deputy leader. TMC councillors of the city civic body held a meeting to elect their new leader. Party supremo Mamata Banerjee was also present in the meeting during the day. Sovan Chatterjee had resigned from the post of mayor this morning. Senior Trinamool Congress leader Chatterjee, who was also the housing and fire services minister, had resigned from the cabinet Tuesday evening. Banerjee, who had asked Chatterjee to step down from the mayor post on Tuesday after he quit the cabinet, has ruled out any crisis in the government following his resignations. Chatterjee told newsmen that he is ready to quit as KMC councillor and also as an MLA of the TMC if the party asks him to. PTI PNT KK CK Tripura CM invites tourists to see vultures in Tripura Agartala, Nov 22 (PTI) Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb Thursday invited prospective tourists to visit the state to see vultures that is becoming extinct in many other areas. Deb and Union minister of State for Tourism K J Alphons jointly inaugurated the 7th International Tourism Mart here and appealed for investment in the state in the sector. "Vultures are becoming extinct across the world, but they are seen in abundance here. Elephants move in herds of 20 to 22. You can make vulture points and bring tourists to see them," Deb told a group of foreign and domestic tour operators at the Tourism Mart. He assured them the support of the state government in setting up tourist lodges. Alphons described Tripura as "God's own paradise" and appealed for investment in North-East India. "I felt it is truly God's own paradise. People in Northeast India are hospitable, incredible.... They have a legacy of music, tradition, dance, crafts and they are always smiling," the union minister said. He said that the investors should invest in hotels and suggested revival of a defunct airport at Kailashahar in Unakoti district for access to Unakoti an 8th century rock cut sculpture. "India registered 19.2 percent increase in foreign tourists visiting last year, which contributed 7 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product and has created 13.92 million jobs in the last 4 years. But we want to double the foot fall of foreign tourists in the country," he said. A group of 53 foreign tour operates from 18 countries including Australia, Canada, China, France, Bangladesh and Russia and America joined the tourism mart here. Over 80 delegates from travel and tourism industry from NE region and 200 delegates from Tripura were also present. The 6th International Tourism Mart was organized at Guwahati in December, 2017. PTI JOY NN NN Kolkata, Nov 22 (PTI) Following are PTI's top stories from the eastern region at 4.30 pm. STORIES ON THE WIRE: CAL1 WB-MAYOR-RESIGNATION Sovan Chatterjee resigns from post of Kolkata mayor Kolkata: Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sovan Chatterjee resigned from the post of Kolkata mayor on Thursday as directed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. CES1 WB-ACCIDENT 2 charred to death in tanker-trailer collision near Howrah Howrah: Two vehicles, one of which was carrying highly inflammable substances, collided on Kona Expressway near here early Thursday morning killing the two drivers besides injuring a constable, police said. CES2 OD-PARIDA Former Rajya Sabha MP Baishnab Charan Parida passes away Bhubaneswar: Former Rajya Sabha member from Odisha, Baishnab Charan Parida passed away at a hospital here Thursday following a prolonged illness, family sources said. CES3 JH-CONSTABLE-KILLED Constable crushed to death by drunk IRB jawan in Jharkhand Dumka (Jharkhand): A police constable was crushed to death under the wheels of a motorcycle driven by a jawan of Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB), allegedly in an inebriated state, in Dumka district, police said Thursday. CES4 OD-ELEPHANT-TRAIN Elephant dies after being hit by goods train in Odisha Bhubaneswar: A female elephant was killed after being hit by a goods train in Odisha's Keonjhar district, Forest officials said Thursday. CES5 AS-FILM FESTIVAL 6th Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival to begin from November 28 Guwahati: The sixth edition of the Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival aiming to promote cinema of the Northeastern region will begin here on November 28. ERG1 OD-ASSEMBLY-HOLIDAYS 3-day break in Odisha assembly session Bhubaneswar: The ongoing winter session of Odisha assembly is observing a three-day break since Wednesday because of various festivals. PTI SBN SBN No crisis in govt after resignation mayor-minister: Mamata Kolkata, Nov 22 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday ruled out any crisis in the government following the resignation of cabinet minister and Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee. Chatterjee, a senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, resigned from the post of Kolkata mayor as directed by Banerjee. He had quit as the housing and the fire services ministers on Tuesday. "There is no crisis at all. One can always resign and there are provisions. There is no misunderstanding either. Someone can have personal problems," Banerjee said while speaking during the discussion on Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill 2018. Banerjee was replying to a question by BJP MLA Dilip Ghosh on the necessity of bringing in the amendment bill. The amendment would enable a person, who is not an elected councillor, to be made the mayor of a corporation, but he or she would have to be elected within six months to continue in the post. "Even in your party M J Akbar had resigned (from the post of minister of state for external affairs). In our party, all the 122 councillors of KMC have the capability of taking up the post of Mayor," she said. "Why Amit Shah is your party president? Is there no other capable person in your party," she said. Stating that the person who will be next mayor was a councillor previously and is currently a public representative, Banerjee said the final call will be taken by the party. On the Bill, the chief minister said provisions are there in Parliament and assemblies to enable an unelected person to become a minister. "We have decided to bring the same provision in the KMC. It will be extended to other municipalities and panchayats too," she said. After Sovan Chatterjee resigned as cabinet ministers on Tuesday evening, the chief minister sought his resignation from the post of mayor as well. PTI BSM PNT NN NN New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The HRD Ministry has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) to grant it deemed university status. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had in August recommended the HRD Ministry to grant deemed university status to the IIMC. "An LoI has been issued to the IIMC and certain anomalies have been pointed out. Once they are removed, the institute will be granted deemed university status," HRD Higher Education Secretary R Subramanyam told PTI. The institute, one of the prestigious journalism schools in the country which functions under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, offers postgraduate diploma courses in journalism, advertising and public relations. PTI GJS GJS SNE SNE (Eds: Adding quotes from IIMC Director General K G Suresh) New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The HRD Ministry has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) to grant it deemed university status, an official said Thursday. The deemed university status will enable the institute to grant degrees instead of diplomas. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had in August recommended the HRD Ministry to grant deemed university status to the IIMC. "An LoI has been issued to the IIMC and certain anomalies have been pointed out. Once they are removed, the institute will be granted deemed university status," HRD Higher Education Secretary R Subramanyam told PTI. The institute, one of the prestigious journalism schools in the country which functions under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, offers postgraduate diploma courses in journalism, advertising and public relations. "We look forward to it and this is going to be a game changer in the field of media education in the country. There has been a big vacuum in that area. So far, we were preparing students for the industry but deemed university status would enable us to offer postgraduate courses, including Masters, MPhil and PhD, and thereby, we would be able to prepare students for the academia as well," IIMC Director General K G Suresh told PTI. The UGC had last year formed a four-member committee headed by B K Kuthiala, the vice-chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi University in Bhopal, to analyse the proposal by the IIMC. The panel was later disbanded and two committees -- one headed by Sachidanand Joshi, member secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and other headed by M S Parmar, vice-chancellor, Kushabhau Thakre University of Journalism -- made the recommendation. Based on the committee's recommendation and inspection team's feedback, the UGC has recommended that the ministry should issue an LoI to the journalism school under the 'De Novo' category. 'De Novo' refers to an institution which focuses on teaching and research in emerging areas of knowledge. The idea to grant deemed university status to the IIMC is not a new one. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had also approved the plan in 2016. The IIMC has expanded from two campus in Delhi and Dhenkanal to six campuses across the country -- Jammu, Amravati, Kottayam and Aizawl being the new ones -- over the last five years. During a review of higher education institutes by the Niti Aayog in June, it was recommended that the IIMC be merged with either Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Media Studies or Jamia Millia Islamia's AJK Mass Communication Research Centre. However, the institute as well as the Information and Broadcasting and the HRD ministries rejected the idea. PTI GJS GJS SNE SNE Srinagar, Nov 22 (PTI) The PDP, which had staked claim to form government in Jammu and Kashmir with the support of the NC and the Congress, said Thursday it has not yet decided whether to challenge in court the governor's decision to dissolve the assembly. Governor Satya Pal Malik had dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Wednesday night, cutting short the Peoples Democratic Party's bid to stake claim to form government with the National Conference and the Congress. "Just for information; @jkpdp has not met formally to build any consensus on the issue of approaching the court. No meeting regarding the same," PDP spokesperson Rafi Ahmad Mir said in a tweet. Mir was responding to speculation that the party might challenge the governor's decision of dissolving the state assembly in the Supreme Court. Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone had also staked claim for government formation, minutes after Mehbooba, claiming support of 45 members including 25 of the BJP and 18 other MLAs. However, Malik decided to dissolve the assembly saying political parties of different ideologies would not be able to form and stable government and that use of money and horse-trading had to be stopped. PTI MIJ ANB ANB New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Railway workers will do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract from December 11 and refuse all overtime in a call for 'work-to-rule' to protest the Railway Ministry's refusal to meet their demands, a statement from the All India Railway Men's Federation said Thursday. The statement alleged that Railway Minister Piyush Goyal's negative comments on the demands of the union at its 70th annual meeting held from November 15-17 has led to this decision. Work-to-rule is an industrial action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract. They follow all safety or other regulations which are prescribed in their manuals which may cause a slowdown or decrease in productivity, as they refuse to work during breaks or during unpaid extended hours and weekends. Such an action is considered less disruptive than a strike or lockout, and obeying the rules is less susceptible to disciplinary action. "This means that the workers will work only according to the manual. If there is some repair work needed, the worker will only do the work if he has the equipments, tools and working conditions as prescribed in the manual. "Similarly, a goods train driver will not drive a passenger train even if there is shortage of staff. No one will work beyond prescribed work hours," Shiv Gopal Mishra, the general secretary of the All India Railway Mens' Federation, said. The unions are scheduled to meet the Railway Board on December 5 over demands to revoke the National Pension Scheme, increase in running allowance and incentives and improvement of working and living conditions. PTI ASG IJT Jaipur, Nov 22 (PTI) Three friends died and another one was injured after they allegedly jumped before a moving train in a suspected suicide pact in Rajasthan's Alwar district, police said Thursday. Police sources said primary probe revealed that they were depressed due to unemployment but the exact reason for taking the extreme step was yet to be ascertained. Two friends of the youths told the police that the six of them were near railways tracks Tuesday evening when they decided to commit suicide. While Manoj (24), Satyanarayan Meena (22) and Rituraj Meena (17) died by jumping before the train, Abhishek Meena (22) was injured, the police said said. Rahul and Santosh did not take the step, they said. "There is more than one version about the incident and we are probing the matter. Anything concrete can be said only after the investigation is over," SP Alwar Rajendra Singh said. Another police official said the youths were depressed as they were unemployed. "One of the boys who did not jump said that he was called by Satyanarayan Meena near the railway tracks on Tuesday evening," the police official said. "They told him that they were going to commit suicide because they were depressed and unemployment was the main reason. However, the matter is being probed to ascertain more details," the official added. While, Manoj and Satyanaran were graduates and were preparing for competitive exams, Rituraj was BA first year student. The injured boy was admitted to a hospital in Jaipur, the police said. PTI SDA AAR AAR Chandigarh, Nov 22 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh welcomed Thursday the Centre's decision to build and develop a corridor to facilitate Sikh pilgrims from India to visit holy Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan. Kartarpur Sahib, located just across the International Border, is the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev and one of the holiest shrines of Sikhs. "The move will facilitate lakhs of pilgrims desirous of visiting the Kartarpur gurdwara," Singh said in a statement here. He hoped that the Pakistan government would also supplement the effort by opening the corridor on its side of the boundary. The centre Thursday said it will build and develop corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims from India to visit holy Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, which is on the banks of the Ravi river. Singh also hailed the Centre's move to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev on a grand scale, globally, and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for acceding to his personal requests in this regard. In a statement issued here, the chief minister hailed the resolution passed by the Union cabinet to celebrate the historic occasion in a befitting manner, in response to the various letters and submissions he had made to the prime minister on this issue. Singh also expressed happiness at the Cabinet's decision to develop the historic town of Sultanpur Lodhi, associated with the life of first Sikh master Guru Nanak Dev, as a heritage town, on the lines of a smart city. He also appreciated other decisions of the Cabinet to promote the ideology and message of Guru Nanak Dev, including the development of 'Pind Babe Nanak da' museum, upgradation of Sultanpur Lodhi railway station, creation of a centre for inter-faith studies and chairs in foreign universities, release of commemorative coin and postage stamps etc, as was demanded by the state government in its memorandum to the Centre. The chief minister lauded the Centre's decision to celebrate the event through a series of activities across the country and globally. These measures would give a significant boost to the state government's plans and programmes to commemorate the auspicious occasion through year-long celebrations, which he was all set to kick off on Friday, to coincide with Gurpurab, Singh said. The chief minister urged the Centre to release funds for the approved projects at the earliest to facilitate their completion in a year's time. PTI CHS VSD DPB Chandigarh, Nov 22 (PTI) Three policemen of Haryana Police's Special Task Force were suspended after a Delhi businessman alleged that they kidnapped him in the national capital last month and extorted Rs 19 lakh for his release. The three policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector rank police official, have been suspended after preliminary inquiry by the state police into the allegations, a senior Haryana Police official said Thursday. "During preliminary inquiry, we found something fishy against these three STF members... extortion and other allegations were made against them... They have been placed under suspension and a regular departmental inquiry was launched against them," DIG (STF), Bhondsi, B Satheesh Balan, said over the phone. He said as the nature of allegations made against the three policemen was serious, they had been immediately placed under suspension. The victim, an electronic goods shop owner in Delhi, had alleged that the three kidnapped him at gunpoint and released after extorting the money. The Haryana police had set up the STF with an aim to deal with organised crime and crackdown on drug peddlers. PTI SUN CK CK Jaipur, Nov 22 (PTI) US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is likely to reach Jaisalmer Thursday to attend a wedding, officials said. There was no official confirmation about the visit of Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, to the city, they said. "We have confirmation of the visit of the US president's son-in-law to Jaisalmer. There is no official communication about Ivanka Trump's schedule yet," Jaisalmer District Collector O P Kasera told PTI. He said he was here to attend a wedding. It was not immediately known whose wedding they were here to attend. Considering the visit from November 22 to 25, security arrangements have been beefed-up in the city. "Additional force has been deployed with trained commandoes and advanced weapons for private visit of the US president's son-in-law. There is no official confirmation of Ivanka Trump's visit," Jaisalmer SP Jagdish Chandra Sharma said. He said US security guards had arrived in the city and Kushner is expected to reach by a chartered flight Thursday. PTI AG AAR Jaipur/Bikaner, Nov 22 (PTI) An 18-year-old Pakistani intruder was detained Thursday along the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan's Bikaner division, a Border Security Force (BSF) official said. A team of BSF's 125 battalion detained the Pakistani national in Hindumalkot area of Sriganganagar district. The accused is yet to reveal his name, BSF DIG M S Rathore told PTI. He said Rs 209 in Pakistani currency was seized from the accused. The accused will be jointly interrogated by intelligence agencies, the official said. PTI CORR AG CK New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The Women and Child Development Ministry has linked its online portal to report complaints of alleged sexual harassment at workplace to all central and state ministries for their speedy disposal. This is a "proactive step" taken by the WCD Ministry in the wake of the worldwide campaign #MeToo, where women have related their experience of facing sexual harassment and abuse at workplace, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said. Till November 20, as many as 321 complaints have been registered with 'SHe-Box', the online portal, out of which 120 are related to central ministries/ departments, 58 are from state governments and 143 are from private companies. The WCD Ministry has linked SHe-Box to all the central ministries, departments and 653 districts across 33 states and Union Territories, the ministry said in a statement. For prompt disposal of complaints on SHe-Box, each case goes directly to the central and state authority concerned having jurisdiction to take action in the matter. Cases on She-Box can be monitored by the complainants and Ministry WCD, reducing the time taken in case disposal, the statement said. "With the linking of the portal to central and state governments, once a complaint is submitted to the portal, it will be directly sent to the section of the employer concerned," Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said. "Through this portal, WCD as well as the complainant, can monitor the progress of the inquiry," Gandhi said. SHe-Box offers the facility of making online complaints of sexual harassment at workplace to all women employees in the country including government and private employees. Those who have already filed a written complaint with the Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) or Local Complaint Committee (LCC) constituted under the Sexual Harassment Act are also eligible to file their complaint through this portal. Allegations of sexual harassment against prominent people in various fields have come to light under India's online "#MeToo" movement, which started with actor Tanushree Dutta accusing fellow actor -- Nana Patekar -- of harassing her during the shooting of a Bollywood film in 2008. He has denied the allegation. M J Akbar, former Minister of State for External Affairs, film-makers Subhash Ghai, Sajid Khan, Rajat Kapoor and actor Alok Nath are among those who have been accused of sexual misconduct. They too have denied the allegations. PTI UZM RT New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari Thursday said the Supreme Court, which closed contempt proceedings against him, had noted his concerns over the pick and choose policy in the ongoing sealing drive in the national capital. Earlier on Thursday, the apex court dropped the contempt case against the North East Delhi MP but deprecated his action of breaking a civic agency seal at a premises in his constituency's Gokalpur area. "The pick and choose policy of the Monitoring Committee and the illegal sealing actions, which have been highlighted by us, have been taken note of by the Supreme Court," Tiwari said a statement. The court observed that as an elected representative, Tiwari should have exercised restraint and pacified the mob, rather than taking the law in his own hands. A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said the court was "extremely pained" by Tiwari's behaviour. Tiwari had already stated in his affidavit that the situation at the spot required an "affirmative action" and he broke the seal as a "symbol" of protest, the statement said. "The need of the hour was such where a symbolic seal breaking action had to be done in view to protect and maintain the law and order situation on ground at that particular moment," it said. Accompanied by his supporters, Tiwari had in September broken the seal put by the Veterinary Department of East Municipal Corporation of Delhi. An FIR was registered against him and a Supreme Court-mandated monitoring committee referred the matter for contempt proceedings against him. The committee is supervising the ongoing sealing drive against violations of Delhi's Master Plan, undertaken by the municipal corporations since last year. PTI VIT AMP DIV DIV New Delhi, Nov 21 (PTI) The Press Council of India (PCI) has urged the Jharkhand government to take remedial steps so that journalists are allowed to carry out their professional obligations without any impediments, according to a statement. The PCI said it has noted with concern the reports of the alleged lathi-charge on journalists in Ranchi during the coverage of a function on Jharkhand Foundation Day on November 15. "It urges the state government to take such remedial steps as deem necessary so that journalists are allowed to carry out their professional obligations without any impediments," the statement said. The PCI has taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and a report on facts of the case is being sought from the Jharkhand government. "Simultaneously, a Fact Finding Team constituted to look into the death of a journalist at Chattra, Jharkhand will also meet the victim journalists and concerned authorities," it added. The team is being asked to submit its report preferably within six weeks. The journalist working with a Hindi newspaper in Jharkhand was beaten to death in October. PTI PR SMN SMN Jaipur, Nov 22 (PTI) Adding zeros to a zero cannot produce a hero, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said Thursday, referring to a proposed anti-BJP joint front of the opposition parties for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He said the alliance lacked an agenda and its sole objective is to oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Neither there is any ideological basis of the alliance nor does it have an agenda for the people. Its only aim is to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Javadekar said at a press conference here. "Adding several zeros to a zero cannot produce a hero. The alliance is a non-starter and will not start even if you kick several times," he said, referring to the postponement of a meeting of opposition parties scheduled for Thursday in Delhi. The Human Resource Development Minister rebuffed Congress leader Manish Tewari's allegation that Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the state assembly on directions of Modi and the Prime Minister's Office. Javadekar said the governor is capable of taking a decision in consultation with the President. He claimed that Pakistan intended to create a mess in Jammu and Kashmir, which is an important state. Its issues are sensitive so they have to be dealt with accordingly. The panchayat elections were conducted successfully in Jammu and Kashmir and now assembly elections will be held, he added. Javadekar, also the BJP's Rajasthan election in-charge, said while the party was ready to give account of work done by the Centre and the state government, the Congress does not want to discuss real issues. Its press conferences are incomplete without raising issues of demonetisation, Rafale aircraft deal and Ram Temple, he said. "The Congress is pained as there was no middleman in the defence procurement deal (Rafale). Demonetisation was not a scam as the money that was received in banks was accounted for," he said. PTI AG DIV DIV New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) What is the justification to re-enter the premises now when publication of National Herald has commenced, the Delhi High Court asked the Centre on Thursday. Justice Sunil Gaur, who reserved his verdict in the matter, asked the Urban Development Ministry, "They are now running the newspaper. So where is the justification now to re-enter premises? Where is the occasion now to re-enter the premises?" Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ministry and the Land and Development Office (L&DO), told the court that re-entry notice was issued as it had initiated the proceedings back in 2016 when no printing or publishing activity was going on. All the procedures have been followed to the hilt before issuing the notice for re-entry to AJL, Mehta said. "Procedure may have been followed, but by the time re-entry notice was issued, they were running a newspaper," the court said. Senior advocate Abhishek M Singhvi, appearing for AJL, opposed the SG's argument saying that publication of web editions began in 2016 and the issue of absence of printing press in the premises was not raised then. He said the government kept silent till April 2018 when it again sent a notice for inspection and in which it had said that it was coming to check breaches mentioned in notice of October 10, 2016. Singhvi also argued that several major papers carry out printing elsewhere. To this the SG said that for web editions "only a laptop is required and not a five-storey building in the heart of the city". After hearing arguments of both sides, the court reserved its verdict on AJL's plea challenging a October 30 order of the ministry, ending its 56-year-old lease and asking it to vacate the premises at the press enclave in ITO here. The judge while reserving judgement also said that the government cannot straightaway throw out AJL without first proceeding under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971. The court had earlier asked the government to maintain status quo with regard to enforcement of the October 30 order. The SG, during arguments, also contended that transfer of 98 per cent stake in AJL to Young Indian (YI) when the latter bought the former's Rs 90 crore debt for a consideration of Rs 50 lakh, led to a "virtual" sale of the Herald building. "Come to your rules and regulations. Where is the bar (on transfer of shares)? Where have you prohibited transfer of shares? Where does transfer of shares lead to sale of property? How does it amount to a sale," the court asked. To this, the SG replied that transfer of shares leading to a virtual sale of the property or change in ownership, "can be seen by lifting the corporate veil". This contention was opposed by Singhvi, who argued that there was no clause in the lease agreement prohibiting share transfer. He also said that YI was a non-profit company and no benefit has gone to it from being a share holder of AJL. The senior lawyer further said that transfer of shares has not led to change in ownership or sale of the property. Regarding the SG's argument that there was no printing going on in the premises, for which building was given on concession, Singhvi said it was a "fallacious and weird" contention which ignored the change in technology over the years. He said that with change in technology, it was "discriminatory" to insist on having a printing press. Singhvi further said that "special affection" was being shown to AJL by the government as there were several newspapers, including two national dailies, which carry on printing activity from a separate location. To this, the SG said the other papers have a better circulation than National Herald. Singhvi replied that circulation cannot be a ground for eviction and it was not a reason given in the re-entry notice. In its petition, the AJL has alleged that the proceedings by the ministry were being initiated for the purposes of "scuttling the voices of dissent" and the voice of the largest opposition party in the country, a reference to the Congress. Without naming the BJP, the AJL has further alleged that the order issued under pressure and directives from the ruling party at the Centre is vitiated by mala fide, bias and had "oblique political motives". The L&DO, which comes under the ministry, had ended the lease -- entered into with AJL on August 2, 1962 and made perpetual on January 10, 1967 -- asking the company to hand over the possession by November 15. The L&DO's order also said that failure to hand over possession would lead to initiation of proceedings under the Public Premises Act. In its plea, AJL has also said that the digital versions of English newspaper National Herald, Hindi's Navjivan and Urdu's Qaumi Awaz have commenced since 2016-17. The weekly newspaper National Herald on Sunday resumed on September 24 last year and the place of publication was the ITO premises, Singhvi said, adding that the Hindi weekly newspaper Sunday Navjivan was also being published since October this year from the same premises. PTI HMP SKV SJK ZMN New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Thursday sought responses from the city government, the police and then Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash on a plea by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia challenging a trial court order in the CS assault case. The two AAP leaders have challenged the trial court order that prosecution in the case be conducted by an officer of the Delhi Police not below the rank of Additional CP. The hearing also witnessed a verbal spat between the lawyers appearing for the AAP government and the Delhi Police over representing the police force in the matter. While AAP-appointed Delhi government standing counsel Rahul Mehra said only he has the right to appear for police in the case before the high court, Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi and Central government standing counsel Anil Soni contended that they have been authorised by the Deputy Secretary (Home) of Delhi government to represent the state in the matter. Mehra strongly objected to Lekhi's appearance in the matter, saying he has been duly appointed through a notification to represent the Delhi Police and no one, including even the Attorney General of India, can appear in a matter when the standing counsel is present there. Asking Mehra and Lekhi to bring down their pitch, Justice Najmi Waziri said the ASG will have to make out a case for himself to argue the matter and listed it for January 17. Kejriwal and Sisodia, who have been summoned as accused in the assault case, have also challenged the order permitting two other advocates to conduct the prosecution on behalf of the officer of the Delhi Police, instead of a regular public prosecutor attached to the court concerned. The trial court had on October 22 allowed the plea of Prakash seeking direction to conduct the prosecution through the counsel nominated by the Delhi Police and not through lawyers empanelled by the AAP government. Senior advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Kejriwal, said a special public prosecutor (SPP) can be appointed under Section 302 of CrPC but there has to be special circumstances for it and there was nothing special here. He said 10 other cases were pending against the chief minister before the same trial court judge and they were being tried by the regular cadre public prosecutor in which the complainant was either state or government officials. "There was no allegation of suspected bias in any of the cases. There was nothing special in this case," the senior counsel argued. When Lekhi sought to make a submission regarding the petition, Mehra objected and said he will not allow him to say anything and he has in his favour the order of the Delhi High Court according to which the LG has to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers while exercising the power to appoint a SPP for any case. This portion of the high court verdict was challenged by the Centre before the Supreme Court which has reserved its judgement on it. "Is aid and advice of council of ministers taken? It's a direct contempt of the orders of the Supreme Court and the high court," Mehra contended, adding that he would file a contempt case against the police officials who were briefing the ASG in the matter. The criminal case relates to alleged assault on Prakash during a meeting at Kejriwal's official residence on February 19. Prakash was recently transferred and will now be the Additional Secretary in the Department of Telecom. The plea in the high court has sought setting aside of the order of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) and also requested that the prosecution in the case be conducted by the public prosecutor before the trial court. "The impugned order is otherwise based on conjunctures and surmises and is liable to be set aside," the petition claimed. The plea has arrayed as parties the Delhi government through standing counsel (the Delhi Police) and Anshu Prakash. In its October 22 order, the trial court had also asked the investigating agency to supply the copies of charge sheet and documents to the officer appointed so that he could conduct the prosecution. "Further, Siddharth Aggarwal and V Madhukar, advocates, are permitted to conduct the prosecution on behalf of the officer of Delhi Police so appointed in this regard," it had said. The ACMM had said let the Delhi Police Commissioner assign the prosecution of this case to some officer not below the rank of Additional Commissioner of Police. Prakash had told the trial court that the Delhi Police had nominated three well-reputed and experienced counsel for appointment as Special Public Prosecutors and their consents had also been obtained. Despite recommendation by the officers of the Home Department, the request of the Delhi Police was rejected by the Delhi Home Minister on grounds that the case did not disclose any special features, he had said. The plea was opposed by the Delhi Police in the trial court claiming that the complainant (Prakash) has not shown any "actual bias" but only an unfounded apprehension of bias and the other cases of similar accused persons have been conducted regular prosecutors and no bias has been reported. On October 25, Kejriwal, Sisodia and nine other AAP MLAs were granted bail by the trial court in the assault case. The other two MLAs, Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, who are also accused were earlier arrested in the case and granted bail by the high court. The alleged assault had triggered a bitter tussle between the Delhi government and its bureaucrats. PTI SKV HMP SKV TIR TIR Prayagraj, Nov 22 (PTI) Twenty-eight newly appointed additional judges of the Allahabad High Court were sworn in by the Uttar Pradesh governor on Thursday. They were administered the oath of office were by Governor Ram Naik at a ceremony held behind the chamber of the chief justice here. Chief Justice Govind Mathur and all other judges of the high court were present on this occasion. Out of the 28 new additional judges, 15 have been elevated from bar and 13 from higher judicial services. With the new appointments, the number of judges of this court climbs to 110. The sanctioned strength of judges of the Allahabad High Court is 160. PTI Corr RAJ IJT New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) The Supreme Cout Thursday questioned Trinamool Congress MLA Mahua Moitra over her claim that the Centre's move of hiring a social media monitoring agency was aimed at "mounting surveillance on social media platforms" and asked her to submit material within two weeks in support of her apprehension. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked Moitra to file an affidavit in this regard. "Please show us from your pleadings that the State will surveil the online activities of citizens... File supplementary affidavit within two weeks to show that this exercise is meant for state surveillance," the bench said. The Centre had earlier told the court that it was willing to accommodate the suggestions of the TMC leader in the proposal of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to hire a social media agency to monitor online platforms. Moitra had alleged that the move of hiring a social media monitoring agency was aimed at "mounting surveillance on social media platforms". Her plea said the UIDAI, as per its bid document, was seeking to hire a social media agency that will employ 'online reputation management' and 'social listening' tools to monitor and influence conversations related to Aadhaar on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. "Such action of the government violates her right of privacy. The scope of work of the social media agency, intended to be selected through the impugned request for proposal (RFP), is in the teeth of the judgment by this court in the K S Puttaswamy case, wherein a bench of nine judges of this court recognised privacy as a fundamental right under the Constitution," the plea said. The petition claimed that the aim of employing a "Social Listening Tool" by the UIDAI's social media agency in accordance with the RFP, on the pretext of raising awareness about Aadhaar, was nothing but an attempt to "overreach the jurisdiction" of the apex court. "Despite the fact that the constitutional validity of various aspects of Aadhaar is under challenge before this court in a batch of petitions and judgement has been reserved by a Constitution Bench of this court in the matter, the respondents (Centre, UIDAI) have issued the RFP to identify 'top detractors' and 'neutralise negative sentiments' in relation to Aadhaar. It is, therefore, clear that the respondents have no respect or regard for proceedings before this court," the petition read. The MLA has alleged that the haste with which the RFP was being pushed through, with the bids scheduled to be opened less than two weeks after the publication of the RFP itself, demonstrated the mala fides of the Centre and the UIDAI. The plea claimed that weekly and monthly reports are to be prepared by the social media agency, indicating the most discussed topics, top detractors, top influencers and the net sentiment related to Aadhaar. "The entire surveillance architecture is to be placed in the hands of private persons employed on a contract basis who will be on the rolls of the service provider who emerges successful in the tender process. "While surveillance by agents of the State is itself violative of the right to privacy, in this case, the privacy of the citizens of this country is sought to be placed at the mercy of non-State actors which reeks of manifest arbitrariness," the plea alleged. Earlier, the Centre had told the apex court that it will undertake a complete review of the social media policy and had withdrawn its notification proposing a social media hub for the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The decision had then led to the disposal of an earlier plea against the hub filed by Moitra against the notification of the I&B Ministry. PTI SJK PKS GVS New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Michelle Obama found future-husband Barack refreshing, unconventional and weirdly elegant when she saw him for the first time but not once did she think about him as someone she would want to date. Barack Obama also turned up late when he went to meet Michelle for working as her associate at a Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin in 1989. "Despite my resistance to the hype that had preceded him, I found myself admiring Barack for both his self-assuredness and his earnest demeanour. He was refreshing, unconventional, and weirdly elegant," Michelle says about what she felt when she saw Barack for the first time at the law firm. But she hastens to add, "Not once, though, did I think about him as someone I'd want to date. For one thing, I was his mentor at the firm. I'd also recently sworn off dating altogether, too consumed with work to put any effort into it." She thought that he would be just a good summer mentee. And finally, appallingly, at the end of lunch that day, Barack lit a cigarette, "which would have been enough to snuff any interest, if I'd had any to begin with". Smoking wasn't something Michelle liked. According to her, Barack smoked the way her parents did after meals, walking down a city block, or when he was feeling anxious and needed to do something with his hands. "Smoking was one topic where Barack's logic seemed to leave him altogether," she says. But slowly things started to change. "I think we should go out," Barack announced one afternoon as they sat finishing a meal. "What, you and me?" Michelle feigned shock that he even considered it a possibility. "I told you, I don't date. And I'm your adviser," was her argument. Barack gave a wry laugh. "Like that counts for anything. You're not my boss, he said. And youre pretty cute. Michelle comes out with all these nuggets in her memoir Becoming, published by Penguin Random House imprint Viking. When she was a little girl, Michelles world was the South Side of Chicago, where she and her brother, Craig, shared a bedroom in their familys upstairs apartment and played catch in the park, and where her parents, Fraser and Marian Robinson, raised her to be outspoken and unafraid. But life soon look her much further afield, from the halls of Princeton, where she learned for the first time what if felt like to be the only black woman in a room, to the glassy office tower where she worked as a high-powered corporate lawyer--and where, one summer morning, a law student named Barack Obama appeared in her office and upended all her carefully made plans. In the book, Michelle for the first time describes the early years of her marriage as she struggles to balance her work and family with her husbands fast-moving political career. She talks about their private debate over whether Barack should make a run for the presidency and her subsequent role as a popular but oft-criticised figure during his campaign. PTI ZMN BK BK Jammu, Nov 22 (PTI) A suspected drug peddler was arrested with 100 kg poppy in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district Thursday, police said. Based on a tip off, a police party intercepted a tractor at Gagwal and seized 100 kg of poppy, they said. An inter-state peddler identified as Saroop Singh, a native of Dadewali in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, was arrested after recovery of the contraband from the tractor, police said. A case was registered in this connection, they said. PTI AB MAZ CK Srinagar, Nov 22 (PTI) Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir Valley Thursday due to a strike called by separatists to protest the killing of a Hurriyat activist in Anantnag district on Tuesday. Most of the shops, fuel stations and other business establishments were shut here in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. They said public transport was off the roads, but private cars, cabs and auto-rickshaws were plying in some areas of the city. The officials said similar reports of disruption in normal life were received from other district headquarters of the valley. Separatists - Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik - under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) had asked people to observe a protest shutdown against the killing of Hafeezullah Mir in Achabal area of Anantnag district of south Kashmir. Mir, who was district president of Geelani-led Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his residence on Tuesday. PTI SSB MIJ DV DV Fraudsters are running a fake Tesco competition by email that tempts customers into handing over banking details with the promise of prizes - and could drain cash from their accounts. A reader has written to This is Money to warn others about an email where the sender purports to be from Tesco. It promises various free prizes in exchange for personal information following the completion of a survey and money for a postage fee. The reader, who wished to remain anonymous, said: I received an email to my personal email account from a very authentic Tesco site saying I am eligible for entry in a prize draw if I complete a customer satisfaction survey. Retailer Tesco has confirmed that this email with promises of various free limited products is a scam. As a Tesco customer I decided to take the survey, winning a choice of one of three prizes. I opted for the CBC oil. The winner was asked to only pay postage of 4.95. I clicked the link for the goods which did not lead to the product I had selected (CBC oil). 'I became suspicious and called Tesco customer service department, which had no idea about the offer - it was a scam. I sent the real Tesco the email and pics of the scam Tesco site. 'They said they would look into the matter. I have heard nothing back from Tesco yet. The scammers try to get victims to part with their money in order to claim their "prize" Tesco has since confirmed that the competition and survey is a scam. A spokesperson said: We would never ask customers to pay money in exchange for a reward. If a customer is ever unsure about a suspicious email, they can always check by calling our customer service team on 0800 50 55 55.' Its not the first time that scammers have used the ruse that their emails or texts come from legitimate companies like Tesco. This is Money has recently reported how hoax emails (also known as phishing emails) are being sent claiming to be from the TV Licensing department and HM Revenue and Customs. Last year there were also reports that criminals were using WhatsApp to send fake supermarket vouchers purporting to be from Tesco and other retailers like Asda and Aldi. Fake emails or texts promise people they are owed money, free vouchers, rewards points or prizes but are sophisticated attempts to fleece unsuspecting victims out of their hard earned cash. The emails will also typically include links that take people to websites where their personal information (such as banking details) can be stolen. To prompt a quick reaction from victims, the content of the emails may contain threats or warnings about deals expiring if no action is taken. Tesco warns on its website that it doesnt run any competitions via email or social media offering free vouchers or rewards for liking, sharing and commenting on posts. The retailer also warns about fake Tesco Offers pages that pop up on Facebook, saying: We dont have a separate offers page. The fake voucher giveaway is just the bait used to trick people in engaging with the bogus page and there are no real prizes up for grabs. Just over half of all adults aged between 21 and 35 have asked their parents for financial support in the past two years, new research has revealed. Along with money for big items such as a wedding and a house deposit, parents are have also paid for groceries, holidays and new clothes. Meanwhile 26 per cent of adults in this age group have moved back home with their parents in order to save money. One in four adults aged between 21 - 35 have moved back in with their parents Of those who have moved back home in order to save money, 84 per cent said they are regularly putting money into a savings account of an average of 205 per month. Savings goals for this group include buying a home, prioritised by 34 per cent, clearing debts, put first by 19 per cent, and going travelling, which 13 per cent said they are saving for, according to the research from Experian. Just over half of the 2,000 people questioned said they had received financial support from their parents over the past two years. These respondents weren't living at home yet 18 per cent said their parents had paid for everyday essentials such as the weekly supermarket shop. As many as 13 per cent have been taken on a spending spree to buy new clothes, and 18 per cent had been given money to go on holiday. When it comes to big ticket items, 9 per cent had been given money towards a wedding or a honeymoon, 7 per cent had been given a deposit for a new house which they didn't have to pay back, 7 per cent had been given money to pay off a loan and 8 per cent had been given money to buy a new car. A smaller percentage of parents had given their child money for a house deposit which they had to pay back, or had given them money to pay their mortgage. James Jones, head of consumer affairs at Experian, comments: 'The Bank of Mum and Dad is a financial institution that is becoming increasingly important, especially when it comes to purchasing a property. 'However, our research shows that this dependence on parents by young adults goes beyond just big one-off expenses and stretches to everyday essentials. This has implications for both the youngsters' and the parents' financial futures, particularly if the parents' finances become squeezed. 55 per cent of millennials have received financial support from their parents in the past 2 years 'Whilst receiving help from parents is perhaps necessary for many, I urge young people to also be conscious of building a positive financial profile. For example, remaining on track for repayments such as credit cards, household bills and mobile phone contracts. 'Even when times are tight, saving little and often can make a huge difference in achieving long term financial goals.' The average sums of money being handed over by parents for house deposits vary considerably yet a recent report from Nationwide said parents hand over an average of 18,000. It also said parents were behind more than one in four house sales this year, with parents amounting to the equivalent of a 5.7billion mortgage lender in terms of cash doled out. However, there are major discrepancies in the amount handed out across the country with sums ranging from an average 10,800 in Scotland and 12,000 in the North East, to 21,700 in the South East and 30,600 in London. For a full list of alternatives if your parents arent in a position to hand over a wad of cash, see our article on the alternatives to the Bank of Mum and Dad. Eyes on a prize? Mark Carney praised Prince Charles 'inspirational' leadership on the environment Bank of England governor Mark Carney showered praise on the Prince of Wales in a climate change speech yesterday at St James's Palace. He said: 'His Royal Highness has provided inspirational leadership on these critical issues for decades. Indeed if we had heeded his advice when it was first offered, we might have already solved the Tragedy of the Horizon!' (climate change and financial stability). Now Carney's citizenship has come through, how long before the wily crawler's back in front of His Royal Jugs collecting his knighthood? Carney will be succeeded as chairman of the Financial Stability Board next month by US Federal Reserve governor Randal Quarles, 61, who previously worked at private equity giant The Carlyle Group. He is highly rated by Washington hawks who tip him as a future Treasury Secretary. Perhaps our own Treasury will get there first and offer him Carney's other job at the Bank of England. Chancellor Philip Hammond's said to covet another international name. Carlos Ghosn's rapid defenestration at Nissan is blamed in part on being a westerner, though that's not previously been an impediment to success in the Land of the Rising Sun. Well-connected Welshman Sir Howard Stringer enjoyed 14 years at the top at Sony before leaving on agreeable terms. Perhaps it helped that Stringer, 76, once bonded with Sony's president Ryoji Chubachi by bathing nude together in a warm spring. Babcock chairman Mike Turner hopes to retain the backing of his board after the floundering defence contractor's share price plunged to seven-year low. Is that likely? A City source chunters: 'He can certainly rely on the unstinting loyalty of his remuneration chairman [ex-BBC business editor] Jeff Randall, whom some suspect is mainly there as Mike's drinking buddy.' Too unkind, surely? Ex-Grant Thornton boss Sacha Romanovitch gives a talk today at the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics on 'the ethical obligations of the city'. Outspoken Sacha, 50, was brutally purged from her role last month following criticism of her leadership style. Some detected the dark forces of sexism at play. Could well be worth listening out for this one. The dethroning of Carlos Ghosn as the global car industrys most garlanded figure offers some lessons for the Labour Party and its nationalisation proposals. No sooner had the details of the Nissan-Renault scandal emerged than French finance minister Bruno Le Maire called a press conference to say that France and Japan were keen to maintain the Nissan-Renault partnership. As a 15 per cent shareholder in Renault, with 30 per cent of the votes, President Macrons government felt it couldnt stand back from a governance crisis affecting one of Frances main industrial employers without saying something. Labours Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell sounds reasonable when he talks of taking the water or railway companies back into public ownership and reinvesting dividends into infrastructure. French finance minister Bruno Le Maire tells a press conference that France and Japan were keen to maintain the Nissan-Renault partnership That is all hunky-dory but McDonnell forgets that the moment something goes wrong, as when South Western trains failed to run on Monday morning because of engineering works, it is he or Jeremy Corbyn who would be fending off the BBCs Today show and opposition in the Commons about what went wrong. Ownership also brings with it operational and governance responsibilities. Imagine the rows when the pay report for the fat controller of publicly owned railways is disclosed. The best thing for the Macron government to do in order to escape from the embarrassment which comes in holding stakes in private companies would be to dispose of its Renault stake. Nissan has been wanting to consolidate control of Renault for some time. Certainly, a full merger would end the overlapping board responsibilities and opportunities for regulatory arbitrage which comes from a labyrinthine structure in which Renault owns 43 per cent of Nissan and Renault owns 15 per cent of the Japanese firm. One way of achieving more transparency would be for the French to place their Renault stake in the market allowing the two car makers to forge a merger of equals. As a former Rothschild investment banker, Macron should recognise the benefit of freeing up ownership and saving costs. But that would almost certainly mean placing the interests of investors above those of car workers. Thatcherite labour market reforms mean such rationalisation in an industry with over-capacity is possible in the UK. In France it might be a case of calling for Boriss scrapped water cannons. If McDonnell and Corbyn dont want to find themselves in a fight to the death with their union supporters, in the manner of the Wilson-Callaghan governments of the 1970s, they would be advised to back away from public ownership. Sea legs As Britain's second-largest defence contractor, Babcock should at the very least be safe from an overseas takeover. And, as we know, Melrose Industries has its hands full with GKN, which, like Babcock, has the Spitfire running through its veins. Babcock has been unsettled by a rogue report from an unidentified floating object, Boatman Capital, and some less than confident results. It has been required to write down the value of its oil and gas helicopter enterprise and close the Appledore shipyard at a cost of 120million. Next year, revenues and profits will have to absorb a hit from the Magnox nuclear decommissioning contract. In spite of the heavy waters, including another 5 per cent downward shift in the share price, chief executive Archie Bethel was in battling form rejecting the Boatman analysis and declaring Babcock the most undervalued stock at present. That does sound a trifle over-defensive. Reality is that Babcock is not doing as well as it should but cannot be compared to outsourcing weaklings such as Interserve. The underlying numbers are robust with profits before the nasty bits 2.5 per cent ahead at 245.5million, free cash flow at 140million, an order book valued at 32billion and net debt down 159million at 1.13billion. Assuming no Carillion or Patisserie Valerie creative accounting, that looks like a safe platform from which Babcock can steam ahead. National interest The proposed sale of medical concern BTG to Boston Scientific tells us just why the Government should reject lobbying from former Office of Fair Trading boss Sir John Vickers, the Universities Superannuation Scheme and others to step back from plans to toughen the UKs scrutiny of takeovers. It is in the national interest that research and intellectual property created in the UK stays here, as we seek to conquer new overseas markets. Royal Mail shareholders have demanded more information about the flop of its American parcels businesses Royal Mail is facing more investor anger this time over a 68million writedown of its American parcels businesses. Top 20 shareholders have demanded more information about the flop, saying they are 'not happy'. It could trigger a fresh rebellion by irate investors, just months after the resignation of former chairman Peter Long over sky-high pay. The company paid 80.6million in total for Postal Express and Golden State Overnight Delivery (GSO) but now says 85 per cent of their value has been wiped out. Both are part of Royal Mail's GLS parcels division and it has been combining them into one. But this month it revealed the merged operation made a loss of 6million in the six months to September 23. Royal Mail blamed rising costs and teething problems with the merger. It said GSO was growing but Postal Express continues to be affected by its integration and a decision to focus on small to medium-sized businesses. Two top investors are now reportedly demanding answers as to why. Jefferies analyst David Kerstens said the pressures, which also include sluggish progress on cost savings and low productivity, could put its dividend at risk. The industry watchdog is probing Britains biggest bean-counters over 15 botched audits. Accountants at major firms such as KPMG, Deloitte and PwC face investigations from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which is desperately attempting to prove it is up to the task of regulation. It has now opened a fresh investigation into KPMG, which is already being scrutinised in five cases, for alleged misconduct relating to the work it did for mattress company Silentnight. Before its collapse, Silentnight was promoted by celebrities including Myleene Klass. But in early 2011, it was struggling under cash flow pressure and a hefty pension deficit It is claimed that KPMG and one of its partners, David Costley-Wood, accepted the job when their professional judgement was compromised. The FRC also alleges that KPMG and Costley-Wood were involved in misleading claims made by Silentnight to regulators and trustees over its pension fund. The case will go to a tribunal. In previous cases where misconduct has been proven, firms have been slapped with multi-million pound fines and individuals banned from the accounting profession. A KPMG spokesman said: We believe the FRCs allegations to be wholly without merit. Before its collapse, Silentnight was promoted by celebrities including Myleene Klass. But in early 2011, it was struggling under cash flow pressure and a hefty pension deficit. It called in KPMG, which proposed a so-called Company Voluntary Arrangement, where Silentnight would agree with its lenders to pay back a portion of its debt over a longer period. However that fell through when the Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund refused to support it, and KPMG was appointed administrator. Eventually, Silentnight was sold to private equity firm HIG Capital. The FRC, which announced a probe into scandal-ridden bakery chain Patisserie Valerie this week, is trying to throw off criticism for being ineffective. MPs called the watchdog toothless after it failed to hold any audit firms to account over financial statements they rubber-stamped for banks which came close to collapse during the financial crisis. Sir John Kingman is leading a Government-commissioned review of whether the FRC should be scrapped. Metals mining giant Fresnillo sent the FTSE 100 into a downward spiral, after analysts at Morgan Stanley sparked fear among investors. A law proposed in Mexico to protect indigenous people from miners could make business much harder, Morgan Stanley said. Companies which operate in Mexico have already come under pressure over the last week, as Leftist president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador scrapped an airport for the capital. But Morgan Stanleys analysts said that since the election in July, 11 bills have been proposed which could affect the mining industry. Companies which operate in Mexico have already come under pressure over the last week, as Leftist president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador scrapped an airport for the capital Analyst Dan Shaw said that Fresnillos earnings per share how much of the companys profit is allocated to each share could fall as much as 11 per cent. One particularly troubling bill for Fresnillo would give the state the right to take back land granted to miners, if their activities create a negative social impact. The bill would also require consent from indigenous communities before concessions can even be granted, and require miners to set up a fund for development in the communities they work in. Though Morgan Stanley said there was no reason to believe Fresnillo would fall foul of these measures, they add uncertainty to the mining environment. Stock Watch - FireAngel Smoke detector company FireAngel sounded the alarm for investors, saying its results would be materially below market expectations. The company, which creates home smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, has been trying to work with its manufacturer to increase its production. This is now on track, but the firm said it has added short-term costs and slowed down the delivery of more profitable products. The shares fell 20.2 per cent, or 9p, to 35.5p. Fresnillos shares tumbled by 12.1 per cent, or 110.2p, to 802.4p. That added to the drag on the FTSE 100, which ended the day down by 1.3 per cent, or 89.92 points, at 6960.32 points. Sterlings rally, up to $1.288 from $1.278, also pulled the index down the pound and the FTSE 100 tend to move in opposite directions, as blue-chip companies make much of their money abroad in foreign currencies. On the FSTE 250, industrial valve company Rotork took a dive after admitting its orders in the third quarter were slightly lower than expected. It makes actuators that sit alongside valves on oil, gas and water pipes to turn them on and off, and said order intake dipped by 4 per cent compared to the same time last year. Revenue, however, was still up 8.4 per cent. Its financial performance is still expected to be on track for the year, but investors were nervous and shares dipped 9.1 per cent, or 25.8p, to 258.2p. Shopping centre owner Intu was another poor performer, as shareholders grew more impatient over a potential 2.9billion takeover. A group of bidders hoping to buy the business, including property investors Peel Group, Olayan Group and Brookfield Property Group, requested a second extension to the bid deadline. Intu said the bidders checks into the company are largely complete. But the bidders, who were due to make a decision on November 15 as to whether they would make a firm offer or not, have pushed the deadline to the end of the month. Intus shares sank 3.6 per cent, or 6.95p, to 188.5p. Hill & Smith, which creates the metalwork used on road signs, hinted a recovery was on the horizon. Bad weather and delays to road projects prompted a profit warning in August, but from July to October revenue picked up by 5 per cent. It is encouraged that the Government is increasing investment in roads to 25.3billion between 2020 and 2025. Shares ticked up by 3.3 per cent, or 37p, to 1157p. Marketing company Ebiquity sank as it said profit for the year would be materially below expectations. It blamed a slowdown in its advertising intelligence division, which analyses how effective businesses adverts are, and delays in pulling in new media clients in Germany. Shares dropped 19.7 per cent, or 13p, to 53p. His is one of the most spectacular descents since Icarus. Until this week, Carlos Ghosn was the undisputed titan of the motor industry at the head of not one but three international car giants, Japans Nissan and Mitsubishi along with Renault of France. Now, his stellar 40-year career is in shreds after he was arrested in Japan on accusations of financial misconduct. To the surprise of no-one, he was ousted yesterday as chairman of Nissan. His supporters suggest Ghosn is the victim of a hatchet job at the hands of executives who thought him over-mighty and opposed plans to merge the Japanese company with Renault. Carlos Ghosn and second wife Carole attend a party at Versailles, was inspired by Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinette and featured actors in 18th century costume Questions are being asked as to whether it is credible that he could have misused corporate assets so blatantly without anyone knowing. Whatever the truth, there will be no shortage of schadenfreude at his downfall. The 64-year-old is the personification of Davos Man, a member of the global elite who infest the Swiss ski resort for the annual World Economic Forum. He was idolised for having brought Nissan back from the brink, nicknamed le cost-cutter for his efficiency and Mr 7/11 for his appetite for work. He even featured in Manga comic books. But this led him to behave more like an emperor than a manager. For Ghosn is typical of the gold-collar workers the cadre of top bosses who have multi-million pound pay packages, couture-clad second wives and private jets. He occupies a different universe to the 6,700 decidedly blue collar workers at his Nissan factory in Sunderland, where they push out half a million cars every year. His fall raises doubts over the future of a plant which supports another 27,000 workers in the supply chain coveted jobs in a region which has struggled with higher than average unemployment. But it has a broader significance: he embodies the rootless, ultra-privileged masters of the universe whose amoral behaviour has created a crisis of confidence in capitalism. Since the financial crisis, voters have seen finances squeezed and jobs vanish, leaving them disillusioned with established politics: in Sunderland, they voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. The mogul was born in Lebanon, brought up in Brazil and educated in Paris. Home is a penthouse with views across Tokyo. But, his accusers say, he also made use of homes in Brazil, Paris, Amsterdam and Beirut at the companys expense. Ghosn is of course innocent until proven otherwise, but his predicament is a serious blow. This is a man far more at home in the corridors of power than the spartan surroundings of the Tokyo Detention Centre. Famously, he met Theresa May shortly after the Brexit referendum in 2016, obtaining assurances from the Prime Minister regarding the Sunderland plant. Many businessmen would have been over-awed at meeting the PM but blase Ghosn gave the impression the honour was all Mrs Mays. I had the impression I know this office by heart. Because I was there before to see David Cameron, Gordon Brown, there are five prime ministers I met in the same office, he said. He was well-acquainted with Tony Blair, whose County Durham constituency is close to the Nissan works. The ties have persisted, as Cherie Blair, the former PMs wife, is a director of Renault. Ghosn began his career at tyre maker Michelin in 1978, moved to Renault in 1996, and was sent three years later by that company to troubleshoot at Nissan. His success made him a semi-godlike figure. An acid-tinged profile in a business magazine told how he would fly into top end hotels by helicopter, arriving at the Peninsula Bangkok hotel using a lounge on the 37th floor reserved for aerial check-ins. Generations of aspiring executives lapped up his every word, including bland essays he penned last year, entitled My Personal History, where he gushed about his children, Caroline, Nadine, Maya and Anthony, but did not mention their mother Rita, to whom he was married for more than two decades. In a Facebook post on Monday that was taken down, she said that narcissists pretend to have morals and values that they really dont possess, adding: Behind closed doors they lie, insult, criticise, disrespect and abuse. The party he threw in 2016 for his wedding to his willowy second wife Carole can be seen as a warning. The do, at Versailles, was inspired by Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinette and featured actors in 18th-century costume. Carole said: We wanted it to feel as if we were inviting guests into our home, nothing too studied. One of Ghosns hobbies is reading about the Roman Empire. Soon, he may have more time to reflect on his own rise and fall. High house prices make buying a home as a couple tough, but for an individual getting on the property ladder can seem all but impossible. Without the extra borrowing power that two salaries can bring, even those who can raise a decent deposit will find buying solo can give them a mortgage headache. It's no surprise, therefore that an increasing number of young couples are considering taking out joint mortgages early on in their relationships - or buying with friends and family to clamber on the housing ladder. 61 per cent of millennials say getting a mortgage is a bigger commitment than getting married A study has revealed that almost two-thirds of millennials believe buying a house with their significant other is a bigger commitment than getting married - and should be prioritised as such. The research, from Barclays Mortgages, revealed that young couples in the North East are most likely to buy a house first, with 51 per cent saying they would put a mortgage over marriage. Southerners are keener to tie the knot than their northern counterparts, or simply find have put off buying due to more expensive property. In London, 33 per cent of couples would choose to secure the keys to their first home before walking down the aisle. Hannah Bernard, head of mortgages at Barclays, said: 'With house prices at an all-time high, it's no surprise that young couples see a joint mortgage as the ultimate act of modern-day commitment.' But it's not just young couples who are committing to mortgages outside of marriage - buying with friends or siblings is becoming an increasingly popular option for aspiring homeowners, according to research from M&S Bank. Its research showed that 60 per cent of those aged 18 to 35 said they would consider taking out a mortgage as a group to make home ownership a reality, compared to just 26 per cent of people aged over 36. Buying a house with friends or a partner: how to protect yourself If you're planning on buying a home with your other half or are looking to buy with friends, there can be serious financial risks involved if you don't take the right precautions. Read our guide on how to protect yourself when buying a home with others The survey found that a fifth of millennials do not believe they will be ever be in a position to own their own home. Saving for a deposit was stated as the main barrier, with 59 per cent of 18 to 35-year-olds having less than 1,000 in savings. Paul Stokes of M&S Bank said: 'Many young people are trapped in Generation Rent because house prices seem increasingly out of reach. 'For many, home ownership appears possible only through sacrificing certain aspects of their current lifestyle be that moving to a different area, moving to a smaller property than they're renting, or seeing their disposable income take a significant hit. 'But our research has shown that millennials are keen for an alternative option and joint home ownership is one of them.' Most millennials would take a mortgage with two or more people to get on the property ladder What are the risks of buddying up to buy? Buying with friends or as an unmarried couple may give young people a foot onto the property ladder that they wouldn't have otherwise had, but there can be serious financial risks involved if the right steps aren't taken. The risks involve everything from unequal deposits or mortgage contributions failing to be properly accounted for when the property is eventually sold, to one person wanting to move out while the other wants to remain. These are issues for both those buying as a couple, or with friends. While marriage comes with a series of legal protections in the event of divorce, for unmarried cohabitants a break down in the relationship could see awkward negotiations. Aside from added legal costs, there is also the risk of one party wanting to sell their share of the property before the other - and of course there is the issue of who gets what once the property is sold. There are some simple steps you can take however to protect yourself against complications further down the line. Traditionally, homes have been owned as joint tenants. As joint tenants, the home's equity is owned equally, regardless of what was individually contributed in terms of a deposit. If one party dies then ownership of the property will automatically transfer to the other owner. If a couple split up then the default position is that you both own the property equally. As joint tenants you cannot leave a portion of your home to anyone else in your will. Buying and owning as 'tenants in common' rather than joint tenants can mean that each person owns a defined part of the property, whether this is 50 / 50 or unequal shares. Taking measures such as signing a 'declaration of trust' can help ensure you and your co-buyers get back what you put in when it comes time to sell the property - or protect you in the event that your co-owner dies. The declaration of trust can include: The percentage split of how the property is owned How much each party contributed towards the cost of buying the home and that specific sums should be returned to them first before the remaining proceeds are split How responsibilities for the mortgage or any other expenses should fall How the property should be divided if the owners split up Those buying with friends, family, or a partner should discuss these matters and how to own the property with their solicitor and agree things before going ahead with a purchase, particularly if putting in unequal shares. Pitching is often an inescapable part of being a startup founder. A good one could land you the backing of an investor who can help get your business off the ground, while a bad one is likely to leave you with your tail between your legs, wondering what could have been. Fans of shows like Dragons' Den will have seen many budding entrepreneurs flounder while pitching their business ideas or rebuked for not knowing much about their company's financials. Sometimes it helps to take a step back and remind yourself that you are pitching to a person, just like you, and they want to be wowed by your business While pitching with the knowledge that the nation will be watching how you get on is a uniquely stressful experience that most business owners won't have to endure, doing so to even an audience of one can be equally nerve-wracking. Sometimes it helps to take a step back and remind yourself that you are pitching to a person, just like you, and they want to be wowed by your business. With this in mind, we asked someone who is pitched to on a weekly basis, Mark Pearson of London-based early stage venture capital fund Fuel Ventures, to provide some top tips on what to do, and what not to do, when pitching to an investor. Here's what he said. 1. Prepare This might seem obvious, but youd be amazed how many entrepreneurs Ive had meetings with who quite clearly spent only a few hours on their pitch presentation. Im not saying that you should slave away for weeks, but it should be well put together and informative. Essentially you need to pre-empt what questions the investors will have and be able to answer them confidently. Investors will want to test your knowledge of your industry and business. If you cant answer questions like how much money your market generates, how you plan to scale your business and how much disposable income your key audience has, then investors will have no confidence in your abilities as a business founder. Theres plenty of entrepreneurs around now, if you cant demonstrate your value then theres always someone who will. Mark Pearson of Fuel Ventures warns against trying to pull the wool over investors' eyes or inflate business figures 2. Breathe Pitch meetings can be stressful, and I completely understand why entrepreneurs get nervous in them, but running a business is stressful, and you need to demonstrate that you can handle the pressure. My best advice is to remember to breathe. Slow, deep breaths. Before the meeting and during if needed. Investors are not inhumane monsters, if youre panicking, it will be visible. We have the patience and time to let you take a minute to compose yourself and then continue with the meeting. Also, people have a habit of speaking really quickly when theyre nervous. Ive had to ask a few entrepreneurs to slow their speaking down before, which can fluster them even more. So, to avoid this vicious cycle of panic, take your time and breathe, its that simple. 3. Communicate Again, Im going to point out that investors arent inhumane monsters, we like to talk and essentially a pitch meeting is about getting to know an entrepreneur and their business. Be personable and friendly, which I know can be difficult if youre nervous, but if an investor is going to invest in you, they need to get to know you on a professional level at least. Allow investors to ask questions during the presentation, or say at the start of the meeting, if you have a question at any point, please feel free to stop me. 4. Be honest Business doesnt run smoothly 99 per cent of the time, investors know that, theyve most likely been through it themselves, like I have. Trying to pull the wool over their eyes or inflate numbers is only going to result in being caught out, either in that meeting room or further down the line when that little white lie can have more serious consequences. If youre unsure about certain facts or figures to do with your business, just be honest; investors appreciate that theres a level of uncertainty in what we and you do, as long as you can demonstrate that youve put the work in and prepared as much as possible. 5. Be passionate When you walk into an investor meeting, youre asking them to put their trust and money into you, which is a lot to ask of a perfect stranger in most cases. To help sell yourself and your business, the best thing you can do is be passionate. If youre excited about what youve created and built, its so much easier for an investor to get onboard. We want to see your eyes light up and your hands flail when you tell us about your idea and why we should be involved, because behind every great business, is a passionate founder. Starting your own business is hard, its probably one of the most challenging projects someone can pursue nowadays, so without passion driving you forward, the wear and tear of founder life can really grind you down. Its one of the main characteristics I look for in an entrepreneur, if I cant see or feel the passion then I know the business will likely fail. Several brokerages have updated their recommendations and price targets on shares of Stantec (TSE: STN) in the last few weeks: 10/25/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at TD Securities from C$69.00 to C$80.00. They now have a buy rating on the stock. 10/25/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at CIBC from C$73.00 to C$78.00. 10/22/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from C$59.00 to C$65.00. They now have a sector perform rating on the stock. 10/22/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at National Bankshares, Inc. from C$60.00 to C$72.00. They now have a sector perform rating on the stock. 10/22/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at ATB Capital from C$60.00 to C$71.00. They now have a sector perform rating on the stock. 10/22/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at Raymond James from C$67.00 to C$76.00. They now have an outperform rating on the stock. 10/22/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at Desjardins from C$66.00 to C$75.00. They now have a buy rating on the stock. 10/22/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at Scotiabank from C$72.00 to C$78.00. 10/19/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at CIBC from C$67.00 to C$73.00. 10/14/2021 Stantec had its price target raised by analysts at Scotiabank from C$66.00 to C$72.00. STN opened at C$67.94 on Tuesday. Stantec Inc. has a one year low of C$37.60 and a one year high of C$72.11. The company has a market cap of C$7.54 billion and a P/E ratio of 39.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.90, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.32. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is C$61.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$58.01. Get Stantec Inc alerts: Stantec (TSE:STN) (NYSE:STN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 4th. The company reported C$0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of C$0.59 by C$0.03. The business had revenue of C$908.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of C$940.66 million. As a group, analysts predict that Stantec Inc. will post 2.6819448 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 30th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 29th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Stantecs payout ratio is currently 37.30%. In other Stantec news, Director Jeffrey Philip Stone sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$59.62, for a total transaction of C$89,425.95. Also, Director Robert Gomes sold 5,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$61.00, for a total value of C$359,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 155,752 shares of the companys stock, valued at C$9,500,872. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,400 shares of company stock worth $1,080,332. Stantec Inc provides professional consulting services in the area of infrastructure and facilities in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company provides consulting services in engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics. Featured Article: Euro STOXX 50 Index Receive News & Ratings for Stantec Inc Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Stantec Inc and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. There is not enough analysis data for American Business Bank. 4.3 Community Rank Outperform Votes American Business Bank has received 114 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes American Business Bank has received 63 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment American Business Bank has received 64.41% outperform votes from our community. MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about American Business Bank and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe AMBZ will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe AMBZ will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days. Previous Next Deutsche Telekom AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated telecommunication services. The company operates through five segments: Germany, United States, Europe, Systems Solutions, and Group Development. It offers fixed-network services, including voice and data communication services based on fixed-network and broadband technology; and sells terminal equipment and other hardware products, as well as services to resellers. The company also provides mobile voice and data services to consumers and business customers; sells mobile devices and other hardware products; and sells mobile services to resellers and to companies that purchases and markets network services to third parties, such as mobile virtual network operators. In addition, it offers internet services; internet-based TV products and services; and information and communication technology systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions with an infrastructure of data centers and networks under the T-Systems brand, as well as call center services. The company has 242 million mobile customers and 22 million broadband customers, as well as 27 million fixed-network lines. Deutsche Telekom AG has a collaboration with VMware, Inc. on cloud-based open and intelligent virtual RAN platform to bring agility to radio access networks for existing LTE and future 5G networks; and partnership with Microsoft to deliver high-performance cloud computing experiences. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Bonn, Germany. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Travelers Companies: 10762962 Canada Inc., 350 Market Street LLC, 8527512 Canada Inc., Aetna Life and Casualty Co, American Equity Insurance Company, American Equity Specialty Insurance Company, Aprilgrange Limited, Arch Street North LLC, Auto Hartford Investments LLC, Bayhill Restaurant II Associates, Camperdown Corporation, Constitution State Services LLC, Discover Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Discover Specialty Insurance Company, F&G UK Underwriters Limited, Farmington Casualty Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Underwriters Inc., First Floridian Auto and Home Insurance Company, Gulf Underwriters Insurance Company, IHP Capital Partners Fund VIII L.P., Northbrook Holdings Inc., Northfield Insurance Company, Northland Casualty Company, Northland Insurance Company, Phoenix UK Investments LLC, SPC Insurance Agency Inc., Select Insurance Company, Simply Business Holdings Inc., Simply Business Inc., St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, St. Paul Guardian Insurance Company, St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, St. Paul Protective Insurance Company, St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance Company, Standard Fire Properties LLC, Standard Fire UK Investments LLC, TCI Global Services Inc., TPC Investments Inc., TPC U.K. Investments LLC, The Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford Connecticut, The Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company, The Family Business Institute LLC, The Phoenix Insurance Company, The St. Paul Companies Inc., The Standard Fire Insurance Company, The Travelers Casualty Company, The Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company of America, The Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut, The Travelers Lloyds Insurance Company, TravCo Insurance Company, Travelers (Bermuda) Limited, Travelers Brazil Acquisition LLC, Travelers Brazil Holding LLC, Travelers Casualty Company of Connecticut, Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America, Travelers Casualty UK Investments LLC, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of Europe Limited, Travelers Commercial Casualty Company, Travelers Commercial Insurance Company, Travelers Constitution State Insurance Company, Travelers Distribution Alliance Inc., Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines Company, Travelers Global Inc., Travelers Indemnity U.K. Investments LLC, Travelers Insurance Company Limited, Travelers Insurance Company of Canada, Travelers Insurance Designated Activity Company, Travelers Insurance Group Holdings Inc., Travelers Lloyds of Texas Insurance Company, Travelers London Limited, Travelers MGA Inc., Travelers Management Limited, Travelers Marine LLC, Travelers Participacoes em Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Personal Insurance Company, Travelers Personal Security Insurance Company, Travelers Property Casualty Company of America, Travelers Property Casualty Corp., Travelers Property Casualty Insurance Company, Travelers Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Syndicate Management Limited, Travelers Texas MGA Inc., Travelers Underwriting Agency Limited, Ultramar Travel Management, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, Xbridge Limited, Zensurance Brokers Inc., and Zensurance Inc.. CMC Markets plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides online retail financial services to retail, professional, stockbroking, and institutional clients in Australia, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company provides its clients with the ability to trade contracts for difference and financial spread betting on a range of underlying shares, indices, foreign currencies, commodities, and treasuries through its trading platform. It also offers Australian clients the opportunity to trade Australian and selected international instruments, including shares, options, managed funds, warrants, and exchange traded funds. In addition, the company provides its clients a range of education opportunities through weekly and monthly webinars and seminars, as well as Trader Development programme, which provides a range of in-platform, on-demand education, and tailored market commentary. CMC Markets plc was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More Yext, Inc. is an emerging growth company engages in software development. It offers a cloud-based digital knowledge platform, which allows businesses manage their digital knowledge in the cloud such as financial information, resources and performance of these resources on a consolidated basis and sync it to other application such as Apple Maps, Bing, Cortana, Facebook, Google, Google Maps, Instagram, Siri and Yelp. It offers the Yext Knowledge Engine package on subscription basis, which has an access to Listings, Pages, Reviews and other features. The Listing feature provides customers with control over their digital presence, including their location and other related attributes published on the used third-party applications. The Pages feature allows customers to establish landing pages on their own websites and to manage digital content on those sites, including calls to action. The Reviews presence enables customers to encourage and facilitate reviews from end consumers. The company was founded by Howard Lerman, Brent Metz, and Brian Distelburger in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Read More Like Us on Facebook Advertisement This week "The London Book Fair" is taking a voyage through the publishing business around the globe with its Virtual Conference Around The World in 8 Hours. The conference starts in China with a Virtual keynote to delegates, setting out the market and open doors for book publishers on the planet's quickest developing consumer economy - China. 1. Writers are rich In China although individual books are not costly and cheap report writing are also accessible online, but a market where mobile phone users are more than one billion, among them 500 million or more are mobile internets consumers, whose e-commerce market ranked bigger than the U.S. there are heaps of chances for writers to end up exceptionally affluent in fact on the back of their books. The size of opportunity in China is maybe best represented by its likeness in the yearly Forbes Rich List, the China Writers Rich List. The ninth release of this rundown was printed in December 2014, naming 36 year old Zhang Jiajia as the nation's most noteworthy winning author. His collection of bed time stories for grown-ups, started as short stories posted on Weibo, the small scale blogging site that is China's version of Twitter. In the wake of increasing huge popularity on the web, the tales were gathered into I Belonged To You, which earned Zhang Jiajia 19.5 million Yuan ($3.1 million) a year ago alone. Five stories for the collection are presently slated to be produced as movies, with the author to direct one, The Ferryman, under the direction of prestigious movie executive Wong Kar Wai. Two youngsters' writers take second and third place on the China Writers Rich List. Zheng Yuanjie, whose fantasies have earned him the moniker of the Chinese Hans Christian Anderson, earned 19 million Yuan ($3 million) a year ago, while Yang Hongying, the country's, regularly called China's JK Rowling for her capacity to offer books in immense quantities at home and abroad brought home 18.5 million Yuan ($2.95 million). Writers can earn considerably more noteworthy totals from conventional publishing by composing and publishing their work on the web. The online author Tangjia Sanshao (Zhang Wei) demonstrates a tremendous hard working attitude and considerably more prominent winning force. For as long as a year he has produced 8,000 Chinese characters a day, composing a progression of gigantically fantasy experiences. He sold in excess of 7 million print copies of his books in 2013, however the cash he can win from online subscriptions and licensing fee for transforming books into movies, TV projects and recreations pushed his profit to 50 miliion Yuan ($7.98 million). 2. Books Are Cheap In Mandarin the character for 'book' is a homonym (sounds the equivalent as) of the character for cheap. In China books are low priced and this is also the case with digital books or e-books. The average cost of an e-book in China is around 8 Yuan(around $1.30), placing books in a similar price range as of the basic grocery items like rice and potatoes. Thus it's uncommon for individuals in China to purchase books as blessings, and books remain something that readers purchase for themselves. As with such a large number of different organizations in China, the fundamental opportunity for Chinese publishers and book sellers lies in accomplishing scale. As indicated by Open Book's 2013 China Book Retail Market Report, presented by research company Open Book, the aggregate volume of book retail sales that year touched 50 billion Yuan (about $8.2 billion). This was an expansion of 10% on the earlier year, with a large portion of this development driven by online book shops, which grew 20-30% throughout 2013. China has the absolute highest commitment with web based shopping on the planet, and it's progressing fast. Ongoing exploration by Nielsen demonstrated that 64% of Chinese customers purchased physical books on the web and 51% proposed to purchase no less than one digital book in the following year. The opportunity is gigantic however, but not to forget cost is a key driver. Online book shops in China normally offer books at a 30-40% rebate on the retail cost. 3. Chinese love serial fiction One key distinction between the Chinese reading market and the book market in the west is that millions of readers in China are snared on serialized fiction. Premium fiction websites, for example, Qidian.com work by enabling writers to register themselves free and publish stories in portions of up to 6,000 characters. Readers at that point pay between 0.02-0.07 Yuan (which is only a small amount of $0.01) to enjoy every new installment. The blend of low costs, on online serial layout that can be effortlessly read on a cell phone and idealist content (numerous online books have fantasy or wish satisfaction topics) has made freemium fiction hugely well known with 14-21 year olds in China. Numerous famous online books have made the progress into traditional publishing - henceforth why online authors have graduated to the official China Writers Rich List. Past this, a lot more have turned out to be high earning movies and TV programs. A Delmar man has been arrested in Southbury, Conn., on a warrant from the Albany County Family Court for failing to pay nearly a quarter million dollars in child support. Patrick M. Walsh, 56, was arrested Wednesday by Connecticut State Police as a fugitive from justice after being located in Southbury by Albany County Sheriff's investigators. He was extradited to New York and sent to Albany County Correctional Facility with no bail. Stuyvesant It was a close call for hundreds of holiday travelers aboard an Amtrak train on Thanksgiving Eve when two of the passenger cars separated from the rest of the train. The cars had just been attached at the Albany-Rensselaer station to provide more seating for the packed Adirondack, which had originated in Montreal and was heading south to Penn Station in New York City. A Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student, Reuben Clarke, is being credited in the media with potentially averting a tragedy when he pulled the emergency brake at the front of the two detached cars. But a statement from Amtrak says the train automatically braked. "The car from the back of the train was, like, leaving us, and I saw sparks and stuff like that and a huge gust of wind," Clarke, a freshman who is on the RPI football team, told CBS 6 News in Albany. "So I just calmed myself down, and I was like, we have to stop the train and make sure everyone was fine." The train was carrying 287 passengers and crew when the incident occurred. No injuries were reported, the cars didn't derail, and passengers were transferred to a new train to continue their trip, State Police said. The Adirondack had just left the Albany-Rensselaer station when the cars decoupled about 7:22 p.m. Trains on that section of track can travel up to 110 mph. It's not clear how fast this train was traveling when the cars separated. Clarke "saved our lives tonight," passenger Helen Mary Crane told CNN. "Our car broke off from the rest of the train and was picking up speed. There was no Amtrak personnel in our car. Reuben calmly went into action and pulled the emergency brake at the front of the car. Thankful he was on the train with my son and I." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said the railroad is investigating the cause of the separation. An official statement from Amtrak credits the safety of the passengers after the decoupling not to Clarke but to the train's systems. According to the statement sent by Abrams, "Following the separation, the train's safety systems functioned as designed and immediately stopped both sections of the train at a safe distance." The statement said the train was operating at an authorized speed. Another transportation source said the cars, which he believed were added at the Rensselaer station, should have stopped automatically when they separated; but if they had been improperly connected, the automatic braking might not have worked. The incident occurred on one of Amtrak's busiest travel days. The Adirondack was delayed about 3 hours and 15 minutes, Amtrak tweeted, and the northbound Empire Service Train 245's departure also was delayed because of the late arrival of the crew from the Adirondack. eanderson@timesunion.com - 518-454-5323 Halfmoon A Saratoga County mining company caught up several years ago in a dispute over an historic Revolutionary War battlefield has been cited for illegal mining in Halfmoon near the Hudson River Last week, the state Department of Environmental Conservation served notice on Troy Topsoil Co., of Mechanicville, for mining without a permit on land in Halfmoon, south of Upper Newtown Road and west of Route 32. "Troy Topsoil has been advised that DEC will be monitoring the site and any further activity could result in additional or continuation of violations which will likely result in additional penalties," said DEC spokesman Dave Winchell. Calls to Troy Topsoil owner Anthony Grande on Wednesday for comment were not returned. According to a state DEC database on mining, Grande already has an existing 134-acre mining site in Halfmoon, with a state permit in effect since 1988, near the property where the alleged illegal mining has occurred. Grande owns or controls four different mining sites in the Capital Region, according to that database, including a 160-acre site in Fort Ann, Washington County. Grande was part of 2010 plans in Fort Ann by a Connecticut developer to start mining property that federal officials later determined was part of the Battle Hill conflict between Revolutionary forces and the British army of General John Burgoyne in 1777. Located on the west side of Route 4, that project drew opposition from local historic advocates and was never permitted, according to the DEC database. At the time, Grande said that it could not be proven that the battle happened on the property. DEC cited Troy Topsoil at the time for clear-cutting of trees on Battle Hill without a permit. In a 2007 report, the U.S. Department of Interior's American Battlefield Protection Program listed Battle Hill as a "priority 2" site, meaning it was significant in the outcome of the Revolutionary War, though not as vital as the battle of Saratoga. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The 1777 fight for Battle Hill was part of Gen. Burgoyne's attempt to eliminate colonial resistance in upstate New York during his march toward Albany. Dozens were killed, wounded and captured. The engagement occurred as Burgoyne's men pursued Continental Army troops from Ticonderoga. The exact number of dead soldiers buried on Battle Hill is unknown. Many believe it's about 30. Patriot rebels attacked an outnumbered British position at Fort Ann, but were repelled when reinforcements for Burgoyne arrived. Though the Americans retreated to Fort Edward, they bloodied the British and stopped them long enough for Gen. Horatio Gates to assemble a larger American force at Saratoga. Gates' men defeated the British over two battles in what is now Stillwater, and forced Burgoyne to surrender. Washington Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday that U.S. troops stationed at the southwest border would not be armed with guns to confront incoming migrants, despite a White House directive that aims to protect border security officials by pairing them with military forces. The White House memo seeks to expand the mission of the troops at the border to also include duties such as crowd control and temporary detention. But Mattis said it left the final decision on what U.S. soldiers and Marines could do and could not to the defense secretary. Mattis mentioned one possible instance in which troops might act: defending a border agent who was hit by a rock, and detaining the migrant who threw it. But asked whether such a situation might call for the U.S. soldier to be armed, the defense secretary unequivocally said it would not. "No," he said. "Not with a firearm." Sent to the Pentagon on Tuesday night, the memo was signed by John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, not President Donald Trump. It is the latest in a series of White House directives to prod active-duty troops toward a more aggressive role at the border against an approaching caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America. The Pentagon has resisted some of those efforts by raising the specter of the Posse Comitatus Act, a law that dates back to the Reconstruction era, which bars U.S. forces from engaging in law enforcement activities within the borders of the United States. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. U.S. troops may be outfitted with riot gear for the border mission, Defense Department officials said. Still, "we are not doing law enforcement," Mattis insisted. "There is no arrest authority under Posse Comitatus for U.S. federal troops." The White House push for a more aggressive military role was undercut by an internal Homeland Security Department document, dated Saturday, that described the probability of U.S. border guards facing violence at the southwest border as "minimal." The border intelligence analysis contrasted with White House statements stoking fear about migrants overrunning official ports of entry and attacking border guards to enter the United States. Troops on the border were already allowed to defend themselves with force and protect border agents. The White House memo restated that authority, but also opened the door to sending Marines and soldiers to accompany and defend border agents who might come under attack. 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. [November 22, 2018] Buying a Boat in Canada Just Got Easier Digital Era Media Inc. Releases 6th Generation Platform Powering BoatDealers.ca and OutboardDealers.ca OTTAWA, Nov. 22, 2018 /CNW/ - Digital Era Media Inc., (DEM: www.ThinkDEM.com) Digital Media Publishers of Canadian Marine & Powersports Listing Sites today announced that it has launched all new versions of BoatDealers.ca and OutboardDealers.ca powered by their 6th Generation MyDealers.ca platform. These new versions introduce new features, improve performance, and offer even greater ease-of-use. "We started with a clean slate, as I challenged our talented team to do something special. This isn't just a step forward for us, it's a massive jump." said Chris Perera, Digital Era Media's President & CEO. "We literally improved every aspect of BoatDealers.ca and OutboardDealers.ca including making them faster, easier to use, cleaner design, with more effective lead generation, and a vastly improved mobile experience." BoatDealers.ca receives over 1.5 million unique visitors a year. Launched in 2001, the website has been focused on providing the top visited and most effective online platform for buyers and sellers for new and used boats across Canada. OutboardDealers.ca is the only website in Canada dedicated to loose new and used outboard motors for sale. Launched in 2016 it currently is used by over 112,000 visitors a year. "As the most visited marine websites in the country, we knew that we had to focus on the user experience, but also still provide the highest quality publication for Canadian marine advertising. I can confidently say our redesigned sites are great for both our audience as well as the dealers, brokers, manufactures, and products we work with" said Cameron Coleman, Digital Era Media's National Account Executive. BoatDealers.ca and OutboardDealers.ca run on the unified MyDealers.ca platform that also powers MotorcycleDealers.ca, QuadDealers.ca, and SledDealers.ca providing a streamlined marketing solution for Marine & Powersports dealers. SOURCE Digital Era Media Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2018] Canada's artificial intelligence leadership extending to space Quebec-based company pushes the limits of Canadian robotics technology SHERBROOKE, QC, Nov. 22, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - New technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming all sectors of Canada's economy, including space. Canada is leveraging its leadership in AI and space to unleash innovation in space exploration. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is now exploring ways to equip future space robots with AI. Giving robots some autonomy will be critical for new missions into deep space. Set to be located in increasingly distant destinations, space robots of the future will have to work without human help, relying on AI to make decisions. The CSA is collaborating with MDA, a Maxar Technologies company, and AI experts from Menya Solutions, a small company from Sherbrooke, Quebec, on the next generation of autonomous space robotics. MDA built the original Canadarm, Canadarm2 and Dextre, and are now taking steps towards the AI-based robots of the future by giving Canadarm2 and Dextre the ability to conduct certain tasks autonomously. This pioneering work will ensure Canada's continued competitiveness in space robotics when future opportunities arise. Countries from around the world are preparing plans to build the successor to the International Space Station (ISS): an outpost in the vicinity of theMoon called the Gateway that will serve as a stepping stone for deep-space exploration. Unlike the ISS, which has been continuously inhabited for almost 20 years, this future orbiting lunar station will rely upon AI-based autonomous robotics for its upkeep. Robots will assemble and service the Gateway, and will capture visiting spacecraft and help conduct science on behalf of researchers on Earth. Quotes "Artificial intelligence is transforming all industries and sectors, providing new opportunities for Canadians. It's exciting to see how the collaboration between Canada's space sector and our world-leading AI research is already helping small companies grow, innovate and export their expertise. By working together, we are supporting the creation of high-skilled jobs that play a significant role in boosting Canada's digital economy." The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "AI-enabled space robotics will extend the reach of human space exploration and will cement Canada's leading position in this critical technology area. Canada's robotics built the International Space Station and perform robotic operations while orbiting 400 km above the Earth. At 400,000 km from the Earth, the Lunar Gateway robotics will require artificial intelligence to operate more autonomously for significantly longer periods. MDA is proud to be working with Menya Solutions to develop and apply these essential technologies." Mike Greenley, Group president at MDA "Menya Solutions is excited and proud to work with the CSA and MDA on the next generation of AI-based autonomous robotics. Working with these world leaders in space and robotics technologies will create opportunities for us in other sectors and contribute to the growth of our business. This collaboration aligns well with our other ongoing efforts in helping different organisations to deploy AI solutions that support humans and machines in making decisions, improving living and working conditions, and allowing us to save money, time and lives. " Froduald Kabanza, CEO at Menya Solutions Quick facts By 2020, Canadarm2 will be able to carry out certain tasks in space without human intervention, like moving around the ISS scanning it for problems. Canadarm2 and Dextre would eventually be able to handle payloads and carrying out repairs independently. The CSA and MDA would also develop the know-how to be able to autonomously capture the Station's visiting cargo ships. Based on projections by PricewaterhouseCoopers, AI is expected to contribute as much as US$15.7 trillion to the world economy by 2030. to the world economy by 2030. Space contributes $5.5 billion and 10,000 direct jobs to our economy annually. and 10,000 direct jobs to our economy annually. Innovative small and medium-sized enterprises make up 92 percent of Canada's space sector. space sector. Over 500 Canadian organizations were involved in the supply chain that built and sustained Canada's robots on the International Space Stationfrom machine shops to software developers. Website: http://asc-csa.gc.ca Email:[email protected] Follow us on Social Media SOURCE Canadian Space Agency [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2018] Clara Angotti named one of Women's Executive Network 2018 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner Clara Angotti joins community of Canada's most iconic women leaders TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2018 /CNW/ - Clara Angotti, President and Founder of Next Pathway Inc., has been named a recipient of the prestigious Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award by the Women's Executive Network. She received her award in the "Entrepreneur" category. This is the second time Clara has been recognized as a Top 100 Award Winner; Clara received this award previously in 2011. The list of Top 100 Winners was released today, paying tribute to the outstanding women across Canada who have advocated for diversity in the workforce, and who serve as an inspiration for the next generation of leaders. "We are celebrating 100 of Canada's highest achieving women in diverse fields," said Sherri Stevens, CEO of WXN. "All 100 are role models for the generations who will follow which is why it's very important to recognize and celebrate their great achievements," Mrs. Stevens conclued. "I am honoured to be included amongst this impressive group of professional women. Awards like this are proof that there is an abundance of women that are not only powerful, but accomplished, resilient and are succeeding in industry today. The time is right for Canada to stand proudly behind the achievements of professional women everywhere. I founded Next Pathway with the guiding principle to build innovative global technology solutions using Canadian talent on Canadian soil," said Clara Angotti. Clara is not only a strong advocate and role model for female entrepreneurs, but she is also a community leader. Clara is a current member of the board of trustees for The Hospital for Sick Children. She and her husband, Chetan Mathur, have established a foundation to provide paediatric care to children and support to the families of the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Hawaii. To mark this year's awards, WXN is hosting an Awards Gala on November 22nd at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. More than 1400 senior professionals will attend. For Next Pathway information, please contact Erik Bartz at [email protected]. For WXN information: Lauren Butler at [email protected] or 437-241-6834. About the Women's Executive Network (WXN) Women's Executive Network (WXN), a member-based organization, exists for the advancement, development and recognition of professional women in Canada. WXN delivers this advancement through training, events, mentoring, networking, and award and recognition programs for members and partners. At WXN, equity, inclusion and the advancement of professional women make industry stronger and society better. Their passion is 100% centered on empowering women and creating positive social change. WXN currently operates in Canada and Ireland. About Next Pathway Next Pathway is a technology company that develops, licenses, and provides services to support its big data and digital transformation products. Through innovation, automation and extensibility, Next Pathway's products have revolutionized the way companies prepare data for analytics and leverage modern architectures for digital enablement. For more information, please visit nextpathway.com. SOURCE Next Pathway [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 21, 2018] InstaReM announces the first close of one of the largest Series C rounds for a fintech in Southeast Asian history InstaReM, Southeast Asia's hottest digital cross-border payments company, has announced the first close of its US$ 45 million Series C round, at over US$ 20 million . hottest digital cross-border payments company, has announced the first close of its Series C round, at over . The first close is led by high profile new investors MDI Venture Capital (the venture capital arm of Telkom) and Beacon Venture Capital (the venture capital arm of KASIKORNBANK). InstaReM's Series C round (to be completed in January 2019 ) will be used to drive growth in new markets, and to support the launch of a new consumer and enterprise product in 2019. SINGAPORE, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- InstaReM, Southeast Asia's hottest digital cross-border payments company, has announced one of the most significant Series C funding rounds for a fintech in Southeast Asian history. The company's meteoric growth has secured a first close of more than US$ 20 million led by new investors MDI Ventures (the VC arm of Indonesia's Telkom), and Beacon Venture Capital (the VC arm of Thailand's KASIKORNBANK) and supported by existing investors, Vertex Ventures, GSR Ventures, Rocket Internet and SBI-FMO Fund. The Series C round of US$ 45 million, which takes the digital remittance fintech's overall funding to over US$ 63 million, is expected to close by January 2019, in advance of its expected IPO in 2021. This historic Series C round, will accelerate growth in InstaReM's existing markets and enable it to enter new markets in Japan and Indonesia, where it is expected to receive licenses by the end of this year. This round will also enable InstaReM to launch a new consumer and enterprise product in 2019 for which the company has aggressive plans. InstaReM's next-generation payments platform leverages the latest technology to help its individual and enterprise customers send money to their destinations quicker and at a lower cost than its competitors. With regulatory licenses and approvals in Singapore, Australia, India, Europe, United States, Hong Kong, Canada and Malaysia, and its extensive global banking partnerships, InstaReM is able to reach to over 3.21 billion consumer and business customers across 55+ countries worldwide. InstaReM already powers payments for three of the top ten Southeast Asian Banks. Prajit Nanu/span>, Co-founder & CEO of InstaReM said: "The promise we've made to our customers, from day one, is that we'll always be transparent, and we'll forever give them the best value we can to help them #DoMore with their money. No matter where they are in the world, and no matter if they're a business or an individual sending money overseas, it's been our mission to be their champion. That's why we were one of the first Asian remittance providers to move outside of Asia, and that's another reason why we've been able to secure this historic round of funding. In less than 4 years, we have become the payment backbone for emerging markets for banks and other global financial institutions." Nicko Widjaja, CEO of MDI Ventures said: "We see that InstaReM has strong capability to enable cross-border payment and remittance between Indonesia and its international partners. By providing the lowest exchange rates among competing services, InstaReM provides significant value to both local and foreign migrant workers looking to transfer funds to their home countries and to local businesses looking to conduct trade with international parties with the hope that they can boost/stimulate international trade exports. With Indonesia's fintech sector experiencing peak levels of growth, we believe that it is the ideal time for fintech companies, such as InstaReM, to focus on expansion throughout the country. As part of our thesis at MDI Ventures, we are keen to support InstaReM with their expansion in Indonesia and ASEAN through strategic partnership with various Telkom business units around the region." Thanapong Na Ranong, Managing Director of Beacon Venture Capital (Beacon VC), added: "We have been following InstaReM for some time, and are impressed with the way the company has been expanding globally, and scaling up its operations. As KASIKORNBANK becomes the digital bank of choice for customers, we have a strong commitment to working closely with category leaders in each sector and constantly improving our customer experience." InstaReM is a member of RippleNet, Ripple's global network of banks and other financial institutions, and has recently bagged the Blockchain Innovator Award by Ripple, for its innovations in the payments space. NOTES TO EDITORS About InstaReM: InstaReM is a Singapore -headquartered cross-border payments company, with presence across Asia-Pacific , North America and Europe . Starting its operations in Australia in 2015, today, InstaReM has presence across 40 countrie s/regions including Australia , Singapore , Hong Kong , United States , Canada , Malaysia , India and Europe . -headquartered cross-border payments company, with presence across , and . Starting its operations in in 2015, today, InstaReM has presence across 40 countrie including , , , , , , and . InstaReM powers local payments to more than 55 countries and 3.21 billion people across the globe. InstaReM has created a unique payment mesh in Asia , which is being leveraged by financial institutions, SMEs and individuals to make fast low-cost cross-border payments. , which is being leveraged by financial institutions, SMEs and individuals to make fast low-cost cross-border payments. InstaReM serves larger institutional and corporate clients with its MassPay product -- an international business payments platform with bulk and customized payments facility, multi-currency payments and accounts and a host of other time and cost-efficient payment features. business payments platform with bulk and customized payments facility, multi-currency payments and accounts and a host of other time and cost-efficient payment features. In March 2016 , InstaReM successfully raised a US$5 million Series A round led by Vertex Ventures, with participation from Fullerton Financial Holdings and Global Founders Capital. In July 2017 , InstaReM received another US$13 million investment Series B funding led by GSR Ventures, with participation from SBI-FMO Emerging Asia Financial Sector Fund, Vertex Ventures, Fullerton Financial Holdings, and Global Founders Capital. , InstaReM successfully raised a Series A round led by Vertex Ventures, with participation from Fullerton Financial Holdings and Global Founders Capital. In , InstaReM received another investment Series B funding led by GSR Ventures, with participation from SBI-FMO Emerging Asia Financial Sector Fund, Vertex Ventures, Fullerton Financial Holdings, and Global Founders Capital. In 2018, InstaReM partnered with Ripple, the leading enterprise blockchain network in a move that unlocked its global reach. The inspiration for InstaReM came from a personal experience of one of its co-founders. Prajit Nanu needed to pay for a resort in Phuket, Thailand . As he was based out of India , he was unable to use his credit cards because the resort only accepted bank transfers. He ended up asking an Indian friend based in Thailand to do a local THB bank transfer. Prajit transferred an equivalent INR amount locally to the friend's Indian bank account, thus saving on huge transaction fees and currency conversion loss. To read more about InstaReM, please visit https://www.instarem.com/ Twitter: @InstaReMit Facebook: @InstaReMit For all media enquiries, please contact: Ashok Rambhia [email protected] +91 (22) 80821 10888 https://www.instarem.com SOURCE InstaReM [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 21, 2018] Asia Online Re-Launches Big Community News Portal as Disruptive Tech Asean South Asia's leading source of Big Data and AI related news expands its brief to cover all technologies that drive digital disruption. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNeswire/ -- Asia Online Publishing Group Sdn Bhd (AOPG), South East Asia's leading independent publisher of Enterprise IT News Portals is pleased to announce that the Big Community News Portal which provided focused news on Big Data, IoT and AI has been relaunched as Disruptive Tech Asean (www.disruptivetechasean.com). As the world is in the process of digital transformation, cutting edge IT news publisher AOPG is no different. Their value is to provide focused IT news and content that keeps them informed on the technology that matters to their business. Big Community was launched with a very specific focus on Big Data. It served the very valuable purpose of informing and educating people on a technology which at the time was new and relatively mis-understood. Today Big Data is just one of a number of disruptive technologies that IT professionals and business leaders need to understand. People are thirsty for more news and information especially on areas like AI, Machine Learning, RPA, Autonomous Vehicles, IoT and Drone technology. These are all critical for businesses to survive. The rebranded Disruptive Tech Asean will fulfil this important need. Melina Hwang, General Manager at AOPG explained the need for the change. "The world is having the biggest phase of IT and Digital transformation we have ever seen. At he time we launched Big Community 4 years ago supported by MDEC, Big Data was a technology on the rise with IT and business people alike hungry for news and information on that subject. Fast forward to today and Big Data is just one of many new technologies that companies need to understand implement. The new branding is a recognition that our readers are hungry to be informed about all enterprise technology that enables digital business." Disruptive Tech Asean will report and inform on the endless wave of new and changing enterprise technologies that businesses need to understand and implement to support their digital evolution ambitions. This also breathes new life to the collaboration that AOPG have with MDEC. According to Hwang, the support from and collaboration with MDEC will continue. "We are pleased that our new focus is very much in line with MDEC's charter to bring together the digital economy eco system. The new branding and focus of the portal allow us to cover all the technology that will contribute to Malaysia's digital economy." Over the years, this collaboration has involved AOPG organising numerous events for students and professionals to learn about MDEC initiatives and get educated on new technologies that MDEC identified as important to the development of the nation's digital economy. Dr Karl Ng, Director of the Data Economy Division at MDEC commented, "I am delighted to see the progression of this news portal we have supported from the time of its launch back in 2015. A vibrant and informative IT press is an important part of the entire eco system. AOPG not only reports on what's happening but are also hands on in driving initiatives that help educate students through to professionals. I am looking forward to the programs they will run for the ecosystem and also to them giving news coverage to local Malaysian success stories in the disruptive technology space." Chris Greenough, the Vice President for Product Marketing and Strategy at leading Conversational AI Company Hyperlab, confirmed the need for local specialist press who can cover new tech with deep understanding. "Having local publications that truly understand how new technologies are shaping business today and can dedicate as much coverage to local innovators as they do large global players, is really important for developing a strong ecosystem. We wish AOPG the best of luck as they continue to develop compelling and relevant news for transformational businesses." Hwang concluded, "The digital world is in transformation and our business at AOPG is not immune. This relaunch is an exciting development in our own journey and I believe the appeal of www.disruptivetechasean.com will spread even wider across both IT and Line of business professionals." For more information, please contact: Izzah [email protected] +603 8322 5900 About AOPG Asia Online Publishing Group Sdn Bhd (AOPG) is South East Asia's leading specialist IT News Publisher. www.datastorageasean.com is the region's leading Data Driven Technology focused IT News portal and www.cybersecurityasea.com is the region's specialist cyber security-focused news portal. www.disruptivetechasean.com is the region's original disruptive enterprise technology News Portal . AOPG has developed a reputation for taking complex subjects and writing about them in clear and concise terms. In addition to successful formats such as Executive Guides, Spotlights, and Decision Makers Checklists, AOPG is city organiser for Big Data Week Jakarta, runs online events and webinars and has conducted and published numerous studies and survey on behalf of IT vendors across South Asia. Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20181121/2306685-1 SOURCE Asia Online Publishing Group [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 21, 2018] Sir Frederick Banting makes history again, almost 100 years later Heffel , art market frontrunner offered 135 masterpieces at a live auction in Toronto on November 21 which surpassed $22.7 million , art market frontrunner offered 135 masterpieces at a in Toronto on which surpassed Historic painting depicting Frederick Banting 's insulin laboratory sold for $313,250 , ten times its presale estimate depicting 's insulin laboratory sold for , ten times its presale estimate E.J. Hughes and Jean Paul Riopelle led the auction, with largescale canvases surpassing $2 million each TORONTO, Nov. 21, 2018 /CNW/ - Heffel Fine Art Auction House, Canada's leader in the international art market, is thrilled to share the results of its fall live auction today in Toronto, featuring 135 outstanding examples by artists from around the world. Masterpieces by Jean Paul Riopelle, Frederick Banting, Lawren Harris and E.J. Hughes stood out in the sale, and propelled the auction total to $22.7 million. (All prices are in Canadian dollars and include a buyer's premium.) History was made in tonight's sale with Frederick Banting's The Lab. Small, but undoubtedly monumental, the painting depicts the very laboratory where Banting and Charles Best made their lifesaving and Nobel Prize-winning discovery of insulin. The work saw major interest from across the world, and strongly resonated with many institutions and individuals. More than 20 competing bidders on the phones and in the auction room, a record for Heffel, drove the selling price to $313,250, ten times its presale estimate and a new record for the artist. Works by E.J. Hughes and Jean Paul Riopelle returned to the auction block after they were previously sold by Heffel more than a decade ago. Both outperformed their expected values and previous selling prices, surpassing $2 million each. Hughes's masterpiece canvas Fishboats, Rivers Inlet broke the artist record and was particularly poignant as the auction room reflected on Hughes's previous joyous response at the 2004 sale of the same canvas. "There was something truly special aout the works in this auction. The relationships we have built with collectors near and far enabled us to thoughtfully curate this sale with so many treasured masterpieces," said David Heffel, President of Heffel Fine Art Auction House. "At the end of the day, we feel proud that as one collection sells, it contributes to the growth of another." Notable results from the Fall 2018 Live Auction Fishboats, Rivers Inlet, a masterpiece canvas by E.J. Hughes shattered the artist record and sold for $2,041,250 (est. $900,000 1,200,000). The canvas was first sold by Heffel in 2004 for $920,000 and the artist himself joined the sale room to share in the moment. a masterpiece canvas by E.J. Hughes shattered the artist record and sold for (est. 1,200,000). The canvas was first sold by Heffel in 2004 for and the artist himself joined the sale room to share in the moment. One of the most historically significant works Heffel has had the pleasure to offer sold for ten times its presale estimate. Frederick Banting's The Lab , depicting the laboratory where he and Best made their discovery of insulin, sold for $313, 250 (est . $20,000 30,000). The Buyer's Premium for this work will be donated by Heffel to the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre at the University of Toronto . , depicting the laboratory where he and Best made their discovery of insulin, sold for $313, . 30,000). The Buyer's Premium for this work will be donated by Heffel to the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre at the . Four outstanding works by Jean Paul Riopelle led the Post-War & Contemporary Art sale and totalled $4,138,750 . The 1953 drip canvas, Jouet achieved a remarkable $2,881,250 (est. $1,200,000 1,600,000), followed by Lances for $871, 250 (est . $200,000 250,000) and Mi-chemin for $361, 250 (est . $250,000 350,000). led the sale and totalled . The 1953 drip canvas, achieved a remarkable (est. 1,600,000), followed by for $871, . 250,000) and for $361, . 350,000). Mountain Sketch XC, a glowing work by Lawren Harris broke the million dollar mark and sold for $1,381,250 (est. $700,000 900,000). A second Rocky Mountain oil on board, Mount Unwin and Charlton Maligne Lake , Jasper, sold for an noteworthy $421, 250 (est . $200,000 300,000). a glowing work by broke the million dollar mark and sold for (est. 900,000). A second Rocky Mountain oil on board, sold for an noteworthy $421, . 300,000). Three highly collectible canvases by Colombian artist Fernando Botero sold for a total of $2,163,750 . Femme debout and Toro each brought in $811, 250 (est . $500,000 700,000 and $450,000 650,000, respectively) and Seated Man went for $541, 250 (est . $400,000 600,000). sold for a total of . and each brought in $811, . 700,000 and 650,000, respectively) and went for $541, . 600,000). Two exceptional examples by Quebec -born Jean Paul Lemieux fetched notable results. Les citadens sold for $1,081,250 (est. $900,000 1,200,000) and Jeune fille en uniforme , consigned from the Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia , sold for $361, 250 (est . $300,000 500,000). -born fetched notable results. sold for (est. 1,200,000) and , consigned from the Alma Mater Society of the , sold for $361, . 500,000). Significant interest in two canvases by Emily Carr drove their prices beyond presale estimates. Spring Wave went for a final price of $511, 250 (est . $300,000 500,000) and By the Canal, Crecy-en-Brie went for $181, 250 (est . $80,000 120,000). drove their prices beyond presale estimates. went for a final price of $511, . 500,000) and went for $181, . 120,000). Paintings by the internationally renowned Alex Colville are rare to the market and highly sought-after. Two Boys Playing , a work depicting the artist's sons, sold for $721, 250 (est . $600,000 800,000) and Chaplain, another fantastic example, achieved $541, 250 (est . $500,000 700,000). are rare to the market and highly sought-after. , a work depicting the artist's sons, sold for $721, . 800,000) and another fantastic example, achieved $541, . 700,000). Important works by all original members of the Group of Seven were offered in the fall auction, highlighted by Arthur Lismer's extraordinary Tugs and Troop Carrier, Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia which sold for $781, 250 (est . $700,000 900,000) and A.Y. Jackson's stunning November, Georgian Bay, which sold for $631, 250 (est . $400,000 600,000). extraordinary which sold for $781, . 900,000) and A.Y. Jackson's stunning which sold for $631, . 600,000). Sybil Andrews's Boats at Dock was picked up at a British Columbia thrift store for quite a bargain. It was purchased for $69.95 , less a 30% seniors' discount and sold tonight for $52, 250 (est . $20,000 50,000). was picked up at a thrift store for quite a bargain. It was purchased for , less a 30% seniors' discount and sold tonight for $52, . 50,000). Four artist records were broken in the fall auction including the sale of Preserving Summer Black Currant Jam by Mary Pratt for $133, 250 (est . $30,000 $40,000 ) and House in August by Christopher Pratt for $253, 250 (est . $80,000 $120,000 ). Heffel is currently accepting consignments for the spring 2019 auction season, inclusive of international works of art. The deadline for fall consignments is February 2018. For more information on the works included in Heffel's fall live auction, visit www.heffel.com. About Heffel Fine Art Auction House Heffel has sold more Canadian art than any other auctioneer worldwide, with sales totaling more than half a billion dollars since 1978. With offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary, Heffel has the most experienced team of fine art specialists in Canada and provides superior client service to both sellers and buyers internationally. SOURCE Heffel Fine Art Auction House [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2018] CapBridge Granted RMO Private Exchange License By MAS; "1exchange" Set To Be Among First Regulated Private Securities Exchanges In Global Financial Centre Singapore - Highly unique 1X private exchange structure is designed to catalyse liquidity for private companies, prior to an exit event such as an IPO or an M&A situation - CapBridge and 1X together provide a holistic approach that enhances capital flow for growth companies and improve liquidity options for private investors SINGAPORE, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Global private capital platform CapBridge Pte. Ltd. ("CapBridge"), today announced that it has received approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for its associated entity, CapBridge Platform Pte. Ltd., to operate a securities exchange known as 1exchange ("1X") as a Recognised Market Operator (RMO) in Singapore. Mr Johnson Chen, Founder and CEO of CapBridge said, "The CapBridge private capital platform has a track record of successfully helping global growth companies raise capital, and providing private investors access to such investment opportunities. With the RMO exchange license, we can now offer an even more integrated suite of private capital services to deserving companies seeking growth capital and sophisticated investors looking for alternative growth options." The 1X private exchange structure is highly unique and designed to catalyse liquidity for private companies, prior to an exit event such as an IPO or an M&A situation. Companies listed on 1X remain private and enjoy more control, greater flexibility and lower costs as compared to a public listing. Mr Chen added, "Our holistic approach will enhance capital flow for growth companies and improve liquidity options for private investors, benefiting the wider capital market ecosystem in the process. We have been in close consultation with the MAS and deeply appreciate their support of our goal to contribute to a more vibrant Singapore private capital environment; as a fully-compliant and secure exchange platform, we will continue to work closely with MAS to uplift the capital ecosystem." Together, CapBridge and 1X will provide growth companies with a holistic private capital raising environment. These companies include rivate operating companies seeking capital, or preparing for liquidity events; late-state, venture-backed companies with shareholder and employees seeking to monetise their shareholdings; and family owned businesses seeking to diversify shareholder base or planning for management transitions. CapBridge and global blockchain technology leader ConsenSys are working to develop a fully compliant private securities exchange built on the public Ethereum blockchain. In due course, this regulated and secure exchange will offer services that include the listing and trading of security tokens. The RMO license is effective from 21 November 2018. For more information and registration of interest, companies and investors can visit www.1x.exchange. About CapBridge Pte Ltd CapBridge is a global investment syndication platform for private opportunities. The CapBridge co-investment syndication platform serves mid-to-late stage growth companies and the funds that focus on them. Our co-investment model is built with investors in mind. We first bring opportunities to lead investors, who leverage their specific industry knowledge to conduct due diligence, negotiate value adding investment structures, and manage their portfolio positions to the desired exit. We then open up the same opportunities to co-investors as they leverage on the lead investors' expertise in specific industry fields and diligence work. Co-investors sign with the same terms as the lead investors and realize better risk-adjusted returns and a more likely exit. Companies benefit from working with lead investors who understand their sector well and can directly value-add, as well as broadening the shareholder base with co-investors who can add network connectivity and assist towards a more successful listing further down the road. The co-investment process is conducted electronically on our intelligent platform, which works ceaselessly to match deals with investors and facilitate the deal process. CapBridge has a Capital Markets Services License and is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Singapore Exchange (SGX) is a strategic partner and shareholder. For more information on the CapBridge co-investment platform, visit www.capbridge.sg. About 1exchange 1exchange ("1X") is a regulated private securities exchange that provide investors with a unique trading platform to buy and sell private securities in a regulated, centralized and transparent manner. 1X provides an easier and more flexible way to unlock shareholder value and recycle capital for private companies. 1X is designed for private operating companies seeking capital, or preparing for liquidity events; late-state, venture-backed companies with shareholder and employees seeking to monetise their shareholdings; and family owned businesses seeking to diversify shareholder base or planning for management transitions. Our platform allows for professional investors and business owners to trade in and out of their positions. 1X has a Recognised Market Operator License and is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Singapore Exchange (SGX) is a strategic partner and shareholder. For more information on 1X, visit www.1x.exchange. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/capbridge-granted-rmo-private-exchange-license-by-mas-1exchange-set-to-be-among-first-regulated-private-securities-exchanges-in-global-financial-centre-singapore-300754597.html SOURCE CapBridge Pte Ltd [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2018] TCL Electronics Wins Major Honors from HKEJ and Securities Times Comprehensive Strength Recognized by Capital Markets in Hong Kong and Mainland China HONG KONG, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TCL Electronics Holdings Limited ("TCL Electronics" or "the Company", HKSE stock code: 01070.HK) is pleased to announce that it has won the "Listed Company Awards of Excellence 2018" from the Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ), one of the most authoritative financial media in Hong Kong, and was also listed on "Best Performance in Investment Return Stock under Stock Connect" at the "2018 Golden Wing Awards" organized by Securities Times, a renowned financial media in mainland China, honoring the Company for its outstanding performance among listed companies. The accolades also represent the recognition TCL Electronics earned from the capital markets in Hong Kong and mainland China on its comprehensive strength, excellent financial performance, rigorous corporate governance, proactive investor relations and future prospects. The "Listed Company Awards of Excellence 2018" and the "2018 Golden Wing Awards" aim to distinguish listed companies recognized by investors and the capital market for their outstanding profitabilities and value creation for investors. The "Listed Company Awards of Excellence 2018" organized by HKEJ has stringent assessment criteria. With a unique stock-tracking system with functions of tracking market trends and identifying the leading stocks that outperform the Hang Seng Index over the long term, HKEJ screens companies in terms of their profitabilities, financial capabilities, and operational efficiency. Average annual profit growth, number of recommendations made by professional stock commentators and industry leaders, and stock performance against the Hang Seng Index in the same period are also included in the considerations. The shortlisted companies are finally verified by KPMG, and 32 most competent Main Board companes are selected among nearly 2,000 listed companies. As for the "2018 Golden Wing Awards", it is organized by Securities Times in association with several famous securities firms and financial media platforms in mainland China. Stock Connect companies are screened based on indicators such as operating income and net profit growth rate, and then combined with the assessments by famous securities firms, expert institutional investors and experienced financial media representatives, and online voting. The winners are deemed excellent in three aspects namely corporate values, investment returns and growth potential. TCL Electronics was listed on the Main Board in Hong Kong in 1999. The Company is a Chinese consumer electronics enterprise with global influence and currently places 3rd in both global and the PRC TV markets. Moreover, its overseas markets contribute over 60% of both overall sales volumes and turnover, sales volume in North America ranks 2nd, and overseas shipment remains 1st among Chinese TV brands for 9 consecutive years. As the only Chinese TV enterprise possessing a complete vertically integrated industrial chain with panel, the Company establishes globalized industrial capabilities by operating manufacturing bases in the PRC, Mexico, Poland, Vietnam and other countries. TCL Electronics has continued to consolidate and enhance its core TV business, resulting in brilliant achievements in product competitiveness, brand power and international reputation. TCL Electronics continues to enhance the level of corporate governance, effectively communicate and interact with investors and shareholders via diversified methods and channels, keep the capital market well-informed about the Company, maintain a high dividend payout ratio to share the profit results with investors, and reinforce the confidence of investors and shareholders. The important honors from the capital markets in Hong Kong and mainland China prove the Company's productive business strategies, excellence in operating and financial results, effective corporate governance and outstanding investor relations, which have garnered much attention and recognition from capital market. In the future, TCL Electronics will dedicate to speeding up business diversification, integrating high-quality resources and enhancing its value, profitability and integrated competitiveness to empower itself to become an international ecological smart consumer electronic enterprise with both hardware and software strengths and generate greater value for our shareholders and investors. About TCL Electronics Headquartered in China, TCL Electronics Holdings Limited (HKSE stock code: 01070) is one of the leading players in the global TV industry, and is engaged in the research and development, manufacturing and distribution of consumer electronics products. Through a new product-and-user-oriented business model that focuses primarily on a "double +" strategy which includes "smart + internet" and "products + services" as the main strategic direction, TCL Electronics strives to build a comprehensive ecosystem for smart TVs that provides users a superior experience with its smart products and services. According to the latest Sigmaintell report, the Company ranked No.3 in the global TV market with a market share of 11.8% in terms of sales volume in the first half of 2018. According to omni-channel data from CMM, the Company ranked No.3 in the PRC TV market with a market share of 12.6% in terms of turnover in the first three quarters of 2018. TCL Electronics is included on the list of eligible shares in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect Scheme and Hang Seng Stock Connect Hong Kong Index. For more information, please visit its website: http://electronics.tcl.com SOURCE TCL Electronics Holdings Limited [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] CHIBA, Japan, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea, and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, or NIPA, said that they introduced successfully Korea's advanced smart contents during the Digital Content Expo 2018 (DCEXPO 2018). DCEXPO 2018, an annual digital content event, took place in Makuhari Messe, a convention center located in the northwest corner of Chiba prefecture, Japan, from November 14 to 16, 2018. e For DCEXPO 2018, "I-Korea 4.0 Smart Contnt Pavilion" was set up to promote Korea's promising smart content enterprises and help their advancement into the Japanese market. A total of ten smart content companies joined and their outstanding smart contents based on new technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), big data, and platform, were presented and gained much interest from visitors. Participating companies include Starship Vending-Machine, APPOSTER, EpicLive, 3D MediVision, Pison Contents, Holotive Global, POPSLine, Sisto, Circus Company and Hanbitsoft. They had a total of 214 business meetings to discuss their exports to Japan with major local buyers, such as Hitachi, Softbank, Panasonic, KDDI, NHK, TV Asahi, Toei Animation, Nintendo and Sony, that are worth US$12,000,000. Also two memorandums of understanding were concluded, providing the smart content companies a foothold into the Japanese market. Director Nung Yoon Park at NIPA said, "We hope this participation in DCEXPO will play a helpful role for Korea's smart content companies in exploring new markets in Japan, the world power in smart contents." Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20181121/2306600-1 SOURCE NIPA [November 22, 2018] Trend Micro extends MOU with Republic Polytechnic for another three years The renewal aims to develop industry-relevant curriculum, provide hands-on experience for students, and address the cybersecurity skills shortage in Singapore SINGAPORE, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), today renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Republic Polytechnic (RP) for students from the Diploma in Infocomm Security Management. The partnership, which has been extended to August 2021, sees Trend Micro provide expertise, training, academic sponsorship, and internship opportunities to RP students. The renewal is the extension of a joint Cloud and Virtualisation Security Lab launched by the two entities in early 2017. The lab features Trend Micro's award-winning Deep Security technology designed to protect against advanced threats and targeted attacks in all kinds of server environments. "The Cybersecurity Agency of Singapore warned that our nation needs 3,400 cybersecurity professionals by 2020. To counteract this huge talent shortage, we need to build an ecosystem that produces world-class cybersecurity professinals," said Nilesh Jain, Vice President, Southeast Asia and India, Trend Micro. "Through working closely with RP, we have the opportunity to pass on our expertise gained through our 30-year history as a global cybersecurity leader to the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. Complementing the curriculum with an industry-based hands-on approach is crucial in educating students of the ever-evolving cyber landscape and nurturing them into the skilled professionals we need." Main collaboration activities include: Top-performing students will get internship opportunities within Trend Micro, as well as academic awards and scholarships sponsored by the company. Trend Micro's experts will support and mentor Student Final Year Projects, which test students' ingenuity in mitigating real-life cybersecurity threats. RP staff will get the opportunity to gain industry exposure through work assignments at Trend Micro. Trend Micro and RP will co-develop and co-own staff projects. The results will be shared for development of Trend Micro's technology and RP's coursework. "This collaboration with Trend Micro has brought about fruitful learning outcomes for our infocomm security management students. The joint Cloud and Virtualisation Security Lab has provided our students with a learning environment to apply hands-on skills to manage cybersecurity scenarios," said James Tham, Programme Chair, Diploma in Infocomm Security Management, Republic Polytechnic. About Trend Micro Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data centers, cloud environments, networks, and endpoints. All our products work together to seamlessly share threat intelligence and provide a connected threat defense with centralized visibility and control, enabling better, faster protection. With more than 6,000 employees in over 50 countries and the world's most advanced global threat intelligence, Trend Micro secures your connected world. For more information, visit www.trendmicro.com. About Republic Polytechnic The first educational institution in Singapore to leverage the Problem-based Learning approach for all its diploma programmes, Republic Polytechnic (RP) has seven schools and one academic centre offering thirty-nine diplomas in Applied Science, Engineering, Management and Communication, Hospitality, Infocomm, Sports, Health and Leisure, and Technology for the Arts. Republic Polytechnic is committed to nurturing innovation and entrepreneurial learning in an environment that develops problem-solving skills and lifelong learning opportunities. Its holistic and broad-based curriculum prepares students for an active and meaningful role in society as problem solvers, respected professionals and passionate citizens. For more information, visit http://www.rp.edu.sg All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners. Media Contact: [email protected] +65-6603-9000 SOURCE Trend Micro Incorporated [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2018] UnionPay QuickPass service launched in Fiji and other South Pacific countries SYDNEY, Nov. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Following Papua New Guinea, the UnionPay QuickPass service has been further rolled out in the South Pacific region. UnionPay International announced that it has cooperated with ANZ to achieve the first launch of UnionPay QuickPass in Fiji, and other islands, including Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Solomon Islands. UnionPay cardholders visiting these countries can now make tap & go payments with QuickPass-enabled UnionPay chip cards and mobile phones. China UnionPay Chairman Ge Huayong and ANZ Fiji Country Head Saud Minam attended the launching ceremony. China has become an important trading partner, export market and source of foreign capital for the Asian-Pacific island countries. Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa and other countries have become destinations for Chinese citizens to travel abroad. In 2017, about 150,000 tourists from China visited the island countries. UnionPay International is increasing its cooperation with major institutions and continuing to improve theUnionPay card acceptance environment of the South Pacific Island countries like Fiji. At present, UnionPay is accepted in all the nine island countries of South Pacific. In Fiji in particular, UnionPay's acceptance coverage at ATM and POS terminals has exceeded 80%. Ge Huayong said that China's economic trade with the South Pacific Island countries has become increasingly close. The cooperation with ANZ has not only greatly optimized the acceptance environment of UnionPay cards in the South Pacific region, but also further enhanced the payment experience for tourists. It will also enable us to issue cards and launch more innovative businesses in more markets in South Pacific, laying a good foundation to providing new payment options for local residents and two-way support for personnel exchanges between China and the region. ANZ is an important partner of UnionPay International in the Asia Pacific region and a major financial services provider in the South Pacific market. In April 2014, the two sides signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement. Now, ANZ has enabled UnionPay card acceptance in 13 countries including Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island countries, and actively promoted its POS terminal to support UnionPay flash payment. More than 80,000 merchants in Australia and more than 20,000 merchants in New Zealand have supported UnionPay. The cooperation between the two sides has enabled the first time in eight countries in the South Pacific region, such as Fiji, to provide services such as department stores, restaurants, hotels, supermarket convenience stores and attractions. In Fiji, for example, more than 1,000 merchants in the region have opened UnionPay. ANZ Fiji Country Head, Saud Minam, said: "Enabling contactless payments is another step towards driving a cashless and paperless economy in Fiji. ANZ has been working closely with UnionPay for a number of years now and it's wonderful to see the results of that partnership. As the largest bank in Fiji, we will continue to invest in more convenient and secure digital options for customers." SOURCE UnionPay International [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2018] Cova Raises $8 Million in Initial Funding Round With Golden Opportunities Fund DENVER, Nov. 22, 2018 /CNW/ -- Cova, the company behind the cannabis industry's most robust point-of-sale (POS) solution, has raised $8 million in an initial fundraising round with Golden Opportunities Fund ("Golden"), managed by Westcap Mgt. Ltd. ("Westcap"). Founded in 2016, Cova has designed and built purpose-driven POS and retail management solutions that power a complete end-to-end customer experience for cannabis retailers. "All of Cova is excited about the opportunity to accelerate our growth with this investment from Golden Opportunities Fund, who have been great to work with," says Gary Cohen, CEO of Cova. "We'll leverage these funds to continue building the industry's leading cannabis retail software platform while selectively expanding our North American footprint." The new funding will be used to accelerate further prouct development and enhancements to build upon Cova's current industry-leading capabilities ranging from pioneering offline transaction handling, express self-service checkout, looping prevention, dashboard-based reporting and analytics, 99.98 percent uptime, and more. "Cova exemplifies the type of investment that we target in a company with a proven track record of success, significant business opportunities in an emerging market and a highly experienced management team that we have a strong history with," comments Grant Kook, President and CEO of Golden. "This investment also complements the strategic positioning of Golden's portfolio to focus on innovation." Discover Cova's full product suite by visiting www.covasoftware.com. About Cova Cova is the leading POS solution in the cannabis industry. The Cova team's relentless pursuit of creating the industry's first lovable POS has led to solutions that help retailers simplify compliance, reduce operational costs, and increase revenue through automated compliance, inventory management, mobile reporting dashboards, and Cova's Express Checkout app. With a growing network of cannabis industry partners including Baker, I Heart Jane, greenRush, springbig, Bud Bytes, and Budvue, Cova's seamless tech ecosystem gives retailers access to the best tools available to run their business. Cova's offices are located in Denver, CO, Vancouver, BC, and Regina, SK. Learn more at www.covasoftware.com. About Golden Opportunities Fund Inc. Golden is the first and longest-standing Provincial Retail Venture Capital Fund in Saskatchewan founded 20 years ago. The Fund is managed by Westcap, a leading private equity and venture capital fund manager for over 25 years that has completed over $1 billion in transactions in more than 200 growth companies. Learn more at GoldenOpportunities.ca or WestcapMgt.ca. For further information, please contact: Faai Steuer Director of Marketing | Cova Phone: 888.888.8170 ext 1808 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Cova Software [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2018] Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou, China Prioritizes Digital Economy HANGZHOU, China, Nov. 22, 2018 /CNW/ -- Xiaoshan, a district of the city of Hangzhou in Eastern China, and a powerful district of traditional industry for the capital city of Zhejiang Province, Wednesday proposed a plan to cultivate digital industry clusters and promote digital transformation of industries in a bid to make digital economy a new name card of the district. In a conference held Wednesday focusing on digital economic development, Xiaoshan announced that its goal is to double both scale and added value of the core industry of its digital economy in the coming four years and make the aggregate of its information economy and digital economy top 120 billion yuan and 72 billion yuan respectively by 2022. In recent years, new breakthroughs have been made in the district's digital economy, with digital new stars such as NetEase, SenseTime and iFLYTEK rapidly developng, leading digital enterprises such as WeDoctor and SHINING 3D increasingly growing and special industry clusters such as artificial intelligence, smart medical and industrial big data gradually taking shape. Moreover, smart manufacturing demonstration enterprises are mushrooming. Xiaoshan District will vigorously build digital economic development platforms as well as an optimal ecological zone of digital economy and foster the organic integration of digital economy and production, city and people, striving to be the pioneer and leader in the construction of the first digital economic city nationwide, said Tong Guili, member of the standing committee of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee and secretary of the CPC Xiaoshan District Committee. The China V Valley (V refers to Visual, Vision, Video) project, focusing on computer vision and machine vision technology, was launched at the conference and settled in Xiaoshan. This project is aimed at building world-class vision industry clusters by developing industry chain ecology covering algorithms, chips, devices and platforms, with research institutes of universities as innovation engines and focus on visual perception, ultra-high definition vision and visual applications. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xiaoshan-district-of-hangzhou-china-prioritizes-digital-economy-300754641.html SOURCE Organizing Committee of Digital Economy Development Conference of Xiaoshan District [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [November 22, 2018] Renesas Electronics Accelerates Sensor Network Gateway Design With RZ/N1S IO-Link Master Solution for Smart Factory Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced a new IO-Link master development kit to accelerate IO-Link-based application development for industrial networked devices in a smart factory. The development kit includes a board and pre-qualified sample software provided by TMG. The board has eight IO-Link connecters allowing developers to immediately connect IO-Link slave devices and start the evaluation process. The easy-to-use development kit contributes to shorter prototype-to-production process time and helps to reduce the development burden for engineers. The solution is supported by two CPUs that operate independently and simultaneously with a large built-in SRAM. The eight-port IO-Link Master is controlled by one CPU; the other CPU features an R-IN engine architecture and supports Industrial Ethernet communication to the upper layers, such as PLC, without any external microcontroller, microprocessor, or memory like DDR. Integrating the two CPUs in a small 12mm x 12mm LFBGA package also helps with designing compact PCBs. Key Features of the RZ/N1S IO-Link Master Solution Strong development environment reduces the system evaluation period by up to six months All-in-one development kit makes it easy for users to begin evaluation immediately and accelerate their time to market. The board offers rapid prototyping with eight-port IO-Link connectivity and connections to any IO-Link slave device. Pre-qualified sample software from partner TMG TE shortens the traditional time required to move from prototype to mass production. Optimized design for limited space and industrial environments 6 MB of on-chip SRAM eliminates the need for external memory. Small 12mm x 12mm LFBGA package makes the master solution ideally suited for printed circuit boards in space-constrained industrial applications. "For more than 25 years, Renesas has been providing a variety of solutions for the industrial automation market, supporting our customers as they catch the Industry 4.0 wave," said Akira Denda, Vice President of Industrial Automation Business Unit, Renesas Electronics Corporation. "This new IO-Link Master solution, which is supported by TMG for its protocol stack, will help developers bring innovative applications to market easier and more quickly, and to expand the use of IO-Link-based applications in smart factory." Renesas is demonstrating the new IO-Link master solution in booth 130, Hall 10.1, at the 2018 SPS IPC Drives, November 27-29, in Nuremberg, Germany. For more information on the RZ/N1S IO-Link solution, please visit: https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/software-tools/boards-and-kits/eval-demo/io-link-master-development-kit.html. For more information on IO-Link, please visit: http://www.io-link.com. Availability The RZ/N1S IO-Link master solution is available now for rental. About Renesas Electronics Corporation Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live-securely and safely. A global leader in microcontrollers, analog, power, SoC products and integrated platforms, Renesas provides the expertise, quality, and comprehensive solutions for a broad range of Automotive, Industrial, Home Electronics, Office Automation and Information Communication Technology applications to help shape a limitless future. Learn more at renesas.com. (Remarks) All other names of products or services mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181122005040/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] When TCL released the BlackBerry Key2 earlier this year, we were impressed by Chinese phone maker TCL's second stab at building a BlackBerry with a physical keyboard. But we weren't as enamored with the handset's price: $649, which was $100 more than its predecessor's for reasons we found hard to justify. Perhaps TCL saw the error of of its ways, or maybe just an opportunity. Because shortly after the Key2's debut, the company announced a less expensive and less powerful variant named the Key2 LE. This BlackBerry downgrades its processor, RAM, cameras and battery size and trades its aluminum construction for polycarbonate. In doing so, it manages to hit a much more reasonable price of $449 $200 less than the Key2. But with all those compromises working against it, can the Key2 LE remain a worthy contender for enterprise users? Here's what the new phone brings to the table, and where it succeeds and fails against its pricier rival in the BlackBerry family. TCL announced at CES 2019 that the BlackBerry Key2 LE will soon be available through Verizon for that carrier's business customers. We've updated the availability section of this review to reflect that. Price and Availability The Key2 LE normally costs $449 (349) but is available for $429 from Amazon and Best Buy as of this writing. Like the regular Key2, this new version is designed to work with GSM networks like AT&T and T-Mobile. It's even certified to work on Verizon, and soon that carrier will start selling the phone to its business customers. (Unfortunately, you're out of luck if you prefer using Sprint's network.) The Key 2 LE comes in three different colors Slate, Champagne (gold) and Turbo (red) although, at the time of writing, Slate is the only option available at U.S. retailers. The phone packs 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage; in other regions, like the U.K., TCL sells a cheaper 32GB model. There's a microSD slot on the side of the phone that allows you to expand capacity up to 256GB. BlackBerry Key2 LE Specs BlackBerry Key2 LE BlackBerry Key2 Price $449/349 $649/579 OS Android 8.1 Oreo Android 8.1 Oreo Screen Size (Resolution) 4.5-inch LCD (1620 x 1080) 4.5-inch LCD (1620 x 1080) CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 RAM 4GB 6GB Storage 64GB 64GB/128GB microSD Slot Yes, up to 256GB Yes, up to 256GB Rear Camera Dual: 13 MP (/2.2); 5 MP (/2.4) Dual: 12 MP (/1.8); 12 MP (/2.6) Front Camera 8 MP 8 MP Battery Size 3,000 mAh 3,500 mAh Water Resistance No No Size 5.96 x 2.82 x 0.33 inches 5.96 x 2.82 x 0.33 inches Weight 5.5 ounces (156 grams) 5.9 ounces (168 grams) Place the Key2 LE side-by-side with the Key2, and you're not likely to notice what TCL changed between the two handsets once you get past the design, that is. The Key2 LE incorporates a plastic frame, making it about half an ounce lighter. And unlike the standard Key2s unibody construction, the Key2 LE features a plastic ring encircling the display and keyboard, joining the face of the device with those faux-brushed metal sides. The rubbery, soft-touch backing has also been refinished with a new dotted pattern that doesn't feel quite as grippy as the fine diamond texture of the original model. The Key2's signature feature its physical QWERTY keyboard has seen some alterations, too. The keycaps themselves have shrunk ever so slightly, though they're still 10 percent larger than those on 2017s KeyOne. An arguably more divisive omission, however, relates to the keyboard's touch sensitivity. TCL has removed it from this model, meaning you can't swipe on the keyboard to scroll through web pages. However, the spacebar still functions as a fingerprint sensor, and the Speed Key has been preserved for keystroke shortcuts. Everything else that differentiates the Key2 LE is hidden from view. The lower-priced model features 4GB of RAM, as opposed to the Key2's 6GB, and incorporates Qualcomm's Snapdragon 636 CPU, instead of the Snapdragon 660 chipset. MORE: Best Smartphones on the Market Now The camera employs a dual-lens setup on the back for portraits with artistic bokeh, though the Key2 LE's 13-megapixel main sensor and 5-MP depth sensor are exclusive to this model and different from the stereo 12-MP setup in the Key2. Finally, the battery capacity has been downsized from 3,500 mAh to 3,000 mAh. What we like about the Key2 LE Several things stand out about this stripped down version of the BlackBerry Key2. Keyboard still shines: While TCL's keyboard cost-saving measures likely won't be warmly received from the BlackBerry faithful, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself typing faster on the Key2 LE than I did on the Key2. Yes, the keycaps are indeed a hair smaller on the new model, though it didn't affect my dexterity as much as I expected. The bigger change, I quickly discovered, was how TCL lessened the keys' degree of travel. It's a small change, but the result is that you encounter a bit less resistance with every press. That helped me bounce from key to key faster, and the time I saved definitely added up. I am by no means a physical keyboard maestro; my first attempted at The Typing Cat's test with the Key2 yielded a lousy 19 words per minute. But I was able to turn out a marginally more respectable 25 wperm with the Key2 LE. DTEK software and App Cloning: BlackBerry's DTEK suite, which serves as the nexus of all the Key2 LE's security-minded features, remains mostly unchanged from previous devices. That means you get detailed reports of what apps are abusing permissions (and when and where they're doing it, no less). Other tools, such as the Privacy Locker encrypted folder and Redactor for markup, are designed to safeguard your enterprise secrets. There is one new addition to DTEK's repertoire, however, and it comes in the form of app cloning. Now, software that is typically tied to a single device (like, say, WhatsApp or Snapchat) can be duplicated if you so choose, allowing you to use both your personal and professional profiles on the same phone. TCL isn't first to introduce this feature Huawei pulled it off more than a year ago, and it's been reaching increasingly more Android phones ever since. But the Key2 LEs implementation is the best weve encountered because it takes advantage of the phones dual-SIM nature. Cloned apps and multiple accounts can be tied to individual SIM cards and therefore phone numbers a huge boon for social media managers. Decent performance: The Key2 wasnt a powerhouse by any stretch, and neither is the Key2 LE. The cheaper model's Snapdragon 636 chipset sits somewhere between the Snapdragon 625 inside last years KeyOne and Moto G5 Plus, and the Snapdragon 660 inside the regular Key2. In fact, this LE variant is driven by the same chip behind the much cheaper Nokia 7.1. However, while the Key2's $649 price definitely seemed a bit high for its limited power especially compared with handsets like the OnePlus 6T that offer flagship-beating specs for $529 the Key2 LE is a more fitting marriage of performance and affordability. The latest BlackBerry turned in a Geekbench 4 score of 4,945 right on target with the Nokia 7.1's 4,953 result, though the Nokia costs $100 less. The Key2 LE is a more fitting marriage of performance and affordability than its pricier sibling. The Key2 LE's 4GB of memory isn't quite as generous as the Key2's 6GB, but it's still enough to keep background processes humming along and accommodate frequently switching apps, as business-minded users are wont to do. MORE: Best Budget Phones - Unlocked Phones Under $200, $300 ... Graphics performance isn't as blistering, of course this isn't a device we recommend for demanding games, as its Sling Shot Extreme OpenGL ES 3.1 score of just 957 suggests. Arcade racer Asphalt 9: Legends automatically dropped down to modest settings to accommodate the hardware, and even then, gameplay was still inconsistent, with frame skips and hiccups peppering the experience. What we don't like about the Key2 LE Its strengths aside, the Key2 LE suffers from notable flaws we couldn't overlook. Design and build quality: The Key2 was a real step forward for modern BlackBerry, with a sleek, consistent design devoid of chintzy materials and gaudy metallic accents. In matte black, it was subtly stunning and smart-looking, and more attractive than any BlackBerry-branded handset had a right to be. The Key2 LE, unfortunately, moves in the wrong direction. In many ways it's a cross between the KeyOne and Key2, as it emulates the newer phone's general shape but carries over the first-generation's frets in the keyboard and jumbled-together assortment of surfaces, textures and materials. Plastic can be a replacement for aluminum when done well. But in this case, it leaves the Key2 LE feeling like the budget BlackBerry that it is. The fake brushed texture on the polycarbonate frame won't fool anyone, either it's the kind of fruitless attempt at conveying an upmarket look that so many supercheap budget models from the likes of Alcatel and Samsung try to pull off. The change to a plastic design leaves the Key2 LE feeling like the budget BlackBerry that it is. At least the Key2 LE's still got a headphone jack, and the phone's good-enough 4.5-inch 1620 x 1080 LCD display is the same as the Key2's. Unremarkable cameras: The dual 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel lenses on the back of the Key2 LE are about par for the course as far as budget phone cameras are concerned. It's not the worst photography we've seen in a budget phone, though BlackBerry's camera struggles with white balancing and has a tendency to over-sharpen. More often than not, that over-sharpening leads to an abundance of noise. Looking out at the ice rink at New York's Bryant Park, the Key2 LE presents a scene with muted colors and a greenish-yellow cast compared with what the Nokia 7.1 achieved. BlackBerry's shooters tinge poorly lit areas with unsightly graininess and multicolored artifacts, like at the base of the flower arrangement and lighting fixture. In our video studio, the Nokia 7.1 demonstrated its capabilities in low-light compared with the Key2 LE, which failed to light the frame as thoroughly or convey the crimson hues of the brick wall. However, the BlackBerry's sharpness worked to its advantage here something particularly evident as you zoom into the tools and other fine details. To its credit, the Key2 LE also captured a clearer shot of the shops at Bryant Park's Winter Village. The text on the storefronts is noticeably easier to read on BlackBerry's phone, and the Key2 LE actually bested the Nokia 7.1 concerning the texture of the stone walkway and the side of New York Public Library, which sits adjacent to the park. The 5-MP depth sensor on the back of the Key2 LE allows bokeh for portraits, though don't expect the results to rival what you get from dual-lens flagships like the iPhone XS and Samsung Galaxy S9+. Both the BlackBerry and Nokia turn in blurry portraits of my colleague Jorge, though at least the Nokia gets his skin tone mostly right and dials down the noise to acceptable levels. There's less to say about the Key2 LEs selfies shot by the front 8-MP camera. Images lack some fidelity as they smooth out facial features and blemishes even when retouching is switched off. The relative darkness from BlackBerry's front camera compared with what the Nokia 7.1 turned in isnt particularly flattering, either. BlackBerry's camera struggles with white balancing and has a tendency to over-sharpen. Loss of trackpad functionality: The Key2 embedded a trackpad in its keyboard that assumed different roles throughout the phone. You could use it to scroll through webpages and apps without obscuring the display, move the typing cursor around text fields or flip back-and-forth between home screens. While the feature had been done before it debuted on 2014's BlackBerry Passport, a device built at a time when BlackBerry was still manufacturing its own hardware it was an exclusive perk with clear real-world utility. More important, it proved the old-fashioned physical keyboard, ordinarily dismissed as a relic, could be innovated in ways that its touch screen-only brethren could not. Sadly, that calling card has been scrubbed in the Key2 LE, and TCL's latest BlackBerry is worse off for it. The embedded trackpad was starting to become a memorable feature for a brand that could certainly use something to be remembered for; with its loss, the Key2 LE has lost a big part of its identity, too. Smaller battery: The original Key2 lasted for 11 hours and 9 minutes when we put it through our battery test earlier this year, and we didn't expect the Key2 LE to be far behind. While TCL did shrink the battery to 3,000 mAh from 3,500 mAh on the regular Key2, this is still a handset with a midrange chipset and less-than-full-HD LCD display. Ten hours, or maybe 10-and-a-half-hours should have been doable. MORE: Smartphones With the Longest Battery Life - A Comparison Unfortunately, the Key2 LE underwhelmed our even-tempered expectations. It turned in just 8 hours and 45 minutes of continuous LTE web surfing over T-Mobile's network. Granted, that's better than the 7:41 of the Nokia 7.1, but BlackBerry was once a brand renowned for its consideration for battery life, and the Key2 LE doesn't back up that reputation. Bottom line It was a prudent move for TCL to attempt a less expensive version of the BlackBerry Key 2. Unfortunately, in the process, the company eliminated many of the things we loved about the phone. Sure, the Key2 LE is cheaper, but it's lacking those critical BlackBerry hallmarks. The sleek metal unibody design has been swapped for something flimsier and tackier, the battery has evidently been made a bit too small to keep it lasting as long as we'd hope and the decision to remove touch sensitivity has stripped the handset of its modernity. The result simply feels old and cheap even though, in the grand scheme of things, it's not even that compelling a bargain. The Nokia 6.1, 7.1 and Moto X4 are all outfitted with stock Android One, which is already quite secure and clean, and guarantee similar performance for hundreds less. The regular Key2 may have been overpriced at $649, but at least it conveyed those BlackBerry values of quality and reliability that TCL has so desperately tried to instill in smartphone buyers again. The Key2 LE, conversely, feels like an imitation. It's a great way for cost-conscious buyers to get a handset with a physical keyboard and, sadly, not much else. Credit: Tom's Guide If you've been waiting for Virtual Reality headsets to drop in price, this could be your lucky week. Because of the holiday shopping season, you can save a lot of money on popular VR hardware and software. Save $100 to 200 on the Best VR Headset Available HTCs Vive Pro is a pricey device, but if you want the best VR headset available today, the Vive Pro is the clear winner with its dual 1440 x 1600 pixel displays, mechanical head strap, integrated headphones and Valves second-generation tracking system. But, for many, the headset alone will not be enough. Amazon has the Vive Pro VR System Kit for $1,385.01, a $15 savings ; that comes with the headset, two controllers and two Steam VR 2.0 base stations. Vive Pro VR System Kit for $1,385.01 ($15 off) Oculus Games on Sale, too While its headset deals seem to be over, Oculus also has some great deals on content. The company is currently running the Fall into Fun sale, which features nearly 50 titles with discounts ranging from 16% to 80% off. Nows your chance to grab Arizona Sunshine or Skyworld for 50% off or save 39% on Seeking Dawn. PlayStation VR From $199 Sony just celebrated two years with the PlayStation VR on the market and the company is still investing heavily in the PSVR platform. With top VR titles such as Skyrim VR, Doom VFR, Creed: Rise to Glory, Firewall Zero Hour and Beat Saber, available on the platform, and Borderlands 2 VR coming next month, Sonys PlayStation VR is an excellent option for a home VR system. You can pick up a full bundle, which includes the headset, the camera, Creed: Rise to Glory, Superhot VR, and two Move motion controllers for $349.99. You can also get PS4 consoles for as little as $199, so even if you havent invested in Sonys current gaming platform, you can get yourself started for under $400, which is an incredibly compelling price for a complete virtual reality platform. PSVR Full Bundle for $349.99 (reg $427) TPCast Wireless Kits On Sale TPCast is offering sale prices on both its Vive and Ocurlus Rift wireless adapters. The Vive adapter is $259, reduced from $299 while the Oculus adapter now goes for $299, down from $319. TPCasts offer should be of particular interest to Vive owners with Ryzen-based PCs because HTC just announced that its wireless solution isnt fully compatible with AMDs platform. KCPD revokes officers' award for 2013 fatal shooting of unarmed man KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Awards granted to two Kansas City police officers were rescinded Monday. It's a highly unusual move that comes after years of debate about what really happened in a dark parking lot five years ago. It concerns the Ryan Stokes case. A glimpse at ongoing coverage of a local man gunned down near the P&L District . . .The latest official action as the story continues to develop . . Leaked photos of the updated Genesis G90 have made their way online, giving us a peak of what we can expect from the automakers flagship sedan. In the event that youre not a fan of the big front grilles, nows the time to look away. The G90 test mule is sporting some serious grille hardware. Not only does it look larger than Genesis previous big grilles, but it also takes up nearly the entire space of the sedans front area, leaving little real estate space for everything else. If Genesis leaves the grille for the production model, the G90 would arguably have one of the biggest grilles, not only in its segment but across the entire auto industry. Take that for what its worth. Its not uncommon for automakers these days to make statements through the size of the front grilles on their cars. Audi, for example, has evolved from a company that used to roll out small grilles into one that just cant get enough of the big grilles. Seriously, look at every new Audi. Its not just Audi, too. Toyotas done the same with models like the Camry and Avalon. Even Bentley has caught the bug with the Bentayga sporting not one, not two, not three, but four grilles covering the front section of the luxe SUV. We cant forget about Lexus, either. For better or worse, Toyotas beauty brand is the poster child for mammoth grilles. The big-grille trend didnt just happen overnight, so were not going to hold it over any of these companys heads. Instead, it evolved steadily over time. Back then, grilles were included in a car for functional purposes, specifically to create airflow under the hood to cool the engine. Over time, though, the front grille has become an important design feature, largely because all of us imagine the front of cars as faces with the grille serving as the mouth, complementing the headlights, which our brains see as a cars eyes. Since then, automakers have taken great liberties creating unique grilles, with the current trend evolving into a bigger is better philosophy. This brings us to the updated G90. Genesis flagship sedan isnt lacking in the grille department. In fact, you can make a case that a designer must have gotten a little too grille-happy given the sheer size of that thing on the front of the G90. Fortunately, it actually looks good on the G90, size notwithstanding. Its technically a huge pentagon, though most of us actually see it as an oversized version of Supermans crest without the actual S inside it. Im not particularly fond of the mesh design inside the grille because its a little too industrial for my liking. Bentley used the same design on the Bentayga and Im not a fan of that, either. That said, I do appreciate the bold direction Genesis is taking. Having such a large front grille helps bring more air into the engine so, functionally, it works. But even if the design is controversial, to say the least, Genesis found a way to make it work by keeping some design balance in the front. The wrap-around headlamps, for example, look large in their own right. Anything smaller wouldve ended up with the grille devouring the so-called eyes of the car. Its hard to see from the spy photos we received, but there are also a few vents that extend across the lower section of the front bumper. Over at the back, Genesis also adopted another trend that has taken the auto industry by storm: the end-to-end taillamps. The good news is that this design suits the G90 pretty well. Designers even found a way to mix things up a bit, using only the lower section of the taillamps to stretch from one side of the trunk to the other, leaving space in the top part for the automakers name to be spelled out in wide letters. Nice touch. Overall, the updated Genesis G90 looks like a big step up from its predecessor. The new front grille is bigger, sure, but it also gives the sedan more personality. Thats not really saying a lot because the current model looks about as bland as a cucumber, but the improvements extend to the rear section, too. The current G90s rear end looks a lot like those old Mercedes rear sections, and thats not regarded as a compliment. With its own version of the end-to-end taillamps, the new G90 now has an identity that it can all its own. Theres no timetable on when the updated Genesis G90 will make its debut, but Hyundai has said that the sedan will go on sale in its home country of South Korea sometime in June 2019. Hopefully, a debut happens before that. Further Reading Read our full review of the outgoing 2018 Genesis G90. Source: Clien.net During its Africa Day 2018 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the European Investment Bank released today its new study, Banking in Africa: Delivering on Financial Inclusion, Supporting Financial Stability. In its fourth edition, this economic report analyses recent development in the African banking sectors, including through a survey of African banking groups, addresses structural issues and investment opportunities for the continent and proposes policy options for all stakeholders. The report also portrays the state of bank recovery and resolution laws in Africa and maps out policy options to finance infrastructure development. Finally the study explains the type of financial support and technical assistance that the EIB can offer to financial sectors in Africa. EIB Head of the Country and Financial Sector Analysis Division, Barbara Marchitto said: As this publication has highlighted, private enterprises across Africa struggle to access finance for productive investment, particularly at longer tenors. Smaller, younger firms and innovative companies are often the most affected. Many of the concerned firms are likely to grow, innovate, and sustain and create employment if they can access appropriate finance. The EIB reaches out to African private sector firms via financial intermediaries: local or regional banks, financial institutions or funds, and many receive support such as Technical Assistance alongside an EIB loan. This means that these operations help to strengthen both the firms receiving funding and the local and regional financial sectors. The study combines in house research with contribution from leading market experts from commercial banks operating in the region, International Financial Institutions and other institutions. Main findings Sub-Saharan Africa is recovering from the most severe growth slowdown in two decades. Recovery is vulnerable and is expected to remain uneven across countries. While the regions growth in per capita gross domestic product has been positive since 2017, it will remain insufficient to significantly reduce poverty. Rising public debt burdens are fuelling debt sustainability risks, while tighter global financing conditions and weaker than expected commodity prices pose additional downside risks. North African countries are currently undergoing a prominent economic transformation with efforts towards regional integration and inclusion. The economic outlook for North Africa remains positive, thanks to considerable structural and macroeconomic reform efforts. Nonetheless, the region should continue its efforts to strengthen inclusive growth and create sustainable and quality jobs. Financial intermediation is fairly developed in North Africa, although non-bank financial institutions are still at an early stage of development. Nonetheless, microenterprises and SMEs need to have better access to financial products and services, despite the notable progress already made. A large share of enterprises appear to be disconnected, shutting themselves off the financial system and missing opportunities to invest and expand, even when they operate at full capacity. Small and innovative firms often find it difficult to obtain credit. In many Sub-Saharan Africa banking markets, the last two years saw a pause in financial deepening but systemic crises have been successfully averted, demonstrating the improved resilience of the financial systems. However, non-performing loans are on the rise and capital adequacy and asset quality have deteriorated since the last full edition of this study in 2016. Advanced economies banks have been withdrawing from the region, and regional banking groups have consolidated their presence. Smaller domestic banks have been too preoccupied by the difficult economic situation to take advantage. Despite more than a decade and a half of financial deepening in nearly all Sub-Saharan Africa countries, banking sectors still need to catch up with other regions. Access to finance still tops the list of constraints for SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa, notably due to increased banks holding of sovereign papers in recent years. Although International Financial Institutions have developed programmes to offer portfolio guarantees to commercial banks for SME lending, a significant portion of banks needs for portfolio guarantees is still unmet. On the supply side, however, the study reveals a push for new technologies. Half of the banking groups report being fully deployed in terms of general IT infrastructure but the majority of them are in deployment and planning deployment in terms of internet-banking technology, mobile banking and FinTech. The importance of strengthening the legal, regulatory and supervisory super-structure of Sub-Saharan Africas and North Africas financial sectors to promote financial intermediation cannot be overstated. Working out non-performing loans and resolving banks that cannot return to profitability will be key to underpinning the confidence that is necessary for private investment in Sub-Saharan Africa. Requiring banks to prepare recovery and resolution plans and introducing well-defined recovery floor would reduce uncertainty for investors. As financial inclusion for individuals and microenterprises advances, new challenges will emerge that will need to be addressed to ensure that financial deepening is fair, broad-based and sustainable. Consumer protection will be key to maintaining the confidence of first-time depositors and financial service users and to ensuring a level-playing field with regulated players. As African economies continue to recover, the opportunity to deepen the regions financial sectors and promoting inclusion should not be missed. Broadening investor base and bringing down the financing needs of governments through fiscal consolidation and structural reform can free up space on banks balance sheets. Enhancing banks capacity to assess risk and monitor their clients would reduce the perceived risks and facilitate financial intermediation. Helping clients to identify and present bankable projects would also raise lending to the private sector. Private sector development will require technical assistance and knowledge transfers, not just financing. Development partners could help to crowd-in capital and support private sector development by offering innovative financial and policy instruments, including FinTech, portfolio guarantees and bankers academies. Moreover, financial sector deepening can help to address the continents important infrastructure bottlenecks. Infrastructure needs are particularly high in energy and transport and new needs arise from rapid urbanisation, population and economic growth. Private investors can play an important role in financing vital infrastructure in Africa. Banking in Africa: Delivering on Financial Inclusion, Supporting Financial Stability 2018, is the fourth edition of this report produced by the Economics Department of the EIB. The first part is devoted to the study of banking sectors across Africa. The first chapter examines recent trends in the banking sectors in sub-Saharan Africa, relying on a survey of banking groups operating in the region. The following chapters analyse recent trends in banking sectors in Western Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. A chapter on North Africa has been added in this edition, to match the continental approach to Africa of our partner. Africa Day 2018 The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have co-hosted the EIB Africa Day 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. UNIDOs Director General, LI Yong, and EIB President, Werner Hoyer, opened the high-level event, alongside H.E. Sahle-Work Zewde, President of Ethiopia. This years EIB Africa Day focused on the theme of sustainable industrialization in Africa, and emphasized the importance of inclusive and sustainable industrial development for the continents future. The high-level panels of the event approached the topic from business, policy and financing angles, while reflecting on such key international milestones as the Third Industrial Decade for Africa (IDDA III) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In order to ensure a prosperous future for all women and men of the continent, it is crucial to ensure that the sustainable industrial development of Africa is inclusive. As we all know, there is not a single country which has achieved economic and social development without an advanced industrial sector, said UNIDOs Li Yong. EIB President Werner Hoyer added, Half of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is below 25 years of age. By 2035, people reaching working age in sub-Saharan Africa will exceed that of the rest of the world combined. Moreover, Africa is diverse, with great potential across sectors, regions and industries. We must enable young men and women across Africa to realize their own potential through investment in skills and entrepreneurship. Together with partners like UNIDO, we need to support a shift from aid to investment, as a prerequisite for a shift from poverty reduction to growth and prosperity. As the EU bank, and as the investment arm of EU external action, we are deeply committed to this. The event brought together a significant number of stakeholders, including government representatives, representatives of Regional Economic Communities, development finance institutions, UN agencies, the private sector, NGOs and academia. UNIDO partners with the Government of Ethiopia on a Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) to support the country in achieving its industrial development goals. The Programmes priority initiatives include the development of an industrial park focused on the leather industry Modjo Leather City which is supported by the EIB. The EIB, based in Luxembourg, is the long-term lending institution of the European Union (EU) and is owned by the EU Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals both in Europe and beyond. The EIB is present in more than 160 countries and has been active across Africa since 1963. UNIDO, a UN specialized agency based in Vienna, is mandated to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development for poverty eradication, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The Sustainable Blue Economy Conference is the first global conference on the sustainable blue economy to be held in Kenya. (TRAVPR.COM) KENYA - November 21st, 2018 - Over 4,000 participants from around the world are coming together to learn how to build a blue economy that: - Harnesses the potential of our oceans, seas, lakes and rivers to improve the lives of all, particularly people in developing states, women, youth and Indigenous peoples - Leverages the latest innovations, scientific advances and best practices to build prosperity while conserving our waters for future generations Cruzeiro Safaris Kenya welcomes the delegates to Nairobi, Kenya. They have on offer tours and safaris suitable to the conference delegates from Nairobi from their Online booking Sites Nairobi Airport transfers - by giving your full flight details https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/nairobi-airport-transfer/ Masai Mara Safari for 3 days https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/3-days-in-maasai-mara-experience-kenya-by-air/ Masai Mara Safari for 2 Days https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/governors-camp-safaris-from-nairobi/ Most Popular Day Tour Nairobi National Park Tour Morning at 6am https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/nairobi-national-park-tour-morning/ Nairobi National Park Tour Afternoon at 2pm https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/nairobi-national-park-tour-afternoon/ Nairobi National Park and Elephants orphanage tour at 6am https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/nairobi-national-park-tour-and-elephants-orphanage/ Nairobi National Park, Elephants, Giraffe Center at 6am https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/nairobi-national-park-tour-elephants-orphanage-and-giraffe-center/ Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe centre at 10am Elephant Orphanage, Giraffe, lunch at the carnivore restaurant and Nairobi National Park at 10am https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/tour-to-elephants-giraffe-and-nairobi-national-park/ Full Day Trip to Amboseli National Park at 5am https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/full-day-safari-tour-to-amboseli-national-park-from-nairobi/ Full Day Trip to Lake Nakuru National Park at 6am https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/full-day-tour-to-lake-nakuru-national-park/ Nairobi by night Dinner and Safari CAT Dancers Show as from 7pm https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/product/nairobi-safari-cat-show-tickets-and-dinner/ WELCOME TO NAIROBI, KENYA About Cruzeiro Safaris Kenya Cruzeiro-safaris.com is established in Kenya, incorporated in 2004. Its core business is Safari Packages and Day Tours complemented by air travel. It has a well-established wealth of experience in arranging memorable tours and safaris and has established a client base who provide with repeat business year after year. Join us on facebook, twitter and youtube. Safaris in Kenya may be tailored to the tourist taste and can extend to Tanzania and Uganda. For further information and reservations, Contact; Claudia Kabui Mobile Sales : +254722370833 (Kenya) Operations : + 254710729021 (Kenya) Email: info@cruzeiro-safaris.com Website: | https://www.cruzeiro-safaris.com and https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours/ ### It is time to experience the cool new all-day-dining venue, BEASTRO, that is now open at First Central Hotel Suites (TRAVPR.COM) UAE - November 22nd, 2018 - It is time to experience the cool new all-day-dining venue, BEASTRO, that is now open at First Central Hotel Suites. This one-of-a-kind outlet is the brainchild of the hotels Executive Chef Patrick Lanteigne and developed by Rachel Thomson, F&B Concept Development & Performance Manager, The First Group. s approach is to adapt the great principles of deformalized dining - around great food, approachable and engaged service, and a fun environment while combining it with very market friendly pricing. Rachel Thomson said, We saw a gap in the area for an innovative concept that embrace the words lively, quirky and approachable. Focusing on a comfort-food heavy menu at market disrupting prices we are confident BEASTRO will be unbeatable in terms of positioning for the offering we have. Patrick Lanteigne added, BEASTRO will offer fun and familiar food that is playful and cool. We are changing the way people think about the food they love to eat. The menu has been created from the ground up to be food that everyone loves and wants to have. Something new and yet familiar. Our cuisine is North American comfort food with a focus on taking classic dishes and making them fun and exciting. BEASTRO will primarily cater to the local Barsha Heights (TECOM) market. Chef Patrick stated, We will bring it to your table or drive it to your door. It is important that every time you come to BEASTRO, you leave wanting more, and more and more. Chef Patrick continued, Follow Us on @BeastroDubai @FirstCentralAE #EATbeastro #BeastroDubai #FirstCentalAE #CentralHotelsAE About BEASTRO Dubai An all-day dining restaurant curated around fun, quirky, and affordable comfort food; BEASTRO restaurant in Dubai is the place where you will come back to everyday, at a price that wont break the bank. BEASTRO caters to the local Tecom/Barsha Heights market by offering great food and drinks with affordable prices at a place you will NEVER forget. Offering a unique experience that disrupts all market trends, prices, and norms, BEASTROs new and exciting concept will surprise you whether on your table or directly delivered to your door. For dining reservations: Call: +971 4 454 4900 or Email: info@beastrodubai.ae For more information visit www.beastrodubai.ae ### 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. 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Concurs de granturi adresat COMUNITATILOR (APL) pentru sporirea rezilientei lor la schimbarile climatice si FEMEILOR ANTREPRENOARE in vederea dezvoltarii unor afaceri prietenoase mediului shalender@tribune.com New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has filed draft papers with markets regulator Sebi to raise up to Rs 10,000 crore through bonds to finance its various projects. NHAI has filed papers for public issue of taxable, secured redeemable non convertible bonds in the nature of debentures upto Rs 10,000 crore. The funds will be used through the issuance of bonds in one or more tranches. Proceeds of the issue will be utilised towards part financing of different projects including Bharatmala Pariyojana as well as other operational, administrative and financial purposes, the draft papers filed with Sebi showed. Under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, government plans to build 50 new national corridors and connect 550 district centres with national highways. PTI ONGC told to pay Rs 242 cr to Mumbai Port Trust New Delhi: ONGC has been ordered to pay about Rs 242 crore to the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) as wharfage compensation for the transportation of crude oil through the two pipelines the company had laid within the limits of the state-run port. In a regulatory filing, state-owned ONGC said it is examining the admissibility of the claim. The Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) passed an order for wharfage compensation payable by ONGC on October 3, 2018. TAMP order stated that ONGC shall pay to MbPT a compensation at one half of wharfage rate as applicable on the per tonne of crude oil which will be imported into the port of Mumbai through all or any of the ONGC pipelines. PTI Walmart deal: Income details of Bansals sought New Delhi: The Income Tax Department has written to Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal seeking to know the details of the income earned following their share sale to US retail giant Walmart and when they would be depositing the advance tax, an official said. As per the Income Tax laws, both Sachin and Binny Bansal, being Indian residents, would be liable to pay 20 per cent income tax on the capital gains made from the sale of stake in Flipkart to the US-retail giant earlier in August. The tax law requires both the Flipkart founders to deposit advance tax on the assessed income from the deal with Walmart with the government. About 75 per cent of that tax has to be deposited by December 15, 2018, and the remaining by March 15, 2019. PTI editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 21 Claiming that Air India intended to restructure flights operating to and from the Chandigarh international airport, the airlines today told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it planned early morning flights between the city and Delhi for providing connectivity to European flights. It also told the High Court that it planned additional capacity only after the airport was 24-hour functional. The Bench was also told that Chandigarh-Bangkok was making losses on a monopoly sector from the start. As such, a decision was taken to withdraw the flight. It added that Air India was in a financial crisis and could not afford to operate loss-making routes. The High Court was also told that Air India had written to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation seeking permission to operate hub and spoke flights from the Chandigarh airport. If granted, it would greatly help Air India provide better connectivity and ease of travel to the people of Chandigarh and adjoining areas. The spoke-hub pattern is a form of transport topology optimisation in which traffic planners organise routes as a series of spokes that connect outlying points to a central hub. In an affidavit submitted before the High Court, Meenakshi Malik, executive director, sales and marketing, Air India, said it could introduce a new early morning flight on Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi sector from January next year. The flight would depart from Delhi around 7 am and arrive at Chandigarh around 8 am. The departure time from Chandigarh to Delhi would be 8.45 am and the arrival in Delhi would be at 9.45 am. This was subject to regulatory approvals and availability of slots from Delhi and Chandigarh. She said the route would enable passengers from five states adjoining Chandigarh to connect to European flights such as London, Paris, Frankfurt, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Rome, Milan, Vienna and Madrid. The morning flight would also provide connectivity to Bangkok from Delhi in the afternoon. After the restructuring, the number of flights between Delhi and Chandigarh would be 14 per week from the current seven. The Bench was also told that the Chandigarh-Bangkok flight was incurring losses from the beginning. Air India continued to operate on this sector, thereby giving enough time for the flight to stabilise and generate revenue. However, it did not happen. editorial@tribune.com Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 21 Acting tough against parking operator Arya Toll Infra, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) today imposed a penalty of Rs 18 lakh on it for the violation the parking contract. Earlier this month, the MC had fined the firm to the tune of Rs 22 lakh for the violation of the contract. With the recent penalty, the total amount to be realised from the company has reached Rs 40 lakh. Notably, despite a hike in parking rates, the firm had failed to provide several facilities to commuters. More than 50 violations were during inspects by the MC recently. Most notices to the firm were issued for failing to tackle haphazard parking in Sectors 7, 8, 17 and 34. During inspections by the MC, four-wheelers were seen parked in the lanes meant for two-wheelers. The absence of adequate manpower and CCTV cameras was also notices at parking lots. The firm had also failed to provide separate lanes for differently abled. Sources said the drive against the violation of the parking contract had been intensified after an observation by the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding the mismanagement at parking lots. Maheshinder Singh Sidhu, a city councillor, said the MC should continue with the drive against the violations. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 22 Two days after a woman was attacked with a hammer at her house in Sector 38, the UT police arrested a 50-year-old man, a resident of Sector 22, who had assaulted the victim. The police claimed that the incident was a fallout of a financial dispute between the duo. The suspect, Anil Mahajan, alias Neeta, a businessman, had assaulted Neelam Pal Singh at her house on November 20. The suspect arrived at the victims house in the morning and assaulted her following an altercation. The police said the suspect had escaped to Amritsar after the incident and he was arrested from near the Golden Temple. Police officials claimed that the suspect knew the victim since she was residing in Sector 23. The suspect had lent Rs 4 lakh to the victim, a social worker. He had borrowed the money from a financier, who was pressuring him to return the amount, said a city police official. On the day of the incident, the suspect went to the victims house and asked for the money. Following an argument with the victim, Neeta, in a fit of rage, attacked her with a hammer, which was lying in the room. The suspect then escaped from the spot. The police said Neeta was earlier running a shop in Sector 23, Chandigarh, which was closed due to business losses. He was produced in a local court, which remanded him in one-day police custody. We have to recover the hammer used in the crime by the assailant, said the city police. Shiv Visvanathan Shiv Visvanathan Academic Associated with Compost Heap Arvind Kejriwal is a strange figure in Indian politics. He has about him a protean look, which takes one to moral heights, but the next moment, he sounds pedestrian, banal like a clerk fumbling in a government corridor. A friend of mine, an acute and unforgiving observer of politics, once said, "He is the only man who can turn an epic drama into a limerick in five minutes." Earlier, I felt the charge was harsh but now more and more, one senses the truth of it. Kejriwal still fascinates. Within Delhi, he is impressive. Some of the work his party has done around medicine and education, of involving migrants within the rhythm of the city is worth voting for. But Kejriwal loses his magic outside Delhi. An editor of a leading journal once told me, "He treats Delhi like a mohalla, an adda, and it works. He conveys the sense of the human and the humane. But Kejriwal, like the Greek mythical hero, loses power the minute he moves beyond the ground of Delhi. The minute AAP as a party stretches out or crosses the state border into Punjab, Rajasthan or Haryana, he becomes inane. From a proactive leader, he turns supplicant. From a seasoned politician, he becomes a babe in the woods. Kejriwal's behaviour over the last week has been illustrative of this. The Chief Minister was in Thana Kalan village in Haryana to give BSF hero Narendra Singh's family a cheque. While answering questions from the press, Kejriwal stated that he was ready to make an alliance with Dushyant Chautala and his father Ajay. He said that Ajay had a clean image and that he held him in high esteem. At one level, the statement looks innocuous. One can even dismiss it as an act of fishing in troubled waters as fabled Chautala family members battle it out against one another amid overwhelming charges of corruption. The question one must ask when Kejriwal uses the word clean is whether does he mean new or is he seriously considering parts of the Chautala clan as politically pure. The comment sounds surreal. Here is a man who made his reputation by talking of transparency, honesty and fighting the dragons of corruption in politics. Yet, in an almost Orwellian way, he seems to suggest that some corrupt politicians are cleaner than the others. Ajay Chautala has been implicated in the job scam. Job scam as a scandal is to the Chautalas what the fodder scam is to Lalu Prasad. It embodied both their control and competition when in power. And yet, here is Kejriwal, like Alice in Wonderland, claiming words will mean what he says. Has Kejriwal become naive or innocent or is he playing in the murky waters of Haryana politics? Is he merely taunting Khattar for ignoring his pleas over the stubble-burning controversy? It is clear that AAP knows that it cannot be an island within the stormy waters of BJP politics. Yet, it is also clear that AAP does not have a strategy for expanding its base beyond Delhi. One feels disappointed. Here was a man who along with Anna Hazare virtually said politics was the art of the impossible. Yet, a few years later, this man now confesses that politics is the art of the possible and that the possible is limited. Kejriwal is running around looking for allies in electoral politics. He seems to forget that his strength and inspiration came from the civil society and the way he inspired idealists to join politics. He was a man who had constructed a hyphen between the effervescence of political movements, their ability to pick big issues and the stability of a political party seeking competence in governance. He has lost that vision of inspiring possibilities. He is looking only into the cupboard of opposition politics, a non-Congress, non-BJP world. He does not realise that the cupboard is bare. The rattles he hears are empty statements, not the promise of a new politics. How does one look at Kejriwal's offer? Does one dismiss it as a straw in the wind to be forgotten as a stray thought in the hustle and bustle of everyday politics? One can even dismiss it at the level of strategy by saying Kejriwal loses his touch when he enters Haryana and Punjab. He could have done wonders about the drug menace in Punjab, but lacked the guts and the imagination to follow it up. Oddly, it is not what Kejriwal says about Haryana or Punjab or even about Kamal Hassan's new party that one has to focus on. In fact, in the last case, Kejriwal was presented by the media as the icing on Hassan's cake, a message that Kamal could do in Chennai, what AAP did in Delhi. Sadly, Kamal Hassan is like an actor without a script. His politics is almost absent-minded. However, it is not tactics or strategy that we have to examine. A psychologist offered me a different hypothesis, he called it impishly "the limits of goodness theory". He added, he borrowed the idea not from psychological classics but from Bollywood narratives. He claimed that in a Bollywood film, like an Amitabh Bachchan classic, good people die before the interval. The good cop, the honest teacher, the moral father is eliminated by the villain. Bollywood argues that mere goodness is almost incompetent. It needs the power of heroic violence to fight evil. Kejriwal, the psychologist argued, was the Bollywood exception: the good politician who had survived after the interval and established himself as a major figure in Indian politics. He went beyond the cameo role to become a perennial figure in politics. Goodness can survive in the right ecology. But my friend did not stop there. He claimed that there was a strange twist in the tale. He referred to psychologist Otto Rank. Rank invented the idea of the double, where a good character creates a second figure, an evil one who haunts him. Most persons have doubles, another grey side which disfigures them. Kejriwal too has a double, but this double operates outside Delhi. The double becomes alive as soon as Kejriwal crosses the borders. As he enters Haryana, Rajasthan or Punjab Kejriwal moves from idealism to instrumentalism, from a democratic idea of politics to a pragmatic, tactical one. Kejriwal would have disowned the Chautalas in Delhi, compared them to the Congress family of the past. But his scenario outside is different. He is fishing for opportunities, forgetting his own ideals. This Kejriwal-II is like any other politician, full of hypocrisy and double-talk, waiting to grab a bit of power. Sadly, the early Kejriwal had powerful critics. Today, his opponents look like him. When he offers a hand to the Chautalas, the media reports it blandly. The sadness begins there. The story lies in the taming of Arvind Kejriwal. His goodness may not last the entire film. Politics has banalised another idealist. Rajesh Ramachandran Rajesh Ramachandran THE Brahminical caste pyramid and its oppressive social hierarchy are hard facts of Indian life. On Sundays, the biggest newspaper of every Indian city announces the caste order of the region in its matrimonial columns, and it is a must-read for all students of politics and sociology. Wedding, interestingly, is one happy occasion when modern, progressive, liberal or radical lies get exposed. The louder the liberals are, greater the chances of a gotra-dowry balancing act. The arrival of modernism in India, if at all, will be first announced in the classified columns of newspapers or (if it happens after the demise of the print) dating websites when women seek men (or women) for what they are and not for the accident of their birth. So, every occasion to talk about casteism, to rip apart casteism and to dismantle the caste structure needs to be grabbed and cherished. Every medium ought to be used. But should a fight against casteism become casteist? That is what some of these poster writers are reducing the epochal struggle against inequity to empty sloganeering. The poster with the slogan, Smash Brahminical patriarchy instead of saying Smash priestly patriarchy serves only in othering a caste or a community. It doesnt help the cause of feminism or the annihilation of caste. The Brahminical superstructure is termed so simply because of the presumed Hindu priestly role in the building of this social pyramid, not because the structure is created or subsumed by one single caste. The superstructure is all about the way castes have been organised and reorganised over centuries in the Indian subcontinent. Though labelled Brahminical, the ones on top of the pyramid are always feudal lords and rarely Brahmins. Most often warlords and their progeny occupy the tip of the pyramid. Remember Gaga Bhatt who was brought in all the way from Varanasi just to anoint Shivaji, the Hindu emperor? After the coronation there was no trace of the Brahmin and his windfall dakshina. Now, the Marathas, who ruled most of India from Delhi to Tanjavur and Gujarat to Odisha, are seeking reservation as a socially and educationally backward community. Yet, in mundane everyday life in rural Maharashtra, a Khairlanji happens every other day. A Bhotmange family gets violated, mutilated and a Dalit cry gets muted. It is the caste hierarchy, no doubt, which perpetuates these heinous crimes on those below the aggressors rung. But it is not about one caste or one label. When used unintelligently, the adjectives in slogans could demean movements and martyrs. Most big instances of caste violence against Dalits have been committed by the Other Backward Classes, not in the name of Brahminism or Hinduism, but in just being the immediate oppressors of the Dalits in a feudal setting. This has been the Indian conditioning all these years. The army of the feudal, landholding castes, the Ranvir Sena, had cut down Dalits in Bihar for organising themselves to collectively challenge the privileged caste oppression. It was a true class war of the Dalits under the leadership of Marxists and Maoists and there was nothing ritualistic about the oppression. To bring in a religious or caste connation while attacking casteism or patriarchy is only an attempt to create a political enemy and to hunt this enemy down on social media and later, if possible, turn it into social strife. The problem here is very peculiar. Apart from a few Buddhists, many of the Dalit activists who are othering the Hindus are Christians. They forget or refuse to acknowledge casteism within the churches. The Meenakshipuram conversion to Islam in 1980 happened because the oppressed Scheduled Caste Pallars of this village did not want to be further humiliated in the local churches of the dominant groups. Casteism in the Catholic and the Anglican churches is as widespread as in any Hindu community, particularly where Christianity is an influential and old religion, as in Kerala. But terming this practice Brahminical is a deliberate attempt in search of a political other. Otherwise, the Vatican itself ought to be Brahminical because it has been blind to a terrible variety of untouchability practiced by some Catholics and their parish priests against Dalits in Tamil Nadu. Worse, the great march of women against patriarchy should not be forced into narrow communal bylanes, where identity politics forces women to accept one category of patriarchy and attack another. Sure, Brahminical Hindus are patriarchal, but so are Muslims and Christians and just about everyone else. Is karva chauth any less patriarchal than burkha? If even a great saint like Mother Teresa has to submit to a male priest for her communion with God, can it be termed Catholic patriarchy? Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Asaram Bapu and Franco Mulakkal are all rape accused, period. There ought not to be any further categories to make them feel special. It was the memory of the Dalit writer Urmila Pawars autobiography, The Weave of My Life, that made the absurdity of this new casteist or communal label for patriarchy so vivid. Sociologist Sharmila Rege in her afterward to this brilliant memoir of a womans struggle for self-expression calls the book a Dalit feminist manifesto. But Pawar doesnt call the patriarchy that she faced all through her life Dalit patriarchy. The woman who comes home from work, does all the chores, massages the drunk husbands feet, has mandatory sex with him and then sits down to read and write is an oppressed woman. It could be a Brahmin or a Shudra or a Dalit. Everyday patriarchy has no caste or community. And religion offers the greatest opportunity for the sustenance of gender inequality. Putting out posters of Catholic patriarchy or Islamist patriarchy will only serve to create new binaries and draw newer lines of hatred. Instead, it is time to attack the priestly class and the patriarchy it practices across communities and religions. rchopra@tribunemail.com New York, November 22 A 22-year-old Indian-origin man in the US has been arrested and charged with sexual enticement of a minor girl through social media, authorities have said. Sachin Aji Bhaskar, a resident of New Yorks Buffalo city, faces a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, maximum of life in prison and a USD 250,000 fine. Assistant US Attorney Wei Xiang said on Tuesday that Bhaskar, using a social media application in August, contacted the 11-year-old girl in Buffalo claiming to be 15. He picked her up by car and returned her home approximately three hours later after having sex with her. He made an initial appearance before US Magistrate Judge Kenneth Schroder and is being held pending a detention hearing. The criminal complaint is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations Child Exploitation Task Force. PTI editorial@tribune.com Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service Gurugram, November 22 Alleged paedophile Sunil also purportedly has necrophilia. The 20-year-old labourer has reportedly admitted to having committed the act on corpses of many victims. The special interrogation team of the Gurugram police is rattled by his monstrous confessions with each passing day. The accused is being interrogated by a team headed by ACP Usha Kundu. I killed for the first time when one of them tried to get away. I killed her and then committed the act. I sometimes raped my victim, killed her and committed the act again. I had to ensure that no girl escaped and so killing her was important, he reportedly told interrogators. He is making many claims and we are in the process of verifying these. His psychological analysis is being done, said Kundu. A Delhi Police team questioned him on Thursday after finding an FIR matching his confession of killing a five-year-old after raping her. Among his major confessions was a minors rape on June 15, 2013. A girl from Nathupur had gone missing from a bhandara in the DLF area and was found critically bleeding near a Metro pillar. My sister was young and loved to eat at community kitchens. As she rushed out that day, my mother asked her to be careful while crossing the road. She did not return till the evening. We went looking for her and found in a pool of blood. I was young and did not know what had gone wrong, said her brother. The victim was referred to Safdurjung Hospital in Delhi, where she underwent multiple surgeries. The child had to undergo counselling for a long time thereafter. She later left for my grandmothers house in Chennai. The trauma continued for my mother, who died on October 27 this year. She was suffering from fever, which doctors later claimed was dengue. Her last wish was to get the accused hanged. I will not tell this to my sister as she hates coming here, he added. Mind-rattling confessions monicakchauhan@gmail.com Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 22 In a shocking incident, three policemen from Bahadurgarh Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police allegedly kidnapped a businessman from west Delhi at gunpoint and released him after receiving extortion money of Rs 19 lakh. The policemen assistant-sub inspector (ASI) Sandeep, ASI Lokesh and Constable Pramod have been suspended after preliminary inquiries by the state police confirmed their role in the abduction and kidnapping, said B Satheesh Balan, DIG, SFT, Bhondsi. Balan said the STF had received information in this regard and during a preliminary inquiry all the three policemen were found guilty of abduction and extortion. What was even more shocking was the fact that those who did this all were members of the SFT, a special force of the Haryana Police constituted recently to check organised crimes in the national capital region (NCR) The incident occurred on October 31 when the businessman was abducted from Ranjit Nagar at gunpoint by Bahadurgarh STF of the Haryana Police. Later, the policemen released him in Rohini area after he was made to cough out Rs 19 lakh. The businessman approached a Delhi court when even the Delhi police allegedly refused to register his complaint. The act of the STF cops was caught in CCTV cameras. In the CCTV footage of the incident, the businessman can be clearly seen being taken away by gun-toting policemen in plain clothes. Haryana Director General of Police BS Sandhu said that immediately after receiving a complaint he ordered an inquiry by Balan and action has been initiated against the guilty. rchopra@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service Bhiwani, November 22 An armed youth on Thursday decamped with Rs 1 lakh from the Government College extension counter of the State Bank of India here after seriously injuring the guard. The youth walked inside the bank around 11 am and attacked guard Ishwar Singh with a sharp-edged weapon. The youth demanded cash from the cashier and was handed over around Rs 1 lakh. The man disappeared from the bank on foot. SP Ganga Ram rushed to the bank. Students took the guard to the civil hospital where doctors referred him to the PGI, Rohtak. editorial@tribune.com Hisar, November 21 Leader of Opposition Abhay Chautala today said he has asked the INLD office-bearers in Rohtak to get a criminal case registered against those who created ruckus at the party office in Rohtak. In a veiled attack on the Ajay group, Abhay alleged that those who had been branding him as goon have been resorted vandalism in the party office. He said they would lodge a criminal complaint against those who removed flag and torn posters at the Rohtak office. The INLD leader said the supporters of the splinter group would not be allowed to enter the party offices. If the office is a personal property of somebody, he or she can seek rent via proper channel by taking recourse to law. And if the owner want to get the premises vacated, they can approach us to discuss the matter, he said, adding that at present these premises are the party offices of the INLD. He said if a Rohtak-like incident occurs anywhere where the party offices are located, they would seek the polices intervention. Reacting to Ajays statement that he had gifted party and symbol to him (Abhay), he asked whether it was his birthday that Ajay made the gesture of gifting him the party and the symbol. TNS INLD men file plaint against Ajay's supporters Rohtak: District INLD president Satish Nandal and office secretary Mukhtyar Singh lodged a police complaint against supporters of expelled party leader Ajay Singh Chautala and his MP son Dushyant Chautala on Wednesday. In the complaint, the INLD office-bearers stated that several persons entered the INLD office here on Tuesday and removed party flag, damaged property and disrupted office record. The complaint mentions 16 supporters of Dushyant and Ajay, including Dharampal Makdauli, Balwan Singh Suhag, Rajesh Saini, Sandeep Hooda and Sanjay Balhara, by name, apart from 30-40 unknown persons. However, no FIR had been registered on the complaint till the time of filing this report. tns amansharma@tribunemail.com Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service Gurugram, November 22 He was not just a brutal paedophile but even a necrophiliac. This confession by 20-year-old labourer Sunil who raped corpses of many of his victims to "make the most of his catch" has rattled police. The special interrogation team of Gurugram police is rattled by monstrous confessions the accused is making while in remand. The accused being interrogated by team headed by ACP Usha Kundu and the interrogation transcript revealed that the accused had raped corpses of many of his victims. "I first did it when one of them (the victim) tried to get away. I killed her and then raped her and found it was no different. I sometimes raped them before and after the death. I had to ensure the no girl, whom I kidnapped, escaped. So death was the only way out," the accused told the interrogators. "He is making many claims and we are in process of verifying the same. The psychological analysis of accused is being done. After verification we will confirm the same," said ACP Kundu. Amongst his major confessions is the sensational rape of a minor in 2013. The city was shocked in 2013 when a girl of Nathupur went missing from a Bhandara in DLF area and was found bleeding near a Metro pillar. The case led to huge uproar as the child was referred to Safdurjung Hospital in Delhi where she underwent multiple surgeries. The child had to undergo counselling for long time and after that family sent her to relatives. "It took us a lot of efforts to get her out of trauma. She was too young then and as she grew she knew what had happened. Today we don't want her to know who did it but want that monster dead," said one of her uncles. The accused also got police on its toes by claiming that he had raped a girl and dumped her at an empty ground at Huda city centre. The case was never reported and when police reached the spot construction had begun and no evidence was ever recovered. He also reportedly told police that he had kidnapped a girl from Ghasola village but was caught and beaten some months back. Meanwhile, a team of Delhi police today reached and questioned him as they have traced an FIR matching his confession of killing a five-year-old girl after rape. The Jhansi team will be reaching here tomorrow and both will be seeking the accused on production remand. editorial@tribune.com Our Correspondent Sonepat, November 21 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday hinted that his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could ally with the new outfit to be launched by Ajay Chautala if the latter makes an offer in this connection. Kejriwal told this to the media in the districts Thana Kalan village. He visited the village to hand over a cheque for Rs1 crore to the widow of BSF havildar Narender Singh, who was killed by Pakistani troops along the International Border near Jammu last month. Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala is a young leader with a clean image. I hold him high esteem. If they (Ajay and his son Dushyant) express willingness to ally with AAP, we will consider the offer seriously, he said. Ajay has already announced that his outfit would align with any party other than the BJP or the Congress, while Dushyant has hinted that the proposed party would enter into an alliance either with AAP or BSP. Kejriwals offer has come as a surprise to political observers. All along, his poll plank has been transparency in public life. In contrast, Ajays image has been tainted by a conviction in a job scam case. He is serving a 10-year-imprisonment in the JBT recruitment scam case. Accompanied by state AAP president Naveen Jaihind, Kejriwal reached Thana Kalan village in the evening and met the martyrs family. The AAP Government had earlier approved a proposal to amend a rule on awarding ex gratia of Rs1 crore to the family of slain security personnel to include those who have settled in the National Capital after joining service. Addressing a gathering in the village, Kejriwal said, We are all proud of his sacrifice. He questioned why successive governments do not give a befitting reply to Pakistan. Narenders widow Santosh and son Mohit thanked the Delhi Chief Minister for helping the families of martyrs. They hoped the Haryana Government would keep its promise of financial help and a government job to one of the members of the family. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Shimla, November 22 The Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (KSS) on Thursday submitted a list of 27 apple farmers to Agricultural Minister Ram Lal Markanda whose payments worth Rs 53.28 lakh have not been released by arhtiyas. The farmers also sought lodging of FIRs against the arhtiyas. The samiti also cited the copy of the complaint which 19 farmers from Kotkhai, Narkanda and Kumarsain had submitted to the Station House Officer, Theog in October last. No FIR had been lodged so far. The samiti has sought action by the minister, who was apprised of the fleecing of the farmers by arhtiyas under the APMC Act. The samiti has demanded that the minister should direct the APMC, Shimla and Kullu and HP state agricultural market board to lodge FIRs against the erring arhtiyas so that the farmers get their dues. It was alleged that the arhtiyas charge Rs 15 to Rs 20 per carton from small farmers as loading and unloading charges as against Rs 5 per carton. The farmers said the cheques they issued earlier had bounced. The complaints are pouring in, said KSS secretary Sanjay Chauhan. He said the minister told them that he had directed the MD of the market board and manager of the APMC to lodge FIRs against the arhtiyas. MD of the HP state agriculture marketing board RK Kaundal said that they would lodge FIRs on the complaints of the farmers as and when they were received. editorial@tribune.com Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, November 22 The Himachal Government will raise loans worth Rs 500 crore to meet its developmental needs and to meet its committed liabilities of salary and pensions towards its retired and serving employees. The debt trap in the cash-strapped state has mounted to Rs 48,973 crores by the end of August 2018. The BJP regime has raised loans to the tune of Rs 2,587 crore between December 2017 and August 2018, revealed officials. With this latest loan of Rs 500 crore, the total loan raised by the government will cross Rs 3,000 crore mark. As per the notification issued by the Department of Finance today, the loan has been raised with the consent of the Central Government as required under Article 293 (3) of the Constitution of India. Notwithstanding the blame game for financial woes of the state that the two main political parties the Congress and the BJP love to engage in, the government in line with the past tradition has invited suggestions from the general public, industry, farmers, various association and NGOs before the next budget for the year 2019-20 is presented. The budget session of the Vidhan Sabha which is normally held in March-April too has been advanced. It will now be held in January -February in view of the parliamentary polls in May next year. This has been done to reflect the aspirations of various stakeholders in the budget and make to make it more people centric and participative. The Chief Minister has held meetings with the tourism and Civil Aviation, Public Works and Excise and Taxation departments during the last two days to review the progress of the ongoing projects. He sought from the official the details of the spending and the programmes they would want to be included in the budget for the year 2019-20. The committed liability on account of the salary burden of all government employees as of now is Rs 9,500 crore annually, besides Rs 4,900 crore pensionary liability, revealed officials. The Jai Ram Government has identified six core areas namely power, infrastructure, industry, tourism, agriculture-horticulture and allied sector and services for bringing in the much-needed revenue. The disturbing trend of declining revenue from the power sector which had dipped to Rs 700 crore in 2016-17 had improved somewhat in 2017-18. As compared to revenue of about Rs 700 crore from the power sector at in 2016-17, it touched Rs 900 rores in 2017-18. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Mandi, November 21 Traffic movement was hampered on the Chandigarh-Manali highway near Banala because of a massive landslide. The four-laning of the highway is under progress and the National Highways Authority of India has engaged its workforce and machinery for the work. Deep cutting towards hillside had caused the face of the hilltop to slide, resulting in the landslide around 9:30 am. This blocked traffic between Mandi and Kullu and the movement of vehicles remained hit for hours. The traffic had hardly been restored when a massive landslide again blocked the road. A big boulder was hanging on upper side of road, which could be a potential threat to the vehicles moving on road side. The district administration has asked the authorities concerned to break the boulder through blasting to avoid any danger to human life. Hitesh Lakhanpal, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mandi, said Due to landsliding, traffic movement on the Chandigarh-Manali highway near Banala remained suspended since morning. To avoid a pile-up we have diverted traffic movement on the alternate route via Katola. He said that in view of public safety the traffic movement has been stopped for night on the Chandigarh-Manali highway via Banala, which is expected to be restored on Thursday. As the alternate route via Katola between Mandi and Kullu is not good enough for the movement of heavy vehicles, a large number of tourist buses were left stranded either in Kullu or Mandi side waiting for the restoration of the road at the earliest. editorial@tribune.com Dipender Manta Tribune News Service Mandi, November 22 The traffic that was halted on Wednesday following a massive landslide near Banala on the Chandigarh-Manali highway was restored today. The four-laning of the highway is in progress. Cutting of hills had resulted in the landslide, blocking the road between Mandi and Kullu for over 24 hours. As the alternative route via Katola between Mandi and Kullu is not good enough for heavy vehicles, a large number of tourist buses were left stranded waiting for the opening of the road. A boulder hanging on the hilltop is still posing a threat to vehicles. The district administration has asked the authorities to break the boulder through blasting to avoid any danger to human life. Hoteliers of Kullu-Manali alleged that due to unscientific cutting by the NHAI, the landslide took place, inconveniencing tourists coming to Manali or going back to Chandigarh or Delhi. Budhi Prakash Thakur, a hotelier of Manali, said due to the widening on the Chandigarh-Manali highway, the tourism industry of Kullu-Manali had been suffering for two years as frequent landslides blocked the road for hours, causing long traffic jams. Mandi DSP Hitesh Lakhanpal said the road had been opened to traffic after 24 hours. However, the boulder threat persisted for vehicles. The authorities were trying to split the boulder through blasting to avoid any danger to human life. He said the district administration was monitoring the situation regularly. rchopra@tribunemail.com New Delhi, November 22 BJP general secretary Ram Madhav Thursday withdrew his words after a furious NC leader Omar Abdullah dared him to prove his allegation that his party had tied up with the PDP to form government in Jammu and Kashmir at Pakistan's behest. The BJP and National Conference (NC) leaders exchanged sharp words on Twitter, a day after the state's governor dissolved the assembly, with Madhav asking Abdullah to fight the next polls together with the PDP if "genuine love" between the two parties promoted a "failed government" formation attempt. No, misplaced attempts at humour wont work. You HAVE claimed my party has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pak behest in public domain. Its an open challenge to you & your Govt. https://t.co/7cumKwKxuM Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 22, 2018 PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had Wednesday written to Governor Satya Pal Malik that she will stake claim to form government with the support of the Congress and the NC. It was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. As Malik dissolved the assembly, Madhav, who is his party's point person for the state, alleged that "fresh instructions" were given to the two regional parties from across the border to come together and form a government. The NC and PDP, he alleged, had boycotted local body polls in the state earlier because of instructions from Pakistan. Both regional parties have been arch political rivals in the state. Abdullah took to Twitter to hit out at the BJP leader. "You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Don't practice shoot & scoot politics," the former chief minister said. Ram Madhav responded, "Just take it in your stride Omar Abdullah. Not questioning your patriotism at all. But the sudden love between NC and PDP and the hurry to form government leads to many suspicions and political comments. Not to offend you." In the tweet, he added an emoji with a toothy smile. Just landed@Aizawl n saw this. Now tht u deny any external pressure I take back my comment, bt, now tht u proved it ws genuine love btw NC n PDP tht prompted a failed govt formation attempt,u shud fight nxt elections 2gether. Mind u its pol comnt,not personal https://t.co/DsOYiwwXmo Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2018 Abdullah did not seem amused. "No, misplaced attempts at humour won't work. You HAVE claimed my party has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pak behest in public domain," he tweeted. Ram Madhav then responded with a tweet which appeared to be aimed at defusing the tensions. "Now that you deny any external pressure I take back my comment, but now that you proved it was genuine love between NC and PDP that prompted a failed government formation attempt, you should fight next elections together. Mind you it's political comment and not personal," he said, adding a laughing emoji. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, the NC leader repeated his demand for an apology from Madhav. "You cannot undermine the sacrifices made by National Conference workers in protecting the sovereignty of this country. He must apologise," he said. Expressing shock over Madhav's allegations, PDP chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti questioned the BJP over casting aspersions over a party's nationalistic credentials. Shocked to see baseless allegations against mainstream parties in JK following dictates from Pakistan levelled by @rammadhavbjp ji, she said in a tweet. - PTI editorial@tribune.com New Delhi, November 21 J&K ex-CM and Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad today said the government panicked and dissolved the Assembly merely on basis of rumours. The BJP, however, called for fresh polls at the earliest, slamming the proposed alliance of Opposition parties as a combination of terror-friendly parties. The BJP was afraid of any other party staking claim to form the government. We had been in talks with our MLAs in to discuss what should be done. We had called a meeting earlier this week and the NC called a meeting yesterday but neither of the parties PDP, NC or Congress wanted a CM post or to form a government at this moment. A fearful BJP went ahead and dissolved the Assembly on rumours, Azad said. The BJP said on Twitter that the border state cannot afford horse-trading and instability keeping its security scenario in mind. "The proposed alliance between the Congress and the PDP broke up even before it was formed. They have taken contradictory positions on dissolution. One supports it and the other opposes it. The best option in such a scenario is to go in for a fresh election at the earliest. This Assembly cannot produce a stable government," it said. TNS/PTI editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 22 A day after being accused of joining hands with the National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the behest of Pakistan, state Congress president GA Mir on Thursday questioned BJPs notion of nationalism and alliance with Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone. The J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president asked the BJP if former separatist Sajad had been delinked from the ISI and why it never projected a leader from Jammu as its chief ministerial candidate. I want to tell their (BJP) leader in Delhi that the combination you were moving along and the person which the BJP was projecting (as CM) when did he get delinked from the ISI. Have you taken a certificate for him? When someone supports you, you think he is a nationalist, Mir told reporters here. As the BJP in the past has been repeatedly raking up the issue of alleged discrimination with Jammu and Ladakh regions, Mir said: You talk about Jammu and Ladakh. Did you (BJP) propose a single candidate as a chief minister after getting majority from the Jammu region? Why dont you declare a CM face from Jammu to be the partys chief ministerial candidate? He also told the BJP to prove its allegation of the Congress links with Pakistan or else apologise. Mir pointed out that the BJP always looked towards Kashmir and on the other hand was neglecting Jammu. You surrendered before a Kashmir-centric party (PDP) for forming the (previous) government and even now your plan (for forming government) was via Kashmir (through Sajad). I would have appreciated if you had shown any courage and brought forward a face of the BJP from Jammu, he said. Terming Governor SP Maliks decision of dissolving the Assembly undemocratic, Mir claimed it was taken on the directions of New Delhi. He said the Congress would support the PDP if it chose to take legal action against the Governor. When asked if the Congress had agreed to support the NC and PDP to stake claim in the government, Mir said there was no question of going back as the coming together of the two state-based parties was an uphill task. Mir said the combination of the three parties was inevitable even as he said the Congress had not yet given a formal letter of support to the proposed alliance. Valley leaders slam Governors decision Srinagar: CPM leader MY Tarigami on Thursday termed the dissolution of the Assembly a decision taken in haste and not keeping in mind the constitutional spirit. Unfortunately, constitutional procedures were not followed. The Governor, who had declared days ago that the Assembly would not be dissolved, lost no time in going for dissolution, he said. Terming the move a fixed match, Independent legislator Engineer Rasheed said none of the three parties who had formed an alliance were serious in what they pretended to be. editorial@tribune.com Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 22 The PDP wont be moving the Supreme Court against the Governors decision of Assembly dissolution, top party leaders said on Thursday. While PDP leaders and former legislators of the party were scheduled to hold a meeting on Thursday, it had to be cancelled due to the fourth day of mourning of former Chief Secretary Iqbal Khanday, who died on Monday. A few party leaders, however, met informally and have also decided not to move court for any remedial measures, a senior party leader said. The party leaders discussed the overall political situation in the wake of the Assembly dissolution. After the Assembly was dissolved late on Wednesday, there were speculations that the PDP, which had staked the claim for government formation, could move the Supreme Court and challenge the Governors decision for its revival. Meanwhile, Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone said if Mehbooba Mufti feels slighted why doesnt she go to court. If @MehboobaMufti feels slighted y doesnt she go to court. Let her approach the court and hopefully get an order to revive Assembly and we hopefully will prove we have the numbers, on the floor of the Assembly, Lone tweeted. PDP chief spokesman Rafi Ahmed Mir said the party leaders did not meet formally to build any consensus on the issue of approaching the court. We have not taken any decision to move the court against the Governors decision, Mir said. He, however, termed the decision of the dissolution of the Assembly unconstitutional. editorial@tribune.com Sumit Hakhoo Tribune News Service Jammu, November 22 A day after high-voltage political drama over government formation in J&K and subsequent dissolution of the Legislative Assembly by Governor Satya Pal Malik, people are feeling cheated and confused about power politics being played in the state. While the war of words have begun between the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Congress and the BJP accusing each other for the present mess, there is a general perception among the masses that their faith in politicians and parties has been shaken. Ignoring the promises made to the citizens, even arch-rivals NC and PDP can go to any extent for power. Legitimate mandate of voters is in tatters. Politics is getting murkier day by day in J&K, said Tarsem Kumar, owner of a transport company. On June 19, when the PDP-BJP government parted ways, people were happy in Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir valley. The imposition of the Governors rule was willingly welcomed, but the latest developments in the state have left the public bewildered. The Agenda of Alliance, which glued two ideologically different parties in the militancy-hit Himalayan state, was termed as the guiding framework for governance by late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, but the state is passing through a phase of uncertainty now. The grand Agenda of Alliance formulated between the BJP and the PDP flopped in three years. We had expected a new phase of politics in the state after the 2014 Assembly polls, but the state today is more divided than together, said Sheikh Pervez, a social activist from Bhaderwah. Meanwhile, the Dogra Front activists welcomed the Governors decision on the dissolution of the Assembly. The decision will pave the way for the conduct of fresh Assembly polls in the state. Continue Guvs rule, PM Modi urged The National Mazdoor Conference (NMC) on Thursday urged the Prime Minister to continue the Governors rule in J&K till the problems of people were fully addressed. Its members appreciated the historic initiatives taken by Governor SP Malik for expediting development activities, strengthening democracy at the grass-roots level, and ensuring accountability and good governance. Subash Shastri, president, NMC, said unprecedented development had taken place in the state during the short span of the Governors administration. editorial@tribune.com Ehsan Fazili Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 22 A day after Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Legislative Assembly following hectic political developments, National Conference vice-president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said his party had supported the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the interest of the state. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Omar said essentially the party was not in favour of supporting the PDP, but talks had been going on for the past one and a half months. We felt that people were facing problems. There was a need to defend Article 35A that was being weakened and attempts were being made to disturb communal harmony in the state, Omar said. He said the objective behind extending support to the PDP was not to be in power but to save the people of the state. On the PDPs letter to the Governor staking a claim to form the government, Omar said its support was yet to get a nod from the NC leaders consensus and its core group meeting that was scheduled here on Thursday morning. But the PDP decided to go ahead, he said, adding that the NCs support was understood. Omar said any decision to challenge the Governors decision to dissolve the Assembly rested with the PDP. He sought an investigation into the Governors observations on the reports of horse-trading and possible exchange of money in order to secure the support of legislators. Omar said since the collapse of the PDP-BJP coalition government, the NC had been in favour of dissolution of the Assembly and holding fresh elections. shriaya.dutta@tribuneindia.com Tribune Web Desk Chandigarh, November 22 Husband and wife Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone had a gala time on Wednesday when they celebrated their first wedding reception in Deepikas hometown Bengaluru. The reception took place at The Leela. After the reception, the couple will fly back to Mumbai for two more wedding receptions. The second reception is going to be held on November 28 at the Grand Hyatt which is solely for family and friends. This function starts at 8 pm. On December 1 will be their third reception which is for their friends in the Industry. The twist with this event is that it has a theme. The couple has asked the guests to wear Black Tie. This function is also being celebrated at The Grand Haytt, starting at 9 pm. Ranveer and Deepika left on November 3 for Italy and got married at the Villa del Balbianello with two ceremonies Konkani-style wedding on November 14 and a traditional Anand Karaj on November 15. Swarajbir Swarajbir Wont you wait for the full moon? With this long poem she posed an eternal question before the masses of Pakistan. It was the 1980s, when Fahmida Riaz weaved verses around the defeat of democracy and death of pro-people politics in her beloved country. She reminded the political leaders that it was their duty to fight to uphold the ideals of democracy. Had they fought back along with the masses, I would have surely penned their heroic song too. I am just a balladeer. The poet of resistance passed away in Lahore on Wednesday. She was 72. Born in Meerut, Riaz entered the literary world with her anthology of poetry Pathar Ki Zuban in 1967. In her second book, Badan Darida, published in 1973, she created a new poetic language, the language of feminine sensuality. She authored 15 books of both poetry and prose, and remained aligned to the Pakistan Peoples Party. Her stinging poetry invited the ire of both the fundamentalists and the establishment. In the times of Zia-ul-Haq, she had to leave her beloved motherland and stayed in Delhi for six years. Here she taught at Delhis Jamia Millia Islamia University and became friends with celebrated Punjabi poet Amrita Pritam. She had seen the impact of fundamentalist politics in Pakistan. When she saw it raising its head in India, she came out with a brilliant poetic response: Tum bilkul hum jaise nikale, Ab tak kahan chhippe the bhai (So, you turned out to be just like us. Where were you hiding all this while, my friend) She could see that just like Pakistan, India was knee deep in orthodox communal politics. She continued with the sharp satire in the same poem: Voh moorkhta, voh ghammadpan/ Jisme humne sadi gawai/ Aakhir pahunchi dwar tumhare/ Arre badhai, bohat badhai. (That foolishness, that ignorance/ We lost the century/ Look, now it has knocked your door/ Many, many congratulations to you!) Fahmida Riaz sang the songs of human liberation, the songs of womens freedom. Her life was full of struggle. She created beautiful verses, which could never be chained, just like the words of Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Parveen Shakir. She will always be remembered in the same literary tradition. shalender@tribune.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 Societies worldwide are facing the challenges of terrorism and environmental degradation. What can we draw from the teachings of Guru Nanak to tide over these? Three things in Guru Nanaks life are very important. First is his emphasis on gender equality. Guru Nanak wanted men and women to be treated equally and his message was so kyun manda aakhiye jit janmain rajjan. Today in our own country atrocities against women and children are on the increase. It is, therefore, necessary to take Guru Nanaks message to all nooks and corners of the country to emphasise the need for paying adequate attention to the wellbeing of our women and children. Guru Nanak laid great emphasis on the protection of environment water, air and Mother Earth. We end Japuji Sahib with a reference to the need to protect environment. The challenge is to live in harmony with nature. Thirdly, the Guru emphasised the need for inter-faith harmony and sustained dialogue among religions and religious communities. He travelled the world to promote the culture of dialogue among various religious groups, whether it was the yogis of the Himalayas or the maulvis of Mecca. His message is that all religions have merit and it is necessary to learn from each other to ensure harmonious living. This message of Guru Nanak is as relevant today as it was when he lived. The Guru preached a world without boundaries but we are living in a world increasingly defined by boundaries. Is this why the world is moving away from his teachings? Well, the world will have to come back to the path shown by Guru Nanak Dev ji. It is true there is so much strife in our country, so many religious disputes and caste rivalries. These are not conducive to harmonious living and, therefore, the message of Guru Nanak of promoting inter-faith dialogue and harmony is paramount. Guru Nanak said naa koi Hindu naa Musalman. Everyone is to be judged by what one does in his life. Guru Nanak lived for the poor and shared his earnings. But world is becoming increasingly self-centred The basic message of Guru Nanak is equity and equality. Therefore, equitable distribution of income and wealth is an integral part of the teachings of Sikh Gurus. Equitable distribution of income, dealing constructively with social and economic inequalities, is integral to the message Guru Nanak gave to the world. Radicalism has been on the rise across the world. Is there a lesson to be drawn from Gurus teachings? All sorts of fundamentalism are inconsistent with the message of Guru Nanak and other Sikh Gurus. Caste barriers were decried by the Guru. He emphasised equality of human beings and, therefore, the need for promoting inter-faith dialogue. So you are saying that inter-faith dialogue is the best solution to religious fundamentalism? Yes, that is the only solution. Guru Nanak established the city of Kartarpur where there was harmony of every kind. Do you think such a society is possible today? I think technology has brought new challenges. I dont believe we can reverse the march of technology, and with technology comes growing urbanisation. I dont think we can bring back the type of model Guru Nanak Dev ji showed and worked on in Kartarpur. But his message of kirat karna, wand chhakna, naam japna is as relevant in modern society as it was during Guru Nanaks time. The basic message is still valid for the wellbeing of humankind. The youth appear to be increasingly losing touch with religion and spirituality your thoughts? My message to the youth is they must get away from the path of drugs, which is destroying the vitality of the youth of Punjab. The path shown by Guru Nanak can lead us to a life of piety and self-control, which is essential for harmonious living. Are lack of jobs and economic strife also reasons why youth are unable to turn to spirituality? Joblessness is a major problem affecting our young. This problem must be tackled frontally. What does religion mean to you personally? It means being a good citizen, trying to do my duty and leading a life of dignity and self-respect. Do you think religious identities and religious symbolism are important? Well, we cannot wish away symbolism but it need not be used to promote destructive ends. Sikhism has spread worldwide because of the Sikh diaspora. What would you say to the Sikhs living outside India? The Sikhs are today an international community, found in every part of the world. And where there is a Sikh, there is a gurdwara. Gurdwara is also a place where the tradition of langar, feeding the hungry regardless of their religion and caste, is still practised. To the Sikhs living outside India, my message would be that they have an obligation to be good Sikhs and good citizens of the countries to which they have migrated because their conduct will influence peoples judgement about the community. And, therefore, it is very important for the diaspora, the Sikhs in particular, to set an example of nobility and good living, practising teachings of the Gurus. It is also necessary in our own country to ensure that our religious institutions are not misused to promote religious hatred. What according to you is the role of the SGPC? The SGPC is the supreme religious institution of the Sikhs. It must, therefore, guide the Sikh community to follow the righteous path shown by our Gurus. Punjab has just seen an attack on Nirankari Bhavan in Amritsar on the eve of the 550th Parkash Utsav. Do you see this as an attempt to revive militancy in the state? Terrorism is the enemy of humanity and, therefore, it is the responsibility of all to work for its elimination. No problems are solved by resorting to terrorism and it is, therefore, necessary that all our institutions political, religious and social are mobilised to deal with the scourge of terrorism. Punjab has suffered a great deal in the past and it will be a very sad day if terrorism takes root in Punjab again. Politics is being played out even on Parkash Utsav. The SGPC and the Punjab Government are organising their own functions. All this when the Guru preached unity My feeling is that all segments of the Sikh society and other religious communities, whether Hindus or Muslims, Guru Nanak was common to all. Guru Nanaks message has universal validity and this must be an occasion to unite all communities in promoting the cult of good and honest living among our people. shalender@tribune.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said Guru Nanak Devs message of inter-faith dialogue was the best solution to terrorism and fundamentalism and should be followed to promote harmony in the country, which is witnessing strife, religious disputes and caste rivalries. Guru Nanaks message that all religions have merit and it is necessary to learn from each other is as relevant today as it was when He lived in our midst, the former PM said in an exclusive interview to The Tribune on the eve of the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of the founder of Sikh religion. He stressed the urgency of mobilising all institutions political, religious and social to end the scourge of terrorism. In reference to the recent terror act on the Nirankari congregation in Amritsar, he said that Punjab had suffered enough and it would be sad if terrorism were to again take root in the state. The Congress veteran called upon all segments of the Sikh society, the Hindus and Muslims and all others, to unite on the occasion of Parkash Utsav to promote the cult of good and honest living preached and practised by Guru Nanak. A practising Sikh and Indias first Sikh PM, Dr Singh quoted poet Allama Iqbal, who best described the Masters advent: Phir uthi aakhir sada tauheed ki Punjab seHind ko ek mard-e-kaamil ne jagaaya khwaab se shalender@tribune.com Jaipur, November 22 Three friends were killed and one was injured after being hit by a train in the Shanti Kunj area of Rajasthans Alwar district on Tuesday night, the police said today. A preliminary investigation revealed that they were depressed due to unemployment and were under the influence of Mahi the killer video. However, the exact reason behind the move was yet to be ascertained. Those killed were identified as Satynarayan Meena (22), Rishi (17), and Manoj Meena (19), Alwar SP Rajendra Singh Choudhary said. The bodies were handed over to the respective families yesterday. It is difficult to comment whether they had committed suicide due to unemployment It is also being probed whether they were influenced by the said video, the SP said. A high-level probe is underway to ascertain whether it was suicide pact or an accident, he said. OC gspannu7@gmail.com Yash Goyal Jaipur, November 22 Alleging that it was a strangulation of democracy in J&K by misusing the Governors power to dissolve it, the Congress on Thursday demanded that the BJP should either tender an apology to the nation or prove it that PDP-NC-INC are terror front organisations and conspired in Pakistan as said by its BJP state president in J&K. After dissolution of the J&K Assembly last night by the Governor, the BJP leaders specially its state president made a very derogatory remark to the nations people that it was an alliance of terror front organisations and it was conspired in Pakistan, Congress leader Manish Tewari told a press conference here. As the new coalition of NC, PDP and INC decided to give a popular government again in J&K, the Governors power was misused on the hints of the prime minister and the PMO in a hurry last night, he alleged. The Congress party wants the BJP to either prove it immediately or tender an apology to the people of the nation for terming the oldest political parties, including the Congress anti-terror. PDP was pro-national till it was with the BJP in the J&K Government, and suddenly it has become terror outfit? I challenged the BJP to show a single neta who has sacrificed his life to terror. I can count at least 500 such martyrs who gave their lives to save the nation from terror, Tewari claimed. The nation would like to know why the J&K Assembly was not dissolved when the PDP withdrew its support to the BJP? The BJP failed in its attempt to do horse trading of MLAs of other political parties, and when it failed in its conspiracy, and it was exposed that the people of J&K do not want BJP and other MLAs do not want to join them, he asked. The Congress is not a spoiler like the BJP. Had it been the UPA government, and any other political party had come up for the peace of the very sensitive state, we would have welcomed and facilitated it, he said. Tewari also assailed BJP president Amit Shahs statement in Jaipur yesterday where latter termed all other political parties as They are cooperative of corrupt asking who has given a license to the BJP to raise its finger against other political parties. The biggest corruption of the country since Independence was of demonetisation in which 124 crore people were cheated and duped. This was followed by GST which left people in lurch and joblessness, he added. Can PM Modiji make a reply on Union Ariculture Ministrys apprisal to the Finance Ministrys committee that demonetization led to farmers hunger in the country. Farmers could not buy seeds, fertilizers, and they were on verge of hunger dilemma, he jibed. On the Rafale scam, he asked why the PM is not making a statement in public meetings on this deal benefiting a single business tycoon. amansharma@tribunemail.com Mumbai, November 22 The Bombay High Court on Thursday extended till December 14, the interim protection from arrest to activists Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde and Stan Swamy, in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case. A bench of Justices B P Dharamadhikari and Sarang Kotwal also directed the Pune Police to file an affidavit by December 5 this year on its probe into the case. The bench's direction came after the state's counsel, additional government pleader Aruna Pai opposed a plea filed by Navlakha seeking that the FIR in the case against him be quashed. Pai told the bench that while the police had "enough material evidence against Navlakha, it could not yet make the same information public". She added that at the present stage, Swamy and Teltumbde were merely "suspects" in the case and that the police's probe against the two, and the other activists was still ongoing. The bench, however, took a strong exception to Pai's statement and said the prosecution was bound to place on record all the relevant information in the case. "File an affidavit putting on record whatever stage your investigation is right now. Since you are saying you can't make the details public, or known to the other party, place the reasons behind your inability to make it known, also in the affidavit. All that is necessary and relevant to the case must be brought on record," the bench said. The bench also directed the three petitioners to file their counter-affidavits within a week from the date that the police files its affidavit. Navlakha has challenged before the Bombay HC, an FIR registered against him and some other activists on January 1 this year in connection with the Elgar Parishad event held on December 31, 2017. According to police, the Elgar Parishad event was funded and supported by Maoists. At the event, held a day before the January 1 clashes at Bhima Koregaon near Pune, the activists allegedly made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements that contributed to the Koregaon Bhima violence, the police said. Several activists were named in the FIR. Some of them, including Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj, P Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha, were initially put under house arrest on the directions of the Supreme Court. However, all of them, except Navlakha, were recently re-arrested and taken into custody by the police. In October this year, another FIR was registered by the Pune Police on the same issue, naming eight more activists, including Teltumbde and Swamy. Teltumbde and Swamy are yet to be arrested in the case. - PTI shalender@tribune.com Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 India and China have finally firmed up dates for resumption of their bilateral military exercise Hand-in-hand, with the two-week drill set to kick off at Kunming in south-east China on December 10. The Indian Army will be represented by the 11th battalion of the Sikh Light Infantry. The exercise was originally planned in October-November last year, but China backed out in May following the 73-day (June 16-August 28) Doklam standoff. China was to be the host, as per an arrangement to conduct it in each country by rotation. India had hosted it in 2016. So far, there have been six editions of the exercise. It was suspended for five years (2010-14) after China refused visa to then Northern Army Commander Lt Gen BS Jaswal claiming Jammu and Kashmir was a disputed territory. In a turnaround to that stance, the two armies conducted their first-ever joint drill in eastern Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir) in October 2016. The talk of resuming the exercise had started in March this year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had met at an informal summit in Wuhan and issued strategic guidance to their respective militaries. Build trust and have a mechanism to prevent incidents in border regions, said a statement issued from Wuhan. In June, almost an year after Delhi and Beijing were locked in military stand-off at Doklam, the Peoples Liberation Army troops conducted a three-day tactical exercise close to last years confrontation point at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan border. The only difference was India was informed in advance. The drill was conducted from June 6-8 near Chumbi Valley, a Chinese territory located between Sikkim and Bhutan that India literally overlooks 25 km at widest and 2 km at its narrowest. shalender@tribune.com Mukesh Ranjan Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 In view of the massacre in Assams Tinsukia district by Ulfa-I rebels, the Centre has worked out a coordination mechanism for Central and state security forces in three states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland to check free movement of armed rebels. A senior Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official said a decision in this regard was taken at a meeting attended by Special Secretary (Internal Security) Rina Mitra and Joint Secretary (North-East) Satyendra Garg. The meeting was held amid inputs that there had been movement of militants across states and coordination among Central forces and local police was lacking. Senior officers of the police forces of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, GoC of 3 Corps of the Army and senior officers of the Intelligence Bureau, CRPF and Assam Rifles also attended the meeting. The MHA official said the mechanism was aimed at synchronising efforts of range DIGs, SPs, local Army and Central force officers of the bordering districts so that they could have coordinated operations in case of report on the movement of militants. Citing intelligence inputs available with the Centre and states, the official said the possibility of mass killings in the future by insurgent groups could not be ruled out. Therefore, security forces on the ground have been asked to keep surveillance in pockets of Bengali and Hindi-speaking people in Upper Assam districts, he said. Two killed in Assam blast Guwahati: Two persons were killed and several more injured after militants belonging to the anti-talk faction of Ulfa triggered a blast in Assams Sivsagar district on Thursday. Locals said Ulfa militants earlier demanded extortion from the victims. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Melbourne, November 22 India and Australia signed five agreements on Thursday to boost investments and enhance cooperation in key sectors like disability, agricultural research and education as President Ram Nath Kovind met Australian Prime minister Scott Morrison in Sydney. Kovind, the first-ever Indian head of state to visit Australia, arrived in Sydney on Wednesday on the second leg of his two nation trip. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that during the state visit of President Kovind to Australia, five agreements were exchanged in the presence of Marise Payne, Foreign Minister of Australia and Anantkumar Hegde, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, by High Commissioners of both countries. The first agreement was for cooperation in the area of disability and to deliver services to the differently-abled. The second one was between Invest India and Austrade to facilitate bilateral investment. The third agreement was signed between the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, Ranchi, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation, Canberra, to foster scientific collaboration and innovation. The fourth one between the Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, and the University of Western Australia, Perth, for cooperation in agricultural research and education while the last one was between the Indraprashta Institute of Information Technology, New Delhi, and the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane for a joint Ph.D agreement. Following the meeting with President Kovind, Prime Minister Morrison announced the release of Australia's response to the India Economic Strategy, a blueprint to transform the economic engagement. "This report provides a roadmap for our economic future with India," Morrison said. India is the world's fastest growing major economy and offers more opportunity for Australian business over the next 20 years than any other single market, he said. The Australian government said it endorsed the report and provides in-principle support to its 20 priority recommendations. "Our work will focus on greater economic engagement targeting 10 Indian states and 10 key sectors, while providing practical support for Australian businesses entering or expanding operations in India," Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said. Australia also pinpointed the initial implementation plan with key actions for next one year, which will include agreements forged between Austrade and Invest India, the establishment of an Australia-India Food Partnership, opening up new opportunities for agri-tech and service companies and Australia-India Strategic Research Fund grants of up to Australian dollar 500,000. The fund is designed to help researchers solve challenges shared by both nations, including energy storage, marine science and plant genomics. Other actions include the expansion of the Australia-India Mining Partnership at the Indian School of Mines, connecting Australian companies to India's mineral-rich northeastern states, supported by the new Consulate-General in Kolkata, engagement with airlines to increase direct flights through the Australia-India air services agreement. Ministers across education, agribusiness, resources and tourism will oversee progress of the government's response and ongoing implementation of the India Economic Strategy. Morrison along with the ministers for trade and resources will join President Kovind at the launch of the Australian chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry India Business Forum, which will serve as a platform for networking and policy advocacy for Indian businesses in Australia. "I look forward to continue discussing the opportunities presented in the India Economic Strategy with President Kovind, and how we can continue to work together to develop enhanced economic ties," Morrison said. "Today's steps are only the first on a long journey that will see Australia and India grow together," he said. Kovind, who was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour by Governor General Peter Cosgrove in Sydney, will be visiting Melbourne on Friday to address university students. PTI shalender@tribune.com Gitanjali Sharma Tribune News Service Sydney, November 22 President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday raised the pitch for fostering trade relations between India and Australia while delivering the keynote address at the daylong Australian Financial Reviews India Business Summit in Sydney. India and Australia have too much at stake to not up their game. There is enormous room for us to be together. Along with investment, bilateral trade has grown but remains below potential. We have had $27.5-billion bilateral trade but that basket must further grow, said the President, the first head of Indian state to visit the continental nation since Independence. Taking forward the Presidents sentiment, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison talked of harnessing bilateral ties with four pillars education, resources, agriculture and tourism to bring India to the top tier of its investment partners. He appreciated An India economic strategy to 2035, written by Peter N Varghese, former High Commissioner to India. Calling it a blueprint to drive investment over the next 15 years, the 446-page report is aimed at transforming Australias relationship with India and taking the economic partnership between the two nations to a new level. Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham downplayed the dispute between India and Australia over sugar subsidies, saying that WTO disputes can take place between friendly nations, but the bigger picture is of greater significance. The WTO was there for resolving issues in a peaceful manner, and a single issue didnt have to impale other aspects of the bilateral ties. At the end of the day, he said, Australia stayed committed to developing the Indo-Pacific region, and giving a boost to the Indo-Pacific trade bloc. The WTO, incidentally, will hear the matter on November 26. A week after taking the matter to the WTO, the minister admitted that it was possible to negotiate with India to resolve the issue. Upbeat about Peter Vargheses report, he said one of its positives was that it looked at ways to better collaborate in the future. Ideally, he said, with improved capability a point could be reached where perhaps the need to offer subsidies in a sector experiencing overproduction stood dissolved. Our government will be supporting Peters 10 short-term and 10 medium-to-long term priorities in principle and taking specific actions. This is a seminal piece of work that will genuinely act as a roadmap for the journey ahead in our bilateral relationship. And Australia is in it for the long haul. The daylong business summit also saw a series of talks and panel discussions on the challenges and the ways to facilitate economic and cultural bonds between the two democracies. rchopra@tribunemail.com Satna, November 22 Seven schoolchildren and a driver were killed when a bus collided with a school van at Birsinghpur in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, a police official said. At least eight others were injured, police said. As per reports, at least seven schoolchildren travelling in the school van and its driver were killed in the accident, Satna district Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Singh Gaur told PTI. The deceased children were students of Lucky Convent School in Birsinghpur, police said. Senior police and government officials, including Collector Rahul Jain, have rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. Further details are awaited. PTI editorial@tribune.com PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, November 22 It was Avtar Singh who masterminded the grenade attack at Nirankari Bhavan, revealed Bikramjit Singh, who was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the blast. Talking to the media after being produced in the court, he claimed that the entire plan, right from arranging a hand grenade to throwing it at the followers during a religious congregation at Nirankari Bhavan, was hatched by Avtar Singh. Bikramjit said he regretted the ghastly act. I did not want this. I was lured by Avtar into this act, he alleged. On his familys claim that he was being implicated since he (Bikramjit) was working in the fields at the time of the blast, he said he had left the house for fields, but later went to Chak Mishri Khan village to meet Avtar and execute the bombing. On Sunday, I went to Chak Mishri Khan Village on a bike. We removed the number plate of the motorcycle and then proceeded towards Adliwal. We covered our faces on the way, he said. He said he was known to Avtar for the past two years. He said the planning started around three months ago. On November 4, Avtar brought a hand grenade and a pistol from Majitha and on November 13, we conducted a survey of the spot. We looked for a route to escape that did not have any CCTV camera, he claimed. Bikramjit was produced in a court at Ajnala, which sent him to five-day police remand. The police had sought his 14-day custody for interrogating him about the whereabouts of Avtar Singh and other accomplices of the terror module, besides the recovery of weapons, if any. vinaymishra188@gmail.com Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 22 The Punjab Police are investigating the links of Amritsar grenade attack accused Bikramjit Singh (arrested on Wednesday) and Avtar Singh with a Sikh radical leader who was appointed parallel Jathedar of Takht Kesgarh Sahib by the Sarbat Khalsa called by radical Sikhs in November 2015. Official sources in the Punjab Police have told The Tribune that the father of Avtar Singh, who is a dharma fauji (those who quit the Army in wake of Operation Bluestar), was close to parallel Jathedar Amrik Singh Ajnala. The latter is learnt to have not just baptised the Avtars father a few years ago but has been a major religious influencer for the entire family, said a senior police officer. Though Ajnala had quit as parallel Jathedar of Takht Kesgarh Sahib last year, he is still regarded as the Jathedar by radical leaders. Since the arrest of Bikramjit Singh, Ajnala has not been seen on stage at the site of protest by Sikh radical leaders at Bargari. He is believed to be out of state as of now, said a senior police officer. Police sources said accused Bikramjit Singh and Avtar Singh were radicalised after they were befriended by Harmeet Singh Happy, alias PHD. He even imparted them training in using grenades through video calls. PHD knew an Australia-based relative of Avtar and it was through him that he got in touch with Avtar. The accused was running an ayurvedic centre and Bikramjit used to visit him, said a senior police officer. vinaymishra188@gmail.com M Rajivlochan The life of Guru Nanak, who is credited with initiating the Sikh religion, straddled some of the most troubled years for the people of Hindustan. He was born at a time when the Afghans were the rulers. He founded the Sikh faith around the time Sultan Babur conquered Hindustan. He died just before the turbulent rule of Baburs son Humayun was about to end. Local, smaller sardars in India had grown powerful enough during this time to challenge the sovereign. In the ensuing conflicts, it was the common people who suffered the most since the funds for these military conflicts of the Afghan elite were extracted from the commoners. The wealth of Hindustan had Sultan Babur, then based in the salubrious city of Kabul, salivating. He had already conducted a number of small looting raids. My desire for Hindustan had been constant, he would write in his memoir. After spending over two decades ruling over the small kingdom of Kabul, he felt himself ready to launch a larger raid into the depths of Hindustan. This resulted in the fabled first battle of Panipat in which the Afghan sultan was defeated. Babur decided to stay put in Hindustan even while his military commanders complained of the heat and dust of the north Indian plains. Once again, the greatest price to be paid for the doings of these military adventurers was by the people, especially those who lived in the region between the right bank of the Yamuna river and the foothills of the northern mountains. In the 16th century, this region would be given the name with which it is best identified today: Punjab. This was not one of the most prosperous regions of those times. But it was the region that had to bear the brunt of the adventurers who came to loot India from the north. This was also the time when a large number of religious leaders, none of them from the twice-born castes, were gaining popularity among the people. Their teachings advocated equality among all, advised their followers to practise a simple life, have simpler religious practices and shun the gaudy paraphernalia of the then dominant religions. Historians, eager to honour social rebels, liked to call such teachings as indicators of social protest. The most important part of the teachings of these new religious leaders was their insistence on total submission and devotion to the divine. Latter-day historians would club such religious leaders within a single category called the Bhakti tradition. What makes people follow such religious leaders is not known, at least not through any data-based inquiry. What is certainly known through observing the changes happening over time is that most of such religious leaders never achieve any sizeable set of followers nor do the followers remain consistent to the teachings of their guru. Above all, most of them gradually merge back into the larger traditions of their society, unless of course they do not fade out of existence. One religious leader who did not fit in with this general paradigm was Nanak of Punjab. His later followers addressed him reverentially as Guru Nanak. His moorings in society were different from that of others. He came from a well-off family. Was one of the twice-born caste groups. Was educated. Worked for the imperial sovereigns revenue office, on a post that would have eventually given him, had he continued in service, considerable power, pelf and respectability. Was married at the age of 18 to the daughter of the towns tax collector. He is said to have insisted on keeping the wedding ceremony simple and ignored various superstitious rituals that preceded a marriage. The couple was soon blessed with two sons. However, job, marriage, family, did not deter him from wondering about the world and finding ways to make it a better place. Eventually, at the ripe age of 27, he decided to give it all up and went off on lengthy travels across India and neighbouring regions. Effectively, he travelled to all important religious places for three decades. His discussions with those who accompanied him, and his hymns, gave shape to a distinct religious tradition. There is no Hindu, there is no Musalman was one of the most important pieces of wisdom that he suggested. Coming at a time when the Muslim Sultan of Hindustan was insistent on establishing the primacy of Islam over the land, by force, if necessary, this was indeed a revolutionary view to propagate. Latter-day biographies, written by admiring followers, by way of recording the deeds and teachings of the great Guru, would say that even when he was a student, he had begun to play with the idea of there being one god who is for all. The practice of penning biographies of the Guru itself was a revolutionary deviation from the relatively lazy oral traditions that mark other Indian religions and belief systems. It would help maintain detailed memories of the times, give them a life that was far more sturdy. It would also provide for an opportunity for those who are curious about the past to examine it without bowing to the diktats of the political and religious leaders who currently dominate the faith. Even more revolutionary was the idea of Guru Nanak that male and female both were equally important for society. In a society which reported among the highest rates of female infanticide, then and now, this advocacy of the importance of women was important. But the most revolutionary of all was his insistence on breaking the then prevalent caste-based distinctions on eating food. Eating together, from the same pot, the food cooked over a common fire would undercut one of the most powerful manifestations of the discriminatory jati-vyavastha, the caste system of India. The complex rituals for the rites of passage of an individual were given up, thus undercutting the power of the priestly class over people. By the 1520s, those who followed him around, lived with him and tried to obey his injunctions on how to be a good human being came to be known as Sikh, a natural derivative of the word referring to the student/seeker. A good life, Nanak insisted, was one that was normal and did not follow the path of asceticism so popular in Indias cultural traditions. His Sikhs did not have to turn ascetic or renounce anything other than bad habits in order to do good for the world. Goodness, in his teachings, lay in helping others, helping the larger community, rather than doing good only for oneself. Such a focus on the collective good made the Sikhs stand out even in the earliest days. Help those in need, make an honest living, and meditate on Gods name, became the core components of his teachings. A Guru would help in providing correct guidance. Before his death, he even set in place a mechanism to provide for a successor Guru, thus ensuring that the traditions he had set up would continue even after he passed away. The Sikhs remained small in number but a very distinct group. Over the years, they evolved a distinct set of values that would set them apart from the rest of the population of India. By the 18th century, the officers of the East India Company could report to their masters in London of the Sikhs being an important group in India with distinct religious and social practices. Professor, History, Panjab University, Chandigarh monicakchauhan@gmail.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 21 Bikramjit Singh, arrested in connection with a blast at Nirankari Mission congregation in Amritsar, which claimed three lives, was produced before a court on Thursday. The court has sent him to a five-day police remand. Bikramjit Singh was arrested on Wednesday, 72 hours after the attack. Punjab: Bikramjit Singh arrested in connection with blast at Nirankari Mission congregation in Amritsar that claimed 3 lives, produced before court & remanded to 5 days police remand ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had said police were on the hunt for another accused, Avtar Singh. Three people, including a preacher, were killed and more than 20 injured when two motorcycle-borne men threw a grenade on a religious congregation inside Nirankari Bhavan at Adliwal village on the outskirts of Amritsar on Sunday. Pakistan's ISI very active to cause trouble in Punjab, Amarinder Singh said, adding, "The grenades were dumped from across the fence by Pakistan's ISI. Ruling out any communal angle behind the attack, the CM said it was just an act of terror. Amarinder said Bikramjit Singh alias Bikram (26), a resident of Dhariwal village under Rajasansi police station, was arrested early on Wednesday morning from near Loharka village. Bikram, an operative of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), has given significant information indicating that the grenade was provided to the assailants by one Happy in Pakistan. rchopra@tribunemail.com Smita Sharma & Ravi S Singh Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 On the eve of Guru Nanak birth anniversary, India and Pakistan on Thursday claimed movement forward on opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor. Addressing the long standing sentiments of Sikh community, a Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved building and development of the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Nanak in Gurdaspur district in Punjab to the International Border with Pakistan. The cabinet resolution includes a detailed plan to celebrate across India and globally the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, who spent 18 years at Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib on the banks of Ravi river in Pakistan. "The Kartarpur Sahib corridor will be implemented as an integrated development project with Government of India's funding, to provide smooth and easy passage, with all modern amenities," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. A note verbale communicating the same has been sent to Pakistan High Commission from MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) whose spokesperson Raveesh Kumar added that India has "approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of Sikh community and build a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India". The Cabinet announcement came a day after Pakistan media reported that Islamabad has decided to lay foundation for the corridor. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi wrote in a tweet, "Pakistan has already conveyed to India its decision to open Kartarpur Corridor for Baba Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary. PM Imran Khan will do break ground (ground breaking ceremony) at Kartarpura facilities on 28th November. We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion." However, Indian sources claimed that Cabinet passed its resolution after many weeks of internal consultations and preparation within the government. "Any suggestion that the corridor or the celebrations are being planned as a response to a Pakistani proposal is not only preposterous, but hurtful to the sentiments of the Sikh community,"said an official. India's intention is that the corridor must be a full-fledged one with no restriction on pilgrims and should be open not just on special occasions but 365 days and 24 hours, said sources. "There must be free and readily available consular access for Indian citizens on the Pakistani side,"added an Indian official. However, what remains unclear is bilateral consensus to operationalise the corridor with immigration check points at the International Border aside of development of the road by both countries on their respective sides. The matter was to be discussed if External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had met with her counterpart SM Qureshi along sidelines of UNGA (United Nations GeneralAssembly) in New York. But India called off the meeting within 24 hours of accepting the Pakistani offer of talks . "The modalities will need to be worked out to finalise logistical and procedural aspects, which will require some kind of a meeting," said a Pakistani official. Meanwhile, political leaders welcomed the move and also rushed to claim credit for movement forward after stalemate on the issue. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh welcomed the resolution "in response to the various letters and submissions he had made to the Prime Minister on this issue". Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) president and former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal hailed the Modi government for its decision and announced that SAD and SGPC will take a delegation to Kartarpur Sahib in near future. Asked if Punjab minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's visit to Pakistan and controversial hugging of the country's Army chief catalysed the Government of India's decision on the corridor, he quipped: "I do not know," adding, "May be the recent grenade attack at religious place in Amritsar was because of it." Sidhu had claimed that the Pakistan government has decided to open the corridor following his Islamabad visit for oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan. 'It will act like a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries' wrote Sidhu in a tweet. "Heartily welcome Kartarpur initiative , it will ease the situation between the two neighbours. J&K has been waiting for similar large heartedness since last 70 years. Need to carry forward Vajpayee ji initiative and open all the routes across LOC and IB in J&K," PDP president and former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti tweeted. Prez, Capt to lay stone on Nov 26 President Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor at Dera Baba Nank in Gurdaspur on November 26, the Punjab Government has said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba has asked the state government to make preparations for the ceremony. TNS gspannu7@gmail.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 22 Amid news of some positive movement on the issue of opening of Kartarpur corridor, India-Pakistan ties were shadowed with controversy yet again. Sources said that Indian diplomats were stopped from meeting visiting Sikh pilgrims from India at the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara in Lahore on Wednesday night and at Gurdwara Sachcha Sauda on Thursday morning. Pakistan High Commission in Delhi has issued visas to some 3,800 Sikh devotees from India to attend Guru Nanak Dev birth anniversary celebrations under the 1974 framework of bilateral protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines. Along with Sikh pilgrims from across the globe, the Indian jatha are to visit religious shrines and gurdwaras in Pakistan from 21st to 30th November. While Pakistani authorities cited security concerns for not allowing Indian officials to enter the gurdwaras, a video that has surfaced shows Khalistani sympathiser Gopal Singh Chawla misbehave with and humiliate the diplomats instead of Pakistani Government security personnel barring their entry like in past instances. Chawla has shared the stage with terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed in the past. Referendum 2020 campaign posters, banners and flags have also been reportedly put up at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib Parikrama by Pakistan Evacuee Trust Board. The administrative control of Sikh holy places like gurdwara is with the Sikh Community. We do not interfere in their internal matters, said Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal dismissing Indian allegations on the matter. Earlier the Pro-Khalistan Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) in a statement released through its legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun announced that hundreds of referendum campaigners from North America, Europe and UK have reached Pakistan to coordinate the campaign. SFJ activists will distribute T-shirts and Q&A pamphlet on Punjab Independence referendum among devotees who are visiting Pakistan from more than thirty countries said the statement. editorial@tribune.com New Delhi, November 22 Amid positive news on the issue of opening of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, India-Pakistan ties were shadowed with controversy yet again. Sources said Indian diplomats were stopped from meeting Sikh pilgrims from India at Nankana Sahib Gurdwara in Lahore on Wednesday and at Gurdwara Sachcha Sauda on Thursday. The Pakistan High Commission has issued visas to 3,800 Sikh devotees from India to attend the Guru Nanak Dev birth anniversary celebrations. Along with Sikh pilgrims from across the globe, the Indian jatha are to visit gurdwaras in Pakistan from November 21 to 30. While the Pakistani authorities cited security concerns for not allowing Indian officials inside the gurdwaras, a video shows Khalistani sympathiser Gopal Singh Chawla misbehaving with the diplomats instead of Pakistani government security personnel barring their entry. The administrative control of Sikh holy places is with the Sikh community. We do not interfere in their internal matters, said Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal, dismissing Indian allegations. TNS editorial@tribune.com Tribune Reporters Chandigarh/New Delhi, Nov 22 Political leaders have welcomed the Centres nod to the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, some claiming credit for the movement forward. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh welcomed the resolution in response to the various letters and submissions" he made to PM Narendra Modi. Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD president, praised the Modi government for its decision. Asked if Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhus visit to Pakistan and his controversial hug with the country's army chief, Lt Gen Qamar Bajwa, had catalysed the Union Government's decision on the corridor, he simply answered: I don't know. Sidhu, who had claimed Pakistan had decided to open the corridor following his Islamabad visit for Imran Khans swearing-in, tweeted: It will act like a soothing balm for the two neighbouring countries. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said it would ease the situation between the two countries. Capt Amarinder, meanwhile, also expressed happiness at the Cabinets decision to develop the historic town of Sultanpur Lodhi, associated with the life of Guru Nanak Dev, as a heritage town on the lines of a Smart City. He also appreciated the development at the Pind Babe Nanak Da museum, upgrade of Sultanpur Lodhi railway station, creation of centre for inter-faith studies and chairs in foreign universities, release of commemorative coin and postage stamps etc, as was demanded by the state government in its memorandum to the Union Government. He urged the Centre to release funds for the approved projects at the earliest to facilitate their completion in a years time. Union Food Processing Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal said the Cabinet decision had further strengthened her resolve to work harder for the welfare of the states people. As a woman from Punjab in the Union Council of Ministers and a leader of a party which is an ally of the NDA, I am determined to do more justice to and work for the welfare of the Sikh community and the people of the state, Kaur said immediately after the Cabinets decision to build the Kartarpur corridor. pardeepdhull@gmail.com Ravi S. Singh Tribube News Service New Delhi, November 22 Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday welcomed the Centres decision to approve construction of a corridor up to the Punjab border to facilitate the journey of pilgrims to the historic gurdwara Katarpur Sahib in Pakistan. We are grateful to the Narendra Modi government for this historic decision. The 70-year-old demand of the Sikh community to have a corridor to offer prayers at the gurdwara has been finally acceded to, Sukhbir, flanked by his wife and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, said. Sukhbir said the SAD and SGPC will take a delegation to Kartarpur Sahib during Guru Nanak Dev's 550th birth anniversary celebrations. The construction of the corridor will be undertaken by India from the border town of Dera Baba Nanak to the international border with Pakistan. The government has decided to urge Pakistan to construct the remaining part of the corridor in its territory. The gurdwara, which is significant for the Sikh community since the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, spent 18 years of his life in Kartarpur till he died in 1539. When asked if Punjab Minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhus visit to Pakistan and controversial hugging of the countrys Army Chief catalysed the Government of Indias decision on the corridor, he quipped, I do not know, and added, Maybe the recent grenade attack at a religious place in Amritsar was because of it. He alleged that the ruling Congress in Punjab was playing with fire. He said the Sikh community at large, especially the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims, see hope only in the present government at the Centre. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Amritsar, November 22 The SGPC has offered to construct the corridor leading to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan. Hailing the move of the Union Government to approve the project in the wake of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal on Thursday said the Centre had done its part and he expected the Pakistan authorities to reciprocate in a positive manner to make the move practical officially. The 3-km corridor is supposed to be built from Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur, up to the zero line between India and Pakistan border, whereas approximately 1.5-km passage is to be built by Pakistan from its side to have a hassle-free access to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, located 25 km east of Narowal on the west bank of the Ravi. If the Centre allows, I will be fortunate enough to lead a delegation to Pakistan to have a dialogue with the authorities there in this regard, he said. Ironically, the SGPC had a hitch to acknowledge the contribution of Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu in fructifying this project. Amidst his controversial hug with Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in August, Sidhu had claimed that the former had raised the issue of opening of the Kartarpur corridor. Longowal said, Had there been any authenticity about the so-called claim of Sidhu, it would have been officially declared in the Vidhan Sabha, like the way it was done in the Union Cabinet. I do not believe it to be true. vinaymishra188@gmail.com Shahira Naim Growing up in a progressive Muslim family strongly rooted in Sufism, I have always been inspired by Sikhism, which is perhaps the only religion truly practising the ways of the Sufis. If the people use the wealth bestowed on them by God for themselves alone or for treasuring it, it is like a corpse. But if they decide to share it with others, it becomes sacred food, says Guru Nanak Dev. In the concept of sharing ones wealth and how it becomes sacred food, I see a link with the practice of serving langar at gurdwaras across the world. Moving beyond gurdwaras, langar is now contributing to restoring faith in the almost forgotten universal values of brotherhood. The large-hearted Sikhs have taken their community kitchen to one of the most dangerous places on earth Syria which everyone seems to have abandoned, almost as if it has fallen off the world map. Collaborating with the locals, a group of Punjabi NRIs has been providing freshly baked bread to around 14,000 war-torn families. At another trouble spot, while the world was debating the Rohingyas issue, a group of Sikhs reached Teknaf, the southernmost town of Bangladesh, and set up community kitchens, daily providing food to over 30,000 refugees. The practice, perhaps taken from the Sufi khanqahs, has been kept alive by Sikhism in the true spirit of selfless service to humanity, irrespective of caste and creed. Also, Sufi mystic Baba Farids verses appear in Guru Granth Sahib under three sections. While the poor are fed outside masjids and temples as charity, the followers of Sikhism themselves reach out to those in distress across the world and serve them food with dignity, lovingly cooked by the believers, who also contribute by way of money and sewa. To me, serving humanity thus is the highest form of religion. shalender@tribune.com An Associated Press telegram from Allahabad announces that Mr Justice Tudball and Messrs Ross Alston and BJ Dalal will form the Special Tribunal to try the accused in the Kartaprur Bakr-id riot case. It is alleged that 23 persons were burnt alive. It will be remembered that an influentially signed representation was recently submitted by leaders in the UP urging that the case be tried by ordinary courts of law and not a special tribunal, mainly on the ground that it was never contemplated that the Defence Act should apply to cases like this which had nothing to do with the State nor had any special bearing on the war time. It was contended by signatories, who included many legal luminaries of the United Provinces and members of the Legislative Council, that breaches of the peace unconnected with the war, should be dealt with in the ordinary way and that the accused should not be denied the fullest facilities for defence. vinaymishra188@gmail.com Guatemala City: A court has sentenced a former soldier to 5,160 years in prison for the massacre of 201 peasants during one of the worst atrocities of the Central American nations civil war. The court found Santos Lopez responsible as author of 171 of the killings and sentenced him to 30 years for each, or 5,130 years in total. He received an additional 30 years linked to the killing of a surviving child, but the sentences are symbolic because Guatemalas maximum prison term is 50 years. afp Anne Frank House renovated Amsterdam: The museum built around a secret annex in a canal-side house where Anne Frank hid from Nazis during World War II has been renovated to better tell the teenage Jewish diarist's tragic story to a new generation of visitors, who may know little about the horrors of the Holocaust. The museum also has revamped the way it tells the story of the Frank family, and by extension the Nazi persecution of Jews. AP rchopra@tribunemail.com Sydney, November 22 Australia unveiled a radical plan on Thursday to strip convicted terrorists of their citizenship even if they are native-born Australians. Acting after a series of Jihadist-inspired plots and attacks in the country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government needed expanded powers to withdraw citizenship from anyone found guilty of terrorist activity. People who commit acts of terrorism have rejected absolutely everything that this country stands for, Morrison told a hastily organised press conference. This is something that cant be tolerated, and for those who would engage in this sort of activity, and they have citizenship elsewhere, or we have reason to believe they do, they can go. Australias current Citizenship Act allows authorities to revoke citizenship from people jailed for six years or more for terrorist activities, but only if they are already dual nationals. Morrison called these limits unrealistic and said the law should be broadened so that anyone convicted of a terrorist offence, even native-born Australians, could be expelled if they could reasonably be expected to gain citizenship in another country through their parents or grandparents. The conservative government would submit legislation to amend the Citizenship Act to enshrine these new powers by the end of the year, he said. The legislation will also seek the power to impose temporary exclusion orders on so-called returned foreign fighters--Australian citizens who travel to conflict zones to fight alongside extremist groups. Modelled on a British law, the provision would allow Australia to bar the return of a citizen for up to two years, and to impose strict conditions on their activities once they come home. Morrisons action came two days after police in Melbourne arrested three Australian-born men of Turkish descent for allegedly plotting a mass shooting in the city. Less than two weeks earlier, another man who was born in Somalia but came to Australia with his family as a child, went on a stabbing rampage in Melbourne, killing one man and wounding two others before being fatally shot by police. Authorities said all four men were inspired by Jihadist propaganda from the so-called Islamic State group, even though none had any direct links to an extremist organisation. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said there had been seven terror-related attacks in Australia while authorities had thwarted 15 other plots since 2014. Nine convicted terrorists had already had their citizenship revoked under existing law, mainly for activities overseas, he added. We assess there are around 50 Australian dual citizens who may be eligible to lose citizenship under the current provisions, and even more with the changes we are announcing today, Dutton said. Morrison and Dutton also said they would renew a push for controversial legislation which would allow authorities to break into encrypted messaging apps that police say are widely used by extremists and other criminals. The law, which would force app developers and telecom companies to provide police with the ability to decrypt messages, has drawn strong criticism from civil liberties groups. Morrison heads a minority coalition government that must call a national election before May 2019 but is trailing well behind the main opposition Labour Party in opinion polls. As campaigning builds towards the election, Morrison and Dutton have led a tough law-and-order push around terrorism and immigration. The governments proposed citizenship crackdown is, meanwhile, certain to worsen tensions with parts of Australias large Muslim community. Several Islamic leaders already boycotted a proposed meeting with Morrison this week after he said the community needed to do more to police extremists in their ranks. AFP pardeepdhull@gmail.com London, November 22 Calls for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be held accountable for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi are a red line, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has said. In a BBC television interview, Jubeir said on Wednesday any disparaging discussion about Prince Mohammed or his father, the Saudi monarch, would not be tolerated. In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line, Jubeir said. They represent every Saudi citizen and every Saudi citizen represents them. And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince. Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince. Jubeir insisted that Prince Mohammed had not been involved in the killing. We have made that very clear. We have investigations ongoing and we will punish the individuals who are responsible for this, he said. He called on Turkey to come forward with all its evidence about the slaying and stop leaking out information. The foreign minister said the murder was a rogue operation by intelligence officers. Jubeir also said any possible US sanctions on Saudi Arabia would be short-sighted. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ignored criticism that he gave Saudi Arabia a free pass on Khashoggis murder, instead praising the Islamic kingdom for keeping oil prices low. AFP vinaymishra188@gmail.com Brussels, November 22 The European Union and Britain agreed on Thursday a draft declaration on their post-Brexit relations that sets out an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership, officials said. The two sides have also agreed a draft deal extending the transition period by one or two years beyond the end of 2020, a final sticking point of the divorce deal. European Council President Donald Tusk said the EU executive, the European Commission, informed him it has agreed the political declaration on the future ties with Britain. I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK, said Tusk, who represents the 27 remaining EU member countries. The Commission President (Jean-Claude Juncker) has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators level and agreed in principle at political level, Tusk tweeted. He said EU leaders still have to endorse the draft declaration, which is due to accompany a draft of agreed terms for Britains withdrawal from the bloc on March 29. The EU leaders are due to meet at a summit in Brussels on Sunday to endorse both documents. The declaration establishes the parameters of an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic cooperation and other areas, according to a copy of the document seen by AFP. The other areas cover law enforcement, criminal justice, foreign policy, security and defence and wider areas of cooperation, according to the draft. In an update of the withdrawal pact, both sides have agreed to extend the post-Brexit transition period from December 31, 2020 for up to one or two years. The transition period is designed to allow governments and businesses to adjust to a new relationship after more than four decades of close ties. AFP Right deal for London, says PM May British PM Theresa May hailed a draft Brexit pact for future ties between London and Brussels as the right deal for Britain and said she was determined to deliver it. This is the right deal for the UK, she said after updating the cabinet on the text of a declaration on post-Brexit ties. The British people want this to be settled. They want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future. That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it, she said. PTI shriaya.dutta@tribuneindia.com Panama City, November 22 The two sons of jailed former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli have been arrested in Miami and face extradition back home on money-laundering charges, Panamas attorney general said on Wednesday. Attorney General Kenia Porcell told local television that Martinellis sons, Luis Enrique Martinelli and Ricardo Martinelli, had been arrested, but said he was awaiting further details. Yes, they have confirmed the detention of these people, Porcell said. Panamanian prosecutors in November 2017 accused the two of receiving $49 million from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht while their father was president. A lawyer for the two sons said he could not confirm their arrest and did not have further comments on the charges. The elder Martinelli, a former supermarket tycoon who led Panama from 2009 to 2014, has been held in a prison on the outskirts of Panama City since June after being extradited from the United States. He faces charges that he used public money to spy on more than 150 political rivals during his presidency. Martinelli has said he is being persecuted for political reasons by President Juan Carlos Varela. Luis Camacho, Martinellis spokesman, said the charges against the former presidents sons also appeared to be tainted by political pressures. Last year, Odebrecht agreed to pay $220 million in fines to Panama and to cooperate with probes into bribes paid to Panamanian officials. Reuters rchopra@tribunemail.com Guatemala City, November 21 A Guatemalan court sentenced a former soldier to 5,160 years in prison on Wednesday for the massacre of 171 people in what is considered one of the worst atrocities in that countrys 36-year civil war. Prosecutors said Santos Lopez participated in the 1982 mass killings of nearly all of the men, women and children in the farming village of Dos Erres. Lopez was accused of being part of the elite Special Patrol of Kaibiles that was sent to Dos Erres to find members of a guerrilla group that had ambushed a military convoy. When the patrol failed to find the guerrillas or guns, they pulled villagers from their homes and raped many of the young girls, according to prosecutors. To cover up the rapes, they killed nearly everyone living there. The massacre was carried out during the regime of former Guatemalan military dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who died in April facing charges of genocide for acts during one of the bloodiest phases of the Cold War-era conflict that lasted from 1960 until 1996. Reuters vinaymishra188@gmail.com Moscow, November 22 Russias military intelligence chief who oversaw a series of notorious operations abroad has died after a long illness, with Moscow praising him Thursday as a great man and a patriot. Igor Korobov, 62, had headed the Defence Ministrys Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) since 2016 and was the target of US sanctions. He died on Wednesday after a long and serious illness, the ministry said. Korobovs 57-year-old first deputy, Vice Admiral Igor Kostyukov, has been appointed acting GRU chief and is likely become his successor, state news agency TASS said, citing a military source. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu expressed his condolences. The dear memory of this great man, a faithful Russian son and a patriot of the Motherland... will remain forever in our hearts, the defence ministry said. The West has accused the powerful agency of carrying out a number of attacks on foreign soil, including the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a Soviet-designed nerve agent in Britain in March. The US has said the GRU was directly involved in interfering in the 2016 poll through cyber-enabled activities, while the Netherlands has said they had thwarted a GRU attack on the OPCW global chemical weapons watchdog. Russia has denied charges. Korobov did not participate in a gala marking the centenary of the service in early November when Russian President Vladimir Putin heaped praise on the GRU. Korobovs first deputy Kostyukov reportedly presided over the ceremony. AFP Decorated officer, target of US Attacks on social media are affecting the morale of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). -:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:- This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one. To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. -:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:- Tripadvisor staff removed this post because it did not meet Tripadvisor's forum posting guidelines with prohibiting self-promotional advertising or solicitation. We ask all of our members to keep their forum messages free of self-promoting advertisements or solicitation of any kind - members affiliated with any tourism-related business should not include commercial contact information or URLs in their forum messages. To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. >>>>Unless youre traveling during a peak holiday travel period, you shouldnt have issues getting seats on most Shinkansen.<<<< That might have been true in the past, but is no longer the case. I have hit four fully booked shinkansen in the last week. Even last night at Kyoto (a random Thursday) I noticed that each of the next twenty departures from Kyoto to Tokyo were fully booked (ordinary car, green car had spaces). Booking early/ahead is a good thing to do if you are using the rail pass, but even then you need to have flexibility. Hi. I'm travelling to Fiji soon and would like some help on the most effective and cheapest way to pay for everything. Our family of 4 will be spending 3 nights at a mainland resort, then 6 nights on an island. Accommodation and flights are paid, but I'm still working on transfers and no activities are booked yet. All these bigger items will probably be paid before we leave. I'm curious as to what sort of things are cash only. I'm guessing most shops would accept debit or credit card, but smaller markets and off the beaten track things would probably be cash only? I'd like to have enough cash on hand, but not excessive amounts, and don't really want to make a lot of trips to get some. Let's talk taxis: I have read they are cash only, is this right? I've also read that only the yellow taxis can come to the airport, and there's a F$5 flagfall, then F$1 per km. Are these prices roughly right? With the government ones, do we need to negotiate price at all, or is it locked in like the prices mentioned above? Do you need to negotiate with the other companies, and are they as safe and reliable? Is there an option to stop at a store on the way, and do they charge for this time? Once out of the airport, how reliable are any of the taxi services, and can you book them in advance? Does this bring any extra charges? I'm considering taxis to go from resort to Denarau, then Denarau to the airport, but need reliability as we will be catching a ferry/plane. Let's talk debit and credit cards: Do these attract fees, and roughly what % are they, or is it a flat fee? This will probably be our preferred way to pay, wherever possible. We will be staying on Malolo Island Resort and I'm guessing the activities and tours available will be organised through the resort (as in no small local operators) and therefore credit card payments will be fine (but cash needed for some of the tours, depending on where we go) Let's talk cash: I've heard that Western Union at the airport will be open for all flights (we arrive 6.30am Sunday) with no fees, but do they make up for that with poor exchange rates? Is it any cheaper to exchange before we leave Australia? Do we need to have Australian cash to exchange, or can it come straight from our debit card? Is it better to just use our debit card (that has no international fees) to access cash from the ATM? If so, do they have limits or do they run out of cash often? Thanks for any insight. I've traveled overseas before but never really looked into the most cost effective way to pay for everything. I'd rather save money for the fun stuff! Hi, Has anyone used the Mana Flyer or Ratu Kini Cruises to get to the islands? I know South Sea Cruises seems to be the preferred (and most expensive) option, but there are significant savings to be had with the other options. They leave from Wailoaloa Beach and are no frills services, just speedboats that you wade out to. Are they safe, are the regulated by the government, and are they a viable option for my family of 4, the youngest being 16? None of us are too adventurous, and don't want to arrive scared out of our minds. LOL Thanks for any insight. Hi! My partner and I are visiting Japan this December from Australia. We would like to travel from Shinjuku, Tokyo (where our hotel is), to Osaka (our next destination). From what I can understand we need to travel first to Tokyo Station, and if we want to travel the fastest Shinkansen we need to take the Nozomi. What I'd like to know though is if we can book this before we arrive in Japan? and/or HOW do we book this when we arrive in Narita? We do not have - nor do we want - a JR Rail pass. Also, we would like to travel in a "Green Cart" as we will both have large suitcases and do not want to send them ahead. Any help would be greatly appreciated as none of the websites I have come across actually explain HOW to purchase reserved tickets for this trip. Thanks :) NYC is a city of islands and there are numerous ferries of different types (commuter ferries since that's how a lot of people get to work), tourist boats (with various routes across the harbor and around the island of Manhattan set up with a complete commentary and may last 2 to 3 hours) and a number of specialized bot trips with dinner or music or various activities. You need to figure out which ones you want and how to get there from you hotel. They land at various places around the island; there are also 3 large ports for cruise vessels on the west side of Manhattan, Red Hook in Brooklyn and Port Liberty in Bayonne, NJ - but these are for multi days cruises to other parts of the world. Strongly suggest that you get a good map of NYC so you can understand locations and see all of the places from which boats can depart or arrive. Also google to see the various options: NY Waterways, Circle Line Cruises, Staten Island ferries, NYC ferries and a host of others 1. I would not book Macy's Santaland (or anything else) for the arrival day. What if your plane is late or canceled, your luggage lost, etc.? Then you'll forfeit that appointment. I would make it for another day. 2. Levain Bakery isn't all that close to the Black Tap. I would go to the Levain first thing on Dec. 1, if possible. What time are your reservations at the Blue Box? Have you looked at a map? You need to get one. All of these things are within a very close distance from each other: Rockefeller Center - 49th/5th Avenue to 51st/5th Ave. St. Patrick's Cathedral - 5th Ave/51st St. Black Tap - West 55th between 6th & 7th Tiffany's - 5th Ave./57th St. Here is a list for viewing holiday windows -- from South to North. Of course, there are holiday windows all over NYC at this time, but these are some people frequently visit. (Does not include Times Square.) Macy's (34th & 6th Ave.) Lord & Taylor (5th Ave. & 38th St.) New York Public Library (which is on 5th near L&T; but behind it is the Bryant Park holiday market -- good place to get some hot cider or chocolate) If you wish, make a detour RIGHT onto 42nd St. and head to Grand Central. Just visit the inside and take it all in. There is also a small holiday market (it does seem to get more and more expensive every year). Come back to Fifth Avenue, turn right, and keep heading North. You'll hit: SAKS at 49th St. and Fifth Rockefeller Center, across the street from SAKS. See the tree, take pictures. Back across the street is St. Patrick's Cathedral. Keep going North on Fifth and you'll see H. Stern (important Brazilian jeweler), then Versace Cartier Ferragamo Tiffany's Bulgari Van Cleef & Arpels (and the very best of the best imnsho): Bergdorf Goodman. Then, cross back over Fifth and go to Cartier at 59th. Continue heading East to Madison, then turn left for Barney's (60th & Madison) If you want to see some really spectacular designers' windows, keep going up Madison. Numerous clothing and jewelry designers' stores -- all the way up to about 86th St. Your camera will thank you! Day 6 - Chinatown - Many tourists go to Chinatown as a destination for counterfeit goods. If you wished to purchase those, please don't. The $ from counterfeit goods supports human trafficking, prostitution, capture and killing of endangered wildlife, and even terrorism (one well-known example is the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris). Little Italy is about two or three streets now, not really much to see. A more interesting tour might be on the Lower East Side, where a lot of young, creative people have opened restaurants, chic clothing stores, coffee joints, and even two cat cafes. This is where the Katz Deli and Tenement Museum are. N.B. The Tenement Museum tours must be booked ahead. There is only a short half hour movie to see; the rest of the "museum" is its tours. I would go to the website and try to book one now -- if there are any left. Don't show up, though, and expect there to be room on any of the tours. Unfortunately they sell out. An excellent tourist's map that will help you sort all this out is the Red Map of NYC: www.redmaps.com. Best $10 you'll have spent on your trip. Sorry Risa ! Cross-posted with you! Edited: 3 years ago A mid morning welcoming brief session with a delegation from an Indian company which intends to produce bio degradable bags in the country has placed ODM leader Raila Odinga at loggerheads with Kenyans. In what could be informed by soaring employment rate among graduates despite Kenya teeming with skilled labour, the mention of manufacture of carrier bags by a foreign investor could only awaken the rage among the youth. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: Raila Odinga announces plan to construct 6,000 kilometres road linking Mombasa to Lagos According to Raila, the bio degradable bags manufactured from vegetables, cassava, maize and other products. The investors are planning to set up their factory in Kisumu. Photo: Raila Odinga/Facebook. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Kenyans' mixed reactions after Raila, NASA MPs support Uhurus 8% VAT on fuel According to Raila, the bags will be manufactured from vegetables, cassava, maize and other products once the plant is set up in Kisumu. But it is the illogical thought Kenyans cannot manufacture biodegradable bags that seemed to worry the masses, with a majority questioning why he has failed to reign in on corrupt governors from his Nyanza backyard. Others, however, singled out water hyacinth which is chocking lake Victoria as one that requires urgent attention arguing this was not the time to think of making paper bags locally known as juala. Be that as it may, Raila remained upbeat the product would aid environmental conservation efforts in Kenya. 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. Kenya news: Top Girl in KCPE 2018 | Tuko TV Source: Tuko Residents of a county in Nyanza are worried over the whereabouts of their governor who has been missing in action for close to six months now. The governor known for his ridiculous dress code last made public appearance in July 2018. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: NASA principals must beat Raila to get 2022 presidential ticket - Busia Governor Ojaamong President Uhuru at the Council of Governors' conference in the past. Photo: Council of Governors/Facebook. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Okoth Obado's supporters now blame Raila for governor's woes This was after his attempt to have the court throw out a petition challenging his victory hit a snag.. Determined to clutch onto the straws of sweet power, he had decided to pursue a last legal attempt to secure his seat following consultations with his party boss and godfather. Since then, his deputy has presided over key county development forums and political events. So where is the good governor? While his disappearance from the public scene remains a guarded secret with the inner political cycle. Sources privy to the running of the county affair intimated to TUKO.co.ke the politician could have lost his eye sight. This claim is further corroborated by comments by the area senator at a fund raiser in October urging the deputy governor not to worry about the absence of his boss. TUKO.co.ke gathers the now partially blind politician was scheduled to fly out to Germany for eye surgery. 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. Kenya news: Top Girl in KCPE 2018 | Tuko TV Source: Tuko - The passengers insisted the fares should not exceed the usual KSh 30 - Motorists using Waiyaki Way which is currently under construction were forced to use a single lane going up - It lead to a huge traffic snarl up with PSV operators seeking to make a killing from the situation A scuffle ensued at Westlands bus stage, Nairobi, when angry passengers refused to board vehicles charging high fares and chased away those asking them to pay above KSh 30. Over 30 vehicles were forced to leave the stage in the evening of Wednesday, November 21, as they demanded more fares following the heavy traffic snarl up on Waiyaki Way going up. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Interior CS Fred Matiang'i breathing fire as crackdown on errant road users kicks off The vehicles hiked their fares over the huge traffic snarl up that was witnessed along Waiyaki Way. Photo: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: 7 stringent traffic rules that died with late Transport Minister John Michuki Currently, the road is under construction and motorists were forced to use a single lane from the usual two leading to huge traffic jam in the busy highway. Hiking of bus fares started after introduction of the dreaded Michuki rules which caused uproar among Public Service Vehicle operators across the country. The strict Michuki rules led to reduction of vehicles on roads prompting many PSV operators to charge more. READ ALSO: Disturbing video of school bus flouting Michuki laws in KCPE celebrations angers Kenyans Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i and his Transport Counterpart James Macharia warned PSV operators risked arrest if they increased bus fares. Matiang'i directed all vehicles to display their fares and asked Kenyans to inform police of any overcharge. TUKo.co.ke understands undercover police officers posing as passengers have been boarding matatus and arresting those who flout Michuki rules including those who do not use seat belts. 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 KENYA'S FORGOTTEN HERO| Tuko TV Source: Tuko The first female chairperson of a top bank in Nigeria, Ibukun Awosika, recently made headlines after it was reported that she still kneels down to greet her husband. The publication generated a lot of interest from readers because a number of people believe successful women do not respect their husbands that much. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: TV anchor Ben Kitili responds to Muslim groups condemning him for marrying their daughter Ibukun Awosika, first female Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Limited and owner of upscale furniture company, The Chair Centre Group. According to the reports, she claimed despite her achievements, back at home, her husband was still the head of the house. However Awosikas attention has been drawn to the interview and she took to her Twitter page to claim it was all cooked up. The business woman however acknowledged having been interviewed by a Nigerian media house but on a totally different topic. READ ALSO: Girl child shines in KCPE exams amid high teen pregnancies in Kilifi READ ALSO: American TV host Ellen DeGeneres rewards Kenyan living in the US with KSh 2.5 million for his kindness My attention has been drawn to an interview that was supposedly held with me by a reporter from one of the local dailies in Nigeria. I can confirm to you authoritatively that I did not grant any such interview," she said through her twitter handle. In the interview which she claims was cooked, the billionaire lady is quoted narrating how she manages to juggle between being a career woman, a mother and a wife. She, according to the story she has now denied, said it all depends on how one chooses to balance the three. READ ALSO: 12 common reasons men over 37 years give for not marrying "In life, you decide on those things that are important to you, because as a woman I have all my visions and dreams and I want to achieve them," Awoskie was quoted. "I want to also be a successful mother to my children and I want to be a successful wife to my husband; once I am able to balance it up, it will make a successful home," she added. READ ALSO: 15 common reasons ladies over 30 years give for being single 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 Boyfriend tells girlfriend she is fat and needs to lose some weight| Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke - The young legislator attracted praise from many Kenyans over the manner in which he articulated issues - It was not so much about his position on the issues, but rather the rigor with which he defended his views - Others, however, got distracted by the lawmaker's sense of fashion and paid more attention to his shoes Emgwen MP, Alex Kosgey, the son of former minister and veteran politician Henry Kosgey, has melted hearts of many Kenyans with his brilliance. The sharp-looking lawmaker with uncanny resemblance to the old man became the talk of town following a TV interview on the contentious two-thirds gender rule which he was against and the state of the nation. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Kenyans divided down the middle over new bill seeking to gift women more political seats Emgwen MP Alex Kosgey (L) appeared on Citizen TV on Wednesday, November 21, and talk about the state of the nation. His shoes was a whole new topic altogether. Photo: Citizen TV. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa says gender rule likely to bring slay queens to Parliament Appearing on Citizen TV's on Wednesday, November 22, alongside nominated MP Jeniffer Shamallah, the young Kosgey articulated his issues with such rigor he stole the show from the host and grabbed all the public attention. "Dear Koinange Jeff and Citizen TV, due to public demand, we request you bring this brilliant champ Alex Kosgey back on the bench to discuss more on matters economy and how to handle debt," one Twitter user by the name Julius Mmasi demanded. READ ALSO: Uhuru-Raila handshake deal has made life difficult for Kenyans - Jubilee MP Below are more of the public reactions compiled by TUKO.co.ke following the captivating Wednesday night TV interview: READ ALSO: Murang'a Women Rep Sabina Chege puts MP Ole Sankok to task over slay queen remarks The MP's shoes triggered a whole new subject altogether when the cameraman for some reason decided to zoom in on the common black Clarks, which some considered unfit for the young legislator whose dad is known to be a billionaire. 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. Boyfriend tells girlfriend she is fat and needs to lose some weight - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko - Thakwe Dam will serve Makueni and Kitui counties with 34.6 million liters of water - It will produce 23 megawatts of electricity that will be channeled in the national grid - First phase of the KSh 36.9 billion dam is expected to be completed in December 2022 - It will be the biggest dam in Kenya and is expected to end water crisis in the semi arid area The government is set to receive an extra funding of KSh 27.4 billion from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the construction of Thakwe Dam. TUKO.co.ke has learnt that AfDB had earlier awarded the country KSh 8.86 billion for the commencement of the project located in Makueni County. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: Rift Valley MP threatens to sue colleagues tarnishing image of DP William Ruto It will be the biggest dam in Kenya, expected to end water crisis in the semi arid area. Photo: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: I respect Raila Odinga but have a problem with those surrounding him - Moha Jicho Pevu Valued at KSh 36.9 billion, the dam is expected to end the perennial water crisis that has for years stalled development in the region. In November 2017, the contract to construct the dam was signed between the Ministry of Irrigation and the China Gezhouba Group. READ ALSO: Uncertainty as governor goes missing for six months amid claims he suddenly went blind The 77-meter-high dam will also be equipped with hydro electric power generation component capable of producing 23 megawatts of electricity. It will be able to store at least 34.6 million liters of water that will then be piped to local residents and also used in irrigating over 40,000 hectares of land. The first phase of the dam is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. 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. Teresiah Wambui Story: The Struggles of a Kenyan Woman With Beards - Kenya Untold Stories | Tuko TV Source: Tuko - National Assembly Deputy Speaker asked Babu to repeat his apology as it was not serious - Jaguar and Babu were asked to apologise after fighting within the premises of Parliament in 2017 - The two had a bitter exchange of words that escalated to a fight - Since they reconciled, they have apologised to one another and have been seen in public gatherings together Embakasi East MP Paul Ongili, popularly known as Babu Owino, has left his colleagues in stitches after he said he did not slap musician turned politician and Starehe MP Charles Kanyi, popularly known as Jaguar. While apologising to the National Assembly over a fight that the two had within the premises of Parliament in October, 2017, Babu said he had no intentions of slapping Jaguar and that it was his cheeks that "moved towards" his hands. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Babu Owino and Jaguar in fierce fist fight at Parliament(video) In October 10, 2017, amid rising animosity between ODM and Jubilee supporters, Babu Owino and Jaguar exchanged blows within the premises of the National Assembly. Photo: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: Babu Owino forgive me, Jaguar apologises after fist fight at Parliament buildings "I would like to apologise and say that on that day, I did not slap Hon. Jaguar, it is his cheeks that moved towards my hands and I'm ready to apologise," said Babu. The lawmaker's apology did not convince the Deputy Speaker Moses Cheboi who was presiding over the Thursday, November 22, morning session. Cheboi asked the legislator to repeat the apology without any reservations and with the seriousness it deserves. READ ALSO: Embakasi East MP Babu Owino in hot soup over fist fight with Jaguar "I tender my unreserved apology to the members and this House for having acted in a manner that did not bring honor, respect and dignity to this House and undertake that I shall always abide by the responsibilities of leadership set out in the Constitution," said the Embakasi East MP. On Tuesday, November 20, National Assemblys Power and Privileges committee reprimanded the two first-time parliamentarians for conducting themselves in a manner that reflected adversely on the dignity and integrity of the House. Since the famous handshake between Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta, the two have forgiven each other and have been seen in public gatherings together. Photo: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: I do not regret boxing Jaguar-Babu Owino speaks after physical fight at parliament building The two went for each other's neck in October 10, 2017, when Jaguar got agitated by Babu's statements saying he could not recognise President Uhuru Kenyatta's legitimacy. The legislator's statement led to a bitter exchange of words which escalated to a fight with the latter demanding his colleague to respect Uhuru as president. Following the handshake between the president and Opposition chief Raila Odinga, the two lawmakers have since made up and are often seen together in public. 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 Boyfriend tells girlfriend she is fat and needs to lose some weight| Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke - William Rono claimed Harambee House operatives were plotting DP William Ruto's downfall - He accused Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny of working with Harambee House operatives in a bid to revive ICC cases against the DP - The witness who jumped ship from the prosecution to defence said some of his counteparts had been approached by Kutuny though proxies to testify against Ruto - According to Rono, the witnesses were being lured to say the DP interfered with prosecution witnesses A former defence witness in the collapsed International Criminal Court (ICC) case against six Kenyans has accused Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny and operatives at Harambee House of plotting Deputy President William Ruto's downfall. William Rono who was once a prosecution witness before jumping ship to stand in defence of Ruto and former co-accused radio journalist Joshua Sang alleged Kutuny used his position as President Uhuru Kenyatta's political advisor after losing 2013 elections to work against Ruto. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Kenyans fall in love with young Emgwen MP Alex Kosgey after his brilliance in TV interview William Rono who was a prosecution then defence witness in the ICC case against William Ruto said powerful people in President Uhuru Kenyatta's office were plotting the DP's fall. Photo: TUKO.co.ke Source: Original READ ALSO: William Ruto's allies skip TV interview on maize scandal in the country Speaking to the press in Eldoret on Thursday, November 22, Rono claimed recent remarks by Kutuny, Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and Silas Tiren of Moiben accusing the DP of orchestrating downfall of the maize sector was proof that he has held ill intentions against Ruto. "After Kutuny lost the Cherangany parliamentary seat in 2013, he was appointed as the political advisor of the president. He worked closely with Nancy Gitau who was adversely mentioned in the ICC case against Ruto at Harambee House," said Rono. TUKO.co.ke understands former Kericho Senator and Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter launched an onslaught against Gitau accusing her of allegedly procuring witnesses to fix Ruto after the 2008 post election violence. "We have heard ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has found some new evidence against Ruto. Kutuny has been working with Harambee House operatives to reach out to witnesses who recanted their testimony urging them to give evidence afresh. Kutuny has reached to several witnesses through proxies," alleged Rono. The former ICC witness said Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny used his position as President Uhuru Kenyatta's political advisor to work against William Ruto. Photo: The Standard. Source: UGC READ ALSO: I did not slap Jaguar, it is his cheeks that moved towards my hands - Babu Owino Chile Eboe-Osuji, the ICC president and judge told United Nations (UN) General Assembly 2018 the court had received fresh evidence concerning Kenyan cases. Rono sensationally alleged the new evidence was being generated by powerful people at Harambee House who were working hand in hand with Kutuny. "Several witnesses we were with in this matter disclosed they had been approached to say the DP interfered with the witnesses. They failed in 2013 and they will fail now. I was a prosecution witness but crossed over after realising it was a political contest. I am solid with other defence witnesses to frustrate their ill plans," he said. He said plans by Kutuny were solely aimed at frustrating Ruto's succession of President Uhuru Uhuru and threatened to call out witnesses who the Cherangany MP had approached to lay bare his undercover schemes. 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. When Uhuru, Ruto and Raila Met at State House - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko News - The MP said his Bill is seeking to put a cap on how much the government can borrow - The Bill would require the exchequer to submit to Parliament proposed loan repayment plan - The Treasury would also have to seek approval from Parliament before any more cash can be borrowed - Kosgey bemoaned the huge public debt saying the government was mortgaging the future of Kenya - He urged Kenyans in general to learn how to live within their means so they do not have to borrow in order to survive - Kenya's national debt had surpassed KSh 5 trillion and there is fear it could rise to KSh 7 trillion in four years Emgwen MP Alex Kosgey has reignited debate on the ever rising national debt even as the government continues to push for more foreign loans to plug a crippling budget deficit. Kosgey revealed he was in the process of drafting a Bill seeking to tame the government's insatiable appetite for borrowing by capping the national debt. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Kenya's public debt to increase by KSh 2 trillion in next 4 years Emgwen Member of Parliament Alex Kosgey (Left Photo:The Star) on Wednesday, November 21, said he was in the precess of drafting a Bill seeking to cap national debt. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Binti mrembo ashangaza wengi baada ya kutangaza anaishi na virusi vya HIV Appearing on Citizen TV's on Wednesday, November 21, the young legislator warned the rate at which Kenya's debt was rising was dangerous and could plunge the country into a catastrophic financial crisis if not stopped soon. " I am working on a Bill that sets to put a cap on national debt. It would also require Treasury to submit to Parliament the proposed repayment plan ," said Kosgey, who is son of former minister, Henry Kosgey. READ ALSO: Every unborn Kenyan baby has a debt of KSh 105k The Bill, the MP explained, would require the National Treasury to submit to Parliament its proposed loan repayment plan. The exchequer would also have to seek approval from Parliament before setting in motion any borrowing by the government, arguing this will bring more transparency at the Treasury. READ ALSO: Tough times ahead as Rotich hikes price of unga, bread, milk to raise money for Uhuru's Big Four agenda The legislator emphasised Kenya must take control of its national debt now to save the future. "We are actually mortgaging our childrens future. There is a threat in the future, we have to take control of our borrowing," he warned, and many appeared to agree with his views. Below are some of the reactions: READ ALSO: Every unborn Kenyan baby has a debt of KSh 105k As was previously reported by TUKO.co.ke, Kenya's external and internal debts, collectively referred to as national, public or government debt, had hit KSh 5.1 trillion as at September 2018 and is expected to increase by KSh 2 trillion in the next four years. A draft Budget Review and Outlook Paper that was to be submitted to Parliament projected the debt to rise by an additional KSh 2 trillion in the next four years. Going by the exchequer's projections, the total public debt would grow from the estimated KSh 5 trillion in June 2018 to about KSh 7.17 trillion in June 2022. 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. When Uhuru, Ruto and Raila Met at State House - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko - A Murang'a private car driver has been summoned to appear in court on Friday for not having a fire extinguisher - Traffic department had said the equipment was not a mandatory requirement for private vehicles - It said police officers who arrested anyone for not having it were breaking the law - The incident caused public outrage on the manner which police are enforcing some traffic rules Private motorists have expressed displeasure in the ongoing road crackdown claiming a section of traffic officers are on a spirited mission to harass innocent road users. On Thursday, November 22, a motorist decried being arrested and booked to appear before a court for committing no offense. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: First aid kit, towing rope, fire extinguisher not mandatory for private motorists - Police Outrage as private motorist is arrested for not having fire extinguisher, first aid kit Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Binti mrembo ashangaza wengi baada ya kutangaza anaishi na virusi vya HIV According to a notice to appear in court shared on social media by the complainant, he was arrested for not having a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit in his car. The arrest happened in Kigumo, Murang'a County and the motorist, Rakita Francis, was booked to appear before court on Friday, November 23. READ ALSO: 5 ways in which passengers get killed in road accidents TUKO.co.ke, however, understands that only PSVs are required to have the safety equipment , particularly the ones which travel long distances. Traffic Police Commandant Samuel Kimaru earlier elaborated that police who fined personal car owners for lacking such facilities were doing so illegally. "It is wrong for any police officer to ask a private vehicle owner for a fire extinguisher, first aid kits and towing rope, Kimaru said in a statement. Those who reacted blamed the law enforcers for illegally arresting motorists and called for transport and security bosses to rein in on the situation. Some threw jabs at the officers claiming they did not have an understanding of the law they were supposed to enforce. "Do some of these cops read their own Facebook page ?" Denis Sirere wrote on Facebook. David Mugambi termed the officers who arrested the driver as incompetent describing them as a source of inconvenience to the citizenry. "Where is national police traffic commandant...incompetent police officers should not inconvenience Kenyans," said Mugambi. On his part, a Facebook user who also protested the arrested advised the driver to sue the police for arresting him for not committing an offense. READ ALSO: 7 stringent traffic rules that died with late Transport Minister John Michuki Writing on its Facebook page, the Motorist Association of Kenya described the action as a wrongful arrest, insisting the driver had no case to answer. "There is no case. Actually the officer will be charged not only for insubordination but also wrongful arrests," the association stated. "This clearly shows the driver didn't buy tea. This is a mere offense of which the competent judge will warn the driver and free him," tweeted Ramsey Onege. 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. Kenyans React To Reinforcement of Michuki Rules | Tuko TV. Source: Tuko Newspaper - Father Cosmos Omboto was killed outside his office during a crossfire between the military and separatists - His death came barely months after he was ordained alongside two other priests - Father Omboto served at the Miller Hill Catholic church in the Diocese of Mamfe - He was working with people displaced by conflict in the country A Kenyan catholic priest has been killed in unclear circumstances in the war torn South West region of Cameroon as separatists and the military clashed. Father Cosmos Omboto who served at the Miller Hill church in the Diocese of Mamfe is reported to have been caught between a cross fire on Wednesday, November 21. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: Binti mrembo ashangaza wengi baada ya kutangaza anaishi na virusi vya HIV Father cosmos Omboto who served at the Miller Hill church in the Diocese of Mamfe. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Kenyan priest killed at church compound in South Sudan 17 months after another was killed for praying loudly A report by the BBC on Thursday, November 22, indicated local officials claimed the separatists were shooting at the military from trees where they were hiding. "Some villagers say he was shot by the gendarmes. Others say he was shot by separatists. We are still investigating," said Eyumojock's Divisional Officer, Moloka Egbe. It was during this exchange that Father Omboto was shot right in front of his office while a soldier was shot in the eye and is receiving treatment. READ ALSO: Kitui villagers conduct second burial for man who disappeared from home for 40 years His death came barely months after he was ordained in Kisii alongside two other priests and appointed to the Diocese of Mamfe, according to the St Joseph Missionary Society. The priest is reported to have been working with people displaced by conflict in the region. His death came barely a fortnight after an American Catholic missionary was killed in the Northeast region after he was reportedly caught in another cross-fire. READ ALSO: MP Millie Odhiambo reveals she only wears high end Victoria's Secret underwear Father Omboto becomes the third Kenyan priest killed outside the country while on missionary work recently. A Kenyan Catholic cleric working in South Sudans Gok State was on Wednesday, November 14, assaulted and killed by armed men at the Mazzolari Church compound in unclear circumstances. TUKO.co.ke reported one suspected was arrested in connection to the incident and promised to name everyone behind the killing. READ ALSO: Kenyans oppose ban on Marie Stopes from conducting abortions, claim it boxes pregnant women Bishop Joel Mwendwa of Christ Ministry was also killed in June 2017 while serving in Juba's Munuki suburb when a South Sudanese boy hacked him to death for allegedly conducting loud prayers. Sudan Tribune reported the boy was a drug abuser and was not in good terms with the bishop after stealing the churchs bamboo fence. 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 Carolyne Nduti Untold Story: My Husband Left Me for My Cousin - Kenya Untold Stories || Tuko TV Source: Tuko - The FBI had initially listed nine prominent Kenyans linked to drug trafficking - The vocal Rift Valley MP is among those who allegedly dealt with Akasha brothers in the illegal trade - Two Akasha brothers, Bakhtash and Ibrahim, pleaded guilty to six drug trafficking cases before a US court - Kenyan prosecutors are expecting for requests from Washington to probe the 10 suspects - The suspects could be extradited to the US for prosecution The number of prominent Kenyan leaders who allegedly colluded with the Akasha family to peddle narcotics has increased from nine to 15. The FBI has now listed a vocal Rift Valley MP whose name remained concealed among those it would be seeking to prosecute over their dealings with the Akasha family in Kenya and abroad. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Emgwen MP Alex Kosgey working on Bill seeking to tame government's borrowing appetite The vocal Rift Valley MP and nine other prominent Kenyans allegedly received bribes and abetted the illegal business in the country. Photo:UGC. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Binti mrembo ashangaza wengi baada ya kutangaza anaishi na virusi vya HIV In a report by Daily Nation, seen by TUKO.co.ke, on Thursday, November 22, the Rift Valley MP is among 10 out of the 15 who are perceived to be highly culpable of engaging in the dreaded transnational drug trafficking deal. "They are among the most culpable as far as the drug trafficking charges are concerned," said a judicial source privy to the matter. The 10 are listed in highly protected investigative documents between Kenyan and American law enforcement units. The source further intimated Kenyan prosecutors were ready to work jointly with their US counterparts to ensure the accused persons were prosecuted. "Local prosecutors are prepared to deal with any request from their US counterparts. The requests from Washington are expected by mid-December (2018)," the source added. Two Akasha brothers Ibrahim and Bakhtash pleaded guilty to six drug trafficking counts in a US court. Photo: Nation Source: UGC READ ALSO: Nairobi County orders for demolition of shacky Kayole building after public outrage If investigations implicate the 10, then they could be extradited to the US to face charges like Akasha brothers, Bakhtash and Ibrahim, who pleaded guilty to six counts of drug trafficking. Other prominent suspects in the list are a cabinet secretary, two judges, two magistrates, a prosecutor, two serving governors from coast and North Eastern and a former governor from Central Kenya. The list also comprises a former Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, senior police investigator, serving MP from Mt Kenya, former North Eastern MP, prominent Nairobi businessman and a Mombasa rights activist. Out of the 15 suspects, 10 are perceived as most culpable having allegedly received bribes and abetted the Akasha family to keep their business alive. 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. When Uhuru, Ruto and Raila Met at State House - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko - Dongo Kundu Phase Two road project linking Mwache and Mteza was found to be the most expensive in Kenya - Nairobi Southern Bypass and Nairobi Western Bypass followed at positions two and three respectively - Several other road construction projects are underway across the country and were allocated over KSh 100 billion in 2018/19 fiscal year Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has released a report detailing how much some of the most iconic roads across the country cost the taxpayers to construct. The 2018 KeNHA report showed the most expensive highway ever constructed in the country cost a jaw-dropping KSh 24 billion. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Uhuru Kenyattas super plan to ease crazy Nairobi traffic jam amid tax debate The nine-kilometer bypass linking Mwache and Mteza cost the taxpayers KSh 2.7 billion per kilometre. The road has two sea bridges spanning a total of 2.1 kilometres. Photo: KeNHA. Source: UGC READ ALSO: After Thika superhighway, Mombasa to also get a superhighway The report seen by TUKO.co.ke on Thursday, November 22, showed Dongo Kundu Bypass in Mombasa County was the most expensive in Kenya. According to KeNHA, the magnificent city bypass linking Mwache and Mteza cost the taxpayers KSh 2.7 billion per kilometre. READ ALSO: List of Nairobi roads which Uhuru has launched their reconstruction at a cost KSh 2.7 billion Below is the list of the top 10 most expensive highways in Kenya going by the KeNHA 2018 report: 1. Dongo Kundu Phase Two linking Mwache and Mteza (KSh 24 billion) The nine-kilometre highway with two major sea bridges spanning 2.1 kilometres cost KSh 2.67 billion per kilometre. 2. Nairobi Southern Bypass (KSh 18.7 billion) The 28.5 kilometres long Nairobi Southern Bypass cost KSh 659.3 million per kilometre. 3. Nairobi Western Bypass (KSh 16.9 billion) The 17.6 kilometre Nairobi Western Bypass cost KSh 965 million per kilometre. 4. James Gichuru Junction - Rironi Road (KSh 16.3 billion) The road between James Gichuru Junction and Rironi is 26 kilometers, each of which cost KSh 629 million to construct. 5. MPARD Phase One linking Miritini and Mwache (KSh 12.6 billion) The 11 kilometre Miritini-Mwache Road cost KSh 1.15 billion per kilometre. 6. Mombasa-Mariakani Highway (KSh 6 billion) The 11.3 kilometre highway linking Mombasa and Mariakani cost KSh 532.46 million per kilometre. 7. MPARD Phase The linking Mteza and Kibundani (KSh 3.9 billion) The seven-kilometre long road linking Mteza and Kibundani cost KSh 571 million per kilometre. 8. Three Interchanges on A104 in Nakuru (KSh 2.9 billion) The Three Interchanges on A104 in Nakuru County is five kilometres long with each kilometre having cost KSh 580 million. 9. Kisumu Boys - Mamboleo (KSh 2.8 billion) The 4.6 kilometre long road linking Kisumu Boys and Mamboleo cost KSh 616.94 million per kilometre. 10. Magongo Road Dualling (KSh 2.4 billion) The 2.6 kilometre Magongo Road Dualling cost KSh 930.8 million per kilometre. READ ALSO: 9 infrastructural projects which saw Uhuru win Africa development award The KeNHA report was released amid growing concern over the extremely high cost of constructing roads in Kenya, especially in the coastal region. TUKO.co.ke understands infrastructure development remains at the top of the Jubilee government's development agenda. In the 2018-2019 financial budget, more than KSh 100 billion was set aside for various road construction projects across the country. 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. What is Your Worst Experience in a Matatu? - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko Breaking News Latest - The ex-KCPE candidate had been left under the care of a man who was expected to take him through the initiation process - He was found dead in his room while neatly covered with his blanket and had form in his mouth - A post mortem report showed the boy was hit by a blunt object on his head - Police launched a manhunt for the caregiver saying he was the prime suspect in the murder - Kandara MP Alice Wahome attributed the boy's death to rising illegal gangs in the region - Alice claimed the initiate was killed when his mother failed to present a required chicken It is now emerging there could be more than meets the eye in the death of Juliano Kanyonyo, an initiate from Gatitu village in Murang'a county who died following torture meant to harden him into adulthood. According to Kandara MP Alice Wahome in whose constituency the incident happened, the boy may have been tortured to death by illegal gangs recruiting freshly circumcised initiates. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: Murang'a women complain of insane man who spanks, fondles them in public Lucy Njoki, sister to Juliano Kanyonyo who died a day after undergoing circumcision. Photo: Kenya News Agency/Facebook. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Unease as Tanzanian beggars invade Murang'a county towns Wahome who was in tears as she addressed journalists outside Parliament on Thursday, November 22, further claimed the Class Eight pupil was killed when his mother failed to present a a suitable chicken to the gang. The legislator also urged authorities to look into the activities of organised groupings such as Mungiki, 42 brothers, Usiku Sacco and Gaza which are said to be terrosing Murang'a residents. Kanyonyo who was a partial orphan had undergone the rite of passage in line with Kikuyu tradition on Monday, November 12, at a local clinic and went to recuperate at home. However, Sunday, November 18, the day he was to mark the end of his seclusion period, he was found dead in his one roomed house with foam on the mouth. Speaking to TUKO.co.ke, Murang'a county Police Commander Mohammed Farah said a post-mortem examination conducted at Thika Level Four Hospital indicated he was tortured to death. An autopsy result revealed the immediate former Gatitu primary school pupil suffered injuries on the head occasioned by a blunt object. He had just done his KCPE exam and scored more than 300 marks. 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. Kenya news: Top Girl in KCPE 2018 | Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke - Hoteliers in Malindi said the abduction of the Italian aid worker had scared tourists - They said some tourists had canceled their bookings due to fear - Police said they had arrested 14 people who had given leads to help rescue the abducted volunteer - Two motorcycles reported to have been used by the bandits were also recovered Tourism stakeholders in Malindi have raised concern that the abduction of 23-year-old Italian aid worker has negatively affected the hotel and hospitality sector with many guests canceling their bookings. Members of the Italian community in the area also expressed fear and called on security agencies to tighten vigil and avert future incidents even as police continued to hunt for abductors of the volunteer. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: Nakuru man kills wife after finding her in bed with lover Tourism stakeholders addressing the media bout situation in Malindi. Photo: Onesmus Baraka/TUKO.co.ke. Source: Original READ ALSO: Bomet man gets KDF job after elderly mum's support wins recruiters' hearts Addressing the press at Dream Of Africa hotel in Malindi, on Thursday, November 22, North Coast Hotel Keepers Association chairperson Maureen Awuor said they had already encountered cancellations from foreign tourists after the Tuesday, November 20 incident. The incident scared locals and even visitors who wanted to travel for holiday. Some have decided to cancel and cut short their bookings thus hurting our business," said Awuor. She said this was despite the incident having happened in Chakama about 150kms away from Malindi. The incident never happened in a resort as widely reported. It was in Chakama 150kms away. It, however, turned out like Malindi was under siege and this has turned out against investors in the otherwise vibrant tourism sector here," she added. Italian community spokesperson Fredy Curatolo said Malindi had been safe for the last couple of years but did not overlook the fact that such an attack had tainted the image of the area as afar as security was concerned. Coast Regional Police Commander Noah Mwivanda addressing journalists. He said police have combined forces to ensure they arrest the attackers. Photo: Onesmus Baraka/TUKO.co.ke Source: Original READ ALSO: MP sheds tears on camera while condemning initiation torture which killed teenager in Muranga Justine Kitsao, chairman of Beach Operators in Watamu condemned the attack saying it was not good for the economy of the region. He said beach operators majorly depended on tourism, adding that absence of visitors would render beach operators jobless. Kitsao called on the police to speed up operation to rescue the abducted Italian volunteer to quell the tension and reputation of the area's security situation. Maureen Awuor Chairperson for North Coast Hotel Keepers addressing the press. They said incident had affected their businesses. Photo: Onesmus Baraka/TUKO.co.ke. Source: Original READ ALSO: Joshua Kutuny dismisses ICC case accusations, hits out at maize cartels Coast regional Police Commander Noah Mwivanda said they had recovered two motorcycles reported to have been used by the bandits saying they were gathering good leads in pursuit of the suspects. "We have detained 14 people who are assisting us with investigations. We have combined forces following this rescue mission. Drone surveillance is available and we hope to get the lady alive," he said. He urged local leaders and residents to be calm and avoid unnecessary tension which could results to ethnic clashes. Story By; Onesmus Baraka, TUKO Correspondent Kilifi County Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news KENYA'S FORGOTTEN HERO| Tuko TV Source: Tuko Newspaper The Farmers Union stands by their increase in price of goat meat saying that, feed and pharm DAYTON, Ohio The University of Dayton will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the University's human rights studies program and 70th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a pair of free, public events Thursday, Dec. 6, featuring a current U.S. State Department official and the editor-in-chief of top academic human rights journal Human Rights Quarterly. A panel of UD human rights studies alumni will discuss "Human Rights Practice and Profession: From the Classroom to the Field" from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Panelists include Anamaria T. Karrels, a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State; Kata Lucas, a researcher with the non-governmental organization Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, who focuses on topics of gender-sensitive transitional justice in post-conflict settings; labor attorney McLean Johnson; Laura Getz, a bilingual community support specialist for the Center for Work, Education and Employment; and Mike Schulz, executive director of Mission of Mary Cooperative. "The University of Dayton has a rich history in human rights education, starting one of the nation's first undergraduate human rights program in 1998 and one of the nation's first bachelor's degrees in human rights studies in 2008," said Natalie Hudson, director of the University of Dayton's human rights studies program. "We're happy our alumni can help celebrate and offer advice to our future human rights practitioners." Former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Mendez and Bert Lockwood, distinguished professor of law and director of the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights at the University of Cincinnati, will be panelists discussing "Educating Future Generations in Human Rights During Challenging Times" from 6:30 to 8 p.m. "For 70 years, the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been the guiding document for our field," said Shelley Inglis, executive director of the University of Dayton Human Rights Center who most recently spent 15 years with the United Nations. "We are fortunate to have such an esteemed panel who will offer our students a glimpse of what they'll face in their careers." Both events, as well as a free, public reception between the events, also are supported by the Dayton Council on World Affairs and the Dayton International Peace Museum. They will be in the Auditorium at Daniel J. Curran Place located at 1700 S. Patterson Blvd. RSVP for the events at go.udayton.edu/hrc. The University of Dayton human rights studies program and Human Rights Center have organized local, national and international conferences and developed partnerships to perform research and advocate for the rights of the vulnerable and exploited children, women, migrants, refugees and trafficked persons. Highlights include: In 2008, the human rights studies program and the Center for Victims of Torture organized an event to advocate for a presidential executive order on prisoner treatment, torture and cruelty. University of Dayton President Daniel J. Curran signed a declaration supporting the executive order, which President Obama signed in 2009. Since 2013, the Social Practice of Human Rights conference has convened biennially, attracting an average of more than 100 experts from 15 countries who include current and former representatives from the United Nations, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the United States Human Rights Network, Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, Global Fund for Women, Doctors Without Borders, Ford Foundation, World Peace Foundation, USAID, and the NAACP, among others. The 2019 conference is set for Oct. 8-11, 2019. In 2000, the University established the Romero Human Rights award, which commemorates the ministry and martyrdom of the slain Salvadoran Archbishop and honors an individual or organization whose work has contributed significantly to the alleviation of human suffering and injustice. At the request of local and state law enforcement agencies and social service organizations, the human rights studies program took a leadership role in the creation of a regional anti-trafficking coalition Abolition Ohio currently supported by the Human Rights Center, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking. Human rights studies faculty and students were instrumental in advocating for enactment of Ohio Senate Bill 235, which made human trafficking a criminal offense in Ohio. Abolition Ohio also worked with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWines Human Trafficking Commission to provide Ohio schools, youth counselors, after-school programs and anti-human trafficking organizations with a free online manual for developing anti-human trafficking education for children. The Center sponsors an applied research practicum in Malawi to train undergraduate students as future human rights advocates and professionals. Working closely with Determined to Develop, a grassroots NGO founded and directed by the alumnus Matt Maroon '06, students spend nine weeks living and conducting research with local community leaders in northern Malawi on a critical human rights or development issue. The Human Rights Center partnered with PROOF: Media for Social Justice, an organization specializing in visual storytelling for human rights and peacebuilding, on Ferguson Voices, an oral history project capturing stories of people who participated in and were affected by the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, after the killing of Michael Brown. The goal was to document people who, despite adversity and risk, "chose to activate their moral courage," according to Joel Pruce, assistant professor of human rights studies who oversaw the project for the University of Dayton Human Rights Center. Pruce also led a similar group to El Paso, Texas, this spring to examine immigration issues at the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2016, the University received a fair trade university designation from national grassroots movement Fair Trade Campaigns. Fair Trade Campaigns recognizes towns, colleges, universities, schools and congregations nationwide for embedding fair trade practices and principles into policy. "Fair trade" refers to an economic system of equitable trading partnerships for farmers, artisans and workers. It is evidence to consumers that products they purchase were grown, harvested, crafted and traded in ways that improve lives and protect the environment. For more information about the University of Dayton Human Rights Center and human rights studies program, visit go.udayton.edu/hrc and go.udayton.edu/humanrights. For more information or interviews, contact Shawn Robinson, University of Dayton associate director of news and communications, at 937-229-3391 or srobinson1@udayton.edu. Finland, Northern Ireland and Faroe Islands are the winners of the three categories in the final rankings of the 2017/18 UEFA fair play competition. Northern Ireland fans in fine voice Getty Images Finland took the award for overall fair play with 8.596 points, while Northern Ireland won the award for the best improvement in their overall fair play score from one season to the next, progressing from 7.976 points in 2016/17 to 8.489 points in 2017/18. Fans of the Faroe Islands club KI Klaksvik Domenic Aquilina The award for behaviour of spectators was won by the Faroe Islands. Finland finished first in the spectator behaviour rankings with 8.954 points, but as they had won the award for the best overall fair play score, the spectator award went to the Faroe Islands, who finished second in the rankings with 8.818 points. The winning associations in each of the three categories will be awarded 50,000 each to donate to amateur or professional clubs of their choice for fair play or respect-themed projects. The 2017/18 UEFA fair play rankings are based on the fair play results obtained from all UEFA competition matches played at both club and national team level between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018. The rankings are established on the basis of the UEFA fair play report, which is completed after each match by the UEFA match delegate, in consultation with the referees and the referee observers. Only associations that have played a minimum of 36 matches were taken into account in the final rankings. This cut-off point is obtained by dividing the total number of UEFA matches by the number of participating UEFA member associations. "After 20 years, I have decided to put an end to my playing career," Didier Drogba said yesterday, the Chelsea great having spent the last 18 months in the United States playing for Phoenix Rising, the club he co-owns. The Ivorian scored 44 goals in 92 UEFA Champions League games (group stage to final), and is one of a select band of players who reached 50 goals in UEFA club competition. A 2011/12 UEFA Champions League winner with Chelsea, Drogba won four Premier League titles with the Blues, as well as a Turkish title at Galatasaray in 2012/13. Were these his greatest UEFA Champions League nights? Drogba celebrates his #UCL treble for Marseille AFP Marseille 3-0 Partizan 01/10/2003, group stage Having struck on his group stage debut, a 4-2 loss to Real Madrid, OM's summer signing from Guingamp swept ten-man Partizan aside with a devastating 23-minute hat-trick at Stade Velodrome. Drogba enjoys scoring against Paris AFP Paris Saint-Germain 0-3 Chelsea 14/09/2004, group stage Two months after his reported 36m move to west London, Drogba returned to France in style, scoring twice as Jose Mourinho fresh from guiding Porto to European glory the previous season won his first #UCL game as Blues manager. All smiles during the semi-final against Liverpool Getty Images Levski Sofia 1-3 Chelsea 27/09/2006, group stage Chelsea built on a matchday one defeat of Werder Bremen as Drogba registered his second #UCL treble. Mourinho later said of the striker: "He gave me his sweat and his blood every minute he was on the pitch for me." Chelsea 3-2aet Liverpool 30/04/2008, semi-final second leg The forward scored one in normal time and one in extra time against the Reds, Chelsea's nemesis in two of the previous three European Cup semi-finals, as the Blues made their first #UCL final (which they lost to Manchester United on penalties). Bayern Munchen 1-1 Chelsea 19/05/2012, final Drogba's first spell with Chelsea ended in glory; with Roberto Di Matteo's team trailing in the Munich final to Thomas Muller's effort, Drogba met Juan Mata's corner with a powerful near-post header to force extra time. Petr Cech's 95th-minute penalty save took the match to a shoot-out, where failures from Ivica Olic and Bastian Schweinsteiger allowed Drogba to step up and convert the winner. Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak held a meeting with UK Chief of the Defense Staff General Sir Nickolas Carter, the Defense Ministrys press service reports. As part of the official visit to the United Kingdom, Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak held talks with UK Chief of the Defense Staff General Sir Nickolas Carter. The parties discussed current security challenges, the ways to improve and develop the system of military exercises, as well as training of military personnel with the involvement of UK instructors, reads the report. Poltorak noted the importance of the assistance provided by the UK in training the Ukrainian Armed Forces. I am grateful for personal contribution to Operation ORBITAL, which already yields positive results. The issue of extending the work with UK advisers remains topical, especially in planning and engaging representatives of the Naval Forces and the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the organization of staff planning procedures. These exercises are now relevant for us because we are carrying out the reform of the management system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," said Poltorak. He also invited Sir Nick Carter to visit Ukraine. As reported, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak is on an official visit to the United Kingdom. iy Ukraine and Turkey have extended bilateral cooperation in the defence industry complex and are considering the prospects for cooperation in setting up joint ventures in the field of construction of land-based, aviation and sea-based platforms. This was reported by the press service of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. At MUSIAD EXPO [the international exhibition High Tech Port by MUSIAD], Hladkovsky [First Deputy Secretary of the NSDC Oleh Hladkovsky] met with President of the Defense Industry of the Republic of Turkey Ismail Demir, during which the parties noted a significant intensification of bilateral cooperation in the defence industry complex with the achievement of real results as mutually beneficial contracts. The officials also discussed the current state and prospects for cooperation in setting up joint ventures in the field of construction of land-based, aviation and sea-based platforms, which are of considerable interest to both countries, the statement reads. Hladkovsky also held meetings with heads of Turkeys leading defense enterprises and noted the importance of combining the efforts of Ukrainian and Turkish design offices to modernize existing types of equipment and weapons and developing new ones. As reported, a Ukrainian delegation led by First Deputy Secretary of the NSDC Oleh Hladkovsky visited MUSIAD EXPO in Istanbul. The delegation also included Head of the Ukroboronprom State Concern Pavlo Bukin and Ukraine's Ambassador to Turkey Andrii Sybiha. ish Ukraine expects to get a tranche of about $2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) immediately after the approval and signing of the country's state budget for 2019. The president's representative in the Verkhovna Rada, Iryna Lutsenko, told this to journalists in parliament on Thursday, November 22, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "About two billion [U.S. dollars] are expected. I think that as soon as the budget is voted and signed, and the IMF has already spoken about it repeatedly, there will be no delay with financing and allocation of the tranche to Ukraine," Lutsenko said. On October 19, the IMF and the Ukrainian authorities reached an agreement on economic policies for a new 14-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). The new SBA will replace the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), approved in March 2015 and set to expire in March 2019. The new SBA, with a requested access of SDR 2.8 billion (equivalent to $3.9 billion), will provide an anchor for the authorities' economic policies during 2019. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on November 16 that he hoped Ukraine would receive a new IMF tranche in December. op Ukraine is able to become a gas country that satisfies its own needs and exports. Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said this in an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit, the Government portal reported. "The Ukrainian gas transmission system was built for delivery of Russian gas to Europe. The capacity of the pipeline system is 146 billion cubic meters of gas per year. At present, 90 billion are used. The system is reliable. We consider the construction of Nord Stream 2 as follows: Russia wants to make Europe hostage to its gas, this idea is another hybrid weapon against Europe. As soon as energy market will be dependent on Russia, it will halt supplies. Can you call any guarantee that Russia has given recently and respected it? We want to become a gas country that satisfies its own needs and exports. We can do it by 2025. And you can benefit from investing in Ukraine and getting energy from another source," the prime minister stressed. According to Groysman, the relations between Ukraine and Germany will always be close and partnering because they are based on common values and the implementation of a number of important geopolitical and economic initiatives. "Ukraine is currently playing an essential role in defending democracy in Europe and in countering Russias aggression which has been waged on the entire world. Russia has invaded Ukraine because we see our future in Europe," Groysman said. The prime minister stressed that "Ukraine is undergoing transformations and the Government of Germany is actively helping Ukraine on this path." However, there are also forces that slow down the processes of changes. "When you carry out reforms, you fight against the old system, against populism, against inefficiency," he stressed. According to the head of government, the battle against external threats is also being carried out. Among them are Kremlins aggressive attempts to humiliate Ukraine's transit capabilities in favor of the Nord Stream 2 project. Nord Stream 2 is a gas pipeline project which aims to carry more Russian natural gas under the Baltic Sea direct to Germany, bypassing Ukraine and Poland. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom owns 51% of the projects shares. Russia wants to build two strings of the gas pipeline. The project opponents, including Poland, the Baltic countries, Ukraine, Moldova, the United States and Denmark, argue that Nord Stream 2 will increase the EU's dependence on Gazprom. ish Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will soon make a visit to Israel during which, in particular, the two countries will sign an agreement on a free trade area. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said this in a blitz interview with Ukrinform during his working visit to Austria. "The agreement is almost complete, and technical preparations are coming to an end. I think the Ukrainian president will soon visit Israel and the agreement will be signed during this visit," he said, commenting on the possibility of signing the free trade agreement with Israel. Klimkin said that the partnership with Israel is universal, "and there are many innovative things." "Therefore, we will not stop on the goods, but will move further on services, investment, so that this agreement could be as effective as possible," he added. During a panel discussion at the international conference on anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in Vienna, Klimkin also recalled the expected signing of the free trade agreement with Israel, stating that this will happen "in the coming weeks." op President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to provide humanitarian assistance to Yemen, Sudan and the Congo in order to help fight famine. The corresponding decree was published on the website of the head of state. "I instruct to provide humanitarian assistance to the Republic of Yemen, the Republic of the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to fight against famine," the document reads. The Cabinet of Ministers is responsible for providing humanitarian assistance. According to the UN data published in February, 17 million people in Yemen (60% of the population), 3.8 million in Sudan (9% of the population), 7.7 million people in the Congo (11% of the population) were in dire need of food and livelihoods. ish The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has recognized as constitutional draft amendments to the Constitution on securing Ukraines course for gaining a full membership in the European Union and NATO. Representative of the President in the Verkhovna Rada and MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, Iryna Lutsenko stated this, the PPB partys press service reported. The decision on the recognition of the presidents bill on amendments to the Constitution was supported by the overwhelming majority - 14 judges of the Constitutional Court. Therefore, it gives Parliament the opportunity to consider the document in the session hall," said Lutsenko. As reported, president's bill No.9037 on amendments to the Constitution regarding Ukraines strategic course to obtain a full membership in the European Union and NATO was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on September 3. On September 20, the Parliament included the presidents bill in the sessions agenda and sent the document to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for conclusion. iy Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA) Jorge Domecq will arrive in Ukraine on November 22 to discuss defense cooperation with our country. Ukraines Ambassador to to the Kingdom of Belgium, Ukraines Representative to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, Mykola Tochytskyi, wrote this on Twitter today. "Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA) Jorge Domecq is arriving in Ukraine today. Cooperation within the framework of the EDA administrative agreement signed in December 2015 will be discussed. International partners continue to strengthen the defense capability of our state," Tochytskyi wrote. As reported, on December 7, 2015, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini signed an administrative arrangement between the Defense Ministry of Ukraine and the European Defense Agency. The agreement creates legal grounds for Ukraines cooperation with the EU countries in the defense sector, and also provides an opportunity to join relevant programs and projects of the agency. ish If we remember how bad it was and how worse it could have been Each anniversary of Euromaidan, be it the date of the protests beginning or the date of their tragic and bloody ending, discussions arise whether it was worth it. Some people, especially outside Ukraine, may often suggest it was not. Generally speaking, the fact of such discussion is healthy and essential for the country to move forward. Euromaidan dates are a good moment to reflect on what has been done and what has not. These dates are reserved for Ukrainians to try to persuade each other so that pessimists would acknowledge some of achievements, optimists admit some of hard truths, and realists - which I consider myself - to recount a number of facts. I was one of those few hundred people in the evening of November 21, 2013, on Independence Square in Kyiv, known as Maidan, to protest Viktor Yanukovychs decision to postpone an association agreement with the EU. Here is what I wrote in my Facebook before leaving home: I know that many of my friends are tired of politics and as thoughtful people cannot trust any current politicians. I share your feelings. But now it is the case when we have to take to the streets not for someone else, but only for ourselves. Not because it will or will not change anything, but to simply show that no one is allowed to use us as a doormat. It is still possible now. Soon it can turn already pointless like in Russia. https://www.facebook.com/goshatikhiy/posts/622852851111307 Since that night it felt like one never-ending nightmare and my life has changed forever. In that time I would be close to dying in the war while fulfilling my journalistic duties. Situation went down the spiral from worse to even worse. Three months in freezing temperatures with Yanukovychs regime constantly upping the ante, first beating, than kidnapping, than killing the protestors. Miraculously, it led to an eventual victory of protests but also Russias immediate military intervention under a trumped-up pretext. Ukraine was caught in the moment having a totally dysfunctional government and armed forces of a quantity of few thousand combat-ready troops lacking even fuel to leave bases. Annexation of a part of the territory followed. Beginning of the war in Eastern Ukraine happened while Ukraine still didnt have neither armed forces nor even an elected president. By rules of a good nightmare, whatever terrible could happen, has happened. Five years later, some ask: Was it worth it? It squeezes a sardonic laughter out of me. What exactly are we proposed to measure the worth of? The worth of surviving when chances were close to zero? Sorry for surviving then! A more reasonable part of discussion is evaluating what has been done and what has not been done in terms of changing Ukraine for the better in these five years. It is common now in Ukraine to set the war aside and ask hard questions as if there was none. Although in my view, it is obvious that the war does make it more difficult to achieve transformation of the country for the better. However, difficult questions should be faced regardless of war. Many seem to not understand that Ukraine can be at the same time already much better than it was and still not as good as we want it to be. I believe it is realistic to view the general picture this way. People asking why Ukraine has not become in these five years a corruption-free, modern open economy state with GDP growth exceeding 7-10% (simultaneously with fighting a deadly multifaceted war of survival against Russia) need to take their pink glasses off. I agree that the bar should be high to achieve result. But the bar should also be realistically high. What is true is that while some spheres have changed a lot in Ukraine, some have not. While Ukrainian civil society has grown tremendously over these five years, Ukrainian political class has mostly barely changed. While the country has conducted a number of tough, robust and painful economic reform of a kind that few states managed to go through in the last decade, the economy is still not open. While Ukraine has established the most scalous anti-corruption infrastructure in the region, it is still in the process of completion, and it will take time to see robust result. While Ukraine managed to create capable Armed Forces, there are still challenges to the defense sector as well as Soviet mentality that has to be overcome. A land of paradoxes some would say. My point though is that there is no paradox. Ukraine is undergoing a civilization transformation, the scope of which is still difficult to evaluate from being inside the process. Hence all the pain, difficulty, illusions and disillusionment, victories and losses, emotions, outrage, patriotism that sometimes boils over the top, black-and-white evaluations that range from a doom-and-gloom despair to upbeat pride of achievements. It is difficult to not lose touch with reality in such circumstances. However, one should not lose logic when analyzing the scope and meaning of this transformation. We could be simplifying the general picture and drowning in depressing conclusions that, for example, corruption is still there five years after the protests. However, it would be legitimate to do so if it was only corruption that was at stake over the past five years. What was at stake though except corruption is Ukraines entire sovereignty. Ukraines existence as an independent state. The fact that it was not lost under circumstances that were, mildly speaking, unfavourable, is a tremendous achievement, to put it in softly. Furthermore, the fact that Ukraine, in which I mean Ukraine as a country, not simply Ukrainian leadership, managed to save its sovereignty is what makes us able to discuss corruption, ways to fight it, obstacles to it, bitter failures on this path as well as some achievements that would not be possible five years ago. In terms of civilizational transformation, Ukraine has managed to achieve landmark results that would not be possible several years ago. Ukraine has signed the Association Agreement with the EU and managed to overcome obstacles to its implementation, such as the Dutch referendum to block it. Ukraine has used benefits of the free trade agreement with the EU and negotiated a number of similar deals with other countries to reorient its trade from Russian dominance in 2013 to making Russia a minor trading partner in 2018 compared to the West. For this, hundreds of ties had to be broken which is an economic shock in itself. Ukraine has managed to stabilize the economy after losing around 20% of GDP and 25% of industrial produce in 2014 due to war in the industrialized region of Donbas. Ukraine has managed to hold three fair and open elections in this time. Ukraine has managed to fulfill criteria and conduct needed reforms to receive visa-free travel with the EU. Ukraine has managed to implement some anti-corruption reforms that already save the countrys budget around 6 billion dollars per year, according to the recent research. Ukraine has managed to turn the debt-producing state energy giant Naftogaz into the biggest contributor to the budget. Ukraine has managed to almost completely cut decades-long energy dependence on Russia, having stopped buying Gazproms gas three years ago. Ukraine has managed to win over Gazprom in international courts, making it owe Ukraine more than 2 billion dollars. Ukraine has managed to raise utility bills, which is as enormously needed to fight graft, as it is terribly painful for personal budgets of many Ukrainians. Ukraine has managed to create a new corruption-free patrol police, National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office that have been launching cases against people in the highest seats that would have been considered untouchables before. Ukraine is in process of establishing an independent Anti-Corruption Court that many doubted would be established even a year ago. Ukraine has managed to negotiate an independent Orthodox Church, breaking spiritual ties with Moscow. And last but not least, Ukraine has managed to not lose in the war. It has also managed to create from scratch one of the most capable Armed Forces in the region. It has also managed to break out of an unspoken arms sales embargo that has prevented it from receiving weapons to defend itself for the first four years of war. Now it has already got the U.S. anti-tank missiles, U.S. patrol boats, Canadian sniper rifles, Turkish combat drones as well as developing its own middle-range missiles, armored boats, machineguns and other assets. There are a number of things that have been desired by Ukrainians that Ukraine has failed to achieve for now. Notably, the most problematic issue is justice. With a justice system which is still largely dysfunctional, it has not convicted any real big fish for corruption. It has not yet convicted anyone for the crimes committed during protests at Maidan, although trials are ongoing. On a number of occasions, Ukrainian law enforcement fails to protect activists from attacks, provide security during protests, act to protect minority rights. Reforms of prosecution and the ministry of internal affairs have failed for now to profoundly change the old system inside those institutions. Reform of justice has brought some fresh blood into the system but also let the old corrupt personalities get back in. Shameful initiatives such as unreasonably strict income declarations for NGOs and attempts to brand them foreign agents continue. The resistance of the old guard to reforms and attempts to block anti-corruption infrastructure do continue too. Although the civil society mostly wins battle after battle in this struggle, the fact of such resistance is already shameful. And yes, both tendencies can take place at the same time. There is not only no paradox to it, but actually no surprise. These are symptoms of a painful civilizational transformation that the country goes through. This is the path all modern prosperous nations of the West had to go through many years ago before becoming what they are now. Focusing on failures solely and closing eyes at achievements or vice versa is therefore missing the point. With such a scale of events and transformations it will take more years to be able to draw a line and brand Euromaidan a success or a failure in simple terms. Most of the obstacles to change come from two problems: old political class and paternalism. It is worth mentioning that Ukraine did not have any new political class ready to replace Yanukovych neither at the beginning of the protests, nor during them, nor after Yanukovych was ousted. Some tender green leaves of it have only begun to form in the last few years and it will take some more years for the new Ukrainian politicians to take hold on power to make the big qualitative changes many crave for. This is neither good nor bad, but simply a reality that has to be taken into account. But looking back at the past five years asking Was it worth it? simply does not resonate with me. Euromaidan could not have not happened. Generational shift of the post-Soviet era was what provoked it. The new generation has grown up to the ability to protest and play a role in changing the country. It has not grown up to take the cabinets of authority yet. It will take time to see it happen. However, in the last five years Ukraine has not only managed to survive as a sovereign nation and an independent state with chances of it happening close to zero. It has also managed to achieve some tremendous changes in a number of spheres. Maybe that is why some other where there is a lack of reforms seem so painful to our eyes? I prefer to remain an optimist and believe those spheres will see change as well. At least my predictions that some outside observers constantly called optimistic have all fulfilled for now. I dont see a reason they will not in the future. And this makes me sure that at the end of the day these five years have changed Ukraine for the better in the face of challenges no nation faced in decades. Heorhiy Tykhy, Kyiv Ukraine is ready to pick up on November 27 all those convicted for criminal offenses before the beginning of the war in Donbas and who are now imprisoned in occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and want to serve their terms in government-controlled areas. Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko, wrote this on her Facebook page on Thursday. According to her, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova and representatives of her office are ready to take these convicts on November 27 at a checkpoint that is to be chosen at a meeting of the humanitarian subgroup on November 22. As for the hostages, Gerashchenko said, Ukrainian representatives remind Russians at a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group and at a meeting of the humanitarian subgroup that they are waiting for answers to the proposal to exchange Russian mercenaries convicted in Ukraine for political prisoners of the Kremlin. "We have been waiting for this answer for nine months, and we are ready to pardon more than 60 criminals in exchange for the release of hostages from Donbas. We are ready to hold the next stage of the release immediately and pardon all those who fall within the scope of the Minsk agreements, for the sake of the release of our guys," Gerashchenko said. op A photo exhibition dedicated to commemorating the Holodomor victims has opened at the Embassy of Ukraine in Nigeria. The Embassy of Ukraine in Nigeria reported this on its Facebook page. "The photo exhibition "Execution by Hunger: The Unknown Genocide of Ukrainians" dedicated to commemorating the Holodomor in Ukraine of 1932-1933 has opened at the Embassy of Ukraine in Nigeria," the report reads. The photo exposition acquaints visitors with the causes and consequences of the Holodomor, as well as with documents of genocide of the Stalin totalitarian regime against Ukrainians. ish Canada will continue to demonstrate its solidarity and friendship with Ukraine. Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said this at a ceremony to commemorate Holodomor victims, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. Sajjan said that Canada would always stand side by side with Ukraine in solidarity and friendship. He also promised to work hard to establish peace in the world. In the spirit of friendship, on behalf of all Canadians, I extend my sincere condolences, recalling the victims of the Holodomor, Sajjan said. We will tirelessly work to establish peace now and forever, he added. Canada recognized the Ukrainian Holodomor Famine as genocide at the state level in 2008. Since then, the country honors Holodomor victims every year. op | By Alex Likowski UMB President Jay A. Perman, MD, and members of the UMB leadership team traveled to four Asian cities in late September and early October to strengthen existing relationships and establish new ones, expanding educational, research and economic development opportunities. Beijing - Pharmaron Starting in Beijing, China, the team visited with Pharmaron founder and CEO Boliang Lou, PhD, and his team. The rapidly growing contract research organization (CRO) operates facilities in China, the United Kingdom, and the United States, recently acquired a majority stake in Japan-based SNBL CPC, one of the University of Maryland BioPark's oldest tenants. Its 40-thousand square foot Clinical Pharmacology Center in Baltimore works with the School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development. The meeting included discussion of possible expansion in the BioPark and working together on additional clinical trials and collaborative research. (View a photo gallery of the Asia tour and watch a video below.) UMB Provost Bruce Jarrell, MD, FACS, reacts to CUPL Vice President Shi Jianzhong, PhD, as the two discuss a possible program in dental forensics. James L. Hughes, MBA, UMB chief enterprise and economic development officer and vice president, reviewed the strength of the Maryland tech economy, the growth and potential for growth at the BioPark, and the recent successes of UM Ventures in bringing discoveries to market. We've invested a lot of money in that and the state in fact has invested a lot of money in that so the UM Ventures not only has the infrastructure to get the patents, to do the evaluations, to do the licensing, but also to seed programs earlier on to get them to this next more desirable step, added Bruce Jarrell, MD, FACS, executive vice president, provost and graduate school dean. The process of deciding which new discoveries and inventions show the greatest promise, and determining how to best develop them, Hughes offered, could benefit greatly from the critical eyes of an industry partner. What we'd be very interested in doing is seeing if you could help us in evaluating the technologies, Hughes said. Because ultimately what we're trying to do is to convince a pharmaceutical company or venture capitalist that they should invest a fair amount of money in order to bring it to the market, so what we're trying to do is to make it a much more compelling technology. Pharmaron clearly sees the opportunity to partner with academia on how to accelerate projects, Lou replied. We want to grow over there (in the United States), we want to serve society over there. That's our purpose. Without strong partnerships, without the support from our collaborators, our inventors, we couldn't make it. Beijing China University of Political Science and Law UMB's first international dual-degree program was established in 2015 with Beijing's China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), one of China's top law schools. Students first earn their JD or equivalent degree, then begin the MS program at UMB with a number of transfer credits ultimately finishing with a JM and MS in forensic medicine. Under discussion: a proposal to expand the program to dental forensics. No such program exists in China, largely owing to the nation's limited history of electronic dental records. But that is changing quickly, making a joint-degree program an attractive proposal. When I heard this today, I thought we should carefully think how to realize this program, said CUPL Vice President Shi Jianzhong, PhD. This is the start of history maybe. I think in the future more people will show their interest in this subject. Jarrell also explained the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law's development of law degrees for non-lawyers and explored possible collaboration in that area. Shanghai Biomedical Industry Leaders Eight-hundred miles to the southeast is Shanghai, China's largest city and a showcase of economic growth. Shanghai also offers many new partnership opportunities for UMB. An early meeting with biomedical industry leaders provided keen insights into working with China, such as the evolving economic environment, biomedical industry trends, and the protection of intellectual property. "Currently we get patent protection in the U.S., Europe and sometimes Japan, and I'm curious just how big a drawback that is for Chinese companies, if we have patent rights in the rest of the world, but not in China. Is that a drawback, or should we start pursuing patent protection in China? Hughes asked the group. As many heads nodded, Richard Chen, PhD, from Beijing-based CRO Fountain Medical Development, said, I think right now you should because it's a very large market. All of the U.S. multinational companies are all here. Shanghai Care Capital University of Maryland School of Dentistry (UMSOD) Dean Mark Reynolds, DDS, PhD, MA, played a prominent role in an exciting and eye-opening meeting with Care Capital, a global investor dedicated to dental research, care, and education. The company is the top distributor of dental equipment in China, one of the top providers of clear aligners worldwide (marketed as AngelAlign), and is a leader in clinical software and dental imaging. Care Capital also is a major investor in dental service organizations and sponsors dental education in China, Europe, and the U.S. Reynolds provided details of a wide array of educational and research activities at the school, including groundbreaking work in biomaterials, pain and neuroscience, oncology, infectious diseases, and much more, all with an eye toward possible future collaboration. We have a very robust implant program, so we are very interested in exploring how we advance the field, he offered as an example. Reynolds also explained that UMSOD ranks in the top 10 in the U.S. for research funding from the National Institutes of Health and boasts a 100 percent pass rate in licensure exams for the past two years. Weve always had a lot of respect for the University of Marylands education program, said Dai Feng, managing director, and today we learned a lot more about the research program as well and its terrific. Wed love to tap into both the educational and research experiences. After an energetic exploration of potential collaborations in dental research and education, including topics from the role of dental hygienists to the use of saliva to routinely gather genetic information, the UMB team toured the company's impressive flagship dental clinic. The state-of-the-art facility included family- and child-friendly features that quickly attracted the attention of Perman and Reynolds, such as activity-filled waiting areas, low-mounted rinsing sinks with hardware shaped like elephants, and even artwork produced by one of the staff dentists featuring a happy young patient. Shanghai Fudan University Not far away, Shanghai's Fudan University is one of China's oldest and most prominent universities with a highly respected medical school. In a wide-ranging discussion, leaders of both universities explored the programs and strengths of each institution, as well as unique offerings, such as specialized degrees offered by UMB aimed at broadening the capabilities of professionals. "One example is people who want to know more about regulatory science, like the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), or federal regulations or how to get a drug through the FDA," Jarrell cited as an example. A shared commitment to medical research also was discussed as the basis for possible collaboration. Seoul Konkuk University A short flight across the Yellow Sea brought the team to Seoul, South Korea, where one of UMB's newest relationships is blossoming. Konkuk University (KU) is one of South Koreas leading private universities with nearly 30,000 undergraduates and graduate students on two campuses, in Seoul and Chungju. Among the 17 graduate schools are medicine, law, engineering, and science and technology. Konkuk University President Sanggi Min and his leadership team visited UMB in May 2018 and were impressed with the Grid, UM Ventures' Graduate Research Innovation District. This vibrant education and co-working space offers students, entrepreneurs, faculty, and staff a place to connect to take on health and social challenges. Like UMB, Konkuk is a leader in biomedical innovation and is committed to working with UMB to share best practices and develop new models for success. Step 1 is a move to create Konkuk's own Grid. I believe that UMB and our university can develop a collaborative partnership through todays exceptional occasion, KU Provost and Executive Vice President Tak Hur, PhD, told faculty, students, and the UMB delegation at a ceremony to unveil the KU Grid. "I'm very excited now to introduce the outstanding Grid system into our own Konkuk University." The KU Grid is the first visible product of the strong relationship between the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Konkuk University, added Jongmin Lee, MD, PhD, dean of the KU School of Medicine. The KU Grid will the hub of the commercialization and development of ideas and research products from students and faculty members as well as collaborations within and outside of Konkuk University. Taking his turn at the podium, Perman spoke of his personal experience and how it illustrates the importance and power of a commercialization hub within a university. Once upon a time, I conducted biomedical research and my focus was in carbohydrate digestion and absorption and I had the good fortune to develop techniques to study carbohydrate digestion that in a way were very simple, he said. And I said to myself that this is so simple, that it is something that patients can do at home. We can teach a family to take a kit home from the office and they can measure the sugar to be investigated and measure the breath. I thought, put it in a kit. And then the next thought for me was how to encourage somebody in industry to make it into a kit. Well, I had no idea how to do that. I didnt know how to sell my idea. I didnt know issues of licensing, patenting, the whole world of commercialization. That was never taught to me. And thats what we can do with the Grid. But promoting educational innovation is nothing new to KU, as the UMB team learned during a tour of KUs Smart Factory. The facility allows students from any department to brainstorm, share ideas, and build things on their own using 3-D printing, precision laser-cutting in an indoor drone development arena, and advanced virtual reality systems. Perman, Jarrell, Reynolds, and Hughes watched as students designed aircraft wings with computer-assisted design software and perfected a virtual reality archery program. Another close similarity with UMB is Konkuk's relationship with the Konkuk University Medical Center. Founded in 1931 as the Central Clinic of the Community, the 900-thousand-square-foot hospital includes 870 beds and features numerous specialties, including treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Tokyo Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories (SNBL) Before returning to the U.S., the UMB team made a final stop in Tokyo to reinvigorate old ties and explore new relationships. Ryoichi Nagata, MD, PHD, FFPM, founder and chairman of contract research organization SNBL, shared plans for continuing translational research in the U.S. which may include collaboration with UMB. The university has optioned several technologies to SNBL affiliate Gemseki, and President Hideyuki Hirama, MBA, expressed interest in expanding work with UM Ventures to help bring more UMB discoveries from the lab to the market. The UMB team also had a chance to discuss the work of Cambridge, Mass.-based Wave Life Sciences with board member Ken Takanashi, MBA, who also is an executive vice president of SNBL. With investment from SNBL, Wave has pioneered breakthrough technology enabling the control of a geometric property (chirality) of some nucleic acids essential to the development of many drugs and therapies intended to treat genetic diseases. Tokyo University of Tokyo The final meeting of the Asia tour took place at Japan's most prestigious public university, the University of Tokyo (UTokyo), just a few yards from the historic Akamon (red gate). Founded in 1877, UTokyo is one of the nations oldest and largest universities, with notable alumni including nine Nobel Prize winners and a quarter of all of Japans prime ministers. Perman and Jarrell explored creating collaborative online learning courses focusing on emerging issues in global health, particularly in aging, with Kenji Shibuya, MD, DrPH, professor and chair of the Department of Global Health Policy in the Graduate School of Medicine, along with assistant professors Akira Shibanuma, MS, and Shuhei Nomura, MS. The Department of Global Health Policy has the stated goal of transforming global health policy through best possible evidence and developing next-generation leaders who can actively contribute to solving global health issues. I understand you have a particular focus and interest in aging, as do we, Perman observed. Its an important issue in the United States and we need to better prepare our professionals. Shibuya agreed. Im sure theres a growing interest in this, even in the United States where its quite young and dynamic, in terms of social security and health care, he said. Both nations face challenges with aging populations and declining birth rates. More than one in four (26 percent) Japanese citizens are 65 year old or older. In the U.S., that figure is just over 15 percent, lower than Japan, but almost double the 1950 figure and projected to rise to 22 percent by 2050 at the peak of the Baby Boom generation. Another possible collaboration under discussion is a course examining emerging trends in global health and global health policy. I really wish to continue our dialogue on this, Shibuya concluded. This will have an impact. It will be a good thing to do, Jarrell answered. So, I look forward to it. UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements visits displaced families in Old Mosul, Iraq. UNHCR/Rasheed Rasheed The Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Ms. Kelly T. Clements, completed a three-day visit to Iraq, where she met with senior Iraqi and Kurdish ministers in Baghdad and Erbil, members of the international community, and visited recovering neighbourhoods in Mosul, and camps for displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees. To support Iraq through its transition out of crisis, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is gradually shifting its focus from emergency response to longer-term planning for refugees and displaced Iraqis. The Agency is actively seeking ways to support them through national systems whether they are returning home or remaining in camps and host communities. Cash assistance is a crucial part of UNHCRs programmes, providing a lifeline for vulnerable families as they transition out of dependence on humanitarian assistance and secure access to national welfare systems. So far this year, over 200,000 returning families received cash assistance from UNHCR to support them as they resumed normal life. During her visit, Ms. Clements travelled to West Mosul where families welcomed her into the homes they are rebuilding with cash grants from UNHCR. This project will reach over 800 vulnerable families who use the cash to buy the materials needed to repair their heavily damaged houses. Yesterday in the Old City of Mosul, we saw the extent of the devastation. There wasnt a building untouched by the conflict, said Ms. Clements. The task ahead for the Iraqi people is immense, but the will to move forward is clear. The families we met in Mosul and in camps for displaced people and refugees are looking to the future, and the Iraqi and Kurdish authorities want to support them. UNHCR and the many partners supporting the humanitarian response here are committed to standing with the Iraqi people through this time of transition and towards a brighter future. She also visited the office of the Directorate of Civil Affairs, where UNHCR supports the Government to issue civil identity documents. Government officials told Ms. Clements that they had issued 1 million National Unified Cards since re-opening the office in Mosul, the new identity card that enables Iraqis to access basic rights such as education, health care, employment and freedom of movement. Without these documents, displaced and returning families face obstacles to rebuilding their lives and their communities. For the quarter of a million Syrian refugees seeking protection in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, UNHCR is working with government authorities to take a progressive approach to find real and meaningful solutions to displacement. In close collaboration with the Kurdish authorities and partner agencies, UNHCR is implementing a strategy to ensure Syrian refugees achieve self-sufficiency and access their legal, social and economic rights. The strategy invests in host communities and public services, promotes access to education and health, and encourages economic activity to help refugees realize their potential. We sensed real hope for the future of Iraq and those who have sought protection here, continued Ms. Clements. The energy for change is tangible. There is a collective will to find sustainable solutions for people affected by recent conflicts. UNHCR is proud to be a dynamic part of this transformation. For more information contact: Sweden will continue to defend Ukraine's territorial integrity. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom has urged Ukraine to accelerate reforms. "Today 5 years ago the Maidan protests started in Kyiv. Further accelerated reforms would be the best way to honor those who died in pursuit of a better Ukraine. Sweden will continue to defend Ukraine's territorial integrity and actively support further reforms," she wrote on Twitter on November 21, 2018. Read alsoSwedish court reinstates $2.6 bln debt collection from Gazprom in favor of Naftogaz As UNIAN reported earlier, on November 21, Ukraine marked the fifth anniversary of Euromaidan events when pro-European activists staged rallies in Kyiv against the then President Viktor Yanukovych's regime. Head of the Special Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine Serhiy Horbatiuk said most of 4,700 crimes against Maidan activists, which were investigated by law enforcement agencies, had been solved already. Political Director of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleksii Makeiev will represent Ukraine at the consultations. The talks of the Normandy Four at the level of political directors of the foreign ministries of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia regarding the launch of a peacekeeping mission in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, will be held in Berlin, Germany, on November 26. "The next round of consultations of the Normandy Four at the level of political directors will take place in Berlin on November 26. Political Director of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleksii Makeiev will represent Ukraine at the consultations," the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry told UNIAN. Read alsoMerkel: UN peacekeeping mission should be created to achieve peace in Donbas In pursuance of the instructions of the Normandy Four foreign ministers following a ministerial meeting on June 11, the political directors will focus on further discussion of the launch of a peacekeeping operation in Donbas. "Guided by the interests of restoring peace in Donbas and ensuring the safety of civilians, Ukraine, together with its partners, proceeds from the need to deploy a full-scale mission throughout the occupied territory of Donbas, including the uncontrolled section of the Russian-Ukrainian state border," the ministry said. As UNIAN reported earlier, following the meeting of the Normandy Four foreign ministers in Berlin on June 11, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin expressed the position that the UN peacekeeping forces should receive a real mandate to disarm illegal armed groups and search for concealed heavy weapons throughout Russian-occupied Donbas. In his opinion, the powers of peacekeepers should not be limited only to escorting the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. Klimkin said on September 26 that Ukraine, the United States, Germany and France had long ago prepared a joint draft resolution of the UN Security Council on the deployment of peacekeeping forces to Donbas. According to him, the countries will submit this resolution for consideration by the UN Security Council. "We will submit the joint resolution. When are we going to do this? This will be a resolution on behalf of all of us. To make this, we need to continue putting pressure on Russia, because it is now trying to block any real peacekeeping operation in every way possible," Klimkin said. The overall goal of Swedish reform cooperation with Ukraine is to support EU approximation. Sweden has signed a cooperation agreement with the Center for Civil Liberties, a non-governmental organization which aims to promote human rights in Ukraine, for the total amount of support of 70,000 Euro for 12 months. Sweden will provide institutional support to the organization, including consultancy, mentoring, capacity enhancement and financial support to boost its strategy and programmatic activities, the Swedish Embassy reported. I am happy to announce this support to the Center for Civil Liberties, which is a continuation of the long-standing Swedish support to important civil society organizations in Ukraine. Ukraine has a strong and independent civil society community, which in many cases has been able to establish an effective dialogue with different state actors. We know from our own experience how instrumental such cooperation is for the development of a country, and we are glad to be able to contribute to this, said Martin Hagstrom, Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine. Read alsoSweden urges Ukraine to accelerate reforms Aiming to facilitate EU approximation and contribute to a stronger, more effective and sustainable civil society in Ukraine, Sweden has already provided institutional support to such non-governmental organizations as Center UA, Center for Democracy and Rule of Law, Gurt Resource Center for NGOs, the Think Tanks Development Initiative and the Reanimation Package of Reforms civic coalition. Center for Civil Liberties was founded in 2007 as human rights civil society organization. Its main activities include encouraging human rights-related reforms, establishing public oversight over law enforcement and rule of law bodies, documenting cases of political prosecution in Crimea and internal war crimes in Donbas. The Russian leader will hold a meeting in the U.S.-sanctioned hotel. Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 23 will visit the occupied Crimea. The last time Putin paid a visit was in August of this year when he attended an opera festival in Sevastopol, Krym.Realii reported referring to Putins press secretary, Dmitry Peskov. "On Friday, the president will be working at the Yalta-based Mriya hotel. There, he will hold an expanded meeting of the State Council Presidium on the tasks specified in the May decree," Peskov said in a statement. Read alsoU.S. imposes sanctions against officials, entities over Crimea, Donbas The Kremlin also reported that the meeting would be held in a new format, involving an informal dialogue with the heads of the Federation subjects. Mriya Resort & SPA hotel, located on Crimea's southern coast, was included in the U.S. sanctions list over its ties with the Russian Sberbank, the financial institution sanctioned earlier, on September 12, 2014. According to the head of state, fixing in the Constitution the country's path toward joining NATO and the European Union, Ukraine sends a message to Moscow: "We are parting completely and irrevocably." Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declares that Russia, being an aggressor state, does not have and will not have a veto on Ukraine's accession to NATO or the European Union. According to an UNIAN correspondent, Poroshenko made the statement during a Verkhovna Rada meeting, where a bill was considered in the first reading on fixing in the Constitution Ukraine's strategic course to acquire full-fledged membership in the EU and NATO. Read alsoRada passes in first reading change in Constitution on Ukraine's path to EU, NATO "By fixing in the Constitution the obligatory course towards joining NATO and the European Union, we are sending a message to Moscow: we are parting completely and irrevocably," the president said in his address. "Russia, being an aggressor state, does not have and will not have a veto on our accession to either NATO or the European Union." Poroshenko stressed that this is the sovereign right of Ukraine as a country, "which confidently walks its own path." "We will not ask anyone's permission," the president assured. Ukrainian citizens will be able to travel to that country for up to 30 days without a visa. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said the government of Thailand introduced visa-free travel for Ukrainians. Read alsoCost of Ukraine's e-visas goes up "I welcome the introduction of visa-free travel for Ukraine by the Thai government. From now on, Ukrainian citizens will be able to travel to that country without wasting time on visa formalities for tourist purposes and up to 30 days," he wrote on Facebook. "As I promised, we are gradually expanding the geography of visa-free travel for our fellow citizens. Let's continue working!" Poroshenko said. Moscow has long been trying to hinder the process of Ukraine Church getting from Constantinople a tomos on autocephaly, that is, canonical independence from Moscow. Large-scale provocations are being plotted in the Orthodox churches of the Moscow Patriarchate in Kyiv, a number of priests claimed. Patriots from among the priests of the Moscow Patriarchate told the Obozrevatel outlet that they had received anonymous calls with alerts about the "imminent attacks" of "nationalist thugs." Allegedly it is about the seizure of 10 churches across the capital. However, according to Obozrevatel's own sources, it is pro-Russian forces that under the guise of "nationalists" are planning the attacks. The group is led by a former deputy of the Kyiv regional council (member of a pro-Yanukovych party) Yuriy Tsykalenko, more commonly known in criminal circles as "Yura Kachok." On condition of anonymity, the priests told Obozrevatel that he is responsible for the physical protection of Kyiv-Pechersk and Pochayiv Lavras. Read alsoHoly Council of Ukraine's Orthodox Church scheduled for December Ecumenical Patriarchate According to media reports, in the days of the Euromaidan protests, Tsykalenko led groups of the so-called "titushki" (hired thugs) who committed attacks on activists. It is known that Yuriy Tsykalenko in 2014 resigned as a deputy of the Party of Regions and left for Moscow. However, after the criminal cases against him were suddenly closed, he returned to Kyiv. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko stated earlier that in Tsykalenko's CV there is a whole chain of acts falling under various articles of the Criminal Code. It seems that this is one of the brightest representatives of the 'Sicilian mafia', Lutsenko noted. Read alsoPutin's ex-advisor comments on Russia's possible reaction to Ukraine church independence As reported earlier, the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate warned about provocations in connection with the imminent receipt of the tomos of autocephaly by a Church of Ukraine. On Saturday, November 17, in Kryvyi Rih, a group of unidentified perpetrators organized provocations outside the residence of Metropolitan Yefrem of Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol (UOC MP), trying to break and enter into his house. One enemy troop was killed, intelligence reports say. Russia's hybrid military forces mounted 11 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action. "One Ukrainian soldier was wounded in the past day. According to intelligence reports, one occupier was killed," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update published on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on November 22, 2018. Read alsoOSCE confirms 216 civilian casualties in Donbas since year-start The Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms to attack the defenders of the towns of Avdiyivka and Krasnohorivka. The villages of Krymske, Novozvanivka, Novoluhanske, Slavne, Pavlopil, Hnutove, and Shyrokyne were also under attack. What is more, the enemy employed 82mm mortars to shell the Ukrainian positions near Hnutove last night. In addition, a Ukrainian fortified position near Krymske came under fire from hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers twice. Ukrainian troops stationed near Novozvanivka were attacked twice with the use of heavy machine guns and mounted anti-tank grenade launchers. "Since Thursday midnight, Russian-led forces haven't attacked the Ukrainian positions yet," the report said. The officer went to war as a volunteer in 2014. Intelligence commander of the 8th separate mountain assault battalion, Major of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vitaliy Kuznetsov has been killed in hostilities in Donbas. "Kuznetsov was killed in the village of Krymske in Luhansk region," Ivano-Frankivsk Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv wrote on Facebook. Read alsoUkrainian volunteer dies in Donbas (Photo) The officer went to war as a volunteer in 2014. "As deputy commander of the battalion, he survived the hell in Krymske in January 2015," a user added in a comment to the mayor's post. His wife and two young sons live in Ivano-Frankivsk. As UNIAN reported earlier, Russia's hybrid military forces mounted 11 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action. The Russian ministry claims that the entire cargo will be distributed among socially significant facilities and residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A new truck convoy of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry has arrived in Donbas, having brought allegedly "humanitarian" aid with goods for children and medicines. "The 83rd humanitarian convoy of the Emergency Situations Ministry has reached its destination. Humanitarian aid is being unloaded at drop-off stations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions," the ministry said on Thursday, November 22. Read alsoOSCE: 79th Russian convoy crossed into Ukraine, returned through Donetsk Border Crossing Point The ministry claims that the entire cargo will be distributed among socially significant facilities and residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The ministry's trucks have brought over 400 tonnes of "humanitarian" aid, namely baby food sets, medicines, and medical products. As UNIAN reported earlier, Russia has been sending "humanitarian" aid to Donbas since August 2014. More than 70,000 tonnes of such aid has already been supplied. Ukrainian customs officers and border guards are not allowed to examine "humanitarian" trucks. Moreover, the Ukrainian officials claim that they have proof that the "humanitarian" cargo included, among other things, weapons, ammunition and anti-tank grenades. Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly called on Russia to stop the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty by supplying the so-called "humanitarian" assistance. There is a threat of Russia's open aggression, the top military official says. Minister of Defense Stepan Poltorak says that the Donbas conflict is in its active phase. Speaking with Voice of America, he added that there was a threat of Russia's open aggression, the press service of the defense ministry reported. Poltorak pointed to the regular losses the Ukrainian army sustains, especially noting deaths as a result of grave injuries and wounds. According to the minister, the conflict in the Donbas is "hot, but a bit restrained. And here there are a lot of reasons why it is of not too highly intense and active." "The Armed Forces use this time to enhance their readiness, equip better, and improve personnel training," Poltorak stressed. Read alsoUkraine's defense minister responds to Russian threats to "shut down" Sea of Azov "We are doing everything possible to ensure that our Army never returns to 2014 in 2014, when there were difficulties with performing tasks. And I think it is definitely impossible to say that there is no threat of an open aggression. Unfortunately, I have big doubts that Russia and Putin have rejected their aggressive policy towards Ukraine, and that they have rejected [the idea of an] open aggression against Ukraine. At least, their actions show something completely different," the minister said. Among the countries providing substantial military support to Ukraine, the minister named primarily the United States, as well as the UK, Canada, Lithuania, and Poland. Earlier, the coordinator of the Information Resistance group, MP Dmytro Tymchyk, said that the Russian occupation troops had intensified their reconnaissance efforts, were actively continuing a sniper war and seeking to unleash a landmine war in Donbas. Bellingcats findings add important and intriguing details to GRUs modus operandi in undercover operations, including use of sham business operations, and add to the understanding of GRUs covert operatives world. A joint investigation between Bellingcat and The Insider has identified a second GRU officer, who was involved in the 2016 Montenegro coup. Two officers from Russias military intelligence (GRU) are sought, via Interpol, as suspected organizers of an unsuccessful 2016 coup in Montenegro, the Bellincgat investigative team reports. The true identity of one officer is public (Eduard Shishmakov), while the other officer was known only under his cover identity (Vladimir Popov). Bellingcat has been able to unmask the real identity of the second suspect indicted by the Montenegro prosecutor, and to confirm that he is indeed Vladimir Nikolaevich Moiseev, a lieutenant colonel or colonel with Russian military intelligence (GRU), was born on June 29, 1980, the same date as the fictional Popov. Read alsoThe Atlantic: Russia is co-opting angry young men Bellingcats findings in the case of Popov/Moiseev add important and intriguing details to GRUs modus operandi in undercover operations, including use of sham business operations, and add to the understanding of GRUs covert operatives world. As with the case with the two Skripal suspects, Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, the new findings directly contradict Kremlins statements that Popov was an innocent Russian tourist unjustly accused by a hostile foreign government. Under his cover identity, Popov was employed by as a photo correspondent and journalist working for an insurance periodical called Morskoye Strakhovanie (literally: Marine Insurance) and used this cover to travel across Europe in the period 2012-2016. The man is reported to have also traveled to Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova The revelation was a result of an investigative team applying a range of OSINT tools, including traffic police databases and social networks, as well as telephone databases. (@rukhshanmir) Hyundai Motor Co. said that it will supply 30 hydrogen-powered buses to six major South Korean cities next year in a move to promote the zero-emission vehicles SEOUL, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Hyundai Motor Co. said that it will supply 30 hydrogen-powered buses to six major South Korean cities next year in a move to promote the zero-emission vehicles. In the pilot project, the 30 environment-friendly hydrogen electric fuel cell buses will be used for public transportation in Seoul, Ulsan, Gwangju, Changwon, Seosan and Asan from March, Hyundai Motor said in a statement. A total of 13 companies, including Hyundai, Korea Gas Corp. and Kolon Industries, Inc., signed an initial agreement to set up a 135 billion won (US$119 million) special purpose company (SPC), HyNet, for the establishment of hydrogen fuel stations. "French industrial gas company Air Liquide S.A., Australian oil and gas firm Woodside and Norwegian hydrogen firm Nel Hydrogen have expressed interest in HyNet," a Hyundai spokesman said. As the first step, Hyundai Motor on Wednesday began a pilot program for hydrogen fuel cell buses in Seoul, following the launch of such a bus on a regular route in Ulsan last month. The bus will operate five times a day for the next 10 months, being fueled at a hydrogen charging station near Hyundai's headquarters in southern Seoul. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it will expand support to help develop advanced technology and infrastructure for the green vehicle. "Driving the hydrogen bus on a real road would showcase the durability and safety of South Korea's technology," Industry minister Sung Yun-mo said in a boarding event. "We will cut regulations and cooperate with the SPC to expand the charging infrastructure." In the past decade, Hyundai has aggressively promoted hydrogen-powered passenger and commercial vehicles to take the lead in next-generation vehicle markets. South Korea's No. carmaker launched the NEXO hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle early this year following the launch of the Tucson ix fuel cell electric car in 2013. Currently, nine hydrogen charging stations are available to customers in Korea and two more will be added by the end of this year, far fewer than the 100 available in Japan. In September, Hyundai signed a deal to supply 1,000 hydrogen-powered trucks to Europe for five years from 2019. The company aims to provide 5,000 hydrogen fuel cell electric passenger and commercial vehicles to France by 2025, the statement said. McKinsey & Company forecast a total of 5 million hydrogen buses will be released in global markets by 2050. The South Korean government plans to make 1,000 hydrogen buses available on roads by 2022, it said. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar said that France was an important development partner of Pakistan and appreciated the role of French Development Agency (AFD) for launching various development initiatives in Pakistan. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar said that France was an important development partner of Pakistan and appreciated the role of French Development Agency (AFD) for launching various development initiatives in Pakistan The Minister was talking to Ambassador of France, Marc Barety, who along-with Country Director AFD, Jacky Amprou, called on him here Thursday. Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan was also present in the meeting. The Minister said that Pakistan offers attractive investment incentives and France may consider exploring more avenues for investment to the mutual benefit of two countries. He noted that France has expertise in solar energy production and may look to finance projects in this sector in view of huge potential that the country offers. The Minister called for bilateral cooperation to boost tourism sector in Pakistan as well as in up-gradation of transmission system in view of increased electricity generation in the country. Secretary Zafar Hasan stated that the present government is committed to promote clean energy production and France may consider funding projects in this regard. The Ambassador of France apprised that his country is financing projects in different areas including hydropower, urban management and restoration of heritage sites. Appreciating the cooperation of Ministry of Planning, he stated that AFD is also willing to expand the scope of its activities in future. The Minister assured his Ministry's cooperation in completion of ongoing projects funded by AFD. The expansion of partnership between Moscow and Baghdad in the oil and gas sector was discussed during the recent visit of the Russian delegation to Iraq, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Sputnik on Thursday. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) The expansion of partnership between Moscow and Baghdad in the oil and gas sector was discussed during the recent visit of the Russian delegation to Iraq Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Sputnik on Thursday. Earlier this week, the Russian delegation of officials and businesspeople headed by Bogdanov visited Baghdad and held meetings with top Iraqi officials. "Of course, we discussed the whole range of our issues. We held very constructive meetings with the entire Iraqi leadership, including new Prime Minister [Adel Abdul Mahdi], President [Barham Salih], parliamentary chairman, finance minister, foreign minister and leaders of parliamentary coalitions. And, of course, all of them are committed to dynamic development of our relations, our partnership in all areas, including, of course, the oil and gas sector, the work of our companies [in Iraq]. These were very in-depth and detailed consultations," Bogdanov said. On Wednesday, the Iraqi Finance Ministry said that Iraq and Russia had agreed to coordinate actions in the oil and gas sector on a high level. Iraqi Finance Minister Fuad Hussein, in particular, thanked the Russian companies operating in Iraq for their role and efforts, stressing Baghdad's readiness to help them overcome difficulties, if they arise. The two-day international conference on Emerging Technologies (ICET) 2018 was concluded here on Thursday with an objective to provide students and faculty exposure to state of the art research being conducted at various research centers. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :The two-day international conference on Emerging Technologies (ICET) 2018 was concluded here on Thursday with an objective to provide students and faculty exposure to state of the art research being conducted at various research centers. The conference was organized by the Department of Computer Sciences in collaboration with Department of Information Technology and Department of Electronics Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), a press release said. The conference was held under the umbrella of IEEE, a well-recognized international body and covered a diverse range of topics related to emerging technologies in different fields of ICT including Information Systems, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Privacy and Security, Internet of Things, Social Networks, Sensors Networks, Circuits and Embedded systems. The keynote talks covered emerging topics in the domain of ICT. While addressing the audiences, Dr. Vallipuram Muthukkumarasamy, MIET Group Leader Network Security Research Institute for Integrated and Intelligent Systems, Griffith University, said that cyber crime is the greatest threat to most of the companies, increasing in size, sophistication and cost. The IoT, wearables, mobile devices, smart cities and hyper connected societies have expanded the attack surface for cyber crimes. "Today online economy is growing twice the speed of the rest of the global economy. The cost of cyber crime has touched $ 3 Trillion for global economy in 2015 while it is expected that cyber crime will cost $ 6 Trillion by 2021" said Dr. Muthukkumarasamy. He said that one of the main challenges to tackle the problem is the skill shortage and it is affecting industry globally. Currently one million cyber security jobs are available globally while by 2021 around 3.5 million cyber security positions would remain unfilled, he said. Dr. Ahmad Muqeem Sheri, a leading research Professor for the autonomous driving team of GIST, South Korea delivered the talk titled "The Nuts and Bolts of Autonomous Driving". He introduced self-driving concepts ranging from localization to motion planning and shared advancement in the field of autonomous driving. A workshop titled "Cyber range: A Shooting Range for Cyber Warriors" conducted by Dr. Muhammad Yousaf, a leading researcher of the Network Security Research Group, at Riphah International University. A special workshop on Cyber security was also conducted. The workshops aimed to understand internet based hacking and strategies of defense against it. The Chief organizer of the conference, Dr. Khalid Saleem, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Sciences, QAU said that IEEE ICET Conference held every year has become a prestigious technical conference with a scope covering new and exciting technologies and research areas. He said it provides an opportunity for researchers working in diverse topics to meet, present, and discuss their ideas and research. Earlier, Dr. Muhammad Ayub, Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences also addressed the audience. A large number of students, faculty members of different universities, eminent researchers from academia and practitioners from industry attended the Conference. The Dubai Marine Insurance Conference, the region's unique event focussing on the regional and global maritime insurance sector DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 22nd Nov, 2018) The Dubai Marine Insurance Conference, the region's unique event focussing on the regional and global maritime insurance sector, has concluded its activities on Wednesday, with a call for establishing a GCC or even a Gulf-Asian insurance group that specialises in insurance and reinsurance operations in the maritime sector, including ships, vessels, cargo operations, transport of goods, oil and petrochemicals to and from the region. The call comes within efforts to reinforce stability in the levels of insurance prices and to retain the largest share of insurance premiums locally or in the Gulf regionally. The conference, which kicked off on Tuesday, and led by Khamis Buamim, CEO of Gulf Navigation Holding, and organised by Anchor Marine - one of the regions leading providers of shipping services - focussed on factors affecting maritime trade security, marine and equipment, cargo shipping and risk management insurance, and marine electronic risk management and insurance. More than 440 marine business experts and marine insurance experts, participated in the two-day event focussing on the marine sector issues and on the latest regulations of marine Insurance. During his keynote speech Buamim said, "As a critical engine for the national economy, the marine insurance sector needs to be addressed more frequently to make sure that it adapts with the rapid developments of the marine industry, the objective that has been achieved successfully by Dubai Marine Insurance Conference." Buamim stated, "More than 90 percent of marine insurance operations are carried out outside the region through non-local insurers, which means a significant loss of premiums. Moreover, the situation does not reflect the strength and reality of the national economy and active trading movement." At the conference a partnership was announced between International Institute of Marine Surveying, IIMS, UAE branch, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in November 2019, and Maritime Sky that specialises in marketing and media strategy, to support the IIMS 6th biennial conference in Dubai that draws attention to the UAE as a leading maritime hub. Khaled Meftah, Director of Business Development at the Dubai Maritime City Authority, disclosed that the total marine insurance premium in the UAE insurance market rose to a whopping AED1.1 billion in 2017, higher by 10 percent over the previous year. It also represented a 3.5 percent increase in the total property and liability insurance premiums during the same period. He added that the market share of the national insurance companies accounts for a remarkable 71 percent of the local marine insurance market against 29 per cent for foreign companies, providing once again its importance in the progress of both the domestic maritime industry and the countrys entire national economy. Capt. Gamal Fekry, the Managing Director of MC Ship Management in Dubai said the maritime insurance landscape witnesses a lot of changes, as more and more shipping and oil vessels companies are focussing on proactive actions to reduce the high cost of marine insurance, by adopting risk management systems that would minimise the faults leading to risks in the earlier stages. He added that the volume of marine insurance in the Gulf region accounts for US$26 billion annually. (@FahadShabbir) Three Yemeni citizens, including two children, and tens of other innocent civilians were injured in a mortar attack by the Iran-aligned Houthi militia on Al Manther village, in the recently liberated Al Hawak District of the Governorate of Hodeidah. HODEIDAH, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 22nd Nov, 2018) Three Yemeni citizens, including two children, and tens of other innocent civilians were injured in a mortar attack by the Iran-aligned Houthi militia on Al Manther village, in the recently liberated Al Hawak District of the Governorate of Hodeidah. The latest systematic crime of targeting densely populated areas was in defiance of the international laws and norms that criminalise the targeting of innocent civilians and civilian facilities during wars. After suffering repeated defeats on the Red Sea Coast, the Houthi rebels have been indiscriminately bombarding homes of Yemeni citizens at Al Manther village, instilling panic and fear among villagers, particularly women and children, eyewitnesses said. Since their coup against the legitimate government, the Houthi rebels have been bombing civilian facilities with Iran-made ballistic missiles and mortars. The eyewitnesses stated that these criminal acts provide evidence of Iran's smuggling and supply of arms to the Houthi militia which they are using to kill the Yemenis, including women, children and the elderly, in a grave and serious violation of the international humanitarian law. The attack also proves that Iran continues to violate the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216 banning the supply of arms to Houthi militias, which threatens the security and stability in the region. (@FahadShabbir) UAE Ambassador to Kazakhstan Mohamed Ahmed Bin Sultan Al Jaber recently attended the annual meeting of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev with heads of the diplomatic missions accredited to Kazakhstan at the Presidential Palace here. ASTANA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 22nd Nov, 2018) UAE Ambassador to Kazakhstan Mohamed Ahmed Bin Sultan Al Jaber recently attended the annual meeting of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev with heads of the diplomatic missions accredited to Kazakhstan at the Presidential Palace here. The ambassador met with the Kazakh president at the end of the meeting and exchanged views over ways of propelling the distinguished relations between the two countries. Addressing the meeting Nazarbayev touched on his country's foreign policy and his government's efforts to ensure social wellbeing and economic welfare to different segments of society. A joint monitoring cell comprising anti-narcotics, customs and airport security forces has been established at Bacha Khan International Airport (BKIA) for screening of the luggage of passengers to prevent money laundering. PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :A joint monitoring cell comprising anti-narcotics, customs and airport security forces has been established at Bacha Khan International Airport (BKIA) for screening of the luggage of passengers to prevent money laundering. The cell was formally inaugurated by the Airport Manager, Obaidur Rehman Abbasi here Thursday. Chief Security Officer, ASF, Assistant Collector Customs and Assistant Director ANF were also present on the occasion. The cell has been established on the directives of the Prime Minister Imran Khan. Speaking on the occasion, the Airport Manager, Obaidur Rehman said that in light of the orders of the Prime Minister Imran Khan, the directives of the Ministry of Interior and Director General (DG) Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have been implemented in letter and spirit. In this connection, he said that all unauthorized passages for the airlines' staff towards the international departure lounge have been closed while a ladies search cabin has also been established. He said that rooms have been provided to customs staff under the National Targeting Centre Pilot Project) and a joint search for luggage at departure lounge has been established. The Airport Manager, Obaidur Rehman said that for the ensuring of prevention of money laundering andsmuggling in any circumstances they will cooperation with all agencies on thejoint monitoring cell. Austrian ambassador to Pakistan Nicolaus Keller called on Federal Minister for Power Division Omer Ayub Khan here Thursday and discussed matters relating to the ongoing cooperation between the two countries in the power sector. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Austrian ambassador to Pakistan Nicolaus Keller called on Federal Minister for Power Division Omer Ayub Khan here Thursday and discussed matters relating to the ongoing cooperation between the two countries in the power sector. Secretary Power Division Irfan Ali and CEO Andritz Hydro Pakistan Giuseppe Catalfamo also attended the meeting. The minister while underscoring the importance of small and mini-micro hydel projects, urged the Austrian investors and companies to explore the potential Pakistan have. He apprised the ambassador that the present government has been working to upgrade the existing electricity transmission and distribution system for efficient power transmission and distribution. He also briefed that Government has undertaken numerous steps to minimize the lines losses and improve recoveries in order to boost the liquidity of power sector. The minister welcomed Austrian companies for their keen interest in mega hydro projects as well as mini and small hydro projects in Pakistan. He assured that Pakistan government will provide all support to the investors and companies in this regard. Secretary Power Division emphasized the need of working on off grid solutions for areas with hydel potential. He said that northern areas of Pakistan are abundant with hydel potential and off grid solution are best suited for these areas. Nicolaus Keller informed that Austrian investors and companies are very keen in Pakistan's power sector. The CEO Andritz informed that his company remained associated with Pakistan's major hydro power projects like Tarbella, Khyal Khawar, Ghazi Barotha, Warsk and Goalen Gol contributing more than 4500MW in the national Grid. He said that these companies are keen in undertaking the future projects like Dassu and Mohmand hydro projects. At least five people were killed, including three children, in mortar explosion and an IED blast at Swat and Bajaur tribal district respectively on Wednesday. PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :At least five people were killed, including three children, in mortar explosion and an IED blast at Swat and Bajaur tribal district respectively on Wednesday. In Swat, at Nela Garam district of Matta area three children died and two other injured while playing with an old and abundant morter shell lying in a field which suddenly exploded with a big bang, police said. The police told media children were playing with the mortar shell unaware of it being the bomb, in the nearby fields. Two of the dead children were identifed as Umer and Sudais. Injured children are under treatment at Saidu Sharif Hospital Swat. Chief Minister KP, Mehmood Khan has expressed his heartfelt grief over the incident and sympathies with the members of bereaved families. Meanwhile, in another incident at Bajaur Tribal district at least two people were killed when a remote controlled IED exploded targeting a vehicle in Nawagia Tehsil at Chinar Charmang area located near Pak-Afghan border. Amanullah and Gul Badeen were going to their home in a car when the bomb planted along the road by unknown miscreants went off. Both the persons died on the spot and the car they were boarding also fully damaged due to bomb explosion. Soon after the incident, officials of local administration and security personnel immediatelyreached to the site and launched search operation to arrest the culprits. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan Thursday called on Federal Minister for Defence Production, Zubaida Jalal at Ministry of Defence Production in Rawalpindi on Thursday. RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan Thursday called on Federal Minister for Defence Production, Zubaida Jalal at Ministry of Defence Production in Rawalpindi on Thursday. During the meeting, the air chief apprised the minister about the professionalism, excellence and operational preparedness of Pakistan Air Force, a press release said. The minister was also briefed about the different projects related to defence production initiated and managed by Pakistan Air Force. Both also discussed various aspects of upcoming IDEAS 2018 expo. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Ambassador of Romania Nicolae Goia here on Thursday said the economic and trade relations between Pakistan and Romania have been growing in previous decades and both the countries were important trading partners. He was speaking during a conference on "Pakistan-Romania Friendship and Centennial Celebrations of Romania" at Islamabad Club. The Center for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS) in collaboration with the Embassy of Romania organized the conference. The event was organized to celebrate the 100 years of unity of Romania. The Ambassador stated that the Centennial was celebrated by Romanians around the world as a symbol of solidarity, hope and triumph against adverse circumstances. Romania and Pakistan had all along enjoyed excellent friendly relations. He informed the gathering that Romania was fastest growing economy in Europe and there was a great potential for improving bilateral trade between two countries. Both countries have been enjoying historical friendship and traditional cooperation in many fields for the past many years but there was a need to enhance trade volume between booth countries, he said, adding, "Our main priority is to increase and diversify the commercial exchanges between Romania and Pakistan in a balanced manner for exports and imports." "Besides the bilateral cooperation through mutual investments, we are also interested to find options of working together on the third markets where, Romania and Pakistan might conjugate their resources and energies in the most constructive way. Romania and Pakistan do have common areas of interest both geographically and thematically. "The areas of common interest are sectors like information technology and communications, civil constructions and infrastructure, agriculture etc." Since the EU has granted the GSP Plus Status to Pakistan in 2003, it offers a good opportunity to Pakistan and Romania to improve their bilateral trade relations. In addition, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is also offering new avenues of cooperation. The conference commenced with the opening remarks by Major General Syed Khalid Amir Jaffery, (R) President CGSS. He stated that both countries were looking to expand economic cooperation, as well as to enhance their import and export ties. He said Pakistan and Romania have agreed to expand their bilateral defence cooperation and currently, the two countries have different agreements in defence production and relevant areas. The participation of Romania in the CPEC can also bring Pakistan and Romania close together by creating business and trade opportunities. Romania is exploring the prospects of benefitting from the CPEC project. Pakistan needs to project CPEC by inviting Romanian companies to invest and participate in the CPEC, he added. Ambassador Abdul Basit extended his felicitations on the occasion of 100 years of unification of Romania and stated that Pakistan took pride in having good relations with this country not only at governmental level but also at people to people level. He said that Romania supported Pakistan in attaining the GSP plus status for trade concessions at the critical time of 2005 when Pakistan was hit by massive earthquake. "Over the years, we have created great mutual trust and beneficial relations. I would encourage our students to pursue studies in Romania, because it is one country where they would immediately feel at home. Romania has been progressing very well and we can mutually benefit from it including several technical areas where Romania has expertise. We need to make people aware about the potential both countries have."During the conference, a documentary about Romania was also shown to the participants. Eminent personalities including diplomats and regional analysts attended the conference. Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday said that three different kinds of curriculum were being adopted by the educational institutions in the country which should be converted into uniform education system. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday said that three different kinds of curriculum were being adopted by the educational institutions in the country which should be converted into uniform education system. In an exclusive talk with APP, the minister said the government schools, English medium and Wafaq-ul-Madaris all had different syllabus and standards of education, which was dividing people on social sphere. Ministry of Federal Education, he said, has decided to ensure implementation of one curriculum in the country and quality of the education would also be improved. While underscoring the need of a uniformed education systems, he said it was an only solution to end divide between different classes of the society. The minister said that a Curriculum Council would be established to review the syllabus being taught across the country. He said soon a uniform education system would be tabled to the Prime Minister. The education currently being imparted has no linkage with the job market, he said adding that the students were jobless despite having degrees of PhD, he regretted. The federal education ministry would work with the collaboration of all provinces to discuss challenges and targeted goals in the education sector, he added. He said the government was sincere to resolve challenges being faced by the education sector, adding; federation and provinces have strong coordination over different educational matters. To bring 25 million out of schools children, he said, was the biggest challenge and pledged to achieve this task during next five years with the support of the provinces."We will launch educational volunteer programme to achieve the tasks" he said. The minister also sought peoples volunteer support for the cause of education. The minister in his concluding remarks said women education was among government's top priorities. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has expressed deep grief and sorrow over the sad demise of famous poet Fehmida Riaz. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has expressed deep grief and sorrow over the sad demise of famous poet Fehmida Riaz. In his condolence message, the minister said that the country was deprived of a voice for freedom of women and supporter of democracy. The minister paid tributes to the deceased over her contribution in literary world and said that vacuum created by her death could not be filled. He prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved family to bear this loss with fortitude. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has launched on Thursday the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report 2019 with the theme of this year namely 'Migration, displacement and education: Building bridges, not walls'. The third in the series, the GEM Report provides its assessment of the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal on Education (SDG-4) and its targets. The report looks at migration and displacement through the eyes of teachers and education administrators faced with the reality of diverse classrooms, schoolyards, communities, labour markets and societies. The 2019 Report elucidates the relationship between migration, displacement and education and presents evidence on the scale and characteristics of different types of migration and displacement and their implications on education and vice versa. The fact that education opportunities often serve as a major driver in the decision to migrate, the complex process of migration or displacement can also interrupt education, the report observed. According to the report released here, education systems around the world are united in the commitment to achieve the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 'Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all' and to leave no one behind. The GEM report 2019 claims that for all students to fulfill their promise, systems need to adjust to their needs irrespective of their backgrounds. Education systems also need to respond to societies' need to be resilient and adapt to migration and displacement a challenge affecting countries with large or small migrant and refugee populations. Chairperson of the GEM Report Advisory board Helen Clark in the report remarked, "The 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report has been brought together by a team of international migrants. Four of its members are children of refugees. They don't deny that people look at migration and migrants from different viewpoints. Their research demonstrates the extent to which education can help open up those perspectives and bring greater opportunities for all." The report aims at focusing education's role to 'promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups' as the world is starting to address the education needs of moving and hosting populations. It mainly covers all types of population movement whereas the largest but most neglected is internal migration, the report revealed. "On average, 1 out of 8 people live outside the region or province where they were born. While many internal movements have innocuous consequences, some particularly in rapidly urbanizing low and middle income countries have serious effects on the educational opportunities of those moving and those left behind," said the report. The research-cum-report gives the account that access to education at destination may be constrained due to deliberate administrative rules or simple neglect, adding "On average, about 1 out of 30 people live in a country other than the one where they were born. Almost two-thirds are in high income countries which explain the political prominence of the issue in those countries." Euphemistically, it has been observed that international migrants are more likely to be of working age and, therefore, older than the population in destination countries. While most move to work, the extent to which their skills are recognized, utilized and rewarded is a key factor in the level to which they succeed. But many move for education, which several measures can facilitate, hence, their migration also affects descendants, in the next generation if not beyond, the report stated. The report while encircling the recent of wave migration due to increased conflicts and natural disasters said, "Some 1 out of 80 people are displaced within or across borders by conflict or natural disasters, with the number having risen rapidly in recent years. Nine out of ten of the displaced live in low and middle income countries. Delivering education for displaced people is part of restoring their sense of normalcy, structure and hope, but it can be challenging, conditioned by the unique social, economic and political contexts of displacement." With the present era facing unprecedented occurrences of displacements among various countries of the world the report terms that education needs to help these populations cope with protracted displacement and prepare them for a variety of futures. The report has further exhumed that definitions for various categories of people on the move are meant to establish clear criteria that ensure respect for their rights. "Yet even apparently clear-cut categories are less so in practice. In defining international migrants, for instance, some countries and organizations base nationality on descent, others on place of birth. Some categories provoke considerable controversy; fierce political arguments erupt over whether people migrate willingly to seek a better future or are forcibly displaced by human-caused or natural disasters," the report mentioned. It further put a skeptic outlook over the 'Host communities' attitude towards displaced population as they may interrogate migrants' and refugees' motivation (e.g. whether for work or education), legality (e.g. whether documented) or responsibility (e.g. whether victims of a crisis). Such arguments can divert focus from migrants' and refugees' well-being which would be hostile for their existence in the host region, the report added. After the Avenfield property case, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Thursday also excused to present any defense in Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, claiming that the prosecution could not prove its charges against him. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :After the Avenfield property case, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Thursday also excused to present any defense in Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, claiming that the prosecution could not prove its charges against him. The accused concluded his statement in Al-Azizia corruption reference under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the court sought the final arguments from the both sides. Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik resumed hearing on graft reference against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who appeared before the court to record his statement. As the hearing began, Nawaz said he wouldn't present anything in his defense as the NAB couldn't prove its case against him, adding that corruption case was initiated against him on the basis of allegations leveled by his political rivals and report of joint investigation team (JIT) which the Nawaz termed a biased investigation. The report had declared him as real owner of Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment, he said. The accused said he was neither the real owner nor a 'benamidaar' of Al-Azizia Steel Mill or Hill Metal Establishment, adding that the prosecution could not present any evidence against him in this regard, he added. Nawaz said he did not transfer any money abroad to his sons for expenditures of their foreign education, living or business. The NAB, he said, could not present any evidence proving that he had established Al-Azizia Steel Mill or Hill Metal Establishment company. It also could not prove that he was the guardian of Hasan and Hussain Nawaz and that they were benamidaars, he said. He was of the view that no witness except JIT head Wajid Zia and NAB investigation officer gave statements against him, adding that the both statements are not acceptable as evidence against him. The JIT and NAB IO had accepted themselves that there were no documents to prove that he had been the owner of Al-Azizia Steel Mill and Hill Metal Establishment. The accused said Al-Azizia Steel Mill was established by his father in 2001 and Hussain Nawaz was 29 years old at that time, adding that he was not holding any public office from 2001 to 2005. He said the amount sent from his son Hussain Nawaz in 2010 was disclosed in his tax returns, adding that receiving of money from son was a traditional practice in Pakistan. As a son, Hussain Nawaz had gifted this money, he further said, adding that it couldn't be given any other meaning. The former prime minister also gave references of his development projects introduced during his regime to show his loyalty with Pakistan. He said his father had installed the industry in 1937, adding that he had left the business forty years back. His children were independent to do business and he had nothing to do with it, he said. Nawaz claimed that his forty year political career was clean from corruption and there was no burden on his conscience regarding any wrong doing. He had rendered political sacrifice to prove himself as innocent, he said, adding the trial was carried against him on the basis of assumptions. The cases were started from the allegation of money laundering, tax theft and corruption but the later the prosecution had taken the support of allegations regarding assets beyond known sources of income, which means no corruption was proved against him. After the accused concluded his statement, the court summoned final arguments fromthe both sides. (@rukhshanmir) The Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) is engaged in providing different services to expatriates besides pursuing a comprehensive policy to facilitate them. LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :The Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) is engaged in providing different services to expatriates besides pursuing a comprehensive policy to facilitate them. Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission Vice Chairperson Waseem Akhtar said this while presiding over a departmental meeting here on Thursday. He said that overseas Pakistanis were real ambassadors of the country and main purpose of establishing the OPC was to provide them a useful and effective platform for solvingtheir problems. (@FahadShabbir) A senior Pakistani diplomat has highlighted at the United Nations Prime Minister Imran Khan's initiative for an international campaign against defamation of religions, saying the move was aimed at developing, through dialogue, respect for each other's religious beliefs, symbols and personalities. UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :A senior Pakistani diplomat has highlighted at the United Nations Prime Minister Imran Khan's initiative for an international campaign against defamation of religions, saying the move was aimed at developing, through dialogue, respect for each other's religious beliefs, symbols and personalities. "Pakistan has always actively engaged in efforts to promote civilizational dialogue in order to build a more peaceful world," Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told the Global Forum of the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), a body mandated to promote harmony among nations. More than 1,000 scholars took part in the Global Forum to share knowledge and explore innovative ways of promoting inclusive approaches to conflict prevention as a pathway for sustaining peace. Ambassador Lodi said that the Pakistani leader had outlined at a recent conference in Islamabad his initiative for a campaign against defamation of religions to counter Islamophobia and incitement to hatred being witnessed in some parts of the world. "Hate narratives are spreading in several parts of the world; Islamophobia is on the rise and diversity is being seen not as a source of enrichment but as a threat; and politics of fear seem to be replacing politics of hope", she said. In the face of such troubling trends, the Pakistani envoy said, the role of bridge builders and peacemakers becomes even more pivotal. She also stressed the importance of countering Islamophobia and the incitement to violence and hatred that is being witnessed in some parts of the western world by the negative depiction of Muslims. "We believe that all cultures and civilizations contribute to the common heritage of mankind, and sincere and open dialogue helps to promote international cooperation and with that, global peace and security. Noting that the collective commitment to the ideals of peaceful coexistence was under stress, Ambassador Lodhi said that the task of peace-building and sustaining peace could only be accomplish by collectively building a common vision of a peaceful world, and adopt an inclusive approach to promote better understanding. "Universal values of peace, tolerance, egalitarianism and respect for our common humanity, are shared by all religions and cultures," the Pakistani envoy said. "Our common heritage and values should enable us to draw strength from our diversity rather than allow it to be used as justification to accentuate differences," she said, while . For this it is necessary to stressing genuine and constructive dialogue across cultures and religions. Ambassador Lodhi said that the Alliance of Civilizations has the great potential to engage faith leaders to join our collective endeavor to promote tolerance and understanding. As part of its commitment to promote religious harmony, Ambassador Lodhi cited the resolution that it sponsors with the Philippines in the UN General Assembly each year that calls for interreligious and intercultural dialogue as well as cooperation in the world. "Pakistan, for its part, will continue to support initiatives that promote and strengthen inter-religious and inter-cultural understanding so that we can build a more peaceful and just world," she added. In his opening speech, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscored the role of UNAOC in building "more peaceful, just and resilient societies," a key objective of the 2030 UN Development Agenda. He recalled last month's horrendous attack against Jewish worshipers in Pittsburgh, a city in the US state of Pennsylvania, who were gunned down while praying, stating: "It was an unspeakable act yet I was struck by the voices that emerged. The local Muslim community, for example, raised tens of thousands of Dollars to help the victims." For her part, General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa flagged that the world is facing a complex global juncture marked by multiple crisis, including poverty, inequality, climate change, forced migration, conflicts, terrorism and intolerance, for call for a strong collective action and global agreements. "To build those agreements, dialogue is the most powerful mean," she maintained on migration, she reminded the Forum that in December, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which is the first international cooperation framework encompassing a comprehensive and balance vision, will be adopt. The Alliance's High Representative, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser also spoke at the opening ceremony of the two-day event, along with Alliance co-sponsors Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Carmen Calvo and Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu. The Alliance's High Representative, Al-Nasser, highlighted that despite notable achievements in key areas of work such as in preventting hate speech, supporting intercultural and interfaith dialogue, empowering youth and strengthening peace education inciters of hate take pride in driving a wedge between different ethnic groups and civilizations. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The Senate Standing Committee on Aviation held here at the Parliament house on Thursday discussed matters related to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :The Senate Standing Committee on Aviation held here at the Parliament house on Thursday discussed matters related to Pakistan International Airlines ( PIA ). The meeting was chaired by Senator Mushahidullah Khan and was attended by Senators Moula Bukhsh Chandio, Nauman Wazir Khattak, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and others. In the meeting, a comprehensive briefing and progress report on the issues of PIA was given by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Air Marshal Arshad Malik. He informed the committee that the PIA has successfully migrated from SABRE to the next generation Passenger Services System (PSS) HIT IT. The PIA has been using the old system from last 18 years, while especially, information technology has entirely changed in the past few years and now offers even more opportunities for better customer service, he said. He said PIA's new PSS will not only help the airline upgrade its technology to meet global benchmarks, but also to streamline its operations, augment its service offerings, reduce costs by half at least, will create opportunities new revenue streams and most importantly improving our PIA passenger experience. During the initial few days PIA faced some small disruptions due to change of equipment and the issues related to training of staff, he said. He said, however, both the issues have been addressed and the results are encouraging. On the whole, the cut-over has been very successful without even a single flight cancellation, major disruption or system shutdown, he said. He said with every passing day our employees are getting control and expertise of the new system and the operational efficiency is improving fast. In October 2018, a total of 13,292 flights were operating and not even a single flight was cancelled due to system change, he said and added the value of sales were approximately PKR9.5 billion. In the meeting, the matter of collapse of bridge/jetty 5 on October 9, was also discussed to which the civil aviation officials informed the committee members that a high level board of inquiry has already been ordered by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) under the Chairmanship of Deputy Director General (APS). They said during the incident two officials were injured including Mudasar (bridge operator) and Munir (loader from Royal Airport Services staff). However, according to an interim report design fault has been identified, they said. The committee, however, said a Pakistan Air Force member must be included in the committee as to further provide a helping hand in rectifying the error. A well qualified person from the people who have been reciving training abroad particularly for this particular purpose must also be included in the committee. The matter published in a section of press regarding involvement of PIA officers in smuggling and money laundering was also discussed in the meeting. Role of Pakistani Media in the context of National Security was extensively discussed in a one-day conference organized by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Role of Pakistani Media in the context of National Security was extensively discussed in a one-day conference organized by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). Some of the speakers were very critical of the role Pakistani media has been playing regarding national security while the others argued that Pakistani media has always played responsible role regarding national issues. Diverse opinions were shared by different speakers in the conference. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain and State Minister for Interior Affairs Shehryar Afridi also attended the conference and also expressed their views. The Conference was organized by PICSS to highlight different issues that Pakistani mass media has been facing as well as role of the Pakistani media in national security and nation building. In his welcome address, Chairman PICSS Major General (retd) Saad Khattak said that nation building, national security and mass media are inseparable elements. He said that Pakistan has achieved enviable success in war against terrorism, but the war continues as the country is still facing the challenge of hybrid war. Senior journalist Shoukat Paracha said that while constitutions lays some restrictions, constitutionally protected freedom of expression should be ensured. He said that while media has shown maturity on some of the national issues like nuclear and Kashmir issue, there is a need to engage media by the government and other institutions for bringing them onboard. Addressing the seminar, senior journalist Nasim Zehra said that national media has acted responsibly on various national issues and there exists a consensus on issues like Kashmir, nuclear and war on terror but at times questions are raised but those questions should be raised in a living society so that issues at policy formulation and policy implementation are addressed for larger good of the society. In her talk, journalist Amber Shamsi highlighted issues faced by women journalist and said that women are under represented in the media. She said that lack of gender equality, poor working conditions, discrimination against women, harassment, etc. are some of the issues being faced by women journalists. In his address, Amir Zia said that freedom of expression in Pakistan is far better than not only country in this region including India, Iran, Afghanistan and China but also those of middle East, Central Asia and South East Asia. He said that national interests at times are undermined by the vested interests. Journalist Ahmed Quraishi said that while Pakistani media has largely played its role in nation building and national security, it was also used against Pakistani interests. He said that the concept of self-regulation is flawed and there is a need for government regulation as being done in around the world, however, the option of dictation is not acceptable rather engagement of media could be the most viable option. Managing Director PICSS Abdullah Khan said that there is no concept of pro and anti establishment media in any other county of the world while in Pakistan there is serious divide between national security institutions and a segment of the media. He said that in India no one can find even a single article against Kulbhushan Yadev or other Indian terrorists while in Afghan media one cannot find anything against the sanctuaries of terrorist groups targeting Pakistan. In other countries national polices are promoted by their media while here in Pakistan media is playing the role of think tanks to critically analyze national policies while think tanks are hardly listened. Chairman Press Council of Pakistan Dr Salahuddin Mengal said that PCP has taken various actions and newspapers for violating rules and regulations. He highlighted that PCP has step effective steps for zero coverage of proscribed organizations. In his talk, Managing Director PICS Abdullah Khan said that unfortunately national policies in Pakistan are formulated and vetted by the media instead of think tanks and research community unlike the other developed countries. He suggested for adopting a strategic approach instead of far-fighting so that national interests could be served. Addressing the seminar, journalist Ameer Abbas said that media owners and ratings are driving our media industry highlighting that all the decisions are based on financial interests of the owner in complete disregard to national as well as employees' interests. Other speakers of the conference were Director General Licensing PEMRA Wakeel Khan, S.M. Hali, and Dr Khalid Mehmood. The conference was attended by a large number of people from academia, intelligentsia, print and electronic media professionals, bureaucrats and students. Minister for Defense Production, Zubaida Jalal Thursday urged the the society to discourage negative attitudes and promote peace with an intention to encourage equality. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Minister for Defense Production, Zubaida Jalal Thursday urged the the society to discourage negative attitudes and promote peace with an intention to encourage equality. She was addressing an exhibition of Seerah books and a two- day training workshop on "Reconstruction of an Inclusive Islamic Society in Pakistan in the light of Seerah of Prophet (PBUH) organized by Islamic Research Institute (IRI) of International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI), a press release said. The workshop was being attended by Ulema, teachers, civil society representatives and researchers. She emphasized that Paigham-e-Pakistan narrative was a voice of nation for peaceful societies. She said the government will take this narrative dissemination campaign to Baluchistan and Sindh where special programs will be arranged to discuss peace and contents of Paigham-e-Pakistan which are focused on discouraging violence. She also appreciated services of IIUI and IRI for the cause of Pakistan. Educational institutions were important places in a society and teachers are the legacy holders of the Prophets, she said adding; following the Prophet was only solution to the problems. The minister said islam was not only confined to rituals but it also implement the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH). Highlighting the rights provided by Islam, she said that equal opportunities and contributions for men and women can help in establishing a balanced society and Islam has defined rights for both of them minutely. Dr Masoom Yasinzai, IIUI Rector said that society should be established on the bases of teachings provided by Prophet (PBUH). He said there was a dire need of reconstruction of the society with an implementation of true teachings of Islam. "IIUI is working to establish a Seerah center to announce Post-Doctoral fellowships for research on implementation of Seerah in society. Practical steps of the life of Holy Prophet (PBUH) should be implemented in the schools to nurture our children as per sacred teachings" she added. IIUI President, Dr Ahmed Yousif Al-Draiweesh discussed various aspects of the life of Prophet (PBUH). He said that Prophets' teachings were all about thinking good for others, working for peace and refraining from violence. IIUI president said that educational institutions must come forward to introduce the teachings for Holy Prophet (PBUH) to the world. He suggested that joint researchers and conferences be launched on Seerah of Prophet (PBUH). Dr Muhammad Zia ul Haq, Director General IRI presented the objectives of the workshop and also discussed a detailed history of the awareness campaign and dissemination and creation of Paigham e Pakistan. He also told that as many as 32 research articles, 11 books have been prepared and presented on the narrative during the campaign. The event was also attended by IIUI VP Dr. Aqdas Naveed Malik, Director Administration Khalid Mehmood Raja and other relevant officials. Earlier, the minister visited Dr Hamidullah library and inaugurated the workshop and took keen interest in the rare books available at the exhibition. The development of the next generation of Russian spacesuits may begin in 2019 following the start of new financing for the future operation of the International Space Station (ISS), Sergey Pozdnyakov, chief designer at JSC Zvezda company, said in an interview with Sputnik MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) The development of the next generation of Russian spacesuits may begin in 2019 following the start of new financing for the future operation of the International Space Station (ISS), Sergey Pozdnyakov, chief designer at JSC Zvezda company, said in an interview with Sputnik. "As for the next generation of spacesuits, a new stage of financing the operation of the ISS will begin in the second half of 2019. We expect that the development of a new spacesuit will be included in the financing program. The customers have not yet formulated their technical and commercial proposals, although we have discussed general issues with RSC Energia and Roscosmos," Pozdnyakov said. Russia's JSC RD & PE Zvezda engages in the research, development, and production of portable life support systems for pilots and cosmonauts. WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) All parties to the Yemeni conflict must not delay peace talks or take actions that call into question their good faith intentions, Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement. "All parties must not delay talks any longer, or insist on travel or transport conditions that call into question good faith intentions to look for a solution or to make necessary concessions," the statement said on Wednesday. The warring parties must not use the period of the truce to reinforce military positions, implant mines, or in any way escalate the conflict, Nauert added. Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have ceased offensive operations around Yemen's main port of Hudaydah. Mattis also said peace talks aimed at resolving the Yemeni crisis are expected to take place in Sweden in early December. The United Nations has been trying to revive peace talks between Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed government in Yemen. A UN plan to organize talks in Geneva in September was abandoned after Houthis said they were prevented from leaving the country. Yemen has been gripped by a civil war between the government and the Shiite Houthi movement since 2015. The government backed by the Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes that target areas controlled by the Houthis since March 2015. (@rukhshanmir) The countries in the Asia-Pacific region are showing a great interest in Russia's experience in switching from analog to digital television, Alexey Volin, the Russian Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, said on Thursday. KUALA LUMPUR (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) The countries in the Asia-Pacific region are showing a great interest in Russia's experience in switching from analog to digital television, Alexey Volin, the Russian Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, said on Thursday. Volin is attending the Valdai Discussion Club conference, titled "A changing Asia in a Transforming World" in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. "We saw a great interest [of Asia-Pacific countries] in Russia's digital television experience in the end of this year - the beginning of next year we are concluding the transition to digital broadcasting in Russia, where the world's biggest network of digital terrestrial television has been built," Volin said on the sidelines of the conference. The minister added that the Asia-Pacific states were also willing to cooperate with the Russian broadcasters as well as producers of films and video games. (@rukhshanmir) NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) The rights of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be fully protected if he is extradited from the UK and prosecuted by US authorities, UN General Assembly President for the 73rd session Maria Espinosa said in a press conference. On November 15, the Wall Street Journal reported the US Justice Department was preparing to prosecute Assange and was confident it would be able to have him extradited to the United States. "What is the category of Julian Assange, whether he is a journalist, or he is not, for me he is a human being and his human rights should be fully protected and that is what is most important," Espinosa said on Wednesday when asked about Assange's reported indictment. Assange and WikiLeaks came in the spotlight in 2010 when they revealed the leaked video of US forces' airstrike in Iraq in 2007. The group has since published hundreds of thousands of other classified materials. In 2012, Assange received asylum in Ecuador and has been living in the country's embassy in London since then, fleeing prosecution by the Swedish authorities on sex offense charges that he denied. Though Sweden dropped the charges in 2017, Assange has still not left the embassy, citing fears that he might be seized and extradited to the United States. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Helsinki will not authorize new arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Finland's Foreign Ministry said Thursday, citing an alarming situation in Yemen. HELSINKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) Helsinki will not authorize new arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Finland 's Foreign Ministry said Thursday, citing an alarming situation in Yemen "The Government discussed arms export matters and decided that in the current situation there are no foundations for new arms export authorisations," the ministry said in a statement. The Finnish ministry explained that the decision was based on EU's arms export criteria and deliberations that paid attention, in particular, to Yemen where Saudi and UAE air forces have been attacking Houthi rebels. Also on Thursday, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen announced that the Scandinavian nation would not approve any new arms exports to Saudi Arabia over its role in the Yemen war and the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. PortauPrince, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :A general strike shut down most of Haiti Wednesday as tension and uncertainty gripped the Caribbean country following deadly protests over the weekend and the president's unexplained absence from public. Schools, shops and private businesses were closed in the main cities, heeding the opposition call for a general strike in the country, which is the poorest in the Americas and still battling to overcome a years-old cholera epidemic and the aftermath of a major earthquake. As police patrolled otherwise empty main avenues in normally chaotic Port-au-Prince, burning barricades went up in some neighborhoods and sporadic gun shots set residents on edge. "It's only when the streets are empty that politicians begin to see that there is a problem," lamented Alix Bernardin, 27, a resident of the capital. "Too much blood has flowed in the country. Jovenal has to go," he said, referring to President Jovenel Moise. At least three people were killed by gunfire during mass protests over the weekend demanding Moise's resignation, the national police said. The opposition said 11 people lost their lives. Moise has said nothing since Sunday's protests. He was supposed to speak to the nation Tuesday in a televised address but it was dropped several hours after being announced, with no explanation given. "We had technical failures," Emmanuel Jean-Francois, an advisor to the president, said Wednesday after being reached by telephone. "We are taking all measures to broadcast it this morning," he added, declining to give a time or say what it would be about. In any case, said Haitian resident Jean Junior, 30, the president only makes "promises that he doesn't keep" while the people lack "potable water, hospitals, housing.""We can no longer live like this, frustrated, because we know how people live in other countries," Junior said. (@rukhshanmir) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, commenting on the possibility of setting up Russian military bases in Libya similar to what the country did in Syria, said that such parallels were unjustified since Russia firmly stood against any form of intervention in the North African country. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, commenting on the possibility of setting up Russian military bases in Libya similar to what the country did in Syria , said that such parallels were unjustified since Russia firmly stood against any form of intervention in the North African country. Lavrov recalled the issues that were discussed at a recent conference on Libyan settlement in Palermo. Head of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez Sarraj and head of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar, in particular, discussed that there was no alternative to preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Libya, and that the 2015 Skhirat Agreement was the only viable basis for achieving long-term peace. "In this regard, drawing parallels with Syria is unjustified. Russian military presence on Syrian soil is carried out in full compliance with the norms of international law, at the invitation of the legal authorities of this country. In Libya, statehood has yet to be restored," Lavrov told Agi news agency when asked whether Russia had plans to establish military bases in Libya as was done in Syria. Russia firmly believes that any outside intervention in the Libyan conflict would be unacceptable, Lavrov added. "Our goal is to help the Libyans overcome existing differences and reach sustainable agreements on the parameters of national reconciliation. At the same time, we firmly believe in the inadmissibility of external and especially armed intervention in the Libyan conflict," the minister noted. At the same time, Lavrov noted that Russia does not take sides in the Libyan conflict and proceeds from the fact that the Libyans should determine the fate of their country themselves. Libya has been in a state of turmoil since the overthrow and killing of its long-time leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011. The country is divided between two governments, with the eastern part controlled by the Libyan National Army, and the western part governed by the UN-backed Government of National Accord. The international conference on Libya, which was sponsored by the United Nations and brought together the Libyan major political forces, was held on November 12-13. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2018) Belarus invites the European Union to jointly work out a long-term strategy for bilateral relations, Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Kravchenko said on Thursday. "Obviously, certain disagreements remain in our relations. We are engaged in a frank discussion of complicated issues both in the EU-Belarus format and with the EU member states [individually]. I am confident that our disagreements would fade eventually. I suggest ... to begin right now joint work to shape the strategy for our relations, neighborhood and partnership," Kravchenko said as quoted by the Belarusian BelTA news Agency. According to the Belarusian deputy minister, when having long-term objectives, the two parties will be able to cooperate more effectively to eliminate the differences that currently dominate the partnership. Kravchenko stressed that normalized and improving relations between Minsk and Brussels would make a contribution to EU security. He added that Belarus, as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), advocated a full-fledged dialogue between the two blocs in Europe and Eurasia, in general. Kravchenko indicated that Minsk aspired neither for EU membership nor for the prospect of such a membership and did not expect Brussels to treat Belarus in a special manner. Morocco has launched successfully its second Earth-observation satellite, according to video and statement from the launching base. RABAT, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Morocco has launched successfully its second Earth-observation satellite, according to video and statement from the launching base. The satellite, called Mohammed 6-B, was launched from the European spaceport in French Guiana on the northern coast of South America. An Arianespace Vega rocket launched the Mohammed 6-B satellite and placed it in the same orbit with its twin satellite Mohammed 6-A which was launched one year ago, also on a Vega rocket, Arianespace said in a statement. Morocco plans to use the satellites for land mapping, natural disaster prevention and management, environmental monitoring and border surveillance. Airbus Defence and Space built the satellite platform while Thales Alenia Space supplied the payload and the ground segment for image processing, the statement added. The United States has initiated a defamation and disinformation campaign that unleashed around the recent election of the Interpol chief, and Moscow regrets it, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) The United States has initiated a defamation and disinformation campaign that unleashed around the recent election of the Interpol chief, and Moscow regrets it, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday. Interpol announced on Wednesday that its current acting head Kim Jong Yang had been elected for a two-year term. Another candidate to head Interpol was senior Russian police officer, Maj. Gen. Alexander Prokopchuk. On Tuesday, the Russian Interior Ministry accused foreign media of running a smear campaign against Prokopchuk, warning against politicizing Interpol. "There was an unprecedented disinformation, pressure and defamation campaign in the period prior to the election. Unfortunately, the United States has initiated this campaign against the Russian candidate," Zakharova said at a press briefing. "... Washington has even given up on its principles on not disclosing preferences during elections to international organizations, and it has involved its foreign ministry in it, as it has openly taken the path of preventing the Russian candidate from being elected," Zakharova said. She added that this was a "gross" meddling into Interpol's internal affairs. Moscow considers such actions as inadmissible and damaging Interpol reputation, Zakharova said. (@FahadShabbir) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that she did not rule out that Norway could use the scandal surrounding GPS glitches during NATO drills to divert public attention from domestic problems, including the recent collision of a Norwegian navy frigate with an oil tanker. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that she did not rule out that Norway could use the scandal surrounding GPS glitches during NATO drills to divert public attention from domestic problems, including the recent collision of a Norwegian navy frigate with an oil tanker. The Trident Juncture exercises held on October 25 - November 7 in several northern European countries, including Norway and Finland, were overshadowed by several instances in which pilots reported losing GPS signals. On November 13, the Norwegian Defense Ministry issued a statement blaming Russia for disruption of GPS navigation signals. "It is hard to get rid of the impression that the Norwegian defense minister needed these absurd stories to divert public attention from the scandal . .. surrounding the Norwegian naval frigate Helge Ingstad," Zakharova said. The spokeswoman added that the Russian Foreign Ministry received no official requests for comments from Norway so far, stressing that it was "very common for some Western politicians to blame Russia for any incidents without providing evidence." Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on November 15 that Moscow would respond to possible questions related to the matter after Helsinki and Oslo use diplomatic channels. Royal Norwegian Navy's Helge Ingstad frigate sank after colliding with the Sola TS oil tanker off Norwegian coast on November 8. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold an extended meeting of the Russian State Council Presidium in Yalta on Friday, and the meeting will focus on the implementation of Putin's May decree, outlining Russia's main goals and strategic targets for the period until 2024,Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold an extended meeting of the Russian State Council Presidium in Yalta on Friday, and the meeting will focus on the implementation of Putin's May decree, outlining Russia's main goals and strategic targets for the period until 2024,Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. "Tomorrow the president will work in Crimea. He will hold an extended meeting of the State Council Presidium in Mriya hotel. The meeting will focus on the implementation of the tasks that the president enlisted in his May decree. This is an important theme, as you know that the president has discussed it with the government many times, but there still has not been any substantive discussion with the heads of the regions. And this is exactly what will happen tomorrow," Peskov told reporters. He added that he considered the format of the meeting as "quite interesting." MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) The Russian Emergencies Ministry has sent the 83rd batch of humanitarian aid with a convoy to Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, which has been rocked by a military conflict since 2014, the ministry's press service said on Thursday. "The vehicles, which are part of the 83rd humanitarian convoy of the Russian Emergencies Ministry are heading to the Russian-Ukrainian border. After reaching the border, the convoy will split into two parts, both of which will go to its own destination after the checks. One of the convoys will go to Donetsk while the other will go to Luhansk. The vehicles will undergo the customs procedures, required for the humanitarian cargo delivery, at border checkpoints," a ministry's spokesperson said. The convoys would bring over 400 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including children's food, medical supplies and medicinal drugs, to eastern Ukraine, the spokesperson added. The previous convoy reached Donbas on October 25, while the next delivery is scheduled for December. Russia has been sending humanitarian aid to Donbas since 2014. Since then, 82 convoys brought over 78,000 tonnes of aid to the conflict-torn region. MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) Two sons of Panama's former President Ricardo Martinelli, charged with political espionage and embezzlement, have been detained in the United States' southeastern city of Miami, a Panamanian prosecutor said. "They have been detained ... We currently expect the US authorities to accordingly inform Panama's Foreign Ministry about it. As a result of the investigation, these people have been mentioned in relation to money laundering cases and the Odebrecht case," Kenia Porcell told the TVN Noticias broadcaster on Wednesday. Moreover, various media published a statement by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), issued on Wednesday, that said the US authorities "arrested unlawfully present Panamanian nationals Luis Martinelli-Linares and Ricardo Martinelli-Linares during a targeted enforcement operation in Coral Gables, Nov. 20." The ICE said that both individuals had lawfully entered the United States but their visas were annulled in 2017. Martinelli himself was detained in the United States in 2017 and extradited to Panama last June. The former head of state, who was in office between 2009 and 2014, faces up to 21 years in prison. A scandal around the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht has rocked various South American countries as corruption practices used by the company and officials from these states have been revealed. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is arriving in Cuba on Thursday for the first official visit of a head of the Spanish government to the country in over 30 years, the Spanish government said, adding that the visit is aimed at improving bilateral relations. MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is arriving in Cuba on Thursday for the first official visit of a head of the Spanish government to the country in over 30 years, the Spanish government said, adding that the visit is aimed at improving bilateral relations. The visit is expected to last just over a day and is intended to normalize and stabilize relations between the two countries. During his stay, Sanchez is set to have meetings with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and local business people and intellectuals. No talks have been scheduled either with former Cuban leader Raul Castro, who is now serving as the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, or with the country's opposition. The prime minister will be accompanied by Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, the minister for industry, tourism and trade, Reyes Maroto, along with over 20 business people. The last official visit of a Spanish prime minister to Cuba took place back in 1986. Then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar visited the island in 1999 to participate in the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, but this was not an official visit. Militants from the Kataib al-Izza terrorist group tried to breach Syrian Armed Forces positions in the northern Hama province near the demilitarized zone, a Syrian military source told Sputnik on Thursday. DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) Militants from the Kataib al-Izza terrorist group tried to breach Syrian Armed Forces positions in the northern Hama province near the demilitarized zone, a Syrian military source told Sputnik on Thursday. "Militants are constantly attempting to breach Syrian army positions with the aim to disrupt the implementation of the agreements on establishment of a demilitarized zone reached in Sochi ... The Syrian Army responded to these attempts on Thursday, the attackers suffered losses," the source said. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed at talks in Sochi on September 17 to set up a demilitarized zone in Idlib along the contact line of the armed opposition and the government forces by October 15. However, creation of the demilitarized zone is still not completed, as terrorists continue provocations. Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting numerous opposition groups and terrorist organizations. Victory over the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia) was declared at the end of 2017. However, the Syrian Armed Forces continues mop-up operations in some areas of the country. Currently, the priorities in the country are political settlement, restoration and refugee repatriation. Addis Ababa, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Three Ethiopian students were killed and 34 injured after a fight on a campus escalated into deadly ethnic clashes in the west of the Horn of Africa country, the government said on Wednesday. The unrest broke out on Tuesday after a fight at Assoa University erupted into wider violence between groups of students, Minister of Science and Higher education Hirut Woldemariam said, quoted by Fana Broadcasting Corporate, which is close to the state. While Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has received international praise for his reformist agenda, a wave of intercommunal violence -- mostly over land issues -- has marred the first few months of his rule. The minister did not give details about how the three students died or say to which ethnic groups they belonged. But activists on social media said fighting was between students from the country's two main ethnic groups, Oromo and Amhara. "The unrest degenerated into deadly clashes because of the interference of forces intent on causing chaos," the minister said without giving any further details. She said scores of people suspected of being involved in the clashes were arrested and university officials, local elders and student organisations were trying to ease tensions. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. 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This is thus no longer the story of one man or one set of ideas, but of dozens of men and ideas, and covers not years but centuries, as Nasar tells us how modern economic theory emerged and then evolved, from Adam Smith in the late 18th century to Amartya Sen today.. 2018 Thanksgiving Deals: Up To 9$ OFF Swtor Credits at Swtor2credits from Nov,20Nov,27 ,2018. 3$ off code TGB3 for $40+ orders 5$ off code TGB5 for $60+ orders 9$ off code TGB9 for $100+ orders Using 6% off code CHEAPSW8 to buy any Swtor credits Anytime! And never miss using 8% off code MEMBER for swtor credits buying from https://www.swtor2credits.com on Wednesdays. (@FahadShabbir) Prominent Kurdish leader Massud Barzani met with Iraqi premier Adel Abdel Mahdi in Baghdad on Thursday during his first visit to the capital in over two years. Baghdad, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Prominent Kurdish leader Massud Barzani met with Iraqi premier Adel Abdel Mahdi in Baghdad on Thursday during his first visit to the capital in over two years. Barzani's visit is seen as another sign of an improvement in relations between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan that deteriorated sharply after the autonomous region held an independence referendum last year. The prime minister's office announced the meeting just after noon on Thursday, sharing a photograph of Barzani dressed in a dark grey suit instead of his usual Kurdish garb. Barzani previously served as the Iraqi Kurds' president and now heads the prominent Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which emerged victorious in regional parliamentary elections in September. Last year's independence vote saw more than 92 percent of Kurds back secession, but the Federal government rejected the poll as "illegal," imposed economic penalties and seized the disputed Kirkuk oil fields, halting exports. But since Abdel Mahdi was appointed premier in October, relations appear to have improved between Baghdad and Kurdish leaders in the regional capital Arbil. Barzani's favoured candidate Fuad Hussein was appointed Iraq's minister of finance later that month, and the two sides announced a deal last week to resume Kirkuk oil exports. "It's very important for us to have good, smooth relations between Arbil and Baghdad. We've seen a huge improvement on all levels," Abdel Mahdi told reporters on Wednesday. According to an Iraqi official with knowledge of the visit, the pair are expected to discuss the lagging government formation process and the Kurdistan region's share of the federal budget. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Turkish humanitarian agencies on Thursday launched a joint aid campaign for people in Yemen. ANKARA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2018 ) :Turkish humanitarian agencies on Thursday launched a joint aid campaign for people in Yemen Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the Turkish Red Crescent (Kizilay), the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), the Turkish Deniz Feneri Association, Confederation of Public Servants Trade Unions (Memur-Sen) and Turkish HAK-IS Trade Union Confederation are part of the campaign. In the first phase of the campaign, which launched under the banner "Yemen awaits humanity", relief goods worth 200,000 TL ($37,800) were donated to Yemen. Speaking at a joint news conference, Memur-Sen Chairman Ali Yalcin said two-thirds of the population in Yemen needs help. He said there is a need to establish a "Yemen peace group" under the auspices of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take initiative for prevention of humanitarian crisis in the country. Sait Demir, vice president of IHH, said UN or OIC should take measures to protect people in the region. Hamit Kunt, Deniz Feneri's Ankara coordinator, said food will be distributed to 500 families next week. The UK Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, is trying to prevent Washington from declassifying documents related to the probe into Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, UK media reported on Thursday. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) The UK Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, is trying to prevent Washington from declassifying documents related to the probe into Moscow 's alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election media reported on Thursday. According to The Telegraph newspaper, the case deals with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) requests to wiretap Carter Page, US President Donald Trump's former campaign adviser, on the suspicion that he possibly colluded with the Russian government. The FBI was authorized to tap Page's communication for a period of 90 days and later received several renewals of said authorization, the news outlet added. UK intelligence officers claim that the declassification of the FBI requests would endanger the agency's sources and make people less eager to share information with investigative bodies, The Telegraph indicated, adding that this stance raised serious concerns regarding the United Kingdom's role in the ongoing probe. Trump initially announced his plans to make one of the FBI applications public in September but then hesitated to proceed. Earlier in November, the US president stated that he was considering the matter again. US Special Counsel Robert Mueller is currently leading a probe into Russia's purported meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and whether Trump or his campaign colluded with the Kremlin. Trump has dismissed the Mueller probe as a witch hunt, while the Kremlin has openly refuted the meddling allegations as absurd. UK Prime Minister Theresa May will meet with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at her Downing Street office in London on Thursday. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) UK Prime Minister Theresa May will meet with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at her Downing Street office in London on Thursday. The two politicians are expected to focus on the UK withdrawal from the European Union as Austria currently holds rotating presidency in the bloc. May and Kurz may also touch upon the recently coordinated draft agreement on the Brexit conditions. The meeting will begin at 12:30 GMT. It will take place ahead of the EU special summit slated for November 25, when Brussels is expected to finalize the Brexit agreement. (@FahadShabbir) WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) A senior US diplomat will visit four nations in the Horn of Africa, plus Germany, beginning next week with the goal of advancing security partnerships and promoting trade, the Department of State said in a press release on Wednesday. "Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs Tibor P. Nagy will travel to Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, and Germany from November 27 to December 8, 2018," the release said. The State Department explained that Nagy will focus on promoting stronger trade and commercial ties between the United States and Africa, "harnessing the potential of Africa's youth, advancing peace and security through partnerships, and underscoring the United States' enduring commitment to the people and nations of Africa. " In all stops, Nagy will conduct bilateral meetings with government officials, the release said. In Addis Ababa, Nagy will also participate in the United States - African Union High-Level Dialogue and in Djibouti, he will meet with the Executive Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the release added. During the final stop in Stuttgart, Germany, Nagy will visit the US Africa Command, according to the release. The Catholic Bishops of Togo have called for national constitutional and institutional reforms in view of parliamentary elections scheduled for 20 December, this year. This would be in keeping with the roadmap of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Agenzia Fides Lome, Togo The call by the Togolese Bishops emanates from their just ended plenary assembly of the Conference episcopale du Togo (CET), which saw the prelates gathered in Lome and Aneho from 12 to 16 November. The Bishops took time to address themselves to the socio-political situation prevailing the in the country. If the system does not change, the problems will remain the same In a statement released at the end of their third ordinary session for 2018, the CET expressed concern about the electoral process in the manner it is being conducted by the electoral body, the Commission electorale nationale independante (CENI) "It is obvious that the conduct of the elections without the necessary reforms will not solve the challenges facing the Togolese people but will, in fact, exacerbate tension and violence," reads part of the statement. According to the Bishops, Togo needs "a radical change in governance and in the way the country does its politics, because no matter who will be in charge of our nation; if the system does not change, the problems will always remain the same," the Bishops conclude. The Bishops urge adherence to the ECOWAS roadmap The Togolese Bishops further say that "the unilateral preparation for the elections (underway), violates some provisions contained in the ECOWAS roadmap and risks bringing the country back into the chaos (of past elections)." The ECOWAS Conference of Heads of State and Government published, at the end of July this year, a roadmap meant to help Togo navigate its way out of the current political crisis towards stability. The Coalition of Opposition political parties, in Togo, at the origin of demonstrations that have shaken the country, for more than a year now, have also denounced irregularities in the organisation of the pending polls. As a result, the Coalition, composed of 14 political parties, is boycotting participation in the CENI, where ordinarily they would have had representatives. "For decades, the struggle for freedom, democracy, political alternation and reconciliation in our country have not succeeded because of the bad faith of political actors, more concerned with their personal interests than with the common good," the Bishops also say in their statement. On 9 November the government adopted a constitutional reform project that includes presidential elections and provides for the possibility of two more presidential mandates. In September 2017 the parliamentary opposition rejected the text that would allow President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his mandate possibly from 2020 and even into 2025. He has already been in power, as President, since 2005, after the death of his father, who had ruled the country for 38 years. A missionary priest from Kenya has been shot dead in Cameroon's troubled South West region where hundreds have been killed or displaced in an escalation of separatist violence. By Linda Bordoni Kenyan Father Cosmas Ombato was a young Mill Hill missionary serving as assistant parish priest of the St Martin of Tours Parish in the village of Kembong, in restive southwest Cameroon. He was reportedly caught in crossfire between the military and armed separatists. Violence Violence has flared in the West African nations South West and North West regions in months of fighting between government forces and English-speaking armed militants who want an independent state. In October, an American Baptist missionary was shot dead in the town of Bamenda in the North West, where scores of students and their teachers have been abducted from schools. Another Kenyan missionary was killed in Buea in the South West in April 2017. Separatist claims The crisis in English-speaking Cameroon started in 2016 as an industrial strike by lawyers and teachers asking for investment and development which they say is being withheld from the Francophone regions and the recently re-elected President, 83-year-old Paul Biya, who has been in power for 36 years. The unrest snowballed into an internal armed conflict since last year when separatists joined and symbolically declared the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Hundreds of people dead and displaced At least 400 civilians and more than 175 members of the security forces have been killed, according to statistics by local and international groups that have been documenting abuses in the escalating violence. More than 300,000 people have fled the violence, many of them now living from hand-to-mouth and exposed to varied dangers in the forests, and some across the border into Nigeria. Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy Sees Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York, on Nov. 20 addressed a Security Council open debate on peace and security in Africa. By Robin Gomes The Holy See is calling the international community to greater collaboration and truly effective and collective engagement with local populations of Africa to put its incredible resources, both human and natural, to good use and build peace and security in the continent. Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy Sees Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York made the call on Tuesday during an open debate at the Security Council on peace and security in Africa. Youth The Vatican diplomat particularly drew attention to the young people and the natural resources of Africa. He said the young and vibrant populations of Africa deserve better access to quality education and to decent work so as to realize their great potential, thus enabling these young men and women to be key players in building up their own countries and taking their rightful place as future leaders. Without schooling or formation of any kind, Archbishop Auza pointed out, young people are without prospects and become a prey to a future of exploitation and violence. Natural resources The Filipino archbishop also said that the abundant natural resources in Africa become a curse when their exploitation does not benefit the people, and worse when wars and conflicts are exacerbated or even artificially provoked to provide a smokescreen for illicit and abusive exploitation of those precious resources. In this regard, he recalled Pope Francis who noted that there are powers who seek only to take the great wealth of Africa but they dont think about helping it to grow. UN peacekeeping Drawing attention to the situation of peace and security in Africa, Archbishop Auza said that the UNs peacekeeping missions in the continent are engaged in the arduous task of re-establishing peace, protecting civilians, facilitating political processes and building bridges with a view to restoring justice and laying the foundations for lasting stability. The Vatican diplomat regretted that the good works of these men and women in blue helmets are at times destroyed by the enemies of peace. Africas armed groups and terrorist organizations that are often manipulated by political machinations from within or from without the borders of their country, he said, cause chaos to reign. The Holy See called on the international community to collaborate and invest more on peacekeeping in Africa saying that while significant financial resources are devoted to Africa in terms of development programmes, the cost of peacekeeping represents only a minuscule portion of the worlds military spending. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and former head of the United Nations Development Programme What do you believe Vietnam has achieved in tackling climate change and pursuing environmental sustainability over recent years? Vietnam is one of the most vulnerable countries with its very long coastline, and also with the particular issue around the Mekong Delta. When I was the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) administrator I paid a visit to the delta, probably four or five years ago, and it was quite scary given the experience of the saltwater, inundation and the rising sea levels. Its very serious for Vietnam because the Mekong Delta has been the food basket of the nation. So the adaptation challenges for Vietnam are quite significant but I think theres quite a high level of awareness from the government and the people here. I was obviously familiar with the UNDP work which was supporting authorities on the adaptation and resilience agenda. I also noticed at the time a survey of awareness within countries of climate change issues. Vietnam came out as having the most aware citizenry of the climate change challenge - about 45 per cent of Vietnamese said this was the top issue world leaders should address, well ahead of anywhere else. So I think awareness is high which is good, I think the government knows that the adaptation challenge is significant. I think also Vietnam has a large population and historically not had clean energy. So moving to clean and sustainable energy would be a very important part of the agenda and ensuring buildings are energy efficient. Of course its easy for new buildings to be energy efficient but this country also has a lot of older habitations. I understand the metro is being built here, so its important for an alternative to private cars. I think Vietnam has the opportunity to really push the sustainability agenda and I can only encourage the governance at national level and provincial level to really pursue this extremely seriously. What are the practical actions that the county can further carry out in response to climate change and to ensure inclusive growth in the years to come? photo: Le Toan Vietnam, like all countries, needs an energy strategy that goes beyond fossil fuels. We need an end date to fossil fuels. In the past, the UNDP led a peer review of Germanys sustainable development strategy, and one of the big issues for Germany has been about coal. When we presented the report to Chancellor Merkel, later that day she made a speech saying were going to set a date for the transition, were getting out of coal. So thats really the kind of vision that we need and countries have to get out of coal, have to move to wind energy, solar energy or hydrogen power, and really move towards new technologies. Secondly, clean transport is a must: cars off the road which is good for air quality; investment in public transport; designing cities that are friendly to pedestrians and cyclists. Hanoi used to be a city of bicycles, this is something Amsterdam and Copenhagen are famous for its good for peoples health, too. Waste disposal, landfill and rubbish dumps are big methane gas producers, so a vision for zero waste of landfill would include reduce, reuse and recycle. On the adaptation side, as climate change worsens there will be an impact on the population and for some, people will leave those areas. Vietnam needs to integrate it into its development planning now as people are going to leave exposed areas. The World Bank issued a report in March which carried out an estimate for South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and forecast that in the worst case scenario close to 250 million people would leave exposed areas. Now the worst case scenario is what were heading for because countries are not doing enough under the Paris Agreement. We have to plan for the worst if major economies dont really change their dependence on fossil fuels and if we dont stop deforestation. Most of these climate change migrants will be internal and right now countries that are most exposed like Vietnam need to be thinking about how we are going to manage this - where are people going to go, and where do we need to plan these new human settlements. Even if the vision of Paris is achieved, it would take decades for our climate to stabilise. Things are going to get a lot worse before they have a chance of getting better. Adaptation really has two aspects. First, there will be climate migration and it will be internal for most countries. Secondly, its adaptation for the people who dont move: what about their smart agriculture, for example the adaptation of the agriculture thats going on in the Mekong Delta, and what about adaptation of infrastructure and housing. Vietnam is very conscious of this challenge so Im really confident that already the country is planning around the impact on the most exposed areas, but I also think planning for the people who are going to leave those areas and where they are going to go would be important. Can developing countries like Vietnam keep up with rapid growth without having to compromise necessary investment in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation? What Id recommend is that Vietnam carefully studies the work of the New Climate Economy Commission. What that commission shows is that countries can grow and prosper while doing it sustainably. So we dont have the luxury now of grow first and clean up later that brought us to the brink of many extinction of species, loss of habitat and getting to the tipping point with the environment where what were doing now is probably going to cause regression in human development. UNDP modelled these factors seven years ago on human development: on the worse case projection, we forecast worsening trends with the environment and with inequality would see human development slow right down, and actually see sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia go into regression. Theres also a very important report of the Rockefeller Foundation Lancet Commission on Planetary Health which talks about that tipping point where in order to make the gain in human health and development, weve done that sort of growing first and not cleaning up. Well now, thats starting to hurt us and if you think of warming climate, for already-hot places a warming climate can make places virtually inhabitable which can be the case in South Asia and even here in Vietnam. There will be more health problems from the warming climate: more heat stress and more dehydration, and the most vulnerable ones are children and the elderly. And now were also seeing more mosquitoes and the diseases they bring, which means more possibility of spread of malaria and other very challenging diseases. Unless we get a grip on this irresponsible growth that the world has seemingly had forever, its ultimately going to halt our future potential for human development. Carlos Ghosn was probably the best-known foreign CEO in Japan. (Photo: AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura) The arrest of the millionaire auto tycoon, who is credited with turning around the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Motors alliance, sent shockwaves through the global car sector, corporate Japan and beyond. On Wednesday, several media reported that the Tokyo district court had ordered the 64-year-old Brazil-born businessman held for a further 10 days. Prosecutors are stepping up their investigation over allegations that Ghosn under-reported his pay by about 5 billion (US$44.5 million). Prosecutors had 48 hours after his arrest to either press formal charges, release him or request this 10-day custody extension to continue the probe. Ghosn is being held in a detention centre in northern Tokyo in conditions far removed from his flashy lifestyle. "In principle, he will be all alone in a cell," lawyer Ayano Kanezuka told AFP. "There is everything you need, heating, a bed but conditions are spartan," said Kanezuka's colleague Lionel Vincent. The crisis appeared to be going from bad to worse for Nissan, as the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that prosecutors believe the firm also had a case to answer. Both Nissan and the authorities declined to comment. 'TOO MUCH AUTHORITY' Nissan's board will decide Thursday whether to remove him as chairman. That would be a staggering reversal of fortune for the once-revered manager, creator of the three-way alliance which together sells more cars worldwide than any other automaker. Ghosn's fate appears all but sealed after his hand-picked replacement as CEO, Hiroto Saikawa, launched an astonishing broadside at his mentor. He said "too much authority" had been placed in his hands and lamented the "dark side of the Ghosn era." Renault said it was sticking with the fallen manager as chief executive but named chief operating officer Thierry Bollore as deputy CEO. "This leadership guarantees the correct functioning of the Renault company," French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters on Wednesday. "The leadership of Renault is solid, but it is provisional," he added. He said he would meet his Japanese counterpart on Thursday to discuss "prolonging" the alliance. After an emergency board meeting earlier, Renault urged its sister company Nissan to share evidence against Ghosn from a months-long internal investigation. It said it was unable to comment on the charges without this information. Paris and Tokyo have been scrambling to contain the fall-out from the arrest. The scandal - the latest in a string to affect Japan Inc. - wiped millions off the stock value of all three companies. Nissan bounced back marginally on the Tokyo stocks exchange, after plunging following Ghosn's arrest. Ghosn appeared to have some support on the streets of Tokyo. "I think this is someone who was able to do what we Japanese, stuck in our ways, were not able to do," passer-by Yoshiaki Watanabe told AFP. MERGER PLAN REPORT Ghosn was once the darling of corporate and popular Japan - even having a manga comic inspired by him. He has been the glue holding the auto tie-up together since 1999. He had a reputation as a workaholic and won the nickname "Le Cost Killer" in France for his slash-and-burn approach to corporate restructuring. Under his stewardship, Nissan and Renault became deeply entwined. Renault owns 43 per cent of Nissan while in turn the Japanese firm has a 15-per cent stake in Renault. Nissan has become the alliance's key player however, posting sales of 12 trillion (US$106 billion) last year compared with Renault's 59 billion (US$67 billion). Comparison of key statistics for Renault and Nissan (2017 figures). (Graphic: AFP/Aude Genet) According to the Financial Times, Ghosn was working on a merger of the two carmakers that Nissan opposed because it feared the Japanese company could be relegated to a secondary role. Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan, told AFP that Ghosn was "a victim of his own hubris and success." "He trampled on Japanese cultural norms with his flamboyant glory-hogging ways, and his massive compensation incited jealousies and invited retaliation," he told AFP. 'GREEDY' Local media reported that Nissan's representative director Greg Kelly, who was arrested along with Ghosn, ordered other executives to "hide salaries." Some compensation due to other executives reportedly ended up going to Ghosn, although it is not clear how the scheme worked. Public broadcaster NHK reported that Nissan had paid "huge sums" to provide Ghosn with luxury homes in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam "without any legitimate business reason." Even when his reputation was sky-high, he attracted criticism for a flashy lifestyle at odds with traditional Japanese corporate culture and his salary - an estimated 13 million in total last year. Heinz Leuenberger, professor of sustainable industrial development at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland and UNIDO expert AS ONE OF THE EXPERT LEADERS EXECUTING THIS PROJECT IN VIETNAM, ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE RESULTS THE PROJECT HAS PRODUCED OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS? We have made huge progress since 2016 and now is the time for us to review our achievements and draw lessons for the following phases. Now is also a good time for all related bodies of the Vietnamese authorities, industrial zones (IZs) management boards, and local people to discuss opportunities and challenges to transfer regular IZs into eco-industrial parks (IPs). In this process, closer and better co-ordination among related sides is required. In addition, the eco-IP model must be convincing in all aspects environmental, social, and economical alike. VIETNAM NOW HAS MORE THAN 330 IZS. HOW CAN THEY TRANSFER TO ECO-IPS AND WHAT CHALLENGES STAND IN THEIR WAY? The first step is to convince the management boards of the IZs that they need this transformation. Second, the management boards need to inform, convince, and motivate tenants that switching to the eco-IP model would not only protect the environment but bring great economic yields as well. Similarly, all investors who want to establish new IPs must also be convinced to go for the eco-IP model from the very beginning. The management boards of existing IZs must raise awareness and consensus toward eco-IPs among their tenants because it does not make any sense for only a few tenants to go green. Minimum participation is around 25 per cent of the tenants leasing space at a park. HOW DOES UNIDO EVALUATE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECO-IP INITIATIVE SO FAR? UNIDO is very happy with progress so far. First of all, we have achieved an extremely valuable result on the policy level by the Vietnamese governments Decree No.82/2018ND-CP on regulating the management activities in industrial and economic zones, and ratifying the regulation on the management of eco-IPs in Vietnam. Second, we have quite substantial results on assessing resource efficiency at the company level, an initiative conducted by Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre an institution helping companies to save energy, water, and materials. Our experiences in Vietnam show that all companies can in principle save 30-40 per cent of energy, up to 50 per cent of water, and 10-20 per cent of raw materials without sacrificing output. Third, the project has managed to raise awareness among Vietnamese experts, authorities, and local people about the significance of eco-IPs. Last but not least, private IZs in Vietnam have been highly supportive of our efforts to move them towards economic and environmental gains with eco-IPs. We have seen great interest from the private sector, such as the DEEP C IZ cluster in the northern port city of Haiphong, VSIP in the southern province of Binh Duong, and Sonadezi in the southern province of Dong Nai. Ha Long Bay Few places have been photographed as much as UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ha Long Bay famed for its towering limestone karsts and isles surrounded by emerald waters. Home to almost 2,000 islands and countless species of wildlife, such as the endangered golden-headed langur. Ha Long is a nature lovers paradise, Around DB wrote. Swimming in the bay is banned for environmental reasons, however you can still immerse yourself in the mesmerizing nature while kayaking or walking through the many caves, Around DB said. On the list, Ha Long Bay is followed by Zhangjiajie (China), the Himalayas (Nepal), Palau, Mount Bromo (Indonesia). Earlier, The New York Daily News, a US newspaper based in New York City, has just named Ha Long Bay the number one destination among 15 natural wonders to see before they disappear. People go to Ha Long Bay expecting an active adventure. The UNESCO World Heritage Site puts explorative kayakers amidst striking limestone islands, rugged rock formations and low caves as a must do activity when visiting Ha Long Bay. The bay in the Gulf of Tonkin includes 1,600 islands and islets. Most of them are uninhabited and unaffected by a human presence. Unfortunately, increased flooding in the region has caused coal-fired power plant run-off to stream into the bay. Also, extreme weather contributes to quicker erosion, The New York Daily News wrote. In 2017, Quang Ninh welcomed a total of 9.87 million tourists, including 4.28 million foreigners, according to Quang Ninh provincial Department of Tourism. The province aims to attract over 12 million visitors in 2018, including five million foreigners. A view of Flamingo Dai Lai in northern province of Vinh Phuc.- Photo khachsan.chudu24.com Estimates from the General Statistics Office showed that with the travel time of around one and a half hours to suburbs, middle-income people in Hanoi are likely to take 20 to 30 short-breaks each year. However, the number of resorts which are given adequate investment in Ha Noi suburban areas and neighbouring provinces such as Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho, Hoa Binh and Ninh Binh has been limited. Others include Flamingo Dai Lai, Melia Ba Vi, Mai Chau Ecolodge, Serena Resort Kim Boi and Emeralda Ninh Binh. Speaking at the talk on tourism development in Hanois hinterland: situation and prospects, held yesterday, Nguyen Manh Than, chairman of Ha Noi Tourism Association said authorities, community and businesses should cooperate to develop sustainable tourism models in the capitals suburban areas. We acknowledge that in some localities, authorities have not supported firms developing the tourism as well as not having specific actions and policies to improve local peoples awareness on the development of this kind of tourism, Than said. He added that among 10 criteria to evaluate provincial competitiveness index (PCI) released by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, support from local authorities has been a key issue to help enterprises improve their competitiveness. Especially, the issue of progress and opportunities is extremely important for firms. It was the reason that State agencies should help businesses quickly resolve administrative procedures and remove barriers which could limit their development. From a view of investors, Nguyen Thanh Trung, deputy general director of Archi Investment Joint Stock Company said the market would see strong and sustainable development. Trung said there is around 4.5 million people in the Hanoi capital region who want to go on breaks around six times each years. Therefore, it would have up to 25 to 30 million tourist arrivals a year. This is a huge market and no competition. Resort developers should do their jobs well and visitors would come, he said. He added that the resort tourism market in the suburbs would share the overload in the capital. In the future, Hanoi would welcome nearly 30 million tourist arrivals while it has 1,200 hotel rooms in the past five years, he said. Another advantage, he said, was the easy access to suburban areas thanks to new roads shortening distance from the citys centre to those areas. Amorn Harnkham, regional director of Thailand International College of Hospitality Education said Hanoi has advantages of connections with other regions. Hanoi would become one of best destinations for resort tourism in suburbs in Asia, he said. Ngoc Khanh, general director of H&K Hospitality said investors should understand markets and co-operate with hotel and resort management companies to have real knowledge in the industry. In addition, authorities should have specific policies and regulations in terms of taxes, safety and environmental hygiene to facilitate investors. In reality, investors said administrative procedures have been troublesome to businesses. Investors have to work with different departments and offices to resolve an issue. We expected that local authorities would give more supports to firms in developing projects under the model, Khanh said. In October alone, 17 companies debuted on UPCoM with more than 31 billion shares registered for trade.-Photo vietnamfinance.vn By the same day, the total number of listed companies on the two local exchanges was 744, including 370 companies listed on the southern bourse and 374 on the northern one. In October alone, 17 companies debuted on UPCoM with more than 31 billion shares registered for trade. Several large-cap companies, including State-owned enterprises (SOEs) that had already completed their equitisation process partly or wholly, also moved to UPCoM to quickly make their shares tradable, thus benefiting shareholders. With more large-cap firms trading on UPCoM, the unlisted market has moved similarly to the two stock exchange indices. The UPCoM Index on Wednesday ended flat at 52.06 points and has lost nearly 4 per cent since the beginning of October. In the same period, the benchmark VN Index and the HNX Index respectively declined by nearly 9.3 per cent and 10.6 per cent. Average trading volume in each session since October to Wednesday was more than 17 million shares, worth nearly VND280 billion (US$12.4 million). Foreign investors net sold nearly VND51 billion during the period. The increase of the number of companies on UPCoM and unlisted market trading liquidity has raised concerns among investors about market regulators ability to manage the quality of market trading. The recent trial of fraudulent trade and portfolio falsification of the Central Mining and Mineral Import Export JSC (MTM), which caused total losses of VND56 billion during 2013-16 for the unlisted market, was the result of the market mismanagement and a lack of control over market trading portfolios and business transparency. According to the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the northern market regulator has regularly reviewed and improved its regulations to enhance market management and assure businesses and investors. To improve transparency, HNX has recommended half of UPCoM-traded companies should use the corporate information management system (CIMS) to publish information accurately and timely. The internet-based system would help UPCoM companies release online statements whenever they have to, reduce procedures for both market regulator and companies and help firms make less mistakes with information disclosure, HNX said. In May 2018, the HNX started classifying UPCoM companies by market capitalisation, a move expected to improve the transparency of the companies and help investors track information more easily. After the case of MTM, which was revealed in June 2016, the HNX on June 17, 2016 issued the UPCoM Warning List that now contains 109 companies under scrutiny for not performing their transparency duties and threatening the benefits of investors. Equitised SOEs not public According to the Ministry of Finance, 667 SOEs have not gone public on the stock market though they have been equitised. That number includes 295 companies under the management of ministries and sectors and 372 under local authorities management. In recent years, SOE equitisation has introduced high-quality companies to the stock market and created a foundation for the Vietnamese securities market, the ministry said. Those SOEs lead their sectors by market capitalisation, information transparency, corporate governance and business performance, the ministry said. Most post-equitisation SOEs which have traded shares have gained advantages over other firms in financial status, infrastructure, human resources and Government incentives. Therefore, most of those SOEs perform better and extract annual earnings for capital hikes or meet investors requirements to issue additional shares and bonds to raise capital. However, the finance ministry said the late listing/trading of some firms shares has reduced stock market transparency in the eyes of investors, slowed the reform of SOEs corporate governance and hindered the public from managing the firms work performance. Dang Quyet Tien, general director of the finance ministrys corporate finance department, told a meeting on Monday the ministry had assigned the State Securities Commission (SSC) to penalise any SOEs which delay trading shares. The SSC revealed that 152 SOEs had qualified for share listing and trading in their post-equitisation stage, he said. To push equitised SOEs to move to the stock market, the finance ministry proposed a solution to force those firms to trade shares, pay back the amount of State capital received from share sales to the State budget by December 31, 2018 and report to the Prime Minister about any delays. According to the finance ministry, 747 equitised SOEs did not trade shares on the stock market as of the end of 2017. Up to now, 31 per cent of them or 231 SOEs have registered with the SSC to enter the stock market, including 152 that have listed on the two exchanges. Bun Cha (vermicelli with grilled pork and fresh herbs). Visitors can find the delicious food in Hanoi on 1 Hanh Manh Street, 34 Hang Than Street, 24 Le Van Huu Street. Pho noodle soup. Some famous restaurants in Hanoi serving Pho are located on 49 Bat Dan Street, 63 Yen Ninh Street, and 13 Lo Duc Street. Banh My. Banh mi in Hoi An (Hoi An-style bread rolls) has been listed among the worlds Top 10 sandwiches by Austrian travel website Traveller. Egg coffee - or 'ca phe trung' - is a blend of coffee and egg whites, folded with sugar, drank hot or cold. Visitors can try ca phe trung at Cafe Giang-39 Nguyen Huu Huan street, Dung Cafe -13 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, and Pho Co Cafe -11 Hang Gai street. Rolled noodles. Pho Cuon (Vietnamese Rolling Pho) consists of a slightly cooked rice paper shell the same thickness as a pho noodle. Famous addresses: Chinh Thang-7 Mac Dinh Chi street, Huong Mai-25 Ngu Xa Street, Hung Ben-35 Nguyen Khac Hieu street. Banh xeo (Vietnamese crepes). Famous addresses in Ho Chi Minh City: Muoi Xiem-190 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, Ba hai-64 Nguyen Trong Tuyen Street, Ngoc Son-103 Ngo Quyen Street. Cao Lau- a typical dish in Hoi An town. The dish usually contains rice noodles, slices of barbecued pork, shrimp, and greens and is topped with peanuts, rice crackers, and scallions; and sometimes served with lime or chili jam. Bun bo Hue (Hue-style beef noodle soup). Bun bo Hue is the greatest soup in the world," Anthony Bourdain said in a CNN article "On the hunt for bun bo Hue". The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange was up 0.17 per cent to 924.16 points.-Photo freedomsphoenix.com The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange was up 0.17 per cent to 924.16 points. It added 0.39 per cent to close at 922.56 points on Wednesday. On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index climbed 1.08 per cent to end at 105.02 points. It slipped 0.01 per cent to end at 103.90 points on Wednesday. Nearly 106 million shares worth a combined VND2.3 trillion (US$99 million) were traded on the two bourses. World stock markets rose on Wednesday, with Wall Street tipping higher on gains in technology and energy shares, while oil rebounded from a steep sell-off as U.S. government data pointed to strong demand. Oil prices rose about $1 a barrel on Wednesday, bouncing from the lowest levels in months, after U.S. government data showed strong demand for refined fuel. Concerns remained over rising global crude supply. Vietnamese oil stocks also gained thanks to the news. Notably, Sara Vietnam JSC (SRA) soared exponentially, hitting the daily gain limit of 10 per cent in the last trading session despite the news that the companys chairman cum general director ang Quang Nam failed to buy 300,000 SRA shares. He registered to buy the shares in early October. The afternoon session starts at 1pm. PM Phuc addresses the conference on renovating and improving the efficiency of the State owned enterprises (SOEs) operation held on Wednesday in Ha Noi. Photo baochinhphu.vn PM Phuc made the statement at the conference on renovating and improving the efficiency of the State owned enterprises (SOEs) held on Wednesday in Hanoi. Better corporate governance and the emphasis on the investment in science and technology will help SOEs thrive, raising the efficiency of the use of investment capital enhancing its business efficiency and contributing better to the national economy development, the PM said. The Government has set up a special committee that acts as the ownership representative of State capital at wholly State-owned enterprises. According to the PM, the committee focuses on two key long term tasks, which are bolstering the equitisation and divestment of State capital and improving the capacity and efficiency of State-owned enterprises, especially large-cap corporations. But they must not cause difficulties and bottlenecks for SOEs production and business. These committees need to help firms grow, not to slow them down, PM Phuc said. However, he added that many SOEs had been holding large amounts of assets but their production, business efficiency and contributions to the State budget were low. A number of projects had suffered big losses. Equitisation and divestment from SOEs had not reached the Governments targets. The main reason was a number of business leaders were unwilling to change, avoiding responsibility or worrying about loss if the business model changes. Problems related to land, asset valuation, institutional inefficiencies, regulations, obstacles in handling labour arrangements and propaganda had not been solved effectively, he said Equitisation and divestment were key tasks for restructuring State-owned enterprises (SOEs), Phuc said, adding that the privatisation process must follow the principles of publicity and transparency. He stressed that due attention must be given to the fight against vested interests and corruption in every phase of the process, concrete measures must be chalked out to prevent corruption, losses and waste. Even profitable SOEs with promising business performance must be privatised to attract social capital resources. Equitisation must be associated with listing on the stock market because loses and corruption easily incur during this process, the PM said. Addressing the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said SOEs should put emphasis on key areas such as national defense, security and essential sectors that private sectors do not get involved in, and urgently divest capital from the other areas among which SOEs are performing effectively. Regarding capital management at enterprises, especially post-equitisation period, Hue insisted on the determination of the extent and scope of the State holding in each specific field or enterprise, the rights and responsibilities of organisations and individuals representing State capital in enterprises. According to Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, SOEs are focusing on equitisation and divestment but not paying adequate attention to corporate management adjustment and improvement as well as market adaptation. Regarding equitisation, Cung suggests focusing on quality rather than on quantity, restructuring shareholder portfolio towards more effective orientation. Chairman of State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) Nguyen Duc Chi urged ministries and sectors to quickly provide guidance on the implementation of the Governments guidelines, avoid losing business opportunities. For example, the Government issued Decree No.32/2018/ND-CP stating that enterprise value includes the historical, culture and trademark value of the enterprise. If specific guidance on the valuation is soon public, equitisation can soon be implemented as enterprise valuation helps firms determine the shares put up for auction, Chi said. More than 660 SOEs equitised but yet listed As many as 667 equitised SOEs, including many big names, have yet to list their shares on the stock exchanges so far, said Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung during the conference. Among 295 SOEs managed by ministries yet to do so, the Vietnam Northern Food Corporation (Vinafood1) has the largest number of equitised but unlisted subsidiaries, 18, including Ha Son Binh Food Company, Vinafood1 Flour Mill Company, VNF1 Distribution Retail JSC, and Thanh Hoa Food JSC, Dung said. It was followed by the Viet Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) which has 14 subsidiaries of such type, including Chien Thang Garment JSC, Vinatex Tan Tao Investment Corporation and Viet Nam Wool JSC.A number of others are owned by State-run giants like the Viet Nam National Petroleum (Petrolimex), Viet Nam Electricity (EVN), Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN), Viet Nam National Chemical Group (Vinachem), and Viet Nam Railways. These firms mainly blamed the delay in going public on challenges in pushing for organisational and operational restructuring, or not meeting the listing requirements in terms of the number of shareholders or charter capital. The Ministry of Finance also named 372 unlisted SOEs managed by cities and provinces. Among the concerned localities, HCM City leads the way with 11 corporations and groups with hundreds of subsidiaries that have been equitised but not listed. According to the ministry, this situation has negative impacts on not only the stock markets openness and transparency but also the SOEs themselves as these firms have moved relatively slow in post-equitisation corporate management restructuring to reach the standards of those that went public. Directive 04/CT-TTg issued by the Prime Minister on the restructuring and renovation of SOEs in 2016-2020 requires the SOEs to list their shares on the stock exchanges within a year after their initial public offerings (IPOs). In August, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue again asked the Ministry of Finance and the Government Office to publicise the list of the SOEs failing to do so in time on the websites of the ministry and the government. It was the third time the list of these SOEs has been ordered to open to the public, after the first in April, 2017 and the second four months later. WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --A James Hadley Billingtonathe United States Librarian of Congress Emeritus, one of the world's foremost RussianA historians, and a leading American academic and author who taught atA HarvardA andA PrincetonA before serving 42 years as CEO of four federal cultural institutionsadied peacefully yesterday in Washington, DC, after a brief illness, surrounded by his family. He was 89 years old. Dr. Billington served as the 13thA Librarian of CongressA after being nominated byA PresidentA Ronald ReaganA in 1987, an appointment unanimously approved by theA U.S. Senate. He retired as Librarian on September 30, 2015. Over a 28-year period, he founded the National Book Festival with First Lady Laura Bush, the John Kluge Center and Prize for the Study of Humanity, the Gershwin Prize, and The National Audio Visual Conservation Center. Throughout a life dedicated to scholarship and serviceaduring which he served every President and Congress since the 1960s until his retirementaDr. Billington played a unique role in preserving, promoting, and sharing America's rich cultural heritage. Born inA Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1929, he was educated in Philadelphia-area public schools. Dr. Billington was valedictorian at Lower Merion High School andA Princeton University, where he graduated with highest honors in 1950. In 1953, he earned a modern Russian history doctorate fromA Balliol CollegeA of theA University of Oxford, where he was aA Rhodes Scholar. Dr. Billington received 42A honorary degrees, as well as the US Presidential Citizen's Medal, the Russian Federation's Order of Friendship, and the French Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Following U.S. Army service in President Eisenhower's Office of National Estimates, he taught history atA Harvard UniversityA from 1957 to 1962, and atA Princeton University, where he was a popular professor from 1964 to 1974. From 1973 to 1987, Dr. Billington was director of theA Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he founded theA Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, seven other new programs, and theA Wilson Quarterly. Dr. Billington authored nine books, including the classic Russian cultural history,A The Icon and the AxeA andA The Face of Russia, a companion book to the PBS television series. Dr. Billington spent more than 50 years helping America's leaders and citizens better understand the former Soviet Union and its successor states, contributing to a greater appreciation of America's values and institutions in countries stretching across one-third of the globe. He first visited Russia in 1958, and accompanied the President and First Lady, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, to Moscow in 1988 for Reagan's summit meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev. During his 28-year tenure at the Library of Congress, Dr. Billington enlarged and technologically enhanced public spaces in the Thomas Jefferson Building, re-purposing it as a national exhibition venue that hosted over 100 exhibitions, many featuring materials never before publicly displayed in America. He doubled the size of the Library's traditional analog collections to more than 160 million items and oversaw innovative preservation initiatives. Dr. Billington pioneered the reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's original library, using private funds raised from the Library's James Madison Council, which he founded. Dr. Billington also founded the Open World Leadership Center, which enabled over 27,000 Eurasian leaders to engage and learn from the democratic process.A Simultaneously, he created a massive new Library of Congress online presence and launched a series of innovative Library programs to share the educational riches of the Library with millions of Americans and the world.A Dr. Billington is survived by his wife of 61 years, the former Marjorie Anne Brennan, whom he described as his "indispensable full partner in every way and at every stage of his adult life"; four children, Dr. Susan Billington Harper, Anne Billington Fischer, the Rev. James Hadley Billington, Jr., and Thomas Keator Billington; and 12 grandchildren.A A A high-res photo of Dr. Billington is available by clicking here. Statements and testimonials from Leading National and International figures who knew Dr. Billington well: Statement from Mrs. Laura W. Bush: "PresidentA BushA and I are saddened to learn that the United States has lost Dr. James Billington. Dr. Billington served as our nation's librarian for 28 years, leading the Library of Congress' transition into the digital age. In 2001, he was instrumental in the creation of the National Book Festival, which has welcomed hundreds of thousands of book lovers to the National Mall and to the Library of Congress. Dr. Billington's lifelong passion for research and for preserving history ensures that America's most prized literary treasures will be available to all for generations to come. PresidentA BushA and I send our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Billington's wife Marjorie, and to their four children. He willA be missed."A Statement from Nancy Pelosi, U.S. House Democratic Leader: "The passing of Dr. James Billington is a profound loss for his family and loved ones as well as for our nation.A Over the course of his long and prolific career, Dr. Billington became a tireless steward for American history, helping protect and preserve our nation's most treasured past for generations of Americans.A "Dr. Billington was a public servant of exceptional intelligence, dedication and vision.A His tenure at the Library of Congress saw the doubling of the Library's collection and the beginning of its now vast online resources.A Dr. Billington firmly believed that the treasures of American history in his care belonged to the people, and he worked passionately to ensure that Americans across the country could access these priceless collections. "Whether teaching at Harvard or Princeton, collaborating with experts and academics, or being a trusted teacher and advisor for countless Members of Congress, Dr. Billington was a committed educator.A His dedication to expanding the Library's educational programing has allowed a generation of young Americans to discover their love of history and become inspired to engage in our great democratic experiment. "Our nation has lost a true patriot and one of its most relentless defenders.A Dr. Billington's life and remarkable legacy have left an indelible mark on our unique American story, allowing generations of young people to see, experience and learn from the history he so passionately promoted.A May it be a small comfort to his loving wife, Marjorie, their children, Susan, Anne, James Jr., and Thomas, and the entire Billington family that so many mourn with them at this difficult time." Statement fromA Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice: "I am deeply saddened by the news of Dr.A Jim Billington's passing.A He was an original -- brilliant, thoughtful and kind.A He led the Library of Congress with skill and passion. On a personal note, he was a great role model for meA as a scholar and a public servant.A His timeless work, The Icon and the AxeA is quite literally the book that drew this failed music major to the study of the Soviet Union.A Such was the reach of his influence in the field.A I join all of his friends and colleagues in sending my thoughts and prayers to Marjorie and the BillingtonA family." Statement ofA Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs, The New School andA the granddaughter of Leonid Khrushchev, the eldest son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev "Dr Billington was such a towering figure in the Russian studies and in the field of the US-Russian relations that he would be thoroughly missed for decades to come. In his work, either as a scholar or a librarian of Congress, heA brilliantly merged art and politics, all for the purposes of the United States better understanding and appreciating other cultures around the globe. Russia, his area of expertise, was particularly lucky. James Billington's book, The Icon and the Axe, was itself an icon for the generations of both the Russians and the Russianists. In the dark days of the Soviet Union! we, the Russians, tried to understand our own culture through Dr. Billington's critical, knowledgeable and kind eye. At the same time, his philosophical and historical approach to the complex country of bombs, ballet and Brothers Karamazov became a road map for the study of Russian culture and politics for many scholars following in his steps. May his soul rest in peace." Statement of David M. Rubenstein on the Passing of Dr. James Billington November 21, 2018: "Jim Billington was one of the finest public servants a indeed one of the finest Americans a I have ever been privileged to meet.A His dedication to our country, and in the last three decades of his life to the Library of Congress, places all Americans his debt. Jim helped transform the Library of Congress into the library of the American people a a national treasure available to and benefiting all Americans.A Those of us who were fortunate to know and work with him will miss him dearly."A Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/788323/James_Hadley_Billington.jpg A Koos Neefjes, climate change expert and director of Climate Sense Co., Ltd In 2015, Vietnam issued its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement on climate change. This contains the countrys pledges to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to adapt to the effects of climate change over the period towards 2030. Vietnams GHG emission mitigation target is an 8 per cent reduction by 2030 compared with business as usual levels by using its own means; and 25 per cent reduction if it receives international financial and technological support. For climate change adaptation, the government estimated that the national budget would carry one third of the financial needs and international support and private sector investment for the remainder. Most of the very substantial investment that is required for responding to climate change would have to come from official development assistance (ODA) and the domestic and foreign private sector, especially for emissions reduction. But a large part of ODA concerns loans to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as Electricity of Vietnam (EVN). Such loans used to be guaranteed by the state, but because of the national public sector debt ceiling it is now preferred that any such loans are offered directly to SOEs without state guarantee and liability. So SOEs might get less ODA and need more private finance, for example to invest in increased energy efficiency and renewable energy production. But simply targeting private sector investment, as Vietnam does, does not make it happen. Policies are needed that make it obvious for private sector financiers and businesses to invest in measures that reduce emissions and that increase the countrys climate resilience. Such policies can be divided into three groups: financial incentives, subsidies and other public sector support; taxes or fees to discourage certain investments and consumption patterns; and regulations that must be enforced by central or local authorities. Let me give a couple of good and not-so-good examples of such policies, to illustrate how this could encourage private sector investment in GHG emission mitigation and climate change adaptation in Vietnam. INCENTIVES To encourage investment in wind and solar power production, for example, the government has issued feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) that the electricity buyers must pay. The current FiTs for solar and wind power are seen by investors as attractive enough to invest and that could lead to major GHG emissions reduction. These tariffs are higher than the average electricity selling price and so this renewable energy is cross-subsidised by cheaper power sources such as hydro-electricity. But the policies are temporary and these technologies are becoming cheaper, so in a few years the cross-subsidy may no longer be required. But another example is that coal mining, transport and consumption in power production, and heavy industry are still being supported as well. For example the public sector has provided guarantees for loans for transport infrastructure, which is money that stimulates emissions when it could also be used for cleaner alternatives. Such support to fossil fuels is counter-productive from a climate change perspective. Support to insurance products is one way of supporting those recovering from damage and losses from climate-related disasters. Some years ago, the government and an insurance company piloted agricultural insurance for small farmers, with the government paying part of the premiums and farmers also a part, thus generating a private capital flow. Insurance companies invest the revenue in markets, grow the capital and pay farmers who suffer disaster damages, whereas the government would otherwise have to step in with emergency aid including, for example, the provision of seeds for replanting of crops. Sourcing the capital to meet Vietnamese climate pledges, illustration photo DIS-INCENTIVES Vietnams environmental taxes are comparatively low and carbon taxes are still absent. This contributes to low petrol prices in Vietnam compared to many other countries. A significant tax or carbon-fee on petrol will increase the price and not be popular, but it will encourage consumers to limit their petrol consumption and drive less or drive more slowly. Consumers would also buy more efficient internal combustion engines, or perhaps electric motorbikes and cars. A tax on coal would have a similar effect on power production and heavy industry, encouraging investment in energy-efficient technology and a switch partly to other forms of energy. In addition, the government could allocate the additional tax revenue to green, benign investments or incentives. Economic model analysis has suggested that the result of this would be an increase in growth of the national economy because of increased efficiency and modernisation. Vietnam is currently preparing policy on carbon markets, which can have the same effect as a carbon tax. For example, all producers in one sub-sector of industry such as cement or steel production would be allocated a maximum amount of GHG emission rights per unit of production. If they emit fewer emissions because they have invested in efficient, low-carbon technologies, they can sell their emission rights to manufacturers who emit more GHG than they have the right to. Depending on how many rights are allocated in total, this can create a fairly high carbon price and therefore a strong incentive for industries to become more energy efficient and low-carbon. REGULATIONS Energy efficiency or pollution/emission standards are types of regulation that can make a real difference. This can be done regarding specific sectors of manufacturing industry, vehicles, buildings and household appliances. They may be recommended standards or just labels for consumers to be able to compare products, or mandatory standards that certain inspection services/government agencies must be able to enforce. This could force certain producers to invest in certain technologies, and it could also forbid the manufacture, sale or use of certain equipment. Construction standards for climate proofing could also be developed for industrial zones and manufacturing plants, tourist venues, schools and hospitals, to ensure that they are adapted to flood risks, extreme temperatures or other issues such as extreme rainfall. Standards for construction of roads, railways, bridges, or harbours will make them more resilient for similar risks as well, like landslides. Some of this is public infrastructure that will not attract the private sector. However manufacturing, tourism, and also some schools and hospitals will be private sector investments. Transport infrastructure investments include build-operate-transfer investments where the private sector can recover their investment by charging tolls for a certain period of time and climate-proofing standards will ensure that they contribute to the climate resilience of the nation. Phal Sok was not born in Cambodia and has never visited the country. He has lived in the United States for 37 years, almost half of which he has spent in prison. He never became a US citizen. Sok is now facing a legal battle to remain in the United States, the only country he has ever known. Sok says he has been in contact with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and requested his case be dropped, but expects he may have to take it to court. Ive filed for the proceeding to be dropped. Once it is dropped and I have my Green Card back, I can apply for US citizenship, he says. Sok was pardoned by California Governor Jerry Brown on August 10, with Brown citing his time served and community contributions. He has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law abiding citizen, the governor said in a statement. Sok was sentenced to 23 years and eight months in prison in April 2000 for taking part in an armed robbery in Long Beach when he was 17 years old. He was released early, in 2015, for good conduct under an initiative aimed at aiding juvenile offenders, but was later detained by ICE for deportation to Cambodia under the rules of a repatriation agreement signed between the US and Cambodia in 2002. Sok has decided to fight the deportation, but could not afford to retain a lawyer, so instead spent many days reviewing relevant case law in the hope of defending himself when the time came. I prepared all the paperwork myself because when I was in jail for the 15 or 16 years, I studied the US Constitution, criminal, and immigration laws, he said. Once I was in detention I started working on the case. Soks case was reopened and was released from custody November 2016, but his subsequent unconditional pardon did little to stop the deportation proceedings, despite the convictions on which the authorities are basing their deportation case being eliminated. Soks family fled Cambodia in 1979 at the end of the Khmer Rouges reign to a refugee camp in Thailand. Sok was born in the camp before his family gained refugee status and moved to Long Beach, CA, in 1981. But Soks mother left the family when he was two years old. His father died of cancer when he was 16, after which Sok spent some time on the streets. Under President Donald Trumps administration, more than 155,000 undocumented immigrants have been arrested, a rise of more than 170 percent. The unique repatriation agreement between Cambodia and the United States, deportations to Cambodia have been slower than other nations. But the Trump administration has sought to speed up the process by issuing visa sanctions. More than 880 Cambodians have been deported and some 1,600 remain in limbo, according to Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC). They have a very strong chance of basically eliminating immigration problems through the pardon, said Jenny Zhao, an immigration attorney at the Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, in an interview with VOA Khmer. So the pardon is a huge step towards getting their Green Card back. It doesnt happen automatically, there is still a court process that they need to go through. I think the pardons are recognition that many of these Cambodian refugees have been contributing to their community for many years and even though they had made mistakes many years ago when they were younger, theyve turned their lives around and now they are supporting their families, she added. And its great that the governor of California has recognized that. Sok is currently an organizer of the Los Angeles-based non-profit Youth Justice Coalition, focusing on juvenile justice and criminal legal reforms. Since I came out some detainees and their families have asked me to help them to avoid splitting up because of the deportation, Sok said. Many Cambodian families have called me to help their relatives out. And our organization is helping students who are kicked out of schools to make sure that they dont do anything bad. Phal Soks hearing will be on November 26 at the Lose Angeles court. If I win the case I want to continue my studies so that I will be able to help those children and families living in poverty. Outgoing US Ambassador William A. Heidt on Tuesday urged Cambodia to improve bilateral relations between the two countries and the release of all political prisoners, including Kem Sokha, the former leader of the opposition. The remarks from Heidt, published on the US Embassy Facebook page, were made during his visit to the Peace Palace to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday. Heidt reportedly thanked Hun Sen for his leadership of Cambodia and for furthering the productive relationship between the two countries. The Ambassador noted he feels encouraged by recent positive steps, including the resumption of POW/MIA cooperation, and encouraged the Cambodian government to take further actions to improve bilateral ties, including by promoting national reconciliation, freeing Kem Sokha and other political prisoners, and loosening restrictions on civil society and the media. Hun Sen wrote on his Facebook page that he had told the US ambassador that Cambodia would not allow foreign powers to host military bases on its territory, a reference to allegations that a Chinese port being built in Koh Kong province could be used for naval activities. Hun Sen did not reportedly respond to Heidts comments regarding political reconciliation or the release of Sokha. Phay Siphan, government spokesman, said he did not know if Hun Sen had addressed the comments at the meeting, adding that the government viewed such comments as internal interference in Cambodias domestic affairs. We see it as an indication of the interference in Cambodias work, because Kem Sokhas case and the others are under the jurisdiction of the court, and I believe the [US] embassy must respect democracy, he said. Arend Swartjes, a US Embassy spokesman, declined to comment further on the meeting. Relations between the United States and Cambodia have worsened in light of a period of political repression that has seen the opposition banned and Sokha jailed on questionable treason charges, civil society groups and independent media targeted, and the murder of a prominent government critic in suspicious circumstances. Cambodia claimed Sokha had conspired with Washington to create a color revolution and overthrow Hun Sen. Sokha and the United States deny the charges. Sokha was released into house arrest after serving a year in pre-trial detention. The United States has called a general election in July illegitimate and threatened to freeze the assets of officials who are alleged to have committed rights abuses. The European Union is also considering withdrawing Cambodia from its Everything But Arms preferential trade scheme, which allows tariff-free access for Cambodian garment and footwear products to EU markets. The US international development agency USAID has sponsored a program in Cambodia that aims to empower young women entrepreneurs to get a head start in business. The project, We Next, was launched last week with the support of NGO Pact and will see Cambodian women entrepreneurs collaborate on the opportunities and challenges for women doing business in Cambodia. William Heidt, the US ambassador, said at the opening event that the government had taken steps to reduce the tax burden on small enterprises and cut down on red tape, both of which are seen as a barrier to women succeeding in business in the Kingdom. He added that another US-sponsored program will loan some $30 million to women-owned enterprises with support from Cambodian corporations OPIC and ACLEDA. Heidt, who will vacate his post this month, said there was vast potential for Cambodian businesses to thrive internationally and hoped the new program would help to give women in business a boost. He said We Next would help women entrepreneurs improve their technology skills, leadership abilities and business management systems, as well as accessing finance and legal support. We are proud to help Cambodia's female entrepreneurs expand their businesses and skills while growing Cambodia's economy. The five-year project will be run in three major cities: Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Battambang. Sabine joukes, PACT director in Cambodia, said establishing a business could be a difficult process without additional support systems in place. If you dont have a support system around you, who is going to help you? Who is going to identify who you should be talking to?" What financial resources are there? What educational resources are there? It makes it much easier for entrepreneurs to make it. Being an entrepreneur is already so hard, so getting a little bit of support from a project like ours, we hope it is going to make the real difference. Eng lykong, Cambodian Women Entrepreneurs Association director, who attended the We Next launch event, said a lack of finance and knowledge were the key roadblocks to women starting businesses. If we only provide funds for them in the form of money, it will still be hard. What I really want is a program for them to increase their financial knowledge while providing funds for them so that they can use the funds effectively. All of them [women entrepreneurs] are very happy and eager. However, they don't know where to find such knowledge. If we have such a program, it would be very good. An increase in casualties among Afghan military and police forces has prompted the Afghan government to intensify military campaigns against the Taliban and other militant groups, Afghan security officials say. Last week, Taliban insurgents killed and wounded about 80 members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in western Farah province, Afghan officials said. The Afghan National Security Council ordered the country's security forces to step up "offensive operations" against "armed oppositions." Tariq Arain, spokesman for the council, told VOA that government forces were stepping up air and ground operations across the country. The intent, he said is to reduce causalities of Afghan security forces and to provide our citizens with a peaceful and secure environment." Despite casualties, Afghan security forces maintain high morale, he added. "The enemy has failed to hold a single area under its control, even for a day, which demonstrates the strength of our forces, a force that we are proud of," Arain said. NATO support Meanwhile, a spokesman for the U.S.-led NATO Resolute Support mission told VOA that NATO would assist the Afghan security forces in these "very important new offensives." "Together, we will be successful against the Taliban, who senselessly keep fighting when the ability to have peace is right in front of them. Afghan forces always survive better and kill more Taliban when they're on the offensive and moving," U.S. Army Maj. Bariki Mallya, the mission spokesman, told VOA. "It is good that the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces are on the offensive, because the Taliban must realize that they will either seek peace through talks or die." The new offensives come as the Afghan government totaled up its losses for the past three years. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani spoke last week via video conference from the capital, Kabul, to an audience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. "Since 2015, 28,529 of our security forces have lost their lives" fighting the Taliban and Islamic State (IS) terror groups "and have become martyrs for our freedom," Ghani said. Afghan security officials said in addition to the Taliban and IS, about 20 other terrorist organizations are fighting in Afghanistan. Some analysts worry that stepping up the military action could boost civilian casualties while producing few strategic gains. "It is hard for the government security forces to fight the enemies because they hide among civilians and use them as human shields," Abdul Wahid Taqat, a Kabul-based retired general and military expert, told VOA. Our intelligence forces are not able to identify and target the enemies. They cannot track the enemies when they leave their bases, where they receive military training and equipment and plan attacks," Taqat added. However, Walter Dorn, an Afghanistan expert and professor at Royal Military College of Canada, said he thought the planned offensive might help temporarily. "There is no purely military solution to Afghanistan's security problem, but at times offensive actions are necessary to neutralize armed opponents. Of course, this needs to be done in accordance with international law while still maintaining the moral high ground," Dorn told VOA. "On the practical level, offensives should be undertaken that will not cause more civilians to join the ranks of the insurgents." Civilian casualties Afghanistan's conflict continues to take a civilian toll. Last month, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said there were 8,050 civilians killed or injured (2,798 dead, 5,252 injured) in the first nine months of this year. UNAMA said 649 civilian casualties (313 deaths and 336 injuries) were due to aerial operations by pro-government forces. The U.N. report indicated that the combined use of suicide and non-suicide improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by anti-government elements were the leading cause of civilian deaths. On Tuesday, at least 50 people died in a suicide bomb blast at a gathering of religious scholars celebrating the Prophet Muhammad's birthday in Kabul. Another 83 people were hurt. Amnesty International denounced the attack on civilians as a war crime. Armed groups must immediately halt all attacks targeting civilians and indiscriminate attacks, while the Afghan government must make the protection of civilian lives its absolute priority," the rights group said. The statement continued, "This attack also once again highlights the irresponsibility of countries in the European Union who claim Afghanistan is a safe place for refugees and asylum-seekers to be returned to." No group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack. Peace efforts The increase in Taliban and IS attacks across Afghanistan and the Afghan government's decision to intensify its military operations against the militant groups operating in the country come amid renewed U.S.-led efforts to get the Taliban to join peace talks with the Afghan government. The Trump administration has engaged the Taliban in direct talks. Last week, Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, concluded his second official visit to regional countries, including Afghanistan, to try to make headway in his peace mission. VOA's Ayaz Gul contributed to this report. A draft resolution introduced this week by the three African countries on the United Nations Security Council could shift peacekeeping responsibilities across the continent to the African Union. The resolution, introduced by Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea and Cote dIvoire, calls for the U.N., on a case-by-case basis, to fund peacekeeping missions led by the AU. The U.N. currently runs most peacekeeping efforts in Africa, with a budget that dwarfs the African Unions. But the AUs peacekeeping role has grown, especially in East Africa, where AMISOM, the AUs Mission in Somalia, has fought back against a violent insurgency for more than a decade. If passed, the proposed resolution would effectively outsource at least some future peacekeeping missions to the AU, transferring authority and oversight to the pan-African organization based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Higher costs? The resolution has received key backing from both France and China, two of the Security Councils five permanent members. But the United States has raised questions about whether a transfer of authority to the AU might increase peacekeeping costs and complicate efforts to oversee potential human rights abuses in conflict zones. Those concerns reflect U.S. policies on peacekeeping efforts that date back to the Bush and Obama administrations, Grant Harris, the former senior director for African Affairs under the Obama White House, told VOA. The United States has had a longstanding and consistent concern about outsourcing peacekeeping missions without full confidence that human rights compliance obligations will be met, Harris said. Funding for the U.N.s peacekeeping budget comes from contributions from member states proportional to their GDPs. The U.S. and China are the biggest contributors, but China pays 18 percent less than the United States annual contribution of more than $2 billion. Beijings strategy China hosted a debate on the resolution at the U.N.s headquarters in New York. That demonstrates a clear commitment to the importance of peacekeeping in Africa but also solidarity with the AU, Harris said. China is really endorsing and taking a stand on an African Union priority, he added. But Beijing has also been quick to invest in Africa without preconditions around governance or adherence to international standards. And that makes the AU resolution more appealing to Beijing than the U.S., according to Harris. They have consistently been less concerned about the human rights and other compliance issues that the United States has staked out as a major concern in supporting exterior missions with U.N. funding, Harris said. Keeping the peace Half the U.N.s 14 active peacekeeping missions focus on African conflicts, and the multilateral organization currently has tens of thousands of troops deployed in seven countries. But repeated allegations of corruption and abuse have reduced confidence in the U.N.s ability to play a positive role in Africa, fueling calls for African-led interventions. From South Sudan to the Central African Republic, investigations into the U.N.s role in Africa have revealed evidence of inaction, partiality and sexual abuse. As the largest multinational organization based on the continent, the African Union is an obvious alternative. It too, however, has faced controversy, including allegations that AU troops have killed civilians. US-Sino dynamics For the draft resolution to move forward, the U.S. will need to find answers to its concerns. As a permanent member of the Security Council, the United States has veto power over any new resolution. That could lead to a confrontation with Beijing. But Harris cautions against framing the resolution as a U.S.-Sino showdown. And a consensus may be possible, if all sides are willing to be flexible. Ideas about how best to handle peacekeeping are evolving, Harris said, with an eye toward empowering the African Union. I hope the Trump administration is really engaging on those issues and the underlying motivations to see if there may be a way to provide greater support and more consistent support, Harris said, while still ensuring that their very valid concerns about human rights laws and about financial accountability are being met. A teary and largely silent convicted Australian drug mule returned to her hometown on Thursday, hours after she was deported from the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, where she had served nearly 14 years in prison for smuggling heroin. Renae Lawrence was the only woman among nine Australians who were arrested in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms (18.3 pounds) of heroin from Bali to Australia. Lawrence, 41, wearing black sunglasses and a black T-shirt, was escorted Wednesday afternoon through a crush of reporters outside Bangli prison on Bali into a waiting car. She made no comment. 'Very overwhelming' She faced a throng of reporters when she and her mother, Beverley Waterman, landed at Australia's Brisbane Airport, from where they took a domestic flight to their hometown of Newcastle. Lawrence faces potential arrest in Newcastle on outstanding warrants that predate her ill-fated journey to Bali. Asked by reporters in Brisbane if she wanted to comment on her return to Australia, Lawrence looked teary-eyed and declined. Her mother explained: "It's very overwhelming.'' Asked later if she had anything to say, Lawrence told reporters in the Bahasa Indonesia language: "Thanks to the government of Indonesia. That's it.'' Lawrence faces potential arrest in Newcastle on warrants including one that alleges the former auto body repair person was involved in a high-speed police chase in a stolen car a month before her arrest in Bali in April 2005. New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller had indicated a deal with Lawrence's lawyers to hand herself in to police was more likely than her being arrested at Newcastle Airport. "From our perspective, we will make a time reasonable with her legal team to bring her in to have those warrants satisfied,'' Fuller told reporters Tuesday. Lawrence was again surrounded by journalists on arrival in Newcastle but said nothing as she walked from the airport to a waiting car. Maryoto Sumadi, head of Bali's justice and human rights office, said Lawrence is banned from ever re-entering Indonesia. She may be the only member of the group dubbed the "Bali Nine'' by Australian media to walk free from prison. Two executed Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders, were executed by a firing squad in 2015, causing a diplomatic furor between often testy neighbors Indonesia and Australia. Five others had their sentences increased to life on appeal, and another member, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died from cancer in May. Lawrence, whom Customs caught with 2.2 kilograms (4.8 pounds) of heroin strapped to her body, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined 1 billion rupiah ($68,000). She didn't appeal and almost every year her sentence was reduced during holiday remissions that are customary in Indonesia for inmates with good behavior, except those on death row or sentenced to life. Lawrence's sentence was completed in May but was extended by six months because she couldn't afford to pay the fine, Bangli prison chief Made Suwendra said. Another convicted Australian drug smuggler, Schapelle Corby, whose trial and imprisonment on Bali mesmerized her country for more than a decade, returned home last year. Corby was arrested in 2004 at age 27 with more than 4 kilograms (9 pounds) of marijuana inside her boogie board bag, sparking a media frenzy in Australia on par with America's O.J. Simpson trial. Corby's insistence that the drugs were planted by baggage handlers was dismissed as a lie by Balinese prosecutors. A court sentenced her to 20 years in prison, though that was later reduced. Britain says it reached agreement during overnight talks with the European Commission on the draft text of a political declaration laying out the terms for Britain's "smooth and orderly" exit from the European Union. Prime Minister Theresa May announced the agreement, which must be approved by EU leaders Sunday, in front of her No. 10 Downing Street residence early Thursday. She said the deal "delivers" on the will of the British people as expressed in a divisive Brexit referendum in June 2016. "It brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws, and it does so by protecting our jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom." Addressing parliament later in the day, May said the British people "want Brexit to be settled. They want a good deal that sets us on a course for a brighter future. The deal that will enable us to do this is now within our grasp. In these crucial 72 hours ahead, I will do everything possible to deliver it for the British people." The overnight talks followed a meeting Tuesday between May and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission. May said the two instructed their negotiating teams to work through the night if necessary to reach an agreement. The deal must still be approved by the leaders of the individual EU states at a special EU Council meeting on Sunday. May also faces a challenge in getting the Brexit agreement through her own parliament, where many members feel it does not go far enough to break ties with the continent. A last-minute complication arose this week when the Spanish government threatened to veto any agreement unless it received assurances on future negotiations over Gibraltar, a British outpost that Spain sees as rightfully part of its territory. In her statement to reporters, May said she had spoken Wednesday evening to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and is "confident that on Sunday we will be able to agree a deal that delivers for the whole United Kingdom family, including Gibraltar." Several other EU governments objected to earlier outlines of the deal because they believe it gives Britain a competitive advantage by not tying it closely enough to EU regulations, workers' rights, and environmental standards, potentially lowering the production costs of British goods. The results of May's Brussels trip didn't appear to sway a skeptical parliament, where she received as many hostile questions from her own lawmakers as she did from opposition MPs. There are no signs the deal will win the approval of the House of Commons, where opposition parties oppose it, as well up to 100 Conservative Brexit hardliners and and a Northern Ireland party May relies on to govern. British critics of the deal believe it binds Britain too closely to Europe-wide regulations while leaving it with no say in formulating those directives. They also have objected to proposed language that would bar Britain from negotiating trade pacts with other countries. A major concern throughout the negotiations has been how to maintain a free flow of goods between Northern Ireland, which is part of Britain, and the Republic of Ireland which is an EU member. The opening of that border helped to end decades of conflict between partisans of the two populations. May's Brussels trip resulted in the expansion of the political declaration that accompanies the 585-page divorce deal. It increased from five pages to 26 and sets out the parameters of a possible future free trade that will take years to negotiate. But there are still no signs that the deal will win the approval of the House of Commons, where the opposition parties oppose it as well up to 100 Conservative Brexit hardliners and a Northern Ireland party she relies on to govern. The results of her Brussels trip didn't appear to sway a skeptical parliament, where she received as many hostile questions from her own lawmakers as she did from opposition MPs. VOA's Jamie Dettmer contributed to this report. British authorities reacted with anger and threatened the United Arab Emirates with serious diplomatic repercussions after a court in the Gulf state sentenced a British student to life in prison for spying. The jailing of 31-year-old Matthew Hedges visibly shocked British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who believed he'd been given assurances 10 days ago on a visit to the UAE the student would be freed. "We are in a state of shock about it. We see absolutely no evidence for the charges laid against him. We are very concerned for his welfare. If they can't resolve this, there will be serious diplomatic consequences," says Jeremy Hunt about the ruling, which has plunged Britain's relations with the Gulf state into crisis. Hedges, a student at Britain's Durham University, was sentenced Wednesday after a five-minute court appearance. He was detained at Dubai Airport on May 5 and accused of spying in the UAE. Authorities said the PhD student's research in the country for his thesis on the Gulf state's security and internal policies following the Arab Spring was a pretext for carrying out surveillance for a "foreign agency." Durham University has dismissed the allegation vigorously. As has his wife, Daniela Tejada, who was in court for the sentencing and has branded the handling of his case by British diplomats as "appalling." "Matthew is innocent. The Foreign Office knows this and they have made it clear to the UAE authorities that Matthew is not a spy for them. The British government must take a stand now for Matthew, one of their citizens. They say the UAE is an ally, but the overwhelmingly arbitrary handling of Matthew's case indicates a scarily different reality, for which Matt and I are being made to pay a devastatingly high price," she said. She says she was told not to speak out publicly about the case for months by British diplomats, who argued it would make it hard to persuade UAE authorities to free him. But Hedges' wife and friends became increasingly alarmed. Hedges was kept in solitary confinement for five months, fed a cocktail of drugs and had very restricted access to British consular officials, they say. In a statement following the ruling, the UAE attorney general said Hedges "pleaded guilty before the court ... to all charges, after the court faced him with compelling legal evidence concluded after thorough judicial investigations." Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said the Briton was "accorded his full rights and assurances as per the UAE constitution and state laws to fair and transparent trial." But Hedges had no legal representation at the hearing, and his family say he was forced to sign a confession written in Arabic, even though he doesn't speak the language. In a statement Durham University said, "We are devastated to learn that Matt Hedges has been sentenced to life in prison ... This judgement has been delivered in the absence of anything resembling due process or a fair trial." Wednesday in the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers, "We are of course deeply disappointed and concerned at today's verdict. We are raising it with the Emirati authorities at the highest level." Hedges, who was born and grew up in the UAE, was detained after interviewing local officials for his theses. According to local media, one of them became suspicious and reported him. Britain has clashed with UAE rulers in recent weeks over its human rights record and its role in the war in Yemen, where its forces have been part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels. On his trip to the Gulf earlier this month Hunt clashed reportedly with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, when he urged them to end their blockade of Yemen. A former British foreign minister Crispin Blunt told the BBC the UAE is an important and long-standing ally, but it shouldn't overestimate the friendship, saying the case has put Britain in an "outrageous position." He added, "It is important the Emirati authorities get this sorted as soon as possible." He laced his comments, though, with astonishment that given the close relations between the two countries, including between the British and Emirati royal families, that Britain finds itself "in this position." ISTANBUL, November 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Turkey has lowered the minimum amount of capital investment required to obtain Turkish citizenship from $2 million to $500,000 while the lower limit for granting citizenship to foreigners that buy real estate was also decreased from $1 million to $250,000. It has been a month since the amendment has been passed, and according to data gathered by Antalya Homes, the leading international real estate agency in Turkey, residence sales to foreigners increased a record-breaking 151.1% year-on-year since last September. In Turkey, which allows dual citizenship, the residences sold to foreigners in the first nine months of 2018 was purchased by citizens of Middle Eastern countries, Russia, Germany, U! K and Pakistan. A A A A (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/774997/antalya_homes.jpg ) Foreigners that intend to buy property in Turkey, which offers visa-free entry to citizens of 102 countries, prefer mostly Istanbul, Antalya, Bursa, Yalova, and Trabzon. Antalya Homes, which has helped thousands of people from 74 different nationalities buy homes in Turkey since 2004, offers foreign nationals full support through the entire real estate purchasing process with its Istanbul Homes, Trabzon Homes, and Bursa Homes brands. If requested, the company also assists the buyers in executing purchasing transactions through power of attorney and carries out all citizenship procedures. Bayram TekAe, Chairman of Antalya Homes explained that the Asian countries are significant for property sales. He answered the most frequently asked questions with his 15 years of experience in the sector: "Turkey does not require purchasing one single residence or land for citizenship but allows buying multiple properties amounting to at least $250,000 in total. The property deeds bear an annotation that they cannot be sold for three years, while the owners, their spouses and minor children can finalize citizenship procedures in approximately 12 months. We at Antalya Homes communicate our recommendations to the authorities about facilitating citizenship procedures. Asian countries are especially important to us. For all your questions about obtaining Turkish citizenship, please visit the website of Antalya Homes at https://www.antaly! ahomes.ne t/citizenship-in-turkey." For congressional Republicans, this month's elections ushered in the year of the woman literally. West Virginia's Carol Miller will be the only Republican woman entering the 435-member House as a newcomer in January. She'll join what may be the chamber's smallest group of female GOP lawmakers since the early 1990s as few as 13 of at least 199 Republicans. Democrats will have at least 89. Numbers like those have Republicans searching for answers to the glaring gender disparity in their ranks and fast. The concern is that Democrats' lopsided edge among female voters could carry over to 2020, when President Donald Trump will be seeking a second term and House and Senate control will be in play. If the current trend continues, Republicans risk being branded the party of men. "You will see a very significant recruiting effort occur'' for female candidates, said David Winston, a pollster who advises GOP congressional leaders. "It's a natural conclusion. An environment has got to be created where that can be a success.'' Evidence of the GOP gender gap was just as clear in the 100-member Senate, where Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn will be the only Republican freshman. If Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith wins a runoff later this month there will be record-setting seven GOP women in the Republican-run Senate. But even that record is less than half the class of 17 Democratic women, which includes two freshmen. The search for answers leads to some familiar places. Trump's fraught history with women, combined with the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, helped motivate Democratic women to seek office but did not appear to have the same effect with GOP women, politicians and analysts say. More broadly, the president's brash style doesn't sit well many female voters or potential candidates. "Women don't like the tweets,'' said Sarah Chamberlain, president of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a moderate GOP group. "I don't know how to tone down the rhetoric. If I could have a fantasy, one wish, that would be my one wish.'' Women backed Democratic candidates over Republicans on Election Day by a telling 57 percent to 41 percent, according to AP VoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of the electorate conducted by The Associated Press. Women broke by similar margins in the crucial suburbs, where Democratic victories in swing districts helped power the gains they needed to win House control. Men supported Republicans over Democrats, 51 percent to 46 percent. Strategists note the issue isn't just about current personalities; it's about party infrastructure. "We as a party have to make recruiting women candidates who can win a high priority,'' said Andrea Bozek, spokeswoman for Winning for Women, a fledging GOP group that tries bolstering female Republican candidates. She added, "Unless people in leadership really make it a priority, I don't think it will happen.'' A record number of women ran for the House as major-party candidates this year. But Democrats outnumbered Republicans by nearly 3 to 1, according to AP data, and Democratic women were more likely to win their primaries. Of those contenders who ran in November, 183 were Democrats, the most ever, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Fifty-two were Republicans, a near-record but far smaller than the number of female Democrats running. That partisan imbalance was made greater by Democrats' superior campaign infrastructure for helping female candidates. Winning for Women, created in early 2017, says it spent more than $1 million helping female candidates for the recent election. That and other GOP groups assisting female candidates couldn't match Democrats' 33-year-old Emily's List, a well-financed organization that poured tens of millions into primaries and general elections and provided recruiting, training and other services to female candidates. "Democrats have been doing a much better job of getting women elected,'' said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics. Asked to explain her success against other female candidates' defeats, West Virginia's Miller sent an email lauding Trump and other Republicans and GOP women's groups and saying "liberal special interests'' had spent heavily to defeat Republican women. Officials at the White House and the GOP did not provide answers to requests for comment. Republicans have displayed a sensitivity this year to their overwhelmingly male numbers. That includes hiring a female prosecutor to question Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, when she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and its all-male Republicans about her allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Within days of the elections, Republicans vaulted women into congressional leadership positions. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, will be No. 3 House GOP leader next year, that chamber's highest-ranking Republican woman ever. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, will be vice chairwoman of the Senate GOP conference, a lower-tier post, making her the first Republican woman in a Senate leadership job in eight years. Cheney said Republicans must better communicate that their policies on national security, the economy and health care are best for men and women. She called it "fundamentally offensive and paternalistic'' to think women's votes are driven by their gender. Asked on CBS's Face the Nation last week whether Trump's rhetoric alienated women, Ernst said, "We could do a better job of communicating clearly that we support women.'' Gunmen kidnapped an Italian volunteer and wounded several people, including children in a town along the Kenyan coast, about 100 kilometers north of Mombasa on Tuesday. This is the first abduction of a non-local in six years after a series of abductions carried out by al-Shabab militants in 2011 and 2012. Eyewitnesses say the men, armed with rifles, seized 23-year-old Silvia Costanza Romano, an Italian volunteer, from a room in the town of Chakama along the Kenya coast. Then, witnesses say, the attackers shot and wounded a local woman and four children. Churchill Otieno Onyango, who works with a local non-profit group, says he happened to be in Chakama Tuesday evening and witnessed the abduction. The guys who approached the area were three Somalis, two were having guns, one was not having a gun," he said. "The one who grabbed the lady came and slapped the lady and disappeared with the lady. Me and the son of the owner of the house were told to lie down. They managed to shoot one boy inside there, other three outside." So far no group has claimed responsibility. Kenya police said they had not identified the attackers. Kilifi County deputy governor Gideon Saburi who arrived at the scene Wednesday afternoon said the government had launched a manhunt for the assailants. There is already a team on the ground, so there is team that is following up on the leads that we have. We have also been told that our neighboring counties have been informed up to the borders, so we have an alert that is on, he said. The abducted volunteer was working for Africa Milele, which helped orphans and vulnerable children in the area. The non-profit group posted a message on its website saying, There are no words to comment on what is happening." The Italian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it was aware of the abduction and was looking into the situation. In 2011, there were several abductions along the Kenyan coast. A British man was shot dead and his wife kidnapped. A couple of weeks later, a French woman was also abducted from Lamu, an island on the Kenyan coast. The spate of abductions led the country to declare a state of emergency and eventually send troops to fight al-Shabab militants in Somalia. Despite the presence of Kenya forces in Somalia, the country, particularly towns along the border with Somalia, has continued to experience attacks by the al-Qaida-linked terror group. Five Iranian activists detained in southern Iran for participating in a two-week-long labor protest have been put under investigation for alleged national security offenses. The five activists were among 20 detained by Iranian authorities Sunday in the city of Shush in a crackdown on peaceful protests by workers of the nearby Haft Tapeh sugar cane plantation. Ali Nejati, a former labor leader at the plantation, told VOA Persian in a Tuesday phone interview that 15 of those detained were freed on bond late Monday. Workers at the plantation and their supporters have been staging daily rallies outside local government buildings in Shush since Nov. 5 to demand months of unpaid wages and the removal of private owners, whom they accuse of mismanaging and abandoning the complex, founded in the 1950s. The five activists who remained in detention include four men who work at the plantation and a female activist from the southern city of Ahvaz, Sepideh Ghaliyan. Irans Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) reported that Ghaliyan previously had been arrested in Ahvaz in February 2017. In reports published Wednesday by the state-run Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), a female lawyer seeking to represent the five detainees said authorities in Shush initially agreed to release them on bond to await trial for allegedly disturbing public order. But Farzaneh Zilabi said those authorities later informed her that the detainees also face allegations of national security offenses and would remain in custody until the completion of an investigation. All the workers were happy to hear about the promised release of their colleagues, and suddenly this bad development happened and affected everyone, Zilabi told ILNA. In a further setback to the detained activists, Nejati said Iranian authorities informed Zilabi that she could not represent the detainees in court because she is not on a list of lawyers approved by the judiciary to handle national security cases. A Telegram channel for Haft Tapeh workers confirmed that prosecutors in Shush had opened a new security-related case against the five remaining detainees. It said the move appears to be an effort to intimidate other workers who rallied again in Shush on Wednesday, the 17th day of the protests. This article originated in VOAs Persian Service. An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Wednesday that U.S. bases in Afghanistan, the UAE and Qatar, and U.S. aircraft carriers in the Gulf were within range of Iranian missiles, as tensions rise between Tehran and Washington. "They are within our reach and we can hit them if they (Americans) make a move," Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards' airspace division, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Hajizadeh said the Guards had improved the precision of their missiles, and specifically said they could hit the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Al Dhafra base in the United Arab Emirates and Kandahar base in Afghanistan that host U.S. forces. U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement on Iran's nuclear program in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. He said the deal was flawed because it did not include curbs on Iran's development of ballistic missiles or its support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq. The Islamic Republic's government has ruled out negotiations with Washington over its military capabilities, particularly its missile program run by the Guards. Iran, which says its missile program is purely defensive, has threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if the United States tries to strangle Iranian oil exports. In October, the Revolutionary Guards fired missiles at Islamic State militants in Syria after the Islamist group took responsibility for an attack at a military parade in Iran that killed 25 people, nearly half of them members of the Guards. There wasnt much for a lonely American sailor to do on leave in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1966. The land of fire and ice seemed like galaxies away from Red Rock, Oklahoma, home to the Otoe-Missouria tribe since the early 1880s. As fate would have it, he met a pretty Icelandic woman with the name of a Roman goddess. Maybe it was during an evening spent at a bar off base. The sailor told her he was an American Indian, but its unlikely he ever mentioned his childhood on a reservation or the grim years in boarding school. When he finally returned home to Red Rock, he did not know he had left behind an infant daughter. This week, his daughter Gudrun Drofen Emilsdottir, now 51, is visiting the United States for the first time to spend Thanksgiving with the sister she never knew existed. Like a Christmas tree Emilsdottir, adopted shortly after birth, was 28 before she tracked down her birth mother. My mother told me that my father was a very good man, she said. But he was 12 years older than her, and she didnt see any future in the relationship. So, she decided not to tell him that she was pregnant. Her mother gave Emilsdottir her birth certificate, which named her father, Henry Linwood Jackson. My nephew started looking for him, she said. Eventually, he contacted Native American genealogist Karen Vigneault, a member of the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel in California who was profiled in an earlier VOA story. On Vigneaults advice, Emilsdottir took a DNA blood test; they uploaded the results onto an online database and waited. My family tree began to light up like a Christmas tree! Emilsdottir said. And thats when I found that I had a living sister, Kimberly Linebarger. This week, Emilsdottir flew to the United States to meet her sister - and visit her fathers tribe. Its been like we knew each other forever. Its peaceful. Its good, said Emilsdottir. Native roots In the 1500s, the Otoe tribe migrated to the Missouri River valley, where, a century later, European traders would infect them with smallpox. Their numbers decimated and power diminished, the Otoe merged with the Missouria tribe. The Otoe-Missouria was the first tribe to hold council with explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1804, a meeting that marked the beginning of U.S. sovereignty over American tribes. In the late 1800s, the U.S. government forced the Otoe-Missouria tribe onto a reservation on former Cherokee land in Oklahoma. It was there that in 1892, Henry Linwood Jacksons father, Henry Sr., was born. Piecing together the puzzle, Linebarger said she always believed she was an only child, so getting that phone call in August from genealogist Vigneault came as a bit of a shock. Karen asked if Id be willing to talk to Gudrun, and I said, Sure,' she said, laughing. And thats how it started. Linebarger has little memory of her father, from whom she was separated as a toddler. Ive always known I was Native American, she said. Ive known about my father all my life, but only bits and pieces of what people told me. At 18, Linebarger spoke with her father by phone for the first time. Thats when he gave me his tribal roll number, she said. The two never met. He died in 2006. Most Native American tribes require citizens to be able to prove lineal descent from someone named on historic government Indian rolls. Being able to provide that roll number and their birth certificates meant the sisters were eligible to become tribal citizens. Tuesday, they filled out membership applications at the tribes enrollment office. They will work on it in December, and in January they will contact me, said Emilsdottir, who says she is optimistic their applications will be approved. That evening, the sisters flew south to Tucson, Arizona, where Linebarger will host a Thanksgiving feast, and Emilsdottir will meet yet more family members. Im cooking, said Linebarger, listing the dishes: Turkey, stuffing, green beans, coleslaw, collard greens, biscuits and sweet potato pie. Im so thankful that I was around to do this with Gudrun. I would never have done this without her. Emilsdottir will shortly return to Iceland but is planning to return to Oklahoma in July 2019 for the Encampment, a pow wow the Otoe-Missouria tribe has held annually for more than 130 years. Its an occasion for the tribe to sing, drum, dance and remember their history and traditions. And celebrate family, lost and found. Once-admired auto executive Carlos Ghosn's fall from grace deepened Thursday when directors of Nissan Motor Co. voted unanimously to fire the recently jailed businessman from his post as board chairman. Dismissed along with Ghosn was another director, Greg Kelly, whom the board accused of working with Ghosn to understate their incomes on formal declarations and use company assets for personal purposes. An internal investigation presented to the board found that Kelly had "been determined to be the mastermind of this matter, together with" Ghosn, the company said in a statement. The board also said that Nissan's longstanding partnership with the French automaker Renault "remains unchanged." While he has been fired as chairman, the company said, it will require a vote of shareholders to remove Ghosn from the board altogether. The financial world was stunned on Monday when it was announced that Ghosn had been detained by Japanese authorities on suspicion of having failed to report millions of dollars in income. He could face up to 10 years in prison. Ghosn also served as board chairman of Renault and another Japanese automaker, Mitsubishi. The news of his arrest drove down share prices in all three. Nissan said this week that its internal probe of Ghosn and Kelly was prompted by a report from a whistleblower. It said the investigation showed Ghosn had underreported his income to the Tokyo Stock Exchange by more than $40 million over five years. The Brazilian-born Ghosn, who is of Lebanese descent and a French citizen, was the rare foreign top executive in Japan. Ghosn was sent to Nissan in the late 1990s by Renault SA of France, after it bought a controlling stake of Nissan. He is credited with rescuing Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy. In 2016, Ghosn also took control of Mitsubishi, after Nissan bought a one-third stake in the company, following Mitsubishi's mileage-cheating scandal. Together, the three automakers comprise the biggest global car-making alliance, manufacturing one of every nine cars sold around the world. The three companies employ more than 470,000 people in nearly 200 countries. Before Ghosn's arrest, Satoru Takada, an analyst at TIW, a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm, said his detention would "rock the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance as he is the keystone of the alliance." The oldest U.S. military survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor that plunged the United States into World War II has died at age 106. Ray Chavez's daughter, Kathleen Chavez of Poway, California, tells The Associated Press her father died in his sleep Wednesday. Chavez had visited Washington in May where he was honored by President Donald Trump during Memorial Day services. He was assigned to the minesweeper USS Condor when Japanese war planes bombed Pearl Harbor. Hours before the attack, he and others had spotted a Japanese submarine near the harbor and notified a destroyer, which sunk it. Soon after, his ship docked, and he returned to his nearby home. Minutes later, he would race back to the harbor when Japanese warplanes began to attack. According to the San Diego Herald-Mail, Chavez was born in San Bernardino in 1911 and grew up in San Diego. The United States isn't the only nation to mark Thanksgiving; similar celebrations are held in Canada, Grenada, Liberia, Japan and Germany. In Canada, the national holiday takes place on the second Monday of October. In Grenada, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated October 25. It commemorates the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Grenada, which began on that day in 1983 and resulted in the restoration of political stability in the country. In Liberia, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November. It follows the same traditions as Thanksgiving Day in the United States. In Japan, Labor Thanksgiving Day always takes place November 23. The holiday, which began as a fall festival, also celebrates Japanese workers. In Germany, Thanksgiving, or Erntedank, is celebrated the first Sunday in October. It has roots as a harvest celebration, but is celebrated mainly as a religious holiday today. South Asian arch rivals India and Pakistan have agreed to establish a new cross-border corridor to enable religious devotees from India's minority Sikh community to visit a historic holy temple on the Pakistani side. Analysts said the gesture to build the entry point could help lower long-running border tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Thursday his government has already conveyed to New Delhi the decision to open the proposed Kartarpur Corridor for the 550th anniversary celebrations next year of the birth of Guru Nanak, the Sikhism founder. "We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion," Qureshi tweeted. He announced Prime Minister Imran Khan will lay the foundation stone next Wednesday to begin construction on the Pakistani side. Qureshi's statement came hours after India announced it had decided to build and develop its side of the corridor on the International border. The Indian Foreign Ministry, in a letter delivered through the Pakistani diplomatic mission in New Delhi, said the government has "approached and urged" Pakistan "to recognize the sentiments of the Sikh community" and construct the Kartarpur Corridor with "suitable facilities" to facilitate visits of pilgrims from India. The proposed border corridor aims to connect the Sikh Holy shrine at Dera Baba Nanak in India to the Kartarpur Gurdwara (temple) in the Pakistani town of Narowal. It is barely three kilometers from the border with India and considered to be the first gurdwara ever built. The place of worship is also known to be the final resting place of the Sikhism founder. Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said India's "endorsement" of his government's proposition on building the corridor is a "victory" of the peace lobby in both countries. He noted that it is a step in the right direction, adding, "We hope such steps will encourage voice of reasons and tranquility on both sides of the border." Kartarpur Gurdwara is visible on clear days from a viewing stage on the Indian side, where religious devotees gather every day to have a glimpse of it. Earlier this week, India's government announced plans to install a high-powered telescope to enable Sikh devotees to view Kartarpur Gurdwara in Pakistan to coincide with the anniversary of Guru Nanak's birth. India and Pakistan's independence's from Britain in 1947 divided the Punjab province where Sikhism was born. The two countries have since fought three wars and mutual tensions often hamper pilgrims' plans in terms of getting visas to visit the shrine. Two of those wars have been over the disputed Kashmir region, which remains at the center of tensions. Poland's parliament passed legislation Wednesday to reinstate Supreme Court judges who were recently forced to retire, a step that could significantly ease a standoff with the European Union. For the EU, which is facing a string of crises, including Brexit and Italy's debt, it was a rare victory in its struggle to preserve democracy in a region where illiberal populism has been on the rise, a trend led by Hungary. Wednesday's development comes a month after the EU's court ordered Poland to immediately suspend the lowering of the retirement age for Supreme Court judges, which had forced about two dozen of them off the bench. The forced retirement of the judges was widely seen as an attempt by the ruling populist party, Law and Justice, to stack the court with loyalists, and it was condemned internationally as a blow to democratic standards. Poland has been in a standoff with the EU for three years over attempts by Law and Justice, under the leadership of powerful party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to impose control over the court system. Many legal experts said that the forced retirement of the Supreme Court judges, including the chief justice, violated Poland's constitution. That, along with the broader overhaul of the justice system, has raised serious concerns over rule of law in the young democracy, with the EU saying the changes erode the independence of the judicial branch of government. Wednesday's legislative initiative which noted that it was introduced to comply with the EU court ruling marks one of the first significant steps by Poland to meet EU demands. "We know very well that in politics effectiveness matters and that sometimes you have to take one step back to take two steps forward,'' said Stanislaw Piotrowicz, a ruling party lawmaker and one of the key architects of the judicial overhaul, in an interview with the wPolityce.pl portal. Zselyke Csaky, an expert on Central Europe with Freedom House, called it a "significant'' step and a sign by the ruling party of "common sense,'' though she also said on Twitter that "the full damage to rule of law and legal certainty will be much harder to remedy.'' The Polish government, in power since 2015, has been forced to climb down before. Earlier this year it softened a Holocaust speech law that made it a crime to attribute co-responsibility in the Holocaust to the Polish nation and which sparked a major diplomatic dispute with Israel. It also dropped draft legislation in 2016 that would have tightened the already restrictive abortion law after massive street protests by women wearing black. But it is an almost unheard-of concession to the EU, which the government often says has no right to meddle in its internal affairs. Under the amendment passed Wednesday to the new law on the Supreme Court, the judges who were forced to retire early will have the choice of returning to their duties. The law had lowered the retirement age from 70 to 65, and any judge who wished to remain had to request the consent of the president. The party introduced the amended legislation to the parliament Wednesday and it was passed quickly by the lower house. It goes next to the Senate and also needs the president's signature, but since both are aligned with the party, these steps are all but certain to happen. The party's reversal comes after local elections last month that showed Law and Justice winning the most seats in regional assemblies but losing badly in mayoral races in the cities and even mid-size towns. The results suggested the party's conflicts with the EU which is extremely popular among voters have cost it votes among urban, middle-class voters. It also comes as the party, which has a strong anti-corruption profile, finds itself mired in corruption allegations. Last week the head of the state financial authorities resigned over allegations he had solicited a bribe of millions of dollars from a billionaire who heads two troubled banks. Before joining the Justice Department, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker earned more than $1.2 million from a right-leaning nonprofit that doesn't disclose its donors, according to the nonprofit's tax filings. Whitaker's earnings represented a sizable chunk of the charity's revenue. Financial disclosure forms released Tuesday show Whitaker received $904,000 in income from the Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust from 2016 through nearly the end of 2017. He also received $15,000 from CNN as a legal commentator, according to the documents released by the Justice Department. The nonprofit group, known as FACT, styles itself as a nonpartisan government watchdog promoting ethics and transparency. The tax-exempt group is supposed to serve the public interest without supporting or opposing specific candidates for office. However, its challenges and its website have focused largely, though not exclusively, on Democrats and their party. Whitaker used his role as president and executive director of FACT in 2016 as a platform to question the ethics of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. From 2014 through 2016, FACT paid out nearly 30 percent of its total revenue to Whitaker. In 2015 alone, Whitaker's $252,000 salary made up half of what the group brought in. Whitaker's salary also grew each year from $63,000 in 2014 to as much as $502,000 in 2017, according to the tax filings and public financial disclosures released by the Justice Department. Separately, Whitaker is also facing criticism about whether he violated federal law because a campaign committee set up for his failed 2014 U.S. Senate bid accepted $8,800 in donations this year, while Whitaker was serving as a top Justice Department lawyer. On Wednesday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., called for an investigation into whether Whitaker violated the Hatch Act, a statute that generally prohibits executive branch employees from accepting or soliciting campaign donations. Whitaker's campaign committee, which still carries about $49,000 in debt, hadn't received any contributions between 2015 through 2017, according to Federal Election Commission data. The campaign committee, Whitaker for U.S. Senate Inc., also reported paying $500 to Whitaker's old law firm, Whitaker, Hagenow & Gustoff, for space rental on Febraury 2. The campaign paid a $228 reimbursement to Christopher Hagenow an Iowa legislator and founding partner of the law firm for data services that same day. Several news outlets, including The Associated Press, and outside groups had requested Whitaker's financial disclosure forms from the Justice Department after President Donald Trump ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and elevated Whitaker to the agency's top post on Nov. 7. Those documents show Whitaker began revising his public disclosures the day he was appointed acting attorney general. He revised the forms four more times, including on Tuesday. In a disclosure form Whitaker completed when he joined the Justice Department in September 2017, he reported receiving $1,875 in legal fees from a company called World Patent Marketing. Whitaker has come under scrutiny for his involvement with the company, which was accused of misleading consumers and is under investigation by the FBI. Whitaker also disclosed his partial interest in a family farm in Ely, Iowa, that he valued at between $100,000 and $250,000. The forms also included disclosures of $20,000 to $30,000 in credit card debt in 2017. FACT drew its funds from 2014-2016 mainly from Donor's Trust, another nonprofit designed to provide anonymity to conservative and libertarian donors. Though such tax-exempt groups can legally withhold the identity of their contributors and generally do so, there may be a distinct irony when a group dedicated to transparency keeps its funding sources in the shadows. Whitaker's appointment has been criticized by Democrats who have challenged its constitutionality and are concerned that he will interfere with special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. On Tuesday, the Senate's top Democrat, Sen. Charles Schumer, asked the Justice Department's inspector general to investigate communications between Whitaker and the White House and to look into whether Whitaker had access to confidential grand jury information in Mueller's probe. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, had been overseeing the special counsel's Russia investigation until Whitaker's appointment. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. Schumer and other Democrats have said they are concerned about Whitaker's past criticism of the Mueller probe, which is looking at Russian interference in the 2016 election and ties to Trump's campaign. Whitaker's past public statements have included an op-ed article in which he said Mueller would be straying outside his mandate if he investigated Trump's family finances. In a talk radio interview he maintained there was no evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. Sadia Saleban was her familys breadwinner. The 28-year-old Somali woman sold stuffed sambusa pastries to market-goers on the white sand-covered streets of Bakaraha, one of the busiest shopping centers in Mogadishu. She and her husband, Ahmed Jimale, were expecting a baby, and they lived with their children in Somalias conflict-scarred but resilient capital, on the Indian Ocean. Year after year, suicide bombers and other militants launch brutal attacks on the residents of Mogadishu. Sometimes police stations or international offices become targets. Other times landmarks. Almost always, civilians are injured, killed or maimed. Sometimes lengthy lulls follow the blasts. Other times they come in rapid succession, within weeks or days of one another. The Islamist terror group al-Shabab has taken responsibility for most of the attacks, even when bystanders die. For more than a decade, al-Shabab has wreaked havoc in Somalia. Every day, residents hope for peace while bracing for the next attack. Suddenly, a car bomb On Nov. 9, Saleban was a passenger in a minibus as it drove past the Sahafi Hotel on KM4 Street, one of the citys biggest roadways. At that moment, a bomb ripped into the side of the minibus. Glass shattered. Metal warped. Against odds, Saleban survived. The bus was full of people, but everyone else died except me, Saleban told VOAs Somali service. Elsewhere in the city, Jimales phone rang, and the caller broke the devastating news. I ran to the hospital when I heard she was injured. She had already lost one leg, which was left in the minibus, Jimale said. Her right leg was badly injured, so the doctors ordered us to sign for an amputation. In the end, they removed Salebans leg below her knee. Salebans mother, Mumino Nur Mohamed, heard about her daughters injuries when Amin Ambulance called from the hospital. The ambulance workers asked me, Do you know Sadia Saleban? Knowing that she might be wounded or dead, I felt frightened and replied, Yes, she is my daughter, and they said She is critically wounded, Mohamed said. At least 65 people died and 106 others were wounded in the Nov. 9 attack, based on reports from the five hospitals that admitted victims. The tallies make the attack the deadliest in Mogadishu this year. Grave consequences For Saleban, the consequences extended beyond the double amputation. Her kidneys were badly hurt; her face burned by the flames of the explosion. Yet despite the severity of the injuries, her unborn baby survived the first night after the blast. After each attack, families are left to pick up the pieces. Sitting beside Salebans bed in Erdogan Hospital, in Mogadishu, Jimale wondered whether his wife would ever again be able to walk. She is recovering from the amputations, but still she cannot sleep, and every 10 minutes we put her on one side, as doctors ordered, Jimale said. But Salebans ordeal wasnt over. Having the nightmares of having both legs amputated, again doctors told us the baby is not moving, and has to be delivered, Salebans mother said. They put her on medications to accelerate her labor. Hours after, we were handed a dead baby boy. Mohamed says what happened to her daughter was tragic. But she is happy with what God had given to them. She came back from the market, where she sold the sambusa. She was going to her kids at home, when she encountered this tragedy. This story originated in VOAs Somali service. Sahra Abdi Ahmed reported from Washington and translated the original Somali interviews to English. Salem Solomon wrote the story. After a diagnosis of breast cancer, many women have surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation. But a new study shows that if the cancer is caught early enough, women might be able to avoid the chemotherapy. Since she was diagnosed with breast cancer last April, Amy Adam values family time even more. It made us aware that when it comes down to it, family is what matters," she said. Adam was lucky a mammogram caught her cancer early when the tumor was just three by four millimeters, smaller than the size of a pencil eraser. Her treatment a lumpectomy followed by radiation. No chemo, did not have chemo, she said. Dr. Emily Albright is a surgical oncologist at the University of Missouri Health Care. She says more women with early-stage breast cancer may be able to skip chemotherapy. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that genetic testing can determine the likelihood of the cancer returning. The study found women with a low risk of the cancer recurring didn't benefit from chemotherapy. Women with a high risk of recurrence do better with chemotherapy. But Albright says doctors didn't know how to advise women in the mid-range. The recent results have clarified that for women at intermediate risk of recurrence, the majority of those do not benefit from chemotherapy, she said. With genetic testing, doctors can determine the likelihood of a woman's cancer returning. Most people know that nausea, hair loss and fatigue result from chemotherapy, but chemotherapy can also cause heart and nerve damage. Albright says the results of this study will help many patients whose breast cancer is caught early. As we learn more about the biology, were able to tailor treatments to the specific type of tumor that a patient has, so there are some small tumors that may be more aggressive and there may be some larger tumors that are less aggressive, she said. Screening was key in catching Amy Adam's cancer early. Mammograms can detect a lump two years before a woman can even feel it. Adam said it was a huge relief not to have to undergo chemotherapy. Because of this study, more women will will be able to get treated without the negative side effects of chemotherapy. Taiwans ruling party, which has cold relations with the islands political rival, China, will be tested at the polls Saturday when voters cast ballots in midterm local elections that may impact the presidential race of 2020. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party risks losing two or three bellwether seats, enough to hobble but not kill President Tsai Ing-wens expected campaign for another four years in office, local political analysts say. Tsai won by a landslide in 2016 after voters organized against her partys chief rival, the Nationalists, because of their eight years of engagement with Beijing. But now some voters want Tsai to craft a more active China policy. The main thing, this years election is a midterm exam for 2016 and the test will examine your ability to govern plus whether youve kept promises to the people, said Chao Lee Ying-chi, a Taipei city borough chief candidate who was out campaigning this week. Political test The ruling party faces especially tight races to retain mayoral posts in Kaohsiung and Taichung, two cities of more than a million people each. Dropping those seats would be a huge defeat, said Raymond Wu, managing director of Taipei-based political risk consultancy e-telligence. Overall winners in Taiwans local elections generally get a boost in exposure and funding thats useful for the next presidential race. The ruling party won 13 of Taiwans 22 mayoral and county magistrate seats in 2014, leaving the Nationalists with six and independent people with three. Tsai irks China by declining to accept its dialogue condition that both sides belong to the same country. Beijing has reacted by flying military aircraft near Taiwan, cutting back group tourism and cramping Taiwans foreign relations. Tsai received just a 31.2 percent approval rating in August, per a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation survey. But she has earned support for domestic policies such as a work time-off bill and cuts to public employee pensions. Unemployment has fallen under her watch and the economy strengthened. Theyre still the ruling party at the central level, so I dont think (this weeks elections) will impact that aspect of it too much, Wu said. Complex voter demands Taiwans 19.1 million voters often pick local leaders based on contributions to public infrastructure and perceptions of whether they can improve local economies, campaign staff people say. Voters will also bear in mind the ruling partys performance, said Hung Lee-chi, spokesman for ruling party-backed Taipei mayoral candidate Yao Wen-chih. Voters organized against the Nationalists before the 2014 midterms and the 2016 presidential campaign after former President Ma Ying-jeou had accepted Chinas dialogue condition. Talks with China during his term led to more than 20 agreements on trade, transit and investment. China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the 1940s, despite opinion surveys that show most Taiwanese prefer autonomy. Many Taiwanese worried that Ma was getting too close to China. But now a lot of voters want Tsai to take more action on China. Some advocate more deals giving Taiwan access to the $12 trillion-plus Chinese economy, while others want the government to take a tougher stance against what they see as bullying by Beijing since 2016. We Taiwanese people have the urge to be independent, its that simple, said Wu Chien-hui, 45, a Taiwan housewife who showed up for an October rally to push for Taiwans legal independence from China, a red line for Beijing. We obviously hope to support candidates who advocate Taiwan autonomy. The Democratic Progressive Party is like China, she said. Theyll hear our voices but ignore us, and the Nationalist Party will definitely ignore us, because they didnt want us to be independent in the first place. Inaction toward China, combined with slow wage growth and other domestic matters, have given Taiwanese a sense of malaise, Wu, of e-telligence, said. Its a syndrome of feeling like youre boxed in and theres no way out, he added. On Saturday, voters will choose from among 20,863 candidates running for 11,047 public offices, mostly at the smallest political levels, such as urban boroughs. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to shut down the U.S.-Mexican border, disrupting a $1.68 billion-a-day trading relationship, if his government cannot control the flow of undocumented migrants seeking to cross into the United States from Latin America. Trump was speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he is spending the Thanksgiving holiday. He also reaffirmed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis's remarks Wednesday that U.S. troops at the Mexican border have been authorized to use lethal force if necessary to defend Border Patrol agents from would-be border crossers. The remarks followed a televised holiday telephone call to U.S. troops serving in Asia and the Pacific, which came amid criticism that he has not visited front-line troops since becoming president. Some 5,800 U.S. soldiers are spending Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday stringing barbed wire and building tent camps at the Mexico border amid a growing controversy over possible violation of a 130-year-old U.S. law barring use of the military for domestic law enforcement activities. Addressing concerns about a caravan of Central American migrants who have begun arriving at the border with Mexico with a goal of seeking asylum in the United States, Trump said his administration would "close entry into the country for a period of time" if the situation "gets to a level where we are going to lose control or where people are going to start getting hurt." "The whole border. I mean the whole border. Mexico will not be able to sell their cars into the United States where they make so many cars," he added. According to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, U.S.-Mexico trade last year totaled an estimated $615.9 billion, or about $1.68 billion a day. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo echoed the president, saying the migrants would not be allowed into the United States for their own safety. Trump also said the troops at the Mexico border have been authorized to use lethal force if necessary, reiterating remarks Wednesday by Mattis. News reports had quoted the commander in charge of the mission as saying some of the troops could begin heading home as early as this week and that the operation in support of Border Patrol forces should be completed by mid-December. But rather than wind down the mission, the Trump administration appears to be stepping it up. "The president did see a need to back up the Border Patrol [officers], and we received late last night an additional instruction authorizing us to implement additional measures. We're sizing up what those are," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters. Legal experts say the order could run afoul of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which together with an even earlier act, limits the federal government's power to use military personnel to enforce domestic policies. The escalation stems from a White House memo issued Tuesday authorizing the military to take measures it considers "reasonably necessary" to protect federal personnel at the border. This could include "a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention, and cursory search," the memo said. In speaking to reporters, however, Mattis downplayed the likelihood of lethal force being used. "I think part of this is just putting in the crowd control barriers and the barbed wire. If there's one thing you don't want to walk through, any of us as human beings, it's barbed wire. Even cows are smart enough to stay away from that stuff," he said. He pointed out that although military police would have shields and batons, most of the troops at the border are not armed. The troops were initially deployed to the border in the midst of a heated congressional election campaign following reports that a caravan of Central American migrants was headed for the border to seek asylum in the United States. President Donald Trump ordered the forces to be in position to back up the Border Patrol agents in the event they were overwhelmed. Critics derided the move as a political stunt to stir passions ahead of the election, and while some of the migrants recently reached the border, there have been no violent incidents. Soldiers told a VOA reporter at the border this week that they have been engaged mainly in stringing barbed wire along border crossing points and building tent camps for themselves. In an email to VOA, Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project, said the Cabinet order was an "unnecessary escalation of a political stunt that risks harm to civilians and legal jeopardy for the military." Shamsi cited "serious concerns" about violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and questioned the authority of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who issued the memo, to give the military such an order. While none of the soldiers at the border will be spending the Thanksgiving holiday with their families, Mattis told reporters at least some of them could "certainly" be home before Christmas, another major family gathering time for Americans. "So as long as [Department of Homeland Security] doesn't assign us more missions to lay more wire, which they could, then we could anticipate they'd be home," he said. "I would anticipate they would be, but some troops may not be, or some new troops may be assigned to new missions. This is a dynamic situation." Aline Barros and Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. U.S. President Donald Trump started his Thanksgiving holiday by renewing his public debate over the independence of the countrys judicial system. In a teleconference Thursday with American troops overseas, Trump said a federal appeals court in California has become a big thorn in our side. The presidents remarks came one day after he and U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts engaged in an extraordinary exchange over the independence of the federal judiciary, with Roberts admonishing Trump for criticizing a judge who ruled against his administration as an Obama judge. Roberts, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, responded with a rare public rebuke of the president, saying Trumps comments reflect his misunderstanding of the judiciarys role. "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts said in a bluntly worded statement. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for." Although it is very unusual for a president to personally criticize judges, Trump quickly responded by questioning the independence of federal judges appointed by his predecessor and confirmed by the Senate. "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an 'independent judiciary,' Trump said via Twitter from his Mar-a-lago resort in Florida. On Thursday, Trump was still venting on Twitter. Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster. It is out of control, has a horrible reputation, is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country, 79%, & is used to get an almost guaranteed result. Trump has been particularly critical of judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California and much of the U.S. West Coast. While Trump cited the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the ruling that drew his ire came from a district judge in California. Trump tweeted Wednesday the court, considered by many as the country's most liberal, has become a "terrible, costly and dangerous disgrace." The president has maintained the Supreme Court has overruled the 9th Circuit more than other courts, but studies conducted during the past five years show three others have a higher percentage of their rulings overturned. In the last term, the Supreme Court overturned 100 percent of the decisions of the 1st Circuit in Boston, the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia and the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati. For the 9th Circuit, 86 percent were overturned. Over the past five years, the Supreme Court overturned a greater percentage of rulings from the 3rd Circuit (92.3 percent), the 6th Circuit (85.1 percent) and the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit (81.8 percent) than from the 9th (77.4 percent), according to The Associated Press analysis of statistics from the legal website Scotusblog. Controversy's beginning The controversy began Tuesday when Trump attacked U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco, who ruled against his migrant asylum order. The ruling prompted Trump to claim again Thursday, as he has in the past, that the 9th Circuit was biased against him. "It's a terrible thing when judges take over your protective services, when they tell you how to protect your border. It's a disgrace" he said. Roberts had refrained from commenting on Trump's previous attacks on judges. But after a query Wednesday from Associated Press, Roberts defended the independence of the federal judiciary and dismissed the notion that judges are beholden to presidents who appoint them. Roberts, who has often expressed concern about attacks on the judiciary's impartiality, has previously been the target of criticism from Trump. Trump often belittled Roberts during the 2016 presidential campaign, at one point calling Roberts an "absolute disaster" after Roberts voted along with liberals in 2012 to uphold President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. Roberts was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush and has compiled a firmly conservative voting record during his 13 years on the Supreme Court. The chief justice's statement came as he adjusts to changes on the Supreme Court. The arrival last month of Trump's second appointee, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, pushed Roberts to the court's ideological center, a position that was held by Justice Anthony Kennedy until he retired in July. Former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings, told CNN Thursday the ideological shift on the court may have compelled Roberts to defend the courts. "I think what Chief Justice Roberts feels like his job is now is to look out for the integrity of and the reputation of the entire judiciary. I mean in a world where a lot of people view most of government as being polarized, as being partisan for you or partisan against you, I think he believes it's his job to make sure that folks view the judiciary as independent." Inside Elections publisher Nathan Gonzales said on CNN that Trump's criticism of Roberts could further endear him to his conservative base, "There are some Republicans and conservatives who have already turned their back on Chief Justice Roberts because of his involvement in the decision with the Affordable Care Act." Gonzales added, "We have to remember that the Republican Party has become all about President Trump and whatever he does or the enemies he chooses are going to be with him and I think that remains the case in this situation." President Donald Trump has delivered a Thanksgiving message to American service members on duty around the world, telling them by telephone, Your courage truly inspires us. Trump told members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard that he and first lady Melania Trump wanted to express their profound gratitude. Trump is spending his holiday in Palm Beach, Florida, at his private Mar-a-Lago club again this year. He started Thursday morning tweeting as part of his extraordinary public dispute with Chief Justice John Roberts. Trump is warning of bedlam, chaos, injury and death if the courts block his efforts to overhaul the nations immigration laws. WATCH: Trump Hints at Possibility of a Visit to Afghanistan U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that his administration was conducting "very strong" peace negotiations in Afghanistan but that he was not sure whether they would be successful. Trump made the remarks during a Thanksgiving teleconference call with U.S. troops stationed in the war-ravaged country. He also hinted he might visit Afghanistan, where the U.S. has been engaged since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. "We're in very strong negotiations in Afghanistan right now, which a lot of people don't know that. This might be the first, but we are in very, very strong negotiations in Afghanistan. We'll see what happens. We are talking about peace and we'll see if that happens," the president said. Trump was apparently referring to the first direct talks U.S. special representative Zalmay Khalilzad recently opened with the Taliban, who are waging a deadly insurgency against the Washington-backed Afghan government. "We have negotiations going on. I don't know that they are going to be successful, probably they're not. Who knows? They might be, they might not be. Maybe they are going to be successful, maybe they're not going to be, but we have negotiations going on right now in Afghanistan," Trump said. WATCH: Trump Hints at Possibility of a Visit to Afghanistan The U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan 17 years ago and ousted the Taliban from power for harboring al-Qaida leaders blamed for plotting the 9/11 attacks. The Afghan military mission has cost Washington nearly $1 trillion, while more than 2,400 American soldiers have died. U.S. commanders-in-chief have since routinely paid unannounced visits to troops in the country and other war zones around the world. Trump has not visited Afghanistan since taking office almost two years ago. He told American troops Thursday, "Maybe I'll even see you over there. You never know what's going to happen." Vice President Mike Pence visited troops last December at the U.S.-run Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. U.S. contingent About 14,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Afghanistan to train and advise Afghan security forces in their battle against the Taliban and conduct separate operations against terrorist groups, including Islamic State. Khalilzad said, after last week's meetings with Taliban representatives in Qatar, his discussions were aimed at encouraging insurgents to engage in an intra-Afghan process to find a political solution to the prolonged war. Without sharing much detail, the U.S. envoy noted he was "cautiously optimistic" about the talks, and so did the Taliban. The Taliban maintain they are seeking a schedule for withdrawal of all U.S.-led foreign forces from the country before engaging in intra-Afghan talks. Acrimony dominated a high-level Turkish-European Union meeting as both sides exchanged barbs in Ankara at a meeting that was anticipated to be a sign of improving bilateral ties. The "High-Level Political Dialogue Meeting" was reconvened for the first time in 18 months. EU foreign affairs commissioner, Federica Mogherini, accompanied by Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, sat down for talks Thursday with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. But simmering tensions between Ankara and Brussels came to the fore. "A strong Turkey means a democratic Turkey," Mogherini said at the joint news conference with Hahn and Cavusoglu. "We expressed our strong concerns about the detention of several prominent academics and civil society representatives, including those recently detained," Mogherini added. Last Friday 13 prominent academics and civil society figures were detained in connection with the 2016 nationwide anti-government protests known as the Gezi movement. Mogherini caused further Turkish angst, calling for this month's European Court ruling to release from jail Selahattin Demirtas to be respected. Demirtas is a former leader of the politically pro-Kurdish HDP and has been jailed for more than 18 months on terrorism charges. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the European court ruling saying Turkey is "not bound" by the decision, even though it is a member of the court. Cavusoglu hit back against EU commissioners who condemned Turkey's lack of progress to join the union. "There's no use in making statements that exclude Turkey from the EU accession process or denying its candidacy," he said. Ankara's EU membership bid has been frozen for more than a decade by members who oppose it, saying it is not European or because of concern over the deterioration of human rights, and other reasons. Analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners, suggests Thursday's strong language by EU commissioners underlines Brussels' approach to Turkey. "I think unlike the United States, where there is a loud and inconclusive debate on what to do with Turkey, carrot or stick," he said, "The Europeans have long decided to keep Erdogan at arm's length, be nice to him, but don't give him anything and I don't think that is going to change." Areas of common ground were discussed, focusing on opposition to Washington's new Iranian sanctions, the Syrian civil war, and the refugee situation in Turkey. Turkey hosts more than three million Syrian refugees, and since a 2016 EU agreement, Ankara has been instrumental in ending an exodus of migrants into Europe. Analysts say Erdogan reminds Brussels about Turkey's importance in preventing Syrian regime forces from overrunning the last rebel stronghold in Idlib. "A diplomatic victory that we should credit to Mr. Erdogan, he has successfully built a coalition to defend Idlib against Assad attack," said Yesilada. Ankara's increasing regional importance has created the basis of a new relationship with Brussels. "This is actually defined as a transactional relationship, which enables keeping dialogue and cooperation going on issues of strategic importance to both," wrote columnist Barcin Yinanc Thursday in the Hurriyet Daily News. Cavusolgu also vented frustration with Brussels over the refugee deal. "We made an agreement for migration. In that agreement we agreed to open five chapters (EU membership chapters), then a decision comes out against opening new chapters. This is hypocrisy, there's no explanation for this," he said, referring to the 2016 migration agreement. Ankara maintains part of the refugee deal included in a Brussel's commitment to expedite Turkey's membership application with the unblocking of some of 35 membership chapters needed to be completed. Ankara routinely threatens to end the migration deal in disputes with Brussels, but analysts suggest Turkey is not the threat to Europe it once was. "I don't think Turkey can unleash the refugees. Those days are over, thanks to Hungary, Slovenia, closing their borders to refugees, they will not reach the core of Europe," said Yesilada. But he says Brussels has an interest in Turkey's stability given the economic and financial challenges facing the country. Continued dialogue between Brussels and Ankara is seen by some as necessary in mitigating the current human rights crackdown in Turkey. "There are a handful of (Turkish) officials who believe there is still room, even if very small, to register some improvement (in human rights)," wrote columnist Yinanc. "Even changing one little sentence in a draft law can at least limit the damage on rights violations and even that is an important improvement in the current suffocating circumstances, they probably think," she continued. Analyst Yesilada claims last week's arrest of academics and civil rights figures reveals the European Union still has a positive effect. "You have to remember 12 of the 13 arrested have been released within 24 hours. Had it not been for the EU pressure, all those academics would have been kept in prison for a very long while." The European Union and Britain have agreed a draft declaration on their future relations after Brexit, European Council President Donald Tusk said Thursday, a development that paves the way for an EU summit this weekend to rubber-stamp the deal. The 26-page draft declaration was agreed upon at a technical level by negotiators and endorsed Thursday by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, which is overseeing Brexit negotiations. "The [EU] Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level,'' Tusk said in a tweet. Tusk, who chairs meetings of EU leaders, said he has sent the draft political declaration to Britain's 27 European partners and that it till requires ``the endorsement of the leaders.'' EU heads of state and government are due to meet in Brussels on Sunday to approve the declaration and a separate divorce deal. British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to return to Brussels on Saturday for more talks on the eve of the summit, including with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Representatives from all 28 EU countries are due to meet Friday to prepare for the summit, which is seen as a pivotal moment in the Brexit process. May is facing widespread opposition in the British Parliament over the divorce agreement, which was agreed last week. That 585-page legal treaty deals with the terms of Britain's departure, including what the country owes the EU. Britain officially leaves the EU the first country ever to do so on March 29, 2019, but a withdrawal agreement needs to be sealed soon to leave enough time for the European Parliament and the U.K. parliament to endorse it. As opposed to the withdrawal agreement, the draft declaration on future ties is a political, not a legal, text. "This declaration establishes the parameters of an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic cooperation, law enforcement and criminal justice, foreign policy, security and defense and wider areas of cooperation," according to the document. It also talks about the close ties that have been cemented after 45 years of Britain's membership of the EU as well as "the sizes of the two economies and their geographic proximity, which have led to complex and integrated supply chains." It notes that the "parties envisage having a trading relationship on goods that is as close as possible, with a view to facilitating the ease of legitimate trade." The actual legal text will have to be negotiated after Brexit on March 29, and that could well be even more complicated than what has come so far. In a speech in Berlin before Tusk's announcement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined that "Britain should remain a partner, remain a friend." Though Britain "should have very close economic relations with us," Merkel did underscore the difficulties that may arise in any attempt to keep services seamless. "We have to say honestly that, in the services sector, we don't have a great deal of experience with international free trade agreements," she said. "But we want to see that as a future relationship." The European Commission, which has supervised Brexit negotiations, refused to comment directly on the declaration. Spokesman Margaritis Schinas said any running commentary could "have a negative impact as negotiations are now going into their last stretch." He did confirm that "work is continuing" to resolve differences between London and Madrid over Gibraltar, the tiny territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula that was ceded to Britain in 1713 but is still claimed by Spain. "There are ideas, contacts are ongoing," Schinas said, without providing further details. Last year's EU guidelines on the Brexit negotiations effectively gave Spain veto powers over future relations between the bloc and the British overseas territory, and the Spanish government says it will vote against the Brexit deal if Gibraltar's future isn't considered a bilateral issue between Madrid and London. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday that his government "cannot accept" Gibraltar's future being determined by negotiations at the EU level. May has said that "we will not exclude Gibraltar from our negotiations on the future relationship." Spain's EU Affairs State Secretary, Luis Marco Aguiriano, has said there is still time to "legally clarify" the agreement before Sunday. In London, May is due to address lawmakers later Thursday and hold talks with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of the year. Kurz told the Austria Press Agency that his trip to London is designed to help May build support for the deal and that he hopes to get a "realistic picture" about May's chances of getting Parliament's backing. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday that Yemen peace talks are likely in December in Sweden, thanks, he said, to the efforts of United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths. The United States supports the Saudi-led coalition, which is fighting to restore the officially recognized Yemeni government. Houthi rebels are armed, trained and financed by Iran. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports the international community is pushing for peace to halt the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The Trump administration is allowing troops stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border to engage in some law enforcement activities and, if necessary, use lethal force. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that he had received a Cabinet order signed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, not President Donald Trump, making engagement guidelines less restrictive. "The president did see a need to back up the Border Patrol [officers], and we received late last night an additional instruction authorizing us to implement additional measures. We're sizing up what those are. We already talked with folks over at DHS [Department of Homeland Security]," Mattis said. He added that he wouldnt take any action unless he heard from DHS. "The secretary of homeland security has to ask me to do stuff. I now have the authority to do more. Now we'll see what she asks me for," Mattis said. 'Minimal risk' The New York Times reported Wednesday that an internal DHS document said U.S. border guards faced a minimal risk of violence in encounters with migrants. The Cabinet order that Mattis received, first reported by the Military Times, allows military personnel to perform activities that the secretary of defense "determines are reasonably necessary to protect border agents, including a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention and cursory search." Mattis downplayed the order, however. "I think part of this is just putting in the crowd-control barriers and the barbed wire. If there's one thing you don't want to walk through, any of us as human beings, it's barbed wire. Even cows are smart enough to stay away from that stuff," he said. Allowing military personnel to take on law enforcement activities would most likely be challenged in court. The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, in connection with the Insurrection Act of 1807, limits the federal governments power to use military personnel to enforce domestic policies. In an email to VOA, Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Unions National Security Project, said the Cabinet order was an "unnecessary escalation of a political stunt that risks harm to civilians and legal jeopardy for the military. In addition to serious concerns about violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, it's hard to see how John Kelly, a civilian White House official, has the authority to issue any such order." Most unarmed But Mattis pointed out that though military police would have shields and batons, most of the troops at the border aren't even armed. "There's no violation here at all. We'll stay strictly according to the law," he said. He also confirmed he has final say over the use of force by the military at the border. "The president has delegated that to me. Yes," he added. Trump has so far deployed about 5,800 active-duty service members to the border, along with 2,100 National Guard troops. Mattis also told reporters some military personnel could "certainly" be home for the holidays. "So as long as DHS doesn't assign us more missions to lay more wire, which they could, then we could anticipate they'd be home," he said. "I would anticipate they would be, but some troops may not be, or some new troops may be assigned to new missions. This is a dynamic situation." Some information for this report came from AFP. Surveillance video shows two people dumping puppies at an animal shelter and it comes just weeks after the shelter sent out a public alert, begging people to foster because they're over-crowded. The Athens-Limestone Animal Shelter on Highway 72 was already at full-capacity when the puppies were dropped off, so, now, theyre asking for the publics help again. WAAY 31 learned what obstacles the shelter is facing and what you can do to help. A lot more work for us with this many puppies," said the director of the Athens-Limestone Animal Shelter, Priscilla Blenkinsopp. Blenkinsopp says she and her team are overwhelmed after two people left 16 puppies at the shelter Monday night. It was raining and cold that night, too, so if our veterinarian hadnt been here, they would have been outside all night," she said. Blenkinsopp says the two littersone about seven weeks old, and the other nine weeks oldwere left without any clue about their background. We didnt get any information on the babies either," she said. "Nobody left us any information on what breed they are, where they came from, if they had moms. WAAY 31 talked with one little girl who wanted to take a puppy home with her after she came by the shelter to donate dog food. We wanted to do something nice for the puppies for the holidays," said Kinsley Garris. Garris said her mom wouldnt let her take one home, so, now, shes encouraging others to. Theyre cute, theyre sweet, and they need homes," she said. Blenkinsopp says there are ways to keep this from happening again. We want to try and get those moms spayed if theyll just contact us," Blenkinsopp said. "We have volunteers who will help and donations to get those moms spayed. If you have any information about the people who were seen leaving the puppies in the surveillance video, youre asked to call the Athens-Limestone Animal Shelter. Rome mayor says demolition sends "strong message" to Casamonica clan. Rome's mayor Virginia Raggi has described as "historic" the seizure and demolition of villas built illegally by the Roman Casamonica crime family. The demolition of the eight luxury villas on Via del Quadraro, in south-east Rome, began on 21 November following a dawn raid involving 600 police officers. The demolitions took place in the presence of Italy's deputy premier and interior minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing Lega party, and the city's mayor Virginia Raggi of the populist Movimento 5 Stelle. Salvini said: "I won't stop till the last villa is gone" while Raggi stated: We are putting an end to years of illegality and are sending a strong message to the Casamonica clan. The Casamonica family came to international attention in 2015 after the lavish funeral of the head of the notorious clan which has been associated with crime in the south-east suburbs of Rome for decades. Photo Il Messaggero Tamika and I are women with our own agency. We speak for ourselves and ourselves alone. We are being stripped of our agency when every few months we are asked to condemn the Minister about words that we did not say, nonetheless the words of a man who did not consult us on his words, Sarsour wrote. An older man who gave his name as Mike said the tax hike has been a wash for him. He has new customers who do not want to pay full price at gas stations, but others will not cough up an extra quarter for him either. On a good day, he can pull about $70 in profit. They cant quite remember. But they know they loved it all. Google sent them to Flint, Mich., to distribute clean water. They traveled to Seattle to participate in a computer programming event, and to NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. They received fan mail from Girl Scouts. They met black female scientists who offered career advice. Colleges called, swaying them to apply to their campuses. And Lester Holt featured them on NBC Nightly News. I just wanted her to know more about our country and the history of our country so she could be a better citizen, he said. The good that happened, the bad that happened and how we learn from that. Police tweeted that one man was shot and was taken to a hospital. The shooting victim was later identified as a 19-year-old man, who was wounded in the upper body as he sat in the passenger seat of a red car, said Officer Rick Goodale, a spokesman for the Montgomery County police. 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 The statutes of limitations on civil actions are much narrower. In most states, theres a limit of no more than five years from the time of the alleged acts, and some states have limits as short as two years. Advocates are calling for states to expand time limits or create new windows of availability for victims of sexual abuse, but so far even in Pennsylvania that movement has not made much progress. Of 15 states considering such changes this year, only two legislatures extended the civil statute of limitations, although Child USAs Hamilton says New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania are likely to next year. He dismissed most mutilation and conspiracy charges against Jumana Nagarwala, the physician who was accused of performing the procedures, and Fakhruddin Attar, the doctor who was accused of allowing his clinic to be used for the surgeries. Those charges were also dismissed against two others accused of assisting in the surgeries and four mothers who were accused of bringing their daughters to the clinic for the procedure. Hugos critics say his position on judgeships is an example of him going against the regions interests in favor of what GOP leaders want. They say Hugo did the same thing in April, when he joined the Republican majority to vote against $30 million in tax increases meant to help fund Metro, a move that also drew criticism from some local Republican lawmakers. Lindgrens optimism is shared by many of the tens of thousands of evacuees who have spilled out into shelters, tents, hastily arranged rental units, and the homes of friends, family and even strangers. Despite the devastation the fire wrought in this area, dozens of evacuees said it has brought the true meaning of the holiday into stark relief, though it has removed some of its more celebratory trappings. Crash causes fire on Brooklyn Bridge: An auto wreck on the Brooklyn Bridge killed one person Wednesday and sparked a fire that engulfed three vehicles and cut off a key New York City artery at the start of the morning commuting rush on one of the busiest travel days of the year. The 7 a.m. crash on the Brooklyn-bound side of the bridge sent a column of black smoke rising above the landmark span. Fire officials said six people were injured in addition to the fatality. The bridge was closed to traffic for about an hour. Sarah Lin was older, 41, when she learned of her origins. On a whim, the stay-at-home mother from Washington state sent her saliva off to Ancestry.com to get her DNA analyzed. Her parents had told her when she turned 25 that she had been conceived with donor sperm. Back then, she hadnt given it much thought. But as the years passed and she had two children of her own, she become curious about her origins. Republicans retained their large majorities in both chambers and will appoint the leaders of the committees, who can help them bottle up or kill legislation they dont like. In this months election, conservatives gained at least half a dozen seats in the House and might replace the chambers majority leader, a moderate, with someone who leans further to the right. Hawkins is vying for the post. The arrest of Thomas Bruce, 53, ended a two-day manhunt that followed the Monday attack at a Catholic Supply store in the St. Louis suburb of Ballwin. The attack frightened the region and led some schools, churches and businesses to close. Churchill Otieno Onyango, an aid worker, witnessed the attack. The guys who approached the house were three Somalis. Two were having guns, one was not. The one who grabbed the lady, slapped her and disappeared with her. We were told to lie down, and they began shooting while they went away, he said. Phase two has brought a housing crisis. Every neighborhood in Panama City contains unlivable structures. Many people lucky enough to still have jobs teachers, police officers and firefighters, paper mill workers are homeless. Entire apartment-building and condominium populations have been evicted for repairs and mold remediation. A co-worker bought a camper and parked it behind the remains of her home while they rebuild. As of last week, she was still trying to get running water. Among its worst features is that reporting of work hours can be done online only not by phone, by mail, by fax or in person. Officials chose this setup despite the fact that Arkansas has the lowest level of household Internet access in the country. The website is glitchy, too, and doesnt work well on smartphones. We say this not simply because Mr. Trumps justifications are factually fraudulent. He wildly inflates the amount of business Saudi Arabia has sent Americas way. He falls for royal flattery and fatuously allows himself to be lied to. He fails to see that Saudi Arabia is far more dependent on the United States than the reverse. He neglects the plain fact that every major action taken by the reckless crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, even before this murder, has harmed U.S. interests: his disastrous war in Yemen, which has redounded to Irans benefit; his failed effort to subjugate the small neighboring nation of Qatar, a U.S. ally; and his bizarre kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister, also a U.S. ally. If we foolishly cancel these contracts, Russia and China would be the enormous beneficiaries and very happy to acquire all of this newfound business, he said. I understand there are members of Congress who, for political or other reasons, would like to go in a different direction and they are free to do so. Although we are disheartened by the decision of the District Attorneys Office, we are not necessarily surprised by it. We are confident, however, that the city attorney, upon review of the facts, will determine that the misdemeanor charge is appropriate. Its fully warranted, Bachner said. He also said that he had given the okay for U.S. troops to use lethal force against anyone crossing the border who represented a threat. U.S. military forces are typically not allowed to take such actions, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has already signaled his disinclination to change that policy. There has been considerable consternation in the administration about the policy, administration officials said. But the suspicion that all was not well behind the scenes lingers, with Japanese media recalling a quote from an official from Japans Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry earlier this year that it would oppose a merger between the two companies by any means. Mattis said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Customs and Border Protection activities, had not asked for troops to use force to protect its personnel and that he would assess any such request if it were made. Most active-duty troops along the border do not carry firearms, Mattis said. If they were tasked with protecting CBP, they would probably use shields and batons, he said. ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Thursday will be the coldest Thanksgiving in decades for most of the Northeast, the result of an Arctic blast of air that's pushing temperatures 15 to 25 degrees colder than a year ago. Even with a sunny sky forecast on Thursday, little warming is expected throughout the day. The last time it was this cold in the Northeast on Thanksgiving was 1996. Friday morning may be even colder in some of those spots, with morning wind chills still in the single digits -- or colder. Wind gusts in some of the major cities may reach 30 mph, adding to the chill. The high in Boston is expected to be 18 degrees; in New York, 27. Temperatures should warm back up a bit over the weekend. Along the West Coast, a storm system is delivering rain, which should aid in extinguishing the many wildfires that have ravaged California the last few weeks. Unfortunately, the precipitation also carries with it an increased risk of mudslides and debris flow. In higher elevations, snow is to be expected. This storm is expected to slide inland and take a fair amount of snow -- 1 to 2 feet -- into parts of the Rockies later on Thursday. A new storm is headed for the Pacific Northwest. More rain and snow are expected, from the Canadian border down into Northern California. Another storm is expected in California by Friday morning, with heavy snowfall expected in the southern Cascades. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. At each overseas crusade, countless have received Gods healing of such incurable and terminal diseases as AIDS, cancer, and the like on the spot when Rev. Dr. Lee prayed not by placing his hand on each of the sick but merely for all from the pulpit, Manmin Central Church said on its website. Before we end our coverage of today's hearings, let's take a look at the damning final item discussed this afternoon. It was an internal ASIC email touching on how the regulator would respond to the home loan introducer scandal at National Australia Bank, which was uncovered at the first round of royal commission hearings. The email says Cathie - a reference to Cathie Armour, a ASIC commissioner and the chair of the enforcement committee was of the view that we should seek an EU [enforceable undertaking] from NAB with a [community benefit payment] (what do we have to lose from doing this). ASICs use of enforceable undertakings in this way has previously been criticised by the commission, and Ms Orr wasn't going to let this one go. Confronted with the memo, Mr Shipton said that "in my view, and I expressed this when this conversation was happening, we should be pursuing much harder, much tougher action and we ultimately did.' Ms Orr shot back: "It's the antithesis of that, isn't it, Mr Shipton, the view that's expressed here? Let's not investigate further, let's just ask NAB for an enforceable undertaking with a community benefit payment. We've got nothing to lose from doing that and we will then be seen to have publicly responded to the evidence in the Royal Commission?" Mr Shipton: "Well, that was a view - that may have been - that may have been a view expressed." He said there had been a range of "different views thrown around, views which were explored and tested, but ultimately we decided to pursue an investigation and an investigation has commenced in this matter." Ms Orr: "Well, the view that I've directed you to was the view of the chair of your enforcement committee. Does that concern you, Mr Shipton?" Mr Shipton: "It - it is a view that I do not agree with." And he said "ultimately, when an informed discussion took place, the right decision was made and that was to pursue an investigation and not to pursue an enforceable undertaking." That's it from us today. We'll be back from 9.30am tomorrow. Mining giant BHP says it will fight an unprecedented English lawsuit filed by hundreds of thousands of Brazilians for multi-billion pound damages over Brazil's worst environmental disaster. SPG Law, a British offshoot of a US litigator, represents 240,000 individuals in Brazil, 24 municipal governments, a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and members of the Krenak indigenous community, and has filed three legal claims for unlimited damages over the failure of the Fundao dam in 2015. The 2015 disaster killed 19 people and spilled about 40 million cubic metres of sludge over Brazilian communities. Credit:AP It looks set to be the largest group action heard in England, with Telegraph reporting earlier this month it could be as high as 5 billion ($8.9 billion). London and Australian-listed BHP, the world's largest mining company by market value, said it had received correspondence from the law firm but also noted it had so far committed $US780 million ($1.1 billion) to the Renova Foundation, an entity created by the miner and its partners to manage reparations and repairs. Two friends with a big idea are chasing after a slice of the lucrative food delivery sector, which is dominated by Uber Eats, Menulog and Deliveroo. New food delivery app Kloopr allows anyone travelling from point A to point B to act as a delivery driver. It encourages restaurants to offer reduced menus and a set number of portions per dish to help manage business expenses and give greater control over stock levels. Joe Wee Lim (L) and Brian Foong, founders of delivery app competitor Kloopr. Kloopr launched this week and will charge customers less for deliveries and pay those delivering between $7 and $13 per job an average of 30 to 50 cents more than Uber Eats. Deliveries can be made on foot, bike or vehicle. How it works The Federal Government says it is intensifying efforts to address Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, announcing a new national approach and more than $7 million in new funding. The disorder describes severe neurodevelopmental impairments resulting from brain damage caused by alcohol exposure before birth. People with FASD can have difficulties with physical activities, language, memory, learning and behaviour. Minister for Indigenous Health Ken Wyatt said the government was investing in activities proven to be effective. Success is underpinned by a team effort, with collaboration between families, communities, service providers and governments, Minister Wyatt said. Snow, wild winds and frosty temperatures have hit alpine regions in Victoria less than 10 days out from summer. Conditions were winter-like at the ski resorts on Thursday, with a dump of 10 centimetres of snow falling overnight and residents waking to a chilly temperatures and wild winds. A cold blast coming from Tasmania saw temperatures dip as low as minus three degrees in alpine regions on Wednesday night, with the "feels like" temperature almost minus 15 degrees. German Ambassador Jorn Rohde , who is vocal about the current developments in Sri Lanka, spoke about the impact of the present constitutional impasse on economic cooperation between his country and Sri Lanka. Earlier, he stressed openly that the problem should be resolved through Parliament. He was among the western envoys who witnessed Parliament taking up the no confidence motion against the new government. In an interview with the Daily Mirror , he chose to answer questions on the economic impact of the political problem, that prevails in the country. Excerpts: Q How do you view the present situation? We have clearly seen it negatively since last week. I read newspaper reports. There is a cry for help from the leading business chambers. It is really starting to have real economic impacts. That is why they are advocating a speedy solution. From the embassys point of view, I see business activities already being effected. High ranking business visits have been cancelled. Q Which ones? I do not want to go into more details. You can call it high ranking business visits that were planned. We expect a parliamentary delegation to arrive early next year. That is now in the balance. Secondly, it is the reputation of Sri Lanka that is suffering. As a trade representative, I myself went to the Asia Pacific Conference of German Business which is held biannually. It was in Jakarta this time. This is an opportunity for us. Then Minister Malik Samarawickrama was to represent Sri Lanka and present it as a place for investment before German CEOs. There were about 1000 German CEOs. That conference was on November 1. Naturally, the then Minister could not come. He was busy here. I was on stage. Instead of being able to sell Sri Lanka, we were posed with questions on what was going on here. Yours is the only country with two Prime Ministers. That is what they said. It was a difficult situation for us. In a nutshell, it was not the opportunity we sought to sell Sri Lanka. It was a wasted opportunity. Secondly, we opened the German Trade Office last year in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is the only country in South Asia, besides India, with a professional trade office. It is a German investment. The German Government and the industries pump in a lot of money there. The present situation puts such investment-longterm and middle term-in doubt. Everybody talks about Sri Lanka being the hub of South Asia. These are all questions endangering important things for investors. "Instead of being able to sell Sri Lanka, we were posed with questions on what was going on here. Yours is the only country with two Prime Ministers. That is what they said. It was a difficult situation for us. In a nutshell, it was not the opportunity we sought to sell Sri Lanka. It was a wasted opportunity" Q President Maithripala Sirisena made certain allegations regarding the lack of transparency in tender deals during the previous Government. Apart from the current climate, how do you see Sri Lankas general atmosphere for investment? It is quite easy to answer that question. German law prescribes very stringent compliance rules to be followed by German investors. These laws are very strict. None of these allegations ever touched German companies. I had a phone conference with a German bank. They wanted to come here. I asked them to postpone their visit due to current uncertainty. I had talks with German investors. Because of the present political circumstances, there is a complete paralysis of all the Ministries. German Development law was given to the Health Ministry. That is to build a maternity hospital in Galle. Loan disbursement is delayed. We are also financing a vocational training centre in the south. Everything is put on hold. Q How big is that investment? In Matara, it is about 11 million Euros. For the development of the hospital, it is 42 million Euros. This is a loan. The delay costs the Sri Lankan tax payers. It is very unfortunate that decisions cannot be taken at this moment. Unfortunately, we have to advise the investors to wait until this situation subsides. Travel advisories by us and other countries have been updated. This also affects tourism. I already see effects on business activities High ranking business visit from Germany on hold In a democracy, elections express will of votes But, due process has to be followed Q As far as the situation in Sri Lanka is concerned, is the impact on businesses the only concern of Germany? We are now talking about the economy. We have already expressed our general concerns either through the embassies of the European Union or through our spokesperson at the press conference in Germany. We are for the speedy conclusion of this problem. We want everyone to respect the rule of law and due process and transparency. Everybody said the same. In 2017, European Union granted the GSP + trade facility. Sri Lanka has been given GSP + in return for its commitment to sign 27 international conventions in the field of human rights, good governance, labour rights, environmental protection, the reform of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Criminal Code of Procedure. This is commitment by the Government of Sri Lanka. We expect any Government to follow up on this commitment. This is a unilateral trade concession. During the first half of the next year, there will be a monitoring mission checking the progress. That is one of the concerns we have. Q According to your knowledge and experience, is Sri Lanka exposed to the risk of losing this facility? I will not venture into hypothetical questions. There is a clear chain of events. EU has given GSP + facility. Sri Lanka has committed to certain obligations. There is a common monitoring process. If the EU sees that there are problems, there will be consultations with the Government. In the past, it was withdrawn. The effects were not positive. It is a unilateral trade concession. In the textile field, those involved know how beneficial it was. For the textile industry, GSP + is a boost. There is a clear policy by the EU that Sri Lanka should follow up on its commitment. If they are not fulfilled, there will be problems. Q Now, President Maithripala Sirisena and the party leaders have discussed the situation here. How hopeful are you that the situation will improve? I do not have a glass wall to look into. Parliament meets. It is an opportunity to end the crisis. The Supreme Court has spoken. Parliament should give its opinion. They should closely work with the executive to find a speedy solution. The situation is really endangering the economic recovery and development of Sri Lanka. "I do not have a glass wall to look into. Parliament meets. It is an opportunity to end the crisis. The Supreme Court has spoken. Parliament should give its opinion. They should closely work with the executive to find a speedy solution" Q Sri Lanka is already a lower middle income country. Once we reach the next stage of our economy, we would anyway lose the GSP + facility which is granted to low income countries. What is your view? That is right. Since you are a lower middle income country, you have been given a five-year period. It should be used to adopt diversified exports. That is why it is important to follow up on the commitments. Of course, it will be over. But, these five years should be well utilised to diversify your economy. Q There is a call for a general election by some parties. Do you see it as a viable option to resolve the current crisis? It came to the Maldives last month. The elections are the feat of democracy. In a democracy, elections express the will of voters. The whole process should be done with transparency using the due process while respecting the rule of law. That is what we all accept as people from democratic countries. We hope Parliament will express its opinion through arguments and not by throwing wastepaper baskets. In a democracy, you win by arguments, not by throwing objects. Today, the focus should be on the effects on the economy. Q Has Germany warned of cutting aid or grants to Sri Lanka due to this crisis? There are discussions in our Parliament about our development cooperation. The MPs want to know. The situation has effects on our decisions. It is not clear in what direction the Government is moving. Of course, aid is also dependent on clarity and predictability. There is no clarity whether the new Government has clarity on this project or that project. That has negative effects on cooperation on the economy. "There is a danger of the current Rajapaksa government failing to pass any Bill or motion in the House" It is interesting to note that the conflict between President Maithripala Sirisena and the ousted Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe over the latters purported hesitance to take action on allegations of acts of high profile corruption against the leaders of the Rajapaksa regime, had ended up in the President teaming up with the same Rajapaksas. The recent turn of events and the new political alignments were as if the President telling Wickremesinghe that if you can have secret deals with Rajapaksas, I can do the same better. As we have explained in our earlier columns, it is the United National Party (UNP) that pushed the President to the wall first by displeasing him with regard to legal action against the leaders of the former regime and then by provoking him, by ignoring him when taking important decisions. President Sirisena, on the wake of his assuming office was very particular about carrying forward the corruption cases against Rajapaksas and their close allies, not because he was a man against corruption, rather he feared about a comeback by the latter. He who defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa at the last Presidential election very well knew what latters wrath against those challenged them was, which had been well attested by the cases involving former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. President Sirisena had once expressed his fear about this wrath through his famous quote about him having gone six feet under the ground had he been defeated at the last Presidential election. Later, last year while accusing the UNP for delaying and even stalling the high profile cases against the leaders of the last regime, he had told during a Cabinet meeting that in case of a comeback by the Rajapksas it would be he and not the UNP who would have to face the music. However, when the return of Rajapaksas became almost inevitable with the results of the February 10 local government elections, President Sirisena diametrically changed his strategy and looked for ways to team up with the Rajapaksas. The group of 16 who became politically destitute after they quit the government and Namal Kumara with his stories about a coup to assassinate the President and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa helped the President in his manoeuvre. However, now, he had pushed the country into utter chaos by putting his strategy into practice. The country wouldnt have been driven into the current mess had Mahinda Rajapaksa whom the President appointed Prime Minister on October 26 mustered sufficient members from other parties to prove his majority in the Parliament. His failure to do so led his loyalists to run riot in the Parliament, vandalizing its chamber last week and the same reason threatens todays proceeding of the House as well. "Rajapaksa and his group do not explain why they who had nearly two thirds of power in the Parliament opposed that appointment then" Now, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and the Rajapaksas adversaries claim that a no-confidence motion against Rajapaksa and his government had been twice passed in the House. On the other hand, Rajapaksa loyalists contend that suspending of Standing Orders of the Parliament to present the motion and taking a voice vote for the approval of it were against Parliamentary procedure, despite suspending of standing orders and voice vote being accepted procedures in the House. In fact, it is by voice vote that the budget is passed at its third reading almost every year. Irrespective of the validity of the passage of the two no-confidence motions against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Cabinet, the number of signatures in them proved that Rajapaksa did not command the confidence of the Parliament. Only two signatories of those motions have so far switched sides later. Still Rajapaksa represents the minority in the House. No argument can deny that fact and it is vital for Rajapaksa to muster support to run the government. The state medias attempt to justify the vandalizing of the Parliament chamber by the Rajapaksa loyalists on last Friday was frustrating. They telecast the bomb attack by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in the Parliament on August 18, 1987, the pandemonium created by the UNP by burning the copies of a draft new Constitution within the Parliament chamber when President Chandrika Kumaratunga was presenting that draft in the Parliament on August 3, 2000 and the riots in Parliaments of other countries. However, it did not hold water, since even some other private media supporting Rajapaksa had described Fridays rioting as shameless. It is ludicrous on the part of the Rajapaksa loyalists to berate the presence of the diplomats of the Western countries in the Speakers gallery in the Parliament when they were breaking chairs and other items while throwing water mixed with chilli powder on the police officers and the Parliament members. That was another attempt to justify the mayhem by rousing the patriotism or the anti-West mindset in the people. They argue that Ranil Wickremesinghe was also appointed Prime Minister on January 9, 2015 without having the majority in the Parliament. It is true that President Sirisena violated the Constitution in 2015 when he appointed Wickremesinghe Prime Minister, as he himself recently said that he made that appointment when Wickremesinghe had the support of only 47 MPs. But Rajapaksa and his group do not explain why they who had nearly two thirds of power in the Parliament opposed that appointment then. "Ranil Wickremesinghe was also appointed Prime Minister on January 9, 2015 without him having the majority in the Parliament" They were so upset and frightened by the unexpected defeat of Rajapaksa that not only did they not have the fortitude to stand against that appointment, but Rajapaksa even volunteered to offer the Chairmanship of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to President Sirisena. They could have easily amended the SLFP constitution and denied the President the Chairmanship of the SLFP, as the whole Central Committee of the party was backing Rajapaksa then. Whatever the arguments and counter-arguments on what had happened so far, there is a danger of the current Rajapaksa government failing to pass any Bill or motion in the House, due to the numbers in the House. If the Supreme Court rules on December 7 against the dissolution of Parliament by the President, the country would have to put up with the current situation till February 2020 when the President would be empowered to dissolve the Parliament. Either Rajapaksa has to buy over or attract MPs from other parties in the Parliament, despite whatever the ethicality of doing so, or the Parliament should find a way to dissolve itself to prevent such a situation. Apart from the ego on the part of the main stakeholders of the impasse - the President, Prime Minister, Speaker and the ousted Prime Minister-, Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe seem to want to cling on to the power until the next Parliament and Presidential election so that they can use state resources for their election campaign. However, it is the country and the people who have to suffer due to this power struggle. It will also introduce the Accelerated Investment Incentive to support investment by businesses of all sizes and across all sectors, that will make it more attractive to invest in assets that will help drive business growth and secure jobs for middle class Canadians. This will allow businesses to write off a larger share of the cost of new assets in the year it was made. Businesses investing in clean energy equipment will also be eligible for an immediate write-off of the full cost. More funding ($800m) will be made available for the Strategic Innovation Fund including $100m for the forestry sector. And there are measures for boosting exports internationally and trade within Canada. More opportunities to succeed "Across the country, a strong and growing middle class is driving economic growth, creating new jobs and more opportunities for people to succeed, said Mr Morneau. This Fall Economic Statement is about growing the economy by investing in middle class jobs, helping Canadian businesses compete, and continuing to deliver real progress for the middle class. With the new measures in the Statement, and the continued hard work of Canadians, the Government is building an economy that works for everyone." The finance minister said there are now more well-paying jobs in Canada, wages are growing faster, business profits are up, and consumer confidence is strong. The reports authors, Thorsten Koeppl and Jeremy Kronick are proposing a simple test to ascertain whether an ICO is fundamental to a business venture's success; and if it is then it should allow for regulatory relief. They say that for an ICO to be an efficient way of financing, the business venture needs to develop: a decentralized platform, usually based on blockchain technology; where a coin gives digital access to the platform; and serves as a means of payment for users that engage in decentralized, person-to-person (P2P) exchange in order to create and transfer value between them. "Our proposed test can also create guidelines for the right approach to taxation that is consistent with the value that is added by such financing," notes Koeppl. "Tax rules can be based on the dual roles of the coins, which are both an investment stake and a currency." What the regulators should do Koeppl and Kronick suggest that Canadian securities regulators develop specific regulations for ICOs passing this simple test, including less onerous disclosure requirements, exemptions from securities dealer registration requirements, an extended timeframe for exemptions to be granted, and the restriction of investments to smaller amounts. Alternatively, the simple test could be formalized quickly and be used to decide whether an ICO obtains access to the Canadian Securities Administrators Sandbox. Democracy promotion: A civil activist holds up a placard during a demonstration in Colombo amid an ongoing political crisis. AFP n a positive note, the current political crisis in Sri Lanka can be the countrys Magna Carta moment to chart a course to the pinnacle of democracy. The developments since President Maithripala Sirisena on October 26 sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have placed Sri Lanka on a constitutional cliff. But, if the power- greedy politicians do not drag the country into an autocratic abyss, the crisis could be a blessing in disguise to lead the country towards a democratic haven where the doctrine of separation of powers will be held supreme to remind politicians that the peoples mandate has to be exercised with responsibility. The power exercised by elected representatives is not their ancestral property to be abused at will but is a trust subjected to checks and balances and needs to be held sacred. Those who abuse or betray the peoples mandate are no better than monarchs who, only a few centuries ago, taking cover behind what they called a divine right to rule, oppressed the people and amassed wealth by exploiting them. In this age of post-post enlightenment, politics is not for those who do not care a damn about democracy in their quest to establish autocracy though they make use of democratic instruments such as franchise and elections. While most Sri Lankans are shocked by the shenanigans being unravelled in the political front, the happenings in the United States, however horrendous Donald Trumps hubris-driven governance is, make that country a shining example in constitutional democracy. The Democratic Partys victory at this months mid-term elections to the House of Representatives has been hailed as a peoples mandate to strengthen the checks and balances to control a maverick president before he could do more harm to the United States and the rest of the world. With the Democrats now controlling the House and chairing the Oversight Committee, the Trump administration has now been well and truly checked. The Democratic Party-controlled House can now summon witnesses, especially with regard to the Robert Mueller investigations into allegations that Trump campaign officials had any links to Russias interference in the 2016 US election. For the past two years, Trump had survived scrutiny because both the Senate and the House of Representatives were under Republican control. But from January, Trump will not find it easy to beat around the bush. To check the unbridled power of the executive president, especially when his party controls both houses of Congress, the mid-term elections, as provided for in the US Constitution, restore the balance of power by empowering the legislature to check the president, in keeping with the doctrine of separation of powers. In another recent incident that proved how checks and balances worked in the US through the judiciary, a federal judge ruled that CNN reporter Jim Acostas First Amendment rights overruled the White Houses right to have orderly news conferences. The ruling followed CNN journalists petition challenging Trumps executive order to withdraw his media credentials to cover White House events. "With the Democrats now controlling the House and chairing the Oversight Committee, the Trump administration has now been well and truly checked" This week, there was another blow to Trump from the judiciary. A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily prevented the Trump administration from denying asylum to migrants who crossed the border illegally. The court in its interim order ruled that the president violated a clear command from Congress to allow the migrants to apply for asylum. In another move that underlines the doctrine of separation of powers, this week, Congress members, including Senators from the Presidents Republican Party, challenged Trumps statement defending Saudi Arabia over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. They sent a letter to the White House on Tuesday, urging Trump to officially trigger an investigation into whether Sauid Arabias crown prince ordered the assassination. Sri Lankan politicians and their blind supporters would do well to look at how the US system works and how it upholds the balance vis-a-vis the separation of powers principles as expounded by French political philosopher Montasqueiu. In his great work, Spirit of the Laws, which inspired the the Rights of Man declaration, the French revolutions gift to mankind, Montesqueiu said that in any form of democratic governance, the inclusion of the separation of powers is a sine qua non. The Constitution of the United States was made based on the Montasqueius model. Under this model, the political authority of the state is divided into legislative, executive and judicial powers. Montesqueiu asserted that, to most effectively promote liberty, these three powers must be separate and must act independently so that one arm of government can check the excesses of another. Separation of powers also refers to the division of government responsibilities into distinct branches to limit any one branch from exercising the core functions of another. The intent is to prevent the concentration of power in one arm of government and provide for checks and balances. It goes without saying that Sri Lankas 1978 Republican Constitution does not contain proper checks and balances. The framers of the 1978 Constitution justified the overconcentration of powers in the executive presidency on the grounds that it would ensure poltical stability which in turn would ensure rapid economic growth. However, without effective checks and balances in the Constitution, we saw how the powers vested in the executive presidency turned even politicians with democratic credentials into unchecked autocrats or even out and out dictators. Some even acted like virtual monarchs. Sri Lanka became a political lab for students researching on the validity of Lord Actons famous statement that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. In advanced democracies like the United States, a study of amendments shows they have been made to strengthen democracy and shut loopholes for the abuse of power. But in Sri Lanka, the history of constitutional amendments shows they have been made largely to make the president and the ruling party more powerful. Of the 19 amendments made to the 1978 Constitution so far, eight could be identified as being politically motivated ones. They included the Second Amendment also known as the infamous Rajadurai Amendment and the preposterous 18th Amendment which can easily be labelled as the Rajapaksa era democracy killer, for it repealed the democracy-enhancing 17th Amendement. "The Constitution of the United States was made based on the Montasqueius model. Under this model, the political authority of the state is divided into legislative, executive and judicial powers" It was depressing to note the manner in which the so-called Joint Opposition MPs expressed their opposition to many of the 19th Amendments pro-democracy clauses when it was being debated in Parliament in 2015. Instead of strengthening it, they extended their support for the amendement on condition that some clauses -- for instance, as this column pointed out recently, the anti-defection provision -- were withdrawn. Yet, today at a time when constitutional governance has been undermined by what is being described as unlawful usurpation of state power by a cabal backed by the executive president, democracy activists heave a sigh of relief that at least some checks and balances introduced through the 19th Amendement have survived, especially the provisions to set up the Constitutional Council and the independent commissions on police, public service, the judiciary and elections. This became evident in the Independent Police Commisisons decision to cancel the Police Chiefs directive this week to transfer an inspector probing several high profile cases linked to the Rajapaksa regime. Yes, checks and balances involving the executive, the legislature and the judiciary -- this country needs more of them to prevent abuse of power and protect democracy. The county is on a cliff. It can fall into a dark abyss or saved by the nobel intentions of those who recognise checks and balances. BRIDGEPORT Family and friends of a Stamford man killed in a crash in Bridgeport on Thanksgiving flooded social media with messages and photos in his memory. Wagner Mendez, 31, was identified Saturday by police spokesman Av Harris as the driver of the car sped south down Main Street, jumped the curb and slammed into the Webster Bank Arena around 2 p.m. on Thursday. William Andujar, who identified himself as Mendezs uncle in a comment on a photo of Mendez on Facebook, wrote that the whole family was hurting. These are very difficult moments, he wrote. Abertina Mendez Wagner wrote, I have no words to express my pain. After colliding with the front of the building, shattering two doors and knocking out a portion of brick, Mendezs car rolled over several times and he was thrown from the car and then trapped under it, Assistant Fire Chief Michael Caldaroni said Thursday shortly after the crash. By the time fire units got to the scene, he said, crews found the car on fire and the driver under the car. Firefighters were able to quickly put the flames out and extricate the driver. Mendez was taken to Bridgeport Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police Capt. Kevin Gilleran said. The Bridgeport Police Department offers its sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Wagner Mendez, Harris said Saturday. Though an exact speed was not provided, Caldroni said Mendez was driving down Main Street at, a tremendous amount of speed, before he crashed into the arena at 600 Main St. The arena was closed on Thursday, though some security were inside the building at the time of the crash. Since the building was structurally sound after the crash, the arena opened on Friday for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers hockey game. Wood covered the exposed areas that were taken out by the impact of the crash. It was unclear how long the repairs would take or how much they would cost. WESTPORT How does a person, a woman, become a religious leader in todays world? For Heather Sinclair, who joined the United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston as senior pastor in July, her journey to the pulpit wasnt always obvious. I think it was probably a call that surprised me, Sinclair, 43, said. It wasnt a lightning bolt kind of moment. I didnt hear voices from above saying you should go and do this. It was more a sense, as I moved through study and leadership and exploring my own personal faith, that it felt like the right path. Raised outside Boston in Westford, Mass., Sinclair grew up wanting to be a high school biology teacher, but when she got to Colgate University, that plan no longer felt right. I joke that I got a D in organic chemistry and that was the moment when I said this is the wrong thing, Sinclair said. That was one little piece of a bunch of other things, but felt like a pretty obvious sign, if you want to look for signs in that way. Thankfully for Sinclair, shed found new passions as a leader in Colgates campus ministry and as a student of comparative religion. Growing up Methodist, Sinclair attended church fairly regularly and described her parents as quiet leaders in the congregation, but she never thought to be a pastor. In college, however, Sinclair felt called to the religion of her youth and, encouraged by professors and campus ministry staff, decided to pursue work as a Methodist pastor. Its not just personal spirituality, its about how you connect with the world and how you bring the good news out to other people, Sinclair said of Methodism. Giving a sermon that relates the gospel to people's lives is one of her favorite parts of the job, Sinclair added. After college, Sinclair participated in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Hartford and a few years later, attended Yale University School of Divinity. Sinclairs husband, a Fairfield-based lawyer who she met at Colgate, grew up in Greenwich so the pair, who now have two elementary school-aged daughters, decided to stay in Connecticut. Most recently, Sinclair served at the United Methodist church in Greenwich and before that led congregations in Avon, New Haven, Shelton, and Trumbull. The Methodist Church has many women leaders, especially in New England, Sinclair said, noting her greatest challenge is not being a woman in the church, but being a woman and pastor. Sinclair, however, wants her struggle between the two roles to inspire others. I hope to be a role model both to girls and to women about how we can balance and be in full-time leadership positions and be a mother as well, Sinclair said. Also difficult is convincing people of the value of church, Sinclair said. I know that coming to church and getting the kids up on Sunday morning is kind of a countercultural thing these days, and I think the church is trying to figure out what that means, but I think in a lot of ways we offer a really good way for people to connect and be together, Sinclair said. svaughan@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2638; @SophieCVaughan1 The Mayor of Caledon in Southern Ontario has welcomed the building of a large distribution centre which he says will benefit the local economy. UPS is investing $200 million to build what will be its largest Canadian facility at 850,000 square feet. The move follows investment in improving its operation centres in Montreal, Edmonton, Brampton, and London; and a new facility in Kanata. Im extremely pleased and proud to welcome the highly respected global logistics company United Parcel Service (UPS), to the Town of Caledon, said Allan Thompson, Mayor of Caledon. This development will create jobs, bolster our local economy and at 850,000 square feet, will be the largest UPS facility in Canada. The small package operations hub will provide additional processing and service capacity to the GTA. Fully automated, the Caledon facility will sort up to 35,000 packages per hour and house a fleet of more than 200 package cars. The facility is anticipated to open in late 2020. Southern Ontario is an attractive hub for international trade and business, says Christoph Atz, president of UPS Canada. This new facility will serve the growing needs of businesses and consumers today and into the future. Politicians will never change the destiny of this country. And as long as you sit there in your chair and you look at politicians and you think, they are going to change it, it will never change MP Eran Wickramaratne, fortnight ago Last Monday 19 November, Parliament was adjourned to meet again today Friday 23 November. The cost of allowing these utterly destructive, indecent meetings since Wednesday 14 November is a colossal waste of public funds. From what the Asst. Secretary General of parliament has certified, the cost of a days sitting of parliament in 2017 had been a massive Rs.25.7 million.For the 04 days it was convened for no worthy purpose totalling over a 100 million rupees plus the damage caused to public property during these days. It was evident last Monday, the Speaker could not chair even the historically shortest parliament sitting that lasted a mere 10 minutes. Many wonder whether Karu Jayasuriya as Speaker lost the trust and credibility there was with him, in the post 26/10 arrogance he displayed. The Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri had to take that responsibility of adjourning parliament on a decision taken at the party leaders meeting held that morning. "The Speaker could not chair even the historically shortest parliament sitting that lasted a mere 10 minutes" Although the convening of parliament on November 14 by the Speaker was not challenged by the JO, constitutionally, only the President could reconvene a prorogued parliament. Yet, if the Speaker was set to defy that Constitutional provision, then it becomes a defiance on a political decision. He carried that decision not knowing how drastic a decision it was. Especially in a fiercely divided parliament. He could have first reached out for a compromise among parties represented in parliament and have a firm consensus to convene parliament on his decision. A more astute and experienced political personality with good common sense like late Stanley Thilakaratne, would never have taken the path that Jayasuriya took post 26/10, as Speaker. Independence of a Speaker is judged by the distance he or she keeps with his or her political party and how justly the others are treated in parliamentary business. In very chaotic situations, independence that the Speaker displays becomes an invaluable luxury. It therefore required Speaker Jayasuriya to create a more conducive, casual atmosphere to gain trust and confidence among all party leaders. To convince all of them, as Speaker he is indeed independent. It required Speaker Jayasuriya to understand that a politically charged hard line discussion, demands a non snapping patience on high moral ground to reach a final compromise. As Speaker, Jayasuriya was just the opposite. Some would say in just 03 days he lost credibility. He showed it by entering the House with a posse of policemen. It is common sense, parliamentary business cannot be conducted with a police escort around the Speaker. Such business with police has nothing to do with democracy and sovereignty of the people. Declaring the appointment of Rajapaksa unconstitutional on the basis, that his party the UNP controls the majority, he exposed himself so badly, he had to ask for police escort. His defference to the Western diplomats who were shuttling among their Colombo offices and the Temple Trees, the Speakers office and once to the presidential secretariat and not reaching out for a firm consensus among political party leaders, raised questions. Speaker Jayasuriya opened himself to being accused of engaging in partisan politics by pushing through a No Confidence Motion (NCM) in a parliament convened defying the Presidents authority and parliamentary procedure. There were glaring contradictions in how the prorogued parliament was first convened on 14 November. The Supreme Court (SC) issuing a temporary stay order valid only till 07 December to stop accepting nominations for the parliamentary elections decided for 05 January 2019, in no way dismissed or ruled the gazette notification in question as illegal or invalid. That temporary stay order therefore did not and could not validate the previous gazette reconvening parliament. If its argued as validating the previous gazette, it amounts to someone demolishing a demarcation wall of a land, on a two week temporary order given to stop completing the wall till the boundaries are verified and a final ruling is delivered. Even if such an interpretation is forced to reconvene parliament, that in no way allows the Speaker to reconvene the prorogued parliament. It was also egoistical for a much learned lawyer of the calibre of Sumanthiran to move a resolution to suspend all Standing Orders to accept a vote on a NCM against PM Rajapaksa. There are learned legal luminaries providing many interpretations, but aHouse with no Standing Orders is no House in sessions. It is Standing Orders and established traditions that make the difference between a House of Representatives and a delegates conference. Thus, without Standing Orders it could be anything else but a House in sessions within the parliamentary complex. There was yet another contradiction with the NCM. It was a contradiction because Wickremesinghe, standing ground as the constitutionally and rightfully appointed PM being a lawyer, the Leader of the House Kiriella, the Opposition Leader Sampanthan and ITAK spokesperson Sumanthiran all being lawyers with many more lawyers firmly on one shoe, arguing Rajapaksas appointment as illegal and unconstitutional and therefore saying he remains only as Kurunegala district MP, on the other shoe, challenges him with the NCM as a PM without a majority. Reluctance of vested interests of the Western diplomatic corp to accept Rajapaksa as PM should not have been the reason for a wrong footed NCM by the JVP-UNP-ITAK led alliance in parliament with such a contradiction. Politics of the sectarian and opportunism giving way to such contradictions and violations of procedure led by Jayasuriya as Speaker and the hooliganism and thuggery of the JO led MPs in retaliation, makes the parliament a mockery in representing the people. This anyway is not the parliament the people elected in August 2015. Many had crossed over for portfolios and personal benefits insulting the decisions of the voters. It continued to create majorities on questionable decisions by President Sirisena more than once and political leaders hurried to shift balance of power within parliament for their advantage. All such dirty politics in parliament cannot be washed clean with judicial interpretations and decisions on legality and constitutionality of presidential decisions. "Speaker Jayasuriya opened himself to being accused of engaging in partisan politics by pushing through a No Confidence Motion (NCM) in a parliament convened defying the Presidents authority and parliamentary proceedure" Though the funded civil society with the Colombo middle class would not want to accept, the January 2015 revolutionary change they rhetorically hyped as historical, was destined to be the chaos it is now. With the only obsession of ousting Rajapaksa, the yahapalana rule established proved as corrupt as the Rajapaksa regime or even more in just 02 months. The first Bond Scam was followed by many more deals by many ministers. Yahapalanaya had nothing significantly more democratic and transparent than the post 2010 Rajapaksa rule, though its cheer leaders refuse to accept. Even if their argument theres better democratic space post 2015 January is accepted, that has only been Colombo centric and more Sinhala Buddhist. Not democracy for Tamil and Muslims in war torn North and East. The change they still want to accept as worth the effort, did not honour any of the promises they made during the two elections in 2015, except in cosmetic form. Everything this 2015 January change brought, has only paved for a big time Rajapaksa come back, in a very crude form. This change therefore proves it had only satisfied the selfish urban middle class to believe the whole country is as comfortable as they are. It had left the vast majority of the rural society frustrated and forgotten and the urban poor struggling for a living. That in fact was what Murali meant when comparing democracy and necessities of daily life of the ordinary people. Though Colombo social activists were furious, his statement is a social interpretation within a crudely divided society where perceptions and values are defined and decided on a class basis. Colombo middle class judgements hold good for themselves within their culture of comfort, but means nothing in a struggling rural society and with the urban poor. It is all about priorities in life in different social classes. It was reflected quite forcefully when 5.01 million (40.5 per cent) voted with Rajapaksa in February 2018 LG elections. The two partners in government, the UNP reduced to 3.6 million (29.4 per cent) and President Sirisenas SLFP left on the wayside. This weird yahapalanaya has thus brought the country to its knees. Now the people need a short breather to begin anew. That cannot be achieved by allowing this parliament to continue. This parliament is full with politicians who will not change the destiny of the country as Eran Wickramaratne said. Its heavy polarization makes it dysfunctional. Sampanthans slavish request for Western diplomats to intervene cannot make it functional and legitimate. Only a quick parliamentary election where the People decide whom they elect to power can provide a breather as JVP leader Anura Kumara now argues. BUT, lets also remember that the next election will not provide any opportunity for clean politics. It would ONLY ALLOW space for a new social dialogue away from searching for new leaders. Space to dialogue on an alternate programme. Coming up with a fresh argument on what should be done to resolve the present political crisis, the United National Party (UNP) yesterday said Sri Lankan Parliament was bound to follow the tradition of House of Commons of the UK when the Sri Lankan Constitution is unclear about certain situations. This was expressed by UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella at a media briefing last morning. Mr Kiriella said the House was bound to follow Section 7 of Parliament Powers and Privileges Act where it said the House was bound to follow the tradition of the House of Commons when the local constitution was unclear on certain situations. Parliament and members thereof shall hold, enjoy and exercise, in addition to the privileges, immunities and powers conferred by this Act, such and like immunities as are for the time being held, enjoyed and exercised by the Commons House of Parliament of United Kingdom, the MP said reading out Section 7 of Parliament Powers and Privileges Act. Accordingly, he said the tradition followed by the House of Commons when it comes to the appointment of a Prime Minister was that the person who held the majority was given the post. Therefore he said President Maithripala Sirisena should appoint the person who commanded a majority in the House as the Prime Minister. He said Secretaries to Ministries ceased to hold office upon a dissolution if the Cabinet under the Provisions of the Constitution or upon a determination by the President under the Article 43 or 44 which results in the Ministry ceasing to exist. Mr Kiriella, therefore, said a Cabinet does not exist at the moment Speaker announced that it does not exist with the approval of the No Confidence Motion against the present regime. In such circumstances Secretaries cannot carry out any function at the moment, he said. Referring to the request that had been made by the venerable Mahanayakes to set up a Caretaker Government under newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe could not be fulfilled as there were no provisions for such a Government in the Constitution. UNP MP Harshana Rajakaruna who also participated at the briefing said the Mahanayake Theras had expressed their displeasure over the present political crisis. He said they expressed their displeasure when the UNP delegation met them on Tuesday. (Yohan Perera) Pix by Nisal Baduge Rejecting media reports that the government was unable to repay loans next year, the Finance Ministry said loans would be serviced and repaid during the 2019 financial year. Issuing a statement, the Ministry said: The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has raised loans in terms of the provisions of the specific laws including the Registered Stock and Securities Ordinance, No. 7 of 1937, Local Treasury Bills Ordinance, No. 8 of 1923 and the Foreign Loans Act, No. 29 of 1957. As such, any dues on such loans that may arise, in accordance with the respective terms and conditions attributed to such borrowings, can validly be charged on the Consolidated Fund as provided for, in the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and such specific laws as noted. Therefore, the GOSL wishes to assure all lenders that all such dues will be met on the due dates as has been the time honoured tradition of the country where we have maintained an unblemished track record of debt payments. Further, we wish to note that this Ministry has been closely collaborating with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to ensure that adequate buffers are created and maintained in view of the dues that will arise in 2019 especially the repayment of the International Sovereign Bond (ISB) amounting to USD1,500 million maturing during the year 2019. Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I met a man visiting town who intrigued me and I went out with him, seduced him, fell for him and then he went back to Ontario where he lives. He used to be a Winnipegger. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 22/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I met a man visiting town who intrigued me and I went out with him, seduced him, fell for him and then he went back to Ontario where he lives. He used to be a Winnipegger. Yesterday, I got a screaming phone call from a woman, calling me nasty names like "ho" for "jumping" her boyfriend. She claimed theyd been living together three years in Toronto. She said he came home and told her he was not in love with her, and had found a woman in Winnipeg he wanted to start seeing, even if he had to fly to do it. She asked him if hed had sex with me, and he told her yes. She went nuts. He hadnt told me about this live-in girlfriend. I really took a shine to this man in every way, and I think I could be serious about him, but he isnt entirely honest. Hes obviously crazy about me, though, and Im no angel. I slept with him right off the hop, and wasnt sorry. I got ahold of him PDQ at his office after she hung up. He said he was sorry, that he really "deeply liked" me, but that he never should have done "it" and wouldnt blame me if I never wanted to see him again. Then he said he was moving out and had his boxes packed. He said he really liked me and thought we could have something big and he really wanted to keep seeing me. Should I trust him and keep seeing him? Torn Two Ways, Winnipeg Dear Torn: Hes enamoured, alright. He did go home and break up with the woman in Toronto over you, and tell her about you. Its too bad he kept his home life a secret, but to his credit he did remedy that right away, so hes single now. You may not trust him 100 per cent, but you can trust that hes crazy about you. The big question now is how YOU feel about him. You dont owe him anything in terms of dating because he broke up with his girlfriend in Toronto. He may have been at the end of the road with her by then or not. So lets take a look at future reality. What youre looking at is a long-distance relationship to see what happens. Are you into him enough for that? Theres nothing worse than romantic questions left unanswered in situations like this. So why not give it a try and see what happens? Make sure he proves his sincerity by buying the airplane tickets, and you both need to talk about levels of real honesty right now. Perhaps he was "swept away" by you, which means that could happen with someone else down the road. You both need to promise you will tell each other ahead, if things arent working out, before seeing other people. Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: My girlfriend half-woke from a nightmare and started whaling on my head with her pillow, and holding it down. I woke up thinking I was going to get killed. I wrestled her down to the bed and got her fully woken up and she was horrified at what shed done. Its "over," but now I cant sleep at night, lying awake waiting for it to happen again. The last few nights Ive slept in the other room with the door locked. My lady is highly insulted and hurt. Please help. Ambushed in the Night, St. Vital Dear Ambushed: You need to take this problem "into the shop." See a psychologist for an emergency session or two, and work out what happened to cause this nightmare and aggression how to make sure it doesnt happen again. Itd be best if you both paid half, unless one or both of you have insurance. As the rhetoric heats up in Ottawa over exactly how many Canada Post trailers are sitting undelivered, countless small business owners across the country are waiting helplessly for postal service to be fully restored with their livelihoods at stake. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. As the rhetoric heats up in Ottawa over exactly how many Canada Post trailers are sitting undelivered, countless small business owners across the country are waiting helplessly for postal service to be fully restored with their livelihoods at stake. Maureen Lyons, a stay-at-home mom with four children and a health disability, is one of them. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Maureen Lyons runs a toy shipping business out of her home and relies exclusively on Canada Post. Her Winnipeg E-Bay business, Mo McQueen and Sons, selling Disney Pixar Cars and Lego collectibles, uses Canada Post exclusively for shipping her product and November and December sales provide crucial income for her family. The news on Wednesday that the Trudeau government has given notice that it's prepared to introduce back to work legislation provided her with some hope. "This is decimating retail at this allimportant critical holiday shopping season." John Graham the Manitoba/Saskatchewan director of government relations for the Retail Council of Canada "It's a step in the right direction," Lyons said. She's already trying to figure out which bills she'll delay paying as orders ground to halt a week ago when Canada Post said it might take a whole month to clear up the backlog. But if the system can return to full service soon, it might be enough for her to make up some of the lost sales. "If by the end of the week, by some miracle, things could resume or at least the shopping publics faith in the system of delivery could be restored, I think it would help a great deal," she said. Lyons is among the thousands of small business operators who, because they are not large enough to broker discounts with other courier services, must rely on Canada Post. E-Bay sellers across the country have suffered with the uncertainty that buyers might not get their deliveries by Christmas. "We are as grassroots as it gets," she said. "I don't make a ton of money as it is. It is so frustrating. We're the little guys. And I'm not just a seller... I'm also trying to find things for my own children for Christmas that I can't get." All sorts of grief is already rippling through the retail sector as parcel delivery is being disrupted with rotating strikes for the past five weeks. John Graham the Manitoba/Saskatchewan director of government relations for the Retail Council of Canada, said his organization went so far as to reach out directly to the prime minister's office imploring the government to take action. "This is decimating retail at this all-important critical holiday shopping season," he said. Regardless of how many Canada Post trailers are sitting undelivered, Graham said the number will increase by 50 per cent this weekend if normal on-line buying habits occur. Related Items Click to Expand Poll Loading... Should the federal government step in to end the postal strike? Yes, postal service is far too important to be held hostage by negotiations. No, the right to negotiate fairly is too important to be held hostage by business. Yes, and both sides should be stripped of the right to use work stoppages to force settlement. Should the federal government step in to end the postal strike? Yes, postal service is far too important to be held hostage by negotiations. 36% (181 votes) No, the right to negotiate fairly is too important to be held hostage by business. 22% (107 votes) Yes, and both sides should be stripped of the right to use work stoppages to force settlement. 42% (209 votes) Total Votes: 497 View ResultsHide Results "Complicating that is the fact that about two-thirds of Canadians' on-line shopping shipments go through Canada Post," he said. "For a lot of retail businesses, these next six weeks are critical to ensuring long term sustainability." Over the past number of years many consumers have graduated to an omni-channel shopping experience where they do some in-store and some on-line shopping often with the same retailer. The Canada Post service disruption might mean more shoppers visit bricks and mortar stores this year. Peter Havens, the general manager of Polo Park mall, said it's too early to tell if there's a change in the traffic flow. "I haven't seen anything particular yet other than seasonal increases," he said. "This time of the year always starts ramping up for us at Polo Park anyway. To say whether or not it is directly tied to the postal strike is too hard to know." Large national retailers are doing whatever they can to mitigate the inconvenience to shoppers. For instance, a Best Buy Canada official said it is anticipating more demand for its reserve and pick-up service where customers can reserve a product on-line and pick up and pay for it the same day at their local Best Buy store. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca One of two Stony Mountain Institution prisoners accused of killing a fellow inmate earlier this month was transferred to Manitoba after he murdered an inmate in Alberta. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. One of two Stony Mountain Institution prisoners accused of killing a fellow inmate earlier this month was transferred to Manitoba after he murdered an inmate in Alberta. Nolan Thomas, 26, died during a Nov. 2 fight at Stony Mountain, RCMP later said. Two men have been charged with first-degree murder. One of them -- 47-year-old Todd Jeffrey Irving -- has a long history of violence and was already serving a life sentence for murdering an inmate at the Drumheller Institution. Irving was convicted of first-degree murder for the March 23, 2004, death of 34-year-old Roy Eyre. Irving was convicted of robbery in 1988, and went on to serve a 12-year sentence for attempted murder, forcible confinement, and possession of a weapon. His violent behaviour continued behind bars, as did his substance-abuse problems, according to parole board documents from his most recent hearing in 2000. The report notes Irving used a makeshift knife to hold hostage a female correctional staff member in 1996, and had been assessed as having anti-social personality disorder. "You display an attitude of indifference regarding your behaviour, lack remorse for your actions and have no insight into the harm caused your victims or the impact on them. You have a poorly developed conscience, are restless, impulsive and irresponsible," Irving's parole board documents state. At the time, he had been accepted into a residential facility and the parole board denied him leave privileges. Cory Edward Derdak, 26, is co-accused in Thomas's death. Five years ago, the parole board noted Derdak's alcohol and drug abuse was contributing to his criminal behaviour, which included robbing a store to get cigarettes. Thomas has no criminal record in Manitoba, and had likely been transferred to Stony Mountain from another prison. RCMP and local chiefs and councils have pledged to work together to share information when a death on a Manitoba First Nation triggers a police investigation. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. SUPPLIED Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas and Manitoba RCMP "D" commanding officer, assistant commissioner Scott Kolody sign an agreement on a communications protocol for incidents on Manitoba First Nations. RCMP and local chiefs and councils have pledged to work together to share information when a death on a Manitoba First Nation triggers a police investigation. That's a fundamental part of a five-year agreement signed by First Nations and Manitoba RCMP at an Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs meeting in Winnipeg Wednesday. As chiefs watched during an assembly at Assiniboia Downs, the province's four grand chiefs celebrated the signing of the policing protocol with the commanding officer of Manitoba's RCMP, assistant commissioner Scott Kolody. The three other regional leaders who attended are Assembly of First Nations regional chief Kevin Hart, along with Garrison Settee, the grand chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and Jerry Daniels, his counterpart at the Southern Chiefs Organization. AMC's Grand Chief Arlen Dumas said in a statement that the focus of the public safety co-operation protocol is to establish trust with police, avert potential conflict, prevent personal harm and enhance safety and security. As part of the protocol, the RCMP and AMC agreed to ongoing communications to ensure that both have access to timely and accurate information. The agreement also sets out a protocol for joint RCMP and AMC response to incidents, as required. "Although it is very sad, the main point of this protocol is to deal with matters where death has occurred," Dumas said in the statement. Dumas said the province's chiefs asked for the protocol. There's a general acknowledgement that RCMP are working to create positive relationships with First Nations, Dumas said, but there is also a bitter history of distrust to overcome. "This protocol was a reaffirmation that was demanded by our communities and our leadership. There were many historical injustices, the issues (for example) with Fox Lake. And there was a request we sit down with the RCMP and develop ways forward, to deal with historic wrongdoing and also to develop new pathways to guide us," Dumas said. The last policing protocol between Manitoba First Nations and RCMP was in 2009. RCMP officers were accused this summer to have been complicit in sexual assaults allegedly committed by Hydro workers dating back to the 1960s. The accounts were gathered from members of the Fox Lake Cree Nation, the community in Gilliam that was the staging ground for northern dam construction. They were contained in a report compiled by the Clean Environment Commission that focused on the effects of hydro development in the north. The province released the report last summer, to instant public outrage. The provincial report recounted damning allegations of discrimination, assaults and sexual abuse by Hydro workers during the construction of northern dams. It also alleged RCMP were complicit in the brutalization of men and the exploitation of women. It said Mounties failed to take complaints seriously, although there were accounts some complaints were addressed. The call for a protocol followed the release of the report. It's also not uncommon for community leaders to say they feel sidelined as police investigations proceed and with a legacy of historic wrongs, both sides said they feel better with the new accord to guide them. Dumas said the protocol allows for greater clarity on the roles and functions of political and community leadership, local customs and the legal foundations for band council resolutions, which carry the weight of federal law within the boundaries of a First Nation. A built-in mechanism allows for a review of the effectiveness of the protocol every year. Kolody called the protocol a "testament of our relationship with First Nations communities in Manitoba," and said he was grateful for the opportunity to set out the guidelines. "What this is about is our relations with First Nations communities. And it's historic because it renews our commitment to ensure we have open communications on our many different initiatives and as issues arise in our communities," Kolody said. There are 58 RCMP detachments in Manitoba, many of them on First Nations in remote and northern locations. alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca City workers carried out a massive cleanup of a St. Mary's Road property Wednesday, ordered under Winnipeg's livability bylaw Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. City workers carried out a massive cleanup of a St. Mary's Road property Wednesday, ordered under Winnipeg's livability bylaw Neighbours had been complaining for several years about the condition of the property at 3399 St. Mary's Rd., voicing concern for the health and safety of farm animals and cats on the property. A police spokesman said officers were on site to assist executing a safe neighbourhoods and livability warrant. And a city spokesman said bylaw officers would remain at the property until the required work being done with power equipment and large garbage containers was completed. Provincial veterinarians were also on hand due to the presence of dozens of pigs and cattle. Streams and waterways may appear calm and safe, but tragedy can strike at any time. Promoting unsafe water is a danger to guests and a threat to the industry Swift measures vital to prevent recurrence of what happened at Huluganga The hospitality industry in Sri Lanka must take serious note of water safety in the pools they promote to safeguard their guests from hazardous situations. But todays competitive tourist industry prompts certain hotels and guest-houses to, knowingly or unknowingly, promote unsafe activities, disregarding the safety of their guests. If this issue is ignored, Sri Lanka may gain a reputation for being an unsafe tourist destination, causing irreparable damage to our status as the worlds number-one tourist destination in 2019. Water-related deaths account for the second highest number of accidental deaths in the country annually, after road traffic incidents. According to police data, 412 people drowned from January to June this year. Nearly 760 people drowned in 2016 and 678 in 2017. But when tragedy strikes, the victims are often blamed, and no protective measures are taken or anyone held accountable. What is overlooked is that people are often guided or enticed to unsafe spots, or are unaware of potentially dangerous situations, due to the unavailability of proper safety measures and awareness mechanisms. When a young German tourist fell to her death off the unprotected precipice at Worlds End recently she was blamed for being negligent in taking a selfie. But the fact that a 4,000 ft (1,200 m) cliff remains unprotected with no fence around, allowing for such fatalities to occur, remains overlooked and unaddressed. Another case in point is the tragic deaths of five young executives from a leading apparel company in April this year. The victims were swept away in a flash flood in Huluganga in the Knuckles range while on a pre-Avurudu outing with their colleagues. The incident left five families devastated and searching for answers. Daily Mirror re-visited this incident to highlight the inconsistencies in laws, guidelines and practices of hotels regarding water-safety, and the negligence and lack of accountability associated with it. On 7 April 2018, a group of 19 colleagues booked into a private two-star guest-house in the Mulberry estate in Huluganga. One of the attractions of the guest-house was a natural pool and mini-waterfall, promoted by the hotel as being in their backyard, and for the private use of their guests. It was at this natural pool that the tragedy took place. The guest-house had advertised, through on-line media, pictures of happy guests bathing and relaxing in the same location. They invite people to use the natural pool, promoting it as our natural pond. Promotional drone video footage shows this pool as well, panning over the area where the victims were swept away. The location is promoted as a place of tranquility. And the environment was quiet enough when the group reached the guest-house around 1.30 pm. Tired from their journey, they sought a refreshing swim. But there was no water in the hotels man-made pool. So they ordered lunch and stacked their bags and belonging in their rooms. They then made their way to the guest-houses heavily-advertised natural pool, guided by a hotel worker. The climate was not ominous, with just a drizzle in the air. There was no cause for alarm, or so they thought. But the drizzle marked the beginning of the rainy season. The group did not know that when the Knuckles range received rainfall, water gushed downstream suddenly, creating flash floods. In fact on November 4 2017, eight people drowned in Thelgamuwa Oya in the Laggala Police Division following flash floods. This waterway, known as Daluk Oya, also flows from the Knuckles range. But the group was unaware of the danger of flash floods. Moreover, there were no warning signs, red flags or protective structure at the pool that should have warned them. The water was just knee-deep, and the natural pool was clear and calm. But sources pointed out that the change in the sky above the Knuckles range was visible to the guest-house, and the hotel should not, under any circumstances, have allowed their guests to use the natural pool under such weather conditions. In fact in one social media post the guest-house says the rain is over and this is the perfect time to jump into the stream, indicating they knew of the dangers of rain. Witnesses to the tragedy said a large volume of muddy water had suddenly crashed downstream and swept the five victims away. The high gradient and rocky terrain blocked any chance of escape. The others had briefly got out of the water just before the wave descended, if not the death toll would have been higher. The survivors ran up to the guest-house crying for help, and then ran down towards the town to seek help from the villagers, some of whom risked their lives to recover the bodies from the raging waters. Pradeshiya Sabha Member Sudantha Liyanage who helped in the rescue operation said villagers knew of the danger of flash floods downstream when there was rain in the Knuckles range above. He said the drowning of the group was preventable, and blamed the guest-house for negligence. The hotel has built a pathway to the natural pool. This shows that they knew their guests would definitely go down there. The hotel should have employed a trained guide or at least someone experienced from the village to direct guests to this place. Any villager would have told you it was dangerous to go down to the pool at that time, he said. There are ten to fifteen hotels built along the Knuckles range. They dont provide any guides. That day there were 19 guests who visited the hotel, but there was only an old couple in the hotel to prepare meals. Lives would not be lost in this manner if hotels simply employed experienced guides, he added. Lawyer and academic Kelum Samarasena, who runs a social-media platform called Safe Waters which alerts people on water safety and possible flash floods, said flash floods were common from mid-March to early-April, which was when the Huluganga tragedy took place. Samarasena who visited the site of the tragedy noted that only visitors to the guest-house had access to the natural pool, and no one could reach it unless guided, as it was secluded. The hotel had taken no reasonable care to prevent the drownings. Evidence shows that the hotel had directed, guided, not supervised, not discouraged or warned to a reasonable degree, the group of 19 guests, about a danger that could be termed as reasonably foreseeable, he said. Culpability and liability should therefore lie with the hotel under tort of negligence of Civil Law, he added. Mr. Samarasena noted that in cases of negligence parents could take legal action, but they often blamed such incidents on fate and beliefs. Legal action for negligence is shamefully low because Sri Lankans are culturally conditioned, he said. He cited the case where a prominent beach hotel in Kalutara was held liable for the acts of a driver. In that case the car had collided with a train and the tourists in the car were injured. Drowning is a silent killer. Nothing appears to have been done to address drowning, he stressed. President of Sri Lanka Life Saving (SLLS), Asanka Nanayakkara, said the guidelines to prevent drownings in hotel pools were insufficient. The Tourism Act states the minimum requirements that should be followed, but the guidelines are insufficient to prevent drowning incidents, he said. As a national association we follow the Australian guidelines. But there is no regulation to enforce these on hotels, he added. Hotels usually display a red flag or warning sign, irrespective of whether the water is calm or not. Certain five-star hotels in Sri Lanka have boards saying there are no lifeguards on duty and that people should swim at their own risk, he said. Nanayakkara recommended the deployment of life guards as the best solution. Commenting on safety measures to prevent drowning in pools, President of The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL), Sanath Ukwatte, said hotels must follow the internationally accepted practice of placing red flags. If theres a red flag on a beach and a person takes a bath its at their own risk. Most hotels have lifeguards in pools and on the beach, he said. But he added that most guest-houses are not registered, which highlights a serious gap to effectively monitoring the safety of guests at hotels. Meanwhile media spokesperson of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Rasika Jayakody pointed out that a pool belonging to a licensed guest-house, be it a swimming pool or a natural pool, falls within the quality control measures of the SLTDA. He added that all guest-houses must be Tourist Board registered, and places not registered were illegal. Operating without a license is illegal for a restaurant, guest-house or tourist hotel. A license is not optional, it is mandatory under the Tourism Act of 2005. The Enforcement Unit of SLTDA is pursuing legal action against service providers who repeatedly ignore our warnings to obtain a valid license, he warned. He added that nearly 50 percent of hotels and similar service providers operating in Sri Lanka were not registered. Regulations made under Section 49(1) of the Tourism Act No. 38 of 2005 states that precautions should be taken in sea-side hotels and hotels with swimming pools for the safety of the users. Further, cautionary and warning signs conforming to international standards must be displayed prominently. Depth markings and internationally accepted safety signs should be permanently displayed, and suitably qualified lifeguards should be available at pools. Further, the hotel should be covered by Comprehensive Hoteliers Insurance Policy including public liability and workmens compensation. But whether all hotels adhere to such laws and standards is doubtful, especially in the context of many remaining unregistered. The public should check if their hotel is licensed before checking-in. The SLTDA urges the public to use licensed tourism service providers as they have to adhere to strict quality controls, Mr. Jayakody said. He said that under the Tourism Act it was mandatory to inspect such establishments annually. Pre-requisition of the fire safety certificate and insurance policy covering public liability is mandatory in order to register or renew the license, he stressed. Recently, a National Plan to reduce drowning-related deaths was introduced. The plan aims at creating public awareness and formulating a risk profile for beaches and waterways in Sri Lanka. It advocates training and forming lifesaving teams, conducting investigations and assessments on drowning and water safety, contributing to tourism development through safe water related activities, formulating water safety rules and regulations, collecting, compiling and preserving data for analysis and evaluation, and establishing a media unit on water safety. "Recently, a National Plan to reduce drowning-related deaths was introduced. The plan aims at creating public awareness and formulating a risk profile for beaches and waterways in Sri Lanka" The full implementation of this National Plan is urgently needed, especially as incidents of drowning in pools promoted by hotels and guest-houses are preventable. It is imperative that hoteliers take cognizance of required safety measures to prevent drownings and other similar deaths. Where the law is unclear and inadequate,it must be revamped, and authorities must strictly monitor whether adequate safety measures are in place. Violators should be penalized. Mushrooming unregistered illegal guest-houses and hotels further complicate the problem by jeopardizing the lives of guests. Tourists are enticed by promotional material urging them to enjoy the pleasures of nature, and blissfully indulge in water-related activities. In a bid to multiply profits, hoteliers often neglect their guests safety. If there is no calculated attempt to create awareness of such dangers, authorities will be unable to avert more preventable deaths, and innocent lives will continue to be lost in vain. Manitobas Justice Department made public Wednesday annual reports prepared by the provinces police watchdog, days after a Free Press report discovered they were missing. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitobas Justice Department made public Wednesday annual reports prepared by the provinces police watchdog, days after a Free Press report discovered they were missing. Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitobas last annual report (for 2016-17) wasnt properly tabled because of "an administrative error." Meantime, the 2017-18 report was tabled on time, he said. The Free Press undertook the four-part series to examine the effectiveness of the provinces 3 1/2-year-old civilian-led police watchdog and its relationship with the Winnipeg Police Service. Hundreds of documents obtained by the Free Press uncovered numerous roadblocks encountered by the IIU from officers not co-operating, to disappearing complaints, to institutional pushback, to jurisdictional disputes that have undermined the agencys effectiveness. IIU civilian director Zane Tessler alluded to those difficulties in the two annual reports that were made public Wednesday. Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba director Zane Tessler "The IIU continues to work with police agencies in Manitoba to ensure that information required to advance an investigation is provided to the IIU in a timely fashion," he writes in the 2017-18 report. "While the legislation outlines the obligations of police agencies and the IIU in an investigation, discussions continue between all parties to ensure issues are resolved or recommendations for legislative change are advanced." He made a similar observation in the report from the previous year. "It is paramount that the investigative team is able to obtain the information it requires in order to advance an investigation to its next stage and ultimately to conclusion," he wrote in the 2016-17 report. "The IIU will continue to work with and educate all involved parties and police agencies about the role of the IIU and the roles and obligations of each person within an investigation." Cullen said Wednesday he wasn't aware of the jurisdictional battles playing out between the IIU and the WPS until learning about problems this week. 'Little point in laying a charge' While Manitobas police watchdog has laid only seven charges in its 3 1/2-year history, in a handful of cases the Independent Investigation Unit has gathered enough evidence against officers that it has sought an opinion from Crown prosecutors. On at least six occasions the Manitoba Prosecution Services decided there was no reasonable likelihood of a conviction. click to read more While Manitobas police watchdog has laid only seven charges in its 3 1/2-year history, in a handful of cases the Independent Investigation Unit has gathered enough evidence against officers that it has sought an opinion from Crown prosecutors. On at least six occasions the Manitoba Prosecution Services decided there was no reasonable likelihood of a conviction. And when that happens, the IIU closes its file and clears the officer or officers being investigated. As civilian director, I may lay a charge directly if the necessary grounds exist.... However, if circumstances warrant, I may choose to refer a case to the Crown for an opinion, IIU civilian director Zane Tessler said in a written statement. There would be little point in laying a charge only to have it stayed by the Crown. A recent four-part Free Press series revealed numerous roadblocks thrown up by police, both individually and institutionally, that have undermined the IIUs effectiveness. Those obstacles raise questions about how many of the six cases referred to the Crown would have resulted in criminal charges if the IIU had more power over Manitoba law enforcement. On Tuesday, multiple provincial and municipal politicians expressed support for a review of The Police Services Act to see what changes if any need to be made to give the watchdog more bite. Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont called for a legislative overhaul to give the IIU the power to compel the evidence and testimony it needs during investigations. A recent case flagged to the Crowns office for a second opinion involved a man 44-year-old Richard Kakish who died in the Winnipeg remand centre. The IIU closed its investigation into the death on Oct. 30 after the Crown said there was no reasonable likelihood the subject officers would be convicted. On Nov. 16, the province announced an inquest had been called in to Kakishs death. The manner of death listed on the autopsy report was homicide. Ryan Thorpe Close He said the province is committed to reviewing the Police Services Act, which it promised in Tuesdays throne speech, but wasnt yet prepared to include the IIU. "We havent heard that outcry from Manitobans yet," he said. "I think its an opportunity for us to open the door, to have that discussion to see how (the IIU) might be more effective in terms of legislation," Cullen said. "Maybe in the short term there could be something, some other approaches that we may need to take." Details of the review, including a timeline, are still being worked out, Cullen added. On Nov. 17, the Free Press published the first instalment in a four-part series detailing past battles between the police force and the oversight agency. The series continued Monday to Wednesday. "Certainly this latest situation with IIU has just come to light, so we look forward to digging a little deeper on that side of it," Cullen said. The Justice Department oversees the IIU, which was established in 2015 in the aftermath of the provincial Taman Inquiry, which examined the botched investigation of an Winnipeg police officer who rear-ended a vehicle in 2005 while impaired, killing the woman behind the wheel. In August, Cullen took over the justice portfolio from Heather Stefanson, who now oversees the Families Department. A spokesperson for Stefanson said the minister didn't recall hearing about any issues between the IIU and WPS during her time in justice. Tessler has met with Justice Department officials to discuss IIU issues, Cullen said. The minister said he looks forward to "having a more fulsome discussion" with Tessler soon. NDP justice critic Nahanni Fontaine said it appears the IIU fell off the justice minister's radar. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine. "Certainly I would respectfully say that if the minister of justice is only hearing about concerns that are being raised in the last couple of days, then I would suspect or I would suggest to you that thats not been his priority, or even maybe the previous ministers priority," she said. Fontaine worked with the Southern Chiefs' Organization around the time the IIU was created and said she had hoped to see more Indigenous and civilian investigators working for the oversight body, but said she wasn't sure what the current racial makeup of the 11-member investigative team is. Seven members are former police officers, three are civilians and one position is vacant. Before the IIU began operations, Fontaine said "there was a lot of faith and hope that Manitoba would join other jurisdictions and territories across the country at ensuring that theres greater transparency" in police investigations. Five other provinces British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia have dedicated oversight bodies. "There is the ability to have a best practice IIU across the country if you have a minister and a government thats willing to, first off, review it, look at it, pay attention (and) actually know what theyre doing," she said. "And so far, we havent seen that." Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont raised the oversight difficulties in the house. "One of the things that we did actually see in the report is that shootings are up, reporting is up, the IIU is drastically short-staffed," he said. "And all of this stuff was basically not seen to be important enough to pay any attention to by the justice minister, which seems to me to be absolutely incredible. "The idea that they were going to do a police review and then they happen to discover a whole bunch of reports from the Independent Investigation Unit is pretty hard to understand or explain. And it also means that theres a complete lack of oversight going all the way to the top... they seem to have been asleep at the wheel." with files from Ryan Thorpe jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @_jessbu OTTAWA The federal government will start subsidizing Canadians subscriptions and donations to news media, as well as newsroom salaries, while leaving it up to a panel of journalists to decide which agencies should qualify. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The federal government will start subsidizing Canadians subscriptions and donations to news media, as well as newsroom salaries, while leaving it up to a panel of journalists to decide which agencies should qualify. Ottawa earmarked more than a half-billion dollars for media over the next five years, in the economic statement Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled in Parliament Wednesday. "Its necessary to have a journalism sector that is robust in our democracy," Morneau told reporters. The government outlined three policy planks for the news industry. The government is proposing a non-refundable, 15 per cent tax credit "for subscriptions to Canadian digital news media." This would likely cover roughly two months of an annual digital subscription to publications such as the Winnipeg Free Press. The Liberals say this would be a temporary measure to ease legacy medias transition to digital offerings; they have not said how long the subsidy would run. News organizations would also be eligible for a permanent tax credit to "support labour costs associated with producing original news content," covering both non- and for-profit companies. The third measure would allow newsrooms to receive charitable donations and issue tax receipts. This would apply only to "non-profit journalism organizations that produce a variety of news and information of interest to Canadians." American media have taken such measures for years, and last March the Liberals hinted at introducing them here. Ottawa expects the three initiatives would cost $565 million over a five-year period, ending in March 2024. Officials said they havent determined how much each of the three measures would cost. Similarly, they could not explain why they expect it would cost only $45 million in the next fiscal year, before tripling two years later. Colette Brin, the director of Universite Lavals media studies centre in Quebec City, said Ottawa seemed to hit a balance between stimulating demand for Canadian media, shoring up newsrooms and allowing them to find new financial models. "Everything Ive seen today seems well-thought-out and promising," said Brin, who was raised in the Winnipeg neighbourhood of Windsor Park. "It might seem like a huge number from the outside, but when you look at the needs of the industry, you look at the size of the country, and all the different areas that are underfunded, that money will run out fairly quickly." The government will form an arms-length panel of journalists to determine who could qualify for the cash. "Its important to have a level of independence," Morneau said, adding details will come "in the next days and weeks." The economic statement says the panel will "define and promote core journalism standards, define professional journalism and determine eligibility." Bob Cox, publisher of the Free Press, sits on the board of the National NewsMedia Council, which has lobbied for newspaper subsidies. He said the newsroom tax credit will have the biggest impact, because its pegged to actually employing journalists. "Its a really important recognition of the value of journalism in communities across Canada," he said. "Its important support, as news outlets try to figure out how to finance that journalism." April Lindgren, a Ryerson University professor who has studied news market gaps across Canada, wasnt sure how much the subscription subsidy will incentivize Canadians to pay for news, "but every little bit helps." Edward Greenspon, head of the Public Policy Forum, said his study of Canadas news industry showed newsrooms institutional knowledge has been depleting due to cutbacks. "Tax measures to relieve labour costs are critical in todays disrupted news environment," he wrote. Wednesdays announcement also specified some of how the federal Liberals intend to spend the $50 million over five years they allotted for news media in March. The money is targeted for third-party, "not-for-profit organizations" to create copyright-free content journalists can pull from. Lindgren said similar efforts have fuelled investigative-journalism projects in Britain. For example, group-assembled datasets through access-to-information requests and court records which allow local newsrooms to find unique stories, such as the impact of cuts to rural bus service. Those projects can "provide a benefit to newsrooms of all sides, on all parts of the country," Lindgren said. Cox said hes waiting to hear more. He said those projects could help shore up smaller, community newspapers, but theyll have to avoid duplicating coverage that already exists, as that could undercut newsrooms. In any case, Cox expects a diversity of journalists from different mediums and perspectives on the panel to decide who qualifies for funding. "Everybody needs to be at the table," he said. So far, the federal Liberals have resisted numerous calls from parliamentary committees and journalism advocates to close what they call a tax loophole for social-media giants. Currently, Canadian companies get tax deductions for their advertising costs for print and broadcast only when those media are based in Canada, but the same perk applies to internet giants Google and Facebook. A senior Finance Canada source said the government is looking to align its tax policy on all digital with other developed countries through discussions led by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca A few weeks prior to Mothers Day 2017, Jason Haddad, a married father of two, was scratching his head, trying to come up with gift ideas for his wife Ewelina. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A few weeks prior to Mothers Day 2017, Jason Haddad, a married father of two, was scratching his head, trying to come up with gift ideas for his wife Ewelina. Because she was born in Poland, his initial thought was hed get her something to remind her of her homeland. After scouring the internet for hours, however, he failed to turn up anything close to what he had in mind. World Table Co. business partners Jason Haddad (right) and Luis Barros with a selection of their tables and boards that are cut out into shapes of countries. (Ruth Bonneville photos / Winnipeg Free Press) Sure he could have shrugged his shoulders and gone with flowers and a bottle of wine (we hear Adoria Vineyards in southwest Poland makes a nice Pinot Noir). Instead Haddad, founder of Creative Design Contractors, a Winnipeg firm specializing in kitchen and bathroom renos, put on his thinking cap by using a jigsaw to cut a pre-stenciled piece of wood into the shape of Poland. He then sanded and stained it, transforming it into a one-of-a-kind piece of wall decor. "She fell in love with it right away," he says, seated in a bustling Corydon Avenue cafe. "So much so that a few days later, when she was still going on about how cool it was, I started thinking, you know, there are close to 200 countries in the world. Maybe theres an opportunity to turn this into a business of some kind." World Table Company, which Haddad runs with his partner Luis Barros, made its official debut in December 2017, a few weeks before Christmas. The pair didnt have to wait long to find out they had the makings of a global hit on their hands. Soon after launching their website, they were contacted by a Winnipegger interested in purchasing a coffee table in the shape of Italy for his father-in-law, a native of Toritto, a picturesque town located about 20 kilometres from the Adriatic Sea. "The day the table was ready, he asked if I could come with him to give it to his father-in-law," Haddad says. "We went to his place of work and no word of a lie, as soon as he spotted the marker indicating where his hometown is he started tearing up. Then, after being told I was the person responsible, he came over and gave me a big hug. Thats when it really hit home; that were not just selling furniture, were selling peoples lives their family history." A birch wood table in the shape of Manitoba. Haddads and Barross line of merchandise besides their namesake pieces, World Table Company also turns out country-shaped cheese trays, wall plaques and bamboo cutting boards are manufactured in a plant on McPhillips Street. Each table takes approximately 10 hours to build, the bulk of which involves programming a computer-controlled router to cut the boards into the precise, intricate form of whatever nation is being reproduced. "It wasnt all that easy at first as Luis and I had to come up with a way to make the tables, which are about an inch and a quarter thick, more durable than your average coffee or end table as every country has parts that stick out from the mainland," he says. "People have worried if they bump into them there goes Florida or whatever but no, weve tested them and theyre definitely not going to fall apart on you." (That said, while World Table Companys products are warrantied against defects, theyre not guaranteed against annexation.) Table-wise, interested parties can choose from three types of wood maple, oak and walnut and from five different stain colours. They can also indicate what sort of legs they prefer: sleek-looking, metal hairpin legs (black, silver or white) or traditional wooden ones, all of which are built in-house. A cutting board in shape of Winnipeg. While World Table Company is predominantly an online entity for now besides their website and Etsy store, you can also order their products from Wayfair, an American e-commerce giant that sells over 10 million home furnishing items from some 10,000 suppliers there are a couple places in Winnipeg where you can get a closer look at their goods, including Made Here, situated in the underground concourse beneath the Richardson Building, and Kalyna Ukrainian Book and Gift Shop, 952 Main St. Shelley Greschuk sits on the board of the latter locale. She met Haddad at a Scattered Seeds market in October where World Table Company was a featured vendor. "He had five or six tables on display, including a Ukraine one, and I thought well, isnt that interesting," Greschuk says over the phone. "We started talking and even though its only been about a month since our conversation, the plan is to offer some stuff of theirs that will be exclusive to our store, such as Christmas ornaments. Plus well have a Ukraine table on display at all times that customers will be able to see and decide if thats something theyre interested in." A special food-grade finish is applied to the cutting boards. To date, World Table Company has filled orders from as far away as Dubai and Australia for tables in the shape of 15 separate countries, India, China and the true north, strong and free proving to be the most popular thus far. Multi-island nations such as New Zealand and the Bahamas present a bit of a problem which regions do you include and which do you leave out, he asks rhetorically but he and Barros are currently working on a project that should appeal to one of Winnipegs largest ethnic communities. "Winnipegs Filipino population keeps growing and growing and everyone associated with it is very proud of where theyre from," he says, noting he spent a week this past summer showing off tables at Folkloramas Polish pavilion, where his wife volunteers, and is mapping out a strategy to hit as many pavilions as possible, next August. "With that in mind, were developing a new style of table that should be ready to go in a matter of weeks. Without giving away too much, Ill just say its a really neat concept were pretty sure is going to go over well with our Filipino friends." Tables in the shape of China. In addition to countries, provinces and states last week they fielded a request for a table shaped like Idaho, days after they completed one patterned after Alaska Haddad and Barros also accept custom orders for other geographic features. For example, a person recently reached out to them, hoping they could duplicate a lake in northern Ontario where his family has owned a cottage for decades. They were able to, no problem, but only after they were sent a link to the body of water in question which, because it was so tiny and remote, they couldnt locate on a map. "One of the nicer custom orders weve done was for a couple, each of whom is originally from a different region in Africa but who met here in Winnipeg," Haddad says. "For that one we made a piece of wall art in the shape of the African continent, with each of their home provinces highlighted and the words love connection written at the bottom." A table in the shape of France. Lastly, because this writer was born in the province immediately west of Manitoba, we couldnt let Haddad go without asking him whether anybody out there has requested a Saskatchewan table yet. "Its funny, we did do one (table) in the shape of Saskatchewan and Manitoba joined together as one but no, no requests for Saskatchewan on its own," he says. "I have joked however that if somebody ever wants one, in order to save a bit of time, we could probably just go out and buy a rectangular piece of wood, slap some legs on it and call it a day." World Table ships all over the world now that their company is associated with Wayfair. david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca When fundraising garnered leftover crumbs, the gatekeepers of finance barely cared to notice. Now digitized, its drawing a growing portion of the financial pie, running into regulatory barriers and legal limbo in Canada. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 22/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion When fundraising garnered leftover crumbs, the gatekeepers of finance barely cared to notice. Now digitized, its drawing a growing portion of the financial pie, running into regulatory barriers and legal limbo in Canada. The critics of crowdfunding, particularly regarding private equity, make many accurate claims. Open-access financial intermediation dislodges state social services and favours savvy marketers and social media purveyors. Insofar as crowdfunding bypasses regulators, it can also have awkward ethical implications and be a vehicle for con artists. Whether those concerns hold sway depends on policy objectives, but Canadians and their representatives will have to learn to live with crowdfunding. The practice is growing by leaps and bounds for merit-worthy reasons. Its here to stay. Not only are crowdfunding bans and licences largely unenforceable since platforms defy borders and use alternative currencies they impede innovation and push out entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding is opening up the financial sector, serving acute needs and transforming how businesses raise capital. In May 2018, a Cayman Islands-based blockchain startup raised C$5.2 billion with an initial coin offering (ICO), no doubt with some Canadian funds. This was larger than any conventional initial public offering in 2018, and a sign of more to come. From 2012 to 2015, crowdfunding grew by 1,200 per cent, to US$44.8 billion per year. Fundly, a crowdfunding platform, estimates this will rise to US$390.8 billion by 2025. This projection makes sense, given few barriers to entry, widening internet and cellphone coverage and hunger for startup cash. KickStarter alone has generated funds for 151,000 projects. The average crowdfunding campaign raises US$9,100 a nod to the technologys inclusivity. Niche platforms 191 in the United States are serving different needs and cultures. Patreon, for example, enables incomes for content producers (musicians, writers, podcasters) and Ideame tailors its platform to Spanish speakers. BnkToTheFuture, a company endorsed by Richard Branson, disrupts the financial sector and connects investors with financial technology (fintech) innovations. Only equity crowdfunding is tightly restricted in Canada. However, categorizing projects can be extremely difficult. ICOs, for example, likely entail vast non-compliance in Canada and the U.S. There is no federal framework for equity crowdfunding, but seven provinces have laws to allow it on a limited basis. No equity crowdfunding campaign can exceed C$1.5 million in a year, and an Ontario law firm describes the situation as the "land of confusion." Federal regulations were due this fall, but the federal government chose to delay these until after the 2019 election. No new regulations can take effect until late 2020, given a 12-month waiting period. The delay might be a blessing in disguise. Early indications were for an aggressive regime and crackdown on ICOs and blockchain companies. Meanwhile, provinces and industry stakeholders can address concerns and offer safe havens for crowdfunding. Forward-thinking jurisdictions such as Malta and Switzerland recognize crowdfundings natural partnership with the crypto space and offer "few regulations and a favourable tax regime." Provincial legislation would ideally be harmonized. The Blockchain Research Institute in Toronto wants a single, prudent framework to "create certainty and build a competitive industry." One sensitive crowdfunding use is for costly medical procedures. This challenges the view of some Canadians that medical care is a human right above demand and supply, necessitating uniform state provision and no private sector. The Journal of Medical Ethics published an essay after the Charlie Gard case in the United Kingdom. The Harvard Medical School and University of Edinburgh authors wrote that crowdfunding is not unethical, but "its use can have unforeseen consequences that may influence conceptions of health care and how it is delivered." Publicized campaigns place the recipient in the public eye, which could be humiliating and invasive. Further, crowdfunding inevitably attracts pseudo-science, and bad actors prey on the vulnerable. Although these are legitimate concerns, crowdfunding can offer respite and is a symptom of medical failures at home. Canadians already leave the country to acquire swifter and better treatment. Crowdfunding offers competitive pressure and makes foreign treatment accessible and visible, while the Canadian Constitution Foundation is defending the right of citizens to access private care. The medical-care implications have parallels in other fields, such as education, and they disrupt prevailing assumptions regarding state activity. Ironically, in terms of inequalities, crowdfunding is self-correcting, given the vast number of participants and room for charity. However, if the unpredictability is too great for regulators, the best options are transparency requirements, legal redress and awareness campaigns to aid heightened personal responsibility. Frontier Centre for Public Policy contributor Fergus Hodgson, a Canadian citizen residing in Guatemala, is the executive editor of Antigua Report and a columnist with the Epoch Times. Troy Media Throne speeches are more than just pomp and circumstance and the opportunity for selfies between political rivals on the beautiful marble floors of the Manitoba legislature building on Broadway. They set the agenda for the legislative session and set the tone for the government as it moves into its new session. Looked at carefully, they also reveal the priorities of the government by what is said, and also what is not said. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 22/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Throne speeches are more than just pomp and circumstance and the opportunity for selfies between political rivals on the beautiful marble floors of the Manitoba legislature building on Broadway. They set the agenda for the legislative session and set the tone for the government as it moves into its new session. Looked at carefully, they also reveal the priorities of the government by what is said, and also what is not said. But they are also highly symbolic. They are delivered by the lieutenant-governor of the province, who acts as the symbol of the head of state, the Queen, but they are written by speechwriters for the government of the day. Political scientists have studied the throne speeches delivered at the federal level to understand the thematic commonalities and what they say about nationalism over the past 30 years. Janine Brodie of the University of Alberta, for example, determined that Canadian throne speeches delivered before the 2000s embraced a more neo-liberal tone that was tied to the global economy. After 2000, an analysis by Tim Nieguth (Laurentian University) and Tracey Raney (Ryerson University) found that Conservative throne speeches tended to focus on neo-conservative themes emphasizing the family, the military and threats to security while Liberals speeches talked about health care and Indigenous issues. In Manitoba, the 2018 throne speech, delivered on Tuesday by Lt.-Gov. Janice Filmon, reveals that the Pallister governments agenda is focused on the economy and is one of neo-liberalism. But at the same time, it does seem to have a social conscience, which creates a mixed message and makes it hard to pin down. First, the neo-liberalism. The economy is front and centre; the speech talks about economic issues that "threaten our prosperity" and how "we must continue to make Manitoba the most improved province, with lower taxes, better outcomes and a stronger economy." This is nothing new. The 2017 speech also talked about making Manitoba the most improved province with a "focus on long-term, sustainable measures to fix our finances, improve the services relied upon by our citizens and rebuild our economy." And in 2016, the speech from the throne promised: "Manitobas government is setting a new course, one that will focus on long-term, sustainable measures to fix our finances, repair the services relied upon by our citizens, spark the rebuilding of our economy and put our province back on a responsible fiscal track." In its past two throne speeches, the Pallister government has also given a nod to the military. The 2018 speech from the throne marked the centenary of Armistice Day and the end of the Great War. This is another way in which throne speeches participate in the symbolic process of nation-building, creating a shared sense of identity for a given population. Federally, the Conservatives have prided themselves on Canadas military prowess, so it follows logically that a Conservative provincial government would do the same. Theres also the nod in 2018 to populism with a referendum act, calling for a referendum on major tax increases, cutting red tape and regulations, a focus on justice with a commitment to the continuing review of the justice system and the rates of recidivism, as well as changes to impaired driving laws and a potential workfare program for getting people off of welfare. These are all decidedly neo-liberal ideas. Meanwhile, Pallisters government, through this throne speech, has committed itself to increasing the number of women on boards, something that should have happened a long time ago. It also focused on domestic violence and sexual harassment and spoke about "supporting victims." In addition, the governments priorities for a family resolution service to help families dealing with domestic violence is laudable. Of course, how all this will be implemented remains to be seen but, for the moment, this is all about symbolism. And if a government wants this to be seen as its priority list, then thats significant. Sure, a cynic could say that both the Conservatives and the NDP have a bit of a problem getting women interested in voting for them. The NDP have the "Wab" problem: leader Wab Kinew still hasnt sold himself as being 100 per cent redeemed from his bully past, particularly after more recent video in the provincial legislature showed him towering over wheelchair-bound Independent MLA Steven Fletcher, telling him to keep his mouth shut. The Conservatives have the "Brian" problem: Premier Brian Pallister is not always socially comfortable, either. Perhaps this latest throne speech is a symbolic way of ensuring the Conservatives can count on womens support, particularly in vote-rich Winnipeg ridings. Whatever the reason, its hard to fully grasp the motives of Pallisters Progressive Conservatives through the symbolism of their throne speeches, but their 2018 address certainly provides women with an incentive to push for a more progressive agenda in return for support. Shannon Sampert is a political scientist at the University of Winnipeg. s.sampert@uwinnipeg.caTwitter: @paulysigh Last year, Amazon dangled its new headquarters like a shimmering lure, and politicians everywhere rose like suckers to the bait. Winnipeg and many other cities assembled teams to polish their images as business-friendly locales with trained workforces and favourable tax environments no doubt, we also noted our central location. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 22/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Last year, Amazon dangled its new headquarters like a shimmering lure, and politicians everywhere rose like suckers to the bait. Winnipeg and many other cities assembled teams to polish their images as business-friendly locales with trained workforces and favourable tax environments no doubt, we also noted our central location. Setting aside the fact that if one rotates a globe while holding it in two hands, any place can be centrally located, the stampede to entice Amazon to locate in any specific city wastes tax resources and is quite unseemly. Well, Amazon has announced the "winners": New York City and Arlington, Va., will become two new "nerve" centres termed HQ2 and HQ3, respectively, and Nashville will be an operations hub. Winnipeg was out of the running from the outset, and given the incentives demanded by Amazon, we are lucky for it. We could have matched New Yorks offer of US$1.5 billion by suspending, for one year, spending on infrastructure, justice and municipal affairs, but that may have encountered some resistance. Our shallow pockets saved us. But are New York, Virginia and Tennessee really winners in their successful wooing of Amazon? When the bill comes due, taxpayers in these three states will be on the hook for more than US$2 billion in tax breaks and performance incentives. My fundamental objection is that I really wish politicians would stop using tax breaks as a form of "free" money. The reality is that all taxpayers, corporations and households alike, will subsidize these incentives. It is one thing for taxpayers to underwrite roads, student loans and low-cost housing; offering tax breaks to a company with a total value close to US$1 trillion borders on obscene. Large firms have become adept at extracting public support, usually by promising quality jobs and future tax revenues. For example, Amazon projects it will generate more than 25,000 full-time jobs for New York City. Sounds like a lot, until one realizes that the current employment for the city is 4.4 million. Amazons operations will add 0.6 per cent to the workforce. If it can hire from among the approximately 180,000 unemployed workers in the city, this might be a good thing, but likely it will need to scour employees from a wider geographic area to secure the skilled workers needed by a high-tech giant. Regardless, there will be some hiring from within the local labour market, and with the unemployment rate in New York at four per cent, a good chance exists that other employers will find it more challenging to find workers. Wages will rise, which is a good thing for workers, but so will costs for employers. This becomes a hidden cost of subsidizing Amazons operations. Another common justification for subsidizing firms to relocate is that the new operations will generate tax revenue. In the case of Amazons operations in New York, this is projected to be US$10 billion over 20 years, which may appear to be a large gain over the subsidies offered. However, most of this will come from personal income taxes on the new workers. Again, some context is useful. New York City added 50,000 jobs in the past year, which means existing businesses will eclipse the projected growth of Amazons promised employment and tax revenues without the need to offer any financial incentives. The lemming-like response of politicians to Amazons request for proposals is a classic case of the prisoners paradox, which goes like this: imagine a detective has apprehended two bank robbers who are certain to have committed the crime and hidden the loot. No proof exists. Now, this is a wily detective who needs to use trickery to extract confessions, so the two suspects are seated in separate rooms and each receives the same offer: "Confess, and if your partner does not, you will get a year in jail and your partner will remain behind bars for 10 years." The implication is that if you confess while your partner remains silent, you get out after a year and enjoy the hidden treasure. Of course, if neither of you confesses, both must be freed, while if both confess, each will go to jail for 10 years. The predictable result is that both robbers confess. Just like the detective who played the robbers, Amazon has played the politicians. If no one rose to the bait to offer financial inducements, Amazon would have been forced to choose a location without subsidy. In effect. Amazon acted as an economic hostage-taker and New York, Arlington and Nashville blinked and paid the ransom. Gregory Mason is an associate professor of economics at the University of Manitoba. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/11/2018 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. You never know where a story could take you. Ryan MacFadyen never set out to write a childrens book. But when his good friend Marlo Jurkowski was diagnosed with cancer, he knew he wanted to do something special for her. "I didnt know what I was in for, to be honest," MacFadyen, a Transcona resident and author of My Magical Moon, admitted. "But it was something I wanted to do. The book itself was what we call a book of comfort. It was inspired by Marlo, but people can apply it to their lives too." Jurkowski, a 40-year-old mother of two, was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer after taking a fall on some ice in March. "I wasnt doing well," the East St. Paul resident explained. "It spread to my liver and partly into my back." The diagnosis came as a surprise to Jurkowski, her family and friends. "I was totally healthy, a full-time mom, I went to work, volunteered, all that," she said. "It was a blessing in disguise that I took the fall on the ice, because I went in for that and found this." While undergoing chemotherapy, MacFadyen connected with another friend of Jurkowskis, illustrator and St. Vital resident Ashleigh Dineen, and started working on what would become My Magical Moon. "Before Id even had a chance to explain it, she was in," MacFadyen recalled. "I wanted to take on a rhyming feel to the book. It could be a fun read for younger kids, or adults could read it and relate it to their own situation." With the help of editors Heather MacFadyen (Ryans wife) and Cory Kelly, My Magical Moon took shape over the summer months. When Jurkowskis 40th birthday rolled around in October, they had a finished product to present her. "This was behind the scenes," Jurkowski said. "My husband and I were overwhelmed. I was bawling. Like, what do you say? Its so beautiful. I couldnt believe this had all happened. He basically just said, I wrote a book. Here." Beyond just creating something for their friend, MacFadyen and the Magical Moon team wanted the book to benefit causes dear to Jurkowski. So they made arrangements, and all proceeds from sales will go to support CancerCare Manitoba and the Girl Guides of Canada. "Im so happy this book will go to them," said Jurkowski, who has been involved with Girl Guides since she was five years old. "Its a great kids book. The fact the proceeds go to these organizations, when you put it all together, its really unbelievable." Currently, Jurkowski is on a break from radiation therapy. Her oncologist is happy with how things are going, and she is taking things one-day-at-a-time. "Were trying to be positive," she said. "I feel like I have a bit of my life back, now, compared to before." My Magical Moon launched in October, and quickly made it as high as No. 14 on Amazon.cas Childrens Book Hot New Release chart. "That was a shock," MacFadyen said. The book is now also available at McNally Robinson. On Jan. 27, the Grant Park location will be hosting a reading and book signing. "Its getting some traction on its own," MacFadyen added. "Hopefully people will buy the book, and share it," said Jurkowski. "Could you imagine if it went viral? Who knows how far it could go? Well see." With the success the book is enjoying, MacFadyen and his team havent ruled out doing a sequel. "Hey, you never know?" he laughed. "Its been such a great experience for our team involved in this. I dont see why we wouldnt do it again. We really could." You never know where a story could take you. Ryan MacFadyen never set out to write a childrens book. But when his good friend Marlo Jurkowski was diagnosed with cancer, he knew he wanted to do something special for her. "I didnt know what I was in for, to be honest," MacFadyen, a Transcona resident and author of My Magical Moon, admitted. "But it was something I wanted to do. The book itself was what we call a book of comfort. It was inspired by Marlo, but people can apply it to their lives too." Jurkowski, a 40-year-old mother of two, was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer after taking a fall on some ice in March. "I wasnt doing well," the East St. Paul resident explained. "It spread to my liver and partly into my back." The diagnosis came as a surprise to Jurkowski, her family and friends. "I was totally healthy, a full-time mom, I went to work, volunteered, all that," she said. "It was a blessing in disguise that I took the fall on the ice, because I went in for that and found this." While undergoing chemotherapy, MacFadyen connected with another friend of Jurkowskis, illustrator and St. Vital resident Ashleigh Dineen, and started working on what would become My Magical Moon. SHELDON BIRNIE All the proceeds from My Magical Moon, written by Transconas Ryan MacFadyen and illustrated by St. Vital artist Ashleigh Dineen, go to benefit CancerCare Manitoba and Girl Guides of Canada. (SHELDON BIRNIE/CANSTAR/THE HERALD) "Before Id even had a chance to explain it, she was in," MacFadyen recalled. "I wanted to take on a rhyming feel to the book. It could be a fun read for younger kids, or adults could read it and relate it to their own situation." With the help of editors Heather MacFadyen (Ryans wife) and Kori Kelly, My Magical Moon took shape over the summer months. When Jurkowskis 40th birthday rolled around in October, they had a finished product to present her. "This was behind the scenes," Jurkowski said. "My husband and I were overwhelmed. I was bawling. Like, what do you say? Its so beautiful. I couldnt believe this had all happened. He basically just said, I wrote a book. Here." Beyond just creating something for their friend, MacFadyen and the Magical Moon team wanted the book to benefit causes dear to Jurkowski. So they made arrangements, and all proceeds from sales will go to support CancerCare Manitoba and the Girl Guides of Canada. "Im so happy this book will go to them," said Jurkowski, who has been involved with Girl Guides since she was five years old. "Its a great kids book. The fact the proceeds go to these organizations, when you put it all together, its really unbelievable." Currently, Jurkowski is on a break from radiation therapy. Her oncologist is happy with how things are going, and she is taking things one-day-at-a-time. "Were trying to be positive," she said. "I feel like I have a bit of my life back, now, compared to before." My Magical Moon launched in October, and quickly made it as high as No. 14 on Amazon.cas Childrens Book Hot New Release chart. "That was a shock," MacFadyen said. The book is now also available at McNally Robinson. On Jan. 27, the Grant Park location will be hosting a reading and book signing. "Its getting some traction on its own," MacFadyen added. "Hopefully people will buy the book, and share it," said Jurkowski. "Could you imagine if it went viral? Who knows how far it could go? Well see." With the success the book is enjoying, MacFadyen and his team havent ruled out doing a sequel. "Hey, you never know?" he laughed. "Its been such a great experience for our team involved in this. I dont see why we wouldnt do it again. We really could." Police Narcotics Bureau Inspector Neomal Rangajeewa, who was granted bail by the Court of Appeal in connection with the deaths of 27 inmates at the Welikada prison in 2012, was reinstated yesterday, Police said. Police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said he was reinstated in his previous position at the Police Narcotics Bureau by the Police Chief on the provisions of the Establishments Code. IP Rangajeewa had filed an appeal at the IGP Help Desk to reinstate him. IP Rangajeewa, who was in remanded custody in connection with the investigation on the deaths of 27 inmates at the Welikada prison in 2012, was granted bail by the Court of Appeal on October 29. The following companies are subsidiares of TransUnion: Accupost Corporation, AppLock Limited, Auditz, Autolocator (Pty) Ltd., Beheer en Beleggingsmaatchapij Stivaco B.V., CIFIN S.A.S, [email protected] plc, Callcredit Data Solutions Limited, Callcredit Information, Callcredit Lead Generation Limited, Callcredit Marketing Ltd., Callcredit Public Sector Limited, Callcredit Spain S.L.U, Centro de Informacion y Estudios Estrategicos Empresariales S.A., Centro de Operaciones Servicios de Informacion Estrategica S.A., CheckMend Ltd., Coactiva Limited, Collection Africa Ltd., Confirma Sistemas de Informacion S.L., Credit Bureau of Carmel & Pebble Beach Inc., Credit Information Services Limited, Credit Information Systems Company Limited, Credit Reference Bureau (Holdings) Limited, Credit Reference Bureau Africa (Pty) Ltd., Credit Reference Bureau Africa Ltd., Credit Reporting Services Limited, Credit Retriever LLC, Crivo, Crown Acquisition BidCo Ltd., Crown Acquisition Consumer Ltd., Crown Acquisition MidCo Ltd., Crown Acquisition MidCo. 2 Ltd., Crown Acquisition TopCo. Ltd., DMWSL 617 Ltd., DMWSL 618 Ltd., DMWSL 619 Ltd., DMWSL 620 Ltd., DataLink Services, Datalink Services Inc., Decision Systems Inc., DecisionMetrics Limited, Diversified Data Development Corporation, Drivers History Inc., Drivers History Information Sales LLC, FT Holdings Inc., FactorTrust, FactorTrust Inc., GMAP Japan KK, GMAP Marketing Consulting Shangahi Co. Ltd, Healthcare Payment Specialists, INSDEC LLC, IS Resources Inc., Immobilise.com Limited, L2C Inc., L2C Inc., Link Marketing Inc., Link2credit Inc., Moussoro Participacoes Ltda., RTech, RTech Healthcare Revenue Technologies Inc., Recipero, Recipero Inc., Recipero Limited, Regional Data Systems Limited, RentPort, Rubixis, Rubixis Inc., Rubixis Technologies Private Limited, STS Vail Beheeren Administracion S. DE. R.L. DE C.V., Servicios y Asesoria S CO BC SA de CV, Signal, Soluciones de Informatica de Centroamerica (SICE) S.A., Source USA Insurance Agency Inc., Tenant ID Limited, Title Insurance Services Corporation, Trans Union Central America S.A., Trans Union Chile S.A., Trans Union Content Solutions LLC, Trans Union Costa Rica S.A., Trans Union Guatemala S.A., Trans Union Honduras-Buro de Credito S.A., Trans Union International Inc., Trans Union LLC, Trans Union Nicaragua S.A., Trans Union Real Estate Services Inc., Trans Union Software Services Private Limited, Trans Union de Puerto Rico Inc., Trans Union of Canada Inc., TransUnion (Mauritius) Limited, TransUnion (Proprietary) Ltd., TransUnion Africa (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Analytic and Decision Services (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Asia Ltd., TransUnion Auto Information Solutions (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Baltics UAB, TransUnion Brasil Sistemas em Informatica Ltda., TransUnion CIBIL Limited, TransUnion Colombia Ltda., TransUnion Consumer Solutions LLC, TransUnion Credit Bureau (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Credit Bureau Namibia (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Data Solutions LLC, TransUnion Digital LLC, TransUnion El Salvador S.A. de C.V., TransUnion Exchange LLC, TransUnion Financing Corporation, TransUnion Global Holdings LLC, TransUnion Global Holdings LP, TransUnion Global Technology Center LLP, TransUnion Healthcare Inc., TransUnion Holding Cyprus Ltd., TransUnion ITC (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Information Group Limited, TransUnion Information Services Limited, TransUnion Information Solutions Inc., TransUnion Information Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., TransUnion Intelligence LLC, TransUnion Interactive Inc., TransUnion Intermediate Holdings Inc., TransUnion International Holdings LLC, TransUnion International UK Limited, TransUnion Kenya Limited, TransUnion Limited, TransUnion Ltd., TransUnion Marketing Solutions Inc., TransUnion Netherlands I B.V., TransUnion Netherlands II B.V., TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions Inc., TransUnion Reverse Exchange S de R.L. de C.V., TransUnion Risk Advisory Inc., TransUnion Risk and Alternative Data Solutions Inc., TransUnion Rwanda Limited, TransUnion S.A., TransUnion Soluciones de Informacion Chile SA, TransUnion Soluciones de Informacion S de R.L de C.V., TransUnion Teledata LLC, TransUnion UK Holdings Ltd., Tru Optik, TruSignal, TruSignal Inc., TrueLink, Trustev, Trustev Limited, Vail Holdings UK Ltd., Vail Systemen Groep B.V., Verifacts LLC, Visionary Systems Inc., Worthknowing Inc., eBureau, eBureau LLC, iovation Inc., iovation Ltd., and process benchmarking limited. MAXIMUS, Inc. engages in the operation of government and human services programs. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Services; U.S. Federal Services; and Outside the U.S. The U.S. Services segment offers a variety of business process services, and appeals and assessments for state, provincial and national government programs. The U.S. Federal Services segment includes process solutions, program management, as well as system and software development, and maintenance services for various United States federal civilian programs. The Outside the U.S segment comprises of national, state, and county human services agencies with a variety of business process services, and related consulting services for welfare-to-work, child support, higher education institutions, and other human services programs. The company was founded by David V. Mastran in 1975 and is headquartered in Reston, VA. Read More A total of Rs.122.3 million is owed to SriLankan by the Presidential Secretariat, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Commonwealth Games Committee for charted flights they have booked between 2006 and 2014, SriLankan Airlines Network Planning Manager Sumudu Upattisa informed the PCoI on Wednesday. The Presidential Commission is inquiring into irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka. Mr. Upatissa said the airlines had written to these government institutions calling for the overdue amounts. When counsel appearing on behalf of the AGs Department asked Mr. Upatissa, he said the money was due to the airlines for the several charted flights booked by these institutions during the Rajapaksa administration. There were several flights to Johannesburg, Tel Aviv, Rome and Bolivia. SriLankan does not fly to these destinations on a regular basis, he said. Mr. Upatissa told the PCoI that in a charted flight to Johannesburg in December 2013, there were only 26 passengers whereas it could carry 243. He said the Presidential Secretariat paid the airline Rs.36 million for this A340 flight which has had 38 business class seats and 205 economy class seats while on another chartered flight to Tel Aviv, Israel in January 2014, the Presidential Secretariat paid the airlines Rs.46.3 million. Only 48 passengers travelled on this aircraft, which can carry 312. Interestingly, the plane landed first in Amman, the capital of Jordan, where 42 passengers got off. Only six people flew to Tel Aviv, Mr. Upatissa told the PCoI. "Another chartered flight booked by the Presidential Secretariat to take 39 passengers to Bolivia in June 2014 cost the Secretariat Rs.57 million. The aircraft can carry 312 passengers. Bolivia is also not a destination that SriLankan flies to very often." He also informed the commission that the Presidential Secretariat had not paid the Rs.43.4 million owed for a chartered flight to Rome in October 2014 and that it had 69 passengers onboard while it could carry 312 passengers. (Yoshitha Perera) Total Energy Services Inc. provides various products and services to the oil and natural gas industry primarily in Canada, the United States, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Contract Drilling Services, Rentals and Transportation Services, Compression and Process Services and Well Servicing. The Contract Drilling Services segment offers contract drilling services to oil and gas exploration and development companies. As of December 31, 2020, it operated a total fleet of 98 drilling rigs. The Rentals and Transportation Services segment provides drilling, completion and production rental equipment, and oilfield transportation services in western Canada and in the United States. This segment owned and operated a fleet of 87 heavy trucks. The Compression and Process Services segment offers gas compression services; and designs and packages skid style compressors and proprietary trailer-mounted compressors under the NOMAD brand in Canada and the United States, the European Union, Australia, and Mexico. It had 54,800 horsepower of compression in its rental fleet. The Well Servicing segment offers well services. This segment operated a total fleet of 83 well servicing rigs across Western Canada, mid-western United States, and Australia. It has a strategic alliance with Pason Systems Inc. to develop and deploy drilling automation and optimization technologies. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More Kinder Morgan, Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company. The firm engages in the operation of pipelines and terminals that transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, carbon dioxide (CO2) and other products and stores petroleum products chemicals and handles bulk materials like ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. It operates through the following segments: Natural Gas Pipelines, CO2, Terminals, Product Pipelines and Kinder Morgan Canada. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment engages in the ownership and operation of major interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline and storage systems, natural gas and crude oil gathering systems and natural gas processing and treating facilities. The CO2 segment focuses on the production, transportation and marketing of CO2 to oil fields that use CO2 as a flooding medium for recovering crude oil from mature oil fields to increase production. The Terminals segment consists of the ownership and operation of liquids and bulk terminal facilities located throughout the U.S. and portions of Canada that trans load and store refined petroleum products, crude oil, chemicals, ethanol and bulk products, including coal, petroleum coke, fertilizer, Read More Anixter International Inc., through its subsidiary, Anixter Inc., distributes enterprise cabling and security solutions, electrical and electronic wire and cable solutions, and utility power solutions worldwide. The company operates through Network & Security Solutions (NSS), Electrical & Electronic Solutions (EES), and Utility Power Solutions (UPS) segments. The NSS segment offers copper and fiber optic cable and connectivity, access control, video surveillance, intrusion and fire/life safety, cabinet, power, cable management, wireless, professional audio/video, voice and networking switches, and other ancillary products for the technology, finance, transportation, education, government, healthcare, and retail industries, as well as telecommunications service providers. The EES Solutions segment provides electrical and electronic wires and cables, shipboard cables, support and supply products, low-voltage and instrumentation cables, industrial communication and control products, security cables, connectors, industrial Ethernet switches, and voice and data cables to the commercial and industrial, and original equipment manufacturer markets. The UPS segment supplies electrical transmission and distribution products, power plant maintenance, repair and operations supplies, and smart-grid products, as well as arranges materials management and procurement outsourcing for the power generation and transmission, and electricity distribution industries. The company serves contractors, installers, system integrators, value-added resellers, architects, engineers, and wholesale distributors in various industries, including manufacturing, resource extraction, telecommunications, Internet service providers, finance, education, healthcare, retail, transportation, utilities, and defense, as well as government customers. The company was formerly known as Itel Corporation. Anixter International Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Glenview, Illinois. Read More A 37-year-old suspect was arrested with 1.10 kgs of heroin valued at more than Rs. 12 million by the officials of the Organized Crimes Prevention Division in Kesbewa today. Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekera said the suspect was arrested when he was transporting the heroin haul in a car at William Jayasuriya Mawatha in Kesbewa at around 10.30 am following a tip off. The police also recovered Rs. 6.19 million in cash when the arrest was made. The suspect, who has residences at Piliyandala and Kesbewa, would be produced in the Kesbewa Magistrate's Court tomorrow. (Darshana Sanjeewa) 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 The following companies are subsidiares of Eli Lilly and: 1096401 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, ARMO BioSciences Inc, ARMO Bioscience, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Alnara Pharmaceuticals Inc., Andean Technical Operations Center, Applied Molecular Evolution Inc., AurKa Pharma, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., ChemGen, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals Inc., Dermira, Devices for Vascular Intervention(DVI), Disarm Therapeutics, Dista Ilac Ticaret Ltd. Sti., Dista S.A., Dista-Produtos Quimicos & Farmaceuticos LDA, ELCO Dominicana SRL, ELCO Insurance Company Limited, ELCO Management Inc., ELCO for Trade and Marketing S.A.E., ELGO Insurance Company Limited, Elanco Animal Health Ireland Limited, Elanco Switzerland Holding Sarl, Eli Lilly (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Eli Lilly (Philippines) Incorporated, Eli Lilly (S.A.) (Proprietary) Limited, Eli Lilly (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Eli Lilly (Suisse) S.A., Eli Lilly Asia Inc., Eli Lilly Asia Pacific SSC Sdn Bhd, Eli Lilly Australia Pty. Limited, Eli Lilly B-H d.o.o., Eli Lilly Benelux S.A., Eli Lilly Bienes y Servicios S de RL de CV, Eli Lilly CR s.r.o., Eli Lilly Canada Inc., Eli Lilly Cork Limited, Eli Lilly Danmark A/S, Eli Lilly Egypt for Trading, Eli Lilly European Clinical Trial Services SA, Eli Lilly Export S.A., Eli Lilly Finance S.A., Eli Lilly Ges.m.b.H., Eli Lilly Group Limited, Eli Lilly Holdings Ltd., Eli Lilly Hrvatska d.o.o., Eli Lilly Interamerica Inc., Eli Lilly Interamerica Inc. y Compania Limitada, Eli Lilly International Corporation, Eli Lilly Ireland Holdings Limited, Eli Lilly Israel Ltd., Eli Lilly Italia S.p.A., Eli Lilly Japan K.K., Eli Lilly Kinsale Limited, Eli Lilly Nederland B.V., Eli Lilly Nigeria Ltd., Eli Lilly Norge A.S., Eli Lilly Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd., Eli Lilly Polska Sp.z.o.o. (Ltd.), Eli Lilly Regional Operations GmbH, Eli Lilly Romania SRL, Eli Lilly S.A., Eli Lilly Saudi Arabia Limited, Eli Lilly Services Inc, Eli Lilly Services India Private Limited, Eli Lilly Slovakia s.r.o., Eli Lilly Sweden AB, Eli Lilly Vostok S.A. Geneva, Eli Lilly and Company, Eli Lilly and Company (India) Pvt. Ltd., Eli Lilly and Company (Ireland) Limited, Eli Lilly and Company (N.Z.) Limited, Eli Lilly and Company (Taiwan) Inc., Eli Lilly and Company Limited, Eli Lilly de Centro America S.A., Eli Lilly do Brasil Limitada, Eli Lilly farmacevtska druzba d.o.o., Eli Lilly y Compania de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Eli Lilly y Compania de Venezuela S.A., Glycostasis Inc, Greenfield-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Heart Rhythm Technologies Inc, Hybritech, Hypnion, ICOS Corporation, ImClone GmbH, ImClone LLC, ImClone Systems Holdings Inc., ImClone Systems LLC, Imclone Systems, Irisfarma S.A., Ivy Animal Health, Kinsale Financial Services Unlimited Company, Lilly (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd, Lilly Asia Ventures Fund I L.P., Lilly Asia Ventures Fund II L.P., Lilly Asian Ventures Fund III L.P., Lilly Cayman Holdings, Lilly China Research and Development Co. Ltd., Lilly Deutschland GmbH, Lilly France S.A.S., Lilly Global Nederland Holdings B.V., Lilly Global Services Inc., Lilly Holding GmbH, Lilly Holdings B.V., Lilly Hungaria KFT, Lilly Japan Financing G.K., Lilly Korea Ltd., Lilly Nederland Finance B.V., Lilly Nederland Finance B.V. - GCC, Lilly Nederland Holding B.V., Lilly Pharma Ltd., Lilly Portugal - Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Lilly S.A., Lilly Suzhou Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Lilly Trading Co. LTD, Lilly USA LLC, Lilly Ventures Fund I LLC, Lilly del Caribe Inc., Lilly ilac ticaret limited sirketi, Lohmann Animal Health, Loxo Oncology, Lylly Centre for Clinical Pharmacology PTE. LTD., Novartis Animal Health, OY Eli Lilly Finland AB, Origin Medsystems, PT. Eli Lilly Indonesia, Pacific Biotech, Pharmaserve-Lilly S.A.C.I., Physio-Control, SGX Pharmaceuticals, SGX Pharmaceuticals Inc, Spaly Bioquimica S.A., UAB Eli Lilly Lietuva, Valquifarma S.A., and Vital Pharma Productos Farmaceuticos. There is not enough analysis data for BlackRock Enhanced International Dividend Trust. 4.5 Community Rank Outperform Votes BlackRock Enhanced International Dividend Trust has received 112 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes BlackRock Enhanced International Dividend Trust has received 52 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment BlackRock Enhanced International Dividend Trust has received 68.29% outperform votes from our community. MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about BlackRock Enhanced International Dividend Trust and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe BGY will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe BGY will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days. Previous Next 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 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 BNP Paribas SA provides a range of banking and financial services in France and internationally. It operates through two divisions, Retail Banking and Services, and Corporate and Institutional Banking. The company offers long-term corporate vehicle leasing, and rental and other financing solutions; and digital banking and investment services, cash management, and factoring services to corporate clients, as well as wealth management services. It also provides credit solutions for individuals under the Cetelem, Cofinoga, Findomestic, AlphaCredit, and Opel Vauxhall brands; savings and protection solutions, including insuring individuals, and their personal projects and assets; and asset management, private banking, and real estate services. In addition, the company offers global market services, including investment, hedging, financing, research, and market intellingence across asset classes; security services comprising clearing, custody, and asset and fund services, as well as corporate trust, and market and financing services; and corporate trade and treasury, debt financing, specialized financing, strategic advisory, mergers and acquisition, and equity capital market services for institutional and corporate clients. The company was formerly known as Banque Nationale de Paris and changed its name to BNP Paribas SA in May 2000. BNP Paribas SA was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in Paris, France. Read More The millions who support the UNP do so in recognition of the values the party stands for and its proud historical achievements In the wake of the constitutional crisis following the sudden, wrongful and unceremonious sacking of the Prime Minister and what flowed thereafter, the question posed by many is; has the UNP lost the plot again? Regardless of the answer to that question, the one question that is repeatedly asked by UNP voters is: Need the UNP be in this sorry position? After all, going by the party members with talent among the UNP it is easily the best equipped local political grouping to lead Sri Lanka. When the major opposition to the UNP is embroiled in discussions and arguments looking for a leader from and within one family, the UNP is oozing with untapped young talent in the form of Sajith Premadasa, Harsha De Silva, Harin Fernando,Navin Dissanyake, Eran Wickramaratne, Ruwan Wijewardene,Buddhika Pathirana, Ajith Perera, Marikkar from Kolonnawa, Mujibur Rahaman, Kavinda jayawardene, Harshana Rajakaruna and Ananda Kumarasiri among many others. None can disagree that no other political party in Sri Lanka ( Not the greatest comparison one may say) has such an array of talent. Regrettably, the truth in the perception of the average citizen is that this talent, notwithstanding high sounding designations given to a few persons within the party, is suppressed when it comes to strategic planning of the Party at the highest levels. Instead, a coterie of people, some with little or no common touch, rule the roost and attunes the party out of step with the national mood. Bill Clinton says in his memoirs; one cannot restrain the source of your power. How can any politician worth his salt, forget that the source of power in a democracy is the average Voter and it is they who set the mood of a Nation? "The younger leaders of the Party owe this to the millions who YET place faith in the party. It is not for the writer or political commentators to suggest as to who should now lead the party" Cant be blind to reality As stated by the writer in a wake up call article in the aftermath of the February 2018 Local Polls: The UNP and its allies cannot be blind to the fact that its share of the national vote declined to 32%. It was just 2 years earlier that the UNP with its allies polled 45.6% of the vote at the General Election. Eight months on, it appears however that the party hierarchy continues to remain blind to stark naked reality. The UNP having earned for itself the sobriquet of The Grand Old Party has under charismatic leaders built for itself the reputation of being a political force that can be relied on for consolidating Democracy, Liberal Values, Social and Economic Freedom and moreover, National Unity The millions who support the UNP do so in recognition of the values the party stands for and its proud historical achievements.A force of this nature is an imperative for the functioning of a healthy democracy. If not, millions of Sri Lankans may well be deprived of a voice that has hitherto fought and warded off despotic regimes, stood for liberal thinking, Social and Economic freedom, at the worst of times These millions comprise, but 0.5% or even less of the so called social elite. The large numbers are among the middle classes, ordinary rural and urban folk; Farmers, Factory Workers and the self- employed. The entire latter group now feels let down by the party. It is however still not too late to salvage the UNP for the sake of the millions that continue to look towards it for leadership. Perhaps, there can be no better time than this unfortunate constitutional crisis for the UNP to regain its rightful place as the GOP; in keeping with the vision of its founders. This necessarily calls for radical change in the strategic thinking of the party. The young talent in the party must rise to this challenge. Say Thank You to the Old Brigade and take charge of the battles ahead. You cannot wait to be served as that may never happen. The younger leaders of the Party owe this to the millions who YET place faith in the party. It is not for the writer or political commentators to suggest as to who should now lead the party. Ask the ordinary men and women of Sri Lanka as to who it should be and the clear answer would lie there. In the name of Sri Lanka and her people, the average men and women desperately appeal to all who matter in the UNP; Get your act together NOW and move on, or be doomed. If doomed, the current leadership of the party will be cursed by generations to come. Cambria Automobiles plc operates as a retailer of new and used cars, commercial vehicles, and motorbikes in the United Kingdom. The company offers its products under the Doves, Grange, Dees, Invicta, Motorparks, and Pure Triumph brands. It also provides accident repair facilities for its customers through its accident repair centre in Kent or through sub-contract to other accident repair centers; and supplies parts on behalf of manufacturer brands, as well as to other car dealers, independent traders, and repairers. In addition, the company provides maintenance and warranty repair services. It operates through 45 franchises in 28 locations. Cambria Automobiles plc was founded in 2006 and is based in Swindon, the United Kingdom. Read More The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various personal and commercial banking products and services in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The company offers personal deposits, such as chequing, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases through auto dealer network. It also provides credit cards; real estate secured lending; auto finance; consumer lending; point-of-sale payment solutions for large and small businesses; wealth and asset management products, private banking, investment advisory, and trust services to retail and institutional clients; and property and casualty insurance, as well as life and health insurance products. The company also provides capital markets, and corporate and investment banking services, including underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues; advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures; and trading, funding, and investment services to companies, governments, and institutions. It offers its products and services under the TD Bank and America's Most Convenient Bank brand names. The company operates through a network of 1,085 branches, 3,440 automated teller machines, and 1,223 stores, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Read More 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 Centrica plc operates as an integrated energy company in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, North America, and internationally. The company operates through British Gas, Energy Marketing & Trading, Centrica Business Solutions, Bord GAis Energy, and Upstream segments. It supplies gas and electricity to residential customers, as well as offers energy-related services; and generates power from combined cycle gas turbines and nuclear assets. The company also provides installation, repair, and maintenance services for domestic central heating, plumbing and drains, home electrical, and gas and kitchen appliances; and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment, as well as offers breakdown services. In addition, it is involved in the procurement, trading, and optimization of energy; procurement and sale of LNG; and supplies energy efficiency solutions and technologies to residential customers. Further, the company produces and processes gas and oil; develops new fields to maintain reserves; constructs, owns, and exploits infrastructure; and engages in the social enterprise investment fund activities. Additionally, it provides vehicle leasing, commercial, and insurance services, as well as energy management products and services; and operates a gas storage and franchise network. The company was formerly known as Yieldtop plc and changed its name to Centrica plc in December 1996. Centrica plc was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Windsor, the United Kingdom. Read More The United States Senator Chris Van Hollen has written to President Maithripala Sirisena raising deep concerns about his decision to remove Sri Lanka's Prime Minister and the subsequent rejection of the two No-Confidence Motions (NCMs) in the Sri Lankan parliament on President's choice of replacement Mahinda Rajapaksa. In the letter, he has urged the President to accept the results of the no-confidence motions in parliament, in accordance with the Sri Lankan constitution and the rule of law. The full letter: Shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF reverse split before market open on Monday, November 7th 2016. The 1-4 reverse split was announced on Friday, October 14th 2016. The number of shares owned by shareholders was adjusted after the closing bell on Friday, November 4th 2016. An investor that had 100 shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF stock prior to the reverse split would have 25 shares after the split. The following companies are subsidiares of Mohawk Industries: A&S Energie NV, A&U Energie NV, Aladdin Manufacturing Corporation, Aladdin Manufacturing Of New York LLC, Aladdin Manufacturing of Alabama LLC, Alsace Logistique S.A., Avelgem Green Power CVBA, Avon Pacific Holdings Ltd, B&M NV, BGE Mexico S. de R. L. de C.V., Berghoef GmbH, Berghoef-Hout B.V., Bienes Raices y Materiales del Centro S. de R.L. de C.V., C.F. Marazzi S.A., Canterbury Spinners Ltd, Carpet Foundation Ltd, Cevotrans BV, Ceramus Bahia S/A Produtos Ceramicos, DT Mex Holdings LLC, DTM/CM Holdings LLC, Dal Italia LLC, Dal-Elit LLC, Dal-Tile Chile Comercial Limitada, Dal-Tile Colombia S.A.S., Dal-Tile Distribution Inc., Dal-Tile Group Inc., Dal-Tile I LLC, Dal-Tile Industrias S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile International Inc., Dal-Tile Mexico Comercial S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile Operaciones Mexico S. De R.L. De C.V., Dal-Tile Peru SRL, Dal-Tile Puerto Rico Inc., Dal-Tile Services Inc., Dal-Tile Shared Services Inc., Dal-Tile Tennessee LLC, Dal-Tile of Canada ULC, Daltile, Daltile, Dekaply NV, Durkan, Dynea NV, Eliane Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Eliane S/A - Revestimentos Ceramicos, Emilceramica India Pvt Ltd., Emilceramica S.r.l, Emilgermany GmbH, Emilgroup Asia Ltd, Explorer S.r.l., F.I.L.S. Investments Unlimited Company, Feltex Carpets Ltd, Feltex Carpets Pty Ltd, Feltex New Zealand Ltd, Fibremakers Australia Pty Ltd, Flooring Foundation Ltd, Flooring Industries Limited S.a r.l., Flooring XL B.V., Floorscape Limited, Godfrey Hirst & Co Pty Ltd, Godfrey Hirst (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd, Godfrey Hirst Group, Godfrey Hirst NZ Ltd, Hytherm (Ireland) Limited, IVC BVBA, IVC Far-East Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., IVC France S.a r.l., IVC GROUP LIMITED, IVC Green Power NV, IVC Group, IVC Group GmbH, IVC Luxembourg S.a r.l., IVC Rus OOO, IVC US Inc., International Flooring Systems S.a r.l., International Vinyl Company - Vostok OOO, KAI Group, KAI Keramica Ltd, KAI Mining EOOD, KERAMA CENTER OOO, Kerama Baltics OOO, Kerama Export OOO, Kerama Marazzi OOO, Kerampromservis (LLC), Khan Asparuh - Transport EOOD, Khan Asparuh AD, Khan Omurtag AD, Koninklijke Peitsman B.V., Kraj Kerama OOO, MG China Trading Ltd., MI Finance SRL, MUD (Holding) Brazil Ltda., Management Co EAD, Marazzi Acquisition S.r.l., Marazzi Deutschland G.m.b.H., Marazzi France Trading S.A.S., Marazzi Group, Marazzi Group F.Z.E., Marazzi Group S.r.l., Marazzi Group Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Marazzi Iberia S.L.U., Marazzi Japan Co. Ltd., Marazzi Middle East FZ LLC, Marazzi Schweiz S.A.G.L., Marazzi UK Ltd., Mohawk Assurance Services Inc., Mohawk Australia Pty Ltd, Mohawk Canada Corporation, Mohawk Capital Finance S.A., Mohawk Capital Luxembourg SA, Mohawk Carpet Distribution Inc., Mohawk Carpet Foundation Inc., Mohawk Carpet LLC, Mohawk Carpet Transportation Of Georgia LLC, Mohawk Commercial Inc., Mohawk ESV Inc., Mohawk Europe BVBA, Mohawk Factoring II Inc., Mohawk Factoring LLC, Mohawk Finance S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Acquisitions S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Funding S.a.r.l, Mohawk Foreign Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Investments Inc., Mohawk Global Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Holdings International B.V., Mohawk Industries Inc., Mohawk International (Europe) S.a r.l., Mohawk International (Hong Kong) Limited, Mohawk International Capital N.V., Mohawk International Financing S.a.r.l, Mohawk International Holdings (DE) LLC, Mohawk International Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk International Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk International Netherlands B.V., Mohawk International Services BVBA, Mohawk KAI Luxembourg Holding S.a r.l., Mohawk KAI Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Capital S.A., Mohawk Luxembourg Financing S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Pacific S.a r.l., Mohawk Marazzi International BV, Mohawk Marazzi Russia BV, Mohawk New Zealand Limited, Mohawk Operaciones Mexicali S. de R.L. de C.V., Mohawk Operations Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Pacific Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Resources LLC, Mohawk Servicing LLC, Mohawk Singapore Private Limited, Mohawk Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mohawk Unilin Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk United Finance B.V., Mohawk United International B.V., Mohawk Vinyl Financing S.a r.l., Molber Beheer B.V., Monarch Ceramic Tile Inc., P.F. Onroerend Goed B.V., PF Beheer B.V., Pergo, Pergo (Europe) AB, Pergo Holding BV, Pergo India Pvt Ltd, Polcolorit S.A., Premium Floors Australia Pty Limited, RR Apex LLC, Rata International Pty Ltd, Recubrimientos Interceramica S. de R.L. de C.V., Riverside Textiles Pty Ltd, S.C. KAI Ceramics SRL, Sibir Kerama OOO, SimpleSolutions USA LLC, Soft Step (Australia) Pty Ltd, Spano Group, Spano Invest BVBA, Spano NV, Stroyagromekhzapchast ChaO, Stroytrans OAO Orelstroy, Summit Wool Spinners Ltd, The Flooring Federation Ltd, Tiles Co OOD, Unilin (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Unilin ApS, Unilin Arauco Pisos Ltda., Unilin BVBA, Unilin Beheer BV, Unilin Distribution Ltd., Unilin Distribution Ukraine LLC, Unilin Finland OY, Unilin Flooring India Private Limited, Unilin Flooring SAS, Unilin GmbH, Unilin Holding BVBA, Unilin Insulation BV, Unilin Insulation SAS, Unilin Insulation Sury SAS, Unilin Italia S.R.L., Unilin North America LLC, Unilin Norway AS, Unilin OOO, Unilin Panels SAS, Unilin Poland Sp.Z.o.o., Unilin SAS, Unilin Spain SL, Unilin Swiss GmbH, Unilin s.r.o., World International Inc., Xtratherm, Xtratherm Limited, Xtratherm S.A., and Xtratherm UK Limited. Covestro AG develops, produces, and markets polymer materials for various industries. The company operates in three segments: Polyurethanes; Polycarbonates; and Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties (CAS). The Polyurethanes segment develops, produces, and markets chemical precursors, such as diphenylmethane diisocyanate, toluene diisocyanate, and polyether polyol, which are used primarily in the furniture, construction, and automotive industries. The Polycarbonates segment provides high-performance plastic polycarbonates in the form of granules, composite materials, and semi-finished products for use in the automotive, construction, electrical and electronic, medical technology, and lighting industries. The CAS segment offers precursors for coatings, adhesives, and sealants, as well as specialties. This segment also provides polymer materials and aqueous dispersions for use in automotive and transportation, infrastructure and construction, wood processing, and furniture applications. The company markets its products through trading houses and distributors. It operates in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, the United States, Canada, and the People's Republic of China. The company was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany. Read More INNOVATE Corp. engages in the acquisition and investment of assets. It operates through the following segments: Infrastructure, Clean Energy, Telecommunications, Insurance, Life Sciences, Spectrum, and Other. The Infrastructure segment models, details, fabricates, and erects structural steel for commercial and industrial construction projects. The Clean Energy segment designs, builds, and maintains compressed natural gas fueling stations for transportation vehicles. The Telecommunications segment manages telecommunications business including a network of direct routes and provides voice communication services. The Insurance segment offers long-termcare, life, annuity, and other accident and health coverage. The Life Sciences segment maintains controlling interests in Genovel Orthopedics, Inc. and R2 Technologies, Inc. through Pansend Life Sciences LLC. The Spectrum segment owns over-the-air broadcasting stations and spanish-language broadcast network. The Other segment represents all other businesses or investments that do not meet the definition of a segment individually or in the aggregate. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Read More The prices of vehicles would increase next year by 10 to 15 percent, the Vehicle Importers Association said. The present vehicle sales have come down by 60 percent due to unpredictable market bahaviour in the country, Vehicle Importers Association Lanka (VIAL) President Indika Sampath Merenchige said. Speaking to the Daily Mirror due to the significant depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee against the US Dollar and the unstable political situation, the vehicle prices would increase in at a higher rate, he said. We cannot make predictions but with the Rupee depreciation vehicle prices cannot be controlled by whoever comes to office, he said. Meanwhile, the Ceylon Motor Trader Association (CMTA) President Sheran Fernando said due to the uncertainty of the budget, they were facing significant problem of how to proceed in terms of the commitments they had given to their principals. The CMTA mainly consists of brand new vehicles, while the VIAL imports mostly reconditioned vehicles. He said their membership with the vehicle manufacturers was facing difficulty due to the uncertainty prevalent at the present time. Initially the 200 percent of cash deposit on Letter of Credit and the significant depreciation of the rupee caused a huge downfall of the vehicle imports, Fernando said. VIASL Chairman Ranjan Peiris said the total vehicle sales in the country had come down by 60 percent. People seem to be hoping the new Governments moves would bring vehicle prices, he said. We were used to import vehicles from Japan, UK, Australia and Thailand. Depending on the exchange rate fluctuation the vehicle prices would be increased, he said. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama) The following companies are subsidiares of Dover: Accelerated Production Systems, Acme Elevator, Advansor A/S, Advansor Dover International (Poland) sp. z o.o, Advansor Germany GmbH, Alfred Fueling Systems Holdco Ltd., Alfred Fueling Systems Inc., Alfred Fueling Systems Intermediate Holdco Ltd., All-Flo Pump Company, Anman LLC, Anthony Equity Holdings Inc., Anthony Holdings Inc., Anthony Inc., Anthony International, Anthony International Foreign Sales Corp., Anthony International Holding Company, Anthony Mexico Holdings LLC, Anthony North Holdco Inc., Anthony Specialty Glass LLC, Anthony TemperBent GP LLC, Auto Glanz Solutions LLC, Automatik Grundstucksverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Automatik Plastics Machinery (Taiwan) Ltd., BSC Filters Limited, Background2 Limited, Belanger, Belanger Inc., Belvac Middle East FZE, Belvac Production Machinery Inc., Blackmer, BlitzRotary GmbH, Butler Engineering and Marketing S.P.A., CDS Visual, CEP Liquidation LLC, CP Formation LLC, CPC Europe Inc., CPI Products Inc., Caldera, Canada Organization & Development LLC, Chief Automotive Technologies (Shanghai) Trading Company Ltd., Chippewa Square Captive Insurance Company, Colder Products Company, Colder Products Company GmbH, Colder Products Company LTD, Cook Compression BV, Cook Compression LLC, Cook Compression Limited, Cook-MFS Inc., DD1 Inc., DDI Properties Inc., DE-STA-CO Benelux B.V., DE-STA-CO FRANCE, DE-STA-CO Shanghai Co. Ltd., DESTACO UK Limited, DFH Corporation, DFS Netherlands B.V., DSR BZ Holdings LLC, Datamax International Corp, De Sta Co (Asia) Company Limited, De-Sta-Co Cylinders Inc., DeStaCo Europe GmbH, Delaware Capital Formation Inc., Delaware Capital Holdings Inc., Dover (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Dover (Schweiz) Holding GmbH, Dover (Shanghai) Industrial Co. Ltd., Dover (Shenzhen) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover (Suzhou) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover Asia Trading Private Ltd., Dover Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Dover Business Services EMEA Limited, Dover Business Services LLC, Dover Business Services Philippines Corporation, Dover CLP Formation Limited Partnership, Dover CR spol s r.o., Dover Canada Holdings ULC, Dover Canada Operations ULC, Dover Corporation Regional Headquarters, Dover DEI Services Inc., Dover Denmark Holdings ApS, Dover EMEA FZCO, Dover Energy UK Ltd, Dover Engineered Products Segment Inc., Dover Europe Inc., Dover Europe Sarl, Dover Fluids UK Ltd, Dover France Holdings, Dover France Participations, Dover France Technologies, Dover Fueling Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Fueling Solutions UK Limited, Dover Germany GmbH, Dover Global Holdings LLC, Dover Holdings de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dover Imaging & Identification Segment Inc., Dover India Pvt. Ltd., Dover Intercompany Services UK Limited, Dover International B.V., Dover International Operations Inc., Dover International Ventures Inc., Dover International Ventures Tunisia S.a.r.l., Dover International ithalat ihracat ve Pazarlama Limited Sirketi, Dover Italy Holdings S.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Finance Sarl, Dover Luxembourg Participations Sarl, Dover Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Services Sarl, Dover Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Dover Overseas Ventures Inc., Dover Pumps & Process Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment UK Ltd, Dover Resources International de Mexico S. de R.L. C.V., Dover Solutions Colombia SAS, Dover Southeast Asia (Thailand) Ltd., Dover Spain Holdings S.L., Dover UK Pensions Limited, Dover WSCR Holding LLC, Dover WSCR LLC, Dover do Brasil Ltda., Dow-Key Microwave Corporation, Dresser Wayne Data Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Dresser Wayne Fuel Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., EOA Systems Inc., Ebs-Ray Holdings Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Industries Pty. Ltd., Ebs-Ray Pumps Pty. Ltd., Em-tec, Espy, Ettlinger, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, Fairbanks Environmental Limited, Fibrelite Composites Limited, Fibresec Holdings Limited, Fibresec Limited, Finder, GAL LLC, GIIER LLC, Gala Industries, Gala Kunststoff-und Kautschukmaschinen GmbH, Guangdong Tokheim LIYUAN Oil Industry Technology Limited Company, Highland Park Insurance Company, Hill PHOENIX Inc., Hill PHOENIX WIC LLC, Hill Phoenix Costa Rica Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, Hill Phoenix El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, Hill Phoenix Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Honduras Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hiltap Fittings Ltd., Hydro Systems Company, Hydro Systems Europe Ltd., Hydronova Australia-NZ Pty Ltd, Industrial Motion Control LLC, Innovative Control Systems, Innovative Control Systems Inc., Inpro/Seal LLC, JK Group, JK Group S.P.A., JK Group USA Inc., K S Boca Inc., K&L Microwave DR Inc., K&L Microwave Inc., KPS (Beijing) Petroleum Equipment Trading Co Ltd., KPS Fueling Solutions Sdn. Bhd., KPS Hong Kong Holding Limited, KPS UK Limited, KS Formation Inc., KS Liquidation Inc., KSLP Liquidation L.P., Kiian Digital (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Knappco LLC, Knowles Electronics, LIQAL, Liquip, Liquip International Pty Limited, MAAG, MARKEM FZ SA, MARKEM-IMAJE Corporation, MIP Holdings Inc., MS Printing Solutions, MS Printing Solutions S.R.L., Maag Automatik GmbH, Maag Automatik Plastics Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Maag Gala Inc., Maag Italy S.R.L., Maag Pump Systems, Maag Pump Systems (US) Inc., Maag Pump Systems AG, Maag Reduction Inc., Maag Service (Malaysia) Sdn. Bdn., Maag Systems (Thailand) Limited, Marathon Equipment Company (Delaware), Markem Imaje Center of Competencies Spain S.L.U., Markem-Imaje, Markem-Imaje (China) Co. Limited, Markem-Imaje - Unipessoal Lda, Markem-Imaje A/S, Markem-Imaje AB, Markem-Imaje AG, Markem-Imaje AS, Markem-Imaje B.V., Markem-Imaje CSAT GmbH, Markem-Imaje Co. Ltd., Markem-Imaje GmbH, Markem-Imaje Holding, Markem-Imaje Identificacao de Produtos Ltda., Markem-Imaje Inc., Markem-Imaje India Private Limited, Markem-Imaje Industries, Markem-Imaje Industries Limited, Markem-Imaje KK, Markem-Imaje LLC, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Ltd., Markem-Imaje N.V., Markem-Imaje Oy, Markem-Imaje Philippines Corporation, Markem-Imaje Pty Ltd, Markem-Imaje S.A., Markem-Imaje S.A. de C.V., Markem-Imaje S.r.l., Markem-Imaje SAS, Markem-Imaje Sdn Bhd, Markem-Imaje Singapore Pte. Ltd., Markem-Imaje Spain S.A.U, Markpoint Holding AB, Midland Manufacturing LLC, Mouvex, Northern Lights (Nevada) Inc., Northern Lights Funding LP, Northern Lights Investments LLC, Nova Controls Inc., OK International, OK International (UK) Ltd., OK International Holdings Inc., OK International Inc., OPW Engineered Systems Inc., OPW Fluid Transfer Group Europe B.V., OPW Fluid Transfer Solutions (Jiang Su) Co. Ltd., OPW Fluids Group Inc., OPW France, OPW Fuel Management Systems Inc., OPW Fueling Components (SuZhou) Co. Ltd., OPW Fueling Components LLC, OPW Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OPW Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., OPW Slovakia s.r.o., OPW Sweden AB, Officine Meccaniche Sirio S.R.L., PDQ Manufacturing, PDQ Manufacturing Inc., PISCES by OPW Inc., PSD Codax Holdings Limited, PSD Codax Limited, PSG (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, PSG (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PSG California LLC, PSG Germany GmbH, Petro Vend Sp. z o.o., Pike Machine Products Inc., Pole/Zero Acquisition Inc., Precision Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Para Postos De Combustiveis Ltda., Precision Service - Servicos De Manutencao E Instalacao De Postos De Abastecimento De Combustivel Ltda., Production Control Services, Pump Management Services Co. LLC, RAV Equipos Espana S.L., RAV France, Ravaglioli Deutschland GmbH, Ravaglioli S.P.A., Reduction Engineering GmbH, Revod Corporation, Revod Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Revod SAS, Revod Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd, Revod Sweden AB, Robohand Inc., Rosario, Rosario Handel B.V., Rotary Lift Consolidated (Haimen) Co. Ltd, SE Liquidation LLC, SWEP Germany GmbH, SWEP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SWEP North America Inc., SWEP Slovakia s.r.o., SWEP Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Seabiscuit Motorsports Inc., Simmons Sirvey Corporation, So. Cal. Soft-Pak, So. Cal. Soft-Pak Incorporated, Solaris Laser, Solaris Laser S.A., Somero Enterprises, Sound Solutions, Space S.R.L., Spirit, Start Italiana Petrol Cihazlari Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Start Italiana S.R.L., Swep Energy Oy, Swep International A.B., Swep Japan K.K., Sys-Tech Solutions, Sys-Tech Solutions Inc., Systech GB Limited, Systech Shanghai Consulting Company Limited, TQC Quantium Quality S.A. de C.V., TTSI III Inc., TWG Canada Consolidated Inc., TXHI LLC, Tartan Textile Services Inc., The Heil Co., Tokheim Belgium, Tokheim China Company Limited, Tokheim GmbH, Tokheim Group, Tokheim Hengshan Technologies (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Tokheim Holding B.V., Tokheim India Private Limited, Tokheim Sofitam Applications, Trans - Logistic Group S.R.L., Triton Systems, Tulsa Winch Inc., UPCO Inc., US Synthetic, Unattended Payment Solutions LLC, Unified Brands, Unified Brands Inc., Val TemperBent Glass L.P., Vectron Frequency Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vehicle Service Group LLC, Vehicle Service Group UK Limited, Vos Food Store Equipment Ltd., WSCR Corp., Warn Automotive LLC, Warn Industries, Waukesha Bearings, Waukesha Bearings Corporation, Waukesha Bearings Limited, Waukesha Bearings Russia LLC, Wayne Fuel Management UK Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems, Wayne Fueling Systems (Rus) Limited Liability Company, Wayne Fueling Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Wayne Fueling Systems Canada ULC, Wayne Fueling Systems Deutschland GmbH, Wayne Fueling Systems Italia S.R.L., Wayne Fueling Systems LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Sweden AB, Wayne Fueling Systems UK Holdco Ltd., Wayne Industria e Comercio Ltda., WellMark, XanTec Steuerungs- und EDV-Technik GmbH, and em-tec GmbH. The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. 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Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. 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Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc., ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics. The ruling SLFP yesterday charged that the Western powers were in a covert move to create unrest in Sri Lanka similar to that of Arab Spring they staged in the Middle East in 2015 and the current political and Constitutional Impasse was their agenda. General Secretary of the SLFP Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa told the media last afternoon at the party office that it was surprising and unacceptable on the part of Colombo-based diplomats to applaud and to be joyful from Speaker's Chambers, when Speaker Karu Jayasuriya announced that the No Faith Motion was carried in Parliament against the Government of Mahinda Rajapaksa on October 26. Prof. Rohana Piyadasa told the media last afternoon at the party office that the agenda of the Sudda (Whites) was to incite a civilian unrest similar to that of Arab Spring they incited in the Middle East that brought a chain of regime changes in that region. Though these countries were ruled by royal families or one party regime, almost all of them were peaceful, prosperous and people lived happily. But today all these countries have been destroyed, millions have been killed and infrastructure, economy and their source of income have been totally destroyed thanks to Western powers. The so-called International Community is waiting for Sri Lanka to do a mistake and to exploit it for their agenda. But they have no concern on the will of the Sri Lankan masses. They should have realized the joy people expressed when Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed as the Prime Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena on October 26. However, the Government has no intention to eject former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from the Temple Trees forcibly because the Diplomatic Community in Colombo is watching to grab that opportunity, Prof. Piyadasa stressed. Prof. Piyadasa also blamed Speaker Karu Jayasuriya for the crisis and added if he acted on the advice of President Sirisena and performed parliamentary business without offending the purported government of Mahinda Rajapaksa no crisis would have arisen. The acceptance of the No Confidence Motion from the JVP against the purported Government and PM, calling a vote for it, meeting diplomats in Parliament, Challenging the Constitutionality of Presidents action to dissolve Parliament, removing Prime Minister Wickremesinghe from his post and abrupt prorogation of Parliament were all unbecoming of a Speaker in a country where participatory democracy is upheld and decency, fair play and peaceful dialogue are honoured, he said. Responding to a question as to why President Siriena could not call a Presidential election as agreed for by the alliance led by UNP if a Parliamentary poll were not possible, Prof. Piyadasa said demand was for a General Election. Replying to another journalist, he said hopes of the country was that Parliament proceedings would be peaceful and be without incidents because the UNF alliance had already shown its majority with the support of 122 members, while the purported Government had only the support of 102 members and therefore, the majority of members of the Parliamentary Select Committee must come from the UNF alliance in terms of the centuries-old Parliamentary tradition, democratic principles, Parliamentary procedure and rules, fair play and decency. Lets see on Friday. We hope we would be in a position to show the majority. Vadivel Suresh and Vasantha Senanayaka participated in todays Cabinet meeting and I hope they would rejoin us before long, Prof. Piydasa predicted. State Minister Weerakumara Dissanayaka said all talk to protect democracy of Ranil and the UNF but no one talks about the democracy of the people who were subjected to many a hardship under the previous regime. Why is the Sudda so concerned about Sri Lankas democracy? Did not they see how the previous Government put an exorbitant tax on the people, attempted to sell national assets and jacked up prices of all essential commodities? he asked. Mr Dissanayaka criticized the TNA leader R. Sampanthan for meeting Colombo-based diplomats to discuss the ongoing political and constitutional crisis in the country and added the Tamils must embrace the SLFP to win their demands. President Sirisena had already taken steps to release lands in the North to their owners by December 31st. (Sandun A Jayasekera) Video by Buddhi SunTrust Banks, Inc. operates as the holding company for SunTrust Bank that provides various financial services for consumers, businesses, corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit entities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Wholesale. The Consumer segment provides deposits and payments; home equity and personal credit lines; auto, student, and other lending products; credit cards; discount/online and full-service brokerage products; professional investment advisory products and services; and trust services, as well as family office solutions. This segment also offers residential mortgage products in the secondary market. The Wholesale segment provides capital markets solutions, including advisory, capital raising, and financial risk management; asset-based financing solutions, such as securitizations, asset-based lending, equipment financing, and structured real estate arrangements; cash management services and auto dealer financing solutions; investment banking solutions; and credit and deposit, fee-based product offering, multi-family agency lending, advisory, commercial mortgage brokerage, and tailored financing and equity investment solutions. 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Read More The following companies are subsidiares of MetLife: 1001 PROPERTIES LLC, 10700 WILSHIRE LLC, 1201 TAB MANAGER LLC, 150 NORTH RIVERSIDE PE MEMBER LLC, 1925 WJC OWNER LLC, 23RD STREET INVESTMENTS INC., 500 GRANT STREET ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, 500 GRANT STREET GP LLC, 60 11TH STREET LLC, 6104 HOLLYWOOD LLC, AFP GENESIS ADMINISTRADORA DE FONDOS Y FIDECOMISOS S.A., AFP PROVIDA S.A., AGENVITA S.R.L., ALICO EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LIMITED, ALICO HELLAS SINGLE MEMBER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, ALICO OPERATIONS LLC, ALICO PROPERTIES INC., AMMETLIFE INSURANCE BERHAD, AMMETLIFE TAKAFUL BERHAD, American Life Insurance Company, BEST MARKET S.A., BIDV METLIFE LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, BLOCK VISION HOLDINGS CORPORATION, BLOCK VISION OF TEXAS INC., BORDERLAND INVESTMENTS LIMITED, BOULEVARD RESIDENTIAL LLC, BUFORD LOGISTICS CENTER LLC, CC HOLDCO MANAGER LLC, CHESTNUT FLATS WIND LLC, CLOSED JOINT-STOCK COMPANY MASTER D, COMPANIA INVERSORA METLIFE S.A., CORPORATE REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC, COVA LIFE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, DAVIS VISION INC., DAVISVISION IPA INC., DELAWARE AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, DES MOINES CREEK BUSINESS PARK PHASE II LLC, ECONOMY FIRE & CASUALTY COMPANY, ECONOMY PREFERRED INSURANCE COMPANY, ECONOMY PREMIER ASSURANCE COMPANY, EURO CL INVESTMENTS LLC, EXCELENCIA OPERATIVA Y TECNOLOGICA S.A de C.V., FEDERAL FLOOD CERTIFICATION LLC, FORTISSIMO CO. 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BHD., Logan Circle Partners, MARKETPLACE RESIDENCES LLC, MAXIS GBN S.A.S., MC PORTFOLIO JV MEMBER LLC, MCJV LLC, MCMIF HOLDCO I LLC, MCMIF HOLDCO II LLC, MCP - WELLINGTON LLC, MCP 100 CONGRESS MEMBER LLC, MCP 1500 MICHAEL LLC, MCP 1900 MCKINNEY LLC, MCP 2 AMES LLC, MCP 2 AMES ONE LLC, MCP 2 AMES OWNER LLC, MCP 2 AMES TWO LLC, MCP 220 YORK LLC, MCP 22745 & 22755 RELOCATION DRIVE LLC, MCP 249 INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS PARK MEMBER LLC, MCP 3040 POST OAK LLC, MCP 350 ROHLWING LLC, MCP 4600 SOUTH SYRACUSE LLC, MCP 550 WEST WASHINGTON LLC, MCP 60 11TH STREET MEMBER LLC, MCP 7 RIVERWAY LLC, MCP 9020 MURPHY ROAD LLC, MCP 93 RED RIVER MEMBER LLC, MCP ALLEY 24 EAST LLC, MCP ASHTON SOUTH END LLC, MCP BLOCK 23 MEMBER LLC, MCP BRADFORD LLC, MCP BUFORD LOGISTICS CENTER 2 MEMBER LLC, MCP BUFORD LOGISTICS CENTER BLDG B LLC, MCP BURNSIDE MEMBER LLC, MCP CENTER AVENUE INDUSTRIAL MEMBER LLC, MCP CLAWITER INNOVATION MEMBER LLC, MCP COMMON DESK TRS LLC, MCP DENVER PAVILIONS MEMBER LLC, MCP DILLON LLC, MCP DILLON RESIDENTIAL LLC, MCP ENV CHICAGO LLC, MCP FIFE ENTERPRISE CENTER LLC, MCP FRISCO OFFICE LLC, MCP GRAPEVINE LLC, MCP HIGHLAND PARK LENDER LLC, MCP HUB I LLC, MCP HUB I PROPERTY LLC, MCP LODGE AT LAKECREST LLC, MCP MA PROPERTY REIT LLC, MCP MAGNOLIA PARK MEMBER LLC, MCP MAIN STREET VILLAGE LLC, MCP MOUNTAIN TECHNOLOGY CENTER MEMBER TRS LLC, MCP NORTHYARDS HOLDCO LLC, MCP NORTHYARDS MASTER LESSEE LLC, MCP NORTHYARDS OWNER LLC, MCP ONE WESTSIDE LLC, MCP ONYX LLC, MCP PARAGON POINT LLC, MCP PLAZA AT LEGACY LLC, MCP PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC, MCP SEATTLE GATEWAY INDUSTRIAL I LLC, MCP SEATTLE GATEWAY INDUSTRIAL II LLC, MCP SEVENTH AND OSBORNE MF MEMBER LLC, MCP SEVENTH AND OSBORNE RETAIL MEMBER LLC, MCP SHAKOPEE LLC, MCP SLEEPY HOLLOW MEMBER LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL ANAHEIM LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL BERNARDO LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL CANYON LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL CONCOURSE LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL FULLERTON LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL KELLWO00OD LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL LAX LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL LOKER LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL REDONDO LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL SPRINGDALE LLC, MCP STATELINE LLC, MCP THE PALMS AT DORAL LLC, MCP TRIMBLE CAMPUS LLC, MCP UNION ROW LLC, MCP VALLEY FORGE LLC, MCP VALLEY FORGE ONE LLC, MCP VALLEY FORGE OWNER LLC, MCP VALLEY FORGE TWO LLC, MCP VANCE JACKSON LLC, MCP VINEYARD AVENUE MEMBER LLC, MCP VOA HOLDINGS LLC, MCP VOA I & III LLC, MCP VOA II LLC, MCP WATERFORD ATRIUM LLC, MCP WEST BROAD MARKETPLACE LLC, MCP ENGLISH VILLAGE LLC, MCPF ACQUISITION LLC, MCPF FOXBOROUGH LLC, MCPF NEEDHAM LLC, MCPP OWNERS LLC, MCRE BLOCK 40 LP, MEC HEALTH CARE INC., MET 1065 HOTEL LLC, MET CANADA SOLAR ULC, METLIFE 1007 STEWART LLC, METLIFE 1201 TAB MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 425 MKT MANAGER LLC, METLIFE 425 MKT MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 555 12TH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 8280 MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ACOMA OWNER LLC, METLIFE ADMINISTRADORA DE FUNDOS MULTIPATROCINADOS LTDA., METLIFE ALTERNATIVES GP LLC, METLIFE ASHTON AUSTIN OWNER LLC, METLIFE ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., METLIFE ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE ASIA SERVICES SDN. BHD, METLIFE ASSET MANAGEMENT CORP., METLIFE ASSIGNMENT COMPANY INC., METLIFE AUTO & HOME INSURANCE AGENCY INC., METLIFE BL FEEDER, METLIFE BL FEEDER LP, METLIFE BORO STATION MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CABO HILTON MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAMINO RAMON MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAPITAL CREDIT L.P., METLIFE CAPITAL LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, METLIFE CAPITAL TRUST IV, METLIFE CB W/A LLC, METLIFE CC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CHILE ADMINISTRADORA DE MUTUOS HIPOTECARIOS S.A., METLIFE CHILE INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS DE VIDA S.A., METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS GENERALES S.A., METLIFE CHINO MEMBER LLC, METLIFE COLOMBIA SEGUROS de VIDA S.A., METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE INCOME FUND GP LLC, METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE INCOME FUND LP, METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE ORIGINATOR LLC, METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE REIT LLC, METLIFE CONSQUARE MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CONSUMER SERVICES INC., METLIFE CORE PROPERTY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE CORE PROPERTY FUND LP, METLIFE CORE PROPERTY HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE CORE PROPERTY REIT LLC, METLIFE CORE PROPERTY TRS. LLC, METLIFE CREDIT CORP., METLIFE DIGITAL VENTURES INC., METLIFE EMEKLILIK VE HAYAT A.S., METLIFE EMERGING MARKET DEBT BLEND FUND, METLIFE EU HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE INSURANCE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPE SERVICES LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LLC., METLIFE FINANCIAL SERVICES CO. LTD, METLIFE FM HOTEL MEMBER LLC, METLIFE FUNDING INC., METLIFE GENERAL INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE GLOBAL BENEFITS LTD., METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY I GMBH, METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY II GMBH, METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION S.A. De C.V., METLIFE GLOBAL INC., METLIFE GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE GROUP INC., METLIFE HCMJV 1 GP LLC, METLIFE HCMJV 1 LP LLC, METLIFE HEALTH PLANS INC., METLIFE HOLDINGS INC., METLIFE HOME LOANS LLC, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE LIMITED, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE PTE. LTD., METLIFE INSURANCE AND INVESTMENT TRUST, METLIFE INSURANCE BROKERAGE INC., METLIFE INSURANCE K.K., METLIFE INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HF PARTNERS LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND I LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND II LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND III LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND IV LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND V LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND VI LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND VII LP, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC, METLIFE INVESTMENTS ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS PTY LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS SECURITIES LLC, METLIFE INVESTORS DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, METLIFE INVESTORS GROUP LLC, METLIFE IRELAND TREASURY D.A.C., METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY FUND LP, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY OWNERS, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY OWNERS LLC, METLIFE LATIN AMERICA ASESORIAS E INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE LEGAL PLANS INC., METLIFE LEGAL PLANS OF FLORIDA INC., METLIFE LHH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METLIFE LIFE INSURANCE S.A., METLIFE LOAN ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC, METLIFE MAS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MEMBER SOLAIRE LLC, METLIFE MEXICO HOLDINGS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO S.A., METLIFE MEXICO SERVICIOS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT FUND LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT GP LLC, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT PARALLEL FUND LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT PARALLEL GP LLC, METLIFE MULTI-FAMILY PARTNERS III LLC, METLIFE MUTUAL FUND COMPANY, METLIFE OBS MEMBER LLC, METLIFE OFC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ONTARIO STREET MEMBR LLC, METLIFE PARK TOWER MEMBER LLC, METLIFE PENSION TRUSTEES LIMITED, METLIFE PENSIONES MEXICO S.A., METLIFE PET INSURANCE SOLUTIONS LLC, METLIFE PLANOS ODONTOLOGICOS LTDA., METLIFE POWSZECHNE TOWARTZYSTWO EMERYTALNE S.A., METLIFE PRIVATE EQUITY HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE PROPERTIES VENTURES LLC, METLIFE RC SF MEMBER LLC, METLIFE REAL ESTATE LENDING LLC, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF BERMUDA LTD., METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF CHARLESTON, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF VERMONT, METLIFE RETIREMENT SERVICES LLC, METLIFE SAENGMYOUNG INSURANCE COMPANY LTD., METLIFE SECURITIZATION DEPOSITOR LLC, METLIFE SEGUROS S.A., METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING FINCO LLC, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING FUND LP, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING GP LLC, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING HOLDINGS LP, METLIFE SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS LLC, METLIFE SERVICES CYPRUS LIMITED, METLIFE SERVICES EAST PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE SERVICES EEIG, METLIFE SERVICES EOOD, METLIFE SERVICES SOCIEDAD LIMITADA, METLIFE SERVICES SP Z.O.O, METLIFE SERVICIOS S.A., METLIFE SLOVAKIA S.R.O. V LIKVIDACII, METLIFE SOLUTIONS PTE. LTD., METLIFE SOLUTIONS S.A.S., METLIFE SP HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE SYNDICATED BANK LOAN FUND SCSP, METLIFE SYNDICATED BANK LOAN LUX GP S.A.R.L., METLIFE THR INVESTOR LLC, METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO FUNDUSZY INWESTYCYJNYCH S.A., METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO UBEZPIECZEN NA ZYCIE I REASEKURACJI S.A., METLIFE TOWER RESOURCES GROUP INC., METLIFE TREAT TOWERS MEMBER LLC, METLIFE WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, METROPOLITAN CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN DIRECT PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC., METROPOLITAN GROUP PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN LIFE SEGUROS E PREVIDENCIA PRIVADA S.A., METROPOLITAN LIFE SOCIETATE de ADMINISTRARE a UNUI FOND de PENSII ADMINISTRAT PRIVAT S.A., METROPOLITAN LLOYDS INC., METROPOLITAN LLOYDS INSURANCE COMPANY OF TEXAS, METROPOLITAN PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN TOWER LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN TOWER REALTY COMPANY INC., MEX DF PROPERTIES LLC, MFA FINANCING VEHICLE CTR1 LLC, MIDTOWN HEIGHTS LLC, MIM CLAL GENERAL PARTNER LLC, MIM EMD GP LLC, MIM I LLC, MIM METWEST INTERNATIONAL MANAGER LLC, MIM ML-AI VENTURE 5 MANAGER LLC, MIM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC, MIM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT OF GEORGIA 1 LLC, MIM THIRD ARMY INDUSTRIAL MANAGER LLC, MISSOURI REINSURANCE INC., ML - URS PORT CHESTER SC MANAGER LLC, ML 300 THIRD MEMBER LLC, ML ARMATURE MEMBER LLC, ML BELLEVUE MANAGER LLC, ML BELLEVUE MEMBER LLC, ML BRIDGESIDE APARTMENTS LLC, ML CAPACITACION COMERCIAL S.A. DE C.V., ML CERRITOS TC MEMBER LLC, ML CLAL MEMBER LLC, ML DOLPHIN GP LLC, ML DOLPHIN MEZZ LLC, ML MATSON MILLS MEMBER LLC, ML MILILANI MEMBER LLC, ML ONE BEDMINSTER LLC, ML PORT CHESTER SC MEMBER LLC, ML SENTINEL SQUARE MEMBER LLC, ML SLOANS LAKE MEMEBR LLC, ML SOUTHLANDS MEMBER LLC, ML SOUTHMORE LLC, ML SWAN GP LLC, ML SWAN MEZZ LLC, ML TERRACES LLC, ML THIRD ARMY INDUSTRIAL MEMBER LLC, ML VENTURE 1 MANAGER S. DE R. L. DE C.V., ML VENTURE 1 SERVICER LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 1 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 2 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 3 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 4 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 5 LLC, MLIA MANAGER I LLC, MLIA PARK TOWER MANAGER LLC, MLIA SBAF COLONY MANAGER LLC, MLIA SBAF MANAGER LLC, MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS II LLC, MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS LLC, MLIC CB HOLDINGS LLC, MLJ US FEEDER LLC, MM GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER S.A. DE C.V., MMP CEDAR STREET OWNER LLC, MMP CEDAR STREET REIT LLC, MMP HOLDINGS III LLC, MMP OLIVIAN OWNER LLC, MMP OLIVIAN REIT LLC, MMP OWNERS III LLC, MMP OWNERS LLC, MMP SOUTH PARK OWNER LLC, MMP SOUTH PARK REIT LLC, MREF 425 MKT LLC, MSV IRVINE PROPERTY LLC, MTC FUND I LLC, MTC FUND II LLC, MTC FUND III LLC, MTL LEASING LLC, MTU HOTEL OWNER LLC, NATILOPORTEM HOLDINGS LLC, NEWBURY INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, OCONEE GOLF COMPANY LLC, OCONEE HOTEL COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LLC, OCONEE MARINA COMPANY LLC, OMI MLIC INVESTMENTS LIMITED, PACIFIC LOGISTICS INDUSTRIAL SOUTH LLC, PARK TOWER JV MEMBER LLC, PARK TOWER REIT INC., PJSC METLIFE, PLAZA DRIVE PROPERTIES LLC, PNB METLIFE INDIA INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, PREFCO FOURTEEN LLC, PREFCO XIV HOLDINGS LLC, PROVIDA INTERNACIONAL S.A., SAFEGUARD HEALTH ENTERPRISES INC., SAFEGUARD HEALTH PLANS INC., SAFEHEALTH LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, SEVENTH AND OSBORN MF VENTURE LLC, SINO-US UNITED METLIFE INSURANCE CO. LTD., SOUTHCREEK INDUSTRIAL HOLDINGS LLC, ST. JAMES FLEET INVESTMENTS TWO LIMITED, SUPERIOR PROCUREMENT INC, SUPERIOR VISION BENEFIT MANAGEMENT INC., SUPERIOR VISION HOLDINGS INC., SUPERIOR VISION INSURANCE INC., SUPERIOR VISION INSURANCE PLAN OF WISCONSIN INC., SUPERIOR VISION OF NEW JERSEY INC., SUPERIOR VISION SERVICES INC., Safeguard Health Enterprises, Security First Group Inc., THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH AVENUE MEZZANINE LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL HOLDING LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL OWNER, THE DIRECT CALL CENTRE PTY LIMITED, TRANSMOUNTAIN LAND & LIVESTOCK COMPANY, UVC INDEPENDENT PRACTICE ASSOCIATION INC., VERSANT HEALTH CONSOLIDATIONS CORP., VERSANT HEALTH HOLDCO INC., VERSANT HEALTH LAB LLC, VIRIDIAN MIRACLE MILE LLC, VISION 21 MANAGED EYE CARE OF TAMPA BAY, VISION 21 PHYSICIAN PRACTICE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, VISION TWENTY-ONE MANAGED EYE CARE IPA INC., Versant Health, WDV ACQUISITION CORP., WFP 1000 HOLDING COMPANY GP LLC, WHITE OAK ROYALTY COMPANY, and WHITE TRACT II LLC. Greka Drilling Limited, an investment holding company, provides drilling services for coal bed methane companies in China and India. It operates a drilling fleet, which includes purpose-built, hydraulic, and top-drive rigs for the application of drilling services within the unconventional gas industry; and offers completion and directional drilling, as well as geological and geophysical services. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in Zhengzhou, China. Greka Drilling Limited is a subsidiary of Green Dragon Gas (Holdings) Limited. Read More VanEck Vectors High Yield Muni ETF shares reverse split on Monday, October 29th 2018. The 1-2 reverse split was announced on Wednesday, October 10th 2018. The number of shares owned by shareholders was adjusted after the market closes on Friday, October 26th 2018. An investor that had 100 shares of VanEck Vectors High Yield Muni ETF stock prior to the reverse split would have 50 shares after the split. Horizonte Minerals Plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the identification, acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral projects in Brazil. The company primarily explores for nickel deposits, as well as cobalt deposits. It holds 100% interest in the Araguaia ferronickel project and the Vermelho Nickel-Cobalt project located in the south of the CarajAs mineral district in northern Brazil. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Hyatt Hotels: CHANCELLOR STREET CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION INC., GLENDALE HOTEL PROPERTIES L.L.C., HT-SEATTLE HOLDINGS LLC, 1379919 ALBERTA INC., 319168 ONTARIO LIMITED, 3385434 CANADA INC., ADMINISTRACION DE PERSONAL ANDARES S. DE R.L. DE C.V., AIC HOLDING CO., AIRPORT PLAZA ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, AIRPORT PLAZA HOTEL LLC, AIRPORT PLAZA OFFICE BUILDING LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, AMERISUITES FRANCHISING L.L.C., ARANCIA LIMITED, ARUBA BEACHFRONT RESORTS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, ARUBA BEACHFRONT RESORTS N.V., ASIA HOSPITALITY INC., ASIA HOSPITALITY INVESTORS B.V., ASIAN HOTEL N.V., ATRIUM HOTEL L.L.C., AUSTIN RESORT BEVERAGE LLC, AmeriSuites Hotel, BAKU HOTEL COMPANY - AZERI, BAKU HOTEL COMPANY - CAYMAN, BASTROP MARKETING L.L.C., BAY II INVESTOR INC., BELLEVUE ASSOCIATES, BH PLAZA LLC, BRE/AMERISUITES PROPERTIES L.L.C., BRE/AMERISUITES TXNC GP L.L.C., BRE/AMERISUITES TXNC PROPERTIES L.P., BURVAN HOTEL ASSOCIATES, CAL-HARBOR SO. PIER URBAN RENEWAL ASSOCIATES L.P., CELAYA RESORTS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., CHESAPEAKE COMMUNITIES LLC, CHESAPEAKE RESORT LLC, CIUDAD DEL CARMEN DIAMANTE RESORT S. DE R.L. DE C.V, COAST BEACH L.L.C., COMPAGNIE HOTELIERE DE LAGON BLEU, CPM SEATTLE HOTELS L.L.C., CRW INVESTMENT LLC, CTR INTEREST HOLDCO INC., DALLAS REGENCY LLC, DENVER DOWNTOWN HOTEL PARTNERS LLC, DESARROLLADORA HOTELERA ACUEDUCTO S. DE R.L. DE C.V., DH BEVERAGE LLC, DIAMANTE RESORT LA PAZ S. DE R.L. DE C.V., DISTRICT HOTEL PARTNERS LLC, EXHALE ENTERPRISES GIFT SERVICES COMPANY, EXHALE ENTERPRISES II L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES III INC., EXHALE ENTERPRISES IV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES V L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES VIII INC., EXHALE ENTERPRISES X INC., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XIV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XIX L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XV TCI LTD., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XVI L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XVII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XVIII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XX L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXI INC., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXIV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXVI L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXVII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXVIII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXXI L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXXII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXXIII INC., FAN PIER L.L.C., FAR EAST HOTELS INC., G.E.H. PROPERTIES LIMITED, GAINEY DRIVE ASSOCIATES, GALAXY AEROSPACE COMPANY LLC, GHE HOLDINGS LIMITED, GRAND HYATT BERLIN GMBH, GRAND HYATT DFW BEVERAGE LLC, GRAND HYATT SAN ANTONIO L.L.C., GRAND HYATT SF L.L.C., GRAND RIVERWALK BEVERAGE LLC, GRAND TORONTO CORP., GRAND TORONTO VENTURE L.P., GREENWICH HOTEL LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, H.E. ATLANTA CENTENNIAL PARK HOLDINGS L.L.C., H.E. AUSTIN L.L.C., H.E. BERMUDA L.L.C., H.E. CAP CANA L.L.C., H.E. DRISKILL LLC, H.E. GRAND CYPRESS L.L.C., H.E. IRVINE L.L.C., H.E. KANSAS CITY L.L.C., H.E. LENOX L.L.C., H.E. NASHVILLE L.L.C., H.E. NEWPORT L.L.C., H.E. ORLANDO L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA HC HOLDINGS L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA HC HOTEL L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA HC PARKING L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA HC RETAIL L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA SANSOM L.L.C., H.E. PORTLAND HC L.L.C., H.E. PORTLAND L.L.C., H.E. PROPERTIES HOLDING L.L.C., H.E. PROPERTIES L.L.C., H.E. SAN ANTONIO I L.L.C., H.E. SAN ANTONIO L.L.C., H.E. TUCSON HOLDINGS L.L.C., H.E. TUCSON JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., H.E. TUCSON JV L.L.C., H.E. TUCSON OWNER L.L.C., HAPP INVESTOR LTD., HARBORSIDE HOTEL LLC, HARBORSIDE LAND LLC, HC PORTLAND JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HC ROYAL PALMS L.L.C., HCV CINCINNATI HOTEL L.L.C., HE ORLANDO HOTEL LLC, HGP (TRAVEL) LIMITED, HH NASHVILLE HOLDINGS L.L.C., HH NASHVILLE JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HH PORTLAND L.L.C., HHMA BURLINGTON BEVERAGE L.L.C., HI HOLDINGS (SWITZERLAND) GMBH, HI HOLDINGS BAJA B.V., HI HOLDINGS BRAZIL S.A.R.L., HI HOLDINGS CELAYA B.V., HI HOLDINGS CIUDAD DEL CARMEN B.V., HI HOLDINGS CYPRUS LIMITED, HI HOLDINGS CYPRUS-INDIA LIMITED, HI HOLDINGS GUADALAJARA B.V., HI HOLDINGS HP CABO B.V., HI HOLDINGS HP TIJUANA HOTEL B.V., HI HOLDINGS KYOTO CO., HI HOLDINGS LA PAZ B.V., HI HOLDINGS LATIN AMERICA B.V., HI HOLDINGS NETHERLANDS B.V., HI HOLDINGS PLAYA B.V., HI HOLDINGS RIO S.A.R.L., HI HOLDINGS RIVIERA MAYA B.V., HI HOLDINGS VIENNA S.A.R.L., HI HOLDINGS ZURICH S.A.R.L., HI HOTEL ADVISORY SERVICES GMBH, HI HOTEL INVESTORS CYPRUS LIMITED, HIHCL AMSTERDAM B.V., HIHCL HP AMSTERDAM AIRPORT B.V., HIHCL HR AMSTERDAM B.V., HILP HOTEL SERVICE PROVIDER LLC, HOTEL AM BELVEDERE HOLDING GMBH, HOTEL AM BELVEDERE HOLDING GMBH & CO KG, HOTEL INVESTMENTS HOLDING CO LLC, HOTEL INVESTMENTS L.L.C., HOTEL INVESTORS I INC., HOTEL INVESTORS II INC., HOTEL PROJECT SYSTEMS PTE LTD, HOTEL SERVICES CIUDAD DEL CARMEN S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HOTELS CS CELAYA S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HP ATLANTA CENTENNIAL PARK JV LLC, HP AUSTIN L.L.C., HP BEVERAGE DALLAS DFW AIRPORT LLC, HP BEVERAGE SUGAR LAND LLC, HP BOSTON HOLDINGS L.L.C., HP GLENDALE JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HP GLENDALE L.L.C., HP INDIA HOLDINGS LIMITED, HP LAS VEGAS BEVERAGE L.L.C., HP M STREET L.L.C., HP ROUTE 46 TEXAS LLC, HP SAN FRANCISCO L.L.C., HP SAN JUAN L.L.C., HP TEN TEXAS LLC, HPHH ATLANTA L.L.C., HPHH DENVER L.L.C., HPHH SAN JOSE JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HPHH SAN JOSE L.L.C., HQ CHESAPEAKE LLC, HR LOST PINES RESORT LLC, HR MC HOTEL COMPANY S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HR MC SERVICES II S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HR MC SERVICES S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HRHC LLC, HT- WAILEA LLC, HT-AVENDRA GROUP HOLDINGS L.L.C., HT-AVENDRA L.L.C., HT-CHESAPEAKE COMMUNITIES INC., HT-CHESAPEAKE RESORT INC., HT-HOTEL EQUITIES INC., HT-HUNTINGTON BEACH INC., HT-JERSEY PIER INC., HT-JERSEY PIER L.P., HT-JERSEY PIER LLC, HT-LONG BEACH L.L.C., HT-MIAMI BEACH L.L.C., HT-PARK 57 INC., HT-SEATTLE LLC, HT-SIERRA L.L.C., HT-VANCOUVER INC., HTLB L.L.C., HTS - NS L.L.C., HTS - NY L.L.C., HTS-ASPEN L.L.C., HTS-BC INC., HTS-INVESTMENT L L.C., HTSF L.L.C., HTW BEVERAGE LLC, HY LONG BEACH HOTEL LLC, HYATT (BARBADOS) CORPORATION, HYATT (JAPAN) CO. LTD., HYATT (THAILAND) LIMITED, HYATT ARUBA N.V., HYATT ASIA PACIFIC HOLDINGS LIMITED, HYATT AUSTRALIA HOTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LIMITED, HYATT AUSTRIA GMBH, HYATT BEACH FRONT N.V., HYATT BORNEO MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED, HYATT BRITANNIA CORPORATION LTD., HYATT CC OFFICE CORP., HYATT CHAIN SERVICES LIMITED, HYATT CRYSTAL CITY LLC., HYATT CURACAO N.V., HYATT DISASTER RELIEF FUND, HYATT DO BRASIL PARTICIPACOES LTDA, HYATT EQUITIES L.L.C., HYATT FOREIGN EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INC., HYATT FRANCHISING CANADA CORP., HYATT FRANCHISING L.L.C., HYATT FRANCHISING LATIN AMERICA L.L.C., HYATT FULFILLMENT OF MARYLAND INC., HYATT GLOBAL SERVICES INC., HYATT GTLD L.L.C., HYATT HOC INC., HYATT HOLDINGS (UK) LIMITED, HYATT HOSPITALITY SERVICES L.L.C., HYATT HOTEL MANAGEMENT LIMITED, HYATT HOTELS CONSULTANCY SERVICES ASIA PACIFIC LIMITED, HYATT HOTELS CORPORATION OF KANSAS, HYATT HOTELS CORPORATION OF MARYLAND, HYATT HOTELS FOUNDATION, HYATT HOTELS MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, HYATT HOTELS OF CANADA INC., HYATT HOTELS OF FLORIDA INC., HYATT HOTELS OF PUERTO RICO INC., HYATT HOUSE CANADA INC., HYATT HOUSE FRANCHISING L.L.C., HYATT HOUSE HOTEL HOLDING COMPANY L.L.C., HYATT INDIA CONSULTANCY PRIVATE LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL (ASIA) LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL (EUROPE AFRICA MIDDLE EAST) LLC, HYATT INTERNATIONAL - JAPAN LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL - SOUTHWEST ASIA LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL -ASIA PACIFIC LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL -SEA (PTE) LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, HYATT INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS CO., HYATT INTERNATIONAL HOTEL MANAGEMENT (BEIJING) CO. LTD., HYATT INTERNATIONAL MILAN L.L.C., HYATT INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (BEIJING) CO. LTD., HYATT INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL SERVICES INC., HYATT JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HYATT LACSA SERVICES INC., HYATT LOUISIANA L.L.C., HYATT MAINZ GMBH, HYATT MARKETING SERVICES INC., HYATT MARKETING SERVICES NIGERIA COMPANY LIMITED, HYATT MINNEAPOLIS LLC, HYATT MINORITY INVESTMENTS INC., HYATT MSS L.L.C., HYATT NORTH AMERICA MANAGEMENT SERVICES INC., HYATT OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, HYATT OF BAJA S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HYATT OF CHINA LIMITED, HYATT OF FRANCE S.A.R.L., HYATT OF GUAM LIMITED, HYATT OF ITALY S.R.L., HYATT OF LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN L.L.C., HYATT OF LATIN AMERICA S.A. DE C.V., HYATT OF MACAU LIMITED, HYATT OF MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., HYATT OF PHILIPPINES LIMITED, HYATT PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS L.L.C., HYATT PLACE ANNE ARUNDEL BEVERAGE INC., HYATT PLACE CANADA CORPORATION, HYATT PLACE FRANCHISING L.L.C., HYATT PLACE OF MARYLAND INC., HYATT REGENCY COLOGNE GMBH, HYATT REGENCY CORPORATION PTY. LIMITED, HYATT SERVICES AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED, HYATT SERVICES CANADA INC., HYATT SERVICES CARIBBEAN L.L.C., HYATT SERVICES GMBH, HYATT SERVICES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, HYATT SHARED SERVICE CENTER L.L.C., HYATT TRINIDAD LIMITED, HYCANADA INC., HYCARD INC., HYSTAR L.L.C., Hyatt Corporation, INFORMATION SERVICES LIMITED, INTERNATIONAL RESERVATIONS LIMITED, JOINT VENTURE ITALKYR CLOSED JOINT STOCK COMPANY, JUNIPER HOTELS PRIVATE LIMITED, KSA MANAGEMENT INC., KYOTO HOLDING CO., LHR-PARTNERS LTD., LORING PARK ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, LOST PINES BEVERAGE LLC, MACAE PARTNERS S.A.R.L., MAHIMA HOLDINGS PRIVATE LIMITED, MARION RESERVATION CENTER L.L.C., MEXICO CITY HOTEL INVESTMENTS B.V., MILAN HOTEL INVESTMENTS B.V., MIRAVAL ARIZONA GUARANTOR LLC, MIRAVAL GROUP LLC, MIRAVAL RESORT ARIZONA HOLDINGS LLC, MIRAVAL RESORT ARIZONA LLC, MIRAVAL RESORT ARIZONA OPERATING CO. INC., MIRAVAL RESORT TUCSON LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS I LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS II LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS III LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS TRUST, MRG ATX BEVERAGE HOLDINGS LLC, MRG ATX HOLDINGS II LLC, MRG ATX HOLDINGS LLC, MRG ATX INVESTMENT LLC, MRG ATX MANAGEMENT I LLC, MRG ATX MANAGEMENT II LLC, MRG ATX OPERATIONS LLC, MRG CRW HOLDINGS LLC, MRG CRW MANAGEMENT I LLC, MRG CRW MANAGEMENT II LLC, MRG CRW OPERATIONS LLC, MUNICH OPCO GMBH, Miraval Resort, OASIS LUXURY RENTALS INCORPORATED, PARIS HOTEL COMPANY B.V., PARK HYATT HAMBURG GMBH, PARK HYATT HOTEL GMBH, PARK HYATT WATER TOWER ASSOCIATES L.L.C., PH NEW YORK L.L.C., PHMC RESIDENCIAS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., POLK SMITH REGENCY LLC, PT HYATT INDONESIA, PVD INVESTMENT COMPANY S.A.R.L., Peabody Hotels & Resort, RCG PROPERTIES LLC, REGENCY BEVERAGE COMPANY LLC, REGENCY RIVERWALK BEVERAGE LLC, RESERVATIONS CENTER L.L.C., RIO JV PARTNERS PARTICIPACOES LTDA., RIO PRETO PARTNERS HOTEIS LTDA., RIO PRETO PARTNERS S.A.R.L., ROSEMONT PROJECT MANAGEMENT L.L.C., ROUTE 46 MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES CORP., RUNWAY HOLDING L.L.C., RUNWAY L.L.C., SAO PAULO INVESTMENT COMPANY INC., SAO PAULO INVESTORS LIMITED, SASIH, SDI EQUITIES INVESTOR L.L.C., SDI INC., SDI SECURITIES 11 LLC, SDI SECURITIES 6 LLC, SELECT HOTELS GROUP L.L.C., SELECT JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., SEOUL MIRAMAR CORPORATION, SERVICIOS DE HOTELERIA SAN JOSE S. DE R.L. DE C.V., SERVICIOS HOTELEROS LA PAZ S. DE R.L. DE C.V., SETTLEMENT INVESTORS INC., SHG PUERTO RICO INC., SIERRA HEALTHSTYLES LLC, SJC DESARROLLOS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., SKS CORP. N.V., SMC HOTELS B.V., SOROCABA PARTNERS HOTEIS LTDA, SOROCABA PARTNERS S.A.R.L., STANHOPE L.L.C., STARHILL LORING PARK L.L.C., SUGAR LAND/HP LLC, THE GREAT EASTERN HOTEL COMPANY LIMITED, THE GREAT EASTERN HOTEL HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED, TIJUANA PARTNERS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., TR MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT LLC, TUCSON VILLAS HOLDINGS LLC, TUCSON VILLAS LLC, TWO SEAS HOLDINGS LIMITED, Two Roads Hospitality, WAILEA HOTEL & BEACH RESORT L.L.C., WAILEA HOTEL HOLDINGS L.L.C., WAILEA MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION L.L.C., WAILEA RESORT VILLAS HOLDINGS L.L.C., WAILEA RESORT VILLAS L.L.C., WEST END RESIDENCES L.L.C., XENIA ASSURANCE COMPANY INC., XENIA ASSURANCE COMPANY OF ILLINOIS, ZURICH ESCHERWIESE HOTEL GMBH, and ZURICH HOTEL INVESTMENTS B.V.. Eastmain Resources Inc., together with its subsidiary, Eastmain Mines Inc., engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral resource properties in Canada. The company primarily explores for gold, silver, nickel, platinum, and copper deposits. Its flagship project is the Clearwater project, which hosts the Eau Claire gold deposit covering an area of 201 square kilometers located in the central portion of the Eastmain River Greenstone Belt within the James Bay Mining District of QuAbec. The company was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. 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 Intermap Technologies Corporation, a geospatial intelligence company, provides various geospatial solutions and analytics in the United States, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. It offers Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions, such as InsitePro, a configurable insurance underwriting software; and NEXTView, a configurable data solution that delivers terrain and obstacle awareness that enhance airborne safety. The company also provides geospatial data acquisition and production services; value-added data licensing; and software solutions and services. Its geospatial solutions are used in a range of applications, including location-based information, risk assessment, geographic information systems, engineering, utilities, global positioning systems maps, oil and gas, renewable energy, hydrology, environmental planning, land management, wireless communications, transportation, outdoor advertising, and 3D visualization. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of JinkoSolar: Canton Best Limited, Jiangxi Photovoltaic Materials Co. Ltd., Jinko PV Material Supply Sdn. Bhd., Jinko Solar (Malaysia) SDN BHD., Jinko Solar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Australia Holdings Co. Pty Ltd., Jinko Solar Canada Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Denmark ApS, Jinko Solar Import and Export Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Japan K.K., Jinko Solar Korea Co. Ltd., Jinko Solar Technology SDN.BHD., JinkoSolar (Chuxiong) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Chuzhou) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Shangrao) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Sichuan) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Switzerland) AG, JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc., JinkoSolar (U.S.) Industries Inc., JinkoSolar (US) Holdings Inc., JinkoSolar (Vietnam) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar (Yiwu) Co. Ltd., JinkoSolar GmbH, JinkoSolar Hong Kong Limited, JinkoSolar International Development Limited, JinkoSolar Investment Limited, JinkoSolar LATAM Holding Limited, JinkoSolar Middle East DMCC, JinkoSolar Technology (Haining) Co. Ltd, JinkoSolar Trading Private Limited, Jinkosolar Household PV System Ltd., Poyang Ruilixin Information Technology Co. Ltd., Rui Xu Co. Ltd., Wide Wealth Group Holding Limited, Xinjiang Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., Yuhuan Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., and Zhejiang Jinko Trading Co. Ltd.. Green Dot Corp. operates as a financial technology leader and bank holding company, which engages in the provision of modern banking and money movement accessible for all. It operates through the following segments: Account Services; Processing and Settlement Services; and Corporate and Other. The Account Services segment consists of revenues and expenses derived from deposit account programs, such as prepaid cards, debit cards, consumer and small business checking accounts, secured credit cards, payroll debit cards, and gift cards. The Processing and Settlement Services segment comprises of products and services that specialize in facilitating the movement of funds on behalf of consumers and businesses. The Corporate and Other segment represents eliminations of intersegment revenues and expenses, unallocated corporate expenses, depreciation and amortization, and other costs that are not considered when management evaluates segment performance. The company was founded by Steven W. Streit in October 1, 1999 and is headquartered in Pasadena, CA. Read More 5 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Legrand in the last twelve months. There are currently 3 hold ratings and 2 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "hold" Legrand stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in LGRVF, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares. View analyst ratings for Legrand or view top-rated stocks. Margaux Resources Ltd., a polymetallic exploration company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in the Kootenay Arc in Southeastern British Columbia in Canada. The company primarily explores for zinc, gold, and tungsten deposits. It holds an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Jackpot/Oxide, Ore Hill, Aspenex, Bayonne, Sheep Creek, Canex, and Old Timer properties located in Salmo, British Columbia. The company was formerly known as Carmen Energy Inc. and changed its name to Margaux Resources Ltd. in July 2013. Margaux Resources Ltd. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Calgary, Canada. Read More iShares MSCI South Korea ETF's stock was trading at $52.04 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWY shares have increased by 52.6% and is now trading at $79.41. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 3.18%. Merck & Co., Inc. has been increasing its dividend for 10 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 91.87%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable. Based on earnings estimates, Merck & Co., Inc. will have a dividend payout ratio of 39.16% next year. This indicates that Merck & Co., Inc. will be able to sustain or increase its dividend. View Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend history. Millrock Resources Inc. engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. It deposits for gold, copper, porphyry, silver, and other metals. The company holds an interest in the Liberty Bell property covering an area of approximately 6,151 hectares; 64North Gold project covering an area of approximately 1,860 hectares; Chisna DragonSlayer project; and Apex El Nido covering an area of approximately 315 hectares located in Alaska. It also holds an interest in the El Batamote project covering a surface area of 5,796 hectares situated in Mexico. Millrock Resources Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Read More Power Financial Corporation provides financial services in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia. It offers life, disability, critical illness, and health insurance products, as well as wealth savings and income products, and specialty products. The company also provides financial products, including employer-sponsored defined contribution plans, individual retirement accounts, enrollment services, communication materials, investment options and education services, fund management services, and investment and advisory services. In addition, it offers protection and wealth management products, such as payout annuity products; reinsurance products; and sub-advisory services. Further, the company provides mutual funds, pooled funds, segregated funds, separate accounts, and other investment vehicles; securities, mortgages, and other financial services; and investment management services. It offers its products primarily through distribution network of third-party financial advisors, consultants, and independent financial advisors. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Montreal, Canada. Power Financial Corporation is a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Exxon Mobil: AKG Marketing Company Limited, Aera Energy LLC, Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company, Ampolex (Cepu) Pte Ltd, Ancon Insurance Company Inc., Barnett Gathering LLC, Barzan Gas Company Limited, Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Celtic Exploration Ltd., Coral FLNG S.A., Cross Timbers Energy LLC, Ellora Energy Inc., Esmeroon Oil Transporta Imperial Oil Limited, Esso (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd, Esso Deutschland GmbH, Esso Erdgas Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15) Limited, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Overseas) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Chad Inc., Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Offshore East) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited, Esso Global Investments Ltd., Esso Italiana S.r.l., Esso Nederland B.V., Esso Norge AS, Esso Petroleum Company Limited, Esso Raffinage, Esso Societe Anonyme Francaise, Exxo Holdings Inc., Exxon Azerbaijan Limited, Exxon Chemical Arabia Inc., Exxon International Finance Company, Exxon Luxembourg Holdings LLC, Exxon Mobile Bay Limited Partnership, Exxon Neftegas Limited, Exxon Overseas Corporation, Exxon Overseas Investment Corporation, ExxonMobil (China) Investment Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil (Taicang) Petroleum Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil Abu Dhabi Offshore Petroleum Company Limited, ExxonMobil Alaska Production Inc., ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., ExxonMobil Australia Pty Ltd, ExxonMobil B Resources Company, ExxonMobil Capital Finance Company, ExxonMobil Capital Netherlands B.V., ExxonMobil Central Europe Holding GmbH, ExxonMobil Cepu Limited, ExxonMobil Chemical France, ExxonMobil Chemical Gulf Coast Investments LLC, ExxonMobil Chemical Holland B.V., ExxonMobil Chemical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil China Petroleum & Petrochemical Company Limited, ExxonMobil Development Africa B.V., ExxonMobil Development Company, ExxonMobil Egypt (S.A.E.), ExxonMobil Exploracao Brasil Ltda., ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc., ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway AS, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Limited, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Tanzania Limited, ExxonMobil Finance Company Limited, ExxonMobil Financial Investment Company Limited, ExxonMobil France Holding SAS, ExxonMobil Gas Marketing Europe Limited, ExxonMobil General Finance Company, ExxonMobil Global Services Company, ExxonMobil Golden Pass Surety LLC, ExxonMobil Holding Company Holland LLC, ExxonMobil Holding Norway AS, ExxonMobil Hong Kong Limited, ExxonMobil International Services SARL, ExxonMobil Iraq Limited, ExxonMobil Italiana Gas S.r.l., ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Inc., ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Ventures Inc., ExxonMobil LNG Services B.V., ExxonMobil Lubricants Trading Company, ExxonMobil Oil Corporation, ExxonMobil PNG Limited, ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA, ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical Holdings Inc., ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, ExxonMobil Production Deutschland GmbH, ExxonMobil Production Norway Inc., ExxonMobil Qatargas (II) Limited, ExxonMobil Qatargas Inc., ExxonMobil Ras Laffan (III) Limited, ExxonMobil Rasgas Inc., ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, ExxonMobil Russia Kara Sea Holdings B.V., ExxonMobil Sales and Supply LLC, ExxonMobil Technology Finance Company, ExxonMobil Ventures Finance Company, ExxonMobil Ventures Funding Ltd., Fujian Refining & Petrochemical Co. Ltd., Golden Pass LNG Terminal Investments LLC, Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures LLC, Imperial Oil Limited, Imperial Oil Resources Limited, Imperial Oil Resources N.W.T. Limited, Imperial Oil/Petroliere Imperiale, Infineum Italia s.r.I., Infineum Singapore Pte. Ltd., InterOil Corporation, Jurong Aromatics Corporation Pte Ltd, MPM Lubricants, Marine Well Containment Company LLC, Mobil Australia Resources Company Pty Limited, Mobil California Exploration & Producing Asset Company, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company, Mobil Chemical Products International Inc., Mobil Corporation, Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc., Mobil Erdgas Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Mobil Exploration & Producing Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil International Petroleum Corporation, Mobil Oil Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil Oil Exploration & Producing Southeast Inc., Mobil Oil New Zealand Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Mobil Producing Texas & New Mexico Inc., Mobil SerLimited, Mobil Venezolana De Petroleos Inc., Mobil Yanbu Petrochemical Company Inc., Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc., Mountain Gathering LLC, Mozambique Rovuma Venture S.p.A., Palmetto Transoceanic LLC, Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas Global Company LDC, Permian Express Partners LLC, Phillips Exploration LLC, Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (II), SPI Limited, Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Ltd., Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Co., SeaRiver Maritime Inc., South Hook LNG Terminal Company Limited, Tengizchevroil LLP, Terminale GNL Adriatico S.r.l, Trend Gathering & Treating LLC, Wolverine Pipe Line Company, XH LLC, XTO Delaware Basin LLC, XTO ENERGY, XTO Energy Canada, and XTO Holdings LLC. The following companies are subsidiares of Procter & Gamble: "Procter & Gamble Services" LLC, "Procter & Gamble" LLC, Agile Pursuits, Agile Pursuits Franchising, Arbora, Arbora & Ausonia, Arborinvest, Billie, Braun (Shanghai) Co., Braun GmbH, Braun-Gillette Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, Celtic Insurance Company, Compania Procter & Gamble Mexico, Compania Quimica S.A., Corporativo Procter & Gamble, Cosmetic Products Pty. Ltd., Detergent Products B.V., Detergent Products SARL, Detergenti S.A., Eurocos Cosmetic GmbH, FPG Oleochemicals Sdn. Bhd., Fameccanica Data S.p.A., Fameccanica Industria e Comercio Do Brasil LTDA., Fameccanica Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Fater S.p.A., Fountain Square Music Publishing Co., Gillette (China) Ltd., Gillette (Shanghai) Ltd., Gillette Aesop Ltd., Gillette Australia Pty. Ltd., Gillette Canada Holdings, Gillette Commercial Operations North America, Gillette Diversified Operations Pvt. Ltd., Gillette Egypt S.A.E., Gillette Group UK Ltd, Gillette Gruppe Deutschland GmbH & Co. oHG, Gillette Holding Company LLC, Gillette Holding GmbH, Gillette India Limited, Gillette Industries Ltd., Gillette International B.V., Gillette Latin America Holding B.V., Gillette Management LLC, Gillette Nova Scotia Company, Gillette Pakistan Limited, Gillette Poland International Sp. z.o.o., Gillette Poland S.A., Gillette U.K. Limited, Gillette del Uruguay, Giorgio Beverly Hills Inc., Hyginett KFT, Industries Marocaines Modernes SA, LLC "Procter & Gamble Novomoskovsk", LLL "Procter & Gamble Distributorskaya Compania", Laboratorios Vicks, Liberty Street Music Publishing Company, Limited Liability Company 'Procter & Gamble Trading Ukraine', Limited Liability Company with foreign investments Procter & and Gamble Ukraine, MDVIP, MERCK KGAA NPV, Marcvenca Inversiones, Modern Industries Company - Dammam, Modern Products Company - Jeddah, New Chapter, New Chapter Canada Inc., Olay LLC, Oral-B Laboratories, P&G Distribution Morocco SAS, P&G Hair Care Holding, P&G Industrial Peru S.R.L., P&G Innovation Godo Kaisha, P&G Israel M.D.O. Ltd., P&G K.K., P&G Northeast Asia Pte. Ltd., P&G Prestige Godo Kaisha, P&G Prestige Service GmbH, P&G South African Trading (Pty.) Ltd., PGT Health Care (Zhejiang) Limited, PGT Healthcare LLP, PPI ZAO, PT Procter & Gamble Home Products Indonesia, PT Procter & Gamble Operations Indonesia, Phase II Holdings Corporation, Procter & Gamble (Chengdu) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Sales Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (East Africa) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Egypt) Manufacturing Company, Procter & Gamble (Enterprise Fund) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Consumer Products Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Enterprise Management Service Company Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Health & Beauty Care) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Jiangsu) Ltd. China, Procter & Gamble (L&CP) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Procter & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Limited, Procter & Gamble (Shanghai) International Trade Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Acquisition GmbH, Procter & Gamble Administration GmbH, Procter & Gamble Algeria EURL, Procter & Gamble Amazon Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Amiens S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Argentina SRL, Procter & Gamble Asia Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Australia Proprietary Limited, Procter & Gamble Azerbaijan Services LLC, Procter & Gamble Bangladesh Private Ltd., Procter & Gamble Blois S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Brazil Holdings B.V., Procter & Gamble Bulgaria EOOD, Procter & Gamble Business Services Canada Company, Procter & Gamble Canada Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Chile , Procter & Gamble Chile Limitada, Procter & Gamble Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Commercial LLC, Procter & Gamble Commercial de Cuba S.A., Procter & Gamble Czech Republic s.r.o., Procter & Gamble DS Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Danmark ApS, Procter & Gamble Detergent (Beijing) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Deuttschland GmbH, Procter & Gamble Distributing (Philippines) Inc., Procter & Gamble Distributing New Zealand Limited, Procter & Gamble Distribution Company (Europe) BVBA, Procter & Gamble Distribution S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Eastern Europe, Procter & Gamble Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Procter & Gamble Egypt, Procter & Gamble Egypt Distribution, Procter & Gamble Egypt Holding, Procter & Gamble Egypt Supplies, Procter & Gamble Energy Company LLC, Procter & Gamble Espana, Procter & Gamble Europe SA, Procter & Gamble Export Operations SARL, Procter & Gamble Exportadora e Importadora Ltda., Procter & Gamble Exports, Procter & Gamble Fabricacao e Comercio Ltda., Procter & Gamble Far East, Procter & Gamble Finance (U.K.) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Holding Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Management S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Financial Investments LLP, Procter & Gamble Financial Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Financial Services S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Finland OY, Procter & Gamble France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH, Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH & Co. Operations oHG, Procter & Gamble GmbH, Procter & Gamble Grundstucks-und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Procter & Gamble Gulf FZE, Procter & Gamble Hair Care, Procter & Gamble Hellas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Holding (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Holding France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Holding GmbH, Procter & Gamble Holding S.r.l., Procter & Gamble Holdings (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Home Products Private Limited, Procter & Gamble Hong Kong Limited, Procter & Gamble Hungary Wholesale Trading Partnership (KKT), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Limited, Procter & Gamble Inc., Procter & Gamble India Holdings, Procter & Gamble Indochina Limited Company, Procter & Gamble Industrial - 2012 C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Industrial S.C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Costa Rica, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Guatemala, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Panama, Procter & Gamble International Operations Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble International Operations SA, Procter & Gamble International Operations SA-ROHQ, Procter & Gamble International S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Investment Company (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Investment GmbH, Procter & Gamble Italia, Procter & Gamble Japan K.K., Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan Distribution LLP, Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan LLP, Procter & Gamble Korea, Procter & Gamble Korea S&D Co., Procter & Gamble Lanka Private Ltd. Sri Lanka, Procter & Gamble Leasing LLC, Procter & Gamble Levant S.A.L., Procter & Gamble Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Berlin GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Marketing Romania SRL, Procter & Gamble Marketing and Services doo, Procter & Gamble Maroc SA, Procter & Gamble Mataro, Procter & Gamble Mexico Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Mexico Inc., Procter & Gamble Middle East FZE, Procter & Gamble Nederland B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Investments B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Services B.V., Procter & Gamble Nigeria Limited, Procter & Gamble Nordic, Procter & Gamble Norge AS, Procter & Gamble Operations Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Overseas India B.V., Procter & Gamble Overseas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Pakistan (Private) Limited, Procter & Gamble Partnership LLP, Procter & Gamble Peru S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals France SAS, Procter & Gamble Philippines, Procter & Gamble Polska Sp. z o.o, Procter & Gamble Portugal - Produtos De Consumo, Procter & Gamble Product Supply (U.K.) Limited U.K., Procter & Gamble Production GmbH, Procter & Gamble Productions, Procter & Gamble Productos de Consumo, Procter & Gamble RHD, Procter & Gamble RSC Regional Service Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Retail Services BVBA, Procter & Gamble S.r.l., Procter & Gamble SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Satis ve Dagitim Ltd. Sti., Procter & Gamble Seine S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, Procter & Gamble Services (Switzerland) SA, Procter & Gamble Services Company N.V., Procter & Gamble Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Share Incentive Plan Trustee Ltd., Procter & Gamble South America Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Spol. s.r.o. (Ltd.), Procter & Gamble Sports and Social Club Ltd., Procter & Gamble Sverige AB, Procter & Gamble Switzerland SARL, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Limited, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Sales Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Limited, Procter & Gamble Technology (Beijing) Co., Procter & Gamble Trading (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Tuketim Mallari Sanayii A.S., Procter & Gamble UK, Procter & Gamble UK Group Holdings Ltd, Procter & Gamble UK Parent Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Universal Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Verwaltungs GmbH, Procter & Gamble Vietnam, Procter & Gamble d.o.o. za trgovinu, Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.C.A., Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.R.L., Procter & Gamble do Brasil S/A, Procter & Gamble do Brazil, Procter & Gamble do Nordeste S/A, Procter & Gamble-Rakona s.r.o., Progam Realty & Development Corporation, Redmond Products, Richardson-Vicks Real Estate Inc., Richardson-Vicks do Brasil Quimica e Farmaceutica Ltda, Riverfront Music Publishing Co., Rosemount LLC, SPD Development Company Limited, SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, Scannon S.A.S., Series Acquisition B.V., Shulton, Surfac S.R.L., Sycamore Productions, TAOS - FL, TAOS Retail, Tambrands Inc., Temple Trees Impex & Investment Private Limited, The Art of Shaving - FL, The Dover Wipes Company, The Gillette Company, The Gillette Company LLC, The Gillette co., The Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC, The Procter & Gamble GBS Company, The Procter & Gamble Global Finance Company, The Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, The Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, The Procter & Gamble U.S. Business Services Company, This is L., US CD LLC, Vidal Sassoon (Shanghai) Academy, Vidal Sassoon Co., WEBA Betriebsrenten-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Walker & Company Brands, and iMFLUX Inc.. 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. 1 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Premier Oil in the last year. There are currently 1 hold rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "hold" Premier Oil stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in PMO, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares. View analyst ratings for Premier Oil or view top-rated stocks. The following companies are subsidiares of Aramark: 1ST & Fresh LLC, AIL Servicos Alimenticios e Participacoes Ltda., AIM Services Co. Ltd., AMP Limited Partnership, ARA Catering and Vending Services Limited, ARA Coffee Club Limited, ARA Coffee System Limited, ARA Food Services Limited, ARA Marketing Services Limited, ARA Offshore Services Limited, ARAMONT Company Ltd., Active Industrial Unif, Alcatraz Hospitality, AmeriPride Services, American Snack & Beverage LLC, Aramark (BVI) Limited, Aramark Airport Services Limited, Aramark American Food Services LLC, Aramark Asia Management LLC, Aramark Aviation Services Limited Partnership, Aramark B.V., Aramark Beverages Limited, Aramark Business & Industry LLC, Aramark Business Center LLC, Aramark Business Dining Services of Texas LLC, Aramark Business Facilities LLC, Aramark CCT Trustees Limited, Aramark Campus LLC, Aramark Canada Ltd., Aramark Canadian Investments Inc., Aramark Capital Asset Services LLC, Aramark Catering Limited, Aramark China Dining Services (Shanghai) Limited, Aramark China Holdings Limited, Aramark Chugach Alaska Services LLC, Aramark Cleaning S.A., Aramark Cleanroom Services (Puerto Rico) Inc., Aramark Cleanroom Services LLC, Aramark Co. Ltd., Aramark Colombia SAS, Aramark Concessions Services Joint Venture, Aramark Confection LLC, Aramark Construction Services Inc., Aramark Construction and Energy Services LLC, Aramark Consumer Discount Company, Aramark Correctional Services LLC, Aramark Defence Services Limited, Aramark Denmark ApS, Aramark Distribution Services Inc., Aramark Educational Group LLC, Aramark Educational Services LLC, Aramark Educational Services of Texas LLC, Aramark Educational Services of Vermont Inc., Aramark Entertainment LLC, Aramark Entertainment Services (Canada) Inc., Aramark Executive Management Services USA Inc., Aramark FHC Business Services LLC, Aramark FHC Campus Services LLC, Aramark FHC Correctional Services LLC, Aramark FHC Healthcare Support Services LLC, Aramark FHC Kansas Inc., Aramark FHC LLC, Aramark FHC Refreshment Services LLC, Aramark FHC School Support Services LLC, Aramark FHC Services LLC, Aramark FHC Sports and Entertainment Services LLC, Aramark FSM LLC, Aramark Facility Services LLC, Aramark Food Service LLC, Aramark Food Service of Texas LLC, Aramark Food and Support Services Group Inc., Aramark Global Group S.a.r.l., Aramark Global Inc., Aramark GmbH, Aramark Gulf Limited, Aramark Gulf Limited Catering Services LLC, Aramark Healthcare Support Services LLC, Aramark Healthcare Support Services of the Virgin Islands Inc., Aramark Healthcare Technologies LLC, Aramark Holding Deutschland GmbH, Aramark Holdings GmbH & Co. KG, Aramark Holdings Ltd., Aramark Industrial Services LLC, Aramark Intermediate HoldCo Corporation, Aramark International Finance S.a.r.l., Aramark International Holdings S.a.r.l., Aramark Inversiones Latinoamericanas Limitada, Aramark Investments Limited, Aramark Ireland Holdings Limited, Aramark Japan Holdings Limited, Aramark Japan LLC, Aramark KSA LLC, Aramark Kazakhstan Ltd., Aramark Lakewood Associates, Aramark Limited, Aramark Management GmbH, Aramark Management LLC, Aramark Management Services Limited Partnership, Aramark Manning Services UK Limited, Aramark Mexico Group, Aramark Mexico S.A. de C.V., Aramark Monclova Manufacturing de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Aramark Monclova Support S.A.de C.V., Aramark Norway SA, Aramark Organizational Services LLC, Aramark Partnership Limited, Aramark Personnel Services, Aramark Peru S.A.C., Aramark Peru Servicios de Intermediacion SRL, Aramark Processing LLC, Aramark Property Services Limited, Aramark Qualified Opportunity Fund, Aramark Quebec Inc., Aramark RBI Inc., Aramark Rail Services LLC, Aramark Receivables LLC, Aramark Refreshment Group, Aramark Refreshment Services LLC, Aramark Refreshment Services of Tampa LLC, Aramark Regional Treasury Europe DAC, Aramark Remote Workplace Services Ltd., Aramark Restaurations GmbH, Aramark S&E/QCF Joint Venture, Aramark S.A., Aramark S.A. de C.V., Aramark S.R.O., Aramark SARL, Aramark SCM Inc., Aramark SM Management Services Inc., Aramark SMMS LLC, Aramark SMMS Real Estate LLC, Aramark School Catering Facility Ltd., Aramark Schools Facilities LLC, Aramark Schools LLC, Aramark Senior Living Services LLC, Aramark Senior Notes Company LLC, Aramark Service Industries (China) Co. Ltd., Aramark Services Inc., Aramark Services SA, Aramark Services of Kansas Inc., Aramark Services of Puerto Rico Inc., Aramark Servicios Industriales S. de R.L. de C.V., Aramark Servicios Integrales S.A., Aramark Servicios Mineros y Remotos Limitada, Aramark Servicios SRL, Aramark Servicios de Catering S.L., Aramark Servicos Alimenticos e Participacoes Ltda., Aramark Sports Facilities LLC, Aramark Sports LLC, Aramark Sports and Entertainment Group LLC, Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services LLC, Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services of Texas LLC, Aramark Sub Investments Limited, Aramark Technical Services North Carolina Inc., Aramark Togwotee LLC, Aramark Trademark Services, Aramark Trustees Limited, Aramark U.S. Offshore Services LLC, Aramark Uniform & Career Apparel Group Inc., Aramark Uniform & Career Apparel LLC, Aramark Uniform Holding de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Aramark Uniform Manufacturing Company, Aramark Uniform Services (Canada) Ltd., Aramark Uniform Services (Matchpoint) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services (Rochester) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services (Supply Chain), Aramark Uniform Services (Syracuse) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services (Texas) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services (West Adams) LLC, Aramark Uniform Services Japan Corporation, Aramark Venue Services Inc., Aramark WTC LLC, Aramark Workplace Solutions (UK) Ltd., Aramark Workplace Solutions Yonetim Hizmetleri Limited Sirketi, Aramark Worldwide Investments Limited, Aramark-Clarksville Club, Aramark-FINCO of Texas LLC, Aramark-Gourmet DPS LLC, Aramark-KWAME of St. Louis LLC, Aramark-SFS Healthcare J.V. L.L.C., Aramark/Dasko Restaurant and Catering Services S.A., Aramark/GM Concessions Joint Venture, Aramark/Giacometti Joint Venture, Aramark/Globetrotters LLC, Aramark/Gourmet HE-1 LLC, Aramark/Gourmet HE-2 LLC, Aramark/HF Company, Aramark/HMS LLC, Aramark/Hart Lyman Entertainment LLC, Aramark/Martin's Stadium Concession Services OPACY Joint Venture, Aramark/QHC LLC, Aramark/SFS Joint Venture, Avendra, Avendra Canada Inc., Avendra Gaming, Avendra Replenishment, Avoca, Avoca Handweavers Designs Limited, Avoca Handweavers Limited, Avoca Handweavers NI Limited, Avoca Handweavers Shops Limited, Avoca Handweavers UK Limited, Beijing Golden Collar Dining Ltd., Boompjes Hotel BV, Brand Coffee Service Inc., BuyEfficient, CDR Mantenimiento Integral S.A., Campbell Catering (Belfast) Ltd., Campbell Catering (N.I.) Ltd., Campbell Catering Holdings Limited, Campbell Catering Limited, Campbell Catering Ltd., Campbell Catering Services, Canadian Linen and Uniform Service Co., Canyonlands Rafting Hospitality LLC, Catering Alliance Limited, Caterwise Food Services Limited, Central Multiservicios S.R.L., Central de Abastecimiento Limitada, Central de Restaurantes Aramark Limitada, Central de Restaurantes Aramark Multiservicios Limitada, Central de Restaurantes S.R.L., Centrapal S.R.L., Centro de Innovacion y Servicio S.A., Cliff House Hospitality, Comertel Educa SLU, Comertel Residencia SLU, Comertel SA, Complete Purchasing Services Inc., Corporate Coffee Systems LLC, Crater Lake Hospitality, D.G. Maren II Inc., Delicious on West Street LLC, Delsac VIII Inc., Distributor JV Limited, Dongguan Best Property Management Co., Doyon/Aramark Denali National Park Concessions Joint Venture, Effective Partnerships Limited, Filterfresh Coffee Service, Filterfresh Coffee Service LLC, Filterfresh Franchise Group LLC, Fine Host Holdings LLC, Food JV Limited, Freedom Ferry Services, GTB Gastro Team Bremen GmbH, Gestion de Alimentacion y Limpieza Colectivadades SLU, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve Concessions LLC, Glen Canyon Rafting Hospitality, Glenrye Properties Services Limited, Golden Collar, Good Uncle Services, Gourmet Aramark Services LLC, Guaranty Energy Group 1981, HPSI Purchasing Services LLC, Harrison Conference Associates LLC, Harrison Conference Services of North Carolina LLC, Harry M. Stevens Inc. of New Jersey, Harry M. Stevens Inc. of Penn., Harry M. Stevens LLC, Hunters Catering Partnership Limited, Institutional Processing Services, Instituto ICS S.A., Inversiones Aramark Chile Limitada, Inversiones Centralcorp Limitada, Inversiones Palm Limitada, Inversiones en Aseo y Mantenimiento S.A, Irish Estates (Facilities Management) Limited, L&N Uniform Supply LLC, Lake Tahoe Cruises LLC, Landy Textile Rental Services LLC, Lifeworks Restaurant Group LLC, Lotus Facilities Management, MESA, Masterplan, Medical Equipment Solutions & Applications Sagl (MESA), Mill Mount Weavers Limited, Muir Woods Hospitality, MyAssistant Inc., New Aramark LLC, Nissho Linen, North Rim Hospitality, Old Time Coffee Co., Olympic Peninsula Hospitality LLC, Orange Support Services Limited, Overall Laundry Services Inc., Paradise Hornblower LLC, Pelican Procurement Services Limited, Philadelphia Ballpark Concessions Joint Venture, Prem Hospitality Limited, Premgroup Franchise Services Limited, Premier Management Company (Dublin) Limited, Premier Partnership (Catering) Limited, Quebec Linge Co., ReMedPar, Restaura Inc., Rocky Mountain Hospitality LLC, Rushmore Hospitality LLC, SeamlessWeb, Seguricorp Servicios S.A., South Rim Hospitality LLC, Spokesoft Technologies Limited, Stuart Cabeldu Catering Limited, Sun Office Service Inc., Tarrant County Concessions LLC, The Aramark Foundation, The Original Food Company Limited, Travel Systems LLC, Trinity Hospitality Services GmbH, Trinity Hospitality Services SARL, Trinity Purchasing N.V., Vector Environmental Services Limited, Vector Workplace and Facility Management Limited, Veris Plc, Veris Property Management Limited, Veris UK Limited, WearGuard, Wilderness River Adventures, and Yosemite Hospitality LLC. Saint Jean Carbon Inc., a junior resource company, acquires, explores for, and develops mineral properties in Canada. It operates in two segments, Mineral Exploration and Development, and Research and Development. The company holds 100% interest in the Mount Copeland property; and 25% undivided interest the Red Bird property for the exploration of molybdenum deposits in British Columbia. Further, it focuses on the scientific study and technology applications for graphite and graphene. The company was formerly known as Torch River Resources Ltd. and changed its name to Saint Jean Carbon Inc. in October 2013. Saint Jean Carbon Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Calgary, Canada. Read More Suncor Energy Inc. operates as an integrated energy company. The company primarily focuses on developing petroleum resource basins in Canada's Athabasca oil sands; explores, acquires, develops, produces, transports, refines, and markets crude oil in Canada and internationally; markets petroleum and petrochemical products under the Petro-Canada name primarily in Canada. It operates in Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Corporate and Eliminations segments. The Oil Sands segment recovers bitumen from mining and in situ operations, and upgrades it into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, or blends the bitumen with diluent for direct sale to market. The Exploration and Production segment is involved in offshore operations off the east coast of Canada and in the North Sea; and operating onshore assets in Libya and Syria. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil and intermediate feedstock into various petroleum and petrochemical products; and markets refined petroleum products to retail, commercial, and industrial customers through its other retail sellers. The Corporate and Eliminations segment operates four wind farm operations in Ontario and Western Canada. The company also markets and trades in crude oil, natural gas, byproducts, refined products, and power. The company was formerly known as Suncor Inc. and changed its name to Suncor Energy Inc. in April 1997. Suncor Energy Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More Temple Bar Investment Trust PLC is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Ninety One Fund Managers UK Limited. It is co-managed by Ninety One UK Limited. The fund invests in the public equity markets of the United Kingdom. It seeks to invests in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in stocks of companies across all market capitalizations, which are constituents of the FTSE 350 Index. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the FTSE All-Share Index. Temple Bar Investment Trust PLC was formed in 1926 and is domiciled in the United Kingdom. Read More Valley National Bancorp is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Lending; Commercial Lending; Investment Management; and Corporate and Other Adjustments. The Consumer Lending segment consists of residential mortgage loans, automobile loans and home equity loans, as well as wealth management and insurance services. The Commercial Lending segment includes the floating rate and adjustable rate commercial and industrial loans as well as fixed rate owner occupied and commercial real estate loans. The Investment Management segment refers to investments in various types of securities and interest-bearing deposits with other banks. The Corporate and Other Adjustments segment represents the income and expense items not directly attributable to a specific segment. The company was founded on November 12, 1982 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Read More Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF's stock was trading at $75.66 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, VYM shares have increased by 46.3% and is now trading at $110.70. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH) announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November, 6th. The construction company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.07. The construction company had revenue of $466.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $487.15 million. William Lyon Homes had a net margin of 3.04% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 6.98%. The business's revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. View William Lyon Homes' earnings history. Xcel Energy, Inc. operates as a holding company, which engages in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity. It operates through the following three segments: Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility and All Others. The Regulated Electric Utility segment generates, transmits and distributes electricity primarily in portions of generates, transmits and distributes electricity in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico. In addition, this segment includes sales for resale and provides wholesale transmission service to various entities in the United States. It also includes commodity trading operations. The Regulated Natural Gas Utility segment transports, stores, and distributes natural gas primarily in portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Michigan and Colorado. The All Others segment engages in steam, appliance repair services, nonutility real estate activities, processing solid waste into refuse-derived fuel and investments in rental housing projects that qualify for low-income housing tax credits. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. Read More Faced with insurmountable numbers, Republican Incumbent Congresswoman Claudia Tenney has conceded the 22nd district congressional race, telling local radio station, WUTQ, that she will help her rival in the bitter, hard-fought race, to transition to Washington. "I haven't had a chance to speak to Anthony yet, of course I will, and my office will do everything we can to coordinate with him and make sure it's a smooth transition," said the Congresswoman. Tenney said she doesn't take anything personally-especially politics. She hinted at potential, post-January career paths. "Honestly, being U.S. Attorney would be really fun. I would love to do it. I'm not sure that's something that I would do. We'll see. I don't even know if there's an opening." Brindisi said on Tuesday that he was looking forward to a smooth transition, with his former opponent's help. Oneida County is still counting absentee and affadavit ballots. They plan to continue Monday. A large number of ballot challenges earlier in the week slowed the pace. FLORA, Ind. (WLFI) The old saying "time heals all wounds" just isn't true for the Flora community. In fact in this case, Louis Rose said time just makes things worse. "It gets rougher everyday because the mind just wanders,"said Rose. Rose is the great uncle of Kionnie, Keyara, Kerriele and Keyanna. Four sisters who simply didn't get enough time. "I mean man I can't think of any kind of way to try and hurt anybody like that," said Rose. Not a day goes by Kathy Clendening doesn't replay that night in her head. But on this night, she chooses to remember the light the girls brought to her life. The community held a memorial to honor the two year anniversary of the fatal fire on East Columbia Street in Flora. "I can't imagine losing one child let alone losing all four of my babies," Clendening said. "When you lose a child, you live but you really don't exist anymore," echoed Doug Carter, Superintendent of Indiana State Police. "We have this extraordinary responsibility to surround this family and keep them very close to us," said Carter. Because he's done just that, the community hasn't lost hope. "I do believe that the state police are going to find this person," said Clendening." "We will know who did this one day," agreed Rose. So while time may not be on their side just yet, Carter has faith it someday will. "Someone is going to be held accountable for this crime, and I hope I get to look across the table from them and say why." Officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea is a nation in East Asia that makes up the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula. Between the two nations of North Korea and South Korea lies the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with both governments claiming legitimacy over the islands nearby and the peninsula as a whole. Both North Korea and South Korea are UN member states. United Nations Membership There are 193 sovereign member states in the world that are part of the UN and possess equal representation in the General Assembly. One of those nations is North Korea after its admission into the body on September 17, 1991. The admission, which also included South Korea, was done by the General Assembly under the Resolution 46/1. The admission was done after both of the two states decided to send an application to the UN and after the recommendation of the United Nations Security Council to the General Assembly. The question of whether North Korea should be a part of the United Nations is one that baffles many people. The reason for this confusion is that North Korea is a nation that is known for the abuse of human rights and an open violation of international agreements. In fact, some people believe that North Korea is a threat to the peace of the world itself due to its constant dabbling with nuclear weapons. UN Charter One of the arguments that has been used to explain North Koreas presence in the UN is the content in the UN Charter. New members wishing to join are evaluated against the criteria defined in Article 4 of Chapter II of the charter. The first requirement is that any new member wishing to join can do so as long as it is a peace-loving nation and is willing to accept all the rules and obligations defined in the charter. Moreover, the nation must have the ability and will to carry out the obligations defined in the charter. Secondly, any new member state wishing to join will have to be admitted by the UN General Assembly after the UN Security Council has deliberated on the suitability of the nation and submitted a recommendation to the assembly. For the Security Council to make the recommendation to the assembly, nine members of the fifteen have to vote in the affirmative. This recommendation will go forward if none of the permanent member states uses their veto power. In the General Assembly, the recommended state must receive a two-thirds majority after voting in order for the nation to be fully admitted. In the case of North Korea, the United Nations Security Council approved the United Nations Security Council Resolution 702 that recommended both North and South Korea to the United Nations General Assembly. This resolution was approved on August 8, 1991. Upon deliberation, the UN General Council passed resolution 46/1 in the same year that saw the admittance of the two nations. Nuclear Weapons The UN Charter makes no reference or regulation concerning member nations and nuclear weapons. The UN did not see it fit to regulate nuclear weapons until the introduction of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017. Essentially, the UN realized that the threat posed by the nuclear powers was reaching a tipping point especially after the relations between the United States and North Korea turned sour. The treaty was aimed towards total nuclear disarmament of all member states having nuclear weapons. The problem arose when the nations with nuclear arms such as the US and Russia did not express support for the ban. In fact, both of these states were very explicit in their opposition. Surprisingly, North Korea voted in favor of adopting the treaty. Another argument can be made that the UN was smart in choosing to steer clear of the business of nuclear weapons. This argument is supported by the fact that most of the permanent members of the UN have nuclear weapons. If the regulations stated that the possession of the nuclear weapons disqualifies a nation, then the most powerful countries in the world are going to have to leave the UN. Considering that these countries currently have veto powers, the chances of these powers leaving are low. North Korea has conducted fewer nuclear tests compared to the other global powers such as the US and Russia. Indeed, the US has conducted well over 1,000 tests while North Korea has conducted less than ten. Another crucial point to remember is that nuclear tests have not been explicitly illegalized by international law. The reason for this is mainly that the authors of the international law governing nuclear weapons are the same countries that possess nuclear arms today. Furthermore, the question of the legality of these tests is subject to a number of factors especially those that have to do with the environment of the test. In certain treaties, the prohibitions are clear but contain many loopholes. Expulsion of a Member State In the charter, there are provisions for the removal of a member nation. The charter states that a member of the UN can be expelled if it violates the guidelines in the charter. For this to happen, the Security Council has to make a recommendation to the General Council. However, experts state that the likelihood of this happening to North Korea is extremely unlikely since it has never happened before to any nation. From a different perspective, it would be unwise for the UN to remove North Korea. The UN has come out on a number of occasions to actively condemn and try to deal with the human rights abuse in North Korea. These efforts are seen in things like commissions of inquiry into the abuse of rights. As dangerous as North Korea is, if it is removed from the UN, then any chance of dialogue with other nuclear nations will disappear and the world could potentially be thrown into turmoil. The turmoil would arise because the only option that would be left to neutralize the threat posed by North Korea would be an invasion which would lead to massive loss of life and destruction. Finland is a Nordic country that borders the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland. It is the least populated country in the European Union as well as one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world. The capital of Finland is Helsinki where the central government has its headquarters. At least 1.4 million out of the total national population of 5.52 million live in the Greater Helsinki and its environs. Industrialization in Finland took off aggressively post World War II with a key focus on the forest industry and the metal industry comprising shipbuilding, metal works, and engineered products as its largest export base. However, over the years the economy has ventured into other areas including information technology, electronics (Finland is the home to the famous Nokia brand) and transport fuels. These are the most important export partners for Finland. Germany Germany is the largest importer of Finnish goods making up 14.2 % of all Finnish exports globally. The products shipped from Finland to Germany include vehicles valued at over $2.5 billion, paper, iron, and steel; these three are the most valued. Other exports are copper, machinery, ships, and boats Finland builds the worlds largest cruise ships. Electronic equipment, wood pulp, and mineral fuels are also exported from Finland to Germany. Total exports to Germany are valued at around $9.3 billion. Sweden Sweden is found to the northwest of Finland as one of its most immediate neighbors. The two nations engage in a trade where Sweden takes second place globally as a major importer of goods from Finland effectively accounting for 10.1% of the Finnish exports. Sweden imports a variety of goods from Finland, which include mineral fuels, machinery, and vehicles, and they are the top Finnish exports to Sweden. Besides, iron and steel, plastics, paper, electronic equipment, wood, and copper are some of the export items from Finland destined to Sweden. The United States Finlands exports to the United States are valued at $4.4 billion this is 7% of the total volume of exports. The US is a major trade partner of Finland majorly importing medical equipment valued at over $920 million, other major exports to the US are paper and machinery each valued well above $700 million. Mineral fuels, electronic equipment, nickel, organic chemicals, and pharmaceuticals are also exported from Finland to the United States. Other Export Partners And The Finnish Economy Other export partners of Finland are the Netherlands, China, Russia, and the United Kingdom. These nations import similar goods from Finland as is the case with the top three. However, in addition to vehicles machinery and such, they also import gems, artificial fur, and tanning extract. Finland advocates for free market practices which have led to a developed trading economy paired with advanced industrialization. Trade accounts for up to 33% of the Finnish GDP, large-scale manufacture of high tech mobile handsets dominate trade activities within and outside Finland. The manufacturing sector is crucial to the economy and therefore Finland imports large quantities of raw materials and parts from countries in and outside the EU. The California Water Wars was a series of conflicts that took place in the early 20th century. The conflict arose when the mayor of Los Angeles came up with a plan to accommodate the growing needs of the city by importing water from elsewhere in California. The water wars have continued over the past century, with conflicts as recently as 2014. Water Needs of Los Angeles At the start of the 20th century, Los Angeles was a growing city hindered only by lack of access to water. Los Angeles mayor Frederick Eaton, having previously worked for the Los Angeles Water Company before becoming City Engineer in 1886 and mayor in 1898, knew that access to water was going to be a determining factor in the continual growth of the city. Together with his friend William Mulholland, superintendent of the Los Angeles Water Company and later the Los Angeles Water Department, Eaton worked to obtain the water rights to Owens Valley to transport water via aqueduct to the city. At the time, the United States Reclamation Service, responsible for settling Owens Valley in the late 19th century with farmers and ranchers, was planning to build irrigation systems to help the farmers in the area. Using their connections, Eaton and Mulholland attempted to block these plans and buy the rights to the water in Owens Valley using a variety of underhand methods. Needed to build across federal land, Eaton brought the dispute to Washington, D.C., where President Roosevelt sided with Eaton and the city of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Aqueduct The construction of the aqueduct has been compared to that of building the Panama Canal. The 233-mile long aqueduct required 2,000 workers to dig 164 tunnels from 1907 to 1913. By 1923, inflows to Owens Lake were being heavily diverted and by 1924, the lake was drying up. Conflicts between Mulholland and several angry farmers culminated in them dynamiting part of the system later that year, allowing water to return to Owens River. From 1905 to 1930, the city of Los Angeles had been purchasing tracts of land from the farmers to gain access to the water of Owens Valley. By 1926, Owens Lake was completely dry and by 1928, 90% of the water in Owens Valley was owned by the city of Los Angeles. The water needs of the city of Los Angeles continued to grow in the 1930s, resulting in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), previously the Los Angeles Water Company, buying water rights and extending the aqueduct into the Mono Basin north of Owens Valley. Mono Lake Controversy The water diverted from the Mono Basin had previously fed Mono Lake. The water levels in the lake began to fall, exposing the many migratory birds that nested on the two islands in the lake to predators. The lake water also became more saline and alkaline, which threatened the brine shrimp that lived in the lake. In 1977, a report on the changing ecosystem of the lake highlighted these issues and in response, a Mono Lake Committee was formed in 1978. The committee, along with the National Audubon Society, began a legal suit in 1979 against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power which reached the California Supreme Court in 1983. In 1994, the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) settled all legal cases by requiring the LADWP to raise the water levels in Mono Lake by 20 feet. At the time, the water levels in Mono Lake were 25 feet below the levels in 1941. However, as of 2011, the water levels in Mono Lake had only risen 13 feet. Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta As of 2014, the water wars in California were ongoing. State and federal water projects had diverted water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to central and southern California. As one of the largest estuaries in western North America, the Delta is home to hundreds of animal species. The water diversions had caused the Delta to be labeled the nations most endangered waterway system. Several species have gone extinct with many more on the brink of extinction. Below-average rainfall over three consecutive years caused California to face its most severe drought in decades in 2014. The drought had a severe impact on the agricultural industry in Central Valley with half a million acres of farmland in danger of going fallow. A controversial bill, known as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Delivery Act, was passed by the House on February 5th, 2014, would allow water to be continued to be diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta south to Central Valley, stopping 18 years of litigation over conservation efforts. Montenegro is one of the smallest nations in Europe. Throughout Montenegro's history, several communities exerted their influence in the region which would later have a significant impact on the shape of the country's boundaries. The Slavic people established some of the kingdoms that impacted the shape of Montenegro's borders, and they included Duklja, Rascia, and Travunia. In the present-day, the land borders of Montenegro cover a distance of roughly 422 miles. Montenegro shares its land limits with four nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, and Croatia, and one disputed territory of Kosovo. Development Of The Montenegrin Border The border of Montenegro had gone through many significant changes before it assumed its present-day shape. From the 15th century to the 20th century, a section of Montenegro's territory, then referred to as Ottoman Montenegro, was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Another section of the country's territory was under the control of the Republic of Venice. Even though the Ottomans controlled a vast chunk of Montenegro's territory, their control was limited to small town centers. The rural areas were under the control of local clans. Nicholas I was one of the most influential leaders in Montenegro's history as he managed to increase Montenegro's territory by more than 1,900 square miles through political maneuvering. The Border With Bosnia And Herzegovina Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina are separated by a border roughly 150 miles long that is situated on the northern edge of Bosnia. A section of the border traces the same path as the Tara River. There are several towns located on the Montenegrin side of the border, and they include Kotor and Budva. There are also several towns on the Bosnian side of the border such as Bileca, Cajnice, and Avtovac. In 2015, the governments of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina were involved in a border dispute. The root of the conflict was the fact that a section of the Bosnian leadership wanted to take control of some territory in Montenegro. Because of the dispute, the president of Montenegro had held back on appointing an ambassador to Bosnia. The Bosnian parliament prevented the issue from escalating as they chose to reject the proposal brought before them. Border With Serbia A 98-mile border separates Montenegro from Serbia. The boundary is situated on the eastern edge of Montenegro. There are several towns situated on the Montenegrin side of the border such as Trpezi, Rozaje, and Crnca. The towns located on the Serbian side of the border include Sjenica, Duga Poljana, and Nova Varos. There are some minor rivers that cross the Serbia Montenegro border at several points. According to the Balkan Insight website, in 2008, Montenegro and Serbia were involved in a border dispute over the control of a forest situated between Montenegrin town of Pljevlja and the Serbian town of Prijepolje. The two governments also had differing views on the status of the Kosovo border which stalled talks between two countries. The Border With Kosovo Montenegro shares a border with the disputed territory of Kosovo that extends for roughly 47 miles in the eastern section of Montenegro. The border with Kosovo has been one of Montenegro's most contentious borders because the Serbian government still considers Kosovo as part of its territory. According to information on Open Democracy website, efforts by the governments of Kosovo and Montenegro to formalize the border between the two countries faced significant opposition in Kosovo. Several of the leaders from Kosovo believed that the border would cause Kosovo to lose a significant part of its territory to Montenegro. The Border With Albania Albania and Montenegro share a border of roughly 115 miles long situated in the southern section of Montenegro. The largest lake in the southern region of Europe, Skadarsko Jezero, is located on the border between the two countries. Apart from the lake, there are also other smaller rivers that cross the border along various points. There are several towns on the Albanian side of the border such as Trush, Neshat, and Shkoder. Some of the towns located on the Montenegrin side of the border include Krute, Pistula, and Ulcinj. The Border With Croatia Montenegro's shortest land border is shared with Croatia which is roughly 11 miles long and is situated on the western edge of Montenegro. Montenegro and Croatia also share a maritime border in the Adriatic Sea. There are several towns located on the Croatian side of the border such as Dubrovnik and Gruda. Many towns are also located close to the border on the Montenegrin side such as Herceg-Novi, Risan and Tivat. The Croatian government formally recognized Montenegro as an independent nation in 2006. Roughly one month after recognizing Montenegro, the two nations developed formal diplomatic ties. The Croatian government is represented by an embassy located in Podgorica as well as a consulate general situated in Kotor. The Montenegrin government, on the other hand, is represented by an embassy located in Zagreb. Security Along The Montenegrin Border One of the most critical issues to the Montenegrin government is the security of the border particularly in the wake of the migrant crisis. In 2018, the Montenegrin government declared that it would send a section of the country's army to the border with Albania to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing into its territory. It was reported that the Montenegrin government was considering building a barrier along its border, but Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said that the government was not considering such plans. Mozambique is located on the Southeastern region of Africa. The countrys eastern border lies along the Indian Ocean. Mozambique has an expansive land territory covering up to 309,500 square miles. Despite its large area, the country only has a population of approximately 28.8 million people. For more than four centuries, running from the 16th century to the 20th century, Mozambique was a Portuguese colony. Although Mozambique has a wealth of natural resources, it is listed among the worlds poorest and undeveloped nations. Mozambiques extensive border touches six neighboring countries: Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. The Southern African country of Mozambique maintains good relations with its neighbors and other foreign nations. Mozambiques Border With Tanzania Mozambique shares its northern border with Tanzania. The border is estimated to be more than 497 miles long. For many years, Mozambique and Tanzania have maintained amicable ties. The two nations are strong trade partners. Mozambique exports to Tanzania machinery and surveying tools while Tanzania exports textiles, manufactured goods, and Tobacco to Mozambique. Most goods from the two countries are transported through Mtwara Port in Southern Tanzania. In 2010, Mozambique and Tanzania unveiled the Unity Bridge which provided a link between the two countries. The Bridge was constructed to improve trade between Mozambique and Tanzania. Mozambique has diplomatic representation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Similarly, Tanzania has an embassy based in Maputo, Mozambique. Mozambiques Border With Zambia Mozambique and Zambia share a border on the North Western side of Mozambique. They have been good neighbors since Mozambique attained its independence from the Portuguese. Over the years Zambia and Mozambique have increased cooperation in major sectors such as energy production, transport, communication systems, and agriculture. Zambia is Mozambiques landlocked neighbor; as a result, Mozambique provides its northwestern neighbor with access to the Indian Ocean. Leaders in the two nations have had very warm relations in the past. Additionally, the two countries have a partnership and they provide support to researchers in their universities. The partnership aims to advance scientific research and improve technology in Mozambique and Zambia. Mozambiques Border With Malawi The Mozambique-Malawi border is found on the Western side of Mozambique. A large part of the border is formed by the great Lake Nyasa which lies in both countries. Mozambique and Malawi have close relations. They have several shared natural resources along their border. Mozambique is an important neighbor to Malawi as it provides the latter with access to the Indian Ocean. During the civil war in Mozambique, Malawi gave shelter to numerous Mozambique citizens. Mozambican refugees continued to flow into Malawi as the war went on. Due to the big number of refugees, Malawi suffered a strain on its resources. As a result, conflict arose between the two neighboring states. Foreign aid to Malawi helped ease the situation. Citizens of the two countries often clash over resources, particularly at the border areas. However, authorities from both sides work hard to maintain good relations between the countries. Malawi and Mozambique have a few border crossing points along the border to prevent unregulated movement of people between the two countries. Mozambiques Border With South Africa South Africa is a key partner to Mozambique. The Mozambique-South Africa border is situated on the southern side on Mozambique, and it is estimated to be 305 miles long. The Kingdom of Swaziland separates a small part of the border. The border has four official border stations which regulate the flow of goods and people between Mozambique and South Africa. The two countries have enjoyed warm ties for many decades. Official ties between the government of Mozambique and the government of South Africa began in 1923. The agreement was between colonial masters of the two nations. The agreement was on cooperation between Mozambique and South Africa in transport infrastructure, labor, and trade. During the apartheid, Mozambique provided a safe place for South Africans who escaped the strict policies in their country. Most white South Africans moved to Mozambiques capital of Maputo. When civil war broke out in Mozambique, South Africa supported one of the fighting parties in Mozambique. South Africa also hosted many Mozambique citizens who flee from the war. Although South Africa has a more advanced economy and infrastructure, it still maintains its partnership with Mozambique. Mozambiques Border With Swaziland Mozambique shares its border with the tiny nation of Swaziland. The Mozambique-Swaziland border is estimated to be 65 miles long, and the two countries have cordial relationship. Swaziland has rich natural deposits of mineral some of which it trades with Mozambique. Additionally, Mozambique exports some of its goods to Swaziland. Mozambique and Swaziland are members of the trade organization of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Mozambique is one of the few countries that have their embassies in Swaziland. Similarly, Swaziland has its Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique. Mozambique-Zimbabwe Border Mozambique shares a border with its neighbor to the west of Zimbabwe. The Mozambique Zimbabwe border is approximately 764 miles long. Many border crossings exist along the border. Mozambique has a strong partnership with Zimbabwe. It provides landlocked Zimbabwe with access to the Indian Ocean. Furthermore, most goods moving from the Mozambican port of Beira move through Zimbabwe to other countries in Africa. Zimbabwean traders often buy items in Mozambique and resell them in their home country. Mozambiques Relations With Other Foreign Nations Mozambique maintains close ties with many foreign countries. Most of its partners are foreign donors who provide financial help to the poorly under developing country, and Canada is one of Mozambiques important partner. Canada contributes towards many helpful causes in Mozambique such as womens and girls health, good governance, and education. Mozambique and Canada are also trading partners. The United States is another important nation to Mozambique. Strong ties between the US and Mozambique began during the severe drought in 1991. The US provided Mozambique with much-needed food assistance. The relationship between the two countries has gradually grown stronger over the past two decades. Mozambique and the US have embassies in their respective countries. In an effort to give a livelier and more in-depth picture of modern life, American novelists such as John Dos PassosThe 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932) and The Big Money (1936)introduced newsreel sections including headlines, advertisements and popular songs. We hope the following selections will provide some sense of American reality on Thanksgiving Day 2018. * * * * * There arent many downsides to Americas humming economy. (Wall Street Journal) On his days off from his $7.50-an-hour job as a cook at the Chicken Hut restaurant in Riverdale, Ga. [Georgia] , Laugudria Screven Jr., 23, travels more than 25 miles across Atlanta to sell plasma. By offering up his arm to a technicians needle twice a week at $50 a shot, he scrapes together enough to pay his $360 rent. Yet donating plasma takes a toll on Screvens body, leaving him drowsy and weak. And even with the extra income, he says he sometimes cant afford to eat more than once a day. Often he comes home to a refrigerator that contains little more than mustard, ketchup and peanut butter. I sell my blood to pay my bills, he said, rubbing his arm as he waited for a bus in East Point, Ga. Its kind of messed up. If I were paid a fair wage, I wouldnt have to go through this. (Los Angeles Times) Set on 40 acres in Newport, Rhode Island, Castle Hill Inn, a Relais & Chateaux property, provides guests with a classic New England Thanksgiving. Chef Lou Rossian alum of NYCs three-Michelin-starred Per Seshowcases the local harvest with appetizers like Native littleneck clams, Matunuck oysters and chilled white shrimp, plus herb roasted Helgers Farm turkey with sage gravy and cranberry sauce, and a selection of pies, pastries and tarts. The hotel also features a spa, the Retreat at Castle Hill by Farmaesthetics, and has a selection of romantic and rustic rooms and cottages available by the beach, overlooking the harbor, and on its namesake hill. [A room in the Superior Beach House is $1,091.45 a night including taxes and fees.] (Town & Country) Hundreds of people in need lined Bleecker Street in downtown Utica [New York] to receive a free Thanksgiving day meal to make with their families. This year roughly 700 meals were donated, an increase of about 200 from last year. In Utica 1 in 3 people are living in poverty, according to DataUSA. (WKTV ) Despite a relatively good economy, local food pantries are seeing a double-digit increase in the number of hungry residents. Des Moines [Iowa] pantries normally expect about a 3.5 percent increase each month, compared to the previous year. But for the last six months, that increase has more than tripled in the metro area, said Rev. Sarai Schnucker Rice, executive director of the Des Moines Area Religious Council, which oversees the network of 14 local pantries. (Des Moines Register) Though major cities, such as Dayton [Ohio], are often thought of as having the most households facing hardship, several of the Gem Citys suburbs actually rival it. Thousands of families around the Miami Valley are not necessarily in poverty but are still struggling to get by financially, according to the United Way report. (Dayton Daily News) Three dynastic wealth familiesthe Waltons, the Kochs, and the Marshave seen their wealth increase nearly 6,000 percent since 1982. Meanwhile, median household wealth over the same period went down by 3 percent. The median family in the United States owns just over $80,000 in household wealth. The richest person in the United States (and the world), Jeff Bezos, has accumulated a fortune nearly 2 million times that amount. The Bezos fortune expanded by $78.5 billion just in the last year to $160 billion. Even at the recently increased wage of $15/hour, a full-time Amazon worker would need to toil for 2.5 million years to generate this much money. (Institute for Policy Studies) Gone are lucrative manufacturing positions [in Indianapolis, Indiana] that could elevate a family into the middle class, even without higher education. Those jobs were in city neighborhoods. They offered salaries high enough to pay for homes, send kids to college, and build up savings accounts. And there were tons of them. At their peaks, the General Motors stamping plant employed 5,600 people, Western Electric had 8,000 workers, and RCA had 8,200. But today, scattered brownfieldssome with crumbling buildings, some vacant lotsare the only remnants of those once-bustling factories. Stefanie Bell and Steven Pedrazoliand their 8-year-old son, Chanceare living that new reality. Both parents have regularly worked, but the family is homeless. Theyve been living since April at Dayspring Center at 1537 Central Ave. Bell, 37, a server, has uncertain wages because she relies on tips and a $2.13 hourly wage that barely covers taxes. During some shifts, the money at Primanti Bros. restaurant downtown is good. During others, factoring in $3.50 for a round-trip IndyGo bus fare, its barely worth showing up. The night before meeting with IBJ, Bell made just $30 in tips, despite working 5 p.m. to close. (Indianapolis Business Journal) There are a lot of things in life you might expect to cost $150,000just probably not a Thanksgiving dinner. And yet, thats exactly what Old Homestead, a New York City steakhouse, is offering this year with what it bills as the most expensive Thanksgiving dinner in history, topping the record set by the $76,000 dinner the restaurant offered last year. This years dinner, which at a total price of $150,000 is nearly three times more than the average U.S. household income, comes complete with all of the worlds finest ingredients, as well as keys to a 2018 Maserati Levante nestled inside a $135-per-pound free-range, organic turkey sprinkled with gold flakes. (Yahoo Finance) Near where he slept on a Salinas [California] sidewalk Monday night, David Rodriguez, 39, regularly gets meals at Dorothys Kitchen in Salinas Chinatown. He has not gone to the nonprofits Thanksgiving festivity before, but he plans on going for the first time Thursday. Born and raised in the Salinas Valley, Rodriguez grew up going to his grandmothers for Thanksgiving. Homeless since 2012, Rodriguez said he considers many others in Chinatowna neighborhood often synonymous with povertylike his family. The opportunity to share his childhood tradition with his new family would mean a lot to him, he said. (The Californian) The 8th Annual Readers Choice Survey from Business Jet Traveler provides an interesting look into why people fly privately, what they want in their private jets, where they are going, who they fly with, their favorite aircraft and more. First some good news. If flying privately and planning to fly privately are signs of a strong economy, readers are quite optimistic. While 45% of respondents said they flew about the same amount as the previous year, 22% said they flew more and 8% said they flew much more, compared to 14% who flew a bit less and 12% who flew much less. Looking ahead, 44% of the magazines readers said they will fly about the same during the next 12 months, 34% said they will fly a bit more and 11% will fly much more, compared to just 11% who predict they will fly less. (Forbes) Last August, Destini Johnson practically danced out of jail, after landing there for two months on drug charges. She bubbled with excitement about her new freedom and returning home to her parents in Muncie, Ind. She even talked about plans to find a job. Eight months later, Johnson, 27, lay in a coma, silent except for the beeping of machines. She looked small and pale, buried in a tangle of hospital bedsheets and tubes, after suffering a dozen or so strokes as a result of her latest opioid overdose. Her mother, Katiena Johnson, kept vigil at the intensive care unit at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie every day, fretting not only about whether her daughter would live, or how much brain damage shed suffered, but also how to pay for the myriad costs resulting from the latest harrowing chapter of Destinis opioid addiction. Katiena Johnson says her daughter is regaining consciousness and is out of the ICU. (NPR) We are especially reminded on Thanksgiving of how the virtue of gratitude enables us to recognize, even in adverse situations, the love of God in every person, every creature, and throughout nature. Let us be mindful of the reasons we are grateful for our lives, for those around us, and for our communities. We also commit to treating all with charity and mutual respect, spreading the spirit of Thanksgiving throughout our country and across the world. (Donald J. Trumps Presidential Proclamation on Thanksgiving Day, November 20, 2018) MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! AMERICA FIRST! There are a lot of CRIMINALS in the [immigrant] Caravan. We will stop them. Catch and Detain! Judicial Activism, by people who know nothing about security and the safety of our citizens, is putting our country in great danger. Not good! (Donald J. Trumps tweets, November 21) Some vehicles made it out in time the day the Camp Fire [in northern California] ignited. Others became grenades after being hit by flaming embers. The worst of it may have happened in a town called Paradise, approximate population 26,000. I was driving down Neal Road, and the houses by the horse stables were already on firethe side of the road was on fire as we were driving through, said David Cuen, a Paradise resident who I met at a tent encampment of Camp Fire survivors in a Walmart parking lot in Chico. Neal Road is one of only three roads from Paradise with access to Highway 99. It was one of the few ways out: I look in my rear-view mirror, count back 10 cars, and the 10th or 15th car, it blew up. The flames had overwhelmed all the cars by it. And the cops were making people get in cars that had room. So, youre talking four to five people in each car. Cuen spent the week after escaping the fire sharing a tent with his wife and her family. (Slate) * * * * * Vast popular hardship and suffering, on the one hand, and almost indescribable wealth and social indifference, on the other. Two parties of the corporate oligarchy, dedicated to war and political reaction. The impossible economic and political conditions must produce sooner rather than later the greatest social upheavals in American history. On Sunday, right-wing anti-immigrant protesters marched through Tijuanas high-end Rio area, along the US-Mexico border, shouting No illegals, No to the invasion and Mexico First! Their target was the caravan of over 1,000 migrants which reached Tijuana over the weekend, in what is the final stop on their 2,700-mile-long journey from Honduras to San Diego. Tijuanas mayor, Juan Manuel Gastelum, a member of the right wing Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) has continually referred to the migrants as an invasion and horde, echoing the xenophobia and nationalism of the Trump administration. No city in the world is prepared to receive thisif Im allowedthis avalanche, said Gastelum during a news conference. It is a tsunami. There is concern among all citizens of Tijuana. Sundays demonstration, along with provocations late last week by Tijuana residents are the product of the anti-immigrant chauvinism being whipped up on both sides of the border. We want the caravan to go; they are invading us, Patricia Reyes, a 62-year-old protester, told reporters. They should have come into Mexico correctly, legally, but they came in like animals. Her sentiments, however, were not shared by all. This is not what Tijuana is like! All migrants are welcome here!, an elderly woman shouted at the protesters. Tijuana is the northernmost town in Baja California, which borders the US city of San Diego. The San Ysidro port of entry is the busiest border crossing on the entire planet. Every day, 365 days a year, 70,000 passenger vehicles, 20,000 pedestrians, and 4,000 commercial trucks cross back and forth, connecting a massive workforce to California, the worlds fifth largest economy. The San Diego-Tijuana border region trade represents a $250 billion economy with over 6.6 million residents and nearly 3.2 million workers, and is known as the Cali-Baja mega region. The claims that the US and Mexico are too financially strained to assist the migrants turns reality on its head. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) found that the top 10 percent of Mexicos highest earning families capture two-thirds of the nations income. At the same time, half of Mexicos 127 million residents do not earn enough to meet basic needs, and one in five suffers from hunger. Over half of Mexicos children live in poverty and a United Nations study found that 14 percent of children suffer from stunted growth as a result of malnutrition. The vast degree of social inequality in Mexico, which mirrors that of the United States, cuts through the lie that the immigrants pose some kind of threat to what are in reality nonexistent resources for the working class. A report published earlier this year by researchers Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman found that the bottom half of the worlds population3.5 billion peopleowns less than 2 percent of the total wealth in the world. While there were only about 200 anti-caravan protesters in a city of 1.6 million, officials on both sides are working in tandem to build anti-immigrant sentiment and use the caravan as a scapegoat for existing societal problems, and create divisions amongst the working class. Authorities closed all northbound pedestrian and vehicle traffic at the San Ysidro crossing during Monday mornings peak commute hours, 3:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., citing baseless rumors about the caravan intending to rush the border. No indication of such an act was ever proven. However, CBP officials were ready to install new movable wire-topped barriers during the three-hour surprise. The border is in the process of a $741 million renovation project scheduled for completion in 2019. Monday mornings closure affected the majority of the over 100,000 who cross daily, leaving tens of thousands in panic, unsure when the border would re-open and if they would make it to work and school. The long delays also affected the businesses that rely on border trade. It delays everything. The manufacturing industry relies on on-time deliveries so their customers have products they need to sell and produce is the same thing. It means your produce is sitting in a truck for a longer period of time and that could affect its shelf life, said a port authority official. The closure is part of a concerted effort to pit tens of thousands of workers who cross the border regularlythemselves immigrantsand the powerful bi-national industry sectors against the Central American asylum seekers. US and Mexican officials are creating an impossible and deadly situation for migrants at the border. The full weight of the US military is being prepared for a bloody assault on a few thousand migrants, men, women and childrenwho have little more than the clothes on their backs and are fleeing brutal violence in their home countries, which is in no small measure a product of Washingtons involvement in Central American affairs. Meanwhile, attempts by the Trump administration to prohibit asylum applications persist, despite the fact that on Tuesday a federal judge blocked the administrations attempt to ban asylum. While the Trump administration is stoking up right-wing chauvinism on both sides of the border, there has been nothing but deafening silence from the Democrats. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has not once referenced the migrant caravan, but did issue a roundabout statement prior to the elections that Trumps campaign against immigrants was a diversion from the real issue of health care. The newly elected congresswoman and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, only once tweeted about the caravan, on October 26, and has since remained silent on the issue, even as the deployment of troops and attack on asylum rights continue unabated. The pseudo-left organizations do not pose any political opposition to the chauvinism being whipped up on both sides of the border, giving the ultra-right a free hand. Only a movement organizing the strength of the international working class can put an end to the deportations, the immigration detention centers, the attacks on asylum, and the massive prison camps currently being built. The Socialist Equality Party is the only political organization that represents the true interests of the working class, and fights for genuine socialist internationalism, an end to the nation state system, and a world without borders. Workers have the right to live and work wherever they choose with full citizenship rights, something they are denied under the capitalist system. We urge workers on both sides of the US-Mexico border to take up the fight for socialism by joining the SEP. The author also recommends: What is behind the 57-hour San Diego/Tijuana border closure and renovation? [6 September 2017] Over the coming weeks, high school students across Australia will join walk-outs for climate action, and rally in capital cities and regional centres alike. Thousands of students have shared and promoted the action across Facebook, reflecting a developing politicisation of young people. Todays young people have grown up amid relentless environmental destruction, unending wars, continuous cutbacks to healthcare, education and social spending, and the destruction of basic democratic rights. In Australia and internationally, there is a growing recognition that the official political set-up has nothing to offer this generation but further calamities and crises. The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), the youth wing of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the world Trotskyist movement, welcomes the widest protests among students and youth against the environmental crisis and climate change. The critical question, however, is what political program and perspective is required to halt and reverse environmental destruction, and establish a decent world free of war, inequality and dictatorship? The starting point is to recognise that the fundamental problem is the capitalist profit system and the division of the planet into competing national-states. Capitalism prevents any rational, global plan being implemented to carry out the necessary drastic and rapid reduction in carbon emissions, while protecting the living standards of the worlds population. At one international summit after another, capitalist governments, whether they claim to be left or right, have rejected any serious action to stem climate change. This is because they oppose measures that impact on the profitability of their nations corporations and major businesses. Emissions trading schemes and other measures touted by Labor, the Greens and environmental groups as market-based solutions to climate change are a fraud. They have succeeded only in establishing lucrative opportunities for green businesses and creating new markets based on financial swindling and speculation. Innumerable climate scientists have made clear that marginal emissions reductions will do nothing to halt the existential threat of climate change. Their findings have demonstrated that nothing less than the reorganisation of the global economy, in the interests of social need, not private profit, will resolve the climate crisis. This will be accomplished only by building an international movement of the working class, aimed at the socialist transformation of society worldwide. Under socialism, the vast productive forces and technological capacities developed by the working class would be harnessed to resolve all social problems, including climate change. Trillions of dollars would be allocated to ensuring the rapid reductions in carbon emissions required to halt climate change. The technologies for carrying this out, which already exist, would be developed on the basis of the collaboration of scientists from all over the world. The subordination of scientific work and research to the profit demands of the corporate oligarchy would be ended. Far from being unrealistic, as claimed by the defenders of capitalism, this revolutionary socialist perspective is the only means of guaranteeing a future for humanity. Students at the rally in Geelong The destruction of the environment is just one manifestation of a systemic breakdown of the capitalist system. Amid the deepest crisis of capitalism since the 1930s, young people confront all the horrors of the first half of the 20th century. Governments in every country are carrying out a social counter-revolution, slashing public health care, education and welfare, while turning to authoritarianism and promoting anti-immigrant xenophobia and outright fascist movements. Above all, the ruling elites are spearheading a revival of militarism that threatens the eruption of nuclear world war. The United States, which has sought to overcome its relative economic decline through 25 years of continuous warfare, is escalating its confrontation with nuclear-armed powers, including China and Russia. In the Pentagon, and think-tanks connected to the US government, discussions are underway on waging war against China to prevent it threatening American imperialist dominance. Australia is on the front line of these military preparations. Labor and Liberal-National Coalition governments have supported every illegal US-led war over the past 70 years. They have made clear that Australia would take part in a catastrophic US-led war against China, which would almost inevitably involve nuclear weapons. In 2011, the Greens-backed Labor government of Julia Gillard aligned Australia with the US pivot to Asia, a vast American military build-up throughout the region in preparation for conflict with Beijing. The current Coalition government has deepened the line-up with Washington. Successive governments and the establishment media have done everything they can to ensure that the population at large, and young people in particular, do not know about these plans for war. Those in ruling circles are well aware the war preparations will provoke mass opposition. But, despite all the efforts to prevent a movement against the failure of capitalism and its consequences, the depth of the crisis is propelling workers and young people into mass social and political struggles around the world. The emerging movement of the working class, however, can go forward only if it is based on a genuinely revolutionary, international and socialist perspectivenot diverted into futile appeals to the powers-that-be to change their policies. The danger of war, like the climate change crisis, is a product of the irresolvable contradictions of capitalism. These are firstly, between a unified, global economy, and the division of the world into antagonistic capitalist nation-states, each representing the interests of its own ruling class. And secondly, between the socialised production process, involving the labour of billions of workers around the world, and the private ownership of societys resources by a tiny corporate and financial elite. In a 2016 statement, the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world Trotskyist movement, outlined the fundamental principles upon which a movement against war be based. They are no less relevant to the fight against climate change: The struggle against war must be based on the working class, the great revolutionary force in society, uniting behind it all progressive elements in the population. The new anti-war movement must be anti-capitalist and socialist, since there can be no serious struggle against war except in the fight to end the dictatorship of finance capital and put an end to the economic system that is the fundamental cause of militarism and war. The new anti-war movement must therefore, of necessity, be completely and unequivocally independent of, and hostile to, all political parties and organisations of the capitalist class. The new anti-war movement must, above all, be international, mobilising the vast power of the working class in a unified global struggle against imperialism. We urge students to contact the IYSSE and take up the fight for a socialist future. On Wednesday, the European Commission decided to launch an excessive deficit procedure against Italy. This must be agreed upon by all the finance ministers in the euro zone, which is by no means certain. Then it can drag on for months. But in the end, there could be fines in the billions. The Italian government is insisting on its planned deficit of 2.4 percent in the 2019 budget. This was announced by Finance Minister Giovanni Tria in a letter to the EU Commission on November 13. Four weeks ago, the Commission rejected the Italian budget and requested a revision. Tria has since made some corrections. More money than originally planned is to flow into investments, and debt reduction is to be accelerated through the sale of public property. However, he is sticking to the deficit target. In the past, the Commission has repeatedly initiated excessive deficit procedures, including against Germany and France, who had violated the rules for years. But they all came to nothing. In the case of Italy, things are different. With debt at 132 percent of gross domestic product, the country has the second-highest debt in the euro zone after Greece. If the financial markets react with further interest mark-ups on Italian government bonds, it could lead to a chain reaction of bank bankruptcies that could spread to the whole of Europe. Unlike Greece, where European governments and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised a total of 263 billion to save creditor banks while the Greek population had to bleed for it, Italy, with a ten times larger economy, is simply too big for such action. The euro zone is threatened with failure if the crisis continues to worsen. The Italian governing parties, the fascist Lega and the populist Five-Star Movement (M5S), are deliberately fuelling the conflict with Brussels to present themselves as defenders of the Italian people against the EUs austerity dictates. Lega head Matteo Salvini stands out in this respect. Not a day goes by when he doesnt rage against Brussels. All we need are the inspectors, the UN blue helmets and the sanctions against Italy, he told radio station Rai. He has called for a demonstration against the policies of Brussels on December 8. This has benefitted him in the polls. With 32 percent, the Lega is now the most influential party and almost twice as strong as in the parliamentary elections last March. It is followed by the M5S, with 27 percent. The Democrats (PD), the largest opposition party, continue to flounder at 18 percent. Salvini can base himself on two factors. The first is the role of the PD and its left-wing appendages, which over the past two decades have consistently implemented the EUs brutal austerity demands, with devastating consequences for the Italian population. Real personal income is at the level of two decades ago, official unemployment is ten percent and living conditions for middle-aged people and younger generations are eroded, according to the IMFs latest regular report. The second factor is the role of Brussels and Berlin, which brand any social concession, however small, as a violation of the sacred interests of capital, while supporting rapid increases in military spending. Typical of the provocative arrogance of the German media is a comment in Handelsblatt, which accuses the Italian government of jealously ensuring that the expensive election promises are implemented: earlier retirement, the basic income and tax simplifications and reductions. However, neither the Lega nor the M5S are genuinely concerned with social improvements. Salvinis inhuman approach to refugees, which has massively raised the number of deaths in the Mediterranean, is symptomatic of the governments attitude toward the entire working class. And the basic income, the central election promise of M5S, is nothing more than an Italian version of the German Hartz laws. It is associated with a duty to work and drastic sanctions if the recipients do not declare themselves willing to accept any work, however bad it may be. Both parties unconditionally defend capitalist private property and rely on the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois classes. Many observers therefore assume that they will finally give in after the European elections in May at the latest, if the pressure of the financial markets increases. It was only a matter of time before the government in Rome gives in on the debt issue, predicted Manfred Weber of Germanys (Bavarian) Christian Social Union (CSU), who leads the slate of the conservative European Peoples Party in the European Elections. The realities, the facts will rapidly catch up with Rome. The populist government will likely pursue the same course as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his pseudo-left Syriza-led coalition, which first confronted Brussels in the debt crisis and then gave in and imposed the EUs instructions. But even if this is not the case, the nationalist course of Salvini and Di Maio leads to a dangerous impasse. Attempts to save economic life by inoculating it with virus from the corpse of nationalism result in blood poisoning that bears the name fascism, wrote Leon Trotsky in 1933 in his essay, Nationalism and economic life. The growing conflict between Rome and Brussels is part of the breakup of the European Union along national lines, which is also reflected in Brexit and the conflicts with Poland and Hungary. Throughout Europe, the ruling class is pursuing a policy of dismantling social protections, police build-up and militarism, relying more and more openly on fascist forces. In nine EU states, far-right parties are already in government. The EU itself plays the leading role in imposing these polices, including demands for austerity, the build-up of a police state and the sealing of borders. It generates the centrifugal, nationalist tendencies it claims to fight. The working class can only stop this dangerous development by opposing both nationalism and the EU and fighting for United Socialist States of Europe. Workers at Lear Corporations Hammond and Portage, Indiana, automobile seating factories have reported that they are facing backlash from United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2335 for opposing the unions efforts to push through a sellout contract and for commenting on articles posted on the World Socialist Web Site about their struggle. Workers at the plants are in the midst of a bitter contract fight. In early October, over 90 percent voted to authorize a strike. Soon after, workers defied the UAWs attempt to ram through another concessionary contract, which would have maintained the multi-tier wage and benefit system and significantly increased health care costs, voting it down by 74 percent. Since then, the UAW and the company have maintained a conspiracy of silence, seeking to work out a way behind closed doors to push through the deal. On November 9, the local union officials quietly announced that they had reached a supposedly new tentative agreement. However, the UAW said, no details will be released until informative meetings on November 26 and 27, just days before the ratification votes begin on November 29. Workers have responded with suspicion and anger to the information blackout, with many circulating the article UAW hides details of new tentative agreement with Lear. The UAW, for its part, has attempted to smother opposition and keep workers from reading and voicing themselves in the WSWS. I pay their salaries for them to bargain for sellout contracts every four years, a Portage worker told the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter. Like a number of other workers, he asked that his name be withheld out of concern he could face retribution from the UAW, which has been hostile to any worker who comments in or about WSWS articles. The maintaining of the second tier is the first sign of a sellout, considering they are moving all of us into the same facility, he said. In my opinion, that will cause tension between workers due to pay differences. Lear is set to open a new plant in Hammond in 2019, in which it will consolidate its current Hammond and Portage operations, which are 20 miles apart from each other. The arbitrary pay differentials between just-in-time and subassembly workers will be maintained, with workers separated within the plant. The worker opposed efforts by UAW officials to keep workers from speaking out. They are under the impression Im what you call whistle-blowing on a union-busting page, but I dont feel thats what the WSWS is. You are a way for us workers to use our voice without going through the same union we are having problems with. I do feel we need to make rank-and-file committees to stop this free rein the [union] president has on making very important decision on his own. Another Lear worker added, Were told we should be grateful Portage opened and that we have jobs, but, in reality, shouldnt the company and union be grateful for us? The fact is, their jobs are getting done, and for the pay were given. We all hope for a good and equal outcome, but I dont see it happening. A lot of people are looking for new jobs because of this contract. The worker also asked for his identity to be withheld because he had experienced backlash for commenting on WSWS Autoworker Newsletter articles on Facebook. It might be making some people mad, but thank you for speaking the truth for us. Its exactly how we feel, the worker said. The UAW has combined its attempts to silence workers with lies and censorship. Following the rejection of the first company-union deal, Local 2335 deleted a photo of the ballot count, which it had posted to its own Facebook page and which had attracted numerous comments by workers denouncing the contract. Over the weekend, WSWS reporters visited Lears plants in Portage and Hammond to interview workers. After speaking to several outside the Hammond plant, the reporting team was confronted by a group of company personnel who, while refusing to identify themselves, angrily accused WSWS reporters of interfering with the bargaining process. This only underscores the fact that management is relying on the UAW to do its dirty work. During the last contract negotiations in 2014, the UAW called a phony 24-hour strike and then pushed through a pro-company deal, which officials from the UAW International and local falsely claimed would eliminate the tier system. In reality, the UAW agreed to the reclassification of hundreds of positions as subassembly. Nearly 200 of the former second-tier workers were transferred to the new Portage facility, with about another 100 drawn from CSG, a contractor for Lear. Starting wages remained at $11 an hour at the beginning of the contract and were capped at $15.25less than the $16 an hour that workers previously made. The UAW cynically claimed it had upheld the principle of equal pay for equal work, because the new third tier of workers would perform different duties. In the current round of negotiations, Lear management is once again relying on the UAW to impose its dictates. However, management is increasingly alarmed that workers are accessing information and voicing themselves outside the confines of the union. Were never told anything, another Lear worker told the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter. Those of us who do speak out and voice our opinion on what the union is trying to do, were constantly being shut down and blackballed. Referring to the upcoming union meeting and ratification vote, he said, People are being split down the middle. We now have two separate informational meetings. The Portage plant meeting will be in Chesterton, the Hammond plant at the Dynasty Banquet. The union was employing divide-and-conquer tactics, he said, by keeping workers from the two plants from meeting together. Its essentially what the figureheads in the union want. The last time we got together, everybody agreed this was a bunch of garbage. They think they can use their positive spin to keep the two plants from coming together. Theyre playing a very good game of human chess with us. Something is not right here, and it needs to be brought to the forefront. Why are we doing three days of voting at the new Hammond plant? Its shady. Theyre making this an inconvenience on everybody. Theyre just concerned with getting the contract through. The pride I had in the union when I started has gone away. Now its more of a bitter anger. Summing up, he told the WSWS reporters, Continue to fight for us. We appreciate what youre doing. Both Lear and the UAW are deeply hostile to the rights of workers to read and discuss what they want, and to organize to fight for it. Workers are deeply opposed to their attempts to push through a contract that will entail another half-decade of poverty and daily degradation. All over the world, workers have increasingly found they are engaged in a battle not just against the gigantic corporations, which hold dictatorial control over every aspect of their lives, but against the trade unions like the UAW, which are steeped in corruption and function as tools of corporate management. The WSWS Autoworker Newsletter has urged workers to take the struggle out of the hands of the UAW and to form rank-and-file committees to fight for good jobs and decent working conditions. Lear workers should immediately demand joint meetings of Hammond and Portage workers, full access to the entire contract, not just the unions self-serving highlights, and sufficient time to study and discuss it before any ratification vote. Workers throughout the auto industry, who face their own contract battle next year, have been following the fight of Lear workers with intense interest. Every effort must be made to establish lines of communication between Lear workers and their brothers and sisters at GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler to prepare the groundwork for a common struggle. A central responsibility of rank-and-file factory committees must be to organize collective opposition to censorship and intimidation by the UAW and the corporate bosses and to uphold the basic democratic rights of all workers to freely speak their minds, access information, and organize independently to defend their jobs and livelihoods. Less than two weeks before Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) takes office, he has repudiated the majority of his electoral promises. His administration will accelerate the militarization of the country and intensify the ties between the government and the financial elite. Last week, AMLO, a supposed leftist, announced the creation of a new National Guard as part of the administrations security plan. During his campaign and in the aftermath of the elections, he repeatedly vowed to take the military off the streets. There is widespread anger at the catastrophic levels of violence that have torn apart Mexican society, with murder rates matching those in war-torn countries. Since the war on drugs began in 2006, more than 250,000 deaths and 30,000 disappearances have been recorded by official statistics. AMLOs anti-militaristic posturing undoubtedly played a role in his election victory, which earned him the most votes out of any Mexican president in history and his party, the Movement for National Regeneration (Morena), control of both houses of Congress in the July 1 elections. His phony pledges of breaking with the repressive strategy of previous administrations have been fully exposed before he even takes office. In fact, AMLO is doubling down on the militarization of society in preparation for the growth of the class struggle. The proposed National Guard will initially be composed of 50,000 members of the Army, Navy, and Federal Police and will incorporate new recruits in later years. By 2021, the National Guard will consist of between 120,000 and 150,000 membersincreasing the personnel of the Armed Forces by about 85 percent. AMLO also boasts of closer military ties than his immediate predecessors, former presidents Felipe Calderon and Enrique Pena Nieto. Neither Calderon nor Pena Nieto succeeded in legalizing the role of the military in domestic operations. The Interior Security LawPena Nietos highly unpopular attempt at this formalizationwas declared unconstitutional by the Mexican Supreme Court last week. Now, AMLO is surpassing these right-wing administrations by seeking to amend the constitution to codify the National Guard into law. The new administration has also backtracked on other key electoral promises at the behest of finance capital. When the Morena-controlled legislature moved to pass a bill that would cut bank commissions, AMLO quickly declared that he would veto such a proposal. We are not going to modify the legal framework having to do with the economic, financial and fiscal in this first stage of government, said AMLO. There will be no initiative to modify the legal framework of the banks and financial institutions. Did I make myself clear? To leave no room for doubt as to who would be shaping the policies of the new administration, on November 16, AMLO announced a new economic advisory council that is entirely composed of executives from Mexicos most powerful corporations, including Grupo Salinas, Televisa, Banorte and Interjet. In a video posted on social media, AMLO revealed that the group will meet with him every two to three months and was formed at the direct request of the business sector. This move follows similar reassurances to finance capital after his cancellation of Mexico Citys new international airport. As for the defense of the tens of thousands of Central American immigrants traveling through Mexico to the US, AMLO promised to uphold human rights with one breath and pledged to keep a friendly relationship with the Trump administration on the next. In practice, his role as a junior partner of US imperialism will ensure that the new government will intensify the deportation and abuse of immigrants. In 2018, Mexican authorities detained over 75,000 immigrants from Central America and deported 90 percent, according to government statistics. AMLOs promises to repeal the energy reforms have also been long abandoned. In an interview with Bloomberg, AMLOs campaign chief noted that the government wouldnt aim for an overhaul of the energy sector, nor any other major constitutional reform in the first three years of his government because he needs to focus on cutting the budget. AMLOs chief of staff has noted that the incoming administration will honor the oil contracts signed by Pena Nieto and would not seek to control or subsidize gas prices. The incoming administration has sought to give itself a left guise by holding small referendums on spending projects, such as the so-called Maya Train that will link up cities in the southern states of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche and Chiapas. He has also vowed to remove the most egregious perks for congressional staff, including stipends for gasoline and high per diems on international trips. These moves are a cheap way to try to bolster his leftist credentials with the masses. The living conditions of government representatives are never seriously affected, and nothing will be done to fundamentally alter social conditions for the working class. AMLOs populist phrase-mongering will soon crash against the realities of the subservience of his policies to the ruling class and the social powder keg that is Mexico. This has already been revealed in new outbreaks of class struggle, such as the 2017 gasolinazo protests against the explosion of gas prices. Half of the Mexican population remains mired in poverty, while the vast share of social wealth held by a very small layer at the top continues to mount. The recent 2018 Latinobar o metro survey revealed that only 11 percent of Mexicans trust political parties, compared to 30 percent in 2006. Eighty-four percent of Mexicans said that they are dissatisfied with democracy, and 48 percent said that they live in a democracy with serious problems. The July election has handed control of government at all levels to AMLO and Morena. But any popular illusions that they will embark on meaningful attempts to address the social crisiswhat AMLO has termed a fourth Mexican revolutionwill soon be dashed. AMLO will serve his role by cracking down on any independent movement of the working class that threatens to undercut the interests of the ruling class and its banks and corporations. Capitalism today is even more fraught by its own internal contradictions than during the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, when the bourgeoisie unleashed the army on the student movement in Mexico City. All the pseudo-left parties that called for critical support for AMLO bear political responsibility for the crimes that will be carried out by the incoming administration. The International Committee of the Fourth International insists that the only way forward is a decisive break with AMLO and Morena and a fight to unite the international working class under a socialist program. The arrest Monday by Japanese authorities of the leader of one of the worlds largest automotive alliances has drawn in the governments of France and Japan and shaken investors. On Wednesday, a Japanese court extended the detention of Carlos Ghosn for an additional 10 days on charges of financial malfeasance, including hiding tens of millions in income from tax and other government authorities. Ghosn presides over an alliance of Japanese-based Nissan and Mitsubishi and French-based automaker Renault. Prosecutors allege that Ghosn understated his income by about five billion Yen or $44 million in securities filings and that he used company assets for personal purposes. Authorities also arrested another Nissan executive, Greg Kelly, who they say helped in the scheme. Under Japanese law suspects can be held for a period of time without the filing of formal charges and questioned by authorities without the benefit of legal counsel, though detainees can meet with attorneys. Ghosn, who was credited with saving Nissan from bankruptcy, became a celebrity in corporate, media and political circles in Japan and around the world for his ruthless cost cutting. After a stint at Renault, Ghosn was assigned to Nissan where he carried out a restructuring involving the elimination of 21,000 jobs and the closure of five factories. Forbes anointed Ghosn Businessman of the Year in 2002 for his work at restoring Nissan to profitability. Later he carried out a similarly brutal restructuring at Renault earning him the appellation Le Cost Killer. Ghosn stepped down as CEO of Nissan last year but remained the companys chairman. He became CEO of Renault in 2005 and in 2016 he became chairman at Mitsubishi, receiving hefty compensation packages from all three companies. The alliance sells some 10.6 million vehicles annually and if considered as a single entity was the largest auto producer in the world in 2017, ahead of Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors. The future of the Nissan, Renault, Mitsubishi alliance is now in question following Ghosns arrest. Nissan shares fell 15 percent on the news. By some reports a full Nissan-Renault merger spearheaded by Ghosn was in the works, possibly just months away. Opposition had emerged to the proposal for a Nissan-Renault merger. For one, the French government is a large shareholder in Renault and is unlikely to in effect cede control to Japanese-based Nissan, the most profitable of the three. There was also reported strong opposition on the Nissan board. The arrest of Ghosn comes at a time when global automakers are under pressure because of slowing sales and the threat of disruptions due to trade war measures being enacted by the Trump administration in the United States and countermoves by the other major economic powers. Moodys credit ratings agency said that the arrest raised questions about Nissans governance and could affect its borrowing costs. Standard and Poors said it could lower the companys credit rating. S&P said that Nissans profitability could suffer if it turned out that Ghosns alleged misconduct had hurt the companys alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi. The development of new technologies, including electric cars and autonomous vehicles, is sucking up enormous amounts of capital for research and development. It presages major changes in the auto industry whose ramifications are hard to foresee at this point. Whatever changes take place will entail sharp attacks on autoworkers. Ghosn, a French citizen, was born in Brazil to Lebanese parents and was educated in France. His foreign heritage is unusual among CEOs in Japan. There is speculation in some circles that Ghosns arrest may involve behind the scenes machinations by various parties, including possibly factions within Nissan. In a statement issued after Ghosns arrest, the Nissan board of directors said that CEO Hiroto Saikawa would introduce a motion to remove Ghosn and Kelly from their positions. The Nissan board of directors is due to vote Thursday on the removal of Ghosn, and as of this writing appears to be divided on the issue. Many Renault senior executives are standing behind Ghosn and French President Macron indicated the government would not seek Ghosns ouster from leadership at Renault without proof that his illegal actions involved activities in France. Meanwhile, Renault appointed an interim chairman and CEO to take over Ghosns duties while charges are pending. The Lebanese foreign minister, Gebran Bassil, issued a statement saying he had instructed the Lebanese ambassador in Tokyo to follow the case and ensure fair treatment for Ghosn. Bassil said Ghosn represents a model of Lebanese success abroad, and the Lebanese Foreign Ministry will stand by him in his crisis to make sure he gets a fair trial. There were apparently differences at Nissan over Ghosns focus on sales volume instead of profitability and quality. In particular, Ghosn sought to increase Nissans presence in the American market through heavy discounting. The new CEO at Nissan has questioned that approach. The Ghosn affair is the latest of a number of scandals involving Nissan. In July the company admitted it had found that the majority of its factories in Japan had reported falsified emissions data. In 2017 the company acknowledged that it had allowed unqualified personnel to carry out preproduction tests at some of its plants, leading to the recall of vehicles. Similar emission-rigging scandals have hit VW, Fiat Chrysler, GM, Daimler and Mitsubishi and Renault themselves. Ghosns lifestyle illustrates the rapacity so typical of top-level corporate executives. He maintained homes in Paris, Amsterdam, Beirut and Rio de Janeiro and traveled around the world on a corporate jet. In 2016 he rented out the Grand Trianon at the Versailles Palace in France to celebrate his marriage to his second wife. The theme was based on Sofia Coppolas film Marie Antoinette with guests dressed in pre-revolutionary costumes of the doomed nobility and featured extravagant desserts in homage to the queens supposed penchant for cake. Nissan and Mitsubishi paid Ghosn some US$8.5 million in cash and stock and he received $8.4 million from Renault, enormous sums of money but still relatively modest in comparison to American CEOs. However, Ghosns compensation generated controversy in both Japan and France, where CEOs typically earn much less. Takeshi Uchiyamada, chairman of Toyota, for example, received $1.6 million in 2017. In 2018 Ghosn agreed to take a 30 percent cut in compensation at Renault in order to ensure the backing of the Macron administration for another four-year term as head of the automaker. According to a piece in the Washington Post one reason Ghosn may have sought to hide his income was to avoid further such problems. Japanese broadcast organization NHK reported Nissan had paid Ghosn huge sums for luxury residences that were not for legitimate business purposes. The purchases were not declared on stock market filings while Ghosn did not pay, or underpaid, rent on the residences. NHK alleged that nearly $18 million had been funneled through a Dutch subsidiary of Nissan to buy properties on the Copacabana strip in Rio de Janeiro and in Beirut. It went on to claim that Ghosn had secretly siphoned off money meant as compensation for other Nissan executives. Kelly, Ghosns alleged accomplice and a reported mastermind of the scheme, is an American and the first US citizen to sit on Nissans board of directors. He first joined the company in 1988 as senior manager and associate legal counsel at Nissan North America. He was later named director of human resources. These revelations only highlight how, under capitalism, the wealth produced by the sweat and blood of workers is squandered each day on to satisfy the grotesque appetite of the corporate and financial oligarchy. On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded a two-day visit to Manila, where, in meetings with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, he signed a number of agreements which markedly increased diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries. Among the deals signed was a commitment to begin conducting joint exploration and exploitation of the oil resources of the South China Sea. Xi visited Manila in the midst of Washingtons continued escalation of economic warfare against Beijing and advanced preparations for direct military conflict. Xi arrived in Manila from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit where US Vice President Mike Pence had issued a series of bellicose declarations against China, preventing the summit from arriving at a joint communique for the first time in its history. As it has throughout the Asia-Pacific region, Washingtons attempt to contain the rise of China and to reduce its massive economy to a semi-colonial status, subordinate to US interests, has riven Philippine politics. Disputes over increased ties with China and the intense pressure which Washington brings to bear upon any such moves within its former colony have been at the heart of every major political conflict and corruption scandal over the past decade. Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, during her second term in office, from 2004 to 2010, sought to re-orient Philippine economic and diplomatic ties toward Beijing. She signed the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) with China, a deal allowing for the joint exploration of the disputed South China Sea. President Benigno Aquino III, of the Liberal Party, took office in 2010. Through a series of provocations against Beijing in the South China Sea and the filing of corruption charges against Arroyo and her political allies, he came to serve as one of Washingtons foremost proxies in the region. The Aquino administration filed suit against Chinas claim to the South China Sea in a case drawn up and argued by Washington before The Hague, and arranged for the return of US military bases to the country through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). Dutertes administration is a return to, and escalation of, the orientation of the Arroyo administration under conditions in which Washington has qualitatively intensified the danger of a global war. Whatever stance Duterte takes, it is being made on the frontlines of a rapidly worsening US-China confrontation. The personal and political volatility of the fascistic populist is, fundamentally, an expression of just how sharp the social and geopolitical crisis has become. Speaking in Singapore to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on November 15, Duterte stated that if war were to erupt in the South China Sea, my country will be the first to suffer. China, he declared is already in possession of the disputed waters, and the United States, with its repeated military exercises and Freedom of Navigation Act maneuvers, was creating tension. Xis trip to the Philippines was the first state visit by a Chinese president to the country in 13 years, when Arroyo signed the JMSU deal. Speaking to the press in Manila, Xi described the relations between Beijing and Manila under Duterte as like a rainbow after the rain. At a banquet in his honor, Xi stated, After President Duterte took office, our two sides have worked together to remove many obstacles. Our relationship has been turned around and put on the right trajectory. In addition to his talks with Duterte, Xi met with members of the Philippine legislature, holding a half-hour discussion with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is now Speaker of the House. Arroyo told the press that Xis visit would provide a major boost to President Dutertes envisioned massive infrastructure program. She told Xi, Infrastructure will be very important for the Philippines in the coming years. And there is no country in the world that matches Chinas recent track record and capability in this area. Meeting with the members of the Philippine Senate and Congress, Xi stated that the deals which he was signing with Duterte would see increased traffic between China and the Philippines. He spoke of plans to bring more Chinese tourists to the Philippines and more Filipino teachers and nurses to China. More significantly, he declared that the agreements which they reached would transform the South China Sea into a sea of friendship and cooperation. Xi specifically called for a maritime and air liaison mechanism to allow the two countries to coordinate their naval and air movements in the disputed waters. Over the course of his two-day visit, Xi signed 29 economic agreements, most for joint infrastructure projects and Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) loans from Beijing. Duterte has announced that the flagship project of his administration is a massive infrastructure project, which he has named Build, Build, Build, and which is officially projected to cost $US155 billion by 2022. The cornerstone of the proposal is Chinese investment. The deals signed by Xi included the construction of a 639-kilometer railway linking Manila and Bicol, along with a number of other infrastructure projects, most slated to be funded by Chinese loans. The Chinese Steel Company, Panhua Group, signed a deal on the sidelines of the visit with Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez for the investment of $3.5 billion in the construction of a steel manufacturing plant, to be based on the southern island of Mindanao, which is currently in its second year of martial law. The most significant deal was a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which effectively revitalizes the JMSU, allowing for the joint exploration and exploitation of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea. According to a draft released to CNN by opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes, the deal calls for joint work between the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and an as-yet-unnamed Philippine counterpart. Senate President Vicente Sotto III, tied to the Duterte administration, said that the Malacanang presidential palace had stated that the MOU agreed to a 6040 sharing of mineral resources, with the majority share going to the Philippines. The bourgeois opposition, gathered around the Liberal Party of former President Aquino, has raised an immense outcry over Xis visit and denounced Duterte as a puppet of China. The hue and cry over national sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea, has reached a fever pitch. Not one of these political figures cares a scrap for Philippine sovereignty, nor is there an anti-imperialist bone in their bodies. Washington established its direct colonial rule over the country in a bloody war of conquest that led to the death of over one million Filipinos. The politicians posturing in outrage over sovereignty are, in their majority, the heirs of the oligarchies brought to power by their former colonial master. Many of them likewise embraced the brutal wartime Japanese occupation; Aquinos grandfather served as vice president of its puppet government. The hullaballoo over sovereignty and the vicious denunciations of China are being mobilized in service to US imperialism. Opposition senators Trillanes and Pangilinan declared that the MOU on the South China Sea violated the Philippine Constitution. Trillanes alleged that the deal had been drawn up by China. Presidential spokesperson Sal Panelo responded with a statement that it did not really matter who drew up the deal, but Dutertes Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Teddy Locsin, adopting the language of the president, declared, Of course it f..king matters. I wrote it. Among the forces generally opposed to Dutertes establishment of ties with China are the military brass, which have long historical ties to Washington. Duterte has stated his intention to defuse tensions with China by decreasing military exercises targeting Beijing in the South China. However, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has, according to the New York Times, quietly expanded the number of exercises it will conduct with the United States military next year. During Xis visit, Lorenzana oversaw a provocative live-fire drill in the waters off the South China Sea, launching recently purchased Israeli missiles at enemy ships. He told the press, We will use this technology to protect our seas. When asked if he had deliberately timed the demonstration to coincide with Xis visit, Lorenzana ridiculously stated, No. The weather was good. The Socialist Party (PSOE) government in Spain has abandoned the 2019 draft budget it agreed with the pseudo-left party Podemos last month and will not present it to parliament. The PSOE is kept in power with the support of Podemos and regional nationalists. The Catalan nationalists refused to ratify the budget, leaving the minority PSOE government short of a majority, after state attorneys confirmed sedition charges against separatist leaders for declaring independence last year. Failure to pass the budget means the 2018 austerity budget, drafted by the previous right-wing Popular Party (PP) government and adopted by the incoming Podemos-backed PSOE administration in May, will now be rolled over. It included massive cuts to public services and increases for the police and military. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared, I will be clear: we are not going to lull Spaniards. If there is no new budget the Government will carry out the budgetary reforms by means of royal decree laws. Sanchez has hinted he might call snap elections for May 2019, spurred on by PSOE officials who point to polls saying there is a 10 percent increase in the partys electoral support to 32 percent, which is likely to be reflected in the December 2 regional election in the partys heartland of Andalusia. The abandonment of the budget reveals once again the fraudulent claims of Podemos that it is aligning itself with the PSOE in order to push it leftwards. When the budget agreement was concluded, Podemos General Secretary Pablo Iglesias proclaimed it as a break from years of austerity and proof that co-governing with the PSOE could work. He assured everyone it was a starting point for a new period in Spanish economic policy, which we think will result in a coalition government. He insisted, You have to construct an alternative to neoliberalism through governing. Politics is not about having the more radical programme, but about securing results. Clearly, I would have liked to obtain more than what is in this agreement but in politics you are not what you put in your programme but what you achieve. Dubbed the deputy prime minister by the media, Iglesias set out to secure results (which rapidly turned out to be unachievable) by acting as go-between with the Catalan secessionists, pleading with them to take the issue of the political prisoners off the negotiating table and support the budget. Miguel Urban, a Member of the European Parliament and leader of the Pabloite Anticapitalistas faction of Podemos, which covers for every capitulation of the party, declared that the agreements main achievement was to halt the wheel of austerity, and to show that it is possible not only to just stop the wheel but to at least begin turning it in the other direction. The WSWS warned at the time that the PSOE-Podemos budget agreement was a political manoeuvre that was not designed to be passed or fought for, but the basis for the two parties to pose as anti-austerity under conditions of growing social anger and class struggle. The PSOE is a longstanding bourgeois party that, since it first took power in its contemporary form in 1982, has imposed policies of austerity and war. Podemos not only knows this, but is itself a close ally of the Syriza government in Greece, which has devastated the living standards of the Greek working class at the behest of the European Union. Its sole real concern in forging a pact with the PSOE is securing positions of state power for itself. Sections of the media and pro-Podemos outlets dutifully trumpeted a proposed rise of 22 percent in the minimum wage up to 900 a month, limited increases in social spending, a hike in corporate and personal income taxes on those earning over 130,000 a year, as well as introduce a new tax on financial transactions. Even so, the budget agreement was carefully framed to abide by the EUs austerity framework containing the lowest public spending as a percentage of GDP since 2007. In the short period it has been in power, the PSOE has reneged on one election promise after anotherrefusing to overturn the previous PP labour reforms, which have increased precarious working, the anti-terror laws or a huge increase in defence spending. It has continued hot returns of migrant workers and the notorious Migrant Detention Centres. An article in Jacobin magazine, reprinted in International Viewpoint, expressed concern that Podemoss backing for Spains Socialist cabinet risks making it a prop to the institutions it once rebelled against. But this was accompanied by the feeble excuse, Yet it has also imposed its own stamp on the governments agenda. It declared, A degree of crisis in the new PSOE government, after two high-profile ministerial resignations since June (with another potentially on the way), has afforded Podemos a significant degree of leverage in negotiating a deal this time around. It concluded, With the PSOE having no appetite for early elections, according to [Podemos lead negotiator Ione] Belarra they had to acknowledge us as equal partners. The daily pro-PSOE El Pais, which two years earlier had helped engineer an internal coup against Sanchezs leadership of the PSOE and was a bitter opponent of Iglesias and Podemos, stated that the agreement with Podemos corrects seven years of budgetary austerity with undeniable political value. This week Juan Luis Cebrian, El Pais co-founder and former CEO of the Spanish media conglomerate Prisa, reminded its readers that he was one of the few to encourage the courting of Podemos as it demobilised the anti-austerity indignados protests following the 2008 global economic crisis and integrated itself into the state apparatus. He warned that Spain, where practically all the institutions that emanate from the 1978 Constitution have been victims of severe destruction, had to do something now to integrate the resurgence of discontentexpressed above all on social networksand provide it with an authentic civil ethic. At a Podemos press conference on Monday, party leaders Pablo Echenique and Noelia Vera tried to restore the tattered reputation of the party. Polls suggest that while the PSOE has been the main beneficiary of its confidence and supply agreement with Podemos and the nationalists, Podemos, now reduced to fourth place in polls with 17 percent of the vote, would continue its decline. Echenique and Vera complained that Sanchez had thrown in the towel and announced that an extraordinary meeting of the partys State Citizen Council meeting will be held on Friday to discuss the possibility of an election. The partys Pabloite faction is again pleading with the leadership to call protests in the streets to control and dissipate rising social anger. After a four-year suppression of social mobilization by the unions and Podemos, strike levels are once again on the rise including transport (Ryanair, airports, taxi, Deliveroo, metro), retail (Amazon, H&M), postal services, public health care, social services and education. Miguel Urban warned in Jacobin, If we think that we are simply better parliamentarians than them, we will lose! However, we have something they dont: social movements it is the street which will engage the Socialists base, pushing it into open contradiction with its party hierarchy on core issues like labor reforms. We in Podemos have to think how we can encourage such mobilization[s], aiding it without instrumentalizing it. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) held a successful meeting on Sri Lankas political crisis last Monday at the N. M. Perera Centre in Colombo. Over 60 workers, youth and housewives attended. The political crisis was triggered on October 26 when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister, replacing him with former President Mahinda Rajapakse in an unconstitutional political coup. In the lead-up to the meeting, SEP and IYSSE members distributed thousands of Sinhala and Tamil-language copies of the SEP statement, Fight for a socialist solution to the Sri Lankan political crisis at universities, in neighbourhoods and in workplaces. Vilani Peiris Vilani Peiris, an SEP Political Committee member, chaired the meeting. She explained that the political turmoil in Sri Lanka is part of a world crisis of capitalism. Sri Lanka, she noted, is viewed as critical geo-strategically in the US-led confrontation with China, which India is also centrally involved in. Whether Wickremesinghe or Rajapakse was victorious in the ongoing factional struggle, Peiris warned, the next government would be subservient to the imperialist powers. She noted that the US, the EU and India are presently backing Wickremesinge, because of their concerns that a Rajapakse government will orient towards Beijing. The crisis is prompting a further lurch towards authoritarianism, with Sirisena taking key ministries under his control and Rajapakse asserting that the president can appoint whomever he likes as prime minister. Peiris explained that the pseudo-left Nava Sama Samaja Party was promoting Wickremesinghe as a great democrat. This was aimed at tying the working class to the ruling elite and covering up the anti-democratic record of his United National Party. Kapila Fernando Kapila Fernando, the IYSSE convener in Sri Lanka, outlined the pro-imperialist character of all of the bourgeois parties, including the UNP and Sirisenas Sri Lanka Freedom Party. While some leaders of his faction have criticised the Western powers for supporting Wickremesinghe, Rajapakse has signalled that a government he led would work with the US and India. Fernando noted that Rajapakses previous government had collaborated closely with the US military as it was waging a brutal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Fernando said that an emerging movement of university students, and mass struggles of workers and the poor, had played a direct role in precipitating the political crisis. He called on young people to turn to the working class, and reject the attempts by the student unions to subordinate them to one or other faction of the ruling elite. A section of the meeting The main speaker, SEP general secretary Wije Dias, explained that the SEP is the only party that has provided a Marxist analysis of the political crisis through its continuous coverage on the WSWS. The SEP and the International Committee of the Fourth International do not take this crisis of bourgeois rule lightly, Dias said. The implosion of the old parliamentary forms has revolutionary implications from which political conclusions must be drawn by the working class. It can only do this through the political work and analysis of the SEP. Intelligent observers would have noticed that two crucial words, capitalist and class, are missing from all bourgeois and pseudo-left reporting of the crisis. They never indicate that what has erupted is a crisis of capitalist rule and that the fight is between two factions of the capitalist class. This is because such a class characterisation raises the necessity for an independent political perspective and socialist program for the working class and youth, which they oppose. Dias explained that parliamentary democracy has always served as a smokescreen for the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. He cited Vladimir Lenins polemic against the reformist arguments of Karl Kautsky, the theoretician of the German Social Democratic Party. Lenin had insisted: As long as there are exploiters who rule the majority, the exploited, the democratic state must inevitably be a democracy for the exploiters. Dias stated that the current conflict within the ruling elite is over how best to prepare the repressive state machine to crush the emerging struggles of workers and the oppressed. The speaker reviewed the historical attitude of the revolutionary movement to parliamentary rule. He said that when it was introduced to Sri Lanka by the British imperialists, one year before the granting of formal independence in 1948, the Trotskyist Bolshevik Leninist Party of India (BLPI) characterised parliament as A conspiracy against the people. Although the BLPI later retreated, the SEP and its predecessor, the Revolutionary Communist League, had upheld this revolutionary socialist perspective for the past 50 years. While intervening aggressively in parliamentary elections, the SEP had always insisted on the necessity to establish a workers and peasants government based on independent organs of working class power. Outlining the SEPs responsibilities in the present crisis, Dias cited a speech delivered by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North during the crisis triggered by the theft of the US national election by George Bush and the Republican Party in 2000. North wrote: In the final analysis it is not the power of the capitalist state alone that blocks revolution. At a more profound and historically essential level, it is the lack of political confidence and consciousness, within the broad masses, of their ability to intervene and reconstruct society from top to bottom. North added: But the present crisis will provide an impulse for significant and progressive shifts in social consciousness. The political upheaval in Sri Lanka, Dias said, was set in motion by processes stemming from the breakdown of world capitalism which began with the financial crisis of 2008. This had led to revolutionary struggles by the working class in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere. In Sri Lanka, major protests had erupted in the free trade zones in 2011, followed by a movement of fishermen against fuel price increases in 2012, and mass demonstrations in 2013 over unclean water. Rajapakse, who was then president, had unleashed police and military repression against each of these struggles. He then called early presidential elections in 2015 in a bid to derail the emerging movement. The pseudo-left groups and trade unions gathered around the bourgeois common candidate, Sirisena, fraudulently claiming that he would champion democracy and grant social concessions. In this, they were backed by Washington, which was increasingly concerned over Rajapakses growing ties with China. The bourgeois unity government of Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, which came to power on the shoulders of these rotten advocates of democracy, used violent force to suppress the struggles of workers from the outset, Dias said. The police and military were deployed against strikes and protests involving postal, electricity and port workers, university staff, students and the rural poor. The developing movement had exacerbated the crisis of the government, leading to last months split between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe. Wije Dias Dias said: Although the class struggle is subdued at present under the weight of the rapidity of the political crisis and the confusion it has caused, mass struggles against war, austerity and dictatorship are on the agenda. This is why the more thoughtful sections of the elite are clamoring for a compromise between the two factions before any intervention by the masses. Dias noted that the imperialist powers were actively seeking to stabilise bourgeois rule on the island and maintain their dominance in South Asia. He quoted a Sunday Times article reporting a US embassy statement last week, which declared there was much at stake in the ongoing crisis. US foreign policy towards Sri Lanka considerably improved from January 2015, with more direct military-to-military exercises, exchange and training programs The participation of senior US, Japanese and Australian military leadership at key Sri Lankan defence and security seminars during the last two months underscores the importance the countries have placed on ties with Sri Lanka, it noted. Dias stated: These developments further underscore the vital importance of the politically independent intervention of the working class in the crisis. A perspective for such an intervention cannot come out of the blue. It needs to be firmly grounded on the strategic experiences of the past class struggles. The repository of the political lessons of those experiences is the Marxist movement, of which the contemporary representative is the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). Above all, it is necessary to build the SEP and the ICFI as the leadership of the emerging revolutionary struggles of the working class. President Trump escalated his war of words with the American judiciary Wednesday in an extraordinary exchange of statements with John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court. The public clash with the highest official of what is, under the US Constitution, an independent branch of government, underscores the increasingly dictatorial and fascistic character of the Trump administration. The latest conflict began on Monday evening, when Judge Jon S. Tigar, a federal judge for the Northern District of California, based in San Francisco, ruled that the Department of Homeland Security acted illegally when it instituted a new policy of refusing to accept asylum applications from immigrants who had crossed the US-Mexico border illegally. Tigar ruled late Monday that federal law clearly states that migrants can seek asylum anywhere on US soil, however they enter the country, and are not limited to applying at entry points designated by the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS entry points are overcrowded and frequently inaccessible. Whatever the scope of the Presidents authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden, the judge wrote in a 37-page opinion. The temporary restraining order by Judge Tigar, an Obama appointee, remains in effect until a December 19 hearing, when the court will hear arguments on making the injunction permanent. Under the terms of the order, migrants can apply for asylum as they have for decades, no matter where or how they enter the country. Four immigrants rights groups brought the lawsuit against the new asylum policy as soon as it was issued on the eve of the election. The American Civil Liberties Union argued the case before the court. On Tuesday Trump erupted in rage against the decision. This was an Obama judge. And Ill tell you what, its not going to happen like this anymore, the president tweeted. Everybody that wants to sue the United States, they file their case inalmostthey file their case in the 9th Circuit. And it means an automatic loss no matter what you do, no matter how good your case is. He concluded: We will win that case in the Supreme Court of the United States. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals covers most of the western United States. It is perfectly natural that many immigration cases come before the lower courts in this region, which has the largest number of immigrants of any region in the United States, and includes two of the states bordering on Mexico, California and Arizona. Trump followed with a further denunciation of the 9th Circuit, one of the more liberal appeals courts. Every case in the 9th Circuit we get beaten and then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court like the travel ban and we won. These statements provoked an unprecedented public conflict with Chief Justice John Roberts, who went out of his way to respond to an inquiry from the Associated Press on his reaction to the criticism of Judge Tigar as an Obama judge. We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges, Roberts said in a statement released by the courts public information office. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for. Trump immediately responded via Twitter, writing, Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an independent judiciary He continued his attack on the 9th Circuit, saying a vast number of its rulings on border and security issues are overturned. We need protection and security - these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise! Roberts did not issue any further statement, but the public exchange has no precedent in American politics. It follows a series of judicial decisions overturning actions taken by the White House or other executive branch agencies. These include: The ruling on November 16 by US District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, overturning the White House decision to revoke the press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta after he asked a question at a presidential press conference critical of Trumps attacks on immigrants. The ruling by another federal district court judge, Brian Morris in Montana, overturning the Trump administrations decision to green-light the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the US Gulf Coast, on the grounds that the administration had violated the legal requirement to present a reasoned explanation for its action. The ruling Tuesday by a federal district court judge, Mark Goldsmith, in Detroit, that the federal government must release 110 Iraqi immigrants now held in detention, no later than December 20, so they can be reunited with their families before the Christmas holidays. Most of the Iraqis are Christians who fear repression or attacks by groups like ISIS. The judge cited demonstrably false statements to the Court designed to delay the proceedings. Wednesday saw another demonstration of Trumps efforts to subordinate the judicial process to the direction of the White House. The New York Times published a front-page report detailing Trumps demands last spring that the Department of Justice and the FBI bring criminal charges against two of his political opponentsformer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democrat whom he defeated in the 2016 presidential election; and former FBI Director James Comey, whose firing by Trump triggered the appointment of special prosecutor Robert Mueller to investigate allegations that the Trump entourage colluded with Russia during the presidential campaign. According to the Times account, which has gone essentially without rebuttal from either the White House or Trumps media defenders like Fox News, Trump asked White House counsel Don McGahn to order the Justice Department to prosecute Comey for leaking classified information to the Times, although the information he leaked to the newspaper was not classified. Trump wanted Clinton indicted on charges that as secretary of state she had backed the sale of a US uranium company to the Russian government in return for a large contribution from the company to the Clinton Foundation. The sale was approved by an interagency panel that included a State Department representative, but which Clinton did not control. McGahn reportedly told Trump that he had no authority over the Justice Department, and that even requesting an investigation, let alone demanding an indictment, would lead to accusations of abuse of power. McGahns office drafted a memorandum warning that if Trump sought Justice Department investigations of his political opponents, he could face a range of consequences, including possible impeachment, according to the Times account. This report underscores the fact that the incessant chants of lock her up that punctuate Trump campaign rallies are not merely a rhetorical device for whipping his ultra-right followers into a frenzy. The perspective of Trump is that opposition to his policies should be illegal, even when it comes from pillars of the capitalist political establishment like the former secretary of state and former FBI director. Fortnite x Naruto Crossover Goes Live Today With Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi Cosmetics in the Item Shop Actress Mareli Miniutti was granted a temporary restraining order against Michael Avenatti after she declared in court documents that he grabbed her and dragged her during a fight this month. Avenatti declared his innocence on Twitter Tuesday, noting that an initial TMZ story about his Nov. 14 arrest on a domestic violence charge was erroneous. (TMZ initially misidentified the woman who accused him.) He also said he had authorized the release of security camera footage that he said would exonerate him. When the truth and the facts are fully disclosed, including the security camera footage, I will be vindicated and a lot of people and news organizations are going to owe me an apology as well as money. Completely bogus. Lets start with TMZs reporting from last week, Avenatti wrote. Also Read: Woman Seeks Restraining Order Against Michael Avenatti Avenatti is best known for representing Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, in her legal fight with President Trump. She has said she will drop Avenatti as her attorney if he is proven guilty of the accusations. In a declaration filed on Monday, Miniutti said that she was in a dating relationship with Avenatti from October 2017 until Nov. 13, 2018, and that they had lived together from January 2018 until that date. According to the declaration, she and Avenatti began arguing about money on the night of Nov. 13, and Avenatti called her an ungrateful, fing bitch. Miniutti also said in her declaration that he hit her in the face with pillows from the bed and grabbed the wrist of my right arm. Respondent attempted to pull me out of the bed, which caused pain to my arm and wrist, the declaration continued. In her declaration, Miniutti said that she began sending text messages to a friend on her cell phone, and that after a few minutes, Avenatti yelled at me, and grabbed the phone out of my hand and screamed, this is my phone! and put it in his pocket. The declaration stated that Avenatti then grabbed my right arm and dragged me out of the bed. He dragged me on the floor of the apartment towards and out of the door into the public hallway. I was wearing only my underwear and a T-shirt at the time, and suffered scratches to the bare skin on my side and leg. Story continues The declaration added that Avenatti then grabbed my right arm and dragged me out of the bed. He dragged me on the floor of the apartment towards and out of the door into the public hallway. I was wearing only my underwear and a T-shirt at the time, and suffered scratches to the bare skin on my side and leg. Also Read: Stormy Daniels Says She'll Fire Michael Avenatti if Domestic Violence Accusations 'Prove True' Miniutti said that she began ringing her neighbors doorbell for help, and Avenatti yelled at her, grabbed her by the arm again, and pulled her back into the apartment. Her declaration said that Avenatti blocked the door and prevented her from leaving the apartment, and refused to return her phone. According to her declaration, Miniutti was eventually able to get out of the apartment and got in the service elevator, and that Avenatti followed her inside. Miniutti said that Avenatti repeatedly begged, Dont do this Mareli, dont involve them.' The declaration said that Miniutti went to the front desk, followed by Avenatti, and Avenatti returned her phone. She said people at the front desk called for security, who took her alone into another room to talk to her. She then called a friend, who agreed to come pick her up, she said. Once at her home, I saw red marks on my left side. I called the police, who arrived and took my statement, the declaration continued. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Avenattis Nov. 14 arrest. We can confirm that today LAPD Detectives arrested Michael Avenatti on suspicion of domestic violence. This is an ongoing investigation and we will provide more details as they become available, the department said. Avenatti has not responded to TheWraps request for comment on the declaration. But he has repeatedly taken to Twitter to deny wrongdoing. I look forward to a full clearing of my name and disclosure of all of the facts, he wrote Monday. I have NEVER abused a woman or committed domestic violence against anyone. Any claim to the contrary is completely bogus and fabricated. I am a target. And I will be exonerated. In another tweet, Avenatti wrote, .@tmz cannot even reconcile their story from last week with their story from today. They cant have it both ways. Their conduct is disgusting and they need to rectify it immediately. We demand a retraction and an apology. Now. He added Tuesday: I want the truth to be known all of it. The truth about the alleged incident on Tues night/Wed am, as well as the truth about TMZs completely false reporting about last Wed afternoon. I want it ALL disclosed. ASAP. As a result, I just authorized the release of all the video. When the truth and the facts are fully disclosed, including the security camera footage, I will be vindicated and a lot of people and news organizations are going to owe me an apology as well as money. Completely bogus. Lets start with TMZs reporting from last week. Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) November 20, 2018 .@tmz cannot even reconcile their story from last week with their story from today. They cant have it both ways. Their conduct is disgusting and they need to rectify it immediately. We demand a retraction and an apology. Now. Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) November 20, 2018 Read original story Actress Mareli Miniutti Granted Temporary Restraining Order Against Michael Avenatti At TheWrap The New Jersey family whose bodies were discovered by officials responding to a mansion fire in Colts Neck were the victims of targeted homicidal violence, according to the prosecutor handling the case but investigators have yet to establish a motive for the killings. At a Wednesday press conference, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni identified the victims whose bodies were found at the estate on Tuesday as Keith Caneiro, 50, his wife, Jennifer Caneiro, 45, their son Jesse, 8, and daughter Sophia, 11. Keith was shot to death and found outside the $1.5 million home, according to Gramiccioni. His wife and kids were found inside the home but Gramiccioni did not say how they were killed. Paul Caneiro, who is Keiths 51-year-old brother and business partner, was arrested on an aggravated arson charge Wednesday morning. Authorities allege he set his own home ablaze Tuesday morning in a neighboring town, hours before his brothers mansion caught fire. Keith Caneiro, Jennifer Caneiro Gramiccioni would not say if his office believes the fires were linked or whether Paul Caneiro is a suspect in the homicides, describing the possibility as one of several avenues we are considering. Gramiccioni also said investigators are still trying to determine the motive for the slayings, which occurred before the fire was set. He confirmed that authorities do not believe none of the deaths were the result of suicide. Sophia Caneiro Jesse Caneiro Paul has not yet entered a plea to the charge against him and it was unclear if he had retained a defense lawyer who could comment on his behalf. He remains in custody on an unspecified amount of bail. Paul Caneiro Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Gramiccioni said Pauls family members were inside his home when the fire broke out, but said nobody was injured. The fire at Pauls home was called in at about 5 a.m. while authorities were called to the Colts Neck fire at about 12:30 p.m. No charges have been filed in the Colts Neck fire or the quadruple killing. Gramiccioni confirmed the brothers were business partners in two ventures: a technology firm called Square One and a pest management company both operating out of Asbury Park. The other day, after visiting the Camp Fire near Paradise, California, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke figured out who was to blame for the worst wildfire in California history, which has burned more than 105,000 acres, destroyed 12,600 homes, and killed at least 81 people (as of Wednesday morning, there are still more than 1,000 people unaccounted for). I will lay this on the foot of environmental radicals who prevented us from managing the forests, Zinke told Brietbart. This is absolutely on them. This is of course bullshit. California is burning because industrialized nations of the world continue to dump CO2 into the atmosphere and the climate is getting warmer. In California, snow is melting earlier, wind patterns are changing, and forests and grasslands drying up (the average fire season is 84 days longer than it was in the 1970s). Just as important, more people are living in combustible places. Since the 1990s, 60% of new homes in California, Washington, and Oregon have been built in zones that high risk for wildfires. The result: more fires, more people and more homes at risk. But lets play with Zinkes assertion for a moment. Who exactly are the environmental radicals and radical environmentalists (he used both terms) he might be talking about? From the way Zinke growls utter distain when he says these phrases its worth listening to the interview just to hear it you would think that, in the weeks prior to the fire, crazed hordes of treehuggers had barricaded all the entrances to the rolling hills around Paradise, stopping the well-intentioned forest rangers from trimming up the trees, cleaning up the brush, and keeping the people safe. Of course, there were no treehuggers stopping the Forest Service from managing the land (in fact, Butte County voted for Trump). By environmental radicals, Zinke was likely referring to well-schooled lawyers from organizations like The Wilderness Society who have raised questions about the wholesale the clear-cutting of forests by the timber industry. But those lawsuits have been few and far between. Federal records compiled by the Center for Biological Diversity show that about 7 percent of the vegetation management projects on Forest Service lands in California and Hawaii between 2009 and 2017 were challenged in court. Story continues And not that logging would have prevented the Camp Fire anyway. The area around Paradise had burned in 2008 and much of the overgrowth had already been cleared away. The Butte fire area was heavily post-fire logged nearly a decade ago, Chad Hanson, a research ecologist with the Earth Island Institutes John Muir Project, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. In fact, what caused the fire to spread so fast was the high winds and the density of homes and commercial structures, which allowed the fire to leapfrog from tinderbox to tinderbox. But lets give Zinke some credit. His comment does raise a provocative question: who exactly are the radical environmentalists of our time? After all, the scale of the risks the civilized world faces from climate change make the earlier environmental causes like litter and burning rivers seen almost trivial by comparison. But can you point to a single environmental or climate activist that would be considered radical? Who is the Mother Jones or even the Edward Abbey of the climate fight? Writer and activist Bill McKibben? The pipeline protestors at Standing Rock? Brave souls in Appalachia like the late Judy Bonds who laid down in front of bulldozers to stop mountains from being blown up for coal? Tim DeCristopher went to jail for protesting oil and gas auction in 2008. A handful of academics like Daniel Aldana Cohen, a sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, are raising important questions about social justice and the destructive nature of capitalism. The call for a Green New Deal, led by the Sunrise Movement and Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is inspiring and ambitious and may grow into a powerful force in the coming years. To call any of these people environmental radicals, however, is a stretch. In fact, given the scale of the risks we face from climate change, its much easier to argue that todays climate activists are not radical enough. In addition to rethinking how we live in wildfire zones, the most important outcome of these tragic California fires may be rebuilding the climate movement with a sense of urgency and purpose that is commensurate with the dangers we face. Or, to put it another way, maybe its time to school Zinke in what radical environmentalism really means. Toxic slime? Eavesdropping toys? Consumer advocates warn of 'Trouble in Toyland' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Toxic slime, missing warning labels and a possible invasion of privacy are among several warnings consumer advocates have for toy-buying parents this holiday season. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group released its 33rd annual report "Trouble in Toyland," which found at least 15 of the 40 toys that were tested may create safety hazards. (MORE: 7-year-old holds toy drive for kids affected by the Woolsey Fire) Six popular slime products were found to contain boron, likely to be in the form of borax or sodium tetraborate. Borax is known to be a mild irritant to skin and eyes, and if swallowed it can be fatal in children, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. High levels of borax have been banned in the European Union, however the non-partisan group said it found a number of slime products to have 15 times the EU's legal limit. The U.S. has no such limits on the amount of borax in a product. The group has called on lawmakers to require labeling of products with high concentration of borox and wants industry toy makers to use alternatives to borax such as lotions or glue. "Parents can be assured that slime and all other toys sold in the United States are compliant and safe," said Rebecca Mond, vice president of government affairs for The Toy Association. PHOTO: A girl plays with slime in an undated stock photo. (STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images) The trade association represents more than 950 members from Amazon to Kangaroo Manufacturing, a company that had four of its slime products recalled in Canada in September after the government said it didn't meet its toy safety requirements. Kangaroo said it didn't receive any incident or injury reports relating to the use of the recalled slime in the country. (MORE: Are You Buying a Potentially Dangerous Toy?) Private data may also be at risk, according to the "Trouble in Toyland" report. Through an investigation with the Mozilla Foundation, the group found two popular toys can share private information about children for advertising purposes. The non-partisan group says that the Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition doesn't allow users to delete data that it stores on the device and, according to the Mozilla Foundation, "Amazon gets to know your kid from cradle on." Story continues The non-partisan public interest group also found that 87 percent of latex balloons on Amazon failed to have choking hazard labels on the website's descriptions. According to the trade association all toys sold in the U.S. must comply with safety regulations and have to be tested by an independent, accredited lab. Mond also said that balloons are not toys. Amazon didn't respond to requests for comment from ABC News. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group said its efforts over several decades have led to more than 150 recalls and precautions made by toy makers. Rachel Weintraub, legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America, said "parents should not have to be detectives. Most consumers assume that a product available for sale is safe." The Toy Association, which also represents Disney, the parent company of ABC News, assures consumers that "the only thing that parents need to be concerned about this year is purchasing fun toys for their children." In a scathing opinion, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves calls the legislatures justification for the bill an exercise in pure gaslighting and blasts the sad irony of mens domination of the anti-choice movement. In March, the Mississippi state legislature enacted H.B. 1510, one of the country's most draconian anti-abortion statutes. It prohibits medical professionals from performing abortions after 15 weeks, except in case of a life-threatening medical emergency or a "severe fetal abnormality." The statute requires the state licensing board to suspend or revoke the credentials of any doctor who breaks the law, and subjects them to additional civil penalties. One the same day that governor Phil Bryant signed this de facto abortion ban into law, the Jackson Women's Health Organizationthe only facility in the entire state that still provides abortionschallenged it in federal court, and on Tuesday U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves issued a ruling on the merits. Reeves, to borrow a term of art from the legal profession, is not having any of the Mississippi legislature's bullshit. The legal analysis is fairly straightforward and comprises only four pages of the opinion: Well-established and repeatedly affirmed Supreme Court precedent prohibits states from banning abortions before viability, which occurs at around 23 or 24 weeks. H.B. 1510, on its face, purports to bar abortion a full eight or nine weeks before the earliest point of that period. Therefore, it is unlawful. From there, Reeves redirects his efforts from applying basic constitutional law to excoriating lawmakers for knowingly wasting his time and the taxpayers' dollars on this doomed mission. The "real reason we are here," he writes, is that the state "chose to pass a law it knew was unconstitutional to endorse a decades-long campaign, fueled by national interest groups, to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade." He acknowledges that the Court's evolving composition might prompt it to revisit Roe in the near future, but that in the meantime, he would continue to uphold "the commands of the Supreme Court and the dictates of the United States Constitution, rather than the disingenuous calculations of the Mississippi Legislature." Story continues In a pair of lengthy footnotes, Reeves details the state's shameful history of ignoring the constitutionally protected civil rights of its citizens and dismisses the proffered justification for this billpromoting "women's health"as yet another exercise in "pure gaslighting." From the opinion, with internal citations omitted: No, legislation like H.B. 1510 is closer to the old Mississippithe Mississippi bent on controlling women and minorities. The Mississippi that, just a few decades ago, barred women from serving on juries so they may continue their service as mothers, wives, and homemakers. The Mississippi that, in Fannie Lou Hamers reporting, sterilized six out of ten black women in Sunflower County at the local hospitalagainst their will. And the Mississippi that, in the early 1980s, was the last State to ratify the 19th Amendmentthe authority guaranteeing women the right to vote. Reeves concludes by discussing the unconscionably cruel dynamic that underlies every act of the anti-choice movement: An overwhelming proportion of the people who seek to exercise control over women's bodies are not women. (One hundred five of Mississippi's 122 state representatives and 43 of its 52 state senators are men.) They can never fully understand the ramifications of their decisions, and yet do not care to try. The passage is worth quoting in full. The fact that men, myself included, are determining how women may choose to manage their reproductive health is a sad irony not lost on the Court. As Sarah Weddington argued to the nine men on the Supreme Court in 1971 when representing Jane Roe, a pregnancy to a woman is perhaps one of the most determinative aspects of her life. As a man, who cannot get pregnant or seek an abortion, I can only imagine the anxiety and turmoil a woman might experience when she decides whether to terminate her pregnancy through an abortion. Respecting her autonomy demands that this statute be enjoined. President Obama, who nominated Reeves to the federal bench in 2010, once opined that judicial empathy"understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles"is an "essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes." This decision is pretty good evidence that he was right. From Cosmopolitan Please put down the pie you are currently eating and prepare to dreamy sigh, because Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas just reunited and it feels so good. Nick ditched New York and flew all the way to Delhi, India, where he met up with his bride-to-be and immediately had a cuddle session in the back of a car. View this post on Instagram Welcome home baby... A post shared by Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) on Nov 22, 2018 at 4:36am PST Okay, so obviously this is adorable, but also I am now 100 percent convinced that Nick and Priyanka are getting married next weekend. Why? THANKS FOR ASKING, here's why. EXHIBIT A: Priyanka recently celebrated her Bachelorette party and Nick recently celebrated his Bachelor party, activities that usually take place super close to an actual wedding: View this post on Instagram Red, white and Bride!!! #Bachelorette A post shared by Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) on Nov 5, 2018 at 7:39am PST EXHIBIT B: Indian outlets are reporting that their sangeet will be on November 29 while their mehendi is scheduled for November 30. These are both traditional pre-wedding events, so it just makes logical sense that their actual ceremony would be the day after on Saturday December 1. In conclusion: prepare your body for this wedding that you're literally not invited to but are still somehow inexplicably excited about! ('You Might Also Like',) Calla Hales runs four abortion clinics in the south and faces anti-abortion protesters daily. Here's what women in North Carolina are going through to access their right to an abortion. Calla Hales oversees four abortion clinics in North Carolina and Georgia. For the past 40 Saturdays, she's been facing the front lines of an anti-abortion protest that drew thousands of pro-life activists. This is her story as told to Glamour's Macaela MacKenzie. My typical Saturday commute to work feels a little like driving straight into a festival. There are tour buses, music blasting over loudspeakers, hundreds of people congregated in brightly colored shirts. Except this isnt a festival or a fun town paradeI run four abortion clinics in North Carolina and Georgia, and this is the anti-abortion protest we face every week. For the past 40 weeks straight, the clinic where I work in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been facing hundreds of pro-life protesters that make getting to the clinic a traumatic experience. They call it the 40 Weeks of Life campaignI call it the 40-Week Siege. Every Saturday I drive out and count the protesters congregated in the street outside the clinic394, 560, 2,000past posters of babies and aborted fetuses. The protesters will call me by name and tell me I need to repent. Theyll yell about the blood of babies on my hands as I park my car and walk into work. Theyll tell me I cant be a mother as long as I work here. Theyll say if I leave my life of sin, maybe God will still save me. All of it is an effort to guilt me into feeling shame over something that I should never feel shame about. Abortion care isnt about religion or faithits about a womans right to choose what medical care she receives for her body. As patients drive down the street to the clinic, its common to see men and women trying to wave down cars and give out pamphlets of information meant to guilt women about their choice and convince them to turn back. One patient's young daughter was so traumatized by the protesters that she ran offit took almost an hour to find her. Some weeks pro-life protesters have even tried to deliberately misdirect patients from the clinic, chalking arrows on the street that lead patients away from the clinic and promising free ultrasounds, adding chaos to an already stressful situation. If a black patient is walking in, there are often comments about abortion being black genocide in a weird twisting of the Black Lives Matter movement. Unfortunately, that tactic is not uncommon at many anti-abortion protests, which can be incredibly upsetting to patients and staff. Story continues No one should have to go through this traumatic tunnel of protesters just to access health care they are legally entitled to. Can you imagine that happening at any other medical center? Thankfully, we have a private parking lot. Once patients reach our property, theyre greeted by a group of volunteers who are willing and happy to be there supporting patients, asking if they need a welcome shoulder or support going into the clinic. The thing I want people to know is patients seeking abortion care aren't this strange population. They're average, regular women. We have a whole range of patients including 15- to 16-year-old minors coming in with parental guidance or judicial bypasses, and 40-something women who have two kids and are just fine not having another. I've seen students, mothers, teachers, preacherstheres a whole gamut of patients. It bothers me that theres no chance to have a real dialogue with the people who protest outside our clinic every week. If someone has it in their head that what you are doing is fundamentally wrong, they're not going to want to listen to you say something different. I often ask why, if they are so concerned about ending abortions, they dont dedicate their time and energy to better access to contraception and sex education. Often, they say its against their belief systems. I am a huge supporter of the ability to have free speech. I've been to my fair share of protests in my life (and am an organizer with the Womens March in Charlotte), but there's a sincere difference between protests and harassment. The latter terrorizes not just our staff but the patients coming to us for care. Harassment is not help. A part of me wants to say that the protests plaguing the women coming to our clinic for care don't bother me at allI dont want to give those that have put our work under siege for the past 40 straight weeks the satisfaction. But that would be disingenuous and simply not the truth. It's incredibly upsetting to have to deal with this on a daily basis, especially on the weekends when it reaches a radical level. At this point, my fiance asks me to wear a ballistic vest when Im going to be around a lot of protesters. This isnt just happening to patients here at my own clinicit's happening to patients across the nation. This issue has been happening under the radar for a long time and it's just going to continue to get worse. Protestors are getting increasingly emboldened, feeling like theyre on the right side of the debate as policies continue to restrict access to abortion care and contraceptives. By the end of the 40-Week Siege, protesters were literally coming in by the busload. The crazy thing is, many abortion activists like myself are told were being hystericalthat Roe v. Wade will never be overturned. But that's already becoming a reality in places like Alabama, West Virginia, and Ohio, where abortion access is slowly but surely being banned. Its a scary time to have a uterus. No matter how many protesters come or how many of my weekends they ruin, we're still fighting every day. We're still organizing. We're still growing and trying to think of new things every time something like this happens. Every time we fail, it's back to the drawing board. We're not just giving up. You can follow Calla's documentation of the protests on Twitter . The 30 Best New York City Landmarks to Visit Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, the Shed is a $475 million arts center. This structure is a 200,000-square-foot cultural space, that's an amorphous building, with an outer shell that sits on a set of wheels connected to a short track. Once activated, the shell moves away from the main frame of the building, in effect creating an entire new building thats part of the original one. The technology used to move the structure is actually old fashioned, says Diller. To open and close the Shed takes the same horsepower of one [Toyota] Prius engine, making it very economical. (For reference, the 2019 Toyota Prius runs on 121 horsepower.) An American man is believed to have been killed by a remote Indian island tribe with a history of attacking visitors with bows and arrows. John Chau, 27, was killed by hostile members of the Sentinelese community on North Sentinel Island, part of Indias Andaman Islands, according to local media. The Sentinelese are thought to be the most isolated tribe on the planet. Believed to number between 50 and 150 people, the Sentinelese have lived in isolation for roughly 60,000 years. This makes them particularly vulnerable to 21st century illnesses such as flu and measles. As such, visits to the island are heavily restricted by the Indian government. It is illegal to venture within three miles of the shore. Chau, who according to local media was a Christianity missionary, paid fisherman to escort him part of the way to the island before paddling the last leg of the journey alone in a canoe. Seven of the fisherman who aided Chau have now been arrested for helping the American reach the restricted island, police officer Vijay Singh told the Associated Press. He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body, local sources told AFP. They were scared and fled but returned next morning to find his body on the seashore. Although the Andaman and Nicobar Police have registered a case of murder, the Sentinelese are protected under Indian law and immune from prosecution. Kathleen Hosie, spokeswoman for the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state, said it was aware of reports concerning an American in the islands. When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts, Hosie told the AP. She said she could not comment further due to privacy considerations. The Sentinelese have been known to attack anyone who approaches the island. In 2006, two Indian fishermen were killed when their boat broke loose and drifted to shore. American Tourist John Allen Chau Reportedly Killed By Arrow-Wielding Indian Tribe As He Tried To Convert Them The Sentinelese tribe in India is believed to be one of the last people on earth without contact with the modern world, an isolated tribe that lives off the land and has fired arrows at helicopters that flew overhead. But one American man reportedly tried to convert the tribe to Christianity and has now paid with his life. The BBC reported that John Allen Chau wanted to preach Christianity to the uncontacted tribe, and paid fishermen to bring him to North Sentinel Island to visit them. As the report noted, the tribe has been protected by the Indian government, which made it illegal to contact the tribe, which has been so isolated that they do not have immunities to many modern diseases, like measles. It is even illegal to take pictures or video of them, and those who do try to document the tribe can get up to three years in prison, the report noted. Click here to continue and read more... Wildfire survivor and new mom Rachelle Sanders, 35, has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Sanders and her family are planning to eat Thanksgiving dinner with three families who, like them, have lost their Paradise, Calif. homes in the Camp Fire, but feel lucky to have escaped with their lives. In the days since the fire destroyed Paradise, Sanders has been working to help her family adjust to their new life. Her baby, Lincoln, was born on Nov. 7 the day before the states deadliest wildfire started and she feels that the stress of the disaster has made it more difficult to breastfeed him. However, Sanders says she feels overjoyed that the entire family has made it through the fire unharmed. Ive never felt more blessed, Sanders tells TIME. On the day the fire started, Sanders says there were many moments when she was not sure if she or Lincoln would survive. At around 7:30 a.m. that day, Sanders was in Feather River Hospital in Paradise recovering from Lincolns birth via C-section. Sanders, her husband, Chris, and the baby were resting when a nurse hurried into her room. The hospital was evacuating to make way for a fire, the nurse told them. At first, Sanders assumed the evacuation was just a precaution. She sent her husband back home, which was about 15 houses away from the hospital, to help his elderly mother evacuate. The nurses loaded Sanders into a wheelchair, helped move her IV, and put Lincoln on a pillow on her lap. I had no idea about the severity of the fire and how rushed we were until we got down into the hospital bay, Sanders says. There was a long line of patients snaking from the door. As Sanders had just been through an operation, the hospital employees rushed her to the front of the line and put her inside a passenger car. The employees loaded up her IV, stuck some pillows on her lap and passed her the baby. At first, all Sanders knew about her driver was that he was wearing a hospital name tag that said David. Story continues For the next few hours, David drove Sanders and Lincoln around the burning town, searching for a way out of Paradise. They had to keep turning around and stopping, Sanders says, because the roads were filled with abandoned cars including some that were burning and fire would occasionally sweep across the road. At times, the road was so dark with smoke that Sanders could only see headlights and the light of fires. The car needed to drive back past Sanders house twice. The first time was soon after the fire started. There was smoke and there were small fires around the home, but when they looped by three hours later, there was nothing left but a chimney, a garbage can and a mailbox. At the worst moments, Sanders said she realized she needed to make a deal with David. We were at a dead stop for a long time. The fire was getting hotter, it was getting closer. There was fire on all sides of the car. She turned to David and made it clear that if he needs to abandon the car, Hes going to take Lincoln and run. Theres no way I can get out of here, I cant even walk. It never came to that. David eventually decided that there was no way out of Paradise, so he turned the car around and drove back to the hospital, which was miraculously spared by the fire. A few hours later, David, Sanders and Lincoln drove down the mountain into Chico, where they reunited with family. Sanders says she and her husband had time a few days later to tell David how much they appreciated his help: I told him I could not be more grateful for what he did for my family. Sanders also says that she is thankful for all the people who are helping those who have lost everything, including people who have provided food, shelter and support for the community. I hope that the nation and the world can see our little town is full of hope and heroes. In the wake of the historic Camp Fire in North California, officials and volunteers are turning anything they can into shelter for the displaced. A tent city has popped up in a field alongside a Walmart in Chico. Local farmland, near the blackened town of Paradise, is being turned into a ranch for donated RVs. And buildings at the Chico Municipal Airport have been converted into sprawling animal houses, currently serving as a home to masses of dogs, cats and other creatures that await reunification with their owners. One goes out, two come in, North Valley Animal Disaster Group volunteer Jan Reale says when asked how those reunifications are going. Many pets have already been returned to owners who were among the more than 50,000 people evacuated after the Camp Fire erupted earlier this month. Yet on Tuesday, animals were still coming in, not only to the shelter at the airport but several others in the area. And even when an animal is identified, it may not be able to leave right away. The problem is a lot of those animals have an owner and we know who the owner is, and the owner knows the animal is here, says Nick Cullen, the director of animal services in Kern County, who came in from halfway across the state to help deal with the deluge of creatures. But these individuals have no home to go to, Cullen says, so they cant come and get their animal, because theres nowhere for it to go. Those looking for pets can visit this website to see the rescued animals currently at the airport. Theres a scramble With the city of Paradise roped off as search and rescue teams painstakingly scour each charred property and abandoned car for fire hazards and survivors, many residents still dont know what happened to their homes. Those who know their home is gone are wondering how many months or years it might be before they can rebuild. And as those survivors who know they have pets in shelters struggle to figure out where theyre going to live in the immediate future, officials like Cullen are trying to gently prod them into thinking about how their pets fit into that plan. Story continues At the airport building housing dogs, crates are packed in alongside one another, with the animals divided between those who have been identified by their owners and those still classified as strays. The air is pungent and the barking is constant. Intrepid volunteers are scrambling to clean every crate and make sure every animal is fed, watered and walked in a cycle that never really ends. Outside on Tuesday, other workers are erecting a giant canopy, so there is still a place to walk the dogs when expected rain arrives. Its typical for animals to become stressed when staying at a normal animal shelter, much less one cobbled together over just a few days. Its not good for an animal to ever be in an environment like this. The disaster calls for it, but the sooner we can get them out of here, the better, Cullen says, while emphasizing that he tries to give evacuees comfort that well care for the animals here as long as possible. Among the teams current projects are dealing with a surplus of donations piles of dog food and blankets are overflowing and figuring out longer-term plans. Both the Humane Society and U.S. Department of Agriculture are stepping in to help. Officials are also trying to determine how to tap into the pool of people who have volunteered to foster animals while their owners search for at least semi-permanent homes. The prospect of Thanksgiving, meanwhile, lurks on the horizon, adding one more logistical item into the mix for all the emergency operations in the area. Theres a scramble, Cullen says. Some redemption More than 1,600 animals remain in the care of government or affiliated organizations around the area. And at the Chico airport, its not just dogs and cats theres also a room that holds chickens, including an injured one with a blue cast on its left foot. Earlier in the day on Tuesday, volunteers erected a temporary reptile house when snakes were dropped off. In a rural area far from Californias big cities, where it is common to see horses and cows roaming the fields, its little surprise that ducks and rabbits have also been brought in. We have hermit crabs around here somewhere, Cullen says. Its common for animals become separated from their owners when disaster strikes and people are forced to evacuate before they have time to return to their homes. Evacuation teams not only look for people behind fire lines but also animals, rescuing those that they can and helping others shelter in place by giving them food and water. In the first few days, the team was using what Reale, the volunteer, describes as a primitive system: Asking people to submit photos of their missing pets and trying to match them to the animals at the airport. Theres now a website where animals currently staying there are listed, but peoples submitted pictures remain plastered on boards in the teams command center. There is also a binder full of hope: packed thick with pages, each sheet of paper represents an animal who found their person again. For hardworking officials and volunteers, reunifications are a bittersweet payoff, especially moving because people have been through so much tragedy and trauma. Busy on every front, Cullen said he had time to observe only one on Tuesday, a man who was brought back together, in a mess of affection, with his dog. Its this weird dichotomy. Its so sad that they lost everything, their whole house, but the look in their eyes when they got their dog back? Thats a part of their life, Cullen says. It was like some redemption, some positive outcome, and I think thats what people are looking for when they lose everything like that. By Yuddy Cahya Budiman BANGLI, Indonesia (Reuters) - Australian heroin courier Renae Lawrence was released from an Indonesian prison on Wednesday, the first of the so-called Bali Nine drug smuggling ring to gain freedom after the execution of the two ring leaders strained ties between the countries. Lawrence, 41, left Bali's Bangli prison through a doorway where prison officers had laid Hindu offerings. A large media scrum surrounded Lawrence as she was ushered into a black SUV. A police convoy escorted the vehicle as it headed to Denpasar airport, where Lawrence was to be held in a temporary detention center while waiting for an overnight flight to Sydney. She will not be allowed to return to Indonesia, said Maryoto Sumadi, the chief of Bali's Justice Office. Lawrence was arrested at Denpasar airport in 2005 with 2.7 kilos of heroin strapped to her body. She was initially sentenced to life in prison. With the support of prosecutors, the sentence was reduced to 20 years on appeal, largely because Lawrence co-operated with investigators and disclosed the roles of other Bali Nine members. Remissions cut her prison time by a further seven years. Indonesia has harsh laws against drugs and the other eight members of the Bali Nine received the death penalty or life sentences. The two ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by firing squad in 2015, causing a diplomatic rupture between Australia and Indonesia. Australia recalled its ambassador in protest. Chan and Sukumaran, who apologized for their crimes, helped scores of Indonesian prisoners through language and training programs they set up inside Bali's Kerobokan prison. Another member of the Bali Nine, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of kidney cancer in May. The other five are all serving life jail terms. They have failed in repeated attempts to get their sentences reduced. In Australia, Lawrence faces two outstanding warrants, reportedly relating to a high speed chase with police in a stolen car before her fateful trip to the Indonesian holiday island. She has been asked to report to police in Gosford, north of Sydney, when she returns, her father Bob Lawrence told Australian broadcaster Nine News. A spokeswoman for police in the Australian state of New South Wales told Reuters the two warrants related to traffic offences, but declined to elaborate. Police would be in touch with Lawrence's legal team about the warrants in a "timely manner", she said. (Reporting by Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Tom Allard. Writing by Tom Allard. Editing by Nick Macfie) Shadow of someone shooting an arrow in front of a sunset Officials in India are contemplating how to obtain the body of an American tourist who was killed by a tribe of North Sentinel islanders, ABC News is reporting. As previously reported in the Inquisitr, missionary John Allen Chau traveled to a forbidden area last week in hopes of converting an isolated tribe to Christianity. The Sentinelese tribe has rejected modern society for thousands of years, and laws have been put in place over time forbidding outsiders from intruding on their lifestyle. These rules were not only instilled to help preserve the tribes culture but also protect them from illnesses that the people have not developed an immunity to since theyve been living separately from society. Now, Indian authorities are struggling to determine how to recover Chaus body safely. Click here to continue and read more... Neymar could be on his way back to Barcelona. Barcelona are reportedly in negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar about bringing the Brazilian star back to Spain. Neymar joined PSG from Barcelona in 2017 for 200 million, but has regularly been linked with a move back to Spain, to either his former club or to Real Madrid. The move shocked the Spanish champions, with Gerard Pique claiming Neymar would be staying at the Nou Camp just before the move was completed. READ MORE: I should have faced Mourinho Casillas rues Real Madrid fall-out READ MORE: Why a transfer to Real Madrid is not the answer for Marcus Rashford READ MORE: Serie A stars to paint faces in campaign against violence against women However Neymar has been rumoured to be unhappy in Paris ever since his move, and Goal suggests that there have been discussions between Barcelona and his representatives about how to bring him back from France. In order to set the stage for the transfer, Neymar would have to express remorse over the manner and haste in which he originally left the club, to improve his relationship with the fans back in Barcelona. There are also financial considerations for club and player. Neymar earns 775,447 every week, and he would have to reduce his demands, especially given the huge new contract they signed with Lionel Messi this season. Neymar is willing to reduce his salary. Secondly, PSG would demand a huge transfer fee having spent 200m on him just a little over one year ago. In order to facilitate the transfer, Barcelona are willing to offer players in part-exchange, with Ivan Rakitic and Ousmane Dembele under consideration. Ultimately, Barcelona consider the move one that rests on Neymar. He will have to drive the transfer in order to be released from PSG, which may not be possible unless he makes his position at his current club untenable. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram jihadists abducted around 50 loggers in northeastern Nigerian close to the border with Cameroon, civilian militia and residents told AFP Thursday. The hostages who were mostly from a camp for people displaced by jihadist violence were on Saturday rounded up by fighters loyal to factional leader Abubakar Shekau while collecting wood "The men were rounded up and taken away by Boko Haram insurgents and nothing has been heard from them," militia leader Umar Kachalla said. "Two of the loggers escaped and returned home and broke the news. "We don't have a precise number of those taken but usually the loggers move in a group of more than 50 men," Kachalla said. The abduction took place at Bulakesa village, 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the town of Gamboru in Borno state. The Boko Haram Islamist uprising in the region has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than two million since 2009 in Nigeria alone. In 2014, in a case that shocked the world, Boko Haram gunmen seized 276 girls aged 12 to 17 from a secondary school in the remote town of Chibok, also in Borno state. The loggers taken in the latest incident had been encouraged to venture deep into the bush to collect firewood by a recent military operation that pushed the jihadists out of the area, another militia Shehu Mada said. - Repeated attacks - Last month troops dislodged the militants from the nearby town of Wulgo and surrounding areas following repeated attacks on loggers. "The general assumption was that the insurgents had left the area only to suddenly appear and encircle the loggers," Mada said. "We believe the number of the those abducted exceeds 50," said Gamboru resident Babagana Musa. The story was slow to emerge due to limited communications with Gamboru residents. The area has for several years been without telecom facilities following the destruction of telecom masts in Boko Haram attacks, forcing residents to rely on Cameroon mobile phone networks. Story continues Gamboru loggers have suffered repeated Boko Haram attacks and abductions especially around Wulgo forest which was a known Boko Haram hideout. In April Boko Haram militants gunned down 18 loggers on the edge of the forest, close to Gamboru. Boko Haram has increasingly targeted loggers and farmers, accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and the local militia fighting them. On Monday the jihadists killed nine farmers and abducted 12 others when they opened fire as they worked on their fields outside Mammanti village, near the regional capital Maiduguri. In August 2014 the group seized Gamboru, a trading hub, along with the neighbouring town of Ngala. - Troops ambushed - Nigerian troops retook both towns in September 2015 with the help of Chadian forces following offensives lasting months. Despite the recapture of the area which saw residents moving back, Boko Haram fighters continue to launch sporadic attacks, ambushing troops and vehicles, as well as attacking and abducting farmers. News of the latest attack near Gamboru came few days after a Boko Haram splinter group killed at least 44 soldiers in attacks on three military bases in Metele, a remote village near the border with Niger. On Thursday, seven employees of a French mineral and water drilling firm and a local official were also killed when gunmen attacked their site in southeastern Niger. The Nigerian Senate said on Thursday it would visit government troops fighting the insurgents in the volatile region. Senate president Bukola Saraki said on his Twitter account the visit was aimed at boosting the morale of troops on the frontline. abu/joa/har Remi was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in March 2017, after complaining on a sore arm. Source: GoFundMe For weeks weeks last year, Susy Vulichs son Remi had been intermittently complaining of a sore arm. So the concerned mother, who is also a nurse, took her little boy, then five, off to the GP to see what could be causing the problem. A series of tests were carried out, including an ultrasound and x-ray which revealed her son had a type of bone cancer called Osteosarcoma. That shocking diagnosis was the beginning of a difficult journey for the young Melbourne boy, who is now in grade one, and his family. Within an hour or so your life is turned upside down, the mother said. The young boy has had a difficult journey since his diagnosis and has relapsed for the second time this year. Source: GoFundMe Remi began chemotherapy and had major surgery. In an eight-hour operation surgeons removed his humerus, where the tumour was located, and replaced it with his left fibula, his mother recalled. He was cleared into remission, but in July this year a scan showed he had relapsed and had lung metastasis. They consider that quite a quick relapse, Mrs Vulich explained. Again, the young boy had major surgery, but after five days in hospital he was back home and on day seven he was back at school. Hes a fighter. Hes such a resilient kid, his mother said. The little boy has been described as resilient and a fighter. Source: GoFundMe But sadly just 10 weeks later two mediastinal masses were discovered on the outside of his lung. Its terribleSomething just as simple as a sore arm can turn into this, Mrs Vulich said. The mother says they cherish every moment, and always did. He keeps us going because hes very full of life, his mother said. Now, Mrs Vulichs niece has organised a GoFundMe page to make one of the young boys wishes to come true, after hearing the seven-year-old has asked his mum if he could go to Paris and climb the Eiffel Tower. The grade one student learns French at school and his mother says he is quite worldly. Remi and his father Andrew. Source: GoFundMe I thought, I wish I could just book a ticket and take you there tomorrow, Remis mother recalled. At the moment the little boy is completing two cycles of chemotherapy, then he will have a scan in December to check on his progress. Story continues His family is hoping they can take the little boy in his dream trip at the end of March. We adore Remi, he is our cousin, a son, a brother, a nephew, a grandson and a friend and with your support and prayers at this difficult time we are sure to help, the GoFundMe page says. Remi, you are an inspiration to us and to everyone around you. The family is gobsmacked by the support they have received so far, saying it is not easy to accept this kind of support but they are incredibly grateful for those who have opened their hearts to them already. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo (This version of the story corrects headline and text to 13 countries as UK did not participate) By Leonardo Benassatto NATAL AIR FORCE BASE, Brazil (Reuters) - The air forces of 13 nations including the United States are taking part this week in air combat exercises and non-conventional warfare training at a base in northern Brazil, the Brazilian Air Force said on Wednesday. Some 100 planes are involved in the so-called Southern Cross or CruzEx exercises, including six F-16 from the Texas Air National Guard alongside aircraft from Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Peru and Uruguay. They practiced simulated scenarios to prepare for potential events across the world including peacekeeping and stability operations, as well as providing support in humanitarian response operations in the aftermath of natural disasters. "The purpose of CruzEx is to increase cooperation and share experiences to be able to act with greater synergy," said Brazilian Air Force Brigadier Luiz Guilherme Medeiros, director of the air exercises organized in Brazil since 2002. There was greater emphasis on non-conventional warfare this year, with troops parachuting from planes and rappelling down ropes from helicopters. Venezuela, which took part with F-16s at the last gathering in 2013, did not bring any aircraft this year. The Natal Air Force Base, on the northeastern tip of Brazil, played an important role in Brazilian cooperation with the U.S. military during World War II as a refueling station for aircraft flying troops and equipment to Northern Africa. In 1943, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt met at the base with Brazilian President Getulio Vargas on his way back from a conference with British leader Winston Churchill in Casablanca. (Reporting by Leonardo Benassatto and Anthony Boadle; Editing by David Gregorio) A New Jersey family found dead in their home after it was engulfed in flames were targeted and killed before the fire was set, authorities said Wednesday. On Tuesday, firefighters responded to a fire in Colts Neck, New Jersey, where they found four badly burned bodies. Monmouth County prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni confirmed the victims were 50-year-old Keith Caneiro and his 45-year-old wife, Jennifer Caneiro. The children were also tentatively identified as their 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter. Authorities also confirmed Keith Caneiros body was found with a gunshot wound that did not appear to be self-inflicted. Caneiros body was found outside the home while his wife and two childrens bodies were found inside. Police are waiting on results from the medical examiner to determine causes of deaths. On Wednesday morning, Gramiccioni also announced the arrest of 51-year-old Paul Caneiro, Keiths brother. Prosecutors said Caneiro is being held on charges of aggravated arson in connection with setting his own home in nearby Ocean Township, New Jersey ablaze. Prosecutors confirmed that Caneiros family was inside the home at the time of the fire, but were uninjured. Authorities said they believe the two fires were connected but did not specify how. While they would not confirm Caneiro as a suspect, they said there is no reason to believe the person who killed the family is loose and there is no threat to the public. Paul J. Caneiro, 51, of Tilton Avenue in Ocean Township, is charged with one count of second degree Aggravated Arson in connection with a fire Monday at his residence. Investigators are urging anyone with any information about this incident to call 800-533-7443. pic.twitter.com/26pIvKq4Il Monmouth Prosecutor (@MonCoProsecutor) November 21, 2018 Officials would not confirm if Caneiro was a suspect or a person of interest in the deaths of his brother and his family, due to lack of forensic evidence. The brothers were business partners at an unnamed tech company. According to Gramiccioni, the fire damage to the home is extensive and forensic teams are waiting until it is safe to enter the home before examining the crime scene. Unfortunately, they were burned severely as a result of the fire that they were exposed to, Gramiccioni said. So thats making things somewhat challenging with the medical examination that needs to ensue, but just stay tuned well get there. Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street, London to make statement about Brexit (PA Images) The Labour Party and Conservative Brexiteer MPs have attacked Theresa Mays draft plan for a future relationship with the EU after Brexit. The political declaration, which outlines how alignment over issues such as trade and security will work, was leaked today. The often vague details led Jeremy Corbyn to describe the document as 26 pages of waffle, and leading Brexiteers have warned they will vote against the deal in its current form. Police are searching for a woman after a health worker was stabbed in a hospital car park in Scotland. The hospital was placed on lockdown after the attack at Ailsa Hospital in Ayr, on Scotlands west coast. The victim is in a serious by stable condition at another nearby hospital, police said. A major new report has concluded that MI5 missed several opportunities to stop the Manchester bombing because of a catalogue of failings. Shortcomings in the handling of Salman Abedi were detailed by Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). Abedi, who first came to the attention of MI5 in 2010, launched a suicide attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester last year, killing 22 people. The Leaning Tower of Pisas famous tilt has started to straighten, according to experts. Engineering work has seen the crooked tower straighten by around four cm in the last 20 years, making it more stable than it has ever been. USA TODAY Sports It doesn't have teams in the top four, but the Big 12 does have three in the top 10, making it a winner of latest College Football Playoff rankings. US Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts has taken the extraordinary step of rebuking Donald Trump over his disparaging remarks about federal judges. The head of the highest court felt compelled to defend the independence of the judiciary in the wake of Mr Trump calling District Court jurist John Tigar an Obama judge after he ruled against the administrations new policy on asylum seekers. We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them, Mr Roberts said in a rare public show of defiance. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for, added chief justice Roberts, who was appointed to lead the Supreme Court by George W Bush in 2005. Mr Roberts was responding to a request from the Associated Press regarding Mr Trumps comments about the asylum ruling in the 9th Circuit Court earlier in the week. Judge Tigar ruled the Trump administration could not deny illegal immigrants the chance to apply for asylum, as had been laid out in an executive order by the president. Mr Trump called the decision to block his order a disgrace and Mr Tigar an Obama judge. Mr Tigar had been appointed by the former president Barack Obama. The judge ruled that Mr Trump did not have the authority to override the current legislation on asylum claims. He also ruled the president had misused his authority to issue emergency regulations and waive a 30-day waiting period to consider comments on the policy change. Mr Roberts criticism on Wednesday earnt a swift response from Mr Trump, with the president never afraid to get into a war of words. Mr Trump wrote: Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. Mr Trump asked why so many opposing view cases, meaning cases filed with the intention of challenging his administrations policies, were filed in the 9th Circuit particularly relating to border and immigration issues Story continues The president said Mr Roberts should study the numbers of cases with rulings against the administration and said the decisions were making our country unsafe. Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have Obama judges, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an independent judiciary, but if it is why...... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018 .....are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. Please study the numbers, they are shocking. We need protection and security these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018 The president had hit out at the district court as well, noting: Every case that gets filed in the 9th Circuit, we get beaten. And then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won. It is not the first time that Mr Trump has taken aim at the judiciary for blocking his policies - a possible reason why Mr Roberts felt he had to respond when members of the Supreme Court see themselves as apart from the tumult of American politics. In 2017, Mr Trump called a federal judge who reversed his controversial travel ban against a number of Muslim-majority countries a so-called judge with a ridiculous opinion. The year before that, the president referred to a judge who was presiding over a fraud lawsuit against Trump University as a Mexican. He said US District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born and raised in Indiana, would be unable to rule fairly because of Mr Trumps proposal to build a wall along the US-Mexican border. Chief justice Roberts is seen as the judge on the Supreme Court who is the closest to the centre. The current makeup of the bench is five judges considered conservative including Mr Roberts and four liberal. Mr Trump just successfully placed conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court after a controversial confirmation process during which Mr Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault when a teenager. Justice Kavanaugh denies the allegations. Mr Kavanaughs confirmation followed Mr Trump placing another conservative judge Neil Gorsuch on the Court in 2017. Given the fact that Mr Trump has solidified the Supreme Courts conservative majority, several justices have spoken out about judicial independence and the danger of having the Court viewed merely as a political institution. Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Sen. John McCain, said President Trump was not invited to her husbands funeral because she wanted to keep the ceremony with dignity. Even though it was a very public funeral, we are still a family, McCain said in an interview with BBC. It was important to me that we kept it respectful and calm and not politicize it. Although Trump was not present for the funeral, daughter Ivanka Trump attended alongside husband Jared Kushner, as did White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush also both attended the funeral and delivered eulogies. Trump had a longtime feud with the Arizona Republican, and the tension between them drew national attention during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, when Trump said McCain was not a war hero because he was captured and held for more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison. Hes not a war hero, Trump said at the Family Leadership Summit in 2015. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured. Cindy McCain said Trumps comments were hurtful to her family and other veterans. I dont know if Ill ever get over it; Ill be honest, she said. But Im the wife. Thats my prerogative. I dont have to. U.S. Border Patrol agents stand vigil at the border with Mexico on November 16, 2018 in San Diego, CA, as seen from Tijuana, Mexico. In a truly shocking and unprecedented turn of events, the White House authorized the use of lethal force at the Mexican border, per a cabinet order signed on Wednesday by Chief of Staff John Kelly, as previously reported by the Inquisitr. This is terrifying news for those who imagine hundreds of immigrants, including women and children, being gunned down by American troops. However, thats not going to happen despite the authorization from the White House. U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis stated that the military police at the border dont even have weapons. They will not be armed, and they will not have the power to carry out arrests. There is no armed element going on, Mattis told reporters on Wednesday, according to the BBC. Around 3,000 immigrants, mainly from Honduras and Guatemala, are in Tijuana right now. Tijuana is a border city just outside the state of California. Click here to continue and read more... Donald Trump wanted the justice department to investigate Hillary Clinton, and it had to be explained to him why this was not a good idea, according to The New York Times - Reuters Donald Trump, the US president, wanted the justice department to prosecute his political opponents Hillary Clinton and James Comey, the New York Times has claimed, but had to be informed that pursuing a prosecution would be unwise. Mr Trump raised the issue of prosecutions in the spring of this year, two sources told the paper. It was not clear on what grounds he sought the prosecution, although he has repeatedly attacked Mrs Clinton for her private use of an email server for official government business, and led chants of "lock her up". He has accused Mr Comey of leaking classified information. Donald McGahn, the then-White House counsel, informed Mr Trump that he had no authority to order a prosecution, and could only request an investigation. He warned, however, that requesting an investigation could be deemed an abuse of power, and drew up a memo from White House lawyers explaining the problem with attacking Mrs Clinton and Mr Comey, the former FBI director. Donald McGahn, the former White House counsel The memo spelled out that were Mr Trump to investigate his rivals, he could face a range of consequences, including possible impeachment. Mr McGahn, who left the White House in October after a tumultuous tenure, appeared to have dissuaded the president, but the paper reported that Mr Trump continued to privately discuss the matter, including the possible appointment of a second special counsel to investigate both Mrs Clinton and Mr Comey. He also repeatedly expressed disappointment in the FBI director he appointed to replace Mr Comey, Christopher Wray, for failing to more aggressively investigate Mrs Clinton. Mr McGahn's lawyer, William Burck, said: Mr McGahn will not comment on his legal advice to the president. Like any client, the president is entitled to confidentiality." He added: "Mr McGahn would point out, though, that the president never, to his knowledge, ordered that anyone prosecute Hillary Clinton or James Comey. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) speaks at a press conference on House Resolution 922 outside the U.S. Capitol July 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. In what could be defined as the strongest castigation of Donald Trumps continuing affection for Saudi Arabia, Democratic representative from Hawaii Tulsi Gabbard called the American president the Saudi nations b**ch, reports Newsweek. The is despite an assessment by the CIA implicating its de facto head, crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, in the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Gabbards terse, but unassailable characterization of Trumps tendency to not criticize the Saudi royal family came after the White House had released a strange statement which boasted of the countrys business ties with the Wahhabi nation, without actually holding it culpable for the murder of Khashoggi. Click here to continue and read more... Photo: Reuters Britain and the European Union have agreed on a draft deal on their future relationship, marking a significant step towards finalising an overall Brexit deal this weekend. UK prime minister Theresa May presented her plans to members of parliament on Thursday, saying Brexit is within our grasp. But the leader of the opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, called the new document 26 pages of waffle. This is the blindfold Brexit we all feared, he said in the House of Commons. The European Council confirmed earlier in the day that the political declaration had been agreed in principle, covering everything from trade to security. The declaration follows UK prime minister Theresa Mays meeting in Brussels on Wednesday evening (21 November) with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. READ MORE: The crucial document leaked ahead of Brexit summit The document will be now considered by representatives of each EU member state before Sundays summit. Council president Donald Tusk said in a tweet: I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the Leaders. Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) November 22, 2018 In an effort to ensure EU leaders sign up, May said she spoke with the Spanish prime minister about the contentious issue of Gibraltar. She said: The agreement we have reached is between the UK and the European Commission. It is now up to the 27 leaders of the other EU member states to examine this agreement in the days leading up to the special EU council meeting on Sunday. May will meet Juncker again on Saturday and then take part in the main EU summit on Sunday, where parties hope to sign off on both the 585-page Brexit withdrawal agreement and the updated political declaration. Story continues READ MORE: Why Mays Brexit trade plan wishlist falls short May will then have to focus on getting her deal through parliament in the UK, which will be the toughest hurdle yet. Last week, May first revealed that she had agreed to a draft Brexit withdrawal agreement with the rest of the 27 nations in the bloc. However, it has since thrown the UK government into chaos, with criticism pouring in from both the opposition and from within her own party. After a flurry of one-to-one meetings with ministers the morning after the deal was announced, May lost two junior ministers and two front benchers (including Brexit secretary Dominic Raab). Meanwhile, politicians within her own party have been rallying to put together at least 48 letters the equivalent of 15% of MPs to trigger a vote of no-confidence. If this does happen, it would trigger a leadership contest, potentially lead to a general election and ultimately risk a delay in sealing a final Brexit deal. READ MORE: The huge hole in Mays immigration pledge post-Brexit Market movements The pound against the US dollar (GBPUSD=X) and the euro (GBPEUR=X) jumped on the news of an updated agreement: Chart: Yahoo Finance UK Chart: Yahoo Finance UK Reports this morning that the EU have agreed to a draft deal on future trade relations has seen sterling bounce, but the currency is still much weaker than it was eight days ago, before Raabs surprise resignation, pointed out Hamish Muress, currency analyst at OFX, in a note to clients. The post-Brexit trade relationship has been pushed to one side over the last few weeks as focus shifted to the backstop issue in Ireland, as that issue remains a stumbling block for May. All 27 members of the EU now need to ratify the proposed deal, and Spain is dragging its heels, he added. The Irish border issue has now been kicked down the road, and even if there is determination to solve this, the proposed deal doesnt currently have enough votes to pass through parliament, meaning the spike in sterling may not have the legs to last even till the weekend. With files from Yahoo Finances Alanna Petroff and Luke James Niamey (AFP) - Seven local employees of a French drilling firm and a government official were killed in southeast Niger Thursday when suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed the compound where they were sleeping. The attack shattered months of relative calm in the Diffa region near the Lake Chad basin, a strategic area where the borders of four countries converge. The victims, all Nigerien, were shot dead at a site in Toumour, a village near the border with Nigeria, where they had been drilling two deep-water wells to improve conditions for displaced people at a local refugee camp. Seven of them were employees of Foraco, a French firm which specialises in drilling for mining and water projects. The eighth victim was an official from Niger's ministry of hydraulics. "A group of terrorists attacked the building where a team of Foraco drillers and technicians were resting in the village of Toumour," a company statement said. "The assailants opened fire on the sleeping personnel and killed eight people." Another five people were wounded, two seriously, it said. The injured were transported to hospital in Diffa, capital of the region of the same name which flanks Nigeria and Chad. The attackers also made off with two of the company's pickup trucks. - 'No specific threats' - "There were about 15 employees there... under the protection of about 15 soldiers who had just set off to patrol the area at the time of the attack," said Thierry Merle, head of Foraco's Europe and Middle East division. "We know that Boko Haram is active in the region but for now we've had no claim of responsibility, neither official nor unofficial," he told AFP. "We've been operating in Niger for 20 years, and at this site for a month," Merle said, indicating there had been no specific threats. "We have never faced a problem like this before." But a local official in Diffa blamed the attack on Boko Haram militants and one local resident said the gunmen had "looted many shops" and carried off foodstuffs "in a Foraco vehicle". Story continues A funeral was held on Thursday for seven of the victims in the presence of the governor of Diffa, Bakabe Mahamadou. The governor said that one of the Boko Haram fighters had also been killed. "The attackers took two Foraco vehicles, one of which was found torched by these savages on the road," he added. France's foreign ministry "strongly condemned" the attack, expressing support for the wounded and victims' families. "There are no French citizens among the victims according to the information we have at this stage," it added. - Overshadowed by violence - The Diffa region first came under attack by Boko Haram in February 2015, although the violence eased off this year after a bloody start. In mid-January, seven Niger soldiers were killed and 17 wounded in another attack in Toumour. Two months later, suspected jihadists fired on civilians at the local marketplace, killing at least five people. UN figures show that between 2015 and 2017, suspected Boko Haram jihadists staged 244 raids in the region, killing 582 civilians. Boko Haram extremists based in neighbouring Nigeria first took the conflict across the border into Niger in 2015, with numerous raids around Diffa. As well as Niger, the Islamist violence has also spilled into Chad and Cameroon, with all three countries joining Nigeria in a military effort to crush the insurgency. Boko Haram first emerged in 2009 and its nine-year insurgency has killed more than 27,000 people in northeast Nigeria, forcing another 1.8 million people from their homes. ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia chose a former exiled dissident to head its election board on Thursday - part of a dizzying shake-up by the new prime minister that has brought rebels back into the political mainstream and curbed the establishment. The job went to Birtukan Mideksa just weeks after she returned from the United States under an amnesty announced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and 13 years after she was jailed in the violent aftermath of contested 2005 elections. Birtukan, once one of Ethiopia's most high profile prisoners, will now lead efforts to organize the next vote scheduled for 2020 - the latest top position to go to a woman after SahleWork Zewde was named president and Abiy chose women to fill half his cabinet posts last month. "We are appointing her considering her knowledge of the constitution and the law of the nation," Abiy told parliament. "She might have her own opinions and sayings like anyone, but we believe she will act according to the constitution," he said after several MPs raised concerns about her impartiality given her role in opposition politics. Birtukan, who founded the opposition UDJ party, promised to make the election board's work "transparent and trustworthy". What Ethiopians endured have prepared us to ask the right questions including through the ballot box, she told the state-affiliated Fana news agency. PRISON, PARDONS The former judge was convicted of trying to overthrow the state after crowds took to the streets accusing the government of rigging the 2005 vote. Security forces opened fire, killing dozens of protesters. She was pardoned in 2007 after Amnesty International, other rights groups and some Western powers pressed for her release. But the pardon was revoked and her life sentence resumed a year later, until another pardon in 2010. Abiy came to power in April and quickly turned national and regional politics on its head by making peace with neighboring Eritrea and reining in the powerful security services. He allowed members of outlawed opposition and separatist groups to return and promised to promote multi-party democracy - all of the seats in parliament are held by his EPRDF coalition. After parliament overwhelmingly approved the nomination, Birtukan was sworn in by Meaza Ashenafi, a women's rights activist who was appointed president of the Supreme Court three weeks ago. "(Birtukan is) overseeing not only an election but a transition, from an authoritarian state to a democratic one, a transition to an accountable government," Addis Ababa-based political analyst Hallelujah Lulie said. (Reporting by Addis Ababa bureau; Additional reporting and writing by Maggie Fick; editing by Andrew Heavens) Dubai (AFP) - Bahrainis head to the polls Saturday, but experts have questioned the value of a parliamentary election in which dissolved opposition groups have been banned from taking part. The country's two main opposition groups, the Shiite Al-Wefaq and secular Waad, were barred from fielding candidates, prompting renewed calls for a boycott. The tiny Gulf kingdom has been hit by ongoing unrest since 2011, when security forces crushed Shiite-led protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. The Sunni-ruled country of around 1.4 million people has a majority Shiite population, according to unofficial estimates contested by the government. Neil Partrick, a specialist in Gulf Arab politics, said Bahrain's elections "have lost all practical and political meaning" since the 2010 boycott by Al-Wefaq -- the main movement representing the country's Shiite population. "The subsequent outlawing of Al-Wefaq, and of the relatively liberal, cross-sect, Waad trend, has merely underlined the meaninglessness of Bahraini elections," he told AFP. "Elections can still serve as a prestige vehicle for individuals seeking to present themselves as representative of the wider national community, however they have no political or practical substance regardless of whether boycotts are called for or adhered to." - Opposition leader imprisoned - Opposition parties shunned the last elections in 2014, the first since the 2011 crackdown, denouncing the vote as a "farce". A court banned Al-Wefaq in 2016 for "harbouring terrorism", inciting violence and encouraging demonstrations which threatened to spark sectarian strife. Bahrain, a key ally of the United States and home to the US Fifth Fleet, regularly accuses Shiite Iran of provoking unrest in the kingdom, which Tehran denies. Bahrain's interior ministry said in a statement Wednesday that authorities had "taken all required steps" to make sure the vote passes off safely. Story continues King Hamad in September urged voters to take part in the vote, in which officials say 293 people are running for parliament. A municipal poll coincides with the parliamentary vote. Since 2011, authorities have imprisoned hundreds of dissidents -- including top Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, who headed Al-Wefaq -- and stripped many of their nationality. Salman was sentenced to life in prison on November 4 for spying for rival Gulf state Qatar, in a ruling rights groups have called a travesty. Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, severed ties with Qatar in 2017, banning their citizens from visiting or communicating with the emirate over its alleged ties to both Iran and radical Islamist groups. - Boycott calls - At least six people were detained and charged this month for "obstructing the electoral process", according to statements released by Bahrain's public prosecutor. One of the six was Ali Rashed al-Asheeri, a former member of parliament with Al-Wefaq, according to the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. Asheeri had tweeted that he and his family would boycott the polls. Al-Wefaq called for a boycott of this year's parliamentary poll after a law issued in June barred "leaders and members of political associations dissolved for violating the kingdom's constitution or its laws" from standing. The 40-seat lower house has the authority to examine and pass legislation proposed by the king or cabinet. However, the upper chamber, or Consultative Council, appointed by the king, has the power to block legislation passed by the lower house. Jane Kinninmont, an analyst specialising in Gulf politics, said many citizens will either boycott or "simply not bother to vote" in this year's elections. "The elections will not change much as almost all the opposition parties are now banned and their leaders in jail," she told AFP. Firefighters have been battled a huge blaze at a bus depot in south-east London. Huge explosions could be heard after the fire broke out at the garage at Farnborough Hill, Orpington. Locals reported hearing several loud bangs as at least 11 buses were engulfed in flames in the early hours of Thursday morning. At least 11 buses were engulfed in the blaze at the depot in Orpington, London Fire Brigade said (Picture: PA) One wrote on Twitter: Woken up by 10 huge explosions and what looks like a big fire near Sevenoaks road in Orpington. London Fire Brigade said dozens of firefighters were working hard to tackle the blaze after being called to the scene at 3.36am. MORE: Pensioner jailed after parking on fast lane of motorway to ask for directions, leaving two women dead MORE: Mothers shock at being told sick daughter does not look disabled in Blue Badge parking row Around 60 firefighters are dealing with a bus depot that is alight on Farnborough Hill, Orpington, the brigade said. Eleven buses are alight and Brigade control officers have taken around 40 calls to the incident which is very visible. Locals heard a series of bangs after the blaze broke out (Picture: PA) Firefighters are working hard to tackle the blaze but travel in that area will be difficult due to the number of appliances in attendance, avoid the area if you can. It said eight fire engines had attended from stations including Orpington, Bromley, Sidcup and Biggin Hill. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman leaves number 10 Downing Street after a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May on March 7, 2018 in London, England. In a massive new twist to the saga surrounding the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a bombshell new report in a Turkish newspaper now claims that the CIA finally has the evidence it needs to implicate Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of murder, according to Haaretz. Ever since the killing of Khashoggi in Istanbuls Saudi embassy in early October, Turkish media has steadily published reports accusing the Saudi administration of carrying out the execution. While Saudi Arabia denied any knowledge of the killing and pleaded innocence initially, the constant barrage of growing evidence has meant that it has had to alter its position on the killing. Even so, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman still claims to have not given the order to kill Khashoggi, leading Donald Trump on Wednesday to issue a statement which said that there was no way to know the truth, but the explosive new report could change all that. Click here to continue and read more... The true scale of extremism is unknown, but it is thriving in some areas, a top Government adviser has warned (Picture: PA) Extremism is thriving in parts of the UK, but its true scale is unknown, a top Government advisor has warned. Sara Khan, who was appointed as lead commissioner for countering extremism earlier this year, said what we know about extremism is the tip of the iceberg and the issue is affecting the very fabric of our society. Speaking as she launched a call for contributions to a landmark review on extremism, Ms Khan warned that extremists are increasingly professional in their efforts to spread hateful ideologies. Her warning comes as a new report concluded that opportunities to stop the Manchester Arena bombing were missed as a result of a catalogue of failings by security services. Plans to set up the independent Commission for Countering Extremism were announced by Theresa May in the wake of the bombing in May last year one of five terror attacks in Britain in 2017. Review the commission is carrying out an evidence-gathering exercise ahead of a landmark review to be published next year (Picture: PA) The commission is carrying out an evidence-gathering exercise ahead of a landmark review to be published next year and Ms Khan is asking members of the public to share their views on, and experience of, extremism. Launching the call for contributions, she said: Extremism is thriving in some parts of our country, but we do not know the true scale of the problem and the full impact it is having on our society what we do know is very likely to be just the tip of the iceberg. MORE: Traffic cops slam motorist for driving with severely smashed windscreen MORE: American missionary killed by tribesmen on remote island wrote to parents, saying: Dont be mad at them I know from meeting more than 400 experts and activists in 13 towns and cities across England and Wales over the last six months that extremism is affecting not just individuals but also our communities and the very fabric of our society. It is weakening trust in the very institutions we cherish, is undermining our democratic values and is inciting violence, hatred and hostility. She added: Extremists appear increasingly professional and we have heard how they deliberately employ anti-racist and pro-free speech arguments, try to intimidate and promote a warped us versus them mentality to shut down debate and spread hateful ideologies. Story continues They rely on social media to normalise conspiracy theories and disinformation. Brave counter-extremists who take them on suffer horrific abuse both online and offline. The commission is asking for evidence from any individual or organisation concerned about rising extremism, including personal accounts, insight into extremists tactics and suggestions for how to strengthen the response. It study on extremism, the first of its kind, is due to be published in spring next year. In a historic ruling that strikes a chilling blow to womens rights, a federal judge in Michigan declared unconstitutional the U.S. law against female genital mutilations (FGM), and dropped charges against two doctors for carrying out the procedure on underage girls. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman said Tuesday that Congress lacks the authority to outlaw the procedure, and insisted only states can make such a decision, the Detroit Free Press reports. As despicable as [FGM] may be, Friedman said, Congress overstepped its bounds by banning the practice. The trial was the first federal case to involve FGM, which is common religious practice in some cultures, but is internationally recognized as a human rights violation. The defendants, including three mothers, are all members of the Indian Muslim Dawoodi Bohra community. Friedman dismissed the main charges against Jumana Nagarwala, a doctor who prosecutors said may have performed the procedure on up to 100 girls. Another doctor who allowed Nagarwala to use his clinic, that doctors wife and five others also saw their charges dropped. The doctors continue to face lengthy prison terms on conspiracy charges. According to the court records, two of the mothers tricked their 7-year-olds into thinking they were going to Detroit for a girls trip. Instead, they had their genitals cut. FGM typically involves cutting or even wholly removing the clitoris. The World Health Organization calls it a violation of the human rights of girls and women that has no health benefits. In 2012, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution to ban the practice, which affects an estimated 200 million women and girls worldwide. It has also been outlawed in more than 30 countries, including the U.S., which passed a law in 1996 criminalizing FGM with a 5-year prison term. Twenty-seven states separately passed similar measures, including Michigan in 2017. But the defendants in this case are not retroactively subject to the new law. Story continues A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney in Detroit said the government would review the ruling before deciding whether to appeal. Michigan State Senator Margaret OBrien, who backed the state ban on FGM, said she was appalled by Tuesdays ruling. Yasmeen Hassan, executive global director for gender rights group Equality Now, warned the ruling sends the message to women and girls that you are not important. Timothy Warren was driving his FedEx van through Portland, Oregon, when Joseph Magnuson began shouting at him to slow down: Getty iStock/slobo A FedEx delivery driver who punched a man who shouted racial slurs at him will not face criminal charges after the man later died, officials announced. Timothy Warren was driving his truck through a Portland, Oregon, neighbourhood when Joseph Magnuson began to shout at him to tell him that he was going too fast. Mr Warren stopped his truck and tried to explain to Mr Magnuson that he was exhausted and just wanted to finish his work. But Mr Magunson did not stop shouting and began hurling racist insults at him. Mr Warren, who is black, stepped out of the truck and both men shouted at one another. Mr Magnuson went to punch Mr Warren, who then punched back and hit Mr Magnuson's left eye. The 55-year-old man then fell to the ground and briefly lost consciousness. He died later that evening. Prosecutors have decided not to charge Mr Warren with a crime. He did not intend to kill Mr Magnuson and acted in self-defence during the incident on 26 September, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office said in a memo. Mr Magnuson's death from the fall was precipitated by extremely poor health, a medical examiner concluded and the punch itself was not fatal, Senior Deputy District Attorney Adam Gibbs wrote. Mr Warren was within his legal right to challenge Mr Magnuson's racist vitriol, Mr Gibbs noted. He said Warren's decision to confront Mr Magnuson - rather than ignore him - was not legally significant. Oregon law does not carry a duty to retreat provision that would have required Warren to reasonably remove himself from danger, Mr Gibbs wrote. Prosecutors and police pieced together events using accounts from six eyewitnesses, three of whom saw the entire incident. They all maintained that Mr Warren had driven at an acceptable speed and that Mr Magnuson started the incident, and then escalated it. Mr Magnuson's actions, as reported by all three witnesses and Mr Warren, gave rise to a reasonable belief on Mr Warren's part that a limited use of force was necessary to prevent injury to himself, Mr Gibbs wrote. Story continues Mr Magnuson was living in a van near the park where the deadly encounter occurred, district attorney spokesman Brent Weisberg told The Washington Post. Mr Warren, whose age wasn't released, could not be reached for comment. The announcement by the prosecutor's office was the first public mention of Mr Magnuson's death and the ensuing investigation, the Oregonian newspaper reported. It was unclear why prosecutors had only recently released information about the incident. It is also unclear whether Mr Warren still works for FedEx. The company declined to comment on his status. The company, which said it cooperated fully during the investigation, extends condolences to those affected, FedEx Ground spokeswoman Nikki Mendicino said in a statement. Washington Post By Elijah Nouvelage CHICO, Calif. (Reuters) - The first significant rain in months in northern California all but extinguished the deadliest wildfire in the state's history on Wednesday but also raised risks of flash flooding that could hinder teams searching for human remains. Between 4-6 inches (102-152 mm) of rain was expected to fall through the weekend in areas around the town of Paradise, the community of nearly 27,000 people 175 miles (280 km) northeast of San Francisco that was largely incinerated by the so-called Camp Fire. The blaze killed at least 83 people and 563 remain unaccounted for, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told a news briefing. "The rain is a concern for us and there is the potential for mudflows," Honea said. Searchers would be pulled out of areas threatened by mudslides, he said. The storm added to the misery of evacuees camped out in a Walmart parking lot in nearby Chico. Mitchell Manley was cold and wet but thankful he persuaded his elderly mother to evacuate. He said most of the dead were retirees who thought they could ride out the flames in their homes. "I was lucky to get her out, she was going to sit it out," said Manley, who was camping at Walmart while he waited to go back to his home in Concow. Warehouses were opened in Chico to provide evacuees protection from the cold and rain as celebrity chef Jose Andres prepared to cook hundreds of Thanksgiving meals for evacuees. Some 830 people had signed up to spend their Thanksgiving combing through ash and rubble in forecast heavy rain, searching for human remains, Honea said. STRAW TUBES The rains, which in some areas were likely to be accompanied by winds of up to 45 miles per hour (72 kph), raised risks of ravines turning into rivers of mud. The fire has burned across 153,336 acres (62,000 hectares) of the Sierra foothills and is 85 percent contained. "There's no vegetation to hold the earth and there's a risk it could just start moving, with mud carrying everything in its path," National Weather Service forecaster Johnnie Powell said in Sacramento. Story continues Firefighters installed straw tubes known as wattles to stop hillsides being washed away. "With the heavy rains, the fire activity is practically nothing," said Cal Fire Operation Section Chief Josh Bishop. The death toll has been gradually rising, with two more names added to the list on Wednesday to bring the total to 83 people, with 58 of them tentatively identified, Honea said. The number of people unaccounted for, which has fluctuated widely over the past week, declined by 307. Asked about the effects of rain on the search for remains, Honea said it would make going through debris more difficult but he was less concerned about remains washing away than the headaches posed by mud. Still, he said some remains might never be found. "What we're looking for in many respects are very small bone fragments so, as we go forward, it's certainly possible that not all of them will be located," Honea said. The Camp Fire incinerated 13,503 homes in and around Paradise. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The state is undertaking the largest single wildfire cleanup operation in its history to remove toxic and radioactive ash and debris at burned home sites, said Eric Lamoureux from the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. Butte County says evidence from recent fires in California showed that some destroyed homes and property contained "high and concerning levels of heavy metals, lead, mercury, dioxin, arsenic and other carcinogens. Some property may have the presence of radioactive materials." (Reporting by Elijah Nouvelage in Chico, Calif.; Additional reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Writing by Andrew Hay; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Leslie Adler and Paul Tait) Experts appointed by President Emmanuel Macron will advise him this week to enable the return of thousands of African artworks held in French museums - AFP Franceshould change heritage law to facilitate the return of thousands of African artworks pillaged or bought during the colonial era, a government-appointed report is to advise President Emmanuel Macron. If approved, it would amount to a radical policy shift that could pile pressure on Britain and other ex-colonial powers to hand back long-held artifacts to their countries of origin. The report follows a groundswell of calls to return cultural treasures in Africa, amid estimations that up to 90 per cent of its cultural heritage is in foreign hands. France alone possesses around 90,000 African artworks, some 70,000 of which are at Paris' Quai Branly museum, founded by ex-president Jacques Chirac, a fan of African and Asian art. Currently, French law strictly forbids the government from parting with what amounts to state property, even in clear-cut cases of pillaging. But President Macron signalled he was prepared to consider change in a speech in Burkina Faso last year in which he said:"Africa's heritage cannot just be in European private collections and museums. Within five years, I want the conditions to be met for the temporary or definitive restitution of African heritage to Africa. Mr Macron tasked French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese writer Felwine Sarr to draw up a report on the issue. It is estimated that up to 90 per cent of Africa's cultural treasures are held outside the continent Credit: GERARD JULIEN/AFP Due for release on Friday but leaked to French media on Wednesday, the report suggests amending French law to enable the restitution of cultural works if bilateral accords are struck between France and African states. The change would apply in particular to works held in museums which were "transferred from their original territory during the French colonial period," the report said. "We propose changing heritage laws so that all types of cases can be taken into account, and the criteria of consent can be invoked," Ms Sarr told French daily Liberation. The experts said such collections were in effect depriving Africans of their artistic and cultural heritage. Story continues Advocates of such restitutions welcomed the report. Marie-Cecile Zinsou, a daughter of Benin's former prime minister and president of the Zinsou Art Foundation in Cotonou said that while it would spark howls of disapproval from some quarters in France, notably the far-Right, it could unleash a cultural shockwave throughout Europe and Africa. "Today it feels as if we're just a step away from recovering our history and being finally able to share it on the continent, she told AFP. The UK has resisted numerous and often impassioned calls to return artifacts to their countries of origin, including the Elgin Marbles to Greece and the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. On Tuesday, the governor of Chiles Easter Island in the Pacific implored the British Museum to return the Hoa Hakananai'a, one of its most important statues and held for 150 years. German chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo: Reuters Germany will relax its strict employment rules to attract more banks to move to the country post-Brexit, according to German media. The government hopes to loosen dismissal protection rules, which make it difficult to fire senior bankers and are considered unattractive for international lenders in Germany. A spokeswoman for the German finance minister Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats (SDP) said deregulation could help lure financial institutions from the UK, according to German outlets Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Manager Magazin on Wednesday. READ MORE: Why Mays Brexit trade deal wishlist falls short A draft text from the finance ministry suggests it will become much easier for employers to lay off staff with a severance package than is currently possible. Employers will no longer need to provide a justification for lay-offs, according to the reports. German employment rules are strict on dismissals by international standards, requiring exact reasons which can be challenged by courts. Senior employees who have worked for companies for several years are particularly difficult to dismiss. READ MORE: Draft Brexit deal on the future UK-EU relationship agreed Up to 5,000 bankers in Germany could be affected by the new ruling, according to the finance ministrys estimates. Those would include CEOs, heads of legal, finance and other departments and high-volume traders, who contribute to their companys risk. Ahead of Brexit day on 29 March 2019, many international banks are stepping up their preparations for the end of cross-border banking licenses with London. Several lenders have announced plans to shift hundreds of billions of euros worth of balance-sheet assets to continental Europe hot spots such as Frankfurt or Paris. During negotiations to form Germanys current governing coalition earlier this year, the Christian Democrats (CDU) and SDP agreed on measures to increase the countrys attractiveness as a financial hub after the UK leaves the EU. READ MORE: The crucial document leaked ahead of Brexit summit Geneva (AFP) - The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main driver of climate change, have hit a new record high, the UN said Thursday, warning that the time to act was running out. Ahead of the COP 24 climate summit in Poland next month, top United Nations officials are again trying to raise the pressure on governments to meet the pledge of limiting warming to the less than two degrees Celsius, enshrined in the 2015 Paris accord. "Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gases, climate change will have increasingly destructive and irreversible impacts on life on Earth," the head of the World Meteorological Organization Petteri Taalas said in a statement. "The window of opportunity for action is almost closed." In an open letter to all states ahead of COP24, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned of cataclysmic consequences if the world does not reverse course. "Entire nations, ecosystems, peoples and ways of life could simply cease to exist," she said, citing evidence that nations are not on track to meet the commitments made in Paris. US President Donald Trump, who pulled his government out of the Paris agreement, again on Thursday appeared to cast doubt on climate science. "Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming?" he said in a tweet. Asked to respond to Trump, deputy WMO chief Elena Manaenkova told reporters that the science underpinning global warming was "unequivocal," without challenging the US leader directly. - 5 million years - The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, the UN weather agency's annual flagship report, tracks the content of dangerous gases in the atmosphere since 1750. This year's report, which covers data for 2017, puts the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere at 405.5 parts per million (ppm). That is up from 403.3 ppm in 2016 and 400.1 ppm in 2015. "The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was 3-5 million years ago, when the temperature was 2-3C warmer," Taalas said. Story continues Researchers have made reliable estimates of C02 concentrations rates going back 800,000 years using air bubbles preserved in ice in Greenland and Antarctica. But by studying fossilised material the WMO also has rough CO2 estimates going back up to five million years. In addition to CO2, the UN agency also highlighted rising levels of methane, nitrous oxide and another powerful ozone depleting gas known as CFC-11. - 'No magic wand' - Emissions are the main factor that determines the amount of greenhouse gas levels, but concentration rates are a measure of what remains after a series of complex interactions between atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere and the oceans. Roughly 25 percent of all emissions are currently absorbed by the oceans and biosphere -- a term that accounts for all ecosystems on Earth. The lithosphere is the solid, outer part of the Earth, while the cyrosphere covers that part of the world covered by frozen water. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that in order to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, net CO2 emissions must be at net zero, meaning the amount being pumped into the atmosphere must equal the amount being removed, either though natural absorbtion or technological innovation. WMO's deputy chief, Elena Manaenkova, noted that CO2 remains in the atmosphere and oceans for hundreds of years. "There is currently no magic wand to remove all the excess CO2 from the atmosphere," she said. "Every fraction of a degree of global warming matters, and so does every part per million of greenhouse gases," she said. According to the UN, 17 of the 18 hottest years on record have occurred since 2001, while the cost of climate-related disasters in 2017 topped $500 billion (439 billion euros). Igor Korobov, the GRU chief who has died aged 63 - east2west news The head of Russian military intelligence, which is accused of orchestrating the Salisbury Novichok attack, has died. Igor Korobov died on Wednesday after "a serious and long illness," Russian news agencies reported, citing the defence ministry. The 63-year-old GRU Chief's death comes after a series of embarrassments for the secretive organisation, for which he was reportedly berated by President Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin reportedly gave Mr Korobov a personal dressing down last month for the bungled operation to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Russian journalist Sergey Kanev, who writes for an investigative group funded by Putin foe and former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, reported that Mr Korobov fell ill after the meeting with Mr Putin. Evgeny Buzhinsky, a former Russian general, dismissed allegations of foul play. Commenting on suggestions that Mr Korobov's death was untimely, he told the BBC: "No you are completely wrong. It was a long, long struggle against a very bad disease ... In Russia no one is suspicious, believe me." The defence ministry called General Korobov, who ran the spy agency since 2016, "a wonderful person, a faithful son of Russia and a patriot of his homeland." It did not give further details about his death. Gen Korobov had worked in military intelligence since 1985. In 2016, Mr Putin made him head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces - also known as the GRU. He took over from Gen Igor Sergun, who died of a heart attack at the age of the 58. Michael Carpenter, a Russia adviser for Barack Obama's administration, tweeted on Thursday: "His predecessor died in 2016 of a heart attack. Life expectancy for incumbents of this job is pretty low, but then so is the median life expectancy in Russia." Gen Korobov was sanctioned along with other GRU officers by the United States for activities that "undermine cybersecurity on behalf of the Russian government." Story continues The West has blamed the GRU for a string of brazen attacks. Britain has accused it of attempting to poison Mr Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury. The botched assassination attempt led to the death of Dawn Sturgess, who, along with partner Charlie Rowley, fell ill after handling a container contaminated with the nerve agent in June. The Netherlands believes the agency has tried to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog, and US intelligence agencies said GRU was behind attempts to hack the 2016 US presidential election. Russia denies all the allegations. But the GRU has also suffered humiliation after the UK revealed the identities of the suspects behind the Skripal poisonings. The agents accused of carrying out the poisoning were named as Alexander Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga, Dutch and British authorities also exposed the identities of the four Russian GRU operators who took part in the bungled operation to hack the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Four GRU operatives were caught trying to hack into the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons after Salisbury Credit: Ministerie van Defensie The four Russian spies had in their possession laptops and mobile phones holding damning proof of the cyber hacking operations of its notorious Unit 26165, also known as GRU 85 Main Special Service Center. One of them even had a taxi receipt showing he had been picked up from the rear entrance of Unit 26165s headquarters when he went to the airport. There was fresh embarrassment when further database research revealed 305 other individuals thought to be working for the Russian intelligence agency. At the time, Bob Seely, the Tory MP who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee, described the lapses that led to the identity of the GRU spies being exposed as "extraordinarily unprofessional". "It shows that subversion is probably beyond their professional capability - they can't even cover their tracks in the most basic of ways. It is very sloppy and makes President Putin look foolish," he added. The GRU has been at the forefront of several of the most controversial Russian intelligence operations in recent years. As well as the brazen hacks, its agents were accused of a failed attempt to mount a coup in Montenegro in 2016, and its special forces are deeply involved in Russia's semi-covert wars in Ukraine and Syria. Tijuana (Mexico) (AFP) - Hundreds of Central American migrants staged a boisterous demonstration on the US Mexico border Thursday, screaming for President Donald Trump to let them in as US soldiers and riot police put on a menacing show of force. The increased tension over the presence of a thousands-strong migrant caravan came as Trump marked Thanksgiving Day by threatening to close the border if he thinks Mexico has lost control of it. Vehicle and pedestrian traffic at the busy San Ysidro crossing came to a halt for 40 minutes as dozens of US police wearing helmets and holding rifles formed a line facing the Mexican side of the frontier. Separately, riot police rehearsed deployment movements. US Customs and Border Protection called all of this a "large-scale readiness exercise." American soldiers in khaki-colored uniforms set off rockets that exploded with a pungent-smelling white smoke. Helicopters hovered overhead. Related Video: Trump has already deployed nearly 6,000 troops along the border and on Thursday he threatened to go even further. "If we find that it gets to a level where we are going to lose control or where people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control," Trump told reporters, before firing a warning to Mexico. "The whole border. I mean the whole border," he said, adding that "Mexico will not be able to sell their cars into the United States." At almost the same time as the police and troop exercise, at another nearby border crossing called El Chaparral, Central American migrants from the caravan emptying into Tijuana defied the president with a loud rally. "Open the gates, Trump! We are not looking for war, but work," shouted Alberto Ruiz, a 22-year-old Honduran. After a trek of more than a month from Honduras, nearly 5,000 migrants have been living in a makeshift shelter fashioned from an open air sports arena. It rained Wednesday night, drenching their mattresses and other belongings. Story continues "Let's go to the border! There we can pressure Trump. We are only wasting time and strength at the shelter," Carlos Rodriguez, also Honduran, yelled into a bullhorn. - 'A special day' - "Today is a special day. It is Thanksgiving in the United States. They are not going to lynch us," he said as a crowd applauded and screamed in support. As the chill of night set in, dozens of migrants lugged their wet belongings from the shelter and set up a new camp right in the middle of a street near the El Chaparral crossing. Authorities in Tijuana have set up a job fair in an attempt to recruit skilled workers from among the migrants for the benefit of local companies, while Mexico's migration agency has offered them temporary residency papers. Some have taken advantage of the offers but others are simply determined to reach the US. Since setting out more than a month ago, mostly from Honduras, thousands of migrants -- including many women and children -- have covered about 4,400 kilometers (2,700 miles), either walking or hitchhiking, before the first groups began reaching Tijuana at the end of last week. But there have been tensions since they started arriving at the border town, with some locals fearing crime and violence. The migrants are mostly fleeing poverty and unrest in Central America's "Northern Triangle" -- El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where gang violence has fuelled some of the highest murder rates in the world. From plunging profits to a charitable stance, the reasons why brands are turning their backs on Black Friday this year [Photo: Getty/Yahoo Style UK] A bombardment of overexcited emails crashed into our inbox this week with brands desperate to secure our attention through luring discounts and one-too-many exclamation marks. With just one day to go until Black Friday, its the last-minute push for retailers to empty our pockets yet this year, it seems increasing numbers of brands are turning their backs on the US-born tradition. But why are they choosing to sidestep the annual event? Is Black Friday bad for business? UK consumers are expected to fork out more than 10 billion this week with sales across the nation higher around the Black Friday period last year than peak December for the first time in history. But not all brands can benefit from competitive discounting with independent labels in particular risking a quiet spell before squeezing lucrative sales into one day. Rachael Otterwell of Manchester-based boutique Object, told Yahoo UK: When I first started out as a bedroom business back in 2014, I took part in Black Friday. I was very quick to learn that whilst I had a flurry of sales over the weekend, it was actually false economy and it just didnt sit right with me that a product could be discounted and then return to its normal price a few days later. She continued, I dont think Black Friday encourages customer loyalty and as a small independent business we pride ourselves on building long lasting customer relationships to encourage them to keep shopping with us. Story continues Instead, Otterwell uses more creative channels such as a hire and style service for private events and workshops within the store in a bid to market the business. There are just five weeks left of the retail year and late November and December should be a retailers busiest time we shouldnt feel the need or pressure to discount items, Otterwell adds. The high street further emphasises the financial risks that come hand-in-hand with Black Friday, as the likes of House of Fraser and New Look shut down several stores amid plunging profits last year. Though its not surprising, as the rise of social media has heavily shaped our shopping habits with brands more likely to succeed by participating in Cyber Monday instead. According to recent figures, those aged between 22 to 37 now make 54% of their purchases online and 20p of every 1 spent this Christmas will reportedly not even involve a shop visit. For those looking to cash in, it seems brands will have to cater to the Gen Z market. A charitable stance This week, London-based clothing and interiors hub House of Hackney announced that the store vows to create a more meaningful shopping experience for customers instead of traditional Black Friday deals. The store is offering 10% off and promises to donate profits to three leading charities: Hackney Winter Night Shelter, Help Refugees and Friends of the Earth. Frieda Gormley, co-founder of House of Hackney, explained the brands decision to boycott the tradition: This year, weve decided to replace Black Friday with Give Back Friday because we believe that its a wonderful opportunity to create a more meaningful shopping experience for our customers. We wanted to use the day to raise awareness of some of the charities and causes we feel passionately about and, quite literally, give something back, she told Yahoo UK. Our customers will still receive a 10% discount on the day but well also give 10% of proceeds to a selection of worthy causes for a more balanced approach to what can sometimes feel like a frenzied day of mindless shopping! In a similar move, fellow interiors label Edit58 is also leaving Black Friday to the big boys and instead pledges to donate 15% of all sales to Momentum Childrens Charity an organisation which helps to support children with cancer and other life-challenging conditions. For Londoners keen to dig deep in the name of charity this year, Help Refugees is also launching its annual pop-up on Friday with the aim to raise funds for everything from womens services to school bags for those in need. Josie Naughton, Help Refugees CEO & co-founder, told Yahoo UK: With all the hype around Black Friday and Christmas shopping, we wanted to create a place that did something a little differently. Instead of buying discounted things for ourselves, what if we bought something for someone who truly needs it? At the Choose Love Store in Carnaby Street, you can buy everything from emergency blankets and sleeping bags to school supplies and family accommodation. But instead of taking them home, well send a similar item to a refugee or homeless person this winter. Last year, the store raised 750,000 helping to provide refugees with 800,000 meals, 25,000 winter essentials and 11,000 items of clothing. Meanwhile, Chatty Feet is also donating profits to a charity of your choice this year with causes ranging from the British Red Cross to Oxfam. All you need to do is place your order between November 23 to 26. A pledge to be more sustainable Similarly, an increasing number of brands are boycotting Black Friday this year to help promote sustainability within the fashion industry. A quick Instagram scroll shows independent stores such as Brighton-based Wolf and Gypsy Vintage are side-stepping the marketing ploy. The company told followers: Weve never taken part in Black Friday and after much consideration feel we will remain true to ourselves and choose to opt out. We hope you shop with us because you love what we do, we believe we have a responsibility to work towards less waste by rethinking the way we shop and also help maintain a healthy high street of shops big and small. Fellow independent brands and customers took to the post to praise the brands decision to opt out. One commented: I have a rule: I never buy things in a sale I wouldnt pay full price for the value of things isnt simply monetary. Thank you for encouraging a more thoughtful way of consuming. A second customer wrote, Independent retailers need to stand up to this dreadful gimmick. The real impact of Black Friday stretches further than your wallet This online conversation is part of a much wider political movement, as a growing number of consumers across the globe will celebrate Buy Nothing Day tomorrow instead. According to the website, the campaign aims to challenge yourself, your family and friends to switch off from shopping and tune into life with a 24-hour moratorium on consuming, either as a personal experiment or public statement. The Canada-born pledge kick-started back in 1992 and now, more than 62 nations across the globe recognise the movement using the hashtag #ShopLessLiveMore. Unsurprisingly, this last-minute crush to purchase trolley-loads of presents has led to global concern from leading environmental organisations. Last year, Greenpeace issued a warning against the annual tradition emphasising that this sense of urgency promoted to consumers triggers low cost, high volume impulse buying and as a result overconsumption of unnecessary goods. In the European Union alone, more than 1.5 to two million tonnes of used clothing is generated annually with items likely to be worn once. But with 91% of UK stores taking part in Black Friday last year, theres still a long way to go in the challenge to change consumer mindsets. Follow us onInstagram andFacebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK. Read more from Yahoo Style UK: As Boohoo launches a student meal deal, we explore if fast fashion has gone too far As House of Fraser announces store closures, are we witnessing the death of the department store? Why has the nation fallen out of love with New Look? On a grim November day 55 years ago, George E. Thomas dressed President John F. Kennedy for the last time. The presidents loyal valet, laboring through his ineffable grief, methodically attended to the man lying before him in a coffin, careful to make one final adjustment to Kennedys handkerchief so it would look just the way the president always insisted, with the monogram concealed. Just a few hours earlier, as JFK departed Air Force One and stepped into the bright Dallas sunlight on Nov. 22, 1963, he had paused to quip with Thomas: You know, George, I think this is a bigger town than you come from. Indeed, Thomas hailed from tiny Berryville, Va. (pop. 1,645 in 1960), a picturesque town in the Shenandoah Valley, 60 miles from the nations capital. A few weeks ago, we journeyed there, on a mission to talk with those who knew him and to raise an interesting man from his status as an obscure footnote in presidential history. The memory of this character in the life of the 35th president remains alive among his Berryville neighbors and friends. They still speak warmly of Mr. George and John F., as the valet affectionately called JFK. They point with pride at 21 Bundy Street, the modest bungalow that was Thomass family home away from his home with the Kennedy family. Thomas returned there every weekend he was not on duty as a gentlemans gentleman in Washington. As Joan Payne, a Berryville resident who grew up in the house next door, poignantly observed: This man who came from our little town went on to work in the White House for the President of the United States, but was never recognized for his achievements. Educated in the one-room schoolhouses to which African-Americans were relegated during the Jim Crow era, Thomas began his life of service as the help for Senator Harry F. Byrd in Winchester, Va. By the early 1940s, the future valet (a personal attendant) moved to Washington, where he worked for legendary newspaper columnist Arthur Krock. An old friend of Joseph P. Kennedy, Krock paid the former ambassador a debt by offering Thomas services to Joes son, Jack. Story continues In 1947, as JFK entered the House of Representatives, he and Thomas began a 16-year association. Kennedy, a bachelor until age 36, was known for his unkempt appearance. Thomas, by contrast, was meticulous, and JFK relied on him to lay out his wardrobe each day. The congressman suffered from a painful spinal condition, aggravated by his WWII injury, so Thomas responsibilities included drawing hot baths, assisting Kennedy on stairs, and helping him into his back brace and shoes. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Although separated by race, religion, region and class, the two men shared some remarkably similar traits. Both were heroes: Kennedy had saved his PT-boat crew in the Solomon Islands; Thomas had rescued the Berryville town drunk from a police beating. Both were generous: Thomas handed out $5 bills to neighborhood kids; Kennedy donated his annual presidential salary of $100,000 to charity. In their youths, both had been pranksters, and they maintained an endearing sense of humor as adults. On one trait, however, they differed dramatically: discretion. Kennedy, an incorrigible womanizer, would have provided an indiscreet valet with enough fodder to write a best-selling memoir. But Thomas took the secrets of Camelot to his grave, never speaking or writing about them. The valets vices, such as they were, paled in comparison. Thomas friends said that, on weekends in Berryville, he engaged in raucous poker games, fueled by bourbon, that lasted into the wee hours. Come Sunday, Thomas, though of the Baptist persuasion, as one of his former neighbors quaintly described him, would retreat to the Charlestown Races to wager his poker winnings. On quieter weekends, the neighborhood children spotted Mr. George reading on his front porch. Like JFK, Thomas devoured books. We knew it was Mr. George, and not his nearly identical brother James, on the front porch, if a book was in hand, Payne recalled. Thomas daily routine at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was similar to that of his first 13 years with Kennedy, except for the presidents habit of changing clothes up to four times a day, after daily swims and naps. This schedule required Thomas to be on constant call when at the White House, where he lived on the third floor, one flight above the First Family. Thomas, who never married or fathered children, was happy to entertain young John Jr., as the toddler played at a piano in the living quarters. The valets horizons expanded when he accompanied JFK to the Kennedy family compound on Cape Cod, and on official trips abroad, including the 1961 Vienna summit with Khrushchev. His pride in serving the leader of the free world was evident as he stood next to the president at JFKs last birthday party, on May 29, 1963. Just two weeks later, Kennedy declared that the crusade for civil rights was a moral one and observed that the grandsons of freed slaves were not fully free. The historical record doesnt reveal if Thomas ever told the president about his own enslaved grandparents or the impact of segregation on his life, but he was the closest African American to Kennedy when the president proposed what would become the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Kennedys support for desegregation meant that, as he arrived in Dallas in 1963, his approval rating in the South was dropping. When word spread of the presidents assassination, a white man approached one of Thomas neighbors in Berryville to snarl that Kennedy shouldve been killed sooner because he was a [n] lover. Kennedys feelings toward his loyal aide remain unknown, but the look of abject bereavement on Thomas face as he stood with JFKs family at the Arlington burial revealed his profound sense of loss. Thomas later worked for the chairman of the FDIC until his retirement in 1978, but he was never the same after the presidents death. Suffering from a cardiac ailment, which would take his life in 1980, Thomas broken-heartedly told a friend shortly before his death: John F. would have cared for me. Barbara Perry is the Gerald L. Baliles Professor and Director of Presidential Studies at UVAs Miller Center, where Alfred Reaves serves as Faculty Coordinator. Port-au-Prince (AFP) - The international community called Thursday on Haiti's political leaders to open a dialogue in the wake of deadly protests against President Jovenel Moise. Moise broke three days of silence late Wednesday with a brief televised speech appealing for calm and asserting the legitimacy of his government. At least three people were killed by gunfire during protests Sunday calling for his resignation, according to the National Police. The opposition put the death toll at 11 nationwide. "We encourage meaningful dialogue to address points of disagreement and find lasting solutions without violence," the US embassy said in a statement. "We urge all parties and leaders to work together to move the political dialogue forward in ways that advance the interests and aspirations of the Haitian people," it said. The so-called Core Group composed of the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization of American States, as well as the embassies of Germany, Brazil, Canada, France and the United States, also deplored the loss of life. In a sign of support for Moise, the group also said "acts of violence seeking to provoke the resignation of the legitimate authorities ... have no place in the democratic process." The principal opposition groups, who have made Moise's resignation a prerequisite for the opening of any negotiations or dialogue, were planning a new demonstration on Friday. The Hague (AFP) - The United States accused Iran on Thursday of failing to declare a toxic arms programme to the global chemical warfare watchdog, in breach of international agreements. US envoy Kenneth Ward told the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague that Tehran was also seeking deadly nerve agents for "offensive purposes". Tehran did not immediately respond to the accusations, which add to tensions with Washington over Iran's nuclear programme, terrorism, and the war in Syria. "The United States has had longstanding concerns that Iran maintains a chemical weapons programme that it failed to declare to the OPCW," ambassador Ward told a five-yearly meeting on the body's future. "The US is also concerned that Iran is pursuing central nervous system-acting chemicals for offensive purposes." Ward said Iran had failed to declare the transfer of chemical-filled shells sent to Libya in the 1980s despite an appeal by the OPCW to identify their origin. They were found after the death of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. "They were clearly of Iranian origin as evidenced by the farsi writing on the boxes containing the artillery shells," he said. Iran had also failed to declare a "chemical weapons filling capability" despite the discovery of toxic shells and bombs in Libya and also in Iraq. Finally, Iran had failed to declare riot control agents despite having marketed them at defence expos, he added. The new chemical warfare allegations come amid growing pressure on Iran from President Donald Trump, who has withdrawn from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and introduced several rounds of unilateral US sanctions. Ward accused Iran and its ally Russia of "enabling" the use of chemical weapons by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "while pursuing their own chemical weapons programmes". Western powers have accused Russia of carrying out an attack using an undeclared Soviet-era nerve agent on former double agent Sergei Skripal in the British town of Salisbury in March. Member states at the OPCW this week rejected attempts by Russia to block the watchdog's new powers to identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria and elsewhere. Previously the OPCW -- charged with enforcing the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention under which all toxic arms will be destroyed -- was only able to confirm the use of chemical weapons without assigning blame. Rome (AFP) - A new film is shining an uncomfortable light on the fate of thousands of Italians killed in massacres on the Yugoslav frontier at the end of the Second World War. "Red Land - Rosso Istria" recounts events that for decades were only commemorated by neofascists, showing that things were not as black and white as previously thought and provoking a wave of reactions on social media. From 1943 to 1947, between 5,000 and 10,000 Italians were murdered in the region around Trieste, on today's border with Slovenia, as it was reconquered by Tito's Yugoslav partisans, with victims often thrown alive into deep sinkholes known as "foibe". Another 250,000 people fled their homes. What began as a "cleansing" of police and civil servants associated with the fascist regime by Yugoslav and Italian partisans later became the systematic murder of Italians. Immediately after the war, Italy wanted to turn the page on its fascist history and the crimes committed by its forces in Yugoslavia as quickly as possible. That meant that the massacres carried out by partisans were for years only commemorated by those nostalgic for Mussolini. It was only in 2004 that the right-wing government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi initiated a national day of remembrance for the massacres. In 2005, Italy awarded a posthumous medal to Norma Cossetto, a 23-year-old student and daughter of a local fascist official, who was raped, tortured and murdered by Yugoslav and Italian partisans in October 1943. Her story "is a metaphor" for the fate of all the other victims of the massacres, the film's producer Alessandro Centenaro told AFP. The film recounts one of the partisans' murder methods: prisoners would be shot in the head on the edge of a "foiba", dragging others still living to whom they were tied to their deaths. - "Long-hidden truth" - "Yes, Norma was killed because she was fascist. But also because she was a woman, educated and Italian," Centenaro said. Story continues "There are many sides to this story, like the character of Giorgio, the deserter who joins the Yugoslav partisans to get rid of the fascists and ends up a victim himself," said the film's Italian-Argentine director Maximiliano Hernando Bruno. The film was premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival and also screened this month at the Italian Senate, where it was hailed by politicians from left and right. Comments on the film's Facebook page hail the "powerful story", which "finally does justice to the victims" and "shines a light on a truth that has been hidden for too long", which "should be shown in all schools". But some Internet commentators have also accused the director of being fascist or revisionist. Hernando Bruno dismisses such critics as "provocateurs who haven't seen the film." Some say that the film is being "boycotted" because it has received little coverage in Italian media. Unusually, far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Monday shared a list of the around 30 cinemas showing the film with his millions of followers on social media. "For decades, left-wing politicians and intellectuals have done everything to hide this truth," Salvini said. "Go and watch it and pass the word along, so that those who were killed simply for being Italian may at least be honoured by our memory," he said. WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker (all times local): 5 p.m. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was paid nearly $1 million by a nonprofit highly critical of Democrats that doesn't disclose its donors in the two years before he joined the Justice Department. That's according to new public financial disclosures released by the Justice Department in response to a request from The Associated Press. Whitaker received $904,000 in income from the Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust from 2016 through nearly the end of 2017. He was paid $15,000 by CNN as a legal commentator. Several news outlets and outside groups had requested the documents in recent weeks. Such forms are usually released within a day or so of a request. But the documents show that Whitaker hadn't completed them and was revising them as late as Tuesday. __ 10:30 a.m. The Senate's top Democrat has asked the Justice Department's watchdog to open an investigation into communications between acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and the White House. Sen. Charles Schumer wants the Justice Department's inspector general to look into Whitaker's communications beginning in 2017, when Whitaker was appointed chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Donald Trump earlier this month. In a letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Schumer said he wants inspector general's investigators to look into whether Whitaker had access to confidential grand jury information in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.. John Lavinsky, a spokesman for the inspector general, declined to comment on Schumer's request. First fuel protests, then nurses took to the streets of Paris - all signs of discontent in France about the President's reforms. As Laura Frykberg reports, many feel while big businesses and the wealthy see tax cuts, general household spending is being eroded by increases to diesel and tobacco taxes, and a surge in social welfare levies. A University of Maryland freshman has died after contracting the same strain of adenovirus that killed 11 children in a New Jersey health clinic earlier this fall. The student, who was identified as 18-year-old Olivia Paregol by her father, died after contracting adenovirus 7, according to WJLA. The school confirmed in a statement that a student died of the virus, but declined to release her name. The virus is linked to symptoms such as respiratory problems or conjunctivitis, according to the CDC. She definitely appeared to be getting sicker and sicker, Ian Paregol, her father, told WJLA. It is the worst nightmare a family, or certainly a parent, can have to endure. Adenovirus 7 is the same illness that killed 11 children and infected 34 others at a medical facility in New Jersey in October. The disease is part of a group of viruses that can lead to pneumonia or diarrhea. Tragic. 18yo Olivia Paregols father shared this photo of her with us. He says the UMD freshman never should have died from adenovirus and has concerns about what the university knew when re: other sick students and if that info could have helped treat her. @fox5dc pic.twitter.com/QdDsIZVFtU Evan Lambert (@EvanLambertTV) November 20, 2018 Olivia Paregol may have been particularly vulnerable to the illness because she suffered from Crohns disease, per WJLA. Adenovirus is especially dangerous for people with chronic illnesses and compromised immune systems. The children in the New Jersey facility were reportedly also suffering from other medical conditions. Ian Paregol faulted the university for failing to test his daughter for the illness, despite knowing that another student had contracted the virus. I was told there were two students with the virus when I called to figure out what my daughter had, which means they knew it before my daughter, Paregol told WJLA. Story continues David McBride, director of the universitys health center, said in a statement that the school had learned of an isolated case of a student with a strain of adenovirus on Nov. 1, and that five other students had later been diagnosed. One of the students tested positive for adenovirus 7, McBride stated. McBride also stated that the school has been taking precautions since Nov. 1 to limit the spread of the illness, including increased cleaning of high touch surfaces. McBride asked students with health problems to be especially vigilant as the illness circulates, and that all students should report experiencing symptoms of adenovirus within 48 hours. The newly expanded document outlining plans for the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and European Union may sound rosy to the average reader, with both sides calling for an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership. But experts warn this wish list still puts the UK in a sub-optimal trading position and requires compromises that may be unpalatable for many. This is a wish list for a deep economic partnership between the EU and UK, however, this would still mean barriers compared to the current situation in both goods and services trade, warned David Henig, a former UK trade negotiator and director of the European Centre for International Political Economy. The text does not guarantee frictionless trade in goods, which threatens to slow down trade between the two sides and damage business confidence. The 26-page document also has further details about plans for trade in services, a crucial area since services make up about 80% of the UK economy. But experts agree it doesnt go far enough, putting service providers such as banks and telecommunications companies at a disadvantage. Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker met Wednesday to flesh out plans for the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and EU. Photo: Jasper Juinen/Getty Holger Hestermeyer, a lawyer and academic specialising in world trade at Kings College London, notes that the document outlines a whole range of ideas that the two sides are willing to consider to forge a strong, coordinated relationship. But there are few concrete commitments. A deeper relationshipmeans more commitments, he said. UK prime minister Theresa May has said shes unwilling to commit to things like the free movement of people, a key issue that compelled many people to vote in favour of Brexit during the 2016 referendum. The document outlines further details about how free movement between the two sides will stop, but they aim to providefor visa-free travel for short-term visits. The UK also agreed to align itself with a range of EU rules and regulations to ensure the sides remain close. This is bound to disappoint UK citizens who were expecting a clean break from the EU. Story continues The UK is making a lot of commitments to uphold current EU rules and approaches, which are basically concessions, and it is getting few firm commitments in return, said Alex Stojanovic, a researcher and Brexit expert at the UK think tank, Institute for Government. Brexit is set to occur in late March 2019 but a planned transition period is expected to kick in that will extend until at least the end of 2020. During this period, the UK and EU are set to flesh out their plans and ratify them. Negotiations on the future will be much more complex than weve seen so far, warned Georgina Wright, a research associate and Brexit expert at Chatham House. The devil will be in the detail. May must now focus on convincing parliament to approve the Brexit divorce deal, which promises to be the toughest hurdle yet. She presented her plan in the House of Commons on Thursday but was met with harsh resistance. This is the blindfold Brexit we all feared, said the leader of the opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, who called the document 26 pages of waffle. RELATED: More details from the Brexit document on immigration and the Irish border BERLIN (Reuters) - A conservative running to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as head of their party has raised an outcry by questioning Germany's constitutional guarantee of asylum that was enshrined to atone for World War Two Nazi crimes. Germany's "Grundgesetz" (Basic Law) assures asylum to all "politically persecuted" - a simpler pledge in the past when it covered a handful of Soviet dissidents during the Cold War than now when millions seek sanctuary in Europe from war and poverty. This might have to change, would-be Merkel successor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday evening on the campaign trail in Thuringia, an eastern state where hostility to immigrants helped propel the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to third place in the 2017 national election. "We must be prepared to discuss the constitutional right to asylum if we seriously want a European immigration and refugee policy," he said to applause from local party delegates. Merz said that Germany's constitutional guarantee was "unique" in the European Union, meaning Berlin could be obliged to take in refugees rejected under a common European asylum policy. The bloc is divided over how it should cope with an influx of migrants, many fleeing civil war in Syria. After a wave of criticism from across the political spectrum, Merz appeared to row back on Thursday. "Of course, I do not question the fundamental right to asylum, because we make politics out of Christian responsibility and against the background of German history," Merz said. But he added that migration and asylum issues could only be solved in a European context nowadays. Constitutional provisions granting asylum are indeed rare. But all other EU countries have equivalently strong legal commitments to guaranteeing asylum to the persecuted, including via international conventions that have constitutional force. His remarks were also an implicit rebuke to Merkel, whose decision in 2015 to admit over a million Syrian war refugees scrambled European politics and helped generate a far-right surge across the continent. Merz trails Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, dubbed "mini-Merkel" for her similarities in policy and style, in leadership polls of Christian Democratic (CDU) party members. The winner will be in pole position to lead the EU's largest country and economic powerhouse. HISTORICAL PRINCIPLE Kramp-Karrenbauer rejected Merz's proposal, saying it risked undermining a principle that was central to the CDU. "Abolishing the basic right of asylum or introducing limits so that it will, in effect, not exist in the way our mothers and fathers thought of it, is for me incompatible with what the CDU stands for and with the legacy of (former chancellor) Helmut Kohl," she told a Bild livestream event. Kohl, who died last year, championed the idea that Germany, responsible for some of history's greatest crimes, including the Holocaust of Europe's Jews, had a special duty to foster peace by forging an integrated, democratic Europe. Merz also appeared to align himself against Merkel with East European opponents of a U.N. migration pact during the hustings in the small Thuringian town of Seebach. His remarks drew fire as well from Health Minister Jens Spahn, the third-placed candidate in the succession race and another critic of her liberal refugee policies. "The constitutional right to asylum for political refugees is a great virtue of our constitution, created against the background of two world wars, great suffering and vast displacements," Spahn wrote on Twitter. The CDU will pick a successor to Merkel, chancellor since 2005 but stepping down from the party helm after a string of regional election setbacks, at a congress in December. Social Democratic Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was caustic, telling the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper it was annoying to see the "CDU's internal popularity contest being carried out on the backs of the very weakest" - an allusion to asylum seekers. (Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Michael Nienaber; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Munroe Bergdorf has spoken out against Blac Chynas latest sponsored post [Photo: Getty] Earlier this week, Blac Chyna sparked criticism online after promoting a controversial skin-lightening cream on social media. The model teamed up with beauty brand Whitenicious by Dencia to create a $250 (approximately 195) brightening and illuminating lotion and intends to launch the product in Nigeria. In response to the divisive, sponsored post, activist and model Munroe Bergdorf has spoken out on social media. Taking to Instagram, Bergdorf shared an image of the controversial campaign alongside the opening words: As a mixed-race light skin black woman, its not for me to comment on a darker skin womans personal decision to lighten her skin, as I already benefit from the colourism that pushes them to do so and I dont need to deal with the colourist discrimination that comes as a result. She continued, However, Blac Chynas professional decision to front a skin-lightening cream campaign sends an awful message to women with darker skin tones worldwide, that lighter skin is more beautiful and something to strive for, which is utter bullsh**. The 31-year-old also highlighted Chynas responsibility as an influencer in the post noting that the mother-of-two should be cautious of the items she promotes to impressionable young black women. Story continues She concluded, This goes deeper than a just one beauty campaign, it adds to an already potent and damaging narrative that dark skin women have been working so hard for so long to combat on a worldwide level. The candid post has amassed over 4,200 likes, as fellow social media users took to the post to share their thoughts on the campaign. One fan highlighted the growing issue of colourism in Nigeria a prejudice against people who have a darker skin tone. They commented: Thank you! Also, to make the decision to go to Africa a place which is still fighting against post colonial ideals of beauty where skin bleaching is an epidemic and self love of dark skin is slowly starting to become a way of life its poor. So very poor. Another noted how Chynas social media status and fame could target a younger audience who suffer with issues of negative self image. Supply and demand seems like a logical explanation but influence matters. Making her the star of advertisement, or anyone perceived as beautiful, influential or trustworthy may be the difference for those who are on the fence and can be persuaded to give products like this a try, they commented. Star power can add pressure to the decision to alter yourself for those who suffer with issues of negative self-image. Shes helping to legitimise this demand. Another highlighted this notion, adding: Furthermore, in pushing these ideas, she also gives power to the notion held by people of other races that black/brown skin holds no value and lacks beauty. As a mother of a biracial child, I make a conscious effort not to say things like you have good hair or my little light skinned girl. I think that does so much damage, especially when children then seek to find out what then, is bad hair and so forth. Blac Chyna is set to launch the controversial skin brightening cream later this month in Nigeria where where approximately 77% of women use them on a daily basis according to the World Health Organisation. Skin-lightening products are illegal in the UK due to the creams containing hydroquinone; a chemical compound that can damage the liver and nervous system. The model has yet to comment on the backlash. 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: Blac Chyna sparks criticism after promoting skin-lightening cream on social media Romanian designers accuse Dior of plagiarising their traditional dress Nivea accused of racism for visibly clearer skin advert Abortion rates in the U.S. have reached a historic low, according to new numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday. According to the report, the decline in abortions was seen in women across all age groups. For women ages 15 to 44, the abortion rate (the number of abortions per 1,000 women) dropped 26% between 2006 and 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. This translates to a significant drop in the yearly number of abortions over the decade ending in 2015. In 2006, medical professionals reported performing 842,855 abortions. By 2015, that number dropped to 638,169, according to the CDC. The drop in abortions was especially pronounced among teenagers. From 2006 to 2015, the abortion rate for women ages 15 to 19 dropped by more than half. The report also showed that abortions were being performed earlier in pregnancy, with the percentage of abortions performed after six or fewer weeks of gestation increasing by 11%. The CDC confirmed that the numbers recorded in 2015 accounted for both the lowest total number of abortions and the lowest rate of abortions for the entire 2006 to 2015 period of analysis. The CDC did not cite a reason to explain the drop in abortion rates. The CDC findings come in the midst of worries by some abortion rights advocates that an increasingly conservative Supreme Court, with the addition of Trump appointees Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that ensured women have a constitutional right to have an abortion. The report also comes in the wake of pushes by conservative lawmakers in some states to pass increasingly restrictive abortion laws. In Mississippi, a federal judge just permanently blocked a statewide ban on abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. Last week, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a measure eliminating abortions after a fetal heartbeat could be detected (as early as 6 weeks) while Alabama and West Virginia recently passed restrictive abortion laws in Election Day ballot measures. The lower numbers could also be part of a global trend. A recent report by the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research and advocacy group, found that abortion rates have dropped dramatically in developed countries around the world over the past 25 years. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks to her supporters during her election night party in the Queens Borough of New York: AFP/Getty Images Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has ridiculed Sarah Palin over her grandpa emails after the former vice-presidential candidate joined a string of senior Republicans in attacking the newly-elected Democrat. Now thats *TWO* fallen GOP Vice Pres candidates going after a freshman Congresswoman thats not even sworn in yet, the 29-year-old wrote on Twitter. Isnt it a little early to be bringing out the big guns?" Comparing Ms Palins tweet to something someones grandparent might write on the internet, she added: Especially when they look like the FWD:RE:FWD:WATCH THIS grandpa emails from the 08 election they lost. The spat occurred after Ms Palin, who was running mate to John McCain in 2008, tweeted a link to an article on her own website calling out Ms Ocasio-Cortez for misspeaking and referring to the branches of government as the three chambers of congress, then the three chambers of government. There are two chambers of congress, the senate and house of representatives. The three branches of government are the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. YIKES: Ocasio-Cortez Fumbles Basic Civics TWICE In 1 Statement, Ms Palin wrote. Now thats *TWO* fallen GOP Vice Pres candidates going after a freshman Congresswoman thats not even sworn in yet. Isnt it a little early to be bringing out the big guns? Especially when they look like the FWD:RE:FWD:WATCH THIS grandpa emails from the 08 election they lost https://t.co/TijjLgJ0MI Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 20, 2018 Ms Ocasio-Cortez later made clear the reference to two fallen candidates jokingly applied to Ms Palin and Joe Lieberman, who ran as a vice-presidential candidate for the Democrats in 2000, but served in the senate as an independent. In June, Mr Lieberman wrote an editorial for the Wall Street Journal in which he said Ms Ocasio-Cortezs then candidacy for the House hurts the party, congress and even America. Story continues On Monday, after a Republican state senator in Ohio shared footage of her verbal slip-up, Ms Ocasio-Cortez again hit back. Maybe instead of Republicans drooling over every minute of footage of me in slow-mo, waiting to chop up word slips that I correct in real-time, they actually step up enough to make the argument they want to make: That they dont believe people deserve a right to healthcare, she tweeted. It came just days after a journalist for a right-wing US news outlet prompted criticism over a tweet about Ms Ocasio-Cortez's clothing. Eddie Scarry of the Washington Times said the politician's jacket and coat did not "look like a girl who struggles", following reports she could not afford a flat in Washington DC. "If I walked into Congress wearing a sack, they would laugh & take a picture of my backside," Ms Ocasio-Cortez responded. "If I walk in with my best sale-rack clothes, they laugh & take a picture of my backside. "Dark hates light - thats why you tune it out." Ms Ocasio-Cortezs bettering of Republicans on social media was praised by many of her supporters. A politician who authentically knows how to own people online is a game-changer, one Twitter user wrote, while another said of the tweet about Ms Palin: This is beyond shade. Its advanced darkness. Its a winter day in Alaska shade. Thomas Christopher took this photo with a deer he helped saved near Peterborough, Ont., on Nov. 18, 2018. Photo from Stephanie Christopher/Facebook. A deer has been given a new lease on life after an Ontario couple came to her rescue. In a Facebook post written on Sunday, Stephanie Christopher said she was travelling with Thomas Christopher to Lindsay, Ont., when the two saw a doe in the icy Pigeon River. She told CHEX News she first thought she saw something floating in the water before realizing it was a deer stuck in the ice. Christopher said the incident occurred in Omemee, Ont., a village located 130 kilometres northwest of Toronto in Kawartha Lakes, Ont. We race back got the boat and managed to get to her, the woman wrote Sunday. At first she swam the other way but then turned around and came right to the boat where Thomas lifted her front feet onto the bow and she hung on with him while I paddled back to shore. She revealed it took four hours for the deer to get on her feet, including hours of rubbing her and trying to stimulate her to move. In a blog post for Kawartha Lakes This Week, Omemee-area wildlife photographer Dave Ellis wrote about the incident, which he said he witnessed. Ellis noted there was an additional complication: After the Christophers got the deer out of the water and onto the shore, Ministry of Natural Resources officers had to get the deer over a guard rail and move her down the road until she was safe from traffic, he said. They did an excellent job, Ellis wrote. At one point I saw them sacrifice their own safety and comfort to go waist deep into the icy cold water to prevent the frightened deer from going back out onto the pond. These people all went the extra mile and as a result this story has a happy ending. Christopher also said shes thankful a man stopped and gave them some corn to feed to the animal. I think that made all the difference in her ability to regain her strength, she added. The woman shared eight photos and a video from the encounter, which eventually ended with the animal leaving on her own. The deer was pretty calm and compliant, she told CHEX News. I was happy about that. She was cold but calm. Christopher made it clear that the couple couldnt leave the doe in distress. Hope you stay safe momma, she wrote. DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) Pakistani security officials say a bomb at a militant hideout killed two militants and wounded 12 in the South Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan. The officials say the explosion took place on Thursday in the northwestern border town of Angore Adda. They say the casualties were from the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani militant network. It wasn't immediately clear what set off the bomb. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media. South Waziristan has long been a base for Pakistani militants and foreign fighters. The army claims to have cleared most of the region of insurgents but violence has continued there. Islamabad and Kabul often trade accusations that the other is harboring enemy insurgents. Pakistan says it's taken steps to curb cross-border movement of militants. Jailed James Davies parked on the fast lane of the M42 to ask for directions, causing a horror crash that left Christine Evans and her friend Barbara Jones dead (Pictures: SWNS) A pensioner has been jailed after his partner and her friend were killed when he parked his car on the fast lane of a motorway to ask for directions. James Davies, 71, was giving his partner Christine Evans, 53, and her friend Barbara Jones, 63, a lift to Birmingham Airport when he got lost on the M42. After coming across a diversion on the northbound carriageway at 3am on January 5, Davies parked his Vauxhall Meriva in the fast lane to ask for directions. Warwick Crown Court heard that the 71-year-old put on his hazard lights and climbed over the central reservation onto the opposite carriageway, which was closed for maintenance, to ask a Highways Agency worker for directions. Three drivers managed to swerve past Davies car but a white Mercedes Sprinter ploughed into it, killing Ms Evans and Ms Jones, who were in the back seat, instantly. Diversion Davies came across a diversion on the northbound carriageway of the M42 and parked up to ask for directions (Picture: SWNS) Ms Jones partner Gareth Isaac, who was also in the car, escaped with minor injuries. Davies, of Welshpool, Powys, was jailed for two years four months at Warwick Crown Court on Tuesday after admitting two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and MORE: Moroccan woman accused of killing and COOKING her lover after he told her he was marrying someone else MORE: Teenager loses driving licence 49 minutes after getting it following major speeding fail The court heard that Highways Agency worker Jake Ashmore watched in horror as Davies clambered over the central barrier and knocked on his window. Prosecutor Simon Davis said: Highways Agency employee Jake Ashmore was parked in his vehicle on the southbound carriageway, which was closed that night for maintenance work, with its orange warning lights flashing, when there was a tap on his window. Christine Evans, Davies partner of 12 years, was in the back seat of the car and died instantly (Picture: SWNS) Ms Evans friend Barbara Jones was also killed instantly in the crash (Picture: SWNS) He said Mr Ashmore was immediately concerned and ushered Mr Davies to the other side of the road, back towards his car but within two to three seconds he saw the white van hit the back of the Meriva. Mr Davis said: Three drivers managed to go past it on the inside, but the Mercedes Sprinter van, despite attempts by its driver to take evasive action, hit the car which was projected forward and went into the air and rotated twice before coming to rest. Story continues The court heard that while Davies was slapped with an interim driving ban he was caught behind the wheel teaching someone to drive. Davies, 71, was slapped with an interim driving ban but was caught behind the wheel teaching someone to drive, the court heard (Picture: SWNS) Davies was giving his partner and her friend a lift to Birmingham Airport when the horror crash happened on January 5 (Picture: SWNS) Judge Anthony Potter said: The sad fact is that nothing I can do can reflect the loss of Mr Isaacs partner Barbara Jones, or the loss to her family, and of your partner Christine Evans. This was rightly described as a terrible tragedy, and it will affect all of those people, including you, for many years. He said: You set off from you home to drive your friend of many years, Mrs Jones, and her long-term partner to Birmingham airport; and Mrs Jones had persuaded her friend Mrs Evans to accompany you on the drive there and, more importantly, the drive back. Although you had driven to Birmingham airport in the past, you were not particularly familiar with the M42, and when you encountered a diversion you became disorientated and you were heading north. The southbound carriageway had been closed for some work to be done, and for reasons that are hard to fathom, having become lost, you decided to stop, not on the hard shoulder, but on the outside carriageway of the motorway. You parked there and got out of your car and set off in the direction of Mr Ashman in order, apparently, to seek some directions. The hazard warning lights were wholly inadequate warning to the danger your car presented. Leaving a stationary vehicle in the fast lane of a motorway is dangerous enough, but to leave it with three people inside it, whose lives were in your hands, is even worse. The judge said a significant aggravating feature was that Mr Davies driving caused the death of not one, but two people. He added: The mitigation is the close personal relationship you had, not only with your partner, but also with Mrs Jones. I have read the letter from Christine Evanss family, written by Susan Evans, and it is to their credit that they bear you no animosity. Jemma Gordon, defending, said: Mr Davies finds himself before the court for the first time in his life in the most tragic of circumstances. A momentary decision affects those around us, and sometimes those effects are catastrophic. Yangon (AFP) - From grumbling neighbours to witty memes of the Buddha imploring a man with speakers to "stop your noise", the cacophony around Myanmar's annual Tazaungdaing festival is revving up debate over the modern racket accompanying religious customs. Myanmar is 90 percent Buddhist, and October and November are packed with donation drives in the aftermath of Buddhist lent. The religious season culminates in the Tazaundaing festival, which ends late Thursday with amusement park rides and block parties. But some residents in the commercial capital Yangon want the volume turned down as religious chants, sermons and entreaties for donations blared over speakers compete with electronic dance music, Burmese rap and rowdy evenings. "I don't believe Buddha would like this... Buddha likes peace and silence," Nyein Myat, a 28-year-old bank employee told AFP, adding that her sisters struggle to study because of the noise. But in Myanmar, where authorities have struggled with hardline Buddhist nationalists and the faith is deeply ingrained in society, few make an effort to plead for quiet. In 2016, a Dutch tourist was arrested in Mandalay and spent three months in jail after unplugging a speaker relaying a late-night sermon. "Many people complain but it is the religious season so it is difficult to complain or report to police," said Min Saw, a 22-year-old who works the night shift at a shop. "This season is full of good deeds for (us) Buddhists... but we mostly get annoyed." Frustration is playing out online too. One drawing shows Buddha in the forest holding up his hand and saying "dear son, please stop your noise" as a man races towards him with numerous loudspeakers. A local artist tweaked Edvard Munch's celebrated "Scream", placing Buddha in the foreground holding hands over his ears in horror at the sound. Images of the meme rocketed around Myanmar social media, drawing mostly praise but some anger over the portrayal. Story continues "We have faced so many noise problems every day but these days it is worse," said Myo Kyaw, a 35-year-old audio engineer who was eating lunch. "This is our tradition and I love it but noise is not really good for the people." Than Win, a community leader in Yangon's Lanmadaw township, conceded decibel levels were high but said it is one of the holiest festivals of the year and that all religious customs deserved respect. "We can hear the sound from the mosque loudly in the evening and if you live near the church, you can hear their sound loudly," he said. Those taking part say they are aware of potential disturbances and have taken proper measures. Shipyard worker Zaw Win Naing said they asked older members of the community for permission, telling them: "we would like to play loud music on these days". Havre-Saint-Pierre (Canada) (AFP) - Squatting on spongy soil, a climate scientist lays a small cone-shaped device to "measure the breathing" of a peat bog in the northern part of Canada's Quebec province. Michelle Garneau, a university researcher and a member of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is collecting the first data on areas flooded to build the new Romaine hydroelectric dams in a bid to assess the project's impact on the region. While renewable hydroelectricity itself is considered to be one of the cleanest sources of energy on the planet, there is currently no proven model for calculating the greenhouse gas emissions released by flooding huge areas behind new dams. With construction of four new dams on the Romaine River in northern Quebec nearly complete, researchers saw an opportunity to try out new techniques to measure its carbon footprint. The team led by Garneau zeroed in on a swamp a mere stone's throw from the raging river in the wilds of Canada's boreal forest, an area accessible only by helicopter. After landing, she takes several boxes out of the belly of the aircraft and places them next to some solar panels and a portable weather station that she and her students installed over this summer. The devices are expected to produce sample data within two years. "Every 20 minutes, the cone will capture and measure the breathing of the soil," she explains, placing a transparent device that resembles a handbell on the lichen, as wild geese honk and cackle overhead. She takes a few steps further on the unstable ground and places a box that connects to sensors already sunk into the ground. "This automated device to measure the photosynthetic activity records the CO2 and methane emissions every three minutes, for hours," the researcher says. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane emissions are the main sources of global warming. Another team is measuring carbon dioxide emissions from artificial lakes created by flooding lands behind dams, for eventual comparison. Story continues - More research needed - About one-third of the world's land area is covered by forests, which act as sinks for greenhouse gases. Canada's vast boreal forest has trapped more than 300 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council. However, 10 to 13 percent of Canada's boreal forest is covered by peatlands -- wetlands with high levels of organic matter -- and very little is known about them, says Garneau, research chair on peat ecosystems and climate change at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). Her work is supported by the province's utility Hydro-Quebec, whose dams -- once the four additional hydropower plants on the Romaine River are turned on in 2019 -- will supply 90 percent of Quebec's power needs. The data collected in this study should "serve the IPCC and the advancement of science in general" by helping to better peg the carbon footprint of flooded wilderness, Garneau told AFP. The information is crucial with several new big hydroelectric projects due to come online in the coming years, including in Canada, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Laos, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe. "We're creating artificial reservoirs around the world, but GHG emissions from hydroelectricity are not well accounted for," said Paul Del Giorgio, a biologist at UQAM. "There are some dams in tropical zones that emit as many greenhouse gases as coal plants," due to the accelerated decomposition of drowned organic materials, said the Argentine researcher. Del Giorgio and his students complement Garneau's research by taking water samples from flooded lands behind dams that are analyzed in a field laboratory set up in Havre-Saint-Pierre's town hall. Both datasets will be plugged into a complex set of equations to determine the volume of greenhouse gas emissions from dams. The first results of their work are expected in 2019 and are highly anticipated by climate scientists worldwide, says Garneau. The IPCC desperately needs "to have better models, for better predicting climate change," she said. The overturned lorry in Norfolk (SWNS) Police have criticised more than a dozen rubbernecker drivers who took pictures of an overturned lorry following a crash. The drivers were caught leaning out of their vehicles to capture images of the vehicle which overturned on a busy dual carriageway in the east of England. Norfolk traffic cops who were busy clearing the crash site were forced to report a total of 13 drivers most behind the wheel of heavy goods vehicles. Police took to social media to complain about the drivers. Really disappointing to see I do not want anyone to be hurt & using a phone whilst driving is a main factor in fatal / serious injury collisions #Fatal4 #EyesOnTheRoad, said Sgt Chris Harris, of the Norfolk and Suffolk Roads and Armed Policing Team on Twitter. Central team #1193 have been dealing with an overturned lorry #A11 #Thetford all morning. Whilst dealing they have also reported 13 drivers, majority HGV drivers, for driving & using their mobile phones to take photographs of the RTC #Fatal4 @SgtChrisHarris pic.twitter.com/3uBnOFHFxh Norfolk & Suffolk Roads and Armed Policing Team (@NSRAPT) November 21, 2018 Drivers caught using a mobile phone while driving can face a 200 fine and six penalty points on their licence. The crash happened on the A11 near Thetford, Norfolk, on Wednesday. A Norfolk police spokesman said the lorry was not thought to be carrying any hazardous material. On Twitter, cops added: Central team 1193 have been dealing with an overturned lorry on the A11 at Thetford all morning. Story continues Whilst dealing they have also reported 13 drivers, majority HGV drivers, for driving and using their mobile phones to take photographs of the RTC [road traffic collision]. Other people responded to the polices social media messages calling for a crackdown on drivers using their phones while behind the wheel. Dubai (AFP) - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman embarked Thursday on a regional tour starting with the United Arab Emirates, his first official trip abroad since critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder tipped the kingdom into crisis. Prince Mohammed will visit a "number of brotherly" Arab states at the request of his father, King Salman, the royal court said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, without naming the countries. Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed welcomed him on his first stop in the UAE, a close ally that is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen, according to the Emirati state news agency WAM. The two leaders discussed "regional and international" developments and the "challenges and threats facing the Middle East region", WAM said, without elaborating. The prince is also set to travel to the Tunisian capital on Tuesday, a presidential source in Tunis told AFP. The regional tour, just before the crown prince is expected to attend the G20 summit in Argentina next week, comes as international pressure has mounted on Riyadh over the grisly murder of Washington Post columnist Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. The Saudi insider-turned-critic was killed and dismembered in what Saudi Arabia said was a "rogue" operation, but CIA analysis leaked to the US media pointed the finger at Prince Mohammed. US President Donald Trump on Tuesday glossed over the CIA's reported conclusion that the crown prince had authorised the killing, saying Washington would not slacken its support for the kingdom. - Prince and Erdogan could meet - Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet with Prince Mohammed on the sidelines of the G20 summit, according to a Turkish presidential spokesman. Such a meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between the two since the killing that has tainted the image of both the crown prince and the kingdom. Story continues Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed. Saudi Arabia has said that 21 people are in custody, with death penalties sought against five men, but attention remains focused on whether the crown prince ordered the murder despite the kingdom's denials. The European Union on Thursday called for those "really responsible" to be held to account. Calling for a "completely transparent and credible investigation", the EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said: "For us accountability does not mean revenge." Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Wednesday said criticism of Prince Mohammed is a "red line", and that calls for him to be held accountable for the murder would not be tolerated. But keeping up the international pressure on Riyadh, Denmark on Thursday suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the murder, the second country to do so after Germany. Separately on Thursday, the French foreign ministry said it would impose sanctions against 18 Saudi citizens over Khashoggi's murder. bur-dm-mah-ac/dl After all the Black Friday deals are done drawing customers into big-box retailers across the country, owners of more independent shops will be looking for some love, too. Thats why American Express (AXP) launched the Small Business Saturday initiative in 2010 to help local stores struggling during the recession by encouraging customers to bring more holiday shopping to small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Since its inception, customers have spent an estimated total of $85 billion at independent retailers and restaurants, according to American Express. We commissioned a county-level economic analysis to provide a closer look at the economic benefits of shopping locally, Walter Frye, American Express VP of Global Brand Engagement, tells Yahoo Finance. The analysis found that approximately 67 cents of every dollar spent at a small business remains in the local community, so consumers local impact during the important holiday shopping season could be significant. Ninety-one percent of consumers polled for the 2018 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey believe it is more important than ever to support small businesses this holiday season, and 83 percent plan to do at least some portion of their holiday shopping at a small, independently owned retailer or restaurant, either in person or online. Small Business Saturday is interesting because it doesnt seem to be, on the surface of it, something that would work, Sarah McNally, owner of bookstore McNally Jackson in New York City, tells Yahoo Finance. But it works. It oddly just works. Every Small Business Saturday, all of my stores do extremely well. What its like for the little guy For McNally, being a small-business owner has been a constant learning experience. I was 29 when I opened this store. I wasnt thinking about money, I was thinking about books, she says. I feel like Im being forced to play outside of my core strengths in a lot of areas. I need to know a lot about the real estate market. Im a book person, but suddenly I also have to be a real estate person. Theres a lot you have to know about money. Story continues At nearby Teich Toys and Books, owner Allison McGowan has faced some challenges as well. Like all retail stores, we struggle from competition with the internet, McGowan says. But we consider ourselves toy experts, so if you come into our store were going to help you find the perfect gift for a child in your life. You cant really find that on the internet. McGowan, who opened her store four-and-a-half years ago, embraces Small Business Saturday and looks forward to it every year. In my experience, weve gotten a really positive response to Small Business Saturday, she says. People want to support small businesses, and when there is something there to remind them that the holidays are coming and they should shop locally, they definitely respond. More than just a store Both owners stress the importance of community relations when it comes to running a small business. You have something like a bookstore, as soon as you open it, it becomes a public trust, McNally says. When I say I own McNally-Jackson, it always feels ridiculous. Bookstores are representative of community spaces that are part of the public trust. Its almost like opening a church or community center, to a certain degree. For McGowan, being able to identify with her customers is key. There are lots of families in this neighborhood, and theyve been incredibly welcoming to us, she says. Im a local mom just like my customers, and so when I am choosing stuff for the store, Im coming from that perspective of being a local mom and what I know my community is looking for. And people really seem to appreciate that. Shop small, eat small Retail stores arent the only businesses that benefit from Small Business Saturday. The initiative also spotlights locally owned restaurants and cafes. Carlos Suarez, owner of Rosemarys Restaurant and three other eateries in Manhattans Greenwich Village, has observed the changing habits of diners around the holiday season. Five years ago, I dont think many restaurants were open for Thanksgiving, and now its actually quite common, and all our restaurants are packed on Thanksgiving, he tells Yahoo Finance. Operating restaurants here in the West Village is a lot of fun. The neighborhood here is amazing, he says. Obviously its not for the faint of heart. Its a pretty grueling business, given the hours. Its nonstop. But the decision to get into this business was entirely fueled by passion for hospitality and for food. Its that passion that I find so rewarding in working in this industry. Follow Ned Ehrbar on Twitter. Read more: This story was originally published on November 22, 2018 as Why you should shop locally on Small Business Saturday Editors note: From November 19-30, Yahoo Finance Canada will be highlighting the best of Canadian innovation in a series called The Future Is Now. Well be bringing into the spotlight some of the companies and individuals that arent just pushing the limits, theyre creating new ones, for themselves and investors alike. Well be shining the spotlight on homegrown talent in the fields of satellite technology, autonomous vehicles, wearable tech and more. Check out our hub page for even more coverage and let us know in the comments: Which companies do you think represent the best of Canada looking toward the future? A sister satellite called CASE is set to be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Indias Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle later this month. Canadian satellite company Kepler Communications Inc. is proving theres room for the little guy in space. The Toronto-based startup rocketed past major milestones this fall, securing approval for U.S. market access from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and landing US$16 million in a Series A round of financing led by Costanoa Ventures. The company is also counting down to the launch of its second satellite near the end of the month. (The exact date is a closely guarded secret.) For the cost of building a software company, weve built a space company, Keplers 29-year-old chief executive Mina Mitry told Yahoo Finance Canada in an interview. Thinking big while being small has been a theme throughout the fast-growing firms brief three-year history. Right now, Kepler has just one nanosatellite in orbit. Its about the size of a loaf of bread. Its the first member of a constellation that could grow to 140-strong. CELLULAR TOWERS IN SPACE Kepler is basically a phone carrier in space. Its low-Earth orbit satellite acts like a cellular tower, beaming around data from oil tankers, rail cars, icebreakers, and shipping containers located anywhere on the globe on a single network. The satellites orbit is about 600 kilometres above Earth, well below the 35,000-kilometre range of traditional satellites. Less distance means more speed for customers moving large amounts of CCTV data or weather information, for example. According to Mitry, Keplers network is up to 10 times faster than traditional satellites. Keplers maiden satellite, named KIPP, was launched into low-Earth orbit last January from a Chinese Long March 11 rocket. KIPP may be alone for now, but its covering a lot of ground. Our satellite is moving at 7.4 kilometres per second, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes. Well see every location around the world in a given day, Mirty said. Thats with one satellite. With more satellites the frequency by which we visit locations around the world is improved. As we build towards our 140 satellite constellation, it gets to the point of connecting in real time. Story continues Kepler has raised close to $30 million to date from venture capital and banks, Mirty said. The bulk of that money is earmarked for producing and launching more bread-sized satellites to grow the network. Meanwhile, KIPP is generating revenue on its own, serving customers on icebreakers, to tourism companies and scientific organizations. Thats really helped to bolster our fundraising efforts, Mirty said. Traditionally, the satellite communication industry tends to be one where they have to build the entire network before they can recognize a dollar of revenue from customers. A sister satellite called CASE is set to be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Indias Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle later this month. On launch day, Mirty and his staff will watch with a mix of anxiety and pride from the companys downtown Toronto office as the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle carries CASE into orbit. Its incredibly gratifying, he said of the launch day experience. The atmosphere is obviously tense. We have our dedicated operations team that focuses strictly on the satellite as soon as it emerges out of the rocket. Theyre almost separated from the rest of the team just to keep them focused on the tasks at hand. Everyone else is just strapped in and watching, hoping for the best. A third satellite called TARS is also expected to blast into space in the second half of 2019 to support Keplers internet of things (IoT) connectivity service. The company has partnered with Germanys Deutsche Bahn, the largest railcar operator in Europe, to deliver unique IoT connectivity solutions within its business units. Keplers maiden satellite, named KIPP, was launched into low-Earth orbit last January from a Chinese Long March 11 rocket. KIPP may be alone for now, but its covering a lot of ground. A CONSTELLATION OF COMPETITION Keplers planned constellation wont be alone up there. Elon Musks SpaceX, as well as two other companies, also received FCC approval to deliver satellite services in the U.S. on the same day as Kepler. SpaceXs plan is reported to call for more than 4,400 satellites, with the aim of beginning deployment by the end of 2019. Mirty anticipates Kepler will stand out next to larger aerospace rivals thanks to its focus on connecting internet of things-based equipment and machines, as well as trade secrets that keep its satellites small and costs low. Most people in the world will believe that it takes a team of one hundred, and hundreds of millions of dollars to build a company in the aerospace sector, he said. The proof is ultimately in the outcomes. Weve had our satellite operate in orbit for almost a year. Kepler currently has about 20 employees. The company was born out of the award-winning University of Toronto Aerospace Team in 2015, and has doubled its headcount every year, Mirty said. He expects that trend to continue as entry barriers fall in the aerospace industry, and smaller firms take their place next to well-funded government agencies and giant corporations. As the space economy is starting to expand and become more commercially used, we (will) start moving away from exploration of space into settlement of space. We are already starting to see signs of that, Mirty said. The initial cellphone tower networks that were laid on the ground here are powering our entire digital ecosystem and the apps that we use day-to-day. Thats what we want to do for space. UPDATE: Kepler Communications successfully launched their second wideband satellite to low-Earth orbit on the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C43 mission that lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India on Nov. 29, 2018, at 06:20:09 a.m. UTC (01:20 a.m. EST). @KeplerComms successfully launched and confirmed health of satellite, CASE!! Applauds to the team and partners who did a stellar job in this mission! https://t.co/4lwWdwrGB8#space #launch #satellites pic.twitter.com/VhQtwWdDxg Kepler Communication (@KeplerComms) November 29, 2018 Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Geneva (AFP) - The world's biggest economies slapped import restrictions on nearly half a trillion dollars' worth of trade over the past six months, the World Trade Organization said Thursday, voicing "serious concern". Forty new import barriers were erected by G20 states between mid-May and mid-October this year -- six times more than during the preceding six months -- impacting $481 billion in trade, a fresh WTO report showed. That was the highest figure recorded since the WTO started calculating the measure in 2012. "The report's findings should be of serious concern for G20 governments and the whole international community," WTO chief Roberto Azevedo said in a statement. "Further escalation remains a real threat," he warned, calling for an immediate reversal of the trend. "If we continue along the current course, the economic risks will increase, with potential effects for growth, jobs and consumer prices around the world," Azevedo said. An average of eight new restrictions on international trade, including tariff increases, import bans and export duties, were imposed by the big economies each month, the report showed. The report appears to show the impact of US President Donald Trump's relentlessly confrontational trade policy, including launching a trade war with China and slapping stiff tariffs on steel and alumium imports from many countries. On Wednesday, the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body agreed to review complaints from a range of countries over the US tariffs, as well as Washington's complaints over retaliatory duties. "The WTO is doing all it can to support efforts to de-escalate the situation, but finding solutions will require political will and it will require leadership from the G20," Azevedo said. Sofia Vergara has lots to brag about these days. Shes Forbess highest-paid TV actress of 2018, making a whopping $42.5 million. Its the seventh year in a row shes reached the coveted top spot. Lets not forget, shes also married to one of Hollywoods hottest stars, Joe Manganiello. The two tied the knot on Nov. 22, 2015. The beautiful couple makes us all sorts of jealous with their picture-perfect Instagram posts. And those sweet captions remind us of our favorite rom-com movies awww. The sexy Latina can also add a booming career to her many accomplishments. September marked Vergaras 10th season on Modern Family. At 17, the Colombian-born actress booked her first gig, in a Pepsi commercial. Judging by this picture, were guessing she didnt have an awkward phase. In 2009, Vergara scored the gig of a lifetime playing Modern Familys Gloria Delgado-Pritchett. The comedic role has had a strong cultural impact for Latinas. I play [Gloria] the way I see my mother and my aunt behave as Latin women. And now the writers know more about the Latin culture than when I started doing the show, and they know me better too, she told Time in 2014. Outside of the small screen, the 46-year-old icon is growing a business empire. She has a perfume collection, is the face of CoverGirl, does Head & Shoulders ads, and recently launched a womens underwear subscription service called EBY (Empowered By You). Ten percent of net sales go toward loans for female entrepreneurs. I wasnt thinking I was going to be a role model for women, so I embrace it, she told Forbes. Another reason to love her. Story continues Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Follow Yahoo Entertainments La Lista: Latinx on Instagram and Facebook. La Lista celebrates all things Latinx from celebrities to culture to lifestyle. Havana (AFP) - Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez maintained his threat to scupper Britain's draft deal to exit the European Union following a meeting with UK counterpart Theresa May on Thursday. "After my conversation with Theresa May, our positions remain far away. My government will always defend the interests of Spain. If there are no changes, we will veto Brexit," Sanchez wrote on Twitter after arriving for a historic state visit to Cuba. Madrid is seeking a guaranteed veto on post-Brexit relations between the EU and Gibraltar, the British enclave on Spain's southern tip. Spain wants to retain what it sees as its right to negotiate the future of Gibraltar with Britain on a bilateral basis, which would give it an effective veto. An original clause in the draft deal stipulated that after the UK left the bloc, any agreement between Britain and the EU could only apply to Gibraltar if it had previously been negotiated on a bilateral basis with Spain. However that clause has since disappeared form the final draft. Although the legal service of the EU Council has tried to reassure Spain that the current text does not preclude this, Madrid wants that veto power clearly spelled out. May is due to sign a treaty with EU leaders to leave the bloc on Sunday, but Spain holds the power to prevent that from happening. "The negotiations are now at a critical moment, and all our efforts must be focused on working with our European partners to bring this process to a final conclusion," May told Britain's parliament, defending her draft deal. Gibraltar is a tiny 2.6 square mile (6.8 square kilometer) territory that is home to about 30,000 people. It was ceded to the British crown in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht that ended the War of the Spanish Succession with a more general agreement to preserve the balance of power in Europe. Earlier on Thursday, Gibraltar's chief minister accused Spain of being heavy-handed. "Spain does not need a veto to get us to a table," Fabian Picardo told the local parliament. The eurozone's fourth-largest economy "does not need a whip to get the smallest economy in Europe to sit around the table with it and have a meaningful discussion about cooperation," he added. A revolutionary Star Trek-style electric plane that flies silently and has no moving parts has completed its first test flight, in what is being hailed as one of the most significant advances in flight since the early experiments of the Wright brother more than 100 years ago. The battery-powered plane, which was developed and tested by engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, is not kept in flight by propellers or a turbine but by an ionic wind system. The 16ft aircraft is completely silent and colliding electrically charged air molecules provide the thrust needed to make it fly, opening the door to new generation of emissions-free passenger aircraft and silent drones. Professor Steven Barrett, lead researcher on the project at MIT in Massachusetts, told the Telegraph that the planes first flight, which is detailed in the journal Nature, was super exciting. The battery-powered plane, which was developed and tested by engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology is powered by an ionic wind system He said: This is the first time an aeroplane with no moving parts has flown. Its taken nine years of work to get here, and its a hundred years since the ionic wind was first discovered. In the tests, the battery-powered unmanned aircraft, that weighs just five pounds, managed sustained flights of 197 ft in an MIT gym hall. Professor Barrett was inspired to launch the project after watching sci-fi series Star Trek as a child. He was especially impressed by the show's futuristic shuttle crafts that skimmed through space with "just a blue glow and silently glide". The project was inspired by the shuttlecraft featued in sci-fi series Star Trek Credit: Sportsphoto Agency "This made me think, in the long-term future, planes shouldn't have propellers and turbines," he said. "They should be more like the shuttles in Star Trek." Ionic wind, also known as electroaerodynamic thrust, was first identified in the 1920s and explored by scientists and engineers in the US and at Britains Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough in the 1960s, but they were only able to produce very low levels of thrust, insufficient for flight. Story continues To overcome this obstacle, the MIT test aircraft carries an array of thin wires strung beneath the front end of its wings. A high voltage current passed through the wires via a lightweight power converter strips negatively charged electrons from surrounding air molecules. This produces a cloud of positively charged ionised air molecules that are attracted to another set of negatively charged wires at the back of the plane, like a giant magnet attracting iron filings As they flow towards the negative charge, the ions collide millions of times with other air molecules, creating the thrust that pushes the aircraft forward. One of the biggest challenges faced by the MIT team was designing a power supply that would generate 40,000 volts from the plane's battery output, one of the biggest stumbling blocks in adapting the technology for large-scale commercial use. Prof Barrett told the Telegraph that while it will take several decades for the technology to be advanced enough to power passenger aircraft, unmanned aircraft with wingspan of up to 80 ft will be possible in the "nearer term". The silent aircraft has obvious applications as a stealth drone, as it would not be detected by infrared scanners. Defence giant Lockheed Martin has reportedly already expressed interest in the project. Guy Gratton, an aerospace engineer and visiting professor at Cranfield University, said: It's clearly very early days: but the team at MIT have done something we never previously knew was possible, in using accelerated ionised gas to propel an aircraft. Aeronautical engineers around the world are already trying hard to find ways to use electric propulsion, and this technology will offer something else that in the future may allow manned and unmanned aircraft to be more efficient, and non-polluting. There were 98 minutes during which the very fate of the United States seemed, to some, to hang in the balance. On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. But, as the nation grappled with the violent and world-changing event, the U.S. proved that the shock would not disrupt the normal course of government: just a little over an hour and a half after JFK was declared dead, his Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the new President, aboard Air Force One in Love Field. Technically, Johnson had become President the moment that Kennedy died, TIME reported the next week. But with that ceremony, President Johnson seemed to realize for the first time that the transfer of responsibility was real. To ensure the world would see that America forged ahead in the midst of tragedy, the moment was captured on film, as seen above. Johnson is clearly the central figure in the image, for good reason. Hes flanked by two other recognizable figures, the bloodstained First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, to his left, and his wife Lady Bird Johnson, the new First Lady, to his right. But theres another woman in the picture with an important role in this moment in history: Texas federal judge Sarah T. Hughes, in the lower-left corner with her back to the camera. Shes the one swearing in Johnson an act that made her the first woman ever to swear in a President, just one of the milestones in her trailblazing career. Born in Baltimore as Sarah Tilghman, she had graduated from Goucher College and in the 1920s worked as one of the few female cops in Washington, D.C., to put herself through George Washington University Law School at night. She met her husband, a Texan, at the school, and they moved to the Dallas area after graduation. After having trouble finding a law firm that would hire a woman, one firm let her use office space for free in exchange for her services as a receptionist, and a partner at the firm referred some cases to her, according to Darwin Paynes biography of Hughes, Indomitable Sarah. In 1930, she became the youngest woman elected to the states legislature when she was elected to the Texas House of Representatives at the age of 34. During her three terms, she fought for women to serve on juries there, a civic role from which they were at the time barred. In 1935, she became the first female state district judge in 1935 when Texas Governor James Allred appointed her to the 14th District Court in Dallas. Story continues In January of 1961, she told Vice President Johnson, a fellow Texan, that she wanted to be a federal judge. Johnson struggled to convince Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to nominate her for a Federal District Court judgeship, in part because of personal tensions between the two, and in part because RFK reportedly thought she was too old at 65. (She was an outlier for another reason, too: In early 1965, only three out of 412 federal judgeships were held by women, including Hughes; overall, 300 of the nations total 8,748 judges at the time were women.) Johnson nominated another man for the post, but Hughes had one more card to play. She had the support of Texas Congressman Sam Rayburn, who was also the Speaker of the House. According to LBJ biographer Robert Caros The Passage of Power, he held up a bill that RFK thought would sail through the House Judiciary Committee. That bill of yours will pass when Sarah Hughes gets appointed, Caro quotes the Speaker as saying. When RFK, who was then around 36, brought up Hughess age, the Speaker reportedly responded, Sonny, everybody seems old to you. Caro writes, Ms. Hughes appointment was announced the next day. Johnson was overseas when that change of heart happened and was outraged that he was left out of the exchange, and embarrassed about having to rescind his word to the male lawyer he promised the gig to, reportedly telling President Kennedy, Sarah Hughes now thinks Im nothing. The lawyer I offered the job to he thinks Im the biggest liar and fool in the history of the State of Texas. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter After JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Johnson specifically wanted to be sworn in by Hughes and ordered his protege, a U.S. Attorney known as Barefoot Sanders, to bring Hughes to Air Force One so she could administer the oath of office. There are scholars who say Johnson summoned her to swear him in on a plane full of Kennedys as an act of revenge, because RFK had tried to block her federal judgeship appointment, says Randall B. Woods, author of LBJ: Architect of American Ambition, but he thinks its more likely she was just the person who made sense. Who else would he have called? Shes a federal district court judge for the Northern District of Texas, which includes Dallas. Hughes herself claimed it was more personal than that in an interview conducted in 1968 for the Lyndon Baines Johnson Librarys collection of oral histories. As she put it, other local federal judges were essentially off-limits one, Joe Estes, had been an Eisenhower Democrat and one, T. Whitfield Davidson, had enjoined the Democratic executive committee from certifying Johnsons name when he was nominated for the Senate. But aboard Air Force One on Nov. 22, 1963, there was no time for grudges. Johnson merely told Jacqueline Kennedy that I was a district judge who had been appointed by her husband, she recalled. None of us said anything. Hughes continued to make history after that moment on the plane. In 1970, she was part of the three-judge district court panel that ruled that Texas abortion ban violated the rights of a woman known as Jane Roe; that case went on to the U.S. Supreme Court, which affirmed in Roe v. Wade (1973) that it was unconstitutional to prohibit abortions. Hughes died on Apr. 23, 1985, after a stroke, in Dallas, at the age of 88. And she would probably rather be remembered for her impact on judicial and presidential history, rather than specifically as someone who broke new ground for women. The sooner we get to consider women as individuals rather than as women, the better it will be, she told TIME in 1965. All women are not alike, just as all men are not alike. Mitrovica (Kosovo) (AFP) - Kosovo's move to slap Serbian imports with a 100 percent tariff triggered a new surge of tensions between the former war foes on Thursday, with Pristina ignoring European Union calls to reverse the decision. Kosovo's Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj insisted the massive tariff would remain "until Serbia recognises Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state". That is a red line for Belgrade, which has refused for a decade to recognise the independence of its former southern province, which broke away in a bloody guerilla war. Kosovo announced the tariff on both Serbian and Bosnian goods -- though excluding international brands -- on Wednesday after accusing Belgrade of sabotaging its bid to join Interpol, the international police organisation. Serbia has long fought to thwart Kosovo, which is home to an ethnic Albanian majority, from joining international organisations like the United Nations. On Thursday there was anxiety in Kosovo's north that the tariff would trigger a price surge. "Today I took a few bottles of oil, flour and sugar, just to have them because I do not know how long this will last," said Milanka, a pensioner living in the city of Mitrovica, which is divided by its ethnic Albanian and ethnic Serb populations. "This is not good, they are playing with people," she added. Serbia accounts for more than half of the region's exports to Kosovo. But Belgrade has warned that the tariff amounts to a de facto trade ban. It has already reduced the trade flow, said Kosovo's customs spokesman Adriatik Stavileci, adding that 20 trucks carrying Serbian and Bosnian goods had turned around at the border. Belgrade newspapers were also absent on the stands in Mitrovica. "We cannot bear this 100 percent tax increase, so there are no newspapers today," explained Zvezdan Mihajlovic, who works for a firm that delivers papers to the city. - 'Playing with fire' - Story continues In Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the government had information Kosovo security forces were being mobilised towards the north, home to a Serb minority. Vucic questioned whether Pristina may try "to prevent any movement of goods to Kosovo's Serb communities," reported regional broadcaster N1. But a northern Kosovo police commander, Besim Hoti, denied the allegations. "There are no police enforcements in the north, nor are the police and customs personnel strengthened at the crossings with Serbia. The situation is normal," Hoti told AFP. The tariff is the latest twist in a long-running diplomatic feud between the neighbours. They have been in EU-led talks to normalise their relations for several years, but tit-for-tat measures have stalled progress and periodically raised tensions. Vucic has said Serbia would not resume its dialogue with Kosovo until the measure is dropped, while EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has called on Kosovo to "immediately revoke" the tariff. Florian Bieber, a professor of Southeast European studies at the University of Graz in Austria, said the move appeared to be one of the neighbours' "episodical incidents of escalation" that could settle down soon. "But I think with any of them, there's always a risk it could get out of control," he told AFP. "It's playing with fire." Kosovo broke away from Serbia in a bloody guerilla war that killed more than 13,000 people in 1998-99, mostly ethnic Albanians. The conflict was halted after a NATO bombing campaign forced Serb troops to withdraw from Kosovo. Barack Obama has surprised volunteers at a Chicago food bank with an unannounced visit to help prepare Thanksgiving meals. The former president arrived with bags of donated food and donned latex gloves to work side by side with volunteers at the non-profit organisation, which helps provide meals to more than 700 food pantries and shelters across Cook County, Illinois. Mr Obama who helped bag potatoes brought staff from his Obama foundation with him. The foundation seeks to improve communities across America by offering leadership training and other programmes. Mr Obama still lives in Washington DC but the former Illinois senator is in Chicago to attend the Obama Foundation Summit, a gathering of community leaders and students. We believe no one should go hungry, especially this time of year, and thats why were working to address the root causes of hunger in Chicago and Cook County, the Greater Chicago Food Depository tweeted, along with a video of the surprise visit. I am grateful for the next generation of leaders -- the young people who are tolerant, creative, idealistic and doing the work to create the world as it should be. Who understand that hope requires action. From the Obama family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving. https://t.co/AbjXUwCh6z Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 21, 2018 The video has been viewed almost two million times. You guys are doing such a great job helping out, Mr Obama told one young volunteer. Im really proud of you. Mr Obama tweeted about the visit on Wednesday, saying that he is grateful for the next generation of leaders... who understand that hope requires action. Mr Obama has volunteered on a number of occasions around Thanksgiving. While still in the White House in 2015, Mr Obama was joined by the whole first family to serve dinner to the local homeless population and veterans at Friendship Place Homeless Center in Washington DC. On that day, Mr Obama was in charge of serving turkey and gravy, while then-First Lady Michelle Obama served up vegetables. Daughters Sasha and Malia gave out mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberries. Jeremy Corbyn has dismissed Theresa Mays agreement on post-Brexit ties with the EU as 26 pages of waffle. The Prime Minister told MPs that Brexit is within our grasp after agreeing the text of the political declaration, which outlines the future relationship between Britain and the EU after the UK leaves. The text has been widely criticised for its lack of detail, which defers a number of crucial decisions until the post-Brexit transition period. Speaking in the Commons, the Prime Minister emphasised that the deal would end free movement and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May at the EU headquarters in Brussels. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) During a heated exchange the Labour leader responded with a stinging attack, calling it the worst of both worlds. What on earth has the Government been doing? he said. This is the blindfold Brexit we all feared a leap in the dark. Whats the latest? A beefed-up version of the political declaration was leaked today following a meeting between the PM and the European Commission President last night. A shorter version of the declaration was published last week along with the draft withdrawal agreement. Mrs May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met to finalise the text, which sets out the UK and EUs shared intentions for issues including trade and security. European politicians were shown the document today and it was swiftly passed on to the press. Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement about Brexit outside 10 Downing Street, London. (PA Images) Theresa May briefed her Cabinet on the contents over the phone and made a statement outside number 10, in which she said the deal delivers on the vote of the referendum, it brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws and it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom. Whats in the agreement? The 26-page document kicks the can down the road on a number of crucial details about alignment between the UK and the Union. Much is left to be resolved during the transition period, set to end on 31 December 2020. Story continues The text pledges a trading relationship on goods that is as close as possible a noticeable step-down from the frictionless trade previously promised by the Government. But the 26 pages are vague on exactly how customs arrangements will work after Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn called the political declaration 26 pages of waffle. (PA Images) The document commits to seeking technical solutions to minimise border checks, particularly between Ireland and Northern Ireland. This is seen as a move to earn support among Eurosceptics, including Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who have insisted numerous times that a hard border in Ireland can be avoided by using technology. HMRC has warned that hard Brexiteers technology plans would cost 20 billion a year to implement, and a number of experts have said that the systems will not be ready in time. The deliberately vague wording will make the agreement easier to sell to discontented MPs, who are concerned about handing over too much power to Brussels. What have people said? In a major blow to Mrs May Brexiteers have already poured cold water over the plans. Prominent Eurosceptic Iain Duncan Smith said that the mention of possible technical solutions to the Irish border problem were not sufficient to stop him and his colleagues from voting down the deal in Parliament. Brexit-backing former Cabinet minister Priti Patel said: Everything the EU wanted from the negotiations has ended up in the withdrawal agreement, which is a legally enforceable international treaty. Everything the UK wanted has been put in an unenforceable, meaningless declaration. And its cost us 39 billion. This is a costly surrender by the UK Government. Labour has been similarly unsupportive, saying the deal fails the six Brexit tests they are insisting on to support an agreement. Theresa May claims to read out Labours six tests, missing out crucial parts and missing some entirely. Here they are and to be clear as @jeremycorbyn said, this deal fails them and we will vote against. pic.twitter.com/bxdHM1IMHd Labour Whips (@labourwhips) November 22, 2018 Business leaders have offered a glimmer of hope. The CBIs deputy director general Josh Hardie said: It appears that were on the cusp of a much-needed agreement. This shows a deal can be done and businesses across the continent will be watching this weekends EU summit closely. The progress made is a credit to both sets of negotiators. But hard work lies ahead. A 20-page vision needs to become a 2,000-page agreement that secures trade and jobs before the spectre of no deal can be put to rest. What happens next? Theresa May will head back to Brussels at the weekend for a special summit where the EU27 leaders and the PM hope to formally agree the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration. Back in the UK, the agreements will be put to Parliament for a meaningful vote where MPs will be able to express their approval or otherwise for the deal. So far more the 80 Tories have publicly said they will vote it down. The DUP looks likely to withdraw their support and Labour MPs will be whipped to vote against. So its highly unlikely the Commons will vote in favour, and it is unclear what will happen afterwards. Baghdad (AFP) - Prominent Kurdish leader Massud Barzani met with Iraqi premier Adel Abdel Mahdi in Baghdad on Thursday during his first visit to the capital in over two years. Barzani's visit is seen as another sign of an improvement in relations between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan that deteriorated sharply after the autonomous region held an independence referendum last year. The prime minister's office announced the meeting just after noon on Thursday, sharing a photograph of Barzani dressed in a dark grey suit instead of his usual Kurdish garb. Barzani previously served as the Iraqi Kurds' president and now heads the prominent Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which emerged victorious in regional parliamentary elections in September. Last year's independence vote saw more than 92 percent of Kurds back secession, but the federal government rejected the poll as "illegal," imposed economic penalties and seized the disputed Kirkuk oil fields, halting exports. But since Abdel Mahdi was appointed premier in October, relations appear to have improved between Baghdad and Kurdish leaders in the regional capital Arbil. Barzani's favoured candidate Fuad Hussein was appointed Iraq's minister of finance later that month, and the two sides announced a deal last week to resume Kirkuk oil exports. "It's very important for us to have good, smooth relations between Arbil and Baghdad. We've seen a huge improvement on all levels," Abdel Mahdi told reporters on Wednesday. According to an Iraqi official with knowledge of the visit, the pair are expected to discuss the lagging government formation process and the Kurdistan region's share of the federal budget. "An initial agreement has been reached on the budget," the official told AFP. Iraq's parliament in March passed a budget that saw Kurdistan's slice of the federal budget drop from 17 percent to 12.6 percent. Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) - US President Donald Trump hinted on Thursday he might soon visit American troops in Afghanistan for the first time. Addressing servicemembers in a Thanksgiving telephone conference, the president told one colonel deployed to the country: "I'll see you back when you're in the United States or maybe I'll see you over there." Questioned later by journalists on whether he would make the trip, the president simply said: "At the appropriate time, we'll be doing some very interesting thing." While 14,000 US military personnel remain deployed in Afghanistan 17 years after the war began in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Republican president has yet to make a visit after nearly two years in office. Presidential trips to conflict zones are usually kept secret until the last minute. Trump also said the US is currently in "very, very strong negotiations" regarding Afghanistan. "We are talking about peace," he said, without explicitly confirming if those talks were directly with the Taliban. "If something happens, that would be a great thing. I would be very happy about that," he added. The Taliban say they have had at least three meetings with US officials in Qatar in recent months, but the US has neither confirmed nor denied these direct talks. The US special adviser to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said recently he was cautiously optimistic about the possibility of a peace agreement ahead of the country's election on April 20. Maritime Deployments to Deepen UK-Ukraine Defence Partnership The page you requested is only available to subscribers. 1. If you are a Premium Service subscriber, please log in here to access this story: Log-in : Password : 2. If you are not a subcriber, you can: -- buy access to this page: unlimited access for seven days costs 3.00 EUR + VAT (at 20%) if applicable. Clicking on the "Ok" button below will place the item in your shopping cart and return you to our home page, where you will be able to select additional stories. -- select additional stories and services from our home page and pay for them at the same time. -- see your shopping cart. You can also see the contents of your shopping cart at any time by clicking on the "Order" tab on the navigation bar at the top of any page, or by clicking on the "Your order" light blue link in the top right-hand corner of our home page, immediately under the log-on box. The Trump administration is preparing to unveil a plan that would force asylum seekers from Central America to wait in Mexico while their applications are being processed, according to a report late Wednesday in The Washington Post. The proposal, dubbed Remain in Mexico, would be a dramatic change in government policy, which currently allows those seeking political asylum to remain in the United States while their applications are processed. The Post, citing planning documents and three sources within the Department of Homeland Security, said that under President Donald Trumps new plan anyone who couldnt prove a reasonable fear of persecution in Mexico would be required to wait there. Its unclear if the policy would survive a court challenge, and a federal judge this week ordered the government to process all asylum applications after the Trump administration attempted to bar anyone in the U.S. illegally from doing so. DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman told the Post in a statement that there were no urgent plans to implement the policy, saying every single legal option is on the table to secure our nation and to deal with the flood of illegal immigrants at our borders. DHS is not implementing such a new enforcement program this week, Waldman said. Reporting on policies that do not exist creates uncertainty and confusion along our borders and has a negative real world impact. A girl traveling with the migrant caravan talks with her father after taking a bath Wednesday at a shelter in Tijuana, Mexico. (Photo: Ramon Espinosa/ASSOCIATED PRESS) The Post, however, noted that the policy could go into effect as soon as Friday, midway through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, while the president is vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. BuzzFeed News reported last week that the White House was considering ways to force people to wait outside the country. Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Citizenship and Immigration Services reportedly met to discuss what kind of regulation could be implemented. The news comes after a whirlwind several weeks in which the president lambasted a caravan of migrants traveling from Central America on foot, up through the subcontinent and into Mexico, with plans of applying for asylum at the United States southern border. The caravan grew to include several thousand people, many fleeing violence, but Trump painted those traveling in the group as gang members and criminals. He also deployed thousands of military troops to the border, many of whom are still there. Story continues The presidents critics accused him of fearmongering in an attempt to drum up votes ahead of this months midterm elections, and he has barely mentioned the caravan since the Nov. 6 election. Many members of the caravan are now close to the border, in Tijuana, effectively in limbo as they wait for interviews to begin their asylum applications or for word on the governments new policies. The Post notes that Trump has remained furious with current federal policy that allows asylum seekers to remain in the U.S. while their applications are pending, dubbing it catch and release. Related Coverage Troops Sent To U.S.-Mexico Border Under Anti-Caravan Push To Start Heading Home Donald Trump Says Troops At Border Are Tough Enough To Miss Thanksgiving Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Roberta Rampton PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States was "in very strong" peace negotiations in Afghanistan but he did not known whether they would be successful. "I really think the people of Afghanistan ... are tired of fighting," Trump told reporters after delivering a Thanksgiving holiday message to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, scene of one of America's longest-ever wars. "We are talking about peace and we'll see if that happens ... We have negotiations going on. I don't know that they are going to be successful, probably they're not. Who knows? They might be, they might not be." Trump was speaking after Taliban leaders met with U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad at their political headquarters in Qatar last week for the second time in the past month. Khalilzad said on Sunday he hoped to reach a peace deal by April 20, a deadline that coincides with the date set for presidential elections in Afghanistan. However, the Taliban said their three-day meeting with Khalilzad to pave the way for peace talks ended with no agreement on any issue and they had not accepted any deadline set by the United States to wrap up talks. Khalilzad's public statement that the Taliban believe they will "not win militarily" apparently angered senior members of the group, who warned U.S. officials against mixed messages that could muddle the peace process. U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of a campaign to topple the Taliban following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Some 14,000 U.S. personnel are still there. The Taliban have strengthened their grip over the past three years, with the government in Kabul controlling just 56 percent of Afghanistan, down from 72 percent in 2015, a U.S. government report showed this month. Two senior U.S. officials confirmed this week that a second round of peace talks ended last week and the Taliban expected Khalilzad to visit Qatar for a meeting before the end of 2018. Story continues Trump hinted he may go to Afghanistan, a country he has yet to visit almost two years into his presidency, even though previous U.S. commanders-in-chief have routinely visited troops in active war zones. Trump told troops in the teleconference that while they were fighting, he was taking tough action to secure the southern borders of the United States from illegal immigration. "You are doing it over there; we are doing it over here," he said. "We have a very powerful border now ... We took old broken wall and we wrapped it with barbed wire plus ... nobody is getting through these walls and we're going to make sure they're the right people because that's what you and your family want," he said. "That's why we're all fighting you know, we're fighting for borders, we're fighting for our country." (Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Sandra Maler) President Trump lashed out at Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday, in an escalating dispute over the independence of the federal judiciary. It began the day before, when Trump attacked an appellate judge appointed by President Barack Obama, on a ruling that pushed back against the administrations policy on refugee asylum. By Roberta Rampton PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Thursday there could be a government shutdown next month over security on the border with Mexico, suggesting he could hold up a funding deal if no more money is provided for a wall between the two countries. "Could there be a shut down? There certainly could and it will be about border security, of which the wall is a part," Trump told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida. The U.S. Congress faces a deadline next month to fund parts of the federal government and a possible showdown over money for Trump's proposed border wall. Having won control of the House in midterm elections, Democrats have said they will be even less motivated than before to meet Trump's wall demands. Trump also said he had given the military the authorization to use lethal force if necessary on the border with Mexico. "If they have to they are going to use lethal force. I've given the OK - I hope they don't have to." Trump also warned that the United States could close the whole border with Mexico for a period of time "if we find that it gets to a level where we are going to lose control or our people are going to start getting hurt." This would mean Mexico will not be able to sell their cars into the United States, added Trump, who has complained about the number of cars U.S. manufacturers produce in Mexico. Vehicle exports from Mexico to the United States in 2017 totaled 2.3 million units. Ahead of U.S. congressional elections earlier this month, Trump denounced the approach of a caravan of migrants as an "invasion" that threatened American national security, and he sent thousands of U.S. troops to the border to help secure it. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday that he had been granted authority to allow troops on the Mexican border greater powers to help protect border officials, and would await direction from the Department of Homeland Security. Mattis said troops could help protect the border agents with shields and batons, but would be unarmed. Two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters this week a memo signed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly gave Mattis the authority to protect immigration agents and if necessary, could include actions like use of lethal force, crowd control, temporary detention and cursory searches. Trump has issued ultimatums about wall funding before, with little impact, even with his own Republican Party in majority control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. If the two parties cannot reach a funding deal, there would be a partial government shutdown, with so-called "essential services," including some at the Department of Homeland Security, likely remaining in operation. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton, David Brunnstrom and Chris Sanders; writing by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Susan Thomas and Nick Zieminski) Tunis (AFP) - A draft bill giving women equal inheritance rights to men is set to be submitted Friday to the Tunisian cabinet in a step towards a vote in parliament, the presidency said. Announced last month by President Beji Caid Essebsi, the proposal -- unprecedented in the Arab world -- sparked heated debate in the North African country and beyond for departing from a principle inspired by the Koran. The presidential initiative must first gain approval from cabinet ministers before heading to parliament, where it will be debated both in committee and plenary sessions. "The president will declare this bill a priority," presidential spokeswoman Saida Garrach said, adding it was expected to reach parliament "in the coming months". Garrach said it was the second time the president has proposed a law to the cabinet. The first, a controversial bill which gave amnesty to officials accused of corruption, passed in 2017. Tunisia's current inheritance system, inspired by Islamic law, stipulates that men receive double the assets given to women of the same kinship level. Under the proposed bill, Tunisians wishing to divide their assets as they see fit would still be able to do so before a notary. The draft bill is among the most hotly debated of a raft of proposed social reforms, guided by a commission the president set up a year ago. It is expected to draw fiery debate ahead of legislative and presidential elections set for late 2019, the presidency said. The Islamist Ennahdha party, the largest in parliament, has been highly critical of the proposed bill. Ankara (AFP) - Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina next week, a spokesman said Thursday, amid tensions over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder. Such a meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between Erdogan and the crown prince since the grisly killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month, which has tainted the image of the kingdom's de facto ruler. "There could be" a meeting, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said. "We're looking at the programme," Kalin said, according to state news agency Anadolu. Seeking to rally support from Arab allies ahead of the summit, Prince Mohammed on Thursday embarked on a regional tour starting with the United Arab Emirates, his first official trip abroad since Khashoggi's murder tipped the kingdom into crisis. The former court insider and Washington Post contributor was killed and dismembered in what Saudi Arabia said was a "rogue" operation, but CIA analysis leaked to the US media pointed the finger at Prince Mohammed. Saudi Arabia has said that 21 people are in custody, with death penalties sought against five men, but attention remains focused on whether the crown prince ordered the murder despite the kingdom's denials. The European Union on Thursday called for those "really responsible" to be held to account. Calling for a "completely transparent and credible investigation", the EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said: "For us accountability does not mean revenge." Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed. Erdogan and the crown prince spoke for the first time on the phone on October 24 about the case, discussing the joint efforts needed to shed light on the murder. Story continues But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has criticised Saudi officials over their lack of cooperation. - 'Victory lap' - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday glossed over the CIA's reported conclusion that the crown prince had authorised the killing, saying Washington would not slacken its support for the kingdom. Trump has admitted that the prince may have been behind the murder. Prince Mohammed, meanwhile, set off on a visit to a "number of brotherly" Arab states at the request of his father, King Salman, the royal court said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, without naming the countries. Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed welcomed him on his first stop in the UAE, a close ally that is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen, according to the Emirati state news agency WAM. The prince is also set to travel to the Tunisian capital on Tuesday, a presidential source in Tunis told AFP. "It's hard not to see this regional tour as a victory lap" after winning Trump's support, said Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. "Travelling to friendly countries effectively compels them to demonstrate their support for the crown prince, and rallies regional support ahead of the G20," Diwan told AFP. - 'Red line' - The Saudi prosecutor last week absolved the crown prince of blame for the murder of Khashoggi, a US resident since 2017 who had written critical articles and once compared Prince Mohammed to Russian President Vladimir Putin. A spokesman for the Saudi public prosecutor said Khashoggi was drugged and his body dismembered, but Turkish officials say he was strangled. The whereabouts of the body remain unknown. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Wednesday said criticism of the crown prince is a "red line", and that calls for him to be held accountable for the murder would not be tolerated. "In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line," Jubeir told the BBC. "And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince." But keeping up the international pressure on Riyadh, Denmark on Thursday suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the murder, the second country to do so after Germany. "I hope that the Danish decision can create additional momentum," Denmark's Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said. Separately, the French foreign ministry said Thursday that it would impose sanctions against 18 Saudi citizens over Khashoggi's murder. "These measures... aim to prohibit these individuals from entering national territory and the entire Schengen area" of Europe, the ministry said in a statement. Panama City (AFP) - Two sons of former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli, who is accused of collecting bribes worth millions in the wide-ranging Odebrecht scandal, were arrested in the United States, officials said Wednesday. "US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested unlawfully present Panamanian nationals Luis Martinelli-Linares and Ricardo Martinelli-Linares during a targeted enforcement operation in Coral Gables, Nov. 20," a statement issued to the media said. "Both men lawfully entered the US; however, their visas were revoked in 2017, and they have been unlawfully present in the US since that time." Martinelli governed Panama from 2009 to 2014, and was extradited from the US back to his home country in June to face charges of graft and spying on his political foes, as well as allegedly helping to embezzle $45 million from a government school lunch program. Interpol Red Notices had been issued for both of his sons, requesting their arrests pending extradition. Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, at the heart of a graft scandal which has ensnared officials across Latin America, agreed to pay Panama fines of $220 million and cooperate with authorities. Andre Campos Rabello, Odebrecht's former chief in Panama, had told a court that both Martinelli sons took bribes amounting to $6 million between 2009 and 2010. In return, they promised to facilitate the construction of infrastructure projects. Odebrecht acknowledged having paid $59 million in bribes between 2010 and 2014 to win the award of public contracts in Panama. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday said he would meet with Brazil's far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro this month in Rio de Janeiro. "Look forward to seeing Brazils next President @JairBolsonaro in Rio on November 29th. We share many bilateral interests and will work closely on expanding freedom and prosperity throughout the Western Hemisphere," Bolton wrote on Twitter. Bolsonaro, a former Army captain, said after winning Brazil's presidential election last month that he planned to visit Washington after a friendly call with U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump said he had an "excellent call" congratulating Bolsonaro and tweeted about their plans to "work closely together on trade, military and everything else!" The president-elect, who nearly died from a stab wound received on the campaign trail, said last week he would likely skip the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires set for Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 because of his poor health. Trump is due to attend the summit. Bolsonaro, who takes office on Jan. 1, was invited by Brazilian President Michel Temer to accompany him to the gathering as part of the transition to the new government. Bolsonaro's election cheered investors, but alarmed critics around the globe given his defense of Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship, vows to sweep away leftist political opponents, and a track record of denigrating comments about gay people, women and minorities. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by James Dalgleish) By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday a joint military exercise with South Korea called "Foal Eagle" would be reduced in scope next year so it does not harm diplomatic efforts with North Korea. "Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis told reporters. The Foal Eagle field exercise, which usually involves thousands of combined ground, air, naval and special operations troops, takes place every spring. Mattis did not provide details on what a scaled-back version of the exercise would entail. South Korea's defense ministry said on Thursday the allies were still in talks over next year's drill and they would formally announce their decision early next month. "Both sides' militaries are discussing ways to prop up the two governments' diplomatic efforts to bring progress on North Korea's denuclearization," spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo told a news briefing in Seoul. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed at an unprecedented summit in June to work toward denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula and establish new relations. The United States and South Korea have suspended a number of military exercises since then to encourage talks with North Korea. However, negotiations have since made little headway, with Pyongyang upset by Washington's insistence that international sanctions must remain until North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons. Trump caught many U.S. officials off guard when he announced after his summit with Kim that the United States was suspending the summer's joint military drills with South Korea, known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian. The new commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, General Robert Abrams, said in September the decision to suspend some joint exercises was a "prudent risk" but had caused a "slight degradation" in military readiness. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday the United States had told its ally South Korea it should not improve ties with North Korea faster than Pyongyang takes steps to give up its nuclear weapons. In a rare sign of discord between Seoul and Washington last month, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Pompeo had expressed "discontent" at an inter-Korean military pact reached during a summit in September. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin in SEOUL; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Paul Tait) Associated Press A former Kansas police detective, who last year sued a sheriff's deputy for running over him in a rural field, has been fatally shot by a police officer in Kansas City after disarming another officer and pointing the service weapon at both of them, police said Tuesday. Lionel Womack was killed during the encounter Monday after police received 911 calls about a man standing in a road pointing at the sky and trying to jump in front of traffic. Those officers had no choice this whole incident took place in 26 seconds," Police Chief Karl Oakman said at a news conference. U.S. District Judge William Hayes remanded Doye and Reid into custody following the guilty verdicts and set the defendants sentencing hearings for March 4. (Courtesy) A finance executive and a real estate broker were found guilty Tuesday, Nov. 20, in San Diego federal court of a slate of criminal charges for their roles in a scheme that generated nearly $50 million in fraudulently obtained loan proceeds. Following a two-week trial, a jury convicted Peter Cash Doye, 41, and 38-year-old Raquel Reid of a combined 11 counts of fraud and aggravated identity theft. Reid also was convicted of making false statements to federal agents. According to prosecutors, the two San Diego residents defrauded lenders into making loans against four multimillion-dollar mansions in La Jolla and Del Mar, then used forged documents to make it appear that the loans had been paid off so they could obtain additional funds from new lenders. Doye, a senior executive at the real estate investment firms Conix Inc. and Variant Commercial Real Estate, negotiated the financing from unsuspecting lenders and investors based on a host of lies about the collateral used to secure the loans, court documents state. To pull off the scam, Doye, Reid and other co-conspirators created forged real estate lien releases and recorded fraudulent records at the San Diego County Recorders Office, complicating the chain of title for the homes, according to evidence presented at trial. Reid, a notary public, notarized the forged documents, helping make the fraudulent paperwork appear authentic, according to prosecutors. Doyes business partner, 43-year-old Courtland Gettel of Coronado, and Arizona attorney Jeffrey Greenberg, 67, previously pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme and are serving sentences of 135 and 81 months, respectively. They also were ordered to pay more than $43 million in restitution to victims and to forfeit the proceeds of the crime. Gettel was the owner of Conix and Variant Commercial Real Estate, which refurbished single-family homes, bought distressed debt and purchased and refurbished commercial real estate projects. Doye, Gettel and Greenberg acquired the high-end homes in San Diego-area coastal communities by claiming that the residences would be used as luxury rentals and investment properties though, in fact, Gettel and Doye lived in them along with their families. When they needed money to fund other business deals, Gettel and Doye began negotiating with new lenders, pretending that the first loans never existed or had been paid off, according to court documents. Greenberg admitted that he used his expertise as a lawyer to generate and record fraudulent records, making it appear that prior loans were settled and helping close the fraudulent deals. In late 2014, the victimized lenders began to uncover the fraud and learned that their secured interests in the properties were worthless. In response to their questions, Doye, Gettel and Reid denied knowing anything about the fraudulent loans and created more bogus documents in an attempt to cover their tracks. These defendants attempted to use their significant real estate experience to pull off an egregious fraud that created serious consequences for lenders and title owners, U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman said. As this case demonstrates, federal prosecutors are fully committed to protecting the integrity of our lending system by holding such criminals accountable. U.S. District Judge William Hayes remanded Doye and Reid into custody following the guilty verdicts and set the defendants sentencing hearings for March 4. Sanaa (AFP) - The United Nations envoy will visit Yemen's embattled city of Hodeida this week, a UN source said Thursday, ahead of peace talks set for December in Sweden. Martin Griffiths, who arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Wednesday, was in the country to lay the groundwork for the upcoming negotiations aimed at ending almost four years of devastating conflict. The British diplomat is expected to visit the lifeline port city of Hodeida on Friday, a UN source told AFP. The purpose of Griffiths's visit was to encourage the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition to remain calm ahead of the talks in Stockholm, the source said. Both sides have in the past week expressed support for the envoy and his mission to hold discussions, but military officials have said intermittent clashes continued to erupt in the Red Sea city of Hodeida. Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the Huthi rebels' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, tweeted Thursday that he "hopes there is no escalation in military operations by the coalition following Griffiths's visit to Hodeida". UN agencies say up to 14 million Yemenis are at risk of starvation if fighting closes the port of Hodeida, from which nearly all imports and humanitarian aid pass. Sanaa (AFP) - A United Nations envoy met Yemen's rebel chief Thursday to nail down details of peace talks expected in December, a day before a planned visit to the battleground port city of Hodeida. Martin Griffiths, who arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Wednesday, is pushing for negotiations early next month in Sweden to help end years of conflict that have left Yemen facing famine. The diplomat's visit to Hodeida on Friday is aimed at encouraging Iran-aligned Huthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition to keep a lid on hostilities ahead of the talks in Stockholm, a UN source said. The conflict in Yemen, which escalated when the Saudi-led alliance intervened in 2015, has killed thousands and left up to 14 million Yemenis at risk of starvation according to UN agencies. Both sides have in the past week expressed support for the envoy's mission to hold discussions, and violence in the Red Sea city of Hodeida has diminished despite intermittent clashes. The port city has a crucial role as the entry point for nearly all of the country's imports and humanitarian aid. Griffiths and Yemeni rebel chief Abdulmalik al-Huthi during their meeting addressed "what can facilitate new discussions in December", rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam said on Twitter. Abdelsalam said that included "procedures needed to transport injured and sick for treatment abroad and bring them back", a key sticking point during a previous failed attempt at talks in September. Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the rebels' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, said the rebels were ready for peace. "We support peace. We are ready for peace if that is what they (the Saudi-led coalition) want," he said after also meeting Griffiths. Humanitarian organisations are desperate to see the current peace push translate into a more permanent halt to the bloodshed. The heads of the UN's humanitarian and children's agencies said the "recent de-escalation in fighting in Hodeida is providing a desperately needed respite to hundreds of thousands of civilians". Story continues "We urge all parties to maintain it," a statement by Mark Lowcock and Henrietta Fore said. - 'Fully on board' - United States Defence Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed on Wednesday peace discussions between the Huthis and the internationally-recognised government look set for "very, very early" in December. He said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- which is also a key member of the military coalition supporting the loyalists -- were "fully on board". Kuwait's Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid al-Jarallah said that the talks may happen on December 3. He added that his country -- which is currently a non-permanent UN Security Council member -- will offer "logistical support" at Sweden's request, without elaborating. Mattis last month made a surprise call for a ceasefire in Yemen and urged warring parties to enter negotiations within the next 30 days. The US has been providing bombs and other weapons, as well as intelligence support, to the Saudi-led coalition backing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, but recently ended its refuelling support for Saudi warplanes. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate has increased scrutiny of Western support for the coalition, and ramped up pressure on Riyadh. On Monday, Britain presented to the UN Security Council a draft resolution urging an immediate truce in Hodeida. The draft, circulated to the 14 other council members, and seen by AFP, sets a two-week deadline for the warring sides to remove all barriers to humanitarian aid. - UN peace efforts - The current peace push by Griffiths is the biggest effort in two years to end the war. In September, a previous round of UN-led peace talks faltered when the Huthis refused to travel to Geneva, accusing the world body of failing to guarantee their delegation's return to Sanaa or secure the evacuation of wounded rebels to Oman. Previous talks broke down in 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to yield a deal and left rebel delegates stranded in Oman for three months. A UN panel of experts has accused both the Huthis and the Saudi-led coalition of acts that could amount to war crimes. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, though some rights groups estimate the toll could be five times higher. Washington (AFP) - The US military will install observation posts along Syria's northern border with Turkey to help minimize tensions between the Turks and Washington's Kurdish allies in the fight against the Islamic State group (IS), defense secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. "We are putting in observation posts in several locations up along the... northern Syrian border," Mattis told reporters. He added that the goal was to ensure the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, "are not drawn off that fight," so "that we can crush what's left of the geographic caliphate." "They will be very clearly marked locations day and night so that the Turks know where they're at," he added, noting that the decision was taken in close cooperation with Turkey. The SDF announced on November 11 it would resume its offensive against IS after having previously called it off due to new tensions with Turkey, which had shelled its positions in northern Syria. The violence caused embarrassment for the United States, which is a key partner of the SDF, while Turkey is a NATO member and strategic ally. Syria's long-oppressed Kurdish minority has established a semi-autonomous region in the north of the country, which has been wracked by conflict since 2011. Turkey refuses to recognize the territory on its border, fearing it will exacerbate separatist ambitions of Kurds in its own country. Ankara has carried out two operations against Kurdish forces since 2016, the last against the border enclave of Afrin, which it seized in March and is now controlled by pro-Turkish Syrian rebels. US health officials warned consumers Tuesday not to eat any romaine lettuce and to throw away any they might have in their homes, citing an outbreak of E. coli poisoning. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the warning against all Romaine lettuce just two days before the Thanksgiving holiday, when American families gather and feast together. "Consumers who have any type of romaine lettuce in their home should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick," the CDC said, after 32 people were reported sick from E. coli poisoning in 11 states, with 13 of them hospitalized. One of those had suffered kidney failure. Health officials in Canada said they had also identified 18 people stricken with the same strain of food poisoning in two provinces, Ontario and Quebec. "This advice includes all types or uses of romaine lettuce, such as whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and bags and boxes of precut lettuce and salad mixes that contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad," the CDC said, noting that it had not been able to pinpoint precisely where the suspect leaves had originated. "If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine or whether a salad mix contains romaine, do not eat it and throw it away," the CDC said. It advised anyone who had stored romaine lettuce in their refrigerator to wash down the shelves where the leaves had been kept. No deaths have so far been reported. Members of one of the world's last tribes untouched by modern civilisation have killed an American who ventured illegally onto their remote island, Indian police said Wednesday. John Allen Chau, 27, was hit by a hail of arrows as he set foot on North Sentinel Island, part of the Indian Andaman Islands, last Saturday, official sources told AFP. "He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body," the source said. "They were scared and fled but returned next morning to find his body on the seashore." North Sentinel is home to the Sentinelese people, believed to number only around 150. To protect their way of life, foreigners and Indians are banned from going within three miles (five kilometres). Chau had offered local fishermen money to take him to the island, the source said. They took him some of the way and he paddled the rest in a canoe. Some Indian media suggested that Chau was a missionary seeking to convert the islanders to Christianity but a local policeman told the News Minute website this was inaccurate. "He was on a misplaced adventure in (a) prohibited area to meet uncontacted persons," Dependra Pathak told the website. Media reports also said the fishermen told a preacher in the main town of the Andamans, Port Blair, about the incident and the preacher contacted Chau's family in the United States. A spokesperson for the US consulate in the southern Indian city of Chennai told AFP only that they were aware of "reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands". - Hostile hunters - The Andamans are also home to the 400-strong Jarawa tribe who activists say are threatened by contact from outsiders. Tourists have previously bribed local officials in a bid to spend time with them. But the Sentinelese still shun all contact with the outside world and have a record of hostility to anyone who tries to get close. Story continues In 2006, two Indian fishermen who moored their boat to sleep were killed when the vessel broke loose and drifted onto North Sentinel, according to Survival International, a group protecting tribal people's rights. The Sentinelese hunt and gather in the forest, and fish in the coastal waters. The island was hit by the devastating 2004 tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean but not much is known about the impact it had on the reclusive inhabitants. After the tsunami one member of the tribe was photographed attempting to fire an arrow at an Indian Coast Guard helicopter. Indian authorities make periodic checks on the tribe from boats anchored at a safe distance from shore. Survival International, based in London, said that the "tragedy" of the American's death "should never have been allowed to happen". "The Indian authorities should have been enforcing the protection of the Sentinelese and their island for the safety of both the tribe and outsiders," it said. "Instead, a few months ago the authorities lifted one of the restrictions that had been protecting the Sentinelese tribe's island from foreign tourists, which sent exactly the wrong message, and may have contributed to this terrible event." - Arrests - Since the Indian authorities keep away from the island, it was unclear whether Chau's killing will have legal repercussions. Indian police said a murder case had been registered against "unknown" tribespeople and that six fishermen and one other person were arrested. "The investigation in this matter is on," senior police officer Deepak Yadav said in a press release. Police official Pathak said the authorities were consulting "anthropologists and tribal welfare experts" to work out how best to retrieve the victim's body. John Chau, an American tourist is thought to have been murdered by the tribal fighters of the Andaman Islands An American tourist has been killed by a remote Indian tribe after he illegally ventured onto their island home. John Allen Chau, 27, was met with a volley of arrows as he set foot on North Sentinel Island, part of the Andaman Islands deep in the Indian Ocean. Police sources told local media that Mr Chau was a missionary and travelled to the island to convert the Sentinelese tribe to Christianity. But police officer Dependra Pathak disputed this, telling local website News Minute the American "was on a misplaced adventure in (a) prohibited area to meet uncontacted persons". Mr Pathak said authorities are still consulting with tribal welfare experts to determine how best to retrieve Mr Chau's body. The case has cast a rare spotlight on the Sentinelese tribe, one of the last in the world thought to be untouched by modern civilisation. Mr Chau was killed on November 16 when he paid local fishermen to transport him to the island, according to a police source. "He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body," the source said. "They were scared and fled but returned next morning to find his body on the seashore." Indian media reported that the fishermen told a preacher in Port Blair, the main town of the Andamans, about the incident who then contacted Mr Chau's family in America. The US consulate in the southern Indian city of Chennai confirmed that it was aware of the incident and said it was working closely with local authorities. According to official sources, Mr Chau had a tourist visa to enter the Andaman Islands, where access to some restricted zones is given, and had made several trips to other Andaman islands before offering money to fishermen to take him to North Sentinel. Mr Chaud is thought to have paid fishermen to take him to the island Outsiders are banned from going within three miles of their home to protect their way of life and to safeguard them from 21st century diseases. Story continues One police source said: "He tried to reach Sentinel island on November 14 but could not make it. Two days later he went well prepared. He left the dinghy midway and took a canoe by himself to the island". The Andamans are also home to the 400-strong Jarawa tribe who activists say are threatened by contact from outsiders. But tourists have previously bribed local officials in a bid to be able to spend time with them. Tribes such as the Sentinelese, believed to be only 150 in number, shun all contact with the outside world and have a record of hostility to anyone who tries to get close. In 2006, two Indian fishermen who moored their boat to sleep were killed when the vessel broke loose and drifted onto North Sentinel and their bodies never recovered. A 1900 image of a Jarawa tribesman from India's Andaman Islands Credit: UniversalImagesGroup/Getty The island was hit by the devastating 2004 tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean but not much is known about the impact it had on the reclusive inhabitants. After the tsunami one member of the tribe was photographed attempting to fire an arrow at an Indian Coast Guard helicopter. Indian authorities make periodic checks on the tribe from boats anchored at a safe distance from the shore. Survival International, a group protecting tribal people's rights, said that the "tragedy" of the American's death "should never have been allowed to happen". "The Indian authorities should have been enforcing the protection of the Sentinelese and their island for the safety of both the tribe and outsiders," it said. Since the Indian authorities keep away from the island, the legal repercussions of Mr Chau's killing are unclear. However police in the island chain in the Bay of Bengal have launched a murder investigation. Deepak Yadav, a senior police officer, said a case has been registered against "unknown tribesmen" and that six fishermen and one other person were arrested in connection with the death. Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker toured the JFK airport mail facility on Tuesday where he was briefed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers on the interception of opioids coming into the United States. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). London (AFP) - The wife of a British scholar who was sentenced to life for spying in the United Arab Emirates accused London on Thursday of refusing to defend her husband for fear of upsetting Dubai. The sentencing of 31-year-old Matthew Hedges on Wednesday shocked Britain and put political pressure on Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Britain views the UAE as a strategic Middle East ally which it supplies with arms. The oil-rich Gulf state said on Thursday that Hedges can still appeal the verdict or request "presidential clemency". "Both sides hope to find an amicable solution to the Matthew Hedges case," the UAE foreign ministry said. But Dubai's apparent attempt to put the dispute behind it came only after an unusual diplomatic scandal erupted in London. Hedges's wife Daniela Tejada gave an impassioned interview to BBC radio on her return from the court hearing. She accused the Foreign Office of placing its interests above those of an innocent Briton. "I got the impression that they were putting their interests with the UAE above a British citizen's rightful freedom and his welfare and his right to just a fair trial, just to freedom," Tejada said. "They were stepping on eggshells instead of taking a firm stance." Hedges was detained at Dubai airport on May 5 while researching the UAE's foreign and internal security policies after the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011. Hunt became foreign minister in July but only began to speak out about the case after Hedges's family went public with news of his arrest in early October. The scholar was released on bail on October 29 and top British officials appeared stunned by Wednesday's court ruling. Prime Minister Theresa May told a session of parliament she was "deeply disappointed" and instructed the Foreign Office to "continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis". - 'Disregarded my requests' - Story continues Hunt received Tejada for a private meeting at the Foreign Office that ended with her only marginally softening her tone. "This is not a fight I can win alone and I thank the Foreign Office and the British public for now standing up for one of their citizens," she told reporters in a prepared statement. She had earlier told the BBC that she had pleaded in vain with the Foreign Office to force the UAE to release her husband from solitary confinement during his pre-trial detention. "They just disregarded my requests. They said that it wasn't part of their job, that it wasn't part of their duty." Her voice broke down several times as she described the fear that gripped her husband during the sentencing. "He was very, very scared when he was standing in front of the judge," said Tejada. "He started shaking when the translator told him the sentence. He actually had to ask to double-check if he had heard right." A professor at England's Durham University who supervised the research said Hedges was conducting interviews in Dubai to support his thesis. "There was nothing clandestine or covert in any of the material he had been using," Professor Clive Jones told the BBC. The UAE statement said Hedges was convicted after "compelling and powerful evidence was presented in court". It said that included "information extracted from his personal electronic devices by expert forensic analysis techniques". The UAE also denied that Hedges's confession to spying was made under duress or that "he was asked to sign documents he did not understand." Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked's decision to stay in government despite threatening to leave the coalition if leader Bennett doesn't receive the defense portfolio gave an adrenaline rush to the political system. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Bennett's maneuver, which began with a bang and ended with a whimper, elicited an expected reactionscorn. An ultimatum, as its Latin name implied, is the last resort. If you give an ultimatum, you have to commit to it; otherwise, people might say you're all bark and no bite. In many ways Bennett's failed maneuver was better than a thousand jokes about Hamas closing the gap between the minister's intimidation tactics and the reality in Gaza: Bennett is more than capable of giving threats, but with the first sign of trouble, he folds like a cheap suitcase. If this is the case with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, what can Bennett do in face of Hamas? Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Photo: AFP) But beyond the mounting criticism of Bennett's character, all very justifiable if I may add, and beyond the profusion of mockery and insults, there are two political facts worth considering. First, most of the Bayit Yehudi's supporters are in Netanyahu's pocket. This fact has become apparent during last elections, when right-wing settlers rushed to the ballot box and voted for the Likud. Not that the Bayit Yehudi's stance is a less accurate representation of the religious-right's political worldview than the Likud's it's not, but contrary to what Bennett hoped, right-wing voters don't consider his party as an alternative to the Likud, but rather a movement inside the Likud. Justice Minister Shaked, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Education Minister Bennett As long as the right-wing government is safe, these voters have no problem reinforcing their "own" movement. But if there is any indication of a future governmental collapse, they will not hesitate to vote for Netanyahu. Various sources attested to the tremendous pressure the Bayit Yehudi exerted on Bennett to fold, whatever the price. They don't want to threaten Netanyahu. Why? This is a complex question. They don't want to threat the prime minister partly because he did a consistent job of adopting extreme right-wing rhetoric, which mainly consists of pride and blaming the left. Right-wing religious settlers buy this kind of rhetoric. They are not blind to Netanyahu's inconsistenciesas mentioned before, the prime minister's actions are far less decisive than his rhetoric. But the settlers act on the basis of the assumption that since an agreement with the Palestinians is impossible, having the proper rhetorical skills is of great importance. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: AP) Netanyahu's rhetoric turns their worldview from "extremist" to mainstream. Only the prime minister, as the leader of the Israeli mainstream, can do it. In the end, the psychological revolution Netanyahu is leading will also bear a more practical fruitNetanyahu is paving the way for an unmistakable right-wing leader. But the work is yet to be completed. Before it is completed, the premier cannot be disturbed. The leaders of the Likud's "movement" (Bennett and Shaked's Bayit Yehudi) can do much more under Netanyahu's command than alone. Therefore, one must ignore Netnayahu's faults. No right-wing settler is pleased with Netanyahu's corruption, but the goal, as it usually is for the righteous, justifies the means. The second political fact that we must bear in mind is the growing sense among the Israeli public that there is no alternative to Netanyahu. This feeling is strong not only among right-wing voters, but also among members of the center and the left. The latter certainly want to see the prime minister go. They despise him and wish for his political demise. But when asked who they want to see in his place, they are speechless. None of the relevant candidatesZionist Union Chairman Avi Gabbay, Yesh Atid Chairman MK Yair Lapid, Minister of Finance and Kulanu Chairman Moshe Kahlon, or even former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantzinspire trust. It's not that there is no substitute for Netanyahu. Each of these candidates (and you can think of others, right and left) can take his place. However, in order to bring down a prime minister, resistance is not enough. We need to want an alternative; otherwise we will choose parties that will only weaken the prime minister, not replace him. Netanyahu's main strength is not his likabilityonly a few have witnessed itbut the belief that he is invincible. As long as this goes on, he will keep on winning. An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Wednesday that US bases in Afghanistan, the UAE and Qatar, and US aircraft carriers in the Gulf were within range of Iranian missiles, as tensions rise between Tehran and Washington. "They are within our reach and we can hit them if they (Americans) make a move," Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards' airspace division, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Hajizadeh said the Guards had improved the precision of their missiles, and specifically said they could hit the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Al Dhafra base in the United Arab Emirates and Kandahar base in Afghanistan that host US forces. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri allegedly committed tax evasion offenses amounting to NIS 2 million. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The Israel Police and the Israel Tax Authority said Tuesday there was sufficient evidence to indict the Shas leader in a number of cases for fraud and breach of trust, perjury, tax evasion and money laundering. The affair began with a covert investigation by the police and the Money Laundering and Terror Finance Prohibition Authority over suspicions of unusual activity in the bank accounts of Minister Deri and his family members. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) Investigators noticed transfers of hundreds of thousands of shekels from businessmen to the minister's familysome before his return to politics and some after. The first case against Deri deals with the sale of apartments and lands in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul neighborhood owned by the minister to his brother, attorney Shlomo Deri. While the deals were reported to the Tax Authority, they were reported at only 50 percent of their real worth. Tax Authority investigators suspect Deri and his brother tried to evade the full payment of two kinds of taxespurchase tax and capital gains tax on real estate. The property in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul neighborhood (Photo: Moshe Mizrahi) In the second case, Minister Deri is suspected of tax evasion in a deal to purchase a lot in Moshav Safsufa (Kfar Hoshen), in northern Israel. The land owner received NIS 500,000 in cash, the property was listed under Deri's daughter and son-in-law's names, and the sum was not reported to the Tax Authority. In addition, three contractors who built the Deri family's vacation home on the lot, as well as a handyman who worked on the property, received their pay in cash money, which came from an unknown source. Here, too, the payments were not reported to the Tax Authority. The Deri family's summer home in Safsufa (Photo: Tomeriko) In a third case, Deri is suspected of failing to report money he received from business elementsto the Tax Authority, the Knesset and the State Comptroller. The fourth case concerns a NIS 200,000 loan Deri receivedwhen he was not in office as an MK or ministerfrom businessman Ilan Sharabi. Deri failed to report the loan to the Knesset Speaker and the State Comptroller after being elected to parliament, and did not pay back the loan to Sharabi. When confronted about the matter, Deri explained he "forgot" about it. Later, he intervened in a legal matter to benefit Sharabi's interests. After the police and Tax Authority announced there was sufficient evidence to indict Deri, the minister's office said in response: "We believe that when the prosecution examines the matter, the suspicions will be lifted, and it would become clear Minister Deri did not break the law." US President Donald Trump has decided to postpone the release of his Middle East peace plan dubbed as the "deal of the century" to February 2019 to please Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as reported by the Al-Quds newspaper. According to sources, Netanyahu prefers the plan not to be released at all, especially in light of the current situation in the Middle East. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein is trying to prevent a conference at parliament calling to evacuate the Jewish settlement in Hebron . In response, opposition MKs threatened to sabotage a visit of the Czech Republic's president on the same day. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The conference, organized by Joint List MKs Ayman Odeh and Dov Khenin and Meretz MK Michal Rozin, will be titled "Hebron First" and feature a speech from B'Tselem Executive Director Hagai El-Ad, who recently spoke at the UN Security Council against Israeli treatment of the Palestinians. Other invitees to the event on Monday include activists from left-wing groups B'Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Peace Now, Yesh Din and Palestinians from Hebron. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch) Since news of the conference broke on Wednesday, Edelstein has been trying to have it cancelled, claiming Czech President Milos Zeman, who is scheduled to visit the Knesset on the same day, will need all halls in the building for his team. The conference organizers, however, refused to accept this claim, saying it did not make sense for the Czech president's entourage to have use of over 25 halls in the parliament building. "As long as the settlers are in Hebron, we'll hold the conference," the organizing MKs said in a statement. "The Knesset is not the property of the Knesset speaker, and the parliament building is not the Likud party's stronghold." Edelstein remained intransigent, and in response the Meretz party announced it would go ahead with the no-confidence vote it planned to submit on Monday, even though the coalition and opposition recently reached an agreement not to bring a no-confidence proposal to a vote that day to allow the Czech president to speak at the Knesset. This could embarrass Zeman's hosts, who could find themselves with an important guest while MKs on both sides of the aisle are squabbling over the government's conduct. Edelstein decided to turn to the Knesset's House Committee and demand a special agenda to be set for that day, which would allow the Czech president's speech to go ahead as planned without a no-confidence vote getting in the way. It would, however, also sideline the coalition's so-called "loyalty in culture" legislation, as all bill proposals would be taken off the agenda. "The opposition insists on causing a diplomatic embarrassment to the Knesset, but we won't let it," Edelstein said. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has admitted that giving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a public ultimatum was a mistake. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett threatened to resign from the government, which would have inevitably led to early elections, if Bennett is not appointed defense minister , a position vacated after Avigdor Lieberman resigned and took his Yisrael Beytenu party out of the coalition. "From our history with Netanyahu, we can see that unfortunately we succeed in achieving our goals only with such measures," Shaked told Yedioth Ahronoth in an interview that will be published in full on Friday. Justice Minister Shaked (Photo: Reuters) "Perhaps we shouldn't have given him a public ultimatum. Maybe. It's clear we've made mistakes, but we're only learning from it. There are some political battles you lose," she added. Shaked denied that she and Bennett had already decided to resign but backed out at the last moment . "We didn't make such a decision. We considered resigning, but in the end we decided to put our pride aside and continue (in the government). We lost this round," she said. Education Minister Bennett and Justice Minister Shaked (Photo: AFP) The justice minister also argued Netanyahu should not keep the defense portfolio to himself. "The prime minister's decision to keep the defense portfolio is wrong," she said. "The State of Israel needs a full-time defense minister. Bennett would've been good for that. The prime minister of Israel is the most difficult job in the world. A prime minister who holds many portfolios and does the job of ministers as well, (risks having) bureaucrats running the ministries. It shouldn't be that way. Naftali Bennett is the most suitable candidate for the job." The Angel of Music from the West End, the famous Phantom of the Opera, is to perform in Israel for the first time next summer Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter One of the worlds most successful musicals of all times, the Phantom of the Opera is to arrive in Israel for the first time this August. X The musical, famous from London's West End and New York's Broadway, is to perform in the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv as part of tour in Asia, including Abu Dhabi and Singapore. The Phantom is brought to Israel by producer Moshe Yosef, and seat prices are to range between NIS 199-699. The musicals plot is based on Gaston Leroux's gothic novel from the beginning of the 20th Century. It takes place in the Paris Opera House where the phantom, a ghostly and disfigured musical genius, falls in love with a beautiful young soprano, Christine. The dark love story is suspenseful and tragic and incorporates classical music, rock and light opera, alongside impressive costumes and set. The story was made into a musical by the legendary Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote the music, and debuted in 1986 on the West End. It became one of the world's most famous musicals and grossed an estimate of $5.6 billion. More than 140 million viewers watched it since, in 37 countries and in 16 languages. It won several awards among which a Tony and an Olivier. In January 2018, the musical celebrated 30 years and 130,000 shows on Broadway. The Israeli-American national who was convicted of reporting false bomb threats to US Jewish community institutions was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison and was ordered to pay a NIS 60,000 fine. The 19-year-old Ashkelon resident, who was convicted of thousands of counts of extortion and making false statementsincluding terrorizing airlines and institutions around the worldapparently suffers from autism. Tel Aviv District Court Judge Zvi Gurfinkel stated that the young man would have received a 17-year sentence if it wasn't for his young age and his medical status. An Israeli-American youth who was convicted of making thousands of false bomb threats to companies and institutions around the worldincluding to Jewish communities in the United States, Australia, Ireland and Englandwas sentenced Thursday to ten years in prison and was ordered to pay a NIS 60,000 fine. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter After the verdict was read, the defendant's father cried out that his 19-year-old son "is sick." Judge Zvi Gurfinkel took into account the fact the young man, a resident of the southern city of Ashkelon, suffers from autism and therefore gave him a more lenient sentence. "If it wasnt for his medical condition, I would have sentenced him to 17 years in prison," the judge said. The defendant in court (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Five months ago, the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court convicted the 19-year-old blackmailer of computer related offenses, extortion, and making false statements that caused panic and disruption. Attorney Yoni Hadad of the State Attorney's Office's Cyber Department said the defendant "acknowledged the damage he caused to people around the world. He wanted to terrorize the public." "We intend to appeal the conviction, which is unprecedented," said Yoram Sheftel, the young man's attorney. "As the sages sayhe who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate. A court system that takes pity on Hezbollah terrorists is not surprisingly cruel to a mentally challenged youth with a 100 percent disability rating." The defendant's parents claim this is a 'conspiracy against a helpless person' (Photo: Ido Erez) From 2015 until his arrest, the defendant called thousands of different institutions, malls, embassies and airlines and made false bomb threats, leading to mass evacuations. In 48 cases, the suspect called police stations and threatened to hold small children and family members hostage, in some cases, police forces were rushed to the scene. The defendant also contacted another individual and conspired to blackmail Delaware Senator Ernesto B. Lopez. His accomplice called Lopez and demanded money while threatening to murder his daughter. In addition, the defendant made several threatening phone calls to George Little, a former Pentagon spokesman. Recordings of threats made X "He claimed terror attacks were about to take place while using sophisticated internet tools to hide his identity. He paid for these calls with Bitcoin, and used a voice changer to conceal his real voice. His goal was to cause public panic and media hype that would intensify the damage he caused. He offered services for a fee and posted them on Darknet forums. The defendant charged $40 for a threatening call to a private home, and $500 for making a bomb threat," Judge Gurfinkel said. "To this day he is hiding his virtual wallet, and the money is still under his control," the judge added. "To this day he is hiding his virtual wallet, and the money is still under his control," the judge added. The judge also mentioned that the defendant had offered dangerous drugs for sale, and uploaded videos explaining how to make threatening videos. "He received NIS 800,000 worth of Bitcoin and even hired assistants," Gurfinkel added. The defendant after a court hearing (Photo: AFP) The defendant kept making threatening phone calls and bomb threats to various institutions and schools while in detention. "I did it because I was bored," he told police. He also said he enjoys "seeing people running around in panic." In October, the cyber department of Israel's State Attorney's Office submitted to the court another indictment against the defendant, this time for attempting to escape custody. On his way back to a detention center the defendant apparently succeeded in opening one of his leg shackles with an improvised lock-pick and tried to escape. However, Israel Prison Service (IPS) officers immediately gave chase and managed to tackle and drag him back to the detention center. The case was uncovered last year after a joint investigation by Israeli, American, and other international law enforcement agencies. The young man also faced charges in the United States, but the US Justice Department eventually decided not to seek his extradition and instead allow him face trial in Israel. North Korea appears to be still expanding operations at its main nuclear site, the UN atomic watchdog indicated on Thursday. The statement by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is a further sign that North Korea is pressing ahead with its atomic activities despite pressure from the United States for it to scrap its nuclear weapons program. At a leaders' summit in June both sides pledged to work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Shin Bet Operations (: ") X The Shin Bet has thwarted an attempt by the heads of Hamas in Gaza to establish terror infrastructure in the West Bank to plan and carry out bombings in Israel, the agency said on Thursday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter According to the Shin Bet, members of Hamas's military wing recruited fighters in the West Bank, taught them how to build bombs and instructed them to find crowded places within the Green Line to targetsuch as a large building, mall, restaurant, hotel, train or bus. Awis Rajoub, Hamas militant arrested two months ago (Photo: Shin Bet media) The Shin Bet noted this plot was at a much larger scope and posed far greater danger than similar attempts in the past, as it was directed by Hamas's high command in Gaza and not by former Palestinian security prisoners expelled from the West Bank, as previous attempts had been. The Hamas leadership put pressure on the militants in the West Bank to carry out the planned attacks as soon as possible in an effort to escalate the security situation in both Gaza and the West Bank. Awis Rajoub, Hamas terrorist from West Bank (Photo: Shin Bet media) Hamas communicated with the militants in the West Bank through messages passed on by Gaza patients allowed into Israel to undergo life-saving medical treatments, as well as other Gaza residents who had business contacts in the West Bank. The Shin Bet noted this was not the first time Hamas was exploiting humanitarian cases to carry out military operations in the West Bank. The terror infrastructure was uncovered following the September 23 arrest of Awis Rajoub, a 25-years-old Hamas militant from Dura, near Hebron. The Shin Bet learned of Rajoub's actions on behalf of Hamas's military wing after he told some of his relatives and friends about it and asked for their help in purchasing materials to build bombs. Rajoub was recruited by a Hamas militant from Gaza, who approached him close to the end of Ramadan and offered him to join the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the terror group's military wing. Awis Rajoub, a 25-years-old Hamas militant from Dura (Photo: Shin Bet media) On August 11, Rajoub was sent to a medical warehouse in Ramallah to pick up a cellphone for his communications with his operators in Gaza. Several days later, he met with a Gazan woman who was accompanying her sister to Israel for medical treatments. She was sent by Hamas to provide him with a password for his phone and instructions on how to use the device. The Gaza operators sent videos to this cellphone instructing Rajoub how to build remotedly-detonated bombs. Rajoub also had video chats with an explosives expert who is part of the terror infrastructure. Rajoub recruited two Hamas members from Battir, Yazan and Sayyaf Asafra, and instructed them to find suitable targets for the attack in Israel and to prepare the explosives for the bomb, while he worked on the detonator. IDF arrest Rrajoub (Photo: Shin Bet media) Rajoub was ordered to finish preparing the bomb by the end of September and carry out the attack in early October, but was stopped by the Shin Bet before that. The Gazan woman who provided Rajoub with password and instructions for his phone was identified as 53-year-old Naama Miqdad, while her sister, a cancer patient, was identified as 47-year-old Samira Smot. The two women also met with Hamas terrorist Fuad Dar Khalil, who spent 14 years in Israeli prison for his involvement in a shooting attack and in planning other terror attacks. He was released from prison in 2016. The women gave him a suitcase containing a hidden letter from the Gaza operators. The two women were sent by their relative Muhammad Abu Kwaik, 36, a member of Hamas's military wing, who is known to be in contact with terrorists and to assist them in their operations. Also on Thursday, the IDF censor barred the publication of new photos Hamas released from a botched military operation last week in which Lt. Col. M. was killed and another officer was wounded. The IDF censor is concerned the new photos would be posted on social media, posing a risk to both the soldiers who took part in the mission and national security. A request for a class action lawsuit against Airbnb was filed Thursday to the Jerusalem District Court by the residents of the West Bank who advertised their apartments on the website. The request comes in response to the rental giants decision to remove listings in West Bank settlements. Senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzuq addressed Thursday the transfer of Qatari funds to the Gaza Strip and said in an interview with a Turkish news agency that the money directly reached 50,000 poor families. Abu Marzuq added that "most of the Palestinian factions are in agreement regarding a ceasefire arrangement with Israel." However, he added that "the March of Return protests will continue until the blockade is completely lifted." A member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag, Roderich Kiesewetter, addressed Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks regarding Israeli involvement in stopping terror attacks on the continent. Kiesewetter, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, called on the two governments to avoid exposing the cooperation between the Mossad and European security services. "The best cooperation is a silent one. Netanyahu's words led to questions regarding the favors Germany did for Israel. We do not want to damage the relationship by talking, he stressed. Sources close to Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Netanyahu will most likely not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonarowho promised to relocate his country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalemdue to changes in the government coalition. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) recently forecast that home prices will continue to decline in the near future, based on indicators such as housing finance demand, auction clearance rates, foreign residential demand, and consumer sentiment about price expectations. The evidence suggests that dwelling prices will continue to deflate in the very near term. There will be significant variations between capital cities and indeed suburbs within the same cities, but the broader trend should be one of continuing mild price declines, said CBA Senior Economist Gareth Aird. The first evidence considered was the flow of housing credit, which according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), continues to drop. On top of this, the pace of the decline has hastened. This acceleration was associated with the falling number of lending to owner-occupiers. Tighter lending standards have played a part, but they are not the primary driver of the acceleration in the downward trend of housing finance. Rather, the demand for credit has declined because momentum in the market has come off and household expectations of property price appreciation have declined, Aird said. Second, the countrys auction clearance rate has been on a downward trend throughout 2018, dropping recently to between 40-45%. According to Aird, the recent auction clearance rates imply that dwelling prices in Sydney and Melbourne will weaken further over the very near term. Foreign investment in Australian property has similarly cooled over the past two years. This was due to a hike in state government-levied stamp duty to foreign investors, as well as tighter capital controls out of China. As such, it is projected that values will track lower considering the gathered data, which state that the decline in foreign investor demand is consistent with a further easing in dwelling price. Aird added that currently, there are no signs of foreign investor demand rebounding anytime soon. If households expect prices to weaken, then demand for credit will fall and prices will correct lower. The reverse is also true when households expect price growth to accelerate, Aird explained. News Washington, DC - The Department of State has designated Hajji Abd al-Nasir as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, which imposes sanctions on foreign persons who have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism. Todays designation seeks to deny al-Nasir the resources to plan and carry out terrorist attacks. Among other consequences, all of his property and interests subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him. Hajji Abd al-Nasir has held several leadership positions in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and SDGT. Within the past five years, al-Nasir has served as an ISIS Military Amir in Syria as well as chair of the ISIS Delegated Committee, the council that reports to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and exercises administrative control of the terrorist organizations affairs. The Delegated Committee is responsible for planning and issuing orders related to ISISs military operations, tax collections, religious police, and commercial and security operations. ISIS is down but not out, said Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the Department of State. As ISIS continues to lose ground on the battlefield, we must starve it of the resources it uses to commit terrorism around the world. Todays designation is another step towards ensuring the enduring defeat of ISIS. Todays action notifies the U.S. public and the international community that Hajji Abd al-Nasir has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism. Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate them, and deny them access to the U.S. financial system. Moreover, designations can assist the law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and governments. Additionally, in a coordinated global action taken yesterday, the United Nations Security Councils 1267 ISIL and al-Qaida Sanction Committee added al-Nasir to its Sanctions List, subjecting al-Nasir to an international asset freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo. Today Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny this afternoon. High 77F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Tonight Clear skies. Low 59F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Tomorrow Sunny. Gusty winds diminishing in the afternoon. High around 75F. Winds N at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. First female chairperson of top bank in Nigeria, Ibukun Awosika, recently made headlines after it was reported that she still kneels down to greet her husband. The publication generated a lot of interest from readers because a number of people believe successful women are not respectful to their husbands to the extent of kneeling down to show regard. According to reports, it was claimed that she said:No matter what you think I am, in my house, my husband, in spite of my achievement, is the head of the home. Ibukun Awosika, first female Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Limited and owner of upscale furniture company, The Chair Centre Group. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Shatta Wale embarrasses himself during a BBC freestyle (Video) Whatever I am today, I can kneel down before my husband in front of 10 million people and it would mean nothing to me because he is my husband." However Awosikas attention has been drawn to the interview and she took to her Twitter page to reveal that it was all cooked up because she granted no such interview. See her tweets below: Ghana News Today: Mortuary Workers to Strike / Madina-Adenta Footbridge Demo | Yen.com.gh READ ALSO: 'Together we win' - Mahama tells NDC Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YEN's official Facebook page. Source: Yen Newspaper The Ghana Police Service has been under fire in recent months, following numerous cases of disorder and robberies recorded across the country. This year alone, several police officers have been named in issues ranging from unprofessionalism to misconduct. Also, cases of police brutality have been on the rise, with happenings on the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the recent demonstration by residents of Adenta a strong case in point. IGP, David Asante Apeatu. Source: Supplied. Source: Getty Images READ ALSO: Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli opens up about his crime An annual report released by the police in September indicated that street robberies have also been on a rapid rise. The report identified rape, murder and narcotics as crimes that have also been on the rise in the country. All the above, coupled with the recent statement from government that the seven Zongo youth from Asawase who were shot dead by police officers in July were not robbers, have seen the Service hit a new low. From the instances listed, it is evident that the Ghana Police Service needs to go through some massive transformation. Below are four reasons why the Ghana Police Service needs serious reforms: 1. Recruitment process is flawed The police administration often deny this, but the fact is that the recruitment process in the service has never been fair. These days it is common to see family, friends and other affiliates of the big men being recruited, to the neglect of the more qualified persons. Protocols have become the order of the day and that is not helping the Police Service. Most of these officers are unqualified yet have been given uniforms and arms to parade themselves as policemen and women. This points to the fact that the recruitment process is flawed, and unless serious reforms are made, we cannot expect anything better. 2. Period of training is too short Another thing about the police service that needs to change is the period used for training personnel. While other countries take their officers through years of training, the situation is different in Ghana. Here, police officers go through just six months of training, after which they are successfully graduated. In honesty, how can a Policeman or woman use just six months to pass out? As a result, many of these officers come out half-baked and without the necessary qualification to discharge their duties. This must also change, otherwise we will keep producing unprofessional police offers. 3. Scope of training is too shallow Aside the length of time for training being very short, the scope of the training is also very shallow. Officers are expected to be well trained and educated on matters of intelligence. However, it looks like the training is often based on physicals rather than nurturing them to be smart and very quick to spot anomalies. This ties perfectly into the reason why the training period needs to be extended from the current six months. Police officers must do more than just wield guns and direct traffic. They need to be more tech savvy and proactive to issues and that can only happen through better training. READ ALSO: Only PhD holders to teach in universities - Education Minister 4. Need for more intelligent officers Another flaw in the police service that needs to be ditched is the notion that small or short people cannot be Police officers. There have been several occasions where people have been disqualified during recruitment because of their heights or skinny physiques. To improve, we must move past such thinking. Yes, there is the need to have people who are physical as officers, but we also need to create a balance to have intelligent people in the Service. Yenkasa: Some Musicians Share Thoughts on Kuami Eugene's 'Rockstar' Album| #Yencomgh READ ALSO: Ghanaian police officer wins UN female peacekeeping award Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YEN's official Facebook page. Source: Yen.com.gh A senior community nurse with Bonkrom Community Health Planning Service (CHPS) in the Kwahu Afram Plains South District, Jordan Yunbow Michael, has warmed hearts as he came to the rescue of a 20-year-old pregnant woman. Jordan is now celebrated as he saved the woman and her baby in an emergency delivery at a roadside in Dome. He became an angle when he was travelling to Dome when he met a woman who was in labour. Jordan Yunbow Michael Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Video: Fella Makafui's ex-boyfriend closes her wine shop; seizes cars over Medikal affair Apparently the woman lives at Nsugyaso and was going to Agogo in Ashanti for the delivery. He had no option as he came to her rescue, delivering her on a polythene at the roadside using a black Polythene bag as gloves. A social media user Edmund Atweri Duodu shared the touching story of the community nurse on Facebook. After saving the woman, Jordan in an interview explained how it all happened. After the safe delivery, the Nurse Jordan Yunbow cut the umblical cord with a blade, dried off the baby boy wrapped her with cloth handed him to his mother. I was going to have a meeting with the chiefs and Elders so i saw a private car parked at where they sell their Patrol thinking may be they,wanted to buy patrol and go ahead.A 19 close to 20 year old girl came out and wanted to urinate not knowing the whole thing(labor) had started so i went closer and they told me she was in labour. So i have to take their mackintosh(rubber) put it on the floor and helped her deliver." READ ALSO: 7 wild photos of Peter Mensah of Spartacus fame that prove he is a Ghanaian According to the Nurse, the baby and mother were both healthy but he refereed them to a health center for further care. Not too long ago a young midwife was celebrated after she delivered a pregnant woman on a moving bus. READ ALSO: Adebayor, Essien, D-Black and co - Princess Shyngle and her collection of stars After the delivery, the newly-born baby and her mother were handed over to the husband who is said to have taken them to the West Hospital in Tamale for further care. Ghana News Today: Mortuary Workers to Strike / Madina-Adenta Footbridge Demo | Yen.com.gh Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YEN's official Facebook page. Source: Yen.com.gh The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has confirmed reports that some enlightened and prominent Ghanaians invested their monies with Menzgold, despite the companys unrealistic rates. He disclosed that some staff of his ministry and some from the Bank of Ghana, as well as military personnel, invested huge sums of monies in the gold trading company. Speaking at the 20th anniversary celebration of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wednesday, November 21 2018, Ofori Atta said the customers of Menzgold were driven by greed because of the returns on investment promised by the company Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta Source: Supplied Source: UGC READ ALSO: Angry Menzgold customers finally release date for their demonstration The finance minister described the returns as unrealistic. He also added that the gold dealership company did not have the license to operate the kind of business they were into. According to him, some staff of his Ministry and the Bank of Ghana as well as other educated persons who invested in Menzgold ought to have known better. The finance minister added that government will not recoup the locked up funds of the gold dealership's clients since they invested the monies at their own peril. READ ALSO: 4 things you didn't know about the late Ayawaso West Wuogon NPP MP Menzgold was asked to suspend its gold trading operations with the public by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company has since been unable to pay its clients their dividends due to an ongoing battle with SEC and the BoG over its operations. While the state institutions say the company has not been licensed to take deposits, Menzgold insists it does not take deposits and does not answer to the two institutions. READ ALSO: Only PhD holders to teach in universities - Education Minister Ghana News Today: Mortuary Workers to Strike / Madina-Adenta Footbridge Demo | Yen.com.gh Do you have a story to share with us? Inbox us on our Facebook page and we could feature your story Source: Yen - Unai Emery has guided Arsenal to an impressive start since taking over from Wenger - The Gunners currently lie 5th on the Premier League standings - Emery believes Wenger neglected the defensive structure at the London club New Arsenal manager Unai Emery has taken a quiet swipe at Arsene Wenger over the Frenchman's tactics during the club's decline months. According to a UK Metro report, Emery cited Arsenal's defensive structure as key area Wenger failed to reinforce towards the end of his tenure. READ ALSO: Aubameyang flaunts 65,000 worth bracelets while dining in Dubai restaurant Asked to define the man he replaced, Emery reportedly told Marca: 'Before Wenger came, Arsenal celebrated 1-0 and were based on defensive solidity. "With Arsene, joy came from attacking, with players of good standing. And the perfect combination was the Invincibles. "But over time, only technical quality and offensive freedom were taken care of, losing the defensive structure," the Spaniard added. Wenger ended his 22-year spell last season, with Emery replacing him at the helm of affairs at Emirates. Despite his otherwise successful tenure at the London club, many contended Wenger's long stay ended up tarnishing his impressive reign. The last of Wengers three Premier League titles came in 2003/04, claiming only FA Cup trophies and Community Shield titles in subsequent years. READ ALSO: New Manchester United signing trains with team-mates after completing transfer On his part, Emery has had an impressive start to the Premier League campaign, guiding his side to a staggering 11-match winning streaks after opening defeats to Man City and Chelsea. Earlier TUKO.co.ke reported Emery has been tasked with the responsibility of getting the London club back to the Champions League. According to a talkSPORT report, the Spaniard tactician has now been warned by Arsenal eggheads he must get the club back to the continental tournament. Source: Yen.com.gh Some local fishermen in the Central Region are allegedly pimping and transporting women to foreign seamen in a booming business that has seen many women getting trafficked and fishermen getting extra income. It is now being reported that the business has created a cartel that has hit parts of the Central Region. In an interview with MyNewsGh.coms at Saltpond, an Anti-Child Labour and Trafficking (CLaT) Advocacy Officer for Friends of the Nation (FON), Kwesi Johnson revealed that this practice has been going on secretly for a very long time. Johnson underscored the need for stakeholders to deal with the trend as soon as possible before it spilled over into a worse situation. READ ALSO: Medikal tells Fella Makafui what he thinks of her amidst car seizing reports Delegates at the meeting. Photo credit: Mynewsgh.com Source: UGC Touching on the construction of hotels at the landing beaches, Johnson observed that there is the need for one to be careful on how landowners and traditional authorities sell lands to the investors. He mentioned that these land sales are actually affecting fishing activities, and in some cases increasing the likelihood of the unfortunate sex business. On his part, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Mfantseman Municipal Assembly (MMA), Mr. Kenneth Kelly Essuman promised to use his position as MCE to combat the canker. READ ALSO: Medikal tells Fella Makafui what he thinks of her amidst car seizing reports Prostitution as an undercover business where other activities are used as fronts is an old trick used to hide the transaction that is deemed illegal in Ghana. Street Quiz Ghana: What Would Be Your Message to the President Should You Meet Him? | Yen.com.gh: Do you have a story to share with us? Inbox us on our Facebook page and we could feature your story. Source: Yen.com.gh Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has paid tribute to the late Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, describing him as a friend and a true patriot. The Ayawaso West Wuogon MP was confirmed dead on the evening of Wednesday, November 21, 2018. The 61-year-old is reported to have died in the United States (US), where he had been on admission for some time. READ ALSO: 4 reasons why the Ghana Police Service needs serious reforms The lawmaker was reportedly battling with an illness and had been admitted at the Ridge Hospital in Accra before being sent abroad after his condition stabilised. News of the MPs death have sparked tributes from far and near, with many sending words of commiseration to his family. The Vice President is the latest to pay tribute to the late Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko. In a post on Facebook, Dr. Bawumia said he is shocked by the demise of the MP, who he described as a true patriot, a friend and brother. I have learnt with grief and shock, the sudden death of Hon. Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, popularly known as '3da ho plain.', he wrote. Hon. Kyeremateng Agyarko was a true patriot, a friend and brother. He will forever be missed by me, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the entire nation. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Damirifa due, Hon, he added. READ ALSO: 4 things you didn't know about the late Ayawaso West Wuogon NPP MP The late Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko was a prominent member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and was the brother of former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko. He first entered Parliament in 2012 as MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon when he succeeded the current Chief of Staff, Frema Opare, and went on to successfully retain the seat during the 2016 elections. The late MP also once served as the Chief Executive of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) during the Kufour era. Yenkasa: Some Musicians Share Thoughts on Kuami Eugene's 'Rockstar' Album| #Yencomgh READ ALSO: We wont pay Menzgold customers locked up cash Finance Minister Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YEN's official Facebook page. 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In a report released Wednesday, the agency said there were 660 reported homicides in Canada last year. Not only was that an increase of nearly eight per cent from 2016, it also pushed up the homicide rate to 1.8 victims for every 100,000 people the highest since 2009. 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 South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg Randpark GC, Johannesburg, South Africa This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. A draft law was submitted to parliament proposing the ban of free plastic bags in supermarkets this week. The regulation is planned to be effective as of Jan. 1, 2019. AKP Deputy Chair Mehmet Mus made a press statement regarding the draft law. He said plastic bags used for packaging in supermarkets would be sold for 25 kurus (1 Turkish Lira is equal to 100 kurus). However, he emphasized the ban on free plastic bags would only be valid for those with a thickness ranging from 15-50 microns, as this is the standard thickness of grocery bags. Any plastic bag with a thickness greater or less than this range will continue to be free of charge. Mus added that the relevant regulation seeks to decrease the use of customary plastic bags at supermarkets to 90 per person annually by the end of 2019 and to 40 by the end of 2025. Currently every Turkish citizen uses an average of 440 plastic bags per year. The draft law not only includes a provision on the use of plastic bags, but also proposes many changes to raise the bar higher in Turkeys fight against waste management. In line with this, local administrations will be given more detailed tasks supervising efforts for zero waste. For example, it will be obligatory for at least 20 percent of vehicles in the domestic waste collection fleet in every municipality to be capable of collecting packaging waste. Minister of Environment and Urban Planning of Turkey Murat Kurum said, the decision was made due to the need to protect the environment from the great harm caused by plastic bags. Bidroom, an Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based provider of a hotel booking platform, raised 15m in new funding round. The backers were not disclosed. The company intends to use the funds for: product development, onboarding of more users and hotels, introduction of a redesign of the platform in the second quarter of the next year, and growth of its staff to 200 professionals by 2020. Started in 2014 and led by CEO Bas Tolmeijer and CCO Francesco Monaco, Bidroom is an Online Travel Community and a hotel booking platform with +120,000 hotels in 128 countries. The company does not charge commission to the hotels but works with an annual membership model, whereby hotels only pay the contribution after proven success. Bidroom has offices in Amsterdam, Krakow, Istanbul and Paris. FinSMEs 22/11/2018 Lamudi, an emerging markets real estate platform, received a strategic investment from Ringier AG and Axel Springer. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. Following it, Ringier and Axel Springer will share a seat in the advisory board. The majority of the funding will be spent on growth. Launched in late 2013 with Rocket Internet and led by Kian Moini, CEO, Lamudi is a global real estate platform focusing exclusively on emerging markets. The platform has active property portals available in Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) and Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Peru). The company also launched a tech-enabled brokerage business in Indonesia under a separate brand early this year and has already surpassed 100 transactions per month in its 9th month of operations. Other investors in Lamudi includes Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG), a joint venture of Rocket Internet and Ooredoo, Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Tengelmann Ventures. FinSMEs 22/11/2018 As the deadline for Brexit comes ever closer, UK businesses become more nervous about what it may mean for them. With current chaos around the deal that the UK may go for and what a no-deal Brexit would mean if not, its no wonder that around 61% of UK employers are worried about what could happen. One key area that many will want clarity on is how it could affect the way that they recruit staff. This could certainly be impacted on in terms of any EU staff that companies employ or may wish to recruit post-Brexit. Just what are the possible ways that Brexit could hinder recruitment for UK businesses? Brexit could have a significant impact on recruitment While it is important not to get too down-hearted about the business landscape post-Brexit, it certainly seems that it will throw up a few challenges, as below: Lack of people to hire perhaps the biggest consequence for recruitment is that there will simply not be enough workers around to take on. 44% of recruiters have already reported that they think working in the UK is less attractive now to EU citizens. If the Brexit deal we get (or do not get) makes travelling and working in the UK harder than at present, this feeling will only grow. With EU citizens also leaving in the wake of Brexit, it could leave the number of people for UK businesses to hire dangerously low. perhaps the biggest consequence for recruitment is that there will simply not be enough workers around to take on. 44% of recruiters have already reported that they think working in the UK is less attractive now to EU citizens. If the Brexit deal we get (or do not get) makes travelling and working in the UK harder than at present, this feeling will only grow. With EU citizens also leaving in the wake of Brexit, it could leave the number of people for UK businesses to hire dangerously low. Not enough skilled workers available as well as the drop in available workers, there is also the fear of a real skills shortage afterwards. Already, sectors such as aviation have flagged this up, and the exodus of skilled EU workers with no UK talent ready to replace them could really hit home. Many of the skills that our most important industries rely on come via EU workers, and this is something that could prove problematic for businesses needing to hire after Brexit. as well as the drop in available workers, there is also the fear of a real skills shortage afterwards. Already, sectors such as aviation have flagged this up, and the exodus of skilled EU workers with no UK talent ready to replace them could really hit home. Many of the skills that our most important industries rely on come via EU workers, and this is something that could prove problematic for businesses needing to hire after Brexit. Harder to convince top talent to work in the UK as noted above, Brexit has already begun to deter workers from coming to the UK. The fear that some business leaders have is that this could prevent top talent from across the whole world from deciding to work in the UK. If international workers do not feel welcome, then finding the best people to recruit could be tricky. as noted above, Brexit has already begun to deter workers from coming to the UK. The fear that some business leaders have is that this could prevent top talent from across the whole world from deciding to work in the UK. If international workers do not feel welcome, then finding the best people to recruit could be tricky. Additional time and resources to recruit non-UK workers of course, no one knows the deal that the UK will have for sure yet. One scenario that does look likely, however, is that from July 2021, EU citizens entering the UK and any family members who live with them must hold or be applying for immigration status to work legally here. This change could present a barrier to recruiting the skilled workers needed and put additional pressure on businesses in the UK. of course, no one knows the deal that the UK will have for sure yet. One scenario that does look likely, however, is that from July 2021, EU citizens entering the UK and any family members who live with them must hold or be applying for immigration status to work legally here. This change could present a barrier to recruiting the skilled workers needed and put additional pressure on businesses in the UK. Settled status registration a piece of legislation that will affect EU workers currently in the UK post-Brexit is applying for settled status. This will be needed to continue living and working in the UK after we have left the EU. This process and the supporting tech are only in the testing phase though and so could prove a nightmare for UK businesses with any EU staff. What can UK businesses do to guard against the above? Firstly, take the pressure off having to recruit for lost EU staff by ensuring that they apply for settled status when they can. It may also be worth thinking about scouring the UK job market for the best home-grown talent if needed while also recruiting from other, non-EU countries if possible. What if your business uses contractors? Many UK businesses will use contractors now and hire them for short-term jobs or one-off specialist projects. As with the whole of Brexit, how contractors may be affected and what this could mean for recruitment is not overly clear right now. While your business may still be able to employ EU citizens or recruit internationally, there could be changes to how they are paid or the contributions they should make to HMRC, for example. Many UK businesses would be well advised to use an umbrella company to protect them in this regard. The umbrella company will have expert staff to process contractors payroll and keep up to date with any fresh post-Brexit changes to legislation. This means that you will not have the worry or hassle of doing so yourself. Brexit continues to cause doubt With less than six months until Brexit happens, the impact on business and recruitment is already being felt. With the financial markets already seeing the influence it has, finding staff with the skills you need and who can legally work could be the next big challenge for UK companies. Of course, it will all be much easier to work through when we know what is happening for sure! Urban sustainability : Mayor says speed limit of 30 and climate ticket could be solution Bonn In a discussion about urban development, Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan said the climate ticket for 365 euros a year could become a permanent solution. He also considers the speed limit of 30 for the entire city center to be realistic. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken A speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour for the entire inner city of Bonn, including all through roads: Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan considers this realistic. "I don't want to rule it out," he said on Wednesday evening at the Volkshochschule (VHS) with a eye to impending driving bans for diesel vehicles on Reuterstrae and Belderberg. He also calls for new solutions in bicycle traffic. For example, bicycle lanes in Quantiusstrae in front of the main station, which are regularly blocked by parked cars, should be separated from the road with bollards. Sridharan spoke at a well-attended event organized by the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the VHS on the subject of "sustainable city". Sridharan's discussion partner Boris Palmer, Mayor of the city of Tubingen, and member of the Green party, repeatedly put pressure on Sridharan to step up to the plate. The visiting mayor had many ideas on how a city could become more environmentally friendly. In Tubingen, for example, investors would only receive building rights once the building land was owned by the municipality. "In that way, we have much more influence," said Palmer. He has long since implemented the one-euro ticket for local public transport in the city with 90,000 residents and has already developed a concept for free bus transport. "If the federal government gives us 15 million a year, we'll do it." Sridharan argued that the infrastructure in Bonn did not allow for free local transport. On the other hand, he announced that the 365-euro yearly ticket would become a permanent feature if the test phase was successful. The federal government had signaled to him that it would finance the project beyond the two-year period. The ever more lively discussion focused mainly on the question of how mobility could be made more sustainable. Sridharan referred to the idea of bicycle routes in Kaiserstrasse and on both sides of the Rhine. "We are currently examining that," he said. Listeners accused him of lacking credibility. Kurt-Schumacher-Strae in the federal quarters had just been renovated without taking bicycles into account. Palmer said there had to be big solutions to allow for more bike traffic, and invited council members to visit Copenhagen, where bike jams at traffic lights have become a regular occurrence. Orig. text: Martin Wein iStock/Thinkstock(ST. LOUIS, Mo.) -- A Missouri man was arrested in connection with a heinous crime spree at a Catholic Supply chain store in St. Louis in which a female customer was fatally shot and at least one other woman was sexually assaulted, officials said. Thomas Bruce, 53, is now in police custody on 14 charges including first-degree murder, sodomy, kidnapping, burglary, tampering with evidence and armed criminal action, according to the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney. Bruce entered the store on the west side of St. Louis shortly after 3 p.m. on Monday posing as a customer, left to get a credit card and then returned, displayed a handgun and forced everyone into a back room, police said in a press release. He ordered the three victims to the back room where he forced them to disrobe at gunpoint, according to a press release from St. Louis County Police. Bruce then allegedly exposed his genitals and demanded each of the victims perform sexual acts on him, police said. Two of the victims complied, but when mother of three Jamie Schmidt, 53, refused, she was shot in the head by Bruce, police said. Bruce then ordered the other victims to continue performing sexual acts on him, then he fled the scene, according to police. Officers swarmed the store -- which sells rosary beads, votive candles, Bibles and other religious supplies -- but by the time officers arrived Bruce was gone. Police later released images of clothing items similar to those Bruce wore during the alleged attack. Bruce then discarded the clothes he wore during the alleged incident, police said. Bruce was detained at a mobile home park in a St. Louis suburb Wednesday. Officials said detectives interviewed Bruce Wednesday afternoon. Bruce is being held on $150,000 cash-only bond. It is unknown if he has retained an attorney. Officials said that the victims did not know the alleged killer and investigators have not determined a motive for the crime. "Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrific tragedy at Catholic Supply. We are praying for these victims... We join civic authorities asking for the community's assistance in apprehending the culprit of this crime," Archbishop Robert Carlos of the Archdiocese of St. Louis said in a statement. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. English Icelandic Correction: The date of the Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting (EGM) was stated as 6 March 2018 in the main text of the prior release in English. The correct date is 22 November 2018. ______ Marels Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting (EGM) was held at the Companys headquarters in Gardabaer, Iceland, on 22 November 2018. Chairman of the Board Asthildur Otharsdottir addressed the meeting on behalf of the Board. Decisions of the meeting All proposals presented by the Board were approved by the meeting. There were two proposals on the meetings agenda, i.e. that the Companys share capital shall be reduced in connection with the preparation of potential dual listing of the company, for the benefit of shareholders, and a proposal to grant an authorization to the Board of Directors to initiate a share buyback program. No other business was addressed in the meetings agenda. Articles of Association The meeting approved that the Companys share capital shall be reduced by ISK 52,983,076 nominal value, from ISK 735,568,997 to ISK 682,585,921 nominal value. The reduction will be executed by way of cancelling 52,983,076 of the Companys own shares of ISK 1 each, in accordance with the provisions of Act No. 2/1995 on Public Limited Companies. It was approved to amend Article 2.1 of the Articles of Association for Marel hf. which now states as follows: "The share capital of the Company amounts to ISK 682,585,921. Share buyback program The EGM approved an authorization for the Company to initiate a formal share buyback program that complies with the provisions of the Act on Securities Transactions No. 108/2007 and appendix to Regulation on Insider Information and Market Manipulation No. 630/2005. The Company may purchase up to 34,129,296 shares in total under the program, corresponding to 5% of the share capital. EGM website All relevant information and documents in relation to the Extraordinary shareholders Meeting is available and archived on marel.com/egm. Further information: Tinna Molphy, Manager in Investor Relations, and Marino or Jakobsson, Investor Relations Analyst via IR@marel.com or tel: (+354) 563 8001. Attachments When a town is in ashes and its residents are scattered, local officials may not be in a position to manage and update a website telling people where to go, what to do and how to help.Fortunately for the town of Paradise, Calif., which was leveled Nov. 12 by the Camp Fire, digital government platform ProudCity learned this lesson in 2017 in the aftermath of the Tubbs Fire ravaging Santa Rosa. Last week, the company stepped in at a moments notice to set up a portal, paradiserecovers.org , for Paradise to share response and recovery information. As of Tuesday, the company was working on doing the same for Butte County.ProudCity CEO Luke Fretwell said Paradise was not a client of his company, a software-as-a-service firm that builds websites for local governments, but the city of San Rafael was when it loaned communications officials to Santa Rosa and Sonoma as wildfires destroyed them last year. In October 2017, when officials in Santa Rosa found themselves unable to edit the citys website fast enough because it wasnt mobile-friendly, they asked ProudCity to build a new site in a matter of days specifically for the recovery effort. Once again running communications out of an emergency operations center, some of the same staff, on loan to Paradise, ran into the same problems Paradises website wasnt mobile-friendly, and they lacked the tools and widgets necessary to build mobile events and news pages overnight. They called ProudCity on Tuesday, Nov. 12, Fretwell said, and by Thursday the company had bought a domain name, made a copy of Sonomas recovery site, customized it and had it ready to go.The online portal includes links to various department phone numbers, evacuation and firefighting updates, shelter options, event information, donation websites, perimeter and evacuation maps and more, with a search engine at the top.As it did with Sonoma, Fretwell said, ProudCity will iron out billing details when Paradise is ready.We kind of took it upon ourselves to move it forward, because [Paradise officials] were dealing with other things and didnt have the bandwidth to set up a website, he said. So we were proactive in customizing Paradise and standing up a skeleton site based on the information that was available, so as soon as somebody was going to be [the point person], they wouldnt be starting from square one. Then we did the same for Butte [County].Fretwell said one of the major takeaways from recent tragedies is that governments should have these kinds of websites prepared now, in advance of the next emergency.Cities, counties and states need to be proactive in building this information and having it ready, so when a disaster happens, its just there, and residents know what they need to do. You do not want to be building something like this during a disaster, he said. There may not be relevant information at the moment, but you know you need an evacuation page, and a shelter page, and a timeline page, so people can stay informed. Then you just update those pages as the situation dictates.After be prepared, Fretwell said the second lesson was to focus on mobile compatibility. Any emergency website needs to be widely and remotely accessible in other words, mobile-friendly and text-based, as opposed to a desktop site full of images and PDFs.Typically, government websites have a 50/50 desktop-to-mobile ratio. The way that the recovery site for Paradise is trending, its about 75 percent mobile, he said. (TNS) Google has scooped up a big Sunnyvale campus, an unexpected purchase that signals a fresh expansion by the fast-growing search engine giant.The tech titan bought the Chesapeake Commons office complex, which consists of four buildings that are two stories each, and situated on a site that is ripe for redevelopment with much taller offices.The Sunnyvale office campus, located near Moffett Park and Caribbean drives, totals roughly 267,000 square feet and could potentially accommodate 1,300 workers.However, the campus could grow if the buildings were bulldozed and replaced with modern offices. Numerous prime office buildings in the vicinity and along U.S. 101 have much greater densities for each square foot of land they cover.The sizes and densities of buildings in the area could possibly allow 535,000 square feet of new offices to be built on the site. That could mean 2,500 to 2,700 people could work at a new Google campus were the existing buildings replaced.Mountain View-based Google paid $160.3 million for the four buildings, Santa Clara County property records show. That works out to roughly $600 a square foot.The seller, an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Kilroy Realty, paid $100.5 million for the Chesapeake Commons campus in 2015.Cepheid and Accuray are tenants in the office complex. When Kilroy Realty bought the property, the company indicated that the tenant leases were expected to last until at least sometime in 2019.Google has been busy buying numerous properties in Sunnyvales Moffett Park district, a business area dominated by decades-old buildings that could readily be bulldozed and replaced with much taller and denser structures.The Chesapeake Commons transaction extends the Google shopping spree in the area.Since July 2017, Google has spent well over $1 billion to purchase roughly 50 or more properties in the Moffett Park area of Sunnyvale, according to public records, regulatory filings and this news organizations research.The Chesapeake Commons buildings are very nice, they are terraced, very functional and they still have a very useful life, said Dave Sandlin, an executive vice president with the San Jose office of Colliers International.Plus these recent acquisitions could just be the vanguard of a new wave of Google purchases in Sunnyvale.Google always has a plan for an area, very much like Apple, Sandlin said. I speculate that Google is going to be redeveloping a lot of what they have bought in Moffett Park. And they are likely to make more property acquisitions. Pew Charitable Trust wants to make the non-criminal legal system easier to navigate without lawyers, and technology is a key component to their plans.Modernizing civil courts at the state and local level has become increasingly important in a world where residents can handle their business online whether it's to order takeout or pay property taxes. Yet the courts remain a relatively offline system that in large part demand physical attendance for sometimes procedural tasks.Even more troubling is that an increasing number of people are navigating civil court cases, such as small claims or family issues, without a lawyer, according to Erika Rickard, who was formerly with Harvards Access to Justice Lab and is now a senior officer in the Civil Legal System Modernization at Pew.Unlike in criminal court, people involved in civil court whether it's for debt collection, landlord disputes, custody cases or other legal issues dont have a right to a lawyer to represent them. If they cant afford a lawyer, they must still attend and represent themselves. Pews research has found that as recently as 1992, as few as 5 percent of people in general civil court cases did not have a lawyer. Today, however, that number has risen ninefold, and 45 percent of cases in general jurisdictions have at least one side without a lawyer. When small claims and other cases are included, that number rises to 75 percent.In three out of four cases today, at least one side doesnt have a lawyer, Rickard said. Thats more than 30 million people every year who are navigating state and local court systems without a lawyer. The key here is that a typical court user has really changed, has changed dramatically, but courts have not really changed along with that new reality.The new reality involves a sizable increase in low cost cases, at least from the courts perspective. Cases for debt collection of less than $5,200 take place much more frequently than they did decades ago. These are cases that from the courts perspective may seem less consequential, but they often have the potential to have cascading consequences throughout peoples lives, said Rickard.Helping courts to change and ensure easier navigation of their systems is essentially what Pew is now working to do, and they hope to accomplish that with changes in three specific areas: by building new research, by building new relationships and by developing and evaluating promising new technologies.Pew is already working to introduce two specific technologies to court systems across the country. The first effort will create online legal information and assistance portals. The second involves court-based online dispute resolutions. Both stand to make life easier for people who cant afford lawyers.The tools were talking about dont necessarily change whether lawyers are going to be part of the system, Rickard said. Of course lawyers are always going to be a part of the system, but what these tools do is they enable the courts to become more efficient and adapt a little more effectively to whos using the system, whether they have a lawyer or not.A Web-based portal, for example, would let users simply log in and write in their own words a legal problem they might have, subsequently pointing them to useful information that's relevant to their situations. This might even include being connected with a lawyer, as well as to self-help materials. The overarching goal is helping individuals to better understand their legal problems and to address them more efficiently.Work is underway at the local level to connect vendors with court systems that can help them set up the technological modernizations that Pew is working to put into place. Online dispute resolution has long been used in e-commerce within the private sector, and some of the companies that developed those solutions are now starting to work on doing the same within the public sector.The goal, more broadly, Rickard said, is to give people tools in their hands to be able to navigate on their smartphones or on their desktops an entire court process online from start to finish without having to ever come into a courthouse. Change is especially challenging for governments and locales. In the face of chaos, successful counties pivoted to a digital-first approach. See a shining example of how one county achieved it. (TNS) Ninety percent of public school districts in Suffolk County, N.Y., have signed up to use the RAVE Panic Button Mobile App since it was introduced earlier this year, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said Tuesday.At the push of a button, the smartphone system allows teachers and administrators to call 911 and simultaneously alert other authorities about an active-shooter situation or other emergency event. It also provides up-to-date information that first responders may need, such as the layout of a school building.With many Suffolk school districts set to implement the app, the system soon will be in use in most of Long Island's public schools.Nassau County introduced the RAVE app to its public schools in 2016. Fifty of the county's 56 districts now have the system up and running, plus 12 private schools, houses of worship and three libraries, police department spokesman Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun said."We are in 90 percent of all school buildings in Nassau County," he said.Bellone made the announcement at Kings Park High School, where he honored the district for being the first in Suffolk to implement the countys most recent investment in school safety technology."Today is another step forward in protecting our schools," he said, adding later that the app enhances "our ability to respond quickly and to effectively neutralize a potential threat."In Suffolk County, 64 school districts have signed up for the RAVE app out of 68 systems, plus the Western Suffolk BOCES and Eastern Suffolk BOCES regional districts and the Little Flower system for children with special needs. Of those, 24 districts have fully activated the app, 12 are in the training and testing phase, and 28 are in the process of building out their RAVE facility profiles.In addition, 11 private schools have signed up to utilize the Rave Panic Button Mobile App, with three fully deployed, four in the training phase, and four that have opted in and are working on their facility profile.Concerns about school safety have been amplified since mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14 and Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, on May 18.Across the Island, districts have further ramped up safety measures, including updates to building infrastructure, hiring of additional school security staff and boosting mental health services for students. Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said Tuesday the department has increased the number of patrol visits to schools, launched a text tip line dedicated solely to school safety threats and added training programs for school resource officers."The Suffolk County Police Department has been fully commited to ensuring the safety of our students at school," Hart said.In July, Bellone signed legislation for a $2 million bond to cover licensing of the RAVE Panic Button for public and private schools across the county.Unlike a traditional emergency call, a RAVE alert does not go through a call log where other emergency calls are fielded. Instead, it is given its own call log and police are dispatched immediately. The system lets police access school security cameras so they can make a plan for an active shooter, as well as allowing communication between law enforcement and first responders with those on the school premises.Suffolk Legis. Robert Trotta (R-Fort Salonga), a former Suffolk County detective who worked on the FBI Gang Task Force, said the RAVE Panic Button app is not foolproof. He noted that the companys disclaimer says the service does not replace calling 911 and is provided for convenience only."I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but I don't want teachers and schools falling into a false sense of security," Trotta said. "It might not work, and they recommend to you to dial 911."Adam Eisenman, RAVE Mobile Safetys director of government affairs, noted that the apps panic button does dial 911. The added benefit, he said, is that it also notifies on-site personnel, such as school resource officers, and gives more information to 911, including a callers GPS location and identity and a facilitys floor plans.Kings Park Superintendent Timothy Eagen said the district has used the app at least three times this school year "to quickly and seamlessly communicate with staff and emergency responders." Most recently, it was used to call an ambulance when a student was in medical distress, he said. (TNS) A change in cellphone technology could impact the view from your backyard, or maybe your front yard.The city of Bakersfield, Calif., is scrambling to write an emergency ordinance that will regulate small cell facilities placed on public light poles and power lines.The advent of 5G cellphone technology has forced wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon to switch from the tall antenna towers placed sporadically throughout cities to smaller boxes the size of backpacks or luggage placed closely together on public poles.Although only a handful of these new facilities have been installed in the city, the city expects many more to arrive soon, said Deputy City Attorney Andy Heglund.The carriers arent disclosing their full build-out plan, but it could be hundreds of facilities, he said.In the impending rollout of the new technology, the city will have a limited ability to regulate the new cell facilities, prompting concerns that the aesthetics of the citys streetscapes could be jeopardized.The city wants to avoid light poles and power lines cluttered with buzzing electronic boxes.The Federal Communications Commission approved new regulations in September that took away much local control of the 5G facilities.Under the new regulations, which were made in the name of removing regulatory barriers from government, cities will be limited in their ability to charge market rates for fees associated with the installations, and they will lose some control of how the facilities will look.The city is not opposed to [carriers] rolling out this additional equipment, but we want to be able to make sure that the rollout is balanced and protects the aesthetics of the citys right of way, Heglund said.He added that the difference between the market rate and the amount the city would legally be allowed to charge for fees could be as much as $1,000 per unit per year.Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a state bill that had similar restrictions after an outcry from a number of California cities.Since the FCC passed the new regulations, cities across the country have been voicing their opposition to the new rules.Cell carriers have stood by the FCC.The FCC took the next step to further strengthen the United States lead in the race to 5G by adopting a framework for permitting and fees that will foster more widespread and robust infrastructure investment, ATT said in a statement at the time the FCC passed the regulations. We are excited about our continued expansion of our small cell facilities to bring advanced wireless technologies and services to communities across the country.Over the next two months, the Bakersfield City Council will consider adopting an emergency ordinance so the city can regulate what little will remain under its control when the new rules come into effect in January.Barring legal action, cell carriers will begin installing the new facilities soon. The citys Public Works Department has already received some applications for the facilities, but expects more to come.The city wants to encourage the rollout, Heglund said, but it just needs to be in a managed and balanced way. News WHO fears 700,000 more COVID-19 deaths in Europe by March 2022 The WHO expects "high or extreme stress in intensive care units (ICUs) in 49 out of 53 countries between now and March 1, 2022." "Cumulative reported deaths are projected to reach over 2.2 million by spring next year," it added, up from the current 1.5 million. Ken Lawson, at left, with mainland exonerees Uriah Courtney, middle, and Brian Banks in 2017 at the law school. (Convicted felon Ken Lawson of the Hawaii OJ Simpson Innocence Project was most recently in the news for bringing not-a-pimp Isaiah McCoy to Hawaii from Delaware. Now he's getting $567K to get other convicts 'exonnerated' because they are just as innocent as OJ Simpson.) Hawaii Innocence Project wins competitive grant for DNA testing From UH News, November 21, 2018 (With missing details added in parenthesis) The Hawaii (OJ Simpson) Innocence Project ( HIP ) at the William S. Richardson School of Law has been awarded a $567,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. Competition for the grants is fierce. (Here's a Really Obvious Question: Why would any court trust 'exculpatory' evidence submitted by a convicted felon?) HIP is a student-staffed, carefully supervised law clinic at the University of Hawaii at Manoa that uses DNA and other sophisticated methods to identify and seek exoneration of factually innocent inmates (convicted criminals) in the local justice system. HIP students investigate new evidence, prepare post-conviction motions, conduct hearings, argue motions and file appeals. The UH law school provides office space, equipment, administrative support and the services of faculty specialist (and convicted felon) Ken Lawson, HIP co-director. Lawson is responsible for daily operations, fundraising, and recruitment and coordination of skilled volunteers, which currently include 12 lawyers, two private investigators, two office helpers and David Haymer, a DNA expert from the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Lawson said many of the students who take the HIP clinic end up practicing criminal law, either as prosecutors or defense lawyers. He said, We hope they all leave with a burning desire to seek justice. The grant specifically covers the costs of DNA testing, which can be very expensive. Lawson said each case costs from $10,000 to $30,000. HIP is currently working on 10 cases that involve DNA evidence and is investigating over a dozen more applications. The project also receives more than 100 requests for help each year from incarcerated inmates in Hawaiis penal system, and carefully evaluates each one. See the full story on the law school website. ---30--- Nov 17, 2018: Ken Lawson Admits his Innocence Project Brought Alleged Pimp to Hawaii Helsinki is paying roughly two million euros a year in membership fees to the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, Vapaavuori highlighted in a blog on Puheenvuoro on Tuesday. It is my duty as mayor to consider and examine if we are spending this money smartly. Jan Vapaavuori (NCP), the Mayor of Helsinki, has stated that the capital should carefully weigh up the merits of its membership in the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (Kuntaliitto). What kind of advocacy needs will we have in the future and how should we position ourselves in regards to them? Helsinki, he argued, is along with a couple of other large cities becoming increasingly different from the rest of the country for better or worse, whether we like it or not if only due to its size: the city has added a higher number of people to its population each year than the total number of residents in most municipalities in Finland. The age of cultural uniformity is if not crumbling, then dissolving also in Finland, he wrote. I have noted a number of times that people in the capital have a very different approach to, for example, immigrants, sexual minorities and vegan food, but also to car ownership and eating outside, than the rest of the country on average. His views are shared by Anni Sinnemaki (Greens), the Deputy Mayor for Urban Development at Helsinki. It has been easier to find partners from a couple of other large cities than from the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. These are questions that have prompted us to consider whether the association is the right advocacy partner for us, she commented on YLE Radio 1 on Wednesday. Sirpa Paatero (SDP), the chairperson of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, told Uusi Suomi that the announcement will be taken seriously. She also reminded, however, that similar announcements were made following the publication of new municipal borders by then Minister of Public Administration and Local Government Henna Virkkunen (NCP) in 2012. But that didnt happen. This isnt the first time, said Paatero. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi Every year as much as two million hectares of forest is lost in Africa. One of the main reasons for this is the collection of firewood and clearing of arable land, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Jari Leppa (Centre) stated yesterday at the Forest Academy, a meeting of decision makers from the EU organised by Finland and Sweden. Finland has urged the European Union to adopt reforestation as one of the themes of its newly announced partnership with Africa. Finland, he revealed, is proposing that a forest fund be established as part of the so-called AfricaEurope Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs, a comprehensive partnership programme announced in September by Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission. One of the main objectives of the programme is to create up to 10 million jobs for youth in Africa by 2023. Leppa pointed out that the sustainable use of forest resources would not only support efforts to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but also promote employment in the rural areas of Africa. Investments worth billions are needed in afforestation, forestry and the management and protection of forests, said Leppa. Finland, the most forested country in the EU, is set to promote sustainable forest management and afforestation also as part of its Presidency of the European Union in 2019. Mika Anttonen, the founder and chairman of the board at St1, has been one of the most vocal advocates of reforesting Africa in Finland, saying repeatedly that reforestation is one of the key means to combat climate change and absorb carbon from the atmosphere. The Finnish energy company has even launched a commercial project with the ambitious objective of reforesting 85 per cent of Sahara. The positive effects would particularly include those related to climate refugees, Anttonen said in his speech at last years Forest Days, an event organised annually in Helsinki by the Finnish Forest Association. Finnfund, a Finnish finance development company, has similarly said it has invested hundreds of millions of euros in commercial afforestation projects in Africa. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi Sipila was one of five party chairpersons who raised their hand when asked if they are prepared to limit the right to stage political strikes in a debate event organised by the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) in Helsinki on Wednesday. Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) has expressed his frustration that the costs of political strikes are invariably borne by innocent parties in Finland. The right to stage a political strike is completely unlimited in Finland, he said, suggesting that trade unions have exercised the right excessively to apply pressure on democratic decision-making. He added that the issue should be discussed thoroughly while taking into consideration the approaches taken elsewhere in the Nordics, for example in Sweden. Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo (NCP) similarly called attention to the measures adopted in the neighbouring countries, saying they have successfully improved industrial relations and, as a result, boosted both competitiveness and employment. He voiced his hope that also trade unions are willing to sit down and discuss how industrial peace could be maintained going forward. What we saw a couple of weeks ago is behind the times, he stated. The other three party chairpersons to express their willingness to limit the right to political strikes were Sampo Terho of the Blue Reform, Sari Essayah of the Christian Democrats and Anna-Maja Henriksson of the Swedish Peoples Party. Terho proposed that unionised employees be allowed to decide independently whether to participate in political strikes. Essayah viewed that businesses should be entitled to compensation for losses incurred due to political strikes because they are in an unfair situation due to their non-involvement in the strikes. Henriksson, meanwhile, said Finland should increase the participation of employees in the decision-making processes of businesses, a measure that has produced good results in Sweden. Antti Rinne of the Social Democrats, Pekka Haavisto of the Green League, Li Andersson of the Left Alliance and Jussi Halla-aho of the Finns Party contrastively did not raise their hand when asked if the right to stage political strikes should be limited in Finland. Jyri Hakamies, the chief executive of EK, demanded last month that the maximum duration of political strikes be limited and that all such strikes be organised outside working hours. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi Nacogdoches, TX (75965) Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 74F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional rain late. Thunder possible. Low near 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA 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. SEOULTaepyeong, the largest dog slaughterhouse in South Korea, has been shut down by local authorities in a move hailed by animal campaigners as a landmark moment in the demise of the countrys brutal dog meat trade. Humane Society International/Korea, Korea Animal Rights Advocates and the Korean Animal Welfare Association were on site to assist Seongnam City Council and witness the historic event. Watch on Facebook live. The council intends to build a community park on the land, creating a fun public space where once hundreds of thousands of dogs a year were gathered from the countrys thousands of dog meat farms to be killed by electrocution. Help dogs and other animals all over the world. Humane Society International/Korea dog meat campaigners on the scene report that conditions they saw inside the slaughterhouse were horrifying. They found a large number of empty wire pens that would once have held hundreds of dogs, as well as the electrocution equipment used to kill them, knives, and a de-hairing maching. A pile of dead dogs was also found abandoned on the floor. Nara Kim, HSI/Koreas dog meat campaigner said from the scene: Both as a Korean citizen and an animal campaigner, it was incredibly moving for me to a part of the historic closure of this notorious dog slaughterhouse. I shudder to think how many millions of beautiful dogs will have met their horrific fate at this place over the years. It was a stain on the city of Seongnam and we are so pleased to see it bulldozed. This really feels like a landmark moment in the demise of the dog meat industry in South Korea, and sends the clear message that the dog meat industry is increasingly unwelcome in Korean society. Taepyeong comprises six individual slaughterhouses, five of which will be bulldozed immediately; permission to destroy the sixth building was not secured in time for the closure however all its cages will be destroyed and equipment removed so that it is no longer operational. In addition to the closure of the slaughterhouses, the operation will culminate in the closure of the last remaining bricks & mortar vendor selling live dogs at Moran Market. Moran was once the largest dog meat market in South Korea, but in recent times the number of dog meat shops has decreased due to closure efforts by local authorities. Although pop-up market stalls selling dog meat can still be seen at Moran, the closure of the final permanent vendor selling live dogs at the site represents a major victory in dismantling the once infamous dog meat market. The closure of Taepyeong comes at a time when dog meat consumption is declining rapidly in South Korea, particularly among younger generations. A survey by Gallup Korea conducted in June 2018 shows that 70 percent of South Koreans say they will not eat dog meat in future, and a series of recent moves to curb the dog meat trade reflects a society increasingly ill at ease with the industry. In April this year, Incheon District Court in Bucheon fined a farmer under the Animal Protection Act for unlawful animal slaughter, ruling that meat consumption was not a legal justification to kill dogs. In August, Seoul City announced there will be no more dog slaughterhouses at Kyungdong Market in Dongdaemun from next year. In the same month operators of an illegal dog slaughterhouse were prosecuted for water pollution, and President Moon Jae-Ins Blue House pledged to consider removing dogs and cats from the legal definition of livestock. Most recently in September a Supreme Court struck down a lower court decision to allow dog electrocution (the favoured method of the dog meat trade), saying the method is too cruel. Humane Society Internationals pioneering program of dog meat farm closures over the past nearly 4 years has helped shine a much-needed spotlight on the cruelty. The charity works in partnership with dog farmers who want to leave the increasingly controversial business, helping them transition to more profitable and more humane livelihoods such as growing mushrooms or water parsley. Its a proof-of-concept project that aims to demonstrate to the government how to phase out the dog meat industry for good. So far HSI has permanently closed 13 dog farms and rescued nearly 1,600 dogs, who are flown to shelter and rescue partners in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Korea Animal Rights Advocates is an HSI/Korea partner group, and the two organisations recently teamed up to present a petition of nearly 1 million signatures to the Presidents Blue House, calling for an end to the dog meat trade. Hyunji Kim of Korea Animal Rights Advocates says: We have been making constant efforts to shut down the Taepyeong-dong dog slaughterhouse through investigations and putting pressure on Gyeonggi province and Seongnam-si. As Koreas biggest, brutal, illegal dog slaughterhouse, Taepyeong-dong is notorious for supplying huge amounts of dog bodies to nearby Seongnam Moran traditional market. Its closure is an historical event, and hopefully may trigger the closure of other illegal dog slaughterhouses throughout the country. Until we achieve this, we really appreciate the support of both Korean people and global citizens who love animals for helping our campaigns to completely end dog meat in Korea. Korea Animal Welfare Association has campaigned against the dog meat trade for many years. KAWAs Iltaek Chae, says: The slaughterers in Taepyeong have long been accumulating their wealth and a huge number of dogs have been killed over the years. It is hoped that the closure of this horrific dog slaughterhouse can halt the suffering of more dogs in the future, and help trigger the collapse of the dog meat industry in Korea. Give now to support our lifesaving work. Photos and video of the dog slaughterhouse closure are available for download here (warning: graphic content) Please check back regularly as more images/video will be added throughout the day. ENDS Media contacts: Save the Children has called for an immediate ceasefire to pull back the country from the brink of famine as civilians report soaring food prices amid renewed fighting November 21, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - As many as 85,000 children have starved to death in Yemen, according to Save the Children with the charity warning that up to 14 million people are at risk of famine if a ruinous war does not end soon. Since 2015, when the fighting first broke out the group has estimated that at least 84,700 children under the age of five may have died from malnutrition. That is the equivalent of every child in Birmingham, Britains second biggest city, the group added. The devastating statistic came as fighting flared in the Red Sea city of Hodeidah, the frontline of the latest battle, where food prices had soared by at least 400 per cent, according to local residents. Only two hospitals are now working in the port town, both of which are dangerously close to the front line. For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and its entirely preventable, said Tamer Kirolos, Save the Childrens Yemen director. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Because of the fighting parents are delaying taking their children in for treatment of malnutrition, when their internal organs are not working, and they have multiple infections due to the wasting," he added. Mr Kirolos said at that point medics can do nothing to save them. The charity warned that the number of cases has dramatically increased since a Saudi Arabia led coalition imposed a month-long blockade on the impoverished country a year ago. The Gulf alliance launched a bombing campaign in the Spring of 2015 to oust the Iran-backed Houthi rebels that swept control of the country forcing Yemens recognised President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee. The fighting has sparked the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and pushed the country to the brink of famine. Over two-thirds of the population now rely on aid to survive. According to the United Nations, 400,000 children are on the cusp of dying from hunger, 15,000 more than last year. Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Home Search ICH By Stephen Collinson November 21, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - It is the Trump doctrine laid bare. By letting Saudi Arabia get away with the murder of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the President sent a message of startling clarity about how the United States will conduct its business in the world. Refusing to break with Saudi strongman Mohammed bin Salman over the killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Trump effectively told global despots that if they side with him, Washington will turn a blind eye to actions that infringe traditional US values. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter But more than that, by stressing the "billions" of dollars in Saudi investment in the US, Trump made clear that Washington has a price, that principles that generations of Americans have cherished, are for sale. "The world is a very dangerous place! ... It's called America First!" Trump wrote in a statement, effectively repudiating the concept of American Exceptionalism, the idea that the US is embarked on a unique, moral mission exemplified by support for freedom, democracy and universal values. He kept up his praise on Wednesday, thanking the Saudis in a tweet for low oil prices, even though the tumble in crude oil owes largely to market fears about a new supply glut and weakening demand. The President's decision Tuesday to answer the long-running question of how he will respond to the murder of the Washington Post columnist revealed other pillars of the Trump doctrine in one of the most colloquial and oddly stylistic statements on US foreign policy ever written. It showed a President willing to ignore and prejudge US intelligence assessments that conflict with his political goals. His readiness to offer impunity to Saudi Arabia represented another blow to the international rule of law and global accountability, concepts Trump has shown little desire to enforce in nearly two years in office. The President's statement is certain to trigger a fierce clash with Congress, where there is bipartisan momentum to punish Saudi Arabia. Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, blasted Trump's response. "I never thought I'd see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia," he tweeted on Tuesday. And it may deepen the estrangement between Trump and the intelligence community, given his rejection of a CIA assessment that the crown prince knew about the killing of Khashoggi. Trump's Saudi Support Highlights Brutality Of 'America First' Doctrine No room for misunderstanding Trump's statement was remarkable because it was not just an explanation of Saudi policy. He consciously used the moment to deliver a lesson about how he would wield American power as he redefined the nation's role in the world. He essentially argued that although the murder of the Washington Post journalist was "terrible" and could not be condoned, it did not merit the disruption of a strategic relationship he has elevated to extraordinary levels. "We're not going to give up hundreds of millions of dollars in orders and let Russia and China have them ... it's a very simple equation for me. I'm about make America great again," he told reporters. His decision appeared to suggest that as long as a foreign power enriches the United States it would face no censure for despotic behavior. Perhaps Trump should get marks for frankness. Many Presidents have wrestled with the tension between American values and the trade-offs required by realpolitik. Often Washington's actions -- in the Vietnam War for instance or in the war on terror, have been seen by outsiders as falling well short of the lofty principles it has preached to others. American relations with Saudi Arabia, a key power broker in the Middle East and crucial oil producer vital to the global economy have often fallen on the hypocritical side of this line. But the pull of the idea that America is leading a group of like-minded nations wedded to democratic, enlightened principles was always strong and while waxing and waning under different Presidents it never disappeared. Yet Trump is getting rid of any pretense. As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it: "It's a mean nasty world out there," in an apparent sign that Washington is ready to play the same cynical game as Beijing, Moscow and other challengers to Western power who reject the US-backed international system. rump's pivot shocked many more conventional politicians in Washington. "I am concerned about our standing in the world and what it says about the United States," Republican Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida told CNN's Brianna Keilar. "From our very beginnings we have been a country founded on important principles of freedom, rule of law. The Declaration of Independence kind of sets the road map. And I don't think we want to back up on that and cut a break for Saudi Arabia murdering someone," Rooney said. Yet Trump's argument will please his supporters, who reject the premise of the international liberal order and multinational institutions, and believe the previous Obama administration was ineffectual. And it represented the latest show of force from a President who is showing signs of breaking free from any remaining restraints, and is increasingly confident in a course that has sown historic disruption. Consequences in Washington and abroad Tuesday's events were all more poignant since they coincided with Thanksgiving, the quintessentially American holiday that remembers pioneers who fled tyranny in Europe to found a land built on freedom in the new world. They will have significant reverberations in Washington and around the world. After all, the President made clear he is willing to ignore his own intelligence agencies and to blur facts in order to advance his pre-cooked political goals -- in this case preserving the relationship with Saudi Arabia. It is a trend that has also been evident in the President's dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin over election meddling and his rejection of intelligence agency assessments that Iran is abiding by a nuclear deal he overturned. Trump seems especially willing to disregard intelligence if it complicates his desire to court foreign despots like Putin, North Korea's Kim Jong Un or the crown prince. Trump's statement also included a Putin-esque misdirection play designed to cast doubt on the truth as well as it can be established -- that Khashoggi was murdered with the acquiescence of the Saudi crown prince. "It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event -- maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" Trump wrote. His words could hardly have offered more absolution to the House of Saud especially since the President also recycled Saudi talking points that Khashoggi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In fact the President opened his statement talking not about Saudi Arabia but Iran, reflecting how US policy in the Middle East is refracted through a prism of the administration's fixation on the Islamic Republic. The Saudis are seen by the Trump administration, and the President's personal envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as crucial to containing the Islamic Republic -- a policy that looks increasingly like regime change. To maintain that bond, the administration has offered logistical support to Riyadh's air assault against Iran backed rebels in Yemen, that has triggered the world's worst humanitarian crisis that has left eight million people at risk of famine. The administration has said it will stop refueling Saudi warplanes, but the air raids are still using US and Western ammunition. The Saudi controversy will intensify Trump's coming clash with Congress with lawmakers determined to do more than levy sanctions on 17 Saudis named by their government as being involved in the killing of Khashoggi. Several bills would halt all arms sales to the Saudis. House Democrats may use their new majority next year to do more to probe the Trump-Saudi relationship. There may be pressure to declassify the CIA assessment of Khashoggi's murder and attempts to reverse Trump's policy pivot. "It's now up to Congress to reassure the people of Yemen and the international community that the United States still stands for something more than a dollar sign," said Oxfam America's Humanitarian Policy Lead, Scott Paul. There are also calls for Congress to investigate Trump's past business ties with the Saudis. The President denied any such links on Tuesday. This article was originally published by " Cable News Network " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== ANOHNI: CRISIS Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. By W. T. Whitney November 21, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - The United States has great tolerance for wholesale killings. Think Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Think civilians killed in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq in U.S. wars. Think biological weapons. An article appearing October 4, 2018 in Science magazine deals with a U.S. Defense Department project named Insect Allies which began in 2017 and runs for four years. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)is providingfour U.S. Universities with $45 million in funding to enable researchers to alter the gene make-up of plants grown as crops on farms. DARPA claims to be addressing national security challenges in agriculture domestically and abroad. Genes are being edited, says DARPA, so that plants can resist diseases, drought, floods, excessive heat, or natural or engineered harmful biological agents, Yet the five authors of the report, evolutionary biologists and lawyers at German and French Universities, see the U.S. Defense Department as probably developing offensive biological-warfare capabilities. The United States, they explain, actually may be working on an innovative mechanism of genetic modification programmed to reduce productivity rather than to maintain or increase it. The authors write that the knowledge to be gained from this program appears very limited in its capacity to enhance U.S. agriculture or respond to national emergencies. They condemn the project as probably in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which tookeffect under United Nations auspices in 1975. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The 182 nations ratifying the BWC as of 2018 are committed to prohibiting the development, production, and stockpiling of such weapons. In 1969 President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer be making offensive biological weapons. The Science magazine report focuses on a new delivery system Defense Department researchers are using to transfer altered genetic material to crops in the field. The authors cite the BWC which says: certain developments in science and technology have the potential for use contrary to the provisions of the Convention now or in the future. These developments include, inter aliato develop novel means of delivering biological agents and toxins. The idea of a novel means is crucial to what follows here. For the reader to understand why the United States may be non-compliant with the BWC, some familiarity with relevant science is necessary. We review it briefly. DARPA researchers are trying to insert altered genetic material into viruses, arrange for those viruses to infect certain insects, and then transfer the insects with doctored viruses to plants being grown for food. They are relying on a horizontal or lateral approach instead of the traditional one, which is to transfer the inheritance of genetic material vertically, from one generation of living things downward to the next. Whether taking place in the laboratory or in the field, the vertical method consumes time and money. The new, horizontal method is relatively inexpensive and is quick. It fits into one growing season. DARPAsprocess rests on two biological systems. One of them, known by the acronym CRISPR , utilizes sets of DNA sequences originating fromthe genetic material of single cell organisms. These are composed of DNA fragments from viruses that had infected those organisms. Under CRISPR, the sequences are combined with certain enzymes to achieve editing of the genetic make-up of an entirely different organism. And CRISPR enables those altered genes to be transferred to yet another life form. The other system involves a virus known as a horizontal environmental genetic alteration agent (HEGAA). It contains genes modified as per CRISPR. That virus infects insects, specifically aphids, whiteflies or leafhoppers, and the insects are transferred to crops where they feed. Doing so, they insert the virus into the cells of plants, thus endowing them CRISPR at work again with new genetic material. The plants thrive or fail depending on how humans engineered such material at the beginning. In the Science magazine report, HEGAA technology is cast as one of the novel means proscribed by the BMW. The authors hold that gene modification achieved through HEGAA doesnt fit with the intention proclaimed by DARPA, that of protecting U.S. agriculture. Any discussion of a project with such a purpose ought to have dealt with methods and arrangements pertaining to agriculture. If indeed the Insect Allies program had been programmed as advertised, then consideration might have been given to regulatory mechanisms applying to food produced through HEGAA and about to enter national and international markets. That didnt happen. Nor was there discussion of the full range of practical impediments to achieving benefits for agriculture. There is silence also on the likelihood that HEGAA gene modification will lead to inconsistent results. The insects, for example, wont reach all plants in a field and the outcome will be quite different from situations involving laboratory-generated genetic modifications. Gene modification via insects will likely affect crops other than the targeted ones. HEGAA technology also could end up reducing or finishing off seed production and leave no seeds to be marketed. Seeds necessary for perpetuation of plant species might disappear. DARPA researchers discussed none of this. The article points out that for normal plantings even of crops that are threatened the delivery of viruses by insects would work less well than delivery of viruses by overhead spraying equipment. Lastly, the authors, having noted that the researchers are allowing the virus-laden insects to survive for only two weeks, suggest that through simple modifications the insects lives could be prolonged for use in war. These discrepancies, the authors say, signal the intentions of DARPA and the researchers and they are not about problems of maintaining or increasing agricultural production. The implication is that DARPA is developing the HEGAA system as a weapon of war. The article concludes: [A] party engaging in the development of biological agents for which a hostile-use case is plausible (or even obvious, in the case of the Insect Allies program) must present acceptable explanations that its research is only serving peaceful purposes. The authors demand robust explanations for the necessity of mandating insect dispersion in routine agricultural or emergency applications. Without them, Insect Allies risks being widely perceived as an attempt to develop a means of delivering HEGAAs for offensive purposes. University researchers working on the Insect Allies program have publicly identified the target species for their experiments as maize a crop upon which hundreds of millions of people rely for their basic nutritional needs, mainly in Latin America and Africa. News outlets reflecting scientific opinion criticized the program, as evidenced here and here . The U.S. mainstream media have not. The Washington Post , for example, communicated the DARPA program managers opinion that, I dont think that the public needs to be worried. That seems a stretch, declared a Post editorialist commenting on weapons-production motives. The New York Times reassuringly quoted the project manager: This is biology we understand very well. While offering no direct proof that the U.S. government is developing biological weapons capability, the article illustrates the difficulty in assigning war-making purposes to technology with peacetime applications. And to tease out offensive purposes from research on defensive capabilities is no easy task. But the history and current manifestations of U.S research and development on biological weapons tell their own story. Wider perspective Research and development on biological weapons continued within the United States after 1975 when the BWC took effect, as evidenced by a report appearing in 2007 that mentions 400 bio-weapons laboratories operating in the United States. Itnotes the refusal by 113 U.S. biologic research institutions to comply with mandatory reporting requirements as to purposes of their microbiological research. Currently a plethora of places and institutions are studying biologic agents, and apparently not for humanitarian or peaceful purposes. An extensive report dated April 29, 2018 from Bulgarian investigative journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva documents research activities the U.S. military carries out abroad. Accessible on her website and elsewhere, the report titled The Pentagon Bio-weapons provides circumstantial evidence of U.S. violations of the BWC. Gaytandzhieva begins: The US Army regularly produces deadly viruses, bacteria and toxins in direct violation of the UN Convention on the prohibition of Biological Weapons. Hundreds of thousands of unwitting people are systematically exposed to dangerous pathogens and other incurable diseases. Bio-warfare scientists using diplomatic cover test man-made viruses at Pentagon bio- laboratories in 25 countries across the world. These US bio-laboratories are funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) under a $ 2.1 billion military program and are located in former Soviet Union countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa. [DTRA] has outsourced much of the work under the military program to private companies. Her report is replete with images of U.S. facilities, victims, and U.S. military and intelligence documents. Her documentation of generous funding for the various projects and description of some of the microbiological species and illnesses dont appear in the following summary. She highlights the [Senator] Richard Lugar Center located near Tbilisi in Georgia and staffed entirely by U.S. citizens, all enjoying diplomatic immunity. Biologic specimens arrive by diplomatic pouch. At least three U.S. companies do research there for the Pentagon, CIA, and other U.S. agencies. CH2M Hill and Battelle Companies operate bio-laboratories also in Uganda, Tanzania, Iraq, Afghanistan, and South East Asia. The latter company works in Armenia and at Fort Detrick in Maryland. Metabiota has laboratories in Georgia and Ukraine and formerly in West Africa. The contracted research teams study a variety of disease-causing micro-organisms. The Lugar Center has housed an insect facility since 2014 and as a result Tbilisi has been infested with biting flies since 2015 and flies similar to those in Georgia have appeared in neighboring Dagestan (Russia). Researchers there study tropical mosquito species that transmit deadly viral illnesses. Those species are now showing up in Southern Russia, Northern Turkey, and throughout Georgia. Lugar Center researchers study the anthrax bacillus, especially the strain engineered by Soviet germ warfare specialists. Gaytandzhieva disputes Pentagon claims as to the defensive nature of such research.She points to investigation at the Center of the Genome Sequences of the Soviet strain of the bacterium and to a U.S. history of developing anthrax as a weapon. Tularemia is a subject of investigation, as are local ticks that carry tularemia bacteria, which the United States had once converted into a weapon. Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is another possibly tick-borne disease. Gaytandzhieva claims that study of that disease at the Center caused a sharp increase of CCHF human cases in 2014 in the surrounding area. There were 237 cases of the disease in Afghanistan in 2017, 41 of which were fatal. Lugar Center researchers work there too. The Defense Department funds 11 bio-laboratories in Ukraine, where U.S. personnel work under diplomatic cover. U.S. funding extends to the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine that, supposedly an international entity, supports projects of scientists previously involved in the Soviet biological weapons program. Gaytandzhieva attributes sicknesses and deaths among Ukrainians to leakage from U.S. bio-laboratories of organisms causing hepatitis A, swine flu, and cholera from a new strain. The journalist reports that the Birmingham-based Southern Research Institute constructed and has operated U.S. bio-laboratories in Ukraine, and also in Germany, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Thailand, Ethiopia, Vietnam and Armenia. The Institute has sponsored anthrax research and for decades was a prime Pentagon biological weapons contractor. Stopping at nothing Gaytandzhieva mentions experiments on Botulinum neurotoxin, anthrax spores, and aerosol delivery systems that Metabiologics Company conducted for the U.S. Army at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah beginning in 2007. She concludes with a survey of heavily funded U.S. studies of emerging viruses, synthetic viruses, and genetically engineered pathogens. The Defense Department is researching binary biological weapons (a lethal combination of two viruses), host swapping diseases (animal viruses that jump to humans, like the Ebola virus), stealth viruses, and designer diseases, which target particular ethnic groups. The probability that the U.S. government fashions weapons delivering deadly microorganisms or their products has dire implications. First, U.S. democracy is at great risk. National elections held on November 6 were supposedly about people weighing in on the peoples business. But biological warfare apparently is someone elses business. The public knows almost nothing about this aspect of U.S. war-making. People dont get to judge. Secondly, U.S. use of massively lethal weapons apparently serves the interest of those in charge. If so, U.S. leftists would do well to regard U.S. imperialism as involving more than just foreign interventions and wealth extraction by rich countries. Force itself, it seems, has its own place in the imperialist scheme of things. Biological warfare is an enforcement mechanism. It threatens the death of many, as do nuclear war, carpet bombing, and climate change. They are crimes for which the masters of capitalist imperialism are responsible. W.T. Whitney Jr. This article was originally published by " Counterpunch " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy By Lawrence Davidson Back in early November the organisation Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), one of the few remaining American Jewish organisations that has the decency to publicly support the human and civil rights of the Palestinian people, put out an urgent notice. The notice asked supporters of the Palestinian cause to protest against the recent action of a progressive US senator. The urgency was generated by the announcement that, following the murder of 11 Jews killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the Democratic senator from New Jersey Cory Booker, would support the long-stalled Federal Gag Bill (aka the Israel anti-Boycott Act) as a response to rising anti-Semitism. What makes Bookers action so questionable is that (1) the Boycott has nothing to do with anti-Semitism and (2) Bookers mislabeling it as such clashes with his normal support for liberal causes. It represents a fraying of his professed liberal principles. Booker has a record of consistently supporting socially progressive issues. He has taken a stand in support of the legalisation of same-sex marriage, single-payer health care and womens rights. But there is a catch. Democratic politicians are often liberal on domestic issues while choosing to be quite illiberal on issues related to foreign policy in the Middle East. This discordance is particularly seen when it comes to the rights of oppressed Palestinians. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Booker decided to play this domestic/foreign policy gambit. He did so by publicly conflating criticism of Israels racist and aggressive behaviour with anti-Semitism. This is a decision that mixes apples and oranges (or hatred of Jews with criticism of Israeli state policies) and therefore does not make logical sense, though it is politically expedient. Why did he do it? The answer is most likely a product of both a friendship and political self-interest. Booker is close to his fellow New Jersey senator, Robert Menendez, who is a strong Zionist, and this friendship may well have helped him understand the political benefits of allying with the pro-Israel lobby. Booker knew that there might be a political price to be paid for coming out in support of the Zioniststhe move would cast a shadow over his liberal persona. So, best to make this move at a moment that would likely minimise the blowback. Thus, it may be that Booker saw the late October murder of 11 Jews at a Pittsburgh synagoguethe most lethal anti-Semitic action in US historyas just the right moment to justify the move. He may have been right. Other than the JVPs statement, the sound of fraying principles went unnoticed. Booker is not alone in the cultivation of this particular blind spot. There are other US senators who abandon liberal consistency when it comes to Israel. For instance, there is Robert Casey of Pennsylvania. Casey is also a supporter of liberal domestic legislation, particularly when it comes to health care. Though pro-life, he at least has the common sense to support subsidised access to contraception. Nonetheless, in Caseys opinion Israel is Americas most trusted ally, and the boycott of that country constitutes a pernicious movement. Casey has never expressed any public criticism of Israels illegal treatment of the Palestinians nor its occupation of Palestinian territory in violation of international law. The politically inspired refusal to be consistent to standards of decency is not restricted to the issue of Palestine. Consider the recently published picture showing former Democratic Vice-President Joe Biden, whose name has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, presenting George W. Bush, former Republican president (and arguably a war criminal), with the 2018 Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Centre in Philadelphia on 11 November 2018. The offered reason for Bushs receiving this honour is in recognition of his charitable mission helping wounded post-11 September veterans get back on their feet through healing and career training. Given that most of these veterans were wounded in a war that then-President Bush started under false pretences, one wonders what Biden and the National Constitution Centres Board of Trustees were thinking when they decided to honour him in this fashion. After all, the Liberty Metal is designed to recognise those who have strived to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the world. I dont think that anyone with even a little knowledge of the second Iraq war can believe that was George W. Bushs real motive. We can admit that consistency is a hard thing to achieve for all of us. This would be particularly true for politicians immersed in a system dominated by special interests and party whips. Yet the fraying of principles related to human rights that now pervades US politics and particularly the liberals readiness to acquiesce in the denial of other peoples rights, speaks to a significant devaluing of conscience and an unconscionable shallowness when it comes to ethical judgement. Perhaps it should give pause to all those Democrats raising glasses of cheap champagne to the partys victory in the mid-term elections. Just how consistent in their assumed liberal principles will our new US representatives be? The truth is that these newly elected Democrats are stepping into a struggle for the political soul of their party. Their professed liberality should help move the party in the direction of rational change, both as to its priorities and its leadership. The result should be a shift left to ensure things like health care, gender equality, same-sex marriage, abortion rights, a serious attitude towards climate change, infrastructure investment, and respect for international treaties and laws. This includes an empathetic response to the injustices visited upon the Palestinians by Americas most trusted ally. But, alas, this cannot be done under an old guard that is stuck in the rut of tradition, tied hand and foot to special interests, and insisting on keeping control of a party which, under their leadership, has lost the ability to act with any sort of originality. Here is where the all too easy fraying of principle threatens the Democratic Party. Will our new Democrat representatives be loyal to their progressive principles, or will they buy into a corrupt status quo by just following their Pied Piper leadership? Time will tell, but if they dont rock the boat now, the prevailing paralysis will bode ill for both their future and ours. Lawrence Davidson is a retired professor of history from West Chester University in West Chester PA. His academic research focused on the history of American foreign relations with the Middle East. He taught courses in Middle East history, the history of science and modern European intellectual history. Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy " - Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday slammed President Donald Trump as "Saudi Arabia's bitch" in the latest scathing criticism of the commander-in-chief's stand by the country's rulers despite the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Hawaii Democratic congresswoman made the remarks in a brief and blistering tweet Wednesday afternoon. "Hey @realdonaldtrump: being Saudi Arabia's bitch is not 'America First,'" wrote Gabbard, a 37-year-old Iraq War veteran who at various points has been considered a rising star in her party. The tweet was in apparent reference to Trump's exclamation point-filled formal presidential statement Tuesday that his administration would take no actions against Saudi Arabia's rulers regarding the Khashoggi killing despite NBC News and other reports last week that the CIA concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's killing. "It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" Trump said in the statement, which featured a subheading that read "America First!" In the statement, he also outlined how the U.S. needed Saudi support to help fight terrorism internationally and to help keep oil prices low. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter On Wednesday morning, he followed the statement with a tweet about oil, saying that it was "Great!" that prices getting lower "Enjoy! $54, was just $82. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but lets go lower!" he wrote, hours before Gabbard chimed in. The white-hot words from Gabbard mark a departure from an earlier apparent attempt to work with him. In November 2016, just weeks after Trump won the election, Gabbard met with the president-elect at Trump Tower to discuss the war in Syria and other foreign policy issues. Gabbard called the meeting "frank and positive," and there was speculation at the time that she was being considered for a job in his administration. Previously, Gabbard had clashed with President Barack Obama and other top Democrats, especially on foreign policy and Syria (during Obama's second term she appeared on Fox News to lambaste the administration for refusing to use the term Islamic extremism"). And in January 2017, she revealed that she'd traveled to the war-torn country, without the knowledge of her party's leaders, to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Trump's statement about Khashoggi, and broader decision to side with Saudi Arabia over his own intelligence agencies, prompted furious criticism from both sides of the aisle. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Tuesday tweeted, "I'm pretty sure this statement is Saudi Arabia First, not America First." Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., tweeted Tuesday night, "I never thought I'd see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia." This article was originally published by " NBC News " - By James Petras November 21, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - We need an objective evaluation of the Presidents foreign and domestic polices the means, the goals, their results and consequences. The Trump performance requires we discuss the style and substanceof foreign and domestic policies. We will ignore the fly swatting by Trump critics who ply peripheral issues the state investigation of the fading Russian conspiracy tales and focus on strategic issues that purport to transform global economic, political and social relations. Trump at Work: Foreign Policy President Trump has a strategy and he works hard at realizing it. High on Trumps agenda is, first and foremost, asserting US global supremacy by word and deed. In pursuit of world power, he utilizes multiple weapons: he believes in the magic powers of weapons and words. He asserts that prior Presidents were weak and allowed others to exploit us. Today, under Trumps leadership, he claims we are strong and flexing our power everywhere at all time. How does the President reveal strength? Through multiple wars, severe sanctions, increased military spending and greater concentration of wealth, in strategic locations. As a result, according to Trump, we intimidaterivals, competitors and adversaries. Trump cites numerous examples. In Syria, we occupy regions, build new military bases, hire and arm more mercenaries and drop larger bombs on more Syrian cities. Trump boasts that he weakens Iranby ending the nuclear agreement, increasing sanctions precipitating an imminent collapse and regime change. Trump trumpets the success of the economic trade war against China and the downfall of Russia by encircling them with nuclear missiles, military bases and economic sanctions. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Trump hails new political successes and military allies in Latin America. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador are viewed as Trumps market successes and providing a vassal army to overthrow the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. Trump brags about his success in renegotiating NAFTA, renaming it and claiming more favorable trade deals with Mexico and Canada. The European Union and each of its members have felt the wrath of Trumps threat of trade wars, and his demands for greater military contributions to NATO. He has demanded the Germans buy US oil and gas instead of Russian; he threatens to sanction European corporations who dare to abide by agreements with Iran; Trump boasts of hundred-billion-dollar arms sale with Saudi Arabia, while affirming US supremacy in the Middle East and North Africa. President Trump, according to his bluster and boisterous self-acclaim, has won every war, conquered all competitors and has laid the groundwork for an American Century. How many of Trumps foreign policy twitters correspond to the real world and how many are empty-handed ejaculations? President Trump: Claims and Reality Trumps foreign policy strategy is mostly bluster than conquest, more boisterous than business, more bluff than success. Lets start with Russia. Trumps sanctions and military encirclement have failed to weaken Russia. Berlin deepens trade ties with the Kremlin buys more oil and gas, builds pipelines and affirms EU autonomy in dealing with Russia. Military encirclement involves third rate Baltic partners, and missile bases stationed in Poland. In contrast Russia has deepened multi-billion-dollar military and economic agreements with China, a world power. Russia has responded to Trumps ending of nuclear missile agreements by building superior weaponry. By any measure, Russia has defeated Trumps sanctions and military threats. Despite Trumps bombast about squeezing China with tariffs, Chinas trade surplus with the US has increased, while the US trade deficit has risen. The US has grown by 2.8%, Chinas by 6.5%. The US has failed to convince any of its Asian allies to join its trade war against China. On the contrary, US so-called trade war has encouraged Asia to replace US exporters. While Trumps economic advisers threaten Wall Streets largest bankers to stop making billion dollar deals with China, most have brushed Trump off. The bankers ignore Trumps trade war because profits count more than gaseous rhetoric. Saudi Arabia signs a $110 billion-dollar military agreement with Trump and then buys only 10% . . . fake deals to paraphrase the President. Trump claims that the Saudi monarchy is a great ally, despite its boycott of Qatar, home of the biggest US military base in the region. Israel, Trumps Middle East ally, ignores Trumps economic sanctions with Russia and trade war with China, two of its biggest high-tech trade partners. The US wars are losing propositions. Afghan rebels control most of the country, surround the provincial capitals and force US generals to seek withdrawal. US allies in Syria have retreated. He relies on Kurdish separatists who have their own agenda, not Trumps. In Latin America, Trump collects kudos from far-right regimes in Brazil and Argentina which hover on the verge of economic collapse, social crisis and political upheaval. Domestic Success of Dubious Value Trump trumpets his big tax cut for billionaires with overseas holdings. He claims it is a success story creating jobs and producing growth. In fact, over three quarters of the returned profits have resulted in buy-backs increasing corporate dividends not investment in productive activity, Trumps trade war with China has not added jobs it has added cost for consumers through higher prices. His pro-business policies have strengthened the leverage of corporations in securing multi-billion-dollar concessions from local and state governments. Jeff Bezos the mega-billion dollar owner of Amazon, received over $10 billion dollars in tax exemptions, in addition to state financed concessions. In effect Trumps large scale, long-term income transfers benefit the rich over the poor, increase inequalities and lowering public funds for education, health and welfare. Trumps opposition to public health for all, international climate change agreements, national infrastructure investments and regulation of bank oversight, has increased the risk of natural disasters, financial crises and transport breakdowns. Despite his retrograde domestic program, Trump retains electoral support and does not face an immediate political threat for one basic reason: The Democrats offer no alternatives. The corporate Democrats who lead the Party, back all of his retrograde policies: they support Trumps increases in military spending; support tax reduction for the rich; oppose a national health program for all. Moreover, during Democratic President Obamas two terms in office, trillions of dollars bailed out the biggest banks while 3 million households suffered foreclosures; minimum wages remained below the poverty level; inequalities widened ,as did racial disparities. Under President Obama 2 million immigrants were seized and expelled, establishing a precedent for Trumps anti-asylum policies. In other words, Trumps policies are a continuation and exacerbation of the Obama regime. Conclusion Trumps domestic and foreign policy demagogically capitalized on the failures of the Democratic Partys corporate socio-economic programs and multiple wars. As a result, Trumps exploited popular discontent and attracted big business support by promising lower taxes and the end of regulations. In practice Trumps aggressive foreign and domestic policies contributed and added to Washingtons isolation and decline. None of Trumps original objectives have been achieved. The US has multiplied adversaries who have grown stronger and more unified. Washington has lost established markets without gaining new ones. His original electoral support has declined without gaining new adherents. Trumps reliable allies (Israel, Saudi Arabia Germany, etc.) have undermined his aggressive trade policies to China and Russia. Anti-Iran sanctions have exempted the biggest buyers of Teherans oil exports. While Trump failed to secure his domestic and foreign policy objectives, these failures have not led to any major loss of influence. Europe is internally divided and unable to formulate any consequential alternatives. Latin America faces economic crises which precludes any joint military intervention despite paper agreements. But the biggest failure is Trumps policies to China. Each and every one of Trumps major Asian allies has retained and increased trade agreements with Beijing. Trumps premature celebration of diplomatic victory over North Korea has evaporated. North Korea has returned to and extended ties with China and Russia. Trumps strategic decisions have failed to secure his objectives. Not a single world-shaking change has taken place. Trumps generals may abandon Afghanistan but no thanks to the Democrats or Europeans. Trump trade wars with China has failed to secure more jobs in America, but his Wall Street critics have negotiated bigger and more lucrative financial deals. In a word, Trumps failures have not led to greater and better conditions for global markets, nor ended wars or improved living standards. Nevertheless many progressives are pleased by Trumps failures even though they are not beneficiaries. James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York. https://petras.lahaine.org Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy By Caitlin Johnstone November 21, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - Yesterday President Trump posted a statement on the White House website saying his administration will be standing with the House of Saud despite the CIAs assertion that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman personally ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who was living and working in the United States. The statement reads like a long form version of one of Trumps tweets, replete with gratuitous exclamation points and slogans like America First! and the lie that Iran is the worlds leading sponsor of terror, which will never be true no matter how many times this administration deliberately repeats it. The worlds leading sponsor of terrorism is of course Saudi Arabia, along with Israel and the United States. Trumps alleged opposition has responded with melodramatic outrage, as though a US president continuing to stand by Saudi Arabia in the face of horrific acts of violence is somehow new and unprecedented and not standard operating procedure for decades. Dismembering a journalist while hes still alive would be a fairly typical Tuesday afternoon for the Saudi government and would not rank anywhere near the top ten most evil things this government has done, but because it involves America and a conspiracy its a sexy story that everyone laps up. Add in the fact that Trump is more blunt and forthcoming about American depravity and youve got yourself a yarn. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Dear @realDonaldTrump: You are the President of the United States of America. You should not grovel to Saudi Arabia. Your statement is weak despite the random exclamation points. A strong @POTUS would not excuse the Saudis for murdering a journalist & cutting him up into pieces https://t.co/MDbRFtmXRO Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) November 21, 2018 This has remained a hot story through to today, invigorated by a tweet by Americas WWE president in which he crowed about low gas prices and added Thank you to Saudi Arabia like a good little muppet. And amid all the fist-shaking and rending of garments about the killing of one man by the Saudi government, a far less magnetic story has been published saying that about 84,701 Yemeni children under the age of five were starved to death between April 2015 and October 2018. And I say were starved to death instead of have starved to death because their starvation is the direct result of a blockade and relentless violence by Saudi Arabia. The lack of any sense of proportion in response to the Khashoggi case compared to the destruction of civilian lives in Yemen has been roundly criticized by anyone with a public platform and open eyes, and rightly so; obviously a government murdering a journalist in cold blood would be a terrible thing, but to hold that as more worthy of attention than the anguished deaths of untold tens of thousands is obscene. This dynamic is also not unique to Saudi human rights violations. Take the ongoing Russiagate conspiracy theory, for example. Even if Muellers investigation did somehow prove that Trump colluded with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election (and it wont), that act would still have been far less horrible than the ongoing cold war escalations that this administration has been continually advancing against a nuclear superpower. The existence of every single organism on this planet has been placed in jeopardy by Trumps idiotic, unforgivable, still very much ongoing game of nuclear chicken with Russia, but hardly anyone ever talks about it. They focus on an empty conspiracy theory instead, partly because it is the mass medias job to manufacture support for warmongering while downplaying its risks, and partly because theoretical conspiracies draw more attention than the things our rulers are doing right out in the open. 85,000 children under 5 may have died of starvation in Yemen war https://t.co/B2JfnsocA3 Afshin Rattansi (reclaiming the ) (@afshinrattansi) November 21, 2018 I often get conspiracy buffs asking/telling me to write about this or that theory of 9/11 or the JFK assassination or whatever, and Im just like, dude, have you seen the stuff theyre doing in broad daylight?? Its not that I have any attachment to the official narratives the TV tells me Im required to believe, I just find I can get a lot more traction with much better arguments pointing out the facts that are publicly known and undisputed, especially because those things are often far worse than anything alleged in any conspiracy theory. I mean, take 9/11. Pretty bad, right? 2,996 dead human beings. If that were engineered or permitted to happen by any faction of the US government or any of its allies, that would be pretty diabolical. But would it be worse than a million Iraqis killed in a war based on lies? Even if you only care about American lives, just the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq already far exceeds the death toll of 9/11. This was a war engineered by secretive government agencies and DC insiders, justified and sold to the public with government lies, lies which were advanced as objective and unquestionable fact by the mass media. The war was rammed through without any public accountability, a million human lives were snuffed out, and when they were done nobody was tried for war crimes. Nobody was even fired. No changes were ever made to prevent such horrors from being inflicted upon our world again. On paper, Id say thats far worse than 9/11. Yes, I know the two are related, but just looking at the objective facts of those two occurrences, one is clearly more egregious an offense than the other, regardless of what specifically happened on that September morning. It isn't necessary to go diving down every conspiracy theory rabbit hole to understand that there's an alliance of plutocrats and secretive government agencies running things; it's right out in the open. You can point to them using publicly available, noncontroversial facts. Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) November 10, 2018 Pretty much all other conspiracy theories are like this as well; interesting and intriguing due to the idea of catching powerful people in the act of something horrible, but much less horrible than the things those same powerful people are doing publicly. Mass media outlets make no attempt to hide who owns them or to mask their virulently pro-establishment bias as they manipulate our minds day in and day out, medicine money is spent on bombs and war ships, civilians are starved to death with sanctions, wars are waged on lies and when those lies are uncovered we get nothing but a Fuck you we do what we want, billionaires influence the legislative branch with corporate lobbying and campaign donations right out in the open to tilt the scales in favor of the plutocratic class, money is hemorrhaging upward to the richest of the rich while Americans die of lack of healthcare, we inch closer to extinction by either ecocidal end-stage capitalism or nuclear holocaust, and lucrative arms deals are cut with an unfathomably wealthy royal family that is causing the worst humanitarian crisis on earth in Yemen. If we could see with fresh eyes what is being done to us and our fellow man right out in the open, we would recoil and fall to the ground trembling in sheer terror. The only reason we dont treat these terrible things like what they are is because they have been normalized for us to the point where we take them for granted and assume thats the only way things could possibly be. Conspiracy theories sparkle because those are new stories we havent been desensitized to, but its usually the things that powerful people do out in the open that does the most damage. Caitlin's articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast, throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy Senate president Bukola Saraki during plenary at the Red Chambers today, raised the tragic killing of 44 soldiers and nine farmers in Borno State. Saraki, therefore directed its Committee on Army to pay condolence visits to the affected families. Speaking at the floor of the senate on Thursday, the senate President said they must honour these fallen heroes, who gave their lives for the peace of the country. We are all aware that a few days ago we lost about 44 brave soldiers of the Nigerian Army in Northern Borno. We must pay our respects to these brave men that have sacrificed and paid the ultimate sacrifice for our own safety and peace in our country. These officers of the Nigerian Army were recently attacked by thetechnically defeated Boko Haram fighters, alongside nine farmers in Metele, Borno State. The news wave of agog on Wednesday, with several reports, that the police had taken over the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly. The act which has been deeply condemned by top members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP). The Deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, earlier on the floor of the senate, cautioned against such occurrence, noting that, if nothing is done about it, it might just become a trend. Also reacting to the report, is former governor of Ekiti state, Ago Fayose via a tweet on Wednesday. According to Fayose, the security agencies under the All Progressives Congress led Federal government, have become the greatest threat to democracy. In his words: It appears that Security Agencies under the APC govt of Buhari have become the greatest threat to democracy in this country. What is happening in Akwa-Ibom State House of Assembly is another sad reminder of this threat. Immediate past governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose has raised the alarm that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in collaboration with the All Progressives Congress (APC) Plan to seal off the houses of innocent Nigerians in his state. According to the governor, who currently has corruption allegations by the anti corruption body, hanging on his neck, the houses are going to be sealed with claims that they belong to him. Taking to Twitter on Thursday morning, the former governor said it was a wild goose chase and the usual media campaign against him. He also criticised the EFCC for not carrying out proper investigation to ascertain if the houses are his, before sealing them. He wrote: Just been informed that operatives of EFCC in collaboration with APC govt in Ekiti are going about sealing houses of innocent people in the state, under the guise that the houses are linked to me. This is another wild goose chase & the usual media campaign against me. It is only in our country that an anti corruption agency will first go about sealing houses before determining the ownership, which can be done so easily by visiting relevant agencies. I am informing the public ahead of their usual blackmail and media trial. See tweet below Vanguard Former President Goodluck Jonathan has debunked insinuations by a newspaper that he was persuaded not to concede defeat by some of his ministers including former finance minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala describing it as twisted logic. The Sun Group Capt. Sam Ewang, retd. is the former military governor of Ogun State and a chieftain of the APC. In this interview, he told Daily Sun that the generality of the people who initially decamped from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to other political parties have changed their minds and returned to the party. He was also positive that the APC will win over the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the state. Daily Times Former Speaker of the House of Representatives and the governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) in Ogun State, Rt. Hon. Dimeji Bankole, has said that he has no regrets dumping the Peoples Democratic (PDP), the party on which platform he rose to political prominence, infact he said he is happy he left the party. Guardian With general elections very near, the two major political parties might have unwittingly picked the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly for a preliminary test of strength.The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday alleged a plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to take over the house, aided by security operatives, and unleash an impeachment plot against the state governor, Emmanuel Udom. The Nation Absence of the principal suspect in the Offa robbery trial yesterday stalled the beginning of trial of other suspects at the Ilorin High Court in Kwara State. Tribune When it was announced that one of the advertised headliners for the October 27 Guest Writer Session was unavoidably absent, the look of disappointment showed clearly on the faces of most attendees. They had arrived the venue of the literary event with a lot of anticipation, only to be told that Chief Timipre Sylva had to attend an urgent meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. Daily Trust The Minister of state Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, will on Monday in Lagos launch three regulatory guidelines aimed at standardising the nations oil and gas industry. The Peoples Democratic Party has raised an alarm that the Muhammadu Buhari presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have plans to forcefully take control of Akwa Ibom state. This comes, following reports of the invasion of the States House of Assembly by the police on Wednesday. The PDP also noted that the ruling party must take responsibility for any breakdown of law and order in Akwa-Ibom Ibom state, following its decision to cause mayhem and bloodletting in such a peaceful state. The opposition party also accused the Buhari Campaign Organization and APC leaders, of using violent images and outright threats of war in Akwa-Ibom. See full statement Text Of Press Conference By the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over Plots by the failed Muhammadu Buhari Presidency and his discredited APC to Cause Mayhem and Forcefully Take Over Control of Akwa-Ibom State. We invite Nigerians to note the looming danger, imminent violence and breakdown of law and order in Akwa-Ibom state as well as other states following attempts by President Buhari and the APC to forcefully take over control of these states. Two weeks ago, the PDP had cautioned the Buhari Presidency and the APC on their exposed plot to instigate confusion & violence in Bayelsa state by destabilizing the security architecture and foist a siege mentality on the entire oil rich south-south region. Nigerians are also witnesses to volatile outbursts by the Buhari Campaign Organization and APC leaders and their use of violent images and outright threats of war in Akwa-Ibom state. It is now clear that the statement is an approved prelude of a pre-meditated plot by the Buhari Presidency and the APC to initiate, facilitate and superintend a mayhem and bloodletting in the peaceful and developing Akwa-Ibom We therefore charge Buhari and the APC to be ready to take full responsibility for any breakdown of law and order as direct consequences of the peoples resistance to their plot to forcefully take over control of Akwa-Ibom or any of the PDP-controlled states. Flagpoles and bridge in Luxembourg This decision is welcome, clarifying news to non-resident investors that have adopted similar holding structures for their investments in Canada. Note, however, that the Crown has appealed this decision to the Federal Court of Appeal. As a general rule but subject to any treaty exemptions, Canadas domestic laws subject non-residents to tax on capital gains where the gains result from the disposition of 'taxable Canadian property', a term that generally includes corporate shares that derive their value principally from real property situated in Canada. Although most of Canadas bilateral tax treaties do not exempt capital gains from the disposition of such shares, Article XIII(4) of the Lux Treaty provides that: the term "immovable property" does not include property (other than rental property) in which the business of the company, partnership, trust or estate was carried on; and a substantial interest exists when the resident and persons related thereto own 10% or more of the shares of any class or the capital stock of a company. This carve-out has historically been interpreted, including by Canadian tax authorities, to apply to oil and gas properties that form part of a companys oil and gas business. The issue in Alta Energy Luxembourg was whether a minimum activity level for the otherwise immovable property was required in order to establish it as property in which the business of the companywas carried on. Given the limited drilling activities, the Crown argued that the exemption should be applied on a lease-by-lease basis, which would have resulted in the majority of the oil and gas leases being considered inactive and, consequently, the shares held by the appellant failing to apply for the exemption. The Tax Court concluded that the purpose of the exemption was to encourage foreign direct investment. Concluding that the exemption should be applied in accordance with industry practices, the Tax Court reaffirmed the liberal interpretation given to tax treaties and found in favour of the taxpayer, taking a common sense, purposive approach to the analysis: The law is well settled: a tax treaty or convention must be given a liberal interpretation with a view to implementing the true intention of the parties.With this principle in mind, I am of the view that the Treaty negotiators intended for a resource property to qualify as Excluded Property when such property is developed in accordance with the industrys best practices. The Crown then argued that the use of the Lux Treaty constituted abusive treaty-shopping under Canadas general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR). The Tax Court was decisive in its rejection of the Crowns alternative argument. In particular, the court noted that the law presumes that the government knew Luxembourgs laws when it was negotiating the Lux Treaty, so the Tax Court could find no other rationale for Article XIII(4) than the apparent one to exempt residents of Luxembourg from Canadian taxation where there is an investment in immovable property used in a business. The Court was not at all moved by the fact that the Lux Treaty had as one of its general purposes the 'prevention of fiscal evasion'. Although raised briefly in its Notice of Reply, the Crown appears not to have seriously challenged the taxpayers residence in Luxembourg for purposes of the Lux Treaty. It will be interesting to see how the Federal Court of Appeal addresses both the technical issue under Article XIII(4) and the treaty-shopping arguments. Nancy Diep Nancy Diep Partner, Calgary Tel: 403-260-9779 Email: nancy.diep@blakes.com 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. Share this article Apple is looking to lower prices of the iPhone XR in Japan by offering carrier subsidies as it looks to spur sales of the device in the region. The Cupertino company is taking this step as the iPhone 8 continues to outsell the iPhone XR in Japan despite the latter coming with a modern design, better camera, chipset, and battery life. The iPhone XR is already available at a lower price in Japan thanks to various carrier subsidies and bundles. But Apple is now looking to lower it further to boost sales. Apple rarely ever lowers or discounts its products within a few months of them going on sale but it looks like the slow iPhone XR sale and steady demand for the iPhone 8 is forcing the company to make this move. Apple had previously reduced prices of the iPhone 6s and lowered its production to better manage its inventory. Given that iPhone dominates the Japanese smartphone market, it is both strange and worrying to see the company lower the price of the iPhone XR in the region through carrier discounts. If anything, this does add credence to reports of new iPhones not doing as well as expected. Interestingly, the WSJ report also says that Apple is restarting production of the iPhone X. The company is doing this so as to meet the minimum order requirement of OLED panels from Samsung. With iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max not doing as well as expected, Apple has decided to restart production of the iPhone X as it continues to be popular among consumers in certain markets. This is despite the iPhone X being primarily sold through carriers and resellers. Our Take Selling an older model does help boost Apples profit margin due to lower component and production cost. And the company is known to produce older models for markets where they are still doing well. Over the last one month, there have been multiple reports of Apple cutting down production of the iPhone XS and iPhone XR due to weak demand. This report further adds credence to them and essentially confirms that sales of 2018 iPhones have not been up to even Apples expectations. With smartphone sales slowing down, it is perhaps time for Apple to reconsider its pricing strategy. [Via WSJ Apples 4-day shopping event for Black Friday has gone live in Australia where the company is bundling gift cards of various denominations with every purchase. If you want the best deals this Black Friday, Apple is definitely not offering them. In fact, the company is not even bundling gift cards with any of its latest iPads or MacBook Pro models. Nonetheless, Apples extended holiday return period is active which is perhaps the only reason why one should consider buying the devices directly from the company. With the Apple TV, Apple is bundling an AUD$35 gift card, while the Apple Watch Series 3 or a Beats headphones will make one eligible for a gift card of up to $AUD80. On its 10.5-inch iPad Pro, 9.7-inch iPad, and iPad mini 4, Apple is bundling a gift card of up to $AUD140. The company is not bundling any gift card with any of its newer 2018 iPad Pro models. With Macs, Apple is offering a gift card of up to AUD$280 which includes select iMac Pro, iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and the older MacBook Air. If you are looking to buy a HomePod, Apple is bundling a $AUD70 gift card with the smart speaker. The deals are applicable for purchases made through Apples online store as well as offline stores. All the deals last through November 26 (i.e. until Cyber Monday). Apples Black Friday deals will also go live in the United States and Canada soon. Apples Black Friday deals are definitely not among the best. You can find better deals on MacBook Air and MacBook Pro including the latest variants over at B&H, with the iPad and HomePod also being discounted heavily by other retailers this Black Friday. Apple Shopping Event Update: Apples Shopping Event is now live in the United States as well. The company is giving a maximum of $200 gift card on the purchase of an iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and the old MacBook Air. With the iPad mini 4 and 2018 9.7-inch iPad, it is bundling a $50 gift card while the 10.5-inch iPad Pro carries a $100 gift card. With the HomePod, Apple Watch Series 3, unlocked iPhone 8 or iPhone 7, the company is offering a $50 gift card. Apple is not bundling any gift card with any of its latest products like the iPhone XS, Mac Mini, MacBook Air with Retina Display, or the 2018 iPad Pro. Instagram is typically working on a lot of things all the time. Sometimes it announces those changes, and other times its all meant to be behind-the-scenes efforts ahead of a public announcement. Today is one of the days where Instagram gets ahead of the rumors. The social network, which is owned by Facebook, has just announced in a public blog post that it is making some changes to the profile page. The company says that over the next few weeks Instagram users may start to see their profile page get rearranged, with buttons and icons changing, and changing the way users navigate between tabs. The goal here is to make the profile page easier to navigate. The good news is that the grid of your shared photos and videos wont be changing: Over the next several weeks, you may see features re-arranged at the top of your profile including changes to icons, buttons and the way you navigate between tabs, which we hope will make profiles easier and cleaner to use. The photos and videos youve shared on your grid wont change. This is a work-in-progress, and Instagram will be testing different layouts. Those changes will be rolling out in phases, and it will be happening between now and over the next few weeks. There doesnt seem to be any word on whether or not how many times a profile page can change, so it seems possible that you may see a few different alterations before Instagram settles on whatever layout they choose in the future. In other news related to Instagram, the company recently announced some changes to combat inauthentic activity on the platform. In addition to that, the platform also finally launched its usage dashboard, which will help monitor time spent in the app. If youre a heavy Instagram user, how would you change the profile page, if at all? [via Instagram Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han By Jhoo Dong-chan A feud between the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Samsung BioLogics has been deepening as the two sides continued to trade barbs since the regulator ruled Nov. 14 that the firm violated accounting rules before the firm went public in 2016. The biopharmaceutical arm of Samsung Group said on its website, Tuesday, that its accounting practice has never violated accounting rules, and is totally different from the fraudulent accounting cases of U.S.-based Enron and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. "Our case is simply a matter of judgment as to whether changing the status of Samsung Bioepis from a subsidiary to an affiliate complies with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)," it said. "The nation's three largest accounting firms already judged that our accounting practice complied with the IFRS. But the financial authorities interpreted it in a different way." The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the auditing unit of the FSC, immediately rebutted Samsung BioLogics' claim. "Samsung BioLogics is reiterating its argument over and over again," the SFC said in a press release. "The SFC has thoroughly reviewed the case based not only on the company's explanatory materials but also on the IFRS and Financial Supervisory Service's data. Samsung BioLogics should stop reiterating its position for its own good while taking the full responsibility to protect its investors." Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku Tony Marklew poses with one of his five Christmas installations at the L'Escape Hotel in Seoul. / Courtesy of L'Escape Hotel By Kang Seung-woo When L'Escape Hotel, the first stand-alone brand of Shinsegae Chosun Hotel, reached out to London-based flower designer Tony Marklew two years ago to create decorations for its grand opening this July, he jumped at the chance to make his first trip to Korea. The British floral designer lived up to the expectations of his first-ever Korean clients. The spectacular decorations throughout the hotel received rave reviews from guests. Marklew has returned to Korea to once again dazzle visitors with his creative installations. This time, it's for Christmas, and will feature elements of Korean culture as well as accentuate the Parisian theme of the hotel. "It is important to use something which transcends the period and also not to be religious," Marklew said in an interview with The Korea Times earlier this month when he was still working on the decorations. "So it wanted something that was Christmas seasonal but not too specific, so I would try to be inspired by some Korean culture with regards to the willow tree installation and then 2,600 chandelier pieces coming from China in long strands so the idea of being a tree made of chandeliers, so the Parisian thing came into it too. So it is kind of lots of crossovers." According to the hotel, Marklew's five Christmas installations will be on display until January next year. Marklew said his Christmas decorations will offer great photographic opportunities for visitors. "The tree downstairs when it is finished in the lobby will be very beautiful and perhaps something different that maybe people here have not seen before," he said. "The idea for the front facade is a kind of magical crystal forest people would walk through and then into the lobby. It is all about mirrors. Obviously when Jacques Garcia designed the lobby, the art behind emulated the mirror room in Versailles. They reflect everything from both walls and then underneath the tree at the moment it is covered but there is a mirror panel. When all the lights come on behind the crystals, it will create huge amounts of sparkle and then reflect down as well. "So it will be quite a spectacle downstairs." He added that a huge bird cage in dessert place Le Salon on the seventh floor will have lots of silk decorative flowers and a swing, making it a great place for people to sit and pose for pictures. A Christmas installation at the hotel's contemporary restaurant L'Amant Secret on the 26th floor / Courtesy of L'Escape Hotel Korean-Venezuelan chocolate makers Jon Kim, right, and his younger brother Dan pose for a photograph at P.Chokko Laboratorio in Seoul on Nov. 9. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul Korean-Venezuelan brothers craft chocolates in their parents' homeland By Kwak Yeon-soo Korean-Venezuelan Jon Kim, 34, and his younger brother Dan grew up in Caracas, Venezuela. After graduating from high school, they went on to Pepperdine University and the University of Southern California, respectively, in the United States. Then both returned to their homeland, Venezuela, to start careers in marketing and accounting, respectively. However, their home country was no longer the livable, safe one it used to be when their parents emigrated there to do business. Venezuela was in dire straits. Since the early 2000s, Venezuela has been notorious for its high crime rate and the country has become one of the world's most dangerous places the murder toll in the country is even higher than that of some war zones, according to Jon. "Venezuela wasn't a promising land for those who want to do business because the political climate was stressful and it had public security problems. The crime and kidnapping rates were off the chart," he said. Jon recalls that it was heartbreaking to see such a beautiful country fall into turmoil. Although Venezuela is a resource-rich country, it faces a crisis due to government mismanagement and corruption. Hundreds and thousands of Venezuelans are facing instability food and medicine are scarce and unemployment is high, which makes it harder for parents to send their children to school and get proper healthcare. As a result, a massive exodus has been taking place, with people crossing the borders into the neighboring countries of Colombia and Brazil. "If Venezuelans are going to starve in their own country, it's better to find an actual possibility in another country," said Dan, who is now 32. "The reason we decided to move out is pretty much the same. We wanted to make the move before the place turned into a shithole." As young adults, they felt the need to grow personally and businesswise. Thus the two immigrated to Korea, their parents' homeland, in December 2014. Growing up in a fusion of cultures allowed them to gain a wide range of perspectives and made them natural connoisseurs of distinctive tastes and flavors. However, after the two brothers moved to Korea, they couldn't distance themselves from their home country, Venezuela. For them, it seemed unpatriotic to leave. "Our blood is Korean but our flavor is Latin. All you hear about Venezuela nowadays is bad things. We wanted to show people outside, the fact that Venezuela has good stuff too," Jon said. "Through our market research, we had to bring the top-notch quality to be marketable. We wanted to show the best of the best of Venezuela. We eventually narrowed down our options to chocolate and rum, but saw more depth in chocolate." Jon explained that chocolate at this point is all blended and nobody knows where it is from or what type of cacao it is made with. Merchants try to cut the cost of chocolate by using less expensive, lower-quality cacao. "It's hard to find chocolate stores where they make their own chocolate, so we saw a chance there. There was no competition and we were confident that we could push forward the chocolate culture. Growing up in Venezuela, we've learned that Venezuelan cacao is one of the most popular and premium in the world," he said. Compared to other international chocolate companies that look for basic taste in cacao, Jon claimed he and his brother focus on variety, just like specialty coffee and wine. "The terrain and type of cacao is important but the post-harvesting process is also important," Jon said. Their commitment to foster a culture of chocolate led them in their adventure to find the highest level of authenticity throughout the process, from cacao beans to chocolate bar. From bean-to-bar "Bean-to-bar" refers to the process of making a chocolate bar from cacao beans organically. Harvesting Courtesy of Jon Kim When cacao fruit is ripe, farmers harvest using machetes. Then the fruit is cut into two to reveal a dense white pulp, within which lie the coveted cacao beans. The harvested cacao beans are placed in a fermentation box or fermentation room, where fermentation takes place. The cacao beans left from anywhere between two to 10 days to ferment. The quality of taste depends on the length of the process. Fermentation Courtesy of Jon Kim "The fermentation process allows the taste and aroma of the cacao bean to further develop, but there are companies that just wash it off because they think it's a waste of time," Dan said. The next step is drying. The cacao beans are usually sun-dried on a drying platform outdoors, where there is constant breeze and sunlight. While drying the cacao bean, it must be protected from rain and humidity. The drying takes between one and three days depending on the intensity of the sunlight and breeze. Drying Courtesy of Jon Kim "Many dry cacao beans using gas because it takes less time. But there's the danger of a gas leak, and if that happens, you can definitely taste the smoked gas flavor," Dan said. An even fermentation and drying process is important, but if you use a synthetic method, there is the danger the beans will be dried or fermented unevenly. "The traditional and natural way is the best way. It's important to find farmers or cooperatives who know how to do it properly and have done it over a long period of time," he said. Once the drying is over, Jon and Dan import dried cacao beans. "It takes roughly eight months to get here, so time is tight for us to sell," Jon said. "Dark chocolate can last for two years. But if you have proper storage, you can have vintage chocolate because cacao doesn't have an expiration date." After checking for mold, and smokiness, chemical flavors, bitterness and other criteria, the selected cacao beans are then placed in an oven where they are roasted to the roaster's preference. The roaster must be careful not to over-roast and ruin the flavor. The roasted cacao beans are moved to a winnowing machine. The beans are then moved to a winnowing machine where they are crushed and filtered so only the cacao nibs remain. "The image people have of chocolate is junk food. But many consider cacao nibs to be a super food. This shows that if you make the chocolate properly, it's good for you," Dan said. The cacao nibs are then placed in a conching machine, where they are finely ground into chocolate powder. Usually, conching takes around one to three days the longer the conching time, the smaller and smoother the particle size. The chocolate powder is then tempered. Tempering Tempering is the process of heating and cooling the chocolate over a specific range so that it melts and becomes easier to mold, and also acquires a nice shiny texture. Molding is the final stage where chocolate can be shaped to make a bar. Molding requires a mold in which the chocolate can be poured and cooled until it hardens into its desired shape. "Each step has art and science to accentuate the taste profile for that chocolate. Even if the cacaos have similar origins, depending on how you process them, you taste a different profile. Thus, the maker matters," Jon explained. Dan Kim pours lukewarm liquid chocolate onto a marble slab to make chocolate bars. Korea Times photos by Shim Hyun-chul